In his statement today the Chancellor has stolen all Labour’s clothes. 

Nearly everybody will be worse off but the less well-off will suffer less. 

What more could Labour have done? 

“Dividend allowances will be cut.

The annual exempt allowance for capital gains tax will also be cut.

The threshold for the 45p additional rate of tax will be cut from £150,000 to £125,140.

Windfall taxes will raise £14bn, including a new temporary 45% levy on electricity producers.

The government’s energy price guarantee will be kept for a further 12 months at an average of £3,000 for a typical household, up from £2,500 at present.

New one-off payments of £900 to households on means-tested benefits, £300 to pensioner households, and £150 for individuals on disability benefit.

There will be an additional £1bn funding to enable further extension to household support fund.

Social housing rents will be capped at 7% next year, to avoid rent hikes of up to 11%.

The “national living wage” will rise by 9.7% next year to £10.42 an hour.

Benefits will rise in line with September’s inflation rate, by 10.1%, costing the government £11bn.

The benefit cap will be increased with inflation next year.

The pensions triple lock will be kept.”

Via ALB

A third (1.3 billion tons) of all the food produced is wasted.

It accounts for a tenth of the greenhouse gases that are contributing to global warming, in particular, methane, which is about 80 times more potent than CO2.

That so few countries have so far committed to reducing food waste in national climate targets is symbolic of a lack of “political will,” said Danielle Nierenberg, co-founder of Food Tank, a US-based NGO devoted to sustainable food systems. This is despite the fact it is “low-hanging fruit” when it comes to cutting national emissions.

One major cause of food loss in developing countries is poor preservation due to lack of cold storage for agricultural produce.

 Inadequate refrigeration and an ineffective “cold chain” resulted in the loss of around 526 million tons of food production — or 12% of the food produced globally — in 2017, according to a UNEP and FAO report released this week at COP27.

This is enough extra food to feed around one billion people. 

Some 811 million people currently face hunger globally.

Food waste has actually increased since 2015 in countries like the US, Australia and New Zealand, which already waste the most.

Climate-killing food waste addressed at UN talks – DW – 11/16/2022

 Ukrainian forces have ‘recaptured’ Kherson. This, however, is the result not of a battle for the city but of a decision by the new Russian commander to withdraw from areas west of the River Dnieper. Russian supply lines had become too extended and were too vulnerable to attack. Although the withdrawal was in response to real military achievement on the part of Ukrainian forces, talk of Ukraine ‘winning the war’ bears no relation to reality. On the contrary, Ukraine now faces a sharp deterioration in its position.

During the first stage of the war, now drawing to a close, Ukraine’s impressive performance has been facilitated by the combination of two factors. On the one hand, the old Russian command complacently overestimated Russian superiority, undermined as it was by poor force management, corruption, and low morale, and adopted an overambitious war plan. On the other hand, Ukraine derived enormous benefit from a generous supply of advanced Western weaponry, including ‘game changers’ like  the ‘iconic’ shoulder-fired precision-guided Javelin antitank missile, the 155-millimeter long-range (up to 40 km) M777 howitzer, and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). 

This supply is now running down. US stocks have fallen to levels that the Pentagon is determined to reserve for other contingencies, such as war with China or in Korea. New production on the scale needed to support a long conventional proxy war with Russia would take up to four years to develop and require the US economy to be put on a wartime footing. For the time being at least, Ukraine will have to make do with smaller quantities of less powerful weapons – for instance, the 105-millimeter howitzer, with smaller payload and shorter range (11 km).[1]

It no longer seems realistic, if it ever was, for Ukraine to aim at the reconquest of the Donbass, Crimea, or the land bridge connecting the two – areas where powerful Russian forces are concentrated and deeply entrenched. It is these areas that Russia will surely insist on keeping in the ‘realistic’ negotiations for which foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is calling. 

The explosion in Poland – a NATO member state — on November 15 reminds us of the ever-present risk of the war in Ukraine escalating to nuclear Armageddon by accident or mistake. The restrained response of Western leaders is reassuring (NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has acknowledged that the blast is likely to have been triggered by Ukrainianair defense systems). But the risk cannot be eliminated altogether.[2] Alternatively, prolongation of the war into 2023 may lead to Armageddon by stages, with pressure building up for a ‘no fly zone,’ the open and direct deployment of NATO ground troops (initially, no doubt, as trainers and advisers), and the battlefield use of tactical nuclear weapons.     

Winter is approaching. The weather will impose a pause in hostilities. Let us hope that good sense prevails and the pause will be used to end the war.                

Notes

[1] Natasha Turak, 9/28/22. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/28/the-us-and-europe-are-running-out-of-weapons-to-send-to-ukraine.html

[2] The growing risk of nuclear Armageddon cannot be ignored. Ali Abunimah with Rania Khalek, 10/26/22. https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/growing-risk-nuclear-armageddon-cannot-be-ignored

Stephen Shenfield

War in Ukraine: latest developments – World Socialist Party US (wspus.org)

 Mothers in the UK are three times more likely to die around the time of pregnancy compared with those in Norway. 

Researchers found that Slovakia had the highest maternal death rate among the countries studied. The UK had the second highest.

The rates of death among mothers in pregnancy and up to 42 days after the birth of their children varied from 2.7 per 100,000 live births in Norway to 10.9 in Slovakia. In the UK, there were 9.6 maternal deaths for every 100,000 babies born.

UK has second highest maternal death rate in eight-country European study | Women’s health | The Guardian

 Ugandan climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate denounced world leaders for continuing to support new coal, oil, and gas projects despite overwhelming evidence that extracting and burning more fossil fuels will exacerbate deadly climate chaos.

“The focus for many leaders is about making deals for fossil fuel lobbyists, surviving the next election cycle, and grabbing as much short-term profit as possible,” Nakate said in Sharm El-Sheikh. “You are sowing the wind and frontline communities are reaping the whirlwind,” said Nakate. “You are sowing seeds of coal, oil, and gas while frontline communities are reaping havoc, devastation, and destruction.”

 Nakate said that oil and gas representatives are turning COP27 into “a sales and marketing conference for more pollution and more destruction and more devastation.” 

She was alluding to the presence of more than 630 fossil fuel lobbyists at the meeting, which is being held in a heavily policed and expensive resort city.

Nakate told Democracy Now, “My worry is that the environment and biodiversity is going to be destroyed. We are going to find ourselves in an accelerated climate crisis, and profits are going to end up in pockets of already-rich people.”

Nakate detailed how the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency is intensifying suffering in the Global South, including by reducing access to clean water and food and increasing disease transmission and displacement.

Vanessa Nakate Slams World Leaders for Perpetuating Deadly Fossil Fuels (commondreams.org)

 The health of millions of citizens is being threatened by the homes they live in. For decades experts have been complaining that millions of people are living in sub-standard or dangerous accommodation.

What does Awaab Ishak’s death tell us about England’s housing? – BBC News

 The company behind Moët and Dom Pérignon has said it is “running out of stock on our best champagnes” as the wealthy spend big on luxury goods in a new “roaring 20s” age of decadence. 

While working people suffer a big slump in living standards The chief executive of Moët Hennessy, Philippe Schaus, said 2022 would be “a fabulous year” for its champagne – which starts at about £40 a bottle and can cost thousands – as evidenced by stocks running low in the company’s network of cellars that stretch for 17 miles.

“We are running out of stock on our best champagnes. As people are coming out of Covid there’s been pent up demand for luxury, enjoyment and travelling,” Schaus said in an interview.

Overall, champagne and wine sales were up 32% in the first nine months of 2022 compared with 2021.

Earlier this year the Guardian reported soaring sales of champagne in City of London wine bars as bankers celebrated the biggest bonus season since before the 2008 global financial crisis. 

It’s not just champagne that’s flying off shelves. Luxury goods companies across the world have recently reported booming sales in everything from designer-label clothing and handbags to expensive watches and supercars as the ranks of the ultra-wealthy hit record highs. The global luxury goods industry is expected to achieve total sales of £1.22tn this year, an increase of 21% on 2021. The report, published on Tuesday, said the sector “remains poised to see further expansion next year, and for the rest of the decade to 2030, even in the face of present economic turbulence”.

LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company, which also owns brands including Christian Dior, Stella McCartney, TAG Heuer watches and Bulgari and Tiffany jewellery, last month reported a 19% jump in third-quarter sales.

Jean-Jacques Guiony, LVMH’s chief financial officer, said that among his customers the economic downturn “has not materialised into full swing yet … if ever it does”.

 Kering, which owns Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta, reported a 14% increase in its third quarter sales.

Hermès, whose Birkin handbags can costs tens of thousands of pounds, reported a 24% jump in sales.

The company’s finance director, Eric du Halgouet, said: “For the moment, we don’t see any sign of slowdown in any of our markets.”

There are now record 218,200 people classed as ultra-high net worth (UHNW), with assets of more than $50m (£43.7m), according to research by the investment bank Credit Suisse. It said there had been “almost an explosion of wealth” during the recovery from the pandemic. Analysts predict that the boom in luxury goods is likely to continue as rich people spend the £2.52tn saved up during the pandemic.

Firm behind Moët hails new ‘roaring 20s’ as wealthy drain stocks of champagne | Food & drink industry | The Guardian

 A new peer-reviewed study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine determined that increased consumption of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) was associated with more than 10% of all-cause premature, preventable deaths in Brazil in 2019. The study found that approximately 57,000 deaths in one year could be attributed to the consumption of UPFs – 10.5% of all premature deaths and 21.8% of all deaths from preventable noncommunicable diseases in adults aged 30 to 69. Across all age groups and sex strata, consumption of UPFs ranged from 13% to 21% of total food intake in Brazil during the period studied

Brazilians consume far less of these products than countries with high incomes such as U S, Canada, the UK, and Australia. This means the estimated impact would be even higher in richer nations.

UPFs are ready-to-eat-or-heat industrial formulations made with ingredients extracted from foods or synthesised in laboratories. Examples of UPFs are prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, ready-to-eat meals, hot dogs, sausages, sodas, ice cream, and store-bought cookies, cakes, candies and doughnuts. These have gradually been replacing traditional foods and meals made from fresh and minimally processed ingredients in many countries.

The study’s lead investigator Eduardo AF Nilson states, “Consumption of UPFs is associated with many disease outcomes, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some cancers and other diseases…”

In Mexico, companies have taken over food distribution channels, replacing local foods with cheap processed items, often with the direct support of the government and the consequences for public health have been catastrophic.

Mexico’s National Institute for Public Health released the results of a national survey of food security and nutrition in 2012. Between 1988 and 2012, the proportion of overweight women between the ages of 20 and 49 increased from 25 to 35% and the number of obese women in this age group increased from 9 to 37%. Some 29% of Mexican children between the ages of 5 and 11 were found to be overweight, as were 35% of the youngsters between 11 and 19, while one in ten school age children experienced anaemia.

More than half the population of the European Union (EU) is overweight or obese. Without effective action, this number will grow substantially by 2026.

 A report A Spoonful of Sugar: How the Food Lobby Fights Sugar Regulation in the EU by the research and campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) noted that obesity rates were rising fastest among lowest socio-economic groups. That is because energy-dense foods of poor nutritional value are cheaper than more nutritious foods, such as vegetables and fruit, and relatively poor families with children purchase food primarily to satisfy their hunger. The report argued that more people than ever before are eating processed foods as a large part of their diet. And the easiest way to make industrial, processed food cheap, long-lasting and enhance the taste is to add extra sugar as well as salt and fat to products.

The food industry has vigorously mobilised to stop vital public health legislation. The leverage which food industry giants have over decision-making has helped the sugar lobby to see off many of the threats to its profit margins. 

Katharine Ainger, co-author of CEO’s report, said: “Sound scientific advice is being sidelined by the billions of euros backing the sugar lobby. In its dishonesty and its disregard for people’s health, the food and drink industry rivals the tactics we’ve seen from the tobacco lobby for decades.”

While industry-funded studies influence European Food Standards Authority decisions, Coca Cola, Nestlé and other food giants engage in corporate propaganda by sponsoring sporting events and major exercise programmes to divert attention from the impacts of their products and give the false impression that exercise and lifestyle choices are the major factors in preventing poor health.  prominent figures with close ties to the corridors of power have been co-opted to influence policy in order to boost the interests of agri-food corporations.

The International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) was founded in 1978 by Alex Malaspina, a Coca-Cola scientific and regulatory affairs leader. It started with an endowment of $22 million with the support of Coca Cola. Since then, ILSI has been quietly infiltrating government health and nutrition bodies around the globe and has more than 17 branches that influence food safety and nutrition science in various regions. Little more than a front group for its 400 corporate members that provide its $17 million budget, ILSI’s members include Coca-Cola, DuPont, PepsiCo, General Mills and Danone.

 ILSI has received more than $2 million from chemical companies, among them Monsanto. In 2016, a UN committee issued a ruling that glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup, was “probably not carcinogenic”. The committee was led by two ILSI officials.

As far back as 2003, it was reported that ILSI had spread its influence across the national and global food policy arena. The report talked about undue influence exerted on specific WHO/FAO food policies dealing with dietary guidelines, pesticide use, additives, trans-fatty acids and sugar.

In January 2019, two papers by Harvard Professor Susan Greenhalgh, in the BMJ and the Journal of Public Health Policy, revealed ILSI’s influence on the Chinese government regarding issues related to obesity. And in April 2019,  Corporate Accountability released a report on ILSI titled Partnership for an Unhealthy Planet.

A 2017 report in the Times of India noted that ILSI-India was being actively consulted by India’s apex policy-formulating body – Niti Aayog. ILSI-India’s board of trustees was dominated by food and beverage companies – seven of 13 members were from the industry or linked to it (Mondelez, Mars, Abbott, Ajinomoto, Hindustan Unilever and Nestle) and the treasurer was Sunil Adsule of Coca-Cola India.

In India, ILSI’s expanding influence coincides with mounting rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

In 2020, US Right to Know (USRTK) referred to a study published in Public Health Nutrition that helped to further confirm ILSI as little more than an industry propaganda arm. The study uncovered “a pattern of activity in which ILSI sought to exploit the credibility of scientists and academics to bolster industry positions and promote industry-devised content in its meetings, journal, and other activities.”

Gary Ruskin, executive director of USRTK, a consumer and public health group, said: “ILSI is insidious… Across the world, ILSI is central to the food industry’s product defence, to keep consumers buying the ultra-processed food, sugary beverages and other junk food that promotes obesity, type 2 diabetes and other ills.”

Millions Suffer as Junk Food Industry Rakes in Profit | Dissident Voice