Jubilee Debt Campaign: Vulture Culture Update

Some good news for a change.

I previously blogged here and here on

 Vulture Funds which profiteer by buying up the debts of heavily indebted poor countries cheaply then seek to recover the full amounts.

In today's email:

Vulture Funds - we've won

Dear supporter,

We’re writing with good news: the Government has announced that it’s going to make the Vulture Funds law permanent.

Many of you campaigned very hard to get this law passed in literally the last few minutes before the election last year. It was a tribute to people power ? But there was a danger it would expire in June after a ?Sunset clause? Was added at the last minute.

Today’s news means that profiteering companies will never again be able to chase massive profits from old debts in British courts – at least from 40 of the world’s most impoverished countries.

The law is the first of its kind anywhere in the world, and it has attracted cross-party support. It has already saved the west African country of Liberia $40 million, after it was pursued by two vulture funds.

Nevertheless, the vulture fund threat is not over. A US vulture fund, FG Hemisphere, is currently suing the Democratic Republic of Congo, the second poorest country in the world, for $100 million through the Jersey courts. Jersey - a UK Overseas Territory - gets to pick and choose which UK laws it passes, and it hasn’t passed this one as yet.

Meanwhile, vultures are still free to swoop in other major sah centres like the United States ? But our sister organisation Jubilee USA is hoping to change that.

If you?Re inspired to make a donation towards our continuing campaigns today, we would massively appreciate your support. Even small donations can make a big difference to an organisation like ours.

Congratulations on this victory - a nd on to the next one!

Best wishes,

Jonathan Stevenson

Jubilee Debt Campaign

PS. If you’ve missed bits of the campaign, or you just want to relive the twists and turns, we’ve updated our vultures campaign timeline with today’s news.

Contact details

Jubilee Debt Campaign

The Grayston Centre

28 Charles Square

London

N1 6HT

United Kingdom

Tel: 44 (0)20 7324 4722

Fax: 44 (0)20 7324 4723

Email - for general enquiries and materials requests:

info@jubileedebtcampaign.Org.Uk

Web - http://www.Jubileedebtcampaign.Org.Uk/

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"We are all in this together" (13)

King Edward VII's Hospital (Private)

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (NHS)

Not everyone is impressed with Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley 's plans for "improvements" in the NHS.

[Warning: Those of a sensitive nature may be offended by some of the language used in the video link.]

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Bishop of Manchester praises tradition in the church!

Contrary to reports in the MailOnline and elsewhere, Manchester Cathedral's Spirit of Life Festival on 2 May will not be featuring tarot card readers and crystal healers although there will be a fire-breathing vicar. - There's a novelty these days!

It seems that the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, is now happy to celebrate spirituality and tradition. According to his Cathedral website there will be "workshops and stalls covering poetry, Franciscan spirituality, arts and crafts, healing, icons, angels, meditation, personality profiling, music and blessings, labyrinths, dream interpretation, Christian symbolism of gem stones and Celtic saints, prayer bead making, choral evensong, foot and hand massage, Taize chants and, finally, fire breathing. - All of these events will aim to convey something of the Christ we follow as Christian people."

 When it comes to traditional worship however, the bishop sat on the fence. It was left to the Archbishops to beg for tolerance to allow traditionalists freedom of worship in the manner shared by fellow Orthodox and Catholic Christians throughout the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. How the new Synod will see things remains to be seen but let's hope dioceses will recognise that the drift from traditional worship is killing the Anglican Church.

His Lordship works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform!

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Scam bags: legitimate or not?

Today we had yet another plastic bag delivery. As previously reported we regularly receive two or three requests a week to donate unwanted clothes; sometimes bric-a-brac. Most of these requests are scams which trade on people's charity for profit.

My general guideline is to look at the detail to see if all proceeds are given to charity not, eg, just £50 per tonne. An excellent web site is available to check further details if in doubt. Some charities use collectors. The National Blind Children's Society is one of these and is listed as legitimate but it is understandable that people are confused when one of the guidelines to watch for is:

'"We give £50 per tonne to the charity" - This sounds good, but beware, this is only5 pence per kilogram!  By contrast, if you take your clothes to acharity shop, they'll raise 5 to 100 times as much for charity.'

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Suits you Sir!

The latest twist in the 'Royal Wedding' saga suggests that the Prime Minister will after all wear morning dress as protocol demands rather than a lounge suit when Prince William marries Kate Middleton. Forest sell-off, NHS reform anddress sense problems; the prime Minister appears to be more than a little accident prone.

That must put his judgement into question over his reported mean snub to Gordon Brown's candidature for Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Commentators vary in their opinions but for a former 'communications' man, how do Dave's U-turns suit you Sir - or Madam?

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Mothering Sunday to Mother's Day

The MailOnline is carrying a story about 'advances' in research enabling eggs to be stored so that women can have babies in their 50's. Mother-centred rather than child-centred sums up the commercial notion of Mother's Day which is not to be confused with Mothering Sunday when we give thanks for the selfless devotion of mothers to their children.

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The NHS

As theTelegraphcorrectlypredicted, yesterday the Health Secretary admitted at the dispatch box that his personal crusade to change the Health Service was having the brakes applied by the Prime Minister. While most questioners on the government benches did their valiant best to support Mr Lansley, the most interesting intervention came from Stephen Dorrell, tory Chairman of the all-party Health Select Committee with counter proposals reported here.

The Government came badly unstuck when a BMA survey showed that doctors are "uncertain whether the benefits of the government's plans to reform the NHS in England outweigh the risks". When Liberal Democrats rebelled big changes were indicated. Others have now taken-up the fight including the campaigning group 38 Degrees encouraged by their success in the forestry sell-off campaign.

Why Mr Lansley thinks that GPs are best placed to spend £80 billion of tax payers money because 'they know their patients' is a mystery after many have spent years getting as remote from patients as possible with nurse-led clinics and 'out-of-hours' care handed to God knows who.  As for patient choice, if Mr Lansley wants to base the case for change on his personal experience, his is unlikely to be mirrored by others. How many patients have sufficient independent advice to be able to make a judgement and if they do, would they want to upset their GP by claiming to know better? Personal experience suggests not.

There are problems in the NHS but there is no mandate from the electorate for the major changes being proposed. For most people the NHS, despite its failings, is amongst the best of what is left of Great Britain. If not signalled in party manifestos major changes should be made only with all party agreement not driven through as part of a personal crusade.

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