British banks, including the two that were bailed out by taxpayers, are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in companies that manufacture cluster bombs- despite a global ban outlawing the production and trade of these weapons.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds TSB and HSBC have all funded makers of cluster bombs, even as international opinion opposes such a weapons system that routinely maims or kills civilians and children.
Oliver Sprague, an arms expert at Amnesty International, said: “High street banks like Royal Bank of Scotland are making a mockery of UK law by shamefully investing in companies that make weapons the UK Government and 108 other countries have clearly and quite rightly banned.”
Oh dear, it really would be good to post something positive about our society and the banks. So I am taking a month off, to search for some more cheerful news. Enjoy the rest of the summer.
Could no resist adding the following words about the UK’s recent disorder:
Making poor people poorer will not make them less likely to steal. Making them, or their families, homeless will not promote respect for the law. Trying to shut down the Internet in neighbourhoods would be a major violation of civil liberties and a threat to safety, denying vital information to residents.
Britain’s urban areas need urgent attention from the Cameron government, not just punishment. His government’s wrongheaded austerity policies have meant fewer public sector jobs and social services. Young people suffer an employment rate of twenty per cent. The poor are generally more dependent on government than the affluent, so they have been hit the hardest.
What Britain’s sputtering economy really needs is a major stimulus, not more budget cutting. Unfortunately, there is no sign that Mr. Cameron has figured this out or learnt anything from the past.
Fair play is a value we should retain and be proud off!
Ivor Timson 