Ken Loach’s ‘The Spirit of 45’ shows how the post-war Attlee government undertook the most extensive and radical overhaul of industry and public services, despite the economy being in dire straits. ‘The Spirit of 45’ legacy lives on in the NHS, but it and many other public services are under attack; the divide between the rich and the rest, has become greater; and the nation’s political and financial power resides again, within a very small circle of decision-makers. So what stands in the way of reviving the ‘common good?’ And how do we pay for it?
8 June 2013
Speakers:
(Intro) Deborah Burton, Tipping Point Film Fund
(Chair) John Hilary, War on Want
John Christensen, Tax Justice Network
Lord Maurice Glasman (academic, social thinker and Labour life peer)
Polly Courtney (author Golden Handcuffs, a biting semi-autobiographical exposé on life in the Square Mile and a regular commentator in the press as well the BBC and Channel 4 News)
Chris Ford, Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB)
Special thanks to Dogwoof and the Barbican.
Marcus Weisgerber, “Pentagon, Regional Staffs Growing Despite Orders to Trim Personnel,” Defense News, June 2, 2013.
Overall, staff sizes of major US military commands grew by 15 percent from 2010 to 2012, despite then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ call to reducestaff sizes as a way of cutting redundancy and saving money.
Organization; Size 2010; Size 2012; (Change; % Change)
OSD — 2010: 2,433; 2012: 2,665 (+232, 9.5%)
Joint Staff — 2010: 1,286; 2012: 4,244 (+2,958, 230%)
AFRICOM — 2010: 1,661; 2012: 1,919 (+285, 15.5%)
CENTCOM — 2010: 2,686; 2012: 3,207 (+521, 19.4%)
EUCOM — 2010: 2,494; 2012: 2,286 (-208, -8.3%)
NORTHCOM — 2010: 1,585; 2012: 1,687 (+102, 6.4%)
PACOM — 2010: 3,825; 2012: 4,147 (+322, 8.4%)
SOUTHCOM — 2010: 1,795; 2012 — 1,797 (+2, 0.1%)
Jeremy Schwartz, “Soaring cost of military drugs could hurt budget“, American-Statesman,Dec. 29, 2012
Last year, the Pentagon spent more on pills, injections and vaccines than it did on Black Hawk helicopters, Abrams tanks, Hercules C-130 cargo planes and Patriot missiles — combined.
(Originally published on 13 June 2013 by The Collegium Ramazzini, http://www.collegiumramazzini.org/news1.asp?id=105)
The Collegium Ramazzini has sent a letter to President Barroso and Commissioners Tajani, Potočnik, and Borg urging stringent hazard-based evaluation criteria for EDCs and a precautionary approach that will protect the general population and workers against these serious hazards.
The Collegium Ramazzini, an international academy of 180 scientists from 35 countries, experts in environmental and occupational health, has released a statement calling for new ways to test chemicals and to revise current approaches to risk management.
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Award-winning director-producer team Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce tell the story of how U.S. corporations have been able to hide over a trillion dollars from Uncle Sam, and how seven fed-up Americans from across the country, take their frustration to the streets.
8 June 2013
Speakers:
Nick Dearden, Jubilee Debt Campaign
Liz Nelson, Tax Justice Network
Pablo Navarrete, film-maker and founder of Alborada, a website covering Latin America related issues
Tom Pursey, activist and founder member of UK Uncut
Chaired by Deborah Burton, Tipping Point Film Fund
Special Thanks to St Ethelburga’s Centre for their hosting of this event
Saturday 8th June proved to be a truly enjoyable day – two movies plus great discussions and a walk through the quiet streets of the City of London, with all its formidable architecture, bathed in glorious sunshine was a welcome bonus. We had great feedback all round – from walkers to audiences and participants too. What stood out? The quality and depth of the debate and discussion.
Full transcripts and supplementary materials for the events:
Tax Justice Network and Tipping Point Film Fund jointly organised a day of activity in London on Saturday 8th June designed to engage all those – public and campaigners alike – who wanted to know more about why tax matters to society and therefore the need to intensify the spotlight on tax avoidance. The day included two film screenings with panel discussions, a ‘revelatory’ walking tour of the City of London and a great list of contributors.
Saturday 8th June, 10.30am-5.30pm
The day kicked off with a screening of the film ‘We’re Not Broke’ at St Ethelburga’s Centre, followed by a great panel discussion – tax avoidance, evasion and impact on global south. The transcript/footage of the discussion is available here.
Next was the City of London walk – a tour into the financial heart of darkness. A talk was given by an expert speaker at each of these locations, Bank of England, Mansion House, HSBC Corporate Banking Centre, Goldman Sachs, Guildhall and TheCityUK (advocates for UK financial services industry), to give a overview of City of London – its history, overreaching power and role in British politics and the global finance. We’ve received enthusiastic feedbacks about the talks – both from the speakers and participants! You can follow the tour on paper and read the transcripits of the talks by visiting here.
The days ended with the screening of Ken Loach’s ‘Spirit of 45′ at the Barbican cinema, followed by a panel discussion – reviving the ‘common good’ and how to pay for. The lively discussion was both entertaining and informative. The transcript/footage is available here.
If you would like us to keep you up to date with future events such as ‘Tax and the Civilised Society’, please sign up for our newsletter.
To learn more or read transcripts and supplementary materials for the events of this day, please visit
Mike Baker, “Costs of U.S. Wars Linger for Over 100 Years,” Associated Press, March 19, 2013.
If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat.
An Associated Press analysis of federal payment records found that the government is still making monthly payments to relatives of Civil War veterans — 148 years after the conflict ended.
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Ryan P. Allen, “The 600-pound Gorilla: Why We Need a Smaller Defense Department,” NDU Press, Jauary 2013.
The Defense Department is kept from being proportional to its actual role by organizational inertia and its size. Use of force, and the abundance of manpower and materiel that enable it, are traditional strengths, but the military is unsustainable at its present cost. Without a reduction, the Nation is weakened economically, and overreliance on the military has a corresponding effect on both U.S. status and on domestic regard for the military even as fewer Americans than ever have served or understand what the military does. Relying on the inherent goodness of man is insufficient; the U.S. Armed Forces must remain the most capable, but leaders must assess what is needed and the long-term effects of military responses and adjust accordingly.
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Donna Cassata, “Report: US Footing Greater Bill for Overseas Bases,” Associated Press, April 17, 2013.
The United States is footing more of the bill for overseas bases in Germany, Japan and South Korea even as the military reduces the number of American troops in Europe and strategically repositions forces in Asia, a congressional report says.
The exhaustive, yearlong investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee focused on costs and burden-sharing as the United States spends more than $10 billion a year to back up the U.S. military presence overseas, with 70 percent of the amount expended in the three nations. The figure does not include military personnel costs.
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Micah Zenko, “The Scope of U.S. Global Military Presence,” Council on Foreign Relations, April 30, 2013
That report—with twelve authors—was published yesterday by RAND: “Overseas Basing of U.S. Military Forces: An Assessment of the Relative Costs and Strategic Benefits.” It is, by far, the most impressive and comprehensive study of the scope, benefits, risks, costs, and consequences of America’s global military presence. Many citizens and policymakers are unaware of the number of troops stationed overseas to execute U.S. defense strategy: recent Pentagon data lists over 172,000 U.S. servicemembers on permanent or rotational deployments around the world (not including the 66,000 troops in Afghanistan).
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“UN Human Rights Expert Calls for a Moratorium on Lethal Autonomous Robots,” United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, May 30, 2013.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, today called for a global pause in the development and deployment of lethal autonomous robots (LARs), to allow “serious and meaningful international engagement on this issue before we proceed to a world where machines are given the power to kill humans.”
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Richard Norton-Taylor, “Afghanistan war has cost Britain more than £37bn, new book claims,” The Guardian, 30 May 2013
Frank Ledwidge, author of damning study Investment in Blood, says failing, bloody campaign has cost £2,000 per UK household.
The war in Afghanistan has cost Britain at least £37bn and the figure will rise to a sum equivalent to more than £2,000 for every taxpaying household, according to a devastating critique of the UK’s role in the conflict.
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Dave Johnson, Another Bridge Falls — Fixing Infrastructure Fixes Jobs And Deficits, Campaign for America’s Future, May 24, 2013.
In Seattle another aging bridge has fallen. The American Society of Civil Engineers report America’s 2013 Infrastructure Report Card gives us a D+ and says we are $3.6 trillion behind in infrastructure maintenance. And this is just to catch up, not get ahead.
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TPNS is working with Martin Drewry and Health Poverty Action to raise awareness on the need for development agencies to more actively engage with the issue of drug reform. This event explores all the key reasons as to why the sector must begin to address the illicit drugs debate and impact on developing countries.
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Rising levels of cancer along with increasing brain, thyroid and reproductive problems have led an international group of scientists to call for tougher EU regulation on some chemicals used in everyday life.
Continue reading
Tax Justice Network and Tipping Point Film Fund are jointly organising a day of activity in London on Saturday 8th June designed to engage all those – public and campaigners alike – who would like to know more about why tax matters to society and therefore the need to intensify the spotlight on tax avoidance. The day will include two film screenings with panel discussions, a ‘revelatory’ walking tour of the City of London and a great list of contributors to the day’s events.
Continue reading
Tax Justice Network and Tipping Point Film Fund are jointly organising a day of activity in London on Saturday 8th June designed to engage all those – public and campaigners alike – who would like to know more about why tax matters to society and therefore the need to intensify the spotlight on tax avoidance. The day will include two film screenings with panel discussions, a ‘revelatory’ walking tour of the City of London and a great list of contributors to the day’s events.
1. The morning film & discussion ‘We’re Not Broke’ at St Ethelburga’s is free of charge.
To reserve, please email info@tippingpointfilmfund.com Email subject: RSVP St Ethelburga’s
2. The lunchtime walk in the City of London is free of charge.
To reserve, please email info@tippingpointfilmfund.com Email subject RSVP City Walk
3. The afternoon screening & panel discussion, Ken Loach’s Spirit of 45 at the Barbican is ticketed and can be booked directly at the Barbican Box Office. http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/event-detail.asp?ID=14959
Do feel free to join us for one, two or all three events!
Best wishes,
TPFF and TJN
10.15am-12.20pm St Ethelburga’s Centre, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG
Directions: http://www.stethelburgas.org/how-find-us
Tax and the Global Good
Film: ‘We’re Not Broke’. (80 mins)
Award-winning director-producer team Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce tell the story of how U.S. corporations have been able to hide over a trillion dollars from Uncle Sam, and how seven fed-up Americans from across the country, take their frustration to the streets [Screening in the beautiful Nave of the Church]. Trailer here http://werenotbrokemovie.com/
Panel Discussion: tax avoidance, evasion and impact on global south.
Speakers: Nick Dearden, Jubilee Debt Campaign; Liz Nelson, Tax Justice Network, Pablo Navarrete, film-maker and founder of Alborada, a website covering Latin America related issues; and Tom Pursey, activist and founder member of UK Uncut. Chaired by TPFF
Special Thanks to St Ethelburga’s Centre for their hosting of this event
12.45-2.15pm The City of London (as you’ve never seen it): A walking tour into the financial heart of darkness [Please arrive 12.30 for 12.45 start. Come to Bank Station, Exit 3 and cross to our meeting place: The Royal Exchange]
Locations: Bank of England, Mansion House, HSBC Corporate Banking Centre, Goldman Sachs and TheCityUK (advocates for UK financial services industry).
Speakers: John Christensen (Tax Justice Network), Lord Maurice Glasman (academic and Labour life peer), Nick Mathiason (investigative journalist), Robert Palmer (Global Witness); John Hilary (War on Want), Tom Pursey (founder member UK Uncut). Learn some interesting, perhaps less well known, facts and information about the operations and activities of these major players.
3pm-5.30pm Ken Loach’s ‘Spirit of 45’ & panel discussion at the Barbican
Film: Ken Loach’s ‘Spirit of 45’ shows how the post-war Attlee government undertook the most extensive and radical overhaul of industry and public services, despite the economy being in dire straits. The ‘Spirit of 45’ legacy lives on in the NHS, but it and many other public services are under attack; the divide between the rich and the rest, has become greater; and the nation’s political and financial power resides again, within a very small circle of decision-makers. So what stands in the way of reviving the ‘common good?’ And how do we pay for it? Trailer here http://www.thespiritof45.com/Watch-The-Trailer
Panel Discussion: The ‘Spirit of 45’ – reviving the ‘common good’ and how to pay for
Charity is a cold grey loveless thing. If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly, not dole out money at a whim’. Clement Attlee, 1920.
The ever growing public awareness of the tax avoidance and evasion issue is central to how we put ‘austerity’ in context and challenge the prevailing orthodoxy that there is ‘no money’ available to protect public services and the most vulnerable in our society. Can we achieve a more equitable society without tax ‘justice’?
Speakers: John Hilary, War on Want (Chair); John Christensen (Tax Justice Network); Lord Maurice Glasman (academic, social thinker and Labour life peer); and Polly Courtney (author Golden Handcuffs, a biting semi-autobiographical exposé on life in the Square Mile and a regular commentator in the press as well the BBC and Channel 4 News); Jeremy Hardy (broadcaster and comedian).
Special thanks to Dogwoof and the Barbican.
We hope there is something here to whet your appetite and that we’ll see you at one or more of the events on the day!
Best wishes from all at TJN and TPFF
If you would like more more information please email either:
Deborah@tippingpointfilmfund.com
Liz@taxjustice.net
Amir Amirani’s film We Are Many has been in the research and making for more than six years. It addresses the illegality of the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent undermining of democratic processes, set alongside the power of public protest and mass mobilisations of the anti-Iraq war movement – a movement that was to inspire the Egyptian uprising of 2011 and in turn, Occupy Wall Street.
The Movie
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The Five Percent Campaign
To coincide with the recent updated publication by the Tax Justice Network (link to a pdf document) of their ground-breaking TAX US IF YOU CAN, Tipping Point Film Fund hosts a screening of the latest film by award-winning team Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce, which has been a festival hit across the USA.
America is in the grip of economic panic. Lawmakers cry “We’re Broke!” as they slash budgets, lay off schoolteachers, police, and fire-fighters, destroying the country’s social fabric and leaving many Americans scrambling to survive. Meanwhile, multibillion-dollar American corporations like Exxon, Google and Bank of America are making record profits. And while the deficit climbs and the cuts go deeper, these corporations—with intimate ties to political leaders—are concealing colossal profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. income tax.
WE’RE NOT BROKE is the story of how U.S. corporations have been able to hide over a trillion dollars from Uncle Sam, and how seven fed-up Americans from across the country, take their frustration to the streets . . . and vow to make the corporations pay their fair share.
Film Trailer
‘A well researched, brightly presented and provocative argument’
John Anderson, Variety
We have two speakers who can share many varied insights into the tax debate and are delighted they can join us for our post film conversation.
Alex Cobham is a research fellow at the Center for Global Development in Europe. Working on illicit financial flows, effective taxation for development, and inequality. Alex has previously worked for Save the Children UK, Christian Aid, and before that he was a researcher for the Department of International Development at Oxford University, and a junior economics fellow at St Anne’s College, Oxford University.
Tom Pursey has been a grassroots activist for the past 7 years on local, national and international issues. In October 2010, he and two other friends decided to put their experience of civil disobedience protest to the issue of public sector cuts by protesting against tax avoidance. From that conversation UK Uncut was born. To put bread on the table, Tom does his best to make documentary and campaign films
BOOKING Info: Lexi Cinema. Tickets £7
Or call the box office 0871 704 2069 (£1 Booking Fee).
Tickets are free to TPFF regular givers and annual donors of £60 or more
Email info@tippingpointfilmfund.com
The Lexi Cinema is located at 194 Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, NW10 3JU. It is around 7 minutes walk from Kensal Rise over-ground station and a good bus service runs from central London. The 52 (from Victoria) and the 6 (from Oxford Circus) stop directly outside the cinema. To map your route by public transport click here, and for a streetmap click here.
Tipping Point North South 