Thursday 15th May

The news is full of this at the moment, as if at the end of the day anyone other than the shareholders opinions will matter.  And all that will matter to them is profit.  Will the potential new owners give a better return than sticking with Astra-Zeneca.  All the arguments about research and development, jobs, taxes and appearances in front of Commons Select Committees will mean ‘nout.  And the ‘resistance’ of Astra-Zeneca is just so much posturing; if they can push the offer price up a bit higher it will be a done deal.   This I am afraid is the nature of Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century.  The stakes are high and winner takes all.

And Labour will be able to make no difference either.  Unless there is international agreement then these large Corporations will rule the roost.  Much as I realise that Europe has big problems, not least of all the sense of disconnect most of its citizens feel, it is our only hope.  If Europe can actually get stronger and more united (very unlikely with our secessionist government) then they may be able to stand up to the Corporate Giants, who will not happily lose such a big market by upping sticks and moving to a ‘more friendly’ continent.   And I think that America, or at least a Democrat-led America, understands this.  There as well as here there is a widening gulf between the haves and have-nots which only the reigning in of the multinationals will slow down.  Reversing the trend is I am afraid a much harder task.

People talk of revolutions, but as Lenin and Trotsky understood only too clearly – unless you have a world revolution then any revolution in one country will always fail.  But back to Pfizer, I have no idea of they would be better or worse than Astra-Zeneca, but like Cadbury’s before it, it seems such a shame if another ‘old’ British company bites the dust…..