Launched today a new campaigning network of local and global justice organisations, Debt Justice Action. Next week we via our government are paying €1.25 billion in the latest payment of an unsecured Anglo bond. This will be followed by numerous other payments. Repayments not of home loans or debts that the general public ran up but debts run up by banks and those abroad that invested (gambled) in them.

The campaign is calling for the suspension of Anglo/INBS repayments as a first step towards renegotiation and writedown of the debt. The bulk of the re-payments are government issued “promissory notes” – a promise to pay money in future. Debt write downs happen all the time. A pause while we get a write down and stop rolling over and paying debts that are not ‘ours’ would be in line with the policy of both parties in government before the last election. Not that they seem to remember that. It is high time that they were reminded.