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Showing posts from November, 2016

A fair and balanced article from a very surprising source.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3984170/KATIE-HOPKINS-came-Cuba-commie-hater-ready-bury-Castro-ended-praising-dictator-people-ways-freer-are.html I came to Cuba a commie-hater ready to bury Castro, so why have I ended up praising him as a dictator whose people are in some ways freer than we are? Says Katie Hopkins The rantings of Katie Hopkins invariably leave me speechless or seething with rage, or even both. I was therefore stunned and left speechless (but for quite different reasons) when I came across this story in my daily search through the on line newspapers for the stories of the day. Since the death of Fidel Castro last Friday (25th November 2016), the media and television have be full with reports emphasising every negative aspect of Fidel Castro's life, the dictatorship and his record on civil liberties and human right. Not one of the media reports or the television programmes made any reference to the abuses, corruption and despotism of the B

Syrian government forces make gains in Aleppo

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/28/pro-assad-forces-seize-third-of-east-aleppo-in-rapid-advance-syria Pro-Assad forces seize third of east Aleppo in rapid advance The battle for Aleppo, which has been raging since July 2012, as just one theatre of the Syrian Civil War, seems now to be drawing to a conclusion as Syrian government forces retake vital areas of the East and North East of the city making rapid advances into rebel held areas. Forces loyal to Bashar Al-Assad now control large areas of Syria's second city, having seized much of rebel held East Aleppo, meeting little resistance in their advance northwards. The Americans are of course furious. Furious because the rebels now taking huge reversals in Aleppo are the "good rebels" who have been supported and encouraged by America and Great Britain since the start of this civil war back in 2011. It has always been the American objective, supported by the United Kingdom gov

We cannot detract from the policies and achievements.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/27/fidel-castro-policies-dictator#comments Forget Fidel Castro’s policies. What matters is that he was a dictator Zoe Williams says, "Forget Fidel Castro’s policies. What matters is that he was a dictator". In one sense of course, she is right as Fidel Castro was a dictator, albeit that the description could be interpreted in a number of ways. However, to say "forget Fidel Castro's policies", ignores and trivialises the predominant truth of the Cuban revolution and its subsequent social structure. On the 1st January 1959, the 26th of July Movement and its allies, finally overthrew the corrupt and despotic President Fulgencio Batista and his authoritarian government, after some 6 years of sporadic fighting. Fulgencio Batista, Cuban president and crime syndicate chief? The Batista government had political, financial and military support from the United States after seizing po

New Agenda on Sunday. is out! Edition of 27 November 2016

https://paper.li/f-1346065353 Good morning everyone. It has been some time since I commented on that awful television garbage filling many screens on Saturday nights, followed by another shorter slot on Sunday nights for the "Results show". Not that I watch this contrived nonsense of course as I am normally too busy washing my hair, but with the amount of television media coverage through out the week with analysis, instant replays, explanations and "Celeb" interviews etc. coupled with the speculation of press and media as to who will win the "contest" it is difficult if not impossible to avoid any contamination. (I always have a sneaky feeling that the results of each programme, and the ultimate winner are determined at some secret meeting immediately after the first show, and everything following that is just hype and publicity for the celebs). I learn today, that the next show is the quarter finals which may or may not have the former s

The sofa needs different occupants.

Christina Patterson and Mathew Sayed. Patronising and arrogant paper previewers who are very much at home on the Sky News sofa.  Every evening at 10:30pm and again at 11:30 pm Sky News have their preview of the following days papers. There are some "reviewers" seated on the sofa, who actually have sensible and enlightening views or comments to offer on the news on the front pages of tomorrows pages. However, there are other "reviewers" who only ever come across as patronising, arrogant and clearly lacking in any knowledge of the subject upon which they are offering an opinion. Last night's (Saturday) occupants of the sofa were no exception. Arrogant reviewer in chief was the odious Christina Patterson who shared the sofa with Mathew Sayed as they reviewed, amongst other stories, the story covering the death of Fidel Castro.  Bay of Pigs. Invasion collapses Without once referring to free health care, free education, improved

The "revolutionary", who brought higher living standards, free education and free healthcare to the people of Cuba.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/26/fidel-castro-cuba-revolutionary-icon-dies Fidel Castro dies aged 90 Fidel Castro was a South American revolutionary who together with Che Guevara freed the people of Cuba from the despotic and corrupt Mafia controlled rule of Fulgencio Batista in the late 1950's. Ernesto  " Che "  Guevara Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz Fulgencio Batista Zaldívar Castro created a socialist society in Cuba building schools, hospitals and public utilities and improving living standards, providing free health care and education and improving adult literacy. Against a background of perpetual American sanctions and embargo's in place for almost 50 years, together with numerous assassination attempts, Castro maintained programmes which have led to Cuba now having first-world levels of literacy and life expectancy. Havana Loved or hated the world over,

The dismantling of the Welfare State including the NHS has been Conservative ambition since 1947

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/25/margaret-thatcher-pushed-for-breakup-of-welfare-state-despite-nhs-pledge Thatcher pushed for breakup of welfare state despite NHS pledge The duplicitous Thatcher together with Howe, Rifkind, Hurd, Tebbit and the other accomplices of the Thatcher governments, conspired in secret to destroy our Welfare sate and our National Health Service. As I have long argued, this has been the ambition and objective of the Conservative party since 1947 and has over those years, been surreptitiously advanced with piecemeal privatisations of numerous departments and functions of the welfare system and by closures of wards and hospitals where departments and departmental responsibilities have been gifted to the private sector, under the cloak of improving the service and saving money within our NHS. Today, this malevolent aspiration of the conservative party and their business supporters, circling like vultures waiting for their oppor

Theresa May gives another pathetic performance during Prime Ministers Questions.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/23/corbyn-attacks-may-over-divisive-and-impractical-nhs-passport-check-plans Jeremy Corbyn dominates Questions to the Prime Minister. There have been some pathetic performances from pathetic conservative Prime Ministers at PMQ's over the years. Theresa May rates as number 1 for pathetic performances which become even more pathetic each week. She is already, after less than 140 days occupying Number 10 as Prime Minister, receiving criticism and "advice" from cabinet and former cabinet ministers regarding her performance at the dispatch box and elsewhere and more importantly in respect of Brexit, Welfare reforms and the NHS to mention just three areas. The best advice that these ministers and former cabinet ministers can give to this increasing inept Prime Minister is to stand down, call for a General election and hold a conservative party leadership election. If only they had the backbone to

An early 2017 General election?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/22/philip-hammond-letting-fees-ban-autumn-statement-affordable-housing Chancellor to crack down on letting fees in autumn statement Chancellor Philip Hammond , unveils his first "Autumn statement" today and is expected to announce a series of measures which have been described in many sections of the media as seeking to portray the conservative government as " a friend to ordinary working-class people”. The measures are expected to include a ban on letting fees charged by renting agents, an extra £1 billion for universal credit, i ncreasing the national living wage from £7.20 to £7.50 an hour from April 2017, £4.3m a year for strengthening minimum wage enforcement, £1.4bn investment in affordable housing and no doubt other sweeteners to bolster the image of the "caring conservatives" and to pass on a subliminal message to "Vote Conservative" at the next election. Add caption Why is