http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/clegg-may-target-wealthy-pensioners-2 Nick Clegg suggested wealthy pensioners' handouts should be cut to help balance the books. Clegg still trotting out garbage. This latest piece of verbiage is not new however. Earlier in the year, June in fact, in the Guardian, the following article appeared: "Nick Clegg backs benefit cuts for better-off pensioners Intervention comes after reports that Iain Duncan Smith is pressing for cuts to £5bn bill for elderly benefits" On Thursday 7th June 2012, under the heading of "Clegg attacks pensioner" I wrote the following on this Blog. "What is a "better off pensioner"? Is the numbskull Clegg is talking about the 65 year old who has a state pension plus a substantial private pension or is he talking about the 65 year old who has a state pension plus a small private pension only? At what level of private pension income would a person have their benefits cut? As usual t...
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/24/vince-cable-small-business-bank1 £1bn to establish a British business bank The existing banking sector has had £ billions of taxpayers money poured into their vaults by government and by the Bank of England's policy of "Quantitative Easing" in order to persuade them to lend to small businesses, "manufacturers, exporters and high-growth companies that power our economy" and "kick start" the economy. They have failed miserably in this objective. This new "Business bank", will essentially be no different from the existing high street parasites, creaming off the government funds and Bank of England cash injections, in order to improve balance sheets, show huge profits and pay obscene dividends to their share holders. Once again, the British people pay for the excesses of the banks and speculators.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/23/nick-clegg-chancellor-budget-cuts#post-area Nick Clegg pledges fresh battle with chancellor over budget cuts Another Nick Clegg "pledge". Is the "fresh battle" the one where there is a lot of grunting, hand wringing and gnashing of teeth which results in Clegg and his parliamentary herd shuffling off to go through the government lobby and vote with the Tories? No matter how many times you remake the movie, the end is always the same.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ios-hillsborough-exclusive-revealed--the-critical-role-of-jack-straw-8165990.html Jack Straw had made up his mind within five weeks of coming to power that there was no need for a fresh inquiry into the Hillsborough tragedy. We should not be surprised that Straw has his finger prints on the Hillsborough coverup scandal. He was deeply involved with Blair and others in the deception of Parliament and the nation, on the Iraq WMD myth and the subsequent decision in league with the Americans, to launch an illegal act of aggression against the Iraqi people. What his motives were in seeking to avoid a fresh inquiry into Hillsborough are speculative. However, we can be sure that there are other skeletons in Jack Straw's cupboard.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/22/coalition-cuts-nick-clegg-aide#post-area Liberal Democrats now the fourth party in British politics behind Ukip. Never mind the TV images of a hundred or so Liberal Democrat's chanting and waving banners purporting to demonstrate how much Nick is a loved and respected leader. The reality is that the Brighton Conference is full of many gloomy and worried people. Some are even prepared to admit that Clegg is a disaster and that forming a coalition with Cameron's Tories, was a grave mistake. The pity is that the price of allowing a few self centered hypocrites to gain a seat in the cabinet, is a price that is being paid by students, disabled, un employed, sick, and many of those still fortunate enough to have work. The deceipt and duplicity of Clegg and the rest, will not be quickly forgotten.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/19/analysis-charlie-hebdo-cartoons French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo's publisher, known only as Charb, speaks to journalists. There seems to be a concerted and determined campaign of incitement in parts of the global media, tacitly endorsed by governments . Incitement, leading to reaction, leading to accepted justification for what? The clock is ticking.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/19/muhammad-cartoons-freedom-expression?fb=native Article 19 of the UN's universal declaration of human rights in 1948 envisaged few restrictions. "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression," it stated. The satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo has published cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad, prompting fears of protest action. This is not an argument about free speech. This, and all the other recent "incidents", are clearly Incitement to racial and religious hated, which is a criminal offence in many countries of the world. The objective of these "incidents" is to provoke reaction in order to justify a response. There is a very sinister trend in the western media and establishment. The clock is ticking.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/clegg-eats-humble-pie-over-broken-promises-8157482.html Nick Clegg has made an abject apology to the nation for his broken promise on university tuition fees in a final attempt to stop his U-turn haunting his leadership. Meaningless and insincere words from a treacherous and discredited MP. When the betrayal has already been perpetrated and the results are self evident, an "abject apology" is unacceptable. With his duplicitous words and actions since the election,on this and other issues he has condemned the Liberal democrats to political oblivion. His apology should have been a resignation, but a dis honorable man will never take the honorable action.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/17/simon-harwood-sacked-gross-misconduct?fb=native "It's like they have just let PC Harwood resign. The conflicting verdicts of the inquest and criminal court still need to be resolved. We haven't given up; we will now be looking to the civil courts for the final judgment on who killed our dad. An appalling and totally inept cover up and whitewash of a killing. The initial inquest recorded a verdict of "unlawful killing" and since then there has been a systematic and swift programme to sanitise the events, into an action by a rouge officer culminating in no more than his dismissal for "gross misconduct". This grotesque sequence events has robbed Ian Tomlinson's family of any justice. Even the police disciplinary hearing into the conduct of PC Simon Harwood, degenerated into farce, lasing less than half a day when, by a cleaver but cynical piece of legal footwork, an admission of misconduct resu...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19628943 Cane rats and "shocking" quantities of illegal and "potentially unsafe" meat have been sold to the public in east London, BBC London has found. This is a shocking report. Why is the practice of selling illegal meat, including rats, not stamped out by the local council? Councils are very good at "Elf n Safety" when it comes to removing flower baskets in case some one bangs their head but it seems that selling rat and other illegal meat is acceptable.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/sep/16/health-firms-nhs Health firms told to get set for £20bn NHS bonanza Report says there is 'significant opportunity for private sector in primary and secondary care' 'In Jeremy Hunt [above] we have a health secretary who bent over backwards in his last job to promote powerful private interests,' says Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary. Having been in the job for only a couple of weeks, Hunt has already identified some areas where his contacts and friends in private industry can cream off £20 billion of our money from our NHS. These vile parasites in the "private sector" aided and abetted by the ConDem coalition of self servers, are destroying the NHS in the name of dogma and to further their own dubious personal objectives.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-19609680 The number of people travelling to Jersey in July was down by 10.6% on the same time last year. A Jersey Tourism spokesman said 16% fewer people travelled to Jersey by ferry in July compared with the same time last year.And 18,500 fewer people chose to travel here by ferry in the first seven months of 2012. This is hardly surprising. The cost of getting to the Island, by sea or air, is expensive and then the prices of the traditional tourist attractions (those that are still left that is), make a day out for Mum Dad and two children rather prohibitive. The days of duty and tax free goods, spirits and cigarettes are a distant memory, with a bottle of wine being around the same price on the Island as it is in our local Morrisons supermarket. I remember not too long ago, paying more for a litre of petrol on La Route des Quennevais than at Tesco in Dorchester, but sanity now seems to...
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/15/261661/pressure-on-iran-ncase-a-failure-blix/ Hans Blix says the West’s pressures against Iran have been a “failure from the very outset” Nobody listened to Hans Blix before, when he was involved with the American inspired and generated Iraq WMD wild goose chase. No body is listening now. They are all too enthusiastic in following the American Israeli determination to resort to the military option. In Iraq the result was a disaster for the country. In Iran the result would be a catastrophe for the world.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-forgotten-massacre-8139930.html 1,700 Palestinians were killed at the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps Many people will have forgotten, if they ever knew, what happened at Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in September 1982. A timely reminder from Robert Fisk. link: http://www.countercurrents.org/pa-fisk180903.htm "............w hat we found inside the Palestinian camp at ten o'clock on the morning of September 1982 did not quite beggar description, although it would have been easier to re-tell in the cold prose of a medical examination"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/cps-told-of-hillsborough-coverup-14-years-ago-8140104.html Alun Jones, QC says the Director of Public Prosecutions needs to explain why his office did "absolutely nothing" in 1998 after considering a line-by-line analysis of tampered reports by South Yorkshire police. There are far too many events involving the police where the CPS has, "decided to take no action against any officers involved". Perhaps the CPS should be investigated as well, not only on the Hillsborough tragedy but also on the numerous other cases where their decisions have caused concern.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.440380919337034.90945.145097112198751&type=1 Anti American protest grows. There is a growing anti American mood sweeping through the Middle East, which will prompt the United States into re evaluating their relationships with new, less subservient regimes. There is anger in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Clearly, the Americans are not surprised. Nor should they be. They have been sowing the wind for more than 80 years, and now they are beginning to reap the whirlwind.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/yemen/9542014/Turmoil-spreads-across-Muslim-world-over-controversial-Mohammed-film.html It should come as no surprise to anyone that there are protests against this film and incidentally no surprise, that these protests will continue and spread. The Innocence Of Muslims, depicts Mohammed as a fraud and shows him having sex and calling for massacres. The makers, supporters and financiers of this film care nothing about the "Freedom of speech" argument. Their motive was to be provocative and to generate hostility amongst Muslims throughout the Middle east and perhaps elsewhere, which in turn would result in mass protest. Their other objective was to promote reaction in the west against such protests, and to encourage the growing hostility in many people towards Islam and its followers. In this, the film makers and supportive politicians, have been encouraged by a generally Islamophobic western media w...
The Daily Mail has just been deleted from my "news sources" list. This "newspaper" is today (12th September 2012), filled with more obnoxious, biased articles and associated comments from moronic "readers comments" contributors, than I have ever seen. Editing or failing to publish comments in order to promote the Proprietors political or personal view has long been part and parcel of the media circus and thus is an accepted part of debate on the issues of the day. However, when reporting of events becomes no more than a vehicle to promote and champion attacks on working people, or Trade Unions, or Disabled, or individuals then such a "newspaper" crosses the line between decency and obscenity. Today the Mail crossed that line. Another worrying feature of the Mail over recent months is the way in which articles have been so constructed, that an Israeli attack on Iran is not only justifiable but is also encouraged as a righte...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-19529717 Brain damaged man's family loses benefits This is obscene. The way in which "government benefits departments" deal with dis ability cases is unbelievably complex. It seems that they create an obstacle course in the hope that rather than work through their endless "we require more information" letters, people will give up and go away. Complaining to your MP and sending them copies of the paperwork can sometimes be a useful exercise. Good luck to Tamsyn and Alex Wood in this battle.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/government-plans-to-cut-thousands-of-health-and-safety-inspections-8120984.html Hundreds of thousands of businesses are to be exempted from health and safety inspections under moves announced by the Government today. This is not "a radical plan plan to curb red tape". It is a plan to expose workers to potential workplace dangers in "hundreds of thousands of businesses" where unscrupulous employers are driven by the greed to make more profit, at the expense of the safety of their workers, who will have no recourse to law. How much these "hundreds of thousands" of companies have contributed to party funds in order to promote this new legislation is a matter of speculation. Do not be confused or pushed into accepting the government myth that these measures are solely to protect business from "compensation culture" claims. The first and foremost consideration is, as it has always b...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/09/block-on-exports-surveillance-equipment#post-area The continuing export of British-made surveillance technology has been thrown into question after the government admitted it had moved to restrict sales of spying software to Egypt . Eric King of the campaign group Privacy International is calling for further action by the government. Gamma's FinFisher software can secretly take remote control of a computer, copy its files, intercept Skype calls and log every keystroke. The continuing export of British-made surveillance technology has been thrown into question after the government admitted it had moved to restrict sales of spying software to Egypt. but it is odd the way in which sales of our "equipment" are acceptable and encouraged when being sold to despotic dictatorial regimes of whom we approve, but are immediately stopped or suspended when the tyrant is overthrown and the people e...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/08/labour-barack-obama-david-miliband David Milliband has re-entered the debate about how to put Labour back in government, warning his brother that he will not win the keys to Downing Street by disavowing New Labour, relying too much on working-class votes. David Milliband spouting the Blairite garbage which has already been exposed as self serving populist nonsense which betrayed the Labour Party previously. Labour must learn from history, reconnect with its roots and assume the traditional role of representing the people of this country in the face of ever increasing oppression from the Tory party and its Liberal Democrat allies. At a time of rising unemployment, a stagnating economy, cuts in social services, decimation of the NHS, punitive attacks on the sick and disabled, imposed by private companies getting very rich on handout contracts awarded by government, bankers greed and corrupt...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/osborne-tries-again-to-free-up-green-belt-land-for-housing-8101482.html George Osborne provoked a backlash from environmental groups yesterday by promising to allow more building in the Green Belt as part of a new "go-for-growth" strategy. Why is Osborne obsessed with plundering "Green Belt Land" again? Perhaps it has something to do with the type, value and ownership of the houses likely to be built there. I cant imagine that there will be social housing estates built next to golf courses or country clubs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/02/david-cameron-shakeup-reshuffle#post-area Prime minister hopes reshuffle allied to growth plan will boost coalition's fortunes. How will replacing (reshuffling) one set of self centered numbskulls with another set of the same intellectually challenged dim wits make one iota of difference to the people of this country? Cameron must be faced with difficult choices as he scrapped the bottom of the barrel to find the current incumbents in the first place.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/bring-israel-into-nato.premium-1.461868 Yehuda Lukacs suggests admitting Israel as a member of NATO, protected by the "one-for-all, all-for-one" policy of the 28-member alliance. This is the most obscene proposal that I have ever heard . Bringing in a blood soaked nation, conceived in the terrorist acts of the Haganah, Irgun, Stern Gang and others, guilty of the most atrocious crimes against humanity in their policies of ethnic cleansing and apartheid against the Palestinians. A country guilty of the most evil acts of aggression against Lebanon, Gaza and other neighbours and the use of munitions, banned under international treaty. Israel, in occupation of Palestinian lands since 1967, continues to build settlement in defiance of all international opinion and destroys Palestinian homes, farms and what little infrastructure still remains. Israel is the nuclear armed menace in the Middle East and deserves no place in any civi...