http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/taliban-could-soon-be-coming-in-from-the-cold-8680013.html Taliban could soon be coming in from the cold 12 years on, over 400 British service personnel (and thousands of civilians together with other NATO troops) killed with thousands more severely injured, and nothing has been achieved. Blair and Bush "standing shoulder to shoulder" has extracted a very high cost.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/26/job-seekers-allowance-spending-review_n_3503645.html?utm_hp_ref=uk There is no choice between the parties. They both seek to retain the "status quo". Chancellor George Osborne This country is lost in a quagmire of right centre politics, dominated by the Conservative and Labour parties preaching much the same policies as each other, but with marginally different emphases. The Liberal democrats are in the same dreamland, but flit around trying to find an opportunistic perch, upon which to alight and barter their few seats in the house of Commons in exchange for a few cabinet posts should either of the other parties fail to achieve an overall majority under our present antiquated and blatantly unfair voting system. All the while, the people of this nation remain locked into a situation where they have little control of their everyday environment and even less prospect of bringing about any real ...
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/call-out-stuff-the-banks-saturday-20th-july Food banks now a lifeline for half a million people in Britain Foodbanks are not the "Big Society" in action. They are a product of decades of government negligence and are an indictment of the rest of society for allowing it to happen. It is to our collective eternal shame that Cameron, Clegg, Osborne, Milliband, Brown and the rest of the self serving hypocrites of the House of commons remain with their noses in the trough of expenses, food allowances, subsidised alcohol and other perks while 500,000 people in this country queue for foodbank charity.
http://www.channelonline.tv/channelonline_jerseynews/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=505848 Calls for Jersey to invest more in tourism The problem is that Jersey is pricing itself out of the tourism market. The reasons for this situation are complex and varied.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. It has been said that air travel to Jersey is cheaper than Malaga or Ibiza for a family of Mum Dad and two children. That may well be the case but when the complete cost, including car hire and accommodation is considered, the all up cost of a holiday in jersey is considerably more expensive. The same family, coming by sea with their own car, would pay £595 just for the travel cost. On arrival, the family would quickly become aware that prices are higher than they expected. The days of duty ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/flight-su150-from-moscow-arrives-in-cuba-without-edward-snowden--but-ecuador-confirms-nsa-whistleblower-wants-asylum-8670308.html Whistleblower Edward Snowden Asks Ecuador For Asylum Edward Snowden The American administration is embarrassed, frustrated and very angry in the wake of the revelations by Edward Snowden, regarding two highly classified NSA surveillance programs, and his subsequent avoidance of extradition from Hong Kong. The reaction to these events over the past few days, has been verging on the hysterical, with Senator Dianne Feinstein, Secretary of State John Kerry White House spokesman Jay Carney and others appearing on our television screens and being quoted in the media, threatening all sorts of dire consequences for any country through which Snowden may have travelled on his way to political asylum. ...
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/06/2013622144844127498.html Friends of Syria pledge to arm rebels Friends of Syria meeting in Qatar The Friends of Syria group (which includes the United States, United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar etc etc) agree to give "urgent military support" to Syrian rebels (who, under different circumstances, they would usually describe as terrorists) and at the same time they demand an immediate withdrawal of from Syria of "Hezbollah militias and fighters from Iran and Iraq". This is crass hypocrisy of the first order from western powers seeking long term advantage and favours from despotic Middle Eastern regimes who are not even wanted in their own countries where they rely on western weapons to retain their position. This is a bloody and awful civil war in Syria. The "Friends of Syria group" are making a bad situation even worse, the United States, Britain and France are pouri...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/21/jeremy-forrest-pleads-guilty-child-sex-charges_n_3477458.html?utm_hp_ref=uk&utm_hp_ref=uk Jeremy Forrest has been sentenced to five-and-a-half-years Huffington Post have closed comments for this and all other articles associated with this story. Now why could this be ? It is interesting to compare the 15month sentence for Hall, who committed offences against at least 14 girls, of whom at least one was only 9, with Forrest who committed offences against one girl who was almost 16 at the time and still seems to be in some sort of relationship with him.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jun/21/labour-radical-change-austerity-ed-miliband Labour can achieve radical change amid austerity, says Ed Miliband Ed Milliband Almost with every passing day, Milliband confirms that the Labour Party of today, is a party almost indistinguishable from the other political parties of mainstream politics in the United Kingdom. His comparison with 1945 demonstrates that his knowledge of history is severely limited or at best patently selective. The Labour Government of 1945 did indeed achieve radical social change in this country in a time of austerity, but such change was brought about by a complete programme of reform social, economic and political which totally transformed society and reversed the imbalances between working people and their employers which had plagued Britain for generations. Clement Attlee Today, Milliband accepts the coalition spending plans, offers no plans to reverse the d...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/18/taliban-us-peace-talks_n_3459741.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Taliban And US Officials To Meet In Doha For Afghanistan Peace Talks The opening of the Taliban Political Office, in Doha, What has actually been achieved during the 12 years since the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 ? The answer of course is not very much. The Americans, (forget the ISAF and NATO labels, this was always an American escapade), have learned what numerous other countries have learned throughout history, that no foreign invasion has ever had a successful outcome (from the invaders viewpoint) in Afghanistan. Regardless of the announcements by Bush, and others over the years, to the effect that victory was imminent or had actually been achieved,the fighting and the killings, and the suicide bombers and the IED's continue on a daily basis.Even on the day that these "talks" were announced, 4 American soldiers were ki...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/17/stuart-hall-sentence-unduly-lenient_n_3454685.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Paedophiles Like Hall Do Not Deserve Lenience Stuart Hall Stuart Hall receives a sentence of only 15 months which in effect means that he could be released in 6 months or even, under certain circumstances, four. The sentence it seems took into account the fact that he pleaded guilty. It has also emerged that, presumably, as part of "the deal", a more serious charge of rape was dropped. It has further been suggested that the 14 counts on which Hall was convicted was only part of a significantly higher number of charges which were not brought. The sentence was indeed very lenient. Sky News Presenter Anna Botting A more disturbing observation and comment came on last nights (17th June) Sky News programme during the paper review at 10:30pm. Anna Botting actually said that the offences committed by Hall came at the "lower end" of ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-tells-russia-join-the-club-or-face-isolation-on-syria-8662591.html Cameron tells Russia: join the club or face isolation on Syria David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin Cameron's delusional sense of his own importance and power, should be of concern to us all. Isolated apart perhaps from Hague, on the qustion of providing arms to the Syrian rebels Cameron now threatens the Russians to "join the club" or else. Cameron does not see the irony (or the hypocrisy) of criticising Russia for providing arms and equipment under legal contracts going back over many years, to a legitimate government of another nation (America supplying arms and equipment to Israel is conveniently ignored), and the insanely irresponsible act of providing such materiel to one or other of the rebel, or more accurately terrorist, factions of the FSA. We also should not loose sight of the fact that the G8 is essentially no...
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/israel-builds-settlements-pa-guards-them-by-khalid-amayreh/ Israel builds settlements, PA guards them. PLO official Nabil Shaath threw a bombshell this week when he told Israeli reporters in Ramallah that the Palestinian Authority (PA) spends a large portion of its meager budget on guarding Israeli colonies against possible attacks by Palestinian resistance fighters. Why on earth should the PA spend even one penny on guarding illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine? The "settlers" destroy irrigation systems and other infrastructure, they uproot crops and olive groves, they attack Palestinians in their own homes and they burn villages, all the while protected by the occupying thugs of the Israeli defence Force. Their whole campaign of violenc...
http://thebackbencher.co.uk/why-im-leaving-labour/ The terminal decline of a once great party. Clause IV of the Labour Party Constitution: To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service . (deleted by Blair in 1995) They are all the same now I left Labour many years ago when Blair, Mandelson, Campbell and Brown "reformed" the party and created a centre ground "one size fits all" political grouping indistinguishable from Tory or LibDem and exchanged principle for populist expediency. Thatcher created a nation where "there is no such thing as society", greed and selfishness are good, hypocrisy is an acceptable characteristic and where th...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syrian-civil-war-tony-blair-calls-for-intervention-after-use-of-chemical-weapons-by-president-bashar-alassad-and-hezbollah-involvement-8660114.html Syrian civil war: Tony Blair calls for intervention. Tony Blair: The West must intervene in Syria If this lying hypocrite is advocating intervention, then all the more reason not to become involved. The warmonger Blair is responsible for enough death and destruction around the Middle East already and his credentials as a "peace envoy" a re not worth the paper they are printed on. This mouth piece for the American government should concentrate on making even more money from his nefarious activities from the past and keep his interventionist opinions to himself.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/15/syria_8_n_3446909.html?utm_hp_ref=uk David Cameron Says UK Will Work With Syria Rebels, Despite 'Deeply Unsavoury' Elements. David Cameron says that there are "deeply unsavoury elements within the anti-Assad forces", and yet blunders on with his and Hague's compulsion to provide weapons and aid to the "rebels". British and American troops are now in Jordan "close" to the Syrian border and "special advisers" are already inside Syria providing assistance to one or more of the numerous factions of the FSA. Despite the rhetoric to the contrary, a no fly zone or zones will be imposed sooner rather than later, with all the inherent perils of escalation. David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague The western powers, namely the United States and Great Britain, are gearing up for a full scale intervention in Syria and are preparing their respective peoples to acc...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/syria-chemical-weapons-assad_n_3437640.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Obama Authorizes Sending Weapons To Syrian Rebels "Uncle Sam" paving the way for yet another intervention in a Middle East country. First, a "No fly zone" around the Lebanon,Israel borders extending into Syria and another around the Turkish Syrian border under the guise of "NATO". This lunacy, enthusiastically endorsed by the UK and France, would provide the environment for the un interrupted arming of one or more of the splintered factions of the "rebels" opposed to the Syrian government. It would then not be too long before covert western "special advisers" could be supplemented with regular troops. Barak Obama William Hague with John Kerry We seem to learn nothing from history. The ambiguous "War on terror" in Afghanistan and the futile search for "WMD" in Iraq are...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/12/hague-kerry-syria-talks_n_3430433.html?utm_hp_ref=uk#comments William Hague Says World Must 'Do More' For Syria After Talks With John Kerry Hague and Kerry It seems that most Syrians support the Government. I spent some time in Syria back in the 1980's and I had the distinct impression that the same was true then. Hafez al-Assad was ruthless, but was generally supported by the people. Bashar al-Assad is not the man his father was, but seems to enjoy more support than the western leaders and the media are prepared to acknowledge. Bashar al-Assad Hafez al-Assad The Syrian civil war is a tragedy and we should have no part of it. The enthusiasm of the United states, Great Britain and France to become involved demonstrates the cynical and hypocritical attitude of the west towards the count...
http://www.independent.co.uk/money/tax/hopes-of-g8-tax-avoidance-breakthrough-fading-fast-8656295.html Hopes of G8 tax avoidance breakthrough fading fast G8 protester The G8 is a forum for the governments of the world's eight wealthiest countries. Do we really expect this group of self serving politicians and their associated entourages to do anything meaningful ? They have a history of much talk and little action other than attending banquets and congratulating themselves on how important they are. The G8 and the associated spin offs, promise mountains but deliver molehills
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/its-time-to-commemorate-the-first-world-war-but-dont-lets-be-beastly-to-the-germans-says-ms-miller-8653940.html Centenary of the First World War next year. British recruits August 1914 The root causes of the First World war are rather more complex than this trite Matthew Norman article seem to imply. If the intention was to create a "tongue in cheek" piece of prose poking fun at Maria Miller then so be it, but to suggest that the assassination in Sarajevo was somehow the cause of the subsequent slaughter in the trenches and incidentally on the eastern front,glosses over a range of inter related social, economic, religious and geographical complexities created over many decades before. The "Great War" destroyed too many lives to be trivialised and was the root cause of WW2. As French major general Ferdinand Foch declared (quite accurately)as a reaction to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, "This i...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/31/syria-peace-talks-russia-weapons Syria peace talks likely to be postponed as Russia plans to ship more weapons President of the Syrian National Council George Sabra (C) talks with other Syrian opposition members The "Peace talks" are not postponed because Russia has announced its intention to "ship more weaponry to the Assad regime", as the whole tone of this (Guardian) article seems intent on suggesting. The postponement is purely due to the simple fact that one of the fragments of the "rebels" has thrown in the perception that Hezbollah and an Iranian militia has "invaded" Syria. There is of course no mention of any of the other "invasions" by Qatari volunteers supporting another fragment of the "rebels" opposed to George Sabra, or the Saudi Arabian militia supporting yet another faction or the Israeli and American support for which ever "opposition faction...