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Showing posts from September, 2013

A media generated storm in a tea cup

  http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/20/nigel-farage-godfrey-bloom-sluts-ukip Ukip's Godfrey Bloom has whip removed after 'sluts' remark     Godfrey Bloom   I am getting very fed up with hearing about, seeing or otherwise being made aware of the antics, or pronouncement of this buffoon. It is clearly obvious that the media and political establishment have their own agenda for discrediting and rubbishing UKIP which they perceive to be a threat to the dominant position of the main parties. It seems to me that fortunately, UKIP will never be a serious challenge for political credibility, since their main platform is centered on one issue and their members views on other political and social matters are as diverse as can be imagined. Consequently, should the media be compelled to continue their campaign against UKIP, perhaps they might find a less irritating individual than Godfrey Bloom  as a vehicle for their criticisms.

The energy suppliers cartel prepare to announce big price increases, again.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/20/energy-firms-increase-prices Energy firms expected to increase prices by 8%     The energy company cartel preparing everyone for their usual autumn round of extortionate price increases. This time they find another "reason" for ripping off the consumer by blaming "increased cost of environmental levies" as justification. Not content with "selling" energy to themselves through a myriad of different companies with the same ultimate "owner" (thinking that we have not noticed) and then blaming their suppliers for price increases, they now resort to a nebulous concept of environmental levies to defend their avarice. Privatisation may have been good for the companies,and ultimately for the institutional shareholders, but for the consumer it has been an unmitigated disaster. There is little point in following the advice of government ministers (who have their own agenda on this issue) and

France, United Kingdom and America seeking to regain the initiative

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10312315/Syria-West-vows-to-increase-backing-for-rebels.html Syria: West vows to increase backing for rebels  Laurent Fabius John Kerry and William Hague The determination of France, the United States and Great Britain to wage war against the Syrian people and to support the insurgency of fighters from Chechnya, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Israel and even the al- Qaeda linked groups, is as astounding in its hypocrisy as it is in its cynicism. Since this civil war started around two years ago,"the west" led initially be Great Britain and now joined by the French and the Americans, have been fervently seeking excuses to become involved in the conflict and to bring about, by any means, regime change in Damascus. The plans were thrown into some confusion when the House of Commons in the United Kingdom, voted against a government resolution authorising the use of force, closely followed by President Obama refe

LibDems will form a coalition with anybody...............................if they get the chance.

  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/15/liberal-democrats-prefer-_n_3929034.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Liberal Democrats Prefer Coalition With Labour     Nick Clegg and however many of his Parliamentary mercenaries remain after the next general election, will form a coalition (provided of course that no one party secures an overall majority) with who ever offers the the best cabinet position s and or ministries and or chairmanships or any other of the perks with which they will be bribed.  A "joker" in the pack?   When it comes to manifesto commitments or political principle, Clegg and his band of hypocritical misfits will soon forget such small details in their grubby bids for "power". They will gladly grab their "thirty pieces of silver" as they leap into their ministerial limousines and purr off to their second homes.  

More frothy rhetoric than practical substance

  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/14/us-and-russia-agree-deal-_n_3925763.html?utm_hp_ref=uk#comments   US And Russia Agree Deal Over Syria's Chemical Weapons  John Kerry Sergey Lavrov    The Syrians were not in Geneva in 2013, in much the same way as the Czechs were not in Munich in 1938. The resultant “agreement” however has the same sort of “peace in our time” ring about it as did the sheet of paper waved in the air at Heston Aerodrome all those years ago. John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov stood behind their respective l ecterns as Kerry presented the 6 point agreement, (after seemingly to forget that number six followed number five), outlining how Syria should produce a list of their chemical weapons within a week, how inspection should start by mid November and how the weapons must be handed over by June next year. At the end of Kerry's presentation, Lavrov chipped in with a vague reference as to how they “ might request” a

Ashdown: Defending the indefensible.

  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/13/paddy-ashdown-liberal-democrat-conference_n_3919984.html?utm_hp_ref=uk  Paddy Ashdown Tells Lib Dems It Would Be 'Crazy' To End Coalition Early Ashdown and Alan Beith contested the first leadership election in 1988, which Ashdown won by a substantial margin. Asked why he thought that Beith had been so heavily defeated and why he and many other Liberal Democrat MP's had voted for Ashdown, a leading Liberal MP at the time responded, "We can put sense into the man with charisma, but not charisma into the man with sense". It seems that after some years of sitting on the red leather benches in the House of Lords, the charisma has melted away, and whatever "sense" the Liberal Democrats may have managed to put into the former member for Yeovil, it has been replaced by a rather confused view of reality. His comments and observations in recent years, has culminated over the past two weeks with h

There are no trains to Cairo today.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/12/egypt-extends-state-of-emergency_n_3914693.html?utm_hp_ref=world  Egypt Extends State Of Emergency Laws As Security Forces Expand Military Crackdown In early 2011. hundreds of thousands of Egyptians were fighting running battles with police and Hosni Mubarak supporters on the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and a hundred other towns across Egypt. Their objectives were to overthrow Mubarak and the military junta in the guise of SCAF with Field Marshall Tantawi in control, and open Egypt to a democratic future. On February  11th 2011, Mubarak stepped down from the Presidency, thus ending more than 50 years of military dictatorship, from Nasser though Sadat. Cairo's Tahrir Square was filled with more than a million jubilant demonstrators celebrating their victory over the forces of oppression and looking forward to free elections for a new President and a new order in Egyptian society. What the vast majority of t

A flawed comparison but the knives are out for Clegg.

  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nick-clegg-is-worse-than-michael-foot-says-key-lib-dem-peer-8812916.html Nick Clegg is ‘worse than Michael Foot’ says key Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshott Bay,  former Treasury spokesman,      If Nick Clegg had 25% of the intellect, ability, honesty, political intelligence and perhaps most importantly principle as Michael Foot had, he would be in a far better position with his party and with the public. Clegg may have had some degree of charisma, but today and certainly since the last election. he has become a discredited hypocrite with the leadership qualities of a lemming.

Should diplomacy fail, the "blame game" is already taking shape.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/diplomatic-plan-to-force-syria-to-surrender-chemical-weapons-already-in-jeopardy-as-russia-and-us-lock-horns-8810074.html Diplomatic plan to force Syria to surrender chemical weapons already in jeopardy as Russia and US lock horns It really is nauseating how the western media, this time the Independant, immediately leap onto the bandwagon of "blame the Russians" if the diplomatic plan fails. "Russia puts deal to avert Syria war in jeopardy ahead of key meeting" screams out from the front page of the Independant, blaming Russia for the contrived French, American and British attempts to claw back initiative in their desperate desire to inflict "punishment" on the Syrian regime. The tactic of making unacceptable demands and blaming the other side for the failure of diplomacy is not a new one. The  Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum to Serbia of 23 July, 1914 is a classic example. The real French/America

Grant Shapps is not very happy

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/11/bedroom-tax-grant-shapps-un_n_3904570.html?1378888999&utm_hp_ref=uk Tories Attack 'Loopy Brazilian Leftie' UN Official For Condemning Bedroom Tax Raquel Rolnik, an independent expert charged by the United Nation Human Right Council to monitor and report on adequate housing worldwide      Grant Shapps is bloody furious with Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur on housing. "She did not meet with any government officials,or department or any ministers in the DWP. She calls it a bedroom tax, when it is not a tax" he ranted. We are building 148000 affordable homes" (affordable mind you not social) "to tackle the housing problem in the country which is all the fault of the "previous administration" in any case". "Why should people have spare rooms when other people are in overcrowded accommodation?" Shapps is apparently writing to the UN to demand an investigatio

A speech of froth, cliche and patronising comment

  http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/10/ed-miliband-tuc-speech-lukewarm-reception Ed Miliband's TUC speech receives lukewarm reception   Having watched the whole of Ed Miliband's televised speech to the TUC yesterday,(10th September 2013) and the subsequent session of planted questions, it was noticeable how restrained the delegates were in their responses to the Labour Party's leader. This is not particularly surprising when you consider that Miliband's offering was more froth than content and that the speech was full of cliche, feeble attempts at humour and patronising remarks about the "backbone of Britain",  "the vision of our founders"and "hearing from the people who are your members" and at the end of a twenty minute performance, a reference to his  " vision" of a one nation Britain .  A poor performance which offered little, other than a vague reference that a future Labour government would legi

Ed Miliband and his attack on the Trade Union movement.

  http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-unions-should-realise--this-isnt-an-attack-8805135.html     Donald Macintyre is off target when he suggests that "The unions should realise - this isn't an attack"   Donald Macintyre: Independant   Miliband seems to have forgotten, or is conveniently ignoring, what many other Labour party leaders since Clement Attlee, have also ignored. The relationship between the Labour Party and the TUC, and the wider Trade Union movement, is an historic one dating back to 1900. It should be a relationship where the Parliamentary Labour Party, (the MP's) should have as its primary objective the representation and well being of working people in this country. The same objective in fact as the TUC. In this context, “working people” is used in its wider definition, to include employed and unemployed, the disabled, the sick, benefit claimants in fact the whole spectrum of society. Over recent deca

Crass and repugnant.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/syria-civil-war-barack-obama-tries-to-rally-waverers-ahead-of-congress-vote-on-us-strikes-8803988.html Barack Obama tries to rally waverers ahead of Congress vote on US strikes Desperation of a President.   The most crass and repugnant form of propaganda to be used by the United states to encourage an act of aggression against another country. Repugnant and sinister persuasion of the American people. "Videos of gas victims deployed along with a media campaign and proxies to persuade public to back Syria military action"