The Wider World - news summaries    (ARCHIVE - continues)
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transcript of the Blair/Humphrys interview, 29/9/ 2004
transcript of the Blair/Humphrys interview, 29/9/ 2005
They Work for You.com (new window) keeping tabs on the MPs, links to Hansard
Legal advice and Lord Goldsmith   Downing Street Memos

Valerie Plame Affair - latest

"Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it... The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it." Woodrow Wilson

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." Groucho Marx

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30 April 2006 ~ a department that is 'unaccountable and unreliable'.

It all adds to a picture of a government out of its depth. The parallel universe that appears to be being inhabited by the heirarchy of the Labour party seems less and less like our own. Hospitals and mental centres (in Suffolk for example) have closed or are closing down all over the country, to the anguish of those living near. Can Mrs Hewitt, Mr Clarke and all the Blunketts, Prescotts, Byers, Jowells, Reids and Straws of the Labour Party really be surprised at the outrage felt by ordinary people? The answer seems to be yes. They are both surprised and hurt - and Mr Blair, puppeteer in chief, puts it all down to the pernicious media.

30 April 2006 ~ Iran has enriched uranium to about 4 per cent - ie in the range used for fuel in nuclear power stations. At least 80% enrichment is needed for nuclear weapon production.
See ABC news

30 April 2006 ~ Iraq. 70 American GIs have been killed in Iraq in the past month, and over 2400 have been killed since the war began. As for the Iraqi casualties...on Saturday alone, "...bombings and assassinations left some 25 persons dead in Iraq, including 17 who just showed up in the street dead, with some showing signs of torture..." See Informed Comment. Juan Cole also says,

30 April 2006 ~ Iraq "billions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse." The Los Angeles Times "..... Iraqi insurgent attacks on oil pipelines drain as much as $8 million a day from the Iraqi treasury, and strikes against electrical towers are among the primary reasons that power production remains below prewar levels."
A federal audit released yesterday s the latest account of

30 April 2006 ~ "guided democracy" in Prescott's UK Booker's Notebook: "....... The net effect of Mr Prescott's revolution has thus been to abolish the principle which lies at the heart of democracy.
If voters can no longer choose the candidate who best represents their wishes, and councillors are not permitted to express a view until they are told what to think by officials, what remains of representative democracy?
In the Soviet Union, this was known as "guided democracy". Thanks to the fiat of Mr Prescott, it is happening here. .."

29 April 2006 ~ Why did the BBC decide to focus so prominently and heavily on Iran? Medialens says,"Wittingly or otherwise, the BBC may now be participating in a rehashed 'Operation Mass Appeal' to generate support for an assault on Iran and asks of this BBC report, , "Why did the BBC decide to focus so prominently and heavily on Iran - a country under serious threat of attack by the United States and perhaps Britain? Why would the BBC choose to isolate and highlight the sins of an official enemy, thereby boosting the government's propaganda campaign? Is this innocent, or are more cynical forces at work here?" Yesterday's Amnesty International press release, 'Death Penalty: 20,000 on death row across the world,' actually said (extract):

29 April 2006 ~playthings of MI5? In a recent Guest Media Alert, Richard Keeble, author of Secret State, Silent Press (John Libbey 1997), cited Roy Greenslade, media specialist at the Telegraph

Keeble commented:

28 April 2006 ~ Charles Clarke Will he resign now? "......five of those es Clarke Will he resign now? "......five of those mistakenly released prisoners have since been convicted of drugs and violence offences." Snowmail tells us.

28 April 2006 ~ Letter in the Telegraph "... That is what an opposition is for, to harry and expose the government of the day so that the sort of laws listed so depressingly by Mr Johnson never hit the statute book - or are repealed when they get back in...."
The letter refers to Mr Cameron being in Norway. We have never needed an effective opposition more. (Boris Johnson's Comment article yesterday should be read in full)

28 April 2006 ~ "...The cumulative effect of these constant New Labour shenanigans is to give the impression of a government that likes being in power and all the trappings that come with it, but not the tiresome business of running the country competently..... ..... If the cabinet *was* a normal office, of, say, 20 people, ten of them would be having extramarital affairs, five would be fiddling their expenses, two of them wouldn't have a fucking clue how to do their job, two would be congenital liars and one of them would be a Scientologist. Maybe this is what's meant by UK plc." "The Friday Thing"

28 April 2006 ~ Peter Law ".. Scotland Yard is considering whether to investigate a claim that the Labour party offered the late rebel MP Peter Law a peerage not to stand as an independent.... " Guardian

28 April 2006 ~ Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill Alex Wade in the Times has been talking to Peter Fluck of Spitting Image

27 April 2006 ~ "The media do not fix the terms of political debate, politicians do." said Simon Jenkins on Wednesday

No, concludes Jenkins, "this is not a totalitarian government but it is a "creeping authoritarian" one. Nor is the press peddling "a pernicious and dangerous poison" in protesting. It is doing its job."

27 April 2006 ~ Blair dismisses talk of 'Black Wednesday' says the Guardian with rather a wonderful rogues' gallery photo montage "And then there were three ... the embattled Charles Clarke, Patricia Hewitt and John Prescott."
Mr Blair apparently considers that a combination of the failure to consider deporting 1,000 foreign criminals by Mr Clarke, the jeering of Mrs Hewett by nurses, and the admission of adultery by John Prescott, does not amount to a "Black Wednesday".
One wonders what would.
In the mind of the Prime Minister, who compared himself today to football managers like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger facing criticism, a shaky record on the football field apparently equates to the demise of competence, trust, decency and honesty in the highest echelons of New Labour.

27 April 2006 ~ Fox News network pundit, Tony Snow, to be the new White House press spokesman "the proof of the pudding will be in the eating" says the Independent.

25 April 2006 ~ ("Bleed, bleed, poor country! Great tyranny! lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dare not check thee:..." Macbeth Act IV sc 3)
"You don't defend our way of life by sacrificing our way of life." So says David Davis.

All right - so where (oh where) is the effective opposition from the Cons and Lib Dems? Is it not their job to be giving more attention to the manner in which our hard-won freedoms are being sacrificed by power seekers who, being quite convinced that they are right, have actually los touch with both their common sense and their common humanity?
Why is it that a handful of good journalists are the only ones sticking out their brave necks?
Mr Blair says defiantly, "We have given the police the resources and powers.... We will legislate again if they need more powers." What sort of language is this? Is it not akin to "the rantings of a swarthy Hitler with little man syndrome?" And yet Blair began so well....

25 April 2006 ~ "The truth just flies out of the window." said Charles Clarke (see Independent)
Chicken Yoghurt's comment:

25 April 2006 ~ Halliburton subsidiary, KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown & Root. The failure of the Al Fatah pipeline project seen as a metaphor for the failures of the entire $45 billion rebuilding effort in Iraq. New York Times :

25 April 2006 ~ Afghanistan - Government statements are at variance with the reality "A senior commander has acknowledged that British soldiers may carry out offensive operations in Afghanistan, despite government denials....The deployment of almost 6,000 troops into Afghanistan at a cost of #1bn has been accompanied by repeated assertions from ministers that British soldiers will not take part in warfare and counter-insurgency operations. ............The shadow Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, has written to Mr Reid threatening to withdraw Tory support for the Afghan mission if the Government continues to make statements in the Commons which he says are in "variance" with the real military operations. " Independent

24 April 2006 ~" If you still think you live in a liberal and democratic society, then please read on" wrote Simon Carr in the Indepenendent (Portfolio). Retaliating, Mr Clarke has attacked "incorrect, tendentious and over-simplified assertions about this Government's record on civil liberties". (But please see Bloggerheads for blessedly sane antidote to Mr Clarke's frightening nonsense)
The Independent today Essential measures - or chipping away at our freedom? sums up what critics of the government's measures say about

See also the 34 examples (so far) that Simon Carr gave to show " to any disinterested observer how Britain has changed in the past eight years"

24 April 2006 ~ "If the world is demanding Iran doesn't develop nuclear weapons it should also demand that countries which possess nuclear weapons." Ynet news reports today that Jordanian King Abdullah says that his country is interested in a nuclear-free Middle East and he has urged the international community to pressure Israel to dismantle its nuclear arsenal. disarm," Abdullah said in an interview to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

24 April 2006 ~ Professor Juan Cole today: "I don't know how Bush lives with himself. He has squandered 5 years of unparalleled power and opportunities, and has nothing to show for it but national bankruptcy and national humiliation." In a previous posting today, Prof Cole says,

24 April 2006 ~ "the practice of confiscating passports from such workers was both widespread on American bases and in violation of the U.S. trafficking laws". Following the link from Prof Cole, we read in the Chicago Tribune "...Gen. George Casey ordered that contractors be required by May 1 to return passports that have been illegally confiscated from laborers on U.S. bases after determining that such practices violated U.S. laws against trafficking for forced or coerced labor. Human brokers and subcontractors from South Asia to the Middle East have worked together to import thousands of laborers into Iraq from impoverished countries. Two memos obtained by the Tribune indicate that Casey's office concluded that the practice of confiscating passports from such workers was both widespread on American bases and in violation of the U.S. trafficking laws..."

23 April 2006 ~ Lord Onslow speaks out. Observer -

23 April 2006 ~ Juan Cole on events in Iraq "President Talabani asks al-Maliki to Form a Government; 6 Dead in Sunday Mortar Barrage; 5 US Troops, 26 Iraqis Killed Saturday "

23 April 2006 ~ UK Forty per cent of senior nurses "would resign if they could", the Royal College of Nursing has claimed. ITN (Would the figure for teachers be even higher? Having a vocation isn't much fun when one is at the mercy of government "targets" rather than trust, and a society in near despair.)

22 April 2006 ~ Young Officers Join the Debate Over Rumsfeld NYT "..... discussions often flare with anger, particularly among many midlevel officers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and face the prospect of additional tours of duty. "This is about the moral bankruptcy of general officers who lived through the Vietnam era yet refused to advise our civilian leadership properly," said one Army major in the Special Forces who has served two combat tours. "I can only hope that my generation does better someday."....
".... the Army major in the Special Forces. "...The Army, however, went gently into that good night of Iraq without saying a word...For that reason, most of us know that we have to share the burden of responsibility for this tragedy. And at the end of the day, it wasn't Rumsfeld who sent us to war, it was the president. ....." (in full)

20 April 2006 ~Venezuela

John Pilger, fearing (as we do) for Chavez and Venezuela - and writing about the dangerous servility of the media in the US and UK. With the utmost reluctance, we conclude that he is right.

20 April 2006 ~ " 50 percent in some polls - who say they would favor impeachment if the president were proved to have deliberately lied to justify going to war in Iraq...." The Vanity Fair article by Carl Bernstein Senate Hearings on Bush, Now

Bernstein concludes

20 April 2006 ~ The retired three-star Marine Corps general who served as director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the war's planning, Gregory Newbold, wrote in Time last week that the decision to invade Iraq

19 April 2006 ~ You might think it was a moment to draw on some well-worn term like "peaceful coexistence"; but (see Tomgram) :

19 April 2006 ~ Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, will appear before the Constitutional Affairs Committee which is opening a full-scale inquiry into the system of political party funding. ITN

19 April 2006 ~ "the West's obsession with combating terrorism" The UNHCR report singles out a Europe-wide initiative launched by Tony Blair in 2003 as an example of how the industrialised north is trying to make the developing world cope with more than its share of refugees.

19 April 2006 ~ America meets the new superpower The visit of President Hu to Washington underlines the inevitable loss of America's economic supremacy to China Independent Bush said he would discuss Iran's nuclear activities with China's President Hu Jintao, who has been cool toward sanctions, during his U.S. visit this week. Asked if his options included planning for a nuclear strike, Bush said: "All options are on the table. We want to solve this issue diplomatically and we're working hard to do so." Reuters

18 April 2006 ~ "The weak Chinese-Russian strategic alliance against the U.S. that goes by the name of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has just granted Iran full membership, a quiet political statement of the first order." TomDispatch

18 April 2006 ~ the current level of activity in the Pentagon suggests more than just standard contingency planning or tactical saber-rattling. The New York Times In 1996, the US and Iran

18 April 2006 ~The US, Iran and the End of the International Order article by Jussi Sinnemaa at http://informationclearinghouse.info

Read in full

14-16 April 2006 ~"And finally, this notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table. (Laughter.)"
George W Bush, 22nd February 2005
As Scott Ritter wrote a year ago. "The American media today is sleepwalking towards an American war with Iran with all of the incompetence and lack of integrity that it displayed during a similar path trodden during the buildup to our current war with Iraq."

14-16 April 2006 ~ consent of the governed" will no longer apply; actual control of the state will have passed to a small and privileged group who rule for the benefit of their wealthy peers and corporate patrons...." A thought provoking article called "The Rise of Fascism in America" at http://informationclearinghouse.info/ has relevance for the UK and should be read in full.

14-16 April 2006 ~ Iraq There was major violence in Iraq yesterday. 52 were killed and another Shiite shrine has been blown up. The concerned Iraqi ministry announced yesterday that 65,000 more Iraqis have been displaced during the past two weeks by ethnic violence and reprisal killings. Professor Juan Cole says

14-16 April 2006 ~ The pressure is growing on Donald Rumsfeld to go "Two more retired U.S. generals called for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign on Thursday, claiming the chief architect of the Iraq war and subsequent American occupation should be held accountable for the chaos there." Reuters See also ITN "Retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni said Mr Rumsfeld should be held responsible for a series of blunders, starting with "throwing away 10 years worth of planning, plans that had taken into account what we would face in an occupation of Iraq."

13 April 2006 ~ " this scandal makes Neil Hamilton look like a boy scout." Martin Bell quoted by Channel 4 Snowmail this evening, after a Dagenham head teacher was arrested today for an offence under the Honours Prevention of Abuses Act 1925

13 April 2006 ~ The RAF doctor has been jailed for eight months. See below and today's Independent "As to the preliminary orders given in this trial process and indeed the conviction and sentence that have now taken place, Dr Kendall-Smith has given very clear and unambiguous instructions to lodge an appeal with all haste."

13 April 2006 ~ "The court would be failing in its duty under the Human Rights Act if it did not say, loud and clear that the procedure under the Act whereby the court merely reviews the lawfulness of the Secretary of State's decision to make the order upon the basis of the material available to him at that early stage are conspicuously unfair.... To say the Act does not give the respondent in this case 'a fair hearing' in the determination of his rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights would be an understatement." ." - a damning verdict on the Government's anti-terror policy by Mr Justice Sullivan in the High Court. The Home Secretary will appeal. See Independent

13 April 2006 ~ Terrorism Act 2006 now law. ".......trespass on nuclear sites a terrorist offence and allows organisations involved in all such activities to be banned. Human rights group Liberty said it was concerned the law would outlaw "passionate speech" and criminalise non-violent political parties and "make Britain less safe by silencing dissent". ..." Independent

13 April 2006 ~ A fourth former US army general in less than a month today called on the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to resign over his handling of the war in Iraq. Guardian

13 April 2006 ~ Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill(see below)"The government is to write new safeguards into a controversial bill giving ministers sweeping powers to change the law after Labour's chief whip in the Lords warned it would otherwise face defeat. Lord Grocott wrote to Tony Blair and John Prescott warning them it would be "exceptionally difficult" to pass the legislation without making changes." Guardian

13 April 2006 ~ "Okay, So Let's Get This Straight: On Monday, Bush Admitted That he Lied About Leaking a Lie to Smear Someone Who Revealed the Truth About His Lying"
Buzzflash take on the latest revelations (that rarely make it to the BBC news)

12 April 2006 ~ "We have found the weapons of mass destruction" ..... But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true. ...."There was no connection to anything biological," said one expert who studied the trailers. " The Washington Post today: "Administration Pushed Notion of Banned Iraqi Weapons Despite Evidence to Contrary" The truth slowly emerges. (in full)

12 April 2006 ~ "another escalation of the war of rhetoric between Iran and the West over his nuclear programme. In his speech, President Ahmadinejad called on the West not "to cause an everlasting hatred in the hearts of Iranians" by trying to force Iran to give up enrichment..." Independent

12 April 2006 ~ The defeat of Silvio Berlusconi has left Tony Blair isolated in Europe as the last political leader supporting the war in Iraq. ......Much of Mr Berlusconi's time in office was spent passing laws limiting the time frame in which he could be prosecuted after an alleged offence to 10 years. There were suggestions last night, however, that a new government might seek to change the statute of limitations..." Independent

12 April 2006 ~ RAF doctor ".... had decided that "I would, in fact, refuse the orders as a duty under international law, the Nuremberg principles and the law of armed conflict"......I was subjected, as was the entire population, to propaganda depicting force against Iraq to be lawful but it was not until the middle of 2004 that I researched and found that not to be the case...." Independent

12 April 2006 ~ "more cock-up than conspiracy" in any subsequent soft-pedalled Today programme interview (forget about a public inquiry), which is the platitude of choice these days for Government ministers trying to explain away their serial stupidity - which surely must be the excuse if our leaders deny being calculating and mendacious. .." A good, well written, angry but restrained Blog. We like it. See http://groups.google.co.uk/group/chickenyoghurt for this and others

11 April 2006 ~ Valerie Plame case Prosecutor Puts Bush in Spotlight "It is hard to conceive of what evidence there could be that would disprove the existence of White House efforts to 'punish Wilson.' " With more filings expected from Mr. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor's work has the potential to keep the focus on Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney at a time when the president is struggling with his lowest approval ratings since he took office". New York Times (More)

11 April 2006 ~ Rioting gets results in France Unlike the English, whose several million strong show of anti-war solidarity on Feb 15th 2003 was contemptuously ignored by the government, the french riots have resulted in the government's hasty retreat ; the burial of the CPE - the measure that would have allowed employers to dismiss under 26-year-olds without any explanation during a two-year trial period of employment. See Independent

11 April 2006 ~"not necessarily" The Independent "Mr Bush said force was not necessarily required to stop Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and said reports of plans for a military attack were "wild speculation". ...Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes."
(One wonders for how long, if this is true, Iran can feel secure without a nuclear deterrent in the face of all the drum beating and brinkmanship.)

11 April 2006 ~ "RAF doctor who refused to go to Iraq did not have the "responsibility" to question the legality of orders given to him, a court martial has been told..." BBC

10 April 2006 ~ Iran What will 1.2 billion Muslims think the day we attack Iran?" Read the Seymour Hersh article here

10 April 2006 ~Venezuela President Chavez has threatened to expel the US ambassador after accusing him of provoking a recent demonstration. BBC "Last week ambassador William Brownfield's convoy was pelted with eggs, onions and tomatoes and chased by supporters of the president. The US accused officials in the capital Caracas of condoning the attack, but the mayor's office has denied this. Mr Chavez told Mr Brownfield to "start packing" before he "kicks him out". ..."

9 April 2006 ~ Three years on " The destruction of the statue was no spontaneous eruption of Iraqi joy but orchestrated PsyOps. To his credit, John Lichfield, writing in The Independent, cottoned on immediately, noting that the toppling of the statue was partly staged.." Firdos Square -giving them a show

9 April 2006 ~"multiple people in the White House" -- using classified information -- to "discredit, punish or seek revenge against" a critic of President Bush's war in Iraq..." says the Washington Post quoting Fitzgerald.
The New York Times "an administration in some disarray as the failure to discover illicit weapons in Iraq had undermined the central rationale for the American invasion in March 2003..........Mr. Bush, through Mr. Cheney, had authorized Mr. Libby to tell reporters that "a key judgment of the N.I.E. (National Intelligence Estimate) held that Iraq was 'vigorously trying to procure' uranium." In fact, that was not one of the "key judgments" of the document...." Valerie Plame case latest

9 April 2006 ~ "The Ministry of Defence will cut war widows' pensions if they successfully sue the Government over the death of their husbands on the battlefield...." Telegraph

9 April 2006 ~ Ben Griffin, who left the Special Air Service in June last year after spending three months on operations in Baghdad, has been informed that the Government is considering "civil proceedings" against him after he described the war as "illegal" in a Sunday Telegraph interview. .... Last night, Mr Griffin said that the suggestion that his article had damaged the SAS was nonsense. Telegraph

9 April 2006 ~ " the only redress may yet be rioting in the streets" Sir Simon Jenkins is angry. Party leaders are now discussing how to replenish their party coffers from state funds

9 April 2006 ~ Iran Reuters reports that Iran is brushing aside what it called a U.S. "psychological war" against its nuclear programme after report by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker magazine, "citing unnamed current and former officials, said Washington has stepped up plans for possible attacks on Iranian facilities to curb its atomic work. " See www.editorandpublisher.com for the full story. (or read here

9 April 2006 ~ Iraq The Associated Press reveals that a senior Iraqi official, Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal , has admitted that Iraq has been in a civil war for at least a year:

The BBC reports that "Jack Straw rejects claims by the Egyptian president that Iraq has descended into civil war."
What Prof Juan Cole says about the US and the US press applies equally to the UK:On the subject of Mubarak's words, Juan Cole says "As for Mubarak's caution against a US withdrawal, it strikes me as self-serving. If the US withdraws, regional leaders may have to step up."

8 April 2006 ~ "What the present case and others like it reveal is at best an unacceptable disregard by the Home Office of the rule of law - at worst an unacceptable disdain by the Home Office for the rule of law, which is as depressing as it ought to be concerning." Guardian

8 April 2006 ~ Public Private Partnerships or "Plundering the Public Purse"? #70 billion of "taxpayers' money" on "management consultants" and IT. The Guardian - David Craig worked as a management consultant for 20 years. He has now written a new book, Plundering The Public Sector. He says in their last year in government the Tories spent #500 million on management consultants. Labour is spending #2.5 billion a year and when expensive IT systems consulting figures are added in, the total under Labour is unofficially #70 billion.

7 April 2006 ~ "Don't vote Labour. Or anybody else." Part of a very readable little rant from the Chicken Yoghurt blog

7 April 2006 ~ Mr Bush and the Valerie Plame case TheBBC today reveals

6 April 2006 ~ Two grandmothers from Yorkshire face up to a year in prison after becoming the first people to be arrested under the Government's latest anti-terror legislation. Helen John, 68, and Sylvia Boyes, 62, both veterans of the Greenham Common protests 25 years ago, were arrested on Saturday after deliberately setting out to highlight a change in the law which civil liberties groups say will criminalise free speech and further undermine the right to peaceful demonstration...." Independent.
For similar stories see the lunacy highlighted at Backing Blair weblog (worth a visit a day)

6 April 2006 ~ From forcing through ID cards to the erosion of parliamentary scrutiny, a determined clique is hijacking our democracy Jenni Russell in today's Guardian

.

6 April 2006 ~ Journalists accuse the Home Office of burying bad news by timing all of its reports to go out on just one day each month. www.pressgazette.co.uk

5 April 2006 ~ Are MPs waking up to the reality of the governments Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill? Paul Flynn says, " 'We accepted it at face value. It hadnt been properly discussed. It didnt emerge on the radar. We accepted the assurances that it was a deregulatory Bill, with no malign effects.' He was, he added, very unhappy. See corporate watch article

4 April 2006 ~ " Do Rice and Straw realise that Iraq has broken up? There is something absurd about calling for a 'strong leader' to unite Iraqis" - Patrick Cockburn in the Independent

3 April 2006 ~ "During the three years of carnage in Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has shifted away from her now-discredited warning about a mushroom cloud" to assert a strategic rationale for the invasion that puts her squarely in violation of the Nuremberg principle against aggressive war..." Very clear article from Consortium News - chilling in its criticism of the US media and in its reminders that

3 April 2006 ~ "The Rice-Straw initiative in Iraq has all the appearance of panic about it and is into its third day. Truth to tell, all the signals coming out of Iraq are that events in the ground are marginalising US and UK forces by the day and that as the ring of fire around the political process intensifies, the void opening up in the middle is palpable. Sources are telling C4 News that many of the most senior Iraqis who might have once seen a role for themselves in the revival of Iraq are simply giving up. The whole endeavour is on the edge of a precipice." Channel 4 Snowmail

3 April 2006 ~ Anti war protestor Brian Haw was in the High Court today. The Home Office have appealed against the decision taken in the High Court last July, that Brian Haw is exempt from the measures in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 which ban unauthorised protest near Parliament. If the three judges decide in the Home office's favour Mr Haw may be able to appeal to the House of Lords.

3 April 2006 ~ "Naming the Dead" In spite of the clear breach of Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, police appeared unwilling to arrest those in Parliament Square yesterday for a four-hour "unauthorised" demonstration - complete with hundreds of placards and signs, 5 giant puppets and a large banner, reading the names of 1000 Iraqis who died as a result of the invasion and occupation.

2 April 2006 ~ Iraq backlash 'for years' Spy chiefs have warned that the war has made Britain a terror target Sunday Times

2 April 2006 ~ Only a constitution can save us from this abuse of power says Henry Porter in the Observer

Henry Porter lists the legislation - and a horrifying catalogue it is. It must be read in full by anyone who thinks it is exaggeration to say "In just nine years all the conventions of the rule of law, the 'gentleman's agreement'... have been swept away by a Prime Minister with a winning manner and the instincts of tyrant."

2 April 2006 ~"Let's hear it for South Hams" says Booker' Notebook today. "At last one group of councillors has had the courage to rise in revolt against the way our local democracy is being destroyed by John Prescott's Code of Conduct for councillors, enforced by council "monitoring officers" and the Standards Board for England. " Read in full

30 March 2006 ~ ID cards - The problem has always been the database. And the database, in spite of the "compromise" is going full steam ahead. From 2008-9, everyone who wants a passport will have their biometric details - probably including their irises and fingerprints - recorded. And as Henry Porter says below, "..... The real menace comes when the ID card scheme begins to track everyone's movements and transactions, the details of which will be kept on the database for as long as the Home Office desires..."

30 March 2006 ~ Mr Blair's policy of pre-emption or first strike The Guardian reports that Sir Douglas Hurd asked a question beginning, "With the greatest respect to your person and your office," ...... He then delivered a brief, withering critique of the Iraq intervention, which, he said, had created terrorists that did not exist before...Visibly holed beneath the water line by this semantic Exocet, and listing heavily, the prime minister was unconvincing in his response" The Guardian commented:

Similarly, an article in globalecho.com by Linda S Heard quotes Mr Blairs recent speech: She comments: " What he means, of course is that the world must adopt Western values or be damned. She quotes Simon Jenkins (as we did on Sunday) , adding, "...Both Bush and Blair have more synchronised speeches in the pipeline. So get ready to either polish your anti-propaganda antenna or get a thick pair of earmuffs."

29 March 2006 ~ Michael Mansfield QC on the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. Once again, our thanks are due to the Queen's Counsel for speaking out against what he sees as Mr Blair's 'insidious' human rights reforms. In the Times yesterday, we read, "....talking at the Oxford Literary Festival, delivered a systematic attack on the way in which recent reforms have cut back civil rights on a domestic and international scale and claimed the Prime Minister had become arrogant and corrupt.

The latest such bill, he said, was the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill...."This Government has shown a disregard for the due processes domestically and internationally that have taken hundreds of years to achieve." On the Terrorism Act ... "The threat and perception of terrorism is being used to structure human rights in the UK. It is a grotesque bill." " Read in full

29 March 2006 ~"I just remember thinking: this was exactly what Saddam used to do - and now we're doing it." Guardian on the " publicity nightmare for the US military: an ever-growing number of veterans of the Iraq conflict who are campaigning against the war"

29 March 2006 ~ ID cards and the threat to the House of Lords The Independent says that ministers (Geoff Hoon and co)

Lord Armstrong of Illminster, the former cabinet secretary, reminds us that Labour's manifesto pledge was that the ID scheme be voluntary.
"The issue of personal freedom should not be brushed aside as being of no consequence." We wonder where are the champions to point out that it is the House of Commons that needs radical reform? So many times in the past five years we have seen that it is the Lords who have been able so regularly to shine a searchlight on the crassness of some legislation when career politicians have given it the nod. Read again the wonderful moment when the Lords rose - despite the Government's three-line whip - to support Lord Moran's courageous stand on the Animal "Health" bill. As for ID cards, the Lords are - in a calm, assured and often blessedly witty way - stating the obvious on our behalf. They are protecting democracy, not thwarting it.

29 March 2006 ~ Halliburton repeatedly overcharged taxpayers and provided substandard cost reports under a $1.2 billion contract to restore Iraq's southern oil fields, according to a new report by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman. Reuters

29 March 2006 ~ Deepcut The independent report on the deaths of four young soldiers at the Deepcut army barracks is to be published today.

29 March 2006 ~ Craig Murray Guardian " One of the most embarrassing episodes for the Foreign Office in recent years is about to become even more embarrassing. British film-makers are planning to make a movie for release next year about the exploits of the renegade British ambassador, Craig Murray, with Steve Coogan in the running to play him..."
About the US need for bases in central Asia Mr Murray says,

27 March 2006 ~ 'madness' against America? Comment from Martin Kettle of the Guardian:

27 March 2006 ~ President Bush " was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons" New York Times today

Most of the quotations in this article have not been previously reported

27 March 2006 ~ Labour isn't wicked - but it's doing just what the Nazis did In his article in the Telegraph, Danny Kruger looks closely at the Human Rights Act, the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, ID cards, at the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill and says:

27 March 2006 ~ "Blair has seized the initiative. Labour's whole direction and meaning is now on the line..." Jackie Ashley in the Guardian

26 March 2006 ~"...Blair is now trotting round the world and showing his fear of Bin Laden. He is curbing civil liberty at home and releasing bombs and bullets across the Middle East. The resulting loss of life and of respect for the West have been appalling. Perhaps in his next speech Blair might re-examine his lack of faith in the robustness of western democracy. Perhaps he might find its values stronger and its liberties more trenchant than he supposes. Perhaps he might be more of a liberal and less of a wimp...Terrorism is not, as Blair keeps calling it, an ideology. It is a weapon, like a gun or a bomb. It can kill people and destroy property but it cannot win arguments or topple governments" Simon Jenkins

25 March 2006 ~Terry Waite in the Times: "... invading Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and 'extraordinary rendition' were all signs of 'victory for the terrorist'. "No civilised state should engage in these things. We have got to clean up our act, use good intelligence and good diplomacy, and use force of arms as a last resort."

22 March 2006 ~ IRAN Britain is pressing for a UN resolution that would open the way for the use of force This leaked letter published in the Times fills us with foreboding. "John Sawers, a leading British diplomat, outlined his strategy for winning Russian and Chinese support for tougher action against Iran in a confidential letter dated March 16. It was addressed to his counterparts in France, Germany and the US:

22 March 2006 ~ "The crude, harsh truth is that no one can take what Blair says on foreign policy seriously, because he is responsible for the greatest foreign-policy disaster in half a century of British history....

Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian

22 March 2006 ~ the smearing of Dromey by Clarke. "The sign of internal Labour bitterness about came as a Scottish Nationalist MP, Angus MacNeil, revealed that he had asked the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, to investigate why every donor who had given Labour #1m had been nominated for a peerage or a knighthood." Guardian Clarke turns on Labour treasurer

22 March 2006 ~ Blair and the #14m questions Independent
Police probe 'loans for peerages' in blow to Blair Independent

22 March 2006 ~ 'Iraq was awash in cash. We played football with bricks of $100 bills' At the beginning of the Iraq war, the UN entrusted $23bn of Iraqi money to the US-led coalition to redevelop the country. With the infrastructure of the country still in ruins, where has all that money gone? In Tjhursday's Guardian, echoing Monday's Dispatches programme,, Callum Macrae and Ali Fadhil write about one of the greatest financial scandals of all time

21 March 2006 ~ A near-unanimous vote by the fourth estate - Blair can't lord it much longer Opinion in the Telegraph gives a review of media comment on Mr Blair's position.

20 March 2006 ~ "Blair created this mess. He cannot clear it up " Guardian Comment. "Gordon Brown will need new people and clean hands to restore public faith after Labour's cash for peerages scandal.."

20 March 2006 ~ Rumsfeld singled out as crisis deepens in Iraq Guardian

20 March 2006 ~ Iraq 3 years on. The Independent report Three Years On - The march of folly, that has led to a bloodbath by Robert Fisk. See also

  • In memory of those who have died in Iraq
  • Death squads on the prowl in a nation paralysed by fear
  • Blair unrepentant, but still tormented by legacy of war
  • Bush still sees no reason to apologise
  • Johann Hari on Iraq

    • 20 March 2006 ~ Robert Fisk on the" farcical end of the American Dream" - in particular, the collusion and racism of the US media who are so eager to quote "US Officials" As he says, "the US press is supposed to be challenging the lies of this war"

    20 March 2006 ~ Future of Iraq Project About a year and a half before the invasion, seventeen working groups covered such areas as the justice system, local government, agriculture, media, education, and oil at a cost of $5 million. The project's reports were reported on in October 2003 by the New York Times

    . After FOIA request 200304121NEA1, filed at the time of the NYT article by Russ Kick of MemoryHole.org documents were finally released (not in their entirety) in paper format by the Department of State on 10 Feb 2006

    19 March 2006 ~ So the money was hidden Matthew Parris spells it out (Sunday Times)

    19 March 2006 ~"the Parliamentary Scrutiny (Abolition) Bill"An article in the Sunday Telegraph reveals that the government chief whip in the Lords, Lord Grocott, has expressed serious doubts about the safety of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill with its sweeping powers for ministers to amend, repeal or replace primary and secondary legislation without asking Parliament. It has

    (see also below)

    19 March 2006 ~ "For a politician to lose one conviction may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose all, and when still in opposition, looked like strategy." Blair has hijacked Labour's soul and we shall never see it again Simon Jenkins in the Sunday Times today

    As usual , it is not possible adequately to extract from a Simon Jenkins article - please read in full

    19 March 2006 ~ ID Cards "the government will do anything to get this bill through parliament, including ignoring its own manifesto pledge : 'We will introduce ID cards, including biometric data like fingerprints, backed up by a national register and rolling out initially on a voluntary basis as people renew their passports.' It turns out that there is nothing voluntary about it. Henry Porter in the Observer writes,

    19 March 2006 ~ " Prejudicial Interest " "The signs are that Prescott's code is completely cracked" says Booker's Notebook

    19 March 2006 ~ Botswana's persecution of the bushmen Baroness Tonge "..praised Botswana for dragging these "primitive", "Stone Age" people into the 21st century, claiming that this was what most of them wanted. She brushed aside as "unsubstantiated" the widely reported cases of torture and shootings of bushmen.... Fortunately ...Lord Pearson of Rannoch...was aware of the gulf between what the bushmen were telling them and the version that was passed on by an official, and believed by Baroness Tonge.." Booker's Notebook in full

    18/19 March 2006 ~ I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery"
    a website called Liberty Central (new window) covers the more worrying legislation either passed or being processed by New Labour. It . hopes that

    18 March 2006 ~ A rally will be held in Trafalgar Square at 1.00 pm Demonstrations against the presence of US and UK troops in Iraq will also be held worldwide, including Baghdad. There will be co-ordinated demonstrations in the United States, Britain and Iraq. Speakers will include Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell and bereaved military families See also BBC and ITN

    18 March 2006 ~ The financial cost to Britain of the Iraq war so far
    PQ 57734 Mr. MacDougall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the cost to public funds of the Iraq war.

    18 March 2006 ~ The financial cost of bird flu vaccination It is thought to be around 10p per bird. See Guardian The Dutch programme applies to "hobby poultry" and free-range laying hens throughout the country - up to eight million birds in total.

    18 March 2006 ~ Clearing landmines Every 30 minutes, an accidental victim of abandoned landmines dies or suffers horrific injuries. Over 90% are civilians. One third are children. It costs about #1 to clear a square metre of minefield

    17 March 2006 ~ "You wonder if the Bushes will be able to vacation in Europe when he goes out of office, or if Pinochet's fate awaits George." Professor Cole on President Bush's latest assertion about his policy of "Preemptive" Attack

    17 March 2006 ~ " It does make you wonder what Bush thinks he is doing. .." Informed Comment "The US military command in Iraq, perhaps despairing of inaction in Washington, does not seem to have sought the authorization of President Bush for this operation. It does make you wonder what Bush thinks he is doing. .... it is difficult to see how the US/ Iraqi government forces can prevail. ...... Frankly, the Samarra "Operation Swarm" is probably also meant to give the impression of progress or at least of activity in Iraq, where the political process is stalled and the guerrillas seem to strike at will, with increasing political success."

    17 March 2006 ~ "Unrepentant and unmoved in spite of the rising death toll, Tony Blair has declared that if he was faced with the same circumstances, he would support the invasion of Iraq all over again. ..." Independent

    17 March 2006 ~ Mr Blair is refusing to give up his powers of patronage to nominate supporters for peerages. Labour may have received up to #12m in secret loans Independent

    16 March 2006 ~ MI5, Camp Delta, and the story that shames Britain Indpendent with a story of officila treachery that is so shocking that even the most world weary will surely feel bewildered.

    See also Telegraph

    16 March 2006 ~ Deep doubts about the Iraq war and pessimism about America's future have shattered public confidence in President George W. Bush and helped drive his approval ratings to their lowest level ever, pollsters say. Reuters

    16 March 2006 ~ 9 trillion dollar debt. The US Senate voted today to allow the US national debt to swell to nearly $9 trillion..... Washington Post

    16 March 2006 ~ the biggest aerial bombardment of Iraq by the US is under way Reuters

    16 March 2006 ~ "Listening to the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, this week, denying that there was any collusion between the British and Israelis in the withdrawal of monitors from the Jericho prison, and then again earlier this week trying to say how much we loved the Iranian people while leading a campaign to impose UN sanctions on them, I was reminded of General Pinochet. Not in the sense that Straw is like Pinochet, although they do share a similar delight in themselves. ..." is Adrian Hamilton's comment about the siege of Jericho. See the Independent article, "Britain and US complicit in Jericho raid, says Abbas"

    16 March 2006 ~ House of Lords stands firm on ID cards for the third time Independent ..... but the government today succeeded in its latest bid to overturn the Lords' move to keep ID cards voluntary. Guardian

    15 March 2006 ~ "The creation of a new Human Rights Council by the United Nations General Assembly is a major step forward for the protection of victims worldwide, Human Rights Watch said today." Reuters

    15 March 2006 ~ Whitewashing Guantanamo Guardian yesterday.

    15 March 2006 ~Iran - According to Edward S. Herman, " three times as many people regard Iran as the U.S.'s greatest menace than four months ago and 47 percent of the public agrees that Iran should be bombed if needed to prevent its acquiring any nuclear weapon capability." Today, ZNet explains 12 principles of a system that

    The writer concludes; "When each day you are adding to your service to the rich and damaging the majority, war can come in handy to get folks to turn again to the "nobler, institutionally less hazardous" matters like stopping the dire threat of an Iranian bomb."

    14 March 2006 ~ Save Parliament from the "Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill" http://www.saveparliament.org.uk/" shares our deep disquiet about this innocuously named bill. It aims to alert people to what has been called by the Times "...a nightmare plot", by the Daily Mail " ...almost unfettered power" while the Guardian says that this is " ...truly how democracy is extinguished". As saveparliament.org uk says,this bill

    The information page gives links to press articles and resources. All are urged without delay to write to their MP and, if possible, contact the media.

    14 March 2006 ~ ID cards overnment Ministers have called on the House of Lords to end its fight against identity cards after Blair's plans survived a fresh Commons rebellion. As Simon Jenkins wrote in January 2005,

    14 March 2006 ~ Iraq : Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos.

    14 March 2006 ~ Donald Rumsfeld said last week that the US military would not intervene in an Iraqi civil war, leaving that to Iraqi forces. Professor Cole reports

    13 March 2006 ~ "Defence Secretary John Reid has announced the first significant pull out of troops from Iraq since the invasion period. Eight hundred are to come out which leaves just over 7000 British troops remaining. It's about 10% that are leaving.." Snowmail

    13 March 2006 ~ Biter bit - Sir Ian Blair secretly taped a private telephone conversation with the Attorney General about bugging phone calls. Lord Goldsmith is reported in the Independent as being "incensed over the breach of trust "
    The two men were, at the time, discussing whether the law could be changed to enable the use of bugged telephone calls in court cases. One wonders if the irony of his wrath can really have escaped Attorney General Goldsmith.

    13 March 2006 ~ The War Dividend: The British companies making a fortune out of conflict-riven Iraq Independent article today

    Read also about Aegis Defense ".... not only did the Pentagon have no idea who Spicer was when they gave his company a huge contract, they didn't seem to care when challenged about it. "
    UPDATE Top 10 firms profiting from Iraq ( and people) Independent
    The Corporate Watch report CORPORATE CARVE-UP is available on their website www.corporatewatch.org.uk who are currently looking for funding to print it.

    13 March 2006 ~ March towards war with Iran ".. vital to understand the true dynamics bringing the world to the brink of possible nuclear catastrophe today." An article by F William Engdahl entitled "No, the Iran Oil Bourse is not a causus belli..." should be printed out and read by those wishing to delve deeper into the history of forces bringing us even closer to the edge of the brink.

    13 March 2006 ~ Whiter than white? "In this toothless parliament ministers can mislead at will". In the first place he (Falconer) stated that it was absolutely not" possible to buy an honour from Tony Blair. It is. I know people who have. The late Lord Montague of Oxford boasted the fact to me... Simon Jenkins in the Sunday Times

    12 March 2006 ~ Iraq war enters its third year... Foreign office minister Kim Howells has admitted that Iraq is "a mess" BBC
    The Telegraph reports that an SAS soldier has refused to fight in Iraq and has left the Army over the "illegal" tactics of United States troops and the policies of coalition forces.

    12 March 2006 ~ Hospitals "Such is the spate of closures and cutbacks taking place all over the country... that some 90 of our 350 community hospitals are threatened....What makes this truly scandalous are the reasons for the closures. ooker's Notebook

    12 March 2006 ~ "Milosevic, who presided over wars and slaughter in which more than 250,000 people died, was found dead in his prison cell yesterday..." Observer

    12 March 2006 ~ corruption at home "David Mills ordered #150,000 from a fund at the centre of the Silvio Berlusconi corruption investigation to be used to purchase shares in a company appointed to administer a flagship Government policy. The first evidence directly linking Tessa Jowell's husband to the Government and the public purse has prompted immediate calls for an inquiry. " Independent

    10 March 2006 ~ Iraq US The United States authorities are facing demands by doctors from around the world to abandon the barbaric method of force-feeding hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay. 550 prisoners of some 35 nationalities are being held, some for more than four years. Only 10 have been formally charged with a crime and none has been brought to trial (Independent)
    The Independent also reports today that, for reasons of "security" the US will close Abu Ghraib but rehouse prisoners elsewhere in Iraq

    9 March 2006 ~ Iraq and America I Return Enclosed the Symbols of My Years of Service" by Joseph DuRocher A Veterans Letter to the President:

    9 March 2006 ~Iraq Rupert Cornwell in the Independent : At last, the warmongers are prepared to face the facts and admit they were wrong

    8 March 2006 ~ Attempts to turn Labour leadership elections into US-style primaries would put money in command Michael Meacher in the Guardian

    8 March 2006 ~ Iraq : a stark profile of a volatile situation in danger of sliding into chaos.... Guardian

    8 March 2006 ~ Iran says bring it on "The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll.." Reuters

    7 March 2006 ~ The House of Lords last night defeated by 227 to 166 government plans to make all passport applicants also have an ID card. Initially the government had promised that ID cards would be voluntary to start with. Mr Clarke has accused some peers of "playing party politics" and trotted out the old mantra that - rather than being a check -they " should respect the clear views of elected MPs" The BBC reports that the Liberal Democrat Lord Phillips of Sudbury said:

    7 March 2006 ~ House of Lords Letter in Independent
    "Sir: If Peter Hain was right that the House of Lords too often opposes the will of Parliament (report, 4 March), I would welcome curbs on its powers. Since, in reality, the Lords are the main opposition to policies decided by the Prime Minister and his unelected advisers, I'm all for them having as much power as possible."

    6 March 2006 ~ "a barely noticed Bill will rip the heart out of parliamentary democracy" Henry Porter's article about the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (link to bill) in yesterday's Observer makes for very worrying reading indeed.

    This is an article that must be read in full

    6 March 2006 ~ "All we have to do is organize people who are convinced." (a tall order)
    Noam Chomsky has warned of a nuclear catastrophe. informationclearinghouse.info

    5 March 2006 ~ "Indians have watched America's (and Britain's) cringeing appeasement of Chinese dictatorship and wondered how long the hypocrisy would last. Simon Jenkins in the Sunday Times. Read in full

    5 March 2006 ~ The so-called Standards Board for England proudly boasts that

    "an open and honest system of local governance"? This is an unfunny joke. How can any confidence be felt in local democracy when councillors such as Alex Riley, aghast at the severe impact on Longstanton of Northstowe, is not even allowed to speak out against it or even discuss it with others?

    5 March 2006 ~ What we have come to... Booker's Notebook today tells us that ".. John Prescott is planning a new town for 18,000 people, Northstowe, on land owned by English Partnerships, a body run by his department. It will be the biggest single planning application ever submitted in the UK.
    Yet the councillor for the community most immediately affected by these plans has been told that, under Mr Prescotts Code of Conduct" for councils, he cannot in any way represent the views of his electors, must leave the room whenever the plans are discussed and that it will be an offence for him even to discuss the subject with other councillors. .." Booker's Notebook.

    5 March 2006 ~ Blind man's Buff We learn today that Geoff Hoon, (whose survival on the government sofa indicates that the necessary checks and balances are already desperately lacking) wants to ban the Lords from challenging controversial Bills Independent on Sunday "Britain's peers would be legally forbidden from challenging controversial legislation, such as the ID cards Bill and the ban on glorifying terrorism, under a radical constitutional reform proposed by Geoff Hoon. .."
    Lord Lester is not impressed. He wants any suppression of power to be targeted at our present "elective dictatorship"

    4 March 2006 ~ Rachel spells it out. One of the July 7 bomb victims, Rachel of North London, has been blogging ever since. Today, she remembers Robin Cook's speech and the standing ovation it received from all parts of the House. No wonder Mr Blair feared his influence. Almost exactly three years on, Rachel writes

    4 March 2006 ~ Guantánamo After four years of secrecy, the Pentagon has released documents naming detainees at Guantanamo Bay NYT

    See also (listen) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today4_guantanamo_20060303.ram (direct from the mouth of a detainee at Guantanamo)

    4 March 2006 ~ Mr Bush In Pakistan Juan Cole writes that he arrived in Islamabad to find it eerily quiet..

    4 March 2006 ~ God will judge me, PM tells Parkinson Guardian "....He admits to only losing a night's sleep "on about three or four different occasions" since 1997." (Reaction to this can be seen on the BBC)

    4 March 2006 ~ Venezuela plans the biggest military reserve in Americas Guardian " Around 500,000 Venezuelans to start military training today to become members of territorial guard..."

    2 March 2006 ~ Menzies Campbell wins The turnout was 72% In the second round, 58% went to Mr Campbell. He said the challenge for Liberal Democrats now was to lead the party back towards government; the party would champion freedom, fairness and environment protection and would be a party which pledges to take power from Westminster and Whitehall to give it to people in their own communities.

    2 March 2006 ~ Katrina The Washington Post reports that a "newly leaked video