Not only were MPs lining up to sell their parliamentary influence to the highest bidder on the recent Dispatches programme. Geoff Hoon offered to sell to defence companies inside knowledge of future defence trends from his insider position as a member of a NATO advisory committee – and to help US defence companies take over European ones.
It is modestly comforting to see that Hoon has now been unceremoniously kicked out by NATO.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hbSoweJML42lG5k-cL6cJYd8r2PQ
The problem of course is that this kind of corrupt influence peddling goes on all the time, and will in general be neither delayed nor dented. Our politics are deeply sick – Hoon is but a particularly repulsive symptom.
Craig,
who is this tony_opmoc? Is he a relative, lodger, or a very old friend? He does not seem too concerned about your topics and indulges himself with colourful twaddle, which he seems to think, is of interest to everyone. If he wasn’t quite so intelligent and articulate, I’d swear that he shouts at buses, from street corners.
Does he have any opinions on Hoon, grubby politicians–or anything happening outside of his head?
I liked the post above, pointing out Blair having a citizen’s arrest by a Belgian journalist. Maybe it could start a trend–like finding Lobby Lud–ie.”you are Tony Bliar–and I claim a citizen’s arrest”?
John,
He’s Irish.
“… He was appointed the European Correspondent for The Sunday Tribune, a leading Irish newspaper, in 1998. He then worked from 2001 till 2006 as Political Correspondent for European Voice, a weekly newspaper owned by The Economist.
“Cronin has also written about rock, jazz and world music for The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Bulletin, the main English-language magazine targeting expatriates living in Belgium.
“He has written a book on EU -Israeli relations which he says is coming out later this year.”
That’s all from the Daily Mail.
What authority or “clout” does Andrew Dismore’s committee have? I’m interested in whether this
“The committee also criticised the Government’s narrow definition of complicity in torture as “significant and worrying”. It said that in light of details published in the case of Binyam Mohammed, the case for an urgent independent inquiry into the allegations of complicity in torture was now “irresistible”.
simply gets filed or not?
Listen again to Buff Hoon on Radio 4 Today.
Hoon at 8.10 (a ‘troubling period’ – certainly for the Afghans and the Iraqis, Somalis, Yemenis etc etc) and then Ms Caroline Wyatt, justifying why our lads ‘crack on’ with cracking heads open with high velocity bullets, rockets, cannon – the lot. I am certain the piece was orchestrated entirely by some of those 200 in the MOD PR unit. But do this listening before a meal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8588000/8588424.stm
PS You can also catch up with the Chief Rabbi in one of his many Thoughts for the Day @ 7.48am when it is put on here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thought//
The State propaganda service is working well.
Thanks Mary, they flagged an interview with Hoon at 6 AM, but once it got to the Sport at half past I gave up and went back to sleep. As for the Rabbi, his thoughts are always pure aftershave, but neither he nor I use aftershave, I presume his thoughts are only relevant to ‘Christians’. His side and ours are slugging it out with blood, sweat and tears on the world’s battlefields, so he has to keep his audience sweet, who are losing their children and paying for it all.
There’s something not quite right about the idea of a former Defence Minister giving NATO or US Defence companies information they didn’t already know.
Maybe this little smokescreen is to suggest to us that Global Hard Power is still compartmentalised into nation-states which themselves run compartmentalised government departments.
I know the Inland Revenue uses at least ten different addresses to write to me from, but one would have thought that Global Hard Power were a bit more organised. Oh well, it makes a story and it takes our minds off the cracking of high velocity bullets on Muslim skulls.
Tony, m’dear,
Alcohol serves a function,y’know. Never take a bottle away from its owner, unless you know how to take their problems away as well.
It’s just as important to do the mental work as the physical. Alcohol is the equivalent of the car, it saves time, but walking is better for you.
Imagine you have been hit by a mortar in an imaginary war, sometime in your past. Can you expect your mind to operate normally when it is suffering post traumatic shock syndrome?
Imagine you only have one day left to live. Is dieting or abstinence going to solve the problem? I told a drinker about the ghastly things alcohol does to the body and he replied:’ Yes, if you thought about it, it’d drive you drink.’
In this last remaining day, if it was me, I would change down a gear, from 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd to 1st. Or even into reverse. Now I’m imagining I am in the garage and I want to nudge forward an inch or back an inch.
Take it very easy and be kind to yourself. Is it worth scraping the car for the sake of an extra minute? It’s a lovely morning. Life is good. Why are we so hard on ourselves and impatient with our problems, when we are so careful with our scrappy old cars?
Thanks dreoilin–it does seem as though tony is an old friend.
anno paints a vivid picture.
Seems like good stuff going to waste from subject and bottle.
If Tony is there–what is the title of your book and what name are you using?
No, no, John, I was talking about the journalist who tried to arrest Blair. 🙂
From
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/mar/26/geoffhoon
‘It’s a Twitter chain that begins with a Simon Mayo listener, which goes to Simon Mayo to Andrew Rawnsley and then to us, but it’s true – page 369 of Rawnsley’s book does contain an “eye-opening claim about Geoff Hoon” from Blair’s May 2006 reshuffle.
Even more furious was Geoff Hoon, removed as Leader of the House after just a year in the job and deprived of his cabinet rank and salary […] He was so angry that he wrote out a resignation statement. He planned to make a speech about the [David] Kelly affair that he told friends could trigger the instant downfall of the prime minister.’
Lawyers say lots of things.
dreoilin, OK thanks–got it right now.