What comes out to me from the “Black Spider letter” correspondence of Prince Charles published today is how utterly obsequious Tony Blair and New Labour ministers were to him. No sign whatsoever of radicalism from the former “People’s Party” as they fell over to ingratiate themselves with the heir to the throne. I rather enjoyed Charles quite sharp tone to Blair.
I am fundamentally opposed to the existence of the monarchy. It will hopefully be replaced by a better system, but no human system is perfect. Given that we have a monarchy at present, you will perhaps be surprised to learn that I do not see anything wrong in Charles’ letters, which put forward views which are much what we would have expected him to hold. Of course there is interaction between the monarchy and government, and of course we should get rid of this hereditary element. But Charles’ lobbying is hugely less damaging and pernicious than the corporate lobbying I witnessed throughout my Whitehall career. At least Charles is not lobbying them for corporate advantage and giving large political donations at the same time.
While in my view he did nothing wrong in writing the letters, he and government are both very wrong in arguing they should be private. It is when it is secret that such attempts to wield influence between two branches of government – and monarchy is a branch of government – can be most simply perverted to ill ends. That such publication will not occur again because government has legislated to keep it secret, is an example of the privileged arrogance that prevents this from being a genuine democracy.
Altogether not that big a story and it gives Rusbridger and the Guardian the chance to pose as radical. I find the fact that what is published is so anodyne and unobjectionable rather suspicious – what has not been published? Rusbridger is of course the editor who complied enthusiastically with a GCHQ instruction to smash the Snowden hard drives. The existence of other copies does not justify this any more than it justifies book-burning.
By coincidence, a very worthwhile article by Michael Gillard that had been excised from the net has recently been republished, setting out how Rusbridger in 2002 conspired with Andy Hayman of the Met to bury an investigation into police corruption, including the burglary of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. By a further coincidence I was having a pint with Laurie Flynn in Sandy Bell’s four days ago.
Hayman went on to be the promoter of the stream of lies about the murder of Jean Charles De Menezes and the publicist of numerous fake terrorist plots, before having to resign in a scandal involving nubile police officers at public expense in tropical islands.
Rusbridger and his extraordinary wig go on and on as a pretend opposition outlet, their reputation much dented by recent hysterical unionist output which exceeds the Daily Express. But Rusbridger’s continued usefulness to the establishment is not in doubt. The pose of publishing the most harmless of Prince Charles’ letters does little to help a threadbare disguise.
RobG
“The police state is not coming, it’s already here, and the turkeys voted for it…”
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So that’s why you’re skulking in Poitou-Charentes instead of being in the UK to fight against fascism.
And I had thought you were k-just there for the booze….. 🙂
Red and Gray Fox Damage Control and Management:
An appalling list of participants for tonight’s Newsnight.
I would guess the third is Steve Hilton.
18/05/2015
22.30
Newsnight
The Pentagon’s Iraq adviser during the occupation shares her regrets; Israel’s elder statesman and former premier Shimon Peres shares his. And David Cameron’s former adviser on how Britain can do better.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05w96jz
Mary re John Bercow:
“Romanian grandparents.”
_________________________
Go on, say it – Romanian Jews?
You really are a disgusting creature, aren’t you.
….and cowardly as well.
We do not have grey foxes in the UK.
A fox visits here nightly and leaves his calling card. I had chickens for several years, free range in the garden in the day, and none came to any harm apart from one that was carried around by a stupid dog that got in. She was not injured but was never the same again.
Fox hunting is cruel and inhumane. NO animal should be killed for sport. Man should have abandoned his base instincts by now.
Jon, I agree that the whip should not be used in fox-hunting or in the fox-hunting debate, or any other debate. I would like to think the SNP would oppose this as a matter of conscience. On this issue (and the poetry of Anna Akhmatova) I agree with Resident Dissident. Those who choose to hunt a dog to its death are despicable animals.
From Bercow’s Wikipedia entry:
The Jew-baiters and Jew-haters – and their approving supporters – on here are really an odious crew.
@Mary
“Romanian grandparents”
And what relevance is that – do you share one of Farage’s prejudices or is it just another of nasty little dose of anti-Semitism?
Macky 18 May, 2015 – 9:01 pm : “A couple of links to throw in the mix!”
Your second link seems to show that the North Korean general supposedly executed for falling asleep at a meeting is still alive. I am absolutely baffled by this news. I have it on the highest authority that the execution was genuine.
Anon1 has a super ESP power which enables him to determine guilt without any evidence. He used it to confirm that the general had <i>definitely</i> been shot.
Resident Dissident went even further. He provided evidence that the general had been taken to a shooting range where Kim Jong Un had arranged for him to be ripped to shreds by 14mm anti-aircraft gun shells.
They’ve staked their credibility on the general being dead but after a series of recent blunders neither of them have any credibility to spare at the moment. It would be so embarrassing for them if they are proved wrong – they would probably feel obliged to leave the blog for good.
You take one to task for slyly hinting at John Bercow’s Jewish ancestry and another immediately pops up out of the blue with something on his expenses claims….
Lysias – did you know Bowra?
@Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)
18 May, 2015 – 10:16 pm
I will ask readers once again to consider – if they think they live in a free society – why comment threads are now swamped by government and corporate agents (all on tax payer’s money; and that includes the corporate scum) who exist to propagandise and push an agenda? I will also ask readers to consider the fact that the MSM is under almost total control of these entities.
Do you really think this is any different from North Korea?
I will also point out that the likes of Habba never address things like the greatest disaster in human history (Fukushima), or the Westminster paedo scandal.
C’mon folks, do you really think you live in a normal society?!
There he goes again, filling up this blog with his usual bilge. Even dares to make the same old accusations at 10.22pm. The fact that Bercow is Jewish is known to all. So what? The troll twists it.
Sir Gerald Kaufman is now the Father of the House. Jolly good for all the support he gives to the Palestinians. He’s Jewish too. OK? His parents came from Poland.
Shimon Peres is also Jewish. Zionist too.
Steve Hilton’s background is Hungarian.
All human beings Troll.
~~~
The Pentagon adviser is British, Emma Sky, and is bemoaning the advance of ISIS displacing all those unfortunate Iraqis and causing death and mayhem. No irony.
She did not have much success when in Israel working for the British Council.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Sky
Oh and up pops RD. They really do crop up in unison. Like some disease.
Any thoughts on Steve Hilton?
“It would be so embarrassing for them if they are proved wrong – they would probably feel obliged to leave the blog for good.”
Come on. They’ve got a lot more brass than you think. I would slink off in shame. They have a job to do. Shame does not enter into it. I’m told when a decent soldier kills for the first time it affects him badly and he feels remorse. After further killings the remorse disappears. Likewise with the trolls. They are immune to shame.
Poor Node, one day he might understand the nuance around putting inverted commas around a phrase or word.
First they wanted Brattan at the Met, now Bloomberg for London Mayor.
Let the Americans sort out their own problems.
‘The Sunday Times reported that Bloomberg is considering running for London mayor in 2016.
Steve Hilton, a senior advisor to David Cameron, told the paper: “It would be an incredible coup for London if Mike Bloomberg could be persuaded to run for mayor here.
“His kind of pragmatic problem-solving leadership is exactly what London needs.”’
http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/politics/michael-bloomberg-for-mayor-of-london-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/10066.article
Of course those who already support the current North Korean monarchy and other execrable regimes might just slink off straight away! or Holodomor deniers, or Rothschild conspiracists……….
At its peak, the The Guardian was preeminent,
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/how-guardian-told-me-steer-clear-palestine
and afraid of one thing only: the successor cells and fronts of the Parushim,
http://ifamericansknew.org/history/parushim.html
the Zionist secret society led by sitting Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis from his chambers, sworn to put Zionism before family and country. It was only prudent to be afraid of the Zionist maniacs who bombed Iraqi Jews to drive them to Israel and who trapped Jews in Nazi Germany if they tried to flee anywhere else.
Now, in its advanced state of degeneration, The Guardian is afraid of everything except an inbred jug-eared nitwit who says hello for a living.
Squawk, squawk, Mr Parrot. Still bellowing out the same lies hoping they might stick. Squawk, squawk!
“Of course those who already support the current North Korean monarchy and other execrable regimes might just slink off straight away! or Holodomor deniers, or Rothschild conspiracists……….”
Anyone with a Times subscription? Are they fingering Putin for this?
‘Russian supergrass was poisoned at his home
Fiona Hamilton Crime Correspondent
An oligarch who was helping to investigate corrupt tax officials in Moscow had a poison in his body favoured by Russian assassins when he died suddenly outside his Surrey mansion, evidence has revealed.
Traces of “heartbreak grass”, a poisonous plant found only in China, were in the stomach of the supergrass millionaire businessman Alexander Perepilichny, an inquest was told. Mr Perepilichny, 44, who believed that he was on a mafia hit list after passing documents to campaigners fighting to expose a massive tax fraud in Russia, collapsed and died while out jogging in November 2012.
Police concluded the following year that his death was not suspicious, but tests since have uncovered a chemical in his stomach that could be derived only from the deadly plant gelsemium. The toxicology results, outlined for the….’ paywall
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4444484.ece
Can parrot chicks squawk John? 🙂
RobG; “The police state is not coming, it’s already here, and the turkeys voted for it…”
And it’s getting worse;
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/05/13/greatest-threat-free-speech-comes-terrorism-claiming-fight/
More imaginative than the average social reformer:
http://thebemolutionwillnotbetelevised.com/2015/05/13/ge2015-and-beyond-anarch-ish/#more-1019
Thatcher allowed paedophile to keep knighthood: Late former Prime Minister blocked plans to strip Sir Peter Hayman of honour.
Can parrot chicks squawk John? 🙂
Good question Mary. I suppose they just repeat what their parents or guardians teach them. I doubt that all of them are pretty boys. But they stick to the mantra. “Who’s a pretty boy, then.”
GCHQ all lit up like a Christmas tree. A PR campaign before they gain more powers.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/05/18/exploitation-social-issues-generate-support-militarism-imperialism/
The truth is its about GCHQ`s full Spectrum Eavesdropping using the US-run Prism programme.