I leave Edinburgh this afternoon for London, to stand trial at the High Court for libel. To answer a question frequently asked, the reason I have accepted English jurisdiction is that the event was a Sky News broadcast, an English broadcaster. If it had been over my blog I would not have accepted jurisdiction as I do not accept the English claim to universal jurisdiction over internet content.
I do hope that this trial will help bring into further disrepute the immoral and draconian English libel laws. If I lose, the total costs and damages I would have to pay will potentially amount to some £350,000 – a ridiculously disproportionate result for the alleged civil offence. It would ruin me and blight the lives of my young family. Whether this can possibly be an appropriate reaction to something I said in response in a live debate, you might judge for yourselves by reading the court documents .
Thanks to the astonishing generosity of the readers of this blog, at least I am in a position to defend myself robustly. Over 5,000 readers of this blog have, with incredible generosity, contributed a total of £100,323 towards my defence to date. The libel laws are so oppressive because the sums of money involved are so astonishing. The entire massive English libel industry – courts, judges, barristers, solicitors – is taken together a major financial interest in itself, well represented in parliament. It is in all their collective financial interest that this system of oppression rolls on, which of course requires a good chance of people being found guilty to encourage more plaintiffs into the industry. I often feel this analysis from unconscious institutional self-interest is often neglected in favour of the equally valid and important argument that the libel laws are an essential tool of the wealthy and powerful to discourage free speech by the poor. Robert Maxwell, Alisher Usmanov and Jimmy Savile are three examples of people who kept their true nature hidden by constantly and aggressively threatening people with the disastrous consequences of an English libel suit.
Finally the trial starts on Tuesday 7 November at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, High Court Queen’s Bench. It will last probably two and up to three days. It is open to the public. I would very much welcome anyone with the capacity to report any of what happens on social media. I am not aware of any restrictions on this, but will try to publish them here if I learn of any.
This is probably my last blogpost until after the trial, as I must concentrate now. By the time I come back online the Tories will have appointed their next Disgraced Former Defence Secretary in Waiting.
I’m not sure we are going now. He never told anyone until about an hour ago. No one organised anything – not even him – but I think a few of his friends will turn up – at extremely short notice. He just told the truth on Facebook. He has kept it quiet all these years. It’s his 60th birthday in an hour…I said bring your guitar. Welcome to the club.
Might make Craig Murray on Tuesday – but if I was them..I would cancel it and Pay Craig Murray appropriate damages out of court…Go for £1M – settle for £250,000 hard cash – in your bank account after expenses.
Otherwise We will Be There.
Tony
Hi, Craig.
A contribution to your defence fund is on its way, sent with my very best wishes for victory over the wretched moral pygmies who brought this case against you.
I’ve been a fan of yours since seeing you address a Stop The War rally over a decade ago, and I’ve followed this blog pretty much ever since, without previously engaging with the throng of commenters.
The number of ‘invisible’ people like me who care deeply about you is hugely greater than you probably realise, and it is my belief that a person of your obvious courage and integrity will never want for the support you need, be it practical, financial, or moral.
I wish you strength.
More trouble in Saudi Arabia
Saudi prince killed in helicopter crash near Yemen border
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41881058
Simplifying the line of succession still further. Convenient, to say the least. May could learn from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s implementation of strong and stable government. He’s cracking down on the Wahhabis, too, and good luck with that…
So in the last few days, four “things” have happened in Saudi Arabia, it would be astonishing, if none of them were linked.
The prince who died in the helicopter was an adviser to the current crown prince.
The current crown prince, is having some princes put under arrest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansour_bin_Muqrin
There are some stories going around that MbS is not only imprisoning the wealthiest princes (on the grounds of corruption, surprise, surprise), but also seizing their assets. Guy working for a company running the fleets of private jets reports not only princely flight from Saudi, but also that they haven’t been paid for months. I wonder whether it’s not a financial crisis behind it all.
I’ll just recall that Saudi is unusual in that there’s no national identity, it is the private estate of the Saudi family. The country is held together by money – disbursed by the state for public sector employments to keep everyone quiet. No money = no national cohesion.
It’s nothing new, paying off the Arab tribes goes back to the time of the Byzantines, who found it cheaper to feed gold to tribal leaders than paying legions on the desert frontier. And it’s been going on ever since (Lawrence of Arabia).
For the past two-and-a-half years, Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition that is supporting Yemen’s internationally-recognised government in its war with the rebel Houthi movement.
The interior ministry statement did not draw any link between the crash and the conflict, but on Saturday the Saudi military intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile near the capital, Riyadh, that was fired by Houthi fighters.
On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition said it was closing all of Yemen’s air, land and sea borders in response to the missile attack. It accused Iran of supplying the missile, and said that it might amount to an act of war on Tehran’s part.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41881058
So perhaps the prince was shot out of the air by a missile fired from Yemen?
At least eight police officers have been killed in an attack involving a suicide bombing and a hostage situation, in the Yemeni port-city of Aden. A suicide bomber blew up an explosives-rigged car outside of the local criminal investigations department office, killing six officers and himself. Gunmen then stormed the building following the blast, killing two more officers and taking an unknown number of people hostage, AFP reports, citing local police sources. Clashes with the Yemeni security forces reportedly continue. Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
RT
The Houthi missile, even if shot down, as the Saudi sources say, nevertheless managed to land on Riyadh airport. The Houthis couldn’t have hoped for better than that.
There’s undoubtedly a financial crisis, Laguerre. Would they have wanted to float Aramco if there hadn’t been? Especially as oil prices have obstinately refused to return to their (inflated) 2008 level but are currently nudging a third of that. But I think MBS is simply getting his ducks in a row prior to the abdication/poisoning/forthcoming tragic accident of/to his father.
No doubt you’re right, but I suspect the financial crisis is more severe than one imagines.
Seeing as MbS already runs the show, and the father is gaga, what is the urgency to replace him? Often it is useful to have someone to hide behind.
Arresting large numbers of the Saudi family means provoking the resentment of the rest of the family, the only people who count in Saudi. Either he is desperate, or he has some means to calm them. If he doesn’t, revolt of the provinces is in prospect.
It may just be the inherent instability of there being so many rival claims to the throne when the old man goes. A bit of pre-emptive weeding-out of his venal family also adds investor appeal (he held an enormous flashy conference for potential global investors last month and promised reforms there). I agree, it’s risky, and the country could implode, but I don’t think ‘we’ could stand by and see ‘our’ ally in the fight against
Iran terrorism go down. Do you?Grrr. Should be:
… I don’t think ‘we’ could stand by and see ‘our’ ally in the fight against
Iranterrorism go down. …Good luck with the trial.
FWIW Israel is running an orchestrated campaign to equate criticism of Israel/Zionism (political constructs) with anti-Semitism. They want the same term to encompass overt racism and legitimate criticism of political events in order to shut down the latter. If someone claims anti-semitism, they should asked exactly what they mean by the term.
Further examples of attempts to close down free speech (as far as Israel is concerned, the same groups of people fully support the equivalent program to defame all Arabs/Muslims) in America are found at Mondoweiss, e.g:
Jewish leaders seek to shut down anti-occupation movie in MA because it ‘sniffs of Nazism’
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/11/leaders-occupation-because/
Whatever you do, don’t leave any trails that can be ‘sniffed’.
Lord Ricketts (head of the diplomatic service 2006-10) and Billy Fourteen Pints Hague were giving evidence to the HoC on the future of UK diplomacy in the EU. 31st October 2017.
Lord Ricketts’ register of interests
Category 1: Directorships
Non-executive Director, Groupe Engie (French-listed global energy services company)
Category 2: Remunerated employment, office, profession etc
Strategic Adviser, Lockheed Martin UK (global security and aerospace company; Member gives strategic advice to company CEO)
Speaking engagement, 18 May 2017, Westminster Policy Institute Roundtable, London
Consultancy on France for Macro Advisory Partners, London, September 2017
Category 7: Overseas visits
Visit to UAE, 21-23 October 2017, to address the UAE Ministry of Defence Leadership Conference, representing King’s College London; travel, accommodation and fee paid by host
Category 10: Non-financial interests (a)
Chairman and Director, Normandy Memorial Trust Limited and Trustee of associated registered charity
Category 10: Non-financial interests (c)
Trustee, Royal Academy Development Trust
Trustee, Leighton House Museum
http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-ricketts/4587
Also he omits mention of his Visiting Professorship at the War Studies Dept at Kings College.
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/people/visiting/ricketts.aspx
Sickening esp the Lockheed Martin connection.
Hague’s is too long to copy here. Directorships, shareholdings, three employers, speaking engagements, so called non-financial interests, freebies, and so on.
https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-hague-of-richmond/379
Emetic.
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/foreign-affairs-committee/the-future-of-britains-diplomatic-relationship-with-europe/oral/72417.html
Craig where Ricketts is referred to. The second down includes a copy of an e-mail sent to Ricketts.
Torture Supporter Peter Ricketts as National Security Adviser
12 May, 2010
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/05/torture_support/
Either Craig Murray or Jack Straw is a Terrible Liar
1 Oct, 2009
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/10/either_craig_mu/
Worth Sending Our Troops to Die For
28 Jun, 2007
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2007/06/worth_sending_o/
“We won’t shield the UK from market forces after Brexit” May tells the CBI.
Meaning the UK will be an even lower wage, deregulated tax haven.
Scotland cannot stay in the UK. To have our economy run down. To have our democracy trashed Catalonia style. And to be ruled over by troughing sex pests at Westminster who sneer, openly or secretly, at Scotland.
Wasn’t that question settled just a couple of years ago? Time to move on and focus on ejecting the Tories with the only realistic alternative.
A civil war ridden Labour Party is going to win power and free Scotland from the Westminster grabbing of devolved powers, get us back in the EU single market, undo all the Tories post brexit deregulation, claw back health services from powerful private interests, scrap Trident and respect Scotland’s right to self-determination?
No, in the doubtful event of Labour winning office with a working majority in the next few years, they’ll have a few years in power, with only modest achievements in rolling back Tory legislation. All the while sacrificing Scotland’s democratic aspirations, same as Labour has for 90 years. Before the Tories inevitably once again get back into power and on it goes.
We’ve had enough of that losing game. And enough of being patronised by the likes of you, telling Scots to move on and don’t aspire to anything better than what England’s stuck in the past voters and Westminster lowlife decide we should get.
Some sex pests are in the S.N.P.
and in the Scottish Government
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-41872427
SNP minister Mark McDonald quits over ‘previous actions’
I think sometimes you wish you were being beaten up by “fascist” police. The fact is you had a democratic referendum and you lost.
Sometimes I think you wish you were in the Guardia Civil.
Why would I think that?
For all those interested. Ineos and third energy, a Cayman island registered company, are drilling test wells into the North Yorkshire countryside at Kirby Misperton and other sites.
If you have any spare time to support the locals who all voted against fracking, as did their councils, they are involved in a peaceful non violent protest.
When will the media realise that normal people give up their work, time with their children, family and or friends to sit down in freezing temperatures shackled to a gate or some other equipment, and that they do this for very good reasons that will affect all.
Nobody will get cheaper energy from fracking, most of the rock is deemed too old to frack and much of the regulations, safety records and rule are being breached.
The companies involved are l;ate with their financial statement and they do not want to disclose their books, not a good start.
Third energy and Ineos need investigating for their tax affairs, imho, as they are changing the goal posts all the time.
I’m sure that in a time when violent crime has risen by 19%, the police protecting this rape of the countryside and water supplies, would be more effective elsewhere.
Should you dare to visit FB, go and visit their site and give them your support if you feel like it. Thanks
https://www.facebook.com/groups/573619286143264/
Nevermind
I do mind quite a lot about UK fracking. It’s BSE all over again. But…
you’ll never get any sense out of a Conservative government.
Hard Brexit will increase the value of UK land, not surprising the 1% want it.
but feeding animals on animals ought to have put Tory PLC out of business for ever
and poisoning the aquifers is like committing suicide on behalf of somebody else.
It isn’t their water to pollute.
I support the protesters Nevermind in spirit but these days, I’m afraid that it is too far away to be there.
The Ineos founder and owner, Jim Ratcliffe, is probably in the sun somewhere on one of the super yachts he owns. Hampshire I and Hampshire II. Hampshire because although the company is in a Swiss tax haven, his main office is in Lyndhurst in the middle of the New Forest. (I was born in Lyndhurst!)
Enter United Kingdom/All businesses https://www.ineos.com/locations/
https://www.ineos.com/locations/
He applied to builda glass palace on the banks of the very beautiful and tranquil Beaulieu river but was turned down by the planners.
Jim
does bring a lot of employment to Scotland.
Who’s Jim?
yes, Michael, and Jim seems to think that all his employees who pay taxes into0 the Scottish economy are mugs, because he’s paying his 3% or less in Switzerland.
People who want to sell goods or services in Britain should pay taxes in Britain, or leave. There will always be somebody else who will fill the gap they left.
Every part of Jim’s business is coloured with tax avoidances, and it looks like such anti social attitudes and practises find support here.^
Isn’t Ratcliffe also importing LNG from the US, fracked I assume, leaving the land looking like this.
http://www.sheffieldagainstfracking.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/fracking-aerialview-300×217.jpg An aerial photo of land fracked in Wyoming
http://www.sheffieldagainstfracking.org.uk/why-oppose-fracking/
Tax-dodging monarchs and sex-pest MPs…
A terror attack can’t be far away.
The attack on Craig Murray through the UK justice system is a terrorist attack.
“We couldn’t have put it better ourselves,”
– The Queen.
Good luck!
‘Victory for Leavers’ Theresa May’s ‘Brexit war cabinet’ now dominated by Brexiteer MPs
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/875713/Leave-campaigner-PM-Brexit-war-cabinet-500-days-Michael-Gove
500 days since Brexit Referendum
Apparently the new Defence Secretary, was a Leaver,
so i do not know how the cabinet stacks up
Leavers against Remainers?
Freddy
The higher it stacks up, the more likely it will all fall down again.
My grandfather was French and they gave him a very hard time for being so.
What other country absorbs/ rejects foreigners so harshly/ wholly as the UK depending on what fatuous English ideas they have/don’t have? I think if Fallon had pressed home with confidence like Boris Johnson and squirted his toff spunk into the orbit of passing females, and had the right racist ideas about foreigners and brexit, he’d still be in place as Defence Secretary.
What exactly is merit in Mrs May’s politics? who can squirt farthest and into as many and different places while supporting as many terrorists as possible in the Middle East?
He was David Cameron’s PPS so I doubt he was a Leaver
I really don’t think there are more than a hundred Brexit Tory MPs the rest are just opertunistic bastards.
Something might be going on with reguard to Israel /Lebanon/Syria/Saudi
SANA is turned off.
Isolate Lebanon so that Is***l can attack it. Excuse: Hizb’ullah.
First toady off the blocks: Bahrain.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/11/06/bahrain-orders-citizens-to-leave-lebanon/
If Israel attacks Lebanon, it will not go well. Hizbullah is too well prepared.
I avoid prediction. Is***l’s been planning for some time, and probably has a better idea of what it’s up against. The 2006 mess won’t be repeated. A new and innovative mess is probable. Hizb’ullah are seasoned, trained and clever, but I’m not sure that will be enough to avoid severe and lasting degradation. And the media are beginning to ramp up the propaganda:
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/With-Hariris-resignation-Israel-has-more-leeway-in-next-war-with-Lebanon-513381
The American Shooting Gallery was shot up again this past weekend. 26 dead this time. Still the best country on the globe, though, with its leading crazy in charge, Looks like the FBI is too busy protecting wife-beater OJ from his opponents again.
Now we learn the the American Air Farce hid Kelley’s family abuse after he was court marshaled and given a dishonorable discharge, and it allowed him to go on with shooting up Sutherland Springs, like what the FBI hid about OJ, causing Paddock to go on the rampage in LV when it continued being involved in protecting him.
When are the looney counter terrorists going to start enforcing gun legislation?
So according to the leaked “Paradise Papers” the Queen has over ten million quid stashed in offshore investments, yet her Privy Purse keeps on rising year after year by millions of pounds.
It is alleged that the Duchy of Lancaster, which handles the Queen’s investments, has held
funds in the Cayman Islands
and Bermuda.
Of course it’s not illegal, however is it morally wrong? The Queen receives millions from the taxpayer, yet allegedly has more than ten million stashed in shares offshore.
Bear in mind we’ve had both Labour and the Tories loudly claim that they would crackdown on tax evasion.
It’s also alleged that the Queen has invested thousands in the rent-to-buy firm Brighthouse, that charges the poor extortionate interest rates.
Brighthouse was recently fined £14.8 million pounds (in the form of cash payments and balance adjustments) to 249,000 customers in respect of 384,000 agreements for lending which may not have been affordable and payments which should have been refunded.
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/rent-to-own-provider-brighthouse-14-8-million-redress-249000-customers
She’s putting something by for a reigny day.
In rebel-held Syria, access to the weapons you need to wage an insurgency are just a tap away thanks to an encrypted messaging app. The Islamic State may be in retreat, but other militants in Syria have been trading thousands of weapons in publicly accessible black markets hosted on Telegram, including dozens of U.S. military assault rifles and parts for the same kind of anti-tank missile systems distributed by the CIA to anti-Bashar al-Assad rebels. Foreign Policy conducted an exclusive investigation to determine the scale of these arms markets, and where the weapons that ended up on them originated.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/11/06/the-messaging-app-fueling-syrias-insurgency-telegram-arms-weapons/
What idiocy. Trump is so much in thrall to the NRA gun lobby, he says in reference to the Texas shooting –
Trump: Texas church shooting not a ‘guns situation’
http://news.sky.com/video/trump-texas-church-shooting-not-a-guns-situation-11116244
If it is not a ‘guns situation’ (sic), then what is it?
It’s basically a failure to enforce laws that require mental checks on purchasers, take assault weapons out of the hands of people who have them, and crack down on illegal purchases of them.
While I hate people having guns and hunting, America’s problems are basically a law enforcement one, and Trump has even cut back on background checks.
The place is a low-security insane asylum.
“The place is a low-security insane asylum.”
“Armed Madhouse” might be another way of looking at it…
Trump’s greatest asset is that nothing he say has any fixed meaning. What does ‘not a guns situation’ mean? Absolutely nothing. It’s a vague phrase which allows the listener to determine whatever meaning they choose dependent on their own prejudice. Whether he is an idiot savant or a genius he employs a style of communication that is very effective on the modern American mind.
Stu.
I think the madman Trump, who reversed Obama laws on guns for those with mental health, was actually saying.
Oh it’s okay it wasn’t a terrorist attack, so we’ve no brown skinned folk to deport, and no country to add to the banned list.
It was just some guy with mental health problems having a bad day.
Move on nothing to see here.
@ Stu –
Maybe you haven’t come across Scott Adams’ similar take on Trump.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-22/how-dilbert-s-scott-adams-got-hypnotized-by-trump
Adams was an illusionist himself, I believe. Trump’s integration of the Big Lie ((c) A. Hitler), ver-y sim-ple lan-guage and the use of visual, not verbal imagery where possible certainly works…doesn’t get us any further on the idiot savant/genius question, though.
The NRA used to be the largest or second-largest US lobby group, with AIPAC running it close. Trump will say whatever it takes to keep them onside. But he may not actually mean any of it. His priority is and always will be Trump.
I read an article a few months ago which noted that at certain engagements he speaks in a far more complex register and syntactically correct manner so the dumbing down for the general electorate is obviously deliberate. There is also the non stop positivity with constant mentions of “fantastic”, “tremendous”, “unbelievable”, a never ending stream of “great guys” and obviously the hypnotic right hand which seems to be operating in perfect unison with his verbal output.
The most frustrating thing about the Russia conspiracy theory is that it negates the near century of dumbing down via consumer culture and mass media which has resulted in a population stupid enough to vote for Trump.
The Russia ‘conspiracy theory’? Shorthand, of course, but what I’m seeing is Orwell’s pigs becoming indistinguishable from the farmers(and vice-versa), on a global basis. If Russia were not clandestinely funding both Democrats and Republicans in pursuit of US chaos, I should, if I were a politically aware Russian, be deeply disappointed. OTOH I don’t imagine the Russian prole is less gullible, or less receptive of appeals to patriotism, religion, greed or whatever, than the US one. Otherwise I agree with you.
Ruth Davidson lines up safe Sussex seat for a future bid for Number 10. It will not surprise me if the story is true.
Colonel Rape Clause Ruth-less Davidson fled Glasgow for Edinburgh awhile back, because she knew she’d lose her seat in Glasgow.
Frankly I’m sure many in Scotland will be glad to see the back of her.
http://www.glasgowcityinfo.co.uk/e/1753591/EXCLUSIVE%3A+Ruth+Davidson+lines+up+safe+Sussex+seat+for+a+future+bid+for+Number+10
Ros
Davidson would really be in dreamland if a grandson of Churchill no less accepted a peerage and let her stand in the safest of Tory seats. Of course May might be stepping down soon and the timing for Ruth could be all wrong. They’re not going to delay a Tory leadership election for weeks just so the Colonel could get to the Commons and be a candidate.
As you say Ros, it would be great to see her go from Scotland, although she’d be vicious even by Tory standards to her native land if she was PM. Just to show the Tory faithful of the shires how hard she could be to Scotland.
But the timing could go wrong. After riding on a tank, a buffalo, a fire engine and a motorbike it would be hilarious to see Ruth miss the leadership contest bus.
reel guid.
It has been claimed thst the likes ofDavid Cameron and John major would like to see Davidson as the next PM, replacing Theresa May, so you never know.
As for Davidson as PM, she’d be a heavy hammer to the Scots. I’m sure there would also be a juicy cabinet position for weasel Mundell, for his suppression of the northerners.
Ros
The Britnats think Davidson as Tory leader is some kind of ace to play to save the union. They’ve believed the hype generated about Ruth and by Ruth, that she’s popular in Scotland. As we know she’s detested by the majority. If she was PM she’d likely hasten the end of the union, not prolong it.
Meanwhile Theresa May decides it time to cough up over the Divorce Bill.
“European Union negotiators have started drawing up the outlines of a future trade deal with Britain after receiving signals from the government that it would agree to pay more than €60bn (£53bn) for the “Brexit bill”.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/theresa-may-kickstarts-trade-talks-by-accepting-53bn-bill-5b8bvqbjs
Puigdemont says “This is not just about Catalonia. This is about democracy itself”.
That says it.
Want to be a democrat or a fascist fellow traveller? You can’t be both.
Rees-Mogg is now the betting market’s favourite for the next Tory leader.
As for Boris Johnson’s latest “Iran” trouble, in connection with “wholly innocent, absolutely nothing to do with MI6, just an ordinary holidaymaker” Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, bear in mind that Boris was supposed to be off to the US to try to “persuade senators” to “save the Iran nuclear deal”.
Current betting midprices are
Rees-Mogg 7.1
Davis 8.0
Johnson 9.3
Rudd 13.0
Leadsom 15.0
Davidson 15.75
Tom Tugendhat is 22/1. That’s a good price
Aye. Tom Tugendhat, Chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, who doesn’t have anything to say about Catalonia. What leadership material!
Remainer. He’ll do.
Midprice 26.5. St Paul’s, theology at Bristol, master’s in Islamic Studies at Cambridge while at Caius (same college as pater), speaks Arabic, was in the army’s Intelligence Corps. Military assistant to the Chief of the Defence Staff. Son of a high court judge – OK, father was only in the high court, not on the Appeals bench or higher, but still, a biggie “media” judge. If he hasn’t ballsed anything big up, he might be able to convince people he can get cracking and organise stuff, even if “stuff” is a sail up Shit Creek.
Like Rees-Mogg, he’s a Catholic, Got a brother in the Lords who was vice-president of the EU Commission and went to Ampleforth.
I agree there’s value in his price. But rather than PM he’s more likely to get some other job in the cabinet – or indeed wield influence as chairman of the FAC for a while longer.
Any idea where he stands within the church? What’s he think of the Tridentine mass?
OK, his dad was an Appeal Court judge – but in Jersey and Guernsey, not Britain. So a “solid” family, then, even if the line goes to Vienna on pater’s side.
I wonder if she or her husband are related to Jim Ratcliffe?
Fears for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after Boris Johnson remark
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41890885
This is an intriguing story.
The first reports stated that she was seconded from Thompson-Reuters to The Westminster Foundation for Democracy. Later reports don’t mention this and the earlier stories were edited to remove that. Johnson’s comments pretty much confirm that she was doing NGO work in Iran rather than just visiting family.
Downing Street said it welcomed Ms Patel’s “clarification” and that at a meeting with Theresa May earlier, the prime minister had “reminded her of the obligations which exist under the ministerial code”.
No 10 said it had not been aware of Ms Patel’s meeting with Mr Netanyahu until Friday but insisted that Mrs May still had confidence in the minister.
BBc
that’s her fucked, then.
Catalonia’s sacked separatist leader Carles Puigdemont and four former ministers are due to appear November 17 in a Belgian court which is hearing Spain’s case for their extradition, a judicial source said Monday.
The source told AFP the five would appear at 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) on November 17 in a Brussels court, their first hearing since the Belgian authorities freed them on bail Sunday.
http://www.france24.com/en/20171106-spain-belgium-catalonia-sacked-catalan-leader-puigdemont-due-court-november-17
I wonder if Carles has any plan
Surely, for him, the game is up.
Puigdemont and his ministers in Belgium have been released without bail. It would be very unlikely that they would receive such fair treatment in Spain.
Meanwhile, as the Puigdemont et al affair is a judicial matter in Belgium, and not a governmental one, to sighs of relief by the Belgian PM Charles Michel.
That maybe all about to change as the deputy PM of Belgium Jan Jambon, fires both barrels at Madrid by saying Rajoy’s “Gone too far” by imprisoning eight Catalan ministers and issuing a EAW for the president of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont.
This reaction by Jan Jambon, will surely be a major political headache for the Belgian PM Charles Michel. However, on the upside it will be most welcome by Puigdemont and his ministers.
Don’t be too surprised if the Belgian judiciary declares that Puigdemont and his ministers have no case to answer to.
http://www.catalannews.com/politics/item/belgian-politicians-criticize-imprisonment-of-catalan-leaders
Who would have thought in the summer that we would be see fascist salutes and elected political opponents detained in an EU member state?
The EU and the Spanish Constitutional Crisis
http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/the-eu-brought-on-stage-in-spanish.html?m=1
Sentinel.
Yes who’d have thought that political prisoners are now held in Western Europe.
Article 1.2 of the UN charter recognises the principle of self-determination – making this a right which transcends any state’s domestic laws.
A fundamental principle of international law is that the provisions of a state’s constitution cannot be deemed inherently legal – they must equate with international law.
Judicial independence rankings:
6. United Kingdom
[…]
30. Saudi Arabia
31. Egypt
32. Bahrain
[…]
58. Spain
http://narrativeautumn.com/2017/10/21/judicial-independence-ranking-wef-report-201718/
Of late I can believe Spain’s postion, though I’m still a little surprised by it.
However The Republic of Albania is an official candidate for accession to the European Union since June 2014 – its position a lowly 123rd on the list.
Mr Green said in a statement: ‘This story is completely untrue and comes from a tainted and untrustworthy source.
‘I’ve been aware for some years that the discredited former assistant commissioner Bob Quick has tried to cause me political damage by leaking false information about the raid on my parliamentary office.
That Bob Quick sounds l;ike a really nasty piece of work.
I think in modern times, Green, is the only politician to be arrested in Parliament and taken away by the pigs.
He was being stitched up by New Labour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Green#Arrest
If Patel goes, May can hang on.
If Green goes, the game may be up for May.
He is her closest friend.
COURT 11
Before SIR DAVID EADY
(sitting as a Judge of the High Court)
Tuesday, 7th November 2017
Not before 11 o’clock
Jury List
ROBED
FOR TRIAL
TLJ17/0758 Simons v Murray
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/court-lists/list-queens-bench
(accessed 6 November 2017; note contents change daily)
One of the most well known libel judges..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Eady
Do we know his politics, I mean, do we have any idea of his track record on such matters?
He doesn’t sit very often these days it seems.
This case from earlier this year though.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/founder-uks-islam-channel-awarded-140000-after-pro-israel-group-libel-236437144
Probably not helpful to discuss the judge too much in the comments right now though!
Agreed. ?
Me too, as I stated before it came out that Sir David would be the judge.
Anyone know anything about how Craig is getting on?
Busy but okay I believe.
thanks for that info Squonk and Sentinel. let us hope that it all goes well for Craig.
That’s squonk
Sir David Eady is very high profile, and very experienced in such matters.. I think there is an excellent chance that Craig will receive a fair trial.
Private Eye seems to have (or have had) a down on Sir David.
Ba’al to confirm perhaps?
Private Eye does not think much of Sir David Eadie. Indeed it has taken a very poor view of certain of his judgements.
Habbabkuk, That’s good news. So far as I am aware Private Eye is still in business, as is The Daily Mail. Are they sending Peter Oborne along to report proceedings? I think he still works for them.
Probably best not to discuss the judge at this sensitive time. But I thought he’d retired?
Ba’al Zevul.
The Judge is still a young man. I retired in 2004, yet still get out to do a bit.
Are you coming today? It doesn’t start until at least 11:00 am
I have no idea what you look like…but I know you are even older than me, because I trust what you write.
Tony
LOL @ Tony, and good to know someone trusts my writing! I should have retired, but couldn’t afford to, so still fulltime.
No, can’t make it, and even if I could I hate London with a passion, and you’d have to use wild horses to get me there. I have donated, and will repeat if the worst comes to the worst.
Not to disparage those who, probably at some personal cost, will be there, but if the outcome of a High Court hearing depends on the number of supporters in the stands, there is probably no hope for the judicial system. If the outcome is unfavourable to Craig, I think a precedent will have been set, and the legislation itself will have to be questioned via Parliament. Then, numbers may well count.
“Fleeing to Brussels wasn’t very astute either. The EU wasn’t going to save them, after the Scottish experience in Brussels. They should have died in the Barcelona bunker,…”
_______________________
Or committed suicide in the Presidential Palace, thus following the example of the hopeless Salvador Allende after the military finally intervened to save Chile from political and economic chaos..
Overthrown in a coup supported by the CIA, the Great Satan has much blood on its hands, with regards to ousted leaders of Central and South America.
Then Thatcher’s great friend General Pinochet refused to return authority to the civilian government, instead choosing to rule by military junta.
In the process thousands were murdered and a disasterous economic experiment all but destroyed Chile’s economy. Indeed Pinochet dissolved the Congress of Chile and suspended it constitution.
You’re gravely mistaken the intervention did more harm than good.
Ah yes, that great hero Pinochet…
Fascists intervened to save Chile from democracy, you mean. Surely you don’t approve of a military junta running the country, using torture and disappearances, terrorising a large portion of the population in order to benefit a privileged minority?
Thinking of you Craig and wishing you well tomorrow. Justice should and will prevail.
One of the world’s largest firms loaned a businessman previously accused of corruption $45m and asked him to negotiate mining rights in a poor central African nation, the Paradise Papers reveal.
Anglo-Swiss company Glencore made the loan available to Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, a notorious middle man with a close relationship with senior figures in the DR Congo government, in 2009.
Mr Gertler was asked to negotiate a new deal for a mining company in which Glencore had a significant stake, which campaigners say cost DR Congo hundreds of millions of dollars.
He and Glencore deny any wrongdoing.
Glencore agreed to pay Dan Gertler $534m (£407m) to buy him out of their shared mining interests in DR Congo in February this year.
BBc
quite a lot of stuff going on that is kept away from public scrutiny.
more light please
Worth a read especially ref Dacre.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Eady
Sorry Sqonk for the duplication.
“Israel claims tribal superiority over the entire rest of the world.” So said Simons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzC6QSylETc&t=223s
Whereas Murray wrote “It (Israel) is rather a vicious racist construct, defined absolutely by race, refusing territorial limits, and with an *aggressive theocratic overlay that* claims tribal superiority over the entire rest of the world.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/10/the-racist-concept-of-israel/
Any dummy can see what Simons did there. But has Murray addressed this point anywhere here on his blog? Even more importantly has anyone seen it addressed in his team’s submissions to the court? (Though Murray who often doesn’t know where to stop went further and said words to the effect “I have never said anything *remotely* like that”.
May the best lawyer win. I hope for his sake Murray and his team are not only better prepared than Simons’ but better prepared than Murray was for his Sky interview including showing up looking like he had just rolled off his bed.
Yes yes I know that Simons was aware that Murray was going to be on too whereas Murray allegedly was not so advised but I’m afraid to say that that is an utterly useless allegation.
Last but not least one has to compliment the Sky presenter for the way he handled it. Admirable. Who is he?
Prudence,
“Any dummy can see what Simons did there. ” – Yes, I agree. A clever trap was prepared for Craig Murray, and he fell straight into it. One wonders, if others were at least complicit in preparing this trap. The interview includes the words “in the Edinburgh TV studio”. How on earth, did the Edinbugh TV studio allow Craig Murray to appear like that?? TV studios have make-up artists. Maybe Craig turned up, alone, late and was rushed on – but that is still no excuse – that the studio did not appropriately prepare him.
“But has Murray addressed this point anywhere here on his blog? ”
Craig has addressed the entire issue, in great detail on his blog?
Haven’t you read it?
Tony
I replied in detail earlier but it was deleted. They seem a bit touchy around here and I hope they are not too touchy-feel though in this enlightened day and age.
Anyway Tony pull your finger out and point us to where Murray’s team in the court documents has highlighted that very clever underhand trick of switching the terminology.
As I said earlier it seems to me to be a case of may the best lawyer win. Homework doesn’t stop at school. I hope for the thousands who have contributed to Murray’s defence fund will not be let down.
I read above a lot of curiosity about the presiding judge but who is representing Murray?
Dear Prudence,
My reply was deleted too. The moderator has got a difficult job with people like us. I wouldn’t do it. Are you going tomorrow?
Tony
“Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play?
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It’s beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play?
Dear Prudence, open up your eyes
Dear Prudence, see the sunny skies
The wind is low, the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence, won’t you open up your eyes?
Look around round
Look around round round
Look around……”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr2LGqO2Fb0
Well they’d only need one ticket to do that 😉
Me too thinking of you Craig.
I’m old enough to remember the Private Eye fund raisers!
I’m very willing to chip in more.