A significant proportion of Labour MPs are actively seeking to cause their own party to do badly in forthcoming local elections, with the aim of damaging the leader of that party. To that end they have attacked Jeremy Corbyn relentlessly in a six week crescendo, in parliament and in the entirely neo-liberal owned corporate media, over the Skripal case, over Syria, and over crazy allegations of anti-semitism, again and again and again.
I recall reporting on an Uzbek Presidential election where the “opposition” candidate advised voters to vote for President Karimov. When you have senior Labour MPs including John Woodcock, Jess Phillips, John Mann, Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Wes Streeting and Ruth Smeeth carrying on a barrage of attacks on their own leader during a campaign, and openly supporting Government positions, British democracy has become completely dysfunctional. No amount of posing with leaflets in their constituencies will disguise what they are doing, and every Labour activist and trade unionist knows it.
British democracy cannot become functional again until Labour voters have a chance to vote for candidates of their party who are not supporters of the neo-liberal establishment. This can only happen by the removal as Labour candidates of a very large number of Labour MPs.
That it is “undemocratic” for party members to select their candidates freely at each election, and it is “democratic” for MP’s to have the guaranteed candidacy for forty years irrespective of their behaviour, is a nonsensical argument, but one to which the neo-liberal media fiercely clings as axiomatic. Meanwhile in the SNP, all MPs have to put themselves forward to party members equally with other candidates for selection at every election. This seems perfectly normal. Indeed every serious democratic system elects people for a fixed term. Labour members do not elect their constituency chairman for life, so why should they elect their parliamentary candidate for life? Why do we keep having general elections rather than voters elect the MP for life?
Election of parliamentary candidates for life is in fact a perfectly ludicrous proposition, but as it is currently vital to attempts to retain undisputed neo-liberal hegemony, anybody who dissents from the idea that candidacy is for life is reviled in the corporate and state media as anti-democratic, whereas the truth is of course the precise opposite.
The election of Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour leadership was a fundamental change in the UK. Previously the choice offered to electors in England and Wales was between two parties with barely distinguishable neo-liberal domestic policies, and barely distinguishable neo-conservative foreign policies. Jeremy Corbyn then erupted onto centre stage from the deepest backbenches, and suddenly democracy appeared to offer people an actual choice. Except that at the centre of power Jeremy did not in fact command his own party, as its MPs were largely from the carefully vetted Progress camp and deeply wedded to neo-conservative foreign policy, including a deep-seated devotion to the interests of the state of Israel as defined by the Israeli settlers and nationalist wing, and almost as strongly wedded to the economic shibboleths of neo-liberalism.
These Labour MPs were, in general, prepared grudgingly to go along with a slightly more social democratic economic policy, but drew the line absolutely at abandoning the neo-conservative foreign policy of their hero Tony Blair. So pro-USA policy, support for bombings and missiles as “liberal intervention” in a Middle Eastern policy firmly aligned to the interests of Israel and against the Palestinians, and support for nuclear weapons and the promotion of arms industry interests through a new cold war against Russia, are the grounds on which they stand the most firmly against their own party leadership – and members. Over these issues, these Labour MPs will support, including with voting in parliament, the Tories any day.
I have never voted Labour. I come from a philosophical viewpoint of the liberal individualist rather than of working class solidarity. Labour support for nuclear weapons and other WMD, in the blinkered interest of the members of the General Municipal and Boilermakers’ Union, is one reason that I could not vote Labour. The other is of course that in many cases, if you vote Labour you are very likely to be sending to parliament an individual who will vote with the Tories to escalate the arms race and conduct dangerous and destructive proxy wars in the Middle East.
There is an excellent article on Another Angry Voice which lists the only 18 MPs who were brave enough to vote against Theresa May’s 2014 Immigration Act, which enshrined dogwhistle racism and the hostile environment policy.
Diane Abbott (Labour)
Jeremy Corbyn (Labour)
Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru)
Mark Lazarowicz (Labour)
John Leech (Liberal Democrat)
Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru)
Caroline Lucas (Green)
Angus MacNeil (SNP)
Fiona Mactaggart (Labour)
John McDonnell (Labour)
Angus Robertson (SNP)
Dennis Skinner (Labour)
Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat)
David Ward (Liberal Democrat)
Mike Weir (SNP)
Eilidh Whiteford (SNP)
Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru)
Pete Wishart (SNP)
5 of the 6 SNP MPs stood against this racism (the sixth was absent) and the current leadership of the Labour Party stood alone against the Blairites and Tories in doing so. The Windrush shame should inspire Labour members to deselect every single one of the Red Tories who failed to vote against that Immigration Act. It is also a measure of the appalling shame of the Liberal Democrats, of whom only three of their sixty odd MPs opposed it, and who consigned themselves to the dustbin of history through Nick Clegg’s gross careerism and right wing principles.
There is more to say though. This vote is testament to the great deal in common which the SNP have with the current Labour leadership (who also personally consistently opposed Trident), as opposed to with the bulk of Labour MPs. Put another way, Corbyn, Abbot and McDonnell have more in common with the SNP than the Blairites. It is also a roll-call of those MPs who have most consistently stood against the appalling slow genocide of the Palestinians. It is astonishing how often that issue is a reliable touchstone of where people stand in modern British politics.
Corbyn’s supporters have slowly gained control of major institutions within the Labour Party. The essential next move is for compulsory re-selection of parliamentary candidates at every election and an organised purge of the Blairites. If the Labour Party does not take that step, I could not in conscience urge anyone to vote for it, even in England, but rather to look very carefully at the actual individual candidates standing and decide who deserves your support.
The Privy Council would never allow a proper democracy.
Excellent article Craig.
I have been saying for some time now that the best move for Jeremy Corbyn would be to conclude a parliamentary pact with the SNP, LD, Plaid Cymru and the Greens as an anti-Tory alliance. This should focus on the main areas of governmental policy on which all these parties have, in principle, opposite positions. if any one of them refused, and there were significant opposition from within the Labour Party, it would become clear where the dividing line in British politics really lies….
CM – “British democracy cannot become functional again until Labour voters have a chance to vote for candidates of their party who are not supporters of the neo-liberal establishment. This can only happen by the removal as Labour candidates of a very large number of Labour MPs.”
If this third party malarkey gets off the ground this could at least mean the worst of the worst deserting the Labour Party. As things stand, even if Labour win the next election, the Blairites would just undermine Corbyn until he would be forced to resign.
On the anti-semitism rubbish being whipped up, I note that the Guardian has refused to print a letter from 650 Labour members contradicting the Blairite liars – http://azvsas.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/guardian-refuses-to-print-letter-from.html
It won’t happen, but I wish the Labour party would go into the next election with a promise to introduce PR (no referendums necessary), with a PR election to follow in 12 months. The PR would be 50% constituency seats, 50% list seats, with the list vote determining the party proportions overall.
One hope (a long shot) for England would be if the independence movement in Scotland gets its act together. A Scotland freed of neoliberalism could presumably boost its GDP to that of Ireland which was $61,600 per capita in 2015 (UK $39,900 in 2015). A post Brexit England could then look on and weep.
Watching Question Time and it is truly terrifying; an audience absolutely full of stooges with planted questions, and nothing but anti-Russian propaganda. This isn’t going to end well.
The last time I watched question time I considered going back on heroin. It’s a trigger.
@ Hatuey April 20, 2018 at 00:02
Try acid instead, but hold onto your hat!
That BZ stuff sounds like fun…
Hatuey
April 20, 2018 at 00:09
“That BZ stuff sounds like fun…”
A 72 hour trip I was told in the 70`s but we could not get hold of any at the time.
Missed tonights, will catch up tomo.
Seems the Beeb is determined to prevent this Govt falling over its serial lies: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-43745629
No surprises if that was simultaneous with yet another “planted stooge QT”.
“The wheels are coming off the bus as it goes round and round,
Round and round.
The wheels are coming off the bus as it goes round and round,
Goodbye Tory Fuckers!!”
reply to Neil Newman above —- that article is disgraceful rubbishing of independent journalists from a state funded organisation that pretends it’s impartial, i could’t see who wrote it, oddly while most articles on that blog have the name of who wrote it that article had no name attached, perhaps BBC need for such an article demonstrates their concern that independent journalists actually are getting heard by growing numbers of people who can see right through the disgraceful BBC bullshit.
Yes. Terrible. I switched it off.
https://youtu.be/4ptlQLe1Lgs
America has been taken over, Australian has also been taken over, New Zealand, Canada. I feel like Jeremy Corbyn is the last man standing.
American soldiers have been told to be ready to die for Israel. Judging by their treatment of Palestinians, I have to wonder what’s in store for the rest of us?
On Fox News, Tucker Carlson asked Roger Wicker (R) what US interest would be served by regime change in Syria. Wicker responds, ‘well, if you care about Israel …’
http://podblanc.guru/neocon-roger-wicker-r-if-you-care-about-israel-invade-syria_b6ce2f0fd.html
BbC Question Time:
1) It is non-negotiable that Assad gassed Syrians.
2) It is non-negotiable that we are good and the Russians are evil.
3) Guardian journalists sitting in London know more than Robert Fisk in Douma.
To say that we are in a post-evidence society is self-evident.
I just wonder whether Emily Thornberry would be de-QCed if she truly thinks that western propaganda equates to evidence in a criminal court?
The Fisk and Salisbury*) war crimes — parallels?
https://theintercept.com/2018/04/19/dear-bashar-al-assad-apologists-your-hero-is-a-war-criminal-even-if-he-didnt-gas-syrians
http://www.ifstone.org/weekly/IFStonesWeekly-1967jan09.pdf
*) Harrison, that is
I particularly like the term “The Salisbury Dispatches“.
This could be the moniker for the dispatches coming out of the Met and the Gov as regards to the Skripal farce.
Wow! That is some outburst by a rattled man!
If Luciana Berger has suffered anti-Semitic abuse from Labour members, how come none of the four people who have been convicted of using anti-Semitic abuse against Berger were Labour members?
The way she was telling Corbyn to get a grip of the problem makes it appear as if she’s been getting loads of anti-Semitic abuse from Labour members (as those are the only people that Corbyn has any power over), but if she had, then surely they would have been prosecuted and convicted, just like the four far right abusers were. The lack of convictions of Labour members makes it look as if Berger is using anti-Semitism as a stick to beat Corbyn with.
Have you been asleep lately? And what else is new?
She only made her commons speech a couple of days ago and that’s what I’m commenting about.
«If Luciana Berger has suffered anti-Semitic abuse from Labour members,»
I suspect that you don’t get weasel wording and strategic use of periods… Suppose I say “L Berger has suffered anti-semitic abuse. When is Corbyn going to stop anti-semitic activities among Labour members?” I have nowhere alleged that the abusers were Labour members, nor alleged that Corbyn is responsible for it.
I thought my comment made it clear that her demand that Corbyn get a grip on the problem must mean that she is saying that she has got abuse from Labour members, as they are the only people that Corbyn has any power over. It’s more than clever word games. It’s a direct, if unspecific, allegation.
Berger, along with the rest of the right-wing Bliarite labour party (which, incidentally, we can’t wait to be rid of) kvetches about anti-semitism. She is the living embodiment of Chutzpah in spades.
For the benefit of those who don’t know about Chutzpah – it means brass neck -brazen nerve. The best definition is that concerning a boy who murders both his parents, then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he’s an orphan.
Dave read this.
http://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/antisemitism/searching-truth-line-abuse-allegations/
No MSM will print the JVL point of view of course – doesn’t fit their narrative.
There is of course antisemitism in the Labour Party – as there is in society sadly – and anyone holding such views needs to be kicked out. But this story is being blown up out of all proportion by the usual traitorous suspects and used as a stick to beat Corbyn.
Along with him being suspect just for asking for evidence that Russia is guilty of the crimes that the jingoistic fuckwits in Parliament accuse them of
This has to be the Blairite neoliberal scummers last stand. Either they are finally finished off or the Corbyn project is. I shudder to think that it will be the latter.
The non racist right wing are of course completely ignored.
https://turningthetideblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/02/online-hate-exists-on-the-political-right-if-the-media-cared-to-look/
And perhaps even more disturbing, the leader of the Israeli Labour Party’s apparent equating of criticism of the Israeli Governments murderous policies in West Bank and Gaza with antisemitism. Do they know what they are doing ?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/10/israeli-labor-leader-cuts-ties-jeremy-corbyn-antisemitism?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Anyway on a more positive note
https://apple.news/ABLQ-NwVDR0qwvfvTbSZEsw
It was clear to me, Dave G. It is necessary to keep bringing this back to facts, as you have done.
Luciana Berger’s speech in the house can be read online in Hansard for Tuesday 17th April. She makes the point that four people convicted of hate speech are right wing. But she also makes this point:-
“There are people who have accused me of having two masters. They have said that I am Tel Aviv’s servant, and called me a paid-up Israeli operative. Essentially, this is anti-Semitism of the worst kind, suggesting that I am a traitor to our country. They have called me Judas, a Zionazi and an absolute parasite, and they have told me to get out of this country and go back to Israel.”
A few sentences later she says:-
“And my party. My party urgently needs to address this issue publicly and consistently, and we need to expel from our ranks those people who hold these views, including Ken Livingstone.”
i.e. she implies that Livingstone holds anti-semitic views,which is a lie.
For what its worth, I didn’t much like Livingstone’s comment about Hitler (‘before he went mad and murdered the Jews’ from memory). But he was quite right about the Haavara agreement – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haavara_Agreement.
The West in Syria has attempted to retain control over the Syrian people through a violent and extremely undemocratic dictator whose family have ruled by fear over the Syrian while establishing an equally violent, equally undemocratic and equally terrifying islamists run by the Muslim Brotherhood which was itself created by the West in 1918 in Egypt.
So its nothing new for them to be running both main political parties in the UK on exactly the same domestic, political and social agendas. Dividing and ruling is what the West does, all the time. When both tightly controlled factions are exactly the same, all they need to do in order to divide the people is to manipulate the story, tweak it with the press and its own manifestos, kick it here and there from the outside. Family infighting in other words. they know, like families, how to push each others’ buttons.
oh yes and we are having our buttons pushed all the time between the very extremely nasty jihadists who are funded and controlled by the west and the very extremely nasty Alawites who are controlled by the French and Russians. There are very few of us that in 2018 would share the dogma of either the Left or the Right. The Left is as abusive of individual liberty as the Right is abusive of individual rights. They are only very minutely different. At the moment there are more people who have grievances against Left oppression than Right oppression. we had an empire which universally wants to displace us, so our government is supported quite strongly by the racist elements of society that are scared stiff of being taken over by foreigners.
Is democracy a solution to our problems? Definitely not if our democracy excludes the interests of others with whom we are bound hand and foot by our common past.. The solution to our problems is to expand our horizons way beyond our own navels, stay in the EU, but not the EU that is just the French and Germans and excludes us and go far beyond our own narrow confines and get to know the big wide world beyond our little daydreams. The only reason I voted for Brexit was to get rid of war criminal David Cameron who illegally attacked Libya and to get rid of the German Junta mentality that was igniting civil war in Syria and also subsequently refused Catalonia to self-express.
I’m not sure how it helps either to retreat into little Scotland, or to kick the establishment in such a way that it hurts us, much more than the rich tossers.
The philosophy of the Western superpowers is to divide and rule, foment conflict and watch us fight ourselves. That is also the policy of the Muslim Brotherhood. Their strategies coincide and elide. Their targets are US. They want to stitch US up with constant wrangling and YES, there are people on this planet who know how to do this. They are called politicians. Every single one of them is a walking talking psychopath. So the answer does not lie in rearranging their deckchairs, it lies in not being on the Titanic in the first place.
if I wanted to get there, I wouldn’t start from here. We have to keep politicians / psychopaths very firmly in their cells, feed them on bread and water, and never let them out of their straightjackets. You know I’m talking sense.
“I’m not sure how it helps either to retreat into little Scotland“
It’s not Scottish independence you fear, it’s English independence. Misery loves company.
When Scotland goes, England will be left to look at itself in the mirror, alone; it’ll see another tired old wife-beating bully whose days of throwing his weight around are gone. A spent force.
England is the Willy Loman of international politics, living on borrowed time and borrowed money. Nobody is buying whatever’s in that battered old suitcase you drag around. Nobody is buying you. It’s the death of an imperial salesman.
“Over these issues, these Labour MPs will support, including with voting in parliament, the Tories any day.”
Craig I think you had a slight brain malfunction as you wrote this, I cannot work out what you meant to say.
Regards.
Really? It seems absolutely clear – and accurate – to me . . .
Let me clarify: these Labour MPs will support the Tories any day, including with votes in parliament. Better ?
In the early 1990s, I had parliamentary ambitions, and I had a London flat in Islington North. Jeremy Corbyn, as was his wont, was putting himself for re-selection, and I put my name forward to contest his candidature. I was given a full and fair opportunity to press my case, throughout the Constituency. I failed, of course, as did my fellow challengers; for my part, I came from the intellectual middle-class left, like Craig Murray, without any trade union credentials. But Jeremy had been true to his principles, and given his Constituency the full opportunity to select anew. I have never forgotten that experience, although my Parliamentary ambitions were decisively stifled. I am now 82, and a devoted Corbynite: I am delighted that my Party has come to recognize his qualities, and I agree with Craig Murray – open reselection should become a matter of course, as Jeremy believed and practised 25 years ago.
This is a great comment
Good man!
Roger, by any chance, are you the Roger Warren Evans, if my memory serves me at all well which it might not, that started the West Wales Fabian Society? Sorry if I’m wrong, your name just rings a bell. If you are, hello, I remember you well!
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/19/scientists-warn-of-nerve-agent-potency-as-salisbury-clean-up-begins
Nuts, bonkers, insane. Why the hell are these hacks not asking any questions?
Its not just British democracy that’s dysfunctional.
>
Mochyn69
Questions? That would sell ye olde porkie sausagges, would it?
It’s not the novichok sticking like ‘ink’, it’s the medieval , wooden-cruck-beamed attics still haunted by memories of bubonic plague above the estate agents and cafes.
Even the choice of the word ink , in digital age, is significant, reminding us of oak presses torqued down onto dampened hand-made paper by ink-blotters softened by urine.
Come and visit ye olde city of Salisbury which was visited in anno domine 1654 by ye pubonic plague and in 1820n inhabited by ye last farme labourer hanged for stealing conie-rabbits. Also crime-scene in ye 21ste centuriey of evill and dastardley skull and crossbones poizones wiped onto ye doreknobbes by Imperiall Slavs from Tsarist Russia.
That article is a disgrace to Journalism, are they hiring Tory students to write their articles now, on some kind of unpaid internships which involve free lunches if they say the right thing?
Billy, a disgrace is too polite a word to use I’m afraid, but I cannot think of a stronger one. The Guardian now has the distinction of being a manipulative, lying, unashamed propaganda machine for the Government and as such, has joined the filth that is the Tabloid Press in this country and the MSM that is now nothing more than Tory Govt propaganda machine. The only thing I can deduce from the MSM is that there can’t be any journalists employed by them who have an ounce of respect in their profession, in themselves, in the right of free speech and free thought. Whatever happened to the journalists who took pride in investigative journalism to expose Govt wrongs, lies, misdeeds and challenge Government actions. When a Government has moved so far into being a fascist one and veering towards fascist totalitarianism, then it is the media’s job to challenge that shift, to challenge their actions, to challenge their lies. It is also the job of the opposition party – Jeremy Corbyn is trying to do that and sticks firm to his principles, however his Blairite back benchers are brainwashed numbskulls who don’t really understand what being a Labour politician is and the principles enshrining the Party but appear to be careerists.
So, according to the ‘authorities’ those highly contaminated police and council offices will require staff to relocate whilst testing and deep cleaning is carried out. If they are so highly contaminated why are there no cases of poisoning of said staff? Surely, that would be the case if this agent, whatever it is or if there ever was an agent at all, is so toxic? Profoundlypuzzled.com
Shouldn’t the entire population of Salisbury not be at all well by now, given their prolonged exposure to the still toxic agents???
Closed police station to decontaminate evidence room. Shades of Monty Python.
I see Peter Ford has been on Tucker Carlson on Fox TV as well as BBC Scotland.
Democracy is being murdered by politicians and the mainstream media. And not only in Britain. They have decided serving capital and its owners is more their cup of tea than serving the electorate. They openly despise democracy.How much clearer can they make this point?
The entire media establishment along with a large number of elected parliamentarians are waging a counterinsurgency against a party leader and his supporters because they are attempting to represent the interests of the people and put the brakes on the destructive neoliberal project. Oh and they aren’t keen on endless war, genocide, slaughtering foreigners in the name of “human rights” or nuclear annihilation. Insanity.
ADVICE NOW
Officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) came under fire during the meeting from some members of the public who suggested that the decontamination process was going to take too long.
Ian Boyd, the chief scientific adviser at Defra, told one critic: “You are underplaying the toxicity of this chemical. You’re also underplaying how the chemical has been spread.”
ADVICE THEN
Prof Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, said the risk of harm to fellow diners was “low”.
The advice to wash possessions applies to anyone in either venue between 13:30 GMT on Sunday 4 March and closure on Monday:
Clothes should be washed, ideally in a washing machine
Clothes which cannot be washed, for example if they need dry cleaning, should be double bagged in plastic until further notice
Mobile phones, handbags and other electronic items should be wiped with baby wipes, which should be bagged in plastic and put in the bin
Other items such as jewellery and glasses should be washed with warm water and detergent
Hands should be washed after the handling of any items suspected of being contaminated.
Dame Sally said after “rigorous scientific analysis” there was some concern that prolonged exposure over weeks and months could cause health problems but it was “not a subject for panic”.
pure theatre………shameful……..
Operetta.
FTFY.
I wish someone would take Corbyn aside and gently tell him letting an aggressive interviewer control the entire interview and put him on the defensive is a good way to keep the underhanded attacks coming. Exaggerated pandering to Israel supporters who seek your downfall is futile, not to mention humiliating. I know Mr. Corbyn is a mild mannered chap but he needs to come out swinging – calmly and diplomatically of course – and spell out his pro-Palestinian, pro-human rights, pro-international law, pro-peace stance and firmly state his case against Israel and the Zionist project in that regard. He needs to put his accusers on the defensive for a change and publicly destroy their slanderous and vindictive accusations of anti-semitism over and over again. Politicians have advisors who help them with this sort of thing do they not?
http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/listen-to-the-full-jeremy-corbyn-interview/
That website you linked to was ‘developed’ by RGB Media out of Tel Aviv.
http://www.rgbmedia.org/
On the page you linked to, the sidebar contains:
JK Rowling urges non-J**s to ‘shoulder the burden’ for tackling anti-Semitism
WATCH: John Mann’s fiery speech during Commons anti-Semitism debate
Community groups follow Board and JLC in snubbing Corbyn’s roundtable meeting
MPs denounce anti-Semitism during unprecedented Commons debate
and even this from June 2016! is on the front page
Labour suspend Momentum activist for saying Zionists ‘involved with Nazis’
It is obsessive and the hostile agenda against Corbyn is obvious.
JK Rowling has got a very Zionist agent. That mostly explains her stance on a lot of issues.
BTW I wonder if the beautiful blogger Bana has read the Harry Potter books ms Rowling sent her. As her English was so good, the English original versions would surely suffice.
At least Natalie ‘gets it’.
Natalie Portman Refuses To Visit Israel — Genesis Prize Scraps Gala Planned For Her
https://forward.com/fast-forward/399261/natalie-portman-refuses-to-visit-israel-forcing-genesis-prize-to-scrap/
That’s the end of her Hollywood career.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_Prize
Founded by three Russians. ‘The award, called the Genesis Prize, will be financed by an endowment of about $50 million set up by three of Russia’s so-called oligarchs: Mikhail M. Fridman, Pyotr Aven and German Khan, among others. [..] Mr. Fridman, Mr. Aven and Mr. Khan are shareholders in the Alfa Group, a Russian corporate behemoth with interests in banking, oil, gas, insurance, telecommunications, insurance and retail. They are also known for close connections to Mr. Putin and the Russian government.’
According to the NY Times June 26, 2012
There is also the Dan David Prize. Three recipients receive $1m annually. ACL BLiar received the prize in 2009 for ‘Present Leadership’.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120425073920/http://www.dandavidprize.org:80/laureates/laureates-2009/105-2009-present-leadership/242-tony-blair.html Read the blurb and have a laugh..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_David
Dan David was of Romanian origin and made his fortune from Photo Me booths.
bj
April 19, 2018 at 23:50
That Intercept article is bizarre and unbalanced in the extreme. Mehdi Hassan seems to think it’s the job of Assad’s government throughout the length of the conflict to feed enclaves of mercenary headchoppers holding thousands of civilians prisoner, when people are starving throughout the rest of Syria, thanks to the efforts of these western-sponsored lunatics, long western sanctions (not to mention Israeli occupation of the Golan). And he should know fine well that his so-called ‘peaceful’ protestors were firing indiscriminately into crowds of genuinely peaceful protestors who simply wanted some modest reforms (which were conceded) not the almost complete destruction of their country, and killing scores of police too. He includes crimes too when Syria was the west’s bitch and possibly also alleged crimes of Assad senior are thrown in too for good measure. Takes as gospel, quotes and links to Reuters, the Guardian, Human Rights Watch, the BBC, WaPo, NY times Amnesty International and every other utterly discredited lying sack of shit media whore out there.
Not to my knowledge has anyone one has suggested Assad is perfect as the strawman he builds suggests, but those who oppose the west’s unending warfare against the countries and peoples of the middle-east and Africa are far from Assad-apologists.
Dreadful article.
Agreed. Whereas Mehdi Hassan has had good articles, this is a huge strawman. You don’t have to admire Assad for being revolted by the West’s presence and actions in Syria (and the middle East as a whole).
Anyway, I saw a parallel between Mehdi Hassan naming and rediculing Fisk, and the plight of Harrison Salisbury in 1967 — the latter being loathed and detested by other MSM pundits at the time.
Hereafter known as Mehdi ‘Oded Yinon’ Hasan. He should be perfectly aware too that lots of Iraqi refuges were present in Syria, fleeing the western outrage that took place there, including the militant Iraqi Sunni minority who would in any case have returned to Iraq to fight both the US occupation and to oppose the (majority) Shia government which in time took over in Iraq. What was Assad supposed to have done with them locked them up to prevent them going back to Iraq, or stay as many did with Western and Gulf provided arms to destabilise Syria.
The term ‘award-winning’ journalist, more often than not signals compliant western tool, just as the BBC in Scotland decorated themselves with phoney awards such as ‘News Broadcaster of the Year’ or some such nonsense when their output was nothing but vomit-inducing mendacious bilge.
Ms Berger seems to have a talent for attracting headlines:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/the-nus-officer-the-pms-son-and-a-love-affair-that-never-was-495829.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247403/Labour-war-Blair-sons-glamorous-friend-chosen-safe-seat.html
Her pre-parliamentary role as Director of Labour Friends of Israel was well publicised unlike that of the reported partner of her fellow Corbyn critic Stella Creasy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5348957/MPs-boyfriend-accused-sending-abusive-racist-tweet.html
I hereby bestow on ‘gitane’ Most Hilarious Typo of the Year Award for ‘pubonic plague’.
my p was intentional , like your t . x
The French and the English have aligned themselves with a country whose historic diplomatic record is worse than theirs.
An alliance of world non-aligned states, preferably medium to small states, is a possible alternative to this quasi-imperialist set up.
With its experience of what it is to be both victim and perpetrator in the field of imperialist predation a sovereign Scotland might make a valuable contribution.
I wouldn’t worry about England and France.
I was watching a nature program about these snakes that live in the mountains of Colorado the other night. Every so often they shed their skin and leave behind a sort of hollow carcass that at a glance looks just like a real snake. Then this other much smaller snake comes along and crawls inside the hollow carcass — nobody knows why exactly but the narrator reckons it was a safe place for them to hide and sleep.
Maybe that’s what is going on with England and France. The real snakes that they used to be have gone and what you’re actually look at is the skin that they left behind. Something was bound to crawl inside, I suppose.
Anyone know of any ‘toxic hotspots’ that need a d e e p c l e a n? I can think of a few. No 10. The WH…
Spy case scientist warns of toxic ‘ hotspots-
Toxic “hotspots” of the nerve agent used to poison a former spy and his daughter could still be present around Salisbury, a government scientist says. Ian Boyd was addressing a public meeting in the city, during which people expressed frustration at the continued closure of several sites.
A small amount of Novichok in liquid form is believed to have been used to target Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Decontamination work, expected to take months, has begun at nine locations.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43833582
Anyone know about Alastair Cunningham, the jobsworth at Wiltshire Council who is ‘in charge’ of this nonsense? He keeps popping up on the news channels. A psyop is in place without a doubt. On QT last night, Salisbury/\Novichok it was being repeated and accepted by the audience and the stooges round the table, Truss, Thornberry, Dale, Malik, Cable.
‘Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist. She is a former private equity investor.’ Says a lot. The usual output – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/nesrinemalik
Having induced further panic in Salisbury with its new “toxic hotspots” headline earlier this morning, the BBC has now changed the story to one of reassurance. Don’t worry: “Salisbury residents told area is safe”.
So many stories, so much confusion. If only the BBC would interview Dr Davies and allow him to explain that “no patients have experienced symptoms of nerve-agent poisoning in Salisbury”.
“private equity investor ”
Could it be that the massive investment about to take place at Porton Down requires premium Salisbury area housing for its underpaid staff. The sole purpose of the exercise is pissing off a few brainless toffs who can afford to move somewhere else. The inhabitants of the South-East of England , unwilling to move further north than Watford have spread themselves over the Southern counties down to the toes of Cornwall. Maybe their ultra thin skins are more sensitive to the bollocks of novichok.. It takes one to know one . I am a thin-skinned southerner myself.
Democracy – Shamocracy
Let’s look at TreasonMay
Rt today highlighting her mischivious deeds
Windrush
https://www.rt.com/uk/424606-may-misleading-parliament-windrush/
It was under her direction at the Home Office that the ‘Go Home’ buses where set up (although she claimed she was on holiday – she’s always on holiday!)
it was under her watch that the abuse of women’s pensions rights was set up – decisions made ‘early’ then covered up – a deliberate policy to abuse women of their earned pensions
TreasonMay does not like operating in full public view – she prefers the clandestine operations – Skirpals anyone? It seems her actions are such that she sets things up – they all go wrong – they all eventually unravel – she blames somebody else – her falsehoods are revealed – She should resign NOW
British Democracy is Dysfunctional 345
British Democracy is Dysfunctional
Yes Craig it is.
And it will be until it is turned into a democracy – a real one.
Lord Hailsham put it neatly.
Britain is an elective dictatorship.
It is and that is very far from the ideal of democracy.
There is no control on such an executive.
The House of Lords is now an insult to the British people.
In 2015 the Tories – thanks to rottenboroughs and years of fiddled boundaries took an absolute majority in the House of 331 seats – won moreover based on the lie of the threat of an SNP/Labour coalition taking Britain – and won on less than 40% of the vote.
Not much more than a third.
How much more of legislated ‘corruption’ and of a non representative result can you get?
And with that less than 40% of the vote – had the ability to ride roughshod until May blew it with the cynical and unnecessary election she thought would give her the means to sell out Brexit via shortcut.
And the resulting years since 2015 have been a nightmare for most of us as we have had to continue to watch them destroy Britain, betray Brexit and continue to illegally bomb other sovereign nations.
The record of Iraq, Libya and Syria – all attacked by a Tory government.
Shameful.
Don’t you dare challenge the government’s narrative & certainly anyone who has commented online on both Salisbury & Douma can almost certainly be considered a Putin shill. Remember GCHQ are protecting us all by watching over us.
https://news.sky.com/story/russian-bots-behind-4000-rise-in-spread-of-lies-after-salisbury-and-syria-attacks-11338466
Nice to see Peter Hitchens giving as good as he gets to Brillo, disgraced former minister Priti Patel & indeed Alan Johnoson on This Week last night. From 5:12 onwards.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0b052zd/this-week-19042018
Watching this induces a binary reaction of hilarity and rage which results in a uncontrolled foaming at the mouth.
Peter Hitchins question to Priti Patel “do you know the organisation that was in control of Douma at the time of the alleged chemical attack”. Priti Patel’s answer “no I do not”. Just about sums it all up really.
If only the population were enlightened enough to have elected a Labour Government then the British could have attacked countries with much more geographical diversity. Say Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Serbia.
The Conservatives seem overly focused on attacking people in the Middle East, Labour offers much more by way of diversity, and as everyone knows “diversity is the greatest strength of all”
Please check out the Labour leader’s anti-war activities over the course of his life and compare them with your own.
As I understand it the zionists were offered land in South America, Africa and elsewhere. The sole purpose of 30 years of neo-con illegal violence against the Middle East is to support the aims of Winston Churchill to give Israel a greater Middle East. I know you don’t think MPs have a genuine love for a lawless, fascist apartheid regime which shoots its prisoners at half a mile distance. They are wholly bought and fully paid for, like my tummy. As were the Blairites before them. It all stinks like a tannery.
And the SNP got 35 seats with 3% of the vote while the Liberal Democrats only got 12 seats with 7.4% of the vote. Almost a third of the seats for getting more than double the votes. It’s rigged.
Meanwhile the MoD, opens up a one billion pounds bid to foreign countries to build military ships.
After promising they’d be built on the Clyde, if we voted no and stayed in the union. At the very least the MoD could’ve given the contracts to the rest of the UK.
Even die hard unionist Jackie Baillie is surprised by the lies of Westminster, though those who support Scottish independence aren’t surprised at all.
The ships the government promised would be built on the Clyde will be built on the Clyde.
The ships going out to tender are not warships and shipyards on the Clyde or elsewhere in Britain will be encouraged to bid.
These are support ships not the frigates that the Clyde yards will be building and it seems they’re only being offered abroad because there is little or no spare capacity in the UK.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/support-ships-likely-to-be-built-overseas/
Tell, that to the GMB union, who said work on those ships would’ve created 11,000 jobs, and generated £285 million pounds in income tax back into the Treasury coffers, which will now be lost.
Are you training for a job with the EBC?
The SNP contested 59 constituencies and won 35 of them with 36.9% of the vote.
So you are saying that a party having a disproportionate share of seats to vote share is only undemocratic when relating to the Conservatives and is perfectly fair if it’s the SNP who benefits.
I’m not saying anything except pointing out that the SNP had over ten times the 3% vote share that you said they had. The seats were contested under FPTP as they always were.
The 2015 result included this.
UKIP 4,000,000 votes – 1 seat.
SNP 1,500,000 votes 56 seats
Greens 1,000,000 1 seat;
Tories 11,000,000 votes 331 seats.
UKIP in Germany, Italy and most democracies – and under PR would have got 83 seats.
The AfD in Germany got less of a percentage recently but under PR has over 90 seats in the German parliament.
Fair voting – votes mean seats.
And also mean some restraint on the ‘elective dictatorship’ of Britain.
The 2015 result was ‘democracy’ at its most insulting.
It was victory for electoral scam – and the Tories cheated financially in several dozen seats to get it.
Emily, the Tories were also aided and abetted by Cambridge Analytica and an MSM malicious and vicious assault on the labour leader.
In hindsight you were probably right.
That could be where they came up with the lie and scam of the Labour SNP alliance.
Totally fraudulent but enough to scare the Tories to return home to the liars – Cameron and May.
Cameron and May had already proved they were no Tories in their sell out to the entire Lib Dem manifesto.
Well the British have paid dearly
Look at the country now.
“And the SNP got 35 seats with 3% of the vote while the Liberal Democrats only got 12 seats with 7.4% of the vote.”
Naughty, naughty, pants on fire.
.
As well you know, the SNP does not campaign outside Scotland so the comparison you make is disingenuous to say the least.
The FPTP system certainly does not reflect the popular vote but you’re not comparing like with like . The 3% you refer to is the percentage of UK votes but SNP candidates stood only on Scotland – which has just 8% of the population of the UK . Lib Dem’s field candidates over the whole UK apart from N Ireland . They are just not very popular , whereas the SNP is the most popular party in Scotland .But even if the whole population of the UK voted and all Scots voted SNP the SNP share of thevUK would be 8% . So the SNP share of the Scottish vote works out at around 40% .
“Salisbury spy attack: Toxic nerve agent ‘hotspots’ could still be in the city, Government warns”
What is this about? Is it a continuation of the cover up in Salisbury?
Or is it just a distraction to keep us absorbed in the ‘wickedness’ of the Russian state?
I am in love with this woman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zUn2esjYK8
I hope this infatuation never ends
Great YouTube video. It captures the spirit of the Vietnam era saying, bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity.
She’s great.
NBC won’t have her though. Nasty knocking copy. They know they are losing with their propaganda.
Russian propaganda evades YouTube’s flagging system with BuzzFeed-style knockoffs
It looks and sounds like the kind of online news millennials love — with a heavy dose of talking points pushed by Russia.
by Ben Collins / Apr.19.2018
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/russian-propaganda-evades-youtube-s-flagging-system-buzzfeed-style-knockoffs-n867431
NBC owned by Comcast which is chaired by Brian L Roberts. ‘Roberts was the recipient of the 2004 Humanitarian Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and was the 2002 Walter Kaitz Foundation Honoree of the Year for his commitment to diversity in the cable industry. The Police Athletic League of Philadelphia honored Roberts with their 2002 award for his commitment to youth programs and community partnerships. In 2001, Roberts was awarded the USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s 2011 Ambassador for Humanity Award.. The Aileen K. and Brian L. Roberts Foundation was one of the largest contributors to the restoration of the Alfred W. Fleisher Memorial Synagogue at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, named in the honor of his maternal grandfather’. Same old. Wiipedia.
Syria is in the crosshairs.
Is “having an opinion” now synonymous with being a “propaganda shill”?
if that’s the case, it’s no wonder that the BBC has never broadcast Dr Strangelove, because that kind of lese majeste satire of our American cousins would never be allowed, what with it being such obvious Commie “fake news”
(or not, as the case may be)
Even though it ends with Vera Lynn? Who, I see, is still alive and is now 101!
There’s a another Great March of Return planned for Gaza-Israel.
Must be time to accuse Corbyn of anti-semitism again to shut him up about the inevitable slaughter. I’m sure Ruth Smeeth is liaising with her old employer at BICOM on just such a play.
How many will be killed this time 🙁
“When you have senior Labour MPs including John Woodcock, Jess Phillips, John Mann, Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Wes Streeting and Ruth Smeeth”
Jess Phillips and Wes Streeting are “senior”….?? When did this happen???
The front runner in the race to become the FM’s deputy Keith Brown, has hinted that the next indyref, could be just 12 months away, a decision will be taken on exactly when to hold it later in the year.
You’d know better than me, but wouldn’t this require the permission of the UK government? How is anyone in a position to say when yet another referendum might take place, without the UK government signing off on it?
I wonder if one should be scheduled, say, every leap year. But only until the result you favour comes in, naturally.
The SG doesn’t need permission to hold a referendum. Westminster might be foolish enough to dispute the legitimacy of such a vote. But they can’t decree that the SG has no right to go ahead with one.
If the union is so fair and honest and benign then unionists should view the prospect of a second referendum with confidence.
It could be that Brown is rallying the troops, letting them know that a indyref is still on the cards without actually confirming anything.
As for the PM she’s already refused a second section 30, claiming that now isn’t the time. I wonder if she’d do that again, and what would the floating voters on independence in Scotland think about that. A solid not now might sway them to vote yes to independence.
Thanks… I appreciate the benefit of your own and RG’s erudition.
However – and you may not remember this from the time – but I was in favour of Scotland achieving independence at the time of the referendum, and was disappointed at the result. It seems rather undemocratic to keep demanding a referendum until the populace finally votes the right way (and I mean ‘finally’ in the strictest sense of the word). That’s why I’m not in favour of rushing to the next referendum, and being determined to try harder this time, as if my view really had to be imposed on the stupid masses. This is how politics works, not democracy.
Remember how the various EU referendums were not accepted, until the voters had further chances to get it right. You might be interested in this:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2015/10/19/asking-the-public-twice-why-do-voters-change-their-minds-in-second-referendums-on-eu-treaties/
I hear Patrick Harvie is applying for the SNP deputy leader job.
When is it going to be your turn to lead UKIP?
Ah reel guid, are you not announcing the bi-election results any more? I used to rely on you keeping me up to date and you’ve missed the last two.
They’ve still to announce the 1st preferences in the Highland ward by-election for P & K.
Well you be sure to let me know how the other 54% of the votes shared out as soon as you hear.
Well the Labour party and the Lib/Dem branch offices in Scotland, currently work for in the interests of Westminster. The Tory branch office in Scotland, is a permanent hostile entity to Holyrood.
I read this on the Times headlines.
‘Pinneys factory ‘should not shut before Young’s Seafood sale’
April 20 2018
Joan McAlpine, an MSP, said that the Pinneys staff had been badly treated Photo
The closure of a seafood plant in southern Scotland should be put on hold because its parent company is up for sale, MSPs have argued.
Young’s Seafood intends to move production from the Pinneys of Scotland site in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, to Grimsby with the loss of 450 jobs. The company is now looking for a buyer.
Colin Smyth, a Labour MSP, and the SNP’s Joan McAlpine said that the whole closure process should be put on hold. Mr Smyth said: “The company should call an immediate halt to any plans to close Pinneys as they have no idea what any potential new owners of Young’s may wish to do with the site. “It may well be that they will want to retain Pinneys…
___
So I looked to see who owns Youngs. You could not imagine that there been so many acquisitions by so many vultures.
‘Young’s Seafood Ltd. is a British producer and distributor of frozen, fresh, and chilled seafood, supplying approximately 40% of all the fish eaten in the United Kingdom every year. It is headquartered in Grimsby, England.
The company as it is today was formed through the merger of Young’s and Bluecrest in 1999. It is privately owned by venture capital concern Lion Capital LLP who purchased the parent company Foodvest (part of CapVest) in July 2008. It is a major player in the European seafood industry and also owner of sister company, Findus AB, based in Malmö, Sweden.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young%27s_Seafood
Tell me who owns Youngs. Do the workers know? If it is Lion Capital LLP, they are:
Lion Capital LLP is a British private equity firm specialising in investments in the consumer sector. Previous and current consumer brands owned by Lion have included Weetabix, Jimmy Choo, wagamama, Kettle Foods and AllSaints.
The firm is headquartered in London, England, and employs 30 investment executives across its London and Los Angeles offices.
The firm’s principals have invested approximately €6 billion in more than 30 businesses and more than 100 consumer brands
Lion Capital’s portfolio has included some of the world’s best known consumer brands. Among the firm’s most notable investments are:
Bought Weetabix in 2004 for £640 million and sold 60% to Bright Food in 2012 in a deal valuing the company at £1.2 billion[
Acquired Jimmy Choo in 2004 for £100 million and sold the company in 2007 for £225 million
Acquired wagamama in 2005 for £102 million and later sold the company for £215 million in 2011
Acquired Orangina Schweppes in 2006 in partnership with the Blackstone Group and later sold the company for €2.6 billion in 2009
Acquired Kettle Foods in 2006 for $270 million and sold the company in 2010 for $615 million
Acquired HEMA in 2007 in a deal estimated to be worth €1.3 billion
Acquired the Findus and Young’s brands in 2008 for £1.1 billion
Acquired AS Adventure Group in 2008 for €263 million
Invested $80 million in American Apparel in 2009
Acquired Bumble Bee Foods for $980 million in 2010
Purchased Picard in 2010 for €1.5 billion
Acquired AllSaints in 2011
Acquired Alain Afflelou in 2012 for €740 million
Acquired John Varvatos Enterprises, Inc. in 2012
Acquired Good Hair Day (GHD) in 2013 for £300 million
Acquired Pittarosso in 2014 for £295 million
Not many supporters of Jeremy Corbyn there I should imagine. We are very susceptible to the effects of withdrawal of capital by the vultures.
Well researched.
Thank you.
I am certainly now an ex buyer of Youngs.
Why, Emily?
Because fish is available from non hedge fund – non huge corporatist sources.
Very good fish at very good prices.
There is a British – BRITISH supermarket – one of only two – who also processes fish in Grimsby and sells it at very competitive rates.
Most of my fish comes from that source.
Just some from Youngs – no longer – no thanks.
Emily, best value in frozen fish anywhere is Iceland!
“Missile Strikes Are Unlikely to Stop Syria’s Chemical Attacks, Pentagon Says”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/world/middleeast/syria-strikes.html
I would go further than that, more Chemical Attacks are certain but, again, Assad will not be responsible.
One reason can be found in the article
1) “The missiles alone cost at least $100 million”
There are a number of other reasons
2) Chemical Weapons are easy to make and anybody using them in Syria for a multitude of reasons will not be considered a suspect. eg the Rebel (US Armed, Funded and Trained etc Terrorists) Chemical Weapon Laboratory identified by Russia a week or so before the US Missile Attack, complete with Chemicals ready to go was not considered a contender. Interestingly it was reported the day after the Strike that facility was not bombed by the Americans, it was left untouched.
3) Until Assad is deposed the US / Israeli new map of the Middle East cannot be moved forward. Incidently for the New World Order view of the ME to take effect Iran’s influence must first be neutralised.
4) The trillions spent so far on the project, the millions killed, the millions more displaced in Iraq, Libya and elsewhere, the refugee crisis in Europe will all be to waste if the New ME plan is shelved.
5) The US will be a failed State within 5 years without the Oil Wealth and Arms Industries continually being fed. The Collapse of the Dollar, Civil War and the end of the mightiest Empire on Earth. America cannot afford for Assad to continue.
6) International Intolerance of Israel’s Continued Assault on Palestine needs a distraction.
The list is not exhaustive please feel free to append
Charles
Iran is an ally of Israel. Israel are bigger liars than you think.
Things will be very different with Assad gone.
They shipped all the weapons from Libya straight to Syria. Sure there won’t be any time wasted by the evil illegal warmongering pricks. I would be very surprised if they ever attack Iran, Don’t forget, the Alawite sect being a branch of Shi’a Islam was a blatant lie from the first. you might just as well say the C of E is a branch of the Roman Catholic Church. The Alawites are Kurdish privateers , like Erdogan and Barzani, who never converted to Islam. Erdogan’s Muslim Brotherhood is nothing to do with Islam. It’s a 100 year old UK franchise. Slogans slogans everywhere but ne’er a word of truth.
Answer me this, if you wish. Is a Saudi salafi who bed-hops with his Indonesian maid and frequently gets divorced, more ore less adulterous than a Shi’a couple who theoretically can take a mistress/ boyfriend when either of them travel abroad? Iran has clamped down on extra-marital sex, but Saudi Arabia, operating strict Shari’ah, has normalised it on the pretext of the Indonesian maids’ relative extreme poverty and through legal divorce.
Clearly in my mind the Saudi system is much more socially destructive than the Shi’a system in practise. Nothing like a good war to break up families. So maybe you are right. If you put a Westerner in a refugee camp, they’d last about 2 weeks.
“Iran is an ally of Israel. ”
Eh?
Is that why Israel constantly pleads with the US to destroy Iran.
This declassified American document from 1986 is still relevant today and gives an insight into the causes of the unrest in Syria and America’s reasoning behind aiding some rebel factions.
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP86T01017R000100770001-5.pdf
British Democracy is Dysfunctional
Something to help rectify it with the Lords at least.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/209433
Signatures are piling on.
Please pass it on.
Emily
The House of Lords has served the function of moderating the extreme neo-liberal, neo-conservative excesses of the bought House of Commons. I would not remove this vital check and balance. At least it manages to wipe some of the froth off the foaming MPs swivel-eyed policies, which means they are less likely to be contagious.
he House of Lords has served the function of moderating the extreme neo-liberal, neo-conservative excesses of the bought House of Commons.
The House of Lords is a non democratic body chock full of neo liberals.
Bursting at the seams with them.
Its a conglomerate of retired failed politicians on exra pensions, liberal activists . professional victiims made good and lingerie suppliers.
An unelected place men’s body – posing as a democratic entity which has no place in Britain.
In fact the Chamber and funding should be used for an English parliament – to give the English equality to the other three UK bodies and the House of Commons cut back hugely and turned into Federal Parliament.
As with most major democracies today.
Hi Emily, I think a little glance back at our recent history would suggest extra caution in signing this Petition. I distinctly and clearly remember the Thatcher Government which, effectively, signalled the creeping, covert loss of civil liberties that have risen to a crescendo under this Government. The Thatcher Govt also started the current culture of secrecy and non-accountability. I remember vividly, that, at key moments in Government policy that damaged the British people, the House of Lords, yes the unelected house, became the custodians of people’s liberties, the truth and Government excesses. We are seeing bits of that now still but it is not widely publicised.
Up to you, Jo.
I just think we must take a stand where and if we can.
I have signed quite a few.
Never did me any harm.
The politicians aim to make you fearful.
They work along that policy – my return policy is the good old English tradition.
Two fingers.