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Rhondda Records is with you every day bringing the news ------- that gives a view of world events different to the mainstream media or social media!
Except Sundays - our day of rest.
Journalist:To end war ------
prosecute UK, US officials
who wage(d) it illegally
October 22nd, 10:12pm (PressTV)
The world must finally put an end to the impunity of war
criminals, by holding US and UK officials responsible
for launching the illegal war on Iraq, done without
the approval of the UN Security Council, and
prosecuting them --- under the Nuremberg
principles, US journalist Don DeBar said.
DeBar made the remarks in an interview with Press TV while
commenting on a report which has revealed that the British
military inquiries into abuse against Iraqi nationals... have
been closed without a single prosecution being brought,
even though the credibility of many "shocking and
shameful incidents" during the war in the Middle
Eastern country, have been confirmed.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement
this week that the Service Police Legacy Investigations,
which was looking at claims of abuse in Iraq, had now
"officially closed its doors."
In March 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq in blatant
violation of international law and under the pretext of
finding WMDs; but no such weapons were ever
discovered in Iraq.
More than one million Iraqis were killed - as the result of
the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq
--- according to the California-based investigative
organization, Project Censored.
The US war in Iraq cost US taxpayers $1.7 trillion with
an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, according to a study called Costs of War Project --- by the Watson Institute for
International Studies at Brown University.
DeBar told Press TV that the Iraq war
was illegal from the very beginning.
"It is illegal for a nation to make war on another nation if it
does not have the approval of the UN Security Council, if
any of those nations are signatories to the original UN
Charter. And it’s been adopted - that happened with
the US, as a charter member of the UN -- and it was
approved by the US Senate in the 1940s.
Consequently, the US involvement in Iraq from the beginning, and the UK involvement in Iraq from the beginning, was illegal,” he said.
“And under the Nuremberg standards, which would then
apply, each and every death consequent – intentional
or not - to either US or UK military action there, or
condoning of the US action there, by the media
or public officials, or any act facilitating that,
is an individual war crime. And, by the way,
there’s a death penalty for that,” the
journalist noted.
“No one will prosecute these people. That’s why I started
with the word impunity. And we might bookend with that
because that’s the problem. And until the world puts an
end to that impunity, until the world sees the major
contradiction in all international relations, is US,
UK, and EU imperialism, then it’s going to
continue until this eats our species,”
he stated.
A damning White House memo had revealed details of the
so-called “deal in blood” forged by former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush
over the Iraq war.
The document, titled “Secret... Memorandum for the
President”, was sent by then-US Secretary of State
Colin Powell to President Bush on March 28th, 2002, a week before Bush’s summit with Blair at his Crawford ranch in Texas.
The sensational memo, revealed that Blair had agreed to
support the war a year before the invasion even started
while publicly, the British prime minister was working to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
The document also disclosed that Blair agreed to act as a
spin doctor for Bush and convince a skeptical public that
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass
Destruction, which actually did not exist.
In response, Bush would flatter Blair and give the
impression that London was not Washington’s
poodle but an equal partner in the
“special relationship.”
Powell told Bush that Blair “will be with us” on the
Iraq war, and assured the president that “"the UK
will follow our lead in the Middle East."
Blair has always denied the claim that he and Bush
signed a deal “in blood”, at Crawford, to launch a
war against Iraq that began on March 20th, 2003,
that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
The Powell memo, however, showed how Blair and
Bush secretly prepared the Iraq war plot behind
closed doors at Crawford.
Powell told Bush: “He will present to you the strategic,
tactical and public affairs lines, that he believes will
strengthen global support for our common cause.”
People hold up a banner as they protest
against Israel at the entrance of the
International Criminal Court.
000 000 000 000 000 000
Most US Citizens Disapprove ---- of Israeli War on Gaza;
Netanyahu Gets Lowest Rating Since 1997: Poll
July 29th, 2:42pm
(al Manar)
About six in 10 US adults disapprove of the Israeli war on Gaza,
up from 45% a month after the Hamas’ Operation Al-Aqsa Flood
on October 7, 2023, a new poll by a US multinational analytics
has recently found.
The poll by Gallup also sees Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu receiving the most negative rating in terms of
his favorability in the US since he was first included in
Gallup polling in 1997.
The rising disapproval is driven by Democrats and independents,
while Republicans -- remain largely supportive of both Israeli
military actions and Netanyahu, according to Gallup's poll.
In a new low, only 8% of Democrats and one-quarter
of independents --- say they now approve of the
Israeli military campaign.
Young adults are also much more likely to disapprove of Israel’s
actions. Only about 1 in 10 adults under age 35 say they
approve of Israeli military choices in Gaza, compared
with about half of those who are 55 or older.
About half of US adults, 52%, now have an unfavorable view of
Netanyahu. Just 29% view him positively, and about 2 in 10
either haven’t heard of him or don’t have an opinion.
That’s a change — although not a huge one — since December
2023, when 47% of US adults had an unfavorable view of
Netanyahu and 33% had a favorable opinion. But it’s a
reversal from as recently as April 2019, when more
US adults viewed him positively than negatively.
Republicans have a much more positive view of Netanyahu
than Democrats and independents do. About two-thirds of
Republicans view him favorably, which is in line with last
year. About 1 in 10 Democrats and 2 in 10 independents
feel the same way.
Republicans are also about twice as supportive of US President
Donald Trump’s handling of the war, than Democrats were last
summer, of its handling by then-US president Joe Biden,
a Democrat.
About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the
situation in the Middle East. By contrast, only about 4 in 10
Democrats approved of Biden’s handling of the conflict,
shortly before he dropped out of the US presidential
race on July 21.
The new poll was conducted on July 7-21, while reports of
starvation in Gaza led to international criticism of the
Israeli blockade on the besieged strip. The start of
the polling coincided with Netanyahu’s July 6-11
trip to Washington.
The poll results are based on telephone interviews with
1,002 US adults from all 50 states and the District of
Columbia. The margin of error is +/- 4%.
Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar)
_________________________________________
Imam Khamenei: 12-day Israeli War --
Showcases Iran’s Resolve and Might
July 29th, 2:20pm
(al Manar)
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei
has attended a ceremony to honour the martyrs of last
month's Israeli war of aggression against Iran.
Ayatollah Khamenei delivered a speech addressing attendees at
the ceremony - held in the capital, Tehran, on Tuesday morning.
Crowds of people - along with families of the martyrs, as well
as senior state and military officials, attended the ceremony.
‘Israel’ waged its war of aggression against Iran on June 13,
assassinating top military commanders and scientists in
targeted strikes, and killing civilians in attacks on
residential areas. More than 1,000 people lost
their lives, as a result.
The United States also entered the war on June 22, bombing three
key Iranian nuclear sites, before the conflict came to an end, by a
ceasefire demanded by ‘Israel’. The truce took effect on June 24.
The Iranian Armed Forces responded powerfully to Israeli and U.S.
attacks, striking targets in the Israeli-occupied territories and a
major US airbase in Qatar.
Source: IRNA
____________________________________
Noticeable Spike in Suicide Rates
Among Israeli Soldiers
July 29th, 10:52am
(al Manar)
Another Israeli soldier was found dead in his house, in an
apparent suicide, Israeli media reported on Monday, as
the latest figure takes the number of Israeli soldiers
who took their own lives since the start of the
genocide in Gaza, to 54.
The daily Yedioth Ahronoth, citing a military statement, said
that Ariel Meir Taman, a reservist soldier, was found dead
at his home on Sunday night, in southern ‘Israel’.
Israel’s official public broadcaster revealed on Monday evening
that 16 Israeli soldiers have died by suicide since the start of
2025, raising the total number of military suicides to 54
since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.
#Gaza #IDF pic.twitter.com/ik2w3UjcSB
— Palestine International Broadcast (@PBI_PS) July 29, 2025
A military investigation has been opened to identify the
cause of death, as the soldier is suspected to have
taken his own life, the Israeli daily said.
Recent days have seen a marked increase in suicides
among Israeli soldiers, as four others reportedly
killed themselves in July alone.
Meanwhile, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that
16 Israeli soldiers committed suicide -- since the start
of 2025, bringing the total number of suicides in the
military to 54 since the genocide in Gaza began
in October 2023.
The report said the latest figures include eight active-duty
soldiers, seven reservists and one career soldier. In 2024,
21 soldiers died by suicide, and in 2023, the number
was 17.
The broadcaster noted a noticeable spike in suicide rates
among reservists, who have been heavily deployed in
Gaza... for the Israeli ground invasion.
In addition ----- nearly 3,770 soldiers have been diagnosed
with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), KAN reported.
Of the 19,000 soldiers wounded, since the carnage began,
roughly 10,000 are experiencing psychological symptoms
and are receiving care through the Defence Ministry’s
rehabilitation department, the broadcaster added.
Source: Israeli media (edited by
Al-Manar English Website)
________________________________________
Netanyahu Plans to Annex Parts
of Gaza...to Appease Smotrich
July 29th, 9:52am
(al Manar)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented a
proposal to annex parts of the Gaza Strip to the security
cabinet - in an effort to prevent the resignation of far-
right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Hebrew
media reported.
Israeli Haaretz daily cited on Monday a senior Israeli official
who was not named, said that according to the plan, ‘Israel’
will declare that it is giving the Palestinian group Hamas a
few days to agree to a ceasefire, and, if it does not, it will
begin annexing areas --------- “until Hamas surrenders.”
“The plan has received approval from the Trump administration,”
the report added, framing it --- as a political maneuver by
Netanyahu, to maintain the stability of his governing
coalition ..by appeasing Smotrich.
The timing of the plan coincides with heightened political
tensions inside Israel. Smotrich recently threatened to
resign after Netanyahu claimed ‘Israel’ was allowing
humanitarian aid into Gaza — despite a deliberate
starvation policy that has triggered a
catastrophic famine in the
besieged enclave.
Smotrich, however, walked back his threat earlier on Monday.
Netanyahu invited both Smotrich and National Security
Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to attend Monday evening’s
cabinet meeting after they had previously been
excluded from the decision to allow limited
aid into Gaza.
The developments followed an Israeli military announcement
authorizing limited airdrops of aid into the Gaza Strip and the
implementation of what the army called a “localized tactical
suspension of military activity” to allow aid convoys to pass.
Several international organizations have dismissed
the steps as insufficient, calling them a distraction
from the broader crisis.
Humanitarian agencies and rights groups accuse
‘Israel’ of using hunger as a weapon ---- against
civilians in Gaza.
Source: Israeli media
_____________________________________
Gaza: Dozens Martyred -- in
Israeli Shelling of Nuseirat
and Khan Yunis
July 29th, 9:52am
(al Manar)
Dozens of people, most of them children and women, were
martyred in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as a result of a
series of air and artillery strikes carried out by the
Israeli occupation forces on various residential
areas in the Strip. Dozens of civilians were
also injured.
Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat reported receiving 30 bodies,
most of them dismembered, as a result of shelling that
targeted several homes in the New Camp area north
of Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip.
The occupation forces also committed a massacre in the
New Camp area north of Nuseirat, killing 8 Palestinians,
most of them children and women, and wounding 11
others after targeting a home belonging to the
Abu Ataya family.
In the Bureij refugee camp.. in the central Gaza
Strip, Israeli drones fired at Palestinian homes.
The Israeli shelling extended to western Gaza City, where
two Palestinians were martyred and others wounded
after an apartment belonging to the Batash family
was targeted near the Haidar roundabout.
In the eastern part of the city, Israeli artillery shelled
various areas, with the shelling concentrated in the
Tuffah neighbourhood, while Israeli forces blew up
several homes in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood.
In the southern Gaza Strip, four members of the Agha family
were killed and 14 others were wounded when the Israeli
occupation targeted a tent for displaced persons in the
Mina area of Khan Yunis.
In a grave indication of the worsening humanitarian situation,
10-year-old Nour Abu Sala’a died as a result of malnutrition
and lack of healthcare, amid the tight Israeli blockade on
the Gaza Strip, which has prevented the entry of food,
medicine, and potable water...... for months.
In the humanitarian context, the spokesperson for the United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
in Gaza confirmed that “the situation is deteriorating
rapidly,” stressing “the need to open all crossings,
"After talks with President Trump.. the Prime Minister
will hold an emergency cabinet meeting to present
his peace plan for the Middle East,"
The Times reported.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said
that France would recognize Palestine.. at the
UN General Assembly.
Iranian MPs -urge dozens of countries
to impose sanctions on Israel
July 17th, 9:54am
(PressTV)
Members of the Iranian Parliament’s Judiciary and Legal
Committee have called on dozens of countries to work
towards imposing sanctions on Israel ----------- over the
regime’s “systematic violation of international rules
and human rights.”
In a letter sent to the parliaments of 44 states on Thursday,
the lawmakers - asked the legislatures’ legal committees
to condemn last month’s illegal Israeli-US aggression
against the Islamic Republic ....and notify the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) of
their decision.
They also urged those parliaments to put on their agenda
the legislative process for taking restrictive measures
against the criminal Zionist regime.
“Likewise, the legal committees have been asked to place
investigations into Israel’s crimes within the jurisdiction
of their country's legal authorities, in order to prevent
the impunity of the Zionist regime and the US, and
stop the Israeli warmongering in the world,”
the letter read, signed by Mohammad Sargazi, head of the Iranian Parliament’s Judiciary
and Legal Committee.
On June 13, Israel launched a blatant and unprovoked aggression
against Iran, killing at least 1,060 people, including high-ranking
military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society says that
civilians suffered the most casualties during the
Israeli aggression against Iran.
The United States also entered the war on June 22 and bombed
three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of the United
Nations Charter, international law, and the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In response, Iranian Armed Forces targeted strategic sites across
the occupied territories as well as the al-Udeid air base in Qatar,
the largest US military base in West Asia.
On June 24, Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations
against both the Israeli regime and the US, managed to
impose a halt to the terrorist assault.
Today, July 30th, in 1979,
Maya Nasser,
television journalist
and reporter,
is born.
A Syrian journalist and reporter... who worked for Press TV, an
Iranian English-language broadcasting service, Maya Nasser reported from Syria, during the Syrian War.
His reports from Aleppo -- are the most notable. Nasser also
reported from the US, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain.
On 26 September 2012, Nasser was covering the large explosions
at the Syrian army's headquarters in Umayyad Square -- when he
was killed by a rebel sniper. Nasser was shot through the neck
and was killed.
Nasser was the 46th journalist killed
during the war on Syria.
''Oh Maya, I wish I’d taken your last call!''
The hotel’s security staff warned me to go back inside. “There are
snipers everywhere,” they said, pointing to a gunman on top of
the state television building to my right.
As I sat in the corridor, catching my breath, a series of smaller
blasts --- reverberated around the square in front of the hotel.
Ammunition was exploding, as fire engulfed the upper floors.
Through the smoke, I could see several men on the ministry
building’s roof, waving desperately.... in the hope of
attracting rescuers.
At 6am London time, I briefed my foreign editor and joined a group
of security guards on the terrace. The guards warned me to stay
close to the wall for shelter, but even from there it was possible
to see flashes of gunfire from inside rooms on the third and
fourth floors of the ministry building.
As word spread that this was a serious rebel attack at the heart
of the Damascus defence establishment - requests came in for
broadcast interviews. At a little before 8am, I was speaking
to the BBC on my British 'phone, when I noticed a call
coming in on my local mobile. It was Maya Naser,
a Syrian television journalist, I had met on an
assignment - in the country’s second city,
Aleppo. For nearly two weeks... we had
met for breakfast or an evening coffee,
sharing tips..... about the safest way
'round the city --- and debating the
course of the war. In Damascus
the previous week, we had
caught up.. over dinner.
I’ll call him back, I thought with a smile; he was probably
ringing to say he was on the spot and perhaps to
suggest I join him.
When the interview was over, I couldn’t get through to Naser.
I shrugged: he was almost certainly on air. But -- at 9.50am,
when I was scanning Twitter for the latest reports, I saw
a tweet ------- that made my blood freeze. “Press TV
correspondent Maya Naser killed by sniper
in Syria,” it said.
It took me several seconds to comprehend it. Then I thought there
must have been a mistake and tweeted back: “He just called me
...like an hour ago. I couldn’t take his call, was on other line,
engaged when I tried him. Plz God NO.”
I dialled his number again but it was still engaged. “Maya,
pick up,” I muttered, before dissolving into tears.
I thought of Marie Colvin, my friend and Sunday Times colleague
who was killed by shellfire in Homs in February. I had spent
nearly two weeks in Damascus trying to arrange for her
body to be recovered, and finally identified her
in a hospital morgue.
I thought of the 17 other journalists who have
died covering the conflict in Syria - this year.
But my over-riding thoughts last Wednesday were for Naser, for the
parents he had just moved out of Homs to a safer place — and for
the young woman he had fallen in love with. They had been
going to announce their engagement two days later.
Maya Naser was born 33 years ago and raised by a Christian mother
and a Muslim father so avowedly progressive that he gave his three
sons girls’ names to show there should be no difference between
the opportunities for women and men.
Naser, a self-proclaimed liberal - disliked the regimes of President
Hafez al-Assad and Bashar, the son who succeeded him in 2000.
He was imprisoned as a dissident.
On his release, he felt he had little choice but to go into exile.
He travelled to America and France... was married to a
western woman ...and divorced.
After spells in Bahrain and Lebanon, he returned to Syria at
the start of the uprising against the Assad government
18 months ago, and joined protesters.
This Arab spring revolution seemed to be about democratic reform
at first. But Naser grew uneasy when the street demonstrations
were punctuated by armed attacks on Syrian forces.
When it emerged.... that the rebels were being supported by foreign
governments, notably those of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, his doubts
were amplified. The arrival of Islamist militants from abroad -- to
wage jihad on the Damascus government - convinced him that
his beloved Syria faced disintegration. He switched sides.
He was almost killed in Damascus three weeks ago, when his car
was ambushed. Naser put a brave face on the incident when we
dined in the Christian quarter of the old city last week. But he believed then, that Syria was descending into a war of
attrition. “There will be no winner,” he said. “Syria -
will have lost after this.”
Officials said last night that Naser had been one of three civilians
who died in an attack that killed eight members of the security
forces. Thirty rebels had died. A captured sniper had said the
rebels planned to seize the prime minister’s office and
broadcast a decree from state television, but
had been beaten back.
Naser’s fiancée was photographed
kneeling before his coffin.
His shooting bore out his view that the conflict would claim many
innocent lives, including those of more journalists. “Bombs and
bullets aren’t smart enough to distinguish the right from the
wrong,” he wrote. “Bottom line is: my people are dying
and I am still in the line, waiting my turn.”
Keir Hardie - Britain's first Labour MP - opposedWorld War One.
His namesake is stammering his way in the opposite direction.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
ROGER WATERS TO MUSICIANS:- "BOYCOTT ISRAEL"
Roger Waters formerly of Pink Floyd, in an open letter, calls on his fellow musicians --- to boycott the Zionist Israeli regime and follow the example of the cultural boycott against the ex S. African Apartheid regime.
“Given the inability or unwillingness of our governments [to act] …. I write to you now, my brothers and sisters … to ask you to join with me, & thousands of other artists around the world, to declare a cultural boycott on Israel,” Roger Waters says in his letter.
Waters says the Zionist regime has been found guilty of major breaches of human rights and international law by international organizations, UN officials and the International Court of Justice.
He touches on two such cases, saying the regime has been identified as perpetrating the “crime of Apartheid”, including in a statement on March 9th, 2012 by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the “crime of ethnic cleansing” including in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).
Waters adds that he has been a member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Israeli regime’s occupation of the Palestinian lands and Tel Aviv’s violations of Palestinian human rights for 7 years, and now wants other musicians to also join the anti-Israeli front.
“Please join me and all our brothers and sisters in global civil society in proclaiming our rejection of Apartheid in Israel & occupied Palestine, by pledging not to perform or exhibit in Israel or accept any award or funding from any institution linked to the government of Israel, until such time as Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.”
The former Pink Floyd Musician also says he has recently faced a boycott by the US media after his November 29th, 2012 address at the UN on behalf of the Russell Tribunal.
In the address, he sought accountability for the Zionist regime’s violations of the international law and the lack of United Nations resolve that prevents the Palestinian people from achieving their inalienable rights, especially the right of self-determination.
____________________
AT THE FACTORY
Tickets from
www.wegottickets.com/thefactory
www.ticketweb.co.uk
browse venues in Wales
www.ticketlineuk.com
02920 230130
Cash tickets from:
The Factory, Porth Instrumental Music, Penygraig Spillers Records, Cardiff
Indulge in a delicious cake and a cup of tea while enjoying music and sing-along songs from fantastic Welsh musicians.
Ticket information:
The Cultural Services Booking & Information Line:
08000 147 111 or book online at
www.rct-arts.co.ukÂÂ
*************************************************
Mid Rhondda Modelling Club...
7pm - 9pm
Tonyrefail Comprehensive School Mid Rhondda Modelling Club
has been running for over 30 years.
We meet on a regular basis
& enjoy making models for display.
We encourage both Gentlemen
and Ladies to attend, and also young people aged 12+.
However, Young people under 16, must be accompanied by an adult.
Ticket information
£1 contribution every week. Under 16's free
Telephone Mr. Davies on 01443 686658
************************************************
Comedy In The Laughter Lounge
The Park & Dare Theatre, Treorchy.
COMEDY IN THE LAUGHTER LOUNGE
Join us once a month in the intimate setting of the Laughter Lounge for some top notch comedy with some of the biggest and brightest rising comedians on the circuit.
Laugh? You'll snort like a pig!
Hilarious - TimeOut.
www.rct-arts.co.uk
Rhondda Records exists to express the Rhondda's vision --- when it was confident, powerful, caring, and socialist.
A Rhondda very aware of the media's poisonous tricks -- how they con working class people into attacking each other, or racial groups, or, often, even their best allies and friends... instead of seeing their real enemies:--- an elite who hate the very idea that working people can think, create, or achieve a fairer society.
Thatcher said her proudest achievement was Blair and New Labour - who parachuted in careerists and expenses fiddlers - to stop local Labour members having a say, and who made genuine socialist MPs leave the Labour party in disgust and many members and voters to despair... and the young to stop voting.
Jeremy Corbyn was always attacked because he was trying to reverse all that New Labour corruption --- that's why membership was flooding in all over the UK.
______________________________________
Get Involved!
– If you feel you’ve been ‘purged’, take this online survey:
– Request all your own data that the Labour Party holds on you:
http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/privacy
_______________________________________
IF - YOU THINK you HAVE BEEN UNFAIRLY BARRED:
“Any member who is suspended & intends to appeal the decision should throw in a ‘Subject Access Request in accordance with the Data Protection Act’ --- for ALL data that the Labour Party hold on them.
The Labour Party are Data Controllers and therefore have to, by law, provide you with all material/information they hold on you.”
If anyone is in contact with anyone who was barred from voting --- please can you pass this info on:
The Labour leadership election was under the jurisdiction of the electoral reform services.
If you were unfairly deprived of your vote you can call them on 0208 365 8909 and lodge your complaint, and inform them of your Data Protection request.
https://www.electoralreform.co.uk
The notification letters barring new members did not give a clear reason, or information on how to appeal, so Vox Political suggests that anyone in this situation, could also contact Liz Davies here: http://www.whycantivote.com
She is a barrister --- who can advise members on what to do.
**************************************
PONCY LABOUR MPS PROBLEM?
A huge drop in working-class Labour MPs, caused a massive drop in support among voters with similar backgrounds, reveals research seeking to explain why support has dwindled in the party’s heartlands.
The study says past leaders like Kinnock and Blair made a concerted effort to pick “more and more middle-class candidates to run for office, during the 80s and 90s, as part of an effort to rebrand” -- which had initial successes at the ballot box.
But this “conscious electoral strategy” stored up problems, as working-class voters who initially, just didn’t vote in response, now seek an alternative.
The solution?Trust each constituency to put forward its own candidates, and don't impose ‘party-approved’ choices who can't do the job.
Now, unfortunately, there are "entryist" MPs who, for decades, have been groomed by CIA cold war relic organisations -- like the Atlantic Council -- and are now trying to misdirect the Labour Party towards cuts, a militarised police, and a US war agenda... - and their anti-Corbyn slant is hobbling Labour.
‘How Can I Deselect My Labour MP?’ A Short Guide to Reselection and Democratic Accountability by Eric Sim, excellent free advice here:
http://novaramedia.com/2016/07/13/how-can-i- deselect-my-labour-mp-a-short-guide-to- reselection-and-democratic-accountability/ CHRIS BRYANT - SUPPORT THE MEMBERS' LEADERSHIP CHOICE & POLICIES - OR GO!
Chris Bryant, the Rhondda's dodgy MP, was on TV -- as soon as the PLP coup started -- telling us that Jeremy MUST go, because it was the ONLY way to act in the Labour Party's interest...
Chris Bryant's voting record: from TheyWorkForYou.com
On Tuition Fees:
On 27 Jan 2004: Chris Bryant voted in favour of university tuition fees increasing from £1,125 per year, to up to £3,000 per year.
On 31 Mar 2004: Chris Bryant voted to allow university tuition fees to increase from £1,125 per year, to up to £3,000 per year.
On 31 Mar 2004: Chris Bryant voted for the introduction of variable university tuition fees (top-up fees) of up to £3,000 per year in place of the previous fixed fee of £1,250 per year.
On 31 Mar 2004: Chris Bryant voted to allow university tuition fees to increase from £1,125 per year to up to £3,000 per year, and to make other changes to higher education funding and regulation arrangements.
On 14 Sep 2004: Chris Bryant voted against: the immediate abolition of all tuition fees, the re-introduction of maintenance grants of up to £2,000 for students from low-income homes, and changes to the country's higher education system.
On 14 Sep 2004: Chris Bryant voted to reject the Liberal Democrat policy of abolition of tuition fees.
On 25 May 2016: Chris Bryant was absent for a vote on Queen's Speech - Forcing Schools to Become Academies - Further Rises in University Tuition Fees
On Human Rights:
Consistently voted for introducing ID cards
Almost always voted for requiring the mass retention of information about communications
Generally voted for mass surveillance of people’s communications and activities
On the Environment:
Generally voted against greater regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract shale gas
On Special Interests:
Almost always voted against limits on success fees paid to lawyers in no-win no fee cases
Generally voted against a statutory register of lobbyists
On War or Peace:
Generally voted for use of UK military forces in combat operations overseas
Consistently voted for the Iraq war
Consistently voted against an investigation into the Iraq war
Generally voted for replacing Trident with a new nuclear weapons system
On 2 Dec 2015: Voted to support UK airstrikes in Syria [without UN authorisation]
On 2 Dec 2015: Voted to support UK airstrikes in Syria [without UN authorisation]
On Independence:
Generally voted for more EU integration
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Chris Bryant Labour MP From Wikipedia
(aka 1962-1986: Mr Christopher John Bryant 1986-1991: The Reverend Christopher John Bryant, 1991-2001: Mr Christopher John Bryant, 2001-: Mr Christopher John Bryant MP.)
Born in Cardiff, to a Scottish mother & a Welsh father, Bryant grew up in Cardiff, Wales (where his father worked for 5 years), and Cheltenham.
He was educated at Cheltenham College, an independent school for boys in the spa town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, where he was captain of the school swimming team, and Mansfield College at the University of Oxford, where he graduated in 1983, with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English. This was later promoted to a Master of Arts degree (MA (Oxon)), as per tradition.
After completing his first degree, Bryant began training to be a priest in the Church of England at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, in Oxfordshire. There, he obtained a degree in theology.
Although a member of the Conservative Party, and an elected office-holder in the Oxford University Conservative Association, he joined the Labour Party in 1986, after leaving Oxford.
He was ordained deacon in 1986 and priest in 1987. He served as a Curate at the Church of All Saints, High Wycombe, from 1986 to 1989; then as a Youth Chaplain in Peterborough, as well as travelling in Latin America.
In 1991 Bryant left the ordained ministry, after deciding that being gay and being a priest, were incompatible. Statements made by Richard Harries, then Bishop of Oxford, also influenced his decision.
After leaving the priesthood in 1991, Bryant worked as the election agent to the Holborn and St Pancras Constituency Labour Party, where he helped Frank Dobson hold his seat in the 1992 general election.
From 1993, he was Local Government officer for the Labour Party; he lived in Hackney and was elected to Hackney Borough Council in 1993, serving until 1998. He became Chair of the Christian Socialist Movement.
He is both a member of the Labour Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East. From 1994 to 1996 he was London manager of the leader-grooming "charity", Common Purpose.
He was Labour candidate for Wycombe, in the 1997 general election (he lost by 2,370 votes), and Head of European Affairs for the BBC, from 1998.
His selection for the very safe Labour seat of Rhondda, South Wales in 2000, shocked many people given Bryant's background – gay, an ex- Anglican vicar, and someone who was a Tory, while studying at Oxford, and a member now, of the Henry Jackson Society 'think tank' --- described by The Guardian newspaper as 'neoconservative'. It is pro-US, pro-NATO and pro-military intervention, as well as being fundamentally anti-socialist.
Fifty-two people applied for the candidature and a local councillor was hot favourite to win, before Bryant was parachuted in.
In 2004, a photograph of Mr Bryant in his underpants, which he had posted to a gay dating website, was published in 'papers.
When an interviewer suggested he was a 'disgrace to the Rhondda', he replied: "They can't get rid of me."
His pay, allowances and some expenses:
The basic annual salary for an MP, from April 1st, 2016 is £74,962. MPs also get expenses: to cover the costs of running an office, employing staff, having some- where to live in London, plus, in their constituency and travelling between Parliament and their constituency.
His MP's expenses story:
Chris Bryant changed second home twice to claim £20,000: the deputy leader of the House of Commons, "flipped" his second home twice, in 2 years, allowing him to claim almost £20,000 for renovations and fees.
Chris Bryant, MP for the Rhondda, split over £92,000 of expenses between 3 properties in Wales and London --- within five years.
In 2004, he attempted to claim £58,000 to overhaul his second home in Wales, after allegedly complaining that properties in his constituency were "terrace or mine owners' houses".
Mr Bryant, a former Church of England clergyman, wanted the money for a new bathroom & kitchen, and to demolish his conservatory. He'd bought the detached house for £97,500, under a year earlier.
He submitted a claim to the Commons fees office for £58,493.26 --- almost 3 times the annual maximum. He noted that the claim exceeded his allowance.
His alleged justification was disclosed... in correspondence between Commons officials. By email, an official wrote: "He had problems finding a suitable property because in the Rhondda there is a choice mainly of terraced property or mine owners' houses." When approached by the Daily Telegraph, Mr Bryant said: "I have never said or thought anything of the sort".
In all, he successfully claimed over £13,000 for renovations, repairs & appliances, in 2004. Along with other bills, his annual claim was £20,902.
In April 2005, he flipped his expenses to his flat in west London, which he bought for £400,000 in April 2002. He also claimed £630 a month for mortgage interest, along with other bills. After claiming over £3,600 over 3 months, he sold the flat in July 2005 for £477,000.
Mr Bryant used his profits to buy a more expensive flat in west London, which was valued at £670,000. He immediately flipped his second home expenses there, claiming almost £6,400 in stamp duty, legal fees and mortgage fees, incurred in the purchase.
He then began claiming interest of £1,000 a month on the mortgage. He also claimed a further £6,000 a year for the flat's service charge and ground rent.
In all, he claimed £92, 415 in second home expenses, from 2004 to 2009.
Mr Bryant said at the time: "I moved flat in London, so as to be closer to Parliament."
Research by Channel 4 News in 2015 found that at least 46 MPs had this kind of system in place – a move one Labour backbencher described as “a new fiddle”. Channel 4 reported then:
“Our investigation found that many of the MPs bought their London properties with the help of the taxpayer, when a previous expenses system allowed them to claim back mortgage payments. But when those claims were banned, following the expenses scandal, they switched to letting out their properties, in some cases for up to £3,000 a month. They then started claiming expenses for rent and hotels in the capital.”
Among those identified was Chris Bryant, shadow leader of the House of Commons. He had already bought a penthouse in London back in 2005 and claimed around £1,000 a month in mortgage claims under the old system.
But after the expenses scandal, he started renting the property out. It’s since been advertised by estate agents as having a private lift and a porter, with rent at about £3,000 a month. Meanwhile, Bryant moved into a new flat;- claiming his own rent on expenses.
Russian/Scottish scientists hail long-range secure quantum communication system.
A group of scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia, has developed a new approach to constructing quantum communication systems for secure data exchange.
The experimental device based on the results of the research is capable of transmitting single-photon quantum signals across distances of 250 klmtrs or more, which is on par with its cutting edge analogues, the ITMO press-service says.
"Now researchers are on a mission -- to create a fully-fledged quantum cryptographic system, that will generate & distribute quantum keys and transmit useful data simultaneously", ITMO says.
Information security is becoming more and more of a critical issue not only for large companies, banks and defense enterprises but even for small businesses and individual users.
But the data encryption algorithms we currently use for protecting our data are imperfect - in the long-term, their logic can be cracked. Regardless of how complex and intricate the algorithm is, getting around it, is just a matter of time.
Unlike algorithm-based encryption, systems that protect information, by making use of fundamental laws of quantum physics, can make data transmission totally immune to hacker attacks, in the future.
Information in a quantum channel is carried by single photons that change irreversibly if an eavesdropper tries to intercept them. The legitimate users will instantly know about any kind of intervention.
Researchers at the Quantum Information Centre of the International Institute of Photonics and Optical Information Technology at ITMO Uni., Russia, along with their colleagues from the Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, have devised a new way to generate and distribute, quantum bits.
This makes it possible to share quantum signals --- via optical fibres --- 250 kilometres in distance.
"To transmit quantum signals, we use the so- called side frequencies," says Artur Gleim, head of the Quantum Information Centre, at ITMO University,
"This unique approach gives us a number of advantages -- such as a considerable simplification of the device architecture and the large pass-through capacity of the quantum channel. In terms of bit rate and operating distances, our system is comparable to absolute champions in the field of quantum communications."
According to Robert Collins, research associate at the Institute of Photonics & Quantum Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, and one of the authors of the study, this may become a pivotal point for the whole field of quantum communication and cryptography:
"Down the track, this new approach can enable smooth coexistence of numerous data streams with different wavelengths in one single optical cable. On top of it, these quantum streams can be fed into the already existing fibre optic lines --- along with conventional communications."
The research paper is published in the Optics Express journal.
Scottish universities are to be congratulated for their strong & growing links with Chinese and Russian universities....
What a shame, that Wales is lying low --- with academics too scared to break from US military research.
KILLING THE ELDERLY BY CLOSING CARE HOMES
Did you know that each time a local authority
closes a care home for the elderly, within 8
months, around half the residents are dead?
Campaigners liken the cuts and their effect to euthanasia of the UK's elderly. What to do?
We can start by urging our MPs to sign EDM 2251:
EDM 2251: The contents
This House notes with deep concern the worsening crisis for elderly care as growing numbers of local authority and private care homes face closure
Acknowledges concerns that the loss of elderly people's care homes causes fear, anxiety and, in many cases, a higher mortality rate, when vulnerable, elderly people are forced to leave their homes
Further notes that the Southern Cross crisis will increase needs for local authority care
And therefore calls on the government to hold a public inquiry into the deaths after closures, of local authority care homes, and impose a moratorium on the closure of local authority care homes, until that inquiry publishes its results, to ensure that vulnerable, elderly people's lives are not put at further risk.
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MAKING THE CONNECTION IN WALES
Households across three more English areas will be able to access superfast broadband in the latest phase of a Government scheme to connect rural homes and businesses.
The £50 million funding package for Devon and Somerset (£30 million), Norfolk (£15 million) and Wiltshire (£4 million) will aid the roll- out of superfast broadband services unable to be reached by the market alone.
Areas will also receive financial support from their local authorities and private investors, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport says.
So it's Broadband Heaven for England...
and crapola for Wales' broadband - the
slowest, worst Broadband in the UK !!!
Lib Dems in Scotland might have received a pummeling for Clegg and his betrayals, yet, in Scotland, their campaign centred on it becoming the "most connected country in Europe," to massively boost their economy.
In Wales, which political party is now willing to put into practice scientists' recommendations: that Wales' hilly topography requires establishing
free 'wireless' broadband?
It could connect the people of Rhondda and the world, boosting Wales' economic regeneration, like no other move.Wireless technology is now supplying free broadband to an entire island off New Zealand's coast.
Come on; if New Zealand can do it - so can we !!!
Western China has embraced "green-mode development" - with painful changes from which, Wales could well learn.
Eastern China has seen fast growth and urban mess. The West, a mining and agricultural area, has not.
Xi'an Chan-ba Ecological District, is a model for reclaiming old mining areas.
It took six hard years, but now Xi'an is showing the world how best to change, by turning a badly polluted rubbish landfill site, into an all new environment-friendly development.
As China's economic focus moves from east to west, it's using the lessons learned during 30 or more years of rapid industrial development.
The green way for China's west, is to combine green industrialization & green urbanization.
The western region's strategy is to adopt effective energy-saving and environmental protection technologies... AND to extend its industry through science and products unique to China's West, together with strong vertical growth in agriculture and all its ancilliary economic & professional spin-offs.
In undertaking this industrial revolution, the western region will keep a sharp eye out - to avoid all polluting non-sustainable industries.
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A BIG DROP OF HONEY !!!
Spring is beekeeping and honey-processing season in Yunnan province, in China.
Waves of bees flit across vast fields of flowers.
Local beekeepers and many from other places, such as Sichuan and Fujian provinces - set up their base in tents among the rapeseed farms.
The 430,000 hectares of rapeseed blooms in Luoping attract myriads of bees, which produce 15 - 20 million tons of honey a year.
Local people now look to brand their county as a honey production base & increase sales to outside markets.
Luoping Tianyuanmiyu Bee Industry Co Chair, Zhu Hongkun, founded his enterprise in 2009.
It mainly produces honey, propolis and propolis powder.
His company works with 270 plus beekeepers, who each earn 80,000 yuan a year on average.
Some earn 200,000 yuan annually, Zhu says.
Who says beauty endowed by nature isn't worth a fortune?
The whole of the uplands of south Wales could be as beautiful & productive, if used wisely!
CHINA's PREMIER POINTS WAY FORWARD
As the Tories threaten a "bonfire of the Quangos", perhaps Wales should take note. Now extracting all our mineral wealth has been stopped (apart from sand and rock) we find ourselves "in" the 1st World of the UK, but with a 3rd World economy, only just kept going by quangos which promise much... but deliver little... and rely on weak public support.
We could WAKE UP & understand that we either do something, or stay as begging bowl cases.
China's premier points the way forward for Wales:
"Industrial restructuring is the key... only by developing energy-efficient, indigenous innovative and high value added products can our companies and economy, achieve sustainable development."
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WHILE FRANCE, GREECE, IRELAND, ETC, STRUGGLE TO STOP THE PENSION AGE RISING HIGHER AND HIGHER...
An online survey on qq.com, a popular Chinese news portal, finds that 91% of its over 800,000 respondents, are against raising the current official Chinese retirement age.
745,123 of those surveyed say they oppose raising retirement ages -- 72,456 support it.
China's scholars & the public have been debating whether to raise the retirement age, for the past few years, but the issue rose to prominence after remarks by an official.
Wang Xiaochu, the official vice minister of the Ministry of Human Resources & Social Security, said at a press conference that the government was "studying the matter"...
The retirement age in China is generally set at 60 for men and 50-55 for women.
Wow! Bet you didn't know that !!!
FARMING AND SCIENCE COULD REGENERATE WALES
A new UN General Assembly report warns "vast areas" of cultivated land are lost each year, and that this could lead to unrest.
The report says up to 30 million hectares, an area the size of Italy, is lost each year to environmental degradation, industry & urbanization - the growth of cities - and all because of speculative building and greed.
The UN special rapporteur Olivier De Schutter, gives the example of eastern Africa, where the amount of cultivated land has declined by half --- in just one generation! "
As rural populations grow and competition with large industrial units increases, plots cultivated by smallholders are shrinking year after year," says De Schutter.
"Farmers are often relegated to soils that are arid, hilly or without irrigation."
The UN officer also mentions India as another example, where the average landholding fell from 2.6 hectares in 1960 to 1.4 hectares in 2000. A cut of nearly half in 40 years!
He says 500 million small farmers suffer from hunger, partly because their right to land is being violated. The expert warns of the devastating consequences, as foreign investors compete for larger and larger areas of the world's land for "their" agriculture.
Rhondda Records says Wales could rebuild its new economy by basing it on a fresh approach to high-value added products, using science and agriculture... such as the Altzeim project in Gwent.
