Israel fires chemical weaponsagainst Gaza, Palestine denounces
Ramallah, May 13th (Prensa Latina)
Israel fired poisonous gas rockets against Gaza,
an official Palestinian source confirmed on
Thursday, according to which... an
undetermined number of people
died, asphyxiated by
the chemicals.
Several of those dead by the effects of toxic gases
were admitted to the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and
subjected to a forensic examination, the informant
added, according to WAFA news agency.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Army is only waiting for the order
to launch itself against the Gaza Strip, the Defense
Ministry spokesman said, on Thursday, while
sources in Palestine stated, that the death
toll by bombings against that Palestinian
territory, rose to 83.
The death toll, still partial, includes 13 children and seven
women, & the number of injured by the Israeli bombings
against the strip, is around 500, Ashraf Al Qidra, an
official at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, said.
She informed about the growing shortage
of means and equipment to assist them.
Official Israeli sources admitted the deaths of 7 people,
including a police officer --- a contrast that shows the
asymmetry of the collision initiated by the expulsion
of Arab residents in the Sheikh Jarrah district, in
East Jerusalem, to hand over their homes to
Israeli citizens --- transferred to the occupied Palestinian territory.
____________________________________
BREAKING: Starmer's
''approval'' rating
has fallen to
minus 48.
YouGov poll on whether Starmer
is doing well or badly:
Well: 17% (-9)
Badly: 65% (+15)
[Net rating: -48]
Worst-ever rating
for Starmer
*by far*.
Corbyn's lowst point ever, was minus 40 ...and most Labour MPs rushed to stab him in the back.
__________________
UK act of parliament authorizes torture and rape under "certain circumstances"
May 11th, 10:49am (PressTV)
Proposed legislation giving police sweeping
powers to decide whether protests are
justified, the power to impose start
and finish times - and even the
right to disband one-person
protests... has led to
nationwide protests.
The legislation includes vague criteria such as
being “too loud” or a “nuisance” as being
sufficient justification for any action
undertaken by UK police
during protests.
The protestors feel that the Police, Courts,
Sentencing and Crimes bill, violates their
right to free speech and all UK subjects'
right to assembly.
Laws have also been passed by HM government
which would result in undercover agents being
granted Criminal Conduct Authorizations
authorizing them, as the name implies,
to engage in criminal conduct
including rape, murder and
torture --- without any
legal culpability.
One controversial bill, the Overseas Operations Bill,
stipulates a statute of limitations on war crimes
prosecutions against British troops,
effectively legalizing war crimes,
including torture, rape and
other crimes.
Currently people all over Britain are out protesting
against a controversial new law that would,
essentially, make protesting illegal and
slap harsh sentences on those who
fail to comply.
The movement called 'Kill the Bill', seeks to stop
this legislation while it's still in passage through
Parliament. However, in recent months the UK
also passed two other laws, that effectively
and explicitly allows undercover agents in
Britain to commit any crime, and gives
British troops immunity from war
crimes prosecutions, the latter
of these, has gone largely
unnoticed, by the British
public at large.
The Police State
The British government has spent the last few months
enacting, or attempting to enact, extremely worrying
legislation.
These bills will completely destroy any shred of Britain's
democracy. There are three bills, two of which have
already been passed and the third is currently
pending, which will completely alter
British democracy.
Although there was considerable debate in Parliament,
these controversial and worrying bills were barely
covered by the mainstream media.
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill
The first cause for concern is the Police, Crime,
Sentencing and Courts Bill, also known as the
anti protest bill. This is the bill at the centre
of kill the bill protests, that are currently
underway all over the United Kingdom.
The second bill is the Covert Human Intelligence
Sources, CHIS, Act, also nicknamed the Spy
Cops bill.
And finally, the third, is the
Overseas Operations Act 2021.
Despite the fact that these bills are extremely archaic,
authoritarian and threaten civil liberties - along with
international law - the British public is almost
completely unaware of their existence, with
perhaps, the sole exception being the anti
protest bill, simply because of the wide-
spread unrest and protests that it has
caused in the country.
On March 17th, 2021, a vigil was held for 33 year old
Sarah Everard, whose body was found earlier that
month, in London.
Wayne Couzens, 48, a serving officer in the London
Metropolitan Police is accused of murdering her
and is currently in custody pending trial.
The largely peaceful vigil turned violent when police
attempted to disperse and shut down the event.
Scenes of women being violently dragged, arrested
& manhandled by the police were met with disgust
and shock. The vigil --- and the violent arrests that
took place there, occurred just as a new piece of
legislation was being introduced, which helped
spark the kill the bill movement.
In March 2021, Britain's Tory government under
Boris Johnson, introduced the Police Crime,
Sentencing and Courts Bill.
The goal of this mammoth piece of legislation is
essentially to shake up the criminal justice
system in England and Wales.
The reason people are so upset about it --- is because
it gives the police sweeping new powers where they
can randomly decide whether a protest is justified
or unjustified, and shut it down on the spot. This
even includes protests by a single person, not
only that, but the police would also be able to impose a start and a finish time.
The criteria proposed for shutting down a protest
includes vague arbitrary language, like being
"too loud", or "a nuisance".
Home Secretary Priti Patel when asked about
what these things mean, couldn't even give a straight answer.
People who refuse to comply with police orders can
be fined up to 2,500 pounds. The punishment for
defacing or damaging memorials, has been
increased from three months to 10 years.
This comes in the wake of 'Black Lives Matter' protests
in the summer of 2020 when the statue of slave trader,
Edward Colston, was thrown into Bristol docks.
In order to help ease the passage of this bill through
Parliament the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as well
as Home Secretary, Pritti Pattel, have deflected: by
pointing to other things in the bill that would give
life sentences to killer drivers, for example, or
harsher sentencing for premeditated child
murder, and serious violence against
emergency workers.
But this doesn't address the concerns with giving police
sweeping powers to disband protests --- given that free
speech and the right to free assembly are considered
pillars of a liberal democracy, many view the
legislation as authoritarian, and a violation
of the Human Rights Act.
As a result, protests have erupted in response all over
Britain --- including London, Bristol, Birmingham,
Liverpool and other major cities, with hundreds
being arrested and detained by police
almost weekly.
Currently, the anti protest bill has passed its first and
second readings and it is at the Committee stage...
While this act is currently still pending, there are
two others that are just as dangerous that have
been largely unnoticed and unreported, while
having made their way through Parliament
and becoming law.
The Covert Human Intelligence Sources bill, or CHIS
Bill, which is also nicknamed the Spy Cops Bill,
gives undercover agents permission to commit
crimes through a so called Criminal Conduct
Authorization. This could include rape,
torture, murder, and other
violent crimes.
These criminal conduct authorizations are not just
for MI5, Britain's domestic security service --- but
also for any police force in Britain. this includes
agencies like the gambling Commission, the
Food Standards Agency, the Home Office,
the Ministry of Justice, and several other government departments.
Undercover officers can commit criminal acts, if it's
in the interest of national security, and also in the
economic interests of the United Kingdom.
Unions and other direct action groups
have previously been targeted in the
past --- by undercover police ---
and infiltrated.
We've seen police disproportionately target left wing
groups, activists and ordinary protesters, while
providing cover to right wing and far
right groups.
The Guardian reports that Scotland Yard, in 2019, had
been forced to pay a total of more than £700,000 - in
compensation to 153 anti fascist campaigners, who
were arrested by police during a demonstration -
and detained for up to 14 hours.
The Guardian also disclosed, in 2018, that The London
Metropolitan Police had used over two dozen officers,
to infiltrate left wing groups as part of an undercover
spying campaign, that spanned 37 years.
When the time came for parliament to vote on this bill,
the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, did not tell his
party to vote NO, and oppose the bill. Instead, he
told them to abstain. And... given that this is a
piece of Tory legislation, and the Tories were
bound to vote overwhelmingly 'YES' ----- the
majority of labour being whipped to abstain
...had the effect of simply letting the bill pass through the House of Commons
unopposed; a complete gift
to the conservatives.
There were However, 34 Labour MPs who decided to
rebel and vote against the legislation -- among them
former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn. For breaking
the ''whip'', various Labour MPs, including 7 front
benchers, were punished, by Stormer, for voting
against it:- like Nadia Edith Whittome, the MP for Nottingham East, who was sacked, as
a consequence.
Once the Spy Cops Bill reached the House of Lords an
amendment was put forward to make sure that under-
cover agents could not commit murder, rape and
torture as part of their duties.
The amendment was passed, removing some
of the most heinous crimes from a heinous bill.
Nonetheless, when the bill was sent back to the
House of Commons, the amendment to ban
murder, rape and torture... was removed.
The CHIS Bill was passed more or less in its
original form: allowing undercover agents to do whatever they like.
It was passed through Parliament and received Royal
Assent on March 1st, 2021. And at every step of the
way, the bill went through virtually unopposed.
Even amendments to ban the use of children, or to limit the scope of the crimes that undercover
agents could undertake, were all defeated.
It goes without saying that such carte blanche to
commit crimes and a Licence to Kill in the wrong
hands, can be devastating --- and gives the state
extraordinary powers over the lives of
ordinary citizens.
It is reckless at best and authoritarianism at worst.
Another extremely concerning bill that also has
made its way through Parliament and just
become law is the Overseas Operations
Bill. This bill completed its passage
through Parliament on April
29th, 2021.
The overseas bill proposes a so called presumption
against prosecution for servicemembers overseas
and essentially gives British soldiers immunity
from being prosecuted for war crimes.
It introduces a statute of limitation of five years,
meaning that, if an alleged crime took place
more than five years ago, it will not be
considered by the courts or the
Ministry of Defence.
The reason the British government wants to pass this
bill is because it claims to protect British troops from
what it calls "vexatious claims of war crimes and
other atrocities". Essentially, the British
government is saying it thinks war
crimes allegations are annoying,
and wants to ban older
ones altogether.
Previously, the UK had opened two investigations into
war crimes by UK troops. In 2014, it set up Operation
Northmoor to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan,
and then in 2010, The Iraq Historic Allegations
Team, or IHAT for war crimes in Iraq.
Years later, and not a single British soldier has ever
been prosecuted for crimes in these investigations,
despite the inquiries making recommendations - to
do so when evidence of cover ups was discovered.
Instead, the British government shut down Operation
Northmoor, and IHAT, without bringing charges on a
single case. And just to further illustrate their
animosity, Operation Northmoor was closed
before any Afghans were even interviewed.
The British government thinks that these war crimes
investigations are a waste of time and money and
that people were unjustly accusing British troops
...so it wants to introduce a statute of limitation
which gives all British soldiers immunity from
prosecution for war crimes, torture, and for
other heinous crimes older than five years.
This bill has been rightly, if insufficiently, criticised for its violations of the Geneva Conventions, the
Convention Against Torture and other cruel,
inhumane or degrading treatment
or punishment.
The bill was passed with an overwhelming majority
of Tories voting YES ...and UK's Labour abstaining.
Jeremy Corbyn was one of few labour MPs to vote
against it, saying that:the overseas operations bill
violates essential rule of law principles, including
the absolute prohibition of torture. It also fails to
protect the safety, well being, and rights of our
military personnel.
The House of Lords actually managed to pass an
amendment, which would not give immunity for
war crimes, torture crimes against humanity
and genocide.
However, once this was sent back to the House
of Commons, the amendment was defeated.
The overseas operations bill ultimately made it
into law: allowing these heinous crimes to be
protected by the government. It received
Royal Assent on April 29th, 2021.
And while the British government claims that this
doesn't violate the Human Rights Act of 1998 -- it
still included a clause allowing itself to derogate
from the European Convention of Human
Rights... if it wishes to do so.
___________________________________
Labour’s humiliating defeat
signals its death& Keir
Starmer,not Jeremy Corbyn,is the man with its blood on his hands
by Neil Clark
May 7th (RT)
Neil Clarkis a journalist, writer, broadcaster and blogger. His award winning blog can be found at
www.neilclark66.blogspot.com. He tweets on politics and world affairs @NeilClark66
The blame for the crushing loss in Thursday’s by-election,
in a northern ‘Red Wall’ seat Labour has held since 1974,
lies with Blairite ‘centrists’, who set out to destroy Corbyn – and have ended up destroying the party itself.
Hartlepool is a coastal town in N. Eastern England with
a fascinating history. Out on its headland, the Heugh
Battery Museum bills itself as the only World War I
battlefield in Great Britain. A nearby plaque marks
the spot... where the first shell from a leading
German battle cruiser struck at 8:10am on
December 16, 1914, and also records the
place where, during the bombardment,
the first soldier was killed on British
soil by enemy action in the war.
Close by, looking out over the North Sea, there’s a
Russian cannon, which was captured by British
forces at the Battle of Sevastopol during the
Crimean War in the 1850s, and sent up to
Hartlepool by ship from London.
Perhaps - after this Thursday - there needs to be
another historical plaque installed in Hartlepool.
One commemorating the death of the UK
Labour Party.
Labour’s defeat in Hartlepool wasn’t a ‘bad’ result,
it was utterly catastrophic. The party attained just 28.7% of the vote, a full 23 points behind the Tories, doing far worse, than even the worst opinion poll had suggested.
Even before polling day, Labour ‘centrists’ were
getting their excuses in. Predictably, they’re
blaming Jeremy Corbyn, the man who
stopped being the party’s leader
more than a year ago.
It’ll take much longer to rid the party of his ‘toxic’ legacy,
the dominant neocon/Blairite narrative goes. The
people who supported a ‘chicken coup’ against
Corbyn -- after just nine months -- now tell us
Starmer, who’s been leader for 13 months,
and up against the worst UK government
of all time, needs more time. Or... to quote a former MP, if Labour loses
Hartlepool, it’ll be a case of
‘Long Corbyn’.
What tommyrot.
Just four years ago - in June 2017 - Labour, under Corbyn,
not only held Hartlepool, but did so with its highest share
of the vote (52.5%) since 2001. But for the Corbyn-hating
‘moderates’, who, funnily enough, all seem to be strong
supporters of the far-from-moderate Iraq War, it’s as if
the 2017 general election never happened. In fact, the
way that election – which Corbyn came very close to
winning – has been airbrushed out of history reminds
one of the late Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize lecture in
2005, when he condemned US foreign policy crimes
...before saying: “It never happened. Nothing ever
happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t
happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest.”
The 2017 election is never referred to, because it goes
against the dominant narrative. Labour was supposed
to have been thrashed out of sight four years ago, but
to the horror of the neocon Establishment it wasn’t. In
fact, under the ‘unelectable’ Corbyn, Labour achieved
their biggest increase in the popular vote since 1945
(a whopping 9.6% up from 2015), and came to within
a whisker of a shock victory.
Enthused by his message of positive change, and by
popular policies such as bringing the railways back
into public ownership, millions of Labour voters,
who had stayed at home in previous elections,
came out to put their cross in the Labour box.
Of course, the Establishment set out with
renewed vigour --- to make sure it would
never happen again. Part of the reason
Labour did so well in 2017... and held on to its Northern strongholds, was
because it had pledged to respect the 2016 EU referendum result.
So an operation was mounted, with the Trilateral
Commission member, Sir Keir Starmer, playing
a key role, as Shadow Brexit Secretary, to get
Labour to change its policy --- and adopt an
electorally suicidal stance of supporting
a second referendum. It was electorally
suicidal, because 78% of Labour’s 45
target seats in England and Wales
voted Leave in 2016, many of
them quite strongly.
Not only that, but there was a ratcheting up of the
political weaponisation of anti-Semitism, which
again, was about ruining Corbyn’s chances.
To his own --- and his party’s --- detriment, Corbyn
didn’t fight back against the wreckers. He should
have done more to resist the change in policy on
Europe and should have sacked Starmer (in fact,
he should never have appointed him in the first
place). He should have pushed back harder,
much harder, against those smearing him.
With the mass membership on his side, he
should have gone on the front foot against
his Blairite enemies. But Corbyn did none
of those things.
Instead, having come so close to victory in 2017, he
led Labour to a heavy defeat in 2019 with most of
the damage being done in pro-Brexit Northern
‘Red Wall’ seats. But even in 2019, Corbyn
managed to hold on to Hartlepool... The
party’s share of the vote nationally, was
still higher than in 2010 and in 2015.. It was a bad result, but not the absolute
disaster it was portrayed as.
Things have got a whole lot worse, since then. Starmer,
a man described as so wooden, birds try to nest in him,
inspires no one. His disapproval rating in April, rose to
50% in April, and was 44% among Labour voters. The
witch hunt against Corbyn, and his supporters,
cheered on by vindictive, elitist, anti-populist
Blairites who loathed the way party member -ship had soared under Corbyn, has left
Labour short of activists to do the hard work of election campaigning.
The ‘Bitterites’ set out to politically assassinate Corbyn,
believing that once he had gone and all his supporters
had been purged, ‘normal service’ would be resumed; but their internal sabotage from 2015-19, ended up killing the party, too.
Labour is in a right mess, and although the Tories
don’t deserve to win for what they’ve done to the
country these past 13 months, ‘HM Opposition’
-- whose only ‘opposition’ to the government
this past year has been to berate Johnson
and co. for not locking us plebs down
earlier and harder – most certainly
don’t deserve to win either.
In fact, the best thing that could happen is that Labour
- as it’s currently constituted - is formally put out of its
misery. Destroyed - not by Corbyn - but by those who
simply couldn’t stomach the prospect of an anti-war
UK prime minister who would threaten the hawkish
foreign policy consensus.
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_____________________________
UK Economists Warn:
Almost Three-Quarters
of A Million Businesses
‘at Risk of Failure over
Next Three Months’
May 4th,12:30pm (FNA)
Almost three-quarters of a million businesses in the UK are “at risk of failure over the next 3 months” ...because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, economists warned.
The figure has prompted Labour calls for the Chancellor,
Rishi Sunak, to ease the pressure by allowing bosses to
convert government loans to a “student-style” arrange-
ment, that would give them more time to repay, The
Independent reported.
Firms are being dragged down by more than £75bln of
COVID debt from the government’s bounce-back loan
scheme and similar initiatives, Labour said.
But the Treasury watchdog has estimated that £27.2bln
of these liabilities will never be repaid – inflicting a huge
cost on the taxpayer, on top of the loss of jobs
and livelihoods.
“We need to get the economy firing on all cylinders again,
but that won’t happen with businesses bogged down by
debt,” said Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor.
The warning comes as Keir Starmer steps up his pressure
on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, over sleaze allegations,
pledging to “clean up our politics”.
The Labour leader said, “When I was director of public
prosecutions, I was not afraid to prosecute MPs who
had broken the rules over MPs’ expenses. As prime
minister, I would not be afraid to overhaul a system, that still allows power to be abused.”
Labour has compared the possible cost of Johnson’s flat
makeover – No 10 has not denied it could have reached
£200,000 – with the property market up and down the
country.
The sum would pay for a terraced house in the UK (at an
average price of £203,000), a flat in the Southeast
(£202,000) and a semi-detached house in the
East Midlands (£195,000) or the Northwest
(£198,000), it said.
The warning of widespread business failure comes in an
analysis by the London School of Economics, using the
latest Business Insights and Impact survey.
It calculated that, in the two weeks to April 4th, over
740,000 businesses, employing 1.9 million staff, had
“low” or “no” confidence they would survive.
“Should all these businesses exit, roughly 1.9 million jobs
would be lost,” Professor John Van Reenen and Peter
Lambert wrote.
“The knock-on effects of this would be severe in terms of
financial and macroeconomic stability. Unsurprisingly,
the smaller the firm, the greater the risk of failure,”
he said.
But the authors acknowledged that the proportion of
companies reporting “low” or “no” chance of
survival had fallen by one-third, since “the
January 2021 peak”.
Sunak has won praise for his bounce-back loan scheme,
saying recently it had “worked so effectively that it
issued three loans every minute, since its launch last May”.
But Dodds said, “The chancellor should free up British
businesses, to drive the recovery, making his loan
schemes smarter, so that companies only have
to start repaying, when they’re making
a profit.”
_____________________________
Snowden:Assange prosecution
shows Biden’s lip service
to press freedom
May 4th, 10:29am (PressTV)
American whistleblower Edward Snowden says the
US government still seeks to jail WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange for the act of journalism, despite US President Joe Biden's claim of praise for "heroic independent media" on World Press Freedom Day.
Snowden tweeted on Monday that, “This would be more
persuasive if the White House weren't aggressively
seeking an 175-year sentence for the publisher of
award-winning journalism of global importance – despite pleas from every significant press
freedom and human rights organization.”
While the Biden administration continues to pursue an
18-count indictment, against the founder of the whistle-
blower website WikiLeaks, US Secretary of State Antony
Blinken hailed what he called... the "US devotion to press
freedom” --- and “the safety of journalists worldwide.”
Biden also highlighted the importance of “truth-tellers
who refuse to be intimidated” while celebrating World
Press Freedom Day.
Assange faces nearly two centuries behind bars, with
most charges linked to the publication of classified
material – such as the Iraq and Afghan war logs –
leaked in 2010, by former army intelligence
analyst, Chelsea Manning.
The WikiLeaks founder had been in some form of
incarceration since June 2012 when he sought
sanctuary at the Ecuadorean Embassy
in London.
Assange was arrested in 2019, after Ecuador
revoked his asylum, and has been locked up at a maximum security prison in London, ever since, as the US extradition process, is ''debated''.
Snowden was joined by a number of journalists & activists
demanding Assange’s release on World Press Freedom Day,
including Australian MP, Andrew Wilkie, who tweeted that:
"Today on #WorldPressFreedomDay I’m calling again for
the release of Julian Assange from Belmarsh prison. All
Assange did was release information in the public interest. Journalism is not a crime and no one should be punished for doing the right thing. #FreeAssange #auspol #politas"
Earlier this year, some two dozen civil liberties groups – including the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the
A UK judge ruled in January that the founder of WikiLeaks
should not be extradited to the United States to face trial.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser at London's Old Bailey
expressed fears Assange could commit suicide, thus
blocking his transfer to the US, where he will be
prosecuted for publishing secret US military
documents.
She said if detained in the United States, Assange "faces the
bleak prospect of severely restrictive detention conditions
designed to remove physical contact and reduce social
interaction and contact with the outside world, to a bare minimum".
Stella Moris, Assange’s partner, has said Britain would be on
stronger ground campaigning against authoritarian regimes
if it pressed the Biden administration to drop its call to
extradite Assange.
Moris, who has campaigned for Assange’s release, said
Britain is damaging its reputation by keeping him in jail
for so long.
___________________________________
Zionist Entity Says
‘Rejects ICC Authority’
to Investigate War Crimes
April 9th, 11:33am (al Manar)
The Zionist entity said on Thursday that it rejects
the International Criminal Court’s authority to
investigate war crimes committed by the
occupation regime in the West Bank,
Gaza Strip, and east Al-Quds
(Jerusalem).
According to Hebrew media sources, the Zionist
regime will send its response via a letter, where
it will argue that The Hague “lacks jurisdiction”
in the matter.
According to the Associated Press, the notifications
were sent to all signatories of the Rome Statute, the court’s founding charter, as well as the Zionist entity and Palestinians, on March 9th.
Under Article 16 of the Statute, an ICC investigation or
prosecution can be deferred for up to a year -- on a
request from the UN Security Council, which must
first approve the appropriate resolution.
The occupation regime is not a party to the Rome Statute
and has impudently protested the court’s decision,
claiming that it is “capable of conducting its
own investigations.”
Source: Israeli media
DPR Post issues stamps featuring
Welsh engineer John Hughes,
founder of Donetsk
April 2nd, 2021 at 2:28pm
(DAN news agency)
The DPR's State Post has issued a postal stamp featuring
John James Hughes, a Welsh engineer, businessman and
founder of the city of Donetsk.
The stamp is decorated with Donetsk coat-of-arms and
Hughes portrait. The stamp can be used for registered
letters with receipt up to 20 gr, in accordance with the
current fee rate of 44 rubles.
The number of copies issued is 30,024.
The envelope for the new stamp features pictograms
representing industrial objects and clippings of
Donbass geological map.
Hughes moved to the Russian Empire, in the summer of 1870,
at the age of 55, as Millwall Iron Works Company received an
order, from the Imperial Russian Government, for the plating
of a naval fortress being built at Kronstadt on the Baltic Sea.
He immediately started to build metal works close to the
river Kalmius, at a site near the village of Alexandrovka.
Over the next twenty years, the works prospered and expanded, first under John Hughes and then, after his death, in 1889, under the management of four of his sons.
John Hughes died on June 17th, in 1889, during a business trip to St Petersburg.
According to some sources, Hughes taught himself to write, and could only read capital letters.
TORIES ARE STRIPPING & PRIVATIZING the NHS and Taking Away OUR RIGHTS: with a never- ending lockdown that Labour MPs support!
Neil Clark, journalist, writer and broadcaster:
''The sad and rather shocking truth, is that the
current UK Parliament could quite happily
keep us locked down indefinitely.
Remember, MPs get their £81K
annual salaries (plus perks)
paid in full, each month,
whatever happens.
And... there is no
general election
due until 2024.
''The only way the restrictions will end, is if the public have had enough of them and
stop complying in large enough numbers.
Otherwise, what incentive is there for the well-heeled, power-crazed, lock down-addicted political class to lift them, especially with the next general election so far away?''
________________________________
More than half of the people living in democracies believe their freedoms
have been overly restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic
May 5th, 8:30am (RT)
A survey has shown that 53% of citizens living
in democracies feel their freedoms are being
infringed upon by their government’s
response to Covid-19, and the
dissatisfaction has grown
since last year.
The study, conducted by the Alliance of Democracies
Foundation & brand tracking firm Latana, published
Wednesday, claimed that in democratic countries,
citizens have become less satisfied by their
government’s response to the pandemic,
over the course of the past year.
Polling over 53,000 individuals in 53 democracies,
the survey shows that while 70% of people were
satisfied with their government’s response in
spring 2020, satisfaction had fallen to 51%
in spring 2021.
Concern that governments are doing too much to
limit personal freedoms has increased too, with
53% saying their freedoms had been overly
restricted in spring 2021, versus 45% in spring 2020.
“We now need to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic,
by delivering more democracy & freedom to people
who want to see their country become more
democratic,” said Anders Fogh Rasmussen,
Chair of the Alliance of Democracies
Foundation.
The survey, which also looks at other issues relevant
to many democratic nations, suggests that people
believe economic inequality to be the biggest
threat to democracy. Foreign interference
was seen as a lesser threat, with nearly
half concerned by the impact of US
interference on their democracy.
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_________________________________
UK govt tenders suggestLondon
could secretly be preparing for lockdowns to last until at least 2022
by Kit Klarenberg
April 27th, 10:20pm (RT)
Kit Klarenberg is an investigative journalist
exploring the role of intelligence services
in shaping politics and perceptions.
Follow on Twitter @KitKlarenberg
UK citizens are prepared for a “great British summer”
due to the progress of the UK’s vaccination program.
However, quietly-published government contracts
reveal the promised roadmap out of lockdown
could, in fact, be a red herring.
On April 26th, the UK government published a tender
in search of 60 new “covid marshals” in the district
of Hertfordshire. The contract, offered to “public
security, law and order [and] compulsory social
security services” providers,is set to run from
July 2021-January 2022, costing £3 million.
Marshals were introduced in October 2020 to help
businesses manage queues, to ensure adherence
with social distancing measures, remind people
to wear face coverings, where necessary, and
regularly clean frequently-touched surfaces.
As Britain’s BBC state broadcaster has acknowledged,
though, they don’t actually have any legal mandate
to enforce rules. Officials merely “hoped” they’d
make life at least slightly easier for those
authorities – such as police – actually
invested with such powers.
According to the new tender, these individuals are
expected – using “an intelligence led approach”
– to “provide practical support, to aid and
encourage compliance,” help “introduce
measures to aid public and business
awareness and understanding of
regulations and guidance,” and
disseminate Covid-19 guidance,
“including.... where additional
local restrictions are in place.”
While the job description sounds like something to
expect in the Covid-era, the timing may raise quite
a few eyebrows. According to Whitehall’s official
roadmap, due to the “success” of London’s
national vaccination program, “no earlier
than June 21st, the government hopes to be in a position to remove all legal
limits on social contact.”
In March, Health Secretary Matt Hancock was reportedly
“more optimistic than ever” of a “great British summer”
imminently impending. Not long after, Transport Sec.,
Grant Shapps, said, with much fanfare, that: “for the
first time, people can start to 'think about' visiting
loved ones abroad, or perhaps a summer holiday.”
Where Britons could head to, what encumbrances on
their liberty they would face upon returning, and how
much restrictions – such as PCR tests – would add
to their trip bill, was unstated.
That a “great British summer” wasn’t on the cards,
contrary to official pronouncements, was in any
event, hinted in mid-April, when the Association
of Independent Festivals – which represents
approximately 40 percent of the country’s
festival calendar – revealed over 90% of
its members were 'unable' to convene
events in 2021 without state-backed
insurance, which remains
unforthcoming.
However, a document stating that Covid marshals
will be required to... “encourage compliance”,
among members of the public until the start
of next year ,at least, appears to be the 1st
black-and-white confirmation, coming
directly from the UK government.
The tender strongly implies, what ministers have, so
far, been unwilling to concede: the global pandemic
isn’t anywhere near over yet, resultant lockdowns
are likely, and citizens’ lives will continue to be
adversely affected far beyond the
foreseeable future.
An even longer period of uncertainty is even more
heavily insinuated, by a separate tender for a
“COVID Public Information Campaign” in
Northern Ireland, which calls for “an advertising contractor, to build on and continue to deliver, a multimedia advertising campaign on
COVID-19.”
Published not long after Hancock’s munificent prophecy,
the contract is set to run for two years from April 2021,
and to cost £2 million.
Residents of the UK should, by this point, be thoroughly
''accustomed'' to optimistic ministerial forecasts in
respect of Covid, leading only to disappointment.
When the country first entered lockdown in
March 2020, Johnson pledged it would last
just three weeks.
That period of confinement eventually ended four months
later, and the Prime Minister unveiled plans to return the
country to “normal” by Christmas. A 4-week lockdown
was “temporarily” reimposed in November, rules were
relaxed for Yuletide, then partially reimposed, before
a full lockdown was, again, applied in January.
Johnson has since alleged that lockdowns, not vaccines,
are the key driving force behind the country’s much-
reduced Covid casualties and caseload, and “the
majority of scientific opinion” remains “firmly” of
the view “there will be another wave of Covid at
some stage this year.” Evidently, now is very
much not the time to be booking holidays,
or expecting “normality” - whatever that
means by this point - to come flooding
back, anytime soon.
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_____________________
WHO Won't Support
COVID Passports
April 6th, (teleSUR)
Several countries are touting the initiative of
COVID-passports or immunity passports as
a safe means to travel and fully reopen
their economies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) rejected
on Tuesday the use of COVID passports amid
concerns it would not prevent the
virus's spread.
During a press conference, the WHO spokesperson,
Margaret Harris, said the experts “are not certain at this stage, that the vaccine prevents transmission."
Likewise, the official raised concerns that the use of
these passports could be discriminatory; hence the
WHO won't endorse it. Getting tested is a requisite
for an immunity passport. However, in many
countries, thousands cannot access a
test; therefore, these passports
exclude the majority.
Several countries are touting the initiative of COVID-
passports or immunity passports as a safe means
to travel and fully reopen their economies. Last
year Chile announced it intended to issue the
world´s first immunity passports. Germany,
Italy, and the U.S., have publicly backed
the alternative.
(See our Health Page, for much, much more...)
__________________________________
'Divisive and Discriminatory':
70 UK MPs Sign Pledge to
Oppose Government's
COVID Passport Plans
by Oleg Burunov
April 2nd, 5:56am (RT)
On Thursday, UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said
there wlll "definitely" be a role for vaccine passports
for Britons going abroad --- and that a similar COVID
certification scheme may be "useful" within Britain.
Over 70 UK lawmakers, including 40 Conservatives, have
warned the British government over its plans to use
COVID-19 vaccine passports within the country.
On Thursday, a cross-party group of politicians signed a
pledge to oppose the move --- vowing they will oppose "the divisive and discriminatory use of COVID status
certification to deny individuals access to
general services, businesses, or jobs".
The signatories include ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan
Smith and former Cabinet ministers Esther McVey,
Andrew Mitchell, and Sir John Redwood, as well
as leading Tory COVID rebels, Mark Harper
and Steve Baker.
One more signatory is Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922
Committee of Tory backbenchers, who described COVID-
status certification as something that "would be divisive
and discriminatory".
"With high levels of vaccination protecting the vulnerable
- and making transmission less likely - we should aim to
return to normal life, not to put permanent restrictions
in place", Brady added.
Also signing the pledge was a 20-strong group of Labour MPs,
among them former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott
and ex-Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.
Labour peer Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, who also joined the
campaign, dubbed the possible introduction of internal COVID
passports "an authoritarian step too far".
The pledge's signatories included almost all Liberal Democrat
MPs, with their party leader Sir Ed Davey earlier labelling the
use of COVID passports within Britain "illiberal" and
"unworkable".
"As we start to get this virus properly under control, we should
Corbyn Suspended for Telling the Truth– A New Socialist Party Is Required
by Tommy Sheridan
31/10/2020 (Sputnik)
The other day a thoroughly decent and honest man
suffered a grave injustice. A man who has a peer-
less record in opposing racism and anti-Semitism
was suspended by the political party he has been
a member of for over fifty years, has represented
it in the British Parliament since 1983 and was
its leader from 2015-20.
Irony died in Britain yesterday when Jeremy Corbyn was
suspended by the Labour Party with the consent and
probable collusion of the man who succeeded him
as leader, Sir Keir Starmer.
We now have a Tory leader in 10 Downing Street who is
famed for his racist views, including referring to black
Africans as “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles”.
A racist Prime Minister nostalgic for the days of slavery
and brutal exploitation and ownership of black people
was elected by the people of England in preference
to a man whose whole life has been dedicated to
fighting racism and injustice.
Corbyn Was Betrayed by His Own Party Bureaucracy in 2017
Jeremy Corbyn would have won the 2017 General Election
if his campaign had not been sabotaged from within by
Labour opponents. They hated him more than the
Tories and refused to accept the democratic will
of the Labour Party masses who elected Corbyn
leader, not once but twice with a bigger majority
the second time round in 2016.
He led a remarkable 2017 election campaign which inspired
millions and confounded all the opinion polls and political
pundits as he came within a whisker of winning. He
smashed the Tory majority and rocked the British
Establishment. A genuine socialist was almost
elected to lead the UK. Millionaires and
billionaires were petrified that they
would be forced to pay their taxes
and public services would no
longer be up for sale.
Corbyn would have won if staff at the heart of the
Labour Party had not actively undermined him.
Paid Labour Party staff expressing disgust for the
elected leader of their party and hoping for a bad
election result and undermining the effectiveness
of the campaign wherever possible is what the
right wing did with gusto. And - after the close
call of the 2017 general election - the powerful
and rich who make up the British Establishment
and mainstream media declared war on Corbyn
from every angle, but specifically colluded to
weaponise the scourge of anti-Semitism and
throw every slur and empty accusation
against Corbyn that was possible
to muster.
After 2017 Close-Call, Anti-Semitism
Was Weaponised Against Corbyn
An incredible narrative was created whereby a man that
had done more in his life to confront and combat racism
and anti-Semitism than anyone in British politics, was
cast as an anti-Semite. It was bizarre, ridiculous, and
obscenely unfair and inaccurate but it was effective
in creating a wholly false perception. An inordinate
number of Labour anti-Semitism stories, headlines
and even documentaries were produced and by
2018 polls of Jewish voters indicated an
incredulous number believed the Labour
Party was anti-Semitic while the problem
in the Tories and Lib-Dems was perceived
to be minor.
Labour Became Huge Under Corbyn –
Over 500,000 Members
Jeremy Corbyn attracted hundreds of thousands of new
members to the Labour Party and transformed it into the
biggest membership party in Europe with well over
500,000 signed up to his brand of socialism. The
number of party members ever subjected to
accusations of anti-Semitic behaviour never
surpassed more than 300, so the anti-Semitic
‘problem’ in Labour amounted to 0.1% of its
membership at most but the coordinated
media led campaign aided and abetted
by Labour right wing MPs, created a
deeply warped and distorted picture
that almost 62% of party members
were anti-Semitic.
This was the result of a well-coordinated media
campaign led by the BBC to traduce the
character of Corbyn and the Labour
Party under him.
Feeding from the false narrative and whipped up
hysteria created by the media the Equality and
Human Rights Commission (ECHR) decided to
launch a formal investigation into claims of
anti-Semitism within Labour to establish if
they had breached the Equality Act 2010
and were guilty of acting unlawfully in
relation to anti-Semitic actions. This
decision was taken in May 2019 amid
the Brexit crisis and talk of an early
general election. The fact the ECHR
acted on the basis of complaints
from vehemently anti-Corbyn
organisations indicates just
how loaded the dice was
from the outset.
Anti-Semitism is Abhorrent --- but
Jeremy Corbyn is Not an Anti-Semite
All anti-Semitic behaviour and opinions should be
condemned and confronted unreservedly. Of that
there should be no doubt or debate. But the
accusations of anti-Semitism against the
Labour Party have been overstated and
used politically to undermine Labour
and Corbyn. Anti-Semitism is a problem
in society as a whole. An ugly repulsive
problem. But to suggest Labour has a
bigger problem than other parties or
that Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite
is patent nonsense and lies.
Unlike the Corbyn detractors, Labour’s 2020 ‘No
Place For Antisemitism’ Report provides hard
facts refuting media and ECHR allegations
that Labour under Corbyn did not address
anti-Semitism complaints.
The Labour Party expelled 45 members in relation to
antisemitism in 2019, compared to 10 in 2018 and
1 in 2017.
After rule changes passed at Conference in September
2019 gave NEC panels the power to expel, twice the
number of people were expelled in two months than
had been expelled during the whole of 2018.
NEC Disciplinary Panels heard 274 cases relating to
antisemitism in 2019, a tenfold increase on the 28
cases heard in 2017.
In 2019, 149 members were removed from the party as
a result of disciplinary processes relating to anti-
semitism, either being expelled or quitting the
party as proceedings progressed.
The Labour Party suspended 296 members in relation to
antisemitism in 2019, compared to 98 in 2018 – itself a
big increase on the previous year”.
Once you have read the facts contained in this Report and
considered that the lengthy ECHR Report which took
almost 18 months to compile concludes that Labour
is guilty of “unlawful acts of indirect discrimination
and harassment for which the Labour Party is
responsible” based on the conduct of TWO
Labour Party members, Ken Livingston and
a Councillor called Pam Bromley, you can
reasonably conclude that when Corbyn
said the allegations of anti-Semitism
against Labour were “overstated”
he was stating a fact.
Corbyn was a clear and present danger to the rich and
powerful British Establishment and his sympathy with
the Palestinian people and willingness to call out
Israel’s human rights abuses made him dangerous
on an international plain also. America and Israel
could not tolerate a pro-Palestinian British Prime
Minister. The anti-Semitism campaign was a
conscious and dishonest scheme to under-
mine his electoral credibility and the BBC
played a blinder in promoting the lie at
every available opportunity.
A New Trade Union Supported
Socialist Party is Now Urgent
The suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from Labour is an
attack on him and every single socialist still in that
party. Jeremy is now suffering the consequences
of being popular on the one hand but being far
too pliable on the other. The day Jeremy stood
back & allowed socialists like Chris Williamson
to be suspended was the day he succumbed to
the right-wing bullies within the Labour Party
hierarchy. Chris was a loyal lieutenant of
Corbyn. A very capable and popular
crusader for socialism.
When the right wing went after him with the anti-Semitism slur
Jeremy should have resisted and stood with Chris. Instead he
sought to avoid an internal battle and that was his ultimate
undoing. Jeremy had the backing of the members but not
the comfortable and right-wing bureaucracy who used
their influence to stifle Corbyn and undermine his
2017 election campaign.
The new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is determined to turn
the party back into a Tory second eleven like in the red Tory
Tony Blair days.
The challenge to other socialist Labour MPs and the trade union
leaders who support socialist policies which will actually
improve the lives of their members is clear. If you can’t
fight for the former leader of your party who raised the
hopes of millions & came so close in 2017 to winning,
then you are not worthy of the description of socialist.
The time has come for a party of workers that promotes
socialism with guile, enthusiasm, and pride. Instead of
funding Starmer’s Tory Party Mark II, the trade union
movement should fund a real socialist party ---
committed to changing the lives of millions
for the better.
The suspension of Corbyn must be the crossing of the Rubicon
for the socialist and trade union movement. Labour is already
irrelevant in Scotland. It will become irrelevant in England
as well soon. The time for a new force backed with trade
union organisation and resources, is now.
Today, on May 14th, in 1771,
Robert Owen,
socialist manufacturer,
philanthropist, didact,
rationalist and social
reformer,
is born.
Robert Owen was an experimental socialist
and a founder of the cooperative movement.
He is known for, among other advocacies, efforts to improve working conditions,
promoting experimental socialistic
communities, and advancing a
more collective approach to
child rearing, including
free public education.
''Man is the creature of circumstances.''
''You may depend upon it: that there
are as good hearts to serve
mankind, in cottages,
as in palaces.''
Courts of law and all the paraphernalia
and folly of law, cannot be found
in a rational state of society. ''
UK could experience lockdowns
for 'SEVERAL YEARS' despite
vaccination program, SAGE
member warns
February 9th (RT)
A member of the UK government's Scientific Advisory Group for
Emergencies (SAGE) has claimed that lockdowns could be a
part of people's lives for "several years" as variants of
Covid-19 mutate.
Professor Sir Ian Boyd, who teaches at the University of St
Andrews' School of Biology, warned this week against the
frequent lifting of lockdowns because "it simply fuels a
new wave of disease" that can cause the virus to
replicate more and mutate into new strains.
"There are a lot of reasons for taking pain now, in order to
create conditions for controlled release from [restrictions]
a lot easier," he argued, adding, "Otherwise we risk just
passing through phases of various levels of lockdown
and release."
Boyd said that lockdowns "could go on for a long time," despite
the UK's mass vaccination program. "My suspicion is that we
will experience a damped oscillation of control-release for a
long time to come — perhaps several years."
Brits reacted negatively to the prospect of lockdowns
still being used in several years, calling it "madness."
"Ok. This is ridiculous now,"tweeted journalist James Melville,
while another social media user argued the country "won’t
survive" years of lockdowns.
"If you are waiting to live, love, and laugh with others again
until things get back to normal, that normal may never
come,"commented church pastor Regan Blanton
King. "Going forward, it is important that we
prioritise faith and family and lobby
for freedom."
Experts have frequently told Brits that the UK would start
returning to normal once the majority of the population is
vaccinated. Mutations of the virus, however, have led to
an increased concern over whether the vaccines will
work efficiently against new strains.
At least 147 cases of the South African variant, deemed to be
a faster-spreading strain Of Covid-19, have been recorded
in the UK, though officials fear the number could
be higher.
Brits seem to have become increasingly fed up with lockdowns,
which have been implemented in various tiers since March
2020, according to data which shows more people are
leaving their homes to go shopping. Most shops are
forbidden from opening, but stores deemed
essential like supermarkets, newsagents,
and pharmacies remain open, while
others remain open only for
click-and-collect services.
_______________________
Beijing hopes Washington will follow
China’s lead& invite WHO to the US
in search for origin of Covid-19
February 2nd (RT)
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has urged Washington
to invite the WHO to conduct traceability testing in
the US, citing the fact the American authorities
found Covid-19 antibodies in blood donations
as early as December 2019.
Speaking on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Wang Wenbin, told reporters that Beijing has always
maintained close communication and cooperation
with the World Health Organization (WHO) on
Covid-19 traceability, and he said it was
time the US followed suit.
“I hope that the United States will adopt a positive, scientific,
and cooperative attitude on traceability issues -- as well as
maintain transparency, like China -- & invite WHO experts
to the United States to conduct traceability research and make positive contributions to international anti-epidemic cooperation & scientific traceability.”Wang said.
The spokesman told reporters that traceability testing was a very complex issue, with many clues, reports and studies needing to be taken into account.
“I will give you an example. According to a research report
by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention...
there were antibodies to the new coronavirus in some
American blood donations in December 2019. This
means... that the new coronavirus may have
appeared in the United States at that time,
earlier than the official US report,” Wang
stated, reinforcing Beijing’s call for
Washington to invite the WHO
to America.
Wang continued to point out that China has conducted
multiple rounds of in-depth exchanges and shared
a lot of information and research results with
international partners, including the WHO.
WHO experts are currently in China investigating the source
of Covid-19, and they visited a wet market in Wuhan on
Sunday. It has been widely suggested that a Chinese
wet market was the environment where Covid-19
first passed to humans.
Scientists are still exploring a number of
theories relating to the origins of the virus.
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____________________________________
Social Distancing May
Remain in Place All Yearin UK:
Experts SayVaccineWouldHave
to Be 85 Percent Effective to Stop A Surge in DeathsUnderLife asNormal
January 31st FNA)
Social distancing may remain in place until the end of
the year - while coronavirus vaccines would have to
be 85 percent effective to prevent a surge in deaths
if restrictions were totally relaxed, scientists
warned on Saturday.
Modelling passed to Downing Street warns that the UK
would see a large spike in deaths if inoculation fails to
significantly cut transmission.
A paper commissioned by SAGE subgroup SPI-M and
produced by modellers at the University of Warwick
showed a "high uptake" was also vital to get the
country back to normal without risking a third
wave of coronavirus.
It also warned that even with Britain's breakneck vaccine
rollout underway, the decline in deaths is slow - and finds
that even in a best-case scenario, lockdown would have
to be kept in place until June to prevent another
significant spike in deaths, according to
the Telegraph.
The paper said, "Only vaccines that offer high infection-
blocking efficacy with high uptake in the general
population, allow for the relaxation of non-
pharmaceutical interventions, without
a huge surge in deaths."
Experts think efficacy is currently at 60 percent
but it is still an unknown.
SPI-M's other modelling groups at Imperial College London
and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
have reportedly reached similar conclusions.
Even in the best case scenario - where vaccines stop 85% of
transmissions - lockdown will have to stay in place until May.
If lockdown was lifted mid-February, a third surge of
infections would follow by April, the modelling found.
While efficacy at 85 percent would mean deaths peak at 1,000
deaths a day, at 60 percent daily deaths would rise by an
average of 500 to 1,500 a day.
Dr Sam Moore, one of the paper's authors, said, "If we get
very high infection blocking then this could almost be
what delivers us from it, but it would have to be very
high. Even vaccines with 85 percent infection
blocking, are insufficient to drive 'R' below
one on their own."
Because the R rate is now above three social distancing
measures have to stay in place for longer for the
vaccine to take effect without risking
more deaths.
If the vaccine does provide a 60 percent block against
coronavirus transmission, as experts have suggested,
lockdown could end at the end of May, according to
the Warwick model.
But a ban on large events and other social distancing
restrictions would still need to be in place until the
end of the year.
A Government spokesman said, "At this early stage in
the vaccination programme, scientists do not have
sufficient data to advise how the vaccine may
affect onward transmission."
It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson forced the
EU into an extraordinary double climbdown during a
dramatic late-night intervention to protect the UK's
record-breaking vaccine rollout.
During two phone calls just 30 minutes apart, the prime
minister made European Commission President Ursula
von der Leyen ditch plans to stop 3.5 million doses of
the Pfizer jab from reaching the UK from a factory in
Belgium and abandon the "nuclear option" of
imposing a hard border on Northern Ireland
to prevent them reaching the UK.
Following his diplomatic victory, Britain on Friday
recorded a daily record for first-dose jabs –
487,756 – to bring the total to almost
8.4 million.
In his phone calls, Johnson warned von der Leyen that
her actions risked denying millions of UK pensioners
their second Pfizer injections.
She immediately capitulated in a tweet sent
out shortly before midnight, on Friday.
As part of an implicit "peace deal" with the EU, No 10 Friday
adopted a conciliatory tone. Cabinet Office Minister Michael
Gove said the EU recognised that it had "made a mistake"
and both sides agreed on the need for a "reset".
Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster was less
diplomatic, branding the EU's move an "incredible act
of hostility".
___________________________________________
Halfway through this winter of Covid,
overall mortality is around normal
for this time of year.Something
doesn’t add up
January 21st (RT)
by Peter Andrews, Irish science journalist
and writer based in London. He has a
background in the life sciences, and
graduated from the University of
Glasgow with a degree in genetics
Although the numbers of deaths attributed to the virus
in the UK are higher than they’ve ever been, in total,
not many more people are dying than in any other
cold season. Is the mainstream media finally
waking up to this?
A recent article in the Telegraph is one of the first in a
mainstream outlet to even suggest a challenge to the
official coronavirus narrative. These days, that
narrative claims that the ‘second wave’ is
actually deadlier than the first. (Recently,
some Branch Covidians have been
claiming a ‘third wave’, but there is not yet a united front on that.)
The basic reasoning of the article is sound, even if it is
long overdue. It laments how, every day, the media
solemnly reports the latest Covid deaths' figures.
Presenting this figure in isolation results in graphs
that do, indeed, seem to show that we are at the
height of a second, worse phase of a pandemic.
But, like any statistics, daily death numbers are
meaningless without context, which the media
rarely provides.
They do not provide context because, if they did, the public
might see a graph such as the one from a Telegraph article.
It quite clearly shows the spring spike in overall mortality,
which was caused by Covid (plus lockdowns). After that
ends in summer, we see… nothing. Overall mortality
ever since, even through this winter, hovers at
around the five-year average. And overall
mortality, as I’ve repeatedly pointed out,
is the only true way to know whether
you are in a pandemic or not – all
other figures can easily be fiddled.
Out of whack
So, why are the excess death data & the Covid deaths data
so out of whack? And why isn’t Covid killing lots and lots of
people this winter, as it did in spring? Even if you ascribe all
excess deaths to Covid and none to lockdown, there really
does not seem to be anything out of the normal variation
in total deaths from year to year. And surely, by now, the
toll of unnecessary deaths caused by untreated cancer,
heart disease, depression and so on, has at least
begun to register.
One reason coronavirus might not be slaying all around it this
winter is because, well, this is not its first winter. Remember: it
is called Covid-19, as in 2019. Of course, the official version of
history states that the virus didn't reach Western civilisation
until the spring of 2020, but evidence for this assertion is
based on dodgy polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests
and a profound rejection of common sense. (By the
way, how many people do you know who had a
severe bout of pneumonia-like symptoms
last winter?)
But the main reason for the disparity is obvious: mass PCR
testing. Under the current regime (science is the wrong word),
a ‘Covid death’ is someone who dies having tested positive for
Covid within the previous 28 days. When you test all hospital
patients, as the UK does, then some of them will turn out to be
positive – how many depends largely on the way you do the
tests. And the more tests you do, the more ‘Covid deaths’
you will generate. It is that simple. Dr Mike Yeadon has
written extensively on this, which he calls the PCR
false positive pseudo-epidemic.
Too little, too late
In another time, it might have been shocking that it took so long
for the science editor of a broadsheet newspaper to wonder
why, in the midst of a killer pandemic the world’s not seen
for a century or so, the number of people dying in the
country is ordinary. Better late than never I suppose,
but do not take this as a sign that reinforcements
are coming. Even this article makes absolutely
sure to pledge allegiance to Covid orthodoxy,
stating without evidence: “severe restrictions
were … clearly essential to control the growing pandemic’’.
Most people do not get their information by sifting through
government-issued statistics on websites designed to
hinder you. But there used to be a word for someone
who got paid to do exactly that and then tell the
public, in plain English, what they found. Oh,
that’s right – we used to call those people
‘journalists’. There don’t seem to be many
of them about these days, not even at
the Telegraph.
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___________________________________________
Police chief mocked after declaring British ‘civic duty’is snitching on neighbours who violate Covid-19 rules
(RT updated October 30th, 2020)
A UK Chief constable has been deluged with mockery
and Hitler memes, after arguing it’s every resident’s
duty to turn in neighbours and local businesses for
breaking lockdown rules and complaining about
how British culture reviles snitches.
UK residents who report their neighbours and local
businesses to the police for violating the country’s
increasingly stringent Covid-19 control measures
are just doing their “civic duty” and should be
praised, not ostracized, Merseyside chief
constable Andy Cooke told the Daily Mail on Wednesday.
“People are doing a civic duty in contacting us for the
right reasons,” he stated, insisting “the vast majority
of people across the country are really concerned
about this” and “any information that you can give
us, in relation to breaches, will save lives, and that’s why people are [reporting to the police].”
Lamenting that the practice of turning one’s neighbour in
to the authorities for minor infractions wasn’t more widely
accepted among respectable Brits, Cooke blamed a
“sneering culture” for placing rats at the bottom of
the social hierarchy.
His remarks weren’t received well on social media, where
users were quick to pull out the Nazi pics & Orwell quotes.
“This is what Hitler and Stalin demanded
of their people,” one user pointed out.
Others suggested the cops focus on fighting real crime.
Merseyside saw a 6.3 percent increase in violent crime
over the past year, according to statistics released
in July.
A few played along, tweeting that they could “hear voices
of people having fun and not living in fear” and “even
saw two people hugging, no face masks they were
even smiling.”
Several suggested the strategy of enlisting civilians to police their neighbours would backfire, both by
destroying trust in the police and by creating
suspicion in communities.
Cooke’s paean to the common snitch came on the heels
of similar comments by West Midlands Police and Crime
Commissioner David Jamieson, who said in a Tuesday
interview that police would not hesitate to break up
Christmas and other holiday celebrations if they
“flagrantly” violated the government’s rules
on gatherings.
National Police Chiefs Council chair Martin Hewitt also promised
“quicker enforcement” of “blatant” rule violations earlier this
week, urging members of the public to report “egregious
breaches” - like pubs being open past the 10pm cutoff -
that “put everybody at risk.” As of Wednesday, the
NPCC had issued 20,223 fines for violations of the
Covid-19 restrictions, including 980 spot tickets
for breaking lockdown.
Unlike Jamieson, however, Hewitt declined to speculate
on whether his officers would be breaking up Christmas
parties, instead merely urging the public to take heed
of the rules in whatever part of the country they
opted to spend the holiday.
Despite a steep fall in the number of deaths with Covid-19
from the pandemic’s peak earlier this year, the UK has
introduced a strict three-tier lockdown nationwide,
barring people from congregating in groups larger
than six and prohibiting home visits.
______________________________________
Britain died for me this week. It’s become
a Covid-obsessed police state, and I don’t
understand what it stands for anymore
by Chris Sweeney. November 7th, 2020
Chris Sweeney is an author and columnist who has written
for newspapers such as The Times, Daily Express, The
Sun and Daily Record, along with several international-
selling magazines.Follow him on Twitter
@Writes_Sweeney
I’ve always been proud to say I’m British – until now. The
authorities’ bloody-minded determination to implement lockdown rules at the expense of people’s wellbeing
is not what our great country should be about.
Sometimes you can be too close. You are looking, but you
don’t see it. That’s where I found myself this week with
the current state of Britain --- amid another round of
ever tighter restrictions caused by the pandemic.
Don’t get me wrong. There are loads of things I’ve always
loved about my country – our traditional British good
manners for example. Rather than see it as a sign
of weakness, I pride myself on our reputation
for queuing in an orderly fashion. I also like
that we hold the door open for the person
behind us.
I admire our outstanding National Health Service, which
allows everyone to access medical treatment without
having to dig out a credit card or an insurance plan.
And I enjoy flying British Airways over far-flung
lands, offering me some form of attachment
– even if it is superficial.
I won’t apologise for tea being regarded as the boring
and bland equivalent to freshly ground coffee – it’s
our drink, and I love it. And the way we honour
our war heroes with the humble poppy, is
thoroughly respectful.
But this week, some of that pride in being British
died for me. It’s a very different sentiment I’m
feeling. Beyond disillusionment. Fury even.
How could Britain have fallen so far
in the way it treats its own people?
It began with the horrifying detention of a 97-year-old
grandmother by police in the Yorkshire town of Market Weighton. Her daughter, a qualified nurse, wanted to
bring her home from a care home, to look after her
during lockdown, and quietly wheeled her out of
the home.
However somewhere along the line, a jobsworth felt
the need to justify their existence & reported what
had happened. The episode ended with her grand-
daughter in tears filming a video, showing her own mother in handcuffs inside a squad car, while the old woman sat in another car, completely bewildered.
The police’s response? They were responding
to “a report of assault.” Incredible.
The horror continued, as students at the University of
Manchester’s Fallowfield ''halls of residence'', awoke
to find workers erecting fences around their facility
to ensure they couldn’t leave. They were being
installed, following government guidelines
asking students not to return to their
permanent homes.
One student said: “They're huge metal barriers, they're
connected to one another and there's literally no gaps
….it makes it feel like we're in a prison.”
In what version of the United Kingdom do we keep our
bright, young people caged like dogs? Unsurprisingly,
some of the outraged students began to rip them
down, causing even more angst.
ALSO ON RT.COM
Protests of more than two people
will be ILLEGAL under updated
rules for UK national lockdown
Another university using its power to force students
to bend to its will, is world-famous Cambridge. It
announced that anyone who leaves its halls
of residence, won’t be able to graduate or
progress to the next year. That’s despite
each paying at least £9,250 per
academic session.
Then there was the Ripped Gym in Harlow, Essex. It
opted not to close --- in breach of the government’s
latest lockdown. The morality of that is debatable,
but the gym claims it didn’t sell any long-term
memberships and offered only day passes.
Whatever you think of the decision, what
is beyond argument is that it didn’t need
four police cars and approximately 20
officers to descend in a raid-style
scenario.
Were they expecting John Gotti? Rather, it was a well-
meaning business owner & some locals on treadmills.
The owner ended up being dragged away & was still
in police custody, at the time of writing.
Contrast this with the most tragic occurrence, the death
of Corey Liversedge. This 16-year old from Aberdeen-
shire took his own life, as anxiety overcame him as
a result of the suffocating nature of lockdown.
His grieving parents summoned the bravery to raise
awareness of his plight, with his mother saying, “It’s
not just children with diagnosed mental health
conditions — it can happen to any child, and
Corey was any child.”
Britain used to be a nation that cared. But now, it seems
that the priority is treating any slight infraction of lock-
down rules like a terrorist attack, while vulnerable
people are left to struggle along on their own,
without help from the wider community.
The complete lack of emotional intelligence from
our authorities was evidenced by London police
arresting 104 people in a single night for
breaching regulations.
What happened to community engagement? Aren’t we
all supposed to be on the same side? Incredibly, it’s
now even illegal for anyone to enter or leave Wales
--- unless it is covered by the contentious term of
“essential travel.” The police, of course, are
monitoring the roads and pulling over cars
to conduct checks.
Yes, the pandemic is a serious situation and we
should not be complacent about 48,000 people
dying. Precautions have to be taken.
But what is happening across the UK is nothing short
of barbaric. Our police have turned into robots,
carrying out whatever they are asked to,
no matter how cruel or wrong.
The government has forgotten what a wonderful
population they are tasked with representing,
and are treating us all like North Korea
does dissenters.
They say you never really truly appreciate something
until it’s gone. And I’m petrified that the courteous,
courageous sprit that defines Britain, is on the
point of disappearing for good, crushed by
the uncaring iron first of the Covid-
obsessed authorities.
We deserve better than this.
Like this story? Share it with a friend!
__________________________________
COVID19 in the UK the story so far... please see our Health page.
United Nations Universal Declaration on Bioethics and
Human Rights, Article 6 - Consent: Any preventive,
diagnostic and therapeutic medical intervention
is only to be carried out with the prior, free and
informed consent of the person concerned.
Article 3 - Human dignity and human rights:
The interests and the welfare of the
individual should have priority over
the sole interest of science
or society.
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 South 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, and 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
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browse venues in Wales
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02920 230130
Cash tickets from:
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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.
Purged Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - before the present boss grovelled to Zionists and quarantined him, revealed how the huge amount of cash spent on privatising parts of the NHS, has more than doubled, under the Tories.
Mr Corbyn said: “The Conservatives are privatising our NHS by stealth, despite the repeated failures and costs of private provision.
“It saddles us with an expensive and unnecessary internal market. It puts tax avoidance, not patient care, at the heart of its management. It also promotes excessive boardroom pay and grotesque inequality.
“Health privateers are earning huge sums at taxpayers’ expense, yet health workers are faced with a pay freeze.
“When health services are privatised, the brakes come off the pay - of the executives in charge.”
Health Emergency campaign director, John Lister, told the Star that it was “bizarre” how local clinical commissioning groups choose to divert cash into private companies, when investment needs to stay within the NHS.
He added: “Companies only want to pick up profitable services such as elective care and are not interested in taking the load off under-pressure departments such as A&Es.
“Despite the financial freeze, none of these firms are making much money -- because the margins are small. It’s a pointless fracturing of the NHS. The Health and Social Care Act 2012, was brought in by the Tories to facilitate this.”
Mr Corbyn says his new proposal would require that no public-sector department or government contracted firm, could pay top executives over 20 times the salary of the lowest-paid worker.
Patients and health workers are denied quality of care and sufficient resources -- because the pay of bosses in the sector skyrockets. He said that the policy “will apply to the private health companies who bid for NHS contracts and pay their top executives indefensible & sometimes obscene amounts.
“Shrinking the widening pay gap in health will aid Labour’s plans to end health privatisation and bring services into a secure, publicly provided NHS.”
(source - Morning Star)
________________________________ How to select or reselect your MP
New edition by Dave Osland. £4 from left-wing bookshops, or Five Leaves Bookshop, Notts.
Post free to mail order customers via 0115 8373097 or via PayPal on bookshop@fiveleaves.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 - watch this video in Kilburn, London: don't believe the dripping poison of the media and the corrupt MPs -- and understand Jeremy's role !
______________________________________
press
March 22nd, 2018 Karl Rogers Analysis, UK Spread the word: Facebook Twitter
On 20 March, the Labour Party appointed Jennie Formby as its new general secretary. The right-wing press immediately attacked her appointment.
Ignoring her formidable record as a union organiser and work in the NEC, Formby has been represented as Jeremy Corbyn’s puppet - and as evidence of his “hard-left” seizure of the Labour Party machine. But it’s obvious why the press barons are running scared.
Media red scaremongering
Formby barely had time to update her Linkedin profile and Twitter feed... before the right-wing press came gunning for her. Predictably, the billionaire-owned propaganda machine, spun the news of her appointment, as a sinister seizure of power by Corbyn & Unite leader Len McCluskey.
The Telegraph ran the headline: Corbyn and McCluskey tighten grip on Labour party as ally Jennie Formby appointed party’s new general secretary. The Express went with: Corbyn cements grip on Labour as hard-left union boss Formby named general secretary. The Sun also framed the appointment as an imposed “hard-left” takeover of the Labour Party. And The Times declared “moderates are no longer welcome” in the Labour Party.
Heather Stewart, political editor of The Guardian, termed the appointment a “coronation” and declared it the culmination of Corbyn’s “two-year battle” to gain “complete control of the party machine”.
She has been a member of the Labour Party for 40 years.
She was regional officer in the UK’s largest trade union – Unite – for 17 years. In 2004, she became the national officer for Unite’s Food, Drink, and Tobacco Sector.
Between 2013 and 2016, she was political director of Unite, before becoming the southeast regional secretary. She has been on the NEC for seven years.
In other words, her appointment to general secretary of the Labour Party, is the result of her experience and abilities as a trade union organiser.
As Corbyn said, when he congratulated Formby:
''Her talent, experience and commitment to the Labour and Trade Union movement, makes me confident shewill play a crucial role in building on last year’s inspiring General Election advance and taking our party forward to victory.''
Her predecessor, Iain McNicol, said:
''As someone who has dedicated her life to fighting for workers’ rights, equality and social justice, I know Jennie will put all the commitment, drive and organising talent, into getting Labour into government and Jeremy into Number 10.''
Running scared
The press is scared of Formby...... because she will be good at her job.
Jewish Labour Movement Chair & exec block call for investigation into Israeli interference 5th of February 2017 by Mike Sivier
This is deeply disturbing information from the Skwawkbox. Read:
Riverside Labour MP Louise Ellman is Chair of the JLM (Jewish Labour Movement) and vice-Chair of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI). The former organisation is highly controversial because of its affiliation with the openly pro-apartheid Israeli Labour Party ‘Havoda’ and the latter as it was specifically mentioned by the Israeli embassy operative filmed by an undercover Al Jazeera reporter, in connection with his actions: in setting up pro-Israeli groups inside the Labour party.
Supporters of both groups have been prominent in the discredited, but persisting, antisemitism smear against the national party.
And it appears that Ms Ellman and her allies in Riverside CLP – in spite of the obvious conflict of interest – have no intention of allowing members to add their voices to the calls for a full Labour investigation into the infiltration of the party by a foreign government.
Source: JLM Chair and exec block CLP call for investigation into Israeli interference:
REVEALED: NUS official colluded with Israeli embassy to oust student leader Middle East Eye 11/Jan/2017 by Mike Sivier of Vox Political
The worms are coming out of the woodwork now.
Shall we pencil in the Union of Jewish Students as one of Shai Masot’s “front” organisations for the Israeli government?
A senior official from the UK’s National Union of Students, has been covertly filmed conspiring --- to oust the NUS president Malia Bouattia as part of a sting involving the Israeli embassy.
An undercover Al-Jazeera reporter – known only as Robin – posed as a political activist with links to the now disgraced Israeli diplomat Shai Masot - to investigate the influence the Israeli embassy exerts on British politics.
“Robin” is heard discussing how to oust Ms Bouattia from her position as NUS president with NUS Vice President Richard Brooks --- after Masot introduces him as the Chair of the Young Labour Friends of Israel.
___________________________
RIGHTING THE McNicol INJUSTICES
Ms Walker, a lifelong anti-racist campaigner and socialist, was suspended from the Labour Party in May, amidst allegations of anti-Semitism. She was reinstated but has been suspended again, after apparently being “set up” at a training event organised by the Jewish Labour Movement during the party’s national conference in September.
She writes: “I was suspended from the Labour Party in May of this year, amidst what appears to have been a breach of Data Protection law, by Iain McNicol, as General Secretary of the Labour Party.
“I was suspended for the alleged (subsequently cleared) charge of antisemitism. As a Jewish person, whose partner is Jewish, this was heart-breaking.
“Since May I have continued to be targeted by the media, in print, online and in other places.
“Currently I am suspended for questions asked at a training session on ‘Confronting Antisemitism & Engaging Jewish Voters’ at this year’s Labour Conference, after being unethically filmed by a Jewish Labour Movement campaigns officer who is also a Labour councillor. It seems this training was not a ‘safe space for all Jews’ by any means.
“As soon as the first article was released before my notification had even arrived, trolls circled for the kill, posting spooky blacked up faces (and worse) to my Facebook account. The community & national newspapers led the attacks, querying my Jewish identity (a racist move in itself), my work as an anti-racist activist and my political commitment.
“When my suspension was lifted, things got worse. Indignation at my alleged breach reached the heights of irony, when Nigel Farage, anxious not to miss out on the fun being had by among others, the Spectator, a number of Labour MPs and officers of the Party... dedicated an article in Breitbart, and a good dose of righteous indignation on national TV, to publicly calling me out as a racist.
“The widespread hate campaign against me, led to public abuse, strangers shouting ‘racist’ as I walked to the tube. With the murderous racist political discourse now taking the place of debate, I became conscious I was recognisable on the street.
“My story is just one of many where Labour members have found themselves in a similar position. While this may not be the only case where a breach has occurred, as I was abroad at the time, it may well be the most provable.
“We invite anybody who has a personal interest in this case, or the wider public, to contribute.”
Solicitor Martin Howe, representing Ms Walker, added: “Jackie Walker has faced a barrage of hurtful, threatening & nasty abuse since the private details of her investigation by the Labour Party over alleged anti-Semitism was leaked to the press before she even knew of her suspension by the Party.
“This apparent breach of her private data has had a devastating impact on her public and private well-being and has led directly to her being pre-judged & unfairly cast as a racist -- before she was given any opportunity to tell her side of the story.
“Data Protection laws are there to protect all of us and any breach is a very serious matter.”
If you would like to contribute to her fund, details are on the web page.
Source: CrowdJustice – Crowdfund public interest law
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
______________________________________
Get Involved!
– If you feel you’ve been ‘purged’, take this online survey:
“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.
**************************************
CHILCOT REPORT: SOME MAIN POINTS:
1) "Military action was not a last resort".
2) UK government "undermined the authority" of the UN security council.
3) Weapons of Mass Destruction presented "with a certainty that was not justified".
4) UK forces were "ill-prepared".
5a) "The government failed to achieve its stated objectives."
5b) Post-war planning: Blair "should have known what might happen".
6) Chilcot says Blair also "overlooked the threat the invasion would pose to Britain."
____________________________________
Blair to Face Law
The former prime minister has been put on notice by families of dead servicemen, that he will face legal action, for his part in the illegal Iraq war.
They are being crowd-funded now, and have raised so much money, that Blair is probably heading for a big fall...
Shadow Commons leader Paul Flynn: the Iraq Inquiry's findings are an "utter condemnation" of his terrible decision --- and his prosecution should now be given "serious consideration".
Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond: "I would like to see Blair investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for the crime of a war of aggression, and face parliamentary action to stop him holding public office ever again."
A former British ambassador to the UN: "The UK was pushed into entering this military action, too early."
Stop the War Coalition Convener Ms German: “This is an incredibly damning report for Tony Blair. It will not call for legal sanctions, but it says that Blair is culpable for the war, in many ways.
“He needs to be driven out of public life. He is still part of the Labour Party. We need to make sure that truth & justice prevails. There must be legal action against Blair, & he should no longer be considered fit for any office.”
CND general secretary Kate Hudson: “The report shows that Tony Blair had no respect for cabinet procedure, no respect for Parliament, & no respect for international law.
“Chilcot reveals the evidence that must now be used to bring Tony Blair to justice. This is our demand. Only when justice is served, can we prevent disasters like the Iraq war from ever happening again.”
Iraqi journalist Juma al-Quraishi: "Everyone who took part in the war against Iraq should be condemned, either Britain, or others."
Baghdad resident Ali al-Saraji: "Ex-UK prime minister, Tony Blair, destroyed our country. From 2003, to now, our country has been the scene of destruction, killing, massacres, explosions and sectarianism."
A defiant Blair refuses to accept accusations from service families that he was wrong and reckless, and he insists that he would make the decision again, 'come what may'.
Families of some of the 179 military personnel killed in Iraq, say the former PM is "a terrorist".
Jeremy Corbyn has offered an apology, on Labour's behalf, for the"stain on our party and our country".
____________________________________
Tony Blair: Guilty In The Eyes Of The Public August 1st by Steve Sweeney
Teflon Tony Blair escaped justice yet again yesterday - after High Court judges blocked a private prosecution against the former PM for war crimes over the invasion of Iraq.
Campaigners accused the Establishment of a “concerted and coordinated effort” to exonerate Mr Blair for his role in the Iraq war, in which one million people were killed.
Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German branded Mr Blair as “the most protected war criminal in the world.” However, she said: “In the court of public opinion he has long been found guilty.”
Iraqi General Abdul Wahed Shannan al-Rabbat had sought a private prosecution against Mr Blair, along with then foreign secretary Jack Straw and attorney general Lord Goldsmith.
He accused Mr Blair of committing a “crime of aggression” by invading Iraq in 2003 and his lawyers asked permission from the High Court to seek judicial review to get the Supreme Court to overturn a 2006 House of Lords ruling that there is no such crime under the law of England and Wales.
Gen al-Rabbat brought the case after Westminster magistrates refused to issue summonses in November last year claiming the trio had immunity from prosecution for decisions taken while in government.
However the appeal was dismissed yesterday by the Lord Chief Justice as having “no prospect” of succeeding.
But Michael Mansfield QC said that the findings of the Chilcot Report justified the prosecution of Mr Blair.
He said that the inquiry showed Saddam Hussein did not pose an urgent threat to British interests and that the intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction had been presented with “unwarranted certainty.”
The QC said that as the international crime of a war of aggression had been accepted at the time of the Nuremberg trials of nazi war crimes, it was the duty of British courts to follow the example and prosecute those responsible for the Iraq war.
The Nuremberg judges had said that war “is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent states alone, but affect the whole world.
“To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Kate Hudson branded the decision as “hugely disappointing” and said that “justice had been left undone.”
She said: “Last year’s Chilcot report showed that Blair had no respect for Cabinet procedure, no respect for Parliament and no respect for international law.
“Iraq was devastated by the war Blair led Britain into, millions of innocent Iraqis were killed, British soldiers were killed and terrorism has spread across the Middle East.
“Chilcot revealed the evidence that must now be used to bring Blair to justice. Only when justice is served can we prevent disasters like the Iraq war from happening again.” (Source - Morning Star)
_______________________________
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
____________________________
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.
Figures released by The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that UK pensioners are 4th worst off.... out of all of the countries in the European Union.
_______________________________________
UK head teacher prompts outrage,
heated debate -- after revealing her
school ban on ‘sexist’ expressions
like ‘boys and girls’
April 29th, (RT)
UK head teacher prompts outrage, heated debate
after revealing her school ban on ‘sexist’
expressions like ‘boys and girls’.
A UK primary school headmistress has kicked off a storm
after revealing that she has instructed her teachers not to
use a number of “sexist” phrases, including ‘let’s go,
guys’ and ‘boys and girls’.
Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, who heads the Anderton Park
primary school in Birmingham, told the Good Morning
Britain show on Thursday that students as young as
three are taught to reject the use of the banned
expressions by holding up posters.
The program – which has stoked fierce debate among
parents – rewards the two students who flag the ‘best’
instances of such usage with certificates at the end
of the week.
“If our boys and girls grow up and in school we don’t
challenge this sexist language and boys are told,
‘man up’, ‘grow a pair’ and ‘boys don’t cry’, it’s
very damaging for them...abusers later on
potentially, or bullies, will also use this
fear,” Hewitt-Clarkson said.
“Fear is the biggest weapon that abusers have and if
boys are told, ‘boys don't get scared’, ‘boys don’t talk
about their feelings’, then where are they going to go
when they are afraid and they are frightened?”
she added.
“Fast forward a little bit to when the children are older
just to see why this is so important because it’s a tiny
part of a huge jigsaw,” said Hewitt-Clarkson, who had
previously said that there was a thread tying tragic
outcomes like the murder of Sarah Everard to
casual ‘banter’ and the examples adults set.
When asked how the school handled the resulting issues
in addressing students in a classroom setting, Hewitt-
Clarkson said that the preferred greeting should be
“good morning everyone” since that does not
create a gender divide and includes people
who might not identify as either sex.
Journalist Nana Akua, who was also part of the show,
called the move “absolutely ridiculous” and warned
that “we’re creating a generation of wallflower kids
who are listening for an offence.”
Noting that the “context of language” was important,
Akua told Hewitt-Clarkson her “energy is in the
wrong place.”
Social media users were divided on the school’s emphasis
on gender identity and inclusion with as many supporters
defending the program as important as there were critics
who called it unnecessary.
Describing it as “absolutely ridiculous”, one person, a p
rimary school teacher, tweeted, “Let kids be kids. They
grow up too fast as it is.”
Another user, identifying herself as an academic, said
Hewitt-Clarkson was right since “we do segment”
others based on lessons learned early on.
A number of users suggested she stick to teaching
students “reading, writing, arithmetic and also how
to be kind” instead of “any of this other stuff.”
The majority of users agreed with the need to “phase
out” some phrases like ‘man up’ and ‘grow a pair’ but
called for “balance and some common sense”. Some
also expressed concern about the long-term effects
of the program.
But some denounced the program as evidence
of “brainwashing” and “stifling freedom of
speech” in schools, while others said the
problem lay with the English language,
which doesn't use gender.
Tweeter: The problem is English Language.
Only English and Turkish do not assign gendered pronoun & cases in discourse. English denotes everything as Male with few satisfactory gender neutral alternatives,
Learning non-gendered language early is
the best solution and avoids confusion
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_____________________________________
UN hits out at UK decision to cut family planning aid from £154 million to £23m
April 29th, 2:39pm (PressTV)
The UK faces criticism from a UN agency, over the government's decision to cut aid for family
planning by 85 percent.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has
launched a scathing attack on the UK’s decision to cut family planning aid from £154 million to
£23m this year, warning that women and
girls around the world, will suffer as
a result.
The aid cut, which indicates a reduction by 85%
could have helped prevent “250,000 maternal
and child deaths.”
Prior to this decision, Britain was the biggest
donor to the initiative, run by the UNFPA.
UNFPA provides contraception and maternal health
medicine to millions of women in some of the world's
poorest nations, as well as training maternal health
staff and promoting efforts to prevent child
marriage, unintended pregnancies and
unsafe abortions.
Natalia Kanem, UNFPA executive director, accused
Britain of “stepping away from its commitments at
a time when inequalities are deepening and
international solidarity is needed more
than ever.”
She branded UK government’s decision as “devastating”
& said that "with the now-withdrawn £130m, the UNFPA
Supplies Partnership would have helped prevent around
250,000 maternal and child deaths, 14.6 million
unintended pregnancies and 4.3 million
unsafe abortions.”
Kanem said the UN agency “deeply regrets” the UK’s
decision, before adding that - upon slashing funds -
“women and girls suffer, especially the poor, those
living in remote, underserved communities and
those living through humanitarian crises.”
In response to a UN statement on Thursday, Liz Sugg,
the former Foreign Office minister, who resigned in
protest of the cuts, said that Britain's withdrawal
of financial funding for the women's health
organization was a "double hit on the
world's poorest."
“This is money the UK committed to in the UN chamber,
signed an agreement and now we’re walking away from
it – it’s pretty unheard of," Sugg told the BBC Radio 4
Today program on Thursday.
The UK declared this year that it would reduce its total
foreign aid budget from 0.7 percent to 0.5 percent of
national income, a £4 billion cut.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he did
not recognize the figures, but admitted no area was
immune to cuts.
The move has triggered an outcry from charities and aid
organizations that argue it will harm poor communities
already reeling from COVID-19 and could also hamper
efforts to curb climate change.
UKAid has long been a cover for the government’s foreign
policy deployment in the poorer countries and its drastic
aid cuts happen, even as the British military and
intelligence services step up their activities in
the subject countries.
The UK’s retreatment from its financial commitments
comes after other world powers’ increase their aid
spending to the poorest, because their need is
increasing, given the global health crisis.
__________________________
UK: Domestic Abuse Victims
‘Forced to Sell Homes or Rack
Up Debt to Get Justice’
April 28th 5:08pm (FNA)
Domestic abuse victims who can’t get legal aid
are being forced to sell their homes or rack up
debts, to bring perpetrators to justice,
campaigners warned.
New legislation introduced in January eradicated
the cap -- previously used -- when determining
eligibility, but charities say domestic abuse
survivors are still being refused help, due
to owning their home, The Independent
reported.
Experts say victims who cannot afford legal representation
are being forced to face their abusive former partners
alone in court, due to the changes not being properly rolled out.
The warning flies in the face of a December 2020 High Court
ruling that stopped a legal loophole that blocked a domestic
abuse survivor who was a single mother from obtaining
legal aid, despite her only having £28 in her bank
account. Legal aid helps people pay for legal
advice and representation in court.
Lola, a domestic abuse survivor, said she reapplied for legal
aid twice after learning the law had changed but has been
rejected both times, due to owning her home.
The 36-year-old, who is unemployed and struggling for money,
added, “I was also rejected before the law change. I meet all
the criteria, except for the fact I own my house."
“They asked: ‘Why haven’t you got a loan out? and ‘Why haven’t
you asked friends and family?’ The process is re-traumatising.
But my ex has got full legal aid," she added.
“He manipulated a professional by saying he had suffered
domestic abuse from me and got them to write this down
in a letter, which he then used to apply for legal aid. You
don’t need any proof for this. He’s taking me to court
for nothing,” she said.
Lola, who has had two restraining orders against her ex-
partner, said she qualifies for free school meal vouchers.
“I have to represent myself alone in court,” she said, adding,
“I’m not legally trained. It's the most triggering, traumatising
experience. He has a barrister. They talk to me like I’m the
lowest form of humanity. Like I’m scum. He’s got an
endless pit of my money to keep taking me to
court. It’s like I’m his plaything.”
Lola criticised the legal aid agency which gave her ex money
for not even checking if there were legal proceedings or a
restraining order against him - adding it should be
standard practice.
She warned the “injustice” of the situation was “so huge” it
means she is “consumed by anger” every day, and warned
an individual as dangerous as her ex-partner, who refuses
to pay child maintenance, should not be granted “all that
power” in the courts.
Lola, who is being supported by domestic abuse charity
Women’s Aid, recalled the abuse suffered during her
relationship.
“It was never physical,” she said, adding, “But it was getting
to that point. It was emotional and financial abuse. He
starting reading up on conspiracy theories and
taking an interest in flat earth theories. He
completely lost his grip on reality.”
Lola said he would regularly scream at her in front of their son
for trivial issues such as leaving lights on and constantly
ringing her when she was at home due to his
“possessive nature”.
She said her son is keen to do school activities but she has
had to request grants from charities to afford them —
adding she is terrified she won’t be able to “afford
to let him pursue his passions”. Money set aside
for her son’s future is being spent on solicitors
and barristers, she said.
“I’m in a horror film,” Lola said, adding, “This man has got all
his support. He is hunting me down. I’m going from room to
room and there is no escape. He was bad enough but now
the legal aid is abetting him to do this to me.”
Refuge found 1,780 women seeking help – more than a third of
the total – had faced economic abuse from their partner. On
average, the mistreatment, which includes being denied
access to money or a bank account, as well as having
debt placed in their name, lasted more than six years.
Charlotte Proudman, a family law barrister, told The Independent
she had referred domestic abuse survivors to solicitors since
the changes were in introduced but they had nevertheless
not been eligible for legal aid.
Dr Proudman added, “Solicitors have said it hasn't come into
force. On the ground, it is not happening. The legal aid
agency might be refusing because they own
properties, which defies logic and law."
“There is one woman in particular, who because she owns half
of the family home, they have said she is not eligible for legal
aid even though she is on benefits. She is a domestic abuse
victim. It is awful," Dr Proudman said.
“If victims haven't got any money to seek protection through
courts, it leaves them in a vulnerable situation, unable to
escape abusive partners and seek court protection.
Such as, orders which block the abusers
contacting them or approaching them
in person,” she said.
Dr Proudman warned women who are not legally trained do
not know how to “navigate” the legal system - with victims
of domestic abuse being particularly scared to face their
abuser in court alone.
“It is a process of them being re-traumatised without the
protection of a lawyer to speak on their behalf,” she said,
adding, “An abuser can continue abuse by taking them
back to court as a way of continuing harassment and
stalking them.”
Legal aid for domestic abuse victims needs to be non-means
tested and universally available for all irrespective of their
finances with no delays, she added.
“Sometimes it can take weeks to get a legal aid agency to
decide if they are going to get funding,” Proudman said,
adding, “In that time serious physical or psychological
harm could have been caused.”
Olive Craig, senior legal officer at Rights of Women, a
leading women’s legal rights charity, told The
Independent recent changes to legal aid are
“applied inconsistently and do not go far
enough to address the many problems
presented by the legal aid means test”.
She added, “We expect the government’s long overdue review
of the means test to address those deficiencies and ensure
access to justice for all.”
While Lucy Hadley, of Women's Aid, said they have been
“disappointed” to learn domestic abuse victims who
own their own homes are still being blocked from
getting legal aid, in spite of the High Court’s
key ruling.
She demanded the legal aid means test to be completely
axed for domestic abuse survivors to make sure “no
woman who needs to access legal advice and
representation when escaping an abuser
is barred from justice“.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
____________________________
UK breakup?Welsh independence
more popular than ever
April 8th, 8:56pm (Press TV)
New polls suggest that support for Welsh independence
from the UK is at an all time high. This has created fear
in Downing Street, over the real threat of a Kingdom
breakup, with the Welsh parliament elections on
the way.
The idea of a Welsh breakaway from the United
Kingdom is high on the agenda, ahead of this
year's Welsh elections.
With the country’s biggest pro-independence party
Plaid Cymru, pledging to secure a vote on Welsh
independence within the next five years.
The idea of Wales going alone has traditionally been
an obscure viewpoint, however, since Brexit, public
support for an independence vote has skyrocketed.
One poll conducted this year actually suggested that
Welsh support for independence, could be as high
as 39 percent, that would be the highest level
ever recorded.
No.10 has reportedly become very aware of the growing
anti-Westminster sentiment outside of England, and are
drawing up plans to counter the trend.
The Welsh elections are taking place in May. Plaid Cymru
have been recording great successes in past votes, and
hopes are high of major gains.
Although support for independence is not yet near a
majority view, Westminster’s poor handling of the
coronavirus crisis, and the negative effects
Brexit has had for Wales, appears to have
created greater belief in the virtues of
self-government. With Scotland also
pushing hard for a UK divorce...
No.10’s concerns are growing
as fast as Welsh patriotism.
____________________________
Hello darkness my old friend ...PeterMandelsonisback
advising Labour, why not
just go the whole hog & bring back TonyBlair?
by Chris Sweeney
February 15th (RT)
Chris Sweeney is an author and columnist who has written
for newspapers such as The Times, Daily Express, The
Sun and Daily Record, along with several international-
selling magazines. Follow him on Twitter @Writes_Sweeney
Keir Starmer is so devoid of original ideas he is bringing back
the Prince of Darkness to help him crowbar his way into
Number 10, but if the plan is Blair 2.0, why settle for an
impersonator when the original is still available?
Lord Peter Mandelson is not a name that will resonate beyond
the UK, but he is one of Britain’s most infamous spin doctors.
The type of character who has seemingly exerted an extended
sphere of influence without it ever being clear exactly what he
does. He arrived into the Labour Party in 1985 and it’s now
been revealed he is still pulling strings today, 36 years later.
Tony Blair adored his style but some of the left-wing union
devotees had no time for the man who became known as
‘The Prince of Darkness’. So, to appease them, and to
keep his involvement in Blair’s leadership campaign
secret, he was issued a code name – 'Bobby'.
Since then, he’s inhabited a range of roles; minister without
portfolio, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, European
commissioner, business secretary --- and then Baron
Mandelson as he entered the House of Lords. After
Blair left - and was replaced by Gordon Brown -
Mandelson retained an iron-grip on the levers
of power. In that period, he was a member of
35 cabinet committees, and some referred
to him as the “unelected prime minister.”
Mandelson likes a frontman, a lead singer to shield him while
he writes the lyrics. So it’s business as usual now that’s he
back in alongside current Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
There is only a decade or so in age between the two, but
the level of experience in the dark arts of politics, is
heavily tipped in Mandelson’s favour. The notoriety
is why he chooses to remain in the shadows, as a
lot of voters detest him. He represents the back-
room dealmaking and media manipulation that
turns so many off politics.
Mandelson is like a lightning rod, he takes the surge and
allows his ‘stooge’ to carry on. He ended up in the public
court of shame, for spending a New Year’s Eve, on Paul
Allen’s yacht, while Microsoft was at the centre of an
EU investigation.
Another yacht trip got him in hot water, this time, with oligarch Oleg Deripaska, as Mandelson had been part of a decision to cut aluminium tariffs. At the time, Deripaska owned United Company Rusal, one of the world’s biggest producers of the metal.
Mandelson was also friendly with Jeffery Epstein,
and has been pictured with the disgraced financier.
So for Keir Starmer to bring in a man with that amount of
baggage, proves how desperate he must be. Starmer
replaced Jeremy Corbyn - the most socialist main-
stream figure seen in British politics for decades -
but has as yet done nothing of substance. He's a
more centrist figure, but Boris has that sewn up:
he won the last election, with an affirming 80-
seat majority. The so-called Red Wall, fell to
the Conservatives, proving that the working
class heartlands, no longer had faith in
their old ally Labour. And still there’s
no spark or idea from Labour, to
turn that around.
Since Blair left office, the party hasn’t won an election. Their
last victory was in 2005 and before Blair led them to victory
in 1997 they hadn’t won an election since 1974. Blair is the
only person who has led the Labour Party to victory in the
last 47 years, and it seems they’ve simply decided to
revert to what worked then and hope it does now.
So welcome back Mandelson, who is right in his sweet spot,
without an official position but is there to “broaden the party’s
appeal.” It seems a redundant mission, as you’re asking
Mandelson to recreate the old magic. For that, he needs
his protege and the man who brought those ideas to life
– Blair. Why bother trying to copy him, when he is still
out there, sitting around not doing very much? Blair
has been quite vocal and made quite a few public
interjections into the Covid-19 effort. It was his
idea to stagger the two vaccine doses, which
Britain and other countries are now
actually doing.
If Labour's desperation is so great they need to face facts.
Starmer is keen to paint himself as a paragon of the good
and just. He created a big spectacle over the investigation
into anti-Semitism within Labour and also fired a member
of his shadow cabinet for making a remark that was
judged to slight the Jewish faith.
Starmer’s previous profession was as a barrister where he
worked on human rights cases before becoming a QC and
the Director of Public Prosecutions. He also spoke out
and protested against the Iraq war.
Yes, the same war that Blair led Britain into, after years of
working with Mandelson. So if Starmer is so willing to
embrace Mandelson, is he really as principled and
motivated by integrity as he’d like to have us think?
All of this also reflects an extremely depressing facet to
British politics. The country has suffered the most
deaths in Europe due to incompetent leadership.
The list of ludicrous decisions has been recounted many
times and if the opposition cannot muster up a feasible
counter after all these months, they really are
beyond hope.
The vaccination rollout is the only thing Boris has handled
well, but it won’t erase the number of families left to rue the
unnecessary loss of loved ones. There is also the much-
covered resurgence in support for independence in
Scotland and a growing movement in Wales. Brexit
was another shambles, with a deal agreed days
before everything went into meltdown. How is it
possible that an allegedly well-run, professional,
perceptive political party ,can’t muster up a
credible opposition?
Winding the clock back 20 years and hoping that the same
things will work is, in my view, a fantasy. Society and
attitudes have changed, there was no social media
in 1997 and simply looking plausible and playing
'Things Can Only Get Better' on a loop isn’t
going to win you 80+ seats. But let us
suppose, for a minute, that it might,
if the Labour party & it’s leadership
really believe that’s their greatest
hope and the best plan they have
for the British people is New
Labour 2.0, then why isn’t
Blair involved?
Starmer talks a bit like him, has a similar presence, they were
even both barristers before entering politics, but trying to
‘out Blair’ Blair is futile. If Starmer isn't able to lead and
create his own vision, then why did he put himself up for the job? Trying to get Peter Mandelson to
Svengali you into some sort of Blair tribute act is never going to work. As Queen fans know, Adam Lambert, is no substitute for
Freddie Mercury.
Step up or step aside, don’t be a down- market copy of your predecessor.
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_________________________________
Boris Defends Bully Patel but Not Pensioners –His Govt is Morally Repugnant
by Tommy Sheridan
22/11/2020 (Source - Sputnik)
Anyone surprised by BoJo’s decision to condone shameful bullying at
the heart of his government and order a “square” of defence be formed
“around the prittster” after he decided to keep Priti Patel in his cabinet
despite her being found guilty of breaching the Ministerial Code and
bullying, has plainly been sleeping over the past eleven months.
That period has exposed the rancid hypocrisy, corruption, cronyism,
and lack of integrity which characterises Johnson and the Tories
under his leadership.
Priti Patel was accused of disgraceful conduct and bullying while an
employment Minister under Theresa May in 2015, behaviour which
drove a female civil servant to attempt suicide on at least two
occasions and ended with a Department of Work & Pensions
pay-out of £25,000 in April 2017 to avoid the scrutiny of an
Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal, harassment,
discrimination, and victimisation.
Patel the Bully Became Patel the Liar
Patel was then moved to the role of International Secretary only to be
found out as a devious liar whom May had to sack after her deliberate
misleading of the PM and Parliament over secret meetings with Israeli
officials, business representatives and lobbyists was exposed. She
lied and was caught. She had to go.
Being a dishonest bully presented no barrier to Boris Johnson’s
cabinet however and he appointed Patel as his Home Secretary
in July 2019 after he became Tory leader.
Within weeks the top civil servant in the Home Office, Sir Philip Rutnam,
felt compelled to warn her about her conduct and lack of respect for
staff before eventually resigning from his post at the end of February
this year in a move which caused shock waves in the civil service
and government. He accused Patel of lying about a “vicious”
campaign orchestrated against him and creating a climate
of fear in her department.
Patel Investigation Handicapped from the Outset
A high-level investigation was reluctantly ordered into the allegations
made by Rutnam, and he vowed to pursue a constructive dismissal
claim against the government which is yet to be concluded. It is
increasingly clear that the investigation has been less than
rigorous as the senior civil servant appointed to conduct
it was refused access to Rutnman despite him being the
best equipped to inform the investigation.
However the report that was compiled was laid on Johnson’s desk
in April and he refused to act on it for months before recently
contacting the author, Sir Alex Allan, and leaning on him to
water down the conclusions. Despite the limited access to
witnesses the investigation still found Priti Patel "shouted
and swore" at staff in actions "that can be described
as bullying" and that she had indeed breached the
Ministerial Code which is normally an automatic
resignation offence.
The fact Sir Alex Allan, former chair of the prestigious Joint
Intelligence Committee, chose to resign rather than alter his
report to save Patel’s reputation is admirable, but the full
report is being kept secret. It must be revealed in full and
the fact it was severely handicapped by the barring of
access to Rutman’s input must also be highlighted.
Johnson Willing to Protect Patel but not Pensioners in Care Homes
Patel was ordered to issue an apology on camera on Friday but all
it did was rub salt in the wounds of the campaign against bullying
as she smugly smirked and smiled when she claimed to have no
knowledge of bullying but apologised anyway. Please watch and
remember - her conduct drove a lowly paid civil servant to
attempt suicide on two occasions and compelled a very
senior civil servant to resign. The lack of contrition for
her actions and empathy for her victims is truly
frightening.
If Johnson and his Tory gang of millionaires and spivs showed an iota
of the concern and commitment to defend elderly care residents as
they have shown to defend lying bully Patel at least 20,000 lives
could have been saved. A shocking report compiled by Amnesty
International last month received very little media attention but
condemned the Tory Covid19 response as a dereliction of duty
and care towards elderly citizens.
Read the document and understand just how complicit this Tory
government is in the deaths of thousands of senior citizens. It
presents evidence that the government’s policy of herd immunity
was responsible for mass murder. The government was entirely
aware of the probable outcome of their policy and went ahead
regardless of the risk to thousands of lives.
The report, “As if expendable: The UK government’s failure to protect
older people in care homes during the Covid-19 pandemic”, details
how, between March 2 and June 12, 18,562 residents of care homes
in England died with COVID-19. The vast majority (18,168) were
aged 65 and over, representing almost 40 percent of all deaths
involving the virus in England during this time frame. Of these,
76 percent (13,844 deaths) occurred within care homes for
the elderly.
During this brief period, 28,186 “excess deaths” were recorded
in English care homes, a 46 percent increase in comparison
with the same period over previous years.
Amnesty conclude that the Tory government together with its
agencies at national and local level have “taken decisions and
adopted policies during the Covid-19 pandemic that have directly
violated the human rights of older residents of care homes in
England—notably their right to life, their right to health, and
their right to non-discrimination”.
The report argues that the decisions and policies of the Tory
government “impacted the rights of care home residents to
private and family life, and may have violated their right not
to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment”.
Johnson was determined to “form a square around the prittster”
to defend his lying bully Patel at the Home Office but didn’t lift a
finger to defend thousands of pensioners in care homes. That is
the warped and putrid priorities which define this government.
A Litany of Government Failures but No Resignations
Their top advisor broke lockdown rules but there was no resignation.
They have been caught awarding contracts worth over £20 billion of
public money without proper scrutiny or tendering processes to
friends of senior Tories and companies known to donate to the
Tory party and no one has resigned.
The UK government’s late response to Covid-19 and failure to
impose lockdown measures caused the unnecessary deaths
of 20,000 --- but no one resigned from government.
International law will be broken because of the government’s
Internal Market Bill --- but no one resigns.
The Johnson government backs bullies, liars, public contract
cheats and international law breaking. It is morally repugnant
and thoroughly incompetent. No wonder Scotland is so keen
to break away as soon as possible.
_________________________________________________
Report: Patients Discharged from
UK Hospitals without COVID Test Results
October 28th, 2020 (FNA)
Almost half of hospital patients have been discharged
without receiving the results of their coronavirus test
– including some patients who were sent to care
homes, new research revealed.
Independent national patient body Healthwatch England
said it had learned many patients were discharged from
hospitals between March and August this year without
proper assessments with many vulnerable people sent
home without medication, equipment or the care they
needed, The Independent reported.
At the start of the pandemic thousands of patients were
discharged to care homes as NHS England instructed
hospitals to free up 15,000 beds ahead of the first
wave of coronavirus.
Approximately 25,000 patients were sent to care homes
with some not tested, sparking fears this helped seed
care homes with the virus. There have been around
16,000 care home deaths linked to COVID-19.
According to a survey of almost 600 discharged patients
and interviews with 60 NHS staff, Healthwatch England
said it had found serious flaws with the way hospitals
had followed NHS England’s instructions.
In joint research with the British Red Cross, shared with
The Independent, it found that 44 percent of patients were
discharged without knowing the result of their corona-
virus test - including some to care homes.
It said, “Despite the policy stating that all patients
discharged to a care home should be tested for
COVID-19, we found that 26 percent of our
survey respondents who were discharged
to a care home were not tested.”
While the numbers involved were small, only 13 out of 50
patients, the report added that this was “still a significant
proportion of people who were required to be tested
but did not receive one”.
Healthwatch added that while patients going to care homes
must have the results available and shared with the home
it was still not national policy to test everyone being
discharged. It argued this should now be an
''ambition'' for the government.
Its report also raises concerns about the wider care
of vulnerable patients sent home from hospital.
88 percent of patients reported having care needs
after being discharged that have still not been met.
82 per cent did not receive a visit or any
assessment from a health professional
Almost one in five of those who did not
receive a visit, reported unmet needs.
In total 45 percent of people with a disability and
20 percent of people with a long-term condition
had support needs that were not being met,
following their discharge.
Healthwatch England criticised the national discharge
policy put in place by NHS bosses, as “confusing” in
places which it said may have contributed to some
patients missing out on the care they needed.
Robert Francis QC, chair of Healthwatch England, said,
“In March, hospitals were asked to discharge patients
with little or no notice and the speed with which this
took place was important, but led to mistakes."
“We do not want to detract from the heroic efforts of those on the frontline, who often put themselves at
great risk to care for their patients, but services
and system leaders have now had more time
to prepare," he said.
“It’s essential that we learn from what people have
shared with us about the impact that a poorly
handled discharge can have on them and
their loved ones. Taking action now will
not only reduce the risk to patients but
will also help improve the way people
leave hospital in the future,” he added.
The British Red Cross and Healthwatch England said
assessments for patients needed to be prioritised.
They also called for discharge checklists to make
sure patients were asked if they needed help with
transport and equipment.
Other recommendations included making sure carers
and patients had a single contact for support, which
was already national policy but still not fully adopted.
The report also said community services needed
to be boosted, to cope with increased demands.
British Red Cross Chief Executive Mike Adamson said,
“We’ve seen first-hand the huge efforts made to
improve the discharge process for patients and
their families. However, we also know, despite
good intentions and hard work, there are still
barriers to making the ideals of discharge
policy a reality."
“The Red Cross has been bearing witness to these
issues for years, and we hope that the increased
urgency of the situation will bring lasting change.
Many of the people we support are older or more
vulnerable, & fall into the higher-risk categories
for COVID-19," Adamson said.
“Simple interventions, like getting equipment and
medicine delivered, or follow-up visits, can make
the difference between a good recovery or some-
one regressing to the point of readmission -
precisely at the time we want people to
stay well, and stay at home,” he said.
Professor Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director,
said, “There has long been a wide consensus about the
benefits for patients of being able to return home as
soon as their specialist hospital care is complete,
and it is good that delays have been reduced in
recent times. While this is a very small snap-
shot survey, local hospitals will want* (sic)
to take account of the points it makes.”
(*No they won't!)
_________________________________________
By backing housing charity’s ‘Jewish only’ rule, UK court drops the ball. Aren’t we all equal in Britain?
by Chris Sweeney October 17th, 2020 (Source: RT)
A small legal challenge has turned into a precedent-
setting case about whether someone in today’s
Britain can be prioritised or denied housing on
the basis of their religion.The law isn’t always
right and it’s not just people who can be
taken hostage.
In a disgraceful decision deemed legitimate by the UK’s
highest court, a single mother with four children was
refused social housing – because she wasn’t a Jew.
It’s that simple.
The charity Agudas Israel Housing Association (AIHA)
owns 470 houses in the London borough of Hackney.
Local authorities promised, in October 2017, the
next available home to the woman and her kids,
two of whom are autistic.
AIHA refused to hand over the keys to any
of its SIX four-bedroom, unoccupied flats.
Their argument was it makes offers “only to members
of the Orthodox Jewish community.” As Britain is a
secular nation, the woman’s legal team found this
claim astonishing and argued it had the same
sentiment as the ‘No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish’
signs that were once displayed in some pubs.
Lord Sales stated the charity’s use of positive discrimination
was lawful, under the Equality Act 2010, in order to correct
the disadvantage faced by the community. The issue
apparently was not racism, but discrimination on
the grounds of religious observance. The court
considered the “widespread and increasing
overt antisemitism in our society.”
Intolerance or hate speech of any form is unacceptable.
But it’s hard to believe the courts and public reaction
would have been the same, if this had been Islam or
a group of Pashtuns from the Iranian border region.
Jewish affairs are treated differently. There's a 'kid gloves'
approach and they’re deemed to be culturally valuable,
while other communities are sometimes dismissed as
interlopers. AIHA’s founder Ita Cymerman-Symons,
speaking last year about the legal action, offered
the view: “Which non-Jewish person, honestly
speaking, wants to live in the midst of a
building full of Haredi men with all the
beards, and all the chanting on a
Friday night and all the children?”
A homeless single mother with four children
for one, along with many others.
Plenty of people in social housing endure noisy neighbours,
potent cooking smells and screaming kids. But isn’t that
wonderful? Diversity and living cheek by jowl with
people who see, think and believe different things to you.
That’s a rich learning experience for anyone.
The fallacy of the AIHA’s superiority complex of viewing
Orthodox Jews above others is, every public service is
available to their members. And, of the charity’s 2019
income of £105,710, the sum of £39,716 came from
British government grants. They won’t be stone-
walled at hospital or refused entry on a bus, so
why should they be allowed to create their
small-minded kingdom with impunity?
These Jewish community leaders seem to be shutting out
anyone who doesn’t align with their beliefs. It’s unhealthy
and depressing, especially in a multicultural metropolis
like London.
The judgement also referenced issues that Orthodox Jews
don’t like to live outside of the Stamford Hill area and they
tend to be poorer than the wider Jewish community. Many
of us would prefer not to live outside of the millionaire’s
playgrounds of Kensington, Knightsbridge and Mayfair –
but we tend to be poorer, so can’t afford it. That doesn’t
mean the courts would support us founding the
Republic of Poverty Housing Association, and
letting us administer who can move in.
Even if we concede that Orthodox Jews appear to support
AIHA’s ghetto-isation, aren’t the courts supposed to rule
for the greater good? It makes no sense to encourage
people to live in self-imposed enclaves. How are they
going to progress in life, or do they never plan to
leave the streets around their homes?
There’s also a wider impact of the judgement. It raises the
hackles of the population. It hacks away at the concept of
respecting every other citizen. The far-right will jump on
this and sadly there’s no defence. It will birth more
discontentment and raise tensions.
The law lords have dropped the ball, because they are the
highest court in the land, they had the chance to set a
precedent. They seem to have been influenced by
Jewish sensitivity, that labels anyone who
disagrees with the faith an anti-Semite.
It’s hard to see how justice, fairness,
compassion and understanding are
applicable. But superiority, tokenism
and favouritism have been advanced.
Why?
Well one of the court’s final points was AIHA was "a small
housing provider, but similar discrimination by a larger one
might not be allowed.”
We’re all equal, right?
Chris Sweeney is an author and columnist who has
written for newspapers such as The Times, Daily
Express, The Sun and Daily Record, along with
several international-selling magazines. Follow
him on Twitter @Writes_Sweeney
______________________________________
Brits should be ashamed of the casual cruelty
we show towards over-60s, and shrugging it
off as ‘banter’, does nothing to excuse it.
by Damian Wilson
9th October, 2020
Two-thirds of UK over-60s say they have been abused in
public because of their age, with a fifth saying insults
come from within their own families. It seems the
idea that we should ‘respect our elders’, is no
longer in fashion.
We live in a society where everyone just loves to talk
about ‘respect.’ Even primary school children are
indoctrinated with the concept, told they are due
it by right and can demand it from others, if it’s
not forthcoming. It’s all one-way traffic.
That’s why, as they grow older, and insist on enforcing
their entitlement, it becomes increasingly evident that
while they assume that right is a given for them, they
actually don’t give a toss about it applying to
anyone else.
Every now and then, research will put this into sharp relief,
as is shown in the results of a survey undertaken by the
University of the Third Age (u3a). The study found that
the more senior members of society, basically those
aged 60 and over, are frequently insulted by younger
people, and they don’t like it.
Clueless Millennials, Zoomers and even Gen X’ers told the
u3a pollsters that they don’t mean anything by slinging
ageist insults, they were simply being “friendly” and
the name-calling was just “banter.” Everyone
does it.
The growing tendency of young people to airily dismiss their
elders as over the hill old fogeys, and to even insult them in
public because of their age, is not ‘banter,’ it’s insulting
and rude.
The misuse of ‘bants’ as a term is one of modern life’s
great irritations, because while young people have
co-opted the word to (mis)represent the sort of
behaviour that borders on bullying, with a thin
coating of vicious humour, they are
deeply mistaken.
Banter, in its traditional form, is an exchange between
two people, a battle of wits, a game of intellectual
ping-pong, like those nerdy folk on Channel 4 panel
shows. Usually, those engaging in banter finish
their jousting with a smug, self-congratulatory
smile. It’s showing off, it’s proving how clever
you are. It’s not calling someone an old fart
and shoving them out of the way.
Where’s the give and take, or clever verbal sparring, in
a teenager shouting at an elderly woman in the street,
“You dozy old biddy, move it!”. Or standing behind a
chap of a certain age at a shop checkout, as he
searches for his wallet and complaining, “C’mon grandpa, hurry up!”?
That’s not banter. That’s something completely different.
A new sort of passive-aggressive behaviour combined
with name-calling, is increasingly common among
young Brits these days, thinking that getting one
over another person is some sort of achievement
proving their superiority, particularly if it belittles their victim as a result.
Of those surveyed, 63 per cent of over 60s said they
had been verbally abused in public, with an ageist
insult, while others had also noticed an increase
in insults on television (65 per cent) social media
(33 per cent) and even from their own family
(21 per cent).
My 11-year-old thinks it’s funny to call me a ”boomer”
when I can’t find the TV remote. She has a very clear
idea of what the insult suggests, even if she’s
actually out of range by a few years. I’m 56 --
so borderline Gen X’er, thank you very much.
Unfortunately for me, British families in general
are not the sort of multi-generational dynasties,
such as in Italy or India, in which patriarchs
& matriarchs, are given lifelong roles at the
head of their family and afforded a respect
that other members ignore at their peril.
Break the rules in one of these families, cause offence
to an elder, and you will bring down the wrath of
generations upon your head, face humiliation
and even ostracisation. There is a sense of
honour woven into the fabric of the family.
These families are, sadly, not common
amongst the British.
So most kids and young adults have no hesitation
in freely hurling abuse at someone they consider
a geriatric, past it, a fuddy duddy, over the hill, a
fogey, a crone, an old dear, a codger, a biddy or
a fossil, which by the way, are those insults
most frequently employed, according to u3a.
This sort of casual cruelty, and the disregard
it displays towards our seniors, is hugely
disrespectful & we should be ashamed
that it’s so widely accepted as nothing
out of the ordinary.
We’re all guilty here. Causing offence like this should
provoke more concern than it does, because it is an
unwelcome sign of a breakdown in social and family
hierarchies. Ignoring the concepts of seniority and
wisdom --- we treat human beings like any other
consumable, in our consumer-driven world ---
with a finite shelf-life & built-in obsolescence.
Many people feel no qualms about calling out an older
person, in public, to remind them their time is up as a
useful contributor to society and they need to shift
it or risk being steamrolled by those behind them.
While maybe not articulated quite like that as a
traffic queue forms behind an elderly motorist
showing excessive caution at a road junction,
that, sadly, is often the underlying sentiment
and we should be ashamed.
But most often, we’re not. We’re just annoyed at
the inconvenience that someone older than us,
is causing to ourselves. Nearly 10 years ago,
Age UK made a study of ageism & identified
it as the most widely experienced form of
discrimination across Europe, affecting
164 million senior citizens at that time.
Nothing much has changed in the UK in this regard
since 2011, it seems. And if the latest study is
anything to go by, things have become
even worse.
Damian Wilson is a UK journalist, ex-Fleet Street
editor, financial industry consultant and political
communications special advisor in the UK & EU.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in
this column are solely those of the author and do
not necessarily represent those of RT.
__________________________________________
Figures Reveal 17,000 Elderly People in UK
Forced to Sell Home to Pay for Care Costs
in Just One Year
October 5th, 2020 (Fars news agency)
More than 17,000 pensioners were forced to sell their homes
to pay for social care last year, research by Money Mail reveals.
The shocking figure means that 330 elderly residents each
week are taking the desperate step despite Prime Minister
Boris Johnson’s promise to fix the social care funding crisis.
The calculations reveal the scale of the emergency, showing
that the numbers forced to sell their hard-won homes have
soared 45 percent since 2000.
Last night campaigners called for urgent action and
demanded a "national fund" to pay for social care.
Morgan Vine, of charity Independent Age, said, "The
pandemic is not a reason not to act – it is the reason
why action has never been more vital."
On his first day in No 10 in July 2019, Johnson vowed to
make social care a priority and end the crisis "once and
for all".
But he has since admitted action would be delayed and
the coronavirus crisis has made immediate reform a
remote possibility.
The cost of residential care has risen dramatically
and now stands at more than £33,000 a year.
Anyone with more than £23,250 in funds, including their
house value, is denied state help, leaving thousands
having to sell their homes to pay soaring care bills.
The Daily Mail has campaigned to end this injustice
for the families of those with dementia, as well as
other patients.
MoneyMail’s calculations, verified by Independent Age,
are based on Department of Health data indicating that
30 percent of those who pay for their residential care
have to sell their homes.
The total was produced by comparing the numbers of
self-funders in care provided by analysts Laing Buisson.
The research assumes the average stay is two-and-a-half
years, as concluded in a study by the Personal Social
Services Research Unit and Bupa.
It means around 350,000 elderly people are estimated to
have sold their homes to pay for residential care since 1999.
Caroline Abrahams, director at charity Age UK, said, "When
the threat from coronavirus finally recedes, Age UK will
certainly be holding the Government to account on its
promise to fix social care. The obvious solution is for
us all to pay into a national fund, like we do with
the NHS."
She added" |Most people dread the idea of having to sell
the family home to pay their care bills and the fact that
this is the reality for substantial numbers is very sad."
Vine, head of policy at Independent Age, said, "These latest
figures are a timely reminder of the need to fix the funding
crisis that has plagued the social care system for decades,
long before COVID-19.
"When taking office, the Prime Minister promised to solve
the crisis, including preventing people from having to sell
their homes to pay for care," Vine said, adding, ‘Although
he couldn’t have predicted the challenges we now face,
we can all predict the long-term consequences of failing
to keep his promise."
Liz Kendall, Labour’s social care spokesman, said, "The
Prime Minister said, on the steps to Downing Street, that
he has a plan to fix the crisis in social care and that no
one should have to sell their homes to pay for their care."
"Yet we have seen neither sight nor sound of
any long-term plan for reform," Kendall said.
"This must be an absolute top priority for the Government.
People who have worked hard and saved all their life have
seen their savings wiped out," Kendall added.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said,
"We have committed to end the injustice that some people
have to sell their homes to finance care whilst others don’t.
We know there is a need for a long-term solution and are
The UN is to send a delegation to the UK as part of an inquiry into the “grave and systematic violations” of the rights of disabled people --- allegedly taking place under London’s austerity measures.
A visit of the UN Committee Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is taking place at the request of the campaign group, 'Disabled People Against Cuts' using a legal mechanism known as the Optional Protocol. The request was made at the start of 2012. Britain is the first country to face a high-level inquiry by the UN committee.
“This is the first time any country has been investigated by the UN using the Optional Protocol so it will be, if nothing else, a very historic event,” Linda Burnip, co-founder of Disabled People Against Cuts says, adding that the process is “long and arduous,” with strict rules for proof of any claims.
News of the investigation was leaked back in September. UN inquiries are usually "confidential", but UNCRPD confirmed it would be visiting the UK, after the revelation.
“The inquiry follows a string of scandals involving disabled people in the UK, including a rise in hate crimes, which have been overlooked by police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS),” former director of prosecutions, Lord Kenneth MacDonald, says.
Disabled people have been affected by cuts, nine times more than most other citizens, according to a report by the Centre for Welfare Reform, in 2013.
__________________________
AND WHERE IS WALES' BLOSSOMING...?
Imagine the Rhondda using wind and sun energy to create new rate and rent free business units, that encourage new enterprising companies, which pay well and market under a "brand" with a superb reputation for quality.
Everything to help hitting the ground running, with hot-desking, science, and agriculture, to employ our youth.
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.
China sent 30 missions into space in 2017 - a record! January 04, 2017
China conducted 30 space launch missions in 2017 --- a record-breaking number in the country's space history, said China Aero-space Science &Technology Corporation.
Long March-5 and Long March-7 rockets are used to carry out most space missions, the China News Service reported.
Long March-5 is China's largest carrier rocket. The successful test launch of the vehicle in November, in S. China's Hainan Province, has paved the way for space station construction, analysts said.
Wang Yu, the general director of the Long March-5 program, said 2017 was a critical year for China's new generation of carrier rockets - and Long March-5 rockets carried Chang'e-5 probe to space. The probe has landed on the moon, collected samples and returned to Earth.
On the other hand, Long March-7, the more powerful version of Long March-2, sent China's 1st cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 into space, in the first half of 2017, according to Wang Zhaoyao, director of China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Tianzhou-1 docked with Tiangong-2 space lab conducting experiments on propellant supplements.
China conducted 22 launch missions in 2016 and 19 in 2015. The country successfully tested its Long March-7 rocket in June 2016, and has gradually shifted to new generation rockets that reduce the use of toxic rocket fuels.
China released several white papers on its space activities, announcing plans to soft land Chang' e-5 on the moon, by the end of 2017, and launch its first Mars probe, by 2020.
After Chang'e-5, China would launch Chang'e-4 lunar probe in about 2018 to achieve mankind's first soft landing on the far side of the moon - and conduct in situ and roving detection and relay communications at Earth-moon L2 point.
The white paper also said that iover the next 5 years, China would provide space & aviation -related services to countries involved in the One Belt and One Road initiative, such as satellite communications, navigation and weather forecasting analysis.
It has now, in 2021, done so.
MAN by Steve Cutts
Germans,Japaneseand
Marylanderspoisoned by the US military
April 26th, 10:25am (PressTV)
by Pat Elder
PFAS in fire-fighting foams used on US bases worldwide
are contaminating the environment and endangering
public health. The Pentagon denies wrongdoing.
Günther Schneider, a farmer from Binsfeld, Germany has
photos that show what the stream flowing through the
village of Binsfeld looks like as aqueous film-forming
foam, is released from a fire suppression system, in
hangars on the Spangdahlem Airbase - like a fluffy
white ribbon. All around in the meadows, shreds of foam remain like huge snowballs... The toxic
