a worker's views
bolshievik Conservative MP Philip Davies was asked on The Daily Politics today how many MP’s would be present for the vote on giving 16-year-olds the vote in the EU referendum. Has answer was: “There’s no votes today and lots on MP’s go back to their constituencies early.” I checked my calendar, and today is Thursday. So … Read more
There is a myth promulgated by the establishment that the military is above politics. They refer to it as a ‘constitutional convention’ as if using more syllables made it more true. It is not true, and General Sir Nicholas Houghton blew it out of the water today. On the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday morning … Read more
Mark Urban, BBC correspondent, writing in his book about SAS operations in Iraq: “…in a UK context, for example, there are obvious political and legal reasons why the SAS could not have adopted a similar strategy against the Irish Republicans in the 1980’s. While applying Iraqi levels of force to the Irish counter-terrorism scene … Read more
It was reported today that the Taleban had taken over another area of Afghanistan – Takhar province, which lies on the border with Tajikistan. Almost as an aside, the report mentioned that the district had been hit by an earthquake earlier in the week. The quake was 7.5 magnitude, and at least 300 people died, … Read more
“Capitalism has always been progressive, something Voltaire noticed in the London Stock Exchange of the 18th century, where he saw Christians, Jews and Muslims trading together.” Ed West. Evening Standard Sorry Ed, capitalists trading together is not progressive. All that tells you is that capitalists stick together. They are a class, and as such they … Read more
A Tory MP has resigned from the Parliamentary watchdog which checks on MP’s expenses – because of his expenses. Geoffrey Cox is MP for Torridge and West Devon. What caught my attention about this story was not the failure to declare income in the register of interests. He forgot. He missed the deadline. Whatever the … Read more
It comes as no surprise to anyone that the British security services serve a higher master than the elected government of the day. Now the judiciary have ruled that it is not illegal for MI5 or MI6 to intercept the emails, correspondence or phone calls of MP’s. The decision was made by the Investigatory Powers … Read more
It is four days since The Sun’s front page excoriated Jeremy Corbyn for his alleged disrespect to the royal family. Jeremy Corbyn did not sing the national anthem. And today the same royalist respecting paper splattered its front page with a picture of the queen’s grand-daughter-in-law, the former Kate Middleton, flashing a bit of thigh … Read more
Abdul Khaliq Farahi was Afghanistan’s Consul General to Pakistan in 2008, when he was kidnapped in Peshawar. He had already been chosen for promotion to ambassador, and was just weeks away from taking up his new post. The kidnappers were insurgents from both Afghanistan and Pakistan, but they were not directly affiliated to or controlled … Read more