The House of Lords broke no constitutional conventions in referring back Osborne’s vindictive tax credit cuts. The Tories and their media supporters are talking utter garbage on the question. Taking Britain’s appalling “constitution” for what it is, the arcane rules of procedure were not breached.
Ever since David Lloyd George and Herbert Asquith forced, by threat of massive creation of peerages, the 1911 Budget through and with it the start of National Insurance and the demise of the workhouse, there has been a convention that the Lords do not oppose or amend Finance Bills.
But the tax credit cuts were not in a Finance Bill. Osborne instead tried to sneak them through by statutory instrument. This is secondary legislation whereby a Minister signs off laws under powers delegated to him by primary legislation. Secondary legislation gets much less parliamentary time and committee scrutiny. If Osborne had put the tax credit proposals in a Finance Bill, as they certainly should have been – it is Osborne who was breaking parliamentary convention here – rather than sneak them under the table as secondary legislation, the Lords would indeed not have been able to stop them without breaching constitutional convention. Which just goes to show it doesn’t always pay to be a weasel.
Osborne is hoist by his own petard.
Aah, Tories say. But there is another convention that the Lords do not block secondary legislation.
They are making that one up. There is no such constitutional convention and there are plenty of examples of the Lords blocking secondary legislation. There is a huge quantity of secondary legislation, thousands and thousands of laws – ministers continually are signing off legal changes.
But the entire basis of the secondary legislation is that parliament has delegated to ministers, in Acts, powers to sign off uncontroversial matter. This can be, for example, the detail of regulations needed technically to enforce primary legislation, and the occasional updates needed. Only a very low percentage indeed of secondary legislation ever gets queried by the Lords, but that is not because of a constitutional convention. That is because most of it is dull stuff. But when the government abuses its authority and tries to smuggle vital changes through secondary legislation, the Lords not only has the constitutional right to challenge this abuse, it has the constitutional duty to do so.
I wish they would do it more often. For example, when the Labour Party used Westminster secondary legislation to cede 6,000 square miles of Scotland’s sea to England without parliamentary scrutiny.
Finally, there is a constitutional convention that the Lords do not oppose manifesto commitments on which a government has been elected. But the Tories rather carefully did not put tax credit cuts in their manifesto, and indeed in campaigning said they would not do it.
The British constitution is appallingly undemocratic. The fact that an undemocratic chamber has fended off a proposal from an undemocratic executive which gained the votes of only 37% of the voting electors, is not a blow struck for democracy. It is however a temporary victory for human decency in mitigating an attack on the poor.
It is also an achievement for Jeremy Corbyn. Nobody can truly believe that Labour peers would have been organised to do this under Yvette Cooper or Liz Kendall.
UPDATE Wings Over Scotland has a very different take on the Labour Party performance. That the Labour Party was not radical enough to go for the “fatal” option I am afraid I find unsurprising. It remains a deeply conservative institution. But I had not previously encountered the argument that 90% would lose the money from universal credit anyway, and it is stunningly cynical. But on close consideration, I cannot work out what it means. Either there must be some additional cut to universal credit, or that those who lost tax credit could have regained it on universal credit anyway. If anybody could explain that one further, I should be grateful.
well whilst Osborne is infighting the House of Lords, totally ignoring the 100 billions running through his hands whilst trying to claw back 4 billion out of the already empty hands of workers, others in Europe, those who don’t want to bomb Syria and live of boom and bust arms dealers, are flying to Tehran and doing business.
well they are trying to….
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/german-businessmen-travel-to-iran-before-sanctions-disappear-a-1059840.html
Golding (16h18)
Do you send off a similar letter of condolence every time an airliner goes down?
Or do the passengers and/or the airliner have to be Russian?
Did you send off a similar letter when the Malaysian airliner disappeared? Or when the airliner was shot down over Eastern Ukraine? Or when the Germanwings charter crashed?
Pulcinella
“A very poor and spurious attempt at last minute evasion . A ‘ forgery ‘ you say , only now claimed after a number of posts and counter posts all afternoon where you never decided to mentioned it in any of them .”
Etc, etc…”
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So, according to Pulcinella, whether it’s a forgery or not depends on whereabouts in our exchange I said it was?
I note that in his “answer” Pulcinella skilfully avoids denying that the video is a fake.
I invite all interested readers to look very carefully at the link originally provided by Pulcinella and to make up their own minds:
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/watch-israeli-soldiers-threaten-bethlehem-refugee-camp-over-loudspeaker-1147215543.
To all who read this blog. The previous poster does not run or moderate this blog, he has no right whatsoever to tell people to fuck off.
Simply because he himself does not fuck orf when told by the majority here….
Now to blogs and what one should read to enlighten oneself, next to BB blog repeatedly advertised by Habba-gans.
Rowan writes about the crooks in the city and the failure of apprentice Osborne to come to grips with anything, bar siphoning money for himself and his banker mates.
http://rowans-blog.blogspot.co.uk/
And this brave journalist writes about the drug laundering capital of the world, sitting under armed guard 24/7 for the last 8 years. The truth can be dangerous. Here is a review of his book from the Indy
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/zerozerozero-by-roberto-saviano-book-review-the-terrifying-violence-of-the-cocaine-trade-10360790.html
And here are Roberto’s facts, he is an extraordinarily brave whistleblower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Saviano
In 2012 an ex 22 SAS regiment mercenary who was shot in the leg during the secret guerrilla war in Kosovo revealed he and others were training terrorists, now called ISIS, in Jordon to overthrow the legitimate Syrian government.
The British government, Westminster’s neocons, the Obama regime and Washington’s neocons supported the decision to arm, send billions of our tax money to, train militarily, and help on the battlefield, terrorist organizations in Syria.
One-leg John later revealed Britain and America’s terrorist army in Syria were supplied with hundreds of Toyota Hilux trucks, night vision sights, encryption radios, miniature drones and further weapons under the guise of mistaken air drops.
Two years later this whistle-blower leak has been confirmed by further additional accurate reports and now exposes the treason committed by agent Cameron and this Conservative government in supporting terrorism.
The latest review of developments highlights the hastily convened “peace talks” in Vienna, as a response by the UK and its allies to the game-changing military intervention by Russia. That intervention, beginning on September 30, has not only dealt massive blows to militants, it has completely changed the balance of forces to give the Assad government the upper hand in the war against these foreign-backed extremists. That, in turn, has sent the UK/US-led powers trying to topple Damascus into disarray.
The ‘doomed to fail’ air-strikes, the ‘no-fly zones’ and ‘safe havens’ in Northern Syria, the civilian casualties, the bombing of hospitals, the cruise missiles landing in Iran and the striking of so called ‘moderate’ rebels, amplified by Western media; all propaganda that has failed to gain traction.
Right now in desperation Britain and America are sending in special forces to be used as human shields to protect UK/US/IS regime change assets on the ground.
The putative ceasefire under a so-called peace process in Vienna is another element of the UK/US-led salvage operation. The real agenda is about giving Western, Turk and Arab-sponsored jihadists terrorists a space to regroup, and if needs be flown out of the Syrian theatre to resume their imperialist function in Yemen and, no doubt, elsewhere when required.
I believe the War on Terror has been a ruse for the US/UK/IS alliance to dominate the world and has transformed our once free nation into a fascist dictatorship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuCBY3JJwFQ
“http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/watch-israeli-soldiers-threaten-bethlehem-refugee-camp-over-loudspeaker-1147215543.”
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Funnily enough – and despite the caption – you can’t do much “watching”, can you.
But you can do a lot of “hearing” – a voice talking in Arabic with the voice’s owner…..invisible.
That video is a fake – and so obviously so that I note that no one one on here has yet said the contrary.
In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Property
IOP Report November 2015
Amnesty International confirms Israel’s summary executions of Palestinians
Jewish MP Gerald Kaufman accuses UK Government of being swayed by ‘Jewish money’
Zionists offer bribes to encourage Al-Aqsa Mosque violations
Film challenges racist stereotyping of Palestinians
Australian BDS campaign set to grow and grow
Medical Aid for Palestine pledges more aid following Israeli Army assault on Palestinian hospital
Links to the above and to many other items are on
http://palestine.org.nz/phrc/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2923&Itemid=44
There is also a link to the work of Rich Wiles. He is English and for many years worked in the Lajee Centre in Aida Camp with children and young people.
http://www.richwiles.com/en/about.html
‘Behind the Wall
Rich Wiles is a photographic artist who has been living and working in Palestine for some years. His photographic work has been shown around Europe, the US, Australia and in Palestine itself. Since 2006 he has been writing from Occupied Palestine under the title Behind the Wall. Much of this work is based in and around the refugee camps in Palestine, highlighting daily life and memories of refugees who still live in forced exile for over 60 years since Al Nakba (The Catastrophe).’
Mark Golding 10.25
I agree with every word. I’d have thought Russian leaders would know better than to allow USUKIS Saudi/Turkey monster war criminals time to regroup.
The video has now got the attention of the oligarch owned media, that in turn has generated a response from zionstan; the uniformed supremacist thug masquerading as a “soldier” has been suspended! (equivalence is to be found in Bart Simpson told to go and stay at home for a few days)
However the above whitewash attempt highlights the degree of mendacity and deceit the zionist supremacist miscreants assigned to this board and elsewhere; engage in their lies to suppress the ugly truths about the vile repugnant realties of occupation and apartheid in zionistan
Here is Rich Wiles in Dundee introducing a Dabka group from Aida Camp when they were touring in the UK in 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HYxAMsthQk
Young dancers from the Lajee cultural centre http://www.lajee.org/ in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem began a tour of the UK starting in Dundee, Scotland on 9th June 2012 at the Justice for Palestine Festival event hosted by Tayside for Justice in Palestine http://taysideforjusticeinpalestine.org/
They performed Dabka dances with the women in colourful costumes and the men with the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf. In the last dance at http://youtu.be/pmYA64doQQE the keffiyeh and flag of Palestine were waved.
/..
No one tells only the truth because they can’t. They don’t know it or are biased without realising it or they know their bias and intend to project spin. Everyone tells some truth. Therefore if you are sensible and you have time you read all sides. If you think that someone is a puppet of some agencies knowingly or otherwise they may still be worth reading because if they want to tell a lie they have to wrap it in some truth. No easy answers though. If you become convinced you are right then you will start to make mistakes. Interesting review by Dominic Lawson in ST today of Superforecasting by P Tetlock & D Gardner.
http://972mag.com/photos-israeli-border-police-assault-pepper-spray-palestinian-journalists/113402/
Some more ‘ forged ‘ video and photos from the excellent Israeli based blog 972mag.com showing ‘ purported ‘ attacks by the IDF a couple of days ago on Journalists and medics .
PS / I have added the words ‘ forged ‘ and ‘ purported ‘ to ensure the poster Lo Zuccone who is an expert in such ‘ black arts ‘ can pronounce on their validity .
Thanks Mark G., remembering facts and important snippets of news/reporting, is one thing the public does not do well, they only have so much time to divulge information and the red tops are trying their best to fill that daily space between their ears.
To add to FwL’s excellent suggestion, here is an interview with P.Tetlock. by John Horgan
“Horgan: You have discovered that certain people possess traits that make them “superforecasters,” who are much better than average at predicting social events. Can these traits be automated, that is, be codified in algorithms?
Tetlock: We describe in the book an opportunity to discuss this problem with David Ferrucci, the creator of WATSON (the artificial-intelligence world-champion in Jeopardy). He agreed, for instance, that WATSON would have little difficulty answering a question like: which two Russian leaders traded jobs in the last five years? But he noted it would be quite another matter to answer the question: will those same Russian leaders change jobs in the next five years? The second question is one that superforecasters would find pretty easy (I think) but that no artificial-intelligence system on the planet today could field in a compelling way. Why is the second question so much more difficult than the first? Because answering the second question requires a somewhat intricate causal model of the Russian political system, of the personalities involved, and of the evolving threats and opportunities they are likely to confront. It is not “just” a matter of scanning a massive database and triangulating in on the most plausible Bayesian-estimated answer. I put scare quotes around “just” because I do not in any way want to trivialize what an extraordinary achievement WATSON is.”
there’s more here, very interesting indeed. I happen to believe that reading/hearing more than just one news agency/newspaper/radio station/ blog/ social website has its advantages as one steers a course that reads between the lines so to speak.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/can-we-improve-predictions-q-a-with-philip-superforecasting-tetlock/
https://electronicintifada.net/content/israelis-execute-injured-palestinian-video-and-eyewitness/14966
On the subject of ‘ forged ‘ video evidence does anyone suspect this piece of recently filmed propaganda ? It’s obvious to all I believe that the participants in this staged execution are from a local Palestinian Amateur Dramatic Society .
Perhaps there’s an expert on this thread who could cast their beady eye on it and provide us with his professional judgement ?
Most definitely forged, Monteverdi, innit, somebody simulated that gunshot and the bloke got up right after the video finished, you are so right, such drama queens.
Apparently they have been doing this since the Qibya massacre of 1953, the history of their dramatics in trying to survive is written in blood, all over the Westbank and Gaza.
here is another project you should try and get involved in Habba Gans. An advert, just for you, from the pink’un’s pages. Its not that nobody wants to help you.
Cyber bullying and digital technology survey
Hello,
Apologies if this is the incorrect place to post this.
I am looking for participants to take part in a short 15-20 minute survey about cyber bullying, online experiences and digital technology. Anybody can participate. The survey is being run by Dr Betts and myself from Nottingham Trent University, Division of Psychology. It has received full ethical approval from the Business, Law and Social Science’s College Research Ethics Committee at Nottingham Trent University.
Further details about the study are provided on the first page of the link, but if you have any questions please PM me or contact Dr Betts using the contact details provided at the beginning and end of the survey.
Many thanks in advance to those who complete the study, it is much appreciated.
Here is the link:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2122941/Cyber-Experiences
Now French air crash experts, the guys who covered up the cause of the Germanwings crash, are rushing to judgement by saying that the crash in Sinai might well be the result of an Isis bomb which will likely be the final conclusion.
The Mediterranean Dialogue is most eager to blame Isis for Putin being responsible for killing all those innocent Russians because of his policy on Syria,
I’m sure that Isis is also responsible for my current back pains,
Good result for Jeremy Corbyn.
‘Scottish Labour party delegates have backed a vote to scrap the UK’s Trident nuclear missile system, which is based at Faslane naval base on the Clyde.
A motion at the party’s conference in Perth calling for the UK’s nuclear deterrent not to be renewed was supported by an overwhelming majority.
Both party members and unions voted 70% in favour of the motion.’
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/10/israeli-hospital-patients
@Mary re your post 10.53am on attack on a Palestinian Hospital etc .
The above gives the disturbing and detailed report of the attack and repeated invasions of the Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem and the intimidation and harassment of the medical staff working in it last week .
The Russian airliner, could’ve been brought down by Israeli, or pro-Western forces in the Sinai. It would make sense to Western forces to then blame the downing of the Russian jet on ISI, or ISIL or Daesh whatever, name the pro-Western group are calling themselves.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/egypt-plane-crash-live-kogalymavia-flight-9268-goes-down-in-sinai-with-224-people-on-board-a6716036.html
The above map shows that Israeli forces could’ve easily crossed over into Egypt, and back again.
However Russia could’ve just as easily brought the jet down, in an attempt to make political gain, and to ease anti-Russian rhetoric over Syria and Ukraine at the same time.
The conflict over Syria, and Ukraine in my opinion has led to (as usual) civilian aircraft being destroyed and used to make political hay.
All involved in the Syrian and Ukranian situations are complicit in my opinion, in the downing of civilian aircraft. Using the deaths of innocent civilians travelling in aircraft for propaganda purposes is particularly nefarious.
Id imagine most folk on this blog are wise to these tactics, employed by Russia and the West.
The machinations of the USA, when it comes to blaming another country for events it did not carry out, go way back.
Indeed the USA intended to crash a plane in the USA and blame it on Cuba.
The code name used was Operation Northwoods, the year 1962.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods
habba, I never lied. Do the phrases ‘loyal followers’ or ‘disciples’ ring any bells? Both descriptions by you insinuate that the ‘Murrayistas’ are uncritical of Mr Murray.
I would consider any url provided by you as being unfairly skewed to favour your pro Zionist ideology or just plain dishonest, that’s why I wouldn’t bother looking.
You seem to have inadvertently failed to respond to my comment about Israeli treatment of Palestinian children, particularly the five year old boy who was arrested. Instead of trying to insult me, maybe you should have another attempt at explaining the Israeli inclination to abuse and kill wayward none Jewish children. If they can’t handle a group of boisterous kids without having to spray them with live ammunition, their training needs reassessment.
It seems obvious to me that the Russian ‘plane was shot down by a missile (which is why it broke up in mid-air) and that this is punishment for Russia’s recent attack on the NATO-sponsored death squads in Syria. For various reasons, neither Russia not NATO is likely to admit this, though and so there will be a fudge.
In other words, I think it may have been downed by a fighter jet.
I am sure that Putin isn’t involved in crashing airliners, filled with Russians.
If he is interested in shooting airliners, why not shoot down ones filled with Americans, and then make it look like Isis, Washington’s enemy, did it
I’ve just realised that the aviation industry could save itself billions every year.
Instead of paying loads highly qualified pilots and engineers to carry out detailed investigations of air crashes, wasting time downloading flight recorders and sifting through tons of wreckage, all they really need to do is come on here and consult the self-appointed experts! It’s so simple I wonder nobody’s thought of it before.
It seems the aircraft broke up in mid air. It’s reported to have suffered a “tail strike”, that is scrapped the rear end of the fuselage on the runway during take off or landing, which caused serious damage back in 2001.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20151031-0
There may, i emphasise the word may, be parallels to be drawn with the crash of a China Airlines B 747 which broke up following the failure of botched repairs 22 years after a tail strike.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_611
Or indeed a similar occurrence to the same type of aircraft owned by Japan Airlines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123
I not saying this is definitely what happened just that at this stage it can’t be ruled out in favour of a bomb or missile.
Not that obvious Suhayl, it is possible knowing the plane broke apart in mid-air and the large debris field that the CIA/Mossad planted a 20 minute timer bomb in luggage at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, a former Israeli air-force base. It is possible baggage staff were infiltrated in Terminal 1 as security is lapse and ‘lost’ luggage occurs frequently.
I would request a full investigation into the airport including interviewing all airport staff on duty in T1 including maintenance and cleaning personnel with checks on CCTV, security badges, employment registers and any staff not recognised on the related shift roster.
I wonder what the world thinks of Britain, after reading this story.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/01/britain-ashamed-death-alois-dvorzac-harmondsworth-immigration
Here is a video of a jet exploding in mid-air ISIS claim that they blew up the Russian jet, in my opinion it’s a complete fake.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/01/sinai-plane-crash-islamic-state_n_8444474.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
The faked video posted by Monteverdi (http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/watch-israeli-soldiers-threaten-bethlehem-refugee-camp-over-loudspeaker-1147215543.0
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Lots of bluster from Fedup, Nevermind and Pulcinella (aka Monteverdi, who posted that fake video).
Lots of little diversions as well from the same three (other videos, links to mondoweiss, etc…).
But, strangely enough, NO endorsement of the said video, NO assertion that is is genuine and that I’m wrong.
Nor, equally strangely, the usual chorus of denunciation from the other Israel-haters.
All in all, a good day’s work by Habbabkuk! 🙂
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Perhaps some on here have at long last learnt the lesson – when in a hole, stop digging.
Next lesson to learn: look at websites more closely before linking.
Such a large plane, without being able to maneuver, in a straight.trundling decent would eventually break up due to the forces on its fuselage and wings,imho. lets see whether the black box recorded any loud noises explosions or commands.
I would not discount Sisi himself trying to say thank you to the west/Cia for putting him in charge and to help his election along.
After all he can see how Erdogans false flag shooed the electorate into voting for the man with the hand on the trigger.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/11/01/uk-turkey-election-idUKKCN0SP17S20151101