Fox, Gould, Werritty and Israel – Please write to your MP 998


Now that Liam Fox is back in the Cabinet and Matthew Gould, ex-Ambassador to Israel, in in charge of Security in the Cabinet Office, it is essential to get answers to what happened in at least eight meetings between Adam Werritty and Gould at least some of which involved Mossad – as Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell acknowledged to a parliamentary committee:

Hansard Public Administration Committee 24/11/2011

Q<369> Paul Flynn: Okay. Matthew Gould has been the subject of a very serious complaint from two of my constituents, Pippa Bartolotti and Joyce Giblin. When they were briefly imprisoned in Israel, they met the ambassador, and they strongly believe—it is nothing to do with this case at all—that he was serving the interest of the Israeli Government, and not the interests of two British citizens. This has been the subject of correspondence.

In your report, you suggest that there were two meetings between the ambassador and Werritty and Liam Fox. Questions and letters have proved that, in fact, six such meetings took place. There are a number of issues around this. I do not normally fall for conspiracy theories, but the ambassador has proclaimed himself to be a Zionist and he has previously served in Iran, in the service. Werritty is a self-proclaimed—

Robert Halfon: Point of order, Chairman. What is the point of this?

Paul Flynn: Let me get to it. Werritty is a self-proclaimed expert on Iran.

Chair: I have to take a point of order.

Robert Halfon: Mr Flynn is implying that the British ambassador to Israel is working for a foreign power, which is out of order.

Paul Flynn: I quote the Daily Mail: “Mr Werritty is a self-proclaimed expert on Iran and has made several visits. He has also met senior Israeli officials, leading to accusations”—not from me, from the Daily Mail—“that he was close to the country’s secret service, Mossad.” There may be nothing in that, but that appeared in a national newspaper.

Chair: I am going to rule on a point of order. Mr Flynn has made it clear that there may be nothing in these allegations, but it is important to have put it on the record. Be careful how you phrase questions.

Paul Flynn: Indeed. The two worst decisions taken by Parliament in my 25 years were the invasion of Iraq—joining Bush’s war in Iraq—and the invasion of Helmand province. We know now that there were things going on in the background while that built up to these mistakes. The charge in this case is that Werritty was the servant of neo-con people in America, who take an aggressive view on Iran. They want to foment a war in Iran in the same way as in the early years, there was another—

Chair: Order. I must ask you to move to a question that is relevant to the inquiry.

Q<370> Paul Flynn: Okay. The question is, are you satisfied that you missed out on the extra four meetings that took place, and does this not mean that those meetings should have been investigated because of the nature of Mr Werritty’s interests?

Sir Gus O’Donnell: I think if you look at some of those meetings, some people are referring to meetings that took place before the election.

Q<371> Paul Flynn: Indeed, which is even more worrying.

Sir Gus O’Donnell: I am afraid they were not the subject—what members of the Opposition do is not something that the Cabinet Secretary should look into. It is not relevant.

But these meetings were held—
Chair: Mr Flynn, would you let him answer please?

Sir Gus O’Donnell: I really do not think that was within my context, because they were not Ministers of the Government and what they were up to was not something I should get into at all.

Chair: Final question, Mr Flynn.

Q<372> Paul Flynn: No, it is not a final question. I am not going to be silenced by you, Chairman; I have important things to raise. I have stayed silent throughout this meeting so far.

You state in the report—on the meeting held between Gould, Fox and Werritty, on 6 February, in Tel Aviv—that there was a general discussion of international affairs over a private dinner with senior Israelis. The UK ambassador was present…

Sir Gus O’Donnell: The important point here was that, when the Secretary of State had that meeting, he had an official with him—namely, in this case, the ambassador. That is very important, and I should stress that I would expect our ambassador in Israel to have contact with Mossad. That will be part of his job. It is totally natural, and I do not think that you should infer anything from that about the individual’s biases.

Gus O’Donnell was being examined on his Cabinet Office report into the Fox/Werritty affair, which contained the blatant lie that Gould and Werritty had only met on two occasions. In fact they met eight times that we know for certain, with Gould’s role being:

1) 8 September 2009 as Miliband’s Principal Private Secretary (omitted from O’Donnell report)
2) 16 June 2010 as Hague’s Principal Private Secretary (omitted from O’Donnell report)
3) A “social occasion” in summer 2010 as Ambassador designate to Israel with Gould, Fox and Werritty (omitted from O’Donnell report)
4) 1 September 2010 in London (only one September meeting in O’Donnell report)
5) 27 September 2010 in London (only one September meeting in O’Donnell report)
6) 4-6 February 2011 Herzilya Conference Israel (omitted from O’Donnell report)
7) 6 February 2011 Tel Aviv dinner with Mossad and Israeli military
8) 15 May 2011 “We believe in Israel” conference London (omitted from O’Donnell report)

You can find full details here.

As O’Donnell states, some of the Werritty/Gould meetings happened when Fox and the Tories were not even in power. My own Freedom of Information request for all correspondence between Adam Werritty and Matthew Gould was denied as it would “breach the cost limit”. What is the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act if something as simple as correspondence between two named individuals is refused on grounds of cost.

Astonishingly, the request was denied within one hour of being submitted, and after 11pm!!!!! In reply to a further Freedom of Information Act request for minutes of the meetings between Gould and Werritty while Gould was Private Secretary to Hague and Miliband, the FCO quite literally sent me two blank pages with everything redacted except the date!!!

Various MP’s, including Jeremy Corbyn and Caroline Lucas, dragged out the information bit by bit, like drawing teeth.

Screenshot (74)

The media were by and large prepared to treat the Werritty/Fox scandal purely as sniggering homophobia. Only the Independent reported the actual story

Screenshot (75)

Fox’s resignation enabled the media to bury the real scandal, which was Israeli government influence on both Red and Blue Tories.

I therefore request everybody who reads this to write to their MP and ask them to find the following information. Here is a draft you may utilise, but the more you customise it the better:

Dear ……..,

I am concerned about unresolved questions from the Adam Werritty affair, and I should be grateful if you could discover the following information for me.

1) On how many occasions did Cabinet Office official Matthew Gould meet with Mr Adam Werritty, either
a) in a personal capacity
b) in an official capacity

2) Who else was present on each occasion?
3) What was discussed on each occasion?

I have been informed of at least eight such meetings which have been collected together from parliamentary questions and FOIA requests. I am concerned that only two of these meetings was detailed in the Cabinet Secretary’s report into the Adam Werritty affair.

1) 8 September 2009 as Miliband’s Principal Private Secretary (omitted from O’Donnell report)
2) 16 June 2010 as Hague’s Principal Private Secretary (omitted from O’Donnell report)
3) A “social occasion” in summer 2010 as Ambassador designate to Israel with Gould, Fox and Werritty (omitted from O’Donnell report)
4) 1 September 2010 in London (only one September meeting in O’Donnell report)
5) 27 September 2010 in London (only one September meeting in O’Donnell report)
6) 4-6 February 2011 Herzilya Conference Israel (omitted from O’Donnell report)
7) 6 February 2011 Tel Aviv dinner with Mossad and Israeli military
8) 15 May 2011 “We believe in Israel” conference London (omitted from O’Donnell report)

Can you discover why so many of these meetings were omitted from the O’Donnell report?

I should be most grateful for your assistance.

Yours faithfully,

You can write to your MP via this website , though I awlays prefer to send a physical letter to the House of Commons. I should be most grateful for your assistance in doing this, and in spreading this appeal around by social media.

It is to me disgusting that a politician so thoroughly disgraced as Liam Fox should be back in power. Answers were blanked on the actual purpose of the Werritty connection, and I think collectively we should try to do something about that.


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998 thoughts on “Fox, Gould, Werritty and Israel – Please write to your MP

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  • Mark Golding

    Hey – You can be unethical, corrupt, unwarranted, unscrupulous and wrongful as you like so long as you don’t cross the line and breach any codes and laws exposing yourself to either public condemnation or statute.

    For Liam Fox working as Secretary of State for International Trade in the name of Brexit appears a shrewd choice by Mrs May considering arms sales and more recently terror, cybersecurity, proxy wars, more terror reforms and more security make a handsome profit, a possible revenue from my scribbled calculations of around 300% profit typically in billions of dollars. Mr Foxy undeniably has cred considering the above and his close association with the Good Governance Group (G3), the Magic Circle of elite UK law firms, the Carlyle Group, BAE, Kroll and more.

    And of course it’s ‘who you know’ – and Mr Foxy knows plenty who; for instance the Duke of Westminster, great PR people like Lt Gen Sir Graeme Lamb once commander of the SAS who pulled a nice £1.5m contract with the Bahraini regime in his relationship to G3, Lord Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, a non-executive director of Proven, an investigatory arm of G3 or offensively for me, Geoffrey Tantum, a former MI6 Middle East director with wide-ranging connections also on the advisory council. Mr Tantum’s daughter, Laura, operates Universal Exports, G3’s charitable foundation. The charity’s trustees include Lord Ashdown and Lady Deborah Peat, the wife of the Prince of Wales’s former principal private secretary.

    Above all this, having a great affinity for the Sri Lankan Tamils who once constituted an overwhelming majority of the population in the Northern Province and are the largest ethnic group in the Eastern Province. As old timers here at Craig’s place know, I sponsored a Tamil in the 80’s, my friend Sumithran whose family applied for political asylum in 1981 after Sumi’s dad died suddenly.

    It sours me to think Dr Fox had a long-standing interest in the Sri Lanka, dating back to the mid-1990s when he was a junior foreign office minister.His office bellied funding for a Sri Lankan-based charity. Dr Fox’s best man Adam Werritty, whose friendship led to his downfall, was also involved in the negotiations.

    They agreed that G3 which has no commercial interests in Sri Lanka would pay to set up the Sri Lanka Development Trust through a Scottish law firm to help with reconciliation and reconstruction of a country torn apart by years of civil war. The charity, however, was never registered with the Charity Commission nor with Companies House – please read more about this debacle and fraud. Reconstruction? Oh dear!- we can’t make a fat profit out of repair and restoration after smashing a country – now can we?

  • RobG

    I’ll repeat again, can anyone actually tell me what the ‘security’ services do?

    GCHQ, MI5, MI6 and the rest act completely outside the law of the land.

    This is not acceptable in what’s supposed to be a democracy in the 21st century.

    • Alan

      ‘I’ll repeat again, can anyone actually tell me what the ‘security’ services do?’

      They do their utmost to have disturbing and paranoid thoughts; i.e. the exact opposite of “normal” people.

      • Alan

        As in, when “normal” people get disturbing and paranoid thoughts, they go to the doctor who gives them a pill to make those disturbing and paranoid thoughts go away, but when security service personnel get disturbing and paranoid thoughts they get promotion, and get to pass their disturbing and paranoid thoughts onto loser politicians such as Tony Blair.

        • RobG

          This keeps getting blocked, for copyright reasons, but this should work…

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs9jgNR7-N0

          I have the original video on my computer (much better quality) and will attempt to post it on the likes of YouAreVeryStupid. com.

          Je suis cretin..? I have the latest on all that, but know that I’m wasting my breath.

          Keep believing the impossible, folks.

    • FOI fan.

      “GCHQ, MI5, MI6 and the rest act completely outside the law of the land.”

      Not so. MI6 and GCHQ are legally constrained by the Intelligence Services Act (1994) and MI5 by the Security Services Act (1989). The trouble is that the same principle of ‘negative liberty’ applies to those bodies as it does to you and me — that is, unless something is specifically forbidden by law, then it is permissible. If there is a way to do something they want to do, and it is not actually illegal, they will find it and they will use it. And sometimes, yes, they will break the law, and chances are they will never be prosecuted for it. Example: The Met’s Operation Paget, investigating some of the conspiracy claims about Princess Di’s death, found that an MI6 officer (acting without any authorisation) had produced a written plan to murder a foreign politician. He was questioned by police and admitted the whole thing. The Met sent the file to the CPS and the CPS declined to bring charges because it was ‘not in the public interest’. Meaning that national security could be compromised in open court.

  • Hierolgyph

    Ah now. Fox has suffered enough. Criminal charges, disgrace, sackings, removal of pensions, none of that stuff will happen if you are a neocon insider; that’s for little people.

    I think it’s time to see neoliberalism for what it is: a cult. I heard John McTernan call Corbynism a cult – it’s a standard talking point in Nu Lab circles – but he’s actually diagnosing the wrong patient. No, neoliberal insiders all form part of a network which the masons would be proud of, and they protect each other. All crimes are permitted, though the occasional patsy may be served up. Indeed, there aren’t even many patsies these days, which is worrying. Instead of the patsy, we get the whistleblower served on a platter, to be eaten up in the US gulag-industrial complex.

    Hilariously, Fox even stood for leader. I think this fact in itself tells us who runs the show in the Tory Party, which is now basically the T-Party. I often note how similar Oz politics is, but it’s quite startling, we have our own T-Party, and right-wing opposition, and I can’t think the similarities to the corrupt US non-democracy are an accident. The US system is the model, which should terrify all of us. In a sane society, Fox would be in jail. Instead, he’s vying for leadership. Nothing good will come from his promotion.

    • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

      “Hilariously, Fox even stood for leader.”
      __________________

      Yes – and obtained a derisory number of votes.

      What conclusions would you draw from that about the Conservative Party and the influence of the “neo-cons”?

  • Mike

    Thank you for exposing this disgraceful man. You are the only political commentator I have come across that thinks it worth a mention that he is allowed back into power.

  • Ford

    I am not sure all that many people will be able to unravel the complexity of all this unless maybe they were already familiar with the background.

    A simplified overview in a seperate article would be a good launching point that might increase accessibility of the issue to a wider audience.

  • John Goss

    Great that you are still pursuing this Craig. These criminals should be serving time for their crimes. Thankfully there are people like yourself, Paul Flynn, Jeremy Corbyn and a few others prepared to ask important questions. I will write to my MP.

    And here is a reminder that 5 pm tonight is the cut-off for registering as a Labour supporter. Thanks to a Bolshevik-style attempt to ensure that the poor have no say in the election of party leader they have slapped on a £25 fee which we did not have to pay last time. Remember it was the right-wing career MPs in the Labour Party who did this to pensioners like myself. Never forget it. On the other hand it is money well spent and I have looked on it as being a one-off payment over 12 months (£2 a month) and cheap at half the price.

    You have until 5 pm. Make your support count.

      • Jim

        McDonnell will be telling us Danny Blanchflower, Thomas Picketty and Joseph Stiglitz are all 1%-ers next.

      • John Goss

        I’m wondering too Esclavo what dirty tricks will come next. I’ve paid my £25 but the Labour Party has not taken it. I phoned the bank and Debbie told me the bank has authorised it and the Labour Party has 5 days to take it or it goes back into my account. They know there are a lot of us by the volume of £25 donations going through. Perhaps the computer will go down. “Sorry you’re too late now. We had a problem with our computer.” 😀

        • Salford Lad

          I also paid my £25 by credit card and no notification of membership. I fear there are dirty tricks in the pipeline to undermine Jeremy Corbyns leadership bid.
          I do not hear good things regarding the NEC and iain McNicol.
          Expect Stalinist methods in the counting, ‘ I CARE NOT HOW THEY VOTE ,WE DO THE COUNTING.’

        • DomesticExtremist

          I expect they will be looking closely at your answer ot the question”why do you want to join the Labour Party”. I fthey think you might be a Corbyn supporter, your application will be rejected.
          Let’s hope applicants have been somewhat coy.

          • John Goss

            I answered “Because I am a Socialist”.

            Hope that’s not going to ruin my chances of voting. I tried to give an honest answer without spelling it out that I will be voting for Corbyn again.

          • LeeJ

            I put “so I can use my contracted right to vote, as promised when I joined”.

          • John Goss

            It’s a good answer LeeJ. Should any of us not get to vote it would be educational to know iindividual reasons given. I’ve just received an email from my constituency about hustings for candidates. Unfortunately because I did not join before January this year I cannot attend to express my democratic right. What kind of a party has the Labour Party become? The executive knows the marority of those of us who joined recently are for Corbyn. And as for not allowing constituency meetings it stinks. They do not want people to have a say.
            I shall bide my time. But I will not forget all these shenanigans!

          • glenn_uk

            My £25 has not left my account either. Email arrived offering thanks for the application, that was it.

            Wonder how long it takes to check all social media etc., just to make sure you’re a good little corporate centrist, and definitely not one of those nasty old lefties who are no longer welcome in the Labour Party any longer.

            If they reject my membership, I’m pushed to see who I could vote for next time around. Plaid Cymru, probably.

        • Resident Dissident

          Hopefully the application will be stopped on the grounds that you openly opposed the Labour Party at the last election and because there is all too much evidence that you do not support the Party’s aims and values (see below). I trust the Party will not refund the £25 when the applicant makes a false declaration and wastes the Party’s time.

          The Labour Party’s aims and values – which Mr Goss has now declared he supports

          The Labour Party is a democratic socialist Party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few; where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe and where we live together freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.

          To these ends we work for:
          •A. A DYNAMIC ECONOMY, serving the public interest, in which the enterprise of the market and the rigour of competition are joined with the forces of partnership and co-operation to produce the wealth the nation needs and the opportunity for all to work and prosper with a thriving private sector and high-quality public services where those undertakings essential to the common good are either owned by the public or accountable to them

          •A JUST SOCIETY, which judges its strength by the condition of the weak as much as the strong, provides security against fear, and justice at work; which nurtures families, promotes equality of opportunity, and delivers people from the tyranny of poverty, prejudice and the abuse of power

          • AN OPEN DEMOCRACY, in which government is held to account by the people, decisions are taken as far as practicable by the communities they affect and where fundamental human rights are guaranteed

          • A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT, which we protect, enhance and hold in trust for future generations.

          Labour is committed to the defence and security of the British people and to co-operating in European institutions, the United Nations, the Commonwealth and other international bodies to secure peace, freedom, democracy, economic security and environmental protection for all.

          Labour shall work in pursuit of these aims with trade unions and co-operative societies and also with voluntary organisations, consumer groups and other representative bodies.

          On the basis of these principles, Labour seeks the trust of the people to govern.

          • John Goss

            “On the basis of these principles, Labour seeks the trust of the people to govern.”

            I hope this is true. It certainly does not look like it of late. The people spoke and spoke in favour of Jeremy Corbyn. Unfortunately there appear to be many in the Labour Party who are not interested in what the ‘people’ think, so they are re-writing the rules. Have you read Animal Farm where the pigs re-write the rules for their own benefit? “No animal can stand on two legs” becomes “No animal can stand on two legs – except pigs” with many other benefits to the pigs like sitting at the table, sleeping in beds . . . Stalinist many are thinking.

          • Resident Dissident

            .” The people spoke and spoke in favour of Jeremy Corbyn. ”

            I think you are yet again confusing the people (ie the electorate) with the Party – I understand that old habits die hard.

          • John Goss

            On the contrary. The people (all people dissatisfied with there being no opposition to the Tories) did choose Corbyn. If Keir Hardie were alive he too would have chosen Corbyn over the gaffers’ stooges. He was a socialist. I repeat.

            “On the basis of these principles, Labour seeks the trust of the people to govern.”

            What the current people in power are doing is using Stalinist tactics to oppose the will of the people (for example, cancelling meetings so the people cannot be heard, not allowing voting without penalising the poor with a £25 levy, taking legal action to try and get Corbyn’s name removed from the ballot paper and so on). Not surprised you approve of this.

          • Resident Dissident

            Oh dear after so many years supporting the Soviet Union you still don’t get the point that the Party and the People are two different things. To highlight this point might I suggest your read this post from Mike Smythson

            http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2016/07/20/a-staggering-54-of-corbyn-supporters-in-the-yougov-members-poll-think-their-man-will-lead-them-to-victory/

            Might I also suggest that calling the brave Angela Eagle a “backstabber” might also lead to the failure of your attempted infiltration.

            http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/07/labour-may-block-supporter-applications-vote-if-called-mp-scum-or-traitor

        • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

          I could well understand it if the Labour Party resisted a mini-flood of last-minute applications in order to prevent the sort of “entryism” it experienced in the 1980s.

          Ie., people on the far left with no attachment to democratic socialism seeking to infiltrate the Labour Party in furtherance of a particular agenda (in this case, to ensure the election of a leader who is representative neither of the PLP nor the broad mass of Labour voters.

      • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

        On the contrary, Esclavo.

        It is the 80% (representing the healthy, sane majority of actual and potential Labour voters) telling the 20% where to get off.

        • With you, Whatever (aka Alcyone): So where is Chuka Umuna?

          Habby let the drama play out.

          So far v unimpressive results in choice of Mr Smith. Follow the money, follow the bookies; that’s the best gauge for noW!?

          PS any thoughts on Chuka Umuna –is he hiding? If so, why, what does he have to hide (of his past)? He’s certainly keeping his head under the parapet!

          • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

            No thoughts about Mr Umuna at this stage.

            Except perhaps to note that his presence at the forefront of UK politics – along with that of other politicians of colour – is welcome as an indication that a man’s colour is less and less a bar to advancement.

            Compare and contrast with the Russian State Duma, where you will need to look long and hard to see many swarthy Caucasian-type faces amoung the deputies representing Russian seats.

      • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

        It never ceases to amaze me how certain people, faced with the prospect of a vote not going the way they think it ought, bring out the “the vote will be rigged” argument.

        It seems to be yet another manifestation of denial.

        • John Goss

          We know from the groundswell of opinion that made Jeremy Corbyn leader, before new rules were introduced by the career politicians, what support there is for him. We will all cough up the £25. If he does not get re-elected the ballot is rigged. I’m guessing 75% for Corbyn and the two losers are history.

          Umuna, another career politician and war-supporter, has probably not thrown his hat in the ring because he knows just how much support there is for the honest man.

          • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

            I beg your pardon – “another career politician”?

            You mean like Mr Jeremy Corbyn, an MP since 1979 and before that a local counciller and chair of a Constituency Labour Party (both in the metropolis)?

          • John Goss

            By career politician I mean those who are in it for what advantages they can personally get from being in office. Jeremy Corbyn has always been for the people and social justice, and anti-war, and his voting record shows it.

          • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

            Oh, of course I forgot – your definition of a “career politician” (like your definition of many other things”) is individual and tailor-made to suit whatever point you’re trying to make.

            That seems intellectually dishonest to me.

            A career politician to most people, Mr Goss, is someone who’s never done anything but politics.

            Like Mr Jeremy Corbyn, for example.

          • Esclavo

            From a reader’s letter in a Guardian article:

            Do his distractors know anything about him and why he has the respect of people across the world? Do they know that he was given the prestigious Gandhi international peace award for his lifelong dedication against injustice and wrong? Do they know of his work for the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six? Of his campaigning against apartheid in South Africa? Of his support for the campaigns to free Guantànamo prisoners? Do they know he went to Washington to plead for the release of Shaker Aamer? That he is still working for the return of the British citizen Andrew Tsege, unlawfully abducted and imprisoned in Ethiopia? Or of his support for the children of Gaza?

            http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/17/shameful-treatment-of-jeremy-corbyn-and-shades-of-deja-vu

          • John Goss

            Yes Esclavo. There appear to be no depths to which these Stalinist-style purgers will not sink. They cling onto the tit at which they have been sucking since Blair turned my party into a second Tory Party. The time has come to replace Clause Four (which Blair removed) a clause dedicated to bettering the rights of the many rather than feathering the nests of the few.

          • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

            @ Esclavo (19h25 yesterday)

            Most Labour MPs, members of the party and certainly the public at large are probably more interested in the policies Mr Corbyn has (or has not) in mind for the UK economic and social spheres than his record on Guantanamo, the Birmingham Six or South African apartheid.

            That may be an inconvenient truth and you may wish things to be different, but it is the truth.

            To suddenly switch the spotlight away from internal economic and social policies – and their feasibility – to international affairs (many of which are historical an do not necessarily offer a guide to how Mr Corbyn woulds act in the future) seems to be desperately diversionary.

          • glenn_uk

            @Habbabkuk: On the contrary, Corbyn’s supporters are most interested in economic justice. Far from a “desperate diversionary tactic”, Esclavo’s points just further the credentials of Corbyn as an all-round solid, principled socialist.

            I find little difficulty in supposing that if his international and social record was poor, you would find every reason to want to highlight that instead of dismissing it.

            A bit of honesty from you now and then would certainly improve your credibility.

          • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

            Glenn

            Your post in defence of Esclavo’s diversion appears to imply two things:

            1/. you cannot be a principled socialist unless you support the positions Esclavo praises Mr Corbyn for supporting

            and (more worryingly)

            2/. someone who is not a principled socialist cannot or would not support the kind of things Esclavo praises Mr Corbyn for supporting.

            As for my credibility: I suspect you find me – rather reluctantly, I’m sure – credible more often than you might wish to admit.

          • glenn_uk

            But Habbabkuk, you appear to think “his record on Guantanamo, the Birmingham Six or South African apartheid” is a distraction! It’s hardly much of a distraction when I haven’t heard it mentioned in the news at all – have you?

            But if someone points out these noble aspects of Corbyn’s character, you suddenly have a problem with their doing so.

            WIth respect, you appear to be blowing smoke now I’ve called you on it.

          • Resident Dissident

            “The time has come to replace Clause Four (which Blair removed) a clause dedicated to bettering the rights of the many rather than feathering the nests of the few.”

            It wasn’t Blair who replaced Clause Four – it was the Party as a whole that voted to do so. Which parts do you object to – I suppose as a Marxist Leninist you object to bits about using markets – which you have previously called evil or similar – and then you will seek to purge those of us in the social demnocratic tradition who believe in a mixed economy?

            Perhaps you should at least become a member and work for the Party in a few successful elections before you start to lecture the rest of us on what our aims and values should be?

          • glenn_uk

            RD: Naturally. Solidarity with Cuba can only be a good thing.

            You are completely OK with our support of the Apartheid regime of South Africa, and Israel today for that matter, not to mention good relations with Iran under the Shah, and of course there’s always our Good Friends the Saudis.

            But Corbyn suggested solidarity with the beset state of Cuba, and that’s what got you all worked up. Ah hah.

          • Resident Dissident

            I supported the anti Apartheid campaign against South Africa for many years. Strangely enough I am also object to all prison camps on the island of Cuba where the occupants are jailed and worse whoever the jailer – I shall not be joining the Guantanamo Jailers Solidarity Campaign . I am also opposed to many of the activities of Israel against its neighbours – although I do not regard the system their of being akin to apartheid. My support is for human rights before my political prejudices.

          • glenn_uk

            RD: Fair enough, and good on you. I support the Cuba revolution in principle, but not their implementation of the death penalty, nor its infringements on human rights.

          • Clark

            Resident Dissident, July 21, 21:37:

            “Glenn do you think it was noble of Corbyn to express solidarity with the regime responsible for far worse prison camps on the island of Cuba than Guantanamo”

            Eh? – http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/about-us/

            “We are a British organisation that campaigns against the inhumane and illegal 50 year old blockade of Cuba, for an end to the US occupation of Cuban land at Guantanamo Bay, and to defend the Cuban people’s right to be free from foreign intervention”

            RD, you made it look like Corbyn was supporting the Cuban government. Why?

    • Leonard Young

      “And here is a reminder that 5 pm tonight is the cut-off for registering as a Labour supporter.”

      Indeed. Here is a satirical piece I found that sums up Labour NEC tactics in the run up to this ridiculously tiny window of 48 hours:

      NecSoc rules for the voting of our leader 2016
      ==================================

      Proles wishing to vote for election of our leader – either Eagle or Smith – (update: Eagle is now an unperson) must register within the generous 48 hours specified by NecSoc.

      NecSoc is watching you.

      The registration period is between 5 o’clock on the 19th and 5 o’clock on the 21st. Any prole attempting to register outside of this ample period may be sent to Room 101 and tortured. All applications must be delivered via your Speakwrite and delivered in full view of your Telescreen. Any deviation from this rule will result in you being vaporised.

      Applications must be accompanied by evidence of one hundred sessions of Anti-Corbyn Two Minutes of Hate. Any application without evidence of this will be placed in the memory hole. All local prole constituency meetings will be banned until NecSoc decides to open them again, after the election of the next Big Brother. Any prole found guilty of registering for the purposes of voting for unperson Corbyn will be subject to rat torture.

      Applicants must reveal their birthdate, sex, social contacts and past voting records including expressed views recorded via MiniTweet or MiniFace (now banned from MiniTrue affiliation). You hereby agree to hand over your entire personal data to NecSoc who will consider your application then inform you of its decision after researching your sex life, gender, political past, associations and family history. There is no appeal.. We will not give you an application reference number, nor answer any emails, nor offer a receipt for your 25 Oceanian pounds. Our own speakwrite website will crash at our discretion. Any questioning of our methodology will result instantly in you being vaporised.

      For further information refer to MiniTrue and its approved subordinates: MiniMail, MiniGuard, MiniBeeb, MiniGraph, MiniSky and Mini4. Proles supporting NecSoc’s recommended candidate will receive extra rations of Victory Gin. NecSoc reserves the right to change any published rules without notice. Any challenge to its rules will be regarded as an attempt to bully and will be ruthlessly suppressed starting with crocodile tears and ending with smears publlished on MiniMedia. We reserve the right to intimidate, excommunicate, excoriate and vaporise without prior notice. Remember, NecSoc is WATCHING YOU.

      • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

        That seems a rather poor pastiche of “1984” – am I right?

        • Leonard Young

          It is a reference to 1984. No-one could match Orwell for terse language, so it might have faults. But there are some truths there about the NEC.

  • nevermind

    Turkey, according to Anadolu news agency, has of today decreed that all academics are prohibited from leaving the country and those teaching or working abroad are supposed to return.
    Erdogan will make his big pitch today, followed by a ceremony were he gets handed a pair of hobnail boots and a stick on Adolf moustache.

    • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

      It is a pity that the military coup against President Erdogan failed. The man is a greater menace to democracy than the military would ever have been and has been displaying unwelcome and unhealthy signs of megalomania.

      It may be of interest that a dozen or so Turkish military men fled to Greece (they are in Adrainopouli) and have asked the Greeks for political asylum. It will be interesting to see how Mr Tsipras’s govt will handle the affair and the inevitable Turkish govt demand for their return to Turkey.

      • Republicofscotland

        Well Habb, I can’t disagree with you there, the Standard Ethics has lowered Turkey’s democracy rating to E- the lowest standard it can award, the SE now claim Turkey is a authoritarian regime.

        Along with the rating which Turkey now share with China and Egypt, I see mass arrests, sackings and removal of licences to practice in Turkey. There has even been talk of bringing back the death penalty.

        I can’t see how Turkey could now become a possible EU member.

        • John Goss

          People like Habby never saw Erdogan as the dictator we all saw him to be until Russia made overtures and got him to apologise for shooting down a Russian fighter-plane. Had the attempted coup been people-led I would have supported it because of the abominable killing and mistreatment of Kurds, imprisonment of journalists and others who do not agree with Erdogan’s fascist views. But because it was a US-led attempt at creating another failed-state in the region.

          http://thesaker.is/andrew-korybko-analysis-of-turkish-coup-attempt/

        • lysias

          The eight Turkish military men who fled to Greece (two majors, four captains, and two master sergeants) landed not in Adrianoupoli, which is the Greek name of the city known in Turkish as Edirne (which is the capital of East Thrace in Turkey), but in Alexandroupoli, which is the capital of the Greek province of West Thrace (called just “Thrace” in Greek). https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/asylum-hearing-for-8-turkish-military-who-fled-to-greece/2016/07/19/2892bc48-4d7e-11e6-bf27-405106836f96_story.html

          • lysias

            There happens to be a large Turkish community in West Thrace. After Greece was defeated in its invasion of Turkey after World War One, there was a compulsory transfer of populations. Greeks had to leave Turkey, and were transferred to Greece. Muslim Turks had to leave Greece and were transferred to Turkey. However, there were two exceptions: Greeks and other Christians were allowed to stay in Constantinople/Istanbul, and Turks and other Muslims were allowed to stay in West Thrace.

          • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

            For anyone interested in the Turkish/Greek population transfers (as they were called at the 1923 Lausanne conference I can recommend the following:

            “Twice a stranger – How mass expulsion forged modern Greece and Turkey” by Bruce Clark (Grant a Books, London, 2006, ISBN 978-1-86207-924-3).

        • michael norton

          Dave Cameron has promised us that TURKEY will not joining the hated E.U. untill the year three thousand.

      • Republicofscotland

        However, in my opinion the coup in part was attempt to break new flourishing bonds between Turkey and Russia, though I still agree Erdogan isn’t the right man for the job.

  • DAve

    I wonder what connections there might be between Atlantic Bridge and Scottish Parliament & Business Exchange?

    • Bright Eyes

      The Scottish Parliament Business Exchange is promoted as an educational exchange allowing members of the Scottish Parliament to learn more about all kinds of business. All corporate participants are required to sign a letter affirming they will not use the scheme for lobbying. In practice the exchange is dominated by TNCs who pay up to £7,500 to join and three quarters of those taking part in its first round of activities were full-time lobbyists. It is the Scottish ‘chapter’ of the International Association of Business and Parliament, a company based in London.

      In January 2007 it was announced that Devin Scobie had been appointed as the interim executive director of the Scottish Parliament Business Exchange. At that point he was described as Devin Scobie of Caledonia Consulting.[1] Scobie is a former lobbyist with GPC International and has represented SPBE members such as Pfizer as clients

      http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliament_Business_Exchange

  • Republicofscotland

    NHS England to delist patients who don’t contact there doctors after 5 years, NHS England claim it’s a drive to save money, Capita will be given the contract, no doubt some patients will be left without a doctor.

    But hey at least those sick folk can take some comfort in the knowledge that they’ve got £200 billion worth of nukes to protect them.

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/20/patients-could-be-struck-off-gp-surgery-lists-after-five-years-of-no-contact

    • Republicofscotland

      Senior Scottish academic thinks the coup against Corbyn is doomed to fail, a weekend report suggest that if Corbyn wins, the right wing of the Labour party will breakaway to form a new party codenamed “Continuity Labour.” Led potentially by Stephen Kinnock, the son of Neil Kinnock.

      It was reported in the press, Mail on Sunday, that Stephen Kinnock (allegedly) held secret talks with Lord Ashdown, about the creation of a new centre-right party.

      Labour’s biggest individual donor, John Mills, who has given £1.6 million pounds to the party, was said to be “reluctant” to get involved, claiming “splitting the party would be a disaster.”

      • YouKnowMyName

        Stephen Kinnock secretly talking with Lord Ashdown ( retired ) Special Forces and one never really retires from the special forces ( allegedly )

        • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

          It may have been something quite harmless, like how to handle your wife.

      • nevermind

        I would pay another 25,- just to see these disloyal unhappy renegades sued for daring to use the name ‘Labour’ in their title, there is nothing Labour about them, they are free marketeers who do not care a figs bottom about voters, principles or Labour values.

        • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

          Hold on there a second, Nevermind!

          Renegades?

          Are not the non-far-left elements of the Labour Party the mainstream, not least in terms of the PLP?

          It is the far left malcontents who are, in the best traditions of Tony Benn, the renegades, surely?

          • Alan

            “It is the far left malcontents who are, in the best traditions of Tony Benn, the renegades, surely?”

            What was “left” about Anthony Wedgewood Benn until he got kicked out of government? He was about as “left” as Big Brother Blunkett.

          • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

            Well, Alan, the Labour Party tendency as personified by Mr Benn was as much responsible as anything else for ensuring that Labour was defeated in three successive general elections, wouldn’t you agree?

        • Resident Dissident

          “I would pay another 25,-” – yes I daresay you would as signing a false declaration

          Perhaps you should note the bit in the aims and values I posted above about the “enterprise of the market”

    • DomesticExtremist

      Stupid idea – punishing people for staying healthy by striking them off from their GP.
      Presumably there will be a charge to pay to re-register, which people will pay because they are ill enough to need a doctor.

      • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

        I’m not so sure that this is a stupid idea, at least not from a cost point of view.

        This is because I think (pls correct if wrong) that a GP is largely paid by a capitation fee, ie by the number of people who are registered with him/her.

        So, if someone is on Dr Sawbone’s register, Dr Sawbones gets paid £ X a year, year on year without end, whether or not he has provided any services for that someone.

        That, surely, is a waste of public money?

        I mean, would the ordinary man in the street pay a solicitor or estate agent a yearly retainer just to be on call if needed?

        Finally, what evidence do you have that there would be a fee for re-registering, given that first time registration if without charge?

        • fwl

          Isn’t this how the private sector works ie pay a retainer. It is then in the GPs interest that you stay healthy. In NHS the state pays, but similar concept. Either way you pay per head in any event. Before WWII you paid a retainer now if private you pay the insurer.

    • Republicofscotland

      One wonders how the EU could contemplate giving Turkey EU membership, especially in light of Erdogan’s persecution of the Kurdish folk who live there.

      Of course Kurdish fighters are probably, the only ones actually fighting against Daesh. An act that hinders Erdogan’s steady pilfering of Syrian assets, namely oil driven over the border by the very people Erdogan pledged to defeat.

      In my opinion, if you look between the lines, the US tolerates Turkey’s abuse of the Kurds, because if its useful position in the region, the Turkish Straits are of importance to the West, a international gateway that connects the Aegean and Mediterranean sea to the Black Sea.

      It just may be that the new, tentative but warm feeling between, Turkey and Russia, could lead to the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, coming back onto the drawing board.

      An act the West wouldn’t look favourably upon, another reason for the failed coup, I suggest.

      • Republicofscotland

        Jason Copland a QC acting on behalf of the government, claims article 50 will not be triggered before the end of the year.

        There are seven private actions against Brexit, waiting to go to court and those will need to be dealt with before article 50 can be implimented.

        Most of the private actions claim that, it should be parliament that invokes article 50, and not the PM.

        Nick Clegg, who’s been languishing on the back benches of the House, and so has his tiny party, sees Brexit as a golden opportunity to move back into the limelight, as his party’s spokesperson on Europe.

        Westminster is of course full to the gunnels of self centred egotistical careerists, trying desperately to climb the greasy pole of advancement, Clegg is no different.

        • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

          Clegg may well be no different but what has that got to do with the entirely legitimate right of people to ask for a legal ruling on whether the govt or Parliament can trigger Article 50?

      • Laguerre

        “One wonders how the EU could contemplate giving Turkey EU membership,”

        They aren’t, are they? It was only in the Brexiteers fevered imagination, though Blair was in favour. But now Britain is out, there’s no longer anybody in favour, even the Turks themselves.

        “Of course Kurdish fighters are probably, the only ones actually fighting against Daesh. ”

        The Kurds aren’t really any more. They’ve done their bit, clearlng their own territory. They are not going to go and waste Kurdish lives taking Raqqa, or Mosul for that matter.

    • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

      Having read your link I must say that Ms Edmond’s whistle-blower credentials fade into insignificance when set against her blatantly obvious anti-Israel feelings.

      She deserves zero respect.

      It is also interesting that the commenter who provided the link (one “How-to” – welcome to the blog, Sir!) manages to avoid mentioning Turkey in order, |I imagine, to focus better on….yup, Israel!

      • nevermind

        Ms Sibel Edmonds had no such tendencies until the despicable actions and co conspirators changed her mind about that detestable regime, however much you don’t like it.

        None of Israel’s acidic foreign interests should be represented in any of the political parties, undermining resolve and turning erstwhile colleagues against each other. Who did BIbI bribe with his Panamanian tax exile millions?

        She has shown what despicable characters are shimmying behind their publicly smiling faces.
        The moment Alaric sacked Rome the empire fell and crumbled, we are in a similar position, Brexit, the opener, has started a chaotic episode which will change our life’s.

        • lysias

          When the executive branch of the U.S. government made such massive use of the state secrets privilege against Sibel Edmonds, they basically confirmed the truth of her charges.

          • Trowbridge H. Ford aka The Biscuit

            Must say that I am most disappointed by Sibel Edmonds.

            While she was quite persuasive in her reaction to the 9/11 cockups, she seems to have gone completely off the rails by claiming that the attempted assassination of Erdogan was just a dry run by that dissident cleric in Pennsylvania for a real takeover of NATO, utter rubbish as far as I can see.

            The big problem with being a dissident about anything, you increasingly go off half-cocked rather than looking closely to what is happening. There are almost invariably surprises.

      • oblivious

        …And therein lies the root of your problem with Corbyn and his supporters. They have the audacity to be critical of Israel and perhaps also harbour “blatantly obvious anti-Israel feelings”. Are they like Ms Edmond’s too, deserving of zero respect?
        Admit it, you couldn’t give a toss about who the Labour Party leader is, just as long as your beloved Israel is ultimately screened from criticism by the various Friends Of Israel groups that infect the political system.

    • NPT

      This is not exactly classic espionage. When you examine the highest-level protection accorded to dual-national Marc Grossman and other Israeli moles, the clandestine effort looks more like collaboration of at least three national intelligence services to override US legislative and judicial control with a state of exception. This form of organization began in the 70s with the Safari Club, and was extended with eyes-only bilateral liaisons. US intelligence uses foreign services’ agents domestically as cutouts and shields them from scrutiny as intelligence sources and methods.

      http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/01/%E2%80%9Cwe-can%E2%80%99t-afford-to-let-them-spill-the-beans%E2%80%9D/

      Grossman’s billet was a CIA position in the Department of State

      • spaviner

        Yes, protection for Israeli agents is comprehensive and involves CIA assets in all three branches of government. Recall how Thomas Ellis of the Eastern District of Virginia, the CIA circuit, facilitated graymail to impede prosecution in another Israeli espionage case:

        Background:

        This was, NPT, as you suggest, a nuclear proliferation case at bottom, and Franklin’s plea allowed Israeli nuclear technology theft to continue.

    • NPT

      This is not exactly classic espionage. When you examine the highest-level protection accorded to dual-national Marc Grossman and other Israeli moles, the clandestine effort looks more like collaboration of at least three national intelligence services to override US legislative and judicial control with a state of exception. This form of organization began in the 70s with the Safari Club, and was extended with eyes-only bilateral liaisons. US intelligence uses foreign services’ agents domestically as cutouts and shields them from scrutiny as intelligence sources and methods.

      http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/01/%E2%80%9Cwe-can%E2%80%99t-afford-to-let-them-spill-the-beans%E2%80%9D/

    • Ralph

      Quite, given the way the colonial relationship works, to pinpoint the Israeli moles’ protectors you need to trace the links of VIPs such as D. Stephen Bryen, one of Pollard’s handlers, to the likes of Daniel Finkelstein. It’s not at all clear sometimes who’s got whose skin on the wall. But Finkelstein’s a good place to begin.

  • Bright Eyes

    The correct spelling is UMUNNA and he has just married.

    British born Nigerian MP Chuka Umunna is calling himself the luckiest man alive after his wedding over the weekend to Alice Sullivan.

    The 38-year-old Labour politician popped the question to the 32 year old lawyer in October 2015. The pair got married over the weekend in a very English ceremony surrounded by family and friends. The managed the keep news of their wedding quiet until Umunna announced it yesterday on his Facebook page…..

    http://www.that1960chick.com/2016/07/19/britishnigerian-mp-chuka-umunna-marries-in-quaint-english-ceremony-says-he-feels-like-luckiest-man-alive/

  • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

    I think that when people come out on here with whatever nonsense comes into their over-heated heads and then fail to respond to legitimate questions regarding their comments, they should be put into the blog’s equivalent of the sin-bin and be blocked from posting for a couple of days.

    This would serve to make posters more responsible for what they write, which in turn would be of reputational benefit for the blog as a whole.

    The system would have to be run by the moderators and would, until it was well bedded down, of course require some extra vigilance and work.

    If I decided to apply to become Head Moderator I would push this idea very strongly with Craig, who, being an intelligent man, would surely see its merits.

    • RobG

      You’ve been banned more than most posters here.

      I think readers of these comments should be made aware of this fact.

      • glenn_uk

        He has a fair point, you must admit. I can’t think of anyone who’s been put on pre-mod, had innumerous posts deleted for breach of protocol, and even been banned for fairly lengthy periods, quite as much as your good self.

        One of the main principles is to play the ball, not the man. Argue the point, instead of side-tracking with an attack on a poster (such as you did immediately above, to RobG).

        Can you think of anyone who abuses that principle more than yourself?

      • RobG

        What with this latest event in Nice, it’s killed the tourist industry in France (and France has long been the world’s top tourist destination), along with shops, restaurants, bars, etc, that ply a trade from the large number of tourists.

        Yup, things are grim here in France; but I can confirm that the unreported revolution continues…

      • Republicofscotland

        Habb.

        Speaking of fakes, did you by any chance read this.

        http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2016/07/19/israeli-knesset-probes-netanyahu-on-corruption-scandal/

        Here’s a snippet to whet your appetite, so to speak.

        “It appears that my posts and this debate has challenged authorities to reveal more than they previously had.”

        “This resulted in Haaretz publishing a far more detailed account (Hebrew version) of the charges in the case. This account largely agrees with what I’ve published and adds new details. The major suspicion is that Yair and Sara Netanyahu concocted a scheme with Likud U.S. fundraiser, Ari Harow, to solicit large sums from wealthy American Jewish donors. ”

        ” These donations were not for political purposes, but rather to finance the high-living life-style which both had become accustomed to. Haaretz says the main donor under suspicion is “a relative of Shlomo Rechnitz.” I’m not sure why they simply can’t name Yona Rechnitz as this is clearly the figure to which they’re alluding. ”

        ” It should be noted that other sources have named Shlomo as the target. But Haaretz may be correct in targeting Jona. After all, he is the same one who feted police brass with prostitutes, diamonds and Las Vegas junkets.”

        Oh and this as well.

        http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2016/07/17/netanyahu-corruption-scandal-envelops-wealthy-u-s-haredi-family/

        If true, it would appear Jacob Zuma has nothing on Bibi and Co.

      • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

        Anyway, why not feed the others a little? Many would like to know how your favorite for the US Presidential election – Ms Jill Stein of the Green Party, I believe – is doing. Any news?

    • Alan

      “If I decided to apply to become Head Moderator I would push this idea very strongly with Craig, who, being an intelligent man, would surely see its merits”.

      Should I decide to become head moderator, I would ban anybody using the names of Old Testament prophets. I would push this idea very strongly with Craig, who, being an intelligent man, would surely see its merits.

    • glenn_uk

      @Habbabkuk: I imagine you’ll become ‘Head Moderator’ right after you complete your three full, successful terms as Prime Minister.

      So – friendly advice – don’t let such thoughts distract you too much in the meantime.

  • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

    It is now being reported that the UK has decided to renounce its 6 months’ stint at the helm of the EU Presidency, scheduled for next year.

    • Alan

      Ok course it is, because a majority voted to leave the EU. Have you been asleep for the past month, or are you somewhat vacant?

      • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

        Why “of course”, Alan?

        The UK would remain a member of the EU until the two year exit negotiations have been completed – which cannot occur before the end of 2028 if Article 50 was triggered before the end of this year.

        Although the position would be awkward, there is no legal reason why the UK should not assume its 6 months Presidency in 2017.

        Hope that helps you, laddie.

        • Alan

          “Why “of course”, Alan?”

          Because it is the job of the government to keep moving forwards, having made a decision and assuming the Presidency would tying up resources that are required for long term planning in the opposite direction. Only a schizophrenic government would try to move in two directions at once.

    • lysias

      Elections are a very flawed way of choosing leaders. It’s alpha males who tend to rise to the top in an election system, and they are generally pretty highly sexed.

      The ancient Athenians developed the best system of giving a very large share of governmental power to average citizens: appointing people to posts by lot.

      • RobG

        I’m talking about two ladies, Theresa May and Hillary Clinton, and Hillary is still under investigation by the FBI; not for the e-mail stuff, but for massive fraud with regard to the Clinton Foundation.

        This person is going to be your next president of the USA.

        God help the world.

        • lysias

          Women who rise to the top in the alpha-male system created by elections are anxious to show that they’re as good as the boys in terms of being macho.

          • fedup

            Ever noticed the way some of these females throw their voice and try to talk with a deep voice? They talk about female emancipation, although behave as though they are suffering from a serious episode of penis envy.

            This is the result of the identity politics, in all its’ glory.

          • Ben Monad

            You can see it in realtime. Hillary has to be tough as nails to get the votes she hasn’t earned. There is a disparate culture that encourages women to be more like men to win an election. It’s truly a perversion, like females in combat with all the detached limbs on display.

          • Ben Monad

            Jaysus H Kriced Fedup. You’ve really transcended yourself. Here you are, the epitome of exceptional Islam, intoning the very sexual/social immaturity of those cultural mobes we detest.

            Stop defending these assholes.

          • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

            Is that why they tend to wear trousers rather than skirts, Lysias?

      • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

        I don’t think we can use the expression “governmental power” in the context of and when talking about ancient Athens.

  • YouKnowMyName

    Some 30 year old declassifieds read:

    Documents released at the National Archives in Kew, west London, show for the first time how the government resorted to an assortment of unpublicised measures against its own citizens to protect the nuclear deterrent, including making arrangements to ensure any demonstrators shot as a last resort on an US nuclear base would be fired upon by British troops smuggled onto the facility.

    Sir Bernard Ingham, MT’s press arranger was so worried about the Greenham wimmin he even checked what would be on TV one Friday. . .
    He wrote: “I think Good Friday is a lost cause. This is the day when the CND chain will (or will not) be formed… It is also a day when there is not much sport. However, what would take the trick would be press and TV pictures, for TV release on the evening of Good Friday and/or Saturday newspapers of Prince William in Australia.”

  • giyane

    Mrs May has brought Fox back in from disgrace over Gould and Israel.
    Compare this sorry episode concerning Mossad and the UKTories with the equally sorry episode Craig previously high-lighted about Mrs May, Abu Qatada and Jordan.

    Jordan is a country which totally under the control of its neighbour Israel. Was it not in Amman that USUKIS + Kurdish Ex president Barzani and the Kurdish Islamic leaders signed for Daesh to cross Turkey and attack Mosul and Baghdad.

    What strikes me is that the absence of evidence about Abu Qatada’s fomenting of Muslim Brotherhood/ British Empire shit-stirring of illegal war in the Middle east is on account of the fact that USUKIS are working with, allies of, up each-other’s arses against, the Muslims
    wherever they live. The West cannot reasonably be expected to deliver any evidence of importance against itself.

    Last night I prayed behind the imam of the Masjid Al Haram in Mecca, who was soft soaping the Taliban-supporting Deobandis in Alum Rock with his presence.

    Using the idea of haram/ non-kosher food as a metaphor ofr injustice in this world, In the case of David Cameron , Theresa May and William Hague you can always taste the hot barbecue zionist-bacon-fat. With Gus O Donnell, Fox and the New Labour Friends of Israel it’s just a bitter tang as if the knife has previously been used to cut zio-ham sandwiches.

    Can we call a spade a spade please and admit that the UK is a key part of the main axis of evil in which we exist, viz USUKIS neo-connery, with who our Saudi friends are keen partners, sponsors and protagopnists.

    All vegetarians, truth-seekers and lovers of Islam, please read the label first. BTW my MP Liam Byrne, sporting a rather sweet ginger mock=Muslim beard was posing in the lobby of Sheikh Sudais’ Alum Rock plug.

  • John Goss

    More than 180,000 have coughed up £25 to vote for the candidate of their choice in the ‘chicken coup’ back-stabbing Labour leadership election.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/registered-supporters-in-labour-leadership-election-jeremy-corbyn-owen-smith_uk_578fa783e4b046a0b614988c?

    Meanwhile more than 16,000 have called for the resignation of back-stabber Angela Eagle.

    https://www.change.org/p/labour-party-angela-eagle-to-resign-as-member-of-parliament-for-wallasey/u/17326286?

      • Anon1

        They’re all abysmal. One-baller Jezza, the Eagle creature and the non-entity Smith. Labour is throughly unelectable.

        Expect an increased Tory majority at the next GE and at least 10 more years of Tory rule.

        • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

          I have the feeling you may be right, Anon!.

          Do you ever get the feeling that some elements of the Labour Party are not really interested in forming the next ministry preferrin instead to engage in “virtue”-signalling?

        • Jim

          Anon :

          The probable disastrous and relentless slow-drip fallout from Brexit could kibosh that dream for the Tories though. I predict another year or two of Jeremy at the Labour helm a la Michael Foot before sanity prevails.

        • With you, Whatever (aka Alcyone): How long a Type Zero Global Civilisation

          Here are some factual issues facing our Type Zero Globe (AND Britain, directly or indirectly), today:

          1 Massive poverty — and lack of human basics, food and clean water. ( Richest 62 people as wealthy as half of world’s population, says Oxfam)
          https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/18/richest-62-billionaires-wealthy-half-world-population-combined

          2 Naked Capitalism, spear-headed by US multinationals like Monsanto, Big Pharma, McDonalds, NewsCorp (Murdoch), Energy companies and banksters of every denomination (one has seen them all closeup)

          3 War, war, war and yet more conflict, as if our very Survival depended on it. The 100’s of ‘Ministries of Defence’, representing the most scandalous and pervasive euphemism on our Globe. Certainly, NATO plus rogues like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are amply God-damned OFFENSIVE, not Defensive. Every minute, two people are killed in conflicts around the world.
          http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/programmes/this_world/one_day_of_war/clickable_map/html/introduction.stm

          Every hour, taxpayers in United States alone are paying $8.36 million for Total Cost of Wars Since 2001.
          https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/war/

          Afghanistan war has cost Britain more than £37bn, when all they need to do was to catch one man, dead or alive. Madness!
          https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/30/afghanistan-war-cost-britain-37bn-book

          4 I don’t want nuclear weapons under my bed when I go to sleep at night. And what is the opportunity cost of these weapons? > Please go back to my point 1 above.
          _______________
          Now, question: Which Tory, or indeed, Labour Party ‘leaders’ are on the right side of these issues and capable of representing them effectively in Parliament and/or Government to help Britain play a greater role in moving the globe to Type One from Type Zero?

          I’m afraid Britain cannot afford NOT to have Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister. Yet, we will somehow manage with the optical illusion that we are making Progress. Oh what a wonderful War.

          This is why I hold every Labour MP who is not behind Corbyn in total and complete contempt starting with Hillary Benn, Tom Watson (aka Fatson) and Angela Eagle. Owen (aka Owned) Smith is just a pawn. The story of Two Pricks and a Cunt.

    • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

      A far-left leader of the main opposition party for around two millions pounds – cheap at half the price!

      (Good to see that even the choice of party leader has been monetized….)

  • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

    Alan

    You’ll have to do a lot better than that before you convince me that “voltairenet” is worth reading, I’m afraid 🙂

  • Trowbridge H. Ford aka The Biscuit

    A better example of the covert past of officials coming back to haunt them occurred last night when Senator Ted Cruz declined to endorse The Donald as the Republican nominee for President.

    Cruz refused, though you would never know why from the media, because Trump had suggested that his father Rafael was working back in the spring of 1963 in New Orleans with Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate JFK.

    It must be true because Cruz staked his whole career on making sure that Trump doesn’t have one now.

    Of course if Rafael had had his way, we would all have had none as we would all been incinerated in a nuclear war if LHO had not refused to be a Manchurian Candidate in the CIA mission, and assassin Richard Cain had test fired the rifle which was meant to help kill the President, but almost killed co-conspirator John Connally instead.

    Just another example of what a shit hole the world has become.

  • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

    Bloomberg – a most excellent channel as many on here will surely agree – reported this morning that the Profumo files will remain sealed for another 30 years.

    I wonder why that should be?

    • Trowbridge H. Ford aka The Biscuit

      Oh, thanks Habby.

      I suspect that it is to keep the lid on all the dirty bits, especially about the Kennedy Camelot myth, though I have gotten most of them.

      JFK certainly did his share, and I suspect Profumo was a surrogate for the doomed President.

  • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

    One of the problems with the Labour leadership is that all the old guard – whether of the Blairite or far-left tendency – is thoroughly discredited (for different reasons), whereas the “younger” potential candidates all seem to be such second-raters.

    • Alan

      Yes, like Robert Maxwell. He was thoroughly discredited before he even got elected. Breeze into town, buy up the print works, sack 2,000 employees, and then asset strip the remains.

      • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

        Relevance? Was Robert Maxwell ever a candidate for the Labour Oarty leadership or even an influential figure in the Labour Party?

        I think not but feel free to explain.

        • Alan

          As a first time voter, Labour put him up as our MP. Same government as Tony Benn, I think. I declined to vote for the ****.

  • Silvio

    Good luck to Craig with that bee in his bonnet about how Scotland can one day become an independent nation within the EU:

    How Britain’s Aristocracy Are Playing the Brexit Thing
    by Eric Zuesse

    SNIP

    Here is how much of a dictatorship the EU actually is: John Hilary reported in Britain’s Independent on 12 October 2015:

    When I asked the [EU’s] trade commissioner [Cecilia Malmström] how she could continue her persistent promotion of the [TTIP] deal in the face of such massive public opposition, her response came back icy cold: “I do not take my mandate from the European people.”

    So who does Cecilia Malmström take her mandate from? Officially, EU commissioners are supposed to follow the elected governments of Europe. Yet the European Commission is carrying on the TTIP negotiations behind closed doors without the proper involvement [of] European governments, let alone MPs or members of the public. British civil servants have admitted to us that they have been kept in the dark throughout the TTIP talks, and that this makes their job impossible.

    In reality, as a new report from War on Want has just revealed, Malmström receives her orders directly from the corporate lobbyists that swarm around Brussels.

    Those “corporate lobbyists” are agents of the aristocracy; the EU represents them — not the European public. There is no way that any nation’s staying inside the EU can be authentically democratic. To be in the EU is to be in a dictatorship. Jeremy Corbyn was trying to square the circle in order to avoid his going to war against his own Party’s senior leadership. But now this senior leadership are going to war against him and trying to remove him from the leadership — even though his tepid support of the EU turned out to reflect rather closely the British public’s tepid opposition to the EU. Obviously, the senior leadership in the Labour Party are merely Tories in verbal disguise. Corbyn has a rebellion on his hands — a rebellion from Britain’s ‘Labour’ aristocrats.

    http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/britains-aristocracy-laying-brexit-thing/

    • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

      Silvio

      You obviously have no idea of the mechanics of how the EU negotiates trade agreements. That’s strange because I recall the matter has been explained several times on here in the past.

      There are, apart from that, a good half a dozen assertions of fact in that mish-mash you quote which are plain wrong or misrepresentations.

      ++++++++++++++++++++

      It is interesting that most of this blog’s overseas commenters are against UK membership of the EU.

  • Bright Eyes

    Mod. Could you please consider putting a limit on the number of characters used by some contributors in their assignations, some of them within brackets. It is getting quite ridiculous and boring.

  • Habbabkuk (Floreat Etona!)

    Yesterday someone – I forget who for the moment – posted the following:

    “Mexico and Canada might at some point want Russian protection from the U.S. After all, the U.S. has invaded both, numerous times.”

    In the interests of refreshing our collective knowledge of history, could that someone – whoever it was – give us the dates and occasions in question?

    Thanks in advance.

    • glenn_uk

      If only there was something using these “Internets” which would allow people to look up information on their own, to “search” for it. Perhaps it could even be called a “search engine”. Maybe someone will invent it one of these days.

      In the meantime, you can simply annoy everyone by posting innumerous questions here with extensive demands for details, and sit back waiting for someone to find it for you.

      • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

        What a strange reaction, Glenn.

        If I wrote – for example – that modern France invaded neighbouring countries on many occasions. – I’m sure you, if you doubted that claim, would call me out on it and ask me to back it up with examples. And if I replied by saying “look it up for yourself” you would not limply flap your wrist and say “oh yes, you’re right, I’ll do that”.

        Your problem with me, Glenn, is that I once annoyed you with some remark or another. That has had the strange consequence that you continually make a fool of yourself by intervening on behalf of other people I’m calling out. 🙂

        Grow up!

        • glenn_uk

          Not strange at all. If you are certain that someone is wrong, why don’t you just say they are incorrect?

          Putting your cards on the table, saying sorry – you are wrong. France has not invaded another country since the Napoleonic wars, unless we’re talking about occupations, etc., and so on. A chance for you to educate, rather than put down.

          That would be a more profitable approach all round, I would say, given the lack of replies to the many, many questions you ask around here.

          When it comes to intervening in conversations, I don’t think it’s a crime, and if you consider it one, perhaps you’d care to do less of it yourself.

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