ME and Ophelia

Blogging web entrepreneur Joi Ito interviewed on the BBC World Service

2010-08-02T06:00:00.011+01:00

BLOGGING WEB ENTREPRENEUR JOI ITO
Interviewed on the BBC World Service

HISTORIC stuff. Here is a copy of a blog post from joi.ito.com
by Joi Ito, 31 July 2010:

Interviewed on the BBC World Service "The Interview"

Back in May, I visited the BBC in London and did an interview with Carrie Gracie for the BBC World Service. It was for a show called "The Interview". It was a lot of fun and she let the conversation cover a broad range of things including my world view. ;-)

There is a web page for the show which includes links to the books and things that I talk about in the interview and a link to the audio.

There is also a BBC News article which summarizes the interview. Unfortunately, the article calls Creative Commons a "copyright-free, sharing movement online," which it's not. Creative Commons provides technologies and tools so that people can use copyright to help them share their works the way that they would like to legally. It's not "anti-copyright" or "copyright-free" - although it is about "freedom".

Photo: Carrie Gracie (left) with Joi Ito (BBC)

Photo: As one of the most influential people on the web, Joi Ito has played a part many huge online projects (BBC)

Photo: On the web, for-proft and non-profit work regularly crosses over, says Mr Ito (BBC)

"We are What We Choose" by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos

2010-08-01T00:20:00.004+01:00

"WE ARE WHAT WE CHOOSE"
By Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos

From News at Princeton - 2010 Baccalaureate remarks

"We are What We Choose"
Remarks by Jeff Bezos, as delivered to the Class of 2010
Baccalaureate
May 30, 2010

As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas. I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores. We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially "Days of our Lives." My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada. And every few summers, we'd join the caravan. We'd hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers. I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips. On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.

At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic. I'd calculate our gas mileage -- figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending. I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff. At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, "At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!"

I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills. "Jeff, you're so smart. You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division." That's not what happened. Instead, my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do. While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow. Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man. He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother. I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be. We stopped beside the trailer. My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, "Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever."

What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy -- they're given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.

This is a group with many gifts. I'm sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain. I'm confident that's the case because admission is competitive and if there weren't some signs that you're clever, the dean of admission wouldn't have let you in.

Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels. We humans -- plodding as we are -- will astonish ourselves. We'll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it. Atom by atom, we'll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs. This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we've synthesized life. In the coming years, we'll not only synthesize it, but we'll engineer it to specifications. I believe you'll even see us understand the human brain. Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton -- all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now. As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.

How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles -- something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world -- was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that. MacKenzie (also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row) told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor. I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings. I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, "That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job." That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice.

Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life -- the life you author from scratch on your own -- begins.

How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?

Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?

Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?

Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?

Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?

Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. Thank you and good luck!

Hat tip: Erik Hersman's tweet on Twitter, 21 July 2010.

WINNER OF MOST BEAUTIFUL TWEET CONTEST

2010-06-09T16:44:00.002+01:00

MOST BEAUTIFUL TWEET CONTEST

"I believe we can build a better world! Of course, it’ll take a whole lot of rock, water and dirt. Also, not sure where to put it.” This is the short message written by Marc McKenzie a 41 year old Canadian. The British Writer and actor Stephen Fry, announced him as the winner of the most beautiful Tweet ever in a competition organized for the Hay Festival, an annual event in Wales.

GEORGE W. BUSH ON FACEBOOK

Former US president George W.Bush now has an official Facebook page. And in less than one week around 130 000 web users have joined Barack Obama’s predecessor. The main objective of the page is to keep people informed on what the former president is up to.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20100609-darfur-sudan-south-corea-george-bush-facebook-twitter-coupe-monde

Albert Einstein, explaining radio

2010-06-06T21:35:00.004+01:00

ALBERT EINSTEIN, EXPLAINING RADIO

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."

- Albert Einstein, explaining radio

Source: Ralph Brandi's blog There Is No Cat

BIO: DR. JAMES F. MOORE

2010-06-05T21:31:00.011+01:00

BIO: DR. JAMES F. MOORE

HISTORIC stuff. Over six years ago, utilising ground-breaking social media networking and blogging technology, Jim Moore, while working at Harvard, initiated and led the campaign that put the world's spotlight on a humanitarian crisis in Darfur, western Sudan. Here is a copy of Jim's latest bio and photo.

James F. Moore: Strategic change in large-scale organizational systems

James F. Moore studies leaders, strategies, organizational innovations, and technologies that help businesses and other organizations succeed.

He is involved in a number of ventures. Future Economies is a management consulting company focused on human resources strategies for the networked, community-based workforce and economy. Medical Information Innovation celebrates apps that benefit health and medicine, and tells the stories of the innovators and creatives who invent them. Cognition, Inc. develops radio technology for broadband mobile. Newsilike Media Group, Inc. develops social media software and hardware systems. Stylefeeder.com was purchased by Time Warner in 2010 to become the basis for that firm’s next generation integration of commerce and media.

He worked as a full-time volunteer in the campaign to stop the genocide in Darfur, Sudan in 2004-2005. He was co-founder and served for more than a year as the day-to-day editor for the web campaign “Sudan: Passion of the Present” and helped develop and sustain a number of other activist individuals and organizations including Save Darfur and the Genocide Intervention Fund/Genocide Intervention Network. These organizations are part of a broader campaign to establish a world capability to prevent or intervene to halt and recover from genocidal situations.

In 2003 and 2004 he served as the National Director of Internet and Information Services for the US Presidential Campaign of Howard Dean, overseeing all social media as well as technology infrastructure.

He wrote “The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head” which considers how citizens worldwide are joining through communications technology to engage international institutions and shape global policy. The article became an Internet phenomenon and was reviewed in publications ranging from the National Journal to the New York Times. In 2004 Jim was honored by the 4th World Forum on e-Democracy as one of the top 25 individuals, organizations and companies that are having the greatest impact on the way the Internet is changing politics worldwide.

From 2000-2004 he was a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School, promoting legal reforms in developing countries in order to support entrepreneurship and technology diffusion. While at the law school he organized and chaired the board of Hewlett-Packard’s “E-inclusion” program to create technology for and in developing world economies. He founded the Open Economies Project to promote laws supportive of digital entrepreneurs. As part of a team sponsored by the Markel Foundation, he advised the South African Government on policies to promote digital development, including telecom law reforms. He served as a member of the United States delegation to the Digital Opportunity Task Force of the G8 Group of Nations, and was an adviser to the United Nations ICT Task Force and to the ICT initiative of the World Economic Forum.

From 1989-1999 he was the founder and CEO of GeoPartners Research, a management consulting and investment strategy firm, where his clients ranged from Muppets creator Jim Henson to AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Royal Dutch Shell. In addition to management consulting, Jim was involved in corporate venturing on behalf of AT&T Ventures, Intel Capital, GE Capital and Softbank (the largest single investor in the Internet economy, and the only major investor to sustain its success). He also advised and invested in start up companies, and served on the board of directors of two public companies.

Jim has written widely on business topics. He developed the concept of “business ecosystems” to describe networks of companies that collaborate and co-evolve to generate economic value. His Harvard Business Review article on business ecosystems, “Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of Competition,” won the McKinsey Award for best article of the year for 1993. His 1996 book “The Death of Competition: Leadership and Strategy in the Age of Business Ecosystems” won numerous awards (“one of the ten best books of the year,” BusinessWeek, and “one of the ten best books of the decade for entrepreneurs,” Wall Street Journal) and was a best-seller. It was translated into and published in several languages including Chinese. His work was featured in publications including Fortune, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal. He appeared on national television, including being interviewed on the Charlie Rose Show on PBS.

While most of his career has been in high technology, his early work was in health care organizations. These included Boston Children’s Hospital (MA) community primary care service, Wrentham State School (MA) services for the developmentally disabled, the Bedford (MA) VA Hospital alcoholism service, the Santa Clara County (CA) mental health system, and American Medical International (CA), national health management. His doctoral thesis grew out of a multi-year study of Alcoholics Anonymous as an informal but systematic environment for community and personal healing. He has continued to follow the evolution of clinical practice under changing conditions of policy and organization, society, technology, and patient/clinician/community behavior.

He was an early friend and adviser to the Harvard AIDS Institute and the Harvard Society and Health Program (now Harvard Department of Society, Human Development and Health), and has recently become involved with the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.

Moore earned a doctorate in Human Development from Harvard University in 1983, where he combined studies in organizations with cognitive and developmental psychology. He was a post-doc in organizations at Stanford University, and conducted research at Stanford and Harvard business schools. He earned his undergraduate degree in 1976 from The Evergreen State College in Washington State—one of the most innovative organizations in public higher education. He is active in college affairs, and received the Bud Koons Award for Service from the college in 2006.

Moore lives in Massachusetts with his wife Sarah Moore, a lawyer and minister. He has three children, two teenagers who attend public Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and one infant.

Jim Moore's blog can be found online at: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die

2010-01-03T15:31:00.007Z

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die

Source: TED.com. Filmed at Stanford University, June 2005.

Salt Ponds - Colours of salt

2009-11-17T07:54:00.006Z

Salt Ponds - Colours of salt

Before the salt in evaporating sea water turns white, it goes through stages of color that range from jade green to brick red, with variations of orange, yellow and other colors. From above the salt ponds around San Francisco Bay look like giant panes of stained glass. The shot above is from my latest set, shot on approach to SFO [airport in San Francisco, California, USA] last week. Here’s another series.

Source: Photo and caption from Doc Searles Weblog - Colors of salt - November 12, 2009.

Meme: Joe Trippi's Eleven-Eleven 1111Campaign - America's and Britain's Veterans have given so much. Now, you can give back.

2009-11-10T22:03:00.001Z

Meme: Joe Trippi's Eleven-Eleven 1111Campaign -
America's and Britain's Veterans have given so much.
Now, you can give back.

Joe Trippi, one of America's greatest bloggers, has launched Eleven Eleven Campaign. The objective of the Eleven Eleven Campaign is simple: to get 11 million Americans to donate $11 to support America’s Veterans. Here is a copy of Joe's latest tweet on Twitter:

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, and now is our moment to encourage our friends, family members and colleagues to join us... http://bit.ly/9Iu9s
33 minutes ago from Facebook
1111Campaign
Eleven Eleven

Hey Joe! Britain's Veterans have given so much too!

Stand with 11 million Brits and Give £11 to Support Britain’s Vets!

Take Action Today
Click here to support Britain's Veterans
November 11, 2009

Salute Royal British Legion & Combat Stress - Remembering PTSD and GWS on Remembrance Sunday

2009-11-08T12:10:00.003Z

Salute Royal British Legion & Combat Stress -
Remembering PTSD and GWS on Remembrance Sunday

Today, on Remembrance Sunday, while watching BBC1 TV coverage of the memorial ceremony from the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, I heard the presenter, David Dimbleby, remark on a 10% increase in requests for help from Combat Stress, an ex-services mental welfare society set up to help ex-service personnel suffering from psychological injuries and mental problems.

+ + + Remembrance Sunday &
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month + + +

Photo: Remembrance Day Poppy

Two minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month because that was the time (in Britain) when the armistice became effective. The two minutes recall World War I and World War II. Before 1945 the silence was for one minute, and today some ceremonies still only have one minute of silence despite this.

In the United Kingdom, although two minutes' silence is observed on November 11 itself, the main observance is on the second Sunday of November, Remembrance Sunday.

Source: Remembrance Day - Wikipedia

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)

See my blog Sudan Watch, 10 October 2008: Deployed peacekeeping veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have significant impairments in health-related quality of life

Cherie Blair: Men responsible for financial crisis - The world would be a better place if women were running it

2009-11-06T13:12:00.001Z

Cherie Blair: Men responsible for financial crisis
The world would be a better place if women were running it

From ynetnews.com by Gil KoL 06 November 2009:
Quartet Mideast envoy's wife thinks world would be a better place if women were running it

Cherie Blair, wife of former UK premier and Quartet's Mideast envoy Tony Blair and founder of the Blair Foundation for Women, spoke Wednesday at a Jasmine – Women in Business conference hosted by the University of Haifa.

According to Blair, the current financial crisis was brought on by men, seeing how equality between the genders in the business world is still lacking.

Many believe that if women ran things the world would be a better place, she stated, adding that the world needs women, but it has yet to fathom just how much it needs them.

Blair's UK critics claim that she has been trying to capitalize off of her husband's role in public life and the international arena.

Ofra Strauss, director of the Strauss Group and president of Jasmine also spoke at the conference, but voiced her views in a somewhat different manner.

"The best way we can put the recession behind us is to incorporate more women in the workforce," she said.

"In the US, women's businesses have a $3 trillion annual turnover, and the government allocates proper resources to it. I hope our government does the same."

AGI: Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative

2009-11-06T09:32:00.003Z

AGI: Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative

From The Office of Tony Blair
November 05, 2009
Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative to create development through good governance becomes charity

The Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative has become a registered UK charity after creating a unique 'hands-on' approach to development and poverty eradication over the past eighteen months.

The Charity Commission approved the application from this relatively new organisation, which is underpinned by the belief that good governance and sustainable development are key to poverty eradication in the long term.

Tony Blair, founder of the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), said:

"I'm extremely proud of our excellent project teams who are working in partnership with the governments of Rwanda and Sierra Leone to reduce poverty and develop new opportunities for growth.

"It is a privilege to work with leaders as talented and as committed to their people as President Koroma and President Kagame who represent a new generation of leaders in Africa with a commitment to building a new future for their people.

"The developed world needs to keep up its commitment to Africa expressed at the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles. But lasting change in Africa will only come in the end from African solutions. By building the capacity to create sustainable long-term development through good governance and providing high level advice, we have already started to help deliver that change.

"And it won't stop here. Whilst developing our work in Sierra Leone and Rwanda, we want to launch new projects with other countries, sharing our knowledge, experience and expertise. We want more countries to develop sustainably, paving the way to a prosperous future.

"This work has reinforced my optimism about Africa's future, as well as my conviction that governance and growth are the key ingredients to effectively reduce poverty across the continent."

Commenting on Tony Blair and the work of the Africa Governance Initiative, Ernest Koroma, President of Sierra Leone, said:

"Mr. Blair has demonstrated an enduring commitment to Sierra Leone and its people. The work comes at a critical stage in Sierra Leone's development. I believe together we have an opportunity to ensure that Sierra Leone puts in place the policies, people and institutions to achieve real and lasting change."

Commenting on the work of AGI, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda said:

"What I would like people to know is that the type of partnership we have with Tony Blair is totally different from the type of consultancy people are used to. We work in very strong partnerships whereby not only gaps are filled where they exist, but there's also the notion of transfer of skills, mentoring, actually doing things that are measurable such that over a period of time, we will be able to know what kind of impact was made."

Cross-posted to:
China Tibet Watch
Congo Watch
Egypt Watch
Ethiopia Watch
Kenya Watch
Niger Watch
Sudan Watch
Uganda Watch
Africa Oil Watch

$10 billion takes fibre to every school, hospital in the US

2009-10-09T22:43:00.009+01:00

$10 billion takes fibre optic cable to every school, hospital in the US

The US has more than 120,000 schools, hospitals, and libraries, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes that they can all have fibre optic Internet for $5 billion-$10 billion.

Report from ARS by Nate Anderson, October 9, 2009:
$10 billion takes fiber to every school, hospital in the US

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation knows how to get things done.

On October 5, the Foundation met with FCC broadband coordinator Blair Levin. The purpose of that meeting was to provide a cost estimate for one of the Foundation's ideas: running fiber optic cables to every "anchor institution" in the US—libraries, hospitals, community colleges, public schools. By October 8, the FCC was asking for public comment (PDF) on the plan and the viability of its cost estimates, which say the entire project could be completed for $5-$10 billion.

The Gates Foundation has identified 123,000 "anchor institutions" in local communities that could make good use of fiber Internet connections. In addition to serving the community that comes to each institution, the idea is also to run fiber into the center of every community in the country, with the goal of making it easier to then expand Internet access to homes and businesses in the community.

A rural hospital, for instance, could stick a white spaces broadband antenna on its roof, link the antenna to its fiber connection, and suddenly bring at least basic wireless connectivity to the surrounding area at minimal cost.

The Foundation admits that the cost estimate is not a complete one; it doesn't include costs for network management and upkeep, and additional backhaul costs might be needed in some areas to feed these fiber links. In addition, the group estimates that 13 percent of libraries and 20 percent of other anchor institutions already have fiber connections. Wiring up the rest would cost between $4.9 billion and $10.1 billion, with much the variability linked to the amount of trenching that might be involved in running the fiber.

In putting together its national broadband plan, due in February 2010, the FCC is considering numerous ideas like this—but the quick public request for comment indicates that it is specially intrigued by the Gates Foundation proposal. The agency wants to know by October 28 whether the cost estimates are reasonable, whether other sorts of buildings should count as "anchor institutions," and to what extent "will providing fiber to these institutions directly assist last-mile build-out economics in currently un- or under-served areas."

Nobel laureate Charles Kuen Kao, the father of fibre optics

2009-10-09T15:45:00.003+01:00

Nobel laureate Charles Kuen Kao, the father of fibre optics

From Earth Times by dpa, 08 Oct 2009:
Brilliant mind of Nobel laureate scientist affected by Alzheimer's

(Hong Kong) - The brilliant scientist awarded the Nobel Prize for physics is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and may not be able to give a speech when he collects his prize later this year, a news report said Thursday. Nobel laureate Charles Kuen Kao, the man hailed as the father of fibre optics, was diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease earlier this year and now has difficulty with speech.

According to his wife Wong May-wan, Kao finds it difficult to complete a sentence, raising doubts that he will be able to give a lecture on his work, as is traditional for winners of the prize.

A report in the South China Morning Post said Kao, a former vice-chancellor of the Chinese University in Hong Kong, is now living in California with his wife where he is being treated for the disease.

Professor Ambrose King, also a former vice-chancellor at the university, said the Kao had communicated to him via his wife in a phone call after the award was announced.

"His wife said Kao cannot speak very well," he said in the Post. "It would be good if the award came a year earlier. However it is still not too late for him."

Kao, 75, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize on Tuesday for his "groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibres for optical communication."

Comments made by Kao following the announcement of the award, in which he said lightheartedly that his inventions had helped the news of the award travel so fast, were made through a university colleague.

Kao, who holds both British and American citizenship, was born in Shanghai in 1933, went to school in Hong Kong and gained his PhD in electrical engineering from Imperial College, London.

His pioneering work, carried out in the 1960s in England, demonstrated that light rather than electricity could be used to transmit speech and data accurately at very high speeds.

It led to 29 patented discoveries and contributed to the development and commercialisation of optical fibre communications that made the technological revolution possible.

Kao was awarded the Nobel Prize jointly with Americans Willard Boyle and George Smith for their "invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor" - the electrical eye of a digital camera.

The group will receive their award, a diploma, medal and a share of 10 million kronor (1.4 million dollars), at a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10. Kao is to receive half the prize, while Boyle and Smith will each receive a quarter.

Born in Shanghai in November 1933, Kao was educated in London and has dual US-British citizenship.

In 1970, he moved to Hong Kong to establish the electronics division of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and worked on the commercial development of optical fibres and systems.

From 1987 to 1996, he served as university vice chancellor. He also served on a government advisory panel in the then-British colony.

People who wish to honour Senator Kennedy are urged to line the motorcade route at Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, City Hall Plaza and Boston Common

2009-08-28T14:19:00.006+01:00

Honoring Senator Kennedy: People who wish to honor Senator Kennedy are urged to line the motorcade route at the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, City Hall Plaza and the Boston Common

From Jim Moore's blog, Thursday, August 27, 2009 -

Three minutes ago I recieved the following:

People who wish to honor Senator Kennedy are urged to line the motorcade route at the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, City Hall Plaza and the Boston Common, in front of the Statehouse on Park Street. BRING SIGNS IF YOU HAVE THEM. I’m sure that it would be appreciated if there is a good crowd on the motorcade route. Please forward this message.

At 1:00 PM on Thursday, Senator Kennedy and his family will depart Hyannis Port by motorcade en route to Boston. Arrival time in Boston is expected to be about 3 PM. Senator Kennedy will travel Route 3 North to Route 93 North into Boston. Senator Kennedy will exit at Government Center, and travel down Hanover Street into the North End, past St. Stephen’s Church, where his mother Rose was baptized and her funeral mass celebrated. Continuing down Hanover and crossing over the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the park Senator Kennedy joined community leaders in creating that gives mothers and their children green space in the heart of the city. The park sits on the same land young Rose Fitzgerald enjoyed as a child. Senator Kennedy will pass Faneuil Hall where Mayor Menino will ring the bell 47 times. Continuing to Bowdoin Street, Senator Kennedy will pass 122 Bowdoin, where he opened his first office as an Assistant District Attorney and President Kennedy lived while running for Congress in 1946. He’ll pass the JFK Federal Building where his Boston office has stood for decades, and then travel to Dorchester Street into South Boston and to the JFK Presidential Library.
ARRIVAL AT JOHN F. KENNEDY LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Approximately 4 p.m. The motorcade will arrive at the JFK Library.

THURSDAY 6 PM to 11 PM (or longer if needed) Body will lie in repose at the JFK Library.
FRIDAY 8 AM to 3 PM Body will lie in repose at the JFK Library.

Forgotten soldiers of Cyprus campaign will get memorial at last

2009-08-04T15:36:00.004+01:00

Forgotten soldiers of Cyprus campaign will get memorial at last

Almost 400 British servicemen killed by guerillas in Cyprus in the 1950s are finally to be honoured after Daily Telegraph readers helped raise £80,000 to build a memorial to them.

From The Daily Telegraph
By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter
04 Aug 2009

The vast majority of those who died at the hands of Greek-Cypriot terrorists were young men carrying out National Service, some of the last British conscripts to lose their lives in service of their country, but their sacrifice had remained largely unreco Photo: GETTY

A monument bearing the names of all 371 soldiers, sailors and airmen killed during four years of bloodshed will be unveiled on Remembrance Day in a military cemetery on the island.

The vast majority of those who died at the hands of Greek-Cypriot terrorists were young men carrying out National Service, some of the last British conscripts to lose their lives in service of their country, but their sacrifice had remained largely unrecognised for 50 years.

The campaign for a memorial to them was highlighted in The Daily Telegraph in April, and drew a magnificent response from readers, whose generosity has enabled the British Cyprus Memorial Trust to press ahead with its plans.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon, a former Chief of the Air Staff who served in Cyprus in the early Sixties and is a patron of the appeal, said: "We're hugely grateful to everyone who has given money so far, which has enabled us to honour the memory of those who died."

The Trust has also set up a pioneering online Book of Remembrance, containing the names and short biographies of each of the dead. It includes a facility for friends and relatives to add their own comments, recollections and photographs and has already been viewed by more than 6,000 people since it went live last month.

Sir Michael said: "We felt that by putting a Book of Remembrance online we would achieve a unique form of tribute to those who died, as it is accessible to anyone and it can grow and develop over the years. We have already had a huge response to it and I'm sure it's an idea that will be picked up by veterans of other campaigns."

The Cyprus Emergency, as it was known, lasted from 1955 to 1959, and involved a series of murderous attacks on servicemen in what was then a British colony by members of EOKA (the Greek acronym for National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters).

The British servicemen are buried at Wayne's Keep Military Cemetery, near Nicosia, but the graveyard is virtually inaccessible to the public because it lies in a UN-patrolled no man's land which divides the Greek and Turkish parts of Cyprus.

For now, the memorial will be erected in another British cemetery in Kyrenia, on the north coast, with the blessing of Turkish Cypriots. It has been built in sections so it can be moved to Wayne's Keep in the future if the political landscape changes.

The Trust still needs to raise more money, however, for the future upkeep of the memorial.

* To donate to the appeal, make cheques payable to British Cyprus Memorial Trust and send your donation to British Cyprus Memorial Trust, 26, York Street, London, W1U 6PZ. To donate online or visit the Book of Remembrance go to www.friendsandrelations.com/partners/bcmt

Snake 'befriends' snack hamster - JK Wedding Entrance Dance

2009-07-31T22:25:00.014+01:00

Snake 'befriends' snack hamster
- JK wedding entrance dance

Photo: Aochan, the snake 'seems to enjoy' being with Gohan, the hamster (AP/BBC)

A rodent-eating snake and a hamster have developed an unusual bond at a zoo in the Japanese capital, Tokyo.

Their relationship began in October last year, when zookeepers presented the hamster to the snake as a meal.

The rat snake, however, refused to eat the rodent. The two now share a cage, and the hamster sometimes falls asleep sitting on top of his natural foe.

"I have never seen anything like it," a zookeeper at the Mutsugoro Okoku zoo told the Associated Press News agency.

The hamster was initially offered to Aochan, the two-year-old rat snake, because it was refusing to eat frozen mice.

As a joke, the zookeeper said they named the hamster Gohan - the Japanese word for meal.

"I don't think there's any danger. Aochan seems to enjoy Gohan's company very much," said zookeeper Kazuya Yamamoto.

The apparent friendship between the snake and hamster is one of many reported bonds spanning the divide between predator and prey.

Source: BBC News, 19 January 2006 - Snake 'befriends' snack hamster

Lioness adopts third baby antelope

Photo: The last calf was killed while she was sleeping

Odd couple make friends in Kenya

Photo: Mzee and Owen have become firm friends despite the age gap (AFP/BBC)

Queen told how economists missed financial crisis

2009-07-26T18:41:00.013+01:00

Queen told how economists missed financial crisis

Cryptic note to self for future reference. I saw it coming, which is why I wrote and published this at Sudan Watch on Tuesday, June 19, 2007:

U.N. Head Links Climate Change, Darfur
Recently on television news, I saw the great American media baron Ted Turner talking about masses of money changing hands more now than ever before. Seems he's divesting of media to concentrate and invest in nuclear and environment.

My point is, the climate change spending budget will be humongous and, coupled with the world's munitions spending, represents an historic opportunity for making poverty (and war!) history. Surely if world peace could be agreed, and amnesty's sorted, it would leave those who refuse to give up illegal weapons to be treated as criminals.

United Nations Blames Darfur on Food, Water Shortage
IslamOnline.net & Newspapers 18 June 2007

U.N. Head Links Climate Change, Darfur
AP report via Guardian June 17, 2007

"It is no accident that the violence in Darfur erupted during the drought," Ban said. (Reuters)

- - -

Quote of the Year

"The Queen asked me: 'If these things were so large, how come everyone missed them?
-Professor Luis Garicano (Source: see here below)
- - -

From Telegraph.co.uk

Sunday, 26 Jul 2009:
Queen told how economists missed financial crisis

The Queen has been sent a letter by a group of eminent economists explaining how "financial wizards" failed to "foresee the timing, extent and severity" of the economic crisis, it was reported.

The three-page letter, signed by London School of Economics professor Tim Besley, an external member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, and political historian Peter Hennessy, was sent after the Queen asked on a visit to the LSE why nobody had predicted the credit crunch, according to the Observer newspaper.

The letter ends: "In summary, your majesty, the failure to foresee the timing, extent and severity of the crisis and to head it off, while it had many causes, was principally a failure of the collective imagination of many bright people, both in this country and internationally, to understand the risks to the system as a whole."

The letter talks of the "psychology of denial" that gripped the financial and political world and says "financial wizards" convinced themselves they had found ways to spread risk throughout the financial markets - a great example of "wishful thinking combined with hubris".

The content was discussed during a seminar at the British Academy in June, attended by Treasury permanent secretary Nick MacPherson, Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill and Observer economics columnist William Keegan, the newspaper said.

A Buckingham Palace spokewoman would not discuss the correspondence but said: "The Queen always displays an interest in current issues and is kept abreast of current issues. Obviously the recession is very topical."

In March, Mervyn King became the first Bank of England governor to be invited for private talks with the Queen.

When she visited the LSE in November last year she asked Professor Luis Garicano, of the economics' management department, about the origins of the credit crisis, saying: "Why did nobody notice it?"

Prof Garicano told the Queen: "At every stage, someone was relying on somebody else and everyone thought they were doing the right thing."

The Queen described it as "awful".

Prof Garicano said afterwards: "The Queen asked me: 'If these things were so large, how come everyone missed them?"'

Nadine the 'Pig Whisperer'

2009-07-26T16:29:00.014+01:00

Nadine the 'Pig Whisperer'

Love this story of pigs having fun in crystal clear water in the Bahamas.

Underwater photographer Eric Cheng stumbled across the unusual residents during a diving expedition to the area.

"We were in the southern Bahamas to photograph oceanic white-tip sharks," says the 33-year-old.

"Our captain, Jim Abernethy, had heard that there were pigs on Big Major so we decided to go and check it out"

"Nadine Umbscheiden, one of the photographers, was so at ease with them," reveals Eric

"We dubbed her the 'pig whisperer' because she was so good at getting the pigs to swim to our cameras!"

"Because locals bring food, the pigs will run into the water and actually swim out to the oncoming boats, as if to greet them individually"

Pictures: Eric Cheng/Barcroft Media. Source: Telegraph.co.uk - The bay of pigs: swine swimming in crystal clear water in the Bahamas

USS Halyburton crew take part in historic ceremony at Tower of London

2009-07-18T19:03:00.007+01:00

USS Halyburton crew take part in historic ceremony at Tower of London

The crew of a US frigate made history on Saturday by becoming the first foreign ship to take part in the ceremony of the 'Constable's Dues' at the Tower of London.

Barrel of rum delivered in tradition dating back to the 14th century.

From The Daily Telegraph
By Ian Johnston
Published: 18 Jul 2009

The ceremony recreates a tradition dating back to the 14th century (PA)

A shore party from the USS Halyburton put aside old disputes about "taxation without representation" to deliver a barrel of rum to the Tower.

The ceremony recreates a tradition dating back to the 14th century, where ships docking near the Tower would have to give the Constable part of their cargo as a form of tax.

This has since evolved into a ceremonial handover of what is usually an empty barrel of wine.

Crew members from the USS Halyburton became the first crew of a foreign ship to take part in the ceremony by presenting a barrel filled with Castillo Silver Rum to the Constable and his Yeoman Warders, commonly known as Beefeaters.

Commander Michael P. Huck led his crew to the Tower's West Gate where they were challenged by the Yeoman Gaoler armed with his axe.

The American shore party then marched through the Tower of London to Tower Green, accompanied by Yeoman Warders in scarlet and gold state dress and a Corps of Drums to deliver the rum to the current Constable, General Sir Roger Wheeler.

Commander Huck said: "Halyburton and her crew are honoured to be invited to take part in a tradition with such rich history. It is an excellent opportunity for my crew to not only enjoy London culture, but to be an active part of it."

However he admitted neither the cask nor the rum was actually cargo from the ship.

"The wine cask has been provided to us by the Tower authorities," he said. "It will actually be filled with Castillo Silver Rum. Unfortunately, since we do not typically carry alcohol on-board, that was also provided to us."

The constable's post was once a powerful position. He was entitled to collect money from fishermen and pilgrims, and could claim any horses, oxen, pigs or sheep that fell off London Bridge.

Over At The Frankenstein Place (Acoustic Version)

2009-07-10T21:27:00.009+01:00

Over At The Frankenstein Place (Acoustic Version)

Fond memories of attending the opening night of the original Rocky Horror Show in London (1973) starring Tim Curry. Regrets that I hadn't booked it, when I had an opportunity to do so, several years later. Can't recall what stopped me. Might have been around the time I was seriously injured in a car accident.

Here is a video of Richard O'Brien doing an acoustic version of Over At The Frankenstein Place. I am filing it here, along with the Time Warp, so I can listen when the mood takes. Click here to listen to samples of the the show's earliest recordings, better than any later versions.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Time Warp.

The Rocky Horror Show (Original 1973 London Theatre Upstairs Cast)
Image courtesy of Amazon.com

Michael Jackson memorial concert one of the biggest internet and television events ever

2009-07-08T13:38:00.009+01:00

Thanks to Sky for great coverage of Jackson Farewell

Click here to hear 'Smile', an inspirational song by the late great Michael Jackson. The song was touchingly sung at his memorial service yesterday by his brother. See clip here below. I watched the event live on Sky News TV and cried throughout the beautiful musical tributes.

The Michael Jackson memorial concert was one of the biggest internet and television events ever. It was watched by more than funeral of Princess of Wales.

From Telegraph.co.uk by John Bingham 08 Jul 2009:
Michael Jackson memorial concert one of the biggest internet and television events ever

With preliminary estimates putting the global television audience at more than a billion people, it rivals the inauguration of Barack Obama as US president but could fall short of the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer which attracted 2.5 billion.

Internet traffic was up by as much as 33 per cent as fans around the world posted live messages online as the spectacular event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles unfolded.

The Jackson memorial dominated discussion topics on Twitter and Facebook with tens of thousands of messages being posted each minute.

As the concert progressed, the words "Mandela", "Sharpton", "Jermaine", "Brooke" and "Shields" were in turn the most used terms on Twitter while "Jackson" remained near the top of the list throughout.

The singer also remained near the top of the Twitter trending topics by Wednesday morning.

Almost 10 million people watched the event through a video stream on CNN's website alone, the highest since the Obama inauguration.

Yahoo also reportedly saw five million total streams, making it the most streamed ceremony in its history.

Facebook reported that almost a million status updates containing the word "Jackson" had been posted with at least 6,000 comments per minute linked to the CNN streaming alone. There were thousands more for alternative internet showings on ABC, and E! Online websites.

"The 6,000 is just for CNN Live," said Randi Zuckerberg of Facebook. "It is significantly higher than that when you factor in E! Online, ABC, and MTV which each have their own Facebook Connect implementations.

"The most interesting thing is how many people are writing in internationally. The Jackson memorial seems to have a huge international presence."
Facebook updates from Switzerland, Israel, Britain and Barbados poured in.

Clips of the event, including the singer's daughter Paris's emotional tribute, attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers on the video sharing website YouTube while other Jackson-related films dominated the most watched list.

But the BBC received criticism in some quarters for clearing schedules to carry the event live.

Call 911... he’s not breathing - Michael Jackson dead

2009-06-25T22:54:00.012+01:00

Call 911... he’s not breathing

Michael Jackson dead

Photo: Michael Jackson is rushed into hospital in Los Angeles Photo: x17online.com

Shocking, very sad news just in (25 June 2009 c. 22:58 GMT UK) from Brisbane Times, Australia by Christine Kellett June 26, 2009 - 7:47AM:

Pop star Michael Jackson has died after suffering a heart attack, it has been reported.

Media reports have said the star, 50, was taken to hospital in Los Angeles after he was found not breathing in his Holmby Hills home earlier.

Celebrity website TMZ said 911 operators received an emergency call about 12.12pm local time (8.12pm AEST).

Jackson is believed to have gone into cardiac arrest and paramedics performed CPR on him en route to UCLA hospital.

The website quoted family members as saying the Thriller singer was in "really bad shape."

"We just got off the phone with Joe Jackson, Michael's dad, who says 'he is not doing well.'' the website reported.

Jackson was reportedly planning a comeback and was living in Los Angeles while rehearsing a series of 50 sold-out shows in London, the LATimes has reported.

Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics had rushed to the singer's $100,00-a-month rented home near Sunset Boulevard to find him not breathing, the newspaper reported.

Just in from Los Angeles Times a few minutes ago, 23:27 GMT UK - excerpt:

Michael Jackson is dead [Updated]
2:06 PM | June 25, 2009

[Updated at 3:15 p.m.: Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.]

[Updated at 2:46 p.m.: Jackson is in a coma and family have are arriving at his bedside, a law enforcement source told The Times.

Jackson was rushed to a hospital this afternoon by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics.

Capt. Steve Ruda said paramedics responded to a call at Jackson's home around 12:26 p.m. He was not breathing when they arrived. The parademics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told The Times.

[Updated at 2:12 p.m.: Paramedics were called to a home on the 100 block of Carolwood Drive off Sunset Boulevard. Jackson rented the Bel Air home for $100,000 a month. It was described as a French chateau estate built in 2002 with seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 12 fireplaces and a theater.

I feel very sad that Michael Jackson died broken hearted and am still sickened by how cruelly he was treated by many of his fans and the world's press. I blogged about it here (see copy below). There's another blog post I wrote at the time of his court case, saying how I believed him to be innocent. Sorry I can't find it. Rest In Peace, far away from this cruel world, dear sweet gentle Michael and thanks for all your sensational dancing and thrilling music. The world is a sadder place without you. + + + God bless you and your family. x x x

Thursday, November 20, 2003
SUPER STAR MICHAEL JACKSON
How much more hurt and public humiliation can he take?

Michael Jackson has been urged to give himself up to police. I am feeling fearful and sad for him. It is appalling that such hurtful and humiliating allegations can be made so publicly while, at the same time, the identity of the person, or their family, making the allegations are kept private. Identities of both parties should be kept private until one is found guilty of breaking the law.

This repetitive public hounding and humiliation must be incredibly stressful. What on earth can Michael Jackson be thinking and feeling right now? I hope his family, friends and lawyers are able to keep his spirits up and get him through this. Put yourself in his shoes right now. And ask yourself, if he is such a terrible danger to children, how come all of these families of all these children allow their children to spend so much time with Michael Jackson living out fantasies at his Neverland ranch without being accompanied by chaperones.

Unfounded wicked gossip and public humiliation had to be endured by Prince Charles, his sons and family lately. It was awful to see on the news and internet how someone can be so publicly ridiculed and dragged through the mire - around the world - without there being a shred of evidence. And, anyway - in Prince Charles' case - who should care what goes on behind closed doors. It's none of our business. Unless it is proven that a law has been broken. Then it becomes a matter for public concern.

Look at what happened to the quiet mannered British scientist and our Princess of Wales, her partner and chauffeur...they were hounded to death.

There's a lot of protest about hunting as a sport in this country. The law should protect both humans and animals - around the world.

# posted by Ingrid Jones @ 11/20/2003
- - -

Update 25 June 2009: Is Michael Jackson dead? Would Twitter lie?

Flossie Lane

2009-06-20T10:48:00.003+01:00

Flossie Lane

Here is a fascinating story from the Telegraph published 19 June 2009:

Flossie Lane, who died on June 13 aged 94, was reputedly the oldest publican in Britain, and ran one of the last genuine country inns.

Photo: Flossie Lane in 2007, with the pub dog Hobson

For 74 years she had kept the tiny Sun Inn, the pub where she was born in the pre-Roman village of Leintwardine on the Shropshire-Herefordshire border.

As the area's last remaining parlour pub, and one of only a handful left in Britain, the Sun is as resolutely old-fashioned and unreconstructed today as it was in the mid-1930s when she and her brother took it over.

According to beer connoisseurs, Flossie Lane's parlour pub is one of the last five remaining "Classic Pubs" in England, listed by English Heritage for its historical interest, and the only one with five stars, awarded by the Classic Basic Unspoilt Pubs of Great Britain.

She held a licence to sell only beer – there was no hard liquor – and was only recently persuaded to serve wine as a gesture towards modern drinking habits.

With its wooden trestle tables, pictures of whiskery past locals on the walls, alcoves and a roaring open fire, the Sun is listed in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide as "a pub of outstanding national interest". Although acclaimed as "a proper pub", it is actually Flossie Lane's 18th-century vernacular stone cottage, tucked away in a side road opposite the village fire station.

There is no conventional bar, and no counter. Customers sit on hard wooden benches in her unadorned quarry-tiled front room. Beer – formerly Ansell's, latterly Hobson's Best at £2 a pint – is served from barrels on Flossie Lane's kitchen floor.

Since she began to ail after a fall in 2006, her customers have helped themselves. There is no till. People put the money in a row of jam jars, one for each denomination of note and coin; although she was never observed to be watching, from her command-post in her favourite armchair she could distinguish between the different clinking sounds they made.

The broadcaster Jeremy Paxman once described the pub as his discovery of the year. "Flossie, the landlady, sits in the middle of the room, wearing a pair of surgical stockings. The only food is a pot of eggs, which Flossie pickled several moons ago."
Her regulars have formed themselves into a Flossie Lane Society, run as a kind of guild, and are known as Aldermen of the Red-Brick Bar. Every year they appoint a mayor, nominated by the outgoing one, who wears a squirrel-skin cape made by a local butcher.

The mayoral handover involves the eating of squirrel pie and a parade through the village, led by the new mayor wearing the honorary mayoral chain, hat and staff which bears a symbolic sun in homage to the pub.

When Hobson, the Rhodesian ridgeback belonging to The Fiddler's Elbow fish-and-chip shop owner next door, was appointed mayor, the dog was quickly found to be not up to the job and in turn appointed a successor.

Although they are intended as harmless fun, the rituals at the parlour pub are seen by some villagers as strange and off-putting. "There are still some people in the village who think it's a secret society," one regular admitted, "but it's not a closed shop, even though it is a bit different and off the wall. We welcome people here."

Visiting the pub in 1996, The Guardian's food writer, Matthew Fort, noted: "There was no sound but for the ticking of the clock and the conversation between the landlady and the only other customer, which had five-minute pauses between sentences."
Like Paxman, Fort fudged the pub's exact location: "The landlady said that she didn't want a lot of folk coming along and disturbing the peace."

Florence Emily Lane was born at the Sun Inn, Leintwardine, on July 10 1914, the only girl in a family of five. Her father had been a policeman at Ross-on-Wye and her mother was the first member of the family to hold the licence. Educated at the village school, as a teenager Flossie waited on the customers and helped out in the kitchen by washing bottles and glasses.

After the death of her parents, her brother Charlie took over the licence in 1935 – the year of George V's silver jubilee – and held it jointly with her until his death half a century later. Flossie Lane had run the pub single-handedly since 1985.

Both she and her brother were particular about who drank there; sons of the tillage were preferred, although some approved non-rustics were tolerated. The pub is still the base and meeting point for the local cricket club, bellringers and fly fishermen drawn to the river Teme which runs through the village. Although popular, there are concerns for the pub's future; over recent years, Leintwardine has lost four of its pubs and inns.

During her infirmity Flossie Lane's regulars rallied round to keep the Sun going, manning it on a rota basis. The owner of the neighbouring chip shop ordered the beer from the brewery, served the customers, and delivered chip suppers which were washed down with pints of Flossie Lane's ale. Although her name remained above the door, latterly the pub was effectively run for her by its devotees, all of them locals. The accounts, the washing-up, the laying of the fire and even the sweeping-up were undertaken by the volunteers.

Flossie Lane was proud of not having kept up with the times, and did not hold with modernisation. In an age of lager louts and binge drinkers, no one at the Sun Inn can ever recall the slightest hint of trouble there.

"The pub hasn't changed in all the years, and they are all good people here – I won't have no rough," she insisted. Although she had been serving ale since the Twenties roared, Flossie Lane's secret recipe for a long life was simple. "I'm a teetotal," she said. "I like a nice cup of tea. I leave the drink to the others."

A chronic agoraphobic, Flossie Lane was never known, within living memory, to have ventured outside her pub (other than to take the air in the rear garden). She never learned to drive and took her holidays at home. She enjoyed a reputation as the best-informed person in the village, and every evening cheerfully dispensed local gossip to her customers.

In her advanced old age, Flossie Lane's regulars converted a downstairs room into a bedroom to spare her the stairs, but for the last 10 years at least she had slept every night in her customary armchair. The last person out tucked her up.

Flossie Lane, who never married, is survived by five nieces.

New blog: Blair Foundation Watch - A Blairite's blog

2009-06-14T22:02:00.008+01:00

New blog: Blair Foundation Watch - A Blairite's blog

Today, I transferred all political news reports recently filed here to:
Blair Foundation Watch - A Blairite's blog

From now on, I shall post political news to that site whilst continuing to maintain Sudan Watch and Congo Watch etc.

Margaret Beckett refuses to back Gordon Brown - Vote for Widdy as Speaker

2009-06-14T11:28:00.005+01:00

Margaret Beckett refuses to back Gordon Brown

Margaret Beckett, a former senior minister sacked by Gordon Brown who is now standing to become the next Speaker of the House of Commons, has refused to express backing for the Prime Minister.

The Derby South MP, who was criticised during the expenses scandal for trying to claim £600 for hanging baskets, acknowledged that reform was needed to MPs allowances, but warned that it would be easy to get wrong.

Margaret Beckett, who is standing for Commons Speaker, said it was no longer her job to defend the Government Photo: DAVID ROSE
Source: Daily Telegraph report by Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor, 9:00PM BST 13 Jun 2009.

Note, the above report tells us that Margaret Beckett, when pressed to say more about Gordon Brown's management style, conceded: "We have always worked together, we haven't always seen eye to eye." She added: "I don't want to hurt his feelings, because God knows everyone is giving him such a kicking at the moment, but it is a matter of public record that I'm probably unique in being sacked twice by Gordon."

Doesn't want to hurt Gordon Brown's feelings eh? I don't recall her being concerned about Tony Blair's feelings when he was relentlessly attacked, undermind and backstabbed by Gordon Brown for years on end.

Going by the above report Ms Beckett seems unable to give straight answers. Trying to charge taxpayers £600 for her hanging baskets speaks volumes. I say, no more dodgy characters in Westminster, vote for Widdy as Speaker.

LORD & LADY KINNOCK'S £10M EURO GRAVY TRAIN

2009-06-14T02:19:00.006+01:00

LORD & LADY KINNOCK'S £10M EURO GRAVY TRAIN

Source: Sunday Express, Sunday, 14 June 2009

GLENYS Kinnock was last night facing questions over her impartiality as Europe Minister after research suggested she and her husband Neil may have pocketed £10million from the EU.

WEALTHY: Lord and Lady Kinnock are said to have pocketed millions of pounds in perks

The research shows that Lady Kinnock earned £774,838 during her time as an MEP.

She was also entitled to a daily subsistence allowance worth £505,818 over that time, travel allowances worth almost £1.25million and general allowances worth £577,071.

In addition, she was entitled to secretarial allowances worth more than £2.3million, although these are to pay staff.

She also has a pension worth £67,836 a year, which would require a pot of £950,000 to buy in the private sector.

Lord Kinnock earned £1.85million in salary during his 10 years at the EU and qualified for a residence allowance for living in Brussels worth £276,962, an entertainment allowance worth £64,564, an installation allowance of £25,348 for taking the job, a resettlement allowance of £13,745 for leaving the job and a transition allowance, to help adjust to life outside Brussels, worth £355,143.

He also qualifies for a pension which pays out £83,089 a year and would cost £1.16million to buy in the private sector. The terms require him to remain supportive of the EU project.

In all, the Kinnocks qualified for pay, allowances and pensions worth £10.2million. The lack of receipts required for EU expenses makes it impossible to know if they claimed living allowances on the same home.

A spokeswoman for the Kinnocks last night insisted the payments to Lady Kinnock were the same as those received by other British MEPs and were irrelevant to her new role.

She said: “No payments could affect Glenys Kinnock’s judgment as a minister and she will properly fulfil all her duties as a UK minister.”

The spokeswoman added that Lady Kinnock forfeited a “golden goodbye” payment of £32,383 by accepting the job of Europe Minister and said that Lord Kinnock’s pay-off was lower than Open Europe suggest because he left early.

The Kinnocks have also been accused of hypocrisy over their willingness to accept peerages.

Lord Kinnock campaigned for years to have the House abolished, describing the Lords as “brigands, muggers, bribers and gangsters”.
- - -

A reader's comment 14.06.09: Kinnock was the one who was absolutely determined to get rid of the House of Lords once and for all, and swore he would NEVER be a part of it .... until he snatched their hands off when he was offered the chance. Typical self-serving Socialist. No **** standards at all.

Gordon Brown deserted by big election donors

2009-06-14T02:05:00.003+01:00

Gordon Brown deserted by big election donors

GORDON BROWN is being abandoned by the multi-millionaire businessmen who bankrolled Labour’s last election campaign, endangering the party’s efforts to fight off David Cameron at the next election.

Labour is already haemorrhaging financial support at a time when it should be amassing an election war chest. It is now clear that Brown has failed to retain the wealthy backers so successfully wooed by Tony Blair. Brown’s leadership is a key factor in the decision of other tycoons neither to lend nor give cash to the party.

Source: Report from The Sunday Times by Marie Woolf and Isabel Oakeshott, June 14, 2009 - Gordon Brown deserted by big election donors

WILLIAM REES-MOGG: Gordon Brown's conned us twice - don't fall for it again

2009-06-14T01:38:00.005+01:00

WILLIAM REES-MOGG: Brown's conned us twice - don't fall for it again

The Prime Minister's biggest problem is that Alistair Darling is not willing to base his economic policy on a lie.

Read full story from Daily Mail, 14 June 2009.

Gordon Brown to announce Iraq War inquiry

2009-06-14T00:32:00.008+01:00

Brown to announce Iraq War inquiry

From the Press Association, Sunday, 14 June 2009:

The announcement, designed to bolster Mr Brown's standing among MPs and activists who opposed the 2003 conflict, comes as the row over his leadership continues to rumble on. [...]

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson told the Sunday People he did not believe there was "anyone else in Parliament" as well-equipped to lead the country as Mr Brown, in comments the paper interpreted as a warning to potential rivals like Mr Miliband and Home Secretary Alan Johnson not to challenge him.

Not anyone else in Parliament, eh? Tony Blair is not in Parliament. The timing of this article makes me think Mr Blair is back on the scene. Heh.

Ministers and members of the royal family have angered Falklands war veterans

2009-06-14T00:15:00.006+01:00

Angry Falklands war veterans

From The Observer, Sunday 14 June 2009, by Mark Townsend
Royal snub to Falklands war veterans

Ministers and members of the royal family have angered Falklands war veterans by snubbing today's official memorial service for the 255 British servicemen killed in the conflict.

Survivors are "appalled" that no minister or senior royal will attend the service at the Falklands Memorial Chapel in Pangbourne, Berkshire, which marks the 27th anniversary of the liberation of the islands from Argentinian troops. Their anger comes days after Prince Charles and Gordon Brown travelled to France for a high-profile anniversary service to remember those who died during the D-day landings in 1944.

Scots Guards officer Robert Lawrence, who was wounded at Mount Tumbledown during the Falklands campaign and whose experiences were made into a BBC film, said: "It's appalling that no senior figure from the government should attend, particularly at a time when appearing in public and acting humble would be in their interest." Derek "Smokey" Cole, chairman of the Falklands Veterans Foundation, said: "I really feel they should support it [the memorial service] and I think the government should be represented there."

The only government representative is an MoD official who helped organise the Falklands memorial service two years ago. Those who will attend include Suki Cameron, the Falkland Islands government representative in London; the Royal British Legion's national president, Lieutenant-General Sir John Kiszely; and Sara Jones, widow of Lieutenant-Colonel "H" Jones, VC, who died in the battle of Goose Green.

Where's Princess Anne these days, I wonder. She used to be so supportive of our troops. And where's Prince Andrew, what's going on? Our troops and vets are being neglected.

Gordon Brown now under pressure to clarify his position on Europe

2009-06-13T23:59:00.003+01:00

Gordon Brown now under pressure to clarify his position on Europe

From Financial Advice.co.uk Saturday, 13 June 2009:

Lord Mandelson causes controversy again

When Gordon Brown brought Lord Mandelson back to the Cabinet many people suggested he was either crazy or touched by genius. Initially it seemed that the move went down very well but today we saw Lord Mandelson commenting upon the euro and the fact that, despite opposition from UK voters, inevitably the pound will disappear in favour of the single European currency. This has caused significant controversy across the UK with Gordon Brown now under pressure to clarify his position on Europe.

This further widens the divide between Labour and the Conservative party with David Cameron adamant that his party will not support a move to a single currency. Lord Mandelson has been suggesting that the collective power of the euro has seen many European economies perform better than they would have by themselves. However, he seems to be missing the fact that the UK economy is now far outperforming its European counterparts and seems set to do so for some time to come.

There is a real danger that Gordon Brown could be "bounced" into a pro-European policy which could, if the recent polls are correct, lose the Labour Party significant voter support in the forthcoming general election.

YouTube: Keep The Dead Flag Flying

2009-06-13T14:12:00.031+01:00

YouTube: Keep The Dead Flag Flying

On listening to the "Keep The Dead Flag Flying" YouTube (copied here below) I thought the song was quite catchy but would be more educational if the words "New Labour" were replaced by the words "Old Labour". In recent elections, as a Blairite, instead of abstaining, I voted tactically for the Green Party and Liberals in order to protest against unelected Marxist Gordon Brown and his Stalinist ways.

The way I see the Labour Party is this. It has been divided ever since Tony Blair arrived on the scene and made it electable. There are two Labour parties: Old Labour (aka Brownites) and New Labour (aka Blairites). The past 12 years have shown that without Tony Blair the two cannot be united.

Gordon Brown sounds mixed up and speaks with forked tongue because at heart he is really Old Labour and is beholden to the unions who backed him and not Tony Blair. They relished and stoked character assassinations against Tony Blair portraying him as a liar. Where are the likes of George Galloway these days compared to the days when Mr Blair was in office, I wonder.

Old Labour is for the unions and communists which, in this day and age of globalisation, makes it unelectable. New Labour is for those of us who are centre left, on the side of workers, wanting a fairer society. But Brown and his Brownites resent Tony Blair and the Blairites because he/they managed to moderate the die hard commies and make the Labour Party strong enough to be electable for three terms.

Without New Labourites, Old Labour is just a bunch of last century commies. If the Blairites started another party it could become electable but the same cannot be said of Old Labour who will always (happily, I think, it's in their genes) remain in opposition moaning with the BNP.

Alastair Campbell's latest blogpost [June 13, 2009 - A House Divided?] tells us that a house divided against itself cannot stand and he quotes Jesus Christ: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand."

After 40 years, many of us in my age group (I am a few weeks older than Tony Blair) who suffered working through the three-day week and the Thatcher era will never vote Labour or Conservative again because we fear both, which is why I think UKIP is growing and the BNP is attracting people from the far left and right with slogans such as "British jobs for British workers".

Apart from serving his own ambitions, who is Gordon Brown catering to? Last week's TV programme Question Time featured a worker from LDV who spoke passionately about how the company had been left up a creek without a paddle for several months on end whilst trying to stay afloat and develop its new 'green' car. My heart went out to him when he said (sounding genuinely heartbroken) to QT Panelist Welsh Secretary Peter Hain (something along these lines): "You may have forgotten us but we will NEVER forget you when it comes to the next election." I'm glad he received a great round of applause.

What to do? Our prime minister is an unelected Lord and the other prime minister is an unelected prime minister who is not up to the job and has turned England into a Stasi State. Peter Mandelson has a reputation for being ruthless and Machiavellian (not a good role model for youngsters) and appears hellbent on seeing through the privatisation of our precious Royal Mail and the decimation of village Post Offices.

I say, bring back Tony Blair to complete the full third term that he promised and send Bruiser Brown back to Glasgow where he belongs. Give unstinting support and respect to our troops, police and pensioners to whom we owe our freedoms. Bring back National Service and military hospitals for military personnel and, if possible, their dependents. Allow us to choose or vote in (or out) our local GPs. Make public the pros and cons of our parliamentary system and role in Europe and the Euro and allow people to vote on such important issues. There's an endless list of things that could be done to undo the damage that Gordon Brown and Old Labour have inflicted on England but it takes a charismatic leader like Tony Blair to pull it all together.

Scotsman Brown has a reputation for despising the English and their middle class and thinks it is OK to lie and destroy ones closest friends and colleagues. I'll never forget how Tony Blair ended up in hospital with a near heart attack and for how long he and his family had to endure the stresses and strains of Brown's incessant cruel bullying. At least Cherie Blair now knows that voters have seen for themselves what she meant about the type of man living next door in Number 11.

Having said all that, I doubt very much if Mr Blair would put himself and his family through the hellhole world of the Brownites again. So, it would appear that the song - Keep The Dead Flag Flying - is pretty accurate: Labour is dead. And, might I add, it is all Gordon Brown's doing. Tony Blair would still be in office if Gordon Brown had put New Labour first and not cheated voters by forcing him out of office before his term was up.

My hope for Mr Blair, if he cannot be persuaded to return to the snakepit of Westminster, is that he is presented with an opportunity to become a president of the EU and takes it. I for one will feel happy and proud to see him in such a well deserved position after the decade of hell he went through leading a thankless and unappreciative Labour Party.

Posted to YouTube by economicvoicedotcom 12 June 2009: Gordon Brown will not be singing this song. Lyrics By Dungeekin and Music performed by the Titanic Captain from The Economic Voice. Hat tip: Comments section at Guido Fawkes' blog, 13 June 2009.
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Update 9pm Saturday, 13 June 2009: I wrote the above in response to Alastair Campbell's blog post mentioned above. Earlier on today, i visited his website and posted a copy of the above, with a link to its page, in the comments section but it was not published. I guess comments posted to the site are moderated. On re-reading my original copy I noticed some errors so did a little editing and added the part re military hospitals. No doubt it needs a lot more editing but right now I am now overtired and finding it too difficult to concentrate.

Message to Dear Queen of England: Please take charge

2009-06-13T06:45:00.018+01:00

Message to Dear Queen of England: Please take charge

Hurrah! At long last, news of our wonderful Queen of England stepping in to save our country. I've waited two years for this. Long live the Queen!

Yesterday, Peter Mandelson had an audience with the Queen. [Source: FT.com report by George Parker, Friday, 12 June 2009 - Yesterday, Man in the news: Lord Mandelson]

Today, (Saturday, 13 June 2009) Guido tells us:

Queen Has Audience with Mandelson
Lord Mandelson of Foy in the county of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the county of Durham, first secretary of state, secretary of state for business, innovation and skills and Lord President of the Council, yesterday granted the Queen an audience.

Guido was told this in advance, but sworn to secrecy, by a member of her majesty’s parliamentary Lobby. Why was it embargoed?

Message to dear darling Queen of England, please take charge and leak some news to Guido Fawkes' blog so we can feel assured that England is safe and in good hands. Thanks. We love you!

Image courtesy of Old Holborn who says "Mandelson is beyond ruthless, this is raw power politics, if he is not destroyed he will destroy everything worth having in this country."

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The Queen tells Gordon Brown she is 'deeply troubled' over MPs' expenses

From Daily Mail by SIMON WALTERS, POLITICAL EDITOR
Last updated at 2:55 PM on 17th May 2009

The Queen has told Gordon Brown she is worried that the scandalous revelations about MPs' expenses could damage Parliament.

She discussed the explosion of public outrage over the scandal in what is understood to have been a candid exchange of views when she met the Prime Minister for their weekly audience at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.

Queen's counsel: Her Majesty has been advising Gordon Brown on the future of Parliament

Details of their conversation - which covered the vital need to restore trust in Parliament - came to light as:

The identities of the shadowy figures who leaked the MPs' expenses were revealed.
Speaker Michael Martin told friends he is ready to quit.
A shock new poll put the anti-EU UKIP on course to overtake Labour in next month's European elections.
Public demands for criminal charges against at least five expenses-cheat MPs grew.
Labour's overall poll rating fell to yet another all-time historic low - just 20 per cent.
A Labour MP was discovered to have claimed £125,000 expenses for a run-down garage via his 'office' expenses.
Another Labour MP was suspended for claiming £13,000 for a mortgage that had been paid off.

Writing in the News of the World today Gordon Brown said he was 'appalled and angered' by last week's expenses revelations.

He also apologised, on behalf of all parties, to those ‘striving hard in these difficult times’ that the political system had let them and the public down.

The Prime Minister said he was brought up to believe ‘you did the right thing – and that trust, integrity and honesty are the most precious assets of all.’

He also said: ‘I want to assure every citizen of my commitment to a complete clean-up of the system. Wherever and whenever immediate disciplinary action is required I will take it.

‘The bottom line is that any MP who is found to have defied the rules will not be serving in my government.’

His comments come as Labour's most generous donors are to withdraw financial support worth millions and called for the arrest of some MPs at the centre of the expenses revelations, according to the Observer.

Gordon Brown said Westminster could not operate like a ‘gentleman’s club’ where MPs or parties alone decide whether tax payers money should be paid back.

Neither Buckingham Palace nor Downing Street would comment on the conversation between Mr Brown and the Queen, insisting that it remain confidential. However, well-placed sources say the Queen is 'deeply troubled' by the scandal and had made it clear that she feared it could inflict 'long-lasting damage' to the Commons.

'She won't discuss individual MPs but she feels this scandal has done a lot of long-lasting damage,' said the source.

'She is aware the public feel repulsed by this sort of thing. She is conscious there is a recession on.'

An entirely separate source told The Mail on Sunday that the Queen had expressed her 'disappointment' at the expenses disclosures.

More...

Both insiders stressed that Her Majesty's comments were neither politically partisan nor aimed at any particular MPs, but came out of concern for the standing of Parliament.

Gordon Brown called for ‘transparency to the public’ in his News of the World column today sighting it as the ‘foundation of properly policing this system.’

Looking to the future the Prime minster wrote there was a need for ‘even more fundamental change.’

He said: ‘I have asked Parliament to ensure – and MPs have agreed – that outer London MPs cannot claim a second home allowance.’

He also admitted that the revelations of the past week would have a ‘lasting impact on our politics.’

Some observers have compared the backlash against MPs with the anger directed at the Queen in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death. The future of the Monarchy as an institution appeared briefly in jeopardy after the Royal Family's initial low-key response prompted unprecedented hostility towards the Queen.

On that occasion, Mr Brown's predecessor Tony Blair played a key role in advising the Queen on how to react to public opinion. This week, amid a similar volatile and rebellious public mood, it appears to have been the Queen's turn to counsel the Government, advising Mr Brown on his own efforts to guide Parliament through the expenses crisis that threatens its entire future.

The Prime Minister's spokesman refused to comment on their meeting, saying: 'Their discussions are private and we have no comment.'

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman stuck to the same strict official line, saying: 'We never comment on what is said between the Queen and the Prime Minister during their private audiences. The Queen and the Prime Minister were alone. No one ever discusses what they discussed.'

Tory MP Nicholas Soames, a friend of Prince Charles, said: 'This business has done grave damage to the standing of Parliament and it will take a long time for it to recover trust and confidence. You can smell the stench of death about this Government.

'Parliament is paralysed, the whole place has effectively closed down when there are dangerous issues that this country must deal with, whether it is Afghanistan, Al Qaeda or the Middle East peace process.

'The expenses system must be reformed but we must not become obsessed with it, Parliament has important work to do.'

A BPIX poll for The Mail on Sunday emphasises the strength of public anger over MPs who abuse their expenses. If voters had their way, five politicians - ex-Minister Elliot Morley, Tory MP Andrew Mackay, Employment Minister Tony McNulty, Transport Minister Geoff Hoon and Communities Secretary Hazel Blears - would face criminal charges.

The Queen has had good relations with all 11 occupants of Downing Street since she came to the throne in 1952. Most came to value her vast experience of State affairs.

Apart from death of Diana, the closest to a constitutional clash between Buckingham Palace and No10 came during the Thatcher years, when it was reported that the Queen expressed sympathy for striking miners and fears that Mrs Thatcher's policies were fuelling social unrest.

Although the Queen's role in Parliament is now largely ceremonial, it is the Monarch who dissolves Parliament, and it is only convention that dictates that she should do so only on the advice of the Prime Minister.

She also retains a key role in the passage of legislation. The Crown is expected to act with 'the advice and consent' of the Commons and Lords, but again, it is only convention which states that she will give Royal assent to Bills passed by the two Houses.

Read full story by Daily Mail.
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UPDATE Saturday 13 June 2009: Snippet from a comment at Guido Fawkes' blog today:

From the Court Circular, 13 June:

The Queen held a Council at 2.30 p.m..

There were present: the Lord Mandelson (Lord President), the Rt. Hon. Dawn Primarolo MP (Minister of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families), the Rt. Hon. Patrick McFadden MP (Minister of State, Business, Innovation and Skills) and the Rt. Hon. Christopher Geidt (Private Secretary to Her Majesty The Queen).

The Queen declared in Council the Lord Mandelson Lord President of the Council, who made affirmation as Lord President and as First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and as President of the Board of Trade, kissed hands on appointment and received the Seals of Office. [...]

Although it does go on to say “The Lord Mandelson had an audience of Her Majesty before the Council”, so maybe there is something in it after all. [...]

Teachers urged to join MI5

2009-06-12T16:24:00.002+01:00

Teachers urged to join MI5

MI5 is attempting to recruit teachers as "spies" in a new recruitment drive.

Telegraph News, 12 June 2009

Postal workers in London to stage 24hour strike

2009-06-12T16:22:00.002+01:00

Postal workers in London to stage 24hour strike

Thousands of postal workers in London are to stage a 24hour strike in a dispute over jobs and services threatening disruption to mail deliveries across the capital.

Telegraph News, 12 June 2009

The Communication Workers Union said up to 10,000 of its members would walk out on June 19 after claiming that the Royal Mail was pressing ahead with job cuts Photo: PA

New US commander in Afghanistan 'wants more British troops'

2009-06-12T16:01:00.003+01:00

New US commander in Afghanistan 'wants more British troops'

The new US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has signalled that he would like more British troops for the country.

Report from The Daily Telegraph by James Kirkup, Political Correspondent
Published: 3:52PM BST 12 Jun 2009

There's a NEW plot to get rid of Gordon Brown?

2009-06-12T15:35:00.006+01:00

There's a NEW plot to get rid of Gordon Brown?

From CBS, June 12, 2009, by Ed Boyle, CBS Broadcasting Inc - excerpt:
Support For Gordon Brown Waning - Many Brits Dislike The Prime Minister

Psst. Don't tell them I told you, there's a new plot to get rid of him. It's totally hush hush. More than my life's worth to reveal the names. Actually only a few key Government Ministers know the details, and they'll swear blind they didn't have a clue.

Which is pretty well what happened last week to the great British political coup that never was.

A couple of years ago, many people realized that Gordon Brown was a bumbling electoral liability when he took over from Tony Blair as our Prime Minister. But nobody did anything about it.

So last Thursday, up come the first big elections - to the European Parliament. Gordon's ruling Labor Party gets trashed. Worst results EVER.

Labour 'can't win election with Brown as leader'

2009-06-12T14:23:00.008+01:00

Labour 'can't win election with Brown as leader'

Danny Finkelstein, former Conservative policy chief and current columnist at The Times newspaper tells Jeremy Paxman he cannot think of anybody in the Cabinet who would produce a worse result in a general election than Gordon Brown. Mr Finkelstein said:

“The Labour Party now has a window of opportunity and they should push Gordon Brown out of it.”

Heh. Brilliant.

(Hat tip: From BBC 03 June 2009 via Guido Fawkes' sidebar)

Bring back Tony Blair to complete a full third term

2009-06-12T12:20:00.014+01:00

Bring back Tony Blair to complete a full third term

This is so depressing. Here below is a copy of today's blog post at Guido Fawkes' where an anonymously authored commentator writes:

June 12, 2009 at 10:11 am
But isn’t it even worse than Guido says? At the last election Blair said he would stand for a full third term. Since then Gordon has defied the electorate and his party and deposed Blair without one vote cast….Democracy that ain’t.

Democratic Renewal M’Lords?

Gordon has had a damascene conversion to democratic renewal since little over 5% of eligible voters supported him at the polls last week. The irony of a PM who avoided facing election to be leader of his own party and has no democratic public mandate wanting “democratic renewal” is striking. If he really wishes to reconnect with voters he could always call a general election.

How democratic is his own government?

The Cabinet :

1. First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Lord President of the Council – The Rt Hon Lord Mandelson etc.

2. Leader of the House of Lords and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – The Rt Hon Baroness Royall of Blaisdon

3. Secretary of State for Transport – Lord Adonis

Other Ministers :

4. Attorney General – The Rt Hon Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC
5. Advocate General for Scotland – Lord Davidson of Glen Clova QC
6. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (MoJ) – Lord Bach
7. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (HO) – Admiral Lord West of Spithead GCB DSC
8. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (DCSF) – Baroness Morgan of Drefelin
9. Minister of State (DECC) – Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE; and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
10. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (DOH) – Professor Lord Darzi of Denham KBE
11. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (DWP) – Lord McKenzie of Luton
12. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State* (DBIS) – Lord Young of Norwood Green (and Lord in Waiting – paid)
13. Financial Services Secretary (Treasury) – Lord Myners CBE
14. Minister of State (FCO) – The Rt Hon Lord Malloch-Brown KCMG
15. Minister of State – The Rt Hon Lord Drayson & (DBIS) (jointly with the Ministry of Defence)
Minister of State (MOD) – The Rt Hon Lord Drayson & (jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)
16. Minister of State – Lord Davies of Abersoch CBE (DBIS) (jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office)
Minister of State (FCO) – Lord Davies of Abersoch CBE (jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)
17. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (DBIS) – Baroness Vadera (jointly with Cabinet Office)
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office) – Baroness Vadera (jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)
18. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (FCO) – Baroness Taylor of Bolton (jointly with the Ministry of Defence)
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (MOD) – Baroness Taylor of Bolton (jointly with Foreign and Commonwealth Office)

New Lords:

19. Sir Alan Sugar
20. Glennis Kinnock

Unelected and democratically unaccountable ministers who owe their positions and loyalty only to Gordon Brown…

I say, bring back Tony Blair to complete the full third term he promised!

Gordon Brown defends bringing Malik back

2009-06-11T13:22:00.005+01:00

Brown defends bringing Malik back
From BBC News at 11:58 GMT, Thursday, 11 June 2009 12:58 UK:

Gordon Brown has denied he acted too quickly in bringing Shahid Malik back into government, following new allegations about the MP's expenses.

Mr Brown said the communities minister was cleared by watchdog Sir Philip Mawer of breaching the ministerial code over the first set of allegations.

And he would be answerable to independent auditors - like all other MPs - over any further allegations.

Mr Malik denies a Daily Telegraph story about claiming for two offices.

See earlier report from The Telegraph, 10 June 2009: MPs' expenses: Shahid Malik admits charging taxpayer for two houses

Why plot to oust Gordon Brown failed

2009-06-11T07:32:00.004+01:00

Why plot to oust Gordon Brown failed

The rebels switched from email to texts on a disposable mobile but bid to oust PM was doomed

Allegra Stratton, political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 June 2009 21.48 BST
Article history

At 3pm on Monday 8 June, 15 people met in an MP's office in the House of Commons to agree that, for the time being at least, the Hotmail Plot had failed.

Over eight days, the core team of the backbench rebel putsch to unseatGordon Brown had doubled from seven to 15. In that time, seven ministers had left the government, including a high flyer who had launched an explicit attack on the prime minister.

Brown had been forced to back down over a planned reshuffle, leaving in place people he'd really prefer to have moved. But, though he had to come to a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party cap in hand that night, he knew – and the rebels knew – he was safe.

So how did the plot collapse? It had been a tumultuous eight days since parliament had returned from recess. In that week a senior rebel understood that the communities secretary, Hazel Blears, was preparing to resign and the pair agreed to meet in the next few days; but Blears never confirmed.

Then, on Wednesday 3 June at 10.30am, less than 24 hours before polls opened for the local and European elections, Blears resigned. That move is now regarded as one of the most damaging blows to the effort to remove the prime minister – the moment it started to go wrong.

"Hazel's resignation turned people against us," one of the rebels said. "Even her supporters found the timing of her resignation difficult to stomach. Especially that brooch [which sported the legend 'Rocking the boat'].

"It enabled the whips to make the argument that we were undermining campaigners at that moment knocking on doors for the Labour party, and created a sense of incompetence that we never really escaped from."

Blears is still to explain the timing of her exit, but it was being pointed out that she was due to meet cabinet office officials at 3pm on the day of her eventual resignation for a further examination of her expenses – the departure allowed her to avoid what could have been another difficult confrontation over whether she should have paid capital gains tax or not.

The decision by Blears, a party loyalist to her fingertips and local activist in her heart, taken at such a sensitive point, probably reflects the widely held belief that Downing Street was using the expenses scandal to smear political opponents.

Whatever her motives, the rebels believe her resignation made a lot of the difference between getting 50 rebels to sign up to the plot, and the 70 they felt they needed.

Party rules say 71 MPs can force a contest if they all back the same candidate.

"The difference between getting 50 and the necessary 70 will be the disloyalty factor," one told the Guardian when the plot was in full swing. The Hotmail Plot — so called because of the email address, signonnow@hotmail.co.uk, which MPs were asked to sign up to, calling for Brown to go, remained undetected for days until the Guardian revealed it at noon, shortly after Blears had resigned.

By Wednesday evening, the covert tactic unravelled as thousands of emails arrived. Apart from the odd one from genuinely sympathetic MPs, spoofs, foreign emails, and junk emails flowed in.

One rebel said: "We got one email from brownn@parliament.uk [the email address of the chief whip]. It might be that they were hoping we'd publish a list and not notice his name was in it and then he could show all the names were ridiculous."

Instead, the rebels adopted a tactic favoured by organised criminals and bought an untraceable pay as you go mobile, encouraging sympathetic colleagues to get in touch that way. It became a text message plot.

One of the theories behind the covert backbench operation was that if they emerged without warning with a list of dozens of MPs from all wings of the party an unstoppable momentum would embolden disaffected cabinet members and drive the prime minister from office.

But by 6pm, six hours after the Guardian had broken news of the Hotmail Plot, the element of surprise was gone and the whips were in overdrive, terrifying potential rebels.

Nick Brown, the chief whip, produced names he said were involved in the plot. Some were inaccurate. The realpolitik of even being possibly associated with the plot was exemplified when a local news reporter rang one wrongly identified rebel, Paul Farrelly, at 2am to inform him they would be splashing on news of his disloyalty to the prime minister – the morning of polling day.

One cabinet minister due to meet a rebel for dinner had their meeting cancelled – there simply wasn't a restaurant in London discreet enough. Instead, that evening they would have the first of three phone calls. The cabinet minister was interested in the nature of names, irrespective of whether they had arrived by email, text or carrier pigeon.

On polling day, MPs were scattered around the country. But the rebels had to contend with three attacks – their timing, their lack of policy and their invisibility: were they left or right, usual suspects or unusual suspects?

That evening at 10pm events took another dramatic turn when James Purnell, the work and pensions secretary, announced he was leaving the cabinet. Had he been followed, the pressure may well have been too much for Brown. But the moment was something of a box of fireworks where only one went off: others who had been due to resign didn't.

Purnell caught the government by surprise, the news emerging in Sky television reports only moments after the man himself rang Number 10.

But then Lord Mandelson, already in Downing Street advising Brown on the reshuffle, sprang to work.

He rang potentially wavering cabinet ministers to check they would remain on board, including David Miliband, who they understood had grave doubts about Brown. The foreign secretary eventually said he would remain and Purnell was not immediately accompanied by others, until a chaotic resignation the next day by Caroline Flint, the Europe minister.

She left with a vicious attack on Brown's style hours after she had given a public display of loyalty. "You can put Hazel and Caroline's departure in the category of the Anarchic Departures," a rebel said.

This rebel regards Miliband's failure to resign as the moment the plot failed.

Throughout the saga, the left was mainly silent. Jon Cruddas, the influential backbencher, was taking calls from rebels trying to recruit him to the cause, and also from elements of the soft left persuading him not to be a "cheap date".

He told them he continued to consider his position but the next day he wrote an article for the Sunday Mirror which appeared to back Brown – though his aides sent corrective text messages afterwards saying that was not the gist of his piece.

At some point during the weekend, a rumour emerged that Brown had scheduled a meeting with the Queen – a rumour rebels attributed to Downing Street ("this isn't something I blame Brown for, it's what any Downing Street operation would do when the prime minister is under attack from backbenchers").

For wavering rebels terrified about losing their seat in an instant election, the rumour may have been enough.

On Sunday night, the European election results were truly terrible for Labour: Wales lost, Scotland lost, fifth in the south-east. Though Brown had Mandelson and Ed Balls with him in the Downing Street bunker they knew he was still vulnerable.

Around this time a supplementary counter-argument did the rounds to further upset those pro-European Labour MPs already licking their wounds: if there were to be a general election it would come before the Irish referendum on the Lisbon treaty and the Tories would then truly be able to withdraw from Europe with great ease.

These were tactical counter-arguments made by a quick-witted government which the rebels should have foreseen. Though the invisibility of the plot was tacticaly clever, there were obvious flaws: there was a perception of being too rightwing; co-ordination with a disgruntled cabinet was poor; fear grew in the lower ranks of the parliamentary party that if a new leader was brought in a general election would simply have to be allowed.

The rebels knew they didn't have the numbers and decided to meet together, for the first time.

On Monday at 3pm the rebels met. All their info was collated on a five-page spreadsheet across which names, mobile phone numbers, "other telephone numbers" and personal non-parliamentary email addresses were set out horizontally along with the initials of the rebel MP who had brought them on board and vouched for them.

Zealots who wanted Brown out were given the number zero and those newly persuaded the number one. Zero zealots made up most of the first page; ones extended onto the second and together they came to 54. Short of the 71 crucial figure but over the 50 they had briefed journalists would trigger publication.

But they decided that evening to perform a u-turn and announced they would not go public.

All that was left to do was go to the parliamentary Labour party meeting. The rebels say the PLP assumed import mostly because of serendipity rather than the suitability of occasion, since it came at the end of the first Monday back after the European elections. PLPs are always intimidating affairs and though seven rebels spoke, including Charles Clarke and Fiona MacTaggart, the plot flopped.

But there were other categories on that spreadsheet. Number four indicated friends of Brown and category three were people whose opinions were not known.

The category that was by far the longest, stretching to about 120 was number two (yesterday one rebel rang to say: "I've just seen that two of our number twos have got jobs with the government. Patronage is a big problem for plots".) The number two denoted: "Possibles, if..."

The "If" being David Miliband, the foreign secretary. Something that many got wrong this week, including media commentators, is that the majority of Labour MPs on the list wanted Alan Johnson to take over. David Miliband would have been closer to the truth.

MPs' expenses: Shahid Malik admits charging taxpayer for two houses

2009-06-11T00:28:00.009+01:00

Cartoon from The Daily Express by Paul Thomas, Monday, 08 June 2009. The person on the psychiatrist's couch is Britain's unelected Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. The psychiatrist is saying: "You're not being paranoid - everyone does think you'll be gone by tomorrow..."
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Cartoon from The Daily Express by Paul Thomas, Wednesday, 10 June 2009. The sign hanging on the door of No. 10 Downing Street says: BUSINESS AS USUAL (Heaven help us)
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MPs' expenses: Shahid Malik admits charging taxpayer for two houses

Shahid Malik has admitted that the taxpayer had met the costs of office space in his constituency house and his designated second home in London simultaneously.

From The Daily Telegraph by Robert Winnett, James Kirkup and Holly Watt
Published: 10:32PM BST Wednesday,10 June 2009

Mr Malik said he needed the extra office space because the constituency office he inherited was not big enough Photo: REUTERS

The Communities Minister claimed the maximum second home allowance for his London property while the office on the ground floor of his constituency house was funded through a separate parliamentary “office” expenses system.

The disclosure threatens to undermine the Prime Minister who only returned Mr Malik to government earlier this week after receiving assurances that his financial affairs were in order.

It now appears that Downing Street failed to scrutinise Mr Malik’s expense claims thoroughly before allowing him to hold ministerial office again.

The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Wednesday that Mr Malik had claimed more than £6,500 for a property described only as “office 2” on his parliamentary claim forms.

The minister had declined to tell this newspaper the location of the taxpayer-funded “office 2”. However, it can now be disclosed that “office 2” was the ground floor of his constituency home in Dewsbury.

Mr Malik said he needed the extra office space because the constituency office he inherited was not big enough.

However his expenses files show that he moved out of the original office into a new office in April 2006 but that he continued to submit claims for “office 2” until at least April 2008.

Mr Malik insisted last night that he paid rent separately for the “living area” of his constituency home.

However, no formal rental agreement exists for the “living area” and Mr Malik would not disclose how much rent he paid.

Both the constituency office and his constituency house were owned by controversial landlord, Tahir “Terry” Zaman, a friend of Mr Malik. Mr Malik stepped down as justice minister last month after The Daily Telegraph reported his landlord’s claim that he was paying well below the market rate for the rent of his home in his Dewsbury constituency.

Mr Brown reappointed him as a minister on Tuesday, saying that an investigation by Sir Philip Mawer, the Prime Minister’s adviser on ministerial rules, had cleared Mr Malik of any failure to comply with the Ministerial code.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister refused to publish Sir Philip’s report.

On Wednesday, after calls for publication from figures including Sir Christopher Kelly of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Mr Brown backed down and promised to publish an edited summary of the document.

Mr Malik admitted details of his controversial “two homes on expenses” arrangements on Wednesday night.

Only a day after reappointing Mr Malik to the Government and clearing him of breaking ministerial rules, Downing Street failed to endorse the minister’s actions.

Speaking to journalists at Westminster, Mr Brown’s official spokesman made clear that it was up to Mr Malik to explain his use of public money.

The spokesman said: “If you have any particular accusation that you’d like to make towards Shahid Malik you should make them and you should give him an opportunity to respond to them.”

Over the past four years, Mr Malik has claimed more than £60,000 from the Commons authorities towards his designated “second home” in London. Since 2005, Mr Malik has been embroiled in a series of disputes with the authorities after claiming for a number of luxury items including a £2,600 home cinema system.

However, during this period he also paid Mr Zaman more than £6,500 for “office 2”.

Mr Zaman also let Mr Malik his main constituency office for which he has received at least £6,000. Mr Malik said last night: “When I was elected MP for Dewsbury I rented additional office space in my constituency because the office which I took over from my predecessor did not have enough room to accommodate my staff, who were working with me to serve the needs of my constituents.

“I paid £46 per week rent for the office space which was covered by my IEP cost allowances. A copy of the tenancy agreement was lodged with the House of Commons fees office in the normal way. The rent was paid by me to Yes Properties [Mr Zaman’s company] for which I was subsequently reimbursed by the Fees Office. In addition, I paid rent for the living accommodation. I made no claim under any allowance for the living accommodation.

“My home in Burnley was listed with the House of Commons fees office and with HMRC as my main home until I sold this in 2008.”

Down with Gordon Brown! Former British commander in Afghanistan says Treasury is crippling war

2009-06-10T21:14:00.005+01:00

Down with Gordon Brown!

Former British commander in Afghanistan says

Treasury is crippling war

(Heathcliff O'Malley)

Brigadier Ed Butler, who says the Treasury has hampered the British campaign in Afghanistan

From The Times by Michael Evans, Defence Editor

Wednesday 10 June 2009

The British military operation in Afghanistan was crippled by a spending cap imposed by the Treasury, a former senior officer told MPs yesterday. Brigadier Ed Butler, who commanded 16 Air Assault Brigade in Helmand province in 2006, told the Defence Select Committee that the financial constraints meant that the Army could “just about hold the line, but couldn’t sustain a higher tempo” in its campaign against the Taleban.

The brigadier resigned his commission last year, claiming that he wanted to spend more time with his family. But his premature resignation was widely acknowledged to be in protest at the handling of operations.

His brigade suffered high casualties during its six-month tour. Thirty-five members of the Armed Forces died during the brigade’s tour of duty, although 14 of these were killed when an RAF Nimrod caught fire in mid-air and exploded.

Many soldiers who were killed by enemy action died in isolated outposts such as Musa Qala in northern Helmand where the Taleban launched multiple attacks on the district centre, which was being guarded by only a 30-man platoon.

Brigadier Butler told the committee that in 2006 the Treasury had “capped” resources available for the operation, limiting funding to £1.3 billion for a “three-year campaign”. The Government has always denied imposing a cap on resources for the mission. “There was a Treasury-imposed cap on the number of troops we could have in Afghanistan,” he said.

COMMENTS

Blair should have taken a leaf from Thatcher's book, and gripped the Treasury. She wouldn't have them in her War Cabinet during the Falklands War. But Blair didn't have her guts. He allowed Brown to have his way and the soldiers suffered as a consequence.
Julian Thompson, London, UK

Two Words: EURO FIGHTER. Those magic two words solve all Brigadier Butler's problems. The total cost of the Euro Fighter program to the UK is 180 Billion of which we have yet to see a working fleet of planes a decade after it began. Thats about 6000 helicopters, two for every solider in Afganistan.
George, southampton, UK

Lions led by Treasury donkeys. You cannoy dig a hole without a shovel. Give the military the tools and men and they WILL do the job. If we cannot afford the human and financial cost, AND WE CANNOT, get out now. Don't make the boys fight one handed. People, remember this when you vote next year.

CD, Kabul, Afghanistan

Read full story and all 34 comments

Gordon Brown survives dissolution vote

2009-06-10T20:52:00.007+01:00

Gordon Brown survives dissolution vote

"We need a general election so that we can restore trust and confidence in parliament and politicians, and let people have their say.”

Sad news from STV.TV Scotland, Wednesday, 10 June 2009:
Gordon Brown survives dissolution vote

The Prime Minister faced a motion of dissolution which, if passed, would have disbanded Parliament and led to a public vote.

Gordon Brown has survived an attempt by the SNP to force a General Election.

The Prime Minister faced a motion of dissolution which, if passed, would have disbanded Parliament and led to a public vote.

After heated exchanges in the House of Commons, the motion was defeated 340 to 268.

SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson had led the debate, at which First Minister Alex Salmond was present.

Mr Robertson called on an absent Mr Brown to come before the Commons and respond in person to the opposition day debate called by the nationalist parties.

He said: "Gordon Brown's government has lost all authority to govern and he needs to come to Parliament and respond to this debate. The expenses scandal has discredited Parliament, while Labour's European election results show Gordon Brown's Government is without authority or credibility.

"We need a general election so that we can restore trust and confidence in parliament and politicians, and let people have their say.”

However, his calls were rejected by Welsh Secretary Peter Hain. He claimed the SNP had a hidden agenda of wanting to see a Conservative government installed in Westminster, which would inflict "mass unemployment, education cuts and hospital closures" on Scotland, "so they could try to ride a wave of revulsion into independence".

To dissolve Parliament would be to "walk away" from the challenge of reforming Westminster's politics and to "turn our backs on the British people" at a time of economic need.

He acknowledged that last week's elections were "terrible for the Labour Party. "But far more significant, the European elections were an alarm call for all parties, all of us here and for parliamentary democracy itself."

An election now would simply be another referendum on MPs' expenses, he claimed. The economy would also face "weeks and weeks of instability and uncertainty" if an election was called.

In an echo of Lady’s Thatcher, he told the Commons: "They can dissolve if they want to. This Government is not for dissolving.”

Conservative shadow foreign secretary William Hague backed the call for dissolution and acknowledged the economic and political problems facing the country.

Mr Hague mocked the Prime Minister's claim that a General Election would cause "chaos" in the country. He said: "This revealing insight into the bunker-like mentality of 10 Downing Street is in itself a further argument for the people of this country to have their say.

"The Prime Minister feared chaos at the ballot box, presumably in place of the well-ordered conduct of government that we have been able to witness in recent weeks.

"The home secretary resigned on Tuesday, the communities secretary on Wednesday, the work and pensions secretary on Thursday, Downing Street worked for 48 hours through the night to save the Prime Minister from being overthrown by his own Cabinet.

"What a relief there was no chaos in the last couple of weeks in this country."

CARTOON FROM THE TIMES, WEDNESDAY, 10 JUNE 2009

PETER BROOKES

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - English taxpayers picnic at Anthony Steen's

2009-06-10T18:00:00.005+01:00

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised -
English taxpayers picnic at Anthony Steen's

America's Joe (The Revolution Will Not Be Televised) Trippi and Jim (The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head) Moore would love what's going on here in England right now.

A revolution is underway and it's very English. Quiet, humourous and powerful. Blogs instead of pitchforks. No need to take to the streets. The late great John Lennon and Mahatma Gandhi would be proud.

The fun and games have started with a brilliant YouTube posted by dontpanicmedia 02 June 2009 (1,344 views so far) with the following caption:

Anthony Steen is the Tory MP for Totnes [Devon, England, UK] who spent nearly £90,000 of taxpayers money on his vast grounds and then said (very perceptively) on BBC Radio 4 that we were all just jealous of him because his house is so bloody massive. Do you know what its about? said Steen, Jealousy. I have got a very, very large house. Some people say it looks like Balmoral. Yes thats right Anthony we are absolutely green. In fact were so jealous that we feel we have a right to come over and have a picnic on your lawn and take our clothes off if we want.

Category: News & Politics. Tags: Totnes expenses MP Anthony Steen

Note, Totnes is the second oldest borough in England.

[Hat tip: From Don't Panic to Lobby Dog to Guido Fawkes' blog 10 June 2009 - Naked Picnic on Anthony Steen’s £87,000 Garden - We paid for it, why not - where I found the link]

Guido Fawkes' blog is a daily must-read. There's nothing else like it in the world, it beats mainstream media with up to the minute political news, rumours and gossip. The site is managed and authored by Paul Staines who, according to Wikipedia, is a British-born Irish political blogger and right-wing libertarian. After last week's European Parliament election Guido revealed that his vote went to Libertas. See www.libertas.eu/uk/.

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Love and Peace - Power To The People

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Our Dear (Unelected) Leader Gordon Brown may be a fan of The Beatles since Bono once compared Blair & Brown to Lennon & McCartney. Here is, I think, Comrade Brown's favourite track:

Help! Save England from an unelected dictator - Gordon Brown must go NOW! - Worst election result for Labour since 1918

2009-06-10T10:22:00.012+01:00

Help! Save England from an unelected dictator - Gordon Brown must go NOW! - Worst election result for Labour since 1918

After digesting the outcome of Monday night's PLP meeting, words fail me. Here below is a copy of some Daily Cartoons from The Independent (UK) that help chronicle a very English revolution. The cartoons are best viewed by starting at end of this post, and scrolling upwards.

Tuesday, 09 June 2009

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Monday, 08 June 2009

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Sunday, 07 June 2009

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Saturday, 06 June 2009

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Friday, 04 June 2009

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Wednesday, 03 June 2009

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Tuesday, 02 June 2009

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Monday, 01 June 2009

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Sunday, 31 May 2009

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Saturday 30 May 2009

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Friday, 29 May 2009

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Thursday, 28 May 2009

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Wednesday, 27 May 2009

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Tuesday, 26 May 2009

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Monday 25 May 2009

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Sunday, 24 May 2009

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Monday, 23 May 2009

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Sunday, 22 May 2009

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Friday, 20 May 2009

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Tuesday, 19 May 2009

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Monday, 18 May 2009

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Sunday, 17 May 2009

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Saturday, 16 May 2009

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Friday, 15 May 2009

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Thursday, 14 May 2009

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Wednesday, 13 May 2009

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Tuesday, 12 May 2009

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Monday, 11 May 2009

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Sunday, 10 May 2009

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Saturday, 09 May 2009

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Friday, 08 May 2009

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Thursday, 07 May 2009

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Wednesday, 06 May 2009

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Tuesday, 05 May 2009

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Thursday, 30 April 2009

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Tuesday, 29 April 2009

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Monday, 27 April 2009

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The Daily Cartoon

Sunday, 19 April 2009

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From France24, Tuesday, June 09, 2009:

Gordon Brown survives worst election result for Labour since 1918

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Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downfall

YouTube video clip: Parody "Prime Minister Gordon Brown's own Downfall scene" posted by ACL Blair, 25 May 2008.

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They Know How You Vote

"They" meaning this government (naturally) who, for some reason, quietly decided to end secret ballots at some time during its tenure between 1997 and now. Established by Gladstone in the Secret Ballot Act, 1872, (and reinforced with the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act of 1883) it goes without saying that ... Read Full Story.

Olympic revamp funding withdrawn - Cameras to police parking rules

2009-06-10T10:04:00.006+01:00

Olympic revamp funding withdrawn

Plans to revamp Weymouth seafront in time for the 2012 Olympics have been dealt a "devastating blow" after agreed funding was withdrawn.

Full story: BBC Tuesday, 09 June 2009.

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Cameras to police parking rules

Last week the council started using cameras to catch speeding cyclists

Drivers who park illegally in Bournemouth are set to face £70 fines if snapped by cameras in a special council vehicle.

Patrols will monitor cars parked outside schools, at pedestrian crossings and at bus stops.

A grace period started on Tuesday with offenders sent warnings. Fines are due to be issued by post from 17 June.

The move comes after the council introduced cameras to catch speeding cyclists along Bournemouth seafront. Full story: BBC Tuesday, 09 June 2009.

Frank Field MP says Labour cannot win with the present PM Gordon Brown

2009-06-10T09:01:00.007+01:00

Frank Field MP says Labour cannot win with the present PM Gordon Brown

Trust rather than trick voters
By Frank Field MP
Published on his website, Monday, June 08, 2009. Copy in full:

Labour supporters claiming that the European results were not a catastrophe for the party can only do so by inventing a new meaning for the word catastrophe. Whether one looks at them on a national, regional or local level the picture is pitiful.

The results reflect the collapse of support for the Government in the country. They also ring a clear verdict on the EU.

Take the Wirral results, which cover four Labour Westminster constituencies. The Tories romped home with almost 21,000 votes. Labour was in a poor second place with 16,000.

Wirral there is considerable resentment against the current EU. It may be that all of these natural voters deserted their natural party to support one of the clearer anti-European tickets, but I doubt it.

Even so the two parties standing in the election who hold the strongest views against our present relationship with Europe far out stretched the Labour vote, and almost toppled the Tory vote.

The BNP came in with 4,666 votes and UKIP's vote totalled more than 13,000.

Don't let anyone kid themselves that this was an unimportant election where voters felt they could make a clear protest vote. Unless something changes significantly on a national level these results would be reproduced at a general election.

Labour cannot win with the present Prime Minister. I was one of the seven who would not support his coronation after Tony Blair was shoehorned out of Number 10. But even I didn't think a Brown administration would be as inept as this one.

The Brownites are attempting to terrorise Labour MPs into inaction. If they succeed then we deserve our fate.

It is simply absurd to argue, as does No. 10, that the next leader must call an immediate general election. A new leader, when being invited by the Queen to form a government, should inform the Monarch that he or she intends to return in April of next year to call for a General Election on May 6.

The new Prime Minister would make that a part of a message brought back from the Palace.

Similarly, the failure to deal with immigration and Europe is poisoning our political system. I have set out in the Balanced Migration campaign how we should counter positively the BNP. Similarly, we need to cut loose European politics from our domestic politics. Voters have no party to represent their worries on this score, only the BNP with their evil interests.

Great. Well said Mr Field. More please. Note, I too refused to support Gordon Brown's 'coronation' both before and after Tony Blair was cruelly pushed out office and I had said so at the time - particularly in a comment at Clive Soley's (now non existent) blog - that Brown wasn't fit to tie Tony Blair's shoelaces, too lacking in people skills, strange shifty looking, unable to look people in the eye, etc. I still recall my horror and sadness at seeing a blog post by Clive in support of bully boy Brown's take over from Tony Blair. At least Clive has had the decency to go on TV (twice already, in the past week, from what I've seen) to speak out in favour of Brown's removal.

Sir Paul McCartney did not bother to vote in the European elections

2009-06-10T00:10:00.014+01:00

Sir Paul McCartney did not bother to vote in the European elections

From The Daily Telegraph by Tim Walker, 09 June 2009:
Sir Paul McCartney admits he is struggling to give politicians a chance

As the man credited with Give Peace A Chance along with the late John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney has always taken a robust and occasionally radical line on politics.

Not any more. The former Beatle admitted to Mandrake at the St Martin's Lane Hotel in the West End that he did not bother to vote in the European elections.

"There was no one who inspired me or who I thought was worthy," said Sir Paul who was heavily influenced by Bertrand Russell in his youth and who went on to speak out against the Vietnam War. "There is not much idealism around these days. What with all these politicians fiddling their expenses, I think most people feel, like me, there is not a lot left to believe in."

He added that Britain had an urgent need for an "Obama-like figure" to inspire people, but he could not currently see one, even on the horizon. Still, Sir Paul, who was in town for the launch of a book called Told by his daughter Mary's boyfriend Simon Aboud, said he had no intention of abandoning the country.

"Don't worry – I am staying put," he said. "I'm disillusioned, but I am not that disillusioned."

Tsk tsk. A low turn out of voters enabled the fascist British National Party (BNP) to gain two seats in the European Parliament. I found it difficult to bring myself to vote for any of the 17 parties and almost abstained as a protest. Abstaining is stupid because non votes are construed as apathy. Many people have lost their lives fighting for democracy and a right to vote. Every vote counted in the European elections. My vote went to The Green Party in the hope that it might help our wonderful planet and wildlife.

Sir Elton John is disillusioned with politics in Britain

2009-06-09T14:25:00.001+01:00

Sir Elton John is disillusioned with politics in Britain

From Dailyexpress.co.uk Monday, 09 June 2009 - excerpt:
ELTON JOHN SLAMS BRITISH GOVERNMENT

London, June 8 - Music legend Elton John has hit out at the British government, saying the country's politicians are 'untrustworthy'.

Dailyexpress.co.uk reports that Elton John has voiced his disgust at the scandal currently overshadowing the British political system.

'It's tragic when you lose faith in everybody that's a politician. It seems to me there's nobody you can trust in the British system at the moment and that's a horrible thing. I'm so disillusioned with politics in Britain,' he said. [...]

Me too. What thinks Sirs Geldof and Bono, I wonder.

Brown booed by heroes at D-Day ceremony: Boos and calls of "where's the Queen?"

2009-06-07T10:23:00.020+01:00

Brown booed by heroes at D-Day ceremony:

Boos and calls of "where's the Queen?"

Note that the following report by BBC News apportions no blame to Gordon Brown. My late father, who served 25 years in Royal Army Medical Corps, would be rolling around in his grave if he knew the Queen had been excluded from yesterday's D-Day ceremony in France and that the French classed it as a Franco-American event. I am too angry and upset to write my own commentary on reports filed here over past week. Will do, if and when I have calmed down and Gordon Brown is not out by next week. Cranking up this blog after such a long hiatus is taking a little time.

From BBC News

17:14 GMT, Saturday, 6 June 2009 18:14 UK

Brown booed at D-Day ceremony

The Prime Minister has been booed as he arrived at a ceremony to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Boos and calls of "where's the Queen?" could be heard as he arrived at the final part of the day's events in Arromanches, in reference to the failure of the French government to invite the Queen to the commemorations.

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France admits not inviting the Queen to 65th D-Day anniversary

France has confirmed that it has not "personally" invited the Queen to the 65th anniversary of D-Day on June 6 but said that she was "naturally welcome", following reports that Buckingham palace had been snubbed.

From The Daily Telegraph by Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 2:06PM BST 27 May 2009

Normandy beach Photo: PA

A government spokesman said that this year's anniversary of the Normandy landings was "first and foremost a Franco-American ceremony given the recent election of President (Barack) Obama".

"There will be other June 6," said Luc Chatel, from President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling right-wing UMP party.

France, he said, had sent an invitation to the British government, after receiving a request for one, but that it was not up to Paris to "designate British representation" at the D-Day event, he said.

"The Queen of England, the head of the British state, is naturally welcome. Buckingham Palace has confirmed that it did not receive an invitation to the event, according to the normal protocol.

Presidents Sarkozy and Obama are to take part in a D-Day ceremony at the American cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha beach on the Normandy coast. The two leaders will then hold a bilateral summit.

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Queen welcome at D-Day memorial, France says

Wed May 27, 2009 10:52 am ET

PARIS (AFP) – France insisted on Wednesday that the queen would be welcome to attend a commemoration of the D-Day landings, denying reports that she had been snubbed.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be joined by US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the Normandy landings commemoration in northern France, on June 6.

But the queen has not specifically received an invitation from the French government, even though she was present for the 60th anniversary event in 2004, amid claims in the press that she was annoyed at being excluded.

A spokesman for the French government, Luc Chatel, said France had invited Britain to attend the ceremony and that it was up to Brown's government to decide who was to represent it.

"The Queen of England, as British head of state, is naturally welcome," he said, briefing reporters after a French cabinet meeting. "It's not up to France to decide who will represent Britain.

"Our contacts on this ceremony were members of the British government who wanted to take part in a ceremony which was from the start Franco-American," he said.

"June 6, 2009 is primarily a Franco-American ceremony," Chatel added, noting that the US president traditionally came to Normandy in his first year of office.

Earlier, a Buckingham Palace spokesman had said: "No invitation has been issued as yet to any member of the royal family." He would not comment on whether one had been expected.

The Daily Mail, which headlined its story: "Palace Fury At D-Day Snub To Queen", quoted an unnamed seniorBuckingham Palace source saying the royals had been keen to support the event and the situation was "very frustrating".

The D-Day celebrations mark the anniversary of the allied landings in France, then occupied by Nazi Germany, in 1944 which marked a vital turning point in the course of World War II.

Obama Beach

Photo: D-Day ceremony in France, Saturday, 06 June 2009. (Source: Mail on Sunday via comments at Guido Fawkes' blog)

Blair: The darkness in Gordon's heart will bring him down

2009-06-07T02:00:00.005+01:00

Blair: The darkness in Gordon's heart will bring him down

From Mail Online by SIMON WALTERS
Last updated at 11:32 PM on 06th June 2009

Tony Blair believes Gordon Brown's political future is doomed because of 'the darkness in his heart' and his 'lies' - and feels Mr Brown has no one to blame but himself.

The former Prime Minister's devastating verdict on his successor is a blow to Mr Brown's hopes of surviving further moves to topple him, expected this week.

Publicly, Mr Blair has kept out of the row. However, The Mail on Sunday can disclose that privately he shares the view held by Labour rebels that Mr Brown will lead the Party to a disastrous defeat at the next Election.

'Reservations': Tony Blair, pictured with Gordon Brown in 2004, believes he has failed to show the leadership needed, friends say

In a damning verdict on Mr Brown's character, Mr Blair said of the Prime Minister recently: 'The darkness in his heart and the lies will be his downfall.'

Friends of Mr Blair say he has been 'saddened' by Mr Brown's performance and believes that he has failed to show the necessary leadership or policies.

'Gordon's performance has confirmed Tony's reservations about his suitability to be PM,' said one source.

'He hoped he would be a success and has tried to support him and offered what advice he can. But he always feared Gordon may not have the right temperament or character to do the job and that's how it has turned out.'

Another source close to Mr Blair claimed Mr Brown's wounds were 'self-inflicted'. He added: 'Tony's view is that Gordon has brought this all on himself. He spent years plotting against Tony and is in no position to complain now that it is happening to him.

'The people trying to get him out learned how to do it from Gordon's people. It takes a moment to inject the poison, but years to drain it.'

Cabinet rebels, led by former Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell - a close friend and ally of Mr Blair - have strenuously denied that the former Prime Minister is involved in the attempted coup against Mr Brown.

But the revelation that he has expressed such a withering assessment of Mr Brown's personal and political prospects will be seized upon by the Prime Minister's allies as evidence of disloyalty by Mr Blair.

The bitter remark about Mr Brown's 'lies' stems from a series of rows the pair had during the Blair years. Mr Blair repeatedly claimed in private that Mr Brown did not always tell him the truth.

It is not the first time Mr Blair has been accused of undermining his successor. The Mail on Sunday disclosed last year how he attacked Mr Brown in a secret memo, accusing him of a 'lamentable' and 'vacuous' performance.

In it, Mr Blair said that before he quit Downing Street in 2007, Tory leader David Cameron was 'in trouble' but that he was now on course to win power as a result of Mr Brown's 'fatal' blunders.

The memo denounced Mr Brown for 'dissing our own record' and claiming he would replace Labour 'spin' with a more 'honest' style.

Labour Members Want Brown to Go - Bring back Tony Blair!

2009-06-06T15:57:00.011+01:00

Bring back Tony Blair

Of 800 Labour Members polled by YouGov, 53% think the party would be better off if Tony Blair was still leader. I say, bring back Tony Blair.

Labour Members Want Brown to Go
From Iain Dale's blog on Saturday, 06 June 2009, 3:00 PM GMT

From Channel 4 News on Saturday, 06 June 2009:
Brown should go - say Labour members

Labour party members no longer have confidence in Gordon Brown's leadership - according to an exclusive poll carried out by Channel 4 News. In a damning verdict on the prime minister - a majority think he should step down before the next election - and more than one in five think he should go now.

Two thirds believe Mr Brown isn't able to communicate his ideas effectively to the public - and almost half think he's weak and indecisive. The survey also reveals the impact of the expenses crisis - Mr Brown's approval rating has plummeted from 77% in February to just 54% today.

That gives him the worst performance ratings in Cabinet - the only ministers with lower scores were James Purnell and Jacqui Smith - and both of them have now resigned.

But there's good news for the man widely tipped as the next Labour leader - Alan Johnson - comes top - with an approval rating of 75%. Labour members aren't impressed with the way Mr Brown has dealt with the expenses crisis either. In the survey - just one in four think he's done better than his rival party leaders - David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

And in common with the wider electorate - the scandal has put them off politicians in general - with half of party members saying none of the leaders has handled it well.

There's no comfort for the Prime Minister when it comes to his leadership qualities. Most of the members think he should have sacked Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears over their expenses earlier - before they took matters into their own hands and resigned. And less than half think reshuffling the Cabinet will do anything to strengthen the Government. In fact - 53% think the party would be better off if Tony Blair was still leader.

When it comes to a potential successor - Alan Johnson comes top of the poll - with 37% - well ahead of the second choice - David Miliband, on just 12%. But just a handful of party members believe either man could lead Labour to victory in the next General election: although slightly more believe it's possible, although unlikely, for Labour to win under Mr Johnson. And although Alastair Darling is still seen as a better Chancellor than Ed Balls - almost half of Labour members don't know - or want a different Chancellor altogether. YouGov contacted some 800 Labour party members around the country for the poll - which was carried out in the wake of Thursday's local and European elections.

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Excerpt from today's Channel 4 News Snowmail:
Krishnan here - tonight at 6.30pm how Labour members feel about Gordon Brown.

We've asked YouGov to poll Labour activists and it is pretty surprising stuff.

This is normally a group of people who are more loyal to the leadership than Labour MPs. But less than half want Gordon Brown to stay on as PM. More want him to quit either now or before the next election.

His approval rating has plummeted to 53 per cent from over 70 per cent just in February. Alan Johnson gets 75 per cent; David Miliband is on 70 per cent.

The PM is judged a weak leader by 41 per cent of Labour activists, 66 per cent think he's a bad communicator and 40 per cent say he's indecisive.

Crucially 49 per cent say he should quit if 70 MPs sign the email doing the rounds at the moment.

And Alan Johnson is the clear favourite to succeed him, followed by David Miliband.

Today has seen a lull in political activity - no resignations. But is it the calm before the storm of European election results that will deal another terrible blow to the prime minister?

Who knows whether any more big beasts will strike, or whether they have really been tied in by the reshuffle.

Interestingly our poll showed a clear majority of Labour activists think the reshuffle has either made no difference or made the situation worse.

We'll be discussing the findings with Lord Adonis - who has been promoted to transport secretary and becomes one of the seven unelected people in the Cabinet now.

Then we'll be talking to our regular panel of Polly Toynbee from the Guardian, David Hill, who used to run communications for Tony Blair and George Bridges who was David Cameron's political director for a while and worked for John Major.

Brown 'could be out by Tuesday' warns Byers as up to 100 Labour MPs call on him to quit

2009-06-05T22:22:00.002+01:00

Brown 'could be out by Tuesday' warns Byers as up to 100 Labour MPs call on him to quit

From Daily Mail by Kirsty Walker, 7:28 PM 05th June 2009

Former Cabinet minister Stephen Byers has warned Gordon Brown that his fate could be sealed by Tuesday as rebels threatened to publish the names of up to 100 Labour MPs calling on him to quit.

Arch-Blairite Mr Byers challenged backbench MPs to ask themselves whether Mr Brown would lead the party to victory or defeat at the next general election.

Mr Byers' intervention came as the 'hotmail plotters' stepped up their campaign to force the Prime Minister out of office by launching an apparently coordinated call for him to quit.

Former Cabinet Minister Stephen Byers, left, says Prime Minister Gordon Brown's fate will be decided by Monday or Tuesday

The former Transport Secretary said that MPs would 'reflect' on the results of the European Elections - expected to be devastating for Labour - before deciding whether to strike.

Mr Byers said a decision on Mr Brown's future would be reached by 'Monday or Tuesday'.

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His comments came as a string of other Labour MPs, buoyed by the shock resignation of James Purnell, took to the airwaves to plunge the knife into the Prime Minister.

They included Nick Raynsford, Paul Farrelly, Graham Allen, Graham Stringer, Siobhain McDonagh, Joan Ryan, Meg Munn, Paul Flynn, Mark Fisher and Clive Soley.

Over the next 24 hours, senior MPs - expected to include select committee chairmen and former ministers - will join the chorus of demands for him to go.

The rebels are now planning coordinated calls for the Prime Minister's resignation during a meeting of Labour backbenchers on Monday night to create a mutinous mood that will make it impossible for him to remain leader.

Many MPs, who want to add their names to calls on Mr Brown to go, have told the rebel MPs that the European election results would provide a valid reason to challenge the PM.

One Labour MP, who is involved in the plot, last night insisted that as many as 100 MPs will have signed the letter calling on him to step down by Monday.

Mr Byers said: 'I think on Monday Labour MPs will be considering a very important question - is Gordon Brown a winner or is Gordon Brown a loser?

A string of MPs have joined with James Purnell, right, in calling for Gordon Brown, left, to quit

'Can Gordon Brown lead Labour to an election victory when the General Election is called or will he lead us to defeat?'

In another day of high drama at Westminster, there was frustration among the plotters that Mr Brown aides were claiming that he had shored up his position after a string of Cabinet ministers rallied behind the Prime Minister.

One leading rebel admitted that cabinet ministers who shared their view had acted 'spinelessly' by allowing themselves to be bought off with new jobs. 'It's very disappointing', said one.

He added: 'You will see more people come out and call on Gordon to go but it will have more impact on Monday when people have had a chance to digest the outcome of the reshuffle and the European election results.

'It will then be possible for people to make their minds up when they know just how bad things are. We hope to have 90 to 100 names to publish on Monday. We are pushing our focus onto the PLP meeting on Monday evening which is now very important.'

Former minister Meg Munn, who was one of the MPs to break ranks yesterday, said: "I am very sad to say that I have come to the view that I think we should have a different leader now.

"I think that what James Purnell put in his letter was right, unfortunately. Although Gordon Brown has done a good job at the start, I don't think he is providing the sort of leadership that the country needs.

'I want Labour to continue in power and I think we need to move on with a new leader.'

Fellow MP Graham Allen said he hoped Mr Brown would 'take the honourable way out so that the party can progress with a leadership election'.

Mr Flynn added: 'We are in a situation now very similar to 1983, when we had a greatly loved and respected leader in Michael Foot but we all knew that, if he had been replaced before the election by Denis Healey, we would have had a better result.'

But leading Brownites hit back claiming that the plot had 'fizzled out' and insisted that the Prime Minister was feeling 'buoyant'.

Gordon Brown must show he commands a clear majority in his party or step down

2009-06-05T19:39:00.004+01:00

Gordon Brown must show he commands a clear majority in his party or step down.

Time runs out for Gordon Brown

From The Times, June 5 2009 19:14 GMT

At the end of the worst week of his political life, Gordon Brown is still standing – just. The question is whether he can still govern. That must be answered because, with the challenges it is facing, Britain desperately needs a government.

After a wipe-out at the polls and a walk-out from his cabinet, the prime minister’s authority is in shreds. As Friday’s bungle of a reshuffle demonstrated, Mr Brown plainly does not have the power to choose his own cabinet. Conservative leader David Cameron’s jibe that ministers were reshuffling themselves was a bull’s-eye.

Jacqui Smith, home secretary, and Hazel Blears, communities secretary, would have had to go anyway. After the expenses scandal they were damaged goods. But they chose the timing. James Purnell, telling the prime minister to step aside as he resigned as work and pensions secretary, chose the terms of debate.

That put paid to Mr Brown’s plans to put his ally, schools minister Ed Balls, into the Treasury. It would be nice to say the prime minister had followed the advice of these columns in keeping Alistair Darling as chancellor but, in truth, he had no choice. David Miliband, weakened by his half-hearted bid to unseat Mr Brown last summer, could in these circumstances dig in and refuse to give up his tenure at the Foreign Office.

Many choices Mr Brown was able to make look hollow. Bigging up Lord Mandelson’s business department is a bit like bringing the mountain to Mohammed. His signing of Sir Alan Sugar as “enterprise tsar” is a last gasp of gimmickry: government meltdown as reality TV – which is what Westminster resembled all week.

The loss of John Hutton at defence – a minister on top of his brief, with British troops at war in Afghanistan and a defence review ahead – demands proper explanation. On its sixth defence secretary, fourth foreign secretary and sixth home secretary, Labour comes across as, well, careless.

Mr Brown, for his part, evinces no sense of purpose beyond survival and shows no sense of direction beyond averting an early test at the polls. He could just limp on. It is not just party rules that make regicide difficult in the Labour party; yet again, this rebellion of all the talents has been willing to wound and yet afraid to strike.

The stench of fin de siécle round Mr Brown resembles the way John Major was undermined towards the end of his mandate. Mr Major submitted himself to a “back me or sack me” leadership contest and won. The prime minister should now do the same.

He has failed to reassert his authority in the cabinet reshuffle. He faces humiliation in the European elections. He should show he commands a clear majority in his party or step down and clear the way for a general election.

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Brown 'could be out by Tuesday' warns Byers as up to 100 Labour MPs call on him to quit

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