Rats Spotted Leaving Sinking Ship

If Blair were Julius Caesar he'd be looking like a pincushion by the time they're finished with him. Hain and Benn it's not really a surprise - for New Labour ministers they're tolerable human beings, but they still have to answer the question why they helped prop Blair up when it suited their careers.

Bill you are entirely right, each and everyone of those splineless toadies, must be held personally responsible for their support of the poodle.
I just hope that local Laour party members will now take a more positive role in their local MPs actions. Having seen what happens when they are left to their own sheeplike wanderings.
As for Yvette Cooper, come the revolution round our way, it's going to be her pegged out on the nearest roof instead of some innocent solar panel!

Dog ate my homework Sir.

Yes, yes and yes !

Bill, your advice is good. Electing MPs purely on domestic matters should be a thing of the past, but ain't yet. Seem to remember TB got in that way, which ISa lesson.
As MPs do vote on WAR and PEACE, the electorate has to think about that too, and demand higher standards.

Democracy is not given on a plate, it is taken !

The spineless and thoughtfree MPs are a reflection of those that elect them. My first impression of TB was the mental age of an earnest 18yr old,who had not done much 'thinking'. Proved Accurate .

A local girl, PhD economics, etc, was in London 2003 for the European Commission, and amazed at the jingoistic francophobe reception she met. So there were a million on the streets, and millions more looking forward to a vicarious punchup.

The brits seem easily convinced , and easily swayed by meaningless speeches, a far cry from my father's generation who did 6 years and voted Labour in 45.

Here in france we have another back-tracker . In september Sarkozy was in the US apologising for french "arrogance" in not following bush to war, now changing his tune... Up to us to remind the rest what sort of creature he is.

Same thing on economics. Hilary Benn looks a nice guy, but his DiFD is right into robbing africa with PFIs and expansion of brit 'consultants' and 'investors'. All fine words on top, and slime underneath.

Their voting records on the matter, are however, a matter of record...

Most recently these 2 votes - here and here.

There is just as much blood on the hands of Tony's once loyal Nu Labour stormtroopers, as on the hands of the man himself.

I was only obeying orders.

A by no means comprehensive list of citizens rights LOST through government legislation:

Rights to privacy.

Confidentiality of financial and other records.

Confidentiality of medical records.

Double jeopardy rule.

Rights to privacy of communications.

Presumption of innocence.

Security of property.

Right to a jury trial.

Suspects rights in custody.

Freedom of association.

Freedom of expression.

Freedom from arbitrary arrest.

Presumption of innocence. (again).

The right to know the evidence and charges/accusations against you.

The right to a fair trial or, indeed, any trial.

Rights to privacy/freedom from surveillance.

Right to silence.

Rights to peaceful protest.

Rights to peaceful assembly.

Freedom of movement.

Scource

And of course, every right lost to the citizen is a right gained by the state!!!

The same Peter Hain who…..

Voted against the war? Watched other cabinet ministers resign on principle? Has always thought the war and tactics totally wrong? Decided to stay in government? Who voted against an inquiry into the criminal war approval process?

Who now feels confident enough to speak out and try and wash his hands of responsibility?

So you didn’t agree with the war, you knew it was wrong and saw Robin Cook and Clare Short show you the correct course of action, yet you stayed in government. You have collected your money while soldiers are dying for your government. You swapped your integrity, self respect and credibility for the perks of high office. When the people you were elected to represent wanted an inquiry you voted against. Why would someone who opposed the decision to go to war and its conduct want to stop a public inquiry? Surely it would have justified your own personal view and your government surely has nothing to hide has it?

You opposed the inquiry to save your corrupt government in an act of pure self-interest. You fucking coward. Spineless wankers like you are the reason British troops are dying in a war started by wilful criminal deceit. Maybe if one more minister had the morals of Cook and Short the war could have been avoided. Greed over responsibility, spin over honesty and then shirk the responsibility. You need to write to every family of those killed and injured and apologise for betraying our armed forces, no bollocks about spreading democracy or war on terror, just beg their forgiveness.

Yes you will resign. I thought I better spell it out as you will get no guidance on the decent thing to do from those around you in cabinet. All so Gordon Brown, your new boss if you play ball, can try and pretend it was nothing to do with anyone but Tony. In the real world, away from Westminster, your actions are viewed as those of a worthless individual, with not a scrap of common decency; a coward.

You accepted the responsibility of government that sent troops to their death when you knew it was wrong, help suppress the truth and now confess publicly how it was nothing to do with you. Unless you haven’t noticed they are still there mate. You should be charged with something serious, very serious.

Be under no illusion it was Bliar's war, Labour's war with help from the Tory's who remain scared of doing the right thing.

Honesty ? Consistency ? Decency ? Truth from Peter Hain?

If you are expecting any of these qualities from the wannabe New Labour Deputy Party Leader (and he hopes Deputy PM)will be as disapointed as Bathsheba Everdebne was with the swash and buckle of Sergeant Troy. His latest dishonesty (of many) is best described as follows.

Mr Peter Hain appointed Mrs Bertha McDougall as Interim Commissioner for Victims and Survivors of the Troubles last year.

Bertha is is the widow of a police reservist killed by the INLA (Dirty Catholic bastards) in 1981 and her appointment and the method of appointment was challenged by Brenda Downes, whose husband Sean was killed by an RUC (Dirty Prod bastards) plastic bullet in west Belfast in 1984.

Having reviewed the appointment Mr Justice Girvan taking the role of Solomon, said the appointment of Bertha McDougall by Mr Peter Hain, was in breach of "the accepted merit norms concerning public appointments" and he also called for a high-level inquiry.

Mr Justice Girvan held that Mr Hain had been motivated by an improper political purpose, namely a confidence-building gesture to the DUP. (What they used to call gerrymandering)

The judge ruled Mr Hain had failed to take account of the fact there was no evidential basis for concluding that Mrs McDougall would command cross-community support....which doesn't need a degree in post conflict studies in Northern Ireland to work out.

What this means , is Peter Hain has been caught bang to rights in the process of hornswoggling, influence peddling, public office jiggery pokery to buy off Ian Paisley's DUP in the vain hope this would help buy their support for political agreement on power sharing with the IRA Sinn Fein.

Don't hold yer breath that an enquiry is going to start real soon now. Don't get me going ...as I was going to mention his silence on the Question Time panel when the matter of the Israeli cluster bombing of the Lebanon, the killing of civilians on an industrial scale etc., was left to happen by the Dear Leader as the Cabinet sat silently ...etc., etc.,

Lifesastumblingblock

I just read the "Rights lost" page you linked to, in it's entirety.

And people worry about the BNP?

CSHM

Thing is is appears to be a global phenomena too.

Statewatch article

Surely there must be more to life than their stupid draconian artificial restrictions? What are the people that make these stupid artificial draconian restrictions so afraid of.. is it because people might twig that the people that make these artificial stupid draconian restrictions are actually making stupid draconian artificial restrictions? I have my suspicions you know!!

Sometimes I wonder who the real terr-ists are!!!

Never liked: communism, socialism, fascism, ic,s, ishs, ian,s (some ian's ok) or ist's but Dance is fucking cool....;)

Something completely different

lifesa

Thanks for the links. Really enjoyed the something different. My brother lives in Oz, so he'll be able to make better use of it than me.

Have you noticed on your 'never liked' list, they all say the same thing? ... Control Freaks. That's what you really mean isn't it: never liked control freaks. What could be more control-freakish in British experience than what we have now? Yeah ok - what's coming. I know.

It's the job of our poltical showmen (Hain, Benn et al.)to provide the illusion of dissent and debate. In reality there are no disagreemnts on the principle of pre-emptive aggression, and there are no regrets for the violence they've unleashed on the lives of millions.

Blair's done his best to reconstruct the world in the interests of Halliburton, Bechtel, BP and Exxon Mobil. His successors, Labour or Tory, will do the same. Concentration of wealth and political power will see to that, and while incumbents change, institutions remain stable. The roots of foreign policy lie in the interlocking, strategic needs of financial/corporate oligarchies, primary of which is the need to control Persian Gulf oil. This is unlikely to change.

So we can look forward to a superfical change in the floor show of the Parliamentary circus, but while we're being distracted by the magicians flourishes the men who own the turnstiles will be ensuring that the spectators are kept off the floor of the arena.

What does "Labour has to admit IT IS errors..." mean, anyway...?

Anti-Nazi turncoat Peter Hain talks about the most right wing administration in history. Imagine my surprise when the word American popped out of his filthy mouth and not the word British.

Anti Nazi Hain..?

When Labour hacks posture as 'anti-nazis' or 'anti racists' we should be careful to understand what they really mean. They've never objected to genuine Nazi style regimes in Central and South America (Chile, Brazil, Argentina), in fact they've always been rather supportive of the Washington consensus in that region. Remember, most of the South American countries that implemented 'Thatcher' style economic reforms in the 70's and 80' where run by fascist/military dictatorships.

What they're claiming to fight is lowbrow, yobbish racism. The kind of 'Alf Garnett' vulgarity that nearly everyone finds obnoxious anyway. But this kind of yobbery is mostly a kind of surface phenomena, a product of centuries of imperial violence. Any junior minister can object to this stuff, and not risk upsetting powerful interests.

Of course, these same 'anti racists' are quite happy to eulogise the British Empire and to support fascism in Latin America. It's just another scam.