The Iraq Inquiry
I can’t see the point to the Iraq Inquiry.
Never has so much hot air and money been wasted on so much to generate so little. Well possibly the Inquiry into Bloody Sunday has wasted a lot more and all of the money wasted would have far better been spent on the victims.
But that is only the start to this pointless inquiry, which will not find anybody guilty and never get anywhere near the truth. Probably, in my view, because the truth isn’t actually written down and it is much more a cock-up by lightweight incompetents, rather than any conspiracy.
You have to ask why Tony Blair was the politician and his wife was the lawyer. Perhaps she had the brains to earn the money and he had the style to convince the average man in the street. Could he convince the average judge and jury? He gave up the Bar too soon for anybody to find out.
But what really gets me about the Iraq Inquiry is that the best daytime radio programme of the week, the Mayo/Kermode film review has been cancelled.
Shame on the BBC for giving us endless drivel instead of entertainment. I doubt more than a dozen people outside the Westminster circle are listening. And that is the problem with British politics. It’s them in control and us what pays for it!
The Pen is Mightier than the Sword
Well! Perhaps I should say Bomb.
The government has now raised the security threat from substantial to severe.
Without wishing to be too flippant, can this be anything to do with the fact that we will have to have an election in the next few months. Obviously, terrorism and the fear of it, can be considered to be a vote winner for the incumbent.
But we are fighting these criminals in totally the wrong way.
At least though, some are using humour.
Chris Morris has made a jihadist comedy called Four Lions. It is premiered today at the Sundance Film Festival. I hope it succeeds. Note there is a clip on the first link.
And then there is Jihad, The Musical.
We need more of this satire. But not just against so-called Muslim criminals, but anybody else who really has a warped sense of what the world should be like. How about The Graduate II featuring another Mrs. Robinson? Or Don’t Make a Monkey out of Me with Sarah Palin?
Unfair Trials Abroad
My late wife was a barrister and I’m proud to have lots of lawyers and judges amongst my friends. If ever I ended up in a court in the UK, I would suspect that I’d get a fair trial.
But! Is it that way abroad? Just take the case of Garry Mann, which has been well documented by Fair Trials International. An English judge has said that his trial was a travesty, but now he will be deported to Portugal to serve a two year sentence.
And there is nothing that the English Courts can do about it, as our human rights have been signed away by this stupid government.
Who do I Support in Angola?
It is strange the rules you apply to decide which team to support in the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
Take Egypt against Nigeria.
Egypt is a country, where I enjoyed a good gluten-free holiday at Luxor and is somewhere I’ll go to again. Nigeria on the other hand is a country I’ve never visited and from which I get endless spam, named after article 419 in their penal code. (To be fair to Nigeria, they are doing their best to stop the spam!)
But I supported Nigeria for no apparent reason!
Now, I’m watching Benin against Mozambique.
Here it’s Mozambique.
I was in Trinidad and happened to be staying at a hotel, where there was a Speakers’ Conference of all the Commonwealth countries. At breakfast I was in the queue with a guy whose badge said he was an official of the Mozambique parliament!
But then they aren’t in the Commonwealth are they?
Oh yes they are! And when I questioned the guy about it, he told me how important the Commonwealth were to his country in providing aid and specialist advisors. He made some comment about the Commonwealth sending a sole advisor who knew his stuff, whilst the UN sent one who didn’t with a useless entourage.
Another thing I remember at this conference was Betty Boothroyd, who was doing a sterling job at making everybody’s time a good and productive one. She was always immaculately dressed and at breakfast I asked my wife, a barrister, who was the scruffy bloke with Miss Boothroyd. She choked on her muesli, laughed and said it was Derry Irving. He was definitely second class to Miss Boothroyd!
Here’s to you Mrs. Robinson!
Peter Robinson is not a person I warm to.
I should say that a lot of this is coloured by his predecessor the Reverend Ian Paisley, who was not a person I’d have allowed into my address book. As an atheist, I have a lot of respect for many religious leaders, but Paisley, his obscene views, vile rhetoric and his aggressive stance towards those who disagree with him, just mean that only a bigot can respect him.
But I did feel a bit sorry for Peter Robinson, when it became known that his wife had had an affair with a nineteen-year-old boy.
However after reading his view on homosexuality on Wikipedia.
On 30 October 2008 in his first extensive interview as First Minister interview for Hearts and Minds for BBC Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson publicly endorsed the controversial view, also shared by his wife Iris Robinson, that homosexuality was against Christian theology.
Robinson said: “It wasn’t Iris Robinson who determined that homosexuality was an abomination, it was The Almighty. This is the Scriptures. It is a strange world indeed where somebody on the one hand talks about equality, but won’t allow Christians to have the equality, the right to speak, the right to express their views.”
The comments angered LGBT Christian groups throughout the UK. Also, the Christian Bible also condemns adultery, which Mr Robinson’s 60 year old wife has recently publicly admitted to with a 19 year old Roman Catholic man – this admission only came after a BBC investigation.
The Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister is tasked with promoting “better community relations” and “a culture of equality and rights” in Northern Ireland, including for Christians and gay people.
There is a quote “As you sow, so shall you reap” from Galatians VI.
At the present, Peter Robinson is declining to resign. Here’s a quote of his on allowing the IRA to join the democratic process.
You don’t corrupt the democratic process in the hopes that terrorists might toe the line. To get into this club, you have to accept the rules of the club. You give up your weaponry, you accept democratic and peaceful means — and that entitles you to be part of the democratic process.
It is alleged that he broke the rules, by not declaring his wife’s financial interests and is now under pressure by his party to resign.
I will not be sorry to see him go.
The next installment is on Panorama tonight. Will I watch it? Probably not! The pair of them are not worth the time that could be better spent on something else.
Malcolm Turnbull
I had never really heard much about Malcolm Turnbull, who was the leader of the Australian Liberal Party. But he wrote a thoughtful article in The Times on Sunday. The title says it all, It’s reckless to be a sceptic on global warming.
He makes some interesting points. Take these key paragraphs.
I recognise that many people are sceptical about the science. But as Margaret Thatcher pointed out 20 years ago, this is an exercise in risk management. Given that the consequences of unchecked global warming would be catastrophic, responsible leaders should give the planet the benefit of the doubt. Few of us imagine our house is going to burn down tonight, but most of us will have taken out insurance.
So the political or indeed moral issue is not whether you are totally convinced by the climate change thesis, but what you propose to do about it. Being sceptical about climate change is not unreasonable; doing nothing about it is reckless.
He’s right. Those that advocate doing nothing are just plain wrong.
He also makes the point that most climate change deniers have their youth behind them. That is curious or is it that they have saved for and want to enjoy their retirement and then all these restrictions come along and ruin it.
I certainly am no climate change denier and know we must cut emissions. But we should do it in a scientifically correct way, that will deliver large cuts, so that we leave our descendants the maximum benefit.
Politicians Have Little Effect
I found an article, by Matthew Paris in The Times on Saturday, entitled What have politicians done for them? Zilch.
He was referring to Malawi and Zimbabwe and it is a profound article by someone who writes with thought and also knows that part of Africa.
What with the farcical non-binding agreement at Copenhagen and Prudence’s efforts to try to help the economy, I would suspect that it doesn’t just apply to Africa.
Hot Air in Copenhagen
So today, the big climate change conference starts in Copenhagen. Yawn! Yawn!
I’m cynical anything of any substance will emerge.
Prudence bashes on about how he is at the forefront of reducing our energy use, but this article in the Telegraph says otherwise.
These are two paragraphs from the article.
His former chief scientist Professor Sir David King said he frequently urged Downing Street to spend money on energy saving measures in order to create jobs and cut carbon – but was repeatedly ignored.
And in a separate interview with the Daily Telegraph, the world’s top environmental watchdog Achim Steiner, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), also said the Labour Government failed to “pick the low hanging fruit” of insulating homes and investing in renewable energy.
Typical Prudence, all waffle and bluster, and absolutely no substance. He doesn’t even have any style.
But I’m totally against this sort of junket. It should be done remotely by electronic means, with perhaps two or three important people from each country in Copenhagen to dot i’s and cross t’s.
Ed Miliband and Disposable Nappies
Ed Miliband is getting a lot of criticism over using disposable nappies on his six-year-old son. Here’s the Independent.
This is absolutely right!
We used proper nappies for all our three sons. I know it was around 1970, but the pressure to use disposable ones was even then great from the manufacturers. I must admit, that we did use a disposable liner in the nappies, but this meant that you saved on the washing as the nappies weren’t so dirty. Tricks like this make proper nappies much cheaper and more environmentally friendly than disposables, which make up four percent of all household waste and end up in landfill.
The real luxury though was for the last baby, where we used a nappy service. You just put the dirty nappies in a bucket and a cheery guy collected them as he returned the freshly laundered ones. Much easier than anything else!
I think that I’ve heard that some councils are subsidising nappy services to cut the disposable ones going into landfill. If they aren’t, they should look at it.
Shame on you Miliband!
The Anonymous Widower 