On:
In: Stephen Bird

Those of us of a certain vintage, will recall singing along to Edwin Starr’s anti-Vietnam war anthem in the 70s. The response was “Absolutely nuthin” but perhaps that’s not the whole truth. Apart from the armaments industry and some mercenaries who are the obvious profiteers there are those especially on the right of politics who see the “blood and soil” version of nationalism as something worth fighting for. There are also those who see war as a potential unifying factor and this sadly includes many UK Governments down through the years who have used the concept of glory and valour to their own ends. BritainRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

COP 26 has finished. On Tuesday Prince Charles and wife fly out to Jordon on first Royal Tour since our battle started with Covid 19. What happened to all his green talking at the COP? An unnecessary trip just so he can cement relationships with the Royal family in another country. A relationship that already exists and could be caught up with via phone or internet. They are really doing this to show that our Royal family are back to normal and that being British is great. The contrast between the younger generations at COP 26 and our British establishment was glaringly obvious. The youngerRead More →

On:
In: Andy Stuart, Uncategorized

It would be so easy to write about the Owen Paterson debacle, UK Government’s failures at COP26 or Boris Johnson’s irrelevance on the world stage, demonstrated by his address to a near empty hall.  However, I have attended several meetings in the last couple of weeks organised by various organisations putting together their submissions to the United Nation’s Periodic Review of the UK’s Human Rights Record.  This is the first review since 2017 when the UN Special Rapporteur Mr Stig Langvad, wrote his scathing report which said that he had found evidence that the UK Government had committed “grave and systematic violation of the rights of personsRead More →

On:
In: Aileen Orr

Watching COP26, and the hypocrisy I suspect will be much discussed after the scheduled benefits.  We all have a duty to curtail emissions, but how many of us actually go through the motions.  I would love to buy an electric car and ditch my diesel, but try being a pensioner and asking for a bank loan! However, few of us have the world watching what we do and whether you’re a world leader, broadcaster or weel kent face, it’s hard to hide the differences yet hard not to be frustrated by the double standards of the wealthy nations dictating to the poor, we all mayRead More →