today

He now says he's forgotten it.Kate Ady said that she had never heard of anybody forgetting a £5 religious donation, or going to the vestry afterwards for a receipt so as to stick the donation on the taxpayer.

IMO: My wife gave a donation at a temple for the Lord Ganesh recently and she is taking great time and trouble to make sure it gets there. But presumably MPs just throw other people's money around without thought. On June 4 vote UKIP or anything but Labor or Tory, (and Libdems are hardly any better).

I'm speaking of course about Simon Singh. Briefly, the Uk "Observer" says "The learned judge (Eady) did not seem to understand that the worst thing about the deluded is that they sincerely believe every word they say. On Eady's logic, a writer who condemns as "bogus" a neo-Nazi's claim that a conspiracy of Jews controls American foreign policy could be sued successfully if lawyers jumped up and said neo-Nazis sincerely believed their conspiracy theories to be true.

The consequences of letting the libel law loose on scientific debate are horrendous. Science proceeds by peer review. A researcher's colleagues must submit his or her ideas to scrutiny without fear of the consequences. If they think they could lose their homes and savings in the libel courts, however, they will back off."

IMO: Maybe high court judges' expenses, emoluments and related perks should be put through even more scrutiny - just as we have recently found with MPs. Briefly, some of Eady's earlier judgements look unsound to me. Further we have had judges with Alzheimers, judges who are sex perverts and many, many judges who plainly do not understand science or medicine - right up to the point where innocent persons - in at least one case a lawyer - have been given long prison sentences. Almost certainly some UK judges should be locked up, in prison or even mental asylums.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts appear to have much the same effect on a sewer line as they do on a human artery. Citing goop-clogged pipes, Fairfax County is looking to recoup millions of dollars from the confectionery giant, claiming yeast and grease dumped at the company’s Lorton plant destroyed the surrounding sewer system.

Fairfax County, USA sent Krispy Kreme a $1.9 million bill for the cost of repairing the system — the result of years of discharging “excessive quantities of highly corrosive wastes, doughnut grease and other pollutants” into the sewer, according to the suit. The suit details problems with the plant dating as far back as 2004, describing a sewer facility permeated by the smell of doughnuts, pipes clogged with corrosive slime and the resulting raw sewage leaks that eventually shut down the southern Fairfax sewer system.

Test results from last year showed the plant’s wastewater had “extremely high levels of pollutants,” according to the lawsuit, which asks for penalties as high as $17 million on top of the repair bill.

IMO: I had said earlier "Perhaps it would be best to ban Krispy Kreme from Australia entirely" and this sort of things may well - FAIK - show the way Krispy Kreme seems to operate. It takes a long time for this sort of thing to be sorted out in the USA - I recall that not so long ago a hamburger chain killed quite a few people by food poisoning in Arizona, New Mexico etc before the US authorities did anything. And of course, who can forget Bhopal, Enron, Dow Chemical ... etc ... the names go on and on.

Kapil Sibal said "Nothing is static. We have to march forward to be able to compete at the international level".

IMO: How very wise and true.

Programmes in the education sector initiated by previous HRD Minister Arjun Singh will not be scrapped, Kapil Sibal today said as he assumed charge as HRD Minister. After taking over, Sibal said the policies and programmes started by the HRD Ministry during last five years will be continued with modifications "as required".

The "Economic Times" says that "human resource development ministry has finally got a proactive Cabinet minister in Kapil Sibal, known to have a modern outlook to reforms in education. In his very first statement to ET Sibal made it clear he would give equal weightage to both “quality and access” while reforming the education system. This is particularly needed in higher education where quality has suffered because of the previous regime’s refusal to accept best practices. The HRD ministry disregarded constructive suggestions from the Knowledge Commission set up by the PMO. The commission said the higher education system needed around 1,500 universities nationwide, that would enable India to attain a gross enrolment ratio of at least 15% by 2015."

IMO: Fair enough to the idea that India needs 1500 new Universities, one of which is highly likely to be mine. As India is a developing nation it obviously needs my contribution.

But the "Economic Times" also says "A completely outdated regulatory regime run largely by babus created huge stumbling blocks to foreign universities wanting to enter India. Hopefully, the new HRD minister will jettison the old ways and make India’s higher education robust and benchmark it with the best globally. This will help upgrade skills at a time when India is trying to insulate itself from the impact of global recession."

IMO: Well I am not necessarily sure of all that. Undue foreign influence is not advised, but India certainly needs 1500 new Universities. But India is a tolerant Hindu nation. So-called "faith schools" or "Christian universities" may spread foreign dogma. Independent education, allowing the traditional Hindu virtues including abstinence from alcohol and cigarettes, the strong encouragement of vegetarianism, freedom of worship etc should be almost a prerequisite. Our own "Institute for Fundamental Studies" which concentrates on postgraduate research, has prominently in its small Mumbai headquarters, idols of the Lord Shiva, Parvati, Hanuman and others. But when appropriate, freethinkers, sceptics and other relevant researchers are also welcomed and encouraged. To briefly sum it up, universities like say Columbia, and scholars like, for example John Baez, might be encouraged, but some perhaps may be inopportune.

Apparently racist Sonia had said "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

And John Cornyn apparently disagrees with Rush Limbaugh and even Newt Gingrich ! He says : "I thinks its terrible".

IMO: God bless America - but please God, try to keep well clear, surely 3 days in hell was bad enough, never mind USA.

IMO: Best now seems to be to vote UKIP. Just to ensure an EU referendum at least, and hopefully a later clean up of Westminster, along lines suggested by Libdem Clegg. TV observation of all Westminster and other such methods could help as well. I thought of standing for Parliament myself as I could do with the money.



The Wall St. Journal says "A recent poll of 1,800 Britons by the YouGov polling agency found that 19% planned to vote for the U.K. Independence Party, which wants Britain out of the EU and advocates a tough line on immigration. The UKIP vote appears to have been boosted by a humiliating scandal ravaging the major parties in Parliament, in which legislators were found to have billed anything from chocolate bars to mortgages to the taxpayer. The ruling Labour Party polled no more than UKIP at 19%, while the Conservatives also disappointed at 28%."

India has officially taken delivery of an Awacs early-warning surveillance aircraft. The plane, Russian-made but packed with Israeli radar, is expected to reinforce India's maritime security following the attacks on Mumbai last year.

India has ordered another two AWACS as it upgrades its military capabilities.

The Ilyushin-76 - which arrived in India on Monday - gives India the capability to track hundreds of aircraft and potential threats at sea and on the ground, at considerable distances. India is the first country in South Asia to own an Awacs (Airborne Warning and Control System) plane, popularly nicknamed the "eye in the sky". The second and third aircraft are expected to be handed over next year.

IMO: Only 6 other nations (US, Russia, Britain, Japan, Australia and Turkey) have a fully sophisticated AWACS system and it is very expensive but we certainly need it, especially after the recent Mumbai and other attacks. People do not want to arrive at somewhere like the Gateway of India and then be attacked by mindless Pakistani thugs. That is not a complaint about Pakistan as such, and we can only hope that the US can tidy up Pak so it may eventually be admitted to the India Free Trade Area, a source of benefit to all. Pak may then even be helped to open its own SEZs. But that will take Pak some time yet.

Rifle shoots round corners.

This uses a laser rangefinder to find where the corner is and then the firer estimates how far round the corner the sniper etc. is. Then the XM-25's computer calculates the exact angle the weapon's barrel should be elevated to in order to lob a 25mm explosive mini-shell through the selected point in space. The shell in the XM-25's breech gets its electronic time fuse precisely set by a wireless transmission from the smartgun computer at the instant it is fired. It flies out on the calculated ballistic arc and explodes exactly in the chosen spot. You can take out the target at $25 per XM round as opposed to a $20,000 to $50,000 JDAM.

IMO: Great idea, sounds easy enough to use, could also lower civilian casualties. May need some improvements, current spec here.

Just as those in the West, who kowtow to greed and extravagance by purchasing Chinese goods, while Chinese money leads to the continued deaths, torture and persecution of the Tamils in Sri Lanka should know better, so too has North Korean greed at least temporarily apparently saved the world from yet another nuclear holocaust - according to refugees.

"All Kim Jong-il thinks about is himself and because of that, he won't start a war," said Cho, a North Korean defector, echoing the comments of several others.

IMO: Kim Jong-il is sick and will probably soon die. What about those who succeed him ? May they not find that a hard line suits their interests ? Greed is not good.

IMO: Once again we see the UN taking no action against evident injustices. The West are "selling their souls for a mess of pottage" - or in this case cheap fairly needless Chinese consumer goods. The world can stand firm - and must do, if it is to even survive.

The conflicts in Sri Lanka and Pakistan have added to human rights abuses in Asia this year, Amnesty International said in its annual report Thursday.

As the global economic downturn bites, Amnesty said millions of migrant workers in China who have lost their jobs face "an uncertain future".

Amnesty expressed concern at the plight of the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Sri Lanka fighting and the two million people displaced by the Pakistan army's offensive on the Taliban.

Amnesty said Chinese forces originally detained more than 1,000 people over the unrest in Tibet in March last year and "hundreds remained in detention or were unaccounted for" at the end of 2008.

Amnesty chief Irene Khan called on countries doing business with China to make respect for human rights a condition of trade.

"We are not asking countries to stop trading with China, we are asking them to use their leverage," Khan said. "We have seen that China is not immune to pressure or public opinion."

UK Tory leader David Cameron would welcome some key technological changes to the way that Parliament makes its business available to the public. That is just one thrust of proposals for modernising government, which he set out in a speech to the Open University in Milton Keynes, yesterday.

IMO: That is a mininum surveillance requirement. At the very least, details of all Westminster meetings should be televised and all bars or retreats in Parliament House where alcoholic liquors may be imbibed, should be televised as well, just as security cameras are used on road users. We all want to keep track, as well as we can as to how the criminals at Westminster are wasting our money and drinking themselves to death in the process. The worst drunks could be made to join alcoholics anonymous and/or fired, for the sake of the nation and the good of their health. Many more such useful practices could also be adopted. Watching your drunken MP on Youtube could become an interesting national pastime, particularly educative to young children.

Anonymous asked:

'I am at a loss as to why Gordon Brown’s expense claims have not come under more scrutiny. This guy while he was Chancellor chose to live in his own flat in London instead of Downing Street - probably costing us unnecessary additional security costs - with all the running costs charged to us. Shortly before he becomes PM he has a new kitchen fitted in the flat at a cost of around £9000, but as £9k would take him over the ACA limit for the year he splits the cost in two and charges it over 2 years. No sooner has he done that he then transfer the property into his wife’s name. His wife now has a lovely renovated flat at our expense. Why transfer the property to your wife if it is not for tax planning/house flipping? He then flips his second home to North Queensferry where he charges us for all the running costs there, such as gardeners, cleaners, Sky Sports. All this while living in 10 Downing Street and Chequers for NOTHING and earning £194000 a year. Yet somehow this is a non story.'

IMO: The metaphor is: We have three criminal gangs, who come around to our homes on a pretext and steal our possessions from our houses. Then the three gangleaders say "We are reformed now, and want to call again soon". Are we mugs enough to let ANY of them back ?

IMO: Presumably we need a government, especially after the police murders and violence at demos. So we will eventually have to give power to one of these criminal gangs, or possibly a consortium. Clearly a police or army run state is not wanted in the UK - yet. Therefore what we can do is to VOTE on June 4th, but not for one of the three gangs of crooks. Libertas is beginning to sound like the best choice but it is probably important to vote, but NOT Labor, or Tory. Libdem will not win at a general election, so they would be the best of the three, if regrettably anyone wants to vote for any of them.

Sri Lanka is to clash with Western powers at the United Nations Human Rights Council today in an effort to ward off any investigation into alleged war crimes committed during its military offensive against the Tamil Tigers.

IMO: Human rights should come ahead of petty national interests, which history shows us usually do not survive anyway. The chief culprits seem to be the Chinese, who have systematically financed human rights abuse in Sri Lanka with desire for commercial gain

Two dead already in Punjab. Curfew was imposed in at three cities of Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur. Traffic on the national highway and train services have been disruppted. Protesters also burnt down a train at Dakola near here but one was reported injured.

IMO: In my experience the Sikhs and Muslims seem to use any excuse for a riot. We found this in Southall, England earlier until the Brits left and the place was filled with Sikhs and Muslims. Even that detente is breaking down in Pak, where the Sikhs are currently having a bad time. This sort of thing would make you vote BNP on June 4th, but for the fact that at present the BNP are keen to attract Sikhs ! And that has been so typical of BNP in the past. Obviously, not all Sikhs and Muslims are like that. Not a simple matter, but another problem where India bears up reasonably but the UK is ghastly. So much more could be said.

I understand that commentators say that the English looking people on the front of the BNP leaflet are actually American businessmen.

What is worse, it seems that Obama is now alleged to be saying "Thank you, Satan" all over the USA - though not by the BNP so far. Video here, explanation here.

All we now need is a video of Douglas Cameron chanting "Thank you, Satan" or similar.

IMO: Yes, it can be arranged. Maybe all the existing Westminster MPs are saying "Thank you, Satan" already. They should be thanking Satan, bearing in mind their grossly excessive remuneration.

Boris Johnson has announced plans that he hopes will make the city the electric vehicle capital of Europe

A report by analyst Frost and Sullivan has suggested that in order to promote widespread use of EVs, governments must “ensure the availability of at least four charging points per EV in the first year”. If the analysis is correct then London alone will need 250,000 charge points by 2015, rather than the GLA's projected 25,000.

IMO: There are other snags, also, including up to 30-40% power loss during electricity distribution. Could be best to use buses and trains in London - probably much more efficient. Also many of these charging points are likely to be 13A, which will take hours for vehicles of current size and weight. Old Ken Livingstone seems to have been on a better wicket - charge the cars out of existence in London. It hurts, but Bangladesh for example will not be too pleased when it is submerged in water due to London wasters. The world is a small place today. Whose fault ? Government corruption and inadequate planning. All Western Governments are hopelessly corrupt, as the current Westminster swindles indicate.

This blog was removed from UK Telegraph website apparently because of lawyers (Withers) but currently can be reached here, in Google cache. Anyone interested in UK press freedom may wish to retain a copy.

IMO: BBC reporters say the blog is worth reading and it is certainly interesting. I'm not sure that such blogs should be censored like this, and in a way that is reminiscent of Parliament's own attempt to fudge politician's expenses. Jack Straw, whom I have not seen for decades and then only met briefly, was described by my wife as looking in newspaper photos like a Marathi villain and surely he was one of the causes of the holdup. He does arrange replies to emails promptly and sensibly in my more recent experience. I feel that the requirement to remove the blog (apparently by the Telegraph's owners) and the blog itself both have an element of quirkiness and idiosyncrasy. For example Dorries' comments on Esther Rantzen may serve as a test of general accuracy for anyone who deals with her. When I dated Esther she seemed OK but I preferred her mother, perhaps a little old and regrettably long dead now. As for the UKIP, I did not care for their recent leaflet but presumably they have limited funds - which hardly suggests massive backing by the Barclay twins. Anyway if I were Dorries I seriously would try to publish the blog elsewhere instead.

Nadine Dorries likened the Daily Telegraph's campaign to a witch-hunt. The atmosphere at Westminster has become so "unbearable" due to expenses revelations that a suicide is feared, one MP named in the row has warned. Tory Nadine Dorries, who the Daily Telegraph said only spends weekends and holidays in her designated main home, warned MPs were "beginning to crack". But Labour's Stephen Pound said MPs did not deserve sympathy, adding: "It's nobody's fault except our own.


IMO: Dorries is either playing to the gallery, is unbelievably naive, or more likely simply has lost touch with reality. Apparently she finally realises that the Tories won't get any votes from all this. I would never vote for such a person as Dorries who seems to openly confess mental instability within the Tory party. When I think of the poor people in the UK, some starving and dying of cold in the winter, the bashings and knifings by the unemployed, the beatings and buggery by the "faith schools" brigade, the drunkeness and usage of cheap Afghan cocaine everywhere in the UK, inspired by Dick Cheney and others of his ilk and all the rest of it - the idea of being overburdened with worry about the possible suicide of a Tory MP because he had claimed too much for his expenses, seems droll and laughable at best. And there is no sane comparison between the truthful revelations of MP fraud and corruption in the UK with McCarthyism. Probably unlike Nadine Dorries, I do know something of McCarthyism and more than one innocent victim of it- she is just talking complete rot. This sort of thing does harm to Westminster and probably Dorries should have the whip withdrawn from her if she keeps it up. Without being unfair, some newspaper pictures of Dorries during her rhetoric and pictures of a pig having its dinner removed from it could be placed in the Private Eye with switched captions - though I am too polite to send them in.

Tamils had been the favored class when the British ruled this island, then called Ceylon. After independence in 1948, the dominant Sinhalese excluded them from key jobs and education opportunities and banned any official use of the Tamil language.


Sri Lanka declared victory in its 26-year civil war on Tuesday after killing or capturing the last of the Tigers. Britain, the EU and Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, have called for an investigation into allegations that both sides committed war crimes repeatedly, including firing on civilians. These crimes were allegedly sponsored with Chinese money.

European Union states are struggling to raise more than 17 votes on the 47-member Human Rights Council, dominated by a bloc led by China and Russia that has frequently prevented inquiries into human rights.

The US, which was elected to the Council last week after ending its boycott of the body, does not become a voting member until next month but is expected to speak at the meeting and could share its evidence with undecided members, diplomats said.

If the UN fails to back a war crimes inquiry Washington could use the images and others from commercial sources as evidence in its investigation, according to human rights activists.

IMO: It would be good if some of these war crimes are rectified and the culprits heavily punished, particularly the Russians and Chinese. Hopefully a lot of Sinhalese at least will go to jail for long periods of time, especially as they still do not seem to have stopped their evil activities. India has been also been affected very badly by Russian and Chinese human rights abuses. It is only recently that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has been quelled by Trinamool Congress, a centrist party which however welcomes support by any genuine if misguided socialists who are not simply Marxists or Maoists. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has been illegal for some time now, and its members are shot on sight by police. These CPI organisations were allowed legality for awhile as India respects the freedom of individuals, but this sometimes feels a bit like letting the Guantanimo detainees free in a US suburban shopping mall, rather than somewhere like Qatar. I blame colonialism by USA, Russia and now China, and largely formerly the UK.. These uncivilised nations should be curbed in their harmful activities. China is worst, and often not understanding the bad effects of some of its activities on its own citizens, is the most needed to be disciplined.

Rumours I hear suggest that it will be July 15th, 2009 - or thereabouts. This is well after June 4th, the results of which are unlikely to suit either party.

IMO: The Labor party should have done their best to stay in as long as possible to complete their manifesto requirements. However Brown is obviously too weak a leader to do this. The last thing we want during the present depression is a Tory Government. We have been disgracefully let down by both major parties. The continued existence of the worthless floating 'Duckpond and Moat Tory Party'- and its leaders - is an insult to human dignity. The Tories won't improve, they are old dogs without any new tricks but just sociopathological lies. Even Norman Tebbit sees this.

Israel's domestic intelligence agency issued a rare public warning on Monday that terror groups were using popular social networking Web sites like Facebook to recruit, and possibly kidnap, Israeli citizens.

The Shin Bet said in its statement it had "received many reports of terror groups approaching Israelis on the internet offering to recruit them… and possibly kidnap them".

IMO: And probably anyone else might be kidnapped too. I think this must be regarded as more serious than some shock-jock style internet announcements, such as Susan Greenfield's comments on the mentally debilitating effect of internet use. It is possibly at least as serious as the regrettably extremely common use of internet and mobile phones to groom youngsters for sex abuse, torture, and murder.

The MP for Redcar is to fly to Italy to hold talks about the future of under-threat steelworks Corus. Ms Baird said: "I am hopeful before these talks but I know my Redcar constituents are level-headed and realistic. I don't want to raise false expectations, but I see this meeting as a first chink of light."


IMO: Let us hope the Labor party do something about Teeside, as I've said before they really should be able to do, and probably can if they are not just taking bribes from foreigners. Only talk so far, but doubtless if the Tory advice had been taken and we had an election now, the politicians could spend their time having their smart accountants on working out how to steal more tax money to improve their moats. The average steel worker does not have a stately home with a moat, and if the Tories had their way the steel workers would be starving and in rags. For the moment vote UKIP or Libertas on June 4, I think.

There is no doubt that the Marathi vote has gone to the MNS which has emerged as the flavour of the month. However, the MNS has only given hope. It has not won a single seat to demonstrate that it can practice what it preaches.


IMO: Raj Thackeray's policies certainly made sense to me - politically. However the real net result only helped Congress, so far. Uddhav's more moderate policies might not have got more success at the end of the day, and the problem for the Thackerays seems to be that the number of votes that people basically non-Maharashtrian is increasing. However it is said that Raj Thackeray attracted votes from other communities like Dalits, Buddhists and even Muslims born in Mumbai !

The average Mumbaikar, rightly or wrongly, felt that the city had got nothing from the Centre. It was often said : ‘‘Look at the state of rural Maharashtra where farmers are dying. None of the other political parties is willing to take up these issues. So many see MNS should be given a chance’’

New Lithium oxygen battery may have 5 to 10 times the storage cpacity of conventional lithium batteries. As the battery discharges, lithium ions from the electrolyte combine with electrons from the circuit and oxygen from the air around to produce lithium Li2O2. As the battery is charged up again, restocking it with lithium ions, the oxygen is emitted once again. Diagram here.

The porous carbon matrix which holds the oxide ought to be economical.

IMO: Could increase explosion risk during charging. Bugs in design could take 5-10 years to iron out but time and money might speed up the process.

Calcutta, May 18: Mamata Banerjee today made a Muslim and a Scheduled Caste MP deputy leaders of the Trinamul Congress parliamentary party, indicating they could be her ministerial candidates. “Sultan Ahmed and Gobinda Naskar were unanimously elected deputy leaders,” the Trinamul chief said after the first meeting of her 19 newly elected MPs. Mamata will be the leader of the parliamentary party. Mamata is also said to have said that “proper respect given to the two MPs would send a good message to the minorities and the SC/ST people across Bengal”.

According to the Telegraph, Miss Kelly, the MP for Bolton West, claimed for extensive building, repainting and a long list of furniture and appliances.

The former education, communities and transport secretary tried to claim £3,600 for a sofa and chairs, £2,355 for a dining table and chairs, and £2,000 for a plasma television set and accessories. The total we could find out was over £32,000.


IMO: What concerns me is the way that Catholics can take the view that their religion is above state law, and that they can therefore lie and cheat as required. Kelly was an advocate for more Catholic schools in the UK, thereby - by her own behaviour - leading to a lowering of UK moral fibre. A sad state of affairs. I will not speak of the Orissa situation as I do not think it is related to Catholic school methods in the EU, which for record include buggery and sadistic beatings. Well, so far maybe the priests stop buggering and beating the kids - when they are caught. Maybe both Ruth Kelly and Ann Widdecombe should both be jailed, for the sake of the children.

The Times of India eventually, possibly somewhat reluctantly, gives the good lady some rather doubtful praise. "KOLKATA: Cheap cotton saree wrapped clumsily, chappals flapping, hysterical pitch, and eyes smouldering in chronic rage, Mamata Banerjee punches above her weight. She has finally kayoed the Mighty Marxists.

She had joined battle as a mauled David. Her Trinamool party's Lok Sabha tally was down to just one, and her Assembly strength stripped to a mere 35, Didi had nothing to lose. She played the wild card -a high-stakes gamble on Singur and Nandigram -and won. Having arm-twisted the CPM into offering a compromise in Singur, she had with typical cussedness stonewalled the gesture.But she refused to blink despite the charges of her sabotaging West Bengal's big chance of industrial salvation. She had shrewdly read the public's anti-Left mood. She went for the jugular.

A high-pitched, no-compromise posture on Singur might have put off urban voters, but Mamata knew that, outside city limits, politics was bare-knuckled. She whipped the land-acquisition fear into a frenzy. It was a primeval insecurity guaranteed to make every farmer rise in revolt. She may have driven away the people's car, but she has roared up in style.

She carefully kept up her homespun image, refusing to move out of her single-storey, ramshackle Kalighat house. Losses haven't tamed her aggression, or her unpredictability. Instead it has reaffirmed her mantra: if you get an inch, make sure you grab a foot. Mamata has finally humbled the Left Front. She doesn't botch it up, she could well be the rallying point of all those wanting to bring down Bengal's Red fortress."

IMO: Thanks largely to Mamata Banerjee, the Indian stock market rose by 10% today. Ratan Tata once said of poor Didi (and Modi) "there is a good M and a bad M." As I said at the time, he got them the wrong way round. As someone who has favored Didi as possibly even eventual Prime Minister for a long time, I think that now we seem to be rid of Lalu Prasad Yadav (the poor man's Pappu Yadav) Didi may have the difficult railway job. If Didi can handle the railways well - something near impossible in many people's view - the idea that she can walk on water or even obtain the Ganpathy milk miracle seems almost believable. Well lets see if she does as well as hoped. On that one I am not sure though she is a very experienced politician.

The Swat Valley in Pakistan has, for reasons of political expediency, been handed over to the Taliban, and there they have blown up over a hundred schools for girls and regularly flog young females on the streets. The girls are shrouded and forbidden to scream because the female voice has the potential to arouse desire. Or pity perhaps.

IMO: President Obama was born a Muslim and owes something to Islam - perhaps his Presidency. Instead of simply making smarmy speeches at ridiculous US colleges, he should defend the faith of holy Islam. For a start, he could send in more drones to clear out the Taliban from Afghanistan and Pakistan at relatively little cost to the US in people or money. The Pak authorities should help him, if not they are bogus infidels who should die like dogs.

Melanie Phillips writes

"The Commons Speaker, Michael Martin, faces a cross-party no-confidence motion.

The speedy ejection of this bullying shop steward of sleaze is essential for the restoration of parliamentary health.

His disgraceful tenure of this ancient post, trying to thwart proper scrutiny and transparency of MPs' allowances, has done much to drag Parliament into the mire where it now wallows.

But his removal would be only a first step. Even the necessary root-and-branch

Only then would the core issue behind the wholesale collapse of parliamentary honour be addressed - and the ground taken from beneath the feet of the fringe parties.

But where is the mainstream statesman who will make such a pitch?"

IMO: The answer is that there is no suitable person in a crap country like the UK. In India, they have Mamata Banerjee for example but the UK is now too lacking in moral fibre. In the short term, vote UKIP and/or Libertas, I'd say. Anyway Martin will probably not go and the Tories are far worse - at least Martin has a vague idea what poverty is like, at some distance.

The UN and Britain have now called for a war crimes investigation, and the United States has said it is blocking Sri Lanka’s application for a $1.9 billion emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund because of its conduct of the war.


IMO: Good. Russia and China are the major culprits as they blocked UN intervention earlier. China is more trouble than its worth, and should have its status in the UN reviewed - downwards. USA citizens cannot live in fear of China forever. What the Chinese think I do not fully know, but the downgrading of Russia after the end of the USSR followed the wishes of the Russian people, far more than it did Western intrigue. And Putin is hardly a match even for Peter Tatchell, never mind the others. But I am not sure that the world has time to wait for China to become more literate and reasonable. The Greens should know the world may come to an end before that happens.

Gurmeet Kanwal at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies in New Delhi said he believed the Pakistan Army considered the Taliban, especially the Afghan Taliban, to be a strategic asset "and has no intentions whatsoever of fighting them". "Meanwhile, the army will continue to 'stage' operations ... selectively to 'show' that serious attention is being given to fighting the war on terror," he said.

IMO: US ahould use drones to rid the Pakistan/Afghanistan area of the Taliban and under no circumstances allow drones to the Pakistan government. That will save US lives and maybe even money. The Brits are too corrupt to rely on and will waste their money on Tranche 3 Typhoons, not much use in Afghanistan where the corrupt UK politicans are allowing British soldiers to die because of unsuitable equipment. Criminal bigots like the UK Guardian newspaper (Polly Toynbee for example has skimmed millions at the Guardian) try to cover for the Pak administration. Drones may do the job, Australia fortunately never needed to resort to the Jindivik (not very good anyway) but now the US certainly need their drones in Afghanistan.

The Las Vegas Sun says: "It’s important to paint the conflict in ethnic terms, rather than only as a clash between moderate and extremist hues of Islam. The population in the eye of the storm, 41 million Pashtuns, is the world’s largest ethnic group without a sovereign state. The population straddles the Pakistan and Afghanistan border. It’s also critical to recognize the crucible that’s been created in recent years: a war on two fronts and frequent missile and drone strikes that have killed thousands of innocent bystanders — often mistakenly striking gatherings such as funerals.. As the eminent terrorism scholar Peter Bergen has suggested for months, we’re at a serious risk from the war in Southeast Asia, being waged by American and coalition forces to the West in Afghanistan and the Pakistani forces to the East. This not only has coalesced rivalrous Taliban factions and driven less ideological tribes into their favor but also feeds off perceptions of assault and duress to build a violent movement for a Pashtun state.
A number of observers are saying the offensive of state forces against the Taliban in the Swat might be a turning point for Pakistan, the tone in even conservative corners of the country shifting to support the siege after a peace deal broke down between the Taliban and the federal government. The February agreement granted extremists autonomy in the Swat region and allowed for the implementation of Sharia law. The Guardian, a British newspaper, has reported that a gathering of clerics in the northern city of Rawalpindi endorsed the military’s offensive as legitimate “jihad against the enemies of Islam.”

IMO: Oh dear, I wish it were that simple. Basically the rump government in the Punjab has not suited anyone for a long time. Compare the India model, where a democratic election involving many states and languages (my wife speaks four of them, just for bread and butter survival purposes) has more or less suited all, with the Pakistan model where anyone not local to whatever corrupt government is in office is treated worse than a wetback or a nigger has ever been in the USA. It is why Bangladesh had to secede from Pakistan. On top of that we have had saudis and the US turning the place into a hellhole. The Obama administration seems to have improved things a bit, and drones can solve matters with far less US casualties. Also, Imagine all the US physically-disabled ex-military and other near-sighted nascent aeropilots this program can put back to work. I suspect Al Quaeda really are afraid of the drones. But I think if the Paks are allowed any drones, the drones will simply be turned to killing machines used to kill ethnic minorities to advantage the Punjab to Pakistan's detriment - and continuing to overarm Pak will give the US a worse defeat than Vietnam.

Mamata Banerjee triumphs in Kolkata. "After 32 years of misrule, now this is the victory of the people. This is an unprecedented victory, for the first time in the history of West Bengal." said a Trinamool Congress party supporter.

Congress party candidates continue to emerge victorious in the 2009 general elections, giving the UPA a second consecutive term in office.

IMO: A good result.

Thanks to Guido (and the Telegraph) we know that it appears that Ed Balls fiddled millions of the taxpayers money.

IMO: Fred the Shred stand aside ! The troughies have a new hero !

IMO: Hm, I am not left wondering why these new Casinos were so popular with New Labor. We are still being advised to gamble, gamble, gamble and to go and get drunk by the media. Mathematically gambling is nonsense and even if you find a way round that like Packard did, or try card-counting for example, you are likely to be beaten up or killed by the Government Mafia and at best will be barred from casinos. The UK has become a criminal mire and a floating gin palace, not a country, thanks to corrupt politicians but we can still vote on June 4th. I am an honest, decent citizen who does not drink alcohol, smoke or gamble so naturally attempts have already been made to kill me because of the personal greed of others and when I complained to a local MP (Tory as it happened) I naturally was not helped. The MPs are making the UK a place for decent people to loathe.

Nancy Pelosi reiterated during a press conference yesterday that when she received a CIA briefing on “enhanced interrogations techniques” in the fall of 2002, she was not told about waterboarding, but she was told that everything else they were doing was legal, backed by legal opinions. This contradicts a CIA memo released last week showing that Pelosi knew about waterboarding and loved it so much. Pelosi and the CIA are each calling each other terrible liars. They’re both right!

It appears that for the euro-elections YouGov have the Tories on 28%, Labour on 22%, LibDems on 19% and UKIP have risen 12 points this week to 19%, the BNP are on 4%.

These polls are not always accurate but it looks as if UKIP is what to vote for, not for a complete exit from Brussels but at least just to try to amend Labor's failure to provide a referendum as agreed. True, UKIP leaders had previously been caught out on the Labor/Libdem/Tory gravy train but the known culprits have already been expelled from the party and jailed.

IMO: No Labor/Libdem/Tory members have yet been jailed and even such people as Ann Widdecombe, to whom I listened very carefully when broadcast, seem to still want to cover up - sociopaths all. Ann Widdecombe was someone I certainly did not always agree with but sounded honest and genuinely pious. Of course the Press go out of their way to lead such people, but nonetheless it is a sad day for UK politics.

The Press worked the old George Fernandes stunt (i.e. posed as bribers) to a couple of MPs recently. In the UK, it very often works with those criminal troughies - in the UK. Only a matter of time before some more MPs go to the cells, I suppose. Lets hope they are Jeffrey Archer types rather than Ann Widdecombe types.

Former Tanzanian beauty queen Mona Lewis, who was dumped from The Apprentice, has admitted that it may have been because she was too boring.

Fault seems not to have been at Margate, but with ineffective poster and brochure presentation. Also I was left with the impression that none of the group understood gays, whatever they do personally in their spare time. Hardly Lewis's fault if straight, the group should have got their act together - the result was across between Pantsman and the attempt in an earlier series to sell Asda cheese to Frogs.

IMO: I've very great reservations about these so-called "gays", and dislike their neuroses and attitude problems, and a lot of other people feel the same. But surely if the group had to take on the "gay" idea - they did not and to do so may have involved team spite - they could have done a big poster of that TS at a Margate site saying just "Margate welcomes gays, TSs and everyone else", spelling it out briefly if they had to. I would have fired the girl telling obvious lies about the brochure, and see the result as grossly and foolishly heterophobic and discriminatory. I also know Margate and while it is not an obvious cultural venue at the moment, the cultural aspect of Margate could have been stressed and a lot of good done.

Ahmed's most recent efforts on Channel 4 were The Qur’an and The Seven Wonders of the Muslim World.

The appointment of bearded Aaqil Ahmed comes at a time of deepening worries among Christian leaders that their faith is being sidelined and downgraded by brown people.Last year the BBC gave the job of producing its most popular and longrunning religious programme, Songs of Praise, to a Sikh, Tommy Nagra.

IMO: At least the BBC haven't hired Richard Dawkins to run religious broadcasting. Dawkin's views are inconsistent, have logical faults and are deeply unacceptable even to many freethinkers. One fault in the present appointment might be that Ahmed seems rather anti-Shia, but at least I do not think he is Wahabi. Moderate Sunni and Shia Muslims believe that Wahhabism has nothing to do with Islam and that it is a concept created by the global powers to fuel extremism.It is to be therefore hoped that Ahmed will at least be of some use. He is probably more appropriate than some repressive "gay Christian" or absurd right wing RC.

The Guardian said : 'Suddenly David Cameron looked grown up ... preposterous. Old Etonian graduate of Bullingdon Club shocked by High Life! It was like Don Corleone protesting ignorance that folk gamble in Las Vegas or keep horses' heads in their beds.'

IMO: Burglars don’t get off by giving back the telly. Are MPs really going to be allowed to keep ill gotten gains because they were in the past?

If the UK does not loosen its ties with the EU then men and women of any age will not have had the power to refuse to fight in any war the EU deemed necessary. Foreign NATO troops would be on our streets enforcing the EU agenda (as happened at G20 NATO troops were on the ground on standby for the media-hyped trouble that never happened).


Most people remember the peace marches in the UK about Iraq/Bush. Well the EU could bring NATO troops on the street to machine-gun down such protesters - AND ONCE TURKEY JOINS THE EU, MOST CERTAINLY WILL. Maybe the Turks will want another Armenian massacre ? Dead easy, just use the Brits to do it. Dislike participating in unwanted massacres ? Throw out the worthless Tory and Labor politicians ASAP.

Lord Tebbit, a staunch Tory and promoter of Margaret Thatcher, now says DO NOT VOTE TORY but (presumably) UKIP.

The Statesman has a special article about Tamil Eelam. Its conclusion follows " As parens patriae (parent of his country) for the Tamils in Sri Lanka, being the original homeland for the Tamils, India has an added responsibility. It has the moral right, the legal obligation, and the standing under international law to intervene directly and bring the genocide to an end, as suggested by Professor Francis Boyle, an international law expert. In the event, Ms Jayalalithaa and her alliance partners are on a strong wicket relating to India’s direct intervention to halt the ‘racist genocide’ and evolve a just and fair political solution to bring this conflict to an end.

As regards the ‘creation of a separate Tamil Eelam’, the Sinhalese seem to be facilitating it more than the Tamils. How else does one interpret the Western Province election results wherein the Sinhala people have given the full mandate to Mahinda Rajapaksa to go ahead in the war against ‘Tamil terrorism’. The trend could well be the same in any forthcoming elections under the Sri Lankan state system. With a ‘military victory’ of the Sinhalese over Tamils achieved by an army General who has openly declared that ‘Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese’ and near total political polarisation of Sinhalese vs Tamils engineered by a President who wants to ‘rule forever’ with that linguistic majority in tow, ‘Tamil Eelam’ looks like an agenda that has self-generated itself!"

IMO: I regret the mindless massacre in Sri Lanka and feel the UN should be morally obliged to act humanely. But that has rarely happened.

Rwanda and Sierra Leone offer very little comfort. India could act independently but simply cannot afford it financially. In Africa, the following is what we have now: "Government troops sodomised pygmies in March in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, believing they would gain supernatural powers, a regional rights group said. "Some soldiers from the 85th Brigade sodomised three male pygmies to gain supernatural powers and protection in Kisa village in Walikale territory,'' the Human Rights League of the Great Lakes said. "The village chief was stripped and (sodomised) in the presence of his wife, his children and daughter in-law. "The children in turn were stripped and raped in front of their father.""

Thats how much use the UN are ! And its happening all the time in Africa ! Can we wonder that the world is riddled with disease? AIDS is alleged to have begun because the American CIA sodomised blue monkeys as a pastime, just as you can imagine those chaps in Doonesbury doing, and that is where the USA brings us all. Plague, War, Famine, and Death. Yes, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse ride and they bring the Stars and Stripes with them.

IMO: Poor India really cannot afford to rectify matters abroad. I hold these matters in deep concern.

Presumably vote for UKIP or Libertas.

I'd say UKIP has more chance even though its Thatcherite views seem misguided. UKIP at least do not want the UK controlled by the Eurocriminals, and we will still have a free vote inside the UK.

The European parliament genuinely has had an appalling fraud record since they started and with the best will in the world, the EU should not be allowed further powers. Its present powers by the standards of international law seem illegal but that won't stop them - we did not have the referendum promised by corrupt UK politicians.

UKIP seems to have more chance than Libertas who only offer candidates in London and one other area, I think.

Maybe there is better advice. The BNP, whose present policies seem absurd to me, I would nonetheless favor over Labor and Tories. That says it. As for Cameron's "review" of the situtation, round here they say they would not trust him to run a bath, let alone a political party.
The Tories do not even seem to give workable promises of ways they will get us out of the EU, but hopefully any Tories will join a UKIP lobby at the right time.

If you are a real optimist you could vote Green despite everything, but I see no hope for that level of optimism.

Tata owns both JLR and Corus. But that offers Lord Mandelson a tactical advantage. He can say publicly that "the government stands ready to do what it can to support" the Indian-owned steelmaker in its legal fight, even as he drives a hard bargain behind closed doors over financial assistance for the Indian-owned carmaker.

Corus is not averse to seeking government aid of the folding variety. Philippe Varin, former chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch steel group, took his case for state subsidies to Downing Street in December. But that request applied to other Corus plants. Offering Corus free advice and help with arbitration costs the government nothing and sets no bad precedents. For once, the court of public opinion ought to be aligned with the court of law in deploring the consortium's action. And the only hard hat Lord Mandelson will need is the one for a celebratory photo-op if Corus manages to uphold the 10-year contract.

IMO: Maybe Mandelson should also lend to JLR. Goodwin, Hornby, bankers, MPs and all the other con merchants have had a excessive sums of money - lets face it, Ratan Tata (styled - apparently correctly by the UK Times as "India's humble business king") has access to as much money as he wants and lives relatively poor. Mandelson knows that money for Corus and JLR may be well spent.

IMO: No Corus and JLR - NO LABOR VOTES AGAIN, EVER.

section 4
Fraud by abuse of position
(1) A person is in breach of this section if he—
(a) occupies a position in which he is expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of another person,
(MPs position is there to safeguard the financial interests of the electorate ie the taxpayer)

(b) dishonestly abuses that position, and
(Any dishonest action which breaks the rules of the position (ie the Green Book guidelines) Signing a form is dishonest if you havn’t checked it)

(c) intends, by means of the abuse of that position—
(i) to make a gain for himself or another, or
(directly benefits financially from this dishonest action)
(ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.
(Any false claim paid for by the taxpayer would fall under this category)

(2) A person may be regarded as having abused his position even though his conduct consisted of an omission rather than an act.
(Ommision rather than action still an abuse, so that would cover signing off an expenses claim without reading it)
So Ms Smith
1a. occupies position of authority (MP)
1b. dishonestly makes a false claim (Dishonesty through signing a claim form without checking it you know that little bit of writing beside your signature on every government form)
1ci Gains financially we pay for her porno
1cii Taxpayers incure a financial loss
2 Abuse as a result of an ommission not checking forms before signing off still an abuse

IMO: Looks about right, doesn't it ? Pretty good jail sentences, very tasty looking. But we have to be careful in commenting about the Act, and I quote the above "for information only".

If this were a paper and not a brief blog one could write reams on this, I dare say.

Countless volumes of scholarly works have been produced to claim its victory over “the problem of altruism.” When you think about it however, it’s a particularly hollow victory. For what’s happened is that altruism has been redefined to suit a purpose. Of course I'm thinking of the dodgy "Hamilton's equation", "greed is good", Thatcherism (a modern variant of social Darwinism) and all the rest of it.

What sort of person sees altruism as a problem? The short answer is a sociopath.

What sort of people call in the cops because a crime has been uncovered ? UK MPs.

What sort of people are UK MPs ? The short answer is sociopaths.

But why write at length ? The EU is even worse. Why did the UK not get a choice over a European constitution ? Because of UK MP sociopaths.

There seems to be repression of harmless locals by Taliban and army.

The Taliban are stopping locals from fleeing Swat. "Apke khidmat ke liye baithe hain," is what they are telling residents trying to get out of the picturesque valley in north-west Pakistan. Locals now fear the Taliban might use them as human shields.

In Mingora, the army is not allowing people to move out anymore, says A G Vilayat who lives in Kanju township. Vilayat sent his wife and sons to Peshawar three days ago. "It wouldn't have been possible now," he says. Ahmed's mother and sister have their bags packed, ready to leave at a moment's notice. The situation is particularly tough for women who are practically under house arrest. They are now forced to wear black 'shuttlecock' veils, the only ones allowed by the Taliban. No fashionable or coloured veil will do. It has to be the full cover one, says Vilayat.

Local criminals support the Taliban, says Ahmed. The timber mafia is with the Taliban. "Young people are joining them, some out of fear," adds Vilayat. Locals say 12 to 18-year-old boys move around with guns.

The change in personal appearance that the Taliban writ is forcing is also having its own repressive impact. "I haven't shaved in the last two months. I don't recognize myself. Swatis are clean-shaven. This is not us," says Vilayat with a dry hollow laughter. From shuttlecock veils to long beards, Swatis left in the valley say they are living each day as it comes.

IMO: It seems to me that all this came about mainly because of Saudi Arabia and USA. The USA are in a woolly way, perhaps trying to rectify their earlier blunders but the Saudis still have not met the requirements of Allah, as I see it. Maybe someone should issue a fatwah against the Saudis, might wake them up. Not much hope in the Emirates, Dubai for example ... If I were a Pak I think I would want to go to India, where Muslims are (mainly) well treated, are free to hold their views, and are well fed. Certainly I have seen many less burquas, for example, in Vasai, Maharashtra (just the occasional one) than in Bradford, England (hundreds if not thousands) - by choice I believe, although whether it is a good choice is of course debatable. In Pak even men don't have a choice.

Fawkes' Guide to UK MP expense -speak

“It has since been corrected” - I knew it was going to come out and it was such a blatant fiddle that I realised I had to repay the fraudulently claimed money before it came out.

“The Fees Office approved the payment“ - the Fees Office always take the word of “honourable” members. They always make the payment without question.

“It was a clerical error” - it was a small fiddle.

“Lessons have been learned“ - we have got away with it, but we won’t do it again.

“We have to have two homes to do our job properly” - why stay in a hotel when we can build a property portfolio at the public’s expense.

“Claims were made in good faith” - we have always got away with it in the past.

“It was within the rules” - MPs make the rules to suit themselves. MPs are lawmakers, judge and jury. It is a joke at our expense. They really are almost all at it.

In the Telegraph there are yet more expense disclosures.

Open Source Center, April 20, 2009 have produced a long (apparently confidential) study (details of large PDF here).

IMO: Some conclusions are obvious but further work, possibly incorporating modern network theory, following Babarasi, later Milgram work etc. (6 degrees of separation etc) could in the long term prove very fruitful.

With the lack of much real political talent evident in the UK, "Undermining Gordon Brown" is not exactly "Finding Nemo" I'm afraid. The former leader of the Labour party Neil Kinnock has warned Labour MPs that further undermining of Gordon Brown's leadership would boost the British National party (BNP) in the European elections.

IMO: Hm, he may be right. But it looks like Brown should go, nonetheless, as he can't get it right in the UK, though he looks OK on the world stage. For example, a lot of what McBride was trying to say about the Tories looked like it could be true, as a careful reading of Private Eye and the like show. The punters may never know. We are obviously in a "he would say that, wouldn't he ?" style situation with all these chaps in all parties, many of whom seem to be simply mulcting the funds for no real value.

The new Falun Gong software seems to be allowing freedom to millions throughout the world, in allegedly repressive countries like Iran and China, according to "Reporters without Borders".

Interestingly enough, the United States government and the Voice of America have financed some of the circumvention technology efforts, and a coalition is organizing to push for more Congressional financing of anti-filtering efforts, bringing together dissidents of Vietnam, Iran, the Uighur minority of China, Tibet, Myanmar, Cuba, Cambodia, Laos, as well as the Falun Gong, to lobby Congress for the financing. 'What is our leverage toward a country like Iran? Very little,' said Michael Horowitz, a fellow at the Hudson Institute. 'Suppose we have the capacity to make it possible for the president of the United States at will to communicate with hundreds of thousands of Iranians at no risk or limited risk? It just changes the world.'"

IMO: I don't know a lot about Falun Gong but it sounds like a good idea. The software can readily he found here. Other freedom software can be found here. Two BBC websites recently described Falun Gong, but as always BBC tend to be somewhat pusillanimous.

American Idol judge Paula Abdul was last year duped into believing she was to be interviewed by a German TV crew "after winning an artist of the year award for her singing", the Telegraph explains. In fact, she was destined to be stitched up like a kipper by Cohen. She was forced to sit on an "underpaid Spanish gardener" etc. I imagine that when she appears in the movie it will seem most amusing.

IMO: Those American Idol judges are obvious butts of humour. I wholeheartedly approve. Pity it wasn't Simon Cowell. Usually such people try to laugh it off afterwards of course but usually it hurts them as much as it should. Kazakhstan tried to laugh off Borat, but I understand that the forced closure of Sacha AliG Baron Borat Cohen's Borat.kz website has been listed by the US State Department as an example of the Kazakhstani government's restrictions on freedom of speech and other human rights abuses.