Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Vital public services across England could disappear in a new wave of cuts forced on councils by the Con-Dem coalition government, parliament's public spending watchdog warned yesterday. National Audit Office (NAO) revealed England's 353 councils have only made half the savings demanded of them by Westminster before March 2015.

IMO: Must the cuts continue until Cameron & Clegg have to go ?



Saturday, January 12, 2013

Learn from history of Nazi Germany


Learn from history of Nazi Germany: Congress minister Manish Tewari to Narendra Modi-'loving' India Inc

Tewari said "myth of vibrant Gujarat is really a fantasy-making at its best, because if looked at in terms of real numbers, states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are ranked much higher than Gujarat".

On the benchmark of foreign investment, Maharashtra was far ahead in the last twelve years, he said.

IMO: Maharashtra's great leader, Bal Thackeray, perhaps the greatest since Chhatrapati Shivaji, did a lot more for India than we are getting from Narendra Modi. BJP can never equal Thackeray, as things stand at present. Is Ratan Tata, for example, performing the same acts of folly as he did in Bengal with Didi - and with similar likely results, or much much worse. Didi has a heart, but could we ever forget Best Bakery ? And similar exploits ?

Manish Tewari says : "Corporate India should realise the implications of flirting with the right wing. If we draw right lessons from the history...such flirtations in the past have had very dangerous implications on the world at large."

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Europain

Extreme rises in youth employment in the poorer euro countries.

France is in free fall

Germany, the only EU country with hopes, finds itself on a downward slide. On its own, Germany would have been a top 10 leader.

The British (another top10 leader) simply want to get out. The UK govt just does what it likes, and laughs, worse than 1930s France, read Malaquais and many others for an understanding.

IMO: Like many people I would have liked the EU to succeed, but it is a flop. I'm sure a lot could be done, but they have had a long time to try.

Sri Lanka Chaos

The Asian Human Rights Commission firmly hopes that sober reasoning and political wisdom will prevail in Sri Lanka and the impending creation of a chaotic and catastrophic environment that will affect the lives of the people in Sri Lanka for their entire future will be prevented..

Others say there will be chaos.

A committee said Chief Justice Bandaranayake had not declared details of 20 bank accounts and had purchased a property and then taken control of cases involving the company that sold the property. She was also found to have a conflict of interest because she had supervisory powers over judges in a corruption case against her husband, a former state bank chairman.  In simple terms, they say it looked like Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake had mulcted a lot of public funds.

IMO: I am rather left with the feeling that there is a possibility that none of the people involved can be trusted, neither impeachers nor impeachees. And yet some recent international report placed Sri Lanka as a better place to live than India. I definitely doubt that.

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Recent Pakistani aggression against Kashmir

The current Kashmir position arose because of the lenience of earlier Congress Party governments towards Pakistani action on Kashmir. Earlier Congress governments acted to save their own skins at the expense of the Indian people.

The UPA Government must at least now reconsider its strategy of engaging with Pakistan through the series of dialogues that it had suspended for a while after the 26/11 incident. The Government had back then faced considerable flak for restarting the dialogue (call it ‘composite' or by whatever name) despite the fact that Islamabad had done nothing to bring the perpetrators of the terrorist attack to justice. That was a big mistake on New Delhi's part. It's time to correct that. If this is the price that the country has to pay for persisting with its peace initiative with a recalcitrant neighbour, it's not acceptable. Unless India sends that message across strongly through action, and not mere words, nothing will change.

Is Manmohan Singh now a secret agent for the BJP ? That would be bad, as so often BJP have a larger bark than their bite.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Obama names Hagel as defense secretary

IMO: Sounds like an excellent choice. Hagel is a decorated war veteran who actually served in action, unlike some. Reasonably enough, he flies the flag for USA, not for Israel or for gays, and his general actions do seem sensible on these matters.


Monday, January 07, 2013

'Delhi gangrape victim as guilty as rapists'

That is one Indian opinion: “Only 5-6 people are not the culprits. The victim daughter is as guilty as her rapists… She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop… This could have saved her dignity and life.Can you clap with one hand? I don”t think so.”

Since such a view is common in India, it may be that a Jan Lokpal Bill and more will be necessary - not to deny the right to have or indeed express such views - but to ensure vigorous penalties for those who use them to obstruct justice. These views seem to be similar or indeed much nicer than those often held by the Police. A lot needs doing, and it can be done.

Actually the gentleman who expressed the view above made a blistering attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in February last year. He threatened to throw Modi's government out of Gujarat over a probe into the deaths of two children in his own ashram. He failed, and a CID (Crime) chargesheet was filed against (Asaram)  in connection with the mysterious death of two kids studying in Motera Gurukul.

IMO: India needs a Jan Lokpal Bill and much more. If that guy could be jailed it would even mean less opposition to Modi and even the feeble Congress.

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Flaming dung heap may engulf UK royalty.

Choking clouds of smelly smoke have engulfed the village of Bucklebury, Berkshire, where Kate’s parents Michael and Carole Middleton live in a £5million house. Angry villagers say fumes from the 1,000ton heap - the size of a football field – is putting their health at risk.
IMO: There is some old Sanskrit saying which deals with such matters ... or are some people to be turned into pillars of salt by God's wrath ?

Friday, January 04, 2013

Drunk Prince Harry said to kill "innocent Afghans".

IMO: Bearing in mind Prince Harry's known off duty behaviour, and the behaviour of other Royals, it will sound realistic to many. And with Tracy Emin snd Cherie Blair given New Years Honours, we do seem to be dealing with a peculiar lot of people. Many say this.

Afghan Hekmatyar said "It seems that some British authorities still dream about the times of the 18th and 19th century and they want their ambassador to be treated like a viceroy and their prince to go out in uniform to hunt for human beings and play the Satanic role that they used to play in the past."

IMO: Many Brits certainly did behave that way in the 19th Century, and more recently attempts have been made to whitewash their efforts.  Apparently Harry had said "I notched my first kill today and it felt so good"... go figure, remembering 4th July.

In fact the Afghanistan Taliban now frequently claim to wish to further female education and other practices favored by Western society.

IMO: Clearly there has been a good deal of ham fistedness and dishonesty. I'm certainly not saying we are heading for another Nixongate, but things could certainly be improved.



Thursday, January 03, 2013

At Kolkata on Thursday

Debate over nuclear energy and genetically modified food has come to the fore again, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday saying such “complex” issues should be approached through a structured debate and analysis, than being driven by faith or fear.

IMO: Quite correct too. I wish they did so in the US and the UK. And what about the 'forgotten' Jan Lokpal Bill ? And maybe a Whistleblower's Act ? People seem to be ignoring too many things.



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