Law - or the sucking vortex. (Part 1 of 2)

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Category: Political
"Where law ends, tyranny begins." ~ John Locke 1690.
It is understood that the Prime Minister has ruled out a public inquiry into the four explosions that occurred on the 7th of July. How then will the truth be established as to who perpetrated these atrocities and with whom were the guilty possibly connected?

A public enquiry could be set up for each of the four explosions using Section 17a of the 1988 Coroner's Act. This was designed for the investigation of multiple deaths when there was a common cause – for instance a train crash. Duplication is avoided and distress to relatives lessened. It has been invoked at least five times - twice for the sinking of the trawler Gaul. It was last used for the unnatural death of Dr David Kelly. An ad hoc inquiry by Lord Hutton was set up the day he was found, and the Section 17a vehicle added later and inappropriately given it was a single death.

The Silence of Elie Wiesel: How to be a Good Victim

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Category: Palestine/Israel

The Silence of Elie Wiesel: How to be a Good Victim
By M. SHAHID ALAM

"Captain Gordon Pim stated in his speech that it was a philanthropic principle to kill natives; there was, he said, "mercy in a massacre."

Sven Lindqvist, Exterminate the Brutes (1996)


At last Mr. Elie Wiesel has spoken of the 'dispossessed' in Palestine. It is ap-propriate that he should do so; that is what the world has long come to expect of him. A holocaust survivor and Peace Laureate, Mr. Wiesel has dedicated his life to preventing another holocaust, acting on the conviction that "...to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all..."

Letter of complaint to the Complaints Unit of the BBC, 6th July 2005

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Category: Complaints Regarding BBC Bias
Dear Sir,

John Humphrys said on Today 01-07-05 "Palestinian terrorists .... have kidnapped two Israeli soldiers". I suspected this was a slip of the tongue made by a rational and well informed broadcaster who with forethought would have chosen a better noun. However, when I came to 'listen again' to confirm my quotation is correct, I find it printed:- '06.37 Palestinian terrorists say they have kidnapped two Israeli soldiers - a claim rejected by Israel.' This is indicative of the 'balance' in much of the BBC reporting coming out of Arab countries, and from the remnants of Palestine in particular. The Martyrs of the Al Aqsa Brigade responsible for the alleged kidnapping would not consider themselves to be terrorists* *and if they are not attacking civilians it is appropriate to call them 'resistance fighters' or 'guerillas'. These men have seen plenty of death and injury done to Palestinian civilians by the Israeli Defence/Occupation Force. Some thousands have been killed and many, many thousands maimed by all manner of weapons including flechette shells fired randomly into the jam packed refugee camps of both Gaza and the 'West Bank' in the dead of night. I cannot recall the word 'terrorist' ever being applied to any member of the ID/OF, but terrorism it is. An apt slogan circulated; a terrorist is someone with a bomb but no uniform .

Letter Published in the Morning Star 15th June 2005

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Category: Letters to the Media

Dear Sir,

Jerry Jones conclusion (Morning Star Wednesday June 8) that the National Health Service is well on the way to the market was spot on. As someone who fought tooth and nail against the US inspired 'internal market' of Thatcher, Ridley and Einthoven, my anger still cannot be contained. Few know the conspiracy caused the administrative costs to double at least, from about 5% of the total budget. That induced instability, with loss of professional leadership, set today's scene- from the causes of the MRSA epidemic to an easy ability to pick juicy grapes for corporatists everywhere.

Other correspondents have written of the systematic attack on everything that is of public value, especially to the poor. During the election period, a minority called in this paper for continued support for New Labour and for people to 'reform it from within'. This was symbolised for me by the reported, helpful conversation between Tony Benn and Tony Blair. I could not see that such reform would happen given the level of infiltration, sycophancy and preferment. Instead, I hoped against hope that the party would be incinerated so a true party of the left could be rebuilt. I am glad that I worked for Respect and I will see it grow as all the neo-liberal 'policies' are revealed as dross, driven by dogma or profit.

David Halpin FRCS

Shards of Memory

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Category: Guest Articles

Shards of Memory

By Gideon Levy

This is the most Arab-free area in Israel. It was the scene of total ethnic cleansing, which left not a vestige apart from the heaps of ruins and the sabra bushes. On the coastal plain, between Jaffa and Gaza, not one Palestinian village remains intact. Now the settlers of the Gush Katif bloc from the Gaza Strip are to be brought here. In a bitterly ironic jest of fate, the settlers who sowed ruin and destruction in the Gaza Strip will now live on the ruins of the homes of the residents who were their invisible neighbors in the refugee camps.