Due process and the Kelly inquest

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Category: Dr David Kelly
Further to John Pilger (25 April), mistrust in the present government is not exclusively owing to the lies, distortions and distractions surrounding the Iraq WMD claims and the legal advice. Government deceit extends also to the investigation into the death of Dr David Kelly. Why did Lord Falconer choose a method of inquiry which was specifically designed to be invoked for multiple deaths, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of inquiry, as in a rail disaster? Kelly's death was a solitary unnatural death, requiring rigorous investigation at a coroner's inquest.

Generosity Award

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Category: Speeches

Short address in the event of being given the GENEROSITY award

at St Mellion, Friday 29th of October 2004

I am humbled and I thank you with words that I hope are far removed from Hollywood.

We are more the creatures of our upbringing than our genes I think - more of nurture than nature.

My Mum had a very soft heart and she loved babies and the natural world as do I. She said "share and share alike" to the four of us. I was the eldest of four in those lean war and post war years.

My Dad had a rudimentary education and a frustrated intellect. He said things like "you can only do your best" and "stand up for yourself". The latter certainly spurred independence of thought but sometimes sounded hard to a sensitive youngster.

Letter Published Morning Star 26-03-05

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Category: Letters to the Media

Dear Sir,

The firewall on my computer became inactive 5 weeks ago. Therefore I opened the e-mail system for very brief periods only. However, in those few days every one of my 6000 plus e-mail files was erased or removed. This will have been done by a state sponsored agency and not by an amateur acting singly.

Who might wish to cause me great difficulty? I speak and act firmly for justice in Palestine and against an occupation of indescribable brutality. I have asked, with other specialists, for the law to be upheld in the case of the late Dr David Kelly; that there should be a full inquest and not the half one that has taken place. I have spoken, marched and written to stop the war crimes committed against Afghans and Iraqis by our government and its odious leader.

Removing Unlawful Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territories: Time to Act

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Category: Occupation of Palestine and the Law

The following Public Statement was issued by Amnesty International on 23rd March 2005.

I like its lack of equivocation and its emphasis on law. I recall with anger that I wrote to my MP when we started bombing the poorest in Aghanistan. I said that the world's priority should be to insert a peace keeping force in Palestine composed of Scandinavian, South African troops etc given that UK troops were then compromised. A judicial response to 9/11 was the only lawful one. The support of the Security Council was neither here nor there. Instead, we have rained terror on the heads of countless innocent heads. All this has been done with the overwhelming support of MPs of the three main parties. They are complicit in these crimes against humanity and the peace (as per the Nuremberg rules).

The only bit which always makes me wince is "Occupation for 38 yrs". Many Palestinians and others do not see it like that of course.

Letter To Mr Younger-Ross, MP - 3rd December, 2001

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Category: Correspondence With Politicians

3rd December, 2001

Dear Mr Younger-Ross,

You will share with me great sadness and apprehension about the escalating terror in Palestine. You might now agree that I was right in pleading against the bombing of Afghanistan and instead for the insertion of a peacekeeping force in Palestine, however difficult that might have been. I have been pleased to see that Menzies Campbell has spoken against extending the bombing war to other countries, particularly to Iraq, but it is very regrettable that the Liberal Democrats did not come out against the bombing of Afghanistan because of some ill-placed sense of so-called patriotism.