UK
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Welcome to the Violent World of Mr. Hopey Changey By John Pilger
When Britain lost control of Egypt in 1956, Prime Minister Anthony Eden said he wanted the nationalist president Gamal Abdel Nasser ‘destroyed … murdered … I don’t give a damn if there’s anarchy and chaos in Egypt’. Those insolent Arabs, Winston Churchill had urged in 1951, should be driven ‘into the gutter from which they… Continue reading
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Libya Newslinks 21-23 May 2011
22 May 2011 — williambowles.info 23 May 2011 Dissident Voice: Protecting Us from Our Freedoms: Congress Set to Renew Patriot Act Spy Provisions Morning Star: Rebel death squad body count grows SCF: Moscow claims NATO’s action in Libya inadmissible Global Research: Former U.S. congresswoman McKinney speaks on state TV in Libya BBC: VIDEO: Inside a… Continue reading
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Britain plotted regime change in Iraq as early as 2001 By Robert Stevens
Previously classified documents released into the public domain reveal that Britain’s MI6 planned a coup against then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, just months after 9/11. This was despite official acknowledgement that there was no connection between the Hussein regime and Al Qaeda. The documents also confirm that the quest to secure stable oil supplies was… Continue reading
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War in Iraq: worst moment in UK history – British MP — RT
‘With 179 British lives lost and ten billion pounds spent, there will be no celebrations, no parades or marches or flags out to mark the end of the war. And all we seem to have achieved is we have replaced one rotten government with another rotten government,’ stated Flynn. Continue reading
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PressTV – ‘Blair created pack of lies on Iraq war’
The new-documents released by the Iraq war Inquiry has confirmed that Tony Blair and his communications advisor Alistair Campbell made up a pack of lies to involve Britain in an illegal war. Continue reading
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‘What Matters Is What Works’: The State and the National Health Service in Scotland and Wales By Colin Leys
After forty years of ideological onslaught the very idea of ‘the state’ is close to joining others, such as ‘collective’ (not to mention ‘socialist,’ and even ‘left’), in the depository of Unclean Concepts. ‘State bad, private good’ may be a crude and simplistic slogan, but it is the very real starting-point of many politicians and… Continue reading
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In case you missed it: Free speech on trial By John Pilger
16 March 2011 — Morning Star As the United States and Britain look for an excuse to invade another oil-rich Arab country, the hypocrisy is familiar. Colonel Gadaffi is ‘delusional’ and ‘blood-drenched,’ while the authors of an invasion that killed a million Iraqis who have kidnapped and tortured in our name are entirely sane, never… Continue reading
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Sky Decision Imminent
Has Murdoch has built his empire in this country in spite of the criminal surveillance of MPs by his journalists, or because of it? Continue reading
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The endgames of our empire never quite finished – just look at Bahrain By Madeleine Bunting
It has all the ingredients of a John le Carré novel. For decades there are allegations of terrible abuse during the Mau Mau rebellion; historians are baffled by missing documentation. A court case finally prompts the Foreign Office to discover hundreds of boxes of previously hidden papers stored in a house, Hanslope Park, in Buckinghamshire.… Continue reading
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UK Uncut’s Chartist parallels By Keith Flett
The UK Uncut occupation of Fortnum & Masons over tax avoidance concerns and the more robust attacks on West End shops that took place in the wider context of the 500,000 strong TUC March for the Alternative last month have provoked quite a political debate. Continue reading
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FT journalist accuses press warmongers
A leading Financial Times journalist accused the British media today of ‘buttering up’ the population to support the war on Libya. Continue reading
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Ignoring its imperial history licences the west to repeat it By Seumas Milne
The reporters who heard David Cameron tell Pakistani students this week that Britain was responsible for ‘many of the world’s problems … in the first place’ seemed to think he was joking. But it’s a measure of how far Britain is from facing up to its own imperial legacy that his remarks were greeted with… Continue reading
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The Secret History of Violence By Dan Hind
On Monday Verso ran a piece about the ambiguities of violent protest. You can read it here. The piece was prompted by this BBC footage, which seems to show someone leaving a crowd of protesters, showing his ID to the police and moving through their lines. The key section begins at around 5 mins 50… Continue reading
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Arrest warrant plans make a mockery of universal jurisdiction By Daniel Machover
Giving suspects from ‘protected countries’ immunity from war crimes arrests would turn the UK into a safe haven for suspects Continue reading
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Cuba50.org culture news & events 30 March 2011
Welcome to the Cuba50 newsletter – for Cuban cultural events in the UK. Continue reading
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March for the Alternative By Dan Hind
The 26th March demonstration in London was billed by its organizers, the TUC, as a ‘march for the alternative’. The march did, as the unions hoped, ‘give a voice’ to those affected by the cuts and it showed that ‘people reject the argument that there is no alternative’. Perhaps 500,000 people showed that, in time-honoured… Continue reading
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New Left Project interviews Ed Balls & John Denham By Jennifer O’Mahony
Readers may of course take it as read that NLP is not granting space to Balls and Denham because we share their politics. The value of the piece is that, whether or not we agree with the Labour leadership on a given issue, the parties’ policies will always be a matter of direct concern to… Continue reading
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Book Marks Talk, March 15, 2011 By Dan Hind
Media coverage does not conform to a rationally defensible order of priorities – it focuses neurotically on the inconsequential and ignores matters of pressing common concern. Furthermore what coverage there is of important matters is disastrously inadequate Continue reading
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CCTV: When Criminals Control the Cameras
CCTV: When Criminals Control the CamerasFollow my videos on vodpod Today CCTV cameras are ubiquitous, with Londoners estimated to be caught on camera 300 times a day. CCTV cameras in England are now being equipped with loud speakers so that “anti-social behaviour” can be rebuked in a child’s voice. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 