Author: Richard

Rememberance Day went by and over 300000 people marched for peace in Gaza. The only violence was by right wing thugs intent on creating mayhem at the march. Sunak equated that violence with te wearing of a pro-Hamas scarf bringing to mind the childrens rhyme, sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. He has still not sacked Braverman who really should be prosecuted for inciting violence. The Mail led with Michael Gove being ‘Jostled and abused by Pr0-Palestinian mob”, whilst the Express led with hate marchers on left and right – the thugs were not marching, and the 300000 showed no hate! But the slaughter of the innocents continues in Gaza.

Stop looking back is my message – history has been horribe to the Jews, but this is not to give a carte blanche to the slaughter of children. The Hamas slaughter was horrific – acts of war usually are- but there will come a time for negotiation. Israel will not be happy until there are no hamas members to negotiate with,; but then they will have to find a way to accomodate Palestians into the Middle East Region. The grieviances they are developing will not be easy for innocent Palestinians to forget.

France has allocated 1 billion euros to Polar climatic research over the next 6 years. In contrast our government is agreeing a new round of exploration licences for fossil fuel exploitation and the number of applications for new wind farms in England is zero! Time for this government, berefit of positive ideas, to call a general election.

America is politically interesting with events over the past week. Democrats won important elections across the country where campaigning on pro-abortion amongst other aspects were popular – yet Biden is less popular than the republican Trump. Maybe Biden needs to hand over the candidacy to a younger version? Biden seems to have got most of the big calls correct with the economy and the environment (not all – this is the USA we are talking about!). Will Gavin Newsom become a name we are familiar with?

In the UK the Supreme Court will rule on Wednesday on whether Brvermans Immigration Policies are legal. If not the ERG and cronies will be calling for the UK to leave the European Court of Human Rights.

Inflation – another thing I do not fully understand! If inflation rockets the government blames The Bank of England and anyone else it can think of. When inflation comes down it takes the plaudits! I thought the Bank of England interest setting committee was independant of government? So who do we credit with inflation falling?

It seems that the Conservative Party is on manoeuvres! Faced with near oblivion at the next e;ection several narratives are becoming apparent. Sunak is trying to distance himself from the policies of the last 13 years – promosing a new start, and planning for the future! As this is being done the likes of Braverman are making a play for leadership of a party that is far to the right of the traditional conservative (who was socially liberal). Attacks on the homeless and migrants are playing to a populist group with large funds based around Tufton Street. Whether “Middle England” will support this remains to be seen. Recent polls suggest that the Respect Party have a limited appeal – Farage is seen as a Johnson like leader for the present. Braverman would like to manoevre the Tory Party to the right to usurp Farage and leave a party of the right with diminished government roles. What is actually needed is increased government roles to enhance social cohesion.

Brilliant explanation of current conservative policy on x by supertanskii – worth a listen, also Dave lawrenvce is always good.

Israel seeks to be waging a war of genocide against the Palestinians. They all continue to encroach on the West Bank. Are they hoping to provoke another Hamas type reaction that would justify the ethnic cleansing of the area? In retrospect (not always a good or practical thing I know) could it be that Netanyahu colluded in the build up of Hamas arms to enable the present situation to develop – he was hot prepared for the scale of tye Hamas attack. The USA has come running to his aid with not so veiled threats towards Hezbollah and Iran.

it seems that Israel has a carte blanche to totally destroy Hamas in its present format, and in doing so destroying the dwelings and lives of over a million Palestinians. From River to the Sea seems to be a more apt descrpition of Israeli actions than Palestian ones.

Ministers seem to want to dictate the narrative regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. Already we have the majority of te MSM being weighted towards Israel. Braverman has referred to the demo’s as Hate Events. Surelybanyone with a conscience should condemn both the senseless slaughter by Hamas and the subsequent slaughter of Palestinian children and citizens. I did not agree with Starmers comments on the conflict, but he did offer a narrative which could be discussed. The Tories just want the Israeli’s “to win” whatever that means. Demonstrators around the world are expressing a support for Palestine which has been subjugated by the state of Israel for 50 years. This does NOT mean that they support Hamas. However te Israeli occupation and disrimination of/in the West Bank continues.

The Israeli Government will no doubt use Hamas to justify ever increasing militarisation and subjugation of remaining Palestinians in the region. By its unwavering support for Israel the West has lost all opportunities to mediate and find a long term solution.

The Covid Inquiry is revealing the expected chaos and incompetence; individuals failing to see past their own egos and agendas. The Inquiry will document these in full. What is of greater concern is the failure of the system.

Westminster is being shown as a misogynist unrepresentative cohort of egos. This is true of both the politicians and the cicil servants. It seems that advice was sought and dismissed in an ad hoc manner. Meetings were too large and populated with more concern for status that effectiveness, Johnson was riven by delusions of grandeur and a desire to be a Churchillian figurehead. There appears to have been no real leadership. many have talked about the reactive nature of this government in many areas and for a long time. This continues to be true. The way in which key figures are moved around is reflective of this lack of leadership and competence. It now appears that the Civil Service is not capable of countering this merry-go-round. Diversity of politicans was culled by Brexit. Civil servants appear to be even more uniform in their white, male, middle aged, middle/upper class profile.

So Labour must learn from this if it is going to successfully navigate the crises that will inevitably occur in the future (assuming it wins the next GE!). Starmer is showing signs of falling for the subservient cabinet fallacy. A truly great leader would have a variety of views which creates a wide ranging discussion, but also reslults in Cabinet Responsibility. His retention of

It is difficult to side with Israel despite the atrocities of 7 October. By their own admission tey have hit 11000 targets in Gaza, including some where they advised people to go for safety. On the West Bank a village has been deserted by its inhabitants due to the intimidation of Israelis, including members of armed forces. It really does seem that the Israelis are pursuing a policy of colonisation of the area from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. The river to the sea policy which is advocated by extremists on both sides.

There urgently needs to be an internationally acceptab;e exit strategy.