A routine lie

Gordon Brown says that it is down to Sir John Chilcot to decide whether the Iraq inquiry is to be held in public or behind closed doors. How was it then that Brown’s initial announcement was that the inquiry would be held in private? I doubt that Sir John phoned him up to tell him. Nobody can believe that Brown will leave the decision to a civil servant in practice, but he assumes that he can transfer to Sir John the opprobrium that accompanies the “in camera” decision. The saddest thing of all is that nobody in the media bothers to call Brown a liar. It is taken as read.

The Front Line

We must listen to the cry of the earth which is asking for help. The earth has no price. It can't be bought, or sold or exchanged. It is very important that white people, black people and indigenous peoples fight together to save the life of the forest and the earth. If we don't fight together what will our future be? Your children need land and nature alive and standing.

These are the words of Peruvian Indian spokesman Davi Kopenawa Yanomami as Alan Garcia’s government backed by foreign multinationals sets about removing the indigenous people from the Amazon and tearing down rainforest. Read about it here

Targets

My much loved father-in-law died in April in a North London hospital. He died from an MRSA infection, although his death certificate said bronchial pneumonia. This morning I heard a government spokesman proclaiming the great strides made in countering MRSA as a result of there being government targets for this matter. Well, one way of meeting targets is to fiddle the figures. At any event it would perhaps have been worthwhile to have a government target for the amount of excrement smeared on the lavatory walls. The ward where my father-in-law died would have brought a satisfied gleam to the eye of the administrator assigned to reporting the hospital’s achievements in this respect.

Government by acronym

The STV (Single Transferable Vote) is now the most important voting criterion. It is the only way I can see to obtain a trustworthy government. The FPTP (First Past the Post) system delivers governments representing a minority, which descend into disaster as they pull every stroke to maintain their hold. For GB (Gordon Brown), some kind of PR (Proportional Representation) is his only hope so for him it’s just another slimy trick. However, there is just a chance of a coalition government representing the people more equably, and, just as important, less corruptible by the establishment paymasters. You will not see the Tory press supporting PR.

Tips for a healthier lifestyle

Pretty soon now the oil and gas will be running out, the IMF will be in imposing high taxes and cuts in public spending. There will be a devaluation of the pound to reflect the true value of the currency as a result of monetary easing. We groundlings will be struggling to pay for a decent meal, heating and clothing. Many will feel aggrieved that the staples of their lives are being wrenched from them. Quite a few of these people have a tendency to violence as it is and the need to sustain life will aggravate this. It is time to buy a gun and see what barbed wire is going for on eBay.

Lest we forget

Nicky Campbell’s Phone-In yesterday was about the election results. A very articulate BNP voter spoke of the 8 people in the 100 dwellings in his street who had a job and the ease with which foreigners could come over and get jobs. The best exchange however was the following:

Nicky: John of Mablethorpe, how did you vote?
John: I didn’t vote, Nicky.
Nicky: Shame on you John. People died in the war so that you could vote.
John: No Nicky. People died in the war so that other people could make a lot of money.
Nicky: Helen in Hull. How did you vote?

Baron Stoneybroke of Kircaldy

There is a pattern of sacrificing the future to the present. Why would he sell the gold reserves? This is living off your capital. You can live really well for a time selling off assets and running round town with a fat wallet. That’s what we have done. Firstly we have raided the family vaults and then when they were bare we borrowed money from strangers to keep our crazy lifestyle going. That is Gordon Brown’s legacy, but why did we let him do it? The fact that nobody in the Cabinet disagreed with him or was able to stop him tells us a lot about the sorry bunch round Blair.