Tag Archives: UK

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404 British Soldiers and counting…

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

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KANDAHAR – Six British soldiers have been killed in southern Afghanistan after their vehicle was hit by an explosion, taking the total past 400 to 404. Five of soldiers were from 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment and one from 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment had been on patrol in Kandahar province on Tuesday, the MoD confirmed.  Their families have been told.

This is the biggest single loss of UK life at one time in Afghanistan since a Nimrod crash killed 14 in 2006.

The MoD said the six soldiers were on a security patrol in a Warrior armoured fighting vehicle when it was caught in an explosion in Kandahar province. They had been travelling as part of a two Warrior patrol when the vehicle was hit at the junction of a road travelling east from Gereshk and another heading north to Lashkar Gah, the MoD said.

Most of the 9,500 UK troops in Afghanistan are expected to be withdrawn by the end of 2014. The last British soldier to be killed in Afghanistan was Senior Aircraftman Ryan Tomlin, of 2 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment, who died from gunshot wounds in Helmand on 13 February.

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Brazil overtakes Britain’s Economy 🇧🇷

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

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Brazil has become the sixth-biggest economy in the world, the BBC’s website reports. It says the country’s finance minister Guido Mantega said the Brazilian economy is now worth $2.5tn (£1.6tn).

The Latin American nation’s economy grew 2.7% last year, official figures show, more than the UK’s 0.8% growth.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and other economic forecasters also said that Brazil had now overtaken the UK.

Mantega said: “It is not important to be the world’s sixth-biggest economy, but to be among the most dynamic economies, and with sustainable growth.”

Brazil is enjoying an economic boom because of high food and oil prices, which has led to rapid growth.

In 2010, the Brazilian economy was worth $2.09tn, compared with the UK’s $2.25tn total output, in current US dollars, according to the International Monetary Fund.

However, according to NIESR, using the IMF’s figures at current exchange rates, Brazil’s economy is now $2.52tn and the UK’s is $2.48tn.

The larger increase in the nominal size of both economies is explained by domestic inflation.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research has also said that Brazil’s economy has overtaken the UK’s.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Brazil’s economy grew by 0.3% from the previous quarter, according to Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia de Estatistica.

Brazil, the largest Latin American economy and one of the so-called Bric nations together with Russia, India and China, has seen its economy soar in recent years, with growth far outpacing the US and western Europe, but sending inflation higher.

The currency, the real, fell 11% against the US dollar last year.

That is after two years of huge gains – up 5% in 2010 and 34% in 2009. The currency is worth more than double what it was 10 years ago.

With substantial oil and gas reserves continuing to be discovered off Brazil’s coast in recent years, the country is now the world’s ninth largest oil producer, and the government wishes to ultimately enter the top five.

The country will also host the 2014 World Cup, and Rio de Janeiro will be home to the 2016 summer Olympics.

brazil uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17272716

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Puppet Master (When Journalists get it Right!)

10 Friday Feb 2012

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ANALYSIS – With the Leveson Inquiry currently revealing everything that is wrong at the heart of journalism, one case has just concluded that has just shown exactly the opposite, namely when a newspaper gets all the elements right, public interest and a cracking story which you can sell.

Banker Nathaniel Rothschild has just lost his libel action against the Daily Mail who reported that he had set up a meeting between  Lord Mandelson and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The newspaper portrayed him as a ‘puppet-master and  suggested that he had helped smooth a £500 million aluminium deal in 2005.

The article claimed that Mr Rothschild used Lord Mandelson – then European Commissioner for Trade – to impress Oleg Deripaska, the billionaire owner of Russia’s biggest aluminium plant, during a visit to Siberia.

The 40-year-old heir to the Rothschild banking dynasty had demanded ‘very substantial’ damages.

Anyone want to regulate the press now?

 

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👓 Fabio Capello 🥅 🏟

08 Wednesday Feb 2012

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Fabio Capello’s fate was sealed during that World Cup game with Germany when an England team who had until the last ten minutes of the first half been completely outclassed fought back by applying pressure on their much younger rivals.

The same was expected in the second half, but did not occur which allowed Germany to get back into the game on their own terms.

Perhaps, a Martin O Neill or Harry Redknapp would have seen the opportunity, the vastly overpaid and  over-rated Fabio Capello did not.

The FA have alot of questions to ask about this whole saga – why did they appoint this man in the first place to run a team of players that were not despite what was being claimed a golden generation.

Truth is England have only once looked like winning a tournament – Euro 96 under the creative genius that was Terry Venables.

And what happened to him then?

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📺 Press TV is taken off the Airwaves 🇮🇷

23 Monday Jan 2012

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TEMPLATE ANALYSIS

Everytime I flick on to the PressTV channel of my freeview box, I get a blank screen.

That’s because Of com has taken the Iranian-owned station off air, citing the failure to pay a six-figure sum for broadcasting an interview with someone who later said what he had said had come about under duress, and a number of breaches of editorial standards.

PressTV for its part says this is censorship, and that it has been penalised for the line it has taken on last year’s Royal wedding – remember this is a revolution that overthrew a monarch – and for its coverage of the riots that hit Britain.

Phil Rees, who has appeared on the station as a journalist and media analyst told RussiaToday that at the “end of the day” this decision had more to do with Iran’s relationship with the West, and with Britain – whose embassy in Tehran was recently stormed – in particular.

PressTV  suffered from weak journalism, and was seen by many within the industry as a propaganda channel, the ideas of fairness, balance and impartiality in its newscoverage were often not present, something that will no doubt be levelled at RussiaToday and the Chinese-owned CCTV.

That said PressTV did bother to cover the civilian toll of the Afghan and Iraq wars, and a viewer was given a fresh point of view, one seen through the eyes of someone regarded in this country as ‘other’.

George Galloway’s slot gave people who would not get the chance to be heard on television the opportunity to get their point across.

And occasionally their documentaries brought something new, like the truck drivers journey through Siberia.

And unlike many newsrooms, it was also a very woman friendly environment – you only have to look at the number of women presenters to appreciate that.

With tension mounting in the Strait of Hormuz, it would have been better to have allowed this channel to continue its broadcasts from its Hanger Lane office.

Instead, by closing it down it looks like someone has decided to silence a flawed, but still alternative voice.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/222180.html

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Dehumanising the Enemy

13 Friday Jan 2012

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Four young men laughing at each other’s jokes – could be a scene from any Saturday night, especially if they all had too much to drink.

Problem is this was no joke, the four marines were urinating on the bodies of three men, they called ‘Taliban’.

Predictably, yesterday’s video posting drew outrage with concerns about how the US could be seen in the Islamic World.

You can draw your own conclusions about that, however you may want to consider whether the actions of those four men is all that surprising.

The word ‘Taliban’ is used by soldiers in Afghanistan – and by many people over here – in the same way as you would talk of a pest that needs to be eradicated, in the same way also as the Lord’s name being taken in vain.

Hezbollah has also been used, as has Hamas, and as talk of war with Iran gets closer so will references to the stranglehold of that country’s clerical elite – the ‘mad mullahs’.

Go back further, and ‘Gaddafi’, ‘Saddam’ all received the same treatment – never mind the fact that many died fighting, if not for them, but for the nation that they led.

Both men were treated appalingly when they met their end.

And go back even further to the Vietnam and Korean Wars, and the carnage unleashed by aerial bombing was fine in the minds of the pilots because they were fighting the Vietcong, Communists, Gooks.

Go back further to Dresden, Hamburg, the wooden homes of Tokyo, the killing fields of the First World War.

Then, war was being waged against the Nazis, the Japs, and before them the German Guerilla.

As waging war becomes easier – modern drone strikes do not even need the conscience of a pilot – it is important to remember that the results are still as bloody and devastating to those we regard as the enemy.

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Diane Abbott and that ‘Racist’ Tweet

06 Friday Jan 2012

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COMMENTARY

When I saw Diane Abbott on Newsnight, I knew she was annoyed.

Martin Basher spoke like a press officer for the Met when he declared words to the effect of credit where credit’s due.

It had taken 18 years for two of a possible six to get something like a sentence for what they did.

The police had not investigated this case properly because they did not value the life of another human being.

Yet Mr Basher, Bashir if you like, did not seem to show any understanding of this – in fact, he seemed to qualify his remarks with I came up close and personal with the attackers myself.

Well good for you, aren’t you the clever one.

Basher, like others from the race relations industry, have done nothing to change this country’s still questionable position and attitude towards people they regard as ‘Other.’

However, they certainly have done well out of it – you know Basher’s part of the NBC staff now.

Diane Abbott is refreshingly honest about everything, which is why she never progressed in the same way as say another left winger had during Tony Blair.

When I asked Diane why she hadn’t compromised a little like that person in question, she told me ‘I can sleep easy at night’.

When Tony Blair took this country to war against Iraq, that particular person resigned, despite all the compliments they were getting regarding the importance of their work.

Diane Abbott is not racist and she certainly wasn’t saying all ‘white’ people are either, however ask anyone of another colour and they will tell that they have suffered from divide and rule at some stage, as well as other things like projection, just to teach them a lesson for thinking they are special.

I wish it wasn’t true, but it is.

If we are going to trust politicians ever in this country, then they need to be allowed to be human beings, which also means cutting them some slack, otherwise we will always end up with robots like Tony Blair and David Cameron.

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Protected: A BUS STOP IN ELTHAM – HOW THE MURDER OF STEPHEN LAWRENCE IS REMEMBERED TODAY ..

04 Wednesday Jan 2012

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Stephen Lawrence

03 Tuesday Jan 2012

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ANALYSIS – The Metropolitan Police Service did not do their job properly –    they failed to act because they did NOT take the murder of a black teenager seriously. In short, they were racist.
One only has to listen to the pain in Doreen Lawrence’s words to understand that.
She also made the point that racist attacks are still occuring today and that police should not use her son’s case as an excuse to move on.
One of the killers had actually attacked a white teenager with a knife before going on to murder Stephen.
That does not mean that this case was not racially motivated.
We all know that this case would never have not got so far, had the middle market Daily Mail not taken its dramatic stand.
Question is – how many more ‘Stephen Lawrences’ are still out there?

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391 British Soldiers and counting..

09 Friday Dec 2011

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Yesterday, the Ministry of Defence announced the passing of another British soldier in the death trap that is Helmand Province.

If the bloodshed continues at its current rate,  the figure will by the end of the year reach the grim milestone of 400.

Even though the people of  Wootton Basset have made sure that the repatriations are not forgotten, there is a danger that this death and the ones leading up to the four hundredth may pass almost without notice, such is the depressing familiarity of news of each new life lost. That they are doing their duty, is without doubt, however, what those of us in ‘civi-street’ appear not to be asking is why the need – what is Britain doing deploying the second biggest contingent of troops to a war where her contribution is symbollic, just as it was in Iraq, where British soldiers openly said that this was ‘America’s show.’

And just as importantly, how much longer will it last and when will it all stop.

Until such hard questions are asked, we will continue to be passive observers, as the sad news is brought to the family of another fallen soldier.

And through our silence we will be as culpable in their deaths as those who said nothing during the carnage of the first and second world wars.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16100110

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