Who would have thought that after nearly 13 years getting a Lokerbie Bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi behind bars, 8 years later he would be released on compassionate grounds. “Deeply upsetting, deeply distressing” was the words from the UK Foreign Secretary David Milliband as the bomber gets a hero’s welcome in Tripoli. There is outrage in the USA as the Scottish Attorney General released the agent who was parts of the plot to bomb flight Pan Am 103, back in 1988. The reason was that this agent only has less than 3 months to live and it is Scottish law that prisoners can apply to be released to spend his final days at home.
However the reception in Tripoli put salt into the wounds and as Scottish flags were being waved (where do you buy Scottish flags in Tripoli?) as it was pretty obvious that the reception was staged by the Gadaphi the leader.
Both President Obama and Hillary Clinton have thrown strong words to the Scottish government, stating this decision was wrong. The USA victims have also stated strong words, such as being physically sick with the news. There was a slightly warmer response from some British families, stating that this agent was not part of the plot and someone who agreed to do a sentence on behalf of other Libyan terrorists or even a group based in Syria and it was he who initiated the plot to bomb 103. In 2003 Libya admitted responsibility of the crime, even so this sole individual took the full blame. There was a lot of evidence contributing to his involvement, but little that he made or placed the bomb.
Whatever the opinion there has been worldwide condemnation with a hint in other circles that this my help grease the wheels of better relations with Libya, who has already disbanded its nuclear programme and weapons of mass destruction, with both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both meeting the Libyan leader.
It seems a friend of Obama Henry Lewis Gate lost his keys and attempted to break into his own home with a second individual. Unfortunately some neighbours saw him and phoned the police of whom a white police Sergeant James Crowley turned up to the call. A little while later the sergeant arrested Henry Lewis. President Obama felt he needed to comment on this incident, claiming the police had not acted in a way they should, especially as this suspect was black.
However as the real facts emerge, it turns out that this police sergeant is very much respected and works for his black superior. Witnesses say it was not the police but in fact Henry Lewis that overacted to the situation, would not identify himself and refused to come out of his home. Working with the information in front of him, Crowley arrested this unknown intruder only to find out late he was the resident of that home.
With the new facts in front of him, Obama was forced to add extra comments about the situation and state his intention was not to state that the police “acted stupidly”. Neighbours claimed the police acted correctly and no racial tones were ever there. They were acting in a way they should to a call that 2 people had broken into a neighbour’s home.
Comments were not favourable to Mt Lewis suggesting he used the racial issue because he had a chip on his shoulder. This first slip will be a lesson for President Obama also, to ensure he gets the full picture before commenting, after all this became international news.
UK and Iran have never seen eye to eye for some time now, but relationship with the USA was normally worse. After President Obama opened his arms to better relationship a few months ago, there seems to be a greater emphasis against UK at this time. It is not that the USA and Iran are now good friends, but it almost as if Iran does not want to cut it bridges of with the USA should they want to talk. Great Briton on the other hand is pretty much seen as an enemy and currently being blamed for the post actions of the Iranian people after recent elections.
Last week 9 British Embassy staff was arrested for “improper Conduct” accused of encouraging the post election protests, sending relationships even lower than before. David Milliband (Secretary of State) has stated that these accusations are unfounded and up to date has managed to aid the release of 8 of the 9 held. However the 9th individual appears to have been charged with “acting against national security”, something totally denied by the foreign office, there is an expectation that this worker will stand trial of some sort.
Ironically this staffs are all Iranian and from the outside it appears that Iran wants to set an example, to the world. Right across the EU, Iranian Ambassadors’ have been called to receive official protests. This may be a UK fight, but the EU are clearly with Great Briton and we wait to see if the Whitehouse will keep its distance or state it’s objection also.
Gordon Brown has been criticised for dragging his feet over the current expenses embarrassment, but today the Labour party will lay down the rules for how to deal with MP’s that may have taken advantage of expenses or have just down right fiddled them. The last few weeks has seen many examples of questionable expense claims that have had the British vote furious that on the surface appears that MPs can get away with something normal employees would be at least sacked for and some cases a possible police record.
The current events have put normal political arguments on hold as honesty and moral issues have taken over policies. That has opened the doors for independent parties to market themselves on TV through the normal political information broadcast. Arguments that 74% of all political decisions that affect England are in fact made in Brussels and that Scotland have the best of both worlds with their independent assemblies. It seems that even though Scotland and Wales have their own parliament, England does not as it still represent all of the UK.
We all as voters wait for this to be sorted so we can look our MP’s in the face with a trustworthy respect even if we disagree with their political views.
Obama inherited a huge issue with the Taliban in Afghanistan and beyond. Although the reports that are coming back home is that the Americans are losing the war, just as the Russians and others before them it is inconceivable that we should pull out in defeat. This week saw Pakistan going to war with the Taliban in North East, this should be of some release of pressure of what was going to be an another war ground for the USA and possibly UK troops.
Pakistan had signed an agreement with Taliban not to go to war, providing they followed some specific rules and did not expand their territory, at the USA’s disapproval of negotiating at all with them. Of course they totally ignored the signing and not have almost taken over many areas of Pakistan. This week saw local troops going into battle with reports of 150,000 dead or wounded already.
Whether we believe those figures or not is irrelevant at this point, what is correct though is now Pakistan has also gone to war, which is good news for Washington. There will be hope of success and as it is predicted that Bin Laden is held up somewhere n Pakistan, the war may create unrest and challenge his position there in time.
Obama message was that everything cannot be achieved through fighting alone, there still needs to be some talking, to what level he was refereeing to is unsure. With the UK troops now officially finished in Iraq and more USA troops to be deployed in Afghanistan there could be some hope to turn things around.
There could ne nothing worse for a political party than have it s members either accused or suspected as taking their working expenses too far within a recession. With many workers in the UK and the world losing their jobs, it is hard to fathom how can these civil servants who work for the tax payer get away with the huge amount of expenses that they do. The reporting just does not go away and with the Prime minister forcing changes through parliament at lightning speed, you just can’t help thinking he knew what was coming.
The only release of pressure is that the conservatives are not throwing black stuff at them, because ultimately they know they are about to have their own expenses released to the world and they know, they are likely to have similar criticism. For those with an open mind, there is understanding that if you are forced to live away from home to serve the country, you should at lease not be out of pocket and be able to live near where you work and have a responsible lifestyle based on the hours and responsibility a politician would have. After all if you pay monkey nuts, you only get monkeys working for you and although many voters would think that is all they have anyway, most people want quality managers and servers working to make Britain a better place.
But when you see newspaper reports like the one today in the Daily Mail, you do find yourself questioning why anyone could think they could continue to claim for such expenses. Such items mentioned are
Chocolate Santa’s
Packet of Maltesers
Packets of Jaffa Cakes
Potato Peeler
Eyeliner
Piano Tuning
Sanitary Towels claim by male politicians.
Of course some of these claims may not be represented correctly by the press as food items could easily have been a working pack lunch rather than a sitting down lunch, but to the public explanation should be made. Also such claims to deal with a rat infection is being publicised, but why should a politician work in a rat infested home, if the house is the second home for business use.
The media are making a big song and dance about the issue with good reason, but some expenses are likely to be with good reason and so the confidence in the system has to be restored, so we know when unusual items like this are claimed for good reason.
Another scandal has hit the Labour party, this time over smears it was planning to put onto a website regarding certain members of the conservative party. Of course the man concerned has been sacked and everyone, including the Prime Minister has walked away stating they new nothing about it and it was all down to one man, who just happed to be Gordon Brown’s aid.
Actually over a week later the story is still being delivered to a bored public who really don’t care as much what the media think they do. Of course they don’t want politicians to smear other parties, but everyone has assumed it was happening anyway; it certainly does in the USA, where we see hurtful election campaigns on TV, telling it all true, or not true.
In the end Gordon brown was forced to apologize, even though there is no proof he knew anything about it and even though, we all think that the conservatives, probably have a rogue member in their mists also, who just was not caught and can now hide and pretend the idea never crossed their mind.
The ironic thing is more about those who reported the story. Every day the media will stir up information on someone and then still claim to stand by their story even when a fine has been applied by a jury. Most people do not take newspapers to court, so you end up with a Media who criticize a government for doing what they do every day of week.
Has it hurt the Labour party, probably only those who had already given up on them? Those who know how politics really works and how we move more and more towards what they do in the USA, would wonder why the commotion or at least, why has this never been brought up before. So I do not see much difference to before. We just wish the story would go away; maybe the budget will give us some real issues to moan about
The UK April budget may see something unusual within to stimulate the new car industry or nearly new market under 1 year old. It follows what other nations such as Germany have done and that is to reward car owners with a nice bonus if they scrap their car over 9 years old and buy a new fuel efficient car under 1 year old.
In Germany motorists have been rewarded up to 2500 Euros when they have done this, there are current rumours that the chancellor may offer up to £2000 per old car scraped.
It would be interesting to see how the government would apply this incentive as in Germany new car sales rose by 40% because of the scheme, old sectors of the market i.e. used car sales dropped. Currently the UK is seeing a rise in used cars sales with the underlying prices rising by 5%, surly this new scheme would effect this market.
It may also affect other car markets indirectly such as the salvage section. It is very possible that a car about to go to the salvage yard that is currently worth £50 may suddenly have a £2000 value from the chancellor. Breaker yards could also be affected as the supply of car parts over 10 years old will likely diminish, but there is also likely to be a huge influx of cars to be scrapped; high supply with a low demand.
The next car industry that may be affected is the Car Lease sector. It is estimated that 50% of all new car sales are to be leased. With huge discounts being applied to purchasing a new car, it may be that many choose not to opt for a car lease policy and buy themselves direct.
On the face of it a 40% increase in new car sales certainly is something to aim for. But it is important for any chancellor to see the whole picture and is the tax payer contributing to save one industry but putting other businesses at risk. Lets see when the budget is released later in April.
The G20 summit was designed to bring the world leaders together and agree a strategy to end the current world financial crisis. There was massive scepticism, with rallies planned and the media ready to pounce on this huge failure. However what really occurred was at a level not really expected.
Gordon Brown the UK Prime Minister instigated the idea, instead of having 20 nations doing different things to sort out their own financial affairs, why not come together and sort them out with a common course and plan. The French sent out messages that of they did not get what they wanted, they would walk out and there were mutterings from other nations too. However the day ended as what could be described as a huge success, although not everything was agreed to a higher level.
The fact that 20 nations could come together and agree on the basics including Russia and China was a huge success to Gordon Brown’s idea. The star of the show was President Obama, who chose the UK as his first official engagement outside of the USA. He mingled in with other country leaders adn can only be seen as a ray of hope and optimism. His wife attended a school with teenage girls and there is no doubt, they came away motivated and moved from the First Lady. The media also captured the pictures and the world looked on in awe.
The G20 conference ended in triumph inside and was only marred by demonstrations outside that saw some property damaged and now a police investigation to why a gentleman died of a heart attack and was it brought on by riot police.
President Obama then moved on to Strasbourg and continued to woo everyone he came into contact with. A q and A session was set up in front of the cameras and we saw a very rare thing; A USA president answering questions from an audience. A surprise visit to Bagdad afterwards to see the USA troops brought smiles to the faces of personnel serving in Iraq, something we all want to go away.
The week was something the world needed; it gave optimism and hopefully a bit of trust in the world leadership that in times of trouble we can forget some of our differences, come together and find a solution. With the USA playing the largest part in all this, it was good to see a President, sharing and talking and not dictating the odds like previous leaders.
Well one way is to get drunk behind the wheel and mow down some innocent pedestrian down killing them instantly and creating lifelong suffering to their family. Another way is to throw a shoe at the 41st president of America and not even hit the target.
Well this is what has happened to an Iraq journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi. He used his privilege as a journalist and then in front of millions worldwide, threw his shoe at the President making him a hero in Iraq. Today he has been sentenced to 3 years behind bars, something that here in the UK, we seem to reserve for more serious crimes.
A fair agreement would suggest that it is a great insult in Iraq to throw shoes at anyone that may result in up to 15 years behind bars and even though this journalist and pretty much everyone in the western world may think his was harsh it certainly isn’t 15 years and you can’t help thinking he would be out in 1 year.
There is also a security issue here, with shoes being used to hide bombs in planes, it was possible this amusing incident could have been more serious and locking this person up, hopefully is a message that shoe throwing is just a gimmick, but could be a very serious one, if security had thought it was a bomb and decided to shoot the journalist instead.