WikiLeaks to reveal UFO references in cables
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange was in a Q&A with Guardian readers today.
He was asked this question:
Mr Assange, have there ever been documents forwarded to you which deal with the topic of UFOs or extraterrestrials?
He replies:
Many weirdos email us about UFOs or how they discovered that they were the anti-christ whilst talking with their ex-wife at a garden party over a pot-plant. However, as yet they have not satisfied two of our publishing rules.
1) that the documents not be self-authored;
2) that they be original.
However, it is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFOs.
Aces. I’m looking forward to that.
Hang on – didn’t Gordon Brown ‘admire’ Thatcher?
Only three months after he became prime minister, Gordon Brown invited an elderly dementia sufferer who once lived in the house he was then occupying to revisit her former home. But this act of splendid Christian charity carried with it a scarcely veiled political subtext aimed at Middle England and the Labour left alike.
By having Maggie round for a cuppa – or perhaps a drink more to the Iron Lady’s liking – and then sending her away with smiles all round and a bouquet in her hands, he was telling the electorate and the activists alike that he was, if not perhaps quite her child, then at least the secretary of her fan club.
Why the “New Socialism” is wrong to be top-down
John Harris and Neal Lawson have written a very long article on the Compass website claiming that it is time for “The New Socialism”.
After painting a gloomy picture of the current situation, they write:
“So where is the light? It comes from two places: from leaders, and from people. Both tell us that it is both feasible and desirable to renew social democracy – socialism even – but that renewal must be truly transformative. It cannot be about a change of direction, but a paradigm shift to a very new form of left politics. continue reading… »
Cheney to face charges of corruption in Nigeria
Well if ever a story made me rub my hands with childish glee, this would be one.
Notorious warmonger Dick Cheney is to be charged with corruption in connection to his time at Halliburton – a company which made rather a lot of money from Dick’s notorious warmongering.
Reported by the BBC today:
Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency is to charge former US Vice-President Dick Cheney over a bribery scandal that involves a former subsidiary of energy firm Halliburton.
And from the Huffington Post:
Nigerian authorities will charge former Vice President Dick Cheney over a bribery scandal that is alleged to involve Halliburton, BusinessWeek reports. An arrest warrant “will be issued and transmitted through Interpol,” said Godwin Obla, the prosecuting counsel at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria.
My little value added on this would be a reference to this extradition treaty between Nigeria and the US that entered into force in June 1935. Who wants to bet it will be enforced? Anyone?
Wikileaks’ Julian Assange isn’t is now accused of rape – updated
[Update 9th December 2010 - The charges are now clarified and written about here.]
It’s become a prevalent meme across the western media – who, completely coincidentally, hate Wikileaks – that Julian Assange is currently being sought by the Swedish police on rape charges.
He isn’t. He’s sought on made-up-weird-charges that aren’t a crime in the UK, or anywhere else sensible.
Killer line:
The consent of both women to sex with Assange has been confirmed by prosecutors.
Olympics, World Cup: please God, no
I remember going on a business trip to Glasgow which happened to coincide with the seventh world congress of flower arrangers. Perhaps because I did not appreciate the popularity of this pastime, I didn’t think to check for any clash of dates on that particular score.
So it was that 32,000 attendees – predominantly ladies of a certain age – and poor old me descended on No Mean City at the same time. It was hard to get a decent hotel room, and the resultant shortage of taxis made me late for more than one appointment.
In a country where infrastructure is as woefully inadequate as it is in Britain, major events inevitably put a strain on the inhabitants of the places in which they take place.
The assault on WikiLeaks threatens free speech and democracy itself
Let’s be clear about one simple fact: WikiLeaks is a media organisation. It might not publish a mix of 5-10 blog posts a day like we do, or hundreds of articles daily like the Guardian, but it nevertheless publishes information for public consumption.
There’s no doubt the web has blurred traditional boundaries and this has been scared journalists for years. But if we argue that blogs should be seen as part of the media ecosystem and end up performing similar functions, despite vital differences, then WikiLeaks is also part of that mix.
This leads me to one simple conclusion: the attack on WikiLeaks now is not only an attack on free speech itself, but shows how craven and self-serving the traditional media has become.
continue reading… »
Civil society rejects plans for Big Society
In November, the government wrote to civil society organisations inviting them to be part of building “The Big Society”. The Directory of Social Change considered their case and has written back, explaining why the government’s application had been unsuccessful:
Dear HM Government,
Thank you for your recent application requesting that we join you as partners in building the “Big Society”, as outlined in your open letter to us, dated 12 November.
Unfortunately we are unable to progress your application for a number of reasons.
1. While you clearly understand your vision, you unfortunately did not articulate your vision with reference to the wider context of your planned work. By way of example, a number of our assessors raised questions such as “but how big is society now, and how big do they plan to make it?” and “their policy decisions are being presented as based on fact and evidence, when they clearly are not”. They also expressed concerns that the mechanism by which you intend to provide “opportunities” (contracting services) means every opportunity offered to the voluntary sector is simultaneously (and legally required to be) offered to the private sector, and loaded with other risks. Failure to acknowledge and reference potential competitors and include a realistic risk analysis lost you significant marks.
2. Your determination in key areas, though admirable, is clearly not enough. It was our assessors’ understanding that despite reiteration of your wish that your local councils do not cut voluntary sector budgets, that is exactly what is happening. Further, your stated commitment to The Compact is, shall we say, incongruent with your current interactions with the sector.
3. Although an outline plan of work was included as an appendix, our assessors felt that the lack of clear objectives, and the total absence of any measurable impact or outcomes, made most of the proposals quite unsupportable. You increasingly demand such information from those organisations you wish to partner with; our assessors felt that it would therefore be quite wrong for them to accept anything less from your own proposals.
4. The assessors felt that the proposals offer a distinct lack of innovation. While they were optimistic that some of the work streams held the potential for innovation, there was little evidence that would materialise. Several used the phrase ‘reinventing wheels’.
5. There is insufficient evidence of need underpinning many of your proposed work streams. For example, the only evidence the assessors are aware of relating to the idea of a Big Society Bank finds that there is no actual need for one.
Despite the feedback from the assessors, we believe that there is some merit within the proposals you have outlined, and would encourage you strongly to reapply, taking strong heed of the feedback we have provided, and paying particular attention to showing evidence of need, together with clear plans for how you intend to monitor and report the impact and outcomes of your proposals.
Yours Faithfully,
Civil Society
Thatcher’s children? Too right
Say what you like about the current leadership of the Conservative Party, but none of them have ever gotten lost in the Sahara desert for six days on end, cocked up a military coup in a small but spectacularly corrupt west African petrodictatorship, or even been sacked from a television presenter job for dissing a black tennis player as a golliwog.
So technically Ed Miliband was being a tad unfair when he described Cameron and co as ‘children of Thatcher’ at PMQs today.
Not even today’s crop of top Tories quite match Maggie’s real sprogs in terms of cupidity, stupidity, incompetance, avarice, racism or generally poor sense of direction.
continue reading… »
We subsidise BAE more than we contribute to the EU every year
contribution by Tim Fenton
Much is made by the anti-EU brigade of the supposedly huge cost of bodies like the European Parliament. But, in reality, this body costs each EU resident around 3 Euro a year, which at today’s exchange rate is two and a half quid.
The UK’s net contribution to the EU budget for 2010 was 3.3 billion – that’s pounds, rather than euro.
continue reading… »
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