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If you’re a lurker, why not delurk tonight, it won’t turn your world, Upside Down, by delurking, I hope this intro will start a Chain Reaction of lurkers delurking.
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re Labour party funding - it was in the papers this morning (forget which one as read several on the plane).
Small donations was around 29% of funding, union donations were either 23% or 25% and the rest was 2 other categories of similar size.
They were a plurality, but not a majority. You'd have thought a politician and proposed Chief Secretary would know the difference. Almost makes me ashamed of New College.
edit: TSE helpfully linked above
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/09/labours-financial-dependence-trade-unions-has-been-exaggerated
Report on C4 news tonight about starving children. In the UK. In 2013.
Osborne's economic miracle, eh. The good news just keeps on coming, as surely as the food bank queues just keep on growing.
The irony of course is that he wasn't listened to. Labour's motion went down by much more than the government one and the government one was defeated not because of Labour's policy but because of a combination of Labour's positioning and government policy.
Ultimately, Miliband wanted to be seen as not being against force being used but not being in favour of it either - and that really isn't good enough for someone who aspires to be PM and who might have to lead these debates one day.
If Cameron offered a new vote he would give licence to Miliband to play his petty partisan spoiling tricks again on any new matter of national security which might arise.
Cameron has to teach Miliband a lesson on this one.
Early discussion for Italy is up here: http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/italy-early-discussion.html
Mr. Eagles, no King Aha link?!
I rather dislike Salmond's apparent approach of saying "If you disagree with me you're anti-Scottish".
Won the battle; lost the war.
But I don't expect you to understand.
At the risk of sounding older than Mr. W, Semerkhet sounds very familiar... can't place it, though.
Edited extra bit: that's damned frustrating. Checked on Wikipedia, hoping for a differentiation page with various chaps, but it seems to just be the pharaoh. I'm near certain that's *not* where I've heard it before, however.
King of Upper and Lower Egypt, he of the two ladies, he who belongs to them
Dave doesn't
Which one cocked up?
Later Roman Emperors had fancy titles. Most didn't deserve them, though Aurelian probably did.
I must have inadvertently hit the off topic button whilst hitting the reply button on my iPad.
I shall rectify this and beg your forgiveness please don't go all Hannibal at Cannae on me.
Khan, I'm laughing at the 'Superior' Intellect."
It's called: iRan.
Part three is must-read for those with an interest in the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Assad did that by attacking and killing his own women, children and babies using weapons proscribed by the international community.
Did you miss that bit?
This is the reason that Cameron is in favour of a top down reorganisation of Syria.
'But commercial is not members and small donations. It's advertising and stalls.'
Don't confuse wee Timmy.
He was Admiral Kirk at the time. Not a mere Captain
On the other hand, I may well steal the name for future use.
And of course I forgive you, old bean. We all make mistakes, and no harm done. It's not like you brutally murderered me with a few dozen fellow conspirators.
Because he's playing politics.
Cameron needs to wait for the outcome of the G20 and Congress deliberations.
The best outcome, as I have always maintained (except to Sunil), is for an agreed UNSC resolution giving an ultimatum to Assad.
If that is achieved then we can expect a new vote.
http://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2013/08/30/after-the-syria-vote-what-happens-next-in-the-uk/
I'm writing two Ed is crap threads concurrently, and your testing isn't helping.
It's a bit weird how Labour, having inflicted a defeat on the Government, seems so desperate to have another vote (presumably so that Labour can lose), whereas the Coalition has just accepted the result.
"Syria didn't attack the territory of Britain, Sunil. It attacked our sensibilities and values"
A dangerously low bar Avery. An invitation for those who take their religion more seriously than us to take a pop.
Talking of which Happy New Year!
1) Revenge is a dish best served cold
2) Revenge is sweet
So by my reckoning, revenge is Ice Cream.
What is the point of a leader who can only fire blanks?
The believed defection of former Defence Minister and Chief of Staff Ali Habib is less about his knowledge of the Assad regime and more of what he represents.
-He is well known & relatively respected
-He is Alawite
-He reportedly got fired from his post in 2011 for disagreeing with the regime stand on dealing with the fledging protests and uprising, so he is clean
-He has contacts still within the Assad apparatus
This guy has already been touted to the Russians and Americans (who will know him the Kuwait liberation) as a figure they can do business with before he even physically jumped ship. Question is will the Free Syrian Army do business with him?
The answer is very possibly.
Certainly there are some grasping at him as a potential bridging figure. The Russians are reportedly curious at this point.
Oh, wait...
Problem is, would those inside the regime want to try negotiating? Plus, the opposition isn't especially united. Would a deal be possible, with numerous rebel groups?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/special-report-we-all-thought-libya-had-moved-on--it-has-but-into-lawlessness-and-ruin-8797041.html
Poetic justice if they did go bust.
It's a great shame Libya appears to be descending into chaos, but that does not make intervention in that instance wrong.
Le'shana Tova Tikoseiv Vesichoseim.
On matters Assyrian, I did mention the small matter of breaching "norms founded in international law", war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Michael Gove still thinks it is.
Can you imagine if that was laid down as a principle of international relations? How difficult would it be to stop North Korea lobbing missiles left, right and centre as Kim Il Nutcase III takes offence at, well, this post among half a million other things? Or for that matter, why shouldn't we lob some the other way on account of his government starving the population?
Now, there is an argument that the use of chemical weapons crosses a line, however Syria is not actually a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention and as such isn't bound by international treaty not to use them (except as a signatory to the Geneva Protocol 1925 but that's more limited). It is arguable that their use is so horrific that it constitutes a crime against humanity or a threat to international stability - but if so, you'd think the UN Security Council ought at least to discuss it given that that's what it's there for.
Gladstone and Woodrow Wilson must be grinning in their graves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly_J8ShqFkU
I suspect the intention is straightforward, bring the majority of each community with you, unite take on whoever wants to sit outside of it. One thing many should remember is that Syria has a ready made army post Assad. There are a lot of troops, who's reliability is questioned by Assad, effectively garrisoned and either relegated to back-end roles or stuck in outposts taking fire from insurgents. These troops number in thousands. Every possibility they would move across if an agreement struck. Add on a core of the Free Syrian Army plus some Alwaite influences, you have the closest thing to a coherent force on the ground.
What we'll possibly see is the race to Damascus where US influenced groups coming in from the South will be taking aim to seize the place eclipsing Islamist radical influences.
It may work it may not.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/fraser-nelson/2013/09/what-use-is-gdp-going-up-if-wages-are-going-down/
From that arch left winger Fraser Nelson "Labour will be trying to focus on wages. And much as though I hate to admit it, they have a point. As Ed West and I argued in a cover piece recently, Osborne’s recovery plan (based on monetary activism but fiscal conservatism) really is a plan for trickle-down economics. The official policy of QE involves reviving the economy by inflating assets. Unsurprisingly, the richest own most of the assets. Those who have investments find the value of these rising. But for those who only have cash in the bank – or no savings at all – there is not much to be optimistic about."
I think George Santayana said all we need to know about how the West has handled the successive interventions in the Middle East.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Oh, for goodness sake! Since when was 'attacking our sensibilities and values' a casus belli? (OK, since the War of Jenkin's Ear?)
Can you imagine if that was laid down as a principle of international relations? How difficult would it be to stop North Korea lobbing missiles left, right and centre as Kim Il Nutcase III takes offence at, well, this post among half a million other things? Or for that matter, why shouldn't we lob some the other way on account of his government starving the population?
Now, there is an argument that the use of chemical weapons crosses a line, however Syria is not actually a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention and as such isn't bound by international treaty not to use them (except as a signatory to the Geneva Protocol 1925 but that's more limited). It is arguable that their use is so horrific that it constitutes a crime against humanity or a threat to international stability - but if so, you'd think the UN Security Council ought at least to discuss it given that that's what it's there for.
Gladstone and Woodrow Wilson must be grinning in their graves.
Mr. Herdson, please note that my discussions with Dr. Prasannan are discrete and ethereal.
And I had a grandmother, now long gone, who would remonstrate with her grandchildren by saying "That offends my ears" or "That offends my sensibilities". She was a very wise woman who knew how to build an empire.
On the CW Convention (1925), I accept that Syria is only one of five states recognised by the UN not to be a signatory.
I understand from LIAMT, who is a stickler on all matters legal, that Syria signed the Geneva "Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare" on 17 December 1968 (albeit with a reservation on recognition of Israel).
The UNSC is the default but not the exclusive means of legitimising the response of the international community to a breach of international norms. In particular the UN "Responsibility to Protect" initiative confers a responsibility on the international community to intervene when a state fails in its own responsibilities to its citizens:
1. A state has a responsibility to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.
2. The international community has a responsibility to assist the state to fulfill its primary responsibility.
3. If the state manifestly fails to protect its citizens from the four above mass atrocities and peaceful measures have failed, the international community has the responsibility to intervene through coercive measures such as economic sanctions. Military intervention is considered the last resort.
The UN and its members are not decided on whether "the responsibility to intervene" can only arise from a UNSC resolution.
It also be noted, as I posted to LIAMT last night, that the UNSC is not a legal court or even arbitrator in legal disputes. It is a political body.
All being said, Mr Herdson, I find my grandmother's interventions based on offence to her sensibilities to be a more practical and less ambiguous route to action.
And though you can just about see how in a bad year Ed Miliband could become prime minister, what I cannot any longer pretend, after three years of his leadership, is that he would be a good one. On the contrary. I think he would be a disaster. Strangely, I think both the country and his party already know it.
Thursday: 28 degrees
Friday: 17 degrees
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643743
Can't you read ??
That was when the one per cent decided they wanted it all.
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger
Ostensibly reform-minded Hasan Rouhani wishes ‘all Jews, especially Iranian Jews’ a blessed new year
http://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-president-tweets-rosh-hashanah-greeting/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Can this be a real change in Iranian leadership to Israel also, or is it a PR gambit?
Anyhow be that as it may: A Happy New Year to all my Jewish friends.
Twitter
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 3m
Sources at Westminster say Labour's reshuffle is underway tonight, with Shad ministers being consulted about their teams. Full deets trmw?
Maybe it was because there was a sense of solidarity arising out of the war experience, with bosses prepared to give decent wages to employees because of those memories of working together in 1939-45.
I wonder how many times you voted for warmonger Blair ? Did you go LD or other as the moral rot set in ?
More than 300,000 attempts were made to access pornographic websites at the Houses of Parliament in the past year, official records suggest":
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23954447
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Union_membership_in_us_1930-2010.png
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23869955
I've often wondered about this in central London. It certainly does do something in most places.
But I'm sorely disappointed. I eagerly clicked on link number 11 - hoping in my naivety to discover in what way 'Scottish politics is fun again' - only to be directed to yet another 'Ed is crap' article.