Poor Vince Cable: Rupert Murdoch wins

vincent-cable

Overview: Vince Cable told two undercover reporters, Holly Watt and Laura Roberts, from the Daily Telegraph: that there is an internal war inside the Conservative/ LibDem coalition; that if he used his nuclear option, resigning, the coalition will fall; and that he was also at war with Murdoch's News Corporation over their intention to take Continue Reading

Cruel and unusual punishment.

Bradley-Manning

Bradley Manning has been kept in solitary confinement for 7 months. He is not allowed a pillow or sheet. He is not even allowed to exercise in his cell - not even allowed to pace up and down. He is monitored twenty four hours a day. His guards are forbidden to talk to him, except to give him orders or tell him to stop trying to exercise. He is Continue Reading

Clegg needs to go

Nick Clegg - hypocrite

The only survival strategy for the LIbDems is to sack Nick Clegg fairly quickly and pull out of the coalition. If not the party will be wiped out at the next election. With a hung parliament the LibDems would actually have more power as the Conservative would have to negotiate with them and other parties to go any proposal Continue Reading

Nick Clegg in a Nutshell

nick clegg peering into murky waters

Nick Clegg in 47 seconds - Pathe News style The very unhappy Nick Clegg peering into the murky waters of the future and not seeing his own reflection. In reality Nick Clegg's poor negotiating skills are the equivalent of General Custer's community policing ability. credit Photo:  flickr @nick-clegg Continue Reading

Wikileaks is NOT deliquent and anti-democratic

wikileaks seems to have annoyed someone

In response to the Telegraph article 'WikiLeaks is delinquent and anti-democratic' by Janet Daley The shocking wikileaks technique of dropping a large number of documents into the public domain reminds me of the MP expenses scandal. I see to forget the name of the paper - Telegraph - or something similar. The fact that the Americans are so stupid Continue Reading

Lib Dem Human Shield?

the Lib Dem grave yard

I wrote the following comment in the Independent two days ago. The idea of the LibDems as human shields seems to have spread.  Ed Milliband used the term in the Tuition Fee debate and Alastair Cambell is using it on his blog. Start of Comment Saddam used human shields. Cameron and Osborne didn't have to. With a little power bribe they can Continue Reading

Julian Assange – a Rat, but not a Criminal?

Jullian Assage

Just to live up to the geek fantasy of Sweden - Julian Assange did actually have sex with two different women. He treated both badly, took stupid sexual risks, but was he a rapist and sexual predator The story Miss A: The condom broke with the first one and he's accused of deliberately making a hole in it. The day after this event Miss A took to Continue Reading

Are Protests Ineffective?

student protests

Response to Steve Richards article "Don't expect protests to achieve much" in the Independent. In your article you state that protests do not bring about change of policy. You give as an example the Poll Tax protests. I believe you are right and wrong. Scottish Poll Tax Revolt What really changed the policy was the Scottish Poll Tax revolt, Continue Reading

Student Tuition Fee Questions

tuition fees pact

I have questions rather than a comment and perhaps someone can answer them for me. How will they know when a graduate is earning enough to pay the tax? What will they do if they leave the country, is there a mechanism in place to recover the money even if they do. They'll know when some is earning enough through their income tax return. So the Continue Reading

Of course poor students are affected by tuition fees.

Can't Afford No Tuition Fees

Well in my humble experience as a further education lecturer I can tell you that the fees affect the decisions made by many of my poorer students. This has ranged from some not going to university and many not going to university away from home, even though this might be the best decision for them. The debt has an affect on poorer students' Continue Reading