JULY 13th, 2010
Yesterday the brilliantly named Carne Ross, spoke to the Chilcot Inquiry and for a few glorious hours the old boys club actually resembled a commission that was trying to learn the causes and lessons of the Iraq invasion. Carne Ross worked at the foreign office before resigning in the wake of the invasion. His position involved him reading all the UK and US intelligence every working day for the four and a half years of his posting as well as talking at length with international experts concerning Iraq’s WMD situation. The full post is available on the website, and I wholeheartedly recommend reading it in full here. For those of you that are too busy here are some germane quotes from the transcript:
“During my posting, at no time did HMG assess that Iraq’s WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests. On the contrary, it was the commonly-held view among the officials dealing with Iraq that any threat had been effectively contained.”
“This process of exaggeration (of the dossier) was gradual, and proceeded by accretion and editing from document to document, in a way that allowed those participating to convince themselves that they were not engaged in blatant dishonesty. But this process led to highly misleading statements about the UK assessment of the Iraqi threat that were, in their totality, lies.”
“The UN charter states that only the Security Council can authorise the use of force (except in cases of self-defence). Reviewing these points, it is clear that in terms of the resolutions presented by the UK itself, the subsequent invasion was not authorised by the Security Council and was thus illegal. The clearest evidence of this is the fact that the UK sought an authorising resolution and failed to get it.”
Source: Iraq Inquiry
JUNE 21st, 2010
The first African world cup should have been a cause or unbridled celebration; a chance to bring some money into some desperately impoverished areas and a chance to focus the eyes of the world on the continuing problems (as well as the many good things) in South Africa. Unfortunately, FIFA isn’t really interested in any of that, just in protecting theirs and their sponsors interest’s as to the full extent allowed to them by the law.
It turns out the the extent of the law has been worringly extended: in 2006 the government approved the 2010 FIFA World Cup Special Measures Act which makes it a criminal offence to partake in “unauthorised commercial activities inside an exclusion zone” and “enter[ing] into a designated area while in unauthorised possession of a commercial object.” In effect this means that the thousands of England fans bearing the Sun branded vuvuzuelas to World Cup matches could be tried as criminals.
Last week there was a lot of brouhaha about “ambush marketing” when 36 ladies brandishing unfortunate ITV ex-pundit Robbie Earle’s World Cup tickets attended a match wearing orange mini dresses in the colour (but not the branding) of the Bavaria beer company. Having apparently decided that they own the colour orange, Fifa have already hauled the women before a “FIFA World Cup Court” and the two women charged with organising the stunt apparently face up to 6 months of prison.
There are 56 “FIFA World Cup Courts” set up in South Africa for the World Cup,staffing 1,500 workers. They have apparently seen 25 cases between them at an estimated cost of £160,000 per conviction for the host nation. An absolutely shameful waste of money in a country where the majority of people couldn’t hope to afford the cheapest Wold Cup Match ticket. It seems that the poor in South Africa waiting for that old conservative standby the “trickle down” effect, will be waiting for a while.
Source: Guardian
MAY 10th, 2010
The state of Arizona is fast becoming the poster child for the Tea Party protesters that are currently spearheading middle Americas lurch to the right. In the same week that they became the third American state to allow the carrying concealed weapons, they introduced legislation SB1070 that amongst other things give state police the power to demand papers from anyone believed to be ‘reasonably suspicious.’ In effect this is mandated racial profiling. Fortunately for Arizona based Latino’s fearing harassment, deprofiler.com has created a printable mask of a friendly white person, guaranteeing free unencumbered passage throughout the state.
Source: Osocio
MAY 7th, 2010
Congratulations to Dr Caroline Lucas who today became the first elected green MP in our very own Brighton. Caroline and the Green party collected 16,238 31.33 votes, placing her comfortably in front of the next candidate: Nancy Platts from Labour. The total also placed her a comfortable 162,3770 votes ahead of the zombie party, whose platform of equal rights for the undead failed to resonate with the residents of Brighton.
Source: AnotherGreenWorld
APRIL 29th, 2010
Tobacco companies are all of a fluster over new legislation passed in Australia today. The no nonsense Ozzies have banned logos on cigarette packets, meaning firms will be forced to sell their wares in plain logo free packets. Coupled with a 25% tax rise for cigarettes it has not been a good day for Australian tobacconists. It’s not due to be enforced until July 2012, and Tobacco companies are unleashing armies of darkness as I type. If the Australian government does manages to stand firm though it will offer a fascinating insight into just how much brands and logo’s affect the paying public.
Source: Guardian
APRIL 20th, 2010
There is plenty of waste plastic floating about in the ocean. In fact, according to the proponents of a new recycled island, the largest concentration of plastic in the ocean has a footprint the size of Spain and France combined. The crazy dreamers over at Rotterdam WHIM Architecture are currently researching a project that would take some of this waste plastic and use it to create a habitable floating island.
The planned island would be 10,000 km2, roughly the size of Hawaii. The three main aims of the project are: The cleaning of a gigantic amount of plastic waste from the ocean, the creation of new land and the creation of a sustainable habitat. Whilst it remains to be seen if this project can be realised, the idea is a fantastic one, and if nothing else helps to draw our attention to the significant amount of plastic pollution in the ocean.
Source: fastcompany.com
APRIL 20th, 2010
Incredibly 80 to 90% of water from the average household tap goes straight down the plughole unused. Surely one of the most wasteful systems since the government banned the feeding of pigswill to pigs. The new “Smart Faucet” has been built specifically to combat this waste; it is a chrome-plated brass fixture that can be fitted to most existing taps; instead of running water continuously it provides water only when you apply pressure. The makers reckon that this simple addition could save up to 15,000 + gallons per unit per year. Water you waiting for!
Source: TheDesignBlog
MARCH 29th, 2010
Labour and the Conservatives are reportedly close to a political deal that would give Britain another hour of daylight throughout the year. This would be achieved by changing the current system in which we measure time by GMT in the winter and GMT+1 in the summer. Environmentalists and road safety campaigners have called for the system to be revised to GMT+1 in the winter and GMT+ 2 in the summer. The carbon reduction pressure group 10:10 estimate that the move would prevent half a million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.
Source: Guardian
