Bloody Sunday Website

For all those that are interested in the facts, movements concerning Bloody Sunday go here:

http://www.bloodysundaytrust.org/index-02.html

voting record of David Cameron

(from the website theyworkforyou.com )

Voting record (from PublicWhip)

How David Cameron voted on key issues since 2001:

• Voted against removing hereditary peers from the House of Lords. votes
• Voted moderately for a wholly elected House of Lords. votes
• Voted strongly for laws to stop climate change. votes
• Voted strongly against introducing foundation hospitals. votes
• Voted moderately for greater autonomy for schools. votes
• Voted very strongly for the Iraq war. votes
• Voted strongly for an investigation into the Iraq war. votes
• Voted moderately against allowing ministers to intervene in inquests. votes
• Voted moderately against introducing a smoking ban. votes
• Voted strongly against Labour's anti-terrorism laws. votes
• Voted strongly against introducing ID cards. votes
• Voted very strongly for replacing Trident. votes
• Voted a mixture of for and against a stricter asylum system. votes
• Voted moderately for equal gay rights. votes
• Voted strongly against introducing student top-up fees. votes
• Voted moderately against more EU integration. votes
• Voted very strongly against the hunting ban. votes
• Voted a mixture of for and against a transparent Parliament. votes

~Elizabeth Cutbirth

As the US Senate votes AYE on the Wall Street reform bill "Cameron vows to veto any eurozone bailout

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7133106.ece

After our nation has bailed out banks and now the Senate has just passed the Wall Street reform bill showing the different strategies implemented in both countries.

QUANGOS IN TROUBLE

Where the cuts are likely to fall in education

In an effort to cut hundreds of millions of pounds from the budget deficit, the new British coalition-led government has prepared cuts to the education budget.

The chief secretary to the Treasury, David Laws, will announce £6bn of cuts – from education and elsewhere – in an attempt to dent Britain's £163bn fiscal deficit.

In education, quangos predicted to be effected include:

• The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency: designs the national school curriculum, which has an annual budget of £128m.

• Becta: promotes the use of technology in schools, which has an annual budget of £65m.

Governmental agencies thought to be selected for heavy cuts include:

• The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA): trains teachers and ensures schools are delivering government policy. Last year its budget was £743m.

• The Young People's Learning Agency: funds education and training for 16 to 19-year-olds.
  

• The School Food Trust: tries to improve the standard of school dinners to comply with, and exceed, nutritional standards.

• The Children's Commissioner: aims to champion the voices of children and young people in their local areas.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/may/21/cuts-education

Budget Cuts

This upcoming Monday GB will be seeing millions cut from Quangos in education in order to relieve the system of its large budget deficit. This action has caused a storm of controversy concerning the Quangos' role. Some politicians have stated that a governmental department doing the same job as a Quango would be more expensive. Other politicians complain about an unnecessarily large number of quangos in a certain niche, and cuts would benefit any inefficiency.












~Elizabeth Cutbirth~

General election 2010: David Cameron launches Conservative manifesto

The Torries have recently been trying to appeal to the working people of Great Britain as a new campaign strategy.

Conservatives Reveal their Manifesto (!)

The Conservatives have officially released their election manifesto, a document that details their positions for the upcoming May 6th General Election.

David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party, announced the manifesto today, and covered its main platforms. Its key focus is on the "working people", whom Mr. Cameron and the Conservatives will need to decidedly win over if they hope to take the next election. The Conservatives have been criticized in the past for their limited electoral platform, which has focused on a limited range of issues benefiting mainly the middle- and upper-classes. Mr. Cameron and co. have addressed these complaints accordingly.

"We stand for the working people that Labour has abandoned with their jobs tax and their waste," he said. "We stand for the idealists that the Liberal Democrats will inevitably disappoint because they cannot win this race."

The Conservatives need to win 116 seats to form a government, the most since the 1931 election that thrust them back into power after a period of weakness. The Tories hope to repeat that feat next month.

The Tories have stressed reducing the record £167 billion fiscal deficit, a pet peeve for conservatives of all stripes, though they have also paradoxically proposed an increased in health care spending, a move that the Tories claim will lead to a more "efficient and effective in the way we run the health service."

Only May 6th (and the polls leading up to then) will tell if this manifesto will persuade British voters to vote Conservative.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/13/david-cameron-launches-conservative-manifesto

Gordon Brown and David Cameron clash over national insurance

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/07/brown-cameron-national-insurance-pmqs
by Aly

Claims that David Cameron has been "taunting" current PM Gordon Brown about national insurance have been widely circulated. Labour claimed that the Tories pressured business leaders to stop a bill that would raise national insurance. Brown says that business leaders have been deceived.

Cameron told Brown that the planned 1% tax would kill the only recently recovered economy. Cameron said: "Is the prime minister really telling us that he knows more about job creation than business leaders who employ almost a million people in this country?"

Brown says that the government needs to protect public services.

A critic of Brown said, along with mentioning that Brown has declared war on British businesses said, "This is a highly significant moment which proves that Gordon Brown is on the wrong side of British business and working people who know that Labour's jobs tax will put the recovery at risk."



Can I just say that if American politics were half this entertaining, I think the public would be a lot more interested. For real.

Cameron loses plot in gay interview

David Cameron, a Tory leader, got himself to a bit of trouble during an interview with a British magazing called "Gay Times". He became very flustered at multiple times during the article and eventually had to ask for the cameras to be turned off. He didn't really know where his party has stood or stands on current gay issues and it's been an embarassing ride for him.

"(From 1.25 on this video – Mr Cameron is left staring at the floor, shaking his head and muttering to himself)"

Hahahaahahahahahaha. This is simply further proof that the British are way more interesting than we are. YAY.

http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15580696

Bailouts seem to be the biggest trends for banks, due to the nearly world wide recession. The Royal Bank of Scotland is no exception. The bank is still suffering, and reported an "underlying £8 billion ($12.5 billion) pre-tax loss for 2009, bringing its total since 2007 to £16 billion." And with taxpayers owning 70% of the bank, the public is concerned about having their $46 billion investment sitting underwater.

The process to follow is one that mirrors what has occured in some banks in the U.S. A rebuild of trust and assets, and for the Royal Bank of Scotland, a change of leadership. RBS plans to be leaner, and in profit by 2011.

Mr. Hester has taken the helm and is said to be tough and knows exactly what he's doing when it comes to bringing RBS back from the edge.

Britain vs. Argentina over the Falklands

By Elizabeth Cutbirth

Beginning on the 22 of February a British oil company, Desire Petroleum, began drilling off the shores of the Falkland Islands. There is estimated to be 60billion barrels in this area. This action has inflamed Argentina and Britain in a debate over sovereignty of the Falklands.

32 Nations in Latin America have backed Argentina in the Rio Group Summit stating that Great Britain is neglecting international law by permitting drilling to begin. During the summit, it was decided that this regional body would exclude the U.S. and Canada as well. Argentina has made appeals to the U.N to facilitate talks.The U.N however, would have little to no power in intervention without the security council because the U.K can make significant vetos on resolutions. Some of the Latin American countries have expressed their frustration with the U.N, and the West's power within the international organization.

the UK's permanent representative to the UN, reiterated British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland islands, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands.

We may be seeing a repetition of history, because Argentina and Britain fought over the islands in a short war of 1982 which cost more than a thousand lives. Thatcher's U.K won the war then, and gave the islands self-government and devolution has occurred since.


The U.S. wants to imrpove relations with latin american countries without alienating Britain so it is fairly neutral on this issue. It is committed to having both the two countries peacefully resolve the issue in discussion.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/falklands

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/02/clinton-us-britain-argentina-falklands-oil

Conservatives' Poll Lead Shrinks

The Conservatives' lead in the polls for the upcoming May, 2010, election has shrunken. The Conservatives', long ahead in the polls, have seen their lead gradually shrink as they fail to effectively win over the British electorate.

According to the latest ComRes poll, the Conservatives' lead over Labour has contracted to 5%; they now stand at 37% nationally, with Labour at 32%, the Liberal Democrats at 19%, and all other parties at a combined 12%.

Despite their the lead, if the election results mirrored the poll results than the Conservatives would still have less seats than Labour in Westminster due to complexities in the country's first-past-the-post electoral system., with Labour at 294 seats (32 short of a basic majority), the Conservatives at277, the Liberal Democrats at 46, and all others at a combined 33.

While Gordon Brown's reign as Prime Minister (and Labour's longer dominance of the top seat) has not been without its faults, the majority of the British public do not hold the reining government as responsible for the recession as the citizens of other countries do their leaders. The polled population reports a split belief concerning the party leader most able to bring Britain back to economic health, with the Conservatives (under leader David Cameron) earning 43% of voter confidence and Labour (under Gordon Brown) just behind them at 42%.

While Labour might retain a plurality in the Commons after this year's election, they have fallen into disrepute. If a hung parliament is formed after May, there is a still greater chance that Labour, who control the Prime Minister's chair, will be blamed for the country's legislative incompetence. We still must see how the British electorate's allegiances change in the two months leading up to the election, a time that will be marked by desperate attempts from both of the major parties to claim a greater share of the vote.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/hung-parliament-looms-as-tory-poll-lead-cut-to-5-points-1914288.html

FURY OF LABOR! OH NO!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7046477.ece

Lord Mandelson has been recently much upset by the fact that there will be no formal inquiry into whether Lord Ashcroft broke important promises in order to get peerage, despite Mandelson's vehement urgings.

Lord Ashcroft engaged in some dubious, yet not really illegal actions, by avoiding taxes.

This kind of behavior is generally looked down on by his fellow Torries.

"Lord Ashcroft is bringing the House of Lords into disrepute by continuing to dodge in the way that he is," said Lord Mandelson.

It's all very up in the air at the moment.

No Euthanasia for Brown

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has spoken his opinion for the first time on a long-contentious issue in Britain: doctor-assisted suicide, or euthanasia.

The PM has long been opposed to the issue, but Wednesday marks the first time that he has clearly and publicly elucidated his stance on the issue. Brown cites the "pressure" that sick persons would be under to end their lives is not acceptable.

In his words:

"The risk of pressures – however subtle – on the frail and the vulnerable, who may feel their existences burdensome to others, cannot ever be entirely excluded. And the inevitable erosion of trust in the caring professions – if they were in a position to end life – would be to lose something very precious."

He claims that the change in the law would "fundamentally change the way we think about mortality".

"I know in my heart that there is such a thing as a good death," he says. "And I believe it is our duty as a society to provide the skilled and loving care that makes it possible; and to use the laws we have well, rather than rush to change them."

Although the possibility that external pressure might convince a person to prematurely end their own life is a concern, I can't accept that the majority of persons who consider assisted suicide are blindly encouraged to do so by their families. I'm under the impression that persons who consider this option have suffered, or continually suffer, from illnesses and injuries that make death preferable to life. With the proper legal protections and emotional support from doctors or other medical professionals, I believe an individual can decide to end their own life when they so desire.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brown-takes-stand-against-assisted-suicide-1908651.html

Brown Apologizes for Britain's historically "Shameful Episodes

BY Elizabeth Cutbirth


Gordon Brown offered an apology this Wednesday to a group of an estimated 500,000 people who were sent over to Canada, New Zealand, and Australia in a program in the 1920's up until the 1970s. British children from ages 7 to 14 were forced to leave their families for a new life. The children were often from impoverished families benefiting from welfare. In some cases the children were told that their parents were dead and were promised a "better life", and the parents were told little about where their children were going. These post-WWI migration programs were set up to relieve Britain's social services. It also gave the British colonies a workforce.

When the orphans arrived to the new country, they were separated from siblings, forced to work as laborers, encountered brutality and sexual abuse from their "caretakers".
One survivor reports:
"Hennessey said his stutter began with a particularly violent and harrowing assault at the orphanage when he was 12 years old. He was stripped naked and nearly beaten to death by the headmaster for eating grapes he had taken from a vineyard without permission because he was hungry."

During WWII, Australia feared Japanese invasion and immigration so their immigration policy favored British and white immigrants until the 1970s.

"The Archbishop met us at Fremantle (in Western Australia)," Hennessey said. "I can still remember his words. He said: 'Welcome to Australia. We want white stock because we're terrified of the yellow peril.'"

A 1998 British parliamentary inquiry, meanwhile, noted "a further motive was racist: the importation of 'good white stock' was seen as a desirable policy objective in the developing British Colonies." ( http://us.asiancorrespondent.com/breakingnews/australia-apologizes-for-child-abus.htm)

Australia's Prime Minister, Rudd, has also recently offered his apology to the mistreated orphans.



Web article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/gordon-brown/7298874/Gordon-Brown-to-apologise-to-British-child-migrants.html

The Problem of the Falklands

Twenty-eight years after the war and the sovereignty of the Falklands islands remains in dispute.

A British oil tanker bound for the islands has reignited tensions between the two countries over the small piece of land off the coast of Argentina. While the islands have been legally recognized as British territory since the U.K. won the 1982 war, Argentina claims that it is the rightful sovereign of the islands, and thus the potentially substantial oil reserves surrounding the islands which Britain has claimed.

In response to the British's action, the Argentinian government has called for a blockade of the islands to prevent the tanker from docking in the Falklands.

While there was been little thought given to the islands for some time in Britain, the status of the islands remains a pressing issue in Argentinian politics as Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner struggles to unite the country behind her government. The islands are seen as an opportunity for her government to gain popular support for next year's elections, with polls claiming that she is losing popularity as a result of her country's dire economic situation.

While the Argentinians' claims aren't entirely just, I still feel that they have a more viable claim over the islands than the Brits. Besides Argentina's close proximity to the islands (380 km, compared with 9,000 for Britain) and their shared language, Britain's claim of sovereignty seems based on nothing other than the fact that it was the legal owner of the land before the Argentinians invaded. While this argument might seem justified, the Brits (as well as the French, the Americans, the Portuguese, the Spanish, etc.) all gave the same excuse when confronted with their blatant exploitation of past colonies. Britain's continued control over this relatively unimportant piece of real estate seems to be motivated by nothing other than an outdated reluctance to accept Britain's place as a less-than-superpower in world politics.

When its motivation for holding on to a colony amounts to no more than a simple desire for said colony's resources than little can be said in favor of the colonizer.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7031163.ece

Political Map

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2432632/UK-General-Election-2010-political-map.html

Map showing how voters are likely to swing for the election.

Apparently there's a Respect Party which is taking the lead in Bethnal Green & Bow.

Brits, fraudulent passports, murder, and a global mess!!!

By Elizabeth Cutbirth

The British Foreign Affairs office is investigating how the use of 6 UK fraudulent passports were used in the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's Dubai January 19th 2010 . Apparently Mahmoud, one of the founders of Hamas, a palestinian military wing, was allegedley in the area to buy weapons for the Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas.
There is speculation that the Israeli's national intelligence agency, Mossad, was involved in the murder.
The 11 suspects, some of whose identities remain unclear, have been issued arrest warrants. The investigation is also trying to understand how six dual British-Israeli citizens were involved (though their pictures did not match the names on the false passports). All of these people deny their involvement in the killing.

The investigations have also expanded to the U.S. and Austria because the suspects also used the false passports to open 5 credit-card accounts in U.S. banks.

Great Britain, Ireland, France and other nations have been discussing the matter and the British have called Israeli ambassadors over to discuss the fraudulent passports.

If Mossad is proven guilty then this may have implications of future strained relations with UK and Israel.

This situation has also given increased the tensions between the two Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah.

Hamas: (Ïslamic Resistance movement) a Palestinian Islamic organization with is deemed as a terrorist organization. Uses paramilitary force. They heavily dislike Israel, but the previous leader of the organization said they would have an armed truce with Israel if they agreed to withdraw from territory occupied in 1967.

Fatah:Attitude toward Israel : they advocate restarting the peace process, and they have disdain for the "armed resistance attacks" on Israelis.

Meanwhile, the British foreign secretary shadow, William Hague, is currently criticizing the foreign affairs office and asking how long they new about the fake passport claims.
Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8521246.stm

Geoff Hoon to stand down as MP at election

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7023278.ece

This former defense secretary is resign from Parliament when the elections are called this year. He had been an MP since 1992. Hoon, along with fellow MP Patricia Hewitt, launched a failed coup earlier in the year, and are still dealing with the fallout from angry activists.

They called for a secret vote on Brown's leadership, but met humiliation and defeat when they only receives support for a couple Labour MPs.

He quit "Government" last June, but expressed a wish to be UK's EU commissioner. He did not receive support from Brown.

Brown wins Commons victory for Electoral Reform

Gordon Brown's proposed referendum on replacing first-past-the-post with the Alternative Vote won a majority in the Commons Tuesday night, meaning that a popular vote will be made on the subject by October 2011.

The resolution was passed by a vote of 365 to 187 after the Liberal Democrats joined the vast majority of Labour MPs to support the move; while partisan interests have been vehemently denied as reasons for both parties' support of the reform, both parties stand to gain seats through the new system.

The battle over electoral reform, which is strongly opposed by the Conservatives, will now go to the House of Lords for final approval. Labour and the Liberal Democrats hope last night's majority of 178 will increase pressure on peers not to stall the measure.

Tuesday's result came after a four-hour debate in the Commons during which the Tories accused Labour of attempting to rig the voting system in its favour.

The expected rebellion by large numbers of Labour MPs against the AV vote failed to materialise after they heeded their whips' pleas for unity.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, denied the move was for electoral gain or designed to pave the way to a deal with the Liberal Democrats in a hung parliament, both arguments made by interests opposed to the adoption of Alternative Vote.

But the former Tory cabinet minister Douglas Hogg said Mr Brown had displayed not the "slightest interest" in electoral reform during 12 years in high office, claiming his interest only appeared when Labour began to drop in the polls.

The Conservatives also claimed that staging the referendum would cost £80m, arguing that the expenditure would be difficult to justify in the current financial climate.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brown-wins-big-commons-victory-for-vote-reform-1894554.html

More than 7 million cars recalled in the UK

by Aly Monroe

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/7175883/More-than-seven-million-cars-recalled-in-UK.html

Recently, Toyota has recalled over 480,000 cars. However, if you look at the numbers since 2000, Toyota will have recalled more than 7 million cars in the decade.

It is becoming clear that recalls are getting much more serious and affecting more and more cars, because different cars have started being built with the same parts en masse, so even if it's a different model, chances are it has similar parts of those of the same make. This is certainly apparent, as the United States is facing major recalls as well, and is likely to see more. Japan just had a reported 5 car accidents in brand new Priuses due to break failure, However, this is not the only issue, Toyotas have been suffering lately from faulty gears, airbags, and accelerator pedals as well as what could be termed the most serious issue-breaks.

The head of Toyota has apologized for the huge number of recalls and pledges to set up a new "quality control group" to try to get the daunting problem under control.

Toyota is not the only faulty car maker. Between them, just Britain's top 5 car companies have recalled more than 5 million automobiles since 2000; cost cutting is to blame. While models look different on the outside, the insides are becoming increasingly similar.

Apparently cars are yet another thing that was made far more reliable before 2000.

Labour Considers Changes in Government

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Labour are seeking several changes in government, among them a change in the country's electoral system, a rearrangement of the composition and power of the House of Lords, and the creation of a written constitution by 2015, the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.

Mr Brown said that the switch to the proposed Alternative Vote system, which would replace the first-past-the-post system which has been practiced in Britain for centuries, could be part of a "new politics" which would restore public trust in Parliament and its members in the wake of last year's expenses scandal.

Brown today confirmed that he will campaign for a move to AV - under which voters rank candidates in numerical order, rather than simply placing an X on the ballot paper, a system reminiscent of proportional representation - in the referendum, which he said should be held by October 2011. However, Parliament must first approve the referendum before sending it out to the people, a process that could be laborious and troublesome for the passage of the new system. It will most likely vote before its break beginning on June 3rd.

Despite the popularity of the proposed electoral change, opposition exists to the reforms. Conservatives accused the Prime Minister of wanting to "fiddle the electoral system" in order to cling on to power, while Labour backbencher Tom Harris, an opponent of electoral reform, claimed a majority of Labour MPs wanted to stick with first-past-the-post voting.

But he said, if there was a whipped vote next week, then the "vast majority" of Labour MPs would probably support the Government.

Brown also confirmed that a draft Bill to create a democratically accountable House of Lords, which would, among other changes, eliminate all permanently reserved hereditary seats, will be published within the next few weeks.

Brown said that "a modern democracy cannot tolerate power to initiate and revise legislation being held forever by those without a mandate for the people". There is "simply no space" for a hereditary principle in Parliament, he says, which would be removed by legislation to prevent the appointment of new hereditary peers.

As part of moves towards the creation of a written constitution by the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015, Mr Brown announced that he had asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to codify the unwritten rules governing the operation of central government.

In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research in London, Mr Brown said the public had been "rightly outraged" by the expenses scandal, and change was needed to restore trust in politics.

While Labour had already taken great steps through devolution, the introduction of freedom of information legislation, the creation of an independent Bank of England and a Supreme Court and the removal of most hereditary peers from the Lords, Mr Brown said he was "frustrated" that the process had not gone further.

Now was the time for "a radical, modern, open and democratic agenda to change the way our country governs itself", he said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gordon-brown-to-ditch-firstpastthepost-vote-system-1886907.html

Irish Peace Process Documentary-

Part 2:

More coming next week...

~~~Elizabeth Cutbirth

Devolution in Northern Ireland???

By Elizabeth Cutbirth

Background For this Article:

Northern Ireland has been plagued by decades of discrimination, violence, and death between Catholics and Protestants. The generalization is that Catholics have advocated Irish independence and the conjoining of of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland whereas

the Protestants, a majority, are pro-unionism and advocate the political and cultural ties with Ireland and Great Britain be maintained.

The Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, was signed in 1998 and has proved significant in the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Despite the agreement's positive effects and improvement in partisan party relations, there is still occasional illegal paramilitary activity that has occurred.

However, this Agreement provided for the eventual devolution of justice/ policing powers to N. Ireland, and that is what is being contended presently.

Major Parties in Northern Ireland: (and for this article)

Sinn Fein: (Irish for "we ourselves" ) The major party of Irish Republicanism (a desire for Irish Independence). Irish Nationalists tend to be Catholic. This party has been associated with IRA and has been known to use physical force to accomplish political goals.

The party believes that a devolved justice to N. Ireland would make it "more accountable" to the people.

IRA (Irish Republican Army): Has had a long history, dating back to 1900's advocating Irish independence through the Easter Rising, and Irish Volunteers.

DUP (Democratic Unionist Party): Unionist Party (advocation of the connection between Great Britain and Northern Ireland). It is also considered to be a Protestant Political Party

This party is in favor, but very "cautious" and skeptical of the devolution of policing powers to N. Ireland. It says it wants to be sure that the "community supports" this process.

Article:

Finally after ten days of negotiations, the Hillsborough talks have come to a conclusion.

The DUP and Sinn Fein, two major, opposing political parties from Northern Ireland, have finally come to an agreement for the devolution of policing and justice powers from England's Westminster to Northern Ireland's Storemont. This is a big deal because it is one more step forward from the Good Friday Agreement twelve years ago. Depending how this deal is received in Ireland's assembly, will determine the progression of devolution in Northern Ireland.

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and the Irish Minister Brian Cowen encouraged the two parties to come to an agreement.

For more info:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8484352.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8299103.stm

Britain Becoming more Conservative, survey suggests

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7002262.ece

Britain exits longest recession in known history

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7002715.ece

Britain, although coming out from the longest recession ever, did not rise as much as was suspected, gaining only a mere .01% instead of the projected .04%. Luckily, this is only the first of three readings by the ONS, so future readings may be more positive. Only time will tell. Sadly, if this reading proves correct, it may keep the country in recession because it was so low.

Britain is the last of the power countries to pick itself out of the depression that has hit the globe of late. The US, France, Germany, Japan and China were all a quarter ahead.

It is likely that the next election will affect the GDP, but unclear whether it will in a negative or positive way. What is abundantly clear is that the British government is going to have to work very hard to keep it's country afloat. The only parts of the economy which helped contribute to this minute rise are the retail and the motor sections, and the government has been heavily propping them up.

Recently, the pound had fallen, and it is only worth about $1.60 to one pound, instead of it's approximate 2 pounds per dollar rule of old. The euro has suffered as well. Britain had faced six straight quarters of a falling economy. Because the definition of "recession" only calls for two straight quarters of negative growth, it would appear that Britain has been undergoing a triple-depression. Bummer.

However, in this new wash of hope, over-optimism (the Treasury is claiming an imminent 3.6% raise) threatens to crush the little growth they have had. Projecting too high an increase screws mightily with mortgages and jobs and could even threaten to kill the recovery! Their main concern is debt reduction.

"Pressure on Blair as he makes final stand on Iraq"

The Chilcot Iraq War Inquiry

By Elizabeth Cutbirth

(See the actual Inquiry video here: http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/ )

The Iraq inquiry is not a trial to prosecute representative officials for their actions in war in Iraq, but an array of public hearings with the purpose of education, and investigation of what instigated the war and its legality, “It will consider the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of July 2009, embracing the run-up to the conflict in Iraq, the military action and its aftermath. We will therefore be considering the UK's involvement in Iraq, including the way decisions were made and actions taken, to establish, as accurately as possible, what happened and to identify the lessons that can be learned. Those lessons will help ensure that, if we face similar situations in future, the government of the day is best equipped to respond to those situations in the most effective manner in the best interests of the country."

The Tony Blair inquiry began on Jan. 29^th, 2010. The information derived from Blair included that Bush and Blair had meeting discussing the Saddam Hussein as a potential threat before 9/11 and much more so post 9/11. Blair had stated that, “In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, he firmly believed that he could not run the risk that Saddam would reconstitute his banned weapons programs. "The decision I took – and frankly would take again – was if there was any possibility that he could develop weapons of mass destruction [WMD] we should stop him. That was my view then and that is my view now."

Blair also stated, “that there was no real difference between wanting regime change and wanting Iraq to disarm: regime change was US policy because Iraq was in breach of its UN obligations. "It's more a different way of expressing the same proposition."

The strength of the evidence by the joint intelligence committee “presented at the time” in 2002 led Blair to believe “beyond doubt” that Iraq had weapons of mass-destruction. The weapons, however, were battlefield weapons not long-range missiles. Blair comments, “It would have been better to have corrected it in the light of the significance it later took on,".

Bush also declared that a second UN resolution was unnecessary, and America told its UK ally that if it had to bow out of a possible war, it was okay to do so. The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith however, a week before the war, had stated that the war was legal. If he had said it was unlawful, the British would not have entered the war, “He thought he could have got the nine votes necessary for a security council vote in favour of a second resolution if it had not been for the French and the Russians making it clear that they were vehemently opposed”.

As for the aftermath of the war, the article finished with, “Blair blamed Iran and al-Qaida for the problems with postwar Iraq. He insisted there was an immense amount of postwar planning, which centered on the possibility of a humanitarian catastrophe. "People didn't think that al-Qaida and Iran would play the role that they did. It was really the external elements of al-Qaida and Iran that really caused this mission very nearly to fail." The absence of a functioning civil service also created difficulties. Blair said the overall figure for deaths was around 100,000. These were caused by the groups attacking the British and Americans, he said. He said he was shocked when he saw the pictures from Abu Ghraib. These inflicted damage to the coalition cause, he said. He added that it would be "worth looking at" the case for having a single cabinet minister in charge of postwar Iraq”.

The Chilcot Inquiries have a long way to go. This tedious task of investigating officials and piecing together evidence is arduous and significant evaluation and an official release of all this information will not be ready by Summer 2010.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/29/tony-blair-iraq-inquiry-key-points

Great Britain in a Nutshell

Elizabeth Cutbirth

The first Celtic tribes, the Goidels or Gales are believed to have come to the British isles between 800 & 700 BC. Two centuries later they were followed by the Brythons or ancient Britons after whom the country was called Britain.

The first Roman invasion was led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC. But Britain was not conquered until some 90 years later, under Emperor Claudius, in 43 AD. Although the Roman occupation of Britain lasted nearly 400 years, it's effects were few. The people did not adopt the Latin language & so Latin did not displace Celtic.

In the middle of the 5th century, three Germanic tribes - The Angles, Saxons and Jute's invaded Britain from the continent. From the 8th century the Anglo-Saxons had to face Scandinavian invaders - the Danes and the Norsemen sometimes refereed to as Vikings -who occupied parts of Britain & made some permanent settlements. The Scandinavian invasions continued till the 11th century. The Anglo Saxon period can be characterised as a period of transition from a tribal to feudal organisation of society.

The period of feudalism started around 1066 and lasted to the 15th century. In this period the modern English nation and language came into being. It was a period of struggle for power between kings & between powerful nobles a period of frequent wars, bloodshed & suffering. But it was also a period in which the development of the wool trade and the early decline of feudalism prepared the way for England's rise as a world power.

The period between 1485 and 1603 is known as the Tudor Period. It was a turning point in English history. England became one of the leading powers. The two famous rulers of the House of Tudor were Henry VIII. and Elisabeth I. The Elizabethan age produced the world's greatest playwright William Shakespeare.

The first 40 years of the 17th century can be characterised as a period of growing conflict between the King and parliament, representing the interests of the bourgeosie. The conflict let to the civil war in the 1640 which resulted in the abolition of the monarchy and in Cromwell's military rule in the middle of the century. This period ended in the Glorious Revolution which marked the end of the English bourgeoise revolution.

In the period of 1688 to 1760 England definitely took the lead in European commerce created the conditions necessary for the establishment of an empire and prepared the way for the industrial revolution.

During the Industrial Revolution (1760 - 1850) Britain became the first industrial power in the world, "the workshop of the world." The Anglo- French rivalry for world domination which had started in the previous period continued and culminated in the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815).

The Victorian era which comprised the second half of the 19th century, called after queen Victoria, was a period in which Britain became the strongest world power: besides being the greatest financial and commercial power, the greatest sea power and the greatest colonial power. In was the era of the greatest colonial expansion, especially in Africa.

The 20th century is a period of the decline of Britain as a world power a period of crises of the two world wars, from which Britain emerged as a victor, but greatly weakened. It is characterised by the disintegration of Britain's colonial empire and the effort to adjust Britain to the new situation by joining the other developed capitalist countries of western Europe in EEC