The government couldn’t move him. In the end only cancer could. A symbol of peace and freedom, an icon of the anti-war movement and a picture of stalwart self-sacrifice for the cause of right. Regardless of what anyone on the left thought of his tactics, I don’t think anyone could argue that he gave anything [...]
Ok, false alarm, it’s not quite breaking news. People have known this for years. But I think, following today’s little outburst in The Independent, it’s worth reiterating. Julie Burchill is an idiot. Quite why a paper which is, by and large, aimed at intelligent, liberal minded progressives, chooses to print the journalistic equivalent of an [...]
There’s an excellent piece by Andy Newman on Socialist Unity about why Afghanistan could prove to be a bigger defeat for America than Vietnam. The key point is his identification of Iraq and Afghanistan as being part of the same conflict. It’s easy to forget about Iraq with the media’s eye so focussed on Afghanistan. [...]
I have just got back from a 40-strong demonstration outside Colchester Barracks at the trial of Joe Glenton, the soldier who spoke out against the war in Afghanistan and refused to return. Joe was sentenced to nine months in a military prison for going AWOL. This is clearly an attempt to send a message to [...]
Barack Obama received his much debated Nobel Peace Prize in Norway today. One has to wonder exactly what part of sending 30,000 additional troops into a destitute nation, which has been occupied by the world’s greatest superpower for the last eight years, constitutes peace. Obama himself recognised the irony of receiving the prize whilst his [...]
Michael Moore says absolutely everything that needs to be said on Obama’s decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Hat tip here goes to Leon on Pickled Politics. Sunny, writing on the same website, makes some good points, but I continue to believe his support for the war and for the additional troops is [...]
First of all an apology. Orwellian terminology is definitely overused within the blogosphere. Yet yesterday President Obama offered us a master class in presenting something as its opposite. He billed his latest plans as a means of achieving a ‘responsible transition out of afghanistan’. He called on America’s allies to ‘come together’ for ‘the end [...]
These are strange times in which we live. Not for a generation have governments had so many important political decisions pressed upon them by world events. Yet rarely has political discourse been so focused upon the personal behaviour of those in power. For the past few days, the serious issues surrounding Afghanistan – the fact [...]
Interview by Dan Swain and Lorna Finlayson Ted Honderich is Grote Professor Emeritus of Mind and Logic at University College London. Since 9/11 he has written several books on the subject of terrorism and war, most recently Humanity, Terrorism, Terrorist War, and has become a vocal advocate of the right of the Palestinians to a [...]
The Government has a problem. It is obsessed with integration, yet seeks to deligitimise one of the greatest examples of genuine intregration of recent decades. I was reminded of this fact when I came across the above photo from the recent Troops Out demonstration in London. This picture shows a number of things, the least [...]
