UK Government Refuses To Back Investigation Into War Crimes By Saudi Arabia

The claim is not hysterical.
From health to disability benefits to prisons, it’s clear that Tory policies cost lives.
( Zoe Williams, Guardian, 13.11.2017 )

The harsh austerity plan rolled out under consecutive Conservative Governments has been linked to 120,000 deaths in Britain.
( Jack Peat, London Economic, 16.11.2017 )

UK Government Refuses To Back Investigation Into War Crimes By Saudi Arabia.

Britain vowed not to back a proposed UN investigation into possible war crimes by Saudi Arabia in Yemen after the Kingdom threatened to review its trade with nations who backed the move.
A Saudi-led coalition has been waging war in northern Yemen for more than two years against Houthi rebel forces who are opposed to the country’s leader, President Abdrabbuh Mansour.

More than 10,000 have been killed, many of whom are said to be civilians, and some 50,000 injured, figures show, after mostly air strike attacks by fighter jets dispatched by Riyadh.
It comes after figures from charity War Child UK claimed that British arms companies have earned more than £6billion from trade with Saudi Arabia since the conflict erupted.

UN members Holland and Canada have called for an inquiry into alleged war crimes by the Saudis in its campaigns against the Houthi forces over its border with Yemen.
But the Kingdom said it “will not accept” any outside investigation into the allegations and warned countries that supported the move could see their trade with the Saudis suffer.

A letter distributed by the kingdom read: “Adopting The Netherlands/Canadian draft resolution in the Human Rights Council may negatively affect the bilateral political economic relations with Saudi Arabia”, according to the news agency AFP.
Britain’s Middle East and North Africa minister Alistair Burt said “finding a resolution for the conflict in Yemen was a high priority”, but added the UK would not support the proposed UN inquiry.
( Independent, 28.09.2017 )

Chronic Trade Gaps And Record National Debt.

A Government Wellbeing survey claims we’ve all become happier over the past year.
But I fear the Office for National Statistics is mistaking the kind of manic, suicidal grin a funeral mourner wears when they return home to see their house on fire, for a smile.
Because with every passing day it feels like we’re all becoming extras in a fifth-rate Pinewood comedy called Carry On Down The Khazi, with the woefully inept leading actors strutting across the world stage giving everyone outside these shores a belly laugh.
David Cameron introduced these Wellbeing scores to prove there are other statistics outside of chronic trade gaps and record national debt to show how well Britain is doing.
( Brian Reade, 11.11.2017 )

Minted, But Greedy And Selfish.

I’m still feeling slightly queasy about the Paradise Papers’ revelations in which people who have got more money than you could ever imagine can’t bear to part with much of it in order to keep our public services running.
They don’t use those services of course, because in doing so they would have to come into contact with ordinary people, the very folk who have enabled them to earn the money they don’t want to part with.

What I don’t understand is, if you are minted to the tune of several hundred million pounds, or even ‘just’ ten million, why would you be so desperate to avoid parting with less than half of it for the common good?
Still, the loopholes are there, so why not take advantage?
That’s the key question.
Why is no-one answering it? That’s another question.
( Fiona Phillips, 11.11.2017 )

Two schools in Theresa May’s Maidenhead constituency are so skint they are asking parents to cough up £190 a-year to provide basics such as pens, glue, exercise books and scissors.
How ironic.
They are exactly what she needs to cut out David Cameron’s 2016 resignation letter, paste it on to a piece of paper, sign it and hand it in.
( Brian Reade, 18.11.2017 )

He Turns Every Matter Into A Joke.

Just look at him. Boris Johnson.
The likeable adulterer, liar and buffoon.
The man so desperate to seek attention, he turns every matter, no matter how important it is, into a joke.
Admittedly, he does make some of us smile.
But his is the face that looks out to the world on behalf of us all.
And that’s not funny, as jailed British mum Nazarin Zaghari-Ratcliffe found out when, in a diplomatic effort to secure her freedom from an Iranian jail, Boris spouted inaccuracies which could lead to her sentence being increased instead.
( Fiona Phillips, 11.11.2017 )

Were Shady Dealings Done By The Queen’s Advisors?

The Paradise Papers show The Queen and her heir to have invested millions in offshore trusts and companies while living off the fat of our taxes.
Ah, say the defenders, these shady dealings were done by their advisors and they “probably didn’t know what was going on with their investments”.
Why not? What else do they do with their days?

The Queen’s sister, Margaret, who spent her life in bed being serviced with vodka and tobacco, arranged for most of her £20million fortune to go to her kids before she died, thus escaping death duties.
This is a Firm who, in the midst of austerity cuts, demanded and received inflation-busting pay rises, plus £370million to do up one of its palaces.

The only acceptable defence is that The Queen can see the future under this dying Government and has bunged her wealth in her Crown Dependencies so when the world stops laughing at us and the recriminations start she can do a midnight flit.
( Brian Reade, 11.11.2017 )

What A Dirtbag.

Billionaire Sir James Dyson believes we should walk away from the EU negotiations with no deal, despite such a scenario hitting the poorest hardest.
He also thinks the biggest advantage of Brexit is that it will become easy for firms to fire workers and says corporation tax should be cut to zero to help bosses.
This is the same patriotic knight who closed his vacuum cleaner factory at a cost of 600 jobs and moved production to Malaysia where the labour is cheaper.
Ah well, at least he’s written his own epitaph – “Dyson: What a dirtbag”.
( Brian Reade, 18.11.2017 )