The most persuasive argument for me against capital punishment is the risk of the state executing a person quite innocent of the charges laid against her/him. Surely too ghastly to contemplate, even if that means we all have to live with greater risk of being murdered: we have to hope […]
Dizzy offers a comment on my earlier posting about the security or not of Embassy communications: "The only system that is truly secure is one that is switched off and unplugged, locked in a titanium safe, buried in a concrete vault on the bottom of the sea and surrounded by very […]
The Fraud Squad lick their lips: A former Labour minister was facing a fraud probe last night after taking £16,000 of taxpayers’ money for a mortgage that did not exist. Elliot Morley claimed £800 a month for a home in his Scunthorpe constituency, even though the mortgage had already been […]
Back in October in reviewing Craig Murray’s book I discussed the problem of the insecure communications he had: Basically (as I understand it), he did not have a Confidential email system. He did have an Unclassified FCO email system (which in Tashkent’s circumstances could not have been regarded as secure) […]
The EU has not sat idly by as British democracy reels under the weight of its own loathsome misbehaviour. On 7 May the EU launched its new Eastern Partnership – an attempt to set up a new sort of structured relationship with the obviously (more or less) ‘European’ parts of the […]
Is hosted this week by Cabalamat. Lots of links on the usual subjects (feminism, politics) plus a stirring account of the creation of compost – with plenty of pictures – from Low Carbon Lifestyle who is a significant expert on the subject. Given what is going on in Westminster, a pile of […]
Twice a year Gordon Brown fills his party’s sails with pride. His tornado of facts and figures magics up images of untold national wealth and success. Sixty per cent more personal wealth! Most chancellors sound as if chunks of their speech are penned by officials, not quite convincing in their […]
So on towards the policy core of Craig Murray’s Murder in Samarkand – his policy disagreement with the FCO over torture and the War on Terror. In Chapter 9 Craig describes an EU human rights Ambassadorial demarche. I have analysed the genre here. His description bears out my earlier point, […]
Are there such things as distinct ‘races’ of human beings having distinct physical and intellectual (or even moral sense?) features? The classic answer is, these days, "Hell, no!" But what if DNA research did start to show disconcerting patterns – different categories of people could be identified with high levels […]
For any reader still pondering on the Torture issue, I recommend the judgment by the House of Lords in 2005 on the issue of when evidence obtained by torture (or alleged to be so obtained) might be admitted in UK judicial proceedings. There are in fact seven judgments in this […]
