OK, let’s start reviewing Craig Murray’s book Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador’s Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror (Mainstream Publishing, 2007 edition) Where better than the covers? Harold Pinter "salutes a man of integrity" John Sweeney: "An amazing narrative, beautifully written…" John Pilger: "A man of the […]
For those of you not paying attention, Craig Murray was HM Ambassador in Uzbekistan before a terrific row with the FCO broke out and his FCO career ended in acrimony. He did not go quietly. Since then we have had: CM: Parliamentary candidate CM: Dundee University Rector CM: Anti-War speaker […]
Most of the Great Questions of our time boil down to a simple proposition. In this case, who most deserves to win the forthcoming Presidential election? Answered!
Tempting as it is to disagree on sight with everything written by Jonathan Steele in the Guardian, I did think about this one arguing the case against the International Criminal Court indicting the President of Sudan. Spared as I am from knowing the slightest thing about Sudan, what might I offer […]
Arab men should realize that they do not have a monopoly over the glory of either life or death. A woman can love in a much more noble way than them, and she can die in a more magnificent way than them. Is not there some or other law against […]
Help! The world’s financial problems are slowing reform in Cuba! It is "unethical" to raise Cubans’ expectations that they might get a tiny bit of extra money from the state to encourage them to work harder/better. Hmm … No. It is unethical not to do so – to imprison all […]
There are not too many UN Security Council vetoes. So when one comes along it shows that things at that top table are not in good shape – lack of grown-up consensus and/or serious miscalculation by those who pushed the offending Resolution. Although of course there may be cases where […]
So, our Prime Minister sees himself as some sort of Heathcliff fellow, from Wuthering Heights? Back during the 2005 EU Budget negotiations rumours swirled to the effect that the Blair No 10 team affectionately referred to the then Chancellor as "Mrs Rochester" (ie the mad woman in the attic) from […]
Is it really this bad? The great changes are not those associated with the replacement of one or other set of people by another. Rather they come when an Idea Dies. In this case we seem to be seeing the utter discrediting of the Idea that by increasing massively state […]
