Posted in China, Civil Liberties, Economy, Events, Free Market, Freedom of Speech, Government, Human Rights, Political, UK politics, democracy, rant, tagged Beijing Olympics on April 13, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I wanted to write a post about the protests that have taken place around the world as the olympic torch has been carried from nation to nation in a badly judged public relations exercise by the Chinese Administration.
When I got plane to return to the UK I saw the scenes that greeted the Olympic relay [...]
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Posted in Civil Liberties, Freedom, Government, Human Rights, Labour, Police, Political, UK politics, democracy, tagged ID cards, Labour Party on January 9, 2008 | No Comments »
The decision to introduce a National Identity Scheme was announced in the Queen’s Speech on 17 May 2005. The Identity Cards Act received royal assent, becoming law, on 30 March 2006. The introduction of biometric residence permits for foreign nationals in 2008 and the first ID cards to be issued to British citizens in will [...]
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Posted in Anti-War, Disillusion, Government, Iraq, PNAC, Patriotism, Political, Society, Terrorism, UK politics, US Politics, Violence, War, World, democracy on December 12, 2007 | No Comments »
My feelings on those who direct the armed forces into situations in which their lives are at risk are mixed but always strong, that President Bush has the guts to face the people that his war has maimed is something I guess.
These pictures are from President Bush’s visit to Brooke army medical centre in San [...]
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Posted in Education, Government, Labour, Political, Social, Society, UK politics, tagged Compulsory Education, Queens Speech, Utopia on November 6, 2007 | 5 Comments »
An interesting part of the Queen’s pre-speech speech(?) was a proposed bill to keep youngsters in education or training up until the age of 18 by making further education compulsory.
It’s an interesting one in as much as College has become just about compulsory for anybody who does half well at their GCSE’s, the entry criteria [...]
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Gordon Brown has announced the beginning of a national consultation in view of setting up a written British constitution.
His speech makes particular reference to the following
• Respecting and extending freedom of assembly, new rights for the public expression of dissent;
• Respecting freedom to organise and petition, new freedoms that guarantee the independence of non-governmental organisations;
• [...]
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Posted in Civil Liberties, Conservatives, Government, Human Rights, Justice, Labour, Political, UK politics, tagged Bill of Rights, David Cameron on October 5, 2007 | No Comments »
Proving that people can be bought by a good perfomance (and I know this is true, you just wouldn’t believe) various polls have now shown Labours lead in the polls to have been cut drastically, with one poll by the Guardian putting Labour and the Conservatives neck and neck at 38%
As pressure mounts on Gordon [...]
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As me and my fellow rats are blowing up our waterwings and viewing the horizon for a passing ship the lumbering liner that is Royal Mail steaming full speed ahead begins to dig itself into its watery grave.
A slightly rhetorical description but not so far from the truth.
The situation is getting increasingly nasty and true [...]
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Here is an example of not thinking on just about every level there is.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo’s campaign stood by his assertion that bombing holy Muslim sites would serve as a good “deterrent” to prevent Islamic fundamentalists from attacking the United States…“If it is up to me, we are going to explain [...]
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Posted in Anarchism, Economy, Government, Libertarianism, Marxism, Minarchism, Political, Socialism, Society, Utopia on July 24, 2007 | 3 Comments »
In my attempts to reconcile my slightly Anarchic desires with the idea of state socialism I have come across an interesting and little discussed concept decribed in the title of this post.
The idea of Minarchism is one based around a form of deontological arguments which determine that a state should be restricted to minimal powers, [...]
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Posted in British Rail, Economy, Education, Free Market, Government, Industry, NHS, Police, Privatisation, Public Services, Renationalisation, Royal Mail, Social, Socialism, Society, UK politics, Utopia, democracy on July 17, 2007 | No Comments »
I am and always have been firmly against the privatisation of state owned industries, this position does not blind me however to the faults of nationalised industries nor to the benefits of privatisation.
I’ve been thinking about restructuring existing goverment industries and doing the same with present private sector industries and services after first renationalising them.
To [...]
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