Wislon on politics, Americans and climate change

By wislon - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in News & Politics

Monday, February 27, 2006

Another useless political commission.

We have just been the victim of a new political report in the UK. It seems that the way forward is to lower the age of voting to 16. Yes 16. At an age when kids can't legally drive a car, drink or get out of bed unaided they will, if this report goes through, be able to have a say in the running of... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Women - the underclass we try not to see.

In the UK we have legislation giving rights to many minorities. I cannot discriminate against people on the basis of their race, religion, gender (by birth or by surgical reassignment) or disability. However, I can discriminate against people on the basis of their weight, hair colour, class, accent,... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Iraqi youths beaten by British soldiers. Blame Blair - he started it.

The British Military Police have arrested three soldiers for beating Iraqi youths. You have to ask why? Three young men were taken into the army as teenagers, taught how to kill people and when, after coming under fire, they get a bit aggressive the Great British Public start to howl. They are our... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Diamonds are for Never

Last week the Independent carried a front page story relating to conflict diamonds. Nice clean phrase "conflict diamond". It's the sort of name a marketing man would come up with to sanitise a commodity of doubtful morality. Sounds like something to buy when you're apologising after a row. It's from... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Cosmic balance, diets and death.

Sorry, this is hardly an original subject but I'm so happy I just have to mention it. The big news story of the day is that a low fat diet with lots of fruit and veg has not been proved to reduce the susceptibility of women to heart attacks, strokes and cancer. You can't believe how happy I felt... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

The most racist town in Britain?

Tomorrow I have a job in Eastwood, a market town about ten miles away. A few miles further on, just over the Derbyshire border, is Heanor, another market town. They are not attractive towns but each of them has a claim to fame. Eastwood was the birthplace of D H Lawrence. Heanor is the most racist... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, February 3, 2006

How about Hillah?

During the Arab revolt in 1920 the British forces lost 2,300 fatal casualties, the Iraqis about 8,000. In one action at Hillah a column from the Manchester Regiment was surrounded and destroyed with nearly 200 killed. The picture sometimes shown of Saddam brandishing a Lee Enfield rifle above his... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, February 2, 2006

A big number to get attention - 1.7 million dead

blogflogger commented last night that the significance of the 100th fatal British casualty in Iraq was the ability of the big number to attract attention. Try 1,700,000. This the approximate number of Commonwealth servicemen killed in the two World Wars. It does not cover wars before 1914; it does... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

101 British soldiers die. 100 in Iraq, 1 in the West Midlands.

My question here is why are we making so much fuss over the 100th fatal casualty. His loss is a tragedy for his family but so was the 99th. To make a big thing about the 100th fatal casualty almost cheapens the anti-war protests. Every one of the 100 was a tragedy for someone. To attract extra... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Austria, Palestine and a complicated question.

How far is it right for governments to refuse to deal with the elected government of another country just because they don't like them? Sorry it's such a long question. Yes, it's partly about Palestine, but it runs deeper than that. The USA still deals with China despite their appalling record on... Sign in to see full entry.

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