‘Tony Blair was last night planning to
mount an extraordinary defence of the government's issuing of peerages to
wealthy tycoons who bankroll its policies, arguing that such honours are
legitimate. 

The Prime Minister was preparing to claim that
it is right for ministers to recognise "philanthropist" businessmen
who give their time and money to running controversial city academy schools by
handing them a seat in the House of Lords.’ 

Cash For Peerages
Acceptable Says Blair

‘Tony Blair faced fresh attacks over his
human rights record yesterday as he unveiled plans to impose unprecedented
civil liberties restrictions on individuals suspected of being involved in
crime.  

MPs and pressure groups criticised the Prime
Minister's push to widen police powers to seize cash and limit the movements of
suspected, rather than convicted, criminals.

The clampdown would affect individuals even if there were not enough evidence
to convict or try them.  

"In fact, I would generally harry, hassle
and hound them until they give up and leave the country," Mr Blair said as
he pledged to drive out criminal gangs.’ 

Blair's Plan To
Drive Out Criminals Draws Fresh Fears For Civil Liberties

From the independent

Colonel admits British may have aggressive role in Afghanistan
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 25 April 2006
A senior commander has acknowledged that British soldiers may carry out offensive operations in Afghanistan, despite government denials.

British commanders said they had been given permission to carry out aggressive operations including pre-emptive strikes in their areas of deployment in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.

This gives British forces a power to take offensive action which is almost on par with that of the Americans, and far more than what is allowed by other Nato countries with troops in Afghanistan.

Colonel Stuart Douglas, the deputy commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, said yesterday: "[The operations] could be carried out anywhere. The enemy will be those who resist the rule of law, whether they are the Taliban or ordinary criminals."

The deployment of almost 6,000 troops into Afghanistan at a cost of £1bn has been accompanied by repeated assertions from ministers that British soldiers will not take part in warfare and counter-insurgency operations.

Read more at the independent

From the Scotsman

Blair: Peerages for those who put millions towards good of country 'absolutely right'
JAMES KIRKUPPOLITICAL EDITOR
Tony Blair admits to honouring tycoons who donated to projects
Concerns that future donors to academies now deterred by sleaze
Met Police investigation continues as Labour pressure increases
Key quote
"It's not a question of endorsing my policy, it's a question of contributing to society. It is absolutely right that we say these are people who have done something good for our country." - TONY BLAIR

Story in full TONY Blair yesterday openly admitted using the honours system to reward tycoons who gave money to support his policies.

read more at the Scotsman

------------------

Gus mulls how the whole thing has been turned around from the "donations to political parties for peerage", now being donations to "society's greater good" being rewarded by peerages... That's the skill of spruikers and stand-up comics who know when they are dying in front of the public but have the knack of turning things around with brilliant turn of evasive phrase... Framing the debate....

‘Prime Minister Tony Blair culled his
Cabinet today, with a radical reshuffle in response to Labour's local election
drubbing. 

Beleaguered Charles Clarke was fired from the
Home Office and turned down a series of other Cabinet posts to return to the
backbenches. John Reid moves from defence to replace him.  

John Prescott keeps his title of Deputy Prime
Minister but has been stripped of his sprawling department.  

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly, who has been
dogged by reports of convicted paedophiles working in schools, also lost her
post in the shake-up.  

Margaret Beckett takes over as Foreign
Secretary from Jack Straw, who is demoted to be Leader of the Commons. Geoff
Hoon moves to become Europe Minister in the Cabinet to make way for Mr Straw.  

The Prime Minister launched the emergency
reshuffle to attempt to boost his ailing administration after his party lost
more than 250 town and city seats to the Tories and slumped to third in the
share of the vote.’  

Blair's Day Of The Long
Knives

From the Independent

Blair's terrible legacy: UK soldiers dig in after five killed
Published: 08 May 2006
April 2003: British soldiers are greeted as liberators as they patrol Iraq's second city. The Parachute Regiment dispenses with hard helmets in favour of red berets as it adopts a softly-softly approach to foster good relations

May 2006: Five British soldiers die as a missile brings down their helicopter. Iraqis celebrate and a firefight kills five more as UK forces rush to the scene. Iraqis continue to be killed in vast numbers throughout the country

A crowd cheers the shooting down of a British military helicopter; petrol bombs set fire to Warrior armoured vehicles; accusations are made that British troops are responsible for civilian deaths, including two children. This is Basra, three years after Iraq's "liberation".

read more at the Independent
------------------------
Other stories at the BBC show life in Basra, especially for women, has gone from bad to worse. One woman is quoted as saying something like "today is always worse than yesterday"...

From the Independent
...........
Defence Secretary Des Browne said the loss of seven British servicemen and women in the past week was "very tragic and very sad", but it would not stop progress in helping Iraqis to safely govern their own country without foreign assistance.

He said: "We shall continue to serve the Iraqi people in the way in which we have for as long as they, through their government, want us to be there."

read more at the Independent
..............

Gus says it is sad to see young men and women loose their lives for bunk-war based on lies, The latter statement that "We shall continue to serve the Iraqi people in the way in which we have for as long as they, through their government, want us to be there." is quite a wonky premise since the government in Iraq only exist due to the support by British and US troops... Catch 22 plus a few more loop-da-loops...

‘Tony
Blair should face criminal charges over the "cash for honours" scandal if
Scotland Yard's investigation finds that Labour broke the law, voters believe. 

A
survey for The Sunday Telegraph shows that 54 per cent of those polled believe
seats in the House of Lords were offered in return for secret loans or
donations to Labour, or for funding of the Government's City Academies
programme. Only 28 per cent believe they were not. 

At the
same time, 53 per cent of voters believe the Prime Minister should be
prosecuted if the Metropolitan Police investigation finds that Labour acted
illegally over the loans affair. Thirty-six per cent say he should not face
charges.’ 

Voters Want Blair In The Dock Over Loan Scandal

From Al Jazeera

Police dismantle London anti-war camp

Tuesday 23 May 2006, 22:03 Makka Time, 19:03 GMT

British police have dismantled a long-running one-man anti-war camp outside the Houses of Parliament in London.

Early on Tuesday, police officers invaded the makeshift encampment where 56-year-old Brian Haw had been living for more than five years.

They dismantled Haw’s array of banners and placards, some showing graphic images of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Haw vowed to continue his protest despite being left with only one poster.

"This is Mr. Blair's Britain," he said.

"You dare to speak, you dare to say it too real, too powerfully, to get through to people, and they smash it all down."

Haw began his protest in 2001 to protest against UN sanctions against Iraq and over time constructed a graphic display against wars and human rights violations around the world.

The anti-war camp had established itself as part of the London landscape, although it was not popular with many MPs.

London police said they removed the placards because Haw had failed to comply with a new law outlawing protests around the UK parliament.

The law, known as "Haw’s law," bans unauthorised demonstrations within a kilometre of the parliament building.

Earlier this month, a British court overturned a ruling that allowed Haw to continue his protest on the grounds that he began it before the law came into force.

From our ABC

[http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1749544.htm|Blair bids farewell] to Labour faithful
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has delivered a rousing defence of his time in office, including the divisive Iraq war, during his farewell speech to Labour faithful, but has warned the party it must work hard to win future elections without him.
The 53-year-old, who said earlier this month he would step down as Britain's leader within one year, also praised the man considered most likely to be the next prime minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
His praise, during his hour-long speech at the party's annual conference in Manchester, north-west England, fell short of a full endorsement of Mr Brown, who has been accused of attempting to hasten Mr Blair's departure.

Yes Gus ..... & good riddance I say.

By the way, to understand how far “aussie tony” has really fallen & just how cynical the entire performance was, take a look at Tony Jones’ interview with Kevin Maguire on Lateline last night.

Given the central role of Iraq in tony’s transformation to political feather-duster, we can only wonder how it is that other political roosters, including george, johnnee & kimmy, have avoided the same fate.

Or is it just that the British worry / care about their democracy more than the rest of us?

Yes John,
With the poms "New Labour" 'twas the opposition within... Honorable people who realised they'd been conned by their own charismatic but furphying leader. These people still hang on to some shreds of human principles...
In Australia and in the US, the waters are so turbid, like in sewage lines before reaching the Manly dunnyworks, that not even a fish would know where upstream-downstream is. And there is so much to gain! so much flotsam-jetsam that one cannot sink! So much fun on the merry-go-round bandwagon of lies! So much pleasure by dropping one's principled trousers down!
And the Democrats in the US and Labor here are too scared to fully demonstrate the big Iraq con, because they know by doing so, the populace, still swimming in the dark, would resent daylight showing where the horrible smell comes from: their own stupid acceptance of Johnnee's fear-mongering made them soil their swinsuits... Difficult to admit having goofed in one pants, Isn't it?

From the Independent
Campbell unspun: Spin-doctor reveals battle with depression

Exclusive: Blair's spin-doctor [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article1819664.ece|reveals his battle with depression] while at No 10, and his 'nightmare' over the suicide of Dr David Kelly

By Sophie Goodchild, Chief Reporter
Published: 08 October 2006

Alastair Campbell, one of the chief architects of New Labour and Tony Blair's trusted communications chief, has revealed for the first time the depths of his struggle with depression - and how he suffered bouts throughout his time working at Downing Street.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent on Sunday, Mr Campbell reveals how he told the Prime Minister about his mental health problems. He talks about the "nightmare" impact of the Hutton inquiry, how the death of Dr David Kelly was his "worst day" - and how his experience of a crippling breakdown in his 20s helped him to cope. He said: "It [the Hutton saga] was one of those episodes where things spiralled out of control... I felt completely confident in relation to the facts but during the whole period it was a nightmare. And you are thinking, 'There's this guy for whom it's been such a nightmare he's killed himself'.
------------------------
Gus: Good on Mr Campbell to come clean here but is it the full dirt? Gus believes upon analysis of the evidence and succession of events that there is 99 per cent chance that David Kelly was suicided (murder that appears like a suicide)... David Kelly knew for sure that the dossiers that Blair was using to promote the coming war in Iraq were fabricated to suit the WMD rhetoric. David Kelly knew there were no WMD in Iraq from his own contacts and investigation, In order to continue with the fear campaign, the Blair government had to sideline David Kelly which they did with a kangaroo court in which David Kelly was crucified... but that would not have been enough for him to commit suicide...
And our brave Mr Campbell was spinning so much crap with such great confidence that no wonder he was feeling ambiguous about his own mind... and developing the dark-side of the depressed mind... He could not trust himself anymore... The confidence in pillorying people was a facade of straw... becoming just a scarecrow in the field without brains.