A Power That May Not Stay So Super

AT the turn of the 20th century, toward the end of a brutal and surprisingly difficult victory in the Second Boer War, the people of Britain began to contemplate the possibility that theirs was a nation in decline. They worried that London’s big financial sector was draining resources from the industrial economy and wondered whether Britain’s schools were inadequate. In 1905, a new book — a fictional history, set in the year 2005 — appeared under the title, “The Decline and Fall of the British Empire.”

The crisis of confidence led to a sharp political reaction. In the 1906 election, the Liberals ousted the Conservatives in a landslide and ushered in an era of reform. But it did not stave off a slide from economic or political prominence. Within four decades, a much larger country, across an ocean to the west, would clearly supplant Britain as the world’s dominant power.

The United States of today and Britain of 1905 are certainly more different than they are similar. Yet the financial shocks of the past several weeks — coming on top of an already weak economy and an unpopular war — have created their own crisis of national confidence.

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Why I threw green custard over the Business Secretary

Saturday, 7 March 2009

Peter Mandelson epitomises all that is wrong with our democratic system. His CV is a reason for us to give up on democracy and take direct action. After several disgraces and resignations, Mandelson is back from exile in Europe to be shoe-horned into government as an unelected minister, via an archaic loophole which allows the Prime Minister to create peers and place them in power for his own political ends. This is what democracy in the UK looks like.
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Mandy is charged with representing the interests of the British people on matters of business and industry. He has enormous influence over the decisions of government. All of this is reason enough to throw green slime over him, but here comes the real outrage. The third runway at Heathrow, a pantomine of unpopular decision-making, is supported by no one apart from a few in the aviation industry – namely BAA, British Airways and their various stooges. In the past two years, the people of west London, the mayoral candidates, environmental and development organisations, the public, opposition parties, the Labour Party and finally the Cabinet, have all reportedly expressed overwhelming concerns about the runway, not least because – if it is built – our promise to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent will be totally out of reach. If we build a third runway, every other industry in Britain will have to cut its emissions to zero, which is obviously impossible. Yet the Government said yes to the runway. Why?

Well, Mandy rode back into town with his best mate Roland Rudd, who has been appointed as BAA's senior lobbyist. They met several times before Mandelson steam-rollered his colleagues into accepting this ridiculous plan (bashing his head on the cabinet table in frustration, apparently). Is Mandy's close friendship with Rudd behind the green light for the runway? We are facing the catastrophic and irreversible devastation of our planet. We have five years to stabilise carbon emissions and start driving them down – firstly, by not expanding high-carbon industries. Aviation is the fastest-growing cause of climate change, and is responsible for about 13 per cent of Britain's total warming impact.

As a responsible person, I will not stand by while corrupt hypocrites like Peter Mandelson are allowed to schmooze away any chance we have of stopping this impending nightmare.
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good night and good luck... see toon at top.

Gordon Brown's plan to impose a blanket ban on all public requests for correspondence written by the Royal Family has been attacked by the Information Commissioner and MPs.

Christopher Graham, the recently appointed watchdog for the Freedom of Information Act, told The Independent that it would be "unfortunate" if the Prime Minister's proposal became law.

Under the new measure mooted this year the Royal Family would be granted full exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act so that requests for documents would no longer be subject to a public interest test.

Yesterday the Information Commissioner ruled in favour of The Independent's request for the release of more than 100 secret letters and memos between the Queen and the Government. They relate to the Royal Family's claims for public subsidies for the upkeep of the royal palaces. Under the new law requests such as this would be blocked.

Mr Graham said yesterday: "Recent decisions have shown that royal correspondence can be protected by the law of confidence and by existing constitutional conventions.

"But the role of the Information Commissioner in determining where the balance of public interest lies could be relevant in particular cases. It would be unfortunate if a blanket ban were to be enacted."

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see toon at top.

Details concerning the mounting financial crisis facing the Queen have been disclosed to The Independent after ministers agreed to hand over secret correspondence between Buckingham Palace and the Government.

The documents reveal that at the same time the Queen was requesting more public money to pay for the upkeep of her crumbling palaces she was allowing minor royals and courtiers to live in rent-free accommodation. They show that as early as 2004 Sir Alan Reid, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, had unsuccessfully put the case to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) for a substantial increase in the £15m a year public funding.

But by 2005, the papers reveal, there was mounting pressure from the Commons Public Accounts Committee for the Queen's aides to come clean about the extent of the grace-and-favour schemes being operated by the Palace. One letter shows that among the royals living rent-free in Kensington Palace and St James's Palace are the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Princess Alexandra.

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