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Anthony Barnett

David Miliband: we did not need to fight Iraq war - Telegraph - 0 views

  • This sounds like an oblique reference to the Iraq war, which Ed Miliband said led to "a catastrophic loss of trust" and Ed Balls condemned as "wrong." Asked directly about those remarks, he says: "The purpose of these elections is how we build a better tomorrow, not how we debate a better yesterday." Is that a rebuke to his brother? "No, it's just my position." But I suspect that David Miliband, who – unlike the two Eds – had a vote in 2003, still agonises over Iraq. Nor, with the Chilcot inquiry reconvened, and the war raised at every hustings and meeting, can it easily be consigned to history. "I've done Chilcot. I've said if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have [backed] it." Is he saying the war should never have been fought? "The way I put it is that if we knew then what we know now, there wouldn't have been a war. I've set out that if we knew there were no WMD, there would have been no UN resolutions and no war. "The toll in British and Iraqi life, never mind the toll in trust, has been very, very high. It's a war we didn't need to fight," he says before reverting to his previous formula, saying he is mindful of the dead and doesn't want to "rewrite my own history." He pauses, conscious that he has gone further than he intended. But his regrets and reservations over Iraq sound at least equal to those of his brother and Mr Balls? "Of course. People are dead. I voted in good faith." Did his brother ever express his misgivings to him? "I'm not getting into opening up private discussions," he says. "He was in America at the time." The other lingering issue of his old brief will surface shortly, with the Government expected to announce a judge-led inquiry into claims that British intelligence agencies were complicit in the torture of terrorism suspects. Mr Miliband hotly denies any policy of collusion. "I would not be sitting here if I thought there was the slightest suspicion of a doubt that a Labour government had any entanglement in torture." On last week's High Court order that M15 and M16 release guidelines alleged to tell British agents to turn a blind eye to the treatment of terrorism suspects abroad, he says. "After 2001, there was insufficient training and guidelines. That has been superseded and new guidelines put in place."
Anthony Barnett

Little Man in a Toque » Blog Archive » Dear Mr Balls - 0 views

shared by Anthony Barnett on 20 Nov 09 - Cached
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    "The Department for Children, Schools and Families recently changed its mission statement on its website from (my emphasis): "The purpose of the Department for Children, Schools and Families is to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up." to, "The purpose of the Department for Children, Schools and Families is to make this the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up.""
Anthony Barnett

Photography is our right, our freedom | Henry Porter | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk - 0 views

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    "But there is a deeper struggle at the base of this issue - the ownership of public space, which the state is consciously laying claim to in these actions. Photographers are stopped in the name of protecting us all from terrorism but actually this can also be seen to be a territorial incursion. What used to be public space is rapidly becoming "state space", the area owned, patrolled and policed by various agencies of the state, which establish their ownership by totemic tribal markers. I am of course referring to the CCTV camera."
Anthony Barnett

EUobserver.com / Institutional Affairs / Poland: UK no longer a leading EU country - 0 views

  • "Cameron said very clearly: 'We're not interested in a political union, we want to take care of our own interests and retreat to our island.' But the rest of the continent does want political union because it's indispensible to save the euro and to protect our place on the world arena," Sikorski said. "Great Britain can retreat to its island. But it's in our [Poland's] interest to permanently safeguard our membership in the Latin civilisation, so we need tighter ties with the rest of Europe, not looser ones," he added.
Anthony Barnett

RIGHTS MESS | Tory plan to scrap Human Rights Act are to be dropped | News Of The World - 0 views

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    "The act, which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, has created a culture of grievance, unleashed a human rights industry and led to a climate of fear among law enforcement agencies. It has also prevented the government booting out dangerous foreigners. "
Anthony Barnett

Labour launches its election pledges - speech by Gordon Brown | The Labour Party - 0 views

  • I believe the business of government should be more business-like – that the British people are the boss and like any employer they deserve to know about the performance of their team. And so I am proposing the following.Firstly, Sir Tim Berners Lee, the man most associated with the invention of the internet, is the government’s advisor on data openness and transparency all across the internet. In the months to come he will be ensuring that there is the maximum possible information available to the public at all times. This rapid extension of transparency will show in real time how government are delivering against our pledges.Secondly, I will set out a clear and public annual contract for each new Cabinet Minister, detailing what I expect them and their department to deliver to the British people, and that their continued appointment is dependent on their delivery just as it would be in a business or any other organisation. Thirdly, I will require the Cabinet Secretary to performance manage the Permanent Secretary of each department against their delivery of pledges and other priorities as set out in the letter of appointment.
Anthony Barnett

Ginny Dougary: Gordon Brown Interview: the Election, Blair and Family Life - 0 views

  • Moving on to Iraq, did he ever feel like resigning over it? "No... It wasn't weapons of mass destruction or the issue about regime change that was important to me. To me, the important thing was, if you are creating a global community - which is what we are trying to do after the Cold War - you cannot have countries that persistently defy the international community by refusing to abide by their obligations."
  • "I understand the anger over Iraq, I do - because people feel that they were given information that turned out not to be correct.
Anthony Barnett

The mood of Parliament - 0 views

  • Conservative MPs did not want to vote for a referendum on the Alternative Vote, a system they dislike. Many did not want a reduction in the number of MPs and the boundary changes that entails so soon after winning their seats for the first time. They did not want to support the increased External Action Service of the EU or the expanded EU budget. They did not like the 5 year Parliament  bill, the increase in the EU and Overseas Aid budgets nor some of the defence cuts.
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    Conservative MPs did not want to vote for a referendum on the Alternative Vote, a system they dislike. Many did not want a reduction in the number of MPs and the boundary changes that entails so soon after winning their seats for the first time. They did not want to support the increased External Action Service of the EU or the expanded EU budget. They did not like the 5 year Parliament bill, the increase in the EU and Overseas Aid budgets nor some of the defence cuts.
Anthony Barnett

ComRes: polling and research consultancy >> ComRes Poll Digest - Political - ITV News C... - 0 views

  •   Additionally, the latest results show widespread distrust in our politicians when the police, employment and phone hacking are involved. When it comes to ensuring justice on the hacking scandal, half (50%) do not trust any of the party leaders. A quarter (27%) trust David Cameron, 16% trust Ed Miliband and only 7% trust Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to ensure justice.   Similarly, more than half (55%) do not trust our party leaders to root out corruption in the police; employ people with strong moral values (55%) – a nod to Cameron hiring Andy Coulson – or to get rid of corruption in British politics (56%).   In the wake of the phone hacking scandal, a staggering four out of five (80%) do not trust the media, while just one in ten (10%) do and 10% don’t know. Alleged police involvement in the phone hacking scandal has lead to concern that there is wider corruption in the police force, with 77% who agree they are worried and a minimal 12% who disagree.
tony curzon price

Government by deceit: Not a day goes by without the Coalition breaking election pledges... - 0 views

  • If David Cameron, a man who has many sterling qualities and does have the capacity for greatness, does turn out to be a true heir to Blair, in the sense that he's just as deceitful, then it will be a calamity for Britain. It would mean that the direction of our national affairs had fallen into the hands of a narrow political class which is utterly devoid of morality and with it, the ability to connect with ordinary people. It would suggest that the cynics really are correct and that there really is no difference between the main political parties, and that leading politicians - in their bond of deceitfulness - have far more in common with each other than they do with ordinary voters. It would suggest that something terrible happens to British politicians when they get office and they at once start to lie and cheat.
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    Peter Oborne finds the political class alive and well in the Cameron government
padraig pearse

George Osborne's Help to Buy scheme 'moronic' says Société Générale 's Albert... - 0 views

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    e Osborne's Help to Buy scheme 'a moronic policy'
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