The Bewilderness

A Parliament of Clowns

The European Parliament does not stand well on its dignity. It was clear that they would clash with national legislature at some point, and that legislature was bound to be Parliament. The key phrase is set below, stating that powers on the criminal justice system should not be passed to Europe, since they naturally reside in the national legislature, representative of the national electorate.

The UK report, which opposes increased powers of the European Parliament over criminal matters, is seen as deeply provocative by MEPs as it explicitly refers to the multi-national character of the Brussels assembly.

It says that "there is the question whether it would be acceptable for the European Parliament to have the right of co-decision on measures about police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters when most of its Members do not represent and are not answerable to the electorate of the UK."

This innocuous statement was seized upon by the European Parliament as an attack upon their dignity. The usual suspects, such as the arch-federalist, Andrew "I'll Huff and I'll Puff" Duff, began to entertain ideas above their station.

But MEPs see the wording used as more than just criticism on the passerelle, with UK liberal member Andrew Duff saying the report is "fairly scandalous."

"This challenges directly and explicitly the legitimacy of the European Parliament to legislate. It is an absurd idea that the parliament would have no right to legislate because it has 'foreigners' in it," Mr Duff said.

Richard Corbett, a UK Labour MEP, called upon like-minded pro-EU members of his party to "protest" against the report by writing to the chair of the House of Commons' European Scrutiny Committee who is also a Labour member.

"If a matter is to be decided at EU level, then the European Parliament will be involved- and of course it contains non-Brits. Similarly the British Parliament contains non-Scots," Mr Corbett stated

Then they began to get very antsy about the use of the word, 'gangplank', and decided that this was also an insult to the dignity of the European Parliament. Their willingness to shout about minor issues demonstrates the level of insecurity amongst European Parliamentarians. It ill behoves Andrew Corbett to talk about the role of Scottish MPs in Parliament with respect to English and Welsh affairs since this is a current issue of much contention.

Please let us have more Parliamentary reports like this! 

Con Coughlin also appears to have attracted the attention of Campaign Iran. They have complained to the Press Complaints Commission, alleging that Coughlin's stories use unsubstantiated sources, and that they are hostile to Iran.

Analysing 44 articles by Mr Coughlin on

Iran

, the report finds some stark patterns in terms of his journalistic technique:

• Sources are unnamed or untraceable, often "senior Western intelligence officials" or "senior Foreign Office officials".
• Articles are published at sensitive and delicate times where there has been a relatively positive diplomatic moves towards

  Iran

  .
• Articles contain exclusive revelations about

  Iran

  combined with eye-catchingly controversial headlines;
• The story upon which the headline is based does not usually exceed one line or at the most one paragraph. The rest of the article focuses on other, often unrelated, information.

Campaign Iran is a new organisation, formed of peace groups, that opposes sanctions, foreign interference and military intervention in Iran. Their purpose is stated as raising awareness of their goals and they state that they are independent of the Iranian government. The report is accompanied by a statement from Abbas Edelat, Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at imperial College and Adjunct Professor at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.

Raising awareness and silencing journalists are two different activities.

We must be vigilant against similar inaccuracies being used to prepare the path for intervention against

Iran

, and we call on the PCC to take action against Coughlin and to safeguard the integrity and accuracy of our press

Campaigns that resort to such tactics deserve closer attention.

Browne Stuff at the MOD

'Desperate' Des Browne, Defence Secretary, found that his default position of dismissing any criticism from the Opposition, was insufficient to deflect questions arising over loss of pay for soldiers. He has now apologised to the House for having possibly and unintentionally misled MPs in this matter.

In a letter today to Michael Martin, the Commons Speaker, Mr Browne wrote: "Having looked again at the complete answer I gave, I do not think it was misleading."

"If, however, any part of it gave a misleading impression, then it was unintentional, and obviously I am sorry."

The unwillingness to provide a full apology sits at odds with the evidence that Browne saw and his initial arrogance. Con Coughlin said it best:

But not even General Jackson's full-frontal assault can pierce the aura of smugness and self-delusion that encompasses New Labour's attitude towards the Armed Forces. Mr Browne was at his blinkered best yesterday when he visited the Joint Helicopter Force at RAF Odiham in Hampshire. "I do not feel I have to defend myself against Mike Jackson's comments," he blithely asserted. "What we have done in terms of additional investment in equipment, medical and accommodation as well as pay are all welcome."

Mr Browne's haughty indifference to criticism would be risible were not the effects of his incompetence so serious, with servicemen paying with their lives because of the Government's inability to provide them with even the most basic equipment – body armour or guns capable of firing bullets at the enemy.

Browne should go.

Pop Pygmy: Gallagher Speaks out

Let us hope that Noel Gallagher travels out to Afghanistan and Iraq to play a set for the troops. After all, if they are "loving it", I am sure that they will love him too. I doubt that his fear of warzones would ever determine his unwillingness to show his support for the British 'not a war' effort. And he could always sign away any compensation, assigning the rights to orphans and rabbits.

Moving swiftly on from the latest celebritit gaffe, and my mock indignation, another British soldier died unnecessarily due to inadequate equipment:

A NORTH-EAST soldier killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb was not wearing the most up to date protective protective gear, an inquest heard today.

Guardsman Anthony Wakefield, a father-of-three from Newcastle, may have survived if he had been wearing better body armour.

Selena Lynch, deputy assistant coroner for Oxfordshire, ruled that the Coldstream Guardsman was unlawfully killed.

A pity Noel didn't open his large mouth to criticise his blessed Blair on that. Perhaps he is angling for another invite to No. Ten. I believe money is the only key these days.

Stem Cells Move Forward

Here is a recent story from the United States where fetal stem cells were implanted into neural tissue in order to heal the effects of Batten's disease, a genetic malady that causes neurological degeneration and death in children.

Daniel's operation is the first ever done in people with fetal stem cells. Those cells are taken from fetuses, which is a later stage of development than the embryos than can also provide stem cells. Because the fetal and embryonic tissue comes from abortions, research on stem cells has been been controversial.

StemCells initially asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2004 for permission to conduct the unprecedented test on children. After asking the company for more information about how the surgery would be done and whether it risked causing cancer, the federal agency gave its permission on Oct. 20, 2005.

Batten disease is caused by a defective gene that fails to create an enzyme the brain needs to dispose of cellular waste. The waste piles up and kills healthy cells until the patient dies. Most victims die before they reach their teens.

This is an important development. The strictures that the Bush administration laid down to prevent medical procedures such as the one outlined above have proved null and void. It is also heartening to see that stem cells are beginning to provide medical procedures, rather than hyped potential.

Second Class Soldiers

Kim Howells in Ottawa has voiced frustration about the second class status of certain NATO cowards:

Mr. Howells says it seems that there are two classes of NATO troops — those who are allowed to die in order to protect freedom and other soldiers who are not allowed to do so.

Helmut Schmidt, the cockney rhtming Chancellor, spouts the brown stuff, while his country's troops evade fighting for freedom:

Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt warned of the imminent collapse of the NATO-led military mission in war-stricken Afghanistan.

The development in Afghanistan is "predictably chaotic", Schmidt told the Berlin-based Der Tagesspiegel in a report made available ahead of Sunday's publication.

The former German leader who was the country's chancellor from 1974 until 82, added that Afghanistan was "ungovernable."

Sometimes you take a stand to avoid rewarding barbarians:

The Taliban have shot dead five family members in eastern Afghanistan.

Militants broke into a house where two teachers lived and killed them both along with their mother, grandmother and a male relative in the Narang district.

Provincial education director Gulam Ullah Wekar said the two sisters had been warned in a letter from the Taliban to quit teaching.

He claimed the letter warned them it was against Islam for them to teach.

The teachers' relative Dr Ghaleb Massoud said: "They were killed only because they were school teachers and were teaching the children. Whoever killed them, the opposition (Taliban) or any one else, killed them because they were teachers."

Control Orders

John Reid has admitted that the two suspected terrorists who were made the subject of control orders remain at large. However, this is not a problem as they do not represent a risk to the public:

A report on the aftermath of the abscondments has been published by the government's independent reviewer of terrorism law, Lord Carlile of Berriew.

It said: "I am satisfied that the two disappearances... present little direct risk to public safety in the UK at the present time.

"In each case it is unlikely on the facts that active terrorists would wish their presence or involvement at the present time in any activity or planning, despite the knowledge and connections which had led to the control orders made against them."

For a moment, Reid seemed to have transformed into Prescott, given the last paragraph's gobbledegook. This enigmatic sentence holds the key to Reid's thoughts: Terrorist cells would not invite the participation of the abscondees as they are "on the run". Scintillating analysis from the Home Secretary. Perhaps their skills make them a valuable commodity, in which case they need to be rearrested as quickly as possible before they pose a threat. If however, they do not pose a threat, they should not be subject to a control order.

Afghanistan: US/UK Tensions in Helmand

There are unconfirmed reports of tensions between US Intelligence and the British Army over the removal of the Governor of Helmand province, Mohammed Daud. Since the British lobbied for his appointment as one of the less corrupt appointments in Afghanistan, his removal from power represents a grave political setback to their campaign in Helmand:

His dismissal came as a shock to British officials, who had lobbied for him to be appointed in January before the deployment of troops. Helmand is the biggest poppy-producing province in Afghanistan, responsible for 20 percent of world`s production.

This may be part of wider tensions between the British and American commands on the ground. The United States is critical of the British strategy of withdrawal from Iraq and they may have undermined our role within the NATO deployment in Afghanistan. There will always be difficulties in a coalition but moving to undermine our strategy in Helmand, is not the action of a friend, or an ally.

The disagreements have come into the open after the summary sacking of Britain's protégé, Governor Daud. Although rival delegations from Helmand were in Kabul last week, one calling for his removal and the other demanding that he stay, a diplomatic source said Mr Karzai had listened to advice from "other powerful Western players".

Mr Daud, who had survived several Taliban assassination attempts, was seen as a key player in Britain's anti-drugs campaign in Helmand. He was also the architect of a deal under which British forces moved out of the town of Musa Qala, where they had been involved in fierce combat with Taliban fighters. But the Americans publicly criticised truces in Musa Qala and other Helmand towns, saying they effectively gave in to the Taliban.

It is never clear how far simmering discontent shifts towards actions designed to undermine the efforts of key allies. With the removal of Daud, the CIA may have thought they were signalling their displeasure or acting to prevent success on the part of a non-US power in Afghanistan. However, as Britain, Canada and Denmark are all fighting in this theatre, none of these countries can have viewed this parochial and unilateral action with pleasure.

I will watch further developments in this area with interest.

The Taps of Fear

It is time for the scare stories again, otherwise people might forget the service that you provide. Dr Reid turns on the taps of fear, if he feels that the threat of terrorism is fading from popular consciousness:

Mr Reid said the current UK terror assessment was "severe" - the second highest level. He did not think an attack was "inevitable", but he went on: "The terrorists only have to get through once, as they did on 7 July, for us to see the terrible carnage it causes. Our security services have to be successful on every occasion to prevent that happening.

"I try to walk the tightrope between being truthful and honest about the threat to the public but, on the other hand, to say we are doing everything possible to combat it and to try to keep our lifestyle as near as possible to the British way of life."

New Labour needs to keep the sheep in line, of they may bleat in the wrong direction.

The BBC Producers: Airtime for Labour

Watching Andrew Marr on Sunday mornings provides one of the strongest examples of programmes that favour the Government over the Opposition. John Hutton, Minister for Work and Pensions, was interviewed, with Andrew Marr's cribnotes, printed on A4, resting on the desk, beside him. It was unclear if John Hutton had received all of the questions prior to the interview, although their scripted nature and planted buzzwords suggest that this was the case.

After outlining the changes, without searching questions or criticism from Andrew Marr, the buzzwords were planted. Hutton was determined to use the words, "tough", "toughness" and "crackdown" again and again. Propelling this line in terms of the methods used, Andrew Marr asked a series of one word questions: "'Name and shame'?", "Yes"; "Tagging?", "Yes"; "Take away their passports?" "Yes". As soon as the interview was finished, this formed the substance of the subsequent news report by Miora Stewart, no doubt repeated on radio and television throughout the day.

A quiescent interviewer helps the government of the day to turn headlines into Labour's advertisement. And John Prescott is on next week: altogether too much airtime for Labour.