UK Newswire Archive
More mayhem, please
14-02-2009 09:32
ANDREW MURRAY argues that, even though the elite wants to keep the rest of us in our place, green shoots of resistance may soon sprout.Public Action against Judicial Corruption & Institutional Failures
14-02-2009 09:02
Demonstration against Judicial Corruption, Unlawful Imprisonments, Convention Rights Violations, Institutional Failures and unaccountability in the UK; every week outside HMP Wormwood Scrubs, Du Cane Road, London W12 0AE; commencing from 12pm until 3pm.aWEARness call to Action! Support the Angola 3 in Louisiana
14-02-2009 04:29
ghost bike tribute to dead riders for safe driving
14-02-2009 01:41
this is a good idea to help promote bike safety,"More than 100 old bicycles painted white and chained to lampposts and railings have sprung up at ‘danger-spots’ over the past year. Dubbed ‘ghost-bikes’, they have been put there to warn motorists approaching dangerous bends to look out for cyclists and, in many cases, have been left at locations where riders were killed."
Madan Lal Dhingra Public Meeting
14-02-2009 01:26
RGA Statement on Energy Sector Strikes
14-02-2009 01:12
A statement by Reading Grassroots Action on the current wave of energy workers strikes.Milan COX18 Historical Social Centre has been re-occupied
14-02-2009 00:45
The COX18 social centre in Milan has been re-occupied tonight !
Full article | 1 addition | 1 comment
NSA offering 'billions' for Skype eavesdrop solution
14-02-2009 00:29
News of a possible viable business model for P2P VoIP network Skype emerged today, at the Counter Terror Expo in London. An industry source disclosed that America's supersecret National Security Agency (NSA) is offering "billions" to any firm which can offer reliable eavesdropping on Skype IM and voice traffic.Torture, Rendition, Terror & Oil: A Primer on "Deep Politics"
13-02-2009 22:41
Why is the Obama administration hell-bent on continuing rendition, and covering-up torture? Why are Western states complicit in these illegal activities? How can the systematic perpetuation of such criminal practices under the rubric of the 'War on Terror' be conducted by the very states who claim to be the guardians of 'international law' and 'human rights'?
Alternative lady bird book for bedtime/police
13-02-2009 22:40
policman lotAbolition of King Coal, Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power and Weapons(update Friday Fe
13-02-2009 21:11
These players are promoting a tricky way to whack Social Security benefits, but
13-02-2009 20:40
"These players are promoting a tricky way to whack Social Security benefits, but to do it behind closed doors so the public cannot see what's happening or figure out which politicians to blame. The essential transaction would amount to misappropriating the trillions in Social Security taxes that workers have paid to finance their retirement benefits. This swindle is portrayed as "fiscal reform." In fact, it's the political equivalent of bait-and-switch fraud.Defending Social Security sounds like yesterday's issue--the fight people won when they defeated George W. Bush's attempt to privatize the system in 2005. But the financial establishment has pushed it back on the table, claiming that the current crisis requires "responsible" leaders to take action. Will Obama take the bait? Surely not. The new president has been clear and consistent about Social Security, as a candidate and since his election. The program's financing is basically sound, he has explained, and can be assured far into the future by making only modest adjustments.
But Obama is also playing footsie with the conservative advocates of "entitlement reform" (their euphemism for cutting benefits). The president wants the corporate establishment's support on many other important matters, and he recently promised to hold a "fiscal responsibility summit" to examine the long-term costs of entitlements. That forum could set the trap for a "bipartisan compromise" that may become difficult for Obama to resist, given the burgeoning deficit. If he resists, he will be denounced as an old-fashioned free-spending liberal. The advocates are urging both parties to hold hands and take the leap together, authorizing big benefits cuts in a circuitous way that allows them to dodge the public's blame. In my new book, Come Home, America, I make the point: "When official America talks of 'bipartisan compromise,' it usually means the people are about to get screwed."
The Social Security fight could become a defining test for "new politics" in the Obama era. Will Americans at large step up and make themselves heard, not to attack Obama but to protect his presidency from the political forces aligned with Wall Street interests? This fight can be won if people everywhere raise a mighty din--hands off our Social Security money!--and do it now, before the deal gains momentum."
Public meeting: Two doctors' eyewitness account of war on Gaza, Mon 16 Feb @ 7pm
13-02-2009 20:10
Israelis, in Crisis, Vote for a Government of War
13-02-2009 19:10
Does it really matter then if they differ on launching an all out war or limited wars on the Palestinian people, or on which is better to finish them once and for all in a military blitz or to exhaust them to elimination by prolonged gradual small wars!
Take Action - Stop the deportation of the Souhalia Family
13-02-2009 19:01
Assia and Athmane Souhalia, together with their two year old daughter Nouha, are scheduled to removed to Algeria on Tuesday 17th February on British Airways Flight BA895 from Terminal 5 Heathrow Airport @ 08.40 to Algiers see
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/02/421945.html
A Climate Deniers take on Tobacco Smoke
13-02-2009 18:18
It's no secret that many of the people and organizations funded by cigarette companies to defend "smoker's rights" and downplay the harmful effect of tobacco smoke have been involved in the energy industry-funded campaign to downplay the serious effects of climate change.What science issue shall we talk about?
13-02-2009 18:02
Select committees are almost the only place in parliament where MPs actually do what you’d naively hope they do all the time: sit down, hear a lot of evidence on an important issue, and then have a good hard think about it. The Science and Technology committee in particular have produced some fascinating and readable documents over the years. The report on the abortion act offered transparent, evidence based policy advice, package up in a very good piece of accessible popular science writing. (It also ended with a memorable tantrum from some christians). The House of Lords equivalent, meanwhile, did a very good piece of work on the public understanding of science in 2000, during the aftermath of GM and BSE.Now SciTech has merged into DIUS, and they are asking us, which means you and me, “the public”, for topics that deserve a good hard think.
If You Don’t Trust Governments Then You’re In Good Company
13-02-2009 17:56
There’s a lot to be said for having progressive targets in all sorts of things, foremost among these is reducing the amount of climate changing gas being poured into the atmosphere; so when, for instance, a government (like that of the UK) says that it will aim to reduce the amount of carbon the nation is sending into the atmosphere by 80% by the year 2050, then it’s good to know that somewhere down the line people are going to check that they are on target. That said, of course 80% by 2050 is hopelessly inadequate, given that that only a net reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - as distinct from the amount being emitted - by, say, 2050, will have any chance of preventing the worst effects of climate change.CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE EMPATHY DEFICIT
13-02-2009 17:47
‘We seem to be suffering from an empathy deficit – our ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, to see the world through those who are different from us.’ – Barack ObamaOccasionally – just occasionally – a mainstream politician says something that is both original and useful. This is the case with Barack Obama’s views on empathy. In a thousand speeches, and in his book The Audacity of Hope, he has put cultivating empathy – learning to see the world from the perspective of others – at the centre of his moral and political vision.
I am inclined to praise him because I believe we should view the problem of tackling climate change not as an environmental issue, or one concerning technology or social justice or markets, but primarily as a problem of empathy. We must learn to see the individuals behind the newspaper headlines about climate change, and imagine ourselves into the uniqueness of their lives, developing an understanding of their most important experiences, beliefs, fears and hopes.Sound far-fetched, wishy-washy or a little too sandals-and-carrot-juice for your liking? Let me explain myself.