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DEBT, PANIC AND THAT SMILE.

I suppose it is reasonable to assume that a man who has no clue of smiling protocol, might also fail to realise that people in debt panic easily when recession looms. His constant mantra (with Yvette Cooper on drums) that the whole show is 'global' puts him squarely in the 'fool or knave' category - yet again. With all that moral compass stuff his parents endowed him with, surely they must have warned him about debt? Oh dear; I would look forward to being shot of the man but the fetid pit of Westminster will only belch another horror to the surface. And so British governance will swagger on, untouched by the principles of democracy, with Enoch's words ringing in the ears of the electorate: 'We must be mad - literally mad'.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Eliza Manningham-Buller came out against 42 days. That tends to suggest that the police, and its only sections of the police I think, are for it.

On the Litvinenko front, and good luck to his widow, the reaction of the Russians to the missile shield seems to suggest to me that they are a lot more alarmed than would have been anticipated. That does not excuse murdering individuals with radioactive material in the UK. But possibly they are doing the "bear" thing. Personally I think the missile shield is madness.

Can you give some kind of status on renditions when you do the water-boarding report?

I have just watched the Vanity Fair video: not sure I would have survived even the
hooding which was in itself found to be in breach of European conventions when we
Brits sanctioned that in Ireland in the '70s.

Hitch describes the sensation as one of
'both smothering and drowning' and he
says it was impossible to avoid a panic
attack or even call out the code-words.

Cruelly effective I suspect - especially
without these safeguards and indeed
torture .......

Evidence thus obtained would and should be dimissed as unreliable in any EU courts.

I only survived to para six of his Vanity Fair article, however, before being distracted by
the picture to the right ..........

Presumably that is how Max Moseley gets
over panic attacks without giving paper
bags a blow-job (which is the standard
cure for invigilators when students get
panic-attacks during examinations too).

Sadly such options are not I guess on
offer in Guantanamo:no vestal virgins.

Think DEPRESSION, nor "Recession".

See how it may be used as an opportunity for a better society!

Check FDR's NEW DEAL
______________________

Despite the bias of the Paymaster,
consider the possibility of IRAN becoming a key ally!

I haven't had time to take in any recent Newsnights but I shall certainly try to watch the piece about the economy's travails, long overdue although Newsnight MPC committee was fair as far as it went (but not nearly far enough).

Above all we need to make sure that small businesses do not once again go to the wall in droves for lack of funds as they did in the '80s when we last struggled to get inflation under control again. They are the life-blood of our nation.

Until five minutes ago I thought that Christopher Hitchens was a fool; now he is my hero. George W Bush should have volunteered for waterboarding on 20 January 2001. He's not my hero.

Yvette Cooper - yet another instantiation of how verbal fluency alone (a largely female or feminised male skill) can, given all the EU Equalities legislation take one very a long way indeed.

Note how New Labor are always talking about the efficiacy of international (or global) measures, not the efficacy of national government which you vote for.

This is Lisbon and de-nationalisation (aka the SI - the Socialist International, aka Trotskyism/anarcho-capitalism)

Just been watching the interview with Hitchens on Newsnight where he mentions he managed 12 seconds under duress.

A couple of years back, one of current's vanguard journalists underwent the interrogation technique when the US senate were debating the nature of the process.

Seemingly an ex navy seal, he actually underwent the torture for 24 minutes before the director made his captors stop. It was also with the more extreme version of the process whereby a towel is forced down the throat ahead of the water being poured.

Worth bearing in mind that Senator Kit Bond compared the process to being 'like swimming' in December 2007!

First time on here, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to paste external links, but you can watch Larsen's piece here: current.com/waterboarding

Thoroughly excellent interview with Litvinenko's widow and her proposal to sue the Russians. However, the best of the night was the piece on waterboarding - that even 12 seconds of the "non-torture" was unbearable. It's amazing that these techniques are being administered.

Just been watching the interview with Hitchens on Newsnight where he mentions he managed 12 seconds under duress.

A couple of years back, one of current's vanguard journalists underwent the interrogation technique when the US senate were debating the nature of the process.

Seemingly an ex navy seal, he actually underwent the torture for 24 minutes before the director made his captors stop. It was also with the more extreme version of the process whereby a towel is forced down the throat ahead of the water being poured.

Worth bearing in mind that Senator Kit Bond compared the process to being 'like swimming' in December 2007!

Larsen's piece is on the current site.

May I express my annoyance at the Newsnight Scotland report this evening on the Glasgow East by-election.
The patronising questioning of the Glasgow public by the reporter was insulting and, thankfully, their incredulous responses made him look foolish.
Asking people if they 'actually knew' what was going on in their own street as all the parties canvass and the media assemble is completely disrespectful.
Refreshingly, every single person was fully aware of what was going on and had opinions to give on the subject, even if the reporter was more intent on trying to engineer the angle that Glasgow East doesn't care.
Perhaps he should remember Glasgow has always been a fiercely political city and the good people, despite what a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ reporter assumes because of clothing, accent etc, have always been keenly interested in politics.
They, and the viewers, deserve better.
David W

THE QUALITY OF NEWSNIGHT IS REFRESHINGLY GOOD TO SEE, RELATIVE TO THE CHEAP AND NOT SO CHEERFUL SENSATIONALIST RUBBISH ON MOST OTHER STATIONS. IM SCOTTISH AND HAVE WAITED A LONG TIME TO SEE SOMEONE MAKE ALEX SALMOND LOOK " UNCOMFORTABLE" WHEN QUESTIONED, JEREMY MANAGED IT LAST NIGHT AND ALSO THIS EVENING WITH MS. COOPER ( BALLS WOULD PROBABLY BE MORE APPROPRIATE) .
HOPE HE DOESN'T GET A BETTER OFFER BEFORE TOMORROW NIGHT'S NEWSNIGHT!

Re Derider73's (10) it's well known that waterboarding breaks down its victims within literally seconds.

However the gag reflex it depends on can no doubt be inhibited by various medicinal preparations and I expect that explains the ex navy seal's resilience he mentions.

Correct me if I am wrong , as I am no economist !

I guess with increasing oil prices , the last thing you would want is a 15 -20% drop in your currency value.
Why ?
Because it will cost you more of your own currency to buy oil , ergo "Inflation".

I guess if I was the central bank I would increase interest rates so it attracted hard currency from abroad and encourages local people to save and enjoy the inflation busting interest rates.This would increase our currency's value and thus reduce "inflation".

But the BoE can not do this because it would bankrupt millions, as over the last 5+ years the houses people have had to buy to start families have been at hugely inflated prices due to under supply in the market.

I suppose the Gov could start great public works programs (pump vast amounts of money into the economy) , but if they had to borrow the money to do it , this in itself would devalue our currency further and increase "inflation" even more.


Have I got the fundamentals right on this subject ?

Only the Americans would give their favourite type of torture a catchy name.

Let's summarise shall we? A nation state subjects inmates at its concentration camp to acts of torture in flagrant breach of international law. The moral justification seems to be that the USA is so special (a 'master race' you might say) that any attack upon it merits the immediate suspension of minor, incidental stuff like basic human rights.

Hmm, now where have we heard that line of argument before? The Soviet Gulag? Berlin, 1939? Not the proudest moments in Russian or German history, eh?

And let's not forget Trnopolje and Manjaca, 1992 in what the Serbs called "investigation centres for Muslims suspected of being fighters". "Dr Bernard Kouchner, the French minister for humanitarian affairs said European governments must act to ensure the camps ... in north-eastern Bosnia - were closed". [Citing the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's website, 'On this day' 18 August 1992]

J'accuse you, President Bush of sanctioning crimes against humanity at Guantanamo Bay, defined by a systematic policy of inhumane and degrading actions amounting to torture. Shame on Americans for allowing it. Shame on others for keeping silent and not condemning it.

Would Tony Blair follow Hitchens' example and give it a whirl? I'd like to know if he thinks it is torture. Just for once, an honest response from a politician. Every time Blair appears in public from now on, that should be the only question he is asked, over and over again until he answers.

State sanctioned torture once led to Nuremberg and the Hague. It should still.

#15

I understand your logic to your post , but to my knowledge the Americans have not systematically tortured a peoples or a race ?

I am not very comfortable about it myself , but there again I do not have all the facts.

I'll give an example , we the public know what the threat was with the planes and there attacks on the towers and the poor people on the planes etc, which was horrific !

But there is a lot we do not know -

Where did the anthrax come from ?
Why ?
Was their more ?

So before we condemn people that have the responsibility to protect us all from mass murder and attacks , we should wait till all the facts are in.

Afraid this is going to take a number of years to come out !

Jeremy Paxman could try being a bit more sceptical in his voice when he blithely writes up what the papers are saying about G8 targets not being anything like enough:
a 50% cut is mega...and almost certainly unrealistic (without something like fusion coming on stream).

It wasn't that long ago when Paxman was wondering out loud about the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ senior management decision to leave impartiality on climate change behind.

Even a year on from the "Wagon Wheel "report we've still got that boneheaded decision in place: so much for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Trust authority.

In any case, the IPCC's "consensus line" is so exposed now (scientifically) as to do mainstream journalism that avoids addressing that fact unworthy of the name.

Cooper is a master at not answering the question, she gives the impression that you, (the questioner) is so thick why do I have to keep repeating myself when it is she who will not or refuse to answer the initial question. This is a technique well documented by double glazing salesmen in America in that you become so frustrated....you give in. Jeremy would have had more look with a born-again Christian. I do respect Hitchens for his sacrifice but wished he had stuck it out a bit longer, say....ten minutes.

THE UNFAIR SEX (#18)

Sad how party politics attracts and elevates the most unfair of the fair sex. I always feel that pomposity and deceit 'look better on a man'.

'Economic woes' piece a good one, Paul Mason's analysis effective I thought.

I'm glad Jeremy Paxman taxed Yvette Cooper with Gordon's master-plan. I do remember this plan from a few weeks ago and wondering what on earth it could possibly be and indeed have reflected in the weeks passing that it had yet to be revealed to an astonished and anxiously expectant world.

I don't watch Newsnight regularly enough to know what's been done and what hasn't but I do fancy a rather thorough investigation of the current strength of European banks is now in order and especially with regard to their exposure to US corporate loans - next to tank I expect.

Note also that presently the economy is still growing. If there's this much pain already what will it be like if and when we do go into recession and what will the state of the housing market be like when selling pressure manifests itself as it presently hasn't thus far?