Posts (page 2)

So Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales, has published a 30 page report advocating an end to drug prohibition. It builds on his experience, the experience of medical, police, social and scientific experts including the Royal Society, yet Nick Clegg thought it went too far.

Apparently he's "not persuaded that full legalisation is the way forward but what is necessary is that a more logical and evidence-based approach is needed" - hang on! ..we've had 3 reports now suggesting a logical evidence-based, which would be legalisation and regulation.

...perhaps he's waiting for some other approach that is logical, and evidence-based but somehow maintains the status quo of prohibition - perhaps rejig the classification system a bit. God forbid the liberal democrats should fail to sit on the fence on a major issue, even if it's the definition of liberalism. Some of the commenters on the guardian article today about the party are right - the lib dems aren't a socially liberal party after all.

To be honest, with the 2nd leadership election in 2 years, a total lack of socially liberal policies and a total inability to get a social liberal and social democratic message accross to the public and media I might as well join the Green Party - they might not elected either but at least they still have their principles!

Write to your MP, sign the petition, blog about, join the Facebook group, write to the press.

From today's Independant :

.. a fresh leaked transcript of a conversation between President Bush and his Spanish counterpart President Aznar before the invasion of Iraq in February 2003 show Mr Bush saying: "We have to get rid of Saddam. In two weeks we will be ready militarily. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March",

The comments – which appear to show disregard for whether or not a second UN resolution would be passed at the time – appear to further contradict a speech made by Tony Blair to the House of Commons on 23 February 2003, in which he said: "I detest his [Saddam's] regime. But even now he can save it by complying with the UN's demand. Even now, we are prepared to go the extra step to achieve disarmament peacefully."

Just because Blair is no longer PM doesn't mean those who worked with him to mislead the house of commons, the house of lords and various parliamentary committees can be let off the hook. Labour ministers and cabinet members lied and fudged and rewrote history.

Like most people I'm ashamed our nation is doing so little for the people of Burma.

British businesses profit from selling Teak wood from Junta owned plantations, or from selling products made by or for asian companies in burma - for example Matsui, Daewoo, etc. Not to mention using buying oil and other resources from oil and mineral companies that fund the dictatorship.

If our government had an ethical foreign policy they would ban imports from burma and impose strict sanctions, but they have no spine and no morals. It's apparently ok to blockage Iraq until the children there starve, and then bomb and mismanage it into oblivion, but it's not ok to sanction an equally apalling dictatorship in the far east.

Anyway, there are things you can do - you can email/fax/write to your MP demanding Parliament take action, imposing import bans and sanction unilaterally, as well as pushing for sanctions in the UN, you can also take immediate action to writing to and/or boycotting those businesses that fund the junta

.... although I'm pretty sure he'll understand soon :

hopefully he hasn't fixed it before you read it (the comments are priceless)

submission by the image owner to b3ta in case it's fixed before :
http://www.b3ta.com/links/MP_Pissing_penis_coin

Yes, I know it's incredibly childish and partisan to mock, but it's very very very funny :)

We thought we'd take our baby daughter to St Ives for the day, when it's sunny and we have the day free it often seems a good idea, it rarely is in practice though.

St Ives is one of those places that will be busy all summer, regardless of how little they bother to actually invest in the town, and it shows. Although today they had a few bands and banners for St Ives September Festival, so they're starting to make some effort late in the season.

Unfortunately, the facilities and the parking in the town are abysmal.

Want a cash machine - expect to walk several miles away from the shops, seafront, etc.

Want baby changing facilities, there seems to be only two restaurant/cafe anywhere on the front, and they share the dropdown changing table in a disabled bathroom (that's also used as a stock room judging by the unexpected presence of kegs of beer) in the bar.

Want disabled parking? half a dozen on street short-stay spaces, and 3 in the station car park. As for the park and ride train service - "special prices" so you can't use a disabled railcard, and if you want a seat, then get on at St Erth instead of Lelant and pay extra for parking.

The seafront itself has tiny pavements and is busy with traffic despite being clearly unsuitable for motor vehicles, confused tourists and fed up locals negotiate the packed streets so you have to have eyes up your arse to avoid your pushchair falling of the tiny kerb into a cars path, or just stay in the road and hope for the best.

Finally, a bloody seagull stole my ice-cream. Gah!

A guardian investigation has found UK shops using sweatshop factories in India and Bangladesh, thank goodness some of the media is capable of investigative reporting - even if they "provide balance" by including statements from companies denying everything. How hard is it to investigate it properly and verify things, or talk in more detail to NGOs who can verify things.

Anyway - it doesn't really come as any surprise - UK businesses don't care a jot about their suppliers working conditions, Nestle is even trying to replace the phrase 'corporate responsability' with 'shared values', which almost sounds identical to 'shareholder value'.

I noticed yesterday that I actually 'buy british' when it comes to clothing, entirely by accident, living in cornwall we tend to dress in 'surf wear', i.e. fat face and animal, as well as local surf brands like Gul, Flying Dodo, etc. Most of these clothes are bit more expensive, but they tend to be fairly well made, aesthetically pleasing, and coincidentally not made by pregnant mothers in appalling working conditions.

The other thing I noticed in the story was that, M&S used the same suppliers as Matalan, I remember a story told at one of my old jobs where somebody from the trade was working for Marks and they noticed that matalan or somebody had the same product at a much cheaper price, they asked where they copied it from - turns out they both bought the same bog standard stuff from the dirt cheap producer in the far east, a reminder that the rag trade is full of sleazy shysters who will sell low quality tat, but with a 'premium brand', at huge margins.

To actually be tough on the causes of crime and immigration means doing almost exactly the opposite of Tory and New Labour's rhetoric.

Fortunately, even if it's only in one area, the Lib Dems are pushing something powerful through - if you legitimise those who entered the country illegally, but live productive and innocent lives here, then you cut off the lifeblood of the underground and criminal elements.

Taxation, representation, and removal of fear from reprisal turns the oppressed migrants into a powerful force against the system that encourages illegal immigration and illegal workers - the traffickers, the gangs, the dodgy networks organising sham marriages and finding work that pays well below the minimum wage and with no protection for workers.

Odd then that the Labour party that traditionally represented the workers, now targets them instead of the organised criminals that are the real problem.

The same kind of logic works well when applied to other key social problems that the electorate care about - drugs and prostitution : by legitimising and decriminalising, you remove these activities from the hands of organised crime, and can provide statuary protection and regulations, workers rights, safety / quality control, and reduce the resulting petty crime.

Hopefully, the Liberal Democrat party leaders will grow enough backbone to deal with drugs and the sex industry in the same mature, rational and sensible way as immigration. Daily Mail readers won't vote for a liberal democrat we would recognise anyway - why bother trying to get them on board - all we have to do is provide the public with enough facts and start a rational debate, there's no point trying to get the Diana-hugging-darkie-hating-middle-englanders onboard.

I didn't believe the council leader, last night in the interview on local news,  when he claimed that the newsletter was revenue neutral, and even if it is, that's a great deal less than the savings promised.

It could work but not as they currently do it - rather than waste money sending it to every household
it can be targetted at fewer, better targetted audiences, such as doctors surgeries, libraries, job centres, etc.

Also it shouldn't just be CCC but get other cornish and devonshire councils to advertise in it, as well as major
devon and cornwall employers such as the police, sww, met office, etc to help pay for it and make it more worth reading for those who are looking at high end jobs.

While they're at it, they should also include contract and consultancy tendering.

As it stands the pish "newsletters" we get from South West Water and Cornwall County Council are a waste of time, money and resources - nothing more than an exersize in praising themselves and further alienating users of their services.

So, apparently the RSA report back in march was a "wake up call" according to our party leader, Sir Campbell, and since then Transform have also published a report on how we need to reform drug laws.

We've also seen a media backlash against the bad science and dodgy statistics linking Mental Illness to cannabis (quick summary - using cannabis could maybe increase risk of from 1% to 1.4% although you may have to an underlying condition, or self-medicate before diagnosis).

So where is the intelligent debate from our national political parties - Prime Minister Brown was going to have a massive consultation (predestined to pointlessly reclassify a couple of relatively harmless drugs back to class B in order to look tough on crime), it's all gone quiet after a bunch cabinet and shadow cabinet ministers confessed to using drugs but "regretted it" and preaching that just because they've tried it and got away with it and didn't do them any harm, they are terrible nasty illegal things and if you get caught you should rightly be imprisoned.

Liberal Democrat drug policy is hidden in the online equivilent to the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard', and ammounts to a couple of pages of double linespace A4 waffling about how decriminalisation would be nice, but not yet (just like nuclear disarmament would be nice, but not yet), and how we need some good reports to held decide policy.

....Well we've had reports, we have medical research on at least one drug (and I'm sure if MPs researchers and journalisists could be bothered) there is plenty of research on how much more harmful legal drugs like alcohol, etc are than illegal ones, so where is the intelligent discourse?

Where are our new innovative and fair policies and proposed legislation?

We had a recent party campaign on being tough on crime - but standing on the fence on social issues like drugs and the sex trade means being soft on crime - in a word the war on drugs (and failing to end it) means being soft on crime
!

ps http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2788634.ece