Strangely Perfect

Introduction Last April (9 months ago), I contrasted the sling and arrows of fortune as they applied to an admitted mass-murderer and one convicted of mass murder who always protested his innocence.  (see Megrahi and Calley Compared and Contrasted) Now, fully 9 months after the wholesale shock in the West at Megrahi’s early release (the [...]

Alan Johnson Sacks the Messenger This, of course, relates to the recent sackings and supportive resignations of Government Scientific Advisors (see More advisers may go in drugs row) . The home secretary faces the threat of more scientists resigning after sacking his chief drugs adviser Prof David Nutt for his comments about cannabis policy. Two [...]

Who?  Who Are Megrahi and Calley Megrahi is a Libyan, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 270 people by blowing up a 747 over Lockerbie in Scotland – but released early after 8 years (but 10 years in prison) and sent to Libya to die of cancer. Calley is an American, convicted and [...]

Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, aged 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, is a member of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, from Fort Richardson, Alaska.  He was captured in circumstances that aren’t clear and has appeared in a Taliban video (prev at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-soldier20-2009jul20,0,4913063.story), seen world-wide. So far, it appears [...]

Freedom and the Law In stark contrast to the US which still insists on draconian measures against people thought to be bad (the lowest of the low Rumsfeld called them), the UK has had a landmark ruling for common sense in a democratic, freedom-loving country. Nine Law Lords have unanimously ruled it was unfair for [...]

Sex and Death, Death Sex, Death and Sex, AND the Death of Democracy. I’m yet again struck by the rampant hypocrisy from America.  It’s citizens seem to think that everyone in the world has to follow their peculiar mores and morals to the letter, conveniently forgetting that they won’t abide by their own rules written [...]

Following on from the Google Street View roll-out, two issues have popped up – again; People’s privacy on the streets vis-a-vis a commercial organisation like Google People’s privacy on the streets vis-a-vis government organisations like local councils For the first, the self-appointed guardian “Privacy International” have made an official appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office [...]

Computer Shopper Interview with Home Office Dawinderpal Sahota at ‘Computer Shopper’ magazine, part of the Dennis Publishing organisation, has published a fascinating interview that the magazine had with a UK Home Office rep on the subject of the government’s policy towards tackling child abuse websites. ‘Computer Shopper’ gave all questions in advance so that the [...]

WARNING:  This Posting Contains Illegal Pictures I Can Be Imprisoned for Publishing Them. A little realised consequence of Bush’s ‘war on terror’ and the ramping up of common hysteria across the English speaking western world is, bizarrely, that it’s now illegal to take pictures of people commemorating, in a patriotic symbolic way, the lives and [...]

British Torture and Denial of Human Rights On the day that some Serbian leaders were convicted and others released as free men following charges for war crimes, (see Kosovo trial clears Serbia leader ), a UK minister, John Hutton, has “apologised for previously incorrect answers to MPs” (I’d call that lying in a normal language), and [...]

MI5 criticised for role in case of torture, rendition and secrecy A man, Binyam Mohamed, in 2002 was questioned by MI5 in Pakistan!  He was an Ethiopian national.  Then, he was renderred to Morrocco.  (whoever chose that term must have worked inn an abattoir).  As you know, Morocco is a monarchist country, much praised for [...]

Following on from my earlier postings about the 42 days fiasco, like http://strangelyperfect.tv/419/its-not-just-me-cutting-their-labour-party-donation/, and http://strangelyperfect.tv/409/law-regarding-measures-of-state-self-defense-leviathan-how-come/ , I now find myself agreeing with a right old bunch of codgers. We’ve got the ex head of MI5 now, Baroness Manningham-Buller, as well as the Lords Goldsmith, Falconer, tory Baroness Neville-Jones and liberal Lord Thomas ALL saying that [...]

Introduction When there’s a war on in one’s country, say WW2 in the Europe, the people unite against the common enemy and accept that some will die so that the war is won and the next generation can continue. If you lived in the UK, the consensus was that you’d be fighting for “freedom” and [...]

There’s a neat book just been released by a Nobel prize winning author Joseph Stiglitz, and Linda Bilmes of Harvard, that counts the true financial cost of the Bush conspired conflict. This is a BBC article and a similar one on The Guardian written by Aida Edemariam who met him. It’s a truly staggering piece, [...]