Viewpoint: The Russia Report released.

So, a day earlier than expected, The Russia Report finally gets released to the world, and whilst there's nothing that is a smoking gun, what is says is potentially more damaging to the British government, moreso to David Cameron's administration of it, than the current one, though their reluctance to actually publish this is very notable as well.

Whilst it doesn't actually say if Russia interfered in the EU Referendum, and let's be honest, we know they did, the Russians are truly the only ones to actually benefit from the UK leaving the EU, so of course they would try and interefere, it fits their style, it fits the whole KGB-esque way that Vladimir Putin has run things during his time as President, the fact that it criticises the UK government for not even trying to investigate if such a thing was happening, is way more damning. 

The report does say that Russia has been engaging in influence campaigns targetting British Politics using things like social media campaigns, wealthy individuals and other means.  Evidence of this dates back to 2014's Scottish Referendum on Independence, yet apparently, there was no attempt to discern if such behaviour was being done during the Brexit campaign.  Spoiler Alert: Yeah, there was, we saw it with our own eyes on social media.

Bias by deliberate action is one thing.  But bias by deliberate inaction is worse.  And allowing interference in internal affairs by deliberately avoiding investigating, is frankly unforgivable.  This government as a whole needs to resign, on mass.  Yes, I know, we don't want another general election, we've had so many in these last few years, but frankly, that would be a small price to pay.

Unsurprisingly, The Kremlin has dismissed all this as "Russophobia", but I would say, there was no "Russophobia" until Putin started showing he was still doing things the old KGB way.  Coincidence?  No way!

Russia interfered in Scottish Independence, they interefered in the EU referendum, they interfered in the US Presidential Election in 2016, they've interefered plenty since, and now the world is finally realising just how low and sneaky and downright dispicible Vladimir Putin has been, the fact that he has been running Cold War style campaigns of disinformation for the purposes of not just growing Russian influence and power in the world, but also to generate outcomes that will favour his country, it is going to get a lot harder for Russia to continue that kind of influence peddling.  They're already being called out for it on social media everytime they try.  And then, there's what will happen in 2024, when his second term in office comes to an end.  Plus, what is happening with the global pandemic in Russia currently.  Politics in Russia is going to be very interesting in the next few years, especially after the constitutional amendments he got voted in earlier this month, giving him the power to effectively veto candidates for the Prime Minstership, before they even stand for office, and stating that Russian law supercedes international law.  That is not going to go down well globally.

This was not closure on this issue.  We might not get any closure on this until Putin is out of political office and maybe not even then.  But the more we know about what Putin is doing, the more it makes him look like a wannabe global dictator.  We must be on the look out for more Russian influence peddling and trying to influence public opinion on social media, because that's the only way we can effectively counter what is going on.

Osbourne: Part-Time, Work Experience, Chancellor

On the day when GB's Women Footballers kicked off the sporting action in an Olympics that is supposed to lift our spirits, we got word from the Office of National Statistics that showed the UK suffered a 3rd quarter of economic contraction, down a worse than expected 0.7%.

When publications such as The Daily Telegraph, and The New Statesman have such damning stories about a "part-time"... "work experience" Chancellor of The Exchequer, in other words, George Osbourne, you know you're in trouble.

But also, if you were a shareholder of a company that had seen three consecutive quarters of losses, 4 quarters of losses in 5, and 5 quarters of losses in 7,  you'd demand a change at the top level.  Both the CEO and CFO would be unquestionably under threat.  David Cameron and George Osbourne should be very seriously thinking about their positions, and George Osbourne should definitely resign.

Austerity Doesn't Work!

That should now be clear to every human being and your more discerning domesticated animals.

Thoughts on the weekend's news

Shocked to hear of the death of Whitney Houston, she was only 48, and seemed to have gotten over the darkest time in her life. I will be posting some of her music here on Viewpoint, as a tribute later.

Other thoughts...

Felt Luis Suarez behaved like a petulant child on Saturday at the Liverpool v Manchester United football match. FA should charge him with bringing the game into disrepute after all the petulance he showed, all the way through the match, despite his goal. Apologies the day after do not make much difference when the world was watching your petulance on display.

David Cameron and Andrew Lansley are digging themselves into a pit at the moment. Neither want to conceed that the NHS reforms they've put forward are the wrong way forward. Torbay had the right idea, putting social care and health care together under one trust. The right ideas were already out there, if they could have been bothered to look. Andrew Lansley should resign.

8 more arrests this weekend in the scandal between journalists and Metropolitan Police officers. 5 of those arrested, were journalists from the Sun. Murdoch, rather too quickly for my liking, came out to announce that he was committed to continuing to publish The Sun. Give it 3 months. I think we may be seeing a different kind of tabloid from Murdoch coming out soon. One that won't be so obvioously biased, presenting itself as straight news with opinion limited to the opinion columns. In fact, the bias will be more subtle, but it'll still be there. Then the Sun will close.

Interesting that 4 current employees from the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is now 83% owned by the state, have been arrested in a tax fraud investigation. HMRC say that the arrests concern the individuals financial affairs and are not related to their work at the bank, but surely, they cannot handle their own financial affairs without resorting to fraud, does that mean we can trust that they won't employ fraudulent methods in their work for RBS? I don't think so.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, says that Christianity is facing a gradual marginalisation. There are hundreds of religions out there, some very real like Shinto and Buddhism, and some that only really exists in the minds of the believers, such as the Jedi religion. To claim that any one faith should be dominant over all others, is a very dangerous statement to make. Tolerance of all faiths, should be the watchword here.

Overseas, Mitt Romney pulled off a very impressive but unexpected double. He won the Maine Caucuses, which Ron Paul had been expected to win. He also won the straw poll at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, where it had been expected that Rick Santorum would do well. Conservative Republicans may not be fully behind Romney, as they seem to have the opinion that only a Conservative is truly electable, instead of totally unelectable, but if they don't get behind Romney, they don't stand a chance. Why do you think that Democrats have been pushing for Santorum or Gingrich to become the nominee? Neither one has a hope against Obama, it would be an easy victory for Barack Obama. Mitt Romney, with the right VP candidate, probably Ron Paul, would be a much tougher challenge.

The Resignation of Dr Liam Fox

Sky News, and BBC News Channel are reporting the resignation of the Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox.

It’s about time he resigned!

He had previously acknowledged he had allowed the situation where people thought that his friend Adam Werritty was an advisor of his, when in fact he wasn’t even part of the government or the Conservative party.

He should have resigned when he made that statement.

But he didn’t.

He tried to hang on, he tried to defuse the situation, which we ALL knew was a time bomb just waiting to go off.

David Cameron could have shown some leadership, and basically told Dr Fox to go on Monday, when the preliminary findings where released.

But he didn’t.

He tried to keep his friend in government, despite it being clear that he had broken the ministerial code.

This government has shown contempt for  following process and has avoided trying to do the right thing.

Nick Clegg, now should show some leadership.

In the face of this scandal, and the revealations about Oliver Letwin disposing of government documents and correspondence with constituents in a public bin in a park, he needs to turn around and say to David Cameron, this…

“You and your party have shown a lack of respect for the processes of government.  As such, either you need to resign as Prime Minister, or the Liberal Democrats will walk out of this coalition and force a general election.”

This is a government that has brought itself into disrepute in record time.  It needs to be kicked out of office.

Viewpoint - The UK Spending Review, BBC & S4C.

Aftermath of the UK Election Debates.

Well, the final debate has ended, and we are now in the final countdown to election day itself. I have seen all the debates, and here's my take on all 3.

The first one, shown live on ITV1, was very much a surprise. Nick Clegg came out on top rather convincingly. Cameron came in a decent second, with Gordon Brown a poor third.

The second one, shown live on Sky News was much closer, with Cameron perhaps just edging it. Gordon Brown still way back off the pace.

Tonight, it seems, there is a difference of opinion as to whose won. Channel 4 News vote said Brown won by 2%, with Clegg second and Cameron a poor third. ITV News said Cameron won by 2% with Clegg second and Brown third. YouGov said Cameron won by 9% with Clegg second and Brown third.

I say tonight, Clegg won again, but not by much. Brown was the close second, and Cameron looked like he was way off the pace, constantly fighting a rear guard action, and not doing a good job of it.

So, to my mind, we're heading for a hung parliament. But how will Brown and Cameron react to the surge in the Liberal Democrats? I forsee an unlikely, but possible Brown/Cameron coalition, to keep Clegg out of power. Wouldn't say it was likely to happen, but I think it is possible.

Viewpoint – from City Media Productions - 1l

Viewpoint – from City Media Productions - 1h

Viewpoint – from City Media Productions - 1g

Viewpoint – from City Media Productions - 1d

 

A Viewpoint EXTRA follows shortly with more developments in this story, stay tuned.

Ivan Cameron 2002-2009

It's not that often that I talk about UK politics, usually because US politics is more fun, and often easier to take the mickey out of.  But this post is not about mickey-taking, it's about a young life, the oldest son of the Leader of the Opposition, who died overnight aged just 6.

Ivan was not an ordinary boy in the normal sense.  He had Cerebral Palsy, and Ohtahara Syndrome, a particularly severe and nasty form of Epilepsy.  Most sufferers usually die before they are 2 years old.  Some might say Ivan was lucky to live so long.  I say, he was lucky to have such dedicated parents as David and Samantha Cameron.

I have Epilepsy myself.  I used to be a sufferer of Grand Mal Epilepsy, which is fairly serious, but thankfully, not a patch on Ohtahara Syndrome.  These days, I suffer only with Petite Mal, which even compared to Grand Mal, is nowhere near as bad.  I have massive sympathies for David and Samantha, coping with an epileptic in the family is something my own parents managed ably, but add cerebral palsy to the mix, and I think David Cameron has shown just what a good parent he truly is.

Whilst I might not agree with his party's policies, I send my deepest sympathies and condolences to David and Samantha Cameron, and their close relatives and friends. 

Rest in peace, young Ivan.

Idiot Brigade Awards - Wednesday 4th February 2009

Today's awards start with the Best Act of Political Suicide, which goes to the leader of the UK Conservative Party, David Cameron. In Prime Minister's Questions today, after PM Gordon Brown had said "Does anybody want British jobs not to go to British workers?" Cameron stood up and without saying the word, basically answered 'Yes'. His response was that the PM had basically was a protectionist and an oppourtunist, and was pandering to people's fears. Way to go, Cameron! That's really talking the economy up. Oh and nice to have known you, since that one statement just lost him the next election next year.

But now to the medalists, and the bronze medal goes to CNN's Lou Dobbs, for parroting a talking point without checking it. He claimed, as others have done before, that more than $4blln dollars would go to advocacy groups like ACORN under the cover of a neighbourhood stabilisation programme. In fact, The Neighborhood Stabilization Program is a programme from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a government department. Lou, you used to be a journalist, a business journalist, and a damn good one. Now, you're starting to sound like a poor man's Rush Limbaugh!!!

Our silver medal today goes to Dick Morris who has been caught lying! Back on 24 November 2008 on Hannity and Colmes, Morris denied claims that he was working with the National Republican Trust, claiming they had only bought ads on his website. But in an email to his mailing list, which also appeared on his website, Morris says and I quote, "...As I did during the election, I am working with the National Republican Trust to do what I can to stop this (stimulus) package from passing..." So not only did Dick Morris lie about his relationship with the National Republican Trust, but he wants the USA to remain in recession! Charming fellow!!!

But today's runaway winner has to be Bill O'Reilly, who last night on his Fox News show, accused some of his favourite bogey-men, The New York Times, the ACLU and George Soros, of using the illegal immigration issue as a cover for creating a one-party state. Funny, cos the Republican party just tried to use 9/11 over the past 7 years as a cover for creating an effective one party state! A Republican party state. But guess what... in 2006, the electorate threw the Republicans out of Congress, and then two years later, threw them out of the White House. I guess they're smarting a bit!!!

Conservative chairman facing standards inquiry

BBC News is repoting that UK Conservative Party chairman Caroline Spelman is to face an inquiry from the UK's Parliamentary Standards Commissioner into her use of MP's expenses to pay her nanny.

If the inquiry proves she misused her expenses, it will be another nail against the leadership of David Cameron.  The Conservative leader has been blessed with the same kind of media in-attention that John McCain has been blessed with.   Whilst in the US, that is a mix of conservative talk radio and newspapers, as well as the moderately conservative ABC News and the rather more extreme conservative Fox News Channel, over here in the UK, there are far less sources of conservative media, mostly the newspapers, although Sky News seems to have taken a slight conservative bias recently, but nowhere near as much as the conservative press. 

Cameron has largely been given a free-pass by most of the media, and it's a pass he's undeserving of.  Labour has been targetted many times by the conservative press, and not all of them have been justified.  It's about time David Cameron took some heat for things his party has done wrong.