Brexit, for once some facts.

oldtom

Esteemed Pedelecer
A piece by former British ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford. Here he discusses the current F-UK-US foreign policy toward Syria...

'Syria in the crosshairs of gunboat diplomacy'

"Western powers appear perfectly relaxed about dealing painful blows to the Syrian army, which could open the gates to a resurgence of jihadists and possibly the decapitation of the Syrian state"

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If ever proof were needed that the UK government has learned nothing from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the folly of the attacks on Syrian forces demonstrate that our support of US foreign policy is wholly misguided.

Tom
 

oldtom

Esteemed Pedelecer
I don't know who compiled this infographic but in the additional part, the grammar and spelling are awful - does no-one proof-read any more?

Nonetheless, Jon Snow's piece is worth another airing as it homes in on why the elite want out of the EU. This pursuit of 'Brexit' was never a journey designed to improve the lot of the British people per se - it is solely for the benefit of the 5%:

Any examination of May's Cabinet reveals an assorted collection of some of the wealthiest individuals in society so there is a clue there that all is not as it may have seemed to the thickos at the time of the referendum.

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Tom
 

Danidl

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Sep 29, 2016
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I don't know who compiled this infographic but in the additional part, the grammar and spelling are awful - does no-one proof-read any more?

Nonetheless, Jon Snow's piece is worth another airing as it homes in on why the elite want out of the EU. This pursuit of 'Brexit' was never a journey designed to improve the lot of the British people per se - it is solely for the benefit of the 5%:

Any examination of May's Cabinet reveals an assorted collection of some of the wealthiest individuals in society so there is a clue there that all is not as it may have seemed to the thickos at the time of the referendum.

View attachment 24733
Tom
Surely the Crown does not pay tax?. It seems illogical that it would. If the Crown owns everything then it is the little people who would give money to the Crown for existing, not the other way around?. As a citizen of a republic, i find this cult of celebrity impossible to understand. , Not withstanding the personal attributes of individuals
 
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oldtom

Esteemed Pedelecer
Although it is known that the Queen does palace business through Coutt's, the oldest bank in the country, it is widely understood by those who have tried to get a handle on royal finances that the royal family's wealth is beyond the clutches of the exchequer which seems a remarkable concept in itself. Make of that what you will.

COUTTS: 320 YEARS OF HISTORY
article-2252050-0000925800000CB2-844_290x169.jpg

Coutts is even older than the Bank of England which was founded two years later in 1694.

Coutts which used to be called Campbell Bank, was set up by John Campbell in London's Strand in 1692.

Its first bank outside the capital was opened in Eton in 1961.

Coutts used designers Ozwald Boateng and Stella McCartnet to design credit and debit cards.

Buckingham Palace has a Coutts cash machine.

The bank is mentioned in Gilbert and Sullivan's opera The Gondoliers in the lyric: 'The aristocrat which banks with Coutts; The aristocrat who hunts and shoots; The aristocrat who cleans our boots; The all shall equal be.

Tom
 

oldtom

Esteemed Pedelecer
The people attempting to drive through the collapsed 'Brexit' dream that so many thought offered the promise of a 'shangri-la' future are the very same people who wish to open up the whole NHS to private enterprise.

This man, regarded as the driving force behind the creation of the enterprise said this a long, long time ago and his words remain as true today as they did in the 1940s:

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“No country can legitimately call itself civilized if a sick person is denied medical aid because of a lack of means.”-Aneurin Bevan.

Some need to ponder that in this second decade of the 21st century

Tom
 

oyster

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Nov 7, 2017
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The people attempting to drive through the collapsed 'Brexit' dream that so many thought offered the promise of a 'shangri-la' future are the very same people who wish to open up the whole NHS to private enterprise.
One particular medicine now costs about £250 for 28 tablets. Ten years ago, it cost £12 for the same product. Equivalent products cost less than £2 in both Greece and Turkey. Even in Germany, they are only about EUR 30 for 100. Not surprisingly, patients are being refused this medicine - even some who have been on it for many years and have cast-iron proof of its efficacy for them, are supported by their GPs and consultants are being refused further supplies.

This is because the NHS has allowed itself to be exploited and has not the combination of will and power to ensure a satisfactory procurement system. (Any private enterprise that had such poor procurement would be severely criticised and likely to fail in the market. Shareholders would be wondering why dividends were so low.) Until it has both, any outsourcing and/or procurement is likely to be massively to the benefit of suppliers, to the detriment of patients, and a turn of the screw on the existing system.
 

Woosh

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BJ is going to host a summit conference for the 6 Balkan states on the benefits of joining the EU later this year.
So it's good enough for Turkey, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Serbia but not good enough for the UK.
 

oldgroaner

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Nov 15, 2015
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BJ is going to host a summit conference for the 6 Balkan states on the benefits of joining the EU later this year.
So it's good enough for Turkey, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Serbia but not good enough for the UK.
Historians will ponder how this creature out of the dark realms of Fantasy didn't merely hoodwink 15 million odd gullible Brexit supporters against the EU, could now be acting as agent provocateur in promoting it among others for some nefarious reason.

More incredible is the fact that he was actually even born at all, considering the impossibly huge odds against one individual sperm so uniquely feckless, managing to get something right, resulting in his creation.

Somehow it casts doubt about evolution resulting in improvement of the species
 

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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More incredible is the fact that he was actually even born at all,

Somehow it casts doubt about evolution resulting in improvement of the species
I don't think he is the product of evolution so much as of the privileged education he received.

In that and lacking other talent, he found that deceit masked by humour was the best attribute to succeed in the company present. He's practiced that ever since, as even his own sister confirms.
.
 

oyster

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Nov 7, 2017
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I don't think he is the product of evolution so much as of the privileged education he received.
Not exactly relevant, but certainly made me remember:

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

The name Devo comes from the concept of 'de-evolution'—the idea that instead of continuing to evolve, mankind has actually begun to regress, as evidenced by the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society.
 

oldtom

Esteemed Pedelecer

Danidl

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Sep 29, 2016
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Historians will ponder how this creature out of the dark realms of Fantasy didn't merely hoodwink 15 million odd gullible Brexit supporters against the EU, could now be acting as agent provocateur in promoting it among others for some nefarious reason.

More incredible is the fact that he was actually even born at all, considering the impossibly huge odds against one individual sperm so uniquely feckless, managing to get something right, resulting in his creation.

Somehow it casts doubt about evolution resulting in improvement of the species
That misses the essential point about evolution.. that it is blind. Variant s appear, some hinder, some support , some do neither. Those that hinder tend not to persist beyond a generation, those that may assist will continue indefinitely , or until they no longer assist..
 

oldgroaner

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Nov 15, 2015
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from the Independent
"
Theresa May faces deadlock over Brexit customs rules, after senior politicians attack both proposed options
Michael Gove – picked by the prime minister to examine her 'customs partnership' model – points to 'significant question marks'

Who cares? the EU will tell them what they can have (or not)
 
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oldtom

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So, according to this morning's headlines, we can expect the head of MI5 to ensure extra funding from government by proclaiming that the threat from IS remains. Not only that but the threat is even greater now that the jihadists have lost so heavily in the middle-east.

As if that weren't enough, he is likely to regurgitate the story about Russia and the poisoning in Salisbury.

Elsewhere, the Defence Secretary is expected to announce we are investing something over a billion quid in a nuclear sub.......honestly, I despair!

Tom
 
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Woosh

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......honestly, I despair!
their real business is fund-raising.

Money, money, money,
Always sunny
In the rich man's world
Aha-ahaaa...
 
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oyster

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Nov 7, 2017
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West West Wales
So, according to this morning's headlines, we can expect the head of MI5 to ensure extra funding from government by proclaiming that the threat from IS remains. Not only that but the threat is even greater now that the jihadists have lost so heavily in the middle-east.

As if that weren't enough, he is likely to regurgitate the story about Russia and the poisoning in Salisbury.

Elsewhere, the Defence Secretary is expected to announce we are investing something over a billion quid in a nuclear sub.......honestly, I despair!

Tom
With a Guardian headline emphasising the European dimension:

MI5 chief: UK and EU intelligence sharing ‘never more important’

(The usual meaning, so I have been told:), of sub-dom usurped by the sub being dominant.)
 
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oldtom

Esteemed Pedelecer
Does anyone know the real story about Syria? Who has vested interests there? This might provide a clue:

"The Trump administration along with Jared Kushner employ in the White House, a lawyer by the name of Ira Greenstein from Newark, New Jersey, who was by all accounts still acting as President & in the interest of his energy corporation when the U.S. bombed Syria.*

Genie Energy.

An energy corporation operating privately in Syrian territory — the occupied Golan Heights.

U.S. President Donald Trump & his administration are inherently subjugated by this paradigm of interests. When commencing with hostile military action on Syria, they did so while having a direct conflict of interest, primarily related to business ties with this corporation. This, along with seemingly ulterior political dealings with the Israeli government, has gone part & parcel to the destabilization of Syria. While benefiting Genie Energy, its backers & involved officials."

To read more:

https://medium.com/@zanting/ira-greenstein-jared-kushner-s-criminal-deal-with-israel-behind-u-s-873da65223ce

'Let’s talk about the Golan Heights'

"Unlike in Iraq and Libya, I haven’t seen oil grabs as a significant motive for the West’s assault, direct and by proxy, on Syria in the name of aiding a heroic and only slightly Islamist (foreign too, but let’s not be pedantic) resistance to tyranny. Oil is an aspect but less by its presence in Syria, modest to negligible, than in the matter of which pipeline will supply Europe, the world’s biggest energy market. Even then, the pipeline is not key to understanding Syria’s ordeal. It is pipped by bigger questions of US ability to maintain regional and even global hegemony in the face of threats from China’s One Belt One Road project, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and fast growing realisation in all sectors of Russian and Iranian society that the USA is not to be trusted, and that its untrustworthiness is not new to Donald Trump’s presidency."

To read more:

https://off-guardian.org/2018/05/13/lets-talk-about-the-golan-heights/

And who is on the board of this energy company? Have a look:

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Tom
 
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Woosh

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Is the Syrian war good for US businesses?
I bet it is. The business of wars employs a lot of people, more than 3 millions in the USA alone.
 

Woosh

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David Milliband suggested that 400 MPs would support close relationship with the EU27. He was discussing brexit with John Humphrys this morning on Radio 4 Today program.
 

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