We Still Have Some Power... Or Do We?

Today a petition directed at the Prime Minister was printed on the front page of The Independent newspaper. It was signed by various important people (including Sir Menzies Campbell and Clare Short) and called upon Blair to demand a ceasefire in the Middle East.

This evening, he and Bush did just that. This is heartening. It would appear that this petition actually worked and Blair listened to us for a change. However, is this really the case? If the past few years of Blair's Premiership have told us anything, it's that he does not listen to the people. He didn't listen over Iraq, he didn't listen over tuition fees, ID Cards, Anti-terror legislation or, indeed, anything. It seems that, far from being a good Democratic leader and listening to the electorate, he does what he wants and damned be everyone else. In fact, Blair's tenure as Prime Minister has been characterised by a very "Mother knows best" attitude (or, if you're wanting something more accurate, "Big Brother knows best").

This is shocking in itself, but then lets just have a look at what he's done with this attitude. In the case of anti-terror legislation he has pushed through some shoddily-written, totalitarian rubbish against the will of the people. What is his agenda here? In the case of Iraq, what was his agenda there? Was it, as I suspect, to please George Bush and Washington? In fact, if you want to know how far up Bush's arse Blair's tongue goes, take a look at this little known piece of information:

In the recent cabinet reshuffle, Jack Straw was demoted from Foreign Secretary (a position he was very good at, to be replaced by Beckett, who had been awful at DEFRA) to the non-position of Leader of the House of Commons. Why? Because Washington said so. I'd be surprised if Bush wasn't feeling a tickling sensation in his stomach by now. Yes Mr. Bush, that really is Tony's tongue.

Anyway, all this suggests that Bush and Blair were going to call for a ceasefire anyway and the question was when. So, why didn't they call for a ceasefire immediately and save hundreds of lives? Was it their intention to allow Israel to murder a few more innocents and break a few more articles of the Geneva convention by bombing refugees (whom they had ordered out) and the International Red Cross (along with the UN, after beig warned on numerous occaisions)? This shows a shocking disregard for human life on the part of our leaders, or should I say a shocking disregard for Arab life?

Her Majesty's Government, and the Prime Minister in particular, has blood on its hands. Their failure to immediately call for a ceasefire and act to preserve life and has led to unnecessary loss of life. It is time the Government put that "ethical foreign policy" into practice and acted with some morality. If the Government doesn't start listening to us, we must vote them out.

The Middle East Crisis

On the 12th of July, Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. Israel, in their usual fashion, claimed that this was an "act of war" and launched a series of air and artillery strikes on the Lebanon, hitting such important terrorist targets as Beirut's international airport, various apartment blocks in southern Lebanon and a pro-Hezbollah TV station (which would make more sense if the Israelis hadn't claimed they were trying to get their soldiers back). Strangely, they didn't hit the Hezbollah HQ until 3 days later (I would have thought that this would be the top target, evidently killing innocent civillians at an airport is more important to Israel).

Now, why, in response to a terrorist attack, would you attack a country and her innocent civillians? Imagine if, in response to the IRA bombings, we'd flattened Dublin. We would have been hauled over the coals and support for (and membership of) the IRA would have increased dramatically. Now, while Israel isn't being hauled over the coals (The spineless leaders of western democracies won't stand up for them), Hezbollah support and certainly hatred of Israel have increased. It's almost as if the Israelis don't care.

Of course, Israel's logic says that Hezbollah are supported by the Lebanese Government and that this is Lebanon declaring war. They'll say that Lebanon's inability (or, in their mind, refusal) to crack down on Hezbollah shows this. Actually, what it shows is that the Lebanese government is weak and that their PM can barely control one militiaman, let alone the whole of Hezbollah. But then when have Israel let trivia such as moderation, proportionality or the truth get in the way of a few air strikes?

Founder's Day

Another year, another Founder's Day. Described by one College teacher of note as "a third rate village fete", it's not something I usually loook forward to. This year, I had much to do (well, I say that, it sounded like a lot).

1. Prepare for and then actually do a debate on "This House Woudl admit girls to Dulwich College".

2. Sort out Law Society stand

3. Do concert.

4. Try not to get too bored in between times.


So, I arrived with Dan far too early and prepared both sides of the debate. It didn't take too long, the only tricky bit was getting into the library to use the marvellous resource that is the internet. Having got all that ready, I very quickly got the Law Society stand together (ably assisted by Chris Vilvaraj). Ok, it was put together very quickly and not very professionally, but it looked OK (which is what we were aiming for).

Then began the "tying not to get bored". I didn't succeed, enough said about that. Anyway, then we had the debate and, by virtue of a coin toss, we were opposing the motion. Somehow we managed to beat Jack Devlin and Tom O-Reilly (supposedly the best debators at the College) despite the fact that Dan nearly fainted and I had to do one of his speeches for him. I think I was the only person there that actually went to a mixed school (although Dan may have done), so I was able to impersonate someone who actually knows what goes on (which caused Tom to, I hear, mutter "But he was only 10"). Anyway, we won, which is the important thing.

Then we had a longer period of trying not to get bored until the football started. When it did, myself, Vilvaraj and various other Union people retired to the library to watch the match and.... no, I won't say that, people could be prosecuted. Anyway, a little way into the second half I got a call from Sarah saying she was outside, so outside I went for a chat with her, t'other Sarah and Philip Parbury, who turned up eventually. That was unexpected, but excellent.

After we lost the match (surprisingly, I didn't care that much. Something must be wrong...) I headed over to watch the "rock" bands perform. I'm not going to say anything about their quality, for my personal safety, you understand.

When that was all over and done with, we had the concert. It was OK, in parts, and absolutely awful in others (mentioning no names, pieces, sections or groups). When it was all over, Sarah and Sarah reappeared, with Helen bounding (yes, I think that's the right word) along. What followed as a long chat about various things (which shall not be spoken of by me), and Julian Bubb-Humphreys (and if it's spelt wrong... I could care less) doing his usual camp routine (and challenging one of the Sarahs). Somewhere along the line, my family left the area and went back to the car, before remembering that I wasn't with them and summoning me. Thus ended a better than usual Founder's Day (all down to the company, you know).