Guantanamo: a stain on the US

It is rare indeed that the thoughts of Gerald Kauffman ring a bell. He is the MP for Gorton in Manchester, one of the poorest communities in the country. He submitted a bill for a £7000 tele to us the taxpayer (Expenses scandal) thereby establishing his right-on credentials. He has pomposity to spare and is an unlikeable chap. Yet his letter in today’s Guardian was short and very much to the point.

“The defendants at the Guantánamo trial are accused of abominable crimes, and the victims' families are understandably anguished. It should be remembered that in international law this is an illegal trial staged at an illegal venue by a lying president who has broken his promise to close the venue down.
Gerald Kaufman MP
Labour, Manchester Gorton”

Guantanamo is a stain on the name and reputation of the United States. 

What Leveson has shown us so far

Gary Younge makes sense of the Tories links with Murdoch in today’s Guardian and sets the scandal in the context of a ruling elite.

“The evidence (at Leveson) has laid bare the intimate, extensive and insidious web of social, familial and personal ties between the political, corporate and legal forces that govern a country: a patchwork of individual and institutional associations so tightly interwoven that to pick at one part is to watch the whole thing unravel. The "sit downs", pay-offs and class camaraderie on display owe more to a cross between Downton Abbey and the Sopranos than the functioning of a 21st-century democracy.

The details of the main narrative bear repeating. We now know that James Murdoch met with David Cameron 12 times between January 2006 and January 2010 – eight times for dinner, twice for breakfast, once for lunch and once for drinks. Between May 2010 and July 2011 there were also more than 60 meetings between ministers and either Rupert Murdoch, his son James, the then News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks or James Harding, the editor of the Times. That averages around one a week. We know there were more, but not all were logged as such by Downing Street.

The subplots are stunning. And the forthcoming attractions could yet overshadow the lot. Now that Brooks has agreed to hand over her text messages to Cameron, we are about to learn whether rumours that they exchanged as many as 12 texts a day are true.

Brooks was arrested both on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption last year. She was arrested again this year with her husband, Charlie Brooks, on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Charlie went to Eton with Cameron – as did the Tory mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

Such is the incestuous nature of the British ruling class and the gene puddle from which it draws its stock. Such is their brazen venality, complicity, contempt and mendacity. Eton, Oxford, Bullingdon, Westminster – if you're looking for a tiny minority who are struggling to integrate, look no further than the cabinet. Two things make this a matter of import as well as intrigue. The first is the lie it gives to the insistence on meritocracy at a time of acute economic crisis when benefits are slashed, the poor hammered. Cameron and his cabinet insist others pull themselves up by their bootstraps even as they themselves swan around in their parents' expensive pairs of loafers. Today almost 40% of MPs went to private school. In 1997 it was just 30%. In terms of social mobility, we are going backwards. The issue here is not class envy but class entrenchment. The fact that they were born rich is irrelevant. They had no choice in the matter. But the fact that they appear to want to give even more to those who already have a great deal while denying much to those who have little is unforgiveable. (my emphasis)

The one job Cameron landed in the private sector was arranged by his wife's mother, Lady Astor, who was friends with Michael Green, then executive chairman of Carlton. Green gave Cameron a starting salary of £90,000. He has no more had to stand on his merits than James Murdoch had to interview for a job at News Corp.

Rocked in the cradle of power from birth so that its rhythms become second nature, these people imbibe their sense of entitlement with their mother's milk. But the personal tutors, private schools, the most expensive universities do not, somehow, suffice. As though the benefits of wealth were not enough, they apparently feel the need to game the very system they already control.

Which brings us to the manner in which these interactions mock the very notion of democracy on which the nation's illusions are based. For the meetings, lunches and visits showcase a parallel, unaccountable universe where actual decisions are made and deals are done. (ditto)All these informal gatherings took place at a time when the government was supposed to be adjudicating News Corporation's bid to take over BSkyB. With the culture secretary described by Murdoch's lobbyist as a "cheerleader" for News International, it seems as if the takeover was to all intents and purposes a done deal, prevented only by the fallout from the hacking scandal. All the kinks ironed out on horseback and settled in time for the main course. Parliament would have been a mere rubber stamp. Oversight reduced to an afterthought in a House of Commons that may soon more closely resemble a house of cards.” G. Younge Guardian 7/5/12

Cardinal Sean Brady - “to not lose face”

The depth and breadth of the abuse crisis in Ireland is not over. The religious programme ‘Sunday’ on radio 4 this morning updated events in Ireland since the BBC documentary ‘This World’ aired last week. The BBC investigation revealed more details of his role in investigating Ireland's most notorious paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth in 1975. Brady was given the names of several children who were being abused. He did nothing with that information. He even swore the informant to secrecy on the bible. Remarkably, Brady has since issued a writ against the programme makers. Another gem was that Brady was still refusing to resign and that his defence was in effect that he was ‘only obeying orders.’

A priest who is an opponent of the catholic hierarchy painted in some background. Twenty years ago 97% of the population of the Irish Republic attended mass weekly. That figure is now down to 30%. Of those, the majority of attendees are over 60. The number attending mass who are under 30 is in single figures.

The Vatican continue to operate in denial mode. Surprise, surprise. Michael Kelly, Deputy Editor of the Irish Catholic Newspaper said that they would not bow to public pressure. They would put another Bishop in place alongside Cardinal Brady who would then act as his shadow until the heat had died down. At that point Cardinal Brady would stand down ‘without losing face.’ This has happened before in Ireland. The Bishop of Dublin was exposed in 2003 in a RTE documentary covering up abuse and rather than resign immediately he left several months later. 

It is hard to comprehend how the ‘loss of face’ in any way remotely compares to the damage done to thousands of children by abusing priests. It is also very surprising that the police have not become involved. The sight of Cardinal Brady being arrested and charged with aiding and abetting criminal acts would concentrate minds in the Vatican. There is a concern in the Vatican that there could be a domino effect. Bring it on.

How much ‘loss of face’ have the victims suffered?

Murdoch and the Tories

The following article was written by Peter Oborne in the Telegraph, the parish magazine of the Tory party. After reading it you may well have to pinch yourself and double-check that yes, it really appeared in the Torygraph.

“Mr Cameron and his close circle have emerged as the main public champions of News International. They are bravely – some would say wilfully – refusing to accept that the Murdoch system, as it flourished under Blair, Brown and early Cameron, is finished.

This posture first became apparent in February, when Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, launched an attack on the Leveson Inquiry while making a speech to journalists in the House of Commons. In a gigantic grovel to the Murdoch press, Mr Gove (a former News International employee) asserted that Leveson was in danger of producing a “cure that is worse than the original disease”. Yesterday, the Foreign Secretary, William Hague (who was paid a fortune for writing a News of the World column when the Conservatives were in opposition), was at it again, with a defence of the media tycoon on the BBC.

The Prime Minister has shown a similar moral blindness, with adamantine support for Jeremy Hunt after the Culture Secretary’s grotesquely biased handling of the Murdoch bid for BSkyB. Mr Cameron’s refusal to sanction an official inquiry into Mr Hunt’s dreadful conduct is extraordinary, and reinforces the impression that the Government has something to hide.

Now we can turn to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee, which has split along party lines over Mr Murdoch’s management of his News International titles. The Labour and Liberal Democrat members judge that Mr Murdoch is “not a fit person” to run an international company. The Tory members disagree, so voted against the report.

There have long been concerns about the Conservative members of this committee. John Whittingdale, its chairman, has links with News International going back over a number of years. One of his Tory colleagues, Louise Mensch, is an attention-seeker who last year abused parliamentary privilege to make unfounded accusations of illegal conduct involving another newspaper group, thereby widening the scandal beyond News International.

Even if the motives of these MPs were entirely honourable, they have placed the Conservative Party in a wretched place as the chief partner and public supporter of News International. This is a wonderful free gift to Mr Miliband. As the New York Times reported yesterday, in a well-informed and judicious report, “part of the Labour strategy will be to tie Mr Cameron inseparably to Mr Murdoch and his senior executives in Britain, some of whom were Mr Cameron’s close confidants”.

This strategy goes from strength to strength. Think of what lies ahead. Soon, Jeremy Hunt must appear before the Leveson Inquiry and answer questions about those deeply improper emails between his special adviser and Rupert Murdoch’s lobbyist. Then Mr Cameron himself will face a lengthy session at Leveson, probably in late May.

A fresh embarrassment concerns Rebekah Brooks, who providentially retained the text messages she received from the Prime Minister, which I’m told could exceed a dozen a day. These may now be published, a horrible thought. Next year it is possible that some of Mr Cameron’s closest allies and friends, including Andy Coulson, the former Downing Street director of communications, will go on trial. Apart from anything else, these reminders of the Prime Minister’s poor judgment will reinforce the popular belief that he is arrogant, louche and only comfortable as a member of some elitist set.

Here are the News International crowd: Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson, David Miliband, David Blunkett, John Reid, Tessa Jowell, Michael Gove, George Osborne, William Hague. David Cameron, John Whittingdale and Jeremy Hunt (as well as Mr Hunt’s brainless sidekick, Ed Vaizey) should also be added to this list.

And here are the refuseniks: Vince Cable, Tom Watson, George Galloway, Iain Duncan Smith, Owen Paterson, Dominic Grieve, Ken Clarke. This is a much shorter list. My hunch is that their integrity has paid off and we are coming to the end of the Murdoch era, which was based around a cult of celebrity, collusion, criminality and deceit.

Something wonderful may be happening to British politics: the air at Westminster is becoming cleaner and fresher. Mr Miliband, always under-rated as Labour leader, has woken up to this defining story of our age much faster than Mr Cameron and his amoral strategists. That is why he has been able to convert the News International phone hacking and corruption scandal into Tory sleaze. The Conservatives need to wake up fast.”

Peter Oborne Daily Telegraph 3/5/12

Wow.

Cardinal Brady

We are a long way from what our social commentary gurus would describe as ‘closure’. Yet again the Catholic Church stands exposed as the bastion for abusers and the deniers of the abused. A shockingly powerful documentary on BBC 2 tonight was another small step in dragging the church hierarchy kicking and screaming into the light. It is not a place they relish if Cardinal Brady is an example. He is the top Catholic cheese in Ireland and someone who is expected to be a public figure. Confronted by evidence of his part in a cover up, which led to a paedophile priest continuing to abuse children for another 13 years, he simply fled, protected by minders. How ironic. The abuse collaborator is protected while the victims are ignored and denied. 

A Catholic Church investigation into child abuse in another diocese in Ireland was quite rightly described as a ‘whitewash’ by the local press. The ‘Inquiry’ had searched church records to find what had been written about the abuse of children in the area. Surprise surprise - they did not find anything - so that’s alright then. They did not contact any of the hundreds and hundreds of victims. A bit of an omission that. 

“New revelations about the failure of the Catholic primate of all-Ireland to protect children from abuse have been uncovered by the BBC's This World show.

It found Cardinal Sean Brady had the names and addresses of those being abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, but did not ensure their safety. Sean Brady's role in the affair became clear in 2010, when it became known that he had been present when the abused boy was questioned.

The Catholic Church has been knocked off its pedestal in Ireland, and its leader is battling to hold onto his own position. Cardinal Sean Brady has been under pressure for some time. But he has always made it clear he will not resign, unless there is specific proof that his failure to act allowed clerical child abuse to take place. Clearly, he does not believe the evidence in the BBC documentary meets that criteria. However, with the media spotlight on his past, the Catholic primate is struggling to shift the focus to the present and the future. That is a very uncomfortable position, for any church leader.

He claimed, however, that the boy's father had accompanied him, and described his own role as that of a note-taker. However, the BBC This World investigation has uncovered the notes Cardinal Brady took while the boy was questioned.

The child's father was not allowed in the room, and the child was immediately sworn to secrecy by swearing on the Bible. Many, many other children were then abused by Brendan Smyth.” BBC Online 2/5/12

So Cardinal Brady lied. He should not merely resign. He should be having a chat with the local plod. A retired detective who investigated some of the abuse cases believes that many of these Bishops should be in jail for covering up crimes, and even worse providing the opportunities for serial abusers to thrive and abuse many more children. They have left  a malign legacy around the world.

A chunky little chap resembling Danny De Vito’s brother posing as a Papal prosecutor spoke about how the Catholic Church has learnt serious lessons and is tackling abuse with urgency and speed. Oh yeah. Once confronted with the actualite his words turned to dust and insulting guff about ‘charity’.

This complicity goes right to the top of the Catholic Church and should be borne in mind whenever ‘Cardinal This’ or ‘Nuncio That’ dare to lecture us about behaviour. 

Murdoch and Mensch

The Tories are digging themselves into a mighty hole. All four Tory members of the Commons Culture Committee refused to back the line that Murdoch was not a fit person to run a corporation. They were perfectly happy for the monkeys to take all the blame while the organ grinder walked away relatively unscathed. Why could this be? It could not have anything to do with their close relationship with the Murdoch empire could it? 

Most Tories hate public services with a passion. They loathe the BBC. They see Murdoch as their champion. A private enterprise entrepreneur  who will erode the BBC’s position in our life. Unfortunately for these half-wits the Milly Dowler hacking story scuppered NewsCorps takeover of BSkyB. From what has emerged at Leveson, it is clear that Hunt and Cameron were perfectly happy to grease the wheels of the bid.  The Tories do not see the corrosive effect he has had both in the UK and the US with the Scum, the Screws  and Fox News, because they spout right wing rubbish which fits their agenda. They also demean our daily life. Take the latest example of a joke. Roy Hodgson has been appointed England boss so the Sun took the piss in a nasty front page taking the mickey about the way he speaks. Not about his calibre, his ability or his talent. The way he speaks. They really are an egregious bunch in Rupe’s favourite paper.

As Murdoch has become even more toxic so have the Tories. Their relationship will be exposed further at Leveson. Miliband divorced his party from the Murdoch empire some time ago (and took a lot of stick in their papers ---purely coincidentally...) 

“..the committee as a whole was happy to damn already-ousted Hinton and other players that News Corp has thus far pushed under a bus, (however) the Conservative members rallied to the defence of the Murdochs themselves. One Tory, Phil Davies, justified this with the circular argument that Murdoch Sr must be fit to run a business because he has always done so, adding that everyone makes mistakes. Another, Louise Mensch made the subtler pitch that it was for Ofcom, and not the committee, to provide the final verdict on the Murdochs' fitness to broadcast on these shores. Her gamble is that Labour's Tom Watson, who launched a withering diatribe against the Murdochs as the report was published, overreached himself in persuading the majority to go for the jugular.” Guardian leader article 2/5/12 

Mensch put up a spirited defence on Newsnight about the split. Matthew Norman, writing in the Independent earlier in the week revealed how close Whittingdale had been to Murdoch in the past when he acted as a cheerleader for Thatcher. He had contacted Andrew Neill, the then editor of the Sunday Times, who was minded to express support for Heseltine in a leadership contest. It was Whittingdale who threatened him with the spectre of his boss Rupert Murdoch. Mensch has also had contacts with the Murdoch crew. 

“John Whittingdale, the committee's chairman, admitted he had talked to News Corp's corporate lobbyist, Fred Michel. But Mr Whittingdale said there was nothing sinister in what had been a standard, routine exchange with the lobbyist currently at the centre of the row involving the BSkyB bid and the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. (Oh yeah)

Louise Mensch has already been clear about her exchanges with Mr Michel: yes, he briefed her on arrests at The Sun; but no, she refused his offer to brief her on the background to phone hacking. (Oh yeah)

Mr Watson and his fellow Labour colleagues all said they couldn't be influenced and suspected Mr Michel may have known this and therefore hadn't bothered to call them.” Independent 2/5/12 (My italics)

Louise Mensch was revealed this morning as being absolutely set against any criticism of Rupert or James Murdoch or of their company NewsCorp. (Paul Farrelly MP speaking on the Today programme). Jings! So help me Bob.

What is her background?

The daughter of a wealthy stockbroker, born in 1971 into a family of distinguished Catholic gentry, she attended a home counties boarding school before studying English at Oxford. Her first political memory is the Falklands war – "My mum boycotted Argentine corned beef, and I remember disagreeing violently with pacifists" – and at 14 she read Jeffrey Archer's First Among Equals and joined the Tory party. Her heroines were Margaret Thatcher and Madonna, her plan was to become an MP.” Decca Aitkenhead, Guardian 30/9/11

She made her name (as Louise Bagshaw) writing apparently quite raunchy chick-lit. She also admired Tony Blair. So much so she became a member of the Labour Party (briefly) in the 1990’s. She has also had a facelift. Now why would a well adjusted intelligent person with no external reason (car crash, disfigurement etc) pay oodles to look like a landed carp?

The word Mensch comes from German Yiddish and means ‘human being.’ Mmmm.

The alternative to austerity

With all three main parties agreeing that cuts are necessary only disagreeing about the speed and amount, it is good to see a simple alternative. George Galloway has an idea:

"We would bring all our soldiers home from foreign wars – thus saving billions of pounds. We would scrap the renewal of Trident submarines. And we would pursue what Vince Cable said was the £100bn-a-year-plus tax avoidance and tax evasion industry. Thus, we'd have no deficit. If you do the maths, if we did those three things we not only would have no deficit, we'd be quids in. We'd be £80bn up." Guardian 30/4/12

Sounds straightforward until all the vested interests come into play. The arms/industrial complex, so astutely warned against by Eisenhower in the dying days of his presidency, are a baleful and malign presence throughout our upper echelons. The revolving door between the arms companies, the MOD and the Services ensures systematic corruption flourishes. These boys play dirty. Remember when the Reverend Blair scuppered a huge fraud inquiry involving the Saudi’s and BAE at the behest of a Saudi prince? 

The tax avoiders too are a mucky bunch who live life on the hog at the expense of the poor and disempowered. They too will fight to retain their access to masses of cash. 

And then we come to the armed forces, used as pawns for the petro-chemical giants. Their presence in various theatres has not increased our security. Look at the measures being taken to ensure people can hop, skip and jump at th’Olympics. We have given, and continue to give, a great many people many reasons to hate us. Hearing our rotten politicians crowing about us ‘punching above our weight’ is nauseating. Untold thousands have died so we can ‘punch above our weight.’

The Swiss model of aggressive defence with most adults undergoing some form of basic training with arms caches hidden around the country and the message to potential enemies that ‘you may invade us - but it is going to cost you dearly,’ is an alternative. It also helps that they can remind aggressive despots that they have their money.

So George, good ideas but a hard row to hoe. Particularly as 90% of the mainstream media fall into the tax avoiding category.