The victims of ISIS*: The Paris Attacks in an International Context (*so-called)

The events in Paris... I shudder to think of those poor, ordinary, innocent people going about their daily business, enjoying their Friday night not knowing the brutality that was about to ensue.

What I know some friends are pointing out, however, is that this display of aggressive action by so-called-ISIS is a daily occurrence for those living in Syria and other parts of the Middle East. For these people, the sound and threat of bombs, gunfire and general violence is normality not anomaly. Indeed, they have endured five years of this.

In a bid to prevent the inevitable right-wing attempt to use the attacks to fuel anti-immigration / anti-refugee policies and also the media's exclusive focus on Paris I'd like to encourage as many of my friends to share articles highlighting the shared story of ALL victims of ISIS, whether from Europe, the Middle East or beyond. And where possible donate money or materials (even if you can only spare a small amount!) to the UN Refugee Agency or other charities. (Does anyone have any thoughts on which agency might be the most effective to support?)

This is not to demote the French experience. We should continue to mourn the loss of life there yesterday but stress the solidarity between these victims and those of the Middle East. How is the Syrian trying to break across borders in order to get away from ISIS violence in his homeland any different from the Parisian escaping through windows at the Bataclan? By helping and sympathising with ALL innocent victims across the world, not just those closest to home, we have the best strategy for undermining so-called-ISIS.

Donations:

http://donate.unhcr.org/international/syria

An example of the equally worthy headlines being neglected by the BBC and media for focus on France:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/dozens-dead-isil-claims-attacks-iraqi-shias-151113165046854.html

Why I am rejoining the Lib Dems (yes you heard that right)

So after three years of flying a little lost and solo, I have decided to once more join the Liberal Democrats​. You may find this surprising in light of last night's events.

In order to understand why I am once more joining, I must first explain why I initially left. I did not leave because I was ashamed of the Lib Dems joining Cameron in coalition. Joining Labour would not have provided enough seats to form a stable government and a rainbow would have been risky, especially in a time of recession. Furthermore, the Tories were the largest party as the electorate willed; would it have been right to ignore this? So yes, we uncomfortably climbed into bed with the Conservatives... And we tempered them in a way I think the country will only now appreciate, when faced with five years of stand-alone Tory government. 

The info-graphic I have attached highlights just a few of the positive contributions we made as a party whilst in government, such as pushing for same-sex marriage, lifting over 3 million of the lowest earners out of income tax, cutting tax breaks for the richest and establishing the pupil premium. Yes we had to break promises, such as that of tuition fees,* but as the junior partner in a coalition, 1/5th the size of the other party we had no choice. Coalition is a synonym for compromise and we were always going to be making more than them. Yet we shouldn't underestimate the simple ‘preventative presence’ the Lib Dems had on potential Conservative policies.   

“If our losses today are part payment for every family that is more secure because of a job we helped to create, every person with depression who is treated with a compassion they deserve, every child who does a little better in school, every apprentice with a long and rewarding career to look forward to, every gay couple who know that their love is worth no less than anyone else’s and every pensioner with a little more freedom and dignity in retirement then I hope at least our losses can be endured with a little selfless dignity too.”

(Info-graphic: http://www.markpack.org.uk/libdem-infographic/ )

The reason I left was not because I disagreed with Lib Dem involvement in government but because of an issue within the party. Very quickly, I, and other local members of the Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency, perceived that enough wasn't being done by the top levels of the party to reassure our grass root supporters, whether members or non-members, that positive achievements in government were being made. Instead, the media fed the public the story of betrayal, a story that still hangs over the party today. It was essentially a PR failure. We knew that positive changes were being made but the electorate were left oblivious.

As a result, in the 2011 council elections we lost all five formerly safe seats. These were seats long held by hardworking individuals with a strong commitment to improving the local community. These seats were lost because of the unpopularity of the party at the national level. It was hard to stomach especially since I, and others, believed this unpopularity could have been better combated by the central party. Additionally, for me personally, the final blow was the outcome of the AV Referendum in 2011 which sealed my disillusionment with politics generally. First-past-the-post is a painful joke for a country claiming to be democratic and I struggle to see how the majority of the country continually fails to see this.

So why now do I re-join? I re-join because the Lib Dems have always been the party I closest align to in terms of values. It is this that has kept them my vote if not my membership these last three years. I re-join now because last night’s wipe-out gives the party a clean slate in terms of leadership. Tim Farron offers the party a new lease of life; he remains untainted by the party's time in government and attuned to its grassroots. I re-join now because it is time for the party to regain its independence and rebuild trust at the local level where we work best. I re-join now because I want to restore England’s faith in the center left.  

~

* And have we really broken this? In 2010 we had that policy because we didn't want socioeconomic background to become an impediment to young people going to university. Under the new arrangements this is still true, the poorest students are supported by the loan and grant system, enabling anyone to go to University. Furthermore under the new scheme you pay for your degree in line with how much you benefit from it afterwards. And you don't pay anything until you earn over 21,000. To me it seems like a fair and progressive compromise.

MH370: Cooperation and Agitation

What the tragedy of MH370 has revealed about our global society...

The unexplained disappearance of flight MH370 continues to perplex the global community. The flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China, vanished from radar on the 8th March 2014. 18 days later and search teams have pinpointed a crash zone in the South Indian Ocean but the journey to this conclusion has been confused and chaotic. I'd like to consider some of the developments of the search for MH370 and what it has revealed about our global community.

I have included some twitter posts in italics because I think the world's reactions to MH370 has been fascinating and has revealed a lot about our social relations and perceptions.

1. Terrorism

For me one of the most horrifying moments in the search for information was the world's reaction to the revelation that the two men travelling on stolen passports were Iranian. Passengers travelling on stolen passports was naturally a cause for alarm but once it was announced that these men were Iranian world media and social networking instantly assumed terrorist activity solely because of their national identity. Just days later, however, it was revealed that neither had terror links and that one of the men, an 18 year old named Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, was attempting to migrate to Germany to join his mother for a better life. For those brief few days, however, both innocent men were villainized ruthlessly in some cases purely on the basis of their nation of origin. It serves to highlight some of the damaging and entirely incorrect stereotypes that have been forged particularly by Western society in a post 9/11 world.

Furthermore, the last few weeks have shown the world's disturbing love for conspiracy with thousands of individuals on blog and websites macabrely explaining step by step what they believe happened. Theories have ranged from various terrorist plots, calculated decompression and a fascination with the U.S. base Diego Garcia. Whilst speculation by authorities is of course necessary to help direct the investigative process, the sheer detail some irrelevant individuals' conspiracy theories have gone to is unnerving and also disrespectful to the families of those lost on the plane.

"Diego Garcia best military radar in the world but they missed an airliner who are they trying to kid not everyone in the world" - Fronteratech

"If only conspiracy theorists were as intelligent as they were paranoid" - Harold Itzkowitz

2. Media

MH370 has proved a challenge for global media. This is because MH370 is somewhat of a unique subject precisely because it is a news story centred around a vacuum. Unlike say unfolding events in the Ukraine, which is a present, apparent process, MH370 is a search for something lost in the past. The media are unsure how to deal with this, how can you report on the news that something has no news? The world of twitter has mocked CNN for interviewing almost every aviation expert on the planet and for reenacting MH370's flight with model planes. It is indeed amusing to see CNN's attempt to disguise the fact that there still is little/no news. There has been such a thirst for news on the subject that several times information has been reported only for it to be found false the following day as with several supposed 'debris' finds. 

Finally I think most people will agree that the media's insensitivity towards the families of those on board MH370 has been shocking. Close up pictures of people in the very depths of grief should never be taken and I find it very difficult to comprehend how anyone could do that. 

"One thing I learnt from this is it's difficult to be leaders. Everything you do is under scrutiny, by people who aren't even experts" - DRIZ

3. Global Cooperation

One of the positives of MH370 has been the cooperation and sharing of resources between different countries of the world. This infographic displays it quite well:



There are many countries here that have been working together who have past and continuing tensions but it has been nice to see that for a human tragedy these differences can be put aside. That's not to say there hasn't been some political finger pointing over the matter though. Malaysia and China in particular have bickered and criticised each other repeatedly over the search operation. Some have even suggested that the MH370 crisis could be a catalyst for political change in Malaysia.
(See: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/03/malaysia-airlines-catalyst-pol-2014326114154815905.html)

The tragedy has also been interesting for the comparisons between different countries' military technology and has shown some striking inequality. The Vietnamese for instance are still using helicopters from last century's war. It has been a fascinating and valuable focus on relations in a part of the world that is often neglected by Western media.

"Highly ironic that Chinese are accusing Malaysian Government of being murderers and lacking transparency!" - Andrew J 

4. Technology vs. Nature

In our modern world we all feel invincible. MH370 however has illustrated a reality that is too often forgotten that at the end of the day, nature is our master, vaster in ways we cannot comprehend. The new search area in the South Indian Ocean is known as the "Roaring Forties" due to the frequently high winds. It is 4 hours flight away from land and the area to be searched is still 1.6km squared. The seabed is mountainous with an average depth of 4 km. This is no easy task.

The limitations of our technology has also been exposed with NASA and even the world's best military radar (U.S.) failing to quickly locate the plane. Additionally big questions have been asked about onboard technology, why does the black box only have a memory capable of recording the final two hours of the flight? And why are the pilots able to turn off commercial radar? And why haven't planes been upgraded to constantly transmit flight data to satellites rather than rely on the elusive black box?

"Uploading flight recorder data to cloud too expensive? No, what's expensive is sending dozens of planes to search for the black box" - Frank Scavo 

~

The search for MH370 has certainly been and continues to be a revealing and turbulent ride. I can only hope that answers are found soon for those families affected.

Two Proud Presidents and His Royal Highness History

"Putin is on the wrong side of history" - Obama

(See: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-crisis-putin-is-on-the-wrong-side-of-history-says-president-obama-9166831.html)

I think if anything, history is laughing at both sides and the entangled, aggressive mess, driven by pride that constitutes the U.S. and Russia's relations and epitomises humanity’s flawed perception of existence.
To claim that history is on anybody’s side shows a foolish and dangerous accumulation of ego. History shows us that nobody can truly master the future; every rise is followed by a fall and all ‘greatness’ is relative to a time and a place.
Far too often, swept away by the confident moment of our existence, we forget our real insignificance on the wider spectrum of time; rather, we become overly self-absorbed in our ‘now’ and all its associated needs and wants we have to fight for.
Thus, upon achieving success to any degree, nations and individuals become easily convinced of their assumed stability and future victories and this confidence perpetuates the potential for conflict.
I'm not saying the U.S. is wrong to defend the Ukraine. Of course if a people’s land is threatened by a superior aggressor we should come to their aid. But I am questioning the basis of pride the U.S. and the West acts from. Obama’s warning and the media’s relishing revision of ‘cold war’ doom and gloom is volatile since it amplifies the atmosphere of conflict.
Overall, I'm pretty sure history, after all these tedious centuries, must be despairing at our continued incapacity to rein in our pride in order to prevent the further escalation of conflict.

The New Year's Post That Never Was...

So 2011 started with a bang.
Quite literally; the bang of gunfire.
Two hundred and nineteen dead, that's two hundred and nineteen.
It makes the London tuition fees protests look.... tame?

Let me introduce today's guest publication;
The Life and Death of Democracy - John Keane
It can be thoroughly recommended.
Though, in light of recent events, it would seem Mr. Keane will need to rethink, because right now democracy seems very, much, alive.

As the dēmos, in approximately 500BC, risked their lives to overthrow the powerful aristocracy in Athens, thousands of street protesters took to the streets in Tunisia, in a bid to topple the corrupt control of President Ben Ali. A revolution now commonly known as the Jasmine Revolution.

Unemployment, food inflation, presidential and governmental corruption, lack of freedom of speech and poor living conditions, all attributed to the explosion of protest that erupted in December 2010. The catalyst, however, was the shocking self immolation, on the 17th of December, of a Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi. The wave of chaotic protest that followed, would result in Ben Ali fleeing to Saudi Arabia, on the 14th January 2011, leaving his post of 23 years and Tunisia in a 'state of national emergency'.

The exit saw the subsequent, rapid formation of a caretaker coalition government, with the promise of elections within 60days.
However, anger and unrest remained, as the coalition government contained members of President Ali's party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) so street protests continued; with new demands that the RCD should be disbanded and all members should be forbidden to stand in future governments.
As a result, on the 27th of January, the Prime Minister removed all former RCD ministers, other than himself from the government.

Events were already revolutionary; but things got even better...

Now, the cue for that wonderful and spontaneous occurrence, which has so often shaped the history of the world; the domino effect.

Almost as soon as the media had returned from one country, it was straight onto the next.
This time to Egypt; where protests began on the 25th of January...

If this was top trumps, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak would win, as he resigned on the 11th of February, following a ridiculous thirty years in power. The protests, largest in Cairo and Alexandria, resulted due to long-term anger at governmental corruption, police oppression, minimum wages, inflation and state of emergency laws. Protesters fought for the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and for democratic reforms to the political system.
At its peak, over 1million protesters scoured the streets of Egypt, at least 365 deaths were reported and the capital city of Cairo was at one point described as being a 'war zone'.

...This wasn't just a bunch of students, with painted faces, waving defaced, mildly amusing posters of Nick Clegg.

Initially Mubarak attempted to cling to power through the use of Egypt's Security Forces, by instigating a curfew and by blocking off forms of communication, such as the Internet and mobile phone networks. But eventually, after days of tantalising 'Will he? Won't he?' moments, Mubarak finally dissolved government, appointed Omar Suleiman as Vice-President and asked the chief of Egypt's air force, Ahmed Shafik to from a new government. Defeat was finally acknowledged when, on the 11th of February, Omar Suleiman announced Mubarak would step down as President and power was to be handed over to the Supreme Council of the Junta, headed by Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. For me, this appears to be a slightly worrying situation as military rule can often spell trouble but Tantawi pledged elections would follow in 6months time.

So as Egypt and Tunisia, breathe a sigh of relief, for now...
Libya holds its breath as street protests begin to explode...
WATCH THIS SPACE.

P.S. Happy New Year!
Apologies for the lack of posts recently...
But not future promises made!

Embracing the Cold: Vince Cable goes Nuclear.

So he's not too old to give up the dancing, but clearly old enough to go senile...

"I have a nuclear option; it's like fighting a war. They know I have nuclear weapons, but I don't have any conventional weapons. If they push me too far then I can walk out and bring the government down and they know that. So it is a question of how you use that intelligently without getting involved in a war that destroys all of us. That is quite a difficult position to be in and I am picking my fights. Some of which you may have seen."

Oh that tragic day, where within just a few minutes, Vince, metaphorically speaking managed to turn the gun on himself.
In the ramble he revealed state secrets, launched war on the Tories, Murdoch and a dozen other senior political figures - all of this he managed to lace together with aggresive, nuclear terminology.
This has to be the perfect media candy.
"I don't expect you to quote this outside" he said.
Oh Vince, if only you knew... If only you knew...

"I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we are going to win".

Amongst the revelations, the most devestating seems to be the attack on Rupert Murdoch.
On this one, if I'm frank, I'm with Vince;
We're all at war with Murdoch a little bit.

But when you are the official who has been trusted with the quasi-judicial role on the situation; as Vince found out, it's maybe best not to voice such negative views against the matter so openly.

To clear things up, what is the Murdoch controversy?
In June 2010, News Corporation announced their intention to fully takeover BSkyB and it was believed the deal, devoid of difficultly, would go ahead, with only the price agreement posing a problem.
In many ways, BSkyB was already unofficially tagged as being part of the Murdoch empire, despite News Corporation only physically owning 39% of the shares. Furthermore, Murdoch himself had set up Sky in 1990, when he merged it with British Satellite Broadcasting.
Therefore, in June, the takeover didn't seem too radical.
But then maybe it was just kept quiet...

However, by September a campaign had begun to arise, in the press and parliament. A campaign which continues to this day.
This latest takeover would result in an even tighter, suffocating grip on the media, bringing with it considerable political influence. This would place disturbing power within the hands of the one individual; Rupert Murdoch. An idea naturally repelled by all those in favour of democracy. Additionally, there are concerns on the effect of plurality; choice for consumers within the market.

Ofcom must decide by 31st December whether to refer the bid to the Competition Commission. But with Vince Cable clearly not being the neutral judge needed, the final decision on whether the blocking goes ahead or not, will now rest with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, as will all future decisions of this nature.

One humiliated, demoted Vince Cable... Two undercover telegraph reporters... And a ramble of loaded languge...The perfect gripping news story to plague the tabloids for a couple of weeks...

The Official Liberal Announcement: KEEP CALM and CARRY ON ?

You'd have to be a hermit of the St.Ossian scale not to have heard about the turmoil of tuition fees...

And now it is the eve of the vote. The spotlight is on.
So, what should the Liberal Democrats do?

1. The Vote Yes Campaign:
So, Clegg and Cable are frantically urging Lib Dem rebels to 'walk through the fire' and support the proposal. And it has been announced, by Clegg himself that all 17 Lib Dem Ministers will vote for the proposals. Obviously, one should do this if he/she believes the proposals will indeed create a 'significantly fairer and more progressive new system', and disregards U-Turning on a key manifesto promise as being a betrayal.

2. Abstain?
Splits weaken parties and sometimes destroy them.
Support for the Liberal Democrats is being undermined, as the impression grows stronger that on the issue of tuition fees we are not only divided but clueless.
This is the argument that, the real damage to the party comes not from adjusting our course as a result of changed conditions, nor from rebellion by backbenchers on grounds of individual conscience, but from the impression we are now giving of being all over the place. Both abstaining and deferring the vote do just that.

Chris Davies, Liberal Democrat MEP (North West) describes how...

"In short, we are creating the impression not just of being weak, but of being a joke. I would rather us have a reputation for being tough (but fair) bastards than for being indecisive."

So, this argument looks to the fact that, if Liberal Democrats want to limit the damage done, there should be only two options for them to consider. Either they vote for the recommendations, or they vote against on grounds of individual conscience.

There is also the fact that abstaining, in this situation, is essentially the nice way of voting for the proposals. ven if all the Lib Dems abstained, the Tory majority would pull the vote through. Abstaining here is pointless and as proven above, signifies weakness to the Lib Dem image.

3. Rejection
They say no-one likes rejection but for once this seems to be untrue.
There was another protest in Lancaster today.
A majority of the public seem to be in uproar. And seeing as politicians are meant to reflect the views of the public, surely this is the sensible option?

Personally I believe, agreeing to the Browne Report, increasing tuition fees, not only by a bit but a ludicrous amount, is one compromise too far. The Browne Report does shine in the fact that it holds specific policies aiming to protect and encourage the poor to attend Universities but this conflicts with the huge increase in tuition fees, meaning now, even those of the middle class will struggle to pay off their debts.
Disillusioned Lib Dem supporters already feel betrayed by the government's involvement with the Tories and the increase in tuition fees does little to encourage disillusioned Lib Dems that the party is still a seperate, independent force within the coalition. Not simply, the majority makers.

Currently, it would appear around 20 Lib Dem MPs intend to vote against the proposals. This isn't good enough.
Here, twenty isn't plenty.
Tomorrow spells complete humiliation.