The Court had been asked to decide if British military personnel, who are already covered by the Human Rights Act while on bases abroad, were also protected when they set foot outside the camp gates. Two lower courts had decided they were thus protected, a mad decision which would have all but paralysed the conduct of warfare. But now by a six to three majority the highest levels of the judiciary, which hitherto have wielded ‘human rights’ as a judicial battering ram against western civilisation, have for once upheld the latter against the former. Is this a mirage? Maybe not, since there... His latest eye-catching wheeze, to stop sending thousands of criminals to jail because prison doesn’t always work (You don’t say! And nor do community sentences...duh!) is but the latest example of the problem. Justice Secretary Clarke complains incredulously that there are twice as many people in prison since his previous time in government, while crime has gone down. It doesn’t occur to him that maybe it is becausetwice as many people are in prison that crime has gone down. Ok, it’s much more complicated than this – there are other likely explanations for the decline, particularly the fact that so many more of us are securing our valuables – but it is reasonable to infer that prison may at least be a factor in this... In the interview, he reveals however that too much of that naivety and muddled thinking still clings to him. But... Last night, 25 armed, masked men set fire to a U.N. summer camp at a beach in Nuseirat, Gaza, destroying inflatable pools and tents and roughing up a group of guards protecting the facility. It was the second attack on a U.N. recreation facility in just over a month. On May 23, a group of 30 masked, armed men set fire to another U.N. summer camp facility under construction in Gaza City. They also threatened to kill the U.N.'s top relief official in Gaza. U.N. officials told Turtle Bay they don't know who attacked the recreation facilities but they suspect Harriet Harman has warned against ‘artificial’ timetables for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan - after the PM said he wanted them home by 2015... ‘What effect does the defence secretary believe the Prime Minister's comments will have on the morale of our troops fighting day by day on the ground in Afghanistan?,’ Ms Harman said. ‘Isn't it the case that, as the defence secretary has said, setting artificial time scales is a very dangerous game to play.’ For once, she is absolutely right. Cameron’s remark that he wanted British troops out of Afghanistan by 2015 was a shockingly stupid and irresponsible statement which has yet again undermined the coalition’s troops in...Wednesday, 30th June 2010
Sanity fights back
5:12pm
I am in a state of shock. The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Phillips, has said something sensible! The Court has ruled that that British troops are not protected by human rights law on the battlefield.The utilitarian barbarian
2:18pm.jpg)
Ken Clarke is precisely what has been wrong with the Tory party for years.Tuesday, 29th June 2010
Home truths from Planet Wishful Thinking
9:18pm
Despite Tony Blair’s undoubtedly genuine sympathy for Israel’s predicament, I have always had serious reservations about the dangerous -- indeed, near-lethal -- naivety of his belief in the ‘peace process’ as the means to end the Arab and Muslim war of annihilation against Israel. In this interesting interview he has given to the Jerusalem Post, Blair actually admits to some of that naivety, and has the grace to acknowledge further that he had not understood the force of Israel’s concerns until he came to spend time there after leaving office – from which he was forced out early, let us never forget, because he supported Israel’s right to defend itself, without which right a country cannot continue to exist.Hamas torches children's summer camps
2:34pm
All those who believe Gaza is in need of more international aid should be aware of what has now happened twice to summer camps for children in Gaza that are run by the UN.Foreign Policy magazine reports:
...Monday, 28th June 2010
Harriet the hawk -- and Cameron the wuss?
9:20pm
Fascinating that Labour's acting leader and culture warrior on the wrong side Harriet Harman has attacked David Cameron for showing weakness over the war in Afghanistan:
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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