Human Rights and Wrongs.

Christmas, it's a busy time. Family and stuff 'n' all that. All those formerly empty slots fill up with various commitments. Some of them enjoyable, others less so, more dutiful. It's frequently said, loudest by the most disingenuous, that this is the season of goodwill to our fellow human beings. And, with that thought in mind...

I have not properly opened a book for several days, already eaten way too many mince pies, watched rather more TV than is usual. Although I have managed mostly not to drink alcohol- keeps me from falling asleep at inopportune moments. Key amongst any stumbling blocks towards the goal of 'goodwill etc. etc. there is, of course, a Genocide being undertaken, to which we in the UK are culpable. Not 'you' and 'me' specifically; you and me 'collectively,' by virtue of our Government. A Genocide, now that's going to keep many of us awake at night, especially if we care about humanity, children, their futures, the development of the planet in so far as human interactions are concerned. That means also 'interactions' with other species, dependencies etc. so mighty significant!

In amongst the minutiae of Christmas domesticity there is this Genocide which refuses to cease, not for seasonal niceties- no goodwill on earth where Genocide is concerned! Focuses the mind does a Genocide! Especially when one cannot ever shake the thing from one's consciousness. So, one of the few seemingly helplessly small things that I have done is to write to the nation's Foreign Secretary, one Right Honourable David Lammy- twice, with a third letter in likely tow. The two thus far have elicited nothing from the 'great' man, not a whisper. Not so much as an automatic reply acknowledgement. Nothing!

We expect he is far too busy to bother with such a thing as a Genocide. Probably too busy cosying up to Saudi Arabia, what with another sportswashed World Cup looming (ish- 203?). We just cannot wait for all those sparkling info-adverts to grace the screens. Wonder if Beckham will be taking the Saudi coin this time around? Integrity, what? Haven't listened to the official FIFA statement yet... might not bother. Wonder if Israel will qualify? Sincerely hope not! Almost certainly won't bother, too many red flags already!

Anyway: the letter!

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Dear Mr David Lammy
I write to you with a most sincere urgency yet, sadly, with very little in terms of expectation. I am a 66-year-old grandparent and never before have I experienced such a hopeless sense of urgency, not on this scale. The sense of dread seems almost never to depart for more than the briefest of moments. I find that I am truly haunted! Haunted with the knowledge that not a day passes when the dire needs of Palestinians will not have deteriorated yet further into a hell upon this earth! Thousands of Gazans continue to experience the ever-present terrors of injury, loss of family, malnutrition, amputation, disease, torture and/or death, all manufactured care of Israeli Government, and more besides. For the Palestinians hope is barely a memory. So to listen to the nation's Labour Party Foreign Secretary make time to caution against the use of the term 'Genocide,' horrifies and astounds me beyond reason. For you, we are to believe, it is a numbers game- have you not even read the relevant documentation?- how is it possible that I feel better informed? If only this were the case.

I am not hoping to learn quite what your definition of the international crime of Genocide might be. I do not wish to see the jumbled mathematics that enables you to still express doubt as to the intentions of Israel or its IDF. I am not asking you to differentiate for me between Russia's unjust invasion and land-grab in Ukraine and Israel's occupation and absolute annihilation of the Palestinian populations. I do not need to learn that a death toll climbing into (what now seems inevitable) the hundreds of thousands may still be ring-fenced by some as 'self defence.' All this I have already heard, repeatedly and repeatedly.

The great worry I harbour, Mr Lammy, is that your reluctance to intervene will see Northern Gaza, eventually also the West Bank and more, its children and parents, its hospitals, universities, mosques and churches, homes, olive groves and communities all wiped from the face of the globe. Should this happen it will be impossible then to deny that Ethnic Cleansing and a Genocide has occurred. No amount of obfuscation will be able to reanimate those lost children, women and non-combatant Palestinian men, nor pretend that Israel has merely peacefully expanded into unoccupied lands. Nor will it be able to shield those who have enabled this Genocide.

Whichever way we look at it, it becomes daily clearer that Israel has become a rogue state. Maybe, their government is beyond reason- it certainly seems so. Maybe the never-accountable USA will continue to arm Israel, right up until the death of Gaza's last child and baby. But maybe, also, it is past time that the UK repositioned itself, over to the right side of history!

Maybe, in some minds, the UK feels too weak to stand up to the US but we both know US provided 2,000 pound bombs are incapable of executing 'targeted strikes' upon civilian populations, especially so in a field of tents! It may be eternally repeated that Western journalists are forbidden to enter Gaza without the IDF's insincere messaging and ‘protection,’ that our 'truth' driven BBC insists that the most horrific Palestinian phone footage escaping Gaza remains unverified. Maybe, maybe and maybe. But, not really! Both you and I have learned more than enough about what is really happening. You know and you know that I know you know!

All we need do is listen to the words and the intentions of Israeli government ministers and spokespeople. We do not need to continually circumnavigate the veracity of Palestinian claims and other evidence because, unchecked, Israel has grown outrageously boastful of its intentions and it widely shares video evidence amongst its citizens of what it has done and what it hopes to continue to do; what it expects certain Western nations to provide cover for. Pretending that our UK PM did not say Israel has UK support in 'cutting off water, cutting off everything,' even though we all watched him utter the words, merely further shames our nation. Israeli actions every day echo his thoughts and words, much as his inaction in opposing Israel’s War Crimes better enables its ongoing acts of Genocide. Whatever has happened in Occupied Palestine or adjacent to, Israel confects the lie (no matter how abhorrent), MSM and certain figures echo the noise. The echo circles the globe ‘before the truth has got its boots on, far too late in correcting that the President of the USA did not see those images. Too late, the lie has taken root! What do you believe really happened, Mr Lammy, were there really pictures? Much of Israel thinks not!

We can readily view the 'celebratory' images of IDF troops filming themselves levelling hospitals, whole villages, smashing homes and possessions, often set to music. We can watch Israeli crowds dancing wildly to the chant, "May your village burn!" In recent days I watched footage of IDF troops humming, ‘The Final Countdown,’ as they annihilated yet more civilians- filmed and shared by the perpetrators! And, in this context there remains the stance and obfuscation of the UK's Foreign Secretary. The evidence continues to accumulate, hour after hour, image upon image, action after action, international crime upon international crime! So much so that it has become impossible to believe that the UK cannot, does not, know, that it knows yet more and yet worse! How can it not? As Foreign Secretary your name becomes daily more firmly affixed to those crimes.

I no longer recognise the man you formerly claimed to be; I once witnessed you stand and rage against the withholding of reparations for the UK's part in the slave trade, before you changed sides- I watched it first time round- I watched your updated and modified rage levelled, more recently, against Russia- some very tricky manoeuvres there- and have listened to you jump through alternate hoops whilst blindfold, in continuing to stand alongside Israeli Genocide and I increasingly sense that the UK's long, long wait for a more just and honest country has been in vain all along.

Historical evidence surely highlights for the world that Israel has recognised the globe's most colonial nations, that it understands their historical crimes, their consequent manoeuvrings, that it has now elected to bite the bullet- perhaps there will be just a few that have not been snipered into the skulls and necks of Palestinian children- and opted to embrace years of global outrage and condemnation in the hope that nations such as the US and the UK have retained just enough guilt to feign a blind eye on behalf of the latest pariah state. When Israel has completed its live-streamed Genocide and Ethnically Cleansed the Gaza Strip, likely also the West Bank and the Golan Heights, when it has ceased targeting also doctors, international aid workers, journalists, when the bombs and the bullets have ceased shredding children's bodies, Britain will be standing alongside a minority of former and current colonial nations, very much on the wrong side of history. Far too late to mumble confected misgivings whilst others are scrabbling through the dust, rubble, skin and bone! Perhaps, even then, assisting Israel with its planned real estate along The Gaza Strip. One day perhaps hoping to more openly sup with the orchestrators, perpetrators and the generals?

Perhaps it will be said that British arms- if our role in gathering reconnaissance (via Akrotiri on Cyprus) for the bombing of the innocents can be suitably suppressed- did not play such a major role, as did those of Dodgy Uncle Sam. Perhaps numbers will not be crunched, such that specific nation's £millions provided can be made to equate to a specific child death toll. Perhaps ministers and others will be sent forth to argue that the UK's role was a minimal one- numbers not attributed. Perhaps our Government will be able to argue that Israel's claims to be 'investigating' the most widely shared atrocities was taken at face value, that Britain's ministers and journalists actually believed the word 'targeted' to mean targeted, although never convincingly so. Not really, not to those who were paying attention.

When I witnessed Israeli Maccabi football ‘fans’ in Amsterdam, tearing down flags, chanting “Fuck all Arabs!” on their storm-troop to the match, then watched them interrupt a minute’s silence for those killed in Spanish floods, with chants of “There are no schools in Gaza ‘cos we killed all the kids!” I wondered quite how you and your captain would spin it. I did not really consider that you would have the integrity to speak truth to power- you now represent so much more of the latter than the former. Even so, to compare Sky’s two contrasting and contradictory reports, then to listen to the UK’s new government as if the former had not even happened, was a marvel to behold. Did you not first hear the racism, Mr Lammy? Did your ears pick up only on the silence and not the celebrating of Infanticide from the Israeli fans, many who were former and current IDF troops? Shame on you, Mr Lammy!

I recognise you as a ‘busy’ man, Mr Lammy, Foreign Secretary- the United Nations’ Francesca Albenese would wish you less so- yet I have still taken the trouble to provide several links for you to pretend to sneer at. Sneer as you may, or may not, all these sites continue to post. The sites are not like those of the Daily Mail, the Jewish Chronicle, the Telegraph, the Spectator, as I am confident you understand, they are more meticulous regarding veracity of information, they need to be. On these sites, we can watch hooded and armed Maccabi fans hunting for locals to beat up in Amsterdam, then compare the evidence that news channels, truth-seeking BBC included, reverse or misrepresent, confections that see your captain and yourself trigger-happy to re-invoke the ‘threat’ of anti-Semitism and other emotive terminology. We can listen to the words of the reporters who actually filmed events and had their footage misappropriated. How is it that you can be so slow to acknowledge what is actually happening, yet lightning quick to provide the cover! The truth will out but MSM will have moved on, as is routinely the drill. More compliant with the UK’s project Legacy, an issue which you appear to have studied from either side.

https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/a-deep-dive-into-media-misreporting-from-amsterdam/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet&utm_campaign=today-on-the-jvl-blog-newsletter-total-articles-for-you_1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=pTFovHpft5M https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2024/11/13/ynet-maccabi-tel-aviv/ https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/more-media-misreporting-from-amsterdam/

Maybe even you- likely future Lord Lammy- will be able to pretend that your role was of a different nature to the one you are actually enacting and living. It is said is it not, that history is written by the victors? But, not all history, not actual lived history. Perhaps your stance upon the veracity of statues of former slavers will continue to morph? Perhaps and perhaps and perhaps. But still hundreds of thousands will have been murdered, many care of UK monies and actions, many of them on your watch. From the wrong side, you cannot ever be certain that the words you chose to use, the actions you chose to take, did not make a difference, perhaps a significant one. But, from which side? As a grandparent I fear that I may never again be able to watch children play, listen to them talk and to laugh, without dredging up feelings of dread and immense sadness that I was not able to do more, that it happened in my lifetime, under the watch of a government I may have helped to elect. If you possess a tiny fraction of the integrity you would hope to have sprayed onto the pages of any future biography, more likely autobiography, if nature is just, then you will hold your share in that dread.

In so far as Israel's democratic pretentions stand, going forward, I find that I am no longer able to live with the guilt of pretending the history I am watching did not happen. I find myself shackled with sorting through daily shopping lest I should accidentally, in any small measure, tie myself to the Genocide. I cannot watch that nation play football nor partake in any other international sporting or other events. I have not shunned them, they have shunned all decency and me alongside. I will continue to endeavour to argue from the right side of history and worry less that this finds my memories diverging from the story the United Kingdom increasingly wishes to fabricate. On both sides this is a choice and, in a better world, choices can be differently chosen. Your choices also, Mr Lammy!

Yours in perpetual sadness,
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Don't suppose he'll give it much (any) consideration. The Right Honourable David Lammy is far too grand an individual! But, he should. Only the other day the Right Honourable David Lammy was able to select another international tyrant to condemn, from the David Lammy 'Pick and Mix' selection of global tyrants. So, safe to assume he recognises War Crimes when he sees them. Today, I saw a short film of a child- perhaps four-years-old- moving about rubble and dust, by virtue of a set of wheels attached to where his right hand should have been. He had no legs, just stumps, just his left hand remained. I wondered whether the amputations had been undertaken with or without anaesthetic. At least he was alive; all other children and babies in the film were dead, one possibly scorched unrecognisable by white phosphorus- certainly Israel has used this chemical upon the civilians trapped inside Gaza.

Both Sir Keir Rodney Starmer and the Right Honourable David Lammy seem to like to bathe in the warm faux halo of 'human rights.' I think, though I am not prepared to waste time searching, Lammy has even described himself as a 'human rights' lawyer. I know that Big Cheese Starmer has boasted of his time 'defending people's human rights.' We would laugh if not for the bloodshed! Check the record of his time in office... an awful lot that's not actual human righty stuff.

Here's the thing. Human Rights are only ever really 'human rights' if they're afforded to all humans, otherwise they're being relegated to a far lower category. If they're only afforded to the select few then they're nothing to do with 'humanity.' If they're only there for those who can pay then they're not even 'rights.' They become something far more to do with wealth- a world in which wealth is right, or worse, where might is right? Imagine that! Where would we be? Might might well conquer weaker opposition, doesn't make it right.

What both Sir Keir Rodney Starmer and the Right Honourable David Lammy have elected to do, in so far as Israel's Genocide upon Palestine (and growing) is concerned, is to pick a side. They haven't picked a side according to suffering, or death-toll, or the size of (say) the infanticide. Rather, like the worst kind of playground bully, they've picked the side of (a country they 'think' might be) an ally. They've picked 'might!' They haven't investigated where the divide between human rights and brutality lies. They haven't searched for truth, as opposed to (Israeli) lies, instead they've given platform to the side (Israel) conducting this Genocide, chosen a side (and further armed them) who are not only murdering thousands upon thousands of babies, children, women and non-combatant men- doctors, teachers, journalists, aid-workers, nurses, farmers, proffessors- they are also trashing the entire concept of international law and justice. If there is no international sense of right here then why should we expect it to exist anywhere?

Many around the world may/should be recognising, if they haven't already done so, that any idea of international law- maybe the refugee convention- it now appears, was drawn up with the idea that certain Western Nations would always be right, that the ICC and the ICJ were only ever intended to exist as tools with which to keep 'those others' in check. 'Those others?'

Sir Keir Rodney Starmer and the Right Honourable David Lammy have picked a side. All the horror we've seen, they've likely seen worse, still they've picked a side! And they've picked the wrong side, the side of Genocide, over that of humanity! The UK has, thus, further enabled the trashing of international law, in favour of picking a side. This time, the wrong one! It seems, they've picked 'culpable in the Genocide' over 'Human Rights.'

A jolly ugly legacy for the UK to bear! One Christmas wish of mine is that those culpable in this Genocide will be held to account.

Lammy to the Slaughter!

To pin it down to specifics, 'Lammy to the source of the slaughter!'

There has not yet happened a moment when I have considered the Right Honourable David Lammy, Foreign Secretary, and thought any bar 'befitting excellence' to have struggled above...

Profound disappointment!

Under the Stalinist-modelled rule of Leader Sir Keir Rodney Starmer, former Head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Lammy's appointment to Foreign Secretary, seems unlikely to see that aforementioned bar soon venture any higher. One will have to have undergone serious mental trauma still to harbour hopes of anything greater. The signs have been made clear! Members of Starmer's inner circle sit there for one of two reasons: either they have never held any more egalitarian hopes of national and international ambition, or else they have long since buried any such dreams. Meanwhile, should any of the Party minions yearn for greater justice and fewer deaths, Starmer has 'entrusted' to former Israeli spy, Assaf Kaplan, the task of sifting through the membership's social media. Increasingly, Kaplan's role has concerned itself with a deal more than merely buried dreams!

Foreign Secretary! That's one mighty brief! All that is foreign remains a deal greater than all that is not. Even whilst under the former global shadow of the 'Grrrreat' British Colonial Empire that part remaining outside significantly outweighed that part that fell within. Even when 'the sun was unable to set upon the British Empire!' Even then! But that was then, and now is now.

The 'fact' that the UK's former colonies may, ultimately, consider time under the yoke to have been detrimental still tends to stick in the craw of far too many pseudo-historians. 'Pseudo,' in that they continue to view the former British Empire through a deal of self-censorship. 'Pseudo,' in that they select their 'perspective' subject to an act of meticulous filtration. Yet still, they cannot deny that most of those former colonies- USA included- have since elected to shed the shackles. Barbados is but the latest, and we wish her well!

When all is considered it seems quite likely that the Right Honourable David Lammy's Foreign Secretary role may yet encompass the greatest landmass of potential trouble spots since the advent of World Wars I or II. Has the international dabbling of consecutive British Governments ushered that eventuality more distant, or brought that eventuality closer to bear? Discuss! It should be noted that former colonies, having undergone colonisation, are likely to harbour negative conceptions that may otherwise not have existed. Kenya being a case in point. Britain's covert Project Legacy would be another towering case in point! Should anyone wish to contest that Project Legacy is anything other than covert then they would do well to address the given fact that rounding up thousands upon thousands of documents and setting fire to those same documents is an act designed to leave significantly fewer incriminating details, significantly weaker insight! In this instance, 'covert' bringing about the 'unknowable!'

One wonders what the Right Honourable David Lammy thinks?

Who 'better' to steer the UK through the shadowy underworld with which we have been foisted than any uber obedient footman of Former Head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Sir Keir Rodney Starmer? In this instance the Right Honourable David Lammy. One wonders whether the idea of 'adapting' the nation's title might ever have occurred to the Generals, perhaps, to 'Democratic' Greater Britain'?

Although Israel performatively feigned apoplectic outrage when the Right Honourable David Lammy announced, via the House of Commons, that the UK would be suspending around 30 military arms licences to Israel, Israel likely far better understands the United Kingdom's actions than does much of the its own citizenship. In blatant disregard for the actual victims of Israel's slaughter of the innocents, Lammy suspended fewer than one tenth of complicit licences, those usually routinely waved through by the UK. "It is with regret that I inform the House today, the assessment I have received finds that, for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there exists a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law," Lammy 'shared.' "The UK continues to support Israel’s right to self-defence in accordance with international law," he reverted to type. Lest we might have missed one small yet remarkable detail of the statement, the Right Honourable David Lammy was observed to rise from the bench unaided. Quite the feat when all is considered!

One wonders what Baroness Margaret Hodge of Barking thinks?

Israel understands! Behind the pretence, the US also better understands the fuller implications of Britain's actions. Ultimately, it's not inconceivable that the US (via Israel) first agreed the move. Under these circumstances, maybe 'Sheepy' would better describe the current UK Foreign Secretary?

One detail that was neither volunteered by, nor requested of, Lammy was that Britain's arms to Israel are not key to Israel's Ongoing Genocide. Complicit Military Arms, care of Germany and the US of A, both dwarf those handed over by the UK. The UK's role in the Genocide is not as supplier of military arms; more, it is as supplier of military information. Germany has demonstrated that picking a cause is not one of its strengths!

Via the UK's overseas base of Akrotiri on Cyprus the UK has undertaken a great many spy flights over the rubble of Gaza. The government may have sought to obfuscate but it is known that British spy flights were operating over The Strip during to systematic seeking, targeting and assasinations of seven World Central Kitchen staff. Yet another 'mishap' the US's Genocide Joe is happy to hand over to the IDF to investigate. One wonders what they'll find! The unwanted colonial outpost of Akrotiri, 'conveniently' operating on the doorstep of the Middle East and Palestine, offers also a collaborative staging-post for the US of A. The UK 'does not comment upon the military manoeuvres and actions of its allies!' The tonnage of Weapons of the Genocide travelling through the base may be regarded as both 'offensive' (adj) and 'offensive' (n); to the islanders who would rather see the colony gone!

One wonders what Baron Walney, John Woodcock, thinks?

With the Commons still echoing to the faux-outrage of both Labour Friends of the Genocide and Opposition MPs, Israel, true to form, was soon observed to atomise yet another approximately twenty innocent children, women and men residing in the designated safe zone tent encampment of al-Mawasi. Infinitely more honest and reliable than Israeli figures in such matters, Hamas has named no Commanders buried in the debris. Of note, Hamas regards fighters thus killed as martyrs, so would see no mileage in denial. The resultant crater was 16m deep! So, deploying one of the USA's 2,000 pounders in a safe zone of tightly packed tents, the 'Globe's Most Moral Army' has atomised yet more innocent children and women, creating a 16m crater! Likely, the flight stopped off at Akrotiri- the UK Government 'could not comment upon the military movements of its allies.' Are we still at liberty to wonder if the UK supplied parts for that specific F35, or if UK-spy-plane-gathered data was here deployed?' Question to the Right Honourable Mr David Lammy? 'A serious violation of International Humanitarian Law,' does the Right Honourable Gentleman consider? Any thoughts, Dave? If so, who else could rightly be numbered complicit in the Ongoing Genocide?

The following day the 'Globe's Most Moral Army' murdered more than 70 further innocent civilians when it used (likely) US supplied missiles to obliterate yet another school (the al-Taba'een School) inside Gaza. It is unclear whether the UK played its part by providing yet more F35 items that might be used to commit or facilitate 'a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law,' or else by supplying spy-plane-gathered surveillance data. That's school number 477 that the IDF has targeted! That's a considerable weight of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing amongst which other states may be cited as complicit, perhaps more so those that have endorsed the 'cutting off of water to civilian populations!' Any thoughts, Dave?

One wonders what helicoptered-in Right Honourable Luke Akehurst thinks, the Common's most honourable helicoptered-in MP?

Coughing away the dust, the US's Genocide Joe will parrot calls for the 'Two State Solution,' although he will refrain from elaborating upon quite how the Palestinian State might be carved out within that fast and Internationally Illegally depleted landmass. Go on, Joe, suggest that the US supplied missiles ricocheted off the ground! "It was a mistake! We continue to recognise Israel's right to defend itself!" Go on BBC, provide the platform! Sit, Dave!

One wonders what Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, thinks, the country's he most honourable Chief Rabbi?

Then, on 17th September, the most moral terrorist spy network in the world (Mossad) allegedly unleashed yet further waves of terror, upon the unsuspecting civilians of Lebanon and Syria this time. As many as two Hezbollah fighters were named amongst the dozens of fatalities and the thousands of casualties, health workers, children, funeral goers, shop-keepers, bystanders! Facial injuries, mostly to eyes and ears, amputated hands, serious burns, many to children, spread through the respective populations. The most moral army in the world has, thus far, been treading the line between smug and cagey. Anthony Blinken, the world's second most moral Secretary of State, was allegedly given no forewarning of the attacks; he allegedly did not fore-condone them. He made some noises about 'working towards a ceasefire in Occupied Palestine' and 'called for a de-escalation.' The BBC delivered the news in suitably compliant tones, ensuring to remind the UK listeners that Hezbollah has been designated a 'terrorist' group. They have, thus far, refrained from suggesting that any group capable of undertaking such an act of 'terrorism' also be designated a terrorist group. 'Minds,' such as that of US President Biden, may currently be speculating as to whether the world's most moral coloniser is now positioning itself to illegally annex also regions of Lebanon and Syria.

One wonders what the man aspiring to be the world's third most moral Foreign Secretary thinks?

The Right Honourable David 'Lammy'? 'Sheepy'? It makes no odds!
'A Wolf in Sheep's clothing!'
'The Sharks are circling,' or 'the Vultures,' 'Better a day as a Lion than a lifetime as a Jackal,' 'Hyenas,' 'Crocodile tears'?
Once one has observed any of these creatures, at liberty to act within its own environment, one invariably comes away with the given truth that they're all differently quite exquisitely perfect! That would necessarily include the majority of Humankind! But, the worst? When attempting to select a suitable mammalian idiom for many of humankind's greater perpetrators I repeatedly find myself coming full circle back to Humankind. Everything else slots neatly into its own respective ecosystem. Whereas the worst of Humankind invariably seeks to ride roughshod over the lot!

So, in the context of the Ongoing Genocide on Palestine, maybe...
'Complicit!' best serves.
We'll just have to wait and see what the ICC thinks.
Here's hoping!

Eternal thanks must go out to sites such as Declassified. Concerned with actual journalism rather than that of the 'client' sort, Declassified has laboured to unearth details of the multiple Israeli assisting flights passing through Akrotiri in Cyprus. Declassified undertaking real journalism over and above the UK MSM's deferance to Government D Notices.

Tea on the Grass, with Sandwiches and Genocide.

It has been said that the Israeli Zionist project is a Genocidal 19th Century crime foisted upon a 21st Century world. I've heard it uttered, from various sources, shamefully, fearfully, tearfully, angrily, desperately, many ways, none of them with a semblance of pride! So, how is one honestly expected to speak of Crimes of such towering immensity?

When Israel's hateful plan is 'complete,' as 'envisaged' by the the Israeli State, should the very worst come to pass, how will the wider world then be expected to regard the perpetrators? Will the globe, once again, be permitted to regard the map and see for itself that, well, who could have known, Israel's actually situated in Asia? Will 'our' MSM finally relent and unearth the truth of those countless War Crimes? Which nations and individuals will be charged with the rebuilding? Who will deal with the bodies? Where will those who have escaped the Genocide be expected to live? Where will the thousands upon thousands of wounded citizens reside? Will the spoken numbers reflect actual fatalities or will these need to be 'modified' to sit more comfortably in the lap of 'the globe's most moral army?' Will the tales of War Criminals be listened to with polite nodding? Will international Human Rights once again be reanimated, once more become internationally pertinent- not to be vetoed by the USA? Will that questionable nation (Israel) finally 'settle down' and stop bombing and killing and torturing its 'neighbours' and hope to begin chatting 'amiably, as if the Genocide may so casually be swept under the carpet? As if the whole Genocidal affair never actually happened?

When the tea is poured, and the cucumber sandwiches distributed amongst the guests, what might be said? How will the conversation go? What will the globe hear? Will hands, those not murdered, those not atomised beneath a weight of Mediterranean rubble, be warmly shook, niceties exchanged? Will we all smile and pretend that Israel is no longer a nation capable of [cheering on] Genocide, guilty of celebrating War Crimes, guilty of the Torture of Minors, guilty of using Human Beings as Sniper Practice, guilty of tying human beings to the fronts of tanks (Human Shields) then driven into and over other people's lands and properties, conceivably guilty of Infanticide on horrific scale, guilty of Ethnic Cleansing, guilty of Weaponising Famine and Disease? Will we pretend that Israel is a nation we can trust not to bomb (conceivably) even our own shores, should it so wish? "Warm today, isn't it?" "Looking forward to the World Cup?"
Best not to mention the goalkeeper's time in the IDF!

What could be said in the wake of the Genocide?
How might we normalise Ethnic Cleansing?
Pretend we're all once again at peace?
"How do we, in the 'civilized' world, think we should deal with the threat of China?"
"Record on human rights leaves a lot to be desired, don't yuh know?"
"One's inclined to think Putin's a bit of a concern."


Should we be glib. Light-hearted, off-hand, dismissive? Will we be able to select our own speakers, or will these continue to be vetted and handed down? Pray, please God, that there will not be children to watch!

For those sitting up and paying attention...
... via the various news outlets, the UK has learned much about itself of late:
That faith in Main Stream Media has fallen to an all-time low.
That acceptance of the BBC's narrative is at its most jaded.
That pride in the UK's international history is at its weakest.
That the nation is at its most unequal in people's living memory.
That the integrity of the UK's politicians has never before been held in such contempt. Still, way too highly, some might contest.


All in all, the nation has reaped what it has sown. It's about where any reasonably attentive citizen might expect it to be.

See, the flip side to [Israel's] Settler-Colonial Genocide is going to come at a cost! Mostly now, the globe appears to recognise that the act of colonialism has poorly served its various populations, but still that acceptance has yet to have been responsibly 'owned,' particularly in correlation to each individual nation's culpability! The reckoning is ongoing!

Nation's have responded variably to their years of Cultural Vandalism, Human Displacements and conceivable Genocidal Behaviours. Certain Australian citizens have responded with open aggression- how dare outsiders (or insiders) tell them how 'their' lands should be divvied-up! Not all but significant numbers. Of course, Australia has its own shameful past! An enforced program of attempting to completely Assimilate the Aborigine population out of existence, Forcible Displacement of its native citizens.

With its greater landmass the US of A finds itself with superior swathes of fertile lands, so poorly and jealously measured out to its native populations whose lands it stole and Colonised. Yet, even this is as nothing compared to its Colonial Ambitions without, mostly covert. In terms of imagery the US is almost spoilt for choice. Perhaps a storm-damaged 'Hollywood' boarding best represents the nation, risen like so much unsightly and unburied refuse upon the hillside. Significant regions of the globe may still rightly regard the US as, 'over-paid, over ________ and over here!' Those expansive ambitions remain far too unsustainable for just the single planet. "We will coup whoever we want,” Elon Musk once wrote, “deal with it." With goals such as those of the US of A, we shouldn't be that surprised to see that it remains, way and above, the most tolerant of Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Expansionism. Scholars of the US would do well to obtain a copy of 'How to Hide an Empire,' by Daniel Immerwahr, something of an eye opener!

'Rule Britannia...' and all that. It was once claimed that, 'the sun never set upon the British Empire.' Respondents have parried with, 'that's because God would be unwise to trust the Brits in the dark.' Several nations have dabbled with their various empirical ambitions; the UK has not been the first. It is, however, a very strong contender for having 'recently' ruled over the most expansive empire in modern history- modern enough that the remnants are still shaking off the yoke of their former oppressor! Modern enough that 'pride in the empire' has become a highly disputed subject in the national curriculum. Yet far enough in the past that the UK's covert masters have acted to steal a march upon the historians. 'Operation Legacy'- hatched and undertaken still in living memory- has been a shameful effort to overwrite aspects of the nation's more unsavoury past, to locate and destroy thousands of files documenting crimes committed in the name of empire, incidents recognised as 'unsuitable' for the proud history books! Unsavoury actions carried out in over 20 former and (then) current colonies. Something of an admission of guilt! Something of a recognition that Empire Building is a highly questionable exercise!

Israel, by every measure, finds itself well behind each and every one of these curves! Yet, it seems inevitable, at some point in the 'near' future, that the nation will expect/demand (AIPAC, Labour Friends of Israel, CAA) to be afforded continuation of their 'exceptionalist' status. Afforded access to international sporting events, afforded the cloak of European convenience, as and when deemed 'desireable.' Civilization will be hoping and praying the Israeli nation's fondness for selective War Crimes, as defined by the ICC, the ICJ, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, B'tSalem and a growing host of others, will have run its abhorrent course whilst there still survives a human population in Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights.

Israel's IDF currently displays scant evidence of due regard for human life. Likelihood of any change in direction remains uncertain at best. If one enables the mass murderer whilst entrusting that same character to a) cease killing at some vague time in the future, and then b) adjudge whether all further murders are actually murder, or else the result of any other vague cause under the sun, what, do we imagine, will be the likelihood that the murdering will stop? If Israel is able to target and shoot citizens also of Europe and the USA, in the absolute knowledge that the USA and Europe will continue to hand out free passes, what are the chances that Israel will stop murdering people/anyone? 'Exceptionalism' writ large! An exceptional contempt for human life!

But, here's the thing. There's no such thing as 'exceptionalism.' If there were, it could hardly be expected to apply solely to the two most Genocidal nations currently upon the Earth! Should one ever doubt this truth, watch the children. When you're next out, with time to sit and ponder, watch the children! Watch the children! Listen to them laugh. Listen to them chattering to their parents; conversations between parent and child. Then look up the latest figures on child mortality inside Occupied Palestine. Not the figures from the IDF! Not their respective relayers! Instead, consider the figures from the humanitarians.

11th May 2022: Murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, shot by member of IDF in the Occupied West Bank.
1st April 2024: 7 World Central Kitchen staff targeted, tracked and systematically murdered inside Gaza Strip via IDF drone strike (x3).
7th September 2024: Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, shot by member of IDF in the Occupied West Bank.
The number of Journalists targeted and murdered by the IDF inside Gaza continues to climb beyond 130.
The number of Aid Workers, Doctors, Nurses murdered by the IDF is currently incalculable.
The USA continues to permit the IDF to investigate all killings inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Israel routinely denies culpability, downplays the immense number of fatalities and wounded.
Israel routinely applies the label of 'Terrorist' to anyone murdered, killed, living or dead, inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as and when suits the Israeli narrative.
Western MSM continues to air the latest propaganda from Israel and the IDF, such that each and every Israeli excuse, lie and obfuscation may be permitted to perpetuate the Israeli/US/Western narrative.
The USA continues to veto every ruling and move undertaken by the International Courts who are attempting to hold Israel to account.
USA, Germany and the UK continue to arm Israel and the IDF, whilst pretending distress at the scale of the murder. Check their smiles in the publicity shots, taken during their tours of Israel.


Presumably, all of these details will be 'off the table' when the Victoria Sponge is sliced.

"Champers, anyone?"

Welcome Home!

The late return of Julian Assange, to his Australian home, was fourteen long years overdue!

It comes as no surprise that the US featured shamefully throughout that time. Down the pecking order, it reflects woefully, upon any pretence at democratic autonomy, also, that the UK did not fare better. That other Western nations defaulted, too readily, to a position of (US) subservience should long since have been raising concerns amongst wider swathes of, especially, the EU than has been, and continues to be, the case.

Breaking down the issue, picking over the finer details, there are organisations who should truly hang their heads in shame! Chief amongst these would be that self-declared bastion of 'free speech,' the Guardian, who were formerly delighted to be able to work in collaboration with Assange and Wikileaks, before spinning about to thoroughly betray the man. During much of Assange's 'illegal' incarceration, having fully relinquished any moral stance, the Guardian often appeared to be bumbling about, uncertain whether the paper should be openly hostile, self-satisfactorily superior, or else to most often pretend that Assange's case was not worthy of its pages. Now that Assange is free maybe the paper will again be looking to realign? The BBC, with diligent and selective use of its new 'fact check' baby- and its regular pool of on-hand 'experts' and spokespeople- has too often chosen to fall neatly into compliance. In the Land of the Editor the investigative journalist becomes effectively defunct.

Alan Rusbridger becomes Katharine Viner and the deck is quietly (and thoroughly) shuffled!

We should expect no MSM 'observations' into how perfectly Julian's long-overdue release ties in with Israel's ongoing Genocide. For anyone who has viewed the infamous helicopter footage parallels with Israel's slaughter of the innocent must be plain to see. But bewilderingly very seldom, these days, do the client journalists seem 'able,' or prepared, to connect the dots!

In 2010, shocking- although not as surprising as portrayed- images of civilians, including two Reuters journalists, being routinely assassinated by a US Military helicopter was made available to the general public. Further and repeated details, within the thousands of documents leaked, strongly contests that such US slaughter, although not its reportage, has become widespread. The assassins' language seemed to imply that the whole cycle was not much more than some sort of sick game to the killers.

"Light 'em up!"
"Keep shoot'n', keep shoot'n'!"
"All right, hahaha, I hit 'em!"
"Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards!"
"Nice."
"Oh yeah, look at that! Right through the windshield! Haha!"
Ripe from the mouths of its troops, I give you the values of the Leaders of the Free World.'

Why is it, do we suppose, that some nations and their citizens are to be adjudged so 'inferior' to others? With so much news and so very many news images so freely available to so many, via so many outlets, for how much longer will it still be possible for MSM to continue to present the world we inhabit so very differently to its reality?

Whilst Assange is being illegally incarcerated, psychologically deprived and tortured, who gets to determine which is the true crime and who the criminal? What constitutes torture and who gets to deploy its use and to which ends? Who decides what is to be regarded as wholly repugnant and who is guarding whom against its wider enactment?

Again!
Why are some citizens and some nations to be regarded as 'inferior' to others? Expendable?

We should, instead, turn it about to sample the globe through the other end of that adjudicating telescope. MSM have repeatedly demonstrated that the task is neither within their remit, nor their current capabilities.

As did many others, my family tracked Julian Assange's progress- from Belmarsh, via Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, onward and onto Canberra's runway (0737 local time, 27th June 2024). The plea bargain had been struck yet one of the sides has long since depleted any semblance of honour that may once, many years past, have existed. Hence, the thousands who waited with bated breaths.

The cost to Julian Assange's family is US$520,000. Fortunately, those who argued Assange's innocence, demonstrated against his extradition and closely followed his captivity and psychological torture, raised the sum within hours.

The tiny island of Saipan is but one of over 800 US overseas military bases, many situated in countries that do not wish to host them, placs such as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Over 80 other countries have thus been subjugated to the construct of a hidden US Empire. 'How to Hide an Empire,' by Daniel Immerwahr makes quite the read! Leader of the 'Free World,' America would have us believe that China (once again) is the rising threat to global peace and yet- sites may vary- its overseas bases barely number into single figures- Djibouti? Very much the focus of Western MSM, Putin's Russia, with clear and undoubted ambitions for, at the least, major regions of Ukraine, fares little better than does China. 'Overseas airbase' invariably implies 'overseas military airbase.' Further, 'overseas military airbases' are often, necessarily by nature and at least in part, covert, that is to say, they are not widely advertised as such.

There are several nations who have not, in their dealings with the Middle East, covered themselves in glory. But, whether we judge the USA via its Middle Eastern manipulation, its Central American aggression or even its hawkish dealings with its Western, so termed, 'allies,' it is one nation that stands head and shoulders above all others when it comes to invoking global instability!

So, the question: Why is it that some nations have been adjudged less worthy than others? And, a highly credible answer: Because they have, and continue to, show themselves to be so! They have shown themselves to be, in their international exploits, thoroughly repugnant!

Welcome home Julian Assange! It's wonderful to see a bit of positive global news, even if many of those client journalists have tried to pretend the headline is a very different one.

Theatre of Death

In a precision military operation four Palestinian child-hostages have been liberated from IDF cells, in the process of which two-hundred and seventy-four Israelis were killed. Multiple IDF terrorists were eliminated during the exercise. How would the UK's editorial gatekeepers have this hypothetical information relayed to a wider public?

What might be the 'message'- which with absolute certainty would be broadcast via the BBC- delivered by IDF Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari?

The instance never happened. Terrorised Palestinians never possessed the US weaponry with which to undertake such an operation, nor the military might, nor adequate US or UK drone footage, nor military supremacy over Israeli territory. Quite the reverse.

But, if such an incident had transpired, what would the wider population learn of the 'event' via its news media? What would the day's headlines be? US President Joe Biden would be dusted down and wheeled to the podium. What would be his message for Western ears?

Safe to assume, the evening news's imagery would not revolve around the smiling faces of the rescued children, in the grateful arms of their loving families. Reasonable to expect references to the likely unnamed 'four children' to frequently be prefixed by, 'merely,' 'just,' 'as few as,' 'only' or similarly diminutive adverbs or adverbial phrases. Little doubt that the imagery would be about as graphic as deemed editorially 'acceptable.' Each headlining repeat might well be preceded by a warning about the exceptionally graphic nature of the story. The imagery would be pushing at the boundaries of what currently passes for respectability. Licence to once again spread the disproven myth of beheaded babies would reignite.

The headline figure would far more likely be that of '274 Israeli victims.' Perhaps, the majority of news updates might not get so far as to even mention 'rescued children,' electing instead to concentrate upon the death toll and the unduly graphic imagery. Should 'rescued child-hostages' ever be permitted to squeak in the term 'hostages' will have been gleaned, the subject of their 'torture' would not be broached.

Britain's, and the US's ties with the State of Israel would benefit considerably! In a manner out of all proportion to the preceding eight month's Genocidal onslaught. Disproportionate segments of the day's news would be given over to the spokespeople of Israeli Government and the IDF. Daniel Hagari, or another such militia-man, would be afforded significant spotlight, under which to peddle the Israeli myth of, 'the most moral military on the planet.' The term 'Anti-semitism' would once again find itself widely sprayed upon the doubters, the non-lobby journalists, the marchers. Ministerial visits and photo-opportunities would ensue. Flights back and forth from the UK Cypriot base of Akrotiri would multiply. The desire to keep Akrotiri out of MSM headlines would be relaxed, maybe celebrated.

Parliamentary calls to ban Pro-Palestinian and Anti-Genocide marches would intensify! Demands that the language and certain phrases deployed amongst the marchers be legislated against would multiply. British Police Forces would be strongly urged to clamp down upon and further restrict events. Lord Walney, Lord Mann and Margaret Hodge would be booked to appear on TV and radio with increased frequency. Sir Keir Rodney Starmer- who's father was a tool-maker- might, once again, get away with stating that 'cutting off food, water, electricity was acceptable. ** Front bench droids would once again have their bigotry highlighted, unleashed!

Israel 'defending itself' would again be given the green light. Western arms would again flow with open endorsement. The death-toll would again accelerate, be more openly egged (cheered) on in both Houses, the Commons and the Lords.

* But, this did not happen! Instead two-hundred and seventy-four slaughtered Palestinians were routinely displaced by the four rescued Israeli hostages. Viewers were not shown footage of some of the in excess of 700 Israeli casualties being rushed into well-appointed Israeli hospitals, into the care of fully staffed and spotlessly clean wards and theatres, which did not anyway happen. Instead, in the absence of news camera-team footage- denied access by the IDF- imagery was substituted by phone images of sagging ceilings, shattered walls, smashed and trampled equipment, exhausted surgical teams operating upon the victims, ever wary of the next Israeli missile strike, bloodied child victims spread across the floors! David Lammy dons blinkers, once again unrestained!

News of two-hundred and seventy-four, and counting, Palestinian murders will swiftly be usurped with news of the General Election. Your chance to participate in the country's democracy. Which of two captured parties will prove victorious?

The 'game' of Israeli Genocide continues unchecked.

* The Guardian's Kenneth Roth questions the means by which the latest bout of Israeli slaughter was brought about.
** Novara's Polly Smythe has done some digging with regards to Labour's values under Sir Keir Starmer's new look party.

Biden dips a toe into Apartheid.

It has been said that the ICC was created 'to deal with African tin-pot dictators and those like Putin, never to bite the hand that created it.' I paraphrase. So, when the Courts finally ruled that arrest warrants are being sought for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant the rest-of-the-world, behind time, sat up and rubbed at its rheumy eyes. Why, the ICC cannot be there to judge also the Exceptionalist West! The UK Commons was soon blown full of indignation; characters, parodies, who would sit better with Trump's Republicans... or too many of Biden's Democrats. How very dare they!

While deaths pile high!


Hope as it might the US Nation is scarce able to disguise that 'dipped toe.' So instead, its dusty old figurehead defaults to gaslighting, full-blown apartheid... elsewhere, which sort of makes the nation also culpable. Has the ol' dodder missed his footing upon the bank and fully immersed himself? Colonialists, by nature, are best practised at exploiting international borders; so the US has form.

And deaths pile ever higher!


Apartheid was and is dependant upon the premise of racial 'superiority' and segregation. The former nation of South Africa honed and embedded an openly extreme model, reliant, then, upon Western allies in order to operate and to survive. Boldest amongst apartheid's friends was the nation of Israel. When international pressure prevailed and 'friends' fell away, emboldening the country's repressed majority, South African Apartheid's days became numbered. The globe witnessed its eventual demise in the early 1990s. Apartheid's former allies set about realignment and the pretence that they'd never actually endorsed and befriended the racism in the first place, flags were duly waved! Still the system left a stain upon the surface of the planet, or rather the stain, which had always been there, 'for a while' hardened about the African nation. Today the stain has wandered further afield- much like damage from a long-neglected leak, its more widespread contouring tidal marks may not always be immediately evident. But there are also sites of sustained damage, darkening borders, perhaps rust and other decay, perhaps jagged breaks, perhaps festering holes where societal structure has begun to fracture!

Nowhere is that societal fracture more evident than within the rogue state of Israel and being imposed upon the Palestinian Occupied Nation. Much as with former Apartheid South Africa, Israel is heavily dependent upon Western 'allies,' chief amongst these being the good ol' US of A. Yet, the globe is no longer that of the 1990s, it has become far more international; far more reliant upon sales pitch.

And deaths pile ever higher!


The US 'functions' hierarchically, even more so than does the UK: education, health, housing meted out accordingly; whether it be via 'ethnicity,' gender, 'school,' employment, wealth or that curiously amorphous creature, status. Yet Apartheid wields a particularly high (or low) bar! So instead, there substitutes an unspoken premium, a power premium!

Still the deaths pile ever higher!


When the momentous ICC announcement was delivered those lining up to rebuff and to pedal the Apartheid State's lie showed discouragingly bountiful! Yet, internationally respected giants such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem, United Nations, African National Congress, Yesh Din, and International Federation for Human Rights, had long since investigated and adjudged Israel to have crossed the Apartheid threshold. Two of those listed operate as Israeli Human Rights organisations, based within Israel's current borders. Two opposing narratives battle for supremacy, one true, one false and enabling Genocide!

Individuals endowed with a power premium slip freely through society, relatively unhindered, whilst the majority citizenship must observe from afar, oft not even be permitted to peek behind the screens, likely blissfully unaware of the widening inequality. When Sunak's time is up he will likely demonstrate his true allegiance to nation, deploying his wealth premium in order to swiftly morph from UK resident to that of US. Much as the more extreme politics of Natalie Cecelia Elphic (OBE) are no barrier to her seamless 'transition' and assimilation within Sir Keir Rodney Starmer's (KCB KC) 'Labour Party.' Much as Luke Akehurst of Labour's NEC may decide to parachute himself into the safe seat of North Durham, where he is currently unknown. Not so much serving democracy as trampling all over and discarding it! Much as David Mencer's transition to Israeli spokesperson sees him so easily jettisoning that same Labour Party. Such individuals pseudo represent us, they pseudo speak upon our behalf, flirting as democrats as and when opportunity best self-serves. Lest we should doubt their integrity the likes of John Zak Woodcock, Baron Walney, crossbench peer and Government’s Independent Adviser on Political Violence and Disruption, is appointed to ensure that only the 'correct' slant of political discourse prevails. Alongside Labour's Margaret Hodge, the former Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, funded by that same nation, last managed to squeak a visit there in January 2024. The lobby group has deeply infiltrated the 'democratic' British Labour Party yet remains most cagey about from whence the funding comes.

Whilst the deaths continued to pile ever higher!


They may not always present well- honesty catches and burns in their throats- yet their premium sees them slip from role to role. Formerly 'committed' Labour man and Head of Labour friends of Israel, glides across continents, a new platform awaits. A parody of even himself, Mencer presents to the globe as the worst kind of apologist. One moment the man 'embraces' British Labour the next it is full-blown Israeli Apartheid. He makes entirely the same noises as he always has.

Whilst Palestinian deaths pile ever higher!


Mencer has adopted the role of useful idiot across continents. His petulant narration runs counter purpose. Even so he has played but a tiny part in the West's gradual conversion. So when University Campuses burst forth with peace encampments, much like spring flowers- Camps for Palestine blossoming across the West.- those who steer the West's MSM are not best pleased. Israeli, British and US bombs must continue to boost the infant death-tolls, the Zionists froth.

When masked mobs attacked the UCLA Peace Camp US Police stepped back and left the Zionists and other thugs to it for two hours before belatedly intervening. The attack, far in excess of any non-violent student actions, featured sticks and bats, and fireworks deployed as small munitions. Why, it was almost as if orders had been received prior to the first blow. US Police, notoriously hands on, simply stood back to observe, not quite yet reflecting the far more extreme IDF, standing back and permitting Israeli Colonists to attack and destroy long overdue supplies entering Gaza. Weaponising and enabling famine and disease!

Behind the curve, the link is to the BBC site. It has inexplicably taken months and tens of thousands of innocent deaths for the Corporation to finally start to dig into the live-streamed Genocide! This is the same BBC that so swiftly and obediently fell into line with '40 beheaded babies,' then, opted for silence over any form of retraction and correction, when it transpired, once and once again, that the IDF were lying.

Whilst Infant deaths pile ever higher!


When the ICC and ICJ were founded the UK assisted in laying the first stones, and yet... and yet... and yet... It seems evident that, at their infancy, the nation could not have anticipated that the Courts should ever be turned against one of the founding fathers. As colonialists, fast coming to recognise the global worth of legacy, both the ICJ and ICC were initially laid as means to not only order the globe but also, more covertly, as a means to organise and to discipline those other nations.

It had mattered not that Balfour's gift of a homeland had been fully occupied for centuries. The colonial nation's role was surely to order and to organise the lesser nations. Read my rules and know that the world is now better by my decree! But, for heaven's sake, do not think to interpret and deploy those same rules in any wider context! Do not compel the globe's great bully recourse to the humiliation of a full-blown hissy fit!

"Were there not an Israel, the US would have to invent an Israel to protect our interests in the region," a younger Biden once boasted! He might well have added, 'and continue to arm it to the teeth!' And, 'to seek to always draw a veil over the worst of its transgressions!' Then, 'to establish a hierarchy of racism!' Then, 'to establish a hierarchy of life-worthiness!' 'To the tune of countless thousands of innocents, children, infants!' 'Them and us!' Wrong-footed, eye off the ball, Biden thought to dip a toe, stumbled and grabbed at the nearest idiot. A NATO chain reaction ensued!

Whilst Infant deaths continue to pile!


It transpires that Israel has been hacking and threatening the ICC, ICJ and its members for nearly a decade. Little surprise that Israel is no friend to the ICC and ICJ. Thus far the US and UK have increasingly shown themselves stanchly unprepared to seek the moral higher ground, where toes are more easily kept dry.

If rulings from the International Courts are not respected and safeguarded at this juncture how will their authority serve when the welly is on the other foot?

Going, Going, Gone!

Whenever one finds oneself watching and/or listening to the UK Health Secretary, the Right Honourable Whoever- or the one before that, or the one before that, or the one before that, or the one before that, or the one before that, or the one before that, but let's stick with this one (4th September 2012- 9th July 2018) for the present, - one finds that it is but simple child's play to generate alarmingly high levels of quite visceral hatred. In the mix, one may encounter some highly unpleasant characters. Highly unpleasant! Arguably, one could venture back a deal further, or indeed presume to project forwards. But, let's stick with where this paragraph has taken us, the Right Honourable Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt.

'Visceral hatred!' That's significant, right? When I taught I would occasionally pick up certain children for their application of the term 'hatred. I'd try to explain that such a powerful reponse was inveriably far too extreme for such as a peanut butter sandwich, or a particular song, or football team- surely 'dislike,' or even 'strongly dislike' would invariably suffice. Surely. 'Hatred' is a value to attribute only in extreme circumstances, and often not even then, I'd try to convince. But, on the other hand, Jeremy Hunt was the Conservative Health Secretary for the best part of six years. He 'served' under both May and Johnson, in three different government incarnations, each of of them looking to impose greater cuts upon the health of the nation's families, each incarnation looking to impose its own particular brand of austerity.

Hunt was there when George Osborne (pal of Ed Balls) first brandished the sword of 'austerity' upon the public. He was there when the outcome of his government's preparedness for a 'potential' pandemic (Exercise Cygnus) was compiled and duly covered up. Hunt was the Health Secretary who ignored Cygnus's recommendations. He's no longer Health Secretary but he's still there or thereabouts- now he's Chancellor (14th October 2022, under Truss and now Sunak). Surely more in an ironic sense than otherwise, he has been labelled as 'one of the grown-ups.' Presented as such by such as those at the BBC. Hunt is both a deserving recipient of the term 'hatred,' as he is deserving of a far more sustained condemnation. But, here, he is merely the prelude. Neither is he 'broken,' instead he breaks others and other things. And yet he's extremely well practiced at ensuring that his own projection through life remains anything but broken. During his tenure as Culture Secretary (2010- 2012), Hunt bypassed the Competition Commission with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation attempted takeover of BSkyB, forging closer ties with Uncle Rupert yet breaking things for so many others- something of a trait?

This post is about another of the things he has helped to break, our NHS. The findings are not scientifically compiled, they are, instead, anecdotal, concerned with a single eight hour visit to A&E in Norwich. Nor do these findings include the current headlining, 'contaminated blood,' outrage, although findings from this inquiry very much endorse the overall contention. Jeremy Hunt would have been very much 'involved' with this too! Neither should we permit the term 'anecdotal' to soften any condemnation- gathering data with which to damn the man would generate a far longer post and require far too much editing.

The night of the Northern Lights pain became so intense that I found myself unable to lie in bed, unable to sit, unable to stand, unable to cease with the foul language! When a lift to the Norfolk and Norwich initially proved equally untenable I limped outside to await an ambulance and to gaze up into the midnight sky- even in the city the heavens were lighting up. Up to five hours to appreciate the spectacular, we were informed. The sky showed tints of both purple and green. The pain was a more intense white! Most definitely, it was white! I assumed an approximation of a plank as we readied for a second attempt. Who knew there were quite so many speed bumps and potholes? Darker skies offered greater promise outside A&E and yet the hobble from car to entrance was due south, agony rest-stops instead devoted to suppression of pain, back to the Lightshow. Adjacent to the sliding entrance the screaming woman had the full attentions of several of the security staff.

Ambulatory was 'encouragingly' half as full as on a previous occasion. Other aspects of the 'visit' remained of undetermined concern. Attendees drifted, confused, unsure as to precisely where to deposit notes compiled upon arrival, careful not to step upon or trip over the child curled upon the floor. I declined either of the seats offered- one accompanying partner, one adult chaperone. I took up position, leaning into a wall, forehead resting against, set to alternating weight upon left or right foot. Stepping upon the spot, breathing!

A rare white coat drifted past. Was there music? Bodies twisted into chairs, dozed, stared vacantly, or else tried to kill time by chatting, subdued. Whether there was music or not regular announcements gradually became imprinted upon the subconscious: 'Neither physical nor verbal violence would be tolerated, offenders ejected and refused 'further' treatment,' 'The NHS team was a happy positive one, working towards everyone's betterment, recruiting now lest anyone was interested,' 'Pain relief could be readily acquired via one of the circulating members of staff,' of which there appeared to be very few, 'Those arriving by ambulance were not being prioritised over others.' It transpired that pain relief was of the Paracetamol variety, thus of limited worth, most patients either similarly or better equipped!

At some indeterminate time groaning from one highly distressed male- obscured from view- became evident, evidently without suitable pain relief. Later the groaning was accompanied by that of an, also unseen, female.

Twice I wandered outside to view the Lights, undignified upon the second return. Another distraction from the waiting. Questions ventured tended to illicit "can't" more often than not. Keepers of the pills were singularly miserly.

At some point whilst it was still dark outside I was wheeled to 'Radiology' for an x-ray. "Tuesday's MRI will reveal more!" Nothing broken... except to observe that very much is. A single squirt of opioid finally provided the pain relief some six-and-a-half hours late. An additional suppository was less gratefully received, just about enough to make the drive home viable. Another hour and the keeper of the pills handed over a pack of 12 suppositories. "What you really require is a pain management package." "We can't hand out opioids at A&E."

The Northern Lights had faded with the early light of dawn. We were half-an-hour shy of meeting the ambulance crew, our caretaker having only just finished dissuading them from forcing entry. One wonders how the call will be logged. In fewer than forty-eight hours my GP would finally relent and prescribe those keenly sought opioids!

Did I feel valued? How likely would I be to recommend the service to someone else? Is this an unofficial recruitment drive for private health insurance? Subscriptions of which are soaring! What does Wes Streeting have in store?

* Tuesday's MRI at the Global Clinic involved no crowds, no groaning, no children curled upon the floor, no eight hour waiting, no hollowed out faces, no wandering confusees. No indeterminate puddle under the seats. Wonder how much my appointment will've cost the NHS?