AM GLASS BOX FOR TUESDAY 8th
Do you have any topic that you feel we ought to cover on tonight's programme? We'll have our meeting at 11am so if you have any thoughts, send them over to us. Thanks.
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The blog for the afternoon news and current affairs programme presented by Eddie Mair.
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One for steelpulse:
Election results = Lies, let's recount.
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Budget Deficit Debate
Alistair Darling is making a speech in Cardiff today, and is likely to kick-off the (general election) debate on how the budget deficit is tackled. Last time I looked, the deficit was forecast to be around £175 billion.
Here are a few suggestions:
Scrap ID cards.
Hand nukes/Trident project over to EU; divide cost amongst 27 countries. Save around £80 billion.
Withdraw from Afghanistan - save £4 billion/year
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U.S. Troops Raid Afghan Hospital
U.S. troops burst into a Swedish charity-run hospital in Afghanistan. They tied up visitors and staff members, and forced open doors to malnutrition ward and ultrasound ward looking for insurgents.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/06/news/news-us-afghanistan-hospital-raid.html
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Scrapping Trident
"Support for ditching Trident is strongest among people who intend to vote Liberal Democrat (63 per cent) and Labour (61 per cent), while Tory voters are evenly divided (48 to 47 per cent in favour of scrapping it)."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/scrap-trident-voters-tell-brown-1783443.html
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I sometimes smile at the wrong times and did so yesterday. In the brief excerpt heard on PM a lawyer of a person acquitted over something said to the effect - "my client's trial was completely unnecessary".
Right! I cannot and will not comment but I still smile. It is hindsight I smile at.
Things need to be tested sometimes - nothing is cut and dried in my opinion - but lawyers - not my favourite profession at the best of times - spare me your afterthoughts of a court procedure.
Justice seen to being done.
Now Carolyn about justice being SEEN to being done......... lol
Time waits for no man perhaps?
Subject: scrap trident comma voters tell brown
Anagram: Droll Barrows scion - Met pact - term - vent
I hate the word scion you know - even if it is true.
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With all due respect, steelpulse, I think my anagram's better than yours.
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Sequin:
About the Afghan Election Fraud complaints and the United Nations involvement....And, David Cameron and the ongoing rations remarks from Alan....
=Dennis Junior=
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I turned the tele to another channel last evening. I caught the credits of a film called Rambo three. The credits said, 'this film is dedicated to the distinguished people of Afghanistan', or something to that effect. Apparently, Rambo had been (as far as I could tell) fighting an invading army along with and in support of Afghan insurgency. Strange I thought?
I looked up when the film was released. 1988. Wasn't that around the time the USSR high tailed it out of there after a decade of failure and unnecessary bloodshed?
So here we are a couple of decades on...whats changed apart from Rambo now fighting on the other side?
Oh yea, the Afghan people are no longer distinguished. They are...well,I can't repeat what they are called by the invading army now, I'd get done for racism.
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Alan Duncan;
I never thought politicians being on programs like HIGNFY worked. Especially that program. Seasoned professional guest comedians sit there uncomfortable at the forthcoming unknown. Politicians are like fish out of water in such a scenario. And before someone says thats the attraction of it, It isn't. We just see something of them not knowing how to behave in front of cameras without the political facade to hide behind. If anything its sickening and put people off in my opinion.
Perhaps, on second thoughts, an appearance should be made conpulsury. We might get to learn what a bunch of rank amateurs we elect!
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Further to my (8)
They should stick to representing and working for the good of their constituents and politically changing society so its more equal and for the common good. Not spend time cultivating a personal image for personal gain!
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U.S. Troops Raid Afghan Hospital /Continued.
I thought General McChrystal had ordered a softer approach towards civilians in Afghanistan. The troops also forced patients out of their beds while they looking for insurgents. They didn't find any.
Here's the Swedish charity website with further details of the raid:
http://www.swedishcommittee.org/archive/articles/press/2009/wpoIMF/
Would you like to contact one of General McChrystal's press staff and ask them if they will pay for the damage they caused? Also ask why his troops aren't following his orders? Or was McChrystal's previous statement only for the public's ears, and not an instruction to the troops?
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Richard SM (3@11)
Very much seconded.
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Afghanistan Airstrike
Angela Merkel has been forced to address the German parliament about the airstrike on the fuel tankers last week. She will go before parliament today to explain her government's Afghanistan strategy.
Might be worth seeing what she says. Could she explain the strategy to us as well?
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#11 Richard_SM
I usually follow your links as they are very informative. However the comment from the Swedish site needs a bit more clarification.
"On leaving the hospital at around 12 pm, IMF issued verbal "orders"/instructions; that on receiving any patient that could be an insurgent the hospital staff has to report to the Coalition Forces who would then determine if the hospital would be permitted or not of treating such patient."
Now I am sure that the insurgents are considered "enemy combatants" and so could be treated by the Military hospital and then taken into "protective Custody" in compliance with international rules of engagement. Just because the military say tell us if you receive any patient who could be an insurgent does not mean that they will be denied treatment.
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Looternite(14)
Sensitive way of conveying the message though...don't you think?
Would you trust them?
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Unlikely to win hearts and minds, I'd have thought.
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16 BigSis
with onions?
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#15 and #16
I am not defending the military in this clumsy instance. My comment is that we have to be careful in jumping to conclusions about a single paragraph. I am sure the Swedes will have no fear in keeping us fully informed if the military return.
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Oh by the way England Womens Football team have been doing well apparently.
The link I found is on CBBC. Engerland Women Link a bit telling isn't it that the link is on CBBC. Other sites mentioning this good news may be available.
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*Sigh*
I wonder if / when any Western government will be brave enough to hold their hands up and admit they haven't a clue how to deal with Afghanistan. It hasn't earned the nickname "Graveyard of empires" for nothing. Even if you ignore the Taliban, there are numerous local warlords, each with their own agenda, beliefs, customs, rules of engagement etc.
Yes, I expect a significant portion of the population hated the Taliban, but, as with any autocratic regime (think of Iraq next door), they made it very difficult for anyone to rise up against them. Remove the autocrat in charge without immediately imposing a 'suitable' replacement and things get very messy, very quickly. Of course, in Afghanistan's case it didn't help that the Taliban weren't so much defeated as decided to disappear into neighbouring Pakistan (a nice safe haven, as the West is officially friendly towards it) post-haste so they could regroup, devise new strategies [1] and rearm. Something which the Western military leaders hadn't planned (then again, when did they ever do any serious planning with the Middle East?)
[1] Is there a suitable "Re-" word for this? Restrategise? Restrategerise?
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England Women's Football
Only on CBBC? That can't be right!
Let's dive into the Sport section...
...and scroll down to "More from BBC Sport..."
England to face Germany in final:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/8242792.stm
Which will be broadcast live on BBC2:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/8243467.stm
England Ladies 2 - 1 Holland Ladies
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/8238831.stm
-oOo-
Interesting that although it's such a significant event, it is still pretty much buried within the sports reporting - even more so within the football-specific reporting. BBC2 is better than digital only, but it'll be lucky to pull in more than 2-3 million viewers (compared to about 7-8 for whatever's showing on BBC1 / ITV1).
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Looternite, it was on the main news the other night, I was pleased to see. However, the stadium looked rather empty.
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#21. mittfh
I didn't say it was only on CBBC, but I stumbled on it when I was looking for England World cup news ahead of the match tomorrow. As you say it is pretty much buried.
#22 Big Sister
Maybe I drifted off when it was mentioned on the main news.
It can be a similar thing as the weather forecast.
However when the men play, do you think that it would slip by that they had reached the final.
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Can somebody explain what is the point of caring about the environment when we have the government environment agency colluding with water companies who lie about how much RAW sewage the dump on our beaches as revealed in last evenings panorama!?
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Womens football;
I will watch international matches as I find these just about passable. I'm sorry, but its about quality. In a game that has been dominated by men for so long (unlike tennis), the quality of the women's game is always going to be compared with the mens game. This is just the way it is I'm afraid. For now anyway.
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Is David McWhatsisface taking a vacation?
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#24. funnyJoedunn
I also saw that programme and it is disgusting that the privatised water companies can get away with this. Of course additional costs to prevent this problem will be paid for by the customers, can't touch the profits. Although we are constantly told by the supporters of privatisation that profits are to provide for future investment.
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re. Binge drinking; I'm surprised that no-one seems to have suggested yet that we simply reduce the concentration of alcohol served in pubs and clubs. We all know that making it cost a bit extra and health warnings and bans aren't going to affect peoples' drinking habits; but there is only so much liquid a body can take in over an evening - if the alcohol concentration in it was less then people would still get high without getting so drunk and doing so much damage to their own bodies and to the rest of us.
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#28 JanButterfly
Er last time I went to the pub they had toilets.
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Ahmen to the stuff above about Nato barbaritiy in Afghanistan.
The day of the oil tanker massacre, could you trace how the news story was first lead, then nowhere at all, then back in the middle somewhere, then off again during hte day and evening on the BBC?
Doves and hawks and vultures?
I heard on Sarah Dunnant on AQ saying 'Lets have a clean war, boys, we're the goodies! Get that moral high ground!'
No, we're the invaders supporting one side against the other in a civil conflict
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I like Mervyn King's idea of printing money to buy up half the national debt.
The private funds released from governemnt debt then fule a stock market bubble.
We sell our bank shares at a profitt
Market then collapses.
Smart moves, Merve.
Trouble comes like this:
What do we do about all this High Powered (new) Money -enough to drive spending power to twice the National Output?
How do we stop it causing 100 per cent inflation (via direct spending and import inflation)?
The obvious answer is: bank controls on how much of the new money they can count as High Powered.
But by then we won't own the banks.......and the Tories will be in power
They'll probably close down the welfare state and of course sell off the BBC
But I like some parts of the strategy - in particular not borrowing from the private sector but using new money to fund government spending.
It makes the politcal choice at the next election very clear.
Take control of the financial sector or wreck the welfare state.
(That's Old Labour or Tories old and new respectively. There aint no middle ground on this.)
Tobin taxes would help get control of the finance industry but not enough to stop private money's permanent twin threats of high inflation and economic inequality.
How does Merve the Swerve see the future 2/3 years on under different governments?
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Apart from lots of hydrogen peroxide (what is 'lots'?) what was the PHYSICAL chemical evidence against the second-time-around-guilty minority of defendents in the airline bombs trial?
The BBC's contribution was graphic:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7536167.stm
Who are the 'they in his 'They will probably have two or three failures along the way'?
Wasn't this film made before the verdict?
What is the connection between the explosive used in the BBC's film and the EVIDENCE in the trial?
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26 Might have got trapped in a Glass Box somewhere.
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33
Actually the poor old boy might have been trapped by new library charges for internet use.
The CIA pension doesn't go as far as it used to.
Two quid after the first half hour for every subsequent ...half hour.... here!!!!!!!!
Gotta dash!!!!
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Drunkenness
We need to enforce totally the existing drunk and disorderly laws and the use of lock-ups and extend them to the responsibility of parents of under-age drunks and life-banning of licensors in order to demonstrate complete disapproval and hope to change the present culture - David Webb.
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