George Galloway wins Bradford West byelection

Respect candidate takes seat from Labour with 10,140 majority, claiming ‘the most sensational victory in British political history’

Patrick Wintour, political editor | The Guardian | Friday 30 March 2012

 

George Galloway, right, is greeted by a supporter as he arrives to hear the results of the Bradford West byelection. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/PA

George Galloway, the leading figure in Respect, has grabbed a remarkable victory in the Bradford West byelection, claiming that “By the grace of God, we have won the most sensational victory in British political history”.

It appeared that the seat’s Muslim community had decamped from Labour en masse to Galloway’s call for an immediate British troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and a fightback against the job crisis.

On a turnout of 50.78%, Labour’s shellshocked candidate Imran Hussein was crushed by a 36.59% swing from Labour to Respect that saw Galloway take the seat with a majority of 10,140.

More…

Read Full Post »

Britain Blocks Mossad Replacement Over Passport Theft

Truthdig
May 5, 2010

The United Kingdom will not allow an official representative of Israel’s security services into the country, according to an Israeli report, until Israel promises, in writing, not to abuse British passports. Israel has so far refused, the report said.

The previous Mossad representative was expelled after British passports were reportedly used by Israeli agents to carry out an assassination in Dubai.

Ynet News via the Guardian:

UK ‘blocking’ Mossad return to London

Official reportedly prevented from taking up embassy post after Israel refuses to commit itself not to misuse British passports

 

Ian Black, Middle East editor
The Guardian, Wednesday 5 May 2010

Britain has refused to allow Israel’s Mossad secret service to send a representative back to the country’s London embassy following the row over the killing of a Hamas operative by agents using forged UK passports.

Israel’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper reported yesterday that the Foreign Office is digging in its heels because Israel is refusing to commit itself not to misuse British passports in future clandestine operations.

Neither Britain nor Israel gave any details of the embassy official who was ordered to leave the country in March after an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency showed that the Mossad was behind the passport theft.

But the official was understood to be an intelligence officer who was known to the UK authorities and worked as official liaison with Britain’s MI6. There was no suggestion the officer was personally involved in the passports affair.

More…

Read Full Post »

Icelandic Volcano Ash May Hover For Days

Ash may hover for days over uncertain Europe

SYLVIA HUI and ANGELA CHARLTON | 04/17/10 10:25 PM |

PARIS — The Icelandic volcano that has kept much of Europe land-bound is far from finished spitting out its grit, and offered up new mini-eruptions Saturday that raise concerns about longer-term damage to world air travel and trade.

Facing days to come under the volcano’s unpredictable, ashy plume, Europeans are looking at temporary airport layoffs and getting creative with flight patterns to try to weather this extraordinary event.

Modern Europe has never seen such a travel disruption. Air space across a swath from Britain to Ukraine was closed and set to stay that way until Sunday or Monday in some countries, affecting airports from New Zealand to San Francisco. Millions of passengers have had plans foiled or delayed.

Activity in the volcano at the heart of this increased early Saturday, and showed no sign of abating.

“There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight,” Icelandic geologist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson told The Associated Press on Saturday. “The activity has been quite vigorous overnight, causing the eruption column to grow.”

Scientists say that because the volcano is situated below a glacial ice cap, the magma is being cooled quickly, causing explosions and plumes of grit that can be catastrophic to plane engines, depending on prevailing winds.

In Iceland, winds dragged the ashes over new farmland, to the southwest of the glacier, causing farmers to scramble to secure their cattle and board up windows.

With the sky blackened out and the wind driving a fine, sticky dust, dairy farmer Berglind Hilmarsdottir teamed up with neighbors to round her animals and get them to shelter. The ash is toxic – the fluoride causes long-term bone damage that makes teeth fall out and bones break.

“This is bad. There are no words for it,” said Hilmarsdottir, whose pastures near the town of Skogar were already covered in a gray paste of ash.

MORE HERE

Read Full Post »

Britain expels Israeli diplomat over Dubai passport row

BBC
23rd March, 2010

The UK is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of 12 forged British passports linked to the murder of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.

Mr Mabhouh was killed by electric shock, tests have confirmed

Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the Commons there were “compelling reasons” to believe Israel was responsible for the passport “misuse”.

He said: “The government takes this matter extremely seriously. Such misuse of British passports is intolerable.”

Israel says there is no proof it was behind the killing in Dubai in January.

But Mr Milband said it was “highly likely” the Israeli secret service Mossad was involved and the fact that Israel was a close ally added “insult to injury”.

Original article

Read Full Post »

UK called to account over torture allegations

From The Times February 20, 2010
Frances Gibb, Legal Editor, and Sean O’Neill, Security Editor

Binyam Mohamed: the former Guantánamo Bay detainee's treatment is the subject of a police inquiry (Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)

The Government’s own human rights watchdog has demanded a public inquiry into claims that British intelligence agencies were complicit in the torture of more than 20 detainees in the War on Terror, The Times has learnt.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) says that it can no longer ignore the growing body of allegations against MI5 and MI6.

The commission’s chairman says in a letter to Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, that the Government’s blanket denials are an inadequate response. Trevor Phillips says: “Not enough has been done to reassure the commission and the public that these allegations are unfounded.”

A dossier of 25 cases has now been built up, including complaints of ill treatment, illegal detention and torture. The EHRC is concerned about mounting evidence that these actions were condoned by British agencies.

Mr Phillips told The Times: “Given the UK’s role as a world leader on human rights, it would be inexplicable for the Government not urgently to put in place an independent review process to assess the truth, or otherwise, of these allegations.” He also criticised as “inexplicable” a year-long delay by the Government in reporting to the United Nations Committee against Torture.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7034456.ece

Read Full Post »

Pressure mounts over allegations of British complicity in torture

Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 August 2009 19.59 BST

Ministers came under fresh pressure today over detailed allegations of complicity in torture, with Gordon Brown being asked whether the attorney general would investigate them and human rights groups joining MPs and peers demanding an independent inquiry.

They were responding to today’s report by parliament’s joint committee on human rights which said the government could no longer get away with repeating standard denials of complicity by the security and intelligence agencies.

It said the foreign and home secretaries had refused three times to give evidence to the committee and that ministers must immediately publish instructions given to MI5 and MI6 officers on the detention and interrogation of suspects abroad.

SOURCE

VIDEO

Read Full Post »

Global Warming UK-Style

Anthony says: “If it gets any colder here, I’m emigrating — to Alaska!

 

The fountains in Trafalgar Square froze over because of the bitter cold in London

The day the sea froze: Temperatures plunge to MINUS 12C and forecasters say it won’t warm up until Sunday

Temperatures plunged so low today that the sea actually began to freeze as Arctic conditions continued to grip the UK.

In the exclusive enclave of Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset, a half-mile stretch along the shoreline reaching about 20 yards out to sea is covered in ice.

The enclosed area and lack of movement caused by light tides would make the sea here more susceptible to this occurring, said Tony Conlan, a forecaster with the MeteoGroup.

The sea freezing is a relatively rare occurrence and the last time the sea in the South froze was in February 1991. It was in 1963 that the seas iced over more widely.

Meanwhile in Cumbria, a total of 34 schools were forced to close because of heavy snow and ice in the county.

In southern England, normally immune to the worst of the cold weather in winter, temperatures fell as low as -12C and the chill will go on for several days according to forecasters.

Benson in Oxfordshire and Chesham in Bucks were both close to -12C and the UK’s coldest areas, with other large parts of the South also recording -9C and -10C.

Snow flurries also moved south from Yorkshire and the Humber, leaving drivers facing another day of wintry chaos.

Original article

Read Full Post »