How the USA supported terrorism in the UK

Every now and then, the issue of how the USA allowed funds for terrorism to be collected comes up.  After the September the 11th attacks, they finally clamped down on this, and this could have been a factor in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland.

I suspect that if the USA cut funding to Israel, then Israel would agree to obey the Oslo accords.  But that is a different story.

Palestine Action and Ukraine

Palestine Action is a topic I have posted about before. It is a group that have been banned under terrorism laws, a ban I agree with.  I will first address how Ukraine has noted that a lot of its sabotage appears to be targeting them, before moving onto its other actions.

Palestine action have attacked firms that they claim are aiding Israel, but are in fact aiding Ukraine.  The Leonardo site in Edinburgh has donated equipment to Ukraine and that site was targeted by Palestine Action.  Another company that they have targeted is aiding Ukraine, though the site they attacked may not be doing so.  Also they have attacked RAF Brize Norton, which trains Ukrainian pilots to defend their country, damaging planes not involved in the aid our nation (sadly) offers Israel. and also had plans to target other airfields training Ukrainian pilots.  

Other attacks across Europe have damaged the supply efforts to aid Ukraine, again, this being Palestinian supporters who have accidentally harmed this.

But Palestine action have attacked Jewish businesses.  While they say that this has been linked to supporting Israel, and many consider such action acceptable, most will condemn similar action by the far right to attack hotels where asylum seekers are being held.

I think that Israel is in the wrong with how it treats Palestinians.  I think our government should not be aiding Israel as much as it is.  I think it is right to protest against the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and The West Bank.  I do not think it is right to stand with Palestine Action, especially when there are loads of other groups protesting in support of the people of Palestine.  

The Online Safety Act

The Online Safety Act 2023 is something I have mentioned before. In our household, it may have caused a dispute. My daughter had complained to her younger brother had not liked some of her pictures on Instagram. It turned out that he was not able to see them, and while we do not know, it may be that it is because he is under the age of 18 and some of her mages have been screened by AI as being adult. Just for the record, none of her pictures are adult in nature.

I have discussed this with my daughter on a dog walk earlier today. We both agreed that action should be taken to protect minors from harm on the internet, but we disagree on the method. She brought up issues of people not being able to access information on periods or sexual health, and we agree that teenagers do need to be able to get that information. But while she thinks it should be perfected before rolling it out, I am off the opposite view. Roll it out and make the necessary modifications to allow teenagers to get health advice after it is put into place. The previous method of asking the user to confirm their age just did not work. 

Age verification is coming in abroad and there has been pushback about this in France. Australia plans to go further and ban social media for those under the age of sixteen, something which is not here, yet. 

Sex drugs and rock and roll

As I have discussed before, I think that sex work and drugs should be legalised and regulated.  Doing so would benefit the economy. 

As a teenager in a rough inner city comprehensive in the 1980’s, drugs were not available at school. My children grew up knowing where to get drugs. Basically, we are losing the war on drugs. I feel that drugs cause a lot of harm, but legalisation and regulation would allow the trade to be taxed, may reduce drug related crime and also may help get people into treatment to come off drugs. It has not caused major issues in Portugal.  Lastly, drugs are in effect legal for the wealthy, not for the poor. This double standard is unfair and is reflected in the help the wealthy can get for drugs which most people cannot access as easily.

The next matter is sex work. I mention this (again) due to Bonnie Blue being in the media for her work in this field. As mentioned by JK Rowling, sex work is an industry plagued by trafficking, abuse and this is an issue that has been raised by those who have worked in it.  But, people like Bonnie Blue are in effect working legally as a sex worker, while those who are not as famous are not as protected.  Already, thanks to women like her working in the industry, more and more women are looking at such work as a way of supplementing income. Regulation of sex work can protect the women who are in what is the oldest profession.  The line between what is sex work and what is not can be argued to be blurred with men finding love with women from other countries.  What I want is that women (it is mainly women) who make a choice to work in this area, are offered the help not to do so, and also the help and protection to do so in a safe manner.  I have seen how this can help women, working outside Ipswich.  When the murders happened in 2006, sex work in the area was in effect decriminalised to protect the women working in it.  

The second to last video is of a woman who regrets her work in the industry, one who since leaving it has found happiness.  I believe abortion should be safe, legal, and rare and I think that the same should happen to be an issue for sex work, though I accept that it is not going to be rare.  

NHS productivity

Jeremy Hunt (I have a huge desire to call him something else) has been on The Rest is Politics. I liked listening to him for the first part of his interview, but had to stop when he talked about the NHS. Specifically productivity. Rory Stewart has mentioned NHS productivity before, but they forget, or ignore an important issue. NHS waiting lists. When I stopped listening to it, Hunt was rambling on about performance targets, but they were out in place because when Labour were in power after electing Tony Blair, it was used as a political football by the Conservatives and their supporters in the media. 

When it comes to targets, while they are annoying, many benefit patient care, and this has been seen in primary care. A target on ambulance waiting times is important for those who need an ambulance, waiting times being higher under the time that Jeremy Hunt was. There are numerous other areas where performance faltered under the Conservatives and many put that down to a lack of decent funding. This chart was shown to my then MP, Will Quince, when he defended how the Conservatives funded the NHS. He appeared to be surprised when the graph was shown and while other versions of it existed before then, this is my favourite. 

I am to listen to the rest of the interview with Jeremy Hunt, but I am going to have to ensure I am in a place where I can swear and rant when I do so.  My children have memories of me shouting at the radio when he was on it, and other than football, this would be the few times that they would hear me swear. I suspect no one will get his name wrong on it. 

Later, I will edit this to include the video of his interview. 

Nigel Farage, internet censorship and free speech

Nigel Farage claims to be on the side of free speech, but it appears that this is only if it favours him. He has made insinuations before the Farage Riots, some have argued that he has campaigned for the rights of those like Jimmy Savile when it comes to his opposition to protect children on line. But in a discussion about free speech, he allegedly shut free speech down his opponent. Farage reportedly called Democrat Congressman Jamie Raskin 'pig-headed' after Raskin voiced concerns about free speech threats.

There are always going to be two sides to a story, but the facts are that under Reform UK, censorship has taken place, this being reported as a Reform lead council saying it has removed all transgender-related books from the children's sections of its libraries. 

For the record, I am in favour of the new online checks, but I do want to know if this does limit freedom of speech as its implementation may need to be modified, or it may need to be withdrawn.

Interview with a socialist

Corbyn has been interviewed.  An important question, which I am glad was asked, was about The Green Party.  Corbyn did answer it, but I am not sure I agree with his answer.  In the interview, Jeremy Corbyn states that The Green Party are not a socialist organisation.  It is a shame that there was no follow up question on that, notably, what he disagreed with when it came to their election manifesto from last year. Many who were dissatisfied with Labour before the last election complained about being politically homeless, but none answered me when I asked why they did not vote green.

I now think that unless an electoral pact is made with The Green Party, a split in the left wing anti-Labour vote may actually benefit Labour in seats which they lost such as Bristol.  But, it is a few years until the next election.  Corbyn is a decent human being. What you see is what you get with him. He is open and transparent with his views. But, Labour under Corbyn was riven by infighting and toxicity, something that The Greens have largely avoided, and that may mean that the Greens may be able to overtake the initial apparent lead that the new party has over them. 

It will be an interesting few years, or rather, an even more interesting few years till the next election. 

Are Labour and Starmer complicit in the horrors of Gaza?

Two wrongs do not make a right.  The atrocious attacks of Hamas do not justify the collective punishment of the population of Gaza through starvation.

Many people, myself included, want our government to do more to solve the crisis in Gaza.  Like it or not, our ability to speak out on this is limited by our need for trade with the USA, but, by not taking a harder line on what is happening, has meant that Trump appears to have listened to Starmer, at least until he got back to the USA and was told something else.  

The UK has taken some actions before and has offered to recognise Palestine.  But while many want the UK to talk about what is happening in Gaza, the UK, along with other nations, is planning to take action to try and limit the huge harm that is taking place. The aid drops will not meet the needs of the population of Gaza, but there is no other way for the UK (and allied nations) to deliver the food and water that Gaza needs.    

Personally, I would rather the UK fed the people in Gaza rather than just said strong words like Ireland and Spain.  Saying that, I would also rather that no strong words were needed and that Israel is sanctioned by the rest of the world until the Christians and Muslims in Gaza and the West Bank are treated properly.

It is a shame however that among the voices calling for restraint by Israel, one of them has referred to space lasers, and no doubt, this will be used by those saying that Israel should have a free hand to deal with the Palestinian problem.