antarchi's blog

Why did you join the army?
Get away from my home town. See the world. I've always wanted to travel. I enjoy travelling.
All my brothers have got trades - plumbers, electricians and things like that. And you come back, and people say 'how was your week at work?' And they say 'Oh I've done this and done that'. And they say 'Well he's done a 6 month tour of Afghan'. And you can hold your head up high and say that. A lot of people respect you for that.

Private Kieran Connolly (20)

It is fundamental to our civil liberties that no one should be held arbitrarily for an unspecified period. After detailed consultation with the police, and examination of recent trends in terrorist cases, we propose the upper limit of 42 days...

That is why I will stick to the principles I have set out and do the right thing: protecting the security of all and the liberties of each; and safeguarding the British people by a careful and proportionate strengthening of powers in response to the radically new terrorist threats we now face.

Gordon Brown, Supreme Leader, writing in The Times

Gordon Brown has put up some revealing archive films on the Downing Street website. If we had any illusions that we currently had a Labour Party prime minister ensconced in Downing Street, possessing even an inkling of labour sympathies, a brief look at his selection of noteworthy films should disillusion us:

First on the list (most recently posted) is Anthony Eden (Con.) trying to put a noble gloss on British involvement in Suez:

We have stepped in because the United Nations couldn't do so in time. If the United Nations will take over this police action, we shall welcome them... [but] until there are United Nations forces there, ready to take over, we and the French must go on with the job, until the job is done.

wash away those winter blues...

'When you go home, do please make sure that you have a look in your parents' bathroom cabinets, and tell them that any spray deodorants they have need to be thrown away, because every time they use a spray deodorant, that has consequences for the earth, and for your futures. The deodorants are wearing away the ozone layer, and that layer is getting very thin now. And you know, the other thing that is making the earth heat up is your fridges: when they are turned on, they also damage the ozone layer, because they give out the same chemicals.'

“It's one thing to keep an eye on the human rights situation in North Korea, China, or Uzbekistan. But monitoring human rights in Britain or Germany would be laughable.”

Ludmilla Alexeyeva, doyenne of the Russian human rights movement

Amnesty International has a principle known as WOOC, which stands for Work On Own Country. The principle says (roughly) that members of Amnesty International are not permitted, as members, to do campaigning work on cases in their own country². The lobbying and campaigning that members do has to be directed (primarily) at governments other than one's own. Thus, if you are a member of the UK Section of Amnesty, you are likely to be fighting for the rights of individuals living in Sudan, in Burma, in France or Bulgaria, rather than for victims of the British government located in the UK.