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US imposes new sanctions on Iran

The US has stepped up its sanctions against Iran for “supporting terrorists” and pursuing nuclear activities.

The new measures target the finances of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, and three state-owned banks.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the moves were part of a comprehensive policy to “confront the threatening behaviour by the Iranians”.

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Who is exactly doing the threatening? All we hear from this is that the US government seems hellbent on invading Iran. According to most commentators, it’s a matter of when, not if. What makes this situation more chilling is that Britain, still the US’s cheerleader-in-chief, will agree to this, and to date, several of the US Presidential candidates who hope to succeed George W Bush in 2008 have said in public they would favour a major invasion. Throughout history, US governments has either sponsored or supported the toppling of regimes they disapprove of.

Iran is not the innocent party in all this, but at present they have not made a nuclear bomb- the US has enough of them to blow up the entire planet. Yet, unless this stupid standoff is put in reverse gear, it won’t be just the future of the Middle East that will be at stake….

The stench of impunity wafts over the final act in this cash-for-honours farce

So, the judgement from the investigation into the infamous cash-for-honours scandal will not lead to anybody being charged, in spite of all the evidence which proved the major players in this mess, including some leading ministers, being caught red-handed beyond all doubt.

This is the latest in a long line of investigations and enquiries since 1997 which have led to the guilty being set free and the innocent get persecuted. No doubt this state of affairs will continue the erosion of public trust in politicians. There has been widespread condemnation over this, but should anybody be surprised?

The demands for financial backhanders in return for favours are nothing new. What is different in this case is that democratically elected people, who should be representing the people, aim for high standards and follow the rules, blatantly abuse their positions in order to gain some political advantage.

With our politicians routinely behaving this way, it’s no wonder most people feel that we are living in a banana republic.

From the Guardian today:

Ministers are planning a U-turn on Britain’s pledges to combat climate change that ‘absolutely abolishes’ its targets to rapidly expand the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

Read the rest of this shocking article.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown seems to want to negotiate with the rest of the European Union to aim for lower targets instead. This plan will certainly anger environment campaigners.

But should this be surprising? This Labour government has continued to be very dishonest with the public on this vital issue. In fact, throughout history, they have never been a political party that supports the environment. Much better to support the real thing instead.

The population of the United Kingdom is set to continue growing. Latest official projections show that the number of people living in the country will rise to an estimated 65million in 2016. Further projections could see that rising to an estimated 71million by 2031, and to an estimated 77million in 2051.

A significant amount of that increase is a result of increased inward immigration, in spite of efforts by the government to do everything in their power to curb it. Despite the fact that more people are living longer due to major advances in areas such as health and technology, there have been fears that the increase in population could put further strain on our overstretched public services.

Despite the increase in population, the government has not made any effort to prepare and expand key aspects of public service provision to cope with it. Another problem is that that also hasn’t been any major increases in housebuilding- in fact, the number of properties completed has fallen in real terms since Labour were elected in 1997.

The country desperately needs decent people to put forward sensible proposals together to deal with the population rise. However, at present, there isn’t the political- or moral- will to do them.

Labour has got itself in more trouble on top of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s decision to postpone plans for a general election this year. Reports in some of today’s newspapers claim that the overall cost of “The election that never was” to the party was around £1million.

At a time when the party is deeply in debt (some claim it is around £20million), they had spent resources they didn’t have on preparing for the election. Donations to the party had been reduced because of the “cash-for-honours” controversy, and that many of the trade unions, angry at the refusal of Brown to switch direction in government policy (Brown criticised the striking postal workers in their long-running dispute with the Royal Mail), may consider stopping contributing alltogether (some, like the RMT, jumped ship a while ago).

Gordon Brown, while as Chancellor of the Exchequer, claimed to have a reputation for “fiscal prudence”. The problem was that it was found to be untrue. What hope does he have to sort out the financial problems of his own party?