Mission & Justice

Phillip Adams; 5/7/08

Pour enough blood, tears and testosterone (or oil) into the dry and dusty dunes of the Greater Middle East and you create the quicksand that’s been swallowing mighty armies for millennia. The glorious Greeks came to grief there, as did the roaming Romans and the Christian Crusaders. More recent importers of military might that sank into the sand included the French, the British and the Russians. Now, learning nothing, the Americans (with the Brits and us in tow) have sunk deeper and faster. The US might have fared better under a President as arrogant and ignorant as George W. Bush - someone who knows little of geography and less of history - had he not been surrounded and dominated by others as dangerously stupid. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld bolstering Bush? That triumvirate made the Three Stooges look like intellectual giants and have doomed the next presidency. Whoever wins will be bogged to the axles in not one but two un-winnable wars.

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Paola Totaro; 21/6/08

We met Annie not long after moving into our new home in London. She came recommended via word-of-mouth as so many migrant domestic workers do. On day one, she arrived early and I found her waiting politely outside on the street ready to start work when the clock struck 9am.We had a cup of tea together before she began work and despite palpable shyness - had nobody asked her to talk about herself before? - she said she’d come to London in 2002 and had worked six days a week ever since as a cleaner, a housekeeper, an all-round helper with a number of families to maximise her earnings.

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14/6/08

Lessons about “honour” killings and forced marriage should be a statutory requirement in British schools and become a compulsory part of the sex and relationships curriculum, MPs say. A report from the House of Commons home affairs select committee said education on the issues seemed to be “at best variable, and at worst non-existent”, with some schools apparently resistant to discussing them for fear of offending parents. It said there was evidence to suggest children were in danger of being removed from school or further education and forced into marriage. Other recommendations include a specialised victim protection program, similar to witness protection, for women fleeing such violence and refusing visa applications for the prospective spouses of reluctant brides or bridegrooms.

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11/6/08

Britain’s prime minister has won a parliamentary vote to extend the time the authorities can hold people on suspicion of “terrorist” activities without charging them. Parliament on Wednesday voted 315 to 306 in favour of Gordon Brown’s plan to extend the pre-charge detention time limit to 42 days from 28 days. Opposition within Gordon Brown’s own party slashed the government’s majority to just nine.

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Assaf Uni; 29/5/08

Members of the University and College Union in England (UCU) passed a motion at their annual conference yesterday to consider severing ties with Israeli universities. Tom Hickey, who teaches philosophy at the University of Brighton, says the motion highlighting the “humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel” is just shy of a full boycott, The Telegraph said. The UCU, the largest trade union and professional organization for academics and lecturers working throughout the United Kingdom, called on its colleagues to “consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned.”

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Richard Norton-Taylor; 29/5/08

Britain is preparing to scrap its arsenal of cluster bombs in the face of a growing clamour against weapons that have killed and maimed thousands of civilians. Officials are paving the way for the unexpected step at talks involving more than 100 countries in Dublin on a treaty aimed at a worldwide ban. Well-placed sources made it clear yesterday that despite opposition from the military, the British Government is prepared to eliminate the cluster munitions from its armoury. These munitions are the Israeli-designed M85 artillery weapon, used during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and in attacks on Lebanon two years ago; and the M73, part of a weapons system for Apache helicopters. “The Prime Minister is very much behind this process and wants us to sign (the treaty),” a senior Foreign Office source said. “If we sign … we will lose the M85 and the M73.”

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Nicola Berkovic; 28/5/08

Assurances given to British authorities about the scope of the Haneef inquiry were inappropriate and an attempt by the Rudd Government to limit the terms of that inquiry, the Opposition alleges. A Senate estimates committee heard yesterday that Attorney-General Robert McClelland assured British prosecutors that “due regard would be paid to the sensitivity of English policing and intelligence information” during the inquiry being conducted by John Clarke QC. Attorney-General’s department secretary Robert Cornall, who was with Mr McClelland on his trip to Britain, said the authorities were concerned that nothing in the inquiry would “intrude into matters that were being investigated and prosecuted in England”.

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Sir Cyril Townsend; 24/5/08

In a rapidly changing media world, it is agreeable to note that the Letters Column of The Times of London has altered little. Letters are still addressed to The Editor, and begin with Sir and end Yours Faithfully. Although The Daily Telegraph, a kind of daily briefing for the professional classes, sells more copies, The Times has a greater influence, and it is the first choice for an individual or an organization seeking to put forward a point of view on the issues of the day. On May 19, there was a letter in The Times that caught my eye under the heading: “Cluster bombs don’t work and must be banned.” It was signed by no less than nine former extremely senior military commanders led by Field Marshal Lord Bramall (chief of the Defense Staff — 1982-85). Other names were Gen. Sir Michael Rose (commander UN Protection Force, Bosnia — 1994-95), Gen. Sir Rupert Smith (commander 1st Armored Division in the 19 1991 Gulf War), and Maj. Gen. Patrick Cordingley (commander 7th Armored Brigade 1991 Gulf War).

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Michael Evans; 23/5/08

Prime Minister Gordon Brown signalled his intention to phase out the use of all cluster bombs by British armed forces yesterday, even as the US reiterated its opposition to a worldwide ban on the dangerous munitions. Mr Brown’s statement yesterday electrified an international conference on cluster bombs in Dublin, which hopes to achieve a treaty prohibiting their use. Human rights activists interpreted it as a significant switch in British policy.  A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister had asked the Ministry of Defence to review the risk to civilians posed by the last two remaining weapons deployed with the armed forces, the artillery-fired M85 and the helicopter-launched M73. Until now, Britain supported a ban on condition that it excluded the two systems still used by British troops overseas. They emphasised that the weapons had self-destruct mechanisms so that they did not pose a long-term threat to civilians.

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Misha Schubert; 22/5/08

One of the country’s most senior former judges has advocated giving gay couples access to the Family Court to settle property disputes after a break-up — a move that faces stiff resistance from the conservative Christian lobby. On the eve of moves to end discrimination against gay couples across a range of federal laws, former Family Court chief justice Alastair Nicholson has written to federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland to urge a further shift in family law.

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