Monthly Archives: November 2013

Guardian editor to face MPs over Snowden intelligence leaks

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24876725

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger is to be questioned by MPs over the newspaper’s publication of leaks by ex-US security contractor Edward Snowden.

Mr Rusbridger will give evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee next month, a Guardian spokesman confirmed.

The Guardian has published information about how British and US spy agencies monitor communications.

The decision to publish the leaks was criticised by the leaders of UK security services on Thursday.

Documents leaked to the Guardian newspaper by Mr Snowden – who is currently in Moscow where he has sought asylum – revealed that agencies are able to tap into the internet communications of millions of ordinary citizens through GCHQ’s Tempora programme.

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Continue ReadingGuardian editor to face MPs over Snowden intelligence leaks

New Asbo plans are assault on basic freedom, says former DPP Lord Macdonald

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10437127/New-Asbo-plans-are-assault-on-basic-freedom-says-former-DPP-Lord-Macdonald.html

Plans to replace Asbos with wide ranging new orders clamping down on anything likely to cause “annoyance” amount to “gross state interference” with basic freedoms, Lord Macdonald warns

Image of a preacherman

Christian preachers, buskers and peaceful protesters could effectively be driven off the streets under draconian new powers designed to clamp on anyone deemed “annoying”, according to a former Director of Public Prosecutions.

Lord Macdonald QC said Theresa May, the Home Secretary’s plans for a new civil injunctions to replace Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbos) amount to “gross state interference” with people’s private lives and basic freedoms.

In a formal legal opinion being circulated to peers, he savages the proposals as opening the way for the outright “suppression” of anything deemed “potentially annoying” with only “vague” justification.

The proposed safeguards to prevent abuse of the new system are “shockingly” weak, he writes.

Under proposals currently before Parliament, Asbos are to be scrapped and replaced with wide-ranging new orders known as Ipnas (Injunctions to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance).

They are designed to be easier to obtain, require a lower evidential threshod and yet cover a wider range of behaviour.

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Revealed: How Big Six energy firms conceal their profits

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/revealed-how-big-six-energy-firms-conceal-their-profits-8930039.html

Market experts express concern that giants are not being fully candid about profit margins they require to fund investments in bid to deflect growing public anger

Image of an electricity pylon tree

The Big Six energy firms have been accused of misleading consumers about the reasons for their sky-high bills by glossing over the large mark-ups they charge for the electricity they generate.

In interviews with The Independent, several market experts expressed concern that the energy giants are not being fully candid about the profit margins they require to fund investments, in a bid to deflect growing public anger.

Defending the latest round of price hikes last week, the industry’s figurehead, Angela Knight, said suppliers worked on margins of just 5 per cent which were justified to pay for “extremely large” investments necessary in their businesses.

But Caroline Flint, Labour’s shadow Energy Secretary, has accused the companies of a lack of transparency, and of diverting attention from the much higher margins they make from their electricity generation arms. “It’s misleading for energy companies to pretend their profit margins are only 5 per cent when that only refers to their profits on supplying energy,” she said.

“Their profits on generating energy are much more substantial and are often close to 20 per cent. If energy companies want to rebuild trust in this market, as a first step they have to start being straight with people about exactly how much money they’re making.”

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27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

Continue ReadingRevealed: How Big Six energy firms conceal their profits

75 years after Kristallnacht: minorities in danger

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http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/david-rosenberg-and-212-others/75-years-after-kristallnacht-minorities-in-danger

Jews in Britain sound the alarm about rising hostility towards migrants, asylum seekers, Gypsies and travellers.

Image of hisrorical Daily Mail article about Jewish immigration

On 9th/10th November 1938, Nazi stormtroopers led a wave of violent attacks on Jewish people and property throughout Germany and Austria, which the Nazis had annexed. During these pogroms, 91 Jews were killed, thousands were taken from their homes and incarcerated in concentration camps, 267 synagogues were destroyed, and some 7,500 Jewish-owned shops were smashed and looted. The Kristallnacht pogroms presaged attempts to remove Jews from German life completely.

Many Jews left hurriedly to seek refuge in friendly countries, including Britain, but Britain was already in the grip of an “aliens scare”. Newspaper headlines declared: “Alien Jews Pouring In”, and claimed that “Refugees Get Jobs, Britons Get Dole”. The media accused Jewish asylum seekers of “over-running the country”. Despite wide public revulsion at the violence of Kristallnacht, powerful elements in British politics and business continued to admire Hitler and the Nazi regime.

75 years after Kristallnacht, racists and fascists inspired by the Nazis continue to attack minorities in Europe. In Hungary neo-fascists target Gypsies and Jews. In Greece Golden Dawn members and supporters brutally attack migrants and political opponents. Here in Britain, minority communities, especially Muslims, have been targeted in an atmosphere that is increasingly hostile towards migrants and refugees.

As Jewish people mindful of this history, we are equally alarmed at continuing fascist violence and the toxic sentiments expressed by many politicians and much of the media against migrants, asylum seekers, Gypsies and travellers.
We stand shoulder to shoulder with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in their efforts to live here in freedom and safety, to contribute to society, and be treated as equals. As Jews we stand together with all communities seeking to combat racism and fascism here and elsewhere.

David Rosenberg, Jewish Socialist magazine
Prof Frank Land, 1939 refugee and Kristallnacht witness
Ralph Land CBE, 1939 refugee and Kristallnacht witness
Sheila Melzak, Clinical Director, Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile
Dr Jennifer Langer, Director, Exiled Writers Ink
John Speyer, Director, Music In Detention
Margaret Hodge MP
David Winnick MP
Lord (Alf) Dubs
Edie Friedman, Executive Director, Jewish Council for Racial Equality
Gerry Gable, Editor, Searchlight Magazine
Prof Nira Yuval-Davis, Director, Centre for Research on Migration, Refugees and Belonging, UEL
Prof Jacqueline Rose
Prof Francesca Klug OBE, Director of the Human Rights Futures Project
Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah
Rabbi Barbara Borts
Rabbi Howard Cooper
Judge Laurence Brass, Treasurer, Board of Deputies of British Jews
Miriam Margolyes OBE
Moris Farhi MBE
Anne Karpf, journalist
Bernard Kops, playwright and poet
Michael Rosen, broadcaster and poet
Michele Hanson, writer
Dr Ros Merkin, Writer & Director of Suitcase 1938
Benjamin Abeles, rescued by the Kindertransport in 1939
John Abraham
Ruth Abraham
Karen Adler
Rochelle Allebes
Ruth Appleton, Santé Project
Martha Jean Baker
Julia Bard
Zelda Bard
Jacob Bard-Rosenberg
Reuben Bard-Rosenberg
Mark Barnes
Ruth Barnett
George Barratt, Councillor, Barking & Dagenham
Larry Beckreck
N G Benjamin
Sarah Benton
Mike Berlin
Shelley Berlowitz
Jo Bird
Rica Bird
Prof Haim Bresheeth
Lorna Brunstein
Barry Buitekant
Lionel Burman
Mandy Carr
Prof Andrew Coleman
Paul Collins
Ilana Cravitz
Judith Cravitz
Ivor Dembina
Prof Elizabeth Dore
Jack Dove
Norma Dove
Ora Dresner
Kjersti Dybvig
Prof Barbara Einhorn
Maggie Eisner
Antony Ellman
Michael Ellman
Judith Emanuel
Naomi Feldman
Rayah Feldman
Prof Robert Fine
Neil Finer
Sylvia Finzi
Frank Fisher
Nick Foster
Ann Frankel
Raymond Freeman
Melissa Friedberg
Carolyn Gelenter
Mike Gerber
Dr Ben Gidley
Stuart Goodman
Carry Gorney
Dr Claudia Gould Hertzmann
Jeremy Green
Prof Colin Green
Grahame Gross
Sue Gutteridge
Belle Harris
Lisa Hatton
Rosamine Hayeem
Mike Heiser
Ruth Hendrick
Alain Hertzmann
Prof Susan Himmelweit
Dr Deborah Hirshfield
David Hoffman
Justin Hoffman
Claire Jackson
Riva Joffe
Dr Hannah Jones
Dan Judelson
Ann Jungman
Thena Kendall
David King
Susan King
Dr Brian Klug
Tony Klug
Erica Kops
Sarah Kosminsky
Marion Kozak
Stevie Krayer
Caroline Kubilius
Richard Kuper
Vivi Lachs
Jude Lancet
David Landau
Jon Lansman
Sheila Lassman
Antony Lerman
Karl Lewcowicz
Vivien Lichtenstein
Hope Liebersohn
Marian Liebmann
Prof Yosefa Loshitzky
Sue Lukes
Ruth Lukom
Simon Lynn
Ilana Machover
Moshé Machover
Diana Maiden
Paul Mayersberg
Karen Merkel
Jane Merkin, Executive Producer, Suitcase 1938
Paul Morrison
Miriam Moss
Annie Nehmad
Diana Neslen
Esther Neslen
Michael Newman
Paul Oestreicher
Margaret Owen OBE
Dr Daniel Ozarow
Gail Pearce
Helen Pearson
Mike Peters
Rob Porteous
Charlie Pottins
Dr Claudia Prestel
Marsha Ragsdell
Ros Raizada
Roland Rance
Daniel Randall
Norman Randall
Ronne Randall
Jerome Ravetz
Dr Esti Rimmer
Brian Robinson
Ben Rogaly
Prof Jonathan Rosenhead
Leon Rosselson
Michael Sackin
Jenny Salaman Manson
Raf Salkie
Prof Andrew Samuels
Ian Saville
Prof Joy Schaverien
Karel Schling, child of holocaust survivors
Monika Schwartz
Mike Scott, Trustee, Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum
Amanda Sebestyen
Lynne Segal
Prof Victor Jeleniewski Seidler
Sam Semoff
Barry Semp
Linda Shampan
Myrna Shaw
Polina Shepherd
Nicole Sherrick
Dr Jackie Shimshon
Shireen Wooldridge
Prof Avi Shlaim
Alan Silver
Evelyn Silver
Liz Silver, Notts Disabled People’s Movement
Clifford Singer
Juliet Singer
Laurence Singer
Ray Sirotkin
Barry Smerin
Sue Smith
Ben Soffa
Catharine Claire Stewart
Jennie Stoller
Monica Stoppleman
Judith Suissa
Vivien Sunlight
Inbar Tamari
Ruth Tenne
Gil Toffell
Niki Tragen
Eva Turner, child of holocaust survivors
Lesley Urbach
Dan Usiskin
Dr Nadia Valman
Ida Waksberg
Rafael Waksberg
Adrienne Wallman
Miri Weingarten
Pnina Werbner
Barbara White
Myra Woolfson
Dr Karen Worth
Binnie Yeates

Continue Reading75 years after Kristallnacht: minorities in danger

Tony Blair’s Kazakhstan role has failed to improve human rights, activists say

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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/08/tony-blair-kazakhstan-human-rights-role

Situation has deteriorated since former prime minister began advising on good governance, according to Kazakh opposition leader

Tony Blair’s multimillion-pound deal to advise Kazakhstan’s leadership on good governance has produced no change for the better or advance of democratic rights in the authoritarian nation, freedom campaigners say.

At the end of Blair’s two-year contract, which lapsed at the end of October and may yet be renewed, activists said the country had actually experienced heavy reversals in civil liberties and freedom of the press during the time the former prime minister was advising the Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

“Unfortunately, over the two years that Tony Blair’s been a consultant for Astana, we haven’t seen any changes for the better, or signals of movement towards democratisation,” said embattled opposition leader Amirzhan Kosanov, pointing instead to “a deterioration in the human rights and political freedoms situation, a further tightening of the screws”.

Oksana Makushina, a former deputy editor of one closed-down newspaper, said wryly: “If Mr Blair was advising Nazarbayev on something, it definitely wasn’t freedom of speech. Over the last two years the screws have only been tightened on the media.”

Blair’s office maintains his work is a force for good in a country moving in the right direction. Tony Blair Associates said his work “focuses on social and economic reform and is entirely in line with that of the international community”.

A spokesperson said: “Of course the country faces challenges but that is precisely why we should engage and support its efforts to reform. It remains strategically and globally important and it was right that David Cameron chose to visit there earlier this year.”

Blair’s team has also raised human rights, his spokesperson said, adding that speaking publicly last year Blair “was explicit that the status quo was not an option”. Yet his office rejects the notion of a crackdown in Kazakhstan. “We simply do not agree that the situation in this regard has deteriorated.”

Since Tony Blair Associates set up in the glitzy capital, Astana, in October 2011, Kazakhstan has launched a massive crackdown on civil liberties. It began after unrest in the energy-rich west of this sprawling country in December 2011, which left 15 civilians dead when police fired on protesters.

The government blamed the opposition, jailing alleged ringleader Vladimir Kozlov amid an international outcry, closing down his party and shutting dozens of independent media outlets.

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Continue ReadingTony Blair’s Kazakhstan role has failed to improve human rights, activists say