Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Fallujah

The news of the terrible birth defects in this war ravaged city (Tony Blair, are you paying attention?) is truly heart rending. John Simpson and the BBC are to be commended for this outstanding and risky piece of investigative journalism.

The most likely theory to explain this epidemic of birth deformity is the use of by the Americans of some of their most deadly modern weapons when they attacked the city to defeat the insurgents who controlled it in 2004.  White phosphorous  munitions and uranium depleted shells have been mentioned. This is potentially more than appalling. Not only have we the human suffering on an unprecedented scale, several such births a week, maybe as many as a thousand in a year, but also a moral question of titanic proportions.

Was this not a war for which the excuse was the elimination of weapons of mass destruction? What, then, was the U.S doing using white phospherous and depleted uranium in an urban battlefield full of innocent civilians?

Man of Honour

The news of Michael Foot’s death is very sad news. It is timely to celebrate the qualities of this remarkable twentieth century politician, man of letters, author, orator and passionate promoter of the causes in which he believed. I am afraid his left brand of socialism was not for me nor was his pacifism nor his tolerance of rampant trade unionism. Nevertheless he was and remained a politician and public figure whom I admired and continued to admire above almost all others. Especially now it is important to remember that he was a man of honour. Honour is a quality hard to describe and noticeable most when it is missing. Look into the mirky cauldron of modern politics and where do you see it? Yes, the sad truth is you don’t.

Another Prang

Yesterday it seemed for just a moment, during which this blog was complimentary to the Tory effort to re-establish their campaign, that we would return to debate the issues in this peculiar election. But no. Ashcroft was all over the current affairs programmes this morning, with a  clip recording Haig  squirming under Paxman interrogation, sounding dishonest and deceitful. More and more questions are being asked in pubs and clubs about how the party is run and by whom.

The Electoral Commission has investigated and found nothing illegal has happened.With all those Tory lawyers that was a foregone conclusion. Had the law been broken, it would have shattered the Tory party. Nevertheless this affair is coming close to a disaster for the Tories. It will blow over but I think the damage is beyond repair. Their best hope is  that Labour also prangs. There is plenty of opportunity for that. Brown appearing before Chilcot tomorrow for instance. The bullying saga, greeted by the Tories with glee and the Lib Dems with their usual primness, in the end played for Brown. It will be very intersting to see how the game goes at the Inquiry tomorrow.