ATTILA THE STOCKBROKER CLEANS UP THE CITY

I was a clerk there: I’ve seen the greed

How wealth and power eat hope and need

Now they’re eating each other but they’re still screaming

‘No interference’ – I start dreaming…

‘Self regulation?’ OK, I say

‘I’m a stockbroker – let’s do it my way’

And that’s the beginning of this little ditty:

Attila the Stockbroker cleans up the City!

Each gets a red nose so everybody knows

Just who they are and where all our money goes

No more speculate, no more accumulate -

This is a lifestyle we’re going to eradicate

Dealers on the floor meet squads of the poor saying

‘Here’s the twist, Oliver – we want more

Work for us or we take the whole kitty’

Attila the Stockbroker cleans up the City!

‘Hello Mr. Hedge Fund, have a cup of tea.

Financial Services Authority? Me.

You’re a parasite on the population

Convicted of criminal speculation

Time to atone for a life so greedy -

Twenty years working for the poor and needy.

Want to appeal? Try the Central Committee…’

Attila the Stockbroker cleans up the City!

Morning Mr Banker, you’re in for a shock.

We’re taking much more than just Northern Rock!

All the banks nationalised – Stock Exchange too.

Utilities, railways, grabbed from the few.

Mr Billionaire? You just lost your money.

(Hey there, Chelsea fan, isn’t that funny!)

The future’s brown. The future’s shitty.

So Attila the Stockbroker cleans up the City!

Capitalism is a John Cleese parrot.

Let’s give it stick and not a single carrot!

Bollocks to the dealer, the broker, the lender -

Social justice back on the agenda

Radical stylin’ going on here

Smoked Mammon sarnies and really good beer

For the poor no fear, for the rich no pity

When Attila the Stockbroker cleans up the City!

Demonstrators gather as MEP's back caps on carbon emissions from power stations

As MEPs met to decide on a range of climate change issues in Brussels, protestors campaigning against the construction of 50 coal fired power plants held a lively demonstration outside the parliament under the slogan, No More Coal.

Stefan Singer, Director Global Energy Policy, World Wildlife Fund explained what they were asking for, “We want the policymakers, especially in the Parliament to address the emerging threat of coal. Coal is coming back in a big way, it is cheap and abundantly available, but it is the biggest offender to the climate system. It has the highest emissions and it is dirty. We need to do something this if we want to take climate change seriously.”

He denied that he was anti-coal, but suggested that putting a cap on emissions would force power generators to look for ways of using cleaner coal in a more efficient way and developing renewable energy sources. MEPs were also asked to look into co-ordinating the European power grid to make it more responsive and efficient.

The European Parliament's environment committee voted to supply billions of euros to help test carbon capture and storage technology (CCS), something Stefan backs, saying if CCS works then there is a future for coal.

Interview with Stefan Singer (mp3 4.02mb 8:47)

Photos of the demonstration

From left to right: Mrs Gordon Brown, Mrs Sarah Palin, Mrs Rupert Murdoch

Will she reply to this one?

Dear Ms Mikko,

I, and other bloggers, have contacted your office on numerous occasions, to try to arrange a meeting to discuss your proposals on identifying and quality marks for bloggers. We have not had any response at all.

I hope that you would be willing to meet me in Brussels to discuss your proposals. As you would expect, we are naturally concerned, not only about how some of the proposals are intended, but also their practicality.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Notorious euroskeptic blog, England Expects, run by Gawain Towler, UKIP Press Secretary has been gagged after breaching the staff code of conduct. This seems to be a bit of a ruse as the explanation given is that his blog is 'ironique' and 'eurosceptique'. Could he have been targetted because of his humerous blasting away at the EU institutions?

Why can EC Vice President Margot Wallstrom blog and not Gawain Towler?

Additionally, Euro MEP Marianne Mikko is trying to introduce legislation to make bloggers identify themselves and add a 'quality mark'. We've repeatedly asked to meet her and discuss the proposals, with no reply from her office.

In the Guardian Timmy Garton Ash has a review of the Bush years, demonstrating how this great patriot has destroyed his own nation. From hubris to nemesis indeed.

Robert Fisk a horrifying interview with Sami al-Hajj, the al Jazeera cameraman who was imprisoned in Gitmo for six years. According to him the main aim of the interrogations was to get him to spy on al Jazeera. "How much is al Qaeda paying al Jazeera?" One of the questions repeatedly put to him.

Meanwhile St Tony's ambition to be the saviour of the Middle East is failing. A recent report on the Quartet describes it as having "a vaccuum of leadership".

Finally, on the US $700 billion bailout bill being prepared for congress. Where did the figure of $700 billion come from?

The Lib Dems continue to emulate the Monster Raving Loony party by remaining uninterested in power. Although many like the broad thrust of their policies there has been an institutional ambition to, well, not be ambitious.

Nevertheless, they do hold the most interesting leadership contests and do add to the gaiety of the nation. We're pleased to read that Lembit Opik is standing for President, to take over from Simon 0898 Hughes.

Ruth Kelly is to step down in order to spend more time with her cult family. Funny how she chose to announce it just after Gordon's speech.

 In a story, dated 7 September, I accused Gordon Brown of scraping the bottom of the barrel by linking up with Jeremy Kyle.

I would like to apologise for this accusation.

This is Gordon scraping the bottom of the barrel.

 And so, Palin is finally allowed to answer questions from a tame interviewer and we get to see why she's being kept in a box. In short, she makes Dan Quayle look like a statesman and she has an arrogance fromed from ignorance.

As for qualifications, I've met more Heads of State than she has, and I've travelled abroad more than once.

But how dangerously mad is she?

And it gets worse.

 Today, I attended a meeting on Georgia and the EU, organised by the Centre for European Policy Studies. During a break I managed to get an interview with Ghia Nodia, the Georgian Minister for Education.

I also came accross two interesting papers, Post-Mortem on Europe’s First War of the 21st Century by CEPS Michael Emerson and Ghia Nordia's The war for Georgia: Russia, the west, the future

The interview is here (mp3 6:28 min 2.96MB)

It seems that the EU visit to Moscow has been quite successful: Russia agrees to a deadline for withdrawl

 We would like to congratulate Rachel North, a friend of Blairwatch, who is currently in New York. She's going to address the UN at a forum on supporting victims of terrorism. She's also having dinner with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

 Oh dear God, just how low can New Labour go? Here's the latest example of the policy vacuum and lack of strategic thinking. They're planning to pay for a TV series that will encourage people to get off the dole and go into work. The show will be fronted by Jeremy Kyle. It's is provisionally titled Jeremy Kyle Gets Britain Working

I cannot imagine anything more inappropriate. Kyle has made his name by exploiting and bullying people who are frequently uneducated or inarticulate.

Jeremy Kyle's screen behaviour is that of a clinical psychopath.

Here's an article about the filming of his Christmas DVD. To see the government team up with Kyle is genuinely disturbing.

 The McCain campaign has decreed that Palin won't do any interviews, only scripted speeches. Hardly shows faith in her and is it right that a potential VP not give interviews or answer questions?

Alaskan Airways are entering a boom period as a swarm of lawyers and journalists head north to sniff the air around the Palins. Certainly enough has come out that backs up my thoughts that she will break the campaign, indeed there are hints that all is not well in the GOP.

I'm not going to comment about her daughters' pregnancy apart from saying that, according to studies abstinance-only sex education just doesn't work and now Palin has an example in her own family. Will Palin still advocate this failed policy and abuse anyone who wants a less dogma driven education? Of course she will. Choosing a wrong course and sticking to it regardless is a hallmark of the true Conservative.

But McCain needed a true Conservative. His choice was Lieberman but that wasn't going down well with Conservatives because of his pro-abortion stance. Palin ticked all the boxes and, it appears, her vetting was as minimal as it was speedy.

There are numerous scandals and the more they dig, the more they will find.

I would expect that many better qualified women in the Republican party will be feeling miffed at being passed over and there are murmerings of discontent. The McCain campaign has come out swinging at just about everyone for asking impertinent questions about his VP pick, claiming they're the victim of a smear campaign. Yes, the people who brought you swiftboating are whining when the focus is turned on them.

Choosing Palin will be the undoing of the McCain campaign, it was done quickly and without the proper thoroughness or consideration. As such, it is a damning indictment of McCain's poor judgement, a choice that is coming undone after some Northern Exposure.