Are the wheels really coming off the wagon, or am I just being over-optimistic ..... ?

Ah, but it's all in "good faith", so that alright...

The same thing is happening in thr States with Bush. Even his supporters are bailing.

Moreover, the ruling classes of both countries, I think, are deciding Bush and Blair are extremists and bad for business. And that's the unpardonable sin, being bad for business.

I'm starting to think the same. This opinion poll must be making some people extremely worried. And that was before Safety's latest spectacular.

And the hand clapping at Patsy today was a joy to behold. It brought a tear to my cynical eye, so it did. If the local election results are as bad as everyone thinks they'll be, it might just be the last straw (and the last of Straw too if we're really lucky).

Two shags Prescott!

Clarke is essentially a shadow man and its irrelevant whether HE stays or goes. The point is what happens now?

In the wake of the recent EU report re CIA rendition/torture flights, there is no getting away from the fact, acknowledged or not, that what took place constituted actions proscribed by the EU Human Rights code, the nearest thing to a Bill, or rather a Charter, of rights with the full complicity of EU Governments. Both Italy and Germany have shied away from pursuing extradition of CIA operatives at this stage. What is UK going to do?

While polizeros is right that both bush and blair (bliar?) have lost credibility, that by itself is neither here nor there unless more effective systemic deterrence can be implemented against future receurrence of such abuses. The general awareness in the US remains low on this issue and outrage is confined to a minority. The US electorate is essentially very very ignorant that a world exists outside the reach of American noses. Nor is the country capable of leadership on this or any other ethical issue. That leadership has to come from outside USA.

The same applies re global warming. The US public complains of having to pay just over $1.00 per litre (no excise taxes here) but looks for scapegoats,like 'price gouging'. My heart bleeds! What is price gouging? Global oil supplies are up by 3%. There is, however, no set magic formula linking supply and demand to prices. Prices are what the markets can get away with.

A country that is hellbent on exporting inequalities in the name of trade liberalisation, fails to control budgetary and current account imbalancs, is forever reliant since its earliest days on slave labour both at home and abroad, pursues military invasions to line the pockets of corporate oligopolies, eliminates anti pollution measures to reduce the cost of running gas guzzlers, is essentially talking through its nether end.

It has never occurred to the collective US psyche that fiscal measures are effective strategic policy tools. If such fantasyland histrionics as using GM corn to reduce oil imports do materialise, its real benefit will probably be a reduction of Montasanto's dumping of GM corn in Mexico and continued impoverishment of Mexican farm workers crossing the border (11m?) to make a living at below $3.00 an hour with no healthcare provisions, sick or recreational leave.

US is a country that believes in a dream but not the reality. The fact that in the richest country in the world, 41% (up from 28% in 1999) of the population has no health cover and that it ranks below the first five in the world re infant mortality, hardly register. It has lost a historic city. Apologists call this a necessary geographic redistribution of regional disparities since Katrina forced the dispersal of economic losers to more affluent centres!

Don't you think you could include Ruth Kelly to that list?

Does that leave any of the top team not on it?

I referred earlier to the recent report by the European Parliament's Temporary Committee on the Alleged Use of European Countries by the CIA for the Secret Transport and Illegal Detention of Prisoners. The report is available in French only at :
http://www.europarl.eu.int/comparl/tempcom/tdip/default_en.htm

My French is less than good. Here's an attempt to summarise the major issues raised by the report:
# the information is sufficient to establish that serious and inadmissible violation of fundamental rights have taken place in the EU that violate not only the Chicago Convention but also national, EU and international law
# there is a lack of any or adequate legislative checks in the Member States to prevent such use of EU airspace and airports for illegal actions
# the CIA is clearly responsible for abduction, detention and extraordinary rendition, including but not exclusively of EU citizens
# the behaviour of some member States has not been appropriate
# while some EU governments were likely to have been unaware of extraordinary rendition, it specifically refers to evidence of active collaboration by Swedish and Bosnian officials in such renditions
# all EU Member States are responsible even in case of passive cooperation or if they fail to prevent secret arrest and/or detention and the report refers to findings of the Venice Commission in this regard.
In conclusion the report asks for better control on activities of foreign secret services in EU States and EP remit to continue its investigations.

Cem Oezdemir, the Committee's Vice Chair, and fellow Green EP Member Kathalijne Buitenweg issued the following statement:
"We welcome the strong line taken by the interim report in denouncing the violations of fundamental rights that have occurred on EU territory as a result of furtive and illegal CIA activities. It is a major shortcoming, however, that the report goes soft on Member States, which were either actively or tacitly complicit in these abuses.

"It is important to openly condemn those Member States, which were unwilling or failed to exert control over the illegal activities of the CIA in their jurisdiction. It is unacceptable that certain Member States are resisting calls to investigate the legitimate allegations of illegal flights on their territory.

"The refusal of some Member States to cooperate with the EP inquiry is repugnant and highlights the limits of the temporary status of the committee. If the Parliament is to ensure that the violations are properly investigated and complicit authorities are outed, the temporary committee must be transformed into a genuine Committee of Inquiry."

The CIA and the US administration have refused to cooperate with the Committee to date. Oezdemir will be vising USA to seek CIA cooperation although that is likely to fall on deaf ears. His statement above refers to lack of cooperation from EU Member States. IS UK one of these uncooperating states?

It is important to lobby EP represeantatives to ensure that the Committe be allowed to continue its work and to transform its status into a EP Committee of Inquiry that the EP delegates cannot obfuscate into oblivion.

However much one may personally disagree with Blair's divine lunacy, it is important to focus on issues that matter beyond partisan political divide. Remember, it is likely that an anti Labour vote is likely to translate into a Conservative victory and that Cameron is already committed to downgrading UK's EP role.

It is also worth considering that without grassroots civic action from bloggers like the Blairwatch team among others and amateur plane spotters' photographs, the Temporary Committee itself would not have been convened.

Ah yes - the god-bothering Educashun supremo - she deseves a place too, and that is just about a full-house. Excepting, of course, Gordy Broon, who seems to be keeping his head well down - I wonder why !

Steve bell.Shagger Prescott

Iain Dale is predicting Prezza to resign by the weekend:http://iaindale.blogspot.com/

Anonymous : Contrasts : 26th April.

Leon : Prescott will only resign if someone can prove he has breached the ministerial code - has he used his position to further his position? as it were.