Gromits hit back

Steve Pound MP is in a spot of bother.

His splendid prose as the sketch-writer's sketch-writer was marred by one misheard word. He compared the voice of Professor David Crystal to that of the 'Late Peter Sallis'.  What he meant to say was the 'Great Peter Sallis.'

A huge Sallis fan base struck back. The  Gromit Appreciation Society (yes there is such a thing) were outraged. How dare Stephen exile their hero to oblivion? It was all a sad error and I hear that the 88 year old Sallis is hale and hearty.

Stephn has promised to send the full unedited version of his sketch. It will be all be published here in all its luscious details.

Callous cynicism

Someone  broke the rules.

Last week there was a meeting of the UK Defence Group under strict Chatham House Rules. The information can be relayed outside but the source of the information must remain a secret.

But the source was revealed. It was General Sir Richard Dannatt who had criticised the Government at what was described as a private dinner for Tories last week. It was not a private Tory event. These dinners are all-party.  I attended another one tonight.

Senior Labour figures have accused the head of the army of  playing politics as he said that there were too few troops and helicopters in the Afghan war zone. A Labour minister said:  “General Dannatt has crossed an important line. He is playing a high-risk game.”

I agree. For very good reasons in the past the  convention was for Government and opposition to publicly agree at wartime. Now the Tories are cynically pretending that if more troops and helicopters had been available, lives of our soldiers would not have been lost. That is not true. Oppositions and Government share the blame for a strategy that had unachievable aims. That is what killed our brave soldiers and will continue to kill them.

This is cruel callous opportunism for political ends by the Tories. It's effect will be to further torment the bereaved and deepen their grief.

 

 

Liberation brings fear

 

EDM 1859

 

AFGHANISTAN

AND HUMANITARIAN AID

13.07.2009

Flynn, Paul

That this House is appalled at the theft and waste of most of the $25 billion aid provided for

Afghanistan

, only 20 per cent. of which reached its intended recipients; notes the great increase in the number of new Afghan millionaires and billionaires in Kabul, including members of President Karzai's family, while poverty is deepening elsewhere; regrets that after eight years of generous Western aid, Afghanistan has the world's third highest child mortality rate and the world's second highest maternity mortality rate; and further regrets NATO's uncritical support for the endemically corrupt Karzai government.

EDM 1858

 

AFGHAN POLICE

13.07.2009

Flynn, Paul

That this House is deeply concerned at the evidence that the Karzai Afghan Police Force is deeply corrupt with a record of endemic heroin abuse, brutal extortion and sexual exploitation through the foul practice of bachabazi; and welcomes the independent journalism of Reuters in reporting the statement of an elder of the Helmand village Pankela that if the police were to return and behave in the same way, villagers would support the Taliban to drive them out.

EDM 1857

 

HUMAN RIGHTS IN

AFGHANISTAN

13.07.2009

Flynn, Paul

That this House condemns the deteriorating human rights record of President Karzai; regrets his refusal to pardon a young man sentenced to 20 years in prison for accessing an internet article on women's rights, while pardoning a group of young men guilty of gang-raping a 13 year old girl; notes his support for a new law that legalises marital rape; applauds the suspended Afghan woman MP and human rights' prize winner Malalai Joya who said that the rights of women in Afghanistan now are worse than under the Taliban; and regrets NATO's uncritical support of Karzai's regime.

Signatures( 1) Yesterday

Status

Yesterday in Parliament

Tobias Ellwood:……  I have nothing but praise for our forces working in Helmand province. ……….Let me ask the Secretary of State what will happen when the fighting stops and Babaji is declared clear. What is our plan for reconstruction and development? I asked a series of senior officers and not one of them had any idea of what was going to happen once the bullets stopped flying.

Bill Rammell: ………. On nation building and reconstruction, we are committed and we are increasing the capacity of the Afghan national army, the police, the courts and the judicial system to spread the authority of the Afghan Government. That is the right approach.

Paul Flynn (Newport, West) (Lab): When the bullets stop flying, the hated Karzai police will move back in with their dreadful record of exploitation of the population, extortion, robbery, drug use and drug trafficking. Worst of all is the practice of “bacha bazi”, which is the sexual exploitation of young boys. How is that a way to win hearts and minds?

Mr. Ainsworth: My hon. Friend has strong views, which he has expressed over a period of time. Let us not deny that the situation in Afghanistan is less than perfect. We have to strive to improve it, but some of the abuses perpetrated under the Taliban regime when it was in power were utterly appalling and pretty comprehensive—and still are in those areas where the Taliban hold sway. My hon. Friend, I would have thought, should temper his views with regard to the Karzai Government.

Paul Flynn (Newport, West) (Lab): President Karzai has refused to reduce the 20-year sentence on a man sent to prison for accessing a document on the internet about human rights, yet he has given a full pardon to some young thugs who gang-raped a 13-year-old girl. Is it no wonder that Malalai Joya, a human rights award winner and Member of the Afghan Parliament, has said that human rights under Karzai are worse than under the Taliban? Also, is it right that we should ask our young men to put their lives at risk in support of Karzai’s thuggish police and his mediaeval view of human rights?

The Prime Minister: Yesterday I raised the question of the family law being enacted in Afghanistan, as I have on many occasions. We want to make it absolutely clear that we can support only legislation that guarantees basic rights, particularly those of women in Afghanistan. I urged President Karzai to look at any amendments that were necessary to protect basic women’s rights, particularly the rights of under-age girls in Afghanistan. He assured me that this was what he would do, and I shall be able to report back to the House when asked.

Comments

[DG]

I won't be drawn into discussing my position, Huw. I asked my elected representative a perfectly reasonable question, and I don't think it's too much to expect an answer, even if that answer is "haven't got a clue."

[HuwOS]

And in return DG perhaps you can explain how we can do either of those, with feet on the ground, not to mention helicopters, missiles and bombs.

[DG]

Paul, I'm still not quite clear on what you're proposing should be done here. You agreed we have a moral obligation to do our best to protect the people of Afghanistan from both the whims of warlords and the oppression of the Taliban. I don't see how we can do that without feet on the ground.

Can you explain?

[Paul Flynn]

Thanks. I would no more contemplate leaving the Labour party than I would think of announcing that I am no longer Welsh. It's a core part of me. I have a far stronger and deep-rooted claim to be 'of the Labour Party' than most members of the Cabinet.
Yesterday in the private meeting with the Foreign Secretary, I could talk at length not just to Daivd Milliband but to many other labour MPs who are open to have their minds changed on this subject. If I had not been there, no-one would be putting the arguments I am making in the three EDMs. This is crucial. Opinions must be changed.

[patrick]

It's not that perplexing Jolly that a man who delivered leaflets for Jim Callaghan as a young boy in the 1940's should still be a member of the Labour party at aged 74.
The question in mind is -
If Labour can only aquire and maintain power by adopting right wing tory policies then what is the point of the party?
Should the tories take the next election by storm the irony will be that nobody will notice any difference.

[John]

THis is the problem we have when Politicians are unable to see that there understanding of a situation is based on their own mental construct which bears little realtionship to the reality of the situation. Its to keep our streets safe it stops the terrorists at the source the usual rhetoric we hear everyday no evidence to back this up and the total opposite is the case.
Our actions in Afghanistan are building up hatred that will take many years to dissipate it is acting as a recruitment drive for the taliban. And remember the perpetuators of 9/11 where Saudi's not form Afghanistan and the London Bombers where home grown.
How long Politicians will be able to sustain this dysfunctionality is any bodies guess. Yet each day they do, furthur deaths and suffering occurs.

[Jolly Roger]

How can you, Paul, remain the kin,
Of this Party of lies, bullsh*t and spin?
The rattish Ainsworth's response to you,
Tell's you exactly what you can do.
"Temper your views"? The second word was 'off',
From Ainsworth, contender for King of the Trough.
Not a mention of the Bacha Bazi Boys,
I expect he didn't want to make a noise.

The same can be said of Brown Tongue Brown,
Who ignored the points that you'd clearly put down.
He was too happy to listen to Karzai's assurances,
Than mention the Pederast Police's abhorrences.
He clearly saw these wicked acts,
As an obstruction to his version of the facts.
I puzzles me how you can remain a part,
Of a party that's simply lost it's heart.