The New New-labour leader Ed

Ed Miliband Quotes; Sir Michael Black-Feather letter to Gordon Brown;

In it he warns of cost of living 'crisis' Labour leader Ed Miliband has warned of an impending "crisis" as the cost of living outstrips wage rises for people on low and middle incomes which were pointed out three years ago by Sir Michael.

Miliband in a speech he said people were working "harder for less" because of long-term changes to the British economy.

The coalition's cuts strategy was about to "crash" into those trends and hit those on modest incomes, he said.

The government blames Labour for the UK's budget deficit which it says put Britain in the financial "danger zone".

Mr Miliband was addressing the Resolution Foundation, a think tank which suggests wages for low and middle earners have failed to keep pace with wider economic growth since the 1970s.

The Labour leader said while working people had once benefited from rising prosperity, now the richest continued to do well while "middle earners" were no longer guaranteed to benefit.

The majority of people had been "struggling to keep up", and a "quiet crisis" was unfolding in homes across the country as people were "locked out of the benefits of economic growth".

The Labour leader argued that the demand for cheap credit had helped bring economic instability: "Because wages weren't keeping up with the pressures on families too many were forced to borrow to finance their living standards."

The New New-Labour leader

He said Labour was "wrong for not taking into account of what Sir Michael had said; not to focus more on the type of economy we were building and what that meant for the widening gulf between those at the very top and the rest".

But he said they had taken action through tax credits to help families - and argued that the coalition's "reckless strategy for deficit reduction" was about to "crash into these long-term trends".

Mr Miliband said a single-earner couple on £44,000 a year with two children "sounds well off" but would be hard hit by the loss of their child benefit. (Sir Michael said well Ed their still far better off than those of low incomes or disabilities benefits? With rent rising, the cost of food and the cost of fuel going up by the day, at least on 44k a year the cuts you make will be the luxury ones, on 12k a year the cuts to make, brings you to near poverty?

Ed said the rise in VAT combined with the scrapping of child benefit, cutting the childcare element of working tax credit and public service cuts would hit families with children: "Taken together I believe these changes will mean a cost-of-living crisis for ordinary families in Britain which will have a deep impact for years to come".

And he suggested companies could be rewarded with tax incentives to pay staff a "living wage" - higher than the minimum wage - and encouraging companies to invest in training their employees to help them get on.

'Squeezed middle'

In a BBC interview he defined the "squeezed middle" as "people who are basic rate taxpayers - some people just into the higher rate of income tax on 40-odd grand" who had seen their wages flatten while their cost of living rose.

Last week US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he was "very impressed" by Chancellor George Osborne's financial strategy and earlier this month the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said the government should not relax its plans for spending cuts and tax rises.

Prime Minister David Cameron argues that if the UK's budget deficit is not tackled, it would lead to a loss of confidence and the UK could end up with the sort of economic problems faced by Greece or Ireland.

The Labour peer and former cabinet minister Lord Mendelsohn has said in his book that Mr Miliband had given "no strong clue" about Labour's direction under him, during the Labour leadership contest last year. Lord Mendelsohn, one of the architects of New Labour, also said Mr Miliband had been unwise to declare the concept dead.

But Mr Miliband told the BBC New Labour was "right for its time" but "we need new ideas for the future, we need things building on some of the things Peter Mendelson did to build industrial policy for our country so we have those high-quality manufacturing jobs in our country".

"We need to look at new approaches and that is what I am trying to do as leader of the Labour Party."

England Traffic jams ,and pothole, you've been here?

Councils in England spending millions on potholes, about two million potholes were repaired in England last year, why because they not heard the word called preventative-maintenances?

Many types of council have had to increase spending on road repairs and compensation over potholes - despite cuts to their budgets, The London Times research has found.

The Local Government Association said roads had been under-funded for years and called for long-term investment.

The Department for Transport said it was investing £3bn in roads which they always say their investing in roads but we see very little done as like the A27, A24, A259 in Sussex which has had for years bottle necks and jams and every year around the local elections time? Promises are made but nothing every gets done.

Under a BBC project, The Road Ahead, councils across England were asked how much they were spending on road repairs following spending cuts.

Most had maintained or increased their spending on road repairs, despite having to make tough choices over cuts to council jobs and services, the research found.

The Local Government Association (LGA) warned in January that councils would face a "huge struggle" to repair holes after the coldest December in 100 years.

Potholes form when water seeps into road cracks and freezes, breaking up the tarmac.

The association estimated councils had filled in more than two million potholes following the winter of 2009-10 and faced a similar task this year.

LGA transport chairman Peter Box said this was at a time when the government had cut its funding to councils' road budgets by £165m.

However, last week the government announced it was giving councils an extra £100m to deal with potholes, the same amount as it had given the previous year.

Continue reading the main story 

BBC News: The Road Ahead

But some council say they will be struggling to cope.

Knowsley Council said its road maintenance budget for 2011-12 would not cover the work needed.

"The effects of the past two winters has placed a large burden on the council's highways maintenance budget," a spokesman said.

A frequent theme to emerge from the research, carried out using Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, was the "backlog" of repairs that councils said was necessary as well the general state of roads.

Warwickshire County Council said "like most highway authorities" it had a backlog of road repairs which it estimated would cost £25m to £30m to fix.

"The highway authority could benefit from additional funding which would allow the backlog to be reduced. However in support of wider economic pressures, additional funding is unlikely," a spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Kent County Council said at least £250m would need to be spent to keep roads in the county at a good standard.

Paul Carter, leader of the Conservative-run council, said: "The government grant has gone down about 20% for highways.

"We will still focus on highways maintenance and we're spending £40m to £50m, which just about lets us hold water."

'Drop in ocean'

And Surrey County Council, which is hosting next year's Olympic cycle race, said about £400m needed to be spent to bring its roads up to scratch.

However, other councils believed they would be able to cope with potholes and future repairs despite budget cuts.

 Many councils said they had a backlog of repairs

Conservative-run East Sussex County Council said it was confident it would fill about 20,000 existing potholes, despite a £1.5m reduction in its highways budget from £25m to £23.5m.

Some councils have also seen the amount they have paid out in compensation over potholes increase.

Cumbria County Council said it had paid out nearly £1m in three years, while York City Council has spent £16,580 on compensation this year compared to £1,050 in 2008-2009.

The LGA has welcomed the announcement of £100m extra funding but said this was a "drop in the ocean" as it would cost about £9.5bn to put roads across the UK into a good state of repair.

David Sparks, leader of the LGA's Labour group, said there had not been enough money invested in roads for about 25 years.

"The problem is getting worse," he said.

"We just have to spend the money - it's not a question of finance but of sheer necessity."

'Value for money?'

Paul Watters, head of roads policy at the AA, said roads were built to be waterproof but became weaker over time.

"Three bad winters have really shaken the fabric of the roads and put extra pressure on many roads which were already vulnerable," he said.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said councils should stop "bleating" for more funds

Mr Watters said as well as replacing some roads which were more than 80 years old, new technology was needed to make road surfaces stronger.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said it was "certainly the case" that last winter had created pothole problems, but said the government was putting £3bn into highway maintenance over the next four years.

However, he said some councils had, over many years, themselves under funded on road maintenance and should manage their budgets wisely.

Mr Baker said: "Local authorities of course will always want more money but what we have a right to say as a government, and what you have a right to say as a taxpayer, is are you getting value for money from the money that is being spent?

"I'm not sure in every case that is true."

Libya starts to come apart.

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Unrest will always come when people live under dictatorship, after a while all will want to be free, and when you get enough people sticking to gather as one, mountains can be moved as we now see in Libya, as Libya’s dictatorship now wages counterattack on rebels, and the battles now rage on.

In Benghazl Libya the street battles raged in two rebel-controlled cities this Monday, as the Libyan government mounted a counter-attack aimed at blunting recent gains by the opposition, Libyan and rebel officials said.

Rebel commanders reported that Libyan Air Force Migs conducted at least two bombing runs in the east, while government soldiers retook a major oil refinery.

The ground assaults were aimed at Misurata and Zawiyah, two important breakaway cities near Tripoli, the nation’s capital and principal stronghold of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

In Zawiyah, London Times reporter JG, said in a telephone report, around 200 heavily armed soldiers, backed tanks and artillery approached from the East early in this morning. “ He said I’m afraid there will be a massacre here and he wanted to get this message out, The youth have gone off to protect the entrances of Zawiyah and I’m trying to get out now before it’s too late” and then his line when dead?.”

The London Times spoke with Musa Ibrahim, a Libyan spokesman, said that 10 soldiers were killed in the fighting in Zawiyah today. There were no immediate reports of casualties among the anti-government forces.

An international campaign to force Colonel Qaddafi from power gathered pace on today as the US Obama administration announced it had seized $30 billion in Libyan assets and the European Union adopted an arms embargo and other sanctions. As the US began repositioning Navy warships, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton bluntly told the Libyan leader to surrender power “now, without further violence or delay.”

In a direct challenge to claims by rebel military leaders, who have asserted that Libyan Air Force pilots were no longer taking orders from Colonel Qaddafi, two Libyan Air Force jets conducted bombing raids this Monday. One was to an unspecified site south of here and was repulsed by anti-aircraft, senior military officers in Benghazi said. Another raid, near the eastern city of Ajdabiya, may have aimed at an ammunition depot or a military base. The oil refinery that rebels said was retaken was at Ras Lanuf, along the coast in the east.

Still, the rebel’s spoke of tapping revenue from the vast Libyan oil resources now under their control estimated by some oil company officials to be about 80 per cent of the country’s total.

Seeking to increase pressure on the Libyan ruler, the prime ministers of France and British PM Cameron echoed Mrs Clinton’s call for Colonel Qaddafi to go. Germany proposed a 60-day ban on financial transactions.

Italy’s foreign minister on Sunday suspended a nonaggression treaty with Libya on the grounds that the Libyan state “no longer exists,” while Mrs Clinton said the United States was reaching out to the rebels to “offer any kind of assistance.” (Gun’s and bomb’s which is very typical of the US when there is oil to be had?)

France said it was sending medical aid. Prime Minister François Fillon said planes loaded with doctors, nurses and supplies were heading to the rebel-controlled eastern city of Benghazi, calling the airlift “the beginning of a massive operation of humanitarian support for the populations of liberated territories.”

Across the region, the tumult that has been threatening one autocratic government after another since the turn of the year continued unabated. In Yemen, protests drove President Ali Abdullah Saleh to make a bid for a unity government, but the political opposition rapidly refused. An opposition leader, Mohamed al-Sabry, said in a statement that the president’s proposal was a “desperate attempt” to counter major protests planned for Tuesday.

In Bahrain, protesters blocked access to Parliament, and in Oman, whose first major protests were reported over the weekend, demonstrations turned violent in the port city of Sohar, and spread for the first time to the capital, Muscat.

The international diplomatic campaign focused on Libya was offset by mounting worries of a building humanitarian crisis as tens of thousands of mainly poor contract workers stood in lines to leave Libya for its neighbours, Tunisia to the west and Egypt to the east.

The United Nations refugee agency called the situation a humanitarian emergency as workers hefting suitcases of possessions stood in long lines to leave Libya, many of them uncertain how they would finally get home.

Mr Fillon told the RTL broadcaster that the French government was studying “all solutions to make it so that Colonel Qaddafi understands that he should go, that he should leave power.” British Prime Minister David Cameron declared: “It’s time for Colonel Qaddafi to go.”

In the face of such calls, the Libyan authorities blamed Islamic radicals and the West on Monday for a conspiracy to cause chaos and take over the country.

At a news conference for foreign journalists invited to Tripoli, the government spokesman, Mr Ibrahim, denied reports that Colonel Qaddafi’s loyalists had turned their guns on hundreds of civilians. “No massacres, no bombardments, no reckless violence against civilians,” he said, comparing Libya’s situation to that of Iraq before the American/British-led invasions in 2003.

But Mr Ibrahim insisted that Libya still sought some kind of gradual political opening as suggested by the colonel’s son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi.

“We are not like Egypt or Tunisia,” the spokesman said. “We are a very Bedouin tribal society. People know that and want gradual change.”

Reporters told him that, on Sunday, they had visited Zawiyah, 30 miles from Tripoli, and saw no evidence of Islamist forces. “They knew you were coming,” the spokesman said. “They were hiding those with an obvious Al Qaeda look.”

The visit came a day after defecting officers in the east of the vast; desert nation took steps to establish a unified command while their followers in the rebel-held city of Zawiyah, just outside the leader’s stronghold in the capital, displayed tanks, Kalashnikovs and antiaircraft guns.

Mr Ibrahim said reports of massacres by government troops were analogous to those suggesting that Saddam Hussein had developed unconventional weapons in Iraq, suggesting that they were designed as a reason for military attack.

“The Islamists want chaos; the West also wants chaos,” he said, maintaining the West wanted access to Libya’s oil and the Islamists wanted to establish a bridgehead for international terrorism. “The Iraq example is not a legend — we all lived through it. Doesn’t this remind you of the whole Iraq scenario?” he said.

Later this Monday, the authorities, keen to show calm prevailing, took some reporters on a tour that included Roman ruins at Sabratha, 40 miles west of Tripoli, where a pro-Qaddafi crowd chanted slogans. Afterward, a member of the crowd was asked by a London Times reporter whether he had been paid to demonstrate in favour of the government. “Yes,” he replied, suggesting that he harboured sentiments other than those he had chanted in the slogans supportive of Colonel Qaddafi. “And, believe me, we will get our freedom.”

The official Libyan arguments have become familiar as Colonel Qaddafi’s opponents seem to gain ground. Referring to Libya, the head of the human rights body, Navi Pillay, demanded in a speech on Monday that: “The rights of the protesters must be upheld and asylum seekers, migrants and other foreign nationals fleeing the violence must be protected,” news agencies reported.

In Geneva, Mrs Clinton met with Sir Michael Black-Feather the English first minister and her European counterparts and other senior diplomats to intensify international pressure to force out Colonel Qaddafi.

In remarks to the United Nations Human Rights Council, an organization the United States once shunned because of its inclusion of countries like Libya, she said that the American administration would consider additional measures, but she did not announce any.

Mrs Clinton said; I fully agree with Sir Michael’s statement, that we “all need to work together on further steps to hold the Qaddafi government accountable, provide humanitarian assistance to those in need and support the Libyan people as they pursue a transition of freedom and democracy.

She cited reports of “indiscriminate killings, arbitrary arrests and torture,” as well as Libyan soldiers being executed “for refusing to turn their guns on their fellow citizens.”

“We will continue to explore all possible options for actions,” she added. “As we have said, nothing is off the table so long as the Libyan government continues to threaten and kill Libyans.”

The Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said that in their meeting in a Geneva hotel, he and Mrs Clinton did not discuss military measures, such as imposing a no-flight zone in Libyan airspace.

Later, Mrs Clinton announced that the United States Agency for International Development was dispatching two teams of officials to Libya’s borders in Tunisia and Egypt to assess the need for emergency assistance as thousands of Libyans and foreigners fled the violence inside the country. USAID, she said, has set aside $10 million funds for humanitarian assistance and begun an inventory of American emergency food supplies.

She suggested that American Navy warships in the Mediterranean could provide assistance to future humanitarian missions, but she said their presence did not signal any American military operations. While she said the United States had not ruled out a no-flight zone, senior officials traveling with her made it clear now that the focus of diplomacy remained on economic and diplomatic efforts to isolate Colonel Qaddafi and his inner circle. Turkey was a rare Western-allied voice speaking against the campaign of pressure on Colonel Qaddafi.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking at a business conference in Germany, said: “People should not be forced to pay for the wrongdoings of their administrations. Any sanction or interference that would mean the punishment of Libyan people might cause grave, unacceptable problems.”

Sir Michael suggested that desire for Libya’s oil might warp the judgment of foreign countries as it did when Tony Blair was sitting in number 10.

He said; “No one should calculate over oil wells in these countries, there is the problem,” If we are going to talk about democracy, basic rights and freedoms, and willing to make suggestions, let’s talk about these, not calculate the oil, because the bill, the price of this would be very heavy as we all have seen very clearly in Iraq with the mess Blair left behind.”

In Benghazi, rebels have said that Libyan soldiers had joined the rebels in securing vital oil industry facilities around that part of the country. Some oil industry workers fleeing across the Tunisian border in recent days said they had seen Libyan soldiers fire their weapons to drive off foreign mercenaries or other security forces who had approached oil facilities not far from here.

Hassan Bulifa, who sits on the management committee of the Arabian Gulf Oil Company, the country’s largest oil producer, said Sunday that the rebels control at least 80 per cent of the country’s oil assets, and that his company, based in Benghazi, was cooperating with them. The company resumed oil shipments on Sunday, loading two tankers at a port in Tobruk, Mr Bulifa said. The ships, one bound for Austria and the other for China represented the company’s first shipments since Feb. 10.

Although the revenue from those sales goes the company’s umbrella organization, Libya’s National Oil Company, Mr Bulifa said Arabian Gulf Oil had ceased any coordination with the national company, though it was honouring oil contracts. And he insisted the proceeds would ultimately flow to the rebels, not Colonel Qaddafi. “Qaddafi and his gangsters will not have a hand on them,” he said. “We are not worried about the revenues.”

Baghdad and Tony Blair legacy (The London Times)

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave government ministers 100 days to deliver results and eliminate corruption or be fired, the government announced after an emergency cabinet meeting Sunday.

The announcement follows weeks of demonstrations across the country by protesters angry about unemployment, poor basic services, corruption and a lack of freedom. At least 13 people died in protests Friday.

The prime minister said Sunday there would be investigations into the deaths to determine who started the violence.

The work of every ministry will be assessed after 100 days, al-Maliki vowed.

"Changes will be made based on these assessments," he warned.

Since early February, thousands of protesters have participated in a series of demonstrations across the country, apparently inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

On Saturday, protesters in Samarra defied curfew to attend the funerals of two people killed during protests there, chanting "God is great" and "Down with the government."

Security forces battled some of the protesters and later opened fire to disperse the crowd, wounding at least eight, police said.

Iraqi security forces need to use the maximum possible restraint in dealing with protesters

Demonstrators attacked the city council building and set it on fire in Kubaisa, a small town in Anbar province west of Baghdad, police said.

In Basra, mourners also held a funeral procession Saturday for a protester killed the day before.

Ali Ghaim al-Maliki, the head of Basra's security council, told reporters Saturday that at least 71 people were wounded in Friday's clashes -- including 51 security forces and 20 anti-government protesters.

Most of the injuries in the city, located about 550 kilometers (342 miles) south of Baghdad, occurred during fighting with stones and batons, he said.

In several cities, police said security forces fired at crowds of protesters to disperse them. In Tikrit, police said two protesters were killed and 17 others were wounded during the clashes. In Samarra, two people were killed and seven protesters were injured, police said.

Police said five other demonstrators were killed in the cities of Mosul and Hawijah. Unrest also flared in Baghdad, Falluja, Ramadi and in two towns in the province of Salaheddin.

In a statement released Friday, Human Rights Watch called on Iraqi authorities to investigate the deaths of demonstrators.

"The Iraqi authorities need to rein in their security forces and account for every single killing," said Tom Porteous, the organization's deputy program director. "The security forces need to use the maximum possible restraint in dealing with protesters."

Prime Minister al-Maliki had urged citizens not to participate in Friday's planned massive protests, claiming former members of Saddam Hussein's regime and terrorists were plotting to take advantage of the demonstrations to create chaos in the country.

The Iraqi government was formed in December, nine months after an inconclusive national election. This is the second elected government in the nearly eight years after The British US led invasions of Tony Blair greed in lust of power the devil himself.

Baghdad and the Tony Blair legacy (The London Times)

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave government ministers 100 days to deliver results and eliminate corruption or be fired, the government announced after an emergency cabinet meeting Sunday.

The announcement follows weeks of demonstrations across the country by protesters angry about unemployment, poor basic services, corruption and a lack of freedom. At least 13 people died in protests Friday.

The prime minister said Sunday there would be investigations into the deaths to determine who started the violence.

The work of every ministry will be assessed after 100 days, al-Maliki vowed.

"Changes will be made based on these assessments," he warned.

Since early February, thousands of protesters have participated in a series of demonstrations across the country, apparently inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

On Saturday, protesters in Samarra defied curfew to attend the funerals of two people killed during protests there, chanting "God is great" and "Down with the government."

Security forces battled some of the protesters and later opened fire to disperse the crowd, wounding at least eight, police said.

Iraqi security forces need to use the maximum possible restraint in dealing with protesters

Demonstrators attacked the city council building and set it on fire in Kubaisa, a small town in Anbar province west of Baghdad, police said.

In Basra, mourners also held a funeral procession Saturday for a protester killed the day before.

Ali Ghaim al-Maliki, the head of Basra's security council, told reporters Saturday that at least 71 people were wounded in Friday's clashes -- including 51 security forces and 20 anti-government protesters.

Most of the injuries in the city, located about 550 kilometers (342 miles) south of Baghdad, occurred during fighting with stones and batons, he said.

In several cities, police said security forces fired at crowds of protesters to disperse them. In Tikrit, police said two protesters were killed and 17 others were wounded during the clashes. In Samarra, two people were killed and seven protesters were injured, police said.

Police said five other demonstrators were killed in the cities of Mosul and Hawijah. Unrest also flared in Baghdad, Falluja, Ramadi and in two towns in the province of Salaheddin.

In a statement released Friday, Human Rights Watch called on Iraqi authorities to investigate the deaths of demonstrators.

"The Iraqi authorities need to rein in their security forces and account for every single killing," said Tom Porteous, the organization's deputy program director. "The security forces need to use the maximum possible restraint in dealing with protesters."

Prime Minister al-Maliki had urged citizens not to participate in Friday's planned massive protests, claiming former members of Saddam Hussein's regime and terrorists were plotting to take advantage of the demonstrations to create chaos in the country.

The Iraqi government was formed in December, nine months after an inconclusive national election. This is the second elected government in the nearly eight years after The British US led invasions of Tony Blair greed in lust of power the devil himself.

1000 's English N.H.S jobs to go

Plans to cut over 1,000 jobs at an N.H.S trust in Greater Manchester will have a massive impact on patients, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.

The Pennine Acute Trust, which runs hospitals in Oldham, Bury, Rochdale and north Manchester, expects to have to save at least £45m by April 2012 due to the British government cut in funding English hospitals.

Its chief executive John Saxby said the savings could mean losing 10% of jobs.

Dr JS Bamrah, of the BMA, said: "You simply cannot provide the same level of service with 10% fewer staff."

Mr Saxby said he estimated the trust would have to save £45m, as part of the wider NHS having to find efficiency savings of £20bn.

This could rise once the trust knows what services GPs want to commission, Mr Saxby believes.

He said the savings could not be met by cutting waste or reducing non-pay expenditure and all areas of the trust needed to be looked at to "reduce costs and work more efficiently".

Despite huge job losses and mounting financial problems, the NHS is enjoying "its best year ever" according to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt who’s just returned from Narnia, The London Times; Ms Hewitt best ever year? If losing 1000’s of English jobs and putting English tax payers at risk in shortage of hospital staff, the English tax payers who are paying your wages is what you call the best every year? God save us from you, or did you mean it’s was the best every year for you? In your over paid job and your private health care plan?

British Medical Association said;

As 70% of the trust's budget is spent on wages, up to 1,000 jobs from a total of 10,000 may have to be cut, he said.

Dr JS Bamrah, chairman of the BMA's North West regional council, said: "We don't yet know the detail of which posts will go, but there will undoubtedly be an impact on patients.

"You simply cannot provide the same level of service with 10% fewer staff, even if they are in non-clinical roles."

Sir Michael Black-Feather the English first minister who is presently in meetings in Bahrain; said the job cuts would affect both patients and the local economy.

"It is going to have an adverse effect on services people have in English hospitals and staff morale, and on the wider community, I can think what on earth Patricia meant by having best every year, if laying of thousands of English workers is her idea of the best year, what would be her worst, maybe employing 1000s of people?

"Public sector jobs are very important in Rochdale. These cuts will inevitably have an effect on all the local economy and with posterity’s many of these best every year jobless people losing their homes?

He added: "The Conservatives party said in the run up to the British general election they were going to cut the deficit but not the NHS jobs, and this is a government that’s going to up funding for the EU but cut funding to those they pay it?.

"This latest reduction in the number of jobs in the NHS is more proof they are cutting the NHS."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "The government promised to reduce NHS bureaucracy and plough this money straight back into patient care, and that is exactly what we are delivering.

"Since May 2010, we have thousands more doctors, nurses and midwives - and 2,000 fewer managers.

"Labour opposes these cuts in bureaucracy, just as they oppose our investment in the NHS and our modernisation plans. They would spend less and do nothing."

The Pennine Acute Trust, which serves a population of 800,000, said it hoped compulsory redundancies would not be necessary.

CHINA; Unrest now spreading all over China

Beijing London Times; for the second weekend in a row, anonymous calls by organizers for a pro-democracy demonstration in Beijing were overshadowed by heavy army security presence.

Hundreds of Chinese army and police officers along with more than 120 vehicles flooded Beijing's central pedestrian shopping area, Wangfujing, around the site of a second attempted "jasmine" rally inspired by pro-democracy protests in Tunisia.

There was no sign of protest as the police deployed unusual tactics to prevent demonstrations.

Three foreign press photographers including one of the London Time’s reporters at the scene were beaten by police officers and detained and deported out of the country. Other foreign journalists, including SKY, BBC, and CNN, were manhandled, detained and escorted away from the site.

Unrest is spreading across the world like swarms of locusts, when is England going to be joining the rest of the world’s locusts?

Maybe now with more N.H.S cuts on the way, which was once a New Labour trait and now seems the coalition British government of Tories and Lib-Dems are now following suit?

Major cut’s in England’s N.H.S, looking after England’s own people, but more funding towards the EU in aid to others?

China Beijing and protests and demonstrations in Hong Kong

At Beijing's Wangfujing shopping area, a large number of plainclothes and uniformed police officers circulated the area, which is typically known for being an open area attracting throngs of domestic and foreign tourists. Every entrance to the shopping area was guarded by multiple police officers.

In front of a McDonald's restaurant, the appointed meeting place for demonstrators, a large construction site was erected several days ago following the first attempted demonstrations, directly blocking the open plaza outside the restaurant.

Nearby and very obvious, was a large group 100 plus of orange-cladded street sweepers stood near the appointed protest area with brooms but did not sweep any of the streets no guessing who they were?

When protests were scheduled to begin, two large street-washing trucks began slowly driving through the main thoroughfare, blocking pedestrian traffic and spraying water. Plainclothes police sat in restaurants and storefront windows for hours, observing the surroundings, while uniformed police officers forced journalists and onlookers out of the vicinity.

In Hong Kong, approximately 25 concerned citizens who organized on Facebook gathered in the city centre and carried placards and wore jasmine flower pins.

They gathered in front of the Golden Bauhinia, a statue of Hong Kong's official flower. It is a major tourist destination, especially for mainland Chinese tours.

Placards read, "Freedom and Democracy. End One Party Rule. Push for Political Reform."

One Hong Kong demonstrator, Lam Ng, called for the end of single-party governance. "I don't agree with the Chinese government here," he said. "I don't like the corruption why did the British government betray Hong Kong was a happy place and good place to live before the Chinese took over from the British.”

Meanwhile this Sunday morning, just hours before the demonstration was scheduled to begin, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao participated in his third annual web chat with selected Internet users on Sunday, ahead of China's annual central leadership meeting and legislative session.

Over 25,000 questions submitted were concerns for social stability. He presented several strategies to maintain calm including reducing the urban-rural income gap, increased benefits and opportunities for rural citizens, and eliminating corruption very big words but without any real meanings.

"I always say we should not only make the cake of social wealth as big as possible, but also distribute the cake in a fair way and let everyone enjoy the fruits of reform and opening up," Wen said Sunday morning.

He had no comments to make on the protests for last week or this Sunday.

Efforts to organize an earlier protest on February 20 were deemed largely unsuccessful after casual observers and police outnumbered the few protesters that showed up for the demonstrations.

Anonymous instructions on Facebook, which is blocked in China, encouraged people to show up at central locations in about two dozen major Chinese cities and "go for a walk" together on Sunday. Along with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube continue to be blocked, making calls for action available only to those outside mainland China or to Chinese who have access to virtual private networks with foreign IP addresses.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn, one of the last social networking sites allowed in the country, was temporarily blocked in China on Friday as the government ramped up internet censorship.

This time around, organizers tried to mask the events as "liang hui" -- a Mandarin term which commonly refers to meetings held each March by China's political leadership. The cleverly selected terminology is an attempt by protest organizers to circumvent censorship on popular micro blogs in the lead-up to actual meetings held by the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Words such as "jasmine" in Chinese and "Wangfujing,” the famous Beijing shopping strip where Sunday's demonstrations are set to begin were not searchable on China's most popular micro blog, Sina Weibo, on Friday. The Chinese name of U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr., who showed up at last Sunday's "jasmine" protest in Beijing, is also blocked.

When searching the terms, users see a message that states: "According to relevant laws and policies, search results cannot be shown."

China will follow others and become chaotic, like many other countries?" as like the unrest that has consumed several countries in Africa and the Middle East, Ireland as protesters their demands democracy and a stop to corruption, when is England going to join this unrest is only a matter of time which now ticking away and maybe the cuts in the English N.H.S. will stop the clock of tolerances

Iran is now unloading fuel from Bushehr already defected reactor

In a big setback to its nuclear program, Iran is unloading fuel assemblies from the reactor at a plant already plagued by delays, according to a report issued by the global nuclear watchdog agency.

The Russian Time Bomb ticking or was the meant to be?

The Russian-built plant in the Persian Gulf city Bushehr was expected to produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity and was considered a showcase for nuclear power to be used for civilian purposes in Iran. It was supposed to be operational by the first quarter of this year, but being built by the Russian’s it’s about as much use a LADA car?.

Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, said the fuel removal was only temporary.

"Upon Russia's request fuel will be removed from the core of the reactor in order to conduct a number of tests and carry out technical work," Ali Asghar Soltanieh told the semi-official Islamic Students News Agency.  "After the tests are conducted, the fuel will be placed in the core of the reactor once again."

He said Russia is responsible for completing the plant in accordance with highest safety standards which by going by the Russians record doesn’t really mean much if you remember the Chernobyl disaster?

SPECULATIONS

Speculations going in some press office and other agencies that can’t be named because officially as the don’t really exist (SOG) THE WORLD OPTIONS are; No 1 the Israel’s will bomb it, No 2 the Americas will, or No 3 being that its Russian made, they blow themselves up because they have all the wrong people in the wrongs place pulling the wrong strings, because of their lack of knowledge?

We hope God will intervene for the worlds sake and let them see the error of their way’s, it’s alright having this almighty power machine when you actually know what you’re doing with it, which the Russia’s have show they didn’t, and now Iran as show the same, by trying to cut corners, and when it goes, one or other, which it, just how much of the beautiful Arabians will go with it? Chernobyl was a waning don’t mess with what you don’t under?

Iran began loading fuel into the core of the Bushehr reactor in October after it was launched in August. That came after more than three decades of delays.

Construction started in 1975 when Germany signed a contract with Iran. But Germany pulled out of the project after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran then signed a deal with Russia in 1995, under which the plant was scheduled to be completed in 1999, but the project was repeatedly delayed.

Iran notified the IAEA of the fuel removal since the Bushehr facility operates under the agency's supervision. (What already we have all hear this story before and look what happens in Chernobyl disaster

The United States and other global powers question Iran's claim that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

The IAEA report Friday raised new concerns about the intent of Iran's nuclear program, discussing possible nuclear activities tied to Iran's military "including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile."

Washington, however, has said it was not as concerned with the Bushehr plant.

"Our problem is not with their reactor at Bushehr," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in October. "Our problem is with their facilities at places like Natanz and their secret facility at Qom and other places where we believe they are conducting their weapons program."

British government warns UN Food and Agriculture Organization over funding



The British government is threatening to switch funding away from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization unless its performance improves, said an inside source to The London Times (Is this British government going to be one of the first that  comes to its senses  over funding g others when England is in a deep recession?)

But instead more funding going back in to England, It could go to the World Food Programme, which deals with emergency food aid around the globe, which over half of this funding never actually gets to where it should, by the time it’s gone through corrupted government departments.

The FAO deals with longer term projects, such as providing seeds and tools for agriculture, and the British are reviewing how effective this work is which is about time.

The announcement will be made in a major review of aid spending next week which was prompted by Sir Michael Black-Feather the English first minister, who has always said we should stop all funding to other countries until such time we have sorted the mess out in our own country and once we have achieved this, we would be in a far better and stronger position to help others. Robbing Peter to pay Paul will never work. Yes, it would be very unpopular with some British organisations if we cut funding, but unless we do, soon we won’t be able to fund anyone anyway and England will end up as a third world country. “And you can bet no one’s going to be coming to aid us!” Sir Michael remarked as he was leaving to visit Bahrain, which coincides with David Cameron’s visit to Kuwait.   

As a major aid donor, any cut or change in British funding of UN programmes is likely to have a big impact.

However, the BBC's international development correspondent David Loyn says the government view is that membership is not bringing results and that it might go as far as to cut that membership altogether.

As part of a major review of aid funding to be unveiled next week by Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, and the British government will also announce an increase in aid to individual countries to improve their ability to grow food while some in England starve.

Mr Mitchell is now under pressure to make every penny count as his budget is one of the only parts of government spending that will see an increase this year?

David Loyn says any change to the British aid funding will be significant.

The "British (English tax payers) are the big beast in the aid jungle, which is why these decisions - if they actually go as far as cutting whole programmes or increasing whole programmes in the UN - will make a big difference," he says.



Romania buy one child get another free

Romania has become a major transit for the sale of people into the European Union. Victims as young as 5 years old are trafficked into Romania from destinations as far-reaching as Honduras, Afghanistan, the Congo, and China. Once they reach Romania, many of these victims are assigned for passage beyond into Western Europe.

While Romanian law officially prohibits all forms of human trafficking, the country's strategic geographic location a crossroads between East and West makes it a source, transit and destination country for the people trade. The country's 2007 admission into the European Union brought more relaxed border regulations and enhanced its attraction for international human traffickers.

Sir Michael Black-Feather’s Human trafficking report of 2009 rejected by the British government as nonsense found that organized crime networks also target Romanian citizens for export to other European countries many heading for England to obtain benefits due to the British lax laws allowing anyone in from the EU without any police or security checks? Traffickers commonly use fake identifications and bribe border personnel to bring victims into the country. They then force the victims to work in agricultural and factory production, prostitution, modelling for pornography and street begging and sold to paedophiles across the EU network.

The not for Sale, has identified Romania as an international hot spot for modern slavery. Our team operating on the ground in this Eastern European country intervened in nearly 140 trafficking cases last year alone, with 40 per cent of those involving individuals from outside Romania.

The cases included that of 13 Honduran men and women persuaded to travel to Romania with the promise of helping them find a job. Upon entering the country, Romanian police told our organization, their passports were confiscated and they were forced to work without pay. The Hondurans eventually managed to escape, yet found themselves in a foreign country without identification, resources, or shelter. Not for Sale intervened and helped the victims receive favourable treatment from the Romanian courts and government. The victims recently were repatriated home to Honduras.

By and large, local police turn a blind eye to these crimes and social services for the victims are practically non-existent. In 2009, the Romanian government minimized the role of the country's principal anti-trafficking arm -- the National Agency against Trafficking in Persons -- and allocated scant federal funding to provide victim services and anti-trafficking prevention programs. The Agency says it has "launched three national campaigns and several others at regional level to help raise awareness about the dangers of trafficking in persons" and says the number of Romanians being trafficked has significantly declined.

The burden for addressing human trafficking therefore falls mostly on poorly funded non-profits. Not for Sale Romania, for example, provides survivors with shelter, medical and psychological services, as well as educational and vocational

Cameron and his Arm's dealing Tory Backers?

Cameron Middle East visit 'morally obscene' says Lucas Mr Cameron said it was perfectly right for the British to have a defence relationship with its allies Continue

Arms trade questions dog Cameron hails Middle East changes

David Cameron meets Egypt leaders

David Cameron's recent trip to the Middle East was "morally obscene", Green MP Caroline Lucas has claimed.

The Green Party leader said Mr Cameron had travelled to the region accompanied by a "delegation of arms traders".

Sir Michael Black-Feather the English first minister said; that six of the 20 so called businessmen? On the mojo (Men on jolly outing) accompanying Mr Cameron are from British defence and aerospace firms and the trip comes just days after the British Foreign Office revoked a series of export licences to Bahrain? And Libya? covering tear gas and gun components and thing they wouldn’t want you to know of following the violence in both countries, and I would have liked to be a fly on the wall behind the closed doors to listen to what British arms dealers are doing with the British prime minister, it would be a safe bet to say arms dealers weren’t talking about “not selling arms.

Mr Cameron reply to Sir Michael was, Britain had "a range of strong defence relationships" with countries in the region.

"I seem to remember we spent a lot of effort and indeed life in defending and helping to defend Kuwait, so the idea that Britain should not have defence relationships with some of these countries I don't understand. It is quite right that we do," he said.

Sir Michael’s reply to Mr Cameron, was yes I remember I was there when the s**t was hitting the fan, but I didn’t see David there?

Cameron said we have some of the toughest rules on export licences and exports of arms anywhere in the world. Everything has to meet those rules."

'Legitimate'

The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale, who is travelling with Mr Cameron, said the prime minister believed it was perfectly legitimate for the British to have defence contracts with allies such as Kuwait when equipment sold was used to defend that country's borders, Sir Michael said, that I wouldn’t expect someone from the BBC to say anything different “British Broad Casting” (BBC)

But shadow defence minister Kevan Jones said that while the defence sector was a crucial export industry for the British Goverment, he was concerned about the timing of the trip.

"Many people will be surprised that the prime minister, in this week of all weeks, may be considering bolstering arms sales to the Middle East," he said.

Mr Cameron arrived in Kuwait City from Egypt, where he had met caretaker Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and the de facto leader, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

Mr Cameron walked through Tahrir Square, the centre of the demonstrations that led to the fall of President Mubarak, and met figures from the protest movement, although not representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood - the banned Islamic group which is thought to have widespread public support.

Nearly a third of businessmen accompanying the PM on his trip to Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman were from the defence or aerospace industry.

The government defended the trade mission and said the UK has among the tightest arms sales rules in the world.

The prime minister became the first world leader to visit Egypt since its former President Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office two weeks ago.

He visited Tahrir Square, the focus of the anti-Mubarak protests, and met figures from the pro-democracy movement.

Talking about recent events in the region at her party's spring conference, Ms Lucas described the sense of awe she had felt on seeing "hundreds and thousands risk their lives for democracy and the rule of law".

She said that upon first seeing Mr Cameron in Egypt she believed he was there to "express solidarity with the pro-democracy movement".

But she said her view changed when she realised that senior executives from defence companies were amongst those participating in the visit.

She talked of the "horrifying reality that [David Cameron] was there, in the Middle East, at a time of such violence and unrest with a delegation of arms traders to sell more arms".

"The blatant opportunism of this visit is morally obscene," she told party activists.

In a later interview with the BBC, the Brighton Pavilion MP called the insensitivity of the visit "eye watering" and argued for a return to an "ethical foreign policy".

Labour also expressed concerns about the timing of the trade mission coming as it did amid violent crackdowns against anti-government protests in Bahrain and Libya.

The Foreign Office revoked a series of export licenses to Bahrain and Libya, covering tear gas and gun components, following violence in both countries.

"Democracies have a right to defend themselves," he said.

"The idea that Kuwait should not be able to have its own armed forces, that it is unable to defend its own country and take part in defence trade, is an extraordinary argument."

England’s mess just got worse,

 GDP figure revised going down further

The England’s economy shrank by more than previously thought during the last three months of 2010, new revised figures show.

Gross domestic product (GDP) slipped by 0.6% in the period, according to fresh data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Its initial estimate had suggested the economy had contracted by 0.5% - with heavy snow being blamed for the slump not the bad management of the British governments?

Bad winter weather is now being blamed for the bulk of the England’s economy's contraction at the end of 2010? We heard it all now?

"The snow effected 0.5%. On the basis of that, the economy is still flattish at minus 0.1%. The overall picture is still a flattish underlying economy in the fourth quarter."

The latest US GDP figures for the same period were also released on Friday and also revised down, from growth of 0.8% to 0.7%.

The pound fell slightly after the UK figures were released, to trade at $1.607, down 0.5 of a cent. Against the euro, the pound was unchanged at 1.17 euros.

It wasn't a bad dream. The recovery really did stall in the final three months of 2010, and it wasn't only the weather. That is the most important conclusion to be drawn from today's second round of GDP estimates for the fourth quarter”

The ONS statement said that production industries, which include manufacturing and mining, had grown slower than previously estimated.

The service sector had also contracted by more than first thought, by 0.7% rather than 0.5%, the ONS said.

But the slump in construction had not been as bad, with the output of the industry declining by 2.5% rather than 3.3%.

GDP figures for a particular quarter are produced first as a so-called "flash" estimate, and are later revised at least twice as more detailed information is collated.

Shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, said the latest figures were "disappointing".

"Of course, we should always treat one quarter's figures with caution, but it is not cautious for the Treasury to plough on regardless," he added, accusing Chancellor George Osborne of "being complacent now in refusing to accept that his choice to cut too deep and too fast is holding back our economy and putting jobs at risk".

In England firms have been more reluctant to lay off workers, perhaps fearing it will be hard to find the employees they need when the recovery really gets going. ”

Chief economist, Nationwide UK v US: Which is set to do best?

US growth estimate revised down

However Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, said he expected the economy to recover.

"Of course, as we have said before these figures are disappointing. We have got to deal with the fact that we have inherited an enormous budget deficit - the previous government maxed out the nation's credit card.

"But we have also got to do what we can to support the economic recovery. The early survey data suggests that the economy is able to bounce back and we are going to continue to do everything we can to support that."

One small business lobby group, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said the weak figures meant the government should do more to help.

"We need to see the government use next month's Budget to provide economic stability," said FSB chairman John Walker.

"The government does have tools at hand to help boost the confidence of small firms, such as extending the National Insurance holiday to existing businesses that take on new staff and keeping to its manifesto promise and introducing a fuel duty stabiliser."

Joe Grice, chief economist at the ONS: It is 'a very small downward revision'

The BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders cautioned against reading too much into the revision.

But she added that there was some "bad news" in the figures, especially the 2.5% decline in investment, which is considered an indicator of future business activity.

She added that net trade, once again, had made a negative contribution to the recovery - with exports growing 2.3%, but imports up 3%.

ING economist James Knightley said he expected the economy's poor performance to continue.

"The detail shows that government spending was the only positive growth driver. This is fairly worrying given we know about the wave of fiscal austerity that is now starting to hit England’s economy, meaning that we will soon be starting to see negative figures for this component."

Meanwhile Vicky Redwood, an economist at Capital Economics, said figures showing a worsening economic performance may cause a change of heart among those previously in favour of raising rates.

"The slight downward revision might give the more hawkishly inclined members of the MPC reason to pause for thought," she said.

Documents released on Wednesday showed three of the Bank of England's policymakers voted for a rate rise at their last meeting, with the remaining six Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members voting to keep rates at historic 0.5% lows.

The minutes from the MPC's last meeting stressed that recoveries from recession were rarely smooth, so more weakness would not be unusual.

But it also said growth could pick up in the first quarter if the level of activity returned to normal after the snow, helped along by postponed expenditure.

They also indicated that those who had been against a rise in interest rates this month would consider changing their minds if GDP figures for the first three months of 2010 suggested the economy had picked up.