GSK, the iconic Bad Pharma giant, has had it's arse well and truly kicked in the US for witholding clinical trails data for the dodgy diabetes drug 'Avandia'. GSK was fined $3 billion+ in the US and has since settled out of court in the US with numerous victims who have suffered heart attacks/problems caused by Avandia.
So, what about Avandia victims in the UK? GSK has decided to make UK citizens fight in court for similar complaints that have been settled out of court in the US. Double standards or what? Why has GSK decided to play tough in the UK when it rolled over in the US? This is partly to be explained by the fact that our Tory Governement has changed the rules on legal aid so that 'medical negligence' cases no longer qualify. Therefore it's down to 'no win no fee' lawyers to take the cases. Perhaps someone should call the Police about these fuckers?
'Thousands of families in the UK could be deprived of compensation for the death or harm of a relative caused by the diabetes drug Avandia, even though the British maker has agreed to 'pay billions of dollars to settle similar claims in the US.
'The licence for Avandia was revoked in Europe, in September 2010, because of evidence that it could cause heart failure and heart attacks. The drug can still be prescribed in the US, but not to patients at risk of heart problems.
A scientist with the Food and Drug Administration estimated that Avandia could have been responsible for 100,000 heart attacks in the US.
'The manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, has admitted concealing data about the damaging side-effects of the drug, and there is evidence of the drug's harmful effects. But, despite this, GSK is not prepared to settle claims in the UK without a court fight.' (Guardian article).
The tired myth of the 'non-meddling monarchy' is in tatters tonight, as even a snivelling, complicit No. 10 has failed to stop secret papers showing the level of influence our un-elected head of state and her idiot son has over the running of our country. When we have to put up with an un-elected monarchy being protected by a semi-elected government what chance has democracy in the UK got? We send people to die in Afganistan in the name of 'democracy' and we have to put up with this shit. Enough, Republic, NOW!
'The extent of the Queen and Prince Charles's secretive power of veto over new laws has been exposed after Downing Street lost its battle to keep information about its application secret.
'Whitehall papers prepared by Cabinet Office lawyers show that overall at least 39 bills have been subject to the most senior royals' little-known power to consent to or block new laws. They also reveal the power has been used to torpedo proposed legislation relating to decisions about the country going to war.
'The internal Whitehall pamphlet was only released following a court order and shows ministers and civil servants are obliged to consult the Queen and Prince Charles in greater detail and over more areas of legislation than was previously understood.
'New laws required to receive the seal of approval from the Queen or Prince Charles cover issues from higher education and paternity pay to identity cards and child maintenance.
'In one instance the Queen completely vetoed the Military Actions Against Iraq Bill in 1999, a private member's bill that sought to transfer the power to authorise military strikes against Iraq from the monarch to parliament.
'She was even asked to consent to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 because it contained a declaration about the validity of a civil partnership that would bind her.' (Guardian article).
Prince Charles of the 'black-spider letters' is not shy in spewing his opinions on a range of issues. Funny that one of his little lobbying campaigns to ministers seems to be remarkably silent on the hot topic of large companies avoiding tax. Not so funny when you see his main cash-cow the Duchy of Cornwall does not pay corporation tax. Why is this the case, when quite obviously the Duchy is a "company" that, at the very least, makes overpriced biscuits? Well, the Duchy of Cornwall claims it is not a "separate entity for tax purposes". So let me see, Prince Charles and the Duchy of Cornwall are one in the same thing, and he just sells all the biscuits that he can't eat or throw to his servants as a a spin-off. I wonder if Cameron and the rest of the Eton posh boys will go after Charles with the same gusto that they've shown for the likes of Starbucks, Google and Amazon?
'HM Revenue & Customs has been asked to investigate alleged tax avoidance by Prince Charles's £700m hereditary estate.
'The duchy of Cornwall last year provided Charles with an income of £18m and HMRC's anti-avoidance group is now being asked to examine its non-payment of corporation tax following a potentially significant court ruling on its legal status.
'The issue has been raised by an accountant investigating the tax affairs of the duchy - an agricultural, commercial and residential landowner.
'He has analysed the impact of a judicial ruling handed down last year. Anti-monarchy campaigners claim it shows the duchy is running "a well-entrenched tax avoidance scheme".
'The duchy insists it "is not subject to corporation tax as it is not a separate legal entity for tax purposes". But John Angel, principal judge at the information rights tribunal, ruled last December it was a separate legal body to the prince.
'Accountants now believe the ruling could leave the duchy exposed to the 24% levy on profits other organisations must pay. Any change to its tax status could result in a cut to the prince's income.
'Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state, has asked HMRC's anti-avoidance team to investigate whether the ruling means the duchy is now "using a highly questionable interpretation of its legal status as a means of avoiding corporation tax obligations"'. (Guardian article & Republic commentary).
I love hard facts that stick it to the god-squad, and they don't get much harder that the census for England & Wales. People who claim to be Xtian have nose-dived, whilst people who say that they have no religion has risen to 1 in 4 and it also appears that the Jedi have had a really successful recruitment drive. I wonder when Xtians will ditch the rosary for light-sabres.
'Findings from the 2011 census for England and Wales have revealed the number of people who say they are Christian has dropped dramatically from 72% to 59%. The figures published today by the Office for National Statistics also show the number of people who say they have no religion has risen from 15% to 25%.
'The number of people defining themselves as Jedi Knights was 176,632; atheists 29,267, agnostic 32,382; humanist 15,067; Freethinker 513.' (National Secular Society article).
A succinct article from George Monbiot detailing some depressing examples of the pointless consumer-fest that Xmas is, ensuring that even in a mega-dip recession we can keep on consuming our way to sawing off the branch that the human race sits on.
'Researching her film The Story Of Stuff, Annie Leonard discovered that, of the materials flowing through the consumer economy, only 1% remain in use six months after sale. Even the goods we might have expected to hold on to are soon condemned to destruction through either planned obsolescence (wearing out or breaking quickly) or perceived obsolesence (becoming unfashionable).
'But many of the products we buy, especially for Christmas, cannot become obsolescent. The term implies a loss of utility, but they had no utility in the first place. An electronic drum-machine T-shirt; a Darth Vader talking piggy bank; an ear-shaped iPhone case; an individual beer can chiller; an electronic wine breather; a sonic screwdriver remote control; bacon toothpaste; a dancing dog. No one is expected to use them, or even look at them, after Christmas day. They are designed to elicit thanks, perhaps a snigger or two, and then be thrown away.
'The fatuity of the products is matched by the profundity of the impacts. Rare materials, complex electronics, the energy needed for manufacture and transport are extracted and refined and combined into compounds of utter pointlessness. When you take account of the fossil fuels whose use we commission in other countries, manufacturing and consumption are responsible for more than half of our carbon dioxide production. We are screwing the planet to make solar-powered bath thermometers and desktop crazy golfers.' (Guardian article).
So an over-priveleged woman who has married into the royal family has been promoted from a mere clothes horse to a sausage machine. The royal response to all this is go into panic mode and quickly change the act of succession (something that campaigners have been urging for decades) so that any resulting girl-sprog can wear some metal and gems on her head. The real insult, aided by the snivelling David "I'm sure they will make great parents" Cameron is that the change is dressed up in a cloak of 'equality'. Still, with the country falling apart at the seams, I guess the Eton posh boys in charge are desperate for anything to take peoples' minds off of the fact they they can't afford to heat their home this winter.
Graham Smith over at 'Republic' has, as usual, nailed all the equality bullshit. (Republic article).
A bunch of ex-NASA executives have formed a company with the objective of landing on the moon. Money well spent...
'A team of former NASA executives has launched a private venture to send two people to the Moon for $1.4bn (£871m). Golden Spike Company says it will use existing rocket and capsule technology, and will aim for a first launch before the end of the decade. The firm is one of many new private firms hoping to follow the success of Space X, which has ferried cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).
'The US became the first and only country to reach the Moon in the 1960s. But costs and waning interest have prevented any other lunar mission. US President Barack Obama cancelled a planned NASA return to the moon, saying the US had already been there.
'Golden Spike, run by former NASA associate administrator Alan Stern, says it is looking into offering voyages to the governments of other countries - such as South Africa, South Korea and Japan - expecting interest for scientific research or national prestige.' (BBC News article & Golden Spike website).
The Tories have said in public that they will clamp down on tax avoidance, and to this end their slime-ball-in-chief George Osbourne has stated that tax avoidance is 'morally repugnant'. However, it looks like our duplicitous Tory Government is ensuring that the wealthy can happily evade tax all they want by signing dodgy deals, or 'Rubik Agreements', with the tax-haven of Switzerland, therby undermining serious European attempts to get the rich to pay their fair share in tax. Does anyone seriously believe that the Tories, who after all exist to keep the rich rich, will ever effectively clamp down on the tax avoidance of the wealthy?
'In August last year, Switzerland threw a huge spanner into the works. It signed bilateral tax deals - "Rubik Agreements" - with Germany and Britain, based on a very different principle: wealthy people with Swiss accounts can preserve their secrecy and, instead, merely pay a one-off, withholding tax on assets, and a bit of future income. "Trust us," say Swiss bankers - who have centuries of form helping the world's wealthy get around the rules of civilised society.
'The British tax authorities promised it would yield a tantalising bounty: a one-off £4-£7bn for cash-parched, austerity Britain. But the deals are riddled with catastrophic loopholes, some so egregious as to amount to signs planted in the text saying: "Evade me here". You can skip around them with discretionary trusts, foundations, insurance wrappers, offshore companies and more - or just shift your wealth to Singapore.' (Guardian article).
People like me often get branded 'aggressive secularists' (a badge of honour) by the various brands of god-squad, whose claptrap we so often have to listen to. They then accuse aggressive secularists of 'marginalising their faith'. Really? Well this week, with all the stuff about the Church of England allowing only men to wear frocks, I think the god-squaddies in the C of E have done a fine job themselves of 'marginalising their faith'. In fact, I think any secularist, agressive or otherwise, would love to have been able to bash such a massive nail in their coffin.
As I've puffed my pipe this week whilst reading reams of serious stuff about what will happen to the C of E etc, I stumbled across a short video that, in under 4 minutes, puts it all in perspective. Funny and wise words for all of us...
Once again Sam Harris deploys his incisive intellect discussing near-death experience or NDE. In doing so he puts the boot in simultaneously to Newsweek magazine and neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander.
'The latest NDE to receive wide acclaim was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine. The great novelty of this case is that its subject, Dr. Eben Alexander, is a neurosurgeon who we might presume is competent to judge the scientific significance of his experience. His book on the subject, Proof Of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey Into The Afterlife, has landed atop the New York Times paperback best-seller list. As it happens, it displaced one of the best-selling books of the past decade, Heaven Is For Real - which is yet another account of the afterlife, based on the near-death adventures of a 4-year-old boy. Unsurprisingly, the two books offer incompatible views of what life is like beyond the prison of the brain (as colorful as his account is, Alexander neglects to tell us that Jesus rides a rainbow-colored horse or that the souls of dead children must still do homework in heaven).
'Having now read Alexander’s book, I can say that it is every bit as remarkable as his Newsweek cover article suggested it would be. Unfortunately, it is not remarkable in the way that its author believes. I find that my original criticism of Alexander’s thinking can stand without revision. However, as he provides further “proof” of heaven in his book, there is more to say about the man’s mischief here on earth. There is also a rumor circulating online that, after attacking Alexander from the safety of my blog, I have refused to debate him in public. This is untrue. I merely declined the privilege of appearing with him on a parapsychology podcast, in the company of an irritating and unscrupulous host. I would be happy to have a public discussion with Alexander, should it ever seem worth doing.' (Sam Harris article).
It is no secret that Prince Charles abuses his position of influence and power routinely to meddle in the politial affairs of the UK. This meddling often takes the form of writing self-interested letters to ministers. The British people forever hear the lie that the royal family, and particularly the monarch, are 'politically neutral'. The other great lie is that the royal family and monarch have no 'real' power. So, this week in brazen demonstration of these lies, the establishment has closed ranks in the form of the Attorney General blocking the disclosure of Charles' letters to ministers following a FOI request from The Guardian.
These issues are serious, as we allegedly live in a democracy, and in a withering editorial, The Guardian hits the nail on the head.
Big Pharma megalith GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have announced that they are going to mend their ways when it comes to suppressing inconvenient data from their clinical trials. GSK has already had a $3 billion (just how much money do these fuckers make?) fine this year for peddling dodgy drugs in the US. Fortunately, Ben Goldacre -'The Bad Science Boot Boy' - is on the case and he will no doubt make it his business to keep an eye on the goings-on at GSK. Expect to hear more about this story...
'Briefly: today, several people have asked for my response to this story in the Guardian, celebrating GSK’s promise for more transparency on their trial data.It is always good to hear a drug company making promises, and I hope that GSK will stick by the commitments they have made today.
'But we should judge drug companies by their actions, not by their promises, especially when similar promises have been made in the past, and then broken.
'In 1998 GlaxoWellcome promised to set up a clinical trials register, amidst outcry over withheld trial results. But when the company merged with SKB to create GSK, in 2002, this register was unceremonially deleted from the internet. This tragic story is described in an excellent open access article on this history of attempts to get access to hidden data, by Iain Chalmers.' (Bad Science article).
'Crazy Cull' should be the name of a death metal band, but in the weird world we inhabit it is Government policy. Lord Krebs - the government's own science adviser - has said that the planned badger pilot culls are simply 'crazy'. The original extensive scientific study into TB in badgers concluded that culling badgers would at best only make a marginal difference to TB in cattle, and at worst could even make the situation worse. Ignoring the science, an ignorant Government pandering to ignorant farmers will start killing badgers very soon in pilot areas down in South West England. The science says that efforts should be placed on vaccination and biosecurity measures. But of course that would involve thought and some effort for our poor subsidised farmers; and besides where's the fun in that for gun-totting rednecks who will be bailed out by the taxpayer come what may?
'The scientist whose research is being cited by the government to justify its plan to cull badgers in England has described the scheme as "crazy".
'Lord Krebs spoke to BBC News after the government's environment advisory body Natural England has issued a culling licence to a consortium of landowners in Gloucestershire.
'The cull is intended to control the spread of TB in cattle.
'A second licence will be issued to farmers in Somerset within days.' (BBC News article).
Anyone remember the dear old Countryside Alliance that was set up about 10 years ago to help save rural Post Offices and ensure decent jobs and affordable rural housing for low-paid rural workers, etc? Well it looks like they've never had it so good. Pity about the rural Post Offices, decent jobs, affordable rural housing and low-paid rural workers though...
'Ten years ago, the hills of Britain glowed with 500 beacons to signal a campaign for "liberty and livelihood" in the countryside. About 400,000 descended on London in chartered trains and buses, hunting horns blaring and whistles shrieking in the biggest demonstration since the poll tax disturbances of 1990: the aristos from their country estates; the poorer workers at their gates; and the nouveau hunting and shooting set.
'"Listen to us," they screamed outside Westminster. Parliament didn't. The Hunting Act, ostensibly banning hunting with dogs, received royal assent in 2004, with a majority of MPs ignoring claims 16,000 jobs would go as a direct result, and hundreds of hounds destroyed. As I reported for the Guardian at the time, quoting respected rural academics ruthlessly criticised by a newly formed Countryside Alliance, the claims were alarmist in the extreme.
'Few, if any, jobs have been lost. The hunters keep hunting, albeit their hounds sometimes following trails of either aniseed or a concoction replicating fox scent. Foxes are still destroyed legally by shooting and illegally or otherwise by hounds that can't be diverted from following their traditional quarry. And who can prove - here's the crux of the act - whether an animal was "intentionally" killed or not? It's a legal minefield.' (Guardian article).
Even if you are not a rail geek, or you are someone who never uses the trains you should still read this. Why? Because your taxes continue to fund the privatised rail companies; to a tune of about 4 times more than when the railways were in public ownership.
Anyone remember the privitisation of BR back in 1994? It was the most cynical of all the Tory privatisations. We heard all the bullshit about competition and private sector investment that would free the taxpayer of the 'burden' of dear old BR. So what has happened? The list is long and woeful: an intergrated system was broken up, with arguably a worse safety record with some notable train crashes; public subsidy has increased massively; we had the Railtrack fiasco; train fares have rocketed and a lot of expensive paint has been slopped about on garishly painted trains. Also, and to their eternal shame, the last Labour Government did little to undo the damage. The end result - as the Tories wanted all along - is that a shed-load of public money has been shovelled into the pockets of their private pals in return for an expensive and crap rail system.
Just this week the great train robbery has continued apace as we have had the disgusting fiasco of the westcoast mainline franchise collapse that will cost the taxpayer anywhere between £40-£100 million, with slimey politicians blaming Civil Servants for getting the sums wrong.
Of course there is a simple answer to this: a publicaly owned, funded and accountable railway.
When you go to your doctor do you assume he/she prescribes medicines to you based on what the best thing is to fix what is wrong with you? Or maybe they prescribe just what the best deal is for the NHS? Some doctors do one or both, many don't. A lot of doctors fall foul of the corporate megalith known as 'Big Pharma' and it's massive marketing machine. Many doctors are willing participants working with the Big Pharma machine because they get to go to Acapaulco and drink free cocktails. Having worked for a good while - much to my eternal shame - for Big Pharma, I was so glad to see the new book Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre published. It pours withering fire on a multi-billion pound industry that exists to pay its own greedheads rather than find effective and reasonably priced cures to human diseases. Don't be surprised if we hear about Ben Goldacre being found dead in a skip somewhere...
Ben Goldacre: 'My new book Bad Pharma is out today. It describes how drug companies harm patients, around the world, by distorting evidence on an industrial scale. More than that, it shows how doctors, academics, and regulators have all failed to fix these problems. Bad practices have been perpetuated, because the public have not understood the true scale of the disaster. If this book is not ignored, it will make certain current public positions from industry, and from regulators, untenable. That will be the beginning of fixing the problem, and for the rest, I need your help.' (Bad Science article).
Ever heard of HFT? No? Well, it stands for 'High Frequency Trading' also known as 'Robot-trading'. Put simply HFT is super-fast computer trading used in the financial markets. It seems though that HFT has been problematic in the past; even according to people within the financial sector, HFT is "socially useless" or encourages "predatory trading" practices. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has legislated to put limits on HFT because it can go wrong or can facilitate the kind of financial skullduggery that wrecked the world economy. Not surprisingly the Tories (more than half of their funding comes from the finanial sector) did their best to water down the HFT by using a bent panel to assess the legislation. At the same time, the Tories are also opposing a Europen Financial Transaction Tax, or Robin Hood Tax. So it looks like, as anyone with half a brain knows, this appalling Government is never going to allow real reform of the financial sector when it is funded by the spivs who fucked everything up in the first place.
'Fifteen years ago the computer program Deep Blue made headlines around the world by beating chess giant Garry Kasparov. In the years since, computer algorithms have quietly gone on to dominate large parts of the financial markets.
'Computer-driven trading now accounts for 70 per cent of trading in the US equity market, 36 per cent in the UK. Machines fire tens of thousands of trades a second, relying on state-of-the art technology and proximity to stock exchanges to shave microseconds off transaction times.
'Yet tiny errors in the algorithms can have devastating consequences. During the infamous "Flash Crash" of 2010 the Dow Jones index dropped nine per cent in a matter of minutes. Over the summer Knight Capital - a leading New York HFT (high frequency trading) firm - erroneously swamped the stock market with errant trades, wiping $440m from the firm's value.' (New Statesman article).
Down in Northumberland the County Council has decided that kids going to Catholic schools should get a free bus pass and a separate bus whilst the non-god-squad kids have to pay for their bus. I'm no lawyer but I thought there were laws against stuff like this?
'Northumberland County Council has introduced a new policy for school buses in which Catholic children get a free (and separate) bus to the local Catholic schools while non-Catholics attending the same schools have to pay (and go on another bus).
'The scheme is costing the council £90,000 a year (less fares from non-Catholic children) and has been widely condemned by parents and teachers alike.
'The policy was described as "apartheid" by one parent, Cherie Nelson, who hails originally from South Africa. She said she would try to get the council's decision overturned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.' (National Secular Society article).
Good news this week from Swiitzerland. A Swiss university study has shown that mainstream religions are 'haemorrhaging members' - particularly the Catholics and Protestants - as people embrace a more secular state.
'A large-scale study of Swiss attitudes to religion has been carried out by the University of Lausanne. They discovered the same trends of secularisation occurring in Switzerland as in the rest of Europe.
'The mainstream churches in Switzerland are dwindling, society is becoming increasingly secularised and there is a growing polarisation between conservative and liberals on the religious spectrum.
'Interestingly, the secularisation process is also happening among young Muslims.
'The two main churches, Roman Catholic and Protestant, are both haemorrhaging membership and even those who remain in the fold feel "distanced" from the church and retain only a superficial attachment.' (National Secular Society article).
Sam Harris is one of my all-time heroes; he is a rare beacon of forensic-light when it comes to analysing world religions and demolishing their collective nonsense. In this excellent piece he nails the recent hysteria surrounding the allegedly 'anti-Muslim video', and the US Government's response.
'The latest wave of Muslim hysteria and violence has now spread to over twenty countries. The walls of our embassies and consulates have been breached, their precincts abandoned to triumphant mobs, and many people have been murdered - all in response to an unwatchable Internet video titled “Innocence of Muslims.” Whether over a film, a cartoon, a novel, a beauty pageant, or an inauspiciously named teddy bear, the coming eruption of pious rage is now as predictable as the dawn. This is already an old and boring story about old, boring, and deadly ideas. And I fear it will be with us for the rest of our lives.' (Sam Harris article).
Thanks to the excellent work by the likes of the folks at Farmsubsidy.org, a lot of light has been shone into the murky world of the 'Common Agricultural Policy' or 'CAP' in recent years. Recently, however, following some legal shenanigans on behalf of the farm-subsidy junkies, more than half (55%) of this years CAP payments - that total a staggering 54 billion Euros - have been kept secret or 'redacted'. The CAP secrecy for the UK is a disgrace: 94% of farm-subsidy recipients and 75% of funds have been redacted. Considering that the CAP costs the average UK household £245 a year you are entitled to be pissed off. I am.
'Farmsubsidy.org, the pro-transparency group of journalists and activists, meeting in Brussels this week, has expressed its dismay at the reversal of transparency in EU funds.
'The group estimates that fewer than one in ten beneficiaries of EU farm subsidies has been published this year. The total value of payments published is €22 billion, or 45 per cent of the annual CAP budget of €54 billion.
'The backsliding on transparency has come in the wake of a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union which states that EU rules on transparency were ‘invalid’ because of concerns that publication of data on payments to private individuals (‘natural persons’) would violate their right to privacy. It seems some member states are using a very broad definition of ‘natural person’ to keep as much data as possible from entering the public domain.
'Following the ruling, the Commission has been consulting widely on a new law, considering all the arguments in favour and against transparency in public funds. However, the new law has not yet emerged, even as EU institutions are now deciding on the long term future of the CAP.' (Farmsubsidy article).
A highly detailed, and very expensive, 10-year study into the effectiveness of killing badgers to prevent the spread of bovine TB has concluded that the cull would not only be ineffective but could actually make matters worse. In response to their own report the Government, under pressure from the Farmers (the paramilitary wing of the Tory party), has decided to completely ignore the science and allow 'licensed culling' of a normally protected species. This madness has irritated various groups of animal rights activists to disrupt the culls. Meanwhile the supermarkets are also under pressure and Tesco has come out in support of the crazy cull - a move it may regret.
In a contest where I would normally want them all to lose, a glimmer of hope has appeared. Yes, we could have an Archbishop of Canterbury called 'Archbishop Cocksworth'! The big cheeses of the established C of E are presently gathered at a secret location (possibly to avoid a drone strike?) for 3 days to pick the new AB of C. However, my prayers are unlikely to be answered and if I was a betting man my money, sadly, would not be on the Bishop of Coventry...
'Who will succeed Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury? The Crown Nominations Commission is meeting to decide who will take his place, and at the end of its deliberations the 19-strong committee - which includes bishops, priests and lay people - will give the prime minister the name of its preferred candidate and a second choice. Here are some of the contenders to lead the Church of England.' (BBC News article).
Poor old Baroness Warsi. She's just been booted out of the cabinet in the recent reshuffle only to be resurrected as "Minister for Faith and Communities" - a position only slightly less demeaning than Chairperson of the Tory Party. Still, I am trying to understand why the Government (and the opposition for that matter) is playing the faith card so vehemently of late, when all the indicators are that most folk these days would rather pray at the temple of Tesco's on a Sunday morning. Whatever the reason, the sound people over at the National Secular Society are on the case...
'Many will write it off as red meat being thrown to the raving fundamentalists on the back bench of the Tory Party, but the appointment of Baroness Warsi as "Minister for Faith and Communities" is potentially threatening for secularism.
'She recently held a meeting with the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, in which he took the opportunity to repeat to her the patently untrue mantra that "faith plays a central role within society and in building a cohesive society."' (National Secular Society article).
Our friends over at 'Republic' have a new campaign on the go to abolish the Duchy of Cornwall. The amounts of public money being trousered by our royal parasites is breathtaking...
'The Duchy of Cornwall is a landed-estate covering over 53,000 hectares over 23 counties. It acts as a property developer and landlord and is a cash-cow for prince Charles, giving him a personal income of over £18m a year.
'The Duchy is not the property of Charles or the Queen. Parliament has decided to let Charles have the profits from the Duchy and to run the Duchy as he likes.
'Charles is well known for his political meddling, for lobbying government ministers and public officials - in secret - on a wide range of issues. His opinions are listened to.' (Republic article).
Once again our unelected and allegedly powerless (if you believe the monarchists' guff) Head of State is caught out meddling in the political affairs of our country. This time the Old Lady was waxing lyrical to a BBC journalist about a terrorist suspect over tea and crumpets. The other disturbing side to this story is the BBC's grovelling apology. Why is it that the BBC, usually sound on most issues, just collapses into fits of deference when it comes to all things royal? Of course there is a simple answer to this problem: let us elect a proper Head of State and give them proper powers so they can do a proper job for our country...
'Republic has today called on the Queen to keep out of politics and has criticised her comments on Britain’s extradition laws as a cynical PR ploy.
'The Queen has waded into the debate on extradition laws by making it known to the BBC that she raised doubts about the legal process for extraditing Abu Hamza to government ministers.' (Republic article).
For the ever dwindling band of German Catholics the harsh truth of this increasingly corrupt organisation has been brought into sharp focus. If a German Catholic opts out of paying their 'Church Tax' (at an amazing 8% of their tax bill) then the good old Catholic Church - ever quick to take a dump on any dissenters - will withdraw the 'benefits' of being a Catholic. So, effectively the Catholics are now running a protection racket (alongside child exploitation, gay-hating, etc) presided over by Mr. Ratzinger playing Godfather in The Vatican. Its a funny old world, unless of course you are misguided enough to still believe that the Catholic Church is anything other than a sinister business...
'Germany’s Roman Catholics are to be denied the right to Holy Communion or religious burial if they stop paying a special church tax.
'A German bishops’ decree which has just come into force says anyone failing to pay the tax - an extra 8% of their income tax bill - will no longer be considered a Catholic.
'The bishops have been alarmed by the number of Catholics leaving the Church.
'They say such a step should be seen as a serious act against the community.
'All Germans who are officially registered as Catholics, Protestants or Jews pay a religious tax of 8-9% on their annual income tax bill. The levy was introduced in the 19th Century in compensation for the nationalisation of religious property.' (BBC News article).