Neil Clark

Why Russia must hold firm on Syria at the UN

2012-02-02T09:11:00.001Z

Above you can watch me on Russia Today on why Russia (and China) should not give into pressure from the US and its allies on Syria- and why, despite shouting the loudest, the US and its chums don’t constitute ‘the international community’.

More on this story here.

Renationalise English water

2012-01-31T19:29:00.000Z

This article of mine appears over at The Guardian's Comment is Free website.

Neil Clark: The obscene commodification of a natural resource has gone on long enough, ripping off ordinary people

Here we go again. In the past 12 months, we've had significant hikes in our gas and electricity bills (not reversed by recent cuts due to a fall in wholesale prices) and above-inflation increases in train fares – which are already the highest in Europe. Now it's time for the water companies to put the boot in.

Ofwat has announced that average household water and sewerage bills in England and Wales are to increase by an average of 5.7% from April. As in the case with the rail fares, we're told that the reason that prices are rising is to enable more "investment" by the water companies. But a closer inspection is highly revealing.

You can read the whole article here.

The Agenda: Should Cameron scrap the UK's nuclear weapons?

2012-01-29T20:00:00.002Z

Above you can watch me debating the issue on Press TV’s The Agenda programme, along with Bruce Kent, Vice-President of CND and Neil O’Shea.

Belarus regrets the EU's economic sanctions against Iran

2012-01-28T11:35:00.000Z

At least there's one country in Europe not kow-towing to the US and the pro-Israel lobby on Iran.

The Republic of Belarus regrets the introduction by the European Union of large-scale economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, says a statement of the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, BelTA has learnt.

The Foreign Ministry noted that the introduction of unilateral sanctions against Iran can escalate the situation in the strategic region of the Middle East and lead to unpredictable consequences for the entire world.

The economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran have nothing to do with nuclear non-proliferation, but will only deliver a blow to the national economy and ordinary people,” the Foreign Ministry emphasized.

More here.

It’s a bit of a no brainer to work out why the neocons and ‘Israel-firsters’ hate Belarus so much and pump out so much negative propaganda about the country. The great crime of President Lukashenko is not that he’s a "dictator''- he’s not- but that he doesn’t have the ‘right’ foreign policy, particularly in relation to Iran.

Hands off Syria and Iran!: Support Stop the War's emergency protest

2012-01-25T15:11:00.000Z

2 - 4pm, Saturday 28th January, US Embassy
Grosvenor Square
London W1K 2

If you’re able to get to London on Saturday do try and take part in this important event, which has been called by the Stop the War coalition and is supported by UNITE the Union, War on Want, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention on Iran, Friends of
Al-Aqsa, Goldsmiths Student Union and SOAS Student Union.

And anti-war readers based in other countries, please let us know of any similar events taking place in your towns and cities.

Stop the War's Press release says:

The growing threats against Iran in recent weeks have been backed up with increased sanctions. As we know from Iraq, these are a prelude to war, not an alternative to it. There are signs of covert intervention already in Iran, as there are in Syria. Stop the War opposes all military intervention from the west in the region, for which there is absolutely no justification.

A new uprising in Libya?: Anti-government rebels take Bani Walid

2012-01-23T20:05:00.002Z

From the Guardian:

Reports say at least four people killed in clashes between besieged NTC forces and well-organised pro-Gaddafi fighters........

Bani Walid, a former regime stronghold 110 miles south-east of Tripoli, was one of the last to succumb to pro-government forces after the capital fell in August. The latest clashes mark the most significant loyalist attack since Libya was officially "liberated" on 23 October. It appears further evidence of the NTC's weakness, incapacity and internal divisions ahead of supposed national elections later this year.

More on the story over at Russia Today.

The question is: will William Hague, our oh so ‘tough’ neocon Foreign Secretary who’s currently threatening Iran, and the little gang of ‘something must be done’ 'muscular liberals' be calling for NATO intervention to help the anti-government Libyan rebels?

I’m only asking……

Ofcom removes Press TV’s licence: A black day for press freedom on Britain

2012-01-20T20:07:00.001Z

Well, the neocons finally got their way. No Press TV in Britain. In this great ‘liberal democracy’ we can’t have people watching tv stations which put forward an alternative view of Middle East events can we- or which challenge the ‘dominant narrative’ that Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons programme is a ‘grave threat’ to the west.

I wonder what the hilariously mis-named ‘Index on Censorship’ will say about this blatant form of political Censorship. Don’t hold your breath for those highly selective advocates of 'free speech' to denounce it.

Meanwhile you can stick two fingers up at the Britain’s illiberal liberals by watching Press TV here.

More details on how to watch Press TV can be found here here.
Remember, Britain‘s neocons - those bellicose champions of ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ really don’t want you to watch Press TV. All the more reason, I think for watching it. I’ll be tuning in on a daily basis from now on.

Update: George Galloway, the anti-war politician and Press TV presenter, writes:

Champions of liberty the British govt have now taken Press TV off Sky. Follow us at www.presstv.ir and other platforms.

We'll do just that George.

The EU demanded austerity in Romania - now there are riots

2012-01-18T14:22:00.000Z

This piece of mine appears in The Week/The First Post

Neil Clark: Thousands are demonstrating across Romania – is this the start of a European Spring?

ONE YEAR AGO this week, President Ben Ali of Tunisia became the first casualty of the 2011 Arab Spring. Could we now be witnessing in Romania the first shoots of a European Spring?

Over the last few days, the republic in south-eastern Europe – a member of the EU for the past five years - has witnessed large-scale public protests against the government‘s harsh austerity programme.

You can read the whole article here.

"Iran's nuclear scientists are not being assassinated. They are being murdered"

2012-01-17T08:40:00.001Z

On the morning of 11 January Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, the deputy head of Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, was in his car on his way to work when he was blown up by a magnetic bomb attached to his car door. He was 32 and married with a young son. He wasn't armed, or anywhere near a battlefield.

Since 2010, three other Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in similar circumstances, including Darioush Rezaeinejad, a 35-year-old electronics expert shot dead outside his daughter's nursery in Tehran last July. But instead of outrage or condemnation, we have been treated to expressions of undisguised glee..........

western liberals who fall over one another to condemn the death penalty for murderers – who have, incidentally, had the benefit of lawyers, trials and appeals – as state-sponsored murder fall quiet as their states kill, with impunity, nuclear scientists, terror suspects and alleged militants in faraway lands…..

You can read the whole of Mehdi Hasan’s brilliant piece on the shocking murder of Iran’s nuclear scientists here. And shame on those who have cheered on- or tried to justify-the brutal murder of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan.

Rising joblessness in Europe: thanks for nothing, Brussels.

2012-01-13T10:22:00.000Z

This piece of mine appears in The Week/The First Post.

Neil Clark: Collapse of SeaFrance and the ban on Iranian oil prove EU bigwigs are dangerously out of touch

YOU MIGHT think that with 23m people out of work in Europe, the EU and its organisations would be doing everything they could to preserve European jobs and help Europe's beleaguered economies. Think again.

This week there have been three examples of how the EU is working against economic recovery.

You can read the whole of the article here.

Don't believe the myth that Thatcherism 'saved' Britain

2012-01-09T18:37:00.001Z

With ‘The Iron Lady’ playing at cinemas up and down the country I think its timely to link to this piece of mine from 2009, on the neoliberal myth that Margaret Thatcher 'saved' Britain.

And in case you missed it, here’s Seumas Milne’s great piece on Thatcher’s legacy in last week’s Guardian.

Her government's savage deflation destroyed a fifth of Britain's industrial base in two years, hollowed out manufacturing, and delivered a "productivity miracle" that never was, and we're living with the consequences today.

Vaclav Havel and his legacy: A Czech perspective

2012-01-06T16:06:00.003Z

I received this email from a reader who grew up in the former Czechoslovakia. They've very kindly given me permission to publish it in full here.

Dear Neil,

I just wanted to congratulate you on your article:

I grew up in what was then Czechoslovakia in the 1980s and eventually left Czech Republic in mid-90s with my father. I return regularly, and have seen some of the effects of free market capitalism on the country since then.

Although most of the population under Communism wanted a change, it was mainly a) to be able to govern themselves, and b) to have their individual freedoms - ability to travel abroad for example. These were not economic or social motives.

After the initial celebration following the Velvet Revolution, large sections of the society began to mourn the socio-economic value system under Communism, with the Communist party actually increasing its (now somewhat more genuine) support.

My own father, who left because he was very much a Havel follower in the 70s and 80s and an active anti-Communist now lives in the UK and has changed his outlook, now understanding that what was perceived as completely false propaganda about the west and inequality, poverty and wealth hoarding had a grain of truth in it.

I still respect what Havel has achieved in his pursuit of certain freedoms and rights, which were very much lacking under a Communist regime, however the other side of the story, as you have put it, is rarely told. I hope it will be explored more and I was disappointed to see so many ignorant comments responding to the article. I'm sure you have spoken to other Czech people who told a range of stories and I hope mine is in some way a helpful addition.

Help fight fare rises and push for railway renationalisation

2012-01-02T18:21:00.000Z

This piece of mine on the shocking rise in Britain’s rail fares, appears on the Guardian’s Comment is Free website.

Neil Clark: The latest price increases show Tory serial privatisers got it very wrong in the 90s. Join the protests to put things right

“Whichever way one looks at it, privatisation is a giant asset-stripping process. It is a very efficient way of taking money out of taxpayers' pockets". Gwyneth Dunwoody, the Labour MP who uttered those words during a debate in parliament on rail privatisation in February 1995, deserves some sort of posthumous New Year honour for calling it exactly right.

While Tory ministers claimed that selling-off the railways would bring "benefits to passengers and taxpayers", and scoffed at opposition concerns, the latest above-inflation price increases in Britain's rail fares – already by far and away the highest in Europe – shows once more that the serial privatisers of John Major's Conservative government got it very, very wrong.

You can read the whole of the article here.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:14:00.003Z

A very Happy New Year to all readers.

A very Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T18:09:00.001Z

A very Merry Christmas to everyone.

Keep in mind the fact that the Son of Man, the Christ who lived and was executed by the government of His day, was a great leader, and leader of the common people. It was his great message of Love and Brotherhood which brought him to his death. He knew the poor of the earth were oppressed by the rich and wealthy, and in scathing terms denounced the money changers and all those who defiled the Temple and brought suffering to starving humanity.

George Lansbury, 1926.

How Conan Doyle's detective destroyed Jeremy Brett

2011-12-23T13:30:00.003Z

This piece of mine on the late, great Jeremy Brett, appears in the Sunday Express.

With a movie and TV series based on Sherlock Holmes out soon, Neil Clark recalls Jeremy Brett and the sacrifices he made to be the greatest Baker Street detective.

This weekend the latest Sherlock Holmes film, ‘A Game of Shadows’, starring Robert Downey Jnr in the title role, opened in cinemas across Britain. The New Year meanwhile sees the return of Benedict Cumberbatch in BBC‘s series ‘Sherlock’. Overall, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective has been played by more than 70 actors on the big and small screens but for Sherlockians-the hardcore fans of the pipe-smoking Victorian sleuth, one stands out from all the rest for his portrayal: Jeremy Brett.

Brett played Holmes in 36 one-hour episodes and five feature length specials on ITV between 1984 and 1994, programmes which are still regularly broadcast all over the world today. Brett’s Holmes is widely regarded to be the definitive version; the closest to the Sherlock Holmes in the original stories.

Brett was a perfectionist who took his role seriously but he paid a terrible price for his art. In a story as fantastic as any of Conan Doyle‘s tales, the brilliant but melancholy detective took over the life - and mind- of the sensitive British actor who played him.

"Holmes was a shell in which he (Brett) began to live. The dark, cerebral detective sometimes took him over, and the actor and the part he played for ten years eventually became one,” says Terry Manners, author of ‘The Man who became Sherlock Holmes- The Tortured Mind of Jeremy Brett’.

At the time he started playing Holmes, Brett was already a well-established actor. Born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, into a wealthy upper-middle class background in 1933, Brett’s father was the Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, while his mother, Elizabeth Cadbury, was a member of the famous chocolate manufacturing family. After attending Eton, Brett set out to be an actor and made his stage debut in 1954. His most famous film role came 10 years later, when he played Freddie Eynsford-Hill in the classic musical My Fair Lady.

In 1982 he was offered the part that was to change his life. Terry Manners says that Brett’s close friend, the actor Robert Stephens- who had played Holmes in a 1970 film, warned him about the demands of the role. “Don’t bloody well do it! You will go into such a pit to get into that man that you will self-destruct“.

For Brett, however, the challenge of playing the great sleuth in the new Granada tv production was too big to pass up. Brett immersed himself in his new role. He re-read all Conan Doyle’s original stories. The producer of the series and his assistants compiled a 77-page ‘Baker Street File’ on everything relating to Holmes’ habits and mannerisms which became Brett’s Bible. “While other actors disappeared to the canteen for lunch, Brett would sit alone in the set’s Victorian sitting room , thinking about Holmes, fretting about him,. Terry Manners records. “Jeremy was anxious to capture not just the darkness and cerebral power of Holmes, but also the period. Day and night he would sit huddled over history books, trying to recapture the Sherlockian 1890s”.

Brett was determined not only to ape all of Holmes’ mannerisms, but to look exactly like the man he was supposed to be portraying. He grew his hair longer and lost a stone in weight to appear as Holmes appears in Walter Paget’s illustrations. His brother even taught him to smoke a pipe.

Brett’s meticulous performances earned him rave reviews. “Brett’s true brilliance is overlooked not because no one says he is splendid but because everyone does”, wrote Kevin Jackson. Dame Jean Conan Doyle, daughter of Sir Arthur, sent him a letter which said : “You are the Sherlock Holmes of my childhood”. Few knew the stresses that the actor was under however. The death of his second wife Joan from cancer in 1985, pushed Brett into depression. Playing Holmes added to his anguish. “Holmes is the hardest part I have ever played — harder than Hamlet or Macbeth. Holmes has become the dark side of the moon for me. He is moody and solitary and underneath I am really sociable and gregarious. It has all got too dangerous”, he admitted.

After suffering a nervous breakdown, Brett spent eight weeks at the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital in London. He was diagnosed as a manic-depressive.

Brett’s mental torment took a toll on him physically. The lithium which he was prescribed for his depression made him appear bloated. During the filming of the last Holmes series in 1993, Brett, whose heart had been damaged by childhood illness, arrived on set in a wheelchair and needed an oxygen mask. When the programmes were televised, fans were shocked at his physical deterioration. Those who worked on the set with Brett, and who loved him for his generosity and kindness, were greatly saddened at his decline.

Brett died from heart failure in London in September 1995, aged just 61.

“Some actors fear if they play Sherlock Holmes for a very long run the character will steal their soul, leave no corner for the original inhabitant", he said in one of his final interviews.

As the latest incarnations of the world’s most famous detective appear at the cinema and on our television screens over the festive season, let us remember the ultra-dedicated professional who gave everything he had in his ambition to be the greatest Sherlock Holmes of them all.

Let's hear it for Ed Miliband (and not just because it's Christmas)

2011-12-21T08:38:00.005Z

This piece of mine appears in The First Post/The Week.

Neil Clark: Ed has become the equivalent of Stoke City – we're told they have no style but they keep winning

HE'S A 'WASHOUT'. His prospects are "bleak". He's the man "with the word 'Loser' printed on his forehead". He's the geek "who can't even get being a geek right".

Reading newspaper commentators opine about Ed Miliband and his leadership of the Labour Party you'd think that the party had actually lost last week's Feltham and Heston by-election.

In fact Labour won it with an 8.56 per cent swing from the Conservatives. The party's share of the vote increased from 43.6 to 54.4 per cent and its majority rose from 4,658 to 6,203.

You can read the whole of the piece here.

Vaclav Havel: Another side to the story

2011-12-19T15:05:00.001Z

This piece of mine appears on the Guardian's Comment is Free website.

Neil Clark: The Czech leader was a brave man, but the voices of those who lost out after communism's demise are seldom heard

He was the symbol of 1989, the anti-communist playwright who helped free his country – and the rest of eastern Europe – from Stalinist tyranny and who put the countries that lay behind the iron curtain on the road to democracy.

So goes the dominant narrative of the life of Václav Havel, the former Czech president, who died on Sunday aged 75. Havel, we are told, was a hero and one of the greatest Europeans of our age.

But, as with the recent consecration of Christopher Hitchens, another "progressive" opponent of the communist regimes of eastern Europe who found favour with Washington's neocons, there is another side to the story.

You can read the whole piece here.

Iraq: The Supreme International Crime that remains unpunished

2011-12-17T17:40:00.000Z

So the last US troops are leaving Iraq. Supporters of the war would like us to ‘move on’ and forget the illegal invasion- the porkies told about Iraqi WMDs to justify it- and the death and destruction it caused.
But until those responsible for this great crime are brought to justice we must never do so.

It’s timely to remember the words of Robert H. Jackson, Chief U.S. Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials.

To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.

Europe needs an FDR to break the mould and bring prosperity

2011-12-14T11:04:00.001Z

This article of mine appears in the First Post/The Week.

Neil Clark: Under Sarkozy and Merkel, all Europe can look forward to is years of unemployment and falling living standards.

WHILE most of the attention in Britain has been focused on the domestic political implications of the Cameron-Clegg split over Europe, the bigger, more important story is what the EU leaders actually signed up to last week.

You can read the whole piece here.

How I'd stop neoliberalism in its tracks

2011-12-10T11:29:00.000Z

This piece of mine appears on the Guardian's Comment is Free website:

Neil Clark: If I had a Tardis, I'd save the world from the relentless march of neoliberal capitalism by going back to the 1970s

So, we're heading back to the 1970s. Well, at least that what some respected economic pundits are saying.

Of course, they're speaking metaphorically, and in fact the nearest we're going to get to the 70s is watching the regular Thursday night repeats of Top of the Pops on BBC4 and the Saturday night reruns of Dad's Army. But if it were possible to travel back in time to the decade of flared trousers, Opportunity Knocks and Fawlty Towers, I'd set the controls of my Tardis to 1 March 1973.

Here's why.

You can read the whole of the piece here.

Aung San Suu Kyi: It Ain't Half Hot Mum fan

2011-12-09T09:01:00.000Z

I’ve always had enormous admiration for Aung San Suu Kyi. (you can watch a great John Pilger interview with her here). But she’s gone up even more in my estimation now….

Don't Attack Iran: Please sign the Stop the War petition

2011-12-07T10:01:00.002Z

We are extremely concerned at reports that plans are being drawn up for an attack on Iran. The case being made for war on Iran is based on a series of speculations about 'undisclosed nuclear-related activities' reminiscent of the disproven 'intelligence' about weapons of mass destruction used to justify the disastrous attack on Iraq.

The West's attitude to Iran's nuclear weapons is hypocritical and contradictory. The US and its allies remain silent about Israel's covert nuclear arsenal, the only one in the Middle East, while they are tightening the campaign of sanctions against Iran without real evidence......

You can read the whole of the Stop the War petition (which also calls for the lifting of sanctions against Iran), here. Please spend a moment or so to sign the petition, and tell your friends about it too. We can't allow the serial warmongers to initiate yet another war of aggression against an independent sovereign state.
UPDATE: Great piece by Seumas Milne in today’s Guardian: The war on Iran has already begun. Act before it threatens all of us.

The west has Iran in its sights

2011-12-01T17:01:00.000Z

Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya.... and now Iran.

William Hague has denounced the action of the students as a violation of international law. But Iran itself has been targeted for many years by a series of western and UK policies that are gross violations of international law. Repeatedly threatening Iran with a military attack, thinly disguised under the phrase "all options are on the table" and publicly announcing that the west must use covert operations to sabotage Iran's nuclear programme (as John Sawers, the head of MI6, demanded two years ago), are only two examples of the UK's disrespect for the UN charter. It is no wonder that many Iranians believe the UK must have been involved in the assassination of two prominent Iranian nuclear physicists in the past two years.

You can read the whole of Abbas Edalat’s great article on the west’s increasingly aggressive stance towards Iran, and what it is building up to, here.

Abbas is the founder of the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran.
Do try and lend your support to their campaign.

Why private sector workers should support the strike

2011-11-29T08:24:00.000Z

This piece of mine appears in The Week/The First Post.

Neil Clark: Pension cuts are all a ploy to reduce costs so that more public services can be privatised

WHOSE side are you on in Britain's biggest industrial dispute since the 1920s?

The public sector trade unions, who are leading Wednesday's national strike of up to 2.6m workers, say they are fighting to maintain the living standards of their members, who are being hit with wage freezes, cuts to their pensions and a higher cost of living.

Prime Minister David Cameron says that far from being hard done by, many public sector workers will still receive pensions "far, far better" than ones in the private sector.

You can read the whole of the article here.

Craig Murray on Fox, Werrity and Gould and the questions which must be answered

2011-11-27T11:54:00.000Z

Top class investigative blogging from Craig Murray, the former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan.

Take a look at this. Then this. And then this.

It’s good that, after all Craig's digging, the MSM are now asking questions about the Fox/Werrity/Gould meetings.

The neocon elite doesn’t want ordinary people to find out what they’re up to behind the scenes- so bravo to Craig for his persistence.

HAT TIP: John Edwards.

The Trial of George W. Bush and Tony Blair for Crimes Against the Peace

2011-11-21T16:44:00.001Z

Happening now in Malaysia. Let’s hope one day in the US and Britain too.

UPDATE: Bush and Blair have been found guilty.

The charge is proven beyond reasonable doubt. The accused are found guilty. The Tribunal orders that the names of the 2 convicted criminals be included in the war register of the KL War Crimes Commission. And the findings of this Tribunal be publicised to all nations who are signatories of the Rome Statue.

Kauto's star lights up Haydock

2011-11-20T10:11:00.000Z

There’s been some emotional days in National Hunt racing over the past few years.

Best Mate’s third Gold Cup win. Denman’s heroic victory in the 2009 Hennessy, which I wrote about here.

But yesterday’s wonderful performance by veteran chaser Kauto Star, to land the Betfair Chase for the fourth time was right up there. What a sensational, front-running performance. National Hunt racing doesn’t get any better than this.

Syria needs mediation, not a push into all-out civil war

2011-11-19T09:36:00.001Z

Syria is on the verge of civil war and the Arab League foolishly appears to have decided to egg it on. Where common sense dictates that Arab governments should seek to mediate between the regime and its opponents, they have chosen instead to humiliate Syria's rulers…

You can read the whole of Jonathan Steele's excellent piece on the situation in Syria, and why the US and its allies are making the situation worse, here.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague is to meet with Syrian rebels in London. What a surprise. More on this here.

If you lived in Iran, wouldn't you want a nuclear bomb?

2011-11-18T09:15:00.001Z

Imagine, for a moment, that you are an Iranian mullah. Sitting crosslegged on your Persian rug in Tehran, sipping a cup of chai, you glance up at the map of the Middle East on the wall. It is a disturbing image: your country, the Islamic Republic of Iran, is surrounded on all sides by virulent enemies and regional rivals, both nuclear and non-nuclear.

The map makes it clear: Iran is, literally, encircled by the United States and its allies.

If that wasn't worrying enough, your country seems to be under (covert) attack…

Wouldn't it be rational for Iran – geographically encircled, politically isolated, feeling threatened – to want its own arsenal of nukes, for defensive and deterrent purposes?

You can read the whole of Mehdi Hasan’s brilliant Guardian article on the threat posed to Iran, here.

The vulture hedge funds poised to swoop on Africa's poorest countries

2011-11-17T09:53:00.001Z

The Guardian reports:

Twenty-six hedge funds are demanding over £1bn debt repayments from Africa's poorest countries - more than twice the International Red Cross budget for Africa this year. They are using legal loopholes around the world, including the Channel Island of Jersey.

And who exactly are these vultures? Check this out. And this. But as Greg Palast says, we should not forget the economic ‘restructuring' that made all this possible:

I think the focus on Grossman and his fellow carrion chewers is distracting. The destruction of Bosnia's power-pylon industry was the direct consequence of privatising it, bringing the free market to socialist Yugoslavia and Brankovic to power over its debts, allowing him to buy and sell debt securities on the deregulated world financial market.

It was the privatisation of Congo's state cobalt mine and the looting of its riches, all at the behest of the World Bank, IMF and privateers, that drained Congo's treasury.

Seven alternatives to the EU (in case it all gets too much)

2011-11-16T08:35:00.003Z

This article of mine appears in The Week/The First Post.

Neil Clark: As German leaders issue heavy-handed threats, here's a timely survey of Britain’s options

A SENIOR German politician has inflamed the great Europe debate by saying, in effect, that all European countries are expected to fall into line behind Germany, Britain included – even over the controversial Robin Hood tax on financial transactions...........

So, it's a good time to ask - would it really be the disaster Nick Clegg and this fellow europhiles prophecy if Britain did the unthinkable and left the EU?

You can read the whole article here.

Some good news from Rome: Hungarian superstar Overdose wins his 16th race

2011-11-15T11:59:00.002Z

video: 06 frankel

Well, what about the events in Rome this weekend? No, I’m not talking about yet another undemocratic EU/‘markets’ coup d’etat, (anyone out there still thinks that the EU is about increasing democracy?), but the great comeback victory of the Budapest Bullet, Overdose, who chalked up his 16th victory from 19 starts in the Group Three Premio Carlo & Francesco Aloisi.

Ridden for the first time by Frankie Dettori, it was the Hungarian hero’s first run since finishing a close-up fourth in the Group One King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. Enjoy a great performance on what was a wonderful day for Hungarian sport.

Where have all the flowers gone?

2011-11-13T09:06:00.001Z

video:Jdelpias.

We will remember them.

There is no Iranian nuclear 'crisis'

2011-11-09T09:57:00.001Z

Here we go again. They’ve just finished bombing Libya, so the serial warmongers now want us to focus again on the ‘threat’ posed by Iran‘s nuclear programme. After the non-existent ‘genocide’ in Kosovo, and the non-existence of Iraq’s WMDs, you wouldn’t think they’d have the nerve, would you?

It seems an appropriate moment to link to this piece of mine from 2006 on, why even if Iran was secretly developing nuclear weapons, it wouldn’t constitute a ’crisis’.

Here’s an extract.

'LEADERS meet to discuss Iran crisis." It all sounds rather familiar. In 1999, "leaders" met to discuss the Kosovo "crisis"; we now know there was no genocide in Kosovo. In 2003, "leaders" met to discuss Iraq's weapons of mass destruction crisis; we now know there were no WMD in Iraq.

Now it's Iran nuclear ambitions that represent the "crisis". If past form is anything to go by, we can be fairly sure that once again this is a crisis of the Western powers' making.

You can read the whole piece here.

Remember, there is no Iranian nuclear ‘crisis’. And repeat that to anyone who tells you that there is.

UPDATE: More on the 'imminent' Iranian nuclear 'threat' here. It's been ‘imminent’ for quite some time now….

(Hat tip: Gabriele at the Media Lens Message Board.)

The EU's coup d'etat in Greece

2011-11-07T10:02:00.001Z

The Daily Mail reports:

Athens gave in to EU demands to install a coalition government of ‘national salvation’ last night as uncertainty in debt-stricken Greece and Italy threatened fresh turmoil on financial markets.

Greece’s opposition had offered to form a national unity administration that would push through a controversial bailout – if prime minister George Papandreou stood aside.

The EU has been accused of carrying out a coup d’etat in Greece, after the head of the European Commission threatened the country with ‘paralysis’ unless MPs removed their prime minister.

EU leaders were horrified that Mr Papandreou said a referendum should be held to approve a 100billion euro bailout deal, which will result in a decade of tax rises and spending cuts.

An EU coup d’etat is exactly what has happened in Greece. What a very sad day for democracy in Europe when a Prime Minister is deposed for the 'crime’ of announcing a referendum.

My time travel fantasy

2011-11-03T08:40:00.000Z

This piece of mine appears in the Daily Express.

THE new Woody Allen film Midnight In Paris is a light-hearted time travel romance. Which era would you go back to and what would you miss from the modern world?

The prospect of time travel is something which has fascinated mankind for generations.

In Woody Allen’s sparkling new film Midnight In Paris, scriptwriter and self-confessed nostalgist Gil Pender (played by Owen Wilson) is magically transported back to Paris in the 1920s where he meets his literary heroes Ernest Hemingway and T S Eliot.

We asked celebrities which time in the past they’d like to travel back to:

You can read the whole piece here.

Film of the Year: Midnight in Paris

2011-10-30T19:11:00.000Z

Well, there’s still two months ago, but I very much doubt if I’ll see a new film as good - or as downright enjoyable- as Woody Allen’s wonderful ‘Midnight in Paris’ before the end of the year.

The film is funny, charming (about how many of today's films can you say that?) and thought-provoking, a classic piece of movie magic from a master film-maker. If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend you get down to your local cinema asap as you’re in for a real treat.

Justice for the Farepak victims! Please sign the FVC petition!

2011-10-26T09:12:00.001+01:00

It's five years since the collapse of Farepak.

The Guardian reports:

The Farepak Victims Committee (FVC) will mark the fifth anniversary by launching an online petition to demand the remaining £36.9m is repaid and those responsible are held to account. The group needs 100,000 signatures to prompt a discussion in the House of Commons.

Louise McDaid, chair of the FVC, said: "Surely we deserve some answers as to why, five years on, we have still not received justice."

There's another good report on the campaign over at the BBC website.

"The government have a responsibility to ensure that people's money is protected", she (Louise McDaid) told BBC radio's Good Morning Scotland programme.

"If they can protect the banks, then they can protect ordinary working people."

The FVC petition says:

The Farepak Victims Committee call on the Government to: 1. Bring those responsible to account; 2. Fully compensate Farepak Victims; 3. Put in place financial regulations that ensure that this never happens again.

You can sign the FVC petition here. Please try and spare a minute or so to support this very worthy cause. And tell your friends about it too. Many thanks!

Travel Supplement: Off the bitten track: Yorkshire- the dramatic county that helped inspire Bram Stoker.

2011-10-24T19:57:00.001+01:00

This piece of mine on the delights of North Yorkshire, appears in the Mail on Sunday.

Bram Stoker, author of classic horror novel Dracula, spent a summer holiday in Whitby, where he discovered the name for his vampire. Neil Clark follows suit.

'It is a most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits.'

This was how Bram Stoker described the magnificent Whitby Abbey in his classic horror novel Dracula.

But on a glorious morning, with beams of sunlight shining through the ancient building's many apertures, it was hard for my wife and me to imagine bloodthirsty vampires at this idyllic spot.

The Abbey is perched on a cliff 200ft above the North Sea, and wandering around its ruins was one of the highlights of our hugely enjoyable three-night stay in North Yorkshire.

You can read the whole article here.

Muammar Gaddafi, June 7, 1942 – Oct 20, 2011

2011-10-21T11:26:00.001+01:00

TO his followers he was Brotherly Leader and Guide Of The Revolution, a man who transformed Libya into the most prosperous country in Africa and provided free education and health care for his people.

To his opponents he was the “mad dog of the Middle East”, a dangerous and unpredictable dictator who supplied weapons to the IRA and other terrorist groups and whose government was behind the horrific bombing of a Pan Am passenger jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.……..

This time last year, Gaddafi must have been confident of seeing out his final years in power in the luxury lifestyle to which he was accustomed. But the so-called Arab spring, which began in Tunisia in January and which spread to neighbouring Libya soon afterwards, was to prove his downfall.

Although many Libyans stayed loyal to him, Gaddafi could not have expected the scale of popular revolt against his rule or that the Western powers he regarded as his new allies would decide to intervene militarily on the rebels’ behalf.

You can read the whole of my Daily Express piece on the late Libyan leader, here.

Oh Dear. How Sad. Never Mind. Liam Fox resigns from the government

2011-10-19T12:36:00.001+01:00

‘Liam Fox is a serious loss- to Cameron and the country’ laments neo-con commentator Janet Daley.

Well, Dr Fox is indeed 'a serious loss to the country'- if you’d like Britain to be involved in a war with Syria and/or Iran.

But for the 99.9% of people who don’t want us involved in any more illegal wars, the departure from the government of this out-and-out warmonger is surely a cause for great celebration.

P.S. I’ve written before on how Janet ‘Obama will not win the Presidency’ Daley was a master of political predictions. Here’s another classic.

UPDATE: In case you haven't already seen it, there’s a great piece on the Fox/Werritty scandal- and the serious issues it raises- by former diplomat Craig Murray in the Mail on Sunday

The real reason Liam Fox had to resign was not a grubby little money scandal about firms funding Adam Werritty as he jetted round the world with the Defence Secretary. It was much more important, and much worse, than that.......

Let us hope that Fox’s fall will remind future Defence Secretaries that there is only one country whose interests they should seek to defend – and that is this one.

As Sheila from Wiltshire says in the comments underneath Craig Murray's piece:

Sounds like treachery to me - both of them should be arraigned by the courts and dealt with accordingly. No special treatment for posh criminals.

Letter of the Week: Len Gibney on Europe’s state-owned railways

2011-10-10T10:33:00.001+01:00

This great letter, entitled 'Europe is on right track when it comes to the train', appeared in the Daily Express.

I’ve travelled by rail extensively in Europe and find trains there cheap and efficient. State operators find ways to fill public needs. Subsidies are used but fares are kept low. It’s not all bonues and profit for directors as it is here, it’s more a necessary public service.

I think anyone who travels regularly on European trains would agree with Len Gibney. Yet Europe’s wonderful railways are under threat from neo-liberal fanatics in the EU Commission, who propose a Single European Railway Area and the end to all government subsidies.

Their proposals must be defeated.

We are the 99%: the people fight back against neoliberalism

2011-10-09T09:42:00.002+01:00

In the U.S.

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, let all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge that
- the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members;
- our system must protect our rights, and upon its corruption it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights and of their neighbors;
- a democratic government derives its just power from the people, no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power.

We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments.
- They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
- They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

More here. hat tip: Media Lens message board.

Meanwhile, exciting things are happening in Chile too.

What a great quote from Camila Vallejo, the young student leader (photo above) at the forefront of Chile's anti-neoliberal protests:

"For years, Chilean youth have been consumed by a neo-liberal model that highlights personal achievement and consumerism; it is all about mine, mine, mine. There is not a lot of empathy for the other,"

All over the world, people are fighting back this ultra-selfish economic model, which only benefits the tiny minority. Whether its end will come in 2011, 2012 or 2013, the days of neoliberalism are well and truly numbered.

UPDATE: Protests in London too over our neoliberal government's appalling NHS plans.

Russia and China deserve praise for UN veto

2011-10-06T09:02:00.001+01:00

This piece of mine appears in today's First Post.

Neil Clark: Anyone who wishes for a peaceful world should welcome this double veto against UN sanctions

AMERICA is 'outraged'. Britain and France are pretty miffed too. The vetoing by China and Russia of a European-sponsored UN resolution which threatened sanctions against Syria if President Bashar Assad's violent crackdown on protestors did not stop, has been met with angry denunciations by the self-appointed leaders of the 'international community'…………

The reality is that the Chinese and Russian veto is good news - not just for Syrians - but for the whole world.

You can read the whole piece here.

NATO massacre of Libyan civilians in Sirte

2011-10-05T20:49:00.002+01:00

Take a look at this.

And I thought that the NATO mission was supposed to be about ‘protecting' Libyan civilians.

Whoever would have thought it- another 'humanitarian’ NATO intervention that was anything but.

And another war, started in March, which was based on lies.

UPDATE: On the subject of NATO ‘saving lives’ in Libya, don’t miss this great piece by Michel Chossudovsky.

The Coalition’s NHS changes ‘to cause irreparable harm’ say doctors.

2011-10-04T08:16:00.001+01:00

The BBC reports:

The overhaul of the NHS in England will cause irreparable harm, according to leading public health doctors.

In a letter to peers, who will debate the changes next week, nearly 400 public health experts said the changes must be rejected as they represented a risk to patient care and safety.

The doctors suggested it would fragment services, possibly threatening vaccination and screening campaigns.

The revelation that such influential members of the public health community have put their names to the letter comes on the day Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is to address the Conservative Party conference.

More on this story here. Bravo to the 400 public health experts for speaking out. And let's hope that peers listen to their views and reject a truly appalling bill for which there is no democratic mandate.

It Ain't Half Hot Mum! The hottest end to September in Britain since 1895

2011-09-30T08:10:00.002+01:00

video:BigJohnCannon

The Daily Mail reports:

Sun worshippers peeled off in parks and enjoyed surprise sorties to the seaside as yesterday became the hottest September 29 for more than 100 years.

The 84f (29c) temperatures seen in parts of the country trumped the Costa del Sol, Turkey and even Mexico.

And it smashed the previous record for a balmy September 29, when the mercury hit 81.5f (27.5c) in York in 1895.

Another good excuse to show a clip from It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. And I hope our non-UK readers are enjoying some great weather too.

David Croft- comedy genius R.I.P.

2011-09-28T10:23:00.001+01:00

video: BigJohnCannon.

Very sad to hear the news that David Croft, one half of the best comedy writing partnership of all time, has died at the age of 89.

Together with Jimmy Perry, Croft wrote three of the all-time classic tv sitcoms- Dad’s Army, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and Hi-De-Hi.

Above, you can watch part one of a classic episode of It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. Enjoy.

And thank you very much David for all the laughs.

Has tv got too much control over football?

2011-09-27T11:49:00.000+01:00

You can hear me discussing Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments on the Tony Livesey show on BBC Radio 5 Live, here.

The discussion starts at around 7mins into the programme of 26/09/11.

Peter Shore: Labour's forgotten prophet

2011-09-24T16:54:00.000+01:00

It's ten years today since the sad death of Peter Shore. This piece of mine appears over at the Guardian's Comment is Free website.

Neil Clark: The former cabinet minister was right about many issues – it's time to resurrect some of his democratic socialist policies

Whoever could have predicted that the Maastricht treaty and the introduction of the euro would lead not to a democratic workers paradise, but to unelected bankers and officials imposing austerity and privatisation on EU member states?

Who could have predicted that closer European integration would lead to ever-rising unemployment across the continent and ordinary people effectively being forced to leave their home countries in order to find work elsewhere?

Well one man did, and his name was Peter Shore.

You can read the whole piece here.

Spot the Difference: The US stance on Palestine and Kosovo

2011-09-23T08:25:00.001+01:00

So, the US says that Palestine independence can only come if/when Israel agrees to it. I can’t recall the US saying that Kosovan independence needed to have the approval of Serbia, can you?

Why the double standards, Mr Obama?

UPDATE: The Daily Mail reports:

Tony Blair yesterday condemned a ‘deeply confrontational’ move by the Palestinian president to ask the United Nations to recognise an independent state for his people.

I wonder if this is the same Tony Blair who was so enthusiastic about Kosovan independence.

The Great Privatisation Rip-Off- and how we can end it

2011-09-22T09:28:00.000+01:00

Ever since the Thatcher governments – which insisted that regulation, rather than being a device to protect the public, was in fact a conspiracy against them– politicians have been deluged with complaints about poor service, mis-selling and excess profit among privatised or deregulated industries. They always promise to get tough and, indeed, sometimes move towards re-regulation. But companies always find new tricks, keeping one step ahead of both consumer and government. So it will continue, for better or worse, until someone dares to utter again the dread words: public ownership.

You can read the whole of Peter Wilby’s brilliant Guardian piece on the ‘financialisation of daily life’ in the neoliberal era, here.

And of course some of us have uttered the ‘dread words’, and have been doing so for some time.

Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain 1930-2011

2011-09-20T12:03:00.000+01:00

HE was the blunt, plain-talking Northerner whose name will forever be associated with Britain’s most famous horse race – and its best-loved racehorse.

Donald “Ginger” McCain, who died two days away from his 81st birthday, was the man who trained the legendary Red Rum to an unprecedented three Grand National victories in the seventies. But he wasn’t just a great trainer he was also one of racing’s most colourful and outspoken characters.

You can read the whole of my Daily Express piece on the late Ginger McCain here.

And you can watch a re-run of the classic 1973 Grand National, in which Red Rum overhauled Crisp in the dying strides, here.

Ginger McCain R.I.P.

2011-09-19T18:35:00.000+01:00

video:bates1972.

Very sad news. Ginger McCain, trainer of the legendary three-times Grand National winner Red Rum has died.

Above you can relive the drama of the epic 1973 Grand National when Red Rum overhauled the runaway leader Crisp in the final strides.

As I wrote here:
“It took a special horse to overhaul Crisp in 1973, a very special horse indeed, as we discovered when, 12 months later, Red Rum carried 12st to victory in the National, the knowledge of which, for those close to Crisp, probably makes his anguished and unforgettable defeat a little easier to bear".

Imran Khan on how neocolonialism is destroying Pakistan

2011-09-19T09:45:00.000+01:00

Quote of the Week from Imran Khan:

"Every country I know that has had IMF or World Bank programmes has only impoverished the poor and enriched the rich."

You can read the rest of Stuart Jeffries’ Guardian interview with Imran Khan here. Let’s hope that Imran is successful in his bid to become Pakistan’s President. His analysis is spot-on.

Gleision Colliery tragedy: NUM has ‘grave concerns’ over safety standards

2011-09-17T19:12:00.000+01:00

What terrible news about the four miners found dead in a flooded mine near Cilybebyll in South Wales.

Meanwhile the Guardian reports:

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is worried that these privately-controlled facilities, which barely employ more than a dozen workers at any one time, operate largely "under the radar" of mine inspectors – if only because they are usually situated on remote hillsides.

Chris Kitchen, general secretary of the NUM, said: "We have grave concerns about safety standards in these kinds of mines. We fear that safety is often set at minimum standards so that costs can be kept down. They are not generally unionised or easily visited by inspectors."

It is Ed Miliband who is mistaken over public sector strikes

2011-09-14T15:06:00.000+01:00

This article of mine appears over at the Guardian's Comment is Free website:

Neil Clark: In attempting to appear 'moderate' by calling industrial action 'a mistake' at TUC, Miliband has misread the public mood.

Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness, wrote the philosopher Bertrand Russell. Caution in politics can be pretty damn fatal too.

We saw a classic example of this phenomenon with Ed Miliband's failure to support public sector strike action at this week's TUC conference. The Labour leader believes this summer's strikes by teachers and civil servants were a "mistake" and the further action announced by unions on Wednesday should not take place while negotiations are ongoing. Sorry, Ed, but the mistake is yours.

You can read the whole article here.

Transport Minister: Britain's railways have become a "rich man's toy"

2011-09-14T08:27:00.000+01:00

Fifteen years of privatised railways and it's come to this. What a surprise.

And, make no mistake, our health service will go the same way if we allow them to get away with it.

More stories from today's papers on the wonders of neoliberalism here and here.

What's it really like to fly a Spitfire?

2011-09-12T11:14:00.000+01:00

To mark Battle of Britain Day, which is commemorated later this week, here’s my Daily Express piece on the aircraft that played such a key role in the defence of Britain against the Nazis in 1940.

IT IS the most famous British fighter aircraft of all time.

In 1940 the Spitfire played a crucial role in our country’s “finest hour” – our against-the-odds victory against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. Since then piloting this iconic plane has been a dream for generations of schoolchildren.

Now the dream could become a reality.

You can read the whole of the article here.

Letter of the week: The BMA calls for halt to NHS bill

2011-09-02T20:26:00.002+01:00

It is clear that the troubled passage of the Health and Social Care Bill reflects real concern over the future direction of the health service in England…….

the BMA continues to call for the Bill to be withdrawn or, at the very least, to be subject to further, significant amendment.

We believe there continues to be an inappropriate and misguided reliance on "market forces" to shape services.

You can read the whole of the letter from Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council, BMA, here.
While here you can read the excellent Guardian interview with Dr Meldrum.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, please pop over to 38 Degrees, to sign their petition and to send a letter/email to your MP ahead of next week’s third reading of Lansley’s appalling Health Bill.
Remember, it’s the future of socialised health care that’s at stake. As Seumas Milne says here, we cannot allow the end of the NHS in all but name.

Travel Supplement: Fine on the Rhine

2011-09-01T10:50:00.000+01:00

This piece of mine, on one of Europe’s most beautiful regions, appears in the Mail on Sunday.
If you've never visited Germany's Rhineland, then I heartily recommend it.

My wife and I are standing at the top of an enormous 400ft-high rock gazing down at magnificent river scenery. But this is no ordinary rock. According to a 19th century legend, it was the spot where a beautiful siren, Lorelei, who had earlier committed suicide because of an unfaithful lover, lured boatmen to their death by bewitching them with song.

We are in the Rhineland, the spectacularly beautiful region of Germany where myths and legends - and fairytale castles - abound.

Our visit to the rock was one of the high points, literally and spiritually, of our week-long coach holiday exploring the towns and cities which lie on Europe's great river.

You can read the whole article here.

Ken Loach: The ruling classes are cracking the whip

2011-08-29T18:43:00.000+01:00

I’ve always found that the people with the most to brag about are the least big-headed. Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, was one example. The late Ian Carmichael was another. And so too is the brilliant film director Ken Loach. I met Ken when we were both speakers on an anti-war platform - a more modest and unassuming man you couldn’t possibly meet.

There's a wonderful interview with Ken in today's Guardian by Kira Cochrane. There's some great stuff all the way through, but particularly powerful was this passage on the enormous damage of thirty-odd years of neoliberalism.

It seems to me any economic structure that could give young people a future has been destroyed. Traditionally young people would be drawn into the world of work, and into groups of adults who would send the boys for a lefthanded screwdriver, or a pot of elbow grease, and so they'd be sent up in that way, but they would also learn about responsibilities, and learn a trade, and be defined by their skills. Well, they destroyed that. Thatcher destroyed that. She consciously destroyed the workforces in places like the railways, for example, and the mines, and the steelworks … so that transition from adolescence to adulthood was destroyed, consciously, and knowingly.

Ken Loach is a fantastic film director. But I can't help but feel that he would have made an even better Prime Minister.

On NATO’s bogus ‘humanitarian’ intervention in Libya

2011-08-26T14:05:00.002+01:00

Above you can watch an interview with me on Russia Today on the lies surrounding NATO’s bogus 'humanitarian’ intervention in Libya and the economic motives which lie behind it.

More here

UPDATE: In similar vein, here's Peter Hitchens in today's Mail on Sunday.

The official pretext, that we are ‘intervening to protect civilians’, is lying hogwash and should be laughed at every time it is used. In the past few days – according to reliable reports – Libya’s rebels have been guilty of indiscriminate shooting into civilian areas and the brutal and arbitrary arrests of suspected opponents.

You can read the whole of the piece here.

NATO “kept bombing the civilian targets"

2011-08-25T17:30:00.000+01:00

We went to Libya on the 28th July and we came back on the 7th August and we found a totally different situation because NATO was bombarding civilians.

The bombings were not only carried out on military targets, but they also hit houses, hospitals, schools, television centers, and this was totally against the humanitarian reasons they said they were there for.

I believe they were doing this to bring panic in the city. That’s why they were bombing the things that people use daily, like places with food and essential utilities like hospitals.

Anyone out there who still believes that NATO’s intervention in Libya was/is ‘humanitarian’ ?

Then please watch the above interview from Russia Today with Italian peace activist Yvonne Di Vito.

More on this story here.

What Libya 'ultimately represents' to the NATO powers

2011-08-24T16:40:00.002+01:00

Britain and France will, like the US, maintain that their motives are altruistic. But, as always, it will be selfish economic concerns that inevitably guide Libya’s fortunes.

Billions of pounds worth of oil and natural gas are what Libya ultimately represents to avaricious Western powers.

……..All this amateur army has proved is that it can fight a civil war while supported by the firepower of RAF planes and their Nato allies. But this backing is only temporary.

If Libyans are to establish true democracy, to maintain internal peace and security, to rebuild a shattered infrastructure, and to redistribute wealth, then they will have to do it alone.

You can read the whole of Nabila Ramdani's excellent Daily Express commentary on Libya here.

UPDATE: If you haven't seen it yet, there's a great piece by Seumas Milne in today's Guardian on Libya's imperial hijacking.

If stopping the killing had been the real aim, Nato states would have backed a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement, rather than repeatedly vetoing both. Instead, after having lost serious strategic ground in the Arab revolutions, the Libyan war offered the US, Britain and France a chance to put themselves at the heart of the process while bringing to heel an unreliable state with the largest oil reserves in Africa.

It's not peace but regime change, that the US is after in Syria

2011-08-23T15:59:00.003+01:00

Above you can see an RT interview with me on the US's true aim in Syria- and why bringing international war criminals like George W. Bush, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton to justice is a much more urgent priority than having President Assad indicted.

More on the western hypocrisy towards Syria here.

Bring Back British Rail- a surefire vote winner

2011-08-18T08:52:00.001+01:00

This piece of mine appears in today's First Post.

Neil Clark: Labour should pledge to re-nationalise railways and put UK on a par with other Europeans.

Here we go again. Britain's train users, who already have to pay by far and away the highest fares in Europe, are to be hit with even more above- inflation increases in the New Year..........

Not surprisingly, Labour has lambasted the government, calling the price hikes "eye-watering" and claiming that they are "the direct consequence of the Tory-led government's decision to cut too far and too fast".

But Ed Miliband could - and should - do an awful lot more.

You can read the whole of the piece here.

UPDATE: You can sign a petition, addressed to the government, calling for the renationalisation of the railways here. Do try and spare a couple of minutes to sign it, and tell your friends about the petition too.

Who will save Libya from its western saviours?

2011-08-17T21:15:00.001+01:00

What both the pro-intervention left and right share is the conviction that "we" (meaning the civilized democratic West) have the right and the ability to impose our will on other countries.

Certain French movements whose stock in trade is to denounce racism and colonialism have failed to remember that all colonial conquests were carried out against satraps, Indian princes and African kings who were denounced as autocrats (which they were) or to notice that there is something odd about French organizations deciding who are the "legitimate representatives" of the Libyan people.

……The activists who in March insisted that “we must do something” to stop a hypothetical massacre are doing nothing today to stop a massacre that is not hypothetical but real and visible, and carried out by those who “did something”.

You can read the whole of Diana Johnstone & Jean Bricmont’s brilliant piece on the far from humanitarian, ‘humanitarian intervention’ in Libya here.

Hat tip: Media Lens message board.

On western hypocrisy and Syria

2011-08-15T09:30:00.003+01:00

Above you can watch an interview with me on Russia Today (RT), on the current situation in Syria, and why the US and its allies are only helping to inflame the situation there.

More on this story here.

UPDATE: On the subject of inflaming the situation in Syria, take a look at this (hat tip ‘Badger’on Media Lens message board).

Sick Britain, sick politics

2011-08-11T08:44:00.001+01:00

This piece of mine appears in today's First Post.

Neil Clark: Entire urban communities have been sacrificed in the blind rush to ‘liberate the people’

Within hours of the first London riots breaking out, the debate was already being polarised, with left-wing commentators blaming Tory cuts, poverty and institutionalised racism, and right-wing observers slamming multiculturalism, poor parenting and 'community' policing.

In fact both the Left and Right must take equal responsibility for the social breakdown we are now witnessing. Or more precisely, the New Left and the New Right.

You can read the whole article here.

Britain on the Brink

2011-08-08T09:11:00.001+01:00

This article of mine, on the civil unrest sweeping Britain exactly 100 years ago, appears in the Daily Express.

Neil Clark: Exactly 100 years ago the wealthy bought revolvers to protect themselves against the mob, soldiers shot striking workers dead and revolution was in the air...

THE Edwardian era is often portrayed as a period of peace and calm that preceded the horrors of the First World War.

In fact the early years of the 20th century were a time of enormous social unrest. And exactly 100 years ago this month, in August 1911, Britain appeared to be on the brink of revolution.

You can read the whole article here:

UPDATE: At the end of the piece I say:

The Britain of 2011 is a very different country to that of 1911 but with real wages once again falling and tens of billions of pounds wiped off the stock market amid fears of a global economic crash, is our situation really that much less volatile?

After this weekend's events- it seems that it isn’t.

Syria: President Assad declares a multiparty system- and France calls it a ‘provocation’

2011-08-05T14:36:00.001+01:00

You can watch me discussing the latest developments in Syria- and why France’s reaction is so extraordinary, on Russia Today here.

Meanwhile, I see that Hillary the Hawk has said that the US believes that over 2,000 people have been killed by the Syrian authorities in recent clashes. While all deaths must be deplored, there’s strong reasons for treating such numbers with a huge barrow-load of salt.

Remember Kosovo?

John Pilger writes:

Following the same path as the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, the media coverage in the spring of 1999 was a series of fraudulent justifications, beginning with the then US defence secretary William Cohen's claim that "we've now seen about 100,000 military-aged [Albanian] men missing . . . they may have been murdered". David Scheffer, the then US ambassador-at-large for war crimes, announced that as many as "225,000 ethnic Albanian men aged between 14 and 59" may have been killed

……….One year later, the International War Crimes Tribunal, a body in effect set up by Nato, announced that the final count of bodies found in Kosovo's "mass graves" was 2,788. This included combatants on both sides and Serbs and Roma murdered by the Kosovo Liberation Army. Like Iraq's fabled weapons of mass destruction, the figures used by the US and British governments and echoed by journalists were inventions - along with Serbian "rape camps" and Clinton's and Blair's claims that Nato never deliberately bombed civilians.

The US is not a disinterested party when it comes to Syria, nor was it when it came to events in the Balkans in the late 1990s.

For a view on Syria from someone who has actually been in the country this summer, check out this report.

On July 15, I received news feeds from the AFP announcing a million protestors all over Syria, of which 500,000 in Hama alone.

In Hama however, they could not have been more than 10,000.

This ‘information’ was even more absurd due to the fact that the city of Hama counts only 370,000 inhabitants.

The US-Al Qaeda Alliance: Bosnia, Kosovo and now Libya

2011-08-01T17:56:00.000+01:00

There's a must read piece by Professor Peter Dale Scott over at Global Research:

The pattern of U.S. collaboration with Muslim fundamentalists against more secular enemies is not new. It dates back to at least 1953, when the CIA recruited right-wing mullahs to overthrow Prime Minister Mossadeq in Iran, and also began to cooperate with the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood. But in Libya in 2011 we see a more complex marriage of convenience between US and al-Qaeda elements: one which repeats a pattern seen in Bosnia in 1992-95, and Kosovo in 1997-98. In those countries America responded to a local conflict in the name of a humanitarian intervention to restrain the side committing atrocities. But in all three cases both sides committed atrocities, and American intervention in fact favored the side allied with al-Qaeda.

The cause of intervention was fostered in all three cases by blatant manipulation and falsification of the facts.

You can read the whole piece here.

While over at antiwar.com, Justin Raimondo writes:

As in the Balkans, where US-trained and-funded “Kosovo Liberation Army” guerrillas fought alongside al-Qaeda’s legions and NATO forces, so the same alliance is fighting to “liberate” Libya.

As I’ve said before on numerous occasions, one of the biggest myths in international affairs is that the US and its western allies are implacably opposed to Islamic fundamentalism. They aren’t. The corporate/financial elite and lobby groups who determine our foreign policy will work alongside any group of extremists to achieve their goals when they feel that it's in their interest to do so.

The Damning of Tony Blair: Unindicted War Criminal

2011-07-31T12:30:00.001+01:00

Oh Dear. It’s not going too well for the neo-cons and their ‘liberal’ interventionist allies is it?

The NATO fiasco in Libya. The ever-deepening crisis surrounding News International. And now this .

In the comments section on the Mail on Sunday's website, Darren writes:

if another country had done it they would be charged with war crimes. we went to war because he assured us they had wmd that could strike us within 45mins... this was a lie so why is he not held accountable for our military loss and that of everyone else who perished?

While Mo, from Carlisle, asks the question:

Any chance of war crimes charges being brought?

Let’s hope that war crimes charges are indeed brought. The case against The Bliar, as I argued here, is rock solid.

Meanwhile, here's the latest news from the country that Tony and his neo-con pals ‘liberated’ in 2003.

We must now end our involvement in Libyan civil war

2011-07-27T09:11:00.001+01:00

This piece of mine appears in today's Daily Express.

THAT men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach, the great sage Aldous Huxley once wrote.

It’s hard to think of a more appropriate judgment on Britain’s military involvement in Libya. After the disastrous invasion of Iraq – a war based on dodgy dossiers and misinformation which has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, you would have thought that the British Government would have done all it could to keep our country out of any more unnecessary Middle East military conflicts, especially as the war in Afghanistan is still ongoing.

Indeed when David Cameron became PM last year many people hoped that he would make a clean break with the foreign policy of New Labour and its enthusiasm for sending Britain’s armed forces around the globe to act as world policemen. But he has cruelly disappointed by taking us into yet another ill-thought-out military adventure.

You can read the whole article here.

UPDATE: Over at The First Post, Venetia Rainey reports:

The Libyan rebels have suffered a serious setback following yesterday's assassination of the commander of their army, General Abdul Fattah Younes, with suspicions being raised that he may even have been killed by his own side.

The news will trouble politicians in Britain, who on Wednesday made the bold move of recognising the NTC as the official government of Libya, despite earlier protestations that the UK only recognises states. Making the announcement, foreign secretary William Hague praised the rebels for their "commitment to a more open and democratic Libya", a sentiment that may turn out to be premature.

More here.

2011: The year we took on the unaccountable elites

2011-07-25T09:49:00.001+01:00

This article of mine appears in today's First Post.

Neil Clark: The people are fighting back - even Charles Moore wonders if ‘the Left may actually be right’

Suppose you had read an article on January 1, 2011 predicting that popular uprisings would topple President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and seriously threaten a whole host of other long-established and corrupt Arab regimes; that the Murdoch media empire would be facing meltdown, with Rupert Murdoch himself humiliated by a custard-pie thrower at a Commons select committee hearing; and that bookies would be offering odds of 6-1 in July that David Cameron would be the next member of the government to quit.

You would have dismissed the author of the piece as a fantasist. What on earth is going on?

You can read the whole of the article here.

We're all Norwegians now

2011-07-24T12:43:00.000+01:00

Well, over a day on from first hearing about this appalling atrocity, I find it still very hard to get my head round the scale of this incredibly vicious and evil attack.

Not that it’s hard to work out why far-right fanatics hate the Norwegian political system.

Public services proposals will not mean more choice

2011-07-20T15:32:00.002+01:00

This piece of mine appears on the Guardian's Comment is Free website.

Neil Clark: David Cameron wants us to believe that rolling back state provision will benefit the public. The opposite is true.

Thirty-two years after Margaret Thatcher swept into Downing Street promising to roll back the frontiers of the state, the neoliberal drive towards a fully privatised Britain is entering its final stages.

The government's new Open Public Services white paper, revealed by David Cameron last week, may have passed under the radar somewhat due to the scandals engulfing the Murdoch media empire, but it's an important document nonetheless. The coalition claims that "reform of public services is a key progressive cause", and that its proposals "give power to those who have been overlooked and underserved", but in reality there is nothing progressive about its underlying objective to radically change the role of the state from a provider of public services to one that will merely ensure "fair access" to them.

You can read the whole of the article here.

UPDATE: On this very subject, do try and get a copy of the new edition of Private Eye where there’s a great piece on Page 12.

When David Cameron launched his Open Public Services white paper last week, he did so at a conference arranged by a think-tank funded by the very firms who will benefit from the privatisation his document proposes. Cameron unveiled his plan at a Canary Wharf event hosted by 'Reform', a right-wing charity funded by business "partners". Cameron and his ministers regularly appear at Reform events; and the PM proposed "releasing the grip of state control and putting power in people's hands" .

The list of Reform's backers suggests who those people will be. They include leading hospital privatiser General Healthcare, prisons and schools firm G4S, cleaning and catering outfit Sodexho and all-purpose giants Serco and Capita. Telereal Trillium, which already gets £284m a year for running government properties, also funds Reform, as does PA Consulting, which makes millions as an adviser on several privatisations.....

On the subject of the think-tank ‘Reform’, please take a look at this and this.

Martin Meenagh on Britain's Watergate

2011-07-19T21:15:00.000+01:00

Martin Meenagh, who knows a thing or two about US politics, writes:

This may seem a silly bubble scandal, while the real economy here freezes and the west's economy burns. It is becoming something else. We're getting a glimpse beneath the murk of the political-media class and the financial monsters who live in the deep.

Watergate was important not because of Nixon, and Dallas only partly because of JFK--they both exposed the connections that really run a great many things, and the existence of a nexus of money, power and war that has nothing to do with democracy but which convinces itself that it owns the free world.

You can read the whole of Martin's brilliant blog post on the scandal that is shaking the British neocon/neoliberal establishment, here.

Meanwhile, in case you hadn't heard, Sean Hoare, the whistleblowing former News of the World journalist,
has been found dead.

More here.

Ex-News International chief Rebekah Brooks is arrested

2011-07-17T20:35:00.003+01:00

The crisis surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper empire has just deepened in a very big way.

The BBC reports:

Ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been arrested by police investigating phone hacking and bribery at the News of the World.

She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption.

More on the arrest of Rebekah Brooks over at The First Post.

UPDATE: In another dramatic development, Britain's most senior police officer, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has just resigned.

The BBC reports:

Sir Paul has faced criticism for hiring former News of the World executive Neil Wallis - who was questioned by police investigating hacking - as an adviser.

Oh, What a Lovely War! Murdoch's other legacy

2011-07-15T09:22:00.005+01:00

This piece of mine appears in today's First Post.

As bad as the phone hacking is the pro-war propaganda, argues Neil Clark.

They've hacked into the voicemail of a murdered teenager and the relatives of dead UK soldiers. They've paid police officers for information. The charge sheet against News International is a long and serious one.

But as shocking as the allegations of illegal news gathering have been, the greatest crime of Murdoch's UK newspaper empire has gone largely unreported. Namely that no other newspaper group has as much blood on its hands when it comes to propagandising for illegal and fraudulent military conflicts.

There hasn't been a war - or potential war - involving Britain in recent years that Murdoch's British titles haven't been gung-ho about.

You can read the whole article here.

Why it's time to bring British Gas back into public ownership

2011-07-13T12:34:00.001+01:00

You can hear me making the case for renationalisation of the energy sector on the Emma Britton Show on BBC Radio Somerset here.
The discussion starts at 32 minutes into the programme of 12th July.

Oh Dear, How Sad, Never Mind: Rupert Murdoch could sell off his remaining London newspapers

2011-07-12T08:52:00.000+01:00

In today's First Post, Nigel Horne writes:

There is now rising speculation that Murdoch could sell off his remaining London newspapers – the profitable Sun and the loss-making Times and Sunday Times - in order to protect both his BSkyB takeover and his American media empire.

It will be painful for him – he loves newspapers – but for the sake of his legacy, it might be the only option.

The latest Guardian investigation suggests the malpractice contagion has spread to the Sun and the Sunday Times.

According to the paper, Gordon Brown was targeted by News International newspapers for over a decade, both as chancellor and later prime minister.

I am told the mood at the News International offices in Wapping is ominous following these revelations.

A sell-off of the other titles would bring plurality to Britain's media landscape – if buyers can be persuaded to take on the loss-making Times and Sunday Times.

And if buyers can’t be persuaded, then the loss-making Times titles will just have to go the way of the News of the World. What a huge loss to journalism that will be. Not.

In another development, the Guardian reports:

Scotland Yard has accused News International of undermining its inquiry into police corruption by leaking confidential details of investigations to the media. NI has orchestrated a "deliberate campaign to undermine the investigation into alleged payments by corrupt journalists to corrupt police officers and divert attention from elsewhere", the Met said in a statement.

Manufacturing is the lifeblood of a prosperous nation

2011-07-08T16:52:00.002+01:00

This piece of mine appears in today's Daily Express.

IT wouldn’t happen in Germany. It wouldn’t happen in France.

In fact, it wouldn’t happen in any other western European country.

Earlier this week, Britain’s coalition government announced that it was minded to award a £1.4billion contract for new trains, not to the Derby-based company Bombardier Transportation, but to the giant German firm Siemens.

While the Government’s shamefully unpatriotic decision has quite rightly been attacked as a shocking betrayal of skilled British workers, it is only the latest example of the low regard that our pro-globalisation and pro-EU political elite has for British manufacturing.

For while our economic rivals still maintain a balanced economy, combining a sizeable services sector with a strong manufacturing base, successive governments in Britain have seemed happy for manufacturing jobs at home to be destroyed and for flagship British companies to be sold overseas.

Such neglect of industry is not only economically damaging, in terms of jobs and exports, it is also a betrayal of our country’s great industrial heritage. In the 19th century, Britain, the country where the Industrial Revolution had started in the late 1700s, was known as the Workshop of the World. The Great Exhibition of 1851, attended by more than six million people, showcased the marvels of British manufacturing and technological skill.

“Not only was it a large commercial success, but also a symbol of the awesome strength of British industry at that time,” wrote historian David Taylor. Although at the end of the Victorian era, Britain faced fierce competition in the shape of the USA and a newly unified Germany, both of whom had overtaken the UK in pig iron and steel production by the time of the First World War, supporting manufacturing was still regarded as a priority.

As late as 1970, following a successful campaign to boost exports by the government, Britain enjoyed a record balance of payments surplus of £550million.

Since the 1970s things have deteriorated. Our entry into the European Economic Community in 1973 led to important powers over industrial policy being surrendered to Brussels. And although the Conservative governments of the 1980s and 1990s did have ministers committed to industry, such as the late Alan Clark, the dominant view of the Thatcher period was that the economy would be served best if we left manufacturing to market forces and that moving towards a services-dominated economy, with a deregulated banking and finance sector, was the route to a more prosperous future.

New Labour carried on with this free market, pro-services approach and, while the financial sector burgeoned, over 1.7million manufacturing jobs were lost and the trade deficit reached £3.8billion. The economic crisis of 2008, brought about by a financial services sector which had got far too big for its own boots, showed just how wrong headed government policy had been.

After the crash, politicians of all parties talked of the need to “rebalance” the economy away from its dependence on the City and pledged to support British industry. But although there’s been words aplenty, there’s been little action. In early 2010, another iconic British industrial company, the chocolate manufacturer Cadbury’s, was sold abroad with Kraft, the new American owners, closing the Somerdale plant near Bristol with a loss of more than 400 jobs.

It was depressing to see Labour sit back and allow the takeover to happen, but depressing too to hear the then opposition leader David Cameron express his opposition to a proposed “Cadbury’s Law” to protect British companies from hostile foreign takeovers.

Now, after the latest shameful betrayal it’s time to put manufacturing – and the jobs of workers here in Britain – first. For history teaches us that no country can aspire to long-term prosperity unless it has a solid manufacturing base. The example of Germany proves the point. It’s often said that while Britain won the war, Germany won the peace.

Their governments and financial institutions have supported manufacturing industry much more than Britain’s have. While our governments have pursued policies positively injurious to manufacturing industry, such as the disastrous decision to join the ERM in the early 1990s, the Germans always put industry first. And while our banks and financial institutions, obsessed with short-term profits, have engaged in reckless speculation across the world, German banks have provided German industry with long-term support.

The result is that Germany’s economy, powered by manufacturing companies such as Siemens, Volkswagen, Bosch, Bayer and BASF, is one of the strongest in the world. German politicians do the job that they were elected to do – that is to look after the economic interests of German workers. It’s high time ours did the same.

The Daily Express’s Crusade, to Battle for Bombardier is about more than a £1.4billion contract for new rolling stock.

It’s about making our political elite think in a different way.

There must be no more sellouts affecting our companies and workers. No more blind adherence to ridiculous EU regulations.

And there must be a new commitment to rebuild our shattered industrial base and once again make our country a great manufacturing nation.

Ed Miliband should fight to take Britain out of the EU

2011-06-29T08:45:00.000+01:00

This piece of mine appears in today's First Post.

Neil Clark: Committing to a referendum on EU membership would be smart politics - and progressive

Ed Miliband has said it's important for the Labour party to listen to the people more if it is to regain power and topple the coalition at the next general election. But there’s one important issue on which the public are expressing their opinions loud and clear - and where Miliband and the Labour hierarchy are clearly not listening: Europe.

You can read the whole article here.

British rail travel four times more expensive than on state-owned French network

2011-06-28T20:47:00.006+01:00

The Morning Star reports (and also cross-posted at The Campaign for Public Ownership):

British rail passengers are having to fork out £4.6 billion a year more than travellers on France's public owned railways, transport union RMT revealed today.

Fares on Britain's privatised network are four times more expensive than their French equivalent, according to an RMT report by research firm Just Economics found that lower and middle-income families were being "completely priced out of the rail market" following years of fares rises.

Mmmm… I wonder what differentiates the railways in Britain and the railways in France?

On the subject of ownership of the railways, do try and get a copy of the latest edition of Private Eye, and take a look at ‘Signal Failures’ on page 9. "The government has decreed that regulated rail fares will rise 3 percent above inflation each year, but passengers in one part of the UK were promised a fares freeze last week: why? Because they live in Northern Ireland where the railways are state-owned and not privatised.”…

Aren't we the lucky ones in mainland Britain having the great 'advantage' of privatised railways!

Both Williams sisters out as day of shocks brings Wimbledon to life

2011-06-27T17:26:00.000+01:00

Well, just when it was getting oh, so predictable...

Defending champion Serena Williams OUT- beaten in straight sets by Marion Bartoli (above).

Five-times Winbledon champion Venus Williams OUT- beaten in straight sets by Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

Number 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki OUT- beaten in three sets by number 24 seed Dominika Cibulkova.

Has there ever been a day of such surprises in the women’s singles at Wimbledon?

I don’t know about you, but the women’s game has suddenly become a lot more interesting than the men’s, where the top four seem to have plenty in hand over the rest.

Hedge fund vultures prepare to swoop on Greece

2011-06-25T11:51:00.001+01:00

A Greek crisis? Well, certainly for the Greek people, but not for hedge fund managers.

The Daily Telegraph reports:

Fund managers gathered in Monaco for the GAIM conference have said that depressed asset prices and rock-bottom debt instruments could be worth the risk.

Robert Marquardt, founder of Signet, a fund of hedge funds, told reporters that the Greek crisis was "certainly a great chance to make money".

As one commentor on the Daily Telegraph website puts it:

We must face off their threat, reclaim our stolen wealth and mercilessly lance this boil on the face of humanity. They truly are the most undeserving and disgusting parasites ever to infest our planet.

And that is a comment from a Daily Telegraph reader.

hat tip: Pete F on the Media Lens message board.

Peter Guillam on anti-smoking fanaticism

2011-06-24T21:32:00.000+01:00

Now anti-smoking activists condemn third-hand smoking – the supposed dangers of smelling the clothes of someone who has recently smoked; and even fourth-hand smoking – the idea that contact with a non-smoker who has had contact with a smoker is dangerous. At the same time, these activists push for images of cigarettes in films and cartoons to be expunged and for cigarette packets to be hidden from public view.

You can read the whole of Peter’s brilliant Comment is Free piece here.

"Libya war has cost UK at least £200m"

2011-06-23T12:09:00.002+01:00

At a time when we're told that the country is broke because 'Gordon Brown spent all the money'.

More on the rapidly escalating war costs here.

What a surprise that this not-so-expensive, ‘humanitarian’ war of 'liberation' hasn’t turned out as its supporters said it would. Well, not really a surprise. But how on earth did some on the left fall for it, knowing full well the lies that were told prior to the military interventions against Yugoslavia and Iraq?

Douglas: any news on what this latest neo-con inspired war has cost US taxpayers?

UPDATE: Great piece attacking Britain's neo-con inspired foreign policy by the military historian Correlli Barnett in today's Daily Mail.

Overdose-ing on a vintage Royal Ascot

2011-06-22T11:18:00.005+01:00

I meant to write about this earlier- but what a wonderful feast of horse-racing this year’s Royal Ascot was.

There were many highlights- the great Canford Cliffs v Goldikova clash in the Queen Anne on Tuesday’s, the epic So You Think v Rewilding battle in the Prince of Wales's Stakes and Frankel’s maintaining his unbeaten record in the St James's Palace.

But for me the number one highlight was the return to form of the Hungarian wonder horse Overdose, who ran a blinder to finish a close-up fourth (photos here and here ) in the King’s Stand. And if the heavy rains which arrived later on in the week, had arrived on Tuesday, it's very likely that Hungary would have been toasting its first Royal Ascot success for almost 100 years.

Let’s hope that ‘The Mighty Magyar’ can make it to Paris in October and avenge one of the great sporting injustices of recent years.

UPDATE: You can hear me talking about this year's Royal Ascot on the 'Good Morning Wales' programme on BBC Radio Wales, here (the discussion starts at about 35 minutes into the programe of 16/06/11.)

Brian Haw R.I.P.

2011-06-21T14:15:00.000+01:00

Brian did not stop the Iraq war, but he will be remembered as a man who stood against it and put his life at the disposal of those who were against that hideous operation.

He will be sadly missed and his death marks the end of a historic enterprise by a man who gave everything to support his beliefs.

You can read the whole of Tony Benn’s great Guardian tribute to the anti-war campaigner Brian Haw here.

On NATO's 'humanitarian' military intervention in Libya

2011-06-19T09:38:00.002+01:00

The BBC reports:

At least five people have died in a Nato air strike that hit a house in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Libyan government officials say.

A three-storey house was badly damaged at the scene of the alleged air raid in the city's Souk al-Juma residential district.

Correspondents were later shown five bodies at a Tripoli hospital.

Nato is investigating the incident. It has admitted hitting mistaken targets in the past.

The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen writes:

Nato's mandate is to protect civilians. More questions now seem likely about what Nato is doing in Libya and what it is achieving - not least by Nato members who never agreed with the operation.

Afterwards, we were taken to Tripoli central hospital. The dead bodies of a husband and wife and a baby were in the mortuary, along with another dead man. Medical staff said they were all killed in the attack.

Another dead baby was brought in. Doctors were working on a man with a bad wound in his arm.

It Ain't Half Hot Mum racist? Don't make me laugh...

2011-06-13T21:14:00.003+01:00

video: wiggy videos.
This article of mine appears in the Sunday Express.

THERE are some scandalous things about modern Britain.

The high cost of railway travel. The poor quality of sliced bread. The England football team. The failure of the BBC to repeat on terrestrial television one of the funniest comedy series in history due to political correctness...

I thought about It Ain’t Half Hot Mum after hearing the sad news of the death of Donald Hewlett, who played Lieutenant-Colonel Reynolds in Jimmy Perry and David Croft’s wonderful comedy.

It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, for those who have never seen it, tells the story of the Royal Artillery Concert Party in India and Burma at the end of the Second World War. The series ran from 1974 to 1981 and enjoyed phenomenal popularity, with two of its stars Windsor Davies and Don Estelle even having a No1 hit record. Yet unlike Dad’s Army, another brilliant Perry-Croft creation which is regularly repeated, no series of It Ain’t Half Hot Mum has been broadcast on terrestrial TV since 1984.

What a crying shame. “It’s without doubt the funniest series David Croft and I wrote. It’s also the show we’re not allowed to talk about,” Jimmy Perry has bemoaned.

For the PC brigade the great “crimes” of the show were that it is supposedly racist and homophobic. In fact it is neither. The Indian characters are portrayed sympathetically and the resourceful bearer Rangi Ram, played by Michael Bates, is the real hero of the show.

“It’s not British Asians who call the show racist,” Perry once said. “They called it and still call it ‘our programme’. It was the BBC executives who’d never been to India who thought it racist.”

The homophobic charge doesn’t stack up either. A running theme in the series is the desire of Battery Sergeant-Major Williams, played so memorably by Windsor Davies, to get the concert party, whom he regards as a “load of poofs” and not proper soldiers, up the jungle to fight the Japanese.

Williams is undoubtedly a homophobe but the joke is firmly on him. In It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, Perry and Croft are lampooning homophobia, not supporting it. In any case it’s wrong to criticise a programme which portrays attitudes prevalent at the time. “That series came nearest to the truth of anything we’ve done,” says Perry, who based the show on his own experiences of running an army concert party.

Perry modelled Davies’s character on his own sergeant-major, a man who got the soldiers to line up and shout: “We’re a bunch of poofs!” Ironically, while that show is absent from our screens, comedy which is far more offensive is allowed in the politically correct era.

New wave and so-called “alternative” comedians sneer at and attack disabled people and other minority groups but because they’re considered hip and trendy they’re allowed to say and do what they want. The double standards are glaring.

While It Ain’t Half Hot Mum has been condemned for casting white Englishman Bates in a lead Indian role, Little Britain duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams were allowed to darken their faces in their portrayal of a wide range of ethnic characters in their latest series Come Fly With Me.

Yet Bates, a man brought up in India and who was fluent in Urdu, had legitimate claims to the role as Asian actor Renu Setna, who also appeared in It Aint Half Hot Mum, has conceded. “There’s no way it could have been played by anyone but Michael Bates,” he said.

One of the main differences between the comedy of Perry and Croft and what passes for comedy today is that while Perry and Croft set out simply to make us laugh modern comedians and comedy writers seem more concerned in shocking us.

JUST think of the appalling “prank” phone call which Radio 2 presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand made to Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs, in which they made obscene comments about having sex with Sachs’s granddaughter.

Think too of Mock The Week panellist Frankie Boyle poking fun at people with Down’s syndrome. Or Jimmy Carr joking about British servicemen who had lost their limbs.

For today’s “cutting edge” comedy writers nothing is too tasteless. One episode of a Channel 4 series,

The IT Crowd, featured a German cannibal seeking someone who is willing to be eaten. The fact that The IT Crowd won a Bafta award tells us all we need to know about the dire state of television comedy today.

Then of course there’s the bad language which is nowadays so prevalent. Watch the entire 56 episodes of It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and the worst you’ll hear is a very occasional “bastard”.

Perry and Croft didn’t have to use swear words in their attempts to get people to laugh, they were far too talented for that.

Writing about It Ain’t Half Hot Mum in his autobiography, You Have Been Watching, David Croft stated: “Our show wasn’t just a funny programme. It was founded in truth and deserves a place in our classic comedies.”

Let’s hope that the BBC programme schedulers have a change of heart and allow a whole new generation of viewers to enjoy a true television gem.

Amina Abdallah Arraf: A Gay Girl in Damascus- not the first human rights hoax

2011-06-12T20:52:00.007+01:00

This article of mine appears in The First Post.

Neil Clark: The case that fooled human rights activists worldwide - not for the first time

It's the story that's had western bloggers, journalists and human rights crusaders up in arms. When Amina Abdalla Arraf, a US/Syrian lesbian blogger and staunch critic of President Assad, was kidnapped by the Syrian authorities for daring to express her opinions, more than 14,000 people rushed to join a Facebook group to campaign for her release.

Reporters Without Borders issued a press release condemning the abduction. In a short space of time, Amina became the poster girl for the anti-Assad protests sweeping across Syria.

"We ask all those who care about Amina to send this message to the Syrian embassy in your country to show the regime that the world is very much aware of Amina's case and will not let the Syrian regime get away with any harm that might come to her," declared the 'Free Amina Abdalla' Facebook site.

It's unlikely, however, that any harm will come to Amina. That's because she doesn't appear to exist.

You can read the whole article here.

UPDATE: The hoax has been confirmed. The 'Gay Girl in Damascus' was actually a Straight Married American Man in Scotland. More here and here

The song 'No Charge' reminds us when Britain used to be less greedy

2011-06-10T14:28:00.003+01:00

video:SuperDavidleslie

This article of mine appears on the Guardian’s Comment is Free website.

Neil Clark:Those who believe the myth that 1970s Britain was 'the sick man of Europe' forget how progressive the decade was.

It's regarded by some as one of the slushiest No 1 records of all time. It's exactly 35 years ago this week that No Charge, sung by the Canadian artist JJ Barrie, got to No 1 in the British pop charts – and thanks to the wonders of BBC4, who are repeating Top of the Pops shows from 1976 on a weekly basis, we'll all be able to see it performed on our television screens next Monday.

Some won't be looking forward to it too much – in his Guardian article of a week ago, Alexis Petridis claimed that 1976 was the worst year for pop music ever.

But leaving aside debates about musical merit, what watching the repeats of Top of the Pops and other programmes from the same era on channels such as Yesterday, ITV3 and ITV4 shows us is what a less commercialised age the pre-Thatcherite 1970s were.

You can read the whole article here.

UPDATE: I have also have an article in today's First Post on the Amina Abdallah Araf affair, which can be read here. More on this story later.

The joys of privatised energy companies: Scottish Power to hike gas bills by 19%

2011-06-08T14:57:00.001+01:00

The Guardian reports:

Household budgets face further pressure after a leading energy company said it was raising gas bills by 19%

Scottish Power, which will also raise electricity tariffs by 10%, said it would add 48p to the average daily combined gas and electricity bills of its 2.4 million customers, an extra cost of £175 a year.

Other energy companies are of course, expected to follow suit.

Isn't neo-liberalism wonderful?

More on this story here.

Donald Hewlett R.I.P.

2011-06-06T09:16:00.003+01:00

video: BigJohnCannon.

Some sad news- Donald Hewlett, who played Lieutenant-Colonel Reynolds in the wonderful 1970s BBC sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum (and who also starred as Lord Meldrum in You Rang M’Lord?), has died aged 90.

A very sad day for British racing: The Tote is sold after 83 years

2011-06-03T21:19:00.002+01:00

After 83 years, the Tote- the publicly-owned bookmaker established by Sir Winston Churchill- is to be sold to a rival privately-owned bookmaking chain.

For a comparatively small sum of money-the government will receive just £90m- the free-market fanatics in the coalition are selling-off another national asset.

You can hear me talking about why the sale is such terrible news for horse-racing on the BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast Show with Nicky Campbell Show here (at 2hrs 5mins in to the programme of 03/06/11), and on the You and Yours programme on BBC Radio 4 here.