Merry Christmas!

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.

So where is all the snow?

This piece of mine appears in today's Sunday Express

OH DEAR, let’s put those sledges away. It seems that this year we’re going to get a wet Christmas, with the Met Office informing us that the only chance of snow falling anywhere in the UK on December 25 is at the top of the highest Scottish peaks. 

You can read the whole article here.

The Christmases that changed history

This piece of mine appears in the Daily Express

1879: On December 28, 1879, a violent storm that some witnesses described as a hurricane, caused the central portion of the Tay Bridge near Dundee, to collapse, just as a train was passing over it. Between 60 and 75 people were killed . 

The disaster was commemorated in verse by the Victorian doggerel poet William McGonagall: “Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay! Alas! I am very sorry to say, That ninety lives have been taken away, On the last Sabbath day of 1879, Which will be remember’d for a very long time.”

You can read the whole article here:

Apostles of a war without end

This piece of mine appears in the Morning Star. 

The West stepped up its intervention in the Syrian civil war this week, with the United States formally recognising the rebel coalition as "the legitimate representative" of the Syrian people.
As with France and Britain before it this is presented as an entirely reactive step, a response to events on the ground in Syria.

The truth is rather different.

After the end of the cold war many hoped we'd be entering a new era of peace and international co-operation.

Nato could be disbanded, our nuclear weapons could go and the money saved - the so-called "peace dividend" - could be spent on alleviating poverty.

But Western rulers had other ideas. The fall of the Soviet Union left a terrible power vacuum as there was no longer any real check on Western imperialism.

You can read the whole article here.

Why we need a salary cap in the Premier League- but not just in Premier League

You can listen to an interview with me and Mark Littlewood of the IEA on the subject of footballers' wages on the Adrian Goldberg Show on BBC Radio WM  here. (item starts at 1hr 39mins)

While here, you can hear an interview with me and the former England player Michael Gray on the Tony Livesey Show on BBC Radio Five Live, in which we discuss Platini's plans for the 2020 Euros. (Item starts at 49 mins)

If all else fails-play the WMD/chemical weapons card

The Guardian reports:

William Hague has said he has seen "some evidence" that Bashar al-Assad's regime is preparing to use chemical weapons against Syrian rebels.

The foreign secretary would not give specific details of the intelligence, also seen by the US, but said it was enough to renew warnings to Assad that his regime would face action if they were deployed.

You wouldn’t think they’d try it again ten years after Iraq would you? Do they really think we plebs are that gullible?

The fact that the WMD/chemical weapons card is being played is a sign of real desperation.

The UK/US and its NATO & Gulf allies have been trying for over a year and half now to topple the government in Syria through their backing of anti-government 'rebels'. Now that it's clear that the rebels don't have the strength, or the popularity within Syria to succeed, they've got to come up with a pretext for military intervention. So, hey presto! - let's start scaring people about 'evidence' that the Syrian government is about to use chemical weapons.