war criminals

We have a government of war criminals? This is what the columnist George Monbiot wrote in the Guardian this week. The 18% swing against them in the Crewe by-election certainly confirmed that they are unpopular.

Was it just the banishing of the 10p tax level, the rising petrol prices and food bills that caused this swing? The Labour Party had lost half its membership

years ago, before all these local difficulties.

The think-tank Compass rages at the government, urging it to reform. But it is too late. Gordon Brown and other members of the Cabinet were alongside Tony Blair when he launched his illegal war on Iraq and then brought bombing, corruption and misery to Afghanistan, a war Gordon Brown has proudly said he will continue to the bitter end - which will be even more bitter than it is at present. So, yes, the words war criminals might not be too strong.

So long as the economy was giving most people a better deal in life, people were prepared to put on blinkers to avoid seeing the other actions of a government which Monbiot, with some justice, described as "the most rightwing since the second world war."

The new anti-terror legislation has been used, as it was always intended to be used, to deal with minor civil offences. Children and parents have been criminalised for offences like non-attendance at school and

and we have the highest prison population in Europe.

The attack on civil liberties by a barrage of legislation is unprecedented except in times of war; real war, not the present war on a word.

Gordon Brown, in a speech to financiers, dragged in the fact that he was going to renew Britain's "independent nuclear deterrent." We already have the equivalent of 1000 Hiroshima bombs - ready for drop on whom? Now the Trident missile defence is already being updated at a cost of billions and, as before, a reliance on American co-operation. The nuclear non-proliferation treaty has been undermined. There are over 27,000 nuclear weapons in the world today, enough to destroy the planet many times over. What is the point of policies to stop global warming with that threat looming over the world?

In addition, the government is planning to bring back a nuclear power programme with its deadly cancerous effects from the nuclear waste, not to mention the diseases and harm affecting the uranium miners and their families - anyone who has been to a mining village in east Germany has seen this for themselves.

There are now many broken Labour hearts, particularly among those who admired Gordon Brown long ago - his fight against unemployment, his integrity.

Compass may try to reform New Labour, but the truth is that the policies they now seek have mostly been adopted by Liberal Democrats. People who have voted Labour all their lives don't want to go down that road - but now it seems there may be no other choice.

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British help arrives for Burma

Survival equipment is already being distributed by the British in Burma. While Western nations hesitate over sending aid, volunteers from Cornwall are already working alongside Burmese firemen in some of the worst devastation around Rangoon.
A team carrying boxes containing strong tents for 10 people, water purification equipment, clothing and tools have been distributing them for over a week. The boxes have been specially prepared for the area, containing mosquito nets and sometimes two nets instead of one.
ShelterBox, a charity started on the Lizard peninsula near the Royal Naval Air Station at Culdrose, has become famous for its intrepid aid support in difficult areas with hostile governments, including north Korea Iran and, earlier, Afghanistan. Around 1800 boxes have already been sent to Burma and a consignment is waiting at their Helston headquarters ready to be sent off to China. Volunteers have been working day and night to pack the boxes - a highly skilful and expertly organised selection of survival equipment for at least a month.
Founders of the organisation, led by Tom Henderson, include former officers from the Culdrose naval air station.
It functions with little bureaucracy, much determination and pioneering volunteers for the disaster work. The contact with the Burmese firefighters came through one who had trained in the west country earlier.
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