Rhondda Records is with you every day bringing the news ------- that gives a view of world events different to the mainstream media or social media!
Except Sundays - our day of rest.
Image: we're back!
Journalist:To end war ------
prosecute UK, US officials
who wage(d) it illegally
October 22nd, 10:12pm (PressTV)
The world must finally put an end to the impunity of war
criminals, by holding US and UK officials responsible
for launching the illegal war on Iraq, done without
the approval of the UN Security Council, and
prosecuting them --- under the Nuremberg
principles, US journalist Don DeBar said.
DeBar made the remarks in an interview with Press TV while
commenting on a report which has revealed that the British
military inquiries into abuse against Iraqi nationals... have
been closed without a single prosecution being brought,
even though the credibility of many "shocking and
shameful incidents" during the war in the Middle
Eastern country, have been confirmed.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement
this week that the Service Police Legacy Investigations,
which was looking at claims of abuse in Iraq, had now
"officially closed its doors."
In March 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq in blatant
violation of international law and under the pretext of
finding WMDs; but no such weapons were ever
discovered in Iraq.
More than one million Iraqis were killed - as the result of
the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq
--- according to the California-based investigative
organization, Project Censored.
The US war in Iraq cost US taxpayers $1.7 trillion with
an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, according to a study called Costs of War Project --- by the Watson Institute for
International Studies at Brown University.
DeBar told Press TV that the Iraq war
was illegal from the very beginning.
"It is illegal for a nation to make war on another nation if it
does not have the approval of the UN Security Council, if
any of those nations are signatories to the original UN
Charter. And it’s been adopted - that happened with
the US, as a charter member of the UN -- and it was
approved by the US Senate in the 1940s.
Consequently, the US involvement in Iraq from the beginning, and the UK involvement in Iraq from the beginning, was illegal,” he said.
“And under the Nuremberg standards, which would then
apply, each and every death consequent – intentional
or not - to either US or UK military action there, or
condoning of the US action there, by the media
or public officials, or any act facilitating that,
is an individual war crime. And, by the way,
there’s a death penalty for that,” the
journalist noted.
“No one will prosecute these people. That’s why I started
with the word impunity. And we might bookend with that
because that’s the problem. And until the world puts an
end to that impunity, until the world sees the major
contradiction in all international relations, is US,
UK, and EU imperialism, then it’s going to
continue until this eats our species,”
he stated.
A damning White House memo had revealed details of the
so-called “deal in blood” forged by former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush
over the Iraq war.
The document, titled “Secret... Memorandum for the
President”, was sent by then-US Secretary of State
Colin Powell to President Bush on March 28th, 2002, a week before Bush’s summit with Blair at his Crawford ranch in Texas.
The sensational memo, revealed that Blair had agreed to
support the war a year before the invasion even started
while publicly, the British prime minister was working to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
The document also disclosed that Blair agreed to act as a
spin doctor for Bush and convince a skeptical public that
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass
Destruction, which actually did not exist.
In response, Bush would flatter Blair and give the
impression that London was not Washington’s
poodle but an equal partner in the
“special relationship.”
Powell told Bush that Blair “will be with us” on the
Iraq war, and assured the president that “"the UK
will follow our lead in the Middle East."
Blair has always denied the claim that he and Bush
signed a deal “in blood”, at Crawford, to launch a
war against Iraq that began on March 20th, 2003,
that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
The Powell memo, however, showed how Blair and
Bush secretly prepared the Iraq war plot behind
closed doors at Crawford.
Powell told Bush: “He will present to you the strategic,
tactical and public affairs lines, that he believes will
strengthen global support for our common cause.”
Venezuela has extinguished.... any gas
agreement with Trinidad & Tobago
December 15th, 2:33pm
(Prensa Latina)
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided today to
immediately terminate any contract, agreement or
negotiation for the supply of natural gas with
Trinidad and Tobago.
A statement from Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez
reported having “full knowledge”, about that government's
participation in the theft of Venezuelan oil, on December
10th, with the assault -- by the US -- of a ship that was
transporting this strategic product from Venezuela.
She affirmed - that this act of piracy constitutes a serious
violation of international law and a frank transgression
of the principles of free navigation and trade.
The text noted that the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago,
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, revealed a “hostile agenda against
Venezuela since her arrival in government», including the
installation of US military radars for the siege against
ships transporting Venezuelan oil.
It stated that this official converted the territory of Trinidad
and Tobago “into a US aircraft carrier” to attack the
Bolivarian Republic, in an unequivocal act
of vassalage.
The text stated that --- in the face of this escalation of hostilities
and serious aggressions, President Nicolás Maduro proceeded,
at the time, to denounce the Energy Cooperation Framework
Agreement signed with Trinidad and Tobago.
It stressed that today, “given this very serious fact that seeks
to vulgarly steal Venezuela's oil, the Venezuelan Government
- decided to immediately terminate any contract, agreement
or negotiation for the supply of natural gas to that country”.
''Venezuela respects itself! It will always win, and will not
allow any colonial entity and its vassals to attack the
sacred sovereignty of the country --- and its right to development,'' the Minister assured.
____________________________
Venezuela rejected illegitimate
sanctions...from the EU
December 15th, 2:04pm
(Prensa Latina)
Venezuela today categorically rejected the policy of sanctions
and unilateral coercive measures imposed by the EU ------ for
being illegitimate, illegal and contrary to International Law.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs added in a statement that these
regulations also contravene the principles and purposes
enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
The leaders of that bloc chose, unfortunately, to accelerate
their own political decline, insisting on a line of sterile
hostility against Venezuela.. which “evidences an
erratic foreign policy -- lacking autonomy, and
subject to interests -- foreign to the people
they claim to represent», it denounced.
It indicated that, after years of application, the sanctions
policy proved “to be a resounding failure”, significantly
deteriorating political and diplomatic relations.
Also confirming --- the growing irrelevance of the EU as
an international actor, ''as it is incapable of acting
with independence, rationality and respect
towards sovereign States.''
Image: People hold up a banner as they protest against Israel at the entrance of the International Criminal Court.
People hold up a banner as they protest
against Israel at the entrance of the
International Criminal Court
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
ICC rejects Israel's appeal
to invalidate Netanyahu's
arrest warrant
December 15th, 9:12pm
(PressTV)
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court
--- has dismissed Israel's arguments challenging the
validity of its investigation into crimes in Gaza,
following the genocidal war that the regime
launched on October 7, 2023, against
the people of the besieged strip.
This decision came on Monday amid an ongoing investigation
into war crimes in Palestine that has led to arrest warrants
for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his
war minister Yoav Gallant --- for “crimes against
humanity and war crimes” committed during the genocidal war on Gaza.
Israel ....has made several attempts to overturn these warrants,
including questioning the impartiality of ICC chief prosecutor
Karim Khan and challenging the court's jurisdiction.
The ICC's investigation, initiated in 2021 following a referral from
Palestine, has recently expanded with additional referrals from
seven other countries.
Israel contended that it should have received a formal notification
about the new investigation, based on Article 18(1) of the Rome
Statute. However the ICC ruled that the investigation into post-
October 7 events fell under the original notice issued in 2021,
negating the need for a new notification.
Legal experts, including Professor Kevin Jon Heller, from
the University of Copenhagen, commended the Appeals
Chamber for rejecting Israel's claims.
He noted that Israel could have invoked the principle
of complementarity.... but chose to assert ------- that
the ICC lacked jurisdiction.
“Israel only cares about Art. 18(1) now because the
Prosecutor did what Israel was sure he wouldn't:
actually seek arrest warrants for high-ranking
government officials,” Heller wrote on X.
“Kudos to the Appeals Chamber for seeing through
Israel's baseless arguments - and dismissing
the appeal.
"Kudos, also, to the Appeals Chamber - for being brave
enough to follow the law and reject Israel's appeal.
We can only hope that doing so - will not lead to
another round of US sanctions,” wrote Heller,
who also serves as special advisor on war
crimes to the ICC prosecutor.
The ICC, a permanent war crimes tribunal with 125
member states, has faced longstanding scorn
from US officials, who argue it infringes upon national sovereignty.
The latest ruling also has further implications, as the
ICC's investigation into Israeli war crimes.... has
previously resulted in sanctions --- from the
United States against key ICC officials.
The sanctions threaten businesses and individuals, with
significant US fines and prison time for providing any
support to the sanctioned individuals, prompting
many to withdraw services.
Reports indicate that these sanctions are part of broader
efforts to pressure the court ------ regarding the arrest
warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
In July, media outlets reported that the court's chief
prosecutor, Karim Khan, received warnings that he
and the ICC would be “destroyed” if the warrants
were not retracted.
US Republican Senator, Linda Graham, also
“threatened” Khan with sanctions --- if he
applied for the warrants.
In May, Khan’s office announced he had taken a leave
of absence pending the conclusion of a UN-led
investigation... into allegations of sexual
misconduct against him.
His lawyers said he rejected all claims of wrongdoing
and had only stepped aside temporarily, due to the
intense media scrutiny.
Judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal
Court (ICC) report being cut off from basic financial
services and daily activities.. due to US sanctions.
Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed over 70,400
Palestinians ---- most of them women and children, and
injured 171,000 others in the two-year war in Gaza
that has reduced much of the blockaded
Palestinian territory to rubble.
Experts say the Israeli regime, with the complicity of the US
and Western states, has committed genocide against
Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
_________________________________________
Newborn deaths surge in Gaza amid
siege ---- and maternal malnutrition
December 15th, 7:27pm
by Ghada Ibrahim
Press TV, Deir Al Balah
Figures from the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF -- reveal a
heartbreaking surge in the infant mortality rate in the
Gaza Strip, with first-day fatalities --- rising by 75%.
Between July and September 2025 --- at least 47 babies died
within hours of their birth: a grim indicator of a collapsing
health care system and deepening humanitarian crisis.
A Palestinian journalist and former detainee in Israeli prisons
has recounted disturbing experiences of sexual violence
inflicted upon him by a group of Israeli prison guards
during his time in custody.
Sami al-Sa’i presented his testimony - during an event organized
by the MADA Centre for Media Freedoms in the Israeli-occupied
central West Bank city of Ramallah.
He was held under administrative detention
from February 2024 until June 2025.
The obscure legal procedure of administrative detention allows
the Israeli authorities to imprison people, without charge or
trial, for an indefinite amount of time. The officials have
been using this procedure ------ for more than half a
century, basing it on secret evidence.
Many activists, journalists and political figures who
challenge Israel’s military rule ------ have found
themselves in administrative detention.
Sa’i reported that he was sexually assaulted in Megiddo Prison,
located in the northern part of the occupied territories.
According to his account, a group of guards attacked him with
a baton --- after brutally beating him while he was restrained
with handcuffs and blindfolded.
The journalist, who comes from the northern West Bank city of
Tulkarm, recounted how guards dragged him while subjecting
him to beatings and threats.
He was forced into a corner of the prison, stripped of his
clothing, and made to kneel in a prostrate position.
Shortly after, he experienced a hard object
being forcibly inserted into his body,
which he described as causing
unbearable pain.
Sa’i said the attack involved forceful strikes
to sensitive areas of his body, with one
guard pressing down on his head
and neck.
In his testimony, the journalist detailed the dire conditions
endured by Palestinians in Israeli prisons, highlighting
systematic beatings, starvation, intimidation, and
a lack of proper medical care.
Palestinian prisoners’ rights organizations report that since
the onset of the genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023,
numerous testimonies have been documented ---
highlighting a rise in torture practices.
These accounts describe such actions beginning at the time
of arrest, continuing during interrogation, and persisting
throughout imprisonment.
Rights groups have previously warned that torture is no longer
confined to interrogations aimed at extracting confessions.
Instead, the Israeli authorities have reportedly implemented
methods and tools that integrate torture into the daily lives
of detainees, a practice that has escalated significantly
since October 2023.
________________________________________
‘Israel’ Continues to Violate Ceasefire,
Launches Raids in Eastern Gaza
December 15th, 9:40pm
(al Manar)
For the 66th consecutive day, Israeli occupation forces have
continued to violate the ceasefire agreement, carrying out
airstrikes, artillery shelling, and demolition operations
across the Gaza Strip.
Local sources reported - that Israeli occupation military vehicles
opened fire east of the Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza.
Simultaneously, Israeli artillery shelled the al-Faluja area west
of the camp, with support from helicopter gunships.
At dawn, Israeli warplanes carried out a targeted airstrike on the
eastern areas of Gaza City. Further airstrikes were conducted
by warplanes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Artillery fire also targeted the northeastern part of al-Bureij refugee
camp in central Gaza, as well as the eastern areas of Khan Younis
in the south. Israeli helicopters -- fired on areas beyond the
designated yellow line east of Khan Younis, and Israeli
naval vessels participated in shelling offshore.
Since the ceasefire agreement began on October 10,2025,
the total number of martyrs has reached 391, with 1,063
wounded. During this period, 632 bodies of martyrs
have been recovered from under the rubble.
The overall death toll from the Israeli aggression
since October 7, 2023, has risen to 70,663
martyrs, with 171,139 wounded.
Source: Agencies (translated
and edited by Al-Manar)
____________________________________
Human Rights Watch: Israeli Attacks on
Civilian Infrastructure in Southern
Lebanon -------are War Crimes,
Hindering Reconstruction
December 15th, 9:34am
(al Manar)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has stated that Israeli occupation
military attacks on reconstruction equipment and civilian
infrastructure in southern Lebanon constitute war
crimes ---- and are actively obstructing the
recovery efforts.
The organization reported that the Israeli occupation military “has
reduced several border towns to rubble and is now attempting
to obstruct reconstruction efforts and the return of residents
to their homes.” It detailed that Israeli airstrikes have now
destroyed more than 360 pieces of heavy equipment,
including bulldozers and excavators, as well as an asphalt and cement plant.
HRW emphasized that its investigation found no evidence of
military targets at the sites of these Israeli airstrikes, nor
any proof that Hezbollah had made military use of the
targeted equipment.
The Israeli occupation continues its attacks on various
Lebanese regions, in violation of the “Declaration of
Cessation of Hostilities” issued on November 27,
2024, UN Security Council Resolution 1701
in August 2006, Lebanese sovereignty,
and international law.
Source: Agencies (translated
and edited by Al-Manar)
Image: Ludwig van Beethoven's Birth Day
Today, December 16th? in 1770,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
composer and pianist,
is born.
One of the most revered figures in the history of Western
music, his works rank among the most performed of the
classical music repertoire, and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era.
Beethoven's early period, during which he forged his craft, is
typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802
to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual
development, sometimes characterised as heroic.
During this time, Beethoven began to grow increasingly deaf.
In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his
innovations in musical form and expression.
He died on March 26th, in 1827.
“To play without passion - is inexcusable!”
“I would rather write 10,000 notes ---
than a single letter of the alphabet.”
“Music should strike fire from the heart of man,
and bring tears..... from the eyes of a woman.”
“I love a tree more than a man.”
“Music is a higher revelation, than all wisdom
and philosophy. Music -- is the electrical soil
in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.”
“Don’t only practice your art, but force your
way into its secrets, for it and knowledge,
can raise men to the divine.”
“The guitar is a miniature
orchestra in itself.”
“Music ---------- is the one incorporeal entrance into the
higher world of knowledge ......which comprehends
mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.”
“A great poet ---- is the most
precious jewel of a nation.”
“Recommend to your children virtues,
that alone can make them happy,
not gold.”
“Never misjudge the
most faithful heart
of your beloved.”
“Love ------ demands all,
and has a right to all.”
Israeli universities -------- face
growing academic isolation
despite Gaza ceasefire,
report says
November 25th, 8:39am (PressTV)
The academic boycott of Israeli universities in Europe has
doubled, even after the Gaza ceasefire aimed at ending
the occupying regime’s genocidal war against the
besieged Gaza Strip.... a move that further
isolates Tel Aviv --- in global higher
education, a new report says.
The Academic Boycott of Israel Monitoring Team, created by
the Committee of University Presidents in Tel Aviv, said in a
report on Monday that academic boycotts targeting the
regime have surged, with around 1,000 cases
reported in Europe by November.
It stressed that Israel’s negative image, which has persisted even
after the ceasefire over the genocidal war against Gaza -- is “so
deeply entrenched that political moves alone are not enough
to shift public perception.”
Contrary to expectations that the boycott would ease following the
ceasefire, the report notes that “the opposite occurred,” with
institutions and individual academics more frequently
filing boycott cases.
The monitoring team, whose report was published by The Marker,
the economic version of the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz ---- also
warned that this expanding boycott could isolate Israeli higher
education significantly and pose a long-term strategic threat
to its international standing.
The report further identified concrete consequences for the move,
including a drop in EU Horizon Europe research grants for Israeli
scholars, exclusion from international cooperation projects,
and a breakdown in collaborative programs.
The Association of University Heads in Israel has reportedly
recorded over 1,000 incidents of academic boycotts over
the last two years, three times the total as of a year ago.
According to the report, 57 percent of cases involve individual
researchers (mainly being excluded from research groups),
22 percent are institutional severances, seven percent
are from professional associations, and 14 percent
relate to halted student exchanges or
postdoctoral partnerships.
It also said that this crippling boycott trend --- is unlikely to reverse
soon without “major regional and geopolitical changes,” warning
that sustained isolation of Israeli academia may continue.
The boycott movement “will accompany Israeli academia for
a long time and will not ease without major regional and
geopolitical changes,” the report noted.
Israel has killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians, most of them women
and children, and injured over 170,900 others in Gaza since
October 7, 2023, according to Gaza's Health Ministry,
when it launched a brutal war against the
Palestinian territory.
Despite a ceasefire announced in October,
Israel continues to target Gaza -------
in violation of the agreement.
Hamas has urged the guarantors of the ceasefire, namely Qatar,
Turkey, Egypt, and the United States, to press Israel to abide
by the deal ---- and stop its attacks on Gaza.
Image: No thanks to Israeli goods App
The world and her daughter are calling for a boycott of the genocidal colonial apartheid state of Israel.
Place yourself on the right side of joy and sorrow by joining the world's boycott - say ''no'' to evil!
Keir Hardie - Britain's first Labour MP - opposedWorld War One.
His namesake is stammering his way in the opposite direction.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
ROGER WATERS TO MUSICIANS:- "BOYCOTT ISRAEL"
Roger Waters formerly of Pink Floyd, in an open letter, calls on his fellow musicians --- to boycott the Zionist Israeli regime and follow the example of the cultural boycott against the ex S. African Apartheid regime.
“Given the inability or unwillingness of our governments [to act] …. I write to you now, my brothers and sisters … to ask you to join with me, & thousands of other artists around the world, to declare a cultural boycott on Israel,” Roger Waters says in his letter.
Waters says the Zionist regime has been found guilty of major breaches of human rights and international law by international organizations, UN officials and the International Court of Justice.
He touches on two such cases, saying the regime has been identified as perpetrating the “crime of Apartheid”, including in a statement on March 9th, 2012 by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the “crime of ethnic cleansing” including in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).
Waters adds that he has been a member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Israeli regime’s occupation of the Palestinian lands and Tel Aviv’s violations of Palestinian human rights for 7 years, and now wants other musicians to also join the anti-Israeli front.
“Please join me and all our brothers and sisters in global civil society in proclaiming our rejection of Apartheid in Israel & occupied Palestine, by pledging not to perform or exhibit in Israel or accept any award or funding from any institution linked to the government of Israel, until such time as Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.”
The former Pink Floyd Musician also says he has recently faced a boycott by the US media after his November 29th, 2012 address at the UN on behalf of the Russell Tribunal.
In the address, he sought accountability for the Zionist regime’s violations of the international law and the lack of United Nations resolve that prevents the Palestinian people from achieving their inalienable rights, especially the right of self-determination.
____________________
AT THE FACTORY
Tickets from
www.wegottickets.com/thefactory
www.ticketweb.co.uk
browse venues in Wales
www.ticketlineuk.com
02920 230130
Cash tickets from:
The Factory, Porth Instrumental Music, Penygraig Spillers Records, Cardiff
Indulge in a delicious cake and a cup of tea while enjoying music and sing-along songs from fantastic Welsh musicians.
Ticket information:
The Cultural Services Booking & Information Line:
08000 147 111 or book online at
www.rct-arts.co.ukÂÂ
*************************************************
Mid Rhondda Modelling Club...
7pm - 9pm
Tonyrefail Comprehensive School Mid Rhondda Modelling Club
has been running for over 30 years.
We meet on a regular basis
& enjoy making models for display.
We encourage both Gentlemen
and Ladies to attend, and also young people aged 12+.
However, Young people under 16, must be accompanied by an adult.
Ticket information
£1 contribution every week. Under 16's free
Telephone Mr. Davies on 01443 686658
************************************************
Comedy In The Laughter Lounge
The Park & Dare Theatre, Treorchy.
COMEDY IN THE LAUGHTER LOUNGE
Join us once a month in the intimate setting of the Laughter Lounge for some top notch comedy with some of the biggest and brightest rising comedians on the circuit.
Laugh? You'll snort like a pig!
Hilarious - TimeOut.
www.rct-arts.co.uk
Rhondda Records exists to express the Rhondda's vision --- when it was confident, powerful, caring, and socialist.
A Rhondda very aware of the media's poisonous tricks -- how they con working class people into attacking each other, or racial groups, or, often, even their best allies and friends... instead of seeing their real enemies:--- an elite who hate the very idea that working people can think, create, or achieve a fairer society.
Thatcher said her proudest achievement was Blair and New Labour - who parachuted in careerists and expenses fiddlers - to stop local Labour members having a say, and who made genuine socialist MPs leave the Labour party in disgust and many members and voters to despair... and the young to stop voting.
Jeremy Corbyn was always attacked because he was trying to reverse all that New Labour corruption --- that's why membership was flooding in all over the UK.
______________________________________
Get Involved!
– If you feel you’ve been ‘purged’, take this online survey:
– Request all your own data that the Labour Party holds on you:
http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/privacy
_______________________________________
IF - YOU THINK you HAVE BEEN UNFAIRLY BARRED:
“Any member who is suspended & intends to appeal the decision should throw in a ‘Subject Access Request in accordance with the Data Protection Act’ --- for ALL data that the Labour Party hold on them.
The Labour Party are Data Controllers and therefore have to, by law, provide you with all material/information they hold on you.”
If anyone is in contact with anyone who was barred from voting --- please can you pass this info on:
The Labour leadership election was under the jurisdiction of the electoral reform services.
If you were unfairly deprived of your vote you can call them on 0208 365 8909 and lodge your complaint, and inform them of your Data Protection request.
https://www.electoralreform.co.uk
The notification letters barring new members did not give a clear reason, or information on how to appeal, so Vox Political suggests that anyone in this situation, could also contact Liz Davies here: http://www.whycantivote.com
She is a barrister --- who can advise members on what to do.
**************************************
PONCY LABOUR MPS PROBLEM?
A huge drop in working-class Labour MPs, caused a massive drop in support among voters with similar backgrounds, reveals research seeking to explain why support has dwindled in the party’s heartlands.
The study says past leaders like Kinnock and Blair made a concerted effort to pick “more and more middle-class candidates to run for office, during the 80s and 90s, as part of an effort to rebrand” -- which had initial successes at the ballot box.
But this “conscious electoral strategy” stored up problems, as working-class voters who initially, just didn’t vote in response, now seek an alternative.
The solution?Trust each constituency to put forward its own candidates, and don't impose ‘party-approved’ choices who can't do the job.
Now, unfortunately, there are "entryist" MPs who, for decades, have been groomed by CIA cold war relic organisations -- like the Atlantic Council -- and are now trying to misdirect the Labour Party towards cuts, a militarised police, and a US war agenda... - and their anti-Corbyn slant is hobbling Labour.
‘How Can I Deselect My Labour MP?’ A Short Guide to Reselection and Democratic Accountability by Eric Sim, excellent free advice here:
http://novaramedia.com/2016/07/13/how-can-i- deselect-my-labour-mp-a-short-guide-to- reselection-and-democratic-accountability/ CHRIS BRYANT - SUPPORT THE MEMBERS' LEADERSHIP CHOICE & POLICIES - OR GO!
Chris Bryant, the Rhondda's dodgy MP, was on TV -- as soon as the PLP coup started -- telling us that Jeremy MUST go, because it was the ONLY way to act in the Labour Party's interest...
Chris Bryant's voting record: from TheyWorkForYou.com
On Tuition Fees:
On 27 Jan 2004: Chris Bryant voted in favour of university tuition fees increasing from £1,125 per year, to up to £3,000 per year.
On 31 Mar 2004: Chris Bryant voted to allow university tuition fees to increase from £1,125 per year, to up to £3,000 per year.
On 31 Mar 2004: Chris Bryant voted for the introduction of variable university tuition fees (top-up fees) of up to £3,000 per year in place of the previous fixed fee of £1,250 per year.
On 31 Mar 2004: Chris Bryant voted to allow university tuition fees to increase from £1,125 per year to up to £3,000 per year, and to make other changes to higher education funding and regulation arrangements.
On 14 Sep 2004: Chris Bryant voted against: the immediate abolition of all tuition fees, the re-introduction of maintenance grants of up to £2,000 for students from low-income homes, and changes to the country's higher education system.
On 14 Sep 2004: Chris Bryant voted to reject the Liberal Democrat policy of abolition of tuition fees.
On 25 May 2016: Chris Bryant was absent for a vote on Queen's Speech - Forcing Schools to Become Academies - Further Rises in University Tuition Fees
On Human Rights:
Consistently voted for introducing ID cards
Almost always voted for requiring the mass retention of information about communications
Generally voted for mass surveillance of people’s communications and activities
On the Environment:
Generally voted against greater regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract shale gas
On Special Interests:
Almost always voted against limits on success fees paid to lawyers in no-win no fee cases
Generally voted against a statutory register of lobbyists
On War or Peace:
Generally voted for use of UK military forces in combat operations overseas
Consistently voted for the Iraq war
Consistently voted against an investigation into the Iraq war
Generally voted for replacing Trident with a new nuclear weapons system
On 2 Dec 2015: Voted to support UK airstrikes in Syria [without UN authorisation]
On 2 Dec 2015: Voted to support UK airstrikes in Syria [without UN authorisation]
On Independence:
Generally voted for more EU integration
____________________________
Chris Bryant Labour MP From Wikipedia
(aka 1962-1986: Mr Christopher John Bryant 1986-1991: The Reverend Christopher John Bryant, 1991-2001: Mr Christopher John Bryant, 2001-: Mr Christopher John Bryant MP.)
Born in Cardiff, to a Scottish mother & a Welsh father, Bryant grew up in Cardiff, Wales (where his father worked for 5 years), and Cheltenham.
He was educated at Cheltenham College, an independent school for boys in the spa town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, where he was captain of the school swimming team, and Mansfield College at the University of Oxford, where he graduated in 1983, with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English. This was later promoted to a Master of Arts degree (MA (Oxon)), as per tradition.
After completing his first degree, Bryant began training to be a priest in the Church of England at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, in Oxfordshire. There, he obtained a degree in theology.
Although a member of the Conservative Party, and an elected office-holder in the Oxford University Conservative Association, he joined the Labour Party in 1986, after leaving Oxford.
He was ordained deacon in 1986 and priest in 1987. He served as a Curate at the Church of All Saints, High Wycombe, from 1986 to 1989; then as a Youth Chaplain in Peterborough, as well as travelling in Latin America.
In 1991 Bryant left the ordained ministry, after deciding that being gay and being a priest, were incompatible. Statements made by Richard Harries, then Bishop of Oxford, also influenced his decision.
After leaving the priesthood in 1991, Bryant worked as the election agent to the Holborn and St Pancras Constituency Labour Party, where he helped Frank Dobson hold his seat in the 1992 general election.
From 1993, he was Local Government officer for the Labour Party; he lived in Hackney and was elected to Hackney Borough Council in 1993, serving until 1998. He became Chair of the Christian Socialist Movement.
He is both a member of the Labour Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East. From 1994 to 1996 he was London manager of the leader-grooming "charity", Common Purpose.
He was Labour candidate for Wycombe, in the 1997 general election (he lost by 2,370 votes), and Head of European Affairs for the BBC, from 1998.
His selection for the very safe Labour seat of Rhondda, South Wales in 2000, shocked many people given Bryant's background – gay, an ex- Anglican vicar, and someone who was a Tory, while studying at Oxford, and a member now, of the Henry Jackson Society 'think tank' --- described by The Guardian newspaper as 'neoconservative'. It is pro-US, pro-NATO and pro-military intervention, as well as being fundamentally anti-socialist.
Fifty-two people applied for the candidature and a local councillor was hot favourite to win, before Bryant was parachuted in.
In 2004, a photograph of Mr Bryant in his underpants, which he had posted to a gay dating website, was published in 'papers.
When an interviewer suggested he was a 'disgrace to the Rhondda', he replied: "They can't get rid of me."
His pay, allowances and some expenses:
The basic annual salary for an MP, from April 1st, 2016 is £74,962. MPs also get expenses: to cover the costs of running an office, employing staff, having some- where to live in London, plus, in their constituency and travelling between Parliament and their constituency.
His MP's expenses story:
Chris Bryant changed second home twice to claim £20,000: the deputy leader of the House of Commons, "flipped" his second home twice, in 2 years, allowing him to claim almost £20,000 for renovations and fees.
Chris Bryant, MP for the Rhondda, split over £92,000 of expenses between 3 properties in Wales and London --- within five years.
In 2004, he attempted to claim £58,000 to overhaul his second home in Wales, after allegedly complaining that properties in his constituency were "terrace or mine owners' houses".
Mr Bryant, a former Church of England clergyman, wanted the money for a new bathroom & kitchen, and to demolish his conservatory. He'd bought the detached house for £97,500, under a year earlier.
He submitted a claim to the Commons fees office for £58,493.26 --- almost 3 times the annual maximum. He noted that the claim exceeded his allowance.
His alleged justification was disclosed... in correspondence between Commons officials. By email, an official wrote: "He had problems finding a suitable property because in the Rhondda there is a choice mainly of terraced property or mine owners' houses." When approached by the Daily Telegraph, Mr Bryant said: "I have never said or thought anything of the sort".
In all, he successfully claimed over £13,000 for renovations, repairs & appliances, in 2004. Along with other bills, his annual claim was £20,902.
In April 2005, he flipped his expenses to his flat in west London, which he bought for £400,000 in April 2002. He also claimed £630 a month for mortgage interest, along with other bills. After claiming over £3,600 over 3 months, he sold the flat in July 2005 for £477,000.
Mr Bryant used his profits to buy a more expensive flat in west London, which was valued at £670,000. He immediately flipped his second home expenses there, claiming almost £6,400 in stamp duty, legal fees and mortgage fees, incurred in the purchase.
He then began claiming interest of £1,000 a month on the mortgage. He also claimed a further £6,000 a year for the flat's service charge and ground rent.
In all, he claimed £92, 415 in second home expenses, from 2004 to 2009.
Mr Bryant said at the time: "I moved flat in London, so as to be closer to Parliament."
Research by Channel 4 News in 2015 found that at least 46 MPs had this kind of system in place – a move one Labour backbencher described as “a new fiddle”. Channel 4 reported then:
“Our investigation found that many of the MPs bought their London properties with the help of the taxpayer, when a previous expenses system allowed them to claim back mortgage payments. But when those claims were banned, following the expenses scandal, they switched to letting out their properties, in some cases for up to £3,000 a month. They then started claiming expenses for rent and hotels in the capital.”
Among those identified was Chris Bryant, shadow leader of the House of Commons. He had already bought a penthouse in London back in 2005 and claimed around £1,000 a month in mortgage claims under the old system.
But after the expenses scandal, he started renting the property out. It’s since been advertised by estate agents as having a private lift and a porter, with rent at about £3,000 a month. Meanwhile, Bryant moved into a new flat;- claiming his own rent on expenses.
Image: Russian scientists and Scottish ones
Russian/Scottish scientists hail long-range secure quantum communication system.
A group of scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia, has developed a new approach to constructing quantum communication systems for secure data exchange.
The experimental device based on the results of the research is capable of transmitting single-photon quantum signals across distances of 250 klmtrs or more, which is on par with its cutting edge analogues, the ITMO press-service says.
"Now researchers are on a mission -- to create a fully-fledged quantum cryptographic system, that will generate & distribute quantum keys and transmit useful data simultaneously", ITMO says.
Information security is becoming more and more of a critical issue not only for large companies, banks and defense enterprises but even for small businesses and individual users.
But the data encryption algorithms we currently use for protecting our data are imperfect - in the long-term, their logic can be cracked. Regardless of how complex and intricate the algorithm is, getting around it, is just a matter of time.
Unlike algorithm-based encryption, systems that protect information, by making use of fundamental laws of quantum physics, can make data transmission totally immune to hacker attacks, in the future.
Information in a quantum channel is carried by single photons that change irreversibly if an eavesdropper tries to intercept them. The legitimate users will instantly know about any kind of intervention.
Researchers at the Quantum Information Centre of the International Institute of Photonics and Optical Information Technology at ITMO Uni., Russia, along with their colleagues from the Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, have devised a new way to generate and distribute, quantum bits.
This makes it possible to share quantum signals --- via optical fibres --- 250 kilometres in distance.
"To transmit quantum signals, we use the so- called side frequencies," says Artur Gleim, head of the Quantum Information Centre, at ITMO University,
"This unique approach gives us a number of advantages -- such as a considerable simplification of the device architecture and the large pass-through capacity of the quantum channel. In terms of bit rate and operating distances, our system is comparable to absolute champions in the field of quantum communications."
According to Robert Collins, research associate at the Institute of Photonics & Quantum Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, and one of the authors of the study, this may become a pivotal point for the whole field of quantum communication and cryptography:
"Down the track, this new approach can enable smooth coexistence of numerous data streams with different wavelengths in one single optical cable. On top of it, these quantum streams can be fed into the already existing fibre optic lines --- along with conventional communications."
The research paper is published in the Optics Express journal.
Scottish universities are to be congratulated for their strong & growing links with Chinese and Russian universities....
What a shame, that Wales is lying low --- with academics too scared to break from US military research.
Image: BRICS
Image: March 26 London anti cuts demo
KILLING THE ELDERLY BY CLOSING CARE HOMES
Did you know that each time a local authority
closes a care home for the elderly, within 8
months, around half the residents are dead?
Campaigners liken the cuts and their effect to euthanasia of the UK's elderly. What to do?
We can start by urging our MPs to sign EDM 2251:
EDM 2251: The contents
This House notes with deep concern the worsening crisis for elderly care as growing numbers of local authority and private care homes face closure
Acknowledges concerns that the loss of elderly people's care homes causes fear, anxiety and, in many cases, a higher mortality rate, when vulnerable, elderly people are forced to leave their homes
Further notes that the Southern Cross crisis will increase needs for local authority care
And therefore calls on the government to hold a public inquiry into the deaths after closures, of local authority care homes, and impose a moratorium on the closure of local authority care homes, until that inquiry publishes its results, to ensure that vulnerable, elderly people's lives are not put at further risk.
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MAKING THE CONNECTION IN WALES
Households across three more English areas will be able to access superfast broadband in the latest phase of a Government scheme to connect rural homes and businesses.
The £50 million funding package for Devon and Somerset (£30 million), Norfolk (£15 million) and Wiltshire (£4 million) will aid the roll- out of superfast broadband services unable to be reached by the market alone.
Areas will also receive financial support from their local authorities and private investors, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport says.
So it's Broadband Heaven for England...
and crapola for Wales' broadband - the
slowest, worst Broadband in the UK !!!
Lib Dems in Scotland might have received a pummeling for Clegg and his betrayals, yet, in Scotland, their campaign centred on it becoming the "most connected country in Europe," to massively boost their economy.
In Wales, which political party is now willing to put into practice scientists' recommendations: that Wales' hilly topography requires establishing
free 'wireless' broadband?
It could connect the people of Rhondda and the world, boosting Wales' economic regeneration, like no other move.Wireless technology is now supplying free broadband to an entire island off New Zealand's coast.
Come on; if New Zealand can do it - so can we !!!
Image: China's rapeseed blossoms this Spring.
Western China has embraced "green-mode development" - with painful changes from which, Wales could well learn.
Eastern China has seen fast growth and urban mess. The West, a mining and agricultural area, has not.
Xi'an Chan-ba Ecological District, is a model for reclaiming old mining areas.
It took six hard years, but now Xi'an is showing the world how best to change, by turning a badly polluted rubbish landfill site, into an all new environment-friendly development.
As China's economic focus moves from east to west, it's using the lessons learned during 30 or more years of rapid industrial development.
The green way for China's west, is to combine green industrialization & green urbanization.
The western region's strategy is to adopt effective energy-saving and environmental protection technologies... AND to extend its industry through science and products unique to China's West, together with strong vertical growth in agriculture and all its ancilliary economic & professional spin-offs.
In undertaking this industrial revolution, the western region will keep a sharp eye out - to avoid all polluting non-sustainable industries.
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A BIG DROP OF HONEY !!!
Spring is beekeeping and honey-processing season in Yunnan province, in China.
Waves of bees flit across vast fields of flowers.
Local beekeepers and many from other places, such as Sichuan and Fujian provinces - set up their base in tents among the rapeseed farms.
The 430,000 hectares of rapeseed blooms in Luoping attract myriads of bees, which produce 15 - 20 million tons of honey a year.
Local people now look to brand their county as a honey production base & increase sales to outside markets.
Luoping Tianyuanmiyu Bee Industry Co Chair, Zhu Hongkun, founded his enterprise in 2009.
It mainly produces honey, propolis and propolis powder.
His company works with 270 plus beekeepers, who each earn 80,000 yuan a year on average.
Some earn 200,000 yuan annually, Zhu says.
Who says beauty endowed by nature isn't worth a fortune?
The whole of the uplands of south Wales could be as beautiful & productive, if used wisely!
Image: retirement China style
CHINA's PREMIER POINTS WAY FORWARD
As the Tories threaten a "bonfire of the Quangos", perhaps Wales should take note. Now extracting all our mineral wealth has been stopped (apart from sand and rock) we find ourselves "in" the 1st World of the UK, but with a 3rd World economy, only just kept going by quangos which promise much... but deliver little... and rely on weak public support.
We could WAKE UP & understand that we either do something, or stay as begging bowl cases.
China's premier points the way forward for Wales:
"Industrial restructuring is the key... only by developing energy-efficient, indigenous innovative and high value added products can our companies and economy, achieve sustainable development."
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WHILE FRANCE, GREECE, IRELAND, ETC, STRUGGLE TO STOP THE PENSION AGE RISING HIGHER AND HIGHER...
An online survey on qq.com, a popular Chinese news portal, finds that 91% of its over 800,000 respondents, are against raising the current official Chinese retirement age.
745,123 of those surveyed say they oppose raising retirement ages -- 72,456 support it.
China's scholars & the public have been debating whether to raise the retirement age, for the past few years, but the issue rose to prominence after remarks by an official.
Wang Xiaochu, the official vice minister of the Ministry of Human Resources & Social Security, said at a press conference that the government was "studying the matter"...
The retirement age in China is generally set at 60 for men and 50-55 for women.
Wow! Bet you didn't know that !!!
Image: unemployment in Wales
FARMING AND SCIENCE COULD REGENERATE WALES
A new UN General Assembly report warns "vast areas" of cultivated land are lost each year, and that this could lead to unrest.
The report says up to 30 million hectares, an area the size of Italy, is lost each year to environmental degradation, industry & urbanization - the growth of cities - and all because of speculative building and greed.
The UN special rapporteur Olivier De Schutter, gives the example of eastern Africa, where the amount of cultivated land has declined by half --- in just one generation! "
As rural populations grow and competition with large industrial units increases, plots cultivated by smallholders are shrinking year after year," says De Schutter.
"Farmers are often relegated to soils that are arid, hilly or without irrigation."
The UN officer also mentions India as another example, where the average landholding fell from 2.6 hectares in 1960 to 1.4 hectares in 2000. A cut of nearly half in 40 years!
He says 500 million small farmers suffer from hunger, partly because their right to land is being violated. The expert warns of the devastating consequences, as foreign investors compete for larger and larger areas of the world's land for "their" agriculture.
Rhondda Records says Wales could rebuild its new economy by basing it on a fresh approach to high-value added products, using science and agriculture... such as the Altzeim project in Gwent.