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!
Chinarepudiates military
threats....against Cuba
July 16th, 12:25am
(Prensa Latina)
China today expressed its firm rejection of any use of force against
Cuba and urged the United States to immediately cease military
threats and the blockade imposed on the island.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian responded to recent reports
that senior officials of the U.S. Department of Defense have
studied the possibility of military action against Cuba.
The spokesman said Beijing took note of these reports ---- and
stressed that the use or threat of use of force in international
relations seriously violates the UN Charter and endangers
regional and international peace and security.
Lin Jian reiterated - that China firmly opposes such actions and
recalled that the UN General Assembly recently decided, by an
overwhelming majority, to hold the debate on the need to end
the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed
by the United States against Cuba.
According to the spokesman, that decision reflects the voice of
justice of the international community in support of the island.
The spokesman urged the United States to immediately end
threats of use of force and any form of blockade against
the Caribbean nation.
Lin reaffirmed that China will continue to firmly support Cuba
in the defense of its national sovereignty and maintain its
opposition to any external interference.
Beijing has repeatedly called on the United States to immediately
end the blockade and sanctions against the island, considering
that such measures seriously affect people's basic livelihoods
and ---- violate their right to development.
Image: People hold up a banner as they protest against Israel at the entrance of the International Criminal Court.
'Energy for everyoneor no one':
Iran's IRGC warns Trump
July 16th, 1:42pm
(Al Mayadeen English)
Brigadier General Yadollah Javani says the US will fail to reopen
the Strait of Hormuz militarily, warning of consequences if the
US attacks Iranian infrastructure.
Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Deputy Commander for
Political Affairs Brigadier General Yadollah Javani said on Thursday
that the United States will not be able to reopen the Strait of
Hormuz using military force, stressing that there is a
consensus in Iran - to maintain control over the
strategic waterway.
Javani said US President Donald Trump "will take the dream of
reopening the Strait of Hormuz through military action with
him to the grave," adding that Iranian officials are fully
united over preserving the waterway and enforcing
Iran's arrangements regarding its management.
The IRGC official said Iran's armed forces have the military
capabilities needed to maintain control over the strait due
to the geopolitical importance of the Gulf, the Strait of
Hormuz, and the Sea of Oman. He also claimed that
there is full public support in Iran for the policy,
saying the Iranian people not only support
maintaining control over the strait but
consider it a top priority.
Iran warns against targeting infrastructure
Javani also addressed Trump's threats to target Iranian
infrastructure, saying Washington believes..... it can
retaliate against Iran by destroying infrastructure
and depriving the Iranian people of energy.
"Trump imagines that he can easily take revenge against a
resistant and steadfast people facing American ambitions
by destroying Iran's infrastructure and depriving our
people of energy," Javani said.
To that, he warned that if the US military makes a strategic
mistake by targeting Iranian infrastructure, "the entire
world, including leaders in America, Europe, other
regions, and the rulers of regional countries,
must pay attention to this important and
decisive point: if the terrorist US army
commits such a strategic mistake,
everyone should bid farewell to
energy in the region."
Javani added that Iran has adopted a firm policy
regarding energy, stating, "Energy for everyone
or no one."
Iran announced days ago that it had fully closed the Strait of
Hormuz after previously allowing commercial vessels to
pass through routes designated by the IRGC, after the
US violation of the memorandum of understanding
between the two sides.
Iran will not allow US to intervene in the strait
Earlier on Thursday, speaking on behalf of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya
Central Headquarters, spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim
Zolfaghari said the United States -- "continues its arrogance and
destabilization of the region," stressing that Iran "will not allow,
under any circumstances or in any form, the United States, as
a country from outside the region, to intervene in the Strait of
Hormuz," stating that the issue is "an unbreakable red line".
Zolfaghari warned that if Trump follows through on threats to target
Iranian infrastructure, "everything that has remained intact until
now, namely the infrastructure across the region, will be
crushed under the strikes of the Iranian armed forces
until nothing remains."
He added that Iran's response would not be proportional, saying
the country's armed forces would deliver "a superior strike,
more severe, broader, and more destructive than ever
before," while warning that "the fire of the anger of
a people who have never surrendered - will burn
the aggressor."
The remarks came -- after Trump threatened to target Iranian
infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, if Tehran
does not comply with US demands regarding the Strait of
Hormuz. Trump also warned that Washington would
continue military pressure and expand attacks to
additional targets if no agreement is reached,
while previously threatening Iranian oil
wells and desalination plants.
Source: Al Mayadeen English
Image: Dag Solstad's birth day
Today, July 16th, in 1941,
Dag Solstad,
novelist, short-story writer and dramatist,
is born.
His birthplace.. was Sandefjord,
Reichskommissariat Norwegen
(today Norway).
Dag Solstad's work has been
translated into 20 languages.
Solstad wrote nearly 30 books and was the only author to have
received the Norwegian Literary Critics' Award three times.
Other awards include the Mads Wiel Nygaards Endowment
in 1969, the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1989, for
Roman 1987 & the Brage Prize in 2006 for Armand V.
Solstad was born in Sandefjord.. to merchant Ole Modal Solstad and
Ragna Sofie Tveitan. After receiving his examen artium, he worked
as a teacher in Kabelvåg and as a journalist for the newspaper
Tiden. He then enrolled at the University of Oslo, where he
contributed to the literary magazine Profil.
Solstad made his literary debut with Spiraler, a collection of short
stories influenced by literary modernism, in 1965, and started
working as a full-time writer the following year.
His second book, the text collection Svingstol, came in 1967.
Solstad made his debut as a novelist in 1969, with Irr! Grønt!.
During the 1970s, he was a member of the maoist Workers'
Communist Party. Political themes are present in several
of his works from this time, such as the 1971 novel
Arild Asnes, 1970.
His works during this phase are the novel 25. septemberplassen
(1974), the propaganda play Kamerat Stalin,
eller familien Nordby (1975), and the war
trilogy (1977, 1978, 1980).
In 1982 the novel: Gymnaslærer Pedersens beretning om den store
politiske vekkelse som har hjemsøkt vårt land, about a politically
active teacher in Larvik in the early 1970s, was published; a
film adaptation, Gymnaslærer Pedersen, was made by
director Hans Petter Moland in 2006.
Several of Solstad's later works incorporate elements of autofiction,
with the author himself present as a character, or events from his
youth forming part of the story.
His first marriage was to Erna Irene Asp, from 1968.
From 1983 to 1990 he was married to Tone
Elisabeth Melgård. In 1995 he married
journalist Therese Bjørneboe, and
was thus son-in-law of writer
Jens Bjørneboe.
Solstad lived part-time in Berlin and part-time in
the Skillebekk neighbourhood of Oslo. He died
on 14 March 2025, at the age of 83.
“How the poor masses were streaming into the big city,
bewitched by the idea of living just there. They left a
poor, humdrum everyday life in the countryside
for a hopeless slum on the fringes of the
metropolis from which they would
never escape.”
"He stared at the big blonde girl.
Pussy! he shouted. Eat your
food! Bacon snout!"
“And so, when the chips are down, I must say, though not without
a sense of repugnance, that if you wish to show your belief in
democracy, you also have to do so when you are in the
minority, convinced both intellectually and, not least,
in your innermost self, that the majority in the name
of democracy, is crushing everything you stand for
and that means something to you, indeed, all that
gives you the strength to endure, well, that gives
a kind of meaning to your life ---- something that
transcends your own fortuitous lot, one might
say. When the heralds of democracy roar,
triumphantly bawling out their vulgar
victories day after day so that it
really makes you suffer, as in
my own case, you still have
to accept it; I will not let
anything else... be said
about me, he thought.”
1,150 health professionals, organizations
launch petition ---- to boycott Israeli
medical association over
Gaza genocide
June 26th, 4:20pm
(PressTV)
More than 1,150 health professionals and medical organizations
have signed a petition --------- demanding a boycott of the Israeli
Medical Association (IMA), saying it is directly complicit in the
ongoing genocide against Palestinians ------ in the besieged
Gaza Strip.
The signatories, are urging the World Medical Association (WMA)
to expel the IMA over its complete silence on Israel’s systematic
destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure, as well as the killing,
abduction, and torture of Palestinian doctors, nurses, and
first responders.
Led by the People’s Health Movement (PHM), Doctors for Gaza,
and the Health Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace,
the petition also calls for the WMA to suspend the Israeli
body for its blatant failure.. to uphold core medical
ethical standards.
Among the hundreds of signatories are Spain’s Health Workers
for Palestine, the US-based Doctors Against Genocide, and
the Health Alliance for Democracy in the Philippines.
The petition, recently published in The Lancet, the world’s
leading medical journal, states that the IMA has violated
medical ethics and international humanitarian law... in
the besieged strip.
The Lancet noted that it could not find any public statements
from the IMA ---- condemning Israeli attacks on Gaza’s health
system, criticizing the regime’s conduct in the war, calling
for a ceasefire, or responding to UN reports documenting
genocide against the Palestinian people.
Instead, the IMA has repeatedly echoed Israeli regime talking
points, including the unsubstantiated claim that the Hamas
resistance movement uses hospitals as command centres.
In recent months, there has been a growing international
campaign to suspend Israel from the WMA and boycott
Israeli doctors and medical institutions.
A report by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor,
in April 2026 highlighted the IMA’s failure to condemn the
Israeli military’s repeated attacks on Gaza’s hospitals.
The report stated: “This incitement .....was supported by
institutional cover from the IMA, which not only failed to
condemn the targeting of the health system but also
lobbied to block international ceasefire calls,
prioritizing military alignment ---- over its
humanitarian duty to protect life.”
In mid-June --- the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the US, welcomed
international medical groups’ calls for Israel’s suspension from
the WMA.
In late 2023, a group of Israeli doctors, including dozens of
practicing physicians, published an open letter explicitly
calling for the bombardment of Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital,
describing the territory’s health infrastructure as a
“legitimate target.”
The IMA.... took no disciplinary action against them.
Al-Shifa Hospital was among dozens of medical facilities
in Gaza that were repeatedly bombed and raided by
Israeli forces. Scores of hospitals and health
centres ---- were destroyed ---- or
rendered inoperable.
In December 2024, Israeli troops stormed
Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
According to Euro-Med Monitor, medical staff and
displaced civilians sheltering there --------- were
executed during the raid.
The hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, was
abducted and remains in Israeli custody, where
he is subjected to severe mistreatment ----
and torture.
The Israeli genocide in Gaza has effectively annihilated
the Strip’s entire medical system. Airstrikes combined
with a criminal blockade have pushed the remaining
hospitals to the brink of total collapse, leaving
critically injured patients...... without
adequate care.
With severe shortages of medicine, equipment, and fuel,
doctors in Gaza warn that many more lives will be lost
as the Zionist regime’s siege continues to strangle
the healthcare system.
The systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure, medical
facilities, and densely populated areas by the Israeli
occupation has been widely documented ---- as
constituting genocide.
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.