Queer Eye For The Labour Guy

Fellow bloggers akromatika and xakkd reminded us about poor colour co-ordination in political stories.

This picture shows former Prime Minister Tony Blair, wearing a red tie, making his last statement to Parliament, with his replacement Gordon Brown, wearing a blue tie, sitting next to him.

Mr Blair and Mr Brown's Labour Party colour is red, with the opposing party, the Conservatives settling on blue.

Tell The Truthiness ; Perhaps someone should have told Mr Brown to keep a united front and wear a red tie and not the colour of the opposition!

War On Reality Part 16 ; No-One & Everyone To Blame For Iran Sailors

Just to confirm, if anyone was still wondering, no-one has been found to blame for the mess (what else would best describe it?) of the British Navy personnel held by Iran in March.

The UK Defence Secretary Des Browne said, in perfect political fudge language while talking about allowing the freed sailors to sell their stories, that there had been a ''collective failure of judgment'', that's one of the few parts of the report released to the public.

To protect current soldiers, in the Gulf area, the report is to remain classified. This is the same tactic the government uses to give out scant details about alleged terrorist plots. ''We can tell you the really scary details, but not all of it, because we don't want to scare you too much, by the way, don't have nightmares''. You know the type of thing.

Tell The Truth ; If the government were to put up their hands and say they made a total hash of the entire situation and were even suspected of hijacking it to ratchet up anti-Iranian feelings, then they may gain more respect and perhaps some trust from the public.

The Iran Fallout, About The Fallout (In Three To Eight Years)

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that Iran is three to eight years from developing a nuclear device, if it so chose to do so.

Mr Mohamed ElBaradei said there was no evidence that Iran was attempting to turn nuclear material into a 'weaponised' version.
It's especially telling that as the international community (when that phrase is used, it tends just to mean the US & the UK) is urging Iran not to seek a nuclear weapons programme, the UK is debating whether to push ahead with sanctioning new nuclear power stations for electricity generation.

In the UK, the majority of the public have been against the building of a new generation of nuclear power stations, with many members of parliament expressing their opposition to the plans. Its been suggested that the government have made up their minds to give these plans the greenlight, even though the proposals are at the consultation stage as the UK tries to reduce it's dependency on fossil fuels for power generation.

Tell The Truthiness ; The UK is asking Iran to not have nuclear weapons, when it decides to build a replacement nuclear defence system and push the case for an unpopular nuclear power generation programme. Double standards anyone?

Iraq Reality ; In Shades Of Black, White, Grey & Brown?

With Iraq being spoken of by George Bush as some kind of moral, even religious Crusade, the discussion about pulling out has moved on in the UK, by the man due to take the place of Tony Blair in a month's time.

The current Chancellor, Gordon Brown, due to take the PM's seat in No.10 at the end of next month has been forewarned by Labour party members that the policy of the UK in Iraq could cast a shadow over the party and country.

Mr Brown himself has said that mistakes were made and Iraq has been a divisive issue for the country as a whole.

When questioned on whether the UK would support military action against Iran, he answered by saying that the country wants a peaceful solution to the issues being discussed.

So in all but name, Britain has said it wouldn't go into Iran. OK, it did come from the man who isn't YET in charge, so maybe his outlook on that might change when he takes the big job in June.

Tell The Truthiness ; We all know that heading into office can change opinions, remember George saying '' I don't think the United States has to go around the World telling people 'this is how it's got to be ' ''. Don't burn those 'Can't we all just get along?' , peace banners just yet.

War On Reality Part 12 ; Anyone Left Standing On This Thing?

The Democrats rolled over, though there is a faint hint that they could regroup to challenge Bush in the near future, but right now what's left to try?

Maybe we should lobby the MPs in the Iraqi Parliament and get them to shout at the White House and Downing Street for the 'coalition of the willing' (perhaps we should replace 'willing' with 'failing') to get the hell out of their country.

Tell The Truthiness ; When the populations of two countries, the UK and US, both say get the troops out now and their governments refuse, what's left to do? March on London and Washington and demand in person? Maybe its the only thing left to do.

War On Reality Part 11 ; Dems Pencil In Benchmarks ; Bush Gets Eraser

Did we all fall asleep and wake up in some sort of parallel universe? The Democrats have given the Republicans the war funding bill, which is due to go through by Friday.

They've done it without a pull-out date.

Without a set of compulsory benchmarks that the President must maintain and achieve.

But we do have benchmarks, which Mr Bush is able to just waive and ignore if he sees fit.

This looks like giving a highschool student a self-assessment report card and told to 'fill it in yourself'.

Tell The Truthiness ; Democrats, what happened? Anyone got an explanation?

Little Jimmy Goes For All The Mini-He's ; Blair & Bush

In a rare example of former Presidents restraining their opinions and views post-office, Jimmy Carter has fired a double broadside at Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush over Iraq.

While on a book tour, promoting a publication about Palestine, President Carter said that UK support, by Tony Blair, for the US led campaign in Iraq had worsen the US in World opinion and standing.

He also was critical of President Bush for having 'zero peace talks' in Israel.

Tell The Truthiness ; Any other former Presidents or World leaders want to stand against US/UK policy in Iraq, then the coalition will be out totally on its own, oh but there's always someone like, Sweden, in the 'Coalition Of The Willing'? Correction needed.

If you can write in and tell us who the other countries in coalition with the US and UK, you get a mention!

The Prince & The Platoon

After all the debate, threats (we've been told) and lots of pictures of royalty in army formal dress it's been decided that Prince Harry will not go to Iraq.

Harry, third in line to the UK throne, had said he would leave the Army if he wasn't allowed to go to Iraq. But it was deemed too dangerous to send him as several threats included killing or kidnapping which if occurring, would have led to an unraveling of UK policy in that country.

Argument had tired over the past few weeks that either he isn't sent as he's a successor to the monarch or that there's no reason to spare Iraq from his military record and should go out there.

One aspect of the whole discussion that was not touched on by the mainstream media was that if he was sent, additional troops would 'double-up' in a sense, to provide protection for the Prince. Parents of troops, one of whom was spoken to by the Truthiness Team expressed despair as to the justification for sending their son as a shield for Harry, its not as if being in a war zone isn't dangerous enough without that extra duty to deal with.

To Tell The Truthiness ; If there were 'unacceptable risks' in sending him, then surely sending any troops to Iraq (no matter who their father or grandmother is) has 'unacceptable risks' and needs urge revaluation.

Blair Goes & Takes The Bad News With Him

With the UK getting use to Tony Blair moving into the background in the next few weeks, accusations have been levelled at the timing of a release of Home Office news on the same day.

The details about another cost increase of the UK ID cards scheme, jumping by £400million to a total scheme cost of £5.31billion was released on the same day as the PM's departure date became public.

Claims have been made this was deliberately timed to be 'buried' by the Blair news which received wall-to-wall coverage in the UK when it broke at around midday on Thursday.

The identity card scheme has been deemed wasteful, costing billions and not doing anything to reduce the risk of terrorism.

Tell The Truthiness ; This scheme gets more expensive each time its mentioned and pushed back as the roll out date is reviewed. When will the UK government realised that no-one wants this at all? Do you really imagine terrorists are cancelling plans because they've heard about the cards and are thinking '' oh, we can't get passed these cards, look they're laminated, we've got no chance of success.'', it's not very likely.

Blair's Resignation Speech

Courtesy of YouTube, Here's Tony Blair's resignation speech.



Telling The Truthiness ; Thank god for YouTube!

Telling The Truth 2! Bush Follows Blair! Wow!

LATE BREAKING NEWS!

This just in, Bush tells it like it is!



Telling The Truthiness ; Its the detergents in Iraq that are the cause of all the problems!

Tony Blair Tells The Truth (No Truthiness Here!)

As he announced his seven-weeks-to-go before leaving his premiership at end of June, Mr Blair said something people were surprised at.

In his speech at his local Labour party club, where for him his government involvement started in 1983, he commented on what had been achieved by his governing Labour party, then he did something unexpected and stunning.

He said sorry.

Yes, that's right, we'll type that again, so people can take it in.

He said sorry.

''I ask you to accept one thing. Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right. I may have been wrong. That's your call.''

He didn't say what that was specifically referring to but everyone knows what it was tipped toward, the Iraq invasion, WMDs and the civil war in that country.

To Tell The Truthiness ; Hindsight is a great thing and as many people may not believe in what he did, he did what he thought, at the time, was right.

Now if only some other World leaders could recognise that and say the same thing.

Send us your suggestions for which leaders you want to apologise and what for.

Four Years & One Day on In April 2007

It's been four years and one day since the statue of Saddam Hussein fell and Baghdad was liberated following the invasion of Iraq.

Protests were staged in Baghdad to call for the withdrawal of allied forces in that city and in that country.

Far from the flowers and sweets being thrown at advancing troops it's more likely to be bricks and crudely made explosive devices.

Far from the friendly, warm relationship it was expected Iraq would be having with the US, the Iraq people and government appear to have seen through the absence of a post-war plan, leaving a dangerous and uncertain vacuum in their country.

The Truthiness Blog Says ; It would be wrong to say things haven't changed in Iraq since 2003, they clearly have. Iraq is now more vocal than ever about it's dislike of an occupation by US and allied forces. Could it now be time to consider giving the people we are meant to have liberated back their country?

War Of Words With Iran Escalates Over UK Navy Personnel

Tony Blair today called the detention of 15 Royal Navy service personnel ''unjustified and wrong'' as the government in Tehran shows no signs of backing down.

Speaking at the European Union Summit to mark the fifty year anniversary of the creation of the EU, Prime Minister Blair said it was false that the marine forces had been captured in Iranian waters, they were in Iraqi territorial waters.

The Prime Minister added that he hopes the Iranian government can understand how fundemental this is for the UK Navy.

The Truthiness Blog Says ; No complicated 'spin', no revisionist talk, Mr Blair says they were in Iraq waters, Tehran says no.

Who's going to blink first?

PS This video is just for a funny start to the new week.

UK To Lead US Into The Sweet Smell Of Fresh Air?

Last week the UK unveiled a draft climate change bill , due to be passed into law within the year. Unlike the average bill being passed by a country, this piece of legislation has the power to change the face of the UK and, be a catalyst for change throughout the developed and developing World.

The bill proposes the setting of legally binding carbon emission cuts, with the power for future governments to be taken to court for missing targets.

The UK has a staggering target to cut C02 emissions 60 % by 2050. Meanwhile in the US President Bush has made much news out of tighter fuel efficiency by automobile manufacturers.

Much has been made of the way, especially since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, that the UK has consistently gone along with whatever the US has proposed under the guise of keeping us safe. The latest example of this 'rolling over' is the UK government's push to agree early a replacement for the UK nuclear defence Cruise missile system. This is despite deep divisions which have shown themselves in public with high profile resignations over the relevance of a system designed to protect from attack by Russia.

There have been hints that the much anticipated handover from Prime Minister Tony Blair to the Chancellor Gorden Brown, tipped for this summer, could bring a cooling in the relationship across the pond.

Maybe the UK before the year is out could push the US toward a 'tipping point' on climate change?

The Truthiness Blog Says ; Just Because Bush Doesn't Talk About Polar Bears, Doesn't Mean He Doesn't Know What They Are (Perhaps He Doesn't; Don't Get Many In Texas)

Common Sense Spreads To Britain's Iraq Policy

The late breaking story tonight is that Tony Blair is due to announce a withdrawal of UK troops from the north of the country tomorrow.

Despite all that's been said and the requirement to stay until the job is done, the UK is breaking it's shoulder-to-shoulder stance with the United States since the so called War On Terror began.

Bush has to prepare for how cold it's going to be, stood there, defending the World from the scum of the Universe, all by himself.

The Truthiness Blog Says ; We aren't traditionally patriotic but ; bring them home Bush.

Tony Blair's spellchecker substitutes Iran For Iraq

Tony Blair and George Bush continue this week to deny there is any link between constant talk about '' no invasion of Iran'' and the constant sentences that include the words 'invasion', 'iraq' and 'iran'.

'' No one is talking about an invasion'' said a slightly peeved Tony Blair Tuesday lunchtime.

Indeed, no one is talking about an Iranian invasion. But two people in particular ARE talking about not invading, Tony Blair and George 'Denny Crane' Bush.

In the opinion of opinionators, its the classic 'bait and switch', promise something and then at the last minute, switch a few words round in those quotes and we'll be throwing sweets in downtown Tehran.

So watch out and if Tony or George turn up on your doorstep offering to save you money if you switch phone companies, for god sake don't sign anything.

The Truthiness Blog Says ; Sell your Iranian holiday home NOW!

Blair Holiday Cut Short ; Don't Get Deposit Back

The Blair family holiday at Christmas, when the Prime Minister's retreat was one of the Bee Gee's Miami homes, got cut short we were told due to mounting pressure at home.

We at the Truthiness Blog can exclusively reveal it was due to their return flight being rescheduled. The family had booked a package deal through British Airways Holidays and rather than opt for the gold package, went for the bronze option including possible changes in flight times.

The cheapness of their deal was shown on their Miami arrival when their arriving 747 on touchdown nearly missed the taxiway at Miami International Airport and almost skidded into the grass.

Rumours that Mr Blair was at the controls remain unconfirmed this evening.

The Truthiness Blog Says ; Fasten your seatbelts, there's turbulence ahead.

Can 'The First War Of The 21st Century' Stay The Course?

As previously reported in The Truthiness Blog, the style of the language of our governments tells you an awful lot than the words themselves ever could.

So it was that in last week's

Bush and Blair speech

that the President used that telling phrase, that very telling phrase about being ' in this first war of the 21st century' when refering to the war in Iraq.

You may recall that just after the midterm election, former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used the

same phrase in his speech

once the President had finally accepted his resignation and the calls for him to go .

What exactly could be the reasoning behind the use of such a phrase? It couldn't be that the US government wants to hammer home that it would like the conflict/civil war that the coalition forces started in that country to be branded like a new version of a soft drink?

Is the US eager to have been the first in the World to have the ' First War Of The 21st Century'?

After WMDs

After Freedom and Liberty

After Credible Threat

After Regime Change

After Stay The Course

After We Never Said Stay The Course

we now have this?

Does the subtle attempt to 'brand' as you would a product in a store, a war that has it seems to have no end the most important action to be trying at this point?

Because if Mr President and Mr Prime Minister the 'First War Of The 21st Century' is truly that, then it could end up being a war which last for most of this century and it will hang like a millstone round your necks, unless you change course and change your attitude.

Blair Speech Later ; But Why Wait For Him? We'll Tell You Now

In an innovative move for The Truthiness, we will report on a speech to be made by Tony Blair later today. We know what he's going to say, we know how long it's going to take for him to say it and we know how many times he'll use the phrase 'freedom fries for all' ( 16 by our counter experts). So since we've got all the facts, we'll cover the speech now, before he makes it.

This all means that later on, when he makes the speech, we will have time to cover the other important stories of the day such as at our London Desk, who's going to win 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!' and at our New York Desk, the fall out from 'Dancing With The Stars'. Plus it means we can clear out of the office early and get home for a CSI-Miami double-bill.

A Downing Street spokesperson couldn't comment on rumours that the only people watching his speech later, when he actually makes it, will be his Mum, little Baby Leo and the cleaning man.

Truthiness - Getting the facts wrong now, rather than later.

See Blair's speech here, before he makes it