My thoughts of the day

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologise for not updating my blog yesterday, but I have been very busy recently with Christmas-time arrangements and short-term financial trouble.

I am thankful to all those leaders who flew over to South Africa to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela-although Enda Kenny, the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) accidentally referred to him as 'Nadiba' when Mr. Mandela's nickname was 'Madiba'. Oops!

 Quite a few old, former Conservative MPs like Terry Dicks are still unrepentant about their views of Mr. Mandela whilst former Conservative PM Sir John Major correctly states that Margaret Thatcher's government was incorrect to oppose sanctions against South Africa-which in any case should have been imposed earlier under Labour in the 1970s under Harold Wilson and latterly James Callaghan, given that the Soweto riots and the notorious death of Steve Biko happened in the 1970s.

In other news, those protestors have successfully pressured Thai Prime MInister Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra, to call a snap election. What these pro-monarchists are actually trying to achieve are a reversal of important reforms Thai governments have been achieving for a few years now, and people like them were also responsible for the attempted coup against Thaksin in 2006. The people of Thailand need to realise that Yingluck is actually on the right track overall, at least for the most part, and remain vigilant of their government nevertheless to make sure Thai elites do not try to manipulate or overthrow Yingluck and her supporters. I hope Yingluck is successful in this snap election.

 Meanwhile, today is human rights day (the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), which is a good time to remind you of once again how we must fight back against the EU-US Free Trade Agreement and the equally dangerous Trans-Pacific Partnership-we must not allow corporate rights to trump human rights, which both these agreements will effectively permit if passed via investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), a dangerous type of clause that allows corporations to sue democratically elected governments via secret, stacked offshore tribunals. We need to start this soon.

 Regards, Alan.



 

 

 

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