Jack Straw situation in Iraq now Dire

on Question Time on the BBC Jack Straw said 'the situation in Iraq is dire' and that he effectively blamed America for this fact. How dare he. The British are just as complicit with our continued occupation of a foreign state, even if it is at the request of the 'democratically elected' government. Please remember Vichy France. When will people understand that the actions of American and British troops has done nothing but build a ferocious reaction against our illegal war and subsequent occpation. We did commit war crimes, we hand suspects over to be interrogated, that is tortured, and there is a bounty on the heads of all suspects. How anybody can now say there is not civil war leaves me so angry.Hundreds are being killed and yet what are we doing to protect them. Oh es that's right we have trained the army and police. The same army and police who are now being arrested for operating for death squads. Don't you dare start writing in saying but we never knew what was going on or writing in saying how awful things are. There is only one solution, and that is withdraw our troops now because any future deaths achieve nothing other than to give Blair the excuse to say that they must not have died in vain. Well I am sorry but they will.

Exeter unitary authority

we are due a government paper on the future structure of local government. Can I suggest that Exeter must be an enlarged Unitary Authority which includes the new development to the east and also the land allocated to Skypark and also the International Airport.Any other solution would not be at all acceptable and I would expect members of all the local political parties to support such a proposal. If any do not agree then it is encumbent upon their leaders to explain why they do not agree to such a proposal.We need, no demand, that we are given freedom from the dead hand of government by Devon County Council and leave them to satisfy the needs of the rural community and the rural community can pay for the services they need rather than sponge off the people of Exeter who are being impoverished to satisfy the rural community.

The Queen is guilty of war crimes

A British soldier, Cpl. Donald Payne has pleaded guilty to committing inhumanely treating civlians detained in Iraq, a war crime.Now i look forward to receiving an aplology from all those who attacked both me and my son for highlighting the very issue of actions taken by our troops in Iraq. You know the type, when told to jump we jumped and we all followed orders. This is no longer acceptable. I look forward with displeasure to further revelations because of the serious implications of this guilty plea. You see the Queen as head of state can now be charged with war crimes. Forget Tony Blair.Now when the Nuremburg trials were held at the end of WWII some nazis pleaded innocent on the basis that they did not know what was being done. They were found guilty. Accordingly, when some people say that soldiers know what they are doing when they accept the Queens shilling and that they are fighting for Queen and country now understand the implications. The head of state is guilty, the prime minister who lied to parliament is guilty and the chancellor who pays the bills is guilty. This is what we have come to.

Inheritance tax

will those people who say that the threshold for inheritance tax must be raised because of the increase to the value of their house please remember that most of the houses purchased were bought with the advantage of mortgage interest relief at source, MIRAS for short. This is no longer available to young buyers.These older people were given tax relief by the state to buy their homes so why should they not pay tax on the huge capital appreciation seen over the last few years. MIRAS was always a tax on the poor to the advantage of the wealthy for which there was no moral justification, that is why it was abolished to new mortgagees. Some people still have the benefit where a mortgage was taken out before formal abolition.I retain my sincere belief that it must be the recipient of any inheritance who should pay tax and not the deceased. Surely any sensible, sane, logical person must agree with this position. The problem is that there is now a generation who wish to give up work early and the only way they hope to achieve that is to inherit substantial wealth from their parents, pay off the mortage and live a life of luxury.

Dafour region

has anybody else noticed that the west is doing very little to help the oppressed and persecuted people of the Dafour region. Why should that be.Ask yourself are the people of Dafour the same religion as the rest of Sudan. Are they of the same race. Look at the proximity of the Chad Cameroon oil pipe line and to which country most of the oil goes. I think that you will find that China is the beneficiary and who, on the UN top table is for sure against any intervention in the area.

Pope was right

part of the problem which the Pope had in expressing his concerns over Islam was that he used an historic text written in a form of language which is not acceptable in todays world. If he had said that it was more a problem of culture rather than religion then he would not have encountered the same reaction.

Brown not fit to govern

Gordon Brown, who just seems to think that he should take over running the country without a democratic general election, has recently given an interview about the sad death of his daughter. Now I do not consider that he has any right to emotionally black mail the electorate with this touchy feely sort of stuff.Many people lose loved ones and he is quoted as saying 'and you have got, I think, to try and do something' (Independent 15th september p.9). Well can he now tell us what he thinks we should do about all the innocent women and children being killed to bring foreign people freedom and democracy. Also what does he think about the families of those military personnel who are dying so that he can give interviews to the media. I am glad that he was able to cradle the body of his daughter in his arms and that she 'was unblemished by the illness she had' well maybe he ought to go and cradle a young baby slaughtered by some of our bombs or bombs transferred from America to Israel and used in the 'war' on Lebanon.What has been most illuminating over the last few days is Blair visting Israel after the murders in Lebanon. He was pictured with the families of the three, yes three, Israeli soldiers who have been captured by their opponents. Why will Blair never appear with the families of our soldiers who have lost their lives fighting for freedom and democracy. Oh, and where exactly are all the injured soldiers. Does anybody know where they are. By now some of you will know that they are being used as guinea pigs for some new drug or other but they are expendable after all. The whole of this labour government are tarnished by the illegal war in Iraq and even now Bush is having to go to congress to get the Geneva convention changed so that the CIA can legally torture people. Is this what we have come to.

Brown should resign

Gordon Brown must announce his resignation at the labour party conference. This will force the issue. If Brown does not then he has not got the guts to be PM. If Brown continues in office then he has no moral or democratic right to be PM. By his resignation he will force Blair to resign and then there can be a properly contested leadership. A general election must be held immediately a new leader is appointed. That is true democracy. The Tories are not yet in a position to actually win.