Can't we get anything right in this god-forsaken island?

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Britain shamed as Iraqi interpreters are resettled in squalid tower blocks
The first Iraqi interpreters to be offered refuge in Britain are living in fear in squalid tower blocks in Glasgow, The Times has learnt. They complained of living among drunks and drug addicts, being abused and spat at, and of feeling isolated and unable to work. One girl of 9 had had her hijab torn off by one of her new neighbours. Abdul, 71, one of three Iraqis who risked their lives working for British troops in Basra and were resettled in April with 15 dependents, advised others in a similar position to stay in Iraq.


All change or no change?

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Barack Obama the political chameleon
On June 3 Barack Obama claimed the greatest prize the Democratic Party can offer, namely his nomination as its candidate for the presidency. The very next day the salesman of 'change' raced from Minnesota back to Washington and publicly abased himself at the feet of an organisation whose prime mission is to ensure that change unpalatable to the state of Israel will never be pressed by the United States government.

The terms of Obama's surrender before the American Israel Public Committee exploded like rhetorical cluster bombs across the Middle East. To Israel and its Arab neighbours it surely signalled that, whoever moves into the White House next January, there will be no swerve from Bush's role as guarantor of Israeli intransigence.


What a great life he had

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Nat Temple: saxophone and clarinet player turned bandleader
In a career that stretched from 1929 to 2003, Nat Temple successfully straddled two aspects of professional music-making. Firstly, in the prewar period, he was one of Britain’s most outstanding instrumental soloists, playing the alto saxophone and clarinet in the bands of Harry and Syd Roy, Ambrose, and Geraldo.

Secondly, after a chance meeting with the Canadian-born comedian Bernard Braden, he became one of the leading postwar bandleaders for radio and television, providing music for everything from the children’s show Crackerjack to the mainstream entertainment of Russell Harty and Noel Edmonds.

Other obits: Telegraph and Guardian

The Irish vote

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Sp!ked: Ireland, you ungrateful wretch!
The bile-filled assault on Irish voters who are thinking of rejecting the Lisbon Treaty shows just how corrupt and undemocratic is the EU.

The assaults on Irish voters also show what it means to be a ‘democratic citizen’ in the EU: that is, someone who is financially cared for by caring-but-faceless bureaucrats in Brussels, and who should be ‘overflowing with appreciation’ for the EU elite’s grace and favour. This is the very opposite of political citizenship; it is a distortion of the traditional relationship between citizens and their governing bodies. In place of free and open debate, in which citizens are treated as adults who can have political views independent of any welfare they might receive from the authorities, we have a situation where those who dare to criticise or complain or say ‘No’ are denounced as ‘extraordinarily ungrateful’ and even ‘treacherous’. This is the kind of relationship a child has with his guardian, or a mentally ill person with his carer – it has nothing whatever to do with democracy.

Massage on the NHS (figures only)

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NHS £1.7bn surplus spending row
The government has come under fire after figures showed a £1.658bn surplus in the NHS last year. Ministers say the surplus will be used to improve patient care but opposition parties warned NHS services were being "starved of cash".
The BBC seems to have swallowed these figures without question. The fact is that a series of measures has been taken to ensure that the surplus was kept below the government target figure of £1.8 billion and without them the true figure would be closer to £3 billion and be a huge embarrassment to ministers.