And WTF?
First thing out (after the x-ray and anal probe) is a delay?
"British Airways worker faces terror charge" by Associated Press | March 12, 2010
LONDON — A
Prosecutor Colin Gibbs alleged that Rajib Karim, a native of Bangladesh, deliberately took a job with the airline to further an unspecified terrorist conspiracy.
Gibbs told the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court that the 30-year-old plotted over the past four years with unidentified contacts in his home country, Pakistan, and Yemen. He said Karim shared information about his work, including British Airways’ security measures....
Karim also is charged with collecting money and sending it to terrorist associates overseas.
Few other details about the alleged plot were made public yesterday.
Karim spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.--more--"
All clear now (sigh)?
NOPE!!!
"Airline strikers seek global support" by Associated Press | March 18, 2010
LONDON — The union representing British Airways’ cabin crews is gathering international support for a walkout due to begin this weekend, threatening to severely disrupt what remains of the airline’s already depleted flight schedule.
Ignoring a plea from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to return to the negotiating table with British Airways management, Unite yesterday moved instead to raise the stakes for the cash-strapped airline by holding talks with unions representing ground crews in the United States, Germany, and Spain....
Germany’s ver.di service workers union said it was ready to help Unite in the strike, while the International Brotherhood of Teamsters also expressed solidarity. British Airways suggested yesterday it was winning some support of its own....
Going to be a rough trip, readers.
--more--"
"British Airways hit by 3-day strike; Talks between airline, union collapse, grounding travelers and 1,100 flights" by Jane Wardell, Associated Press | March 20, 2010
LONDON — A three-day strike by British Airways cabin crew affecting thousands of travelers is going ahead today after last-ditch talks between the airline’s management and union leaders collapsed.
The walkout has forced BA to cancel thousands of flights. The Unite union has gathered some support from unions in the United States, Germany, and Spain for its action — taken to protest a pay freeze and changes to working conditions — but the other unions have stopped short of pledging direct action that would affect BA’s ability to refuel and service its planes....
Adam Huberman of Issta, a flight and tour agency specializing in trips to Israel, said he was taking 60 to 80 calls a day from passengers planning to travel to Israel before Passover, which starts March 30. He said the strike couldn’t have come at a worse time....
Awwwwwwwww!
That's why the *ewspaper is all over this, huh?!!!
Picket lines will be mounted over the weekend at several entrances to Heathrow, but Willie Walsh, the airline’s chief executive, said he had “no concern whatsoever’’ about the threat of solidarity actions in other countries....
Then my trip should go smoothly, right?
Finally in the air:
Demonstrators took to a picket line near London’s Heathrow Airport yesterday during the start of the three-day strike. (Luke Macgregor/Reuters)
Is it just me, or does that remind you of 9/11, readers?
It is part of the panoply of subtle MSM propaganda, isn't it?
"Airline strike leaves travelers in a lurch; Thousands of British Airways flights canceled" by Jane Wardell, Associated Press | March 21, 2010
LONDON — The start of a three-day strike by cabin crew at
--more--"
Coming in for a landing:
As a British Airways plane prepared to land at London’s Heathrow Airport Sunday, Unite union members picketed in support of striking cabin crews. The strike entered its third day yesterday.
(Max Nash/AFP/Getty Images)
"Strike strains British Airways service, finances; Both sides refuse to give ground" by Jane Wardell, Associated Press | March 23, 2010
LONDON — British Airways and the union representing its cabin crew were no closer to resolving a dispute over pay and conditions yesterday as a strike that has grounded thousands of flights entered its third — and busiest — day.
Operations at the airline were put under more strain than over the weekend as there are far more flights packed into normal scheduling.
The airline has warned effects of the walkout will be felt throughout this week. Workers are scheduled to strike again for four days, beginning Saturday, if the dispute is not resolved.
Then I better hurry on my trip.
At Heathrow’s Terminal 5, German couple Carolin and Stefan Marquardt had a seven-hour wait for their flight home to Stuttgart, after being forced to cut their vacation in India short because their original flight from Bangalore was canceled.
If I have to, well....
“I’ve been stressed by it all,’’ said Carolin Marquardt. “It’s not a very nice end to our vacation, we haven’t had any sleep.’’
But you were not going to Israel.
“I understand both sides of the disagreement, but it’s bad for people like us,’’ she added....
So is the shakedown tyranny and butt checks.
The acrimonious dispute is expected to be financially crippling for BA....
Kind of like the last of my concerns and worries.
The walkout is also bad news for Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, which relies heavily on funding from labor unions, and a gift for the main opposition Conservative Party, which is leading opinion polls ahead of a general election due within weeks.
I care even less about that.
The Conservatives are seeking to evoke memories of the difficulties the Labour government had in the 1970s, culminating in the mass strikes that became known as Britain’s “winter of discontent’’ and led to the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979....
Yeah, how did the Iron Lady work out, anyway?
--more--"
Well, now that we are there let's see the sights:
"As good times fade, Britain faces economic woes; Debt piles up as key election nears" by Jane Wardell, Associated Press | March 11, 2010
LONDON — Government debt is growing, as is the deficit. The economy is struggling to get out of recession and there is talk of spending cuts or higher taxes. The unions are on edge. And the currency is plummeting.
The country is not Greece — but Britain, almost six times bigger, racking up debt even faster, and headed into a critical election.
The woes of Britain — only recently a cocky symbol of the global boom times — show that the troubles for Europe, and the West, extend far beyond the traditionally laggard countries of southern Europe.
Like the elitist insult, poor southerners?
Seems to be a global pattern when you look at one.
Britain does have some factors in its favor: Unlike Greece and its reliance on the common euro, it prints the currency in which its liabilities are denominated.
Yes, isn't that interesting?
Greece gets bent over while the directors of the globalist flop lord above it all.
It is also considered a surer bet for repayment, maintaining a triple-A credit rating.
Translation: Government will extract as many taxes as needed to pay off bankers.
But the approaching general election is complicating matters. Electoral campaigning is always a difficult time to extol the virtues of cutting spending on services such as roads and hospitals and raising taxes — and the recent recession isn’t making cash-strapped Britons more amenable.
Told you.
Even worse, the growing fear is that neither Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s ruling Labor government nor the main opposition Conservative Party will win enough seats in the poll, likely to be on May 6, to form a majority government.
Then they will have to form a coalition with the third-party running, right?
What is their name again, MSM?
A parliament in which no party has a majority of seats could be disastrous for the country’s fiscal problems, with the government lacking the votes to push through austerity measures.
Prepare for a world of hurt unlike anything you have ever seen, Britons.
And debt is piling up at an alarming rate.
Oh, like here in AmeriKa!
The British government borrowed $6.44 billion in January alone — a staggering $145,660 every minute — ending 17 years of surpluses for the month and putting it on track for a record $267 billion budget deficit this year.
Economists warn Britain is on course to borrow the equivalent of 12.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2009 and 2010 — exceeding the 12.7 percent forecast in crisis-hit Greece and far above the average 6 percent for Europe.
Britain’s debt-to-GDP ratio is forecast to reach 82 percent this year, almost double the level two years ago — albeit well shy of the 123 percent in Greece.
The huge deficit is partly due to big expenditures by the government to mitigate the impact of the global credit crisis and economic downturn. It has taken over two troubled mortgage lenders, and holds major stakes in two big banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group.
And DON'T FORGET the WARS!!
So far, Britain has escaped too much scrutiny because of its differences from Greece, notably the healthy sovereign credit rating and the fact that much of its debt is long term. That gold standard credit rating allows Britain to borrow relatively cheaply on global financial markets.
It's a RIGGED SYSTEM, world.
But yields on government bonds have in recent weeks soared to among the highest in Europe while the British pound has taken a battering — both signs of increasing worries about the country’s public finances.
Like YOUR DOLLAR, AmeriKa! That's why PRICES KEEP GOING UP and UP!
There are also concerns that Britain, like other advanced economies, entered the global crisis with its finances in a worse position than many developing nations that spent the last decade cleaning up their balance sheets.
“The UK’s deficit, though worryingly large, is still manageable, but the government must act now to set out a convincing, credible pathway for balancing the books,’’ said Richard Lambert, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, the country’s leading business lobby group.Grab your wallet, Britons!
--more--"
Wanna go see Parliament?
"Britain’s currency gets pounded by ‘hung Parliament’ concerns" by Gregory Katz, Associated Press | March 13, 2010
LONDON — The latest buzz word in the clubby world of British politics is “hung Parliament.’’
It doesn’t mean the current Parliament would be hanged, although some voters in these troubled economic times might relish that idea. It means an election so close that no party receives more than half the seats in the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament.
It’s commonplace in most parliamentary democracies, but hasn’t happened here for more than three decades — and the very idea has sent financially battered Britain into a tizzy, causing the pound to tumble.
So WHO would they have to CUT a DEAL WITH?
Prime Minister Gordon Brown must call a vote by June 3, with an early May date deemed likely. The widespread assumption that Conservative Party leader David Cameron would win an outright majority in the new Parliament has evaporated.
“It’s just about 50-50 that we’ll have a hung Parliament,’’ said Bob Worcester, founder of the Ipsos MORI polling firm, which will be conducting Election Day exit polls for British news stations.
So WHO is the "SPOILER?"
(Blog editor's note: I know the answer, readers: The third-party is called the Liberal Democrats)
And after the 2004 election here (not like it would have really mattered), how can you trust exit polls, 'eh?
Voters seem tired of Brown and the Labour Party apparatus after 13 years in power, but it is not clear if they have really warmed to Cameron in sufficient numbers to give him full control of Parliament.
Yeah, it is a WORLDWIDE PHENOMENA!!
If Cameron falls short, is Britain headed for its own hanging chad moment? In the contested US election of 2000, the electoral college rules were clear, but the state of Florida’s vote-counting mechanism was subject to all kinds of hiccups.
Britain suffers from the opposite problem: the voting process is smooth but constitutional arrangements are fuzzy.
The prospect of a hung Parliament might have insiders reaching for their copy of the British constitution — only there isn’t one. This proud, time-tested democracy relies instead on a series of precedents and accepted conventions that comprise its complex unwritten charter.
Yeah, I remember that from college. One of the things that stuck in my head.
No one knows exactly how a hung Parliament would play out. An election in which no party gets an absolute majority raises a number of possibilities:
There may be political horsetrading leading to a coalition government, a rarity in Britain; a weak minority government chronically unable to muster policy support; or a second election, as was the case in 1974, another year in which Britain was going through an economic crisis.
So WHY NO MENTION of LIBERAL DEMOCRATS?
--more--"
I guess when you are antiwar you are not worth talking to, 'eh?
Time for a bite:
"British officials blast Kraft for plant closure; Executive sorry for change on on Cadbury site" by Jane Wardell, Associated Press | March 17, 2010
LONDON — A Kraft Inc. executive apologized yesterday for raising — and then dashing — hopes that it would keep open a British factory after its takeover of Cadbury, as the US company’s chief executive came under fire from lawmakers and union leaders.
Marc Firestone, executive vice president, said he was truly sorry for the uncertainty caused by Kraft’s back tracking on the factory in Somerdale, in western England, adding that the company did not plan to shut any more British factories or ax further jobs for the next two years.
“We are terribly sorry about that, and I am personally terribly sorry,’’ Firestone told a cross-party committee of lawmakers who are holding a series of hearings into the takeover. Kraft’s takeover of 195-year-old Cadbury caused much consternation in Britain, where Cadbury is a much-loved brand and the company’s future remains in the spotlight ahead of a general election to be held by the start of June.
Members of the House of Commons Business Select Committee lashed out at Irene Rosenfeld, the chief executive officer, for failing to appear before the inquiry at Britain’s Parliament yesterday, while the Unite union criticized her for failing to meet directly with workers at Cadbury sites to reassure them about the company’s plans.
Related: The Massachusetts Model: What to Expect
Sort of tells you who has the real power, doesn't it?
Brian Binley, a member of the opposition Conservative Party, said her absence was a sizable discourtesy, leaving Firestone to face a barrage of largely hostile questioning.
You know, like a Congressional show hearing, America!
Firestone said Rosenfeld had the deepest respect for the committee and was absent to attend a board director’s meeting, but the committee chairman, Peter Luff, pointed out the session had been arranged “around your convenience, not ours.’’
During a long and bitter takeover battle, Kraft said it would save the Somerdale plant and 400 associated jobs, a decision that would have reversed earlier plans by Cadbury to close the factory and move production to Poland.
Yeah, NO ONE LIKES GLOBALISM when it KICKS THEM in the ass!
That's why people the world over a boiling over!
THEY REJECT YOUR EVIL and FIENDISH PLOT for CONTROL, a**holes!
However, shortly after Kraft completed its $17.5 billion takeover last month, it said the plant would close by 2011 because it had become clear that it was unrealistic to reverse the closure program. An official complaint has been lodged with the UK Takeover Panel, alleging that Kraft misled shareholders and workers.
This is the world of business, right? What did you expect?
Firestone said that Kraft had made the announcements in good faith but without understanding the extent of Cadbury’s $152.46 million investment in the new facilities in Poland and that most production would be transferred by the middle of this year.
Not like that money could have been used to upgrade the English factory and pay the workers more.
Lindsay Hoyle, a member of the ruling Labor Party, questioned whether the U-turn on the Somerdale site suggested Kraft was “remote, smug, and worst of all duplicitous,’’ while other lawmakers expressed amazement that the US company was not fully aware of Cadbury’s plans.
Well, it is an AmeriKan company.
“We want to regain the trust of our colleagues, government, and public,’’ Firestone told legislators. “We want to develop a stronger growth platform in the UK and globally. We understand that in acquiring a British icon we have a responsibility to preserve its heritage.’’
I think it's too late for that anywhere. You guys f***ed up.
Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the Unite union, said Rosenfeld should create goodwill by meeting workers in person.
Of course, he could be risking a pelting if she does.
--more--"
FLASHBACK:
A demonstrator dressed as a gorilla protested against the possible sale of the Cadbury chocolate company outside the Houses of Parliament in London in December. (Matt Dunham/ Associated Press)
Hershey still sweet on Cadbury deal
Better be careful, Eliza, or there will be no more chocolates!!!
And you know what chocolates bring, especially near Easter, right, readers?
"Debate rages over fertility clinic’s offer of free eggs" by Maria Cheng, Associated Press | March 18, 2010
LONDON — The event has sparked a debate in Britain because the winner of yesterday’s lottery would travel to the United States to get eggs from a US donor, the company’s paying for them does not break any British laws. But British fertility specialists slammed the event as a publicity stunt.
--more--"
"Britain delays new guidelines on detainees" by Associated Press | March 19, 2010
LONDON — New British guidelines on handling terrorism suspects held overseas have been delayed over a dispute about how to deal with potentially life-saving information from detainees who may be at risk of torture by allies.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised a year ago that new rules would be drawn up, and the government was expected to make them public for the first time yesterday. But officials have acknowledged the document would not appear before the country’s national election, due within three months.
Brown ordered the rules to be rewritten, following accusations that British officials were complicit in the torture of terror suspects held overseas by other nations, including the United States. Police are investigating two cases related to the actions of intelligence officers from the MI5 and MI6 spy agencies.
Ever hear of Mr. Aswat or Mr. Khan, readers?
Also see: May Day Memories: British Patsies
May Day Memories: The U.S. Connection
Terror Expert: London Bomber Was Working For MI5
Occupation Iraq: British Bombers
Britain Reactivates FRU in Northern Ireland
Okay, I guess we can't stay forever.
Two government officials, who demanded anonymity to discuss the issue, said Britain’s government and Parliament’s intelligence oversight committee disagree over a section of the new rules dealing with how ministers should handle material gleaned from suspects who may be at risk of mistreatment....
Opposition lawmakers and human rights groups have accused the government of purposely delaying publication of controversial material until after the election, expected in May.
No!!!! Governments never do that!
In a new report on human rights, Britain’s Foreign Office hinted at the likely tone of the new rules. It acknowledged the United Kingdom cannot afford the luxury of dealing only with those who share Britain’s standards or laws....
That means they are ENDORSING and SANCTIONING WAR CRIMES, readers!
You know, the GOOD GUYS(?)!
--more--"
Yeah, MSM doesn't spend much time there.
Another thing they do not spend much time on:
"Iraq: Bush team should talk
Leaders who persuade their nations to go to war have a special obligation to the historical record, so top figures in the Bush administration should cooperate with a British inquiry into the runup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and current Prime Minister Gordon Brown, along with many other British officials from that time, have given riveting public testimony. But former Bush administration officials, who have also been invited to speak to the panel, have yet to participate. Their reluctance is a mistake.
The panel has no subpoena power. The American officials could give their version of events in private, away from the media gaze. If they like, they could justify the war as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did recently in Hong Kong, where she said, “I would many times over liberate Iraq again from Saddam Hussein.’’
That's a WAR CRIMINAL STATEMENT right there!!!
She is a MASS-MURDERER, folks because OVER TWO MILLION IRAQIS are DEAD over LIES!!
Or they could, with the privilege of hindsight, explore what they could have known, and should have known, about Iraq before the war.
You mean what the PROTESTERS KNEW?
The MSM and GOVERNMENT LIES?!!!
What an OFFENSIVE EDITORIAL, but then I would expect nothing less from the BG.
Regardless, Rice and other Bush-era policymakers have valuable perspectives that would help a formal investigation by a close ally, and they ought to take part.
Yeah, FORGET the WAR CRIMES and DEAD over LIES!!!
Oh, right SAME SAID CRUD PAPER SHOVELED THEM ALL at YOU, 'murka!!!
--more--"
And when they do spend time on the "inquiry":
Slow Saturday Special: Brits Take Stock of Iraq War
Slow Saturday Special: Britain's Bliar Admits War Crimes
Slow Saturday Special: Brown Blames U.S. For Iraq
Seems like a PATTERN, doesn't it, readers?
Time for bed, dear readers.
