On 22 May 2007, the British Guardian's front page announced: .
The writer, Simon Tisdall, claimed that Iran had secret plans to defeat United States' troops in Iraq, which included "forging ties with al-Qaeda elements". The coming "showdown" was an Iranian plot to influence a vote in the US Congress.
Britain
The Iron Lady
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, written by Abi Morgan, starring Meryl Streep
In cinemas now
Film can be a powerful ideological tool. Truth can be manipulated, tyrannies expunged and sympathy conjured for the devil. The Iron Lady, depicting the life and times of former British Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, is just such a film.
Britain's High Pay Commission has just published a report about the trend in salaries paid to the highest 0.1% of earners, and it seems that someone must have made a terrible mistake.
Because, in this time of unprecedented debt and sacrifice, the government's making daily statements such as "in order to keep old age pensions viable, we are insisting from now on that the elderly contribute towards their upkeep, by going on the game for just two days a week鈥.
Cuadrilla Resources, which is exploring for natural shale gas in north-west England, has admitted its use of the notorious process of 鈥渇racking鈥 was responsible for earthquakes in the region this year, BusinessInsider.com said on November 7.
Fracking is a dangerous process involving fracturing rock with pressurised liquid. Some of the health and environmental dangers of the process were revealed by the film Gasland, about the impact of the practice in the United States.
Tory attempts to belittle public-sector industrial action rang pathetically hollow on November 30 as millions of workers joined the fight against government-imposed pension cuts for public servants.
Services across England, Scotland and Wales ground to a halt in the strongest show of union strength in a generation.
Schools, courts, museums and job centres were paralysed in the 24-hour strike which also brought extensive disruption to transport, hospitals and government departments.
News International chief executive James Murdoch and his billionaire father Rupert were accused of running a mafia-style empire on November 10.
Labour MP Tom Watson made the allegation during James Murdoch鈥檚 second appearance before the Commons culture, media and sport committee over the phone hacking scandal.
During lively exchanges Watson asked Murdoch: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e familiar with the mafia?
鈥淎re you familiar with the word omerta, the culture of silence around the mafia? Do you accept that applies to the Murdoch empire?鈥
Experts hired to probe an earthquake near Blackpool left their paymaster red-faced today when they ruled that its controversial "fracking" for shale gas was the most likely cause.
An independent report commissioned by energy firm Cuadrilla into possible links between drilling at its Preese Hall-1 well in Lancashire and tremors which hit the region earlier this year found that it was "highly probable" drlling was to blame.
The report's release coincides with a protest on November 2 that stopped work at the Cuadrilla site near Southport.
In what conservative columnists are describing as a martyrdom for Christian lefties, the iconic 鈥渏eans and T-shirt鈥 canon chancellor of St Paul鈥檚 Cathedral in London, Reverend Rev Dr Giles Fraser, has resigned in protest as the cathedral moves to evict Occupy London from its steps.
Fraser, a lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford, has written for a number of radical newspapers including the Socialist Worker. Fraser advocates for marriage equality and understands the Christian message to mean solidarity with the oppressed.
On October 15, about 4000-5000 of protesters in London descended on London's financial sector as part of the 鈥淯nited for Global Change鈥 actions that took place in more than 1000 cities and towns worldwide. Occupy London Stock Exchange is occupying an area in front of St Paul's Cathedral and holding people's assemblies to discuss the goals, demands and direction of the movement.
Unions have warned that Britain's National Health Service faces its biggest strike in history on November 30 unless the government drops its changes to workers' pension plans, the said on October 14.
NHS workers' union GMB has condemned the government's plans. NHS national officer Rehana Azam said health minister Andrew Lansley 鈥渋s ignoring the very strong arguments we made and turning his back on the anger and frustration felt by NHS staff鈥.
Newly released聽figures聽confirm unemployment is going through the roof, austerity measures are causing global unrest, huge strike action has occurred recently in place like Chile and the biggest strike in Britain since 1926 seems increasingly likely in November with plans for sustained industrial action into the new year.
At the same time, we are becoming聽desensitised聽to news of whichever freak weather condition, flood, forest fire or natural disaster has just occurred in whichever country.
Instead of this pointless Vickers Report about how to sort out the banks, the investigation by the Independent Commission on Banking headed by John Vickers should have been carried out by Supernanny. She'd have sorted it.
Because the problem seems to be they've got no discipline. And governments have been like these soppy posh parents you get who watch their toddlers go berserk in public, and eventually say, "Polyglot, darling, I've warned you haven't I, about drilling through a stranger's leg with a masonry bit. Now please put the tools down or you won't get a canape."
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