The main headlines have been dominated by the Boston Marathon bombings and the wall to wall coverage across nearly every news platform of the subsequent manhunt.
World
Our good friends iRan and North Korea are in the news again, this time because they aim to buy and sell oil between themselves. With the sanctions taking their toll on both nations is it any wonder that they would look to circumvent these measures?
A fertiliser plant in Texas blew up leaving fires burning for days. The press have reported numerous fatalities and injuries with a nearby sports field providing emergency care treatment for those in the initial blast. With this hot on the heels of the Boston bombings, thoughts gravitated to whether or not this was an act of terrorism or whether or not it was the fault of corporate terrorists. Naturally corporate terrorism has not been discussed in the mainstream news. A video of the second explosion can be found here.
Iraq had their first elections since the U.S. troop withdrawals but has been met with a series of devastating bombings across the country. Early reports stated 31 dead and over 200 seriously injured. Where is the voice of the Iraqi people? We have heard non stop, vomit inducing chest thumping from America but nothing from Syria, Iraq or Bahrain.
Syria's rebel army are to receive an extra $123m from the U.S. which will continue to perpetuate the civil war that has torn this country apart for the last two years. Anyone that has seen what has happened in Libya and Egypt since those rebel alliances were backed, or that remembers Rambo 3, will question the sense in jumping in behind the first rebel element that raises it head.
Anti rape demonstrations continue in India with further clashes and incidents taking place.
Technology
The House of Representatives have passed the cyber security act CISPA this week behind the scenes whilst the rest of the United States and the planet waited with baited breath whether or not the Boston Manhunt and Texas explosion would lead to some kind of state of emergency and martial law. The debate in the House mentioned the Boston bombings and seemed to seal the acts fate. This act allows governments to access a variety of additional personal information that they would not easily have obtained otherwise from service providers and apps. Where America treads, the UK follows, as the lap dogs have come up with their own draconian version of CISPA, the Communication and Data Bill. The UK Bill has some very serious consequences for everyone. Now we are all terrorists.
Health and Fitness/Welfare and the NHS
Ahead of the London Marathon this week we had a study that claimed the use of painkillers before the event to get you through was bad for you and would lead to a high propensity for cramping and other side affects. I wonder if these studies are being conducted in the light of two high profile fatalities in the last two years at marathons in the UK.
The ambulance service is at risk of being privatised or rather it is being privatised via the back door and the consequence of this is that you may well be getting an ambulance without fully trained (or qualified) people to deal with your emergency. Will they look to another blue light service to provide this or will they continue with the privatisation element?
Malcolm Grant, the head of the NHS has said that free NHS care may be a thing of the past if the economy does not pick up. What the hell are we paying all our taxes for then?
A report this week found that a man from Yorkshire committed suicide following the removal of his benefits following a brain hemorrhage some years ago had left him partially paralysed. Subsequent re-evaluation for working status found him to qualify on a number of points. This type of re-evalutaion is occurring more and more often with companies like Atos seemingly being able to find even Bob Hope fit for duty.
Food giant Nestlé are seemingly out to try and patent a naturally occurring healing fennel flower. Considering the CEO for Nestlé has said that a naturally occurring element such as water should be just like any other foodstuff, a chargeable commodity, is it any wonder they would try and patent flowers?
Education/Employment
Another Tory MP has caused uproar with his comments that inner city students should not be taken to a village boarding school because they will require regular drug testing and would lead to a sexual volcano occurring in the woods. What century are these dinosaurs living in?
The Daily Hate Mail was busy telling us this week to prepare to work until we are incontinent. They are claiming that a fall in school leavers will mean us having to work through to our 70's and basically keep supplying the state with our labour in exchange for depreciated purchasing power until we die. How they have come about this figure, having previously reported record levels of youth unemployment in the same newspaper just a couple of months earlier, is beyond me.
The UK is also looking at passing a 'shares for rights' bill whereby workers can trade off their employment rights in exchange for shares in their company. The sad thing is that people who are struggling in these times of austerity, having to make choices between food, utilities and pensions, will probably give up their employment rights. These rights, that have been fought for for decades and not given to us, will be passed up without a second thought.
Science/Technology
Clothing may now hold the key to those frustrating moments when your phone battery is about to die. Instead of companies building things with superior batteries in the first place, or utilising Tesla's idea of wireless electricity, we will have to invest in the latest garments being pioneered, probably for military deployment first.
Not content with ruining our own planet we are looking to send a group of reality wannabe astronauts to go and live on Mars. I will have to continue my wait for my intergalactic space taxi back to civilisation.
Entertainment
North Korea has been taking a hammering in the cinema of late with both the Red Dawn remake and Olympus Has Fallen casting the spotlight firmly on them as the current aggressors we need to be weary of. Without knowing the filming time table for Olympus it was eery to hear the comments being made when this was being filmed, playing out live in real time today in the Western propaganda machine.
We finally buried Margaret Thatcher and George Galloway has said the funeral should be paid by sponsorship from Burger King causing quite the stir. Not as much of a stir as there was at the funeral itself with protesters turning up on mass and much debate being had about what she did or did not do for our country or the world. One former Paratrooper told me how she loved her armed forces. Of course she did. All tyrants love their military as they require the support of them in the event that they ever need to oppress their people. Booing ensued and I said to one protester that a better demonstration would have been a sound system playing the imperial march theme from Star Wars as the parade came up the hill. Perhaps they will do this for war criminal Tony Blair when his time comes.
The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix also took place and inevitable protests have occurred. Ecclestone has commented stating that the Bahraini government were being stupid for allowing a Grand Prix and the attention it gives a pro democracy protest. Old Bernie has a habit of sticking his foot in it, such as his comments about Hitler "getting the job done". Strangely enough Bernie has said he would not hold a Grand Prix in Syria.
For all the bluster surrounding the Formula One, the people that have the real power are the drivers. If the drivers took ownership of the issue and refused to race there, it would have a massive impact on the situation and a much stronger one than any that the media could spin.
And Skunk Anansie played their first ever acoustic gigs in London this week and they were amazing.
The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix also took place and inevitable protests have occurred. Ecclestone has commented stating that the Bahraini government were being stupid for allowing a Grand Prix and the attention it gives a pro democracy protest. Old Bernie has a habit of sticking his foot in it, such as his comments about Hitler "getting the job done". Strangely enough Bernie has said he would not hold a Grand Prix in Syria.
For all the bluster surrounding the Formula One, the people that have the real power are the drivers. If the drivers took ownership of the issue and refused to race there, it would have a massive impact on the situation and a much stronger one than any that the media could spin.
And Skunk Anansie played their first ever acoustic gigs in London this week and they were amazing.
New to week 4 is statement of the obvious and this week it belongs to the Washington Post for their comments that "People who distrust Muslims are more likely to back the war on terror."
