The Green Ribbon

CRE reports on Britishness

The Commission for Racial Equality has released a new study on British identity. CRE chief Trevor Phillips comments:

This research is certainly heartening. It is encouraging to know that people in Britain, no matter what their race or faith share a common set of ideas about what makes us good citizens. This is a great foundation for us to build on.

There are people in our society who do not feel they belong, that they don’t have a stake. But this shows there can be a common bond between us all if we are ready to create it. These ‘British’ qualities are found in all sorts of people. Perhaps there is more that unites us than we all think. (CRE)

Although there are no quantitive findings in the report, it's conclusions are a little more complex than Phillips suggests:

Viktor Bout FOI request

Back in May Andrew Gilligan reported that the MOD was using the services of Taliban-linked arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Being an eternal optimist I put in a Freedom of Information request on the issue last month.

I received a reply from the Defence Logistics Organisation in the following terms  today:

We believe that the information falls within the scope of of a qualified exemption (S34 Commercial Interests) and as such it will be necessary for us to consider whether there are overriding reasons why disclosure would not be in the public interest.

We will make a decision on our ability to comply with your request by 16th November 2005, and will inform you immediately thereafter.

I have set out the request below so you can decide for yourself where the public interest lies. I guess we'll see what the MOD thinks next month.

Time for Reid to butt out

It looks as if the intervention of Scottish MP John Reid to water down the smoking ban legislation has alerted even the BBC and Labour backbenchers to England's democratic deficit.

John Reid's constituents are going to get comprehensive protection against secondary smoke on 26 March next year but he's telling me that people in the Rother Valley are going to have a lesser one and I find that very difficult to accept and many other Labour backbenchers do as well," fumed Rother Valley MP Kevin Barron, who chairs the Commons health select committee.

Some Labour MPs are even threatening to rebel against the smoking bill in an attempt to prevent it becoming law. (BBC News)

Operation Kratos report due

The Metropolitan Police Authority is due to produce a review of the so-called 'shoot to kill' strategy, operation Kratos tomorrow. The report will include details of the number of suspected suicide bomber episodes:

Frequency of incidents

14. The following table outlines the number of spontaneous incidents resulting from calls from members of the public about suspected suicide bombers.

From 12 midday on the 21 July 2005 to midnight on the 4 August 2005
Number of calls	763
Number of times DSO alerted	11
Number of times Armed Response Unit sent to RVP (Rendezvous Point)	6

Deaths in custody Downing Street March

The United Friends and Families Campaign hold their annual march to Downing Street on Saturday:

The United Families & Friends Campaign - the national coalition of death in custody family campaigns - today announced its seventh annual remembrance procession. The event will see hundreds of family members of those that have died in state custody gather to remember their loved one. This years march will also demand an end to the current 'shoot to kill ' policy. A letter to this effect will be handed in to the Prime Minister.

Spicer gets UN contract

It looks as if British mercenary Tim Spicer really is making a killing, as the by now obligatory title of this Sunday Times piece suggests:

In a significant development for the future, the UN also hired Aegis to run security for this month's referendum and end-of-year elections. Spicer has hired nearly 200 expatriate bodyguards and 1,000 Iraqis for the task. That the security of UN staff organising Iraq's critical elections should be put in the hands of a PSC is a highly significant development. Formerly, many UN officials equated them with mercenaries. Iraq has forced a UN change of heart. Spicer believes there is a template here for future UN-PSC co-operation in world trouble spots. (Sunday Times magazine)

Thomas Davis - The Cromwellian connection

Slugger O'Toole picked up an interesting letter from the Irish News last week, about the Nineteenth Century Irish patriot Thomas Davis.

Davis – the descendant of a Cromwellian soldier – knew what he was talking about when he told his Catholic fellow countrymen that “if you would liberate Ireland and keep it free, you must have Protestant help – if you would win the Protestants you must address their reason, their hopes and their pride”. (Irish News, via Slugger)

I''d be interested to learn more about Davis' ancestry if anyone knows anything. In the meantime, the Slugger post is perhaps worth reading in conjunction with this article from the Irish Democrat.

Britain and Ireland ezine

Slugger's Mick Fealty has linked up with the British Council Ireland to produce a new e-magazine at the Britain and Ireland website.

Sport is the theme of the first edition, which includes a very interesting interview with Niall Quinn.

Hat-tip to Gareth Young for the link.

Rory Carroll recounts his ordeal

Reporter Rory Carroll writes about his abduction in today's Guardian. This passage in particular sheds some light on the political background to his kidnapping and eventual release.

Ahmad Chalabi, the deputy prime minister, waited with a smile at his palm-fringed compound. Elements of Moqtada al-Sadr's movement had snatched me, ostensibly to gain leverage for friends detained by the British in Basra, he said, though some wanted to sell me to jihadists.

He said his lobbying had clinched the release. "We got you out just in time." It was over. I slumped into a seat. An aide fished a can of beer from his jacket pocket. "I think you'll be wanting this." (Guardian)

Jamestown Foundation on the Zawahiri letter

There is some interesting stuff on the Jamestown Foundation website, including an analysis of the alleged letter from Al Qaeda's no 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri to its leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Stephen Ulph agrees with Juan Cole that the letter seems to employ Shi'ite terminology that a Sunni fundamentalist would never use. He also raises other doubts.