Israel, Iran and the bomb

Reading this week's Time magazine I was quite surprised by the interview with Shimon Peres in the 10 questions segment. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2109787,00.html]

Question: Remind me, does Israel have nuclear weapons?

Answer: Look, Israel doesn't intend to introduce nuclear weapons, but if people are afraid that we have them, why not?

To me this reads as a claim that Israel does not hold nukes, which is a stronger refutement than usual as usually Israel spokerspersons take a stance of ambiguity.

More surprising is that this contradicts a press conference in Jordan 1998, reported in the Jerusalem Post [http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=44774]  where Peres stated that Israel had:

"built a nuclear option, not in order to have a Hiroshima but an Oslo."

Not many people really believe that Israel does not have a nuclear weapon programme, and it seems rather futile trying to deny it any more.

So why does Israel continue to deny the existence of WMDs.  Could it be that it makes it very difficult to question Iran's nuclear intentions?

I don't like the prospect of Iran holding WMDs but it makes it difficult for any country to take an even handed approach on this if they don't at the same time question Israel's nuclear programme.  And it certainly isn't acceptable for any western country to support an Israeli attack on Iran when both countries are allegedly carrying out nuclear programmes.

Further reading - Israel's weapons of mass destruction - May 2005

Lies, damned lies, and statistics at the Budget and why Osborne decided to rush the 45p rate in

Ever since the 50p tax rate was introduced the Tories have been obsessed with trying to lower it.  Digging a bit deeper it becomes clear why George Osborne chose this year's budget to remove it, as this would be the only year when the statistics would support his case for scrapping it.

He states in the budget that the rate only raised a third of the expected £1bn originally expected. (BBC News).  When you look into this there is a very clear reason why this is the case.  The HMRC report into The Exchequer effect of the 50 per cent additional rate of income tax states:

The analysis shows that there was a considerable behavioural response to the rate change, including a substantial amount of forestalling: around £16 billion to £18 billion of income is estimated to have been brought forward to 2009-10 to avoid the introduction of the additional rate of tax.  (Page 2 of the report).

The true effectiveness of the 50p rate will not show until the end of the 2011/12 tax year next month, as this will be the first year when it will not have been possible to move income into a year with a lower rate.

And how is he paying for the scheme.  He is lowering the 40p tax rate to £41,450, attacking child credits and pensions.

There is no getting around the fact that this budget was a budget by the rich for the rich,

Update

Someone has set up a petition on the government website calling for the 50p tax rate to be re-introduced.  Sign here http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31663 

Charlie Brooker on the NHS reform bill

Tomorrow's Daily Mirror front page

The front page of tomorrow's Daily Mirror sums up the position we now face with the ConDems voting the Health & Social Care bill through its final stages of parliament.  Tomorrow I will post details of which way MPs voted so you can remember at the general election in 2015, when the NHS is likely to be in a lot worse position than it is now.

Letter to The Press on NHS Drop the Bill petition

In today's Press

ON Tuesday, Conservative and Lib Dem members of the Parliamentary back bench business committee decided to vote against the Drop the Bill petition against changes to the NHS being discussed in Parliament.

This new e-petition site was launched with much fanfare claiming that petitions with more than 100,000 signatories could launch a debate in Parliament; as of today the petition has more than 163,000 signatories.

It is amazing that the Tory-led government continue ploughing on ahead with this misguided Bill despite the mass opposition from NHS professionals and the public. This latest move just shows the disdain the Government has for public opinion, with minister after minister claiming that we just don’t understand the Bill. In reality many people do understand the changes and this is why we are so vehemently opposed.

We are now moving into the final days of the Bill going through Parliament. Please take the time to make your opposition known before it is too late. You can also pledge to take part in the online rally against the Bill on March 7 at goingtowork.org.uk/