As with most of his decisions, it’s doubtful whether this conversion is due to a seriously held conviction. For example, if he’s a devoted Catholic, why did he and Cherie undergo a rebirthing in Mexico in 2001, described in The Times thus: “Mr Blair and his wife, wearing bathing costumes, were led to the Temazcal, a brick-coloured pyramid… They were told the Temazcal was like the womb and those participating in the ritual must confront their hopes and fears before venturing outside… The Blairs were offered watermelon and papaya, thentold to smear what they did not eat over each other’s bodiesalong with mud from the Mayan jungle.”
So at that point Blair seems to have looked at Catholicism, with its insistence that we’re all born with stained souls due to Eve being persuaded to eat an apple by a talking snake, and its belief that through a weekly offering you’re accepting the blood and body of Jesus, and he’s said: “The problem with this religion is it’s not mad enough for me.”
Barack Obama swept away any sense of inevitability about Hillary Clinton’s march to the White House last night, scoring an upset victory in the Iowa caucuses that dramatically alters the Democratic race.
It’s only the first result, so it could all change. But it’s still a good start.
After seven years of rumors and self-serving memoirs, the Israeli media has finally published extracts from an official source about the Camp David negotiations in summer 2000. For the first time it is possible to gauge with some certainty the extent of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s “generous offer” to the Palestinians and Yasser Arafat’s reasons for rejecting it.
In addition, the document provides valuable insights into what larger goals Israel hoped to achieve at Camp David and how similar ambitions are driving its policies to this day.
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The [Camp David] negotiations, in July 2000, were Barak’s attempt to wrap up all the outstanding points of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians that had not been addressed during a series of Israeli withdrawals from the occupied territories specified in the Oslo agreements.
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Perhaps not surprisingly, the Israeli document does not acknowledge the most generous offer of all during the six decades of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the PLO’s decision in the late 1980s to renounce its claim to most of the Palestinian homeland, and settle instead for a state in the two separate territories of the West Bank and Gaza — on only 22 percent of historic Palestine.
So given the massive territorial concession made by the Palestinian leadership 20 years ago, how do Barak’s terms compare? The document tells us that Barak insisted on three main principles in agreeing to end the occupation and establish a Palestinian state…
Prime Minister Gordon Brown will oppose an above inflation pay rise for MPs, according to Downing Street sources.
Reports suggest the Senior Salaries Review body has recommended a rise of nearly 1% above inflation.
Mr Brown is said to oppose this, but some MPs say their pay has fallen behind. MPs will have the final say in the Commons.
It’d be a bit rich for MPs’ to go ahead with an above inflation pay rise after askingthe police to do so.
Especially when you think about how many MPs that can’t afford to by their own home.
