Leeds United and Education Leeds
The newspapers have been full of stories of how under Peter Ridsdale, the former chair of Leeds United, ran up a debt of £70 million. The extravagances ranged from the hire of private jets and 70 company cars to the hire of tropical fish. Those fans who invested in Leeds United have seen their savings disappear with the share price running at 3 pence. One of the major investors is Leeds City Council which until recently had two Board members.
Over the last 5 years a number of land deals and planning applications were either proposed or took place between the Council and Leeds United. These included the purchase of land at Elland Road for an ice-skating rink and other leisure activities, the moving of the football ground to the A1 and the building of a huge training complex at Thorp Arch.
Peter Ridsdale was also appointed Chair of Education Leeds by Leeds City Council. He should be removed and full public inquiry held into the whole affair.
Round and about
The Friends of Potternewton Park had a wonderful event over the May Day holiday. Hundreds enjoyed the various attractions. John Webster's circus skills entertained both children and adults.
Victoria Jaquiss' steel band has practically reinvented the pans in Leeds. They played with enormous passion and drive. Those of us going to the Alliance for Green Socialism's Garden Party on Saturday 19 July are looking forward to a repeat performance there.
There were the park's splendid new railings to admire. Two of the defeated candidates in the local elections also graced the occasion. Sitara Khan read some of her poems, showing she was a better writer than politician. And Garth Frankland just enjoyed himself. A further Chapel Allerton tradition was the complete absence of the New Labour Councillors.
One highlight of the day was the two tree walks, which not only showed the wide variety of trees in the park but also the skill and love the park keepers had put in over the years for our enjoyment.
Congratulations to Tim Thornalley and his team.
Another walk that attracted a good crowd was Robin Dove's tour of Chapel Allerton Churchyard. This quiet oasis just off the Harrogate Road has a fascinating history. Robin curtailed his tour because of the weather; however he will repeat it from 7 p.m. on Thursday 19th June.
Max Vollmer's recent exhibition at Leeds University attracted a lot of favourable comment. Previously Max had been developing monumental piles of books to show the relationships of space, knowledge and people. This had reached a high point with his huge creation at the University of Newcastle, which spread over three rooms. This was not only impressive but fun especially for children who loved the various dens and arches.
At Leeds Max displayed a more personal and intense way of dealing with books in which showed the relationships between the nature of the book, the author and the reader. The assembly of the books and the developing computer catalogue gave me, at least, some new insights. The opening was graced by the presence of Diana Douglas, Leeds University's legendary art teacher.
The irresistible rise of Matthew Caygill
Congratulations to Matthew Caygill, another legendary university teacher, on his elevation to the Socialist Alliance National Committee. Under the influence of the Socialist Workers Party, the size of the committee was doubled to ensure their complete domination, despite a much reduced conference size of only 300. Matthew put his elevation down to the unique method of election. An overhead projector with the names written on was used and Matthew's named was at the bottom and therefore not immediately visible to most of the voters.
This election brings the number of committees Matthew is on to over 20. His prominence leads to more speaking engagements and more committees. He has now reached a certain critical mass where his entire life will be spent in meetings
Matthew spoke at the well attended Alliance for Workers Liberty forum on "Is a better world possible?"
Steve Hodkinson of Red Pepper and a member of Workers Liberty editorial board joined him on the platform. All three speakers were excellent. However Matthew was particularly insightful into the various relationships between globalisation and political activity. One complaint from the floor was about the white nature of the meeting and the lack of workers at a meeting where workers were portrayed as the engine of socialism.
This wasn't a problem at the Chapel Allerton Alliance for Green Socialism meeting where Mohsin Zulifqar spoke about "fundamentalism". His thoughtful and erudite talk informed a wide-ranging discussion over the different types of fundamentalism, which continued until chucking out time at the Three Hulats.
Fall out from the "chicken shoot" in Iraq?
Originally, based on my readings of various internal intelligence documents, I believed that Bush and his good old boys from Texas just wanted to control the world's oil. The US troops just follow the oil.
However the truth appears to be more twisted.
The arguments about whether Blair ordered the doctoring of UK intelligence reports in order to gain support for Bush's "chicken shoot" shows that a key issue was to be with the US - right or wrong.
John Reid, the Leader of the House of Commons, is now saying that rogue elements within the intelligence community were behind the attacks on No 10's doctoring of the reports on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Elements within No 10 said he was speaking for them; however, as disbelief spread No 10 tried to distance itself from Reid's spin.
Another explanation is that Blair is now so far in hock to the UK intelligence services that he can no longer be seen to be criticising them because they might blow the whole thing away. In particular they know to what extent Blair plotted with Bush over the Iraq war. As even Claire Short has pointed out, this plot determined the manipulation of the facts and the misleading of parliament and the British people.
The New Labour MPs do not want to upset the apple cart. They are now in the second half of the Parliament and are already looking at the next General Election. Beside a few noises from the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs committee lead by my new friend Fabian Hamilton they are not likely to do anything that will lead to Blair's removal.
At each stage the Blairites have tried to shift the argument.
"Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) would be ready in 45 minutes"
This was the considered judgement of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) according to Blair who emphasised his respect and praise of the UK intelligence community. This statement has been proved to be a complete lie. The JIC and Blair should resign if they have any integrity.
"We will find WMD soon." "Iraq is twice the size of France" etc etc. They are now sending 1500 more troops just search for WMDs or perhaps to manufacture a few.
"The real WMD was President Saddam Hussain." They are only now, some weeks after the ending of the formal phase of the "chicken shoot", beginning to look for the chief chicken and WMD.
The United Nations has said that Iraq has possessed WMDs in the past and therefore the invaders had to go in to prevent them being made in the future. In the process those UN experts were excluded and the whole authority of the UN undermined. This continues. The US is allowing the International Atomic Energy Authority into Iraq. But only for two weeks, under an escort of US troops and they are only allowed to inspect one atomic site. It is alleged that tons of weapon grade uranium has disappeared after the US invasion. Who are the CIA selling this to? Why hasn't the fellow occupying power, the UK, protested?
The sickest argument in favour of the war peddled by Ann Clywdd is that it was fought because Saddam Hussein was so warlike, invading neighbouring countries and oppressing his own people. She has never once attacked those who armed Saddam, nor did she call for the defence of Iran or for the formation of a Kurdish state.
All of these arguments cover up the fact that the "chicken shoot" has made the world a more dangerous place. Iraq has been turned into a breeding ground for al-Qaeda. Saddam Hussein, Chemical Ali, bin Laden and others appear to be alive and free. The smashing of the United Nations has allowed the Good Old Boys a free rein. And like cowboys in the Wild West we'd better not be chickens within range of their guns.
Quotes from Paul Wolfowitz, the US Deputy Defense Secretary
"Let's look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil."
"That's a big question. Your question reminds me of the observation that the President made a giant roll of the dice as though this was a very risky alternative that he chose, and I admit freely there are large risks and there aren't ended by the long risks that we've avoided so far that I read out. The risks are very large still, and I think when I say the stakes are large in Iraq, they're large on the positive side and if we succeed I think they're large on the negative side if we fail but the notion that it would not have been a large throw of the dice to go for another 12 years of this hideous containment policy in Iraq which if you stop and read bin Laden's fatwah was one of the major sources of his rhetoric and his grievance against the West and a major burden for Saudi Arabia."
It is worthwhile reading this carefully. The bit I emphasised seems to be saying that the US invaded Iraq in order to stop bin Laden complaining about sanctions.
However Wolfowitz thinks Saddam was involved with the Oklahoma City bombing and Sept 11 - of which there has yet to be a shred of evidence.
Wolfowitz's boss Donald Rumsfield is now saying that Iraq might have destroyed all its WMDs before the war started. No wonder Hans Blix's final report to the United Nations is so bitter. It will be a test of Fabian Hamilton's resolve to get to the bottom of the "chicken shoot" if can get Hans Blix to testify before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
The US has managed to find some evidence of WMDs -- however the discovery of anthrax and other items of germ warfare was in Maryland. These buried remains were left over from an old biological weapons programme of the US. They were not documented. This was one of the charges laid against the Saddam regime.
-- Half-Celestial Khan
