Sunday 29 March
Tony Blair in The Times: “We must end left’s unholy alliance with the Islamists.” I’ve no idea how he plans to go about ending this ‘unholy alliance” and anything he has to say should be said from the dock at The Hague 😠
This morning, the Israeli Police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, the Most Reverend Fr. Francesco Ielpo, the official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, from entering the Church as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass.
From Joint Press Release: The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land. Palm Sunday, 29 March 2026
Itamar Greenberg, after being violently arrested (again) at an anti-war protest in Tel Aviv, had this to say: “Nothing new here. I’m fine, of course – this is just how it is. This is the face of the Israeli Apartheid regime. Israel never was a democracy, and it will never be one.”
Other police services, on both sides of The Pond, can learn a lesson from the NYPD if this is their usual practice.
The United Kingdom has belatedly imposed a ban on far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, which I suspect is to avoid executing ICC arrest warrants against them.
Monday 30 March
A White House ‘spiritual adviser’ advocates for Christians to pay a tythe of their earnings to support Israel. I doubt if anyone who abides by the spirit of Christianity and Judaism would accept that Christians should subsidise a minority of Jews in their persecution of Muslims. I’m not religious but I find nothing at all spiritual in this statement.
Doomsday Clock: tick tock tick tock, moving ever closer to midnight. We set the alarm but you didn’t wake up and it’s too late now!
According to a New York Times headline: “The U.S. will allow a Russian oil tanker to reach Cuba, letting critical fuel in after months of what amounted to a blockade.”
The headline is clearly intended to save face while avoiding a direct confrontation with Russia. The truth is that the US will not stop two Russian oil tankers, escorted by a destroyer, from reaching Cuba, and letting critical fuel in after decades of blockade.
Amnesty International UK have reported that Essex police have suspended the use of facial recognition technology, but this is not such good news as Amnesty suggests as more police forces roll it out with Home Office approval!
Albertus Gerhardus Janse van Rensburg, second secretary at the British embassy in Moscow, has been expelled from Russia over allegations of economic espionage.🧐
Tuesday 31 March
Israel’s new law introducing the death penalty for Palestinians, but not for Jews convicted of a similar offence, has not gone down well with Labour Friends of Israel. What they intend to do, beyond expressing disapproval, remains to be seen.
It appears that Karl Turner has had the Labour whip suspended without any notification from the whips. It seems journalists had been told but he had not!
He has been a consistent opposition to Lammy’s incredibly unpopular jury reforms bill, which would effectively remove foundational legal and democratic rights.
Defend Our Juries
I mentioned in a previous blog that he was being lambasted from the left because he abstained when it came to a vote, now he’s being attacked from the right for the same reason. He’s reported as saying that he’s willing to resign and cause a by-election!
A petition has been started on the government website which already has >15k signatures: Urge Israeli Government to stop law allowing execution of Palestinian prisoners https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/754432 I’ve signed it but won’t be promoting it as I think it’s a waste of time – the law has already been passed, Ben Gvir is getting drunk on champagne to celebrate, and Starmer is too weak to remonstrate even mildly 😠 I’ve included link to the petition so you can sign if you wish.
Even the Jewish Labour Movement have issued a statement, but I doubt it will lead to any action,
Wednesday 1 April
The world’s leading football governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA, are facing several legal cases and increasing public pressure over their policies toward Israel, including a case before the International Criminal Court accusing their presidents of aiding and abetting war crimes, complaints over violations of anti-discrimination rules, and outrage over their positions regarding Palestine.
Abubaker Abed
The complaint before the ICC was filed by several advocacy groups including Irish Sports for Palestine and Scottish Sports for Palestine. Full article: World’s Leading Football Bodies Under Fire Over Israel Policies
Today from 10.30am to 12pm Sherburn in Elmet Town Council is holding a Community Activity Day as part of its wildflower project. This has been one of the flagship areas of work driven by Cllr Peter Baumann, Chair of the Town Council, and the current coordinator of our local Green Party. I’m unable to attend as I only learned about it this morning, but another event has been tentatively planned for next Tuesday (weather permitting). Sounds like fun 😀
I’ve been posting this frequently for several months and it always gets plenty of likes, but the response I’m getting today on Bluesky has provided me with plenty of suggestions for a supplementary list while leaving me with little time to get anything else done!
Old Hollywood Legends Who Said No to Racism — And Meant It https://youtu.be/sroBWYI9XEo?si=3qyoxsI8jp-z60NU
Saturday 4 April
I’ve been rather distracted for a couple of days by the response to the above mentioned post, 756 reposts 32 quotes 3.8K likes is a personal record on any platform. I think I’ll let it drop, I’m getting bored with it now 🥱
Direct messages don’t need age verification now, although I can’t access anything labelled ‘sensitive material’. The important point is that I can share my email address privately rather than making it available to all and sundry.
One of my regular posts in support of Refuser Solidarity Campaign continually fails to be posted on X, although I can post the associated image. Could it be because this is the one in which I declare that I’m supporting them with a regular donation 🤔 I’m not asking anyone else to donate, but what if I were?
Trump is now comparing himself to Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, but he didn’t submit to being crucified yesterday in the expectation of resurrection tomorrow 🙄
Monday 6 April
Greek shipping companies have been profiteering from war in the Middle East by secretly transporting oil, coal and military cargo to Israel. Shadow ships are illegally turning off their signals and filing false destinations to supply Israel via Turkey, in direct violation of Turkey’s trade embargo on Israel.
In February, dockworkers in over 20 Mediterranean ports went on strike to demand an end to the shipping of military cargo to Israel. “Dockworkers and communities put their bodies and their jobs on the line to stop a genocide,” said Ana Sanchez, spokesperson for the No Harbour for Genocide campaign. “Shipowners turn off their tracking systems, falsify destinations, and endanger seafarers, all to profit from it. We know who they are, we know what they’re doing, and now so does everyone else.” Via Middle East Eye.
Greenpeace has today announced that its ship, the Arctic Sunrise, will join more than seventy vessels in the upcoming Global Sumud Flotilla which is set to sail from Barcelona, Spain, on April 12 to directly challenge Israel’s ongoing blockade of aid to Gaza.
A detailed YouGov survey found that the right-wing press has extremely low net scores on trust (that is, the number of people who trust a media organisation minus the number of people who don’t). The Daily Telegraph did exceptionally well with a score of 0, others were The Sun (-53), the Daily Mail (-37) and The Express (-31).
Cardiff University’s analysis of the most frequent appearances of panellists on Question Time 2014-2023 demonstrates the remarkable predominance of right-wing pundits , with Isabel Oakeshott and Julia Hartley-Brewer (both 13), Tim Stanley (12) and Camilla Tominey (10). These are not balanced by one single journalist from a left-leaning newspaper.
Marco Rubio is threatening to do what we want him to do and remove the targets from our backs, that’ll learn us 🙄 “If Europe won’t allow us to use the bases we man and fund for their defense, we ought to close them down and remove our troops.”
We believe the Cuban people and the Cuban nation requires, or deserves, to be compensated for the damage done by the economic blockade, by the invasion, by terrorism, by assassinations, by actions, violent actions against the economy.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio
The Cuban government is prepared to discuss offering “lump sum” compensation to Americans and American firms that saw property nationalized after the 1959 revolution. Cuba negotiated lump sum compensation agreements with countries such as Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Spain, and France. Had compensation been accepted by the United States the final payments would have been made by the 1980s, but they planned to overthrow Fidel Castro’s government instead. Cuba’s ability to make major compensation payments now depends on the lifting of the embargo to allow economic growth to produce revenue to finance such an arrangement, which could benefit American individuals and businesses by an estimated total of approximately $9 billion. But it’s not a one way street.
Tuesday 7 April
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announces an upcoming visit to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for Italian ships. “Trump wants Iranian oil, and we want Iranian oil too – but Italy wants it legitimately and by paying for it, while America only wants to loot and steal it.”
When someone jokingly suggested that Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi, the Iranian-American scholar born in Richmond, Virginia, now teaching at the University of Tehran, would make a smarter US presidential candidate than Trump or Biden, he fired back without missing a beat:
“I’m not eligible. My name isn’t in the Epstein files. “I’m not eligible. My name isn’t in the Epstein files.”
Cuba is to receive electricity from the Turkish floating power plant Belgin Sultan, which is now moored at the port of Havana.
According to senior officials the United Kingdom will refuse to allow the United States to use RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia for strikes on Iran targeting bridges, power plants, or civilian sites. I don’t know how they can guarantee that the fights won’t be involved in potential war crimes once they’ve taken off. Those idiots in Washington are threatening to do what we want if they can’t have their own way, that’s to shut them down completely and piss off home. We’ll be on our own, as we were in 1940, but without a target on our back!
After sacking several generals, Hogsbreath launches a major operation to rescue one airman whose plane was shot down. It was a massive success, he only lost two more planes (at least) and an unknown number of military personnel.
Retired US Army colonel Ann Wright, who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the US war on Iraq, apologised for her country’s illegal wars at a week-long peace camp outside RAF Lakenheath and vowed to continue challenging the “war policies of the ‘peace president’ and the terrible war on immigrants.”
“Many in the US are going to jail for their righteous commitment to truth and justice,” she added. “With all this, we are not doing enough to stop the Trump administration. But we will not stop, and we urge you in the UK to not stop either!” Via Morning Star
It appears that Israel has decided to celebrate Passover by bombing Iranian synagogues.
China and Russia have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have authorised the use of military force to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Iran has made it clear that the Strait is open to all nations who are willing to negotiate in good faith, which excludes the USA and Israel.
Wednesday 8 April
Ceasefires are always good news. Especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace. But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost. The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sànchez on X
The ceasefire agreed between the USA and Iran has been stillborn because Israel refused to accept the clause requiring Lebanon to be included. I’m wondering if Trump backed down on his apocalyptic posturing because of the possibility that use of a nuclear weapon could result in retaliation against Washington and Tel Aviv by China, North Korea or both 🤔
On a side note: there are signs of an approach to rapprochement between North and South Korea, and between China and Taiwan.
Thursday 9 April
Angry Londoners are blocking roads around the Israeli Embassy in protest against attacks on Lebanon, Palestine and Iran; and Spanish PM Pedro Sànchez has called for the immediate arrest of Netanyahu.
thephilosophicalmuse 