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Monday 14 March 2011

Verity Murphy | 12:45 UK time, Monday, 14 March 2011

On tonight's programme with Gavin Esler.

Engineers are racing to cool down a third reactor at a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear plant, after a second blast rocked the facility.

Tonight, we ask how severe the nuclear emergency is, and what the implications are for the nuclear sector and energy mix worldwide.

We are also examining the impact the earthquake and tsunami is likely to have on the Japanese economy and in turn on the worldwide recovery.

Plus, with the pace of events on the ground in Libya outstripping any co-ordinated international response we ask whether this is a tipping point for the diplomatic community.

And we have a report from Jeremy Bowen, filmed during his recent days in Tripoli, in which he draws his own conclusions about the uprising and subsequent civil war.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Double standards anyone?



    The Guardian runs an anti-gay cartoon!

  • Comment number 2.

    I can't help speculating that the UK media are seriously underestimating the full scale of the economic consequences of the Japan earthquake. Whilst not underestimating the potential radiation leaks it would appear that two other sites are implicated as well as the five reactors at the Fukushima, just how many actual reactors are affected in total. Its not as if said reactors can be brought back on line, they are probably out of action permanently, leaving a real problem supplying the grid for the foreseeable Future.

    Its possible that we could be talking in the region of 20% of Japan's generating capacity and one has to pose the question as to what impact that is going to have on Japanese manufacturing industry. That's not counting the possibility that many tools for vital components got lost in the tsunami areas, even if you theoretically could find enough power to actually run the machines. With modern just in time logistics theory major plants could run out of essential components in just a few days. Its reported that several big name companies have already had to stop production at key plants.

    Global stock markets should have imploded on Monday morning, perhaps especially the FTSE with its predominance of metal mining stocks the companies of which will have lost major orders in the coming months at least. I suspect that the stock market parasites will come up with some theoretical excuse to buy all their options, the thing is that if they don't buy they lose their deposit. However, they probably have a credit default swap on that anyway but the simple fact is that dividends are likely to fall. That could impact the pension funds really bad, they may not have enough lose cash to cover their annuity commitments without selling into a falling market. Six percent off the Nikkei despite the Japanese government providing a 15 trillion Yen welfare state for their Banks, FTSE actually in positive territory at some stage and have the London stock market parasites now lost all touch with financial reality. It may even be the case that contagion from Japan could hit production at Nissan Sunderland, Toyota at Derby and Honda at Swindon.

    It remains to be seen as to whether the global economy can take the obvious long term hit, it would appear that Japan's only option is to embark on a programme building new coal fired power stations. Of course they could try to go for gas, but either way its bound to drive a stake through the heart of the Kyoto Protocol. The British public need to pay close attention as to what what goes on in the Japanese economy over the next few months. It should provide a template for what will happen to the UK economy if politicians persist in implementing the 2008 Climate Change Act. We need to stop all future UK wind farm projects now !

  • Comment number 3.

    Seems to me ( layperson ) the key was the tsunami taking out the back up generators to cool it down. If they were high up and on a platform that would allow fast flowing water to flow through not presenting a large surface area to knock it away - the water cutting through as it were, maybe they would be better served . Its not difficult to know the direction of water therefore it should not be difficult to design and build a platform to withstand a very strong flow of water. Of course the earth slipping beneath is another matter.

  • Comment number 4.

    brossen: i was with you until the last paragraph. In fact, if we still have time, turbines are still the best investment in energy production by a long way - although not necessarily corporate owned/controlled 'farms', but community owned local generation. Scotland can currently produce 20% or thereabouts of its needs through its investments in turbines, accelerating rapidly.

    i'd rather live next to a wind-mill, than a nuclear plant or coal plant. This is most definitely a case of 'IMBY' (as opposed to 'NIMBY').

    and the new jobs would be useful too.

  • Comment number 5.

    NO 1 the guardian of Nothing is Expensive Bog Paper

    plonkers that read it are

  • Comment number 6.

    NO 4 Live next 2 A nulabour Windbag/milliband & co

    You are Kidding

  • Comment number 7.

    HOW MANY CMEs DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB?

    How many to change all the bulbs, and all the electricity-dependent devices, from useful to useless?

    Will Piers Corbyn set up 'NUCLEAR WATCH'?

    The man who (Biblically) built his nukes on fault lines, has been taught a lesson. But what about the man who has not designed into his safety systems, unprecedented blasts of electro-magnetic radiation from the Sun?

    I remember the first cars with electronic ignition used to come to a halt near radar stations. . . NO ONE THOUGHT to design-in relevant protection. A few stranded cars are of no account, compared to nuclear power stations 'melting in the sun' all round the globe.

    Interesting times.

  • Comment number 8.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 9.

    Re implications of Japan for the world's nuclear industry:

    The Japanese situation must now suggest that in assessing the risks of nuclear power stations, the engineers must think the unthinkable. It seems obvious no one in Japan thought to plan for a simultaneous earthquake, tsunami, loss of diesel generators, and loss of coolant. And yet it has happened.

    EDF who are planning the new Hinkley C in Somerset, are doubtless doing so without thinking about tsunamis - probably because "we don't get them here". And yet in 1607 a huge flood hit Somerset and academics [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator] now believe that it was caused by a tsunami, possibly triggered by a sub-sea earthquake and or landslide off Ireland. It could happen.

    Equally it is not inconeivable that through economic or civil unrest, a power station in the UK could experience the simultaneous loss of electricity and then run out of fuel for backup generators.

    These risks are presumably dimissed by nuclear planners as unthinkable, but surely the consequences of failing to address them, as we are beginning to see in Japan, are equally or even more unthinkable.

  • Comment number 10.

    Comment on reactor cooling: Pumping water into a reactor will blow the top off every time, it's just maths. Water expands to 1600 times its volume as steam. If you allow water (salt or fresh) into the reactor vessel the pressure will increase. This will eventually vent into the outside, either by opening a valve or a structural fail as we have seen here. If said water comes in contact with fuel rods it will take some of that radioactivity with it. You cannot cool a reactor with water from outside and not release radioactivity, it's just not possible. It鈥檚 a lot more complex than this but there is no way round the basic maths. If anyone in Japan says otherwise then they are in cloud cuckoo land.

  • Comment number 11.

    number 6, we want information, Information, INFORMATION:

    "92. At 2:04pm on 14 Mar 2011, RolDeed wrote:

    Reasons 2 go Morris Dancing with A Cricket Bat at Midnight

    Bankers/Politicians/Lawyers .. its not cricket but it might solve all Your problems"


    neighbourhood watch?? "Big Society" = "Less Police" = "More Vigilantes"?

    just thinking aloud.


    turn the Millenium Wheel into a huge hamster-wheel-turbine, and put the politicians in there 12hours/day to produce power? And their retirement constantly put back 5 years every now and then to give more money to the banks. Who said there could be no justice in this world??

    hmm, just been accused of being "on drugs", time to get out for a bit. ;)

  • Comment number 12.

    Alex Salmond yesterday .. Hydro Power

    No Fallout from That .. what was that Mr Fish you want chips with that
    Saucey Git

  • Comment number 13.

    #9: crumbs, halliburton in the US managed to get fed appoval for a nuke plant, and start building, before a LONE ENGINEER finally managed to get a senator to grasp this was DIRECTLY on top of a fault line, and get the facility stopped!

    our benighted bunch have just approved locations for the new UK nuclear plants to be built upon flood-plains...

    they posture, and demand the cameras always gaze *up* at them worshipfully, but they are still no more than little boys. And that's OK - but they should stop pretending they are in any way superior to the rest of us. Parliament is an Aegean Stable - and Downing St. is its blocked toilet.

  • Comment number 14.

    #4 Mork

    So it would appear that you support all the other eco-fascist policies like locking all the poor people made redundant when our industry closes into Warsaw style ghetto's. Once upon a time I was all for supporting the Green party but having tried to interact with their establishment it would appear that they have no common sense whatsoever. A vote for the alleged socialist Green Party is a Trojan Horse vote for eco-fascism, off the Richter scale on both left and right of the political spectrum, its a quasi-religion !

  • Comment number 15.

    No 11 is a No 2 in the Roman Numerol indeed

    Rats on The Eye .. Aye to That

    Don't Call the Plod .. 2 Busy wasting Trees

    Sleep with A Cricket Bat .. Are Bats made from Trees

    If You Carry a Bat in Your Car make sure You have A Ball

  • Comment number 16.

    #14: yes brossen, i don't know how you managed to go from me supporting wind-turbines to wanting 'Gaza-isation' for all unemployed people, but you sure got me bang to rights and no mistake Guvnor.

    and i'da have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you darn kids...!!!


    been watching a lot of alex jones again, dude? :/

  • Comment number 17.

    mods, where's your sense of humour re #8? :'(



    Subject:
    Monday 14 March 2011

    Posting:
    #1: i couldn't care less what billy [snuggles up to], high-class BDSM tarts, wellied sheep, or laud meddlesome Himself, don't give a monkeys. As long as we get decent Foreign policy out of him!

    more important things are afoot and afield.



    ....all due to "Labour's Black Hole", of course.

    Fnarr, fnarr.

  • Comment number 18.

    #16 Mork

    Only someone " engineering illiterate " would support the widespread construction of wind farms. I blame our education system since Thatcher, concentrating on pointless feudalism ideology like Shakespeare !

  • Comment number 19.

    musharaff apparently needs to be TOLD it is wrong to torture british citizens..because it isn't obvious?

    2. historically japanese earthquakes have been good for markets and the yen because of the reconstruction spending. the ftse 100 is not really uk related as such given its mainly banking, mining, oil etc.

  • Comment number 20.

  • Comment number 21.

    DAVE DECRIES GADDAFI'S USE OF FOREIGN MERCENARIES TO KILL HIS OWN PEOPLE

    But Dave glories in our heroic home-grown mercenaries, who kill Johnnie Foreigner in his own home.
    I feel quite sure that, had Tony not messed up in Iraq, and had we any mercenaries to spare, our mercenaries would be sent to do a bit of 'job they love' on Gaddafi's mercenaries.

    WE COULD EVEN MAKE IT AN OLYMPIC EVENT (now that the Olympics are mercenary).

  • Comment number 22.

    UK TORTURE (#19)

    Having persuaded mothers to abandon their infants in pursuit of 'proper work' and followed that obscenity up with schooling/institutionalisation for most formative years, it is to wonder at that we don't do our own adult torture.

    Add the Public School 'experience' of our leaders, and torture becomes de rigueur.

  • Comment number 23.

    Poverty in Britain, and yet we spend billions on war and foreign aid?!

  • Comment number 24.

    Cycling person #19

    It would appear that this current earthquake is different from those in the past in that Japan has never had such a proportion of its electricity generating capacity almost certainly taken out of action permanently. And whilst the London stock market parasites are frothing at the mouth buying Agrreko shares today ( up almost 10% because they hire out power generators ) and Vendanta ( who allegedly build power stations ) the fact remains that Japan's economy will be seriously disabled for the foreseeable future. Without the full support of the Japanese export market the overall global economy ponzi scheme is on extremely shaky territory.

  • Comment number 25.

    Mustn't let all the bad news overshadow events at home:

    鈥淭he level of net migration into the UK rose by 36% last year, Office for National Statistics figures show鈥

    鈥渁sylum applications were down by more than a quarter to 17,790 last year, compared with 24,485 in 2009 (-27%) Perhaps, at last, UK is becoming less attractive to the economic migrants?... but:-.
    鈥渙f migrants granted settlement, the number of asylum-related cases went up to 5,125, compared with 3,110 in 2009鈥 - that鈥檚 an increase of 65%! So the percentage Granted is now higher than before! Why?

    鈥淭he number of work-related cases was also up, rising 4% to 84,370 compared with 81,185 the previous year鈥 - My work in developing countries was always on a 1-year contract, often with surrender of passport. Why not here?

    鈥淭he number of foreign nationals given UK passports was down 4% to 195,130, but the figure remained higher than that seen in the years 2005 to 2007鈥
    WHY? Could these increases be due to HRA which allows even serious criminals 鈥榓 right to a family life鈥 here and a huge increase in rights of family members brought over for our IHS? Doesn鈥檛 state the percentage refused, or those still under interminable and expensive consideration/ appeals procedures.

    "A total of 334,815 student visas were issued last year, down 2% on 2009"
    Will probably rise again as Unis (like my local) are busy recruiting in China, to fill the drop in UK students who cannot afford the 拢9,000 fee. And this government has no control on the many students who exceed the 20 hours/week employment (unrelated to area of study). I have suggested a simple remedy for this before, which does not depend on the odd case being caught out by UKBC when returning to UK.

    And if we now respond to the Arab League鈥檚 agreement for a no fly zone UK will become responsible for countless more asylum applications. Most Arab League countries have money and munitions enough to launch their own No-Fly zone, and they have made it clear that they do not want foreign occupation. They should also accept responsibility for repatriating the hordes of Arab/African 鈥榬efugees鈥 displaced by these 鈥榝reedom鈥 conflicts.

    Before any further incursions by UK/EU we must insist on a referendum, not another unheeded protest march.

  • Comment number 26.

    #23 ecolizzy

    It would appear that the town of Okehampton is the victim of a Corporate Ethnic Cleansing Plan facilitated by the imposition of high road fuel taxes. Its pretty clear that the economy of Okehampton is the victim of eco-fascist tax / stock market parasite speculator oil prices, The banks must have known that Wiseman were planning to close their dairy and perhaps just to twist the knife pulled the finance plug on the frozen food plant and the chocolate factory.

    One can hardly blame Wiseman for relocating to Bridgewater as it is probably cheaper to get to the obvious local main market Exeter via the M5 than by A road from Okehampton. Competitive logistics theory is all about reducing costs per mile and utilising drivers hours to the full potential. It would appear that the Okehampton area local small dairy farmers are going to get screwed for collection costs. Similarly I suspect that there was some interaction between the frozen food plant and the dairy as far as chilled transport was concerned. Being primarily a desserts factory, Polestar probably consumed a significant amount of milk perhaps sourced via Wiseman.

    It is probable that all the closed industrial sites will be worth more dead than alive to build 500K plus executive housing on. The Banks are also likely to make a killing on all the probable foreclosures on the workers homes, perhaps selling them as second homes to wealthy stock market parasites with fat bonuses. Potential future prices will be inflated on the prospect of the installation of high speed broadband, allowing the stock market parasites to move in full time.

    All in all a nice little eco-fascist inspired corporate ethnic cleansing plan, Okehampton was probably one of their key targets. I believe that there is talk of re-opening the passenger rail route to Exeter, and if my memory serves me correctly the Okehampton area was an early victim of the Foot and Mouth in 2001. Nothing I have seen will convince me that all the areas affected by the 2001 FMD were not part of a deliberate eco-fascist plan to destroy the rural economy in targeted areas.

  • Comment number 27.

    #20:

    "The latest reactor designs are " fail safe "".

    i'm sure Tokyans are relieved then.


    and no worries about 'Oklahoma-style bombs', or any such things. Plus, what's the harm in a fully centralised, Corporate-controlled energy system, where charges for electricity can be anything the providers want?

    centralised nuclear power production - "Too Big To Fail"?? Oooh, where did i THAT recently?

    the Danish recent experience is complex, far more so than is widely reported (i still have contacts over there), and has to do with what you would call "eco-fascists", and i would call "green-washed Corporate fascism" changing the direction of investments in the sector. Plus, they have a very right-wing Govt, that just like with the Tories, are more interested in Corporate back-handers than in doing what is best for their Country.

    as for the Greens, am i concerned about some of them and their policies? You betcha last dime i am - but exactly WHO else is even worth considering voting for???

    millipede's 'Newest New-Labour'? The extreme right-wing EDL, UKIP or BNP? God Forbid the Tories or wittily named "Liberal-Democrats" again! Or not vote at all and get one of the above anyway?

    even if you don't agree with sustainable energy production, at least the Greens support the Living Wage, they support the Corporations actually paying tax, they support regulation on the Banks, they support electoral change, they support an ethical foreign policy that doesn't involve propping up dictators with arms, or invading desperately poor countries because the US and Murdoch want a war, and they support the Rule of Law, and Human Rights, aspects of a Civilised Society noticeably lacking for many years now.

    and unlike the other Parties, they have a democratic internal structure that can insure the policies are adhered to.

    yeah, some of them probably have barmy ideas. But unlike the current notions of "Bankrupt the UK and sell everything off to the Tax-avoiding Corporations and it will all turn out wonderful", or "Bankrupt the UK and sell everything off to the Tax-avoiding Corporations slightly slower and it will all turn out wonderful" which pretty much sums up the philosophy of the Nu-Con-Labs, the Greens are actually trying to do something that BENEFITS the people of the UK, and not just their own back-pockets.


    @#18: the "wind-farm" notion is Corporate centralism. There are a few places where it makes sense, but far more efficient is community turbines, which is how DK originally took off in sustainables.

    again, the difference is between real Green, and Green-washed Corporate Fascism. There is a world of difference.

  • Comment number 28.

    THE UBIQUITOUS GREG PALAST ON NIPPON NUKES



    Risk saves money. From Space Shuttle to Bow Bell/Marchioness to Potters Bar and more. Nuclear power is the same.

  • Comment number 29.

    Mork #27

    Why are you deliberately trying to mislead people, the affected Japanese reactors are ancient, date back to the 1970s and are probably of 1960s design ?

  • Comment number 30.

    mods, ty for #17. :)


    #23: lizzie, some estimates at tax-evasion by the Corporate-Sharks in the UK are put around 拢100,000,000,000 a year and even the lowest order estimates at 拢20,000,000,000 - and that is each and every year.

    then add in the overt corruption and profligacy of the UK's bankers, again in the multiples of 拢Bns, and it starts to become obvious why in this ridiculously wealthy country, poverty is growing. How much does it cost to buy a UK Parliamentarian these days? Or a Minister?

    a duck-pond or two, perhaps? Is that the value of the misery of millions of normal Britons?

    if we keep going like this, soon China will be sending aid to the UK, whilst (as in Brazil, India and the US), our 'home-wealthy' refuse point-blank to pay any taxes at all. The day might even come when the Taliban are sending UN Peace-keepers to prevent a UK civil war!

    but don't worry, eventually it all "trickles down". I've often wondered what they were doing with their noses when this ridiculous notion was first thought of? Mmmhmm, yeah, i think so too. Columbia's finest, for sure.


    one day the UK population might be glad we have at least had the decency and morality to give basic aid to these countries and populations, to make up for decades of arming their brutal former rulers, when trade-deals are hammered out by newly democratic Govts sitting on valuable resources. If the plight of people whose lives are so hard they have a less than 50% chance of reaching the age of 40 doesn't move you (and i think it does most), then naked long-term national self-interest should do.

    if we stopped giving aid, do you honestly think that money would go towards increasing benefits in the UK, or just on more tax-cuts for the UK's Wealthy and Corporates? I think we can all guess pretty accurately on that one.

  • Comment number 31.

    Mork #27

    As you must know full well if you have followed my blog posts over the past years nobody is a bigger supporter of sustainable power projects like the Severn Barrage, in fact I would go for Morecambe bay too. The thing is that unless such projects are state sponsored they have no chance of ever getting off the ground, and ideally they would be owned by the people. However, it looks like we are stuck with the Corporate Multinational Cartel at present, if our politicians had the balls they could take all our energy infrastructure back into public hands. Brown had the opportunity of a lifetime when the banks were going bust but stuffed it to appease the US, the Corporate Nazi's would probably have had him assassinated if he had followed through on his alleged socialist political DNA. We are where we are now and the best hope at present is to give real teeth to the regulators.

  • Comment number 32.

    #26: brossen, your rant there could have left out the word "eco", and made infinite sense. Are you just trying to bait me, or is there something personal you can't stand about ecology?


    #29: and no doubt they were called "fail-safe" back then as well. Or do you think the Govt/Corps said "they're rickety as [bleep], but we don't care"?

  • Comment number 33.

    Still Time To Moonshine for Fuel

    Pushbike Dynamo To Boil Kettle

    A Major back To BaSics .. Black Rain/Free Rain

    Free Rain, Rain is Innocent so is Alfred E Newman

  • Comment number 34.

    Mork #30

    Perhaps the main problem facing the UK is that in all honesty we are actually not a very rich country, its just that the UK is populated by a large proportion of ten bob fat cats who just think we are ?

  • Comment number 35.

    'RESPONSIBILITY DEAL' DO THEY COMPETE FOR THE MOST CRASS TITLE?

    Lansley has been described as too calm - he certainly seems supremely relaxed about the alcoholic dependency of this country.

    The Brewers, and government, are assured a continuing good DEAL (quid pro quo) profit and tax-take. Government will not be RESPONSIBLE for widespread degradation of humanity, giving employment to medical, law-n-order and funeral workers - all taxed

    And that's the RESPONSIBILITY DEAL.

  • Comment number 36.

    Engineers are racing to cool down

    Meanwhile 'reporters' seem to be racing to inject as much heat as they can to obscure illumination.

    Can't be a room left in Tokyo as carbon credits get burned sending hordes to emote and consume scarce resources asking a family survivor how they are feeling, or an 'expert' what 'may' happen.

    Is it true that R4 sent James Naughtie, noted science buff and linguist, to Japan to interview the Japanese Ambassador in London? If so, you can say Aunty is scripting great satire once more.

    'Tonight, we ask ...' Of whom? Ken Livingstone?

    And this is... 'quaint', in a refreshingly honest sort of way...

    '....a report from Jeremy Bowen... in which he draws his own conclusions...

    And finally, one for you Barrie:

  • Comment number 37.

    Just How Many Beeb/Boob Teams are there in Japan Wasting Resources

    The 2 Neddys Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Both Very Dumb Both Talking Asses

    100.000 jobs oh Yeah 3 1/2 Million nulabour ImmiGrants A Spit in The Sea

    it seems to me

  • Comment number 38.

    The sad truth about Wind Farms !

  • Comment number 39.

    Would it have been better to keep the reactors running, so that the electricity they produce could be used to power the cooling system? Or is that bonkers?

  • Comment number 40.

    I was wondering where this blog had gone to!

    #3

    Crikey, it had not even occured to me that the cooling system infrastructure would be unprotected from tsunami, because well, that would be just stupid !! It would be quite cheap to put that right even after the plant was completed.

    Surely that can not be right ..can it?

    I assumed it was a failure of seismic design (insufficient base isolation for example), which would be much more difficult and expensive to design against with any certainty for large scale earthquakes for such a heavy structure.

    Having said that, no matter what, the bottom line is under a safe shutdown design earthquake event ( a standard which applies to other high risk structures as well not just nuclear) you should not rely on the continued functionality of critical support infrastructure to maintain safety, if you cant get it to work under an SSE scenario without a load of ancillary equipment not integral to the pressure vessel (in the case of nuclear) then you go back to the drawing board and find a way to design it so that it is safe even if everything around it disapears.




    #2 Brossen

    Very astute observations, gas powered power stations are almost 'flat pack' assembly now it is getting the gas to them that may be the issue.

    On a war footing you could work 24/7 and put one up in 6 months as oppose to the 6 years it takes if you have to keep bureocrats happy in peace time.


    Coal powered would take a little longer and is a little more messy but a similar principle applies.

    However 6 months or not in our insane and already shell shocked and hopelessly unfit for purpose global economic model there are bound to be substantial supply chain re-procussions from the effect this will have on the worlds 3rd largest economy.

    But the nerds in the back rooms in the city dont deal in reality, only algorhythms which cream off a %tage of everyones labours for the pruposes of self enrichment with minimum effort and zero value return to society.

    The only reason it has not affected the markets more is because they have not go a clue what to do when confronted with real economic shocks, all they can think of (as you suggest) is to bu or sell industries which would directly benefit or suffer as aresult, which is a hopelessly one dimentional approach.



  • Comment number 41.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 42.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 43.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 44.

    I am Universally Challenged that was close nearly

  • Comment number 45.

    #26 Very interesting observations brossen, and I think you are correct. I was surprised to read of Okehampton having these problems, as I remember it as a very pleasant place, so I get your point about the rich taking the place over.

    Did you watch Dispatches tonight? Another very interesting programme, explaining the huge profits to be made by the few out of the many. So the lib/cons want to privatise the publice sector, and give the work to their rich mates, and make the wages lower and the hours longer.

    What happens when there is so many unemployed that they can't afford to buy anything, and there are very little taxes paid to pay these big corporate companies. Oh I know they move on to countries new, and abandon our country.

  • Comment number 46.

  • Comment number 47.

    #25 Won't be long indignantindegene before we english cease to exist, I would like to come back in 100 years to find out who we will become.

    But perhaps none of us will be here, nuclear war seems very likely in the middle east to me.

  • Comment number 48.

    brossen, sorry for my intemperate response @ #32.

  • Comment number 49.

    Watched A bit of Ross Kemp tonight, Has He Hit A Big Nail on The Head

    NGO's and Charities Where Have All The Billions Gone

  • Comment number 50.

    All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

  • Comment number 51.

    Perhaps as to be expected from the 麻豆社 these days useless Gavin Esler gives the eco-fascist a free ride despite his obvious financial conflicts of interest ?

  • Comment number 52.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 53.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 54.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 55.

    FIGHTING TO IMPROVE IS DUMB AND NASTY - LEAD BY EXAMPLE (#50)

    The 'developed' nations have been exporting all that is bad, via TV, for a long time now, and policing the world with violence. I suggest we all withdraw to our own borders, and REALLY create the utopian societies that we already claim to be. When these are SEEN by all those third world savages, they will copy - overthrowing tyrant leaders.

    As things stand, Britain export nihilism by TV and destructive violence by armed intrusion. Civilised it is not.

    I SAY - JOLLY GOOD SHOW CHAPS. CARRY ON.

  • Comment number 56.

    If you wanna watch real news, watch Russia Today because the 麻豆社 have lost it. 麻豆社 northwest was a disgrace this evening. I shall now, on my travels, ask everyone to refuse to pay the leftwing 麻豆社 tax.

  • Comment number 57.

    Crikey, what happened tonight? :0

  • Comment number 58.

    WHY NOTHING IN BETWEEN LYING ORTHODOX AND HONEST ECCENTRIC? (#56)

    Did you catch the comprehensive Assange on Freeview 85? What a mad world this is - juvenile almost to a man. And with modern nurture, schooling and Mammonisation, soon there will not be one mature, sane, person on the planet.

    Oh - it's all going awfully well.

  • Comment number 59.

    Let's get rid of nuclear energy plants and our dependency on oil at a stroke and all go and live in caves again. That'll fix it. Can you imagine the moaning, no TV, no computers, no lights, no heat, no cooking, no industry, no economy. And no cobblers about wind turbines and worshipping the moon to replace it, please.

    Knee jerk, terrified Britain helped by the terrorising media who I'm sorry to say seem like ghouls revelling in every disaster not in order to disseminate news but to get better ratings than their rivals. Some of the reporters sounded almost rapturous at the scenes of the Japan devastation, clamouring to present a greater picture of horror than the last. We don't need to be told how terrible something is by a reporter when we can see it with our own eyes. It's called television.

  • Comment number 60.

    SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG IN THE WORLD OF UK 'INTELLIGENCE'

    If the 麻豆社2 'Secret War on Terror' is to be believed, Eliza Manningham-Buller DOES NOT KNOW 9/11 WAS A FALSE FLAG OPERATION. But her whole function is the gathering of intelligence and its interpretation!

    There are thousands of hours of damning, detailed evidence ON THE WEB that prove to my satisfaction that the official narrative on 9/11 is AT MINIMUM 'UNSAFE'.

    That Britain is devious at highest level is well known to me, but Eliza Manningham-Buller would appear to be EITHER mounting a massive rear-guard deception of her own, or to ACTUALLY KNOW NOTHING of the 9/11 discrepancies.

    What a pathetic failure on the part of 麻豆社2, not to make a documentary CONTRASTING EVIDENCE WITH IGNORANCE. I am left at a loss. Presumably the 'game' is even more complex than I gave it credence. Living within the lie, just took a turn for the worse.

  • Comment number 61.

    Oh Dear Auntie for You its all gone Pete Tong or have things turned to Rat 拢hit

  • Comment number 62.

    So we have the biggest islamic banking in europe, not to mention larger than a good many islamic countries as well.

  • Comment number 63.

    Saudis send 3,500 troops to Bahrain: two brigades plus tank battalion
    Source:

  • Comment number 64.

    On A Lighter Pay Packet Note .. Got My Council Tax Bill Threw Yesterday

    Cost 2 Me = Nada/Zilch/Not A Been .. Cost 2 You Loads, Cheers Suckers

    On An Even More Renting Note .. Got My Increased Castle Rent Bill Threw

    Cost 2 Me = Damn All, Cheers Suckers

    There's More Than One Born Everyday

  • Comment number 65.

    I See the DeBait on the PM's Wages are still being not knocked about

    If Bert Smegly from BirMingingham *City Council Earns More than The Cameronian Why isnt Bert Running the CounTry harder Dopey

  • Comment number 66.

    Sixtea 2 Its A Mad Mad Mad World .. So It is Alfred E Newman's Fault

    M.A.D. Bring Back Mad with A Splash of VIS .. You Can See Clearly Now

  • Comment number 67.

    HYPOCRISY DEMOCRACY

    I have just heard that the Libyan's 'HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEMOCRACY'. Oh good. No doubt we are signed up to that vacuous claptrap?

    I wonder if the English have any similar rights? I hold these things to be self evident:

    1) I have the right to be respected by Westminster (not held in contempt) and the derived right of respect from my MP (not mockery).

    2) I have the right to register ABSTENTION in every election (not to have my MP tell me to spoil my paper).

    3) I have the right to call the Conservative Party to account for a blatant lie, employed in 2010, with the clear intention of 'undue influence' on voters in many constituencies. To this end I demand that the Electoral Commission should do more than just oversee expenditure, and should declare any election in which a party lies, VOID!

    ENGLISH DEMOCRACY NOW!

  • Comment number 68.

    6 T Seven Eye cant/Wont Argue with That

    for Me TB's nulabour Defacted/Defecated on Democrapsay

    They can have it Back from the same place It came from with Spike's

  • Comment number 69.

    69 Oh Yes Please Missus

  • Comment number 70.

    No Miff 2 Riff I'm Miffed Off .. maybe

  • Comment number 71.

    No Comebacks on Ross Kemp's Caper Last Night

    Billions Thrown into Haiti Not A 360 Machine/BullDozer In Sight/On Site

    Who's Sky Rocket has the Wedge

    In Contrast Japan Has Gone Straight Into Action and Wont Stop till the Place Has Been Put Right

    Bread Sent To Japan Wont Be Wasted

  • Comment number 72.

    Mulled Whine/Wine .. Not Yet

    I keep Mulling over Lenny Henry And Crew/Red Conk Day

    I have spent a bit of Time In Africa (Great Place)
    one Day half way up A Big Mountain Buying Tatties I couldnt help but Notice The Fields were full of Women with Babies Strapped to their backs working the Land.

    Looking Left A male of the species Dressed to the 9's Doped up leaning against a mud hut, I questioned him

    The Feeble Minded Excuse Was Women's Backs were Stronger

    We allways had A Troop from 9Sqn RE with us They Did Nothing But Graft

    Paint your Wagon any Colour You Like .. Mad Dogs and Men out in the Midday Son

  • Comment number 73.

    Dispatches....best investigative programme this year....I remember when NN was like that....

  • Comment number 74.

    73 Snap

  • Comment number 75.

    7 t three

    The Lefties have Left what Tiny brains if any Down The BOGS

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