According to sources in Iran, Mir Hossein Mousavi has rejected the offer of a recount. Good call. The ballot boxes will have been well and truly stuffed by now.
Iran is in turmoil right now, demonstrators have been killed and the government is doing what it can to crack down on protests against the rigged election.
There are also rumours that Mir Hossein Mousavi has called off a demonstration today because of fears of staged violence.
See my previous post for twitter news.
The BBC has this.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Updates on Iran
You can get updates on Iran in various places.
Some twitter feeds are:
Here, here, here and here.
There is also a useful blog here.
You can be part of a denial of service attack on pro Ahmadinejad websites by viewing this blog though it will CPU hog until you click stop.
Some twitter feeds are:
Here, here, here and here.
There is also a useful blog here.
You can be part of a denial of service attack on pro Ahmadinejad websites by viewing this blog though it will CPU hog until you click stop.
Twitter delays downtime to help in Iran
Twitter did have some downtime scheduled to happen around 9.45 AM Tehran time this morning. This was because their service provider needed to do some maintenance.
Thankfully they have had a rethink and recognised the importance of twitter in the Iranian election protests and have rescheduled the outage to occur in the night in Tehran.
Well done Twitter and well done NTT America Enterprise Hosting Services.
More here.
Thankfully they have had a rethink and recognised the importance of twitter in the Iranian election protests and have rescheduled the outage to occur in the night in Tehran.
Well done Twitter and well done NTT America Enterprise Hosting Services.
More here.
Hezbollah seen on the streets of Tehran?
Some twitter reports say that some of the security forces they are coming up against are Arabic speaking, presumed Lebanese and Hezbollah.
If true this is disturbing. It shows how desperate Ahmadinejad is getting for a start and desperate men do very bad things.
It is also quite startling. I had Sheik Hassan Nasrallah down as a clever politician who would therefore steer away from taking sides in such an issue. You can say what ever you like that is bad about him, but he knows how to play a power game, even if he does not always win. This strikes me as a lose lose, which makes Nasrallah a desperate man or a fool.
Looking on the bright side, if the protesters in Iran succeed, and Hezbollah are involved with Ahmadinejad then they will be badly damaged.
If true this is disturbing. It shows how desperate Ahmadinejad is getting for a start and desperate men do very bad things.
It is also quite startling. I had Sheik Hassan Nasrallah down as a clever politician who would therefore steer away from taking sides in such an issue. You can say what ever you like that is bad about him, but he knows how to play a power game, even if he does not always win. This strikes me as a lose lose, which makes Nasrallah a desperate man or a fool.
Looking on the bright side, if the protesters in Iran succeed, and Hezbollah are involved with Ahmadinejad then they will be badly damaged.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Iran Update: Iranian students launch massive DOS attack on pro Ahmadinejad websites!
They have set up a blog here:
If you go to this link it will "crash" your browser until you hit stop as it contantly reloads the same pro Ahmadinejad websites. This is quite a clever way of organising a massive denial of service attack without stealing peoples bandwidth.
Go on, you know it makes sense, if you are off for a cuppa, open the link in another page and get a cuppa for a while!
If you go to this link it will "crash" your browser until you hit stop as it contantly reloads the same pro Ahmadinejad websites. This is quite a clever way of organising a massive denial of service attack without stealing peoples bandwidth.
Go on, you know it makes sense, if you are off for a cuppa, open the link in another page and get a cuppa for a while!
Iran update: General Strike called for tomorrow!
Delving around on Twitter it seems that Moussavi has called a general strike called for tomorrow.
See here.
See here.
Iran is revolting!
And no, that is not a comment on Iran's people or indeed the country but the fact that so many people are in open revolt in the streets of Tehran and according to some reports other cities as well.
Estimates of the crowds in Tehran vary from the hundreds of thousands to 2 million. Reporters say that they have not seen anything like this since the revolution in 1979.
Protesters have, according to Channel 4 news have attacked a base of Bassij (militia) loyal to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, burning it down despite being shot at. Casualties have been reported.
The BBC has this, Channel 4 has this.
Estimates of the crowds in Tehran vary from the hundreds of thousands to 2 million. Reporters say that they have not seen anything like this since the revolution in 1979.
Protesters have, according to Channel 4 news have attacked a base of Bassij (militia) loyal to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, burning it down despite being shot at. Casualties have been reported.
The BBC has this, Channel 4 has this.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
First Swine flu death outside of the Americas is in Scotland
It is very sad to hear, but someone in Scotland has died of swine flu.
That said they did have "underlying health problems" apparently. We now nothing else about them.
Swine flu seems to be very easy to pass from person to person so almost impossible to contain but at this seems to be fairly mild killing relatively few. This will remain the case provided that it does not get mixed with more bird flu.
The BBC has this.
That said they did have "underlying health problems" apparently. We now nothing else about them.
Swine flu seems to be very easy to pass from person to person so almost impossible to contain but at this seems to be fairly mild killing relatively few. This will remain the case provided that it does not get mixed with more bird flu.
The BBC has this.
Andy Murray wins at the Queens club!
This is the first time since 1938 that a Britain has won the title and the first time a Scot has.
It bodes well for Wimbledon though obviously winning that is a massive task.
Well done Andy Murray!
The BBC has this.
It bodes well for Wimbledon though obviously winning that is a massive task.
Well done Andy Murray!
The BBC has this.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Is Iran about to have another revolution?
Iran held its presidential elections yesterday. They seemed to go well and people seemed to think things were a bit tight, and there would have to be a run off.
Now today we here that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won a resounding victory.
I can't comment on whether he did or not, but what is now happening is there are many accusations of voting irregularities. A large number of Mir Hossein Mousavi supporters are young and feel stifled. In fact Iran is full of young people as it has been having a bit of a baby boom. If they get on the streets and protest about the result in large numbers then it will be interesting to see what happens.
The BBC has this.
Now today we here that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won a resounding victory.
I can't comment on whether he did or not, but what is now happening is there are many accusations of voting irregularities. A large number of Mir Hossein Mousavi supporters are young and feel stifled. In fact Iran is full of young people as it has been having a bit of a baby boom. If they get on the streets and protest about the result in large numbers then it will be interesting to see what happens.
The BBC has this.
The Prince, the Architect and Chelsea Barracks
It is fascinating to hear the uproar in the world of architects because one Prince (the Prince of Wales) wrote to another about a building project and and got it canned.
The problem for the architects is that for the most part, it is they who are out of touch not the Prince.
There are many interesting new buildings about, some which fit well with their older neighbours and some which don't. However in an area of London like Chelsea barracks you want something to fit it. What Lord Rogers was proposing certainly did not fit that bill.
So well done to Prince Charles.
The BBC has this.
The problem for the architects is that for the most part, it is they who are out of touch not the Prince.
There are many interesting new buildings about, some which fit well with their older neighbours and some which don't. However in an area of London like Chelsea barracks you want something to fit it. What Lord Rogers was proposing certainly did not fit that bill.
So well done to Prince Charles.
The BBC has this.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Labour lies on Labour cuts
It is fascinating to watch Labour lying its head off on the spending cuts it is planning and has listed in the budget.
The thing is that the only time since the war that there was an actual spending cut in cash terms was under Labour in 1947.
I have already written about how Labour cuts will be worse that those under Margaret Thatcher.
Now Andrew Lansley has said that the Conservatives are committed to protecting spending on the NHS, schools and international development and that will mean cuts elsewhere of something like 10%.
Labour have been running around shouting "Tory cuts". The only problem is that journalists are questioning Labour over Labour cuts. That is making it harder for Labour to get away with its lying.
The BBC has this.
The thing is that the only time since the war that there was an actual spending cut in cash terms was under Labour in 1947.
I have already written about how Labour cuts will be worse that those under Margaret Thatcher.
Now Andrew Lansley has said that the Conservatives are committed to protecting spending on the NHS, schools and international development and that will mean cuts elsewhere of something like 10%.
Labour have been running around shouting "Tory cuts". The only problem is that journalists are questioning Labour over Labour cuts. That is making it harder for Labour to get away with its lying.
The BBC has this.
Gordon Brown proposes electoral reform!
To be fair it was in Labour's manifesto in 1997 (because Labour thought they could only just squeak in, and may even need the Liberal Democrats) and their 2001 manifesto (Well there was foot and mouth, the fuel protests and maybe they had forgotten to take it out).
But now we here that Gordon Brown, who could have forced it a long time ago is all in favour! And no, he has not looked at the polls!
Well it is such a transparent effort to rig the voting system it will never fly in the court of public opinion. Even Labour supporting unions are scratching their heads.
There is not enough time to get something through in this parliament. If there is a referendum on it (or even the possibility), then up will pop the Lisbon treaty referendum question.
This will achieve nothing for Brown other than make it look like he is trying to fix an election. That will drive Labour even lower in the polls.
The BBC has this.
But now we here that Gordon Brown, who could have forced it a long time ago is all in favour! And no, he has not looked at the polls!
Well it is such a transparent effort to rig the voting system it will never fly in the court of public opinion. Even Labour supporting unions are scratching their heads.
There is not enough time to get something through in this parliament. If there is a referendum on it (or even the possibility), then up will pop the Lisbon treaty referendum question.
This will achieve nothing for Brown other than make it look like he is trying to fix an election. That will drive Labour even lower in the polls.
The BBC has this.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Gordon Brown to survive until June 3rd 2010
Well, actually, given that the general election count may be the following day Gordon Brown may still be PM on June the 4th 2010.
That is when he will call an election, waiting for something like the Falklands war to turn up.
There are still some who laughably think Labour will topple Gordon Brown. They won't.
Firstly if they want to mount an official challenge then they have to get 72 MP's to agree on one candidate who also agrees to be nominated. That will be like herding cats, no matter how much damaging infighting goes on.
Secondly there is no way any number of resignations will get the message through. It just will not happen. He can appoint as many Lords and Ladies as he likes to fill in for the fact that there are few with talent on the Labour commons benches prepared to serve.
The only possible way that they may get a big enough hint across is to vote against Labour in the no confidence vote the SNP and Plaid Cymru have tabled, with the caveat that if they actually win Labour losses the general election a month or two later, so they need to vote against but make it close, and in doing so sacrifice their chances of staying on as MP's. No that is not going to happen either.
In short, Labour are headed for a meltdown, and no one or two quarters of growth before a general election even if that does happen will not save them because unemployment will still be growing.
All good stuff.
That is when he will call an election, waiting for something like the Falklands war to turn up.
There are still some who laughably think Labour will topple Gordon Brown. They won't.
Firstly if they want to mount an official challenge then they have to get 72 MP's to agree on one candidate who also agrees to be nominated. That will be like herding cats, no matter how much damaging infighting goes on.
Secondly there is no way any number of resignations will get the message through. It just will not happen. He can appoint as many Lords and Ladies as he likes to fill in for the fact that there are few with talent on the Labour commons benches prepared to serve.
The only possible way that they may get a big enough hint across is to vote against Labour in the no confidence vote the SNP and Plaid Cymru have tabled, with the caveat that if they actually win Labour losses the general election a month or two later, so they need to vote against but make it close, and in doing so sacrifice their chances of staying on as MP's. No that is not going to happen either.
In short, Labour are headed for a meltdown, and no one or two quarters of growth before a general election even if that does happen will not save them because unemployment will still be growing.
All good stuff.
Monday, June 08, 2009
March 14th movement beats Hezbollah coalition in Lebanese elections
Well, I am pleased that the group with Hezbollah lost, but I would not have commented on that before the election unlike the United States which seemed to want to interfere.
I can understand that the US would not treat the Lebanon quite the same way if Hezbollah won, I doubt many would, but to say so is troubling for democracy.
The BBC has this.
I can understand that the US would not treat the Lebanon quite the same way if Hezbollah won, I doubt many would, but to say so is troubling for democracy.
The BBC has this.
The Conservatives lead Labour in every area of England and Wales!
I just want to say that I am very pleased that the Conservative party has topped the vote in all areas of England and Wales!
Scotland is yet to come.
Fantastic result for us!
Scotland is yet to come.
Fantastic result for us!
BNP wins in the North West, Nick Griffin wins
However, the other big story is that the Conservatives lead in all areas of England and Wales.
Conservatives batter Liberal Democrat's into 3rd in the South West!
Fantastic result for the Conservatives in the South West!
And now the South East result!
And now the South East result!
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Conservatives beat Labour in Wales!
The Conservatives beat Labour in Wales and the Liberal Democrats lose their seat! Fantastic.
Wales a Liberal Democrat free zone! :)
Wales a Liberal Democrat free zone! :)
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