Lula vs. Bolsonaro: I was held in solitary confinement for 1,901 days for revealing the truth about the U.S. government's killings and espionage, including against Brazil and its industries. Out of power, Lula fought for my freedom. In power, Lula discussed my persecution with Pope Francis, who decided to meet with my family and offer help. After my release, Lula and I met in Rome to mourn the Holy Father's passing. Lula was kind to my children and asked for nothing in return. In contrast, Jair and Flávio Bolsonaro did nothing and said nothing. Yet without the ability to say no to Washington and Tel Aviv, there can be no domestic policy, only foreign instructions. Those orders are always the same: "Expand our theft of resources and wages, and keep your mouths shut about us murdering children." Sellouts will surrender everything in exchange for a cut, even their own tongues.

ROBIN COOK: DEAD MAN, SEALED FILE Robin Cook quit the government over a war he said was built on a lie. 2 years later he was dead on a Scottish hillside, and the case was shut before anyone finished their tea. In March 2003 Robin Cook stood up in the House of Commons @HouseofCommons and resigned as Leader of the House rather than back the Iraq War. MPs from every party gave him a standing ovation. That had never happened in that chamber before, and it has not happened since. For the next two years Robin Cook told anyone who would listen that Tony Blair had walked Britain into a war built on nothing. History eventually agreed with him. It did not save him. On 6 August 2005 Robin Cook was hillwalking with his wife Gaynor Cook on Ben Stack, a mountain in Sutherland. He collapsed with a heart attack, fell around 8 feet down a ridge, and was airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. He was pronounced dead minutes after arriving. Days later a post mortem gave the cause as hypertensive heart disease. The Northern Constabulary treated it as a routine medical death and left it there. No inquest reopening. No criminal inquiry. A former Foreign Secretary who had spent two years humiliating the government over an illegal war dropped dead on one of the most remote hillsides in the country, and the file closed almost as fast as it opened. Here is the detail that rarely makes the story. Ben Stack sits inside the Reay Forest Estate, owned by the Grosvenor family. At the time Robin Cook died on that hill, Gerald Grosvenor, the 6th Duke of Westminster, was serving as assistant chief of the defence staff at the Ministry of Defence. Robin Cook died on land connected to a senior Ministry of Defence figure, two years after resigning over that same ministry's war. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP who later became a Home Office minister and spent years investigating the death of weapons inspector David Kelly, said in 2007 that Robin Cook had been on Ministry of Defence linked land when he died and that he had real doubts about the official account. Columnist David Aaronovitch (@DAaronovitch) called him a conspiracy theorist for saying it. That label has a habit of landing on the people asking questions, never on the people refusing to answer them. Then there is the part almost nobody covers. From 2020 onward, requests were filed with Police Scotland (@PoliceScotland) under Freedom of Information law for the basic facts of that day. What time officers were alerted. Whether witnesses were interviewed. Whether the hillwalker who helped Gaynor Cook down the mountain was ever identified. Police Scotland refused, arguing the requests repeated an earlier one. The Scottish Information Commissioner (@FOIScotland) told them that reasoning did not hold up. So Police Scotland switched tactics and refused the actual content instead, citing legal exemptions. The Commissioner upheld that refusal in Decision 074/2021 and again in Decision 011/2022. 20 years on, the basic facts of how a former Foreign Secretary died on a Scottish hillside remain sealed. Nobody had to cover anything up. They just had to outlast the people asking. SOURCES @HeraldScotland @thetimes @FOIScotland @PoliceScotland @BBC

Four days to go until the SRA explains what action it is taking against Mark Lewis of Patron Law. Here’s the email where Lewis tells his client that he is reneging on the no-win-no-fee agreement because he is worried he won’t get paid. Lewis did this having: (a) failed to get any insurance for his client, despite saying he would; (b) advised his client to reject my offer of nominal settlement; and (c) intimidated his client to avoid mediation; and (d) run up his client’s costs liability to over £50k. It will be scandalous if @sra_solicitors takes no action against Lewis.

I'm not going to name the school, but the @BBC's coverage of the antisemitism in schools report featured interviews with children from a Jewish school. Here's the rub, though. The school's own published curriculum explicitly teaches Zionism, celebrates the establishment of Israel and describes preparing pupils to become "positive advocates for Israel" at university. It even references bringing in organisations such as StandWithUs to prepare pupils for that advocacy. Now, let me be absolutely clear. There is nothing wrong with teaching Jewish history, culture or identity. And antisemitism must be challenged wherever it exists. But when children are actively encouraged to advocate for a particular state, rather than critically examine its history, policies and actions, surely we have to question whether this is education or ideological conditioning? And here's the staggering hypocrisy. We're being told that schools must exercise political impartiality when discussing Palestine, while a school can openly describe preparing children to advocate for Israel. Political impartiality cannot be a principle applied selectively, depending on which side of a conflict children are encouraged to support. And the BBC has a responsibility to scrutinise that distinction, not simply present children's views without examining the educational environment in which those views have developed. Children deserve an education that teaches them how to think, not what to think. @NEUnion @educationgovuk

Well written.

Meanwhile in America...

Posted with no comment.

There is no point addressing the symptom and not the cause. Proscribe the IDF so that people know that no one is supporting autrocities within the locality. Then clamp down on any racism.

Yes. Doctors can now be investigated by the General Medical Council for putting their names to political notions.

When I was young it was clear that communist states were brutal and oppressive. Some people said “Ah, but it’s not real communism” and I ought to judge communism by reference to some sort of utopian or imaginary communism. In much the same way, it is clear that the zionist state is racist and brutal (and likely genocidal) and I am again being asked to judge zionism by reference to some sort of utopian or imaginary zionism. It seems to me that zionists deserve no greater protection from other people pointing out that the reality of their ideology is racist and brutal any more than communists deserved protection in the 1980s. Neither ideology deserves respect on the basis of a utopian or imaginary version. I am sorry if people find this a challenge emotionally or logically, but it seems to be a sensible way to approach matters. We ought not shield zionists from our obviously valid empirical conclusions on the reality of their ideology any more than we ought to have shielded communists? What strikes me is that liberals and conservatives were all for judging the reality of communism, but seem unable to do the same for zionism. I’m still thinking about why that might be.

An interesting thread which, even if only 50% accurate, is a total scandaĺ. (And I have no reason to doubt the accuracy.)

i’ve never seen the british state move like this for anything else. not third of its own children in poverty. not the housing crisis. not the cost of living crisis. nothing.

Bank of England said to be reviewing Barclays’ handling of private credit loans. Derivatives incorrectly logged, potentially boosting profits, exec pay, dividends Banks are too big to fail/jail. Expect regulators to do nothing, or levy puny fines. theguardian.com/business/202…

This is a brilliant letter from the Green leader on Sheffield Council. Every local Green leader in every local authority where Labour is threatening to leave a coalition should do the same and make sure the letter is published in the local media & sent to all households. Labour will be decimated in the next local elections

RT @AliAbunimah: Not a single arrest has been made of any Israeli involved in the murder of almost 300 journalists in Gaza.

I was a combat soldier in an elite IDF unit. I served in the West Bank and witnessed firsthand how settlers could do whatever they wanted with impunity. Today I’m the Executive Director of ״Breaking the Silence״ an organization that has collected thousands of testimonies from Israeli soldiers over the past two decades. And I can say with certainty that this statement by IDF spokesperson is a lie. The IDF is not trying to stop Jewish terrorism in the occupied territories. In fact, it protects Jewish terrorists and arms them with US-made M16 rifles. If the IDF genuinely wanted to stop Jewish terrorism, the Chief of Staff could simply order the 30,000 soldiers stationed in the West Bank to carry out arrests. It’s that simple.

BBC Question Time appearances Zarah Sultana 1 Jeremy Corbyn 1 Mick Lynch 1 - Nigel Farage 38 Very, very biased selection, even more than Fiona Bruce.

All water companies in England failed to report more than 50,000 sewage dumpings within the time required. Water companies routinely ignore laws, have more than 1,200 criminal convictions, no exec prosecuted, no licence cancelled. Govts do nothing. news.sky.com/story/englands-…

Ironically, it may be easier for the UN to prove ecoside.

We are right to worry about AI. Risk 1 is that it learns to mimic human behaviour and values through information like this. Alternatively, risk 2 is that it concludes that mankind can't be trusted.