BritCits

A young woman is seeking  asylum in Britain after she spurned the advances of the polyamorous King Mswati III of Swaziland and refused to join his harem of 13 wives.

Tintswalo Ngobeni, 22, fled to England from the southern African nation as a teenager after she caught the attention of the millionaire monarch, a notoriously oppressive ruler known for his lavish lifestyle.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2326680/King-Swaziland-wants-make-14th-virgin-bride--let-stay-UK-Womans-plea-asylum-fleeing-African-monarch.html

Facebook group :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/410660475699032/
---

Professor Robert Reich on the UK economy at the TUC next week.

http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2013/05/professor-robert-reich-on-the-uk-economy-at-the-tuc-next-week

Next Tuesday Robert Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and former Secretary of Labour in the Clinton administration, will be speaking at the TUC, and holding an interview with Channel 4’s Economics Editor, Faisal Islam. In advance of his appearance Professor Reich has recorded us a short video clip setting out his views on the state of the UK economy.

Robert Reich :
https://www.facebook.com/RBReich?fref=ts

The parallels between what's happened in the US and the UK are significant, although austerity economics hasn't gone nearly as far in the US or done as much damage. But it has claimed jobs, wages, and growth in both the US and the UK -- and hurt the most vulnerable. Meanwhile, over the last three decades, the share of the total economy going to wages has continued to drop in both nations while the share going the profits has risen. The top 1 percent are riding high while everyone else has seen their real incomes decline. The answer in the UK -- as well as in the US -- is to reorganize the economy for everyone, rather than for a few at the top. I'll be speaking to the Trade Union Congress tomorrow to offer a plan for doing just this.
---

Michael Palin's hand of friendship gives asylum seekers a human face.

Former Python star has shown us the world beyond our shores but after forging a bond with a 26-year-old Somali refugee he hopes to open our eyes to problems much closer to home.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/22/michael-palin-asylum-seeker-crisis
---

Commander Chris Hadfield on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield

Chris Hadfield's photographs of Earth from space – in pictures.

During his five months in space onboard the International Space Station, Commander Chris Hadfield has gained more than 790,000 followers on Twitter thanks to his regular posts

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2013/may/13/chris-hadfield-space-in-pictures
---

Golden Dawn letter demands Muslims leave Greece.

http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2013/5/18/golden-dawn-letter-demands-muslims-leave-greece.html
---

https://twitter.com/susiesymes1 tweets :
Deportation of asylum seekers isn't the end of the story: in Afghanistan, it gets worse.
http://migration.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/08/migration.mns011.long
---

https://twitter.com/susiesymes1 tweets :
Bizarrely, not only Brits are bonkers about Eurovision, @Julaybib. Guardian says it's "emergent political paradigm"
http://m.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2013/may/17/eurovision-guide-for-americans
---

https://twitter.com/irnaqureshi tweets :
Remember East is East? When Mr Khan's family drove all the way to #Bradford to watch a Bollywood film? Here's why:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2013/may/17/bradford-city-of-bollywood-dreams

As Bradford's National Media Museum celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema, Irna Qureshi looks back at how immigrant mill and foundry workers from across the north used to come to the city to catch a Bollywood film on their day off.
---

https://twitter.com/susiesymes1 tweets :
Gillian Tett in FT Mag = sober warning on life w/o EU social protections
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3b5f5ae4-bdbb-11e2-890a-00144feab7de.html#axzz2TjM9SDkb
---

Farage attacked by Scottish Farage.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/farage-attacked-by-scottish-farage-2013051769143

NIGEL Farage stared through the looking glass yesterday as he was besieged in an Edinburgh pub by demented nationalists.

The UKIP leader had gone to Scotland to talk about why the country you come from is the most important thing about you, but was forced to flee by some furious Scottish people who believe exactly the same thing.

Farage said: “It was like Being John Malkovich. I looked out and saw lots of angry, Scottish versions of my own face.

“Thankfully, it has taught me absolutely nothing.”

Bill McKay, a Scottish Farage, said: “I want to kill that posh English bastard and his message of hate.”
---

A short history of swivel-eyed loons.

http://virtualstoa.net/2013/05/18/a-short-history-of-swivel-eyed-loons/

How did the word “swivel-eyed” enter the British political lexicon, and when did we first get “swivel-eyed loons”? Here’s a preliminary report, armed with access to the Lexis database, and the help of some friends on the Twitter with very good memories.

As long ago as 1983, Michael Meacher was described in the unlamented Punch as a “swivel-eyed Leftie lunatic”, so the term has been in circulation for a while. In 1987, Seamus Milne, writing in tehgraun, wrote that it was common to portray Robespierre as “the swivel-eyed high priest of political violence”. And in 1991, in a couple of columns, Simon Hoggart used the term, on one occasion to pick out politicians who had a “swivel-eyed belief in privatisation”.

And it’s in the early 1990s that the word more or less attaches itself to a certain kind of Tory politician. In fact, we can be more specific: John Redwood is clearly the key figure here. When he was first appointed to the Cabinet in the May 1993 reshuffle, an unnamed and disgruntled Tory politician said, “we want fewer swivel-eyed ideologues not more” (interestingly, one of the stories in the press reporting this view carried Ruth Kelly’s by-line). And the term, having attached itself to Redwood, from there migrates to his key political allies–such as Tony Marlow and, especially, Teresa Gorman. Tim Collins–a hero of the Stoa in years gone by–described the Tories who backed Redwood’s campaign for the Party leadership in 1995, for example, as the “swivel-eyed barmy army, from ward eight at Broadmoor”.
---

Japan and Abenomics.

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21578052-shinzo-abe-shaking-up-japans-economy-seems-different-man-one-whose-previous

Some amendments to the 1947 constitution, such as one acknowledging Japan’s clear right to a standing army, navy and air force, are now broadly popular. But it is becoming clear that Mr Abe and the traditionalists, pining for an imperial era from which most of the country has moved on, aim to go further than that. They want, among other things: the emperor to be restored as head of state; collective duties emphasised over individual rights; and veneration for the family unit. As a precursor to such changes, the LDP plans to make it easier to amend a constitution which so far has never been altered. The current process requires a two-thirds majority in each house, plus a national referendum.

At best, all this could prove a distraction at a time when some structural-reform initiatives already appear to be running into the sands. At worst, it could endanger all reform by eroding the government’s popularity, at the same time increasing tensions with Japan’s neighbours. Far from having banished the ghosts of his past, as some of his advisers claim, the prime minister is in danger of summoning them up again.
---

Two years on from Fukushima.

http://www.nippon.com/en/column/g00101/

Despite the reelection of politicians espousing views that seem to minimize Japanese responsibility for atrocities committed during the war, public opinion polls show that these views are not widely supported among the population at large. Similarly, a substantial majority of lower house members now favors revising the war-rejecting Article 9 of the Constitution—an idea to which the majority of the population remains adamantly opposed. This phenomenon, which can also be observed in other countries, is partly attributable to the nature of the election system. But first and foremost it is a manifestation of a general problem with so-called representative democracy in a society where a large part of the population abstains from voting. Combating the widespread disillusionment with the political parties (政党離れ, seitō-banare), a phenomenon that was particularly marked in the December 2012 elections, is surely one of the most urgent tasks in contemporary politics.
---

How a far-right paradise could look and feel - oppressive, limited, poor and grim.

Life in a neo-Nazi village: As far-Right crime rises in Germany, the Telegraph visits the small village of Jamel where most of the residents subscribe to neo-Nazi ideology.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/10049360/Life-in-a-neo-Nazi-village.html

Via https://www.facebook.com/ILoveImmigrants
---

Even MigrationWatch admit NHS would collapse without workers from abroad : http://www.migrationwatchuk.org.uk/briefingPaper/document/256 - via https://www.facebook.com/ILoveImmigrants
---

Guidance for insects : Brood 2030.

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21578055-how-america-will-look-cicadas-when-they-next-return-brood-2030

How America will look to the cicadas when they next return.

OVER the next few weeks billions of cicada grubs will awake from 17 years of subterranean slumber and emerge into the bright sunshine of America’s mid-Atlantic states. Their strange cycle has attracted the attention of journalists all over the country. The males will travel in vast swarms, create a tremendous racket in the hope of wooing a mate, make love frantically and then die, unlamented. The cicadas will do the same—the only difference being they will leave behind not unfinished novels but eggs that will hatch in another 17 years.

This year’s cicadas, while swirling above the trees, will peer down on an America that is both different from, and strangely similar to, the one their parents saw in 1996, when Brood II, as this bunch is known, last enjoyed a Rumspringa. That year saw Hillary Clinton testifying before a grand jury over Whitewater, a complicated property scandal which, together with the Hillarycare bungle, looked to have ended her political career before it ever really began. Meanwhile Democrat and Republican strategists were studying polls to work out who would get the blame for the government shutdown in progress, after Congress had failed to pass a budget. Beyond the beltway, people worried about the effect of violent rap music and even more violent video games on the nation’s delicate youth. The Supreme Court pondered a case involving gay rights...
---

'This nails nationalism the world over'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsPDT5qHtZ4

Via ASIRT - https://www.facebook.com/groups/59856051718/
---

https://twitter.com/OwenJones84 tweets :
Oh look. Racist UKIP councillors. Stunned I tell you, stunned http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ukip-councillors-racist-rants-more-1897414