The governments of the free world watched it go and paid the merest lip service to efforts to save it.

It is has been fifty years since the Chinese government ordered the invasion of Tibet. Under its control so many Tibetans have been murdered that, if we were to stand for a minutes silence for each one we would be standing for over two years.

Thousands of Tibetans have been imprisoned and tortured simply because they have stood up and staged peaceful protests against the Chinese government’s brutal rule. When called on to allow Tibetan’s their basic human rights and stop the torture, the Chinese simply point the finger back at the West and say, “you practise and condone torture, but we do not.” The US and UK governments certainly have heavily soiled their record and lost a considerable amount of moral high ground with such high profile blunders of judgement and decency as the shameful Guantánamo Bay fiasco. However, in defense of our governments, they do not hang old men upside down like light bulbs, they do not order systematic beatings – and then punish the beater for not beating severely, ‘patriotically,’ enough – and they do not rape nuns with electrified batons. All of which is being inflicted on Tibetans held in Chinese controlled prisons right now. One Buddhist monk, Palden Gyatso, spent thirty-three years under arrest, during which he was subject to the most brutal tortures, both physical and mental, that can be inflicted on a human being – his crime, peaceful protest.

What are our governments doing to address this physical and cultural genocide?  Apparently, US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, held talks, relating to human rights issues, ‘behind closed doors’ with the Chinese government on her first visit to the country. How simple it is to appear to do something but, actually, do nothing ‘behind closed doors.’ What she did tell them was that issues such as Tibet would not be allowed to “interfere with the global economic crisis.” 

What of the-one-eyed-man-who-would-be-king, Gordon Brown? How has this mighty ‘world saving’ leader stood up to the Chinese government? At the same time he was urging China to contribute more money to the IMF, one of his minions and toadies – Foreign Secretary David Milliband – was saying, “We have made it clear to the Chinese government, and publicly, that we do not support Tibetan independence.”  Well what a coincidence. This government had already taken away the right of Tibetan’s living in the UK to state on official forms – applications for passports, etc – that their country of birth was Tibet – forcing them to say they were Chinese!  However, to be fair to Gordon Brown, at least, his foreign policy in regards to ‘bigger boy’ countries is consistent, and can be summed up in six words ‘we bend over and take it.’

On the subject of Brown and the bigger boys; I wanted to quote a passage from his recent speech to the US congress. It was for me the best, most moving, seemingly the most heartfelt, part of an otherwise, frankly, kissy, kissy, verbose example of copy and paste rhetoric.  He told the story of a young boy – David – who died during the conflict in Rwanda, believing that the United Nations would come to save him. I cannot quote his words exactly because in all the ‘full texts’ of his speech I have found on the internet (The Times / The Guardian / The Telegraph), issued to the news media by the UK Government, the passage is missing. Welcome to Orwellian Britain, the record has been changed, and the Prime Minister never embarrassed the leader of the free world with an example of how it failed the innocent. But, what else can you expect from a government who arrest its citizens if their waste bins are too full or they have taken a photograph of a train.

Tibet is gone. It will never be an independent country again. But, what of Tibetans and their gentle culture of peace, spiritual harmony and love of family? Their home is being torn apart and polluted by Chinese industrialisation and they have become a minority within it, due to the millions of Chinese immigrants being shipped in.  Tibetan’s are as strong and resilient as the mountains of their country. However, mountains can be reduced to rubble and rubble ground to dust. The one last flicker of hope for their survival is in our hands, dear reader. ‘The’ governments of the world are ‘our’ governments. If we are united and speak loudly enough they must listen – never forget, never let them forget, we are the masters they the servants. Tell them, “Stop the torture, and stop the killing in Tibet now!”

Why should we speak up for Tibetans, or anyone but ourselves? Remember the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller:

“When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.”

And they are coming…

Tessa Jowell (New Labour) “When you look closely, we didn’t do too badly. We actually won one set in the London Assembly.”

Ed Millipede (New Labour) “I am old enough to remember the Wilson years. i can clearly remember that on the day Harold Wilson resigned they cancelled Play School.’

Harriet (user name) Harman (password) “On the subject of lame dick leaders……’

Vince Cable (Very Old Liberal) “The new variety of cannabis…skunk…..”

Lab Clone (every New Labour politician interviewed over the last 24 hours) “We are going to listen to people and act accordingly”

OK, the voters of England and Wales have clearly told the government to ”go forth and multiply.” Make it so Gordy!

The first disappointment I had with the X360 was on launch day. Although I had preordered one from a High Street store that assured me I would get the model of my choice, Microsoft failed to deliver enough units to most if not all the suppliers and I had to buy a core system plus extras at a higher cost.

The second disappointment I had with the X360 was on launch day. Having unpacked the console from its box my heart sank. The build quality was obviously way behind that of the original Xbox – if the first version looked like one of the monoliths from 2001: a Space Odyssey, then the white 360 looked like a £5.99 Tesco’s toaster!

The third disappointment I had with the X360 was when it died (Rings of Death), as this was outside the original warranty period, and being strapped for cash, I put it in the cupboard and went back to the ever faithfully, highly reliable, original Microsoft console.

However, so many 360’s having suffered the same fate as mine – with the resultant bad publicity – Microsoft backed down from their stance that the console was flawless and extended everyone’s warranty. So I sent my unit back under warranty.

The final disappointment I had with the X360 was when it refused to read any game discs. The problem being the disc reader had failure. Unfortunately, this problem is not covered by the extended warranty!  So, being still strapped for cash, the console has been returned to the cupboard and the original has been re-instated to the place of honour by  the TV.

When I can afford one I will buy a PS3. There may not be much in the way of games out at the moment – but this will change – and I may not like 100 percent of Sony games, but I won’t be worried that every minute I play on that console may be my last!

Finally my apologies to Tesco for comparing the build quality of their budget toaster to Microsoft’s games console – I bought one the same day as the X360 and its still going strong!

Having had my X360 back for a few months after it was repaired under the ‘three rings of death’ extended warranty, I thought all was well, until it stopped reading my game discs! This is due to the failure of the disc drive – which isn’t covered by the new extended warranty. All because that not only does the console suffer from poor design – the component parts are all made from cheap monkey pooh!

Who now says Sam Allardice would make a great England football manager? No one who supports Newcastle United … or any team that beat them….. or anyone else who knows anythings at all about football (including the Americans who still insist its ‘soccer’)!

Who says girls can’t play football?  Disproved by Ronaldo and Ronaldinho!

To all those members of the public asking on various on-line forums why the students who actually named the bear the M-word aren’t being punished – even suggesting that they should be - may I remind them the ‘students’ were of primary school age. And by Miss Dimbo encouraging the children under her care to name the teddy after the Prophet of Islam she was putting them in real jeapody.

What concerns me now is what has happened to the one truly innocent in all this? Whats happened to the teddy bear?! Has he been ripped to pieces by a mob or pardoned, renamed, and returned to the children? BBC forget the crash of the housing market, soaring food and fuel prices, lose of 25 million HMRC records (the former boss just getting a cushy cabinet job!), the failing Northern Rock (senior members of staff getting a bonus!)  and (General) Gordan Brown’s government  meltdown (oh you have) and find the bear!

Questioned closely by the BBC interviewer the spokesman admitted that the situation had grown to critical proportions because of overcrowding in Young Offenders Establishments, and this was due to the increasing numbers of  custodial sentences currently handed down by judges. He also admitted that many of the 15 year olds that he wanted to legally ‘baton’ were either mentally ill or handicapped!

What sort of society have we got? One where a parent is not allowed to smack an errant child, or a policeman clip a potential offenders ear, but where it may soon be legal for jailers to beat ill or handicapped prisoners ( and these barely more than children) behind locked doors.

Shame on us.

South Africa’s points all came from penalties (obviously awarded by the referee). The disallowed Try was in fact a Try. Many offences that should have led to English penalties were made by the Boks in front of the referee or the touch judges - a blatant crossing and an off the ball body check being just two.

The referee was an Irishman. This Irishman has a French father, but was allowed to Referee the match between France and Namibia (the match where the non-Gallic team found themselves, at various times, with one and two men sin binned). If, the World Cup had run on expected lines, he would have officiated at a final where if he had been a player he would have been eligible to play!

I am not suggesting the governing body of a world sport or any individual colluded in ‘robbing’ England of the Cup, or more importantly, given the current political situation, ‘helped’ the Boks win. But, of course, everyone is entitled to draw their own conclusions.

At least its Ashcroft’s own dosh thats being spent on his personal choice of political parties. The same can not be said of the heaps of money the Labour party gets handed by the Union (contributed by its members who have no say in its disbursement).

I am not a conspiracy theorist by inclination, but am I alone in thinking this musing by Hoon comes suspiciously  hot on the heels of a court decision to over turn a will left by a Tory supporter who wanted his money to go to his party?

The botton line is that Geoff Hoon statement seems to imply that the government may use its powers to squash a rival political party. Now that would be “undermining democracy.”

The Lib Dem pack that are circling round his tomb (the body lies elsewhere) or rather the BBC TV Centre, claim that Ming went of his own accord, and that he spoke to no one about his decision, and that he does not want to give a press statement.

I would find this all rather hard to believe had not the Honourable Simon Hughes MP and the Honourable Vince Cable MP said (if not the steps of the Senate, at least outside Lib Deb HQ) that there was no nasty business and that the decision was all down to Ming. These honourable men then praised Campbell while burying him in the potter’s field that now holds the remains of so many ex-leaders.

Still what’s bad news for some is good news for others. Conspiracy theorists can put down that new book about Dallas, forget the latest dreary tabloid titbit about Diana, and bin their moon landing ‘mock up’ pictures. For who toppled Ming will play for a while yet, as there are a number of inconsistencies in the story we have been told so far. For starters:

• No one claims to have spoken to Ming before he made his decision
• No one claims to have spoken to him during yesterday

Which would mean that Ming just ‘submitted’ his resignation and fled back to Scotland without actually speaking directly to anyone!  And how then did he make this submission, by post, by email, by native runner? 

The announcement by the Honourables Si and Vi was made late afternoon early evening. Yet a BBC Newsnight reporter was interviewing a Lib Dem councillor in Twickenham (Cable’s consistency) about why Ming should go (the counsellor claimed that the seat was a marginal, which should give the local Tories a warm rosy glow) as early as 15.00! Later the honourable gentlemen were sitting in the BBC’s Newsnight studio (was it really a coincidence that it was Paxman’s night off?)! Were the Beeb ‘briefed’ (that’s tipped off to you and me) before the event that ‘no one’ knew about?

The most suggestive thing of all Watson is the behaviour of Ming the man himself. Think of him what you will, he may appear ancient and a little out of touch, but he has always appeared to be a ‘what you see is what you get’ kinda guy.  He is as truthful and honest as any politician can be. He is a team player and has always displayed courage in personal adversity. So why now did he jack the job in and turn tail and run for those there hills? The Campbell I have seen over the past months would have made a statement, absolved his colleagues of all blame, and stayed as leader until a successor could have been elected. Unless of course he had been given an overwhelming blow, an emotional stab in the back….. Betrayal by so called friends and colleagues can feel just like that.

All the above seems like a plotline from ‘House of Cards.’ All we need is a Francis Urquhart figure to step forward. Do the Lib Dems have one on hand, already emerging centre left from the wings? Well you might like to put a name forward, but I could not possibly comment.

Now Ming has gone, what are we left with? The feeling that those ‘nice’ Lib Dems aren’t nice at all -they kick alcoholics and old men alike when they are down. We also have their ‘acting’ new leader, Simon Hughes’ equally honourable cohort, Vince Cable. It may have been due to all the media attention and the studio and outside broadcast lights but my didn’t he look sweaty? I don’t know why, as he seems to have been camping out at the Beeb for months, as he is always popping up to speak for ‘his’ party on the box.

Whether or not Vince was the vanquisher of Ming the merciless, he is now Lib Dem leader. Which must be nice for him, if a trifle uncomfortable, as he has on a number of occasions voted against the party he is now leading in the House of Commons! Does he believe he can win a leadership election? Well, he has not ruled himself out, and says he is not too old (but isn’t that what ‘old’ Campbell said?). However, do the honourable Liberals Dems  really want another old (even balder) man to lead them? And if so, do they really think it’s a good idea to replace Ming the merciless with someone that looks like the villain from Thunderbirds?