Economy Of Shame

Now admittedly I saw these while -gulp- looking at the front page of the Daily Mail site, but it seemed these two disparate stories in comparison said something about the the ego and relative capacity for guilt between us regular people and the Great & the Good. Blair committed war crimes and even as he maintains his denial he costs us money that could be far better spent on the public welfare, meanwhile a smalltime fraudster is so wracked with shame, terror and guilt she and her husband kill themselves. Their crimes are really incomparable, over a million dead, billions spent, generations -some as yet unborn- damaged by war while he becomes an even multier-millionaire. She embezzled a good wedge, used her job to steal while her bank made $7.1bn profit for 2009, no one died except her and her husband, a far too severe a punishment they imposed on themselves than they deserve. The amount she stole was eclipsed in one appearance by Blair to contribute to the Chilcot pantomime. They are not really connected, not directly in any measurable way, but they are, aren’t they?

Torture & Its Friends

Britain must continue to work with international intelligence agencies in the fight against terrorism even if they are not commited to UK standards on the abuse or torture of detainees, the Foreign Office has warned.

In its annual report on human rights around the world published last night, the Foreign Office said the UK could not afford the “luxury” of co-operating only with agencies in countries which do not share UK standards on human rights.

It said British agencies endeavoured to minimise the risk that detainees held overseas were mistreated when they were involved in operations, but it was not always possible to “reduce the risk to zero”.

It follows a number of high-profile court cases – most notably by former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed – that claimed MI5 officers were complicit in the mistreatment of detainees by foreign agents, including those of the US and Pakistan.

While the UK had put in place measures to ensure detainees held in its custody were not subjected to torture or abuse, it could not always have the same level of assurance when they were held abroad, the report said.

‘UK standards on human rights’ oh stop it you’re killing me, as detainees often scream…