August 26, 2010

WikiLeaks releases CIA Red Cell Memorandum on United States "exporting terrorism", 2 Feb 2010

"Contrary to common belief, the American export of terrorism or terrorists is not a recent phenomenon, nor has it been associated only with Islamic radicals or people of Middle Eastern, African or South Asian ethnic origin. This dynamic belies the American belief that our free, open and integrated multicultural society lessens the allure of radicalism and terrorism for US citizens."

Read more and download the full file here.

May 15, 2010

'Anyone who supports ID Cards should be banned from having curtains' - The People's Manifesto | Mark Thomas

Building on his recent Radio 4 series "The Manifesto", Mark Thomas' new book "The People's Manifesto" brings together 50 of the crowdsourced policies suggested by the audience in book form. The format is similar to the radio show - the policy itself is printed in bold on one page, with Mark Thomas' commentary on the facing page.

From the blurb:

"Mark Thomas has been touring the country for months, getting audiences to come up with policies aimed at sorting out the country's political chaos and taking back the power for the people. Sick to death of bailing out bankers and subsidising MPs homes, the audience vote on the best policy of the night to be included in the brand new People's Manifesto. From the inspiring to the downright hilarious, you'll wonder why these fantastic ideas aren't part of the constitution already. For example: all politicians will be forced to wear the names and logos of the companies sponsor them or with whom they have financial links; anyone who supports ID cards is banned from having curtains; all models have to be picked at random from the electoral register; anyone found guilty of homophobic hate crime has to serve their sentence in drag; and, CEOs convicted of fraud will be made to dress as pirates in whatever job they get in the future. "The People's Manifesto" will outline 50 policies of the manifesto shouted out in bold type on a page to themselves with Mark's commentary opposite. Mark has even 'road tested' some of them - like hosting a party in an MP's second home (which clearly belongs to the taxpayer) and getting university boffins to work out a way of SAT testing MPs to rank them by value. And Mark's guerrilla antics won't end there...Power to the people is really happening."

Buy it here.