13 April 2012 The Guardian welcomed the decision of the European Court of Human Rights to extradite Babar Ahmad and others to the probability of years of solitary confinement in the US. Here's the responses that the Guardian printed on its letters page on

DISGRACE OF A LIBERAL NEWSPAPER
13 April 2012
The Guardian welcomed the decision of the European Court of Human Rights to extradite Babar Ahmad and others to the probability of years of solitary confinement in the US. Here's the responses taht the Guardian printed on its letters page on 13 April. http://www.sacc.org.uk/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=895&catid=55 Abu Hamza, Christopher Tappin, Gary McKinnon, Ian Norris, Wojciech Chodan, Jeffrey Tesler, Richard O'Dwyer, Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan are all vic­tims of the same problem: the US-UK extradition treaty (Abu Hamza can be extradited, rules court of human rights, 11 April). British citizens accused of a crime allegedly committed on British soil should be tried in Britain. Instead, British authorities (the DPP) never saw any evidence in order to decide whether to prosecute at all, while some spurious connection to US servers suffices to send , Britons to the US (as is the case with O'Dwyer and Ahmad). That's US univer­sal jurisdiction by the back door. Most free email or cheap domain providers are based in the US. Tomorrow it could be you who unknowingly might commit an offence in the US for an act that is lawful in the UK, as was the case with Norris. This is how far British sovereignty has been eroded. We are all unknow­ingly subject to a foreign law. Worse, Ahmad and Ahsan have now been in jail for eight years without charge and have thus served a criminal sentence. Had they been found guilty by a British court they would now be free. Instead of being tried, Ahsan has become mentally ill in detention without evidence, and Ahmad will most likely end up in 23-hours-a-day solitary confinement in the US - consid­ered tantamount to torture by the UN special rapporteur on human rights. The extradition treaty must be torn apart and Britons tried in the UK.  Taris Ahmad Solicitor, London The recent comments of Alex Carlile, the former head of the terror laws watchdog, on the case of my son, Babar Ahmad, suggest that he falls to understand some basic principles of law. He says our family's belief in Babar's innocence is "unsurprising" and based on "loyalty". Not only is this patronising, it fails to address a more fundamental reason for our belief - the presumption of innocence. Babar has never been convicted of the allegations against him despite being detained without trial for almost eight years. Carlile claims Babar should be extra­dited because, although the crime was allegedly committed in London over the internet, it was, according to him, com­mitted in the US. As a senior lawyer, Car­lile ought to be aware of Regina v Shep-pard & Whittle (2010), involving the possession, publication and internet dis­tribution of racially inflammatory mate­rial hosted on a remote server in the US. In that case, Lord Justice Scott Baker ruled that the UK was the appropriate forum for trial because a "substantial measure of the activities" constituting the crime took place in the UK.  Ashfaq Ahmad London Joshua Rozenberg writes of the European court of human rights, "nor will they permit torture or solitary confinement" (European court makes the right call on Abu Hamza, 10 April). Unfortunately, he is mistaken. In Tuesday's judgment allowing the extradition of Abu Hamza and four other men to the US, the Strasbourg judges noted that the court "has never specified a period of time beyond which solitary confinement will attain the minimum level of severity required for article 3". They said "complete sensory isolation", coupled with total social isolation "would be unjustifiable", but avoided ruling out other forms of solitary confinement. This view appears to be at odds with the views of many human rights experts, including the UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, who called last year for a ban on long-term solitary confinement. The Strasbourg decision is disappointing and will have far-reaching consequences. It is to be hoped that the five men will request a referral to the grand chamber of the court.  Richard Haley Edinburgh I am disgusted that a liberal newspaper should apparently welcome the decision of the European court on Abu Hamza and others. A state such as the US, which can even conceive of building "a clean ver­sion of hell", as the supermax prison has been described, is barbarous. That this country welcomes the possibility that human beings maybe placed in solitary confinement for the rest of their lives in a prison straight out of Nineteen Eighty-Four brings shame on us. Malcolm Pittock Bolton, Lancashire How unfortunate Theresa May should choose this moment to announce her plan to put human rights challenges to deportation on the grounds of family and private'life out of the reach of foreign nationals (Theresa May pledges to end family rights bar on deportation, 8 April). This comes just as the European court of human rights judgment on the extradition of five men accused of terror offences to the US is handed down. The intended effect is surely to blur the distinction between extradition and deportation; between untried suspects and those who have served a sentence; and between terror-related offences and the wide range of criminal offences (including very low-level offences) for which long-term UK residents are now facing deportation. Foreign nationals are an easy target, even when they have lived in the UK most of their lives and have British children. Bail for Immigration Detainees has worked on cases where single parents, who have not committed very serious offences, have been removed from the UK without their children. We have also dealt with cases where such inhuman action has been prevented by legal challenges. The changes May proposes would prevent families from making such challenges. She has sought to trivialise human rights claims made by foreign nationals, but the effects on children in these cases will be catastrophic. It is deplorable that these measures should be announced in the wake of the passage of the legal aid, sentencing and punishment of offenders bill, which removes deportation and general immigration matters from the scope of legal aid from April 2013. Celia Clarke Director, Bail for Immigration Detainees

STURDYBLOG - This May, I Will Be Voting for Ken. This Is Why.

This May, I Will Be Voting for Ken. This Is Why.

http://sturdyblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/this-may-i-will-be-voting-for-ken-this-is-why/

APRIL 11, 2012

Contrary to what regular readers might believe, I am not a card-carrying member of the Labour party. Or any party. True, the Coalition has been the primary focus of my criticism, but this is a mere function of the fact they are currently in power. Why would I focus on anyone other than the people in a position directly to make decisions which affect my life?

Also, they appear to me to be the biggest collection of wazzocks ever in charge of anything, since the committee responsible for Troy’s postal services exclaimed: “What a delightful wooden horse. Of course we’ll open the gates.” Even conservative readers would have to concede that it would take very little work indeed to turn this current political crop into Spitting Image puppets. In some cases, no work. Like the rest of them, Boris seems to have been chosen for comedic value rather than competence.

On the other hand, would I have selected Ken as the primary challenger? I would not have. Not unless I could transmit a continuous signal into his brain which said “Shut up. You don’t mean that. Think first.”

But there you have it. Practically speaking, they are the two candidates with any chance of winning.

I must confess, however, I have been utterly baffled by the debate around which one Londoners should choose. Baffled by the assessment of the two principle candidates in terms of ethics, rhetoric, personality, personal tax affairs, politics. An entire metropolis of eight million people trying to assess which one would make a better mayor, stuck in the hypothetical. Facilitated, of course, by a relentless campaign by the London Evening Standard, desperate to reward the man which gave it its privileged, monopoly position.

If I clear away the clutter of who said what to whom, who makes how much and how they hide it, who promises what (as if we don’t have recent experience that a promise by a politician is not worth the breath with which it is uttered), I am left with my personal experience of life in London under Ken and life in London under Boris.

You see, you may not have notice in the midst of all the smoke and mirrors, but they have both actually held the post. The majority of Londoners have lived in London under both. This does not have to be a hypothetical or even ideological choice. And it isn’t for me.

There is no doubt in my mind, that during the eight years during which Ken was Mayor, London improved more than any other period in the 22 years I have lived here. Conversely, in the four years Boris has been in charge, with the exception of the occasional burst of laughter, very little has changed for the better and a lot of things have changed for the worse. The one possible exception is the bike rental programme. But wait – they were Ken’s plan, all organised and budgeted for, when Boris came into power and just christened them Boris-bikes.

In 2002 I stepped onto a bus, paid pennies with my new oyster card and travelled down dedicated bus lanes into the centre of London in times not achieved before. In 2012 I decided to take the tube from Bermondsey to London Bridge, because all of London is dug up, and had to buy a single ticket for £4.30 to go a single stop. Four pounds and thirty pence. To go a single stop. It took 25 minutes because of signalling failures.

Neither was an isolated incident. Both are a good summary of life in London then and now.

So, unless a sixth airport serving the capital – so far into the future as to constitute science fiction – is a burning issue for you, why the Dickens are we still talking about this? None of the candidates may be ideal in theory, but one of them was an exceptional Mayor, in practice.

_________________________________________________

The deadline to register for the upcoming election is the 18th April. You can do so online HERE. Whatever your views, make them heard.

Untitled

What is Mobile Virtualization?

http://www.ok-labs.com/solutions/what-is-mobile-phone-virtualization

Today's mobile phones boast computing capabilities once found in mainframe computers and workstations. Mobile CPU clocks run hundreds of MHz, and mobile 32 bit processors access gigabytes of memory. Additionally, mobile network connections stream data at broadband speeds, and mobile versions of enterprise platforms such as Linux and Windows run shrink-wrap applications.

So it should surprise no one that today's mobile phones can also host mobile virtualization platforms with a range of accompanying benefits. As it does on servers and desktop computers, mobile virtualization offers device OEMs, mobile network operators (MNOs), and semiconductor suppliers enhanced security, portability,reliability, license IP isolation, and hardware consolidation.

Mobile phones are no longer stand-alone devices - increasingly, they play the role of enterprise application endpoints. This new, always-on characteristic provides new opportunities across the mobile ecosystem, but also challenges handset OEMs to bring feature-rich, enterprise mobile phones to market, quickly and cost-effectively.

The same, but different

Despite obvious similarities between enterprise/desktop virtualization and its mobile counterpart, mobile phone use cases present key differences: smaller memory capacities demand slimmer embedded hypervisor footprints, current mobile processors lack virtualization support in hardware requiring paravirtualization, and hosted guest software span the gamut from enterprise OSes to embedded RTOSes to stand-alone device drivers.

OK Labs mobile virtualization solution specifically targets mobile requirements and use cases. The OKL4 Microvisor offers developers lightweight virtualization platform with a thin abstraction layer between the OK Labs secure cells (virtual machines - VMs) and underlying hardware.

Integrated Single-User Interface

Mobile virtualization — A developer's best friend

Mobile phone virtualization gives developers a powerful new tool to address a variety of device development challenges. It builds in security, helps in extending application longevity, and lets device OEMs consolidate hardware and software by enabling multiple OSes to run on a single-core processor.

More than just virtualization

The mobile industry is just beginning to exploit advantages made possible by mobile virtualization. Cost reduction, functionality, security, and end-user experience are all driving adoption of this technology.

The OKL4 Microvisor capabilities go beyond virtualization alone to offer developers a range of new design, integration, and deployment options.

OK Labs mobile virtualization solutions are created and delivered through a combination of OK Labs software products and VIP Services in order to address the specific opportunities and challenges relevant to device OEMs, and MNOs, and semiconductor suppliers.

 

Content & Apps for Automotive 201218th - 19th April, The Kempinski Hotel, Munich, Germany

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Once we had anarchy in the UK. Now all we have is monarchy in the UK The Queen's diamond jubilee points up just how divided socially the country still is - Julie Burchill The Observer, Sun 8 Apr 2012 00.06 BST

Once we had anarchy in the UK. Now all we have is monarchy in the UK on the Gaurdian for some reason

The Queen's diamond jubilee points up just how divided socially the country still is

Prince Harry's efforts in Brazil – playing beach volleyball to promote British trade and tourism – were apparently worth 'a thousand politicians'. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Julie Burchill

The Observer, Sun 8 Apr 2012 00.06 BST

Comment

People often yearn back to more innocent times, but more and more, as I get older, I find myself hankering after more jaded days. Surveying the simpering smorgasbord of crooning cretins queuing up to play the Queen's diamond jubilee concert in June, I long for the relative scepticism and sophistication of the mop-top Beatles.

It was back in 1963, at the start of their ascent, performing at the Royal Variety Performance attended by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, when John Lennon said: "For our last number I'd like to ask your help. Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery." Yes, it was mild enough, but it did draw attention to the fact that, historically, the posh were only ever day-trippers in the world of popular culture. And, like the rich bitches who went to Harlem in ermine and pearls to get high on the sound of "le jazz hot" played by impoverished junkies, the monarchy was only really relevant to the purveyors of youth music as figures of fun. John Lennon would go on to boast about how the Fab Four had smoked dope in the bogs at Buck Pal and later even returned his MBE.

These are desperate dog days indeed when this otherwise arch-hypocrite – asking us to imagine no possessions while apparently keeping a separate apartment in the Dakota building just to keep his and the missus's vast collection of furs at the "correct" temperature – seems like a beacon of integrity.

"You're still f*****g peasants so far as I can see" – that was another good bit from Lennon's "Working Class Hero". And never are the peasants more revolting than when tugging their forelocks – with such enthusiasm you'd think they were teenage foreskins – to their self-appointed betters. June's sumptuous show of all-singing, all-dancing syncopated sycophancy is just another step in the re-peasanting of this country when it comes to the monarchy – the fall of Great Britain and the rise of the United Kingdom. It is the soundtrack to the reversal of social mobility – and the new dark ages of social unrest that such a failure to launch inevitably heralds.

Being a monarchist has never been more mindlessly popular in my lifetime as it is now. When I was growing up in the 1970s, we had Willie Hamilton, MP for Fife, a man repeatedly and solely elected by his constituency to insult the Windsors, it seemed; Princess Margaret was "a floozy", Prince Charles "a twerp" and even the normally blameless Queen was branded "a clockwork doll". There are no such hardline and rude republican public figures these days; even an allegedhomme sérieux such as Andrew Marr acts like a knicker-wetting teenybopper who has just glimpsed One Direction – as Jonathan Dimbleby did before him – at the drop of a royal biography.

Characters such as Vivienne Westwood take a break from designing boxes for £90 Fortnum and Mason Easter eggs to drool over this profoundly mediocre family with the same brainless fervour with which they once espoused anarchy. And every time I witness such self-abasement, it makes me feel once more that patriotism and monarchism are actually the opposite of each other – or at best a duplicitous marriage of convenience, such as the one the heir apparent inflicted on his innocent first wife, rather than the love match they pertain to be. Monarchists frequently declare that without the royal family, Britain would be "nothing". What a woeful lack of love for one's country such statements express.

Being a monarchist, and fawning over those "above" you, you must naturally despise those "below" or on the same socioeconomic level as yourself, because that is how hierarchy worship works. It's also about despising yourself, for how could anyone with any self-respect look up to someone who holds their position purely by an accident of birth?

Being a monarchist – saying that one small group is born more worthy of respect than another – is just as warped and strange as being a racist. Yet no musician would dream of playing a benefit concert for the BNP. When we look at the social composition of the music charts these days, though, it's hardly a surprise that rebellion is off the set list.

Fewer than one in 10 British children attends fee-paying schools, yet more than 60% of chart acts have been privately educated, according to Word magazine, compared with 1% 20 years ago. Similarly, other jobs that previously provided bright, working-class kids with escape routes – from modelling to journalism – have been colonised by the middle and upper classes and by the spawn of those who already hold sway in those professions. The spectacle of some smug, mediocre columnista who would definitely not have their job if their mummy or daddy hadn't been in the newspaper racket advising working-class kids to study hard at school, get a "proper" job and not place their faith in TV talent shows is one of the more repulsive minor crimes of our time.

The hereditary principle being on the apparent rise in every area of life, it makes total – if depressing – sense that the biggest inherited scam of all is going from strength to strength. For quite some time now, the new, self-made rich have been our favourite hate-figures, while the old rich have slipped completely under the hate radar. At a time when disillusion with elected politicians is at its highest ever level, according to a recent YouGov survey, melting into the oceanic embrace of the monarchy seems an enticing prospect to a certain sort of halfwit.

In a classic case of turkeys voting for Christmas – or at least the Queen's speech – some politicians agree. Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, said last month that Prince Harry was worth "a thousand politicians" after he ran a mile for Sports Relief and played beach volleyball in Brazil in the course of promoting the Great Britain campaign for trade and tourism.

Maybe this is the way things are going to be, now the New World Order and the rise of the Bric nations leave us in the margins of time and tide, treading water in the shallow end of global power. Those nations that got rid of their monarchs, then brought them back, always looked a bit mad, a bit crazy and sad, but that's what we've done, in a way. When the pop stars queue up to kiss the ring of the monarch in June, they will be burying a phenomenon – the youth music explosion of the 1950s – which briefly ushered in a brave new world of social mobility and disappearing deference. Once the Sex Pistols sang that there was no future in England's dreaming – but increasingly our Ruritanian dream seems to be all we believe in. Albeit a Ruritania with riots in the streets.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/spaH7A4J3OehOI7nF8dg6uA/view.m?id=15&gid=commentisfree/2012/apr/08/julie-burchill-queen-diamond-jubilee&cat=commentisfree

Who is the Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League? The Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL) is the national peak organisation representing the state and territory drug user organisations and issues of national significance

Drug Law Reform

http://aivl.org.au/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#p=255

Drug Law Reform has recently been brought back into the spotlight with well publicised visits from prominent US Law reform proponents Norm Stamper (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - LEAP) and Ethan Nadelman (Drug Policy Alliance) during 2010 and 2011. While the media has been reporting heavily on this issue from both sides, any one working in the AOD sector would have to agree that the "war on drugs (users)" has been a dismal failure and we need to start pushing the politicians to begin the process of  drug law reform in Australia.

More recently with the release on 3rd April 2012 of the Australia 21 report "The Prohibition of Illicit Drugs is Killing and Criminalising Our Children and we are Letting it Happen" has brought the idea of drug law reform and decriminalisation of Illicit drugs full pelt onto the front page of papers and as headline stories on major radio stations.

Below is a collection of video clips, media articles, reports, publications and other links focusing on drug law reform both nationally and internationally. The first section is in direct response to the Australia 21 report, with the remaining a more broader coverage of all drug law refrom media articles.

• Radio National Drive Program - Panel Discussion on Drug Law Reform - 3rd April 2012 
• War over decriminalising drugs - Sky News Australia 
• Gillard says no to any softening of drug laws - The Age 
• The war has failed - time now for new tactics - Brisbane Times 
• Should we decriminalise drugs? - Herald Sun 
• We need to keep on saying no to drugs - Herald Sun
• PM not in favour of decriminalisation of any drug laws - The Australian 
• PM rejects call for decriminalisation - The Age 
• Australia foreign minister calls for decriminalisation of low-level drug use - Telegraph.co.uk 
• Minister backs decriminalisation of drugs - News24
• Has Australia lost its war on drugs? - ABC Online 
• War on drugs never ends: Vic police - Ninemsn 
• Australian FM backs some decriminalisation of drugs - AsiaOne 
• Victorian Government rejects legalisation of drugs - ABC Online
• Australian states quietly lead the way on drug reform - ABC Online
• No drugs decriminalisation in Vic - Sky News Australia
• PM opposed to decriminalising drugs - The Australian
• Carr on drugs war, Burma; US university shooting shock - ABC Online (blog) 
• Australian Government should legalise and tax drugs, Australia21 says - NEWS.com.au - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• High resistance to legalise drugs - govt - Sky News Australia - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• A report released today calls for a softer approach on low-level drug crime - The Australian - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Call to ease war on drugs - The Australian - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Carr calls for 'de facto decriminalisation' of some drugs - Sydney Morning Herald - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Gillard and Carr divided over decriminalisation of drugs - Sydney Morning Herald - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Carr joins calls for rethink of drugs laws - ABC Online - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Report calls for rethink on war on drugs - Sky News Australia - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Roxon warns of high bar to legalise drugs - NEWS.com.au - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Carr urges drug reform - The Age - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• 'War on drugs' labelled a failure - Sydney Morning Herald - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• It's over. We've lost drugs war, report says - The Australian - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Time to rethink war on drugs: think tank - Brisbane Times - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• PM, Carr disagree on decriminalising drugs - Brisbane Times - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Drugs war 'a failure' - Sydney Morning Herald - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Top cops, politicians say the war on narcotics has failed - Herald Sun - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• The drugs fight saves lives - Herald Sun - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Many facets to drug battle - Geelong Advertiser
• Leaders sticking with war on drugs - Adelaide Now
• Drug war lost - Newcastle Herald (blog) 
• Is the war on drugs lost? - Northern Star 
• Maybe tougher penalties are the correct answer to drugs problem - Ballarat Courier 
• Australia report on drug policy - Drug WarRant 
• New push for drug decriminalisation - Pakenham Cardinia Leader
• Even the police think our drugs laws are absurd - Evening Standard
• Australians divided on drug use - Shanghai Daily (subscription) 
• War on drugs has failed: report - The Sunshine Coast Daily
• Australian minister calls for rethink of drug laws - Radio Australia News 
• Big Name Australians Call for End to Drug War - Hawaii News Daily 
• Rap sheet: does Bob Carr's record on drug reform stand up? - The Conversation
• Australian FM Backs Some Decriminalization of Drugs -Jakarta Globe
• New Report Bats for Partial Legalisation of Addictive Drugs - International Business Times AU
• The War on Drugs has failed – now what? - The Conversation - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Wollongong treatment centre welcomes debate on drug policy - ABC Local - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Report urges politicians to accept war on drugs has failed - Adelaide Now - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Govt open to debate on tackling drug use - BigPond News - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• We've lost drugs war, report says - Perth Now - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Australia21 report calls for consideration of drug decriminalisation - Adelaide Now - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Time for Australia to abandon "failed war on drugs" - The Conversation - ‎Apr 1, 2012‎
• Time to rethink war on drugs: think tank - Brisbane Times - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• PM, Carr disagree on decriminalising drugs - Brisbane Times - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Drugs war 'a failure' - Sydney Morning Herald - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Top cops, politicians say the war on narcotics has failed - Herald Sun - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• The drugs fight saves lives - Herald Sun - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Many facets to drug battle - Geelong Advertiser 
• Leaders sticking with war on drugs - Adelaide Now 
• Drug war lost - Newcastle Herald (blog) 
• Is the war on drugs lost? - Northern Star 
• Maybe tougher penalties are the correct answer to drugs problem - Ballarat Courier
• Australia report on drug policy - Drug WarRant 
• New push for drug decriminalisation - Pakenham Cardinia Leader 
• Even the police think our drugs laws are absurd - Evening Standard 
• Australians divided on drug use - Shanghai Daily (subscription) 
• War on drugs has failed: report - The Sunshine Coast Daily
• Australian minister calls for rethink of drug laws - Radio Australia News
• Big Name Australians Call for End to Drug War - Hawaii News Daily 
• Rap sheet: does Bob Carr's record on drug reform stand up? - The Conversation
• Australian FM Backs Some Decriminalization of Drugs - Jakarta Globe
• New Report Bats for Partial Legalisation of Addictive Drugs - International Business Times AU
• The War on Drugs has failed – now what? - The Conversation - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Wollongong treatment centre welcomes debate on drug policy - ABC Local - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Report urges politicians to accept war on drugs has failed - Adelaide Now - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Govt open to debate on tackling drug use - BigPond News - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• We've lost drugs war, report says - Perth Now - ‎Apr 2, 2012‎
• Time for Australia to abandon "failed war on drugs" - The Conversation - ‎Apr 1, 2012‎

 

Debate "All drugs should be legalised"

6 PM with George Negus - Call for drugs to be decriminalised

Ten News Clip - Drug Debate

• International Narcotics Control Board Regrets Bolivia’s 
  Denunciation of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 
• NEW: War On Drugs Report, Global Commision on Drug Policy
• Peter Wilby, Many agree, none act: to ease untold misery, legalise drugs, The Gaurdian UK
• Editorial, To win drug war, treat, regulate, Virginian Pilot
• Drug Policy Alliance, United States Conference of Mayors Unanimously Passes Resolution Calling the War on Drugs a Failed Policy That is Driving Over-incarceration and Racial Disparities, Common Dreams
• Bombay High Court overturns mandatory death penalty for drug offences; first in the world to do so, Lawyers Collective
• Jimmy Carter (39th US President), Call Off The Global Drug War, New York Times
• Matin Beckford, It's Time to Decriminalise Drugs, Say Peers, The Telegraph
• Kathy Gyngell, Drug decriminalisation - the new orthodoxy, Centre for Policy Studies
• Intelligence Squared (IQ2) Debate - All Drugs Should Be Legalised,10th May 2011 featuring Alex Wodak (for) and Jade Lewis (against) 
• Michael Duffy, The War On Drugs: Who's Winning?, National Times
• Michael Duffy, Winning the War On Drugs: The Costs, Sydney Morning Herald
• Enjoli Liston, UN drugs chief sticks to punitive policy despite major failings, The Independant
• Nick Butterly, Liberals urge soft line on drugs, West Australian
• Ethan Nadelmen, Drug War Anniversary a Time for Reflection and Action , The Huffington Post
• Colombia may consider legalising drugs, The Australian
• Stephen McMahon, Amelia Harris, Liberal MP Bernie Finn wants death penalty for drug lords but victims say don't execute, Herald Sun
• James Valentine, It's no crime, we're just having a good time, The Australian
• Alex Wodak, Agony Over Ecstasy is Helping No One, The Age
• President Obama answering a question from Mackenzie Allen (LEAP)
• Adele Horin, Inject Reality Into Drugs Debate, Sydney Morning Herald
• Craig Fry, Drug Policy Stalls in Law-and-Order Gear, Sydney Morning Herald 
• Miranda Devine, It's No Time to Stop Weeding The Weed, Herald Sun
• Citizens Electoral Council of Australia, Soros escalates ‘war for dope’ down under, www.Scoop.co.nz
• Maia Szalavitz, Portugal's Drug Experience: New Study Confirms Decriminalization Was a Success, Time Healthland
• James Eyers, The Case for Dicriminalising Drugs, The Weekend Australian Financial Review (PDF, 141 Kb)
• Sting Calls For legalisation of Marijuana, Sydney Morning Herald
• After The War On Drugs: Blueprint For Regulation, Transform Drug Policy Foundation (PDF, 3 Mb)
• Caitlin Hughes, Alex Stevens, The Effects of Decriminalsation of Drug Use in Portugal, Beckley Foundation (PDF, 307 KB)
• Glenn Greenwald, Drug Decriminalisation in Portugal: Lessons For Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policy, CATO Institute (PDF, 4 Mb)
• Joanne Csete, From the Mountaintops: What the World Can Learn from Drug Policy Change in Switzerland, Open Society InstituteWayne Hall, What Would
• Evidence-Informed Drug Policies Look Like?, Addiction Editorial (PDF, 70 Kb)
• Evan Wood et al, The War on Drugs: A Devastating Public-Policy Disaster, The Lancet (PDF, 194 Kb)
• Harry Levine & Craig Reinarman, Trouble with Drink and Drugs: Why Prohibition and Criminalisation Matter, Addiction (PDF, 84 Kb)
• Craig Reinarman and Harry G. Levine, Crack in the Rearview Mirror: Deconstructing Drug War Mythology, Social Justice, (PDF, 234 Kb)
• Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation
• Drug Policy Alliance
• Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)
• Family & Friends for Drug Law Reform

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AIVL Policy Papers

• Harmonising Drug Control Laws with Public Health Approaches (PDF, 192)
• Enshrining a Human Rights Framework (PDF, 132 Kb)
• Social, Legal, Economic & Cultural Determinants of Health (PDF, 154 Kb)
• Impact of Stigma & Discrimination (PDF,  160 Kb)
• Impact of Illegality & Criminalisation (PDF, 158 Kb)

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Ethan Nadelman Related Media

• Ethan Nadelman Biography
• National Press Club Address - Ethan Nadelman (Video)
• ADLRF Media Release (PDF, 315 Kb)
• 7 PM Project  (Video)
• 7:30 Report (Transcript)
• Ten Morning News (Video)
• 702 ABC Sydney (Transcript, MP3)
• 2UE News Talk (MP3)
• Triple J Hack Program (MP3)
• 666 ABC Canberra (MP3)
• The Monthly (Video)

Transform Drug Policy Foundation Blog:High-Profile Australians Call for End to War on Drugs

Mark Aldiss has sent you a link to a blog:

Blog: Transform Drug Policy Foundation Blog
Post: High-Profile Australians Call for End to War on Drugs
Link: http://transform-drugs.blogspot.com/2012/04/high-profile-australians-call-for...

The chancellor has said he is "shocked" that some of the UK's richest people have organised their finances so that they pay virtually no income tax. - yeh right

10 April 2012 Last updated at 01:47

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9 days late m8

Millionaire tax avoiders 'shock' chancellor

George Osborne examined anonymous tax returns submitted to the Inland Revenue.

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• New plans to tackle tax avoidance
• Charities could lose big donors
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The chancellor has said he is "shocked" that some of the UK's richest people have organised their finances so that they pay virtually no income tax.

George Osborne told the Daily Telegraph the very wealthiest should be paying around a third of their income in tax.

He said he had seen "anonymised copies" of tax returns which showed him that some of the highest earners paid an income tax rate averaging at just 10%.

He said he would take "further action" but did not outline any new proposals.

HM Revenue and Customs provided the chancellor with the confidential tax returns submitted to the organisation by the UK's wealthiest people, the Telegraph reported.

Legal loopholes

He was not given the details of the individuals involved, but he said the returns he had seen had shown him the 20 biggest tax avoiders had legally reduced their income tax bills by a total of £145m in a year.

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“Start Quote

The general principle is that people should pay income tax and that includes people with the highest incomes”

He said: "I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs, and to be fair it's within the tax laws, so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don't think that's right."

"I'm talking about people right at the top. I'm talking about people with incomes of many millions of pounds a year.

"The general principle is that people should pay income tax and that includes people with the highest incomes," Mr Osborne added.

HMRC has found that some people use legal loopholes to reduce their bills.

These include writing off business losses, offsetting the cost of business mortgages and borrowing on buy-to-let properties against their income tax bills.

Other ploys include taking advantage of tax relief on charitable donations.

Charitable donations

During last month's Budget the chancellor revealed that, from 2013, there would be a £50,000 cap on tax relief.

Although this was criticised by charities who feared they would lose out, on Tuesday Mr Osborne said the government was still examining ways of encouraging philanthropy and charitable giving.

Last month, Mr Osborne said he would cut the 50p top rate of income tax to 45p from April 2013, therefore reducing the tax bills for those earning more than £150,000 a year.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said while many of Mr Osborne's own MPs congratulated him for the move, the cut proved to be less popular with voters.

This latest interview, our correspondent says, suggests the chancellor is trying to move the focus from his tax cut to the government's desire to tackle tax avoidance.

Mr Osborne defended the cut in the Telegraph, saying: "I've come up with a Budget that has reduced the 50p rate to 45p, so we don't have the highest income tax rate in the world.

"But I've also asked people who are currently paying zero to pay income tax."

More on This Story

Related Stories

• New plans to tackle tax avoidance 28 MARCH 2012, BUSINESS
• Charities could lose big donors 21 MARCH 2012, BUSINESS
• Corporation tax: Easy to avoid? 05 APRIL 2012, BUSINESS
• Budget 2012: What's in it for you? 21 MARCH 2012, BUSINESS

From other news sites

• Reuters UKPRESS DIGEST - British business - April 1048 mins ago

• MSN UKRich tax dodgers 'shocked' Osborne1 hr ago

• This is MoneyTreasury considers taxing state pensions at source in 'mark two granny tax'11 hrs ago

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• Daily Telegraph

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