Archive for NATO

Cold War Cardiff

Posted in Biographical, Politics with tags , on August 30, 2014 by telescoper

Here I am, back in Cardiff. Though given the roadblocks metal fences and hordes of armed police, you might be forgiven for thinking it was Berlin at the height of the Cold War.

All of beautiful Bute Park is fenced off, and there’s considerable disruption to the traffic through the city. All this will last over a month, and the NATO boondoggle isn’t even here. It actually takes place near Newport, twenty miles away. They’re just using Cardiff for two days..

Whoever made the decision to force this nonsense on the City should be held to account. There should be a full public inquiry into the gross abuse of power. And I hope the people of Cardiff remember this, and express their outrage at the Council when they vote at the next elections..

The photo, by the way, is at the bridge over the Taff at Cowbridge Road. Or is it Checkpoint Charlie?

 

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NATO Cardiff: is this what democracy looks like?

Posted in Politics with tags , , , , on August 29, 2014 by telescoper

I’m off to Cardiff this evening, and hope at some point over the weekend to take some pictures of the monstrous barrier described in this post by Keith Flett that has been put up all around town. One of the most important points about this month-long fiasco is that there was no consultation whatsoever with the people of Cardiff before the decision was taken to waste such a vast amount of money. No doubt that’s because if there had been a consultation the response would have been overwhelmingly negative. Who will be held to account? My guess is “nobody”…

kmflett's avatarKmflett's Blog

Nato Cardiff: is this what democracy looks like?
I live in North London and central Cardiff something that seems to surprise some of my social media followers but is explained by the nature of my job as a union officer and the fact that my partner happens to live in Cardiff…

Next week on 4/5th September there is a Nato Summit meeting, not in Cardiff but at the Celtic Manor hotel outside Newport on the M4.

I’m no fan of Nato. It contains the word ‘treaty’ in its name and history suggests that treaties are an excellent way of starting wars. In addition it appears to be run largely by people who have more than a passing similarity to Dr Strangelove. Of course its opponents are mostly unlovely as well.

Anyway if you are going to have a Nato summit and lots of, at the least, self styled statesmen [&…

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