Indo-UK News & Discussions- June 2017

[g.sarkar]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/worl ... a-may.html
Brexit Deal in Crisis After 2 U.K. Cabinet Ministers Quit
By Stephen Castle, Nov. 15, 2018
LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain faced a deep political crisis on Thursday after two cabinet ministers quit her government, including Dominic Raab, her chief negotiator on withdrawal from the European Union — decisions that threaten to wreck not only her plans for the exit but also her leadership.
The surprise resignation of Mr. Raab on Thursday morning followed a tense, five-hour meeting of the cabinet the previous day, during which ministers reluctantly agreed to sign off on Mrs. May’s draft plans for departure from the European Union, a process commonly known as Brexit.
Mr. Raab’s departure was not only unexpected but also deeply damaging to Mrs. May’s authority, increasing the risk that she might face a leadership challenge from rebel lawmakers inside her own Conservative Party.
Shortly after his announcement, Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, resigned, adding to the turmoil.
....
The pound, an indicator of stability amid the Brexit debate, fell sharply on the news that Mr. Raab had resigned and dropped again when the pensions minister stepped down. The currency, which was worth close to $1.30 before Mr. Raab’s resignation, dipped as low as $1.2753 by midmorning and continued to have an unsteady day.
.....
Gautam

[ramana]

Only 3 cents drop.
How is that sharp drop?

[ramana]

BBC criticized for siding with libtards and passing shoddy personal opinion as study on India.

The BBC research on ‘fake news’ is shoddy, unethical, dishonest, and actually an example of fake news

The ridiculous sample size should be the first indicator that the BBC research is bogus. Everything else, from their selection bias, to terming others 'fake news purveyors' based on the inputs of fake news purveyors themselves, points to the fact that BBC had already made up its mind as to what the conclusion of the report must read.

https://www.opindia.com/2018/11/the-bbc ... fake-news/

Nationalism a driving force behind fake news in India, BBC research shows

I think this is itself best example of fake news.

[Haresh]

A race to save lives': calls for action after deaths of homeless Indians in UK
Charities press for Windrush-style taskforce to help those who want to return home

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... ihjmcX3k3s

Kawal Singh, who was 61 when he died in Redbridge in August. Photograph: Anja King
Stuck in a bureaucratic limbo that left him unable to return home to India but also unable to work or access services in Britain, Sodhi Singh spent more than a decade sleeping rough on the streets of London.

“They don’t want me in India and they don’t want me in the UK. I’d rather be dead than living on the streets,” he said, two weeks before he died in hospital this month after being found unconscious in the car park of Redbridge council’s offices in east London.

Singh, who was 50 and leaves behind a wife and daughter in the Punjab region, where he spent the first half of his life farming rice, sunflowers and potatoes, was the 10th homeless person to die in the borough over the past year. Six of the 10 were Indian men, including Singh’s friend Kawal Singh, 61, who was found dead in August on the steps of the same council offices.

With winter approaching, the disproportionate number of Indian men in the death toll has led local charity workers to call for a Windrush-style taskforce to be established to help those who want to return home. People who were trafficked illegally into Britain are now ageing or ailing after years of black-market labour and are unable to access services after being designated as having no recourse to public funds.

Without resources or papers to prove their identities and origins, they complain of hitting a wall with their own high commission in London when attempting to get a passport.

“There are others who I am really worried about. It’s really now a race to save their lives,” said Tahir Butt, a community engagement officer with the charity Serving Humanity, who had managed to arrange a meeting with the Home Office for Kawal Singh, but which came too late.

Five days after Sodhi Singh’s death, Redbridge coincidentally received a visit from the homelessness minister, Heather Wheeler, as she toured areas funded by the government’s new rough sleeping initiative.

Wheeler, who told the Guardian in March that she did not accept the suggestion that welfare changes and council cuts had contributed to a rise in rough sleepers, was pressed to take action to help those unable to access government support due to their immigration status.

Charity workers claimgovernment policies are exacerbating the plight of men such as the Singhs. “We’re funded by the government to try to solve this issue, which is really being hampered by what the Home Office is doing,” said James Tullett, the chief executive of Ramfel, an Ilford-based charity that supports vulnerable migrants.

“We will try to lodge some applications to secure long-term residency for some. The likelihood is that they won’t meet Home Office rules but we think there is a reasonable chance of winning on appeal. By that stage, however, too much time will have passed for people who desperately need help.

“There really also has been a hostile environment and so much has changed since I first started working in this field. We also have cases, for example, of an Indian man who has cancer but where one of the reasons given for not doing an operation was that he had nowhere to recover.”

For Tullett, the answer lies in the sort of taskforce that acted speedily to address the cases of those caught up in the Windrush scandal.

The Indian high commission said it had a range of initiatives designed to help Indians in distress overseas, and it would contact Redbridge council to help expedite cases of citizens who needed help.
Ilford in east London. Redbridge council said it was committed to ending homelessness in the town. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian
A memorandum of understanding with the UK committing India to a 70-day deadline to verify and confirm the identity of individuals alleged by Britain to be illegal migrants was due to have been signed during a visit by the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to the UK in April. The high commission said this was yet to be signed.

The leader of Redbridge council, Jas Athwal, said: “This is a crisis made in Whitehall. A decade of austerity and inaction on affordable housing has left too many vulnerable people facing homelessness. Through its policy on no recourse to public funds, the government is legally tying our hands.

“We are taking action where we can, but the government won’t allow us to provide the proper help those with NRPF [no recourse to public funds] need. We are wholeheartedly committed to ending street homelessness in Redbridge, in particular in Ilford, but we need ministers to start backing us.”

A government spokesperson said: “Every death of someone sleeping rough on our streets is one too many and we take this matter extremely seriously. Under our rough sleeping initiative, Redbridge has been allocated £1m over the next two years to ensure vulnerable people are supported into services and accommodation. This forms part of our plan, backed by £100m in funding, to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it by 2027.”

On the High Road in Redbridge, sleeping bags can be found piled under a bridge less than 30 metres from council offices. A few yards along the same street, homeless people sleep for safety near the police station – and in some cases during winter months inside its reception area.

Arguments are known to break out between groups but a spirit of solidarity prevails across a range of nationalities include Indians, Pakistanis, Poles, Russians and others. “We help each other as best as we can. When I first came here Kawal took me under his wing and looked after me,” said Mohammed, 50, a Pakistani man, whose eyes welled up at the memory of his friend.

One recent Home Office initiative still lingers in the memory of some. “They all saw Theresa May’s ‘go home or face arrest’ vans when they were driving around,” Butt said. “But even if they could go home, a lot of them just didn’t understand the message because they couldn’t speak English.”

[Suraj]

In the context of large industrialized developing countries like India who were looted in the past, 'aid' is nothing more than a negotiated transfer of wealth back to our shores, and any statements about aid should emphasize our interpretation of this .

[ArjunPandit]

Only 3 cents drop.
How is that sharp drop?

I am too wondering, esp for a currency that has see-sawed for last 3 years. May be madarssa math

[Snehashis]

Why the UN is investigating poverty in the United Kingdom

Presenting the initial results of his investigation at a press conference in London on Friday, Alston blamed cuts and reforms of state benefit payments and the closure of public facilities for the poverty of 14 million people.

His findings include:

- 14 million people - a fifth of the UK population - live in poverty

- Four million of these are more than 50% below the poverty line, and 1.5 million are destitute, unable to afford basic essentials

- Child poverty is predicted to rise 7% between 2015 and 2022

- Homelessness is up 60% since 2010

- A 49% real terms reduction in funding for local governments since 2010

“During my visit I have spoken with people who depend on foodbanks and charities for their next meal, who are sleeping on friends’ couches because they are homeless and don’t have a safe place for their children to sleep, who have sold sex for money or shelter, children who are growing up in poverty unsure of their future,” Alston said.

[Vips]

How much money did Britain take away from India? About $45 trillion in 173 years, says top economist.

British Raj siphoned out $45 trillion from India: Utsa Patnaik.

When renowned economist Utsa Patnaik began to sift through old tracts of British economic history in order to understand the nature of fiscal relations between London and colonial India, the fate of the Kohinoor wasn’t much in the news; Shashi Tharoor hadn’t yet spoken in favour of reparations at Oxford University—a speech which went viral; and not many books had been written about the thousands of Indian soldiers who fought under the British flag in the empire’s many wars overseas.

While the past few years have shed additional light on the colonial experience, there is much that we still do not know. For example, how much money was really taken out of India? In a collection of essays published recently by Columbia University Press, Patnaik attempts to make a comprehensive estimate. Over roughly 200 years, the East India Company and the British Raj siphoned out at least £9.2 trillion (or $44.6 trillion; since the exchange rate was $4.8 per pound sterling during much of the colonial period).

To put that sum in context, Britain’s 2018 GDP estimate—a measure of annual economic output—is about $3 trillion. In the colonial era, most of India’s sizeable foreign exchange earnings went straight to London—severely hampering the country’s ability to import machinery and technology in order to embark on a modernisation path similar to what Japan did in the 1870s. The scars of colonialism still remain, Patnaik says. And yet, in an India where historical slights are endlessly litigated and towns are arbitrarily renamed, an adequate accounting of the enduring burden of colonialism is perhaps yet to be undertaken. Excerpts from an interview:

In a recent paper, you suggest Britain drained out nearly $45 trillion of wealth from India. Could you put that quantum of money in perspective and what difference it would have made to the Indian economy?

Between 1765 and 1938, the drain amounted to £9.2 trillion (equal to $45 trillion), taking India’s export surplus earnings as the measure, and compounding it at a 5% rate of interest. Indians were never credited with their own gold and forex earnings. Instead, the local producers here were ‘paid’ the rupee equivalent out of the budget—something you’d never find in any independent country. The ‘drain’ varied between 26-36% of the central government budget. It would obviously have made an enormous difference if India’s huge international earnings had been retained within the country. India would have been far more developed, with much better health and social welfare indicators. There was virtually no increase in per capita income between 1900 and 1946, even though India registered the second largest export surplus earnings in the world for three decades before 1929.

Since all the earnings were taken by Britain, such stagnation is not surprising. Ordinary people died like flies owing to under-nutrition and disease. It is shocking that Indian expectation of life at birth was just 22 years in 1911. The most telling index, however, is food grain availability. Because the purchasing power of ordinary Indians was being squeezed by high taxes, the per capita annual consumption of food grains went down from 200kg in 1900 to 157kg on the eve of World War II, and further plummeted to 137kg by 1946. No country in the world today, not even the least developed, is anywhere near the position India was in 1946.

What was the system in place to orchestrate this drain of wealth? Why wasn’t there any large-scale local opposition to it?

All the colonising powers put in place tax collection systems. The very name for the district administrator was ‘Collector’. When the Company first got revenue collecting rights in Bengal in 1765, its employees went completely mad with avarice. R.C. Dutt, a civil service officer in the British Raj, documented that between 1765 and 1770, the Company trebled the tax revenue in Bengal, compared to the erstwhile Nawab’s regime. You know what that means for a peasant who is already quite poor? The Nawab was collecting sufficiently high taxes, so when the Company took over and forcibly trebled collections over five years, people were driven into starvation. There was a massive famine in Bengal in 1770. Out of a population of 30 million, the British themselves estimated that 10 million died.

From 1765 up to the takeover by the Crown, the Company was using a quarter to a third of net revenue collections to purchase export goods from the peasants. This was an abnormal use of taxes and the peasants themselves did not know they were getting diddled. If the same Company agent who collected the producer’s tax had at the same time bought his goods out of that tax, then the producer himself would have said: dal mein kuch to kala hai (something fishy is going on here). But the Company agent who bought produce out of the tax money was a different person and did so at a different time from the Company agent who collected the tax. So, the producers did not connect the two.

The market is an amazing thing: it obscures real relationships. A large part of the producer’s own tax payment simply got converted into export goods, so the Company got these goods completely free. The later mechanism after the Crown took over was a further development using bills of exchange. The only Indian beneficiaries of this clever, unfair system of linking trade with taxes were the intermediaries or dalals. Some of modern India’s well-known business houses made their early profits doing dalali for the British. Income tax on businesses and professionals was virtually non-existent until WWII.

What happened to the money that was drained out of India? What was it used for?

The modern capitalist world would not exist without colonialism and the drain. During Britain’s industrial transition, 1780 to 1820, the drain from Asia and the West Indies combined was about 6 percent of Britain’s GDP, nearly the same as its own savings rate. After the mid-19th century, Britain was running current account deficits with Continental Europe and North America, and at the same time, it was investing massively in these regions, which meant running capital account deficits too. The two deficits summed to large and rising balance of payments (BoP) deficits with these regions.

How was it possible for Britain to export so much capital—which went into building railways, roads and factories in the U.S. and continental Europe? Its BoP deficits with these regions were being settled by appropriating the financial gold and forex earned by the colonies, especially India. Every unusual expense like war was also put on the Indian budget, and whatever India was not able to meet through its annual exchange earnings was shown as its indebtedness, on which interest accumulated.

As under the Company, under the Crown too, a third of India’s budgetary revenues was not spent domestically but was set aside as ‘expenditure abroad’. The secretary of state (SoS) for India, based in London, invited foreign importers to deposit with him the payment (in gold and sterling) for their net imports from India, which disappeared into the SoS’s account in the Bank of England. Against these Indian earnings he issued bills, termed Council bills (CBs), to an equivalent rupee value—which was paid out of the budget, from the part called ‘expenditure abroad’. So, Britain had complete command over all the international purchasing power that Indian producers had earned. Even if a part of it had been credited to India, we could have imported modern technology and started industrializing long before Japan did under the Meiji restoration in the 1870s.

As an economist interested in history, what is your view on the idea of reparations? Should Britain return the large sums of money that you suggest it drained out of India?

Not only Britain, but the whole of today’s advanced capitalist world flourished on the drain from India and other colonies. Britain was too small to absorb the entire drain from colonial India. so it became the world’s largest capital exporter, which aided the industrial development of Continental Europe, the U.S., and even Russia. The infrastructure boom in these countries would not have been possible otherwise.

Colonial drain helped to create the modern capitalist world, from North America to Australia—all regions where European populations had settled. The advanced capitalist world should set aside a portion of its GDP for unqualified annual transfers to developing countries, especially to the poorest amongst them. Britain, in particular, morally owes reparations for the 3 million civilians who died in the Bengal famine because it was an engineered famine.

[anupmisra]

How much money did Britain take away from India? About $45 trillion in 173 years, says top economist.

British Raj siphoned out $45 trillion from India: Utsa Patnaik.

Indian sub-continent exported a million pakis to yUK. Karma is a she-dog.

[chetak]

How much money did Britain take away from India? About $45 trillion in 173 years, says top economist.

British Raj siphoned out $45 trillion from India: Utsa Patnaik.

Indian sub-continent exported a million pakis to yUK. Karma is a she-dog.

the brits should have some sharia and circumcisions coming up soon.

Aren't they already used to this during their "crusades" days??

OT

How come "marxist" historians and economists are always "renowned"??

[IndraD]

In Legal Battle To Save His London Home, Setback For Vijay Mallya

Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya on Wednesday faced a setback in his battle to save his posh London home from foreclosure by Swiss bank UBS after the UK High Court rejected many of the arguments relied on by his legal team.
The bank has sought repossession of the property at Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regent's Park in central London, over the non-payment of a 20.4-million pounds mortgage loan. The judicature has issued an order asking Vijay Mallya to pay a hefty amount of 88,000 Pounds to UBS Investment Bank.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/setback ... me-1951337

[Suraj]

WTO historical data
Appendices 2-4 list export and import data between 1870-1938 for India amongst major economies . As it shows, we report a consistent surplus year after year , but with zero growth in per capita income .

Between 1820-1947, population grew 0.5% pa and per capita income growth was effectively 0% across 130 years; it was ~$500 in 1820, and remained $500 in 1950 (all figures PPP) . By 1990 it rose to $2000 and currently its almost $8000, with a GDP of $10.5 trillion .

[Haresh]

Convicted paedophile Russell Bishop admits his 'shame' at attacking a seven-year-old girl but denies murdering two schoolgirls

He doesn't look Indian to me, I thought only brown folks did these sort of things!!!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... Woods.html

[g.sarkar]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 38924.html
The Brewing Storm
Chaos Erupts in London Over Brexit Deal
Some 874 days after the Brexit referendum, Theresa May has reached a deal with the European Union to prevent a hard exit from the bloc. But events of recent days make clear that months of drama in Brussels pales in comparison to the one unfolding in London now.
By Peter Müller and Jörg Schindler, November 16, 2018
The morning before the United Kingdom began its political endgame, Steve Baker ordered a "full English breakfast." The conservative EU-skeptic was in a fantastic mood this Tuesday, when he entered one of those upscale eateries a stone's throw from parliament where the powers that be in London like to meet.
....
It's still not even clear whether May's Brexit plans can withstand the scrutiny of the 27 remaining EU member states. They plan on convening to discuss the deal at the end of November. Nevertheless, the stage is set for a showdown the likes of which British politics has never seen before. It is impossible to predict who will remain standing once it is over. As nerve-wracking as the negotiations with Brussels might have been, the real drama is only now getting started.
More than once in the past weeks, negotiators have found themselves staring into the abyss. Four weeks ago, they met until shortly before 2 a.m., until they hit a wall. Over the course of several hours, British negotiator Oliver Robbins spent more time on the phone with London than he did speaking with EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier. Ultimately, it became clear that May didn't dare take the proposal to her cabinet.
The weekend, however, didn't end up being a total waste. It was during those talks that the idea began to crystallize of the United Kingdom -- following a two-year transition period in which almost nothing of the status quo would change -- remaining for a time embedded in the customs union with the EU. That temporary membership would endure until a free-trade agreement between the EU and its former member is signed.
The plan, for which May continued to fight internally, has the decisive advantage of preventing, for the time being, a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and thus a potential resurgence of the violence in the volatile region. But there are many signs that the Brits will have to tolerate a customs union with the EU for much longer.
In the key points that have been made public from the political declaration that is to accompany the exit agreement, the free-trade agreement and the customs partnership are specified as the starting points for a discussion about the future relationship. London would not have the right to unilaterally withdraw.
For the Brexit hardliners on the island, that would represent nothing short of "capitulation," as Brexit hardliner Bill Cash puts it. Unlike what the EU skeptics had promised their constituents, the UK wouldn't regain full control over its laws, borders or money for quite some time. Nor would Britain be able to establish any free-trade agreements with other countries for years. In truth, the deal destroys the last remaining illusions that a fast, clean divorce from the EU is possible.
Brussels Has Largely Prevailed Nevertheless, nobody in Brussels was of a mind to talk about winners and losers. Too great was the fear of weakening May in her upcoming fight for survival. When it comes to the content of the deal, though, it is clear that Brussels has largely prevailed. The result is 585 pages, including three additional protocols and a string of annexes -- long enough to hide the unpleasant realities. The provisions about the controversial special treatment of Northern Ireland in case the free-trade agreement is delayed are buried deep in the agreement, legally binding but not very visible.
.....
Gautam

[Avtar Singh]

Convicted paedophile Russell Bishop admits his 'shame' at attacking a seven-year-old girl but denies murdering two schoolgirls

He doesn't look Indian to me, I thought only brown folks did these sort of things!!!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... Woods.html

Abusing children;
Paks do it and then change religion ahead of police mug shots and trial

catholics do it maybe even more than paks

https://www.rt.com/shows/sophieco/44231 ... ic-church/

Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has once again been brought under the spotlight by inquiries in Europe and North America. What can be done about this problem? Colm O’Gorman, himself a survivor and fighter against sexual abuse, the man who sued the Vatican, shared his story.

[Suresh S]

Thank you Suraj for posting that graph. It is this knowledge of what was done to our country by britshit and muslims with the help of traitors within that makes my blood boil. We should never let this happen to us again.India was the largest economy in the world for close to 80 % of well recorded human history( last 2-3 thousand yrs). for a very short period from 16-18th century India was second and china was ahead of us .This is what needs to be taught to every Indian educated and otherwise.

[sanjaykumar]

India today launches rocket with 31 satellites – so why does UK send £100m EVERY YEAR?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/10 ... elhi-space

They still haven't figured it out. In 2035, I expect to see:

India today launches rocket with 31 passengers – so why does UK send £100m EVERY YEAR?

[sudarshan]

Mallya SPOOKED by Michel's extradition!!

Makes "Humble Request" to repay 100% of principal. Says he is being "unfairly labeled as a defaulter" .

Hope this is the right thread for this, if not, will move as necessary.

[Suraj]

"Sad" ? His tweets sound like he's been reading too many of POTUS's tweets.

The guy needs to realize it's not for him to sit around in his Hampshire mansion 'proposing things' anymore. He's already a defaulter. He seems to think the old rules apply, where court case after court case can drag on the matter for years and the borrower keeps his assets. Things have changed - the IBC law now puts the creditor in control right away, and the borrower gets offered one or more terms they're required to pick from.

[Aditya_V]

When I owe money to the Bank I deposit the Money, I dont Tweet public ally doing nothing.

[Karthik S]

India today launches rocket with 31 satellites – so why does UK send £100m EVERY YEAR?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/10 ... elhi-space

They still haven't figured it out. In 2035, I expect to see:

India today launches rocket with 31 passengers – so why does UK send £100m EVERY YEAR?

UK will be made up of which districts countries in 2035?

[Vips]

Mallya SPOOKED by Michel's extradition!!

Makes "Humble Request" to repay 100% of principal. Says he is being "unfairly labeled as a defaulter" .

Hope this is the right thread for this, if not, will move as necessary.

So he still wants GOI and its tax payers to forget interest due on the loans that he got by bribing the bank officials.

[Singha]

london court will give verdict on extradition case on Dec10.
maybe informal channels have told him the verdict will not be in his favour.

[Vips]

He can kill at least another year by appealing the verdict. Earlier there was also another appeal option at the EU level. Not sure if that recourse is open since the Brexit.

[Prem]

India today launches rocket with 31 satellites – so why does UK send £100m EVERY YEAR?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/10 ... elhi-space

They still haven't figured it out. In 2035, I expect to see:
UK will be made up of which districts countries in 2035?

United Kingdom of South Pakisatan and North Khalisatan with Capital in Birmingham .

[Yagnasri]

Things have changed - the IBC law now puts the creditor in control right away, and the borrower gets offered one or more terms they're required to pick from.

IBC does not apply to Mallya Personally and as far as Kingfisher Airlines Concerned there is hardly any assets for Banks to recover. It is more pressure of ED, CBI etc in this case.

[vinod]

Save Sabarimala event on 15/12/2018 1PM -3PM outside Parliament Square (near Abraham Lincoln statue)

[Suraj]

Things have changed - the IBC law now puts the creditor in control right away, and the borrower gets offered one or more terms they're required to pick from.

IBC does not apply to Mallya Personally and as far as Kingfisher Airlines Concerned there is hardly any assets for Banks to recover. It is more pressure of ED, CBI etc in this case.

That is for the creditors to decide. The ED and CBI are after him for charges of fraud, separate from IBC. Nothing applies to Mallya 'personally' anyway, since it's not a merely civil dispute involving an individual, but a corporate case.

[Yagnasri]

That is for the creditors to decide. The ED and CBI are after him for charges of fraud, separate from IBC. Nothing applies to Mallya 'personally' anyway, since it's not a mere civil dispute involving an individual, but a corporate case.

IBC does not apply to Vijay Mallya because IBC was not yet extended to Individuals. Mallya had given a personal guarantee to the lenders. So he is personally liable now. There is a DRT judgement personally against him from DRT Bangalore. Banks are proceeding against him there. Let us say I know about this matter.

[vimal]

India today launches rocket with 31 satellites – so why does UK send £100m EVERY YEAR?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/10 ... elhi-space

They still haven't figured it out. In 2035, I expect to see:

India today launches rocket with 31 passengers – so why does UK send £100m EVERY YEAR?

This comment in the linked article sums up the entire game very nicely. Next time you see an article like this you can paste this in the comments section.

There is a misconception that foreign aid actually goes to the 'recipient' country - most is probably just recycled back to the UK

You will find that most of that money actually goes to the Poverty Industry in the UK employing 'experts' and 'consultants' most of them British to deliver dubious aid with dubious benefits to the so called beneficiaries
- this country is awash with charities, most of whom have CEOs and CFOs
- when you see a charity with a corporate structure, you can be bloody sure that its primary focus is to keep that corporate structure going rather than 'eliminating poverty' etc etc

[Mollick.R]

Another Big Development

UK court orders Vijay Mallya's extradition

What next ??
Appeal to a higher court ???

[g.sarkar]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 40126.html
Isle of Madness
A Series of Miscalculations Has Brought Britain to the Brink
Brexit was to allow the United Kingdom to reclaim its former glory. Instead, the country's leaders have bumbled their way into catastrophe. Built on a false premise from the start, the UK's move away from the EU has been dominated by mistakes and miscalculations.
By Peter Müller and Jörg Schindler
On Saturday of last week, the sun was rising over London when a blue bus set off along the shore of the Thames. Lucy Swale and Matilda Allan were on board, one with red hair, the other brunette. They managed to get themselves out of bed at 5:45 a.m. and jog through half the city from Islington to catch the double-decker. The bus, they believed, would carry them into the future
"Dear MPs," its exterior read, "77 percent of us don't want Brexit -- signed, Young people." Lucy and Matilda will turn 18 in December. For their birthday, they want a vote. It would be their first.
And perhaps also the most important of their lives.
"We have to live with this the longest time," says Matilda. "But nobody asked us." She was 15 years old when a narrow majority of her compatriots voted to try their luck outside of the European Union. Several members of Matilda's family voted for Brexit. But "not everybody understood what they were voting for," she says. She claims that it is only now, two-and-a-half years later, that many people realize the degree to which they were misled, lied to and manipulated. She argues that not only her, but also the almost one-and-a-half million young people who have reached adulthood since the referendum, have earned the right to a new vote. And Matilda is certain what the result would be. "I am angry." That sentence can currently be heard, in different variations, across the United Kingdom. If there's anything uniting the generally indulgent Brits right now, it's anger.
For some it's anger at a political class that has made so many promises and kept so few of them. For others, it's anger at the nationalist tempters gambling away the country's future in a quest to reclaim past glory. There is anger at a government that no longer has the power to solve critical social problems. Anger that it's not over yet. And yes, also, self-directed anger.
On Sunday, the remaining 27 EU member states endorsed Theresa May's divorce agreement and a declaration for a future relationship, after thousands of hours of negotiating. Measured against the historic nature of the move, it represents no less than a diplomatic masterwork. In no small part because the Brexit proposed in that deal would be so soft that it would take years before people really started to notice the change.
But it would also mean that little has been gained -- at least for the UK. Its future will remain as murky as it was before given that no one can predict how things will progress. Any agreement with Brussels would only survive if a majority in the British House of Commons approves it. And nobody knows how that is going to happen. In London, a vicious battle has erupted in the shadow of Big Ben, which is covered in scaffolding, its bell currently indefinitely silenced. The frontlines snake across all parties to the point that they are barely discernable. New, absurd coalitions have emerged. Everyone claims to represent the only truthful position on Brexit.
Britain hasn't been united for a while now. Most Scots, Northern Irish and Londoners voted against Brexit, while a majority of Welsh and English are in favor of it. But all seem to know they will ultimately emerge from the situation in a weakened position. The rift runs through entire families. In some, people are no longer talking to each other and in others they are talking over one another. Politicians are getting hate mail and death threats. In Westminster, conservative and center-left pro-EU figures are suddenly allying themselves against conservative and left-wing euroskeptics. Rumors of the possible establishment of a new centrist party are making the rounds.
.....
Gautam

[Zynda]

For BIF forces, hampering any positives which may help NDA to retain power is more important than helping the nation & its pride...however smallways it may be.

NDTV idiots somehow got hold of Vijay Mallaya and have put up an article of that interview.

India Focused On Getting Me Than Recovering Money: Vijay Mallya To NDTV

Check out the last question by the stupid reporter/channel to VJ. Posting excerpts:

NDTV: The CBI drama in India unfolded just after the hearing in your case concluded. Would that be something you would refer to in your appeal?

COMMENT
Vijay Mallya: Please give me some information.

The question itself be innocuous...but why ask that question to VJ even if you think there is a very small chance of that angle helping his appeal and turing down extradition request to India?

Sure it is because, they are a little hurt that recent decision by the London court and they think it can be used by NDA to highlight it as one of the successes in its fight against corruption during election campaign.

[disha]

Some of rNDTV journos were part of a group taken to foreign jaunts (italy) by xtian white (agusta).

[anupmisra]

Britain Plundered $45 Trillion From India During 'Raj' Days: Columbia University Study

A study by well known economist Utsa Patnaik, has said that the British siphoned off $45 trillion from India during their rule in the country.

Patnaik's study called the 'Dispossession, Deprivation, and Development' published in the Columbia University in November has calculated that British stolen $45 trillion from India during the period 1765 to 1938.

Patnaik used four distinct economic periods in colonial India from 1765 to 1938 to calculate the stolen money. She calculated the amount of money extracted during each period and then compounded it to at about 5% percent middle of each period to the present. This added to $44.6 trillion. The figure does not include the debts that the British imposed on the country during the colonial rule.

She also said that India was never credited for precious resources like gold and forex earnings, all of which went to feed the English.

She also said that the Britishers took 26-36% of the Central government's budget to their home. Patnaik believes that if the earnings remained in India it could have significantly helped the country in its social reforms after Independence.

She also blamed the looting by the Raj to deaths of Indians owing to poor healthcare and lack of food supply. She said Indians died like 'flies' as the colonisers continued their plunder.

The per capita annual consumption of food, which was 200 kg in 1900, went down to 137kg during World War II in 1946, she said.

According to reports, the popular notion in Britain continues to be that Empire has helped the colonies. A study by the YouGov survey in 2014 has said that 50% of people in Britain believe that colonialism was beneficial to the ruled. Only 19% believe that the colonising period was something to be ashamed of.

Close to half of the youths (ages between 18-24) said they were proud of the Empire. This is still less when compared to what the senior citizens felt about their country's colonising period. Two-thirds of the people over 60 years felt than the Empire was something to be proud of.

The results said that 49% believed that colonies were better off due to the colonisers, whereas only 15% thought the nations were worse off.

The poll also said that a third of the Britishers (34%) would like their Britain have an Empire.

https://www.republicworld.com/world-new ... sity-study

[chetak]

Some of rNDTV journos were part of a group taken to foreign jaunts (italy) by xtian white (agusta).

mallaya has/had investments in the runditv group.

don't put anything beyond this entitled set of low lives all of whom think that the sun shines out of their.........

[souravB]

Found this gem today in Youtube.
Aptly somebody in the comments said

this is not a parody, it's a documentary

mods if this doesn't follow the thread guideline, please feel free to delete or ask me to delete it

[ArjunPandit]

Gatwick airport was shut because of drone sightings during peak xmas time
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46640033

Few thoughts on this. It seems like:
1. drone operator is a fan of die hard movies.
2. more than normal miscreant, may be testing drone or strategy, because of
a. the choice of airport, not heathrow, as having multiple runways would have allowed them to divert flights and if not a stronger response because
of its importance.
b. Timing just before xmas week but not exactly on say friday when the rush is much more
c. drone operators playing cat and mouse, resuming flights just when airport operations resumed at around 3.00 am. He had live feed or live info
coming, either through presence on ground or most likely through someone else on airport if its a humint. Elint could be from tapped airport coms
(must be very hard, but not impossible for state sponsored agents and risk exposing the entire operation too). Humint would be easy to disguise as
geniune passenger say flying to morrocco and texting his "wife" leaving now, flights boarding
3. What is amusing is that they couldnt bring any electronic warfare capabilities for the entire day, no ground or air jammers. I understand shooting would have been tough but not even an apache. Not that they are deployed closeby, but I am sure apaches could be brought in from far too. Even police was afraid of shooting for stray bullets.

[chetak]

Gatwick airport was shut because of drone sightings during peak xmas time
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46640033

Few thoughts on this. It seems like:
1. drone operator is a fan of die hard movies.
2. more than normal miscreant, may be testing drone or strategy, because of
a. the choice of airport, not heathrow, as having multiple runways would have allowed them to divert flights and if not a stronger response because
of its importance.
b. Timing just before xmas week but not exactly on say friday when the rush is much more
c. drone operators playing cat and mouse, resuming flights just when airport operations resumed at around 3.00 am. He had live feed or live info
coming, either through presence on ground or most likely through someone else on airport if its a humint. Elint could be from tapped airport coms
(must be very hard, but not impossible for state sponsored agents and risk exposing the entire operation too). Humint would be easy to disguise as
geniune passenger say flying to morrocco and texting his "wife" leaving now, flights boarding
3. What is amusing is that they couldnt bring any electronic warfare capabilities for the entire day, no ground or air jammers. I understand shooting would have been tough but not even an apache. Not that they are deployed closeby, but I am sure apaches could be brought in from far too. Even police was afraid of shooting for stray bullets.

All you needed was a few civilian light helicopters with a guy(s), maybe soldier(s) or law enforcement, armed with a shotgun(s) to blast the drone from close range.

All TV news cameras off to prevent live feed from alerting the drone operator.

Surely, gatwick would have plenty of light helicopters available at short notice not to mention shotguns in the local police armoury.

[ArjunPandit]

^^true, even that was not tried. Evening std later tried to mollify avg british by printing it next day that army capabilities have been brought in now and british is a leader in this field.