starting this thread, which i hope will be short-lived, to keep the board up to date with latest reports gleaned from the net

my testosterones are very comfortable thank you fred!

I would not trust any of them. Look at Bahrain. The people in power will try to retain it at any cost, as for their population to them they are mere expendable pawns.

Or even prawns

the bahraini monarchy may not be the most enlightened, but it's certainly no worse than say the saudi bunch nor even that in dubai ..... though there was a facade of all sorts of alleged repression and/or discrimination against the shiites, i wonder how much the "cause" was subverted and fomented from outside (iran!) ..... many of the protesters also came in from saudi, and they will have now been well marked

just for general info, the airport re-opened for biz on saturday and ditto the causeway

this below causes me some consternation, as it implies land forces of some kind, even if only small contingents of SAS or similar ..... i was under the impression that neither the un mandate, nor more importantly, the arab world (AL) nor the "rebels" themselves wanted anything to do with outsider-soldiers on the ground

British Prime Minister David Cameron will seek lawmakers' support in London on Monday for military action in Libya, as ministers refused to rule out targeting Moamer Kadhafi himself.

Only way to get rid of Gadaffe once and for all. Who cares how it is done.

i do .....

as with iraq, having weighed up everything, i came to the very reluctant conclusion that if SH had womd that could be deployed within an hour, then there was no option - it was a lie of course .....

libya is somewhat different, and much as emotionally i would like to see MG disappear in a puff of smoke, on the info to hand, i would not go along with sending in troops

Agreed! Was also of opinion rebels wished to do it on their own and that's the way it should be!

amr mussa is a complete idiot! ...... within 24 hours he has turned a full 360 degrees ....

The Arab League got back behind international military strikes against Libya on Monday after comments by its leader had indicated divisions over the campaign against Moamer Kadhafi.

It is good to see that Cameron have got the economy into good enough state to wish to lead the West into another war.

What is the cost of the latest escapade so far?

What will the next cut backs to pay for this ill-conceived, ill-thought out escapade without a command structure?

(Bit like his cabinet.)

What will be the ongoing cost after 12 months, when the America may pull out.

What will be the cost of the grandstanding by Cameron and Osborne.

Where is the command system.

Is Cameron standing for post of overall commander.?

Was he trying to distract attention by his Libyan adventure or cock-up, from the failing economy he is continuing to create.

In that say the foresaw the impending Banks Crash, but at the same time wished for less legislation prior to the fiasco, why couldnt they foreseen the ME flare up and had a policy in place for it?

=====================

UK inflation rate rises to 4.4% in February
Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation - which includes mortgage interest payments - rose to 5.5% from 5.1% in January, the highest rate for 20 years.

The CPI measure has now been one percentage point or more above the 2% target for 15 months.

Government borrowing up, Income down.



Unemployment over 8%

Was it over 15% under Maggie. Suppose it has to go higher under Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum.

This PM should try walking water.


Preferably deep water.

I take it you're a fan then Fred :-)

it amuses me somewhat that so many on this board think this libyan operation is uk led and funded .... among other things, that is of course a total nonsense ..... further, and as all uk political parties concur, this is something we have to afford despite uk's own current financial problems

no doubt we shall soon get the loonies posting trying to equate libya with gaza, mugabe, bahrain, the amazonian indians et al

1836: Col Gaddafi's forces may have the advantage in firepower, but it seems a few new weapons are making their way into rebel hands. Rob Crilly of the Telegraph newspaper, who is in Benghazi, tweets: "some of the rebels have very new looking AK-47s today. Shiny and they are covering the muzzles to keep dust out

Maggie.

I am very disappointed in Cameron.

He has over reached my expectancy of him. 8-)

I thought, by his posturing, he and Osborne were leading the West into the Valley of the 500.

But, Cynic I am glad of your reassurance.

I hope somebody gives Osborne and Cameron an abacus before tomorrow.

The funding for the UK involvement in Libya comes out of a contingency fund for such emergencies and has little or no effect on our general finances.

And how is the Contingency Fund funded?

thank you haystack - exactly so .... peter, as you well know, it's an emergency fund aka a warchest that all gov'ts and many companies keep for just such occasions .... but imo., not relevant anyway for the reasons i gave previously

From the parliament web site

Waging war: Parliament's role and responsibility

"Supply for deployments may be obtained from within the ordinary defence appropriation or from the contingency fund in an emergency. Otherwise, it is an item in the Budget, sometimes subject to special funding arrangements."

.

you can have your view, but it must come as a great surprise to you that so many gov'ts and people including AL do not agree .... btw, i used "warchest" intentionally but clearly the subtle (might one say english?) humour behind that was beyond you, and yes, i most certainly mean in this instance that uk "had to afford" the stance and action taken - stance of words and no action would have been meaningless