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Geldof's threat to quit Blair's Africa Commission

Geldof's threat to quit Blair's Africa Commission

The Live Aid campaigner was instrumental in persuading Mr Blair to set up the commission to examine the problems of the continent ahead of a crucial summit of the G8 at Gleneagles in Scotland, which the UK was chairing.
But official papers released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, show he was outraged when – after just one meeting – the commissioners were sent a document setting its 'emerging conclusions'.
In an angry letter to the commission's director of policy, the economist Sir Nick Stern, dated August 9 2004, he said it was impossible to have come to any conclusions it such a short period of time.
The former rock star warned that he was not prepared to serve on a body which was simply there to push 'pre-determined government policy'.
'To be clear, policy must be determined by the commission independently sitting and independently deliberating and concluding of its own volition. This distinction is vital. If I have got this wrong please inform me so I may tender my resignation,' he wrote.
'More broadly, the whole notion of emerging solutions is laughable. If the solution to the misery of Africa can be 'concluded' within a mere six week time span, it is a truly remarkable feat.
'How blind we must all have been these past years. The fact is that there are not and cannot as yet be any emerging conclusions.
'The commission will lose all credibility if it is not clearly seen to be an independent entity. If it seems to advance pre-determined government policy it will be correctly viewed as a laughable grotesque.'
Geldof went on to complain that the involvement of some of the commissioners – including some of those from Africa – appeared to have been 'minimal'.
'Is it not the secretariat's function, on behalf of the chair, to ensure that this is not the case? Or is this all some farcical political game played out at the expense of the wretchedly poor? If so, I ain't playing.'
Sir Nicholas wrote back hurriedly to assure him the that the document was not an attempt pre-empt the commission's findings, and that the input from British politicians had been 'comparatively minor'.
'Far from being an attempt to rush conclusions the paper is intended to to be a tool to help promote discussion and ensure a real interchange between commissioners at the second meeting in October,' he wrote.
'I would be very keen to sit down and discuss these questions with you; perhaps we could meet for a drink as soon as we are both around?'
Geldof's reply is not recorded in the files, but he was sufficiently placated to carry on.
After the Gleneagles summit the following year agreed to double aid to Africa and extend debt relief, he hailed it as 'mission accomplished'.
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Adams: It's a regret that end to armed campaign took decades to bring about
Adams: It's a regret that end to armed campaign took decades to bring about

Leader Live

time24 minutes ago

  • Leader Live

Adams: It's a regret that end to armed campaign took decades to bring about

The former Sinn Fein president also voiced regret that it took so long to come, suggesting the UK Government was focused on 'defeating republicanism'. He also said he regretted the number of lives lost during the Troubles as he reflected on the upcoming 20th anniversary of the IRA statement. The IRA formally ended its 35-year paramilitary campaign on July 28 2005 when former republican prisoner Seanna Walsh read a statement. While a number of ceasefires had been announced and collapsed since 1994, the 2005 statement saw the start of the decommissioning of weapons. The statement said that members had been instructed to use exclusively peaceful means, and not to engage in any other activities whatsoever. Mr Adams described the move as seismic, and an 'indication of confidence' by 'all the IRA' and not just its leadership. 'The statement came after there had been some sort of internal process, a huge vote of confidence in people,' he said. 'It took decades for it to be put together. 'You have to go back to Father Alec Reid, Father Des Wilson, myself, John Hume and the endeavour to put together an alternative to armed struggle. 'It took all that time to do that, but that's what the IRA said in its statement, that they believed there was now a peaceful way to pursue republican and democratic objectives, and ordered its volunteers to not be engaged in any other activity whatsoever, and authorised contact with the International Commission on Decommissioning. 'It took decades and one of my regrets is that it took so long. In my humble opinion it took so long because the two governments, particularly the British government, only sought peace on its terms, which meant defeat the IRA, it meant defeat republicanism and that doesn't work, our people are resolute.' He added: 'The proof of it is that 20 years later the IRA isn't a feature. Some may want to make it a feature, invent, fabricate and so on, but that's the proof of it.' Asked whether he felt the IRA should issue an apology for all the lives lost by their actions, Mr Adam pointed to a statement in 2002 on the anniversary of Bloody Friday, a series of bombs across Belfast which claimed nine lives. It included an offer of 'sincere apologies and condolences' to the families of all 'non combatants' killed or injured by IRA actions. 'I think in fairness that the record will show that the IRA leadership have apologised on a number of occasions about specific incidents or operations which it was involved in, particularly around the issue of civilian casualties or fatalities,' he said. 'One of the big regrets that I have is that so many people were killed, and particularly people who weren't involved and particularly children, that's a real concern. 'I say that from a community and a family which lost loved ones in the course of all of this.' However, Mr Adams added that while he thinks it is important to look back over the last 20 years, it is also important to look forward to the next 20 years and a referendum on a united Ireland. 'One thing we can say with certainty is there is going to be a referendum on the future, the Irish Government doesn't want it, the British Government doesn't want it, unionists don't want it but there is going to be the day when people will vote for the future,' he said. 'Our responsibility, and for everyone who is concerned about the future, need to be part of the conversation well in advance of that vote. Whether it is about public services, health services, the economy, flags, emblems, taking all of those issues and trying to find solutions to them that allows everyone to be comfortable in the new Ireland. 'You rarely get the opportunity to write the future, and we now have that opportunity and its contained in the Good Friday Agreement.' 'I do know that there will be a united Ireland so whether it happens the day after I die or a couple of years before then. 'It is not inevitable, the forces against it are quite strong but if we work at it. 'If we continue to do the sensible, intelligent things that we have been trying to do, then – although I would love to live in a united Ireland – it matters little to me whether it happens after I die or before it. To be able to say in my own heart to say, 'I played a part in bringing that about', that'll do me.' Mr Adams was speaking ahead of an Feile An Phobail arts event this weekend to mark the anniversary. He will take part in a discussion alongside Mr Walsh, chaired by Sinn Fein Galway TD Mairead Farrell, at the Balmoral Hotel in Belfast on Saturday.

Racing's D-day looms as proposed chief Lord Allen faces ‘sliding doors' moment
Racing's D-day looms as proposed chief Lord Allen faces ‘sliding doors' moment

The Guardian

time41 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Racing's D-day looms as proposed chief Lord Allen faces ‘sliding doors' moment

Around 80,000 people in Britain are employed in the horse racing industry. At least 1m adults are estimated to have a bet on the horses in any given month of the year. And it is a very fair bet that on the morning of 13 November last year, no more than one in every 1,000 of them had even heard of Lord Allen of Kensington CBE, who was about to be unveiled as the new chair of the British Horseracing Authority, the ruling body of Britain's second-biggest spectator sport. Lord Allen had, after all, had very little recorded contact with the sport of kings over the course of either a glittering business career in broadcasting, his time as a Labour party insider under Ed Milliband's leadership, or a dozen years in the House of Lords. 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Many of ARC's meetings, by contrast, are staged in front of empty stands to keep off-course betting turnover rolling. ARC's biggest asset is the ownership of its fixtures. It will need a cast-iron guarantee that Lord Allen's 'commercial' ambitions for a body that does not, of itself, have a great deal to sell, will not impinge on that situation. Whether or not Lord Allen's ambitious restructuring might actually come to pass or instead fade swiftly into obscurity may become apparent shortly after the BHA's board meets on Monday. Similar aspirations for a less factional future have come to nothing in the past, but this could be the moment when Gwyneth finally gets onto the train. 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Ascot 3.35 David O'Meara's Bopedro is in the form of his life at nine years of age and looks big at around 10-1 to register a first win since the summer of 2023.

British Embassy: "Georgian Dream has distanced itself from Euro-Atlantic cooperation"
British Embassy: "Georgian Dream has distanced itself from Euro-Atlantic cooperation"

JAMnews

timean hour ago

  • JAMnews

British Embassy: "Georgian Dream has distanced itself from Euro-Atlantic cooperation"

UK regrets Georgian Dream's actions The British Embassy in Georgia has published a statement on sanctions against 21 Russian military intelligence agents and four Russian organizations 'in response to Russia's hostile actions.' The statement also mentions a cyberattack carried out by Russian military intelligence against Georgia in 2019. The Embassy reaffirms its strong support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and expresses regret over the ruling Georgian Dream party's drift away from Euro-Atlantic cooperation. The text of the statement: 'In concert with the EU, NATO and a large coalition of states, the UK has called out Russia's irresponsible, destructive and destabilising hybrid activity targeting the UK, Ukraine, NATO allies and partners across the world. In response to Russia's persistent hostile activity, the UK has sanctioned 4 entities and 21 operatives of Russian military intelligence for irresponsible and destructive hybrid activity targeting the UK, Ukraine, and the wider world. This includes one of the units of the GRU – Russian military intelligence agency – which, in 2022, conducted online reconnaissance to help target missile strikes against Mariupol – including the strike that destroyed the Mariupol Theatre where hundreds of civilians, including children, were murdered. We have also sanctioned three leaders of Russia's 'Africa Initiative', a Foreign Information Manipulation and Influence (FIMI) outlet established and funded by Russia, employing Russian intelligence officers to conduct information operations in West Africa. Africa Initiative attempted to undermine lifesaving global health initiatives in the region by pushing baseless conspiracy theories to further the Kremlin's political agenda. The activity exposed is another demonstration of how hybrid activity – including through cyberspace and disinformation – are a tool in Russia's ongoing campaign to destabilise Europe, and in Russia's brutal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. In October 2019, Georgia was also the subject of a damaging cyber-attack by the Russian military intelligence. In February 2020, the UK Government and its partners exposed these cyber-attacks against Georgia as part of Russia's long-running campaign of hostile and destabilising activity. We have been clear that the GRU conducted these cyber-attacks in an attempt to undermine Georgia's sovereignty, to sow discord and disrupt the lives of ordinary Georgian people. The UK remains unwavering in its support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The UK and Georgia worked together to build cyber resilience and to publicly attribute that attack, unfortunately Georgian Dream has moved away from Euro-Atlantic co-operation, but the threat from Russia remains, including in the cyber sphere.' News in Georgia

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