An innocent victim of political spite

Guardian photograph.

David Kelly, the scientist traumatised by being dragged into a political catfight by the Blair government’s spin doctors, has killed himself. Hugo Young, writing in the Guardian, says it all:

” The 45-minute detail was hyped by Tony Blair into the essence of the foulest charge against his sainted integrity, and therefore had to be squashed by every means. The smell that’s left behind is even more odious: that of a state – executive and parliament combined – willing to abandon all sense of proportion to score political points against its critics.”

This is the end of the road for some of us. I voted for Blair in 1997 because I thought the world needed to be shot of the corrupt, sleazy, exhausted Tory regime. Since then I’ve watched with dismay as the Blair regime metamorphosed into arrogant, pious control freaks at home and sychophantic bag carriers for the US abroad. Their treatment of Dr. Kelly means that I will never vote Labour again. Wonder how many others feel like this today? May this innocent victim of political hypocrisy rest in peace.

e-Government, Bush style

“Under a system deployed on the White House Web site for the first time last week, those who want to send a message to President Bush must now navigate as many as nine Web pages and fill out a detailed form that starts by asking whether the message sender supports White House policy or differs with it.

The White House says the new e-mail system, at www.whitehouse .gov/webmail, is an effort to be more responsive to the public and offer the administration “real time” access to citizen comments.

Completing a message to the president also requires choosing a subject from the provided list, then entering a full name, organization, address and e-mail address. Once the message is sent, the writer must wait for an automated response to the e-mail address listed, asking whether the addressee intended to send the message. The message is delivered to the White House only after the person using that e-mail address confirms it.” [More. (NYT)]