The Londoner

The infanticidal maniac of Sandy Hook was merely conscripting grade-school extras for a hollow, hyper-narcissistic act of public suicide .   A man kneels in front of a makeshift memorial during a moment of silence at 9:30 a.m., Friday, Dec. 21, in Newtown, Conn . The chiming of bells reverberated throughout Newtown, commemorating one week since the crackle of gunfire in a schoolhouse killed 20 children and six adults in a massacre that has shaken the community and the nation. The 16th-century Coventry Carol, a mother's lament for her lost son, is the only song of the season about the other children of Christmas – the first-born of Bethlehem, slaughtered on Herod's orders after the Magi brought him the not-so-glad tidings that an infant of that city would grow up to be King of the Jews. As Matthew tells it, even in a story of miraculous birth, in t

What Is Wrong With British Economy ? By Sikander Hayat Well, the economic situation is pretty dire at the moment. Double dip recession & worst have visited UK with looming referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 makes matter even worse. If Scotland goes ahead & becomes an independent nation , that will take away a huge chunk of territory, prestige & oil reserves from UK . Jobs are pretty scarce where hard working people all around the country are trying to make ends meet with their limited resources. Times are hard but government is not coming up with any answers & it seems that nobody in the corridors of powers knows the answer to the troubles. Lack of demand in the economy is not being offset by the increasing exports resulting in decreased output & more people working part time waiting for the good times to come back. It seems that we need to find new markets for our products and these markets are not likely to be in Europe for next fe

Plan B Fails, Boehner Marches Toward Cliff People are using words like “meltdown” to describe the failure of the House of Representatives last night to pass “Plan B.” They’re doing that because House votes are traditionally a matter of pure formality, normally having all the suspense of a Politburo vote. John Boehner expected to squeeze 217 votes from his 241 Republican members because, once Boehner had decided on his course, they had no rational choice. It was vote with him or court pure chaos. Some number of his charges – at least a couple dozen – chose chaos. At the same time, the actual stakes of the vote were far from Earth-shaking. Let us consider the progression here. Boehner had been negotiating quite fruitfully with President Obama , and had brought the terms of the emerging agreement closer to where he started than Obama had started, with a deal-hungry Obama apparently ready to move even a bit farther. Then, almo

The Second Great Betrayal: Obama and Cameron Decide that Banks are above the Law One of the “tells” that reveals how embarrassed Lanny Breuer (head of the Criminal Division) and Eric Holder (AG) are by the disgraceful refusal to prosecute HSBC and its officers for their tens of thousands of felonies are the false and misleading statements made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) about the settlement.  The same pattern has been demonstrated by other writers in the case of the false and disingenuous statistics DOJ has trumpeted to attempt to disguise the abject failure of their efforts to prosecute the elite officers who directed the “epidemic” (FBI 2004) of mortgage fraud. HSBC was one of the largest originators of fraudulent mortgage loans through its acquisition of Household Finance . Three recent books by “insiders” have confirmed earlier articles revealing the decisive role that Treasury Secretary Geithner has played in opposing criminal prosecutions of the elite ban

A united Europe is not in America 's interest As Britain drifts away from the EU , like a man quietly sidling towards the exit during an embarrassingly disastrous play, the US has begun to express concern. The Telegraph reports: The Obama administration has expressed concern at what US officials see as Britain's slide towards the European exit door. Washington firmly believes that the departure of its strongest partner in Europe would also reduce American influence on the continent , as Britain so often shares American views. "It is important to state very clearly that a strong UK in a strong Europe is in America's national interest ," said a senior US administration official. "We recognise national states but see the EU as a force multiplier." Britain's free trade philosophy is regarded as vital in preventing the union from drifting towards protectionism, while since World War Two, successive British governments have be

Can The Last Taxpayer Leaving France Please Turn Out The Lights? The fiscal frenzy that has seized French socialists is not only grinding France ’s economy to a halt; it is also attacking the very foundations of French society by destroying entrepreneurship and responsibility. Taxes are raining down on French citizens , and the promised shelters often disappear before they have even been introduced.   The French government’ s 2013 finance bill has announced confiscatory tax rates on incomes and capital gains, and payroll taxes will be increased as well. But the socialists are shooting themselves in the foot, as such tax rates will destroy wealth and drive out entrepreneurs, capital, businesses, and young people . Thus, tax revenues will ultimately not rise but fall. The message could not be clearer: The number of requests by French citizens to leave France are suddenly up

It's Official: Taxpayers Will Lose Big on the GM Bailout President Obama inspects a Chevrelot Silverado during a visit to the DC Auto Show, Jan. 31, 2012 in Washington, D.C. Obama touted his bailout of General Motors and Chrysler three years ago. When the Treasury Department sold its last remaining shares in insurance giant AIG recently, it announced that it had earned a profit on the controversial bailout that began in 2008. That will not be the case for General Motors. Treasury has finalized a plan to sell its remaining stake in the nation's biggest automaker over the next 15 months, beginning with GM buying back 200 million shares from the Treasury by the end of this year. That will leave the government holding about 19 percent of GM's shares, which it plans to sell throughout 2013 and perhaps into 2014. The government's final exit from GM will mark the start of a new era for the carmaker, which