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In the UKs 2005 general election Labour won on 22% of the electorates votes. 39% of the electorate didn't vote at all.The number of asylum seekers applying to the UK is falling and remains at its second lowest level since 1997.The Kabbalah religion sells bottled water for nearly £4.00 a bottle that it says comes from "very pure springs and has been imbued with Ancient Kabbalistics Meditations". The water actually comes from a large bottling plant in Toronto, Canada. Maddona sent 10,000 bottles of Kabbalah water to tsunami victims in Asia. The Kabbalah Centre has status as a religious charity and non-profit organisation. In 2000 it had $14.5 million in assets and $5.5 million in revenue.
"Our aim has not been regime change, our aim has been the elimination of weapons of mass destruction." Tony Blair 25 March 2003."We know that this man has got weapons of mass destruction." Jack Straw 17 March 2003."On weapons of mass destruction, we know that the regime has them, we know that as the regime collapses we will be led to them." Tony Blair 8th April 2003. Since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime 1,400 weapons' experts and support staff Have not found any weapons of mass destruction.
The United Kingdom has teenage birth rates which are twice as high as in Germany, three times as high as in France and six times as high as in the Netherlands.In 1990, 72 million bottles of a popular mineral water were voluntarily recalled because of small traces of benzene. The smoke from one pack of unfiltered cigarettes has as much benzene as 169 bottles of the contaminated water.On average in the US tobacco kills about 390,000 people, alcohol kills about 80,000, cocaine kills about 2,200, heroin kills about 2,000, marijuana kills 0. It costs the US government about $450,000 to put one drug dealer in jail. In 2000 the Republican Party received over $79,000 in donations from the tobacco industry and $383,000 from the beer, wine and liquor industries. Average consumer borrowing via credit cards, motor and retail finance deals, overdrafts and unsecured personal loans has risen to £4,071 per average UK adult at the end of May 2005. This figure translates into a 10% increase on the previous year's levels and a 45% increase since 2000.There has been a significant rise in the number of under-30s declared bankrupt. The figures, provided by the Insolvency Service, showed that almost 15% of all those declared bankrupt in the 2003/4 tax year were aged 30 or younger. This was nearly twice as many people as in 2001/02.University students who graduate this year will have accumulated an average debt of £13,501 - a 12% increase on last year, according to research published today by Barclays. If this trend continues, those starting a three-year degree course this autumn are likely to leave college with debts of nearly £20,000, without taking into account the impact of higher top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year to be introduced next year.A quarter of those in debt are receiving treatment for stress, depression and anxiety from their GP."Debt is the slavery of the free" (Publilius Syrus, 42 BC).In 2000 Tony Blair opened Kings Academy in Middlesborough, one of a chain of schools owned and run by Sir Peter Vardy, a millionaire car dealer and evangelical Christian. Nigel McQuoid, principal at Kings and director of the Emmanuel Schools Foundation, which runs all Vardy's projects, says: "Clearly, schools are required to teach evolutionary theory ... Clearly, also, schools should teach the creation theory as literally depicted in Genesis. Ultimately, both creation and evolution are faith positions." Tony Blair says criticism of Vardy's schools is "overblown" and adds he is very impressed with their GCSE results and Ofsted reports.Blair and Vardy attended the same school. Vardy's younger brother was in the same class as Blair.Vardy received his knighthood from Tony Blair's government in 2001.Britons will waste a record one million working days this year stuck in traffic jams.Of cars on the road, 60% have one occupant. For commuting and business travel the rate rises to 84%. Bus services in Europe receive up to 70% of their running costs in public subsidy, compared with 32% in Britain. The UK's foreign-born immigrant population pays around £2.6 billion a year net in income taxes.
That is £800 million more than it costs to run the entire immigration and asylum system.
More than half of British workers say they have experienced symptoms of overwork and burn-out in the last six months. One third said they had suffered exhaustion, while 26% had lost sleep or been ill from worry about work. Almost half said the situation had worsened in the last five years.The UK is the only EU Member State where weekly working time has increased over the last decade. 1 in 8 (around 3 million) UK employees have been bullied at work in the last five years. Over half of those who have experienced bullying say it is commonplace in their organisation and a quarter say it has got worse in the last year.Osama Bin Laden never used the term Al-Qaeda prior to the 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks. The name Al-Qaeda entered the popular imagination only after US officials used it to describe those who attacked the African embassies in 1998.
They linked the term to Bin Laden after the American government decided to prosecute him in his absence and had to use anti-Mafia laws that required the existence of a named criminal organisation. The British government has spent £28 million stockpiling millions of smallpox vaccines. A 22-page 'how to survive a terror attack' pamphlet issued by the UK Home Office, is due to be delivered to 25 million homes at a cost of £8.3million.
Only 15 people worldwide have died of known terrorist use of chemical and biological weapons in the past 25 years. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which owns The Sun, News of the World, The Times, The New York Post, Fox News Channel, Star TV and BSKYB among others, paid £128 million in corporate taxes worldwide between 1994 and 1998.That amounts to 6% of Murdoch's profits for the same period.
At the time corporate tax rates in Australia, the USA and the UK were 36%, 35% and 30% respectively.Between 1986 and 1996 Murdoch paid no British taxes at all, despite recorded profits of almost £1billion in the UK.John Edwards is a TV psychic who claims to talk to the dead on behalf of the living. At the end of his show "Crossing Over" a disclaimer is briefly shown which includes the following: "The materials and opinions presented in this program by John Edwards and other third parties, including statements, predictions, documents, photos and video footage. are not meant or intended to be a form of advice, instruction, suggestion, counsel or factual statement in any way whatsoever and are intended as entertainment." Only one in five fathers is using the statutory paid paternity leave entitlement.Since 1964 the James Randi Educational Foundation has offered a cash prize to anyone able to prove "under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event." This prize now stands at $1 million dollars. No-one has ever claimed this prize and no-one has ever proved the existence of paranormal powers in anyone purporting to be a psychic or medium.In the UK, 18% of children go without two or more items that the majority of the population says are necessities, such as adequate clothing, toys, or three meals a day.
The UK has the worst rate of child poverty in the European Union A third of Europe's poorest children live in the UK Child poverty is three times higher than it was 20 years ago. The recording industry association of America (RIAA) wants to help artists "fight to preserve freedom of speech, copyright protection, and a positive environment in which to create and distribute music - on and off the Internet." In 2003 it filed lawsuits against 231 file sharers ranging from a 65-year-old grandmother to a 12-year-old child and has made millions of dollars in campaign contributions to those supporting their causes in the senate. Michael Greene, President and CEO of the Recording Academy, has said "This problem's not going to be solved in short order; it's going to require education, leadership from Washington, and true diligence to help our fans to embrace this life-or-death issue."
The RIAA website tells us: "The artist is often his or her own best advocate in the public policy arena. At RIAA we do all we can to make sure those voices are heard in the nation's capital and in state capitals across the country." A recent survey of over 2000 musicians by Pew Internet Research showed that 37% said free downloading has not really made a difference to their career, 35% said that it has helped and 8% said that it has both helped and hurt their career. Only 5% said that free downloading has hurt their career and 15% of the respondents answered "do not know". A study published in March 2004 by researchers at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina tracked music downloads over a 17 week period and compared that data to actual market performance of the same songs and albums. It found that even high levels of file swapping had an effect on sales statistically indistinguishable from zero.The official head of the Church is the pope.Pope John Paul II was pope from 1978-2005.
He believed homosexuality is "not morally acceptable"That gay marriages are "a new ideology of evil"That abortion is a "legal extermination" comparable to the attempted genocide of the Jews in world war II.He called divorce "evil" and thought Catholic lawyers should refuse to take such cases.He believed contraception was part of a "culture of death"There are around 1.1 billion Catholics worldwide."He was an inspiration..." Tony Blair, April 2005. Records of torture and abuse by the US army at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq included: enforced masturbation; rape; beatings; sodomizing with a broom handle; being kept naked for several days; being forced into sexually humiliating positions to be photographed and videoed; being threatened with a loaded pistol; and the death of one inmate. The official inquiry, led by Major General Antonio Tagubas, estimated that 60% of the prisoners at the site were "not a threat to society" and concluded that innocent civilians were often detained indefinitely.. Tagubas' investigation has resulted in only 8 convictions.Most of the convicted soldiers claim they were only obeying orders from higher ranks and were told they were doing "a good job". No higher ranking officials admit to knowing what was happening in Abu Ghraib despite such a public and elaborate program of abuse.3431 people died on the UK's roads in 2002.6.6% died on a motorway.32% within a 30mph zone.A driver doing 35mph is twice as likely to kill a pedestrian as a driver doing 30mph.Two thirds of drivers drive at 35mph in a 30mph zone.In the UK traffic is the second biggest killer of children aged 10-16 after cancer.It is estimated that the average US child sees more than 20,000 adverts every year, which is at least 55 adverts per day. More US children aged 9-11 know the slogan associated with the Budweiser frogs ("Bud-weis-er") than that for Smokey the Bear ("Only you can prevent forest fires" or "Don't play with matches") or Tony the Tiger ("They're Grrreat!")At three years of age, before they can read, one out of five American children is already making specific requests for brand-name products.At six months of age, the same age they are imitating simple sounds, babies in the US are forming mental images of corporate logos and mascots.Marion Nestle, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University, estimates that $13 billion a year is spent on marketing to American children by the food and drink industries alone. Food advertising makes up about half of all advertising aimed at children. Of the 97 official 'high-value' donors who gave the Labour party more than £5,000 in 1998-9, more than 30 have received a Government job. A significant number have received peerages, knighthoods or Task Force jobs.Labour's corporate sponsors include BskyB, McDonalds, Pfizer, Vauxhall and Tesco. 'Services in kind' are provided by KPMG, Lotus and Freeserve.New Labour is "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich". Peter Mandleson, labour party cabinet 1998-2001.In a recent MORI poll the public estimated that ethnic minorities comprised 22.5% of the total population. That is nearly three times the actual figure.In 2001-2 the police recorded 714,000 stop and searches. 12% of those stopped were black. Black people make up 1.8% of the population.In London compared with the previous year, the number of stop and searches rose by eight per cent for white people, 30 per cent for black people and 40 per cent for Asians. In the UK the proportion of children who are living in poverty has grown from 1 in 10 in 1979 to 1 in 3 in 1998.
43% of all women employees (4.7 million) earn less than £5 an hour.The top three billionaires world-wide have assets greater than the combined GNP of all the world's least developed countries and their 600 million people. The average European cow receives $2.20 a day from the taxpayer in subsidies and other aid.
2.8 billion people in developing countries around the world live on less than $2 a day.
At the end of the Iraq war, vast sums of money were made available to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to rebuild the country. $8.8 billion of that money has disappeared. A slush fund for $600 million has no paperwork to account for it. KPMG, an accounting firm, were sent in to audit CPA and "encountered resistance from staff regarding the submission of information.". Contracts worth billions were given to US firms without tender.The number of Iraqi civilians who met violent deaths in the two years after the US-led invasion was today put at 24,865 by an independent research team.
Neither the US nor the UK, the former occupying forces in Iraq, provide figures for the numbers of Iraqi civilian dead. "The counting of civilian dead looms ever more importantly for at least two reasons: military sources and their corporate mainstream media backers seek to portray the advent of precision guided weaponry as inflicting at most, minor, incidental civilian casualties when, in truth, such is is not the case." Professor Marc Herold, Ph.D., MBA., BSc., Whittemore School of Business & Economics."We don't do body counts." General Tommy Franks , US Central Command