Iraq, Oil, Iran.

Iran announced late last month that its foreign currency reserves would henceforth be held in euros rather than dollars.

Bankers remember, of course, what happened to the last Middle East oil producer, Iraq, to sell its oil in euros rather than dollars. A few months after Saddam Hussein trumpeted his decision, the Americans and British invaded Iraq.

Attractive Britain

A family has been paid £189,694 of public money to live in one of Britain's most expensive areas, according to figures that reveal the biggest recipients of housing benefit. The family have received the sum from the taxpayer in order to live in a seven-bedroom house in Oxford that has been rented since January 2004. Oxford City Council, which paid the £189,694 sum, was unavailable for comment.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show a family of seven in Camden, north London, have received £189,653 since August 2001 for a series of properties. They now live in a five-bedroomed house that costs £1,515 a week.
A claimant in Westminster has been paid £76,000 in 12 months while a family in Brent, north-west London, are paid £2,827 a week and have received £177,497 since they began claiming in 2004.
In total, the housing benefit system, which sees families paid by their local authority to cover all or part of their rent, costs £15 billion a year. More than 4.4m people receive housing benefit in Britain.
Last year it emerged a mother of seven, Afghan migrant Toorpakai Saindi, was receiving £170,000 a year in benefits to cover the cost of a seven-bedroomed rented home in west London. The local authority, Ealing Council, said the amount was high because of a rate set by the government.
Susie Squire, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “These figures are staggering and show an alarming amount of taxpayers’ money is being haemorrhaged year after year. In many cases the rent is so high a property could have been purchased outright with just a few years’ rent.”
Several councils, including Mid Sussex, Renfrewshire, Walsall and Harrogate have paid totals of £50,000-£80,000, although many of these cases are for claimants who require adapted properties and 24-hour care.
The figures came as actors Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow and director Ken Loach spoke out against cuts in support allowances for asylum seekers. Screenwriters, authors and actors, including Miriam Margoyles and Jason Issacs, are among the celebrities who have signed a letter of protest to the government from charity Refugee Action.
Refugee charities also condemned the move, calling the cuts "appalling" and calling for asylum seekers to be given the right to work. Telegraph.

Iraq, Afghanistan, MP's expenses, - the Paradox.

It is paradoxical that while claiming unjustified Parliamentary expenses for themselves, British Members of Parliament were voting for sending British soldiers to fight in foreign countries without proper equipment, having to buy their own safety gear.

Nuclear proliferation. Iran

"Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow," said Mr Obama, He added that Iran was endangering the global non-proliferation regime and threatening the stability and security of the world.

Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state, has long accused Iran of pursuing atomic weapons under the guise of a peaceful energy programme.

Britain, the US and France have insisted that Iran must allow visits to the nuclear site.

No one insists that Israel must allow visits to its nuclear sites. Israel shall be the only favoured nuclear State in the Middle East.

Afghanistan

Perhaps the American bombing of Afghan weddings and funerals has now been discontinued.

Housing shortage, - what housing shortage?

The BBC, and Local Government Councils, often say there is a chronic shortage of houses in the UK. - There is no shortage, - only a shortage of money in the pockets of those who would like to buy a house.
The BBC, Local Councils and Central Government politicians make the people poorer through taxation by overpaying themelves huge salaries, expenses and pensions.

Night Flying for HouseFlies

If flies do not fly in the dark - and some flies were flying around a lighted room, what would they do if the light was suddenly switched off, leaving the room in total darkness?
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