Gilad Atzmon: What About A No Fly Zone for The Palestinians?


“Even the Israelis in Gaza, when they moved into the Gaza Strip, they moved in with tanks to fight such extremists. It’s the same thing here” Muammar Gaddafi (France 24)

In the last few days the UN have paved the way for a no-fly zone in Libya.

David Cameron and Barack Obama have also agreed to draw up “the full spectrum” of military responses to the crisis in Libya.

British PM David Cameron outlined his conversation with Obama, saying “We have got to prepare for what we might have to do if he [Gaddafi] goes on brutalising his own people…”

I find myself overwhelmed by Cameron’s humanist stand — it seems he really cares about the Libyan people.

And yet, I am left puzzled, for I have never observed Cameron, Obama or the UN being so touched in the same manner by the death of Palestinian civilians, who are also butchered on a daily basis by Israeli air raids. As it seems, in the quote above, Muammar Gaddafi performs far more integrity than Cameron, Obama and the UN. Gaddafi clearly manages to question the Western moralist agenda. If the UN is so enthusiastic to bomb Libya, shouldn’t it really start with Israel?

I would contend that for a moral interventional argument to be justifiable, it must be primarily grounded on moral integrity.

If America and Britain are, indeed, ‘morally driven’ why do they fail to protect the people of Palestine? Why do they allow Israeli airplanes decorated with Jewish symbols to drop bombs in Gaza? Is it because Israeli bombs are kosher somehow?

Read moreGilad Atzmon: What About A No Fly Zone for The Palestinians?

Senior HSBC Economist Karen Ward: Rising Food And Energy Prices Could Spark Riots In The UK

A SENIOR economist at the worldwide bank HSBC has warned of civil unrest in Britain if food prices continue to soar, Sky News reported yesterday.

Karen Ward cautioned that the UK was not immune to the kind of “food riots” seen in other countries around the world.

“Even in the developed world I think we have very, very low wage growth, so people aren’t getting more in their pay packet to compensate them for food and energy, and I think we could see social unrest certainly in parts of the developed world and the UK as well,” she told Sky News.

Read moreSenior HSBC Economist Karen Ward: Rising Food And Energy Prices Could Spark Riots In The UK

Libya: Rebel Fighters Being Coached By UK Military

British move comes as Tripoli says it has accepted a peace initiative put forward by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez


Rebel fighters in eastern Libya are to receive advice from British experts. Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Britain is to send experts able to give military advice into east Libya to make contact with opposition leaders, as the struggle for control escalates.

The move is a clear intervention on the ground to bolster the anti-Gaddafi uprising, learn more about its leadership, and see what logistical support it needs. Whitehall sources said the diplomatic taskforce would not give arms to the rebels, as there is an international arms embargo.

It came as Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, said that Tripoli had accepted a peace initiative put forward by Venezuela’s president Hugo Chávez, which was heavily criticised by the White House. Kaim said it stated that a committee would be formed by African, Asian and Latin American countries “to help the international dialogue and to help the restoration of peace and stability”.

Interpol issued a global alert against Muammar Gaddafi and 15 other Libyans, including his daughter and seven sons, in an effort to enforce sanctions.

Read moreLibya: Rebel Fighters Being Coached By UK Military

Libya: British Army Ready To Invade At 24 Hours’ Notice

British troops have been put on stand-by for deployment to Libya if the crisis in the country worsens.

Sources confirmed that The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, had been placed on heightened readiness, prepared to deploy to North Africa at 24 hours’ notice.

The 600-strong infantry unit returned from Afghanistan in late 2009 and is based at Fort George near Inverness. “They’re ready, just in case,” said a source.

The Ministry of Defence insisted that the battalion was prepared for humanitarian relief operations, not combat.

But the disclosure that British troops are on stand-by came amid growing concerns that Col Gaddafi’s struggle to retain power could take Libya into a protracted civil war and cause a humanitarian crisis.

Nato members yesterday agreed to draw up contingency plans for how their armed forces could intervene. Britain is also preparing to send diplomats and specialist advisers to the eastern city of Benghazi, where the disparate Libyan opposition is based.

Read moreLibya: British Army Ready To Invade At 24 Hours’ Notice

‘Jobs Improvement’ Under President Obama

We have heard much from the propaganda machine just how much better the jobs situation has gotten under president Obama three years into his term. We would like to interject with two very simple charts…

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Chart 1

Chart 2

Big Brother UK: One CCTV Camera For Every 32 People

Related info:

Big Brother Town Halls Squander £315 Million On CCTV

Big Brother UK: CCTV Cameras ‘Help Solve 6 Crimes a Day’

EU Tells Britain to Justify Fingerprinting Children in Schools Without Parental Consent

Big Brother Britain Has Grown Out of All Proportion


Research shows 1.85m machines across Britain, most of them indoors and privately operated


A familiar sight: a poster on a block of flats warning of CCTV surveillance. Photograph: Susan Swindells for the Guardian

The UK is being watched by a network of 1.85m CCTV cameras, the vast majority of which are run by private companies, according to the only large-scale audit of surveillance cameras ever conducted.

The study, which involved police community support officers (PCSOs) physically counting virtually every camera in Cheshire, provides the first reliable estimate of how saturated with CCTV the UK has become.

Details of the research come in the week that a government consultation document proposed a voluntary code of practice for public CCTV systems, but left private cameras largely unregulated.

It has taken more than two years for Cheshire PCSOs to interview the owners of every premises in the county. During the ongoing project they counted 12,333 cameras, according to an account of the research published in the magazine CCTV Image.

Read moreBig Brother UK: One CCTV Camera For Every 32 People

Libya: Russia, China Join France in Opposing Military Action Against Gaddafi – Arab States Warn Against Any Foreign Intervention


Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (right) with his British counterpart William Hague

Libya: Russia, China join France in opposing military action against Gaddafi (Telegraph):

Jiang Yu, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, said Beijing is “concerned” about the prospect about military action against Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, and expressed the hope that the violence in the country could instead be “resolved peacefully through dialogue.”

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, also ruled out the idea of establishing a no-fly zone, saying that the world should instead “concentrate on the full implementation” of sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council.

Read moreLibya: Russia, China Join France in Opposing Military Action Against Gaddafi – Arab States Warn Against Any Foreign Intervention

‘Fracking’ Result (= Contamination) For UK Shale Gas Will Be Kept Secret Until 2015

And here is what these criminals are hiding:

GASLAND Trailer 2010 (Documentary)


• Drilling method criticised for contaminating water sources
• MPs hear US energy firm must only disclose details in 2015


Gas drilling near Calgary. The first exploratory drilling for shale gas in the UK is about to begin near Blackpool. Photograph: Todd Korol/Reuters

The results of the first attempt to extract shale gas in the UK using a controversial technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, will be kept secret for four years, the Guardian has learned.

Cuadrilla Resources, a US private equity backed firm, told MPs at the energy and climate change committee that it will begin this month to pump 1,200 cubic metres of highly pressurised water mixed with chemicals and sand nearly 3,000 metres underground into an onshore shale gas reservoir near Blackpool.

The process is known as “fracking” because it fractures rock to release gas. Industry estimates reckon that more than a tenth of the country’s gas needs could be produced in this way by 2015. However, critics such as the Green party say that it is environmentally unsafe because the chemicals could contaminate aquifers used for drinking water and farming.

Read more‘Fracking’ Result (= Contamination) For UK Shale Gas Will Be Kept Secret Until 2015

Home Secretary Theresa May: Police Must Accept Pay Cut Or Lose Jobs

Thanks to the bankster bailouts the pound is finished and the UK is bankrupt …

On Mervyn King’s Apology That Central Banks Are Destroying The Middle Class’ Standard Of Living

Bank of England’s Mervyn King Warns Inflation Could Reach 5 Percent Within Months

… and the people will be footed with the bill.

Reminds me of …

Met Police officers to be ‘microchipped’ by top brass in Big Brother style tracking scheme:

There will not be any choice about wearing one.

… and that in turn reminds me of …

CASPIAN RELEASES MICROCHIP CANCER REPORT:

A new paper titled “Microchip-Induced Tumors in Laboratory Rodents and Dogs: A Review of the Literature 1990–2006” has been released today by CASPIAN. The full, 48-page paper provides a definitive review of the academic literature showing a causal link between implanted radio-frequency (RFID) microchip transponders and cancer in laboratory rodents and dogs. In addition, a brief, four-page synopsis of the full report is being made available.


Police officers must accept cuts to their pay packets to avoid losing thousands of frontline jobs, Home Secretary Theresa May said today.

Mrs May said she did not want to make savings for the sake of it, but ”extraordinary circumstances” mean the Government must reform terms and conditions to keep officers on the streets.

Her speech comes ahead of an independent review of police pay and conditions by former rail regulator Tom Winsor, which will be published on Tuesday.

Mrs May called for all forces to follow the example of the Metropolitan Police in getting officers to patrol alone rather than in pairs.

“By getting more officers to patrol alone – rather than in pairs – and by better matching resources to demand in neighbourhood policing, they are increasing officer availability to the public by 25 per cent,” she said.

Read moreHome Secretary Theresa May: Police Must Accept Pay Cut Or Lose Jobs

7/7 London Bombings: Morgue Prepared In Advance – No Post Mortems Had Been Performed On The Dead

It is quite startling to realise that a special room had been set up to receive the dead of the July 7th bombings in a temporary morgue built on army land, the contract for which (see [1] below) arrived on the contractor’s desk on July 6th, the day before the massacres.

All the bodies of the dead were taken and cryogenically stored here.

Not until the Inquest, five years later, did startled lawyers acting on behalf of the victim-families get to hear, that NO POST MORTEMS had been performed on the dead.

Let us repeat this astonishing statement, the better to realise our own astounded bafflement:

NO POST MORTEMS HAD BEEN PERFORMED ON THE DEAD.

Let’s listen to the bewildered comment from pathologist Dr. Awani Choudhary, one of the first doctors on the scene from the BMA at Tavistock Square, who testified to the Inquest about his attempts to save the life of Gladys Wundowa:

Read more7/7 London Bombings: Morgue Prepared In Advance – No Post Mortems Had Been Performed On The Dead

The Zionist Story (Full Documentary) – From The Perspective of An Ex-Israeli Soldier

YouTube has removed the video.

I hope I’ve found an adequate replacement.



YouTube

WARNING: This documentary will probably be flagged by the JIDF and removed by youtube. Please download asap.

The Zionist Story, an independent film by Ronen Berelovich, is the story of ethnic cleansing, colonialism and apartheid to produce a demographically Jewish State.

Ronen successfully combines archival footage with commentary from himself and others such as Ilan Pappe, Terry Boullata, Alan Hart and Jeff Halper.

“I have recently finished an independent documentary, The Zionist Story, in which I aim to present not just the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but also the core reason for it: the Zionist ideology, its goals (past and present) and its firm grip not only on Israeli society, but also, increasingly, on the perception of Middle East issues in Western democracies.

These concepts have already been demonstrated in the excellent ‘Occupation 101? documentary made by Abdallah Omeish and Sufyan Omeish, but in my documentary I approach the subject from the perspective of an Israeli, ex-reserve soldier and someone who has spent his entire life in the shadow of Zionism.

Read moreThe Zionist Story (Full Documentary) – From The Perspective of An Ex-Israeli Soldier

RBS Banksters Get £950 Million In Bonuses Despite £1.1 Billion Loss

• Loss an improvement on £3.6bn last year and £24bn in 2008
• Bailed-out bank increases part of revenue paid to bankers
• Unite ‘baffled’ by handsome rewards


RBS chief executive Stephen Hester’s £2.04m bonus was announced earlier this month as part of the Project Merlin deal. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

More than 100 bankers at Royal Bank of Scotland were paid more than £1m last year and total bonus payouts reached nearly £1bn – even though the bailed-out bank reported losses of £1.1bn for 2010.

The chairman, Sir Philip Hampton, said the number of millionaires was lower than a year ago and said a quarter of the group’s 18,700 investment bankers would not receive a bonus from the £950m payout pool agreed with UK Financial Investments, which controls the taxpayer’s 83% stake in the bank. Unions were baffled that any bankers were getting bonuses.

The 2010 figure is an improvement on the loss of £3.6bn a year ago and the record-breaking £24bn loss in 2008. Even so, the shares were down 3.6% to 45.7p as the losses were bigger than expected and profits in the investment bank fell to £3.4bn from £5.7bn a year ago.

Read moreRBS Banksters Get £950 Million In Bonuses Despite £1.1 Billion Loss

UK: Milk From Cloned Cows Given Green Light By Defra

Milk and meat from the offspring of cloned animals should be allowed to go on sale, according to a government minister.


Animal welfare campaigners said they were dismayed at the statement from Jim Paice Photo: REUTERS

The comments are the clearest sign that the Government will give the official green light to farmers and food companies who want to supply butchers and supermarkets with the controversial products.

However, animal welfare campaigners said they were “utterly dismayed” by the ministerial statement, saying it opened the door to widespread cloning, with consumers unable to tell whether they were eating meat originating a cloned animal or not.

The statement was made by Jim Paice, the food and farming minister, in response to a written question from Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative MP.

Read moreUK: Milk From Cloned Cows Given Green Light By Defra

NHS to Slash 50,000 Jobs, Including Doctors And Nurses

Your salaries were needed to bailout the banksters.

They got their bonuses and you will be laid of.


Union-funded website reveals big job losses across the NHS, despite coalition MPs’ election campaigns to save services


Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, talks to nurses in the maternity unit at Kingston Hospital. Last week, the hospital cut 500 jobs. Photograph: Katie Collins/PA

More than 50,000 jobs are disappearing from the NHS, according to freedom of information responses, which reveal for the first time the extent of cuts by local health trusts struggling to save £20bn from their budgets.

The survey, by the union-funded website False Economy, represents the most up-to-date picture of the effects of efficiency savings in the NHS and reveals that in England alone, 24,000 posts will be lost in hospitals, another 10,000 will go in primary care trusts and 6,000 will disappear from mental health trusts.

They include doctors, nurses and dentists as well as administrative positions, undermining government pledges to protect frontline services.

Read moreNHS to Slash 50,000 Jobs, Including Doctors And Nurses

Iceland Once Again Tells IMF, UK, Netherlands To ‘Go to Hell’; ‘Ice Torture’ Repayment Scheme Collapses

See also:

Iceland Summons US Envoy Over Demand For MP’s Twitter Account Details

Icelandic MP Fights US Government Demand For Her Twitter Account Details

Here is what happens if you didn’t bail out the banksters:

Iceland: Economy Exits Recession

If it would not be so cold and had less volcanic activity I would move to Iceland …

… or Greenland:

Why is Greenland so rich these days? It said goodbye to the EU!



Unlike in Ireland and Greece, there seem to be some smart and righteous politicians left in Iceland.

Hats off to Iceland for a second time for telling the IMF, the UK, and Netherlands to “Go to Hell” over the most recent Icesave proposal, better thought of as Ice Torture.

Please consider Iceland’s President Vetoes Icesave Deal

For the second time, Iceland’s president vetoed a bid by the island nation’s Parliament to repay the U.K. and the Netherlands more than $5 billion lost by depositors in Iceland’s epic 2008 banking collapse—sending the matter to a referendum by a deeply skeptical public and complicating the country’s application to join the European Union.

The dispute over Icesave—the online arm of a failed Iceland bank that took deposits from British and Dutch savers—has percolated for more than two years, reflecting the Icelandic people’s dissatisfaction with paying the price for what is almost universally regarded as the hubris of a few bankers.

Read moreIceland Once Again Tells IMF, UK, Netherlands To ‘Go to Hell’; ‘Ice Torture’ Repayment Scheme Collapses

UK: Wounded Soldiers to Be Forced Out of The Army

Commentary:

The UK and the US are treating their soldiers like shit.

I really hope that the soldiers are finally waking up to the fact that the real enemy is at home:

(Soldiers are) dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.
(as quoted in Woodward and Bernstein’s “The Final Days”, ch. 14)

– Henry Kissinger

Why you fight:

Jesse Ventura Conspiracy Theory: 911 Pentagon Attack (Full Episode)

Jesse Ventura Conspiracy Theory: 9/11

You are fighting unjust and illegal wars:

Secret Tony Blair and George Bush Iraq letters were kept out of official records – Details from Blair’s Iraq calls were deleted (Telegraph and Independent)

Tony Blair Summoned Back to Iraq Inquiry to be Quizzed Over New Evidence (Guardian)

Iraq inquiry: UK Government lied, ‘intentionally and substantially’ exaggerated WMD threat (Telegraph)

Tony Blair Was Warned By All 27 Senior Government Lawyers That Iraq War Was Illegal (Daily Express)

Tony Blair ‘knew Iraq did not have WMD before war started’ (Times)

US and UK knew that Iraq Didn’t Have WMDs

Dutch Inquiry: Iraq War Was Illegal, Had ‘No Basis In International Law’ (Guardian)

Your governments also destroy your health forever using DU:

America’s Legacy of Mutagenic War

You are just cannon fodder to the elitists.

Wake up!


Thousands of wounded soldiers could be forced out of the military on medical grounds after the Army’s head of personnel ordered commanders to face up to the “harsh reality” of an efficiency drive.


Ben Parkinson, 26, lost both his legs and suffered brain damage in a Taliban bomb blast in 2006 Photo: RII SCHROER

Documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph detail how the Ministry of Defence is attempting to accelerate the discharge of soldiers who are medically unfit, including the majority of those who have lost their limbs in bomb explosions and roadside ambushes.

The efficiency drive has been ordered because the Army has so many wounded on its books that able-bodied recruits are being turned away and its fighting strength is being diminished.

A total of 6,600 soldiers, more than 6 per cent of the army, have been classified as unfit for operational deployment.

The policy has angered some injured soldiers and their families. Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, 26, lost both his legs and suffered brain damage in a Taliban bomb blast in 2006.

Diane Dernie, his mother, said: “We are terrified for Ben’s future. He has literally put his body on the line for his country and now he faces being forced out. They must be able to find a desk job for him.”

Maj Gen Andrew Gregory, the director general of Army personnel, wrote in a briefing note that retaining injured soldiers was not always in the “best interest of either the individual or the Army”.

Read moreUK: Wounded Soldiers to Be Forced Out of The Army

Take That – Kidz: Police State at the Brit Awards 2011

Continuing with the trend established some years ago, police state imagery was definitely in full force during the Brit Awards 2011.


Police in riot gear bearing Take That‘s logo

Take That performed “Kidz” surrounded by police in riot gear who then unclothe themselves to become sexy men and women dancing around in underwear. As seen in the article The Transhumanist and Police State Agenda in Pop Music and Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro”: The Occult Meaning , there seems to be a constant effort to make sexy and trendy the concept of police oppression.

The lyrics of “Kidz” are also quite interesting:

Kings and Queens and Presidents
Ministers of Governments
Welcome to the future of your world

Through talking heads that took liberties
The monkeys learnt to build machines
They think they’ll get to heaven through the universe

They say nothing
Deny everything
And make counter accusations
My friends, my dear, my love, my God

There’ll be trouble when the kidz come out (come out)
There will be lots for them to talk about (about)
There’ll be trouble when the kidz come out
When the kidz come out, when the kidz come out
When the kidz come out

Read moreTake That – Kidz: Police State at the Brit Awards 2011

UK Government Orders Information Blackout On EU Farming Subsidies For The Royal Family

History:

The British Royals since 1714 are coming from the House of Hannover and the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Royals are ‘really’ Germans.

The royal family’s official name, or lack thereof, became a problem during World War I, when people began to mutter that Saxe-Coburg-Gotha sounded far too German. King George V and his family needed a new English-sounding name. After considering everything from Plantagenet to Tudor-Stuart to simply England, the king and his advisors chose the name Windsor.

See also:

The Royal Family To Be Granted Absolute Protection From Public Scrutiny (Here are some of the stories they didn’t want us to know.)

Queen Elizabeth cancels Christmas party in tough times!

Queen Tried to Use State Poverty Fund to Heat Buckingham Palace

And yes, the Royals really eat ONLY organic food (and some say young children).

The people of Europe are funding their organic garden with ‘royal’ subsidies.


Farming subsidies: Queen Elizabeth received more than £500,000 and the Prince of Wales more than £100,000 last year


Farming subsidy: Queen Elizabeth received more than £500,000 last year

Ministers have ordered an information blackout on the massive farming subsidies paid to the Queen, Prince Charles and dozens of other wealthy landowners.

Payouts, which in past years have amounted to £500,000 to the Queen and more than £100,000 to the Prince of Wales, will remain secret because publication has been deemed an invasion of privacy by the European Court of Justice.

Read moreUK Government Orders Information Blackout On EU Farming Subsidies For The Royal Family

UK: Ministers Approve Plan That Bypasses EU Herbal Medicines Directive

See also:

Hundreds of Herbal Medicine Products to be Outlawed Across EU in Early 2011

EU Legislation Puts An End To Herbal Medicine As We Know It

Medicinal Herbs Will Disappear in EU, Big Pharma Wins



The Government wants to ensure continuing access to unlicensed manufactured herbal medicines via a statutory register


Herbal and Chinese medicines that faced an EU ban are to stay on sale under plans to register UK practitioners for the first time.

The Government moved yesterday to protect consumers wanting herbal products that will disappear from many health food shops after April 30.

Mr Lansley has approved a plan for the Health Professions Council to establish a register of practitioners supplying unlicensed herbal medicines, who will be required to sign up by law.

But from May 1 consumers will be unable personally to buy many traditional herbal products under an EU directive passed in 2004, taking effect this year. Only those which have been licensed in a process costing £80,000 to £120,000 will remain on sale.

At least 50 herbs, including horny goat weed (so-called natural Viagra), hawthorn berry, used for angina pain, and wild yam will no longer be stocked in health food shops, says the British Herbal Medicine Association.

The EU directive demands that a traditional herbal medicinal product must be shown to have been in use for 30 years in the EU – or at 15 years in the EU and 15 years elsewhere – for it to be licensed.

Read moreUK: Ministers Approve Plan That Bypasses EU Herbal Medicines Directive

UK: Shock Rise In Unemployment – Inflation Hits 4 Percent, Double The Government’s Target

Inflation is a hidden tax on monetary assets. Be assured that any government is quite happy about it.

The BoE’s Mervyn King cites all kinds of reasons for the rise in inflation, except that he is mainly responsible for it, like all the other central banksters around the world, that have resorted to quantitative easing, also known as the nuclear option or printing money.

Yes, ‘The Mervy King’ ‘nuked’ the UK with quantitative easing:

Bank of England extends quantitative easing to £200 billion (Guardian)

Just exchange the Fed with the BoE and ‘THE BEN BERNANK’ with ‘THE MERVY KING’ and watch this:

Quantitative Easing Explained

Quantitative easing =  printing money = creating money out of thin air = increasing the money supply = inflation = hidden tax on monetary assets = theft!

At least ‘The Mervy King’ apologized for destroying the people:

On Mervyn King’s Apology That Central Banks Are Destroying The Middle Class’ Standard Of Living

Wake up Britain! NOW!

Mervyn King is a criminal and an elite puppet.




Another worthless fiat currency

Shock rise in unemployment as workers hit by wage cuts (Telegraph):

Workers have been hit by an unexpected rise in unemployment and effective pay cuts as they face inflation at a two-year high and a weak economy, official figures show today.

• Those out of work and claiming unemployment benefits rose by 2,400 in January, against forecasts of a fall.

• Wages have fallen to a five-month low

• Wider measure of joblessness also rose

• Women claimants rose, while men fell

• Youth unemployment hit a fresh record of 965,000

• Highest number of vacancies since three months to Jan 2009

Wages have fallen to a five-month low, the Office for National Statistics said. Average weekly earnings stood at just 1.8pc in December 2010, down from 2.1pc the month before. Workers were typically paid £456 a week in total in December.

Unemployment also rose by 44,000 in the three months to December 2010 to reach 2.49m, the figures revealed. The claimant count grew unexpectedly by 2,400 between December and January, to reach 1.46m, the ONS said.

Mervyn King on the defensive as inflation hits double the target (Telegraph):

Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, insisted prices are being driven higher by “temporary” forces as the official inflation rate surged to double the target, increasing pressure to raise interest rates.

Mervyn King repeated his warning that the government’s measure of how fast prices are rising, the consumer prices index (CPI), could hit 5pc “over the next few months”, after figures showed it climbed 4pc in the year to January.

Nontheless, the UK’s foremost central banker said the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) thinks that trying to bring inflation back to the 2pc target quickly risks “undesirable volatility in output”. A hit to growth could even see the target undershot in the future, he said.

Mr King continued to blame the over-target inflation on “temporary effects”, citing the increase in VAT to 20pc at the start of the month, the fall in the pound and soaring commodity prices.

Fastest Rise in Prices of Staple Foods in 5 Years

The prices of a range of basic foods surged at the start of the year, showing the biggest monthly rise in more than five years.

Bread, pasta, and packets and tins of food increased in cost by 2.7 per cent between December and January to reach an annual rate of 6.3 per cent, according to the British Retail Consortium.

Overall, the annual rate of food inflation jumped from 4 per cent to 4.6 per cent, despite claims of supermarkets to be waging a new year price war. This was the largest monthly increase in two years.

The BRC claims its supermarket members are protecting shoppers against the worst effects of global commodity price rises. However, the trade body warned of ‘severe pressure’ that is likely to bring even bigger increases in the months ahead.

Just last week, the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation said global food price rises were running at a record high.

Read moreFastest Rise in Prices of Staple Foods in 5 Years

BAE Secretly Paid More Than £1 Billion Via US Bank to Saudi Prince, Sanctioned By MoD

· Money moved via US bank
· £30m payments a quarter
· Sanctioned by MoD


Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

The arms company BAE secretly paid Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia more than £1bn in connection with Britain’s biggest ever weapons contract, it is alleged today.

A series of payments from the British firm was allegedly channelled through a US bank in Washington to an account controlled by one of the most colourful members of the Saudi ruling clan, who spent 20 years as their ambassador in the US.

It is claimed that payments of £30m were paid to Prince Bandar every quarter for at least 10 years.

It is alleged by insider legal sources that the money was paid to Prince Bandar with the knowledge and authorisation of Ministry of Defence officials under the Blair government and its predecessors. For more than 20 years, ministers have claimed they knew nothing of secret commissions, which were outlawed by Britain in 2002.

An inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into the transactions behind the £43bn Al-Yamamah arms deal, which was signed in 1985, is understood to have uncovered details of the payments to Prince Bandar.

Read moreBAE Secretly Paid More Than £1 Billion Via US Bank to Saudi Prince, Sanctioned By MoD

Recovery: UK Trade Deficit Hits Record £9.2 Billion in December

The deficit on goods rose to £9.2bn in December, from £8.5bn in November, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics


Dover docks in Kent. Britain’s trade deficit has hit a new record in December Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

Hopes of an export-led recovery in Britain’s fragile economy remain bleak, according to official figures which showed that the trade deficit hit a record high of £9.2bn in December.

Exporters delivered their best performance since 1977 over last year as a whole, with foreign sales of UK products expanding by 17%; but their efforts were swamped by a larger rise in imports, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The dismal trade figures were released as the business secretary, Vince Cable, delivered a white paper promising help to small and medium-sized companies to take advantage of the cheap pound and lucrative markets in India and China.

Read moreRecovery: UK Trade Deficit Hits Record £9.2 Billion in December