Wisdom of BBC's International Editor, Jeremy Bowen, pp 129 to 131

FAO Alex Ballinger MP and yourself please Stewart - I think, you both need to read the lessons learnt which Jeremy Bowen pinpoints in these pages, 129 to 131 (attached at the foot).  Lessons/wisdom, please, to pass on and up to our American friends so that we don't keep on repeating the same follies and idiocies of death and destruction decade after decade.

From 'The Making of the Modern Middle East' by Jeremy Bowen, pub 2022.  My own conclusions and interpretation, below from Jeremy's lifetime of observing and reporting the world scene as a highly respected top journalist.The tragic over-reaction to 9/11 in 2001 in attacking Afghanistan by America and its allies was partly to make Israel safer; it is our State in the heart of the Arab Middle East after all.  It led to twenty years of catastophe for Afghans which was brought to a climax in our even more catastrophic and incompetent withdrawal in 2021.

On page 130, Jeremy quotes the apt parallel of the lion raging and killing anything that moves in the forest when the hyena takes the lion's cub to explain America continuing to rage as a consequence of 9/11 - even to this day.

A most sobering but so wise quote is included on page 130

Totally ignored because America and its Wild West allies know that only protracted punishment and 70 x 7 revenge in war can ever properly deal with the Muslims who have spawned jihadist militants and Islamist extremists.  It was they who attacked the World Trade Center in 1993 and the Twin Towers in 2001.

Followed by our war on Iraq in 2003 to wipe out any chance of them having WMD to threaten Israel or the American led West.

History repeated, this time to help make Israel even safer, by American breaking off talks with Iran to attack them to wipe out any chance of them having WMD or long range ballistic missiles.  Jeremy's consequences of shaking the Middle East (p 129) continue to this day with our war on Iran since 28 February.

Now we have President Bush Jnr's axis of evil (p 130), minus North Korea, enduring punishing revenge with unstable/unsuitable Emperor Trump doling out the death and destruction on them and even poor but beautiful Lebanon, again in 2026.  All to wipe out our enemies for good, for ever, for eternity, to never see them stand again.

But why does it never seem to work?  Ah, Mr Weller, that's where you are so wrong.  It will this time.

Bibi gets the go ahead from the Bible

The tragedy of Jews v Arabs when they are all descended from Abram/Abraham

Here is the proof of the crucial part the Bible plays in reinforcing Israel's intention never to share the Land with any other tribe, faith or faction.  No Palestine, ever.  And, ideally, no Iran to threaten God's nation of Israel by its (Iran's) very existence - 1,074 miles away in a straight line.

I have read all of Bibi Netanyahu's 654 page magnificent tome and enjoyed it: 'Bibi: My Story' (pub 2022).  He believes that his ancestor Abram/Abraham, was given the land after he moved (1900 BCE) from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, or the Levant, at the Mediterranean end of the Fertile Crescent.  Bibi is convinced Abram got there first to claim the land in Canaan - "north, south, east and west, as far as you can see" - to be his and his descendants who would become a great nation, Israel and, "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."  (Genesis 12)  What a way for the Jews/Israelis to be a blessing to their neighbours - by slaughtering them!

Our great ally and friend Bibi, conveniently overlooks that the Bible says that there were other tribes in Canaan when he finally arrived.  The Jews' ancestors did not move into an empty land.  The Canaanites were one tribe already there - Genesis 12 v 6.  In the next verse, the Lord told Abram, "To your descendants I will give this land."  And it was and is always by coercion, force and violence, apart from the first, with Abram's family arrival about 1900 BCE - like today perhaps, as unwelcome immigrants.

For Bibi the Bible is historically correct, with no anachronisms or even areas of uncertainty, with the Jewish tribe alone as the legitimate claimant to the Levant/Canaan.  No acknowledgement that the OT might be the Hebrew Scriptures, written by them, to give their version of the facts.  Bibi has the support of the evangelicals who are equally convinced.  The Bible account is crucial in the current thinking and behaviour of Israel's leaders. They are on a mission.  They got there first, gained it by aggression for a second time in winning wars over the indigenous tribes, like the Canaanites, Moabites and Ammonites under Joshua, and were duly rewarded by their God in keeping it.  Until the Exile.

The  Bible is written by about forty Jews and Christians, of how Abraham's son Isaac and his descendants, from Jacob/Israel, have considered themselves as being blessed by the One and Only God who has chosen them to be His Chosen and honoured People and the only Rightful heirs to, and owners of, the Greater Promised Land.

The other son of Abraham is Ishmael who was actually the first born.  He was born out of wedlock to slave woman, Hagar and was cast out of the family along with his mother and, against the custom of the day.  Ishmael was also to become the father of a great nation - the Arabs.  "Jewish and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael to be the ancestor of Arabs.[26]" Wikipedia

No wonder divided humankind is unable to live in peace and harmony despite the promise to Israel to become a great nation and mediating blessings to other peoples.  Instead, constant resort to mutual recriminations and violence.

The Bible is crystal clear that it is the Jews/Israelis who alone must have the Promised Land of Canaan. Not the Arabs or Palestinians. Hence, our friend Bibi is so intransigent that his lot are the only Rightful Owners of the unHoly Land. He will forever fight and war over it - into eternity.  For the present, he lives in paranoiac fear that his country will be attacked and overrun by Iran with its ballistic missiles and, one day, nukes.  "It only takes one nuclear bomb to land on Israel for it to be all over", claim the Israelis to justify their forever war on Iran and its proxies.  No attempt at conciliation, friendship and the Good Samaritan approach!  They are far more comfortable living with fear of attacks and regular wars (lawn mowing) to control the upstart Arabs, than peace, harmony and goodwill among all their neighbours.

It is so tragic. But it goes to the heart of the human condition  - we can never share, equitably, the earth and its resources.  Forever wars.  Forever divided in hatred and fear.  There is unlikely to be a happy ending when the evangelicals are longing for Armageddon and the return of Christ to well and truly End everything.  They and Bibi/Trump are going the right way about it.            timweller1@gmail.com

(Sources: Bible; 'How Did We Get Here' on BBC Sounds; and 'The Lion Handbook to the Bible')

THE ONLY RESPONSE:

"Further to your email from this morning, it may be worth pointing out to the Evangelicals, that should there be a Second Coming, Christ would almost certainly condemn the actions of Israel & The USA. Their actions are a complete contradiction to the teachings of Christ. 

Such is the fervour of some of the confused & befuddled, they now believe that Trump is Christ's earthly messenger!! God help us."

Golden Gandhi

"Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and leader of the independence movement who pioneered nonviolent resistance (satyagraha or truth-force) against British rule. His campaigns, including the Champaran and Kheda Satyagrahas, the Salt March, and Quit India, mobilized millions. Advocating truth, nonviolence, and self-reliance, he inspired global civil rights movements before his assassination in 1948."

Another right wing nationalist killed Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, just as Gavrilo Princip was also right wing in June 1914 shooting dead the heir to the throne of the Austria-Hungary Empire.

Three right wing nationalists murdering internationally renowned leaders.  Are left wing types like me, just as bad?!

Jeremy brilliant Bowen at it again

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002sf4x

Available for 29  days.

BBC 'Today' on 11 March, Radio 4

Lead in from 2:10:28 by Justin Webb.

Bowen starts at 2:11:14 looking at the lessons of the past.

Wise counsel; prescient; the arrogant folly of the Judeo-Christian antics around the world for centuries and accelerated over the last 100 years of our warfare to bring international peace and harmony but, never quite attained.  One last push of violent disorder will surely do it! 

from Greenpeace

Not only has our gas reliance left Britain with some of the highest electricity prices in Europe, it’s also fuelling rising temperatures, floods, fires, storms and droughts caused by climate breakdown. [2] 

 

But it doesn’t have to be like this. Homegrown, renewable energy like wind and solar is actually cheaper than gas. And they rely on the sun and wind, rather than imported fuels affected by wars, supply crunches and political shocks abroad.

Gary Sheffield: 'A Short History of the First World War'

Every war has been a disaster and led to bitterness, revenge and more war. And to the killing of people like me who understand the immorality and pointlessness of it all.

The First World War is a good example of futility and of the most unfortunate consequences. "It sowed the seeds of fascism in Italy and Germany."  Again, "It killed millions and brought the world, albeit not directly, to an even greater conflagration."

Gary Sheffield:  'A Short History of the First World War'

War is a human catastrophe but is still so popular.  The First WW was like what is said of foxes.  'They get a scent of blood and go on a killing spree.'  For humans this is so true: 1914 to the present.  The First WW was 'The War that Ended the Peace', the title of a Margaret Macmillan history book.  No peace, courtesy of the Judeo-Christian nations, ever since.  Shameful.

Britain's disastrous involvement in Iran - from 'The Making of the Modern Middle East' by Jeremy brilliant Bowen

Extracts from chapter 10, 'In the Name of God'

Many Iranians are suspicious of the intentions of foreign governments.  At the top of the list are America, Israel and Britain.

The UK's long history of meddling in Iran's affairs.

Iranians learn about British imperialism at school.  Iran's dysfunctional relationship with the Western world is rooted in the interventions of Britain and America.  As always with powerful nations, their actions were designed to protect and promote their own interests.

Britain took control of the waters of the Gulf between Arabia and Iran in the 1820s to stop pirates attacking shipping on the route to India.  The discovery of oil in southern Iran in 1908 changed everything, putting the Middle East front and centre in the minds of the leaders of the great powers, where it has stayed ever since. ... oil was a strategic resource as important as steel or coal had been in the 19th century, much too precious to be left to the people who lived on top of it.

Churchill regarded Britain's near monopoly of Iranian oil as one of his greatest achievements.  The deal D'arcy had made in 1901 netted him another fortune as well as providing bundles of money for Britain's exchequer and cheap oil for the Royal Navy.  It was a disaster for Iran, and not just financially; Britain's outsize influence distorted Iranian politics for decades.

The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, paid more in taxes to the UK government than it paid in royalties to Iran. ... Iranians were not trusted to do the company's big jobs. ... Senior Europeans lived in re-creations of English suburbia on the coasts of the Gulf ... while workers had terraced houses with high walls and tiny courtyards.  The worst place was a shanty town known as 'Paper City' (officially Abadan) which was without electricity or running water and was a haven for rats.

The Iranian oil industry created Iran's first industrial working class.  In the winter of 1978-79, Abadan was one of the cities that rose against the Shah.

In 1941, the British and Soviets invaded and removed Reza Shah - they suspected he was a Nazi sympathiser - replacing him with his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.  The young shah was not invited to the dinner or the conference.

Britain's domination of Iranian oil was an obvious target for Iranians fed up with meddling foreigners making fortunes at their expense ... Losing control of Iranian oil would kick away another leg of Britain's rickety pretensions to world power.

Despite their fierce disagreements, the importance of breaking the hold of Britain on their country's oil industry and natural resources was something they could all understand.

By the time the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company offered to split the profits with the Tehran government, it was too late.  In 1951 the company was nationalised.  Two years of crisis followed as the British fought to regain some kind of control.  They deployed the Royal Navy to blockade Iran's oil exports.  As the economy shrank, Mossadeq's enemies gathered.

By 1953, the British and the Americans decided that the time had come to end Iran's democratic experiment.  The CIA and MI6 plotted a coup to restore the status quo in Iran.

Once Mossadeq was ousted, the Shah returned and imposed arbitrary and increasingly authoritarian rule, setting Iran down a path that led to revolution in 1979.  Iranians and critics of the US and its allies point to the 1953 coup as the epitome of mid-century imperialism.

The removal of Mossadeq had consequences that were still felt several years on.  Opponents of the Islamic Republic believe the coup snuffed out Iran's chance to develop a democracy.  The wound in the Iranian psyche caused by foreign meddling was deepened by the memory of the United States removing Mossadeq in league with the fading British imperialists.

The Shah was an autocrat at the head of a vicious police state that allowed no political freedom.  The secret police was notorious for brutality, arbitrary arrests and the disappearance of the regime's opponents.

Genuine, pure religion includes resisting coercion, force, violence, war

"PRAYER, PRAY, ACT today and every day - for our leaders to have sound minds, to uphold international law and to resist war, to renounce all illegal actions and, in particular, to stop the killings of non combatants.  Instead, to try diplomacy, conciliation, empathy from understanding the other side's point of view, with friendship and following the Good Samaritan and Sermon on the Mount teaching (Matthew 5,6,7).  I've just re-read the 3 chapters to make quite sure!"

Unsound minds and wrong thinking are drivers of conflict:

The BBC 'Sunday' programme, this morning, had a Melbourne's Deakin University Muslim research fellow saying - and this is my summary - that an Iranian Shia fatwa ("about twenty years ago") had been in place for Iran not to build more than 2,000 Km long range ballistic missiles and a nuclear bomb.  The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had complied.  If Iran had had a nuclear bomb, they would not have been attacked twice in a short time by Israel/USA.  Like N Korea has not been attacked because of its nuclear programme.  This second attack by the West (USA/Israel) in a short time is taking Iran to civil war.  It is clear that Washington has misunderstood the Islamic Republic of Iran.    LISTEN on BBC Sounds to 'Sunday' on 8 March 2026, from 07:20:14 (hrs:mins:secs) to check that I have it right.

"North Korea is the tenth country to develop and most recently to openly test nuclear weapons."  Wikipedia

"Ignorance can be bliss"

Letter to the Times:

Why does Professor Richard Dawkins begrudge us our delusions?  Knowledge is not necessarily a solution.

If I believe that my husband adores me, whereas in fact, he regards me as a part of the furniture, who benefits by having this explained to me?

There is universal benefit in a simple thought that there is a last resort to which one appeals when desperate.  Millions do this and have this need.

Mary G Evans, Devon

Jude Weller-Redfern wrote: "An interesting view on the belief in God.  Pragmatism par excellence!"

Britannica on Western Judeo-Christian world's violent and criminal behaviour on Iran

from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Reza-Shah-Pahlavi

"After centuries of misrule by its former rulers and the ravages of the war waged by foreign belligerents on its soil from 1914 to 1919, Iran in 1921 was prostrate, ruined, and on the verge of disintegration.

"The cabinet was weak and corrupt. Patriotic and nationalist elements had long been outraged at the domination of Iran by foreign powers, especially Great Britain and Russia, both of which had strong commercial and strategic interest in the country.

In 1928 he put an end to the one-sided agreements and treaties with foreign powers, abolishing all special privileges. He built the Trans-Iranian Railway and started branch lines toward the principal cities (1927–38). He emancipated women and required them to discard their veils (1935). He took control of the country’s finances and communications, which up to then had been virtually in foreign hands. He built roads, schools, and hospitals and opened the first university (1934). His measures were directed at the same time toward the democratization of the country and its emancipation from foreign interference.

His foreign policy, which had consisted essentially of playing the Soviet Union off against Great Britain, failed when those two powers joined in 1941 to fight the Germans. To supply the Soviet forces with war material through Iran, the two allies jointly occupied the country in August 1941.

Iranian Revolution, popular uprising in Iran in 1978–79 that resulted in the toppling of the monarchy on February 11, 1979, and led to the establishment of an Islamic republic. It involved the participation of a wide range of Iranians—from the secular left to the religious right—who sought an end to the shah’s autocracy and Western interference in the country’s policies.

-------------------------------------------------------------

from https://www.britannica.com/topic/US-Iran-Relations-A-Timeline

To say that the relationship between the governments of the United States and Iran has been volatile over the last 80 years is to master the art of understatement.

The U.S. installed and propped up a highly unpopular leader, endured the trauma of having citizens held hostage by the government that ousted him, surreptitiously sold arms to that same government less than a decade later, and branded Iran as part of an “axis of evil” before trying to solidify a global deal for nuclear restriction. Then, in 2026, Pres. Donald Trump ordered attacks on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

The dizzying nature of these events can leave anyone wondering, “How did we get here?” Here’s a look at how a once-promising international relationship devolved into one defined by searing images, hostile rhetoric, and bloodshed.

The coup, backed by the CIA and British intelligence, overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, August 1953.

1950s–1970s: Largely unfettered U.S. support

1979: Revolution comes to Iran

1979–1981: The Iran hostage crisis

1980–1988: Iran-Iraq War

1983: Beirut barracks bombings

1985–1987: Iran-Contra Affair

1990s: Economic sanctions

1998–2001: A thaw in relations

2002: “Axis of evil” speech

2013–2018: The Iran nuclear deal that was, until it wasn’t

2020: Killing of Soleimani

2022: Woman, Life, Freedom protests

2025: U.S. and Israel strike Iranian nuclear sites

2026: U.S. and Israel attack Iran, kill supreme leader

Sat 8 August 2026 at Himley Plantation car park

Thanks, Dave for telling me.  Great to meet you.  Even greater if you would like to come and join the bike ride at 10 am on Sat 8 August at Himley Plantation car park - but no pressure!  I will post something on Strava and Facebook.

Remember, the Black Country Cycle/Walk Active Travel Route is the UK's top cycle-walkway for

• its length - 20 Km
• its location
• its convenience for W Mids 2.8 pop
• the major urban-rural-urban commuter, business, leisure route - longer than Bath to Bristol.

This route and the Netherton Tunnel towpath upgrading is all part of Chris Barnett's circular 40 Km route in the Black Country.  But it must be made more popular from being able to be used!  Like, the 96 m Edgbaston Tunnel towpath, which is now wonderful!

Ditch the car and the mud and the flooded potholes in the Netherton tunnel!

Dear Stuart

You and your team would be so welcome to attend, for the first time (!), please, our annual walk or cycle the UK's most important and longest, urban-rural-urban cycle-walkway in the heart of England.

Do put it in your diary, for 10 am on Sat 8 Aug at Himley Plantation car park to cycle north to stop at every tea room or coffee shop on the route - if you wish!  And turn back when you wish.  To highlight the disgraceful state of the mudway in Dudley's section, only.  Brilliant in S Staffs and OK in Wolverhampton.  Dreadful and dud and deadly - and for mudlarks only in Dudley Borough.

OBJECTIVE - to ditch the car and ditch the Dudley mud on their section of the 20 Kms business, commuter and leisure active travel route.

With your important and powerful post as Director of Black Country Transport, are you able to influence the upgrading of the Netherton Canal Tunnel towpath from slum disgrace to something we can actually use - PLEASE?  Remember, cycle commuters as I was for years up to retirement, would like to use it to get to work.

Best wishes

The tragedy of Jews v Arabs when they are all descended from Abram/Abraham

Here is the proof of the crucial part the Bible plays in reinforcing Israel's intention never to share the Land with any other tribe, faith or faction.  No Palestine, ever.  And, ideally, no Iran to threaten God's nation of Israel by its (Iran's) very existence - 1,074 miles away in a straight line.

I have read all of Bibi Netanyahu's 654 page magnificent tome and enjoyed it: 'Bibi: My Story' (pub 2022).  He believes that his ancestor Abram/Abraham, was given the land after he moved (1900 BCE) from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, or the Levant, at the Mediterranean end of the Fertile Crescent.  Bibi is convinced Abram got there first to claim the land in Canaan - "north, south, east and west, as far as you can see" - to be his and his descendants who would become a great nation, Israel and, "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."  (Genesis 12)  What a way for the Jews/Israelis to be a blessing to their neighbours - by slaughtering them!

Our great ally and friend Bibi, conveniently overlooks that the Bible says that there were other tribes in Canaan when he finally arrived.  The Jews' ancestors did not move into an empty land.  The Canaanites were one tribe already there - Genesis 12 v 6.  In the next verse, the Lord told Abram, "To your descendants I will give this land."  And it was and is always by coercion, force and violence, apart from the first, with Abram's family arrival about 1900 BCE - like today perhaps, as unwelcome immigrants.

For Bibi the Bible is historically correct, with no anachronisms or even areas of uncertainty, with the Jewish tribe alone as the legitimate claimant to the Levant/Canaan.  No acknowledgement that the OT might be the Hebrew Scriptures, written by them, to give their version of the facts.  Bibi has the support of the evangelicals who are equally convinced.  The Bible account is crucial in the current thinking and behaviour of Israel's leaders. They are on a mission.  They got there first, gained it by aggression for a second time in winning wars over the indigenous tribes, like the Canaanites, Moabites and Ammonites under Joshua, and were duly rewarded by their God in keeping it.  Until the Exile.

The  Bible is written by about forty Jews and Christians, of how Abraham's son Isaac and his descendants, from Jacob/Israel, have considered themselves as being blessed by the One and Only God who has chosen them to be His Chosen and honoured People and the only Rightful heirs to, and owners of, the Greater Promised Land.

The other son of Abraham is Ishmael who was actually the first born.  He was born out of wedlock to slave woman, Hagar and was cast out of the family along with his mother and, against the custom of the day.  Ishmael was also to become the father of a great nation - the Arabs.  "Jewish and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael to be the ancestor of Arabs.[26]" Wikipedia

No wonder divided humankind is unable to live in peace and harmony despite the promise to Israel to become a great nation and mediating blessings to other peoples.  Instead, constant resort to mutual recriminations and violence.

The Bible is crystal clear that it is the Jews/Israelis who alone must have the Promised Land of Canaan. Not the Arabs or Palestinians. Hence, our friend Bibi is so intransigent that his lot are the only Rightful Owners of the unHoly Land. He will forever fight and war over it - into eternity.  For the present, he lives in paranoiac fear that his country will be attacked and overrun by Iran with its ballistic missiles and, one day, nukes.  "It only takes one nuclear bomb to land on Israel for it to be all over", claim the Israelis to justify their forever war on Iran and its proxies.  No attempt at conciliation, friendship and the Good Samaritan approach!  They are far more comfortable living with fear of attacks and regular wars (lawn mowing) to control the upstart Arabs, than peace, harmony and goodwill among all their neighbours.

It is so tragic. But it goes to the heart of the human condition  - we can never share, equitably, the earth and its resources.  Forever wars.  Forever divided in hatred and fear.  There is unlikely to be a happy ending when the evangelicals are longing for Armageddon and the return of Christ to well and truly End everything.  They and Bibi are going the right way about it.            

(Sources: Bible; 'How Did We Get Here' on BBC Sounds; and 'The Lion Handbook to the Bible')

THE ONLY RESPONSE:

Further to your email from this morning, it may be worth pointing out to the Evangelicals, that should there be a Second Coming, Christ would almost certainly condemn the actions of Israel & The USA. Their actions are a complete contradiction to the teachings of Christ. 

Such is the fervour of some of the confused & befuddled, they now believe that Trump is Christ's earthly messenger!! God help us.

March 2026

War is a monstrous crime perpetrated by the violent West

War is a monstrous crime perpetrated by the violent Judeo-Christian nations.  Much more than the Muslim nations who have spewed radical men of violence like Osama bin Laden and the Islamists but, have otherwise suffered at the hands of Judeo-Christian nations desperate to have maximum control over Iran, in particular and Muslim oil for more than 100 years.

America and the Western/EU countries as wealthy nations can easily afford all things military and aggressive and, then are so easily tempted to throw their weight around using their vast piles of conventional weapons and WMD.  Exactly what we have seen over the last 100 years.

Green Party takes Gorton and Denton - from Jonathon Porritt

"Finally, the ongoing genocide in Gaza was a massive issue – and not just for the 30% of voters in Gordon and Denton who are Muslims.

"Keir Starmer – Yvette Cooper – David Lammy – Shabana Mahmoud: their complicity in the destruction of Palestine gets clearer and clearer for all to see. This obscene moral failure will continue to haemorrhage votes away from Labour until it changes its position."

God is on the side of the most military aggressive and powerful and victorious

It is unacceptable that over 3,000 years ago one group of Arabs or semites(?) used God's command "to go and possess the land", to justify a war of aggression and subjugation against the original inhabitants of Canaan.  The victorious group said God was on their side, had given them the victory, that they were His Chosen Nation, alone and, had given them and them alone the Promised Land in a glorious, aggressive war.  This is obscene and deluded.

It means that our friend and ally, Bibi might is right Netanyahu is saying that the Israelis and only the Jewish Israelis are entitled to occupy the full area of the unHoly Land from the River to the Sea.

Two very different High Streets!

How can Stourbridge High Street be turned from a popular car parking centre into a pleasant shopping centre to rival the lovely traffic free High Street in heavenly Halesowen?

How would you prioritise/choose these options?

1. Strictly enforce the present car parking arrangements in High St.

2. Extend the underground car park in Stourbridge to take High St cars.  Negotiate with Tesco.

3. Use the government billions for 150 miles of tramway for the planned conversion of buses and trains, instead, to extend Fare-free Public Transport to beyond my old geezers age group.

4. Extend the Shuttle to bring shoppers in from edge of town car parks at Jct sta and at Birmingham Street, near the Household Recycling Centre. 

5. Only allow residences and blue badge holders to park in the High Street, with strict enforcement.

6. Maintain car parking in Lower High St which works well.

Your idea?  Please put the numbers in your order of importance and send to:

dudleycouncilplus@dudley.gov.uk

and, to me at timweller1@gmail.com

It is preposterous ...

 ... that the one God of the world should have tiny Israel as His Chosen Nation and that we are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for no other capital city.

Not just this but, Israel alone, being given the whole of the unHoly Land from the River to the Sea, as written in the Likud Charter.

It is outrageous that this extremely violent and aggressive nation should be allowed every highly expensive, high Climate/resource impacting material blessing, including WMD and ballistic missiles which can wipe out every Arab country which surrounds it.

It is unacceptable, that God should be on the side of Israel and the Devil or Allah has Iran for his nation.

My God, the JC of Nazareth, is a god of non-violence and justice and of sharing equitably.  Especially towards and with the other children of Abraham, Muslims and all other races.

Since 1945 ...

Since 1945, the country which does the most killing in the world is the one in charge!  This is America.  After the USA and the Soviets/Russia, Israel must be the third country at the top  of the Slaughter league table.

In addition, Israel must be the country which has been the most violent throughout its short history.  The most violent and the most unsuccessful in stopping the intermittent warfare.

Indeed, the culmination of 80 years of violence towards its enemy was the most revengeful, audacious, violent and largest attack by its enemy of 80 years.  All because of violence and aggression to win territory that it previously had nearly two thousand years ago.  This had also been won by violence and aggression when, with God commanding them, they had first murdered and massacred the previous inhabitants!

"Hamas set back at least a decade" ... THE 654 PAGES FROM BIBI

"Hamas set back at least a decade" ... THE 654 PAGES FROM BIBI

... Bibi in his book, 'Bibi: My Story', pub 2022.  But in the very next year, Hamas struck to make their attack the biggest failure of security in Israel's 78 year history.

Hence, these famous last words: "Hamas set back at least a decade", p 647 out of 654, in chapter 64 covering 2019 to 2022. Pride comes before a fall.  Complete complacency and total disbelief that the military wing of Hamas, from Gaza of all places, could ever carry out such an enormous and audacious attack.​  But any fleeting thought of honourable resignation never crossed Bibi's mind!

The biggest failure of Israeli intelligence in eight decades - AND, when they knew something was going on over the border, they did nothing; they let it happen, such was their ​incompetence, over​-confidence and their arrogance.

Here is violence, aggression, one-sided genocide and such a total and complete 'David v Goliath' scenario of extreme asymmetric warfare for 78 years that the world has ever seen.  Bibi says that Israel is like David standing up to the most enormous military of the many Arab nations surrounding it.  So how does he explain that his poor little 'David' has slaughtered many times more humans than the Goliath of Hamas/Fatah/PLO has done over the eight decades​?

Bibi is a one trick pony.  All he ever understands is that happiness, peace and security can only ever come down the barrel of a gun.  And worse, by WMD being held only by his country and no-one else in his region.  He lives for violence and aggression.

Winning by violence only ever results in evermore violence, as we saw on 7.10.23 which was bad enough but that was followed by a holocaust of many tens of thousands massacred in Gaza.

Israel must be the biggest failure of any country the world has ever seen because it has to rely on coercion, force and violence.  Might alone is Right.  The Iron Fist is all that matters in life.  Israel Rules OK from the River to the Sea.

The book is well worth reading for how not to live with your neighbours in love and peace.​  So entertaining!