The Daily Stirrer

Asprin Cuts Cancer Risk Say Scientists - But They Don't Mention The Buts

This is nothing new, herbalists and holistic healers have long been saying chronic inflammation was a cause of cancer and the anti inflammatory properties of willow bark, from which modern aspirin is derived, were know to ancient Greek, Ayurvedic and Druidic healers.

The report claims those who start taking low dose (75mg) aspirin daily in their 60s appear to benefit just as much as those who start taking it earlier.

The studies, presented today in The Lancet, add to the argument that low-dose aspirin should be taken widely from middle-age, said the lead author, Professor Peter Rothwell, of Oxford University's Stroke Prevention Research Unit.

His team found that taking low-dose daily aspirin for between three and five years reduced the chance of being diagnosed with cancer at that time by 19 per cent. Five years or more after starting taking aspirin, the reduction rose to 30 per cent. He said: "These data do push the argument in favour of taking daily low-dose aspirin, particularly if you have a family history of heart disease or cancer.

"We showed previously that daily aspirin substantially reduces the long-term risk of some cancers, particularly colorectal cancer and oesophageal cancer, but that these effects don’t appear until about eight to 10 years after starting treatment.

"The delay is because aspirin is preventing the very early development of cancers and there is a long delay between this early stage and the eventual clinical presentation with a cancer.

"What we have now shown is that aspirin also has short-term effects, which are manifest after only two to three years."

Note that some cancers. Typical scientists evasiveness. Ask a direct question, "Does it prevent cancer?" and you get "Well is may prevent some cancers.

As we get deeper into this report it begins to look like another attempt by Big Pharma to persuade governments that mass medication without consent is a good idea. Previously suggestions that drinking water be medicated with anti - depressants and statins (anti obesity drugs) have been sen off by public opinion.

Unfortunately it looks as if the more fascistic a corporate culture is, the more influence that corporation weilds over government.

The findings also raised "the distinct possibility that aspirin will be effective as an additional treatment for cancer – to prevent distant spread of the disease", he said.

Aspirin, manufactured by pharmaceutical companies has long been hailed for its blood-thinning properties, leading some to argue that it should be prescribed to those who are at a higher risk of heart attack or stroke, even if they have never had one. Strangely the report does not mention the blood thinning and anti inflammatory qualities of garlic which can be grown in a small garden or window box.

Aspirin is being hailed as a real wonder drug: its usefulness (as willow-bark extract, for fever and pain) was known to the ancients; it does appear to have many potential benefits; and yet its mechanisms remain mysterious or at best poorly understood. When it was first synthesised, as acetylsalicylic acid, in the 1850s, it was used as to relieve the pains of "rheumatism", but no one had any idea how it worked. It wasn't until the late 20th century that doctors started to give it to patients as a preventative against heart disease. Researchers started to work out a theory of heart disease that involved some sort of inflammation process and something called C-reactive protein. C-reactive protein is a marker for inflammation: raised levels of it in the blood indicate an inflammatory process. It is also known that the base-line plasma concentration of C-reactive protein predicts the risk of future heart attack and stroke. Taking aspirin reduces CRP levels, and so may also reduce the risk of future heart problems.

Previous studies have warned that aspirin can do more harm than good in healthy people. Scientists taking a more objective view rather than producing the result Big Pharma required have found taking aspirin does not significantly reduce the risk of a heart attack in healthy people, and is no more effective that a healthy diet in preventing many common cancers but that it “almost doubles the risk of being admitted to hospital due to internal bleeding. Routinely prescribed by doctors as a preventative for heart disease and strokes, it's blood thinning effects have proved fatal in some people prone to ulcers or hemorrhaging.

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Frying Pan Fascists
Nanny State and the food fascists who work for her have yelled at us about cigarettes, alcohol, sugar and idleness. Now these sad, busybody bansturbators are getting on our case about fat and fried food. But natural fat is not dangerous, only too much fat and the wronmg kind of fat is dangerous. And what is the wrong kind of fat. The highly procressed low fat spreads the bansturbators are always teling us is healthy. Science my arse.

Parecetamol poisoning is a nasty way to die There is a very sad story in the paper and on the website today about a young woman who accidentally poisoned herself with paracetamol. Desiree Phillips, 20, seems to have suffered a “staggered overdoses” of paracetamol over the course of a few days during which she may have exceeded the recommended dose, but possibly not by much.

Are Potatoes Natural Prozac
Depressed? Try Potato Instead Of Prozac. Sdome say they can work as well to balance serotonin levels as prescribed medication and have no side effects. Needless to say treating depression naturally is not as simple as stuffing yourself with mashed spuds. Moderation is the best way to balance amino acids and insulin levels

Food Fascists, Meat Me Halfway
by Ian R Thorpe.
The food fascists are on the mrch again, demovising healthy meat eating, promoting a diet high in starches, chemicals and all the foods evolution had not prepared our bodies to deal with. Forget the fake science, if you eat a happy meal it is the bun and fries that will kill you, not the burger ...

Doctors Too Quick To Prescribe Fever Medicines For Children
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Inflation Falls Again As Government Continue To Talk Bollocks

Inflation fell to a 15-month low of 3.4pc in February helping ease pressure on cash-strapped consumers and Chancellor George Osborne ahead of Wednesday's Budget.

The consumer prices index (CPI) is down from 3.6pc in January as a drop in prices for housing, lower electricity and gas bills electricity, and cheaper air fare pushed overall inflation down, the Office for National Statistics said. However, the fall was not as much as expected - economist had forecast a drop to 3.3pc - as a record January to February rise in alcohol prices, driven by spirits, held back further declines.

The drop comes as some economists warn that the overall rate of inflation may not pull back as quickly as previously thought amid resurgent oil prices, although the ONS said there was no evidence of this in February. Inflation has fallen steadily since hits a three-year peak of 5.2pc in September.

The official press release reports that in a sign that underlying price pressures are fading as well, core inflation - which strips out volatile components such as food and energy - fell to 2.4pc, the lowest since November 2009.

Meanwhile in the real world petrol has risen from Ł1.35 per litre to Ł1.41 per litre at my local garage, I make that a rise of 4.4% rise inside 2 weeks! And anyone who watches commodity prices will be aware that the price of cereals on the world market is up by 8% this year

My Water charges (another non essential removed from the calculations?) acros the UK have gone up by about 10% since last year.

Inflation certainly isn't falling! As long as inflation is higher than interest rates on savings, and as long as inflation is higher than the annual increase in wages, people are still going to be impoverished.

As long as taxes on fuel are rising, as long as council taxes are rising, as long as prices on energy, water, transport and food are rising, even if only to the level of this fabulous 'inflationary' decrease, people will be impoverished.

Who gave the government their very appetising recipe for cooked books? Look, here's how it works (figures simplified) Increase prices by 15% one year, reduce by 5% the next and bingo inflation has fallen year on year. The fact that you are paying 10% more over the two years means nothing. Politicians and economists must think we the punters are all stupid. Yes, inflation has stoped rising and is falling rapidly. if you stop eating , stop heating your home , walk or ride a bike instead of drive your car, then inflation is ONLY 2.4%. What a triumph for government economic policies.

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There is no doubt that of all the bad ideas the National Socialist government of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown came up with in their 13 year bid to enslave the British people on behalf of their New World Order mates in the Bilderberg Group was the introduction of toll roads that would make it impossible to get anywhere without paying a road toll to a private company as well as road tax and about 500% tax on fuel to the government. My colleague Ian Thorpe worked out that the round trip from his home near Burnley to see his Mum in Morecambe would cost him around Ł100.

It was in effect a blatant attempt by The People's Party to tax the ordinary people on average incomes off the road.

We do not expect such stuff from the Conservatives although I have my suspicions that the Lib Dems have become more Nazi than the Nazis.

It is not the Lib Dems who will today be announcing plans to create swathes of new toll roads all over Britain but Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.

If the plan goes ahead motorists face tolls and pay-as-you drive schemes on privately owned roads or gridlock on the public network. The Prime Minister will say Britain’s “second-rate” road system desperately needs a huge injection of private-sector investment. It's bollocks of course, what Britain needs is a government that will channel an apppropriate proportion of the stupendous amount of revenue they gain from duty on car fuel into maintaining and improving the road system. Instead, governments of both parties whould rather waste our money on foreign adventures in neo colonialism, vanity projects and sucking up to minorities.

The Treasury, Cameron will say, can no longer afford to keep funding improvements and repairs to motorways and trunk roads.

The plans are likely to provoke an angry response from the public and businesses. The roads could add hundreds of pounds a year to the cost of motoring at a time when drivers and transport operators already face soaring petrol and diesel prices and crippling fuel duties and road tax. Motoring organisations last night warned of a backlash, claiming the move was a return to “18th century turnpikes”.

Advance copies of Cameron's speech released to the press tell us he will say "Why is it that other infrastructure – for example water – is funded by private-sector capital through ­privately owned, independently regulated, utilities but roads in Britain call on the public finances for funding?” Mr Cameron will make clear that “sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other investors” could build and maintain new roads. He has instructed the Department for Transport and the Treasury to carry out a feasibility study with results expected in the autumn.

Funny he should mention the utility companies that suply water, electricity and gas. They are known as the biggest crooks and rip off merchants in the country. And as we are warned of water shortages and and hosepipe bans everybody knows billionsd of gallons of much needed water leak away through holes in poorly maintained water pipes the untility companies focus their efforts on hiring expensive consultsants to dream up ever more exotic scams for stealing from customers.

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Children Failing At Reading Is Child Abuse By The Education System

How does the government's education Ministry of Truth (MinTru) (Quasi Autonomous Non Governmental Organisation) intend to improveme the situation, apart from burying it under a pile of bureaucratic jargon ? Sir Michael explained: “Teacher training colleges will come under greater scrutiny by Ofsted inspectors for the way they prepare teachers to give reading lessons using the phonic system.”

It will not work any better than any of the politically correct meddling of the past forty years has worked. If it were possible to improve literacy in our schools by introducing the crackpot ideas of Californian cranks, self styled educational psychologists, it would have already happened. Instead we have seen progressive ideas march and in hand with dumbing down. Unless of course the educational establishment woke up one March morning in 2012 a pandemic of illiteracy and said "Fuck me, half the kids in state schools are morons."

This decline of education has been going on for years with examination standards constantly being lowered to mask the extent of the system's failure. Even the education department admits that more than four out of ten children leave school, after 11 years of state education, unable to read and write properly.

Neither the constant chopping and changing in teaching methods nor the sheer incompetence of many teachers is blamed for this scandalous failure. Instead we are given the usual politically correct clichés of poverty, bad home background and single parents and fingers are pointed at, “children on free school meals” and “the very diverse schools population.”

But it is not an impoverished background or social and cultural diversity which causes the failure of so many children to learn to read. It is not class sizes, another familiar excuse, which are the problem. There is no shortage of books, computers and other technological aids not of teachers who waver their degrees in "educational science" at dissatisfied parents as if a bit of paper can make up for their inability you engage the interest of the young. I know I am writing the truth, because I have something with which to compare today’s shocking educational deprivation of our children. Experience.

My first school in the 1950s was Upton Magna Church of England School in a small village in Shropshire. The school had been built in the early nineteenth century and was one large hall in which the different years sat in separate rows of desks. The pupils were diverse, my Dad worked for a national newspaper and was one of the few people in the village to own a car. The other car owners were farmers or professional people. Many of my classmates were very poor, the sons and daughters of agricultural workers their clothes were hand me down, the free.school meals they had were for some all that stood between them and hunger. But those among us who were backward at reading were very few, even Charlie Record who was always destined for remedial education could read aloud from text books when it was his turn. And every day the teacher would read aloud to us from ripping yarns such as Treasure Island or the Hornblower stories or narrative verse; Tennyson and Longfellow were on the menu as was Lord Byron's stirring The Destruction of Senacherib. I can remember, aged seven, being able to recite William, Blake's Tyger, Tyger.

By the age of nine we knew all the parts of speech and could parse sentences, and at eleven we embarked on clause analysis. We were also, those from affluent and poor homes alike, competent at basic arithmetic from which all mathematics stems. Compared with what was achieved in those days of genuine deprivation for some, today’s education standards amount to child abuse.

Education, and particularly that primary education between the ages of five and eleven is vital to individuals and society alike. Once children have the basics of literacy and numeracy they are equipped to educate themselves no matter how idiotic the ideas of "progressives" they will encounter in the secondary school. At Upton Magna school we did not need lessons in diversity or mulicultural studies to teach us how to adapt to accommodate the children of gypsys, itinerants or refugees to came to the area to work on the harvest, fruit picking and later potato picking.

While we continue to sacrifice the education of generations of children to the gods of "progressive" and politically correct thinking we are only emulating the Aztecs whose priests, having failed to persuade their gods to intercede and defeat the Conquistadores could only suggest that the reason the Spanish were still winning was because not enough young people had been sacrificed. It is not just in education however that the "progressives" display this mindset.

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The West Is Already Meddling In Syria (and making things worse)

The West Is Already Meddling In Syria (and making things worse) by Patrick Hayes in Spiked

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Science Defeats Science - Resistance To Antibiotics Could End Modern Medicine

Now we should remember that the WHO are the people who gave us the Swine Flu pandemic scare, the Bird Flu pandemic scare both of which were going to kill us all, and also recommended that teenage boys should be vaccinated against cervical cancer. So whether the scientists who lead the WHO are actually barking mad, completely stark raving bonkers in the head, or they are just greedy little bureaucrats who are quite happy to dance to their Big Pharma paymasters' tune in order to keep their grubby noses in the ever flowing trough of taxpayers money we may only speculate.

This article then is about how the latest health scare the WHO is pumping up has come about as a result of following policies recommended by the WHO and Big Pharma. Ironic innit?

Margaret Chan, the organiation's director general warned that humans have become so resistant to common antibiotics it could bring about “the end of modern medicine as we know it.” As a result, she claimed, every antibiotic ever developed is at risk of becoming useless, making once-routine operations impossible. Hyperbole? Well probably, the WHO have a track record after all.

If there is substance in the warning, and similar warnings have been being sounded for many years, the redundancy would include many of the breakthrough drugs developed to treat tuberculosis, malaria, bacterial infections and HIV/AIDS, as well as simple treatments for cuts and septic sores.

Speaking to a conference of infectious disease experts in Copenhagen, Dr Chan said we could be entering into a “post-antibiotic era”. Replacement medicines could become more expensive, with longer periods of treatment required to bring about the same effect, she added.

Dr Chan went on to say: “Things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill. Antimicrobial resistance is on the rise in Europe and elsewhere in the world. We are losing our first-line antimicrobials. Replacement treatments are more costly, more toxic, need much longer durations of treatment, and may require treatment in intensive care units. For patients infected with some drug-resistant pathogens, mortality has been shown to increase by around 50 per cent. A post-antibiotic era means, in effect, an end to modern medicine as we know it.”

The warning comes shortly after the World Health Organisation published a new book warning of the “global crisis”, entitled “The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance.”

It reads: “Bacteria which cause disease react to the antibiotics used as treatment by becoming resistant to them, sooner or later. A crisis has been building up over the decades, so that today many common and life-threatening infections are becoming difficult or even impossible to treat, sometimes turning a common infection into a life-threatening one.”

The paper blames the current situation largely on the misuse of antibiotics, which are not prescribed properly and used too frequently and for too long. The problem is not just in over prescription by medical doctors. Antibiotics are routinely added to cattle, pig and poultry feed to make animals put on weight more quickly thus reducing costs and the time lag from birth to slaughter, resulting in boosted profits.

The WHO paper points to an “inexorable increase in antimicrobial-resistant infections, a dearth of new antibiotics in the pipeline and little incentive for industry to invest in research and development” had led to a need for innovation”.

The WHO has now appealed to governments across the world to support research into the antimicrobial resistance. Ah; more research equals more research grants, more big fat salaries and expensive jollies in luxury resorts for scientists. Right. If we follow the money we always arrive in the same place, greed and self interest city.

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Ed Miliband Is Not Running The Labour Party, Who Is

We wish we had stuck with Cammy and Bammy. Here's one report we saw:

"On Tuesday, Labour held the weekly meeting of its shadow cabinet. At its conclusion the members filed out into the expansive, and expensive, atrium of Parliament’s Portcullis House. “Everyone broke into little groups of three or four,” said one observer. “They were all there, having follow-up discussions with each other. Except for Ed Miliband. He was left standing on his own with a member of staff. So he just got on the escalator and walked away.” (Dan Hodges)

At some indefinable point during the last few months, Ed Miliband stopped being leader of Labour Party. There was neither drama nor fanfare. No knife-edge votes, or late-night confrontations. Instead, the authority bestowed upon him in Manchester 18 months ago rose early, quietly packed its suitcase, and sloped off into a chill Westminster morning. It didn’t leave a note."

Wither Milliband? Or perhaps, wither milliband! in the imperitive case.

Poor Ed. I do think he's a decent bloke really, just waaaaaaaaay out of his depth. The task he landed himself with, keeping the unions sweet while trying to turn Labour into something capable of being elected and then capable of governing would have been beyond Hercules.

So how will it end? We forsee Ed being despatched to Room 101 where he will have to face the thing he fears most, Len McClusky. After that he may occasionally be sighted sitting alone in the Chestnut Tree Cafe sipping Victory Gin flavoured with cloves.

The Chestnut Tree Cafe in George Orwell's 1984

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Free Schools Are Needed To Save British Education But Labour Are In Denial

Labour Education spokesman and former Liberal Democrat Andrew Adonis has demanded that Labour come out in support of free schools. What Adonis has understood, and what the Labour Party and the Campaign for State Education remain in denial about, is that the state education system is close to collapse. While lefties grizzle about state schools not sending enough bright but disadvantaged children to elite Universities the schools under the control of the state, those teaching the nationl curriculum are not achieving acceptable levels of basic numeracy and literacy. The sysyem it is not producing enough students in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects that politicans and academics obsess about so much.

The system is not doing enough for the gifted and talented pupils pasing through the system, in fact such a culture of anti - intellectualism has been allowed to develop because of politically correct ideas on discipline that to display intelligence or scholarly excellence it to make oneself a target for bullying. Education in the state school system is not equipping school leavers with the skills employers need and which make the pupils employable.

The truth is that our education system is stuck in a time warp, ideas that were shown not to work as long ago as the 1970s still have currency. The education establishment has failed to evolve to meet the challenges of the actual world our school leavers must go out into and compete in. But education is run by progressives and progressives are incapable of acceptin that their pet idea has failed because it is a bad idea. The progressive mindset is no more for turning than the Iron Lady. A more relaxed approached to discipline has ledt to a breakdown of discipline?" they say, "Well obviously that is because we did not relax discipline enough." "Lowering exam standards so pupils are not alienated by failure has resaulted in the bightest pulpils getting dumber? Well we must relax standards even further. The theory cannot be wrong, conservatives have sabotaged it."

When its errors are pointed out the response of the educational establishment is to become hyper-defensive, defend their failed methods and mount a massive resistance to any real change, not on the basis of any rational criticism of weakness in what is proposed but simply on the grounds of it not being politically correct. The establishmen hate free schools for one reason; they wrench power away from those who think they ought to run our schools and place it in the hands of parents or reformers. For too long the only alternative to state schoolst for parents who could afford the fees was to run to private sector.

Education is too important a part of society to be used as a protective compound for the sacred cows of the progressive left.

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14 March 2012

More EU Rebels Follow Spain In Defying Burssels Diktat.

Over the course of innumerable crisis meetings European leaders have tried and failed to produce the right result for a glorious photon oppotunity: extravagant triple-kiss greetings, toothy grins, and wistful stares between Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Last Monday night in Brussels however the stage management went horribly wrong: Jean Claude Juncker, head of euro zone finance ministers group, was snapped strangling his Spanish counterpart.

It was all a big joke of course. Luis de Guindos wasn't actually hasrmed in the making of the photograph and Jan Kees De Jager, the Dutch finance minister looming behind him, didn't wade in with fists flying either. But the grim look on Mr de Guindos' face shows he didn't find it all that funny.

Moments before the indident, the eurogroup had approved a €130bn (Ł108bn) bailout package for Greece. After months of wrangling and just a week before Greece was due to default on its debts the deal should have been a cause for an orgy of celebratory plate-smashing.. Unknown to the stage managers, behind the scenes, Spain had hijacked the meeting. In a bluntly worded statement, the eurogroup announced they had agreed to relax Spain's deficit target for 2012 - from 4.4pc set by Brussels last year to 5.3pc.

Spain had won some unscheduled breathing space. But what really angered Juncker was that in winning the concession, Madrid had stirred a radical retaliation of "sinner states" against the northern bloc's push for austerity and central control.

All year Spanish officials have pleaded with Brussels for permission to relax their deficit targets, arguing that Spain couldn't take any more austerity. They felt they had a strong case: Spain's economy is set to contract 1.7pc this year; unemployment, already the highest in the industrialised world, is heading for 24pc; while youth unemployment is already over 50pc. Officials warned Brussels that yet more cuts would be catatrophic for Spain. But the answer was firm and consistent: nein, non, niet: austerity targets were "non-negotiable".

At the beginning of March, leaders gathered in Brussels to entrench these rules in a new treaty. The so-called fiscal pact bound all European countries (except Britain and the Czech Republic who opted out) to keep their debt to GDP ratio below 3pc - or face punishment. Angela Merkel was tickled pink: the deal would last forever, she said.

But with sensational timing, just hours later Mariano Rajoy announced Spain would break the rules, immediately. Because the E U bureaucrats were forced to accept this it opens the way for Italy, Portugal and Ireland to demand the same concession. We are back where we started.

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Melvyn Bragg attacks Richard Dawkins' 'atheist fundamentalism'

Bragg poured scorn on the scientists insistence that “reason” can destroy the Christian argument, saying that faith was something that should be examined more closely.

Speaking on Sky Television's The Book Show, Bragg, a non theist himself, defended Christianity and other faiths and accused atheists such as Prof Dawkins and philosopher Alain de Botton of "hitching a ride" on faith.

“Ever since civilisation began people have believed in many gods, one god or none,” he said. “There have also been atheists, people who say that this is unprovable, that there could not be resurrections and reincarnations and miracles. These are all respectable traditions. What’s changed recently is the animus and the ignorance that has entered into the atheist argument, led by Richard Dawkins, most improbably a fine zoologist, a good scholar, Oxford trained, who seems to have thrown everything off in this odd pursuit, particularly of Christianity.”

Bragg argued that reason was not “the primary source of knowledge”.

Read the full report or watch the video: Melvin Bragg attacks Richard Dawkins atheist fundamentalism.

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Limp Wristed Vegetarian Nazi Scientists Want To Take Away Your Steak

Now you quickly get to the nature of this science in the line above. "can increase the risk of death". Unscientific, scaremongering BOLLOCKS. We are all going to die, forget the delusional belief among scientists that they can immunise us against death, nobody lives for ever. So the risk of death is 100%, it cannot get any higher, it will not get any lower. Therefore you should read reports of this type of research with the appropriate degree of scepticism.

New research carried out in the USA and published today demonstrates eating red meat regularly, especially processed meats dramatically increases the risk of death from heart disease and cancer. Each additional daily serving of processed red meat, equivalent to one hot-dog or two rashers of bacon, raised the chances of dying by a fifth. Data from 121,342 men and women taking part in two large US health and lifestyle investigations were analysed to produce the findings, published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine .

Now note the vagueness and obfuscatory tactics here. The do not say red meat eaters will die at 60 instead of 80. What they do appear to be saying is that for every ten people who eat red meat, twelve will die. The premise is irrational.

The study claims researchers found that cutting red meat out of the diet led to significant benefits but here again we see the way the issue is clouded in an attempt to manipulate readers. They find a problem with processed meat which in fact is not confined to red meat but, as has been known for years there is a problem with all highly processed foods, red or white meats, fats and they reduce it to appear as it it only applies to the food hate symbol of the limp wristed vegetarian Nazi party ("healthy low fat spreads" are the most dangerous things you can eat apart from the kind of stuff that comes in bottles with a skull and crossbones on the label).

Replacing red meat with fish, poultry, or plant-based protein foods contributed to a longer life, the study says although many other studies have shown vegetarians do not live significantly longer than red meat eater. Nuts are said to reduce the risk of dying by 20% - making a case for swapping roast beef for nut roast.

The studies monitored the progress of their participants for more than 20 years and gathered information about diet. In total, scientists documented 23,926 deaths including 5,910 from heart disease and 9,364 from cancer. Senior author Professor Frank Hu, from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said: "This study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, contributes substantially to premature death.

"On the other hand, choosing more healthful sources of protein in place of red meat can confer significant health benefits by reducing chronic disease morbidity (illness) and mortality."

Funny how the results of these studies carried out by leftie academics always affirm the moral prejudices of leftie academics and serve to advance their control freak agenda, don't you think. When you read that cancer prevention charity the World Cancer Research Fund recommends that people avoid processed meat entirely and limit their consumption of red meat to 500g a week it's easy to see the hand of health fascism at work. In fact the biggest problem we have with western dies now is the result of scientists meddling with so much of the food we eat for the sole purpose of boosting corporate profits. It is not the meat in processed meats, the ground grain in bread or cakes nor the oil in processed fats that does the harm, it is the added chemicals, the colourings, artificial flavourings, preservatives etc. Look at the list of ingredients on a pack of processed meat, a savoury snack, a pack of breakfast cereal. Food is not the problem, science is the problem.

Dr Rachel Thompson, the charity's deputy head of science, said: "This study strengthens the body of evidence which shows a link between red meat and chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. The research itself seems solid and is based on two large-scale cohort studies monitored over a long period of time."

And when you look at the length of time it becomes clear we are not talking about people living ten of five years less on average but a few weeks less. Ah well as the old saying goes, torture data long enough and it will tell you whatever you want it to.

We know that many other studies show there is no higher risk in eating red meat and that such results as are offered by this latest farrago can easily be obtained by manipulating data. Cult of Scienceology followers reading this will accuse The Daily Stirrer of being anti science. We are not, we are anti-pseudoscirntific-bullshit. And we are not the only ones..The study's findings were challenged by Dr Carrie Ruxton from the Meat Advisory Panel , an expert body funded by the meat industry.

She said: "This US study looked at associations between high intakes of red meat and risk of mortality, finding a positive association between the two. However, the study was observational, not controlled, and so cannot be used to determine cause and effect. "The authors' conclusion that swapping a portion of red meat for poultry or fish each week may lower mortality risk was based only on a theoretical model.

In other words, other lifestyle factors that could have ben significant were factored out of the study. And again we see the common preference of modern, politicised scientists for working with theoretical models rather than reality.

Dr. Ruxton went on to point out this study's conclusion conflicts with evidence from controlled trials. She pointed out that meat and meat products were significant sources of essential nutrients such as iron, zinc, selenium, B vitamins and vitamin D. So as these are all essential nutrients following the advice of the report would result in people being malnourished. Gfood work guys.

In the UK, red meat was "critically important" to zinc intake, contributing 32% of the total for men and 27% for women. Red meat also contributed around 17% of total dietary iron intake in the UK.

We give the last word to Dr. Ruxton: "In summary, this paper should not be used to dissuade people from reducing their current intake of red meat when it provides essential nutrients that are required as part of a healthy balanced diet."

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TYCOONS, HOOKERS AND OUR COUNCIL FATCATS PARTY IN CANNES

The Coalition government's Minister for Sport, Hugh Robertson was the most senior of politicians and council chief executives who enjoyed a taste of high life usually reserved for millionaires last week while taxpayers protested the closure of libraries, leisure centres, police stations and public toilets at home.

Our tax eaters were among 20,000 overwhelmingly male delegates who jetted to the French resort from all over the world to get their gribby snouts in the trough for the MIPIM property show where hotel lobbies, super-yachts and bars became a magnet for prostitutes cashing in.

The public officials were officially there to woo PFI investors for their pet property schemes, from housing blocks in Bristol to possibilities in the Olympic Park. While some councils funded their trips from public funds, others were on freebies with thousands of pounds of expenses paid by their 'business friends'.

They drank champagne in beachside terraces, strolled in the sun, and partied with bankers, lawyers and architects until the early hours with no sign of any serious work getting done..In the evenings delegates could be seen chatting to the high-class hookers that locals say come to Cannes specifically for the men and money of MIPIM. Luxury catering vans lined the harbour to serve guests on yachts, while restaurants charged Ł80 for Black Angus prime rib and bars hiked the cost of a small bottle of beer to Ł10. Well why not, it's all on expenses, the taxpayers will foot the bill.

It would be far cheaper to erect a marquee in Hyde Park said Sir Edward Lister, the London Mayor's chief of staff.

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Another Effing Fiasco

The main reason for the soft start today is once again China.

This time a week ago their downgrade to GDP forecasts was the catalyst for the sell off along with other worse than expected growth figures from other emerging economies such as Brazil. Today Chinese export growth has disappointed and so the risk on rally is being kept in check.

China’s part to play in the global recovery is crucial and with data like this it fuels concerns about the possibility of a harder landing for their economy than was previously expected. If Europe and the West are not buying Chinese goods at anywhere near the rate that they have been in the past few years, then China’s economy could be in for more headwinds which is one of the biggest threats to global growth right now.

West Wimps Out On Syria Intervention

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Trouble in Europe, US and China promises tough times ahead for all of us.

Economic figures release earlier this week and reported in The Daily Stirrer suggest that far form being over as it was claimed the false growth in economies proved, this great depression 2 has barely begun. So far 2012 has given us a breathtaking recovery in stocks and share prices and asset values. Unfortunately this is totally out of line with the economic realities in Europe, USA and China. The markets have existed for so long in a state of panic they are nearning breakdown and displaying symptoms of insanity.

Your Daily Stirrer commentators have been accused of pessimism but there is nothing pessimistic about being realists. Realists make decisions based on evidence and thus are better equipped to deal will whatever circumstances arise. Optimists dismiss the unpleasant aspects of reality and thous are caught unawares and totally unprepared when it sneaks up and bites them on the arse..

It is not just The Daily Stirrer that has spooted the latest iceberg to loom on the horizon. Graham Secker from Morgan Stanley said it is rare for global stocks, oil prices and government bonds to rise in lockstep, and such exuberance becomes a "very reliable sell signal for stocks" once speculators join the party.

Equity long positions on NASDAQ have reached 1.5 standard deviations and long bets on oil are at an extreme of 1.9, according to data from the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission. This is happening at a time when yields on 10-year US Treasuries are still at 1.96pc, signalling depression, deflation, or both.

The historical relationship between bonds and equities has completely broken down over the past six months. "You can't have a sustained period where equities are going up, while bond yields are flat or trending down," said Mr Secker. One or the other must give, and the players have no doubt which it will be. Fund manager John Hussman said the market is replicating the "extreme" conditions seen at danger moments in 1972-1973, 1987 and 2007-2008. His warning indicators include a rise in the S&P 500 index by more than 8pc above its 52-week moving average, a "Shiller price/earnings ratio" above 18, and bearish sentiment below 27pc.

America's Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) said its analysis indicates "pronounced, persistent and pervasive" signs that the US economy is sliding back into recession.

Fed chair Ben Bernanke warned last week that the US faces a "massive fiscal cliff" at the end of 2012 as tax cuts expire and the axe falls on $110bn of spending due to "sequestration". Medicare taxes also kick in. "All those things are hitting on the same day, basically. It's quite a big event," he said.

It is far from clear that the US economy is strong enough to withstand such fiscal drag. "Every time the US economy falls below the stall speed at 1.75pc it falls into recession: we have now been below that for the last three quarters," said Albert Edwards from Societe Generale.

"To me this feels no different from the start of 2011 but with one major difference. Profits are sliding instead of rising robustly," he said. The 12-month "forward earnings" data have peaked, replicating the pattern seen at the onset of the bear market in 2007.

Mr Edwards says the "Ice Age" cycle in America and Europe is still playing out much as it did in Japan after the Nikkei bubble, with each rally overpowered by the crushing force of debt deleveraging."

China's, premier Wen Jiabao has downgraded the country's growth forecasts to 7.5pc. It is far from clear whether the Politiburo can navigate a soft-landing after the kind of prolonged boom the Cinese economy has enjoyed. R&F Properties said house sales for China in the first two months of this year were down 40pc from a year ago, and prices fell 22pc.

Nomura said China's electricity use fell 7.5pc in January from a year earlier, implying a sharp industrial slowdown. The bank said the country has already reached "peak steel", with its steel production index crashing to 39.4 in February.

Dong Tao at Credit Suisse said "We believe the golden age of infrastructure investment is behind us now. The golden age of the housing boom is behind us now. The golden age of export is behind us now. The golden age of policy stimulus is behind us now. The Shanghai stock market has been signalling trouble for a long time, falling more than 60pc from its peak in late 2007. What is odd is that the bourses of countries that feed on China's commodity boom have not followed the trends of the feeder economy.

On top of all that consumers around the world are cash strapped and maxed out. There is still a lack of demand in the global economy as consumers stubbornly ingnore government exhoirtations to take on more debt, stat spending and kickstart domestic economies. So many individuals have sucjh a huge burden of debt they cannot see a way out of their sitiation. In Asian people nevrer bough in to the cosumer dream but, remembering hsard times are never far away, hoarrded money. The Asian "savings glut" is still with us. The East has not filled the vacuum left as the debt laden West tightens it belt. Liquidity has masked the deeper crisis, and flattered asset prices. The cancer has been fed by stimulus and printing money, the tumour is still growing..

Federal Exchange Ignores The Goal Posts, Moves The Stadium.

Reall all:

Dementia is "next global health time bomb"

Well The Daily Stirrer reported on the 'age timebomb' over a year ago so again it is nice to see the 'experts' catching up with us old gits who really know what we are talking about.

Professor Peter Piot, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, compared dementia to the AIDS epidemic and said one person is diagnosed with the mental illness every seven seconds. The population of sufferers, which currently stands at 36 million, is set to double by 2020 worldwide. He is now calling on the World Health Organisation to add dementia to their list of top priority diseases to fund research and treatment across the globe.

In saying: “It’s not adding years to your life, but life to your years," the professor hits the nail on the head. Scientists are obsessed with numbers and this has led to them aiming at the wrong target. Instead of focusing on prolonging life by any means possible rather than prolonging the quality of life they have created two problems rather than solving one. Dementia is a horrible degenerative condition and in the worst cases ends in people not only not recognising family members but not even knowning who they themselves are. Prolonging a life only to condemn a person to that fate is not an achievement, it is an act of selfish cruelty.

The second problem is the cost. We all know the state of the global economy and latest data shows ever the Chinese economic powerhouse is feeling the effects, while European nations, crippled by unsustainable bills for their overgenerous welfare systems are collapsing under the burden of sovereign debt. Providing personal care and medical services for people who are unable to do even simple things for themselves is already a huge charge on government revenues and can only increase. As well as dementia, heart and lung problems, diabetes and cancer are adding to the problem of looking after the old.

Despite his calls to improve diagnosis, Prof Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, admitted it may not always be ethical to diagnose dementia in parts of the world where treatment is not yet available. He told BBC Radio4’s Today programme that developing countries in Asia and Latin America were seeing the greatest rise in dementia sufferers, as better healthcare led to people living longer. He added: “The figures speak for themselves. We are really going into the next global health time bomb.

“I have worked for the last 30 years on AIDS. It was a time bomb several decades ago and it’s still not over.

(This is something of an exercise in fearmongering. Outside Africa AIDS has not really broken out of the gay and intavenous drug user categories. There are good reasons for that but to mention them will only get us branded racist and homophobic.

We only have reliable figures for the UK but the problem is global.

The National Health Service is setting aside as little as 10p per day to treat each patient with dementia, it has emerged in the wake of concerns about the age timebomb and its social consequences. One in every ten of the trusts investigated has even reduced their level of spending, in a situation condemned by a leading campaign group as an "embarrassment. One primary care trust, Nottinghamshire County, has admitted spending just Ł38 a year for each patient with the illness. These figures, revealed under the Freedom of Information Act, have been described as a "recipe for disaster” by charity the Alzheimer’s Society.

”Three quarters of British health trusts have refused to increase their funding for dementia care, despite government calls to make it a priority. This is because they a in a Catch 22 situation. If they don't care for patients they will have their funding reduced but if they fail to hit their financial targets because they have put patient care ahead of controlling the budget they will have their funding reduced. However, it is harder to prove dereliction of the duty of care than poor accounting standards.

Under government guidelines, NHS Trusts are required to prioritise dementia patients, with Primary Care Trusts being given extra funding to invest in services and treatment. Today 36 million people are living with dementia according to WHO figures. Experts expect to see this doubling by 2020. A note of caution here however. The World Health Organisation are the fear and panic merchants who gave us Swine Flu and many other plagues that were going to kill millions but never materialised. The staff of the World Health Organisation are tax eaters and want to keep their grubby snouts in the trough.

Even so, common sense, always the most reliable measure, tells us that as the proportion of old people increases the problems will only get worse. We don't need not old people, if people are lining longer we need to extend youth and middle age.

The root of the problem is medical science has put so much time and effort into keeping the physical body going (transplants, drugs etc) but the brain is still setup for three score years and ten because little or nothing has been achieved to increase it's longevity. Its another case of scientists having an intellectual wank and not pausing for one single second to think about the consequences of what they are doing.

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The Coalition Must Not Be Sucked Into The 'Progressive' Left' War On The Family
Since before the 1970s, since before the communists overthrew the Tsar in Russia, since the day Karl Marx condemnede faily life in his Communist Manifesto, the left or 'progressive left' as they now style themselves has been making war on family life and promoting the usurpation of the role of parents by the agencies of the state.

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Three stories on the disintegration of the Eurozone

European recovery rocked by poor economic data in Spain and Italy

A key gauge of private sector performance across the eurozone showed business activity contracted in February after showing tentative signs of growth in January. Markit's eurozone composite PMI fell to 49.3 – revised down from an initial reading of 49.7 – from 50.4 in January, where anything below 50 shows a contraction.

This data suggests the region is slipping back into recession. The news pushed markets lower, with the Ibex in Spain down 1.3pc and Italian markets 0.7pc down.

The data also heightened concerns that the austerity measures forced on Italy and Spain by European policymakers are merely serving to kill growth in already hard-hit countries. Markit said its reading for Spain's services sector, which accounts for 70pc of the economy, fell from 46.1 to 41.9, against forecasts for a decline to 45.9.

The services sector in Italy fell from 44.8 to 44.1, with employment shrinking at its fastest rate since July 2009. The Bank of Italy predicted the country's economy was set to shrink by 1.5pc this year.

"It will put a dent in hopes that the fourth-quarter contraction was a one-off for the eurozone as a whole but the most worrying development is the continued weakness of the southern European measures," said Ben May at Capital Economics. "The European Central Bank is going to be setting policy for the region as a whole and not for individual economies and it is likely that policy is going to be less accommodative than, say, Spain or Italy would choose."

With three days to go until holders of Greek debt must decide whether to accept a bond swap and accept losses of up to 70pc, the Institute of International Finance has warned that a disorderly default could cause more that €1 trillion of damage to the eurozone. The IIF also warns that if there is a disorderly default Spain and Italy are likely to need a rescue.

So, the politicians have the debt crisis under control and everything is hunky dory then? Yeah, right.

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You didn't really think it would stop at Greece did you - Spain's debt causes worry

News today that Spain risks being fined under new EU rules for a "grave" breach of budget limits, the European Commission warned on Monday, despite Jose Manuel Barroso stating that he was confident it would fulfil its commitments.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has told reporters that he is confident that Spain will respect the EU's new budget rules, despite the country's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy increasing the country's deficit target to 5.8pc in 2012, from its original 4.4pc goal.

A relapse into recession pushed Spain's budget deficit to 8.5pc last year, far above the 6pc target.

Commenting on the 2011 "slippage", Mr Barroso told reporters:

We still need some more information about the reasons for the slippage [...] I have no doubt that the government will honour its commitments regarding the stability and growth pact.

Mr Barroso's comments came as the spokesman for Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn described the 2011 slippage as a "grave" breach of budget limits.

Leaders took part in a signing ceremony of a new EU fiscal compact on Friday, which will allow tougher Brussels scrutiny of budgets. The fiscal compact was signed by all 27 EU leaders, apart from the UK and Czech Republic.

The European Court of Justice will have the power to fine countries up to 0.1pc of GDP if they fail to stick to the new rules.

Well that's really going to help when they're already broke.

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3 March 2012

Oil A Bigger Threat Than Greece

Mr King said that investors should be overweight in energy shares as "insurance" and foreign exchange investors should buy currencies of oil-producing countries such as Norway, Malaysia, Brazil and Russia.

Other analysts agree. "A rapidly increasing oil price is beginning to threaten prospects for recovery and better growth," Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at Swedish bank SEB, said. "Paradoxically, recent rises are largely due to improving economic sentiment but also tight supply. In addition, outstanding geopolitical issues present further major upside risks," Mr Schieldrop added.

Brent crude surged to $128.40 a barrel on Thursday, the highest level since July 2008, as reports of a pipeline fire in Saudi Arabia spooked markets already concerned about brinkmanship with Iran over its nuclear programme. There have also been supply disruptions in Syria, Yemen and South Sudan.

However, prices eased on Friday after Saudi official denied the reports, which started in Iran. Brent crude closed down $2.55 at $123.65.

The Daily Stirrer thinks this is just the usual fear and panic that drives the markets. The price spike will soon level. Long term the price of oil is going sky high unless somebody removes Barack Hussein Obama from the equation or the other western leaders grow backbones and bollocks and at risk of being called "racist" tell the childbrain in The White House that his warmongering and political meddling in the middle east is harming western economies and can only prolong the economic lump we are now in.

W

hat purpose does that jug eared streak of piss think can possibly be served by imposing oil sanctions on Iran when the Chinese are ready and willing to buy up all the oil the Ayatollahs can pump? Obama's childish petulance can only raise the price of oil in the west, and with it the price of everything else we use or consume.

S

2 March 2012

1 March 2012

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29 Februay 2012

28 February 2012

27 February 2012

U S Elections: Will The Repuiblicans Find A White Knight In The Bush?

As the U.S. Republican Party stuggles to find a credible candidate to take on Barack Obama in the Presidential election this November, leading hopefuls Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and New Gingrich are struggling to engage oters. Could a surprise candidate be about to emerge?

24 February 2012 Syrian Rebels Say West Is Already Aiding Thier Uprising
by Ed Butt

Syrian Rebels Say West Is Already Aiding Thier Uprising.As the troubles stirred up in Syria by the meddling of the American idiot President Barack Hussein Obama and fuelled by the west's determination to intervene and effect regime change in another middle eastern nation escalate into civil war, the rebels show they are as unfit a government in waiting as those fanatical mobsters the western powers have catapulted into power in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. We conclude that Obama wants World War 3.

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War

Private Abortion Clinics Accused Of Aborting Female Foestuses On Demand.

Google Evil Empire In New Privacy Violation

A Microsift blog post revealed : "When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too?" IE executive Dean Hachamovitch wrote in a blog post this morning. "We've discovered the answer is yes: Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies."

The blog post, which details Microsoft's findings and offers privacy protection tips, said Microsoft have contacted Google about their concerns and asked it to "commit to honoring P3P privacy settings for users of all browsers."

Unfortunately past experience tells us that the word "ethics" does not exist in the Google lexicon.

In the blog post, Microsoft developers explain how the bypass occurs:

The Greek Bail Out Deal Humiliates Greece Without Solving Anything

As if that was not bad enough, the debt write off being demanded from private investors may prevent Greece from returning to private markets for its finance for many decades, making the country indefinitely reliant on support from the EU and IMF. After the bailouts so much of Greek's debt will be held by official repositories, all of who will have preferential treatment as creditors, that no private sector investor would consider lending, knowing that private creditors would be last in the queue of people wanting to be paid back.

The Daily Stirrer has been saying for two years this would be the outcome of the Greek debt crisis, it was obvious to everyone else too, but it is also obvious that the EU / IMF policy was never about helping Greece, which was railroaded into the single currency although it's economy was far too weak, to get back on its feet financially; the real agenda is to move forward towards a single European superstate which would be extended beyond Europe to include more economic basket case nations in north Africa and the Middle East.

Still the acknowledgement of these problems must be seen as progress among the grand delusions of eurozone policy-making.

We have to wonder why they bother trying to persuade us everything is hunky - dory and Federalisation of Europe is the future given the quite high probability of eventual failure they covertly assign to the bailout. Even if favourable scenario outlined in the sustainability report plays out, Greece is going to need a third bailout of €50bn by the end of the decade on top of the €136bn agreed in principle last night. This favourable scenario, by the way, makes the heroic assumption that the Greek economy will stop shrinking next year and return to 2.per cent growth in 2014. Few sane commentators believe that's remotely possible.

Under a "tailored downside scenario" (the leaked document's words), which by any stretch of the imagination looks pretty optimistic, debt would fall much more slowly than hoped for reaching only 160pc of GDP by the end of the decade, rather than the 120pc the eurozone requires of Greece. In such circumstances, €245bn of bailout money would be required. Given that Britain and Sweden and Denmark are outside the Euro single currency system and Britain's economy is wobbly anyway, That France and Austria have already had their credit rating downgraded because of exposure to Greek debt and The Netherlands, politically, is engaged in a charge to the Eurosceptic right this leaves only little Finland and microstate Luxembourg to support Germany in propping up Greece and the other failed economies, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Cyprus.

German taxpayers are already in revolt, local elections there are very volatile with winners from the right and left throwing out incumbents. The mood of the voters seems to be anything except the EU. It is unlikely taxpayers in the rest of the E.U. will be sympathetic to such a handout intolerable for the rest of the eurozone, there is a growing feeling that tax revenue should be kept at home, let the poor nations fend for themselves. If the rest of Europe is not happy to forego new hospitals, schools, roads and properly equipped defence forces, think what the austerity programme will mean for the Greeks. As part of the deal, the Greek government has committed to build into into its legal framework a provision to give priority to debt service payments above all other public expenditure, this clause is to be included in an amended Greek Constitution as soon as possible. This is the sort of thing that prompts revolutions.

The arrogant bureaucrats of Brussels, the IMF and the United Nations do not fear threats to people on the streets, they feel secure in their ivory towers.

Already, polls published by local Greek media indicate that the centre parties (National Democrats, and in particular the main party in the Greek assembly PASOK) are losing popular support hand over fist, so it matters not a jot that the two main coalition parties have signed up to full ongoing implementation after elections in April because they will no longer be running the show. In contrast, the parties further from the centre continue to gain popular support, and none of these have expressed support for the austerity programme so anything voted through now is likely to be repealed in a few months.

The measures, including constitutional change also have to be approved by a number of national parliaments elsewhere in the eurozone. It would too hasty to say this austerity programme cannot work, we have seen the Eurocrats deploy a combination of bullying and bribery to get their way before which is the only reason the eurozone has repeatedly defied the sceptics in holding together thus far. However it is certainly a programme that cannot succeed, and will only delay the day when Greece is forced out of the eurozone.

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