Gavin’s Gaily Gigest

Follow-ups to three things I’ve written about recently:

The gambler who sued William Hill for letting him gamble has lost his case in the High Court. Briggs J found that William Hill did not owe Mr Calvert, a compulsive gambler, a duty of care. And quite right too.

After Peter Goldsmith’s proposal that school-leavers should have to […]

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A couple of days ago I twittered:
“Rather than a Lib Dem Friends of Israel and a Lib Dem Friends of Palestine, couldn’t we just have a single Lib Dem Friends of Peace?”

Keith Kahn-Harris, writing on The Guardian’s Comment is Free, expands on why this could be the desirable approach for those outside the Middle East:
“The […]

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I didn’t put this in my original account of the Ed Davey bloggers interview earlier this week as it didn’t seem particularly interesting at the time, but in light of Israel’s recent actions (and the reactions of two Lib Dem bloggers: both reactions being pro-Palestine, anti-Israel), Mr Davey’s comments have become somewhat more contemporary.
He was […]

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Continuing my run of judicial quotations, this one comes from the Israeli Supreme Court, in a case concerning torture (The Public Committee against Torture in Israel v. The Government of Israel), where they found it illegal under all circumstances:
"We are aware that this decision does make it easier to deal with that reality. This is […]

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Google avoiding controversy anyone:

With the main roads and towns in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia showing up on Google Maps, the company has taken the decision merely to mark out the Green Line in Israel - Palestine, probably in an attempt to avoid endless emails from the two sides disputing the details.

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From the BBC:
“A senior Israeli minister has called for the sacking of Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog.
Deputy PM Shaul Mofaz said the Egyptian head of the International Atomic Energy Agency had endangered world peace by neglecting Iran’s nuclear programme.”

As the story notes, Israel is a member of the IAEA, but not […]

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The Respect Party seems to have mislaid Israel:

(Click to enlarge)
Don’t worry guys, I’m always doing that.
And a rather tenuous link, but let’s not forget that George Galloway, the party’s only MP and his recent tirade on Sky.
Via Harry’s Place

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Tonight on BBC4, Jerusalem: An Anthem for England:
Complementing the Last Night of the Proms, this film looks at the popularity of one of England’s favourite hymns and asks, should Jerusalem be adopted as a national anthem?
BBC4, quiet isn’t it?
The answer to this is an obvious “yes”, if only for the look on Ariel Sharon’s face […]

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Israel is fully committed to the road map to peace.

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Israel has decided to bar a journalist from entering the country.
So much for freedom of the press in democracies eh? Mind you, considering the Israeli Government doesn’t believe in the free movement of people if they happen to be of an Arab persuasion, this should come as no great surprise.

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