BCfm’s weekly politics show presented by Tony Gosling

At five: discussing the big stories in Bristol, Britain and around the world
After six: straight talking and investigative reports with Martin Summers and Marina Morris

For all the shows back to Easter 2009 visit the Friday Drivetime archive page.

First hour: International Political Economy masters graduate (Warwick) Polly Winch and Old Labour Oxford economist Martin Summers discuss mafia banking. British Bankers Association controlling the regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Are politicians stupid or part of a conspiracy? Martin reads from The Iron Heel by Jack London. Entire banking system based on ‘confidence’ so is money some kind of huge confidence trick? Has the Vickers report addressed casino banking? Banks fraudulent capital ratios need to be addressed to make banks viable. The Economist magazine compared to Brian Leslie’s Sustainable Economics magazine. There is enough wealth to go round but perversity of present disfunctional money system is widening inequality to sick proportions. Failure of police to prosecute for fraud, FSA and the the financial lobby, monetary reform and all matters economic.
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Second hour: Russia’s role in global politics. Vladimir Putin, his four-and-a-half hour long TV discussion and last week’s Russian elections. Was Prime Minister David Cameron a ‘fixer’ in an illegal South African nuclear arms deal in 1992/3? Origins of the word ‘Tory’ to describe the Conservative party. Terrorist or western intelligence bomb attacks in Iraq and Syria this week. Smoke and mirrors: Western police and intelligence services manipulating terrorists and planting bombs themselves? Similar history in Turkey, Italy (Operation Gladio), Northern Ireland and Egypt. The Clash, modern political story of Nicaragua, the Sandinistas and the Iran-Contra scandal. BBC Radio Bristol loses 50% (RAJAR: 8.4% to 4.2%) of their listeners and lose their way too in year to October 2011. BBC Director General Mark Thompson and Chairman of the BBC Trust Chris Patten quizzed on possible pro-EU bias by Public Accounts Committee. Resignation of North Somerset MP and Defence Secretary Liam Fox and the Adam Werritty and UK’s Israeli ambassador Matthew Gould scandal.
[audio: 201112231800]

BCfm’s weekly politics show presented by Tony Gosling

At five: discussing the big stories in Bristol, Britain and around the world
After six: straight talking and investigative reports with Martin Summers and Marina Morris

For all the shows back to Easter 2009 visit the Friday Drivetime archive page.

First hour: News review: Workings of Bristol City Council Audit committee. Privatisation of council homecare services. LibDem councillor John Kiely says his leader Nick Clegg has become an ‘electoral liability’ for the party. European/Euro finance agreement vetoed by David Cameron. UK unemployment hits a 17 year high. Government plans to create a network of ‘troubleshooters’ for poor and damaged families. Jim O’Neill, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management‘s views on the world economy. Housebuilding approved at Filton Airport by South Gloucestershire Council. British police, particularly Met., deemed ‘untrustworthy‘ and prospects for an elected Avon & Somerset Police Commissioner … with LibDem Cllr. for Easton, John Kiely.
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Second hour: Review of Bristol’s Christmas stage shows with Billy Quain. NATO conducting illegal low-intensity war against Iran. State-of-the-art US drone shot down over Iran & displays it on television. Interception of drone communication feeds. As US troops pull out of Iraq, is Blackwater, XE moving in? Former US Secretary of State, secret government operative and orchestrator of the 1973 Chile coup, Henry Kissinger gives his predictions for the Arab Winter, from BBC’s ‘Newsnight’. Will Syria become another Libya? Which Path To Persia? Tricking Tehran into war with the US. Message from Parliament Square Peace and Justice campaigner Barbara Tucker, whose grandfather and great grandfather were Admirals in the Royal Navy, as she takes over from Brian Haw. Techniques of mimicry being used in an attempt to discredit the Parliament Square Peace Campaign. US President Barack Obama will not to use veto as internment is introduced in the United States. British police prepare to introduce crowd control laser to blind protesters. Bristol to lose 85 homeless hostel places, roughly 20% of the 436 in the city. Former squatter Anne Bonny and Paul Hazleden from The Wild Goose cafe on Stapleton Road. Bristol City Council Homelessness Strategy out for consultation.
[audio: 201112161800]

BCfm’s weekly politics show presented by Tony Gosling

At five: discussing the big stories in Bristol, Britain and around the world

After six: straight talking and investigative reports with Martin Summers and Marina Morris

For all the shows back to Easter 2009 visit the Friday Drivetime archive page.

First hour: UK vetos Euro treaty, so ‘accord’ signed without the UK… but are they re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic? Bristol’s annual care & health budgets slashed by £5m; closure threats to day care & Bristol City Council’s 11 residential care homes; will the new Open Data Institute be breaking the Data Protection Act? Sharing of private data with pharmecutical and healthcare companies. Survey says anger with police fuelled summer riots. Bristol’s Easter 2011 disturbances. Caught on Camera, top lobbyists boasting how they influence the prime minister, top lobbying firm Bell Pottinger using ‘dark arts’ to manipulate internet searches; The arms company, the oligarch (Boris Berezovsky) and the ex-PM’s sister-in-law: lobby firm’s Wikipedia hit list; news review with Bristol City Council’s LibDem Cabinet member for Care and Health, Councillor Jon Rogers.
[audio: 201112091700]

Second hour: China tells its navy to prepare for war; Rupert Murdoch’s Fox TV News broadcasts blazing Greek riot footage as if it was shot in this week’s Moscow election demonstration; relation between financial crisis and war. Is NATO ‘missile defence’ system starting a new arms race? Russian elections. Are Western Israeli/NATO special forces already attacking Iran? Tricky – Black Steel (1995). NHS whistleblowing safeguards are not working, new local safeguards from South West Whistleblowers Health Action Group (SWWHAG) contacts: SWwhistleblowers@gmail.com & 07971 968244. Tricky – Hell Is Round The Corner (1995); Will Stone from the Avon & Bristol Law Centre, UK Human Rights Act: human rights day tomorrow, Kenneth Clarke delays £350m legal aid cuts; EU Convention of Human Rights; Government slashes solar power tariff; alternative energy and Frack Off campaign’s anti-fracking action with Mike Birkin from South West Friends of the Earth
[audio: 201112091800]