Robin Cook's death has brought forth many tales, and the peace movement has some to tell about him too. For instance, he first entered parliament at the time the Campaign Against Arms Trade was founded in 1974, and showed that he was clearly starting out with a properly disrespectful attitude to the place. When the then CAAT staffer tried to contact likely MPs to generate some interest in the new campaign, the first response was Robin Cook's - maybe the CAAT archives still have the…
The Molehill
3 July 2005Comment
There was a Parisian campaign to say “non” to the Olympics - which, surprisingly, got no coverage over here - as well as the (slightly reported) campaign by sensible people in London who oppose this corporate-promoting festival of nationalism and trib
3 June 2005Comment
The Mole has another tale to tell of the exploits of indefatigable peace campaigner Gwyn Gwyntopher.
If you've forgotten the last time Gwyn's name featured in this column, just think back: army tanks at Heathrow Airport in an officially convenient “security scare”; buckets of wallpaper paste hastily transported on the Piccadilly Line tube. Remember now?
The latest tale relates to a group called East London Against the Arms Fair, of which Gwyn is a key member. The…
3 May 2005Comment
New moral conundrums (conundra?) for peace campaigners arrive for The Mole's attention. After last month's worries about the ethical (or not) sourcing of the material for military uniforms comes a sneaky suggestion from the Countryside Alliance.
The pro-hunting lobby are apparently talking with some of their rich land-owning supporters about ways of taking revenge on the government for its ban on hunting. They reckon that they could bring military training to a halt in many parts of…
3 April 2005Comment
In yet another delicious footnote to “the greatest corporate PR disaster in history” - as even mainstream commentators described the McLibel trial - it turns out that the leaflet criticising McDonald's now has an even larger circulation.
The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights that the McLibel Two didn't have a fair trial, and had their rights to freedom of expression infringed, naturally had to include the text of the offending leaflet in its judgement, which has been…
3 March 2005Comment
Regular Mole-istas will know that this column finds it hard to resist an opportunity to criticise once-Red Ken, Mayor of Greater London. And we all know very well, from recent evidence, that Ken “turn-again” Livingstone similarly finds it impossible (especially when in party mood) to resist slagging off the Daily Mail. Which leaves The Mole, also a hater of the Daily Wail, in an ambiguous position.
The Mail's wilful pandering to (and generation of) the ill-informed…