Unquiet flows the Cam (pbell)

PEACE and quiet of varsity not so removed
from world of war as would like to think?

CAMPBELL close aide to Blair, called David Kelly
"liar". Downing Street told press the scientist was
"mentally unstable" - an odd charge, considering
Campbell's own past record.

YESTERDAY I was listening to a teacher from Cambridge - the city, that is, - describing proudly how people had turned out to repel an invasion by the far-Right English Defence League. He was addressing fellow-trade unionists, and mainly talked about the union response, but acknowledged that other people, including students, had joined the mobilisation.

Indeed, knowing some friends' sons who have graduated from the University of Cambridge, I can testify that despite its conservative, elitist image, - which helped conceal top Soviet spies among its pre-war alumni - the expensive University does have some decent students, aware of more than the May Ball, meritocracy and millionaire interests, and some of them stay active, and with our side.

On the more official side, Cambridge graduates can enjoy keeping abreast of the news from their fellows, the boat race, and alma mater, by perusing Cambridge Alumni Magazine, CAM, (though not to be confused as yet with similarly named publications relating to Computer Assisted Management, still less the Construction Association of Michigan). It's not all who's doing what research and what happened to old Buffy. As the editors say:
"Reinvigorating the art of the spirited essay, CAM brings together the best of Cambridge thought and debate, keeping alumni around the world up to date and on their toes".

So I guess they will be delighted to receive this letter:

Mira Katbamna
The Editor
University of Cambridge
The Cam magazine

17 July 2011

Dear Mira Katbamna,

RE ALASTAIR CAMPBELL FROM " OUR STAR PANEL PANEL OF ALUMNI AND ACADEMICS" : Summer Reading Recommendations

Some time ago I took issue with a previous Editor that the CAM magazine made no mention of the Iraq war from the period 2003 to that day. It was as if this terrible atrocity, committed by the UK in joint enterprise with the US, was of no importance, and not worthy of even discussion in the crystal watery beauty of East Anglia. The destruction of Iraq, its culture, artefacts and people was of no consequence. It was rather like watching a Buster Keaton film where he is driving a train and totally oblivious of the Civil War going on beside him.

But then Cambridge would not want to draw attention to the war crimes being committed in that war would it? After all the University receives enormous sums of money for fellowships and research into new weapons and methods of waging war. The Cam would not want to rock THAT boat, and it continued to publish articles with smiling faces of dons and students as if nothing was happening in our name three thousand miles away.

Now you have given space to Alastair Campbell to air his views on a good book to read on holiday. You are surely aware that there is a sword of Damocles hanging over his head in the form of an appearance at the Hague, and many hold that he was one of the authors of what was regarded at Nuremberg in 1945 as the most serious war crime of all, namely planning and conspiring and helping to direct an aggressive war? Yet you give him space.

Another Nuremberg crime was the provision of false news to excite passions for war. You must know about the 45 minute claim and the lies about Chirac that were approved by Campbell if not invented by him.
You must also be aware that his evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry has been called into question by MI6 and a leading general in his concoction of the Dodgy Dossier. Yet you give him space.

Then examine his treatment of fellow journalists. He punched the Guardian Journalist Michael White who joked about Maxwell. Of Andrew Gilligan, a reputable journalist, he said "We will fuck Gilligan ". To Labour's advertising agency he said " Now fuck off and cover something important you twats." As a result of Campbell's vicious campaign against the BBC over what he called a lie, Andrew Gilligan and Greg Dyke, Director General of the BBC were sacked. Yet you give Campbell space.

In a further attempt to divert attention from his own lies, Campbell claimed Dr David Kelly was a liar. Dr Kelly, a gentle man and a distinguished scientist, Downing Street labeled as a Walter Mitty character, a minor bureaucrat, and mentally unstable. So grotesque were these insults and the pressure put on Dr Kelly by the JIC that, in the official version, he killed himself. Yet you give Campbell space.

Do you give John Nick Griffin space? No, because he is an easy target. But a monster bully like Campbell, prone to rushes of blood to the head on the one hand, deep depression on the other, and a past interest in writing pornography, you give space.

You could at least wait for the verdict of the Hague before you ask him to give recommendations for holiday reading. It might have been 'The Goebbels Diaries'.

Yours Sincerely .

Nicholas Wood, St John's 1956

P.S. You might also ask one of the Cambridge scientists to find out why cattle in Iraq are born with six legs and its implication for the future of this planet.

My thanks to Iraqi friend Tahrir, for bringing this to my attention via Iraq Occupation Focus. Whether or not CAM publishes it, I hope the editor, or the author, won't mind me bringing it to a different readership. It reminds us of wider issues.

On a topical note, Alistair Campbell has informed the Metropolitan Police that he believes his 'phone may have been tapped by the News of the World's snoops in 2003. Well, it could and did happen to a lot of nicer people.

For more about Campbell's fascinating if other than edifying story, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Campbell

On the lighter side, having occasionally tut-tutted at the over-use of the "f" and "c" words by young university-educated friends, I suppose I should not be surprised that Campbell, a graduate in English Literature, has such a renowned vocabulary. As the Wikipedia article says, "It is also hinted that the character of Malcolm Tucker from the BBC political satire comedy The Thick of It is loosely based on Campbell. Tucker is famous for his short fuse and use of very strong language. Campbell himself seems to have a few qualms about being associated with the character".

I was watching an episode of The Thick of It the other night and thought I recognised the charming character, if not the accent (though of Scottish parentage, Alistair Campbell was born and raised in Yorkshire).

On the more serious side, Alistair Campbell was a man at the heart of the New Labour 'project', and the war which killed a hundred thousand Iraqis, and from whose effects people continue to suffer. Whatever his millions-enriched boss Blair saves for the confession box, Campbell remains unrepentant, it seems.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8453116.stm

Whatever our need to make war on this Con-Dem government, we have no reason to let bygones be bygones where 'New Labour' is concerned.

Thanks to Nicholas Wood, and Tahrir.