RAMZY BAROUD on how Israel’s narrative collides with military failure

MAJOR GENERAL James Cowan, who led the British Army operation in Afghanistan as the head of Task Force Helmand in 2009-10, says Britain needs to “swallow our pride and support a moderate wing of the Taliban” to avert a “catastrophe,” a “humanitarian disaster” and a “civil war.”
Major General Cowan now runs the Halo Trust, a de-mining charity, which has over 2,000 staff still working in Afghanistan removing deadly mines and “IEDs” planted during decades of war.
The fact that the man who led the life-and-death fight against the Taliban for Britain now argues this suggests that a British deal with the Taliban is inevitable – it’s just a question of when. Major General Cowan’s argument is that sooner is better than later.

Labour’s pop-loving front bench have snaffled up even more music tickets worth thousands apiece, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

Secret consultation documents finally released after the Morning Star’s two-year freedom of information battle show the Home Office misrepresented public opinion, claiming support for policies that most respondents actually strongly criticised as dangerous and unfair, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

SOLOMON HUGHES highlights a 1995 Sunday Times story about the disappearance of ‘defecting Iraqi nuclear scientist.’ Even though the story was debunked, it was widely repeated across the mainstream press, creating the false – and deadly – narrative of Iraqi WMD that eventually led to war

Despite Labour’s promises to bring things ‘in-house,’ the Justice Secretary has awarded notorious outsourcing outfit Mitie a £329 million contract to run a new prison — despite its track record of abuse and neglect in its migrant facilities, reports SOLOMON HUGHES