IMAGINE !

"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one....."

A while back someone said to me that he thought the John Lennon song Imagine had been censored from the British airwaves, as he didn't seem to have heard it recently. So just in case this is true, here's some of the lyrics !

In these bellicose times, I have to say that Michael Hastings article on "The Runaway General" in the edition of "Rolling Stone" magazine out tomorrow - but available for download today - makes a very interesting, as well as entertaining, read.

However, although its opening lines seem to support Stanley McChrystal's bravado style, by the end one is left with the impression that the General is probably best out of the way, for reasons other than his criticism of "The Wimps in the White House".

The good news is that the winner in this particular war is undoubtedly "Rolling Stone": a testimony to the enduring power of its genre of writing on music, politics and popular culture.

DON'T LET A FIGHT RUIN YOUR NIGHT !

I find this message all over the streets of Worcester this afternoon as people gather to watch England play Slovenia in the Football World Cup.

This is perhaps also a message to which embattled President Obama needs to take heed.

As the President's wrath switches from BP's Tony Haywood to US General McChrystal's comments in Rolling Stone magazine, my advice is "Calm Down, because this isn't a commercial !"

Diane Abbott MP: "Consistent and Persistent"

In an unlikely analogy, Diane Abbott's bid for Labour Party leader is being likened to the rise to power of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

This blog recognised some time ago that Ms Abbott had leadership potential, and she does share with Mrs Thatcher the virtue of being a "signpost" rather that a "weather vane", to use Tony Benn's defining description of the political temperament. The new Communities Secretary Eric Pickles described Ms Abbott as "consistent and persistent" yesterday.

As someone offering a genuinely left of centre perspective, Ms Abbott's candidacy for Labour Party leader is very much to be welcomed at a time when the interests of government and big business have become to far too closely intertwined, both in this country and abroad.

BP: FROM BIG PROFITS TO BIG PROBLEMS

When former President Putin effectively put a stop to BP's activities in Russia a few years ago, for a combination of financial and environmental reasons, the company's public relations machine ensured that it was portrayed as the wronged party. With hindsight, Putin may be regarded as having better political judgement than his US and UK contemporaries. This a factual comment rather than an ethical observation.

For a country which likes to regard itself as pushing forward the frontiers of ethical business - I'm speaking of Britain - the unethical activities of BP, like those of the overly-ambitious British banking sector, have struck another deep blow on the domestic front. For the facts are that BP's increasingly aggressive exploitation of the world's oil reserves and the big profits that accompanied this strategy have led not only to an unprecedented environmental - and economic - disaster for the United States, but the prospect of major financial problems in the UK if the company has to suspend payments to an already shaky pensions sector.

The US Government is, of course, as much to blame as BP for the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, and, therefore, equally responsible for tackling its consequences. Prime Minister Cameron needs to convey this message to President Obama. Both men should also recognise that the problems of overly powerful business interests are as much as issue for the US and the UK as they are for countries like Russia.