Mike Raddie Bio
Mike was one of the original people who founded Democracy Village in Parliament Square and often appears on RT to be interviewed about various news stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8stIimnW_UE
His special interest and expertise is in money reform.
His pieces for BSN include:
“The dogs bark, but the caravan passes on.”
So how would a basic income work in practice? Imagine if you will that in the UK every adult is given £1,500 per month; a basic income of £18,000 every year. What would people do? What would you do? The implications here are earth-shattering. The truth is you could do exactly what you want to! With the basic necessities of your life secured you would no longer be forced to enter the spirit-crushing rat race. But who would clean the streets, collect our rubbish, teach our children? Well, £18,000 per year is clearly not enough for everyone, so there would still be a demand for additional paid work. Perhaps some people would choose to work part time and spend more of their free time with their friends and family. Those menial, low paid jobs would undoubtedly be difficult to fill but the law of supply and demand would simply mean that to hire a cleaner would cost more money, and rightly so. Also when the basics of life are taken care of more people would choose to do volunteer work – this could be David Cameron’s ‘big society’ dream come true! Momentously then, this all means that for the first time in human history the dynamic of work would have drastically altered; the power of capital and labour would be reversed.
Published 1 June 2014
“A Leap into Darkness”
Relying solely on corporate media news reports, one could be forgiven for thinking the US and UK have played a responsible, albeit, insignificant role in recent events in Ukraine and that it is Russia who is the aggressor and violator of Ukrainian sovereignty and international law. But the truth is British and American governments are simply doing what they have always done – orchestrating and directing, with meticulous attention to detail, a violent coup d’état; in this instance, removing from office the democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych.
‘Essential Equipment’: UK, France to jointly develop war drones
Mike Raddie discusses today’s agreement between UK and France on future drone technology development (Russia Today News)
‘Drone warfare helps sell wars to a domestic audience’
Development of modern drone technologies will never eliminate civilian collateral damage in conflict deployment, Michael Raddie, antiwar activist told RT, arguing that investing in drones makes warfare more acceptable for general public.
Public Banks or More Private Sector Subsidies
Misplaced praise for the financial sector ignores the elephant in the room – private banks are some of the most heavily-subsidized businesses in the world. A justification for public banks by Mike Raddie
Despite the never-ending praise lavished on the financial services industry and especially the City of London by figures like Boris Johnson, the financial sector is actually a net drain on society. Boris is the habitual defender of white collar crime, be it HSBC laundering money for Mexican drug cartels, the Libor scandal (big banks manipulating interest rates) or the widespread mis-selling of financial products, in the eyes of Boris the city boys can do no wrong.
Edward Snowden Granted Asylum
Interview on Russia Today with BSNews Co-Editor Mike Raddie
Discussing the example Edward Snowden has set and the implications for future whistleblowers as well as the fallout from the NSA scandal in the EU and the way the telecoms companies, the backbone of the public internet, have gone above and beyond, effectively serving the interests of the intelligence community rather than their customers.
Published 3 Aug 2013
Disgraceful! Disgusting! Shameful!
Just some of the comments (appropriately) attributed to today’s decision at the British High Courts of (In)Justice to thwart the Chagos Islanders’ decades long legal battle for the right to return to their homeland by Mike Raddie
One of the most ignominious episodes in British foreign policy, involving political parties of all colours, was the forced eviction of some 2,000 Illois people from their homeland, the beautiful Chagos island group (formerly part of the Territory of Mauritius) in the Indian Ocean and the continued denial of their right to return home.
Published 11 June 2013
Margaret Thatcher: A Legacy of Lies
A history of state sponsored terrorism, torture, extra judicial murder, imprisonment without trial, eviction of British citizens from their homeland etc etc by Mike Raddie
Iran-Iraq War (1980 – 1988):
Throughout the 1980′s, during the war with Iran and even after the gassing of the Kurds in Halabja, Britain lavished all manner of favours on Saddam Hussain’s Iraq; the decade saw the UK provide £3.5 billion in trade credits to Baghdad, freeing up resources for the Iraqi military. Britain also sold Iraq £2.3 billions worth of machinery and transport equipment between 1981 and 1990. If one remembers at the time, farm machinery was a rather badly kept secret euphemism for military equipment. In fact British firms were part of a pan-european criminal network secretly supplying weapons and ammunition to both sides of the conflict.
Published 8 April 2013
Syria: Libya 2.0
21st Century Conflict and Connections to the Past by Mike Raddie
It should come as no surprise that the UK is in breach of international law yet again. With its not-so-covert intervention in Syria, under the umbrella of the same ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P) mantra which justified the murder of over 100,000 innocent Libyans, the UK government is happy once again to flout United Nations resolutions while claiming to be offering humanitarian assistance.
UNGA Resolution 2625 states: No State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. Consequently, armed intervention and all other forms of interference or attempted threats against the personality of the State or against its political, economic and cultural elements are in violation of international law.
Published 9 Jan 2012
Why I Never Wear a Poppy
By Mike Raddie
What I can’t abide is this sanctimonious remembrance of those who knowingly gave up their lives and for whom we can do nothing other than commemorate whilst simultaneously turning a blind eye to the innocent civilians who desperately want to live but who will surely be killed. That the murder of today’s victims of war is at the hands of our own armed forces is a truth too unsettling for most to even think of, possibly because deep down we all know we should be doing more to prevent it.
Published 11 Nov 2011
What’s Next For Libya?
Anyone not tuned into the corporate media will easily be able to answer this by Mike Raddie
State Sponsored Terrorism?
We must thank the ‘Brylcreem Boys’ of Marham in Norfolk, UK for their precision guided, depleted uranium tipped missile strikes. On August 9th 2011, during the height of the riots in the UK, David Cameron ordered a military strike on a cluster of farmhouses and tents near the town of Zlitan, east of Tripoli. A total of 85 innocent civilians were killed including 33 children and 32 women. The BBC report fails to mention the murdered children. Instead it simply echos, without challenge, the false claims of NATO that “the target was a military one, with civilian deaths unlikely”
Published 26 Aug 2011
