The Melbourne International Arts Festival is well underway with just another week to go before it concludes. As is to be expected some things have been very good, others so-so. Reviews of various artists or performances have been mixed. One thing, though, which always seems to find favour is the wonderful Spiegeltent. For those who have not seen it, it stands in the forecourt in front of the State Theatre. It, together with the cafe and wine bar alongside the Spiegeltent, attract a variety of people all day long and well into the night. This year the Spiegeltent will continue with a variety of acts of all sorts until just before Xmas. Do go! You are in for a treat and something very different.
Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary. The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the
Comments