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   <title>New Statesman - <![CDATA[Mark Thomas]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/writers/mark_thomas</link>
 
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   <language>en</language>

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    <url>http://images.newstatesman.com/users/avatars/mark-thomas.jpg</url>
    <title>Mark Thomas</title>
    <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/writers/mark_thomas</link>
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   <title><![CDATA[Arms and the prince]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2007/11/royal-family-indonesia-arms</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2007/11/royal-family-indonesia-arms</guid>
   <pubDate>Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>Unfortunately the royal family has form when it comes to schmoozing dictators and thugs</em></p>

<p>There are no prizes for guessing that standing on the left of the photo is the chap who will, in the absence of the revolution, one day be king - Prince William.</p>
<p>The two chaps on the right happen to be among the most senior generals in the Indonesian military, and the photo has caused a stir among MPs and human rights groups. The meeting is seen as being, at  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2007/11/royal-family-indonesia-arms">[...]</a></p>
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   <title><![CDATA[The real thing?]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/08/coca-cola-happiness-factory</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/08/coca-cola-happiness-factory</guid>
   <pubDate>Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:29:20 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>The truth about working conditions inside Coca-Cola's "Happiness Factory": wage cuts, 12-hour shifts and strikes</em></p>

<p>Coca-Cola’s current TV ad features life inside a Coke vending machine where hundreds of weird cartoon creatures individually make a bottle of Coke.</p>
<p>Small fluffy white balls bounce onto the bottle to cover it with kisses and penguin scientists frost the bottle with the flakes of freshly shredded snowmen.</p>
<p>The bottle is sent to the delivery chute accompanied by a full marching band, cheerleaders and fireworks displays. It is essentially  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/08/coca-cola-happiness-factory">[...]</a></p>
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   <title><![CDATA[Willing to break the law?]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/07/saudi-arabia-government-oecd</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/07/saudi-arabia-government-oecd</guid>
   <pubDate>Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:35:44 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>Mark Thomas on the continuing saga of the government, BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia</em></p>

<p>Documents released at the Royal Courts of Justice show the British government would be prepared to go as far as breaking international law in order to scrap the investigation into allegations of bribery between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>On top of this the UK government appears, once again, to have kept back embarrassing documents from the OECD (the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development) who are examining the government’s  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/07/saudi-arabia-government-oecd">[...]</a></p>
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   <title><![CDATA[For sale: tools of torture]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2007/06/police-shar-security-weapons</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2007/06/police-shar-security-weapons</guid>
   <pubDate>Thu, 07 Jun 2007 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>Observations on stun guns</em></p>

<p>Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre is hosting Britain's biggest security exhibition, IFSEC. Mobile CCTV vans and vast multiscreens, broadcasting footage of every square inch of the place, line the avenues of industrial carpet. The place is crammed with plain clothes cops and local council officials cooing over the latest cameras which will soon spy over their shopping centres. It is Thursday 24 May and amid the short haircuts, bad suits and  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2007/06/police-shar-security-weapons">[...]</a></p>
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   <title><![CDATA['Tony Blair is a cult']]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/04/police-permission-rural-shirt</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/04/police-permission-rural-shirt</guid>
   <pubDate>Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:01:53 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>The campaign to concrete rural England, ban February and for legalising urban foxhunting hits London</em></p>

<p>Dear citizen reader,</p>
<p>It is with  pride that I can confirm that the latest attack on the exposed flanks of government absurdity has been successful. As announced in the last blog a new phase has been entered into with the battle with the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA), leading to a massive surge of citizens deployed. </p>
<p>SOCPA is the legislation - introduced to quieten down peace campaigner  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/04/police-permission-rural-shirt">[...]</a></p>
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   <title><![CDATA[Join the day of 1,184 protests]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/04/police-labour-arrested</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/04/police-labour-arrested</guid>
   <pubDate>Wed, 11 Apr 2007 10:10:53 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>Welcome to the strange New Labour world in which you can be arrested for possessing a cake...</em></p>

<p>Oh dear readers, now is your time, now is the moment, this is your chance to get all the gripes, groans and disgust with New Labour out of your system in one go! I’m offering you- dear sweet reader - this once in a lifetime moment! "What is you it?" you cry in eager mental salivation. It is gestalt protest! It’s therapy, it’s protest, it’s fun! Join me in the  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/04/police-labour-arrested">[...]</a></p>
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   <title><![CDATA[British humbug]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/03/iran-british-iraq-hain-britain</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/03/iran-british-iraq-hain-britain</guid>
   <pubDate>Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:29:28 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>Did you hear the snigger as Britain complained that Iran had broken international law</em></p>

<p>It is an awkward question to ask but did anyone else hear the rest of the world sniggering?</p>
<p>I thought I heard it, that’s all. The sequence of events went like this: the unfortunate British soldiers were kidnapped  by Iran, Britain announced that Iran had broken international law... and that was when I thought I heard a global giggle, though it could have been a snort of derision.  </p>
<p>A  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/03/iran-british-iraq-hain-britain">[...]</a></p>
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   <title><![CDATA[Free Ocalan ... or should that be Borat?]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/02/book-ocalan-terrorism-banning</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/02/book-ocalan-terrorism-banning</guid>
   <pubDate>Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:48:54 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>You can't beat terrorism by banning parliamentary book launches</em></p>

<p>I’m paraphrasing my friend Bob Boyton when I say that politicians are like dog crap - every now and then you have to tread in them. The Channel 4 political awards, recorded a few weeks ago and attended by some 200 odd MPs, was the televisual equivalent of Crufts front lawn.</p>
<p>Steaming piles of our elected representatives littered the Channel 4 cafeteria demurely swigging the free wine, and - for  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/02/book-ocalan-terrorism-banning">[...]</a></p>
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   <title><![CDATA[We need a 'Bribery Tsar' for the 21st century]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/01/bribery-saudi-jobs-law-blair</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/01/bribery-saudi-jobs-law-blair</guid>
   <pubDate>Fri, 05 Jan 2007 11:06:57 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>If bribery is so good for jobs, why should it be a crime?</em></p>

<p>The war on terror has been used to justify many things from the Brian Haw law (to make protesters get permits) to illegally invading Iraq. It is indeed a small wonder that John Prescott when caught shagging didn’t opt for the “war on terror” defence.</p>
<p>I for one would pay money to see him declaring, “We have it on reliable intelligence information that unless I put my penis in the  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mark-thomas/2007/01/bribery-saudi-jobs-law-blair">[...]</a></p>
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   <title><![CDATA[Roll up, roll up! Peerages for a &#163;1]]></title>
   <link>http://www.newstatesman.com/200611180003</link>
   <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.newstatesman.com/200611180003</guid>
   <pubDate>Sat, 18 Nov 2006 16:47:21 GMT</pubDate>
   <dc:creator>Mark Thomas</dc:creator>
  
  <description><![CDATA[<p><em>Ever wanted to be a Lord or a Lady? Well why not put your name to this novel idea for changing the honours system?</em></p>

<p>Amidst the Labour Party grandees in line for questioning by the police it looks like Tony Blair himself could be officially probed under caution. </p>
<p>It is hardly the Hague International Criminal Court but it is a start and at least we establish the principle that he should be questioned by the authorities. </p>
<p>The surprise of the scandal is not the idea a government would sell titles but that  <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/200611180003">[...]</a></p>
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