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i live in a village in kent. we have not had any gas since last tuesday we have still no gas for mothers day i could not make my 64 yr old mother a cooked meal as we usually do as we have no gas all people keep saying is well you will be getting Β£30 a day compensation but that doesnt help my two children and my elderly mother who have caught cheast infections due to the cold im justas so fed up sorry if im being a pain its just ruined my mums mothers day she is a special lady who deserved a special day im a seere epileptic so my mum has always been there fo me and my children

Its very predictable to hear the standard phrases of world criticism of Israel being thrown up such as 'disproportionate', 'collective punishment', and 'illegal action'. I'm interested in the concept of asymmetric warfare. What exactly is Israel meant to do against Hamas? How do you fight Islamic militants firing constant rockets at civilians, whilst hiding amongst a civilian population. Do the laws and conventions of warfare regarding this, reflect the realities of 2008. You often have independent military experts giving opinions of the options facing the US and British armies when fighting Islamic militants in Iraq or Afghanistan. I would be very interested to hear their views on the difficult situation that currently faces the Israeli military in Gaza.

Regarding Israel and Hamas - I am the first to deplore Israel's bombing of Gaza, but if it is in retaliation to rockets being fired constantly into Israel - why is this never televised?? The world would feel more sympathy for Israel if we saw what they claim to be happening to their civilians! All we ever see is the bloodshed they cause!

Could we have a Jewish person on who opposes the Israeli state? (they do exist).

@4
If the Rocket attacks are televised and emphasised in the news the inevitable question and very important question of WHY comes up. Why are the Palestinians attacking with Rockets? Illegal settlements, illegal wall, daily persecution, trade blockades etc. The reports consist of innocent civilians being killed and injured by an advanced military power instead, which of course is no small matter.

Violence against Israel IS broadcast - its a newsworthy event that journalists can't ignore anymore. But people see what they want to see. If you don't notice that being broadcast, perhaps you're either looking in the wrong places.

Personally, I see things as the other way round - Israeli attacks can often be on a much smaller scale as they are at the moment, and rarely get much coverage, while attacks on Israelis get widespread coverage because all the sounds coming from the UK and US governments are largely pro-Israel and condemning any retaliation.

Either way, why should we feel sympathy for either side? They're both behaving as badly as each other, and equally destroying their own ambitions of peace.

And who are we to talk about proportionate responses, still in Iraq and Afghanistan as we are...

Can we have some news of the oppression of Christians in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank and maybe an ongoing tally of all those killed in Gaza and also Israel.

Presumably the editor's objective is to try and maximise the programme's audience.
From this potential viewer's perpective I would change channels if the lead story is Gaza or Russia.
Whatever the latest twist of the Gaza affair is pretty meaningless to British people as a whole albeit compelling to a small minority.
And the Russian Elections just seem like an excuse for the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ and other media organisations to celebrate the worldwide reach of their technology and (more alarmingly) travel expenses.
I do care about drinking culture - it affects my life.
No mention of the Tory plans for prisons - and after all the high profile murder cases recently - seems like an omission.

There was a very good interview with a (female) IDF officer on the Today programme a while ago, in which she explained that they use counter-battery radar to locate the rocket launch sites, and then attack them.

Why is this fact (that the sites attacked are those that rockets are launched from) not even hinted at in daily news reports? The way it is presented could lead people who only follow the headlines to think that the IDF launched attacks at random, without caring who was in the way. The Today interview made it clear that this wasn't the case - it was obvious that the interviewee was upset by the civilian casualties caused.

Whilst I think some of Israel's responses have been a bit heavy handed, more should be made of the problems they face - how can you protect your own civilians against an enemy that not only is happy to target them, but doesn't care about putting it's own civilians at risk in the process?

Dear Newsnight

I'm not suggesting this, just a question really-

If the Palestinians were offered the possibility of a country of their own, but somewhere else in the World, would they accept this?

(willingly/gladly or not all all?)

Has anything long these lines ever being suggested to them?

stress again I am not suggesting this or anything else in a situation that has so far defied the efforts of the most persistant and skilled peace makers and negotiators across the globe,

Could this be the basis of questions to anyone?

just a thought

best wishes and just to say it is a great opportunity and privilege to be able to leave personal comments on the website of one of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔs flagship programme,

thank you for this,

I can only guess at some of the problems you have faced and continue to face with this brilliant innovation but thank you from me at least for it, and for perservering with overcoming some of the recent technical problems,

best wishes and many thanks again
Bob

(a grateful blogger!!)

ALCOHOLICS HAVE ONLY THEM SELVES TO BLAME FOR THEIR PROBLEM THERE ARE TO MANY IN THIS COUNTRY HOW THINK ALL AILMENTS ARE DOWN TO THE REST OF US, FACE UP TO YOUR PROBLEMS AND DEAL WITH THEM YOUR SELVES.

Andrew Greene asks: What exactly is Israel meant to do against Hamas?
They could start by returning the land and property they have stolen instead of trying to kill the rightful owners. They could stop diverting underground water supplies away from Palestine. They could stop claiming, against all evidence to the contrary, that all Palestinians they kill are terrorists. They could stop torture and imprisonment without trial. They could start complying with UN resolutions. They could return to the Palestinians the money that is rightfully theirs. They could stop building Israeli settlements on Palestinian land and evict the illegally 'settlers'. .... And that's only to start with.

@11
Why is it the Palestinians who should have to move? Don't forget many of them are refugees who were basically kicked out of their houses, many of them live in the hope of returning to their family home one day, some still even have the keys to the doors.

I think Newsnight always has a good story precedence, keep up the good work!

I agree with Brendon and M.Rock, and should like to suggest an analogy. At about the same time that the Romans dispersed the Jews (first century AD) there was trouble in Britain - Boudicca's rising - against the Romans. If that had not been crushed, and the Romans had dispersed her tribe the Iceni round Europe, perhaps they would not have integrated for the next 2,000 years, perhaps they would have got across Adolf Hitler and been persecuted. Say then that after the war, as well as Israel, a new state for the Iceni had been created in their old homeland of Norfolk, and all the later Anglo Saxons, who hadn't moved in till about 600 AD (same sort of timescale as the Arabs into Palestine) had been thrown out, and had gone down into Suffolk and wept in refugee camps ... what side would we all have been on in that situation?

When you get Mark Regev on tonight, please do not allow him to remain unchallenged when he tries to create some sort of equivalence between the daily situation of the two peoples involved here. Dozens of child deaths, occupation, subjugation, checkpoints, blockades, bulldozed homes, summary arrest and imprisonment of thousands, being divided from family, friends and customers by walls... the list is endless.

The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ formula for reporting this situation goes like this: ignore when possible; when it has to be mentioned, create a balance and portray an equity of suffering. The result is an omission of the truth in favour of placating the sensibilities of the Israeli PR machine. Your obligation is to portray the truth, not to play a sordid game of keeping everyone happy.

If the Arabs were persecuting and disenfranchising Israelis I would make the same point. Do not be afraid to be called anti one side, or anti the other: honesty is the only policy. This is too important to be fudged.

Be brave and good luck.

If you are going to have a report on Israel/Gaza then isn't it time you gave some prominence to the recently commissioned UN Report by Special Rapporteur John Dugard which reaches the conclusion that Palestinian actions must be seen as the "inevitable consequence" of Israeli occupation. The report says that while Palestinian terrorist acts are deplorable, "they must be understood as being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or occupation."
That is a context conspicious by its absence unlike the "retaliation" context which is constantly afforded to Israel, no matter what conventions and international law it blatently flouts.

Leave real ale alone. It's the "shots" culture in clubs plus the high strength lager and cider that is causing the problems plus the alco-pops.
It's about time the law was enforced on the sale of alcohol to drunks in clubs but then apart from the yobbo culture, those that drink responsibly without seeking fights or vandalism, get pulled into the nanny state, to which Mike above alludes, plus allowing the Government to tax us more.
Any more punitive tax on beer will see more community pubs closed, running currently at 56 per month.

I hope some context is going to be given for the recent escalation, like the report of the "massacre" and "slaughter" reported by Aljazeera on January 15th 2008.

Incursion 'a massacre'

Israel's incursion came a week after Bush said he wanted a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians by the end of his presidential term at the end of 2008.

Hamas officials blamed Bush's presence in the region for the violence.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, has reportedly ordered a series of such "sharp and short" incursions, into Gaza and the West Bank.

Abbas said on Tuesday: "What happened today is a massacre, a slaughter against the Palestinian people.

"Our people cannot keep silent over these massacres. These massacres cannot bring peace."

And for goodness sake dont make out Israel is retaliating to Palestinian escalation.

Dear Newsnight

re 14, M.Rock, I'm not intending tto offer any suggestions except to ask about all the options, there has being talk in the past of states being set up for displaced people, would it be harmful to ask the Palestinians this,and other nations affected by conflict?

throughout history countries, peoples individuals have moved,

the consequences of a lasting peace in the Middle East would be phemonomenal, Jewish people and Palestinians and all countries affected by this, ie most countries would be freed up to fulfil their real potential and look outwards,

such a peace would be so beneficial that the World would give a lot to achieve a settlement?

Is the identity of a country and a people necessarily part and parcel with they live?

ie the 'vivre le' sort of idea

if Britain was covered by floodwaters we would move,

Palestine and Israel are covered by the floodwaters and legacy of a terrible history, really what all the options for everyones sake,

is it inconceivable that one of these nations might move away from it even literally? is this really impossible, is it so bad to raise this as a question?

a new country, with huge investment from the world, would that not be of interest?

just some thoughts (mine alone that are not intended to offend) I tried to stress in my posting, the most highly skilled peacemakers have being working for years in the Middle East,

at the end of the day what is the harm in asking these sort of questions?

re 14 was that Sun Tzu you were thinking of? ie if you do not leave someone you are fighting a way out they may fight to the death?

I'm sorry if my earlier posting caused any offence or misunderstanding, this one is not intended to either, the last thing I want to do,

I'm on no ones side, all people are equal and there are good and bad in all nations,

I side with the good in these nations and care about the suffering of all nations,

but surely the recent terrible history of the Jewish people has suggested to them that they cannot rely on anyone and that there had being every intention by the Arab nations to end the state of Israel?

Years ago my late Father an RAF officer replaced something I wore because the stripes and material looked too much like the clothes worn by those still dying in the camps when they reached them,

Is it surprising that Israel has a siege mentality, so would any of us with their history, that said perhaps they now need to take the bravest step yet and not be shackled by the lessons history would seems to suggest to them,

best wishes
Bob

Peace to all,

There is quite a lot of coverage in today's FT of the unwrapping of PFI bonds in the wake of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and this is now apparently affecting deals in Tunbridge Wells. Come back Stephanie Flanders & explain this all simply?!

But if you are doing something on that latest set of wheels to come
off Brown's economic wagon, note
that long-time PFI sceptic and
critic Allyson Pollock is now
a Professor at Edinburgh Univ.
The FT is also reporting that
there is a continuing row over
the treatment of PFI debt as
being 'off balance sheet' and
that if this is now all to be
included in the PSBR Labour's
fiscal rules are up the creek!

"And for goodness sake dont make out Israel is retaliating to Palestinian escalation."

That is the truth, Goebbels.

Further to comments #23 and #24 from Mike Jecks: the other person who's
been warning about the unwinding of these bond risk insurance firms is
Jon Moulton who did a Channel 4 Dispatches programme a few weeks
back suggesting that Northern Rock was just the tip of the iceberg &
more trouble was about to come in
this new area of grief for PFI ..

We need Newsnight analysis of this issue nevertheless as C4 News was
leading tonight with a financial
scare story about Icelandic banks
which appeared to emanate from the
British FSA? Frankly I would trust
a Gullfoss geyser to be more trust
worthy and reliable than FSA or any
British bank these days and I was a
bit surprised to hear the normally
sane John McFall MP, Chairman of The Treasury Select Committee, warning punters to be wary of the deposit
insurance schemes operated by 'the Baltic economies'. Iceland was not
in the Baltic last time I was there
though earthquakes can happen in the most unlikely places including Hull!
This sounded a bit like an FSA/ New
Labour displacement story - to take
the focus away from the dodgy state
of UK finances and UK bond insurers?
Iceland, according to the Governor of their Central Bank interviewed
on Channel 4 turned out to have no
exposure to the US sub-prime banks
unlike the good folk in Tunbridge
Wells? We need Stephanie Flanders.