The Daily Mash may have a solution to the problems of the Middle East

The Daily Mash may have a solution to the problems of the Middle East, they report that:

"A MASSIVE silver dome should be placed over the Middle East until all the explosions have stopped, the UN secretary general said last night.

Following predictions the region would soon be rife with nuclear weapons, Ban Ki-Moon unveiled plans for a huge dome approximately 2500 miles across.

The dome would be built in a South Korean shipyard and towed by supertankers to the Indian Ocean. It would then be heaved into place until it covered Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Syria, and much of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran.

Outlining his new peace plan, Mr Moon said: "Once the dome is in place we expect about 12 to 18 months of constant explosions, followed by silence.

"We will then lift up the edge of the dome and have a peek to see if there are any heavily armed psycopaths still alive.

"If so we'll just chuck in a few sticks of dynamite, slam the dome back down and wait for the big boom."

If the plan is successful Mr Moon said the dome could be melted down and made into napkin holders or placed over the United Kingdom, 'until they learn how to have a drink without beating the shit out of each other'."

What is George Galloway suggesting here?

The Spectator reports that George Galloway included the following passage in an address that was shown on Al-Jazeera on 15 May. What is he suggesting the Palestinians do, is he suggesting an invasion of Israel?

"All my life I believed that Palestine could be liberated by the Kalashnikov and the armed struggle alone. This was a mistake. We need the Kalashnikov. We need the armed struggle. This is the hammer. But we need also an anvil. The hammer is necessary to defend yourself, to strike your enemy. You must never let it down, never let it fall from your hand. But it cannot make something alone. What is needed is an anvil, and that anvil has to be mass movements of the population, of the people. The most inspiring event, of the last – we can say – 40 years, since Karameh, was when the people of Gaza, with their bare hands, in their thousands tore down the walls of their prison, and poured out of the siege into Egypt."

Can you spell delusional?

Listen to Tamsin Dunwoody claiming that the Labour vote held up yesterday. Apparently it was extra Conservative voters not a reduction in the Labour vote, hmmm:

Labour vote in 2005 general election - 21,240
Labour vote in 2008 by-election - 12,679

So that's 8,561 less votes in 2008 compared to 2005; how is that a Labour vote "holding up". With mathematical skills like that, Tamsin Dunwoody could be the next Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Conservative Target seats

UK Polling Report have a list of "the two hundred seats where the Conservative party needs to overturn the lowest percentage majority to win the seat. These are not necessarily the seats where it will be easiest to do so, or the seats that the party will actually be targeting at the next election. In seats marked with an asterisk (*) the Conservative party is currently in third (or lower) place." Crewe and Nantwich was at number 165 and not a real target, here's the list:

"1. Finchley and Golders Green 31 Swing required: 0.05 %
2. Crawley 37 Swing required: 0.05 %
3. Croydon Central 317 Swing required: 0.35 %
4. Battersea 336 Swing required: 0.4 %
5. Aberconwy 243 Swing required: 0.4 %
6. Harlow 357 Swing required: 0.45 %
7. Milton Keynes South 483 Swing required: 0.5 %
8. Hove 450 Swing required: 0.5 %
9. Romsey and Southampton North 462 Swing required: 0.55 %
10. Cheltenham 515 Swing required: 0.55 %
11. Eastleigh 530 Swing required: 0.55 %
12. Dartford 583 Swing required: 0.65 %
13. St Austell and Newquay 630 Swing required: 0.8 %
14. Westmorland and Lonsdale 836 Swing required: 0.9 %
15. City of Chester 813 Swing required: 0.9 %
16. Stroud 1007 Swing required: 0.95 %
17. Bristol North West 1075 Swing required: 1.05 %
18. Loughborough 1138 Swing required: 1.15 %
19. Carshalton and Wallington 1044 Swing required: 1.25 %
20. Cardiff North 1146 Swing required: 1.25 %
21. Hastings and Rye 1205 Swing required: 1.3 %
22. Chippenham 1260 Swing required: 1.35 %
23. Calder Valley 1346 Swing required: 1.4 %
24. Hereford and North Herefordshire 1297 Swing required: 1.45 %
25. Stourbridge 1285 Swing required: 1.45 %
26. Taunton Deane 1702 Swing required: 1.5 %
27. Colne Valley 1535 Swing required: 1.5 %
28. Corby 1517 Swing required: 1.55 %
29. Brighton Kemptown 1213 Swing required: 1.65 %
30. Perth and North Perthshire 1521 Swing required: 1.65 %
31. South Basildon and East Thurrock 1467 Swing required: 1.7 %
32. Vale of Glamorgan 1664 Swing required: 1.8 %
33. Swindon South 1565 Swing required: 1.85 %
34. Northampton South 1386 Swing required: 1.85 %
35. Dorset South 1812 Swing required: 1.85 %
36. Milton Keynes North 1862 Swing required: 1.9 %
37. Stafford 1800 Swing required: 1.95 %
38. Watford 1148 Swing required: 1.96 %*
39. Angus 1601 Swing required: 2.1 %
40. York Outer 1821 Swing required: 2.25 %
41. Redditch 1948 Swing required: 2.3 %
42. Broxstowe 2267 Swing required: 2.35 %
43. Burton 2134 Swing required: 2.4 %
44. High Peak 2332 Swing required: 2.5 %
45. Pendle 2180 Swing required: 2.65 %
46. Carmarthen West and South Pembrokshire 2063 Swing required: 2.7 %
47. Birmingham Edgbaston 2187 Swing required: 2.75 %
48. Bury North 2236 Swing required: 2.75 %
49. Wolverhampton South West 2252 Swing required: 2.8 %
50. Ribble South 2686 Swing required: 2.85 %
51. Dumfries and Galloway 2922 Swing required: 2.85 %
52. Tamworth 2569 Swing required: 2.95 %
53. Derbyshire South 2733 Swing required: 3 %
54. Torbay 2755 Swing required: 3 %
55. Cleethorpes 2642 Swing required: 3.05 %
56. Harrow East 2647 Swing required: 3.1 %
57. Swindon North 2832 Swing required: 3.3 %
58. Sutton and Cheam 2870 Swing required: 3.3 %
59. Worcester 3144 Swing required: 3.4 %
60. Bradford West 2580 Swing required: 3.55 %
61. Richmond Park 3649 Swing required: 3.6 %
62. Great Yarmouth 3055 Swing required: 3.7 %
63. Hendon 3005 Swing required: 3.75 %
64. Brentford and Isleworth 3471 Swing required: 4 %
65. Cheadle 3950 Swing required: 4 %
66. Eltham 3174 Swing required: 4.1 %
67. Bedford 3476 Swing required: 4.1 %
68. Brigg and Goole 3347 Swing required: 4.1 %
69. Portsmouth South 3181 Swing required: 4.25 %
70. Stevenage 3451 Swing required: 4.25 %
71. Rossendale and Darwen 3752 Swing required: 4.25 %
72. Halifax 3438 Swing required: 4.35 %
73. Dudley South 3126 Swing required: 4.4 %
74. Northampton North 3483 Swing required: 4.5 %
75. Westminster North 3021 Swing required: 4.55 %
76. Edinburgh South 405 Swing required: 4.55 %*
77. Blackpool North and Cleveleys 3540 Swing required: 4.65 %
78. Southport 3838 Swing required: 4.65 %
79. Wirral South 3724 Swing required: 4.7 %
80. Newton Abbott 4573 Swing required: 4.75 %
81. Leicestershire North West 4477 Swing required: 4.75 %
82. Wyre Forest 4574 Swing required: 4.75 %
83. Lincoln 3844 Swing required: 4.8 %
84. Leeds North West 911 Swing required: 4.8 %*
85. Nuneaton 3843 Swing required: 4.85 %
86. Bolton West 4075 Swing required: 4.9 %
87. Ochil and South Perthshire 688 Swing required: 4.95 %*
88. Halesowen and Rowley Regis 4140 Swing required: 5 %
89. Brecon and Radnorshire 3905 Swing required: 5.1 %
90. Dover 5061 Swing required: 5.2 %
91. Gedling 4876 Swing required: 5.25 %
92. Keighley 4852 Swing required: 5.25 %
93. Carlisle 4069 Swing required: 5.3 %
94. Bolton North East 3581 Swing required: 5.35 %
95. Plymouth Sutton and Devonport 4305 Swing required: 5.35 %
96. Dewsbury 4924 Swing required: 5.4 %
97. Warrington South 5062 Swing required: 5.45 %
98. Pudsey 4751 Swing required: 5.45 %
99. Mid Dorset and North Poole 5270 Swing required: 5.45 %
100. Stirling 4767 Swing required: 5.45 %
101. Devon North 5377 Swing required: 5.5 %
102. Oxford West and Abingdon 5525 Swing required: 5.65 %
103. Dudley North 4145 Swing required: 5.7 %
104. Elmet and Rothwell 6295 Swing required: 5.7 %
105. Poplar and Limehouse 3942 Swing required: 5.75 %
106. Camborne and Redruth 4119 Swing required: 5.75 %*
107. Reading West 4980 Swing required: 5.8 %
108. Tynemouth 5532 Swing required: 5.85 %
109. Ipswich 5274 Swing required: 6 %
110. Waveney 5936 Swing required: 6 %
111. Morecambe and Lunsdale 4935 Swing required: 6 %
112. Tooting 5190 Swing required: 6.1 %
113. Chatham and Alyesford 4800 Swing required: 6.1 %
114. Lancaster and Fleetwood 4056 Swing required: 6.1 %
115. Barrow in Furness 4836 Swing required: 6.25 %
116. Weaver vale 4750 Swing required: 6.35 %
117. Warwick and Leamington Spa 5266 Swing required: 6.4 %
118. Cornwall North 5477 Swing required: 6.45 %
119. Gloucester 6068 Swing required: 6.5 %
120. Hampstead and Kilburn 1134 Swing required: 6.5 %*
121. Berwickshire Roxburgh and Selkirk 5901 Swing required: 6.5 %
122. Argyll and Bute 5636 Swing required: 6.5 %
123. Stockton South 5696 Swing required: 6.6 %
124. Cornwall South East 6043 Swing required: 6.6 %
125. Thurrock 5501 Swing required: 6.6 %
126. Truro and Falmouth 5131 Swing required: 6.65 %
127. Sefton Central 5542 Swing required: 6.65 %
128. Bath 5578 Swing required: 6.7 %
129. Hammersmith 5646 Swing required: 6.75 %
130. Derby North 3552 Swing required: 6.8 %*
131. Kingswood 6354 Swing required: 6.85 %
132. Hyndburn 5504 Swing required: 6.9 %
133. Renfrewshire East 6657 Swing required: 7 %
134. Lancashire West 6084 Swing required: 7.05 %
135. Brighton Pavillion 6523 Swing required: 7.1 %
136. Colchester 5864 Swing required: 7.15 %
137. Amber Valley 6068 Swing required: 7.2 %
138. Vale of Clwyd 4726 Swing required: 7.25 %
139. Moray 5676 Swing required: 7.3 %
140. Luton South 5700 Swing required: 7.35 %
141. Telford 5516 Swing required: 7.4 %
142. Winchester 8044 Swing required: 7.45 %
143. Batley and Spen 6814 Swing required: 7.45 %
144. Leeds North East 6599 Swing required: 7.6 %
145. Newport West 5458 Swing required: 7.65 %
146. Workington 5867 Swing required: 7.7 %
147. Warwickshire North 6698 Swing required: 7.7 %
148. Ellesmere Port and Neston 6612 Swing required: 7.75 %
149. Edinburgh North and Leith 2153 Swing required: 7.75 %*
150. Coventry South 6552 Swing required: 7.9 %
151. Wakefield 6537 Swing required: 7.95 %
152. Chorley 6918 Swing required: 8 %
153. Harrogate and Knaresborough 7811 Swing required: 8.05 %
154. Erewash 6893 Swing required: 8.1 %
155. Norfolk North 8177 Swing required: 8.15 %
156. Norwich South 3129 Swing required: 8.15 %*
157. Sheffield Hallam 7722 Swing required: 8.15 %
158. Luton North 6437 Swing required: 8.2 %
159. Sherwood 6722 Swing required: 8.2 %
160. Bristol East 7379 Swing required: 8.25 %
161. Edinburgh South West 7242 Swing required: 8.25 %
162. Bassetlaw 8126 Swing required: 8.25 %
163. Norwich North 6696 Swing required: 8.3 %
164. Dagenham and Rainham 6581 Swing required: 8.35 %
165. Crewe and Nantwich 7494 Swing required: 8.4 %
166. Gower 6703 Swing required: 8.5 %
167. Copeland 6828 Swing required: 8.75 %
168. Lewes 8928 Swing required: 8.8 %
169. Blackpool South 5882 Swing required: 8.85 %
170. Bridgend 6022 Swing required: 8.9 %
171. Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine 7471 Swing required: 8.95 %
172. Kingston and Surbiton 9048 Swing required: 9 %
173. Ealing North 7693 Swing required: 9.05 %
174. Middlesbrough South and Cleveland 8061 Swing required: 9.2 %
175. Southampton Test 7548 Swing required: 9.3 %
176. Exeter 9208 Swing required: 9.35 %
177. Oxford East 205 Swing required: 9.55 %*
178. Blackburn 8016 Swing required: 9.6 %
179. Harrow West 7829 Swing required: 9.65 %
180. Twickenham 9965 Swing required: 9.65 %
181. Yeovil 9413 Swing required: 9.65 %
182. Delyn 6644 Swing required: 9.75 %
183. Feltham and Heston 7760 Swing required: 9.75 %
184. Aberdeen South 1348 Swing required: 9.8 %*
185. Birmingham Selly Oak 8354 Swing required: 9.8 %
186. Clwyd South 6185 Swing required: 9.85 %
187. Plymouth Moor View 7907 Swing required: 9.9 %
188. Hazel Grove 7723 Swing required: 9.95 %
189. Nottingham South 7234 Swing required: 9.95 %
190. Slough 8146 Swing required: 10 %
191. Birmingham Hall Green 4191 Swing required: 10.05 %*
192. Newcastle under Lyme 8108 Swing required: 10.2 %
193. Walsall North 6669 Swing required: 10.2 %
194. Cardiff West 7861 Swing required: 10.25 %
195. Arfon 93 Swing required: 10.3 %*
196. Cannock Chase 8655 Swing required: 10.3 %
197. Birmingham Northfield 8179 Swing required: 10.35 %
198. Southampton Itchen 8484 Swing required: 10.45 %
199. Stretford and Urmston 8181 Swing required: 10.5 %
200. Walsall South 8123 Swing required: 10.5 %"


I wonder how many of these Labour and LibDem MPs are worried about their jobs now?

Where's Gordon?

Harriet Harman has been doing the round of the radio and television interviews this morning, but where's Gordon?

Is he hard at work designing ever cleverer stealth taxes?

Is he thinking of new ways to ruin the UK?

Is he maybe plotting a re-launch, he hasn't had one for over a week now?

Is he sitting in the Number 10 bunker, moving his non-existent troops to ensure victory?

Is he listening to his loyal minions reassuring him that he is still the much loved leader of the country?

Is he designing a new "Tory toffs" campaign?


UPDATE:
He has apparently been visiting St Thomas's hospital in London; I think this was a planned political visit rather than a visit for some tranquillizers.

Will he answer any questions from reporters as he leaves? That's a NO then...

But he did do some interviews in the hospital and very impressive he was too; the same pat phrases as he uses in every interview, PMQs exchanges and indeed everywhere. I think the public have finally cottoned on to the fact that Gordon Brown is not the greatest UK Chancellor of the Exchequer ever, but in fact a hopeless pillock.

Just call 999

From Random Acts of Reality a report on one night's callouts for a UK ambulance crew:

"Here are the calls we took, along with their need for an ambulance or A&E treatment.

* A two year old with a bump on their head after falling over. Needed neither ambulance or A&E. Was a 'blue light' response.
* A twelve year old with a cut finger. Needed A&E treatment but he and his mum could have walked 200 yards to the tube station that would drop him off outside A&E. It didn't need an ambulance.
* An emergency transfer from one maternity department to another. we got there before they were ready but the transfer otherwise went well. Needed an ambulance and hospital treatment. Was perhaps rightly a 'blue light' response.
* A young man with a sore throat and temperature for four days, had taken two of the antibiotics that his GP had given him. Needed neither ambulance or hospital treatment. Was a 'blue light' response.
* A teenager with back pain after drinking and smoking pot at a nightclub. Was a 'blue light' response, needed neither ambulance or hospital treatment.
* A woman, new to this country, with a blocked ear which meant she could hear her heartbeat. Another 999 call that apparently warranted a 'blue light' response.

Not a busy night in the grand scheme of things, but it was enough to keep us away from our station."

Victoria Derbyshire has to face the truth

Radio 5 Live and Victoria Derbyshire has to face up to the fact that her views, and those of her left-wing friends and colleagues, are not shared by many in this country. I think the next hour could be enjoyable in a car crash radio sort of way, Victoria Derbyshire really does sound fed-up, bless her, her little liberal-left mind just can't cope. VD is currently sounding incredulous that "we" don't know what all of the Conservative's proposals for the economy are. VD is also denying that Northern Rock is costing the tax-payer any money, quite funny really.

"Tories snatch Crewe from Labour"

"Tories snatch Crewe from Labour", that's the BBC's headline re last night's by-election result. An interesting choice of word "snatch", sounds a bit sneaky or a bit of a fluke. Meanwhile the press report it differently:

The Telegraph - "Crewe and Nantwich by-election: Edward Timpson victory a blow for Gordon Brown" - a generally pro Conservative paper
The Times - "Disaster for Brown after Tory landslide" - a generally pro New-Labour paper
Sky - "Labour's Crewe Cut: 'Brown Doesn't Get It'" - a generally pro New-Labour media outlet
The Independent - "Labour's wipeout: Tories win Crewe and Nantwich by-election" - Pro Labour newspaper
The Guardian - "Brown facing meltdown as Labour crash in Crewe" - pro Labour newspaper
Sub headlines off "Tories overturn 7,000 majority" and "Swing indicates election disaster"
Daily Mail - "Tories win Crewe by a landslide leaving Brown in desperate fight for survival" - generally pro-Conservative paper albeit with an often pro-Gordon Brown editorial line
The Sun - - "Crewe cut for Gordon Brown" - a pro-Labour newspaper albeit one gradually moving to the winning side at the next election
The Mirror - "Labour suffer by-election defeat in Crewe" - pro-Labour paper - with the following as the first line "The Conservatives last night swept to a resounding victory in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election."

So that's just the BBC who choose to portray the Conservative victory as some sort of sneak win or fluke.


UPDATE:
The BBC have now "stealth edited" the headline so it now reads " Tories hail 'remarkable victory'", maybe the BBC have had to react to the fury of myself and others in the blogosphere.

Harriet Harman on the Toady programme - Live blogging

A lovely journalistic conversation between John Humphrys and Nick Robinson and then the interview with Harriet Harman, I can hardly wait to hear what platitudes she comes out with.

Not a judgement on campaign or two candidates, but on family finances
"Grubby campaign" - What your people on their ground were saying
Campaign didn't affect result.
Do you regret the immigration campaign? Harriet Harman goes onto ID cards for foreign nationals. "I make no bones... we lost... sending a message to the govenment... we will listen..."
"Helped 22 million people and put £2.7 billion ...into economy... family finances"

The catchphrase for the day is "finally finances"

"beyond compensating.... way beyond that... people still have concerns"

"Address ... soncerns... family finances..."
Increase fuel supply internationally, ... help people with insulation, improve (yet again) public transport...
re oil "demand has edged up but supply has not"
"22 million people in a better situation... background of difficult international..."
"Gordon Brown... experience..."
"Let the work of change begin"???
"I remember the state of the economy when Gordon Brown took over... he has turned the .. around... no economic commentator is predicting that our economy will shrink" REALLY!
"Very unclear what the Tories stand for... think about people's concerns... we are in ofice, in government..."
"When will men in grey suits.. will turn to Gordon Brown?"
"Solidly behind Gordon Gordon Brown...."

A tricky interview for Harriet Harman and John Humphrys did actually press her. Maybe the BBC now realise that they cannot suck up to Labour too obviously now, for fear of what the Conservatives might do to the BBC if they are the next government. Some fear at the BBC is a good thing if it stops their pro-Labour propaganda.

Al-Dura (the BBC finally update their coverage)

Only in the Europe section and no headline link from the main news front page.

"Some observers who had been allowed to see the full recording had said it contained various scenes of boys pretending to be injured."

You can almost hear the anguish in the BBC's collective voice as they have this article squeezed out of them.


For a more detailed reprot Honest Reporting have a good article.

The Lisbon Treaty

The Lisbon Treaty is still on my agenda, and here is an interesting post and discussion from "The Quiet Road" that is well worth a read.

"hard to argue with them"

John Humphry's on the Toady programme this morning just after the 7 o'clock news referred to Conservative claims with the phrase "hard to argue with them". That contrasts starkly with James "If we win the election" Naughtie's remarks in 2005.


The tone off the Today programme is very "down", I doubt that much champagne was drunk at the BBC last night.

Al-Dura BBC update!

Don't be daft, this is still the last article on the BBC about the Al-Dura case. It dates from November 2007, I wonder if the BBC will report the results of the French court case it does discuss in the article.

Is this satire or could you imagine Alan Johnson, Ed Balls or Hazel Blears proposing this with a straight face?

The Daily Mash report that:

"THE legal age for masturbation is to be raised to 18 as part of a series of measures aimed at tackling binge-wanking among teenage boys.

Supermarkets are to be banned from two-for-one pornography promotions, and all magazines will have to be purchased through special checkouts staffed by intimidating, attractive women.

Any pictures of naked breasts or private areas will have public health minister Shona Robinson's head superimposed on them and a speech bubble saying: "Eat healthy!"
Ms Robison said: "We want to make binge-wanking as socially unacceptable as drinking blood or setting fire to children.

"At the moment masturbation is an integral part of Scottish culture. This process will be long and hard, but I am determined to pull it off."

All aerobics videos are to be banned apart from health secretary Nicola Sturgeon's forthcoming Suzi Quatro Workout, which was declared "mind-numbing" after repeated viewings by the lower sixth at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh.

According to the Executive's latest guidelines, adults can have up to three personal hand interactions per week without causing any great harm to their health, apart from a degree of short-sightedness and bad breath.

But medical evidence shows that any self-pleasuring by those under 18 is certain to lead to blindness and ugly disfigurement before the onset of middle age, while binge-wanking will lead to total derangement within months.

The British Medical Association said the Executive did not go far enough. Bill McKay, of the BMA's Scottish Masturbation Committee, said tougher action was needed to deal with what he called a "stroking time-bomb".

Roy Hobbs, A&E consultant at Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary, said: "If Channel 4 shows another Kylie special we will simply not be able to cope.""

Is this satire or could you imagine Alan Johnson, Ed Balls or Hazel Blears proposing this with a straight face?

This is a public service announcement (without guitars)

In case Gordon Brown does decide to break the habits of a lifetime and do the decent thing and resign following the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, here are the latest odds on who will succeed him as the next permanent leader of the Labour party:

David Miliband 5 - 2
Ed Balls 6 - 1
John Denham 6 - 1
Alan Johnson 6 - 1
Jack Straw 7 - 1
James Purnell 8 - 1
Jon Cruddas 10 - 1
Hilary Benn 16 - 1
A Burnham 16 - 1
Yvette Cooper 16 - 1
E Miliband 16 - 1
Harriet Harman 20 - 1
Douglas Alexander 20 - 1
C Flint 25 - 1
Charles Clarke 28 - 1
Jacqui Smith 50 - 1
Ruth Kelly 50 - 1
Tony Blair 250 - 1


There are some very under-priced candidates there, Yvette Cooper, Ed Miliband and Caroline Flint leap out as no-hopers and Ed Balls at 6 - 1 is a joke. The only one worth a punt at the listed odds would be Andy Burnham.

Looking through the list I think the best result for the Conservatives, after Gordon Brown staying on of course, would be Ed Balls or Jack Straw.

Microsoft Office 2007 getting you down?

Microsoft Office 2007 getting you down? Productivity reduced due to "The ribbon"? There is a solution, I have just found Toolbartoggle, looks like it might be worth a try.

Al-Dura (update - and maybe an end)

Further to my previous coverage of the "al-dura" case in France, news reaches me that the French court dismissed the charges against Philippe Karsenty yesterday. I await more details but I doubt that I will get any from the BBC who have kept all but completely quiet about this court case., after all nobody is allowed to cast aspersions against the BBC's beloved, saintly, Palestinians.


The Augean Stables have some more information and will be carrying updates as soon as thy become available.

"What a waste", and I do mind

How many people are the Labour government expecting the UK taxpayer to pay for to attend the Beijing Olympics? Let's see, Gordon Brown and Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, I suppose Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Andy Burnham as well. Maybe a couple of PPSs as well; say eight people in all.

The actual figure is nearer 50 and that's just those we know about. In addition to the three named above the following will also be attending on our behalf (!):

Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe
Trade Minister Lord Jones

The above five will indeed be backed up by at least one private secretary and "press office support", although the Prime Minister's team will be much larger - I presume whoever is Prime Minister will make no difference to this.


That's not the end of it though, here are some more freeloaders:

Six "observers"
17 staff from the Olympic Delivery Authority
a "small number" of officials to forge trade links and represent UK interests (and to watch the sport and enjoy the banquets)
The chief executive of Sport England
The director of property for Sport England
Eight people from UK Sport


Seems reasonable? Actually, no it doesn't but snouts in the trough need regular feeding.

Fauxtography

I have covered this subject before but have just found a new article that I think deserves wider reading. It is a piece entitled "A Concise History of the Fauxtography Blogstorm in the 2006 Lebanon War" and can be found at the American Communication Journal.

The article includes a handy definition of fauxtography:

"fauxtography refers to visual images, especially news photographs, which convey a questionable (or outright false) sense of the events they seem to depict.1 Apart from the clever word play evident in the term, it is shorthand for a serious criticism of photojournalism products, both the images and the associated text."

The only thing missing from the article are example photos, for that you should take a trip over to the following:

Wikipedia for coverage of fauxtography in the Lebanese War

EU Referendum has one of the best articles on the "Qana incident"

EU Referendum has another piece on "green helmet guy" and "stretcher alley"

EU Referendum with the first of their articles on "green helmet guy" and links forward to subsequent articles

The Wall Street Journal including the "dead man sitting up" story

Hot Air including the exposing of what was actually on fire and it wasn't an Israeli plane or the result of a bombing raid, absolute "rubbish". Also many good links to more examples

Drinking from home

Little Green Footballs with their take on "green helmet guy"

The Jawa report

Isreally Cool re black hat guy



It is a shame that these examples do not receive more coverage on the BBC or other biased western media, until they do it is the duty of all honest right thinking people to spread the word.



UPDATE:

I see that A Tangled Web has covered the same story today and has some interesting links as well, some of which I had seen but forgotten to put in my piece.

Here's an interesting document

Here is an interesting document, take a read.

"All the expenditure and activity to reduce youth crime has had no measurable impact. Claims of significant success are overstated."

"All the expenditure and activity to reduce youth crime has had no measurable impact. Claims of significant success are overstated."

That's the verdict of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at Kings College London.


I believe that similar conclusions could be made about most of this Labour government's expenditure increases over the last 11 years.

Labour propaganda/brainwashing

It seems that Sky will be showing a new eight part series following immigration officers carrying out their duties. The series will acknowledge the co-operation the Government has given to Steadfast Television (the production company). What they will not acknowledge is that the Home Office will have spent £400,000 of taxpayers' money to make the series. I leave you to make up your own minds as to the rights and wrongs of this issue.

Who will last longer in their current job?

Avram Grant or Gordon Brown...

I am sorry to report that Theo Spark is losing it

Theo Spark at The Last of The Few is clearly losing it. He is showing this fine Shania Twain video...




but has not taken the opportunity to show the video that inspired it - so I will, here's Robert Palmer and Addicted to Love

More Barack Obama "mistakes"

Further to my recent post about Barack Obama and his 57 states in the USA comments, do watch the video, I have found a long list of other such "mistakes" - take a look at this Michelle Malkin post.

Strangely the BBC seem completely uninterested in covering any of these events, how unlike their gleeful coverage of any slip by George W. Bush and Dan Quayle for example.

An interesting graph

Dizzy Thinks has an interesting graph comparing the Conservative party's opinion poll ratings 1992-1997 with those of Labour 2005-2008. Quite a close correlation but I wonder if with Gordon Brown at the helm the Labour party's ratings will start to drop even closer to the 20% base-line...

Education and Eton

The Eton clique at the head of the Conservative party is a slur often cast at David Cameron and his team, so I did a little Wikipeia'ing and came up with the following list of the shadow cabinet and their schools:

David Cameron -Eton College
William Hague - Wath-upon-Dearne Comprehensive
George Osborne - St Paul's School (Independent)
David Davis - Bec Grammar School, Tooting
Liam Fox - St. Bride's High School, State sector
Michael Gove - state and independent sectors in Aberdeen, latterly at Robert Gordon's College
David Willets - King Edward's School, Birmingham (Independent secondary)
Andrew Lansley - Not listed
Theresa Villiers - Not listed
Nick Herbert - Haileybury (Public school)
Chris Grayling - Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
Peter Ainsworth - Ludgrove School in Wokingham and Bradfield College
Eric Pickles - Greenhead Grammar School
Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi - Birkdale High School and Dewsbury College
Pauline Neville-Jones, Baroness Neville-Jones - Leeds Girls' High School
Jeremy Hunt - Charterhouse School (Public school)
Francis Maude - Abingdon School (Independent)
Theresa May - Not listed
Alan Duncan - Merchant Taylors' School (Independent)
Owen Paterson - Radley College (Public school)
Cheryl Gillan - Cheltenham Ladies' College (Public school)


So that's just one from Eton College and a fair mix of other public schools, independent schools, grammar schools and comprehensives.


Let's take a look at that great bastion of classlessness, the Labour cabinet:

Gordon Brown - Kirkcaldy High School
Jack Straw - boarded at the fee-charging Brentwood School
Harriet Harman - St Paul's Girls' School (Independent) - NB: (niece of an Earl)
Alistair Darling - private Loretto School, Musselburgh, East Lothian
David Miliband - schools in London, Benton Park School in Leeds and Boston, Massachusetts before being educated at Haverstock Comprehensive School in North London
Jacqui Smith - Dyson Perrins High School in Malvern
Catherine Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland - Unknown
John Hutton - Westcliff High School for Boys (selective non-boarding grammar school)
Ed Balls - independent Nottingham High School
Hazel Blears - Wardley Grammar School
Andy Burnham - St Aelred's Roman Catholic High School
Des Browne - Catholic St Michael's Academy in Kilwinning
Hilary Benn - Holland Park School (the "socialist Eton")
Alan Johnson - passed the 11 plus exam and attended Sloane Grammar School in Chelsea
John Denham - Woodroffe Comprehensive School
Douglas Alexander - Park Mains High School in Erskine
Shaun Woodward - independent Bristol Grammar School
Ruth Kelly - privately educated at Sutton High School
James Purnell - most of his education in France, returning to study his A Levels at the Royal Grammar School
Paul Murphy - St Francis Roman Catholic School in Abersychan, West Monmouth School in Pontypool
Ed Miliband - Haverstock Comprehensive School
Yvette Cooper - Comprehensive Eggar's School on London Road in Holybourne near Alton and Alton College
Geoff Hoon - independent Nottingham High School


Again a fair smattering of grammar schools, independent schools and comprehensive schools as well as the "socialist Eton"


Insulting a person because of where they were educated seems to make as much sense as insulting someone because of the colour of their hair or skin. Most children go to the school their parents send them to, full stop end of story. Maybe the class warriors in the Labour party should bear that in mind, but I doubt it - instead they will bang on about Eton toffs all the way into the dustbin of history.

FYI

Gordon Brown's father had the middle name of Ebenezer.

al-Nakba, the "catastrophe"

The BBC are still pushing the "narrative" of the al-Nakba, the "catastrophe", the story that the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 was a "catastrophe" for the Palestinians. The BBC still push the Palestinian line that Israel expelled the Palestinians from their land in 1948. There is an opposing point of view that the Palestinians were told to temporarily leave the area so as to allow the invading Arab armies to destroy the infant country of Israel. This view is all but ignored by the BBC and much of the rest of the world's media.

Here is an extract from Palestinian Media Watch that should be read by the closed minded at the BBC:

"The Arabs who became refugees in 1948 were not expelled by Israel but left on their own to facilitate the destruction of Israel, according to a senior Palestinian journalist writing in a Palestinian daily. This plan to leave Israel was initiated by the Arab states fighting Israel, who promised the people they would be able to return to their homes in a few days once Israel was defeated. The article in Al-Ayyam concludes that these Arab states are responsible for the Arab refugee problem.

A backbone of Palestinian English-language propaganda is the myth that Israel expelled hundreds of thousands of Arabs from Israel and created Arab refugees. But in recent years, PMW has documented an increasing willingness among Palestinians to openly blame the Arab states and not Israel.

Following are five such statements of blame, starting with this most recent article and including testimony from refugees themselves and corroboration by Palestinian leaders. Clearly, there is a growing Palestinian willingness to blame the Arab leaders, which corroborates Israel's historical record.

1. Jawad Al Bashiti, Palestinian journalist in Jordan, writing in Al-Ayyam, May 13, 2008

"Remind me of one real cause from all the factors that have caused the "Palestinian Catastrophe" [the establishment of Israel and the creation of refugee problem], and I will remind you that it still exists... The reasons for the Palestinian Catastrophe are the same reasons that have produced and are still producing our Catastrophes today.
During the Little Catastrophe, meaning the Palestinian Catastrophe the following happened: the first war between Arabs and Israel had started and the "Arab Salvation Army" came and told the Palestinians: 'We have come to you in order to liquidate the Zionists and their state. Leave your houses and villages, you will return to them in a few days safely. Leave them so we can fulfill our mission (destroy Israel) in the best way and so you won't be hurt.' It became clear already then, when it was too late, that the support of the Arab states (against Israel) was a big illusion. Arabs fought as if intending to cause the "Palestinian Catastrophe". [Al-Ayyam, May 13 2008]

2. Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Palestinian Journalist in PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 13, 2006

"...The leaders and the elites promised us at the beginning of the "Catastrophe" in 1948, that the duration of the exile will not be long, and that it will not last more than a few days or months, and afterwards the refugees will return to their homes, which most of them did not leave only until they put their trust in those "Arkuvian" promises made by the leaders and the political elites. Afterwards, days passed, months, years and decades, and the promises were lost with the strain of the succession of events..." [Term "Arkuvian," is after Arkuv - a figure from Arab tradition - who was known for breaking his promises and for his lies."] "
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 13, 2006]

3. Asmaa Jabir Balasimah, Woman who fled Israel in 1948, Al-Ayyam, May 16, 2006

"We heard sounds of explosions and of gunfire at the beginning of the summer in the year of the "Catastrophe" [1948]. They told us: The Jews attacked our region and it is better to evacuate the village and return, after the battle is over. And indeed there were among us [who fled Israel] those who left a fire burning under the pot, those who left their flock [of sheep] and those who left their money and gold behind, based on the assumption that we would return after a few hours."
[Al-Ayyam, May 16, 2006]

4. Son of man who fled in 1948, PA TV 1999

An Arab viewer called Palestinian Authority TV and quoted his father, saying that in 1948 the Arab District Officer ordered all Arabs to leave Palestine or be labeled traitors. In response, Arab MK Ibrahim Sarsur, then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, cursed those leaders, thus acknowledging Israel's historical record.

"Mr. Ibrahim [Sarsur]. I address you as a Muslim. My father and grandfather told me that during the "Catastrophe" [in 1948], our district officer issued an order that whoever stays in Palestine and in Majdel [near Ashkelon - Southern Israel] is a traitor, he is a traitor."

Response from Ibrahim Sarsur, now MK, then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel:
"The one who gave the order forbidding them to stay there bears guilt for this, in this life and the Afterlife throughout history until Resurrection Day."
[PA TV April 30, 1999]

5. Fuad Abu Higla, senior Palestinian, Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah, March 19, 2001

Fuad Abu Higla, then a regular columnist in the official PA daily Al Hayat Al Jadida, wrote an article before an Arab Summit, which criticized the Arab leaders. One of the failures he cited, in the name of a prisoner, was that an earlier generation of Arab leaders "forced" them to leave Israel in 1948, again placing the blame for the flight on the Arab leaders.

"I have received a letter from a prisoner in Acre prison, to the Arab summit:
To the [Arab and Muslim] Kings and Presidents, poverty is killing us, the symptoms are exhausting us and the souls are leaving our body, yet you are still searching for the way to provide aid, like one who is looking for a needle in a haystack or like the armies of your predecessors in the year of 1948, who forced us to leave [Israel], on the pretext of clearing the battlefields of civilians...So what will your summit do now?"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 19, 2001]

Conclusion
It is clear from these statements that there is general acknowledgement among Palestinians that Arab leaders bear responsibility for the mass flight of Arabs from Israel in 1948, and were the cause of the "refugee" problem. Furthermore, the fact that this information has been validated by public figures and refugees in the Palestinian Authority media itself confirms that this responsibility is well-known - even though for propaganda purposes its leaders continue to blame Israel publicly for "the expulsion.""

Now it makes sense

Last night the House of Commons voted not to reduce the upper limit for abortions from 24 weeks. I thought it slightly odd to hear Nadine Dorries being interviewed this morning in the Toady programme's prime just after the 8 o'clock news spot. Then it all started to make sense, the interview was angled to get the "admission" from Nadine Dorries that Labour MPs were generally more in favour of the right to an abortion than the Conservatives. One of the last points made was that if the Conservatives won the next election then restrictions on abortion would be more possible.

Very nicely done BBC, a bit of "dog-whistle" politics on behalf of the Labour party disguised as news analysis, your friends in the Labour party will be pleased.

Another broken Labour promise

In 1997 Labour promised a referendum before Britain joined the Euro, it was a way of kicking the EU question off of the agenda and so maximising the Labour vote. Last night the Conservative peer, Lord Blackwell, tabled an amendment to prevent any "backsliding" on the Labour government's euro vote commitment. However Labour peers queued up to vote against the motion and it was defeated by 195 votes to 135.

Lord Strathclyde said:

"This astonishing vote will arouse deep suspicion in the minds of the public in view of the broken promises from Labour and Liberals over a referendum on the Constitutional Treaty...It would be the easiest thing in the world for the government to have backed us in writing this commitment into law. After all, they claim it is their policy. There is something very fishy indeed about their refusal to do so."

Labour seem to be looking to cover their backs in various policy areas now that they have lost the support of the electorate. I predict many "tough decisions" will now be taken on the basis of a majority in the House of Commons rather than the popular will of the country.

Googling (Update 3)

A few more interesting Google search terms that have lead people to my site recently:

shortest serving prime ministers - For which this blog appears in 4th place

teri hatcher breasts - For which this blog appears in 8th place

Mixed Sex Wards and Labour's broken promises (further update)

I blogged about Labour's broken promises on ending mixed sex wards in December 2007, when I wrote that:

"Do you remember Tony Blair saying, whilst leader of the opposition, regarding mixed sex wards in hospitals ""Is it beyond the collective wit of the Government to deal with that problem?". Maybe you remember the Labour party's promises, made at the 1997 election and repeated in 2001, to bring an end to male and female patients sharing facilities in NHS hospitals.

You will be staggered to read here and here that the "Department of Health disclosed that eliminating mixed-sex wards is no longer an aim. A DoH spokesman said: "We have to get away from this idea of single-sex wards. That is not what it is all about. "Now we are in a situation where we are moving away from a set target on single-sex accommodation and moving towards the NHS locally taking privacy and dignity much more seriously. "It is possible to envisage patient privacy and dignity with patients of different sexes on the same wards but with proper segregation. "There are different ways of ensuring that. It's not about targets. Now it's much more about what the patient feels." The spokesman said a mixed ward divided into bays by fixed partitions - not necessarily fixed to the ceiling, but high enough that patients perceive they are in a separate room - counted as single-sex accommodation.""

In February 2008 I wrote that:

"I read on the BBC that "Lord Darzi said the government was committed to single-sex accommodation whereby wards are divided into male and female bays by fixed partitions... He said the goal was never to create single-sex wards as this was not achievable...A Department of Health spokesman said Lord Darzi's comments were "fully in line" with the government's "long-standing commitment on mixed-sex accommodation"...Ministers were insisting as recently as November 2006 that 99% of patients were being seen in single-sex accommodation.""

Today I read in The telegraph that:

"Figures obtained by the party under the Freedom of Information Act suggest two thirds of NHS trusts are still failing to meet set standards.

The data comes after Health Secretary Alan Johnson said just a few weeks ago that mixed-sex accommodation in the NHS will be abolished within a year, adding the goal was within "touching distance".

But the Tory figures show two thirds of hospital trusts are still failing to provide single-sex accommodation which, according to the Government's own guidance, is single-sex bays with three solid walls where patients do not have to walk past opposite sex bays to get to the toilet or washroom.

...


In total, 67% of trusts showed by at least one indicator that they were not complying with Government guidance on single-sex accommodation.

Just a third (33%) of trusts could show they met the minimum standards relating to both bays and access to toilets and washrooms, according to the figures."

Even the BBC have to admit that:

"Ministers had originally pledged to end mixed-sex accommodation by 2