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Sunday 30 August 2015

China Crisis detailed


Oh not the one you were expecting!

Bangkok bomb: Thai police charge man 'linked to Erawan blast' - BBC News

'... national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang downplayed any suggestion that the suspect was connected to terrorism.

"He is a foreigner, but it's unlikely he is an international terrorist. It's a personal feud," Mr Somyot told a televised news conference.'
Personal feud? Yes, sure...

Saturday 29 August 2015

Usain Bolt Knocked Over By Cameraman On Segway After Winning World Championship 200m Gold - Mama Mia



The difference between a right wing and a left wing politician

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn were walking down the street when they came across a homeless person. 

Boris gave the homeless person his business card and told him to come to his office tomorrow to see about a job. 

He then took £20 out of his pocket and gave it to the homeless person.

Jeremy Corbyn was impressed, so when they came across another homeless person, he decided to help. 

He walked over to the homeless person and gave him directions to the local job centre. 

He then reached into Boris's pocket and got out £20. He took £15 for administrative fees and gave the homeless person £5.

Now, do you understand the difference between a Conservative and a Socialist?

Friday 21 August 2015

Spector - All The Sad Young Men


Someone's got a Joy Division CD!

Jeremy Hardy is left wing!

The BBC admit here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34014449 that Jeremy Hardy is left wing.
'A left-wing comedian has said he was told by the Labour party that he could not vote in its leadership election.

Jeremy Hardy said he paid £3 to become a Labour member in order to become eligible to vote, but that he has supported other parties in the past.'
Will they admit the same is true of Mark Steel? And which comedians they use on panel are also left wing, and which are right wing?

How does one get a job at an 'innovative long-distance teledildonics company'?

Finally a sensible use for an Apple Watch... http://mashable.com/2015/08/20/apple-watch-vibrator

Thursday 20 August 2015

The Iran nuclear deal has received very little scrutiny from the BBC, maybe it should

Here's something that you won't read on the BBC:
'... one of the side deals reached between Iran and the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency provides for Iran to carry out its own inspection work at the Parchin military facility where the IAEA has long alleged it experimented with high-explosive detonators for nuclear arms.

The Iranians have been strenuously attempting to sanitize the site for years — which is bitterly amusing, since they evidently need not have bothered.

Even the Iranians plainly didn't think they'd get away with a deal this ridiculous. It's akin to having Bernie Madoff scrutinize his own business practices, or Tour de France cyclists conduct their own doping tests… except it has global life-and-death implications.'

Jeremy Corbyn's friends re-examined per The Jewish Chronicle

The whole of this JC article is worth a read http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/142706/jeremy-corbyns-friends-re-examined but especially the end:
'On Tuesday, several anti-Israel activists signed an open letter attacking the JC.
Signatories to the letter included Tony Greenstein, Professor Haim Bresheeth, Abe Hayeem, Miriam Margolyes, Professor Ilan Pappe and Michael Rosen.
...
The signatories to the letter claimed Mr Corbyn had "nothing to apologise for" following his meetings with representatives of Hamas and Hizbollah.

The letter continued: "Hamas was democratically elected in Palestinian elections generally accepted as fair, and Hizbollah also has strong electoral support in Lebanon."'

Absolutely Hezbollah has strong electoral support but then so did the Nazis, would the signatories of that letter have deemed meeting with them 'nothing to apologise for'?

Let's have a look at the people that Tony Greenstein, Professor Haim Bresheeth, Abe Hayeem, Miriam Margolyes, Professor Ilan Pappe and Michael Rosen think that meeting with are  'nothing to apologise for'.

Hamas in 2000 said:
'The so-called Holocaust, […] is an alleged and invented story with no basis. . . . The invention of these grand illusions of an alleged crime that never occurred, […] clearly reveals the racist Zionist face, which believes in the superiority of the Jewish race over the rest of the nations."'
So Holocaust denial is 'nothing to apologise for'?

Hamas's Charter says Jewish people "have only negative traits and are presented as planning to take over the world."
 
So anti Semitic slurs are 'nothing to apologise for' ?

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, speaking at the Shi'ite Moslem "Ashura" flagellation ceremony on 9 April 2000, said:
"The Jews invented the legend of the Nazi atrocities.... Anyone who reads the Koran and the holy writings of the monotheistic religions sees what they did to the prophets, and what acts of madness and slaughter the Jews carried out throughout history.... Anyone who reads these texts cannot think of co-existence with them, of peace with them, or about accepting their presence, not only in Palestine of 1948 but even in a small village in Palestine, because they are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment."'
So Holocaust denial and anti Semitism are 'nothing to apologise for'? 

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah was reported to have said:
"if [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."
 
So anti Semitism and threats of a new Holocaust are 'nothing to apologise for'?
 
Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah who also said:
"If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli."
So blatant anti Semitic slurs are also 'nothing to apologise for'? 

If Jeremy Corbyn's supporters say that meeting with Hamas and Hezbollah is 'nothing to apologise for', bearing in mind the above, then what would they say would be worth apologising for?

Wednesday 19 August 2015

Jeremy Corbyn is at odds with his 'friends' in Hamas and Hezbollah

The Telegraph reports that Jeremy Corbyn has said that:
"My views are that the Holocaust was the most disgraceful and vile process of the history of the 20th century, if not the wider world and that has to be understood by successive generations and it has to be understood by all our children in schools. That surely is important,"
Strange that Jeremy Corbyn can allegedly believe that yet also happily call 'friends' Hamas and Hezbollah... 

That's Hamas who in 2000 said:
'The so-called Holocaust, […] is an alleged and invented story with no basis. . . . The invention of these grand illusions of an alleged crime that never occurred, […] clearly reveals the racist Zionist face, which believes in the superiority of the Jewish race over the rest of the nations."'
That's Hamas whose Charter says Jewish people "have only negative traits and are presented as planning to take over the world." 

That's Hamas whose Charter claims that the Jews deserve God's/Allah's enmity and wrath because they received the Scriptures but violated its sacred texts, disbelieved the signs of Allah, and slew their own prophets.

That's Hamas whose Charter quotes a saying of Muhammad from a hadith:
"The Day of Judgement will not come until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, 'O Muslim, O servant of God, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' Only the Gharkad tree would not do that, because it is one of the trees of the Jews."
That's Hezbollah whose leader Hassan Nasrallah, speaking at the Shi'ite Moslem "Ashura" flagellation ceremony on 9 April 2000, said:
"The Jews invented the legend of the Nazi atrocities.... Anyone who reads the Koran and the holy writings of the monotheistic religions sees what they did to the prophets, and what acts of madness and slaughter the Jews carried out throughout history.... Anyone who reads these texts cannot think of co-existence with them, of peace with them, or about accepting their presence, not only in Palestine of 1948 but even in a small village in Palestine, because they are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment."'
That's Hezbollah whose leader Hassan Nasrallah was reported to have said:
"if [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."
That's Hezbollah whose leader Hassan Nasrallah who also said:
"If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli."
If Jeremy Corbyn calls Hamas and Hezbollah his 'friends'  despite their Holocaust denial and their rampant & overt anti Semitism then pardon me if I don't put much credence in Jeremy Corbyn's denunciations of Holocaust deniers.

Corbyn 'forgot' meeting banned pro-Palestinian activist per BBC News

The BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33991920 are happy to accept Jeremy Corbyn at his word:
'Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn has told the BBC he had "forgotten" meeting a controversial Lebanese activist.

Mr Corbyn initially told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme he had no idea who Dyab Abou Jahjah was.

He later said he must have forgotten meeting Mr Abou Jahjah, who is banned from the UK over his views on the Middle East, in 2009.'
Forgotten, yes of course.

"Taste The Bush" - Offensive?



Apparently this video is offensive, I found it quite amusing...


Here's the still that 'offends'



Tuesday 18 August 2015

Happy Birthday Victoria Coren Mitchell

Victoria Coren Mitchell is 43 today. I could have posted some video of her incredible chest but instead here's her doing some stand-up on TV aged 19...

Bless

Jeremy Corbyn and Holocaust denial

The Times today reports that 'Jeremy Corbyn has said that Holocaust deniers are vile and wrong...'

Unfortunately he also calls 'friends' Hamas and Hezbollah. 

That's Hamas who in 2000 said:
'The so-called Holocaust, […] is an alleged and invented story with no basis. . . . The invention of these grand illusions of an alleged crime that never occurred, […] clearly reveals the racist Zionist face, which believes in the superiority of the Jewish race over the rest of the nations."'
That's Hamas whose Charter says Jewish people "have only negative traits and are presented as planning to take over the world." 

That's Hamas whose Charter claims that the Jews deserve God's/Allah's enmity and wrath because they received the Scriptures but violated its sacred texts, disbelieved the signs of Allah, and slew their own prophets. 

That's Hamas whose Charter quotes a saying of Muhammad from a hadith: 
"The Day of Judgement will not come until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, 'O Muslim, O servant of God, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' Only the Gharkad tree would not do that, because it is one of the trees of the Jews."
That's Hezbollah whose leader Hassan Nasrallah, speaking at the Shi'ite Moslem "Ashura" flagellation ceremony on 9 April 2000, said:
"The Jews invented the legend of the Nazi atrocities.... Anyone who reads the Koran and the holy writings of the monotheistic religions sees what they did to the prophets, and what acts of madness and slaughter the Jews carried out throughout history.... Anyone who reads these texts cannot think of co-existence with them, of peace with them, or about accepting their presence, not only in Palestine of 1948 but even in a small village in Palestine, because they are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment."'
That's Hezbollah whose leader Hassan Nasrallah was reported to have said:
"if [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."
That's Hezbollah whose leader Hassan Nasrallah who also said:
"If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli."
If Jeremy Corbyn calls Hamas and Hezbollah his 'friends'  despite their Holocaust denial and their rampant & overt anti Semitism then pardon me if I don't put much credence in Jeremy Corbyn's denunciations of Holocaust deniers.

Just a reminder of how delusional Ed Balls was on election night 2015

Oh so sweet to watch again especially when Ed Balls is telling us that the people decide elections not David Cameron, the Conservative Party and Iain Dale. Yes they do Ed Balls, yes they do, and look what happened to you on that night.

Listening to Harriet Harman is also instructive.

Remember these are the people who still want to run this country.



Also when Jeremy Paxman says to Paul Mason "Dejection up there?", is he asking about the Labour view or Paul Mason's? Paul Mason does look rather sick, shame.


And here is the moment Ed Balls lost his seat; happy days.




Sometimes it's good to remind oneself how lucky the Conservatives were on that election night.  To a very large degree it was UKIP taking votes from Labour that ensured a Conservative victory. That needs to be remembered over the next years. A Jeremy Corbyn lead Labour Party could win the next general election if only a small number of those UKIP voters return to Labour.

Monday 17 August 2015

Why Sri Lanka?

The 6pm BBC Radio 4 news had a piece about an upcoming Sri Lankan election. 

That's odd I thought, but then the Muslim angle was explained and the reason for airing the news was clear.

The BBC's obsession with matters Muslim is quite incredible.

Labour's Angela Eagle showing that political hypocrisy that almost defines the Labour Party


Angela Eagle who's standing for Labour Deputy Leader... A typically sneering performance from a typically nasty Labour MP, thankfully she was called out by the audience and even David Dimbleby.

Sunday 16 August 2015

Syria conflict: Marketplace air strikes 'kill 80' per BBC News

A small news story on the BBC news tells us of more civilians killed in Syria. 

Of course if this had been just one Palestinian killed by Israel the institutionally anti Israel BBC would deem this a headline piece of news, but as it's Muslim Arabs killing Muslim Arabs they're less interested.

One line in that report caught my eye:

'United Nations figures show that over 220,000 people have been killed and more than nine million displaced in Syrian civil war since it began four years ago.'
The scale of what's happening in Syria is incredible but as the BBC can't vilify Israel over it they really aren't that interested.

Friday 14 August 2015

We don’t need the union jack on Team GB’s kit – it’s ugly and divisive | Jonathan Jones | Comment is free | The Guardian

If you want a fine example of Guardian crap, here you go... 

'The trouble with the United Kingdom’s flag, when you come to think about it, is that it is really quite ugly. I have every sympathy for the designers who removed it from the British athletics team’s vests for the imminent World Athletics Championships in Beijing. Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has complained that “it isn’t a British kit any more” because it hasn’t got the union flag, but the decision makes sense aesthetically. The new vest is an elegant flowing dance of red, white and blue – the flag’s colours, remember – and has Great Britain written on it in big letters. It just doesn’t have that jagged, explosive, aggressive flag.'

That's from non-athlete Jonathan Jones in The Guardian's Comment Is Free.

I'm not sure why Jonathan Jones thinks the Union Flag's design is aggressive, maybe he's projecting.

This is the sort of hate your country bollocks that really winds me up about the left in this Country.

Awfully wet isn't it?

Fed up with the incessant rain in the UK the past 10 days or so?

It's very odd because I distinctly remember The Guardian reporting in 2006 as fact that (my emphasis):
"Scientists know a lot about how events will unfold...which means that whatever we do, our climate destiny is fixed for the next few decades... Rainfall will decline in the summer and the increased deluges in winter will struggle to replenish thirsty reservoirs because much of the water will run off the baked ground."
Scientists know... climate destiny is fixed... Rainfall will decline in the summer..." It's all rubbish folks; most of these scientists are not predicting based on science, they are designing science to fit the desired predictions.

What about the second part of what "scientists know"? "Rainfall will decline in the summer and the increased deluges in winter will because much of the water will run off the baked ground."
Shall we take a look at reservoir levels in the baked South of England, the area with the biggest water problem? South East Water report the levels at their two largest reservoirs:
 Arlington Reservoir was over 97% full on 20 March (the last day they report levels for), Ardingly Reservoir was 100% full on the same date. Now they might be lower now, they should be, but if South East Water aren't bothered enough to update their site then I doubt that there is a serious issue.

What about the South West maybe they are faring worse? Well South West Water are somewhat more up to date than South East Water and they report data up until 9 August. They report percentage data for their five reservoirs: Roadford, Colliford, Wimbleball, Stithians and Burrator. The figures show that the average storage levels across these five reservoirs was 74.9%. As a comparison it was around 65% in 1995; water shortage getting worse?


Does it look as though there are problems replenishing thirsty reservoirs because of the declining rainfall that scientists know about?

How about Severn Trent? They report weekly and you'll see that for the last nine weeks the figure hasn't dropped below 82.4%.



I could go on and on but I think that the pattern will be similar across most of the UK regions.

So how about The Environment Agency the body that is so certain about Climate Change that they confidently state on their web site:
"It's an inescapable fact: our planet is warming up. Records show that temperatures around the world have risen steadily since 1900...

Climate change is the biggest environmental challenge facing the world today. We know the Earth's climate does change naturally over a long timescale, but the overwhelming majority of the scientific community now accepts that human activities are causing significant, rapid changes to our climate.

Over the past century, global temperatures have risen - the 10 warmest years on record have all been since 1990. The contribution to global warming from human activity is linked to increases in the amounts of heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere. As the concentrations of greenhouse gases increase, less heat can escape from the atmosphere, making the Earth warmer. The main greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, which is released by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas.

...

What will happen if we do nothing?

The latest data tells us that some climate change is already inevitable, so we will need to adapt to its impacts. We must plan for more extreme weather conditions: wetter winters with an increased risk of floods, and hotter, drier summers that put pressure on water resources. Sea levels will also rise, increasing the risk of flooding around our coastline."
Maybe these are some of the scientists who know what's going to happen to the climate in the UK. After all they also seem to know that we are going to experience "wetter winters with an increased risk of floods, and hotter, drier summers that put pressure on water resources". Let's look at the Environment Agency's own figures...

The Environment Agency publish their Water Situation for England and Wales figures on a monthly basis so the latest report is for July and tells us that (my emphasis):
"Following on from a dry June, July was wetter than average, with rainfall totals across England at 144% of the long term average (LTA).
Soil moisture deficits decreased by up to 50mm across most areas during the month, with the greatest decreases in parts of Cumbria.
Monthly mean river flows decreased compared to June at most indicator sites, but remained normal or higher for the time of year at more than two-thirds of sites.
Groundwater levels decreased during the month at all but one indicator site. End of month groundwater levels remain normal or higher at half of the indicator sites.

Reservoir stocks decreased at all reported reservoirs and reservoir groups during July, and at the end of the month were normal for the time of year at most sites.
Overall stocks for England decreased to 82% of total capacity.'

So after years of knowing that reservoirs would not be replenished by winter rains we have a situation, as the rain pours off my roof, where groundwater is normal or higher at half of sites, where rainfall in July was 144% of the long term average and reservoir stocks are at 82% of total capacity.

Scientists know that 'Rainfall will decline in the summer and the increased deluges in winter will struggle to replenish thirsty reservoirs because much of the water will run off the baked ground.?'

I beg to differ.

Huma Abedin STILL hasn't sworn under oath that she's turned over all her emails per Daily Mail Online

'Hillary Clinton declared Monday under penalty of perjury that she has given the State Department all of her work-related emails from her four years as secretary of state, but her trusted aide Huma Abedin has not yet taken that step – despite a request from a federal judge. 

Abedin's lawyer Karen Dunn told Politico on Thursday that the longtime Clinton insider, who served as deputy chief of staff at State, plans to turn over her work-related emails and other messages from her tenure there by August 28.

But Dunn declined to say whether or not Abedin will ink the same statment Clinton has signed.'

Fascinating, almost as fascinating as the way the BBC have declined to cover the whole Hillary Clinton email story in anything other than the most perfunctory manner. Imagine how the story would be covered by the BBC if it had been a senior Republican politician who had these peculiar email arrangements.

Another BBC incompetent?

Clare McDonnell is not a someone that I have come across before and on the basis of around five minutes listening this lunchtime I don't think I'll bother again. She seems yet another one in the long line of ill-prepared women presenters on BBC 5Live. 

The piece I caught, whilst driving between two appointments, was about VJ Day and of course 5Live were proud to have found not one but two women who'd helped win the war with their work at Bletchley Park.

This should be fascinating I thought; and in the hands of another presenter it might have been. Unfortunately Ms McDonnell didn't know what these two ladies had done during the war and worse seemed incapable of reacting to new information from either of the two ladies.

The two interviewees were great, with the sort of received pronunciation that you so rarely hear on the BBC anymore. They were honest about their roles, and if I'm doing them a disservice then I apologise to them. The first ladies role seemed to be mostly filing documents in date order. The second's role seemed to be copy typing. Despite hearing this information Ms McDonnell still asked the second lady about her code breaking, only to be corrected. She also asked about Alan Turing, unfortunately the second lady had only said good morning to the great man, and that just the once.

I'd like to make it perfectly clear that my beef here is not with the two interviewees, they were quite interesting, but with the BBC's Clare McDonnell who was simply woeful. A fine replacement for Victoria Derbyshire then.

Five times a day an observant Muslim prays for the Kafir...

But as Dr Bill Warner explains, not in a good way...



Thursday 13 August 2015

Demand soars across the NHS in England per BBC News but no mention of....

This BBC report manages not to mention immigration.
'The demand for hospital services is soaring, according to official data from NHS England.

It has reported increases in emergency ambulance call-outs, A&E admissions, emergency admissions, diagnostic tests and treatments.'
No interest at all as to why demand for hospital services is rising, just not something that could be mentioned...

Another piece in the BBC's vilifictaion of Israel

The BBC's bias against Israel is clearly documented and if we were allowed to read the Balen Report we would know that they know they are biased against Israel. So it was with little surprise that I read this article.

The article is entitled 'Paris-Plages: Tel Aviv invite prompts Palestinian protests' and is by the BBC's long standing journalist

'The holiday atmosphere along the River Seine will be severely tested on Thursday as friends and enemies of Israel take their respective beefs to the sandy esplanades of Paris-Plages.'
Well we know which side of that divide the BBC are on.

'It all began with an idea from the Hotel de Ville to devote a day to Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv, the Paris authorities decided, is a beach city par excellence. It is liberal. It is fun-loving. It is NOT Jerusalem.'
Subtle? No not really as the BBC put into the reader's mind that to associate Israel with Jerusalem would be beyond the pale. The BBC aren't subtle with their anti Israel articles but they are effective.

'What better way to reach out to the good guys in Israel than to create a special day of Paris-Plages (the capital's summer attraction since 2002), with falafels, electronic music and other TA staples?
Of course it was never going to pass off just like that.'
These good guys in Israel must be the sort of Haaertz reading lefty that the BBC can just abide to consort with.

'There has been a storm of outrage from the pro-Palestinian camp. An online petition calling for the
event to be banned has drawn 15,000 signatures.'
Of course the pro-Palestinian camp are outraged, that is their default position. They look for anything not 100% anti-Israel and oppose it bitterly.

'A group called CAPJPO-EuroPalestine has announced plans for a demonstration on the quays next to the artificial beaches. Some 300 extra police are reported to have been mobilised to head off the risk of violence.'
That will be the usual violence  that accompanies pro-Palestinian groups. 

'For opponents, the event is "indecent" and the city authorities are gullible purveyors of Israeli PR.

"A few days ago a Palestinian baby was burned to death; exactly a year ago the people of Gaza were being massacred; there's a permanent policy of excluding Palestinians from east Jerusalem.

"You can't just sweep that to one side for a festival of electro-dance," said Eric Coquerel, national secretary of the Left Party.'
The BBC let these claims stand without comment because blackening Israel's name is the BBC's favourite game. The Palestinian baby was the innocent victim of one or more Jewish terrorists and I hope that they are found, tried and if found guilty punished  appropriately. The death of that Palestinian baby was not a result of Israeli government or armed forces actions and the actions of the murderers was openly opposed by the Israeli government and most of the Israeli population. That contrasts with the official Palestinian response to the deaths of Israeli Jews at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. Such deaths are celebrated in the Palestinian Territories and the perpetrators are lauded and some even have streets named after them. 

As for the people of Gaza being massacred; that may be a claim that the BBC agree with, after all their viciously anti Israel coverage of that war would lead you to believe it but the reality is somewhat at odds with the claims. As usual no mention of the thousands of rockets fired at Israel and the terror tunnels constructed under Israel from Gaza is allowed on the BBC.

The Muslim Arab population of Eastern Jerusalem is still in existence. Did the BBC cry for the Jews who were expelled from the eastern part of Jerusalem when it was occupied by Jordan from 1948-1967, the only years that this ancient city had ever been split? The only reason that 'East Jerusalem' has a Muslim majority is the ethnic cleansing by the Jordanians in that 20 year period.

'All of which prompted the Socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, to write an open letter to Le Monde.

"I could never regard a city as responsible for the policies of a government. To do that would be to show contempt for… democracy.

"It is perfectly possible to condemn the politics of the Netanyahu government without at the same time punishing the entire Israeli population - and ourselves as well - by refusing the contacts that are so important for mutual understanding."'
That's important for the BBC, whichever side wins this Parisian dispute, the  Israeli government of Netanyahu is of course beyond the pale.

'The guiding principle of the French soft left remains the old notion that if only enough good people from the two sides got together and talked, all could be resolved.'
Of course the fact that Hamas is pledged to destroy Israel and kill as many Jews as possible is not an obstacle to piece. The fact that Fatah/PLO, the supposedly moderate Palestinian government, is pledged to the creation of one Palestinian state from 'river to the sea' is not an obstacle to piece. The only obstacles to piece are the presence of Jews in their ancient homeland and their building of homes.

'For some it is naive; for others a necessary clinging to hope.'
Calling it naive is being kind.

'What is certain is that demonstrations of pro-Israeli friendship like this are increasingly rare in Europe.'
Very true, thanks  in part to the ceaseless vilification of Israel by the institutionally anti-Israel BBC.

'Is that because Israel's actions are becoming so egregious?'
Obviously that is the BBC position and one that it hopes to spread support for. No need for any investigation of that concept.

'Because of a new alliance between the far-left and Europe's increasingly populous Muslims?'
Ah now there's the real truth but then the BBC is pretty 'far-left' itself, with regard to Israel and the Muslims anyway.'

'Because of the success of the boycott Israel movement?'
A movement that the BBC lauds when it can.

'Who knows'
Oh we know, BBC, we know.

'But on Paris-Plages this year, it's not just pleasure. It's also politics. And police.'
And anti-Semitism, don't forget naked anti-Semitism.

The key questions Jeremy Corbyn must answer per The Jewish Chronicle

Stephen Pollard has pointed me to a must read article in the JC 

The key questions and why Jeremy Corbyn should answer them are repeated here:
'If Mr Corbyn is not to be regarded from the day of his election as an enemy of Britain's Jewish community, he has a number of questions which he must answer in full and immediately.
The JC asked him earlier this week to respond. No response has been forthcoming.

1. Did you donate, as alleged by its founder, to Deir Yassin Remembered (DYR), a group that publishes open antisemtism, run by Holocaust denier Paul Eisen — an organisation so extreme that even the Palestine Solidarity Campaign refuses to associate with it?

2. Have you, as Mr Eisen claims, regularly attended DYR's annual conference?

3. Why have you accepted an invitation to appear at a conference on August 22 alongside Carlos Latuff, the notorious anti-Semitic cartoonist?

4. Why did you write to the Church of England authorities to defend Rev Stephen Sizer, a vicar banned from social media because of his habit of posting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, telling them that Rev Sizer was "under attack" because he had "dared to speak out over Zionism"?

5. Why do you associate with Hamas and Hezbollah and refer to them as your "friends"?

6. Why have you failed to condemn the anti-Semitic posters and banners that dominate the annual Al-Quds Day rally, sponsored by the Stop The War Coalition, which you chair?

7. Why did you describe Raead Salah, a man convicted of the blood libel, as an 'honoured citizen'?'

An unbiased national broadcaster would raise these questions and push Mr Corbyn for proper answers to them. Unfortunately the BBC is so institutionally anti Israel that it is, at best, blind to Mr Corbyn's questionable friends and attitudes towards Jews and Israel.

Really Mr Peston?

This Robert Peston analysis of Jeremy Corbyn's economic policies http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33884836 contains this thought:
'Even so his opposition to this government's planned cuts to corporation and inheritance tax, and his muscular hatred of tax avoidance and evasion, are not the stuff of swivel-eyed Leninism.

There are plenty of political moderates who question why, at a time of scarce resources, it is a priority for messrs Cameron and Osborne to give tax breaks to better-off dead people.'
Is cutting inheritance tax really a tax break for dead people? Surely the only people who will pay less tax are the living.

Wednesday 12 August 2015

Twitter revolutionises private messaging feature with word count change

Twitter has removed the 140-character limit on the site's Direct Message feature - making it the first aspect of the social media platform free of any word limit.
About time...

An open letter to Jeremy Corbyn in Left Foot Forward by Alan Johnson

An interesting article that deserves wider readership.
Here's an extract, the bit relevant to Jeremy Corbyn's choice of 'friends':

'...  But you won't get my vote.

You won't get it because Labour's best traditions also include anti-fascism and internationalism while your support – to me, inexplicable and shameful –  for the fascistic and antisemitic forces of Hezbollah and Hamas flies in the face of those traditions. In particular, your full-throated cheer-leading for the vicious antisemitic Islamist Raed Salah is a deal-breaker.

Why did you lend your support to Raed Salah? No, he is not a 'critic of Israel', but a straight-up Jew hater.

You said in 2012, 'Salah is far from a dangerous man', even though the left-wing, anti-Netanyahu Israeli newspaper of record, Ha'aretz, reported that Salah was first charged with inciting anti-Jewish racism and violence in January 2008.

You said 'Salah is a very honoured citizen', even though Salah was found guilty of spreading the blood libel – the classic antisemitic slander that Jews use the blood of gentile children to make their bread. He did so during a speech on 16 February 2007 in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Wadi Joz.

I mean, just listen to Salah: 'We have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood', he said. 'Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed in with the dough of the holy bread.' (The UK Appeal Court decided that 'We do not find this comment could be taken to be anything other than a reference to the blood libel against Jews.' It also decided that this would 'offend and distress Israeli Jews and the wider Jewish community.')

You said: 'Salah represents his people extremely well', even though after the 9/11 terrorist attacks Salah wrote this in the October 5, 2001 issue of the weekly Sawt al-Haq w'al-Huriyya (Voice of Justice and Freedom): 'A suitable way was found to warn the 4,000 Jews who work every day at the Twin Towers to be absent from their work on September 11, 2001, and this is really what happened! 

Were 4,000 Jewish clerks absent [from their jobs] by chance, or was there another reason? At the same time, no such warning reached the 2,000 Muslims who worked every day in the Twin Towers, and therefore there were hundreds of Muslim victims.'

You said 'Salah's is a voice that must be heard' even though he has called homosexuality a 'great crime' and recently [preached that 'Jerusalem will soon become the capital of the global caliphate' which will 'spread justice throughout the land after it was filled with injustice by America, the Zionist enterprise, the Batiniyya, reactionism, Paganism and the Crusaders.' i.e. everyone who does not follow his brand of Sunni Islam.

You said 'I look forward to giving you tea on the terrace because you deserve it!', even though the Islamic Movement [the northern branch of which Salah heads] has eulogised Osama bin Laden and Salah has incited Muslims against Jews by writing incendiary lies such as this: 'The unique mover wanted to carry out the bombings in Washington and New York in order to provide the Israeli establishment with a way out of its entanglements.' Who do you think he meant by 'the unique mover'?

Why is that kind of conspiratorial antisemitism, dripping with threat and menace, worthy of tea on the terrace?

And it isn't just a problem with Salah, is it? You said it was 'my pleasure and my honour' to host 'our friends from Hezbollah and our friends from Hamas' in the Commons.

Really?

Why do you not care that the Hamas Charter states that 'Islam will obliterate Israel' and enjoins all good Muslims to kill Jews, whom it blames for all the wars and revolutions in classic antisemitic fashion?

Why don't you challenge your 'friends in Hamas' about the inclusion in their Charter of this canonical Hadith: 'The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'

And why are Hezbollah your friends? They are an antisemitic Islamist goose-stepping 'Party of God' who persecute (and assassinate) liberals and democrats in Lebanon whenever they can. The Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said 'If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.' (NY Times, May 23, 2004, p. 15, section 2, column 1.)  Your 'friends' were enthusiastically slaughtering Syrian civilians on behalf of the Assad regime long before ISIS or Jabhat Al-Nusra joined the fray.'

Plenty there that interviewers from the British media could raise with Jeremy Corbyn but you won't hear a squeak from the institutionally anti Israel BBC.


Paul Chowdhry is unlikely to get on to any BBC comedy panel shows


Paul Chowdhry is unlikely to get on to any BBC comedy panel shows; his colour is acceptable but his views & jokes are nowhere near left wing enough.

Tuesday 11 August 2015

Jeremy Corbyn 'looks forward to the day when the inevitable asteroid slams into the earth and wipes them out thus giving nature the opportunity to start again.'

What a charmer Jeremy Corbyn is/was. Back in 2003 he signed an Early Day Motion, as below:

'PIGEON BOMBS
Session: 2003-04
Date tabled: 21.05.2004
Primary sponsor: Banks, Tony
Sponsors:
 
That this House is appalled, but barely surprised, at the revelations in M15 files regarding the bizarre and inhumane proposals to use pigeons as flying bombs; recognises the important and live-saving role of carrier pigeons in two world wars and wonders at the lack of gratitude towards these gentle creatures; and believes that humans represent the most obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal species ever to inhabit the planet and looks forward to the day when the inevitable asteroid slams into the earth and wipes them out thus giving nature the opportunity to start again.
 
Total number of signatures: 3
Show:Supported byWithdrawn signatures
Showing 3 out of 3
Name
Party
Constituency
Date Signed
Banks, Tony Labour Party West Ham 21.05.2004
Corbyn, Jeremy Labour Party Islington North 25.05.2004
McDonnell, John Labour Party Hayes and Harlington 16.09.2004

More here http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2003-04/1255 but not on the BBC of course.

Cornell dean says ISIS welcome on campus in undercover video per New York Post

Read this article http://nypost.com/2015/03/24/cornell-dean-says-isis-welcome-on-campus-in-undercover-video/ and then wonder if he'd have been happy to have an Israeli government representative come to his campus and give a lecture.

Zarif: 'Karine A Was an Israeli False Flag' per The Weekly Standard

'Zarif is warning that maybe Israel will try to frame Iran again—maybe by building a secret nuclear facility under an Iranian mountain, or something equally devious'
Are there no limits to what Islamists will accuse Israel of?

Monday 10 August 2015

Father let daughter drown rather than be rescued by male lifeguards because it would 'dishonour' her per Mirror Online

'Father let daughter drown rather than be rescued by male lifeguards because it would 'dishonour' her
The father stopped the rescue team from saving her because he preferred that she die than be touched by a strange man. '
Oh for heaven's sake.

Drip drip drip

I love graphs, charts and the like. Which is why this one struck me as rather biased... Look at what the left believe in compared to the right, and ask which side children would plump for... 

I saw this in a book on sale at Oliver Bonas but it is also available online.

Sunday 9 August 2015

Jeremy Corbyn backs greater public ownership for Labour per BBC News

'Labour should not shy away from putting "necessary things" in public ownership as it establishes its future direction, leadership hopeful Jeremy Corbyn says.

He told the Independent on Sunday the party could restore its commitment to public investment in areas such as rail, either "restoring the Clause IV" or using a different one.'
No mention of how the state would pay for the assets that it would nationalise but then why would the BBC report negatively about any left wing Labour politician?

Saturday 8 August 2015

The World's Deadly Obsession With Israel

This old comment by columnist Thomas Friesland for example:
"Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction–out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle Eas –is anti-Semitic, and not saying so is dishonest."

Thursday 6 August 2015

Labour lost because voters believed it was anti-austerity per LabourList

A fascinating article on Labour List http://labourlist.org/2015/08/labour-lost-because-voters-believed-it-was-anti-austerity/ that should put the record straight as to why Labour lost the last general election. Here's an extract but do read the whole piece as I doubt that the BBC will report it as it contradicts the agreed Labour BBC anti austerity narrative :
'Voters rejected Labour because they perceived the Party as anti-austerity lite. 58% agree that, 'we must live within our means so cutting the deficit is the top priority'. Just 16% disagree. Almost all Tories and a majority of Lib Dems and Ukip voters agree.

Amongst working class C2DE voters 54% agree and 15% disagree. Labour voters are evenly divided; 32% agree compared to 34% who disagree.'

The Other News: Arab Female Writer To Women Of The Arab East: Leave Your Benighted Countries Before It Is Too Late!

Here's an extract
'In a recent article titled "Leave the Wretched East" in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai, Nadine Al-Budair, a Saudi journalist and women's rights activist who lives in Dubai, formerly a presenter on the Arabic-language American television channel Alhurra, urged the women of the Arab Mashraq (the Arab countries of the eastern Mediterranean basin) to leave their homelands that oppress them and deny their rights.

Al-Budair spared no criticism from the society of the Arab east, stating that ISIS is a natural product of this society, which is rife with violence and extremism and tends to spurn the other and accuse him of heresy.

She warned women that, in countries that humiliate them, subordinate them to men, exclude them from politics and force them to wear the veil, it is no surprise that women end up being sold in ISIS's slave markets. Hence, they should leave these countries "before it is too late," for there is no light at the end of the tunnel and the region has no future.'

West Papua: The small island where 15% of population have been killed by Muslims

Another story that you won't hear on the BBC,  if only there was a way to blame Israel as then the institutionally anti Israel BBC would report the story.
'Muslims are slaughtering the aboriginals of West Papua after taking occupation by force, and killing their dreams of independence granted onto them.

It's so easy to forget that Muslim violence and oppression is an everyday reality in many small places around the world too.

The people of West Papua have been suffering under Indonesian occupation since 1962. Over 500,000 civilians have been killed, and thousands more have been raped, tortured and imprisoned by Muslims. Foreign media and human rights groups are banned from operating in West Papua, so people rarely hear about the situation there.'

The Islamic State's Campaign Plan targets India

'Certain of its final victory, ISIS declares in the document, "Accept the fact that this caliphate will survive and prosper until it takes over the entire world and beheads every last person that rebels against Allah. ... This is the bitter truth, swallow it."'
More here http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6275/islamic-state-india but not on the pro Pakistan, anti India BBC.

George Cole Delivers Arthur Daley's Goodbye Message 1994

The bomb: 76 years later - UK Indymedia

This article from 2011 by Jeremy Corbyn https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/08/483050.html is fascinating, not least because in 2011 he says that Hiroshima happened 76 years previously. 2011 - 1945 = 66 not 76.

It looks as though Jeremy Corbyn is as mathematically challenged as Andy 'seven eights' Burnham.

Wednesday 5 August 2015

In other words... From Tube strike set to go ahead in night service row per BBC News

This BBC report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-33773658 includes this piece of analysis from the BBC's transport expert...
'The relatively new team at London Underground is experienced in business but not in the railways, and I get the impression that there has been a bit of a culture clash over the way both sides are used to doing deals.'
In other words the London Underground team are used to dealing with reasonable people who haven't got the weapon of stopping the Capital from working properly as a tool to use in negotiations.
The sooner we have legislation in place to stop Trade Unions taking industrial action that deliberately targets innocent workers as a means to win industrial disputes the better. Either that or  London Underground should bring in driverless trains as they have on the DLR in order to ensure that Londoners travel to and from work is no longer subject to the whim of militant train drivers who are massively over paid to sit on their collective backsides, press a few buttons and make occasional incomprehensible announcements.

Tuesday 4 August 2015

Siri On Barry's iPhone 4S - The Big Bang Theory


Barry Kripke has Siri...

Lynton Crosby's poll is a headache for Cameron per The Commentator

An interesting article and one you should read in full here http://www.thecommentator.com/article/6017/lynton_crosby_s_poll_is_a_headache_for_cameron but one part struck me...
'Europe is no longer the toxic issue it used to be (if it ever was) or that the pro-establishment media and the metropolitan Left want it to be. It is a key concern for most voters, because it's tied to their concerns about immigration, which weighs more heavily as the public is inundated with the shambolic scenes in Calais and the refugee camp there, charmingly named, "The Jungle".'
That is right on the money. The BBC and other left wing media tried to put people off 'banging on about Europe' by saying it turned voters off. I never believed that was the case, I thought it more likely that the BBC was just trying to protect its much loved EU project from harm.

BBC left wing bias infects even I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue which is normally pretty non political, apart from Jeremy Hardy and the occasional gag. However this week there was a round asking for Daily Mail style headlines for news events, past and present. Quite funny, if not that original. I wonder if a future week's show will include A Guardian style headlines round, it could be just as funny, but not I suspect in the eyes of the BBC.

Andy “Seven Eights” Burnham per Guido Fawkes

Guido Fawkes reports http://order-order.com/2015/08/03/andy-seven-eights-burnham about the intellectual colossus that is Andy Burnham, including that his nickname at school was "seven eights" because according to his mother 'He couldn't remember that seven eights are 56.'  

The report sourced from the Labour supporting Mirror also reports that:
'Before Ed Miliband chose Ed Balls as his Shadow Chancellor, he searched his Shadow Cabinet for an alternative. The FT famously revealed that Burnham was suggested for the job:"But Andy can't do maths," was Mr Miliband's lament.'
If that's the case then why was Andy  Burnham Chief Secretary to the Treasury ahead of the 2008 crash? Possibly he should have been in a less mathematically demanding role, maybe tea maker.

Monday 3 August 2015

Schools teaching 'pro-Palestinian extremist agenda’ per Telegraph

Nothing in this article surprises me. The NUT like much of the British left, including the BBC, is irretrievably anti Israel. 

One line caught my eye though:
'Images in the pack's appendix feature a Palestinian child who has been "assaulted by settlers" and the video contains a reference to "Jews" as opposed to "Israelis"'
Jews not Israelis, hmm they need Lyse Doucet to correct their 'mistranslation'. 

Sunday 2 August 2015

Democracy in the Palestinian Territories

PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently canceled the scheduled elections for the student councils after the first such election, at Bir Zeit Uniersity, resulted in the Islamist Bloc winning 26 out of the 51 seats, while Abbas's Fatah movement won only 19.

The online Hamas newspaper Alresalah charged that Abbas canceled the remaining elections out of fear the Islamists would defeat Fatah on other campuses, as well.

Elections are a bit of a sore point for Abbas's regime. He was first elected as chairman of the PA on January 15, 2005, for what was supposed to be a single four-year term. That term ended in January 2009, yet, more than six years later, Abbas is still in power and no further elections have been held.'
Democracy in the Palestinian Territories is not something that worries the institutionally anti Israel BBC.

Dehumanising language from the BBC

The BBC have been up in arms, along with their political allies in the Labour Party, about David Cameron's use of the word swarm to refer to illegal immigrants in Calais. 

The wonderful Craig at Isthebbcbiased.blogspot.co.uk has done some of his usual detailed research and finds that the BBC might possibly be being hypocritical.

'Prepare to be offended to the very core of your being. The BBC has not been entirely innocent of using 'dehumanising' language about all and sundry - as you can see from the following seven BBC News website articles.'

Pregnant Migrant Heading To UK 'For My Baby'

When did the UK become the world's health service? 

This woman has fled Africa for a better life in Europe but it appears that France isn't good enough because they actually deal with immigration in a vaguely sensible way. So the UK, for which you can read England and probably London, is the target where free health care for her delivery will be available and then her British baby will mean that its mother can stay with it.

What is amazing, above all else, is how the British National Health Service can expand so easily to offer free medical care to anyone who wants it whether they are British or not. The National Health Service truly is 'the envy of the world'.

With all the evil in the world, are bare breasts a problem?

Apparently:
'... three sisters, Tameera, Nadia and Alysha Mohamed, say that they took their shirts off because it was a hot summer day.

However, they allege that a police officer approached them and told them to cover up. But when they challenged this, the officer said he was stopping them for bike safety reasons.'

"bike safety reasons"? Breasts would have to be very pendulous to possibly interfere with the brakes let along the chain of a bicycle... 

Now I know that 'It is legal for women to be topless in Ontario after a court ruling in 1996.' I may add Ontario to my list of possible holiday destinations.