A contrast in coverage

When the Israelis respond to many years of Hamas rockets hitting their country by hitting back in a measured way, the world's "human rights" organisations, the United Nations and of course much of the world's media (especially the BBC) voiced their horror at the "disproportionate" response and gave credence to Hamas's claims of "civilian" deaths. Oddly now that Saudi Arabia has launched has "sent fighter jets and artillery bombardments across the border into northern Yemen Thursday in a military incursion" and

"The rebels said the Saudi airstrikes hit five areas in their northern stronghold Thursday but it was not possible to independently verify the reports. They said there were dead and wounded, and that homes were destroyed. The rebels' spokesman said people were afraid to get near the areas being bombed, making it difficult to count the casualties.

"Saudi jets dropped bombs on a crowded areas including a local market in the northern province of Saada," Hawthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam told The Associated Press. "They claim they are targeting al-Hawthis, but regrettably they are killing civilians like the government does."

He said the attacks were followed by hundreds of artillery shells from the border.

"So far, three killed have been pulled out of the rubble, including a woman and a child who perished when their houses were bombed and burned down," said Abdel-Salam."

The BBC are happy to accept the Saudi and Yemeni official line that

"Saudi Arabia has insisted its forces only attacked Yemeni rebel positions on Saudi territory, according to the state news agency.

This directly contradicts a number of separate reports on Thursday that air strikes had taken place on on rebel strongholds in northern Yemen."

I'd place more credence on the Seattle report that:

"Two Arab diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saudi Tornado and F-15 warplanes had been bombarding targets inside Yemen since Wednesday afternoon, inflicting significant casualties on rebels. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the media."

It is odd that the Saudi incursion is described as coming as a response to "the killing of a Saudi soldier, blamed on the rebels." Am I alone in seeing the parallels with the capture of Gilad Shalit?

So where are the UN protests at the Saudi attacks on Yemeni civilians? Where are the cries of "disproportionate response" from the "human rights" industry and where is the wall to wall BBC coverage? The absence of all three elements leads me to believe that just maybe the need for oil, fear of Islamic retaliation and the usual anti-Israel feeling along with a smattering of anti-Semitism may well be to blame.

Two more things for the middle-aged to worry about

First news that there are

"Plans from the EU's economic and social committee (that) would see firms carry out psychological tests on older members of staff.... The EU committee said: "The policies target workers at risk due to their personal belief that they lack adaptability skills, self-motivation and the ability to learn.

"If older workers are to stay in work, it is vital for firms to introduce an anticipatory mechanism as early as the middle of a worker's career, to avoid workers becoming at risk." "

Second news that "An American woman suffered a sudden attack of amnesia after having sex with her husband. " Apparently:

"The 59-year-old woman, known only as Alice, had the worrying experience after she and her husband Scott had sex last August. She suddenly, albeit temporarily, lost all memory of the last several years and the ability to form new memories.

After sex they turned on the television, which was showing the Beijing Olympics, and she asked: "Is there an Olympics?"

...

...neurologists were soon able to diagnose TGA, a relatively common experience in the over-50s.

Dr Louis Caplan, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, said: "[Sex] is actually a well-known precipitator.

"One of the things people have done to look at transient global amnesia is to look at frequency of various precipitants and sex always comes out as one of the most common."

People with a history of migraines and severe headaches are more prone to TGA.

Although her memory has otherwise returned fully, Alice remains unable to remember the act of intercourse that triggered her attack. However, it is likely that she enjoyed herself.

Dr Caplan said: "It usually is after climax that [TGA] develops." "

The malign influence still near the heart of British politics

Read and wonder how nobody knew in advance that "Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, the head of the independent watchdog charged with reforming MPs’ expenses and restoring public trust in Parliament, is a close friend of Alastair Campbell. "

Which way for gold?

As the gold price gets ever closer to 1,100USD per ounce people are wondering if it is a bubble that will soon burst. 'It will fall back to 750USD by June 2010' I was told yesterday. Others still predict gold rising to 1,300USD or higher next year. Both sides can't be right and I know where my money/gold would go.

The Fort Hood multiple murder story and the BBC

Whoosh and it's all but gone. Today the Fort Hood murder story has almost disappeared from the BBC news front page, all that is left is Obama praises army base heroism. So we travel to World News where we find the Fort Hood murders are still the top story. So how are the BBC reporting the story, what are the prisms through which they see the horrific events? The top story is the aforementioned Obama reaction piece which tells us that "President Barack Obama praises the "valour" of those who responded to the deadly attacks at a US army base in Texas. " This piece like many others on the BBC news website then goes on to "investigate" the possible causes of the murderer: "Investigators are waiting for Maj Hasan to emerge from his coma but have examined his home and computer records to try to find any clue to the motive of his attack.

Reports suggested that he had been increasingly unhappy in the military and that his work at his previous post - Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC - had been the subject of concern.

His cousin told US media that Maj Hasan had been opposed to an imminent deployment overseas, describing it as his "worst nightmare".

He also said that Maj Hasan had been battling racial harassment because of his "Middle Eastern ethnicity."

The manager of his apartment complex told Associated Press news agency that Maj Hasan's car had been badly scratched recently by an army employee who had returned from Iraq and objected to Maj Hasan's faith.

AP also quoted a former classmate on a Maryland university course as saying that Maj Hasan was a "vociferous opponent" of America fighting conflicts in Muslim countries."
It's a mystery isn't it? He had become "increasingly unhappy in the military", a "vociferous opponent" of America fighting conflicts in Muslim countries", hmmm no I can't fathom it either. Further, much further down the article the BBC do finally report what may be a clue as to motive

"The commander of the base, Lt Gen Robert Cone, told NBC News that, according to eyewitnesses, Mr Hasan had shouted the Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar!" [God is great] before opening fire."

Let's see: "increasingly unhappy in the military", a "vociferous opponent" of America fighting conflicts in Muslim countries" and shouted "the Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar!" [God is great] before opening fire." Almost inexplicable isn't it?!


The next BBC "report" is the bizarrely entitled "Shooting raises fears for Muslims in US army " in which "The BBC's Penny Spiller considers how it may affect the thousands of Muslims in the US military?" Oddly enough bearing in mind that this is not the first incident, remember in 2003 when Sergeant Hasan Akbar threw hand grenades and opened fire on a tent full of sleeping soldiers in the early hours of the morning; he killed two officers and injured 14 other personnel. This was in Kuwait as his unit prepared to move into Iraq. Back then the murderer's family said he had been suffering religious and racial harassment from other soldiers, although no witnesses came forward to say this at his trial. The prosecution described him as a "hate-filled, ideologically driven murderer", which seems closer to the truth.

I may be wrong here but might the story be to ask how many other Muslims in the US military might take similar action against their fellow soldiers and how at risk normal members of the US military might be? Maybe the BBC will consider this angle elsewhere...


The next BBC piece is entitled "Coping with stressed soldiers" and repeats the mantra like claim "While it is still unclear what led a US army major to shoot dead 13 people on a Texas army base" before going on to consider the psychological stresses face by the military. It's a good piece on a worthwhile subject but I feel it is a diversion from the subject at hand.


The next BBC piece is by Mark Mardell and he gets right into the defensive speculation

"The truth is of course cloudy. The alleged murderer was clearly a Muslim, but there is very little to suggest that he adhered to a hard-line interpretation of his religion or that he had political or religious motives.

He may or may not have posted something on the internet defending suicide bombers. But he also appears to have been traumatised by the idea of being sent to a combat zone. "

What no mention of the shouted "Allahu Akbar!", no that can't be relevant.

"Still, people will speculate - as I am doing. Life may become more uncomfortable for his innocent co-religionists, a regrettable consequence of any such attack."

Again worries over what the 'backlash' might be rather than over whether another similar attack might take place.

"We search for certainty and for answers. Some will go down blind alleys: reports of his "religious attire", for example, may turn out to be a red herring."

Interesting how Mark Mardell states as fact that "Some will go down blind alleys" and links that to the factual "religious attire" of the murderer. Very neatly done.

Mark Mardell's piece, after he has excused Barack Obama from any responsibility - in the Mardell world praise for the Obvamamessiah is a key part of any article he writes - end thus

"Still, searching for patterns and for answers is part of what it is to be human. I loathe cliche, but perhaps, for once, this is a "senseless tragedy", devoid of deeper meaning."

"perhaps"? Perhaps not. Do take a read of the comments underneath Mark Mardell's piece; they split between the bleeding-heart liberals who have swallowed every piece of the multicultural phrasebook and can regurgitate it at will, the islamaphobes (although quite a few of their comments have likely fallen foul of "house rules") and the sorrowful realists who can see what happened because they allow themselves to look at the facts and are deeply worried about where we are heading.

Now that's what I call a "differential diagnosis" with a difference

The infamous Cuddy pole-dance strip from the final episode of "House" Season 4.

The ending of the last episode of this series had both Mrs NotaSheep and me moist eyed and deeply moved. This scene had a slightly different effect...

The Fort Hood shooting

Fascinating CNN video spotted by A Tangled Web.

This fear of a Muslim having to fight another Muslim is just another manifestation for some Muslims of the loyalty to the Ummah overriding any other loyalty.

The BBC report the story with the excusing line "He also said that Maj Hasan had been battling racial harassment because of his "Middle Eastern ethnicity"."

Personally I am more interested in the real reasons behind Major Hasan's killing spree and I think The Telegraph may have some clues: apparently he shouted "Allahu Akbar" before opening fire -

"Soldiers who witnessed the shooting rampage that killed 13 people at Fort Hood military base in Texas have reported that gunman Major Nidal Malik Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar" - God is great - before opening fire."

The Telegraph also reveal that

"Col Terry Lee, a retired officer who worked with him at the military base in Texas, alleged Maj Hasan had angry confrontations with other officers over his views.

Maj Hasan was reportedly fighting orders to be deployed to Iraq at the end of the month, claiming that he was the victim of harassment and insults because of his Arab background and his faith.

The major is a psychiatrist who had been treating soldiers returning from Iraq for post-traumatic stress and alcohol and drug abuse problems.

"He was making outlandish comments condemning our foreign policy and claimed Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans," Col Lee told Fox News.

"He said Muslims should stand up and fight the aggressor and that we should not be in the war in the first place." He said that Maj Hasan said he was "happy" when a US soldier was killed in an attack on a military recruitment centre in Arkansas in June. An American convert to Islam was accused of the shootings.

Col Lee alleged that other officers had told him that Maj Hasan had said "maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Time Square" in New York. "

The same Telegraph piece also reveals that:

"Federal law enforcement officials have said Maj Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.

The officials said the postings appeared to have been made by Maj Hasan but they were still trying to confirm that he was the author. "

Have a think and make up your own minds...

More helicopters or more helicopter hours?

The BBC's transcript of Gordon Brown's speech about the Afghan War contains this line

"... by next Spring we will have increased the number of helicopter hours, including commercially leased freight helicopters, more than threefold over the last three years."

I wonder if that is more actual helicopters or just the same number of helicopters operating for more hours...

It's all Roy Bishko's fault

Alex Masterley seems to think that the "entire banking crisis, at least the London end of it" can be blamed on Tie rack. It's an entertaining explanation that has much truth to it. But maybe a bit harsh to blame my old friend Roy Bishko for all of the banking crisis.

Pravda speak sense again

I have blogged about Pravda articles before: here and here, so I am not surprised to be doing so again. This time it is about an article by Hans Vogel entitled "Twenty Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the EU is a Reincarnation of the Former Soviet Union". Do take a read of the whole piece but here is an extract or two to give you a flavour:

"Article 8 is also very interesting. It would seem to state that one's personal data are safe. But are they? Under current EU regulations, member states are required to keep records of all e-mail traffic and all telephone conversations. In fact it is as if the government would be reading all your letters. Many EU member states, the government can enter your computer at will and change data and records on your computer without your knowing it. All this snooping and spying is, of course, in the interest of state security, to “fight terrorism!” It all looks as if the Nazi slogan “Du bist nichts, dein Volk ist alles!” (You are nothing, your people is everything) were put into effect in today's EU.

Ah, and then there is, of course, freedom of expression. Article 11 establishes this unequivocally. Currently, all 27 EU member states have such a provision in their constitutions. Yet on at least two issues, EU citizens do not enjoy this freedom of speech. In a number of member states (Germany, Belgium, Austria, France, the Czech Republic) it is a criminal offense to publicly wonder whether six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II. Even if you would believe that, say, no more than 4.5 million Jews were exterminated, this could land you in jail for years. It is effectively prohibited to conduct research into this topic (to try to establish how many Jews were killed during WW II), because it makes you a “Holocaust denier.”

Nor is it allowed in some states to make any sort of remark criticizing islam. This will immediately cause you to be prosecuted for what in the US is called “hate speech.” This is happening to Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who will be put on trial next January for making allegedly disparaging remarks about islam, whereas what he really did was assemble a movie using available footage, to demonstrate the violent nature of islamic teachings.

Free speech, or freedom of expression is really a very simple issue, a clear-cut case. Either you have free speech, in which case you may say ANYTHING at all, or you have no free speech. It is like being pregnant: either you are, or you aren't. It is impossible to be a “little bit pregnant,” just as it is impossible to have “some free speech.”

Thus in the EU today, there is NO free speech. Nor will there be any when the Lisbon Treaty takes effect. The EU crackdown on “illegal” downloads, threatening anyone caught downloading copyrighted items more than three times with lifelong exclusion from internet access, can be interpreted as an indication that a major offensive against one of the few remaining vestiges of freedom is underway. "

"Article 50 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution granted all citizens freedom of speech. But whoever dared voice criticism of the system in any coherent, vocal way, was severely punished. Punishments included loss of job, domestic exile (nuclear scientist Andrei Sakharov), and assignment to a mental hospital. There was no free speech in the old Soviet Union, like there is no free speech in Europe today.

Similarities between the Lisbon Treaty and its communist predecessors are quite remarkable, for instance in the clauses on equality before the law.

Article 34 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution proclaimed full legal equality for all: “citizens of the USSR are equal before the law, without distinction of origin, social or property status, race or nationality, sex, education, language, attitude to religion, type and nature of occupation, domicile, or other status.” The East German Constitution echoes this. Article 20:1 reads: Independently of his nationality, race, religious ideas, social background and position, every citizen of the German Democratic Republic enjoys the same rights and duties. Freedom of religion and belief are guaranteed. All citizens are equal before the law.” Coincidentally, the Lisbon Treaty is strikingly similar: “ Everyone is equal before the law ” (article 20), and “ Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited” (article 21). "

The article goes on to reference Vladimir Bukovsky, who you can find more about on this blog, here's Pravda's take:

"As recently as 2006, a most eloquent and insightful warning against the EU and the Lisbon Treaty's precursor, the ill-fated “constitution”, was given by former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky. Traumatized by the experience of living in the Soviet Union, Bukovsky noted the deeply disturbing similarities between the old Soviet Union and the blueprints for the EU super state. The European Commission, he noted, was the exact equivalent of the old Soviet Politbureau, in terms of the secretive way power was exercised, the recruitment and personalities of its members and the scope and reach of its decisions. The “European Parliament” today (and under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty) is a mere rubber stamp institution, just like the “Supreme Soviet” of the old USSR.

As a matter of fact, there are so many similarities between the old Soviet Union and the EU that mere coincidence is unlikely. Bukovsky argues the EU was designed to be like the old USSR. The architects of the EU? Mostly social democrats, whom Stalin quite aptly called “Social Fascists.”

Most Europeans have not yet understood this. Most are still indifferent, but their indifference will soon vanish when the full weight of repressive EU policies and EU taxation doing its destructive work will be felt.

Sooner than anybody now thinks, the only way to vent criticism of the EU will be in the form of jokes. No doubt many of the characteristic old Soviet jokes will be dusted off and given an anti-European Commission twist.

By that time, all Europeans except for the privileged class of “eurocrats” will be prisoners in the EU. However, they will certainly have a wonderful Constitution. "

A refreshing view of Labour Britain (update)

Further to this I now read that

"British film icon Sir Michael Caine has abandoned his support of the Labour party and announced he will vote Conservative at the next general election. "

Good on you Sir Michael.

Obama healthcare

The music on hold can be heard in full here.

Labour disloyalty shhhh

There were 4 minutes right at the end of Today programme on something I covered a while back in some detail: the links between Labour & Union leaders and the USSR in the 1970s & 1980s. I suppose the BBC think that by having a 4 minute quirky piece they have covered this issue properly. I disagree, the actions of some people linked to the murderous Soviet regime could be considered as treason.

Free money

Stephanie Flanders on Today programme stated that the government had created money via QE. What no costs to this, no problems at all?

A coordinated war against Israel in January 2010?

The Jawa Report predicts a coordinated war against Israel in January 2010. Worryingly much of the logic behind this prediction seems sound. Take a read of the whole piece, here's a few extracts:

"...
2. There have been endless reports of weapons build-ups in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip for Hezbollah and Hamas. Debka and Israel Matzav have more.
3. Very disturbing but less to do with the imminent conflict is Turkey's actions over the last year, and especially the last few months...They are now openly facilitation the transfer of munitions from Iran to Syria, which simplifies and speeds up the process of arming Hezbollah and Hamas.
...
Iran needs to cause a "look at the shiny thing" moment near the the new year and Hezbollah and Hamas are now armed to the teeth and ready to comply with their master's orders. Plus, Hamas would like nothing more that to get a chance to take a whack at Israel for Cast Lead and disrupt the scheduled Palestinian elections. All this adds up to a significant incident in the early part of January that engulfs the region in a sh!t storm, IMO. This includes minimally two fronts and possibly a third minor front out of the West Bank. Or maybe I'm wrong, I hope I am...we'll see in about 2 months.

If it goes down, anybody want to take a guess at Ofumble's reaction? I'm guessing something similar to a deer in the headlights, at best, provide aid to Syria, at worst."

Not a very cheery thought but something that I consider to be at least 50:50 at present. From the look of Operation Juniper-Bobra the US military and Israel look to be taking precautions.

Keep an eye on this BBC site

The BBC's Democracy Live site has a section devoted to a "Guide to where power lies". Keep an eye on the pages on the EU, I get the feeling they will need rewriting very soon...

Told you so

The BBC report

"An Australian psychology expert who has been studying emotions has found being grumpy makes us think more clearly.

In contrast to those annoying happy types, miserable people are better at decision-making and less gullible, his experiments showed.

While cheerfulness fosters creativity, gloominess breeds attentiveness and careful thinking, Professor Joe Forgas told Australian Science Magazine. "

Finally my grumpy nature has been vindicated.

"stupefying lack of imagination"

"What is so irritating about all of this? Not so much its political slant (though it goes almost without saying that the BBC would never have put out a comparable series from a Right-wing point of view). It is more its ineffable complacency, its stupefying lack of imagination."

That's Charles Moore on Andrew Marr's "The Making of Modern Britain". Charles Moore's piece is entitled "Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain is a patronising and ignorant piece of history", but what else does anyone expect from a BBC political commentator, especially one so firmly aligned with liberal-leftist thought?

Super Boris

The BBC are pained to have to report the heroism of Boris Johnson who

"rescued a woman who was being attacked by an armed group of young girls, chasing them down the road on his bicycle."

The woman he defended

"admitted that she did not agree with Mr Johnson's politics and had voted for rival Ken Livingstone in the 2008 mayoral election.

But Ms Armstrong added: "If you find yourself down a dark alleyway and in trouble I think Boris would be of more use than Ken."

I wonder what Ken would have done if in the same position as Boris? For a start he wouldn't have been on a bicycle but in a London taxi and so wouldn't have noticed anything awry. However let's suppose he had have happened into this situation what do you think his reaction would have been?

The EU Lisbon Treaty - the truth at last

Now that the EU Lisbon Treaty (the European Constitution in another form) will become law within weeks, Czech President Vaclav Klaus having signed the EU's Lisbon Treaty, the BBC are letting the truth out. Whilst the news pages still stick to the approved line that

"The treaty was drawn up to streamline decision-making in the EU, and is a watered-down version of a draft EU constitution rejected four years ago."

Gavin Hewitt feels able to reveal that

"The treaty started life as a constitution but it was rejected by the French and Dutch. It was re-born as a treaty although it was largely the same document. It had been shorn of some references that implied Europe was growing closer to being a federal state."

Gavin Hewitt goes on to admit that

"The British goverment, who promised the people a vote, changed its mind. The treaty was described as a technical change that did not require a referendum. All the indications were that the British people wanted their say and most likely would have rejected the treaty."

I am disgusted by the way that Gordon Brown and his colleagues denied the UK public a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, I am disgusted by the way the EU forced the Irish to re-hold their referendum, I am disgusted by the way that the EU leant on Vaclav Klaus to ratify the Treaty and I am disgusted by the way this all being rushed into being before any UK general election. The trouble is that I have very little faith that David Cameron will, if elected, do anything substantive to change matters. It seems that the UK will in very short order become a province of the EU and we will all be subjects of the great EUSSR. Maybe Tony Blair, Gordon Brown & Peter Mandelson's New Labour project is coming to final fruition before the UK electorate throw them out of office.

Global warming - follow the money

The New York Times have a fascinating report entitled "Gore’s Dual Role: Advocate and Investor". This informs us that:

"Former Vice President Al Gore thought he had spotted a winner last year when a small California firm sought financing for an energy-saving technology from the venture capital firm where Mr. Gore is a partner.

The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient. It came to Mr. Gore’s firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital providers, looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions of so-called smart meters in homes and businesses.

Mr. Gore and his partners decided to back the company, and in gratitude Silver Spring retained him and John Doerr, another Kleiner Perkins partner, as unpaid corporate advisers.

The deal appeared to pay off in a big way last week, when the Energy Department announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants. Of the total, more than $560 million went to utilities with which Silver Spring has contracts. Kleiner Perkins and its partners, including Mr. Gore, could recoup their investment many times over in coming years.

Silver Spring Networks is a foot soldier in the global green energy revolution Mr. Gore hopes to lead. Few people have been as vocal about the urgency of global warming and the need to reinvent the way the world produces and consumes energy. And few have put as much money behind their advocacy as Mr. Gore and are as well positioned to profit from this green transformation, if and when it comes.

Critics, mostly on the political right and among global warming skeptics, say Mr. Gore is poised to become the world’s first “carbon billionaire,” profiteering from government policies he supports that would direct billions of dollars to the business ventures he has invested in. "

Do read the whole article and then take a trip over to NewsBusters for their excellent analysis of this story.

"a belief in man-made climate change and the alleged resulting moral imperative is capable of being a philosophical belief"

Somewhat linked to my previosu post is the news that

"Essentially what the judgment says is that a belief in man-made climate change and the alleged resulting moral imperative is capable of being a philosophical belief and is therefore protected by the 2003 religion or belief regulations."

This is the frankly all but unbelievable claim of solicitor, Shah Qureshi, after his client, Tim Nicholson, has been told he can take his employer to tribunal on the grounds he was unfairly dismissed because of his views on climate change. Apparently:

"Tim Nicholson, 42, of Oxford, was made redundant in 2008 by Grainger Plc in Didcot, as head of sustainability.

He said his beliefs had contributed to his dismissal and in March a judge ruled he could use employment equality laws to claim it was unfair.

But the firm appealed against this as it believed his views were political.

After the hearing on Monday, Mr Nicholson said he was delighted by the judgement for himself and other people who may feel they are discriminated against because of their views on climate change."

The report continues:

"Mr Nicholson was given permission in March to make his claim under the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003 that covers "any religion, religious belief, or philosophical belief".

But the ruling was challenged by Grainger plc, the UK's biggest residential landlord, on the grounds that green views were not the same as religious or philosophical beliefs.

Mr Nicholson, who said his opinions affect his whole lifestyle, claimed his views had put him at odds with other senior staff at Grainger and been ignored by managers. "

I have no comment other than the lunatics truly have taken over the asylum.

"Why we must wipe out climate denialism"

"With a survey showing that only 15 per cent of Brits are worried about global warming, it’s time to extinguish the ideas warping the public’s mind.

A new survey has revealed that out of 12 countries surveyed for the Climate Confidence monitor, Britain is the ‘least concerned’ about global warming. Only 15 per cent of Britons are worried about the worst crisis mankind has ever faced. If anything shows the dangers of what some people term ‘free debate’, but what is really the spread of cancerous ideas in the British body politic, it is surely these findings. Before the UN Copenhagen conference on climate change in December, we need a focused, concerted effort to remove from public life the language of Denialese."

Scary stuff!

Go to Spiked to read the explanation and appeal:

"Imagine waking up to articles like that every morning, without anybody around to put the opposite case.

Imagine a world in which there was only a flimsy commitment to free speech. Where misanthropic ideas went unchallenged. Where there was no one who consistently – day in, day out – put the case for freedom, Enlightenment and serious, grown-up debate.

In other words, imagine a world without spiked.

Well, it’s a very real possibility if we don’t raise £20,000 by the end of the year. And who knows who would take the place of our oasis of sanity on the World Wide Web – more misanthropes, perhaps, or another publication that believes in ‘free speech’ for some people but not for others.

If you value spiked, if you value our daily salvo of Enlightened thinking and our ceaseless struggle against fearmongering, priggishness and the politics of low horizons, then please donate to our fund-drive TODAY.

spiked has no wealthy benefactor and no sugar daddy. We rely on our readers and our readers alone to keep us afloat.

So if you would like to see the normal spiked service resume tomorrow and into the next decade – that is, our service to free-thinking, humanist argument and rigorous debate – then please dig deep and click here now. Because a world without spiked ...well, it doesn’t bear thinking about.

Brendan O’Neill, Editor "

An excellent way to grab attention, I had started composing a rebuttal before I read the explanation!

No money for water, medicines or food but plenty for rockets

The BBC report that:

"The Palestinian militant group Hamas has test-fired a rocket capable of reaching Tel Aviv from Gaza, Israel's head of military intelligence has said.

Maj-Gen Amos Yadlin told a committee in parliament that the rocket was believed to be of Iranian origin and had been successfully fired out to sea.

There was no immediate comment by Hamas and it is not clear what evidence there is that the rocket came from Iran.

The new rocket has a range of about 60km (37 miles). "

In recent days the BBC have been full of how short of money Hamas is and how their people were short of drinking water and practically everything else because of the Israeli "blockade". No mention was made in those heart-rending reports of the closed Egyptian border, it seems that Israel is deemed to control that border as well as their own. In today's piece about the Hamas rocket no mention is made of the resource issue, which is odd because when the BBC talk about the scrapping Trident they are keen to inform us how many hospitals, schools etc. could be paid for.

Bias at the Beeb? By Stephen Hopkins

Just spotted this article from 2007 on the web and thought I would draw attention to it. Do go and read the whole piece but here are a few extracts:

"I have never thought of the BBC as overtly biased, although it is perfectly true that the arts section of society has a reputation (which it may or may not deserve) for being left-wing. While Auntie might not be permitted to recruit on the basis of political or cultural outlook to redress the balance, all employees, regardless of their own background and outlook, must be aware that many of the people they are supposed to be serving have views, backgrounds, ways of life and opinions that do not conform to what some critics call its own ‘comfortable consensus’.

...

Concerning the Make Poverty History campaign, the BBC was said to be an active cheer-leader rather than a disinterested observer. Among other things, the BBC One comedy The Vicar of Dibley promoted the campaign by giving undue coverage to television footage connected with the event and having the vicar urge her parishioners to support it. Now, there’s nothing controversial about watching Geraldine watching the telly, but we don’t usually see what’s entranced her. It must have been, of course, entirely co-incidental that Richard Curtis, a writer on The Vicar of Dibley, was also a campaigner on behalf of the cause.

...

One of the problems facing the BBC, if what Andrew Marr says is correct, is that the Corporation is “a publicly-funded urban organisation with an abnormally large proportion of younger people, of people in ethnic minorities and almost certainly of gay people, compared with the population at large”. Translation: the people (and their attitudes) who work as skilled craftsmen or manual labourers, read The Sun or the Daily Mail, are middle-aged to elderly, or are middle-class rural, slightly socially conservative voters, are not adequately represented by the Corporation.

...

The Corporation employs thousands of very talented and able staff, and I do not for one second think that there is any policy (official or unofficial) of endorsing or giving air-time to some groups or opinions at the expense of others. I have no reason to doubt the integrity of the BBC and its personnel, and I am sure the staff believe themselves to be impartial. However, I think that without an even spread across the political and cultural spectrum, there isn’t the plurality of opinions that would help to prevent one world view becoming entrenched as the accepted norm. The consensus among the majority of the staff becomes the political centre, and notions such as “left” and “right” are interpreted relative thereto. The fact that the “centre” might be no such thing doesn’t cross anyone’s mind.

What you’re left with, in the words of Mr Marr, is “an innate liberal bias inside the BBC.” Jeff Randall, the BBC’s former business editor who’s since joined Joshua Rosenberg, another ex-colleague, at the Daily Telegraph, put it thus: “It’s a bit like walking into a Sunday meeting of the Flat Earth Society. As they discuss great issues of the day, they discuss them from the point of view that the earth is flat. If someone says, ‘No, no, no, the earth is round!’, they think this person is an extremist. That’s what it’s like for someone with my right-of-centre views working inside the BBC.”"

The best placed economy?

This graph shows the OECD's estimate of the fiscal deficit each of their members will amass this year (as a percentage of GDP). Note which country us right at the bottom of the list. Yes the UK will have the largest fiscal deficit in 2009. Do remember this chart next time you hear Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling or any other Labour fool or media apologist telling us that it is an international problem that started in the USA and that we couldn't have seen it coming. The truth is the UK economy is screwed even worse than alleged basket cases like Iceland, Ireland and Spain.



Thanks to Burning Our Money for the spot.

Gold ever upwards

I note that

"Gold jumped to within 0.4 percent of its peak after the International Monetary Fund sold the metal for the first time in nine years and as investors sought an alternative to a weaker dollar.

Gold futures in India and Dubai surged to records today after the IMF said it sold 200 metric tons of bullion to the Reserve Bank of India for about $6.7 billion. The Washington- based lender agreed in September to sell 403.3 tons of gold as part of a plan to shore up its finances and lend at reduced rates to low-income countries. "

I believe I did forewarn you...

Always take your bread from the back of the baker's basket

Having queued up behind a mother and her, only averagely, snotty child I realised why I always take my bread from the back of the baker's baskets. The little germ carrier touched several loaves with the same hand that he had been using to wipe his nose and insert in his mouth. His doting mother caught him once and gave out a tired little Joyce Grenfellesque "don't do that" but he of course ignored her. The shop assistant did nothing and I, not wanting any confrontation, just took my loaf from the back of the basket and wondered if there was space in our kitchen for a breadmaker.

The Guardian beyond parody (part 2)

The Guardian Comment is Free's Jess McCabe is worried that

"Women contribute less to global warming yet will be hit harder by its effects. Reproductive justice is a separate issue....

...that climate change is a feminist issue. Everyone stands to suffer if climate change is allowed to spiral out of control, of course, but a gender analysis of both the impacts and causes of climate change shows that globally women contribute less to the problem and yet are likely to be hit especially hard.

Poor people are likely to bear the brunt as the climate changes and 70% of the world's poor are women. According to one estimate, 85% of the victims of climate disasters are women. Another study found 75% of environmental refugees are women. (Statistics from the Women's Manifesto on Climate Change)."

Once again her readers are not convinced:

MrSilver: "

According to one estimate, 85% of the victims of climate disasters are women

Could you back this up?
I'm having trouble with the idea of a misogynist tsunami or hurricane carefully avoiding hurting men


DrJohnZoidberg:

hang on jess...you haven't blamed the thatcher, bankers, the u.s. or the worldwide zionist conspiracy...

you're slacking.

i wonder where viz gets its ideas for millie tant and modern parents?


Natmandu:

This may all be true, but my housemate's a girl, and I spend all day and all night turning the lights, TV and heating off because she can't be bothered, and throwing away the takeaway food she can't be bothered to finish.

I've also lived with women whose solution to being cold at home was to heat the entire house to roughly the same temperature as Delhi in June, and as many men whose solution was to put on a jumper and suck it up.

So I can confidently tell you that at least one woman is not part of the solution to the problem of climate change."

The Guardian's Comment is Free really can be comedy gold, were it not for the unfortunate fact that it is people with mindsets like many Guardian columnists who are running much of the western world.

The Guardian - beyond parody (part 1)

The Guardian Comment is Free's Sady Doyle is worried that:

"Obama's boys-only basketball games are an example of the unconscious discrimination that works against women...

When Barack Obama held an office basketball game and invited only male employees to participate, it sparked anger, simply because it looked so familiar. It's tempting to view Hoopgate as essentially silly – one more example of the supremely trivial non-controversies that have dogged Obama throughout his first year in office. (Was it right for the president to call Kanye West a "jackass"? Should presidents know how to use swear words? Is Obama a secret Taylor Swift fan, and, if so, should we be worried?)

But for women, this situation is anything but trivial. The sight of a male boss bonding with his male employees over a stereotypically male activity – and leaving female employees out – is something that many of us have seen before, at our own places of employment. And it can result in real-world inequalities."

Sady Doyle appears to be serious, her readers are less worried:

blacknose: "Oh, for f*ck sake, find some real sexism to complain about.
It's tempting to view Hoopgate as essentially silly because it is silly."

tangerinedream: "Is this some kind of record for most words written about most insignificant event?

Next week, a 10,000 word dissertation on how Michelle Obama's flick of her hair had racial undertones......"

Harriet Harman has been questioned by the police

This related to the alleged instance of her driving off after a motoring accident without giving her insurance details, an offence carrying a possible six-month jail term. The Mail reports that:

"Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman has been questioned by police for allegedly leaving the scene of a traffic accident and driving while using her mobile phone.

The MP attended a pre-arranged appointment with officers, believed to have taken place in the past fortnight.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman confirmed that lawyers were in discussions with police regarding the case and that they had offered ‘preliminary advice’ – but were awaiting further evidence.

A full police file is expected to be sent to the CPS next month, when a decision will be taken on whether to prosecute Ms Harman.

A source said: ‘Police took a formal statement from Mrs Harman but she was not arrested.’"

Of course there will be no prosecution, 'it will not be in the public interest' but what caught my eye when this story was first reported and again in this report was Harriet Harman's alleged high-handedness

"After the accident a witness, who is a neighbour of the damaged car’s owner, is understood to have approached Ms Harman’s car but the MP is said to have wound down her window and said simply: ‘I’m Harriet Harman... you know where you can get hold of me.’"

This Labour government is full of people who think they are above the law and beyond reproach; unfortunately I fear they may be correct.

"No matter if the science is all phony... climate change provides the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world"

The real motivation for the emergence of Climate Change religion as the replacement for left-wing doctrine as espoused by Christine Stewart the former Canadian Environment Minister.

"No matter if the science is all phony, there are collateral environmental benefits...climate change provides the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world"

Thanks to Britannia Radio for the quotation spot and for an interesting accompanying article re "The global warming scam".

I am so shocked, no really, I am shocked

The Telegraph reports the simply shocking news that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi who was released on compassionate grounds on 30 July as he had three months to live, is not only still alive but three months on from Prof Sikora's diagnosis,

"Megrahi is well enough to "walk and talk" and shows no sign of deterioration, according to a senior source involved in his release.

The source told The Sunday Telegraph: "His condition has not deteriorated in three months. He is pretty much in the same way as he was when this all started. He is just as he was. There is nothing that leads anyone to believe he is in any different condition to when he left Scotland.""

Don't forget that

"Megrahi, who is suffering terminal prostate cancer, was sent home to Libya to die after medical experts concluded in a report on July 30 he had just three months left to live. The time span was crucial because only prisoners with three months or less to survive are eligible for release on compassionate grounds. "

Do you mean that there is a possibility that al-Megrahi might live more than three months and that his compassionate release was unnecessary? I am so shocked... Yes I know al-Megrahi almost certainly was not responsible for the Lockerbie bombing and that the true culprits would be found nearer Syria than Libya. However al-Megrahi could and indeed should have been used as a bargaining counter to get WPC Yvonne Fletcher's killers extradited to the UK. Anyone would think that there were business deals involved in the release decision...

How safe is the Earth, really?

Charlie Stross has some surprising answers and ones that eco-fanatiocs should digest. Here are some extracts, but do read the whole of his article:

"imagine that, instead of being a perplexed mostly-hairless primate reading a blog, you're the guiding intelligence of an interstellar robot probe. You've been entrusted with the vital mission of determining whether a target planet is inhabitable by members of your creator species, who bear an eerie resemblance to H. Sapiens Sapiens. To gauge the suitability of the target world you've been given an incubator that can generate decorticated human clones — breathing meat-machines with nobody home up top. When you get to the destination you're going to transfer them to the surface and see how long they survive. If it can make it through 24 hours (or one diurnal period), congratulations! — you've found a potential colony world; one so hospitable that a naked and clueless human doesn't die on their first day out.

Your first destination planet is the cloud-whorled third planet out from an undistinguished G2 star, orbited by an airless, tidally-locked moon with roughly 1.3% of the planet's own mass. (Sound familiar? It should be.) You start sending down meat-machines to probe the surface at random. What conclusions do you draw about the inhabitability of Earth?

Let's start with Earth in its current configuration.

78% of the surface area is seawater. Drop a naked meat puppet there and it's going to go glug glug glub ... tritely, this is Not A Good Start.

Of the remaining 22%, about one third is either mountain ranges, deserts, or ice caps. It's reasonable to say that, in the absence of protective equipment, the meat probes are going to die of exposure in less than one diurnal period — possibly in as little as an hour if they're unlucky enough to land in the middle of the Antarctic winter.

We're down to about 15% of the planetary surface — 15% that isn't lethal without life support equipment such as boats, tents, and clothing. Our meat probes can breathe the air without their lungs freezing or dessicating. They aren't going to drown rapidly. And they aren't going to roll off a cliff. They might get a tad sunburned or hypothermic depending on the weather, and they might be eaten by a mountain lion or bitten by a rattlesnake, but they stand a reasonable chance of making it through 24 hours on the surface without dying.

Triumph! We have confirmed that a small part of this planet is inhabitable. Except ... I cheated. I pulled a fast one on you. Because I picked Earth in its current configuration — as it is today."

Interesting, isn't it?

It gets better (or worse):

"So here's the upshot: of the 4.6 Gy of Earth's known history, there's only been enough oxygen in the atmosphere for us to survive for about 0.5 Gy. For roughly 90% of the Earth's history we couldn't even breathe the air. And about 10-25% of the time, there have been ice ages so savagely fierce that the glaciers reached the tropics: odds are good that any meat probe landing on solid ground during these periods would rapidly die of exposure. So historically, Earth has only been inhabitable about 8% of the time — assuming you are lucky enough to find some solid ground. Once you factor in the random surface distribution, we're down to about 2% survivability."

I am sure you already know that a Gy is a gigayear and that 1Gy = 1,000,000,000 years.

Here's a final extract:

"So, back to the gedankenexperiment. Currently, a random meat probe dropped on the Earth's surface has something like a 15% chance of finding it survivable. But a random sampling over the historical epoch would return a survivability probability of around 1%. And over the future epoch, it's likely similar, unless we're erring massively on the side of pessimism about the prospects for our atmospheric composition remaining stable.

Ergo: to a space probe searching for somewhere that our kind of life can thrive, a truly random sampling of the Earth's surface (distributed over both time and area) would probably result in the conclusion that the planet is uninhabitable."

Well that's set me thinking, how about you?

Lean, mean, money-making machine

The Mail has two articles that show how Tony Blair is making money, greedy hand over grasping fist. The first records his 2003 plea to, then Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon "to let a British Gas-led consortium start work in a vast natural gas field off the coast of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, a deal worth at least £4billion." The Mail is keen to tell us that "There is no suggestion that Blair has ever derived personal benefits improperly."

The Mail does report that:

"Opposition MPs said his simultaneous pursuit of business and peace ought to disqualify him from the job he covets - a return to the world political stage as the first EU President.

'No Prime Minister in modern times would have dreamt of exploiting his position in the way Mr Blair appears to have done,' said David Davis, the former Shadow Home Secretary.

Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor, said Blair's dual role was 'extremely inappropriate' because the Arab rulers with whom he is doing business all exert influence on the peace process where he is meant to be an honest broker."

Do read the whole of that Mail article, it is a real eye-opener.

Now read this Mail article about another of Tony Blair's business interests:

"Tony Blair has been in talks with Tesco about helping them open supermarkets in the Middle East - allegedly in return for up to £1million.

It is believed the discussions between the former Prime Minister, now a peace envoy to the region, and the supermarket chain, whose slogan is 'Every little helps', ended after the two sides failed to agree terms."

The bit of the article that I found interesting was this:

"The sensitivity of the issue was underlined by the way Mr Blair responded when The Mail on Sunday contacted his office to discuss the matter at 2pm on Friday. His spokesman took more than 24 hours to reply, despite repeated requests by telephone and email.

Eventually, at 5pm yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Blair issued a carefully worded statement that said: 'Tesco is a great British company. However, Tony Blair and Tony Blair Associates have never done any work on behalf of Tesco.

'Tony Blair does not have any commercial relationship with Tesco and has not made any representations on their behalf.

'The vast majority of Mr Blair's time is taken up by his unpaid activities, principally his role as Quartet Representative [for the United Nations, European Union, Russia and United States] in the Middle East, advocating on issues such as climate change and Africa and with the work of his faith and sports foundations.'"

Read the 'carefully worded statement' a few times; isn't it well done? As The Mail reports:

"Asked if Mr Blair had been in talks with Tesco about representing them in the Middle East, the spokesman declined to comment, nor would he answer questions about whether the sum of £1million had been discussed.

Sources close to Mr Blair insisted the talks did not break down over the issue of money but would not explain why they failed. Another senior source suggested that the talks between Mr Blair and Tesco had been going on for five months."

Money, what is it good for? In Tony Blair's book the answer is clearly not 'nothing'.

The truth can hurt, but does that mean that the truth should not be told?

Fox News and others have been reporting the case of

"Peter Gadiel (who) wants everyone to remember his son, James, who was killed during the September 11 terrorist attacks.

And he also wants people to remember how he died: "Murdered by Muslim terrorists."

For Gadiel, any tribute to his son would be woefully incomplete without those words.

"I think it's important, because I think there's a nationwide effort to suppress the identity of the people who were involved in the attacks," Gadiel told Fox News.

Eight years ago, 23-year-old James Gadiel worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center. He died when a hijacked plane crashed into the North Tower.

For years, Gadiel's hometown of Kent, Conn., has wanted to honor the young man with a memorial plaque next to its town hall. But the tribute has hit a snag because James' father wants to include the phrase, "Murdered by Muslim terrorists," under his son's name.

For Peter Gadiel, it is a central fact of the Sept. 11 attacks that is often left out.

"It isn't just overlooked, it's suppressed," Gadiel said. "It's simply wrong to imply that people just died. The buildings didn't just collapse, they didn't just fall down — they were attacked by people with a specific identity, a specific purpose.""

So on the one side we have the father of a man who was killed by terrorists who killed in the name of Islam, those are incontrovertible facts. On the other side we have the usual 'liberals' for whom facts matter less than hurt feelings:

"Town officials call the phrase too controversial for a small town memorial, and they recently voted against erecting the plaque if Gadiel insists on the language.

"We perceive ourselves as a very warm, loving town," said Ruth Epstein, a Kent selectman and one of two town leaders to vote the plaque down. "To disparage any one ethnic group is just against everything that we stand for here."

Epstein noted that other Sept. 11 memorials, like the one at the Pentagon, don't mention Muslim terrorists, and she said she does not want to alienate any members of her small and close-knit community.

"We have at least one Muslim family living here with children and it — it would be just awful to have them see something like that," Epstein told Fox News."

What's 'controversial' about the phrase "Murdered by Muslim terrorists."? Could the local council explain which part of that phrase is not totally factual? Was James Gadiel murdered rather than dieing of natural causes or in an accident? Were the people who murdered him Muslims? Were the people who killed him committing an act of terrorism? I cannot see how the answers to all those three questions can be anything other than 'yes', in which case "Murdered by Muslim terrorists." is a factual statement. Stating how James Gadiel died is not 'disparaging' all Muslims, just the ones who decided to fly passenger planes into New York office buildings (and other locations) on the 11th September so as to kill as many people as possible and terrorise many, many more. The fact, if true, that the Pentagon memorial does not mention Muslims does not make that the right thing to do. It seems that the local Kent council care more about the potential hurt feelings of one local Muslim family than those of their local resident whose son was murdered.

I remember 9/11 as if it was yesterday. I was due to fly the following day to a business meeting and I, and the others who were to accompany me, watched the burning first tower of the World Trade Centre with horror and then experienced disbelief as the second plane hit the other tower. Later that day as I left for home I and others were passed by two bearded Muslims who were happily telling all passers by that this was a great day and that America had had it coming.

Yes I do remember 9/11 and yes it has affected my world view. Although I had been warning people of the possibility of large scale Islamic terrorist attacks for some time prior to 9/11, the reality was worse than I had imagined.

"'He'd quit if he thought anyone could do better': The astonishing reason Gordon Brown won't step down"

Another piece of interesting news in The Mail today. Apparently:

"Gordon Brown would stand down as Prime Minister ‘tomorrow’ – but he believes his Labour leadership rivals are so weak they would fare even worse than him against David Cameron at the next Election.

That is the astonishing reason Mr Brown has given for his refusal to step down despite a growing acceptance among Labour MPs that the party is heading for near certain Election defeat, according to friends of the Prime Minister.

They claim he realises he has only a slim chance of victory, but he believes his would-be successors all have key failings that would send the party’s ratings plunging further down.

Mr Brown’s supporters said he views Foreign Secretary David Miliband as ‘lightweight’, Home Secretary Alan Johnson as ‘lacklustre’, Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman as ‘a disaster’ and his protege, Schools Secretary Ed Balls, as ‘too aggressive’.

A leading Brown ally said: ‘Gordon knows things haven’t gone as he hoped and how tough things are going to be between now and the Election. He has said he would step down tomorrow if he thought anyone else could do any better.

‘But he thinks the ones who want the job most have very little to offer.’"

How damning to be called 'lacklustre' by one of the least shiny of modern politicians, 'a disaster' by the man who has almost singlehandedly destroyed the UK economy and social fabric, 'too aggressive' by the great destroyer of Nokias and 'lightweight' by the man whose whole reputation for economic competence has been based on his predecessors success. Yes this is really another 'deluded Gordon' story; Gordon Brown seems to think that he is better qualified than all his putative rivals.


At least Gordon Brown has Peter Mandelson to loyally support him, well it seems not, but then who would expect loyalty from Peter Mandelson?

"Meanwhile, Peter Mandelson’s support for Mr Brown came under question. It was revealed the peer has told fellow Ministers a cruel joke that suggests Tony Blair was a better Prime Minister because he is less paranoid.

Asked why Mr Brown had coped so badly with the stresses of running the country, Lord Mandelson replied: ‘If Tony and Gordon were stranded on a desert island surrounded by sharks, Tony would charm the sharks to carry him to safety. Gordon would sit there raging “Who sent the sharks?”’"

Gordon Brown a total disaster as Prime Minister, a total disaster for the UK. If he can't find a better alternative amongst his Labour 'colleagues' and he "would stand down as Prime Minister ‘tomorrow’" then why not call a general election tomorrow.

One job vacancy that nobody seems to want to fill

The Mail reports the unsurprising news that:

"The Prime Minister’s attempt to boost his image suffered a humiliating blow last night after it was disclosed that he struggled to find anyone to take on a plum post as an £80,000-a-year Downing Street spin-doctor.

A senior aide to David Miliband, favourite to succeed Gordon Brown as Labour leader, turned down the job, saying his loyalty was to the Foreign Secretary.

And the political editor of a national newspaper also turned down the post – despite a personal plea by the Prime Minister to work for him."

Come on, be reasonable, who in their right mind would want to be spin doctor for Gordon Brown. Why would anyone want to work for a man whose grip on reality seems almost as tenuous as his grip on the levers of power? Why would any PR expert want to join the last days of a failing government? Why would any up and coming spin doctor want working for the man with the wonky 'moral compass' on his CV? Why would any young and thrusting spin doctor want his or her name associated with failure and the stench of decay?

What is also interesting bearing in mind my recent piece about Alastair Campbell's recent appearance on 5Live is that The Mail article also informs us that:

"The Mail on Sunday understands that Tony Blair’s former spin-doctor Alastair Campbell.... has taken on an increasingly influential role at No10.

...

Insiders say Mr Campbell, who was forced to quit No 10 after the death of MoD weapons expert David Kelly, has made several visits to advise Mr Brown on how to combat David Cameron in their weekly Commons clashes."

It is odd that the vile Victoria Derbyshire did not mention Alastair Campbell's current position at Number 10, official or unofficial, when interviewing him about Tony Blair and the EU Presidency the other day. No Conservative 'advisor' would go unidentified, but then the normal rules do not seem to apply to the twin Labour spin gurus Mandelson and Campbell.

Another story of out of control immigration

The BBC report fairly quietly a story about out of control immigration that deserves wider coverage but I suspect will fairly quickly will disappear. The story is simply entitled "Bogus student checks 'don't work'", although I am not sure why 'don't work' is in between quotation marks.

The story for 5Live's Donal MacIntyre show reveals that:

"Immigration officers have warned bosses that new rules designed to stop bogus students entering the UK are not working, the BBC has learned.

Non-EU students are supposed to apply to registered institutions, and must prove they can support themselves.

But claims are now verified in the students' home countries, and UK staff say they have limited ability to challenge those they suspect."

Anyone who has worked in Central London near some of these 'educational institutions' has known for years that many are scams. The hours of 'learning' are short and many require daily registration but not attendance at 'lessons'.

The piece continues:

"One Heathrow Airport immigration officer - speaking on condition of anonymity - told BBC Radio 5 live's Donal MacIntyre programme that UK staff were overwhelmed by the volume of student arrivals:

"Student season has extended now to virtually the whole year," he said.

"We are looking at upwards of 500 to 1,000 stuck in the hall, queues stretching for hundreds of yards down the terminal.

"On occasions we've had to shut the hall as we couldn't cope.

"That has led to planes being backed up... to not allow them to proceed into Heathrow until we could clear what we've got." "

Do the BBC and Border Control not realise that the 'student season' runs the whole year because many of the people coming on student visas are not students they are using the student visa scheme to enter the country to work illegally. "upwards of 500 to 1,000" a day, that's 180,000+ a year on just student visas. Would classifying this influx as 'an invasion' be going too far? Do other European airports have similar problems? If so how are they dealing with it? If not, why not? What is so special about the UK that people will do anything to gain entry? Is the UK really 'the land of milk and honey' for those that can gain entry? The desperation of those in 'the Jungle' near Calais to get to the UK does seem to lend credence to the view that once entry has been gained to the UK, regardless of what the Labour government say, money is available for all.

The quoted immigration officer continues:

"If someone presents a case like that to a chief immigration officer, they take a look at the size and the number of people in the hall, and they turn around and say, 'Look, because of the pressure of work, they've got a visa, get them into the country'.

"It would take two officers off the desk hours just to present a case to send them to a detention centre."

And he believes this means people who have been denied entry to the UK on other grounds are able to enter the UK on bogus student visas:

"We have an awful lot of students who have been refused five, six, even up to nine visas to come here to this country, whether it be for working holidays or student applications," he said. "And they're now coming here."

So the sheer volume of numbers means that 'students' are being allowed into the UK because there is not the manpower or time to stop them. Is this what the Labour government calls having control of immigration?

The article moves on to discuss courses and candidates and the BBC seem to think that this is news:

"Under the new system, colleges which offer courses to students from outside the European Economic Area must be accredited by the Home Office.

But the Heathrow immigration officer alleges that the list of approved institutions contains colleges which he and his colleagues know to have a history of awarding fake qualifications:

"It beggars belief that these places can be graded the way they are, when we know for a fact that we've proved and got signatures from the passengers that they paid for their certificates," he said.

The immigration officer told BBC Radio 5 live about a recent case of an Indian woman in her 50s who presented herself as a student enrolling on an advanced course, despite the fact that she could barely speak English.

"She was going to do an ACCA accounting course, of which when asked in Hindi what ACCA meant, she didn't have a clue," he said.

"She wasn't even able to say in her own language what the course was going to entail." "

So the accreditation scheme is faulty and 'students' are presenting themselves for courses that they clearly are not going to take. This is an example that immigration officers were able to catch, how many did they miss because of the pressure of queues in the immigration hall?

The BBC piece continues:

"These concerns are echoed on an internal UK Border Agency online message board, seen by the BBC.

One officer wrote: "I can no longer feel proud of my role, given that I am forced on a daily basis to allow entry to passengers who clearly hold no ability or intention to follow any course of study in the United Kingdom".

Another commented: "The introduction of the appallingly thought-out points based system for students has, in one fell swoop, failed the UK taxpayer who expects us to do a good job in tackling illegal immigration".

The website quotes an acknowledgement from chief executive Lin Homer that the Border Agency had "not got it right" on student visas."

One has to wonder bearing in mind the David Teather revelations whether the Labour government have deliberately designed a new immigration system that is not fit for purpose. In other words are the Labour government incompetent as most believe or actually evil?

The article ends with the case for the defence that is as poor as I can remember:

" Jeremy Oppenheim, head of the points-based system at the UK Border Agency, insisted that the rules were working:

"The points based system means that only those colleges and schools who provide quality education and take responsibility for their students will be licensed to bring in foreign students," he told Radio 5 live.

"Schools and colleges are inspected by accreditation bodies and the UK Border Agency to ensure they are genuine. Before we tightened controls, around 4,000 UK institutions were bringing in international students,. This currently stands at around 2,000.

"Anyone coming in to the UK must satisfy the Border Force officer that they meet the immigration rules and will comply with any conditions attached to their visa. If they cannot the officer can and will refuse entry." "

Some questions spring to mind:
How is the quality of education measured?
How are the 'accreditation bodies' themselves accredited and by whom?
The fact that the number of educational institutions has halved does not mean that the number of students have halved, what has happened to the total number of students across all institutions?
Officers 'can and will refuse entry', what about the pressure of numbers, does that stop them refusing entry?

"This story will be broadcast on the Donal MacIntyre programme on BBC Radio 5 live on Sunday 1 November 2009 at 1930 GMT. Or download the free podcast. You can contact the programme by emailing donal@bbc.co.uk. "

I will not be around at 19:30 today but I will try and listen to the podcast later in the week. I would be interested to hear how the programme pans out if anyone does listen to it today.

Everything has consequences

When I read that "The board of Icann voted at its annual meeting in Seoul to allow domain names in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts." I thought how interesting but how will this affect me and how can I put an interesting spin on the story. I couldn't, so I didn't. The Daily Mash have unsurprisingly found an angle:

"色情 is the Chinese for pornography, the internet regulator confirmed last night.

As Icann approved plans for millions of Chinese web addresses, officials released a list of key internet words and phrases to calm anxious Western users who were worried they might miss out on something weird or fruity.

Top of the list was 女孩的女孩 ('girl on girl') while experts warned internet users not to confuse 热的乐趣 ('hot fun') with 公鸡乐趣 ('cock fun') unless they secretly want to.

Old-fashioned surfers should add 极大的水罐 ('enormous jugs') to their search history, while daisy chain enthusiasts should look out for 雏菊链环. And according to Icann, 反向荷蘭汽船 is Chinese for 'reverse Dutch steamboat'.

Meanwhile fans of zoology have been advised to look out for 乘驾它喜欢一头电公牛 ('ride it like an electric bull') while 山羊 will get you page after page of naked goats....."

Always the goats...

The High Price of Patriotism

Please read Nick Cohen's Stand Point piece about Derek Pasquill. Here are a few excerpts to give you a flavour:

"The FCO was not and is not standing up to the totalitarian ideas of the Islamist extreme Right, as it stood up to the totalitarianism of the socialist extreme Left in the second half of the 20th century. On the contrary, the establishment has appeased political Islamism abroad and interfered in the domestic affairs of its own country by mounting a covert operation to aid and abet it at home.

...

As his affidavit to the employment tribunal dryly remarks, "The documents that I disclosed showed that the FCO and other UK government departments were continuing to work with and assist organisations that promote extreme Islamist politics. My concern was that this policy would have the effect of legitimising and supporting groups with extreme Islamist politics and that such an effect was entirely contradictory to FCO and UK government policy of attempting to prevent the radicalisation of young British Muslims. Furthermore, I believe that the FCO and other government departments pursue a policy of portraying these organisations as mainstream and moderate."

Who is the traitor and who the patriot in these circumstances: the dissident civil servant or the two-faced government? Who, to be blunt, is more deserving of summary dismissal?

...

The FCO seconded him to its "Engaging with the Islamic World" unit. From the moment he arrived, everything felt wrong. He was standing in for Mockbul Ali, an allegedly non-political civil servant. Yet, with official approval, Ali had taken time off to help Labour fight the 2005 general election campaign. Specifically, he was trying to persuade Muslim leaders to support Labour, when many of them were in no mood to do so after the second Iraq war. There has always been a Tammany Hall streak in Labour. Many an aspiring politician has found that buying off ethnic block votes by dropping a few principles is a small price to pay for his advancement in inner-city politics. A refusal to condemn the Ayatollah Khomeini's death threat against Salman Rushdie, for instance, saved several cowards' seats.

Pasquill found something more than ordinary compromises, however. Ali was hardly a loner. The entire FCO hierarchy from Jack Straw, then the Foreign Secretary, downwards was supporting a policy of encouraging the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies.

...

As he went through the files Ali had left in his desk, he realised that the FCO under a left-of-centre government was classifying an organisation founded by the admirers of European fascism and sustained by the adherents of a brutish theocracy as "moderate". The result was a policy at once sinister and naïve. The decayed autocracies of the Middle East were producing an Islamist rather than a liberal opposition, the FCO argued, which Britain must "engage" with at any price. The FCO did not ask how Arab liberals and democrats would feel if Britain embraced men who would happily kill them. Nor did it sigh and say with regret that religious reaction was a deplorable reality Britain had to learn to live with. Instead, it actively sought to promote and fund extremism.

...

As his illusions about the benign nature of the FCO crumbled, Pasquill tried a thought experiment. He asked himself, "Is the Foreign Office a Muslim Brotherhood front organisation?" Obviously, it was not, he replied, although looked at in a certain light, it might as well have been. The light metaphor stayed with him until "one day I was looking at the ivy growing in my garden and it struck me that it was phototropic — growing in the direction of the sun. I realised that the FCO is Islamotropic: it grows towards Islamic extremism, always searching for reasons to excuse it.""

Do read the whole article, think about what it confirms and pass the story on. This is a story that deserves to be spread.

"Shaving off my muff for you" - The second link is NSFW (Not Safe For Work)

The TV anchor lady who really didn't know what a "muff" was.

The site that definitely knows what a "muff" is - 100% Not Safe For Work (NSFW) and over 18s only.

"I sometimes wish I'd never gone buy to let"

Drag Queen with "Bohemian Bankruptcy" - absolutely brilliant.

However the "400 of us went, our bonuses all spent. Goodbye everybody, I've got to go. Gotta leave it all behind and face the debt" part with the image of clearing your desk into a cardboard box made Mrs NotaSheep start crying, she's a sensitive soul...



Thanks to ATW for the spot.

All you wanted to know about the Tardis but were afraid to ask

The Mind Robber has certainly done his research and with rumours that the Matt Smith regeneration of Dr Who will have a Tardis closer to that of Peter Cushing's than David Tennant's Doctor's, I feel it incumbent on us all to do some research... The Tardis doors will open outwards! We will have to wait and see.. In the meantime we have The Waters of Mars to look forward to on 15 November.

Hold on "The Waters of Mars" am I alone in realising that that is an anagram of "War of the Masters"? Maybe The Master is returning and it is he who will "knock four times". Perhaps "the hand of the Rani" that picked up the Master's ring from the remains of his funeral pyre, while the sound of the Master's insane laughter was heard in the background, may yet prove of significance...


In the meantime here's a montage of all the incarnations of The Master so far, courtesy of Wikipedia
My favourite is obviously Roger Delgado with John Simm a distant second.

"Gordon Brown to be torched on Bonfire Night"

Really, about time too.... What, I missed a bit out of the headline? The headline headline is actually "Effigy of Gordon Brown to be torched on Bonfire Night". Well that's much less satisfactory, I really must take more care when reading the Ripon Gazette in future.

Why are they burning an effigy of Gordon Brown anyway? Surely he has saved the world's economy is about to save the planet in Copenhagen. I suppose the organisers must be troublemakers. Oh sorry I read that

"The organisers, Ripon Gunpowder Plot, decided to make a giant Gordon Brown figure after consulting with sponsors and members of the public about whose face they would like to see on the Guy at the event, which takes place at Hell Wath on Friday, November 6."

So either it was the sponsors - the three main ones being "F B Taylor Cable Contractors, Keith Anderson metal recyclers and Eura Audit." or the members of the Ripon public feel about Gordon Brown the way that most people outside of the BBC and parts of the Labour cabinet do.

Air Passenger Duty - the truth

This Labour government and its cheerleaders in the BBC and the environmental movement have claimed that Air Passenger Duty (APT) was an environmental necessary to fight climate change. It seems that Alistair Darling, possibly the least impressive Chancellor of the Exchequer for a generation, has admitted that

"the higher air passenger duty being introduced tomorrow was needed to plug gaps in the national finances.

He made no attempt to justify the move - which will add £340 to the ticket for a family of four flying long haul - on environmental grounds, the official reason for the tax.

...

Addressing journalists in Newcastle, home of the failed bank Northern Rock, Mr Darling said: 'I am quite blunt about it, we need to raise money to pay for some of the things we have done.

'If unemployment goes up there is a cost obviously to the family, there is cost in increased benefits, Northern Rock has cost a lot of money.

What we are doing is putting a pound on to your average ticket, which about three quarters of people travel on.

'And you consider the cost of an air ticket, I don't think a pound is that unreasonable.

'In the North East, we have spent billions on a bank for very good reasons."

If it was just a pound then maybe I and others would not be so pissed off with this imposition of yet another Labour Stealth Tax. However the truth is that whilst ticket prices for short-haul economy flights to Europe rise from £10 to £11, on longer journeys the economy ticket levy rises by as much as £30 and of course by far more for Premium Economy, Business Class or First Class travel. Next November the Stealth Tax will rise even higher as the short-haul economy-class tax will rise to £12 per ticket. However for premium-class passengers on the longest flights the Stealth Tax will rise from the newly increased figure to as much as £170 per ticket.

Will air-travellers now be told the real reason for the rise in Air Passenger Duty, as admitted by Alistair Darling, or will they still be officially told that it is an environmental charge? If the latter, as I suspect, will stay the case then they are being lied to; would that make the charge invalid and could people refuse to pay it?

Is this another attempt to steal the next election?

Postal voting, dodgy electoral rolls, delayed counts and now reducing the number of polling stations.

"Thousands of polling stations would be closed and voting hours reduced under a plan to cut the cost of elections. "

Any other ideas to maybe help Labour win a few more seats than would otherwise be the case? Here's one "reducing security at election counts".

What else? Maybe only printing the name of the Labour candidate on the polling slip? How about only opening polling stations between 10am and 4pm so the employed can't vote? What about having multiple polling stations only in safe Labour areas of constituencies and just one polling station per Conservative leaning area?

Of course those last ideas were satirical! The real plan is that a swine flu epidemic will necessitate the imposition of the Civil Contingency Act.

Finally someone does call attention to Mark Steel's politics

Mark Steel, just one of the sneery socialist comedians that the BBC like to employ at our expense, was finally challenged about his political leanings by Ian Hislop on "Have I Got News For You". Do watch it if you get the chance, he really, really didn't like being called out. I wonder if Ian Hislop has read my November 2007 piece about BBC bias that included this passage:

"Whilst I am on the subject, the death of Alan Coren the other week (a death that really upset me, as this was a comedian whose writings and radio performances I have been enjoying since I was at school) has meant that the News Quiz has lost its last semi right of centre voice and with Mark Steel's Socialist Worker humour ever more to the fore the programme is getting closer to being crossed off my must listen list. Mark Steele is a regular BBC commentator on Radio 5 Live where his political affiliations have never been mentioned (so far as I am aware), despite his being invited to discuss politics on a semi-regular basis. Simone Clarke was denigrated by the media for being a supporter of the BNP a party whose views many would find no more repugnant than those of the SWP."

So not a Stalinist but a Troskyist, but I don't think an apology from Ian Hislop is in order. Now where is that pause button, a screen dump of Mark Steel's flabbergasted face would make a nice desktop background.

Pervert!!!

I am sorry but that is just aimed at the person who came to this site having googled - sexy pictures yvette cooper - Now why would anyone go looking for such images? This blog was the fourth site listed for this piece about "The world's most beautiful female politicians". As I said later in that article "Intelligent, highly competent women can be sexy but there aren't any in the Labour government (no Caroline Flint and Yvette Cooper are not sexy, they are just marginally better looking than the rest of a very poor bunch)"

Alastair Campbell

I had the grave misfortune to hear Alastair Campbell being interviewed by the vile Victoria Derbyshire on 5Live this morning. Alastair Campbell was ostensibly being interviewed about why Tony Blair would make the best President of the EU. However Alastair Campbell seemed most keen to explain why David Cameron, William Hague and the Conservative Party were out of touch, not capable of forming a government and so on and on and on. Standard Labour/BBC propaganda and not really worth commenting on, but then I had a look at Alastair Campbell's Wikipedia entry to check a date and saw that the entry on the Iraq War consisted of just this bland text:

"In early 2003 he advised on presentation aspects of the "Iraq Dossier". Later in 2003, commenting on WMDs in Iraq he said, "Come on, you don't seriously think we won't find anything?" He resigned in August 2003 during the Hutton Inquiry into the death of David Kelly."

Not a mention of the controversy over the dodgy dossier or even a link to the Iraq Dossier page on the same site.

How odd...

Immigration facts update

Burning Our Money has the latest figures and analysis.

The sixtieth weekley "No shit, Sherlock" award

This week's award goes to The Telegraph for this incredible headline:

"Iran accused of playing games on nuclear deal - Iran has been accused of playing games after attempting to renegotiate a deal on its nuclear programme."

Iran playing deals on nuclear programme - "No shit, Sherlock".

"James Naughtie is stupid"

Not my words but those that a visitor to my blog had put into Yahoo and my blog came a very respectable second in the list of search results.

It's all in the emphasis

Compare and contrast:

Sky News reports that:

"Tory MP Nadine Dorries has been paid an undisclosed amount of compensation by ex-Gordon Brown adviser Damian McBride."

BBC News reports that:

"Tory MP Nadine Dorries says she has been paid undisclosed damages by former Downing Street spin doctor Damien McBride over e-mail smears."

Has Nadine Dorries received (or been promised) the damages? If so why do the BBC report it as only something that she "says"?



The Sky report continues

"Mr McBride quit Downing Street in April when emails, containing unfounded allegations about MPs including David Cameron, shadow chancellor George Osborne, as well as Ms Dorries, were leaked."

The BBC equivalent report runs

"The Mid-Bedfordshire MP took legal action after the existence of the messages - said to refer to her private life - was made public.

Mr McBride, who sent the unfounded smears to Labour activist Derek Draper, resigned after they were made public. "

Again the BBC cast doubts on the reports "said to refer to her private life"



The Sky report also informs us:

"The damages are the result of the first of three cases that the MP for Mid Bedfordshire has brought against Mr McBride, Derek Draper and 10 Downing Street.

Ms Dorries told Sky News she will pursue the other cases "vigorously", until her name is cleared.
She also Tweeted: "The first hurdle in clearing my name down. Two to go.""

Oddly the BBC report that:

"Ms Dorries is still considering legal action against No 10 and Mr Draper.... She has until April to decide whether to launch separate defamation actions against Mr Draper and Downing Street."

Have the other cases been brought or not? If they have why are the BBC casting doubts?



Sky go on to tell us that:

"The Prime Minister was forced to apologise for the emails amid heavy criticism of a "dirty tricks" culture within No.10.

Mr Draper, a former Labour spin doctor, resigned as editor of the website LabourList over the affair.""

The BBC report it slightly differently:

"Mr McBride is understood to have made a "fulsome" apology to the Mid-Bedfordshire MP and expressed a wish to get on with his life."

That Damian McBride, what a mensch...