"The next time a Labour flunky stumbles over his prepared question Dave should ask Berky, “Mr Speaker, we all know that the Prime Minister has poor handwriting so it would be a lot easier for hapless Labour MPs in future if the Prime Minister could read out and then reply to his own questions. Much the same arrangement as he does with mine.”"
"Dr North takes the lead again in the fight back against the IPCC, with another revelation about the 2007 IPCC report which bogusly claimed that the Himalayan Glaciers would have melted in the next 25 years. That revelation showed that this was an entirely false claim and has rippled around the world and is what we know as Glaciergate.
Dr North now says that the very same report was again wrong with claims that food yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by 50% by 2020. The 2020 projection is in fact now exposed as based on nothing more than speculation that is sourced back to a Canadian advocacy group, and written by an obscure academic who specialises in Carbon Trading and citing references that do not support his claims."
"So, when we are being scared into thinking in a new way, we must ask two questions. Is this true and why is this claim made. Many of the claims are now being disproven or shown to be based upon unreliable and questionable data. Some, like Africagate, are rooted in the claims of those who stand to profit from Carbon Trading. The ‘why’ keeps leading back in the same direction each time these claims are exposed. They all tie back through scientific bodies to the architects of a global economy. We absolutely must question whether altruism or profit is the true motive here."I have more to say but work calls for the moment...
"A Muslim bus driver knelt in the aisle to pray for five minutes leaving bemused and anxious passengers trapped in their seats.
The driver pulled over without warning and rolled out a high-visibility jacket as a makeshift prayer mat before removing his shoes, turning to face Mecca and starting to chant in Arabic.
Passengers said they looked on in stunned silence, fearing the driver may be preparing for a terrorist attack on the bus. No one was able to get on or off the vehicle during the five-minute prayer session.
...
Gayle Griffiths, 33, complained to Transport for London (TfL) about the incident on the number 24 bus in Gospel Oak, north London, last week.
...
“When he had finished, he just got back up and set off again – all without any explanation or apology. It was truly bizarre, ludicrous and aggravating.”"
"“We are delayed often enough as it is in London. We live in a multicultural society but there is a time and a place for prayer and the middle of a journey with a busload of passengers is not it.”
The NHS administrator added: “It even went through my mind that this might be some sort of terrorist attack with the bus blown up because I had heard that suicide bombers prayed before attacks.”"
"TfL has apologised to all the passengers for the delay to their journey and the driver has been reprimanded.Of course many followers of Islam subscribe to the Islamic supremacist belief that Islam is the only truth and those who do not follow it are 'perverse and rebellious against God' and have no rights that need be respected.
A spokesman said: “A route 24 bus was delayed following a decision by the driver to stop the bus to pray.
“The bus company – London General – has had a word with the driver as this is not something that should be happening.”
Muslim drivers have been reminded that they should pray during rest periods between journeys to avoid delays, TfL said. "
"The Commission's conclusions from these and other pieces of evidence about the operation of AV are threefold. First, it does not address one of our most important terms of reference. So far from doing much to relieve disproportionality, it is capable of substantially adding to it. Second, its effects (on its own without any corrective mechanism) are disturbingly unpredictable. Third, it would in the circumstances of the last election, which even if untypical is necessarily the one most vivid in the recollection of the public, and very likely in the circumstances of the next one too, be unacceptably unfair to the Conservatives. Fairness in representation is a complex concept, as we have seen in paragraph 6, and one to which the upholders of FPTP do not appear to attach great importance. But it is one which, apart from anything else, inhibits a Commission appointed by a Labour government and presided over by a Liberal Democrat from recommending a solution which at the last election might have left the Conservatives with less than half of their proportional entitlement. We therefore reject the AV as on its own a solution despite what many see as its very considerable advantage of ensuring that every constituency member gains majority acquiescence."Now do you see why Gordon Brown is suddenly in favour of the Alternative Vote system - "unacceptably unfair to the Conservatives". The Jenkins Commission decided that
"Fairness... inhibits a Commission appointed by a Labour government and presided over by a Liberal Democrat from recommending a solution which at the last election might have left the Conservatives with less than half of their proportional entitlement."Gordon brown is of course not governed by any sense of "fairness" and so can and will push a voting system that is most likely to help the Labour Party keep a Conservative party out of power or at least allow him to portray the Conservatives as anti-democratic. Although how Gordon Brown can keep a straight face whilst portraying anyone else as anti-democratic is beyond me.
"large amounts of confidential personal information held about British citizens on a giant computer network spanning the European Union could be accessed by more than 500,000 terminals."
"Statewatch, a group that monitors civil liberties in Europe, said it was aware of a case in Belgium where personal information extracted from the system by an official was sold to an organised criminal gang.and so am I. This is a fraudsters idea of heaven; get one dodgy person with access to SIS on your side and the world is your oyster.
"It is well known that the greater the points of access, the greater the number of people who have access and the greater the chance that data will be misplaced, lost or illegally accessed," said Tony Bunyan, director of Statewatch. "The idea that mass databases can be totally secure and that privacy can be guaranteed is a fallacy.""
"AN MP has admitted using his position to arrange for personal friends to hold their wedding receptions in exclusive House of Commons banquet rooms.I wonder how much money was paid by Mr Mahmood's constituents and who was paid for what?
Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham, Perry Barr) twice arranged with Westminster authorities for pals to use Parliamentary facilities with plush furnishings and silver cutlery.
MPs are entitled to book rooms in the Palace of Westminster at no cost – but on the assumption that they are used for Parliamentary business.
Records published by the Commons show former Labour minister Mr Mahmood booked a dining room for a wedding reception in February 2006.
In July 2009 he booked the Churchill Dining Room for another wedding reception. This is one of the largest dining rooms in the Palace of Westminster and opens on to the Commons Terrace, overlooking the Thames.
Members of the public usually have no access to Commons dining rooms, just yards from the Chamber where debates are held, and can only enter as the guest of an MP.
Hiring a large London venue for a wedding reception would usually cost thousands of pounds. However, it is impossible to estimate the value of hiring a room with the prestige and historical importance of a Commons banqueting suite, as they are simply not available to the public."
"The Muslim politician insisted he had done nothing wrong, saying: “This didn’t cost taxpayers anything and it opened up the House of Commons to people from my Birmingham constituency.”"Really did the hire charges paid to the House authorities cover all wages, security costs etc.
Mr Mahmood said: “This didn’t cost the taxpayer anything. All the food and drinks were paid for by the families involved, not the public.Really, what were the hire charges and who paid for what? Did the hire charges include the costs of all staff employed in the hired rooms that night and a proportion for the cost of security staff on duty that night? Did the hirers pay Khalid Mahmood or in any other way remunerate him for letting them use the Palace of Westminster for a private function?
All in the community and so long as they had a fantastic time who could possibly complain?
"“The first was a wedding reception for friends from Small Heath.
“The second was for the son of a very good friend of mine from Aston. This was someone who did a lot of work in the community, and they had been struggling to find a venue.
“It was great to see people from Aston coming to the House of Commons. They had a fantastic time.’’"
Let's see all of the figures and then we can judge.
"He added: “At the end of the day, these facilities belong to taxpayers. It’s called the Palace of Westminster but it’s really the people’s palace.
“Most people in Aston or Small Heath would never have an opportunity to visit the House of Commons in this way. It was great to see my constituents using the facilities.
“I did this twice over four years or so. It’s not a regular thing. I haven’t abused anything.”""
"The Met Office’s first response to Mr Holland was a claim that Prof Mitchell’s records had been ‘deleted’ from its computers.If the first two reasons were not true then surely a penalty should be imposed.
Later, officials admitted they did exist after all, but could not be disclosed because they were ‘personal’, and had nothing to do with the professor’s Met Office job.
Finally, they conceded that this too was misleading because Prof Mitchell had been paid by the Met Office for his IPCC work and had received Government expenses to travel to IPCC meetings.
The Met Office had even boasted of his role in a Press release when the report first came out.
But disclosure, they added, was still rejected on the grounds it would ‘inhibit the free and frank provision of advice or the free and frank provision of views’.
It would also ‘prejudice Britain’s relationship with an international organisation’ and thus be contrary to UK interests.
In a written response justifying the refusal dated August 20, 2008, Mr Ainsworth – then MoD Minister of State – used exactly the same language."
"Now Ireland is controlling government spending with swingeing public sector cuts they are not being talked about so much. Attention has shifted to the S.T.U.P.I.D. countries: Spain, Turkey, UK, Portugal, Italy and Dubai. These are the countries the City now fears to be at risk of sovereign default."What great company for the UK to be in.
"See what the elite media won't tell you. See the staggering impact of extreme legislation Gore and his friends want. On jobs. On our troubled economy. On America's ability to compete with other nations. On real people and real families who face financial ruin when severe restrictions on fossil energy are passed into law."I wonder if the UK schools system will force all children to watch this film as well as Al Gores "An inconvenient truth"... I think not.
Well he managed to become popular although the celebrity thing seems to have gone by the board what with Gordon Brown preferring to be interviewed by the incisive Fern Briiten and the hard hitting Piers Morgan rather than Jeremy 'pussycat' Paxman.
"I didn't come into politics to be a celebrity or thinking I'd always be popular. Perhaps, that's just as well. No, 25 years ago I asked the people of Fife to send me to parliament to serve the country I love.
And I didn't come to London because I wanted to join the establishment, but because I wanted and want to change it.
So I'm not going to try to be something I'm not."
The serious man has with the serious job to do, is the man who prefers to be interviewed on the couch by Fern Britten and opine on Susan Boyle than be interviewed by Paxman and discuss the collapsing UK economy.
"if people say I'm too serious, quite honestly there's a lot to be serious about - I'm serious about doing a serious job for all the people of this country."
"And so here I am - working for this incredible country, while trying as far as possible to give my children an ordinary childhood. Some people have been asking why I haven't served my children up for spreads in the papers. And my answer is simple. My children aren't props; they're people."
"And where I've made mistakes I'll put my hand up and try to put them right. So what happened with 10p stung me because it really hurt that suddenly people felt I wasn't on the side of people on middle and modest incomes - because on the side of hard-working families is the only place I've ever wanted to be. And from now on it's the only place I ever will be."Interesting if he makes mistakes he will try and put them right but not apologise.
That will be the people who will be paying an extra 3-5p in the pound on Income Tax for the next 30, 40, 50 years to pay fir Gordon Brown's stupidity.
"But our duty, what gives us moral purpose, is serving the people who need us most- Britain's vast majority - people on middle and modest incomes who need to know that they are not on their own amidst this change - we are on their side."
Fine words but since the reality is completely at odds with the rhetoric I think we can just ascribe the words 'political promises' to these sentiments.
"We are and will always be a pro-enterprise, pro-business and pro-competition government. And we believe the dynamism of our five million businesses large and small is vital to the success of our country. "
How's the nuclear power plans coming along, any chance of them being on-stream before the blackouts start?
"So the new settlement also requires another great and historic endeavour to end the dictatorship of oil and to avert catastrophic climate change, a transformation in our use of energy. New nuclear power, an unprecedented increase in renewables and investment in clean coal."
Ah man made climate change the refuge of socialist scoundrels and totalitarians the world over. It's not happening but that won't stop them using it as an excuse to tax us more.
"And I am asking the climate change committee to report by October on the case for, by 2050 not a 60% reduction in our carbon emissions, but an 80% cut - and I want British companies and British workers to seize the opportunity and lead the world in the transformation to a low carbon economy and I believe that we can create in modern green manufacturing and service one million new jobs."
That great New Labour lie, that all Labour spending is 'investment' and so beyond criticism.
"But I say to you that we will invest it wisely, continuing our record investment in schools, Sure Start centres, transport and hospitals."
Why do people feel their communities are changing? Could it because since 1997 Labour have openned our borders to an unprecedented degree and so changed the face of the UK for ever and in a way that they had no mandate for. As for claiming to be the party of 'law and order', the politicisation of the police force and the turning of much of the judicial system into a revenue raising arm of government rather than a punishment programme has had the expected result of making much of the UK's inner cities near no-go areas.
"People feel their communities are changing before their eyes and it's increasing their anxiety about crime and anti-social behaviour. And so we will be the party of law and order."
"When we talk about three million more people in work since 1997 - that's not just a number, that's a life that's been changed - three million times over"How many of thise three million jobs have gone to UK citizens and how many to immigrants from elsewhere in the EU or beyond? That makes the figures look and sound less impressive.
"fairness is in our DNA."No comment necessary re this absurd claim form the head of one of the most unfair governments ever to ruin this country.
Is that a gross or net figure? I think the former, in which case how many dropped into poverty. Anyway how is poverty defined and does that definition explain why Labour have concentrated on those on the margins of poverty rather than the poorest, with the side disbenefit that economic equality is now worse than it was in 1997.
"The measures we have taken this year alone will help lift two hundred and fifty thousand children out of poverty. "
As the UK drops down the world's education leagues. Whilst in the UK we now have an all shall have prizes education system as exam standards drop year after year.
"And Ed Balls and I will never excuse, explain away or tolerate low standards in education. So we will keep up the pace of reform: more academies, trust and specialist schools, more of the brightest and best graduates becoming teachers, more investment in building schools for the future - state of the art schools for world class schooling."
How much did the number of matrons reduce in the first 10 years of this Labour government and how much did MRSA increase before this 36% reduction?
"in just one year in the fight against hospital infections, we have doubled the number of matrons and achieved a 36 percent reduction in MRSA."
"Jacqui Smith and Jack Straw are introducing a landmark reform in our justice system - to put victims first. In consultation with victim support we will create an independent commissioner who will stand up for victims, witnesses and families"12 years of putting the interests of the criminals first and now a change of heart, is that one anyone could really believe.
What about the migrants who don't make a positive contribution but who live off of benefits and in some cases work for the destruction of the UK? Is this the same "Australian-style points-based system" that Labour so derided when originally suggested by the Conservative party?
"I am proud that Britain will honour our obligations to provide refuge from persecution. And we recognise the contribution that migrants make to our economy and our society, but the other side of welcoming newcomers who can help Britain is being tough about excluding those adults who won't and can't. That's why we have introduced the Australian-style points-based system, the citizenship test, the English language test and we will introduce a migrant charge for public services."
Really? How?
"And so let's hear no more from the Conservatives - we did fix the roof while the sun was shining."
"In that hideout they used to train suicide bombers.
Most were children of my age or younger than me. They were used for these activities because they were too young to know any better.
...
My father and brother told me to carry out a suicide attack. They were pressuring me to do this.
They told me: "If you do it you will go to paradise long before us." I replied: "Why don't you tell me I will go to hell long before you?"
Every day they used to tell me this. Every day. I was very young when they started telling me this. I said to them: "What about all the people I will kill? They are all Muslims."
They started beating me when I refused. They beat me non-stop. They made my life hell. I never had a single moment of happiness. They did everything other than kill me.
They said: "The bomb will be connected with a button, or something like the remote control of a TV. We will give you this kind of remote, and you will go to the place.
"We will also give you a mobile, and we will ring that phone, and press the remote, and you will be blown up with this bomb."
They told me they would use such a large amount of explosives that no-one would even know if it was a man or a woman.
They told me that I had to do it.
There was a kind of medicine they used to give to the bombers that made them go around smiling, in a trance.
They said they would give me that medicine, and then I would go running to die - with a smile. I was so scared I decided to prepare my own tea, and my own food.
I was afraid they would mix that medicine with my food."
"They attached a bomb to my sister Nahida. They tied rectangular pieces to both her arms, and a black strip was wrapped around both her legs.
Then they connected the whole thing. She told my brother the bomb was heavy and she could not walk.
He said she would be comfortable once she was sitting down in the car.
They gave her medicine. But she was crying very loud for my mother. She kept going to her and hugging her. When my sister looked down at the bomb, she shivered.
Then my brother and my father started beating my mother, and they were shouting: "Why you are distracting the girl from her mission?"
I heard my sister saying: "Where is Meena? I want to see her." But I didn't have the strength. My heart couldn't take it.
My mother fainted when they put her in the car. My brother said my sister's attack was in Afghanistan.
I always think about my sister. She was healthy and a very nice girl. She was younger than me, but she was wiser. My mother used to tell me that I was an idiot, but she was very wise."
"It calls for us to withdraw from the European Union, in order that our Government was accountable to our electorate. It would repeal the 1998 Human Rights Act, which has undermined the Government’s ability to deal with crime and terrorism. It would ensure that no internationally binding agreements may be entered into and no military action may be taken without the prior authorization of Parliament.
In parliamentary reform it would require number of parliamentary constituencies to be substantially reduced to around 250, down from 646. Parliament would sit for a fixed five-year term. The number of sitting days to be substantially reduced, which in turn would reduce the amount of legislation which currently engulfs us."
"Imagine the expression on music producer Mendoza Stewart's face when he found out his prized Bristol 411 – a rare classic – had been towed by the London Borough of Lambeth, despite being legally parked in a council car park.In case you do not know what a Bristol 411 looks like, here's a picture of one...
Council workers at the car pound apparently used a mechanical grab to move the car, leaving it 'utterly wrecked'.
Mr Stewart said: "The council said my car was not taxed but as a 1972 classic car it is road tax-free."
A spokesperson for Lambeth Council said: "We have accepted breach of duty and apologise to Mr Stewart. We are working hard to resolve this case as soon as possible.""
"The number of British people who are sceptical about climate change is rising, a poll for BBC News suggests.Of course this being the oh so 'warmist' BBC the message they would like you to take from this is not that the people aren't as dumb as the BBC and IPCC would like them to be but that this is indicative as being a serious problem.
The Populus poll of 1,001 adults found 25% did not think global warming was happening, a rise of 8% since a similar poll was conducted in November.
The percentage of respondents who said climate change was a reality had fallen from 83% in November to 75% this month.
And only 26% of those asked believed climate change was happening and "now established as largely man-made".
The findings are based on interviews carried out on 3-4 February.
"It is very unusual indeed to see such a dramatic shift in opinion in such a short period," Populus managing director Michael Simmonds told BBC News.
"The British public are sceptical about man's contribution to climate change - and becoming more so," he added.
"More people are now doubters than firm believers." "
"The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (Defra) chief scientific adviser, Professor Bob Watson, called the findings "very disappointing".
"The fact that there has been a very significant drop in the number of people that believe that we humans are changing the Earth's climate is serious," he told BBC News.
"Action is urgently needed," Professor Watson warned.
"We need the public to understand that climate change is serious so they will change their habits and help us move towards a low carbon economy." "
"During the intervening period between the two polls, there was a series of high profile climate-related stories, some of which made grim reading for climate scientists and policymakers."So "grim reading for climate scientists and policymakers", are facts not important? Should the truth have been suppressed in the interests of 'policy'?
"Why is our public service broadcaster giving credence to climate conspiracy theories? "
"After watching last night's Newsnight, I can only come to one conclusion: the BBC has become this country's most pernicious climate-change-denying media outlet in the UK."
"Gordon Brown wept in public this weekend when he talked of the death of his daughter Jennifer and spoke of facing up to the possible premature death of his son Fraser, who has cystic fibrosis - and his hope a cure will be found.Why is crying "an extraordinary display if emotion" for a woman who has lost one son and may lose another? It seems quite normal to me. What is extraordinary is that people might buy this 'look Gordon Brown is a normal human being and so should be re-elected crap'. Unfortunately the way the opinion polls are going it looks as though the 'narrative' is working.
Mr Brown's wife Sarah, who was present, also sobbed in an extraordinary display of emotion when the Prime Minister was interviewed by Piers Morgan for a TV programme.
The candid exchanges, which took place over two-and-a-half hours in front of a live studio audience, are to be broadcast on Piers Morgan's Life Stories on ITV next Sunday."
"To look at Tory policies so far, it is hard to see any great vision for society. In the draft manifesto, one sees several Labour ideas inserted like pagan offerings to assuage a god of war. We find Labour’s commitment to tax the richest at 50p; a pledge to protect the bloated NHS budget; a pledge to increase foreign aid spending by some £4 billion — while cutting the military budget by about the same amount. At a time of war.After 13 years of Labour misrule I don't want a 'Labour lite' government. Indeed the UK needs a dose of reality after 11 years of Labour profligacy, it won't be easy and it won't be pleasant but it is necessary. However I have severe doubts as to whether David Cameron is willing to be hard enough - more on this tomorrow...
If these are to be implemented, it is depressingly hard to work out what will be Tory about the next Tory government. Spending priorities will be roughly along Labour lines, the NHS will face less reform even than under Tony Blair. The spending commitments so far make it hard to see how the Tories could cut the deficit very much faster than Labour. And Mr Cameron even looks uncomfortable with cutting back the size of government, talking about it like something necessary only to assuage the credit-rating agencies. "
"In his most intimate interview to date, he talks of his love for Sarah, the never-ending pain at the death of his daughter Jennifer, the real reason his handwriting is so bad and how he learnt his sense of duty and economic thrift from his parents."Thrift? THRIFT! The man's wasted more money than I can even imagine and all but destroyed the UK economy. "Never ending pain"; I am sorry for his loss but what he has done to the UK dwarves that 'pain'.
"But I am not going to get into personality politics. It is not what I have done in my life."Does Gordon Brown have no shame or sense of reality? 'Tory toffs' anyone? In fact it is instructive to google Gordon Brown +"personality politics" and see quite how often Gordon Brown has declared that he is against personality politics; somehow I think he doth protest too much.
"This week more problems have emerged with a new computer system which tells employers how much tax to deduct from our pay.Another great HMRC IT system...
...
Revenue insiders have told Money Box that in some cases it is double-taxing the value of benefits like a car or health insurance provided by employers.
It has also emerged that married couples and civil partners aged 76 or more could lose an allowance worth nearly £700.
And more than half-a-million people, who started claiming their state pension this tax year, could automatically have too much tax deducted from their income next tax year.
The Revenue says it has recently fixed problems including those with state pensions and benefits in kind, but admits it is still working to resolve remaining issues. "
"The leader of Plaid Cymru's MPs has said he has a memo showing Tony Blair and George Bush struck a secret deal to invade Iraq a year before the 2003 war.How anyone could think Tony Blair lied to the Chilcot Inquiry is beyond me...
Elfyn Llwyd told the BBC's Straight Talk he had written to Iraq Inquiry chair Sir John Chilcot to say he would be prepared to hand the document over.
He said the memo, which is marked "Top Secret and Confidential" contradicted statements made by Mr Blair.
Mr Blair previously told the inquiry he made no "covert" deal with Mr Bush.
Mr Llwyd, who in 2004 launched a campaign to impeach the then prime minister for misleading Parliament over the war, said he could not be specific about what was in the memo, which he "believed" was American in origin.
"I've not shown it to anybody to try, because I, frankly, I didn't want to be in any position where I was accused of undermining anything that was going on at the time," he told interviewer Andrew Neil.
He said the contents of the memo were "in direct contradiction of many, many statements by the ex-prime minister in the House of Commons, including several questions he answered to me".
Asked if he believed it could be the "smoking gun" that anti-war campaigners have been looking for, he said: "It could be". "
"paying people millions of dollars to do a sensible thing that they have always done, and then say its a carbon credit, because if they didn't do what they had always done then there would be more fire, so by making fire, they are reducing it."
"The global warming scientists, major climate research centers, the IPCC, environmental NGOs, and global warming activists and pundits have all claimed that the "robust & rigorous" climate models prove that when human CO2 increases, then global atmospheric temperatures will have to increase, which will then cause surface water evaporation to increase, that subsequently causes water vapor in the atmosphere to increase, which finally sets in motion a positive feedback system that causes all the previous items to even increase more, ad nauseum. Unfortunately, the "expert" climate scientists are now discovering those models might not have it quite right, since atmospheric water vapor is doing the exact opposite of what the climate models predicted! Gee, what a surprise."Another Man Made Climate Change scientific 'mistake' in the modelling, I am shocked...
"The Dutch environment minister, Jaqueline Cramer, on Wednesday demanded a thorough investigation into the 2007 report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after a Dutch magazine uncovered it incorrectly states 55 percent of the country lies below sea level. The the Dutch national bureau for environmental analysis has taken responsibility for the incorrect figure cited by the IPCC. Only 26 percent of the Netherlands is really below sea level. "Is anything actually correct about the IPCC's reports.
"Lizzy Cole, the college’s undergraduate president, sent the email to all 400 residents after the student union received 30 complaints about noise in the student halls.More shocking to me is that confusion of discrete with discreet; the former meaning to be separate, the later meaning to be careful or cautious so as not to be too obvious. Standards have dropped since my days, seemingly in more ways than one...
“I’d just like to politely remind everyone that Newnham corridors funnel sound and walls are very thin in some buildings,” it read. “Therefore, please remember to be discrete (sic) in your activities, especially during late/early hours of the day.”
Some girls said they had been horrified to think that fellow students may have heard them with their boyfriends. One Newnham undergraduate, 20, said: “It’s just so embarrassing to think that people have been listening in. I was blushing when I got the email. You try to keep it down, but it’s easy to forget the walls are so thin if you get a bit carried away.
“This sort of thing must happen at every university in the country. Only in Cambridge would your fellow students complain. They’ll be handing out ear plugs next.” "
"A leading credit rating service warned the United States' stellar ratings could take a hit because of the U.S. budget deficit and slow pace of economic recovery.Maybe Japanese Yen or the Swiss Franc?
Moody's Investors Service issued its determination Wednesday, two days after the Obama administration said the deficit in fiscal 2010 would be about $1.6 trillion and about $1.3 trillion in 2011. The 2011 estimates work off the assumption of a relatively strong bounce for the U.S. economy. "
"Turkish police have recovered the body of a 16-year-old girl they say was buried alive by relatives in an "honour" killing carried out as punishment for talking to boys.Murdered by being buried as punishment for talking to boys; what a wonderful tradition "honour killing" is.
The girl, who has been identified only by the initials MM, was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman.
...
The informant told the police she had been killed following a family "council" meeting.
Her father and grandfather are said to have been arrested and held in custody pending trial. It is unclear whether they have been charged. The girl's mother was arrested but was later released.
Media reports said the father had told relatives he was unhappy that his daughter – one of nine children – had male friends. The grandfather is said to have beaten her for having relations with the opposite sex.
A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried. Her body showed no signs of bruising.
...
Official figures have indicated that more than 200 such killings take place each year, accounting for around half of all murders in Turkey."
"The number of anti-Semitic attacks in the UK reached record highs last year as anger over Israel's assault on Gaza led to an explosion of race hatred targeted at Britain's Jewish community.Of course the irony that it is The Independent one of the three UK news organisations that has done the most to unfairly vilify Israel in recent years is not lost on me.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity which monitors attacks against Jews, said 924 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded last year – a 69 per cent increase on 2008 and the highest number since the charity began keeping records of anti-Semitism in 1984.
The charity said Israel's three-week invasion of Gaza in January last year led to an unprecedented outpouring of anger directed at Britain's Jews, with more anti-Semitism recorded in the first six months of 2009 than in any entire previous year. "
"Of the 924 confirmed incidents, 124 were violent assaults, three of which involved what the CST classified as an "extreme threat to life". It was the highest number of physical assaults recorded against the Jewish community since records began and represents a 41 per cent increase on the previous year.I wonder how many attacks were, at least partially, caused by people having lived on a diet of anti-Israeli articles for some years now, the sort of articles published by The Independent, The Guardian and the BBC?
Physical assaults tended to be most common within areas where members of the Orthodox or Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities are most visible, such as Salford and Bury in Greater Manchester and Hendon and Stamford Hill in north London.
Non-violent incidents included widespread graffiti; bacon being placed on the doors of a synagogue in Leeds and a postal worker writing the words "Jewland" on a parcel meant for a British man staying on a kibbutz in Israel."
"The figures also suggested that anti-Semitism in Britain tended to spike when Israel conducted controversial military operations. Until this year's report, the last time anti-Semitism was at its highest was during 2006 when the Israel Defence Forces launched a one-month assault on Lebanon in retaliation at an attack by Hizbollah fighters. Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of all the incidents reported last year made some sort of direct reference to the military assault on Gaza or Israel's war against Hamas. "The media are keen to explain that the misdeeds of a few Islamic Jihadi should not reflect on the UK's peaceable Muslim citizens, they seem less keen to try and decouple Israel from Jews and now you can see one of the results.
Is Gordon Brown saying he knows nothing of the allegations made by Peter Watt that there was a secret fund, worth a reported £50,000, which was held by the Labour Party for Gordon Brown's benefit? Or is he saying that there was no such secret fund? Is either explanation plausible?
"Mr. Evennett: ... All our constituents are rightly concerned about transparency, expenses and cleaning up politics. With that in mind, now that it is clear that there was a £50,000 fund solely for the Prime Minister's use at his headquarters, will he explain why he did not declare this in the Register of Members' Financial Interests?
The Prime Minister: I know nothing about what the hon. Gentleman is talking about."
"Mr. Cameron: What the Prime Minister has just said is completely at odds with what witness after witness has said to the Chilcot inquiry. Let us listen to what they have said. The former Defence Secretary said that we now have fewer helicopters because of the decisions that the Prime Minister took as Chancellor. The former Chief of the Defence Staff, General Walker, said thatReally did the Conservatives propose £1.5 billion of defence cuts in their 2005 election campaign. Oddly The BBC reported in October 2004 that
"money ...was taken out of the helicopter budget".
Soldier after soldier has complained about the lack of body armour, vehicles and equipment, and we now know that the service chiefs threatened to resign en masse. Is it not time that the Prime Minister admitted to the mistakes that he made when he was Chancellor?
The Prime Minister: First, the Conservatives do not even know what their policy is for 2010 on spending on anything. Secondly, I have always taken seriously the need properly to fund our defence forces. In the 2002 spending review, which is the subject of discussion here, the defence estimate was the best for 20 years. The Defence Secretary at the time said it was an excellent settlement that allowed us to modernise the forces. In 2004, the defence management board made its own decisions. Let me remind the right hon. Gentleman that he stood on a platform at the last election to cut defence spending by £1.5 billion."
"Frontline defence spending would increase by £2.7bn over three years under the Tories, they say. "
"to admit to this fund’s existence, apologise for misleading the House and co-operate with any inquiries that John Lyon may wish to make."I wonder if the Conservatives will query Gordon Brown's claims about their 2005 manifesto.
"India has threatened to pull out of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and set up its on climate change body because it "cannot rely" on the group headed by its own Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr R K Pachauri."Apparently:
"last night Mr Ramesh effectively marginalised the IPC chairman even further.I doubt that the IPCC will be impressed by the Indian government's decision to investigate what is actually happening rather than regurgitating prejudice.
He announced that the Indian government will establish a separate National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology to monitor the effects of climate change on the world's "third ice cap", and an "Indian IPCC" to use "climate science" to assess the impact of global warming throughout the country.
"There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism. I am for climate science. I think people misused [the] IPCC report ... [the] IPCC doesn't do the original research which is one of the weaknesses ... they just take published literature and then they derive assessments, so we had goof-ups on Amazon forest, glaciers, snow peaks.
"I respect the IPCC but India is a very large country and cannot depend only on [the] IPCC and so we have launched the Indian Network on Comprehensive Climate Change Assessment (INCCA)," he said.
It will bring together 125 research institutions throughout India, work with international bodies and operate as a "sort of Indian IPCC," he added.
The body, which he said will not rival the UN's panel, will publish its own climate assessment in November this year, with reports on the Himalayas, India's long coastline, the Western Ghat highlands and the north-eastern region close to the borders with Bangladesh, Burma, China and Nepal.
"Through these we will demonstrate our commitment to climate science," he said."
"Born in 1322... family had long lived in Muslim Spain... these were very difficult times, the Christians were conquering more and more territory in Spain, the city of Seville.. was now under Christian rule"Those nasty Christians invading Muslim lands and kicking out the peaceable followers of Islam would seem to be the subtext. Now maybe later on in the programme it was explained that Spain was previously ruled by the followers of Christianity known as the Visigoths until it was invaded and conquered in the early years of the 8th Century AD by Muslim armies from North Africa as part of the expansion of the Umayyad Islamic Empire. Maybe it was explained later in the programme that the Christian forces fought back soon after the initial invasion but that it took from 723AD to 1248AD to evict Islam form most of Spain and until 1492 before the whole of Spain was in Christian hands once more. Maybe it was but somehow I doubt it.
"It is clear that money is driving climate change policies and initiatives in the UK. CO2 is being used as the scapegoat for the imposition of massive increases in costs for all but the biggest businesses. This would not be the case if CO2 was a threat and mankind could affect warming or cooling of the globe."
"University Tuition Fees in Scotland are free ... if ...... you are classed as being ordinarily resident in Scotland or another European Union (EU) country outside the UK, and are going to be studying full-time in Scotland, you will not be required to pay tuition fees. All tuition fees will be paid on your behalf by the Scottish Government through the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). Students must apply for this funding every year.
It would appear that only the Non-Scottish Brits have to pay to attend university in Scotland. It would be hard to see how this selective pricing would be permitted anywhere else within the EU - but here in Britain this academic apartheid goes unchallenged and unscrutinised by the equality watchers."
"Four journalists, including Fraser, were found not to have declared their up-to-date outside interests, and have been reprimanded and punished to some extent by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.So why would the Labour leadership be so keen on banning Fraser Nelson? It couldn't be anything to do with his unwelcome questioning of the Prime Minister last June, could it? Note that Guido Fawkes reports that the Daily Mirror’s political editor Kevin Maguire hadn't registered a very obvious outside interest, his column in Public Affairs News "that he admitted, with a raucous cackle, having had for two years.". I wonder if the Labour defending Kevin Maguire will have his Lobby Pass revoked? Somehow I doubt it.
But only Fraser Nelson has been actually banned from the Lobby, his pass removed. The others were more mildly rebuked. We don't know the full facts of the case, but it seems strange that the only confident voice declaring that Labour are, in his opinion, through, is the only one being chopped."
"The Conservatives have been criticised for using questionable crime statistics in the run up to the election. The party sent out figures to constituencies in England and Wales suggesting big rises in violent crime while Labour have been in power, but the way the figures were compiled changed in 2002. Home affairs editor Mark Easton outlines the controversy and shadow home secretary Chris Grayling explains his party's use of the figures."Evan Davis's indignant interview of Chris Grayling was a classic of its kind. Oddly I don't recall such righteous indignation ever being used against Gordon Brown or Alistair Darling over their dodgy economic data.
"TREES will not uproot themselves and embark on blood-soaked killing sprees by 2035, global warming experts have admitted.Sometimes satire is just so close to the truth!
The International Panel on Climate Change confirmed the evidence had not been peer-reviewed and will now amend the section of its 2007 report devoted to 'killer trees'.
A spokesman said: "It appears the claim was not based on new data or field research but on that bit with the angry, talking trees in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
"We're reviewing our procedures to determine how it made it into the final draft, though someone should probably have noticed the vivid description of the attack on Saruman's underground orc factory.
"There is a supplementary source, and yes it is that bit with the angry, talking trees in The Wizard of Oz."
"Punxsutawney Phil, the internationally known weather prognosticating groundhog, saw his shadow this morning and predicted six more weeks of winter.If it's good enough for Bill Murray in Groundhog Day then its good enough for me...
Thousands gathered on Gobbler's Knob in Jefferson County to await the groundhog's annual prediction. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club said Phil has seen his shadow 98 times since 1887, hasn't seen it 15 times, and there are no records for nine years."
"To some men, she might seem like the perfect woman: She's a willowy 5 feet 7 and 120 pounds. She'll chat with you endlessly about your interests. And she'll have sex whenever you please -- as long as her battery doesn't run out.Fine, whatever floats your boat but why make a sex robot that loos like Catherine Tate?
Meet Roxxxy, who may be the world's most sophisticated talking female sex robot. For $7,000, she's all yours.
"She doesn't vacuum or cook, but she does almost everything else," said her inventor, Douglas Hines, who unveiled Roxxxy last month at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.
...
Powered by a computer under her soft silicone "skin," she employs voice-recognition and speech-synthesis software to answer questions and carry on conversations. She even comes loaded with five distinct "personalities," from Frigid Farrah to Wild Wendy, that can be programmed to suit customers' preferences."
"There are many casualties in this sad story of greed and hubris. The big victim is the scientific method. This was pointed out in great detail by John P Costella of the Virginia-based Science and Public Policy Institute. Science is based on three fundamental pillars. The first is fallibility. The fact that you can be wrong, and if so proven by experimental input, any hypothesis can be - indeed, must be - corrected.
This was systematically stymied as early as 2004 by the scientist in-charge of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Change Unit. This university was at the epicentre of the ‘research’ on global warming. It is here that Professor Phil Jones kept inconvenient details that contradicted climate change claims out of reports.
The second pillar of science is that by its very nature, science is impersonal. There is no ‘us’, there is no ‘them’. There is only the quest. However, in the entire murky non-scientific global warming episode, if anyone was a sceptic he was labelled as one of ‘them’. At the very apex, before his humiliating retraction, Pachauri had dismissed a report by Indian scientists on glaciers as “voodoo science”.
The third pillar of science is peer group assessment. This allows for validation of your thesis by fellow scientists and is usually done in confidence. However, the entire process was set aside by the IPCC while preparing the report. Thus, it has zero scientific value.
The fact that there was dissent within the climate science teams, that some people objected to the very basis of the grand claims of global warming, did not come out through the due process. It came to light when emails at the Climate Research Centre at East Anglia were hacked in November 2009. It is from the hacked conversations that a pattern of conspiracy and deceit emerge. It is a peek into the world of global warming scaremongering—amplify the impact of CO2, stick to dramatic timelines on destruction of forests, and never ask for a referral or raise a contrary point. You were either a believer in a hotter world or not welcome in this ‘scientific fold’."
" An investigation by Dr Benny Peiser, director, Global Warming Policy Foundation, has revealed that only 13 of the 1,117, or a mere 1 per cent of the scientific papers crosschecked by him, explicitly endorse the consensus as defined by the IPCC. Thus the very basis of the claim of consensus on global warming is false. And so deeply entrenched is the global warming lobby, the prestigious journal Science did not publish a letter that Dr Peiser wrote pointing out the lack of consensus."
"There is something very odd indeed about the statement by the Information Commission on its investigation into "Climategate", the leak of emails from East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit. Gordon Smith, the deputy commissioner, confirms that the university's refusal to answer legitimate inquiries made in 2007 and 2008 was an offence under S.77 of the Information Act. But he goes on to claim that the Commission is powerless to bring charges, thanks to a loophole in the law – "because the legislation requires action within six months of the offence taking place".I sense something very wrong at the Information Commission re this matter.
Careful examination of the Act, however, shows that it says nothing whatever about a time limit. The Commission appears to be trying to confuse this with a provision of the Magistrates Act, that charges for an offence cannot be brought more than six months after it has been drawn to the authorities' attention – not after it was committed. In this case, the Commission only became aware of the offence two months ago when the emails were leaked – showing that the small group of British and American scientists at the top of the IPCC were discussing with each other and with the university ways to break the law, not least by destroying evidence, an offence in itself.
The Commission is thus impaled on a hook of its own devising. By admitting that serious offences were committed, it is now legally obliged to bring charges. And if these were brought under the 1977 Criminal Law Act, alleging that the offences amounted to a conspiracy to defy the law, there is no time limit anyway.
The real mystery therefore is how the Commission came to misread the very Act which brought it into being. Undoubtedly a successful prosecution involving such world-ranking scientists would be extraordinarily embarrassing, not just to the Government but to the entire global warming cause. So what has persuaded the Commission not to do its duty? "
"Jenny Watson, chair of the Electoral Commission, has told returning officers that counting on Friday would be "entirely appropriate".The rumours of Labour plans for electoral fraud are rife and delaying the counts will only add fuel to these particular fires.
Watson was speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Electoral Administrators at Blackpool. I wasn't there, but the Press Association are reporting her comments.
We all enjoy the excitement – or hard work – of election night, but returning officers have a responsibility to make sure the results are accurate and accepted ... The most important thing is that the count is accurate and that voters have confidence in the election result ... It is entirely appropriate for returning officers to decide to hold the count the next day – if they are clear that this is necessary to ensure an accurate result."
"The video shows a girl and young boy playing with guns and a man's voice says: "What do you do with the weapon?"
He answers his own question: "I want to kill the infidels [non-believers]." "
"the conversation continues:
Man 1: inaudible Yahudi.
Man 2: You kill the Jews… You must kill the Jews"
"Labour and Lib Dems thwart attempt to introduce "referendum lock" on future EU treaties. The Conservatives unsuccessfully tried to make an amendment to the Government's Constitutional Reform Bill on 19 January, which would have meant that any future Treaty transferring power to the EU be subject to a referendum. The amendment was defeated by 303 votes to 183."I would interested as to the reasons Labour and the Lib Dems would give for this anti-democratic stance.
"Senior ministers agreed today to propose an amendment to the Constitutional Renewal Bill to offer voters a referendum by the autumn of 2011 on scrapping Britain's "first past the post" system and replacing it with the "alternative vote" (AV) system. The cabinet is to be asked to approve the plan tomorrow, allowing Gordon Brown to unveil the idea in a speech he is delivering on political reform at lunchtime. "
"Air passengers who refuse to submit to a full body scan at Heathrow and Manchester airports will be barred from taking their flights from today.
The two airports started operating advanced imaging technology (AIT) scanners from noon. Birmingham airport will follow suit later this month ahead of a national rollout."
"strongly criticised by civil liberties campaigners who say the scanners are an invasion of privacy"
"Lord Adonis stressed that the interim code of practice on the use of body scanners stipulated that passengers would not be selected 'on the basis of personal characteristics'."That's this Labour government all over, more concerned with political correctness than the safety of the populace.
