Insulting the infidels

The marriage in the Maldives of a European couple at the Dhivehi at Vilu Reef Beach and Spa Resort. The full report of what was said by the officiant can be found at Israelly Cool, here's an extract:

'“Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can have a valid marriage. One of you is an infidel. The other, too, is an infidel – and we have reason to believe –an atheist, who does not even believe in an infidel religion,” the ‘celebrant’ tells the couple, who appear completely unaware of the humiliation they are being subjected to.

...

When he returns to the ‘marriage vows’, he refers to certain Articles of the Constitution and combines ‘Section e” and “Section f” to create the word “balhu”, which in Dhivehi means “swine”. ‘E’ in Dhivehi is the letter ‘baa’ and ‘F’ the letter ‘lhaviyani’.

The ‘celebrant’ mixes the two letters to make the word ‘balhu’, the full version of which, as used by the ‘celebrant’, is ‘nagoo balhu’. The literal translation of the term is ‘crooked tail’, believed to refer to a pig’s tail, and is considered to be one of the worst insults in the Dhivehi language.

“You are swine according to the Constitution,” he declares, solemnly.'

Disgusting and I wonder how many other well meaning tourists have been similarly insulted in the Maldives and other Islamic countries.

I further wonder what the outcry would be if Muslim holidaymakers had been similarly insulted by a non-Muslim 'officiant'. Somehow I doubt that videos on YouTube would be the end of the matter.

Found on the web

'IMHO, genitals in general are just completely repugnant.

'My name is Juliette, and I'm a cockophobic...''

For more take a trip to The New Adventures of Juliette for 'Get Some Nuts'. May I also recommend Single Right Female which includes this

'If you are a frequent reader, I am about to make a shock revelation that may appall and horrify you - and send you fleeing from this shadowy little corner of the net forever more. You've read the posts about the sexual and emotional hang-ups, the drinking problem and the terrible childhood. Now get ready for some real controversy.

I am, in fact, a Tory bird myself.

There. I said it.

...

If you've actually had to grow up in shitty areas surrounded by suicidally bored people on the dole wasting their lives doing nothing - people who can't get any kind of job, or they'll lose their urgently-needed housing benefit - you'll know for a concrete fact that the left-wing bullshit doesn't work.

And if, like me, you've known the joys of being in a deprived single-parent family at first hand, you'll know for a concrete fact that two parents are better. No ifs. No buts. No arguments. This is a truth as simple and obvious as two plus two equalling four. One parent + no money = shitty childhood that's apt to scar a kid for life. The End.'

So take a read of The New Adventures of Juliette; it's well written, often heartfelt and very entertaining.

Andrew Marr show and the preview asks what the Palestinians made of Miriam Margolyes (a Jew) visiting them

I would have thought that the Palestinians would be very happy with a woman who supports the Enough! coalition - End the Occupation; Justice for the Palestinians - here's Miriam speaking at a rally in 2007


And do note the comment that 'First arab attack against a Zionist settlement was in 1886 in Petah Tikva, a community built on reclaimed swamp, bought with Jewish money. This was 31 years before the Balfour Declaration, 62 years before the State of Israel and 144 years before today. First Arab boycott of Jewish businesses was in 1909.'


Here's some views about Miriam Marolyes form Oy Va Goy.

So the BBC's idea of balance in the Middle East is to video an anti-Israeli Jew visiting Palestine; hmmm.

What lies in store for Israel with a US President forced to concentrate on foreign policy?

A fascinating piece by Caroline Glick that deserves your attention:

'In matters of foreign policy however, Obama will be less burdened by - but not immune - to Congressional oversight. We can therefore expect him to devote far more energy to foreign affairs in the next two years than he devoted in the last two years.

This bodes ill for Israel. Since entering office, Obama has shown that his primary foreign policy goal is to remake the US's relationship with the Muslim world. Obama has also repeatedly demonstrated that compelling Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians and empowering international institutions that seek to delegitimize Israel are his preferred means of advancing this goal.

...

Obama doesn't even have to be the one to provoke the next crisis. He can simply take advantage of crises that the Palestinians provoke.

THE PALESTINIANS are threatening to provoke two such crises in the next several months. First, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is threatening to ask the UN Security Council to pass a resolution declaring all Israeli communities beyond the 1949 armistice lines illegal and requiring the expulsion of the 450,000 Israeli Jews who live in them.

Second, the PA's unelected Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is threatening to declare independence without a treaty with Israel next summer.

Simply by not opposing these deeply aggressive initiatives against Israel, Obama can cause Israel enormous harm.

Other outlets for pressure include stepping up harassment of pro-Israel groups in the US, holding up the transfer of arms to Israel, pressing for the IDF to end its counter-terror operations in Judea and Samaria, and expanding US financial and military support for the Palestinian army. All of these moves will doubtless be employed to varying degrees in the next two years.'

My rather pessimistic views about the futire of Israel are well known so the first half of this article has not helped.

Jennifer Aniston & Courtney Cox

Jennifer Aniston & Courtney Cox kiss in 'Dirt'

Is this an adequate sentence?

The Telegraph report that

'a teenager who attacked a terminally ill grandfather and kicked his head "like a football" has avoided a jail sentence

...

(Reece) Kent admitted carrying out the unprovoked attack and pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm, receiving a six-month suspended sentence.'

A six month suspended sentence to a 19 year old for giving a kicking to a 62 year old cancer sufferer, what is wrong with this country?

Pic of the day

Thanks to Theo Spark for the spot.

So which is the 'nasty party'?

The Labour deputy leader of Sunderland City Council says on Twitter that she hopes Margaret Thatcher “burns in hell” and the Labour council insists yesterday that there would be no repercussions for the insult:

'A spokesman said: “There are still strong feelings in many parts of the country about events during Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister and Cllr Anderson has expressed her feelings.”

Council leader Paul Watson, leader of the Labour group, said: "It was an entirely personal comment that was attributed to her." '

Meanwhile Harriet Harman has called Danny Alexander a 'ginger rodent' in a speech to the Labour party's Scottish congress:

'In her speech, Ms Harman said many people who voted Lib Dem in May "believed that they were a progressive anti-Tory party".

She said they "woke up" after the coalition deal to see Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg with Tory prime minister David Cameron in the rose garden of Number 10 Downing Street.

The deputy Labour leader said there was "incredulity" at seeing Mr Alexander, a Scottish MP, becoming "the front-man for the Tory cuts".

"Now, many of us in the Labour Party are conservationists - and we all love the red squirrel," Ms Harman said.

"But there is one ginger rodent which we never want to see again - Danny Alexander."'

What lovely people and how appropriate that they reprsent such a poliical party that has been nasty to the country for so many years.

A list of penis euphemisms

Gregology has a list of penis euphemisms, prepare to be educated.



By the way is Gregology related to Guido Fawkes?

The size of Labour's client state

The Mail reports that:

'Nearly nine out of ten jobs created under Labour went to foreign-born workers, astonishing figures revealed last night.

Official statistics showed the vast majority of the rise in the employment total under the last Government was accounted for by workers born abroad.

Total numbers of those in work went up by two million during 13 years of Labour. But of those jobs, 1.8 million individuals were classed as ‘non-UK born’.

Just a quarter of a million declared themselves to be born in the UK.

The figures, from the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey, are an indictment of the last Government’s failure to control the influx of migrants, train British workers and tackle welfare dependency.

Just as startlingly, the figures also revealed that the proportion of the foreign-born workforce nearly doubled under Labour – from 7 per cent to 13 per cent.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the Migrationwatch think-tank, said: ‘This is stunning evidence of the need to cut back on the immigration of foreign workers.

‘As long as foreign skills can be obtained “off the shelf”, employers will have no incentive to train British workers.’'

The massive increase of immigration into Great Britain was a deliberate policy by the last Labour government. It was designed to 'rub the right's face in diversity' and to create a client state of unemployed British reliant on state benefits who would therefore vote Labour to preserve those benefits as well as immigrants who would vote Labour to ensure their place in Britain. Bearing in mind the size of the immigration that happened over the last 13 years it is incredible that the the Conservatives managed to win the last general election albeit with the help of the Lib Dems.

Doctor Who at Fawlty Towers

Dhimmitude and Sharia law in the UK and USA

Some stories struck me recently as being in someway part of a narrative. The first in The mail related the story of the 'Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan because neighbour claimed 'smell of frying bacon offends Muslims' Read the whole story and see whether you think the Councillors at Stockport Council in Greater Manchester are exhibiting signs of dhimmitude.

Creeping sharia reported on the latest news in the Flight 93 memorial story. This is a subject that I have reported upon before and one that I find hard to believe gets so little MSM attention.

Hudson New York reports on the rise of sharia banking and the possible implications. It's a long article, do go and read it all, but here are some extracts:

'While most people are still ignorant of the tremendous growth of Sharia Banking in the West, a recent report by International Financial Services London reveals that Britain's Islamic banking sector is now bigger than that of Pakistan.

What is important to grasp is that Islam recognises no authority superior to Sharia law. When trillions of pounds and dollars are locked into them, Sharia banks will not recognize the superior authority of the law of the land.

One thing possibly many of the Westerners are yet to realize is, by simply opening an account with any of the Sharia compliance banks, they in other words are giving endorsement to -- and enabling -- the advance of Sharia law, which endorses, among other tenets, stoning for adultery; hanging for homosexuality, and an officially inferior status for non-believers and women.

Equally troubling is the potential cover provided by Sharia finance for the financing of terrorism. Sharia requires Muslims to tithe a percentage of their money to charity, called "Zakat." But charity in Islam is more like a solidarity, so some of this money donated to Islamic charities finds its way to organizations promoting jihad and supporting suicide bombing, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, and Islamist madrassas in places like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, and Egypt, among others.

The UK now has five fully "Sharia-compliant" banks which prohibit interest payments, and investment in alcohol or gambling firms in accordance with Islamic Sharia law – while another 17 leading institutions, including Barclays, RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, have set up special branches or subsidiary firms for Muslim clients.

...

The implications for the West, and especially for the United States, are staggeringly destructive. Islamic banking, working through global banks, is doing for Islam what it could never do on its own: giving legitimacy to Sharia law and infiltrating it into the fabric of Western society. To insure compliance and to become "Sharia banking" compliant, banks must hire Sharia experts to review and approve each product and practice of the bank, to make sure that whatever transactions occur there are "Halal," or in compliance with Sharia law. As there is a shortage of such Sharia experts, there is competition among banks to find such experts to sit on their boards of directors.

Having an "expert" involved, now made at the director level rather than the management level in banking decisions, provides legitimacy to each banking decision. Most of these Sharia experts," however, are from the radical Wahhabi school of Islam in Saudi Arabia, and hold views diametrically opposed to the basic values of Western civilization. Even a cursory look at the names, affiliations and views of popular Sharia scholars, such as Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usmani, Sheikh Mohamed Ali Elgari, Faysal Mawlawi, Sheikh Nizam Yaquby, Suleyman al-Maniya and others, many of whom sit on the Sharia advisory boards of dozens of Islamic banks and get paid princely sums from each, would make it clear that most are hardline Islamists and, in at least some instances, open supporters of terrorism. Here are two examples of those Sharia experts hired by Western and US banks for operating Sharia banking:

1. Yousuf Quaradawi,prominent in the Muslim Brotherhood, owns two banks himself and has issued statements in support of Palestinian attacks on Israeli citizens and has issued rulings supporting Hamas and Hezbollah jihad attacks against Israel.
2. Muhammad Yaqui Usami, a radical Deobandi cleric and Sharia court judge in Pakistan, and on the board of organizations that train thousands of Taliban and jihad foot soldiers, is not only complicit in the murder and suffering of countless innocent Ahmadiya Muslims as "apostates" because they disagreed with his Islamic mandates, but on record preaching that Muslims living in the West "must live in peace until strong enough to wage Jihad' against their fellow-citizens in order "to establish the supremacy of Islam."'

JPost reports on where some of the money I pay to the EU (via UK taxation) is going, and I am not happy:

'A British taxpayer watchdog group unveiled two reports on Monday detailing the role of European foreign aid in the transmission of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic narratives in Palestinian Authority schools and media in Jerusalem.

The reports, “Palestinian Hate Education Since Annapolis” and “Funding Hate Education,” detail what the Taxpayers’ Alliance refers to as a campaign of “demonizing Israel” largely funded by European taxpayers, a policy it says diminishes long-term hopes for peace.

...

According to the Taxpayers’ Alliance, European foreign aid provided to the PA, including €420 million and £63.6m. in 2007 alone, “create[s] a responsibility to ensure that the Palestinian Authority does not misuse its budget.”

Ayalon described the problems that hatred and incitement toward Israel in the Palestinian territories spell for coexistence and said that peace will remain impossible “as long as we don’t see the acceptance of Israel as a legitimate and natural part of the Middle East.”'

Every day I read articles like these and wonder why so few people seem to see the emerging pattern. Most days I don't bother to blog these stories because this blog is not just about Islam and Israel, but the number of such stories stored in Firefox on my PC just pushed me over the edge today.

Werewolf Barmitzvah (full version)

30 Rock's Tracy Jordan's full version of 'Werewolf Barmitzvah'

Time travel or something else?

What is this woman doing if not using a mobile phone in 1928. This footage is from a backstage film for the launch of the Charlie Chaplin film 'The Circus' .

Of course there is a vital point to be made here; if the woman is using a mobile telephone in 1928 could someone explain how, as the transmitter/receiver cell masts she could use wouldn't have existed for another 60 years.

So a cell phone seems somewhat unlikely but maybe a more futuristsic piece of communications technology? Is this perhaps the first glimpse of the 12th Doctor?

US Democrats show off their consistency of opinion and commonsense

Thanks to Theo Spark for the spot.

Can you see where this is heading?

The Telegraph confirms what many of us thought would be the case last week:

'French fighter jets could be stationed on Britain's new aircraft carrier as the two nations' navies become "interdependent," the French defence minister has said.

...

Plans for extensive Anglo-French military co-operation will be discussed by David Cameron and Nicholas Sarkozy next week in London.'

What flag will the UK carriers fly when French planes flown by French pilots are on board? What flag will UK support ships fly when accompanying the French carrier? Does anyone not believe that we are being lead towards a European armed force starting with an 'integrated' French/British navy?

Should this man have been released from jail?

I read in The Telegraph that

'A convicted terrorist has addressed a crowd of supporters outside jail minutes after his release and called for a boycott of poppies because they support "murder and illegal war."

Minutes after he was released from jail, Brooks climbed on the 9ft outer wall of Pentonville prison to shouts of “Allahu Akhbar” [god is great] from dozens of followers.

He then accused British troops in Afghanistan of torture, rape and killing and called for a boycott of poppies sold by the Royal British Legion.

Brooks told the crowd: "The troops are carrying out illegal murders abroad. Houses are being destroyed, mosques are being destroyed. Muslims are being murdered and tortured by the forces.

"I would advise everyone to look to their conscience and see if supporting the occupation of an independent state which involves killing, bombing and interring people's houses is something they can sit with in their hearts.”

He went on: "The troops are occupying foreign lands. That’s what a soldier’s job is – it’s to bomb houses and to kick doors in. It’s to rape them, it’s to handcuff them, it’s to rob them.”

Brooks said if Britain wad not in Iraq and Afghanistan “we would not be a target for terrorism.”

“The actions of our government has brought the target back to us,” he added.

Asked if he was willing to condemn the September 11 and July 7 terrorist attacks, he refused to do so, saying: "I am not obliged to condemn anything.”

Brooks also called for Sharia law in Britain, saying his trial had been political and added: "I've seen with my own eyes the injustices that muslims are facing in this country.

"As a Muslim in the UK you are guilty, in effect, for who you are. In the courts you are innocent until proven Muslim.

"The only solution for us is to establish our own legal courts where Muslims can be tried under Sharia in the UK.”'

Don't forget the words of Brooks in 2004:

'“Allah will remove all the kufr [disbelievers] from the earth, and how? With dua [prayers] or with some books? No my dear Muslim brothers with jihad for the sake of Allah…So we are terrorists, terrify the enemies of Allah.”

Brooks said anybody who sought “dignity outside of shariah [Islamic law]” would be “humiliated.”

In another speech, recorded two years later in Small Heath, Birmingham, Brooks asked his audience; “Are you ready for another 7/7?”'

I would hope that the British police and security services will be keeping a very close eye on this person to ensure that he does not incite anyone with dangerous rhetoric. But somehow I doubt that that will be the case; what is more likely is that Abu Izzadeen, aka Omar Brooks, will be the recipient of police protection.

The BBC respond to a complaint but don't really answer it

Back in August I complained to the BBC about just one example of bias in their coverage of Israel and the Palestinians. You can read my complaint here and the particular example of bias here.

I have now received a reply and here it is:

'Dear Sir or Madam,

We do not report every inflammatory comment by Israelis or Palestinians. There are many on both sides.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s comments were reported because he is such an important figure, and because the comment came at a time when Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were being resumed. He is the spiritual leader of Shas, a party represented in current Israeli government, and a former Chief Rabbi.

The comments were widely criticised by US and Israeli leaders.

I am sorry for the delay ion replying to your complaint.

Best regards,

Middle East desk
BBC News website'

I have replied and here is my reply:

'Thank you for finally replying to my complaint, although I note that you have not actually answered my complaint.


You write that 'We do not report every inflammatory comment by Israelis or Palestinians. There are many on both sides.' - My complaint acknowledged that the comments were 'reprehensible' and 'despicable' and asked you to 'point me to the BBC web site news articles that reported the genocidal statements of senior Hamas and Fatah politicians and/or religious leaders.' I don't ask that the BBC report every genocidal statement made by a Hamas politician or religious leader, where would you find the space? But to report none of these comments does look rather strange.

I gave you some examples to help you in your search, did you find any examples reported by the BBC? Did you even look? If not, how do you know that you give equality of coverage? If you did not report such Palestinian calls, why not? Why are the words of one Israeli cleric, however vile, newsworthy whereas those of Palestinian clerics and politicians are not?'



You write that 'Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s comments were reported because he is such an important figure, and because the comment came at a time when Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were being resumed.' - I cannot disagree with your point about the timing of his remarks. Maybe you could point me to the BBC's coverage of Yasser Arafat's comments on Jordanian TV on the very day that he signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn in 1993 "Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."



You write that 'He is the spiritual leader of Shas, a party represented in current Israeli government, and a former Chief Rabbi.' - Indeed he was albeit the Sephardi Chief Rabbi and from 1973-1983; he is not a member of the Knesset. Maybe you could show me where the BBC reported the words of Hamas' spiritual leader, until 2004, Ahmed Yassin when he said that "Reconciliation with the Jews is a crime" and that Israel "must disappear from the map".



You write that 'The comments were widely criticised by US and Israeli leaders.' - Indeed they were and rightly so, but my complaint was not about the coverage of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s comments, but about the lack of coverage of equally or more reprehensible comments by Palestinian political and religious leaders. By not addressing this point you have not answered my complaint, preferring to answer a different question.



I must ask you to actually answer my question rather than a question of your choosing.


Regards

NotaSheep '

We will see how long the BBC take to reply this time and whether they actually answer any of my points.

Odd happenings in Nevada

The Washington Examiner reports that:

'Since early voting started, there have been credible reports that voting machines in Clark County, Nevada are automatically checking Harry Reid's name on the ballot:

Voter Joyce Ferrara said when they went to vote for Republican Sharron Angle, her Democratic opponent, Sen. Harry Reid's name was already checked.

Ferrara said she wasn't alone in her voting experience. She said her husband and several others voting at the same time all had the same thing happen.

"Something's not right," Ferrara said. "One person that's a fluke. Two, that's strange. But several within a five minute period of time -- that's wrong."

Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said there is no voter fraud, although the issues do come up because the touch-screens are sensitive. For that reason, a person may not want to have their fingers linger too long on the screen after they make a selection at any time.

Now there's absolutely no independently verified evidence of chicanery with the voting machines (yet), but it is worth noting that the voting machine technicians in Clark County are members of the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU spent $63 million in elections in 2008 and is planning on spending $44 million more this election cycle -- nearly all of that on Democrats. White House political director Patrick Gaspard is formerly the SEIU's top lobbyist, and former SEIU president Andy Stern was the most frequent visitor to the White House last year.'

Hmmmmmm

Has someone been misleading Parliament?

Yesterdat in PMQs Hansard records that Ed Miliband said (my emphasis):

'Edward Miliband: The Prime Minister is about to make 500,000 people redundant as a result of the cuts announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is clear that his policy on housing benefit is a complete shambles. He has talked about London, but in London alone councils are saying that 82,000 people will lose their homes—they are already booking the bed-and-breakfast accommodation. How many people does he think will lose their homes as a result of that policy?'

So Ed Miliband states as fact that 'councils... are already booking the bed-and-breakfast accommodation'. Are they?

Full fact is not so sure:

're councils really block-booking bed and breakfasts in anticipation of an exodus of housing benefit claimants from inner London boroughs?

...

Full Fact spoke to London Councils who provided us with a statement...

“London Councils has warned that up to 82,000 households could become homeless in the capital as a result of the government’s changes to housing benefit next year. Boroughs are now talking to private landlords outside of the capital about procuring private properties in case they need to use them as temporary accommodation.

“This is of course a last resort. Boroughs don’t want to move people into different homes outside of the capital - this causes disruption and comes at great cost. But unless the government takes on board the proper measures to prevent this housing crisis - like increasing a special hardship fund to help tenants who can’t afford their rents - they might have no choice.

“We urge the government to act before this housing crisis gets to unmanageable proportions where even more pressure is placed on council budgets, and the lives of thousands of Londoners - including many families on low incomes – are put at great risk,” the statement said.

...

However the whole fiasco suggests that Ed Miliband and others may need to avoid referring to these block-booking in future political jousts.'

The EU in another power grab?

The EU's mania for power and control knows no bounds and if what Devils Kitchen writes is true, the EU is set for a huge power grab. I thought someting was afoot when there were rumblings at PMQs about the EU, Kate Hoey is a reliable barometer of matters EU. So Devils Kitchen's piece with more than a nod to Douglas Carswell is a must read, if not a pleasant one.

Douglas Carswell writes:

'If you read the European Commission document 11807/10 [PDF], however, it doesn’t seem quite so clear cut. Studying it, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the new rules on fiscal oversight are going to apply to all EU Member States, not just members of the Euro.

The paper – subtitled “Tools for stronger EU economic governance” – focuses on how Member States, not just Euro countries, “will act in compliance with the EU framework.” The “new structured mechanism” for vetting each countries budget will be applied to “all Member States”.

In or out of the Euro, the paper suggests Britain may indeed have her budget subject to EU Commission vetting – albeit that the time table for this “semester” process might allow officials to claim that the Commons gets to see it first.

And what if Brussels did not approve of the tax and spend policies of our democratically elected government?

If such rules only apply to Eurozone countries, why does page 5 of the document, under the heading “Corrective Action”, say that “This mechanism would apply to all Member States”. Use of that word “all”, again. If there’s a caveat saying “all” excludes Britain, I couldn’t find it.


...


EU competence is to be extended into member state’s fiscal policy, with the power to make law for "all EU Member States". And it appears to have been kept hidden until today.

Not even the European Scrutiny Committee, I’m told, had sight of a paper by the “Task Force to the European Council” called “Strengthening Economic Governance in the EU” until today.

This hidden paper appears to confirm two things:

a) Despite what we were told in June, UK budgets will now become EU business. They might not be able to impose sanctions on us if they disapprove – yet. But they are involved.

b) According to the document, “The Task Force recommends a deeper macro-economic surveillance with the introduction of a new mechanism underpinned by a new legal framework .... applying to all EU Member States”.

Yep. That’s right. The EU is to legislate in a new area. In a way that could apply to all EU Member States.

And you thought there would be no further transfers of power to Brussels, eh?'

The question of the day is "Have we been had?" and the answer is... YES and I am not a happy blogger.

'we are the only country which will achieve the 0.7% target is because we are the “only country stupid enough” to do it'

'Lawson was not happy at the government’s decision to ringfence international aid, calling the 0.7% UN target “absolutely irrelevant” and claimed it was plucked out of the air. He went on to say the reason why we are the only country which will achieve the 0.7% target is because we are the “only country stupid enough” to do it. He then questioned the effectiveness of international aid itself, claiming in some cases it actually stopped countries progressing and recommended Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid for further information about that topic.'

For more of Nigel Lawson's words of wisdon, take a read of Grant Tucker's review of “In Conversation with Nigel Lawson” on the Iain Dale website.

A disturbing website

How The Good Look Naked, the first one I found was re Dragon Den's Peter Jones; very very disturbing:

'“Why aren’t you wearing a suit?” Peter asked.

I could tell he was angry as he flicked the zip on his fly

“I just, I, I just came here to get a quote.”

“Well you’ll not get a quote from me. You didn’t turn up in a suit and that shows me you aren’t ready for business?”

“Is it business time?” I asked, terrifed of the answer.

“Yes, yes it is” he said.

Peter flicked a switch to the side of his chair. The hot studio lamps turned off and were replaced by disco lights and a lava lamp.

“Oh, god. OH god… please, no!” I screamed, knowing that the rumours had been true. Soon I’d know why all the all the people who had invested in Peter’s businesses had gone mad, gibbering about ‘the ring’.

Peter Jones stood up and dropped his trousers. He was wearing white pants, and his socks were held up with old fashioned suspenders.

“It’s time for you to learn the truth about business.”'

Read the rest if you dare, NSFW.

So via that site, it's Quiz Time:

Which world famous author is being described thus:

'‘Again?’ he asked, raising one bushy eyebrow in question.

‘I, I don’t know if I could. I’m, I’m not sure I could take much more.’

For the last forty eight hours he had been pleasuring me, I was raw in some places from his expert skills but I didn’t want it to stop I just feared for my heart. I feared I might die of ecstasy in his muscled embrace and yet I could think of no better way to slip from this world in the next.'

Why The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process Isn't Working

Israel and the Palestinians: "No" is the Real Obstacle to Peace from AJC on Vimeo.

Thanks to Propagandist for the spot.

A rose by any other name...

The BBC report that: 'Oliver and Olivia top names' list', informing us that:

'After Oliver at the top of the list, followed by Jack, the rest of the top 10 in England and Wales were filled by Harry, Alfie, Joshua, Thomas, Charlie, William, James and Daniel.'

However if one visist National Statistics and downloads the Excel spreadsheet of names it is a matter of moments to add together the numbers for the three spellings of MOHAMMED that appear in the top 100. Doing so gives a total of 6,535 enough to make that name third in the total lists. the three spellings in the top 100 are Mohammed in 16th place, Muhammad in 36th place and Mohammad in equal 62nd place. The ONS actually states in its notes that:

'The published ranks have been produced using exact spelling of first names given on the birth certificate. Grouping names with similar pronunciation would change the ranks. However, although some groupings are straightforward, others are more a matter of opinion, and thus raw data are given so users can group if they wish.'

I wished and I did...

Oddly while the BBC have decided that no analysis is necessary, or maybe they don't know how to add three numbers in Excel, The Mail has managed to report this story. In fact they have gone further into the data than I have and have discovered that:

'Mohammed is now the most popular name for baby boys ahead of Jack and Harry
...
The name, when 12 different spellings were included, was given to 7,549 youngsters in 2009, official statistics revealed.

Oliver was the second most popular and it was given to 7,364 boys in England and Wales in 12 months.'

At the very least the fact that Mohammed (in all its forms) is the most popular boys name in England & Wales is interesting; but clearly not to the BBC.


In January 2009 I blogged that:

'I read in The Telegraph today that the Office for National Statistics (OFS) "is not publishing its annual survey of the country's most popular names for babies because of cost-cutting - really, is that so, or is there a more prosaic reason?

Last year I reported that taking into account the various spellings Mohammed was now the second most popular name for a boy in the UK - the various spellings being Muhammad, Mohammad, Muhammed, Mohamed, Mohamad, Muhamed and Mohammod as well as Mohammed.

Could it be that including variants Mohammed was the most popular name given to a baby boy in 2008? '

Well the 2008 figures are on the ONS site as well, I may check later...

Hamas, Fatah, Israel & a return to 1967 borders

The useful fools in the West who blame Israel for everything that is wrong with the Middle East, assure us that Fatah and Hama just want Israel to return to its 1967 borders and all will be fine. This is of course dangerous nonsense, here's just a few examples of Hamas and Gatah leaders leting out the truth over the years:

1) March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

Remember that Haifa comment, that is very relevant today - see 3).


2) On the same day Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn in 1993, he explained his actions on Jordan TV thus

"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."

3) YNet report:

'Fathi Hamas, Gaza's interior minister, visits Khan Younis University and threatens to seize Israeli cities with help of 'armies from all around the world.'

Turning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamad said, "We are coming to occupy Haifa and Akko. We'll have armies from all around the world, and the convoys arriving in Gaza are carrying a message to our people, saying that we must stick to the path of jihad. The enemy is trying to impose a siege on us, but they are the ones under a siege and behind fences." '

When talking to the West, Hamas & Fatah say one thing about peace and living alongside Israel but when talking to other Muslims the story is somewhat different. Here are some examples of what Hamas clerics and other Palestinian religious leaders say when they think the west is not listening:

1) Hamas cleric Ziyad Abu al-Haj's in Friday sermon of 3 April 2009:

"The time will come, by Allah’s will, when their property will be destroyed and their children will be exterminated, and no Jew or Zionist will be left on the face of this earth."

2)Dr. Ahmed Yousuf Abu Halabiah, a member of the Palestinian Sharia (Islamic religious law) Rulings Council, and Rector of Advanced Studies at the Islamic University on 13 October 2000:

"The Jews are the Jews. There never was among them a supporter of peace. They are all liars… They are terrorists. Therefore it is necessary to slaughter them and murder them, according to the words of Allah… It is forbidden to have mercy in your hearts for the Jews in any place and in any land. Make war on them any place that you find yourself. Any place that you meet them – kill them. Kill the Jews and those among the Americans who are like them… The Jews only understand might. Have no mercy on the Jews, murder them everywhere."

Partners in peace?

Freedom of expression in China - claims & reality

"It is an unquestionable fact that Chinese people have freedom of expression and press."

So says The People's daily.

'Chinese police seized a woman from her house in the middle of the night after she tweeted her intention to demonstrate with a banner congratulating jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo on winning the Nobel peace prize, '

So says The Guardian>.

'There are no cuts. I say again, there are no cuts.'

EU Referendum makes it clear that:

'There are no cuts. I say again, there are no cuts. What the Cleggerons are talking about is a reduction in the rate of increase in public expenditure as compared with the June budget.

...

...the current financial year expenditure is £696.8 billion. By 2014-15, the projected expenditure was to rise to £757.5 billion. Little George is now proposing that this increase is limited £739.8 billion. This now becomes a 17.7 percent "cut", albeit that expenditure is still increasing.

Thus, the language of public expenditure has been redefined. A reduction in the rate of increase is deemed to be a "cut". In fact, by 2014-15, annual expenditure will have increased by £43 billion, up 6.2 percent (not nine, as originally stated). By such sophistry, "cuts" are not actual reductions. They are lower than projected rates of increase.'

Read the rest and wonder why the BBC and others are so keen to portray the cuts as so savage; anyone could believe that they had an axe to grind...

That's an odd selection

The BBC's tech blogger, Rory Cellan-Jones decided he'd see 'What makes a clever phone?'. So he compared three devices Nokia's new N8, the Samsung Omnia 7 - one of the new Windows Phone 7 handsets, and Apple's iPhone 4. The comparisons are basic and hardly in depth, here are the three criteria that Rory Cellan-Jones tested for:
(1) Send an e-mail, with a photo attached
(2) Take a photo and upload it to Facebook
(3) Use the phone to check the time of a film and work out how to get there

So two photo related and none related to making a phone-call from Contacts or using athe device as a apeaker-phone or running Twitter or any number of other applications.

Only at the end of his article does Rory Cellan-Jones manage to mention Apple & Microsoft's biggest competitor

'One operating system I haven't mentioned here is Google's Android. It has proved itself as an innovative and accessible platform - and one which leading handset manufacturers are happy to offer their customers.'

Unsurprisingly the commnets to this post were unflattering about the lack of an Android device being reviewed, here's just two examples:

'Media person picks Apple shock. Any invention there? Any interest in controlling your device as opposed to conforming to what it offers you?

Thought not.


Oliver wrote:

Typical useless BBC blog. Don’t bother to compare the fastest growing OS, that would be too hard.

Maybe Apple were paying him… Come on BBC sort it out and re-do this with Android.'

It would seem that Rory Cellan-Jones got a little upset by the negative comments and just had to explain:

'Update 1500: Lots of people seem angry that I haven't tested an Android phone in this post. Perhaps they haven't read to the end where I praise Google's operating system, even going so far as to suggest that Nokia might do well to adopt it instead of Symbian

Just to be clear, I did not test an Android phone for two reasons. The post was not meant to be about the smartphone market as a whole, but about two new phones with new operating systems, and how they matched up to the competition. And if I'd had an Android phone in my hands over the weekend I would have used that instead - but I'd lent the Samsung Galaxy to a colleague who was testing it for another BBC outlet.'

A couple of points Rory Cellan-Jones. First, I did read the whole inadequate piece and your few lines praising Android struck me as very last minute thinking. Second the BBC's fetish for Apple equipment does leave many wondering the BBC cover technology from a totally unbiased viewpoint; blog entries like your one just add fuel to that fire.

UPDATE 11:50: Thanks to Bobski for reminding me that if a fair comparison of big market players was to be undertaken then iPhone, Windows 7 & Symbian should have been joined by Android device and of course a Blackberry.

The attractions of power

The Mail reports that Peter Mandelson has been praising the coalition and warning ed Miliband not to stray from the centre. Is Peter Mandelson trying to ingratiate himself with the heir to Blair?

What's the point?

The Mail reports that:

'Tony Blair is to be recalled by the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq War to answer new questions about 'gaps' in the evidence he gave earlier this year.

The former Prime Minister is likely to be asked to clarify the political build-up to the 2003 American-led invasion.

He is also expected to further explain the legality of Britain's participation in the controversial war.'

The chances of Tony Blair answering a question totally truthfully look slim, as I wrote back in July '... unless he is under oath and wired to a lie-detector I don't think that I will believe his 'evidence' anyway.'

However if the Inquiry has the time perhaps they could ask Tony Blair the question that I posed on 22 July:

'At the Chilcot Inquiry, Tony Blair said that:

"If I am asked whether I believe we are safer, more secure, that Iraq is better, that our own security is better, with Saddam and his two sons out of office and out of power, I believe indeed we are.

"It was better to deal with this threat, to remove him from office, and I do genuinely believe that the world is safer as a result."

Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, in front of the same inquiry said that there was such a surge of warnings of home-grown terrorist threats after the invasion of Iraq that MI5 asked for – and got – a 100 per cent increase in its budget. Baroness Manningham-Buller, who was director general of MI5 in 2002-07, told the Chilcot panel that MI5 started receiving a "substantially" higher volume of reports that young British Muslims being drawn to al-Qa'ida.

She told the inquiry: "Our involvement in Iraq radicalised, for want of a better word, a whole generation of young people – a few among a generation – who saw our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as being an attack on Islam."

She added: "Arguably we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad so that he was able to move into Iraq in a way that he was not before."

So was the world and/or the UK safer after the invasion, maybe the Chilcot Inquiry should recall Tony Blair and ask him about Eliza Manningham-Buller's evidence.

After being asked about the above, maybe he could be asked about Eliza Manningham-Buller's comments regarding the dossier that "We were asked to put in some low-grade, small intelligence to it and we refused because we didn't think it was reliable" '

An odd tone to this BBC report

The BBC report an odd research finding:

'The pristine waters of British Columbia's Fraser River, a few hours drive upstream from Vancouver, belies the activity beneath.

Below the tranquil surface, the river has just witnessed one of nature's most spectacular natural phenomena - the return of the sockeye salmon, and this year it is the biggest salmon run in a century.

This year, despite dire predictions from scientists, 34 million sockeye salmon came back to the exact stretch of river where they were born to spawn.
Continue reading the main story

But what makes this even more astonishing is that it comes just one year after only one million fish returned.

Last year's run was so low that the Canadian government set up a federal inquiry to try to understand what happened.'

And the article concludes

'All the more vital then that scientists strive for as complete a picture as possible to explain why so many salmon returned this year, and so few last year, or they risk a loss in confidence until no-one is listening to apocalyptic warnings of threats to the wealth of our oceans. '

Odd how the article seems to assume that the odd figure is this year's 34 million not last year's one million. As last year's figure was so low that yhe Canadian government set up an inquiry, what action will they take this year now that the figure is at a century high?

We all know that 'bio-diversity' is the new Global Warming, in that it is the stick to be used to beat us with and so as to raise taxes and increase controls. So expect many more such BBC investigations as they help to rack up the pressure.

Does government have to be about control and surveillance?

The last Labour government, albeit reluctantly, stopped the "Intercept Modernisation Plan" so I was irritated to note that the new Conservative/Lib Deb coalition government have reactivated this project. Open Rights have a campaign running, do sign up...

An extract from last year's Transparency International report

'Sixty one per cent of Bangladeshi drivers received their driving licences from the authorities without passing the necessary test, according to a survey by TI Bangladesh. According to those polled during the two-year survey, a person can bribe officials Tk 100 - Tk 7,000 (US $1.50–100 / €1–72) to receive a driving licence, while the registration of a car or motorcycle may be obtained with a bribe of Tk 1,000-50,000 or Tk 100-10,000 (US $15–713 or US $1.50–142 / €11-512 or €1–102) to receive a certificate of roadworthiness without having the vehicle tested.'

Of interest?

Still not sure what happened?

The BBC report that 'Gaza flotilla was Turkish provocation: Livni to inquiry'. As one would expect the article takes an opposite view. I particularly liked this sentence:

'Israel says its soldiers fired in self-defence after they were attacked with clubs and knives, but activists say the Israeli commandos opened fire as soon as they rappelled from helicopters on to the Mavi Marmara's deck in international waters.'

Have the BBC not got access to the videos showing that what Israel said happened, did happen? Are the BBC so anti-Israel that they prefer to push a demonstrably incorrect 'narrative' rather than report the truth?

BBC oops or wishful thinking?

As you can see above, the BBC's 'Most Popular - Read' articles include one headlined 'UK Economy 'set to slow sharply' which is odd as the headline on the linked page is 'UK economy grows a faster-than-expected 0.8%'

The BBC are forced to report through gritted teeth that:

'The UK's economy grew at 0.8% between July and September, official figures show, suggesting the economy is recovering faster than expected.

It follows 1.2% growth in the second quarter of the year, and is double the 0.4% expected by analysts.'

The rest of the BBC piece is dedicated to 'talking down the economy' but more about that later...

Can you spot the missing word in this BBC news report?

The BBC report that

'More than one in five of England's primary schools are full to bursting point, government statistics reveal.'

Apparently:

'Some 20.3% of state primaries, 3,444 in total, are full or have more pupils than they should, Department for Education figures show.

The numbers are up on last year, when just under a fifth (19.8%), some 3,376 primaries were full.

It follows claims any schools funding increases from the spending review will be wiped out by rising pupil numbers.

Analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggests per pupil funding will fall in real terms by 0.6% per year because of expected increases in pupil numbers.

The new figures will also revive concerns about a lack of school places in some parts of England, particularly in big cities such as London and Birmingham.'

So why are schools so crowded, are some closing down leaving others to cope with the pressure?

The BBC report, as a section heading, that the problem may be 'Booming birth rates'
but only discuss that aspect near the end of that section with this solitary sentence:

"Areas experiencing booming birth rates need to be able to expand primary schools so that every child has a place not too far from their home."

Now why would some areas have a booming birth rate and not others? What possible reason could there be? And why are the BBC not interested in investigating this area? Could it possibly be that the areas with 'booming birth rates' are areas with a high proportion of immigrants and that the increase in pupil numbers is not just due to a 'booming birth rate' but also immigrants bringing their families with them when they come here for work, despite the last Labour government telling us that this would not happen. Mind you the last Labour government reassured us that total immigration form EU countries would be measured in the tens of thousands, whereas in reality the figure is nearer one million.

Thanks to Andrew Neather we do at least we know why the Labour government deliberately opened "up the UK to mass migration", it was at least in part due to a politically motivated attempt by ministers to radically change the country and "rub the Right's nose in diversity".

Labour sold us on the the benefits of immigration: filling jobs that Britons were unwilling or unable to do, adding to the vibrancy of the UK, culturally enriching the Nation. They were less willing to discuss the associated downside of overstretched public services such as the NHS & schools, let alone the problems that importing people some with very different ideas about tolerance and human rights into this Country.

So some questions:
1) Why do the BBC not mention the word immigration in their article?
2) Will anyone ever hold the last Labour government to account for their deliberate policy of encouraging mass immigration?
3) How will this all end for the UK?

Who's on the fringe?

Andrew Klavan explains...



Thanks to Theo Spark for the spot.

"I worked so hard to get that title"

"I worked so hard to get that title" - So said Senator Barbara Boxer and this is the resulting attack advert by David 'Airplane' Zucker...



Oh and here's Senator Barbara Boxer making her original comment...




Thanks to American Power Blog for the spot.

Juxtaposition humour

from today's Mail OnLine

Wealth creation explained

'In one ten-minute stroke, Bill Whittle once again gets to the heart of the political and philosophical divide over wealth and wealth creation. Is the economic system a closed system in which wealth must be managed as in a shortage model, or is it an open-ended process that creates a natural expansion of wealth? Whittle explains how the latter is true, and why, in his new Firewall video supporting the Tea Party grassroots movement:




This really is the fundamental economic divide between the Left and Right. If one believes that wealth is a zero-sum game and that people can only accrue wealth at the expense of others, then redistributionism and socialism make perfect sense (except that neither works in practice, which comes into play in a moment). If, however, wealth creation is an unlimited process and real wealth can and does grow, then open markets and something approaching laissez-faire makes more sense for an economic system.'

Do watch the whole video and remember the arguments the next time you are confronted by a Socialist or BBC journalist.

Jay Leno and the Citroen SM

Look out for the mistake...

Did you spot the mistake? At 10:29 "when I take my foot off the brake in second gear, it hardly slows down at all"! I think Jay meant accelerator/gas, mind you if you listen closely you will hear that he almost said clutch and corrected to brake!

Gregory Isaacs R.I.P.

The wonderful Gregory Isaacs has dies at the age of just 59. This is one of Mrs NotaSheep and my favourite reggae tracks... 'Night Nurse'



And this is Gregory Isaacs singing 'Night Nurse' live at Reggae Sunsplash 1983 in Montego Bay, Jamaica

'I don't need a child to be happy'

'I don't need a child to be happy' More sense in The Mail, in an article by Sharon Parsons.

'. However pretentious it may sound, there's the startling fact that my husband and I have severed the thread in our personal ancestry (unless, of course, he should decide to run off with a fertile 20-something).

Despite our respective nephews and nieces taking up the family baton, he and I know that we are not passing anything of ourselves on to future generations.

After an infinite genealogical timeline - impossible to imagine - we have drawn the mark in the sand. Enough. No more. Our bloodline stops here.

...

Recently there has been another flurry of research in the U.S. and Europe, which has found many women are happily deciding to remain childless. In this country, it's estimated one in five women will not have children through choice.

...

'Is it awful for you to be home alone?' queried one crashingly insensitive colleague after a few drinks one evening. 'I mean, without any kids around to liven things up, it must seem so quiet and dull for you and your husband at times.'

I bit hard on my lip and said nothing, recalling the previous weekend when my husband and I had turned up the music, got stuck into cooking and chatting with a glass on wine on the go, then had a crowd of friends over for an impromptu party that went on well into the early hours. Quiet and dull? I don't think so.'

Why has multiculturalism in Germany 'failed'?

The BBC were most upset to have to report that

'Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have "utterly failed", Chancellor Angela Merkel says.

She said the so-called "multikulti" concept - where people would "live side-by-side" happily - did not work, and immigrants needed to do more to integrate - including learning German.'

The BBC tried to link this understandable feeling with Germany's past sins - ' our correspondent says... there also seems to be a new strident tone in the country, perhaps leading to less reticence about no-go-areas of the past.'

However the BBC chose not to illustrate their report with any examples of multiculturalism failing. I am not so reticent...

Islamic proselytizing in Gladbach


'No go' areas in Berlin & Essen



Thanks to for the video spots



And from 2008 a Sky News report about Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester's, fears for Britain...

Can you spot the BBC's deliberate misdirection?

The BBC report that:

'Pro-Palestinian activists have driven more than 130 donated vehicles into the Gaza Strip in an overland aid convoy aimed at breaking the Israeli blockade.'

The headline for the article is 'Aid convoy reaches Gaza without George Galloway'Those evil Israelis blockading Gaza and stopping brave George Galloway from completing his journey...

However the BBC report continues:

'The convoy set off from London last month, driving across Europe before finally entering Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt.'

Hold on it entered Gaza via Egypt. If Egypt has a land border with Gaza then the Israeli blockade could be ended in minutes by Egypt... unless the Egyptians are also blockading Gaza.

And what's this?

'Egypt banned him (George Galloway) from the trip due to previous clashes with security forces.'

Egypt have a border with Gaza and it was Egypt that banned George Galloway; what is going on?

Let's read on:

'The Islamist group is subject to tough economic and diplomatic sanctions by neighbouring Egypt and Israel, as well as some Western allies.'

So why is Egypt blockading Gaza? Are they anti-Muslim or do they know something that the BBC don't want to tell us?

'Israel eased its blockade of Gaza after an outcry over its raid on a Turkish flotilla in May that left nine activists dead.'

'Activists'? The ones with weapons who attacked Israeli soldiers and left port declaring their disinterest between reaching Gaza or martyrdom? The ones who sang songs glorying in the deaths of Jews?

'But it (Israel) still controls imports, maintains a complete air and naval blockade, severely restricts the movement of Palestinians, and bans almost all exports from Gaza.'

How can Israel control imports into Gaza when Egypt has a land border with Gaza? How can Israel ban almost all exports from Gaza when Gaza has a land border with Egypt?


The BBC proud to stand with Hamas and against the truth.

The biggest non-nuclear explosion started the war of terror

23 October 1983, Beirut and 241 US Marines are killed by Islamist jihadis; who remembers this attack now?


Thanks to Creeping Sharia for the spot.

'it’s never, ever, ever okay to cut public spending'

'Say I steal £1 off 100 people and give you the £100. Should I do it a second time? Apparently refusing to do it a second time is a greater crime, because I’m denying you £100 that you’re now expecting. The poor suckers who are losing the £1? It’s only £1 isn’t it? Hardly worth getting in a flap over.

If they knew how much you really really needed that money, they’d be happy to cough up, right?'

Read Charlotte Gore for more.

'Geoff Hoon spent nearly £560,000 of MOD money on modern art while British soldiers were dying in Iraq and Afghanistan through lack of equipment'

The Mail reports that:

'Geoff Hoon spent nearly £560,000 of Ministry of Defence money on modern art while British soldiers were dying in Iraq and Afghanistan through lack of equipment.

The former Defence Secretary wasted the huge sum on 15 pieces of abstract art to hang on the walls of his department between 2003 and 2005.

Meanwhile, the Labour government faced criticism for putting servicemen and women in danger by scrimping on essential kit such as helicopters, radios and night goggles, and forcing their families to live in rundown military homes.'

Has there ever been a worse Secretary of State for Defence than Hoon? Well Bob Ainsworth maybe... When will ex-Labour Ministers be made to account for their crimes?


Thaks to My Thoughts, My Country for the spot.

International peace activist?

Israelly Cool has the story of what passes for an 'international peace activist' these days...

The evolution of Notasheep

2007



2008



2009



2010

Rose Tyler phones Hyacinth Bucket

Quote of the day

How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin. - Ronald Reagan

Thanks to Prodicus for that quotation spot.

Sometimes stereotypes seem to be accurate

Sky News report the staggering allegation that '2018 Claims: 'World Cup Votes Can Be Bought' '

The line that caught my eye was this one:

'The 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids have been hit by a series of corruption allegations resulting in the suspension of Nigerian Fifa executive Amos Adamu who allegedly guaranteed his vote for £500,000.'

A Nigerian involved in allegations of corruption; whatever next!

Now I know why their equipment is so expensive

Gaggenau make very expensive kitchen equipment, ovens and the like. They are not cheap (a massive understatement) and a quick look at their website might give you an idea as to why.

Note how long the site takes to load and the high quality graphics. Also note that geeks are apparently everywhere as the lift for the New York kitchen goes to floor 42.

Actually the three buildings in the middle of nowhere do remind me of the location for the portal in the film of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Parking fail

How did this person pass their driving test; or did they?

The difference between 'righties' and 'lefties'

'If a Rightie doesn't like guns, he doesn’t buy one.
If a Leftie doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
.
If a Rightie is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat.
If a Leftie is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.
.
If a Rightie is gay, he quietly leads his life.
If a Leftie is gay, he demands legislated respect.
.
If a Rightie is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A Leftie wonders who is going to take care of him.
.
If a Rightie doesn't like what a media bod says, he changes channels.
Lefties demand that those they don't like be shut down.
.
If a Rightie is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A Leftie non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.
.
If a Rightie decides he needs sickness care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A Leftie demands that the rest of us pay for his.
.
If a Rightie reads this, he will pass it on so his friends can have a good laugh.
A Leftie will delete it because he's "offended".'

Thanks to commentater 'Charlie' at Biased BBC for the spot.

Saturday evening catchup

1) What is fairness? -

'I am now getting slightly weary about the debate about whether the changes (which let’s not forget need to be made) or fair or not.

Is it fair that next door there is the exact same house as what I reside in yet because they have 3 kids they get much more bang for their council tax buck? Is it fair that they have had child benefit for years when we have currently chosen not to have kids even though they clearly don’t need the money?

Is it fair that my wife and I both chose to get off our back sides and in an effort to get good jobs decide to commute around 250 miles a day? Is it fair that by doing this the £8,000 cost each will rise 3% plus RPI?'

Indeed?


2) 'Should we be sending £1.2 billion to the European Commission?' -

'Approximately 490,000 jobs are estimated to be lost due to the effects of the Coalition Government’s spending review. About seven thousand of these are likely to come from the army. Whatever you think about these proposals for reductions in public spending (I’m broadly in favour), it is a fact that we have been told that these cuts are occurring because there is no other option. There’s no-where else to find them. They’re not ideological (I wish they were); they’re unavoidable.

…So why is the budget for international aid going up by 37%? To clarify, this means that next year the Department for International Development will spend eight billion pounds. Yes, eight billion. In 2012, this will be twelve billion. This is partly due to Cameron’s pre-election promises not to reduce international aid, and partly due to the government thinking such measures would be unacceptable to the compassionate, broadly liberal public. Where, then, does the money go? Well, department running costs will be slashed by a third and aid to Russia and China will be reduced to zero. European_flag_outside_the_Commission However, last year, around £94m went to the ‘Democratic’ Republic of the Congo. £297m went to India, a country with citizens in appalling poverty, the fourth-largest economy in the world, and a space programme. £56m went to Zimbabwe. We gave Russia about £200k (which is being cut). £1.2 billion went to the European Commission. We have been giving millions of pounds to countries that have the most deplorable human rights records in the world, countries where it is doubtful that the citizens will ever see it.'

Well quite...


3) Andrew Gilligan says that 'Labour: London borough becomes 'Islamic republic' - Something that I blogged about earlier today.

'On Tower Hamlets council, we’re told, the IFE calls on allies who support its aims. It’s also accused of using its influence to help its friends rise to power. These friends include the Labour leader of the council – Lutfur Rahman.

Dispatches has been told that the IFE helped him win the support of Labour councillors.

...

Life at the Town Hall started to reflect religious practices and demands.

TED JEORY: Proceedings changed, they were adjourning more for prayer breaks, occasionally meetings cancelled during prayers, even during Ramadan as well.

And two years ago, councillors attending meetings which did go ahead during Ramadan were met with a new request, in an email from a council officer.

CLLR PETER GOLDS (Conservative), Tower Hamlets council: It suggested that all councillors should refrain from eating.

ANDREW GILLIGAN: So councillors felt they were being ordered not to eat during Ramadan.

CLLR PETER GOLDS: Yeah, and there was certainly an implication of that.

ANDREW GILLIGAN: What was your reaction to that?

CLLR PETER GOLDS: I wasn’t the councillor that raised it, but I was concerned because I do think we are, this is a multicultural borough and certainly the Muslim population is large and important but it is not the dominant culture in the borough.'

Hmmm...

Mud - 'Tiger Feet'

Mud - 'Tiger Feet'
The first song I ever danced witha girl to... 1974 was an interesing year...

Paying the Unions to trash the country (update)

Back in September I blogged about

'the Union Modernisation Fund, which lives on despite its growing notoriety... uncovered 2,493 full time Union employees who are paid for by public sector bodies at a cost of £67.5 million a year.'

So I was interested to read today in The Telegraph that:

'Some unions have been caught out telling their members to lie to their employers so they can attend anti-cuts demonstrations during office hours'

Apparently:

'An undercover investigation by Priti Patel, Conservative MP for Witham, found that officials at unions were telling members how to campaign against the Government's cuts programme on the taxpayers’ time.

...

Ms Patel set up a bogus email account and contacted the officials, asking whether it was possible to attend demonstrations on “facility time" to carry out their union duties during office hours.

One official said she could be “economical with the truth about your use of the time you may be able to claim facilities time” while another suggested she could “pop it down as a union meeting and be creative about how you spend your union time”. '

Why do we allow the Trade Unions to get away with such practices? Why do we let the 'left' walk over us? And of course why are the BBC so singularly uninterested in reporting this story?

Bias on the BBC's Question Time, I am shocked

The Mail reveals that:

'The BBC has again been accused of political bias by ensuring Question Time has audiences ‘hostile’ to government cuts.

This week’s show was broadcast from the Labour stronghold of Middlesbrough, where 43 per cent of the workforce is employed in the public sector.

Many viewers were shocked at how much hostility was heaped on Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, during the show.

Next week the debate will be held in the Tory-free zone of Glasgow, while the following week it is due in Sheffield, where fury has raged since the election that an £80million government loan for a local steel plant, Sheffield Forgemasters, was cancelled by the Coalition.'

I recall reading on Biased-BBC a list of where Question Time had been broadcast from recently and there did seem to be a preponderance of Labour constituencies.

The part of The mail piece that really struck me was this:

'After the audience grilling, a BBC producer was overheard telling Sir Richard Dannatt, a panellist and the former head of the Army, that the show was held in Middlesbrough because the audience would be the most hostile to the cuts.'

If true this is a) unsurprising to those such as me but b) surely ground for the government imposing sanctions on the BBC. I note also that the Green's first MP has been a guest yet again, why so often?

The Islamic republic of Tower Hamlets

Well done the Labour Party. They messed up another selection process, apparently indulged in casual racism to get their man on the ballot and then lost to the man they dropped. The man that dropped may, or may not, be an Islamist with dodgy political and theocratic connections but they have helped him to power . So every time Lutfur Rahman introduces a policy that upsets the non-Islamists in Tower Hamlets, the Labour party will share the blame.

One other person who needs to be linked with the policies of the new regime in Tower Hamlets is Ken Livingstone, the man that defied party rules to support Lutfur Rahman but will seemingly escape punishment by that party.

One of the great joys I have felt since 2008 is that Ken Livingstone is no longer Mayor of London, that his friends are no longer living off the London rate payer and that Islamist preachers of intolerance are no invited to preach as friends and scholars.

What's missing

The BBC's news about 'carriers' seems to stop three days ago, which is odd bearing in mind today's Times report about the placing of the contracts. The Times is behind a paywall so no quotes from that article but Defence Management has the same story:

'The UK was locked in to the £5.2bn aircraft carrier contract by an agreement signed by Gordon Brown in the final months of the Labour government, The Times has reported.

...

According to The Times, Brown entered a 15-year terms-of-business agreement with BAE Systems in 2007 which guaranteed work for the shipyards on the Clyde and in Portsmouth. The deal was said to have been officially signed in 2009.

Coalition cabinet members have been publicly complaining about the terms of the agreement for several weeks.

The agreement was designed to maintain UK shipbuilding skills by preserving jobs.

...

A 'senior industry figure' quoted in the newspaper said: "Politics was central to this agreement, because if the carriers ever got cancelled it would have led to the closure of either the Clyde yards or Portsmouth.

"If Gordon Brown had not been Prime Minister or Chancellor the carriers would have been cancelled a long time ago."

Ian Davidson, Labour MP for Glasgow South West, said: "The unions at the Govan yard were relaxed about the carriers because they knew the company had the government over a barrel and the cancellation costs would have been so enormous. If the agreement had been broken, BAE could have sued the government."'

Now why would the BBC not want to report this story?

Let's not beat around the bush, I described the last days of the last Labour government as revolving around a scorched earth policy. It seems I misjudged them; there was more going on. Inescapable binding contracts designed to prop up jobs in Labour heartlands and dman the cost, last minute legislation to embed 'equality' legislation into all policy areas and massive spending promises designed to increase the amount of 'Tory Cuts'. is scum too strong a word?

Paul Heaton - 'Even a Palm Tree'

Paul Heaton - Even A Palm Tree by Cannonball_PR
Beautiful South's paul Heaton has a new album out 'Acid Country' and this is the standout track 'Even a Palm Tree'

The Doctor(s) perform on Britain's Got Talent

'The Fourth, Seventh and Ninth Doctor's perform on Britain's Got Talent (or more like Gallifrey's Got Talent). What will the judges think of their acts?
Another comedy crossover, with clips from Fourth Doctor debut story "Robot", Seventh Doctor in "Greatest show in the Galaxy" and Ninth Doctor from "The Empty Child". Also Tenth Doctor cameo (sorry I couldn't find a more substantial role for him, though I thought of "The Shakespeare Code" and the Globe Theatre part).'

Anti-Israel bias at the UN; how unusual!

UN Watch reveal that:

'The German law professor heading the U.N. committee to enforce the Goldstone Report has a history of comparing Israeli actions with the “barbarism” and “inferno” of World War II, and should be removed for lack of impartiality by the U.N. Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said a report submitted by UN Watch today to the world body’s Geneva office.

...

However, according to “Goldstone II,” the 29-page report by UN Watch, a Geneva-based monitor of the world body, Tomuschat’s credibility is severely impaired by his prior legal work for PLO leader Yasser Arafat, which Tomuschat said he “could not recall,” and by a series of public statements and writings that show his lack of impartiality on the Arab-Israel conflict.'

Read the rest, get angry and then depressed as you realise that nothing will ever change the institutional hatred of Israel.

Dr David Kelly update

Some, but not all, medical information relating to the death of Dr David Kelly is released this morning. Do I think this will resolve the matter? In short, no. A full independent inquiry is required but will not happen; 'there are forces....'.

Apparently The Ministry of Justice said it was publishing the details "in the interests of maintaining public confidence in the inquiry". Do I detect the odour of whitewash?

Protecting their heroes

Can you imagine the BBC's coverage if it emerged that George W. Bush had mislaid the card with the codes to open the nuclear briefcase? Headline news and the source of much hilarity on the News Quiz. However whilst The Telegraph manage to report that

'For several months during Bill Clinton's administration, a former top military officer says the White House lost the card with a set of numbers for opening the briefcase containing the codes for a nuclear attack.

Gen Hugh Shelton, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, said in his new memoir, "Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior" that "the codes were actually missing for months. That's a big deal -- a gargantuan deal."'

On the BBC not a word about this story of Democrat President negligence.


Interestingly The Telegraph also report that:

'Former president Jimmy Carter was rumoured to have once left the '"biscuit" in a suit that was sent to the dry cleaners.'

What is it with Democrats and national security/being responsible?

The one hundred and second weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

This week's award goes to Sky news for their investigation's conclusion that

'The next generation of Afghans is being radicalised by the Taliban - with children being ruthlessly exploited by the insurgents.'

Islamist terrorists ruthlessly brainwashing children? "No shit, Sherlock".

Utterly wrong-headed Coalition policy

I restrained myself from commenting on the defence cuts but after yesterday's Spending Review I can restrain myself no longer. Defence spending will be cut by £2.3 billion whilst international aid will rise by £2.7 billion. Surely not cutting but just not increasing international aid would allow Defence spending to be maintained and the Country be properly defended.

Deepest cuts since when?

The BBC last week and earlier this were pushing the 'deepest cuts since 1921' narrative so what will they say now that the IMF have said the Coalition's cuts are the deepest since April 1976. The 1976 cuts were of course carried out by a Labour governmenmt. Somehow I don't think the BBC will be reporting the IMF's analysis that often today.

How we got to where we are

The Spectator have a collection of graphs that explain public spending very well. Above is one do look at the rest...

Why Public Spending cuts are necessary

Gordon Brown's proligacy and deliberate stoking of a credit boom has left this country in a parlous state. As in 1979 it is the Conservatives that will have to fix the problems and so become hated. Wich reminds me of the Batman - Dark Knight quotation:

"Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice. "

Maybe that is the point of the Conservatives to do the right thing and so be hated.