Polygamy in the UK - the benefits (system)

Polygamy in the United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Polygamous marriages may not be performed in the United Kingdom, and if a polygamous marriage is performed, the already-married person may be guilty of the crime of bigamy.

Polygamous marriages legally performed in another country where the law allows it are not recognized for pension, immigration or citizenship purposes.^[1] However, they may be recognized for the purposes of welfare benefits. This decision was not made without controversy, and there have been protests against it.^[2] None the less, it is unofficially believed that there are up to 20,000 polygamous marriages in the Muslim community of the U.K. ^[3]

No comment necessary

You are not the centre of the universe

You are not the centre of the universe.


One of those mindbending videos about space...

The strangest extract from a news report that I've read in a long while

The Scotsman's report  on the Glasgow bin lorry incident contains these lines:

'THE identity of the driver of the bin lorry that killed six people when it crashed in Glasgow city centre will be protected indefinitely, the local authority has said.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council, which owns the bin lorry involved in the George Square tragedy, said it would “never release the names” of the driver or other two individuals who were in the cabin when it crashed.'

I don't ever recall such an action being taken before, can you? Is it legal? What happens at any subsequent inquest? What is the reason for this action?

Can you spot the missing word in this Daily Express headline? 'The majority of Brits now support an EU exit - so why no referendum?'

'The majority of Brits now support an EU exit - so why no referendum?'

The missing word is "that's" and it should be placed between "so" and "why". Thus the headline should properly read:

'The majority of Brits now support an EU exit - so that's why no referendum?'

The Daily Express article is here.

Hamas prevents Gaza orphans visiting Israel - BBC News manage a not totally anti Israel piece!

This BBC article on Gaza, Hamas and Israel manages some straight reporting, but also the usual sly anti Israel line. 

I haven't done a fisking of a piece for a while but since I have 5 minutes...

'Thirty-seven children whose parents were killed in the recent Israel-Gaza conflict have been prevented by Hamas from visiting Israel on a trip organised by peace activists.

Hamas said they would have had to visit "settlements and occupied towns".'

No interest from the BBC as to what towns Hamas might consider 'occupied'. This leaves the casual reader with the impression that occupied means what the BBC line is, post 1948. In reality Hamas would call occupied any part of Israel. 

'The children, aged between 12 and 15 and accompanied by five adults, were turned back at the Erez crossing.

More than 2,100 people, mostly Palestinians, died in the 50-day July-August conflict, the UN said.

Israel said 67 of its troops and six civilians died.'

I'm not sure why the latest conflict's death toll is relevant but no others but still.  

What's more interesting is that the Palestinian figures are quoted as per the United Nations, which sounds independent but in reality the United Nations gets its figures from the Palestinian authorities, which in Gaza means Hamas. Meanwhile the Israeli causality figures are as per Israel.

'The visit, organised by kibbutz leaders, the charity Candle for Peace and Arab-Israeli officials, would have taken the children to Arab towns in Israel, southern areas targeted by militants' rockets in the 

conflict, a mixed-race school and the beach in Tel Aviv.'

A mixed race school in Israel? But surely Israel is an apartheid state, or is that just a lie?

'A visit to Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was also planned, according to Yoel Marshak of the Kibbutz Movement.'

Is the West Bank occupied? Really?

'The week-long trip had been approved by the Israeli security service.

But Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, said the cancellation was justified to protect children from "the politics of normalisation" with Israel.'

Normalisation being contrary to the Hamas policy of creating as much hatred of Israel and Jews as possible, including by demonising Israelis and Jews in television programmes and other media aimed at children. 

'Spokesman Eyad Bozum said Hamas would ensure such a trip "will never happen again".

Three weeks ago, Hamas too had given approval for the visit, Mr Marshak, said, expressing surprise that it was blocked.

Charity for Peace director Malek Freij told Reuters news agency: "They thought that Israel wants to exploit these children, and that's a mistake."'

I'm not sure how or why Hamas approved this trip, must have been a mistake. I wonder how the culprit has been punished. 

'Hamas refuses to recognise Israel, which it sees as occupying Palestinian land, and under its charter is committed to Israel's destruction.'

Well that's true and rarely pointed out by the institutionally anti Israel BBC. Shame it's so far down the report.

'Several nations, including Israel and the United States, count Hamas as a terrorist organisation due to its long record of attacks and its refusal to renounce violence.'

Subtext here is that 'But we, the BBC, disagree with this and consider Hamas to be freedom fighters. 

'The most recent Gaza conflict flared after tensions rose between Israel and Palestinian militants.'

True but why did tensions rise? Was it because Hamas was firing rockets at Israel for years?

'Hamas fired thousands of rockets and mortars towards Israel during the 50-day conflict this summer. Israel carried out an aerial bombing campaign and a ground invasion.'

A more truthful version of that last paragraph would read.

'Hamas fired thousands of rockets and mortars towards Israel during the months leading up to Israel finally responding. Following these attacks, Israel responded by carrying out a targeted aerial bombing campaign and a ground invasion which made every effort to minimise civilian casualties, a policy that was made harder by Hamas firing rockets from civilian areas contrary to the Geneva Convention.'

Miley Cyrus goes topless in sultry bedroom snap as she hits out at censorship on Instagram - Daily Mail obviously don't do irony

This Daily Mail article includes this line:

'Free The Nipple is an equality movement that's meant to empower women across the world, against female oppression and censorship, as many states still have laws against public toplessness.'

The photos of Miley Cyrus that accompany the article have Miley Cyrus's nipples obscured or airbrushed out... Hmmmm The Daily Mail obviously don't do irony.

If Joseph and Mary tried to reach Bethlehem today...

Every year people start articles with the line 'If Joseph and Mary tried to reach Bethlehem today...'  What follows is usually some article full of lies and at best half truths that is designed to raise the hatred of Israel and thus Jews. 

This year The Washington Post fisked one such article rather well. Have a read and keep it on file for next year... 

Here's a brief extract: 

'... since Joseph and Mary were Judeans, i.e., Jews, from Nazareth, they wouldn’t need to be afraid of Israeli roadblocks needed to combat Palestinian terrorism, but of being murdered by terrorists from Hamas or Fatah.'

Merry Christmas to all my friends

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

New Year's Eve destruction in France

Over New Year 2012/13 there were 1,193 vehicles torched across France.

Over New Year 2013/14 there were 1,067 vehicles torched across France.

What do we think for this New Year? Higher or lower? Or have a proportion of the little tinkers moved on from vehicle burning to driving vehicles into innocent shoppers?

Crusades vs Jihad in European, Middle East and North African history

How many times Muslims invaded Europe vs Christians invading the Middle East 

 Not quite the way that the BBC and other politically correct fools portray this part of history, is it.

Jordan is Palestinian - Mudar Zahran knows this to be tryetrue

Jordan is Palestinian per Palestinian Mudar Zahran interview

 

Maybe such as Jeremy Al Bowen, Lyse Doucet, Jon Donnison should watch that video, they might learn something.

The economics of the madhouse from Watts Up With That?

Watts Up With That have a wonderful piece by Christopher Monckton that you should read in full, here's an extract... 

'Typical gasoline-powered auto engines are approximately 27% efficient. Typical fossil-fueled generating stations are 50% efficient, transmission to end user is 67% efficient, battery charging is 90% efficient and the auto's electric motor is 90% efficient, so that the fuel efficiency of an electric car is also 27%. However, the electric car requires 30% more power per mile traveled to move the mass of its batteries.CO2 emissions from domestic transport account for 24% of UK CO2 emissions, and cars, vans, and taxis represent 90% of road transport (DfT, 2013). Assuming 80% of fuel use is by these autos, they account for 19.2% of UK CO2 emissions. Conversion to electric power, 61% of which is generated by fossil fuels in the UK, would abate 39% of 19.2% (i.e. 7.5%) of UK CO2 emissions 

However, the battery-weight penalty would be 30% of 19.2% of 61%: i.e. 3.5% of UK CO2 emissions. The net saving from converting all UK cars, vans, and taxis to electricity, therefore, would be 4% of UK CO2 emissions, which are 1.72% of global CO2 emissions, abating 0.07% of global CO2 emissions of 2 ppmv yr–1, or 0.00138 ppmv. Assuming 400 μatm concentration at year end on business as usual, forcing abated by the subsidy for converting all UK cars to electricity would be 5.35 ln[400/(400-0.00138)], or 0.00002 W m–2, which, multiplied by the Planck parameter λ0 = 0.31 K W–1 m2, gives 0.000006 K warming abated by the subsidy.

The cost to the UK taxpayer of subsidizing the 30,000 electric cars, vans, and taxis bought in 2012 was a flat-rate subsidy of $8333 (£5000) for each vehicle and a further subsidy of about $350 (£210) per year in vehicle excise tax remitted, a total of $260.5 million. On that basis, the cost of subsidizing all 2,250,000 new autos sold each year (SMMT, 2013), would be $19.54 bn.Though the longevity of electric autos is 50% greater than that of internal-combustion autos, the advantage is more than canceled by the very large cost of total battery replacement every few years. No allowance for this extra cost is made. Likewise, the considerable cost of using renewable energy to bring down the UK's fossil-fueled generation fraction from the global mean 67% to 61% is not taken into account, though, strictly speaking, an appropriate share of the cost of "renewable" electricity generation should be assigned to electric vehicles.

Dividing the $19 bn annual cost by the warming abated gives a unit abatement cost of $3400 tn K–1. Abating the 0.013 K projected warming over the study period by global methods of equivalent unit cost would thus cost $45 tn, or approaching $6500 a year per head of global population, or almost two-thirds of $71 tn global annual GDP.'

The BBC come close to an epiphany over the French attacks on pedestrians

The BBC report report this morning on the third recent vehicular attack on pedestrians in France includes this line:

'Also, even if it is established the car attacks were the work of unbalanced individuals, might not Islamist propaganda have played some role in pushing them to the act?'

The BBC get close to the truth but will not investigate what the source of this Islamist propaganda might be...

Joe Cocker R.I.P.

Joe Cocker has died: what a man, what a voice, what a loss...

Here's his 1969 Woodstock performance of With A Little Help from My Friends

Top 10 Worst U.N. Decisions Of 2014

http://www.buzzfeed.com/unwatch/top-10-worst-un-decisions-of-2014-16hdk?sub=3543930_4535524&s=mobile#4535524

Israel launches Gaza air strike on 'Hamas target' per BBC News

This BBC article http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30558922 is so blatant in its anti Israel structure that I can't even be bothered to fisk it. Have a look for yourself.

Words fail me... Ponytails can just fall off? Why would a footballer wear a fake ponytail?

https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos_h264high/030E8C0C401157099804770373632_SW_WEBM_1418848294830e451f2cba6.mp4?versionId=Z3WQNAJjf6Z3IvcZrCMuq6CosF2omv1l

Happy Channukah / Hannukah / Channukah... How should one spell the name of this Jewish festival?

How should one spell the name of the Jewish festival of Hannukah / Channukah etc.?

Here are some helpful hints...

Clear now?

Sara X goes classical but still uses her breasts (vaguely NSFW)

This time Sara X Mills accompanies Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik. I think Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart would have approved!

Women sold as sex slaves in Islamic State markets, says UN official

JPost reports reports that:

'The situation for Syrian women has worsened since July at the hands of Islamic State, said Valerie Amos, the UN's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief.

She described how women and female children as young as 12 are enslaved and sexually abused. "Women captured as slaves by [Islamic State] have been sold in markets in Raqqa. Some are sold to individual men. Others are kept by [Islamic State] in rest houses and face multiple rapes by fighters returning from the battlefield," Amos reported during a UN Security Council session on Monday.

"Kurdish refugees from Kobani reported the capture of young girls by [Islamic State] for sexual purposes, girls as young as 12."'

The BBC are less keen to report such news, after there's Israel to vilify.

A Christmas carol reimagined (vaguely NSFW)

Sara X Mills plays Jingle Bells in an interesting manner.

Musical breasts, whatever will they think of next!

Fatboy Slim on the making of his hit single 'Rockafeller Skank'

A great track and an interesting video from Bose that gives some insight into the creation of Norman Cook aka Fat Boy Slim's masterpiece Rockafeller Skank.

Ed Milliband repeats himself, over and over again

An oldie but a goodie. 

If this had been a Conservative leader the BBC would show parts of this again and again, as they still do occasionally with John Redwood's singing of the Welsh natioal anthem. But as it's the Labour leader, shhhhhh

Bruce Grobbelaar misses the better joke!

The BBC report the ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar as saying about the dropped Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet:

'He doesn't command his area," the 57-year-old Grobbelaar told BBC World Service Sport."I've likened Mignolet to worse than Dracula because at least Dracula comes out of his coffin now and then.

He seems to stay on his line and that's it. That whole area, not just the six-yard area, is the goalkeeper's.'

Surely the funnier Dracular reference relates to someone's inability to deal with crosses...

How Greenpeace Wrecked One of the Most Sacred Places in the Americas

"This has been done without any respect for our laws," Peru's deputy minister for culture Luis Jaime Castillo told the press, calling Greenpeace's actions "thoughtless, insensitive, illegal, irresponsible and absolutely pre-meditated." 

He explained further: "It was done in the middle of the night. They went ahead and stepped on our hummingbird, and looking at the pictures we can see there's very severe damage. Nobody can go on these lines without permission—not even the president of Peru!"

Greenpeace are apparently sorry, big deal. They've done major, maybe irreparable damage to part of the Nazca and should face appropriate retribution. The Greenpeace people that I've encountered have been so self-righteous and convinced of their moral superiority that I can well imagine them doing something like this and then whining 'But I'm trying to save the planet, why are you stopping me?'

More here http://gizmodo.com/how-greenpeace-wrecked-one-of-the-most-sacred-places-in-1669873583 but probably not on the eco warriors favourite news organisation, the BBC. For Greenpeace are heroes to the BBC and it's politically correct brigade of 'journalists'.

Michele Bachmann Cornered Obama At The White House Party And Said ONE Incredible Thing To Him

'"I turned to the president and I said, something to the effect of, 'Mr. President, you need to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities, because if you don't, Iran will have a nuclear weapon on your watch and the course of world history will change,'" she told the Washington Free Beacon.

"And he got his condescending smile on his face and laughed at me and said, 'Well Michele, it's just not that easy.' And I said to him, 'No, Mr. President, you're the president, it will happen on your watch, and you'll have to answer to the world for this.' And that was it and then I left. Merry Christmas," she said with a laugh.'

Read more at Young Conservatives

Nigel Farage on Russell Brand after Question Time

'... my take on Russell Brand. The leader of the revolution. The messiah of hipster, new media. The doyen of stock statements and half-funny jokes. 

Well I'll tell you what I found out tonight: the messiah has feet of clay, and the revolution is not occurring on Mr Brand's side – it's happening with UKIP, and it's happening fast."'

More here at Huffington Post

Airline Boss Sorry Over Daughter's Nut Row but better than British Airways

As reported by Sky http://news.sky.com/story/1390559/airline-boss-sorry-over-daughters-nut-row

'Korean Air's Chairman Cho Yang-ho told reporters the 40-year-old's behaviour was "foolish" and that he regrets he did not raise her better.

The row happened after Cho Hyun-ah, who was travelling in first class, was offered macadamia nuts in a bag and not on a plate.'

British Airways don't even serve Macadamia nuts any more.

“I don’t need to consult a folder to tell you what I believe in”

Thurrock's Tim Aker MEP takes Labour's Westminster Candidate and former Ed Miliband aide, Polly Billington, to task on the NHS during a debate at a local college in Thurrock.



“I don’t need to consult a folder to tell you what I believe in” and an attack on Labour's PFI record, I like the cut of Tim Aker's jib. Whilst Polly Billington seems to be just another Labour machine politician who would rather make a fool of herself looking up what the current party line is rather than risk saying something off-message.

Hospital face pressures as winter hits - health leaders - BBC News

The BBC once again manage to report on the pressures faced by the NHS, without exploring why demand is rising. 

There's a few lines that hint at rising demand but that's all:

'"While the NHS is used to seeing a spike in demand during winter months, this year emergency departments have experienced a spring, summer and autumn crisis as well, leaving no spare capacity in hospitals as we approach winter."

At the same time, GP surgeries are struggling to cope with unprecedented levels of demand."'

Now why might demand be unprecedented? 

Could one factor be that the massive rise in immigration since 1997 has led to an increase in demand for the NHS's services? 

You might think that, rest assured that the BBC won't even ask that question. For to do so would, in their eyes, be racist.

Ed Miliband fails to count to... 8

The Telegraph reports that Ed Miliband seems incapable of counting to 8.

' Labour leader Ed Miliband failed a challenge to come up with an eight-word election slogan, even after using his fingers.

...

The slogan the Labour leader chose "a country that works for you, not the privileged few" ran to 10 words, exceeding his budget by a quarter.

...

Asked for a one-line message to put on a billboard in Piccadilly Circus by Andrew Morley, the chief executive of advertising firm Clear Channel, Mr Miliband responded "how many words do I have?"

Mr Morley told him: "Let's say eight."

The Labour leader said "eight?", then counted on his fingers before deciding: "What I would say is 'a country that works for you, not the privileged few'."'

If this had been a Conservative or UKIP politician then the BBC would be all over this story and the BBC's tame satirists would be revving up their quips. 

However as this is the leader of the Labour Party I confidently predict there will be not a word about this on the Labour Party supporting BBC.

Birmingham City Council hid links between Asian cabbies and child sex victims for 23 years - Birmingham Mail

The Birmingham Mail reports http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-city-council-hid-links-8131813 something most worrying.

'Birmingham City Council 'buried' a report linking Asian private hire drivers to child sexual exploitation victims 23 YEARS ago, the Mail can reveal.

Researcher Dr Jill Jesson was asked by the authority to look at the issue of child prostitution involving girls in care back in 1990.

The following year, after six months research, she produced a critical two-part report which showed child protection failings by social workers and other agencies.

Her report also highlighted claims that some Asian private hire drivers were linked to the sexual exploitation of young white girls in care, including some who had been cautioned for prostitution offences.

Yet when Dr Jesson presented her draft findings to a steering group, she was ordered to remove all reference linking ethnicity and the private hire trade.

Incredibly, her full amended final report was never published. A meeting planned to discuss it was cancelled – and all copies were to be destroyed.'

Will anybody from that Council face censure? Will anybody learn that political correctness causes more problems than it solves?

The BBC censoring the words Muslim and Islam even from this report

The BBC report this morning on the results of a study into the extent of Jihadist violence in November 2014. Do read the whole article and note how the word Muslim doesn't appear at all, nor the word Islam. The word Islamic appears only in the context of Islamic State and Mosque only in the context of victims.

Here's how this mealy mouthed piece starts:

'More than 5,000 people worldwide died in November as a result of jihadist violence, a BBC study has revealed.

The four worst-affected countries were Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Syria, accounting for 80% of all deaths.

The investigation - co-ordinated with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) - recorded a total of 664 attacks in 14 countries.

It aims to quantify the human cost of jihadi violence in one month, and to offer a snapshot of a complex movement.

The investigation showed that nearly seven people died every hour in November as a result of violence attributed to al-Qaeda, its offshoots and groups that subscribe to a similar ideology.'

'a similar ideology'? But what is that ideology? I believe that the subscribers to that ideology would call themselves Muslims and state that they were following the ideology of Islam. The BBC, it would appear, know better.

The BBC once again doing their best to protect their Labour friends (part 2)

In amongst all of the BBC's almost hysterical coverage of the NHS's 'privatisation' there seems to be one factor missing, PFI. I haven't heard or seen a mention. The left-of-centre New Statesman manages to report that:

'To save the NHS, Labour must face the ugly truth of PFI debts

 

Labour is right to focus on rescuing the NHS from the harm done by this government, but must face the truth that it was the party that introduced private finance into the health service in the first place. 

 

...

 

...if Miliband is serious about rescuing the NHS, there is an ugly truth to face. The NHS is riddled with extortionate debt from decades of misguided PFI deals. NHS hospitals owe £80bn in PFI loan unitary charges – in other words, the ongoing costs of maintaining PFI hospitals and paying back the loans. Next year alone, trusts will make some £2bn in repayments.'

For more information on the scale of PFI under the last Labour government you would do well to visit NHS For Sale. Here's an interesting graphic...

I await the BBC reporting this part of the NHS story, but not with any hope.

The BBC prefer to lead with 'The NHS would be "in dire straits" without migrant workers, one of the UK's senior economists has claimed.' You can read the article here but I'm sure you could write it yourself.

The BBC once again doing their best to protect their Labour friends (part 1)

In all of the copious coverage of the CIA 'torture' claims of recent days I haven't heard or seen mention of possible British participation in or even just knowledge of these activities.

By way of contrast The Telegraph report:

'The US Torture report provides reams of uncomfortable details about the CIA’s use of torture that was authorised by the administration of George W Bush, but for Britons it leaves one key question unanswered.

What did Tony Blair, then Prime Minister, and Jack Straw, then Foreign Secretary, know of a CIA torture programme that was sanctioned at the very highest levels of the US government? And to what extent were they complicit in giving UK assistance to US operations?

More than a decade after 9/11 the British government has yet to conduct a full inquiry into the UK role in the US torture and rendition programme.

The Gibson Inquiry, set up by the coalition government in 2010 to investigate the issue, was shelved in January 2012 when compelling new evidence emerged that MI6 had been involved in the rendition of two suspected terrorists to Libya in 2004.

An ongoing Scotland Yard investigation into the renditions of Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi and a civil claim for compensation in which Jack Straw was named as a respondent rendered the

Gibson Inquiry untenable since it risked prejudicing those proceedings.
However intelligence sources who spoke to The Telegraph earlier this year alleged that both Mr Blair and Mr Straw knew in detail about the CIA’s secret programme after the September 11 attacks and were kept informed “every step of the way”.' 

Interesting, but clearly not to the BBC.

But that's The Telegraph, ostensibly a Conservative supporting newspaper. Why should the BBC follow their lead?

How about The BBC's favourite newspaper, The Guardian? In 2012 that newspaper reported that:

'Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, and Sir Mark Allen, a former senior MI6 officer, have been cited as key defendants in court documents that describe in detail abuse meted out to Libyan dissidents and their families after being abducted and handed to Muammar Gaddafi's secret police with the help of British intelligence.

The documents accuse Straw of misleading MPs about Britain's role in the rendition of two leading dissidents – Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi – and say MI6 must have known they risked being tortured. They say British intelligence officers provided Libyan interrogators with questions to ask their captives and themselves flew to Tripoli to interview the detainees in jail.'

Now The Guardian is a Labour (or other left-of-centre party) supporting paper, is the BBC more loyal to Labour than the BBC?

Giles Coren disses chocolate

Giles Coren disses chocolate in his latest  Time Out column

'... let's face it, chocolate is pointless, containing mere calories without nutrition, coveted by fat idiots the world over thanks to a centuries-old marketing campaign that has succeeded in linking it, quite randomly, with sex.

...

... the sugar rush that passes for pleasure in people who are too fat to have actual sex. And after the rush, the body's chemical response: secretion. Chocolate doesn't make you sexy, it makes you obese. 

And it makes all your teeth fall out. And it's time we stopped telling lies about it.'

Hmmmm pass me the 70% cocoa content, single Estate...

Australia worst performer on climate change - report - BBC News

The BBC headline this report thus:

'Australia worst performer on climate change'

Then there's a picture of Sydney under a polluted sky. You have to read the caption to see that the pollution is because of 'raging fires'. Looks as though the BBC's photos are chosen to set the agenda as well as ever.

You have to read on to discover that Australia was the worst performing industrial country in terms of climate change and that the bottom country on the list was in fact Saudi Arabia.

The BBC's hatred of governments that aren't of the right type means that Australia is ripe for attack, how dare Tony Abbott express doubts over the Religion of Climate Change? Meanwhile Saudi Arabia is beyond criticism as the home of Islamism.

As an addendum, how can Saudi Arabia not be classified as an industrialised nation? It's the 19th largest economy in the world and according to the latest figures I could find its economy is split agriculture: 3.2%, industry: 60.4%, services: 36.4%. It's an economy built on a sea of oil, it's not some sort of agrarian paradise.

Qatari anti Semitism

When an Israeli wins a swimming race in Qatar then the Qatari TV company show their true colours. The Israeli flag in their graphic has had its Star of David expunged. Thankfully they haven't managed to remove the one on Guy Barnea's swimming cap and I hope its presence really pisses them off.

Of course this incident won't get a mention on the institutionally anti Israel BBC.

Rocket power

The launch of NASA's Orion Spacecraft has had idiots saying how this was launched by the most powerful ever rocket. 

Hmmmm.......

This Delta IV is configured with three massive liquid-fuel rocket engines in a row.  Each of the three rocket engines produces 702,000 pounds of thrust, which means this vehicle has 51 million horsepower to get the craft into space.

The first stage of the Saturn 5 that powered the Apollo Spacecraft had five bell-shaped F-1 engines which each weighed over nine tons and generated 1.5 million pounds of thrust.

So each Delta IV engine produces less than half the power of each Saturn 5 engine. Also there are just three engines per Delta IV, but there were five engines per Saturn 5.

I make that a total of just over 2.1 million pounds of thrust from a Delta IV but around 7.5 million pounds of thrust from a Saturn 5.

Israel is built on Arab land

Israel is built on Arab land, Palestine was an Arab country. 

Those are two of  the lines that ignorant anti Semitic bigots use all the time. That they are not true doesn't bother them, so what I'm about to show here will have no effect on them either. 

However facts are important, so here's a photo of a page from a French encyclopedia from between the two World Wars. Can you find Palestine? What's on its flag? Right-hand page, third row,, one from the right... A flag that's split in half vertically: the left half a pale blue, the right half white and in the middle a gold/yellow Mogan David or Star of David - The Jewish symbol...

Immigration debate will get 'very nasty', Labour MP warns

Labour MP and immigration expert, Frank Field, has told a few home truths to the BBC.

'Frank Field, a labour MP, said that immigrants are contributing 'a lot less' than people think to the economy

The immigration debate will get "very nasty" if politicians continue to ignore the pressure the foreigners are placing on Britain's public services, a Labour MP has warned.

Frank Field, a former employment minister, said that immigration is causing Britain's population to increase by the size of the city of Birmingham every two years.

He said that while immigrants make a positive contribution to the economy, it is "a lot less than people think".

He said that the levels of immigration must be questioned at a time when public spending is facing huge cuts.

He told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: ""If you look at now the rate of increase in population then every two and a half years with people coming in for the first time and with the children of people who have arrived here for the immigrant community, we are actually increasing our population faster than the whole size of Birmingham.'

More here in The Telegraph but not to be repeated on the BBC who prefer to brainwash the British public that all immigration is for the good and that it's racist to question these benefits.

Calgary's Worst Driver? The world's?

Seriously poor parking

France shocked by anti-Semitic rape of teenager, the BBC not so much

The Times reports that:

'A brutal rape of a Jewish teenager and burglary of her home by a gang of apparently Muslim youths is being seen as evidence of growing anti-Semitism in France.

The assault at gunpoint, in which the attackers demanded cash because "Jews have money", sparked a wave of indignation and an upsurge of fear in France's 500,000 strong Jewish community.'

I look forward to the BBC's shocked coverage of this news story..... I think I'll be disappointed.

The BBC's latest attempt to minimise the effects of immigration on the UK

BBC Radio 5 live had a piece on rented accommodation this morning, just after 07:30. 

Factors in rising rents that could be mentioned were rapacious landlords and too low a level of building new homes (low supply).

Oddly an important factor behind increased demand, immigration, was not mentioned.

Do the BBC not consider demand to be as economically important as supply?

Do the BBC have an unwritten policy that the negative impacts of mass immigration must not be mentioned if at all possible?

BBC News and the word 'controversial'

The BBC here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-30340579 report on a restriction on immigration in Australia and use the word 'controversial' to describe the policy:

'The Australian parliament has approved changes to immigration laws that include reintroducing controversial temporary visas for refugees.'

Oddly Barack Hussein Obama's pro immigration policies are not described as 'controversial'. 

It seems that 'controversial' policies are only ones that the BBC disapproves of.

Terminator Genisys

The rules have been reset. Watch the first trailer for #TerminatorGenisys, in cinemas July 2015. #HeIsBack
https://t.co/iE8oPzw8sx

Prequel? Sequel? Reboot? I'm confused!

Urdu translator helped people pass driving theory tests by giving the correct answers per Birmingham Mail

The Birmingham Mail reports http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/urdu-translator-helped-people-pass-8113152 that

'An Urdu translator has been jailed for helping prospective HGV and bus drivers cheat their way through theory tests.

An investigation into interpreter Muhammed Saeed, from Ralph Road in Alum Rock, revealed he helped candidates pass by agreeing a code when he gave them the correct answers.'

One thought, have the people who paid to cheat on their driving test had to retake them?

The next James Bond film will be titled SPECTRE

The last time SPECTRE appeared in a Bond film was in Diamonds Are Forever.

SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion...

Harder to remember than Time And Relative Dimension In Space...

Ed Balls Dirty Dancing with Ed Miliband

Ed Balls Dirty Dancing with Ed Miliband

Tweet from The Labour Party (@UKLabour) showing the degree of incompetence within the Labour Party

The Labour Party (@UKLabour) tweeted at 0:43 PM on Wed, Dec 03, 2014:
According to George Osborne, this is what it looks like when the plan is working. #onlyforafew http://t.co/36XFtMmigS
(https://twitter.com/UKLabour/status/540124185289170944)

Have the Labour Party not heard of a spell checker? How long did the Labour Party have to prepare this image and check it? Who signed off on it? 

If the Conservative party had made such a mistake the BBC would be all over the story but as it's theit Labout allies, not a word.

Malky Mackay, Dave Whelan and Mario Balotelli - differently treated by the BBC, why?

'Malky Mackay, Dave Whelan and now Mario Balotelli. Mackay said: nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers. Dave Whelan said: Jewish people chase money more than anyone else. And Balotelli reposted a tweet in which Super Mario is compared to a Jew because he's good at grabbing coins.'

All rather similar comments but whilst the BBC were happy to jump on the bandwagon attacking Malky Mackay and Dave Whelan for other comments that they made more than the Jew related ones, they seem less keen on criticising Mario Balotelli. Are anti Semitic remarks seen as less serious (or more understandable in view of Israel's "crimes") at the institutionally anti Israel BBC? 

Quote taken from this David Badiell piece at The Guardian... http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/02/antisemitism-is-racism-malky-mackay-david-whelan-mario-balotelli 

Read the reader comments at your peril.

Labour bare faced cheek faithfully reported by the propaganda arm of the Labour Party aka BBC News

The Labour Party's propaganda arm aka the BBC faithfully and with a straight face report in this article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30291460 that:

'... shadow chancellor Ed Balls criticised Mr Osborne for failing to "balance the books".

"Unless growth is strong and wages are rising for working people the deficit doesn't come down," he said. "Without a plan for jobs and work, it's not going to work."'

Shameless is one word that comes to mind...

Gordon Brown is retiring at the end of this Parliament

Gordon Brown is retiring at the end of this Parliament.

Whilst the BBC eulogise over his greatness, I prefer to remember him somewhat differently. This selection has been sitting on a page of this website called Gordon Brown's greatest hits, here it is in all its glory.


Gordon Brown picks his nose
If this had been a senior Conservative politician the BBC topical news programmes would never tire of this footage but as it was a Labour Chancellor and then Prime Minister I don't believe I've ever seen it mentioned.



Gordon Brown just about keeping his temper



Fraser Nelson nails Gordon Brown, look at his fake smile.



Gordon Brown gets booed at the the D-Day commemorations.



Gordon Brown's death stare, a truly weird moment.



Gordon Brown abolished boom and bust!

Birmingham's first Islamic school 'spent £1m of public money on school in Pakistan' per Education News in The Independent

'Council officials in Birmingham are investigating claims that a trust running the city's first-ever Islamic school spent £1 million of public money funding a new school in Pakistan.

The allegations concern the Al-Hijrah school, a voluntary-aided state funded school for four to 18-year-olds which was set up in 1999 and run by a trust.

The school was at the centre of controversy earlier this year when it was placed in special measures after an inspection by education standards watchdog Ofsted declared it to be "inadequate".

An interim board was appointed by Birmingham City Council to run the school after the entire governing body was sacked after it was revealed its budget was £900,000 in the red.  It was initially refused entry to the school by the previous regime running it but has now taken over.

Now it is understood the council is investigating claims that the Trust used public money to help fund a new £1 million boys' only boarding school in the city of Ziarat in Pakistan at a time when the school in Birmingham was in dire need of improvement.

According to the minutes of its meeting in September, it discovered: 14 members of staff were without contracts, seven were still working there even though their contracts had expired and 29 had not had Criminal Record Bureau checks.

"There are a number of teachers with no teacher reference number but receiving qualified teacher salary," they add.'

More here http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/birminghams-first-islamic-school-spent-1m-of-public-money-on-school-in-pakistan--claims-9897005.html but not on the pro Pakistan BBC.

Balotelli 'Super Mario' post and the BBC

The BBC's coverage of Mario Balotelli's anti Semitic tweet is striking different from its recent coverage of racist, homophobic and sexist remarks by other football related people.

The BBC's article about Mario Balotelli's tweet http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30287413 is short and lacking in the sort of detail and prominence that they gave the comments of Malky Mackay.

Nowhere in the BBC article does the text of the offending tweet appear although it is in the equivalent article in The Telegraph - "Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli posts image about gaming character Super Mario who 'jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew'"

As we saw with the Nicolas Anelka Quennelle gesture a while back, for the BBC it seems that anti Semitic remarks and gestures are less serious than racist, homophobic or sexist remarks. Maybe the BBC's reflex political correctness also makes it easier for them to criticise a white man for making racist, homophobic or sexist remarks than a black man for making anti Semitic ones.

Maureen Lipman: Miliband pandering to anti-Semitism masking as anti-Zionism

"Inadvertantly or not, he is pandering to the anti-Semitism masking as anti-Zionism, which is once again sweeping across Europe."

Maureen Lipman right on the money again...

More here http://www.jewishnews.co.uk/maureen-lipman-steps-attack-miliband-israel/but not on the institutionally anti Israel BBC.

... the world hasn’t the slightest interest in the fate of Palestinians, other than as a battering ram to use against Israel.

Think about this: Israel closes the major crossing point into Gaza. Thousands of Gazans are stranded in other countries and cannot get home.  In Gaza a thousand more people, in need of medical treatment outside, cannot get out. They are "suffering from medical problems including kidney failure, cancer and blood-related diseases [and] seek urgent treatment or further diagnosis…." A health ministry official says "If the closure continues, their health conditions will deteriorate and we may start to witness some deaths."

Another report states that "Officials of the Palestinian Authority say they are growing increasingly resentful….for continuing the closure of the…border crossing…which has now been closed for over a month." This report says the number of stranded Palestinians is now 3,500, in addition to the thousand inside Gaza who need medical care outside.

Front page news? "Israel Turns Gaza Into Prison." UN Security Council resolution? "Urgently demands that the Government of Israel open the passage and permit those needing medical attention to reach doctors and hospitals." The U.S. State Department? Perhaps it says "We are deeply troubled by the humanitarian dimension and believe the passage should be opened immediately…." Marches and demonstrations in European capitals? "This is Genocide!" signs say.

Nope. Because the crossing in question is Rafah crossing, between Gaza and Egypt not Israel, and the country keeping it closed is Egypt. The Palestinians are "resentful," in that story, about the government of Egypt. The health conditions of the people who are "suffering from medical problems" are suffering because of Egypt.

The Egyptian official explanation is that security requires the closing.  Recently the Egyptian terrorist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged loyalty to the Islamic State. In October, 33 Egyptian security personnel were killed by terrorists; last week, 5 more. Why these events require that people in need of medical treatment may not use Rafah, and how that closure enhances Egyptian security, may be debated.

My point is a different one: were it Israel keeping the key passage closed and simply saying security requires it, this would be a very big deal. The condemnations would be constant. Instead, near silence. Double standard? The usual uninterest in how Arabs treat other Arabs? The desire not to criticize General Sisi's government in Cairo? So it seems. A Palestinian would be justified in concluding that the world hasn't the slightest interest in the fate of Palestinians, other than as a battering ram to use against Israel. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Taken from here, I couldn't have said it better myself, so I didn't even try...

http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2014/11/23/closing-rafah-a-tale-of-two-narratives/

If the BBC wasn't institutionally anti Israel they might ponder why their coverage of the Palestinian people depends more on whose taking action against their terrorists than what the action is.

Headline from The Telegraph sums up Arsenal...

ANGRY ARSENAL FAN 'THROWS RED WINE AT BENCH'

Pygmy Seahorses - cute and fascinating

Pygmy seahorses can change colour...

Kenya bus attack: Al-Shabab 'wants religious war' - reports BBC news

The BBC report - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30160199 - that:

The slaughter of 28 people on a bus in Kenya is a bid to start a religious war, a senior adviser to President Uhuru Kenyatta has told the BBC.

I take issue with the BBC's reporting of this news. Islamist terrorists around the world have been at war with non Muslims for many years now, some might convincingly argue that Islam has been at war with non Muslims since Mohammed left Medina for Mecca. The Muslim armies which left Arabia and conquered the Middle East, large swathes of the East, North Africa and Southern & Central Europe slaughtered non Muslims along the way, it was only the bravery of Christian soldiers that turned that tide. Unfortunately that tide has now turned and until the non Muslim world realises that, it remains doomed.

Kenya bus attack near Somali border leaves 28 dead as reported by the BBC News

Here's the first half of the BBC's report on the latest terrorist atrocity in Kenya. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30157581

'Suspected members of the Somali militant group al-Shabab have killed at least 28 people in an attack on a bus in northern Kenya, officials say.

The bus was travelling to the capital, Nairobi, when it was stopped in Mandera county, near the Somali border.

After taking it off the road, gunmen separated out those they thought were non-Muslim before killing them, officials said.

Somalia-based al-Shabab has been mounting attacks in Kenya since 2011.That was the year when Kenya sent troops to Somalia to help fight the Islamist militia. Mandera, a remote area in Kenya's north east, has been one of the regions affected.

Kenya's interior ministry said on its Twitter feed that the bus attacked early on Saturday had been carrying 60 passengers.

One official told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper that assailants had asked passengers to read out verses of the Koran, before executing those who failed.'

Can you see the less than subtle attempt to hide who these terrorists are? No mention of the facts that they are is Islamist terrorists killing non Muslims only in the lead in paragraph, because that's all that most people read if they read the article at all. And because that's what forms the headline line on the main news pages. For the BBC who are desperately trying to pretend that Islamic terrorists are not involved in a war against non Muslims that is very very important. Facts be dammed, there's a propaganda war to win.'

Hmmm

School marked down by Ofsted for being 'too white' - Telegraph

Ah 21st century Britain...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11240700/School-marked-down-by-Ofsted-for-being-too-white.html

That Berkeley tolerance for free speech...

The murders in Jerusalem

Vile, disgusting and will happen again unless action is taken. 

Labour's 'clear' position on immigration

Labour's Emma Reynolds is quizzed about "racism" on immigration, and how Labour a few years ago attacked Conservative leader Michael Howard for racism for even metioning immigration, now want to talk about it when Labour are losing votes on the issue of immigration.

Barack Husein Obama: somewhat inconsistent or a liar? You be the judge.

Barack Husein Obama: somewhat inconsistent or a liar? You be the judge. Just don't expect an investigation on the Obamamessiah worshipping BBC.

The institutionally anti-Israel BBC in action again

The BBC's coverage of the murder of Jews in a Jerusalem synagogue included an interview with the Israeli Minister Naftali Bennett, here's an extract:




My complaint to the BBC has been submitted:

The BBC interviewer refused to allow Israeli Minister Naftali Bennett to show a photograph of victims of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem in this interview.

Naftali Bennett lifted a photo of the scene of the terrorist attack, depicting a man in a tallis (Jewish religious shawl) lying face down on the floor of a synagogue.

“You know, this individual came this morning to pray,” Naftali Bennett said, pointing at the man in the picture.

The BBC presenter said rather indignantly that “We don’t want to actually see that picture, if you could take that down”

I don't recall the BBC being reticent to show pictures of Palestinian 'civilians' killed by Israeli attacks that were in retaliation for the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel. Why will the BBC happily show photos of Palestinan Muslims killed by Israeli Armed Forces but not Israeli Jews killed by Muslim terrorists?

The reason that the BBC will happily, indeed eagerly, show pictures of the Palestinian dead but not Israeli Jews is that they want to increase  sympathy for the Palestinians and dehumanise the Israeli Jews.

Inter species rape?

Seal rapes a penguin.... Seriously!

The one hundred and ninety sixth weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

Apparently

New surveys conducted in France suggested that Frenchmen of Muslim origin were far likelier to espouse anti-Semitic views than the general population.

Now why would  Frenchmen of Muslim origin be far likelier to espouse anti-Semitic views than the general population?

I know why and that's why being told that 'New surveys conducted in France suggested that Frenchmen of Muslim origin were far likelier to espouse anti-Semitic views than the general population.' provokes a serious "No shit, Sherlock" response.

Funniest Wikipedia remark, re the 'journalist' Michael White

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_White_(journalist)

'With regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict, in July 2006 he stated that as he gets older his sympathies are shifting back to Israel.'

They've a bloody long way still to go.

BBC bias explained

Degree on Biased BBC explainshttp://biasedbbc.org/blog/2014/11/13/open-thread-58/comment-page-1/#comment-500743a particular case of BBC anti Israel bias, clearly and concisely.

'... a classic case of semantic manipulation, Media Studies 101, if you will.Palestinian 'shot dead by Israeli army' in HebronOut of 466 words only 49, including the headline and the bold type lead paragraph, have anything directly to do with the death. But as any Media student learns that's the way a news article is structured. In the so-called inverted triangle structure the main points of the story , the who, what, when, why and how should be right at the top while less essential elements can be relegated further down.If one was to read the whole story we learn On Monday, an Israeli soldier and an Israeli woman were killed in separate knife attacks but only in the fourth paragraph. Many readers don't reach that far but even if they do the impression is strongly that the story is that a Palestinian was graphically shot dead by Israeli army. It's what they do, isn't it?The way the the two sets of deaths are covered is instructive. Imad Jawabreh is 22 years old – the BBC has given him an identity. The two Israelis are anonymous although the BBC reported on their deaths three days ago and named them Almog Shiloni and Dalia Lamkus. Referring back to the inverted triangle where the further down the information the less essential, Lamkus's name was only mentioned 11 lines down and Shiloni's 18 lines down in a story about their deaths.Perhaps there was some doubt because the BBC covers itself. Lamkus and Shiloni werenamed by Israeli media. Jawabreh was simply named although presumably the BBC acquired his name from the Palestinian media or health authorities.While it is true that the Israeli soldier was in uniform he was not on duty at the time. He was waiting for a train. The woman was waiting for a bus. By contrast the Palestinian was probably engaged in deadly assaults throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at passing vehicles and Israeli soldiers.A report like that would fail any self-respecting journalism class but competent journalism may not have been the result the BBC was looking for.'

England all-time leading Rugby Union point scorers

England all-time leading point scorers

Rank	Points	Caps	Player
1	1179	91	Jonny Wilkinson
2	400	32	Paul Grayson
3	396	71	Rob Andrew
4	301	60	Toby Flood
5	296	33	Jonathan Webb
6	280	26	Owen Farrell
7	269	38	Charlie Hodgson
8	240	25	Dusty Hare
9	210	85	Rory Underwood
10	203	14	Simon Hodgkinson

In case you didn't realise quite how exceptional Jonny Wilkinson was.

Pat Condell apologises unreservedly

Pat Condell apologises unreservedl, as only he could.

The funniest man in London (part 3)

William "Bill" Callaghan, this time with some marriage guidance, a decent Yoda impression and some opinions on women - "my God she looks like a horse and not one I'd like to ride"

The funniest man in London (part 2)

More from William "Bill" Callaghan, a Yeoman Warder at HM Tower of London with a fine line in comic quips and a great way with children.

The funniest man in London...

A Yeoman Warder, William "Bill" Callaghan, imparts a fair bit of historical knowledge with great humour during a tour of the Tower of London. Not a great fan of children though..., nor the French, Italians and quite a few others.

Give this man his own history series, he's comedy gold!


Thanks to Theo Spark for the spot.

Kevin McCloud wrote a Grand Designs episode 'deliberately' targeted at fans' drinking game

I knew it... Kevin McCloud must realise...

The Independent (sic) reports that:

The Grand Designs presenter has revealed he made an episode of his long-running architecture show “deliberately designed to get people as drunk as possible” after discovering its fans had invented a drinking game based on the series.

The rules of the drinking game required viewers to drink when regular incidents happened on the show, such as the owners running out of money or quitting their job to manage the project.

McCloud said: “We even actually wrote an entire programme around the drinking and it’s covert so one of the programmes is deliberately designed to get people as drunk as possible.

“There are all kinds of rules like every time I used the word ‘bespoke’ it’s a double shot, the wife gets pregnant half way through, that's a treble.”

Other rules include having a drink if the owners ignore planning permission or their windows do not fit.

 What do you drink when the client says they 'want to be in by Christmas'?

Nancy Pelosi on Jonathan Gruber: Then and now per WashingtonExaminer.com

The thought that Nancy Pelosi might have lied... Shocking http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pelosi-on-gruber-then-and-now/article/2556144

I'm sure that the BBC will be all over this story... Oh sorry as it's a Democrat politician they won't even mention the story.

Five months on, no answers on how rockets got into Gaza schools

An interesting article in the Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/five-months-on-no-answers-how-rockets-got-into-gaza-schools/ asking some questions of UNWRA and the United Nations that the institutionally anti Israel BBC never will.

Rachel Letsche - Tumbling - 2014 British Championships - SILVER

Thanks to Talksport's Colin Murray for the spot.

The R2D2 Budgie

The R2D2 Budgie

Star Wars in a budgie cage!

The European Arrest Warrant - an inconvenient fact that seems to be being ignored by such as the BBC

In all of the coverage of the European Arrest Warrant there seems to be one inconvenient fact that's being ignored. From Wikipedia:

The European Arrest Warrant was established by an EU framework decision in 2002.^[5] Framework decisions were legal instruments of the third pillar of the European Community akin to directives and only take effect when implemented by EU member states by transposing them into their domestic law. The European Arrest Warrant replaced the 1957 European Convention on Extradition (ECE) which had previously governed extraditions between most member states, and various legal instruments which had been adopted to streamline the process of extradition under the ECE such as the 1989 agreement on the simplification of the transmission requests for extradition, the 1995 Convention on simplified extradition procedure, the 1996 Convention on extradition between Member States, and the provisions of the Schengen Agreement regarding extradition.

The EAW Framework Decision came into force on 1 January 2004 in eight member states, namely Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. By 1 November 2004 all member states had implemented the legislation except Italy, which did so on 22 April 2005.^[6] Bulgaria and Romania implemented the Decision on their accession in 2007.

So the EAW Framework Decision came into force under a UK labour government...

"... call it the stupidity of the American voter..."

That's one of the main Obamacare architects, Jonathan Gruber, bragging about deceiving the American people, who he says are stupid.

Imagine if this had been a Republican saying this, how loud would have been the outcry and how much coverage would it have received on CNBS, the BBC and the other Obama cheer leading channels? But as it's an Obama man, shhh not a word.

Police Attacked with Rocket Fireworks In East London

Police Attacked with Rocket Fireworks In East London 

Isn't London simply lovely these days?

I'll not hold my breath waiting for the BBC to report this.

Peter Tyler died this day 1987

RIP Peter Alan Tyler

Which Labour leader is which Doctor Who?

This week's New Statesman, the low circulation left of centre magazine plays with the word "regeneration" by portraying Labour leaders past and present as particular Doctor Who's, does it work, have they chosen the right ones?

From left to right:
The New Statesman has chosen to portray Tony Blair as the 5th Doctor, the Peter Davison one. An odd choice, for me Tony Blair would be more of a 6th Doctor, the Colin Baker one. I believe that the death count during the Colin Baker years was way above that off any other Doctor Who. In 'reality' maybe The Master in his first Roger Delgado guise would be more Tony Blair - a pantomime villain yes but capable of great evil anyway.

Harold Wilson as the First Doctor, the William Hartnell one. The first, the oldest, the posh pretending to be a man of the people? That fits, Harold Wilson pretended to be a simple pip man when he was in fact a cigar man.

Let's leave Ed Miliband for the moment, he should be the climax of this story. That may be the first time that the words Ed Miliband and climax have ever appeared together.

Next is Neil Kinnock as the Ninth Doctor, the Christopher Eccleston one. I see the pertinence of the hard man, leather jacket image, but Neil Kinnock is far too much of a wordy wind-bag to be the Ninth Doctor. He prattles more like the Second Doctor, the Patrick Troughton one,

Last in the line-up is Gordon Brown as the Fourth Doctor, the Tom Baker one. Well the Fourth Doctor was rather eccentric but their the similarities end. Maybe the Seventh Doctor the Sylvester McCoy one would be more suitable, maybe not. No, with .Gordon Brown's capability for destruction of the British economy, society and general mayhem; maybe Davros would be a better option.

Now back to Ed Miliband. The New Statesman have portrayed him as the Eleventh Doctor, the Matt Smith one. Is that because the New Statesman are so stupid that they think Matt Smith is the current Doctor? Maybe it's because they see Ed Miliband as the callow youth to be followed by the serious older man, ....sorry I couldn't think of a serious elder man in the running to be Labour leader. Maybe it's an image thing, Ed Miliband does have something of the child about him, but whilst Matt Smith's Doctor had a depth of feeling, age and wisdom behind the yes, with Ed Miliband there's just a petulant teenager hiding behind the facade of... a petulant teenager. I'm sorry but I just can't see a Doctor to compare Ed Miliband to. How about a Doctor Who villain? A villain who's evil but not scary. Who's incompetent and lacks a backbone? The Green Death? Maybe he's an intermediate stage in the life-cycle of The Wirrn?

What ideas do you have for the right characters to be portrayed by Labour leaders? How about other Labour figures? I suggest John Prescott as the Abzorbaloff, what do you think?