'The growing intolerance of any dissenting opinion - a hallmark of the Left, as my colleagues Ed West and Dan Hannan never tire of pointing out - is deeply unsettling, and always one-sided.'

Milo Yiannopoulos in The Telegraph thinks that '
Twitter is a playground for spiteful Lefty bullies' - 'Well durrr' as the youth say!

Milo wrote this column after appearing on the 10 o'clock show, a Channel 4 show so left wing that I have managed to watch it just the once and can see no reason to raise my blood pressure again by watching another instalment of smug lefties joking with other smug lefties and 'humorously' insulting anyone who doesn't share their world view. Milo seems surprised at the Twitter responses he got to his appearance:

'A charity worker near where I live expressed her desire to, in her words, cut me up. One man recommended - in capital letters, just in case I thought he was joking - that I share my next bath with a toaster. (Stop laughing at the back!) A woman in Leicester went further, saying she wanted to kill me herself. The level of personal invective was staggering, and it left me... well, pretty depressed, if I'm honest. '

I am not at all surprised; the intolerance and hatred expressed by many on the left for anyone who dares to disagree with them and their set views is well-known. I have been the victim of quite a few nasty remarks when I dare to express my opinions in public, whilst I am required to sit quietly whilst friends express the most ridiculous lefty views.

Milo continues:

'The growing intolerance of any dissenting opinion - a hallmark of the Left, as my colleagues Ed West and Dan Hannan never tire of pointing out - is deeply unsettling, and always one-sided. Activist thugs on Twitter can regularly be observed making appalling remarks about, for example, Margaret Thatcher. What would happen if said I was looking forward to raping and suffocating a female politician before dancing on her grave? (I know that sounds appallingly extreme, but I've seen each of those "jokes" made about the former Prime Minister.)'

The attitude of, often, pure hatred towards Margaret Thatcher amazes me. The left have no problem idolising Che Guevara, a man who killed or ordered the killing of thousands of Cubans, and praising Fidel Castro who has been responsible for the deaths of ten of thousands, but Margaret Thatcher is 'that evil woman'!

Reporting Michael Moore

The BBC love lefty film-maker Michael Moore, his views tieing in so closely with the BBC's on US politics obviously, but also Cuba. So I was intrigued that a search of the BBC news website for "michael Moore found no mention of the news that:

'WikiLeaks: when Michael Moore's Sicko film was shown to Cuban doctors, they were 'disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba' '

No Parasan has the details:

'Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a "mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a "popular backlash", according to US diplomats in Havana.

The revelation, contained in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks , is surprising, given that the film attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system.
But the memo reveals that when the film was shown to a group of Cuban doctors, some became so "disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room".
Castro's government apparently went on to ban the film because, the leaked cable claims, it "knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them."
…according to the FSHP, the only way a Cuban can get access to the hospital is through a bribe or contacts inside the hospital administration. "Cubans are reportedly very resentful that the best hospital in Havana is 'off-limits' to them," the memo reveals.
…The memo points out that even the Cuban ruling elite leave Cuba when they need medical care. Fidel Castro, for example, brought in a Spanish doctor during his health crisis in 2006.'

 I wonder how long before the BBC report this particular Wikileak? When hell freezes over would seem a fair estimation, although the way the weather is going that may not be too far off!


UPDATE:
It seems that SICKO may well have been shown in Cuba...

Even Castro turns against the Cuban model and the BBC wail...

Feel the BBC's pain as they report:

'Cuban model no longer works, says Fidel Castro

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has said the Cuban model no longer works.

He made the comment in an interview with a US journalist, who asked him if Cuba's model was still worth exporting to other countries.

In a previous interview with the same journalist, he criticised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for what he called his anti-Semitic attitudes.

Mr Castro also questioned his own actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Mr Castro was speaking to Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist with The Atlantic magazine based in Washington, DC, whom he personally invited to Cuba.

"The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," he told him.

With this comment, it is clear Mr Castro is not abandoning the principles of socialist revolution, says the BBC's Will Grant: rather, it is an overt acceptance by the 84-year-old former leader that state control of the economy in Cuba is gradually being loosened.

The comment came as the current Cuban leader, Fidel's younger brother, Raul Castro, is reducing the state's control of the economy and allowing private ownership on the communist island.

Last month, Raul Castro announced to the National Assembly that small businesses would now be permitted and small business owners would have the right to employ and pay employees.

Recent examples include hairdressers, who are now allowed to run their businesses as private entities, as well as a growing number of taxis and buses. Agriculture and tourism have also opened up to private investment. '

Cuban socialism is not worthwhile exporting admits Castro, I wonder if the Today programme will acknowledge this?

I also note that the BBC report that:

'Over the course of a five-hour discussion, Mr Castro "repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism", and criticised Mr Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust.

"The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours. There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust," the former president said.

Mr Castro said that Iran could further the cause of peace by "acknowledging the 'unique' history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence", Mr Goldberg wrote'

What is the world coming to when a BBC hero goes off message in such a way?

The paradise that is Cuba

Here is a little piece on the BBC to make us feel soft and fluffy towards Cuba but it does beg some questions, not that the BBC will ask them:

'Cuba is turning over hundreds of state-run barber shops and beauty salons to employees in what may be the start of a long-expected privatisation drive.

All barbers and hairdressers in shops with three seats or fewer will be allowed to rent the space and pay taxes instead of getting a monthly wage.

The retail sector has long been derided for poor service and rampant theft.

The country's former President, Fidel Castro, nationalised all small businesses in 1968.

'Slow and cautious'

Now his younger brother and successor Raul Castro is trying to modernise the system without jumping to full-scale capitalism.

Other communist countries such as China and Vietnam have long since pushed through market reforms while maintaining political control.

President Castro's first economic reforms involved giving unproductive state-owned land to private farmers.

Some taxi drivers are allowed to work for themselves.

This is his first attempt to deal with shops in the retail and service sector.

It is likely to be a gradual process, though.'

The BBC's love of a murderous dictator - Radio 4 tonight

This time not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Yasser Arafat but the real poster heroes - Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. The BBC Radio 4 programme will cover

"Cuba's unique approach to diplomacy through medical aid, its military exploits and its five decade stand-off with the United States."

I doubt that it will cover the murdering both ordered and in person by Che Guevara or the imprisoning of "social deviants" (including homosexuals and Jehovah's Witnesses) by Fidel Castro.

Harold Pinter RIH

When I heard that Harold Pinter had died my initial thought was "result" but then I felt bad for feeling that way. However I also read Samizdata's Perry de Havilland's thoughts on this matter:

"But I must say my favourite gift today was learning that Harold Pinter, a loathsome apologist for oh so many of the most vile mass murderers of modern times has finally dropped dead.

Good riddance and a pox on anyone who mourns his passing."

At least I was not alone in my feelings that the friend of people like Slobodan Milosevic was not the hero that the BBC believe he is. Although the BBC have swept away their Pinter page devoted to "Celebrating the life and works of Harold Pinter", how could they not celebrate the life a man who hated George Bush, Tony Blair and Israel whilst supporting CND and Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba.



In case you were wondering, RIH = Rest In Hell

A young leader who promised change

And yet the media never ask what Barack Oabama means by change, they just cheer him on.


Thanks to Theo Spark for the spot.

Democracy Cuban style

The BBC breathlessly report that "Raul Castro has been unanimously selected to succeed his brother Fidel as leader by Cuba's National Assembly."

Most impressive; "unanimously selected", he must be really popular if all of the National Assembly voted for him. What an amazing democratic result.

Hold on though, what the BBC don't see fit to tell the public is that Cuba has only one legal political party - the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). At the recent elections there was a grand total of one candidate for each seat in the National Assembly, all obviously from the PCC.


The BBC proud to support Communist dictators.