Jesus and Mo Banned from LSE Student Freshers Fair | Homo economicus' Weblog

'Chris Moos and Abhishek Phadnis of the atheist society at the LSE freshers fair were asked to remove/cover their T-Shirts which had the cartoon pictures from Jesus and Mo comic strip. When they refused they were marched off the premises by ten security guards. The following day they returned with the same t-shirt with tape censoring parts of the cartoon. When again asked to remove/cover they inquired which parts were deemed offensive so they could tape them too. Again they were asked to leave and escorted off the premises.'

More about the LSE's disdain for freedom of expression here http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/jesus-and-mo-banned-from-lse-student-freshers-fair/

The way that the left cheerfully suppress free speech when it might offend them or their Islamist allies, disgusts me.

Hey Hamas supporters, do you support this?

National Post reports this rather nasty news. News that the usual Hamas supporters and apologists that I debate with would rather wasn't made public as it rather queers their claim that Hamas are misunderstood and really rather cuddly, not Islamist terrorists.

'It is three weeks since his arrest, but Ismail Halou still has streaks of purple bruising on the soles of his feet.
The 22-year-old was filling cars at his family’s petrol station in Gaza City at 5 p.m. on April 4 when a black jeep pulled into the forecourt and police stepped out to order him into the car. He was blindfolded and driven to the nearest police station.

“I could hear the screams of people being beaten in the rooms next to me,” he recalled. “Two men held my legs down and tied them together on a wooden board then they beat the soles of my feet with a plastic rod.

They beat me for at least five minutes. I was crying and screaming with agony. It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt.”

After the beating, officers set to work shaving off the one-inch fin of gelled hair that was the cause of his arrest.

“At no point did they tell me why they had arrested me,” Mr Halou said. “I found out from neighbours when I got home it was my haircut.” He could not walk for three days after his release.

Police in Gaza, the Palestinian coastal enclave run by the Islamist faction Hamas since 2007, have arrested at least 41 men on charges of immodesty this month, some because their haircuts were deemed culturally inappropriate, others because their trousers were either too low-slung or too fitted. Most were beaten, all of them had their heads forcibly shaven.
 

...

 

Hamas security forces routinely use brutal tactics against political opponents in Gaza, but a violently enforced public modesty campaign is new. It has shocked a community hardened to conflict and poverty. Some Gazans are terrified that Hamas is driving them towards unapologetic, militant, Islamic fundamentalism.
 

In March, the United Nations issued a statement cancelling their annual Gaza marathon because Hamas had forbidden women, both local and foreign, from running alongside men, a practice it had allowed for the previous five years. This month a new law was introduced forbidding girls and boys over the age of nine from being educated alongside, or taught by anyone of, the opposite sex.
“There is no question that Gaza is more ’Islamicised’ now that it has been at any point since Hamas took power and it is getting worse,” said Samar Zakout, the deputy director of Al Mezan human rights organisation in Gaza.

“To the international community, the Hamas leadership say they respect human rights. But at home they are struggling to convince their members they are protectors of traditional values.”'

So come on all you screamers of "We are all Hamas now!", what say you now about your cuddly friends?

Should I be reassured?

EU Referendum has posted an interesting piece that addresses some of my worries I expressed in this piece:

'There has been a certain amount of concern as to whether bloggers might be caught by the proposed press regulations, and thus be exposed to crippling fines. However, in the debate last night in the Commons, the position was made clear by culture secretary Maria Miller.

A clause inserted into the coming Bill makes the law apply only to a "relevant publisher". Such a publisher would have to be publishing news-related material in the course of a business, the material would have to be written by a range of authors and it would have to be subject to editorial control.

These tests, says Miller, "would exclude a one-man band or a single blogger". The clause added is "specifically designed to protect small-scale bloggers", she said. Lone bloggers clearly do not meet the criteria necessary to include them in the regulatory maw.

However, online news sites such as Huffington Post, may well be caught in the net. Thus, if anything, this new law will have the effect of levelling the playing field between the clogs and the independent bloggers.'

I will wait to see if such a clause is inserted but I won't be allowing myself a celebratory drink just yet.


Thanks to Ronnie B for pointing me in the direction of the EU Referendum article.

Whilst I am saying thank you, I must also thank the two commenters who said such nice things following my rather depressed post:

Davieboy said...

Much as I admire you and would be desperately sorry to lose your blog, I cannot blame you. The bastards are making themselves unaccountable. A very, very dark day.
Thanks for all you've achieved to date - I'm sure it's been a pretty thankless task but many of us value it tremendously.

Anonymous said...

I can only agree with Davieboy. Thanks for your tireless work in upholding what is good and exposing what is evil.

 

The one hundred and eightieth weekly "No shit Sherlock" award

'Ian Hislop: Press regulation deal 'worrying''

per the BBC

"No shit, Sherlock"

Advance Notice - The end of this blog

I have been reading reports on the Royal Charter on Press Regulation and I fear they sound the death knell for this blog and many like it. Despite claims that blogs are not included in this Charter, this extract seems to say that they are:

b) “relevant publisher” means a person (other than a broadcaster) who publishes in the United Kingdom:

i.) a newspaper or magazine containing news-related material, or
ii.) a website containing news-related material (whether or not related to a newspaper or magazine);

This blogger is currently based in the UK, where it is published is a moot point, and it contains news-related material.

As we live in a post-democratic age, I was not surprised to read that:

'The charter will not be passed by MPs, but will need to be approved at the May meeting of the Queen's Privy Council - advisers to the Queen, mostly comprising senior politicians.'

And that:

'Meanwhile, a clause in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which will mean that the charter cannot be amended without a two-thirds majority in Parliament, was approved in the Lords on Tuesday evening.'

The BBC manage to report that:

'And a separate bill, the Crime and Courts Bill, will have amendments ensuring that newspapers who refused to join the new regulatory regime would be potentially liable for exemplary damages if a claim was upheld against them.'

But not that if anyone in the future should have a complaint about something written on this blog then they will be able to complain to the new Regulator without bearing any costs. If the Regulator finds for complainant then I would be forced to apologise and retract, which is fair. What is not fair is that regardless of whether the complaint is upheld or not, I would have to pay the costs of the complainant. That is iniquitous and a licence for the censorious, the vexatious and the malicious to make complaints. This Charter will simply encourage people with a grudge to make a complaint in the full knowledge that they will never be held responsible for so doing.


I am not a wealthy man and I am not going to risk losing what little I have in order to keep this blog running as it is. So if this Royal Charter is signed into  being, as is, then it will have succeeded in destroying freedom of expression in this country and my little blog with it.