Iain Dale - Maths is not his strong point, nor apparently is apologising for making an error

Say what you like about Iain Dale, at least when he's proved wrong he admits it - doesn't he?

So will Iain Dale actually admit he's made a mathematical mistake? We'll see...


UPDATE: He's admitted his error but not to me, to someone else who commented and there's been no apology for his rather supercilous comments to me about a matter in which he was wrong.

Intersting that Iain Dale admits defeat, not that he was wrong. Also interesting that you could get a job as a financial journalist in the late 1980s with just a C in GCSE Maths.

Oddly the matter didn't end there, as one of Iain Dale's team decided to try and curry favour with his boss.

Quite tragic and very tedious? Well if getting rather irritated when a public figure tells me that I'm wrong about a fairly simple mathematical calculation is tragic and if pushing for that public figure to acknowledge their error is tedious then I am guilty of being both. Indeed I'd rather be tragic and tedious about accuracy than cavalier about the truth.


UPDATE 2:
It strikes me that Iain Dale is presenting his rather tedious radio show on LBC. Maybe he'll apologise to me after that show finishes, maybe not.

Sorry Iain Dale but I think your reasoning stinks

Iain Dale has defended his publishing of Lord Ashcroft's book with #pigggate in it. Here is Iain Dale's explanation:

'I don’t like being censored. And this goes to the crux of the matter: whether the ‘Pig-gate’ story – the anecdote in Call Me Dave that caused such a global sensation that it almost broke the Internet – should have been printed at all. I am still in no doubt that it was right to keep it in the book. Whether it would have made the credibility threshold for a newspaper is a side issue. It is in a book, not a newspaper. When I first read it in the manuscript, I certainly noticed it was only single-sourced – but the authors were entirely upfront about that. Contrary to much of the sloppy reporting of the story, it was never presented as fact.  I was comfortable with the way it was written up and, more to the point, so were the lawyers.

What would the reaction have been had I insisted it were taken out?  Had anyone found out, I’d have been accused of censoring something and protecting my so-called ‘Tory mates’. You’d think from the reaction that Lord Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott, aided and abetted by me, had accused the Prime Minister of murder (or something). It is no more than a tale of student high jinks – and the authors leave readers to judge for themselves whether or not it happened.'

Let's take that apart a little:
'Whether it would have made the credibility threshold for a newspaper is a side issue.'
Maybe  Mr Dale should have considered making that clear in the book because without doing so the press and media have not had to make that point.

'Contrary to much of the sloppy reporting of the story, it was never presented as fact.'
Oh that's OK then because the media picked up on that.

 '... the authors leave readers to judge for themselves whether or not it happened.'
But the left wing media and 'commedians' have been given a stick with which to beat the Prime Minister.

Odd choices Mr Dale, odd choices. 

Iain's Perfect Response To Holocaust Caller per LBC

This post might surprise some...

This LBC piece http://www.lbc.co.uk/auschwitz-survivor-i-cannot-say-i-forgive-112962 runs:

'A caller tells Iain Dale that Jews should "get over" the Holocaust - until Iain's passionate response shuts him up.

Tom in Chelsea called after Oskar Groening, known as "the book-keeper of Auschwitz", was sentenced to four years in prison for being an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000 Jews.

He told Iain that Jewish people should stop going on about what happened under the Nazis in the 1940s - until the LBC presenter put him in his place. '

I'm actually partially in agreement with Tom from Chelsea. Not about Jews getting over the Holocaust, that's a vile and insensitive suggestion. But in relation to the way that the BBC and other media, as well as governments of all hues commemorate the evil of the Nazis whilst ignoring the greater numbers killed in the name of furthering communism by Stalin's Russia and Mao's China. The number of people still in the Labour Party and, presumably the BBC, who supported the Russian and Chinese communist regimes when, or soon after, they killed millions and imprisoned as many fills me with disgust. 

Until we recognise that the number of people killed by the left is something that we should take warning from, we leave ourselves open to it happening again.

Ed Balls gets away with it again

Ed Balls was on Iain Dale's LBC Radio show this afternoon. At one point Ed Balls claimed that the last Labour government only overspent because of the financial crisis etc. etc. etc. The trouble is that as I and others have pointed out time and time again, the last Labour government started spending more than the national income in 2002. The proof is here...

I don't know if Iain Dale understands simple bar charts, but maybe he should study this one before his next cosy chat with the slippery Ed Balls. Maybe he could then challenge Ed Balls' statements rather than meekly accepting them.

Anjem Choudary speaks

On Sunday The Sun reported thus:

'SCROUNGING hate preacher Anjem Choudary has told fanatics to copy him by going on benefits — urging: “Claim your Jihad Seeker’s Allowance.” 

He cruelly ridiculed non-Muslims who held down 9-to-5 jobs all their lives and said sponging off them made plotting holy war easier.

The Sun secretly filmed him over three meetings also saying leaders such as David Cameron and Barack Obama should be KILLED, grinning as he branded the Queen “ugly” and predicting a “tsunami” of Islamic immigrants would sweep Europe.

...

People will say, ‘Ah, but you are not working’.

“But the normal situation is for you to take money from the kuffar.

“So we take Jihad Seeker’s Allowance. You need to get support.”

Figures obtained by The Sun in 2010 showed the extremist cleric received £15,600 a year in housing benefit to keep him in a £320,000 house in Leytonstone, East London.

He also got £1,820 council tax allowance, £5,200 income support and £3,120 child benefits — equivalent to a taxed salary of £32,500.

In another bile-filled rant, the scrounger said Mr Cameron, Mr Obama and the leaders of Pakistan and Egypt were the shaitan (devil).

He added: “What ultimately do we want to happen to them? Maybe I’m the only one who wants the shaitan to be killed. The shaitan should be finished. There should be no shaitan.

 “All should be obedience to Allah, or you have no right to call yourself Muslim.” At a three-hour meeting in a community centre in Bethnal Green, East London, he insisted it was wrong to deny any aspect of Islam — including jihad or ultra-strict sharia law.

He told a 30-strong crowd: “We are going to take England — the Muslims are coming.”

He gloated that the 9/11 terror attacks “shook the enemy” and claimed white supremacists wished they had the “fortitude” to fly planes into buildings. He went on to proclaim: “You must hate in your heart — Cameron, Obama, all that they worship.

...

At the third meeting we infiltrated, again in Slough, he insisted Islam was taking over Europe.

He said: “Now we are taking over Birmingham and populating it.

“Brussels is 30 per cent, 40 per cent Muslim and Amsterdam. Bradford is 17 per cent Muslim.

“These people are like a tsunami going across Europe. And over here we’re just relaxing, taking over Bradford brother. The reality is changing.”'

 Here's Anjem Choudary on Iain Dale's LBC Radio Show


Do listen to him, denying that he said that what he was acused of.

I've blogged about Anjem Choudary before, here's some examples I've posted overthe last few years of him saying similar or worse.

From 2008

'"It is our religious obligation to prepare ourselves both physically and mentally and rise up against Muslim oppression and take what is rightfully ours," he said. "Jihad is a duty and a struggle and an obligation that lies upon the shoulders of us all. We will not rest until the flag of Allah and the flag of Islam is raised above 10 Downing Street."

To loud cheers of "Allah Akbar" [God is great], he railed: "There are three types of Muslims, those in prison, those of us that are on our way [to prison] and non-practising Muslims. Brothers and sisters, if you do not fear your home being raided by the Kufar [non-believer] police, you are not enforcing the Sharia."

...

He added: "As Muslims, we will not submit to any man-made law, any government, or any prime minister - Bush or Brown - or [to] Jacqui Smith. We submit to Allah."'

From 2009

'... many Islamic scholars believe that (as Anjum Chaudri said):

"When we say innocent people we mean Muslims, as far as non-Muslims are concerned they have not accepted Islam and as far as we are concerned that is a crime against God... As far as Muslims are concerned, you are innocent if you are a Muslim, then you are innocent in the eyes of God. If you are a non-Muslim then you are guilty of not believing in God... I must have hatred to anything that is not Islam"

Do you hear that? Do you understand what that means?


From 2010:

'"I warn Belgium. When the burqa ban is maintained, that will be a path that will lead straight to violence." Anjem Choudary, leader of the in England banned Islam4UK, sounded very threatening in Antwerp. "We will only rest when the flag of Islam flies everywhere."

The words of Anjem Choudary who was in Belgium on Saturday, May 22, at the invitation of the organization Sharia4Belgium. You can read more here, but here's another extract:

'The message at the press conference was clear: the Western society must disappear and give way to the supremacy of Islam. “Your freedom and democracy belong in the garbage can,” Sayef ul Islam said, who calls himself “an English teacher”. […]

Not just Abu Imran spoke, but also Choudary and a further unknown Sayef ul Islam, who calls himself “an English teacher”. Sitting in the room were a dozen young Muslims from different countries, who occasionally let it be known that they fully supported the messages.

“I have a warning for Belgium,” Choudary said. “If you take away our sisters’ burqas, you walk a path that will lead to a physical confrontation. I like to be clear. Then afterwards nobody may say he was not warned. We are not like the Christians. If someone hits us, then we do not offer our other cheek.”

But to him it was not only about the burqa in Belgium, or about the ban on minarets in Switzerland. His ambitions reach much further. “We will continue until the flag of Islam flies over Europe.”''

Also from 2010

'How about Anjem Choudary explaining how Islam will take over the UK.
"Who else has the ideology and belief to overthrow any government?"

"Nobody has this agenda on them, to implement the Sharia to remove regimes, only Muslims"

"There are three types of Muslims: those who are in prison, those on their way to prison and those that are not practising. Really if you abide by the Sharia and live your life, you're in one of those categories - one of the first two - otherwise you are doing something wrong"'

 From 2011

'Anjem Choudary speaks and his speech is analysed by Sean Hannity & Brigitte Gabriel. The key point made is on the subject of who is 'innocent'. I have covered this subject before, here is one recent post and here is another Anjem Choudary quotation on this subject:

"When we say innocent people we mean Muslims, as far as non-Muslims are concerned they have not accepted Islam and as far as we are concerned that is a crime against God... As far as Muslims are concerned, you are innocent if you are a Muslim, then you are innocent in the eyes of God. If you are a non-Muslim then you are guilty of not believing in God... I must have hatred to anything that is not Islam"

I just don't understand why people rather than listening to what they want to hear when these Islamist radicals speak, don't rather listen to what they actually say and mean.

Thanks to EmunaDate for the video spot.'

From 2012

'I have blogged about Anjem Choudary previously but yesterday I was alerted to his Twitter account. What a lovely chap Anjem Choudary is...

Here is one of his Tweets to give you a flavour of the man , in his own words, and to show off his sunny disposition and live & let live attitude:

I am sure you know the tale of Salman Rushdie and the fatwa issued against him. Just in case you do not know who Theo van Gogh was, I will tell you. Theo van Gogh was the Dutch filmmaker who was violently murdered by an Islamist because he made a film that Islamists found offensive. Here's how he died and who killed him:

'At approximately 8:45 a.m. on November 2, 2004, an unknown assailant dressed in a traditional Moroccan “djelleba,” brutally attacked Theo outside of a city council building as he bicycled to work in central Amsterdam. The attacker shot Theo Van Gogh and stabbed him repeatedly in the chest, callously disregarding his victim’s pleas for mercy. Despite his life-threatening injuries, Theo was able to gain enough momentum to stumble to the other side of the street but by the time he made his way across, his attacker shot and stabbed him again. He then slit Theo’s throat with a butcher knife as onlookers gasped in sheer horror.

In a final assault against his victim the attacker lodged his knife, which had a letter attached to it, into Theo’s chest. The assassin then ran off through the neighborhood and into the nearby Oosterpark, where he and police exchanged gunfire. During the shootout, a motorcycle police officer and an eyewitness were seriously wounded.

Just as Theo’s murderer exited the other side of the park, the police caught up with him and shot him in the leg. He was immediately arrested and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of his wounds. The attacker was eventually identified as 26-year-old Mohammed Bouyeri, an Islamic extremist with dual Dutch and Moroccan nationalities who was believed to have links with other Islamic militant groups. Investigators revealed that Bouyeri’s motivation to kill was likely sparked by the movie Submission and further aggravated by his hate of the western world and those who refused to accept Islamic values. '

What does Anjem Choudary mean by the comment "Why don't they take a lesson from Theo Van Gogh & Salman Rushdie?" Is he suggesting that people who are not respectful enough of Islam deserve to die or live in fear of death forever?'

Also from 2012

'

Anjem Choudary launched a new campaign today - Shariah4hind and apart from a welcome use of the word 'verily' it was rather a sad affair. Apart from claiming that Islam was the 'oldest religion on the earth' a claim that is demonstrably wrong and a claim that I did tweet a couple of replies to but I think Anjem Choudary may have blocked me; Anjem Choudary seems a tad reluctant to listen to the truth. It is odd that he doesn't block those who tweet insults and Islamophobic venom but does block someone who tweets logic and the truth.

So Anjem Choudary care to take back your original tweet?

I also tweeted this...

and it something that I have mentioned before on this blog. India was partitioned and the part that was made into Pakistan is now almost 100% Islamic whilst India is a pluralistic democracy. The parallels between India and Israel just become more obvious by the day.'

Finally from 2012

'“About 500 people in Britain become Muslim every day. “The Home Office say there are 1.5million Muslims but there were 1.5million ten years ago. Since then our brothers in Bethnal Green, Whitechapel and other places have had eight or nine children each. Eight children here, ten children, 15 children. There must be at least six million people. ... It may be by pure conversion that Britain will become an Islamic state. We may never need to conquer it from the outside.”

What a delight Anjem Choudary is... Thanks to The Sun for providingthe video and the transcription.'

So what do you think of Anjem Choudary?

Iain Dale - a sensitive soul

Yesterday I posted this light-hearted post about Iain Dale's Talk Radio Top Totty List 2013.

So I was surprised to receive two comments from Iain Dale which were singularly lacking in humour. They and my response follow:

Iain Dale said...

It was a bit of fun. And how was it slightly sexist, pray tell?!

14 February 2013 19:33

Iain Dale said...

How was it slightly sexist?

14 February 2013 19:34

Not a sheep said...

Really Iain? I post all sorts of interesting and relevant things on my blog, as well as some lighter stuff, and the only time you feel moved to post a comment it's because I labelled MY post, not YOURS 'slightly sexist'.

You may note that, unlike you, I only included women in my 'talent' list. That I thought was 'slightly sexist' compared to yours.

15 February 2013 08:07

Sensitive soul for a prospective MP, turned serious radio presenter.

Iain Dale has lost all grip on reality

For Valentine's Day Iain Dale has posted this entitled The Talk Radio Top Totty List 2013. I fear for Iain Dale's sanity as included in the 20 are Richard Bacon, Shelagh Fogarty, the 'vile VD' herself - Victoria Derbyshire and Rachel Burden. Yeek.

The only three ones in his 20 with any talent as well as 'talent' are Joanne Good, Julia Hartley-Brewer and Emma Barnett.

For Iain Dale

Steve Martin - 'The Dentist' from Little Shop of Horrors
'Woe is me. Gob feels bigger than ever. Right hand side totally numb. And I paid a lot of money for that. #dentistsaresadists'

The definition of 'brass necked cheek'?

Ed 'second choice' Balls on LBC's Alastair Campbell phone-in yesterday evening claiming that history should have taught us that it was a mistake for governments to try and fit the economy into an election cycle - breathtaking cheek but as the presenter was as bound up with labour's election strategy as the guest the comment was allowed to pass unchallenged.

I couldn't stomach more than 40 or so minutes of the ex-Iain Dale show and I am not sure that I will listen again until Iain Dale returns. If I wanted to hear Labour figures talking as though their party was not in any way responsible for the economic mess that the country is in then I would listen to the BBC.

On that note it has been noticeable for a few weeks now that whenever a Conservative spokesman on Any Questions points out that they were left an economic mess by the last Labour government, they are greeted by a groan - presumably it is considered bad form by Labour supporters to bring up the past. This is off because right up until the end of the last Labour government, present day problems were still being blamed on the previous conservative government which was by then 13 years out of power. The left really are shameless aren't they?

'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.

Iain Dale's feelings about some of Labour's leaders seems to match mine

'The best thing about today is that is means that we finally get to see the back of Mandelson and Campbell. Yesterday they attempted to launch a pseudo-coup. Thank God it failed. Labour people were too sensible to be dragged along with it and credit is due to John Reid, David Blunkett and others for pointing out that it couldn't work.

Mandelson and Campbell are both very talented people. But they have presided over a culture of conducting politics in a very underhand manner. I may be naive but I hope things will be very different under the new government.'

Peter Mandelson's malign influence on British politics & public life and the power he seemed to exert over the British media, especially the BBC, has been a source of great distress to me for years. I hope that he will now disappear but somehow I think that he will be around and pissing me off for some years yet; presumably he is already cooking up a scheme to get his man installed as leader of the Labour party and devising schemes to win the next general election. I will not make public my thoughts about Alastair Campbell as I do not like to swear on this blog and swearing would certainly be necessary.

Mea culpa - or not!

I have made a mistake, sorry. It seems that I have several times, most recently here accused Gordon Brown of misleading the House of Commons over defence spending and used Channel 4's Fact Check as evidence. It seems that I was mistaken..... Not that Gordon mislead Parliament, that really is true, it's just that Iain Dale explains that it was in fact "the News of the World Defence Correspondent, Paul McNamara, who wrote the story on Sunday, 24 hours before Channel 4 News covered it.".

Sorry; a word that Gordon Brown really needs to use more.


UPDATE: I must stop trusting Iain Dale as he now apologises for mistakenly attributing the Fact Check facts to the News of the World when the piece did in fact as I blogged at the weekend originate at Channel 4. So my original piece and follow-up were correct and I only went wrong when I started listening to Iain Dale!

Has Frank Field really offered himself as a Minister to David Cameron?

It's a rumour that is spreading but the Iain Dale page that I was referred to seems not to exist now!

For what it's worth I see Frank Field as a Labour MP who I would be glad to see join the Conservative party, he has a lot to offer.

Theresa May calls Harriet Harman a liar and the general election looks like it will be March/April

Iain Dale has the letter from Theresa May to Harriet Harman and also some the news that

"Labour Ministers have pulled out of attending this weekend's BAFTA ceremony... it is the day the Prime Minister will call a March election. We know already that he is making a speech tomorrow announcing the four themes of the election, together with Labour's election slogan."

Much as I predicted this morning. Iain Dale also reveals that:

"(an) email has just gone out to senior Labour election planners, candidates and agents. It gives them a deadline of next Wednesday for them to order their election literature.... This weekend's events are clearly of huge importance to the Labour campaign, hence the extended print deadline. I cannot think why they would be doing all this now if an election announcement wasn't imminent.

Surely Gordon can't march his troops up to the top of the hill again? "

So it looks as though Gordon Brown, maybe advised by the vile duo of Mandelson and Campbell, has weighed up his fear of fighting an early election (indeed any election) with the knowledge that in two months time the true extent of the economic crisis that his policies have wrought upon the country will become too clear to too many for him to win a May election. Thus I am afraid we have to look forward to a month or so of lies and spin from the Labour party, and its willing allies in the BBC, in what will be the most vicious and spiteful election campaign ever in the UK. It is not going to be a pretty campaign; the Labour party is a wounded beast that will spit venom, spread smears, lie and in certain cases cheat their way to the election date.

It's a March election; probably

I have been leaning towards an early general election, March or early April for a while now, as it becomes clear that Gordon Brown cannot afford to wait for the next big sets of economic data to come out in early April nor hold a budget that will not steady The City. So Iain Dales revelation that: "Gordon Brown will appear before the Chilcot Inquiry on either Thursday 4th or Friday 5th March" leads me to believe that Gordon Brown will call an election soon, maybe even at this weekend's election themes unveiling, for Late March or early April thus putting off the Budget and his appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry.

"Can I edit a tweet once I post it? Nope. Once it's out there, you can't edit it."

From Twitter's FAQs:

"Can I edit a tweet once I post it?

Nope. Once it's out there, you can't edit it. You can delete an update by clicking the trash icon on the right end of the update, but you can't make changes."

maybe someone could explain this to the journalists who seem happy to swallow Labour MP (and Minister) David Wright's claims that his Tweet:

"Because you can put lipstick on a scum-sucking pig, but it’s still a scum-sucking pig. And cos they would ruin Britain."

was not posted by him "Somebody has tinkered with my tweet. I never said 'scum sucking'. I said 'you can put lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig'. I need to find out how this happened."

Is David Wright claiming that someone edited his Tweet as he posted it? He can't be claiming that his account was hacked as when he was originally asked about the Tweet he commented ‘Oh dear, upsetting Tories again. Must’ve hit a nerve’.

Iain Dale has been covering this story all day, keep an eye there for up to the minute updates; some of us have day jobs!


Meanwhile I note that David Wright's Twitter monitor on his website still says:

"* What a commotion today. Looks like my tweets have been tinkered with. I will keep you posted about 22 hours ago"

Any updates for the waiting public Mr Wright?

‘Ministers of the Crown are expected to behave in a way that upholds the highest standards of propriety.’

Iain Dale has the story about Labour minister David Wright MP, a government whip.

Oddly David Wright's website stil has this as his last missive to the world:

"* What a commotion today. Looks like my tweets have been tinkered with. I will keep you posted about 15 hours ago"

We are waiting David... Are you still claiming that your tweets were tampered with? Have you answered Eric Pickles' questions yet?

Not all bloggers are gay

Paul Waugh isn't, neither am I, although Iain Dale is.

Is this of any relevance? No, but it's been a tough day and I am too tired to be as perceptive as usual.

What a relief

Iain Dale has announced Total Politics's Top 100 Right of Centre Blogs and I am somewhat pleased to have risen from 93 to 59 in the rankings.

Many thanks to all of you who voted for me.

I must admit that I have been feeling somewhat demotivated about blogging recently, now I feel re-invigorated.

Here's the history of this blogs annual ratings:
2007/08 - Number 90 Conservative blog
2008/09 - Number 93 Right of Centre blog
2009/10 - Number 59 Right of Centre blog

The forty seventh weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

This week's award goes to the esteemed blogger Iain Dale for his piece entitled: "Labour MPs Say One Thing & Do Another".

"No shit, Sherlock"