Barack Obama has picked Joe Biden as his running-mate. That's Joe Biden the renowned speech plagiarist, and what's worse a plagiarist of Neil "Welsh windbag" Kinnock. Here are some on the record opinions of Joe Biden:
"The more people learn about them (Obama and Hillary) and how they handle the pressure, the more their support will evaporate."
"When this campaign is over, political slogans like ‘experience’ and ‘change’ will mean absolutely nothing. The next president has to act."
"John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off, be well off no matter who..."
"My impression is [Obama] thinks that if we leave, somehow the Iraqis are going to have an epiphany” of peaceful coexistence among warring sects. “I’ve seen zero evidence of that."
"I am not running for vice president, I would not accept it if anyone offered it to me. The fact of the matter is I'd rather stay as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee than be vice president."
Good choice Barack Obama, good for John MCCain anyway.
Quotations lifted from National Review apart from the last which is courtesy of Guido Fawkes.
Saturday, 23 August 2008
The Large Hadron Rap
CERN's Large Hadron Collider "explained" via the medium of rap, hmmmm... Catchy?
If the LHC works we may discover more about the fundamentals of everything and the earliest moments after the big-bang. If the LHC goes wrong then the whole universe could disappear... The 10th of September could be a memorable day, one way or the other.
The Chinese caught out?
Read the story of Sarah Stevenson and the dodgy Chinese scoring in the Taekwondo. Nothing surprising, all as expected, with regard to the dodgy scoring, I am surprised that any action was taking - it must have been really blatant.
Usain Bolt (update)
3 events, 3 gold medals, 3 world records - He is "da man"
100 metres - 9.69
200 metres - 19.30
4 x 100 metres - 37.10
Usain Bolt perhaps the best, certainly the most relaxed sprinter I have ever seen.
100 metres - 9.69
200 metres - 19.30
4 x 100 metres - 37.10
Usain Bolt perhaps the best, certainly the most relaxed sprinter I have ever seen.
Photography in public - more news
Further to my previous posts on the way photographers are being targeted by the police and government, I see that Devils Kitchen has a piece of video that I have missed from previous articles, although I have seen it before. It shows a PCSO acting rather outside of his powers when faced with someone filming in a public place.
"Can you tell me why you are filming, can you give me a good reason?"
"Show me your ID"
"Shut up"
All said with a lovely sneer.
last Ditch and Obnoxio the Clown have their own thoughts.
"Can you tell me why you are filming, can you give me a good reason?"
"Show me your ID"
"Shut up"
All said with a lovely sneer.
last Ditch and Obnoxio the Clown have their own thoughts.
Friday, 22 August 2008
Face transplant 'double success'
The BBC are reporting that
... wasn't a documentary?
John Travolta and Nicolas Cage overacting to an incredible degree in "Face/Off".
"Successful results from two more face transplants will speed progress towards similar operations in other countries, say experts."Hold on, do you mean that this......
... wasn't a documentary?
John Travolta and Nicolas Cage overacting to an incredible degree in "Face/Off".
Are the Chinese at it again (update)
Earlier this week I blogged about the questions being asked about the true age of He Kexin. Now Fox News report that:
"A determined U.S. computer expert has delved into cached pages on the Internet to unearth Chinese official documents showing a gymnast who took gold in the uneven bars competition, edging the U.S.'s Nastia Liukin, may indeed be underage."Read the whole article and ask yourself if you really believe that the Chinese authorities would have produced a fake passport just so gold medals could be won...Hmmm, that was an easy one wasn't it? Now ask yourself if the IOC will take action or roll over and have its collective tummy tickled.... Hmmm, that was also pretty easy wasn't it?
A scroungers charter
The Sun are shocked to report that
A question for Gordon Brown's next press conference?
"A SECRET dossier on how to cheat your way through Britain has been published for Poles heading to the UK.How despicable, producing a guide as to how to cheat the system. What sort of person would do that? Gordon Brown for one, as I blogged last year
The spongers’ guide shows how to dodge electricity bills, rent flats for free, pay no tax and swindle insurance companies because British laws are “too soft”.
The cheats’ charter – published in the Polish media this week – was compiled after researching the most successful scams with Poles already living in Britain.
The scams include:
- Not paying rent once they move in as tenancy laws mean it will be months before they’re evicted. In the meantime the property is sublet to more Poles.
- Opening electricity and gas accounts with bogus personal details.
- Claiming your mobile phone has been stolen. Once the insurers pay out, the cheats pocket the cash and sell the phone back home in Poland for a £100 profit."
"Gordon Brown published a scrounger’s charter while at university, offering students tips on how to freeload and claim benefits. His 200-page survival guide, Alternative Edinburgh, openly encouraged students to “use and abuse” the Welfare State.
“If you’re British and can give an address, free money is available from social security, basic £5.80 per week,” he wrote.
Social and medical benefits are your right, not charity hand-outs, so never be reticent about claiming them.” Mr Brown, who wrote the guide when he was 22 and a student leader at Edinburgh University, also tells students how to obtain a free meal at a hotel: “Con your way to asking for a glass of water or sit beside drinkers and they will feed you for nothing.”"
A question for Gordon Brown's next press conference?
Hamid Karzai made an attempt to empathise with Gordon Brown
The Rosa Prince Telegraph blog reports that "Hamid Karzai made an attempt to empathise with Gordon Brown" on Brown's latest trip to Afghanistan to see the troops that he has failed to adequately equip. Apparently:
Gordon Brown discomforted, good, it should happen more and more until he realises quite how much he is hated by that part of the UK population that works and pays taxes (and is not employed in a public sector sinecure).
"As Brown dodged yet another question about Miliband with his stock response - "I'm getting on with the job." - Mr Karzai clearly decided the PM needed a little help.
"Cabinet ministers plotting is nothing new," he declared airily. "We have it in Afghanistan."
There was a squawk from an appalled-looking Afghan politician sitting beside the platform, and the president hastily added to laughter: "Not my foreign minister, though."
Brown turned a shade greener than he had when we finally got off that lurching Herc an hour earlier."
Gordon Brown discomforted, good, it should happen more and more until he realises quite how much he is hated by that part of the UK population that works and pays taxes (and is not employed in a public sector sinecure).
Team GB?
The BBC have a helpful map showing where Team GB's gold medal-winning athletes hail from. So Team GB's gold medals (so far) are sourced as follows:
Northern Ireland - 0
Scotland - 1 (Chris Hoy)
Wales - 3
England - 21
Yes this is skewed by the rowing fours and yachting crews but by the same token one of the Welsh gold medals was part of the coxless four.
Strange the BBC coverage seems to identify Scots, Welsh and British athletes, never English. England the unmentionable nation.
Update - 31.08.08
The Quiet Man has had similar thoughts.
Northern Ireland - 0
Scotland - 1 (Chris Hoy)
Wales - 3
England - 21
Yes this is skewed by the rowing fours and yachting crews but by the same token one of the Welsh gold medals was part of the coxless four.
Strange the BBC coverage seems to identify Scots, Welsh and British athletes, never English. England the unmentionable nation.
Update - 31.08.08
The Quiet Man has had similar thoughts.
Hezbo-Laa-Laa
I find that the Children in Need had given money to the 7/7 bombers was all but foreseen by The Peoples Cube in their piece entitled "Hezbo-Laa-Laa: Cute Little Terrortubby"
The latest breakdown in government data security
Reports of the latest breakdown in governmental data security, the loss of a memory stick containing personal details about tens of thousands of criminals has been making the news this morning. The memory stick was lost by PA Consulting and apparently the lost data includes details of around 10,000 prolific offenders as well as information on all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales.
One remark caught my eye and that is that Dominic Grieve, the shadow Home Secretary, said
One remark caught my eye and that is that Dominic Grieve, the shadow Home Secretary, said
"The British taxpayer will be absolutely outraged if they are made to pick up the bill for compensation to serious criminals."Why is there any chance of having to pay compensation to any of these prisoners? Were the parents whose details were compromised last year ever thought to be due compensation?
Interesting outlook the BBC have
The BBC "report" that
The BBC always willing to believe their friends in Hamas. Maybe Alan Johnston helped make some more good contacts for them, maybe the increase in positive publicity for Hamas was part of the deal for his release; who knows.
"Hamas has managed to reduce the number of attacks dramatically, but some rockets are still being fired."Apparently the BBC still believe that Hamas want to be a "partner for peace" with Israel. That's the same Hamas one of whose senior leaders, Ismail Haneya said on Thursday that:
"The Liberation of Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque can be achieved only through Jihad, blood, resistance and martyrdom and not through absurd peace talks,". That would be the same Hamas whose Charter contains the following:
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. "
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."
"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.""
The BBC always willing to believe their friends in Hamas. Maybe Alan Johnston helped make some more good contacts for them, maybe the increase in positive publicity for Hamas was part of the deal for his release; who knows.
The EU "project" is tumbling down around their ears
I see that
"About 200sq m (2,152sq ft) of the ceiling (of the Strasbourg chamber) caved in on 7 August. Nobody was in the chamber at the time."Maybe now we can stop the waste of regularly transporting the EU decision making process from Brussels to Strasbourg just to keep the French happy.
Thursday, 21 August 2008
The real Olympic medal table
I was wondering how the UK's medal haul would compare on a by population basis, and so I was pleased to find Channel 4's alternative table generator. Of course being Channel 4, as well as a population comparative (currently topped by Jamaica, Slovenia and Bahrain) they have comparisons by GDP (fair enough - currently topped by North Korea, Zimbabwe and Jamaica), by "US ordering" which is by total medals not golds (currently topped by USA, China and Russia) and by "Human Rights" which takes into account the often laughable rankings devised by the US Freedom House organisation (currently topped by USA, GB & NI and Australia).
One interesting fact is that sorted by population, India come bottom. Why does India do so poorly in the Olympics medal table? Answers that the Indians are too busy just trying to just survive will not be accepted as that applies even more to many African countries and China.
One interesting fact is that sorted by population, India come bottom. Why does India do so poorly in the Olympics medal table? Answers that the Indians are too busy just trying to just survive will not be accepted as that applies even more to many African countries and China.
Googling (update 17)
I am not sure how but googling - 0lympic 200 metre final 2008 - in google canada this blog comes second, likwise in google.com but in google.co.uk it comes third. My penetration of Asia continues apace as - 200 metre final - via google turkey places this blog top. Only fourth in Swiss google, happily not even on the first page in google France. What a strange world.
A level grades
Y Safle has done some decent statistical analysis of the A level grades. Take a look and see how a normal distribution in 1992 is no longer normal but very skewed. There is also a grade comparison chart to help you see what your C grade in 198x is worth now.
Gordon 'Prudence' Brown
I see that Gordon Brown's next relaunch will this time come with the added benefit of a made to measure Gieves and Hawkes of Savile Row suit. These suits cost approximately £3,500 and I would like to be 100% certain that Gordon Brown has paid for this himself from his own taxed income and not from any allowance or similar - how can this be checked?
I have just realised that Gordon Brown having a made to measure suit means that some poor tailor had to measure him for the suit. So some poor tailor had to measure Gordon Brown's inside leg, surely a candidate for Tony Robinson's next series of "The worst jobs in history".
I have just realised that Gordon Brown having a made to measure suit means that some poor tailor had to measure him for the suit. So some poor tailor had to measure Gordon Brown's inside leg, surely a candidate for Tony Robinson's next series of "The worst jobs in history".
Can you spot the connection?
"Census 'should be scrapped now'" - "The national census is out of date, too costly and should be scrapped immediately, a think tank has claimed." and "More long-term migrants to UK" - "The number of migrants coming to the UK for a year or more has risen to a record level, figures show."
Both stories from the BBC.
Both stories from the BBC.
Olympic sprinting
That's Jamaica winning gold in all of four of the sprints - 100 metre and 200 metre for men and women. Can they do the double in the two 4 x 100 metre relays as well? My money was on yes and that was before the USA and Nigeria dropped the baton in their heat and the GB & Northern Ireland foursome were disqualified for changing outside of the zone in the men's event, Craig Pickering starting way too early on the fourth leg.
The USA women have also dropped the baton as have the Trini' girls.
I predict an easy Jamaican victory in the men's final and the women to also romp home first - assuming no dropped batons. Mind you Usain Bolt could probably drop the batton, pick it up and still win.
If the Jamaicans win the two relays, that must surely be the first time one country have won all six sprint golds..., isn't it? Actually no, it isn't; the USA won all six golds in 1984, I haven't looked back any further.
The USA women have also dropped the baton as have the Trini' girls.
I predict an easy Jamaican victory in the men's final and the women to also romp home first - assuming no dropped batons. Mind you Usain Bolt could probably drop the batton, pick it up and still win.
If the Jamaicans win the two relays, that must surely be the first time one country have won all six sprint golds..., isn't it? Actually no, it isn't; the USA won all six golds in 1984, I haven't looked back any further.
Olympic horses fail drugs test
The BBC report that
Sorry, I'll get my coat.
"Four horses that contested the Olympic show jumping event have tested positive for the banned substance capsaicin."Is that an a-neigh-bolic steroid?
Sorry, I'll get my coat.
"Who's got their tits in the wringer?"
"Who's got their tits in the wringer?" - quotation of the evening on last night's "Who do you think you are?" - said by the subject Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. The programme is well worth a watch.
Boris's great great great great great great great great grandfather was George II...
A very interesting story indeed.
Boris's great great great great great great great great grandfather was George II...
A very interesting story indeed.
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Does anyone smell a rat?
I read on the BBC that:
Hmmm, I wonder what terrors the corrected figures will show. No return to boom and bust, house price drops not as bad as under the Tories - I wonder how true those commenst will prove to be?
"The government's official statistics on property sales in the UK have been withdrawn from publication because they appear to be wrong.
The figures are published each month by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for sales worth more than £40,000.
HMRC said that revisions to the previous months' figures, going back to March this year, had cast doubt on their accuracy.
Figures for July were due to come out on Thursday, but have been postponed.
"Outputs obtained whilst updating the monthly series contained some significant and unexplained differences with the statistics published last month," it said.
"All months in the statistical series are affected, with the differences showing falls in some months and increases in others," it added.
"Our statisticians have come to the conclusion that something doesn't look quite right," explained an HMRC spokeswoman.
Sudden slump
June's figures appeared to show that property sales had fallen that month to just 77,000.
That was a 45% drop from the same month last year, when 140,000 properties were sold.
This chimed closely with many other figures, which show that the market has gone through a sudden slump this year because of the credit crunch.
For instance, the most recent report from the Land Registry for England & Wales showed that sales in April were down by 39% over the previous 12 months.
The number of mortgages approved by lenders for house purchase was down by 69% in June, according to the Bank of England.
The HMRC house sales data which had been due out on Thursday will now be published on 21 September.
In May, another government agency, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), admitted publishing erroneous pension statistics."
Hmmm, I wonder what terrors the corrected figures will show. No return to boom and bust, house price drops not as bad as under the Tories - I wonder how true those commenst will prove to be?
That was a surprise medal
Natasha 'Tasha' Danvers just held it together over the last hurdle and won a bronze medal in the women's 400 metre hurdles... A new Sally Gunnell, albeit over a second slower than Sally's record.
Political indoctrination EU style
Mr Eugenides has some coverage of a the EU Medal Tracker website. EU Medail Tracker "is created by Euro-Informationen, Berlin, Germany. The communication company is a content provider in the area of consumer-oriented communications.". If they want to do this sort of thing then fine, it is still (just) a free world. However I do take issue with two things, first Turkey being placed in Europe, have these people ever looked at a map?
Also the presence of a country called Palestine in Asia, really?
Also the presence of a country called Palestine in Asia, really?
Olympic Mens 200 metre final
I am predicting a Usain Bolt win...
and I was right and in a new World Record... 19.30 into a headwind, Michael Johnson's 12 year-old record has been broken. Bolt was running all the way to the line, but I think that there is a little more to come, maybe 19.25?
and I was right and in a new World Record... 19.30 into a headwind, Michael Johnson's 12 year-old record has been broken. Bolt was running all the way to the line, but I think that there is a little more to come, maybe 19.25?
Piss up in a brewery time
Dizzy Thinks has been covering the saga of the new Number 10 website and I thoroughly recommend that you take a look and wonder at the incompetence of our "rulers". Here is his latest post on the subject.
"I am not a sheep"
Look at the matrix sign at the beginning of this short video
The group are called "The Mars Volta", apparently.
The group are called "The Mars Volta", apparently.
The selective cynicism of "the Left"
This article follows several recent conversations with some of my left-leaning and harder left friends and work colleagues over the last few months.
The "left" are selectively cynical; as just one example, friends and colleagues who swallowed Tony Blair's promises and Gordon Brown's increasingly outlandish claims without demurring snorted with derision at the recent news that David Cameron had presented Barack Obama with a Smiths CD amongst other presents. "He wouldn't have liked the Smiths", "It's just a PR stunt" were two of the milder comments, "He pretended to like Eton Rifles, he went to f****ing Eton" was a harsher comment. I would have thought that David Cameron, now 41, would have been pretty much the right age to have "got into" the Smiths in 1984/85. Morrissey's often depressing lyrics would, I am sure, have appealed to a floppy haired Etonian studying for his A-levels, just as they did to many other similarly aged privately educated schoolboys (myself included).
Theresa May's remark in 2002 that the Conservative party was perceived as being "the nasty party" has been partly responsible for the situation where any insulting of a Conservative politician is seen as fair game, whereas any milder lampooning of a Labour politician is seen as "nasty". The personal attacks on Conservative politicians by the left are becoming increasingly personal and hateful. As an example see the appallingly insensitive discussions about the rights and wrongs of giving Lady Thatcher a state funeral. Meanwhile the "heroes" of the left such as Tony Benn and Michael Foot are treated with great respect, especially by the BBC, and any criticism of such figures is treated as a sign of "nastiness".
The assumption of the left that they are in the right is absolute, and the realisation that they are likely to lose power within the next few years hurts them hugely. "It's just not fair", "we are the good guys", "why would anyone vote Tory?" are just some of the comments that I have heard.
Whereas the Conservatives were meant to just accept that massive electoral defeat with good grace in 1997, every recent Labour set-back has been met with bad grace and that will not change with the coming general election defeat.
Those of us on the right feel able to like musicians, actors and other performers whose political opinions we might find repulsive, for example my love of the music of Gil Scott Heron is well known; we seem able to disassociate the music from the man. However any admittance of Conservative tendencies makes a musician or comedian beyond the pale so far as "the left" are concerned. I find the intolerance and cynicism of much of "the left" interesting, I wonder what a psychologist would make of it?
The "left" are selectively cynical; as just one example, friends and colleagues who swallowed Tony Blair's promises and Gordon Brown's increasingly outlandish claims without demurring snorted with derision at the recent news that David Cameron had presented Barack Obama with a Smiths CD amongst other presents. "He wouldn't have liked the Smiths", "It's just a PR stunt" were two of the milder comments, "He pretended to like Eton Rifles, he went to f****ing Eton" was a harsher comment. I would have thought that David Cameron, now 41, would have been pretty much the right age to have "got into" the Smiths in 1984/85. Morrissey's often depressing lyrics would, I am sure, have appealed to a floppy haired Etonian studying for his A-levels, just as they did to many other similarly aged privately educated schoolboys (myself included).
Theresa May's remark in 2002 that the Conservative party was perceived as being "the nasty party" has been partly responsible for the situation where any insulting of a Conservative politician is seen as fair game, whereas any milder lampooning of a Labour politician is seen as "nasty". The personal attacks on Conservative politicians by the left are becoming increasingly personal and hateful. As an example see the appallingly insensitive discussions about the rights and wrongs of giving Lady Thatcher a state funeral. Meanwhile the "heroes" of the left such as Tony Benn and Michael Foot are treated with great respect, especially by the BBC, and any criticism of such figures is treated as a sign of "nastiness".
The assumption of the left that they are in the right is absolute, and the realisation that they are likely to lose power within the next few years hurts them hugely. "It's just not fair", "we are the good guys", "why would anyone vote Tory?" are just some of the comments that I have heard.
Whereas the Conservatives were meant to just accept that massive electoral defeat with good grace in 1997, every recent Labour set-back has been met with bad grace and that will not change with the coming general election defeat.
Those of us on the right feel able to like musicians, actors and other performers whose political opinions we might find repulsive, for example my love of the music of Gil Scott Heron is well known; we seem able to disassociate the music from the man. However any admittance of Conservative tendencies makes a musician or comedian beyond the pale so far as "the left" are concerned. I find the intolerance and cynicism of much of "the left" interesting, I wonder what a psychologist would make of it?
Team GB
I am a big sports-fan and have been enjoying most of the Olympics despite my problems with the Chinese regime. One thing that has been bothering me is the team being called Team GB; what has happened to the full name "Great Britain and Northern Ireland" I kept wondering. Then I learnt that a boxer, Paddy Barnes, representing Ireland last night is from Belfast; the last time I checked Belfast was in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK not Ireland. What is going on? I checked on Wikipedia and found this
I was sure that the team used to be called Great Britain and Northern Ireland, back in the days of Mary Peters and since. Then I found this article from 2004 that reports
Something odd has happened here, when did Ireland become responsible for all 32 counties in Ireland? What was the position is the past?
Also, the BBC love to push the lie that athletes are "British" when they win and "Scottish" when they lose and I pointed out this lie back in July. Once again in these Olympics, all "English" athletes are described as "British", whilst "Scottish" athletes are described as "Scottish". The BBC, the truth is often the polar opposite of what we tell you.
"Athletes from Northern Ireland who also hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution can be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympics."So some citizens of the UK can choose to compete for a foreign country but still get funding from this country, how marvellous.
I was sure that the team used to be called Great Britain and Northern Ireland, back in the days of Mary Peters and since. Then I found this article from 2004 that reports
"According to the International Olympic Committee's existing charter, the Olympic Council of Ireland represents the whole island of Ireland.
However, Northern Ireland athletes have always been able to compete for GB.
...
It was former Irish IOC member and IOC president Lord Killanin who ensured that the OCI was responsible for all 32 counties on the island.
The OCI charter giving it full responsibility for all of Ireland was agreed by former IOC president Avery Brundage and then re-enforced by Killanin when he became president."
Something odd has happened here, when did Ireland become responsible for all 32 counties in Ireland? What was the position is the past?
Also, the BBC love to push the lie that athletes are "British" when they win and "Scottish" when they lose and I pointed out this lie back in July. Once again in these Olympics, all "English" athletes are described as "British", whilst "Scottish" athletes are described as "Scottish". The BBC, the truth is often the polar opposite of what we tell you.
Northern Rock reprise?
I see that
"The Alliance & Leicester (A&L) bank has warned of "significant external risks" to itself if Banco Santander's planned takeover is rejected by shareholders.Is the A&L the next bank to reach breaking point?
More than 560,000 A&L shareholders are being urged in a letter to support the £1.3bn takeover, announced in July.
Roy Brown, the bank's acting chairman, said if the deal did not go through then the bank would be exposed to the worsening economic slowdown.
...
The bank goes out of its way to warn that it is "acutely aware" that its financial position may become even weaker because of the credit crunch.
And it hints strongly that, on its own, its finances might be weakened further.
"The A&L Board also recognises the risk that further shocks to the financial system created by unfavourable developments at other financial institutions could generate widespread general adverse sentiment towards financial groups like A&L," the bank said.
"The A&L Board has concluded therefore that there is a risk of external events further eroding shareholder value and that the value to A&L shareholders of the greater certainty provided by being part of a larger organisation is considerable," it added."
"Children in Need exercise the utmost care in distributing the public’s money."
Do they? Do they really? The Telegraph report that
Just the sort of people that I would donate money to. Children in Need’s chief Executive David Ramsden may not have been quite so careful though. He told Newsnight:
The "utmost care", utmost meaning "of the greatest or highest degree"? I think that more care could and indeed should have been taken.
However as the BBC are happy to provide positive coverage of "militants" around the world; "militants" who kill and maim hundreds of people every week. Why should we be surprised when the BBC actually starts financing such "militants"?
"Thousands of pounds raised by Britons for the BBC’s Children in Need charity could have been used to recruit and train the homegrown terrorists involved in the 7/7 terror attacks on London."Apparently
"Some of the cash could also have been used to fund the propaganda activities of the suicide bombers who killed 52 people in July 2005, according to an investigation by BBC 2’s Newsnight.
The programme reported that £20,000 from Children in Need was handed over to the Leeds Community School, in Beeston, Yorkshire between 1999 and 2002.
The school, which also received large sums from other public bodies, was run from premises behind the Iqra Islamic bookshop which the gang used as a meeting place and an opportunity to radicalise others.
One former worker described those that attended the bookshop as a kind of “brotherhood.”
Both Mohammed Sidique Khan, the leader of the bombers, and Shehzad Tanweer, the Aldgate bomber, were trustees of the bookshop and Sidique Khan also worked for a Saturday club at the associated Leeds Community School.
Sidique Khan ran outward bound adventure courses in north Wales which were used to recruit and radicalise young Muslim men.
Both the bookshop and the school were registered charities – the bookshop claimed, on Charity Commission submissions, that its aim was “the advancement of the Islamic faith”, while the school’s aim was said to be to “advance the education…of Pakistani and Bangladeshi” pupils.
They handed out DVDs and books about Bosnia and Chechnya and held Arabic classes in a back room, attended by Jermaine Lindsay, who went on to become the Kings Cross bomber.
They also produced a leaflet in the wake of September 11 blaming the attacks on a Jewish conspiracy.
A flavour for the books was revealed when police raided the home of Khalid Khaliq last year and found much of the remaining stock from the bookshop.
Titles included Zaad-e-Mujahid [essential provision for holy fighters] and The Absent Obligation, a book about jihad [holy war] as well as 250 copies of a booklet called the War on Terrorism, the Final Crusade.
Khaliq, 34, a close friend of Sidique Khan, is currently serving a 16-month sentence for possessing a document useful for terrorism."
Just the sort of people that I would donate money to. Children in Need’s chief Executive David Ramsden may not have been quite so careful though. He told Newsnight:
"I’m incredibly concerned that we did make an award to Leeds Community School over nine years ago.
"Any allegation that any funding we’ve given to any project has been misused and not used to change the lives of disadvantaged children and young people makes me concerned and very sad.
"We take the trust that the public puts in BBC Children In Need and the fact that they provide us with their finding extremely seriously and I’m incredibly concerned.
"I can reassure the British public that we are very careful in who we fund and this allegation is a very rare one for us but one that causes a great deal of concern."
Last night Mr Ramsden said: "The small grants made by BBC Children In Need to Leeds Community School were given in good faith in 1998 and 1999.
"Although this is a serious matter, we have not seen any evidence that the money they received was used for terrorist activity. If BBC Children In Need has been a victim of fraud in this case, it will be a matter for the police.
"BBC Children In Need distributes more than £30m in grants every year, benefiting children and young people in the UK. CIN exercise the utmost care in distributing the public’s money.""
The "utmost care", utmost meaning "of the greatest or highest degree"? I think that more care could and indeed should have been taken.
However as the BBC are happy to provide positive coverage of "militants" around the world; "militants" who kill and maim hundreds of people every week. Why should we be surprised when the BBC actually starts financing such "militants"?
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
That's an 84% improvement, well done Labour"
The BBC report that
Following the loss of the details of 25 million child benefit claimants in the previous year, we were promised that lessons would be learnt and that security would be tightened. I suppose that a 84% drop in the volumes lost is an improvement, although that will be of little comfort to the four million whose details were lost this year.
Meanwhile the Labour Government presses ahead with the National Identity Register (and ID cards), the NHS "Spine" and the DNA database; all programmes with huge security of access queries.
"Sensitive data potentially affecting more than four million people was lost by government departments in the year to April, BBC analysis has found.
Whitehall departments have included details of personal information losses in their annual financial statements.
Cases included the theft of a laptop with details of 17,000 Sats markers, and the loss of the National Insurance numbers of a further 17,000 people."
Following the loss of the details of 25 million child benefit claimants in the previous year, we were promised that lessons would be learnt and that security would be tightened. I suppose that a 84% drop in the volumes lost is an improvement, although that will be of little comfort to the four million whose details were lost this year.
Meanwhile the Labour Government presses ahead with the National Identity Register (and ID cards), the NHS "Spine" and the DNA database; all programmes with huge security of access queries.
Googling
Someone else is having problems with odd google searches leading to his site. PooterGeek reports
"I’m kind of afraid to ask why people have been arriving at PooterGeek over the past couple of days as a result of googling for “John Kettley” and “hedgehog”. I realise my publishing this post will now make things worse."It's a strange world out there...
More anti-photographer police news
I blogged in June about the way that photographers are increasingly being perceived by the public and especially the police in this country. Today I read of another incident involving the police
"A Bristol man was arrested after he took a photo of a police officer who had ignored a no entry road sign.Read the rest of the article and worry about the police state we seem to be sleep-walking into; that's a police state for the generally law-abiding, the police being much more interested in the "easy collar" than catching burglars and muggers who might be dangerous and often won't pay their fines anyway.
Plumber Andrew Carter, of Bedminster, has since had an apology from the officer and Deputy Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset police Rob Beckley.
Mr Carter, 44, was walking his two dogs when a police van reversed into South Road, Bedminster, ignoring no entry signs.
The van stopped near a fish and chip shop in the street and two officers went into the shop to look at CCTV footage relating to an earlier incident.
Mr Carter said: "I had nearly been run over the previous day by a car going through the no entry signs so I was a bit miffed when a police van did the same thing.
"He reversed into the road rather than going round the block and coming in the other way, like the rest of us have to.
"I pointed at the sign and said "no entry" to the driver who swore and said 'police business'.
"I went home and got my camera. I took a photo of the van and then a picture of the officer, through the window of the chip shop.
"He came running out, smashed the camera from my hand. I was put in handcuffs and he said I had 'assaulted' him with my camera and that I was also being arrested for resisting arrest and being drunk and disorderly."
Shhh, it's not an important story
The Telegraph report that
The Times similarly report
The Guardian report
You can also read about this story in The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Sun and presumably all the other papers are covering this story. Sky News are covering the story.
The BBC however seem rather coy, I could find nothing on the News homepage and when I searched for "Aabid Hussain Khan" all that was returned were "News - UK - Four men held after terror raids
Four men are being held as part of an investigation into alleged international terrorism, say police.. Last Updated: Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 08:07 GMT 09:07 UK
21 Jun 2006
News - UK - Pair in court on terror charges
Mr Khan is accused of possessing on 6 June at Manchester Airport a computer hard drive and contents for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.
15 Jun 2006"
By digging around I found this rather general report from yesterday.
Why so coy BBC?
"A terror cell caught with details of bomb-making and suicide vests may have been plotting to attack the Queen and members of the Royal family, it can be disclosed....A counter-terrorism source said: "They had details of explosives and poisons along with information about London landmarks and a computer folder on Royal residences. We would be foolish to rule out the fact that they may have been planning an attack." ... Khan, 23, was yesterday convicted of three counts of possessing articles for terrorism but the jury was not told he was part of a network of international terrorists in Europe and North America.
It can now be revealed that Khan was closely connected to the alleged leader of a group of men currently awaiting trial for plotting an attack.
Khan, using the name Ocean Blue, was also in regular contact with an aspiring suicide bomber in Edinburgh, Mohammed Atif Siddique.
He had also communicated regularly with three terrorists who ran websites for Al-Qaeda in Iraq from London and Kent.
Khan groomed Hammaad Munshi, then 15, the grandson of the head of a sharia court in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Munshi, who lived with his parents and four brothers, was carrying two small bags of ball bearings, a key component of a suicide vest, when he was arrested on his way home from Westborough High School in Dewsbury on the afternoon of June 2006.
He had been running his own website selling knives and Islamic flags and using the online identity Fidadee – meaning "to die for" - on the auction website ebay.
He also had hand-written notes on martyrdom and had created and circulated technical documents via email and secure web forums on how to make Napalm, how to make a detonator and the production of home made explosives."
The Times similarly report
"A man convicted yesterday of amassing a library of extremist material was aged just 15 when he began studying jihad alongside his GCSEs, making him Britain’s youngest terrorist.
Hammaad Munshi, now 18, was part of a cell of cyber-groomers that set out to brainwash the vulnerable to kill “non-believers”.
He was convicted of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism and making records of information likely to be useful in terrorism."
The Guardian report
"A schoolboy recruited into a cell engaged in a "worldwide conspiracy" to kill non-Muslims yesterday became Britain's youngest convicted terrorist.
Yorkshire teenager Hammaad Munshi, who was 16 when he was arrested, downloaded terrorist materials including guides for making napalm and grenades.
Now 18, Munshi was found guilty with two other men of possessing or making documents promoting terrorism. Material found in their possession included guidance for making lethal weapons, manuals on how to carry out assassinations and personal details of members of the royal family.
During a three month trial at Blackfriars crown court in London, the prosecution accused the three of involvement in an al-Qaida-inspired conspiracy to attack the west."
You can also read about this story in The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Sun and presumably all the other papers are covering this story. Sky News are covering the story.
The BBC however seem rather coy, I could find nothing on the News homepage and when I searched for "Aabid Hussain Khan" all that was returned were "News - UK - Four men held after terror raids
Four men are being held as part of an investigation into alleged international terrorism, say police.. Last Updated: Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 08:07 GMT 09:07 UK
21 Jun 2006
News - UK - Pair in court on terror charges
Mr Khan is accused of possessing on 6 June at Manchester Airport a computer hard drive and contents for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.
15 Jun 2006"
By digging around I found this rather general report from yesterday.
Why so coy BBC?
Say, do any of you guys know how to Madison?
So asked Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror Show but I believe he was referring to the dance
Today we all are told that Britain has a good chance of a gold medal in The Madison, a cycling race. Apparently this is the most complicated event with indecipherable rules, or so the BBC have been telling us. I thought I would look them up and they seem retty straightforward to me:
Here's some video of some Madison racing...
And finally from Xinhuanet the rules for this Olympics' race:
The only problem is that I am sure the race can also be won by lapping the field, a British tactic, so maybe more research is needed! The race is on television at 10:30 this morning, see if you can work it out.
Today we all are told that Britain has a good chance of a gold medal in The Madison, a cycling race. Apparently this is the most complicated event with indecipherable rules, or so the BBC have been telling us. I thought I would look them up and they seem retty straightforward to me:
"The madison is a conventional race... with riders in each team riding part of the distance, handing over to the other member, resting, and then returning to the race. Teams are usually of two riders but occasionally of three. Only one of the team is racing at any time and the replacement rider has to be touched before he can take over. The touch can also be a push, often on the shorts, or one rider hurling the other into the race by a handsling.
How long each rider stays in the race is for each team to decide. Originally, riders took stints of a couple of hours or more and the resting rider went off for a sleep or a meal. That was easier in earlier six-day races because hours could pass without riders attempting to speed away from the others. As races became more intensive, so both riders from the team began riding on the track at the same time, one going fast on the short line around the bottom of the track and the other idling higher up until his turn comes to take over. Modern six-days last less than 12 hours a day and the madison is now only a featured part, so staying on the track throughout is more feasible.
The aim of each team is to ride more laps than any of the others. Tied positions are split by points awarded for placings at a series of sprints at intervals during the race.
The madison is a feature of six-day races, but it can also be a separate race, as in the Olympic Games. It has its own championships and specialist riders. A madison typically lasts between 30 and 60 minutes."
That seems simple enough...
"This race is a 50 kilometre, 200 lap race. Cyclists compete in pairs, with one resting as the other rides. Placing was determined first by laps, then by points. Points were awarded based on intermediate sprints held every 20 laps. The first finisher in each sprint earns 5 points, the second gets 3, the third finisher earns 2, and the fourth place cyclist after each sprint gets 1 point."
Here's some video of some Madison racing...
And finally from Xinhuanet the rules for this Olympics' race:
"Teams consisting of two riders will compete in a race run over a distance of 50km (200 laps) with intermediate sprints. The final placing will be determined by the accumulated points in the sprints, which occur every 20 laps, or by the distance according to the complete laps covered by each team. Teams having covered the same number of laps will be placed according to their accumulated points. Where there is a draw on laps and points, the place during the final sprint shall decide the final result.
Sprint points will be awarded as follows: 5 points to the first team, 3 points to the second, 2 points to the third and 1 point to the fourth."
The only problem is that I am sure the race can also be won by lapping the field, a British tactic, so maybe more research is needed! The race is on television at 10:30 this morning, see if you can work it out.
Monday, 18 August 2008
Once again I am confused
In September 2006 the BBC excitedly reported that
So did the IRA put all of their "explosives" and "explosive substances" "beyond use"? Of course not, just as they didn't put all of their "ammunition, rifles, machine guns, mortars, missiles (and) handguns" "beyond use".
The Labour government colluded with others to get their friends in the Republican movement into power in Northern Ireland and to move the province closer to integration with Ireland. The price of "peace" in Northern Ireland was the release of murderers from prison, the presence of evil men in positions of power and the handing over of parts of the province to the unofficial rule of terrorists and their friends.
"The IRA has put all of its weapons beyond use, the head of the arms decommissioning body has said.Today however the BBC are less happy to report that
General John de Chastelain made the announcement at a news conference accompanied by the two churchmen who witnessed the process.
"We are satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA's arsenal."
Welcoming the move, Prime Minister Tony Blair said IRA decommissioning had been "finally accomplished".
The general said: "We have observed and verified events to put beyond use very large quantities of arms which we believe include all the arms in the IRA's possession.
He said they had handled every gun and made an inventory of the weapons.
The arms included a full range of ammunition, rifles, machine guns, mortars, missiles, handguns, explosives, explosive substances and other arms including all the categories described in the estimates provided by the UK and Irish security services, he said."
"Semtex was used in a dissident republican attack on police in County Fermanagh, a senior detective has said....
Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton said he did not know where the Semtex had come from, but "for me it looks as if it came from old stocks".
"As far as I am aware it is the first time they have used Semtex.
"It does not appear to be new Semtex, so it does not raise a concern with me that they have a new supply of Semtex.""
So did the IRA put all of their "explosives" and "explosive substances" "beyond use"? Of course not, just as they didn't put all of their "ammunition, rifles, machine guns, mortars, missiles (and) handguns" "beyond use".
The Labour government colluded with others to get their friends in the Republican movement into power in Northern Ireland and to move the province closer to integration with Ireland. The price of "peace" in Northern Ireland was the release of murderers from prison, the presence of evil men in positions of power and the handing over of parts of the province to the unofficial rule of terrorists and their friends.
Anti-goat discrimination
The Telegraph report that
Sheep, goats and cucumbers - sounds like a fun party...
"Al-Qa'eda is losing support in Iraq because of a brutal crackdown on activities it regards as un-Islamic - including women buying cucumbers."Even worse
"Sheikh Hameed al-Hayyes, a Sunni elder, told Reuters: "They even killed female goats because their private parts were not covered and their tails were pointed upward, which they said was haram.
"They regarded the cucumber as male and tomato as female. Women were not allowed to buy cucumbers, only men."
Other farcical stipulations include an edict not to buy or sell ice-cream, because it did not exist in the time of the Prophet, while hair salons and shops selling cosmetics have also been bombed.
Most seriously, Sheikh al-Hayyes said: "I saw them slaughter a nine-year old boy like a sheep because his family didn't pledge allegiance to them.""
Sheep, goats and cucumbers - sounds like a fun party...
The Telegraph is in a Time-Warp
The Telegraph page about the bus in a tornado contains a link to a rather elderly article entitled "Can the Conservative Party recover?" and dated October 2002. Bearing in mind where UK politics is now I think a look at this article may be in order for all the pundits who are now predicting the permanent decline of the Labour party. Here's the end of the piece:
"Are the Tories as badly off as Labour in 1984?
"In 1984," said Gerald Kaufman, Labour MP for Manchester Gorton, "Labour was in a truly appalling state. Unless it had dealt with its problems, it would never have formed a government again. Even so, it was nowhere near as bad as the Conservative Party today.
"Back then, there were still large groups of people who could not do without the existence of the Labour Party: the poor, the unemployed and the ethnic communities, not to mention the trade unions. Today, I can't think of any substantial group of people whose interests would be brushed aside if the Conservative Party didn't exist.
"All sections of the community are now represented by the Labour Party. Tony Blair has created a broad tent and, whereas Mrs Thatcher's attitude was: 'If you're not for us, you're against us', Blair's attitude is: 'Those who are not against us may, one day, be with us'.
"The present Tory party doesn't understand this country as Churchill, Macmillan and Thatcher did. They are no longer in the broad stream of society."
Frank Field, Labour MP for Birkenhead, takes a different view. "The Tories are in nothing like such a bad position as we were in 1984, when, like them, we had been out of power for five years," he said. "At that point, we were in total disarray, There was blood all over the place. We were fighting the Trotskyites and the leadership was running scared.
"The Tories of today have seen nothing like that. They are in a calm sea compared to the one we were in then. If you look at their situation, they are agreed on Europe and on the need for modernisation. And they're not like we were, blaming the electorate for the fact that we had lost twice.
"I also think Iain Duncan Smith is more easily seen as a prime minister than Mrs Thatcher when she first became leader of the Opposition. After her first year in that job, the informed opinion in Westminster fell about laughing at the idea that she could ever be in Downing Street.
"The Tories always pride themselves on having the qualities of statecraft, but the first of those qualities is a sense of history - and, at the moment, they have lost their sense of history.""
Scary video
Bus overturned by tornado. This footage, filmed by a passenger, shows a tornado heading for the coach before overturning the vehicle, to the audible horror of the people inside.
"The ordeal took place on Friday near the town of Mykanów in Poland, according to details left on LiveLeak, the video sharing website where the clip was posted. The bus was carrying 37 members of a choir, all of whom escaped serious injury, it is claimed on the website. Eight people were taken to hospital with minor injuries, according to other sources. Three people died in the storms which buffeted Poland at the end of last week, devastating villages in the south of the country. In the video, the bus passengers can be heard shouting in panic as the tornado becomes visible in front of them. The camera man rushes to the front of the vehicle in time to see the tornado cutting its way through a field at the side of the road, just metres from where the bus had pulled over. The vehicle then begins to shake violently, teetering briefly before toppling on its side, provoking screams of fear from the passengers. Although the camera man then loses his grip on his camera, it appears that the bus continued rolling for several seconds before coming to a halt.Thanks to The Telegraph for the spot.
Always look on the bright side of life under Labour
" WHAT IS A RECESSION?That's the BBC's helpful guide here to what is a recession. I particularly like the "But it is quite possible to have two quarters of negative growth and another couple of quarters of decent growth - so the economy actually grows year on year, despite going through a technical recession.", presumably that will be Gordon Brown's next fall back position. We have already had the UK is uniquely placed to ride out the worldwide economic problems, we have had the not as bad as under the Tories and now we are to have "only a technical recession".
There are a number of definitions of a recession.
The most commonly used one is when there are two quarters in a row of economic contraction, or negative growth.
But it is quite possible to have two quarters of negative growth and another couple of quarters of decent growth - so the economy actually grows year on year, despite going through a technical recession. "
One wonders what Gordon Brown, his Cabinet minions and Pravda/BBC will say when inflation even per their fiddled measure is over 10%, unemployment even per their fiddled measure is over 3 million, the pound reaches parity with the Euro and drops below 1.3 against the Dollar, house values are down 40& on their peak with concomitant rises in repossessions and over a third of the FTSE 100 Companies have left the UK to escape the swingeing increases in company taxation...
Gordon "Courage" Brown
I have predicted before that this Labour government will not give up what they perceive as the power that is theirs of right, and so a number of electoral scams will be tried during the run-up to the next general election. Remember Stalin's dictum
Here's another example:
Who said that a drowning man will grasp at any straw? Or should that be Straw?
All replies to the consultation had to be in by 11 August so we are too late to respond now. The next step in the timetable is described thus:
"It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes,"Expect to see no extra security on postal voting, despite the recommendations that have been made. As a result expect to see an increase in postal voting especially in marginal seats.
Here's another example:
"Moving the date of English Local Government Elections to the date of the European Parliament Elections in 2009 - Consultation"That's the title of a consultation document issued by "Communities and Local Government". Sounds odd, well the reasoning, so Paul Waugh writes in The Standard is this:
"Gordon Brown is set to postpone local elections next year in a bid to stave off a leadership challenge that could be triggered by a Labour wipeout....
...I hear that a further key plank in the plan is a move to delay the May local elections next year to coincide with the Euro 2009 elections in June.
By combining both polls, Brown would suffer just one national defeat rather than two and - most important of all - give rebel backbenchers less time to mobilise against him ahead of next year's summer recess.
Consultation on a little-noticed Government document, Moving the Date of the Local Elections, was formally completed last week and ministers are set to move quickly to pass the necessary secondary legislation to allow the postponement.
For the change to go ahead, a Parliamentary order has to be made by early October and so Mr Brown has authorised Communities Secretary Hazel Blears to swing into action as soon as the Commons returns after the conference season.
Labour is braced for a catastrophic defeat in many of its remaining town halls and faces wipeout in the last few redoubts where the party is in control. Labour faces the loss of Lancashire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire County Councils to a Tory tide that will strike fear into the hearts of Labour MPs who hold crucial marginal seats in each area. Ironically, all the Labour counties were held in 2005 because the local elections that year were held on the same day as Tony Blair's general election victory.
Shadow Local Government minister Bob Neill tells me: "Gordon Brown is clearly terrified of a bad beating in the county elections. You can be sure that if he was confident of holding on to Labour seats, he would hold the local and Euro elections on separate days. This is all about protecting Gordon's back."
Neill adds that last year's voting chaos in Scotland stemmed from the fact that the Scottish Parliament and local elections were held at the same time and voters were presented with two different voting systems. "We would have that again in England, with first past the post for local elections and a list system for the Euros," Neill says.
Despite recent speculation that there will be a move to oust Mr Brown this autumn, some MPs believe that David Miliband will have a better chance of taking over after the expected disaster in the May elections.
Some Blairites believe that Mr Brown will buy himself some time with his fightback plan and are very nervous of causing trouble at the time of the Pre-Budget Report. But wipeout next May would trigger a serious move to get a Cabinet consensus that it is time for Mr Brown to go.
There are pros and cons to delaying the May elections. Many councils feel annoyed that the counties get ignored all too often and that merging with the Euros will mean Brussels dominates the political debate. Some worry about the costs and the complexities of holding two polls on the same day.
The Government claims it could boost turnout and even cut costs in some areas. There are precedents for merging elections but given the current climate it's no wonder the Tories see this as a desperate move."
Who said that a drowning man will grasp at any straw? Or should that be Straw?
All replies to the consultation had to be in by 11 August so we are too late to respond now. The next step in the timetable is described thus:
"If we are to make an order moving the date of the local elections in 2009, such an order must be made by 7 November 2008. If following the consideration of the results of this consultation we were to change the date of the local elections, we would lay an order moving the date of the elections before Parliament not later than early October 2008."
Are the Chinese "at it" again?
I see that it appears that
All that and some dodgy scoring for Nastia Liukin of the United States, the Chinese really do understand how to win the subjectively scored events such as gymnastics and boxong.
" Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The Chinese government news agency Xinhua reported nine months ago that gold medal-winning gymnast He Kexin was 13 years old, which would make her ineligible to compete in the Beijing Games, the Associated Press said.
The Nov. 3 Xinhua report from China's Cities Game was found on its Web site by the Associated Press, the news agency said. The story was later inaccessible, though the AP said it saved a copy of the page. Sports editors at the state-run news agency declined to comment on the report, AP said.
If the age cited in the report is correct, He fails to meet the minimum age to participate in the Games, the AP said. Gymnasts must turn at least 16 in the Olympic year to be eligible. He's birthday is listed as Jan. 1, 1992, and she weighs 73 pounds (33 kilograms), according to the Olympic Games Web site.
An official with China's gymnastics delegation told the AP that the Xinhua report and others were incorrect. The International Gymnastics Federation told the news agency He's passport, which is the accepted proof of eligibility, shows she is age eligible. The International Olympic Committee also checked the passports of He and other Chinese gymnasts and deemed them valid, the news agency said."
All that and some dodgy scoring for Nastia Liukin of the United States, the Chinese really do understand how to win the subjectively scored events such as gymnastics and boxong.
Someone's got a bee in their bonnet
Someone's got a bee in their bonnet, take a look and decide how important this issue is.
Man Made Climate Change
If you want to learn some facts about Man Made Climate Change rather than just rely on the BBC and the Independent then please take a trip to Climate Skeptic. Their latest article highlights another Al Gore lie and the subject of settled science and there is also an excellent piece on Climate Change modelling.
The return of road-pricing - they need the tax revenues
It is being reported that this Labour government are planning the trials of a satellite based road pricing scheme that could see drivers charged for every mile they drive. Eight areas of the country have been selected by the Government these meant to be secret trials, these trials will commence in 2010 and are expected to pave (no pun intended) the way for tolls on motorways. Do you remember the largest petition on the Number 10 website? It was the petition against road-pricing that garnered nearly 2 million signatures. As a result of this petition Douglas Alexander, the then Transport Minister, said that the government would "listen to people". Since then Gordon Brown has incessantly promised to listen and learn but it would seem that he and his government just don't take account of what they are told. Last year I wrote:
"Still I am sure that as Gordon Brown has 'vowed that he would "listen" and "learn"' this bill be meet with his disfavour and proceed no further. Hold on, news reaches me that this policy would raise taxes so I think any opposition from Gordon Brown is unlikely."It looks as though I was correct, the Labour government has even less money to spare than it did last year; Gordon needs the money so he will press ahead with this scheme and the British people can just "go hang".
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Technological warfare
Wired have some interesting news:
Thanks to Samizdata for the spot.
Read the rest and feel a) happy that such technology is in "our" hands and/or b) worried that "they" might also have it...
"Boeing announced today the first ever test firing of a real-life ray gun that could become US special forces' way to carry out covert strikes with "plausible deniability."
In tests earlier this month at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, Boeing's Advanced Tactical Laser -- a modified C-130H aircraft -- "fired its high-energy chemical laser through its beam control system. The beam control system acquired a ground target and guided the laser beam to the target, as directed by ATL's battle management system."
"By firing the laser through the beam control system for the first time, the ATL team has begun to demonstrate the functionality of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft," Boeing exec Scott Fancher said, in a statement.
But what Fancher didn't mention (and what I explore over on the New Scientist web site) is that this capability will allow Special Forces to strike with maximum precision, from long distances -- without being blamed from the attacks. "Plausible deniability" is how the presentation put it."
Thanks to Samizdata for the spot.
Interesting opinion piece..
"perhaps Mr Lawson now knows a little of how the general public feels when the guard dog they’ve kept, fed, trained and cleared up after all their lives (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax) turns on them instead of the burglar.
Because it’s easier. Or because its new masters told it to.."
That's from Ambush Predator, do read the rest.
Prove it!
The BBC are "reporting" that
"Prince Charles must prove his claim that GM crops could cause a global environmental disaster, Environment Minister Phil Woolas has challenged.Oddly the BBC and Labour seem less concerned with anyone proving that the claims made for the effects of Man Made Climate Change are correct.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the minister said it is now down to the opponents of genetically modified food to prove it is unsafe.
"If it has been a disaster then please provide the evidence," he said."
Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax the rich
Health Minister Ivan Lewis has called on the government to consider a tax on high earners to help the middle classes through the economic slowdown. He is quoted in today's Sunday Times as saying that introducing practical measures to boost morale at this difficult time was vital. He warned that Labour will lose the next election if they do not take tough tax decisions to bail out core voters.
Has Mr Lewis any idea how many people actually earn over the £250,000 figure that it is rumoured he considers high earners? Does he know how much extra tax this policy would raise?
Just like in the 1970s we are heading for punitively high tax levels borne out of envy and revenge, 98% marginal tax rates anyone?
Has Mr Lewis any idea how many people actually earn over the £250,000 figure that it is rumoured he considers high earners? Does he know how much extra tax this policy would raise?
Just like in the 1970s we are heading for punitively high tax levels borne out of envy and revenge, 98% marginal tax rates anyone?
The most ingenious exam cheating method I have ever seen
Cheating in exams is a lot more hi-tech than in my day.
Note: NotaSheep does not condone cheating in any exam, although with the dumbing down of the exam system I also fail to see why anyone would need to cheat...
573,639 the figure of shame
This most totalitarian ever UK government now have 573,639 people on the DNA database who who have not been convicted, cautioned, formally warned or reprimanded. This government will not rest until we are all have our DNA on record and are tagged and monitored wherever we go. The large TV screens being put in place four years before the 2012 Olympics are not the only echoes of George Orwell's 1984, a book that this Labour government have taken as a template rather than a warning.
A perfect storm
Haven't Gordon and the rest of the Labour Government been clever, they have screwed the UK in so many ways and messed it up for whoever follows them. Meanwhile they all have lovely public sector pensions to live off as well as the properties paid for by the UK taxpayer and all of the chattels in the properties. They can all disappear to whatever sun drenched island paradise takes their fancy, or in Gordon Brown's case whatever dour, drizzle ridden Scottish mansion he desires, and wave us poor suckers good-bye. Is scum too strong a word?
As Burning Our Money helpfully lists, these are the current headline economic figures:
As Burning Our Money helpfully lists, these are the current headline economic figures:
" * Inflation accelerating- CPI currently 4.4% and RPI 5%. The Governor of the Bank of England - the man charged with keeping it at 2% - admits it will go higher still
* Sterling collapsing - against our trade weighted basket of currencies, sterling is now down 13% over the last year... and the inflation pressure is up even further
* Unemployment taking off - now up to 5.4%... so just since Tuesday, the Misery Index has pushed up a further 0.2% to 10.4% (compared to just 9.6% in May 1997)
* Public finances disintegrating - in the first three months of this financial year the government clocked up a £20.4bn deficit, £8bn worse than last year... the collapse in the housing market on its own means a £3-4bn budgetary hole, and this morning's FT brought news that Merrill Lynch is charging $29bn of its global sub-prime losses against UK tax - which means they will pay no UK tax at all for several decades! (HTP Joan W)
* Home repossessions soaring - despite constant assurances that "it was much worse under the Tories", the latest stats for home repossession orders show they are already running at around 112,000 pa (2008 H1 sa), and climbing fast; that's actually only 30,000 less than the 143,000 recorded at the height of the Tory mess in 1991... so watch this space (and remember the stats next time Yvette Cooper tries to make out the Tories were worse)."
Michael Phelps - Is he the greatest ever Olympian?
The answer is simple, NO. His performances have been incredible but the number of medals available to swimmers artificially boosts their potential haul. How many medals could Usain Bolt win if as well as the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 metre relay there were events for running the 100 metres whilst waving at the crowd or running backwards?
I would say that equally great or greater Olympians than Michael Phelps include:
Daley Thompson who won the Decathlon in 1980 and 1984, the latter with a World Record points score - just two Olympics but in possibly the hardest event
Carl Lewis who won four golds in 1984, two golds and silver in 1988, two golds in 1992 and a further gold in 1996. That's nine golds over four Olympics. Carl Lewis is the only man to defend a 100 meter Olympic title successfully and is also the only man to defend long jump Olympic title successfully, four times. No other long jumper has ever won twice at the Olympic games
Paavo Nurmi who won three golds and a silver in 1920, five golds and two silvers in 1924 and a gold and a silver in 1928. Paavo Nurmi was banned from competing in 1932 as he was considered to have turned professional
Emil Zátopek who won one gold in 1948 and then won the 5000 metres, the 10000 metres
and the first ever marathon he had ever run in 1952
Reiner Klimke the German equestrian who won gold in 1964, gold and bronze in 1968, gold and bronze in 1976, two golds in 1984 and a further gold in 1988.
Aladár Gerevich who won gold medals in the Fencing team and individual in 1932, gold and bronze medals in the Fencing team and individual in 1936, missed the 1940 and 1940 Olympiads because of World War 2 and then won gold medals again in 1948, a gold, silver and bronze in 1952,a gold in 1956 and a final gold in 1960 (at the age of 50). That's seven gold medals, a silver and two bronzes in six Olympics over 28 years
Sir Stephen Redgrave a gold medal in the rowing in five consecutive Olympics 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000
Who was the greatest Olympian? My vote would go to Sir Stephen Redgrave or Carl Lewis. The BBC will however go for quantity over quality every time.
I would say that equally great or greater Olympians than Michael Phelps include:
Daley Thompson who won the Decathlon in 1980 and 1984, the latter with a World Record points score - just two Olympics but in possibly the hardest event
Carl Lewis who won four golds in 1984, two golds and silver in 1988, two golds in 1992 and a further gold in 1996. That's nine golds over four Olympics. Carl Lewis is the only man to defend a 100 meter Olympic title successfully and is also the only man to defend long jump Olympic title successfully, four times. No other long jumper has ever won twice at the Olympic games
Paavo Nurmi who won three golds and a silver in 1920, five golds and two silvers in 1924 and a gold and a silver in 1928. Paavo Nurmi was banned from competing in 1932 as he was considered to have turned professional
Emil Zátopek who won one gold in 1948 and then won the 5000 metres, the 10000 metres
and the first ever marathon he had ever run in 1952
Reiner Klimke the German equestrian who won gold in 1964, gold and bronze in 1968, gold and bronze in 1976, two golds in 1984 and a further gold in 1988.
Aladár Gerevich who won gold medals in the Fencing team and individual in 1932, gold and bronze medals in the Fencing team and individual in 1936, missed the 1940 and 1940 Olympiads because of World War 2 and then won gold medals again in 1948, a gold, silver and bronze in 1952,a gold in 1956 and a final gold in 1960 (at the age of 50). That's seven gold medals, a silver and two bronzes in six Olympics over 28 years
Sir Stephen Redgrave a gold medal in the rowing in five consecutive Olympics 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000
Who was the greatest Olympian? My vote would go to Sir Stephen Redgrave or Carl Lewis. The BBC will however go for quantity over quality every time.
Poor Katherine Grainger
Three consecutive silver medals for Katherine Grainger in Olympic rowing. She's 32 now, could she row one last Olympics in 2012?
Saturday, 16 August 2008
The fightback has started, in Huddersfield
Read the story and derive a little hope. However one victory over tinpot dictators should not raise our hopes too high, there are many more of them and they are often intoxicated with the power they have.
Home Town decisions - Beijing 2008 style
Further to my earlier post about the possible home town fixing in the Olympic boxong, I see that there have been examples in other sports. Apparently
The Chinese are so fixated with beating the Americans in the final medals table that they will stop at nothing to achieve this. Just like East Germany's state drug programme in the 1970s and 1980s the goal of doing it for the Fatherland/Motherland is all.
"Claims of questionable officiating and even cheating flared Wednesday with the Olympic gymnastics, shooting and boxing competitions coming under fire.
Australian veteran shooter Russell Mark alleged that Chinese judges, influenced by a boisterous home crowd, helped local hope Hu Binyuan win the Double Trap bronze medal.
Mark, 44, the Atlanta Games gold medalist who finished fifth in the event here, told Australian media those local judges had awarded a hit to Hu even though he missed the target.
"One of them clearly he missed," Mark was quoted as saying. “I don't think anyone out there thought he hit it. If that had been for a gold medal, I would have been protesting.”
“The referees have to be in unison but there was a lot of doubt about a lot of the shots out there,” he said. "I'm glad it wasn't for a gold medal because that is all that this Games would have been remembered for unfortunately."
Asked if the judges deliberately ruled in Hu's favor, Mark said: “I'd hate to think that but you get the feeling out there, when someone clearly misses, all the shooters out there can tell if he missed or hit it. Everybody stopped.”
Mark said the judges may have been influenced by the boisterous crowd of 10,000 that cheered the Chinese shooter on.
"The crowd were yelling and calling shots in and out," he said. "It was like a circus out there. It would have been a brave Chinese judge that would have put his hand up [to signify a miss]."
There was no immediate reaction on Mark's outburst from Games officials or the International Shooting Federation.
Similar claims of hometown advantage were made at the National Indoor Stadium after China beat the United States to the women's team gymnastics gold medal in front of a noisy Chinese crowd.
US team coordinator Martha Karolyi blamed stadium officials for distracting one of their athletes who went on to make crucial mistakes that destroyed their title hopes.
China won its showdown after Alicia Sacramone fell off the balance beam then slipped over during the floor exercise, opening the way for the home team to post a narrow 2.375 point victory.
"First they called her name up, then they did not even put her name up even though the Chinese had finished ... (it was) totally unusual holding," she said.
"She was mentally prepared and then she had a mental break, then after not doing the job on the beam, on the floor exercise her concentration was bothered."
Karolyi insisted the world champion US team would have won gold if Sacramone had not become unsettled."
The Chinese are so fixated with beating the Americans in the final medals table that they will stop at nothing to achieve this. Just like East Germany's state drug programme in the 1970s and 1980s the goal of doing it for the Fatherland/Motherland is all.
BBC bias
"In those days we were particularly strict about political balance, but of course you could invite an opposition MP - who were all Labour during the time that I was there - who was particularly plausible and attractive and put him up against a bigoted ineffective Conservative and say that we had achieved political balance. And in the same way you got your point over by choosing your subject and choosing the questions to ask, because all the questions could be based on ‘is it really just that such and such could happen’."That was written by Anthony Jay, for the context, please take a look at Harmless Sky.
The BBC as proud to brainwash the public, with the BBC's liberal left wing views and peculiar world political and economic positions, today as they ever were.
Usain Bolt
I blogged after the second round of the Olympic 100 metres for men that "Jamaica's Usain Bolt looks unbeatable". I was right, he was. He won the final in a new world record time of 9.69 and he was as in the second round slowing down as he crossed the line. The winning margin was huge, I would imagine the largest ever in an Olympic 100 metre final. Usain Bolt may well be the first man to break under 9.60 seconds and to think the 200 meters is meant to be his best event!
We hate motorists, they are all guilty...
Just as all men are rapists, the left have decided that all motorists are guilty of something. Hence we have speed cameras enforcing much reduced speed limits and average speed cameras on any set of road works, again with the speed limit set dangerously low and eagerly enforced. The average speed cameras "protecting" the long-term roadworks on the A40 heading west after Savoy Circus are now set to 20mph, the road is now full of drivers who are looking at their speedometers and trying desperately to keep to 20mph whilst other drivers who have missed the 20mph sign and assume the limit is still 30mpf, drive along flashing the "slowcoaches"; road safety - I think not.
Now I read that (my emphasis)
Now I read that (my emphasis)
"A new offence of causing death by careless driving comes into force across the UK next week. It means motorists who kill while avoidably distracted could for the first time face prison.So pressing a button to retune a car radio at the same time as someone cuts into your lane is to be considered as a imprisonable offence and on a par with texting whilst driving. Is eating is now illegal in a car? What has happened to this Country? Are we all so cowed by the all powerful State that we will just sit back and take whatever restrictions on our liberty are?
Historically, careless driving has only been punishable with a fine, whatever the consequences.
The new offence means UK motorists, who kill after allowing themselves to lose concentration, can be imprisoned for up to five years.
So what sort of distractions might count against a driver who causes a fatal crash?
The Ministry of Justice gives these examples: reading a text message, glancing at a map, eating, drinking, tuning a radio, putting on make up."
BBC news priorities
I note that the BBC seem to have managed to keep General Anatoly Nogovitsyn's comments about Poland now being a Russian nuclear target off of their web news headlines. The BBC have of course managed to find room for " Israel 'worry' at settler attacks" -
Is there a department at the BBC devoted to minimising stories that show Russia or any other ex-"communist" state and to denigrating the one democracy in the Middle East, or is it just second nature to the BBC?
"Israeli security officials are reported to have raised concerns about an increase in violence by Jewish settlers in the West Bank."
Is there a department at the BBC devoted to minimising stories that show Russia or any other ex-"communist" state and to denigrating the one democracy in the Middle East, or is it just second nature to the BBC?
Scoring the boxing
The history of Olympic boxing is rich with stories of fixes, who can forget the various Seoul boxing scandals. Now as I predicted the boxing scoring is becoming a story again.
AOL amongst others reports AP saying that "An amateur boxing tournament doesn't really begin until the first fighter complains about the judging.... British bantamweight Joe Murray and his coach accused Olympic judges of favoring his Chinese opponent Tuesday, a few hours after the Ukrainian team lost a protest of its fighter's loss to another Chinese boxer.
Murray left the ring incensed after his 17-7 opening-round loss to Gu Yu. Murray beat Gu at the world championships in Chicago last fall, but fell behind early and couldn't catch up in front of several thousand roaring fans at Workers' Gymnasium.
Olympic history is full of loud protests over boxing results both before and after 1992, when the sport switched to a computer scoring system to make the results more transparent.
Only one theme is constant: The home team is always assumed to get a better shake.
"I knew they were going to give him everything he wanted," said Murray, who trailed 4-0 after the first two minutes. "I've been watching the scoring here the first four days, and I knew it was bad, so I was expecting it. ... I think they were giving him a score for anything, and I had to work to get all of my points."
British coach Terry Edwards echoed his fighter's complaints, calling the scores "absolutely stupid."
"The judges took it away from him," Edwards said of the early rounds, when the score deficit forced Murray to change his style. "I thought they were very generous to the Chinese. You expect a slight bias, but you come to the Olympic Games and expect a level playing field.
"Joe didn't box the best I've seen him, but the scoring makes a difference and the tactics had to be changed because of the scoring. Everything the Chinese guy touched, they pressed the button for him."
Richard Baker, spokesman for the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), confirmed the Ukrainian team filed a protest over lightweight Oleksandr Klyuchko's 10-8 loss to Hu Qing on Monday night. The protest was reviewed and denied, Baker said.
"I thought the Chinese opponent was not very good," said Klyuchko, who beat Hu 26-13 at last fall's world championships. "I'm very sad. I thought I would be the winner. I already beat him once before."
The grousing hasn't been confined to those defeated by the Chinese, either. U.S. coach Dan Campbell didn't like the scoring in medal favorite Rau'shee Warren's upset loss to South Korea's Lee Ok-sung, bemoaning several instances of simultaneous points awarded to both fighters.
"Some things you just don't ever want to say, so I won't, but it was just weird the way the scoring was," Campbell said. "It's very stunning, and the thing we're going to try to keep letting our guys know is you've got to try to keep it out of the hands of the judges. That's a hard thing to do."
Judging controversy is as synonymous with amateur boxing as headgear, so this new slate of complaints are no surprise to AIBA or Olympics officials. Still, any more questionable decisions in favor of the relatively inexperience Chinese team could cast doubt on the sport's progress over the last 18 months, when a slate of remarkable reforms seemed to begin a cleanup of a long-dirty sport.
Amateur boxing wears a huge target for criticism largely because its points-based punch scoring is almost incomprehensible to even knowledgeable boxing fans. There can be a wide interpretation of what constitutes a scoring punch, even among the five judges sitting ringside at any bout.
Computer scoring was introduced at the Olympics four years after American Roy Jones Jr. lost the championship bout in Seoul to South Korean light middleweight Park Si-hun, a decision still considered one of the great travesties in Olympic history. Park even apologized to Jones, and one judge eventually acknowledged his decision was a mistake.
Earlier in the Seoul Games, bantamweight Byun Jong-il famously sat on the canvas at the darkened gym for 67 minutes to protest his loss to Bulgaria's Alexander Hristov. Korean boxing officials, fans and a guard also attacked referee Keith Walker, who had deducted points from Byun for head-butting.
Some of those same Koreans were furious four years earlier in Los Angeles when their fighters lost a handful of key decisions, including Jerry Page's egregious light welterweight quarterfinal victory over Kim Dong-kil."
AOL amongst others reports AP saying that "An amateur boxing tournament doesn't really begin until the first fighter complains about the judging.... British bantamweight Joe Murray and his coach accused Olympic judges of favoring his Chinese opponent Tuesday, a few hours after the Ukrainian team lost a protest of its fighter's loss to another Chinese boxer.
Murray left the ring incensed after his 17-7 opening-round loss to Gu Yu. Murray beat Gu at the world championships in Chicago last fall, but fell behind early and couldn't catch up in front of several thousand roaring fans at Workers' Gymnasium.
Olympic history is full of loud protests over boxing results both before and after 1992, when the sport switched to a computer scoring system to make the results more transparent.
Only one theme is constant: The home team is always assumed to get a better shake.
"I knew they were going to give him everything he wanted," said Murray, who trailed 4-0 after the first two minutes. "I've been watching the scoring here the first four days, and I knew it was bad, so I was expecting it. ... I think they were giving him a score for anything, and I had to work to get all of my points."
British coach Terry Edwards echoed his fighter's complaints, calling the scores "absolutely stupid."
"The judges took it away from him," Edwards said of the early rounds, when the score deficit forced Murray to change his style. "I thought they were very generous to the Chinese. You expect a slight bias, but you come to the Olympic Games and expect a level playing field.
"Joe didn't box the best I've seen him, but the scoring makes a difference and the tactics had to be changed because of the scoring. Everything the Chinese guy touched, they pressed the button for him."
Richard Baker, spokesman for the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), confirmed the Ukrainian team filed a protest over lightweight Oleksandr Klyuchko's 10-8 loss to Hu Qing on Monday night. The protest was reviewed and denied, Baker said.
"I thought the Chinese opponent was not very good," said Klyuchko, who beat Hu 26-13 at last fall's world championships. "I'm very sad. I thought I would be the winner. I already beat him once before."
The grousing hasn't been confined to those defeated by the Chinese, either. U.S. coach Dan Campbell didn't like the scoring in medal favorite Rau'shee Warren's upset loss to South Korea's Lee Ok-sung, bemoaning several instances of simultaneous points awarded to both fighters.
"Some things you just don't ever want to say, so I won't, but it was just weird the way the scoring was," Campbell said. "It's very stunning, and the thing we're going to try to keep letting our guys know is you've got to try to keep it out of the hands of the judges. That's a hard thing to do."
Judging controversy is as synonymous with amateur boxing as headgear, so this new slate of complaints are no surprise to AIBA or Olympics officials. Still, any more questionable decisions in favor of the relatively inexperience Chinese team could cast doubt on the sport's progress over the last 18 months, when a slate of remarkable reforms seemed to begin a cleanup of a long-dirty sport.
Amateur boxing wears a huge target for criticism largely because its points-based punch scoring is almost incomprehensible to even knowledgeable boxing fans. There can be a wide interpretation of what constitutes a scoring punch, even among the five judges sitting ringside at any bout.
Computer scoring was introduced at the Olympics four years after American Roy Jones Jr. lost the championship bout in Seoul to South Korean light middleweight Park Si-hun, a decision still considered one of the great travesties in Olympic history. Park even apologized to Jones, and one judge eventually acknowledged his decision was a mistake.
Earlier in the Seoul Games, bantamweight Byun Jong-il famously sat on the canvas at the darkened gym for 67 minutes to protest his loss to Bulgaria's Alexander Hristov. Korean boxing officials, fans and a guard also attacked referee Keith Walker, who had deducted points from Byun for head-butting.
Some of those same Koreans were furious four years earlier in Los Angeles when their fighters lost a handful of key decisions, including Jerry Page's egregious light welterweight quarterfinal victory over Kim Dong-kil."
Gordon "Courage" Brown
The Sun has this morning had "a pop" at Gordon Brown. In a piece entitled "Where's Gord?" asks:
I have highlighted the key sentence. It would appear that The Sun has decided that, as it has to be on the winning side at the next election, it must move from Labour and Gordon Brown to David Cameron and the Conservatives.
"WHEN David Cameron arrives in Georgia today he will be the first major British politician to visit the small, democratic country being systematically trashed by the mighty Russian bear.
Some will accuse him of being an opportunist. After all, what can he do to help solve the conflict? How many battalions does he command?
But at least the Tory leader is taking a strong stand against increasing Russian belligerence.
And this was made all the more urgent by last night’s chilling warning from a senior Russian general that Poland — a member of Nato — has become a nuclear target since daring to allow America to build an anti-missile system on its land.
This escalation in tension only makes the question more urgent: Where on earth are Gordon Brown and his Foreign Secretary David Miliband?
It was only AFTER the Tory leader had been on the airwaves on Monday that Mr Brown issued a brief statement.
And again on Tuesday the Prime Minister recorded a brief TV clip AFTER David Cameron had already spoken out at a televised press conference. That was almost FIVE DAYS after the conflict had begun.
The Government has been made to look weak. Not because of anything David Cameron has done, but because of what Downing Street HASN’T done.
It is reasonable to ask where our Prime Minister is . . .
As French President Nicolas Sarkozy flits between Moscow and the Georgian capital Tbilisi, hammering out a peace deal.
As German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits the two warring countries.
As American Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice races between European capitals and the region trying to rein in the out-of-control Russians.
As President Bush orders humanitarian supplies into beleaguered Georgia and makes daily statements from the White House Rose Garden.
We cannot imagine Tony Blair taking such a low key role if the old Cold War had threatened to rise from the grave during his watch.
He would have been the FIRST to rally our allies, the FIRST to order in aid, the FIRST to speak out against Russian aggression.
Gordon Brown has a reputation for dithering. He has added to it this week. And by doing so he has made David Cameron look like a credible leader.
It is time Mr Brown shook his reputed “clunking fist” in Russia’s face as it threatens the world’s peaceful and prosperous future."
I have highlighted the key sentence. It would appear that The Sun has decided that, as it has to be on the winning side at the next election, it must move from Labour and Gordon Brown to David Cameron and the Conservatives.
The seventeenth winner of the weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award
The Telegraph reports that Chris Sims, Chief Constable of Staffordshire, has said regarding the target culture of modern policing that
"I think at its worst it allowed the 'policing to targets' culture to take hold... so at its worst, at its most extreme it encouraged that sort of policing to targets.""No shit, Sherlock"
Friday, 15 August 2008
Hello, hello, he's back - next Tuesday
Hello, hello Gary Glitter is due to return to the UK next Tuesday.
Yes, I know what he was convicted for, but I still enjoy the bombast of his songs, he was also a great live performer. Anyway, if radio stations still play ___ ____ and ___ ____, please fill in the names yourself, then why not Gary Glitter?
Yes, I know what he was convicted for, but I still enjoy the bombast of his songs, he was also a great live performer. Anyway, if radio stations still play ___ ____ and ___ ____, please fill in the names yourself, then why not Gary Glitter?
Sacrilege
"MTV readies 'Rocky Horror' redux"Remake The Rocky Horror Picture Show.... why? Nobody could ever play Dr Frank-N-Furter better than Tim Curry, whose combination of charm, sensuality and malice is inimitable and cannot be bettered and why would anyone want to try. Nobody could play Riff Raff better then Richard O'Brien, evil, weird and magnificent. Too many other great performances to list here...
Housing crisis
The Telegraph report that
"those at risk of losing their home reached a 15-year high"Meanwhile the ever more ridiculous Caroline Fline parotted
"While we are not seeing repossessions on the same scale as the early 1990s, we are making sure the right advice and support is available for the minority of borrowers who may need it at the moment because of global economic pressures."I see that "Kirsty, Kirsty, Kirsty, is defending the indefensible as well as ever. Caroline Flint is rapidly moving into the upper echelons of the most risible government ministers.
Oh those Russians - reprise
There were many limp brained lefties who excused Russia's invasion of Georgia because Georgia wanted to join NATO and the EU as though that was a good reason for one sovereign nation to invade another and kill many civilians and make over 100,000 people homeless. I wonder if they will now excuse Russia for threatening that
Strange the way that many lefties are ready to condemn the US for practically anything and yet excuse the Russians and Chinese for practically everything. Do they believe that Russia and China are in any way Socialist paradises? Surely all the evidence points to them being rather nasty totalitarian regimes. I suppose that so long as they are anti-America then they will get the unconditional support of many on the left in this country and elsewhere.
I suppose that we have enough Poles in this country to start a pretty decently manned Polish Air Force again.
"Poland is making itself a target. This is 100 percent"General Anatoly Nogovitsyn is reported as saying also that
"It becomes a target for attack. Such targets are destroyed as a first priority"Apparently the General also said that Russia's military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons
"against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them"
Strange the way that many lefties are ready to condemn the US for practically anything and yet excuse the Russians and Chinese for practically everything. Do they believe that Russia and China are in any way Socialist paradises? Surely all the evidence points to them being rather nasty totalitarian regimes. I suppose that so long as they are anti-America then they will get the unconditional support of many on the left in this country and elsewhere.
I suppose that we have enough Poles in this country to start a pretty decently manned Polish Air Force again.
Oh those Russians
I see that Russia's foreign minister has let slip that the world
"can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity."And protests from the anti-war movement in the west comes there none...
The 2008 Olympic Mens 100m
Jamaica's Usain Bolt looks unbeatable, his second round jog to finish in 9.92 was as fine a piece of relaxed sprinting as I have seen. Before the Olympics I was leaning towards Bolt's Jamaican team-mate Asafa Powell winning, now I am leaning towards Bolt. I think both have the measure of Tyson Gay, so maybe a repeat of Atlanta in 1996 is in prospect, no American medallists in the blue riband event - that year Donovan Bailey of Canada won gold ahead of Namibia's Frankie Fredericks and Trinidad and Tobago's Ato Boldon.
Of course he touched it
"James Blake is clearly upset with the umpire after a call went against him in the closing stages of his epic defeat against Fernando Gonzalez in the men's semi-finals.".
The ball definitely touched Gonzales' racket. Tennis is clearly no longer a gentleman's game.
The ball definitely touched Gonzales' racket. Tennis is clearly no longer a gentleman's game.
Guess what information about these three men we will find out (update)
Further to this I see that the Daily Mail has broken step and is reporting that:
"The men are of Asian origin and aged 21, 22 and 23, police said today."The BBC report has not yet been updated to reflect this news. The facts that The Mail describes them as Asian and the BBC has not mentioned their background leads me to assume that the three men may well be - let's see, I may be wrong.
The Country is all, the people mean nothing
The title of this piece is how I believe many in our authoritarian Labour government actually think and it is also how the Chinese government thinks.
"The reason for this is that we must put our country's interest first ... The girl appearing on the picture must be flawless in terms of her facial expression and the great feeling she can give to people."Those are the words of the ceremony's musical director when he explained why the 9 year old girl who charmed the audience with a performance of "Ode to the Motherland" was miming. The vocal line was apparently sung by another girl who was deemed not pretty enough to appear on screen.
The Zimbabwe power-sharing talks
I'll make this clear for the hard of thinking - ROBERT MUGABE WILL NOT GIVE UP EXECUTIVE POWER. The news that
"The passport of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was briefly seized today as he tried to fly to talks to end the leadership dispute with president Robert Mugabe."should come as no surprise.
The important A-level results
Chicken Yoghurt has the key A-level results:
"The Independent:Two BlondesThis trend has been spotted before but never before as well documented.
The Times: Two Brunettes
The Telegraph: One BRunette, one BLonde, and one Redhead
Daily Mail: One BR, one BL, and one R.
Sky News: One BR, one BL, and one R
The Guardian: Two BLs
The Sun: Two BL and one T (Token non-ugly bloke)
ITN: Two BLs and one BR. "
Guess what information about these three men we will find out over the next few days...
The BBC are upset to report that
"Three men have been arrested on suspicion of committing terror offences, police say.I wonder when we will learn what ethnic community these three men are from.
Two of the men were held at Manchester Airport, while the third was detained in nearby Accrington.
Lancashire Police said the men, aged 21, 22 and 23, were all from the Blackburn area. Their homes are being searched by specialist officers."
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