Halle Berry's breasts prove a distraction to Jay Leno - A Rule 5 post

Halle Berry still has it, lots of it...

"Your problem is you can't sit down, mine is I can't stand up".

BBC protecting the Labour Party from bad publicity as ever. Ex- Falkirk MP Eric Joyce guilty of assaulting two teenagers per BBC News

This BBC article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32557123 seems to omit the name of the political party that Eric Joyce was previously the MP for.

 

'Ex- Falkirk MP Eric Joyce guilty of assaulting two teenagers

 

Former Falkirk MP Eric Joyce has been found guilty of assaulting two teenage boys in an "unjustified and unprovoked" attack in a shop.

 

The 54-year-old assaulted the boys, aged 14 and 15, in a food store in north London, in October 2014.

 

One boy had been trying to pass Joyce in a narrow aisle and was knocked to the floor.

 

Joyce had denied two counts of common assault but has been found guilty by Westminster magistrates.'

 

Let there be no doubt that if he had been a former Conservative MP then the word Conservative would be in the headline and the first sentence.
 

The BBC's political bias disgusts me.

The BBC finally cover the Margaret Hodge story, sympathetically of course

On Wednesday I predicted how the BBC would report the Margaret Hodge story when they could no longer ignore it. Well the BBC have finally deigned to cover the Margaret Hodge story with a sympathetic interview on 5Live.  

'Speaking to Peter Allen on Radio 5 Live, Margaret Hodge has defended her own tax affairs after accusations that she has benefited from shares which were held in the tax haven of Liechtenstein, although she has been a vehement critic of tax avoidance and evasion.

Ms Hodge said that she never controlled the trust which held the shares and paid tax once the shares came onshore. She insisted she had not benefited during the time the shares were offshore.

She said "I have always paid tax to the full."

Her family came from Germany and Austria and after World War II, her family was dispersed across Europe.

The trust was set up by an aunt in France and an uncle in America. She said her relatives shouldn't have set up the scheme but repeated she never benefited when the shares were offshore.

Asked if she felt she could serve again as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Ms Hodge said she was hoping Labour will win the election so "it won't be up for grabs because it will be held by a member of the Opposition".

"But I don't believe that I have acted in any way inappropriately," she said.'

 So let's look at my predictions:

The Times has several pieces that are of special interest, first:

'... just under 96,000 Stemcor shares handed to Ms Hodge in 2011 came from [Liechtenstein], which is renowned for low tax rates. Three quarters of the shares in the family’s Liechtenstein trust had previously been held in Panama, which Ms Hodge described last month as “one of the most secretive jurisdictions” with “the least protection anywhere in the world against money laundering”. The veteran Labour MP was accused of sheer hypocrisy. She has repeatedly attacked big businesses and bankers who used offshore arrangements, but has not declared that she benefited from an offshore trust.'

But the extract that may be of most relevance is this:

'Ms Hodge's Stemcor shares were transferred onshore using the Liechtenstein Declaration Facility LDF)... The LDF was established in 2009 to encourage people with undeclared income or unpaid taxes to repatriate their assets from Liechtenstein by offering favourable terms. Tax liabilities under the scheme need be declared back to 1999, rather than the standard 20-year period. Users must pay the back taxes due, plus interest for the period, but the penalty is set at 10 percent of the sum owed, rather than 100 percent, and there is no threat of criminal prosecution.'

When the BBC deign to cover this story, they will be probably be quoting Margaret Hodge or one of her BBC supporters, stating that all taxes due were in fact paid. I doubt that someone will raise the question of the LDF's 1999 limit and ask how much tax might have been due if the more usual 20-year period had been applied. Likewise how much penalty was saved by being applied at 10% rather than the normal 100%.

So indeed the BBC did report:

'She said "I have always paid tax to the full."'

I'll not hold my breath waiting for any BBC 'journalist' to ask any of the more penetrating questions that I laid out on Wednesday and repeat above.

Ed Balls under Jeremy Paxman's interrogation

Ed Balls under Jeremy Paxman's interrogation in January 2014, just not answering questions and generally coming over so badly. Maybe the Conservative election strategy should be just to play Ed Balls interviews...



Remember that for 13 years of the last Labour government the top tax rate was 40%, it was raised about to 50% about 10 weeks before the 2010 election.


Here's Ed Balls being interviewed by Andrew Neil from February 2013



Just as slippery then...



And more recently from February of this year with Andrew Marr



Answer the f***ing question Balls.

Did Labour over-spend? - BBC News

Robert Preston sort of has to admit it...

'But Labour wasn't just asleep at the wheel when it came to City regulation. Arguably it was drunk at the wheel - in that it loved the City boom, for generating huge tax revenues that it then lavished on public services.

So the failure to keep the City properly in check was in a sense wilful and therefore doubly wrong

And there's another thing. Even best-in-class regulation of the City can't protect any economy from periodic shocks.

Which is why there is something to be said for George Osborne's favourite cliche, that it is sensible to mend the roof when the sun is shining.

Or to put it another way, when the economy is growing strongly, as it did through most of Labour's years in office, it probably does no harm to finance growth in public services largely through the proceeds of growth, rather than through borrowing.

Why? Well, the lower the national debt at the time recession bites, the more scope there is to borrow to protect public services and increase benefits, to shield people from the pain of recession.'

 

More here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32549892

But you didn't answer the question Ed Miliband

Once again Ed Miliband shows why you can't trust Ed Miliband and Ed Balls with the UK economy.



Too right Ed Balls should have been sacked and never let near a position of economic responsibility ever again.

Gerald Ford or Ed Miliband, or Neil Kinnock

The left ridiculed Gerald Ford as a man who couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time. Last night we discovered that Ed Miliband can't even walk straight when not chewing gum...




Actually that reminds me more of Neil Kinnock...

The Party Leaders 'get it on'... Scary and yet compelling

Thanks to Sky News...

David Cameron's lascivious 'love'  at 0:33 is my favourite moment, well that and Cameron and Clegg nodding at each other just before the end of the video.

General Election Question Time this week

The recent Conservative improvement in the opinion polls means that, even more than might have previously been the case, the BBC will be desperate to boost Ed Miliband and denigrate David Cameron on tonight's Question Time.

We know that the audience has been split in a way that will reduce the right of centre voice to just 25% of those present.

Now will David Dimbleby be his usual impartial self?



Context here.

The BBC's choice of whether to use 'said', 'claimed' or not report the story at all.

If a news story is negative for a party, person or country that the BBC opposes, yes the BBC is not the impartial reporter of the news that it claims to be, then the word 'said' or 'says' is used. As an example the headline on the BBC News main page this morning is:

If the news story is negative for a party, person or country that the BBC supports then the word 'claimed' or 'claims' is used. Look at BBC reports that start 'Ed Miliband has promised', later on will come 'the Conservative party claimed...'.

Of course if the story is really negative for a party, person or country that the BBC supports then the story will just not be reported at all. Currently if you News Google 'Margaret Hodege' these are the returned results...

On the BBC it is this...

Do you see how the BBC operate?

Unbiased by charter? I think not, bias seeps through their collective veins, you can see it every single day.

Nigel Pearson, oh dear

Baker: What criticisms .. do you not think are right?

Pearson: Have you been on holiday for six months? Have you been away for six months?

Baker: I am not quite sure what specific criticism you are referring to?

Pearson: I think you must have been either head in the clouds, away on holiday or reporting on a different team because if you don’t know the answer to that question, I think your question is absolutely... unbelievable, the fact you do not understand where I am coming from. If you don’t know the answer to that question then I think you are an ostrich. Your head must be in the sand. Is your head in the sand? Are you flexible enough to get your head in the sand? My suspicion would be no.

Baker: Probably not.

Pearson: I can, you can’t. You can’t.

Someone: Any more questions, or shall we wrap it there?

Pearson: Listen you have been here often enough and for you to ask that question, you are either being very, very silly or you are being absolutely stupid, one of the two, because for you to ask that question, I am sorry son, but you are daft.

Baker: There hasn’t been much harsh criticism of the players.

Pearson:  You are wrong. No, you are wrong. You have been in here, you've been here, I know you have so don’t give that crap with me, please don’t give that crap with me. I will smile at you because I can afford to smile at you. Now do you want to ask a different question or do you want to ask it differently. Come on, ask it, ask it, or are you not capable?

Baker:  I just don’t know what,  you, erm…

Pearson: You don’t know, 'what erm?'

Baker: I don’t know how you’ve taken that question...

Pearson: Well you must be very stupid. I’m sorry. 

In my opinion Nigel Pearson started off just the right side of the line but crossed it with his flexibility comments and descended into bullying with his 'Now do you want to ask a different question or do you want to ask it differently.'

I've heard that tone of voice from bullying teachers and supercilious bosses over the years, albeit not aimed at me. It says I'm superior to you and my understanding of the English language is so much superior to you that I'll help you out by emphasising the difference between two similar words. It reeks of, I am so much in control of you that you have no chance of winning this argument.

As for the impersonation 'what 'erm'' that was just plain nasty. Like the nasty teacher at school who everybody hated.

I had a lot of respect for Nigel Pearson before last night, the way he's dragged Leicester City back from relegation, but after that interview...

Imagine the BBC coverage if it had been a senior Conservative politician

Imagine the BBC coverage if it had been a senior Conservative politician featured on the front page of The Times as having questionable tax avoidance actions to account (pun intended) for. The BBC would be headlining the story and the Conservative concerned would be being doorstepped and David Cameron and George Osborne would be being asked to condemn their colleague. 'Tory sleaze' would be the BBC headline and the outrage would be tangible.

However this Times story related to senior Labour MP (and Head of the Public Accounts Committee) Margaret Hodge. The Times has several pieces that are of special interest, first:

'... just under 96,000 Stemcor shares handed to Ms Hodge in 2011 came from [Liechtenstein], which is renowned for low tax rates. Three quarters of the shares in the family’s Liechtenstein trust had previously been held in Panama, which Ms Hodge described last month as “one of the most secretive jurisdictions” with “the least protection anywhere in the world against money laundering”. The veteran Labour MP was accused of sheer hypocrisy. She has repeatedly attacked big businesses and bankers who used offshore arrangements, but has not declared that she benefited from an offshore trust.'

But the extract that may be of most relevance is this:

'Ms Hodge's Stemcor shares were transferred onshore using the Liechenstein Declaration Facility LDF)... The LDF was established in 2009 to encourage people with undeclared income or unpaid taxes to repatriate their assets from Liechtenstein by offering favourable terms. Tax liabilities under the scheme need be declared back to 1999, rather than the standard 20-year period. Users must pay the back taxes due, plus interest for the period, but the penalty is set at 10 percent of the sum owed, rather than 100 percent, and there is no threat of criminal prosecution.'

When the BBC deign to cover this story, they will be probably be quoting Margaret Hodge or one of her BBC supporters, stating that all taxes due were in fact paid. I doubt that someone will raise the question of the LDF's 1999 limit and ask how much tax might have been due if the more usual 20-year period had been applied. Likewise how much penalty was saved by being applied at 10% rather than the normal 100%.


Here's what happens when you search the BBC new website for 'Margaret Hodge' this afternoon...

It's almost as though the BBC are deliberately trying to avoid any mention of this news story. Now why would they be doing that?

What does Ed Miliband say about senior members of the Labour Party appearing in support of Lutfur Rahman?

Will the BBC cover this Public Meeting? Or does that go against their top priority of aiding a Labour victory at the general election?

Odd which part of a report the BBC choose to headline

The BBC headline this report thus:

'Israel struck Gaza shelters - UN report'

and start the report thus:

'At least 44 Palestinians were killed by "Israeli actions" while sheltering at seven UN schools during last summer's war in Gaza, a UN inquiry has found.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he deplored the deaths and stressed that UN facilities were "inviolable".'

 Read on a little and you'll also discover that:

'The inquiry also found that three empty UN schools were used by Palestinian militants to store weapons, and that in two cases they likely fired from them'

Odd how the BBC choose to headline the anti-Israeli part of the report, it's almost as though they had some sort of anti-Israel bias.

What you won't find on the BBC is the detail behind the Hamas infractions, so here's some detail via UN Watch

Key findings gleaned from the UN report:

• Hamas and/or Islamic Jihad stored rockets in UNRWA schools. The board found, in the case of the UNRWA Jabalia Elementary “C” and Ayyobiya Boys School, referring to the discovery of weapons there on 22 July 2014, that “it was highly likely that a Palestinian armed group might have used the premises to hide weapons.”
• Hamas and/or Islamic Jihad stored rockets in schools that were in active use by children. During the war, former PLO lawyer Diana Buttu famously said on Al Jazeera that “the rockets that were found in the schools in UNRWA were schools that are not being used by anybody—school is out, I’ll have you know.” However, in the UNRWA Gaza Beach Elementary Co-educational “B” School, on 16 July 2014, the UN Board of Inquiry notes that the school gate was unlocked during the period leading up to the incident “in order to allow children access to the schoolyard.” School was out, but UNRWA was inviting the children back in to play.
•  Hamas and/or Islamic Jihad fired rockets from UNRWA schools. In the Jabalia school listed above, the board found that “it was highly likely that an unidentified Palestinian armed group could have used the school premises to launch attacks on or around 14 July.” Similarly, concerning weaponry stored at the UNRWA Nuseirat Preparatory Co- educational “B” School, the UN inquiry found that “the premises could have been used for an unknown period of time by members of a Palestinian armed group”  — and that “it was likely that such a group may have fired the mortar from within the premises of the school.”

 Now why would the BBC want to minimise their coverage of criticism of Hamas? 

Labour looking for an even higher proportion of Muslim votes?

I note that Ed Miliband has promised the Muslim 'community' that:

A future Labour Government is committed to outlaw the scourge of Islamophobia by changing the law and making it an aggravated crime.

More at The Muslim News

I wonder what is Ed Miliband's definition of Islamophobia?

Is this Islamophobic?



I wonder if anti-Semitism will get equal protection from a Labour government? Of course not, there's a lot more Muslims than Jews in the UK, and so lots more potential Labour votes if Ed Miliband and his party pander to Islamism.

The Holocaust - "Let no one say that these things were not real"

English MP Mrs. Mavis Tate shows proof of the holocaust with shots from her visit to a German concentration camp. Taken from the original 1945 British Pathe newsreel "German Atrocities - Proof". This Pathe newsreel showed the world at the time what atrocities had been committed. The MP, Mavis Tate describes eloquently what she saw at Buchenwald concentration camps.

The Holocaust - "Let no one say that these things were not real"

Maybe the holocaust deniers who occasionally infest my Twitter feed should learn some history.

Andrew Marr lied to the Prime Minister, he was found out and had to issue a grudging apology

Andrew Marr lied to the Prime Minister, he was found out and had to issue a grudging apology



Of course last week's claim went uncorrected at the time, so at least some of the mud slung stuck. So job done BBC, get the message out - VOTE LABOUR

Alan Pascoe wins gold in the 1974 Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles but then fails his encore

I just about remember this happening live, or do I? Maybe I remember seeing it post the event.

Some immigration facts

Two charts from the IPPR's investigation into Britain's Immigrants that I think are interesting. The first shows how the 1997-2010 Labour government opened Britain's borders in a deliberate move to massively increase immigration into the UK; both to 'rub the right's noses in diversity' and to create a Labour voting bloc that would ensure permanent Labour government. The second shows the differences between the nationalities of immigrants in terms of willingness to work.

SNP 'would nullify 40-seat Tory lead' per BBC News

'Even if the Tories are the largest party, if there is an anti-Tory majority, my offer to Labour is to work together to keep the Tories out," Scotland's first minister said.

When pressed on whether that would apply even if Labour had secured "10, 20, 30, 40" fewer seats than Mr Cameron's party, she replied: "Governments in the House of Commons are about who can command a majority."If there is an anti-Tory majority, yes... we would work with Labour to stop the Tories getting into Downing Street."'

I forsee a political crisis if this happens.

Maybe a refusal by Conservative voters in London and the South East to pay for the policies of a Labour SNP government would be in order?