Monthly Archives: July 2005

when too much of the real stuff has been tragically split in our capital, Marc, at USS Neverdock, makes a legitimate point on behalf of all those people who might have lowered their guard as a result of the undermining of the notion of a War on Terror by some BBC journalism. ‘The Power of Nightmares’ assured us there was no real organised Islamic movement bent on our destruction, yet the massive organisation behind the London bombings – the syncronisation, the planning – suggest quite the opposite. It suggests the BBC’s flagship programme of the last year, its main publicised recent claim to excellence, was in fact highly flawed. And as forewarned is forearmed, the BBC has in this regard, and others less well-known, certainly been unconducive to the public good.

‘“The BBC had the courage to put the series out and this shows they were right”‘, said the maker of the film… as it showed at Cannes. Though we salute freedom of speech – metaphorically – we tend to reserve our actual salutes for those who show they are right.

Scott at the Ablution notes Lisa Mitchell’s glowing assessment on the BBC website of the “Eco-village” which is a “model for us all”.

Er … would that by any chance be this eco-village ?

The protesters appeared to come from a temporary “eco-camp”, set up on the outskirts of the city, before dashing into Stirling.
Around 200 hooligans dressed in hooded tops with scarves obscuring their faces hurled missiles at police.
The hooligans moved from Stirling’s high street to residential areas, smashing windows and wrenching satellite dishes from walls.
TV pictures showed the rioters running amok through streets wielding weapons at police vans.

A witness, Mark Wallace, said: “It seems to have been a major battle.
“It was co-ordinated. The protesters moved people to certain areas and they all decided to fight at once to try and stretch the police resources.”
At one point Stirling train station was closed but it is was back to normal after about 90 minutes.

UPDATE – Ms Mitchell now has a second article, on how the locals feel about what the first article called the “practical implications for the rest of us”.

She explained: “My six-year-old son is scared that when I get to work I will be attacked.

“People are staying away from the shop. There’s a lot of police here now but they weren’t here yesterday.”

The supermarket is used by the campers and she said “some are nice enough”.

“But you can’t tell which are the peaceful ones and which are violent,” she added.

I have been having a busy few days and have got behind with the email. See you* next week.

*Actually that is quite unlikely.