Says the link to this BBC story. It’s currently the main story on their ‘In Depth’ page.
Mental image of another poor chap in a wheelchair, or hobbling along with the aid of a stick.
The story ? “A young Palestinian man with learning disabilities has been shot dead by Israeli troops near the West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinian officials said. Local residents said Mujahid al-Simadi had gone up to the troops with a toy gun and shouted that they should leave the village. He was among a number of children who had surrounded a house occupied by Israeli soldiers and began to throw stones, Palestinian security sources said. The soldiers opened fire from the house and Mujahid al-Simadi hit in the chest and died immediately, they said.”
Two things here. Firstly the characteristation of someone with ‘learning difficulties’ as ‘disabled’, no matter what disability benefits such a person may be entitled to in the UK, is essentially dishonest. To the vast majority of BBC news viewers, ‘disabled’ implies a physical disability. The prisons of the UK are full of people with learning difficulties, but the BBC have not yet taken to describing them as ‘disabled prisoners’. Secondly, the source of the information on his disabled status is apparently ‘Palestinian officials said’. Where are the quotes that traditionally go round such an assertion ?
Strange. I heard what seemed like an important (and depressing) story on the news yesterday, but I can’t find this story on the BBC website yet. “BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has stumbled across the first evidence of a death squad within Iraq’s Interior Ministry after the detention last month of 22 men wearing police commando uniforms who were about to shoot a Sunni man, according to the American general overseeing the training of Iraqi police. The men turned out not to be police commandos but were employed by the Ministry of Interior as highway patrolmen, according to Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, who commands the civilian police training teams in Iraq. “We have found one of the death squads,” he said. “They are a part of the police force of Iraq.”
The current Middle East page features … guess what ?. If anyone finds the police story on the BBC, could they let us know via the comments ?
UPDATE – the police story has arrived – just before midday. Thanks to commenter Archduke for the spot. They’ve given it third spot on the Middle East page, relegating the disabled Jenin man to the top of the ‘More from Middle East’ section. Of course, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo are still numbers one and two. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
more foggy reporting from the BBC
“israel to up gaza restrictions”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4721122.stm
actually, its a bit more serious than that:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060217/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians
“Israel will clamp down on Palestinian areas, cutting the West Bank off from Gaza, banning Gaza workers from Israel”
the Israelis are going to seal off Gaza – with effect from Sunday. but from looking at the middle east page, you’d be none the wiser:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/default.stm
By the way, I think the Today programme is far more balanced than Eddie Mair on PM
Eddie Mair and Caroline Quinn have a problem – Mair is an opinionated Scot from Dundee I think who behaves as if he is on Mount Olympus looking down on the humans below; and Quinn has a weird inflexion so her voice rises towards the end of a sentence.
Both give the sense of smugness vis-a-vis interviewees.
On Irving, I too believe that he should be allowed to deny the mass murder of Jews in Europe…..
He does in this country but Austria and Germany have different laws because they have a different history. I do not know if I should legislate for Austria and Germany, that is for Austrians and Germans.
What Irving should not do is to try defend his weird notions in the libel courts – it was effrontery to sue Lipstadt for libel.
It is one thing to espouse and publish false ideas but to try to enforce them in a court of law is lunatic
Ah, Eddie Mair is from Dundee – the city of Jam, Jute and Journalists. That explains it.
His peremptory manner is dreadful, appalling, unprofessional, arrogant and full of bias. He did Newsnight a few months ago, was truly awful. I remember muttering “Come back Paxo, all is forgiven”
This is my personal favourite on the ‘Can you trust the media’ debate.
Added: Thursday, 16 February, 2006, 13:46 GMT 13:46 UK
err, who can tell? The BBC & every British Newspaper has little credibility in the eyes of the world right now because of their cowardice over the cartoons. Oh, sorry – I am “off message”, I see that this is yet another BBC forum for attacking America.
ian, whitwick
RECOMMENDED
Recommended by 26 people
_____________
Archbishop Tutu is a scheming agitator but the BBC defers to him because of his apparently impeccable anti-Apartheid credentials.
Shortly before the demise of Apartheid, Tutu and other black leaders addressed a mass gathering at a stadium near Soweto, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.
Some poor whites had the great misfortune to be living in cheap housing near the stadium. The frenzied black crowd spilled out of the stadium, dragged the whites out of the house and murdered them.
By then, the majority of the press in South Africa was aligning its cowed butt with the ANC. It was difficult to find a publication which would admit to ever having supported Apartheid. The story was briefly reported and then quietly shelved.
I don’t know whether the BBC reported the story, but it’s highly unlikely.
So many in the media are whores, submitting to the highest/most powerful bidder. In the BBC’s case, since they don’t have to worry about money, they submit to whatever sick ideology harmonises with their own.
what in gods name has Tutu got to do with the war on terror?
why not interview somebody who is on the frontline – like an israeli rabbi? or the Archbishop of Baghdad?
OT
super animated cartoon on the cartoons :
http://www.novatv.nl/index.cfm?ln=nl&fuseaction=artikelen.details&achtergrond_id=8350&CFID=2735238&CFTOKEN=57221010
OT
BBC news report ‘not impartial’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4723884.stm
OT – BBC News24
‘We’re getting reports…’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_4720000/newsid_4724300/4724372.stm
Mr Waldman said he thought the BBC did show greater restraint than some of its rivals, but added: “We’ve seen in the past that if we hold back too long the audience will go and find what they can elsewhere.”
…or you can be slow and crap:
No smoke without ire
http://media.guardian.co.uk/diary/
….The Sky folk are highly amused by the Beeb’s coverage of yesterday’s Commons vote on banning smoking in pubs, clubs and restaurants. Apparently, after MPs had first voted to end an exemption for pubs not serving food, BBC News 24 was telling members of private clubs – with a strapline on screen and via the BBC’s James Landale at the Commons – that they would be exempt. MPs then extended the ban to private clubs in a second vote and the BBC finally corrected itself, half an hour after making the mistake. We’ll referee this one, again. Any comeback from the Beeb?
ritter -> what a joke.
its the bbcs agenda that is impartial.
oops typo – “this is NOT impartial”
argh typo – “its the bbcs agenda that is not impartial”
A lurker,
There is much in your morally equivalent 7:28 am post that begs a response, but since your preferred posting style is to hit and run I wont waste time.
But in the unlikely event of you popping back in here and showing the elementary courtesy of responding to the responses to your response, I will point out one area in which you are in grievous error:
If you believe that anti-Semitism is the province of the right, you’ve been making like an ostrich. Much anti-Semitism these days stems from the left. Cindy Sheehan is one example. If you do some elementary research, you’ll find countless others.
You state, “The liberal left has been at the forefornt of combating bigotry of all kinds.”
Interesting use of tense. Now back that statement up, if you can, by finding just one example of the liberal left currently fighting anti-Semitism.
I wont hold my breath.
The Beeb is upset over accusations that it lets Islam off the hook whilst castigating Christianity. But how could we doubt the committment of the BBC to give major airspace to the Christian viewpoint? Why, only today we have had at least 2 major segments featuring Christian ministers:-
” Today Programme 8.10am Interview – Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been very critical of Britain’s way of dealing with the threat from terrorism and he too, along with Kofi Annan and many others, supports the mounting pressure to close Guantanamo Bay.”
And
Radio 5 Live Mayo
2pm: The pastor JIM WALLIS is here with his book ‘God’s Politics’ which criticises the role of religion in American politics.
(As someone has written: “Jim Wallis is a pretty average, down-the-line leftist who, by the way, believes in God)
Add to this the idiot Church of England minister on Newsnight last who was arguing for divestment from Israel, and the regular appearance of John “I have nothing against Jews, I only hate Israelis” Bell of the Iona Clown Community, and we can see what kind of Christian viewpoint the Beeb likes to feature.
Archduke,
The BBC is as likely to interview an Israeli Rabbi (unless he’s far left) as I am to work for the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
“Tory boy: David Cameron unveils name of new son.”
That’s not a very nice headline, is it? 🙂
“Add to this the idiot Church of England minister on Newsnight last who was arguing for divestment from Israel,”
that was cringingly toe curling. i genuinely felt sad for the Jewish chap who was on, as I had visions of Ah-ma-dinner-jackets nuclear genocide in my head.
its like 1933 all over again – and i’m still waiting for a Churchill to appear.
“That’s not a very nice headline, is it? ”
it isnt. you wouldnt have
“Labour pains: Gordons new son” would you?
but the name is very patriotic – Arthur. i like it.
Second name is Elwen.
“Newspaper reports have previously suggested that Mr Cameron’s supporters play a game in which they imagine themselves in a political version of Middle Earth, with their leader cast as the Tory version of JRR Tolkien’s Frodo.”
whilst Beeboids might find that “funny” or a derogatory dig at the Tories, i dont – i think thats an indication of how deadly serious they see Blair, with his Sauron like totalitarianism.
Lord of the Rings is straightforward good versus evil – so , in that light, it shows that Cameron doesnt have fuzzy P.C. thinking. thank god.
wow. a bbc story thats cheered me up today.
David Davis is much more the Gandalf Character!
OT – bad taste joke
A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway. Nothing is moving. Suddenly a man knocks on the window. The driver rolls down his window and asks, “What happened?”
“Terrorists have kidnapped (insert the names of your favourite newscasters) about ten miles ahead. They are asking for a £10 million ransom. Otherwise they are going to douse them with petrol and set them on fire. We are going from car to car, taking up a collection.”
The driver asks, “How much is everyone giving, on average?”
“About a gallon.”
OT – More left-wing beeboid claptrap whinging gets slapped down by ‘common sense’ (D)HYS contributors:
Is student housing too expensive?
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=1127&edition=1&ttl=20060217154020&#paginator
“Are you a student? If so, how much do you pay for your accommodation? Are you struggling with the cost? Is there enough choice for students? Are housing costs preventing you from attending university? Send us your experiences.”
Added: Friday, 17 February, 2006, 10:25 GMT 10:25 UK
Perhaps he should get a job and stop moaning about it. It’s his choice to be there.
Danzil Pashminton, London
Recommended by 28 people
Added: Friday, 17 February, 2006, 10:25 GMT 10:25 UK
Stop bleating, the world doesn’t owe you a living and you should expect to pay a market rate. What you have is a total bargain – a weeks safe, comfortable and close accommodation for the price of a night in a hotel.
You are at university to give yourself an advantage over other people who are hunting down the same jobs as you – that’s it. Do you really expect everyone else to pick up the tab for you so that you can leapfrog them in the race to the top?
Rick Hough, Knutsford
Recommended by 23 people
Added: Friday, 17 February, 2006, 09:21 GMT 09:21 UK
Poor students!! Many of whom’s parents are filthy rich, many students spend 95% of their time socialising, most get higher than average paid jobs etc. The students in my area (Manchester University) are always drunk and anti-social, littering and trashing their rented accomadation and causing a nuisance to neighbours. If whinging students cleared their own act up perhaps people would have more empathy even taking into account student’s general wealthy background and likely wealthy future.
Roy Jones, Manchester
Recommended by 17 people
Added: Friday, 17 February, 2006, 09:11 GMT 09:11 UK
Ambrish Patel should quit complaining. At university (Newcastle ’96) I paid £25 a week for a room in a house that rats literally wouldn’t stay in (they prefered the drain outside). The area was a warzone- 3 people were kneecapped with a sawn off shotgun in the local pub a week after we moved in. £100 for ensuite bathroom, double glazing & internet access is a bargain- if he can’t afford it maybe he shouldn’t live beyond his means?
[Peter_Sym], Nottingham
Recommended by 15 people
What a day for no nonsense PC- busting man in the street views. Nice one!
archduke – a revolution brewing? Yes, I think more and more people are wakening up to the lies we’re being fed by MSM day after day after day.. Like a ruling party of a sick communist state, the power of the BBC weakens by the day….it will be toppled, and what a glorious day that will be when it comes.
BBC are still slow to report that the israelis are going to seal off gaza and ban palestinians from working in israel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4722646.stm
heres the AP story about this on a Canadian site:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/02/17/1448464-ap.html
More comment on the force funded monlith throwing cash to its friends & choking potential commercial enterprises.
One wonders how much the BBC paid for a four-page colour wrap-around advertisement on the education supplement of The Guardian this week. The lavish advertisement was to promote the launch of the Jam broadband learning service. But then again, what’s a few tens of thousands when Aunty has spent £150 million on the project, which had private educational software companies up in arms over fears that the free resources would kill off their customers.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-2043916,00.html
I dozed off (mercifully) during Tutu this am on Toady @ 8.10. I tried to listen to it again via the web but just couldn’t remain interested/attentive.
From what I did hear I felt he was incoherent and rambling and had to be dragged back on track by the interviewer.
The intro to the piece mentioned that Kofi Annan is now saying Gitmo should be closed. From this I assume that neither he nor his son is getting a cut from the whole thing.
“The intro to the piece mentioned that Kofi Annan is now saying Gitmo should be closed”
Maybe Mr Annan should focus his attentions on barbaric sharia law in Saudi Arabia:
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/saudi/justice.html
Off topic:
I finally managed to convince my flamate that the BBC stealth edits the news. Even he, had to admit that it was ‘pretty damning’.
what is stealth editing anyway – and why is wrong?
i mean, i sometimes edit my blogposts if i see grammar errors, or if i get more information.
Archduke
Maybe Kofi should answer the question “Where’s the car?”
archduke,
Then put your blog in your homepage. (I’m assuming you aren’t the owner of google.com!)
Stealth editing tends to be classed as covering up. Editing to Correct spelling OK. Correcting errors without attribution V bad.
BBC have a story about the horrendous targeting of Parisian Jews by a kidnap gang, with the eventual torturing to death of one of the victims. We find out that “…the presumed leader of the organised gang was still on the run, but that he had been identified and was “extremely dangerous”. No further information is given about this man or the gang.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4723662.stm
Now, as we all know, when details like that are left out at the BBC, there must be a reason. I first thought it might have been a gang of marauding plumbers. But a single search on google brings up the facts that:
“the head of the gang has been identified as the 26-year-old Youssef Fofana, a Black Muslim who is calling himself “brain of the barbarians.” He is already known to the police services as “extremely dangerous.” Fofana has not yet been arrested but an identikit of him was handed to the press by the Paris public prosecutor, Jean-Claude Marin.”
http://www.ejpress.org/article/news/5916
The omission of facts is becoming an art at the BBC. If you spot a report where details of the perpetrators are missing, you can be sure they must belong to one of the BBC special interest groups. Does anyone think the details would have been missing if it was a far right kidnap group? Not on your life, screaming headlines all over the place would have been the order of the day.
Apart from the obvious bias, doesn’t withholding the identikit picture prevent people spotting the person the police are after?
“Stealth editing tends to be classed as covering up. Editing to Correct spelling OK. Correcting errors without attribution V bad.”
oh ok. thanks for clarifying. yeah – that is bad – correcting errors without attribution.
“The omission of facts is becoming an art at the BBC.”
the omission of the Islamist angle in that story is a disgrace.
Bryan writes:
“You state, “The liberal left has been at the forefornt of combating bigotry of all kinds.”
Interesting use of tense. Now back that statement up, if you can, by finding just one example of the liberal left currently fighting anti-Semitism.”
Well here’s a few examples:
http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=6
http://www.socialistunitynetwork.co.uk/reports/tesconazi.htm
http://www.stopthebnp.org.uk/index.php?location=news&art=347
http://www.anl.org.uk/09-britain-nazis.htm
All of the above organisations are liberal left organisations. Searchlight in particular has strong links with trade unions and many of the plethora of socialist groups.
The fact that there are so many left anti fascist groups only illustrates the ideological sectarianism that exists on the left.
As to my “cut and run” style of posting – that’s a fair comment. But it the style is as a result of two things. Firstly the time I have to post on this thread. Secondly and most importantly when I have treid to engage in any debate in the past I’ve been subject to either childish abuse or nonsensical arguments. On one occassion that I vividly recall on a deabte about the left being supportive of repressive dictators I had the timerity to mention that Dick Chenney had strong business links with Iraq nder Saddam Hussein’s tenure and I was greeted with purile abuse and a complete failure to address the issue.
I can see that many things that people post on here – particularly on the blog – have some merit. But there is a dogmatic and bigotted ideology of many of the posters on here and they have no sense of self examination in relation to their own beliefs. It is just about relentlessly defending a position. In many repsects many of the folk on here are very similar to many on the far left in that both hold dogmatic and unquestioning beliefs with no room for real exploration of the issues.
“..no room for real exploration of the issues”, you mst be talking about the BBC, see my post above.
“Dick Chenney had strong business links with Iraq nder Saddam Hussein’s tenure”
not to mention, Saudi Arabia
here’s Dick, George Bush Senior and Colin Powell – all together with King of Saudi , august 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:20050805_v080505db-0546copyj-1-515h.jpg
i find that photo , uncomfortable, to say the least.
Archduke
Stealth editing is actually changing the contents of a webpage without any indication that it has been done. The only evidence is a ‘before’ and ‘after’ screenshot – the time/date doesn’t alter to show that there has been an update.
I was amazed (and quite a few of the b-bbc’ers were screaming the house down)when it was pointed out that the Beeb were actually doing this.
It is a form of LYING and then it is covering up that fact.
oh ok. thanks for clarifying.
O/T
As no-one seems to be interested in the biggest goverment inspired change in British peoples life since Oliver Cromwell banned christmas, I will. As a non-fag smoker I dont think anyone on here or at the BBC have taken to mind the extream nature of what has taken place.
In the working class pub in London which I was at this afternoon, a near riot ensued when I mentioned the proposed ban. All 10 people in the pub joined in on the conversation. All absolutly furious with the goverment. All proberly ex or current Labour voters.
If there was ever a time when the Tory party was given a “gift horse” this is it. I will bet however that the Nazi element that is now running the Conservative party will look it straight in the mouth.
Sorry to mention your mate Adolf Hitler again, but Adolf Hitler did not like Jazz Music so he banned the playing of it in public. The reason given was that it was a corrupting influence on the people. The Saudi goverment did not like drinking, so they banned drinking in public, the reason given was that god did not like it. Starlin did not like anyone having more power/money than him and his mates, so he shot anyone that did. The reason given was that it was in the public interest that only the state should have more power/money than anyone else.
This goverment has now put itself and your country on this list. Is their anyone out there that cares?
I am simply aghast at the nanny state that is Tony Blair’s government, and the compliance of the British people, unconcerned with their government’s intervention in their private issues. It is not up to the state, but up to the pubs, clubs and restaurants to determine whether or not smoking is authorised on their premises. Why is it that the people of the UK let their rights be thus abused?
Gary Powell
Is their anyone out there that cares?
YOU voted for this government. Now you have the cheek to come here and ask US if WE care? Up yours pal.
“It is not up to the state, but up to the pubs, clubs and restaurants to determine whether or not smoking is authorised on their premises.”
i couldnt agree more.
Weatherspoons were in the process of going non-smoking, law or no law.
I noticed that a lot of British MPs mentioned the Irish experience – but as an Irishman , this comparison is incredibly invalid in one very important aspect:
The Irish are NOT known for being violent yobs when drunk
It is important to note that one nation that shares similar traits to the average Englishman are not going to ban smoking in pubs – and that nation is Germany.
As i have said before – do you think ANY landlord will tell a group of Millwall supporters to put their ciggies out? Lets be honest here.
I think the ban will go ahead – but implementing it will be patchy at best.
my apologies to my english friends for the blatant stereotyping. but i’m just trying to point out cultural differences.
“In the working class pub in London which I was at this afternoon, a near riot ensued when I mentioned the proposed ban. All 10 people in the pub joined in on the conversation. All absolutly furious with the goverment. ”
now that IS interesting. the Irish experience was one of resignation, rather than outright fury.
It is also interesting that the pub you mentioned was working class.
might this one issue swing votes away from big government Labour to small government Conservatism?
A Lurker,
I stand (or sit) corrected. It’s good to know that there are at least a few organisations on the left involved in combatting fascism and anti-Semitism.
However, they appear to be overshadowed by the rabidly anti-Israel (read anti-Semitic) far left, exemplified by organisations such as the ISM.
And who can deny that our dear liberal left BBC is anti-Semitic? Barbara Plett, Orla Guerin, Alan Johnston and a host of others certainly don’t propagandise for the BBC because of its love for Israel (read Jews).
And BBC editors certainly don’t unblinkingly accept the trash these ‘journalists’ write out of love for Jews.
But since I have your attention, and since you brought the subject up in your 7:28 am post, I’d like to point out that there is no moral equivalence between the publishing of cartoons of Mohammed and the publishing of the vile fantasies of a Holocaust denier. Here’s why:
*The cartoons are based on truth
*Irving’s work is based on lies
*The cartoonists set out to challenge the assumption that telling the truth about Islamic terror inspired by Mohammed was out of bounds
*Irving apparently set out to challenge the assumption that telling lies about the Holocaust was out of bounds
Should Irving be allowed to continue his vindictive, small-minded campaign – which has become the focus of his little life? Well, I suppose so. Let the snake of evil slither out into the sun so that it can be identified. Just not in Germany or Austria where it will hopefully continue to be stamped on.
German and Austrian shame over the Holocaust runs too deep for them to allow Holocaust denial to flourish unchecked.
I am surprised that anyone ever thought that a Socialist Government would act in any other way.
Those busy little editors on HYS are playing around again with our ability to have our say.
Yesterday they ran the topic Do you believe the news?
They posted nearly 150 comments on this topic in about 8 hours but today the editors have played their usual trick of whipping the topic off the HYS main page if they don’t like the way it’s going. So the only way anyone can still comment on this topic is if they remember the title and enter it in ‘Search HYS’. Do these editors actually get paid to play games like this?
Well, I guess they had a few too many comments like this one:
Added: Thursday, 16 February, 2006, 18:17 GMT 18:17 UK
Trust the BBC? The BBC is an unapologetically slanted, leftist, socialistic, terrorist apologist propaganda organization that has given up on is mission to keep its readers informed. I say this not because it doesn’t follow MY particular agenda but because any fair-minded person can look at what the BBC chooses to cover and the commentary it allows to be heard and see that whatever furthers its vendetta against the USA or Israel is what the readers are going to get.
Bill Grant, New York, United States
Recommended by 4 people
No doubt if they’d kept the topic on the main page this comment would have attracted a lot more than 4 recommendations by now.
Bryan
Thanks for the acknowledgement of the fact that there are lefties out there fighting bigotry in all its forms – including anti semitism. Indeed the majority of the anti fascist campaigning is done by liberal left organisations with strong links to trade unions and other socialist organisations. This is one of the few times that anyone on this forum has acknowledged that a contrary view mwas correct. It is heartening to see that you are not all sel congratulatory and narrow minded.
I don’t doubt that there are pro Palestinian anti semitic groups and I don’t doubt that some on the left don’t deal with this very well and would rather bury their head in the sand – but it is the same with the right in relation to US links with Saddam, Saudi Arabia et al.
I think it is important not to confuse anti Zionism and opposition to the occupation of Palestine (I know you may disagree with this term) with anti semitism. Just because someone is opposed to the occupation of Palestine and the action of the Israelis it does not make them anti semitic. Tho I don’t deny there are some that disguise their anti semitism with the support for the Palestinians. But to accuse some one of being anti semitic for opposing the Israeli policies in Palestine is simple minded.
It is not disimilar to confusing genuine concern about the activities of Isalmic extremists with being bigoted. There’s nothing wrong with questionaing and challenging the extremists indeed it should be done – but to make the broad statements that many make on this forum that imply that ALL muslims are violent and Islam in and of itself is the problem is where it gets dodgy.
Yuo say the cartoons are based on truth – I would say they are based on unhelpful and bigoted stereotypes. Again it’s the ALL muslims are extremists line that the cartoons play to that I would object to. But I wouldn’t ban them – I’m a believer in free speech. But people should be measured in how they use it. Free speech would allow a paper to print a headline that said “all black people are rapists” but it wouldn’t be a particularly clever or useful thing to do.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/bill/index.asp
Much, much more important than smoking is this little Bill currently in Parliament – with this passed Blair has his Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz). Hitler passed his on 23rd March 1933 – and never needed the Reichstag to vote on anything again.
This Act will allow Ministers to change Acts of Parliament just by laying an Order in Parliament and without debate any laws could be changed by fiat.
Good job everyone trusts the Blair-Brown regime so much that parliamentary debate can be abolished in legislating.
A Lurker,
Don’t be fooled.
Why do you think the Rachel Corries of this world run around agitating on behalf of the Palestinians, acting more Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves?
Why aren’t they agitating to free the Tibetans from the iron grip of China?
Or Sudanese Africans from ethnic cleansing by Sudanese Arabs?
Or Coptic Christians from oppression by Egyptian Muslims?
Or white South African farmers from rape and killing by black gangs intent on taking over their farms?
Or Iranian teenagers from judicial murder by the Mullahs?
Or Swedes from intimidation and rape by Muslim immigrants?
Where was the left when Palestinians were killed and driven out of Jordan by King Hussein when they tried to use the country as a base to attack Israel?
Or when Palestinians were expelled from Kuwait for supporting Saddam?
And why isn’t the left demanding reparation for Jewish citizens of Arab lands who were driven out with only the shirts on their backs?
And why isn’t the left jumping up and down demanding that Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries allow visits by Jewish tourists?
Or that Palestinians allow Jews to live among them?
Ever ask yourself why the Palestinian cause is so all-consumingly vital to the left?
Or why the academic left continually pushes for academic boycotts of Israeli universities?
Or why the Christian left pushes for disinvestment from Israel?
Or why when one of the poor oppressed ‘occupied’ blows himself up among women and children on an Israeli bus there is only ever deafening silence from the left?
If you scratch most lefties who are foaming at the mouth over the ‘occupation’ I have no doubt you’ll find an anti-Semite.
You should rid yourself of your moral equivalence. These concepts have nothing to do with mathematical equations and everything to do with prejudice.
A Lurker:
“Thanks for the acknowledgement of the fact that there are lefties out there fighting bigotry in all its forms – including anti semitism. Indeed the majority of the anti fascist campaigning is done by liberal left organisations with strong links to trade unions and other socialist organisations.”
You seem to forget that the BNP, being neo Nazi, are themselves left wing so the left wing groups are fighting amongst themselves.
Talking of Trade Unions, is it the case that beeb “journalists” have to belong to a trade union because this would explain their uncritical attitude to unions.
Gordon Bennett – no one can be compelled to be a trade union member – that is unlawful.
Without wanting to be disrespectful your comment about the BNP being left wing is arrant nonsense. They are an extreme right wing neo Nazi group. I think you are jsut frightened to have them described as such because yuo consider yourself right wing.
Don’t worry bout that – most folk realise that just cos the BNP are an extreme rigth wing group it doesn’t necessarily equate that any one on the right is the same.
I am on the left but have nothing but distaste for George Galloway and the RESPECT party. Just cos they are an extreme left wing group with crazy ideas it doesn’t necessarily follwo that all of hte left are equally crazy.