on active service in Afghanistan, the fourth and fifth such deaths in the course of a week. Their deaths were reported as the second item on this evening’s BBC Ten O’Clock News bulletin. What story was judged by the BBC as being more important than the sacrifice of two British soldiers?
Yes, you’ve guessed it – the BBC’s fifteen minute long Ten O’Clock News programme was led by a full five minutes on the resignation of David Beckham as Captain of the England football team, with filmed pieces about the return of the squad (oh look, an aeroplane landing), the disappointment of Sven Goran Eriksson and an obituary style review of David Beckham’s time as captain, “those legendary free kicks”, and so on, even though Beckham has made it clear that he’s staying on as an England player.
The Beckham story is a big story – a big sports story – but it shouldn’t have led the Ten O’Clock News on any but the slowest of news days, and certainly not on a day with sad news like today. It’s not as if England’s football disappointment wasn’t fully covered yesterday, over and above the deaths of sixty people in a Baghdad bombing.
The producers of the Ten O’Clock News should be ashamed of their choice this evening – the British Broadcasting Corporation should know better.
Biased BBC and its Ugly reporting against America;
Al Beeb is paid for by the people of the UK via the TV licence. As such it should present the news in an unbiased an apolitical manner.
So how does Al Beeb report on the visit by the Japanese PM to the US?
With scorn and derision;
This is Prime Minister Koizumi’s North American “farewell tour” – he is stepping down from office in September.
The two leaders have formed a “special relationship”
He has already visited Ottawa, before the obligatory stop at the Carnegie Hall of politics, the White House.
But most of the media attention will be on his final venue, a visit with President Bush to Graceland – the home of Elvis Presley.
It was all apparently the president’s idea, but still, the King’s taste in fittings and furnishings – like shag pile carpet on the ceiling – makes it a very strange setting for two world leaders.
But hey, Mr Koizumi is a big fan of Elvis – and Mr Bush is a bit more rock-n-roll than some of his more conservative aides.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5127360.stm
But hey BBC? I don’t posses a degree in English or an A level in it either. Yet Even I know I wouldn’t use ‘But Hey’ when talking about a world leader on the BBC.
But hey, it gets even worse, it seems as Japan has troops in Iraq and has derided Iran for playing Heavy metal tracks (pun intended) they feel fit to include these little diatribes;
1)Prime Minister Koizumi not only sports a Presley-esque haircut, he shares a birthday with the King and loves his music.
2)While Mr Koizumi likes to quote Elvis to set out his strategic position, George W Bush prefers to refer to history to show how international relations can change for the better.
3)His father – the first President Bush – was a pilot in the Pacific in the Second World War, fighting Japanese aggression.
4)All the more reason for the president to have a tear in his eye when he bids farewell to Junichiro Koizumi. Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has gone. Tony Blair is leaving soon Perhaps the Japanese prime minister’s final Elvis rendition for the President should be Are You Lonesome Tonight?
So there you have it folks Al Beebs hatred of anything America and anybody who supports America. One little thing AL Beeb if President Bush should hate the Japanese simply because (as in your own words) his father fought against them over 50 years..
Then how does that stance stand when you promote the image that (quite rightly) not all Muslims are evil.
Biased BBC standing up for thugs of the world while berating those who defend us.
The BBC keeps trotting out the tired and false statement that what is happening in Gaza is part of a cycle of violence.
Which has the effect of splitting the blame both ways.
This article suggests otherwise.
BBC – “clueless in Gaza”, no moral compass.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1209965,00.html
Frank Gardner has kept us up to the minute on all of this over the past year…
Isn’t Frank Gardner on the program for the 7/7 Islam Expo, along with Jihadess Ridley and Tariq “Fake Muslim Reformer” Ramadan?
susan -> yes he is.
http://islamexpo.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=105&Itemid=155
Peter Thorpe
Recognise the name? Perhaps not. Another military casualty of the Afghan campaign. So is Jabron Hashmi. Very brave men, and I salute them.
However I feel very uneasy at the way L/Cpl Hashmi’s death is given much more prominence (eg on the Today programme this morning, and in the press). Perhaps it reflects the frankly cringeworthy way in which any positive features of the muslim community in Britain are highlighted to an embarassing degree by the BBC and others. It’s a sort of hypersensitivity reaction, which I am sure many find bizarre and unnecessary. These are brave British men who deserve our respect; should we not leave it at that?
‘The BBC keeps trotting out the tired and false statement that what is happening in Gaza is part of a cycle of violence.’
What?????? Last time I looked the Gaza action was in retaliation for the kidnapping of a soldier, which was in retaliation for various casualties in missile strikes, which was in retaliation for the firing of rockets at Israeli towns, which was in retaliation for various casualties in missile strikes, which was in retaliation for suicide bombings……….(continue until day of judgement).
That’s not a cycle, it’s a f**king great ferris wheel. Which we all pay for.
we’re to blame for July 7th – well thats according to BBC Breakfast news and Today this morning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5142762.stm
“Meanwhile, also speaking at the Fabian Society conference, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain urged people to stop focusing on the 7 July and 11 September attacks.
Muhammad Abdul Bari said that did not help in addressing problems within the Muslim community.”
oh dear. we should, you know, just kind of forget about the twin towers. no big deal you see.
here’s an apt reply to Mr Bari:
http://www.zipperfish.net/free/yaafm12.php
Archduke, Susan
It reads like the cast of a horror film:-
Livingstone
Yvonne Ridley
Andrew Murray
Tamimi
Seumas Milne
Altikriti
German
etc etc etc
Virtually all the speakers are extremely hostile to Israel, as well as the USA. Some show a worrying “understanding” of the use of suicide bombings, especially when Jews are targetted. Many hold extreme views.
What on earth is the BBC’s Frank Gardner doing appearing at this overtly political event?
And Coe, for goodness sake.
It is a terrible indictment of muslim society in this country that the premier Islamic event, IslamExpo, features a large range of speakers with extreme viewpoints (some of them racist) to speak for the muslim community. Michael Gove makes this very point in his new book.
RB
Just read the Time article. The Israelis pulled out of Gaza. Did the palestinians setr about making the desert green, how did they celebrate their new feedom ?
As ever, they abused the opportunity. They started shooting missiles at civilians. Because they don’t just want gaza. They want to eliminate Israel.
THAT is where it all starts. Yes, we are paying for it. Tell the BBC to stop pandering to the Palestinian “narrative”.
A major reason it goes on is that
Eamonn
Michael Gove is just upset becasue he wasn’t invited to speak at such a balanced event.
The invitation to Hirsi Ali got lost in the post, says Ken Livingstone’s press office.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/012071.php
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/012069.php
about the “moderate” tariq ramadan speaking in istanbul- he is appearing at islamexpo.
eamonn – i presume the book you refer to is “Celsius 7/7” ?
looks interesting – not bought that one yet.
Sebastian Coe is not one of the brightest bulbs so can be excused: the rest is a veritable gallery of rogues and traitors.
CBBC is obsessively “right on”.
Just another example: a CBBC magazine called “the magic key”. This issue is dated 18 January 2006 (issue 68)
The characters are:
Anneena (brown)
Wilma (brown)
Chip (white)
Kipper (white)
Nadim (brown)
Ali (brown)
Biff (white)
Wilf (brown)
So its 5 brown and 3 white children. The white children all have odd names.
[There is a also a strange mistake every week. This week we are told that oxygen tanks “help” astronauts to breathe in space. Like they could just breathe anyway, but well – they get tired and need a bit of help. Last week it was also a space-related mistake.]
CBBC is curiously unreflective of what my youngster experiences in merry old England.
must be because i live in a “horrendeously white” area.
I think these children are also characters in a very ‘right on’ reading scheme called the Oxford Reading Tree that has been used in Primary Schools for many years.
Says it all really….
30 years ago today I was in the Borneo jungle listening to the BBC World Service on a crackling short wave radio.
After the intro music the main news story started thus (I will never forget the words):
“In a sensational raid by Israeli commandos the Entebbe hijack is over. The hostages have been freed and the terrorists killed.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe
What a difference a generation makes.
Pounce,
Regarding your comments on the Beeb’s treatment of Tibet.
Some of the comments/criticisms of China, that are made by the Beeb, could easily be directed at the UK government’s policy of uncontrolled immigration.
1) But critics say it will speed up the undermining of traditional Tibetan culture
A Labour MP recently pointed out that a turnover of 1 million people in/out of Britain could lead to an undermining of British Culture
There are fears the railway will speed up the immigration of ethnic Chinese into Tibet, threatening its distinct cultural and religious identity.
In the same way an amnesty of illegal immigrants in the UK could encourage even more people to come to Britain.
4) Critics also complain that most of the jobs created will go to ethnic Chinese, as Tibet’s under-funded schools leave local people poorly educated and unable to speak Chinese.
Immigrants stealing jobs? Under funded local schools? Local services swamped? Indiginous people being disadvantaged through immigration? It all sounds a bit ‘racist’ to me….
Strange how people outside the UK/USA are allowed to have genuine concerns about the effects of immigration, but anybody in the UK, that dares to ask quetions, is a ‘racist’.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5143526.stm
He said “all options” were open to the militants, except killing the soldier because the captors were Muslims who did not treat their captives as others, such as the US, did.
So the members of Fatah (that’s the ‘moderate’ Abbas’s Fatah) who murdered young Eliyahu Asheri weren’t Muslim, they were Americans?
The three Russian diplomats shot and beheaded in Iraq weren’t murdered by Muslims? The Americans did it?
Why does the BBC give space to these absurd quotes?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5144372.stm
Poland is to hold ceremonies to mark the 60th anniversary of an anti-Semitic massacre in which 42 people, mostly Jews, were killed by Poles in Kielce.
This is up there with the ‘crudely made rockets’!
Other reporting on the Holocaust also talks about the numbers of dead as “mostly Jews”. Pray tell us please BBC who else was slaughtered in Kielce 60 years ago?
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885904959&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
The pogrom followed a series of violent anti-Semitic incidents in the Kielce region and elsewhere in Poland after 1945, which claimed about 2,000 Jewish victims. The local violence was directed at former Jewish residents of Kielce who had survived the camps or hidden in the forests until the liberation of Poland from Nazi rule; it occurred at a time of intense anti-Semitic hatred, when rumors were rampant that masses of Jews would soon return to Poland from the USSR to reclaim their houses and belongings.
The more immediate cause was the ritual murder myth, which had been widely disseminated by the Catholic Church in between-the-wars Poland and was still believed by many lower-class Poles.
Rumors had begun to spread in June 1946 that Jews on Planty Avenue in Kielce were killing Polish children and drinking their blood or using it to make matzot. One Jewish eyewitness who survived the pogrom remembered: “At about nine o’clock, on 4 July, crowds started to surround the building. I heard voices from the crowd: ‘You Jews have killed 14 of our children! Mothers and fathers unite to kill all the Jews!‘”
Forget about the Islam fest this week being, in essence, anti-Israeli – I would expect that and, frankly, who is surprised and who cares? What angers me is that a year ago in MY city people professing Islam – and justifying their action in the name of that religion – killed 52 innocent bus/tube passengers and wounded 700+ more. I think I can predict that the BBC will underplay the background of the perpetrators of this crime as well as pulling out all the usual stops (Iraq, Palestine, racial discrimination, social exclusion etc etc) in analysing the atrocity.
You would have thought – or I would have thought anyway – that rather than organising a celebration on the anniversary of this atrocity the leaders of the Muslim community in London (let alone Britain) would have reflected on the effect such an event held at this particular time would have on us ordinary Londoners. The decision is crass and insensitive: it says much both about how the leaders of the Muslim community view their non-Muslim fellow citizens and the contempt Livingstone and his cronies have for us that they use our money to support this kind of thing.
“Why does the BBC give space to these absurd quotes?”
Becasue the BBC has been over-run with Muslims….and the weak, liberals at the BBC are now on their knees as 100s of years of womens rights, gay rights and human rights struggle, go out the window, and the BBC is used for Religious hate propaganda…
The BBC is now an enemy of the state…..it has suffered a coup’de’ta………
Umbongo,
In fairness the event at Ally Pally was booked years ago, well before the terrorist attacks last year on a non refundable basis. The date is coincidental. Ally Pally could certainly do with the cash.
Not that I particularly care but amidst the usual persecution complex seminars there do seem to be some events focussed on the sort of self analysis that most of us would hope Islam would be indulging in.
The only ‘outrage’ is the amount of funding provided by Livingstone – i.e. taxpayers.
Quite right Grimer.
Notice too that the BBC are great anti globalization freaks and yet unchecked immmigration is at least 50% of the globalizaion package. In other words, they are all for globalization when its the UK thats getting globalized.
The malignant spread of the BBC globally also seems to have been missed by the G8 haters. Ah well! Socialist hypocricy aint exactly anything new.
“it says much both about how the leaders of the Muslim community view their non-Muslim fellow citizens and the contempt Livingstone and his cronies have for us that they use our money to support this kind of thing.
Umbongo | 04.07.06 – 11:37 am | ”
well, we *are* untermensch kuffars, arent we?
Anonymous:
“Why does the BBC give space to these absurd quotes?”
Becasue the BBC has been over-run with Muslims…
I know. My questions are usually rhetorical, a sign of my exasperation I suppose.
The BBC and Islam have so much in common; they both lie, they both hate the US and Israel.
Look out, I’m gonna puke…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5141766.stm
Cockney
“In fairness the event at Ally Pally was booked years ago””
If so, my apologies to the organisers – to say it’s unfortunate timing would be an understatement
Al Beeb and how it defends the terrorists in our midst;
Communities rebuilding after 7 July
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News community affairs
A year on from the London bombings, and the revelation that the plot was hatched in Leeds, can anyone come away from Yorkshire with genuine optimism, rather than just hope?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5141766.stm
Here we go, Al Beeb doing what it does best excusing the actions of the few as the reply to the inactions of the many.
The last I looked Al Beeb Yorkshire is a bloody big county so maybe you should reread and rewrite the following;
‘Can anyone come away from Yorkshire with genuine optimism, rather than just hope?’
(P.S I’m able to play Cricket for Yorkshire)
‘So on the streets of Muslim communities, there are stories of youths and veiled women being racially abused in greater numbers than before 7 July.’
Utter bollocks Al Beeb survey after survey has found that myth to be unfounded. Instead of promoting these lies as extant how about dispelling them for the agents of disruption they are.
‘There are tales of men looking for jobs having a sneaky feeling that it’s their name on the application form that may be holding them back.’
Oh please the MCB has on its web page that Muslims leave school with the least qualifications what so ever. Again instead of spreading rumours to the rumour mill how about addressing why so many Muslims leave school less qualified than the rest.
‘And there is paranoia: Far-right groups trying to mobilise against Islam, a mosque said to have witnessed a witch-hunt amid fears of being “infiltrated” by MI5 informants.’
Far right groups Al Beeb? Why would that be the BNP, a bunch of idiots who have the support of almost nobody. As for the witch hunt. Reading that again it appears that the people in the mosque decided to conduct a purge to remove anybody who supported the British. And you stand here trying to make them look the victim?
But you know what really takes the biscuit this last statement from your article;
‘But he asks: “Are we any further forward? The Muslims have shown that they recognise the need to look into their hearts. I’m not so sure that the rest of us are doing the same.’
Oh really?
A bunch of people who live in the Uk who go to great lengths in which not to integrate. Who wish to remain different as a means of keeping their identity. Go to any Muslim country Al Beeb Not one has even gone as 1% as far as the western countries in which to integrate new comers to their countries. Walk round London and see the many green mosques then contrast that with churches in Cario, Istanbul, Karachi, Mecca and the rest.
As usual the idiots at Al Beeb suck up to their masters by blaming the non Muslim population for the inability of that faith to break the shackles of religious oppression that still binds them to the Stone Age by quoting the following;
The Muslims have shown that they recognise the need to look into their hearts. I’m not so sure that the rest of us are doing the same
Cockney
“In fairness the event at Ally Pally was booked years ago””
Funny then that the Muslim Association of Britain should have started publicising the event only in January this year http://www.mabonline.info/english/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=648
Do you know this booking date for a fact or is this just wishful thinking on your part?
Switzerland decries Gaza campaign
Geneva says Israel has clearly violated international law by imposing collective punishment on Palestinians over the capture of an Israeli soldier.
Switzerland is the “depository” state of the Geneva Conventions.
Excuse me but I didn’t hear ‘Geneva’ saying anything about the “Palestinian militants” who kidnapped the Israeli soldier being dressed in Israeli uniforms – doesn’t that violate the Geneva Convention?
Or what about the “Palestinians” launching their missiles from civilians’ backyards, or storing their arms and explosives in schools, hospitals and mosques?
I don’t seem to remember ever hearing ‘Geneva’ condemn suicide bombings carried out in Israel.
(see my post above: questions are rhetorical, question marks are merely a grammatical convention, no replies are required)
Archduke,
I think an incident that happened during WW2 is also considered an inspiration for the movie, Saving Private Ryan. That was the loss of the five Sullivan brothers from Iowa who died when the ship they were serving on was sunk at the Battle of Guadalcanal.
I usually just lurk on this blog (one of my favorites) but as it’s the 4th of July and all, I felt compelled to mention “the Sullivans.”
🙂
Eamonn:
Archduke, Susan
It reads like the cast of a horror film:-
Livingstone
Yvonne Ridley
Andrew Murray
Tamimi
Seumas Milne
Altikriti
German
etc etc etc
Azzam Tamimi, Hamas’ Special Envoy at Harry’s Place.
Lets have a good look at this then, eh?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/51…/uk/ 5141766.stm
Communities rebuilding after 7 July
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News community affairs
A year on from the London bombings, and the revelation that the plot was hatched in Leeds, can anyone come away from Yorkshire with genuine optimism, rather than just hope?
I dunno, but I can feel tears welling-up as their collective helicopters leave the compound…
In public, there are efforts to put on a brave face in Leeds.
Stout-hearted folk, no doubt.
Mohammed Iqbal, the first Asian city councillor to hold the post of Lord Mayor, spent last summer telling reporters that he was in total shock with no answers as to why the killers who came from his ward did what they did.
Yeah, they’re all such nice people. Even the 7/7 guys. Sniff!
Today, he says the city has become stronger in spite of the tragedy.
See? Told you they were doughty, stout-hearted types, didn’t I?
But dig into the communities and bleak stories about the bombers’ legacy are only too plain – a legacy of fear and suspicion that will almost certainly have an effect for years to come.
Don’t tell me – these are the ‘real’ victims of the bombings, right?
So on the streets of Muslim communities, there are stories of youths and veiled women being racially abused in greater numbers than before 7 July. There are tales of men looking for jobs having a sneaky feeling that it’s their name on the application form that may be holding them back.
‘On the streets’? ‘Sneaky Feelings’? You’re going to give us official crime figures to back this up, aren’t you…?
Ah, you’re not.
And there is paranoia:
Which you are going to leave unchallenged, right?
Far-right groups trying to mobilise against Islam, …
Far-right groups? Which ones? Why are they only ‘trying’ to mobilise? Are they failing? Why? A few facts, please. Oh yeah ‘mobilise’ suggests a military operation – a bit strong that, isn’t it? I mean, without any supporting evidence…
… a mosque said to have witnessed a witch-hunt amid fears of being “infiltrated” by MI5 informants.
…and ’tis said that Jews drink the blood of infants… but we don’t believe that kind of clap-trap unless you give us some facts to back it up with. Is all of this paranoia justified or not? Without any kind of comment, this paragraph is just anecdotal garbage.
A previously successful parent-toddler group in the area near the bombers’ homes once saw a healthy ethnic mix.
According to community sources, it now rarely sees an Asian family.
Can community sources also tell us the lottery numbers for next week? They seem to be the fountain of all knowledge.
WHY are Asian families rarely seen? Are they being pushed out? Are they staying away voluntarily? We don’t know, and you’re not telling us, so why are you mentioning it?
And then there is the fear that it could happen again – kids lacking direction, the pernicious effect of drugs, educational under-achievement and a simmering row in the community over whether or not Muslims are in denial.
Are these reasons that you list plucked from the air, or did community sources tell you? For all I know you might have read it on the back of a cereal packet. Sources please.
The fear on the streets, …
Actually, on the street near me you’ll find bubblegum and litter, but I don’t seek their opinion on muslim radicalism, so why should you?
… often unspoken, …
You made it up, didn’t you?
… is that these kind of incidents, …
The ones you provided no eveidence for? Those incidents?
… national factors such as anti-terrorism provisions, and an international sense of injustice, primarily over the Iraq war, contribute to a sense of anger and helplessness.
Trying to stop suicide bombers killing train-loads of people makes muslims feel angry and helpless? In addition, why should the ‘international’ aspect of the perceived injustice towards Iraq make muslims feel angry and helpless? Are their feelings being led by the international community, or are you just trying to make a cheap political point?
And it is this anger that feeds the radical politics that is a step removed from even more extreme actions.
Not quite. You are jumping from ‘anger’ to ‘politics’ to ‘suicide bomber’ without exploring all those akward in-betweeny steps. It’s called causality and you don’t know what it means.
And so the picture appears bleak. But there are many people working to ensure that this is not the case.
Cue helicopters, compounds and buckets of tears…
Largely thanks to the jolt of 7 July, Muslim communities may be on the verge of major social change. Young
professionals, broadly British-born or educated, are pushing for positions of influence and power over the traditional religious leaders or clan-style elders.
Hey! A paragraph of some interest. We should have it stuffed.
Leading the charge, in a very modest and Islamic way, are women.
In the same “very modest and Islamic way” that 52 people died last year? I’m gonna puke again…
One well-placed Muslim source, who has been working with women to try to get them to take more active roles, told the BBC that years of frustration began coming to the surface in West Yorkshire after the bombings.
“When the men came knocking for money to build the mosque, the supposed centre of the community, these are the women who sold the wedding gold from their wrists, believing it was the right thing to do,” said the source.
“The mosque has given them nothing. They’ve remained right at the bottom all of these years.
Right… So… explain to me again what the women are actually doing about it?
“At the moment we’re all in denial,” she said. “It’s happened in our community; it still is happening.”
Nope, didn’t get it. You claim women are leading the charge, but you’re not actually going to tell us how they are doing this?
Presumably, this ‘source’ didn’t want to be named, as we are not told who it is? How come they don’t want to be named?
She wouldn’t come to any harm for voicing an opinion like this would she?
Hanif Rehman has something to say about where leadership lies. He runs Muslim Professionals, a Dewsbury-based motivational organisation that seeks to help members of the community meet their potential in their business lives.
Good. Perhaps he can give the reporter a few tips, too.
Hanif knew chief bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan as their social circles crossed and a year on says he still hasn’t worked out what made the previously mild-mannered “sound guy” do it.
“I have long felt that things have got to move a lot faster for our community,” he says. “And when I looked at my own community I saw that some talented people were not going as far as they should in Britain.
Err, people blow up trains because thier careers are not progressing as fast as they’d like? Did I miss something?
“One of my mentors is the Prophet, he is my real inspiration. But when I was 16, if I had also had someone physical to help guide me, that’s different. When we are young, we want someone to say the things that need to be said – stay off the drugs and booze, work hard, train to be a doctor, and so on.
Let me paraphrase. You use eligion to define yourself, but ultimately you believe that is misguided because faith is irrelevant when faced with real-world problems in modern Britain. Well, I agree.
“Ideally we all need those kinds of mentors and the Muslim community is no different.
“We have to also look at the generational issue. There is new leadership coming up, building nationwide networks, 30-somethings pushing for change. They’ve got the professional qualifications and experience of British society that can make the difference.”
Hanif’s views are supported by others working on the ground. Ansaar, another Dewsbury-based organisation, tries to find productive ways to lead the youth down the right path.
You only just figured that out? OK, but make sure you read what Hanif said about the pointlessness of religion.
The small organisation relies on the tireless energy of its volunteers to run youth events, outward bound trips and fun days.
A women’s event this year attracted 2,000 people and more volunteers have signed up in the wake of 7 July.
They are signing up as a direct consequence of 7th July? How many more? 1? 10? 1000?
“Teenage years are very turbulent,” says Wajid Khan, a psychologist and one of Ansaar’s founders.
“If teenagers are feeling that turbulence, we want to help plug them in to the mainstream services there to help them.
“We don’t have the resources to tackle all the issues, but we need to highlight them,” says Wajid. “The problem I think we all agree on is getting statutory bodies to participate, from councils, to government, to the police.
“Most community programmes tend to last for a while. But there is no sustainability and they die out through lack of help from authorities. We have to change this if we are going to make a difference.”
This is sidestepping the issue. Why are these ‘turbulent’ teenagers resolving their anger by blowing up trains rather than spray-painting bus shelters? After all, if you’re not implying that they might blow up a train, what is the point of this article?
But despite this kind of good-works evangelism, there are widespread concerns that dialogue is getting harder between different peoples with simply not enough people on the ground working to make the connections, be they youth workers, faith leaders or other activists.
I don’t think I even understand thi
Oops – part II
But despite this kind of good-works evangelism, there are widespread concerns that dialogue is getting harder between different peoples with simply not enough people on the ground working to make the connections, be they youth workers, faith leaders or other activists.
I don’t think I even understand this sentance. Are you saying that people are not talking to one another?
There’s a phograph here. It’s caption read “David Randolph-Horn: White communities must do more”. Hmmm.
The Reverend David Randolph-Horn of Leeds Church Institute was a key figure behind the moving multi-faith gathering in the city one week after the bombings. It saw thousands of people from different backgrounds share the same space in unity against terrorism.
Yeah, right on, rev! I mean, it’s pretty hard to find anyone who thinks that suicide bombing is a bad thing, right?
Since then, he says he has been deeply impressed by an emerging generation of Muslim leaders who are part of the Leeds Faith Forum.
Impressed at what? Their juggling skills? How they always guess the Countdown conundrum before the contestant???
But he says that dialogue at grass-roots level “is beginning to get harder”.
When the organisation recently held an event called “trust or terrorism”, dozens of Muslim teenagers turned up – but none of their white counterparts, he says wistfully.
Doh! Go back and read the bit about Asians not going to nursery groups and then explain why it’s OK for them to stay away from that group, but not ok for white people to stay away from this group.
He has fears for some poorer white groups living close to multicultural communities.
Oh? He fears that they will become victims of muslim attacks or something? …
“We may be seeing a tendency towards separatism. There is something going on in that area and I would urge the Home Office to target this.”
…Ah, no. He thinks those sneaky white people are up to something.
The challenge, says Mr Randolph-Horn, is for communities to reach the point where they can frankly tell each other what makes them feel uneasy – and in doing so find that they actually become much closer.
Do you really think that will work? OK. Ahem. “You make me feel uneasy because you are a PC, left-leaning twit, Reverand”. Wow! I feel better already!
“In a secular society, I don’t think we know really know any more how to relate to each other as people who may have faith as an important part of our lives,” he says.
Or, put it another way, us secular types need to bend over backwards to make sure the religious types get their own way. They couldn’t return the favour, could they?
“It’s the minutiae that make the difference: The police officer who takes the time to understand Islam, the housing official who has to deal with people and their different cultural backgrounds.
“If we are not religiously literate, we can be part of the problem of misunderstanding.”
You prat. Why is it that we are misunderstanding them, but they are not misunderstanding us? Because they have the moral high ground of being ‘religiously literate’? Cobblers.
But he asks: “Are we any further forward? The Muslims have shown that they recognise the need to look into their hearts. I’m not so sure that the rest of us are doing the same.”
Hang on, I thought the point was that the muslims recognised the need because the bombers were from their community. All that angst and paranoia, remember?
So if it’s not their fault after all, what’s the point of the article?
Ultimately, who is to blame?
Ah, now I get it…..
A link from the main business page entitled “Guernsey tax plan under fire”
leads to this story, which is obviously mostly a press release from the “Tax Justice Network” which is equally obviously a left wing pressure group :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/guernsey/5140200.stm
Tax change plans ‘just a subsidy’
An offshore tax observer has described Guernsey’s future tax plans as a subsidy for what he says is an already very rich industry
Richard Murphy, of the Tax Justice Network
The Tax Justice Network is a non-profit organisation made up of researchers and activists concerned about the harmful impacts of tax avoidance, tax competition and tax havens.
You might wonder why the BBC reports this transparent political propaganda barely even decently clothed as “research”, or at least declines to state the obvious • that the Tax Justice Network is a left wing campaign group, but perhaps they would say that that would be to apply an editorial label unnecessarily. It is after pretty obvious what the TJN is without the need for further elaboration.
The TJN is not exactly a stranger to the BBC, which reports its spokespeople very sympathetically :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4235158.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/jersey/3782759.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/guernsey/4878532.stm
In fact, one of TJN’s spokespeople boasts thus :
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:Ha7Rkg56uroJ:www.accaglobal.com/research/committee/+%22tax+justice+network%22+bbc&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=40
Richard Murphy BSc FCA FRSA
I now work on BBC television and radio documentaries on a regular basis.
Why am I not surprised ?
But is there a capitalist counter to TJN ? Yes there is. It’s called the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity, and it has a subset called the Coalition for Tax Competition. It’s been around for years and a glance at its website shows that it regularly sends out press releases on the benefits of low and competitive taxes, and the disadvantages of high taxes, both within the US and internationally.
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/press/press.shtml
Does the BBC ever report on these press releases ? Of course not. But does the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity go entirely unremarked on the BBC ? No it doesn’t. In the midst of two stories not wholly sympathetic to the benefits of low taxes, the Centre gets a mention :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2167602.stm
right-wing lobby groups such as the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2152923.stm
bar a handful of rightwing think tanks, most prominently the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity
With no specific topic in mind, do any of you have an MP who is sufficiently concerned by al-beeb, to put down an early day motion, calling for all their political reports to end with a bias warning ?
Today the BBC news site has an item;
‘Hearts and Minds, how the communities where the bombers came fom are coping’
Bombers = Doublespeak for murderers.
Community = muslims.
Aw diddums, are the poor muslims in Leeds all upset ? Well, I’m sure the local council or our government can cheer them up by giving them all a fun day at Alton Towers
To “TheCuckoo”
Awesome fisk job on the cringe-worthy BBC article.
Go !
Well, I’m sure the local council or our government can cheer them up by giving them all a fun day at Alton Towers
I suggest you go along Malcolmcog…..
http://www.islamicleisure.co.uk/
The park will be closed to guests paying on the day later this year, as a Muslim company has bought the park for the day.
Tickets for the day in question, Saturday 17th September, are only on sale from Islamic Leisure – a company describing themselves as “an up and coming leisure provider in the UK focusing on the needs of the Muslim community”.
A spokesperson for Islamic Leisure, Abid Hussan, said the day was open to all faiths, although Islamic laws would apply. “There will be no smoking, no alcohol and halal food only.
“We’re trying to get Muslims to go to this day because they wouldn’t normally go somewhere like Alton Towers. We’re trying to integrate Muslims into the wider community. People can come down and see the way we live. It will be a peaceful family environment.”
It isn’t the first time a Muslim group has booked a theme park for a day – Six Flags Great Adventure hosted a Muslim Youth Day in Septmeber 2004, although unlike Alton Towers, the park was scheduled to be closed that day anyway.
This news follows on from the news that Gaydar Travel had exclusively booked the park on the weekend of September 30th/October 1st. As with the Muslim event, anybody can pre-book tickets – though the Gaydar days are strictly adults-only.
you can have a Muslim Funday with NO music, NO smoking, NO alcohol
and if you go on 9th September you can enjoy:
Alton Towers and Thorpe Park to offer ‘Gaydar Days’
19 April 2006
Theme parks team up with gay media specialist
Alton Towers and Thorpe Park have teamed up with the dating and lifestyle portal Gaydar.co.uk to run two special events for its gay and lesbian users.
The ‘Gaydar Days’ will take place at Thorpe Park on 9 September and at Alton Towers from 29 September to 1 October and will feature DJs, dance tents, VIP lounges and the theme parks’ usual rides .
Tickets to the events are priced £26 per day, while the organisers are also offering a ‘Gaydar Weekend’ two-night hotel package at Alton Towers, which is exclusively available through Gaydartravel.com.
Alton Towers and Thorpe Park are owned by The Tussauds Group.
David Muniz, commercial director, QSoft Consulting – the owner of Gaydar.co.uk – said: “Alton Towers and Thorpe Park provide the ultimate entertainment and leisure destinations to host the first ever Gaydar Days events.
“Gaydar.co.uk is thrilled to be teaming up with The Tussauds Group, delivering the very best DJ line-ups, party essentials, and of course the most exciting white knuckle thrill rides in the UK, in what’s sure to be a massive hit with the UK gay and lesbian community.”
Do visit both and update us on your impressions………….
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2254597,00.html
Excellent article on Afghanistan and why we need to stay – also mentions the clown from the BBC who claimed the senior officers etc are acting like Private Fraser ‘we’re all doooooooomed!’ etc which I wrote about above this post near the beginning somewhere!.
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=973412006
SNP voters more likely to be Anglophobic – yee dinna sae! The SNP get away with really nasty stuff about the Union Jack being a butcher’s apron (for which Salmond refuses to apologise)and are always whinging about the English ruining their lives etc and when McConnell says he’s supporting Trinidad he gets wellied yet Salmond says the same and does not! There is no sign of this report on the BBC website and they even ignore it when they look at the Scottish papers….when ARE the SNP going to be treated with the contempt they deserve?
dave t
I think the BBC had a competition to see who was the most wuss reporter they could send to Kabul.
What are your views on the Israeli action in Gaza?
Added: Tuesday, 4 July, 2006, 14:13 GMT 15:13 UK
Once again the Israelis look stupid! Blowing up half of Gaza because a soldier got kidnapped is what we’ve come to know and love about Israel.
Can’t we let the Iranians develop the bomb then we can get rid of both Palastine and Israel for the cost of cheap air fare!
dontmoderateme, London
I’ve alerted the moderators.
bets on it staying?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5144438.stm
“The government cannot alone root out extremism in Muslim communities and defeat the terrorism it creates, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.”
Or in plain English –
“we have bugger all intelligence on Muslim terrorists because Muslim ghettos are refusing to co-operate with us and its pissing me off”
Looks like Blair has ceded control of certain areas of the UK to the Islamonutters:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5144438.stm
He said he was “probably not the person to go into the Muslim community”.
Why ever not? You are the elected leader of our country!!
Can *anyone* imagine a U.S. president ever saying the same thing?
ahh diddums. the poor Muslims need to be “engaged”
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=2421&edition=1&ttl=20060704175225
http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2006/07/preventing_extr.html
nick robinson completely misses the point, and hides the real reasons from us.
if MI5 and the police were being actively co-operated with, and we were getting lots of useful intelligence, would Blair need to make that statement.
Of course not.
THATS the point Mr Robinson.
Re the Muslim ‘conference’ at Ally Pally.
I doubt very much that was booked so long ago. It’s deliberate timing and it reeks of an attempt at positive spin in the week leading up to July 7th. Why do some Muslim politicians and ‘community leaders’ have such difficulty showing appropriate humility? Eg: “people of our Muslim faith did this, that’s terrible, I wonder how and why, and I’ll do my personal best to make damn sure that they never do it again”. I never read anything like that, it’s always denial, statements of victimhood and passing the buck
Do you think all those speakers at Ally Pally are confirmed, or are their names just being used on the website?
Re Corporal Gilad Shalit and Gaza, I wonder if poor Ken Bigley is looking down and thinking, gosh those Israelis make a lot more effort to rescue their people than the British do. Perhaps that’s something that just can’t be admitted by the British media yet. Anyone see Jon Snow on channel 4 news, ‘interviewing’ the Israel Deputy Ambassador Zvi Ravner? In a tone varying between aggressive and contemptuous. Which unfortunately I don’t think he dealt with very well. Do these people have any media training I wonder.
Hazel