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Okay – just coming through is news about an Iranian air crash. Stand by for the usual tosh from Frances Harrison (“One reason for this is US sanctions, which prevent the Iranian government from buying spare parts for its ageing fleet or purchasing new aircraft from major aviation companies in the West”).
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More pathetic grovelling from Tony Blair
Tony Blair will today express his “deep sorrow” for Britain’s role in the slave trade but will stop short of issuing a full apology.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/27/nslave27.xml
.
.
We are in a war to the death • craven concessions won’t win it
By Janet Daley
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/11/27/do2701.xml
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TPO – not as much as the City contributes to what passes for the Scottish economy. We’re better off going alone.
Who says we don’t have heros anymore ? As of 09:13 27 Nov, this is the top story in the BBC England section:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/6186670.stm
Gordon- Bennett writes, “Instead of us apologising to the descendents of the slaves those descendents should be thanking us.”
In my opinion neither thanks nor apology is necessary for the actions of people who died long before anyone now alive was born.
However there is room for both pride and shame, as appropriate, in the good and bad deeds of one’s country’s history.
The public displays of national shame now fashionable are mostly an excuse for individuals to display superiority to the common herd.
Anonymous:
John
You sound barking mad mate….ffs.
Retard. Your’e saying he killed HIMSELF???….
lol.
Anonymous | 25.11.06 – 1:00 am | #
Joining the gang of retards are the Metropolitan Police and that major player of the VRWC, The Independent:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2016151.ece
HAVE YOUR SAY
Is Blair’s slave trade “sorrow” enough?
Why the word “enough”? Why not “too much”?
Early days, but already this (D)HYS is showing signs of not going the Beeboid-favoured route:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=4800&edition=1&ttl=20061127093939&#paginator
The RottyPup is back, and he’s got a report on the BBC carrying another manufactured case of ‘Islamophobia’:
http://rottypup.com/?p=742
I consider myself British, or Anglo-Scottish. Both because of my genes and where I’ve spent my life. Right now I’m back in Scotland.
Politics in Scotland is really f**cking weird. I think they may be suffering from some kind of doublethink. They speak brilliant ideas on Newsnight Scotland, everyone knows how to fix things, but somehow their actions are the opposite. If a good idea is executed and is successful then someone like the Scottish Socialists will put it down for being too right wing or whatever, while at the same time hold it up as proof that Scotland is going forward.
I made some passing remark about the oil and the “question” and what have you and my mother quickly said never to mention it because I might be attacked. They know that Scotland is subsidised by England, everyone admits it on the bloody tv, but if anyone tries to discuss it then people deny it exists. In fact they recognise that many things exist that even the English media won’t acknowledge, but if anyone tries to discuss them then all of a sudden they don’t exist.
I think a lot of things that the Scottish (and Welsh and N. Irish) blame on England are the same things the English blame on London. England could help by showing that it isn’t 50 million people out to crush some “colonies”. It’s 8 million socialist yuppies in London who are doing that. A good small-government Tory government could show them this if they don’t cock up with another poll tax.
Ultimately I really don’t know what the hell is going on. There’s so many mixed messages. Nobody here actually likes the Scottish Parliament and a quick BBC street study showed that nobody even knew who Jack McConnell is. I get the feeling that perhaps the left-wing here is stirring up nationalism to get into power in what is probably the most right-wing region of the UK and this is what is creating the confusion.
I think that maybe all the Scottish really want is to be proud to be Scottish in the same way that the English want to be proud to be English. Once we’ve all got that back, everyone can be proud to be British again.
P.S. While the history lessons I received at school in Scotland were obviously pro-Scottish, they were also more pro-English and pro-British than I received in England. In fact, compared to the quantity Scottish history taught in Scotland, there is comparatively no English history taught in England.
Some stuff from Scottish history lessons I was taught in Scotland:
“Forget everything about Braveheart”
“Remember that it was Government vs Jacobite, not England vs Scotland”
“William Wallace was a dirty bastard who hid in churches”
“And so James VI became James I of Britain. After centuries of fighting, Scotland conquered England without a fight” (in comparison to some people saying England took over Scotland with the union)
I gather England took over Scotland after Scotland spent all it’s money and went “bankrupt”.
It’s true that Scotland basically agreed to the Union because it bankrupted itself while trying to setup its own colonies in America. But can you seriously say that they get ripped off with the deal? Scottish people seem overrepresented in British history going by the modern England:Scotland population ratio at least.
One thing that really gets me is that England annexed Wales 900 years ago and Scotland joined the Union 300 years ago and both are still recognised as separate countries/regions/whatever-is-appropriate. Yet England is accused of subjugating or wiping them out. Can anyone name another country that has so rigorously recognised its separate elements rather than white washing them into one grand France or Germany or whatever.
Cockney
Horrors!! I find myself in total agreement with you.
Another political tosser wanting to pose in front of the troops.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6187038.stm
Britain’s role in the slave trade
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6185756.stm
bbc breakfast bimbo tv had this as their lead item.
However there is something missing from the story, black people sold other black people into slavery.
Time to move on folks and get a life otherwise we might as well seek reparations from the Romans.
Awww didums….
BBC in ‘financial limbo’
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,1956275,00.html
“Top executives are angry that the corporation seems to be being treated, “like a government department” and point out that ITV went into decline when its budgets were cut.
They say Treasury suggestions that the BBC may be granted only a four-year settlement could compromise the corporation’s independence and the shorter timeframe would mean the BBC would find it difficult to raise borrowings against the licence fee.”
“like a government department” ?? You mean like, being accountable to the elected executive for funding and performance? Outrageous!
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=4800&&edition=1&ttl=20061127114123
Added: Monday, 27 November, 2006, 11:18 GMT 11:18 UK
Today, in 2006, on the continent of Africa, it is estimated that as many as 200,000 African children slaves are sold by Africans and bought by Africans, to be used as slaves in African households, African farms and African factories.
Today, in 2006, in Britain, African children are trafficked by Africans to Africans already in Britain, who not only use the children as slaves, but use them to defraud the welfare and social security systems.
Search the BBC website for more information.
Fiona, London
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………..among the gems at (d)HYS.
Is anyone more informed about this?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6185928.stm
Switzerland opted out of joining the EU years ago – but agreed deals that keep its trade relations with Europe alive. The EU in return has asked for money.
At stake were Switzerland’s bilateral trade agreements with the EU, painstakingly negotiated over 10 years, our correspondent says.
Is that seriously legal? The way it sounds, if I were the Swiss I’d go and negotiate 25 individual deals.
FTP
The Swiss referendum was slightly more nuanced than the BBC tells us. Yes, the referendum concerned paying SF 1 billion to the EU but what exercised the People’s Party which got this issue onto the referendum ballot, was more to do with the internal finances of Switzerland than the principle of coughing up to the EU. This site explores the issues.
Regrettably for the BBC, the result of the referendum was not a defeat for anti-EU membership sentiment in Switzerland. It was more a confirmation of the wish to maintain the Swiss-EU relationship as is.
That religion of peace message again from the mouths of babes
Death row man speaks of freedom
“Because of our religion and culture, such incidents are seen as very shameful and horrible,” he said.
“We are brought up in such a way that we just cannot imagine harming or killing someone.”
Is ‘e ‘aving a laff?
Nice fisking by Felicitas Macgilchrist of the MSM, shame nobody has done this for the BBC here?
Bond and The Return of the Evil Empire
Anonymous | 25.11.06 – 1:00 am | #
Re that guy Alexander Litvinenko, don’t you just love the Independent’s sources….
One source close to the investigation said:”He was a guy with a colourful past. It’s not straightforward.”….
One senior source warned:”You have to remember this guy was on his guard 24 hours a day. Normal assassination methods may well not have worked.”
Military plane crashes in Tehran
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6186656.stm
No mention yet that it is the fault of the US for not providing spares for a Russian built aircraft, however they describe the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as ‘elite troops’.
I always knew them to be deranged thugs.
No mention yet that it is the fault of the US
Dunno, who else could be guilty of foul play?
The commander of the Revolutionary Guards suggested to a local news agency that there may have been foul play, but he gave no further details.
It’s been asked here recently how many people are prosecuted annually by the BBC for not paying their tv licence. Here’s the details:
BBC Licence Fee Prosecutions 2000 – 2004
Click to access SR2006000375_TV_Licence_Prosecutions.pdf
Custodial sentences for non-payment of tv licence:
2000 30
2001 14
2002 20
2003 17
2004 28
2005 not available as yet
Aren’t you proud to live in a State that regularly imprisons it’s citizens for not paying a tv licence?
Gleaned from the BBC Freedom of Information site
BBC Freedom of Information
http://www.bbc.co.uk/foi/
Interesting site. Of course there’s some information the BBC refuses to release. Try this search on the BBC FOI site
BBC FOI Search: “Balen”
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=foi&q=Balen+&x=32&y=18
“Sorry!
Your search for “Balen ” returned no results.”
bbc zooms in on Australia. No, not their sensible immigration policy this time which the bbc deems ‘naughty’.
‘The Australian Wheat Board (now known as AWB) is accused of paying $200m to Saddam Hussein to secure a contract under the UN oil-for-food programme.’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6186762.stm
Hilarious. The Secretary General of the UN and his son are mired in the scandal and what does the bbc give us, the Australian Wheat Board.
Ritter, that letter specifically highlights the fact that the custodial sentences were for non payment of fines imposed for non payment of the license fee. If the courts are considering non payment of a debt they wont necessarily look at how that debt has arisen. Thus it looks like NOBODY in the UK is jailed for non payment of the licence fee.
Ritter
I particularly enjoyed this little bit of Beebspeak
“……….please note that such custodial sentances are for non-payment of a fine due to be paid to a court following conviction for a television licence related offence, rather than non-payment of a television licence itself”
When I pick myself up off the floor and dry my eyes, I`m going to but a large sack of potatoes, stick a TV ariel on top of it and enjoy the Broadcasts.
sorry, link for above bit of Beebspeak
Click to access SR2006000375_TV_Licence_Prosecutions.pdf
For those who are interested, here is the ruling given by the Information Tribunal regarding the BBC’s seeking to suppress it’s own report into it’s Middle East bias.
Information Tribunal – The Balen Report
Click to access S_Sugar_v_Information_%20Commissioner.pdf
Hat tip to IMPACT blog
Freedom of Information: latest decision notices – BBC Balen Report
http://impact.freethcartwright.com/2006/09/freedom_of_info_1.html
anyone got any update to the above? Does Mr Steven Sugar (pbuh) read this blog?
Five million Britons on state aid
More than five million Britons now rely on state aid to live and the number of younger people claiming sickness benefit is higher than anywhere else in the industrialised world, a major new study has found.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/27/nwelfare27.xml
Can’t seem to find it on the bbc. Probably because this organisation (Reform) produced it
http://www.reform.co.uk/website/home.aspx
Rather than some Pollyanna Toynbee lala land organisation like this (Institute for Pulic Policy Research)
http://www.ippr.org.uk/
Who would headline it: Five million Britons gain extra leisure time.
New Labour working for you!!
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/headline/display.var.1043501.0.crisis_talks_on_terror_fears.php
A crisis meeting between police chiefs and local religious leaders has been held after the discovery of bomb-making equipment in a patch of woodland close to Croydon Synagogue.
Police confirmed last week, after a BBC Newsnight report, that they had discovered a number of items which has aroused fears of extremist violence breaking out in Croydon.
I get the feeling Brian Wheeler (Political Reporter, BBC News) enjoyed his visit to 18 Doughty Street, but knows it’s more than his jobs worth to say so:
How does web-TV politics shape-up?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6187240.stm
I received an e-mail with these pictures and I had a question for you guys that live in England. Are these pictures really from London???
And if they are, has the BBC shown them???
What did the British authorities do about these protesters because almost all of them had sign with direct violence threats??? Is this legal in Britain, to just say that you’re going to bring another 9/11 to Europe and not even be AT LEAST questioned by the authorities???
“Muslims have stated that England will be the first country they take over!
These are pictures not shown on American TV or in American Newspapers (as they might help Bush’s war on terror), but were forwarded to me by Friend who thought Americans ought to know!
These pictures are of Muslims marching through the streets of London during their recent ‘Religion of Peace Demonstration.’ ”
http://war-photo.com/media/images/ATT00047_t.jpg
http://war-photo.com/media/images/ATT00032_t.jpg
http://war-photo.com/media/images/ATT00026_t.jpg
http://war-photo.com/media/images/ATT00041_t.jpg
http://war-photo.com/media/images/ATT00038_t.jpg
http://war-photo.com/media/images/ATT00023_t.jpg
http://war-photo.com/media/images/ATT00035_t.jpg
http://war-photo.com/media/images/ATT00044_t.jpg
http://war-photo.com/media/images/ATT00029_t.jpg
Diana:
Are these pictures really from London???
Welcome to Londonistan!
Not forgetting the recent hot trials of nuclear contamination left at London Hotels and Sushi restaurants, courtesy of Boris Berezovsky’s Russian/Chechen mafia incorporated– Moscow-on-Thames!
“Are these pictures really from London???”
Yep, it was a small march on the Danish embassy during the cartoon furore. Most of those waving the more ridiculous signs have since been nicked and face charges.
“And if they are, has the BBC shown them???”
Yep.
“What did the British authorities do about these protesters because almost all of them had sign with direct violence threats???”
See above.
“Is this legal in Britain, to just say that you’re going to bring another 9/11 to Europe and not even be AT LEAST questioned by the authorities???”
Not really. See above.
“Muslims have stated that England will be the first country they take over!”
Really? That’s pretty ambitious to say the least considering I work in the middle of the capital and have probably seen two of them all day, one being my mate from work.
Racists favour wealth redistribution?
http://tinyurl.com/ua27n
So how come the BBC characterises organisations it considers racist (obviously not Respect or Islamist organisations) as right-wing, when clearly they are more likely to be left-wing?
The BNP is of course the obvious confirmation of this. Whatever they say their people rend to be racist, yet they have distinctly socialist policies. Nationalists and socialists? National Socialists perhaps. Always remember, Auntie Beeb, that the Nazis openly espoused socialist policies.
I’ve just noticed a very biased & inaccurate Timeline: Former Russian spy case put together by the BBC. It begins with the date of the Russian journalist shot dead in Moscow!
Mr Litvinenko begins to investigate
So he’s really a Russian Inspector Morse? Doh!
And under 1st November they have:
Several hours after his meetings, Mr Litvinenko complains of feeling sick and is admitted to Barnet General Hospital, north London.
Wrong BBC researchers! He was admitted to Barnet Hospital on November 3, not several hours later, and according to Dr Andres Virchis, the consultant haematologist there “He was actually about to be discharged on November 7”
I’ve noticed that they have left out the episode of the leaked discovery of the mysterious packages bit when the BBC reported that
the three objects were the size of two pence pieces and were located in his left abdomen, colon and small bowel
Perhaps they don’t want to remember that bit? The entire BBC reporting of this story is a disgrace!
john and Cockney: Thanks for your responses
Cockney do you happen to have a link or an article where I could read what charges are they facing or how did the authorities find out who they were, given that some of them were wearing burkas and covering their faces?
One of the pictures had a British cop next to a protestor with one of those violent signs saying that Europe’s 9/11 was “on its way” and the cop didn’t seem like he was going to arrest anyone.
I would really appreciate it, thanks again.
Cockney
“Most of those waving the more ridiculous signs have since been nicked and face charges”
That is simply not true.
It also ignores the fact that they should have been arrested at the time for their crimes. The police instead threatened to arrest anyone who (peacefully) opposed the march. They only decided to arrest marchers after public outcry. The police should not be the spearhead of a public mob, nor the arbiter of political view as they so often try to be, but an impartial force for law and order.
The BBC News website seems surprisingly reluctant to take this story on. No news report and no (D)HYS….
Tory MP denies racist email claim
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/27112006/344/tory-mp-denies-racist-email-claim.html
“A Tory MP has strongly denied any racism after seeming to suggest that the majority of criminals were black.
He was asked: “Are you saying that a lot more criminals are black than white – or that there are more black people in jail than white because they are stopped more often?”
According to the Daily Mirror, Mr Spink replied: “The former, and that’s what people don’t seem to like. But I didn’t enter a beauty contest when I became an MP”
“I asked a range of questions of the Home Secretary to establish the facts about crime. He told the House of Commons that, pro rata, many more young black men are known to the criminal justice system than young white men. That is simply a statistical fact.”
Mr Spink told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that he wanted to have a “serious debate” about the issue without “silly charges of racism being thrown around”.
“I think it’s an MP’s duty to be honest and truthful, to set out the facts as they are and to seek to resolve serious problems like where crime is coming from and why there are five times more young black men in prison than young white men.
“I don’t think it is racist to address that issue – in fact, quite the opposite. If the main parties don’t address that issue then we leave a vacuum that will encourage extremist and nasty parties to come in and fill,” he added.”
Maybe BBC News thought it would be a difficult day to go with the ‘racist’ tory story..
Two men guilty of lawyer’s murder
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6176854.stm
BBC Special Report: Future of TV
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/entertainment/2006/future_of_tv/
How about a future where I can choose what entertainment I want to enjoy, without the threat of imprisonment for non-payment of a compulsory State tv licence? Just imagine, freedom to dream…..
Diana, here’s one. There’s been a few bouncing around.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/newsheadlines/article-23374338-details/Retrial+for+cartoon+protest+marcher/article.do
As Richard implies above initially the Old Bill treated it as a bit of a joke (the actual numbers involved were pretty small which you don’t get from the photos and there’s frequently some gaggle of clowns or other running around London making noise) – in fact they ticked off a couple of cabbies and other onlookers who stopped to give the protestors a bit of grief.
Once they’d thought about it a bit more and there had been a bit of a public outcry and media storm they started talking about arrests. Unfortunately as the protestors had long since gone home it was a lot harder to pin stuff on them.
Cockney
As Richard implies above initially the Old Bill treated it as a bit of a joke …
I watched the demo live on Sky News and, as you do, called Scotland Yard to enquire ever so politely as to why no-one in a semtex waistcoat was having his collar felt. I was told that orders had been given “from the highest levels” that no arrests were to be made at the demo.
I was told that if I wanted to take it further I should call Kensington & Chelsea nick as that was where the police operation was being directed from. Again, I was told by an officer in the control room there that no arrests were to be made. When I asked where the order came from I was again told that the orders came down from on high. The implication both times was that the Home Office had ordered it.
Both officers I spoke to were as frustrated as I was that no arrests could be made. Both conversations led me to believe that political interference was the reason.
The next time I go on a Countryside Alliance demo, I’ll grow a beard and carry a koran. Welcome to Londonistan.
Diana, the march took place Friday 3rd February. This report is from the Monday:
Arrest extremist marchers, police told
Take a look at the monthly archives here(right), there were lots of posts that weekend!!!
Pete, doesn’t surprise me nor does the fact that they instantly changed their minds as soon as the press started agitating about it, by which time it was too late to do much useful…. To be honest I’m surprised there wasn’t a decent size Chelsea/West Ham/Millwall contingent up there in minutes to chat over the issues. I think they might have been forgiven by the majority of Londoners on that occasion.
There were more than enough beardies about last time I encountered the countryside march (and that was just the women – haha!).
Ritter, thanks for the link to the Balen report.
I fast-forwarded to the last page. Here they seem to be recommending hat the BBC should send Mr Sugar a copy of the report. Is this your understanding ?
http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/our_decisions/documents/S_Sugar_v_Information_%20Commissioner.pdf
Cockney: I think you are trying to play it down too much. Diana, see for yourself and make your own mind up.
To be honest I’m surprised there wasn’t a decent size Chelsea/West Ham/Millwall contingent up there in minutes to chat over the issues.
I agree. Nick Griffin’s chums must have been itching to get down there. I have noticed, though, that throughout all of the curfuffles involving islam and/or muslims over the last few years (burkas, support for terrorism, imams, Abu Hamza, hijabs, cartoons, protests, foreign policy, supremacy of the law of sharia yada yada yada) the BNP and sinilar types have been pretty quiet, or not as vocal as one might have expected. I’m putting this down to the BNP at least having the brains to allow islamists to do the BNP’s electioneering for them. You don’t have to get out there and have a punch up or start shouting into a megaphone if another few thousand people resolve to vote for you each and every time islam/muslims are in the news. Those protests over the Cartoons of Doom would have made up the minds of tens of thousands of people to vote BNP next time out. If I were in their position, I’d be sitting back also.
Via ‘The Devil’s Kitchen’
http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2006/11/shameful-failed-cover-up-by-bbc.html
Just a taster:
“Has the BBC admitted their mistake? Have they apologised?
No they have not. They have attempted to cover it up.
That is unwise. We humble bloggers may not have the clout of the BBC, but clearly we know something that “Auntie” does not. Once you publish an article on the internet, you cannot take it back. It will be cached somewhere. And indeed it is.
Compare the original article in which the BBC makes a fool of itself, with “new improved” doctored article in which it tries to mount a cover-up.
Look at the second and the final paragraphs in both articles.
What a disgrace.”
Fascinating.
Everybody should read it.
Follow up to the BBC “story” on milk allergy on Dr C’s website. The good doctor has caught the BBC bang to rights stealth editing its post and attempting to deny its credulousness/deceit