Please use this thread for off-topic, but preferably BBC related, comments. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments – our aim is to maintain order and clarity on the topic-specific threads. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts.
A Happy New Year to all our readers and commenters. It may take a while for posting to get up to speed – but here’s a new open thread before the old one bursts a seam.
I like to think Allan@Aberdeen isn’t anti-American (unlike Al Beeb) but anti-Leftie (like myself). The New England States are as liberal as they come. I suppose these elitists have got a superiority complex because they live so close to Socialist Europe and can almost smell the hand-outs (and TV Taxes)…
Vermont as the next EU member state? Entirely possible.
Mark Steyn drinks (and bathes in) New Hampshire water.
John Reith | 03.01.07 – 4:03 pm | #
Thanks Mr Reith, that’s a lovely evocative thought…
RB – Islington and Hackney may be Meeja heaven, but the nice parts of Manchester, believe it or not, are actually largely Conservative voting. Didsbury village itself has largely voted Conservative, but its constituency covers large sections of Withington, Fallowfield and Chorlton – all jam-packed with students, plus a very large council estate that sits right between the three. The whole seat is therefore labour and occasionally Lib-Dem.
Worsley is also a Conservative ward (occasionally Lib-Dem) but the parliamentary seat includes the sink estates of Little Hulton and the very working class Swinton and Walkden areas and other less “nice” parts of the Costa Del Salford.
The Manchester commuter belt in Cheshire is also packed with Conservatives, as are the home counties. So is Kensington and Chelsea in London, and Hammersmith and Fulham – both nice areas not jam-packed with Meeja types.
You’ll be telling me next a ****hole like South Shields is a conservative area next.
Nurse tells of ‘gardener’ Saddam
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6222159.stm
This BBC sob-story tells us that Saddam loved kids, animals and tending to his garden.
I don’t recall any such ‘human interest’ stories dedicated to Slobodan Milosevic.
disillusioned_german | 03.01.07 – 4:14 pm
The New England States are as liberal as they come.
Depends what you mean by ‘lberal’. Liberal in voting pref or liberal in lifestyle?
Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate. Connecticut second lowest. Family values perhaps?
New England states account for none of the ten highest in terms of murder, but for 4 of the safest ten.
Law-abiding folk?
Celebrities told to embrace the facts, not bad science
Sense About Science, a charity that promotes the importance of scientific evidence, warns that celebrities are prone to backing theories and therapies that make no scientific sense and offers them the chance to check their facts first
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-2528494,00.html
Of course if the would be thespians & all round entertainers employed as BBC news presenters were not so anxious to provide exposure for celeb’s hobby horses then less damage would be done.
This BBC sob-story tells us that Saddam loved kids, animals and tending to his garden.
I don’t recall any such ‘human interest’ stories dedicated to Slobodan Milosevic.
…Or Pinochet!
I predict similar such drivel dedicated to Castro when he snuffs it.
I noticed the headline from view from England’s story :
Hunting ban tops ‘unpopular’ poll
and we seem to have another nasty case of those floating BBC inverted commas. Who is being reported as mentioned an “unpopular” poll ? There doesn’t seem to be any mention of “unpopular” in the story :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6222247.stm
Moreover, even if someone (presumably someone unamused by the result) did use the word “unpopular” why would that merit using the word in the headline ?
Heron:
You demonstrate a fine knowledge of the Manchester hinterland. Are you from around these parts like myself and our esteemed colleague Archonix?
Knife that killed innocent Muslim had ‘racist links’.
John Reith:
‘Allan
Less than a year ago one senior BNP staffer was…..if various blogs are to be believed…..trying to acquire a hit man to assassinate various ministers and…..wait for it….Greg Dyke.’
Jr
If you are who you purport to be then you will know as well as I do from my previous background that the above is absolute rubbish. And you know the reasons why it is rubbish, so what was your motive for introducing it in the first place.
Yesterday you posted this:
‘The ballerina meanwhile did her own reputation no good in the Daily Mail.’
Twice before I’ve asked if you wouldn’t mind explaining to me how you arrived at that conclusion. I can only presume from your reticence to respond that that statement doesn’t hold water, just like the preposterous ‘hit man’ story.
JBH, I am indeed, though have spent a few years of my life in various parts of the capital as well.
‘I predict similar such drivel dedicated to Castro when he snuffs it.’
Anonymous | 03.01.07 – 5:09 pm |
I’m not sure how much credence can be placed on the below story but if it is true then it beggars the question Why is the bbc so devoted to the Cuban version of the NHS, never missing an opportunity to extol its contribution to the average Cuban peasant’s health.
Castro ‘admitted to Spanish hospital’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=426119&in_page_id=1811
The ‘liberals’ of New England are so liberal that they live out the multi-culti dream in the whitest part of the US. When ‘liberals’ such as Sean Penn and Michael Moore are checked for whom they live amongst and whom they hire, it’s always whites. They are the most hypocritical group on the planet, even beating the BBC.
TPO | 03.01.07 – 5:21 pm
See last open thread for my reply to your earlier query.
you will know as well as I do from my previous background that the above is absolute rubbish
I don’t. Last I saw what used to be the Special branch were interviewing one of them.
The other one had 2 previous convictions – one involving possession of explosives.
Mr John Reith, the BBC and apologists for false reporting;
Mr John Reith wrote;
The Ogaden ‘dispute’ (as opposed to ‘war’) started in 1948.
Ah the If you can’t blind them with science baffle them with bullshit manoeuvre.
Mr Reith as much as I admit you have far superior skills at English than I. it now transpires that reading comprehension isn’t one of them.
The BBC article mentions the Ogaden war. I mentioned the Ogaden war. If you can’t be bothered to argue about the same subject, then please don’t pass comment.
The US backed Haile Selassie for years.
And tell the big wide world what year he was deposed? (1974)
What year did he die (1975)
As you mentioned The Marxist government didn’t like working with the US so after Secretary of State Cyrus Vance recommended that American military aid be terminated because of Addis Ababa’s atrocious human rights record. the Ethiopian government expelled all MAAG personnel, closed all US military installations, and terminated the lease on the Kagnew station. That transpired before the Somali invasion in July of 1977. So no matter how many times you say the US backed Haile Selassie. He had been removed from power for 3 years and dead for 2 when war started.
“Wrong. The US asked the Saudis to extend a 200m dollar credit to the Somalis for arms in….I think….July 77.”
Really please point me in the direction of that information. I think the information you miscue was actually the opening of the Agency for International Development (AID)
office in Somalia in 1978. (In July 1977 the Somali were still in bed with Moscow. That may explain why over 10000 soviet military observers were in the country)
I on the other hand know for a fact that the US only started helping Somalia Militarily in 1980 and that in 1983 the US helped Somalia when she was invaded by Ethopia.
Care to take me up on those facts?
You may subscribe to the one-minute-autodidact school of journalism, but the BBC has bigger responsibilities.
Look Mr Reith I don’t lecture you about semantics, so please don’t try and lecture me about wars, weapons of war and the methods of war. Because after your post the other month on how a Hellfire missile airburst over a Lebanese ambulance I know for a fact that I have forgotten more about the killing game than you will ever know. So please Mr Reith tell me how stamping your feet in frustration at being caught out yet again kind of makes you somehow righteous.
Lastly Mr Reith if you are savy as you presume you are with all things Military then please, please inform the world what this picture I took is of.
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1472/dsc01666rl3.jpg
(And it wasn’t taken in the Uk. So that’s Bovington, Shrivenham and Duxsford out of the picture) Anybody who wishes to dictate anything green to a number of gobby NCOs on these boards would know what it is.
“You may subscribe to the one-minute-autodidact school of journalism, but the BBC has bigger responsibilities.”
JR, that line was priceless! So what exactly are those responsibilities? Or, should that read, Agenda?
I think this sample link from B-BBC may offer a clue: http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/2005/01/bbc-is-turn-off-its-official.html
Damn you pounce. I should have written 1982 for the last invasion of Somalia and not 1983.
TPO ref your 1242hrs
Sorry I haven’t got back, will take a read of the article and come back to you tomorrow.
Heron:
Archonix:
We three really should get together and have a pint… divided we fall etc etc…
John Reith:
TPO
“I joined about 18 months ago,” she says. “Yat and I were watching the television. As usual I was moaning about something that I had seen on the news and he just said, “Well, stop moaning and do something about it.”
“I didn’t really know anything about the BNP but they had come up in conversation a few times because they had just won some local council seats.
“We went on to the computer and we looked them up and I read their manifesto. I’m not too proud to say that a lot of it went over my head but some of the things they mentioned were the things I think about all the time, mainly mass immigration, crime and increased taxes. Those three issues were enough to make me join so I paid my £25 there and then. …..”I’m not a particularly political person but I read the manifesto and I took it on face value.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ pages…in_page_id=1770
John Reith | 03.01.07 – 5:17 pm | #
Exactly what is so damning of Simone Clarke in that interview? Let not Reith pretend that he/she/they is/are necessarily smarter than Simone Clarke, after all, he’s being trounced by pounce (it rhymes – could be JR’s slogan: “trounced by pounce”) and can’t match JBH so where does he get his annoying superiority complex from? JR, what is your academic background – all five/six of you or whopever’s on duty just now?
I’m not sure how much credence can be placed on the below story but if it is true then it beggars the question Why is the bbc so devoted to the Cuban version of the NHS, never missing an opportunity to extol its contribution to the average Cuban peasant’s health.
—————————————————
And don’t forget the near universal literacy.
Nice to know that when a dissident is sitting in A&E with his electrically-scorched genitals he’ll be able to read the National Geographics while he’s waiting to be seen
jr
Sorry should have checked the previous thread before Alan@Aberdeen beat me to a response, however exactly which part of her quote does her no credit, then we can pick the bones out of the rest of it.
On the other issue, do you have a verifiable public source for the SB interview that you could refer me to or is it non-attributable?
Before I try to beat you over the head with this it would be handy to see this first hand.
‘Nice to know that when a dissident is sitting in A&E with his electrically-scorched genitals he’ll be able to read the National Geographics while he’s waiting to be seen’
Suitably censored of course.
Channel Four Monday 15 January 2007
DISPATCHES: UNDERCOVER MOSQUE
A Dispatches reporter attends talks at mosques run by key organisations whose public faces are presented as moderate and mainstream, and finds preachers condemning the idea of integration into British society, condemning British democracy as un-Islamic and praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers. The investigation reveals that the influence of Saudi Arabian Islam – Wahabism – extends beyond the walls of some mosques to influential organisations that advise the British government on inter-community relations and prevention of terrorism.
Expect the condemnations from Inayat Bunglawala et al anyday now…
‘Nice to know that when a dissident is sitting in A&E with his electrically-scorched genitals he’ll be able to read the National Geographics while he’s waiting to be seen’
And pre 1959 copies only.
“This BBC sob-story tells us that Saddam loved kids, animals and tending to his garden. I don’t recall any such ‘human interest’ stories dedicated to Slobodan Milosevic.”
One clue to the BBCs love affair with Saddam is this story – Palestinians mourn Saddam.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=Saddam+Palestinians&itemNo=807455
(Happy New Year everyone by the way)
Mountain Man: Maybe they’re too high to shoot straight? I don’t believe the “make love not war” philosphy works anywhere. Maybe I’m overly cynical.
Joking aside though: I’ve seen enough about the “treatment” of child predators in Vermont (on the O’Reilly Factor) that I wouldn’t spend any time or money in that state.
At least Massachusetts have got a decent Governor in Mitt Romney… I grant you that.
Anne Widdecombe: “We did hesitate on the panel to put this one forward because there was already evidence of links from the Countryside Alliance..”
View from England: “naughty people at Countryside Alliance, spoiling the fun for the beeb!”
Don’t forget, if they had disqualified the ‘Hunting act’, they would have had to admit there are around a fifth of their audience who would like to see the European comunities 1972 act repealed.
Poor old Ed Stourton, talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.
Pounce, not absolutely certain, but isn’t that a T72?
JBH, I will take you up on the offer sooner or later. Right now money is tight (hence the wife comment before – she doesn’t like spending when we don’t have money to spare for some reason) but I’d like to meet up in person at some point. We could start a political party. 😀
Here’s a reference to the Simone Clarke story on the beeb. Seems they didn’t follow through on it, even though it was a chance to smear the bnp, probably for the reason stated by others on this blog, ie wariness arising from the fact that their sneak attack on the bnp didn’t go their way in court.
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:9kLnX2dOkHMJ:www.bbc.co.uk/partners/live/WSNPNHFRI1400/ORDER.HTM+%22simone+clarke%22+site:bbc.co.uk&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=6
I am not, nor have I ever been, a member or supporter of the bnp. (And that includes the banque nationale paris.)
Archonix wrote;
Pounce, not absolutely certain, but isn’t that a T72?
No here is what a T72 looks like;
http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/3747/dsc00723ahq9.jpg
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5363/dsc00721cc9.jpg
However as some sort of consolation prize the tank in the background is the grandfather of the T72. (T55)
Well that’s two tanks it isn’t.
I’d like to ask the stalwarts what they think should be done with people who are members of, supporters of, or voters for the BNP? As a couple of benchmarks, JR (BBC) considers that they are terrorists whilst comedian(??) Jeremy Hardy said on Radio 4 (he’s sooo funny!)that they should be shot in the back of the head.
The main point is:
should they lose their livelihood? This is what JR believes.
pounce 03.01.07 – 5:36 pm
You are clouding the issue with your usual flood of irrelevant detail and non sequiturs.
Let’s examine the actual points in dispute.
You wrote:
I think you will find that just because America sold Ethiopia 12 F5 freedom fighters before the onset of hostilities doesn’t transpire (sic) as US backing.
Although that sentence is largely illiterate gobbledygook, it is just about possible to work out its intended meaning: that US backing for Ethiopia was, according to you, confined to one aircraft deal and did not extend to more wholehearted support or anything resembling an alliance.
That is untrue. The US backed Ethiopia for decades. They continued to do so after Haile Selassie’s fall and did so right up until the anti-American faction in the Derg forced a re-think in the early Spring of 1977 • a few months before the fighting began in July.
The second sentence I took issue with • as being overly simplistic – was this one:
America had nothing to do with that war
Here, at least, your meaning is crystal clear: the US wasn’t involved, militarily or otherwise. Neither in terms of clandestine activity nor open diplomacy. It was merely a disinterested bystander.
Rubbish.
In May 1977, Saudi Arabia offered Somalia an equivalent
of U.S. $200 million dollars to lure her away from Moscow. It
appears as if Saudi Arabia was acting as a broker between the
U.S. and Somalia, after the U.S. [had] lost Ethiopia to Soviet
Influence….
During June, 1977, the Carter Administration began to
explore the prospects of wooing Somalia away from Soviet
influence. President Carter is reported to have instructed his
aids to “get Somalia to be our friend”. The man who was tasked
to perform the delicate task was Dr Kevin Cahill… … Public announcement by U.S. officials underscored Washington’s intention to meet the exercise
of influence by the Soviet Union in Africa peacefully but
aggressively, an attempt to denounce the presence of Cubans and
Russians in the Horn and an indication that United States was
consenting to cordial relationship with Somalia.
Saudi Arabia also promised Barre that it would ship weapons
immediately.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1986/KCA.htm
In June 1977, Carter relayed a secret message to Barre, reportedly telling him that whatever he did in the Ogaden was his own business…A few days later, Carter told the Somali ambassador that although the United States couldn’t at that time provide military aid, Washington would encourage its allies to help Somalia maintain its defensive strength. The next month, Carter approved in principle a decision to cooperate with other countries in arming Somalia, and on July 25 the Somali ambassador was notified that the United States would provide weapons. Not surprisingly, Barre took this as a green light to proceed with his invasion of the Ogaden……Washington refused to publicly condemn the Somali invasion of the Ogaden and winked when Saudi Arabia, Iran (under the Shah), Egypt, and Pakistan transferred weapons of non-U.S. origin to Somalia..
http://www.wpunj.edu/cohss/polisci/faculty/shalom/sssomali.htm
The United States adopted Somalia as a Cold War client state from the late 1970s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden_War
Re: Castro and his possible treatment outside Cuba…
Yes, the Beeb are staying well away from that topic even though it is being reported by members of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy like…er, The Mirror.
I suppose this could be a result of, in “John Reith’s” words, the BBC having “bigger responsibilities”! 😆
Of course, as has been pointed out, the BBC will praise Cuba’s welfare system to the heavens at any opportunity. See this fawning Newsnight piece:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/5232628.stm
After getting in his jibes like “Mr. Murdoch’s News Corp bunfight” John Harris finishes his piece posted on the impartial, un-biased BBC’s Web site with the unambiguous exhortation “Within reason – and though hell will freeze over, while pigs cruise over Downing Street – he (Blair) should go Cuban.”.
To Newsnight and the BBC’s credit, they do allow some feedback:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/feedback/5237904.stm#cuba
My favourite:
Why does Newsnight continue to get inappropriate people to make films about politics? Having music journalist John Harris make a film about healthcare in Cuba (two subjects in which he is not a specialist) is not very illuminating and devalues Newsnight’s reporting. You should reserve him for Review and get proper journalists to cover important subjects.
Matt, London
But Fidel himself cannot rely fully on the Cuban healthcare system. Even the BBC has been forced to concede that a foreigner has had to be called in to treat the human rights abuser:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/americas/6208451.stm
Jeremy Hardy said on Radio 4 (he’s sooo funny!)that they should be shot in the back of the head.
It figures –
Anonymous:
Jeremy Hardy said on Radio 4 (he’s sooo funny!)that they should be shot in the back of the head.
It figures –
JR – was that you?
Mr Reith from the Wikipedia article you linked into.
1)By the beginning of the war, the Somali National Army (SNA) was only 35,000-men strong and was vastly outnumbered by the Ethiopian forces. However, throughout the 1970s, Somalia was the recipient of large amounts of Soviet military aid. The SNA had three times the tank force of Ethiopia, as well as a larger air force.
2)Despite the violence, the Soviet Union, which had been closely observing developments, came to believe that Ethiopia was developing into a genuine Marxist-Leninist state and that it was in Soviet interests to aid the new regime. They thus secretly approached Mengistu with offers of aid that he accepted. Ethiopia closed the U.S. military mission and the communications center in April 1977.
3)The U.S.S.R., finding itself supplying both sides of a war, attempted to mediate a ceasefire. When their efforts failed, the Soviets abandoned Somalia. All aid to Siad Barre’s regime was halted, while arms shipments to Ethiopia were increased. Soviet military aid, only second in magnitude to the October 1973 gigantic resupplying of Syrian forces during the Yom Kippur war, plus Soviet advisors flooded into the country along with around 15,000 Cuban combat troops. Other Communist countries offered assistance: the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen offered military assistance and North Korea helped train a “People’s Militia”. As the scale of Communist assistance became clear in November 1977, Somalia broke diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R. and expelled all Soviet citizens from the country.
So tell me who armed who again??? Because from the very link you supplied in which to substantiate your America is the reason war transpired in the horn of Africa I find that it was the USSR and not the US which had boots, tanks and artillery on the ground.
(part 1 of 2)
Mr Reith you cut and pasted this article in which to defend the article that claims somewhat ethereally that the US was embroiled militarily during the Ogaden war.
“In June 1977, Carter relayed a secret message to Barre, reportedly telling him that whatever he did in the Ogaden was his own business…A few days later, Carter told the Somali ambassador that although the United States couldn’t at that time provide military aid, Washington would encourage its allies to help Somalia maintain its defensive strength. The next month, Carter approved in principle a decision to cooperate with other countries in arming Somalia, and on July 25 the Somali ambassador was notified that the United States would provide weapons. Not surprisingly, Barre took this as a green light to proceed with his invasion of the Ogaden……Washington refused to publicly condemn the Somali invasion of the Ogaden and winked when Saudi Arabia, Iran (under the Shah), Egypt, and Pakistan transferred weapons of non-U.S. origin to Somalia.. “
http://www.wpunj.edu/cohss/polisci/faculty/shalom/sssomali.htm
If I look at the website you culled that statement from I find that you removed the number 4 from after “United States would provide weapons”
In the bibliography at the end of that article that number 4 equates to;
Lefebvre, Arms for the Horn, pp. 175-76.
Here is what the Amazon synopsis has to say about that book;
“Policy changed in the 1970s: Nixon refused a large aid request in 1973, and in 1977 Carter ended Ethiopia’s military aid on human rights grounds and denied aid to Somalia during the 1977-78 Ogaden War. Reversing this policy, the Reagan administration extended military aid to Somalia despite its aggressive moves against Ethiopia.”
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arms-Horn-U-S-Security-1953-1991-Institutional/dp/0822936801/sr=1-1/qid=1167858860/ref=sr_1_1/202-8509146-1277447?ie=UTF8&s=books
Maybe you should read a few books by Liddel Hart.
Here is my favourite;
http://lookinside2-images.amazon.com:80/Qffs+v35lepi0TjwHmUejh6zDZeXC6+eg/6McUfMkU2EKUB/349HpzfDm37AXfSA7a/lzbrGyWQ=
Maybe if you digested the contents of the above tome you may find yourself not getting outflanked on this board as often as you do. I mean it worked for Heinz Guderian.
Pounce, it is an unequal battle. You are up against the finest minds of a £3.5.billion organisation.
Be gentle with them.
BNP MEMBER INFILTRATES BBC – NOW THERE’S A HEADLINE
Geoff writes:
”
BNP MEMBER INFILTRATES BBC – NOW THERE’S A HEADLINE”
What a damned fine idea!
Sadly, the meejah are in lock step with their attitude to the BNP (stupidly missing the point that repressing such a populist organisation is actively assisting its growth). The resulting exposé of Reith and his workmates would never be published.
It’s high time someone got inside the BBC and told the truth, though. That smugness needs a jolt.
Does this John Reith actually work for the BBC? If not he should. I have met people like him before they can never accept that they are wrong. It is the typical BBC mindset
Pounce – I think you are flogging a dead horse here, as is JBH
Allan@Aberdeen
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I find communists hard to stomach but they are everywhere
John Reid, Secretary of State for Health Former Communist and researcher for the Scottish Union of Students. Claimed he joined the CP because it was the only non-Trotskyist political group on campus when he was an undergraduate student at Stirling University.
Margaret Hodge, Minister for Children Former leader of Islington Council where she had a bust of Lenin installed in the town hall. During her tenure, it became known as the “Socialist Republic of north London”.
http://www.eurabiantimes.com/archives/2004/11/new_labour_exco.php
Umran Javed and the BBC tell us that it was all ‘just slogans’.
“I regret saying these things,” Mr Javed told the court.
“I understand the implications they have but they were just slogans, sound bites,” he said.
AND
“Never, ever did I have in my mind to threaten anybody, any nationality.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6227953.stm
Now I wonder if this is the same Mr Javed that came to the attention of Jihad Watch back in November along with BBC’s favourite Muslim ‘lawyer’ Anjem Choudary?
An Islamic fundamentalist lawyer has said Ireland is a “legitimate” target for a terrorist attack.
Anjem Choudary, speaking at a debate Thursday at Dublin’s Trinity College, claimed Ireland was open to attack because of the government’s decision to allow U.S. troops to refuel at Shannon Airport, the Irish Independent reported Friday.
……
Another Muslim extremist, Umran Javed, told the debate that although he did not see an attack on Ireland as likely, retaliation would come “swiftly” if Ireland increased its support for the United States….
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/008951.php
More ‘slogans’, no doubt.
Also why does the BBC think it’s important to inform us that he is “a married man with a young child”? Don’t tell us – he is a keen ‘gardener’ as well and loves animals, right?
The BBC and its ‘bigger responsibility’ to apologise for Muslim extremism and terrorism.
Margaret Hodge, Minister for Children Former leader of Islington Council where she had a bust of Lenin installed in the town hall. During her tenure, it became known as the “Socialist Republic of north London”.
Now Margaret Hodge, she’s special even by the standards of this government. Not only are her political views shocking – she’s jewish and hates Israel – but she also reigned over a dreadful episode of child abuse in her local authority, and the cover-up.
Allan: my loathing for the Hodge creature knows no bounds. You have not come close to saying all there is to be said about her. Caught by the Evening Standard (in one of its rare fits of public service) with her pants down protecting and employing abusers, she not only refused to resign, she actively smeared one of the main accusers – in other words, blamed the victim. And then this creature had the nerve to accept the post of… wait for it… Minister for Children. She is a genuinely horrendous human being, and even in a government that can boast Peter Mandelson, her political survival is inexplicable.
Margaret Hodge elocutes in a horrible self-trained invented patronizing parody of received pronunciation not unlike Patricia Hewitt’s that makes you cringe when you hear it.
John Reith,
Why does the BBC pay you to defend it on this blog? Is that really journalism? It looks more like advocacy to me.
Frank is the billions of pounds per year, that is why the JR collective exists. As always follow the money.
Nom de guerre
You cannot hope to bribe or twist
(thank God!) the British journalist.
But, seeing what the man will do
unbribed, there’s no occasion to.
–Humbert Wolfe (1885•1940), British poet, author. “Over the Fire,” bk. 1, The Uncelestial City (1930).]