489 Responses to Midweek 10th January 2024

  1. Zephir says:

    Marxist tactic: create division

       10 likes

  2. tomo says:

    All members of the Senned to dress as TeleTubbies while in the chamber.

       12 likes

    • taffman says:

      A woke Dragon – shame !
      As a genuine taffman I speak for many , many taffmen , we want the Welsh Assembly scrapped !
      Are there any Welshmen reading this site who disagree with me?

         12 likes

  3. tomo says:

    I wouldn’t give any of them a penny … but…

    Meanwhile in motor caravan land

       19 likes

  4. Guest Who says:

    Know that bbc thing when they keep saying how trusted and impartial they are?

    https://x.com/lbc/status/1745369986883784712?s=61
    Carol Vorderman, one of the country’s most popular and respected presenters, is officially joining LBC.

       9 likes

  5. Zephir says:

    bbc wales, some might recall when they tried the poll tax in Scotland first

       8 likes

  6. Zephir says:

    @ Voderman

    there are many accademics without those rubber assets that do not get any airtime

    having some experience, I can only comment, goodness sake where those assets will descend once unleseashed

    her kneecaps is my best bet from experience

    “all that glisters is not gold”

    tits top of the list there

       10 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Not so long ago Vorderman was running downstairs, hands in trouser pockets, wearing 4″ heels – she came a cropper and broke her nose. Clearly that tumble affected her brain box………. just saying.

         13 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      LBC does seem the dumping ground.


      ‘Temporarily getting the ratio of your own family mixed up – it’s scandalous, national news, apparently.’
      In the latest instalment of ‘Smear Keir,’
      @mrjamesob rubbishes an article criticising the Labour Leader for accidentally saying he had two boys instead of a boy and a girl.

      JO’bsworth, and LBC, would of course never dream of stooping…

         6 likes

  7. tomo says:

    Why should taxpayers foot the bill for the poisonous individual deeds at the Post Office and in the judiciary?

       20 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Because all three parties were involved in this, I suspect that it was ordered by BLiar as a way to avoid paying compensation for loss of office originally.

      Taxpayers voted for the politicians, the politicians they elected had oversight responsibility and accountability for the Post Office and they were incompentent.

      Moral of the story – elect better politicians, but they did this on the electorates behalf so therefore it’s the taxpayers responsibility to put it right!

         4 likes

  8. Zephir says:

       4 likes

  9. Zephir says:

       6 likes

  10. Tabs says:

    The key NHS targets that have never been met
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67884322

    The NHS might have missed their targets but the BBC hit theirs every time. The article is illustrated with a photo of 3 people, 2 of which are black men.

       13 likes

  11. tomo says:

    138 page “Report on Long Term Electricity Storage”

    – that can be compressed succinctly into two words = “NOT viable”

    – unless you seek to mislead by woffling enough boilerplate eco-tripe to get people glazing over?

    BBC to elaborate?

       11 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      The best type of long term electricity storage is a few million tons of coal.

         4 likes

  12. Guest Who says:

    “BBC News Online has appointed Jeremy Culley as a senior journalist. Jeremy was previously assistant editor at Mirror Online.”

    Luckily Kev Maguire is there most of the time anyway.

       9 likes

  13. Guest Who says:

    https://x.com/BBCWorld/status/1745199140349329634?s=20
    Eurovision: Finnish artists want Israel barred from Eurovision over “war crimes”

    That geezer in the beard and dress was bad… but…

    Most seem to be debating The BBC use of punctuation though.

       8 likes

  14. Deborah says:

    Headline in the Daily Mail on Line for an article written by Jenni Murray.

    ‘How a week in hospital changed my mind on the doctors’ strike (but not in the way you would think)’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12948347/JENNI-MURRAY-week-hospital-changed-mind-doctors-strike-not-way-think.html

    Over New Year Jenni was in hospital with pneumonia and as the junior doctors were on strike she was cared for by the overworked consultants who were marvellous. Fortunately Jenni is now well enough to have returned to the care facility she was staying in due to her bad back. (No, I don’t fully understand her circumstances).

    Jenni, of course, worked for the BBC for many years on Woman’s Hour. As such I would fully expect her to agree with the Far Left Doctor’s union that the junior doctors should receive a pay rise far in excess of anyone else. And that is what she now thinks. What I am amazed about is that she, as ex BBC, ever thought otherwise.

       9 likes

    • Cooper_Man says:

      Like Jenni Murray, I’ve just spent the first week of the new year in my local hospital – admitted with a serious chest infection, but then also diagnosed with Influenza and Pneumonia – ten days in total in an isolation ward , where I only ever saw nurses. The two main eye-openers for me was the almost total absence of white staff – there was a lovely nurse from Italy, but everyone else was BAME, Can our NHS not function without taking the so-called best from every other country of the world? The second was the slowness of everything – “we’ll get come CT scans of your chest – in two days time, then some blood tests two days after that!” The food was surprisingly excellent, the nurses were all dedicated and professional, but I’ve come away from the whole experience completely dissatisfied – where does all the money go? Hundreds of billions of pounds every year, and we rely on nurses from Sri Lanka! I’m now at home, no energy to do anything, and I’ll be like this for several months, apparently – oh joy.

         20 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Cooper – Man – congratulations on your survival – and your observations about your treatments . I get your observation about the nationalities of the nurses and the absence on British / Irish ones ….
        Perhaps the way forward – if the NHS continues in its’ current form – wouid be for the NHS to teach / train kids into the service at an earlier age … but maybe the threshold for doing unpleasant jobs ( shift work ) is very high now …

        Well done -again – for surviving … spring is coming …

           12 likes

      • Deborah says:

        Pleased Cooper-man you are ok now in spite of striking doctors. Perhaps well paid nurses could be the way to go?

           4 likes

      • G says:

        Cooper-Man,

        “where does all the money go?”

        Simples. The foreigners send the money “Home” so it will never be spent in the UK.

           1 likes

  15. tomo says:

       20 likes

  16. Althepalerp says:

    When will they ban electric cars from going onto Ferries.
    Endangering lives at sea every day.

       25 likes

    • Deborah says:

      I assume it was the electric bus on fire this morning that set you thinking? It is obvious that a ferry fire due to electric cars is just a disaster waiting to happen.

         12 likes

  17. Guest Who says:

    So, what is Mucho Simpo huffing and puffing about today?

    https://x.com/JohnSimpsonNews/status/1745395135746019651?s=20
    It’d be nice if this poll silenced the headbangers who say the BBC isn’t trusted any more. It’d also be nice if it gets reported in the @Telegraph and @DailyMailUK— but I’m not holding my breath, given their own low placings.

    He gets called out and starts diverting.

    As a reminder, from just here recently:

    https://x.com/defundbbc/status/1745093441355239784?s=58
    https://x.com/iromg/status/1745049664812892196?s=58

    And, for balance….

    https://x.com/marinapurkiss/status/1745375133588394468?s=58

    Joining O’Brien from The BBC is the very definition of impartiality.

    Marr is dropping Classic FM for now, to also concrete on trashing Tories.

       6 likes

  18. Zephir says:

    For Scroblene xx

    There is Genisis and Pink Floyd and…

       5 likes

  19. Thoughtful says:

    If there is one take away about the Post Office perjury for us here on a site dedicated to reporting media bias it is the power which the media has to force government into actions it does not want to take.

    Certain dramas down the years have had this effect Cathy Come Home being one such but there have been several others.

    On this occasion the government have known for years about the perjury of the Post Office and failed to take any significant action, having said that they haven’t taken any significant action over anything!

    The power of the media in the UK is enormous, and we should never under estimate it.

       14 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Thoughtful – I think the very existence of this site – and the efforts made to evidence the malign attitude of the BBC / OfCoM – recognises what the media can do – ….. it fascinates me how a story rises and falls – Ukraine – Gaza – post office – next ….

         9 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        Much of the news is summed up by the old phrase Tommorrows chip wrappers, until the EU banned it of course !

           4 likes

  20. friend of yogi bear says:

    Wes Streeting was on the BBC today programme this morning ( not long after he finished , I couldn’t stand amol any longer and turned to LBC)…..only to hear Wes bloody Streeting again..pushing his latest campaign about teachers dealing with kids who don’t know how to brush their teeth.
    He was banging on about the NHS saving money because huge numbers of under tens are being admitted to Hospital ,due to tooth decay.
    ( I well remember Tony Blair promising ,in the last century, that within 2 years everybody would have access to an NHS dentist..whatever happened about that! )

    My fear is that without a “big hitting” personality leading the campaign it might just fail. We need Wes Streeting on the T.V. fronting this campaign brushing his own teeth. With modern photographic techniques there are no limits to just how instructive this could be.
    “Brush your teeth with Wes Streeting”
    If that campaign succeeds it could be extended. Nic Ferrari made the point to “Wes” where would this end ?as he recalled in the past school teachers phoning in to say they were dealing with 5 year olds who lacked potty training.
    Under a Labour Govt (With money to spend) we perhaps could enjoy more government help with basic parental tasks. Furthermore the BBC could get involved.
    May I humbly suggest that the second of any such T.V. self help programmes could be “Wipe your bottom with Emily Thornbury”.. mmm. Yes.. it’s got quite a ring to it..

       17 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Friend
      I think your ‘wipe your bottom with Emily thornbury ‘ has legs and would make an excellent c5 programme … sponsored by a toilet roll manufacturer…..

      ,,,, the teeth thing – don’t start me on teeth – I have spent thousands on implants – crowns – veneers – I agree that teeth health should be started early – and if feckless parent(. S) who don’t clean their teeth can’t teach their kids then the state should …
      In fact perhaps kids bred by people who are unemployed should be removed and put into kmir rouge style education camp – trained to become traffic wardens or some other social benefit …
      I realise my flippancy may be mis understood … lifes’ a risk

         16 likes

  21. andyjsnape says:

    The biased bbc reports on:-

    Lib Dems urge Ofcom to investigate GB News Post Office scandal coverage
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67943541

       10 likes

  22. Fedup2 says:

    Ok – I’ve got to write this – toady – amol interviewing a wrecked sub post office mistress – even I was touched …. £75 k is not enough £ 600 k is not enough ….. their losses- financial – emotional – should be quantified – repaid – and then compensation worked out …. If that’s £2million each – bill Fujitsu …it’s not a lot of money ….

       15 likes

    • atlas_shrugged says:

      My own idea is to raise a super tax on all lawyers and judges to pay the compensation to the post-masters.

      It was their screwup to criminalise these people in the first place. God forbid that these scumbags should be paid more money just to get justice for the victims. That really would be a moral hazard.

         3 likes

  23. Guest Who says:

    Luckily, The BBC Graphics Dept can be relied upon at all times.

    https://x.com/hausfath/status/1744806355524042868?s=20
    Some great visuals of the 2023’s gobsmackingly hot temperatures from @BBCNews : https://bbc.com/news/science-environment-67861954

    Though… the comments.

       10 likes

  24. Guest Who says:

    On the subject of ‘news’, ‘reporting’, “quotes”, etc…

    https://x.com/thehill/status/1745069490608447938?s=58
    Trump says he was never on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane or “stupid island” https://trib.al/AX6DWNs

    Fair to say The Hill is not a Trump fan, so it leaves things ‘open’ (see what I did there?) and leaves it to the comments.

    Thing is, I end up none the wiser. Do have a few questions though. No point asking.

    This guy has it sussed:

    https://x.com/Johnraines1C/status/1745136086358049258?s=20
    Have you got the facts or truth on this that I can check please just a link will do …… no ok

    Or… has he? No, ok.

       7 likes

  25. Jeff says:

    There’s the return of an old favourite on ITV tonight, Grantchester. Being a bit of a nostalgist, I always used to enjoy these period pieces, but nowadays I find them just a tad irritating…There’s always a bloody message…

    We’re told that tonight’s episode involves a charity motorbike race, hidden rivalry, jealousy…and even sexism…Yes, a series set in the 1950s tackles a problem that didn’t even have a name until the 1990s…I’m guessing we’re in for another hour with a lot of finger-wagging and 2020s propaganda, unsubtly transposed onto a 1950s period drama. There will be all the old cars, buses, hairdos and clothes, but all the 1950s people will think like all good people should in 2024.

    Maybe one afternoon I’ll tune in and find that Father Brown is investigating a mysterious robbery, made even murkier by nasty undertones of Islamophobia. There will be the kindly Muslim shopkeeper, falsely accused of fraud. While the real villain is the nasty white bigot…

    And later Endeavour will seek to unmask a serial killer with a hankering to murder non-binary folk and transexuals. Hey, didn’t you know, gender fluidity was all the rage in 1960s Oxford.

    Actually, I might just get on with my book…

       24 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Jeff .. I remembered when morse started and it was a real challenge – by series 3 it was flogged … by 5 it was dying … then came Endeavour – which tried … but a series or few in it went fully woke – progressing – if I recall from the early 60s to the 70s … that too was a flog … ..cop shows are out of favour I think – unless they are coloured or gay or both … and I don’t bother any more … back to the book …

         18 likes

      • Rob in Cheshire says:

        The latest “Vera” is of course set in the vibrant, multi-cultural North East (98% white). Now, she has lost a black colleague, but gained a new one, a police woman with one arm! How we are expected to suspend our disbelief amazes me.

           11 likes

  26. digg says:

    A trend?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67944657

    Bet this story won’t be up for long…..

    Oops…. Another one bites the dust….

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-61543634

    I’m sure Mayor Khan will have an explanation in due course…. Probably Global Warming I bet!

       9 likes

    • tomo says:

      I suspect that feeder cable fires which seemed to garner about half a dozen news reports a year in London haven’t stopped happening.

      London’s electricity distribution network is tired, poorly maintained and creaking…

         5 likes

  27. Flotsam says:

    Keir Smarmer doesn’t appear to be admitting anything, apologising or having much to say about the PO/Fujitsu Horizon scandal. Smarmer is a Lawyer, a Barrister, he like all Lawyers will have a very pragmatic view of the Law. If there’s a case to answer, there will be a prosecution, if there’s a defence then it will be tried by Judge and Jury. If the Crown wins its case, that’s the verdict, move on, if the Defence successfully defends, the defendant is not guilty, move on. The decision to prosecute is only based on whether the CPS thinks there’s sufficient evidence to bring a successful prosecution. It’s as cold as that, the Law and Lawyers are amoral actors. The problem for defendants in the PO Horizon cases is the cost of defending themselves and access to evidence. The PO would be a very difficult accuser to contradict, they held all the cards, would have the very best Lawyers well versed in the type of case and would have been a very credible witness. I feel sure that the PO’s Solicitors/Barristers must have known there was something fishy about these cases but were happy to carry on taking the money. Like Smarmer they morally distance themselves from the situation and justify their actions by saying the Courts/Judge and Juries decide the verdict.

    Smarmer and Bliar before him couldn’t care less about winning or losing cases or the people affected, it’s a game, they take their money and move onto the next case.

       20 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Flotsam -I did a bit – once – on the role of the ‘expert witness ‘ in civil and criminal proceedings . The post office cases look like they hinge fully on the expert Fujitsu witness writing perjured statements which the court / prosecution relied on – and which for various reasons the defence were unable to question or challenge…. And there goes the miscarriage ….

      I was thinking about the defences cases being constructed by the lawyers for fennels and crozier and the rest for ‘abuse of process’ and the inability to get a fair trial because of current publicity … they’ve got the money after all …

         8 likes

      • Flotsam says:

        Yes, jail the perjurers but:
        There’s probably a few in Fujitsu that knew what was happening but my guess was their own in-house witness is a fall guy, the more senior management probably knew but distanced themselves from the cases. He may have been misled himself, or knew and was so involved in the Horizon software development that his job was on the line. Exposing the truth in Court was always going to be difficult given the power of the PO.

           9 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      They didn’t just hold all the cards, it was much worse than that, because they had the reports that Horizon was unreliable but they told the judge that it was in the possesion of Fujitsu who weren’t a party to the case and couldn’t be ordered to disclose. It was a complete lie because they did have the report and they did know there were issues.

         6 likes

  28. taffman says:

    “Hard choices for the West in Red Sea stand-off”
    Whose side will the Biased Broadcasting Corporation take ?

       14 likes

    • taffman says:

      Iran has seized an oil tanker !
      Things are heating up. The Tory government better get their act together and start strengthen our armed forces and get a new Secretary of State for Defence, PDQ.
      At the same time , the Home Office need to check out all the people that they have let in via the back door. Make a start on the 4 Star hotels .

         9 likes

  29. tomo says:

       13 likes

  30. tomo says:

    “I’m a grasping dumbfu** who should’ve never been given the job in the firstplace”

    – followed by “compo!”

    Shallow shits at the BBC really are the pits – the Daily Star does it better for less.
    Fire-Shot-Capture-144-Home-BBC-News-www-bbc-co-uk.png

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Reminds me of those instances Verify or Panorama or Capita or ECU mount an ‘investigation’.

         3 likes

  31. Zephir says:

    Not being an empire any more one could assume we mind our own business

    not the bbc muzzies, interfering in a Pakistani elecion a prime
    example

    “Pakistan: Election likely to be delayed in latest political crisis”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-66446957

    Pakistan: Imran Khan’s high-stakes election gamble

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64062905

       5 likes

  32. Zephir says:

    hmm muzzies again

    Summary

    The All-India Muslim League first voiced the demand for a Muslim homeland based on India’s northwestern and northeastern provinces in March 1940. Seven years later at the moment of British decolonization in the subcontinent, Pakistan emerged on the map of the world, an anomaly in the international community of nations with its two wings separated by a thousand miles of Indian territory

    https://oxfordre.com/asianhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-114

       5 likes

  33. Zephir says:

    Jewish homeland ?

    not allowed

    In the first half of the 19th century, no foreigners were allowed to purchase land in Palestine.[citation needed] This was official Ottoman policy until 1856 and in practice until 1867.[9] When it came to the national aspirations of the Zionist movement, the Ottoman Empire opposed the idea of Jewish self-rule in Palestine, fearing it might lose control of Palestine after recently having lost other territories to various European powers. It also took issue with the Jews, as many came from Russia, which sought the empire’s demise.[10] In 1881 the Ottoman governmental administration (the Sublime Porte) decreed that foreign Jews could immigrate to and settle anywhere within the Ottoman Empire, except in Palestine and from 1882 until their defeat in 1918, the Ottomans continuously restricted Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine.[10] In 1892, the Ottoman government decided to prohibit the sale of land in Palestine to Jews, even if they were Ottoman citizens.[11] Nevertheless, during the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, many successful land purchases were made through organizations such as the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PJCA), Palestine Land Development Company and the Jewish National Fund.

       7 likes

  34. Thoughtful says:

    Here’s another thought that I have just had regarding Horizon which has never been asked.

    700 sub postmasters were wrongly convicted and thousands of others (myself included) lost their offices without being convicted.

    But the post office network is not entirely run by independent sub postmasters, the Post Office itself ran several offices and they also used the Horizon platform, I haven’t heard of a single POCL branch manager or staff member being prosecuted over missing money or a Horizon shortage.

    This to me gives further credence to the suspicion it was a deliberate creation of IT staff in Chesterfield who we know had access into individual branches and could quite easily create these losses.

       12 likes

    • Solomon Grundy says:

      A very good point Thoughtful. Just to play devil’s advocate …

      1) As I understand it, originally ISDN links connected the post offices to the central server(s). Were POCL branches larger and therefore employed fixed line kilostream links? In which case connection failures would be rare. Given that Horizon was a buggy mess, that might only account for some of the accounting errors.

      2) If POCL branches are larger, is there an IT literate member of staff in them? It’s much harder for the PO “police” to pull the wool over someone’s eyes if they keep accurate logs of Windows NT “blue screens”, link failures, screen snapshots of failed transactions etc.

      I would take issue with your suspicion that it was a “deliberate creation of IT staff in Chesterfield”. In my experience (39 years in IT development/Support), there might be one bad egg in an IT department but a team dedicated to the systematic defrauding of sub-postmasters? Sorry, not for me.

         9 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        Thanks for the inside knowledge. I’ve just been reading the judges fisking of the Post Offices expert witness, who he described as offering no evidential value.

        He lied about IT people being able to get into the Horizon system alter the figures, and then come out again with no record, and no knowledge for the Post Master.

        It would appear if a large discrepancy in favour of the subpostmaster arose Horizon intercepted it and placed it in a suspense account, where if it had not been accounted for, after three years went into the profit and loss of POCL.

        This all came to light after a Fujitsu whistleblower came forward, as you say not all bad eggs, but there were certainly plenty of them within the Horizon team who didn’t come clean until forced to.

           5 likes

      • tomo says:

        Solomon Grundy

        Would you consider it feasible to have code modules called that accepted undocumented parameters that were not known about by the vast majority of developers (a select few, maybe even one ) that allowed systemwide administrative manipulation of financial information?

        I ask, as I worked with telephone auditing equipment in the 1990s where the intent was to catch billing fraudsters – and confront them with independently logged call data…. Big money was involved.

        I also had “issues” with billing personally.

           0 likes

        • Solomon Grundy says:

          Hi Tomo.

          The clear answer to your question is no.

          A Horizon developer pointed out that there needed to be a data dictionary to prevent “undocumented parameters”. Also, there was no transactional system, ad hoc messages being used to transfer data using a system called Riposte.

          From Computer Weekly:

          “Our source said the big flaw in Horizon was the way data was being written to Riposte. Riposte wasn’t really a database, it was a messaging system based on an XML structure where you write messages down into the message store, and then Riposte took care of replicating them,” he said.”

          There is nothing wrong with using Riposte as such, but developers should only see an API through which all messages are sent. Then the API would check all parameters and ensure the remote end could process the message through Riposte. Isolating Riposte to an API means it can be swapped out for other store-and-forward technologies, encryption added if public networks are employed and all Riposte messages can be easily logged for debugging purposes.

          My guess is that someone wrote some code to send messages to Riposte and the source was copy-and-pasted everywhere before any thought was put into the design of the system. (The horse had bolted before the stable had even been built, let alone the stable door being closed.)

          https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252496560/Fujitsu-bosses-knew-about-Post-Office-Horizon-IT-flaws-says-insider

             0 likes

  35. Guest Who says:

    https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1745464154264379397?s=20
    By “misinformation”, WEF means anything that conflicts with its agenda

    Oddly similar to The BBC.

       10 likes

  36. Johnda says:

    I see BBC not pursuing Ed Davey with any vigour at all. He should resign and make a full public apology in the least. BBC where is your moral compass

       19 likes

  37. Zephir says:

    bbc vigour is all about “far right”

    A 15 year old with a book about Germany in the 1940s in his bedroom

    Damned

    an illegal immigrant raping

    local news

       13 likes

  38. Up2snuff says:

    TWatO Watch #1 – in which the Montacutie ‘sails close to the wind’ ……

    Sarah was jabbering about Post Office prosecutions with Dominic Grieve, an EU enthusiastic Remainer and formerly a Conservative MP. Sarah asked about who has the power to prosecute in the UK and apparently there was no sharp intake of breath or admission that she knew all about the HMRC’s powers of prosecution when Dominic mentioned the various groups including HMRC, and of course, the Post Office. Peculiarly, there was a mention of the Crown Prosecution Service by Grieve but no mention of the fact that Keir Starmer prosecuted several Post Masters and Post Mistresses when he headed the CPS.

    Very strange, that omission.

       11 likes

  39. Zephir says:

    according to the unbisased bbc

    “Far-right parties on the rise across Europe”

    “France is on a knife edge. ”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66056375

       9 likes

  40. Zephir says:

    A political view is a “knife edge ” according to the unbiased bbc

    (always remember that 15 year old in his bedroom )

    and how many muslims are knifing people in Europe ?

       7 likes

  41. Zephir says:

    Just watch out for the far right, as the bbc will continually inform you

    erm

    Murder of Lee Rigby

    Attack type
    Vehicle-ramming attack, attempted decapitation, Islamic terrorism
    Weapons Car, cleaver, knife, and revolver
    Injured 2 (the perpetrators)
    Victim Lee Rigby[2]
    Perpetrators Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale
    Motive Retaliation for British military presence in Islamic countries

    On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Islamist terrorists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale[3] near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London.[4][5][6][7][8][9]

    Rigby was off duty and walking along Wellington Street when he was attacked.[10] Adebolajo and Adebowale ran him down with a car, then used knives and a cleaver to stab and hack him to death.[11] The men dragged Rigby’s body into the road and remained at the scene until police arrived, informing passers-by that they had murdered Rigby to avenge Muslims killed by the British military.[12] Unarmed police arrived at the scene nine minutes after an emergency call was received and set up a cordon. Armed police officers arrived five minutes later. The assailants, armed with a cleaver and brandishing a gun, charged at the police, who fired shots that wounded them both. They were apprehended and taken to separate hospitals.[12] Adebolajo and Adebowale are British of Nigerian descent, were raised as Christians, and converted to Islam.[13]

    On 19 December 2013, both of the attackers were found guilty of Rigby’s murder.[14] On 26 February 2014, they were sentenced to life imprisonment, with Adebolajo given a whole life order and Adebowale ordered to serve at least 45 years.[15] The attack was condemned by political and Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom and in the international press.[16][17]

       9 likes

  42. Zephir says:

    In conflict zones around the world, various nonstate armed groups and governments are attacking cultural heritage sites and targeting minority communities. Threatened by what UNESCO’s director-general described as “cultural cleansing,” the international community has a responsibility to protect vulnerable populations from those seeking to destroy them.

    https://www.getty.edu/publications/cultural-heritage-mass-atrocities/part-3/16-adams/

       1 likes

  43. Zephir says:

    The Atrocities of the Islamic State
    Reversing the eradication of religious minorities in Iraq and Syria

    Introduction

    Religious persecution around the world is on the rise, perpetrated by both states and non-state actors.[1] Atrocities, including mass killings, physical abuse, rape and sexual violence, abductions, and extortion, are perpetrated against people of faith because they express their religious belief, manifest their religious belief in the public or merely belong to or identify themselves with a religious group.[2]

    https://lausanne.org/content/lga/2019-03/the-atrocities-of-the-islamic-state

       3 likes

  44. digg says:

    Justice for witches group anyone?

    No me neither but they want pardons for witches put to death hundreds of years ago….

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-67944211#comments

    As things get more bizarre from these nutters will we see more of this fruit-cake lunacy?

    How about a justice for victims of Vikings group or a Justice for victims of Romans group or a victims of Ghengis Khan or Attila the Hun group or even victims of Oliver Cromwell group?

    Even a Justice for victims of Adolph Hitler group would make more sense!

    Andy Warhol said that everyone would be famous for five minutes which I guess sums up the mindset of these people.

       7 likes

  45. Zephir says:

    Pakistan: More than 100 arrested after churches burned

       3 likes

  46. Zephir says:

    Now, please remember that 15 year old in his bedroom

    far right the bbc say repeatedly, is a threat to all of us. meanwhile

    in “local news alongside the industrial scale mass gang rape of school children, hidden in local news

    ” Egypt: Mass Attacks on Churches

    New York) – Egyptian authorities should take the necessary steps to protect churches and religious institutions against mob attacks, Human Rights Watch said today. Since August 14, 2013, attackers have torched and looted scores of churches and Christian property across the country, leaving at least four people dead. Authorities should also investigate why security forces were largely absent or failed to intervene even when they had been informed of ongoing attacks.

    Immediately following the violent dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo on August 14, crowds of men attacked at least 42 churches, burning or damaging 37, as well as dozens of other Christian religious institutions in the governorates of Minya, Asyut, Fayum, Giza, Suez, Sohag, Bani Suef, and North Sinai. Human Rights Watch has verified with family members and a lawyer that at least three Coptic Christians and one Muslim were killed as a result of sectarian attacks in Dalga, Minya city, and Cairo.”

    https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/21/egypt-mass-attacks-churches

       6 likes

  47. Guest Who says:

    The BBC does love an emotional plea too.

    https://x.com/thehill/status/1745467127409095121?s=20
    First Lady Jill Biden defended her son, Hunter Biden, against an onslaught of attacks from Republicans.
    “I think what they are doing to Hunter is cruel,” she said.

    Niela luckily unaware.

       6 likes

  48. Foscari says:

    May I ask a very naive question. Why is it that
    we hear a plethora of continuity presenters on BBC TV
    with Caribbean accents. BUT never one with amongst
    other a Brummie accent?

       12 likes

  49. micknotmike says:

    There are a couple of encouraging stories on the bbc for a change :-

    “Far right parties on the right across europe”. This is about eight months old but it popped up in my feed again. Good news, all may not be lost, but how come everyone has a plausable right wing leader except the uk?

    “Electric double-decker bus catches fire in rush hour”
    Tom Cunnington, TfL’s head of bus business development, said: “Safety is our top priority”
    That’s great news, now prove it by selling the whole fleet of deathtraps to the next eco-sucker to come along.

       14 likes

  50. Dickie says:

    EU Army – mind your pronouns

       6 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity_en

      How does it work?
      The European Solidarity Corps funding is provided in the form of grants to organisations through call for proposals.

      Young people wishing to engage in such activities need to register in the European Solidarity Corps portal. The European Solidarity Corps portal offers a place for those young people and organisations, holding a grant, to implement activities and to find each other.

      Who runs the Corps?
      The European Solidarity Corps is managed by the European Commission.

      …………………

      ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
      Our young people will come together with other young people from abroad especially young people from Europe and this will help them to have the idea of European and Global citizenship.
      https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/placement/38160_en

      Global citizenship. Global citizenship. Global citizenship. Global citizenship. Global citizenship. Global citizenship. Global citizenship.

         3 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      ACCOMMODATION, FOOD AND TRANSPORT ARRANGEMENTS
      Tokat Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports will provide accommodation. The bedroom will be placed in Tokat. In the accommodations provided by Tokat Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports the volunteer will live in single bedroom with fully equipped kitchen, toilet, and laundry machine.

      https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/placement/38160_en

      The European Solidarity Corps programme creates opportunities for young people to engage in solidarity activities abroad or in their country in projects that benefit communities.

         3 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      Many young men of military age are flooding into Europe ready to serve the EU army

         3 likes