208 Responses to Weekend 12th October 2024

  1. Zephir says:

    This one just lies and lies..

    Meghan McCain calls out Kamala Harris over remarks about late Arizona senator: ‘Don’t make me start’. McCain said she would start ‘spilling tea’ if Harris invokes her father’s name again.

    Meghan McCain, the daughter of late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, called out Vice President Kamala Harris Friday after the Democratic presidential nominee shared an anecdote about an interaction she reportedly had with the six-term senator.

    “I step onto the floor of the well of the Senate later that day — we had votes — and I passed by John McCain, and he looks at me, and he says, ‘Kid, come over here. You’re going to make a great senator,’” Harris recalled. “True story. True story.”

    Meghan McCain found the story dubious and publicly addressed it on X Friday night.

    “Now, I know democrats want to reinvent history and turn my Dad into any illusion you guys need him to be depending on the political moment you need to bastardize his memory for… But please don’t make me start sharing what I remember him ACTUALLY saying about Kamala Harris,” McCain wrote.

    “And consider this my final warning shot, I will start spilling tea.”

    Some GOP officials in the state have evoked McCain’s name to signal their support for Harris because John McCain had an icy relationship with former President Trump.

    “In the spirit of the great Sen. John McCain, please join me in putting country over party and stopping Donald Trump and protecting the rule of law, protecting our Constitution and protecting the democracy of our great country,” Mesa Mayor John Giles said.”

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/meghan-mccain-calls-out-kamala-harris-remarks-late-arizona-senator

       8 likes

  2. Zephir says:

    This kind of idiocy is part of what they are fighting about in the election in the US:

    “Bath & Body Works apologizes for candle after alleged likeness to Ku Klux Klan hood stirs controversy.
    The label features a close-up snowflake that some social media users say looks like several KKK hoods put together.”

    This kind of idiocy:

    “This isn’t just a branding mistake; it’s a reminder of how sensitive cultural symbols can be,” one X user asked. “Let’s hope they take this as a lesson in awareness and responsibility.”

    https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/bath-body-works-apologizes-candle-after-alleged-likeness-ku-klux-klan-hood-stirs-controversy
    :

       6 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      bath-body-works-candle.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

      ……………

      Why is Gwyneth Paltrow selling a candle that smells like her vagina?
      This article is more than 4 years old
      Gwyneth has made a candle called This Smells Like My Vagina for her website, Goop. And, of course, it has sold out

         1 likes

  3. JohnC says:

    Harris puts pressure on Trump over medical records
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm28r8md15do

    I am absolutely staggered that the Democrats AND the shameless BBC have the nerve to run this as big headline news after the way they totally covered up all the mental problems Joe had for FOUR years.

    The Left have no ethics or standards at all. They all exist on their bellies in the gutter. Their hypocrisy and gross double standards totally disgust me.

    Nice picture of Cackler:
    fb16ff30-88f8-11ef-81f8-1f28bcc5be15.jpg.webp

    Bad picture of Trump:
    484488e0-88f9-11ef-8936-1185f9e7d044.jpg.webp

    It’s just pathetic.

       27 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      Two months ago she was trying to put a man with dementia back in the White House, but obviously that was not a problem.

         4 likes

  4. Zephir says:

    The idiocy I referred to above is also infecting the UK, but not just idiocy.

    Those who claim to be so easily offended are actually promoting pretty insulting behaviour, insulting to so many in a largely Christian country with a significant Christian heritage:

    “Nottingham University puts trigger warning on Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales – because they contain ‘expressions of Christian faith’.

    The Mail on Sunday has obtained details of the notice issued to students studying a module called Chaucer and His Contemporaries under Freedom of Information laws. It alerts them to incidences of violence, mental illness and expressions of Christian faith in the works of Chaucer and fellow medieval writers William Langland, John Gower, and Thomas Hoccleve.

    the university’s ­ warning makes no reference to the anti-Semitism or sexually explicit themes.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13953897/Woke-Nottingham-University-Geoffrey-Chaucer.html

       18 likes

  5. AsISeeIt says:

    Taking it sleazy weekend edition – underwhelmed…? You will be

    The Guardian Sunday iteration that is the Observer puts us in the mood this morning with a resounding calm down dear…

    ‘I’m underwhelmed by sex with my partner’ Ask Philippa In the magazine

    At roundabout this time of year we’re usually concerned with the NHS being overwhelmed. Watch this space…

    You know Starmer’s first 100 days has gone badly when our print press can lead with the headline: Labour sleaze – latest

    Most Britons say the Labour government is ‘sleazy’ (YouGov)

    Just like our friends at the BBC, the attempt at balance simply confirms our general Uniparty political malaise: But the public are divided on whether Starmer and his party are sleazier than the Tories (YouGov)

    We were promised change

    ‘The grown ups are back in the room – let’s celebrate the calm while we can’… With Labour’s victory (Darren Lewis, Assistant Editor, 9th July, Daily Mirror)

    Sir Keir may take some crumb of comfort from the sense that the childish antics of his ministerial colleagues could be making him look slightly more grown up in comparison.

    Starmer steps into cabinet row to rescue global summit… transport secretary, Louise Haigh… Starmer appeared to rebuke her for branding P&O Ferries a “rogue operator” (Observer); PM ‘scapegoats minister’ to save £1bn deal (Sunday Telegraph)

    Miliband ‘wastes cash’ on net-zero pylon blight… Minister wedded to overhead cables despite report saying it can be cheaper to bury them (Sunday Telegraph)

    Attorney General is dragged into Swift police escort row… was pulled in by the government to press the Metropolitan Police into providing Taylor Swift with a taxpayer-funded blue light escort (Sunday Times); Row englulfing Home Secretary over taxpayer-funded motorcade for pop superstar deepens (The Mail on Sunday)

    The in-the-tank for Labour Sunday Mirror attempts to put Sir Keir’s message across: Keir: judge me on how we fix Britain… Starmer says his government is ‘just getting started’

    Just me, or have Starmerish Blairite lawyerish left-leaning managerial types not been running just about every institution in this nation for at least the last twenty years?

    And now they are going to fix Britain? I’m sorely reminded of that old gag “He came from a broken home – he broke it!”

    BBC attention wanders away from British politics…

    Just as the Mirror echoes the official Starmer lines – so our BBC is in-the-tank for the US Democrat party, parroting their lame attack lines against The Donald.

    Harris puts pressure on Trump over medical records… Kamala Harris waving (BBC) – that last clause isn’t in the headline – it’s simply the BBC-selected photo descriptor.

    Of course the formerly Labour-curious Times is not immune to a bit soft schilling for Kamala: How California made Kamala Harris – as far as I’ve heard she shagged some Democrat politician to be rewarded with her first step on the greasy pole – so to speak.

    Who is Kamala Harris’ much older ex, former mayor Willie Brown – and did they have an affair? The vice-president was 29 when she met a then 60-year-old Brown (South China Morning Post)

    You guessed it, he’s black.

    Willie Brown… now that’s cheered us up and brought a smile on this rather gloomy morning.

       16 likes

  6. JohnC says:

    ‘I was told Mr Loverman was too niche for TV’
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr378x002po

    That was back in 2013 dear. All you needed to do was wait for an ultra-Left wing, racist TV program maker who gets their funding no matter what complete activist shit they turn out.

    Ta Da:
    ‘More than a decade on, the lives of Barrington Jedidiah Walker, his wife Carmel and his lover Morris De La Roux are being brought to the screen for a new eight-part BBC drama starring Line of Duty’s Lennie James.’

    As if I even need to do it, here are the stars on the set:
    18315b40-800e-11ef-ad45-893aa022fcbc.jpg.webp

    And here’s a scene from the story. Its a double helping of far-Left agenda being rammed down our throats at our own expense. A proper gayfest AND blackfest.
    74ea14d0-800e-11ef-822c-a50726bfda2e.jpg.webp

    Any of the lefty fact checkers care to examine if the BBC are guilty of racist bias in the TV programs they make ?.
    No. Thought not.

       20 likes

    • G says:

      About the best summary of our, “Worlds Most Trusted Broadcaster” (aka, “Another Beauty”) and its addiction to propagandising ‘Blackness’:

      All appraisals, be it speculation by all critics, are now getting to the nub of the propaganda. One cited above in particular.

      With the very obvious effort the BBC puts in to put blackness, “in yer face” almost every minute of the day x7x12x365, it is surprising that not one whistleblower steps forward to reveal truthfully what’s going on. Not even on from the co-conspirators. Like WEF, & ditto all other Western media.

         10 likes

      • pugnazious says:

        The Great Replacement is a mad far-right conspiracy theory.

        The BBC tells you it’s not happening…and then adds in people must be taught to understand ‘demographic change’ is not a threat…and thus shows it is happening…there’s a reason they want to fling open the borders and teach our kids to hate themselves and their history….

        ‘ It’s a racist far-right conspiracy theory that falsely states there’s a secret plan to replace white people through increased immigration and other means. In the United States some politicians and mainstream media figures like Tucker Carlson of Fox News are accused of pushing a version of the theory when they insist Democratic Party immigration policies have the same aim. In Europe too, fears that white, Christian culture is being undermined have been stoked by far-right politicians across the continent. So how has Great Replacement Theory evolved? Is the basic philosophy behind it going mainstream? And what can and should be done to address the fears of people concerned about demographic change?’

           5 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      It’s going to be a ratings winner, right up there with the one from Sir Lenworth which sank without trace.

         2 likes

  7. Zephir says:

    BBC News:

    “Trump takes detour to ultra-blue California to spotlight Harris’ home turf’s failed policies: ‘Paradise lost’.
    Trump ignited crowds in VP Kamala Harris’ backyard during a large campaign rally in Coachella.

    With Election Day closing in, former President Trump took a surprising detour to ultra-blue California to spotlight the state’s sky-high inflation, crime and illegal immigration.

    Voters in the decidedly blue state came out in droves, with Trump remarking on the sheer size of the crowds as he took the stage at 5:30 p.m. PST.

    “I stand before you today in the heart of the majestic Coachella Valley, to declare that the Republican Party will always put America first and lead us on to victories like you have never seen before,” he said. “Because we’ve become the party of common sense.”

    The former president promised that he’d fight for “hard-working citizens of every race, religion, color and creed.” ”

    Only kidding…it’s Fox News

    Not until the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet returns will we ever see such a headline from the allegedly unbiased, yet proven far left, racist, pro terrorist bbc.

       17 likes

    • G says:

      Strange. “Our Worlds Most Trusted Broadcaster” told only last week on TOADY, that the polls were “Neck and neck”. This from their “North American Correspondent (s)”. How could we get this so wrong…………lol.

         6 likes

  8. Sluff says:

    On Toady on Sunday in Stoke on Trent planning permission has been granted to a church which has been closed to open as a Mosque.
    Meanwhile the government is to spend £1/2 billion on a centre in Kent to process all the rubberised cross channel ferry passengers for the next 6 years.

    Allahu Akbar !!!! You know it makes sense.
    You know it is the policy of the government to convert us into a Muslim state.

       23 likes

  9. Zephir says:

    28 August, Church Times:

    “Disused church not allowed to become a mosque.

    A restrictive covenant prohibits the conversion, Church Commissioners say.

    The application was approved this month, but the applicant had been told of the existence of the restrictive covenant, which warned: “If the C of E are unwilling to create a deed of variation to allow the intended use, then regardless of the planning considerations, the applicant will not be able to lawfully use the building for the purposes intended.”

    This week, a spokesman at Church House said: “We support former churches being used for community purposes, but a restrictive covenant prohibits the use of the building as a place of worship other than as a church, and the Commissioners has explained this to the owner.”

    https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/30-august/news/uk/disused-church-blocked-from-becoming-mosque

       14 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Ah ‘restrictive covenants ‘ … takes me back to my law lessons ( yawn ) ..the horror …

         4 likes

      • Scroblene says:

        Mind you Fed, an agricultural covenant eventually saved us a fortune, when we weren’t allowed to buy a cottage without an agricultural income and business, as it needed a total refurb very soon afterwards, and we’d still have been paying it off today had we taken it on… We’d also have not been able to get insurance, so that was probably something we should have considered too!

        But I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now… (Dylan).

        (We’ve got a quiz in our local church in a couple of week’s time, the beer will be flowing no doubt..)!

           5 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          Scroblene
          Glad to hear you benefitted from a ‘covenant ‘ – my recollection is a huge volume of case law with people trying to get round them. I bet the Muslim devils will really want that church as another signal of their superiority and ascendency .. with few having the courage to take them on – yet alone deal with them

             8 likes

  10. Deborah says:

    I have been wondering why a leader of a very minor party in a very small country (devolved not a totally independent country) was speaking at a conference in North Moldova. Indeed what was the conference and who was funding it. Perhaps the BBC gives the answers but neither GBNews nor the Mail on Line seem to have asked.

       18 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Academy for Cultural Diplomacy. International Conferences 2024-25

      Ohrid Cultural Diplomacy Forum 2024
      “Young Leaders for International Cooperation, Cultural Understanding & Peace”

      Introduction

      Founded in 1999 in the USA, the ICD Academy for Cultural Diplomacy is an international, not-for-profit, non-governmental organization with headquarters in the USA and in Berlin.

      The ICD Academy for Cultural Diplomacy aims to develop and raise awareness of the theory and practice of cultural diplomacy and related fields (such as global governance, international law, human rights, sustainable economies, and performing arts) as well as to explore new strategies for the strengthening of intercultural relations and promoting global peace. Areas of particular academic focus of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy include intercultural relations, global governance, international politics, sustainable economies, international law & human rights.

      The Academy for Cultural Diplomacy runs the following activities:
      The Center for Cultural Diplomacy Studies.

      The Center for Cultural Diplomacy Studies (CCDS) is the world’s leading center for the study of cultural diplomacy, offering educational opportunities ranging from certificate programs to master’s and doctoral programs for graduates pursuing careers in academia, diplomacy, government and/or the private sector dedicated either wholly or in part to the field of cultural diplomacy. The educational programs of the Academy, offered in partnership with leading universities and institutions, allow students to analyze, research and experience cultural diplomacy in theory and in practice.”

      https://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_conferences-f

         3 likes

      • Zephir says:

        “Global Governance”

        Hmmmm, not that cabal again…

        He did’t even like UK governance, let alone global…..

           12 likes

  11. Zephir says:

    My sources have indicated that his speech in North Macedonia was entitled:

    “We’re shit at the World Cup too”

       6 likes

  12. Zephir says:

    Next, Churchill, starring Idris Elba….

    c38oltpg18651.webp

       16 likes

  13. pugnazious says:

    Remarkable that Warsi is taken so seriously and her every word hung on by BBC types as we had with Matt Chorley who gave her the red carpet and the softest of soft ‘interviews’ as she explained to us how the extremely racist and dangerous term ‘coconut’ [ie race traitor] was in fact a legitimate term of criticism….Chorley of course nodded along in full agreement.

    This is the Warsi who a while back on the BBC stated that extremist Islamist groups represent the mainstream Muslim community and thus must be heard….she also resigned from government because it wouldn’t disarm the Jews and thus allow them to be wiped out.

    In her new book she went further and openly associated herself with the Islamists…

    ‘ “I’m done with caveating my views … I’m done with feeling obliged to distance myself from the bad views of the bad Muslims.” ‘

    Andrew Gilligan notes…

    ‘Warsi now seeks to erase the very distinction between extremists and moderates, between the minority of Islamists and the vast majority of Muslims who support secular democracy, calling such an attempt “clumsy and theologically unsound”. She dismisses the term Islamist as a “fig leaf … used by Islamophobes”. ‘

    Warsi is an Islamist but somehow the likes of the BBC haven’t yet woken up to that truth and present her as the voice of oppressed Muslims of Britain when she is in fact part of an ideological and sectarian war against Britain.

    Consider her motives in setting up a pro-Muslim group full of extremists…’entryist’?….

    ‘Warsi also has a brief go at me for reporting about a government “working group” of supposed community representatives that she set up as a minister. My newspaper story revealed that one of its members had resigned, calling it an “entryist” operation for extremism; the working group included the former leader of a group that said Muslims were “at war” and campaigned against Lorna Fitzsimons, the then Labour MP for Rochdale, because she was “Jewish” (she is not).’

    Warsi is allowed to come on and ply the ‘Muslim victim card’…and yet, as we know, and as Gilligan points out, Muslims are pandered to and are in many positions of power…

    ‘The scales have fallen from Sayeeda Warsi’s eyes. Baroness Warsi, the first Muslim to sit in cabinet and former co-chair of the Conservative Party, now realises that the country that made her a peer at 36 is a place where Muslims are “shut out of decision-making” — with the exceptions or recent exceptions, as she doesn’t say, of the mayor of its capital, the justice secretary, the chancellor of the exchequer, the home secretary, the education secretary, the health secretary, the first minister of Scotland, the head of the No 10 policy unit, the 25 Muslim MPs elected in 2024 and the thousands of Muslim civil servants and councillors.’

    About time the scales dropped from idiot BBC eyes who are terrified of criticising the likes of Warsi and continue to present her as a rational, reasonable and legitimate voice.

    https://www.thetimes.com/article/37dd4d35-3acf-4ad1-bc90-029c1e13f648?shareToken=200d2c90a993f0e0cd40ebf2b39af395

       10 likes

  14. pugnazious says:

    Interesting that the BBC uses this term as a heading for an anti-Trump piece…

    ”He’s just a bro’: Trump’s attempts to woo the ‘manosphere”

    The BBC won’t call Hamas ‘terrorists’ as it allegedly adopts other’s language even as Starmer himself called the Oct 7 attack ‘terrorist’ in the past few days….but the BBC will adopt the language of anti-Trumpers who use the term ‘manosphere’ to indicate an extremist threat along the lines of say Andrew Tate or even perhaps, lol, Jordan Peterson….you can have ‘Woman’s Hour’ on the BBC but if you have a podcast about male issues you’re a dangerous misogynist extremist.

    This is the BBC using anti-Trumper language and pushing their narrative..in a very long article indicating they think this is an attack point against, and a character flaw for Trump.

    Anti-Trumper headlines…

    ‘Trump’s lewd, crude, hyper-macho attitude is winning him the ‘manosphere’’

    ‘I’m not afraid of women’: New campaign takes on the Trump-obsessed manosphere.

    Why Trump Is Entering the Podcast Manosphere.

    Trump Tours the Manosphere’

       6 likes

  15. pugnazious says:

    What does the BBC edit out from Starmer’s speech on Oct 7?

    This is what he said…

    ‘Today we mark a year since the horrific attack on Israel by the terrorists of Hamas. It was the bloodiest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust—a day of sorrow, a day of grief. ‘

    And the Speaker of the House also spelt it out…

    ‘It marks the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on Israel. ‘

    The BBC version…

    ‘Sir Keir Starmer marked “a day of sorrow and grief” one year on from the 7 October attacks on Israel, as he called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of hostages still being held in Gaza.

    Speaking in the Commons, the prime minister praised the “dignity and determination” of the families of those taken captive by Hamas.’

    Odd how the BBC can’t even quote the Prime Minister’s words calling the Oct 7 attack ‘terrorist’….bizarre or a deliberate and determined attempt to pander to and appease the Muslims and fellow lefty travellers in this country who support the terrorist group Hamas?

       28 likes

  16. Fedup2 says:

    Pug
    Disgraceful – so easy for us to evidence the anti Israel anti Jew attitude of the Islamic Far Left BBC – but misquoting a PM ? That goes very far …

       14 likes

  17. atlas_shrugged says:

    All a complete mystery what the Iranian motive could have been:

    https://gatesofvienna.net/2024/10/setting-the-world-alight-for-allah/

    An Iranian culture-enricher stormed a cinema in the city of Krefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia carrying a gun and a Molotov cocktail. After he attempted to burn down the cinema, police officers shot and wounded him. Authorities concluded that terrorism was not a factor in the incident, and are perplexed about what the youngster’s motive might have been.

    Meanwhile in Hamburg a mob was out calling for the imposition of a caliphate. How lovely.

       14 likes

  18. Jeff says:

    Quite an interesting development at the highly influential Climate Change Committee, they have just crowned a new chief executive…

    Needless to say it’s a woman, one Emma Pinchbeck and Labour’s ultra-green weirdo, Ed Miliband, thinks it’s a “wonderful appointment”.

    She’s already told us that she’s going use her position to influence the government to reduce emissions and that she has a passionate belief in “renewables”. Oh, Christ…

    . So, given that government is likely to listen to Ms Pinchbeck, have they given this highly influential position to someone with a science background. Somebody that can get to grips with the complexities and variabilities of the climate. No, of course they haven’t. She’s a “Humanities graduate”. This usually involves theatre, dance, philosophy, sociology, painting, sculpture and film making.

    In short she knows sweet fanny about FA.

    Absolutely bleedin’ perfect…

       17 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Emma Pinchbeck
      @ELPinchbeck
      CEO
      @EnergyUKcomms
      & Board
      @UK100_

      @Eurelectric
      . Fellow of the Energy Institute. Expert in energy & climate; novice mum to 2 small humans.
      London, EnglandJoined October 2013
      990 Following
      25.1K Followers

      https://x.com/ELPinchbeck/status/1843916600061448604

      “Unusually, lost for the right words (or even a terrible joke). So I’ll just say thank you to colleagues in government, business, civil society, media & academia, for the last 4 yrs at EUK. There is no other job that could have dragged me from EUK. I am so honoured to join the CCC
      8:29 AM · Oct 9, 2024
      ·
      31.5K
      Views”

      …………………

      China Used More Concrete In 3 Years Than The U.S. Used In The Entire 20th Century
      img

         4 likes

    • Zephir says:

      A classics degree and some finance training

         5 likes

  19. MarkyMark says:

    “King Charles and Sir Keir Starmer are set to face demands for the UK to pay an astonishing £200 billion in compensation for its role in the slave trade when they attend a Commonwealth summit later this month.”

    HA HA HA HAH

    “Even so, castrating slaves was considered worthwhile because eunuchs sold for high prices. Over time, the Arab slave trade shifted to concentrate more on women and young girls for sexual purposes.”

    “Even so, castrating slaves was considered worthwhile because eunuchs sold for high prices. Over time, the Arab slave trade shifted to concentrate more on women and young girls for sexual purposes.”

    https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade

       9 likes

    • Lucy Pevensey says:

      Mark, I think the idea is to make financial slaves out of us. Globalist plans are driving us into ever-increasing debt by giving away money we don’t have. We are not that well-off. The whole planet isn’t that well-off.

      £Billions on the climate, £billions to Ukraine, £billions on other foriegn aid, £billions on supporting immigrants, £billions on “reparations”, £billions on new houses and the ever-increasing expense of the Global Health Service. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the figures are just columns on spreadsheets.
      There isn’t enough money in the world to cover the costs.

      If the globalists get their way, we’ll be in financial slavery for centuries, working only to pay for all the £billions we’ve promised to give away because we feel guilty.

      The King should tell them to do one. Come out of the club and learn to stand on our own as a nation.
      Cancel the foreign looting spree.
      ( As per Atlas Shrugged, “I can dream” 🙂 )

      Pardon me, rant over.

         22 likes

  20. vlad says:

    Our absurd Transport Secretary has jeopardised a massive investment with her stupid P&O comments. Just a few ill considered words, Labour claims.
    But it’s much more: it’s symptomatic of a profound ignorance of, and hostility to business and industry, which they view as nothing more than a cash cow to be milked for their woke causes and for the unions.
    At heart they’re all little commies, streeped in the Marxism of their Sociology and other useless degrees like wimmins studies and black studies etc.
    I speak from experience. Back in the day I studied sociology and it was solid, wall to wall Marxism. Now that generation have slimed their way into positions of power, God help us.

       21 likes

    • digg says:

      The balancing factor Vlad is the law of consequences. Once Joe public starts to endure the effects of these crazy people’s actions while in power including the resulting crash of living standards, slump in the job markets, hunger and freezing living conditions the penny will drop with a thud and I rather guess that it might result in carnage by Joe Public of these idiots as in fact has happened in most Marxist regimes.

         8 likes

  21. Zephir says:

    A letter written by a non-Jewish Scottish professor to his students who voted to boycott Israel.

    It’s a response from Dr. Denis MacEoin to the motion put forward by The Edinburgh Student’s Association to boycott all things Israeli, in which they claim Israel is under an apartheid regime.

    Denis is an expert in Middle Eastern affairs and was a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly. Here’s his letter to the students.

    TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.

    May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain ‘s great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University . Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSA motion and vote.

    I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel .

    That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

    Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I’m not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel . I’m speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a “Nazi” state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel , precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.

    It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of.

    Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is.

    That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country’s 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha’is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).

    In Iran , the Bahai’s (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren’t your members boycotting Iran ? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa . They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews – something no blacks were able to do in South Africa.

    Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.

    On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.

    In Israel , women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid.

    Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

    It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran , where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

    Intelligent students thinking it’s better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

    University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.

    I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel . I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it’s clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.

    Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya , Bahrain , Saudi Arabia , Yemen , and Iran . They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world’s freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that protects the Bahai’s…. Need I go on?

    The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side.

    Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and that is to protect them from one-sided argument.

    They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930’s (which, sadly, there was not), don’t you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?

    Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence.

    It’s up to you to find out more.

    Yours sincerely,

    Denis MacEoin

       32 likes

    • Lucy Pevensey says:

      Zephir, thank you for posting Dr MacEoin’s Letter.

         12 likes

    • non-licence payer says:

      A very sensible piece of work but socialism and arrogance go hand in hand and you feel that it will fall on stony ground.

      Unlike Israel we do have an apartheid system here in the UK otherwise known as the pension system.

         7 likes

    • non-licence payer says:

      A very sensible piece of work but socialism and arrogance go hand in hand and you feel that it will fall on stony ground.

      Unlike Israel we do have an apartheid system here in the UK otherwise known as the pension system.

      (Just noticed the date of the Palestinian response. While the letter is very relevant is the Napier response date correct?)

         3 likes

      • Zephir says:

        Sorry, just checked, and the letter seems to be from 2011 I believe, I should have mentioned that but it is more relevant than ever these days, I feel .

           6 likes

  22. Zephir says:

    And the predictable response from islamic fascists (The Scottish Palestinian something or other) :

    “Ignorant Zionist academic Denis MacEoin attacks Edinburgh students ”

    I won’t dignify the ad hominem attack with further quotes, but it is here:

    https://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/all/1305-ignorant-zionist-academic-denis-maceoin-attacks-edinburgh-students

       8 likes

    • Zephir says:

      2024:

      Leading pro-Palestine campaigner arrested during protest at Glasgow bank.

      Mike Napier, who leads the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was arrested after police were called to a “disturbance” at Barclays on Argyle Street.

      2023

      Palestine Solidarity Activist Mick Napier, a founder of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, has been charged under anti-terror legislation after giving a speech in Glasgow in which he said:

      ” I agree with the Palestinian right to resist by means that they choose.”

      2020

      Lord Sacks died over the weekend, prompting mourning in the Jewish community and tributes from around the world.

      In a grotesque attack, Scottish PSC Secretary Mick Napier calls the late former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks “utter racist swine”

      2019

      Al Quds Day speaker Mick Napier claims Israeli embassy runs antisemitism smear workshops. An Al Quds Day speaker has said that the Israeli embassy runs “workshops” around the country to concoct false antisemitism claims to “smear” pro-Palestine activists.

      2018

      Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign Chair Mick Napier criticised over repeated use of “vile and derogatory” word on Facebook.

      2017

      Two Scottish Palestine activists convicted over Israeli store protest
      Mick Napier and Jim Watson from the Scottish PSC found to be in wrong during a demonstration at Israeli Jericho Skin Care cosmetics shop. Napier was convicted of aggravated trespass and of failing to follow police orders to leave the Jericho Skin Care cosmetics store.

         9 likes

      • Zephir says:

        And there is plenty more of this one in the courts year on year, on various charges attacking jewish people in Scotland, even a Jewish orchestra in a live performance.

           7 likes

  23. Zephir says:

    “Labour Transport Secretary Louise Haigh gives train guards a £300 bonus every time they work a five-day week – amid her civil war with Keir Starmer after business summit meltdown.

    Staff typically work a four-day week and have been paid time and a half for working on a Saturday.

    However, they will now get a £300 bonus and their pay at the normal rate until the middle of next month.

    The extraordinary arrangement was made alongside the bumper pay deals that were done to end national rail disputes. Guards and other rail workers were handed a 9.5 per cent pay rise over two years.”

       12 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      The average salary for a train guard in the United Kingdom is around £28,839 per year, with a base pay range of £24,000–£34,000. However, salaries can vary depending on the company and location:
      South Western Railway: The average salary is around £34,650 per year, with a range of £33,000–£36,000.
      Merseyrail: The average salary is around £28,483 per year, with a range of £24,000–£33,000.
      London North Eastern Railway: The average salary is around £37,000–£42,000.
      Virgin Trains: The average salary is around £61,000–£71,000.
      Train guards can expect to work shifts, including evenings, weekends, and bank holidays. They may also need to undergo regular assessments to maintain their training knowledge.
      To become a train guard, you’ll need to complete at least 10 turns shadowing an experienced guard, pass a rules exam, and undergo a medical.

      Generative AI is experimental.

         5 likes

  24. non-licence payer says:

    Cllr Greg Brackenridge now resigns from his fire service role after significantly enhancing his military credentials. Still not reported by the bBC. Had he been ‘tory scum’ and not the husband of a socialist MP they would have been camped outside his house. The bBC is despicable and it will inevitably end in tears.

       18 likes

  25. Zephir says:

    Refugee / asylum seeker my arse:

    (Lives in Stockholm)

    “Meet the Tiktoking migrant: Afghan with Kalashnikov face tattoo and gun-toting friend is racking up the online likes as he tries to join the armada of small boats bringing people to the UK.

    An illegal migrant has racked up millions of views on TikTok by boastfully posting videos of him attempting to cross the English Channel on a small boat.

    Asylum seeker Mada Pasa, who has a Kalashnikov face tattoo, has provoked fury with his online videos in which he pretends to fire a gun and ‘vlogs’ his efforts to illegally reach the UK from northern France.

    In one video, Pasa, believed to be from Afghanistan, is seen imitating firing a weapon with three young women sat on his lap. In another, he is staying in a tent with two hooded friends, one of whom is posing with a real gun.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13954287/Meet-Tiktoking-migrant-Afghan-Kalashnikov-face-tattoo.html

       10 likes

  26. Eddy Booth says:

    “Empty bars and bookshops: How Israeli strikes transformed Lebanon’s buzzing capital”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8xpqjqx7eo

    0a223160-8940-11ef-a566-690b23bce055.jpg.webp
    “The face of the Beirut has completely changed.”

    Is that the best they can manage?
    Those discarded foam blocks are expensive too, I looked into buying some for camping once…
    Israel transformed it ? How about a prequel.
    How the fundamentals turned a vibrant 1960s Lebanon, when Beirut was called Paris of the East, into a right dump.

    Screenshot-20241013-134614.pngScreenshot-20241013-134709.png

       9 likes

    • Zephir says:

      It’s probably still the Paris of the East, if anyone has been to Paris recently.

      Just imagine a very expensive Luton, except with good coffee and baguettes, but where the enrichers don’t get council houses, so are on the streets, and the metro stations, everywhere.

         18 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Islam is a time machine – takes you back to the good old days!
      images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTAsInV4EWdcZ06YkdJBXz4UUhTQkklNoc11w&s

         10 likes

    • vlad says:

      Lebanon was the vibrant “Pearl of the Middle East” before the muslims moved in in large numbers and took over.

         14 likes

  27. taffman says:

    Poland and Tusk take the initiative.
    Amazing !………
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx20186mjleo

       3 likes

  28. MarkyMark says:

    “100 days is not long enough to fix 14 years of Tory neglect.”

    100 Days of Labour.
    https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1844987776741278119

       2 likes

    • moggiemoo says:

      100 years of Labour wouldn’t be long enough to repair a broken light bulb.

         13 likes

    • Flotsam says:

      14 years of the next Tory Government rule won’t be enough to undo a hundred days of Labour damage

         3 likes

  29. Fedup2 says:

    Will the HamasUN do as it’s told by Israel and pull out of southern Lebanon ?
    Will Israel land up treating HamasUN as an enemy – since it was infiltrated …. ?

    Keep going IDF

       15 likes

  30. vlad says:

    Even the NSPCC have gone woke.
    Who is the bully? Why, a nasty white boy, of course.
    And the victim? A poor lickle brown girl, sob.

    (Sorry it’s so big. Anyone know how to reduce?)

    408192851_6514085906741_5364527074520343346_n.png?stp=cp0_dst-jpg_fr_q90_spS444&_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=c02adf&_nc_ohc=Rem3nmt_XUgQ7kNvgEXQrtO&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr6-1.xx&_nc_gid=AdMiC_j1041uDXG5eQFzfwj&oh=00_AYAiMyP7VU1ztZveeyLoRCz_5tJ1pSC9xdzcxzh1ZKslqw&oe=67119D62

       9 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Use this link and add the url but it was blocked so you will have to download and upload again!
      https://postimg.cc/21mYJg45

         5 likes

    • vlad says:

      Oops, on closer inspection it might be a nasty white GIRL!

      Even worse. And I bet those are bacon flavoured crisps she’s holding in her white-privileged hand.

         10 likes

      • atlas_shrugged says:

        Meanwhile while the NSPCC posts images in their deluded fantasy world back in the real world here is a female whitey experiencing some enrichment in Belgium:

        https://gettr.com/post/p3c4qe6ae5b

           6 likes

        • vlad says:

          Yep, right royally enriched. Will the NSPCC use it for their next ad? Will the BBC report it?
          Rhetorical questions.

          And that’s when they’re still a minority. Just wait till they’re a majority and run the police and the courts. Oops, I forgot: they already do – sorry, your eminence Khan.

             4 likes

  31. MarkyMark says:

    That was the LAST General Election!

    ………………

    AI to reduce train delays, speed up NHS prescriptions and train construction workers gets £32 million boost
    Government unveils AI projects to improve productivity and public services supported by a share of £32 million.
    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ai-to-reduce-train-delays-speed-up-nhs-prescriptions-and-train-construction-workers-gets-32-million-boost

    Minister for Digital Government and AI Feryal Clark said:

    AI will deliver real change for working people across the UK – not only growing our economy but improving our public services.

    That’s why our support for initiatives like this will be so crucial – backing a range of projects which could reduce train delays, give us new ways of maintaining our vital infrastructure, and improve experiences for patients by making it easier to get their prescriptions to them.

    We want technology to boost growth and deliver change right across the board, and I’m confident projects like these will help us realise that ambition.

    It follows the King’s Speech where the government committed to ‘take the brakes off Britain’ through a raft of new Bills, including generating sustainable growth by encouraging investment in industry, skills and new technologies.

    …………………

    How China Is Using Artificial Intelligence in Classrooms | WSJ
    A growing number of classrooms in China are equipped with artificial-intelligence cameras and brain-wave trackers. While many parents and teachers see them as tools to improve grades, they’ve become some children’s worst nightmare.

    ………………………….

    https://www.tesla.com/we-robot
    The Future Is Autonomous
    To create a sustainable future, we must democratize transportation. We do this by making driving more efficient, affordable and safe. Autonomy makes this future possible, today.

    Autonomy for All
    The future of autonomy and artificial intelligence will be realized through the creation of a fleet of autonomous vehicles and robots.

       4 likes

  32. Zephir says:

    Is the Spring thing at the bbc desperately investigating for misinformation ?

    Did Musk use a thunderbirds toy to fake this ?

    Anyway, I highly recommend this video !

    “Major breakthrough for Elon Musk’s SpaceX as rocket booster successfully lands on metal ‘chopsticks’: ‘What we just saw is magic’.
    The tower has caught the rocket!!’ SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via X as the spacecraft made the dramatic touchdown.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13954743/SpaceX-rocket-booster-lands-texas-test-launch-Musk.html

       7 likes

  33. Zephir says:

    Of course the bbc will probably claim that the Congo Space Agency did it first.

    90797403-13954743-image-a-7-1728830465717.avif

       7 likes

  34. Zephir says:

    90797409-13954743-image-a-10-1728830482073.avif

       5 likes

  35. Fedup2 says:

    Im waiting for elon to do Thunderbird 2 now that he has done Thunderbird 3 … BBC must have hated reporting that …

       5 likes

  36. Fedup2 says:

    Another one of those ‘legal reasons ‘ stories when mail reports 24 year old ex prem league – ex international footy player arrested for alleged rape ..

       6 likes

  37. wwfc says:

    Truly amazing

       7 likes

  38. Lucy Pevensey says:

       12 likes

  39. digg says:

    The BBC used to be the sounding board for the people of the UK. No more…. It increasingly takes the Muslim side in any global argument. I believe it now has so many Muslim staff who push the Muslim point of view that it can no longer be seen as representative of the state of the UK. Any non Muslims at the BBC are obviously terrified of upsetting the Muslim cohort and so we have arrived at an anti-British, anti Christian organisation which is a dangerous cancer on our society and has no place in this Country.

    Time to clear the Augean stables in my view because it all stinks to high heaven.

       11 likes

  40. BRISSLES says:

    THIRD ATTEMPT ON TRUMPS LIFE

       3 likes

  41. Fedup2 says:

    Brissles – what is the source ? New thread now

       1 likes

  42. Fedup2 says:

    It seems a man was stopped with a forged VIP pass trying to get into the rally Saturday night .. when arrested he said he intended to kill the president – New York post ..

       4 likes