Jordan Human Rights Human Rights Concerns Amnesty International continues to be concerned about torture and ill-treatment in detention in Jordan, as well as the link between torture, unfair trials, and the death penalty. Amnesty International has particular concerns about the application of the death penalty in Jordan because there is a pattern of death sentences, and sometimes executions, occurring as a result of unfair trials where confessions extracted under torture … Continue reading →

    The gloves seem to have come off now the EU campaign is rolling officially.  For sure the BBC reports the Leave campaign’s side of the story but it is all too often with a sneer, a mocking tone and a snide comment slipped in for effect. Nick Robinson laid into the Brexit side the other day and rounded off with a comment that back in 1975 the voters … Continue reading →

    Remember this?… Teachers reject ‘Army propaganda’ Paul McGarr, a teacher from east London, said only when recruiting materials gave a true picture of war would he welcome them into his school. ‘Shoot and possibly torture’ These would have to say: “Join the Army and we will send you to carry out the imperialist occupation of other people’s countries,” Mr McGarr said. “Join the Army and we will send … Continue reading →

    I was having a look at this earlier in the week but couldn’t see a smoking gun….it seems I may have been wrong or maybe not…you decide this one.  Churchill’s not here to guide us as to what he would think today but great men do change their minds…Jeremy Corbyn of course springs immediately to mind. The BBC has always been prone to rewriting history to suit itself, … Continue reading →

  A new open thread to start you off…..

  Natalie Rowe ‏@RealNatalieRowe 1st page of a Chapter on #Whittingdale in my book written in 2015. If Cameron didn’t read the book his advisers did Did the BBC read the book?  Of course they did. I had to try and check the claim  that it’s in the book [self-published on Amazon] but not having a copy best I can find is this comment from 2015 referring to Whittingdale on … Continue reading →

  Whatever next…the BBC is right wing, Paul Mason is a Tory….decades long EU critic, Jeremy Corbyn, will be coming out as an ardent fan of the EU next.      

    Thanks to Stewgreen [and Craig at Is the BBC biased?  Is there any doubt?] for pointing this out to us… How could you help people take collective action on climate change? For this year’s #EditorsLab Final at the Global Editors Network conference in Barcelona, the teams were set the challenge of coming up with new ways to report on the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). Our BBC team … Continue reading →

  Jukes ex machina (Latin: [ˈdeʊks ɛks ˈmaː.kʰɪ.naː]: /ˈdeɪ.kəs ɛks ˈmɑːkiːnə/ or /ˈdiːkəs ɛks ˈmækᵻnə/;[1] plural: deik ex machina) is a Latin calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanês theós), meaning “god from the machine”.  The term has evolved to mean a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the inspired and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object. Depending on … Continue reading →

    Tommy Robinson has had the threat of prosecution lifted as a judge throws his case out of court… Tommy Robinson has had a charge of battery dismissed in court. He said the judge questioned the police’s motives for pursuing the case against him when they did. “My case has been dismissed. Even the judge made comments about the police’s motive of prosecution. Thank you all”, he announced….“The QC absolutely tore … Continue reading →