Interesting report from the BBC here on the dead Boston bomb suspect Tsarnaev. Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev already held extreme views when he visited Russia, Islamists in Dagestan have told US media. Tsarnaev’s cousin Magomed Kartashov, a local Islamist leader, reportedly spent hours trying to dissuade him from becoming a militant Russian anti-terrorist police have interrogated Mr Kartashov, who is in custody over an unrelated offense. So, he was … Continue reading →

Here is a new Open Thread to take us all off into the wild blue yonder of the weekend.

   Trying to close down debate by defining  someone as racist, homophobic or Islamophobic is a favourite trick of  those who want to avoid talking about certain issues…we get the race card etc deployed regularly on this site…so it is interesting to listen to 5Live’s Tony Livesey show  (from about 2300) which had a fascinating little spat between someone named ‘Kate’ (didn’t catch her full name), and Brendan O’Neill from Spiked … Continue reading →

‘When will the Syria crisis end? God knows.   God knows because this crisis is increasingly not about freedom but about religion.’  Paul Danahar BBC     Mark Mardell has long supported Obama’s dithering, sorry, masterly inactivity..no….cautious, wise, diplomacy over Syria. ‘It is clear Mr Obama doesn’t want to go to war in Syria. He regards it as too complex, too difficult, too uncertain. American action there would have a huge … Continue reading →

It’s a long overdue welcome back to the Question Time LiveChat. We’re going to try a new application instead of CoverItLive, which now charges heavily. Please try out the new software on a Test chat session here. The session for the Question Time chat this evening is here. Question Time comes from Coventry; a city which dates from 1945. On the panel we have former Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis … Continue reading →

Hi Folks! Am back from my sojourn down under and finally been able to log in here. It was nice to get a break from the Ministry of Truth for three weeks and I have to say I found Australian news coverage on their “SKY” channel to be pretty decent (Better then Sky here for sure). Also wanted to thank Alan for keeping the posts coming and trust this finds … Continue reading →

  Access to online newspapers and magazines is becoming more difficult as it becomes common for paywalls to be introduced. I imagine the bean counters have done their sums and it all works out as an exercise worth doing….though it might indicate to advertisers that their adverts don’t work and so encourage them to take a lower, less expensive presence online. However whether it pays or not is irrelevant here.  … Continue reading →

The BBC is biased?  Tell us more….

Islam…Institutionally Racist?  ‘Did that mean that freedom of speech, parliamentary democracy, the rule of law or monogamy were no longer to be upheld as worthwhile? Here was the very nihilism which, if unchallenged, threatened to destroy the West. If all common bonds of tradition, custom, culture and morality were destroyed, there would no social glue to keep society together. It would gradually fracture into disparate tribes with competing agendas, and … Continue reading →

      The BBC’s Peter Taylor, for all his knowledge of the events in Northern Ireland always seems somewhat naïve when it comes to the whole picture…perhaps too caught up in the details to see it in the round?  Not just of Northern Ireland but terrorism generally…..Jihadists and all. Ever the loyal BBC man he manages to get a dig in at UKIP…associating them with IRA terrorists here (and … Continue reading →