The Devil's Pact

A Cunning Ploy.

2007-09-05T09:43:00.001-07:00

A rising Jewish film star who plays the son-in-law of Saddam Hussein in a British Broadcasting Corporation drama faces a possible ban on performing in Israel for acting with an Arab in the film.

Actor Yigal Naor, now shooting in Tunisia, ran into trouble when his union learned that Arab actor Amr Waked is playing the role of the ousted and executed dictator in the drama about his life.

Naor, who appeared alongside Hollywood star George Clooney in the 2005 blockbuster Syriana, defended his position, telling several Israeli papers he did not know an Arab was involved until after he signed the contract.

He also said the film was pro-Israeli, and criticizes Iranian foreign policy, according to the Israeli Mail.

"The position of the union is clear in its rejection of normalization [with Arab countries], and requires that members abide by this position," Ashraf Zaki, the head of the union, said.

"Yigal Naor is playing the role of the husband of Saddam's daughter opposite an Arab who plays Saddam ... Yigal will be facing an investigation as soon as he returns [from filming]," Zaki said.

Fucking disgusting eh? Can you imagine it, the Jews discriminating against an Arab. Even refusing to be in the same film? Racist bastard eh? As for his scumsucking Israeli union- how dare it be political.

Do you feel really revolted? Eh?

Well good because every word done in bold there has been changed. If you'd like to see the original look HERE.

Quote of the Day.

2007-09-05T09:42:00.003-07:00

Der Spiegel, 11/01/07:

"The state is socially responsible, even for alien shamans"

Future Private Eye Material.

2007-09-05T09:42:00.001-07:00

Fuckin' stupid:

Senior social workers have given warning of the dangers posed by a new government register that will store the details of every child in England from next year.

They fear that the database, containing the address, medical and school details of all under-18s, could be used to harm the children whom it is intended to protect.

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ACDS) has written to officials outlining its “significant” concerns about the new system, called ContactPoint, The Times has learnt. Confusion over who is responsible for vetting users and policing the system “may allow a situation where an abuser could be able to access ContactPoint for illegitimate purposes with limited fear of any repercussions”, Richard Stiff, the chairman of the ADCS Information Systems and Technology Policy Committee, said.

The security fears are fuelled further by the admission that information about the children of celebrities and politicians is likely to be excluded from the system.

Two points to be made here. First is that if politicans and celebrity children are to be shielded then obviously the system is fucked. After all if it worked they wouldn't need the extra protection. The second point is the difference between the political classes. Whilst the politicans children are guarded those of ordinary folk are royally fucked. In other words we are looking at a two class system.

What a bunch of wankers, eh?

The Sandbasher Speaks.

2007-09-05T09:41:00.003-07:00

From HERE:

Unaha, the above post answers your question. I can testify to the fact that we used the ‘Snatch’ Landrovers (OK for Northern Ireland, iffy elsewhere) in Basra in 2004 while our counterparts from other Coalition contingents (Italians, Danes etc) had patrol vehicles such as the Scarab (MAV 5, above) and the Mowag (below). Both could be fitted with extra armour for added defence against mines and IEDs:

http://kr.img.blog.yahoo.com/ybi/1/24/56/shinecommerce/folder/8/img_8_13384_3?1183781182.jpg
http://www.armyvehicles.dk/apctest_1.htm

At the start of our tour (May 2004) we were driving into Basra - and to Al Amarah - in the standard ‘Wolf’ Landrovers, which had fuck-all protection whatsoever. Eventually the powers that be realised that this was not a good idea, and the Snatches were rushed into theatre as a snap solution. But then the MOD left it at that, and only started to order Mastiff when more blokes started dying in IED attacks.

The reason why the British Army are using WMIKs and Snatches is due to the breach of the military contract which Francis Sedgemore has written about. Whatever your opinions on Iraq and Afghanistan, the fact that soldiers are being expected to operate with outmoded equipment is an absolute disgrace.

Thank God we’ve got Eurofighter, because that really scares the hell out of the Mahdi Army and the Taliban.

Its good to get the view of someone who's out there. And as the last line shows, whatever else the British Army lacks it still has a wicked (if sobering) sense of humour.

The point is well made and reflects what EU Referendum has been saying for a while, namely that the Eurofighter is useless bcause it is designed for the Cold War. Sure it can be used as Close Air Support but its too fast and can't carry enough ordanance. And more than that its incredibly expensive, not only to buy but also to train on and keep running. On the other hand we could use Super Tucanos like Blackwater does which are rugged, require much less equipment, are the right speed for support and cost a measly $9 million (say £4.5 million). A Eurofighter costs £80 million.

But that isn't the point. The reason we buy things like the Eurofighter and the upcoming Future Lynx is simple: small dick syndrome. Eurofighters are shiny and very, very nice. But sadly they are also completely useless for the job in hand, particuarly in comparison to older but more suitable kit. With a Future Lynx we can show off to all the other countries. Unfortunately we just won't be able to show them off anywhere except on the ground because by all accounts the Future Lynx's predeccessor can barely fly in the desert. Gee whiz, how useful.

The other interesting point picked up on by EU Referendum is that Blackwater are the ones buying cheap, suitable kit. This further reinforces John Robb's ideas about the advantages of privatised militaries. Blackwater don't need to show off, they have limited funds and need results for their money. The MoD has little to no incentive (though one wonders if the MoD's top civil servants were sent on fact finding missions to the UK's furthest outposts in Snatch Land Rovers they might change their mind).

Retreating.

2007-09-05T09:41:00.001-07:00

Can we please admit it? We are retreating from Basra because we can't control it. That isn't the soldiers fault: they've done their best. But they don't have the men, the infastructure or equipment to do it. And most importantly the Iraqis don't want to knuckle under. Theres nothing that can be done about that. Militias provide localised government and support to the people on a level the MoD can't match. They therefore take control.

That we failed, for it is a failure, is hardly surprising. As mentioned above there was little to no chance the whole mess could be sorted out by 5,000 blokes and a few Land Rovers. Maybe 50,000 blokes but even then I'd be cautious.

Will the Yanks be pissed? Yup. But so what. Our retreat is exactly the kind of thing they will be doing in a few years. The point is that they have more men and money so it will take longer before they need to retreat. We are just preempting them.

Are We At War?

2007-09-05T09:40:00.002-07:00

If you walk down the street today do you feel like you are at war? Like in the Blitz do you see corpses, ruined houses, men in uniform everywhere? I doubt you do. War has become removed from the civilian population at large, it has no impact. I can't holiday in Iraq but I wouldn't have done that before anyway. I can still travel where I want, do what I want, buy what I want. War impinges on my life only in the time I am willing to spend looking at it or watching the TV. Its a distant thing with little to no basis in my own physical existence.

And that is one of the reasons we have for total apathy in this country. People don't care because the war seems like a foreign affair, removed from us and untouchable. It doesn't really bother us so why care? Both pro and anti war movements are outnumbered by the generally bored, the unopinionated, the drifters. Life has reached a point where you don't have to have opinions because nothing that bad is happening. In the Cold War we might have been nuked or invaded at any moment. A real threat existed. For homosexuals there was the possibility of arrest. Foreigners were abused because so many of them were emigrating (pre 50's racism is often wildly overemphasised). There were issues and causes. Now peoples lives are so comfortable that they don't need to care. And in a life full of easy things it is easier not to care.

This is one of the reasons for such lack of emotion over the war. Whilst we sit comfortably we care not. Even 7/7 had limited casualties, limited impact. Terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan don't appear in our lives every day but rather occasionally, intermittently. They flicker in and out and we don't care.

Someone needs to bring the issues back to politics. We won't know what we'll be losing till we've lost it.

South Korea's Loss.

2007-09-05T09:40:00.001-07:00

ROK has paid $20 million to get 20 aidworker/missionaries back. By doing so they are directly funding the Taliban to go more people. More than that it shows the worth of hostages in todays media saturated society. Kidnapping hostages is good money- it costs little to do so and makes great profits. Well done ROK.

Iran's Illegal Attacks On Iran.

2007-09-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

Oooops!

Trot's ha' said it all really.

Jaaaysis Christ!

2007-09-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

You'd think this was ironic:

Initially, I was pleasantly surprised. Together we played Fifa 03, mother and son bonding over a football game lost to his expert childish thumbs jabbing x buttons to pass and o buttons to shoot. But when the new Fifa 07 game was unwrapped – a modern version rated at an unbelievable 3-plus (what mother is going to let a toddler go from Teletubbies to PlayStation?) I was shocked. In a matter of a couple of years, there were new aggressive gestures to the referee, nasty pushing and shoving between footballers after fouls, close-ups of angry grimaces at the ref’s decision. The unacceptable face of football.

New, "agressive" gestures. Oh deary me. How can they peddle that filth.

Iran's War On Drugs.

2007-09-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

A little known part of the current tea party in the M.E. is Irans losing fight with...the Taliban. Iran has one of the highest addiction rates in the world, mostly for Heroin which is flooded into the country by the Taliban. This incidentally is one of the big problems their dear old leader has completely ignored whilst he built nuke plants.

Now when we said fight, we goddam meant it. According to orbat.com they've lost 1,500+ border guards (armed with Austrian kit) since the 2001 invasion. Thats a lot of blokes, more than the whole of NATO's casulaties, and the Iranians aren't even operating in a real warzone. We're just talking smugglers and their mates.

Drugs have in general been one of the biggest problems in Afghanistan so far. Not only do they fund the Taliban but they are also exported all round the world. Furthermore they provide fantastic propaganda for the Taliban who can portray NATO as wanting to stop the crops.

But to all this there is a fairly simple solution: Morphine. Opium not only makes the exceedingly dangerous heroin but also the medicinal Morphine. An' right now there is a morphine shortage in the world. Should the MoD or NATO choose they could buy the Opium from the farmers, gaining their support, process it and flog it to medical companies where it would serve a useful purpose. Whilst profits would be less than if they sold it as heroin (which is why there is a morphine shortage) you'd still make money. Furthermore you could offer to buy it up with Iran who would hopefully be glad to help and therefore make money as well as help their own country.

Now even if this could be pulled off, providing black economy demand isn't enough to outprice the MoD, it won't solve the Taliban. But it will go a major way towards helping, not to mention being of enormous social benefit to the world as a whole.

Switching over.

2007-07-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Yes chaps, I'm decommissioning this blog and moving to a new adress:

HERE

The reason is simple- this blog was fairly uncoherent as I grew used to blogging and distilled my views from unconcious to concious. Still, should be fun at the new place. Anyone who actually reads this, please do update your bookmarks.

Cheers!

Edit: Or maybe not. This blog feels strangley right. The other blog is now dead and I'm slowly moving back here. Cheers all.

Leninology, a Fisking.

2007-07-06T06:31:00.000-07:00

I think I've done it.

I've worked out why Lenin can both be so coherent and intelligent and yet still come out with copmplete and utter balls.

Its to do with his in built opinions. Now see that Lenin is if not in favour of the Iraqi insurgency groups at least very anti-Coalition. Hence his latest nonsense.

Note how when a pro-West, anti-Taliban story comes out he gives it a thorough going over. He is sceptical, asks the right questions and comes to the conclusion that the story is of debateable merit and quite possibly a falsehood. But then he gets his hands on this, this and this he believes them all. Not a word of contention, no analysis. Nothing.

Why?

Particuarly when the stories are filled with the same sort of errors he picked up on in the Guardian story. Lets take a look.

This one first. Right, Lenin states the story in this repoirt as fact. Depite the following.
1. The story was assembled by "The Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni political faction in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's cabinet," Thats right, not from witnesses, cops, hospitals or any offical source. From a politcal faction. Now if you'll excuse me but I'm extremely dubious of a "statement" that comes not from offical sources but from an obviously partisan group. Much like Lenin was when it came to the Yanks, village locals and Afghan government in the Guardian article.
2. The facts contained within are not based on fact. They are part of a "statement" that is "alleging" that these numbers were killed. Lets review: a statement, not a report that is giving alleged figures rather than any hard facts.
3. No mention of who the people killed were. We are told that "more than 350 people have been killed by a US military operation in Baquba to hunt down al-Qaeda-affiliated members." But what type of people? Civilians? Al Quaeda members? The Swedish Olympic Mime team?
4. How do we really know how many were actually killed. According to the statement the "bodies [are] still under wreckage". So how do they know how many died?
So to put it all together we have an statement by a political faction that gives us an unstansiated figure alleging a specific numbers of deaths without the means to back up their claim and which gives no information relating to whether those who (ostensibly)* died were in fact legitimate targets.

How convincing.

*To clarify: I realise people died but I'm taking a critical eye to the numbers killed.

Next I turn to this report which Lenin used to claim US troops killed 26 people in a "homicide attack" (his words). Againa glance at the article reveals that Lenin is generalising wildly. The article tells us that the US claim all 26 were gunmen, in which case their deaths are legitimate, whilst even the locals say 8 civilians were killed (amongst the 26? instead of the 26? I don't know as it doesn't say). Obviously Lenin is misrepresenting the truth to fulfill his own agenda. Similarly the article contains a wild number of points against Lenin. Again I'll switch to numbering them.
1. First its reported that civilians claim the US troops were "firing wildly". Now there are a few points to be made here. First is that no residents were named which makes the provenance of tese angry accusations difficult. Secondly it assumes the civilians understand military actions in order to claim they were firing wildly. How do they know? Firing wildly might easily refer to engaging multiple targets that were scattered all around. Had the Septics really been firing wildly I think its safe to assume we'd have another Haditha rather than 8 civilians dead. Those weapons of theirs ae awful dangerous.
2. Unnamed residents are our only source for 8 civilian dead. Again there is no offical source involved. The fact that no wounded were mentioned is also suspicious as it is usually assumed that for ever person killed two are wounded. And indeed if so many were wounded or killed how is it that there is no (offical) statement from the mortuary, hospital or any of their workers?
3. All this information comes from Sadr city, a place that is "the stronghold of the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr". In other words we are being asked to trust people who are anti-American in outlook and quite possibly highly politicised.
Again a recap. This story presents unnamed 'residents' from a highly anti-American area giving us a story with no hard evidence to back it up.

Finally Lenin linked to this biggie. This is by far the best piece of the lot but even here Lenin can't help himself. Lets perform the now familiar examination.
1. First of all is the total confusion. Were the Taliban there? Well Wali Khan says that "More than 100 people have been killed. But they weren't Taliban. The Taliban were far away from there" OK, so the Taliban weren't there. Mahmood Anwar on the other hand said "Very few Taliban were killed". Ah. So Taliban weren't killed. Except for very few who were. Maj. John Thomas on the other hadn says the fight started with a Taliban attack and ended with NATO bringing in helis as fire support. He also claims the civilians bodies were found amongst dead Taliban, in other words that the Taliban had been using human shields. I think we can fairly dismiss Wali Khan, Taliban rather obviously were there.
2. There is a serious discrepancy in the figures. Khan says more than 100, Anwar close to 100 and Thomas merely that it was "an order of magnitude less" than other officals have claimed. Now this obviously shows that no offical figure exists as we have been given two estimates and one possible correction without any actual figures. Therefore we must be sceptical about how many actually died. However equally we can see that a lot of people did die.
3. Lenin is presenting it as "one hundred civilians" killed (I'm quoting him). When in fact only one source, Mr. Khan, has actually said that. And he is a source that is obviously untrustworthy because of his failure to admit Taliban were there. Lenin is misrepresenting on a glorious scale. What if for instance I said that Britain killed 649 Argentinian civilians in the Falklands War? It would be wrong. 649 Argentine soldiers were killed. Now obviously this is an extreme example, all the Argentines were soldiers whilst not all the Afghans were Taliban, but I hope it serves to illustrate the danger of Lenin's mistake.
In conclusion Lenin is telling us 100 civilians died, something that the two more reputable sources do not say, a statement only backed up by a man who is a proven liar. Not only that he is not taking account of the fact that at least some of those killed were Taliban and that it is entirely possible that some to many of those civilians killed were in fact human shields.

It seems obvious that Lenin has made several mistakes and most importantly has relaxed his critical standards. The reaon for that relaxing seems obvious- because if he was critical he'd be unable to make his (ultimately incorrect) statements. Statements that owe everything to anti-Coalition bias. No matter your opinion on the Coalition and the wars there has to be the ability to look critically at anything, even if it seems to reinforce your own opinions.

If I read those three articles indeed my point would not be the deaths of civilians but rather that they reveal a striking power struggle between the local rulers and the Coalition/NATO. In both cases the Iraqi and Afghan PM are critical of the alliances that are supposed to be helping them, despite which the alliances are effectively taking little to no operational changes in response. Now this is a sweeping generalisation but reveals that there are frictions between Premiers, their people and the alliances. That is of far greater worth as a story that Lenin's lame attempt to slur the alliances as civilian killing imperialist scum.

Why the Bullshit?

2007-07-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

As ever it hasn't taken long for the usual nonsense about the attacks being a reaction to British/Western foreign policy to come out.

Let me hand over to Hassan Butt from the Observer for a mo',

When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network, a series of semi-autonomous British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology, I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy.
By blaming the government for our actions, those who pushed the 'Blair's bombs' line did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.

But hey, he could be lying right?

Wrong.

Even if you discount Hassans words (at your peril) just ponder this- what was the provocation for 9/11?

The only Muslim nation America had been in recently was, umm, Somalia. In 1993.

So in essence foreign policy is not the problem, never was the problem but could be a current problem. Islam attacked first.

More on the Bombs.

2007-07-04T06:23:00.000-07:00

Via the Trots comes a lovely piece on how the Tiger Tiger attack was aimed to kill women.

Only at the tail end of the coverage was it admitted that a car bomb might have been parked outside a club in Piccadilly because it was "ladies night" and that this explosion might have been designed to lure people into to the street, the better to be burned and shredded by the succeeding explosion from the second car-borne cargo of gasoline and nails. Since we have known since 2004 that a near-identical attack on a club called the Ministry of Sound was proposed in just these terms, on the grounds that dead "slags" or "sluts" would be regretted by nobody, a certain amount of trouble might have been saved by assuming the obvious. The murderers did not just want body parts in general but female body parts in particular.

Once again I am forced to ask, why does the Left actually support Islamists? Lets look down the lists of Leftist causes:

-pro gay
-pro women
-anti totalitarian
-anti capital punishment
-anti theocracy

Guess what, they clash with Islamists on every case. Aside from slavery there isn't much more Islamists could do to oppose themselves to the traditional leftist mind set. So why the hell is it that the Left is almost always the one supporting Islam?

The answer is easy. First as the Hitch isolates, there is a fear that being anti-Islamist means being racist to brown people. Wake up call guys, Islam is a religion for all, no matter your colour (though the big M had some nasty, nasty things to say about black people). Secondly is the fact that America is opposed to Islamists.

But enough of my lamenting, its old hat and has been known for years.

P.S. Again stolen from the Trots but SCWR has some good stuff done on the attacks.)

P.P.S. Amsuingly Tiger! Tiger! is also the name of an Alfred Bester bestseller. It was the sci fi novel that got Michael Moorcock writing and one of the few appearances of self improvement by a class disadvantaged individual in science fiction. Its also a cracking read.

Hero of Our Times.

2007-07-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

Mother of Satan but the internet is well fast.

Twins?

2007-07-04T06:09:00.000-07:00

Oh my god!

Alan Johnston...

...is Ahmadinejad in disguise!

Blog Break.

2007-07-04T02:19:00.000-07:00

Sad indeed my friends but I have things to do, places to be. So for now this blog will have a temporary hiatus. I might blog at any moment though, whenever I have the time and energy.

Cheers all!

The Janner

Edit: every time I make an announcement like this I seem to end up posting tons. How the hell does this always happen? Anyway, hiatus coming.

New Hero.

2007-06-29T04:21:00.000-07:00

One word: Legend.

Hat tip, Mr E

Goodbye Tony, Hello Gordon.

2007-06-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

I don't think anything more need be said.

Goodbye Tony, if it weren't for you this blog might not exist. Hello Gordon, I've no doubt you'll keep this blog going.

In the words of Pat Condell, "Peace."

Don't Read This Unless You Are 17+.

2007-06-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

Ok look, you can rate your blog Here.

Looks like I'm a 17+ with the following:

hell (7x)
bastard (5x)
dead (3x)
knife (2x)
tit (1x)

When did I use the word knife?

Mingle² -

Crackdown.

2007-06-27T03:57:00.000-07:00

It seems another crack down is happening in Iran, this time featuring beatings and humiliation, for those who wear Western clothes or whatever crackpot nationalist/Islamic interpretation the Iranian authorities have come up with. Michelle Malkin covers the story and sets out a challenge to the MSM to cover this in as much detail as they covered Abu Graihb and Gitmo. Hell, even Amnesty International apears to be doing nothing.

On the other hand Human Rights Watch has a fair old wack of stuff here. Just take a look at the list:

-Deatined students at risk of torture
-Iran lead world in executing children
-Iran: Stop Executions by Stoning Slated for June 21
-Iran: Halt Mass Deportation of Afghans
-Iran: End Harassment of Dual-Nationals
-Iran: Another Iranian-American Scholar Detained
-Iran: End Arrests on Immorality Charges
-Iran: Jailed Iranian-American Scholar Faces Coercion
-Iran: National Security Laws Used to Jail Women’s Rights Activists
-Iran: Release Detained Teachers
-Iran: Release Women’s Rights Activists
-Syria: Ethnic Arab Refugees Face Persecution if Returned to Iran

And so on and so on. All from this year.

And how much of this did the MSM report? You see I've forgotten something, only thr "Great Satan" America ever does bad things.

My consolations and hopes go out to the Iranians right now, abandoned by the press for its political views.

Bourgeoisie Scum.

2007-06-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry but does anyone believe a report that uses language like this, saying that the middle classes are a...

"...seething mass of morally dubious, and outright criminal, behaviour".

That ain't fact, thats emotive nonsense. Particuarly when the heinous crimes that make the middle classes so morally dubious are things like, umm, stealing paper clips. Or paying cash to avoid tax. Just a hint but that might be because the middle classes are getting the hell taxed out of them. I sure don't trust the state to use my money wisely, I disagree with the amount of tax they take. So why give them more cash to waste?

I Call Double Bullshit.

2007-06-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

OK, Lenin might have a point that this story is bullshit but he ruins it all by continuing to prove that he doesn't actually understand the real world.

Lets be honest, a story sppearing that says...

While Juma's story could not be independently verified, local government leaders backed his account and the U.S. and NATO military missions said they believed his story.

...has got to be treated with a degree of caution and cynicism. On the other hand the account is almost so stupid that I'm tempted to believe it. I mean who in a propaganda department could come up with this gem:

Taliban fighters forced him to wear a vest they said would spray out flowers when he touched a button.

However that is no excuse for Lenin to say...

So, Major Thomas, what are you going to do if you see a child in a dirty coat running toward you? To be on the safe side, I mean? Hamstring him? Pepper him with plastic bullets? Destroy the brain instantly, utterly?

Lenin knows as well as I that if Major Thomas suspects the child is a suicide bomber he will shoot him. That sadly is what you have to do. What would he like the Major to do? Get blown up? In this case should it prove that the kid really was given a suicide belt then Lenin hasn't a leg to stand on. Whilst Maj. Thomas would be well within his rights.

Its a truth that killing civilians is very distasteful but Lenin seems to be unaware that both the Iraqi groups and Taliban have not been squeamish to use kids. So whos to blame there? Indeed had Lenin read on further he might have noticed this bit...

However, a gory Taliban video that surfaced in April showed militants instructing a boy of about 12 as he beheaded an alleged traitor with a large knife. U.N. officials condemned the act as a war crime.

What lovely people those Taliban are. So full of hugs.

Oh and look at this, they're willing to use a "boy of 10 or so" to carry around suicide vests that would kill everyone within "100 metres" should they accidentally go off.

And of course these are the people willing to use a man dressed as a woman to kill people. So deception is pretty much a given.

Similarly Lenin decries this statement:

"We want to publicize this as much as we can to the Afghan people so that they can protect their children from these killers."

Now maybe I'm crazy but as the Taliban really are using kids then surely its a good idea to publicise it? You know, so other kids don't get sucked in.

Terry Kelly Shock!

2007-06-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yes the Great Man himself has outdone himself once again...

Recently I've been debating over on Tel's blog. Sadly it turned out that Tel was actually serious and this wasn't a joke blog. The debate hasn't just been, in the style of some of the more ardent Right-wingers, a slash and burn serious of attacks (and well put points). I've also tried to get Tel to actually take up useful habits like giving sources, not making sweeping generalisations and actually explaining statements he makes.

I was unsurprised to see that like many on the supposed Left wing he supports a fascist dictatorship that has destroyed its country's economy, has a regular history of human rightrs abuse, doesn't allow elections and is generally very nasty. Thats right, I'm talking about Cuba. It seems that Tel loves it (but then again he doesn't live there).

Now every pundit on there has effectively pointed out that Cuba is a nasty fascist regime but Tel's only real response is to ask us why America doesn't have flights to Cuba. The intimation being that Socialism is so sucesful that the Yanks are worried nit will overturn their capitalist democracy. Unfortunately Tel seems to be forgetting that rather a large number of Socialist countries have failed and that indeed the Cold War is over.

However the biscuit came when I posted a list of Cuban human rights abuses. From Amnesty International.

Tel's reponse?

"I don't need reports, I'm perfectly capable of doing my own research."

Do I even need to say anything?

Fire!

2007-06-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

It seems YouTube is filled with clips from one of my favorite and sadly now dead shows, Monkey Dust, one of the best things ever to reach TV. Enjoy this anyway.

Cynicism Works.

2007-06-26T05:27:00.000-07:00

Today I've been thinking about the lack of intellectual rigour in the way that some people, from all aspects of the political spectrum, put their faith in certain things. Notably I want to look at the Libertarian belief in corporations and the similarly outrageous anarcho-syndacalist views of Trade Unions.

Now Libertarians are very prevalent in the blogosphere (I hate that phrase). Personally I believe this is because none of the three main parties even come close to it. However nobody seems to recognize anarchic values (oh the irony) in any politcal party and yet they seem rather under represented. Ho hay, I imagine its part of lumping all anarchists in with the great failed Soviet experiment and the resultant drop in interest (Though idiots still seem to find it very cool to wear Che t-shirts. Why not get a shirt of Franco while you're at it.)

Now it is a very generalised truth that Libertarians believe in corporations. Or rather they believe in freedom for all, even corporations. Cutting down red tape is certainly no bad thing as if we don't we'll all end up like France. However to cut all buerocratic power and involvement is just plain nuts. Why you ask? Well lets wheel out...

The Janners Third Law of Bastards
1. Some humans are bastards.
2. Almost all hyumans have the possibility to become bastards i the right (or wrong) conditions.
3. Inevitably a bastard will reach a position of power.
4. A bastard will most likely abuse that power.

How does this link to corporations you metaphorically ask me? Well heres how. Corporations include human beings and positions of power. Hence they will employ bastards at some point and at some point a bastard must reach a position of power. There will also inevtably be an abuse of that power.

Now on its own that might be fine and ordinary. However the trouble is that corporations exist essentially to make money, they have no other role. Every time you see a company tryinng to be friendly or all hugs and kisses get cynical. 90% of the time it will be because they want more punters and some peopl;e are impressed that their supermarket spends 1p per customer on raising Green Bolivian Sheep or whatever their idea is. Its PR. Therefore there is an increased incentive for corporations to be bastards if it makes them money. Now there is a feasible defense in saying that being a bastard can lose you customers but honestly what if the truth never gets out? What if you just tie up the investigation with bribes? What if you make more money from being a bastard than you can ever be fined?

Power abuse will happen and it is for this reason that we establish controls: government, law* and trade unions.

That point leads us seamlessly to the cause of the anarcho-syndicalists. Much like the Libertarians they often have a disturbing faith in the idea of an organisation, in this case trade unions. Now trade unons, like corporations are eminently useful organisations. In particular they exist as a control and check on corporations whilst providing a mechanism for groups to get their voices heard. Sadly however they also collect power by their very nature. A union needs power in order for their demands and wishes to be fulfilled. This takes the form of strikes. There is already an implicit problem here in that some unions are stronger than others. After all if the Fishmongers union strikes, well, we can all live without fish for a while right? On the other hand if a major union such as those who supply the water strike then the country is in trouble. This is the number one reason why the Armed Forces are not allowed unions. And where there is power there is the possibility to abuse it.

Human beings have a survival instinct and part of this instinct, taken to extremes, is the desire to be selfish, to want, to be greedy. Because the more you have often the greater chance of survival or improvement. Aside this is the inherent desire for self improvement, the sort of thing that leads someone to work hard, to study science in order to understand or to give to charity (note: personal self improvement, communal self improvement and moral self improvement).

Therefore people desire things, the trick being to desire in moderation. You don;t want to be either a greedy man nor an apathetic one. Therefore people will use positions of power to gain things.

Therefore you must be careful of people abusing instruments like unions in order for personal desire, even when it goes against the grain. In other words trade unions are as open to abuse as corporations and must be treated just as carefully. Indeed more so because trade unions are not wholly fiscal beasts and can therefore afford to say and do what they want with much more ease than a corporation.

It is for these reasons that I am so suspicious of those who look at something like a trade union or cororation and can only ascribe good to it. Everything in the world is capable of being hijacked, almost all humans have the capacity to do bad things. And therefore it must be emphasised that any organisation, no matter its politics must have a control on it somewhere, a control that preferably they also can control. After all, nobody wants the worng man getting control of the control, the Jacobins taught us that much.

*The law doesn't necessarily need to be associated with government as any halfway sober anarcho-capitalist will tell you. Incidentally I'm no great economist so correct me where I'm wrong. Just shout out in comments.

Dear Comrades.

2007-06-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Huh?

He may follow Lenin but isn't he at all aware that that the greatest globaliser ever was Marx. You know, all that workers of the world unite stuff? And to be honest he also kinda admits that Lenin was an "internationalist". Which, lets face it, is a nice way of saying globaliser. The difference is that globalisation is capitalist whilst internationalism is something Lenin did.

But then again I suppose one can't expect much from a man who clearly thinks that this is the gospel truth:

"When shall we hear solemn press-releases, solemnly recounted by newspapers, in which the 'Taliban' explain that they meant to hit only occupying troops with their latest suicide attack, but that the occupiers forced them to strike in civilian areas by hiding in humvees and helicopters and Bradley tanks, driving through densely populated areas and thus using the surrounding people as human shields like the cowards they are?"

This is this complete nonsense (because of course the Taliban never ever attack civilians. Never. Oh wait, they did, as Amnesty International is only too willing to tell you.) Not to mention that troops are in urban regions for one of two reaons really. Either there are Taliban there (but surely the Taliban would never hide amongst civilians. Oh snap, they did. ). Or alternatively they are defending something. Defending people like say these women.

And of course it is cowardly to hide in a tank. A real man would stand naked and fight the Taliban with a rusty pen knife. HOO-HAA to that. I must admit a deal of admiration for saying 'Taliban' rather than Taliban. It suggests that actually they aren't Taliban. If they aren't I imagine they'd like to know who they are as thats what they've been calling themselves for a while. Communal amnesia perhaps?

Of course of stunning brilliance is the descision to note how the eeevil capitalist lackies forced the Taliban to attack them in urban locations. I'm just surprised the Taliban, with all their love for civilians, haven't attacked one of those convoys I keep seeing on the BBC. You know, the ones miles from urban areas. Maybe the Zionist dogs are holding out on that information too.

But of course! Its satire about how the Coalition claims that they only kill civilians by accident (after all, we all know you only join the armed forces to rape Iraqis right?). Except for the fact that, umm, the vast majority of the time it is the case that the Taliban are hiding amongst civilians. I mean come on, even the BBC admits it. Hell it even says they should in the Taliban handbook.

Oh OK, I take it all back. Its all the fault of those evil western Imperialist dogs. What did they think they were doing invading alongside 36 other countries in order to put an end to a fascist theocracy that had attacked them? Thats no reason at all.

Oh darn. It is a reason.

Now look, I think the war in Iraq was wrong as much as the next man but that doesn't mean I'm going to support dangerous religous nutters, fanatics, ultra-nationalists, ethnic terrorists, murderers and the other assorted detritus that calls itself either the Taliban or the Iraqi Insurgency (or rather whichever bit of the Iraqi insurgency they are). Thinking one side is wrong is no reason to side with a mutual foe who's as much of a scumbag, more so in fact, than your original enemy. Capitalism, America, they all have their downsides. But should we replace them with murdering fascists? I say no.

It is a sad day when elements of the so called 'Left' (I don't want to sully those of the Left by asscoiating them with our friend Lenin here) defend fascist theocracies. Whatever happened to egalitarianism, rights for women, secular lefties? Where are the anarchists? The trade unionists? Can't they save us from these fascist-supporting interlopers?

And to all those who like a bit of moral rigour with their lefties (as well as some delightful anarchism and values that a Fabian would be proud to have) I cannot suggest finer fellows than these chaps. They may like Trade Unions more than I do but any lover of the Hitch is a worthwhile read.

Meme-d!

2007-06-21T05:23:00.000-07:00

Ack, I got tagged for a meme by Chippy.

Gah, well best to get it over with. So as to save time I'll tag people wot have already been tagged by others. Wouldn't want to make someone else do it and this way they can help save others. So thats Ian Grey, Mopsa, Trixy, Real Politik and Ms. Baroque who incidentally has a neat post up on online politics. Read it, its well worth your while.

Anyway, best do this.

What were you doing ten years ago?

Going to school I believe and hoping like hell that I could pull that @£$&ing French test off. For once. Je ne parle pas fancais tres bien etc.

What were you doing one year ago?

Nowt. Which was sort of a problem...

Five snacks you enjoy.

Cheest toastie/ham and cheese ciabatta/Welsh Rarebit, Penguin bars, Walkers Ready Salted crisps (I know, I know!), Chicken Shish Kebab, Pitta Bread and Hummus (Shephards Bush market is the place for this).

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics.

Ummm...not really any. Maybe "Sunny Afternoon" (the Kinks). I can hum a few though and generally remember songs once someone puts the track on.

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire.

Visit more of the world, fund a real UK Libertarian party, hire Aegis contractors to try and sort out the places that need help like Sudan, build a working mech (give a geek his dreams), fund a few of those arty projects that need more backing.

Five bad habits.

Reading when I should be paying more attention to someone, watching too much TV (I blame my father- thats what you get for a dad in the meedja), getting distracted by sketching stuff when there are more important things, listening to my music too loud, buying Domino's pizza again.

Five things you like doing.

Reading, writing, sketching, banter, good music.

Five things you would never wear again.

Those multi coloured trousers, ladies clothing, ankle socks, britches (long story- it wasn't pretty though my legs looked pretty sexy), socks with the name of the day on them.

Five favorite toys

Computer, iTunes, sketchpad, torch, my desk lamp (or rather its awesome toggle control. Switching it on will never get old. I'm a simple man.)

Show Her Boys!

2007-06-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

How funny is this?

In particular I was impressed by the stand up comedian, sorry, First Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammed Reza Bahonar who came out with this gem:

"The action by the British Queen in knighting Salman Rushdie, the apostate, is an unwise one," he said to loud applause from MPs.

The British monarch lives under this illusion that Britain is still a 19th Century superpower and that bestowing titles is something still deemed important."

Thats right, to show her just how meaningless the honour and how unimportant Britain's bestowing of it is...we're going to debate it in Parliament! Hell yeah, that'll show 'em. See look, nobody cares. Except for, umm, us and the Pakistanis...Damn.

Incidentally Mohammed seems to thing Mr. Rushdie is one of the living dead. Or why else would he say that, "Salman Rushdie has turned into a hated corpse which cannot be resurrected by any action". I'm sure if you look in the extras on your "Resident Evil" DVD you'll see 'Shambling' Salman in action.

Hell, they should give him his own film. Can you imagine how cool the tag line would be?

"He came back from the dead...to satarise Mohammed!"

I'd watch that movie.

In other news moderate Muslims everywhere else committed mass suicide, apparently because they were unable to deal with the rising bullshit levels coming from Iran. Said one bystander, "They just can't take it any more. Don't these bearded fools realise how stupid they make the rest of Islam look?". The Government plans to sponsor an "Imans Anonymous" program to help.

Paging Mr. Orwell.

2007-06-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I know what. Lets indoctinate kids from age three upwards! Whoo!

In all seriousness this is nonsense. Children will, in general, learn any form of sectarianism from their parents and other big social figures. So waving puppets at them might not help all that much.

Aside from that who is the government to tell us what is and isn't acceptable to think?

Iraq Casualties.

2007-06-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

Nice to see someone counting the insurgent deaths in Iraq (which are around 3,000 per moth on average).

Recommended reading.

Yet More.

2007-06-11T04:56:00.001-07:00

To further stregthen my arguements (and Chippy's in the comments) of yesterday.

For the Love of...

2007-06-11T03:09:00.000-07:00

How many times does it have to be said? Its a buisness- they can pay whatever they want. All this is is rank jealousy.

Dear Mr Hunt.

2007-06-10T04:21:00.000-07:00

Oh great, Tristram Hunt wants to teach our kids propaganda.

Its a great truth that education is the best way to politicise young children, to mould them in any image you want. After the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1 numerous illustrations and photos were taken of young children in Alcase Lorraine studying Germna history and reading in the German language. In 1918 the same thing occurred with a new generation. But these kids were learning French values and reading in French.

And that is what Mr Hunt advises. Teaching kids propaganda.

Whilst he does look at the past I think he misses the fundamental point of what he's told. Eric Hobsbawm, whom he quotes said, "The destruction of the past or, rather, of the social mechanisms that link one's contemporary experience to that of earlier generations ... most young men and women at the century's end grow up in a sort of permanent present lacking any organic relation to the public past of the times they live in."

Nowhere is history mentioned in that. A sense of Britishness is in essence the sense of belonging. To belong there must be a social element and that is what is lacking. For starters one can point to external social events, like football. There is no British team. There are Welsh, Scottish, N. Irish and English teams (but not Cornish!). These immediately divide children up.

Another reason is the internet and particuarly computer games. Now in general I don't care. I use the internet, play computer games all the time. However as I child I had F.A. in the way of these gadgets and I must say, it was helpful. Because instead I read. And that meant I devoured books that set up life philosophy. From Ronald Welch to Rosemary Sutcliff I discovered a very British way of thinking and a very British set of morals. Trite as it is to say that. Computer games on the other hand are dominated by the American market. Children are therefore growing up in an environment formed by people wildly different to them and to whom they have no connection. The government certainly has not helped by their slash and burn tactics in the field of children's literature. These include all the Daily Mail classics of politicisation.

As you may have noticed I believe teaching is very low on the scale of formenting a sense of Britishness, particuarly considering the anti-British left wing bent of many teachers (and this isn't ranting. My teachers, all British, often loathed this country.) Its very formative in creating people but not in instilling a sense of Britishness.

More than that what if people don't want to be British? Individuals have rights and attempting to effedctively nationalisticly brainwash people just isn't right. People have to make logical and critical descisions. A sense of responsible nationalism and pride must be nurtered not enforced.

Of course Mr Hunt has a point in the lousiness of the current system and syllabus that wanders all over the place, teaches very little and is marked on a box ticking scheme where memory rather than continuity, narrative, critical thinking and coherence is rewarded.

Prat, Esq.

2007-06-10T04:19:00.000-07:00

Nick Cohen proves that he doesn't need fact. Not when lies and random claims will do.

The man's a tit.

I Hate You SNP.

2007-06-10T04:09:00.000-07:00

Remarkable. Quite remarkable.

"BRITISH taxpayers are to meet the £2 billion cost of reintroducing free university education in Scotland – but students from England and Wales will still have to pay the full fees."

I can't decide if Gordon thinks that because England won't vote for him he should piss all over it or if he really is just such a blind jackass. The sheer cheek of forcing large parts of the country to pay for the Scots only is breathtaking. As if they aren't subsidised enough.

Furthermore:

"Students from the European Union will also receive free education from 2009 unless they come from England, Wales or Northern Ireland."

Now thats what I call discrimination.

Of course what really interests me is where this £2 billion will come from. Want to guess?

Yeah, it will come from just. More tax! Whoo!

I hate my government.

Blimey.

2007-06-09T13:56:00.000-07:00

Crazy but admirable folks.
and
The Meedja blurb.

Seems that guerilla groups aren't how we always imagine them. Hat tip to John Robb for this fascinating case. Just look at the intelligent use of the media (website, blog, audio files, newspapers, YouTube etc.)

Gobble-di-gook.

2007-06-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

More info from the Beeb:

"Iraq has made an official protest to Turkey, accusing it of shelling Kurdish areas in northern Iraq this week.
A protest letter by the Iraqi foreign ministry said the shelling caused widespread damage in northern Iraq.

Turkey has not confirmed any such shelling but it has been building up forces along the border with Iraq.

Speculation grows that Ankara could mount a raid in Iraq on PKK rebels sheltering there who it blames for recent attacks in Turkey.

The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned Turkey's charge d'affaires to voice its protest.

The letter said that said the shelling took place over several hours on Wednesday and early Thursday, starting large fires and causing serious damage.

It said such actions "undermine confidence between the two nations and negatively affect their friendship".

However, it added that Iraq would not allow its territory to be used as a base or a springboard for action against neighbours and any PKK (the Kurdistan Workers' Party) presence was illegal and rejected.

"Iraq would like to take this opportunity to declare its resolve to co-operate with Turkish authorities to allay Turkey's legitimate fears through a constructive dialogue and positive co-operation," the letter said.

The Iraqi protest letter is clearly aimed at keeping the rising tension as an affair to be dealt with between the two states and not between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds, the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says.

'Security zones'

The Iraqi protest comes amid a major build-up of troops and tanks on the border with northern Iraq.

Turkey says some 4,000 militants have bases there and are able to mount cross-border attacks.

On Thursday, several areas close to the border in south-eastern Turkey were declared "temporary security zones".

Four soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb early on Friday in one of the zones.

At least five other people were injured when Kurdish guerrillas detonated the bomb near the town of Siirt.

Attacks by the banned PKK, which has been fighting for an ethnic homeland since 1984, have been increasing in recent weeks.

Last month, a suicide bombing in Ankara, blamed on the group, killed eight civilians."

What the...?

2007-06-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

And how does the Sheriff defend early release. Because “she wouldn’t eat and was crying.”

Fuck me! Is that all it takes to get out of prison these days?

Holy!

2007-06-09T03:50:00.000-07:00

Tim Worstall has discovered something horrible...Gordon Brown is Chris Mounsey's father!

(Well, OK, maybe not but look at those photos!)

Simon Jenkins Really Is A Fool.

2007-06-09T03:32:00.000-07:00

He does realise there is a war going on, doesn't he?

Doesn't he?

Fruity Tours.

2007-06-09T03:27:00.000-07:00

Its amazing the stuff they'll do...

Yon The Road.

2007-06-09T03:21:00.000-07:00

Michael Yon has another piece up, as ever its well worth reading.

Some bits really hit out at me:

"We were naturally canalized, and could be attacked repeatedly on the way out. Knowing that another attack could be imminent, those of us positioned in front as a small recon element in unarmored Land Rovers also knew we were the trip wire. We’d probably get whatever was coming first and that would be the end of it even though we’d driven through the first ambush without a scratch."

Just look at the conditions:
"It must have been around midnight when road suddenly gave way, trapping a vehicle. Apparently, severe water erosion caused micro-canyons that were simple for man or camel to traverse, but impassable for large convoys."
As ever a huge issues seems to be procurement. If patrolling these areas is ever going to work then specialised equipment is needed.

And as ever the MSM comes out of it badly:
"Despite the British press reports that make their own soldiers out to be cowering on bases in Basra, truck after truck of them here were in high spirits. News flash: Those reports are false. Derelict media coverage is another aspect of this war British and American soldiers share, and it rankles here in the southern part of Iraq as deeply as it does everywhere else. Practically no one writes about the Brits down here. Important pages in history remain unwritten, while policy decisions are based on the public perception that all is lost here."

Yet Further Gobbling.

2007-06-09T03:07:00.000-07:00

And so Turkey continues...

As is unsurprising the population is well pissed...

"A recent headline in Turkey's biggest-selling newspaper, Hürriyet, "Don't Forget our Martyrs," is hardly necessary. Emotions are already running dangerously high. Shortly after the attack on the police station, an angry mob in the western Turkish city of Zarkaya attacked two Kurdish construction workers who were wearing T-shirts depicting Kurdish singer Ahmet Kaya and were thus seen as PKK sympathizers. Only at the last minute did the police manage to rescue them and avert a lynching."

The Turkish government has also closed their 120km by 15km border to create a buffer zone (remember what I said about a buffer zone a few days ago, well expect in the light of invasion to have a further buffer zone inside Iraq.) The Turkish army is still 'on maneouvers'.

A few further notes on Kurdistan. The country is fully moving towards independance from Iraq proper. When Northern Iraq was given control over its own security it wasn'g given to the Iraqi government but to the Kurdistan Regional Government. The US is indeed colluding in their breakaway.

One of the big issues is the oil city of Kirkuk. The city is currentlyundergoing something akin to ethnic cleansing with all non-Kurds being forced out (not in general killed though). This is in preperation for an upcoming city wide referendum. The referedum would be about joining Kurdistan or sticking with Iraq. Currently it would go to Kurdistan. However lots of ethnic Turks live(d) in the city. What this means is that the Turks are pissed about Turks getting kicked out of Kirkuk- and the possibility of a rich, oil nation violently oppossed to them and wanting independance for several of Turkey's border areas. This is unacceptable in their view. A referendum that goes the Kurds way could therefore be the catalyst for the war to kick off.

Why Aid Doesn't Work.

2007-06-09T02:50:00.000-07:00

This man is sensible.

This man is a tool.

Today two very different perspectives on Aid have been expressed. One by noted twat Bob Geldof and one by the young African economist James Shikwati.

Heres what Bob Geldof calls $60 billion of aid:

"total farce"

What a tool, eh? How much does he really want then? $200 billion? $300 billion?

I won't even bother taking the piss out of Geldof. He's a morally corrupt man and I have no time for him or his daughter.

On the other hand Mr. Shikwati lays into the whole Aid program. And quite rightly.

"The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape." He says. And its true.

As he points out,:

"Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid."

Sending aid actually destroys buisnesses and makes Africans dependant on us. We're making them worse, not better:

"... and at some point, this corn ends up in the harbor of Mombasa. A portion of the corn often goes directly into the hands of unsrupulous politicians who then pass it on to their own tribe to boost their next election campaign. Another portion of the shipment ends up on the black market where the corn is dumped at extremely low prices. Local farmers may as well put down their hoes right away; no one can compete with the UN's World Food Program. And because the farmers go under in the face of this pressure, Kenya would have no reserves to draw on if there actually were a famine next year. It's a simple but fatal cycle...Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, our tailors lose their livlihoods. They're in the same position as our farmers. No one in the low-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products. In 1997, 137,000 workers were employed in Nigeria's textile industry. By 2003, the figure had dropped to 57,000. The results are the same in all other areas where overwhelming helpfulness and fragile African markets collide."

I advise you to read his words because there is a helluva lot of truth in them.

More Gobbling.

2007-06-08T03:07:00.000-07:00

Further news from the Turkey/Kurds situation. Reuters is reporting that 50,000 Turkish soldiers crossed the border. I don't think you need me to tell you that you rarely use 50,000 men just to hunt down a few terrorists.

Of course Reuters also makes a few mistakes with orbat.com mentions.

The situation remains pretty much as before with plenty of nationalist rhetoric on both sides and the US watching on.

And So There.

2007-06-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

If only he knew the inside scoop...

Nice to see some positive guff anyway, particuarly after the morass that were the C4 web forums.

BTW the film got 3.8 million viewers, the same as Grand Designs gets and very, very tasty. Seems that quite large sections of the public were interested after all...

Anywas I'm going to quote from Hamish, the commissioner:

I have been reading your posts since yesterday, and wanted to correct some misunderstandings about the programme. We felt it was important to tell the story of the photographers who have been vilified since Diana’s death, and whose views and accounts have not before now been widely told. The film focuses on the hour that followed the crash and uses the first-hand testimony of those present on the scene to give a clear account of the chain of events that followed. In doing so it sets out to establish the truth behind the claims and counter-claims over the behaviour of those present at the crash site, and address the question of whether or not the press photographers were guilty of causing the crash itself or impeding the emergency services at the site of the accident.

We made a clear decision from the outset to uphold the consensus quite properly reached by the British media not to use any images that depict the occupants of the car after the crash. No images of the victims of the crash are shown in this film. Those images that are included have been selected with due consideration for the feelings of the relatives of those involved. Several of the pictures in the programme have been used previously by other British media and none of them goes beyond what’s already been published either tonally or in its content. We have included them because they provide tangible evidence of how the photographers witnessed and were themselves therefore involved in the events that took place in the tunnel. We do not believe the film is in any way disrespectful to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales – it is responsible and handles a difficult subject in a sensitive way.

We did not set out to offend or distress viewers or the relatives of those involved. Obviously this is a subject people feel very strongly about, and many of you have already said that you do not intend to watch the programme. I hope that those people who do watch it will agree that it covers an important subject from a new and different perspective and will be able to form their own views about the role and involvement of the media based on the evidence the film lays out.

(Note: he said this on the C4 web forums).

The Paris Hilton Prison Diaries.

2007-06-07T06:51:00.000-07:00

Too funny.

Lately I'm identifying with the Jews and all the horrible things that happened to them during Vietnam.

Now That's My Style.

2007-06-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.florida-cracker.org/archives/004232.html

Hayden's wife of 42 years, Katie, who was also on the flight, was less impressed. Even as her husband struggled with the agitated passenger, she barely looked up from "The Richest Man in Babylon," the book she was reading.

"The woman sitting in front of us was very upset and asked me how I could just sit there reading," Katie Hayden said. "Bob's been shot at. He's been stabbed. He's taken knives away. He knows how to handle those situations. I figured he would go up there and step on somebody's neck, and that would be the end of it. I knew how that situation would end. I didn't know how the book would end."

Hat tip to Tim Blair.

More High Jinks.

2007-06-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

And todays subject is...Lebanon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6729633.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6719635.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6723689.stm

As you can see, its all still up to play for. The Lebanese army is shelling/bombing the camps so as to avoid nasty street fighting and then sending in the troops. So far its slow progress but no doubt the Lebanese will have finished off the enemy, in the camp at least, in a week or so.

Comeuppance You Bastards!

2007-06-07T05:41:00.000-07:00

Take that!

Five members of the Saudi religious police, known as the mutawaeen, have been arrested accused of responsibility for the death of a man in custody.

Nice to see but they've ever been held for the murder of a woman, though that might be changing (hopefully):

Saudi press reports say police are also investigating the death of an Asian woman who fell from the fourth floor of a building that was stormed by mutawaeen last week.

Incidentally the man's crime was:

Officials said the man had been questioned for allegedly associating with a woman who was not a relative.

Oh Bugger.

2007-06-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

Ministry of truth makes a superb job until he falls for cliche...

"It’s part of the fucking job description, just under ’stealing lunch money’ and just before ‘pushing kids’ heads down the toilet’ and the note that reminds applicants that schoolboy buggery is only a mandatory requirement in the private sector and may not apply in comprehensives and grammars."

Now I myself went to a Private school. This continous belief in private school buggery just hasn't applied since, oh, the 70's or summat. Certainly I only met one (open) gay in my time and he wasn't involved in any buggery because well, nobody else was gay.

Infact in this modern day and age I can't work out why people still find it amusing. Now that being gay is perfectly normal (Well it is. I mean whatever people want to do in their bedrooms is fine by me. They could cannibalise each other and I wouldn't care provided both assented.) it seems bizarre to bring out that old childhood insult, "gay", and level it at select schools. In fact it reminds me of nothing so much as jealousy (I should really say this snidely from my castle but I live in a shithole so I won't). In particular surely an egalitarian (Old) Labour supporter should be above this?

Desert Jollies.

2007-06-07T05:03:00.000-07:00

Pajamas Media speculates on the return of Al Sadr- is he stronger or weaker?

The answer really is neither. Sadr cannot truly increase his power without moving into non-Shia areas (i.e. the Sunni middle or Kurdish North) for fear of not only angering them but angering others (for instance Saudi Arabia has already as good as said it will defend Iraqi Sunnis. Shouls Sadr attack them he might find either himself or his Iranian masters under attack). Nor can he increase his power elsewhere as he effectively already controls the south.

Growing weaker too is unlikely, mostly because the Baghdad surge is horribly flawed as John Robb points out.

In the end the US has neither solved nor worsened the problem, just given themselves a break. Sadr is the same as ever and now its just the countdown to Coalition troops leaving (whenever that is- I'd imagine the Americans would go first under a new Democrat leaders, swiftly followed by Brown. At the moment Brown is giving the MoD money to help prosecute the war so leaving on his lonesome is unlikely.) and to real, open civil war (followed by the glorious three invasions: Iran to halp Sadr, S. Arabia to help the Sunnis and Turkey to beat up the Kurds.)

Gobble Gobble.

2007-06-07T04:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/me_turkey_05_21.asp
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/me_turkey_06_04.asp
http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2007/june/06_04_1.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/06/turkey.iraq.ap/index.html

Ah yes, a subject almost totally ignored by the delightfully useless MSM: Turkey and Northern Iraq (the Kurds to you and me). Basicly Turkey has been making threatening noises, indeed it has been doing so for several years. The reason is that it is afraid of a free and independant Kurd nation on its borders. Why? Well, because of the PKK, the Kurdish terrorist-freedom fighter organisation that operates in Turkey and N. Iraq.

How worthy the cause of the PKK is happens to be beyond me. I don't have the minutae. However I can see both worthy and unworthy elements in what little I do know. Turkey is not a great place to be if you are a Kurd (made worse by backlash to the PKK but also in some ways made better thanks to them). The Kurds are effectively ignored by the government (they have I believe only a very brief hour of programming every day in Kurdish. Everything else is in Turkish.) However the PKK is also very extreme and its campaign includes many suicide bombings or attacks on civilians.

The organisation though is very small, the PKK is roughly 5,000 strong. It has been fighting, with roughly the same numbers, for the last 30 years. The Turks despite teir best efforts have been unable to destroy or even cripple them (and they'd better hope they do soon before they turn into global guerillas: http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/ ). The reason is simple. Turkey's army lacks the necessary air assets, the PKK have fantastic hiding places in the mountains, the borders are fairly porous thanks to the terrain and the PKK in the mountains back onto their N. Iraqi kin and many Kurds living in Turkey. It is not for no reason that the Turks have failed to defeat them in 30 years.

On the Iraqi side though are 80,000 neutral Peshmerga- fierce fighters who have kept northern Iraq fairly safe. They are hardened and better equipped now thanks to the US. There is also the possibility of local Iraqi Army and police units recruited from local Kurds joining in. Certainly this force would be unable to defeat the Turks in conventional warfare by themselves. On the other hand in unconventional warfare they would be unstoppable. 5,000 Kurds have kept the Turks busy for 30 years. Now imagine throwing in another 80,000. The results would be disasterous for Turkey, particuarly as she strives the join the EU (Why?) and present herself as a modern country.

Of course hard fact might not stop the notoriously hot headed Turks. No, they'd need something big. And that something big it appears is the US which has just signed a security plan with the Kurds. Is the fact that after a year it has only sighned it precisely now a coincidence? I somewhat doubt it. This is almost certainly the US's way of telling the Turks to stay the hell out.

That doesn't mean though that the Turks will stay out, just recently "several thousand" Turkish troops entered Iraq whilst pursuing guerillas. In general several thousand men don't all lose their maps and accidentally stray into Iraqi territory. Certainly the Turks could have used the hot pursuit excuse but the Turkish government has denied it even went into Iraq. This leads me to believe that the 'guerillas' may not have existed or may have happened to have some links to the Turkish government. It wouldn't be all that surprising.

And that isn't all. Recently a few Turkish guns shelled an area inside N. Iraq leading to an angry Kurdish response. Whether all this will lead to all out war is unknown. There are too many variables. However several scenarios present themselves:

1. Limited conventional war to "clear out" guerillas.
2. Full conventional warfare that also aims to create a buffer zone or to drive them back from the border.
3. Increased speial forces deployments that might 'accidentally' go over the border.

These of course are not the only possible scenarios, I haven't examined diplomatic scenarios for example as my knowledge of Turkish politics is too weak.

Any Scientists in the House?

2007-06-07T04:02:00.000-07:00

Freeman Dyson attempts to dismiss a few global warming myths and reveals that it should be fairly easy to get rid of. Search me for how good the science is (I'm no scientist)but its interesting nonetheless.

Surprised?

2007-06-06T06:32:00.000-07:00

And the results of the nominations for the Blogpower awards are in...

...and as I said last time, they are pretty much all for old blogs ("Wife in the North"? Ptah!). A few new ones, like the Spine and Chippy, got in and hooray for that.

Ah well, back to work.

Worth a Gander.

2007-06-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

http://defendingtheblog.blogspot.com/

New blog awards or summat. Appears to be about new blogs but I can barely see a name I don't know on that list. Rather defeats the purpose.

You Can't Be Serious?

2007-06-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/

An Englishman's Castle informs us today that 2012 is now a registered trademark. Well that puts the Calenders out on a limb.

Come on Lads.

2007-06-04T15:34:00.001-07:00

http://rafaelbehr.typepad.com/rafaelbehr/2007/06/please_help_me_.html

Go on, help him launch the word Denaissance.

What the Bloody Hell Gov'na?

2007-06-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/6718243.stm

Fuck me with a rusty coat hanger! What the hell is that? They call that a design? I've pissed better designs when stoned.

Of course the worst bit is this, it comes in a series of shades of pink, blue, green and orange.

"This is the vision at the very heart of our brand," said London 2012 organising committee chairman Seb Coe. True words indeed- the brand is bollocks and the logo is bollocks.

And get this, it cost 400 grand.

What amused me most was this from Claire Stocks, the Interactive Olympics Editor: We've had a huge reaction to the launch of the new logo - most of it negative

Our Glorious Leader was as ever talking njonsense: When people see the new brand, we want them to be inspired to make a positive change in their life. Change our lives? Be inspired? What are you dribbling about man?

Then again he also said this: We want London 2012 not just to be about elite sporting success. In other words his old manifesto that everyone is a winner, no need for competition etc etc.

You can tell Tony never won the egg and spoon race can't you.

Incidentally my blog still won't take fucking links. Bastard Blogger.

Intermittent Service.

2007-06-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

I meant to say this a while ago but...

Well, I am currently incredibly busy and what that means to all two of you readers is that my bloggig will be intermittent, nay, pretty much non existent for the next few weeks.

Cheers all.

Janner

Edit: I say all this and what happens, I get some free time, that's what. So it will get intermittent...just not yet.

We Pay For These People?

2007-06-03T00:14:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6714087.stm

Bloody hell.

School teachers want to ban army recruitment teams coming to schools because,

"Colin Mackay, from the union's Edinburgh branch, said most teachers did not support careers where young people could be sent to danger zones."

Since when have you had any right to choose kids employment for them sonny? Since when? Because last time I checked people could choose any job they were qualified for, not just any one their teachers felt they should. That being called 'freedom'.

"Mr Mackay said: "Clearly there is a risk that these youngsters could end up in Iraq or Afghanistan and that would give us concerns that we are endorsing, in a way, joining the armed forces."

Endorsing the Armed Forces? What are they, terrorists? A criminal gang? How about this, teachers should be banned from schools because they might be indorsing kids to become teachers, and hence juvenile, moronic fuckwits like themselves. And of course there is a risk that kids might end up in war zones, that is sort of part of the responsibility you take on when you join. Its rather like saying that theres a chance, if you become a teacher, that you will end up in a school. If a kid honestly can't work out that by joining the Armed Forces he might be going to a warzone then you teachers have really failed your job haven't you.

"The truth is that most teachers are pacifists and we really are giving double standards by letting people come into schools who are going to encourage these youngsters to join the armed forces."

Oh no, their standards! I rather doubt that the teachers recognise that the only reason they get to be pacifists is because there are the Armed Forces to protect them.

Fundamentally this teacher is an arse. However he's also a morally banckrupt, blinkered arse.

Voices From the Past.

2007-05-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

"Today the irony is that despite his track record as a dictator, Saddam is all that stands nbetween Iran, the Ayatollahs, Islamic fundamentalism and the worlds oil supply. Right now, the West needs Saddam Hussein."

Prophetic words from 2001...so who said them? The Meedja? A politican? The Foreign Office? An analyst?

Umm, the back cover of a VHS called "The Gulf War: The Soldiers' Tale: On the Ground".

Hmmh...

Ahem.

2007-05-30T08:24:00.001-07:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2052921,00.html

Am I not the only one pissing myself that right underneath this article is the link to Olivers own blog?

Incidentally in this post( http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2007/05/debunking_romme.html ) Oliver misses the most key fact: Rommel was head of Hitlers bodyguard and a close companion of his. As such he was more than aware of the racism, sexism and anti-semitism of the Nazi's.

Rommel was essentially an excellent tactical commander who had the good fortune to fight half prepared enemies, run from the top (old Winnie never could resist fiddling), in the perfect battlefield. In truth Manstein should have his mantle.

What the?

2007-05-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6703231.stm

How come to find that I have to go to the South East Asia page, where it is buried under nonsense about Bollywood maps?

Its no wonder EU Referndum gets so shirty over the medias failure to report the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan properly.

Quote of the Day 2.

2007-05-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

"Follow that mound of moss!"
-FBI Agent ("The Blues Brothers")

Quote of the Day.

2007-05-30T04:38:00.000-07:00

William Cobbett:
It is impossible to, "agitate a fellow on a full stomach."

Please Sign.

2007-05-30T04:24:00.000-07:00

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/gurkhas-rights/

Via Mr Eugenides I discover the revolting story of the attempt to refuse Ghurka Tullbahadur Pun, VC, the right to live in the UK on the grounds that he "failed to demonstrate strong ties with the UK". I don't see how you can get much closer than fighting for the Empire and winning the VC.

This is obviously wrong so I urge you to give http://www.vchero.co.uk/ your support and to sign the petition.

Ayo Ghurkali!

Heres what he was awarded the VC for:

The London Gazette
of Tuesday, the 7th of November, 1944

War Office, 9th November, 1944

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the VICTORIA CROSS to :-

No. 10119 Rifleman Tullbahadur Pun, 6th Gurkha Rifles, Indian Army.

In Burma on June 23rd, 1944, a Battalion of the 6th Gurkha Rifles was ordered to attack the Railway Bridge at Mogaung. Immediately the attack developed the enemy opened concentrated and sustained cross fire at close range from a position known as the Red House and from a strong bunker position two hundred yards to the left of it.

So intense was this cross fire that both the leading platoons of 'B' Company, one of which was Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun's, were pinned to the ground and the whole of his Section was wiped out with the exception of himself, the Section commander and one other man. The Section commander immediately led the remaining two men in a charge on the Red House but was at once badly wounded. Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun and his remaining companion continued the charge, but the latter too was immediately wounded.

Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun then seized the Bren Gun, and firing from the hip as he went, continued the charge on this heavily bunkered position alone, in the face of the most shattering concentration of automatic fire, directed straight at him. With the dawn coming up behind him, he presented a perfect target to the Japanese. He had to move for thirty yards over open ground, ankle deep in mud, through shell holes and over fallen trees.

Despite these overwhelming odds, he reached the Red House and closed with the Japanese occupants. He killed three and put five more to flight and captured two light machine guns and much ammunition. He then gave accurate supporting fire from the bunker to the remainder of his platoon which enabled them to reach their objective.

His outstanding courage and superb gallantry in the face of odds which meant almost certain death were most inspiring to all ranks and beyond praise.

Bzzzzzt!

2007-05-30T04:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132284-pg,1/article.html(News

This stuff is fascinating and very Shirow-esque. In much the same way as airplanes added a third dimension tofighting so too computers add a fourth. In particular I cannot help but wonder at its effects in a campaign against Taiwan. The SUN has confirmed it would take two weeks for a defense force to reach Taiwan and attack the Chinese attackers. Imagine if Chinese hackers could switch orders, stop people being called back to their ships, send the wrong parts and supplies etc.

Fascinating.

Big News.

2007-05-30T04:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/16905.asp

I have no idea of the truth in this (i.e. the potential alliance) or how far its going. But it remains nonetheless a very interesting story, and one which the British media has ignored almost totally despite the massive possible effects.

An alliance would be shaky for certain, the border disputes and 1962 conflict coming inbetween. Local rivalry too and attempts by both to dominate the Indian ocean with their emerging fleets could also be stumbling blocks. An Alliance would also be of limited value: neither country has any enemy it cannot crush by itself (except perhaps Pakistan) and neither has shown any sign of mass peacekeeping or interventionist deployments.

Shiny Toy of the Day.

2007-05-30T04:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.debka.com/headline_print.php?hid=4248

That could be quite the catalyst and effect if Syria does get some.

Sod Off.

2007-05-30T03:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/05/29/do2903.xml

Oh get off.

I know this program. So lets review the facts:
1. New photos of the crash are show. Only one shows Diana.
2. The photo of Diana is obscured. You cannot see her though the picture appears full frame.
3. That photo has been published by the Sun and by a variety of foreign media.
4. The film is actually about clearing the names of the journalists in the tunnel. Diana is context and backround, nothing more.
5. It may upset the kids, I'm sorry, but Diana was a public figure.
6. The other media has, by publicising this story non-stop, acted to bring the program to the attention of thousands more than otherwise would be aware. It has been responsible for the main hurt.
7. This is irresponsible, dishonest journalism that is misrepresenting the truth in order to appear morally right whilst expoliting Diana and which is further aimed as a partisan attack on a rival media outlet.
8. Very few people have seen this film. None of its critics have for certain.

The article itself is elitist nonsense that basicly says that we should watch what she considers suitable. And nothing else.

Go On That Man!

2007-05-30T03:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/05/30/do3006.xml

In the comments this was excellent:

As someone with an IT background and particularly following the events in Estonia, I find these types of articles interesting however they also illuminate something else, the total ignorance of politicians when it comes to framing policies that encompass an IT element as most will these days.

Although this article concentrates on systems that use the Internet as the primary link from point to point, there is another glaring example of a guaranteed cock up being funded by the UK taxpayer at vast expense – Identity Cards.

Forget the talk about Civil Liberties, ignore the physical manifestation itself of an Identity Card, the big problem lies in a single database that supports the system and confirms the identity of the cardholder – total NUTS ! Every database gets broken into sooner or later and as this one will be a one stop shop for identity theft, it will be sooner. At a cost of Billions of Pounds, our great political leaders including John Reid, are financing the IT equivalent of the Titanic !
- John Haynes

Smiles All Round.

2007-05-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/05/30/do3005.xml

On his last visit to Beijing, I watched Gordon Brown being quizzed by a group of teenagers about what, when he was their age, he wanted to be when he grew up. He said he wanted to be a professional footballer: New Labour, New Lad. A frisson went round the audience. Why would anyone admit to that? When he asked pupils the same question, the first said she wanted to be a research biologist. "Venture capitalist," said the second.

That made me laugh.

Please Get Your Facts Right.

2007-05-30T03:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/30/wafg230.xml

And yet again the Telegraph subsumes the truth to its political interests:

The latest British military fatality in Afghanistan, the 50th since Britain committed its forces to the country's troubled Helmand province a year ago, will inevitably raise questions about the value of persisting with this seemingly intractable mission.

Why? 50 men is, sadly, peanuts in combat. 50 men is less than might be killed in one company size action from WW2.

This is partly because public confidence in the ability of British forces to establish control over this lawless province has never really recovered from the unfortunate remark made by John Reid, the Defence Secretary, when troops were first deployed last spring. He said that "we hope we will leave Afghanistan without firing a single shot".

Certainly that was stupid. Certainly it was a lie. But it has nothing to do with the story and hasn't really affected the public. You won't find anyone on the street who says he doesn't support the War in Afghanistan because John Reid lied. This is party politics, not defense comment.

The other reason for the erosion in public support is that, despite the tremendous courage and dedication displayed by our service personnel, Britain's involvement increasingly looks like mission impossible. No sooner does the Army inflict a heavy defeat, as it did at the end of last year, than the Taliban appears to return as strong and as determined as ever.

By "strong and determined" I assumes he means the non existent Taliban spring offensive. The one that hasn't happened because last year the platoon house strategy accidentally* wiped out the Talibans middle ranking commanders and large parts of their forces. I don't really understand either how Mr. Coughlins arguement works when he claims here that we're doomed. If we're doomed there no point holding. So are we doomed or not? (We're not).

The Afghan government's failure to set up effective government in those areas that have been successfully liberated from Taliban control has also contributed to the sense of mission drift. What is the point of capturing a key strategic base from the Taliban if the authorities are incapable of taking it over, British commanders frequently complain.

Well...Its hard to create law and order in a warzone.

Now the threat posed by the Taliban has increased considerably with the revelation that it is receiving high-grade military equipment from Iran. Until recently the Iranians had been interested observers in the Nato-led mission to drive the Taliban out of southern Afghanistan. But mounting pressure on Teheran to halt its uranium enrichment programme has prompted the Iranians to take a more active role.

Ho ho! The Iranians have sent arms and observers-true. Are they any use? Not in the greater scheme. The Taliban needs leaders and men not weapons. The Iranian involvement is fringe at best (incidentally various SF units seem to be operating around the border anyway).

This, after all, is the front line in the war on terror, the place where Osama bin Laden originally planned the September 11 attacks.

There is no war on terror. Thats a soundbite, not a truth.

*the strategy wasn't designed to wipe out such numbers of Taliban and middle ranking commanders. It was a fortunate side effect.

Intelligent Journalism?

2007-05-30T03:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=41VIDKXNZG451QFIQMFCFF4AVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/05/30/wirq30.xml

This is yet further proof that the Telegraph needs a robust journalist or two to deal with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because this is balls.

Essentially they are leading on a story who's only merit is to have the words "SAS" in it (it's an implicit truth that one can sell anything with the words SAS on it).

So why do we care? We don't. It was fairly obvious that the SAS or their mates would be in on finding the hostages, it's common sense. Similarly it tells us nothing about Iraq or in fact anything. Its almost as big a puff piece as that nonsense when the Sun sent Andy McNab to Iraq.

The Bullshit Brigade.

2007-05-30T03:25:00.001-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6703043.stm

I watched Newsnight yesterday. It was all bollocks.

They paid lip service to the grassroots and listening as politicans always do when they want to get something or for someone to vote for them. In reality though only Cruddas hasn't been the minister: the rest are guilty of spending 10 years ignoring the public (just look at Iraq!).

It was in effect a bullshit competition designed to see which snivelling rat of a politcian could look best.

Of them all I only warmed to Cruddas because he seemed genuine (even if he talked balls it was generally principled balls). Hain was a slimebag as usual (my father saw him at the Reform Club a week ago and told me. Apparently Hain marched through the doors with all the pomposity masquerading as dignity in his mind that he could muster. He then halted and peered from underneath his slickened hair to see who had noticed and recognised him. Nobody gave a toss and they all stayed at their drinks. After that he slunk away.) Harman looked like a vulture. I kept mistaking Blears for a Hobbit or completely missing her on screen and wondering why they had an empty pedestal...Cruel but true. Johnson and Benn were the best speakers but to be honest Benn reminded me of an anal accountant and Johnson of a grey spiv.

There were a few implicit messages though:
1. Blairism is over
2. We'll all suck Gordo's cock for a job
3. We are all saying very similar things and don't mean them at all (excep Cruddas)
4. We are determined to keep power

I couldn't help thinking that all of them were in their 40's and 50's and mostly grey haired (or dyed...). Isn't there someone younger, more exciting? A 20 or 30 year old would be much better.

Apolagies.

2007-05-30T02:33:00.000-07:00

Further apolagies for not updating recently. I'm very busy and will continue to be so. Expect only very intermittent blogging for the next month I'm afraid. After that it's back to normal.

Janner

Holee...

2007-05-30T02:31:00.000-07:00

A new estimate says there are 10 Billion Trillion Systems possible in our Universe. And thats only based on observation in a small area, the Universe is likely to be even bigger.

Numbers like that just blow me away. It's mind-boggling. And very humbling.

Since When?

2007-05-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaruherald/4064691a6571.html

"It's become a witch-hunt; a Salem witch-hunt"

I couldn't agree more.

This follows news that Oxfam wants the USA to pay 44% of the $50 billion annual Global Warming Bill (for those who say Global Warming isn't big buisness that is a lot of money and a lot of jobs). They say effectively that if the US makes a mess it has to clean it up.

First of all I'd like to know, why on earth, Oxfam is concerning itself with global warming. Its a charity not a lobby group (though as Devil's Kitchen keeps pointing out the charities of today are that in name only, usually functioning as lobby groups). It has no buisness to make demands, particuarly over science that is still hotly debated and essentially unproven by either side (that is I'm not convinved of the case for or against the existence of global warming). As it is well probably only know in 2016 when according to Orbat.com the suns activity will result in less heat.

Secondly it reflects a prime directive of charities and many other fairly left-ish organisations. That is the assumption that the white man, the capitalist world, the West is to blame and should pay. Certainly anti-capitalists have jumped on the bandwagon in an attempt to take us back to some mythical rural idyll where everyone was nice and equal because we didn;t try and blah blah blah. It's essentially a Winnies the Pooh philosophy, something Moorcock describes in his famous critique of "The Lord of the Rings". Its based on childish fantasy, with no real charecters, ideas or beliefs and a desire to return to a fictional land that will make it all better. It is essentially mollycoddling of the highest order, the political philosophy of running to Mummy who can bandage you knee and make the pain go away. Its based on the worst form of consevatism: that is a rejection of anything modern to make way for reassuring conformity and familiarity.

The big hint though is in who they asked: the US: centre of capitalism, home of modern democracy, lynchpin of the West. Certainly America is the greatest producer of CO2 inthe world. But it has rivals.

China commissions a thermal power plant once every 100 hours. Thats one every 4 days. Chinas emmssions are about to overtake Americas and it sure as hell hasn't even made a pretence at joining Kyoto. More than that China relies almost entirely on coal, one of the worst producers of emissions around. If you caught Paul Merton in China on Monday you could just see the pollution so thickly that it appeared to be fog. Oxfam, or indeed any other significant body (as far as I'm aware) has not approached China about her emissions. Why not? Well, because she's not from the West.

Certainly you can see elements of what might appear to be white paranoia, symptomatic of the angry white male. But that is not my intention or my belief. I don;t believe I'm doing an AWM (Angry White Male) on you guys. No, I think I'm pointing something out.

Since Day one it has been America and the West that was criticised: the upcoming powers of China and India ignored. And yet who would have been better to talk to? Upcoming powers, still building their energy network, plenty of dosh. Surely persuading them and creating their ideal energy paradise would have been the best thing to do? But they haven't, they've slipped into the old familiar US/West bashing regime, something implicitly linked to a bizarre growth of Guardinista self loathing. Just read the chapter about race in Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men" in which he feverishly rants about how white men, everywhere (aside from him of course) are all secret racists. Even the title of the book itself is in a sense racist- imagine trying to get away with a book called "Stupid Black Men". Personally I grew up in an international school, I've never understood race politics and have no intention of doing so. But I can spot self loathing hypocrisy and thats what Oxfam is doing.

(Edit: Blogger is bloody useless with links. Anyone know how to insert a link that works? My link inserter thing makes the link disapear).

Did We Really Expect Anything Else?

2007-05-21T03:07:00.000-07:00

I like how the Beeb stuck this at the bottom of the page...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6673719.stm

Snoop on Dogg

2007-05-21T02:59:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6675335.stm

Can anyone say McCarthyism?

Just read the first line (my emphasis):

Council staff, charity workers and doctors could be required by law to tip off police about anyone they believe could commit a violent crime.

So if you "could" commit a crime then you are to be reported. So If you are black., have tattoes and/or shave your head now is not a good time to be in Blighty.

I'm not sure there's much I can say except to quote Jago Russel of Liberty:

How far are we willing to go in pursuit of the unrealistic promise of a risk-free society?

How far indeed?

Warning and Film Review.

2007-05-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

A 10" Pizza after three meals in one day is a bit much for your skinny rake blogger here. I feel like a bloated chimp.

On the positive side of course my hairdo has achieved a Reynardine* like nirvana. Previously I looked something like a Carolaginian barbarian.

And as I'm blathering nonsense lets talk films:

Film Review: "The Missing Gun"

The plot is easy as sin: struggling father/husband and cop Ma Shan wakes up the day after a big wedding where he got drunk. Alls great except that his son has just written a porno story, his wife is calling him a bad influence and...he's lost his gun. An investigation begins to recover the gun with its three bullets ("that could kill three people. A professional can kill three people with one bullet! Thats nine dead people!"). The investigation spirals out of control as threats from on high disturb the balance at the police station, an illegal moonshine factory is discovered and Ma Shans ex-lover is found dead. The climax is not thrilling but much more subtle and rather unique.

The shots, camera angles and editing are lovely, particuarly the early punk style walk through the streets of Ma Shan's sleepy village. The characters are all well rounded, thought out and most importantly, very, very human. Even the most minor have back stories, worries and hopes. Rather than seeing just Ma Shan we seem to be Ma Shan in the sense that we come to know these people as he does.

Its not a great detective movie, not a great thriller. Its just a film that will make you glad you watched it.

*People keep telling me I look like a fox. Whether thats good or bad I can't decide.

Putin's Big Mouth.

2007-05-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Russia does so love to brag about her Army in her continous internal propaganda war, in her attempts to breed fear within herself. So how effective is it really? Have all those reforms worked?

Well, umm, no.

Russia has 20 million men capable of joining the Armed forces. 330,000 are conscripted in the two annual call-ups. But those 330,000 are only 11% of those who should be turning up for conscription. Just so you get that again, just under 90% of the army refuses to turn up.

Those that do turn up are often mentally or physically deficent. After all if 89% can avoid it then only the very thickest and unintelligent join. In Russia of the 35 million available for service only 20 million are actually suitable. In modern armies intelligence is massively important. This is mostly because units operate in smaller units today than they did 100 years ago. Now every NCO, every rifleman, needs to think, on his own, to use his initiative. The Russian Army by contrast has the absolutely slowest part of the population. For obvious reasons this means that the idea of every rifleman being a self concious soldier in the so called "American" system must be subsumed to the "British" system* where an Officer or other commander leads men who must be trained merely to obey not to think. Obviously this has serious implications both in small unit tactics, weapons use, command and control etc.

The Russian Army has instead decided that by 2008 they are going to reduce conscription by one year. They aim to have an army comprised 70% volunteers to 30% conscripts. However Alexander Golt claims that Russian officers he has talked to admit that they will be lucky with 15% volunteers. Obviously this is wildly deficent.

This brings us to another problem: conscription. Nobody likes conscription. Volunteers it is hoped join because they have the temperment or desire to fight, think and win. Conscripts are like prisoners, merely doing "time", just waiting till their service ends. In combat this is a huge difference. Soldiers must be quick, proactive etc. The conscript just wants to stay in his nice hole. Volunteers make much better soldiers than conscripts. Therefore when one judges the Russian army one should effectively halve its numbers, perhaps more, to reflect the true fighting potential.

Moreover this conscript system can only last so long, Russias population is declining, not increasing. Worse the European Russians who have always dominated are worst struck by this decline. The only groups to be growing are some of the Muslim dominated areas, often linked to Chechneya and various anti-Russian, Islamist groups.

Conscription has also led to abuse within the system and in particular hazing, known as Dedovshchina. This where new conscripts are abused by their elders. Often this will be abuse of first year conscripts by second year conscripts. A notable case was that of Andrei Schycov who was treated so badly by his sergeant and 4 fellow conscripts that he had to have his legs and genitals amputated.

To make up for the shortfalls of the conscripts the kontractniks, or contract soldiers, are used. However abuse here is also particuarly common. The officers are apathetic and don't care. Even they live in badly built, cold, badly plumbed buildings with few comforts. Their pay too si apalling. As such life for all in the Russian army is a hard, grey slog. The Officers have no connection with the men (one of the prime failings of the Argentine Army in the Falklands War) and remain aloof, seeing to their own problems.

Nor have the soldiers good combat records. In the Second Chechen war around 15,000-100,000 civilians are thought to have died, including 2,000 who "disapeared". The armed forces meanwhile has lost around 6 and a half thousand men.

Only the special forces, the largest in the world, have a good, if cruel reputation. Talk of them cocking up at recent events such as the Moscow Theatre siege have rather blotched even their copybook. Training is so harsh, or perhaps it is merely further endemic bullying that many conscripts and recruits die during training.

70% of Russias weapons are made within Russia, often by companies on the brink of financial collapse. And whilst Russia can proudly display several new weapons most of its army still relies on Cold War equipment, of doubtful use at times against a modern European army. And knowledge of how to use this equipment too is sketchy in many units. The elite airborne forces don't actually know how to parachute because plane fuel costs too much. Similarly many mechanised units have maintained the old Cold War practice of training only one driver because they cannot afford to train the rest. That soldier is then hidden in the armoured vehicle and when tests are held he will drive the vehicle whilst the men who are suppossed to be doing so sit around. He will therefore do the driving for a full platoon, making it look like each soldier knows how to drive.

In short the Russian army, whilst large is disgracefully under funded, badly officered, relies on outdated equipmentl, lacks solidarity and maintains a brutal regime. To understand fully one has to realise that this is the state of the army after 14 years of reforms. It seems it will need another 14 before it is truly the thing that Putin brags of today.

* Nothing to do with todays army but a reflection on colonial warare. A new name really is needed.

No, Fuck You Gordo.

2007-05-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

Apolagies for not writing anything recently, I've been busy. But thankfully Gordons talked enough balls to drag me out, frothing at the mouth.

What did he say? Just this...http://www.labour.org.uk/leadership/gordon_brown

Devil's Kitchen ( http://devilskitchen.me.uk/2007/05/gobblin-king-speaks.html )has already covered it but I reckon I can have more fun.

I am truly humbled that so many of my colleagues have nominated me for the leadership of the Labour Party and I formally accept the nomination, the responsibility it brings, and the opportunity to serve the people of Britain.

Humbled? The only time you were humbled was when someone cracked your bricksinnabagwithemptiesontop strategy you dour Presbyterian killjoy. You've had ten years to serve the British people and you've done fuck all. You've taxed us to death, spent our money of ridiculous projects like the Dome or on foreign adventures, you've created the ticking time bomb of PFI, helped make the NHS worse, made schools into institutions of brainwashing and feeble minded social experiments rather than places of living. You've made the poor beg for tax credits, pissed on our ancient traditions like the Magna Carta, fucked the English and Cornish at the expenditure of everyone else. Fuck me, the only way you've served us is that hopefully you'll have made NuLabour unelectable for a decade after your reign of evil is over you statist pig!

As a teenager I chose this party because of its values – values that I grew up with –and now I am honoured that this Party has chosen me.

Don't I seem to remember it being revealed that when younger Gordo wrote a pamphlet on living off other people?

Considering the current Labour party I can't but say that he really did choose it on principles...Them both being thieving bastards who live off other peoples money.

And this week, I believe the Labour Party has made a decision about more than its leadership.

Yeah, it decided the new PM of the country. 'Cos there's fuck all chance of you letting your sweaty mitts off the tiller now you've finally got your hand on it. Elections? Who needs 'em. This way rather than getting turfed on your hairy, pimpled arse you can fuck this country just a little more. Go on, fuck us again. You just know we want more PFI, more money wasted, more tax. Extend that buerocratic control until you control all of us. You're not a politican, you're a civil servant gone power mad, extending his department into every level of this country. You won't be happy till you know what colour my piss is in the morning and can have a little machine tell me I need to drink more water.

The scale of the nominations shows to the country a Party united in its determination not to retreat into the past, but going forward as new Labour to address the opportunities and challenges of the future.

Unintentionally hilarious here aren't you. They all know you're win so rather than stare at the past, poor Princess Toni, they all want to suck your deep fat fried balls instead. Opportunities? Challenges? How about fucking disasters mate. Heres an opportunity- resign. Let someone elected, someone who isn't the love child of a tight fisted spinster and Godzilla rule this poor, benighted country. Perfidious Albion indeed, who'd want to live under you cunts?

I stand here conscious that there is no higher calling than to lead and serve your country.

It's government, not a sodding rise to heaven you sanctimonious heavy browed streak of shite.

And while an hour or so ago, the nominations by Members of Parliament came to an end, for me a new conversation with the country is just beginning.

A new conversation, what are you dribbling on about now you fucking loon? Its running a country, not getting a phonecall.

The last ten years have taught me that the best preparation for governing is not meetings in Whitehall. The best preparation for governing is listening to the British people.

And the best way of drawing up policies for the Queen’s Speech will not be discussions in government departments, but listening and learning – and involving and engaging the voices of people too often left unheard.

Fuck me with a loaf of Hovis! Listenening? Yes, that would be a good idea. But have you fucking done it sunshine? Hell no.

I seem to remember we were mostly against PC Culture, illiberal terrorism laws (I only know one person who likes them and he's a statist from Singapore who thinks we haven't gone far enough), the war in Iraq etc. Have you listened to us on any of that? Like hell you have you giant turd haggis!

My visits across the country have confirmed my view that we must address new challenges today – challenges very different and more pressing to which me must respond:

Oh please dear Gordo, tell me what challenges this country faces. Your swollen, gonhorrea ridden cock raping it for a few more years perhaps?

Young couples frustrated they cannot buy their first home;

Perhaps because your mate, the great Pork(er) Pie, Prescott keeps knocking them down.

Young people with talent and ambition wanting the best chance to realise their aspirations;

Unless of course they can't afford to, what with your taxes, your failure in educating them, your desire to charge them even more to go to University and of course your ability to weign them down with the Welfare State.

Patients disappointed that services are not open at the times they want and nurses and NHS staff who feel they don't have enough time with the patients;

Ho fucking ho. Is the clap giving you funny turns you bleeding emmet. The reason the services aren't open is because the NHS has a millstone of PFI and management bods around its neck. And who put that there? You did you dog. You. Fucking. Did.

Mothers and fathers who want the best schools for their children, and – struggling with work, family and child care – want to be better parents for their children;

Struggling probably because of the tax they have to pay, struggling to avoid another shitty state school (though of course not all are shitty, my locals quite nice. They also shoot anyone from the gopvernment who comes withing 200m). Struggling with the knowledge their kid had to be taken away from them by another of those lobbying bastard charities, more concerned with control than helping. Struggling to understand why their kid, at primary school, had to be taken away from the lesson because they didn't like the gay fairy tales told. Struggling to know that its not 'right' to tell their kids about the Three Little Piggies (offensive to Muslims), Baa Baa Black Sheep (offensive to, umm, blacks) etc. And who's done that to them? You have you regurgitated pile of excreta.

Families who want to do the right thing for our environment and who want to know that their choices make a difference;

And what if we don't want to? We'll just get lumped in and taxed with the rest of them. I love a free country.

Citizens yearning for stronger families and stronger communities and ready to help build them – and elderly citizens seeing the fast pace of change around us and anxious to know how we can protect and strengthen the British way of life.

And by 'fast pace of change' you mean stealing their pensions you greeding gobshite? The British way of life? That would be what you've spent the last ten years pissing over right? You disgust you you Scottish baboon. I'm tempted to take up where my Armstrong ancestors left off and fucking Border Reive you. I'd like that you know.

To those who feel the political system doesn't listen and doesn't care;
To those who feel powerless and have lost faith;
To those who feel Westminster is a distant place and politics simply a spectator sport:

I will strive to earn your trust.

Have you listened? Like fuck you have.
Am I powerless? Yes I am now you tooka great steaming dump on Habeas Corpus.
Do I feel Westminster and politics are a distant land? Well with no chance of a pension and watching you gold arsed buffoons sodomise us to the sounds of self voted pay rises and the only remaining decent pensions in the country, then I'd have to say yes. 60K a year? 130K expenses? Pension? Quangos? I'd say thats pretty different to me and to the Man (on the Street).

Cackling away on your golden stylite, pension in one hand, pay cheque in the other. I'd say that lost my trust you fucking ingrate.

To earn your trust not just in foreign policy but earn your trust in our schools, in our hospitals, in our public services, and to respond to your concerns.

You must be having a fucking laugh, right? No, you're still serious aren't you. Do you actually believe this shit you dump is gold plated? Can you not see that all you're doing is spouting hot, steaming turd onto the electorate.

Trust in foreign policy: you mean thst ethical foreign policy that Princess Toni fucked up so dramatically? Do you mean the foreign policy thats thrown us into every half bit, piece of crap war nearby? Real fucking trust there mate. Real. Fucking. Trust.

Or how about trust in the schools and hospitals, where you've spent double the money and they've got worse, you little cuntwick.

Public services? Heres a public serivice you could do. Gou out the back of No. 11 and blow that dour fucking head of your off.

Respond to our concerns? Yeah, you responded to them all right. By doing fuck all you cunting piece of faeces. Your only concerns are your own you micromanaging control freak.

And by listening and learning, I want to become a voice for communities far beyond Westminster, to become a voice for the parent, the patient and the public, whom public services must exist to serve.

Listening and learning? You've had ten years to do that sunshine. And what did you do? Come on, it's what you do every time. What did you do? There we go, you fucking pissed a shower of steaming, rancide, curdled and crab infected piss on us you obscene cunting excuse for a man. You're like a boring Scottish version of the Terminator, only out to detro Britain. Like the Grinch, only this time the tag line is, "The man who fucked Britain". I really hate you.

For ten years I have tried to deliver a stable economy, and that will always be the starting point.

"Tried", "A starting point"? You've ten years and all you can do is try and to create starting points? Fat lot of good you are you twat. Why the hell would anyone trust a man like you with ruling us when in ten years you've failed us so monumentally. And you stick this bollocks in your speech? You even admit that you're a fucking failure? I'd like to do an An Gof and fucking nail your balls to a wall. Well, he never did that but if he lived under you I bet you he would.

And when people ask me what I will focus on as Prime Minister:

My passion is education.
My immediate priority is the NHS.
The new challenges: affordable housing;
Building safe, secure and sustainable communities;
And building trust in our democracy.

These are my domestic priorities.

What a fucking load of fucking shite you fucker. You've fucking mentioned this, over and fucking over. It's like listening to fucking Kinnock, Lord of fucking hypocrisy and fucking windbagging. You fucker.

And I will bring forward reform proposals to renew our constitution with the first draft constitutional reform bill later this year.

Because of course a toolbaglike you who has been such an absolutely terrific fucking chap so far is just the man we want to fuck with our constitution. Great plan knobcheese. Real great.

And in the next six weeks until 24th June I will visit every region and nation of the country.

Why? So you can spread the plague and Black Death? So we can all see our new totaliterian leader and kiss his unwashed, wrickled ballsack? I'd tell you to kiss my balls but I don't want to catch something.

In order to learn better about the challenges ahead, I will spend time at the front line in the NHS with doctors, staff and patients, hearing the problems they face.

How about you try spending time with the common office worker? Hell, how about you spend some time with the fishies in Davy Jones locker?

And then I will listen and learn with parents and teachers. And I want to meet police, community support officers and residents to look at how neighbourhood policing can make our streets safer.

Why? Do you want to collect all those extra taxes personally? So you can feel the weight of those 30 silver coins in your hand? Because you've betrayed this country already and I don't doubt you'll do the fucking same as its leader.

How about you spend some time in Iraq? Outside the Green Zone? With Iraqis.

And I want to discuss with parents how we can support them and help strengthen family life.

Not taxing the poor fuckers to death would be a great starter you fascist cunt.

In the old days when politicians went round the country they gave speeches.

Thanks for that stunning piece of political history. I'd never have guessed it without you you patronising arsegrape. Of course you flaccid mantit younger kids might need you to tell them that seeing as how you've fucked their education.

Then more recently politicians did question and answer sessions.

Where we ask questions and they refuse to answer. Wankers.

Sometimes in the past as some of you know, the length of my answers left very little time for further questions. But I am learning.

It's taken you ten years to work that out? Are you honestly that thick? Of course your constant repeition of the same three points, over and fucking over like the giant droning ant you are probably extends your speeches.

And to build trust in our democracy, we need a more open form of dialogue for citizens and politicians to genuinely debate problems and solutions.

How about meeting with non vetted, non Labour party members then you totalitarian twat? I'd give you a fucking earful.

In the past six months I have had the privilege of attending what are called citizens’ forums organised by national bodies from Age Concern to the National Consumer Council on youth services, on public health, on services for the elderly, and on education.

The privilege, too fucking right. If I was Age Concern knowing what you've done to pensioners I wouldn't let you anywhere near them in case you killed you and sold you like the piece of lard you are, to cover the hole where their pensions used to be.

What I have learnt is that they make possible a very different form of conversation – politicians learning from everyday experience, people engaging in genuine discussion. And I want to do more of this not just in the coming weeks and beyond. It is about a different type of politics – a more open and honest dialogue: frank about problems, candid about dilemmas, never losing touch with the concerns of people.

Like fuck it is! Walking on the street and chatting to people, that's open dialogue. Chatting to carefully selected groups in not.

And I am more optimistic than ever about what we can achieve together – a strong economy and a good society.

Sod off you. You and your party have done more to wreck our economy and society than the previous government ever did. Sod you you bull necked cunt.

Duty to others, compassion, the importance of family are the values that guide me and I believe the British people.

Money, beer, the lottery and a good chinwag guide the majority I believe you'll find. You're just another of those middle class Fabian types, desperate to 'help' the proles with your ham fisted understanding even as you look down on them. Telling Alcohol Concern to fuck off might help.

And I believe that together we can create a Britain where individuals can rise as far as their talents take them, and where the talents of each of us then contribute to the well being of all.

So what happened to that "classless society" you over loud braggart? Huh? Just another disposable lie wasn't it on your way to power.

And I urge everyone who shares our values to join us – a renewed Labour Party...

...and to send us money now that Loans for Lordships is out...

Let me say to the British people today:

I will lead a new government with new priorities.

I believe government only works when it is dedicated to serving the people.

I will always try to put your concerns and aspirations at the heart of what I do.

I will work hard for you.

This is who I am.

And I will do my best for all the people of Britain.

You really are a talentless fucking cunt aren't you.

Fuck off.

The Loch Gordo Monster Speaks.

2007-05-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6615303.stm

Perhaps the oddest thing about Gordon Brown's expected rise to become British prime minister is the fact that so many claim to know so little about what he will do when he gets to 10 Downing Street.

Probably because we don't actually know.

On a personal level, he is regularly caricatured as a private, introspective, moody and self-sufficient individual whose ideal team consists of just one and who, when crossed, bears a grudge.

Probably because he is.

He has a near-permanent smile on his face,...

...Until the camera leaves.

...and has been ready and even eager to talk about his family life and personal tragedies, such as the loss of his first child - again referred to during his campaign launch.

And he exploits his dead child. Neat.

He hinted at the possibility of introducing a written constitution to underpin all that is best about the country's shared beliefs and values.

And who decides what values and beliefs are best? This looks exceedingly dubious to me. The chance to create his own constitution. To do what he wants.

He did, however, promise to make the government and ministers more accountable to parliament and boost MPs' engagement in the business of government.

He does make me giggle. Which government has ever actually made themselves more accountable in recent years? The one time they even tried for transparency, with FoI, they shot themselves in the foot and have been trying to repeal and limit it ever since.

He also confirmed he would introduce a new ministerial code to combat allegations of sleaze in the wake of ministerial resignations, dodgy dossiers, spin, attempts to bury bad news and the "cash-for-honours" affair that have peppered the past decade.

The new ministerial code in full: Don't get caught.

It is also thought he may bow to demands and create an independent body to oversee ministers' behaviour.

Bwah ha ha! What a buerocrat. Now he can control his ministers even better. Who watches the watchers and all that.

He has also pledged to give Parliament votes on going to war in future

Because of course there is no way Britain will go to war withing Brown's premiership, what with us being in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also repeated his pledge to create a government full of "all the talents", green, modernising and still New Labour.

I didn't know a phrase so nauseous could exist. (Modernising of course in the context of government means It programs).

Questions remain over the chancellor's approach to the NHS
That has seen suggestions he will follow the path he started as chancellor, by putting big issues out to inquiries by bodies of external experts, and bringing such specialists into Downing Street.

In other words yet more 'experts'. Experts that have massive fees, do little and help even less.

None of those were answered with any great clarity.

What a surprise...

Just 'Fess Up!

2007-05-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6646297.stm

It's not as if anyone but the Japanese don't think it happened.

Of course the current Japanese government doesn't help itself by trying to protect a previous government that were clearly in the moral wrong during WW2. It would be better for all if they just faced up to the (POW) camps (which my grandfather nearly ended up in. Until he escaped, only man in his company to do so), comfort women, experiments (Unit 731 etc.) and so on.

Not Again...

2007-05-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6647195.stm

Certainly one to watch. Particuarly when the army was the only thing between the goernment and the unions.

More from Amadou Barry:

It's really hot at the moment.

There are three truckloads of soldiers on the street corner near my house, so we're all staying inside because it's too dangerous to venture outside.

Soldiers have been posted to just about every street corner to frighten people.

If the soldiers see you outside, they will beat you up or even shoot you, so the streets are mostly deserted.

There are some protesters who go onto the streets when the soldiers move on.

The protesters try to block the roads with stones, burning cars and anything they can find, to stop the soldiers coming back.

Then they move up the road, trying to do the same thing again, while the soldiers take down the road blocks.

But some of the soldiers are wearing different uniforms from normal Guinean soldiers.

Some say they are Liberians rebels, who President Conte has called in to help him.

The protesters have been forcing people to join the strike.

If they see you sitting down, they'll throw stones at you and make you join them.

Some businessmen have been shooting at looters.

All of the shops and markets are closed.

There are still a few people selling rice but it is very expensive.

If this strike continues much longer, there will be nothing left to eat.

On Monday, I saw lots of people shot - some died, while others were wounded.

Some of my friends were killed.

I am really upset and don't think there is much future left in Guinea now.

I think we need a real change - not just Conte but all of those people around him.

After they graduate, students cannot get jobs, they are forced to steal to survive.

I am really afraid. If this strike continues, there could be a civil war here

The idea that Liberian rebels might be helping is particuarly worrying.

Further news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6292905.stm

Imagine If We Tried This In The UK?

2007-05-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6645949.stm

Look at picture 2. Seems a little biased, no?

Surely They Are Being Ironic?

2007-05-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6645715.stm

Some of this made me laugh in a horrible way.

The idea even of putting a country as far up the shitter (pardon my Anglo-Saxon)as Zimbabwe is as Head of the Commission on Sustainable Development is farcical. One wonders whether the African nations are being ironic, or, more likely, just defending their sister states no matter what.

I loved this from Boniface Chidyausiku, Zimbabwe's UN ambassador:

"When they tell the African group to change, it's an insult to our intelligence - that we Africans can't think,"

It's an insult to anyones intelligence to make you Head of Sustainable Development. Certainly the Africans weren't doing much (realistic) thinking.

This also cracked me up:

"They're making a storm out of a teacup."

Of course the icing on the cake is the news that the very day this happens Mozambique tells Zimbabwe it's going to stop sending power until it pays its debts!

Finally.

2007-05-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6639401.stm

It's good to the see the US finally striking back on the internet. The propaganda war so far has been disgracefully one sided with anti-American views everywhere. Therefore it is positive that the US is making some kind of response. In a warlike this domestic appeal is vital to avoid repreats of events like Algeria, where the French successfuly defeated the insurgence in Algiers but at the cost of public support, losing them the war. Much as then achievements like David Galula's were ignored for stories of the Paras use of torture and things like 'Bigeard's shrimps'.

It's a further pity though that the MoD has so far failed even this. Its website is usually out of date, rarely reports even the good news, makes few defenses against articles or reports that are false and is generally not even reactive. Thats no way to win a propaganda war. One has to wonder where the men who made the Malayan Emergency a success have gone.

Black Magic In Iraq?

2007-05-11T03:40:00.000-07:00

News from orbat.com that Anbar province might contain 100-billion barrels of oil.

We saw a curious report somewhere or the other saying that West Iraq could hold 100-billion barrels of oil. It looks like the report is from the same company that posted new estimates of Iraq's total reserves.

Now, to us West Iraq includes Anbar, and if there is indeed oil there, to say nothing of this magnitude of oil, then you could see a very major strategic shift in the Mideast. The Sunnis would have every reason to accept a breakup of Iraq because that oil would be theirs, and it is a lot of oil for 5 million people. The US would have a serious incentive to protect the new state. And the Saudis would have a serious incentive to torpedo the new state, even though that means going against Sunnis, because a new country with that level of oil could completely disrupt Saudi control of the oil markets.

Please note that if the oil exists, the Iraq civil war could end tomorrow. If the Sunnis agree to a split, that's the end of the insurgency. Of course, there are many different insurgencies in Iraq, but then the US could leave the Shias to sort out their lives themselves. The Shias, incidentally, at this point, at least, are not particularly concerned if the Kurds go their own way because South Iraq has plenty of oil - and it's easily exported, too.

I think that analysis is pretty correct and certainly adds something interesting to the equation.

Blair Gone.

2007-05-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

It's offical. Blair will resign on the 27th of July.

And my reaction? Well I couldn't care less, we are merely swapping Blair for that thing that calls itself Gordon Brown.

Whoo. Something to get excited about.

Goodbye Blair, please hang yourself, it's the only manly thing to do.

But you won't.

You'll just go on the lecture circuit and keep grinning that grin of yours. You. Bastard.

Nighty Night.

What Do You Mean We Don't Control Them?

2007-05-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/10/nschool10.xml

It's really rather unsurprising that the Buerocrats are worried. Look, kiddies who they don't have control over! That must stop, the State must expand, taxpayers money must be spent and more jobs made for the old boys. That way my department can be bigger than yours. Etc.

Disgusting really.

Read It.

2007-05-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

EU Referendum (http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/ ) has a fantasticly interesting post today called, "What if we won, and nobody noticed?"

Some serious food for thought.

I agree totally with him, that in the UK both Left and Right are opposed to the war, one on the basis of principles, one on the basis of political advantage. On the other hand I disagree with him about mentioning Mr Yon's story. I myself did not mention it because it showed British troops winning. I did not mention it because I fundamentally believe that the war in Iraq is lost. On the other hand I do believe the war in Afghanistan is winnable.

Excuse Me Sir...

2007-05-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6635117.stm

Thats right kids, the government can't hunt criminals but they can hire people to spy on you to make sure you aren't...smoking?

Did someone say 1984?

I Love Comment Is Free.

2007-05-08T03:13:00.000-07:00

Really, I do. Where else would I find jackernapes of this sort:

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/hossein_derakhshan/2007/05/cut_the_bias.html

Cut the bias
Iran doesn't have a policy of imprisoning people for the content of their blogs, as some human rights campaigners would have us believe.

Fair enough but then you, errr, say this:

Someone should remind the Reporters Without Borders to remove Arash Sigarchi's name from the list of Iranian cyberdissidents in jail. (Cached version of the same page.)

It's been over three months since he was cleared from widely publicised charges that initially brought him 14 years of jail and after an appeal was reduced to three years, all by a small court in a distant city from Tehran.

So you don't jail bloggers. But you have just jailed (then cleared) one. Hmm, seems like a contradiction to my poor wee head.

His main charge was working with the American government-funded Radio Farda (The Persian service for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) among other minor charges of encouraging street protests and insulting top Iranian officials in his reports for Radio Farda (with a pseudonym) and his writings, mainly in a small, local publication in the city of Rasht. (Radio Farda was outlawed in Iran by the national security council when it started in late 90s.)

Aha, I get it. He wasn't jailed for blogging. He was jailed for free speech. Wait, how does that make it better?

But since he also had a blog with less than a few dozen page views per day prior to his arrest, the entire human rights machine (western media, watchdogs, and NGOs) started to spread numerous reports, showcasing him as the champion as an innocent victim of a brutal regime with a formulated policy for imprisoning bloggers who dare to write a word of criticism against the government.

You don't think they were worried just because he was arrested for free speech? Seeing as thats what you arrested him for. As far as I see it he was innocent: all he did was express opinion and attempt political protest to express that opinion further. Phew anyway, Iran doesn't arrest bloggers for blogging. It just arrests anyone who's heard of the concept of free speech.

Much better.

His case has reached such symbolic significance that it is always mentioned by the American warmongers, such as the American Enterprise Institute, when they try to make their long-dreamed-of case for the necessity of regime change in Iran.

American warmongers? As opposed to Iranian warmongers such as those that captured the British sailors earlier this year? Or when your President denied the Holocaust and called for the destruction of all Jews. As for the necessity of regime change, well, considering how unpopular Ahmenijad is and how voiceiferous the population is in their hatred for the regime I'd say it's a fair old wack of necessity for them (even if practically impossible if attempted by outside forces).

As a matter of fact, Iranian government has not had any such policy toward bloggers...

Just a policy towards free speech.

...and the mere fact that blogging has become so mainstream in Iran (with over 700,000 blogs in the Persian language) and the existence of numerous blogging service companies that legally and publicly operate inside Iran, is evidence of this.

Not every blog is political.

Yes, the government has indeed filtered a lot of political websites, but so has UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt and many other US allies. But Iran doesn't have a policy of imprisoning young men and women for a few words in their small blogs, as the western media would have us believe.

So the old "it's alright because they do it" arguement. Under those rules Britain can jail people who make fun of the monarchy (Thailand), chop the hands off thieves (Saudi Arabia), arrest people not wearing the right clothes (Iran) etc. What fun.

Obviously the Islamic Republic cannot be as tolerant against criticism as, say, Norway. After all, I myself have experienced the intolerant government - all websites I run, including my blogs, are filtered and I was also detained and forced to sign an apology over my blog posts before I was allowed to leave Iran in June 2005.

So they have no policy about bloggers...but you have to sign an apology for blogging the wrong thing, as the government sees it (which is incidentally again a flouting of free speech). Yup, that makes sense.

But unfortunately states become very intolerant when their existence is threatened (or when they think it is).

It's the fault of the US! The US! It's all fine now. If we can just blame the Jews too we're sorted.

And if the US and the UK, with their claims to defend basic human rights, keep thousands of suspected partners of their enemies without charge or legal rights for months and even years, creating special prisons such as Guantánamo Bay in which to hold them,...

So you can be bastards if we are bastards? Not much of a moral arguement. And it ignores the fact that other countries, like, oh, Denmark do not do so. And can now criticise your balls off.

...what can you expect from a government like the Islamic Republic, whose very existence is continuously being threatened by big powers from day one of its revolution?

The US! The US! Let's burn a flag! Then we can feel better about defending a nation that espouses medieval practices and shits on free speech. Wahey!

A new strategy seems to be that many of these human rights watchdogs, despite their integrity and genuine intentions, are depending heavily on one or two Iranian researchers who are usually among the victims of the very violations they are supposed to watch without any bias.

A new strategy? What are these people, waging a campaign against you? As for your slur on those researchers, as if their ill treatment is enough to suddenly make them all kill crazy. Shame.

The RWB case is especially interesting in this regard as an organisation in which only one person can read the Persian language and he has had his job for probably more than 10 years, now. He has fled Iran about 20 years ago after months or years of excessive hardships and pressure over his activities as a member of some outlawed radical leftist group.

So the RWB's case is all false because their one Persian reader is a victim of Iran's terror? Aren't you a victim of their terror, having to sign that apology, hence shouldn't you be biased too?

How can an important organisation depend on the judgments of only one individual with such a conflict of personal and professional interest? How can a person possibly be unbiased toward a government he or she hates?

I don't know. I really don't. I mean how could the Guardian have relied on you, without any other researchers and violently opposed to the UK and US governments to produce a coherent and intelligent piece? How?

Perhaps that is why such organisations rush into demonising a government that they are already against and don't care much to cover the further developments, especially if they are positive.

And why are they against it? Oh, because the government is not very nice at all. As for demonising, well your use of the word "warmongers" probably puts you in that category too. I'll be looking for further developments for you though, particuarly so I can fisk your silly Persian ass again.

As ever, no offense to the people of Iran. I love you guys. It's just toolbags like this wallah hat need a good twatting.

Oh Deary Me.

2007-05-06T05:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/arms-race-leaving-our-subs-all-at-sea/2007/05/05/1177788470704.html

I can't say I'm any kind of South Asian/Oceanic expert but this sort of thing really doesn't look good. We have a mix of dangerous groups: religious, political, ethnic etc. all competing. Worse still the two "up and coming superpowers" exist there. As such there are bound to be "growing pains". But how will they effect the region?

School Reunion.

2007-05-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

Because it amused me.

Muslim Women On TV.

2007-05-06T05:13:00.000-07:00

Go girl!