It’s sad the Palestinans chose the wrong target, as you point out. Birzeit University quotes the desirability of ‘dialogue’, too.
When I worked, on a few happy but nerve-wracking occasions, in Palestine (for PBC, the Palestinian Broadcasting Organisation), we were partly funded and greatly supported by the Consulate; their senior officers (while remaining diplomats) were hugely supportive of what Palestinians were struggling for – even then, back in the mid-90s.
The local guys missed the point today, unfortunately. A case of ‘shooting the messenger’, perhaps? Not good.

Yours,
Phil.

That is one real dilemma. Craig knows him as an honorable man with decent instincts. But he is a face of the British government. Thus I would say he is a legitimate target for protest against Britain’s continuous support for Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people.

We should not lose sight of the fact that Israel’s legitimacy resides in two major events — the Balfour declaration and the UN recognition of Israel as the legitimate state over what had been known as Palestine. Has Britain ever tried to retract the Balfour declaration? It has to be one of the most bizarre diplomatic declarations ever written — the state of Britain, when in 1917 had no jurisdiction over the land of Palestine, simply gave it to a group of Europeans that never lived there. This then became a sacred, never to be questioned, document that Zionists pull out to establish their rights to Palestinian land.

If I were a Palestinian, I too would be pissed off about this. Even if in this case they are targeting an individual who sympathizes with them.

TolvoS: The British Government has more than once aspect to it, even the Israeli political system is not a monolithic entity with a single mindset. It does seem that the Palestinian supporters (of which I count myself one) have achieved a well publicised own-goal here, one which will be trumpeted as a “you cannot deal with these people!” by the Palestinians’ main oppressors.

Dismissing even minor dissidents within the British apparatus of government as “a legitimate target” is the language of a fanatic. Are only total enemies of justice allowed to become part of the British government, in any form, and nobody else should ever dare try to enter it to change things – is that really what you’re trying to say?

Phil: Damned good avatar, I have to say

@ Toivis,

” Has Britain ever tried to retract the Balfour declaration?”

Well – has Britain every sought to make an apology for the Atlantic African Slave Trade which it financed, sustained, actively participated in for centuries, organised divide and rule strategies for within Africa, and maintained plantations for centuries while shipping profits back to Britannia from Caribbean plantations – so:-

“Has Britain ever tried to retract the Balfour declaration?”

And any time soon is HMG likely to demonstrate decency, honesty, compunction and any degree of humanity?

Methinks – not!
P.S. Government functionaries – given the official positions that they represent – are the designated faces and spokespersons for government’s official policies. Thus, it seems to me that even if a “pretty face” ( i.e. nice person type – say –a Craig Murray) is the official representative. If the policy is wrong and opposed, then the face can legitimately receive some pie throw in the direction of that face. That is legitimate protest. The point is not how pretty the face – or – nice the guy or girl – but what is represented behind the pretty face.
P.P.S. But – Craig Murray might not be a very pretty face, and is a nice guy who got pie thrown his way, by his former boss – the government – for being too nice and honest a guy.

@ Glenn,
“The British Government has more than once aspect to it, even the Israeli political system is not a monolithic entity with a single mindset. It does seem that the Palestinian supporters (of which I count myself one) have achieved a well publicised own-goal here,…”
Own goal for standing up in the diplomatic face of from whence the whole problem started, with duplicity and betrayal?
Get real – this is but mild protest – given the betrayals by HMG of the Palestinian people. You really are not aware of the duplicity of HMG – are you Glenn? So:-
“British diplomat attacked by Palestinian protesters over century-old government policy supporting a Jewish homeland
• British consul general, Sir Vincent Fean, mobbed by Palestinian protesters outside Birzeit University, near Ramallah, today
• He was not hurt but one demonstrator was seen kicking him in the shins
• Student activists said they were protesting over decades of British policy toward Palestinians”

What honour for HMG – or – the diplomat? The students were right and obviously acted with restraint.

Craig –let’s get real man!

@ Craig,

“Anger at William Hague is perfectly understandable”

Yes – indeed. And therefore -why not -anger at his representative?

Put the party politics aside for a moment.

Can’t you – as a very experienced diplomat see the relevance and significance of symbolically kicking the man in the shin (i.e. Hague’s representative) while not in any real or significant way doing the man any harm?

Craig – bad post. Move on – next post.

Well said Courtenay.

I read this yesterday on Sonia Karkar’s excellent Australians for Palestine site so am not really surprised at the undercurrent of discontent and anger. It comes from Gideon Levy who writes for Ha’aretz.

LEVY: The pain of almost a million arrests
6Mar13
http://www.australiansforpalestine.net/77076

Each one of those young people must have a relative or know another Palestinian who has been in an Israeli prison. I am sorry that they are venting their anger on this man but he is part of the UK system of support for Zionist Israel. He should get out.

PS What was Fean knighted for? Oh one of those gongs that Her Maj hands out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Fean

The Royal Victorian Order (French: Ordre royal de Victoria)[n 1] is a dynastic order of knighthood recognising distinguished personal service to the order’s Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms,[1] any members of their family, or any of their viceroys.[2][3] Established in 1896, the order’s chapel is the Savoy Chapel, its official day is 20 June, and its motto is Victoria, alluding to the society’s founder, Queen Victoria. There are no limits on the number of inductees,[1] and admission remains the personal gift of the monarch,[1] with each of the organisation’s five hierarchical grades and one medal with three levels representing different levels of service. While all members receive the ability to use the prescribed styles of the order—the top two levels grant titles of knighthood, and all accord distinct post-nominal letters—the Royal Victorian Order’s precedence amongst other honours differs from realm to realm, and admission to some grades may be barred by government policy. Though similarly named, the Royal Victorian Order is not related to the Royal Victorian Chain.

Couple of points if I may:

1/. Revoking the Balfour Declaration would be a purely symbolic act – the genie is out of the bottle – and is simply not going to happen. For a start, it would be seen to be (and would be) equivalent to denying the right of Israel to exist. So to talk about this is just to raise a red herring.

2/. ToivoS’s phrasing in his first post is rather loose: I don’t think the Balfour Declaration “gave Palestine” to a collection of European Jews. I was under the impression that it promised a Jewish National Home IN Palestine (extent undetermined). The implication that the whole of Palestine was involved is, I think, misleading. But please correct if I’m wrong.

3/. As usual, Mary attempts to damn some person or another she’s taken against by putting irrelevant facts into the arena. In this case Fean’s RVO. Such a decoration is for “personal services” to the Soverign and would typically – Craig can confirm this – be awarded to a diplomat en poste for helping to organise a Royal visit. Had he remained in the Diplomatic Service, it is not ruled out that Craig himself would have received such an award had he been in the right place at the right time. It is completely irrelevant to the issue under discussion and I do wish Mary would at last stick to relevant facts and comment.

*******

La vita è bella, life is good! (and the gong is a nice one)

As an afterthought : if Sir Vincent Fean is an intelligent and honorable man and a true friend of the Palestinians (as Craig says he is), I’m sure that he will understand why this incident happened and will not hold it against either those involved or the Palestinians as a whole.
But it’s true that the incident holds propaganda value for the Israeli government and those ill-disposed toward the Palestinian cause and from tjhat point of view is unfortunate.

********

La vita è bella, life is good! (kick Netanyahu, not Fean)

Craig, I almost always agree with you but this is not well thought out. You stood up against British policies. There is nothing to stop Vince Fean to resign if he is such a decent fellow. In any case, as others have pointed out, people in Palestine protest against British policies and whoever represent these. All such protests are justified.

Don’t be so silly, and stop kidding yourself that the answer lies in the goodness of this Brit apparatchik and the badness of that one. It doesn’t.

So Britain wants to keep in with some oil sheikhs, and MI6 has several agent-handlers who speak Arabic with mother-tongue fluency and tell their agents oh yes, those bloody Israelis. Which neither party believes, except in a way similar to how they probably also go on about those bloody Yanks. And what way is that? A way that is without consequence.

Britain hasn’t got an independent foreign policy or Foreign Office. If it wasn’t Gould or Bethlehem or Sheinwald, it would be someone else. Britain sends its military forces to fight the Zionists’ wars for them in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, and allows its embassies to be used to interfere in the whole of the Arab region to help the Zionists.

Yeah yeah, the Brit consulate in East Jerusalem isn’t accredited to anyone. So what? If it didn’t help the Israelis, they’d have closed it down years ago.

Craig, you go on and on about the good people in the effing British Foreign Office. Any good people in it leave.

It can’t be reformed.

You will not be called back from Ramsgate-les-deux-Eglises to give evidence to a Foreign Office Reform Commission.

In other news, the United States of America, the Great Satan, has finally murdered Hugo Chavez.

It looks as though the same method was used as Mossad employed to murder Yasser Arafat. (In case anyone suffers from amnesia about this, the Israeli government said they would murder Arafat, but a motion at the UN Security Council to sanction them was scuppered by US veto.)

The Venezuelan authorities have kicked the US air attaché Colonel, David Delmonaco, and his assistant Devlin Kostal, out of the country.

When oh when is a country going to break off relations with the US entirely, not just ending all diplomatic relations, but completely banning the import of US cultural items, derecognising US passports, and boycotting all international organisations with US membership?

How about before it’s too fucking late?

Vince Fean`s in box is probably full of desperate please and would make stimulating reading.

Let`s hope the students have the strength to work and educate and enlighten, to make way`s for the future generations.

For their part we must have hope that can work through this very difficult situation.

THe trend of confrontation like this is one of hate, let hope give them strength.

You advise people who suffer injustices on a scale which you yourself have never suffered on how to fight back against them, and you do it in the guise of advising on tactics and public relations.

OK then tell us what kind of public relations it would have been for the Brits if their man had kicked the person back “very very hard”.

Try to realise that your being a decent person means that the British Foreign Office in their own terms were right to get shot of you.

It also means you were mistaken to sign up with the bastards in the first place.

(That’s a compliment by the way.)

The Daily Shmail describes Britain as “an ally of Israel”.

By what treaty’s that, then?

See Yael Kahn’s comment below the Daily Mail article. I have met her. She is an Israeli now living in Islington and like many Jews in this country, is an ardent supporter of the Palestinian cause. She could not stick it there any longer.

‘Nearly 100 hundred years of sufferings because Britain gave away a country not theirs to people who didn’t live there. I was born there and grew up on the land stolen from the people who were forced out of their homes and were made refugees. Not only the Palestinians have been denied their right to return, but the refugees, on whose land my childhood home was built, are being bombed by Israel in their refugee camp in Gaza and are subjected to barbaric siege. As an Israeli woman I agree with the Palestinian protesters and ask anyone with conscience to support the fantastic initiative by people in London: “We call on our Government to acknowledge publicly that British policy and actions in Palestine from 1917 to 1948 led to catastrophe for the Palestinian people.”‘

- Yael Kahn , London, 06/3/2013 02:21

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUAjPlsthGM Speaking.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7432110.stm Her visit to Gaza.

Any actual facts or evidence relating to this ‘assassination’, or just the usual ill-informed, conspiratol, nonsense?

Even Hugo himself didn’t subject us to this guff.

There is a statement on Syria following PMQs today in which I assume Hague will announce what aid the British government is providing for the ‘Syrian Civil War’ as it is now being called. NOT IN MY NAME.

I see that Sir Vincent did a stint as First Secretary in Damascus in 1979.

http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/f/26574/(Thomas)%20Vincent+FEAN.aspx

Habbakuk

How come you’ve such a detailed knowledge of when and to whom queenie opens the sweetie jar?

Been queuing, have you.

“If I were Vince I would have hit back very very hard at that student. He is a very understanding man.”

I expect the student is getting used to being hit by now.

But if you had been a student in Palestine not a mate of Vince Fean what would you have done? He went there to bullshit them on behalf of HMG, to buy more time so a bit more of Palestine could be ethnically cleansed.

He should think himself lucky he didn’t get the treatment the Israelis gave to Sgt Clifford and Sgt Paice. I expect they were very nice men as well.

Oh dear, a thread to save the poor diplomat, voicing tabloidal fears of anti Israel bias and attacking our diplomats.

I think he’s got exactly what should be expected, that security around him was reduced to one man is only underlying this story, which is out of all proportion.

I’m more concerned about Mr. Fean’s blood pressure than his shins. As a diplomat he should be able to take the odd knock with his port.

To enact the Balfour declaration, without taking a disorganised Middle east into account, is arguably one of the greatest mistakes of Britain’s foreign policy. To then be bombed out of Haifa and run away from terrorists who wanted more land than they were supposed to have been given, leaving Palestine to their murderous campaign, will be seen as crucial to the violence that exist today.

Those who want to avoid using propaganda terms should get into a habit of, well, avoiding using propaganda terms. Rather than the ‘Balfour Declaration’, call it the ‘Balfour letter to Rothschild’, which is what it was.

Gushingly written by the British Foreign Secretary in 1917, on behalf of HMG, very shortly before the British army carried Christian flags to fly once again over Jerusalem.

What do we expect from a country where Rothschild son-in-law Lord Rosebery had got to be prime minister a few generations before? After that, doesn’t matter what schmuck gets put in. Bit like with the BBC, etc. etc. etc.

Again, without plugging your book or repetitively calling anyone stupid?

I won’t reply in kind.

You offer the statement that “power structures are not monolithic”. But how useful is your catch-all term “the Uzbek opposition”?

What assumptions underlie your choice as to when to draw distinctions within a category (‘power structure’) and when not to (‘the opposition’)?

On the one hand, slave children. On the other, mega-rich international trash who’ve fallen out with the Tashkent regime because someone looked at someone else’s girlfriend, and whose main aim is getting juicy contracts if Karimov falls? United in struggle?

On one hand, Arab victims of Zionazi terror and oppression. On the other, Brit diplomats making ‘strong speeches on human rights’? United in struggle?

Who holds the microphone? Who tells whom to shut up?

Of course a British diplomat should be viewed as a representative of, and spokesperson for, the British state. That’s what he is. He could resign and get a job in a restaurant. He chooses not to.

Terms such as ‘free speech’ and ‘human rights’ should burn the mouths of British diplomats whenever they utter them.

Look Craig, for goodness sake, you do not have the right to decide what’s best for Palestinian victims of Zionism. Give it a rest.

There’s a word for thinking you know what’s best for people better than they do, and that they ought to shut up and do what you tell them, because that’s ‘sensible’, whereas doing something else is “stupid”.

That word is “patrician”.

How about finalising your break with British official hypocrisy and the values of the British elite?

@ Valueplus and N_ :

One question is whether it is better for a diplomat sympathetic to the Palestinian cause to remain in the FCO, where he might be able, albeit in small ways, to do good, or whether he should resign volontarily and be replaced by someone else who might have oppositie views or simply not care very much. I think the former probably makes more sense, certainly in this case.

For the rest, Craig’s last post above provides an effective risposte ti those like Guess Who who simply call an entire organisation “bastards”.

@ Herbie : you have to admit that my “detailed knowledge” was correct, don’t you. As for how I acquired it, you will have to continue to speculate, I’m afraid. After all, as far as I know you might be a spy for a foreign power as you frequently pontificate about international affairs. You might even have been involved in the “assassination” of President Chavez (cf N_’s post, above)!

@ Herbert, I take your point, we should not elevate it to more than it really was. some crackpot idea with no relevance to the realities as they existed then.

But, everyone should have that tabloid day.

Was Mr. Fean expect to speak?

As for habbakuk, who clearly wants to leave this blog by making his dirty mark on everyone’s doorstep, farewell Herr Rector, so sorry you must go before you had your lesson on fascism, and how to write it.

“Those of you who think that the answer to the Palestinian problem is to stop a decent man speaking are taking a very stupid position. I presume by extension they must believe a solution can only come through war – which they would lose.”

After 50 years we are no closer to solving the Palestinian problem we caused and Palestine gets smaller by the day.

Those Palestinians never drank single malts with Vince Fean, they don’t know what he’s like, they are just angry, very very angry and they have every right to be angry.

He isn’t the first innocent man to get the rough end of the stick in this conflict, Israeli jails are full of nice innocent people doing their best to solve the problem.

Samer Issawi, he’s doing a hell of a lot more for Palestine than Vince Fean and getting one hell of a lot worse treatment.

“Vince has taken personal career risks here.”

Let him take some more and spill the beans on the power of the Zionists in the UK, including in Whitehall. I’d certainly put some money into the collection tin to support him if he did.

“The idea that only evil people should work for government would probably not lead to us being better governed, if you think about it.”

That’s a vague and twisted-up thought that you’ve got there, capped off with a patronising Britishism.

How do you know people haven’t thought about it and reached different conclusions from yours?

The system is run by evil people. You can’t use your influence as one of their officials to dent their power.

Power, I’m afraid, lies on the streets.

Mopping the floors in a minister’s office is one thing; being a consul is another. Where do you draw the line? The wrong bloody place. Is it OK to bomb the shit out of a country but have a conscience, looking forward to saying critical things after you’ve retired?

The thing is, you are much better than that. Go the whole hog!

I didn’t “simply” call an entire organisation “bastards”, but asked a specific question regarding public relations, to which there has been no effective “riposte”.

I think Craig is at the end of the day a good guy and the FCO were right in their own terms not to want him.

But tose who want to offer advice to people who have suffered more oppression than they themselves have ever suffered or ever will suffer, should take 10 deep breaths before they do so. Examine their assumptions.

Otherwise…well otherwise it’s the posh white man’s burden, isn’t it?

British Consul General to Jerusalem Sir Vincent Fean attempts to walk a very fine line of respect between Israel’s right to security and the Palestinians right to remain in their communities.

That ‘fine line’ is no longer traversable, obstructed by too many failures over too many years and now lacks relevancy.

It is time for Sir Vincent to bite the bullet and convince his government that sanctions on Israel are long overdue.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/03/05/292004/uk-should-impose-sanctions-on-israel/

I cannot find Al-Issawi’s comment in the Guardian:

http://commentisfreewatch.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/samer.jpg

There you go, Craig, you’ve been found guilty of being too moderate (and sane) by some of the Eminences. But I’m confident you’ll survive.

I simply must repeat a couple of the more egregious remarks posted so far:

1/. “Look Craig, for goodness sake, you do not have the right to decide what’s best for Palestinian victoms of Zionism” (Herbert at 11h22).

A sagacious comment, marred only by the fact that (a) Craig’s not in a positiion to “decide”, and (b) he is giving an opinion, not handing down a decision.

Beta double minus for Herbert.

2/. “Power, I’m afraid, lies on the streets” (Herbert again, at 11h30)

Only correct if you co-inhabit Herbert’s imaginary world. Wrong, in general, if you are on planet Earth.

Gamma plus for that one.

Herr Rektor signing out now!

@ Never-a-mind (11h26) :

“….your lesson on fascism and how to write it”

As you’ve decided to call me Herr Rektor, you’ll not be surprised that I consider it my duty to suggest that you should have used the word “spell” instead of “write”.

I am however aware that the German verb “schreiben” can be used for both.

No charge for the above!

Habbakuk

That’s such a specialized and otherwise useless knowledge that you can’t have come by it other than by having worked for the FCO yourself.

I’d imagine you’re a former colleague of Craig’s, possibly Charles Crawford.

Sometimes power does lie in the streets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b0bI9KQQ_fo#!

I followed a removal lorry home just now. One of its services on the sign written rear was ‘Disaster Recovery’.

As the driver looked rather lost I felt like flagging him down and directing him to King Charles Street (FCO)!

If most of those working for FCO are decent people, it would mean that the government is forced to appoint decent people against their better judgement. If that was the case in reality and all these decent people resigned, the FCO will have no one working for it. Wouldn’t that be wonderful. And pigs will fly.

“I wish power did lie on the streets!”

Mob rule is just democracy with a bad press agent.

Education Under Occupation

Palestinian Universities have endured an acute degree of suffering under the Israeli occupation. The repression of academic life in the occupied Palestinian territories is part of a concentrated and systematic political effort of the Israeli government to attack the means of development of the Palestinian society.
http://www.right2edu.org/education-under-occupation/

Palestinian-only buses are now being introduced in Israhell.

Segregation and echoes of apartheid: Israel launches Palestinian-only buses
Separation and discrimination is a numbing fact of life for Palestinians in the West Bank.

http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2013/03/segregation-and-apartheid-israel-launches-palestinian-only-buses

.

A good friend just e-mailed.

‘The other bit of cheering news yesterday was that the two apartheid, Palestinians-only buses were both torched, on their first day in service. Most cheering.’

The bill for them will be probably be deducted from the massive amount of taxes that the Israelis are withholding from the Palestinian Authority

Nice to hear Craig say a supportive word of a Brit diplomat; kind of like reading John le Carre i.e. being reminded that we still have decent ones working away in the quiet.

With reference to Habbabkuk: “I’d imagine you’re a former colleague of Craig’s, possibly Charles Crawford.”

Herbie, dead wrong. Habbabkuk is anything but an ex-diplomat. He is an immigrant, who doesn’t want, and is scared about, Romanians (especially the Romani people) and Bulgarians to come to the UK. He voluntarily spells “involontary” as such and its not a one-key-away typo. He writes his time as 15h45. He doesn’t know how to cut and paste so he re-types others comments when he quotes, evidenced by introducing careless spelling mistakes like “victom” when Herbie had spelt it correctly in his original. He claims to have been a member of the Bullingdon Club but more likely to be the incumbent Chairman of the Bullyingdung Club.

He is a pseudo-intellectual who feels that the strength of his argument is so logical that the person who rejects it is a moron and conspirator. A real intellectual realises that others also can have very strong beliefs which they too believe are rational and right. A real intellectual respects differences, converses with respect, and does not think those who disagree are to be stalked and interrogated with calculated and deliberate offence.

He is a Catholic who claims to be as Christian as you can get. Yet, he is happy in his ‘Life is Beautiful’ mode to mock his own religion by relentlessly referring to his primary victim as St Mary. Whereas, it is Mary who is a completely harmless and likeable good soul. Despite being counselled by numerous contributors he has continued his imbecilic behaviour.

We may not know what Habbabkuk’s occupation is/was but his pre-occupation is clearly to create discord and an uncivil atmosphere. Appraisal: his prosocial and civic behaviours require serious improvement. Runner77, a relatively casual contributor observed that this blog would be better off without him. I happen to agree and believe that all should think twice before engaging with pseudo-intellectual.

@ Herbie :

I have rarely been so flattered! For having taken the trouble to investigate me so thoroughly and for making me sound like a reincarnated Evelyn Waugh. Thank you! And thanks you also, of course, for recognising the intellectual firepower I apply to those comments that I feel could profit from it.

I’d clean forgotten that I claimed to be a member of the Bullingdon Club; are you sure you’re not getting me mixed up with Radek Sikorski, whose former membership of the same I did once refer to?

You’re right, I don’t know how to cut and paste! I really should learn how to do so because there is always a rich feast of foolishnesses on which I feel duty bound to comment and it is indeed rather tiring to have to write out those comments again “manually” so to speak. I must ask my great-grandmother to instruct me in the art.

Copy & Paste tutorial for widows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c66pvfilotA

Basically, highlight the text to be copied (position the cursor over the start of the text, then hold down the right mouse key as you move it to the end of the bit you want, then release the key). Type control-C to copy it. Move the cursor to the destination spot, click the right mouse key again. Then type control-V to paste it in, as often as you want.

On a Mac, use the ALT key instead of CONTROL.

You can also highlight a word by double-clicking on it, or an entire paragraph by triple-clicking on it.

Thanks, Granny ! I’ll give it a go (you do realise, I hope, that you have made my educational mission easier? The Eminences will not thank you for that….)

Of course i’m right that you are a cut-and-past PSEUDO-intellectual. So quit self aggrandising yourself once again for your intellectual “firepower” I assume the firepower equates with bully.

And I’m not at Herbie’s. And Craig is not @ Craig since you know he is using his real name, he would simply be Craig wouldn’t he Supdt Investigator?

You’re a weird man with a weird sense of humour given your reference to your great-grandmother, who fortunate for her doesn’t have to suffer you. Your comment reflects your bad energy and the bad karma you create, hence you hide behind the banner of Life is Beautiful. What do you know about Life, Truth, Beauty, Goodness? I have particular disdain for old-agers like you (elders is too good a word)–with grey hair (bald in your case, I bet you, for reasons i won’t divulge) who have not an ounce of wisdom. Just bland, gullible, anal stuff–a damp squib I would submit. Firepower indeed. You could indeed profit from interrogating, as in investigating the meaning of Life. Until then you’re a second-hand human being with zero originality to offer the human race.

Glenn, now there’s an example of a good, helpful human being contributing to good Karma to make the world a better place.
—
And the idiot calls him Granny–what social skills! And its supposed to be funny.
—
Habby you fool you should thank me for pointing out how to make your life easier, you poor lonely soul.

This widow knew how to C&P many years back! I learnt my computer skills at college. They were teaching us Word Perfect in those days!

~~~~

195 Thomas Cook shops are to close. More whited out windows in what’s left of the British High Street. Axminster Carpets, some hundreds of years old, is going into administration and 300 out of 400 workers to lose their jobs. Yet all Gideon can do is to go to Brussels to defend the bonuses of his greedy banker friends. He failed thankfully.

That is 2,500 jobs to go at Thomas Cook. Is the UK so called ‘economy’ ever going to be recoverable? Is the UK ‘f***ed’.

Mary: The frightening thing about these job losses, are how they are about matched by McJobs, often one “zero hour contacts”, which pay the minimum wage at best, for less than a full week.

McDonalds announced 4500 new McJobs in the UK for this year. These new “Do you want fries with that?” jobs are – in the Official Figures – more than offsetting the jobs at Thomas Cook and Lloyds. So rejoice! Employment is up!

People on min. wage jobs aren’t paying any tax at all, once the Universal Credits and so on are accounted for. There’s a net loss to the country here, but who cares? The investor class has never had it so good, after all.

Mary,

“This widow knew how to C&P many years back! I learnt my computer skills at college. They were teaching us Word Perfect in those days!”

Funny when you think of it, one has never seen a single link from The Babbler. I realise now he’s ever so jealous of you, can’t keep up, therefor, keeps pulling you down.

Are you absolutely certain he’s not someone you spurned in your younger days? If you did, i’d forgive him. At one level i feel compassion for the old sod not having anyone to show him how to cut ‘n paste. But then at another, this fellow’s not going to change. They say the only one that likes a change is a wet baby.

re. Villagers post, above :

“If yo did, I’d certainly forgive him”

But not as much as I would forgive myself, for to have had to spend my old age with the likes of Mary would be simply…unbearable

@ Glenn-uk : Villager’s post has made me realise that I was completely out of order by saying Thanks, Granny and must have hurt you deeply. Can you find it in yourself to forgive me?

The facts are that he knows far too much about the arcane intricacies of the FCO gong system.

He seems to know Craig.

He casually mentions seeing someone as he passes through Brussels airport.

He delights in displaying his familiarity with western European languages, particularly, French, Italian and German.

He knows a lot about Switzerland, where of course these three languages are spoken.

I don’t know anything about the Bullingdon Club, nor the rest.

But the facts as they stand, particularly the first and supported by the rest, place him as a member of a very small set which would include former and current members of the FCO, probably stationed for some time in Berne.

I think too, and this is rather more speculative, that he may well be a she. There are certainly some pointers in that direction including, but not limited to, linguistic style.

All from memory.

I’ve just noticed that Mary’s handle has benefitted from the addition “For truth and justice”. I would like to underline my approval of this daring break-out by inviting Villager, Nevermind and Fred to think about doing the same. To encourage them in their reflections, let me throw out the following for consideration:

Villager (Yokels of the World, Unite!)

Nevermind (the quality, just feel the width)

Fred (the original four letter word)

Perceptive ‘Villager’ gratefully satisfying observance.

Babbler i’d rather get my inspiration more directly from yours–it would be Life is Sacred. Just a piece of Wisdom for one who is spiritually bankrupt and follows the neocon order like a lemming.

And as for my comment re the wonderful Mary spurning you: get it right, chronologically, she discovered first that you were unbearable in your manners and as i said before as a wannabe pseudo-intellectual. She is the one that has ignored you all these weeks. We were witness to that and also witness to your constantly and shamelessly, trying to tug her skirt with your stalking. You disgraceful creep. Give me four letter words in context anytime. Especially LOVE, something you poor soul it becomes obvious have never actually seen in your life.

I think Fred’s comments of late have been actually not just well-argued but some quite brilliant and heart-felt.

Now go and practice some cut and paste.

Habbabkuk wrote, “Can you find it in yourself to forgive me?”

I’m afraid not – we’re unlikely to speak for some time after that. Email only from now on

Thank you Mark and for all YOUR heartfelt good work and insights. I come from the reality of peace and love–not just as a cliche–but in the actual sense of Einstein’s term of a “cosmic religious feeling”. I find this fake ‘Catholic’, Babbler’s stalking and superior attitude downright despicable.

Just so you know, i chose my alias inspired by the The Unknown Villager. Mothers and Fathers should stop sending their children to War to end up becoming another Unknown Soldier. This century, and it is early days, will be the century for justice for the Unknown Villagers who are pawns today in the power plays around the globe. There is a new generation coming that will sweep away the fossils of the likes of the Habbabkuks.

Only 10% of us need to embrace it to reach our tipping point. But embrace it means at a genuine/authentic level–profound, from deep within so as to pull out every form of violence, including the type that Habbab practices from its very roots. To negate our violent and insecure streaks we have inherited as animals. Change our d.n.a epigenetically.

Scientific research supports that it can be done a minority. And we can test it by getting rid of this fraud the Habbabkuk.

REVEALING READ: http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2902

Rolling in the aisle here Villager and Herbie. No nobody has been spurned AFAIK. I did once have an approach from a groper when I was a practice manager at a vets. The clients requesting a visit used to say ‘Please don’t send….’ and I used to wonder why but did not like to ask.

One Sunday I had gone in to do some accounts and he rolled up. I am quite tall and this person came to chest height.Most unflattering. After the encounter from which I quickly extricated myself and told him where to go, he never bothered me again. Pathetic individual and his wife worked in the practice too! It happened soon after I was widowed and I should have outed him. I do not think H was the culprit.

I have, like Herbie, queried in the past whether there is a female at work but now I do not really care as there are much more important matters. He/she is certainly working hard for whatever the going rate is these days.

This has become a strange thread hasn’t it? Meanwhile the Palestinians are still suffering. Another day in that log that Leslie Bravery keeps. It is almost unbearable to read as you scroll through and all of it is verified.
http://www.sapienspromise.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2707

And for you Habbabkuk (a.k.a. ‘ONEIL’)

Lets get the Lord’s Answer to this one:

Habakkuk 1
New International Version (NIV)

1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
—
HOMEWORK SET–make sure you submit in time, else Six of the Best.

Herbie:

“The facts are that he knows far too much about the arcane intricacies of the FCO gong system.”
Can you link that for me please?

“He seems to know Craig.”
Not convinced.

“He casually mentions seeing someone as he passes through Brussels airport.”
I think that was LHR–John–forget his name with the disgusting moustache.

“He delights in displaying his familiarity with western European languages, particularly, French, Italian and German”.
Something in that.

He knows a lot about Switzerland, where of course these three languages are spoken.
A lot? Where does that come from?

“But the facts as they stand, particularly the first and supported by the rest, place him as a member of a very small set which would include former and current members of the FCO, probably stationed for some time in Berne.”
Would he survive the FCO writing 5,000,000 as 5.000.000?

“I think too, and this is rather more speculative, that he may well be a she. There are certainly some pointers in that direction including, but not limited to, linguistic style.”
If so, she hasn’t owned up to it given that it is a declared hetrosexual with a mail ‘handle’ and response to my comments being spurned by Mary.

Difficult to believe a woman would stalk Mary the way this brute has.

Thank you for sharing Mary That email you quoted earlier was touching. Lets hope they nip it in the bud. Scoundrels!

As I understand it a diplomatic career is half way between being an apprentice to Ebenezer Scrooge and a celebrity. Wouldn’t it be nice if HMG could be introduced to a few spirits and wake up reformed. In the meantime I agree with Craig that Muslims should listen to individuals who are on their side, but I wouldn’t expect to find those individuals in the Foreign Office. I wouldn’t trust them unless they had rebelled as Craig has done and paid the price of challenging them.

Somebody once said to me while I was going through divorce that what you need is to know where you stand with people. It’s trusting them one day and not the next which drives you crazy. The UK is like that and the nice guys in the diplomatic service are part of the problem of our being rejected by the world community as unreliable and dishonest brokers.

“re. Villagers post, above :
“If yo did, I’d certainly forgive him”
But not as much as I would forgive myself, for to have had to spend my old age with the likes of Mary would be simply unbearable.”

Most definitely vice versa, with bells on. I actually pity you.

@ Mary (09h06) :

“I actually pity you.”

Dare I say how ….saintly of you?

But why? Because I’m insufficiently impressed by the Gospel of St Mary?

********

La vita è bella, life is good!

@ Fred and Craig,
Fred, you said – “After 50 years we are no closer to solving the Palestinian problem we caused and Palestine gets smaller by the day.”
I could rephrase that and say – “After 50 years …..the Jewish problem we caused.” Balfour declaration etc. to the present day?
A great democracy with 4,500 Palestinians or more with:-
A. No habeas corpus.
B. No known or likely trial date.
C. No way to address why or why not they should or should not be released.
And we are all here debating the kick to the shin of a representative of a country that is culpable for the whole wretched mess that exists to this day.
I support the resistance and – you are wrong on this one Craig Murray. Note – a mild kick to good ol’ Vince to do something meaningfully. Perfectly justified.

P.S. Great “democracy” with 4,500 detainees indefinitely detained, and many more ostracised and disenfranchised within Isreal for reason of their ethnicity.
It will impode – it will collapse – it will change. Aluta continua!

Correction:-

“something meaningfully”

Something meaningful…

Unfortunately the good that men do is oft interred with their bones, or even earlier. I think the continued hypocrisy of Britain’s warm relationship with the zionist state and its protector, while making only token gestures in the direction of the illegal settlements, transcended any rational thought here. Like it or not, a diplomat is the representative of his country, and of his country’s policy. Obviously, the aggrieved Pals should have written a courteous letter to William Hague and waited a month or two for the emollient reply. But maybe they already have. Repeatedly.

http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/uk-consul-visits-hebron-condemns-settlements/

You’ve got a great blog here well done congratulations