The neo-con Blair and Cameron regimes are very comfortable with each other. War criminal Alistair Campbell’s “evidence” to the Leveson inquiry is risible.
“Only a few people in number 10 knew Cherie was pregnant, so it must have been phone hacking that led the Mirror to it” is a statement that would not stand ten seconds thought, if it were not ramped by being given the status of a leak.
Campbell’s statement ignores the range of explanations as to how the Mirror could have learned from the “small number of people in No. 10” that Cherie was pregnant. These include:
a) gossip
b) No 10’s motive to get the news out to boost Tony’s popularity
c) the hospital
d) phone hacking
Phone hacking is the least possible explanation. My money is on b)
No, this is a rather pathetic attempt by the Blair camp to divert attention from Murdoch onto Piers Morgan, who the war criminals have never forgiven for his opposition to the War in Iraq. It is so blatant a ploy that it needs an extra boost to the story as a daring “leak” by the Tory neo-con PR man Paul Staines, to be a succesful diversionary tactic.
Blairites and Tories get together to manufacture an incident to take the heat off Murdoch at Leveson Inquiry. That is the real story.
I agree Mary – **IMPORTANT**
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Mr Justice Kenneth Parker, who is considering an application challenging the Government’s recent decision not to have a coroner’s inquest into Dr Kelly’s death, has requested the session in open court on December 19.
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More than 800 donors have contributed over £40,000 to cover Halpin’s lawyers’ fees. He is the sole claimant in the action.His barrister, John Cooper QC, tells me: “My client has said for many years that on the available evidence Dr Kelly did not commit suicide. He welcomes this first chance since Dr Kelly’s death to put before a court the kernel of his case.”
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I believe UKCollapse is organising a small group wearing ‘Justice for Dr David Kelly’ T-Shirts to assemble in London and walk to the High Court. Supporters are very welcome – Thank-you.
A three-page advertising feature? Mary, that’s at £54 per single column centimetre, with £648 per brochure guide panel insert. Granted, the subeditor gets a free visit to Israel and the Guardian offices are now probably bursting at the seams with Dead Sea cosmetics, but that’s a nice little earner, and I don’t think the Apax board members will be objecting.
…and we are wondering why our comments vanish from “Comment is Free”?
James Murdoch survives bid to oust him from BSkyB board
James Murdoch reappointed as chairman of the satellite broadcaster, despite a third of independent shareholders voting against his reappointment
Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 November 2011 13.25 GMT
James Murdoch addresses the BSkyB annual general meeting, where he survived a row with investors to be re-elected as chairman. Photograph: Reuters
James Murdoch has seen off a revolt by nearly a third of BSkyB’s independent shareholder to be reappointed as chairman of the satellite broadcaster at the company’s annual general meeting.
Provisional figures announced at the meeting in London on Tuesday gave him 81.24% of the vote, with 18.76% against.
About a third of independent shareholders voted against his reappointment, including Standard Life Investments, which manages more than 6m Sky shares.
Murdoch is deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation, Sky’s largest shareholder, owning 39.1% of the company.
There have been calls for him to resign his role as chairman amid fears that his links to the inquiry into phone hacking at News Corp’s UK newspaper business, News International, will damage BSkyB’s reputation. James Murdoch also oversees News International in his News Corp role.
Guy Jubb, Standard Life Investments’ head of governance at stewardship, said: “In September, we wrote to [Nicholas] Ferguson, the deputy chairman and senior independent director, to advise him that we were concerned that James Murdoch remains chairman of the board and that we should like to see a new and independent chairman appointed.
“We explained to [Nicholas] Ferguson that the unsuccessful bid approach from News Corporation had magnified the conflicts of interest which the independent non-executive directors have to deal with and, therefore, that it is inappropriate that the group’s board (or indeed the board of any company) is led by a representative of its largest shareholder and putative offeror.
“We pointed out that our misgivings had been heightened by the revelations of stewardship short-comings at the News of the World, a title for which Mr Murdoch bore a measure of responsibility.”
More details soon…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/17/guardian-apax-partners-talks-banks-auto-trader
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Having halved its print sales, and ripped £100M out of it, Guardian and Apax are now looking at raising more money from Trader. It is truly profitable to be(commercially) in bed with Ronald Cohen. Anyone want a piece of Dave’s Big Society Bank (prop, R.Cohen)?
Komodo:
“…and we are wondering why our comments vanish from “Comment is Free”?”
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“Comment is free”… Orwell couldn’t have done better.
38Degrees had a campaign to stop Murdoch being re-elected with letters going to institutional investors so although not successful, had an effect. Next time…
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Thanks Komodo for your responses and Mark for yours. Had not heard of the support group. Perhaps you could guive further details nearer the time. 3 weeks to go.
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Osborne giving strangulated voice to his proposals for Plan B, Plan A having failed. It seems to consist of planned austerity and pain for us for years ahead, much greater borrowing also years ahead (£110 billion extra), lower growth, higher unemployment and reduced public sector pay and benefits. He and his colleagues have no answer to the crisis. The blame game now ongoing between him and Balls.
Mark Golding
Shame on you for fiddling with history while war unfolds in Syria.
Neither US nor Russia nor UK nor Israel wiil ever drop one missile on their own pet pit-bull Iran. You have always stood squarely shoulder to shoulder with the Shi’a in Iraq and constantly cried Wolf about war against Iran. Enough is enough.
The Syrian people are gathered en masse to reject the coalition of the entire world, who worship at the altar of Zionism, imposing regime change on them to suit their gods and masters from Israel who hold the world’s economies in their Fagin grasp. You will see them force Syria to an orthodox Muslim Taliban- style theocracy, brokered in London with fat, state-kept asylum seekers from all around the Muslim world.
People who live on UK military pensions ought to be banned from commenting here, because they know 100% the side their bread is buttered on. Maybe you will go and distribute leaflets in Syria with your live contacts and inside information.
I want to put it on the record, that I am not afraid to speak against the Islamists who collaborate with the enemies of Islam, because they really really don’t know how devious the West is.
No good will ever come from this collaboration. This is a statement for which I am prepared to hang. No good for Islam will ever come from this collaboration. Amen.
Azra, yes, naturally, most of the agents will be Iranian, or of Iranian origin. The officers who run them will be Persian-fluent British, French, American (though some of those too will be of Iranian origin).
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Fedup, let me emphasise that these divisions – Dari, etc. – are somewhat artificial, even though they seem to have become accepted by many people. The Persian spoken and written in Afghanistan is the same language as the Persian spoken in Iran; there are words which the Shah removed and the mullahs added (in Iran, for political reasons), but it’s the same language. Indeed, it might be argued that the Persian spoken in Afghanistan in many ways is actually closer to Classical Persian than that spoken in Iran. So, there are differences right across the Iranian plateau, within and outwith Iran, but it’s the same language. The writer, Shusha Guppy, who was Iranian, always maintained that these divisions were simply Western tactics to split people up: divide-and-rule. The language is ‘Persian’ – when speaking or writing in English, we do not refer to ‘Francais’ or ‘Deutsch’, so why, when speaking or writing in English, would we refer to ‘Persian’ as ‘Farsi’ or ‘Dari’?
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In any case, what precisely are you trying to argue here? That there are not lots of spies, spying on Iran? I think that is naive and pointless. Regardless of views on linguistics, I would sugggest that there are likely to be many people spying on Iran (and many others, spying for the Iranian regime, and some, working for both).
Suhayl
Nearly all working for both and more besides
Absolutely spot on Suhyal. There have always been spies in Iran (or any other country for that matter). I know that my own Great uncle was working for CIA during Shah’s regime (I found that out purely by chance and never spoke to him after that, an absolute traitor), regarding Dari and Farsi, etc… you are again right, Afghanis speak Persian with a different accent, the same applies to various regions of Iran. We all speak Persian, understand each other, but there is a very slight variation and might have few but very few regional “slang/words” .
Protesters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, have broken into the UK embassy compound during an anti-British demonstration.
Militant students are said to have removed the British flag, burnt it and replaced it with Iran’s flag. State TV showed youths smashing embassy windows …
The UK’s Foreign Office said it was “outraged” by the actions …
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15936213
“Students were reported to be ransacking offices inside the building, and one protester was said to be waving a framed picture of Queen Elizabeth II.
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“Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency said embassy documents had been set alight. Embassy staff fled by the back door, the agency added.”
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Wow, this’ll cause high jinks
As we thought they would say, Breivik is declared insane. A Norwegian cover-up.
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Norway massacre: Breivik declared insane
This composite image shows Breivik after (left) and before the attacks
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Norway Attacks
The victims
How attacks happened
Breivik profile
Test of justice
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Psychiatrists assessing self-confessed Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik have concluded that he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
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They believe he was in a psychotic state both during and after the twin attacks on 22 July that led to the deaths of 77 people and injured 151.
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Their report must still be reviewed by a panel of forensic psychiatrists.
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Breivik will still be tried in April but it seems likely he will be placed in psychiatric care rather than prison.
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Breivik admits carrying out the attacks but has pleaded not guilty to charges, arguing that that the attacks were atrocious but necessary for his campaign to defend Europe against a Muslim invasion.
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The two psychiatrists who interviewed him on 13 occasions concluded that he lived in his “own delusional universe where all his thoughts and acts are guided by his delusions”, prosecutors told reporters.
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/…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15936276
“The UK’s Foreign Office said it was “outraged” by the actions …”
But not surprised, I hope? WTF did it expect?
Re Iran/UK embassy.
Splashed all over the Grauniads’ front page,a live update piece.
Cui bono?
Maybe Werrity’s seedlings have sprouted?
It’s eerie, the synchronicity betwee the BBC and the Grauniad. Almost as if they share a newsdesk.
Hmmmm?
“@AlArabiya_Eng: Iran police secure release of 6 British embassy staff taken hostage by hard-line students: Fars news agency AlArabiya”
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Not a peep on Sky News? Not the first time I read something on Twitter *more than an hour* before there was a word on Sky News. amazing.
Well, well, well, well, now suddenly there is a law against that!!!
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UK foreign policy hijacked by the unholy trinity of rats knackers; Werrity, Fox, Gould of Tel Aviv bent on starting a war no less. UK unilaterally sanctions the Iranian banks, and then some, etc. evidently all perfectly within the law!
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Whence Johnny foreigner has had enough and kicks up an unholy fuss, then suddenly eureka, and the discovery; there is law against that!
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“Under international law , including the Vienna Convention, the Iranian Government have a clear duty to protect diplomats and Embassies in their country and expect them to act urgently to bring the situation under control and ensure the safety of our staff and security of our property.” ,
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las leyes son buenas para el enemigo, “laws are good for the enemy”.
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What will Billy fourteen pints do now?
How the hell did Atlantic Bridge ever acquire charitable status in the first place?
A small cabal fomenting wars running almost parallel,possibly, to FCO policy?
Very strange indeed.
On this blog, if anything threatens Sunni populations, the commentators stay silent, sniggering up their sleeves.
This blog is anti-Islam, and pro-anything which is bad for Islam.
Anno,
put a sock in it! What is this sectarian cock-and-bull?
@ Anno
“On this blog, if anything threatens Sunni populations, the commentators stay silent, sniggering up their sleeves.
This blog is anti-Islam, and pro-anything which is bad for Islam.”
I couldn’t even tell you what a Sunni is or believes.Or are you just goading everyone into denial of your rant so that this site gets labelled a “pro-terrorist site.”
Just go away you silly sockpuppet.
Anno,
I suspect most people who comment here, won’t really have a clue, or be able to recognise the difference between the “Christians” from Northern Ireland – ie the Catholics and the Protestants or what their differences really are. They look the same, talk with the same accent and presumably believe in the same Jesus. Yet they’ve been fighting each other for years.
If you think most of us are any more wised up about the differences between different flavours of Islam, then I think you are mistaken.
We do however realise that most of these divisions and problems are the fault of us bloody Anglo-Saxons and Americans and our history of causing division and chaos in order to control, plunder and steal. The divisions themselves we don’t really understand.
Tony
Silly, yes in the old meaning of the word – simple.
I see things in black and white, and ignorance of what a Sunni is after a decade of war against Islam, could be interpreted as indifference. I will settle for the kinder word bigotry.
Not really ‘fiddling’ Anno, I am trying to modulate the power of intention by composing a number of feeble paths into the purist form and then Insha’llah draw people to it in the hope it will prevent war. I have been doing this since the Iraq war – just my belief that we can influence each other.
Guys I am in stitches here, just been reading the DM comments, and came across this;
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The hysterical DM article, and the comments thereof.
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thats terrible and once they get control off the embasy back they need identify those involved and deport them back to iran
– Sue Previsor, Doncaster, 29/11/2011 13:51
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Mind someone else had noticed it too; advising her of the geographical location of the would be deportees.!!!! (there is room for hope)
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We spend all the money on education to keep the great unwashed dumb, so that Murdoch can do the thinking for them.
@ Anno
“Silly, yes in the old meaning of the word – simple.
I see things in black and white, and ignorance of what a Sunni is after a decade of war against Islam, could be interpreted as indifference. I will settle for the kinder word bigotry.”
You’re so black and white it blinkers you from nuanced understanding.You have no idea of my beliefs or who iam so,to accuse me of bigotry is rude,wrong and,frankly,ignorant.
You are,of course,entitled to your views but FYI I was/am totally opposed to US/UK led wars in Iraq,Afghanistan/Libya.I am not religious in the slightest.To me these wars are largely about(illegal and despicable)profits and resources.The fact that i dont know about Sunnis reflects the fact that i am not religious and have no interest in such matters.
It seems your black and white purview enables you to call someone a bigot,but it merely reveals shallowness and petty judgementalism on your part.
You should maybe consider other colours than black and white sometimes-if only to reject them after consideration.
@anno, you’re talking tosh again. Regular readers will have already seen I’ve tried to reason with you when it comes to your religious zealotry, but you won’t ever budge an inch. If you can’t see that this blog is predominantly on your side, then you are politically self-sabotaging.
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The problem is *not* that the world has not converted to Islam. The problem, is, and always has been, that there is greed in the world, and it is difficult to ameliorate. Both the greedy and the propagandised are opposed to the vision of people who want a better society.
“If the Security Service, like the court, had rigorously analysed the available evidence, they would never have concluded that she was a Russian spy and we would not be here today. Their case was built entirely on speculation, prejudice and conjecture. It was amateur, poorly researched and compared very unfavourably to the counter-espionage work conducted by the FBI in recent years.”
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Yeah, MI5. Incompetent fuckwits, in search of a headline. That sounds about right.
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Useless, plodding, fucking plods.
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God help us, and all who sail in us.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hHIw_zh5zsTX5H5IUmSvt-m8SoFA?docId=N0141281322559511986A