The shocking death of Lee Rigby quite naturally appals us all. The intention of the crazed little group who conceived this killing was to make it as horrible as possible in order to scare people.
Horrible, sociopathic violence happens to people from time to time. They have done since Cain killed Abel, metaphorically or literally as you choose. Here is another headline today, just as horrific:
A British soldier has been jailed for stabbing a 10-year-old boy after getting drunk on vodka while serving in Afghanistan.
Both that obscene attack and Michael Adebolajo’s appalling actions are borne out of the same conflict. But it is reasonable to suppose that both these incidents involved people with, for whatever reason, a pre-disposition to murderous violence.
Such people have always been with us and will always be with us, but fortunately they are very, very few. In a nation of 60 million, involvement in violent crime is very low. If you are the victim of criminal violence, the odds over the last decade are about one in twenty thousand that the violence inflicted on you will have any linkage to political or terrorist causation. And the odds that you will suffer any kind of violent attack are thankfully pretty remote.
We should not panic from theatrical violence, just deplore and take sober stock. Sadly if a lunatic on the bus decides to strangle you tomorrow, there are no pre-emptive laws that can stop that. We should stop pretending that the state can always prevent.
Mary-Mary-Quite-Contrary faxed :
“A suspected U.S. reconnaissance drone crashed on Tuesday in southern Somalia, where African forces are fighting Islamist al Shabaab insurgents, the rebels and the provincial governor said.”
So it’s a fair question to ask – is Islamism a real phenomenon taking place in many parts of the world, or not?
As they move around their bomb-scared city, I wonder what the people of Damascus must think when they see media images of events in Woolwich.
They must surely be grateful that William Hague is only going to supply heavy weaponry to those despot-backed bringers of democracy.How relieved they must be that he didn’t threaten to supply their enemies with kitchen utensils.
Sorry. It’s too sick even to parody.
I cheered when early news suggested that Europe would refuse the mad-dog demands to “arm the rebels to save lives”. More the fool me.
Vive l’Europe? Well not this time.
Thanks for your reply Suhayl. You are at the ‘coal face’ of course.
This damned coalition’s plan is to to limit provision generally. They talk all the time of ‘hospital* treatment even being dangerous’ and ‘integrated health and social care in the home is the answer’. For years, many GP practices have been performing that duty, employing very competent people. So – old man, sick woman, stay out of hospital, and put up with a care worker/assistant dashing in for 15 minutes. Next they will be saying – buzz off, pay for your own care. Sell your house if you have one and use your savings if you have any. If not, tough.
*The latest is a scare about the risk of operations performed on Fridays compared to Mondays. The media including the BBC pump out such stuff daily.
29 May 2013
Surgery ‘has growing death risk through the week’
People who have surgery towards the end of the week are more likely to die than those who have procedures earlier on, researchers say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22687599
Can you hear the screams?
29 May 2013 Last updated at 08:38
UK admits extended detention of Afghans at Camp Bastion
Under international rules, detainees can normally be held for 96 hours
UK troops in Afghanistan
Military deaths in Afghanistan
Roadside bombs ‘deadliest weapon’
Changing role of UK troops
Q&A: Foreign forces in Afghanistan
British forces are detaining 80 to 90 Afghan nationals in a holding facility at Camp Bastion, ministers have confirmed.
UK lawyers acting for eight of the men said they had been held for up to 14 months without charge in what could amount to unlawful detention.
They compared it to when the public became aware of Guantanamo Bay and they want the UK High Court to free the men.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said their release would put troops at risk.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22699473
There is no mention of prison facilities in this info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Bastion so where are they being held and under what conditions?
jemand
islamic insurgents cannot be all that evil if w. Hague wants to supply those in Syria with arms. Perhaps they belong to a different branch of islam.
Access to new mothers in maternity wards is being given to the privateers.
Alice Roberts: Why are Bounty reps allowed on maternity wards?
The NHS has no business to be handing new mums ‘Bounty packs’ and advertising leaflets for private services
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/apr/28/alice-roberts-pregnancy-bounty-nhs
A representative from the NCT has just been saying on Sky News that Bounty pay the NHS for this access and then get commission on future sales.
Company Check – Bounty (uk) Limited is an Active business incorporated in England & Wales on 29th June 1959. Their business activity is recorded as Other Professional, Scientific And Technical Activities N.e.c.. Bounty (uk) Limited is run by 5 current members. and 1 company secretary. 1 shareholders own the total shares within the company. It is also part of a group.
The latest Annual Accounts submitted to Companies House for the year up to 31/12/2011 reported ‘cash at bank’ of £38,611,000, ‘liabilities’ worth £8,068,000, ‘net worth’ of £43,213,000 and ‘assets’ worth £50,898,000. Bounty (uk) Limited’s risk score was amended on 12/02/2013.
The first named director Ian Beswetherick has six directorships
The combined cash at bank value for all of Ian’s current businesses is £40,046,000, with a combined assets value of £142,521,000 and liabilities of £96,197,000.
http://companycheck.co.uk/director/907984902
Doing very nicely.
Maybe Billy Hague and his political friends would like to take a holiday in Syria to see what kind of society they will be instrumental in making. It looks like the British haven’t learnt much since the days of the Mandate for Palestine.
“Omar Bakri Mohammed, the radical Islamist cleric [that] Adebolajo was exposed to who claimed to have converted him, is banned from the UK over extremist activities including alleged links to al-Qa’ida. At the same time he is active in recruiting fighters in the Lebanon, where he now lives, for the Syrian opposition – some of whom will end up with equipment being supplied by the UK Government.” [for equipment, read arms]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/did-mi5-blunder-over-woolwich-killers-we-will-never-know-8631565.html
thanks Oddie
Can I ask if anyone has found — or can make? — a transcript of the *fullest available version* of the ‘killer video’? I’m finding it annoying that so many people have immediately (and obediently) flown off on the ‘Islam was the reason!’ tangent, rather than actually paying attention to the words that were recorded. As always, everyone is rewarding everyone else for saying the things that they all find most flattering… Thus we get the following from that intellectual, moral and grammatical titan, Russell Brand:–
“Then I watched the mobile phone clip. In spite of his
dispassionate intoning the subject is not rational, of
course he’s not rational, he’s just murdered a stranger
in the street, he says, because of a book.”
— and off we go: “Eloquently, and perceptively written Russell” … “Perfect analysis of this situation. I can’t fault this essay”…
… in spite of the fact that the guy didn’t sound ‘dispassionate’ and never seemed to mention ‘a book’…
Thing is, the crap-artist on the ITV news clip (“…Baghdad-style violence…”) talked over the first bit, leaving only this part audible:
—
“…I apologise that women had to witness this today, but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your governments [sic]. They don’t care about you.”
—
— Does anyone have the rest…??
M.
Anyone except B.Liar and Bush can end up at The Hague.
29 May 2013 Last updated at 11:44
Six Bosnian Croat leaders convicted of war crimes
Breaking news
A UN tribunal has found six former Bosnian Croat leaders guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1990s Balkan wars.
They were convicted of persecuting and murdering Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and other non-Croats in a plan to create an ethnic Croat state in Bosnia.
The court in The Hague jailed Jadranko Prlic, the leader of the self-proclaimed state, for 25 years.
The other five men received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 25 years.
Has the oxygen of publicity precipitated this or has Hammond been given a kick up the ….?
BREAKING NEWS:The MoD says it will now ‘restart’ the process to hand over Afghans detained at Camp Bastion to Afghan authorities
April – Hammond was on R4 at 8.10 this morning being interviewed by Davies, after Phil Shiner had been speaking about this; it was interesting they didn’t let Shiner put his points directly; I thought Hammond sounded distinctly uncomfortable even though it was a typical soft-ball approach by Evan.
Ian Duncan Smith combines so called ‘austerity’ measures with national security by proposing further hardship to disabled and technically unemployed families by cutting housing benefit to claimants under 25 years and capping benefit to families with more than two children.
The £3 billion could go to riot control, crowd control, drones and surveillance according to a local LibDem, while some families starve considering the 20% rise in food prices.
Agent Cameron still considers food banks are gratuitous, needless and pointless considering the amount of state benefit people out of work or ill receive.
I propose our politicians, i.e. those war-mongers and plotters who represent us, curtail their own expenses and reduce their own bread and bacon instead of bottling the poor.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/spending-review/10083049/Iain-Duncan-Smith-cut-welfare-to-fund-police-and-Forces.html
Okay, someone has just sent me the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Nw5wJIq-pc
The TV presenter is quite a specimen (hear what he says right after the clip!); but the video does contain this:
—
“The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by [sic] British soldiers and this British soldier is one: it is ‘a [sic] eye for a [sic] eye, and a tooth for a tooth’. By Allah — we swear by the almighty Allah — we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. So what if we want to live by the the Sharia in Muslim lands? Why does that mean you must follow us and chase us and call us extremists and kill us? Rather *you lot* are extreme: *you* are the ones… When you drop a bomb, do you think it picks one person? Or rather your bomb wipes out a whole family? This is the reality. By Allah, if I saw your mother today with a buggy, I would help her up the stairs. This is my nature. But we are forced by the Qu’ran, in Sura At-Tawba[?], through many, many Ayat[?] throughout the Qu’ran, that we must fight them as they fight us, ‘an eye for a eye and a tooth for a tooth’. We… I apologise that women had to witness this today; but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your governments [sic]: they don’t care about you. You think David Cameron is gonna get caught in the street when we start busting our guns? Do you think your politicians are going to die? No, it’s going to be the average guy like you, and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so we can… so you can all live in peace. Leave our lands and you will live in peace. That’s all I have to say to you. [additional unintelligible sentence, possibly containing Arabic; allegedly ‘Allah’s peace and bledssings be upon you’].”
—
Someone please re-post with corrections if I’ve got anything wrong.
M.
Tonight on BBC2, episode 1 of 3. The Iraq War.
Regime Change
Episode 1 of 3
Duration: 1 hour
The people at the top of the CIA and Saddam’s foreign minister describe just how the US and Britain got it so wrong about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction before the invasion.
Tony Blair recounts how he flew to President Bush’s private retreat at Camp David to go head to head with Vice President Dick Cheney. Colin Powell explains how he came to make his disastrous presentation to the United Nations. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw describes how he – and even President Bush himself – tried to persuade Tony Blair that to join in the invasion was political suicide.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b021v4cg
The logo on this T shirt is apt.
http://www.fearandclothing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/bbc-bullshit.jpg
I hope Mr Purnell has been ensuring that his previous master’s interests have been protected in this production and that his name is not besmirched.
@ KingOfWelshNoir
“@Habbabkuk
1. I would regard the government arrogating to itself the power to steam open my electronic mail every day as a grotesque violation of my privacy and a diminution of my freedom.”
_______________
Your answer, for which I thank you, raises a couple of points and questions.
1/. I was under the impression that the proposed legislation provides that a record of calls made and received should be kept for a number of years and made available upon request to the authorities. Reading the content of any particular communication (which I suppose is what you mean by “steaming open my electronic mail”) will, I understand, require a warrant.If this is so, it is no more than the power that already exists under current law wrt the mail and telephone calls.
2/. Are you not conflating an “invasion of privacy” and “a diminution of freedom”?
If you’re saying that an invasion of privacy automatically brings about a diminution of freedom, then I’m not sure that you’re right. But I’m willing to be convinced by reasoned argument.
If, however, you do not think that there is an automatic (consequential) link, and that an invasion of privacy and a diminution of freedom are two separate and unlinked phenomena, then it would be interesting to hear the reasoning which makes you claim that keeping a record of emails sent and received can diminish freedom.
Thanks for that Rose. I did not hear it.
Mark. Have you seen this? It is yet another death of a person judged fit for work. The poor soul. Will IDS weep for her? No.
Linda Wootton’s last weeks were made a misery after being judged fit for work
As she lay dying in her hospital bed, she got a letter saying her £108.05 a week employment and support allowance would be axed
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/linda-woottons-last-weeks-were-1918229
@ Mark D :
Irrespective of what I think about the substance of your posts, I intinctively warm to a man who is handy with a “sic” 🙂
PS – watch out for Doug Scorgie, though : toooo many sics just sic-ken him, the sensitive soul.
Mark,
This site claims to have the full text
http://www.meforum.org/3514/woolwich-killing
The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British solidiers, and this British soldier is one, is a eye for a eye and a tooth for a tooth. By Allah, we swear by the Almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. So what if we want to live by the sharia in Muslim lands. Why does that mean you must follow us and chase us and call us extremists and kill us? Rather you are extreme. You the ones. When you drop a bomb, do you think it hits one person, or rather your bomb wipes out a whole family. This is the reality. By Allah if I saw your mother today with a buggy I would help her up the stairs. This is my nature. But we are forced by the Qur’an in Sura at-Tauba [Chapter 9 of the Koran], through many, many ayah [verses] throughout the Koran that [say] we must fight them as they fight us, a eye for a eye and a tooth for a tooth. I apologize that women had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your governments. They don’t care about you. Do you think David Cameron is gonna get caught in the street when we start busting our guns? Do you think the politicians are going to die? No it’s going to be the average guy, like you, and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so we ca.., so you can all live in peace. Leave our lands and you will live in peace. That’s all I have to say. Allah’s peace and blessings be upon Muhammad …
Mark D. Sun News is a Canadian outfit (Toronto Sun, Montreal Sun etc) and the presenter of The Source is:
About Ezra Levant
Hailed as “Canada’s no.1 defender of free speech,” best-selling author, lawyer, blogger and general trouble-maker, Calgary’s Ezra Levant is one of Canada’s best-known conservative pundits. A veteran journalist, Ezra covered national politics, the Supreme Court and the Middle East for the National Post and founded the Western Standard magazine, the only Canadian media outlet to publish the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. His best-selling books include Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights and Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands. His non-televised rants appear at ezralevant.com
Sun News
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_News_Network
Headed by a Canadian version of Andy Coulson (when he was at No 10 that is. Coulson is now spinning against Boris in a magazine article!).
Sun News is headed by Kory Teneycke, VP of development for Quebecor and a former director of communications and chief spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
@ Mark Golding :
“Ian Duncan Smith combines so called ‘austerity’ measures with national security by proposing further hardship to disabled and technically unemployed families by cutting housing benefit to claimants under 25 years and capping benefit to families with more than two children.”
——
I’m aware that the following comments will probably bring a barrage of abuse down on my head, along the lines of “grinding down the poor” and “this is a well-off, heartless bastard who’s talking”, etc, but never mind. None of it would be accurate in its essentials.
1/. There are obviously good and understandable reasons why some ‘children’ don’t want to – or can’t – live with their parent(s). But, generally speaking, is there any good reason why ‘children’ under 25 (assume that they are not married)should not live with their parent(s)and insist, instead, on living on their own? After all, the phenomenon of people under 25 living with their parents is widespread in many continental European families, not to say in countries further afield. If people under 25 do however insist on leaving home and setting up house for themselves – without having to (see above) – must one agree that they have an automatic right to be supported by the state? Is this not a question of life-style which, it could be argued, has certain consequences?
2/. Idem, I suppose, wrt to parents who choose to have more than 2 children. Again, I realise that people have children for all sorts of reasons (and that there are ‘accidents’, but could the same argument not reasonably be made, ie, that a decision to have more children than one can support by oneself comes down to personal choice and is therefore one for which the state (taxpayers) should not be deemed to have to assume responsibility? (NB – of course any changes in the direction indicated should in fairness probably only apply to ‘new’ parents/children and not to existing families with more than 2 children).
More generally, I think one has to wait for a while before judging whether the outcome/results of the benefit changes are as negative as many assert. Is it not a little early to pass judgement?
Let the abuse commence!
@Habbabkuk
It’s a visceral thing rather than a purely logical one, I admit that. The proposals, as far as I can see, entail recording one’s browsing history. Proponents argue that only the website address not the content is recorded, but that is a specious distinction because when you know the web page address you automatically know the content. I can’t speak for you but my experience has been that one’s browsing history gives a frighteningly intimate portrait of the soul. I mean, have you ever used a computer at a friend’s house and typed something into Google and been presented with a list of previously asked questions, such as ‘What are the symptoms of leukaemia?’ I have been in such a situation and I found it profoundly disturbing to be vouchsafed such an intimate glimpse of my friend’s private life. Similarly, the fact that the content of the emails is not being read (at the moment) is hardly reassuring because the record of whom you write to is also enormously revealing. Are you perhaps having an illicit but not illegal affair? Are you talking to the competitors of your current company, looking for a job? It doesn’t require much effort to imagine other such scenarios that one would like, and has the right to expect, be kept private. The problem with this information being kept – apart from the simple principle that it is none of the State’s damn business – is that it remains for longer than the stated time, and would almost certainly be hacked. And yes I am conflating an invasion of privacy with a dimuntion of one’s personal freedom. I’m not saying that the link is automatic but surely most reasonable people would agree that the people of the former GDR are more free now than when the STASI snooped on every aspect of their lives. If a policeman follows me every day of my life, watching, keeping tabs, taking notes, am I not less free? These are not trivial points. I have seen you in the past point out to commenters that they are free to criticise the government in ways that many people in other countries around the world would never dare. Too true. I’m not trying to don some phoney cloak of nobility but it is true that the freedoms we take for granted were paid for in the blood of some very brave men and women. I’m sure you would agree with that. Therefore it seems to me it behoves us to be always on our guard for attempts to take those freedoms away.
In urgent need of someone who knows a good bit about German Law, not my forte. Please get in touch.
Jon, I hereby enable you to release my email address to whoever would like to help.
Thank you.
Mark D.
Well that was a convincing reposte that Islam had nothing to do with the Woolwich murder.
Mark D – Thankyou for shining some light on this.
The full video appears more authentic to me. Perhaps it was not faked and the public and police’s response was shambolic, and medias response typical bollocks.
Mark D.
What you should focus on with the statement by the person appearing in the video is how out of touch he is with the thoughts and beliefs of a genuine Moslem. In fact, he appears to support the ‘official’ view of the word, with a real faith in Western Democracy when he calls on the ‘people’ to remove ‘their’ government.
He also seems to have a confused ‘cartoon’ version of Islam in his head. The Moslem killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are being killed in ‘his lands’, i.e. Moslem countries, but he wants Cameron to bring ‘our troops’ back.
Just the idea that thisperson is being presented as some kind of Moslem in the press is a joke, no wonder British Moslems are angry about this, it is stereotypical bunk written by amateurs.
To paraphrase out Jittering Jihadist, I’m sorry women had to read these words. Only women may read these words. By Allah it’s bullshit. Now, where did I put leave my Sharia?
Why is plod asking for witnesses and for ‘any information’? 1pm News ITV and BBC.
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-05-29/police-appeal-for-witnesses-to-woolwich-murder/
The case is not that Islam had nothing to do with it, it is that war is central to it. Is it killing for religions sake, or terrorisms sake or for wars sake?
Was Lee Rigby slaughtered for not being muslim? It doesnt seem so, the killer said he did it for war.
Naive to the extreme – unbelievable! We have to assume that every child (birth certifcate) is an asset to the financial system in this paradigm. Also the majority of young people who need a place to live are single parents and couples, a majority with/having children.
One of the most basic human rights is for somewhere safe and stable to live, yet homelessness continues to be one of the worst social problems in Britain today.
Suitable accommodation is vital to a stable life that includes education, employment and healthy relationships. Young people are more vulnerable to poor health, involvement in crime and substance misuse, sexual exploitation, unemployment and dependency on benefits when they don’t have a safe place to live.
Homeless families find themselves living transitory and uncertain lives. They never know when they will have to move, and basic essentials like a school place or doctor become major problems. Temporary/parent accommodation offers children no stimulation or room to play, which can lead to depression or aggressive behaviour.
At the same time, there is clear evidence that homelessness is increasing, with homelessness acceptances by local authorities 14% higher in 2011 than the year before
and recorded rough sleeping 23% higher in Autumn 2011 than in Autumn 2010. This increase in homelessness is in part the result of poor economic growth since the 2008 recession and the high unemployment it has caused. The Government’s welfare benefit reforms have the potential to amplify this effect of the economic downturn and further increase homelessness. Reductions in Housing Benefit, resulting from changes to Local Housing Allowance, inclusion of people aged up to 35 in the Shared Accommodation Rate and changes to non-dependent deductions,will increase the financial strain on people surviving on low incomes.
Source: Barnardo’s and Office for National Statistics.
I wrote out the entire video ‘statement’ in the hope that people will find it useful to be able to present (or read) the whole text: as it is, what we are getting in the corporate media and its various peanut galleries is something between cherry-picked extracts and a game of ‘Chinese whispers’…
Maddest of all, people are hearing an impressive set of perfectly factual references to US/UK foreign policy … and then turning to me and saying “See! See! I told you it was all about Islam!”
And now for some comedy:
http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2013/05/the-greenwalding-of-terry-eagleton.html
M.