The Ubiquity of Evil 4215


My world view changed forever when, after 20 years in the Foreign Office, I saw colleagues I knew and liked go along with Britain’s complicity in the most terrible tortures, as detailed stunningly in the recent Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee Report. They also went along with keeping the policy secret, deliberately disregarding all normal record taking procedures, to the extent that the Committee noted:

131. We note that we have not seen the minutes of these meetings either: this causes us great concern. Policy discussions on such an important issue should have been minuted. We support Mr Murray’s own conclusion that were it not for his actions these matters may never have come to light.

The people doing these things were not ordinarily bad people; they were just trying to keep their jobs, comforting themselves with the thought that they were only civil servants obeying orders. Many were also actuated by the nasty “patriotism” that grips in time of war, as we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Almost nobody in the FCO stood up against the torture or against the illegal war – Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Carne Ross and I were the only ones to leave over it.

I then had the still more mortifying experience of the Foreign Office seeking to punish my dissent by bringing a series of accusations of gross misconduct – some of them criminal – against me. The people bringing the accusations knew full well they were false. The people investigating them knew they were false from about day 2. But I was put through a hellish six months of trial by media before being acquitted on all the original counts (found guilty of revealing the charges, whose existence was an official secret!). The people who did this to me were people I knew.

I had served as First Secretary in the British Embassy in Poland, and bumped up startlingly against the history of the Holocaust in that time, including through involvement with organising the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. What had struck me most forcibly was the sheer scale of the Holocaust operation, the tens of thousands of people who had been complicit in administering it. I could never understand how that could happen – until I saw ordinary, decent people in the FCO facilitate extraordinary rendition and torture. Then I understood, for the first time, the banality of evil or, perhaps more precisely, the ubiquity of evil. Of course, I am not comparing the scale of what happened to the Holocaust – but evil can operate on different scales.

I believe I see it again today. I do not believe that the majority of journalists in the BBC, who pump out a continual stream of “Corbyn is an anti-semite” propaganda, believe in their hearts that Corbyn is a racist at all. They are just doing their job, which is to help the BBC avert the prospect of a radical government in the UK threatening the massive wealth share of the global elite. They would argue that they are just reporting what others say; but it is of course the selection of what they report and how they report it which reflect their agenda.

The truth, of which I am certain, is this. If there genuinely was the claimed existential threat to Jews in Britain, of the type which engulfed Europe’s Jews in the 1930’s, Jeremy Corbyn, Billy Bragg, Roger Waters and I may humbly add myself would be among the few who would die alongside them on the barricades, resisting. Yet these are today loudly called “anti-semites” for supporting the right to oppose the oppression of the Palestinians. The journalists currently promoting those accusations, if it came to the crunch, would be polishing state propaganda and the civil servants writing railway dockets. That is how it works. I have seen it. Close up.


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4,215 thoughts on “The Ubiquity of Evil

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  • Stu

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/16/bolivian-president-evo-morales-new-residence-is-as-imposing-as-it-is-divisive-la-paz

    The Neocon Guardian at it again. Evo Morales is a disgrace for building a new government building, for running for President completely legitimately and for people having cancer.

    There’s no overt sponsor on this article but it’s clear that whoever is bankrolling the Guardian now is getting their money’s worth. There is endless propaganda against the nations the USA dislikes but very little to be said about the situation in Brazil, Thailand or Egypt. It took Owen Jones to fact check the smears against Corbyn’s trip to Tunisia, surely it should have been a news journalist?

    • Xavi

      They were never going to condemn the coup by glaringly corrupt neoliberals in Brazil, not least because Barack’s response to it was “how may I assist?”‘

  • Sharp Ears

    In my post about the BBC’s legal costs ref Cliff Richard, did you notice that the BBC employed Gavin Millar, QC?

    He is at Matrix Chambers which was founded by Mrs C. BLiar and Ken MacDonald, now a peer.

    Gavin is brother of Fiona Millar, Cherie’s paid aide and wife of Alastair Campbell, BLiar’s trumpet etc. Cosy isn’t it?

    ‘Keep it in the family
    12:00AM BST 15 Jul 2000

    PARANOIA can be only a whisper away for the Prime Minister. Not only does his wife take up legal cudgels against the Government, but in the High Court yesterday, the NUT inflicted a defeat on the Government’s pay policy in schools. The union was represented by Gavin Millar QC – who happens to be the brother of Fiona Millar, Cherie’s personal assistant and consort to Alastair Campbell.’

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4253059/Keep-it-in-the-family.html

    • fwl

      There didn’t use to be that many left wing barristers. Theirs was a small world. It used to be Wellington St, Tooks, Doughty, Garden Court and (Cloisters). Now?

  • Chris Friel

    Apologies for the self-promotion, my motive is to get some serious investigation going into the anti-Corbyn smear campaign that probably has links to the militaristic Henry Jackson Society – but this needs establishing. And thanks for those who viewed “They Came Back.” I rushed it out yesterday, but at least it got 360 views that day.
    The details are not clear about CemeteryGate, and the narrative is in the hands of those who have an anti-Corbyn agenda, and I believe they distort. So, we need to let the light in. I think of my amateur efforts as basically a resource needing a “proper” journalist to take over.
    Like, it seems as though Corbyn’s account of commemorating the 1985 victims may well be vindicated if, as it seems, they are commemorated close by where the photos are shown. And we need to ask, just who was behind the Mail’s revisiting of that story – and follow up those who had detailed Twitter threads that painted a distorting picture (insofar as they did).
    So, anyway, I have had some success, since over 2000 have viewed the detailed research, MuralGaga. And I have nine other related pieces that I introduced in a thread. I seldom get retweets, though. Actually I had never tweeted before until I tweeted my long essay in 400 tweets, which I did because I was getting no response. So, if you want to get promote my aim, namely to get some serious attention to the way the Israel Lobby is working against Corbyn, do please consider retweeting. For example:
    https://twitter.com/ChrisFriel7/status/1029996235950882816

    • MAB

      This is not the first time the email ran with this story, they published it in 2017 too after the election.

      That it went nowhere then, when no election was round the corner, but did this time when right wing media have clearly been informed an election is coming and are winding up the rhetoric. So this time they all joined in on a story that just 10 months ago they thought unimportant, guardian included, without even the briefest of fact checks. I would suggest that any critical thinker would look at that and know the story is untrue from the start.

        • MightyDrunken

          “There is absolutely no chance of an election”

          I don’t know about that. Exit from the EU will have a negative impact on the economy. A U-turn on Brexit is likely to have an impact on the party responsible. Seems a lose-lose situation to me.

          If the entire MSM can attack Corbyn about nothing for months on end, think what they can when he leads the country. Everything that goes wrong is his fault. So as long as his position is weak this strategy could work. A walk out of the Blairites would collapse the government and the Conservatives come back in.

          Hmm, I hope I am not giving anyone any ideas.

          • Stu

            If Blairites collapsed the government they would get kicked out the party and their would be another election.

            The most recent polls show the Tories 5 points below their 2017 result and they will not get the same fawning media narrative next time. There is no chance they will call a GE under the current circumstances.

  • Republicofscotland

    So Boris Johnson’s jaunt to Afghanistan cost the taxpayer £20,000 pounds as he fled the country to avoid the vote. Johnson a man of “integrity” said he’d lie in front of the bulldozers to stop the runway being built if necessary.

    “Boris Johnson’s visit to Afghanistan during a crucial vote on expanding Heathrow airport cost taxpayers at least £20,000, according the newly released documents from the Foreign Office. ”

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-heathrow-vote-uxbridge-mp-afghanistan-visit-foreign-secretary-third-runway-a8493866.html

    Meanwhile the press, like a skip capped drug dealer teaching their pitbull dog to bite onto something and not let go. Are now pointing out that Corbyn was mingling with know terrorists at Wreathgate.

    “Jeremy Corbyn laid a wreath at the grave of terrorist masterminds alongside the leader of a group who murdered a British rabbi a month later.”

    “The Labour leader was pictured next to Maher al-Taher, leader-in-exile of proscribed Palestinian terror organisation the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, at the ceremony in Tunis in October 2014.”

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7027129/jeremy-corbyn-laid-wreath-at-terror-grave-with-leader-of-group-who-murdered-british-rabbi-in-synagogue-attack-a-month-later/

    This Corbyn saga, will run longer than the Centennial Light bulb, if the media has its way.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light

  • N_

    You know those arson attacks in several cities in Sweden, carried out by “groups of unknown masked men”?

    Well yesterday two mosques in Birmingham were attacked during evening prayers by thugs using catapults and ballbearings. It’s a good thing that nobody was physically injured.

    Make no mistake: the “copycat effect” may usually be given this rather cuddly name, but it is very real indeed, and everyone who has studied propaganda (whether in psychological warfare or advertising form) knows it. It is sometimes hard for decent people to take this on board, but there are some who intend to start “race war” in Britain and several other countries. They may well include officers working in security and intelligence services, and in the police and the armed forces, in which case in Britain at the moment the details of the viewpoint from which they are operating are unclear, and so is their relationship with their colleagues.

    Certainly it is a widely held view among members of the British army that the war fought in Afghanistan and Iraq is the same one that will soon break out in Birmingham and Bradford. This view is encouraged in the army. There has been no attempt to stamp it out. Not everyone in the army is into it, but it is certainly rife there, as anybody can check by spending some time on the army’s main webforum site, Arrse.co.uk.

    There is a “tipping point”, and some are deliberately pushing things towards it. The joint interests and outlook and cooperation between western and I__aeli intelligence and security services and “radical Islamists” is NOT limited to faraway places.

    • nevermind

      Would this weeks excesses have anything to do with Bannon meeting ReesMog, Gove, Johnson, as well as various European right wing group leaders..? Is Bannon trying to invoke a racial hiatus? A divided Europe.

      The AfD showed him the door, their party favours Bibi’s policies and actions.

      • N_

        To judge from Bannon’s frequent praise for Jean Raspail’s novel The Camp of the Saints, he’s certainly for race war.

        I haven’t followed his relations with the AfD in Germany. In Sweden there was talk of the Sweden Democrats and him not completely singing from the same page but I’m very sceptical. Both he and they are surely highly practical, otherwise they wouldn’t have got where they are, and there’s a general election in less than a month.

        Breitbart News was started with I__aeli support. (Source.)

      • Herbie

        “The AfD showed him the door, their party favours Bibi’s policies and actions.”

        But surely Bannon’s and Bibi’s policies are the same.

  • N_

    “Doctor to the queen” and “member of the royal medical household” Peter Fisher yesterday was killed by a lorry yesterday in Holborn, London.

    As a “world expert in homoeopathy”, he must necessarily have been involved with the Steinerite cult. That’s the same cult that Michael Gove has helped and Jacob Rees-Mogg has family connections with. Fisher was director of research at the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (which does some homeopathy) and president of the Faculty of Homeopathy. So he was mixed up with the cowhorn-burying, ultra-racist, rich, aggressive cult up to his eyebrows.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ N_ August 16, 2018 at 12:29
      ‘…As a “world expert in homoeopathy”, he must necessarily have been involved with the Steinerite cult…’
      It seems a bit of a leap to say he ‘must’ have been involved with the Steinerite cult, without any evidence.
      I did a quick search, but couldn’t find any links.

      • Anon1

        Well, would you believe it. N_ is so far gone he’s even being asked for evidence by conspiracy nut, Paul Barbara !!!

      • N_

        @Paul Barbara – If you mean links between homoeopathy and Steinerism, search on “Weleda” who produce such a big proportion of homoeopathic “remedies” (you may find what that company did in Dachau interesting too), and also on “Demeter”. It’s not about Samuel Hahnemann who died before Steiner was born and for all I know may have been a genuine guy; it’s about money and influence in the present time. Homoeopathy is a Steinerite business. They own the Weleda brand. (For the record, Triodos Bank is also theirs.)

        Here’s a link I just found that references a controversy focusing on Peter Fisher. There are references to Prince Charles’s “healthcare chums” which seem worth following up.

        Often when you get a group of medics or vets writing a big letter in favour of alternative or complementary this that or the other, they are a Steinerite gang. The same is true with “free schools”. Take a look at how the inspection system was reorganised. I hold no brief for mainstream medicine or “education” but that’s not the point. On the internet, the bastards combine sealioning with legal threats. A good entry point would be how they’ve dominated what’s allowed to be said about them on Mumsnet.

        Helen Saunders used to run a website exposing Steinerite influence in the Gloucestershire area, and at the DfE etc. – it was called “Stop Steiner in Stroud” – and she published some stuff about the Prince Charles connection too. She was found dead on a railway crossing in December.

        Then there are the “transition towns”. There’s a move for “independence for Totnes”. A lot will come out of the woodwork.

    • fwl

      Rudolf Steiner was opposed to the Nazis and they were opposed to him. He might have been v difficult to understand and I haven’t tried to but I wouldn’t describe his followers in the harsh terms which you have: a little bit middle class and keen on arts, dance and creativity is how they seem to me these days.

    • Republicofscotland

      Paul.

      Labour has no traction in Scotland, infact they’re so out of picture that even the Tories hold more seats at Holyrood than they do.

      Corbyn’s intermittent jaunts north of the border, are seen by the majority as feckless attempts to drum up support, for the branch office in Scotland.

      He’s not alone though, Theresa May’s and Vince Cable’s saunters north, both receive similar disdain by in large, as they visit their branch managers as well.

  • Trowbridge H. Ford

    Posters interested in how the 300 priests of the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania sexually abused children since WWII, and covered it up should consult the grand jury report on cryptome.org.

    • Courtenay Barnett

      Trowbridge,

      Actually – sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church goes back centuries.

      I attended a Catholic High School in Jamaica. Give the devil his due – the Jesuits do give a good education ( and I don’t mean – only – as in ‘sexual misconduct’.

      It was an all boys schools and I think that we pretty much had it figured out. Boys will be boys and men too need to get their ‘jollies’ off from time to time. Prohibit what comes naturally and if the libido can’t be expressed and vented, as we boys did with our girlfriends – then Father has to get it out some other way. It is called perversion, brought on by unnatural and unrealistic prohibitions imposed – so that the Priests are without natural sexual outlets nor family – and the Catholic Church gets all the richer as there are no families for the Fathers and Sisters to leave any worldly acquisitions to. It all goes to the Almighty Catholic Church.

      But – as I said – they did deliver a very good education and many of my mates have distinguished themselves in life.

      All in all – a very sorry situation for all the unfortunate victims.

      • Courtenay Barnett

        Hey Trowbridge,

        Your post prompted me to check online on my Alma Mata.

        Seems that the school is still doing well:-

        https://www.stgc.org/

        My only recollection of anyone inclining down the wrong way was a maths teacher who liked to give extra lessons and touch the nape of the boy’s neck while he explained maths problems. Guess some of them too got their ‘jollies’ in other far more mysterious ways.

        Why not just accept that we are hard wired for sex – and get on with it.

        Maybe I should write Pope Francis on this one – and explain why I think that both psychologically and physiologically abstention is a very bad and undesirable practice.

  • Republicofscotland

    The world’s oldest J**ish newspaper has really thrown down the gaunlet to anyone who supports Corbyn as leader of the Labour party.

    “From now on anyone who defends his leadership of the Labour Party is demonstrably defending a man who allies with terrorists — and then lies if it becomes an embarrassment. ”

    https://www.thejc.com/comment/leaders/jeremy-corbyn-s-lies-jc-leader-august-17-2018-1.468343

    To fair to the JC, they give it to Boris Johnson as well, over his revolting comments on face veils.

    https://www.thejc.com/comment/leaders/boris-johnson-burqa-niqab-shame-1.468132

      • Republicofscotland

        Actually anyone who has an iota of enlightenment on Scottish independence, knows fine well that the Express is vehemently anti-Scottish independence, and possibly even anti-Scottish to boot.

        As for the Express, Lord Beaverbrook, once owned it, claiming he kept it for purely propaganda purposes.

        • Carl

          Republicofscotland
          August 14, 2018 at 11:57
          Apologies for linking to the Express. Watch the short Farage clip, in which he takesdown a Labour supporter.

          To be fair, even the Express is more intelligent and principled in its propaganda efforts than you.

          • Republicofscotland

            Oops, so a pro-indy Scotsman linking to a story in a anti-Scottish independence news rag is propaganda..hmmm.

            Strange propaganda indeed.

    • Doug Scorgie

      It won’t be long before all supporters of Corbyn will be accused of being anti-Semites.

      • fedup

        They first reduced the Palestinians to unpeople status, then rest of the Arabs, then came the turn of Muslims, and now it is the turn of anyone who supports to the just causes of any of the above, or is sympathetic to the plight of the ever growing swathes of unpeople. Thus you have correctly analysed the ultimate trend of the current wave of antisemi…… smears.

    • N_

      Imagine Z__nists using the word “terrorism” as if it’s something they are against!
      How was their little Znazi regime set up again?

    • FranzB

      Speaking of those who ally themseves with terrorism, I see The Canary ran a piece on Netanyahu’s praise for Menachem Begin who was a member of Irgun. They were part of the various terrorist arms of the Zionist movement in Palestine. The Canary piece is about the bombing of the King David hotel in Jerusalem, which killed 91 people.

      https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2018/08/15/one-inconvenient-fact-just-blew-up-the-wreath-laying-smears-against-jeremy-corbyn/

  • Republicofscotland

    Looks like some of the rats could be getting set to flee the floundering HMS Brexitannia, which will ultimately be caught in the doldrums for years if not decades to come.

    “Farage – Gets his kids German passports.
    Christopher Chandler, pro-Brexit Legatum Institute founder – Buys a Maltese EU passport.”

    “Rees-Mogg – Launches 2 investment funds in Dublin.
    Redwood – Advises investors to pull money out of UK.
    Baker – Invests £70K in a firm that sells gold to avoid Brexit impact.
    Lawson – Applies for French residency.”

    https://mobile.twitter.com/DavidLammy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5E699320055859974149&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwingsoverscotland.com%2Fthe-different-numbers%2Fcomment-page-1%2F%23comments

  • N_

    What shop does Salih Khater work at a manager at, if indeed he does? Not much has been revealed about where he works or what his source of income is.

    BBC reporting

    Israr Rafiq, who also lives locally, said he thought Mr Khater just panicked. He said there were ambulances behind him and he would have just been trying to get out of the way.

    Why drive around all night beforehand? The event is very unlikely to have been an accident. Whether either the car or its driver were under another party’s control is another matter. Certainly at least one vehicle appeared to be following Khater’s car. If he doesn’t know how to handle a car when there’s an emergency vehicle behind him, it’s a surprise he managed to get as far as Westminster Bridge, because at any time central London has a lot of emergency vehicles with their sirens on.

    There are some truly idiotic quotes in the BBC article.

    Another man, who did not want to be named, said he knew Mr Khater, whom he said had gone to London to get a visa. He asked: ‘Would there have been this reaction if it was an old white man?’

    YES, there would! Anybody who drives into cyclists and pedestrians like that outside the Palace of Westminster, injuring two people, is going to get a bad press, whatever their skin colour. If this quote is genuine, then boneheaded white racists clearly have no monopoly on stupidity.

    Chairman of the Central Mosque in Birmingham, Nassar Mahmood, said he was ‘surprised and shocked and saddened’ after hearing about what happened in Westminster. He told the media he ‘understands that the gentleman had papers with him to renew his visa and had no intention to do any harm’. But, he added, Mr Khater was not believed to have worshipped at the mosque, which is close to the Highgate flat.

    Mahmood sounds like a moron. Why be surprised, if he doesn’t even know Khater? Not only does he not know him, but presumably he doesn’t have a list of everyone in the area who might do something like this. So why on earth make the comment that Khater had “no intention to do any harm”? Better just to say that he was shocked to hear of the event, hopes the injured people will make a speedy recovery, doesn’t know anything about Khater, and is ready to help the police investigation into the event if asked.

    • MaryPaul

      I saw a video of the immediate aftermath of the incident online. Which showed armed police all rushing over to his car and getting him out. He just looked bewildered and offered no resistance. He was casually dressed and not behaving belligerently he seemed more like dazed. Interesting police say he is not cooperating. I await further updates with interest.

  • Sharp Ears

    Cheerio. What nonsense.

    Video
    ‘We’re leaving the UK because of anti-Semitism’
    A leading lawyer and businesswoman say they are quitting the UK as they no longer feel safe because of anti-Semitism.
    Jewish couple, Mark Lewis and Mandy Blumenthal, say they have received so much abuse that “enough is enough” and will move to Israel in December.
    Ms Blumenthal lays part of the blame at the door of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
    Mr Corbyn has said that anti-Semitism “is not tolerated in any form” in his party.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-45201412/we-re-leaving-the-uk-because-of-anti-semitism

    Lewis was prominent in the Hacked Off/Leveson affair. Then he was a friend of the other prominent lawyer at the time, Charlotte Harris. She worked for Mishcon de Reya (Margaret Hodge’s solicitor in her anti Corbyn campaign). He seems to have found a new partner.

    Mark Lewis: My MS consultant told me not to do anything stressful – so I went after Murdoch’s phone-hackers
    22 November 2011
    https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/mark-lewis-my-ms-consultant-told-me-not-to-do-anything-stressful-so-i-went-after-murdochs-phone-6370688.html

    Who is Mandy Blumenthal? I smell rotting fish here.

    This – Mandy Blumenthal (@Mandyblumenthal) | Twitter
    https://twitter.com/mandyblumenthal?lang=en

    Proud To be Zionist/J.w/Israeli/British. … @Mandyblumenthal Really moved and saddened by your Telegraph article which I identify with completely. … Because he believes he’s fighting a powerful J.wish cabal that manipulates political opinion favour of Israel.
    https://twitter.com/mandyblumenthal?lang=en

    Top Google link for her.
    .

  • frances

    Hello, I hope all is well, just concerned that we haven’t heard from you in a bit….

  • Paul Barbara

    ‘FORMER YAZIDI SLAVE FLEES GERMANY AFTER BEING CONFRONTED BY HER ISIS CAPTOR-TURNED REFUGEE’:
    https://southfront.org/former-yazidi-slave-flees-germany-after-being-confronted-by-her-isis-captor-turned-refugee/
    ‘…“I froze when I looked at his face carefully,” she told the Kurdish news agency Bas News. “It was Abu Humam, with the same scary beard and ugly face.”
    “I am Abu Humam and you were with me for a while in Mosul. And I know where you live, with whom you live, and what you are doing,” the former ISIS member allegedly told Ashwaq Ta’lo during the encounter.

    The girl reported Humam to German Police. However, German authorities claimed that they have no grounds to arrest him.
    Thus, Ashwaq Ta’lo decided to leave Germany, believing that she would be safer in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, where her father lives.’

    Something very wrong here. Could this be because the ISIS geezer is known to the German police as a ‘friend of the West’?

  • Sharp Ears

    The BBC are now diverting away to the ‘Manchester Bomber’ and are accusing a Manchester imam of encouraging a jihad. No mention of the possible foreknowledge of his plan or of his background.

    Manchester mosque sermon ‘called for armed jihad’, say scholars
    By Ed Thomas and Noel Titheradge
    BBC News
    1 hour ago

    Hear from the man who ‘called for armed jihad’ at Didsbury Mosque
    A sermon at the mosque where the Manchester bomber worshipped called for the support of armed jihadist fighters, according to two Muslim scholars.
    An imam at Didsbury Mosque in December 2016 was recorded praying for “victory” for “our brothers and sisters right now in Aleppo and Syria and Iraq”.
    Scholars Usama Hasan and Shaykh Rehan said it referred to “military jihad”.
    The imam, Mustafa Graf, says his sermon did not call for armed jihad and he has never preached radical Islam.
    The recording the BBC obtained is of Friday prayers at the mosque six months before Salman Abedi detonated a suicide bomb following an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in May 2017.
    Abedi and his family regularly attended the mosque and his father sometimes led the call to prayer.
    /..
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44729727

    It’s taken 15 months to come up with this.

    • J

      The increasing focus on the Abedi’s role in David Camerons Libyan war? And perhaps Theresa May’s actions as home secretary, she allowed the Manchester bomber back into the country shortly before the bombing. If we’re talking about proximity to terrorists, I have difficulty imagining a more proximate position.

      Slander one’s oponent for one’s own crimes…

  • Squeeth

    Is Liarbour about to capitulate to the zionist antisemites or is the Graun trying to bounce Corbyn into doing his Capitulation Man routine?

      • Deb O'Nair

        “To be perfectly honest, I find it difficult to understand what Labour really stands for or what it represents right now. It doesn’t feel like my party any more.”

        Says the multi-millionaire tax avoider.

          • Deb O'Nair

            Yes, London is the best place on the planet from which to avoid tax – so much expertise on hand. And with that ‘light touch’ practiced by the financial regulators it’s virtually encouraged.

      • Dungroanin

        Didn’t he just land a ‘gimmee’ gig rehashing Picard? Who knows if it will ever get made or released, plenty of upfront wonga no doubt. Works work i suppose or maybe just a quid pro quo with a sideshow – sort of reminds me of that Clint Eastwood miming performance.

      • Paul Barbara

        @ Kempe August 16, 2018 at 20:07
        So it takes a Communist to tell the truth about Gaza! Pity we don’t have some honest MP’s here who aren’t afraid to call an I^raeli atrocity what it is, an abomination!
        Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions NOW!

    • Tony_0pmoc

      Brianfujisan,

      Dunno, but he’s brilliant.

      Meanwhile, I accidentally found myself watching a couple of minutes of The BBC News at about 18:10. It made me want to throw up. I felt as if I was in the equivalent of N@zi Germany.

      How did such evil people infiltrate, almost all our media, and most of our political class and major institutions, and why does hardly anyone have the courage to challenge them, or even notice what they are doing?

      They have been brainwashing everyone to hate Muslims. I have a good friend, who is a highly moral man, who has bought the propaganda hook, line and sinker. Arguing with him, has absolutely no effect, except to make him think I have gone mad.

      Here is another one on the same subject from Joe Quinn – a Northern Ireland journalist who I have massive respect for…

      Tony

      “Mediatized, Government-Approved, European Race Wars”

      https://www.sott.net/article/393450-Mediatized-Government-Approved-European-Race-Wars

      Extract

      “The average Islamophobe in Europe today is, rather, a person who has been paying very close attention to the words and deeds of Western politicians and media pundits over the past 17 years. And what he/she has been hearing from those authoritative sources is that Muslims are terrorists with a rather strong aversion to Western people and their ‘way of life’.

      Obviously that is not true, but it has, obviously, been the dominant narrative pounded into people’s heads for almost two decades.

      From *redacted* and Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein’s WMDs targeting London in 45 minutes, to ordinary Iraqis taking up arms and killing US and British soldiers, to the Madrid train bombings, to the London tube bombings, to Gaddafi “killing his own people”, to multiple brutal ISIS terror attacks on European soil and graphic beheadings (etc.) in the Middle East, to Assad “gassing his own people”, to the Western press informing the European people that among the influx of mostly Muslim refugees, there are likely ISIS terrorists; we have all been provided with enough evidence that could lead an otherwise reasonable person to conclude that Islam tends to produce (in at least some of its adherents) a hatred of all that we in the West hold dear. “

      • Brianfujisan

        Tony Thanks for that Link..A good read –

        ” Obviously that is not true, but it has, obviously, been the dominant narrative pounded into people’s heads for almost two decades.

        From 9/11 and Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein’s WMDs targeting London in 45 minutes, to ordinary Iraqis taking up arms and killing US and British soldiers, to the Madrid train bombings, to the London tube bombings, to Gaddafi “killing his own people”, to multiple brutal ISIS terror attacks on European soil and graphic beheadings (etc.) in the Middle East, to Assad “gassing his own people”, to the Western press informing the European people that among the influx of mostly Muslim refugees, there are likely ISIS terrorists; we have all been provided with enough evidence that could lead an otherwise reasonable person to conclude that Islam tends to produce (in at least some of its adherents) a hatred of all that we in the West hold dear. “

      • MaryPaul

        It is not my inclination to run any group down, but all the law suits against amen from the Pakistani community for sexually exploiting and abusing troubled girls outside their own community, must damage perception of them. It is not good saying ethnic British men exploit young women. The scale of these attacks by Pakistani men is too large for that and the reports of the cases show they deliberately targeted non Muslim women outside their own community whom they regarded as inferior in every way. Leaving aside our culpability for war in the Middle East, the terrible attacks on troubled girls is not showing elements of the UK Muslim community in a positive light.

        • Jo

          I have to say I share your concerns MaryPaul. It is very difficult not to see parallels between the various cases and to wonder what on earth is going on.

          The other thing, as you also mention, is that many of the young people involved are vulnerable. In one of the groups previously prosecuted some of the girls were in care.

          I remember, however, seeing a documentary about one investigation where some of the girls were interviewed. They were really young but freely admitted there had been consent on their part to what had gone on. There was a lot of money being doled out to them and some of the girls called these men their boyfriends! They were relaxed speaking about it. I couldn’t get my head around it all.

          • MaryPaul

            Grooming young girls who are maybe confused and disturbed with unsatisfactory home lives, is done by offering them generous presents, and pretend interest and affection to gain their trust. The ultimate aim is their sexual exploitation.

        • Observer

          This is definitely a depraved Pakistani (origin) men thing. And probably more so of second generation immigrants, as their forefathers were likely much more concerned about work and building a life in the UK.

      • Paul Barbara

        @ Tony_0pmoc August 16, 2018 at 20:36
        You could try sending this link to your ‘good moral friend’:
        ‘Operation Gladio – Full 1992 documentary BBC’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGHXjO8wHsA
        Then they blamed the ‘Reds’ for the terror attacks – now they blame the Muslims.
        Also, all the attacks were deadly then, as opposed to now, where a lot of the ‘terrorist attacks’ are faked.

        The real murderous attacks went on for years in Europe, in what was called a ‘Strategy of Tension’. It was basically to demonise the Left parties so they would not win in elections; now it is done to manufacture a ‘casus belli’ for ‘Regime Change’ wars and interventions and to allow draconian laws that restrict Civil Rights and privacy to be enacted, that would be much harder for the governments to pass without the recurring ‘terrorist attacks’ and hoaxes.

        Re ‘..Western press informing the European people that among the influx of mostly Muslim refugees, there are likely ISIS terrorists..’
        that is not at all unlikely; you may have missed my earlier post:
        ‘‘FORMER YAZIDI SLAVE FLEES GERMANY AFTER BEING CONFRONTED BY HER ISIS CAPTOR-TURNED REFUGEE’:
        https://southfront.org/former-yazidi-slave-flees-germany-after-being-confronted-by-her-isis-captor-turned-refugee/
        ‘…“I froze when I looked at his face carefully,” she told the Kurdish news agency Bas News. “It was Abu Humam, with the same scary beard and ugly face.”
        “I am Abu Humam and you were with me for a while in Mosul. And I know where you live, with whom you live, and what you are doing,” the former ISIS member allegedly told Ashwaq Ta’lo during the encounter.

        The girl reported Humam to German Police. However, German authorities claimed that they have no grounds to arrest him.
        Thus, Ashwaq Ta’lo decided to leave Germany, believing that she would be safer in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, where her father lives.’

        Something very wrong here. Could this be because the ISIS geezer is known to the German police as a ‘friend of the West’?’

  • Sharp Ears

    Comical Ollie ( as the TLN refer to him) has written a book on depression and his family experience.

    No wonder he’s been depressed, having had to live with himself.

    ‘Weidenfeld & Nicolson is publishing an investigation into depression, which makes a case for embracing both art and science to better understand and treat the condition.

    In Mending the Mind: The Art and Science of Treating Clinical Depression, Oliver Kamm draws on his own experience of the illness as a jumping off point to investigate depression. He then uses the work of other writers who have similarly suffered to “illuminate the condition” and “explore the state of scientific remedies” devised in treating it.

    In 2014, Kamm experienced what has been refered to as “a period of deep and devastating depression”, which left him unable to leave the house without real difficulty. He was able to make “a slow but full recovery”, his publisher said, with treatment from a clinical psychologist and a course of antidepressant medication.

    Kamm, who is a leader writer and columnist for The Times, has now said he is “determined on describing what it’s like and how art and science have illuminated modern understanding of an enduring affliction” following his experience, his ultimate goal being “to enhance public understanding of mental disorder”.

    Mending the Mind will be published by W&N in hardback and e-book in January 2020.

    Following W&N’s publication of Kamm’s book Accidence Will Happen: The Non-Pedantic Guide to English in 2015, Jenny Lord, publishing director for Weidenfeld & Nicolson Non-fiction, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in new book Mending the Mind from Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit.

    Lord said: “Oliver writes with a rare clarity and precision on the subject of depression. Mending the Mind will be a serious investigation into a universally relevant subject – deeply research, nuanced and – crucially – recognising that both science and the humanities are vital in our understanding of depression. This is set to be an important publication and one we are proud to publish at W&N.”

    In recent times, there has been a noticeable boom in mental health publishing, as explored by Bluebird publisher Carole Tonkinson.’
    https://www.thebookseller.com/news/wn-publish-times-columnists-investigation-depression-843761

    • laguerre

      It’s interesting to hear that a right-winger is driven to his opinions by depression. The same could be said of a lot of the right-wingers on this blog, except that they’re in the manic phase.

  • Dungroanin

    Lend me your ears prople, I am getting a tad bit worried.

    Are there topics or links we are not supposed to mention here?

    It is a genuine question and i do not wish to be banished from here.

    As the attack against JC are stepped up am I not able to equally respond?

    • Clark

      The moderation rules are here:

      https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/06/moderation-rules-commenters/

      https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/06/some-rules-for-comment-moderation/

      There is (or at least was) a keyword filter which traps any comment containing a string I cannot post in full; “j_w”, and words containing that string. Such comments will be automatically queued for moderation. Other than that, just keep within the rules, which shouldn’t be too difficult.

      • N_

        Does a comment containing “sh0mr1m” also get queued for mod attention? (Serious question.)

        • Paul Barbara

          @ N_ August 16, 2018 at 22:35
          A difficulty presents when you alter a word, like Na^i, but also include a link, which has the full word in. You can’t alter the link, or the page won’t be shown. A way around that is to just put in the headline, which when changed back from Na^i will almost invariably get the page.

      • Dungroanin

        Thank you for the links.

        I may have been caught by the string thing or just tripped over into posting links without comment.

        If you have the ability and inclination to do so I would appreciate a short email confirming why my posts deserved culling.

        One of the inevitibilities of foraging far and deep on this internetty universe is the discovery of new (old) sites and posts, which seem worth sharing or need criticising by the current denizens of our village. I hope that such honest inquiry doesn’t end up being shredded along with genuine trolling and spam.

        I hope I am wrong in worrying about gatekeepers and damage limitation.

        Keep up the great work it is appreciated.

        • Clark

          I resigned; it got too much for me. I no longer have a log-in, so I can’t see your e-mail address. My contact details are on my homepage, but I haven’t checked my Inbox since about May. But I saw your early afternoon comment; it had a link in it. Probably, don’t post any links to there.

          • Dungroanin

            Thx again, maybe you can tell me who to ask?

            I am going to post again now about a new Guardian article, with comment, quote and link. I hope it is not wrong.

          • Clark

            I didn’t follow the link. With a name like that it’s unlikely to be valid political criticism. There’s some nasty stuff on the Web.

          • Clark

            Well you can try the contact form; link at the top of the page.

            But you can criticise Israel just as you would any other state or government, and its internal and foreign policies, and the ways it might influence other governments including the UK’s.

          • Dungroanin

            The sites appear to be stating published facts. Nepotism is only proveable by naming names and how the dots join up. They have not been sued or arrested. They have not been banished on social media. The events and speakers are legitimate.

            I understand there is nastiness and real AS out there and never indulge it. I was hoping for correction if i was misled – it is the only way to learn.

            Being ignored and shussed without reason just raises concern.

            I will try the button at top. Thanks again Clark.

    • MJ

      Yes. Certain topics are likely to get your post removed by a modbot. 9*1 is one. Anything to do with j*d*i*m or its proponents is another. Unless of course Craig himself writes about these topics, in which case the modbots have to sit on their hands a while.

      • Clark

        MJ, please don’t call the moderators bots. Some of the rules call for straightforward decisions, but others require delicate and very human judgements. And it always felt horrible when I had to delete comments from commenters I liked and respected.

        • SA

          Clark
          Occasionally the moderators hold back your comment and inform you that they are awaiting moderation. I found that useful. For example they didn’t like me issuing the word t*ol to describe somebody. However I also find that others have used the activity deriving from this name without being moderated our.

  • Deb O'Nair

    The insanity of the anticorbynism, which has infected the mainstream media, is now reaching ridiculous levels.

    https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2018/08/16/robert-pestons-grotesque-attack-on-jeremy-corbyn-surpasses-what-even-the-daily-mail-could-muster/

    The ammunition for this little bit of intellectual contortion from Robert Peston is a motion raised some 33 years ago. The amount of effort being put into researching the public record to find something on Corbyn which can be repackaged as evidence of antisemitism is mind-boggling.

    • Jo1

      I think Peston is so full of himself. He’s also very scruffy. On that Sunday morning prog of his he often looks like he hasn’t even washed!

    • Andyoldlabour

      @Deb O’Nair,
      I think that the comparison of the Palestinian government to Nazis is anti Semitic, as Palestinians are Semites as well. so Peston has well and truly shot himself in the foot and should be outed for his remarks.

      • SA

        Sadly Andy the term, like felafel which apparently is now an Israeli dish, has has long been appropriated for political reasons.
        My understanding is that racism is racism. The very fact that some races are more equal than others where it comes to racism is an ‘Orwellian’ way of controlling narratives.
        There is also a big muddle of whether you can be racist if you attack a religion or a culture, but not apparently, a state or a government. I think a redefinition of these terms should be considered by UNESCO or some other reputable neutral organisation.

  • N_

    The authorities are now accepting that Salih Khater was followed – or at least they are admitting it for the duration of the film clip that shows that he obviously was. (Evening Standard article.)

    They say the following vehicle was a white van driven by a “member of the public” who decided to “give pursuit”.

    I call bullshit. Listen, boys and girls: if you see a vehicle being driven in what looks like a terrorist attack on a building with lots of people outside it, and which has ALREADY scattered and very probably injured people, please do NOT “race after it” in your own vehicle. Doesn’t everybody know that? You will make things more difficult for the police, you may injure more people, and you may get shot. Don’t do it. This applies even more so when the building obviously has armed police in it, and surveilling the area outside it, around the clock.

    Why aren’t the authorities saying that?

    Do they want everyone who is driving a vehicle to “race behind” any car they believe is being used to carry out a terrorist attack?

    “Member of the public”, my bottom! It’s going to be very interesting if one or more people who were in that vehicle get identified.

    Also does someone know what the Sudanese rules are on citizenship? The line is currently that Khater got his British passport 2 weeks ago. The implication is that this was his first British passport, and that he was only granted British citizenship 2 weeks ago or not much longer ago that that. Then practically the first thing he does is tries to apply for a visa to visit the country he was a refugee from? Doesn’t Sudan allow joint citizenship? Was he stripped of Sudanese citizenship? Did he renounce it, or what?

    • MJ

      The article calls it a “mystery” van but if the photo was published at full resolution the number plate would be easy to read.

    • J

      Isn’t Sudan on General Clarke’s list of seven countries?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC1Mepk_Sw

      If the man in the van was deliberately following Khater, who might have been particularly fearful for some reason, it’s fairly likely he’d end up having an accident while trying to evade the van. And if Van Man did something particularly threatening at a certain point, then he could even, to some degree, control where and when it happened. Just a thought.

      Anyway, if Khater was traveling back and forth ‘officially,’ it would be a replica of the circumstances surrounding the Manchester bombing.

      • Paul Barbara

        @ J August 17, 2018 at 01:05
        Remember that most modern cars can be remotely taken over and controlled.
        The story now is that the ‘following van’ tried to intercept the Fiwsta – amazing that that didn’t come out before, when it was said the white van had nothing to do with the event. So they had to come up with some explanation, because the van behaviour was getting alternative media coverage.
        The ‘ambulance’ with it’s sirens reminds me of the ‘Death on the Rock’ SAS assassination of the three IRA operatives, where a police car driver set off it’s sirens just before the shootings.

      • Paul Barbara

        @ J August 17, 2018 at 01:05
        And also fits the bill for 7/7; paid patsies believing they were assisting the police in some kind of anti-terrorist scenario.

      • N_

        The van changes lane to get behind Khater BEFORE it’s obvious (unless of course there were indications picked up by some other means than just looking from the van) that he was going to drive into where the cyclists were. Then once he has turned left across that area, the van CUTS UP a larger white vehicle to enter the slip lane. This suggests to me that the van had been following Khater for longer than is shown in the available video clip, and the authorities have admitted only what’s clear from the video. The term “white van man” is being used to support the line that the driver was a “member of the public”, which seems very unlikely. Also we don’t know how many people were in the van.

        His brother says that Khater is not “radicalised” but he has been “troubled” since the death of their father and brother last year. A coming to the attention of Daesh, MI5, some other organisation, or some combination, as possible fast-use terrorist attacker material is possible. Has he been receiving counselling or psychological or psychiatric treatment, perhaps medication? What is his job? If he’s not particularly religious, does he like a drink or what? Nothing of that kind has been reported yet.

        The visa story sounds like bullshit. Whose bullshit isn’t clear.

        At one time he worked as a licenced security guard. (Multiple-choice exams are taken after a three-day course.) Who for?

        He could be someone who is not particularly religious and who has been in a troubled state and who was recruited and sent into action all within the space of 1-2 days and who knew what he was doing (driving into people using a small car outside the Palace of Westminster) (cf. the guy who murdered so many people at Nice using a big lorry) (possibly believing that like that guy he was going to end up dead), or he could have believed he was doing some kind of petty-criminal work or other, driving around a lot in the middle of the night in central London, and then his car was taken over and steered by remote control (perhaps by operatives in the van) for the last few seconds. I don’t at the moment go for the idea that he was a lone wolf. The van following him seems to argue that he wasn’t.

        Why was he wearing a puffer jacket when he’d been driving around for so long?

      • SA

        J
        Yes it was. However I think you should consider that the Sudan was ‘done’ already as it became divided with the South Sudan, which contains the major oil deposits, now completely in the West’s orbit. However things have not turned out well there, as there are local tribal wars leading to major bloodshed, not much mentioned in our media because there is no outside enemy.
        If the man is from Darfur, it is strange that he is radicalised. As you may know Darfur is one of the provinces in the Sudan that was at war with the Sudan government and allegedly the subject of attempted genocide, and received considerable sympathy from the west.
        The whole thing is very strange but I wish that the police come out with something plausible and believable quickly. Obviously nobody wants to suggest conspiracies but giving out half truths and implausible explanations by the press are factors that encourage this.

    • Michael McNulty

      I don’t believe any terrorist with a bit of common sense would attack a parliament building after its politicians began a three month break. It’s just too ridiculous to be real.

  • Dungroanin

    A cultural centre wiped out with a hitech video presentation of its destruction. An accusation by the perpetrators. No evidence presented before or after the attack as usual.

    Yet again with the ubiquity of lack of reporting.

    “It is a devastating loss for the already isolated community,” the group said in the letter. “We are deeply shocked that this act of destruction has not been widely reported in the British press…”
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/16/uk-playwrights-condemn-bombing-of-gaza-theatre

    • FranzB

      Meanwhile, the BBC runs a piece on Radio 4 news saying that Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t know a senior member of the PFLP. It’s on the BBC web site – note the ‘unaware’ in quotes. The BBC has him standing next to the bogeyman, but it doesn’t look like that to me in the photograph. This is a rich seam though. There must be lots of bogeymen Corbyn doesn’t know. There must be a picture of a great train robber somewhere wearing an arsenal scarf.

      What’s next? Corbyn denies that Harold Shipman was his dominoes partner.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45208358

      • N_

        But didn’t some of the Great Train Robbers really launder some of the money through Arsenal? 🙂

        • FranzB

          “Corbyn ‘denies’ links with great train robbers”.

          It turns out that if you google ‘Ronnie Biggs and Arsenal’ lots of pics of Biggs in an Arsenal shirt turn up. All that our intrepid Sun newshound needs to do is find some link to Corbyn via his acquaintances in the Met and the world is your lobster.

          Where’s Tom Watson when you need him to get that Levinson 2 inquiry back under way? Oh I forgot – he’s organising the next coup.

        • Paul Barbara

          @ N_ August 17, 2018 at 00:12
          It’s a fact that Football clubs are often used to launder money. As I am allergic to football, I am not au fait with the details.

    • N_

      And no quote from the Palestinian government or Hamas. The only voices quoted are those of British artistic figures and the Z__nist army.

    • SA

      Attempts at destroying culture is one of the methods of genocidists. The Palestinian people are discriminated against by this dehumanising treatment, aided and abetted by the supposedly democratic anti racist West.

  • N_

    What exactly was Margaret Hodge accused of?

    Imagine a billionaire-bracket person like her saying that having an allegation made about her that was going to be investigated made her feel like a J__ in 1930s Germany. She is shitting all over the memory of real J__s who got real horrendous treatment from real Nazis and mostly ended up dead. This woman has farted through silk all her life.

    Hey and Margaret, why did your nephew run away from the hotel in Praia de Luz in Portugal hours after the Madeleine McCann “disappearance”, without even checking out?

    And why did you knowingly protect organised child abusers in Islington, a crime that you later followed up by verbally attacking one of the victims?

    The term “f*cking Blairite scumbag and crook” comes to mind.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ N_ August 17, 2018 at 01:33
      Seconded, but I didn’t know about the nephew. Crook is too kind a word for her.

      • Pyewacket

        Paul @01:33. The man’ name is Phillip Edmonds and he sits on the board of STEMCOR. There has been quite a bit of interest in him by followers of the Madeleine McCann case, not only with regard to his prompt departure from the Ocean Club at Praia de Luz, but because he has stated that he has photographs, taken of his own children earlier on the day that Madeleine is supposed to have been abducted, that show her in the background. He has also stated that these photos have been passed onto the Police and to Madeleine’s parents, although nobody else has seen them, nor have they ever appeared in the Press. These pictures, if they do indeed clearly show the little girl, are of great interest because there is a widely held belief by some people that Madeleine actually met her sad fate some time earlier in the week before that of her reported disappearance on the Thursday night. More about this and him can be found on Jill Havern’s site; The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann (CMoMM).
        https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/

    • Andyoldlabour

      @N_,
      I have been doing a bit of research about the Islington child abuse, Margart Hodge, the two social workers who opened the can of worms and spilled the beans, the original victim who came forward – Demetrius Panton in 1985, he was paid off after the case being taken to court in 2003 and Hodge had to pay him £30K. She was personally responsible for deliberately trying to obstruct, cover up and try to suppress anything about the case. Amazingly, in 2003 she was made Minister for Children, and I wonder how she survived the calls for her resignation.
      There really is no difference between the Tories and the Bliarites.

    • Sharp Ears

      He tweeted:

      Craig Murray
      ‏@CraigMurrayOrg
      22 hours ago Just back from a fortnight’s holiday with no phone, internet, flights, tv, newspapers or radio. My doctor’s idea not mine but heartily recommend to everybody. Feeling great and ready for the fray. Off to Dorset tomorrow to speak at Beautiful Days. http://www.beautifuldays.org/lineup/

      • Sharp Ears

        He is so laid back, he’s got the wrong county. Devon not Dorset Craig!
        From that link:

        THE REBEL TENT – DISCUSSIONS, TALKS, PANELS AND Q&A INCLUDING: ‘THE USA VS ME’ WITH LAURI LOVE | ‘CORBYN, PALESTINE AND LABOUR’ WITH JACKIE WALKER & LEAH LEVANE | ’21ST CENTURY SOCIALISM IN VENEZUELA’ WITH TERESA TERAN | ‘THE GLOBAL BATTLE FOR LGBT RIGHTS’ WITH PETER TATCHELL | ‘WAR, MEDIA AND PROPAGANDA’ WITH PETER FORD, VANESSA BEELEY, PATRICK HENINGSEN &R PIERS ROBINSON | ‘THE NEW COLD WAR’ WITH CRAIG MURRAY | ‘SYRIA – WHAT IS TO BE DONE?’ WITH PETER TATCHELL, PETER FORD, VANESSA BEELEY & HILARY WAINWRIGHT | ‘A NEW POLITICS FROM THE LEFT’ WITH HILARY WAINWRIGHT, RACHEL SHABI, ALEX NUNNS, CHRIS WILLIAMSON MP | ‘HUMAN IMPACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE’ WITH PIERS CORBYN & RICHARD BETTS | FLAMIN WET GURUS | MARK CHADWICK | THE CHALK OUTLINES | DIGGA RANKS | LEVITICUS DJS

  • Smiling Through

    Robert Peston, in his 2008 “Who Run’s Britain” has a chapter “Democracy for Sale” of particular interest now in the ongoing “Labour antisemitism” furore into which Benjamin Netanyahu this week inserted himself.

    In it he draws upon his knowledge of Jewish life resulting from the progress of his father, an East End classmate of Harold Pinter, who became Labour peer Lord Peston of Mile End after being an economic adviser to Harold Wilson among other senior party figures.

    The ITN political editor has a lot on the activities of MIchael (now Lord) Levy and the money he drew down from wealthy supporters of Israel after the death of John Smith in 1994..

    This was cash crucial to Blair in opposition later that year. It affordedhim a huge staff on salaries sufficient to attract the likes of Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell from well-remunerated careers elsewhere. It also sidelined the fundraising efforts and influence of members and the trade unions, effectively freeing Blair from any party influence.

    According to Peston, Blair was introduced to Levy by Eldred Tabachnik, the barrister who headed the chambers of Tony and Cherie who was a former president of the Board of Deputies.

    Euan Ferguson, in his Observer profile says this of Levy: “A devout family man and admirer of those with similar values, and a long supporter of Labour if not of its left, it only needed a 1994 dinner party hosted by Israeli diplomat Gideon Meir for him to meet Tony Blair, and the second happy marriage of his life was under way.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/mar/19/constitution.partyfunding

    Whichever version you believe, it is clear that the creation and sustenance of New Labour by Blair, Campbell, Powell and Mandelson owed a great deal to those supporting Israel.

    When Blair stepped down as leader so did Lord Levy. But the funding stream continued for Brown from Levy’s colleague Jon Mendelsohn (now Lord Mendelsohn, a member of the Labour Friends of Israel group involved in seeking the expulsion of Marc Wadsworth from the Labour party this summer).

    Peston makes it clear that Levy drew finance from previous Conservative party donors who wished to support Blair on Israel and the Iraq war.

    It is this network of support, and the influence it exerted over our domestic politics, that Jeremy Corbyn has threatened since his election in 2015. He has attracted a huge number of energetic and enthusiastic members whose fund-raising capacity renders the deep pockets of the friends of Levy and Mendelsohn redundant.

    Likewise the social media efforts of these members undermines the influence of Israel-supporting Rupert Murdoch, a figure crucial to the New Labour operation.

    This is largely the basis of the confected “Labour antisemitism crisis” as it described by many Labour Jewish supporters critical of the policies of Netanyahu and supportive of Corbyn. The disputed A/S definition row is essentially a distracting sideshow from coverage of that power dispute.

    Here is one of the Jewish campaign group – https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/ .

    There are others who join them in objecting to the serious issue of antisemitism being used most rfecently by Dame Margaret Hodge as a stick with which to beat the man who succeeded in becoming the leader of the Labour party when she, who openly sought that position, did not.

    • Sharp Ears

      Thank you for your elucidation Smiling Through. I will pass it round.

      Sky News give Hodge third place in their ‘news’ summary today under the heading\:

      Margaret Hodge: Labour investigation made me think about treatment of J.ws in 1930s Germany
      The prominent J.wish MP warns the “cult of Corbynism” rivals Donald Trump and Boris Johnson in her first major interview.

      +700 words, a video of her and Corbyn (Corbyn rolls eyes as he is asked about wreath), a photo of McCluskey and for good measure, a list of their other contributions in this war on Corbyn and the Labour party:

      More from Jeremy Corbyn
      Labour complains to press regulator over Corbyn wreath row story
      Jeremy Corbyn poised to backtrack on international anti-Semitism definition
      Munich attack widow: Jeremy Corbyn must apologise for laying wreath
      Jeremy Corbyn refuses to apologise amid Palestinian wreath row
      Claims and controversy build in Corbyn wreath row
      Labour anti-Semitism row: Jeremy Corbyn faces new claims he compared Israel to Nazis

      Aubrey Allegretti, the journalist, and John Ryley, Head of News at Sky, should be ashamed. Ryley lives in Witney. He must know the spiv Cameron.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ryley

      He must also know Rebecca Brooks.
      ‘In a statement John Ryley, the head of Sky News, stood by the station’s decision to allow the hacking.
      “We stand by these actions as editorially justified and in the public interest. We do not take such decisions lightly or frequently,” he said.
      “On two occasions we have authorized a journalist to access the email of individuals suspected of criminal activity. In the 2008 case of Anne Darwin, Sky News met with Cleveland Police and provided them with email offering new information relevant to Mrs Darwin’s defence,” said Mr Ryley.
      He said that the material provided by Sky News was used in the successful prosecution of Mrs Darwin. “The police made clear after the trial that this information was pivotal to the case,” he said.
      Separately, Sky News has commissioned a wider external review of email records at the channel as well as an internal audit of payment records, Mr Ryley said.
      “While the email review is nearing its conclusion, no grounds for concern have been found. If evidence of impropriety was found, we would investigate immediately,” he said.’
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9189127/Sky-News-faces-investigation-for-email-hacking.html

      How many of these types inhabit the environs of Chipping Norton/Witney?

      Allegretti started his working life of 4 years after student publications @ Univ of Sussex with NewsCorp>Huffpo>SkyNews> Enough said.

    • Michael McNulty

      When they try to control the opposition so it offers no opposition it’s the same as building a one-party state, but in this case our one-party state wold not be under British establishment control but under I$rael! Z!on!st control, and pretty much what they’ve achieved in the US.

    • Dungroanin

      “It is the principle of democracy that it is in everyone’s best interests to resolve an issue by fully, and freely, exploring it. In a true democracy, those that are factually and ethically wrong may be proven as wrong, not repeatedly threatened, shouted down at first voice and suffocated. The alternative to the free exchange of ideas is censorship, authoritarianism, totalitarianism. And fascism. ”
      From the epilogue of 30 chapters on ***** history based on facts not speculation. The link for which for some reason i have been unable to post.

      I say that the decades of control must stop, truth and reconciliation must be followed. Otherwise history is doomed to repeat. The kings and queens. Princes and princesses and their riches will as usual survive, indeed, they will get richer and more powerful. Many innocents and blameless – the poor – will get sacrificed yet again to maintan the victim narrative.

      Labour membership representatives must RESIST the demand to adopt the full definitions and examples that they are being urged to. As Jonathan Cook writes, it would make almost ALL of his writings over his investigative journalism career fall foul of the catch all ‘laws’ – IS THAT WHAT LABOUR MEMBERS WANT?

      The author of the definitions does not agree with how they are being deployed – he is ignored.

      Yet here we have Gary Younge being deployed in the Groan putting words into JC’s mouth to accept wholesale the definitions. As if the idiot labour members will accept it from him (Gary – ‘you know that dude on the paper’ – tch tch Gary you know not what you do ..).

      As my opening quote implies we are not living in a true democracy just fooled that we are. We are in the alternative where the free exchange of ideas is not allowed in the msm and increasingly even in these patches where many are forced to inhabit having been banished by the msm.

      Have no doubt – THEY are capable, willing and would even relish deploying extreme violence and death upon us – if we do not do what they demand. Should we let them? Again and again? How will future generations ever understand that we didn’t even try to resist?

  • mike

    Is Margaret Hodge OK? I mean, is she ill?

    The only reason I ask is that she seems to be undergoing some kind of psychotic episode. You know, where sufferers invent a world that isn’t actually there?

    The bubble is making itself look stupid: increasingly strident and unhinged. Reminds me of the ‘Russiagate’ hysteria in the US.

    Carry on, bubble, carry on.

    • MightyDrunken

      Did she invent a new World, or happened to find herself in the same one as Trump?

      • Andyoldlabour

        @MightyDrunken,
        If you look at Hodge through squinted eyes, she becomes more and more like a hybrid Netanyahu/Regev – very strange and very disconcerting.

    • Andyoldlabour

      @mike,
      I would assume it is the same illness (which does have varying degrees of severity) which other Bliarite Labour MP’s and closet Tories have been sufferring from since September 2015.
      They are like a swarm of mutinous rats.

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