Soft Focus 2174


Staring at the screen in disbelief as the BBC broadcast a preview of a quite literally soft focus “interview” of Theresa May by a simpering Nick Robinson. North Korean stuff. For Panorama.
“Prime Minister, a lot of people liked it when you described yourself as a bloody difficult woman”. Astonishingly sycophantic stuff from the state broadcaster.


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2,174 thoughts on “Soft Focus

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  • Radar O’Reilly

    reasons to be cheerful , counter narrative
    https://dissidentvoice.org/2018/09/woodward-no-evidence-of-trump-russia-collusion-i-searched-hard-for-two-years/
    After two years of exhaustive research for his book, Woodward says that he has found no evidence of collusion between Putin’s government and Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016.  Zilch, nada, zero.  And Woodward strained very hard looking for it.

    David CAMERON & Steele/Skripals?
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-11/papadopoulos-may-have-tweeted-about-alexander-downer/10232288?
    The account @georgepapa19 tweeted on Tuesday that Mr Downer is a “Clinton friend” who is “connected to the MI6, and private intelligence organizations in London”.
    It also said Mr Downer wanted to meet under “incredibly suspicious circumstances”.
    The tweets make unsubstantiated claims about Mr Downer’s connection to then-British prime minister David Cameron, and says the two discussed Papadopoulos’ connection to energy projects in Israel.

    How the journos used to do it: Ewan MacAskill retires
    https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2018/sep/22/snowden-guardian-reporter-trump-mackaskill-interview
    In the run-up to the war in Iraq in 2003, I was writing the splash. Blair and Bush had met in the Azores for a final mini-summit ahead of the invasion. I can’t remember the intro now but it something like UK and US on verge of war. Alastair Campbell phoned and asked what I was doing. So I told him. He said that is not the story: it should be Blair secures Bush pledge on Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I told him I was not writing that. Ten minutes later, the deputy editor Paul Johnson came to see me and said Campbell had phoned the editor to complain I had the wrong intro and it should be Israel-Palestine. Paul asked where the reference was Israel-Palestine was. It said paragraph four. He said: “Make it paragraph 18.” That is the attitude I liked.

  • CameronB Brodie

    The way I understand things, British ‘exceptionalism’ is embedded in English/British culture and institutionalised as latent racism across most public spheres of life. The leave campaign exploited this and England’s post-colonial malaise, in general, and have moved Britain’s political spectrum towards the far-right, regardless of whether or not we leave the EU. For younger viewers, check up on Enoch Powell and the Anglo-American “New Right”.

    The Frankfurt School and British Cultural Studies: The Missed Articulation
    http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.528.8492&rep=rep1&type=pdf

    • laguerre

      Exceptionalism doesn’t necessarily mean racism, though it may include it. Exceptionalism means ‘we’re the tops and we have the right to what we want.’ Britain is in for a rude awakening.

      • Paul Greenwood

        England has been in for a rude awakening for 600 years at least……..so it is not an unusual state. Meanwhile France and Germany have barely remained glued together over the past 200 years.

        There is so much melodrama and too little ratiocination

    • Patmur

      Excellent article in the Irish Times of 17 September by Christopher Kissane entitled “Historical nonsense underpins UK’s Brexit floundering.”
      Another excellent article yesterday in Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald by Nick Miller entitled “Send Help”: May’s extraordinary Brexit speech reveals her unusual tactic.”

      • Roger Wise

        The Radio 4’s flagship Today programme – sports bulletin on questioning and grilling Russia’s anti-doping agency Rusada, concerning the lifting of the suspension – was as hardline as they will get on given subject.

        The presenter finished his piece, with, the daily Horse Racing tips, you really could not make it up. The moral high ground hypocrisy of the U.K. media is breathtaking, from, WMD to the fabrication presented to the public on a daily basis.

  • Tom

    A timely comment from Craig. But the soft focus come as little surprise. Never has it been more apparent that the Conservative Party, much of the Labour Party and the media are two sides of the same coin. Look at them today looking for scapegoats for the stupidity and corruption of Theresa May as she remains in power courtesy of foreign donors and powerbrokers. Meanwhile, the media steps up its campaign to destroy Jeremy Corbyn on behalf of their CIA bosses, terrified that the era of vassal Prime Ministers working for Washington and Israel is coming to an end.

  • DiggerUK

    Blunderbuss gives a link that is intriguing. Can others provide supporting evidence for the opinions in their link…_

    • Tony_0pmoc

      Digger UK,

      Whilst it was written extremely well, I found this very difficult to believe.

      “He in turn is connected to other scientists at Porton Down who have died under questionable circumstances, for instance, Dr. Richard Holmes, whose body was found in the same woods as Dr. Kelly, in 2012”

      I am almost certain that Dr. Richard Holmes body was not found in the same woods as Dr. Kelly, in 2012.

      If you live in Canada, (a very big open space) and you are doing research re deaths in England, woods in Oxfordshire, may seem very close to woods in Wiltshire.

      However they are not the same place and are about 50 miles apart.

      That might not seem much to a Canadian, but he lives in Canada not England.

      However, he did raise some other interesting points, that I was unaware of, and are quite probably correct.

      I have come across the individual, and related websites before. Some of it maybe true, and some of it, they are probably making it up.

      I would seriously recommend “The Strange Death of David Kelly” by Liberal MP Norman Baker. I think he is an honest man, and very brave to research and write it.

      Tony

      • Andyoldlabour

        @Tony_Opmoc, You are quite correct, Dr Holmes body was found in woods near Ford, Witshire and Dr Kelly’s body was found in woods near Longworth Oxfordshire.
        I also agree that more credence be given to Norman Baker’s account, rather than folks who simply make stuff up, thus destroying their entire credibility.

      • Sharp Ears

        Norman Baker was wide of the mark.

        Much better is Miles Goslett’s An Inconvenient Death – How the Establishment Covered Up the David Kelly Affair
        https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inconvenient-Death-Establishment-Covered-Affair/dp/1788543092
        ‘The death of Dr David Kelly in 2003 is one of the strangest events in recent British history. This scrupulous scientist, an expert on weapons of mass destruction, was caught up in the rush to war in Iraq. He felt under pressure from those around Tony Blair to provide evidence that Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction. Kelly seemed to have tipped into sudden depression when he was outed as a source for Andrew Gilligan.’

        An inconvenient book? Read Miles Goslett on the death of David Kelly – not Aaronovitch’s caricature
        Peter Oborne 24 April 2018
        The case for a full coroner’s inquest to find out the truth regarding the tragic death of a government scientist in the wake of the Iraq war has been trashed for no good reason. Why?
        https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/peter-oborne/inconvenient-book-miles-goslett-david-kelly-aaronovitch

        It is sufficient to say that Aaronovitch instantly rubbished Goslett’s book. That tells you a lot.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    Compared to the rest, he is respected, from some of the last places I would have expected, like Chatham House.

    This is Sterling stuff. At least Jeremy Corbyn, gives the distinct impression that he actually does give a shit. Hardly any of the rest do as they stick their snouts in the trough.

    “Corbyn compilation: Jezza’s best jibes”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ex0jnyJ3wg&feature=youtu.be

    Tony

  • Sharp Ears

    Interview with Miko Peled
    An insider’s views on the Zionist project

    by Stuart Littlewood / September 21st, 2018

    Only a focused and well co-ordinated strategy to delegitimize and bring down the Zionist regime can bring justice to Palestine. BDS has the best potential for that.

    Miko Peled, an Israeli general’s son and himself a former Israeli soldier, is nowadays a noted peace activist and a tireless worker for justice in the Holy Land. He is considered to be one of the clearest voices calling for support of BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against the Zionist regime and for the creation of a single democracy with equal rights on all of historic Palestine.

    He will be at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on 23-26 September. I was lucky enough to have the chance to interview him beforehand. In a week that marks the 70th anniversary of the assassination of Folke Bernadotte and the 36th anniversary of the genocidal massacre at Sabra and Shatila refugee camp, atrocities committed in pursuit of Zionist ambition, what Miko says may give those who take dictation from the Israel lobby cause to reflect.
    /..

    https://dissidentvoice.org/2018/09/interview-with-miko-peled/

  • BrianFujisan

    How to hit it Magically…

    Go to a Big International Anti nukes Protest at Faslane on the Clyde

    keep walking – till you come across – Japanese Monks Chanting, with Drum beat

    DOMESTIC EXTREMISTS.. hundreds of toddlers.. Children, But, by far the largest age Group was Elderly..

    By far.

    The Japanese Monks Chant for the Whole March.. then Prayed at the Gates of Evil –

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTJ1ypsdF-U

    • JOML

      Sorry, Brian, I had hoped to bring my bairns along today but they were doing the ‘pretty mudder’, raising money for cancer research – because our society believes it is more important to spend money on Trident than the NHS. Just shows that our society is a bit fucked up…

  • Charles Bostock

    Re Bradley Manning, who, Pretzelattack tells us, would ” simply get rendered to the u.s. by the british poodles or their swedish counterparts” if he walked out of the embassy of Ecuador.

    the chain of events – factual and without hypotheses as the one above – is as follows:

    ** Assange says he will walk out of the embassy of Ecuador if Bradley Manning was freed

    ** Bradley Manning is freed

    ** Assange stays in the embassy of Ecuador and remains there.

    The suspicion is : Assange made his statement because he never thought that Bradley Manning would be released.

    The conclusion must be : Assange was bluffing and his bluff was comprehensively called.

    • laguerre

      Who, with any sense, would hand himself over to the US for judgement, when he hadn’t done anything wrong in world view?

      • Anon1

        That’s not the point though is it. The point is that Assange said he would walk out if Bradley Manning was released. Why hasn’t he done so?

        • Charles Bostock

          Exactly, that was my point. And that is why it is accurate to say that Assang’s bluff was called.

        • pretzelattack

          because he realized he would get rendered to the united states and reconsidered. it’s not quantum physics.

      • Andyoldlabour

        @Laguerre,

        I totally agree.
        All the while Guantanamo Bay concentration camp exists, and the US is happy to imprison people indefinitely without trial, then any innocent person or even any guilty person would be stupid to allow themselves to become a victim of their lawless behaviour.
        The US is a rogue state which follows none of the rules and regulations which it tries to impose on others.
        Maybe that is why they constantly refer to themselves as – “EXCEPTIONAL”?

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp

    • laguerre

      I note by the way that you insist on calling Manning by an earlier forename, which she has legally abandoned. Human rights here. People have the right to the name they have legally registered. Only bigots insist on going against the law.

        • laguerre

          Personally, I don’t find Bostick’s brexiter style much like Habbabkuk’s heavy Ashkenazism. We haven’t see that come back.

          • Charles Bostock

            Laguerre

            I honestly wonder if you teach at a university – because you seem to have little regard for accuracy and the truth and appear unable to understand others’ comments.

            Why do you call me a Brexiteer? If it helps, I regret the result of the referendum and the decision to trigger Article 50.

            Perhaps you are confusing selective criticism of aspects of the EU with the wish for the UK to leave. If so, you are neither very perceptive or honest.

            I also recall that I had to call you to task recently for suggesting that pro-Israel post of mine meant that I was being “paid” by someone.

            If you behave like that in your professional life and with your students then I feel sorry both for you and your students.

          • laguerre

            Bostock

            Most who powerfully defend Israel are paid to do so. They can’t enough to do this vital propaganda function, necessary in view of the appalling atrocities Israel commits, without paying people. It’s a natural presumption, if you go in for justifying genocide, to suppose that you’re one of the many.

          • Charles Bostock

            Laguerre

            All you have shown with your latest is that you do not only accuse me of being paid to defend Israel but you also accuse most of the people who defend Israel of being paid to do so. So all you have done is widen the range of people against whom your slur is directed.

            Your comments are as silly – and as unacceptable – as would be a comment from me accusing the pro-Palestinian commenters on here of being paid by Hamas, Hizbollah, Iran or other Arab states.

            If you are really an academic then you’re a disgrace to a profession which is supposed to deal with substance rather than wild accusation.

        • BrianFujisan

          Brian, I had hoped to bring my bairns along today but they were doing the ‘pretty mudder’, raising money for cancer research

          Hi JOML

          Is there a Link we can add too .Cheers

          • Rhys Jaggar

            I say women are incapable of fertilising other women through natural processes.

            I have little doubt a scientist will come up with a way to take female stem cells then turn them in vitro into sperm, then fertilise an egg.

            However, the evidence is in that two females can spend a life in bed and will never get each other pregnant, whereas a man and a woman have succeeded at that tens of billions of times.

          • N_

            Another example is how most of the mainstream media (e.g. the Daily Telegraph) says that men can give birth. This is no exaggeration. If a woman suffers from the severe mental illness of believing she is a man, goes around calling herself a man, gets pregnant, has a baby, not one major news editor will remember that only women can have babies. They will all call her a “man”.

            Very few on the left have the guts to denounce this insane shit. But I do. Gender is not fluid, and it is abusive of children to encourage them to question the gender they were born with.

      • Charles Bostock

        Laguerre

        That is a diversion and a rather silly one. Not “insisting”, and happy to have you read my post substituting “Chelsae” for “Bradley”. Happy now? 🙂

      • Jo1

        The earlier forename was the one used when the prosecution was brought, to be accurate. I think it’s unreasonable to pretend Bradley Manning never existed. It’s also over the top to accuse anyone who still makes reference to it of being a bigot.

        • Charles Bostock

          A civil and accurate comment, thank you. “Laguerre” please take note. Perhaps it’s Jo! who’s the academic?

    • Observer

      Good morning @Charles 22h08

      Since he had genuine plans to walk out at Xmas eve 2017 with the aid of the Russians (plan abandoned), a bit unfair to say that he was calling anyone’s bluff? 😉

    • John Goss

      The conclusion must be : Assange was bluffing and his bluff was comprehensively called.

      Or Assange was bluffing and Bradley Manning is free. Rejoice. When Jeremy Corbyn comes to power Assange will walk free. He has not reneged but is picking his moment. Now suck on the bitter pill of your disappointment, sucker!

      • Charles Bostock

        I hear what you say, John (and good to hear from you again) but your optimism is premissed on Mr Corbyn coming to power**. That, with all due respect, is far from a given.

        BTW, I shall reply to your insults by asking you a civil question, as I don’t recall you having expressed an opinion. The question is : are you in favour of the UK leaving the European Union?

        ______________________________
        ** an interesting expression, “coming to power”.Many would prefer to say “becoming PM” or “forming the next government”. But I suppose that extreme left-wingers always see government in terms of power wielded against the hapless citizenry and God help those who dissent… 🙂

        • joeblogs

          There was a time not too long back, when workers paid no income tax, didn’t get expected to vote for workshy charlatans, didn’t need passports to go abroad, had real money to spend not currency, when homosexuality was not treated as sainthood, just never talked about, when…
          The list is too long.

  • N_

    A few days after the effort to provoke Russia, someone has made an effort to provoke Iran.

    Who’s next to provoke? Turkey?

    • Rhys Jaggar

      They will provoke anyone who they think can get conflict started.

      Do you the world would be provoked by killing a few thousand bankers?

      How about every living member of Skull and Bones, every Rhodes Scholar and every attendee of WEF?

      I would not go to war for that.

      War is provoked by those who never fight but profiteer.

      Time to go to war on the war profiteers…….

  • BrianFujisan

    Herbie Said – ” there is not the slightest reason for the UK to have nuclear weapons other than to give British politicians “a seat at the top table”

    AND And the very same words were Spoken at Faslane Protest Yesterday..I fimed it.

    • Anon1

      No surprise really. The anti-nuke campaigners want unilateral disarmament. Their main aim is a diminished Britain.

        • Anon1

          It’s not really funny. Anyone, like me, who genuinely wants to see a world free of nuclear weapons supports a multilateral, step-by-step approach to disarmament. It’s the only way. Britain just giving up her nukes, as the far-left want, achieves nothing except diminishing Britain’s standing in the world. Which is what the far-left wants.

      • laguerre

        Britain doesn’t have a nuclear deterrent. They only rent some off the US, but the weapons can only be used with US approval. So in fact we’re just financing some of the US deterrent.

        • Anon1

          Not this old canard again. We rely on the US for the supply of key components of our deterrent. The decision to launch is entirely our own.

          • joeblogs

            anon
            “decision …is our own”
            Which button on your keyboard does that then?
            I recommend you pull the cap right off that button it now – otherwise the second you press it me and mine go up in the following three minutes.
            What was your point, again? Hubris? A secret desire to immolate?

        • Charles Bostock

          Laguerre

          Are you also against the French nuclear deterrent (which is not “rented” and which can be used without US approval)?

    • James

      has she recently been a Google doodle, or is it a click-through from Jeremy Thorpe’s wikipedia page; why Hilda Murrell, why now? My dad was a very keen gardener, and he particularly loved roses. I remember him being strangely upset when this was big in the news.
      I agree the whole thing stinks, looking back on it now.

      • N_

        Laurens Otter wrote a pamphlet about Hilda Murrell which is well worth a read if you can get hold of it.

    • Sharp Ears

      Robert Green, in New Zealand, is Hilda Murrell’s nephew. He came over to the UK with his wife to launch his book and a relative of mine met them. Within this link – ‘The conspiracy theories had two strands, claiming she was the target of British agents because she was planning to raise concerns about Britain’s nuclear energy programme, and also to find out what she knew about Falklands War secrets – Green was at the time of the war serving in Royal Navy intelligence, working in the command bunker at Northwood in London.’

      New book casts doubt on Hilda Murrell conviction
      Oct 23, 2011
      “There is an urgent need to release Andrew George – a petty thief who was known to be kind to old people, and unjustly incarcerated in a top security prison for hardened sex offenders,” says Mr Green, who has outlined the case for a reopening of the affair in a new book, A Thorn In Their Side.

      Hilda Murrell’s murder became one of the most sensational British crimes in recent times, prompting questions in Parliament and allegations of involvement by the British Secret Service in her death.

      The basic facts are that she was abducted from her home in Sutton Road, Shrewsbury, and found days later in a copse at Hunkington, in the shadow of Haughmond Hill, with her car abandoned and bogged down on a soft verge not far away.’
      /..
      https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/10/23/new-book-casts-doubt-on-hilda-murrell-conviction/

  • SA

    It is usual to condemn terrorist attacks on non-military targets. Not if the targets are of our enemies. The killing of officers on military parade and also civilians is supposed to be by ‘Gunmen’ according to the BBC
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45611411

    Imagine if this was how you would refer to a similar event in Europe and not as terrorists .
    Interesting also is this tweet which suggests that the UAE is involved in these attacks on Iran
    https://twitter.com/ejmalrai/status/1043790202576220160

  • SA

    The Russian military have finally realised that Israeli military cannoit be trusted despite a number of previous experiences which had not resulted in Russian deaths but to near misses.

    https://www.rt.com/news/439151-russia-israel-il-20-negligence/

    It is worth reading this to show the extent of treachery. This may be a turning point for Israel’s total disregard for international law and hopefully will mean strengthening the Syrian air defence system and also lack of future trust. In either case I hope this will mean that Israel’s excursions in Syria will be more limited in the future.

  • Sharp Ears

    That ghastly Marr introduced the well worn anti-semitism smear in his ‘interview’ with Corbyn just now. He even replayed an excerpt of this recording of his interview with Rabbi Sacks who made various accusations against Corbyn:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06k339g

    He then asked Corbyn to apologize to those J.ws who are considering leaving the country, and so on.

    Marr – stenographer for Mr Regev.

      • Andyoldlabour

        @Rhys Jagger,
        I also wonder why I watch him, because I end up ranting and raving at the screen. Marr is (along with many other members of the state propaganda machine) a total disgrace.
        I seem to be drawn to it like a moth to a flame, to hear what latest rubbish he is going to spout.

  • Xavi

    Corbyn will be walking into a Blairite/rightwing trap if he accedes to their demand to start promoting a second referendum. As out of touch as they are, they know very well that three quarters of Labour constituencies voted Leave and that there is scant chance Remain would win a second referendum. This demand is being cynically pushed on Corbyn in order to bring him down and return Britain to being a one-party system.

    • Anon1

      No it’s not. The “man of principle” will do or say anything to become PM. He’s just deciding whether it would be the right move for his own survival.

      • Xavi

        No, he’s said he will go with what the members decide because he wants them to be the decision makers in the party. But the most important thing should be that he does become PM and the vast majority of Labour constituencies, which he needs to hold as a bare minimum, voted Leave. They would not welcome being told that their vote in 2016 is actually irrelevant. That would be the attitude of everybody who voted Leave, perhaps many Remainers too.

        • Ian

          that’s a complete red herring about the constituencies. Compare the members and people who do vote labour.

          • Xavi

            A red herring? I dont follow. Labour needs to hold its existing seats, at a bare minimum, in order to be elected. No? Or do they forsake three quarters of their existing seats in order to placate the demands of the losing side in the referendum?

        • Anon1

          Yes the most important thing to him is that he becomes PM, which is why he waits to see which way the wind is blowing before he makes up his mind on Brexit.

      • N_

        Hold the front page: Jeremy Corbyn is a politician.

        His policy of not foregrounding Brexit and where necessary leaving the position open has been clever – and Seumas and he wrongfooted the Tory strategists who believed that most voters who had supported UKIP after voting Labour would switch to the Tories rather than back to Labour – but he is getting the rug pulled from under his feet now.

    • Hatuey

      There won’t be another referendum. The only scenario that might save Britain from the abyss is some sort of national coalition government. There’s precedent for this in times of crisis but it’s hard to imagine in Britain today.

      I’m afraid it’s likely ‘no deal’, wto, and a few decades of poverty for most Brits.

      Poverty isn’t so bad, though. Like others in poverty, the British will soon learn to appreciate the simple things. Time goes by more slowly when you’re poor too, you just have less things to do, and that’s a good thing; many of those who fell for the Brexit bullshit will have time to reflect.

      The British will come through this better people, of that I’m sure. Look at the way they responded to the blitz.

      • Xavi

        “There won’t be another referendum.” I agree. It’s not the Labour party’s decision to make.

        • Hatuey

          If Labour do anything to subvert the democratic will of the people who voted for Brexit, they will never be forgiven. And that’s why Labour won’t do it. There’s scope for doing it through a general election with a commitment to a second referendum in their manifesto, that might help, but they’d still be alienating a lot of voters for decades to come.

          The same goes for the Tories.

          The only way around that is a coalition so that no single party gets the blame pinned to it. But that looks very unlikely right now.

          • Hatuey

            MJ, I’m not. I’m commenting on something that’s highly topical. As we approach the cliff edge we are going to see a lot of talk about this stuff. But rest assured, nobody wants to see Britain go off that cliff more than I do.

      • MJ

        I expect a lot of the older Leave voters looked back fondly on the sixties, when Britain was not in the EEC. It was therefore an impoverished place and everyone was grey and drawn through hunger. It was also very inward-looking and not at all internationalist in its outlook. It most definitely was not the grooviest, swingingest country on the planet.

        • Andyoldlabour

          @MJ,
          I was born in the fifties, and I can tell you that it wasn’t dull and grey in the sixties and not everyone was impoverished.
          We lived in a council house and my dad was a painter and decorator. Folks were leaner and fitter because we didn’t have crap fast food, and we exercised.
          There wasn’t the huge gap between rich and poor that there is now.
          In 1960 EFTA was formed, as an alternative to the EEC (later the EU) and the UK, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Denmark and Sweden were members.

          • MJ

            “I can tell you that it wasn’t dull and grey in the sixties and not everyone was impoverished”

            I was being ironic. Sorry if it wasn’t clear.

          • Andyoldlabour

            @MJ,
            Many apologies, some things are misunderstood at times.
            I probably should have realised.

      • James

        It pains me to concede it, but I fear HateGuy’s tediously immoderate and provocative comment may not be, for a change, entirely wide of the mark in the not-too-distant.
        I would suggest to him, however, that for his greater erudition he focus in the meantime on the oeuvre of Professor Rider, assuming his much-vaunted and burning quest for learning is authentic in this, his “special” area of his interest. I know he has much there to learn, and will appreciate this direction.

      • Paul Barbara

        @ Hatuey September 23, 2018 at 11:34
        Don’t forget the ’60’s music, the Hippy Trail, Mods & Rockers (instead of BMW’s), and a reasonably free MSM.
        Out of Brexit, a re-invigorated Labour Party, in or out of office, weeded out of many ‘Fifth Columnists’, even if split, would be able to call out the ‘Regime Change’ War Criminals, and give the lie to Neo-Colonialist wars of aggression.
        If in power, they can not be party to it, and denounce it in international forums like the UN, as well as using their Security Council veto.
        And they could back a truly independent newspaper, with the power of the unions. There cannot be a true Democracy based on lies, the people need to be told the truth about what is going on, not just in the UK, but around the world.
        And if the Yanks don’t like it, they can stick their bases where the sun don’t shine, and p*ss off.
        I have a sneaking feeling that Russia, China, Ireland or even France and Germany aren’t exactly drooling at the opportunity to invade or attack the UK if it doesn’t host US bases.
        I think a lot of people could live with being considerably poorer, if they knew that their country was opposing War Criminal aggression around the globe. And the money saved from overseas aggression would be available for the NHS, Social Services and life-enhancing uses, instead of killing and plundering.
        I’m not looking to Utopia, but stopping our lying, False Flag fuelled aggressions will be a huge step forward.
        What we have done to Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria are literally War Crimes of the first order, and if there was real international justice, our leaders would be standing before the ICC, on War Crimes charges.

      • N_

        Also if 7% of the population own 84% of the wealth, can you guess what it might be a good idea to do if the wealth and income of the poorest say 93% of the population gets cut by half?

        Oh and let’s block the airports first.

        • Paul Barbara

          @ N_ September 23, 2018 at 12:44
          They’ll need longer runways and much bigger aircraft before they can take their estates with them.

          • N_

            Some who are below the top echelon and who aren’t so well connected and whose wealth is mainly fixed will lose out.

      • Dungroanin

        No to a unelected coalition – no way would that give the electorate a legitimate political leadership and policy choices on issues other then brexit – it is after all not a war and not one country is bombing or threatening to invade us.

        A general election with manifestos that the people can prefer is the ONLY legitimate democratic tradition.

        Let the people decide – “who governs?”
        If it was a good enough question that Wilson and Heath asked – it should be for May and all here.

        Of course a GE doesn’t mean that a coalition couldn’t happen – but the arrangments would be based on the relative strength of the votes cast for each manifesto.

        A GE and then a ‘unity’ government if necessary – that’s the rules we play by, innit!

      • N_

        Did British people respond any differently to the Blitz than other people who were subjected to air raids elsewhere?

        Side note: the New York Times calls a person a “Holocaust survivor” even if they were born in 1970, if their parents were J__ish and they emigrated from Germany in the 1930s. My family lived in London during WW2 in an area that was bombed by the Luftwaffe, with many deaths and much destruction, so I must be a “Blitz survivor”.

        • Charles Bostock

          “Side note: the New York Times calls a person a “Holocaust survivor” even if they were born in 1970, if their parents were J__ish and they emigrated from Germany in the 1930s.”

          In much the same way as the grandchildren and great grandchildren of Palestinians who left Israel during the 1948 war are called “refugees” by some on this blog, you mean?

      • Paul Greenwood

        and a few decades of poverty for most Brits.

        You must be living in a Skinner Box. What do you think people in much of England have endured since 2007 ? Which country do you think has the steepest fall in living standards in OECD in 2008 ? Which part of England took the biggest hit – Yorkshire in fact. You are so out of touch with reality.

        The world is on the cusp Financial Collapse in 2008 ^nth power with massive Debt and Credit Expansion. The economic system is busted. The whole incentive programme to boost car sales with scrapple schemes in 2009 has loaded people up with diesel cars that now need scrapping to meet EU Emission Standards from 2010 !!!

        It is Wipeout Time. BreXit is simply an adjustment – one among many. As for WTO – 40% Tariff on Danish and Dutch meat exports to UK should work wonders for UK farmers.

  • James

    Shaggy Dog Alert

    Last night, feeling much better, I went down the pub for a bit of a skinful with some mates. A good evening was had by most until one guy I didn’t know got completely hammered, and kicked off with the landlord. The rest of us thought it prudent to do one back to mine, and the longish walk back to the cottage was bloody cold.
    Fortunately, I am blessed with a wood burning stove, an excellent homemade hifi system, and a wide selection of refreshments and other delicacies. I’m not sure when everyone left, but I was out of it around three. The place is a bit of a mess right now, but I’m feeling remarkably “un-hungover”.
    All very fascinating you will I am sure agree.
    One of my mates has a new girlfriend, and we got chatting over a pipeful. She seems really nice and quite funny and up for a laugh. I showed her this site, telling her how I’ve been spending a bit too much time on here while recovering. She thought it was hilarious, and had heard about the “impossible photo” story from another blogsite she goes on. It seems some of CM’s stuff is garnering wider diffusion, and I was quite surprised, as she is in her late twenties and doesn’t seem very interested in this sort of thing. I asked her what she thought about Teresa May, and she gave a surprisingly sage reply. “She inherited a bad situation, and it seems a bit unfair to judge her like that because she’s got an impossible job to do. I don’t really like her, and I think the Grenfell stuff was really bad, but what’s she supposed to do about Brexit?” E&OE, but words to that effect. I don’t think the relationship with my mate will last long.
    I crafted up another pipeful and changed the subject. I think her opinions may be more representative than
    many on here would wish to believe.

    • Hatuey

      “ she gave a surprisingly sage reply. “She inherited a bad situation, and it seems a bit unfair to judge her like that because she’s got an impossible job to do.”

      Not only is it not sage, it’s wrong. May didn’t inherit anything. She jumped in head first for the job.

      Judgements of May rarely touch on how she got the job but on how she’s doing it. People see through her theatrics — one day pretending to be conciliatory, the next diligent, then it’s time for the stern steely look, oh she’s angry now, and now she’s fun, dancing with African kids in the wheat fields….

      Nobody knows who she is, including herself. That in itself is fine, the existential responsibility to define yourself is something we all struggle with at times, but it would be better for everybody if she focused on doing her job instead of worrying about her look right now.

      Diplomatically speaking, May is a real amateur. She offends everybody. Nobody who has spent a minute in her company can stand her. The Thatcher act fools nobody because she doesn’t have the brains that Thatcher had or the conviction. Thatcher was a crackpot but she was the real deal — someone that believed in what she wanted. May is just a bad, fake imitation.

        • James

          More accurately Pippa will be, if I show her this. I may disappoint and deflate HateGuy by informing that I completely forgot our little spat about the great Janus the other day when I was talking to her.
          Don’t think she’d have been that interested tbh.

      • Garth Carthy

        “The Thatcher act fools nobody because she doesn’t have the brains that Thatcher had or the conviction. Thatcher was a crackpot but she was the real deal — someone that believed in what she wanted. May is just a bad, fake imitation.”

        Couldn’t put it better myself.
        Thatcher might have been a ghastly woman who undoubtedly helped ruin our society and economy, but she was more honest than May and she didn’t kowtow to the Queen – in fact she thought she was the Queen!

        Mad as a box of frogs – both of them.

      • N_

        C’mon. Thatcher was evil but I never heard anyone call her incompetent. Everybody knows May is incompetent. May is indeed a range of stage appearances and a completely fake person, but Thatcher was a faker too. She dropped her voice about an octave, on advice, in order to change the impression she gave of herself. Anybody who doesn’t appreciate just how fake that is should try speaking in a voice that’s much deeper than their usual voice, then keep it up for even a week, including when addressing crowds. Can’t do it? Thatcher could. She was as fake as arseholes.

  • Republicofscotland

    Russian Ministry of Defence blames Israel for downed plane.

    “Sharply criticizing Israel’s conduct in the incident, Konashenkov said that Israel’s military leadership “either has no appreciation for the level of relations with Russia, or has no control over individual commands or commanding officers who understood that their actions would lead to tragedy.”

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/accusing-idf-of-deception-russia-blames-israel-for-downing-of-spy-plane/

    Meanwhile one ex-apartheid nation, quietly returns its ambassador to a current apartheid nation.

    “South Africa’s ambassador to Israel has quietly returned to Israel, four months after he was recalled in protest of actions Israel took to fend off violent Palestinian protests at the Gaza border.”

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/south-africa-quietly-returns-its-ambassador-to-israel/

    Israel set to “evacuate,” sorry demolish Bedouin village next month, and relocate the people. North America Indian reservation springs to mind.

    https://m.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israel-sets-October-deadline-to-evacuate-Bedouin-village-in-West-Bank-567794

    • Paul Greenwood

      Very good press conference with the added fact that the Il-20 was in Northern Syria where Israel said it would attack – so it was withdrawn to base – but Israel attacked in Latakia near the base and even invaded the airspace – so Israel’s fake information led to the IL-20 being drawn into the very zone of Anti-Aircraft Fire.

      It is clear the Auvergne must have had full radar coverage of F-16s too and the IL-20.

      Russia needs to activate its Air Defence Screen to take out Israeli aircraft and set up Lebanese airspace as a Free Fire Zone

      Did you hear the emphasis on the base behaviour of Israeli pilots compared to US pilots ?

  • Republicofscotland

    Meanwhile growing tension is building in Zambia, due to Chinese investment, building infrastructure airports etc. Some believe China is draining away the Zambian economies wealth.

    https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/africa/2018-09-23-say-no-to-china-anger-mounts-in-zambia-over-beijings-presence/

    However, Chinese isn’t shunned elsewhere. As Trump continues to squeeze the Venezulean economy, China lend a helping hand to the country’s less fortunate.

    “A Chinese hospital ship has docked in Venezuela, where for the next week it will provide free health care to local patients.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-45616736

  • Republicofscotland

    As the French courts try to force the deluded Marine le Pen, to take a mental health test, I’m sure she needs one.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-isis-beheading-pictures-twitter-psychiatric-test-tweets-national-rally-france-a8547946.html

    The French Elysée shop selling President Macron and the Third Republic souvenirs is coining it in. Liberté, Égalité, Fraternity, Ou la Mort, or more appropriately, Ou Votre Argent.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/17/french-elysee-shop-sells-350000-of-goods-in-three-days

        • Republicofscotland

          Trowbridge.

          Apologies my comment was intended for your 14.24pm effort, again I ask you kindly to provide evidence to the contrary.

          No nut bag links please.

  • Republicofscotland

    Twelve members of the elite Iraninan Revolutionary Guards, were killed during a military parade in Tehran, along with thirteen others. President Hassan Rouhani, sabre rattled after the event, blaming the US and its ME allies, through insurgent groups within Iran.

    Rouhani heads to the UN General Assembly in New York today. Rouhani added, “America wants to cause chaos and unrest in our country so that it can return to this country, but these are unreal fantasies and they will never achieve their goals.”

    http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004759427

    It would appear that the Elite Revolutionary Guard, aren’t so elite afterall. I wonder what Herodotus, would’ve thought of Persia’s modern day Immortals.

      • Republicofscotland

        On the contrary, in my opinion an elite guards reputation, has a certain fear factor, such as the Potsdam Giants. Though Napoleon retired them after a clash. Napoleon’s Old Guard of the Grande Armeé had a similar reputation.

    • Andyoldlabour

      @RoS,

      Rouhanni’s comments were pretty spot on, because the US, UK, France and others were responsible for the birth of Daesh in Iraq, and the subsequent empowerment of them in Syria and North Africa with the overthrow of Ghaddafi and the attempted overthrow of Assad in Syria.
      Our countries are also responsible for the genocide taking place in Yemen, because we are supplying them with the weapons to carry out that genocide.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    Detailed explanation, and impressive video reconstruction, released today by The Russian Military Defence, re events that that led to the shooting down of The Russian Observation plane, that killed 15 Russian Specialist Servicemen. This will have very significant implications, re Russian – Israeli relations, and hopefully stop the vast majority of attacks on the people of Syria. Can all this lunacy please stop now. I find the involvement of The British Government and all their lies an atrocious national embarrassment. Can’t we instead help rebuild the country, we have nearly destroyed. The Syrians did not deserve any of this. They have not even attacked their incredibly aggressive, and provocative neighbour Israel. Why is the UK Government supporting this Apartheid State. Why doesn’t even Jeremy Corbyn complain very publically at the highest levels? They are now increasingly isolated, even with some of their best “Friends”.

    ” ‘Criminal negligence’ or disregard to Russia-Israel ties: MoD details chronology of Il-20 downing
    Published time: 23 Sep, 2018 08:21 ”

    https://www.rt.com/news/439151-russia-israel-il-20-negligence/

    Tony

  • Sharp Ears

    How about this muck on the BBC South version of Sunday Politics from their ‘political correspondent, Peter Henley?

    A vox pop on the streets of Petersfield. ‘What sort of animal the Labour party reminds them of?’
    7.50 in https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bk18y0

    Answers including the reasons – Rats. Lying toads. Sheep. Weasels. Dinosaurs. Snakes. Chameleons. One man said Koalas. They even managed to get the subject of anti-semitism into the clip and a young woman who said she had J.wish heritage. YCNMIU.

  • Republicofscotland

    Apologies for linking to the DM, the Telegraph asks you to register to read the story.

    “The former National Crime Agency international corruption boss says he was ordered to stop an investigation into Russian money laundering.”

    “Jon Benton, the international corruption unit boss, said a senior official from the Foreign Office told him to stop his investigation. ”

    “The claims undermine recent Government lines that say the UK is tackling Vladimir Putin’s cronies who stash their wealth here.”

    “Mr Benton headed up the special corruption unit from its inception in 2015 before retiring last year. ”

    “He claims he was given a 37-page dossier about London-based money laundering by Russian crime syndicates linked to the Kremlin.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6198395/Corruption-boss-says-ordered-halt-probe-Russian-money-laundering-Foreign-Office.html

    We know the Conservative’s and party MP’s have received donations, though I couldn’t possibly claim that anything illegal took place.

    Who could’ve forced the head of the NCA to stop investigating the matter? Who has that clout?

    • Hatuey

      This sort of thing has happened more than once before. “The City” is calling the shots in the UK; the real economy, justice, politics, the tax system, the NHS, everything, all in the hands of crooks today.

    • nevermind

      Browder has been given a lot of publicity for crapping on Russian oligarchs, but never revealed his very own role he played in Russia. This stop to investigations is not surprising, as is the City of Londons refusal to a Tobin tax and more transparency of tax affairs, the real reasons behind the splittist Tories blundering and their rejection of more open financial oversight.

      Here is a little article setting out what might happen after the 30th. March next year in the absence of any deal.

      http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-dangers-of-a-no-deal-brexit-a-1228487.html

      • FobosDeimos

        A lot of it sounds just like the big scare/scam of the late ’90s that will go down in history as the Y2K fraud. Pumped up by Microsoft, Apple and others, that hysteria caused billions of Dollars to be spent in “preventive” measures, technical experts, etc, when even a fourth grader knew that the underlying assumptions were all bogus. January 1,2000 came and nothing at all happened (and nothing would have happened anyway if all those billions hadn’t been spent). The Spiegel report repeats again one of the favorite horror stories about March 30, 2019: that flights to the EU from the UK would be stopped on the ground, because British commercial airliners will not even be granted permission to cross European airspace. This is nonsense. After Brexit, all UK flights will go on without any trouble, just as hundreds of flights from non-EU countries cross the European skies or land at European airports every hour. There is an old treaty, signed in 1944 called the Chicago Convention, as amended. Under that treaty, for example, American airliners peacefully crossed Cuban airspace during the 50 year+ period when no diplomatic relations existed between the two countries. Of course it will be necessary to make sure that the Chicago Convention’s provisons remain in place with the 27 countries of the EU, but that should not present any problems. There will be nunerous inconveniences and setbacks, for sure, but there is no need to create another Y2K panic.

        • Iain Stewart

          “Pumped up by Microsoft, Apple and others, that hysteria caused billions of Dollars to be spent in “preventive” measures”

          No, not Apple. You are wrong. Consequently the rest of your post is dubious.

          • FobosDeimos

            Apple bragged a lot about it being immune from the Y2K bug, but they still lent credence to the hoax by exploiting the panic to their own advantge, rather than telling the truth: that there was no such thing as a Y2K “bug”, and that all computers (especially PCs) then in use “knew” perfectly well that 1999 would be followed by the year 2000. The point is that the Chicago Convention grants to all state parties the so called “freedoms of the air”, whiche were latee expanded on by new treaties. UK airlines could not be treated in a less favorable way than airlines from the rest of the world are treated. Therefore, the “hundreds of flights grounded” horror story is bogus.

          • Iain Stewart

            Anyway, I sincerely hope you at least enjoy your full British exit with all the trimmings. It’s going to be an awfully big adventure!

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