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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Isn’t Robinson the guy who angrily tore up and stamped upon the anti-war poster of a protester standing behind him during a BBC news report? That episode seemed to suggest a rather strong allegiance on his part to the Neocon War Party. Not that he’s the only one. Who can forget Andrew Marr’s amazing crawling to Blair on the steps of Downing Street – after the “liberation” of Baghdad?
“Nick Robinson: the BBC political editor is a former chairman of the Young Conservatives, but scrupulously fair in his reporting.”
Quotation from the Guardian 14 July 2015.
With scrupulously fair reporting like that, who needs deliberate, cynical cover-ups?
It appears that deluded prejudice is now what passes for acting in good faith.
And Marr was a socialist at university.
The establishment loves socialism – but only for the rich. “Private profits, public losses”.
So was Tony Blair, Jack Straw etc. etc. Proves nothing.
Spying on leftwing fellow students, probably.
LOL here.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/09/soft-focus/comment-page-1/#comment-783301
Sharp Ears: Thanks for link.
God he’s my neighbour, walks his dog past my flat, I’m often tempted to drop an egg on him
Journalism died at the BBC when they threw Andrew Gilligan under the bus.
Yup. The final nail in the coffin.
Carrot and stick.
BBC gave cushy sinecures to Robinson and Marr and shunned Gilligan.
Ambitious journalists take note.
Ambitious people prepared to sacrifice journalism for their career, you mean…..
Gilligan blew his own career up.
In a vainglorious foul up, he went with a story that hadn’t got his evidence lined up with t’s crossed, and i’s dotted. His egotistical drive was his downfall.
We should all do well to study that fiasco in detail…_
“Journalism died at the BBC when they threw Andrew Gilligan under the bus.”
I wouldn’t hold Gilligan up as an example of independent journalist too hastily. Since his departure from the BBC he has held neo-con posts in almost every avenue he’s walked, including a prominent member of the right wing “think tank” Policy Exchange, senior reporter on the Times, London Editor of the Torygraph, hack for the Evening Standard, and a stint as campaigner against Livingston among others.
Running through fields of brown sewage will ruin her white dress.
My all-time favourite was Jeremy Paxman’s marathon “interview” of Bill Gates. (I watched about three minutes of it to see how it was going, then had to switch off and run – not walk – to the bathroom).
This was perhaps back around 2000, shortly after Microsoft had been found guilty by a federal court of corporate crimes leading to the destruction of Netscape. To give you an idea of the seriousness of those crimes, the court was weighing two possible punishments: either to break Microsoft up into several smaller corporations, or to force it to publish all its source code (and continue doing so).
Then George W Bush was elected president, and the DoJ revised its proposed punishment to “promise never to do it again”. (Destroy Netscape, that is – not an onerous promise as Netscape no longer existed).
I hope that Paxman would grill Gates, holding his feet to the fire (perhaps not physically, although that would have been fun). Instead, I actually heard him ask, “Bill, what is it like to be the world’s greatest programmer?”
Bill never progressed past BASIC.
The real programmers were at MIT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rPPqm44xLs
And if your gag reflex permitted it, you could also have listened to Broadcasting House on Radio 4 this morning where they must have wasted at least 10 minutes with a “light hearted” item ridiculing the B&P @ Salisbury story.
Too bad they don’t put the same energy into looking at the UK gov’s Skripal story – or God forbid, bombing of Yemen (where are those White Helmets when you need them!!).
Btw, I would suggest people take a look at this by Peter Hitchens:
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2018/09/were-on-the-brink-of-war-and-nobody-cares.html
Maybe this has something to do with the Salisbury story suddenly being re-lit.
Thank you very much for that link!
It’s worth spreading.
Yes indeed. The photo at the top is of Alistair Burt CFoI, MENA minister FCO. The one who advocated a bayonet up President Assad’s backside in the manner of Gaddafi’s killing. He is a self described ‘Christian’.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/former-foreign-office-minister-alistair-burt-warns-of-dangerous-precedent-created-by-parliaments-9030932.html
Note ‘former foreign office minister’. Cameron took him off and made him a health minister. Irony alert. Then Theresa appointed him to DfID and then back to the FCO. She is of course a fellow member of CFoI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Burt
“He is a self described ‘Christian’”.
Yes, didn’t Jesus tell his followers to sodomize people with sharp blades? It’s certainly implicit in the Sermon on the Mount.
Putin is in crisis-calming mode, according to Moon of Alabama.
This ‘here today and gone tomorrow’ politician irritates me more than a little.
.
Having presided over months of the Skipalgate farce,Theresa obviously needs all the support she can get.
The credibility of the mocking bird media presstitutes who’ve been chorusing the talking points along the way entirely depends upon her not being seen to be carrying the can ! Of course they will rally round as the kings horses and men, its what they do.
The whole thing can only have been approved at the highest level; as several have assured us. Highest levels of what being the question not asked. And needing no answer by this stage.
Not sure the higher levels of the conservative party will have the stomach to be long associated with such a humiliating fiasco.
A general election Now, please.
“Let the jury consider their verdict,” the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.
“No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first–verdict afterward.”
“Stuff and nonsense!” said Alice loudly. “The idea of having the sentence first!”
“Hold your tongue!” said the Queen, turning purple.
“I won’t!” said Alice.
“Off with her head!” the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody moved.
“Who cares for you?” said Alice. (She had grown to her full size by this time.) “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!”
Bravo!
I hear there is stiff southerly wind blowing this week.
Will the ‘game of cards’ get blown away?
Election? Resignation? War? Choices choices.
Peace on Earth is what we need.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n9kfdEyV3RQ
Excellent!
Craig, I’ve just had my lunch! I only hope I’ll be able to keep it down.
Robinson, Neill, Kuenssberg, Maitlis, Marr…can you imagine a world where the BBC employ left leaning journalists?
Emily Maitlis isn’t right wing
Are you ‘avin a larf?
” ‘avin a larf ”
What’s with the false demotic? I’m sure you don’t talk like that in real life. so why on here? Are you trying to establish impeccable working class origins before the Bolshevik revolution arrives?
Lol
What? Demotic? “relating to, or written in a simplified form of the ancient Egyptian hieratic writing” :https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demotic
Did you mean colloquial? “used in or characteristic of familiar and informal conversation In colloquial English, “kind of” is often used for “somewhat” or “rather.” ;also : unacceptably informal”: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colloquial, But then it would not be false, what do you mean?
Neither is Marr. The others could only be described as centre or, at a stretch, centre right in Neill’s case. Perhaps the only encouraging thing about the BBC is that both sides think it’s against them (of course, on this blog all of the above are considered far-right!).
What is undeniable, however, is that the BBC operates a very strong left-wing cultural bias. Marr admitted it himself.
so the right winger marr catapulted some propaganda about the bbc, what’s your point?
Neither is Marr.
If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be defending him.
Where did I defend him?
“What is undeniable, however, is that the BBC operates a very strong left-wing cultural bias. Marr admitted it himself.”
Noam Chomsky:
“[The “liberal media”] love to be denounced from the right, and the right loves to denounce them, because that makes them look like courageous defenders of freedom and independence while, in fact, they are imposing all of the presuppositions of the propaganda system.”
That’s exactly how I think of lefty criticisms of the BBC. The BBC loves them because it enables them to become more left-wing tha they already are under the guise of balance. They never like to discuss the criticism of them from the right. But I suppose we all go into this with our own biases and saint Noam is no different
We are not talking about ” lefty criticisms of the BBC”, we are talking about the claim that “the BBC operates a very strong left-wing cultural bias” i.e. that the BBC IS “lefty”. Chomsky’s point is that this makes those Beeb folk think they are being very radical and trendy while in fact they are just playing the game of setting up a phony left for the sake of moving the entire spectrum as far to the right as possible.
Noam Chomsky on Propaganda – The Big Idea – Interview with Andrew Marr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjENnyQupow
plus comments
and
Noam Chomsky Stumps Andrew Marr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLcpcytUnWU
plus the comments.
We don’t need “left leaning” journalists or “right leaning” journalists.
We need journalists who look for the truth.
Anything else is a propagandist.
“How can you know that I’m self-censoring – how can you know -” “I’m not saying you’re self-censoring. I’m sure you believe everything you’re saying. But what I’m saying is, if you believed something different, you wouldn’t be sitting where you’re sitting.” Noam Chomsky
This was Noam to Marr on the BBC!
These people are all millionaires, not that means much politically, but in my experience millionaires usually like supporting the status quo that has rewarded them so well. As for “left leaning”, that’s only so they can make more room for the right. Don’t forget that it was recently revealed that MI5 were vetting (referred to as ‘formalities’ within the BBC) news staff for decades, up until the 90s, to exclude left-wingers. No doubt the policy is now been moved in house by senior management to maintain the pro-establishment bias to avoid threats to their public money gravy train.
Don’t know why you’re surprised by the Gollywood treatment, Craig. If you can be bamboozled into believing the Skripal story – see Carole Cadwaalllllleerrr – then why not the ‘soft focus’?
I suppose when the far-left loons on here refer to the BBC as right-wing, what they mean is that it doesn’t devote half its output to overthrowing capitalism. Technically, therefore, they are correct that it is biased. A National Socialist could also complain that the BBC doesnt devote enought time to white supremacy and therefore is biased against national socialists. But for normal people the BBC is centre-left. If your political outlook is to the left of Lenin, then of course everything else seems far-right. And yes, I have actually seen the BBC described as far-right on here.
The BBC is run by Tory party grandees. Do you imagine they are all pretty left wing?
In that case one has to wonder why you are always arguing in favour of it.
Perhaps some additional reading is required – Biased BBC Collection by Mark Doran – https://markdoran.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/the-biased-bbc-collection/
And? I can give you whole websites devoted to the BBC’s left-wing bias.
and i can give you whole websites devoted to climate change denial. what’s your point?
Perhaps read this and revise your thoughts – Jonathan Cook on BBC Bias – at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2016-07-29/study-exposes-bbcs-deep-anti-corbyn-bias/#sthash.1B5YQle9.dpuf
The categories “left wing” and “right wing” have not meant anything for decades. But they are still used to fool and mislead people. Thus, the “Labour” Party hopes that at least some voters will believe that it giveds a rat’s ass for the workers – which it doesn’t. And the “Conservative” Party is anything but conservative – it has worked hard to get rid of many of the best things about Britain. As for the “Liberal” “Democrats” – they are about as far from being liberal as one could get, and they don’t believe in democracy.
“The categories “left wing” and “right wing” have not meant anything for decades.”
In an economic sense it is still very much relevant. But “right-wing” doesn’t mean very much except the normal human condition to which the left have set themselves in opposition to. Same with “Capitalism”.
So “right-wing” and “Capitalism” mean “the normal human condition”(?!) Ah the very stuff of reality itself! There Is No Alternative! You are arguing against God! Against Nature! (And so much for our much touted “Freedom”!)
You see: you and Anon1 have just got yourselves into a nice tight knot, arguing about what you will never agree on, trying to unscrew the inscrutable.
In one way he is right; in a completely different way you are right. Throughout most of human history, the rich and powerful had things all their own way. Stands to reason, in the absence of elaborate liberal laws and regulations to force them to act decently some of the time.
On the other hand, it seems clear that “primitive” humans, hunter-gatherers or nomads living in small groups below Dunbar’s Limit (150), practice a kind of instinctive socialism. If you haven’t read David Graeber’s “Debt: the First 5,000 Years”, you owe it to yourself to do so.
“[Peter] Freuchen tells how one day, after coming home hungry from an unsuccessful walrus-hunting expedition, he found one of the successful hunters dropping off several hundred pounds of meat. He thanked him. The man objected indignantly:
“’Up in our country, we are human!’ said the hunter. ‘And since we are human we help each other. We don’t like to hear anyone say thanks for that. What I get today you may get tomorrow. Up here we say that by gifts one makes slaves and by whips one makes dogs’.
“The last line is something of an anthropological classic, and similar statements about the refusal to calculate credits and debits can be found throughout the anthropological literature on egalitarian hunting societies. Rather than seeing himself as human because he could make economic calculations, the hunter insisted that being truly human meant refusing to make such calculations, refusing to measure or remember who had given what to whom, for the precise reason that doing so would inevitably create a world where we began ‘comparing power with power, measuring, calculating’ and reducing each other to slaves or dogs through debt”.
It’s hardly “the inscrutable”. The stuff that Anon1 spouts has always been an essential part of capitalist ideology i.e. that:
capitalism = the human condition = reality = God = Nature
And capitalist relations are read all the way back to prehistoric times via a Flintstones type vision of the Stone Age where little wage earning families have their own little stone bungalows while working for the local mine owner.
Sticking two fingers up to the majority of license fee payers can hardly be considered sycophantic.
True, if you think of the BBC as a commercial organization paid for by its customers. Unfortunately, it is something quite different: a state broadcaster, taking orders from the state, funded by a tax, and owing no obligation whatsoever to license fee payers.
Where is N_? In another of his failed predictions I thought we were supposed to be in the midst of a full-scale invasion of Syria by now? The economic collapse, the nuclear war, scottish independence… It never comes to pass.
There is a USA DoD owned ship, an ex ro-ro carrier, the Liberty Passion, moored up in the Red Sea at the moment. Word is that it is carrying tanks and military equipment. You can follow its passage one of those marine tracking sites.
https://www.marad.dot.gov/newsroom/news_release/2017/u-s-department-of-transportation-secretary-elaine-l-chao-welcomes-the-addition-of-mv-liberty-passion-to-maritime-security-program/
January 2017
It is now negotiating the Suez Canal.
https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9777888
Keep up. The Syrians and Russians have delayed their offensive to liberate Idlib from the terrorists, thereby not providing the terrorists with the circumstances in which to publicise their ‘evidence’ of a chemical weapons attack by the Syrians and Russians. This delay is forestalling the potential for disastrous military confrontation in that region and who knows where else as a consequence. But as soon as any offensive starts you can be guaranteed that the terrorists and the Western allies will jump into action without hesitation. We can only hope that the delay may give the Russians time to try and get hold of the footage of the aftermath of the ‘chemical weapons attack’ which has already been filmed with the assistance of Middle East TV channels and a CNN affiliated channel.
Something that Save the Children’s current TV campaign didn’t predict. They are currently running ads which look more like a White Helmets production – I presume they timed it in the expectation that the news would be full of images of children suffering the effects of Syrian barrel bombs, chemical weapons and helicopter gunships.
Thanks @Deb – No surprise there. I shall look out for those ads with interest.
The obscenity of the salaries paid in the charity racket must have been raised by now. Inflation has to count for something darlings…_
https://www.westmonster.com/ceo-of-save-the-children-earns-257k-a-year-128000-children-homeless-in-uk-this-christmas-1/
Cobbled together or hobbled.
Panic sets in??
Your cognitive dissonance will not be challenged. It seems “*redacted* unmasked” has been pulled before publication, and not just by Amazon. I was not going to buy the book anyway, but was going to suggest that you do. Bit late now. However in most circumstances, well at least before The Borg assumed control, the attempted banning of something was usually a godsend to the publishers, if not the authors, because people want to find out, why on earth it has been banned, resulting in massive worldwide sales. I have never bought a book on the subject, but a friend did give me one, 10 years after the event. It takes some people some time to catch up, and some people never get there. I can understand that. It hurts their brains.
Don’t worry about it, with your head stuck in the sand. You will probably be O.K., when the tide comes in, and the nukes go off.
Tony
Theresa May is a bitchy substitute for the vile Mad Maggie.
You are not in a position to call anyone mad, Trow.
Certainly am, Anon 1, with Wikispooks the other day citing my article about John Lennon’s assassination in regard to the CIA’October Surprise’ and the assassination attempt on Mad Ronnie.
I’ve often wondered about the Lennon murder. Who do you reckon did it: Chapman acting on orders or someone else altogether?
Read my article cited on Wikispooks which came from codshit.com. As I
recall, Chapman’s CIA handler in that Hawaii hospital got him to do it through hypnosis in order to get Democratic voters to stay home if Carter pulled off the ‘October Surprise’, but when the Agency did it first, it still went ahead with killing Lennon for fear Chapman would ultimately talk about MK-ULTRA.
Ok. Chapman as CIA stooge. I wondered about the concierge.
It was the door man, not the concierge..
He was the runner for CIA assassins, and gave Chapman access to Lennon instead of scaring him off, and calling the NYPD.
Trowbridge,
When your rather good post got deleted recently, how did you get in reinstated?
You didn’t phone him up did you?
That was a bit cheeky.
Tony
Don’t know what you are talking about. Have been off line for about ten days with a broken laptop.
Re Chapman, the link is:
https://codshit.blogspot.com/2004/02/why-john-hinckley-jr-almost.html
To be specific on the video, it’s desaturated and de-contrasted and has been shot (intentionally) in low light. My guess is she has lots of filler on her face too and to hide that you’d reduce colour saturation.
The substance of the clip is just as artificial. Nobody is concerned that May will hang on forever — she’s the most lame-duck PM we’ve had in about 40 years. The real issue with May is that she refuses to stand up to the hard right in her party who want turn the UK into a neo-Victorian shit-hole.
The hardest of hard brexits is close to inevitable now. When the EU formally reject the May/UK proposal there will be a coup and May will be history. Her purpose as a patsy was to give the impression that Britain tried to be reasonable but the Europeans wouldn’t listen. The whole thing is staged.
But every cloud has a silver lining. A hard Brexit will destroy lives in the UK and cause untold misery. Under those circumstances, I don’t think Scotland will need a referendum — a tsunami-like surge of pro-independence sentiment will manifest and the UK will be dismantled.
When people suffer they tend to get angry and good things often come out the other side. For too long, many in Scotland have had the luxury of being able to sit detached from harsh realities. That’s about to end. Pensioners, people on benefits, and the poor generally, will be the first to feel the pinch. It’s going to be gravely painful for many.
The middle classes of Scotland are also coming around. They have been living the pseudo-continental dream for some time but, more to the point, they know that the economy is going to die and they will be getting hammered. If there’s one thing that motivates the middle classes, it’s money — Thatcherism, wars, food banks, dire poverty, that’s all okay, but take one penny off their pile and you’re in trouble.
I pretty much hate everybody right now. Maybe I’ll hate them less when they’re suffering.
“The hardest of hard brexits is close to inevitable now”
Perhaps that is the silver lining.
Hatuey,
I agree with some of that, but hate is not a good state of mind. As you are highly intelligent, I am a little surprised that you want to remain within the CIA created and controlled Dictatorship, called The EU. It’s a bit like being on The Titanic, and seeing the iceberg ahead, and crashing straight into it, thinking it is unsinkable. There is a conspiracy theory about that too. I don’t know if it is true, but the movie was pretty good.
The iceberg was not seriously damaged.
Tony
“There is a conspiracy theory about that too”
Something about the Federal Reserve and JP Morgan not making it due to illness.
We’re getting our own back on the icebergs now though.
As for the EU, I’m always puzzled as to why people think it’s got their best interests at heart, not that our national government has either
Nick
September 16, 2018 at 16:56
“As for the EU, I’m always puzzled as to why people think it’s got their best interests at heart, not that our national government has either”
Because they have been brainwashed.It is a dictatorship.We can change our own crooks but not the ones who run the EU.Here are some quotes from them.
“Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals we dare not present to them directly. All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and diguised”
(Valery Giscard D’Estang. on the Lisbon treaty)
“They must go on voting until they get it right.”
(Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission)
“The ‘no’ votes were a demand for more Europe, not less.”
(Romano Prodi, former President of the European Commission)
“It is an illusion to think that [EU] states can hold on to their autonomy.”
(Hans Tietmeyer, head of the Bundesbank 1991)
“The European system of supranationality comes at the cost of democracy.”
(Lord Leach of Fairford)
“A European currency will lead to member nations transferring their sovereignty over financial and wage policy as well as monetary affairs”.
(Hans Tietmeyer, head of the Bundesbank, 1991)
The single currency is the greatest abandonment of sovereignty since the foundation of the European Community: the decision is of an essentially political nature”.
(Felipe Gonzalez, a Spanish former PM, 1998)
“I think the eurozone has turned the corner”.
(Then French Economy Minister, Christine Lagarde, 29 January 2011)
She would say that being a convicted criminal and now head of the IMF.
Dave, you say it far more eloquently (and knowledgeably) than I. “We can change our own crooks.” Well hopefully, at least we have a better chance.
Funny how Brexiters are unable to distinguish between dictatorship and democracy. But I suppose it’s true that anyone brought up in Britain doesn’t know what democracy is, as we don’t have it.
Laguerre I know where you’re coming from. Most of my life I would have been horrified by Brexit, with vast hate for the iniquities of the empire and “British” nationalism. But let us discuss nationalism vs globalism. The former, so many evils, the later – a one world govt, how would it conduct itself?
Er, Laguerre, I don’t understand what you write. I think I do know the difference between dictatorship and democracy: the latter is a fictitious system of government put forward by dreamers in some utopian fantasies. It was tried in ancient Athens, and led it into a hideously destructive war against the only other major democracy of the time, Syracuse. I believe democracy has been found to work to a limited degree in Switzerland.
Dictatorship is much more familiar as it is the normal form of government in “the West”. Citizens are supposed to be fooled by the periodic holding of “elections” which lead to the actual dictators being shuffled from time to time – while their policies remain mostly unchanged.
Many people have become disillusioned with the EU because it has never made the slightest effort to pretend to be democratic. (Hint: a representative parliament that cannot propose legislation is purely ornamental). A while back I compared the EU’s constitution with that of ancient Sparta, and found the Spartan system to be slightly more liberal.
I was replying to Dave Lawton. Sorry if it didn’t come out clearly enough. He was equating the EU with dictatorship, for the usual ignorant reasons.
Laguerre, did you actually read TW’s post?
Re democracies v dictatorships,
Some statistics to ponder on:
General Election 2017 UK Tory party received 42% support from a 68% turnout – by my calculation received 28.5% support of population of voting age.
Presidential Election 2014 President Assad received 88% support from a 73% turnout – by my calculation received 64% support of population of voting age.
Would someone care to remind me which one’s the democracy and which the dictatorship?
Really like the way you make your point through those quotes, you are a scholar and a gentleman. Do you really think the eurozone has turned a corner, or was that a way of balancing the messages you are making with the other stuff?
Very good though and a lot to think about and investigate further. If only everyone was as clear as you @Dave Lawton in putting across their point of view!
Nick, has the EU ever dragged the UK into an illegal war? Does the EU sell arms to tyrants all over the world? Is it the EU that is making life hell for disabled people and the poor in the UK? Did the EU introduce foodbanks to the UK in the 21st century? Does the EU systematically pump lies into every home in the UK every single day in order to deceive and deliberately misinform people in regards to issues that affect their lives? Did the EU de-regulate London Investment banks and thereby play a major part in causing the credit crunch? Was it the EU that sold off utilities and watched them take advantage of their virtual monopoly power with energy bill hikes? Was it the EU that destroyed UK unions, allowing employers in the UK to treat workers like slaves and force them into insecure zero hours contracts, etc.? Have EU politicians been caught stealing, as per the Expenses Scandal, to the tune of hundreds of millions over decades? Were EU politicians involved in the Westminster Paedophile ring? (Still waiting on the enquiry into that, aren’t we…) Was it the EU that destroyed Libya and Syria, causing the migrant crisis?
And I could go on forever and a day. If you think getting out of the EU will improve your life, you haven’t been paying attention. The main reason these right wing crackpots want out of the EU is so that they can treat people in the UK like shit and make a killing, without the EU getting in the way. Try comparing UK pensions, for example, to pensions in just about any other EU country.
It’s in their interests to keep you dumb so that you don’t see things for what they are and, again, you can’t blame the EU for that.
Tony, I’m not sure I do want to stay in the EU. I think the mask slipped with those bastards when they sat and watched paramilitary thugs attack old women with clubs in Catalonia. I think that was one of the most profoundly important events of the last several years.
Hate is constructive, though. I look at the Tory party today and two things spring to mind: 1) this is a party that has been hijacked by a group of cruel weirdos, and 2) I definitely don’t want to be part of a UK that is managed by these scumbags or the people who voted for them.
Incidentally, I think May is one of the most repulsive and dishonest crackpots in British politics today. Looking at those around her, that’s quite accomplishment. How can English voters fall for someone like her? It defies belief. And she’s totally incompetent. Continental politicians must be laughing their asses off at the state of her and the state Britain is in right now.
Scotland has been systematically rejecting the Tories for around 70 years now. With Brexit and wankers like Rees-Mogg and Boris hovering ominously in the background, I think you’re going to see a backlash in Scotland like you’ve never seen before. I’ll be part of it, whatever form it takes.
Constructive.
I think that May has passed from the “lame duck” stage to the “dead duck” stage.
Where career politicians are concerned, though, it might be more precise to refer to the latter as the “zombie duck” stage. After all, our present-day corrupt and decadent Western governments surely belong in the “horror” genre.
They used to smear Vaseline on the camera lens when filming aging, and vain, movie stars; in May’s case, the soft-focus technique obscures the horrorshow truth that she’s dead, but she won’t lie down.
I agree. They’re doing us a favour when they obscure that diabolical monster’s face. And what is it with those crazy expressions she pulls? She looks tortured, like one of Bacon’s figures ‘at the base of a crucifixion…’
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bacon-three-studies-for-figures-at-the-base-of-a-crucifixion-n06171
Now transposed to a BBC website report with extra puffing up from their Chris Mason.
Theresa May ‘irritated’ by leadership speculation
2 hours ago
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45535490
Not half as irritated as the electorate is irritated. When out, I saw a Downs Syndrome boy aged about 16, pushing away a trolley loaded with crockery in a Costa Coffee shop and returning later with an empty one. I wondered what that wage slave is being paid. Similarly, in the supermarket car park, a very elderly man, well over 75, had been collecting the shopping trolleys. He was pushing a collection of about 20 back to the supermarket entrance. His hourly wage?
The Costa chain has just been acquired from Whitbread by Coca Cola for £3.9bn
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/31/coca-cola-buys-costa-coffee-from-whitbead-for-39bn
Tesco’s profits – Tesco beats forecast with 28% rise in annual profits
Retailer makes profit of £1.64bn on sales of £57.5bn in ninth consecutive quarter of growth
11 April 2018
Tesco board directors’ salaries are in £millions.
Tesco boss Dave Lewis paid £4.6m
Pay includes £3m bonus for turning round supermarket group’s sales while finance chief earns £2.6m
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/13/tesco-boss-dave-lewis-bonus-salary
The State broadcaster simply can’t be trusted, MI5 vetted personnel for decades.
The delicious irony of making people pay for your propaganda.
I liked Blake’s 7 though.
Ex-British army doctor, hints that the IDF, are shooting Palestininan’s in the eyes with baton rounds, he adds.
“Recalling my service in Northern Ireland as a doctor in the British Army, I knew that soldiers are instructed to aim tear gas canisters at the ground to disperse crowds, and not at individual protesters. In general, troops are trained to aim towards the lower limbs when firing baton rounds, mindful of the terrible harm they can produce. In contrast, these cases in Jerusalem suggest a deliberate misuse of power by security forces.”
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-trump-and-israel-s-vision-for-the-palestinians-is-to-blind-them-literally-1.6467180
Meanwhile Belgium is to no longer help fund the building of Palestininan schools.
https://m.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Belgium-breaks-relations-with-PA-Education-Ministry-for-naming-school-after-terrorist-567308
Not just a hint. They’re for real RoS. And in 2014 too.
The Maiming Fields of Gaza
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-maiming-fields-of-gaza/5639238
One of the authors is Dr Swee Ang, a founder of MAP after her experiences in Sabra and Shatila ‘refugee’ camps. She was also on the most recent Freedom Flotilla. Roughed up, imprisoned by the Israelis and her possessions stolen,
Wonder will Belgium ban Netanayahu from entering their country on account of his honouring of the Israeli terrorists who blew up the King David Hotel? Actually I don’t wonder about that at all.
On Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago, Iain Duncan Smith was described in the introduction as “..an under-appreciated Social Justice Reformer..”. Biscuit. Taken.
https://www.facebook.com/activeresistancetothetvlicence/
It’s kind of ironic that FB is their platform for resistance. The Beeb, I suspect, is on its way out already, but most can’t see it yet.
I just find it amazing that the BBC can speak of so called Russian propaganda or North Korean propaganda, Venezuelan propaganda. Dont they understand that they are not any better or rather, worse?
Look, I know this blog is full of “alternative” types, but are you really suggesting that the BBC is worse than North Korean state propaganda?
Anon1
Indeed it is worse in many cases, you know why? Because people like you dont understand that it is propaganda, so BBC fool so many people.
Charles Bostock
Uh, US is probably the best nation on spreading propaganda all over the world, still many people want to live there. The two things (propaganda – immigration) have of course nothing to do with each other. Only positive ways – propaganda in terms of how ‘GOOD WE’ are.
No, Jack, I’ve been reading here for years. I know all your arguments as to why Britain is worse than North Korea. It’s not that I don’t know, it that you’re full of shit.
Anon1
Considering your response you obviously became aware how right I were about your view on BBC.
Getting a bit emotional there, Anon1. Has Jack touched a nerve in suggesting that you, yourself may have been sucked in to believing the BBC – so much so, that you attack those who criticise the BBC?
Personally, I don’t even trust the weather forecast on the BBC.
A simple test to determine which societies are the ones which reflect best human hopes and aspirations could be to see which societies people from without want to enter.
People from without are flocking to enter the US, the UK, Australia, the West in general.
Conversely, where are the crowds striving to enter Russia, China, Venezuela, North Korea?
Even desperate Syrian refugees don’t try to get into Russia (“President” Assad’s great friend and protector.
Your test has a serious flaw – incomplete information. Remember theoretical economics assumes that everyone has complete information about everything that is happening in the market? Simultaneously, too – which doesn’t quite square with banks paying vast sums to get their computer a few centimetres closer to the stock exchange’s servers.
Tens of millions of people flocked to the USA because they thought it was “the land of opportunity”, “flowing with milk and honey”, even “the streets paved with gold”.
They were wrong about that. True, it was a country where a sharp operator with no morals, no scruples and a fast line of talk might get very rich quick. But it was also a country where honest workers could expect to systematically exploited, cheated, repressed – and shot if they tried to complain. “I owe my soul to the company store”.
My own uncle paid for a ticket to “go West, young man” in 1924. Within four years he was back, with his illusions shattered.
In short, the main reason so many people have historically flocked (and I use that verb advisedly) to the USA is that, as the bank robber Willy Sutton replied when the judge asked him why he robbed banks, “It’s where the money is”.
And people hope to get their hands on some of it. Apart from the crooked lawyers, sharp-dealing businessmen and outright criminals, their success rate is similar to that of people flocking to Las Vegas to get rich.
My dear Welsh
“Tens of millions of people flocked to the USA ..”
Why the past tense? They still do. Which rather demolishes your “argument”, does it not?
Your reply demonstrates that you didn’t read enough of my comment to understand my argument.
Well said. In Venezuela’s case, not only does nobody want to go there, but 1.2 million have left in the last two years alone.
yeah the us campaign against venezuela has made conditions much worse. who would have suspected?
I worked with lots of Americans who had made their homes in Venezuela.
‘Conversely, where are the crowds striving to enter Russia, China, Venezuela, North Korea?
‘Even desperate Syrian refugees don’t try to get into Russia (“President” Assad’s great friend and protector’.
You really should take some time out from writing nonsense to check your facts, Charles. Russia is currently the world’s second favourite destination for migrants. After the USA, which is desperately trying to shed the burden of being the #1 destination, and may soon succeed. And well ahead of the other countries you mention.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russia-the-worlds-second-largest-immigration-haven-11053
http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/migrationreport/docs/MigrationReport2017_Highlights.pdf
Tom Walsh
” Russia is currently the world’s second favourite destination for migrants. ”
Touche.
I wonder what Charles and Anon1 (or are they the same person?) will do now to deny the facts.
They would simply point out that almost all the immigration is from the former Soviet Union and that Russia operates an almost open door policy due to its vast size and declining birth rates.
Anon1
Perhaps you are unbeknownst that people from former soviet states are now free to travel and immigrate anywhere in the world but still apparently many pick Russia therefore debunking your claims through and through.
Let’s go all empirical, shall we? There are many British commenters on here who apparently believe they’re living in a fascist hell in the UK. How many of them will sell up and go to Russia to live (Russia is apparently the second country of immigration according to Tom Welsh)? What’s keeping them here?
Charles
So from being debunked that no one immigrates to Russia to making more troll discussions?
Why dont you respond to the issue you originally responded to? Do you think BBC is free from propaganda?
Not “according to Tom Welsh”, Charles. According to “The National Interest”, a rabidly pro-Washington rag that is one of the neocons’ favourites – and which would go to great lengths to disparage Russia in any way it could.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russia-the-worlds-second-largest-immigration-haven-11053
Dear CB – People go somewhere they can earn a living, to look after their families.
Have you no idea of the number of Ukrainians who have flooded into Russia since Chocolate King Poroshenko was dumped on them? Have you no idea how many Tajiks and Uzbeks (and not only) come to work in Russia on temporary visas and how many stay if they can? They, in your words, FLOOD into
Russia in millions and Moscow and St P and other cities would be hard put to operate without them.
Desperate Syrians – how on earth do you know how many Syrians have or have not come to Russia?
Lily, I suspect he plucks facts and figures out of thin air to suit his prejudices. (Or perhaps the policies of his paymasters).
Reminds me of Aaronovich ‘interviewing’ Tony Blair at the end of his leadership.
Was that the one conducted in an iron bathtub?
don’t remember that, but it could have had soft focus.
Theresa May the epitome of self-interest ”irritated by leadership speculation”
others irritated by May are police who have just been refused their recommended pay rise, prison officers who have just had a walk out protest, people who work in the NHS, people whose wages are now lower than they was 10 years ago, disabled who have had benefits cut, people made homeless through her policies, people who see her transfer money from the poor to the rich, the country is in tatters and people have seen their quality of life massively deteriorate under her governance but what really irritates her is leadership speculation, the worst prime minister ever, pack your bags May and make way for someone that serves the country not their own ego.
Google news headlines has memory holed all mention of Russia, Syria, Novichok, Salisbury, Assassins, Skripals (Where are they now, one asks ? Being kept very comfortable in the oubliette, in a manner once associated with the inconvenient in the former soviet union, is my suspicion. Entirely for medical reasons we can be assured).
But some talk of leadership wobbles….
How much more obvious does it need to become that it was the British Government doing some sort of scatalogical variant of the ice bucket challenge in Salisbury, to actually remove them ?
Liam Fox is in Argentina, again.
He was online this morning, schmoozing round Sophie Ridge on Sky News.
https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1041283237363023873
He was there in December 2017.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2018/feb/26/where-has-liam-fox-travelled-as-trade-secretary
290,000 miles!
Wonder what deals he’s doing? Will we be told?
Who receives his and his delegations’ airmiles? We should be told.
There are some huge deals to be picked up in Argentina right now, by the rich and unscrupulous – or, as in the case of Fabulous Mister Fox, more likely the unscrupulous with rich friends who owe them big time.
How much do they want for it? Argentina I mean.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/does-israel-have-a-patagonia-project-in-argentina/5624434
Very strange goings on indeed. And he hasn’t invested a bean of his £6bn fortune in Spurs in the two decades he’s owned the club!
That was real news Node. Thanks.
He lives in the Bahamas.
Note that he threatened legal action against JP Morgan after the crash. He had a large stake in Bear Stearns.
https://www.thejc.com/business/alex-brummer/joe-lewis-still-has-that-midas-touch-1.16049
Incidentally, J.P. Morgan also employed BLiar in their climate change initiative. Nothing came of that except that BLiar’s wealth increased.
I see he has a superyacht, Aviva. That name means Innocent or Springtime in Hebrew. How poetic. He has owned three superyachts previously, all named Aviva,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lewis_(British_businessman)
Aviva is a refuse collection firm!
It’s all because unscrupulous “vulture capitalists” and the like (mostly American) have joined forces with the US government to smash Argentina’s financial system. Just as they are also trying to do with Russia, Iran, Venezuela and any other country that does not slavishly obey them.
The sooner everyone stops using the dollar the safer we shall be. All of us. Americans included, as they will fry immediately if their lunatic rulers attack Russia.
For those who haven’t seen this yet…
https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1040857497534230528
(depending on what computer/software you’re using, you might have to use the ‘unmute’ button to hear what Corbyn is saying).
Love him or hate him, Jeremy Corbyn is almost certain to be the next UK prime minister; and someone like me will say that this could happen before the end of this year.
If that happens, how easy do you think it will be to carry out his program? He’s almost a mirror of Trump.
The difference being, the bankers and fat cats love Trump.
https://www.voanews.com/a/wall-street-tax-cuts-drive-down/4193362.html
Nick, if Corbyn does become PM, and fails to live up to his principles, I promise you that I will be the first one to put the boot in.
I’m not sure how you can call Corbyn a mirror of Donald Trump. For starters, Trump comes from the very seedy world of NY property speculation and has close links to the Mafia. Also, Trump was heavily involved in professional wrestling. I mention this because professional wrestling is just an act, none of it’s real, which kinda sums up every American president since Bill Clinton. It’s all staged; it’s all a con. This was particularly so with Obama, ‘Mr hopey-changey’, the ‘first black American president’. The real powers behind the scenes are expert at foistering all this nonsense on the public, and thus keeping them under control.
The absolutely unprecedented media hate campaign against Corbyn (which will go down in history as an utter shame) is precisely because Corbyn is not under the control of the psychopaths who rule us (another war, anyone?).
As to whether Corbyn will be able to rule effectively if he becomes PM is a good question. The Blairites/Red Tories are now being purged from the Labour Party, which is now by far the largest political party in Europe. The weight of public opinion, the weight of history, is all on Corbyn’s side, so we’ll have to see what happens.
I do know one thing for certain: the Skripal affair will be the final nail in the coffin of the Tories. After such blatant lies and criminality there’s no way they’ll ever be able to get into power again, even with the entire MSM lying on their behalf.
We live in interesting times.
RobG, well said, and I think I probably didn’t express myself well. I meant a left-wing reflection of the right-wing Trump. I wasn’t trying to present an equivalence other than both are/would have problems running on their own respective tickets. FWIW, I voted for JC and I’d be right behind you with my boot if he failed to live up to his principles.
Rob
Firstly is JC or should I say labour don’t live up their promises it will be because of the right wing of the party undermining every plank of policy they can.
Secondly I think that the chances of another general election before 2022 are absolutely zip.
No matter how embattled Theresa appears to be and no matter what staged infighting within the ranks of the Conservative party there is absolutely no one within that festering brigade or the DUP for that matter that would risk the chance of a Corbyn government and the ensuing clean up of political and business life that will follow. Many on the front bench are so corrupt that any investigations brought about by a new labour government would find many of them well on their way to a 5 year stretch. For that reason alone May will be allowed to rule infinitum. Conservative donors, namely the city of London fund the conservatives to protect their interests. As long as they do that by tearing up legislation and allowing them to run amok then I see no reason why any of them would seek to change it.
Maybe we’ll get a credible leadership challenge or rearranging of deck chairs but certainly no election that may return a labour government.
This is why labour must spend the next four years opening up democracy within the party – welcoming new members and setting about replacing the entitled blairite scourge with decent people who are answerable to the electorate and to their CLPs. This will be no easy battle, but the thought of a blairite saddled labour government with those nincompoops staging coupes and voting against the leadership will be as bigger win for the city of London as were it to remain Tory.
We must remain patient and keep fairness and justice at the forfront of our minds. And not dive into an ill conceived coalition of vain idiots.
Rob, unfortunately “love him or hate him” illustrates perfectly the two camps within the Labour Party. If Corbyn fails to become PM, it will be his Labour back-stabbers to blame. Unbelievable, when they are faced with a dysfunctional Tory party. I’m not sure if I was hearing right this morning but I thought it was mentioned that Chuka Umunna was a potential new leader of the Libdems! (?)
Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have landed in Western Europe.
Does anyone happen to have the figures for how many have gone to Russia, which is Syria’s friend? How about you, Mr Tom Welsh (cf your posts above), could you perhaps help here?
No, I thought not.
you mean the head choppers? you should go meet some, since you like them so much.
Most of the refugees still staying in Turkey. From Turkey shore an easy reach to Greek islands. Turkey does not have a border with Russia
Once in Greece, I’m sure the Greeks would let them go on to Russia if they wanted to. The Greeks would be delighted to see them go. But they don’t want to go to Russia, do they.
So I think I’ve won on that particular point.
Charles Bostock
Not sure why you are so focused on Russia but sure here is a piece on refugees from Ukraine:
5 jan. 2016 -” Across Russia, hundreds of thousands of east Ukrainians have arrived since ”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/05/ukrainian-russia-refugee-conflict
“The psychopaths who rule us are all war criminals who should be put up against a wall and shot….”
But instead they are given any amount of air time to express how concerned they are about “extremism” in the Labour Party.
Actually since the recapture of Aleppo and areas around Damascus, literally hundreds of thousands of Syrians have returned to their homes (what was left of them after the terrorists used their heavy weapons, kindly supplied by Western governments, to destroy whole cities).
Here’s a nice picture of Raqqa after the Americans liberated it from ISIS. (I chose Raqqa because no Syrian, Russian or Iranian forces have come near it for many years). Not much point anyone returning to that. Besides, it’s unhealthy because of the tens of thousands of corpses the Americans buried under rubble and then just left there.
https://cdn4.img.sputniknews.com/images/106294/14/1062941400.jpg
Charlie, by closing your comment with “No, I thought not.”, it suggests that you have a closed mind and no matter what the response from others, your position is fixed. The figures you pretend to look for exist but, whether zero or 10,000, your spin is unchanged.
But Charlie’s question shows total political naivety or is that ignorance?
Nick “Tory” Robinson… enough said really.
Nick ‘Tony’ Robinson, aka Baldrick is less transparent.