Watch Page Eight, written and directed by David Hare, on BBC2 this Sunday at 9pm. It should be brilliant.
David has sent me a very kind message saying that some of the thinking behind Page Eight grew out of his work on Murder in Samarkand. That makes me proud. If it helps make the public think about these issues of humanity, that would be great. And I am certainly going to convince myself that a little corner of Bill Nighy is me…
If you have not yet listened to David Hare’s radio version of Murder in Samarkand, starring David Tennant as me (that is still surreal to type) click on the link top right.
Thank you, Craig – I had intended to watch it anyway but now there is even more reason.
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I wonder if you saw Glorious 39 by Stephen Poliakoff also with Nighy
Bah, no TV here, due to self-imposed BBC ban. Might have to grab it on DVD instead…
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Have been a fan of Weisz since her appearance in The Constant Gardener. It really is a brilliant watch, even on repeated viewings.
Thanks for the reminder. I will watch it. It will be a nice change from the grotesque black propaganda coming out of the newsrooms at the moment.
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I also very much enjoyed The Hour, especially the final episode last week. A reminder that once there was investigative journalism on the BBC in the days of Grace Wyndham Goldie.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Wyndham_Goldie
As-Salāmu `Alaykum
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Al-Quds
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OI9LzO-B8g
If the film is as good as what the poster suggests… !
I guess (and this is entirely noncommittal) it will be considerably above the average, not great (not of enduring value), but the actors will have done truly brilliant jobs (though somewhat in vain).
My intuition is probably more than a bit rubbish, last time I watched tv was nine years ago.
Its also in HD, and I have set my SKY+ thing to record it. As bizzare as it may seem, although I have SKY+ including HD, I hardly ever watch TV. The last time was the London Riots.
I read Murder in Samarkand in The Maldives whilst it was stormy in the first few days. I couldn’t stop turning the pages. I fully intended to turn up at the Houses of Parliament Craig Torture thing but Craig asked if someone could record it. I didn’t know how to do it, but found out in about an hour or so – the time I would otherwise be travelling into London. I had no time to test it – but it worked.
However, only 5,836 people have seen it in over 2 years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF9spgagSHI
Nothing has improved.
Want to see the latest video games?
Killing 2 year olds by Remote Control from an Office in RAF Waddington was it?
Or was that Tel aviv – or The Nevada Desert.
I must be evil in wanting the Hurricane to Do Its Worse.
I Can’t Deny It, even though it should be hitting London and Tel Aviv.
The Americans and The Israelis are Relatively Innocent Compared With US.
We come From England – Check Out Our History.
Tony
Good for you, Craig, I’m glad. Bravery motivated by passion and compassion: a long-lasting source of inspiration. Thank you, by the way.
Thank you for putting up those You Tubes Tony. I am one of the nearly 6000 viewers and saw the series. Depressing to see that the following six parts only record an audience of under 1,000 but I have heard that Google/You Tube doctor the figures on anything political that does not fit the agenda of the gangsters-in-charge.
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I remember the mainly cold dead eyes and hearts of that committee but remember with gratitude the humanity shown by the late Lord Onslow.
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You are correct in your analysis of the current situation btw.
That little bit of Bill Nighy that’s you? It’s the guy from Love Actually isn’t it? No, seriously, all good stuff. Have been gibbering to me ol’ dear about Karimov and Afghanistan and now Libya and Quadaffi whether it’s the CIA, mafia or MI6 who’s got him – may be the Itais or as Hague keeps blethering the Venezualans. He could do a Jimmy Hoffa and keep the pundits speculating. Place yer bets…
Mary,
I do lots of videos, some are sacrosanct
Like standing up, against all odds and nearly losing your life for it…
TORTURE Destroys The Entire Basis of Human Civilisation
I Personally Nominate Craig John Murray as a Saint For Having The Courage To Potentially Lose His Life TO STAND AGAINST IT
He Is One Honest Man Standing Against EVIL
Such Courage Is Wonderful
Tony
[Deleted, disruptive]
Why is this site so demonstrably pro-911 conspiracy buttery?
Apologies, I may have made a few spelling mistakes
What Do You Think All The Corparet Carpet Cretins Are Going To Do, When They Are Surrounded By Young Small Independent Businesses Staffed By The Talented Kids Friends’ who Deliver What They Promise on Time
And Build Works of Beauty That Will Last Way Beyond The Time You are Dead and What YOU Tried To Destroy
Go and Fuck Yourselves – You MONSTERS
Fuck Off and Die
Tony
Ah
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I see now
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The failure of
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Craig’s blog to handle
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carriage returns
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is a deliberate design feature
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to
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shorten
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topy_opmoc’s posts
So long as the politicians of the UK believe that Judaism is the underpinning foundation of Christianity and that the Zionist bankers in London and Washington are the manifestation of real power underlying our civilisation and our state, Palestine will be in occupation. The kettling of protesters outside the banks will be nothing to the boiling water that the defenders of Western Judaeo-Christian hegemony will be made to drink, Blair, Brown and Cameron. Unfortunately Craig is next on the list unless he sees the connection between Zionist Banking power and illegal state terror. Liberalism refuses to condemn destructive power that is obtained legally under British Law. Why bite off the heads of innocent children if you have a pit-bull terrier to do it for you instead? Palestine is the direct responsibility of UK governments because WE give the Zionist Bankers authority and WE give them a haven in our leafy villages. We should be making it very unsafe for Zionist bankers to exist freely in the West.
Larry/Osama: I dunno about 911, but I am definitely pro-buttery. Particularly on bagels at the moment, for some reason.
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Vronsky, ha, you saw through Tim and Craig’s cunning plan! I like it.
@Anno: I thought you were opposed to torture? If you are opposed to torture in Guantanamo Bay, you should be opposed to torturing British politicians as well. Yes, they are responsible for the wars they start, or the banking sectors they let off the leash. But I think it is much better to jail people for their crimes, rather than to succumb to their violence.
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I am fairly sure that Craig already spies a connection between the banking system and our state violence abroad, but it doesn’t need to be regarded as “Zionist” for that connection to be made. Try “capitalist” instead.
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I understand your anger about Palestine, and I share it. But one does have to be very careful with arguments regarding everything as “Zionist” – the BBC, the media, the banking sector, etc. I understand that there are scholars who look into “ethnocentric survival strategies” but given the existence of genuine anti-Jewish racism, one does have to be careful not to posit a cartoon version of evil people in lairs. I am sure it does not need to be said, but there’s no harm in my doing so: there are good Israelis and good Jews, working for peace and protesting against the occupation.
“Mousa inquiry ‘to clear Army of systematic abuse'”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14697170
Jon. There is absolutely no benefit whatsoever in torturing Muslims in order to obtain information, even though the government has admitted that it used information of this kind confident that it was obeying its own and international regulations. There is no security benefit and no economic benefit. The only benefit is to satisfy the racism, atheism and savage apartheid of the Zionists.
You are equally indefensible in camouflaging Zionist sadism as economic self-advantage, and equally stupid.
Jon, you are also completely misinformed when you assume that there is a connection between sincere practising Jews or Israeli citizens and Zionism. The Zionists embrace Cabbalistic magic from ancient Babylonian Iraq, sacrificial paganism they took from classical Greece, Demeter worship, totally fanatic apartheid which gives permission for Jews to do anything to anybody outside their sect.
It’s absolutely appalling that you can lump together a world-dominating evil group of satanistic gangsters who hold the world to ransom through their banking networks, and ordinary individuals who practise their faith, or live in a particular place.
God help us if this site is managed by people of such unfathomable ignorance. Can’t we move on a bit or grow up a bit.
Allow me to remove that grubby, sticky dummy of British values from your comfort-seeking pout.
Just finished watching it, fabulous..
An interesting reveal at the end of Page Eight exposing the cover up of an assassination by Shabak.
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A very enjoyable and thought provoking film. This review and that in the Guardian only gave it three stars out of five (why does everything have to have star ratings?) but I think it warrants top marks.
http://www.cultbox.co.uk/reviews/episodes/1689-page-eight-review
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I am always moved by the poetic words of I Vow To Thee My Country to the music of Holst. Patriotism has been stolen by the warmongers and killers.
Yeah, I liked the way Nighy walked off like the pink panther at the end. And, was I missing something, but did he just decide to forget about the whole torture thing because of the lovely girl who lived next to him with the kindly Dad or because he thought that the big secret about the Israelis was much worse than the Americans systematic secret use of torture? Not very Craig. You’ve got to hand it to those Israelis heh, they always know how to be the real bad guys. Shame though, I thought that the psycho guy from Schindler’s list was the obvious baddy.
Ah, those are the new rules for the new century. Just got it. Forget about our own systematic use of evidence from torture and stick it to the Israelis instead. One of the great moralists of out time is that David Hare. Really, I can’t stop laughing.
I noted the bit:
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A coroner has been involved
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What, a real coroner?
Time to mention Salahuddin Amin, the UK complicit torture case the UK government don’t want you to focus upon….
Yes, I agree with Dan J. A good drama. And it is drama, not documentary. But it makes mainstream assumptions. It is on the BBC, post-Kelly, after all:
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1) That the UK security services did not really know about the specific locations of the CIA’s black sites. Bullshit. They took part (to take part need not mean to be in the same room) in the interrogations, feeding the torturers with questions. These fucking Lear Jets landed on several UK airports – the Govt and SIS/SS were complicit.
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2) The romantic thing was unecessary and rather ‘Hollywood’. Why was there not als a dog?
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3) The two plots – black sites PM involved and Israel-Palestine did not really work well together. It smacked of easy sloganeering – even if I agree with those slogans. We needed something a little darker, really. Not just another glorified political soap opera. I’m being very harsh here – Devil’s Advocate. I enjoyed watching it.
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4) The Scottish character seemed miscast. Not really convincing to me anyway. His style was like something out of ‘River City’. The main characters, I should say, acted excellently.
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5) The UK was completely hand-in-glove with the USA in torture, black sites, etc.
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6) The SIS agreed to twist the evidence wrt Iraq. The idea of an honourable spy service is a joke.
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7) Why so many artist? God, everyone’s writing a fucking novel or painting or reading manuscripts. This is what happens when a writer spends too much time among artists and not enough time in real life. There should be a Golden Rule for creatie writing: Never write about artists. Well, not always, but you know what I mean. It reeks of ‘Here is a respctable drama with middle class people’.
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Nonetheless, thanks for the recommendation – it was good entertainment and made some important, if obvious, points. If it had com out in 2003/4/5, say, then fireworks. Now, uhm, smacks of lip servce.
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Oh sorry, another criticism. The ‘quaint little Indian family scene’ was straight of out 1965. I almost expected the granny to say: “Goodness gracious me, Mr Spy, how welcome you are here!” Jesus Johnny, are these the only roles Asian actors can get in the UK today? Answer: In my experince of having talked with loas of Asian British actors, largely, sadly, yes. It was gratuitous and typical. It really irritates. A little like having a ‘Whisky Galore’ scene to show that ‘now we are in Scotland, och aye!’
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I know that from pen to screen entails 50,000 people – but Hare also directed it.
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I’m being harsh because I liked it – does that makes sense? I’d have expcetd better in these ways. Well, at least the Arab Brits were goodies, for a change.
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It wouldn’t have been commissioned if it’d been properly harsh on the UK establishment. Now everyone can go to bed feeling some sort of catharsis.
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I think we need to ditch catharis, actually and go with Augusto Boal.
Ha!
Pre-war Iraq ‘not threat to UK’, former MI5 boss says
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http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1314583302.html
Watched it through, rather agree with the more negative comments. Yes, I caught the throwaway line ‘a *real* coroner?’. Noted also, however, the strong endorsement of the idea that MI5 knew nothing about 7/7 – that will be shining bright, as my son says.
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Some good acting, especially the lady spy chief, but is it really plausible that the Johnny character, offered a choice between bringing down a corrupt PM and pleasing a pretty girl would choose the latter, when either choice means loss of career, pension and country? ‘I vow to thee my country’ (Holst hated it, by the way) was quickly ditched for a smile.
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“God, everyone’s writing a fucking novel or painting or reading manuscripts.”
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swyAN7j1R7E&feature=player_embedded