This is a genuine offer. I will pay £100 to any person who can provide a convincing reason why Denis MacShane’s expense fiddling, involving his creating false invoices, was not a criminal offence. Your argument does not have to be unanswerable – merely respectable. Up to three prizes will be given, for the three first and not essentially the same convincing arguments.
This competition specifically is open to employees of the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service; we would love to know their reasoning. It baffles me. I confess I can think of no single circumstance in this case that would prevent MacShane being convicted for theft and fraud. What is the answer?
Denis MacShane is a criminal. If he wants to try his chances with a jury, the libel courts are open to him and I am here.
Well said, Courtenay. 4 Nov, 2012 – 7:36 pm
My father was a conservative and a Catholic. When I told him what had happened to me, his decision was to take me to see a local priest, a priest of the ultra-conservative Catholic Church. And HIS decision, in his wisdom, was that I should be made to go to Confession. Which was duly done, and where the priest asked me if I had “taken pleasure in it”. He then gave me penance and absolution – two things I knew all about as I had only a year before been ‘prepared’ for “First Confession”. I was (thereby) told that it was all my fault. Nobody did anything about the paedophile. He was left to his own devices.
At that age, I knew nothing about sex, nothing about the “birds and bees”. I was brought home, given no advice of any kind, and the subject was never mentioned again before my parents died.
Meanwhile, terrible damage had been done, although I had no understanding of the connection (between sexual abuse and my subsequent problems) before the Ryan and Murphy reports came out in Ireland. Subsequent to that I saw various people (victims of abuse) interviewed on TV – including three British ex-public-schoolboys who talked about their own difficulties – and a lot of lightbulbs went off for me.
Shame and guilt are the legacy of sexual abuse of children. And it’s the victims’ shame and guilt. They have it even if they haven’t been forced into a Confession box. They just cope with it as best they can.
I have been a very liberal, atheist parent. For obvious reasons.
Guano, you simply don’t make any sense. I agree with Technicolour, above.
“and a lot of lightbulbs went off for me.”
I don’t think that’s what I meant. 🙂
Jay 4 Nov, 2012 – 8:18 pm
“Oedipus_complex”
Ah, dr freud. Another load of gobbledegook based on some truth expanded into a religion.
“how the fuck can you control what is going on deep in your sub conscious”
Well not with psychoanalysis. That’s for ripping off the middle classes by getting them to endlessly regurgitate their problems at a handsome fee.
Try some self hypnosis. Or pull your socks up. Or get drunk.
I am very sorry to read of your experiences Dreoilin. Cannot imagine what it must have been like for you. You must be very strong. Appreciate that you have shared it here.
And Courtenay, if they ever come knocking at this door and I get banged up, I would like you to be my ‘brief. LOL as Rebekah would say.
Was Cameron referring to her or the horse here?
In one message, Cameron thanks Brooks for letting him ride one of her family’s horses, saying it was “fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun”, it is claimed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/04/david-cameron-texts-rebekah-brooks
Denis MacShane in Wikipedia:
“He worked for the BBC from 1969 to 1977,[9] including as a newsreader and reporter on Wolverhampton Wanderers for BBC Radio Birmingham. He changed his surname to his mother’s maiden name at the request of his employers.”
Couldn’t have him called Matyjaszek, could we. Imagine, “And now we have a report from Denis Matyjaszek”. You’d frighten the listeners.
What a weak and cowardly man.
Jerome
“…I’m puzzled by the amount of stick he’s [MacShane] getting on this board, both from Craig’s initial blog and almost all of the commenters. Compared to a lot of his MP peers, the amounts he fiddled are relatively small, but he seems to be coming into much more savage criticism here than any of the other fiddling MPs.”
MacShane is the latest in a long line of corrupt politicians to be found with their fingers in the till. He isn’t being singled out here; he just happens to be in the news at the moment.
You say the amounts he fiddled are relatively small. Committing fraud against the taxpayer is not small but serious. A man in a position of trust stealing from his employers (the taxpayer) should be held to account.
Where you say:
“I wonder if, for example, Mr George Galloway, if in the same situation, would be adjudged worthy of an individual blog and receive all these comments.”
I am an admirer and supporter of George Galloway. If he committed fraud on the taxpayers I would be the first to condemn him; the sense of betrayal would be huge, believe me, I would not defend him.
Thanks, Mary. I don’t think I ever imagined that I’d share it here. But then we probably never imagined the current maelstrom in the BBC either.
@Dreoilin
That’s a tough deal mate. Really tough. Take pride that you are better than that hand.
It’s hard to know what to say.
@ Mary,
” And Courtenay, if they ever come knocking at this door and I get banged up, I would like you to be my ‘brief. LOL as Rebekah would say.”
If I weren’t married, I might come knocking sooner for intellectual stimulation – of course.
LOL – as they say.
CB
Doug Scorgie 4 Nov, 2012 – 8:49 pm
“I am an admirer and supporter of George Galloway. If he committed fraud on the taxpayers I would be the first to condemn him.”
Me too. And just to add that Galloway has been falsely accused of fraud on a scale few could put up with.
Bless you, Dreoilin. I think if someone can overcome an experience like that, and go on to be a loving and decent and humane person and parent, it makes the cries of ‘we are living in an immoral society and therefore it is almost bound to make us immoral’ rather shrill, or hollow.
That’s not to say that one doesn’t sometimes absorb some of the awfulness around us. I find that for peace of mind one has to accept those random inputs, and then question them, peacefully. They invariably wither away under the light of enquiry. Hope that helps.
ps sorry, didn’t mean ‘bless you’ in a religious sense, or a patronising one – in the sense of ‘thank you and may all continue to be well with you’, though.
I could not read any further than the first paragraph and could not be bothered to read any of the over 764 comments.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/9652766/David-Cameron-fears-a-chill-wind-blowing-across-the-Atlantic.html
by Matthew d’Ancona
03 Nov 2012
At the Bicom annual dinner last Tuesday, I had the privilege to meet and then hear Ehud Barak, a true Israeli hero, speak about the challenges and opportunities facing his nation. Now defence minister, and a former prime minister, Barak is too authentically military in his bones to rattle sabres. He told the gathering organised by Bicom – the marvellous organisation which fosters links between Britain and Israel – that his country did not seek confrontation with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. But, with a silken clarity far more powerful than growled menace, he made clear that Israel will do what it has to do if those ambitions are not verifiably curtailed.
/…
I feel so sorry that this happened to you, Dreolin,
you must have felt so confused and hurt by the ignorance sticking plaster they offered you for solace. You must have felt a jolt when Bill Maloney was talking of his childhood past in Ireland and of his parents being abused by Catholic priests.
I feel humbled by you sharing this with us and I wish I could make you feel better.
@ CB, thanks for the thoughtful piece, you are growing on me.
Thanks for your kindness, folks. Phil, Technicolour, Nevermind.
I’m still not sure what possessed me to write all that tonight, here. I haven’t said it anywhere else online up to now. So I thank you for your understanding.
I’ll sign off for tonight. Take care, all.
Lightbulbs came on Dreoilin; the epiphany is rewarding as is sharing it.
The confession box, the Hell-fire club (The Essay on Woman), the torture chambers, the shadowy corners of St. Ermin’s Hotel, the black camps and the thick hermetic walls at Vauxhall Cross cover the immoral like a veil; closed doors that hide fear, debauchery, pain, deception and treachery.
Yet a revelation is forming as information and disclosure proliferate our lives. You are part of that Dreoilin as is most of us and I thank you for your honesty.
Thank you, Dreolin, for being so calm and collected and for trusting us with your very personal information.
Good night.
@ CB, thanks for the thoughtful piece, you are growing on me.
Nevermind ( pun intended)
@ Dreolin,
” Thanks for your kindness, folks. Phil, Technicolour, Nevermind.
I’m still not sure what possessed me to write all that tonight, here. I haven’t said it anywhere else online up to now. So I thank you for your understanding.”
Quite profound – hope I did not hurt any feelings.
What can I say?
Sorry it happened.
Yes indeed, Denis MacShane, what a crook.
His obsession with rooting out non existent anti-Semitism needs looking into.
How much time can some one spend – being paid by us tax payers – on doing absolutely nothing?
@ Dreoilin,
Those are very brave posts you made.Like others i don’t know really what to say except full empathy and respect to you to have battled through.I understand,without going into details.Guess i’m not brave enough yet.
Sleep well…
What on earth has us so far from our ideals.
We are naturaly inclined to protect our young and work to provide and maintain.
With our ethical purpose to do right we can move forward, presently we fail consider the need to right as whats most important for our common purpose.
The failings of all our politicians and media to do right by concensus has become a
main stummbling block in our need to nurture.
The trouble with bad apples is they affect the other fruit.
Where are all the Good Men?
Another obscenity is found in yesterday’s Independent on Sunday.
Unbelievably, the editorial refers to Greece and Ireland as ‘Gaza strip countries’.
‘Europe and Germany needs to be told shared guilt equates to shared responsibility, as distinct from the current amoral pragmatism where, to protect continental bankers, ‘Gaza strip countries’ such as Ireland and Greece are ‘permitted’ to become the fiscal equivalent of a ‘stabilised’ methadone user.’
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/editorial/eu-good-child-must-get-bolder-3281716.html
Totally repugnant about all the people in these three countries. The editor is listed as a John Mullin who came to the IoS by way of the Guardian and the Scotsman. He should be telling us who made the countries in question poor and who the real oppressors are.
Hmm. The victims of a crime should behave in such a way as to discourage the criminal. Everyone, by extension, should therefore stay indoors behind locks and wearing burkhas. It is an unsavoury ‘they were asking for it’ road to go down.
If you’ll just let me know where you live, and turn off your burglar alarm….my belief is that the best way to avoid crime is not to invite it. There’s no need to put up strawman arguments.
Just one more day of the rhetoric and the shouting from Yankeeland. There has been so much shouting from a desperate Obama and his stand up Bill Clinton that their voices are hoarse. Both BBC News and Sky News have overdone the coverage. There must be hundreds of their employees over there. Perhaps they would like to stay on.
James Petras gives a good account of the shindig and what lies behind.
From the “Lesser to the Greater Evil”and the Demise of Critical Liberalism
US Elections
by James Petras / November 3rd, 2012
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/11/from-the-lesser-to-the-greater-eviland-the-demise-of-critical-liberalism/
~~~
Cameron has gone off to the UAE and Saudi Arabia (with Hammond and Gardner in tow!) to sell some more Typhoons and to make arrangements for the accommodation of our fighter planes if and when war against Iran breaks out. Some Typhoons are already out there. Vile people.
David Cameron arrives in the Gulf for defence talks
{http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20202058}
Nevermind are you saying that Joshua Rozenberg is not up to the job?
He is yet another BBC type of course. Always dragged on to comment on legal outcomes in the style of Frank Gardner on terrrrism. Rozenberg was in the High Court when the Dr Kelly case was decided. A lugubrious looking individual.
You’d look lugubrious if you were Mel Phillips’ husband. FACT.
Karel, you old bluffer, I’m sure both of us are sleeping and eating properly.
I think you’ll have to admit defeat on the “amici degli amici” v. (your) “amici dei amici” point. The source you kindly linked to is a website (not a grammar) on the Roman dialect (not standard Italian), and anyway what it says would, if anything, actually contradict your theory (you would have to say “amici degl’amici”).
Sorry,, and better luck next time. Better to stick to the Germanic languages?
Cameron and Hammond have just been shown by the state broadcaster coming down the steps from their aircraft in Dubai.
Both are wearing poppies. Both display their fondness for remembering the dead but have no feelings of guilt or moral scruples in planning more deaths.
Beware of BBC Breakfast this morning. They are about to have the Military Wives Choir on who ‘will tell us how singing has got them through some difficult times’. All part of the big build up to Remembrance Sunday, now stolen by the warmongers.
yes, Komodo, for the sake of offering up like for like to her Schmarotzer column, either he is not up to it, and/or ‘Cassandra’ the fury can’t enjoy love, which explains her inate hatred for Palestinians trying to make ends meet in Ghaza. I think she is actually bi sexual, which is fine, but not unlike some closet homosexuals, dare not let on, shrill denial.
She has given Britain’s right wing fascist a boost during the Breivig trial, the EDL loves her, indeed her writings have inspired this mass murderer and she will not get away from it, whatever she does or stabs with her little pen.
She is trying everything to keep this status, fear not little children, Melanie will sort it all out, its all the fault of those homosexuals, you know.
http://baxfail.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/call-that-an-agenda/