Doune The Rabbit Hole 450

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I shall again be running the bar – the Whistleblower’s Arms – at the Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival from 22 to 24 August at Cardross, Port of Menteith.

I find this festival, which is very much a lifestyle event and features mostly new talent, an extremely life-affirming experience. Last year it brought me back from a very dark place. Some of this blogs most active commenters and helpers have been among the volunteers over the last couple of years, keeping the event going. Personally for me the festival is necessarily centred around Williams Bros and Thistly Cross, but there is a tremendous variety of music:

Doune-poster-updated-16th-june-01-1-2

The event is very family friendly, and also an amazing place to meet new friends. It does not have any specific political orientation, but I might fairly say that the vibe is very much in line with the kind of unconstrained intellectual space promoted on this blog. On top of which Cardross is an extraordinarily beautiful place. The variety of local food on site, ranging from vegan to game, is one of the things I really enjoyed. It is a not for profit event and nobody gets a salary.

Tickets are not expensive by festival standards, and certainly cheaper than a weekend break in a hotel. But there is also the alternative of working your passage – the festival still needs plenty of volunteers.

I am genuinely looking forward to it enormously. Hope to see you there.

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450 thoughts on “Doune The Rabbit Hole”

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  • doug scorgie

    “Theresa May is to outline plans for a “wide-ranging” inquiry, led by an expert panel, into historic child sex abuse claims…”

    I wonder who these “experts” will be. However:

    “The inquiry would be held in public but evidence would not be given under oath.”

    So any contributors to the inquiry can lie through their teeth without any fear of being charged with perjury.

    Just like the Chilcot inquiry and just like the Hutton inquiry.

    Another whitewash in the making.

  • Dreoilin

    Three suspects in murder of Arab teen confess to crime

    “Three of the six suspects confessed to the murder of Mohammad Abu Khdeir from Shuafat and reenacted it in the area his body was dumped in the forest outside Jerusalem on Monday.”

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4538864,00.html

    “The six are suspected of being members of a terror organizations, memberships in an forbidden organization, abduction for the sake of murder, the murder of a minor, conspiring to commit a crime, possession of weapons and ammunition and committing a crime motivated by racism.”

  • Mary

    I see this slimeball did the spadework for the deal. On commission?

    Former spin doctor Alastair Campbell meets Egyptian regime blamed for 1,000 deaths – weeks after Blair gives staunch backing to its coup leader ahead of election
    Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led Egypt’s military coup, expects landslide victory
    Alastair Campbell, forced to quit No 10 over Iraq, has met officials
    Tony Blair applauded Sisi for overthrowing Muslim Brotherhood last year
    Sisi has been criticised for the deaths of more than 1,000 dissidentshttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2638470/Former-spin-doctor-Alastair-Campbell-meets-Egyptian-regime-blamed-1-000-deaths-weeks-Blair-gives-staunch-backing-coup-leader-ahead-election.html

    May 2014

  • Ba'al Zevul (Chimp Assassin)

    Nice catches, Dreoilin. Though I would like to think the serf who types the words into the autocue did that on purpose.

  • craig Post author

    Am fine but having small break till my level of disgust at the governing classes comes back down to bearable.

  • Ba'al Zevul (Chimp Assassin)

    This ain’t gonna improve it, Craig, sorry.

    Brittan’s hired Mishcon de Reya to minimise his bad publicity. Not yet rewritten is the true story that MdR acted for Geoffrey Archer, and got him half a million in libel damages (before Archer’s being jailed subsequently for perjury in the same case)

  • Mary

    Mishcon de Reya = Anthony Julius

    ‘What is his own relationship with Israel? “I don’t think there should be a liquidation of the diaspora, I don’t think Zionism is the only way for Jews to live, but I also admire much of what Israel has achieved. Mine has always been the classic leftist position: the two-state solution. I still think that is the only one that makes sense.” What about the settlements? Should they stop? “In a Palestinian state, I don’t think Jews should be expelled; they should be offered citizenship. In that context, I don’t think settlements make much of a difference, though I can see, from a Palestinian point of view, it must be intensely frustrating to find your opportunities for state-building to be constantly eroded by settlement building.”

    Julius’s eldest son has emigrated to Israel, where he did military service on the Lebanese border. Was this controversial? “No, not at all. I’m proud of him. I was sorry to see him go, of course; I would like all my children to be living next door.” He must have been worried. “Yes, I was worried. But on his gap year, my son went to the Kashmir border, utterly oblivious. That was more worrying. I don’t want to make light of what he’s done but it wasn’t politically controversial at all.” His voice softens. “On the contrary, I only honour him for it.”‘
    http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/feb/07/anthony-julius-diana-dina-antisemitism

    Oh that old thing? The two state solution! OK. So join up all the tiny dots of what is left of Palestine as shown here and call it a state? Stop dissembling Mr Julius and six years further down the line, admit the realities.
    http://www.juancole.com/images-ext/2013/03/slights-palestinians-protests.jpg
    ~~~

    Deconstructing A Zionist: Anthony Julius
    by Gilad Atzmon / April 29th, 2008

    Anthony Julius is a prominent British lawyer and academic, best known for his actions on behalf of academic Nazi hunter Deborah Lipstadt. It was Julius who perpetrated the destruction of history revisionist David Irving’s career.

    However, Anthony Julius is far more than just an academic and a lawyer. He is also a devoted Zionist who has established a reputation for his opposition to ‘new anti-Semitism’. Adding to the list of his accomplishments, he is also a founding member of Engage, the notorious British Zionist smear operator. On top of that he is also founder member of the UK based Neo-con think tank known as the Euston Manifesto.

    /..

    http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/deconstructing-a-zionist-anthony-julius/

  • Ba'al Zevul (Chimp Assassin)

    Still, it’s a good day for burying news like this-

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/david-camerons-trade-deal-with-america-outrages-critics-9587168.html

    Which will adversely affect many more people, for far longer, than kiddy-fiddlers in government and the whitewash needed to paint them out of the picture.

    Bubbling under for a while, the main beneficiaries will obviously be multinationals and hedge funds. Here’s what the Con 2010 manifesto didn’t say about it and the Con 2014 manifesto hinted at indirectly in one line:

    https://usilive.org/tpp-ttip-corporate-coup/

  • Fraser

    I tried the Thistly Cross Cider at Eden Festival, then again at Kelburn……. Its now my favorite drink, so over the moon that it will be at Doune!!

  • Mary

    Business Questions

    David Amess (Southend West, Conservative)

    Will my right hon. Friend find time for a debate on the publication of the Chilcot report? As someone who attended the debate and changed my mind on how to vote because of what the then non-working-class Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons, I think that it is essential that the Chilcot report is published as soon as possible without redactions so that the House can judge the veracity of what we were told on that momentous occasion.

    3 July 2014, c1084)

    Andrew Lansley (The Leader of the House of Commons ; South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

    Those of us who did not support the invasion of Iraq in 2003 are as anxious as my hon. Friend to see the Chilcot report. In his letter of 28 May to the Cabinet Secretary, Sir John Chilcot said that it was the inquiry’s intention to submit its report to the Prime Minister as soon as possible. I can tell the House that it is the Prime Minister’s hope that it will be able to do so before the end of the year. The Government will not comment on the Iraq inquiry before the publication of the report.

    LOL

  • MJ

    Ba’al Zevul (Chimp Assassin): thanks for that link to the Independent article. A couple of juicy quotes:

    “The EU says the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal (TTIP) could increase the region’s GDP by 0.5 per cent by 2027”

    Well, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Then there’s this:

    “Activists are especially concerned by proposals to allow multinationals to sue countries in international arbitration courts, bypassing the laws and policies of democratically elected governments”

    Call me a Little Englander but I don’t think that’s a very good idea.

  • Mary

    There was not much take up on 38 Degrees for action on TTIP. I think that people are not aware of the implications of TTIP. The You Tube contains good info.

    What is the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4OQeekSD6s

    Secret EU-US Trade Deal
    May 15th, 2014
    http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2014/05/15/secret-eu-us-trade-deal/

    Don’t let corporations sue our government
    The Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a secretive trade deal between the EU and the US. If it goes through, corporations would be able to sue governments for putting people over profit.Write in to a consultation set up by the EU now and tell them not to let corporations sue the UK government under this deal.
    https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/tell-ttip-negotiators-not-to-let-corporations-sue-governments#petition

    Stop the British Government joining the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
    https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-british-government-joining-the-transatlantic-trade-and-investment-partnership

  • Ba'al Zevul (Chimp Assassin)

    If you look at the uslive link, MJ, you get the idea that no-one except the corporations does think it’s a very good idea. And that this sort of thing is being assiduously smuggled through the legislature there (and here – it’s what Eton Boi calls ‘reforming the EU’, while the initials TTIP as well as their origin in Atlantic Bridge neoconmanship are carefully avoided in public)

    Anyway, we could all do with some inspiration, I think. How about:

    You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

    (Buckminster Fuller)

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !

    From Craig

    “Am fine but having small break till my level of disgust at the governing classes comes back down to bearable.”
    _____________

    Which might explain why the blog, and certainly this thread, appears to have been taken over by Mary and Baal and turned into a kind of private chatroom*?

    (* not chatting to each other though, thanks to Habbabreak. LOL)

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !

    “That’s fine by me. Thought all the trolls had gone off on holiday!”
    ___________________

    You’re still here, arent’you? Or is someone standing in for you (a nègre, as it’s said in French literary circles!).

    Out of 175 comments on this thread (so far), a total of 66 – over a third – from just two people – you and Baal, with an increasing rate today. 41 from you and a “mere” 25 from Baal, with a certain focus from you on Israel/Palestine and a lot on Tony Blair from Baal. Every day, throughout the day.

    A couple of others not doing too badly, with Peacewisher and Calofirnia Ben getting a prize for effort (if not quality).

    A special mention of – and welcome to – our old friend Macky who has collected up all his toys in the pram again, regaineed his courage and returned from exile on Squonk to regale us with new insight, wit and wisdom. Or not, perhaps.

  • Clark

    “How to Make Friends and Influence People”. Sigh.

    Well I’m looking forward to the festival. I’ve a strong suspicion it’ll be a Habbabkuk-free zone.

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !

    I haven’t of course forgotten Mr Scorgie, who has been maintaining a low profile doubtlessly in order to collect his “thoughts”. As at 11h17 today.

    “Theresa May is to outline plans for a “wide-ranging” inquiry, led by an expert panel, into historic child sex abuse claims…”

    I wonder who these “experts” will be. However:”

    ___________________

    A little patience, Doug, and all will be revealed! In the meantime, save energy by trying not to “wonder”.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “The inquiry would be held in public but evidence would not be given under oath.”

    So any contributors to the inquiry can lie through their teeth without any fear of being charged with perjury.

    Just like the Chilcot inquiry and just like the Hutton inquiry.~”

    ________________________

    Exactly like Chilcot and Hutton and exactly like most inquiries, in fact, where witnesses do not speak under oath,if you’d care to check (no, I shan’t do it for you, Doug!)

    And by the way: is it your opinion, Doug, that someone who is determined to lie and thinks he’s have a good chance of getting away with it, likely to be deterred by speaking under oath and thus being subject to a possible perjury charge (take any of the politicians appearing before Chilcot as examples if you wish)

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

    “Another whitewash in the making.”
    ________________

    You are jumping the gun again, Doug (although, as usual, leaving yourself a little escape hatch : “..in the making..”).

    **************************

    La vita è bella, life is good! Combat racism, sexism and intellectual dishonesty.

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !

    A certain Lady Commenter o here has also been quite prolific on Squonk these last two days or so, engaging in a bit if a ding-dong with some one called “Phil” who accused her of conflating Jewishness with Zionism.

    The Lady Commenter sounded quite hurt and Clark did his usual hand-wringing bit, trying to pour water on troubled oiliness.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Still on Squonk, I may have most grievously under-estimated California Ben, who wrote the following words of eminent good sense:

    “I see blogs as a vent for frustration; a kind of release which when kept inside is sometimes toxic to ourselves.”

    Ball, Mary and various others, please note!

    ************************

    Invest in Israeli cutting-edge technology, make the world a better place!

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