After such an extended break from blogging, you will be deeply disappointed that I restart with something as mundane and trivial as Jeremy Clarkson. I have defended the man in the past, because I much enjoy Top Gear and consider that much of what he has been criticised for in the past had been an amusing winding-up of the po-faced of the kind I employ myself. But nasty, indeed vicious bullying of a subordinate should always be a sacking offence.
That did not ought to be the question, though. He hit someone and they had to go to hospital. Where are the police? They are incredibly fond of sweeping up scores of teenagers for thought crime, but here we have an actual violent assault that spills blood, and it seems completely out of the question the perpetrator is brought to account. Why is that? I had a personal experience a couple of years ago when I was very mildly hurt – less than young Oisin – in an assault, and the police insisted on arresting the perpetrator despite my repeated requests to them not to do so. They told me rather firmly that the idea that it is the victim who has a say in pressing charges, is a myth. Why was Clarkson not arrested?
I cannot in my mind dissociate this from the non-arrest of Jimmy Savile for his crimes, despite their being well-known and reported at the time. That seems to link in to the wider paedophilia scandal, and the question of why no action was taken even in the most blatant of cases when there was compelling evidence, such as that of the extremely nasty Greville Janner MP.
But then I think still more widely as to why, for example, Jack Straw has not been charged with the crime of misfeasance in public office after boasting of using his position to obtain “under the radar” changes in regulations to benefit commercial clients, in exchange for cash. I wonder why a large number of people did not go to jail for the HSBC tax avoidance schemes or the LIBOR rigging scandal, which involved long term dishonest manipulation by hundreds of very highly paid bankers.
At the top of the tree is of course the question of why Blair has not been charged for the crime of waging illegal war. The Chilcot Inquiry heard evidence that every single one of the FCO’s elite team of Legal Advisers believed that the invasion of Iraq was an illegal war of aggression. Yet now the media disparage as nutters those who say Blair should be charged.
Then I think of all the poor and desperate people who get jailed for stealing comparatively miniscule amounts in benefit fraud, or the boy who was jailed for stealing a bottle of water in the London riots.
The conclusion is that we do not have a system of justice in this country at all. We have a system where the wealthy and governing classes and those associated with them enjoy almost absolute impunity, broken in only the rarest of cases. At the same time those at the bottom of the pile are kicked hard to keep them there. There is no more chance of justice against those in power in the UK than there is of the killers of Nemtsov being brought to book in Russia.
But what has really scared me is this thought. This situation has been like this my entire life: and I have reached the age of 56 before I realised it. A very great many people have still not realised it at all.
What does not scare me is this. I realise that if the system of justice is completely corrupted, then there is no obligation on me to follow the laws of the state. In fact it would be wrong of me to do so. I must seek my ethical compass elsewhere than in the corrupt power structure which weighs so hard upon the people.
Speaking as a senior commenter on this blog, I should like to ask why, with a general election in the UK a mere 50 days away and a host of internal UK matters meriting comment, analysis and discussion, this thread has already been diverted to enable people like Macky, Goss, “Peace”wisher to showcase yet again their peculiar views on Ukraine and Putin’s Russia.
Could it be because it is simply …easier for people like that to huff and puff about places and events about which they really know very little than to take a position on events nearer home, where their views are more likely to be challenged on the basis of verifiable facts?
It is most puzzling and does not redound to the credit of this blog.
RepublicOfHate
“Remarkable,that monies from the budget can be used to protect,a certain sector of society,it would seem, that they’re more important than you and I.”
________________________
Well, RoS, the Jewish community has contributed a lot to British life. If your contribution to British life is anything like your contribution to this blog, then you have contributed very little.
Moreover, I don’t suppose you’ve ever suffered physical or verbal violence going about your lawful business on the street, not had your place of worship (probably your local pub) attacked.
Hence, in a certain sense – and speaking objectively – scarce state resources would probably be better spent protecting British Jews than people like you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Could you even contemplate Westminster,allocating millions, to protect,Palestinians in the UK.
No? Neither could I.”
______________
And neither could I and many others, RoS. Probably because there are far fewer Palestinians than Jews in the UK.
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Glenn_UK
“Macky, with uncharacteristic brevity (in a 111-word sentence) said:”
_________________
I have sometimes wondered if the Macky we have the privilege of reading a dozen times a day at present is the same Macky that flounced off this blog some while ago because he’d been reprimanded for stupidity by Craig and then chastised for loutish behaviour by the Mods.
You will remember that at the time he was one of the trio of those I was pleased to call “the three corporals” (Macky himself, Fedup and Passerby) – the appellation was inspired by Dreoilin, who correctly noticed that Macky was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
His interventions – although no more intelligent than his present interventions – were at least quite short. They did not, either, show the touches of paranoia of his present posts nor of any particular attention-seeking tendencies.
I wish the Mods could have a stab at telling us whether this Macky is really the Macky of yore.
And if he is, what has changed him so greatly?
Roderick Russell
19 Mar, 2015 – 4:10 pm
“And as for the press – well too much pressure from the MIs and some advertisers, D notices, draconian libel laws, etc. provide a very effective form of censorship without having to have a formal censor”
____________________
The press in Ecuador used to mostly be corporate controlled propaganda machines (just like the press in the UK and USA now is), and were swaying elections in favour of right wing candidates. President Correa came down hard on the press to try and correct the balance. I’m not saying that Correa is perfect (Ecuador is still a developing country, after all), but he has been elected president three times now, gaining more than 50% of the popular vote in elections that were deemed by the UN to be safe and fair. In another one of those “you couldn’t make it up” moments, Julian Assange interviewed Correa early in 2012, as part of Assange’s series of interviews on RT, called ‘The World Tomorrow’. This interview was done one month before Assange ended-up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. It’s interesting not only because Assange asks Correa some hard questions about press freedoms in Ecuador, but also because it gives a lot of insight into the relationship between these two men
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvUwC5JTAJY
Peacewisher
“Putin probably knew he’d get loads of flak over Crimea but he did it for Russia and the Crimean People.”
_______________
Sounds as if you and like-minded people should nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
After all, President Obama won it.
What say you, “Peace”wisher?
@Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)
19 Mar, 2015 – 7:27 pm
Yup, there’s no such thing as nuclear weapons and the world is ruled by people who are entirely sane.
Maybe I should put on a silly black wig and join you for the paintballing in the Welsh hills.
Here’s an article published in today’s Counterpunch about the US demonisation of Venezuela and Iran and how the same thinking has lead to the currently fashionable Russophobia:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/19/the-permanent-paranoia-of-empire/
And the UK had diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union long before the U.S. did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Thought I’d mention that totally irrelevant fact just to show you how learned I am)
RobG: I did attempt to reply on your own blog, a number of times. It kept telling me that something had gone wrong, and to kindly repost it.
*
Why-oh-why do news reports (even from grown-up outfits like Radio-4) have to tell us how the family of a lady murdered by terrorists is “devastated”, what a lovely person she was, and so forth. Does the former surprise anyone? Does how lovely the victim happened to be have any bearing whatsoever on the seriousness of the crime?
Oh – her family are devastated? She was a lovely person? Well, goddamn! This is serious in that case! Surely we’d have otherwise assumed this only concerned a useless nobody, who no-one gave a hoot about.
George Friedman, founder and chairman of Stratfor, explains what’s going on in Ukraine, and around the world.
The message is simple.
The US is attempting to contain Russia, China, Germany and Venezuela etc and has a particular interest in keeping Germany as distant as possible from Russia.
Contains summary of his main points and video below:
http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/03/16/4571
Corbett’s guest, Tim Ball, explains the theory behind this strategy:
https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1016-tim-ball-outlines-20th-century-theories-of-geopolitics/
Corbett’s overall view will find favour with those who are concerned that Russia, China etc will just set up their own version of the Western parasitic banking model.
What is Puzzling Habbatrottl is that you as a senior pain in the Blog continue to deride others for your crimes.
Okay, you’ve got a job and its to promote the zionist side of things but please don’t be such a habbacrit.
You are hear to disrupt and divert,so don’t get all holier than now because someone brings Ukraine into the spotlight.Isn’t Donbass ancient Khazaria ? The “old country” Habba !!! You should be enjoying it.Your job is to disrupt and divert. Or has the master told you to divert the blog elsewhere?
DonnyDarkside
Just puzzled at the deafening silence about what’s going on around the Eminent Commenters in the UK and the vociferous commenting about Ukraine/Putin’s Russia about which few on here have any particular knowledge other than what they get from RT and sundry dubious websites.
Why are people trying to divert this thread – as previous ones – onto Ukraine and Putin’s Russia?
It’s really strange.
Apparently Putin’s Rooskies have a whole tribe of disaffected elements all over Europe (and probably the USA also – cf “Lysias”) ready to leap to their keyboards to defend their new spiritual homeland.
“…why, with a general election in the UK a mere 50 days away and a host of internal UK matters meriting comment, analysis and discussion, this thread has already been diverted … ”
Fair question, I wonder if it’s because the election here will make very little difference. I don’t know anyone personally who’s excited about possibilities for a favourable outcome, and only a few people who are anxious to see this or that party get elected. Some talk about how we might influence various politicians goes around, but mostly, it’s just resigned expectations. Learned helplessness, if you will. Nothing will make a difference, no matter which main party (or combinations thereof) forms a government.
So we might just as well distract ourselves on other matters. No “serious” party is promising to honour to the clear wishes of the majority on any number of issues. We – the people – don’t really matter terribly much. That’s why I said to you, a week or so back, that I don’t believe “keeping us safe” is any real priority of our government. I truly don’t believe it is, and see any number of examples of the opposite in practice, where they might collide with investor-class interests.
Then again, we’ve only got the stupidity and acquiescence of the British public to blame, who are willing to vote against their own interests time after time, and be led by the nose by corporate stooges (which run the press and most of the media, for instance).
Sryiza might be a little optimistic, but they are willing to abide to the wishes of their electorate. What an outrage! How dare they!
Damned shame no “serious” party here is willing to offer the same.
Cameron congratulates Netanyahu: ‘As one of Israel’s firmest friends, Britain looks forward to working with the new government’.
More independence from the U.S.?
Habba
They are clearly under orders or feel the usual obligation to push the line – it is of course all a US inspired plot using fascist agents and good old Vlad is just following in the proud Soviet tradition of standing up to the evil wiles of the Zionists (and even the Rothschilds were starting to creep in from our truest believer) – the period from 1921 to last year was obviously a Golden peaceful period for Ukraine, especially during the Holodomor when climatic change made the population especially peaceful. And of course all that inference by Vlad and his KGB predecessors in Russia’s neighbours and the republics of the Russian Federation was of course all just part of the continuing anti-fascist/US struggle – and lets not forget that you cannot make an omelette without breaking a few eggs and a bit of Macky style moderation of the media. All the Ukrainians need to do is to learn how to behave like Russia’s other neighbours and their shall be no problems whatsoever
http://thediplomat.com/2014/12/yes-uzbekistan-is-putins-friend/
As for the old canard about the US having spent £5bn to inspire the “coup” in the Ukraine that Pilger et al stick in every place possible – perhaps our friends should read this not that it will make a blind bit of difference to their mantra
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/mar/19/facebook-posts/united-states-spent-5-billion-ukraine-anti-governm/
Well, RoS, the Jewish community has contributed a lot to British life. If your contribution to British life is anything like your contribution to this blog, then you have contributed very little.
………………………….
Big deal other section of society have contributed plenty to the UK,including the Muslim community,who at present,are subject to a vile propaganda war by the establishment,through their attack dog the media.
The establishment which you represent,and the majority of Westminster are, members of Friends of Israel,and Rupert Murdoch a very high profile media mogul and Jew,has the ability through his media business to influence greatly,who holds power at Westminster in the future.
Thats why David Cameron is bending over backwards to accommodate the Jewish community,and eveybody knows it.
Speaking as a senior commenter on this blog, I should like to ask why, with a general election in the UK
……………………
Is that what you think you are? my we are dillusional,aren’t we?
As for commenting on the GE, I don’t recall you adding,anything remotely interesting yet.
More good friends of Putin
http://www.kommersant.com/p560499/Vladimir_Putin_Agrees_on_Everything_with_Aleksandr_Lukashenko/
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/theres-no-line-kadyrov-cant-cross-analysts-say/514252.html
Republicofscotland 19/03/15 9:02 pm
“Rupert Murdoch a very high profile media mogul and Jew”
Doesn’t make any difference to me whether Murdoch is Jewish or not, but I have not seen it asserted before that he is. Are you sure?
Kind regards,
John
Aha. I see that his mother has Jewish ancestry.
J
@Glenn_uk
19 Mar, 2015 – 8:08 pm
Apologies for any problems you’ve encountered with posting in my little corner of cyberspace. All I can say is that I’ve now almost overcome the mega techno hassle I’ve had of late.
I agree with the thrust of your comment. I know I’m often guilty of posting links to long videos, but Julien Assange’s tv interview with President Correa, which took place shortly before Assange ended-up seeking asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, is well worth a look.
Murdoch “became an American citizen for business reasons,” according to Richard H. Curtiss, editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Keith Rupert was born in Melbourne, Australia, on March 11, 1931. “Rupert’s father, Sir Keith Murdoch, was a newspaper publisher, and his mother an Orthodox Jew,” Curtiss wrote, “although Murdoch never offers that information in his biographies.”
Murdoch’s father married Elisabeth Joy Greene, daughter of Rupert Greene in 1928. They had one son, Keith Rupert and three daughters. Later in life, Keith Rupert chose to use Rupert, the first name of his Jewish maternal grandfather.
The young Keith Rupert was educated at Australia’s fashionable Geelong private school, and went on to the elitist and aristocratic Oxford University in England, according to Candour (UK) magazine.
“Rupert’s father Sir Keith Murdoch attained his prominent position in Australian society through a fortuitous marriage to the daughter of a wealthy Jewish family, née Elisabeth Joy Greene.
Through his wife’s connections, Keith Murdoch was subsequently promoted from reporter to chairman of the British-owned newspaper where he worked. There was enough money to buy himself a knighthood of the British realm, two newspapers in Adelaide, South Australia, and a radio station in a faraway mining town,” Candour wrote in 1984.
“For some reason, Murdoch has always tried to hide the fact that his pious mother brought him up as a Jew.”
While Murdoch may have “tried to hide” his Jewish roots, he has been quite forthright about his support for extreme right-wing Zionists, such as Benjamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon.
Netanyahu, who wrote a book entitled The War on Terror: How the West Can Win in 1986, is a frequent commentator on Murdoch’s Fox News.
Murdoch’s support for Zionism extremists is well known and a matter of record. As New York Governor George Pataki said, “There is no newspaper in the U.S. more supportive of Israel than the [Murdoch’s] New York Post.”
John Spencer-Davis.
Its not about being Jewish its about the power and authority,they weild or influence in Westminster.
Tell me John,which other section of UK society, could influence,the Prime Minister, to part with £10 million quid of budget money for protection?
Glenn Greenwald: US THREATENED GERMANY OVER SNOWDEN, VICE CHANCELLOR SAYS:
The Cross and the Sword: The Making of a Christian Taliban in Ukraine:
These (UNA-UNSO) are the Gladio guys who did the shooting at the Maidan.
Yesterday I was accused of American “cultural imperialism”. Today I am accused of being a “disaffected element” ready to leap to the defense of Putin’s Russia.
Our transatlantic friend still hasn’t understood.
The point being that he behaves like a cultural imperialist on this blog. In the same way as the US has imposed its culture on the rest of the world, so our friend (who coincidentally purports to be an American) attempts to impose his point of view on this blog.
BREAKING NEWS !!
“Republicofscotland” exposes the scandal of Jewish control of the UK – Parliament and the media outed as the tools of the sinister Jewish cabal running the country!!
His posts at 21h02 and 21h37 refer.
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Makes a change from his holocaust-denying, I suppose, which made it necessary for Craig to delete two entire threads some while ago. 🙂
Republicofscotland 19/03/2015 9:37 pm
“Tell me John,which other section of UK society, could influence,the Prime Minister, to part with £10 million quid of budget money for protection?”
Well, I can’t tell you what his motives were. No doubt they were pretty mixed. I suppose that Cameron wishes to stand in well with Israel and the US, and I suppose that he is in a tizzy about Islamic extremism, and I suppose he thinks knocking Islamic fundamentalism will be politically popular, and I am sure he has genuine concerns about anti-Semitism in the UK, and no doubt a great many influential pro-Israeli people have his ear.
I am consciously resistant to any anti-Jewish feelings that might be stimulated in me by statements like “the power and authority they wield or influence in Westminster”. Who is “they”? “The Jews”? That’s a dark road I don’t really want to start walking down, sorry about that.
However, I have been doing a few sums regarding a sentence I have just seen in the “Mail Online”. Apparently the £10 million – actually, £11.5 million, according to this report – is additional money for guards and CCTV for privately funded Jewish schools and for synagogues. The “Mail Online” says around £2 billion per year is currently provided in security for Jewish state schools.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3001852/Jewish-schools-synagogues-handed-10million-year-protect-against-anti-Semitic-attacks-Cameron-promises-not-turn-blind-eye.html
If that figure is accurate – no idea if it is not – it’s amazing. The current Jewish population of the UK is around 300,000. Let’s assume 25% are children under 18, that’s 75,000 children. About 60% of those children attend Jewish schools, I understand. Actually the Board of Deputies of British Jews estimates about 26,000, but let’s take the higher figure, which is therefor about 45,000. That works out at roughly £45,000 per each Jewish pupil attending a Jewish state school per year. That’s an astonishing amount of money to spend on security. I would love to know what we are getting for our money and where it is being spent. Also, I have tried to find out how many Jewish state schools there are in the UK and the best estimate I can find is about 70. That works out at roughly £28 million per Jewish state school per year on security. Can’t be right. Cannot be right. The “Mail Online” must be wrong.
Kind regards,
John
RepublicOfGoodWorks
So tell us what you’ve contributed to British life.
(NB – killing time on CM doesn’t count.)