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.
I knew that Macky was a female, regardless of what was disclosed by Clark, it was obvious by the way she writes, it does not make any difference to me.
Here are a few pieces of wreckage visible, I don’t know what people expect to find after a 500 mile plane hits a mountainside and grinds its passengers into the rocks, not much is left after such physical onslaught. A fairly well written piece on what might have plausibly happened that morning.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-germanwings-crash-and-the-pilot-who-caused-it-a-1025914.html
Looks like the crash will cause German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has already said she might quit early, to resign.
The country which most desires this is Israel since the relations between Berlin and Tel Aviv are at and all-time low.
And Israel has long been willing to kill even Jews, as happened apparently back in 1994 in Buenos Aires, and happened in this crash.
Now I am looking into how it helped arrange it through NATO.
John Spencer-Davis and Resident Dissident, yes, John SD’s account is correct. I’d been referring to Macky as male by convention. I requested e-mail communication, received a very terse e-mail under a female name which I wrote back to at some length. Macky didn’t reply to this, her next communication being a public comment at Squonk.
At this point I wasn’t sure what to do; it seemed I could be in the wrong either way. Macky hadn’t requested that I continue to refer to her as if male. I couldn’t be sure that the name was genuine. I might cause offence by addressing Macky by the wrong gender, or by revealing the gender that she’d apparently made known to me. So I decided to alternate gender references rather than using terms such as “S/he” or “him/her”, though I felt that this also might reveal that I knew something others didn’t.
Basically, I think that Macky placed me in something like a conflict of interests.
Anyway, the very first time I referred to Macky as female, Macky made an enormous fuss about me revealing “private information”. I tried to point out to her that if she’d said nothing other readers would have been none the wiser; after all, in English I have to refer to any correspondent in either male, female, or inanimate terms, and of those three only inanimate is generally considered offensive.
I still have no idea whether Macky is really male or female. As I understand it, the modern convention is to refer to someone in terms of the gender that they self-identify as; for instance, it would be rude to refer to Chelsea Manning as male.
Sigh.
Talk about a storm in a tea cup – quite frankly in this day and age Macky’s gender is irrelevant.
Fred, especially when you compare with people like RepublicofCheapOil or RepublicofFunnyMoney, is not a bigot. He is absolutely right–spot on–on his perspectives of Nationalism and Faith. It is obvious he has thought things through for himself. That is what is called ‘self-knowledge’. I honestly believe he is not a liar or a propagandist.
*************************
I notice how Villager,feels the need to degrade my username,whilst proclaiming,that Fred,is somehow,a non protagonist.
Of course,the all wise Villager fails to add,that Fred has called, others Nazi s whilst using profanity in a prolific scale.
The all knowing Villager,or I could stoop to his level and say,(all knowing Village idiot),but I won’t, by his above remark claims to have his finger on the pulse,with regards to nationalism,and to him the so called evils of it.
So tell me oh wise Villager,why is nationalism on the rise in Scotland,just why have 100.000 people joined the SNP,are they all evil?
Are we nationalist bigots as your comment hints to,
and what exactly were you,alighting to when you said people like.
Merkel will not resign because of the crime committed, Trowbridge, that’s conjecture and not backed up by anything I read in German newspapers today.
The secrecy surrounding pilots medical/mental abilities, how they are treated by employers and that the onus is on the pilot to inform the employer of one’s depressive or irrational state, all that will be debated now, in Parliament and in public.
Weardo’s that we modern humans are, we want to know everything about the politicians we vote for, well most things they are up to, we like to know about our schools/teachers/results, we are inquisitive about hospitals and doctors, but, peculiarly we don’t want to know anything about the abilities of the person we trust our life’s to? whether its a train driver or pilot.
Should this be available information, like deeds to a house?
Just more bullshit from you.
Merkel has already stated several times that she might well resign early, and it’s not conjecture.
And the crash will certainly speed up the process.
And the German press has long avoided anything controversial and expected, starting with Merkel’s own career.
And the press has already declared Lubitz mentally ill, though the hospital he was visiting denied it, stating that he was being mentally evaluated – what resulted in it advising that he not fly because he apparently suspected that it would be crashed.
And if he hadn’t gone, his set up would not have occurred, only delayed if he flew again from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.
Nicola Sturgeon is speaking to the SNP National Conference now. Ch 131 Freeview.
A superficial account of the assassination of Archbishop Romero in El Salvador 24th March 1980. An eye witness account.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05px7pf/witness-28032015
17mins 40secs in
No mention of the politics there at the time or of the US involvement.
US role in Salvador’s brutal war
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/1891145.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero
I think you’ll like this. Vladimir Putin on Russia’s version of The Voice. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEHmWtbPvq0
” The Orkneys case was step too far – but there are others were the authorities were far too lax. It is not a simple matter with simple solutions I’m afraid.”
Yes in Orkney where all the accused were incomers it was a step to far but when there was genuine abuse on the mainland the authorities covered it up.
Considering the reputation history has given Nationalist governments shouldn’t we be being even more vigilant?
John Goss
28/03/2015 3:53 pm
Reminds me of when Margaret Thatcher wrote herself into “Yes, Minister”. I thought that was rather narcissistic…I am really not sure these things are all that wise.
Kind regards,
John
The most serious unanswered question is why the germanwings airliner made the controlled, rapid descent – was it done by the co-pilot which would have triggered a transponder squeak, some technical problem or the taking over the plane by some hijacker hackers – what is now being recommended to stop such dissters.
Looks like someone hijacked its transporder as it made no squeak during the descent.
The easiest explanation for this is having some AWACS plane in the area doing it, especially a NATO one.
Resident Dissident, I agree; gender is generally irrelevant. My feeling is that Macky wanted a stick to hit me with, and therefore fashioned one.
Thanks for your ongoing commentary regarding the Ukraine crisis, and thanks for making less assumptions of others’ prior knowledge, and for using less sarcasm which itself requires such prior knowledge. You’ve been making references to the OSCE reports; I’d appreciate links to your source pages as I found it difficult to find appropriate reports on the rather large OSCE site.
Of course the world’s problems would be solved if human nature could be suitably improved but I’m not actually expecting that to happen any time soon. Some of my comments merely express my frustration with the seeming impossibility of improving the human condition when so many people seem unable or unwilling to raise their own standards, communication here on these comment threads being a conveniently available example. Commenters are keen to complain about politicians, but seem not to strive for higher ethical standards themselves.
Looks like someone has taken over this thread, as I write “:squawk” and it comes out “squeak”.
John SD
I’m pretty sure they’ve mocked it up. I don’t think English is one of his languages. 🙂
Oh, have they, that’s different. Haw haw haw.
Kind regards, John
Merkel resigned yet? She might well, or might not, how gullible of you.Nearly a week has gone by since the crash, Parliament passed the bill to charge for the Autobahn, issue No. 1 next to football and you are waiting for Merkel to resign?
Why? what is the need? the apparently bad relationship with Israel, as you claim?
go have your Horlicks, your talking shite, what is this’ set up’ you’re on about? Something growing in your head, as yet undefinable?
Nevermind
No offense meant but I am afraid once again I find their reporting speculative and superficial. The Der Speagull article you link to uses emotive language which is not only inappropriate (and unprovable) but self contradictory. One sub heading reads ‘Narcissistic and Megalomaniac’ and refers, in the next ‘breath’ so to speak, to the never proven 911 hijackings (oh yes, I nearly forgot the 911 Commission Report). Or was he (the co pilot) as another subheading suggests ‘Low-Key Happy and Average’? We will never ever know but this kind of black and white reporting is similar to the stuff that a certain sea bird excretes..funny that
I beg your pardon John SD. This article actually mentions his Fats Domino version of Blueberry Hill. Still I thought it was funny.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/10118288/Vladimir-Putins-awkward-message-in-English.html
I prefer Fats Waller meself.
J
The one they mocked it up from is a bit of a flop. But the audience is polite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AphcpvfgZZo&feature=youtu.be
Thanks for your comment, Johnstone, no offence taken, I suggest that you take that up with der Spiegel.
Maybe you would like to point to something better informed, with more knowledge and less emotive language.
here is the local newspaper, warning, it uses emotional language as well.
http://www.halternerzeitung.de/
Thanks, Johnstone, good to see that there are some sensible people around, paying attention.
And I certainly hope that Merkel doesn’t resign but continues to stand up to Netanyahu and his loony supporters. Afraid that she will step down though, like Senator Harry Reid, just making easier for rabid Israeli supporters.
Even if she does’t, it will not change who and what caused the crash – just show that she has gotten the message.
John Spencer-Davis 28 Mar, 2015 – 1:24 pm
Yes, you must be right, I couldn’t make sense of it. I’ve now had a reply from Sainsbury’s :
“We want to offer our customers the best quality products throughout the year. We receive many requests to boycott the products of various countries and suppliers. We’re a non-political organisation and source our own brand products according to the ability of the producer to meet our quality, safety and ethical standards.
We then give our customers the opportunity to make their own decisions by labelling our own brand products clearly and accurately.
We take our guidance on how to label the country of origin on products from the recommendations issued by DEFRA in December 2009. These guidelines give greater clarity on how to label produce from the occupied territories, i.e. West Bank (Palestinian produce) or West Bank (Israeli settlement produce). Our commitment to clear labelling allows us to fulfil our promise to provide customers with honest information about the origins of their food. “
So Sainsbury’s consider ethical standards when choosing suppliers, yet they accept products from the Occupied Territories. That tells me all I need to know about the ethical standards of Sainsbury’s.
Asda is winning so far.
John Goss, : “But the audience is polite. “
That must be the first time Gérard Depardieu has had that word applied to him! He’s in the audience.
Node
28/03/2015 4:52 pm
“So Sainsbury’s consider ethical standards when choosing suppliers, yet they accept products from the Occupied Territories. That tells me all I need to know about the ethical standards of Sainsbury’s.”
Well, what is your position on accepting Palestinian produce from the Occupied Territories?
Kind regards,
John
John S-D : “Well, what is your position on accepting Palestinian produce from the Occupied Territories?”
Ouch, I’m going to have to up my game with you keeping an eye on me. Yes I was presuming that products which Sainsburys source from the Occupied Territories would be from Israeli settlements. The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign lend support to that view:
http://www.palestinecampaign.org/sainsburys-reply-campaign/
The statement from Sainsburys on that link is almost word for word the same as the one they sent me. Google tells me there’s been a long running protest against Sainsburys supporting illegal settlements.
Other than the odd bottle or two of olive oil, I’m not aware of ever seeing Palestinian produce in a supermarket, only crafts in Fair Trade gift shops.
I have to go out now for a few hours.
Node
28/03/2015 5:50 pm
I didn’t mean to poke you. I presumed that Palestinian farmers and workers in the Occupied Territories must produce goods for export, otherwise, why would there be a need for some goods to be labelled “West Bank (Palestinian produce)” and others “West Bank (Israeli settlement produce)”?
I have had a look around and it seems that 43% of agricultural production in the Palestinian sector of the economy of the Occupied Territories is exported, with the remaining 57% produced for domestic consumption. So there are goods getting out there. However, 90% of that production goes to the Israeli market. Very little of it comes to Europe, apparently.
Kind regards,
John
Node
If you have a problem with Israeli produce then don’t buy it (this has an adverse effect on Palestinian producers, but you’re probably too thick to realise that). Demanding supermarkets ban things you don’t like is nothing new to them. Notice the generic nature of the replies, particularly Sainsbury’s with their “We receive many requests to boycott the products of various countries and suppliers…”
In case you hadn’t noticed what they’re doing there, it means they couldn’t care less about your letter and have filed it under ‘single-track obsessive nutter, reply to all’. Long ago they worked out the winner of Node versus Profit.
But I’ll grant you that slowly you are affecting change. Recently you, or your type, succeeded in banishing magazines showing attractive women from supermarket shelves. Today the grievances of the terminally offended loser reign supreme.
On an altogether different note you’re probably better off boycotting supermarkets full stop, as I do. In that way you can also boycott Israeli produce, if it makes you feel better. Or shop at Asda.