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.
Neil
“people coming to this country is no more a crime than my parents moving to Scotland from England shortly after I was born, or my making the reverse move from Scotland to England)”
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You have spoiled a reasonable post with the above nonsense.
I’ll do you the favour of supposing that you are well aware of the difference between someone moving to England from Scotland perfectly legally and some one who needs permission to enter the UK doing so without permission and therefore illegally.
As for your “argument” (it is in fact not an argument) that “the concept of “illegal immigrants” is an artificial construct” – would you say the same about, for instance, paedophiles? murderers? HSBC financial fraud?
Stop being so daft. You are fully entitled to complain about the conditions in which some – or many – illegal immigrants are detained but you are certainly not entitled to maintain the bollocks I’ve quoted.
John Spencer-Davis
17 Mar, 2015 – 10:26 pm
“Palestine is now recognized as a state by the United Nations against the wishes of the most powerful nation on Earth.”
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Not quite John:
The U.N. Security Council on 30th December 2014 rejected a Palestinian resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state by late 2017.
Also Netanyahu said only yesterday: “If I’m elected, there will be no Palestinian state.”
1. I hope you finished your book!
2. @Craig “there is no obligation on me to follow the laws of the state..” I wouldn’t put that into practice if I were you, since a judge might send you to into the clink before he got fired for being a naughty boy 🙂
That nice Mister Osborne just helped out the North Sea oil industry as well as knocking %2 off whisky tax 🙂
[cm-org.uk – stuck in spam filter since 13:30]
I was on the phone in to L.B.C. Talking about Russia I was asked who killed ‘the Russian politician Boris sorry I have forgot his second name .my reply was who killed Willie McRae who killed Hilda Murrel who killed David Kelly ?they did not want to talk about them
Peacewisher
18 Mar, 2015 – 4:43 am
“The reason I am positive is because of another event this week… the real cause of the Hillsborough disaster has been exposed, admitted guilt, and justice will be served.”
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26 years?
Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.
Voltaire)
“Blair Paterson”
“I was on the phone in to L.B.C. Talking about Russia I was asked who killed ‘the Russian politician Boris sorry I have forgot his second name .my reply was who killed Willie McRae who killed Hilda Murrel who killed David Kelly ?they did not want to talk about them”
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If the phone-in was about Russia then it is surely hardly surprising (1) that Boris Nemtsov came up and (2) the host did not want to talk about Hilda Murrel and David Kelly. To talk about Hilda Murrel and David Kelly would have been “off-topic” as I believe it’s called, whereas asking you about Boris Nemtsov, well, that seems fair enough in the context of what is supposed to be a conversation between you, others and the host about developments in present day Russia.
So, Blair : what is your point, exactly?
Well, the Chancellor has delivered the 2015 budget speech.
In my noways humble opinion it contains many very sensible, good and positive things which will make life easier and provide much relief for the man in the street.
Nevertheless, I expect that some people will find elements in it to which they take exception and which they will surely wish to flag up on this blog.
I invite them to do so in the hours that follow.
Clark
18 Mar, 2015 – 7:52 am
“John Goss, the Western mass media ignore or gloss over immoral behaviour by the Western powers, and Russian state media ignore or gloss over immoral behaviour by the Russian power…”
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Clark, I watch RT for a different perspective on the issues and news coming from the western MSM.
That doesn’t mean that I accept at face value what is covered by the channel.
I also watch the BBC and some US news channels.
I occasionally buy the Morning Star and quite often the Daily Telegraph.
Propaganda is only effective on people that can’t see it.
RT, Press TV and other outlets like France 24 are good alternative sources of news and documentaries, if you can cut through the propaganda.
Clark
18 Mar, 2015 – 7:52 am
“John Goss, the Western mass media ignore or gloss over immoral behaviour by the Western powers, and Russian state media ignore or gloss over immoral behaviour by the Russian power…”
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I’ve just noticed Clark, after posting my previous comment, that you distinguish between the Western media and Russian media.
You say “Western mass media” but then “Russian STATE media.”
Did you not know that Russia has a large independent mass media?
That nice Mister Osborne just helped out the North Sea oil industry as well as knocking %2 off whisky tax 🙂
Aaaaah. Sweet. Actually, as long as you ignore the £3Bn by which welfare will be chopped annually, the total omission of the NHS from discussion, (perhaps he forgot?)…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2015–nhs-no-mention-of-the-national-health-service-in-osbornes-59minute-speech-10117071.html…
…it’s a rather clever budget, isn’t it?
I wonder if this will actually be implemented, though, or whether two men and a dog in a Newcastle call centre will be deputed to say they are busily enforcing it, if the companies don’t mind –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31942639
Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)
18 Mar, 2015 – 3:12 pm
“Well, the Chancellor has delivered the 2015 budget speech.
In my noways humble opinion it contains many very sensible, good and positive things which will make life easier and provide much relief for the man in the street.”
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I haven’t checked the details yet Habbabkuk so can you list the “…very sensible, good and positive things which will make life easier and provide much relief for the man in the street.”
Thank you in advance.
Doug Scorgie
18/03/2015 2:09 pm
Resolution 67/19 adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, dated 4th December 2012, accorded to Palestine the status of a non-member observer state.
http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/19862D03C564FA2C85257ACB004EE69B
Kind regards,
John
Mr Scorgie
“Propaganda is only effective on people that can’t see it.”
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I think you may have overlooked the fact that propaganda even when recognised as such can also reinforce the prejudices of the person listening.
Hence your assertion, although a valiant attempt at a “bon mot”, isn’t really all there.
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PS – did Voltaire say anything similar, perchance?
Mr Scorgie
““The reason I am positive is because of another event this week… the real cause of the Hillsborough disaster has been exposed, admitted guilt, and justice will be served.”
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26 years?”
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Yes, I agree that 26 years is a deplorably long time and reflects very badly on some people and insitutions.
But do you not feel that in this instance – with many relatives having waited for closure – the saying “better late than never” has a certain validity?
Many people would surely feel that it redounds to the credit of this country, its institutions and civil society that the truth has come out – has been able to have been forced out – even if it was a long time after the event. After all, in a lesser country the truth would surely never have come out!
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Truth and justice late are better than truth and justice never.
[cm-org.uk – Habbabkuk’s 3 comments have been in premod for an hour or so]
“Did you not know that Russia has a large independent mass media?”
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I’m inclined to doubt that but should be grateful if some of the real experts on Russia – eg, Resident Dissident, Evguéni, Uzbek in the UK – could give us their views.
One thing I might say on the meantime is that journalists in the UK and the USA tend not to get gunned down in the street, but I may of course have been misinformed.
“very sensible, good and positive things which will make life easier and provide much relief for the man in the street.”
He means the man who owns the street, Doug. Not the man sleeping in it.
Re the debate on “Russian propaganda”, the West certainly knows that it’s once dominant narrative towards it’s own audience is seriously being undermine; hence all this panic about “”Russia’s ongoing disinformation campaigns”; perhaps the Russian narrative is proving more effective because the Western propaganda is so blantantly out of sync with an increasingly clued-up audience, who also have access to online alternative media scources, in addition to the Russian scources;
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-eu-31932005
Quite comical really, especially this line; “The EU should tell the truth and deconstruct propaganda pro-actively.”; Sounds like they’ve got their work cut out !
At least Merkel & Hollande ignored the propaganda coming from the US/UK in order to secure the Minsk ceasefire with Putin.
Mr Scorgie
“I haven’t checked the details yet Habbabkuk so can you list the “…very sensible, good and positive things which will make life easier and provide much relief for the man in the street.””
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To quote you, Doug, “I couldn’t be arsed”.
Take your time, read the speech yourself and all will become clear.
Komodo
““very sensible, good and positive things which will make life easier and provide much relief for the man in the street.”
He means the man who owns the street, Doug. Not the man sleeping in it.”
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You often make very sensible and reasoned comments, Komodo, even though your style tends to displease.
The above, I’m sorry to say, is not one of them.
Doug Scorgie, 3:21 and 3:28 pm; yes, a variety of sources fills in the blanks left by “propaganda by omission”, and the contradictions highlight where more direct deception is happening.
I think that in Russia there is more state control of media, whereas in the “West” there is effectively more media control of the states. That’s an over-simplification, obviously; these are tendencies across a spectrum.
I think that some people discover RT Russia Today and find the more critical coverage of the “West” very refreshing. But because it cuts through the local propaganda they think they’ve discovered an unbiased news source, and thus don’t realise that it leaves out different things, specifically those things the Russian powers would rather not mention.
Thank you, Craig, for this new post. I was seriously inconvenienced when comments were closed in the last one. The ‘submit comment’ box on this blog is a very thorough html stripper and I use it frequently.
Still no action,taken by Nigel Farage,regarding the somewhat, racist remark made by his UKIP MEP David Coburn.
Coburn, compared Scotland’s International Development Minister Humza Yousaf,to the convicted terrorist Abu Hamza.
Around the same,time Coburn was publicly spewing his racial slur of Mr Yousaf,UKIP’s Misty Thackeray,said, Glasgow City Council,was being run by gays,catholics and communists.
Don’t be surprised, if the Tories,try to form a government with UKIP if a hung parliament prevails.
Clark, Doug Scorgie: the reason I did not answer Clark’s response to my original comment at 7:41 am was that it detracted from the important part of the comment, namely that asylum-seekers are being held, often for long periods of time in prison-like conditions, and sometimes fast-tracked to the countries they left where their lives are in danger with no legal representation to fight their cases, while MSM is promoting the racist Jeremy Clarkson, who is set for a new career with “Have I got News for You”.
http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/18/jeremy-clarkson-set-to-make-bbc-comeback-with-have-i-got-news-for-you-5108692/
If anyone responds with a digressionary western MSM – Russian MSM comment I will ignore it.
Meanwhile,dozens of immigrants have been on hunger strike at Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre,in Scotland,due to the length of time,they’re being held.
Immigration is a Westminster reserved matter,and the UK is the only country in the EU,which has no cap on the time limit, it can keep immigrants locked up.
The Scottish Government are deeply concerned that potential immigrants to Scotland and the UK are being treated poorly by the Westminster regime.
“I think that some people discover RT Russia Today and find the more critical coverage of the “West” very refreshing. But because it cuts through the local propaganda they think they’ve discovered an unbiased news source, and thus don’t realise that it leaves out different things, specifically those things the Russian powers would rather not mention.”
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Clark’s contribution, above, is insightful and it would be a brave – or self-deluding – man who would disagree.
Republicofscotland
“The Scottish Government are deeply concerned that potential immigrants to Scotland and the UK are being treated poorly by the Westminster regime.”
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May I just point out that the above should more properly read:
“The Scottish Government are deeply concerned that potential immigrants to Scotland and the REST OF THE UK are being treated poorly by the Westminster regime.”
That said, could you back up your statement about the Edinburgh régime being deeply concerned? A couple of quotations from the régime’s ministers would do fine.
Neil 10 ? – It’s horrifying, and all based on irrational fear.-
Yes, there was a lady being interviewed on RT GoingUnderground by Afshin Rattansi (unfortunately I did not catch her name) who did a great job explaining how fear, being stoked by political and establishment interests, is directly connected to the raising levels of bigotry in Europe
Ineos,the operators of Grangemouth petrochemical plant,are on a lovebombing mission to convince Scots, to allow them to frack,in their area,mainly the central belt of Scotland.
Ineos claim fracking is completely safe,and are offering, to divide £2.5 billion quid between communities who say yes to fracking.
At present, in Scotland there’s a moritorium on fracking,but Ineos are hoping that their public relations drive will change minds.
I hope Scots, give a resounding no to fracking,meanwhile, a YouGov poll for Scottish Renewables,found 71% of Scots want to continue the development of wind and water power.
Support is highest among,young Scots,which is a encouraging sign.