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.
“According to the reliable news outlet, Russia Today,”
ROTFLMAO.
Republicofscotland (re Israel as an “apartheid” state)
You advance a number of points in your post of yesterday at 17h19.
I note that all of them could be discussed (or at least could be discussed if you were advancing them in a serious spirit of enquiry and argument, which is probably not the case) but I also note that all of them are diversionary from the thrust of and evidence for my original observation, which was:
to call the State of Israel an apartheid state is to spout ill-informed nonsense which does not stand up to examination.
Villager
Good to see you back on here again with a number of excellent posts.
Pay no attention to your detractors, they go over to their default settings as soon as they are challenged by anyone.
All the best to you and stay on here, we need some more sane voices.
Fred; “I just post the facts.”
ROTFLMAO x 10 !
Talking of facts;
http://rt.com/about-us/press-releases/rt-coverage-mh17-crash/
I guess RT must be doing sometime right to cause such hysterical panic for our leaders;
http://www.newsweek.com/eu-launch-mythbusters-taskforce-counter-russian-propaganda-315480
Panic to that leads to hypocritical accusations about spreading misinformation over the Ukraine situation, and hypocritical calls for more state funding for more effective Western propaganda !
See the comments even in the Right Wing New Statesman;
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/03/success-russia-today-and-al-jazeera-show-why-world-service-more-important-ever
“ROTFLMAO x 10 !”
ROTFLMAO x 10^10 !
Villager
Apologies for overlooking the following:
“Btw Habby I thought awhile ago you were on pre-moderation. How does one get off the hook?”
This is complicated and all Greek to me really. I thought that I was on pre-moderation and then that I’d been taken off it but then several of my posts were held up before appearing, which apparently means that I am on pre-mod.
I have no particular complaint except to observe that sometimes the effectiveness and pertinence of a post depends on it appearing not too long after the post to which it is replying; and therefore it would be preferable if pre-moderation were to be applied with a light touch ans sparingly.
[cm-org.uk – found in spam]
“Here’s Habbabkuk urging support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions BDS movement against Israel:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2012/12/palestine/comment-page-2/#comment-38467”
_________________
Not quite, Clark.
If you read the post carefully, you will observe that I am suggesting that IF people feel strongly enough about Israeli policy they should do something concrete (eg, like BDS) rather than prosing away unceasingly on this blog and probably others.
The post is a reprimand addressed to this blog’s internet warriors and not a sign of my approval of BDS and so on.
How about the son-in-law of the Croc Wife coining it big time as well as ruining an area of great landscape beauty?
The Duchess of Cornwall’s son-in-law has just developed this 50-acre, 25-year, solar farm. And through green levies on your power bills, YOU are paying for it… £430,000 every year
Harry Lopes’ company developed 50-acre solar panel farm on ridge in Devon
Camilla’s son-in-law will be paid undisclosed sums from his sale of the scheme
Scheme’s value is thanks to green levies
Council say development is ‘not sympathetic to character of the locality’
Site lies on Haldon Ridge – an official Area of Great Landscape Value
Total annual income will be £770,000 of which £430,000 is green subsidies
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3016115/The-Desecration-Devon-Duchess-Cornwall-s-son-law-just-built-50-acre-solar-farm-green-levies-power-bills-paying-430-000-year.html
~~~
Here she is with the nitwit first in line. What fun!
Baaa-d fit of the giggles! Prince Charles can’t stop laughing as he watches sheep with toy ‘jockeys’ hurtle over jumps for the LAMB National at Ascot
Prince Charles is overcome by amusement by the racing Herdwick sheep
Campaign For Wool Lamb National saw sheep running on a special course
Joined by the Duchess of Cornwall, whose hat was almost blown away
Met artisans and English craftsmen at Prince’s Countryside Fund Raceday
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3017069/Prince-Charles-t-stop-laughing-watches-sheep-hurtle-jumps-Lamb-National-Ascot.html
Ganglion
“My work here is done.”
__________________
Whose work would that be, Ganglion?
Villager; “How does one get off the hook?”
Try not posting grossly offensive comments.
This article makes some important points regarding the issues around the co-pilot;
https://alethonews.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/what-the-public-now-deserves-to-know-about-the-mass-murder-incident-by-passenger-jet/
“Baltics (SIC)States next for fascism after Ukraine?
http://www.i24news.tv/en/opinion/65928-150329-fascists-march-in-the-baltics-and-the-world-is-silent”
___________________
That caption should have read “Baltic States next victims of Russian imperialism and destablisation?”
An illustration of why the RT Ukraine narrative is more credible than the Western MSM to anybody with a functioning rational brain;
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41399.htm
Habbabkuk; “That caption should have read “Baltic States next victims of Russian imperialism and destablisation?”
Yes of course, that would have really explained the rise of fascism in the Baltic States ! 😀
Some of you know there is a tame robin comes to see me when I whistle for it. During the winter months when food was scarcer I used to feed it. This morning it refused the food I put for it and said “Hey, John, watch this.” (You have to use the right arrow on your keyboard to see what it sees that we don’t).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127161425@N07/16789342858/in/photostream/
It is followed by photos of a carrion crow fishing, something I never knew they did. On another blog, Squonk, Clark mentioned his observations of blackbirds (same family as robins) chasing off othere birds so they can listen for worm movements.
Sorry this is off topic but I find it interesting and hope some of you do too.
With RT it’s merely a case of competing propaganda; which suggests neither side is accurate. But RT is better than our own propaganda, because it’s reasonably accurate about foreign policy. RT does lie about Putin, but I haven’t, in at leat 10 years, read a corporate-article which tells the truth about Iraq. And I assure you I don’t speak Russian.
So it goes. Russia has it’s problems; but to ignore our own is folly. Fascist’s are international. And they have taken over the US. That’s how it is, friends, and Putin isn’t to blame. And I suspect Putin – for his own self-interest – is actually an ally in the fight against fascists. Ally of the dubious sort which defeated Hitler. Troubling, no?
Thanks again, MG, for making clearer real possibility of hijacking an Air Bus 320 without the transponder even knowing it, much less squawking about it – what happened in the Germanwings crash because if the co-pilot had manually instructed the steep descent it would have.
Good to see Habby finally supporting loony Netanyahu hook, line, and sinker – e.g., BDS talk is better than claiming that Israel in an apartheid state.
” Yes of course, that would have really explained the rise of fascism in the Baltic States ! ”
” The number of marchers ranged from 200 in Tallinn to 500 in Kaunas and 1,500 each in Vilnius and Riga. ”
Smaller than most of the EDL marches in this country. Are we about to fall to Fascism? Should we call upon Vlad to come and rescue us? Most of his oligarch cronies seem to already be here anyway.
“According to the reliable news outlet, Russia Today,”
ROTFLMAO.
Yes that one cracked me up too!
Kempe, people generally only march when they want something changed.
There are no marches here in the States for fascism.
Save the NHS, Not-so-red Ed, & Coalition consequences (E192)
March 28, 2015 10:30
Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.(Reuters / Neil Hall)
Download video (221.66 MB)
Afshin Rattansi goes underground on the National Health Action Party. Dr Clive Peedell, its co-leader, argues that his party is necessary as Labour don’t go far enough rolling back failed reforms, and warns that “£4 billion a year is wasted on the healthcare market.”
Salman Shaheen of Left Unity calls for “actions not words” from Ed Miliband if he wants to prove his socialist credentials, and argues that anti-austerity parties are needed to represent true socialism.
Mike Finn, a co-editor of The Coalition Effect, looks at the highs and lows of the last five years, from failed NHS and welfare reforms to “disastrous” foreign policy.
Hywel Williams, Plaid Cymru MP, explains his party’s position on Trident, coalition with Welsh Labour and austerity.
And, in what could be the last PMQs ever, Cameron attacks “Salmond’s poodle.”
http://rt.com/shows/going-underground/244813-nhs-cameron-attacks-uk/
Thanks for the lovely photos John Goss and to Dave Lawton, thanks for the brilliant Heathcote Williams piece on Cameron. It is spot on. I thought the accompanying photos were most apt but I found the final one of the IS victim unbearable.
IS/ISIS/Daesh – we need to fight against these terrorists it seems, and Israel leads the way
commenting on Israeli security news is always sensitive, but I suppose if we can find a balanced view – quoting purely from local news sources, then we might be seen as acting in the best interests of freedom, democracy, openness and all those similar ‘old-fashioned’ ideas. Lets start with a uncontroversial ‘arresting those who support terrorism’
1) Arab Resident of Jerusalem Arrested for Joining ISIS
Khalil Adel Khalil returned to Israel after spending several weeks inside Syria with ISIS; may have planned terrorist attacks in Israel according to Arutz Sheva 7 reporters Kobi Finkler and Ari Soffer
this report above could be balanced with the following?
2) Former security prisoner allegedly spied on IDF in the Golan for Syria
Siddqui Al Maqt, who served a 27-year sentence in Israeli prison, was caught spying on IDF activity in the Golan Heights and passing information to Syrian intelligence according to Ynet reporters.
This second news item was the strange story of a resident of the Golan Heights who was arrested after he videotaped the Israeli Defence Forces MEETING the ISIS/Daesh connected anti-Syrian terrorists?
Well I suppose readers here can {take your pick} – or be like Israel & arrest both sides!
but is it true that if IDF meets Jabhat al-Nusra? doesn’t the Shin Bet now have to arrest itself?
3) news to put the IS/ISIS/Daesh emergency into context? A Turkish website claimed today that Bashar al-Assad has just been interviewed on US CBS News
one of Assad’s unsurprising comments was that there is a lot of active disinformation about the region, perhaps the allegation that I found most surprising is the brutal dictators’ claim that since the US attacks began on ISIS/Daesh…
….well, you can see just from the link URI
http://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/485688–assad-says-daesh-has-expanded-since-start-of-us-led-strikes
Anyone who doesn’t have a place for possible conspiracies in today’s world is simply daft.
Take today’s story about the Australian organizers of its G20 summit back in November sending all kinds of personal information about the world leaders attending it to the organizers somehow, allegedly accidentally, of the Asian soccer games in Brisbane, starting in January – what The Guardian has completely defused by portraying loony Abbott with Vlad, and saying nothing about the games themselves.
Russia isn’t a member of the soccer association, so there was no chance of its President attending, though China is, and its President Xii Jinping is a wild supporter of, the media claiming that its coach could face the firing squad if China didn’t do well.
Well, it did, by winning at least its first two games, and I cannot imagine that Xi didn’t think of attending whether he did or not..
Was the leak to help some hit squad if Xi decided to?
Really amazing that the November leak was only reported today after Australia won the games after having beaten China in a quarter final, 2-0.
Doubt seriously that Australia warned Xi about the possible dangers of ever showing up.
The Anglo-American world is just run by scum.
You expect consistency from Israel, YKMY?
Their democratic prergatives have been formed by watching the bald hypocrisy of the West.
Been watching Russian dissident channels on youtube, Dozhd and Echo Mosvy. Much more rewarding than reading drivel by the Kremlin’s assorted useful idiots on here.
Not sure if anyone noticed this: “The International Russian Conservative Forum” that took place on 22 March in St Petersburg. A fascinating gathering of assorted nutters. The UK was represented by BNP and Life League. Greece’s Golden Dawn was there. Bulgaria’s Attack (“I don’t want to live in a Gypsy state”). Lovely.
Just google “Международный русский консервативный форум” or “The International Russian Conservative Forum” if you prefer.
President Xi went to Tasmania about China helping develop its international airport right after Abbott officials leaked information about his private travel credentials, and he apparently escaped assassiantion because other Australian officials didn’t follow through or, more likely, his increased security precautions.
Saudi Arabia has sent around 5,000 Takfiri mercenaries to fight against the Yemeni army and revolutionary committees,” Yemeni Army Commander Colonel Abdel Sattar al-Boushali told FNA on Saturday night.
The Yemeni commander, meantime, disclosed that the Saudi defense minister has asked Turkish officials to pave the grounds for the transfer of more terrorists from Turkish airports to Riyadh.
He noted that heavy clashes broke out between the terrorist groups and forces loyal to Yemen’s revolutionary committees.
Colonel al-Boushali reiterated that Saudi Arabia is plotting to hire mercenaries to assassinate supporters of Ansarullah movement, including the movement’s representative Abdel Karim al-Kheivani.
On Saturday, a senior member of the popular Ansarullah movement warned of immediate attacks on Saudi territories if the latter refrains from putting an immediate halt to its aggression against Yemen.
“As the Ansarullah movement has promised collapse of some Arab regimes supporting the terrorists, if Saudi Arabia continues its aggressions against the oppressed Yemeni people the Ansarullah fighters will pave the way for the Saudi regime’s destruction by conducting martyrdom-seeking (suicidal) operations inside Saudi Arabia in the coming hours,” member of Ansarullah Executive Committee Abdel Mon’em Al-Qurashi told FNA.
He reiterated that Israel and Al Saud are on the same front and Saudi Arabia is taking orders from Washington and Tel Aviv.
“The main cause of the Saudi aggression is the failure of Riyadh’s policies in support of fugitive Yemeni President Mansour Hadi and Takfiri groups and its disappointment at them,” Al-Qurashi added.
He reiterated that the Yemeni army and people will give a crushing response to the Saudi aggressors.
On Friday, Ansarullah Spokesman Zeifollah al-Shami said Yemeni tribes, army and popular forces are united to give a crushing response to the recent Saudi aggression, adding that Tel Aviv and Washington have ordered Riyadh to attack Yemen.
“We know that the Saudi aggression and airstrikes have taken place at the order of Israel and the US,” al-Shami told FNA.
He noted that the Yemeni people have put aside their differences to fight against the aggressors.
“God willingly, the crushing response to the aggressions of the Saudi enemy will come coming days,” al-Shami added.
Saudi Arabia started airstrikes against Yemen early Thursday, one day after the US-backed Yemeni president fled the country.
Riyadh claimed that it has bombed the positions of the Ansarullah fighters and launched attacks against the Sana’a airport and the Dulaimi airbase.
But despite Riyadh’s claims, Saudi warplanes have flattened a number of homes near Sana’a international airport.
At least 60 Yemeni civilians, including women and children, have been killed and tens of other wounded in the Saudi airstrikes in the last four days.
Five Persian Gulf States — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait — backed by the US have declared war on Yemen in a joint statement issued earlier Thursday.
US President Barack Obama authorized the provision of logistical and intelligence support to the military operations, National Security Council Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said late Wednesday night.
She added that while US forces were not taking direct military action in Yemen, Washington was establishing a Joint Planning Cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate US military and intelligence support.
The Saudi aggression has received growing international condemnation as it is pushing the region and the world into an unprecedented fast-growing war as its ISIL mercenaries are on the brink of complete annihilation in Iraq and Syria.
It would appear that Yemen,in on the brink of all out war,as the USA seeks to keep its puppet leader in place.
Related News
Yemeni Protesters Tear up Fugitive President’s Photos in Hudaydah
Ansarullah Slams Arab League Support for Saudi War on Yemen
Egyptian Pilot Arrested for Not Bombing Yemen
Bahrainis Lambast Saudi Arabia’s Aggression on Yemen
Yemeni People Hold Mass Rally, Slam Saudi Invasion of Yemen
Source: Oman Seeking to Persuade Saudi-Led Coalition to Stop Attacking Yemen
13 Dead, 78 Injured in Fresh Saudi-Led Airstrikes on Yemen
Qarzawi’s Son Opposes Saudi Aggression on Yemen
Ansarullah: Iran, Russia Looking for Political Solution to Yemen Crisis
Aljazeera Viewers Deplore Saudi Aggression on Yemen, Indifference towards Palestine
Yemeni Parties Seeking Moscow’s Mediation to End Crisis
Source: Son of Former Yemeni President Had Secret Meeting with Saudi DM before Airstrikes
Saudi warplanes Strike Eastern Sana’a
Yemen Summons Retired Military, Security Personnel Back to Work
Lebanese Analyst: Saudi-Led Aggression on Yemen Not Enduring
Iraqi President Leaves Arab Summit in Protest at Fugitive Yemeni President’s Address
Hassanein Heikal: Attacking Yemen No Arab Decision
Ansarullah Warns to Conduct Suicide Operations in Saudi Arabia
‘Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, already facing a six-year prison term after a corruption conviction, was found guilty on Monday in a separate case of accepting illegal payments from a US businessman.
The ruling in Jerusalem District Court reversed a 2012 acquittal of the veteran politician, who led Israel from 2006 to 2009.
Last May, Olmert was sentenced in other proceedings to six years in jail for accepting $160,000 (£107,000) in bribes linked to a real estate deal in Jerusalem, when he served as the city’s mayor. He is currently appealing that conviction in the Supreme Court.
A Israeli PM corrupt? Surely not.
@Evgueni, no doubt you would be among the first to criticize & condemn Russia for political suppression if it had banned this small private meeting of the Far Right; yet the real question is why if you are so concerned about far right extremists, are you fixated only about far fringe far right groups holding a meeting in Russia, like fringe far right groups do in many countries, including in Europe, yet you seem not to be able to express any concern about the Neo-Nazis in actual positions of power in Kiev, and the Neo-Nazi death squads, armed by Kiev, that are terrorizing & committing atrocities in Eastern Ukraine ?
http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/03/23/4814
http://orientalreview.org/2015/03/26/arms-to-sadists-us-congress-urges-pres-obama-to-provide-ukraine-with-more-torture-techniques/
‘A swastika was posted on the bulletin board of a Jewish fraternity in a George Washington University dorm on Monday, leading upset students to immediately report it to police.
The symbol — recognized as an emblem of hate from Nazi Germany — apparently came from an internal source: A member of the fraternity, who is Jewish, admitted that he posted it there. The student said that he brought it back from a spring break trip to India, according to university officials.
Ah Yes,the old Hasbara trick of smearing,a person or institution using the Nazi symbol,to light the blue touch paper.