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.
” . . . 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 ?”
Eugene is working on behalf of the west to try and label Putin as being a NAZI to cover up the west’s own extreme fascism and support for fascist Ukraine. It’s a common trick and one of the oldest in the book. I tend not to rise to the bait Macky. Did you watch Putin on Crimea? He, and the film itself, was so critical of the fascists who invaded Crimea, who overthrew the legitimate government in Kiev, who burnt to death men and women in the Trades union building in Odessa that anybody with a brain knows that Putin is anti-fascist. This is the second time that march – which actually happened above a week ago has been used to try and discredit Putin. It won’t work Eugene. Go back to your masters and tell them you want more money and better stories.
Ivan,
you are full of it, but thanks for demonstrating it once again to remove all possible doubt, if anyone still had any – of your intellectual ineptitude.
I’ll be in Odessa in a couple of weeks’s time, to see for myself. I will talk to my Russian and Ukrainian friends about the threat that Ukrainian ultra-nationalists pose to them. I suspect that the answer eye to eye will be the same as by Skype – they don’t like these people, but right now their priority is the Russian imperialists and Putin’s attempts to break up Ukraine by any means and at any cost.
Mary
” PS What could I possibly say about that poor benighted country Syria which Agent Cameron wanted to finish off in the same way as he wrecked Libya?”
What’s left of Syria? –
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2015/03/left-syria-150317133753354.html
It just Breaks the heart…check out this wee soul, she thinks she is caught, Hands in the air in surrender, She thinks the Camera is a weapon..the Original source for this is a tweet from a fellow Photographer, The photo, is reportedly taken at a Syrian refugee camp by Turkish journalist Osman Sagirli, –
https://twitter.com/NadiaAbuShaban/status/580457804810551296/photo/1
Info seems hard to obtain on the image, a little bit more here –
http://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/heartbreaking-photo-of-syrian-child-mistaking-camera-for-gun-goes-viral-750760
“. . . they don’t like these people, but right now their priority is the Russian imperialists and Putin’s attempts to break up Ukraine by any means and at any cost.”
Sorry, the priority should be to remove the fascists that ousted the legitimate government of Yanukovich, which caused the break-up of Ukraine and started the first civil-war since 1921. It is unlikely that a western stooge would see it like that.
I have never known the discourse on these threads to be so polarised. The world cannot be two things. There is only one reality, but there are two dominant narratives.
For God’s sake, we need to start fixing this.
People HERE need to start asking; “What can we agree upon?”
Then work outwards from there.
To think that there is only one reality is to leave out all the diverse people and their leaders who are trying to shape matters in all kinds of ways.
Once you get over your toothache, Clark, you should go see some films about the problems of reality, say, starting with Blade Runner.
Trowbridge, I’m not saying that one of the narratives is reality and the other is a set of lies. I’m saying that there is only one physical reality at the level of our perceptions.
Bladerunner deals with many issues, but I suppose you’re referring to implanted memories.
Old horse face,aka Camilla Parker Bowles,son-in-law receives £430.000 every year for the next 25 years,to develop his solar farm,and YOU’RE paying for it.
Prince Dobby,aka Charles,old tart Camilla,looks to have secured her daughter and son-in-laws future by using Duchy land for the venture,Dobby is already making a fortune from Cornwall as it is.
Royals,nothing but a drain on society,even ones that have been dead for centuries,and buried under car parks, end up costing the taxpayers a fortune, to put them back in thd ground.
People HERE need to start asking; “What can we agree upon?”
############################
We do agree Clark,we unanimously agree,to disagree.
Oh, Clark, you mean planted things, like Andreas Lubitz’s signed confession that he too killed the al-Hillis on that motorcycle ride a few years back when he became so bored with the crash site to be further south?
ED Miliband’s pledge to rein in NHS ‘privatisation’ by capping profits of firms providing care has come under fierce attack from a former Labour health minister.
As Labour made the NHS the central issue of its election campaign launch, Lord Warner accused his party leadership of scaremongering and risking patient care.
He said competition between different providers was vital to ensure the NHS can cope with spikes in demand, which occur most winters.
‘It is very difficult for the NHS to cope with the peaks and troughs of demand without the involvement of the private sector.
Just why is Lord Warner,against the capping of privatd firms,meddling in the NHS?
‘Lord Warner is a director of Sage Advice Ltd, and an adviser to Xansa (a technology firm) and Byotrol (an antimicrobial company) – all of which sell or are hoping to sell services or products to the NHS, according to website Social Investigations.
He also took up a position with Apax Partners – one of the leading private equity investors in healthcare, according to the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency.
Ah Yes, now it becomes abundantly clear,the NHS south of the border,will be fortunate,not be Americanised,by the end of the decade.
Virgin Care, which has been handed contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds to run more than 230 NHS and social care services, is one of at least 10 private health firms seeking state-funded contracts whose company structures include tax havens, it can be revealed.
An analysis by Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant at Tax Research UK, has found 13 holding companies, some of them offshore, between Virgin Care and its ultimate parent company, based in the British Virgin Islands.
I’m pretty sure Gideon Osborne will be proud of these companies,and their ability to tax dodge, its highly unlikely anything will de done about it, by any Westminster government.
The number of people sleeping rough on the streets of London has risen by over one-third in the past year, new government figures reveal. The crisis has prompted homelessness charities to call for sweeping reforms.
A report published by the Department for Communities and Local Government found that levels of homelessness in the capital rose by 37 percent between 2013 and 2014. The rest of the country also saw rises, averaging at 14 percent.
The figures are an embarrassing failure for London Mayor Boris Johnson, who has always publicly claimed to put homelessness at the top of his agenda. He previously pledged to eradicate the problem by as long ago as 2012.
A embarrassing failure from a embarrassing politician,and to think the Bullingdon boy buffoon, Boris Johnson,could become the PM of the UK in the not so distant future,it doesn’t even bear,thinking about.
A job is advertised on the Universal Jobmatch, a service offered through Government Gateway. It says £125,000 remuneration for a Quechuan linguist. I get the job – “Life is Beautiful!”
Then the employer tell me that salary was over 4 years – wot! -that is not just wrong – that is deceitful – cunning – false – treacherous – sneaky… How many times have such adjectives been used here in Craig’s place.
It comes as no surprise then as agent Cameron brushes off the corgis hairs from his pin-striped trouser legs, his [Cameron’s] mouth opens to spit words through his teeth that echo Ed Miliband’s Britain will cost every working family over £3,000 in higher taxes.
That is the UK deficit of about £30 billion+ divided by the number of British WORKING families over 4 years.
Clever eh? Deceitful yes! a VOTE FOR CONSERVATIVE is a vote for Bovo poison.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/30/david-cameron-launches-election-campaign-swipes-at-ed-miliband
Agreement in Tehran over Iran’s nuclear power program and lifting of sanctions could see an extra million barrels a day on western markets which already have an estimated 2 million barrel a day surplus.
The price of oil already halved, it could just halve again.
Iran will only agree to sending off enriched uranium, and having inspections of its nuclear facilities if it can get back what it has allowed to be stored or placed elsewhere when it wants or needs it.
Tehran will never agree to give up its possibility of having or making nuclear weapons as it is the only thing keeping the West at bay.
When there is no agreement, we will see if all the war talk of bombing Iran is just more hot air, as Iran could kill many Americans with just what it is known to have.
John Pilger speaks about the fascism factor in Ukraine;
https://soundcloud.com/radiosputnik/fascism-ukraine-pilger
Saint Mary wrote, to a reply totally unconnected to her, “Glenn UK never ever puts the boot in of course.”
Absolutely – I’ll put the boot in where necessary. But I never suggested I would not. You have raised nothing but a straw man here.
I’ll call someone on their partisan BS. Do you have a problem with that? (Answer = yes, totally, when it’s _your own_ partisan BS being pointed out.)
My mistake, of course, St. Mary cannot reply to responses to her own boot-stomping. St. Mary can only refer to people she regards as The Enemy in the third person. St. Mary never deigns to talk directly to degenerates such as anyone who has the audacity to question her. It would offend her purity.
Don’t worry, St. Mary – you’ll have your chance to denounce me as an “Enemy of the People” in due course, I am sure. Nothing but marvelling at your wonderfulness would have it otherwise.
Act your age, Mary – engage, debate, stop assuming such ridiculous authority around here. You simply do not have it, your interminable cut-and-pastes notwithstanding.
*
I’m actually impressed by Macky’s ability to quickly let bygones be just that, despite our differences. Not so easy for the Imperious One, apparently. Anyone thinking they are Mary’s “friend” should try questioning her on a point, and find themselves relegated to The Enemy Of The People in the blink of an eye.
You sound just like Habbabkuk Glenn and as I said, you can put the boot in. Have you nothing better to contribute?
Mary – I am honoured – you are actually addressing me in the first person! A welcome departure. But surely everyone sounds like an Enemy Of The People to you, if they are not entirely compliant?
I’ll contribute this: Your style insists there is no debate. You are with me, or you are a Bad Person. No grey areas, nothing to discuss. I had the audacity to question you, once, so you must attack now at every exchange.
How the warmongers of the world must appreciate your kind of attitude.
Southampton University rolls over to Israel lobby.
Univ. of Southampton cancels conference after government, Israel lobby pressure
03/31/2015
Organizers say they are considering emergency legal action against the UK’s University of Southampton after administrators withdrew permission for a planned academic conference on Israel.
The cancelation follows an intense smear campaign against the conference and its organizers by Israel lobby groups, columnists and UK government ministers and members of parliament.
The conference, “International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism,” had been scheduled for 17-19 April.
/..
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/univ-southampton-cancels-conference-after-government-israel-lobby-pressure
Comment thereon including a statement from the conference organizers –
Professor Oren Ben-Dor, University of Southampton.
Professor George Bisharat, University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Professor Suleiman Sharkh, University of Southampton.
Ms. Juman Ismail.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1427779906.html
glenn_uk 30 Mar, 2015 – 12:44 am : “JHC. Is there nothing on here but personal sniping, ….”
glenn_uk 31 Mar, 2015 – 1:50 am : “Act your age, Mary – engage, debate, stop assuming such ridiculous authority around here. You simply do not have it, your interminable cut-and-pastes notwithstanding.”
Sorry, couldn’t resist it.
Come on Node, there is such thing as fair comment 😉
“Anti-Russian propaganda is ‘unconvincing’, because Western narrative is false”
http://rt.com/op-edge/243237-eu-russia-propaganda-counter-war/
There is some ‘previous’ Node.
Mary
Here is a Petition up Re Uni of Southampton Canceling –
https://www.change.org/p/the-university-of-southampton-uphold-free-speech-allow-the-conference-on-israel-and-international-law-to-proceed?recruiter=36326166&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=des-md-no_src-no_msg&fb_ref=Default
Sign Folks, let them Know we care care about International Law.
It has now been a week since the crash of the Germanwings Air Bus 320 occurred, and its Flight Data Recorder – a most easy to find mechanism, given its indestructibility, its orange color, and its pings- has not yet been found.
One can only conclude that either there was none on the plane, or it was stolen away right after the crash by persons who want to cover up its being sabotaged while the public is completely bamboozled by a wave of lies, rumors, and misreporting.
The ‘ninja’ NHS privatisers you’ve never heard of…
27 March 2015
Meet the shadowy team at the heart of many of the most controversial NHS privatisations to date, including the Staffordshire deal leaked last week to openDemocracy.
‘Despite our warnings about the risks… no one has been held accountable for the consequences.’
That was the fierce criticism last week from watchdog Margaret Hodge MP and her Public Accounts Committee of the failed flagship privatisation of Hinchingbrooke hospital.
No-one can hold Circle Holdings accountable. On the day inspectors gave the hospital they were running, the worst rating for ‘caring’ of any hospital in the country, the firm announced they were giving up and walking away, three years into the ten year contract.
/..
http://www.spinwatch.org/index.php/issues/lobbying/item/5756-the-ninja-nhs-privatisers-you-ve-never-heard-of
PLUS by the same author
The privatising cabal at the heart of our NHS
31 March 2015
This isn’t a National Health Service – or even a healthcare market. It’s a cabal – and it looks something like this.
https://opendemocracy.net/ournhs/tamasin-cave/privatising-cabal-at-heart-of-our-nhs
A good graphic within. Who’s who etc.