What comes out to me from the “Black Spider letter” correspondence of Prince Charles published today is how utterly obsequious Tony Blair and New Labour ministers were to him. No sign whatsoever of radicalism from the former “People’s Party” as they fell over to ingratiate themselves with the heir to the throne. I rather enjoyed Charles quite sharp tone to Blair.
I am fundamentally opposed to the existence of the monarchy. It will hopefully be replaced by a better system, but no human system is perfect. Given that we have a monarchy at present, you will perhaps be surprised to learn that I do not see anything wrong in Charles’ letters, which put forward views which are much what we would have expected him to hold. Of course there is interaction between the monarchy and government, and of course we should get rid of this hereditary element. But Charles’ lobbying is hugely less damaging and pernicious than the corporate lobbying I witnessed throughout my Whitehall career. At least Charles is not lobbying them for corporate advantage and giving large political donations at the same time.
While in my view he did nothing wrong in writing the letters, he and government are both very wrong in arguing they should be private. It is when it is secret that such attempts to wield influence between two branches of government – and monarchy is a branch of government – can be most simply perverted to ill ends. That such publication will not occur again because government has legislated to keep it secret, is an example of the privileged arrogance that prevents this from being a genuine democracy.
Altogether not that big a story and it gives Rusbridger and the Guardian the chance to pose as radical. I find the fact that what is published is so anodyne and unobjectionable rather suspicious – what has not been published? Rusbridger is of course the editor who complied enthusiastically with a GCHQ instruction to smash the Snowden hard drives. The existence of other copies does not justify this any more than it justifies book-burning.
By coincidence, a very worthwhile article by Michael Gillard that had been excised from the net has recently been republished, setting out how Rusbridger in 2002 conspired with Andy Hayman of the Met to bury an investigation into police corruption, including the burglary of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. By a further coincidence I was having a pint with Laurie Flynn in Sandy Bell’s four days ago.
Hayman went on to be the promoter of the stream of lies about the murder of Jean Charles De Menezes and the publicist of numerous fake terrorist plots, before having to resign in a scandal involving nubile police officers at public expense in tropical islands.
Rusbridger and his extraordinary wig go on and on as a pretend opposition outlet, their reputation much dented by recent hysterical unionist output which exceeds the Daily Express. But Rusbridger’s continued usefulness to the establishment is not in doubt. The pose of publishing the most harmless of Prince Charles’ letters does little to help a threadbare disguise.
Macky
“Another disgusting Anti-Semite ?!
“Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don’t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.” – Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001, to Shimon Peres.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/01/11/burying-sharon/”
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Stone the crows! A fabricated quote from a Jew-obsessed loony site? You do surpass yourself, Macky, in your efforts to ‘prove’ that the Jews control the world. Anti-Semitic turd.
“That doesn’t excuse the disgraceful behaviour of Carmichael, who shouldn’t even be an MP.”
What’s disgraceful about it?
“That doesn’t excuse the disgraceful behaviour of Carmichael, who shouldn’t even be an MP.”
There are two viewpoints on that one. Some might say that if Nicola Sturgeon was saying one thing to the people of Scotland and another to the French Ambassador then the people of Scotland had a right to know and Carmichael a duty to tell them. Others could say that Carmichael’s loyalty should have been to the civil service and diplomatic confidentiality.
I think there is an argument for having either opinion but not for having both at the same time.
“The memo was not falsified. It was a genuine account of what made by a Scottish civil servant of his conversation wit a French civil servant.
None of your wrangling will alter that.”
__________________________
Fred, I draw your attention to section 4, the meeting and conversations were conducted in English.
You’re not going to tell me the civil servant didn’t understand,English it was clear cut case of smearing the FM.
1. A civil servant (still unnamed) in the Scotland Office wrote a memo ostensibly summarising a conversation between himself and the French Consul-General, regarding a meeting between the First Minister and the French ambassador.
2. For reasons which remain unclear (and, it seems likely, always will), the civil servant arrived at a conclusion about the meeting which was in conflict with the subsequent accounts of all three other people involved – namely that the First Minister had expressed a preference for a Conservative government.
3. It was noted in the civil servant’s memo that his/her understanding was suspect, and possibly the result of something having been “lost in translation”, though as far as is known both the meeting between the FM and the ambassador and the conversation between the civil servant and the Consul-General were conducted wholly in English.
4. Euan Roddin, a special adviser to the then Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael, suggested leaking this memo to the press in order to damage the First Minister and the SNP before the election. Mr Carmichael agreed with this plan and authorised the leak to the Daily Telegraph journalist Simon Johnson.
5. Simon Johnson ran the story in the paper’s 4 April edition, extraordinarily doing so without having sought any sort of confirmation, denial or any other response from the First Minister. (The Daily Mail also published it, seemingly having lifted it from the Telegraph.)
Apparently Carmichael is not taking his severance pay and says he would have resigned as a Minister if he had remained in Government.
I understand that he lied about the matter while the election was going on. He says himself that the matter was a “serious breach of protocol”. Will that do? Is it enough?
Kind regards,
John
Fred
23/05/2015 4:27pm
“Some might say that if Nicola Sturgeon was saying one thing to the people of Scotland and another to the French Ambassador then the people of Scotland had a right to know and Carmichael a duty to tell them.”
In which case why tell lies about the matter afterwards?
Kind regards,
John
The Irish have voted YES, a celebrating gatekeeper habba may now be expected to to stop slamming the door and allow Black Rod in past his clenched buttocks?
“Fred, I draw your attention to section 4, the meeting and conversations were conducted in English.”
Yes, the memo was not falsified.
“You’re not going to tell me the civil servant didn’t understand,English it was clear cut case of smearing the FM.”
I’m telling you that the inquiry found that the memo had not been falsified.
“There are two viewpoints on that one. Some might say that if Nicola Sturgeon was saying one thing to the people of Scotland and another to the French Ambassador then the people of Scotland”
__________________________
Fred.
But she wasn’t and she didn’t the liar in this whole sordid affair has admitted his guilt.
Alistair Carmichael a lawyer to trade has sent the FM a grovelling apology admitting his culpability.
Here is that letter.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/carmichaelgate.jpg
In which the prevaricator Carmichael says.
“I accept its publication was a serious breach of protocol,and that the details of that account are NOT correct.”
The poor people living in the rubble. How do they carry on? It is called ‘sumud’- steadfastness.
Gaza economy ‘on verge of collapse’, with world’s highest unemployment
World Bank report says Israeli blockades, war and poor governance have left 43% of people out of work and the strip facing dangerous financial crisis
Child stands amid the rubble of buildings destroyed in Gaza
Gaza has received only a quarter of the funds pledged by the international community for its reconstruction following last year’s 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images
23 May 2015
The economy of Gaza – assailed by war, poor governance and a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade – has reached the “verge of collapse” with the coastal strip suffering the highest rate of unemployment in the world.
The bleak picture is presented in a devastating report by the World Bank, released on Friday, which said that Gaza’s economy had been strangled by years of blockades, war and poor governance and faced a dangerous crisis over its ability to meet wages and other spending requirements.
Calling for the “lifting of the blockade on the movement of goods and people to allow Gaza’s tradable sectors to recover”, the report says that about 43% of Gaza’s 1.8 million residents are unemployed, with youth unemployment reaching about 60% by the end of last year.
/..
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/22/gazas-economy-on-verge-of-collapse-jobless-rate-highest-in-world-israel
“I’m telling you that the inquiry found that the memo had not been falsified”
“Yes, the memo was not falsified.”
_________________________________
Ah yes Fred,defend the union with repetition,what was it Dr Samuel Johnson said.
Patriotism,the last refuge of a scoundrel.
If that is indeed the case,the Scotland Office must be full of scoundrels.
“In which case why tell lies about the matter afterwards?”
If he told lies I expect it was because he didn’t want people to know the truth.
Macky
This may be on the Wolfie Smiff edge of political correctness but it may also be an alright comment about language and power. Let’s see how it goes:
The Mbendjele Pygmies are some venerable people, a glimpse of our egalitarian pre-neolithic history. They have no leaders. They do not accumulate stuff. They do not wage war. They do not mine. Like other egalitarian indigenous peoples with no value to extract their way of life is attacked. Send in the priests, the loggers, the community police. Send in UNICEF so that happy, healthy, free children are forcibly schooled to be part of an economy that offers only deprivation. And send in the soldiers. Caught up in the endless terror of proxies and mercenaries fighting to secure central African resources their treatment is rape and slaughter. All this continues. Their way of life doomed, their long term survival doubtfull. These people are as much victims of empire as anyone.
Historically “pygmy” was used as a generalisation by imperialists to diminish the identity of disparate victims. Not all pygmies are even small. Pygmies themselves reject the generalised use of the word. And pygmies can not be said to lack morals even by the alien imperialist standards.
“Moral pygmy” is not an innocent phrase conjured out of nothing. It associates victims of imperialism with moral deficiency. The old demonisation thing. It is the language of racist empire.
For anyone interested here again is a great talk about how sexual politics is central to the Mbendjele egalitarian balance: Woman’s Biggest Husband Is The Moon: How Hunter-Gatherers Maintain Social Equality
Dreoilin
“Early indications are that Ireland has voted Yes”
Great!
A very moving account about the CGWC cemetery in Gaza by Mohammed Omer who received the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. John Pilger presented it to him in London.**
‘“Whatever you do, make sure you remain sincere in your job,” says Jeradeh, while his hands gently water and tidy the flowers and grass around the graves.
Jeradeh was awarded an MBE in “grateful recognition of outstanding contribution to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.” The MBE’s accompanying certificate was signed by the Duke of Kent.
The cemetery represents the British and other international soldiers who died in the Battle of Gaza, in the final part of the First World War. Their bodies were transferred from the battlefield to be reburied, side by side, in the memorial cemetery.
The cemetery was struck by Israeli missiles on two occasions between 2008 and 2010. In one incident Israel paid £90,000 in compensation to the CGWC for destruction and damage caused to the sacred burial site. 350 headstones were damaged by Israeli shells in Operation Cast Lead, on Christmas Day in 2008 and again on New Year’s Day in 2009.
Over the years, Jeradeh has received many British families who came to visit the graves of their relatives, in Palestine. However, as Gaza remains under Israeli siege, many families are unable to obtain permits from Israeli authorities to enter Gaza.
Whether the soldiers were Christian, Jewish or Muslim, Jeradeh gives them all equal respect and care.’
Gaza’s global place names reflect history of war and peacekeeping
Gaza is home to areas, including refugee camps and towns, named after international troops and a cemetery of the dead from World War I http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/internationally-named-areas-within-gaza-1557823540
6 April 2015
**
One journalist’s story: from triumph to torture
2 July 2008
In an article for the Guardian, John Pilger describes presenting a top journalism award to a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, and how, on his return home to Gaza, he was seized by the Israelis, who demanded the prize money and tortured him.
http://johnpilger.com/articles/one-journalists-story-from-triumph-to-torture
@Anon1, Full marks for max chutzpah !
As I don’t think it’s a different Anon who lifted a fabricated Islamophobic list from a racist hate site, that fell apart as soon as Clark bothered to look seriously at it ! 😀
I think you will find the quote is real & first reported on Israeli radio;
http://www.mediamonitors.net/khodr49.html
but of course muddying the water by claiming something you don’t like is fake is standard Zionist modus operandi.
Apparently Carmichael is not taking his severance pay and says he would have resigned as a Minister if he had remained in Government.
I understand that he lied about the matter while the election was going on. He says himself that the matter was a “serious breach of protocol”. Will that do? Is it enough?
Kind regards,
John
The fact that he is not taking his severance pay and would have resigned had he was still in government is all credit to him. I wish more politicians would do the same under similar circumstances. Yes, he broke protocol but that ought not detract from the fact that by doing so he intended (correctly in my view) to bring Sturgeon to account prior to the election. The fact that she preferred Cameron at the helm as opposed to Miliband but didn’t disclose this, was an issue of relevance to the people of Scotland.
Fred
23/05/2015 4:52pm
“If he told lies I expect it was because he didn’t want people to know the truth.”
Yes, no doubt, but if “the people of Scotland had a right to know and Carmichael a duty to tell them”, as you say one view of Carmichael’s conduct could be, then surely he also had a duty to stand up and say that that was what he was doing, in the interests of the Scottish people.
Kind regards,
John
Daniel
23/05/2015 5:05pm
In which case, as I suggested to Fred, should he not have said so during the election instead of lying about it?
Kind regards,
John
“… surely he also had a duty to stand up and say that that was what he was doing, in the interests of the Scottish people.”
I’m sure that narrow political opportunism was, at least in part, a motive. But so what?
“In which case, as I suggested to Fred, should he not have said so during the election instead of lying about it?”
Yes, perhaps on his part it was a tactical error. But motive is irrelevant. At the end of the day, he revealed the truth irrespective of motive and protocol. I mean would you be as critical of other whistle blowers’ like Snowden and Assange, for example?
Phil; “Moral pygmy” is not an innocent phrase conjured out of nothing. It associates victims of imperialism with moral deficiency. The old demonisation thing. It is the language of racist empire.”
Claptrap ! I’ve never heard any White Man’s Burden proponent use the term, although I’ve heard others use it against such racists.
Pygmy, as a noun;
“1. Greek Mythology A member of a race of dwarfs.
2. A member of any of various peoples, especially of equatorial Africa and parts of Southeast Asia, having an average height less than 5 feet (1.5 meters).
3. pygmy
a. An individual of unusually small size.
b. An individual considered to be of little or no importance: political pygmies.”
As an adjective;
1. something that is a very small example of its type
2. a person of little importance or significance
So “moral pygmy” is clearly a general discriptive term, meaning any person of little moral importance or significance; nothing more, nothing less.
“Yes, no doubt, but if “the people of Scotland had a right to know and Carmichael a duty to tell them”, as you say one view of Carmichael’s conduct could be, then surely he also had a duty to stand up and say that that was what he was doing, in the interests of the Scottish people.”
That wouldn’t affect people’s right to know would it? People would still have the right to know whether he had said that was what he was doing or not.
YCNMIU
The BBC choose a member of the Rothschild family to feature in the latest Meet the Author, Hannah daughter of Jacob. Obviously the BBC were unable to find deserving authors who could have done with the plug.
‘Meet the Author
21/05/2015
Nick Higham speaks with writer, film-maker and company director Hannah Rothschild about her first novel, the Improbability of Love, which presents a fascinating insight into the art world.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05vrccq/meet-the-author-21052015
Sickening stuff but only 7 mins of it.
There’s no mystery no intrigue as to why Carmichael lied,he did so on the behest of his unionist counterparts,and in the hope of causing the SNP and ergo Nicola Sturgeon to lose face and votes.
The Scotland Office is a complete misnomer,it acts on behalf of the incumbent Westminster government,it’s remit to those who know is to spy and report on the activitues of Holyrood.
Getting back to Carmichael,he held his seat,by a narrow 800 odd margin,if he’d admitted his part in the sordid fiasco,would he havd kept his MP seat,that is very doubtful indeed.
What we are also forgetting is the estimared cost of the investigation into the matter, which has cost the taxpayer dearly £1.4million quoted by some.
Carmichael has forgone his serverance pay,but his lies have still cost the taxpayer dearly,he should do the honourable thing and resign.
Macky
“These quotes originated with the pro-Hamas American group Islamic Association for Palestine in an Oct. 13, 2001 press release, which claimed its source as Israeli radio Kol Yisrael:
“According [to] the Israeli Hebrew radio, Col Yisrael Wednesday, Peres warned Sharon that refusing to heed incessant American requests for a cease-fire with the Palestinians would endanger Israeli interests and turn the US against us. At this point, a furious Sharon reportedly turned toward Peres, saying “ . . . I want to tell you something clear, don’t worry about American pressure on Israel, we the Jewish people control America, and the Americans know it.”…Elsewhere in the press release, the quote was repeated, albeit slightly altered to: “we control America.”
CAMERA received confirmation from Kol Yisrael political correspondent Yoni Ben-Menachem, who reports on Cabinet meetings, that he never made such a broadcast and that Sharon never made such a statement.
More here:
‘Syndicated Columnist Georgie Anne Geyer Uses Fabricated Sharon Quote’
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=8&x_nameinnews=108&x_article=34
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You’ve got to stop spreading anti-Semitic filth from crackers websites like Veteran’s Today, Macky 🙂
Macky I was taken to task for using the same phrase yesterday
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/05/born-kneeling/comment-page-5/#comment-527340
and I see I replied to Ba’al by mistake.
Mary 17.03
Good post Mary, you’ll have Zionist apologists on your back,Habb and his somewhat melodramatic minions will be choking on their cholent.
Mary; “Macky I was taken to task for using the same phrase yesterday”
I know Mary, that why I used it again ! 😀
These moral pymies, always clutching at straws to have a snarky dig !!