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
“So “moral pygmy” is clearly a general discriptive term, meaning any person of little moral importance or significance; nothing more, nothing less.”
Language and it’s ambiguities often have a root, a meaning, we did not understand. The imperialists went around calling loads of different peoples around the world pygmies as an excuse for atrocity. This phrase was born of imperialism. It diminishes victims of imperialism. The victims were not singularly small nor savage. Do you think it’s popular use now unrelated to this power? How do you think pygmy even became and adjective? It’s the language of imperialism that lingers as the victims are too this day attacked.
Mary
“Macky I was taken to task for using the same phrase yesterday”
Taken to task? That’s one way to look at it.
I acknowledged I was being a pedant and an arse. I even apologised. For making a vuagely interesting and possibly valid point. I know it’s way outside of your comfort zone but you could even have responded with thoughts of your own. Rather than just snipe. Cut, paste, snipe. Cut, paste, cut paste, cut paste, snipe. Day in, day out. Go on write an interesting comment that is not a friggin snipe or a link to other people’s thinking.
“Anti-Semitic turd.”
Somebody else who does not understand the meaning of Semite. Look it up Anon1. You denounce a Palestinian it is just as anti-Semitic as denouncing an Israeli. Try not to keep putting your foot in it!
Phil
“I acknowledged I was being a pedant and an arse”
Both noble and very true.
I note too that you do not seem to be averse to cut and paste yourself.
As for sniping your posts are full of attacks (mostly against Mary)
You say “Language and it’s ambiguities often have a root, a meaning, we did (sic) not understand”
Have you considered probing the ambiguities of the word Hypocrite?
I ask because I regularly read this blog and am dismayed at the increasing amount of slurs and vicious ad hominems which detract from the sometimes interesting points that you, and others, raise.
Regards,
Somebody else who does not understand the meaning of Semite. Look it up Anon1. You denounce a Palestinian it is just as anti-Semitic as denouncing an Israeli. Try not to keep putting your foot in it!”
______________________________
Yes Mr Goss,as Einstein said.
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,so is a lot.”
Unfortunately Anon1 Possesses neither.
Ireland has voted for gay marriage by a margin of something like 12 to 7; 1.2 million voted for, 0.7 million against.
I hope that the Catholic Church stands firm on its view of unions as contrary to its understanding of marriage.
correction: should be “view of such unions”
Did I reveal this two years ago?
A declassified secret US government document obtained by the conservative public interest law firm, Judicial Watch, shows that Western governments deliberately allied with al-Qaeda and other Islamist extremist groups to topple Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad.
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/secret-pentagon-report-reveals-west-saw-isis-as-strategic-asset-b99ad7a29092
For men bileue not lyghtly hym / whiche is knowen for a lyer [Aesop’s Fables: Caxton (1484)]
I thought I had made some interesting comments today. The toad, the WW1 cemetery in Gaza, Mohammed Omer whom I have met, the LDs and Carmichael cf Ward and Tonge, the Irish vote, Murphy O’Connor admitting Blair,….I won’t go on.
The trolls’ smears are working. Say something often enough and it sticks.
An excellent piece from the Medialens editors entitled
Unfree Elections – The Corporate Media, UK General Election And Predictable Outcomes
I thought they were totally correct here.
‘Another Twitter user noted:
‘Anyone who thinks #BBC left-wing, read their love letter to David #Cameron http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32592449 … Dire excuse for journalism.’
Presumably there was no room in this ‘love letter’ to remind readers of Cameron’s inglorious role in Nato’s bombing of Libya in 2011.The illegal Western ‘intervention’ for regime change was built, as ever, on a campaign of disinformation and propaganda. Today, the suffering of Libya is immeasurable; not least as seen in the desperate plight of those fleeing across the Mediterranean and, all too often, drowning in the attempt.
This is a damning indictment of Western policy. If there truly was a left media in this country, Cameron’s record on Libya alone would have been scrutinised by journalists, his decisions challenged, and the consequences of those disastrous decisions for the suffering Libyans laid bare.
Instead, in its shameful silence, the corporate media have effectively exonerated Cameron for his crimes.’
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2015/792-unfree-elections-the-corporate-media-uk-general-election-and-predictable-outcomes.html
Phil
23 May, 2015 – 6:30 pm
Mary
“Macky I was taken to task for using the same phrase yesterday”
“Taken to task? That’s one way to look at it.”
____________________________
Phil, please show some compassion to Mary, after all she is Pavlov’s original bitch.
On a more serious note, I was about to use the phrase ‘intellectual pygmy’ recently. As it happens I thought twice and dropped it. This was before your own articulation which I agree with wholeheartedly. Please don’t expect these intellectually challenged robot derivatives to share the same finer sensibilities as you. You being one who has though many-a-thing through from zero-base, having set aside not just the conditioning of this lifetime, but also the hundreds of thousands of years the conditioning of our brain as animal! Our physical insecurities, fight-flight responses etc.
No wonder you are at ease with yourself to indulge in self-effacement — a part of the same sensibilities i referred to earlier. But sadly it’s lost on our CPW’s…copy-paste-warriors! Any fool with a double-digit IQ, if he’s prepared to drop all he ‘knows’, steps back with a cool, tranquil mind and observes these Pavlovians frenetically go find another quote or article as if they were Super Marios or Marias looking for jewels; hurriedly coming back and adding their emotive bilge if they can be bothered (see my example to come below re the Hannah Rothschild sick comment by The Original Bitch). And then they sit back looking for Glory, pleased as punch that they are “changing the World’. And along comes some lurking arse and pays a compliment and then comes the flattery and going all coy and bashful, describing a cuddly moment with a toad, playing to the gallery as if they have a real human side. Bleeding cretins, I say. Housed in the Obsessive Palestinian Supporters Cuckoos Nest, a prison no doubt of their own making — this the process.
Glad you showed up this evening. Keep it up!!!
PS The Pavlovian Bitch can also not tell the difference between a regular dictionary and an etymological one. Further, fails to understand the process of lexicography. FYI, the word “golliwog’ also still exists in the dictionary.
PPS For people who are shocked that she has been awarded the ceremonial title of the Pavlovian Bitch, please note that she is guilty here of calling people who disagree with her literary style of copy-paste-snipes, often repeats of whole emails, as trolls. Other suitable titles may be preferred and conferred in the future.
Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)
22 May, 2015 – 9:30 pm
“Not (SIC )doubt several of his malaprop prone cronies will, verbally chide you,a sure sign you’ve hit a nerve.”
…………………………………………………………….
Habbabkuk, “(SIC)” should be in lower case i.e. (sic).
Perhaps you’re sick?
“Somebody else who does not understand the meaning of Semite.”
HTH
“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…..
….Carmichael….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.”
Anybody who believes that Carmichael’s admitted complicity in allowing the leak of the memo into the public domain somehow trumps Sturgeon’s lie that its contents had been falsified, needs to look at themselves hard in the mirror.
The pertinent issue that needs to be acknowledged by the partisan SNP crowd is the fact that the inquiry found that the memo had NOT been falsified as Sturgeon had claimed.
Carmichael has apologized repeatedly and widely for his role in the affair. Moreover, he has agreed to his forgo severance pay that he is entitled. When can we expect Sturgeon to apologize?
Given the circumstances, I cannot believe that this woman has had the gall to come out publicly with her condemnation of Carmichael.
You also seem to be forgetting that if Sturgeon had told the truth from the outset, it would not have been necessary for an inquiry and hence the waste of £1.4 miilion in tax payer’s money.
It’s also not a given that had Carmichael revealed that he was responsible for the leak, he would necessarily have lost his seat as you suggest. This is because the potential reduction in votes would almost have certainly be reined in had Sturgeon come clean.
It’s interesting that you allude to Carmichael’s possible motivations yet have nothing to say about Sturgeon’s.
Returning to J-S-D’s lengthy response to my flippancy, I’d just like to extract his conclusion that
…“Really” is some kind of white supremacist nut.
Is that illegal? Seriously? It’s a very sincerely held position in some quarters, and is closely paralleled by the Jewish-supremacist nuts who are running Israel at the moment, and whom you wish to shelter from this kind of nastiness, presumably.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/ethiopian-jews-hold-protest-tel-aviv-racism-150518193345455.html
That should perhaps be white-Jewish-supremacist nuts, shouldn’t it?
Personally, I thimk neocohen is a bit mild for Jewish neocons such as Netanyahu, but hey, PC rules.
Kim John
“Somebody else who does not understand the meaning of Semite. Look it up Anon1. You denounce a Palestinian it is just as anti-Semitic as denouncing an Israeli. Try not to keep putting your foot in it!”
Heard this 6th form drivel a thousand times, Gross. About a hundred years ago “Anti-Semitic” came to mean anti-Jew (would you prefer?) because of Europe’s extensive experience of (and prejudice against) its Semitic peoples (ie Jews). Take it up with the OED.
What you really want, of course, is for there to be no word to describe hatred of Jews, and it is hardly surprising that some of the anti-Semites on this blog would wish for that to be the case.
“In the six month period from 1st March 2014 to 31st August 2014, Eighty of London’s Metropolitan Police staff travelled to Israel.”
“This period coincides with Operation Protective Edge, the recent bombardment and massacre of of over 2000 Palestinians in Gaza.”
“Recently it was revealed that the Israeli army is systematically training US police forced in tactics and strategy developed as an occupying army. Has the same or similar service been provided to European police forces?”
“The Metropolitan Police will not reveal the purpose of the trips to Israel or the rank of the staff that travelled. A reason given for withholding the information is that it would “have the effect of compromising law enforcement tactics and strategies ”.
“However, If the Metropolitan Police are learning inappropriate tactics and strategy to use on London civilians then, it is for that very reason, that this information should be released into the public domain.”
https://medium.com/wake-up-act/why-are-londons-police-travelling-to-israel-cf15bb9b8848
See also:
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/blogs/politics/18799-did-the-metropolitan-police-send-staff-to-israel-during-last-years-gaza-assault
Ba’al Zevul
23/05/2015 7:42pm
[Ba’al Zevul]: Returning to J-S-D’s lengthy response to my flippancy…
[JSD]: I took 34 words to respond to your “flippancy”. I assumed the rest of your post was intended seriously. Was it or not?
J
Anybody who believes that Carmichael’s admitted complicity in allowing the leak of the memo into the public domain somehow trumps Sturgeon’s lie that its contents had been falsified, needs to look at themselves hard in the mirror.”
_______________________
Daniel.
Why?
Furthermore do you have any new evidence to the contrary,that something untoward took place.
If so nows the time to enlighten us all.
Fred
22 May, 2015 – 10:02 pm
“The memo was genuine, not false as you said.”
……………………………………………………………..
Fred, it is now accepted that the contents of the memo were untrue; therefore the contents of the memo were false; get it now?
Macky
Let’s forget fabricated anti-Zionist quotes. I just wanted to wish you a happy song contest, if you’re reading. Which of course you are.
Kindest regards.
” please show some compassion to Mary, after all she is Pavlov’s original bitch.”
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Oh my not a very complimentary thing to say about a lady,maybe Villager is suffering from a bout of parapraxis.
That would explain his fusillade of colouful language,chill out and have a glass of the tasty nectar Negev wine.
LOL Anon….good to see you. What is it with these anti-semitics, don’t they have a sense of humour? Or does the constant whining drain out some hormones that prevent them from having a jolly good laugh; now and again.
Ross what’s ‘parapraxis’ about Pavlov’s Bitch? Or did you just feel like using the p-word?
By the way don’t be shy using the word bitch yourself. My only regret in context is that I love the animal world!
“By the way don’t be shy using the word bitch yourself. My only regret in context is that I love the animal world!”
____________________________
You do realise that bestality is illegal,then again who knows what Aaron was thinking when he moulded the Golden Calf.
Anyway this sites for you.
http://www.marryyourpet.com
John Spencer-Davis
23 May, 2015 – 12:34 pm
“… until it was as clear as a bell that “Really” is some kind of white supremacist nut.”
…………………………………………………………..
John, “Really” comes out with a lot of close-to or actual racist remarks aimed at Jews. I am not convinced though that he is “some kind of white supremacist nut.”
He/She could equally be a Zionist trying to bring Craig’s blog into disrepute for criticizing Israel.
“Mary
23 May, 2015 – 5:44 pm
“YCNMIU”
Oh yes YOU CAN! If anyone can make it up you can Bitch
“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.”
Not obvious at all. What was obvious after watching it, and as an exception, thank you for the link. I’d say Hanna Rothschild is a real lady — very articulate, extremely well-spoken, creative, nuanced and understated with her pearl strings studded with beautiful Colombian emeralds. A true lady, not my cup of tea (bit too plane Jane) and obviously knows her onions/art.
Interesting her realistic perspective of the value of art. I encourage others to watch the clip and then buy the hard-copy novel. Shame i rarely need novels.
‘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.”
John S-D is there such a thing as an Obsessive Palestine Empathy Syndrome? Sort of someone with an underlying lace of constant hating of Jews? Perhaps that is why they were feeling sick by a perfectly normal interview of a writer? What’s the closest disorder in the medical bible of disorders for this kind of behaviour.
Doug Scorgie
23/05/2015 8:46pm
A Zionist impersonating a white supremacist nut? Well, maybe you’re right. I don’t know how one could tell the difference.
J
“Republicofscotland
23 May, 2015 – 8:38 pm
“By the way don’t be shy using the word bitch yourself. My only regret in context is that I love the animal world!”
You do realise that bestality is illegal,then again who knows what Aaron was thinking when he moulded the Golden Calf.”
________________________
And you Prick were talking about what a lady is?
You’re a heel and you’re allowed to lick my Prada Jodhpurs.
Btw you sure you don’t double up as Really? He seems to clock on just as you clock-off and loves his commas just the way you do!?
Why?
Furthermore do you have any new evidence to the contrary,that something untoward took place.
If so nows the time to enlighten us all.
Why????? Are you suggesting that Carmichael’s lack of protocol is more worthy of condemnation than Sturgeon’s lies? Well the question is rhetorical since you have demonstrated that you think that it is. Are you seriously suggesting that the investigation which concluded that the memo had not been falsified, are somehow part of a conspiracy to discredit Sturgeon? Oh, I almost forgot, you are a 9-11 Truther, so that would almost certainly explain it.