My world view changed forever when, after 20 years in the Foreign Office, I saw colleagues I knew and liked go along with Britain’s complicity in the most terrible tortures, as detailed stunningly in the recent Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee Report. They also went along with keeping the policy secret, deliberately disregarding all normal record taking procedures, to the extent that the Committee noted:
131. We note that we have not seen the minutes of these meetings either: this causes us great concern. Policy discussions on such an important issue should have been minuted. We support Mr Murray’s own conclusion that were it not for his actions these matters may never have come to light.
The people doing these things were not ordinarily bad people; they were just trying to keep their jobs, comforting themselves with the thought that they were only civil servants obeying orders. Many were also actuated by the nasty “patriotism” that grips in time of war, as we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Almost nobody in the FCO stood up against the torture or against the illegal war – Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Carne Ross and I were the only ones to leave over it.
I then had the still more mortifying experience of the Foreign Office seeking to punish my dissent by bringing a series of accusations of gross misconduct – some of them criminal – against me. The people bringing the accusations knew full well they were false. The people investigating them knew they were false from about day 2. But I was put through a hellish six months of trial by media before being acquitted on all the original counts (found guilty of revealing the charges, whose existence was an official secret!). The people who did this to me were people I knew.
I had served as First Secretary in the British Embassy in Poland, and bumped up startlingly against the history of the Holocaust in that time, including through involvement with organising the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. What had struck me most forcibly was the sheer scale of the Holocaust operation, the tens of thousands of people who had been complicit in administering it. I could never understand how that could happen – until I saw ordinary, decent people in the FCO facilitate extraordinary rendition and torture. Then I understood, for the first time, the banality of evil or, perhaps more precisely, the ubiquity of evil. Of course, I am not comparing the scale of what happened to the Holocaust – but evil can operate on different scales.
I believe I see it again today. I do not believe that the majority of journalists in the BBC, who pump out a continual stream of “Corbyn is an anti-semite” propaganda, believe in their hearts that Corbyn is a racist at all. They are just doing their job, which is to help the BBC avert the prospect of a radical government in the UK threatening the massive wealth share of the global elite. They would argue that they are just reporting what others say; but it is of course the selection of what they report and how they report it which reflect their agenda.
The truth, of which I am certain, is this. If there genuinely was the claimed existential threat to Jews in Britain, of the type which engulfed Europe’s Jews in the 1930’s, Jeremy Corbyn, Billy Bragg, Roger Waters and I may humbly add myself would be among the few who would die alongside them on the barricades, resisting. Yet these are today loudly called “anti-semites” for supporting the right to oppose the oppression of the Palestinians. The journalists currently promoting those accusations, if it came to the crunch, would be polishing state propaganda and the civil servants writing railway dockets. That is how it works. I have seen it. Close up.
Loony
August 6, 2018 at 21:18″According to your testimony women in Birmingham “are quite relaxed and at ease” [with a lack of public identity]. ”
That’s not what I said, & it’s actually part of their identity.
And ours, for centuries, I might add.
If you try rereading your own words you will observe that I quoted you accurately.
Quite why anyone would attempt such a blatant and idiotic misdirection is not obvious. One possibility is that it clumsily sidesteps any need to address the situation with regard to women in Iran.
Just in case your comprehension is as appalling as you would have people believe it might be worth making clear that the identity you are referring to has not been the identity of people in Birmingham for centuries.
O …you never side step do you? It wasn’t btw, i just ignored it because this whole thing is you sidestepping. Why should i entertain it.
It’s part of our national identity. Has been for centuries. Again I never said what you said I said.
Don’t you get dizzy?
ps, It’s why studied/practice far eastern stuff more. As i really can’t distinguish between much organised muslim & christian society traditions. Both have some aspects I like, but “god” is not regarded in a personal manner in many spiritual eastern traditions. There is far more a significant contrast, & I learn or experience more as a result of the unfamiliar territory.
There is no “clash of fundamentalisms” their is just fundamentalism. It’s just as rabid in the west. That very prominent people in society & at the heart of governmant follow. Into Iraq for instance. Because “we” are civil & “they”?
What nonsense. Both sides of the same coin.
& I do see Caucasian women “shuffling along behind their husband like a dog” locally though, literally like a dog. No lie. Maybe if i lived in the same sort of small community with many muslims id see similar, but didnt’t see that attitude much in Brum I recall, but then cities are different.
@ Ishmael August 6, 2018 at 22:27
You have to use your loaf (as they used to say in the East End).
I class myself as a Christian (Baptised, First Holy Communion, Confirmed under RC), but now I see the Vatican as a cesspit.
There are and have been truly lovely, brave, God-fearing people in the RC Church, far better than I could ever be.
But I know that the Vatican is a cesspit. The one Pope who was going to clean the Augean Stables was Pope John Paul I, and on the night before he was going to do it, he was poisoned (after being Pope for just 33 days – I don’t think the ’33’ is coincidental – Jesus died at 33 years old).
I do not believe Jesus was God (he never said he was; in fact in reply to a question as to how good he was, he answered ‘Only God is good’. And I do not believe that the God whom he called his father was the God of the Old Testament, who(according to the Old Testament called for genocide of those who displeased him.
At 75, I have clearly passed my three score and ten, so I’m living on borrowed time (in reality, I have been since I was born).
With death very close, I still live by my convictions. But I do not claim to be a very moral person, just I do believe I know what is right, and what is wrong.
What the US and NATO do is no way ‘good’, and what I^^ael has done and continues to do to the Palestinians is not good.
They both follow the Left-hand path of Luciferianism.
And they will end up in Hell. Good riddance.
The current pope is a lot better than either of his two predecessors.
@ N_ August 6, 2018 at 23:24
He got along famously with the Argentine Junta, and handed over two priests to them, who were then tortured.
Bergoglio denies it, but I take the word of the two priests, rather than the accused.
And he stays schtum about the West’s ‘Regime Change’ Warmongering.
Thanks.
Though I do. But roots & what people actually practice vs more modern & prominent forms. So whats valuable about these traditions would be more (for instance) the themes of jesus, not any letter. & imo yes, they miss by a mile. God is love for instance.
It’s funny but feel think in a way the christian tradition is father away than what most “ordinary” muslims practice, being involved in community work etc. Like among many families it’s considered a duty to take care of guests or feed people in need. So father from what’s obviously valuable about it imo, & as Symbology. Not literal.
The idea of fearing god is really so distant in my past (after what seems like quite a long path myself) It’s really not part of what I do consider about it, at all. Or ever will. So I’m not with you on that personally. & monotheism, the idea of a literal god, like a person? all taken away many important aspects for me.
And I’m defiantly more devilish than saintly really. Like Blake, I think some are missing a trick.
Some posters just make it up as they go along. Complete fantasists.
@Ishmael,
The only kind of “fundamentalism” present during the Iraq war, was that of the Neocons – New American Century – whose aim was to effect regime change in seven countries in five years, culminating in Iran. It wasn’t based on religion, except maybe the religion of Capitalism and the Military Industrial Complex.
In parts of the UK, large parts of the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan, we do have repressive, fundamentalist, Sunni Wahhabi extremism, which originated in Saudi Arabia. It is not practiced by the Shia or by the majority of peaceful Sunni Muslims, but when it is forced on areas by – Daesh, Al Nusra, Al Shabab, Boko Haram, Taliban etc – it is totally destructive. It is anti democracy, it removes all rights from women, and it does not recognise any other viewpoint, which makes it incredibly violent.
Where I live, in a largeish village, I have never witnessed women shuffling behind men “like dogs”, but then I like to think that I live in a peaceful, tolerant village, where people can walk hand in hand, say hello to complete strangers and interact with everyone in the community. People can have a big get together each year in the Summer and enjoy a festival – music, dancing, local food and drink, and irrespective of race, gender or creed, can have a thoroughly enjoyable time.
Loony 16.54
You betray yourself.
You have me bang to rights – how I could I possibly resist such overpowering reason and logic.
Branson is slicing away at the NHS. 38 Degrees:
‘It’s been confirmed – Virgin Care, a private company owned by billionaire Richard Branson – has been awarded almost £2 billion worth of NHS contracts. Virgin are now one of the biggest providers of healthcare in the UK, but they’re still trying to squeeze even more money out of our NHS, by dragging it through the courts and suing the NHS for millions which could be spent on improving healthcare.
Virgin Care have got away with this. Until now. Richard Branson has a high profile – he cares about what the public think. He’ll be hoping no one has noticed his company dragging our NHS through the courts. If hundreds of thousands of us sign an open letter to Branson today – telling him to stop pursuing our NHS for even more money, he’ll know where the public stand. He and his lawyers could think twice before they take our NHS to court again.
If you believe that taxpayers’ money should be spent improving our hospitals, not fighting a billionaire in court, will you sign the open letter to Richard Branson now?
http://tinyurl.com/yao6woay
@ Sharp Ears August 6, 2018 at 22:26
Signed and spread.
Done.
Thanks for this. A tip for those who are running this petition: get a better front image. The photo would look much better if it had a slogan on it, even if only “Hey Branson – stop hurting the sick by SUING OUR NHS”. Make it something Branson won’t like.
Signed and shared what a greedy old hippy.
@Sharp Ears, signed by me and my thoroughly better half.
I linked straight to Normans segment, not that the rest is “bad”, just a little pasty & run of the mill.
https://youtu.be/vxEN0q6YHf0?t=40m4s
Labour make a mistake getting so tied up in this imo. Have just a bit of perspective ffs.
Ok, i take it back. Its pretty bad.
Comment on twitter & the video illustrates i think.
” He [Barnaby Raine] can’t answer anything Finkelstein said (while misrepresenting his position on BDS for good measure). Continues to babble about the “real problem” of anti-Semitism in Labour without even interrogating his own premise, which is 99.9% bollocks.”.
You’d think this kid would show some respect, but no.
HuffPo have published a piece entitled the “UK Preppers’ Guide to Brexit”. It looks as though it’s based on PR material from a prepper supplier and a quick visit by a hack to a Fa卐ebook page. It quotes Steve Smith who (to judge from what’s quoted) is far too sanguine. If you don’t know what a “prepper” is, you soon will 🙂
I’m told the government’s “Be prepared for shortages” material will come out next month.
‘Rothschild and Letwin named as secret poll tax campaigners’:
http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2014/12/rothschild-and-letwin-named-as- secret-poll-tax-campaigners/
King James Bible
‘For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.’ Luke 8:17
But maybe the Rothschilds need the money, already?
Looks like the link got ‘snipped’.
I’ll try again, but in case it happens again, I’ll add the headline, searching of which will bring up the article:
‘Rothschild and Letwin named as secret poll tax campaigners’:
http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2014/12/rothschild-and-letwin-named-as-secret-poll-tax-campaigners/
Letwin is dangerous. With Redwood, he planted the seed for NHS privatisation. He’s in the Cabinet Office planning and plotting away. Seldom heard or seen in the HoC.
Oliver Letwin’s extreme views on NHS exposed
09 January 2016
http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/oliver-letwins-extreme-views-on-nhs-exposed/
Their 1988 pamphlet.
https://www.cps.org.uk/files/reports/original/111027171245-BritainsBiggestEnterprise1988.pdf
Produced under the Centre for Policy Studies which was founded by Thatcher and Keith Joseph.
https://www.cps.org.uk/
They live on unfortunately. It is now chaired by Lord Saatchi and these are the fascisti on the board. You can often see Bamford/JCB donations to MPs on the TWFY register of interests.
https://www.cps.org.uk/about/our-board/
I see Rothschild Capital Management’s chair is there too.
I seem to remember an unfortunate incident involving Letwin where he was robbed in his home by two young men whom he claimed to have let into his house in the early hours of the morning to ‘use the bathroom’.
This is welcome light relief from the latest appearance of Dame Margaret Hodge on The Guardian website, defending the deeply unpleasant Ian Austin
I was immediately reminded of Kevin Spacey’s traumatic encounter with a mugger while walking his dog in the park at 4 am (as you do).
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/apr/20/film.filmnews
However, a contemporary report gives much more detail about Letwin’s encounter:
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/5391820.mp-naive-in-letting-stranger-into-home/
Anyway, even if Letwin’s behaviour had been more … er… adventurous… As was often said in Seinfeld: ‘Not that there’s anything wrong with that!’
Sharp Ears
It may be that Letwin and Redwood planted the seeds of privatisation of the NHS but it was under Blair and Brown that the seedling grew into a big tree. During that time, Thatcher’s ‘internal market’ was replaced by ‘payment by results’ targets and a massive increase in PPP. There was also the growth of Foundation trusts, all as a prelude, if not to privatisation, at least to passing tax payers money to private enterprise through the NHS. The boards of directors of Private health companies are full of ex Blair ministers. This is why we must all make sure that the current Blairites are ousted.
But Paul, didn’t the bible also prohibit usuary?
That didn’t deter the likes of the Rothschilds did it now. They simply high jacked the dictionary and had the definition changed to read *unreasonably high interest* when its original definition was *ANY* interest.
Business as usual. No worries. Gotta take the hat off eh?
If our theory is correct (us 16 year old boys, nearly 50 years ago (Paul and me)) mainly studying physics maths, chemistry and Tinkerbell (unfortunately she wasn’t in our class), then the implications are somewhat daunting (and no one likes our theory).
We just sort of got chatting (often in the library, where she studied) very quietly about life the universe and everything
What if time, is not linear? What if it doesn’t go in a straight line from nothing to infinity. Look at the World – The Earth. Some people thought it was flat, and you woul fall off the edge, if you even got there, but in reality the earth is a globe…and if you start off going in the same direction, after a seriously shorter length of time than infinity, you will end up where you started. Now, you can probably do this in less than 24 hours, though probably not by Easyjet, cos they will nick your seat, or not have all the connections.
But still the principle is the same. The earth is a globe, yet it seems to go on for infinity.
What if time is like that.
What if time is not a straight line, but global and cyclic?
The implications are that regardless of any big bangs, you will go to heaven, immediately on your death – cos when you are dead, you have no concept of time, so it doesn’t matter how long it takes.
Heaven is becoming aware of your own existence – maybe sucking your thumb in your mothers womb…
Then you get born. You lead exactly the same life as you have done before, as if it is the first time, but there was no first time. You have always done this, and you always will. It seems like it is the first time, buth there was no first time.
Maybe our new philosophy was a reaction to our very strict Christian (in my case Catholic) Linear upbringing.
Many years later, I discovered our philosophy, rather than being original, is what most humans believed for an extremelty long time, before Constantinople and The Christian Religion invented about 300 years after the supposed birth of Christ (based on an old story by Horus)
So I thought, blimey, I might have to live this life for an infinite number of times. I guess I should try and be nice, and do my best to find a lovely girlfriend, and try to live a happy life with her.
I might have to do this forever.
She’s Lovely, and so are most of the people we meet.
Tony
This is as sad to read as it is alarming . We seem to be living in times when those in power[ whether in government or education , or the NHS etc,] punish, PERSECUTE, isolate, and eject whistle blowers and those who stand up for normal decent values and behaviour. aND THEN THE POWERFUL GET PROMOTION AND REWARDDED FOR SILENCING THE WHISTLE BLOWERS AND CRITICS
Does anyone, whatever their political identification, want to see their legislature reduced to this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KMVhb57RqI
Nuclear Bombings Of Japan Lets have more of that Eh –
https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-saudi-arabia-nuclear-weapons/243256/
Pot calling kettle black.
Agent Cameron attempts to deflect the blame.
David Cameron ‘brands Michael Gove a lunatic’ and ‘blames him for Brexit’
The former Prime Minister blames the Environment Secretary, not Boris Johnson, for Brexit and the downfall of his own career
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron-brands-michael-gove-13034891
Wish they would ALL disappear.
They’re fucking idiots. But where was the Liberal media, the minute the Etonian old Boys got into power they couldn’t help themselves, the old school deference came along, and they were tempering their criticism, reporting mild critics of the worst policy disasters. It was truly pathetic to watch
anti-semitism is a ‘tool’ just like the Skripals, the novichok, the WMD, the ‘terror’ and all the other lies, distortions and excesses of the establishment/ politicos/military/lawmakers – good is bad and up is down – it keeps a compliant and supine media in work – it’s PROPAGANDA – and it works – and it happens in plain sight – which highlights their contempt for the population – this is WAR
https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/1024747584055902208
“There is a ‘very very’ serious problem of antisemitisum across British society.” —Bollox.
And look at all the commentators fawning, and all these “leftists” fawn to get on the BB fucking C /MSM
I really have a conflicted relationship with these …entryits into modern politics, with their “smart” education. Living in their media bubble world.
My experience is cock sure people don’t learn a thing & their “authority” comes from being about to remember enough “facts” & stat’s with with to blugen people into imagining they hold some unique zeitgeist.
Unfortunately our ….schooling, rooted in just remembering stuff, does not promote learning.
Who’s opinions matter? Thous who have the acceptable premise. Who will go along. Well thanks JC, there is no place for someone like me in labour, because I don’t. Nobody is going to make me take it up the ass.
He is cutting the strongest parts of his base. In other areas he bangs on about proportionality, as he stigmatises those in the party with any. This will not end well.
@ Ishmael August 7, 2018 at 08:40
This cannot be remembered often enough – ‘IT’S A TRICK, WE ALWAYS USE IT’ says former ISRAELI MINISTER’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LZNXNVL1G8
I’ll be at the BBC Demo today trying to hammer that point into people’s consciousness (Portland Place 13:00 – 16:00; I’ll probably be late, I normally am).
Absolutely correct.
This deliberate spinning of poisonous lies in order to destroy someone should be a lesson to us all on how low some will sink in politics, including actual MPs against one of their own.
Summer holiday diversionary stories:
1) UK claim to have identified Salisbury ‘killers’ and will ask Russia to extradite them (Guardian front page lead) – leading to new round od diplomats go home playground spats.
2) Rip up planning laws and make rural England a concrete jungle (or have Jeremy Corbyn) – this may be a Baldrickian cunning plan to achieve precisely that. Front page headline on Daily Mail.
3) Climate change is now a domino dropping construct – even if scientists say it may take decades (just like 2018 summer is unprecedented for all those born after 1976 and merely a once or twice a century event for those born before 1970). Guardian second story.
Brexit resolutely off the front pages, keeping the next referendum of out as a vassal vs in studiously quiet, as out under WTO rules is an outrage too far to the unelected criminal Olly Robbins who is currently committing treason.
Theresa is seen tripping into SNP HQ being greeted by Nicola Sturgeon. She is visiting Edinburgh for the festival. UK politics becomes more and more surreal.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-45087246
Some more funding is offered for Scottish projects.
– “UK claim to have identified Salisbury ‘killers’ and will ask Russia to extradite them (Guardian front page lead)”
Interesting. Even Elena Tsirlina, a lawyer for Litvinenko’s widow, says:
– “I strongly believe a public inquiry should be convened, for the sake of transparency and Britain’s international standing. This would be an opportunity to hear all of the police evidence in the Skripal case and to examine it openly”
And I suppose pigs might fly one day as well.
Looks like she’s wising up!
Sky are keeping the kettle boiling. Just now, they have Ellman on the line to comment on her pal, Margaret Hodge.
I have just been looking at Hodge’s Twitter. She tweeted the multipage letter from Mishcon de Reya to the Labour Party. One of their seniors is Anthony Julius**. He is deputy chairman of the firm. Beware. Litigious
https://twitter.com/margarethodge/status/1025361724822749184
What a lot of tripe. Has Hodge has succeeded in her aim to demonize Jeremy Corbyn and to diminish his support? I don’t think so.
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Julius
Under ‘Activities’ you see where he is coming from.
The issue is JC demonising in his own party roots, with this totally disproportionate reaction to this “issue”.
Over and again the leadership bludgeon the people who support them. e.g., not being educated to notice every little thing that could possibly consuetude as a “trope”, because the gas chambers are always just around the corner. Don’t ya know.
They literally have democracy on it’s head. Want to educate the population into their bigoted view based on what happened a lifetime ago. Most people have moved on, but Labour won’t let them. “today is when we remember” —Honestly, sod that.
This is my life, not labours. All it does is reproduce the same conflicts, to involve yourself in all these “historical” frameworks. Just as Malcolm X was a massive racist. But you gots love malcolm?
These frameworks are the structure of modern politics. & they infect the population with these ideas. The problem is them, not us. But WE need edu— NO.
DO forget, move on. The 20th century was a bloodbath. And these upstarts think there are doing something fundamentally different?
Can you imagine with all that’s going on If “the left” or labour had the same reaction to muslim issues? proportional to how they react to issue facing …..You know who? I mean by looking at facts on the ground, not ideology?
We know as a fact muslims face far more serious issues, it’s so bias as to be almost unreal. A chasm.
Then they have the audacity to call out others on bigotry because they are not so bent over to some groups? And blame them that’s its all just “conspiracy” when said groups are treated like kings?
What about to the EXTENT that it’s true? Not that some “rule the world” but clearly undue/unbalanced influence throughout the political spectrum. This kind of thing, unacknowledged, promotes these tropes. No other groups have anything like the kind of attention by labour. It’s just an objective fact.
I think it’s part of an unacknowledged white supremacy across the political spectrum. & Certainly feeds those who are intentionally.
The water they swim in.
I wouldn’t argue with any of that Ishmael. Certainly, what we’re seeing is one “community” singled out to have the political establishment at its beck and call and, more, at its mercy. We’re seeing a media looking the other way and actively encouraging this arrangement.
Contrast that with the treatment of the “Muslim community” over al Qaeda and ISIS. That community was “challenged” to condemn terrorism openly to “prove” themselves. The resulting torrent of Islamophobia was and still is ignored by Parliament and MPs. The media stirred it up. We saw violent attacks on Muslims.
Yes, the differences are terrifying. What you mustn’t do, however, is believe all white people support such things. You would be doing many of us a grave disservice.
Agree, I think most people are busy living there life. Not worrying about abstractions of skin colour.
I don’t even accept the notion “white” personally.
Malcolm X was for a time a racist, blaming all white people for crimes committed by some whites, but he stopped being a racist and started having a much more profound critique, which is possibly why the government killed him.
Thanks.
Some of the things I heard him say where vile, churchill level. Not that it can’t happen, but i don’t believe people can go from that extreme to some progressive in politics, because you’ll alway carry the legacy politically (normally willingly, to expand their base). The best one can do in politics after a career like that is step down.
Did he actually denounce what he said? I think not. I think most only care about the sound of their own voice above others. No, the gods of politics don’t work like that. Never apologise, never backtrack, they are gods, leading us all.
Im under the impression the Nation of Islam killed Malcolm X, for exposing its leader.
Elijah Muhammad had ordered his death simply because he had learned the truth—Elijah Muhammad was the father of eight children by four teenage personal secretaries.
Not helpful RoS. Nor does your response acknowledge the truths in Ishmael’s posts. He makes many valid points.
In this current climate I think we should all feel deeply uneasy about what is being done in and to the Labour Party. We’ve watched it play out over the period since Corbyn was elected. No matter which Party one favours we should be sickened by it.
Thanks for the info, i don’t know a lot of details.
Dame Margaret seems to have better lawyers than she did when she libelled a survivor of the organised sexual abuse in Islington children’s homes which she fought so hard to cover up when she was Council Leader.
https://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/margaret-hodge-attempts-to-talk-her-way-out-of-islington-paedophile-scandal/
It’s been suggested that her ferocious hatred of Jeremy Corbyn dates from that time, when he refused to give her the unconditional support which she demanded.
She was also very hostile to the Today programme, which had refused to be bullied into dropping their story on the case. However, it’s clear from her recent numerous appearances on Today, Woman’s Hour, etc., in which her invective against Corbyn went completely unchallenged, that the BBC (like the rest of the MSM) has now got its mind right.
Guess who has added an extra lick of spit and polish to that Wikipedia page over the years…
The labour party, think for yourself ? Your out. No place for you here.
Good. It’s just like the rest of the crap i grew up with in the UK. Why should I expect any less than those who claim to represent me or my interests.
Toe the fucking line. ….Democracy.
skwawkbox.org off-line? I only started reading it two days ago!
I’ve followed them for about two years and this is the first time I’ve noticed a DDOS attack. They believe this latest one is intended to prevent details emerging of another Labour coup. Here is their statement from their FB page:
“skwawkbox.org is under DDOS attack again. This is the 3rd time in a week – first when the Willsman rebuttal took off, second when we exposed Ellman’s dishonesty and that started to go viral, now again.
Someone doesn’t want the word to get round that the next coup is underway.
We’re looking at mirroring/other options to prevent important information being blocked by these attacks. If anyone wants to help toward costs, please use the link below:
https://t.co/lxS2ZGU8nf”
Maybe someone from Craig’s technical team could give them some friendly advice?
Thanks. This site is protected behind the Cloudflare Content Distribution Network (CDN) and it seems to work very well; the site remains available during DDoS attacks. Feel free to pass on the suggestion.
The mainstream British media’s heroic cut and pasters of government press releases have some “news” for us: more diplomatic expulsions in the Britain and Russia show are “certain”.
It is like the list published by Mueller. They know nobody will be extradited. More nonsense from MI6 agent Harding.
Luke Harding is much better writing paranoid spy fiction than reporting the truth.
‘Ecuador’s president issues new threat to Julian Assange’: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/08/07/assa-a07.html
‘Moreno’s tweet yesterday stated: “To Mr. Assange we have put a condition: That he stop intervening in politics and self-determination of the country. Otherwise, measures will be taken.”
These “measures” can only mean forcing Assange out of Ecuador’s London embassy, to be immediately arrested by the British police and imprisoned, pending extradition proceedings by the Trump administration.
Moreno’s talk about Assange “intervening” in the politics of other countries is absurd. The journalist has been totally gagged by the Ecuadorian government: he has been denied all visitors and has had his internet access blocked by electronic jammers. To talk about Assange “intervening” in the politics of other governments under these conditions is nothing but a cynical attempt to create a pretext for handing him over to the notorious war criminals in Washington and London…..’
Just preparing an excuse for what he has already decided to do.
– “These “measures” can only mean forcing Assange out of Ecuador’s London embassy…”
No, they could also mean restricting his Internet access, other communications, visits, or constraining or degrading his personal conditions etc.
They’ve already restricted his phone and internet, they can only mean Craig’s visits
I had assumed they’d reinstated his communications by now, but there are still various possible interpretations; indeed, he can’t “interven[e] in politics and self-determination of the country” without communications.
@ Shatnersrug August 7, 2018 at 23:44
Not so much restricted, as cut off. And Craig has not been allowed to visit for ages – the only visitor allowed is occasionally his lawyer.
But presumably the Wikileaks Organisation continues to publish stuff, even though Julian is incommunicado.
Much coverage in the MSM of the false anti-Semitic charges against Labour.
There has been little or no criticism of the disgusting Islamophobic commentary in the Torygraph on 5th August by Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (aka Boris Johnson) when he described Muslim women as looking ‘like letterboxes or post boxes’ when wearing their burkas.
I hope that there’s no connection to an attack on a family in Deptford which the police are treating as arson. A little 7 year old boy called Jamal has been killed and his mother and sister have been injured.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/london-deptford-fire-today-house-seven-year-old-dead-latest-news-a8480601.html
Here is a statement from Middle East Manchester J.wish Action. Thanks to them for speaking out.
‘UK Labour Party is right to drop racist IHRA guidelines of anti-Semitism
6th August 2018
As J.wish people in Manchester, England, we resent the despicable racism shown towards the Palestinians by Guardian stalwarts such as Jonathan Freedland, Polly Toynbee, Jessica Elgott, Eddie Izzard, Nick Cohen, Marina Hyde and Gaby Hinsliff among others, all saturating comment sections on mainstream news websites with attacks designed to bring down the UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and to protect Israel from accountability. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Anti-Semitism definition guidelines the Labour Party are correctly omitting, are designed by Israeli propagandists to aid their many mass lobby attempts to stop international solidarity with the Palestinians and to deny Palestinians the right to express the nature of Israel’s 70 years of violence and racism towards them.
/..
https://mondoweiss.net/2018/08/labour-definition-semitism/
Well, they’re obviously unrepresentative of British Jews. Only the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council are representative of British Jews, and we know this because they have said so themselves. Indeed, much of the criticism of Jeremy Corbyn’s alleged refusal to listen to or consult with ‘the Jewish community’ arises from the BoD/JLC insistence that Corbyn must not consult baby Jews other than themselves or those approved by them.
This has resulted in the bizarre situation of Corbyn’s being attacked for meeting the wrong kind of Jews, and, most recently, attending a conference, in 2012, with the wrong kind of Holocaust survivors. Although Corbyn’s apology (for sharing platforms in the past with people whose views he rejected, when he was supporting Palestinian rights) did not specify this event, or any other, it was immediately seized on as a climbdown.
To apologise for debating with people with opposing views runs the risk of undermining one of Corbyn’s most outstanding and admired qualities. Surely it must be obvious by now that there is no appeasing these people. Nothing will satisfy the most belligerent antisemitism campaigners short of stifling all criticism of the actions of the Israeli government (which indeed has effectively been achieved now by the almost total lack of MSM reporting of events in Israel, Gaza and the occupied territories) and preventing all action in support of BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) by the argument that it follows from the IHRA examples that BDS is abtisemitic. And it’s also obvious that the antisemitism issue has given Corbyn’s opponents in the Labour Party their most powerful weapon yet in their campaign to get him out of the leadership and take the Party back to the Golden Age of Blairism.
… sorry, my autocorrect changed ‘any Jews’ to ‘baby Jews’…
What an absolutely disgusting insinuation.
You have no basis at all to suppose that there is any connection between an article in The Daily Telegraph on August 5th and an arson attack in Deptford. So why write it ?
You may as well write that you hope it was not the actions of the Russians, or space aliens – but you don’t. That would not serve your purpose to spray the excrement of disinformation over absolutely anyone at all that does not share your particular fanatical interests.
FYI. In case you have not heard of the word.
‘ Islamophobia is the fear, hatred of, or prejudice against, the Islamic religion or Muslims generally, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or the source of terrorism.’ Wikipedia
and
Record number of anti-Muslim attacks reported in UK last year
20 Jul 2018 – Record number of anti-Muslim attacks reported in UK last year
Report by monitor group Tell Mama finds women are being disproportionately targeted
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/20/record-number-anti-muslim-attacks-reported-uk-2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamophobic_incidents#United_Kingdom
What has any of that got to do with your vile and disgusting attempt to insinuate a link between an article in a newspaper and what appears to be an horrific crime?
If you have evidence of a direct causal link between the two issues then you should report that evidence to the Police. If you have no evidence then you should keep your insinuations to yourself.
The Graun: After a suicide bombing at Manchester Arena killed 23 people, more than 70 reports of Islamophobic prejudice, including hate speech and abusive behaviour, were reported. “It is shocking to learn of a 26% increase in reporting of Islamophobic hate crimes …
Is the Graun dumb, acting dumb (while in the pay), sadomasochist or Stockholm syndrome sufferer?
Zero Muslims murdered in the UK in hate crimes last year: for Pakistan it runs in the thousands as for Afghanistan and Syria. Most of the ME or North Africa also must unsafer than Europe for Muslims, because of other Muslims.
Why do you never write about this? SAd case.
as if murder is the only hate crime…cherry picking at its worst
No, Loony. SharpEars is right. One does not have to “prove” a causal connection with one particular attack to know that widely broadcast statements such as Johnson’s can and do have the effect of whipping up such responses. Those who control the media are very well aware of this, and they have been for a very long time.
It seems that there is probably no connection to Islamophobia in the Deptford arson case. The little boy who died was called Joel not Jamal as was originally reported. Jamal is an Arabic name meaning ‘beauty’. Poor little Joel and his injured mother, who is a nurse, and older sister.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6034401/Seven-year-old-boy-dead-suspicious-house-blaze-south-east-London.html
Mum! Grampa’s pissed his pants again!
Trump blames California’s environmental and water management policy for the current wildfires.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/06/donald-trump-california-fires-tweets-764869
Experts across multiple fields impacting this complex issue are unanimous that Trump’s ramblings are nuts. Remember Reagan saying that trees caused more pollution than cars. History repeats itself. By the time Reagan exited the Oval Office his brain was Swiss cheese.
Reagan appointed a secretary for the environment by the name of James Watts, if I remember correctly. He was a fundamentalist, evangelical Christian, who saw no need to protect the environment at all. After all, Jesus was going to return any minute and make everything whole again, so what was the point?
That’s the way these Republican governments operate. Put people at the top of departments who are intensely uninterested in doing the job their role requires. Put someone in charge of education who wants to privatise it all. Forest protection from people from the logging industry. NASA gets a CEO who doesn’t believe in science. And so on.
Do you know that US carbon emissions on a per capita basis are at a multi decade low. Do you know that in 2017 the US had the largest decline in carbon emissions of any country in the world
http://www.aei.org/publication/chart-of-the-day-in-2017-us-had-largest-decline-in-co2-emissions-in-the-world-for-9th-time-this-century/
The EU and China seem to be offsetting all the good work of the US. Note well how President Trump has both in his sights.
Not sure why you’re even telling me this. Trump is completely uninterested in climate change, and along with every single Republican he’s denying it exists. (They prefer Jesus to science, you see.)
Trump made America’s word worthless by withdrawing from various agreements, the Accord de Paris being one of them. The US environment department has been busy removing all sorts of pollution control, and a know-nothing climate change denier is now in charge of NASA.
Which makes it kind of odd that you’re trying to credit Trump with something he denies having any interest in. Your devotion to praising this idiot is most touching, if rather misplaced here.
Jesus seems all right, if a bit of a ranter at times. Trouble is, Christians don’t take the story remotely seriously and instead promote a load of superstitious nonsense, even to the point of negating his political execution by pretending he was resurrected. I mean, how many Christians would take direct action against corruption and bigotry to the point that it got them crucified?
I think the point is that people that are interested in climate change claim a link between carbon emissions and global warming. Everything I have read suggests that it is imperative to reduce carbon emissions. The United States is reducing carbon emissions.
The EU is increasing carbon emissions.
Data of this nature may suggest that whatever the true motives of the Paris Accord may be – reducing carbon emissions is not one of them.
Carbon emissions in the US have been falling for most of this century – hence Trump is not solely responsible for this trend. Trump however is after both the EU and China – two of the worlds great polluters.
Inconvenient facts don’t register with dark Green. Trump US stays the dirty bad guy and Xi’s China the clean good guy.
Clark: The historical – if not mythical – Jesus (the Palestinian day labourer) certainly had a few very worthy philosophies, which actually made him a bit of a commie if not an outright socialist. He certainly wouldn’t have healed the money-changers while throwing the sick and needy out of the temple.
The Christianists which are utterly dominant in American life like to think of themselves as a cruelly oppressed minority, totally persecuted, and Republicans are making bold promises to end the tyranny the State holds over them. No, seriously.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/07/jeff_sessions_is_desperate_to_win_the_fight_for_christians_religious_liberty.html?via=gdpr-consent
Glenn, I’m rather familiar with indulgence in and exploitation of persecution complexes within Christianity; Jehovah’s Witlessism is strongly grounded thereon. Religious power structures are very keen that the ‘faithful’ feel oppressed by the ‘infidels’. Tribalism is so easy to exploit.
The climate scam.
– “Do you know that US carbon emissions on a per capita basis are at a multi decade low”
I’d guessed; most of the rich world has been cutting back greenhouse gas emissions, by international agreement.
Of course Trump and his policies are set to undo that.
It might be more instructive to analyze data rather than guess.
If you do this then you will find that the EU is rapidly increasing its emissions, notwithstanding that it is party to a number of international agreements designed to cut back emissions.
If Trump succeeds in repatriating manufacturing jobs to the US then US emissions may rise – but any such increase will be more than offset by reductions in Chinese emissions. The US has far more extensive environmental protection laws than China.
Loony
It may be instructive to analyse Data and there are also ways of doing so. If you measure metric tons per capita the US is about 16 (falling) and china about 7.5. (rising) and Germany 8.8 (falling). You can argue these figures in other ways than the crude way of stating that they are falling or rising. First The US and Germany are starting from high points and are still higher than the figures for china which are rising. The fall in the US is probably just an indicator of industrial decline, offshoring and relying on imports. The rising figures for China just express what we know that China is slowly overtaking other industrialised countries. So all this means is that the US is a declining industrial power as compared to China.
Loony, I just guess about things which aren’t fundamentally important, because macrocosm usually overrides microcosm and time is limited. On this occasion, guessing proved to be the best approach, as SA’s more in-depth examination illustrated. On the comparatively rare occasions that my guesses turn out wrong, I get interested and look deeper.
SA, thank you for doing the work. It is a shame that Loony wasted both your time and Loony’s own by presenting facts which mislead by being stripped of their context.
As policy, I will scan the articles you post in support of your argument rather than just dismiss them. In this case, the article appears scientifically legit.. 2017 was the third year in a row where America posted a reduction in CO2 emissions at 0.5% but the figure for 2017 was the lowest of the three years, i.e., the beginning of an increasing trend.
Trump was inaugurated at the start of 2017. Environmental, economic and manufacturing policy are supertankers in that they take a good deal of time to change direction. Trump’s policy initiatives are geared to increasing CO2 emissions. Some policy initiatives are legitimate (repatriating manufacturing jobs). Some are not (removing Federal requirements on vehicle efficiency).
For Trump, the great scam artist I suspect he is basically playing to his base. Removing Federal requirements on vehicle efficiency is just gesture politics. The efficiency codes remain in place in Californian state legislation and no vehicle manufacturer is going to let their efficiency figures drop to a point where their product was excluded from a marketplace of 40,000,000 potential consumers.
I guess that the new management at the head of the EPA explains this:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/is-epa-allowing-asbestos-products/
As friends of Stephen Yaxley-Lennonn unite to attack bookshops:
https://twitter.com/PeoplesMomentum/status/1026500644247617537
or to leave their little gift of hatred in paint across the windows of homes:
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/familys-first-day-new-home-14997586?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
A coup is also in progress, in the name of anti-racism, against the first English socialist/progressive PM since the post-war era, a man who is also a life long anti-racist campaigner.
Makes yer proud.
Appalling behavior – although what it has to do with Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is far from clear.
Speaking of appalling behavior – here is another example.
https://www.indy100.com/article/jacob-rees-mogg-attack-on-home-conservative-brexit-protest-8479751
Adopting your own reasoning – this act was most likely perpetrated by friends of Jeremy Corbyn.
Hmmn, ” … the Sun reports …”
Presumably you are seeking either to create doubt that the attack on Rees-Mogg’s home ever occurred and/or to minimize and trivialize the attack. Why?
If you had any experience of the real world you would know that obsessing over crimes committed by your ideological enemies and ignoring crimes committed by your ideological compatriots is one fast way of sparking ever escalating violence.
Perhaps you think you are the biggest swinging dick in all Christendom – but you will fall to the mob just as easily as everyone else.
Ouch … presumably.
When the okay is given there will be many actions like this one, but more photos in the mainstream media will probably carry slogans such as “It’s OK to be white” because they will want support from many in the self-perceived “nice” middle classes.
Hi, Douglas K Murray has just written a 500 word blog on Left Wing antisemitism and self-deception. I reply in kind on:
https://www.academia.edu/s/ed294424c6/douglas-murray-antisemitism-and-self-deception
(Douglas K Murray is associate director of the Henry Jackson Society, a group with links to Steve Bannon)
The ubiquity of evil’ …. quite so.
An even more scary member of the HJS set up is Murray’s boss, Alan Mendoza.
http://powerbase.info/index.php/Alan_Mendoza
His register of interests is enlightening http://powerbase.info/index.php/Alan_Mendoza#Register_of_interests
and his ‘Affiliations’ http://powerbase.info/index.php/Alan_Mendoza#Affiliations
When I use the link it says: “Sorry. We can’t find the page you’re looking for.”
The academia.edu link works OK for me. Maybe try copying and pasting the link text into the address bar of a new tab, or maybe try a different browser?
Re Clark at 16.36
Yes, It turned out that I had to log into the Academia website and then, just by selecting Chris Friel’s name, from this blog I was transported there by the magic of the internet.
Having it away with taxpayers’ and the students’ funding. It’s brazen and yet another example of laughing in the people’s faces.
Universities staff put trips to Vegas and strip club ‘on expenses’
Employees at 54 institutions spent £204m on corporate credit cards, FoI data shows
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/aug/07/universities-staff-put-trips-to-vegas-and-strip-club-on-expenses
A nice use of the FOI! It’s clear why so many in the powers that be hate it.
A German couple have been jailed for selling their son to paedophiles on the dark web.
Meanwhile Esther McVey sits in the British cabinet and on its Social Reform Committee, which has a remit to help the “most vulnerable”. I wonder whether that committee looks at such cases? A person can hardly be more vulnerable than the victim in this case, whether or not they “disappear” from a Portuguese hotel room.
“Two lucid, honest, informed, sane analyses of the contrived ‘Labour antisemitism scandal’: – https://twitter.com/jsternweiner/status/1026791920406810624
Hope so (imagine from jamie) ..As I’m feeling the blue bus is calling us.
Ex-Prime minister Ehud Barak calls (in)Justice minister Ayelet Shaked and her party “racist” and “proto-fascist”.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180807-ex-israel-pm-denounces-rival-politicians-as-fascists/
Barak is the joint most decorated military officer in the country’s history. Leader of more commando raids than I can be bothered listing. He better watch his language or he’ll be called an anti-Semite.
Famous for dressing as a woman to murder Palestine’s most distinguished poet. The most dangerous transvestite in history.
Who is that in your icon thingy: Frank Zappa or Jerry Sadowitz perhaps?
It’s uncle Frank. I can see why the top hat and big hooter would bring Sadowitz to mind. About the funniest thing on TV ever was when Channel 4 gave Sadowitz a late nigh talk show from a tiny theatre in New York. The size of the venue led to a fair bit of audience participation. If someone said something that irritated Sadowitz, they got a “prize”. The prize was a t shirt that said “I ❤️ Felching” (like the I ❤️ NY logo). He told the recipient that the t shirt was a souvenir from the quaint Yorkshire village of Felching and if they ever visited the UK they could put on their t shirt and walk down the street with pride.
He got a show too in the early days of Channel 5 where he humiliated members of the audience. I thought it was great but he never got a second series unfortunately.
My favourite prize Jerry Sadowitz gave an unsuspecting yank was the ‘Free Myra Hindley’ T shirt.
Good old Jerry and Frank..
It seems it may have all started with a map.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jamie-stern-weiner-norman-finkelstein/american-jewish-scholar-behind-labour-s-antisemitism-scandal
“Page not found” for me.
“Page not found” for me too.
Perhaps this was because the page dates back to 2016. the article appears elsewhere too (I did a search on “behind-labour-s-antisemitism-scandal) which turned up both links – they work from the search engine, the other link is:
https://www.mintpressnews.com/american-jewish-scholar-behind-labours-antisemitism-scandal-breaks-silence/216190/
Better link
The American Jewish scholar behind Labour’s ‘antisemitism’ scandal breaks his silence
Jamie Stern-Weiner and Norman Finkelstein 3 May 2016
Norman G. Finkelstein talks Naz Shah MP, Ken Livingstone, and the …..
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jamie-stern-weiner-norman-finkelstein/american-jewish-scholar-behind-labour-s-antisemitism-scanda
Hope this works this time. Sorry guys. Worth a read 😉
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jamie-stern-weiner-norman-finkelstein/american-jewish-scholar-behind-labour-s-antisemitism-scanda
Every day, I look at the website of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz to get some idea of what’s happening in Israel (since events on the moons of Jupiter get more coverage in British MSM).
Today’s top stories:
Israel kills two Hamas commandos in response to fire from Gaza
‘Mossad killed Syrian weapons chief’
Exposed Israeli right-wing bot network may be the tip of the iceberg
Analysis: Israel’s War on Democracy Is Here
I strongly recommend Haaretz – you’ll be astonished to find out how much opposition there is in Israel, and among Jews worldwide, to the Netanyahu government.
Link would be helpful – http://www.haaretz.com
You may have to register (free) to access up to 6 articles.
The Syrian weapons chief assassination is also covered elsewhere: https://www.newsweek.com/israeli-mossad-may-be-behind-scientist-assassination-syria-reports-say-1059997
Sounds disgustingly “anti-Semitic” by today’s British standards, Peter!
Well, yes! An article in Haaretz a few days ago was headlined: ‘Someday Israel’s Holocaust credit line will run out’ and argued, powerfully and passionately, that that day couldn’t come too soon. It would certainly be denounced as antisemitic here, but positive BTL comments outnumbered the negative ones by better than 3 to 1. If people have trouble accessing it, I can try to post a plain text version here.
Cheers for drawing my attention to that great article Peter, for those who can’t access Haaretz, it can be read here: https://tech2.org/israel/israels-holocaust-credit-line-is-running-out-israel-news/
All that’s good =)
Surprised? Plenty of self hating Jcws around here.
Muslims can have dozens of Islamic states but some flip out when Israel declares itself as the world’s only Jcwish state.
No Antony that isn’t it at all. I’m affraid you have been indoctrinated by the geryatric baby boomer propaganda that Israel churn out when its not trying to corrupt the runnings of other countries politics.
Not one commenter here supports the barbaric Islamic countries governments. But at least they’re honest about what they are. Authoritarian and racist. If that’s what you wish Israel to be then so be it. BUT you’d better lay off the trying (not that I think much of wester liberal democracy)to present it as some kind of liberal western democracy because frankly that’s a joke – it a self defeatist vile military occupation stuck in early 20th century racist views of the small minded white colonialist
So instead of this “poor old me, plucky little Israel HORSESHIT/you’re all antisemitic because I don’t want to hear the truth about the evil I condone” student union style CLAPTRAP,/ pull you’re head out of your arse and face the reality. Which is the support for your outrages vile government fronted by the transparently corrupt Ben Netanyahu and the vile puke on legs that is ignarvor Lieberman the night club bouncer cum gangster is running out.
I don’t care if you call yourself Jewish, Muslim, or a fucking branch of the Croydon Moonies, you’re on an arrogant march to self annihilation. With trump egging you on.
And I will not let you sit here and chuck out vile insults to Jewish people who believe in truth justice kindness and a peaceful future. To call any Jew who speaks up against violence a self hating Jew is a true act on antisemitism. And that is all you are, a racist.
Yes, there are Jcws who believe Israel is the most racist nation on earth: I have a colleague like that who was even in the IDF. Everyone can have their own opinion, but I don’t have to agree with this one. Yes, these ones are not self hating but others are. Of course Jcws can be racist, egoistic etc. like anybody, just not nasi.
If they are Islamophobes I can’t blame them though: the Koran is as scary as Mein Kampf and not only for Jcws.
What you call selfhating jcws, Antonyl, i call democracy loving jcws. To recognise that 20% of Palestine/Israels populus is of Arabic descent, and that they have a right to housing, selfdetermination, property rights as by deeds, and democratic representation is the normal reaction.
One day you will fathom it. Zionism will destroy Palestine /Israel, remove the base for a peaceful future for all their children.
Wish you would spend equal time on the 100x bigger problems of minorities in Islam states. One can only hope
Antony, you’re still getting bogged down in religious identity. We’re talking about the modern state of Israel here, and the reason it’s such a popular topic of conversation is because it keeps interfering in UK politics in a very unpleasent and frankly obsessive way.
The reason for this is because the Kisnet has been seized by far right forces, who want to use propaganda abroad to protect its frankly evil and malicious attack on Palestinian Land.
Religious identity is irrelevant. As for the Koran being like mein Kampf well, this just sounds frankly hysterical it’s a 500 year old dodgy old book, Jesus though, have you read the Talmud? Or the Christian Bible. Wow! Best to avoid all this dreck.
Of course there’s opposition. Israel is a liberal democracy with a free press. Nothing like Ha’aretz would be tolerated in Syria or Iran
It looks as though the Lobby may be trying to get Alison Chabloz jailed, after she was handed a suspended jail sentence in June. A police spokesman said “We are speaking with a number of involved agencies.” Before Chabloz was convicted, a judge presiding over her trial, Emma Arbuthnot, had to stand down once it was revealed she was a member of the Conservative Friends of I__ael who had received an expenses-paid trip to I__ael.
The IHRA says that anti-Semitism “could” include accusing a J__ish citizen of a country of being more loyal to I__ael than to that country.
Has anyone else noticed that whether you wish to praise it or condemn it, the writing style of the IHRA’s definition is absolute cack? It looks as though it was written by someone who would fail their English Language GCSE. Was this seriously the best that an “inter-governmental organisation” can come up with? What did they spend the money on that they could have paid to a good subeditor? Having a fucking good piss-up?
As far as I am aware, Emma Arbuthnot is not J__ish, and therefore it wouldn’t be anti-Semitic according to the IHRA’s definition to say that she is more loyal to I__ael than to Britain 🙂
An interesting fact is that Emma Arbuthnot has been involved in the Julian Assange case. Sorry, I am not up on the legal details of that case, so someone else will have to post to specify her involvement and comment on it. Perhaps her CFOI membership has already been noticed in that context?
Having followed the link, I have no qualms about Alison Chabloz going to jail – if true, that’s about as in-yer-face, f**k-you Holocaust denial as you can get. But, if that’s true about Emma Arbuthnot, she should be struck off for failure to declare her interest.
N_
For a detailed critique of the IHRA document which is excellent.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brian-klug/code-of-conduct-for-antisemitism-tale-of-two-texts
Just had this very reasonable, well it is imo, comment deleted on the Guardian. It did recieve a lot of upticks and comments:
“Lovely article Matt, wish you were still the spokesperson for JC, he needs ppl like you. It’s a tough one for JC, totally agree with much of what you say but he is not at fault whatsoever in this current crisis. Well, it cld be said he’s making the issue worse by trying to appease the shower creating the probs, they’re getting worse not better.
There’s nothing he can do with the usual suspects in Labour, only his total capitulation will stop them. They’ll jump on any MSM bandwagon which will cause him shit, then you have the less savoury elements of the Jewish community, such as the Board of Deputies, who are prob pushing the Israeli Govts agenda as hard as they can.
What worries me nearly more than the harm all this is doing to JC, is the potential damage it could cause to ordinary Jewish ppl. AS has been seriously cheapened in my view, it does feel like if you so much as look at a more extreme Jewish person, they’ll accuse you of AS. This can only trivialise what is a disgusting hate crime and cld possibly stir up anger against ordinary Jewish ppl. Very scary times.”
Sadly, nothing surprises me about The Guardian’s moderation on this topic.
This American seems to share your view on the real dangers inherent in the way these cack-handed LFI politicos and their media outlets cry wolf:
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2018/08/02/jewish-activist-says-israel-apologists-must-stop-crying-wolf-over-antisemitism/
Cheers for the reply and link Smiling Through, sounds like a great organisation as well. Heh, think i need to be less snobby about The Canary too. All that’s good =)
If a further example of BBC bias was needed (it isn’t) today’s treatment of Boris Johnson’s crass comments on Muslim women, is it. Whereas the starting point of Jeremy Corbyn’s alleged anti-Semitism is that his comments are deemed anti-Semitic without any analysis whatever of whether the words or phrase are in fact anti-Semitic, the starting point of the BBC’s World at One is to ask whether what BOJO actually said was anti-Muslim or not and then concluding that it was crass but possibly not anti-Muslim, to laugh it all off as just another of BOJO’s funnies.
And as ever, no mention of the protest against the BBC bias taking place whilst it was on air.
I used to support funding for the BBC out of general taxation. Now I didn’t care if it is put to the sword by Sky, Murdoch, Netflix or whoever. They deserve no public funding.
One wonders how many HGV drivers thought ‘ who has allowed a brick sh.thouse to ride on two wheels through London’, when passing Alexander Boris de Peffel Johnson in traffic.
Why should there be no chavs in the Bullington Club? Dare one suggests that there are more present in that club than in an Essex/Norfolk/Yorkshire comprehensive…..