We are now under election broadcasting rules.
Ian Austin left the Labour Party nine months ago. He was then appointed by the Tories as Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Israel. As of yesterday, he is neither a MP nor a candidate for election. He is a minor politician who achieved only the most junior ministerial rank, PUSS, and for only seven months. He is best known for heckling Jeremy Corbyn while Jeremy Corbyn was delivering the official Labour response to the Chilcot Report on the illegal invasion of Iraq, shouting “Sit down and shut up” and “You stupid disgrace” at Corbyn for criticising the war.
STRANGELY THE BBC FORGOT TO MENTION THIS
We are now under election broadcasting rules. How and why was Ian Austin invited onto the BBC Radio 4 Today programme today? He left the Labour Party six months ago, and has been a huge critic of Corbyn. It is hardly a surprise that the Tory’s Trade Envoy to Israel advises people to vote Tory. So who initiated Ian Austin’s appearance on the BBC Today programme, and why? It is obvious that the BBC knew he was going to urge people to vote Tory – or why invite a non-MP and non-candidate, to say exactly the same things he has been saying since Corbyn became leader?
That the Today programme at the BBC is produced by a Tory, under a Tory BBC Head of News, and hosted by a Tory is established fact and beyond dispute. The facts we need to know are these. Did Austin first contact the BBC or did the BBC first contact Austin? Who took the editorial decision to include this item in the programme? Was any organisation involved at any stage in any of the discussions, or did Austin at all times represent himself purely as an individual?
Following Austin’s vitriolic attack on Corbyn as a racist and anti-semite on BBC Today, he was given eleven full minutes unanswered on BBC Breakfast from 8.56 to 9.07. The presenter stated that they had no official response from the Labour Party.
Yet we are in an election, and under election broadcast rules. The BBC must have known what Austin was going to say – otherwise why invite him on? Why was not another guest invited at the same time Austin was invited, to give balance?
Austin’s appointment as Trade Envoy to Israel is not a Civil Service appointment, it is a political appointment. He is a Tory appointee urging people to vote Tory. Under election broadcasting rules, the massive broadcasting time he is being given must count as Tory time, and be balanced out by broadcast time given to the Labour, SNP, Brexit, Lib Dem and Green parties. I strongly suspect that the BBC is intending to avoid this and claim Austin is Independent so the barrage of “Vote for Boris Johnson” time he is being given does not, they will claim, count as Tory time.
That the state broadcaster connives actively to launch a fierce character assassination of the opposition leader as a racist, and urge everyone to vote for the Government, is a disgrace. That they have not mentioned he is Tory Trade Envoy to Israel is a disgrace. This is not how media behaves in a real democracy. It shows the ferocity with which the UK Establishment will resist the current real threats to its continuing hegemony.
This is very dirty. It is going to get worse.
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Maybe Owen Smith will bad mouth Jeremy Corbyn, next.
Hey I havent heard Alastair or Blair bad mouthing Corbyn for the last few weeks. It’s probably their turn.
What? You mean oily Smith (as he is known locally in his constituency).
May I be the first to mention the “don’t vote Labour” message that is getting screamed today by the Jewish Chronicle? That rag has devoted its whole front page to an address to “fellow British citizens” (does anyone think they use that expression in private?) telling everyone to vote against the Labour party. The Labour leader apparently has been found guilty of not “listening to and learning from mainstream Jewish bodies such as the Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council”.
Then, oh look, a trade envoy creep pitches up in a BBC studio. Could there be some connection?
I was wondering whether emigration would get mentioned. It does, in the second paragraph. They say gentiles should put themselves “in the shoes” of Jews and imagine what it feels like to have to “seriously consider emigrating” if Labour wins the election.
The Jewish Labour Movement has launched a lengthy Twitter rant against John McDonnell. In précis “you haven’t done absolutely everything WE DEMANDED to the nth degree”. It ends “shame on McDonnell”.
Like AIPAC, the JLM cannot / will not be satisfied. Corbyn and McDonnell have bent over backwards to address LEGITIMATE accusations of anti-Semitism.
Once the election is over, the JLM should be expelled.
You make valid points.
But this is not going to happen – this is a vitriolic lobby group that will shriek very loud and especially push their women forth (and as soon as they are criticised…Berger, ellman, Smeeth (who smeared a black man)…they screech abuse!). And yes, screech is the correct word for these atrocious Israeli shills. Have a look at their voting record and decide if they vote for british interests. The fear of being called antisemite (an oxymoron given its the palestinians who are semites…some of whom ARE jewish) has driven some decent english folk to cower behind bland, meaningless words.
That kind of response just encourages this lobby group.
Have a look at media ownership and key positions and realise that you have an uphill battle – especially with this retreating mindset.
There will be a lot of antisemitism nonsense going forward – they will smear, destroy careers…
the purpose behind it is not really to get at Corbyn (who has practically given way at every step….disowned his own supporters such as Williamson etc…fishy behaviour – i don’t accept that he’s so weak that he gave in)
It’s to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism…
and they’re succeeding ..because people make an argument then get attacked….then back off and apologise
See even this minor criticism of israel:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/07/labour-candidate-kate-ramsden-steps-down-israel-comparison
abused child?!! what nonsense …the World Zionist Organisation had been planning a state since the late 1800s, the balfour declaration (illegal btw) was in 1917….so israel did not arise because of the “holocaust” (the only event in history in which you cannot question any part of the narrative…which you’ve all accepted)
Israel is a terrorist “state” that needs dismantling. The hosts on which this parasite survives (for that is what the UK and USA are…as is France…Hollande, Sarkozy…yeah..so much antisemitism) will not be world powers forever….remember that.
Vivian O’Blivion
All of those groups should be expelled IMHO, they are actors of a foreign (evil) state interfering in our politics. Every one of those groups are instructed and helped by the Israeli embassy in London, and their purpose is to whitewash Israeli policy and get rid of any dissenting voices in OUR parliament.
Remember Shai Masot.
FACTS.
In the 2011 census of the 63,182,178 UK population, these claiming Judaism as their religion is 261,584 that is 0.4%.
Of those the number who claim to be Labour voters has been about 20-25% over the years.
That is 50-70,000 votes over the whole country across 650 constituencies.
Or a max average of just over one hundred per each MP.
Can we please please SHOUT that the whole issue is made up as a political smear and most jewish voters have always voted Tory if anything – definitely not Labour.
Any voter that actually bases their decision on this smear is thick as mince.
@ Dungroanin November 7, 2019 at 17:31
And you missed out a very important factor – many of the Labour-voting Jews support Jeremy Corbyn, and know damn well that the antisemitism BS is largely a made-up hoax, a ‘trick, we use it all the time’ as Shalomit Aloni, who used to be a Knesset Member, admitted. RIP.
2 things:
– firstly you refer to the orthodox jewish population no doubt …John Major is part-Jewish for example as is Kate Middleton. I doubt your census captures that.
– they make a surprisingly large number of labour MPs
I refer to the census.
These people who chose to self-identify under that category. It covers all the subsets.
Facts are facts.
Other facts that are noteworthy would be what is the circulation of the Jewish Chronicle? How many copies are actually purchased?
It does not matter how many MP’s are from any group or for that matter Lawyers, Doctors, Dentists, Accountants or Reporters!
The point is that people are misled in to thinking the population is massive (many millions of people) when it is clearly a lot lot smaller (just a few hundred thousand).
This has to be met head on with friends and family and in the pubs and clubs and certainly the msm needs to be challenged- no more being spoon fed exaggerations and lies while the real issues are ignored.
The trouble is that there many very well-meaning, anti-racist, gentiles who, not understanding that there is in fact no such thing as the “Jewish Community” – because, believe it or not, Jewish people, in common with all other humans, have differing political opinions, levels of religious commitment, and degrees of gullibility – are, understandably given their naivety, horrified by the tales of alleged antisemitism, the professed fear of Jeremy Corbyn, and declarations by some Jews of intent to emigrate should he win the next election.
Not understanding the subtleties of the issue, let alone the venal politicking going on in the background, leads them to believe the propaganda, and misguidedly though in all good faith, fall for the narrative.
Of course, this phenomenon is a foreseen, deliberate, and desired outcome of the smear campaign.
So it’s not just the 0.4% of the population who may or may not swing their votes due to AS smearing.
What seriously worries me is that, as a result of the ongoing smears, in the very likely event of a Corbyn defeat, UK Jews will be collectively blamed by the left for the “Britannia Unchained” Tory dystopia that will most likely develop following a Johnson election victory. This risks the advent of some real antisemitism from the defeated left in this country, and that would be tragic and very dangerous.
There’s a good response to that JC article by Kerry Anne Mendoza in The Canary.
https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2019/11/07/the-jewish-chronicle-is-trying-to-guilt-trip-us-into-voting-for-a-racist-government/
Palestinians must be much better exposing and fight themselves i.e. trying to create public opinion through UN and other political bodies trying to influence, lobby especially the EU.
What does it matter if we try get rid of pro-israeli minister every now and then when palestinians themselves unfortunately do not do much (the palestinian politicians, not the palestinian people themselves). Not to take away the continued fight and protests by the people but they must go beyond that because meanwhile Israel annex more of their land, kill them, maim them and get less of a critiicism by every year by the western world that seems to accept these warcrimes.
Problem at large is the corrupt Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas which is the puppet of Israel in Palestine. Get rid of this guy and replace him with someone that actually cares about the palestinians people and you will see results very fast.
Sad to say but one of the greatest propaganda successes of our time is conflating antisemitism and anti Israel Government actions.
JohninMK
Yes, here is for example Macron doing just that:
Macron: Anti-zionism is a form of anti-semitism
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-antisemitism/frances-macron-says-anti-zionism-is-a-form-of-anti-semitism-idUSKCN1QA1GL
Then I guess being critical of Palestinian statehood is also racism too according to Macron, no?…oh the double standards..
Just because Macron says something does not mean it is true, it means he is a meek subservient little apparatchik in fear of Mossad dirty tricks come re-election time.
Sure, but it shows how antisemitism label is being changed to cover more than just hatred against jews per se:
Take this, from israeli lobby group in Brussels:
“Far leftists—including Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain’s Labour Party, pick up traditional anti-Semitic tropes, replace “Jews” with “Zionists,” and deny anti-Semitism. The European Union sees through this obvious deception.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/anti-zionism-threatens-europes-jews-11544573627
Rhys Jaggar
Macron is hated in France, by rich and poor. The rich in France have a good history of helping the poor – the Dukes of Burgundy being a good example from history. The Hospices de Beaune was built for the poor. Its exterior is very austere, but the interior, seen by the poor people who stayed there is very grand.
Macron was a finance minister under Hollande who helped introduce austerity measures ordered by the EU. Who are affected most by austerity measures?
THE POOR!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospices_de_Beaune
“Macron is hated in France, by rich and poor.”
Very bizarre the strange notions some Brits retain. Macron isn’t hated. He’s not discredited himself, like his predecessors Sarkozy and Hollande. I think you’ve been reading too much Brexiter Francophobic (and indeed xenophobic) press.
Andyoldlabour
He is definately hated by the poor and common man but by the rich he is loved:
“Now Macron really is the president of the rich”
https://www.politico.eu/article/now-emmanuel-macron-france-really-is-the-president-of-the-rich/
‘”President for the rich’: Why Macron is loathed by so many in France ”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/03/president-rich-macron-loathed-many-france/
“France’s richest gain most from Emmanuel Macron’s tax reforms ”
https://www.ft.com/content/728cc752-1e7e-11e9-b126-46fc3ad87c65
Surely their AS arguments must end in absurdities? Reductio ad absurdum. I cannot stand the war criminal Tony Blair, who is a Zionist but not a Jew, but if anti-Zionism is the same as anti-Semitism then my dislike of Blair makes me an anti-Semite? It’s absurd, and I think rather than stepping back defensively at the accusation we should try pushing it to its absurd conclusion.
‘If being against Zionism is the same as anti-Semitism, then your dislike of the Zionist Tony Blair makes you an anti-Semite.’
Is that true ? Or did you hear it on the BBC ? Is a question you always need to ask.
Why listen to the BBC, in the first place…
Does this mean they’re really afraid that Corbyn and Labour might actually win?
The U.S. polls in 2016 were badly wrong, as were the UK polls in 2017. I increasingly suspect that they’re deliberately skewed in the hope of creating a bandwagon effect for the side that they favor.
Ditto the 2016 EU referendum polls, perhaps for the same reason.
Like somebody said, there are lies, damned lies and then there are statistics. Then there’s polls.
It is all about “SCALPIING.”
If the tories get in it will be you and me that will be scalped.
If labour get in it will be those with the money who will be scalped.
When every financial transaction is to be taxed by Labour.
You know who has all the money.
Not quite that simple.
Agree with your Tories comment but I suppose we have grown used to it over decades as New Labour was in the main Tory policies with different branding.
For Labour’s financial plans there is potential backwash. Much of the wealth of the rich is in assets which they and we (via pension funds/insurance, union investments etc) also own. If they are going to tax the rich until the pips squeak they are going to have to sell their assets that may well depress prices, affecting the rest of us adversely. They also think that they can print money or get huge loans with no inflationary effect. Mmmm.
Yes we know who has the wealth but they are a canny bunch well used to outmaneuvering anyone who tries to take anything more than a token gesture from them.
Well, when Corbyn and the Labour Party speak up for MPs and others who have been wrongly smeared as “anti-Semites”, then I’ll speak up for Corbyn and the Labour Party. Actually, I won’t, given that over 200 Labour MPs effectively voted for the Tory’s “Welfare Reform Bill” that has led to numerous suicides and deaths, including, recently, a father of two children – those children are now orphans! It was Labour that originally brought in ATOS and a quota system, joined in with the smears that anyone on benefits is a scrounger.
Definitely will NOT be voting Labour, or Tory, or Green, or LibDem, or for any other party!
Google “atos mirror suicide”, “calumslist”, and “Dad cries moment before suicide after Universal Credit wait left him with £4.61”
Corbyn sat on the backbenches and didn’t care. Not a single Labour MP resigned in disgust at these deaths.
Forgot to mention Corbyn joining in with the smears against Assange and now remaining silent as Assange is arbitrarily detained, his health deteriorating by the day. Corbyn also allowed the Snooper’s Charter to become law, unopposed, and gave a free vote on bombing Syria, knowing full well what the outcome would be and that we were arming terrorists in a futile attempt to remove Assad from power. Goodbye, Corbyn! So long Labour Party! You’re both disgusting – you both have gallons of blood on your hands. As Bush once famously tried to say: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!
If you think Corbyn approves of what’s being done to Assange and Atos victims you very much are a fool. He is the prime target of all the anti semitism smears precisely because they know he would turn over the whole rotten apple cart.
Thank you, Dom, and shame on you, Tom! I suffered much stress from the DWP, Atos, and Maximus, over a period of more than twenty years. I know about as much as anyone else on Earth about suicidal thoughts. Jeremy Corbyn is about the last person on Earth I would choose to blame for such torments (mine or anyone else’s).
Stay strong Twirlip. Society is waking up to the long NeoLiberal con. It’s never going to be glad confident morning for the NeoLiberals again and they know it. They are everywhere on the run, reduced to throwing up dust to obscure observable reality. Posts like Tom’s show they no longer have anything to offer.
I think Tom’s heart’s in the right place. I just don’t understand attacks on Corbyn, like this one, from people who ought to be on Corbyn’s side, but somehow fail to see that he’s a decent man doing his best in spite of his own party being full of people who are bitterly opposed to him. As if he didn’t already have enough to cope with from them!
It’s a miracle Corbyn’s not suicidal! 🙂
“Tom” – you strike me as one of these shills that like to pretend they’re a good old Labour supporter, but – gosh, darn it – they just can’t bring themselves to vote for Corbyn,
I’ve seen a number of letters to newspapers lately from people like you, pretending that they either won’t vote at all or feel they must vote for a “strong leader” (such as a Tory, naturally), and that they voted Remain but now realise we need a “quick Brexit”, and so on and so forth.
So your line is to try and nudge people into thinking they shouldn’t vote at all – at least, not if they were inclined to vote Labour.
Do you like civil liberties, care about the social issues you claim are important to you? Then don’t vote! Brilliant tactic, sheer genius.
And which Government carried out the bombing an training of these terrorist, fool, the UK is number one friend of islamic terrorists organisation, since the 1940’s. Go educate yourself fool.
Tom,
Sorry mate that is a load of BS and you know it.
JC has consistently voted against military action abroad, and that information is available for all to see.
You are just another person who wants to smear Corbyn.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10133/jeremy_corbyn/islington_north/votes
In my estimation there are at least a dozen more Tories in the Labour party on standby for coordinated action of the kind Austin has just done.
If Cobyn should somehow form a government – I and others have said this before – there could be a mass crossing of the floor by the Tories on Labour benches.
To be fair to Corbyn & crew I’m not sure what they could have done in previous years to get rid of the multiple Judases who have thus far been biding their time for another strike. This election is their time and they’re baying for blood.
There is a simple answer: switch off the Today programme and get your news elsewhere.
I have a long list of places I no longer source news. It includes CNN, WaPo, NYTimes, The Guardian, the BBC on politics.
I use such dreadful sources like RT, the Tirolertageszeitung, Salzburger Nachrichten (both Austrian regionals immune to MI6 instructions), this site, The Saker, Zerohedge.com, Corbett Report, WUWT and judithcurry.com, off-guardian.org etc etc.
None of them do what MI6 tells them to do, for shame. It is my first check box on identifying news sources worthy of being read.
Aljazeera tv is a pretty good source as well, where else can you watch the Hague live sentence a DRC tyrant.
Aljazeera is owned by a family who have spent billions a year, for six years, supporting Jihadists gunning for regime change in Syria. But i agree they carry some good stories when it is outside their sphere of influence.
Glasshopper
Very pro Saudi Arabia are Al Jazeera. The change came during the Iraq war.
Aljazeera cannot be pro-Saudi; they are owned by Qatar. There was a little contretemps a year or two back, remember?
will the little Austrian fascist get elected again? one wonders, soon there be 9year old’s bamboozling Austria, which is not a ‘Reich’ anymore, just a petty little right wing nation yearning for their empirical past.
That is a stupid racist statement
Austria might soon have a Green party in a Government coalition
Britain is the nation obsessed with its imperial past
nevermind
Have you ever been to Austria, because it is a lovely place and the people are very friendly. They have traditions and a culture which they are not going to give up.
But what is it with this thing they seem to have for capturing people in cellars?
Pity WUWT and Judith are (almost) totally wrong. Zerohedge is a total random mixture, definitely have to be cautious. The Saker, RT and Corbett Report are useful to see a different perspective. I will have to check out Tirolertageszeitung and Salzburger Nachrichten .
Might I suggest you try Sputnik while you’re at it?
Incredible audacity on the media’s part to present this guy of all people as an anti racist. Forget his hunger for bombing Arabs and the Israel stuff, the thing he is best known for in the WM is attacking the Tories from the right on immigration. BBC, Sky and co need to give their heads a shake.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/labour-mp-ian-austin-make-8016719
Well Shelia Fogarty really done a number on Corbyn today on LBC over anti-Semitism within the Labour party.
Weeping caller after caller professing to be of a certain persuasion claimed their lives will not be worth living in the UK if Corbyn becomes PM.
Between Fogarty giving plenty of airtime to the detractors of Corbyn, via, the way blown out of proportion anti-Semitism within the Labour party and another LBC presenter Majiid Nawaz, saying on Sunday that Scottish independence would be very bad for the world but good for Putin. One can see the British state mouthpieces are in full propaganda mode.
LBC has Jewish owners, the Tabor family. It has always pushed Zionism.
Majid Nawaz used the butchering of Khashogi in the Istanbul embassy to attack……………….drum roll………….
Yes. You guessed it. Iran!
The guy is a total fraud. And if you google The Quillam foundation funding you can see who pays him for “his” opinions on LBC.
It’s getting really sinister, but unless these callers are very good actors other listeners will see right through it.
The BBC is very slow with its news, it is almost as if they have to put the stories to the secret services to see if the story is acceptable.
The Daily Express claims there has been a massive earthquake in Rome,
yet not a mention on the BBC.
From what I’ve seen the BBC these days relies on AP and Reuters.
The main thing ( hence Laura’s – just sayin’ tweets ) is to try and beat Sky to the punch.
Interesting that when Julian Assange was manhandled out of the Venezuelan Embassy only Ruptly were on hand to get pictures.
No other great media outlets were arsed.
I wouldn’t worry about Austin as Boris has put some work his way which may pay off in the future under his government but not Corbyn’s
The Yanks call it ‘ skin in the game’ and Austin is an organ after all.
Austin and Watson will be at the bottom of the Budgie cage by Saturday.
Craig is right this will get worse.
A Tsunami of alleged Anti – Semitism accusations from the FOI and their helpers in the media.
Proves one thing though.
A lot of other people with skin in the game are scared – very scared.
michael norton
I thought it was just me who thought the BBC were incredibly slow at getting up to speed on news stories. They are always behind the rest when it comes to important statistics, sometimes hours.
What are we paying a licence fee for?
It’s a crying shame that Corbyn will give the country another EU referendum if he wins, because that means he won’t win. I can’t vote for him. Can’t vote Tory either. Libs and Greens are a joke, UKIP are irrelevant.
I guess that leave Nige. At least if he wins, it’ll be the worst case scenario for the remainers who have done their absolute best to derail Brexit. That’ll teach them.
Cut your nose to spite your face is a very sound policy.
Matt, you do seem to believe anything they say to you, but the wider ineptness of the public will eventually be felt in this country as slogan damaged voters are attacking candidates and or people who leaflet. its down to people spreading falsehood, hearsay and petty stigma on great blogs such as Craigs and I would now advocate to have such unrefined slogan fodder removed.
Why should we be subjected to another year of false accusations, bad mouthing and threats on here, cut you off boar, I say.
Jeremy Corbyn is ten times better than this lawbreaking liar and piss poor representative of the British state.
If any of his shadow cabinet would be accused of mucking up a rape trial, the BBC would not stop going on about it.
ITS THE ENVIRONMENT STUPID, however many A grades in economics are achieved and penned down, they are not worth the fallen, processed wood they are written on.
Turncoat Corbyn’s betrayal of his mentor Tony Benn is a disgrace. The man has allowed the Brussels Slipperys in his party to walk all over his principles. I tend to agree with his foreign policy positions, but these are considered fringe issues by most voters, and are weaponised against him by his enemies anyway.
after getting my comments deleted on my mobile, via ‘updating’, I shall try here.
This morning was atrocious. Vagrant Tory’s and their BBC pal;s mumbling about patriotism, whilst 2 year old’s and other children in SOCIAL CARE in the west country are sexually abused, the DWP spends taxpayers money to lie about universal credit, 3.4 million children in poverty, whilst rich Tories are wanking themselves silly in anticipation of tax cuts.
The BBC is guilty of generating anger, hate and strife at the doorstep by parading has been ding bats for breakfast. If any candidates are attacked verbally and or physically, it is down to the constant hate campaign amplified by the BBC against the opposition and their leader.
I have just started a license fee boycott, ‘not in my name’ you Biased Bullshit C..ts. No wonder that they follow their lawbreaking leader Johnson with some more law breaking. May the pest be upon all of them.
After the sickening BBC/ITV performances from the useful ‘friends of’ idiots, this lifted my spirit no end…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TBBhPUwrCU
So complaints to the BBC? And similarly, on Sky News, with Kay Burleigh, he was allowed to rant on, spewing his bile, uni terrupted: I thought KB was going to burst into tears: Austin merits an OSCAR. Another complaint, to OFCOM.
Complaints to unaccountable, far too big broadcasters run by fascists?
why not do gardening instead? Go plough your lawn up and grow some veg. If you are able to, cause soon after 31st. Jan, should this lying snolly goster get elected with the help of the Bloated Bullshit corporation. prices for staple food will sky rocket some more.
Hopefully all these very highly paid BBC Presstitutes are already looking for jobs over the pond with NeoCon Networks. They love the accent you know.
Does BBC have an office in Scotland? I’d suggest several hundred thousand angry Scots outside as a way to register a ‘strong complaint’, and do it on a weekday. If that doesn’t work, try it again with one million. 🙂
This has proved a very effective smear – because difficult to respond to.
You either have to attack strongly – which has its downside – or defend.
Rebecca Long-Bailey on Today programme was forced on to the defensive.
How should she have responded ?
Could have mentioned that Israel tortures prisoners, and holds Palestinians in detention without a fair trial. Demolishes homes of families. Or that they routinely shoot teenagers who are on the other side of the border fence. Or maybe that Israel is a rogue nuclear nation with hundreds of nuclear weapons built in a rogue program and in violation of the same international statues that Iran is accused of violating. Then ask, given these facts, is it really fair to equate any criticism of Israel as ‘anti-semitism?
And besides, any interviewer on a major network who is ‘forced on the defensive’ probably isn’t fit for the job.
Needless to say Austin is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.
He has only just recorded on They Work For You a funded visit he made to Israel in July 2018!
He is in receipt of large donations from Israel cheerleaders like Sir Trevor China and Sir David Garrard. Note the knighthoods.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=11553
Chinn not China! I must switch off the predictive text.
I call that wing of the Blairites by the name “Labour Likud”.
Labour Likudniks.. nice one! 😀
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/11/mainstream-media-pro-johnson-propaganda-gets-into-full-swing/comment-page-1/#comments
Mary here is more of Ian Austin
I have zero sympathy for the Labour Party and its supporters. The independence movement in Scotland has been subjected to BBC disinformation of this type for about 6 years. Not only has the Labour Party and its supporters done nothing to help, they’ve actively encouraged the attacks and often taken part.
Just last week in the Commons Labour effectively voted against giving the “regions” (Scotland, Wales, and NI) any role or say in the Brexit negotiations.
So, I’m sorry but to hell with Labour — there is no place for anti-semitism in British politics. And if you think I’m stooping to low levels with that, maybe now you’ll realise how Scottish people feel when they are being called scroungers (often by Labour supporters), etc., and the BBC directs its propaganda at us.
A lengthy ad hominem is no more sophisticated than a short cheap insult, save energy and précis…_
Is Labour somehow duty bound to support the Scottish independence movement? Why?
Some naively believe they are duty-bound to be democratic. I’m not one of them.
Labour and the BBC are the biggest enemies of Scottish independence. There’s no assumption or expectation in anything I have said that Labour might be expected to help. You’re reading it wrong if you think that.
The opposite is true. I expect nothing from Labour but duplicitous opposition to independence and lies. That’s all we have had from them for decades. And that’s why I have zero sympathy for them and believe there’s no room in British politics for anti-semitism.
Unfortunate as it might be, some principles are more important than a simple bowing to mob rule – I agree with you there. We would have capital punishment back in a moment were it left to “popular” opinion, which is always going to be governed by the rabble-rousers.
Taking a position that, say, Scotland should be independent even though the voters decide quite clearly they did not want to stay in the union, is taking it a bit too far, though. Saying you know better than the majority where their own allegiance should lie might be somewhat arrogant. Were Scottish voters simply too stupid to vote the right way, or should the result have been decided for them, without the need to trouble the electorate?
You seemed rather affronted that Labour failed to leap to the defence of the nationalists – that’s a pretty straightforward reading of your text to which I replied.
Could you explain your point about anti-Semitism? Everyone knows that this is a major smear by the enemies of the Labour party, and the disingenuity of that campaign should be an affront to anybody’s intelligence. Surely you’re not jumping on that bandwagon, and pretending that anyone critical of Israel’s genocidal foreign policy is being so because they secretly hate Jews?
Glenn, there are two possibilities with you and what you’re saying here; 1) you’re deliberately failing to understand basic ideas and ignoring the implications of tediously simplistic factors and their ramifications, or, 2) you are dim.
I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt and assume you are dim. On that basis, try and follow here, you might end up understanding things better.
You say “Taking a position that, say, Scotland should be independent even though the voters decide quite clearly they did not want to stay in the union, is taking it a bit too far…”
Now, that is to either completely ignore the point I made more than once about propaganda being deployed against the independence movement in the run up to the 2014 referendum, or you fail to understand the purpose of propaganda.
Bad men don’t just get into propaganda as an aimless hobby. Lies and propaganda serve specific goals. In 2014, the goal was to discourage Scottish people from voting for independence. They did that through lies, smears, threats, and there was some love-bombing.
You say everyone knows the anti-semitism stuff is lies. I’d wager that they don’t. And I’d wager that it has a negative effect on support for Labour. We could guess at the extent but it certainly won’t help.
And now do you see the connection and gist of the point I make? Smearing and propaganda has a purpose. And if you’re not prepared to accept that it had a purpose in Scotland in 2014, why should I acknowledge it in the case of Labour today?
And, further to that, the lies and propaganda worked in 2014. It culminated in the biggest dirty trick and lie of them all, “the vow”, which people fell for. Telling pensioners they’d lose their pensions worked. Telling people their lives would be destroyed if they voted for independence worked.
And telling people Labour is anti-Semitic, well, maybe that will work too. Why should I care though? The Labour Party was up to its eyeballs in smearing and undermining the independence movement in 2014. And so it might suit me to believe the smears. Why not?
Sure, Haughty – just assume I’m dim, if that makes things easier for you.
I’ll assume you’re not very honest, and want to pretend that Corbyn and Labour all hate Jews for some strange reason.
Shame you’re more content with insult and slurs, than dealing with facts and being honest.
And telling people Labour is anti-Semitic, well, maybe that will work too.
Reading pretty well any of the comments by Mary ‘Go, Jeremy, go’ Sharp-Ears tends to support that idea.
Sure… Labour hates Jews so much, it elected Ed Milliband to be its leader between 2010- 2015. Good thing nobody told Mary sharp-ears he was Jewish! Although right-wing rags such as the Mail _did_ spot that and did not consider it to be a positive attribute.
Modern politics … the enemy of my enemy is my enemy. Because modern politics is built entirely on enemies.
And what’s really hilarious, the best route to a Scottish Independence lies in a Labour Party needing those SNP MP’s to form a government. Neither Labour or Neanderthal Tory want to give Scotland its independence. Neither is going to walk into Westminster and say “Hey, lets make Scotland independent today. ” But Labour very clearly signaled that it would do so to form a majority. Of course, they won’t emphasize that point as that would cost them English votes while the SNP seems rather locked in for seats. But, amidst the blizzard of propaganda that heralds a modern election, its worth remember that they said this rather clearly.
BJ: “Neither Labour or Neanderthal Tory want to give Scotland its independence. “
Nor did the Scots themselves, according to a recent referendum, by a substantial majority.
And that’s a good example of the sort of cold reasoning that makes me despise the Labour Party and its followers.
It’d take a smart chap like you about 5 minutes to work out that the 2014 referendum was essentially rigged using the same sort of black propaganda some people here are discussing in regards to this anti-semitism stuff.
We know what to expect from the British media, British state, and British governments (regardless of whether the government is Labour or Tory). It’s the Labour fan boys that are currently perturbed by current shenanigans, not us.
Hatuey
“It was rigged” – really, did the Russians do it? Did the nasty English do it?
You are just like a sore remainer or Democrat (I actually have more sympathy for the Democrats, because Killary got 3 million more votes than the tangoed Trump), who whines when they lose.
Thanks for the comparatively serious response.
“The best route to a Scottish Independence lies in a Labour Party needing those SNP MP’s to form a government.”
I’ve looked at the breakdown of seats required for that outcome and I’d conservatively say the odds of that were somewhere between 40,000 to 1 and 60,000 to 1.
Realistically, for this situation to arise, you’d need several very unlikely things to happen at the same time…
~ in simple terms, Labour would need to win more seats than the Tories but too few to form any sort of majority government without SNP support.
If Labour only needed to find say 10 MPs to provide support in order to create a working majority, well, the chances are they’d look to find that support elsewhere (outside of the SNP) and I’m sure they’d find it — they’d have to make promises but those promises would be easier for them politically than the promise of a second independence referendum in Scotland.
You might think that there’s some sort of sweet spot for the SNP, so that if Labour was more than 10 short the scenario becomes more likely. But there’s another big problem.
According to precedent, the incumbent government has first crack at forming a working majority & Government in a hung parliament situation, even if that government has less seats than another opposition party. 2010 was uniquely unusual in these terms — Labour seemed to simply relinquish its right to try and form a working majority in 2010. There’s no reason to assume Boris would do that.
Thus, if there was a hung Parliament, the Tories would actually have first crack at forming a government — not Labour.
So, we suddenly need a bunch of things to happen all at once;
1 hung parliament
2 Labour win more seats than the Tories
3 Labour are so short of support that the only party that could take them over the line is the SNP.
4 the Tories need to either give up their right to form a government or fail to do so after trying.
5 Labour consent to indyref2 in return for confidence and supply
It just isn’t going to happen.
It happened in 1910-2. Because the Liberal government depended on the votes of the Irish Parliamentary Party to stay in power, they approved Irish Home Rule.
Point 4 above? Nope. Which means it has never happened.
Whatever “promise” Corbyn makes to Sturgeon is essentially meaningless and both he and she and the Tories know that.
For Corbyn to agree to break up the United Kingdom, would be the complete end of the Labour Party – never to make a resurrection.
Were the voters for one moment to get the notion into their heads that Corbyn would facilitate the break up of the U.K. with the help of Sturgeon, the Labour Party would be massacred at this forthcoming G.E.
I don’t get the “this requires lots of things to happen at once” argument. It requires the Labour party to win around 275-295 seats, assuming there’s no “Cleggasm”, and it requires the SNP actually to support a Labour government that offers to let them punch Scotland in its face by making people have a second independence referendum – rather than the SNP supporting its traditional favourite party when the chips are down, the Tories.
Leave us Neanderthals out of it, ya Cro-Magnon suprematist.
I have been silently observing this website for a while and to date have waited in vain for a single comment which contains VERBATIM anti semitic comments by either Jeremy Corbyn or anyone in his inner circle… if such comments exist why are they not published ? HATUEY…. the floor is yours
Comminus, I’m just a guy.
If all the newspapers, TV stations, and many ex-Labour politicians are saying Labour has been hijacked by anti-semites, who am I to disagree? Where there’s smoke…
If Labour were more honest and democratic in regards to Scotland, I’d possibly consider a more nuanced position. But the fact that they’re dishonest and undemocratic towards us makes me think there probably is an anti-semitism problem there.
The truth is a really don’t care, though. To hell with Labour. The Tories, Boris, and a hard Brexit are better for us, I’d say. After two years of that sort of pain, we won’t need a referendum.
Oh really. And I thought you were concerned about black propaganda. It’s rather disappointing to hear you admit that your concern about a terrible slur concerning racism is dependent upon positions aligning on a different matter altogether. One might almost think that this anti-Semitism BS concerning Corbyn (and it is BS, you will not come up with anything substantive) is given a sympathetic ear by you, because you don’t like Labour’s policies on other matters – one other matter in particular, Scottish independence.
Does it work the other way too? Do you give white supremacists a pass, if they’re down with Scottish independence? I’m afraid such arguments will work both ways.
You’ve blotted your copy book a bit with this one, Hautey, trying on the anti-Semitism slur like this. It doesn’t stick, and rather saps your credibility.
Again, you misunderstand. There’s no condition in what I’m saying. I’m not suggesting there’s something Labour could offer that would change my position. There’s no offer here.
My view of Labour is in stone, non negotiable. They can’t undo what they did to Scotland, no matter what they offer. In other words, had they not been such duplicitous pigs towards Scotland, a more compromising approach might have been warranted but since we don’t have time machines that isn’t going to change.
White supremacists are in the same position. They can’t change the past any more than Labour can. There’s no deal being offered here to either Labour or racists. And if you were sharper, you’d appreciate both the principle and logic of my opinion here.
My final word on this… anyone in the Scottish Indy movement who expects Labour to do a thing towards facilitating a second referendum, based on the outcome of this election, is a certifiable lunatic.
Hatuey
“If all the newspapers, TV stations, and many ex-Labour politicians are saying Labour has been hijacked by anti-semites, who am I to disagree? Where there’s smoke…”
Please tell me this is sarcasm.
No.
The problem with all this He said -she said alleged anti – semitism is that as far as know under Hate Crime Laws the only people residing at Her Majesty’s Pleasure are right wing nutters.
I am pretty sure that if the people the BCC quote and other media outlets quote as well went to court under the hate Crime Laws
and tried for a prosecution they would be thrown out.
It’s much easier to do the he said/she said stuff as it requires very little proof and for those who don’t read below the Sub Headlines that is the aim.
If Labour close on the Tories then wait for the BBC to amplify the alleged anti -semitism.
I bet the Tory commentators hear some nasty stuff at the Consevative Association and the Local Golf Club re: Jews and Muslims combined.
The best propaganda is the unsaid – not the said.
I’ll ask again – how is blowing up a Palestinian old man with a tank shell for touching a fence ” Proportionate ?”
Apologies if someone has already recommended this conversation between Aaron and Gabor Mate – but it’s illuminating and well worth 35 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TBBhPUwrCU
Yes Rose, I posted it earlier. It was so good I just watched it again – thanks.
Cheers Rose..
Their Talk together – America in denial: Gabor Maté on the psychology of Russiagate – is very good too.
It might be better for Johnson to release the Russia Report now, and get it over with, rather than continuing to run the risk that some public-spirited Whistleblower might release it before Polling Day.
ИOTHIИG TO HIДЄ, ИOTHIИG TO FЄAЯ.
“The duty of a patriot is to protect their Country from its Government”.
Tom Paine, Common Sense.
Ian Austin was also on Channel4’s “news” this evening. He was allowed to rant on for several minutes about how Corby was unfit for office, amongst other reasons because he “supports every enemy of Britain”.
He’s doing all the studios – can’t get him out of my head as a terrible actor from Crossroads (for those who remember). Couldn’t manage a tear shower or chin wobble to close the interviews though.
Your petition has been closed.
Reporters seem to have forgotten that there is more than one party.
I tried to contact the Highland Council yesterday as it has come to my attention, people are going around the doors getting those who have never voted (access to polling clerk information) to sign over their vote so these individuals can vote on their behalf.
I have tried to speak to David Sutherland, Highland Council; two days passed, no reply. No interest?
I tried to speak with the electoral commission in Edinburgh; two days passed, no reply. No interest? Cannot even speak to someone, I had to leave my number and explanation on answer service.
Democracy….. does it still exist?
From 93% electoral return, a fallacy to far, to knowing the postal vote before it was counted.
When I was working in Aberdeen, they tried to give me two votes: one for Inverness, one for Aberdeen. Mr Oag Aberdeen returning officer wouldn’t tell me if he was a council employee or a paid contractor and whom he worked.
Reporters invariably work for an organization where they are told which party to support and boost. This also involves acknowledging one other party as there always must be an enemy. Any party that doesn’t tick either box is ignored as insignificant. When talking about reporters, remember you are always talking about employees and with that comes the dictation that there is the Boss’ Way or the Highway and they are free to choose which they want to travel.
Yep, sounds like an American election. Today, a NY judge ruled that Trump, his children and the Trump Foundation (fronting as a charity) illegally raised almost $3 million by claiming the money would be used to help veterans. The money was then turned over to the Trump for President campaign, which directed how it was spend. For blatantly lying about why they were raising money, no criminal charges were filed. No punitive damages were awarded. The Trumps agreed to restitution of giving $2 million to organizations that help veterans. The NY Attorney General released a statement that said that he’d be watching Trump closely and that now he and his children were on notice that they couldn’t break the law. Presumably the negotiations for this deal are the reason why Trump recently announced out of the blue that he was moving his official residence to Florida and thus would no longer be in the jurisdiction of the NY AG. Welcome to the Land of the Free (free if you’re a billionaire that is and can choose which luxury hotel to call your home.)
So much evil is done in the world in the name of ‘democracy’, and yet precious little like any real democracy can be found in the nations bombing and torturing in the name of democracy.
Do a Wiki on the Judge in question and the story becomes less than impressive from a judicial standpoint ? Here in Limeyland such partisanship amongst Judges, whilst no doubt existing, does need to be rather more opaque than in the USA 🙂
There will be a special place in Hell for the likes of Ian Austin.
Dante locates it in the Ninth Circle.
Given the number of people who go online to assert that they are lifelong Labour voters who this time for the first time ever will not vote Labour why is Labour not currently the party of government? Given these individuals all apparently voted Labour last time around, Jeremy Corbyn should currently have a majority of around 300 MPs … how strange
Well, the poster is a giveaway: mainstreamuk.org rather than a campaign against all extremism seems to be a campaign group solely against Corbyn and his supporters. Their only publications available are two attack pieces against Corbyn and McDonnell which seeks to associate them with the IRA. There only 10 “backers” of the group identified including highly outspoken critics of Corbyn such as Maureen Lipman, Rachel Riley and some former Labour MPs who defected to Change UK or the Lib Dems. It accepts donations but there is no information on whether it has substantial backers or who they are. The website doesn’t indicate it is a charity or legal entity such as a Limited Company. The Donation page does not seem to restrict donors or donation size in any way. The website was registered on 13 Sept this year but I can’t find any registrant info at all other than they say they’re based in Brighton.
Anyone know whether they get state funding, or anything else about the group?
Murdoch’s Gutter Rag was at it too –
In an article which once again attempted to criticise the Labour leader’s stance on National Security, war and nuclear weapons, the online version of the Murdoch newspaper directly claimed that as an MP, Jeremy Corbyn voted against military intervention in the Falklands.
In fact, the Falklands War began in April 1982 and ended just two months later in June of the same year, whilst Jeremy Corbyn was only first elected to his Islington North constituency almost a full year after the war had finished, in June 1983.
https://evolvepolitics.com/the-times-claims-corbyn-voted-against-falklands-war-despite-corbyn-not-being-an-mp-at-the-time/?
Austin was also on Sky with Kate Burley and CH4 news at 7pm, he’s definitely hit all the spots in his day long campaign. Nice timing by Watson as well, can we be looking forward to seeing him on the BBC too I wonder? Maybe not after his connection to the paedophile non scandal. I can’t watch it to be honest, the bile, the hatred, coordinated of course (who IS pulling the strings though?) The media are a joke in the UK, utter joke, the strange thing is they seem to revel in their role as spawn of satan which jarrs enormously with their desire to be seen as ‘right on’ gate keepers of decency!
Anyway, I know who I’m voting for and refuse to watch another month of this deceitful tosh, so no more MSM for me. They won’t be happy until the labour party is back in the hands of the neo Thatcherite brigade again and every election is a choice for a docile ill informed public to vote for two flavours of the same gruel. Britain is in a terrible and tragic place right now and it’s on the skids further down without a hope in hell of getting out of it.
I would say though, that an enormous amount of this campaign is going to be conducted online, its something that Labour excelled at last time round and something the Torys were awful at.
ITV was in on the act as well with a photo of Austin ( I think) clapping Tom Watson speaking at a Friends of Israel meeting, which context seemed totally inappropriate. I can only think that the likes of Mann, Woodcock and Austin have hate in their soul, which is why they behave with such malice and their pitch today with Jewish Chronicle and so called
Thanks as usual to Craig for raising issues that have been simmering away in my mind all day. I see also other Labour candidates are being made sacrificial lambs for breaking what has became a taboo area for them to express their views. Meanwhile as reported on Juan Cole’s “Informed Comment” tonight.
“About 2m people have been living in Gaza under a tight Israeli blockade since 2007. They have been subjected to brutal military assaults since 2008, in the context of the Israeli policy of “mowing the lawn”, military attacks and bombardment which indiscriminately kill civilians and cause massive levels of damage to civilian infrastructure in Gaza.” And this is what such as Mann, Woodcock and Austin clearly care about and want to stifle every ounce of protest under the flag of anti-semitism.