How the government controls the press

An article in today's Daily Telegraph by Julia Langdon "revealed" that spending on government spin had trebled under Labour and taxpayers are now supporting an army of more than 3,200 press officers.

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When Labour came to power in 1997, just over 300 fully-fledged press officers were working in Whitehall (although that figure excluded a small number of other public relations staff).

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Furthermore, the amount being spent on government advertising, marketing and public relations had risen three-fold since Mr Blair entered No 10.

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The Central Office of Information's PR, advertising and marketing budget had soared from £111 million in 1997 to £322 million last year.

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Julia Langdon is a former political correspondent of The Guardian, and political editor of the Daily Mirror and The Sunday Telegraph. She is now free-lance and is often to be seen (or heard) on the BBC, hosting a variety of political programmes.
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The government's 'press officers' churn out press releases by the thousands - so say nothing of posts on their hundreds of websites - and other hacks do use them.

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There are thousands of trade journals – many of them staffed by little more than a man and a dog – and the torrent of press releases emanating from the various ministries find their way into these, often with only the bare minimum of editing.Then, the news agencies also pick them up and, with often minimal re-writing, send them out on the wires where they are used, second-hand, by national and local newspapers – the circulation of the latter, cumulatively far exceeding that of the nationals. By and large, the specialist correspondents on the nationals rely on their diet of press releases – often sent in advance of the general release, as a "reward" for good behaviour.

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For these and others, government statements and press releases are "safe" - you don't have to do any fact-checking before you quote them. So our little darlings in the media carry on churning out government spin for all these years, recycling press releases instead of going out and getting their own stories.

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Now that the government is getting more reticent about certain aspects of its policies, the milk in the teat is drying and the likes of Julia Langdon are throwing a hissy. They are spitting their dummies (pacifiers, for our American friends) out of the pram.

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The government employs thousands of press officers because it is in its interest to do so and the media does not complain too loudly or too long because it suits it as well. Both print and broadcast media have been shedding journalists in droves and as long as they have a cheap, reliable source of copy, they may rock the boat occasionally, but they are not going to capsize it.

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Julia Langdon in an op-ed

The end of week quote

"I find it amazing Sir Ian Blair can offer such a complacent view and can only wonder if he lives in a different world to the rest of us. The Commisioner is sending out a confusing message to residents and totally the wrong message to burglars.''

The Conservative Bromley and Chislehurst MP, Bob Neill.


London Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has been understandably criticised for declaring Londoners could feel safe leaving their doors open.

Figures released by the Met have revealed residential burglaries in Bromley have increased by 13.4 per cent during the past 12 months, from 1,972 to 2,236.

Political intergration, for the sake of it.

We see that Daniel Hannan, the eurosceptic's eurosceptic, is in full flood in The Daily Telegraph holding forth in an op-ed about the terrors of the European Union.

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"The European Union is a solution in search of a problem," he writes. "Whatever the question, the answer is invariably 'more Europe'. War in Lebanon? We need to be able to deploy an EU army. A breakdown in the World Trade Organisation talks? Let's have a more integrated European economy. People voted against the constitution? They obviously thought it didn't go far enough."

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This from the man that staked his political reputation on the Boy King Cameron taking the Conservative MEPs out of the federalist EEP group in the EU parliament – only to have his new leader renege on the promise, leaving Hannan high and dry – and still a member of the federalist EPP.

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We should quietly forget this little embarrassment and be grateful that thus highly paid MEP is not too busy to earn a little more money telling us what we already know – that the EU in reality only has one policy and that is political integration.

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The fact is that what Hannan has written cannot be said too often – especially for our American friends, some of whom still labour under the impression that the EU has some purpose other than full political integration, for the sake of it.

Bog standard ?

Car steering wheels carry twice as many germs as toilets it has been reveled. Steering wheels have on average 41,600 jerms, compaiered with 17,400 on a toilet seat, research by very British supermarket giant Tesco (well every little bit of informamation helps).

Perhaps it would be more hygenic to use toilet seats as steering wheels in our cars; could this become bog standard

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Bogseat with real Va Va Voom More info...

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Imigration from Eastern Europe

Letter published today in The Journal

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The recent government official figures, state that half a million East Europeans had applied for work in Britain since EU enlargement two years ago. This is much greater than predicted.

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The actual number of workers from these countries is actually higher still as the figures do not include 100,000 that have become self-employed people like builders or plumbers, who do not have to join a worker's registration scheme.

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What we have not heard or seen anywhere in the media is why it is happening, and why this mass migration was both inevitable, once these countries entered the European Union.

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It is in fact a problem of agriculture. Something like 25 percent of Poland's 40 million population is dependent for its income on the land – 10 million or so people - and other EU enlargement countries have similar ratios. Yet, in a modern economy, this is unsustainable. agriculture, typically, can only support between 2-4 percent (in Britain it is lower), and then only with considerable protection and subsidy.

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In joining the EU, the enlargement countries – as expected – have been forced into a massive programme of rationalising (reducing) their farming industries, which means that people are being forced off the land as rural employment declines.

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In all the EU accession countries the industrial base is also contracting. Under the dual assault of EU 'environmental' protection laws and the prohibition on vital state aid – with the added problem of global competition - many of the former state-owned enterprises have shut down or have reduced their labour forces.

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Hence a situation where not just the rural economy is shedding labour, so to is the industrial sector and the governments are unable under EU rules to install corrective action.

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To try and stop the mass influx of eastern Europeans into the UK, without dealing with the core issue – European agricultural subsidies – is like Canute trying to stop the tide coming in.

BBC lost on the road to Maastricht

Time Magazine - at the time of the Single European Act

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Two weeks ago, when Christoper Booker wrote about Forging the Union, Radio 4's history of the EU, he had no intention had no intention of returning to it. But last week's instalment was such atravesty, riddled with factual errors, says Booker it calls for further comment. Below is extracted from today's Telegraph.

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With the aid of such luminaries as Geoffrey Howe and Jacques Delors, thisepisode covered the years of Margaret Thatcher's premiership, during which by far the most important development was the relaunching of the drive towards European integration by the Italian Euro-MP Altiero Spinelli (after whom, inconsequence, the largest building in the Brussels European Parliament is named).

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In 1984, Spinelli's Draft Treaty on European Union, including everything from asingle currency to a common foreign and defence policy, was accepted byPresident Mitterrand and other leaders.

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But it was agreed that such an ambitiousleap forward required not one but two new treaties, which would be the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty on European Union.The one real obstacle was Mrs Thatcher, who was only keen to see further stepstowards completing the Common Market, which she did not consider needed a newtreaty. At the 1985 Milan Council, she was therefore famously outwitted andoutvoted.

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Thatcher got her "single market", but the price was the setting in train ofthat integration process which would lead to Maastricht.

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Of this astonishing story, the BBC told us almost nothing. We had a tired,one-dimensional account of how Mrs Thatcher inspired the single market, how shemade her "bitter" Bruges speech and fell out with Mr Delors, until for reasonslargely unexplained "Europe" somehow led to her downfall.

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It is bizarre that the BBC should present such a misleading account of this important chapter in ourhistory, when the real story is so much more interesting.

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Alas, the corporation's mindset is so firmly clenched on a particular view of anything to do with "Europe" that this seems to drive its (not very demanding) professional standards right out of the window.

The Sunday Quote

"The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just tactics. The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act."

Bruce Schneier

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Bruce Schneier is an international expert on security. He produces a free monthly newsletter, Crypto-Gram, with over 100,000 readers. In its seven years of regular publication, Crypto-Gram has become one of the most widely read forums for free-wheeling discussions, pointed critiques, and serious debate about security. Regularly quoted in the media, Mr Schneier has written op ed pieces for several major newspapers, and has testified on security before the United States Congress on many occasions.

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Bruce Schneir's recent book is, Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World, read more

More EU Fraud

Read where large amounts of our money goes.

There is a very interesting story in The Sunday Telegraph on EU fraud.

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The story is yet more evidence that the whole system is pervaded with corruption, from the very top to the low-grade defrauding of expenses by by MEPs which, with the total lack of accountablilty, makes the system unreformable.

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This is an issue which the Europhiles and those who depend upon the EU for a living continue to skate around - when they are not throwing up huge smokescreens - but the fact remains that the EU is more like the Maffia than a government (if there is a difference) and will always remain so for as long as we tolerate its existence.

Blogging in the Arab world

For anyone interested in what is going on in Iraq even mildly, Iraq The Model is a must to read as regularly as possible. It is run by two young men in Baghdad who have lived there all their lives and are involved in the developments now. Not long ago they mourned the death of a cousin in a terrorist attack.
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A couple of interesting postings: Omar has added up how many blogs there were in Iraq now and has come to a very interesting and heartening conclusion. According to the Technocrati data there are now(or were last week) 212 Iraqi blogs However, Omar points out that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
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Most blogs are written in Arabic and are, therefore, not necessarily noticed outside the country. On the other hand they do have a greater influence inside.
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There are also bloggers in Egypt and other Arab countries, though, according to Mohammed, who has just returned from a bloggers’ conference in Cairo, their lives are considerably more difficult than those led by the Iraqi contingent.
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Not so long ago a number of bloggers were arrested by the Egyptian police and maltreated in a way that probably made them wish they could be imprisoned in Guantánamo. Most were eventually released in response to demonstrations in Cairo and a world-wide protest on the blogosphere (well, some parts of it).
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One should be in awe of these people’s courage.
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Things are not so good in Iran, still one of the countries with the largest number of blogs in the world. Farsi is joint second language on the blogosphere and may well overtake French soon. If the Mullahs and President Ahmadinejad with his thuggish Revolutionary Guards will allow it, that is.
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The recent news from Iran is that not only the police have been smashing satellite dishes to prevent people from listening to 'decadent' information from outside but they have also been working quite hard to block websites and blogs. If that means arresting and beating up bloggers, so much the worse for them.
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In future this site will join in the world-wide protests when we hear of bloggers being arrested, of writers being maltreated for their writing and of blogs and websites being blocked. We owe it to our brave colleagues in countries where there is real oppression.

Going the way of the dodo

Speaking out -Peter Troy asks:

''are small business suffering from over regulation by the EU'' ?

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Only the most fervent trade unionist or those that earn a living in the rapidly expanding employment law sector (and I know at least two people that fit into both categories) support the ever complex regulations that hassle businesses, particularly small businesses.

More than half of employees in Britain believe that the Government should not allow the EU to restrict the number of hours that they chose to work.

The Financial Times/Harris poll, published last week, support the government's defence of the EU opt out which allows employees to choose to work longer than the European Union maximum average working week of 48 hours.

It is truly annoying that Britons are haveing to fight to support their government which is losing a battle by the bossy EU who yet again are telling us what they think is best for us. The nanny suprastate in action once more.

As most of the three million or so self employed or small business people know working long hours is mostly vital in order to be successful in business. Clearly the EU don't want to understand that point - the EU has a long track record in anti small business legislation.

Britain's rejection of the opt-out of the EU working time directive is strongly opposed by Britains Trade Union movement.The opt-out should be strongly and vocally supported by the Federation of Small Businesses otherwise small businesses in this country could well go the way of the dodo.

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End of Week Quote

A letter from today's edition of The Times

The Battle of Britain

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Churchill not only praised “the Few” (which included 56 Royal Navy pilots) in his famous speech 66 years ago, he also praised the other airmen in Bomber Command who had harried the enemy across the Channel and beyond (report, Aug 24).

There is no doubt that, had “the Few” (and radar and the Observer Corps) failed, the Royal Navy would have fought valiantly to stop any invasion of our shores. It would probably have succeeded but, without air supremacy, that would have been at great cost.

But the main point is that the Battle of Britain was the first time that air-to-air combat reversed the outcome of an enemy’s major strategic plan. The invasion did not take place for a number of reasons. Not least of these was the Luftwaffe’s inability to subdue the RAF, the overrun of time that the belligerence of Fighter Command caused to the invasion plans, making weather in the Channel a serious issue, and the threat of the world’s most powerful navy protecting its own shores.

This points not to a conclusion that the Battle of Britain was not a victory, but that this nation and its Armed Forces acted in a way which surprised, weakened and demoralised the German High Command to such an extent that they allowed its leader to turn his attention towards the East where, incidentally, a slower but very similar situation forced the Germans eventually to retreat again.

September 15, Battle of Britain Day, is a time for celebration, for it marked a turning point when our island nation, standing virtually alone, turned back a hitherto victorious barbaric regime, giving a breathing space for an eventual victory over the tyranny of Nazism.

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Had “the Few” not fought so bravely I have no doubt that the world would be a very different place today.

MICHAEL A. FOPP
Director GeneralRoyal Air Force MuseumLondon NW9

It's Just Not Cricket!

Peter Troy (left) and Colin Stratton in the 'good old days'. Drawing by Veroncia Wilkie

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In an act of defiance of the rules, traditions and procedures of Cricket that surpass even the audacity of the FSB North East Regional Committee (to ignore the rules and procedures that it is supposed to obey) was witnessed by millions of Cricket lovers at The Oval in London last Monday.

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International Cricket Council Officials ruled that in accordance with the laws of cricket that the fifth and final test between England and Pakistan had been forfeited by Pakistan. This the consequence of their protest when the team refused to return to the pitch after the tea break. The protest was in response to the two umpires penalizing the Pakistanis 5 runs when the ball was deliberately scuffed - a very serious offence in the glorious and traditional game of cricket.

Those that watch football have become used to the antics of the (mostly) overpaid brainless prima donnas on football pitches up and down the land. In many ways they can be excused since the players are so mindless one can, perhaps, make allowances for the fact that their vast pay cheques addles what little brain power they (mostly) have.

Cricketers should know better; cricket is afterall a way of life not just a bat and ball game. Alas, the introduction of 'corporate cricket' is directly causing behavioural problems on and off the pitch by those that participate.

The Pakistan test team's behaviour last Monday is just not cricket as it should be. If the International Cricket Council has the guts they should ban all the 11 Pakistan team members from international cricket for at least a year not only for cheating but also for deliberate defiance of the rules of the glorious game. An unequivocal apology might help; though cheats hate lossing face.

The Irish Question and all that

By Dr Helen Szamuely

According to what might be the greatest book of English and British history “1066 And All That”, Mr Gladstone’s sole aim was to solve the Irish Question but the Irish cheated: every time he came near to doing just that, they changed the Question.

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For those of us who are old enough to have studied history at school that remains the best description of the endless toing and froing over Ireland in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

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The creation of the Irish Free State appeared to solve the Question but it left Britain with the Ulster Problem and I am not going to spend the next three hours trying, rather ineffectually, I suspect, to analyze that.

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One would think that with both Britain and Ireland being members of the European Union, a transnational organization devoted to the destruction of existing national states and creating a new one, that of a common European State (super or otherwise) would have put pay to all that discussion and the constant changing of the Question. Let’s face it, the EU will have its work cut out with the Transylvanian Question once Romania is part of it.

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It seems, we have underestimated Irish tenaciousness. A good Question is not to be discarded just because centuries have gone by and fruitless battles have been waged.

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According to the BBC, Gay Mitchell, a member of the Irish Parliament and of the European Parliament, made what turned out to be inflammatory remarks at the annual Fine Gael Collins-Griffith Memorial in Dublin on Sunday.

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It is, perhaps, worth noting that the two men commemorated are Arthur Griffith, the first President of the Irish Free State, who died in 1922 because of stress brought on by the country’s indubitable slide into an extremely bloody civil war and Michael Collins, the leader of the IRA who signed the treaty with the British Government and immediately started undermining it, though this remained unknown to many of his erstwhile comrades. Collins was planning to launch a guerrilla war in Northern Ireland but was distracted by that civil war and was clearly involved in the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson. Despite all this, as Sellars and Yeatman might have said, he was assassinated by disgruntled IRA members 10 days after Griffith’s death. Oh dear, I wasn’t going to go into Irish history.

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Anyway, what did Mr Mitchell say that annoyed everyone so much?

“As a constitutional nationalist, he was interested in looking at Ireland's relationship with NI's unionist population, he said.He widened his argument to ask what role the British monarchy would have if a united Ireland came about by consent.

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''Are we prepared to actually think out of the box and say, well how - if this is to come about - it will be accommodated," he asked."Or alternatively, are we saying that we are abdicating solely to Provisional Sinn Fein, the role of being advocates for a united Ireland in the Republic?"I think that would be a disastrous thing to do."

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Needless to say, Sinn Fein condemned the remarks immediately as did the DUP and these are the only two parties that count for anything in Northern Ireland.

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My question remains similar to the one at the beginning of this posting. Mr Mitchell is musing about a united Ireland brought about by consent (another instalment from “Tales of Porcine Aviation”).

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Is that not rather a passé notion in the brave new world of the European Union? And should Mr Mitchell, as an MEP, not know this fact?

Stuck for words ?

''The moving finger writes and having writ moves on. Nor all they piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line nor shall all thy tear wash out a word of it.''

The Rubayat of Omar Khayyam --- translated by Edward Fitzgerald in 1859.


Clearly, the ancient Persian story teller did not have the advantage of Microsoft Word.

Articles, speeches, audio recordings, 'one liners', political briefings, background research, scripts, humorous adaptations, quotes, leaflets drafted, proof reading, talks, speeches, seminars, workshops, presentations, disclaimer tags, mission and focus statements also meetings with a difference. All from:

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Peter Troy - contact: p.troy@fsbdiail.co.uk - 01740 629433

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West Wing - go figure

By Danial Hannan

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Even Right-wingers are addicted to the series: for all its Leftist bias, it generally allowed conservative arguments to be advanced, often with more eloquence than we get from real-life Tory politicians.

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If Conservatives enjoyed the programme, Labour professionals wanted to live in it. They dreamt of the opulent backdrops, fantasised about the huge secretariats, drooled over the thought that even middle-ranking officials could wield such vast powers. Then they looked around at their drab party headquarters and they said to themselves: "This will not do!" Hence the swanky new offices on Victoria Street.

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Hence the engorged party payroll, which now costs £12.8 million a year in staff and pensions. Hence Labour's financial crisis. And hence the near inevitability that you will be asked to fund the shortfall. All because, as a Labour insider told this newspaper yesterday: "They thought they were in The West Wing. "

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At least no one can accuse Labour of hypocrisy. The party has run itself in much the same way that it has governed Britain: hiring people until the money runs out, and then going to the taxpayer for more. It is natural enough, I suppose, that the big-government faction should favour the nationalisation of party funding. The odd thing is that the other parties are also going along with the idea.

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Part of the explanation has to do with straightforward self-interest. Asking politicians whether there should be state funding for parties is like asking farmers whether there should be state funding for agriculture: they may have a good deal of expertise, but they are not disinterested.

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This is especially so when, as at present, they have uneasy consciences. The more we learn about the recent soliciting of loans, the more it looks as if all three parties have broken the rules. They understandably fear an electoral backlash. At the very least, they know that it will be harder to solicit donations in future. So why not get rid of the whole distasteful business of fundraising and replace it with a transparent system of government subsidy?

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There are four answers. First, public subvention is not a cure for, but a cause of, political corruption. When people know that there is a pot of gold waiting to be claimed, they arrange their affairs around qualifying for it.

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Look at the countries where parties are most dependent on the taxpayer: France, where more than 1,000 elected officials have been convicted of offences under party funding rules; Germany, where Helmut Kohl's government fell after a party financing scandal involving briefcases full of banknotes; Italy, where nearly half of all MPs are or have been under police investigation.

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Ah, you say, but what about America, where politicians are so dependent on private money that they have become vessels of big business?

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Actually, this is less and less true. The fastest-growing source of political contributions in America is the internet, where most donations come in units of $50 or less. This phenomenon allows outsiders with interesting things to say - Howard Dean, for example - to take on their party bigwigs.

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Which brings us to the second objection. Politicians are already seen as remote and arrogant. How much worse would that problem be if they were able to compel money from their constituents by law, instead of having to ask politely? Again, look at Europe, where lavish subsidies have created a para-state career structure. A graduate can move seamlessly from his party apparatus to ministerial office without ever working in the real world. Unsurprisingly, having spent his career swimming in the ocean of taxpayers' money, he is rarely a tax-cutter by the time he comes to power.

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Point three: state funding allows existing parties to form a cartel against newcomers. Or, to put it another way, it shields them from the consequences of their unpopularity, because there is nowhere else to go. At the same time, once the government begins to pay for parties, it starts to tell them what to believe. In Belgium, there are moves to deny funding to the Flemish separatists on the ground that they threaten the unity of the state. In Holland, a court has ruled that a Christian party should forfeit its financial entitlement because it does not believe in sex equality. In the EU, trans-national parties are required to accept "the values of the European Union".

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But perhaps the best rebuttal of the case is the obvious one: what bloody cheek. Caught breaking their own rules, the political parties demand that the rest of the country should pay them with sufficient generosity to remove them from further temptation.

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The solution? Parties should spend less. The past three general elections have been, by some measure, the most expensive ever. Yet turnout keeps falling and, of those who do cast their ballots, unprecedented numbers are eschewing the three main parties. Which raises an interesting question.

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Might it be the very slickness of the big campaigns that is driving voters towards the Blaenau Gwent independents, UKIP, Save Kidderminster Hospital and the other low-budget candidates?

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The record for money spent per voter is held by the pro-euro movement in Sweden's 2003 referendum, which I happened to observe. The result? A 20-point lead was reversed, precisely because voters recoiled from the extravagance of the "Yes" campaign.

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Go back to those West Wing characters, pedi-conferencing through the White House corridors. Watch closely and you will see a political system that forces modesty on its principals. Behind every quip and wisecrack is a recognition that the voter is the boss. You can't imagine Alastair Campbell talking like that, can you? As the Americans say, go figure.

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Daniel Hannan is a Tory MEP

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We also despair Doctor Reid

Those flags behind the Home Secretary show who really governs Britain.

When Dr John Reid last week held a press conference at the Home Office, with the EU Justice Commissioner, to announce further measures of EU integration on terrorism, the Union flag was on the right and the EU flag on the left. Under international protocols on flag display, this gave the EU flag precedence (the rules say that "national flags" should be on the left, with "supranational flags" after "other national flags", in third place).

At least if this was meant to signal that the EU is in many ways now our national government, there was honesty in the order in which the flags were placed. One of the more disconcerting features of how Britain is now governed is the degree to which our politicians try to conceal how far we have ceded the power to decide our laws and policy to Brussels.

We on this blog thank the civil servants who organised the press confrence last week since they did not hide the fact that the real Government of Her Majesty's Subjects in the glorious realm of the United Kingdom resides in Brussels.

Our Hidden Government

By Dr Richard North

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In The Daily Telegraph today, there is a strident editorial castigating the Post Office for introducing complex and unnecessary changes to the postal system on Monday, whereby mail is now charged not only by weight but also by size.

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What the paper failed to note was that which had been pointed out by Christopher Booker last Sunday – the Post Office had no choice – it had to impose the changes to comply with an directive on opening up European postal services to competition.

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An essential part of that is harmonising the basis of the charging regime and, as always, since we operate a different – and simpler – system, it is us that have to come into line. Never mind that we had a postal service before most of our European neighbours had countries.Why the newspaper should have failed to mention the EU dimension is incomprehensible, but it is typical of a media which consistently avoids referring to what we so often call "the elephant in the room".

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Strangely, this failing has a great deal in common with the media coverage of the "Qana" incident. On this, we have complained about lies and distortions, but this is more of the same – albeit in a different league.

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Being brought up as a good Catholic boy - by Jesuits, no less - I committed to memory the then version of the Catechism, and recall to this day the definition of a lie. It could be, said the book of words, an act, default or omission. Failing to point out something which is relevant to an issue and vital to the correct understanding of it – to the extent that false understanding arises as a result – is as much a lie as telling a direct untruth.In that context, today's editorial is a lie.

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Worse still, it is part of a bigger and continued lie – the refusal of our media to inform us of the extent to which we are ruled by an alien government, based in Brussels. In its own way, that is every bit as important as the lies and distortions coming out of the Middle East and – in all probability – stems from the same wellspring of mendacity, sloath and lack of professionalism.

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Either which way you cut it though, through the complicity of the media, we have a hidden government. And the worst of it all it that no one (and especially the media) seems particularly to care. I wonder how Americans would react if their government had moved offshore, say to Havana?

A very American Photographer

A tribute

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Yesterday the death was anounced, at the grand age of 94, of Joe Rosenthal, the man who won the Pulitzer Prize for one of the most famous photographs of the Second World War: the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.

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The photograph, taken on February 23, 1945 was actually that of a second flag raising, as the first flag was not deemed to be large enough. This had been decided before Rosenthal got there for reasons of military morale rather than the need to send a better picture.

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The Iwo Jima photograph, listed as no. 68 in a 1999 New York University survey of the 100 best examples of photojournalism of the century (goodness only knows what sins are buried in that survey), was never simply a news story.The photo did not lie in the sense that Iwo Jima had been taken with a great deal of sacrifice. But what it really concentrated on is the effort and achievement of war and of the US Marine Corps, in particular.

“What I see behind the photo is what it took to get up to those heights the kind of devotion to their country that those young men had, and the sacrifices they made," Rosenthal once said. "I take some gratification in being a little part of what the U.S. stands for''.

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The photograph was the basis for the Marine memorial in Washington DC, officially dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 10, 1954, the 179th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps. Its influence was shown in another, more recent iconic photograph: that of the three firemen raising the Stars and Stripes over the rubble that had been the World Trade Centre.

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A holiday story

An experienced airline pilot, accross the pond, once wrote that on a particular internal flight he had hammered his aircraft somewhat into the runway really hard; due to high cross winds. No damage was done but the passengers were somewhat shaken, if not stirred.

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The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and bid them fairwell with the comment: "Thanks for flying on our airline." He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally, everyone had got off without making any adverse comment except for a little old lady walking with a stick.

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As she disembarked she said, "Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?" "Why, no, Ma'am," said the pilot. "What is it?" The little old lady said, "Did we land, or were we shot down?"

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Click below to see how to change planes mid flight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=216D3WvspN0

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Propaganda for our teenagers

The recent publication Inside Britain – A Guide to the UK Constitution (http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/main/news.php?n359) must be one of the most deceitful, inadequate and deliberately ill-informed documents ever published in the English language.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Minister for Constitutional Affairs, whos department funded the book and its distribution to schools states that the publication is aimed at teenagers. It is in fact an insult to their intelligence, a disgrace to our heritage and a deliberate attempt to mislead future generations of adults.

But should we be surprised? We have had to endure 40+ years of successive governments dumbing-down constitutional education in our schools – all part of a politically-motivated process to remove knowledge and understanding of British sovereign rights and freedoms. This process, insidiously started by Wilson and Jenkins in the 1960s, has produced at least two generations already with little idea of what their true rights and freedoms are. The publication continues the process. It is a very British disgrace.

Some more glaringly obvious errors include :

* A total misrepresentation of the relationship between Sovereign and people. No attempt to explain that the British people are sovereign in their own country, and that the state answers to us. (How else could the British people enjoy the right - if they so wish - to throw out their elected representatives at least every five years.)

* No attempt to explain that Magna Carta, 1215, and the Declaration of Rights, 1688, were both contracts directly between the Crown and the people. Both were and still are beyond the powers of parliament. Any repeal of statutes based on those contracts leaves the original contracts untouched. (References: Speaker Betty Boothroyd, Hansard 21 July 1993).

* No mention of the recognition by King John of our rights and freedoms at Runnymede in 1215, except for a passing and wholly inadequate reference.

* No attempt to distinguish between the ‘recognition’ of rights and freedoms by successive British sovereigns, and the supposed ‘granting’ of such rights and freedoms by 'European' politicians and bureaucrats - as the EU absurdly attempted in their 'constitution document' (later described by Keith Vaz, then minister for Europe, as no more significant than a copy of the Beano).

* No mention of the significance of the Coronation Oath which renews the contract between the Crown and the people when each new sovereign takes the throne.

* A distortion of the role of parliament and its relationship with Crown and people.
(Why else does every Act start: "Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent majesty...")

* Civil servants being described as an arm of the state, which they are not. Neither are they there to support a government per se. They are there to do Her Majesty's Government's (lawful) bidding.

* A claim that the armed services are an arm of government – they are not. All officers swear an oath of loyalty to the Crown, as does the Prime Minister and all other ministers and Privy Counsellors.

* No mention of Charles 1, nor Cromwell, and their respective constitutional consequences. Nor are the full consequences of William and Mary gaining the throne explained. The Bill of Rights 1689 is almost ignored.

Our young deserve much better than this shoddy work; they dererve ''education, education, education'' not propaganda, propaganda, propaganda.

Some holiday blog viewing

Some recomended web sites:-
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Tory Radio, Jonathan Shepherd's increasingly influential podcasting site;
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The Nether World, David Simonetti's latest solo offering;
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Mike Ion, one of the more sensible voices in the Labour blogosphere;
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Craig Murray, who has something to say even if you don't agree with it;
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7/7 Bombings Inquiry Petition, listed in the hope visitors will sign it.

The curruption of the media

A report

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This report (linked below) provides evidence which will enable us to force the news agencies, and the media which rely on them, to recognise that the media conduct at Qana in the Lebanon was unacceptable.

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The matter is also an example of a much wider problem, affecting the way the whole of the media operates, the objective is to see them address the issues raised and to reform their operations. Without that, the authors feel, there can be no trust in the accuracy, impartiality or professionalism of any of their output, which is not only a major inconvenience, but threatens the very health of our democracy. For, without objective reporting, there is only propaganda.

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Please click below:

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/08/corruption-of-media.html

Sunday Quote

"The world of men is dreaming, it has gone mad in its sleep, and a snake is strangling it, but it can't wake up."

D H Lawrence (British Poet and Noveist 1885-1930

Extra 'umph

Are you a small business in need of that bit of extra ‘umph’?
Contact
Peter Troy
The expert in small business publicity
01740 629433
E-mail ptroy@fsbdial.co.uk

Now We Can All Sleep Soundly

By Dr Richard North

Anyone worried about the alleged terrorist plot and the ways of dealing with it should desist immediately. BAA may have caused absolute mayhem and showed that it has no plans for dealing with what is a very likely emergency. The Leader of the Opposition may have felt that he was called upon to pontificate in a wandering-aimlessly-round-and-round sort of fashion.

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Fear not, the real work is being done. Dr John Reid has chaired a meeting of five other EU ministers of interior during which various ideas were discussed as to how the situation can be dealt with.As ever, when anything happens, the first proposal was to push faster towards an integrated anti-terrorist policy. Then it was reduced to a few more concentrated ideas:

“[John Reid] said the talks had discussed practical measures in four areas:· Tackling liquid explosives· Co-ordination of transport security· Exchange of intelligence· The nature of European Islam”

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I am not really certain what any of this means. After all, liquid explosives are not precisely legal even now and how one tackles them remains something of a mystery, though both Franco Frattini and Wolfgang Schäuble have called for something to be done about them.

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One assumes that there is exchange of intelligence and co-ordination of transport security is already in place and not just involving terrorism. In fact, last week’s operation seems to have been carried out with the involvement of many other security services, European and others.As for the nature or European Islam, that appears to me to be much too wide and difficult subject for the average minister interior or his minions to tackle.On the other hand, ministers of interior are getting above their station if the BBC report is to be believed:

“But he [John Reid] said the presence of five other interior ministers and top EU officials symbolised Europe's determination to stand together and defend their values.” Clearly, “values”, undefined, is going to be the buzzword for a while.

The end of week quote

'' Whatever the truth about last week's alleged bomb plot, Britain's terrorists registered a big success anyway. Thousands of flights have been cancelled, tens of millions of pounds wasted, millions of travellers subjected to airport nightmares.''

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'' .......... Veterans of World War II mock the chaos that we allow to overtake the country amid a mere terrorist alert. In their day, everybody kept dancing under the bombs, pubcrawled through the blackout, dined at the Dorchester while anti-aircraft guns thundded in Hyde Park.''

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Today, however, we are 60 years past all that. We have become a vastly more risk-adverse society.''

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Max Hastings - Daily Mail 15 August

The Sunday Quote

'' It takes your enemy and your friend, working together to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get news to you.''

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) Following the Equator (1897)

From the deckchair

News has just reached the editor's seaside deckchair that the European Union is up to its usual interfearing tricks again, oh yes indeed.
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The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has slammed proposals to introduce Europe-wide restrictions on alcohol sales which could increase prices and limit pub opening hours, just after they have been derestricted.

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The organisation has reacted with outrage to a report due to be published by the European Commission public health department DG SANCO (sounds like a Spanish white wine) in September.

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Its proposals call for a minimum tax rate on alcoholic beverages which would be raised substantially and standardised across Europe; a halt to so called 'booze-cruises' by allowing EU members to limit citizens’ right to buy alcohol abroad; restricted opening hours, a ban on advertising and sponsorship and health warnings on all packaging.

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The BBPA has warned there could be dire consequences if the proposals became law.

Too right there will be, cheers.

Home Grown Terrorism

A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.

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Today’s unfolding events would appear to have been a successful thwarting of a home grown treat to the safety of innocent people.

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That COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room Annex) met and events moved at such a quick pace is an indication of the seriousness of the situation that faces the not only the UK but the World from fanatical extremists within countries own borders.

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I am sure that with hindsight many of today’s frustrated travelers will realize that the actions taken by the Government just might have saved their lives.

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Not withstanding my previous comments on the Home Secretary I congratulate the authorities on their swift action and the security forces on their near impossible task.

Hoiliday Time

Sandcastles and photo by Peter Troy - 2005

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As they say acrross 'the pond' it's vaction time. The editor is off to the seaside for a very British summer holiday. But fear not regualar(ish) postings will continue with 'comments from the deckchair'.

Below as a special treat is an archive picture of Peter Troy and his bucket and spade.

South Lynn, Jersey 1955 - Photograph K O'D Troy

Dr Reid, a challenge

The Home Secretary has warned that modern terrorism means Britain now faces "the most sustained period of threat since the end of the Second World War".

In a speech to the think tank Demos, John Reid said that many in Britain had failed to grasp the scale of the terrorist threat.

"I make this point about the requirement for a fundamental understanding of the nature of the struggle in which we're engaged," he said.

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What a load of 'cobblers'. Just because the British people are refusing to allow the likes of the Home Secetery (and his incompetent predecessor) to erode our basic freedoms without a murmer does not mean that people do not understand the very real threat posed by terrorism.

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"It will be wide, it will be long, it will be deep and it will be difficult. Our adversaries in international terrorism are completely unconstrained. The international terrorists of today are ruthless and unconstrained in every direction, including in their attempts to misuse our freedoms to undermine our free society."

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Saying that terrorists were abusing "great strengths" like the free media and ease of travel, he said: "They endeavour to drain our morale through the misuse of our freedoms by misrepresenting every mistake or over-reaction as if it is our primary or real purpose."

"We should not allow ourselves to be seduced by the terrorist who urges [us] to be the quickest to condemn our security forces and police on every occasion and the slowest to understand the problems they face in tackling a new and unconstrained enemy," Reid added.

The Home Secretary is right to point out that communities need to join forces with the Government in organising our own security. To achieve this, however, he will need to overcome the huge sense of alienation from government (and the Police), that most people now regrettably feel

Warning that Britain may have to give up some of its freedoms in the short term in order to protect them in the long term, the Home Scretary quite worringly said that the Government's terrorism legislation had proved necessary despite the opposition it has met from Parliament, the judiciary and the press.

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No Dr Reid, the terrorists win if we reduce our standards of justice or democracy !

Dr Reid also said that terrorism was a challenge faced by everyone in Britain. "Our common security in this country can only be assured by a common effort from all sections of society".

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Yes, agreed but politicians need to first reconect with all the people before they make grand statements which hint at reducing the very rights and freedoms we rightly expect.

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Indeed the terrorist threat is a huge worry but us Brits are made of very tough fiber. What is also worring is not that that senior 'New Labour' politicians have lost contact with the those that pay their salaries but that they don't realise that that is the case. What is most depressing about British politics at the momment is that there is no obvious credable alternative to the present buch of third rate politicians with huge egos that inhabit the Westminster village.

The end of week quote

"The big message was the need to move beyond this outdated idea that security is something governments do to us or impose on us. It {the government} needs to understand that if it talks about genuine partnership that doesn't mean dictating to people."

Rachel Briggs from the Think Tank, Demos following the Home Secretary's comments on the terrorist threat to the UK.

Cease-fire ?

When Tony Blair came back from the United States and before he decided not to go on holiday for a few days he admitted that there was a split in the Cabinet on what should be the British policy on Lebanon.

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The split was, presumably, between those who supported the PM in his “Israel has the right to defend itself and there should be a cease-fire soon but there is very little we can do about it” and those who rather forcefully insisted that “Israel is a nasty aggressive state, though we think Hezbollah has gone a litttle too far but there should be an immediate and unconditional cease-fire though, frankly, we don’t exactly know what we can do about it”.

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So who was going to produce the cease-fire resolution? Well, the UN, of course. Well it has, produced a draft resolution, sponsored jointly by the United States and France, an odd combination.

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Speaking during a round of interviews, the Prime Minister insisted diplomats at the UN would "take account" of representations from the Arab League.

He added that three things were needed for the Lebanese Government to regain control of its territory without leaving room for the Hezbollah militia to operate in.

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"The first is that we need to take account obviously of any reasonable representations made about the existing UN resolution.

"The second thing however is to get it done and get it done without delay. We should not make the best the enemy of the good here. Let's get the resolution which will call for the cessation of hostilities.

"And then thirdly that will give us the space in which to deal with the long term solution, both for the Lebanon which is putting the Government of Lebanon back in charge of its country and also, 'cause I believe this very, very strongly, to return to the Israel Palestine question which I think is completely fundamental to the whole of the issues in the Middle East."

Mr Blair said he would do "all I can possibly do" in terms of negotiations while he was away on his summer break. How kind of him.

"I've put off going away for a couple of days because it was necessary to get everybody in the international community together and get a text (of the resolution) and we've done it now.'' said Blair today before leaving Downing Street to join his family for some ' quality time'.

OK well then all will be fine and dandy as they say accross the pond.

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In the meantime the Qana (Lebanon) pictures properganda issue contiues, this link is very interesting .

EU Employment law is slowing UK growth

In a prominent article in The African Echo, The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is reported as highlighting the stress and pressure on small businesses caused by employment legislation. The detailed article deserves emphasising. The Federation’s legal helpline, receives an average of 240 calls a day, or ten an hour, from FSB members struggling with employment law. The FSB, thanks to a dedicated and very professional permanent recruitment team, has grown to almost 200,000 members and it is the UK's largest member based business organisation.
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Employment law legislation enquiries have seen an 871% increase in calls as the new requirements begin to hit the small business radar. This is also the case for religious discrimination. New statutory grievance and disciplinary procedures have resulted in a 40% rise in disciplinary enquiries and a 112% increase in grievance calls to the helpline. A large increase in enquiries regarding part-time workers is due to a rise in rights for part-time workers recently. This has led to them being a less attractive option for small firms – a clear example of legislation reducing employment opportunities, especially for vulnerable people such as mothers returning to work and the elderly.

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The FSB confirm that recent increases in the amount of employment law is a disincentive to employ people, built in to the sheer weight and complexity of employment law, and it is a serious threat to the UK economy.

This blog has pointed out recently that the representatives of big business have had a higher profile in the UK's MLM than the Federation. One hopes that government ministers read The African Echo and that Europe Minister Geoff Hoon has a word with the right people the next time he is in the 'heart of Europe'.

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The FSB is now apt to ask '' what can small businesses do for Europe ?'' Clearly one answer is to reject the vast amount of socially orientated legislation that is derived from 'Europe' (the European Union) which is without doubt grinding down the UK's economic growth; as indeed FSB members are confirming. Now that is a campaigning issue that the FSB should and could very well major on, perhaps sooner rather than later.

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The full article can be read on >

http://www.africanecho.co.uk/africanechonews8-aug04.html

Death, a tradable commodity

Richard North - Blogger - BBC Newsnight 7 August 'O6

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Following his appearance on BBC's Newsnight last night Dr Richard North wrote:

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''It is that amoral, soulless commercialisation of the images of death that gives Hezbolla its propaganda power. As long as it knows that the Western media is in the market for this commodity, and it suits its own propaganda purposes, it will ensure a continued supply. And that is another reason why Qana is so important. In that benighted Lebanese village, death was a tradable commodity in an obscene marketplace. And the media did not seem to think that there was anything wrong.''

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Richard North's painstaking research has, yet again, broaken new ground.

Read all about it >

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/#115500120654421675

Immigration is not a race issue

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Well now this piece is a remarkable change of policy from Home Secretary Dr John Reid. As it happens it is all good news.

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It's not racist to want to have a debate about whether immigration policies are serving the country's wider interests. But it's only 15 months since the UK Independence Party (UKIP) were being described as exactly that, racists, by the Labour party for seeking to have that debate during the general election campaign.

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Now official Labour policy is exactly the same as what UKIP were advocating last year. The least the Labour Party can now do is apologise to UKIP for the many unjustified slurs earler this year when UKIP was making the bold statements of the loss of control of our nations borders and the detailed effects of mass imigration.

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However, as we some of us know saying sorry does not come easy to Labourites; they are natural bullies.

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If this it's just another piece of freelancing by Home Secetery Dr Reid, then I think he just kissed goodbye to any prospect of mounting an effective challenge to Gordon Brown for the leadership.

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If Dr Read is playing electoral games (for leadership of the Labour Party) this kind of thing might go down with the general public, the Labour party electorate is a different audience.

A Very British soap opera

Fedderdale
An everyday story of committee folk.

Breaking news -- Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) boss tells Peter Troy that he will not need a road map to Coventry. FSB North East's committee is ordered to back down. Read all about it ...... eventually.

An exam in pro-Brussels bias

by Christopher Booker
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When "Europe Minister" Geoff Hoon recently wrote to Alan Johnson, the Secretaryof State for Education, urging him to arrange for lessons on the "benefits" of Britain's membership of the EU to be part of the National Curriculum, this was only the latest example of the Foreign Office's tireless efforts to get EUpropaganda into Britain's schools.

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In June, in the latest AS Politics paper set by EdExcel, Britain's largest examprovider, the most marks were reserved for this question: "Argue the benefits of further EU integration.''

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When the bias of this was queried by the Democracy Movement, EdExcel repliedthat it had tried over the years to keep a balance in the half of its papers now regularly devoted to "European Integration" (with impartial questions such as:"What are the advantages of European integration?").But there are no questions on the disadvantages of integration. The closest itcame to this was asking candidates in 2005 to give arguments both for andagainst the European Constitution.

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EdExcel's teachers' guide, recommending helpful sources of information, cites a long list of pro-EU organisations, butnot one that is remotely Euro-critical.The game was rather given away in 2000, when Sir Stephen Wall, then Britain's senior representative in Brussels, wrote in a leaked email to the CabinetOffice: "The EU is only in the GCSE Modern History curriculum thanks to FCOpressure on the DfEE last year, so I suspect there is a lot more that could bedone.Something I plan to pursue in a future incarnation."

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Sir Stephen's next"incarnation" was as Tony Blair's chief adviser on Europe at Number 10.

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Curiously, despite all the efforts of Sir Stephen and Co, the polls consistently show the most Eurosceptic age-group in Britain to be 18-24 year olds. Perhaps all that propaganda produces exactly the response one might expect from teenagers who suspect they are being told a pack of very boring lies.

The Sunday Quote

''People who make history know nothing about history. You can see that from the history they make''

G K Chesterton (1874-1936) Extracted from Geoffrey Madan's notebooks (1981)

Plod Blair still in post !

Britain's most senior police officer was questioned under disciplinary caution today over his conduct in the wake of the Stockwell shooting in London last July.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair answered "all the questions put to him" by investigators from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) about his comments following the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.

The interview took place at the IPCC's offices in Holborn, central London, under "police conduct regulations".

Mr de Menezes' family claim that Sir Ian misled them and the public in the wake of the innocent Brazilian's fatal shooting by anti-terror officers at Stockwell Tube station in south London on July 22 last year.

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The IPCC's inquiry into the complaints by the de Menezes family - codenamed Stockwell 2 - is due to be completed some time in the autumn and its findings are seen as critical for Sir Ian's future.

Sir Ian has been under pressure following a string of controversies in the last 12 months and the outcome of the inquiry could prove to be make or break for his commissionership of Britain's largest police force.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, reports circulated suggesting that Mr de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, had vaulted a ticket barrier and bolted down an escalator and that he had been wearing a bulky jacket.

That afternoon, Sir Ian addressed the media and said the shooting was "directly linked" to anti-terror operations. He told reporters: "As I understand the situation, the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions."

The Met also issued a statement saying that the man's "clothing and behaviour" had added to their suspicions. As we have stated more than once on this blog, leaked documents later showed that Mr de Menezes had walked calmly into the station, even pausing to pick up a free newspaper, and that he had done little to arouse any suspicion before being shot.

Sir Ian said later he did not know an innocent man had been killed until the following morning, 24 hours after the incident. Reports alleged earlier this year that someone in his private office knew within just six hours.

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Earlier this month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that no individual police officers would be charged over Mr de Menezes' death.

However in what this blog as discribed as a '' very British understatement'' the Metropolitan Police is to be prosecuted under health and safety laws. The first hearing is on 14 August at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Last week, the two firearms officers who fired the fatal shots at Stockwell were cleared to return to full operational duties.

As we don't mind repeating, it is amazing that Commisioner Sir Ian Blair (Plod Blair) is still in his post.

Trains do it - and even dogs do it ....

Intrepid Journalist, Ross Smith in the Newcastle based The Journal today uses every double entente he can think of in a story about rail workers and enthusiasts who are kicking up a stink over a train operator failure to stop spraying them with excrement as fast express trains hurtle around bends on the famous east coast line.

Apparently a lack of facilities to empty toilet tanks at Newcastle depot means that sewage is being released by GNER trains into the North East's glorious countryside.

Trackside workers are regularly doused in effluent as the toilet tanks on GNER's new fleet of Mallard Trains release the foul smelling and potentially dangerous spray of chemically treated human waste as they carry out vital maintenance on the track.

Amazingly a GNER spokesman issued a statement, which is reported in The Journal, that included the reassurance that, ''there is no health issue whatsoever for passengers.'' The crassly inappropriate statement continues: ''Trackside workers have been given specific hygiene advise while this matter is permanently resolved''.

Clearly, it is GNER management that needs both hygiene advice; as well as some lessons on press statements.

Ross Smith's piece, ''Loco Motions'' is published with a quarter page colour photograph of Gregg Tursdale a former railway signalman who has been enthusiastically campaigning for sometime on this anti-social corporate fouling.

Now for the really funny bit (all credit to The Journal's Photographer) The photograph, (reproduced below) captures Mr Tursdale's canine friend clearly enthusiastically entering to the spirit of his masters campaign by empathising with the passing express and doing what dogs are apt to do; defecate in public. One wonders if both GNER and Gregg Tursdale could be (or should be) fined for fouling the Queen's Countryside.

The duty reporter at The Journal this evening exclusively informed this blog that the matter had been much discussed on the newsdesk today and the considered view was that Mr Tursdale's best friend was crouching for a better view of the wildlife nearby. Well the story is after all about crap.

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The photograph from The Journal with Gregg Tursdale and his supportive dog

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To read the full article in The Journal -please click below:

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/journallive/thejournal/tm_objectid=17514551%26method=full%26siteid=50081-name_page.html