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

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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