Oh No...
9 hours ago
Sunday, November 05, 2006
The Prince of Non-Blogging
Liam shows how. Two posts in July, one in August - steady now, you're overdoing it - let September and October lie fallow ...
Underclass News - Bestwood, Notts
The brook ran under the alder-trees, scarcely soiled by these small mines, whose coal was drawn to the surface by donkeys that plodded wearily in a circle around a gin. And all over the countryside were these same pits, some of which had been worked in the time of Charles II, the few colliers and the donkeys burrowing down like ants into the earth, making queer mounds and little black places among the cornfields and the meadows. And the cottages of these coalminers, in blocks and pairs here and there, together with odd farms and homes of the stockingers, straying over the parish, formed the village of Bestwood.
Then, some sixty years ago, a sudden change took place. The gin-pits were elbowed aside by the large mines of the financiers. The coal and iron field of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire was discovered. Carston, Waite and Co appeared. Amid tremendous excitement, Lord Palmerston formally opened the company’s first mine at Spinney Park, on the edge of Sherwood Forest. About this time the notorious Hell Row, which through growing old had acquired an evil reputation, was burned down, and much dirt was cleansed away.
The Bottoms consisted of six blocks of miners’ dwellings, two rows of three, like the dots on a blank-six domino, and twelve houses in a block. This double row of dwellings sat at the foot of the rather sharp slope from Bestwood, and looked out, from the attic windows at least, on the slow climb of the valley towards Selby.
Bestwood is a 'village' smack (le mot juste) in the middle of what was DH Lawrence country - the mining villages to the north of Nottingham. In 1896 it was described as a 'busy centre of industry', characterised by 'the shriek of the locomotive whistle and the rattle of the hosiery frames'. Lawrence called the village where the Morel family lived in 'Sons and Lovers' Bestwood, although I'm not sure whether he was anonymising his home village of Eastwood.
The colliery closed in 1967. The Bestwood Estate, a typical Midlands postwar council estate of solidly-built semis, underwent the social and cultural changes you can see from the Durham and Northumberland coalfields through West Yorkshire to the Valleys, the other side of the Glorious 60s Revolution so acclaimed in liberal England.
Suffice it to say that Bestwood has the Youth Project, the "Centre in Bestwood incorporating Family Learning, Adult Learning and Resources and a Children’s Centre", Surestart, Bestwood Directions ('In Bestwood there are no longer any children on the child protection register' - are they all in care ?), the Healthy Living Centre etc. Operation Kingdom, a multi-agency policing and neighbourhood management initiative, is working to improve the quality of life on the Bestwood Estate.
In other words, all sorts and conditions of social worker and funding stream is washing around this smack-ridden disaster zone.
It must be said that some of the old culture survives in the Black Diamonds Band and the Miners Welfare soccer side. The park where the mining boom began is now a Country Park ('mainly straight dogging fun with male, female and couple swingers up for some action. Weekday lunchtimes are very popular.' says the authoritative Swingers 24/7 site), the Park Lodge is a businessman's hotel and lottery money has restored the old pithead engines.
But the Bestwood boys and girls seem to be caning it a bit even for a disaster zone. Today I noticed this BBC news story.
Police have described the arson, on Friday evening, as "a deliberate and malicious attack".
The lit firework was pushed through the letter box just after 2100 GMT, three men were seen by the occupants running away from the house in Raymede Drive on the Bestwood Estate.
Two men, aged 17 and 23, who were inside the property, chased after the attackers who ran across Paddstow Road and Southglade Road.
But in the ground of Southglades Leisure Centre the three attackers were joined by another four men who attacked the two from the house.
They suffered cuts and bruises in the assault. They managed to escape and ran back to the house to find it gutted by fire, police said.
A third man, aged in his early 20s, who was upstairs in the property managed to escape.
Raymede Drive ? That name rang a bell. Wasn't it there that there was rioting after the verdict was announced in the Stirland murder trial, so well described by the Policeman ?
Six people have been charged with violent disorder after police were attacked with petrol bombs on a Nottingham housing estate.
Officers said up to 30 people set fire to cars and skips and vandalised fences on the city's Bestwood Estate.
It is understood the protest was linked to the jailing of three Nottingham men who plotted to murder Joan and John Stirland at their bungalow in Lincs.
About 200 officers were called in to the disturbances on Saturday night.
Prosecutor Stuart Rafferty told the court that the group were caught on camera ripping up fences, knocking down walls and building barricades across Raymede Drive.
They were filmed hurling abuse at police, setting fire to cars and chanting about a miscarriage of justice.
Their motivation, he said, was the conviction of three men for conspiring to murder Joan and John Stirland at their bungalow in Trusthorpe, Lincs, in August 2004.
Mr Rafferty said: "It is perfectly plain that the over-riding motive of those who orchestrated this and took part was to make public their displeasure at the recent conviction of the men for conspiracy to murder and the very lengthy imprisonment they were ordered to serve."
Mr Rafferty said the group, led by New and the 34-year-old woman, shouted instructions to the others in the group, ordering the setting of fires and the building of barricades.
A crate full of unused petrol bombs was later discovered by police abandoned in an alleyway on the estate.
"The people on the street were volatile," Mr Rafferty said. "However, some of them were demonstrably enjoying every moment. There was a group elation at what was going on."
The group, led by the two ringleaders, marched up and down the street, calling for the release of the three men through a megaphone. The pair also threatened further outbreaks of violence unless the men were released from jail, the court heard.
I did a bit more digging. Well blow me down. This is only available in the cache so I'd better post the whole thing. Using the Compose' format gives a pretty good clone of the page. I wonder for how long the Fire Services have been handing out useful tips to householders on protection against arson ?
According to Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service in August 2004 - way before the Stirland convictions - "there have been over 200 arson attacks in the last 12 months alone in just three streets in Bestwood – Raymede Drive, Leybourne Drive and Andover Road".
200 arson attacks in a year ? In three streets ? No one apprehended ? What the hell is going on on that estate ?
| hot news |  |  |
| 08/13/2004 | |
| Fighting back against arson | |
 Firefighters, police, local councillors and housing officials have joined forces to fight the arson problem that is threatening to engulf a small area of the Bestwood Estate.There have been over 200 arson attacks in last 12 months alone in just three streets in Bestwood – Raymede Drive, Leybourne Drive and Andover Road. Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service is spearheading a new taskforce which has been set up to address the problem. Assistant Divisional Officer John Topham, who is heading up the taskforce, said: “Arson is blighting the estate and is ruining the residents’ lives. We need to take immediate positive action to stamp out this crime and turn this part of the Bestwood Estate around. “Local councillors, housing officials and the police are already working well with us to address this problem but we have to make sure we keep the momentum going. It’s not all about quick fixes and we intend to get some long term measures in place to tackle the problem.” After just one meeting of the taskforce, immediate measures planned to tackle arson in the area include:
Inspector Mick Windmill-Jones, from Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We are supporting the Bestwood community through the use of our Beat Managers and Police Community Support Officers but local people have their part to play too. “They are our eyes and ears and I would urge them to report anything suspicious. They can do that anonymously, by calling Crimestoppers on (0800) 555 111. Arson is a serious crime. It endangers lives and has a detrimental impact on an area.” In the past year in Nottinghamshire:
Anyone wishing to report abandoned rubbish in the area can phone the City Council on: (0115) 915 2282. People can also contact the City Council for special collections of fridges, tyres, etc from their homes for free on: (0115) 915 2000. 10 Top tips for avoiding arson in your home
| |
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Disappearing Blog
After posting this am I noticed that my 'main' page seems totally blank, although I can see individual posts. Let's post this and try again.
"we shall not see them lit again in my lifetime"
The ghost of Sir Edward Grey haunts Europe.
Power companies said the outage started in Germany with a surge in demand prompted by cold weather, and then spread to other parts of Europe.
Some five million people in France lost power, mainly in the east of the country and including parts of Paris.
"We weren't very far from a European blackout," a senior director with French power company RTE said.
Pierre Bornard told the French news agency AFP that two German high-voltage transmission lines failed, causing problems across western Europe.
This triggered a "house of cards" style system breakdown, he said.
Probably something to do with global warming. I bought a 2.5kw generator last year, but haven't had to use it yet.
Talking of global warming, the Greens have a good idea for reducing Co2 emmissions :
"The environmental costs of long-distance trade need to be properly taken into account," said Dr Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP for South East England.
"We must manage international trade in a way which is socially and environmentally sustainable, working towards global agreement on a raft of measures such as taxation on fuel and import tariffs designed to support home-grown businesses.
"This will help offset the environmental damage caused by ships like the Emma Maersk plying international waters filled with MP3 players and plastic toys."
Tariffs, eh ? It's the way of the future !
I doubt very much that Chris Dillow reads Majority Rights, but its occasional contributions from the Bear's Lair are worth a browse - this one on Comparative Advantage :
In his 1990 paper “Endogenous Technological Change” economist Paul Romer showed that economic growth is caused primarily by the spread and interaction of information, some but not all of which is “excludable” in that others can be prevented from using it once it’s created. As an instance of information-driven technological change, he instanced Francis Cabot Lowell’s 1811 industrial espionage on British power looms, through which he created the U.S. textile industry.
From the Lowell example, it is immediately clear where the Doctrine of Comparative Advantage falls down. Under the Doctrine, if the United States is able to produce textiles more cheaply than Britain because of its more advantageous factor costs, then the U.S. should specialize in textiles and Britain in other goods and this will be advantageous for both sides. However Lowell’s industrial espionage demonstrated a flaw in this argument: if British technological superiority consists of knowledge of how to run a textile mill, and can be suborned by an American spy, then the transfer of textile manufacture to the United States was disadvantageous to Britain. It produced new competition which drove down prices, removed the U.S. market (Lowell was instrumental in getting an 85% tariff enacted against imports of British textiles in 1816) and was highly damaging to British living standards. By the process of technological piracy, the factors of comparative advantage were changed in the U.S. favor, with no compensating advantage to Britain.
Further :
Given that most intellectual property is portable and non-excludible, if the world economy is to consist largely of intellectual property, with physical goods being manufactured by robots and their design being far more important in their cost than human direct labor, then the world trading system is in deep trouble. Companies in rich countries that outsource intellectual property production to cheaper labor environments will soon find their trade secrets no longer secret and their outsourcees competing with them with an unbeatable wage cost advantage.
Ah yes, but our superior education system will mean we move to higher-added-value goods, aided by our 'superior infrastructure', education system, and 'technical know-how'. That's why we're specialising in hi-tech stuff like ... er ... er, while China is doing downmarket products like medical scanners and telecomms.
Power companies said the outage started in Germany with a surge in demand prompted by cold weather, and then spread to other parts of Europe.
Some five million people in France lost power, mainly in the east of the country and including parts of Paris.
"We weren't very far from a European blackout," a senior director with French power company RTE said.
Pierre Bornard told the French news agency AFP that two German high-voltage transmission lines failed, causing problems across western Europe.
This triggered a "house of cards" style system breakdown, he said.
Probably something to do with global warming. I bought a 2.5kw generator last year, but haven't had to use it yet.
Talking of global warming, the Greens have a good idea for reducing Co2 emmissions :
"The environmental costs of long-distance trade need to be properly taken into account," said Dr Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP for South East England.
"We must manage international trade in a way which is socially and environmentally sustainable, working towards global agreement on a raft of measures such as taxation on fuel and import tariffs designed to support home-grown businesses.
"This will help offset the environmental damage caused by ships like the Emma Maersk plying international waters filled with MP3 players and plastic toys."
Tariffs, eh ? It's the way of the future !
I doubt very much that Chris Dillow reads Majority Rights, but its occasional contributions from the Bear's Lair are worth a browse - this one on Comparative Advantage :
In his 1990 paper “Endogenous Technological Change” economist Paul Romer showed that economic growth is caused primarily by the spread and interaction of information, some but not all of which is “excludable” in that others can be prevented from using it once it’s created. As an instance of information-driven technological change, he instanced Francis Cabot Lowell’s 1811 industrial espionage on British power looms, through which he created the U.S. textile industry.
From the Lowell example, it is immediately clear where the Doctrine of Comparative Advantage falls down. Under the Doctrine, if the United States is able to produce textiles more cheaply than Britain because of its more advantageous factor costs, then the U.S. should specialize in textiles and Britain in other goods and this will be advantageous for both sides. However Lowell’s industrial espionage demonstrated a flaw in this argument: if British technological superiority consists of knowledge of how to run a textile mill, and can be suborned by an American spy, then the transfer of textile manufacture to the United States was disadvantageous to Britain. It produced new competition which drove down prices, removed the U.S. market (Lowell was instrumental in getting an 85% tariff enacted against imports of British textiles in 1816) and was highly damaging to British living standards. By the process of technological piracy, the factors of comparative advantage were changed in the U.S. favor, with no compensating advantage to Britain.
Further :
Given that most intellectual property is portable and non-excludible, if the world economy is to consist largely of intellectual property, with physical goods being manufactured by robots and their design being far more important in their cost than human direct labor, then the world trading system is in deep trouble. Companies in rich countries that outsource intellectual property production to cheaper labor environments will soon find their trade secrets no longer secret and their outsourcees competing with them with an unbeatable wage cost advantage.
Ah yes, but our superior education system will mean we move to higher-added-value goods, aided by our 'superior infrastructure', education system, and 'technical know-how'. That's why we're specialising in hi-tech stuff like ... er ... er, while China is doing downmarket products like medical scanners and telecomms.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Holy War News
Muslims may join Holocaust Memorial Day ... we shall see. It looks as if Ruth Kelly's threat to withdraw all that lovely funding to the MCB is paying off.
Catholics vs Pagans in Glastonbury. Come On You Left-Footers !
Yemaya Pinder, a witch and a member of the Pagan Federation who owns The Magick Box store, said thatshe believed the Christians should be prosecuted for a religious hate crime.
Mrs Pinder, a mother of two and grandmother of four, and whose sister is an Anglican vicar in Basildon, described how a group of Catholics had entered her shop and abused her.
She said: “It was as if we had returned to the dark ages. They told me they wanted to cleanse Glastonbury of paganism. They said they had lighters and were going to come back and burn us down. When the police asked them to apologise, they refused.”
She said there were no plans to put a curse on the Christians. “But we are doing protection for ourselves and the shop and the town. We are working magic for the healing and the damage they very nearly did between us and the local Roman Catholic church.”
I'm sure Christians would never burn a witch's property.
Catholics vs Pagans in Glastonbury. Come On You Left-Footers !
Yemaya Pinder, a witch and a member of the Pagan Federation who owns The Magick Box store, said thatshe believed the Christians should be prosecuted for a religious hate crime.
Mrs Pinder, a mother of two and grandmother of four, and whose sister is an Anglican vicar in Basildon, described how a group of Catholics had entered her shop and abused her.
She said: “It was as if we had returned to the dark ages. They told me they wanted to cleanse Glastonbury of paganism. They said they had lighters and were going to come back and burn us down. When the police asked them to apologise, they refused.”
She said there were no plans to put a curse on the Christians. “But we are doing protection for ourselves and the shop and the town. We are working magic for the healing and the damage they very nearly did between us and the local Roman Catholic church.”
I'm sure Christians would never burn a witch's property.
The Vessel Of Peace Was Springing A Leak From Every Seam ...
So Iran is trundling towards nuclear weapons, encouraged by StopWar crowd and Kate Hudson of the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament Except Iran.
Now Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE and Saudi Arabia want a 'civil nuclear programme', too.
The spectre of a nuclear race in the Middle East was raised yesterday when six Arab states announced that they were embarking on programmes to master atomic technology.
The move, which follows the failure by the West to curb Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, could see a rapid spread of nuclear reactors in one of the world’s most unstable regions, stretching from the Gulf to the Levant and into North Africa.
It's Armagideon Time ...
Now Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE and Saudi Arabia want a 'civil nuclear programme', too.
The spectre of a nuclear race in the Middle East was raised yesterday when six Arab states announced that they were embarking on programmes to master atomic technology.
The move, which follows the failure by the West to curb Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, could see a rapid spread of nuclear reactors in one of the world’s most unstable regions, stretching from the Gulf to the Levant and into North Africa.
It's Armagideon Time ...
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Any Relationship ?
"Some 1,500 migrants arrived to live in the UK every day in 2005, according to official estimates.
Government figures suggest 185,000 more people came to live in the UK than emigrated in 2005 - making the population grow by 500 a day.
According to the figures released by the Office for National Statistics, the largest single group of immigrants were 121,000 arrivals from "new commonwealth" nations - principally, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka."
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said there were 8,113 tuberculosis cases in 2005 - up 10.8% on the 7,321 cases in 2004.
Levels of TB have been increasing year on year in the UK since the late 1980s, but this is the largest increase in any one year since 1999.
The highest proportion of cases were in people from an Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic background - up from 2,574 cases in 2004 to 3,075 cases in 2005.
Dr John Watson, head of the HPA's Respiratory Diseases Department, said the largest increase was seen among people not born in the UK, who accounted for 5,310 cases.
Levels of TB in the UK-born population remained stable, he said.
Only 22% of the non-UK born sufferers in 2005 arrived in the UK during the past two years, he said.
"This suggests that the increase is not a result of a large number of individuals arriving recently with TB but rather a combination of TB disease developing in individuals who may have been infected for some time and new infections acquired in the UK, or as a result of travel to other countries where TB is common," he said.
It's late in the evening, so the brain may not be functioning correctly - so talk me through this again.
TB cases up by 800.
5,300 cases out of 8,300 in non-UK born people.
"Only" 22% of those 5,300 cases - approx 1,060 cases - are people who arrived in the last two years.
So the figures are up by 800. 1,060 cases are people who arrived in the last 2 years. And Dr Watson considers those figures suggest "the increase is not a result of a large number of individuals arriving recently with TB".
Hmmm.
Government figures suggest 185,000 more people came to live in the UK than emigrated in 2005 - making the population grow by 500 a day.
According to the figures released by the Office for National Statistics, the largest single group of immigrants were 121,000 arrivals from "new commonwealth" nations - principally, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka."
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said there were 8,113 tuberculosis cases in 2005 - up 10.8% on the 7,321 cases in 2004.
Levels of TB have been increasing year on year in the UK since the late 1980s, but this is the largest increase in any one year since 1999.
The highest proportion of cases were in people from an Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic background - up from 2,574 cases in 2004 to 3,075 cases in 2005.
Dr John Watson, head of the HPA's Respiratory Diseases Department, said the largest increase was seen among people not born in the UK, who accounted for 5,310 cases.
Levels of TB in the UK-born population remained stable, he said.
Only 22% of the non-UK born sufferers in 2005 arrived in the UK during the past two years, he said.
"This suggests that the increase is not a result of a large number of individuals arriving recently with TB but rather a combination of TB disease developing in individuals who may have been infected for some time and new infections acquired in the UK, or as a result of travel to other countries where TB is common," he said.
It's late in the evening, so the brain may not be functioning correctly - so talk me through this again.
TB cases up by 800.
5,300 cases out of 8,300 in non-UK born people.
"Only" 22% of those 5,300 cases - approx 1,060 cases - are people who arrived in the last two years.
So the figures are up by 800. 1,060 cases are people who arrived in the last 2 years. And Dr Watson considers those figures suggest "the increase is not a result of a large number of individuals arriving recently with TB".
Hmmm.
I Have A Vision Of The Future, Chum
Fiji.
The BBCs Fiji profile is illuminating.
In 1987 a coup by indigenous Fijians overthrew the elected, Indian-dominated coalition. This triggered a series of adverse events, including the introduction - and subsequent withdrawal - of a constitution enshrining indigenous Fijian political supremacy.
A further coup in 2000, led by businessman George Speight, saw the country's first ethnic Indian prime minister, his cabinet and several MPs held hostage for several weeks.
These events caused great harm to the economy - the tourism industry in particular - and Fiji's international reputation.
Rancour over the 2000 coup persists, with bitter divisions over proposals to amnesty those behind it.
Fiji's population, which resides mostly on the two main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, is divided almost equally between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians, the descendents of indentured labourers brought from India.
Mixing between the two groups is minimal, and informal segregation runs deep at almost every level of society.
The BBCs Fiji profile is illuminating.
In 1987 a coup by indigenous Fijians overthrew the elected, Indian-dominated coalition. This triggered a series of adverse events, including the introduction - and subsequent withdrawal - of a constitution enshrining indigenous Fijian political supremacy.
A further coup in 2000, led by businessman George Speight, saw the country's first ethnic Indian prime minister, his cabinet and several MPs held hostage for several weeks.
These events caused great harm to the economy - the tourism industry in particular - and Fiji's international reputation.
Rancour over the 2000 coup persists, with bitter divisions over proposals to amnesty those behind it.
Fiji's population, which resides mostly on the two main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, is divided almost equally between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians, the descendents of indentured labourers brought from India.
Mixing between the two groups is minimal, and informal segregation runs deep at almost every level of society.
It's Tin Foil Hat Time ...
I'm by disposition a conspiracy sceptic, especially when it comes to acts carried out by governments, and even more so by my government. The main objection is that conspiracy theories always imply a high level of both competence and security - characteristics lacking in most things the State does. When something bad happens which CAN be laid at the State's door, Mr Cock-Up rather than Mr Conspiracy is nearly always responsible.
Nonetheless I have a couple of niggling questions at the back of my mind.
The July 7th attacks.
Soon after the attacks the press was full of stories to the effect that
a) the bombs were home-made TATP explosive
b) there was a fully-equipped cookshop in Hyde Park, Leeds, where the TATP was brewed.
c) said cookshop belonged to an Egyptian chemist who happened to have gone to Egypt. The chemist was named.
What happened to the chemist ? I've heard nowt about him since.
The other case is the "Lancastrian BNP bomb plot"
At the time it sounded a big deal, and the blogosphere rightly asked why so little was made of it.
Then the police started backtracking.
Supt Smith added: "We are making inquiries in relation to what we have found at his address and to establish what offences he may have committed.
"He's not a terrorist and it's not a bomb factory but we are interested in what we have seized from his house. It will take expert advice to establish exactly what he has got."
If they're not terrorists and it's not a bomb factory, then why have both men been remanded in custody until a trial date in February next year ? People get remanded on bail for quite serious offences these days, the 'prisons are full' - why bang up two elderly chaps with large chemistry sets ?
At Majority Rights, Guessedworker kicks a few straw men around a blue sky.
The rules of the Grand Game are changing. The spooks have been dumped in an unfamilar, new racio-political landscape. On 6th October - one day after the appearance of The Pendle Two in court - Jack Straw sparked the opening debate on deculturing Moslems (in public life at least). Who needs “tension” now? The patsy and sting operations are no longer valid, or at least not in the way they were for so many years. They have to be memory-holed, and new methodologies created to keep the elements in the game of power at play. What those methodologies will be and how they will impact nationalist politics is far from clear. But it will be, if you know how to look.
Is any of this really true? Who knows? But have you got a better explanation for the done and dusted Pendle affair?
So the Pendle Two were being watched, maybe even encouraged, by security services until our rulers decided multiculturalism was dead and integration was in ? I suppose it's possible. And despite hiring David Shayler and Katherine Gunn (OK, that was GCHQ), our security services are probably one of the more competent bits of Government. But I'm still sceptical. It's strange though.
I'll take the hat off now. That's better.
Nonetheless I have a couple of niggling questions at the back of my mind.
The July 7th attacks.
Soon after the attacks the press was full of stories to the effect that
a) the bombs were home-made TATP explosive
b) there was a fully-equipped cookshop in Hyde Park, Leeds, where the TATP was brewed.
c) said cookshop belonged to an Egyptian chemist who happened to have gone to Egypt. The chemist was named.
What happened to the chemist ? I've heard nowt about him since.
The other case is the "Lancastrian BNP bomb plot"
At the time it sounded a big deal, and the blogosphere rightly asked why so little was made of it.
Then the police started backtracking.
Supt Smith added: "We are making inquiries in relation to what we have found at his address and to establish what offences he may have committed.
"He's not a terrorist and it's not a bomb factory but we are interested in what we have seized from his house. It will take expert advice to establish exactly what he has got."
If they're not terrorists and it's not a bomb factory, then why have both men been remanded in custody until a trial date in February next year ? People get remanded on bail for quite serious offences these days, the 'prisons are full' - why bang up two elderly chaps with large chemistry sets ?
At Majority Rights, Guessedworker kicks a few straw men around a blue sky.
The rules of the Grand Game are changing. The spooks have been dumped in an unfamilar, new racio-political landscape. On 6th October - one day after the appearance of The Pendle Two in court - Jack Straw sparked the opening debate on deculturing Moslems (in public life at least). Who needs “tension” now? The patsy and sting operations are no longer valid, or at least not in the way they were for so many years. They have to be memory-holed, and new methodologies created to keep the elements in the game of power at play. What those methodologies will be and how they will impact nationalist politics is far from clear. But it will be, if you know how to look.
Is any of this really true? Who knows? But have you got a better explanation for the done and dusted Pendle affair?
So the Pendle Two were being watched, maybe even encouraged, by security services until our rulers decided multiculturalism was dead and integration was in ? I suppose it's possible. And despite hiring David Shayler and Katherine Gunn (OK, that was GCHQ), our security services are probably one of the more competent bits of Government. But I'm still sceptical. It's strange though.
I'll take the hat off now. That's better.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
"Rowdy Scenes" at "Race-Hate" Trial
It's the BNP trial in Leeds.
Protesters chanting "smash the BNP" and "black and white, unite and fight" jeered and heckled him and sounded foghorns.
We're not told what the supporters were chanting, if anything. (UPDATE - the Times tells us : "7/7 — Never Again ! 9/11 — Never Again !")
Surrounded by police and minders, the pair kissed and shook hands with supporters during an extended walkabout.
Are the BBC suggesting something here ? Did they kiss each other, or the supporters ?
Those obscure chappies at Radical and Right are outside Leeds Crown Court again with their cameras.
An interesting take on the recent Rotherham council election, too.
In Rotherham West this week, the BNP coming second with 26% of the votes is highly significant. The Labour candidate did not do badly, but it is relevant that the Liberal Democrat Party did not field a candidate. One explanation is that the Party did not wish to split the anti-BNP vote and was prepared to let Labour have the Left side of the electoral field to itself. There is probably more than one reason though, for the LibDem absence. The Party has not been doing well in elections in industrial towns when the BNP intervenes. It does not enjoy trailing the BNP when the results are declared, as it has to maintain an appearance of momentum at all times. The Party lacks deep roots and is in constant danger of being marginalized by the Labour and Tory Parties and so has to create an aura of imminent breakthrough. Whatever the motive, the absence of a candidate in Rotherham West will have propped up Labour's majority over the BNP.
Not much to argue with there.
The Party has great difficulty finding candidates because of the persecution that follows any publicity. Loss of employment is only the most obvious consequence, though a major one for working people. In a town such as Rotherham, where the Trade Union bureaucracy and the governing Labour Council are an all-powerful seamless alliance, dismissal from almost any job is an automatic punishment for BNP activists. Only pensioners, the unemployed and housewives can contemplate poking a head above the parapet.
The grass-roots growth of the BNP, even in the face of relentless persecution, means that more and more elections will be fought in many parts of England in which the main contestants will be the BNP and Labour - that is unless the BNP can be crushed outside of the electoral arena.
"The Party" ? I don't think we're seeing a neutral observer here - but again, not much to argue with. Not only are BNP candidates likely to be sacked from their jobs, even their wives are vulnerable to dismissal. In a nation where the State controls 42% of GNP powerful pressures can be brought to bear.
Interestingly, BBC news seems to be ignoring the BNP trial. Not so long ago they'd be making our flesh creep and reminding the world that 'it was the Beeb wot put them there'.
Along with the legal attacks on the BNP, there are other interventions planned. The Young Foundation charity will devote resources to help "counteract the appeal" of a legal party and "develop innovative and practical" methods of reducing their support in two local authority areas, avoiding the limits on campaign expenditure which would be imposed were the Young Foundation a political party.
As long as immigration is still uncontrolled, all such interventions are in the long term vain. Today's working-class BNP voter is the product of anti-racist New Labour functionaries, who simply cannot control immigration without feeling like racists. Rather than face such a catastrophe they would betray the people they're supposed to represent.
I wrote in January 2005 :
As the Native Brit population declines, and natives become the minority in more and more areas, politics will almost inevitably become split on ethnic lines. The demographics are still pointing all one way, the Tories are unlikely to win this year and less likely to make major changes if and when they do ever win.
So in 20 years or so there'll be a nativist British party, representing a substantial proportion, if not a majority, of the native English. The only question is what the name of that party will be.
The best bet for stuffing the BNP in the short term is a UKIP candidate in every constituency with a high BNP vote, splitting the native vote neatly down the middle. The nightmare of a deal by which UKIP would contest only rural seats and the BNP only urban ones is a scenario our rulers will move heaven and earth to avoid. But in the long term - the harassment, the sackings, the arrests, the well-meaning studies - all in vain without control of the borders. It's the equivalent of fighting rising sea levels by trying to build a wall round the coast. How high will the wall have to get before its futility becomes apparent ? And what disasters will happen when the wall breaks ?
Protesters chanting "smash the BNP" and "black and white, unite and fight" jeered and heckled him and sounded foghorns.
We're not told what the supporters were chanting, if anything. (UPDATE - the Times tells us : "7/7 — Never Again ! 9/11 — Never Again !")
Surrounded by police and minders, the pair kissed and shook hands with supporters during an extended walkabout.
Are the BBC suggesting something here ? Did they kiss each other, or the supporters ?
Those obscure chappies at Radical and Right are outside Leeds Crown Court again with their cameras.
An interesting take on the recent Rotherham council election, too.
In Rotherham West this week, the BNP coming second with 26% of the votes is highly significant. The Labour candidate did not do badly, but it is relevant that the Liberal Democrat Party did not field a candidate. One explanation is that the Party did not wish to split the anti-BNP vote and was prepared to let Labour have the Left side of the electoral field to itself. There is probably more than one reason though, for the LibDem absence. The Party has not been doing well in elections in industrial towns when the BNP intervenes. It does not enjoy trailing the BNP when the results are declared, as it has to maintain an appearance of momentum at all times. The Party lacks deep roots and is in constant danger of being marginalized by the Labour and Tory Parties and so has to create an aura of imminent breakthrough. Whatever the motive, the absence of a candidate in Rotherham West will have propped up Labour's majority over the BNP.
Not much to argue with there.
The Party has great difficulty finding candidates because of the persecution that follows any publicity. Loss of employment is only the most obvious consequence, though a major one for working people. In a town such as Rotherham, where the Trade Union bureaucracy and the governing Labour Council are an all-powerful seamless alliance, dismissal from almost any job is an automatic punishment for BNP activists. Only pensioners, the unemployed and housewives can contemplate poking a head above the parapet.
The grass-roots growth of the BNP, even in the face of relentless persecution, means that more and more elections will be fought in many parts of England in which the main contestants will be the BNP and Labour - that is unless the BNP can be crushed outside of the electoral arena.
"The Party" ? I don't think we're seeing a neutral observer here - but again, not much to argue with. Not only are BNP candidates likely to be sacked from their jobs, even their wives are vulnerable to dismissal. In a nation where the State controls 42% of GNP powerful pressures can be brought to bear.
Interestingly, BBC news seems to be ignoring the BNP trial. Not so long ago they'd be making our flesh creep and reminding the world that 'it was the Beeb wot put them there'.
Along with the legal attacks on the BNP, there are other interventions planned. The Young Foundation charity will devote resources to help "counteract the appeal" of a legal party and "develop innovative and practical" methods of reducing their support in two local authority areas, avoiding the limits on campaign expenditure which would be imposed were the Young Foundation a political party.
As long as immigration is still uncontrolled, all such interventions are in the long term vain. Today's working-class BNP voter is the product of anti-racist New Labour functionaries, who simply cannot control immigration without feeling like racists. Rather than face such a catastrophe they would betray the people they're supposed to represent.
I wrote in January 2005 :
As the Native Brit population declines, and natives become the minority in more and more areas, politics will almost inevitably become split on ethnic lines. The demographics are still pointing all one way, the Tories are unlikely to win this year and less likely to make major changes if and when they do ever win.
So in 20 years or so there'll be a nativist British party, representing a substantial proportion, if not a majority, of the native English. The only question is what the name of that party will be.
The best bet for stuffing the BNP in the short term is a UKIP candidate in every constituency with a high BNP vote, splitting the native vote neatly down the middle. The nightmare of a deal by which UKIP would contest only rural seats and the BNP only urban ones is a scenario our rulers will move heaven and earth to avoid. But in the long term - the harassment, the sackings, the arrests, the well-meaning studies - all in vain without control of the borders. It's the equivalent of fighting rising sea levels by trying to build a wall round the coast. How high will the wall have to get before its futility becomes apparent ? And what disasters will happen when the wall breaks ?
Fighting At "Race-Hate" Trial
Amazingly, someone is being prosecuted over the "Behead Those Who Insult Islam" protests.
About 25 people gathered outside the central London court to support a man on trial over the Muslim cartoon protests.
Four people were arrested and several police officers suffered minor injuries after the protest turned ugly.
One person was arrested for allegedly punching a cameraman.
continued...
Three others were also taken to a central London police station for questioning for allegedly preventing the arrest.
The demonstrators were supporting Mizanur Rahman, who is accused of race hate crimes.
Mizanur Rahman denies soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred at the February 3 protest outside the Danish Embassy.
Riots erupted around the world in February after the caricatures first appeared in a Danish newspaper.
Specialist officers gathered more than 60 hours of video evidence of the protests, but made no arrests at the time. The Met also received more than 500 complaints about the protests.
About 25 people gathered outside the central London court to support a man on trial over the Muslim cartoon protests.
Four people were arrested and several police officers suffered minor injuries after the protest turned ugly.
One person was arrested for allegedly punching a cameraman.
continued...
Three others were also taken to a central London police station for questioning for allegedly preventing the arrest.
The demonstrators were supporting Mizanur Rahman, who is accused of race hate crimes.
Mizanur Rahman denies soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred at the February 3 protest outside the Danish Embassy.
Riots erupted around the world in February after the caricatures first appeared in a Danish newspaper.
Specialist officers gathered more than 60 hours of video evidence of the protests, but made no arrests at the time. The Met also received more than 500 complaints about the protests.
Students
Students weren't like this in my day. I don't think this chap was doing Diana Studies.
A businessman who raped a lesbian in the street after boasting ‘I am going to show you what a real man is’ has been jailed for just over eight years.
Duncan Empson, 32, was a student when he carried out the attack on the 50-year-old six years ago in Central London with an unidentified accomplice.
He hid the dark secret and went on to become a model family man living with his partner and her children in West Reading.
But police took his DNA after he was given a caution for battery after throwing a packet of biscuits at a shopkeeper during a heated row.
Model family man living with partner, eh ? I suppose simply being in the same house as your kids makes you a role model now. Did I say his kids ?
Defence barrister Wayne Cleaver said: “He has been living with his partner and her children in the Reading area and taken on a whole new and responsible life and he had become a model family man.
“Developing that business, acting as a father to her partner’s children and effectively her husband, in all but name, the man who committed this offence is a very different man in many ways to the man who is before the court today.”
A businessman who raped a lesbian in the street after boasting ‘I am going to show you what a real man is’ has been jailed for just over eight years.
Duncan Empson, 32, was a student when he carried out the attack on the 50-year-old six years ago in Central London with an unidentified accomplice.
He hid the dark secret and went on to become a model family man living with his partner and her children in West Reading.
But police took his DNA after he was given a caution for battery after throwing a packet of biscuits at a shopkeeper during a heated row.
Model family man living with partner, eh ? I suppose simply being in the same house as your kids makes you a role model now. Did I say his kids ?
Defence barrister Wayne Cleaver said: “He has been living with his partner and her children in the Reading area and taken on a whole new and responsible life and he had become a model family man.
“Developing that business, acting as a father to her partner’s children and effectively her husband, in all but name, the man who committed this offence is a very different man in many ways to the man who is before the court today.”
Early Release .... Today's Roundup
Bring Back The Cat !
CCTV footage showed Callum Myers grinning as two friends watched him dangle the cat above the snarling dog. He stood back as the dog savaged it, snapping its ribs and ripping open its heart. The cat’s owners later identified their pet, Tigger, by its collar.
At Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court yesterday, he admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the animal on March 15 last year. Myers, 18, who was on licence for robbery at the time of the attack, showed no remorse and was told that he faced a life ban from keeping animals.
Mr Goldstraw the child-killer.
Goldstraw, 31, who will serve at least 35 years, was on licence after being released early from a jail term for the manslaughter of a previous girlfriend.
Dale Casssidy - one of the more productive and useful members in our society.
The court heard that Cassidy and Mr Simms were part of a group of six people who had been drinking cans of beer on Christ's Pieces in Cambridge on February 17 this year.
Hugh Vass, prosecuting, said that the group, who had possibly been smoking cannabis, thought Mr Simms had stolen £60 from another homeless man earlier that day.
He said that is what led to the brawl during the early evening, which left 42-year-old Mr Simms with a cut to his ear and two stab wounds in his back.
Mr Vass added that Mr Simms claimed that during the stabbing the men tried to take the money they had accused him of stealing earlier in the day. He then staggered to a nearby pizza restaurant covered in blood, and members of the public called an ambulance.
Cassidy, who was living in a hostel in Victoria Road, Cambridge, was arrested several days afterwards when his name was given to police.
The 25-year-old, who was on licence after being sentenced to 45 months for a dwelling burglary in February 2003, was remanded in custody while he waited for the case to come to crown court.
Judge Gareth Hawkesworth jailed Cassidy to two years, minus 188 days for his time spent on remand.
I don't understand. Shouldn't he also be serving the remainder of the 45 month sentence ?
There'll be more early release stories soon, courtesy of the Probation Service.
CCTV footage showed Callum Myers grinning as two friends watched him dangle the cat above the snarling dog. He stood back as the dog savaged it, snapping its ribs and ripping open its heart. The cat’s owners later identified their pet, Tigger, by its collar.
At Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court yesterday, he admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the animal on March 15 last year. Myers, 18, who was on licence for robbery at the time of the attack, showed no remorse and was told that he faced a life ban from keeping animals.
Mr Goldstraw the child-killer.
Goldstraw, 31, who will serve at least 35 years, was on licence after being released early from a jail term for the manslaughter of a previous girlfriend.
Dale Casssidy - one of the more productive and useful members in our society.
The court heard that Cassidy and Mr Simms were part of a group of six people who had been drinking cans of beer on Christ's Pieces in Cambridge on February 17 this year.
Hugh Vass, prosecuting, said that the group, who had possibly been smoking cannabis, thought Mr Simms had stolen £60 from another homeless man earlier that day.
He said that is what led to the brawl during the early evening, which left 42-year-old Mr Simms with a cut to his ear and two stab wounds in his back.
Mr Vass added that Mr Simms claimed that during the stabbing the men tried to take the money they had accused him of stealing earlier in the day. He then staggered to a nearby pizza restaurant covered in blood, and members of the public called an ambulance.
Cassidy, who was living in a hostel in Victoria Road, Cambridge, was arrested several days afterwards when his name was given to police.
The 25-year-old, who was on licence after being sentenced to 45 months for a dwelling burglary in February 2003, was remanded in custody while he waited for the case to come to crown court.
Judge Gareth Hawkesworth jailed Cassidy to two years, minus 188 days for his time spent on remand.
I don't understand. Shouldn't he also be serving the remainder of the 45 month sentence ?
There'll be more early release stories soon, courtesy of the Probation Service.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
You Couldn't Make It Up - But The BBC Did ...
via Will in the comments at B-BBC :
Last week's villains, you may remember, were the evil Zionists. DFH and the Magna Mater Melanie comment.
BBC Radio Times comments on tonight's "Spooks".
The plot line, a frighteningly plausible one, involves a Christian extremist group called the Sons of Phineas, who are taking retribution on the Muslim community in the hope that it will spark a Holy War here.
"Ripping Off The State"
One of the few things I recall from student radical days was that even outside of my grant (in those happy days we were paid to go to university - no loans) a great chunk of my social life was taxpayer funded. Many of the best parties came in the guise of 'benefits' in aid of some good (left) cause or other. If we couldn't actually get funding for the bash, we'd get at minimum a free hall and PA. Despite the fact that rarely did the cause get as much benefit from the evening as we did, we saw nothing wrong in this.
You can still see this glorious tradition alive and well in London, where Ken Livingstone will stump up taxpayer cash for the right sort of concert.
You don't think the student union guys who made these state-funded parties possible were going to stop when they went into politics or local government and got access to some real money, do you ? One of the things I really wish Civitas would devote a researcher to for a few months is the enormous taxpayer subsidy to the cultural Left. You could start with the Guardian and BBC.
Charities are a favourite way of laundering taxpayer money to the Left. I took a look at the Demos website the other day and went through the 2004 accounts. We pay for them. All over the country there are 'funding streams' washing about. Most start at the Home Office and EU, and meander through swamps of bureaucracy before ending up in some sociology grad's budget.
I started thinking - where are the "right-wing" equivalents ? Civitas are a charity, though they're not exactly right-wing - just not left-wing. Are there any ? Or are right-wing charities illegal under community cohesion laws ?
Take the 1990 Trust, a charity which "is the first national Black organisation set up to protect and pioneer the interest of Britain’s Black Communities. Our approach is to engage in policy development and to articulate the needs of Black communities from a Black perspective." I seem to remember that Lee Jasper was at one time a leading light.
The 1990 Trust don't make their accounts available on their site, but the Charities Commission site reports a 2005 income of around half a million. I'd put the mortgage on the bulk of that coming from Joe Public. I also invite you to consider how likely it is that a charity set up as "the first national White organisation set up to protect and pioneer the interest of Britain’s White Communities" would a) actually be granted charitable status b) get large taxpayer bungs.
Not that I'd be in favour of such a charity, mark you. It's just the double standards that get me. The Charities Commission has a facility to search charities by keywords. Take a search for "ethnic" or "minority" and you'll return hundreds of charities. I don't think you'll find many - or indeed any - devoted to the welfare of, say, the elderly Native British of South London.
The reason I post is that the Government is very decently giving money away. I give each month to the Church, they reclaim the tax, I can get a bit more back in the tax return. But if you run a company, even a small one with one or two employees, HMG are currently doing a couple of very decent offers.
a) if you sign up your company for payroll giving they'll give the company a grant of £300 - even if you only have one employee. Nice of them. You have to be in by December though, so don't hang about.
b) for six months (starting with October's salary, so now effectively five months) HMG will match employee payroll donations up to £10 a month. So if two employees start giving in November, that's still another £100 to a good cause.
The website is here. Get in there - and let me know if there are any decent rightish charities - or kosher religious foundations like this one.
You can still see this glorious tradition alive and well in London, where Ken Livingstone will stump up taxpayer cash for the right sort of concert.
You don't think the student union guys who made these state-funded parties possible were going to stop when they went into politics or local government and got access to some real money, do you ? One of the things I really wish Civitas would devote a researcher to for a few months is the enormous taxpayer subsidy to the cultural Left. You could start with the Guardian and BBC.
Charities are a favourite way of laundering taxpayer money to the Left. I took a look at the Demos website the other day and went through the 2004 accounts. We pay for them. All over the country there are 'funding streams' washing about. Most start at the Home Office and EU, and meander through swamps of bureaucracy before ending up in some sociology grad's budget.
I started thinking - where are the "right-wing" equivalents ? Civitas are a charity, though they're not exactly right-wing - just not left-wing. Are there any ? Or are right-wing charities illegal under community cohesion laws ?
Take the 1990 Trust, a charity which "is the first national Black organisation set up to protect and pioneer the interest of Britain’s Black Communities. Our approach is to engage in policy development and to articulate the needs of Black communities from a Black perspective." I seem to remember that Lee Jasper was at one time a leading light.
The 1990 Trust don't make their accounts available on their site, but the Charities Commission site reports a 2005 income of around half a million. I'd put the mortgage on the bulk of that coming from Joe Public. I also invite you to consider how likely it is that a charity set up as "the first national White organisation set up to protect and pioneer the interest of Britain’s White Communities" would a) actually be granted charitable status b) get large taxpayer bungs.
Not that I'd be in favour of such a charity, mark you. It's just the double standards that get me. The Charities Commission has a facility to search charities by keywords. Take a search for "ethnic" or "minority" and you'll return hundreds of charities. I don't think you'll find many - or indeed any - devoted to the welfare of, say, the elderly Native British of South London.
The reason I post is that the Government is very decently giving money away. I give each month to the Church, they reclaim the tax, I can get a bit more back in the tax return. But if you run a company, even a small one with one or two employees, HMG are currently doing a couple of very decent offers.
a) if you sign up your company for payroll giving they'll give the company a grant of £300 - even if you only have one employee. Nice of them. You have to be in by December though, so don't hang about.
b) for six months (starting with October's salary, so now effectively five months) HMG will match employee payroll donations up to £10 a month. So if two employees start giving in November, that's still another £100 to a good cause.
The website is here. Get in there - and let me know if there are any decent rightish charities - or kosher religious foundations like this one.
Monday, October 30, 2006
We're Not Having Kids Part 741
"I listen, and after a discussion of her life travels through Italy, through the Middle East, and now in the U.S., she arrives at what brought our life paths together: the threat of radical Islam. Suddenly she changes the subject. 'You must have a child,' she says. 'I only regret one thing in my life, and that is that I do not have children. I wanted them, tried to have them, but I tried too late, and I failed.' 'Darling,' she says, 'it hurts to be alone. Life is lonely. It must be, sometimes. Still I would very much have liked to have a child. I would have liked to pass on life.' She hands me her books, in Italian. Then many life lessons follow. 'Darling, don't let life pass you by.' She refuses to let me say goodbye and invites me to visit her again. This morning I still wanted to visit her again, when I heard, on the radio, that the life of this greatness was over. 'Darling, when the cancer kills me, many will celebrate.' I will mourn her."
— Ayaan Hirsi Ali, on meeting writer Orianna Fallaci before her recent death. via Booker Rising.
Compare, Contrast
Campaign Targets Benefit Cheats.
MSP’s defends using expenses to rent son’s flat.
ONE of Holyrood's richest MSPs has defended charging taxpayers £7000 a year to rent his son's flat as overnight accommodation.
John Home Robertson, the Labour MSP for East Lothian, said the parliament's allowances office had approved his £600-a-month rental of a flat in Tytler Gardens in Edinburgh's Abbeyhill district. The property was bought outright for £72,000 by Mr Home Robertson's 17-year-old son in April 1999, just a few days before his father was elected.
In addition to rent, the MSP has also charged the public for council tax on the property.
The payments were made under the controversial Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance scheme, which lets MSPs claim back the rent or mortgage interest on homes in Edinburgh.
Although Mr Home Robertson's constituency adjoins Edinburgh, he is able to claim for overnight stays at the flat because his home is more than 90 minutes' travel from the parliament. In 1988, he gifted Paxton House in Berwickshire to the nation, but still occupies a wing of the building, which is one of Britain's finest country homes.
His rental of his son's flat was uncovered by the Sunday Herald, the Herald's sister paper. The MSP responded: "It is a matter of public record that I lease a flat in Edinburgh and that the rent is paid under the Scottish Parliament's Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance scheme. The Parliament authorities have a copy of the lease of the flat, the rental was independently assessed, and this arrangement was fully approved by the Allowances Office from the outset."
Tommy Sheridan, the Glasgow Solidarity MSP, said the scheme was "fundamentally rotten" and open to abuse.
"This flat has been paid for by taxpayers' money. I demand that the Scottish Parliament take action."
His 17-year old son paid £72,000, did he ? I couldn't begin to imagine where that money came from.
MSP’s defends using expenses to rent son’s flat.
ONE of Holyrood's richest MSPs has defended charging taxpayers £7000 a year to rent his son's flat as overnight accommodation.
John Home Robertson, the Labour MSP for East Lothian, said the parliament's allowances office had approved his £600-a-month rental of a flat in Tytler Gardens in Edinburgh's Abbeyhill district. The property was bought outright for £72,000 by Mr Home Robertson's 17-year-old son in April 1999, just a few days before his father was elected.
In addition to rent, the MSP has also charged the public for council tax on the property.
The payments were made under the controversial Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance scheme, which lets MSPs claim back the rent or mortgage interest on homes in Edinburgh.
Although Mr Home Robertson's constituency adjoins Edinburgh, he is able to claim for overnight stays at the flat because his home is more than 90 minutes' travel from the parliament. In 1988, he gifted Paxton House in Berwickshire to the nation, but still occupies a wing of the building, which is one of Britain's finest country homes.
His rental of his son's flat was uncovered by the Sunday Herald, the Herald's sister paper. The MSP responded: "It is a matter of public record that I lease a flat in Edinburgh and that the rent is paid under the Scottish Parliament's Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance scheme. The Parliament authorities have a copy of the lease of the flat, the rental was independently assessed, and this arrangement was fully approved by the Allowances Office from the outset."
Tommy Sheridan, the Glasgow Solidarity MSP, said the scheme was "fundamentally rotten" and open to abuse.
"This flat has been paid for by taxpayers' money. I demand that the Scottish Parliament take action."
His 17-year old son paid £72,000, did he ? I couldn't begin to imagine where that money came from.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
It's "notorious" ! It's "infamous" ! It's the Tebbit cricket test !
The icons of multiculturalism continue to shatter. Here's BBC Radio Four commissioning a documentary on the cricketing loyalties of British-born Pakistanis. Well, well. Maybe the old racist had a point after all.
On now - you can hear it here for a week. Despite the obligatory liberal genuflections (let's have anti-English Guardiansta Mike Marquesee for some impartial comment, shall we ?) there's some interesting stuff there.
And some depressing stuff. The young people who say 'we're Pakistani and we'll always be Pakistani' seem to take the Duke of Wellington's wiew of nationality. I can't find it in my heart to blame those who consider any English defeat as 'revenge for colonialism', though. That's what they've been taught in school and college, by white teachers and lecturers. But we'll only have true integration when young British Asians who read of the 57 Mutiny, or Clive at Plassey, can think of the British troops as "us". Way to go. Not getting there will have - and has already had - consequences.
On now - you can hear it here for a week. Despite the obligatory liberal genuflections (let's have anti-English Guardiansta Mike Marquesee for some impartial comment, shall we ?) there's some interesting stuff there.
And some depressing stuff. The young people who say 'we're Pakistani and we'll always be Pakistani' seem to take the Duke of Wellington's wiew of nationality. I can't find it in my heart to blame those who consider any English defeat as 'revenge for colonialism', though. That's what they've been taught in school and college, by white teachers and lecturers. But we'll only have true integration when young British Asians who read of the 57 Mutiny, or Clive at Plassey, can think of the British troops as "us". Way to go. Not getting there will have - and has already had - consequences.
It's "notorious" ! It's "infamous" ! It's the Tebbit cricket test !
The icons of multiculturalism continue to shatter. Here's BBC Radio Four commissioning a documentary on the cricketing loyalties of British-born Pakistanis. Well, well. Maybe the old racist had a point after all.
Not so long ago raising the issue in polite society was the equivalent of wandering about in jackboots or talking about blood and honour. Now it's hastily being put back on the mainstream shelf. Similarly Enoch Powell was persona non cheesegrater in the 1970s Conservative Party for fearing 'rivers of blood'. Trevor Phillips warns of 'the fire next time' and everyone says what a sensible chap he is. (Except someone who correctly points out the hypocrisy of saying "the real crisis is our failure to adjust to change in our society" - i.e. it's up to the natives to change, not the incomers, then follows it with "of eastern Europeans bringing pre-1960s attitudes from countries pervaded by deep racism" - i.e. it's up to the incomers to change, not the natives. Some incomers seem to be more equal than others.)
On now - you can hear it here for a week. Despite the obligatory liberal genuflections (let's have anti-English Guardiansta Mike Marquesee for some impartial comment, shall we ?) there's some interesting stuff there.
And some depressing stuff. The young people who say 'we're Pakistani and we'll always be Pakistani' seem to take the Duke of Wellington's wiew of nationality. I can't find it in my heart to blame those who consider any English defeat as 'revenge for colonialism', though. That's what they've been taught in school and college, by white teachers and lecturers. But we'll only have true integration when young British Asians who read of the 57 Mutiny, or Clive at Plassey, can think of the British troops as "us". Way to go. Not getting there will have - and has already had - consequences.
UPDATE - the R4 "listen again" link gives you ageing liberal Charles Wheeler examining looted art. Ho hum.
Not so long ago raising the issue in polite society was the equivalent of wandering about in jackboots or talking about blood and honour. Now it's hastily being put back on the mainstream shelf. Similarly Enoch Powell was persona non cheesegrater in the 1970s Conservative Party for fearing 'rivers of blood'. Trevor Phillips warns of 'the fire next time' and everyone says what a sensible chap he is. (Except someone who correctly points out the hypocrisy of saying "the real crisis is our failure to adjust to change in our society" - i.e. it's up to the natives to change, not the incomers, then follows it with "of eastern Europeans bringing pre-1960s attitudes from countries pervaded by deep racism" - i.e. it's up to the incomers to change, not the natives. Some incomers seem to be more equal than others.)
On now - you can hear it here for a week. Despite the obligatory liberal genuflections (let's have anti-English Guardiansta Mike Marquesee for some impartial comment, shall we ?) there's some interesting stuff there.
And some depressing stuff. The young people who say 'we're Pakistani and we'll always be Pakistani' seem to take the Duke of Wellington's wiew of nationality. I can't find it in my heart to blame those who consider any English defeat as 'revenge for colonialism', though. That's what they've been taught in school and college, by white teachers and lecturers. But we'll only have true integration when young British Asians who read of the 57 Mutiny, or Clive at Plassey, can think of the British troops as "us". Way to go. Not getting there will have - and has already had - consequences.
UPDATE - the R4 "listen again" link gives you ageing liberal Charles Wheeler examining looted art. Ho hum.
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