Somewhere you can post and download out of copyright music ? 78s, music hall stuff, antique classical, WWI songs ?
UPDATE - Anonymous tells me :
You can post audio files on http://www.putfile.com and you can download some really old songs (WW1 era) from this site:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/1914.htm
If you're searching for something in particular you can try the site below which is a search engine that looks for audio and video files:
http://search.singingfish.com/sfw/home.jsp
Singing Fish is good, and it also has links to good sites like Digital History (lots of WWI stuff there) - which in turn has links.
I've registered with Odeo but there's certainly no Dame Clara Butt or Gracie Fields on board. EU copyright law (*sigh*) applies until 70 years after the author's death and 50 years (I believe) for recordings, so if I've understood correctly a 1956 recording of a folk-song or Beethoven piece is out of copyright, while a 1912 recording of "Alexander's Rag Time Band" will be in copyright until 2059, thanks to the longevity of its writer. The 70-year EU rule is 75 years in the US, thanks to the late Sonny Bono.
(Sonny Bono died by skiing into a tree - something I've always tried to avoid. It's lovely skiing in woods but trees are very solid objects).
Any more sites, anyone ?
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
How To Steal, Get Caught, But Avoid A Criminal Record
Fixed penalties - rather appropriate for a couple of footballers. Glen Johnson and Ben May are obviously not paid enough.
B&Q said: "We can confirm two men were apprehended in our Dartford store on the afternoon of 17 January, following an alleged shoplifting incident involving a B&Q bathroom suite."
They should both be transferred to Bath City !
B&Q said: "We can confirm two men were apprehended in our Dartford store on the afternoon of 17 January, following an alleged shoplifting incident involving a B&Q bathroom suite."
They should both be transferred to Bath City !
State-Funded Leftists
Are there any other kinds ? Cobbett takes a look at one of my pet themes, the way that a large chunk of left political activity is effectively taxpayer-funded.
He checks out some of the people involved in the British educational disaster.
I think it's fair to say that a lecturer in media studies who claimed - and taught - that the British media was in hock to International Jewry would (rightly IMHO) find his position difficult. Yet apparently it's perfectly OK to run a course premised on the 'fact' that UK education is:
'under the influence of international capitalist organisations and protocols such as the IMF,WTO, World Bank and the GATS (General Agreement in Trade and Services).'
If the performance of British state schools is any guide I think it more likely that it's under the influence of the Economics ministries of China and India.
PS - I don't think it's this Dave Hill. Nor this one. Hat-tip - Guardian Apostate.
He checks out some of the people involved in the British educational disaster.
I think it's fair to say that a lecturer in media studies who claimed - and taught - that the British media was in hock to International Jewry would (rightly IMHO) find his position difficult. Yet apparently it's perfectly OK to run a course premised on the 'fact' that UK education is:
'under the influence of international capitalist organisations and protocols such as the IMF,WTO, World Bank and the GATS (General Agreement in Trade and Services).'
If the performance of British state schools is any guide I think it more likely that it's under the influence of the Economics ministries of China and India.
PS - I don't think it's this Dave Hill. Nor this one. Hat-tip - Guardian Apostate.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Blogging Bromsgrove
Would you believe it - a Bromsgrove Rovers blog ! Particularly good news at present as the club are lacking - among other things such as a tall striker and a midfield general - a website.
We were there on Tuesday to see them chuck away a two-goal lead against the might of Bishops Cleeve, a Gloucestershire village side who've battled their way up through the little leagues to the heights of the Southern Midland. Very well they battled too, their seventeen-year old number 2 and their big centre-half did well. I think my eldest son may have played against their No 2 - if he played in their Cheltenham and Gloucester League team a couple of years back.
We made it down to Rodney Parade last Friday to watch the Dragons see off Premiership leaders Bristol in a cracking match. Bristol dominated but Dragons defended heroically and put points on the board every time they attacked. With advance entrance at £3 for children (it's £8 at Gloucester, or £10 on the gate) I just fill a car up with children and schoolfriends . At the end of the week I'm tired, but after jumping up and down shouting for 80 minutes I feel surprisingly refreshed and in no danger of falling asleep on the way back.
I digress. Bromsgrovian bloggers. Are there any ? This one moved to York. This one goes there for adulterous liaisons. There's always this expat Bromsgrovian. Digby Jones doesn't blog.
This lunatic thinks Bromsgrove is 'a quaint village'. He's right about the enormous ASDA carpark though. It used to be a large green field, where the fairs were held each Midsummer's Day (all children had the day off school to attend). The council sold it off.
One other person claiming to be a Bromsgrovian. The man who brought us the late lamented Trouser Quandary Resolution has moved to Little Frigging. From a cursory read the medication seems to have had no effect at all.
We were there on Tuesday to see them chuck away a two-goal lead against the might of Bishops Cleeve, a Gloucestershire village side who've battled their way up through the little leagues to the heights of the Southern Midland. Very well they battled too, their seventeen-year old number 2 and their big centre-half did well. I think my eldest son may have played against their No 2 - if he played in their Cheltenham and Gloucester League team a couple of years back.
We made it down to Rodney Parade last Friday to watch the Dragons see off Premiership leaders Bristol in a cracking match. Bristol dominated but Dragons defended heroically and put points on the board every time they attacked. With advance entrance at £3 for children (it's £8 at Gloucester, or £10 on the gate) I just fill a car up with children and schoolfriends . At the end of the week I'm tired, but after jumping up and down shouting for 80 minutes I feel surprisingly refreshed and in no danger of falling asleep on the way back.
I digress. Bromsgrovian bloggers. Are there any ? This one moved to York. This one goes there for adulterous liaisons. There's always this expat Bromsgrovian. Digby Jones doesn't blog.
This lunatic thinks Bromsgrove is 'a quaint village'. He's right about the enormous ASDA carpark though. It used to be a large green field, where the fairs were held each Midsummer's Day (all children had the day off school to attend). The council sold it off.
One other person claiming to be a Bromsgrovian. The man who brought us the late lamented Trouser Quandary Resolution has moved to Little Frigging. From a cursory read the medication seems to have had no effect at all.
In the beginning, the world was without form or chip shops. Then the semi-omnipotent Skhighhibhoss said ‘let there be stoats’ and lo, only 28 days later the stoats were delivered – but to the wrong address.
After another week of increasingly frantic phone calls to various places in the delivery chain, Skhighhibhoss finally received his crate of stoats, and a credit note for £1.75 by way of compensation for his inconvenience.
Fight ! Fight ! Fight !
For those of you bored with Shilpa vs Jade, we present Tim 'Mr Sincere' Ireland vs Guido 'Wideboy' Fawkes.
Alternatively, International Paint-Drying from Bulgaria is on Eurosport.
Alternatively, International Paint-Drying from Bulgaria is on Eurosport.
"children uprooted by war"
But Angola, the report says, is "the worst place in the world to be a child".
Three decades of strife have left a million young people homeless and exposed to bombardment, landmines and chronic disease.
So we accepted young Roberto Malasi as a refugee. Aaah !
Pity about Ruth Okchukwuh. And Zainab Kolokoh.
The jury in the trial concerning Ms Kalokoh was not told that two weeks after her murder on September 11 2005, the defendant dragged student teacher Ruth Okechukwu from a car and stabbed her through the heart.
The court heard Malasi had accused Miss Okechukwu of disrespecting him, following a telephone conversation with one of her friends.
Men And Women
"But it’s the free-to-be-me vibe coupled with the when-I-grow-old-I-shall-wear-purple stuff that gets embarrassing."
Lileks gets into his stride after a rambling opening. Nice.
Hat-tip - Blognor Regis.
Lileks gets into his stride after a rambling opening. Nice.
Hat-tip - Blognor Regis.
Scary
The editorial team of the Evening Standard. Not child or work friendly - especially Victor Lewis-Smith. Matthew Norman looks like he's just been stopped in the tenth by Liz Jones, while slugging vodka between rounds.
Mr Blunkett - What Was That Figure Again ?
Way back in 2004, we were being told that "the government's original "open-door" estimate of 5,000 to 13,000 a year coming to the UK (from Poland and the 2004 EU accession countries) is realistic and does not require limits on benefits, quotas or other restrictive measures".
Strange. On Radio Four tonight (RealAudio, for a week) there was a fascinating edition of the political role-play game 'Decision Time', where Frank Field (pbuh) was a Home Secretary who wanted to stop all immigration, and was taking advice from a number of luminaries including David Blunkett.
Half way through the 45-minute programme Blunkett revealed that while we were being comforted with 13,000 max, the Home Secretary had estimates on his desk of 100,000. Still out by a factor of 5 but a lot more than 13,000.
Strange. I don't remember him saying anything about 100,000 at the time. Anybody got time to check on what he said then ?
Strange. On Radio Four tonight (RealAudio, for a week) there was a fascinating edition of the political role-play game 'Decision Time', where Frank Field (pbuh) was a Home Secretary who wanted to stop all immigration, and was taking advice from a number of luminaries including David Blunkett.
Half way through the 45-minute programme Blunkett revealed that while we were being comforted with 13,000 max, the Home Secretary had estimates on his desk of 100,000. Still out by a factor of 5 but a lot more than 13,000.
Strange. I don't remember him saying anything about 100,000 at the time. Anybody got time to check on what he said then ?
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
"Your victim was only 25 years of age"
As liberals campaign for votes at sixteen, so the age of actual responsibility for anything at all disappears over the horizon.
A 35-year-old man has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for infecting his girlfriend with HIV.The pair met at a Bournemouth nightclub and had unprotected sex during their relationship even though the victim had been concerned the man had the virus.
The Zimbabwean man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted one count of grievous bodily harm.
Judge Roger Jarvis said the crime was "beyond comprehension" and recommended he be deported.
"It took place in what to the victim was a loving relationship, but in truth, on your part, there was a callous and cruel deceit.
"You knew she had this anxiety and you misled her. Your victim was only 25 years of age."
Now obviously the main blame for this unhappy event falls upon Mr X of Zimbabwe. But perhaps by the age of 25 poor Ms Y should have worked out that some men will say anything to get a woman into bed. A bit of a gamble to take with a chap from a country where 34% of adults are HIV infected.
You'd have to have a heart of stone not to laugh
Janet Street-Porter has been arrested over allegations that she racially abused a neighbour.
Words Fail Me
Times :
The man, who is of Pakistani origin and lives in Manchester, was only placed under the control order this month. But within four days he disappeared. Police sources say that the man failed to show up at a local police station to surrender his passport. He was traced to a nearby mosque, where community leaders say he had sought sanctuary. Police rarely enter a mosque: they began discussions with both local community figures and leading officials connected to the mosque.
It is understood that while these talks were taking place, the young suspect was helped to escape through a back entrance while officers from Greater Manchester Police were stationed outside.
I'll make no comment on the actual story. But there are too many stories like this. Weren't Greater Manchester Police the people who told officers not to arrest Muslim suspects during Ramadan ? Who allowed a Muslim officer to keep his job despite an uninsured car crash where he drove off, leaving two women and a child injured at the scene ?
Public opinion is a slow supertanker, taking a long time to turn around. From Tam Dalyell's first posing the West Lothian question to a majority in favour of an English Parliament took thirty years . The idea that our rulers give special treatment to one group is growing. In a lot less than thirty years it'll be received opinion - unless the special treatment stops. It was the unfairness of the devolution settlement that did for it in the eyes of the English - and it will be the unfairness of special treatment that does for it.
Elsewhere the words of Paul Goggins on religious hatred return once more :
The man, who is of Pakistani origin and lives in Manchester, was only placed under the control order this month. But within four days he disappeared. Police sources say that the man failed to show up at a local police station to surrender his passport. He was traced to a nearby mosque, where community leaders say he had sought sanctuary. Police rarely enter a mosque: they began discussions with both local community figures and leading officials connected to the mosque.
It is understood that while these talks were taking place, the young suspect was helped to escape through a back entrance while officers from Greater Manchester Police were stationed outside.
I'll make no comment on the actual story. But there are too many stories like this. Weren't Greater Manchester Police the people who told officers not to arrest Muslim suspects during Ramadan ? Who allowed a Muslim officer to keep his job despite an uninsured car crash where he drove off, leaving two women and a child injured at the scene ?
Public opinion is a slow supertanker, taking a long time to turn around. From Tam Dalyell's first posing the West Lothian question to a majority in favour of an English Parliament took thirty years . The idea that our rulers give special treatment to one group is growing. In a lot less than thirty years it'll be received opinion - unless the special treatment stops. It was the unfairness of the devolution settlement that did for it in the eyes of the English - and it will be the unfairness of special treatment that does for it.
Elsewhere the words of Paul Goggins on religious hatred return once more :
Suicide bombers in burkas ? Ridiculous !
Tony Wright, a clever Labour MP, said we had heard enough from the minister about who would not be prosecuted under the act. But who might be?
Mr Goggins - his boss, Charles Clarke looked simultaneously stony-faced and embarrassed at his side, which is quite a trick - said vaguely that you might get a poster "showing women wearing burkas, saying that such women are not to be trusted, er, could be suicide bombers, er, who knows what they are hiding under their coats, a poster of that kind ..."
Mr Omar had also taken a northbound train from Stockwell and, at Warren Street station, attempted to explode his bomb. It failed in an identical fashion. He fled into the streets.
The next day he caught a coach to Birmingham disguised as a Muslim woman, wearing a burka to hide his face.Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Channel 4 Dispatches
"Undercover Mosque" is available at lgf.
I see that the Islamic School and Centre opposite my favourite sweet centre, the Ambala in Small Heath, featured prominently.
Interesting discussions at the yanabi message boards. Not all Muslims are terrorist supporters itching to see the black flag over Downing Street and to slaughter a few kaffirs.
"It may well be that its just another stunt to give all the muslims a bad name by exposing a few extremists.
However what i would like to know is why are these "extreme " elements in the muslim community so hell bent on giving the rest of the muslims(overwhelming majority) such a bad name anyway?
Are they not the ones providing ammunition to the Enemies of islam?
They dont seem to care what effect it will have on the rest of the civilised muslim muslim poulatin of Britain or even Europe,so why then should we give a damn about them? Clearly making it difficult for your brethren is the worst fitna.
They talk of it being haraam to live in a non muslim country,so what are they doing here?
Its not haraam to them whem they accept the conditions of nationality/citizenship with all it conditions or oaths of Allegiance,its not haraam when they queue up at the dole office to claim benefits and probably every other benefit available,but it becomes haraam when they see fit according to their twisted ideology.
Is not living by the law of the land a condition of islam too?
So all in all it may be another assault against islam,but i'd rather it be on a specific extremist little minority of islam that the whole of it."
As against :
"After reading the posts I have only one thing to say when the enemies of Islam unite against us, we must unite against them. When they are pointing fingers at the salfi wahabi deo ahle hadith now, later would be our turn ...
Demos are not enough.. If the salafi or the wahhabi are killing the enemies of Islam then they are after all our enemies too. The brits made our mosques into stables... They tried their best to destroy the Holy Qur'aan...
They were the first to use aerial bombardment by gas upon the Muslims of Iraq by the orders of churchill 1926... Need I say more as to who our enemies are ...
So if this no time to unite then when will we unite...?
To the british public we are all the same... They know no different, you can lecture them all day they still will not understand... Because they dont want to as to understand this matter is of no benefit to them.
Its about time we stop pointing fingers at others... and unite against the Kufaar..
Where ever the Muslims are being oppressed the salfi wahabbi are there even the shias are there, fighting against the oppressors... Where are we ? "
I see that the Islamic School and Centre opposite my favourite sweet centre, the Ambala in Small Heath, featured prominently.
Interesting discussions at the yanabi message boards. Not all Muslims are terrorist supporters itching to see the black flag over Downing Street and to slaughter a few kaffirs.
"It may well be that its just another stunt to give all the muslims a bad name by exposing a few extremists.
However what i would like to know is why are these "extreme " elements in the muslim community so hell bent on giving the rest of the muslims(overwhelming majority) such a bad name anyway?
Are they not the ones providing ammunition to the Enemies of islam?
They dont seem to care what effect it will have on the rest of the civilised muslim muslim poulatin of Britain or even Europe,so why then should we give a damn about them? Clearly making it difficult for your brethren is the worst fitna.
They talk of it being haraam to live in a non muslim country,so what are they doing here?
Its not haraam to them whem they accept the conditions of nationality/citizenship with all it conditions or oaths of Allegiance,its not haraam when they queue up at the dole office to claim benefits and probably every other benefit available,but it becomes haraam when they see fit according to their twisted ideology.
Is not living by the law of the land a condition of islam too?
So all in all it may be another assault against islam,but i'd rather it be on a specific extremist little minority of islam that the whole of it."
As against :
"After reading the posts I have only one thing to say when the enemies of Islam unite against us, we must unite against them. When they are pointing fingers at the salfi wahabi deo ahle hadith now, later would be our turn ...
Demos are not enough.. If the salafi or the wahhabi are killing the enemies of Islam then they are after all our enemies too. The brits made our mosques into stables... They tried their best to destroy the Holy Qur'aan...
They were the first to use aerial bombardment by gas upon the Muslims of Iraq by the orders of churchill 1926... Need I say more as to who our enemies are ...
So if this no time to unite then when will we unite...?
To the british public we are all the same... They know no different, you can lecture them all day they still will not understand... Because they dont want to as to understand this matter is of no benefit to them.
Its about time we stop pointing fingers at others... and unite against the Kufaar..
Where ever the Muslims are being oppressed the salfi wahabbi are there even the shias are there, fighting against the oppressors... Where are we ? "
HSBC Customer Service
Not good. I'm sure they're well-educated, but they need better English. This chap is quite right.
Sigh ...
Easily the worst thing about Simon Mayo's afternoon R5 show are the guests they bring in to pontificate on books, TV, films etc. They're always metropolitan lefties and must by law feature one opinionated mockney-speaker called Mark.
Yesterday it was the 'TV panel' (mp3 download) - they discussed the Blessed Ann Widdecombe's Hoodie documentary in the presence of Herself.
Mockney Mark (who is he ? Is it the Mark Kermode who's all over the BBC like a rash, or is it another one ?) let Ann get the occasional word in, and some posh totty called Mary Evans opined that hoodies etc were "just what young people wear" and there was nothing to worry about. She gave me the impression of an intelligent, self-confident, quick-witted airhead - can there be such a thing ?
When you want a view on the estates of Islington and Brixton, who better to ask than a media grad who attended Bryanston ?
Yesterday it was the 'TV panel' (mp3 download) - they discussed the Blessed Ann Widdecombe's Hoodie documentary in the presence of Herself.
Mockney Mark (who is he ? Is it the Mark Kermode who's all over the BBC like a rash, or is it another one ?) let Ann get the occasional word in, and some posh totty called Mary Evans opined that hoodies etc were "just what young people wear" and there was nothing to worry about. She gave me the impression of an intelligent, self-confident, quick-witted airhead - can there be such a thing ?
When you want a view on the estates of Islington and Brixton, who better to ask than a media grad who attended Bryanston ?
Monday, January 15, 2007
Hmmm ...
I hope the police are checking the bebo links and comments of Ridgefield school pupils. Youthful bravado or what ? Certainly the kind of thing that could get a native's collar felt.
4 da cause
We kick down doors
N break laws
We don't care bout police
We live by Allahz laws
4 da cause
I clap down goreh
Don't test me
I'm a Muslim
Can't let ntin depress me
I won't hit em
Until I reach ma garden
I beg your pardon
I ride with Bin Laden
I don't joke around
I don't play around
Touch any of ma team
And watch my gun spray around
It looks as if Gordon Brown's flag-flapping has some way to go before full integration is achieved and we can all wrap ourselves in the Union Flag.
MY MUSLIM PRIDE
I WILL NT HIDE
MY PAKISTANI RACE
I WIL NT DISGRASE
MY MUSLIM BLOOD
FLOWS HOT N TRU
MY MUSLIM PPL
I WILL STAND BY U
THRU THIK N THIN
TIL THE DAY WE DIE
OUR MUSLIM FLAGZ
ALWAYZ STAND HIGH
I YEL DIZ POEM
LOUDER DAN AL DA REST
CUZ EVERY 1 KNOZ
WE MUSLIMZ R DA BEST!!!
Is There A Scots Word Meaning "Chutzpah" ?
I'll have to settle for 'brass neck'. Gordon Brown's paean to British "common values and shared interests" takes hypocrisy into hyperspace. It's like a murderer standing over his victim, crying "why can't we just get on ?"
I'll post the whole thing in all its horror. Full fisking to be applied later. Any commenters wishing to make a start ?
We need a United Kingdom
By Gordon Brown
Last Updated: 2:05am GMT 13/01/2007
A national debate about Britishness and the future of Britain is overdue and there is no more appropriate moment than the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union. It is now time for supporters of the Union to speak up, to resist any drift towards a Balkanisation of Britain, and to acknowledge Great Britain for the success it has been and is: a model for the world of how nations can not only live side by side, but be stronger together but weaker apart.
"to resist any drift towards a Balkanisation of Britain" - that'll be the Government that wants to split England up into Euro-Regions ? No Balkanisation there, oh no.
Perhaps in the past we could get by with a Britishness that was assumed without being explicitly stated. But when our country is being challenged in Scotland, Wales and now England by secessionists, it is right to be explicit about what we, the British people, share in common and the patriotic vision for our country's future.
I am not alone in believing that a stronger sense of patriotic purpose would help resolve some of our most important national challenges, make us more confident about Britain's role in Europe and the world, and would help us better integrate our ethnic communities, respond to migration and show people the responsibilities as well as rights that must be at the heart of modern citizenship.
Very good. You've put your finger on one of my recurring themes. A strong, self-confident national culture is capable of integrating large numbers of immigrants . Unfortunately, that's just what we haven't got. Instead, we import people into a cultural vacuum then wonder why their descendants riot. And who have been beavering away at cultural destruction - which continues today - over the last fifty years ?
"show people the responsibilities as well as rights"
You slay me. This is a world where convicted criminals receive compensation for not getting narcotics when imprisoned, where armed hijackers are given asylum. You're taking the mick.
It is also true that countries which fail to forge shared national objectives will be least able to make the long-term decisions vital for prosperity. And just as our competitors – not least in Asia – are seized by a clear view of their destiny in a fast-changing global economy, we – the British – must show ourselves able to summon up in peacetime the same sense of national mission we have always shown the world when challenged in war.
Our competitors in Asia are not shackled by a thousand regulations, taxations, employment legislations. Their children go to disciplined schools, where there is such a thing as a right and wrong answer, and academic rigour is valued above pupil self-esteem. The children know, as working class British children once did, that education is the way out of poverty. Now we have a large and growing benefit-dependent underclass, who know that they are 'the most deprived, excluded and vulnerable' - therefore worthy recipients of state benefits. We import foreign workers while over a million Britons are unemployed - and apparently unemployable. What have we done to them ?
George Orwell rightly ridiculed the old Left for interpreting patriotism as little more than the defence of unchanging institutions and for posing a false choice between patriotism and internationalism.
You chose the wrong example there. While a defender of the Union, Orwell was above all an English patriot.
But the failure to defend and promote the United Kingdom is now becoming more a feature of the thinking of the Right.
I see. Labour and the Lib Dems, who love nationalists, even murderous ones, if they're not English, have brought us here. And it's the Tories fault for not stopping them. It's like a teenager who's smashed up his first car saying "Dad ! Why didn't you stop me buying it ?"
In contrast to Lady Thatcher, who rightly defended the Union and did so even when not expedient to do so, some Conservative writers now embrace anti-Unionist positions, from independence to "English votes for English laws" – a Trojan horse for separation.
So you're happy with English MPs having second class status, are you - unable to vote on devolved issues affecting Scotland - while Scots MPs can vote on legislation which will never apply in their own constituences. Can you imagine a greater example of power without responsibility ? If you don't like "English votes for English laws" close down Holyrood !
Regrettably, an opportunist coalition of minority Nationalists and from what used to be the Conservative and Unionist Party is forming around a newly fashionable but perilous orthodoxy emphasising what divides us rather than what unites.
It is an irony that this is happening just as we are waking from a once-fashionable view of multiculturalism, which, by emphasising the separate and the exclusive, simply pushed communities apart.
Once fashionable with who, paleface ?
What was wrong about multiculturalism was not the recognition of diversity but that it over-emphasised separateness at the cost of unity.
Continually failing to emphasise what bound us together as a country, multiculturalism became an excuse for justifying separateness, and then separateness became a tolerance of – and all too often a defence of – even greater exclusivity.
Will you be apologising to Ray Honeyford then ?
And this is the dangerous drift in anti-Union sentiment today. For while it is healthy to recognise the distinctiveness of each nation, we will all lose if politicians play fast and loose with the Union and abandon national purpose to a focus on what divides. All political parties should learn from past mistakes: it is by showing what binds us together that we will energise the modern British patriotic purpose we should all want to see.
"play fast and loose with the Union", eh ? From the people who brought you the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, Good Friday agreement. We've already signed away Northern Ireland. There can be any number of referenda on unity with the South, but once that's happened - no more referenda. The ratchet only works one way.
We should remember that from 1707, the Union was founded not just on the respect for diversity that devolution recognises, but also on institutions that brought us together, from – at root – a shared monarchy, Parliament and Armed Forces to, more recently, institutions as wide ranging as the NHS, the BBC and the UK-wide pooling of pensions and unemployment risk through National Insurance.
I don't remember 'respect for diversity' featuring highly in the 1707 act. Doubtless it'll be there once the Downing Street Press Office have tweaked it.
And over time Europe's first common market – the United Kingdom – has evolved into something much more deeply ingrained than any of the world's other single markets: the shared connections, common networks and strong cross-border business relationships in financial services and elsewhere now integral to our prosperity.
Today in 2007, we can also be far more confident about a Britain that is defined not by ethnicity but, at its core, by common values and shared interests that, in turn, shape our institutions. Britain pioneered the modern idea of liberty and, not least from Adam Smith onwards, there is a golden thread that intertwines this unshakeable British commitment to liberty with another very British idea – that of duty and social responsibility, which comes alive in civic pride, charitable and voluntary endeavour, and encouragement for what Edmund Burke called the "little platoons".
Responsibility ? Give me those blood pressure pills. Under Brown, families on £58,000 a year are drawn into the benefits sytem via tax credits. A low-income family are better off finacially if they separate - thanks to Brown's benefit systems. Which will pay a stranger to care for your child, or elderly relative, but will not pay a family member. Which makes saving for retirement a waste of money unless your pension pot is big enough to teke you well over the Minimum Income Guarantee threshold. Which levies marginal tax rates of 80-90% (via withdrawal of benefits) on the low-paid. Which demands an expensive licence for that village hall dance, and criminal record checks on all the helpers on the school trip.
Civic pride ? When councils have no true independence, getting over half their money from central funds ? Charity ? When some of our major charities (Barnados, NCH, Children's Society) get half their money from the State, effectively acting as subcontractors ? When the Lottery fund hands out cash to any number of PC causes ? What's there to encourage 'the little platoons' ?
Most nations subscribe to universal values like freedom, but it is how these values come together – in Britain's case, in liberty married to social responsibility and to a belief in what Churchill called "fair play" – and then are mediated through our institutions and our history that defines the character of the country.
Of course those who say that our Britishness is not Britishness unless it is understated have a point. But recent years have seen outpourings of patriotic sentiment, from commemorating VE day to the Queen's Jubilee and more recently winning the Olympics. And just as St George's Day should be given greater pride of place as a celebration – as will St Andrew's Day and St David's Day – I also believe that on Remembrance Sunday and at other nationwide events, the country wants to do more to commemorate what the whole of Britain has in common and in particular to value the contribution of our forces and veterans.
In discussions with the British Museum, the British Library and the National Archive, we have agreed that there should be a permanent exhibition of historic documents that constitute the essence of our Britishness. And just as we should explore – perhaps with a national competition – what the country itself thinks should be included in this exhibition, we can and must also find better ways to show our national flag as a symbol of inclusion and national unity, taking it back from the BNP, which makes it a symbol of division.
I am certain that the teaching of British history should be at the heart of the modern school curriculum, and the current review of the curriculum should root the teaching of citizenship more closely in British history. And just as America is strengthened by the institutes that encourage discussion on the very idea of America, an Institute for Britishness could encourage debate on our identity, and what documents from Magna Carta onwards mean for today.
More so than in any other century, the 21st-century world will be characterised by peoples of different nationalities living closer to each other and having to find ways to live together. Other countries can learn from us getting the balance right between diversity and the strong common bonds that, at root, unify and bring us together. So, far from our Union being an anachronism or in its death throes, we can be a beacon for the world.
I'll post the whole thing in all its horror. Full fisking to be applied later. Any commenters wishing to make a start ?
We need a United Kingdom
By Gordon Brown
Last Updated: 2:05am GMT 13/01/2007
A national debate about Britishness and the future of Britain is overdue and there is no more appropriate moment than the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union. It is now time for supporters of the Union to speak up, to resist any drift towards a Balkanisation of Britain, and to acknowledge Great Britain for the success it has been and is: a model for the world of how nations can not only live side by side, but be stronger together but weaker apart.
"to resist any drift towards a Balkanisation of Britain" - that'll be the Government that wants to split England up into Euro-Regions ? No Balkanisation there, oh no.
Perhaps in the past we could get by with a Britishness that was assumed without being explicitly stated. But when our country is being challenged in Scotland, Wales and now England by secessionists, it is right to be explicit about what we, the British people, share in common and the patriotic vision for our country's future.
I am not alone in believing that a stronger sense of patriotic purpose would help resolve some of our most important national challenges, make us more confident about Britain's role in Europe and the world, and would help us better integrate our ethnic communities, respond to migration and show people the responsibilities as well as rights that must be at the heart of modern citizenship.
Very good. You've put your finger on one of my recurring themes. A strong, self-confident national culture is capable of integrating large numbers of immigrants . Unfortunately, that's just what we haven't got. Instead, we import people into a cultural vacuum then wonder why their descendants riot. And who have been beavering away at cultural destruction - which continues today - over the last fifty years ?
"show people the responsibilities as well as rights"
You slay me. This is a world where convicted criminals receive compensation for not getting narcotics when imprisoned, where armed hijackers are given asylum. You're taking the mick.
It is also true that countries which fail to forge shared national objectives will be least able to make the long-term decisions vital for prosperity. And just as our competitors – not least in Asia – are seized by a clear view of their destiny in a fast-changing global economy, we – the British – must show ourselves able to summon up in peacetime the same sense of national mission we have always shown the world when challenged in war.
Our competitors in Asia are not shackled by a thousand regulations, taxations, employment legislations. Their children go to disciplined schools, where there is such a thing as a right and wrong answer, and academic rigour is valued above pupil self-esteem. The children know, as working class British children once did, that education is the way out of poverty. Now we have a large and growing benefit-dependent underclass, who know that they are 'the most deprived, excluded and vulnerable' - therefore worthy recipients of state benefits. We import foreign workers while over a million Britons are unemployed - and apparently unemployable. What have we done to them ?
George Orwell rightly ridiculed the old Left for interpreting patriotism as little more than the defence of unchanging institutions and for posing a false choice between patriotism and internationalism.
You chose the wrong example there. While a defender of the Union, Orwell was above all an English patriot.
But the failure to defend and promote the United Kingdom is now becoming more a feature of the thinking of the Right.
I see. Labour and the Lib Dems, who love nationalists, even murderous ones, if they're not English, have brought us here. And it's the Tories fault for not stopping them. It's like a teenager who's smashed up his first car saying "Dad ! Why didn't you stop me buying it ?"
In contrast to Lady Thatcher, who rightly defended the Union and did so even when not expedient to do so, some Conservative writers now embrace anti-Unionist positions, from independence to "English votes for English laws" – a Trojan horse for separation.
So you're happy with English MPs having second class status, are you - unable to vote on devolved issues affecting Scotland - while Scots MPs can vote on legislation which will never apply in their own constituences. Can you imagine a greater example of power without responsibility ? If you don't like "English votes for English laws" close down Holyrood !
Regrettably, an opportunist coalition of minority Nationalists and from what used to be the Conservative and Unionist Party is forming around a newly fashionable but perilous orthodoxy emphasising what divides us rather than what unites.
It is an irony that this is happening just as we are waking from a once-fashionable view of multiculturalism, which, by emphasising the separate and the exclusive, simply pushed communities apart.
Once fashionable with who, paleface ?
What was wrong about multiculturalism was not the recognition of diversity but that it over-emphasised separateness at the cost of unity.
Continually failing to emphasise what bound us together as a country, multiculturalism became an excuse for justifying separateness, and then separateness became a tolerance of – and all too often a defence of – even greater exclusivity.
Will you be apologising to Ray Honeyford then ?
And this is the dangerous drift in anti-Union sentiment today. For while it is healthy to recognise the distinctiveness of each nation, we will all lose if politicians play fast and loose with the Union and abandon national purpose to a focus on what divides. All political parties should learn from past mistakes: it is by showing what binds us together that we will energise the modern British patriotic purpose we should all want to see.
"play fast and loose with the Union", eh ? From the people who brought you the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, Good Friday agreement. We've already signed away Northern Ireland. There can be any number of referenda on unity with the South, but once that's happened - no more referenda. The ratchet only works one way.
We should remember that from 1707, the Union was founded not just on the respect for diversity that devolution recognises, but also on institutions that brought us together, from – at root – a shared monarchy, Parliament and Armed Forces to, more recently, institutions as wide ranging as the NHS, the BBC and the UK-wide pooling of pensions and unemployment risk through National Insurance.
I don't remember 'respect for diversity' featuring highly in the 1707 act. Doubtless it'll be there once the Downing Street Press Office have tweaked it.
And over time Europe's first common market – the United Kingdom – has evolved into something much more deeply ingrained than any of the world's other single markets: the shared connections, common networks and strong cross-border business relationships in financial services and elsewhere now integral to our prosperity.
Today in 2007, we can also be far more confident about a Britain that is defined not by ethnicity but, at its core, by common values and shared interests that, in turn, shape our institutions. Britain pioneered the modern idea of liberty and, not least from Adam Smith onwards, there is a golden thread that intertwines this unshakeable British commitment to liberty with another very British idea – that of duty and social responsibility, which comes alive in civic pride, charitable and voluntary endeavour, and encouragement for what Edmund Burke called the "little platoons".
Responsibility ? Give me those blood pressure pills. Under Brown, families on £58,000 a year are drawn into the benefits sytem via tax credits. A low-income family are better off finacially if they separate - thanks to Brown's benefit systems. Which will pay a stranger to care for your child, or elderly relative, but will not pay a family member. Which makes saving for retirement a waste of money unless your pension pot is big enough to teke you well over the Minimum Income Guarantee threshold. Which levies marginal tax rates of 80-90% (via withdrawal of benefits) on the low-paid. Which demands an expensive licence for that village hall dance, and criminal record checks on all the helpers on the school trip.
Civic pride ? When councils have no true independence, getting over half their money from central funds ? Charity ? When some of our major charities (Barnados, NCH, Children's Society) get half their money from the State, effectively acting as subcontractors ? When the Lottery fund hands out cash to any number of PC causes ? What's there to encourage 'the little platoons' ?
Most nations subscribe to universal values like freedom, but it is how these values come together – in Britain's case, in liberty married to social responsibility and to a belief in what Churchill called "fair play" – and then are mediated through our institutions and our history that defines the character of the country.
Of course those who say that our Britishness is not Britishness unless it is understated have a point. But recent years have seen outpourings of patriotic sentiment, from commemorating VE day to the Queen's Jubilee and more recently winning the Olympics. And just as St George's Day should be given greater pride of place as a celebration – as will St Andrew's Day and St David's Day – I also believe that on Remembrance Sunday and at other nationwide events, the country wants to do more to commemorate what the whole of Britain has in common and in particular to value the contribution of our forces and veterans.
In discussions with the British Museum, the British Library and the National Archive, we have agreed that there should be a permanent exhibition of historic documents that constitute the essence of our Britishness. And just as we should explore – perhaps with a national competition – what the country itself thinks should be included in this exhibition, we can and must also find better ways to show our national flag as a symbol of inclusion and national unity, taking it back from the BNP, which makes it a symbol of division.
I am certain that the teaching of British history should be at the heart of the modern school curriculum, and the current review of the curriculum should root the teaching of citizenship more closely in British history. And just as America is strengthened by the institutes that encourage discussion on the very idea of America, an Institute for Britishness could encourage debate on our identity, and what documents from Magna Carta onwards mean for today.
More so than in any other century, the 21st-century world will be characterised by peoples of different nationalities living closer to each other and having to find ways to live together. Other countries can learn from us getting the balance right between diversity and the strong common bonds that, at root, unify and bring us together. So, far from our Union being an anachronism or in its death throes, we can be a beacon for the world.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Are They Really So Primitive ...
That natives of the land of Burns, Scott, Adam Smith and the Sage of Ecclefechan now need to be taught how to wash their hands ? Are they adults, or children ?
Sixty years of one-party welfare state 'socialism' have a lot to answer for. Off your knees, Scotsmen ! Abjure the pendulous dugs of Nanny State !
Sixty years of one-party welfare state 'socialism' have a lot to answer for. Off your knees, Scotsmen ! Abjure the pendulous dugs of Nanny State !
Official - We Care More About Dogs Than Children
As Snafu points out, if you can be taken to court for having a lardy dog, thereby apparently causing it "unnecessary suffering" (surely the dog knows what it likes, I preseume it wasn't being force-fed), shouldn't parents of lardbutt laddies also be put in the dock ?
Wroughton Hammer Attack Update
The comments on the local newspaper are interesting, if you ignore the idiots :
From A Ridgeway Pupil at 1.44 :
"I am one of the pupils and i know full well why they made they attack, the "asian invasion" want to be the new maffia, the kids in our year and school are always bragging about their cousins fights and how they aren't to be messed with; thus thinking this, they think they are above everybody else and can do what they like. At school they are given VIP treatment, they say jump and the teachers say "how high," and the reason why they did this to Henry was because they barged into one another, accidental, in the corridor at morning break. Whilst three of the year nines (apart of the asian invasion) were provoking a fight, Henry laughed at them and tried walking away, with the three of them still at it, he pushed them off of him and carried on walking. Then the three boys contacted their families and suddenyl the push turned into a "punch" to the face because he was pakistani.
So tell me, this isn't racially motivated and that was a decent reason to do what he did."
From Ridgeway Pupil at 2.03:
I find it disguisting that all he has been given is GBH. I attended school on friday and through whatever means (internet and work of mouth) these older Asian Invasioners said "if we see your face on the news or name in the papers, we will do the same to you and it will be worse." Students are too scared to attend school, whitnesses (200+) are tramatised and parents are outraged. This has been going on for long enough, it started off they physically and verbally bullied the younger white boys, they then brought knives into school, they taunted other indian boys who aren't apart of the gang, calling them "white wannabes" and betrayers, and only a couple a months ago one of their dads assulted a teacher and put a kid in hospital. All linked, all formulating from racism and never ever named and shamed. Nothing was done when a cousin who was in their 20s broke a year 11s jaw so i ask you, if they get away with this AGAIN what will be next? Death is what. The head has quoted on a day to day basis of the running of Ridgeway, there is no racism, which is complete and utter bull. It infuriates me that the teachers try brainwashing everybody who isnt apart of this group that it isnt racism when we try voicing about this group, bu the minute they accuse any others of racism, numerous people are expelled and excessive, unneeded action is ALWAYS taken. It infuriates me completly and the school are too scared to take fair a just action against them incase they are labelled "racist." They have the upper hand of this school and they controll the running of it, it isnt fair and it had gone on long enough.
Either they go, or i know alot of other students a I will go elsewhere.
UPDATE - From worried at 7.22 pm 14 Jan :
I have two children at this school, and I have been hearing about this so called "Asian Invasion" group from them for some time now. I feel ashamed that I played down the stories that my children have brought home because I honestly thought that they must be exaggerated, (surely if they had been true then the Head would have acted accordingly to stamp out such racist behaviour). I feel have let down my kids by not complaining to the school before this had to happen, but more importantly, I am angry that all of the kids at Ridgeway have been let down in this way because those in charge did not have the skills, the vision, or the courage to deal with this racial hatred before it went this far. I am also saddened that the justice system has let us all down with the GBH charge. I will not be joining the BNP, I will not be changing my ideals that on the whole we are all decent human beings no matter what colour we are, but I will be protesting to make sure that racist attacks on whites are taken as seriously as those attacks on blacks/asians in the future.
UPDATE2 - from This Is Wiltshire :
From asian at 11.52 am 15/1/07 :
Well said John i am an Asian young female and it was Racist the group are called the Asian Invasion they are bragging about this on a web site called Bebo. I do not mix with these sort of people but i do agree with you it was and is a racist gang.
Posted by: anon on 12:53pm today :
thease boys who attacked this lad have things on there bebo that shocked me for instance, one lad left comment saying lol (laugh out loud) i got arrested for gbh. Not funny at all. also one lads video showed the twin towers coming down, until somebody threatened him that he would be reported. I beleive this was racially motivated as thease asian lads appear to be racist.I have children in this school and am worried about about the repecussions .
thease boys who attacked this lad have things on there bebo that shocked me for instance, one lad left comment saying lol (laugh out loud) i got arrested for gbh. Not funny at all. also one lads video showed the twin towers coming down, until somebody threatened him that he would be reported. I beleive this was racially motivated as thease asian lads appear to be racist.I have children in this school and am worried about about the repecussions.
Posted by: Tony on 1:41pm today :
As a parent with pupils at Ridgeway School l wish Henry a full and speedy recovery! We are all naturally appalled with the nature and ferocity of this attack and that it happened in the percieved safety of school grounds in full view of horrified pupils and parents, some of these will also bear the emotional scars of what unfolded for the rest of their lives! I disagree that the school have a racial problem the majority of pupils some of mixed ethnic groups do mix and get on well together it is only a very small element that seem to think it appropriate to phone older relatives/friends everytime they have an issue with another pupil that they cannot handle. Sooner the school deal with these the better. Only GBH?? Sorry bringing a hammer to a fight is pre-meditated and surely if you bludgeon a defenceless boy in this manner the charge must be attempted murder! Roles reversed, 7/8 white on asian would be classed by the Police, Community leaders etc as a racist attack - sorry gone to far the other way for me.
Posted by: jo on 4:40pm today :
This behaviour is appauling. The police/courts should issue a more severe punishment to all the youths involved in this incident. By the gang calling themselves the 'asian invasion' and having these bebo websites should be enough for the police to charge them with something more than GBH surly.
This behaviour is appauling. The police/courts should issue a more severe punishment to all the youths involved in this incident. By the gang calling themselves the 'asian invasion' and having these bebo websites should be enough for the police to charge them with something more than GBH surly.
Posted by: sally on 4:45pm today
http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=1275376480
Now these posts may not be genuine. They could all be cunningly inserted lies, set up by troublemakers determined to undermine community relations. But the comments about double standards and teachers being scared of the r-word (professional and social death for a teacher to get this tag) ring true. And in the spelling and grammar I detect the authentic voice of the British education system.
From A Ridgeway Pupil at 1.44 :
"I am one of the pupils and i know full well why they made they attack, the "asian invasion" want to be the new maffia, the kids in our year and school are always bragging about their cousins fights and how they aren't to be messed with; thus thinking this, they think they are above everybody else and can do what they like. At school they are given VIP treatment, they say jump and the teachers say "how high," and the reason why they did this to Henry was because they barged into one another, accidental, in the corridor at morning break. Whilst three of the year nines (apart of the asian invasion) were provoking a fight, Henry laughed at them and tried walking away, with the three of them still at it, he pushed them off of him and carried on walking. Then the three boys contacted their families and suddenyl the push turned into a "punch" to the face because he was pakistani.
So tell me, this isn't racially motivated and that was a decent reason to do what he did."
From Ridgeway Pupil at 2.03:
I find it disguisting that all he has been given is GBH. I attended school on friday and through whatever means (internet and work of mouth) these older Asian Invasioners said "if we see your face on the news or name in the papers, we will do the same to you and it will be worse." Students are too scared to attend school, whitnesses (200+) are tramatised and parents are outraged. This has been going on for long enough, it started off they physically and verbally bullied the younger white boys, they then brought knives into school, they taunted other indian boys who aren't apart of the gang, calling them "white wannabes" and betrayers, and only a couple a months ago one of their dads assulted a teacher and put a kid in hospital. All linked, all formulating from racism and never ever named and shamed. Nothing was done when a cousin who was in their 20s broke a year 11s jaw so i ask you, if they get away with this AGAIN what will be next? Death is what. The head has quoted on a day to day basis of the running of Ridgeway, there is no racism, which is complete and utter bull. It infuriates me that the teachers try brainwashing everybody who isnt apart of this group that it isnt racism when we try voicing about this group, bu the minute they accuse any others of racism, numerous people are expelled and excessive, unneeded action is ALWAYS taken. It infuriates me completly and the school are too scared to take fair a just action against them incase they are labelled "racist." They have the upper hand of this school and they controll the running of it, it isnt fair and it had gone on long enough.
Either they go, or i know alot of other students a I will go elsewhere.
UPDATE - From worried at 7.22 pm 14 Jan :
I have two children at this school, and I have been hearing about this so called "Asian Invasion" group from them for some time now. I feel ashamed that I played down the stories that my children have brought home because I honestly thought that they must be exaggerated, (surely if they had been true then the Head would have acted accordingly to stamp out such racist behaviour). I feel have let down my kids by not complaining to the school before this had to happen, but more importantly, I am angry that all of the kids at Ridgeway have been let down in this way because those in charge did not have the skills, the vision, or the courage to deal with this racial hatred before it went this far. I am also saddened that the justice system has let us all down with the GBH charge. I will not be joining the BNP, I will not be changing my ideals that on the whole we are all decent human beings no matter what colour we are, but I will be protesting to make sure that racist attacks on whites are taken as seriously as those attacks on blacks/asians in the future.
UPDATE2 - from This Is Wiltshire :
From asian at 11.52 am 15/1/07 :
Well said John i am an Asian young female and it was Racist the group are called the Asian Invasion they are bragging about this on a web site called Bebo. I do not mix with these sort of people but i do agree with you it was and is a racist gang.
Posted by: anon on 12:53pm today :
thease boys who attacked this lad have things on there bebo that shocked me for instance, one lad left comment saying lol (laugh out loud) i got arrested for gbh. Not funny at all. also one lads video showed the twin towers coming down, until somebody threatened him that he would be reported. I beleive this was racially motivated as thease asian lads appear to be racist.I have children in this school and am worried about about the repecussions .
thease boys who attacked this lad have things on there bebo that shocked me for instance, one lad left comment saying lol (laugh out loud) i got arrested for gbh. Not funny at all. also one lads video showed the twin towers coming down, until somebody threatened him that he would be reported. I beleive this was racially motivated as thease asian lads appear to be racist.I have children in this school and am worried about about the repecussions.
Posted by: Tony on 1:41pm today :
As a parent with pupils at Ridgeway School l wish Henry a full and speedy recovery! We are all naturally appalled with the nature and ferocity of this attack and that it happened in the percieved safety of school grounds in full view of horrified pupils and parents, some of these will also bear the emotional scars of what unfolded for the rest of their lives! I disagree that the school have a racial problem the majority of pupils some of mixed ethnic groups do mix and get on well together it is only a very small element that seem to think it appropriate to phone older relatives/friends everytime they have an issue with another pupil that they cannot handle. Sooner the school deal with these the better. Only GBH?? Sorry bringing a hammer to a fight is pre-meditated and surely if you bludgeon a defenceless boy in this manner the charge must be attempted murder! Roles reversed, 7/8 white on asian would be classed by the Police, Community leaders etc as a racist attack - sorry gone to far the other way for me.
Posted by: jo on 4:40pm today :
This behaviour is appauling. The police/courts should issue a more severe punishment to all the youths involved in this incident. By the gang calling themselves the 'asian invasion' and having these bebo websites should be enough for the police to charge them with something more than GBH surly.
This behaviour is appauling. The police/courts should issue a more severe punishment to all the youths involved in this incident. By the gang calling themselves the 'asian invasion' and having these bebo websites should be enough for the police to charge them with something more than GBH surly.
Posted by: sally on 4:45pm today
http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=1275376480
Now these posts may not be genuine. They could all be cunningly inserted lies, set up by troublemakers determined to undermine community relations. But the comments about double standards and teachers being scared of the r-word (professional and social death for a teacher to get this tag) ring true. And in the spelling and grammar I detect the authentic voice of the British education system.
Sunday Times : It's A Bloody Shovel
BBC : "Two suspected graffiti artists have been killed by a London Underground (LU) train in Barking, east London."
Sunday Times : "Vandals mowed down by train."
Sunday Times : "Vandals mowed down by train."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
