Sunday 20 December 2009

Iraqi police, Najaf



Friday 18 December 2009

Liberal Democrat Leader calls for tuition fees to be scrapped

Liberal Democrats to keep pledge to scrap tuition fees

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has said the party will keep its pledge to scrap tuition fees despite earlier saying they might not be able to afford it.























Mr Clegg has previously expressed doubts over the feasibility of the party’s commitment; suggesting that abolishing "tuition fees would cost billions of pounds every year" and so "we need to be certain we can afford it before we make any promises". He was later forced to reverse his decision to remove the manifesto commitment owing to strong public dissent from senior figures, including the former leader Charles Kennedy.

Under the plans, which would not see tuition fees finally scrapped until the Parliament after next, fees would first be scrapped for final-year students, in the financial year 2010-11, at the cost of £511m. The overall cost of the policy over six years would be £7.5bn.

Vince Cable conceded that free tuition would be made possible through a reduction in numbers entering higher education.

Speaking to Jon Sopel on BBC’s Politics Show he said: "The issue about how you afford it, in a very tough environment for public spending, is it's a question of how many people actually go to university, so the question is whether you deal with it through fees or by restricting numbers and the latter has to be the way forward I'm afraid."

Thursday 17 December 2009

Lord Mandelson wants to swap spinning for sowing

The Business Secretary said he longs to leave London and cultivate an old English garden where he can also look after chickens which would supply him with fresh eggs.
















click here for Telegraph article

Peter Tatchell quits as Oxford East's Green candidate due to 'brain injuries from Mugabe and Moscow bashings'

The Greens currently have no MPs, although they are hoping their leader, Caroline Lucas, an MEP and their candidate in Brighton Pavilion, will become their first at the next election.



 click here for full Guardian article

Israeli organ donors to get transplant priority

Israel is to become the first country to give donor card carriers a legal right to priority treatment if they should require an organ transplant.

click here for full BBC article

Wednesday 16 December 2009

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Tory lead cut to nine points in Guardian/ICM poll

After 12 months of unbroken Conservative dominance in the polls, the figures – showing the Tories on 40%, down two, Labour on 31%, up two, and the Liberal Democrats on 18% – are likely to intensify calls for Brown to go to the country on 25 March next year, rather than the 6 May polling day that most at Westminster have been expecting.



click here for full Guardian article

Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni 'cancels London visit over prosecution fears'

"The opposition chairwoman is proud of all her decisions regarding Operation Cast Lead," her office was quoted as saying. "The operation achieved its objectives to protect the citizens of Israel and to reinstate Israel's deterrence capability."




click here for the full Telegraph article

Sunday 13 December 2009

Berlusconi attacked in Milan

BBC News video :-)

Former Tory peer calls Jewish climate campaigner 'Hitler Youth'

Viscount Monckton, 57, who was an economic adviser to the Thatcher government but joined UKIP earlier this week, has persistently called into question the science behind man-made climate change.




























full Telegraph article here

Saturday 12 December 2009

'Labour treats us like oddballs’ says Archbishop of Canterbury

Dr Rowan 'Dingbat' Williams told The Daily Telegraph: “The trouble with a lot of Government initiatives about faith is that they assume it is a problem, it’s an eccentricity, it’s practised by oddities, foreigners and minorities.


Telegraph

Friday 4 December 2009

Squeaker Bercow's trouble and strife

She looks like a lap-dancer and it is now plain she has behaved much like one. Oh well. At least one can now report that in her Young Conservative days she was known as 'Sally the Alley'.
Quentin Letts



















Mail Online

Sally Bercow reveals past full of binge-drinking and one-night stands

John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, has been criticised by MPs after his wife gave an extraordinary interview to launch herself as a Labour politician. Sally Bercow, 40, described her battle with drink and fondness for one-night stands in her twenties, and criticised David Cameron as a “merchant of spin”. MPs reacted with astonishment, pointing out that Mrs Bercow lives in Speaker’s House at taxpayers’ expense and questioning whether this compromised the Speaker’s independence. Mr Bercow was a Tory MP before becoming Speaker, but was elected with support of Labour MPs.


In the interview published today [3rd December 2009], Mrs Bercow said that she wanted to get rid of “skeletons” from her past before standing as a Labour councillor in Pimlico, central London, in a bid to become an MP at the next election. She said: “I was a big binge drinker in my twenties. I started drinking at Oxford, being a party girl, and it got out of control. I got a grip for a while, but in the mid-Nineties I was working in advertising and I would drink wine at lunch then go out and drink a bottle in the evening, most evenings really. I had no stop button.” Asked whether this was as excessive as she had implied, she added: “Well, OK. It was sometimes more like two bottles, except I promised John I wouldn’t say that. Have I mucked it up already?”

She became teetotal in 2000 after realising that she had put herself in danger. “I was an argumentative, stroppy drunk, picking arguments with my bosses over stupid things. Plus I’d lose my judgment and put myself in danger. I’d fall asleep on the Tube and end up in Epping or Heathrow. And I’d get into unlicensed minicabs in the early hours. All the things we’d tell our daughters not to do.”

Mrs Bercow also confessed to casual sexual encounters because of alcohol. “They weren’t romantic. They were more like flings. I wasn’t looking for love. But it’s true that I would end up sometimes at a bar and someone would send a drink over, and I’d think, ‘Why not?’ and we’d go home together. I liked the excitement of not knowing how a night was going to end. It was all very ladette — work hard, play hard. I want to run for Parliament as a Labour candidate so this has all got to come out and I’d rather tell it myself,” she told the London Evening Standard.

Mrs Bercow has been criticised recently for the way that she presented her qualifications on her CV, but she denied any intention to mislead. She also rebuffed criticism of her spending on a redecoration of Speaker’s House that she said was necessary because the dark red upset her autistic son, Oliver, 5, one of their three children. She suggested that David Cameron was a fake. “He favours the interests of the few over the mainstream majority. I do think the Tory party is for the privileged few and what it stands for isn’t in the interests of most ordinary people.” She also said that Mr Cameron could send his children to private school because there was no “real commitment” to state education.

Mr Cameron did not support Mr Bercow’s candidacy but a spokesman refused to be drawn on the issue and said that the party was supportive of the office of Speaker. Mrs Bercow may not send her children to grammar schools in her husband’s Buckinghamshire constituency because she opposes selection. She revealed that after dating Mr Bercow for six months “he dumped me for being too argumentative. But you have to remember that he was a right-wing headbanger at the time. He’s much more rounded and moderate now, and he’s rethought a lot.” Asked how it might work if she was an MP while her husband was Speaker, she said: “He’d be so tough on me though. I’d never get a question when he was in the chair. I’d have to wait till the deputy speaker was in.”

Nadine Dorries, a Tory MP who opposed Mr Bercow’s selection as Speaker, said: “We desperately need to restore authority and respect to Parliament. What this interview has done is remove any painstaking progress Parliament has made and reduced the Speaker and his office to that of a laughing stock. How can we ask the people to trust us, when the man who holds us to account has such poor judgment that he allowed his wife to give such an appalling, self-obsessed interview?” [Bit fucking rich - Ed].

The Times Online, 3rd December 2009

Thursday 3 December 2009

Toll bridge bought for over £1m

The Swinford toll bridge was built across the River Thames at Eynsham in 1767 and is governed by its own Act of Parliament.

















BBC News  article

Mandelson declares war on Murdoch

In his strongest attacks on News Corp since the Sun abandoned its support for Labour hours after Gordon Brown's party conference speech, the business secretary accused the company of imperilling the traditions of British broadcasting.















The Guardian

Mandelson wanted EU foreign secretary post

BBC News



















He told Radio 4's Today programme that he was committed to the government but "in other circumstances I would have liked to have done that job".

Tuesday 1 December 2009

President Obama to set out Afghan troop strategy

oh! that would be helpful, dear.
BBC News

Sunday 29 November 2009

Climate change denier Nick Griffin to represent EU at Copenhagen

BNP leader, Nick Griffin, has graciously taken time out from rehearsals of his first panto, Mother GooseStep, to furnish the United Nations with the facts behind the myth that is climate change.













link to The Observer

Tory Zac Goldsmith admits he is a non-dom


















Goldsmith is an ally of David Cameron and was commissioned by the Conservative leader to draw up a blueprint for environmental and “quality of life” policies. He suggested a swathe of green taxes, including hikes in levies on 4x4 vehicles and aviation, and rebates on stamp duty for green homes.
Times Online

Saturday 28 November 2009

Robin van Persie faces five months out

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie will be sidelined for up to five months after being told he needs an operation on his injured ankle ligaments.  Van Persie, 26, who suffered the injury while playing for the Netherlands on 14 November, was initially expected to be out for about six weeks.  However, scans have revealed the injury is worse than originally feared.


Tories advance on key Labour strongholds

The YouGov survey of voters in 32 northern marginal seats currently held by Labour shows the Conservatives lead Labour by 42 per cent to 36 per cent, enough for all to fall into Tory hands. In the same seats at the 2005 election, the Tories polled 34 per cent with Labour on 44 per cent.













the Daily Telegraph

Friday 27 November 2009

Lord Pearson (who?) elected leader of UKIP (what?)

He said the party would still be "majoring on leaving Europe" - but he also pledged to campaign on a range of other issues including Swiss-style direct democracy.



















BBC

Vatican 'snubbed Ireland church abuse inquiry'

















The inquiry into sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland has disclosed that the Vatican ignored formal requests for information.
link to the BBC article

Where the European Union spends its money

















link to the Daily Telegraph article

Irish Catholic Church apologises for abuse by priests

















"Whatever the historical and societal reasons for this, the government... apologises, without reservation or equivocation, for failures by the agencies of the state in dealing with this issue," a government statement said.
BBC

Wednesday 25 November 2009

Brighton's culture bid is dropped














"If we were a culturally impoverished city seeking to establish a name for ourselves, or even one with a reasonable offer but no profile, chasing the award might make more sense," said a spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council. 

Ministers urged to take action against bank charges


Charges are expected to be increased as Britain’s high street banks try to recoup some of the losses from the credit crisis. Banks can earn billions of pounds of income from the fees.

BBC: We won't charge for online news
















The BBC has today said it has "no intention" of charging for online news, in a declaration that is unlikely to please James Murdoch and his father Rupert as they prepare to start charging for News Corporation content on the internet.
G U A R D I A N

planetpmctv

P M C A U D I O V I S U A L

Bob Ainsworth criticises Barack Obama over Afghanistan













The Defence Secretary has blamed Barack Obama and the United States for the decline in British public support for the war in Afghanistan.
T E L E G R A P H

Liverpool could be counting the cost of this early exit for years














It is impossible to calculate precisely the financial cost to Liverpool of their dire failure to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage but it is safe to assess it as several million pounds the club could have seriously done without losing.
G U A R D I A N

Vatican tries to woo back the art world













Pope Benedict has invited international artists, sculptors, architects, musicians, film directors and even a solitary Italian prima ballerina to meet him under the soaring vaulted ceiling of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel in the Vatican on Saturday to begin a new dialogue between the Catholic Church and the arts.
B B C

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Police passes files on four Parliamentarians to the CPS













Scotland Yard believes it has uncovered enough evidence to bring criminal charges against four MPs and peers for allegedly abusing their expenses.
G U A R D I A N

Thursday 19 November 2009

MPs' expenses: David Curry quits as standards chief over new Telegraph disclosures

T E L E G R A P H

Belgian PM 'named as EU president'

B B C

Charlotte Vere selected as Conservative candidate for Brighton Pavilion


Charlotte Vere has been selected as the new Conservative candidate for Brighton Pavilion at the next general election, writes Andy Chiles on the Argus website.  Big White Wall chief executive Mrs Vere was selected ... from six finalists in an “open primary” staged by the Brighton Pavilion Conservative Association.


Each of the contenders faced 20 minutes of questioning from the 80 association members and members of the public who had gathered at The Grand hotel, in King’s Road, Brighton, before a series of elimination votes were held.  Barrister Anna Firth was knocked out first, followed by senior Conservative organiser Scott Digby.  Local candidate Andrew Wealls and tv producer Douglas Chirnside were both eliminated simultaneously in the third round of voting.  Charity worker Mr Wealls’ departure drew gasps from the audience.  Two votes had to be held to separate Charlotte Vere and insurance broker Mary Weale after the first produced a dead heat.  The vote counts were not revealed to the public, only the results.

Mrs Vere, who has been closely involved with the campaigns of environmentally-minded millionaire Tory Zac Goldsmith [ker-ching!] appeared to emerge victorious by a slender margin.  The mother-of-two, from south-west London [what, you mean she doesn't even live in Brighton?!], said: “It has been a huge experience over the last two weeks. You should know I wasn’t on the first shortlist, I was a reserve.  We have a huge fight ahead of us but it’s a fight I believe we can win. I will put up an excellent fight and I absolutely intend to win” . 

She will now contest the general election, expected in May, in what is anticipated to be one of the closest constituencies in the country.  It is held by retiring MP David Lepper by a 5,000 vote majority which his Labour successor Nancy Platts will hope to maintain.  It has also been made the Green Party’s top target after a series of strong local and European election performances and their national leader Caroline Lucas [haha!] has been brought in to contest the seat.

During the open primary each of the candidates answered questions about their reasons for entering politics, their views of Brighton and Hove, their role models and a series of public queries involving the economy, the gay community, green beliefs [beliefs?!], Afghanistan, Europe, tax, immigration, crime and cleanliness [what?!]. Several people left during the three and a half hour selection process [i'm not fucking surprised!].

Following the selection BPCA chairwoman Carol Ramsden said: “Charlotte is going to be absolutely brilliant. The fact it went right to the wire shows how strong a field there was. We’re ready for the fight now. It will be starting tomorrow and as far as we are concerned, bring it on.”

CHARLOTTE ON THE LEFT - GIVE 'EM ENOUGH SCARF . . .

There were mixed reactions among the audience.   Jason Bull [any relation to David?], who attended as a member of the public, said: “I didn’t vote for her on the first round but I think she was the strongest candidate. I originally voted for one of the three gay candidates (Scott Digby, Andrew Wealls and Douglas Chirnside) because I’m gay and I would’ve liked to have seen one of them selected.”   Resident Derek Burns said: “I thought the whole process was a bit long winded, they could have narrowed it down to less candidates and a shorter time each. It was extremely difficult to choose. Everyone around me said they didn’t know who to vote for. I think Charlotte Vere has got a very tough fight on her hands with the Greens now.”

Conservative Brighton and Hove City Councillor Geoffrey Theobald said: “We’ve got a good candidate and we’re going to win” [article ends].

The Brighton and Hove Conservatives' website tells us ... Charlotte is a successful social entrepreneur and businesswoman. As CEO of Big White Wall, she led a team which developed therapy for depression using the internet. Big White Wall won the 2009 Guardian Award for Innovation in Community Engagement. Charlotte is a key campaigner for Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate in Richmond Park, and she has a passion for the environment. She is married with two children.


It's ok, you won't be charged - yet.  However, if you're depressed and want a wall to write on then it'll cost you seventy quid.  This is because raising funds by advertising might be upsetting for you if you're depressed so they use the more considerate approach of ripping the piss out of you first.  Fucking tories, they can't just be nice for nice's sake, can they?

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

A R G U S
a somewhat surprisingly eloquent editorial from brighton's local rag.

Ireland wants replay against France

B B C

Heavy drinkers less likely to get heart attack, research says

G U A R D I A N
FTW?!

France 1 - 1 Ireland























isn't it ironic that a man must cheat in order to maintain the pride of his nation and to gain the respect of his fellow countrymen?

Lord Ashcroft's British Caribbean Bank funds Turks and Caicos leader's lavish lifestyle

I N D E P E N D E N T

Friday 23 October 2009

Question Time

Wednesday 26 August 2009

Fascism in Football

Thursday 20 August 2009

Saturday 11 July 2009

Stonewall

It all started 20 years ago when a group of activists met in the kitchen of Ian McKellen. They were moved by a shared revulsion at section 28 of the Local Government Act, passed in the dying years of the Thatcher era. It banned councils from brainwashing children into being gay - as if that were something town halls could or would do - and enshrined bigotry in the law of the land by prohibiting the presentation of homosexuality as "a pretended family relationship".

Sir Ian, as he was not yet, saw such bullying was possible only as long as gay life was lived in the closet, so he announced his own orientation and spoke out. That took courage, for open homosexuality was still regarded as incompatible with being in the public spotlight. But one man's bravery could not stop the law, and so the kitchen cabinet - including Michael Cashman, Lisa Power and many others - created a campaigning outfit.

Dubbed Stonewall - to signal doggedness, and to commemorate the New York riots in which gay protestors had fought back against police brutality two decades before - it called for full legal rights, which still seemed a loony-left pipe dream. But with gays in the military, civil partnerships and an equalised age of consent - not to mention repeal of section 28 - it is no pipe dream today.

Stonewall has led the way with each reform - pressing ministers, and taking test cases to court. In cricketing terms "Stonewall" has become a misnomer, given the staggering run rate achieved by this small lobby group.

the guardian, 26th May 2009

Sunday 28 June 2009



it certainly was.

Thursday 25 June 2009

MICHAEL JACKSON DIES

and the world's children breathe again.

Monday 22 June 2009

MPs EXPENSES


by Beau Bo D'Or
http://www.bbdo.co.uk/blog

Saturday 13 June 2009

NO LACK OF


BOUNCY BLEARS DEFLATED



ms blears's apology made me cringe as, with minimal make-up for impoverished effect, she begged the people to let her stay in her job. she does not deserve the privileged position of representing a section of great britain's population, a smaller sub-section of which went on to elect nick griffin on to the european stage.

by walking out of her job, ms blears betrayed the prime minister, the government, the labour party, its members, all those people who voted her into parliament and every person in her constituency.

ms blears behaved like a precocious child and should not only resign as an MP but should be ejected from the party.

Wednesday 10 June 2009

THE BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY ARRIVES ON THE EUROPEAN POLITICAL STAGE


AND IT REPRESENTS THE UNITED KINGDOM - ALLEGEDLY

On Monday morning the far-right BNP won two seats in the European Parliament. The far-right leader, Nick Griffin, won a seat in the North West region. Earlier, Andrew Brons, another BNP politician, won in the Yorkshire and Humber area. This means that two fascist extremists will be sent to Brussels to represent the views of British people. I know the good people of this country will join me in stating unequivocally that the BNP’s racist agenda is not – and never will be – representative of our fair and just country.

Firstly, a brief history lesson. The BNP was founded in 1982 by John Tyndall, the former Chairman of the National Front and an Adolf Hitler fan who claimed "Mein Kampf is my bible". In the intervening years the BNP has run hate campaigns abusing non-whites, non-Christians, homosexuals and espoused policies calling for the forced expulsion of all immigrants. Effectively advocating ethnic cleansing, a practice defined in international law as a "Crime against Humanity". Nick Griffin has been BNP leader since 1999 and has, somewhat successfully, sought to change the party image. White supremacist and non-white expulsion policies have been reworded as 'voluntary repatriation schemes for immigrants'. The wording has changed but the objectives remain. Pretty words cannot hide an ugly truth. This is a fundamentally racist organisation that seeks to gain popularity and legitimacy by offering simplistic answers to a swathe of complicated issues.

Whether it be employment, housing or health the BNP's answer is always focused on the colour of someone's skin. Nick Griffin may tell you that the party has changed, but if he is not a racist why did he join such an organisation in the first place? He says they seek to defend the interests of Britain. That is an outrageous statement; many of our older residents fought in World War II to combat the evil Nazi ideology. It is in that very same despicable ideology where the BNP finds its roots. Nick Griffin and many of his BNP lieutenants have actively denied the holocaust. Six million Jews died, a devastating war was fought and Nick Griffin says the gas chambers did not exist and it was "an extremely profitable lie"!

I for one do not seek to deny that immigration must be controlled - it does. But why would we drain our nation of the wealth of talent that controlled immigration can bring, be it in the NHS, our service industries or elsewhere. We as a nation have always welcomed newcomers and with proper controls we have benefited enormously in consequence. What I know is that immigration concerns need intelligent responses, not the ignorance and intolerance offered by the BNP. Every person is an individual and should be judged upon their character and choice of action not the colour of their face. The BNP is a vile organisation, Nazism in the 21st century and I hope everyone in our communities will join me in condemning its presence in our country.

Many questions arise, such as do members of the BNP have the right to speak their mind? Well, yes . . . per se; that is the very freedom that was protected by fighting the Nazis. Provided that they stay within the law then they are certainly entitled to speak their mind.

But of this I am certain: whatever the question is, the BNP will never be the answer.

Thursday 14 May 2009

THE EMBEZZLEMENT OF PUBLIC FUNDS BY MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

















as it stands this evening one member, andrew mackay (not to be confused with roxy music's saxophonist) has resigned and one member, elliot morley, has been suspended under investigation.

we shall deal with the latter once the investigation publishes its findings. as for andrew mackay, the BBC tells us that he voluntarily submitted his expenses details to party officials who concluded they showed an "unacceptable situation that would not stand up to public scrutiny" [fraud?].

The details show that Mr MacKay and his wife, fellow Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride [aaah yes, the lovely julie, who was about to tie the knot, so to speak, with stephen milligan MP, whose corpse was found in what was presumed to be a state of auto-erotic asphyxiation, combined with self-bondage and cross-dressing. (pauses) upon closer inspection, a segment of orange was found in his mouth at the time of his death, which is thought to disguise the bitter taste of narcotics such as amyl nitrite, more commonly referred to as poppers. it was perhaps this more flamboyant side of julie that attracted mackay to her] have effectively been claiming the second home allowance for mortgage interest payments on two properties - one in London and one in the Midlands. Mr MacKay claimed more than £1,000 a month for interest payments on a joint mortgage for their London home while Ms Kirkbride claimed £900 for mortgage interest on her constituency home in Bromsgrove. The arrangements suggested neither had a first home. Parliamentary data show the couple have claimed 98% of the money available to them via the second homes allowance since 2004.

Response: Mr MacKay has resigned as a parliamentary private aide [but not, as yet, as a member of parliament preferring to have a public meeting with his constituents during which he will try his utmost to squirm his way into keeping his job rather than resign his parliamentary seat] to David Cameron and has apologised "profusely" for "letting a lot of people down" [his interview with matthew amroliwala on the BBC was both painful and a delight to watch as a grown man tried to squirm his way out of any wrongdoing].

He said he took advice from the Commons fees office [which must now itself, surely, be the subject of an investigation] before claiming the allowance and had been open about the arrangement. He said he initially did not believe there was a problem - thinking his claims seemed reasonable - but he now realises there was an error of judgement [an error of judgement?! who's he trying to kid?! andrew mackay was deputy chief whip under john major, shadow secretary of state for northern ireland from 1997 to september 2001 during the leadership of william hague, deputy chairman in september 2004 with responsibility for candidates and upon the election of david cameron in november 2005 senior parliamentary and political adviser to the great one himself. this is not a stupid man!].

He confirmed the couple had been claiming these allowances for the past eight years [yet in all that time it did not occur to either of them that they may have been just ever so slightly ripping the piss out of the system]. He has agreed to appear before the Tories' new internal scrutiny committee on expenses and says he is willing to repay any money deemed necessary. He says he will remain as an MP and that he will be holding meeting with constituents to explain his behaviour [book a babysitter!].

However, Conservative sources suggested that Ms Kirkbride's expenses claims were more "conventional" [what?! they lived together for christ's sake. . . ever heard of collusion?!] and that she would not be facing any further action [lovely! hang on a minute, wasn't it revealed in november 2006 that she had previously undisclosed links with the midlands industrial council? now would that be the same midlands industrial council that has donated millions of pounds to the conservative party? now that's more conventional!].

Friday 8 May 2009

SWINE FLU


Wednesday 29 April 2009

Saturday 25 April 2009

BRiGHTON FESTiVAL 2009















blood stick by anish kappoor


that's nice, dear.

Friday 24 April 2009

DAVID BENTLEY

wishes his replacement good luck