Question Time

Fascism in Football

Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi to be freed

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

it certainly was.

MICHAEL JACKSON DIES

and the world's children breathe again.

MPs EXPENSES

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

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.

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.

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!].

SWINE FLU

ALBUM OF THE MONTH

http://www.mariannefaithfull.org.uk/

VENI VIDI VIDIC

BRiGHTON FESTiVAL 2009

blood stick by anish kappoor

that's nice, dear.

http://www.brightonfestival.org/

DAVID BENTLEY

wishes his replacement good luck

WHO'S WHO?

barry humphries ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: nick griffin

CONSERVATIVES SHOOT BLANKS

in its attempts to woo the unemployed voter, the conservative party has decided to go right to the heart of every jobseeker's world, the job centre. so it takes out a google ad whereby each time someone searches for job centre plus on google, it comes up with a small advert on the right hand side, bleating about the budget, together with a link to the conservative party's website.

problemo! no jobseeker in their right mind, let alone with a computer, would type in job centre plus using three separate words. yet if you type in the actual name of the website, jobcentreplus, or even , more traditionally, jobcentre plus, the advert does not appear. sacre bleu!

a swift tutorial may be in order informing conservative party members, in particular its PR department (and now, over to smearer), of the merits in addressing correctly the destination of their potential clientele.

and you would have thought that the tories, of all people, would be aware of the advantages of shooting blanks.

http://i40.tinypic.com/1z4ipvt.jpg

RUPERT EVERETT R.I.P.