<< Oct 2009 It's the Sun wot dun* it Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 - 10:44 pm
What an astonishingly arrogant and pompous front page by the "Currant Bun" today.
"After 12 long years in power, this government has lost its way. Now it's lost the Sun's support too", it thundered.
Who the hell does the Sun think it is? A tawdry rag purveying second rate filth, and third rate political analysis.
Trevor Kavanagh (its politics editor) let the cat out of the bag when he owned up to the fact that both Murdoch pere and fils were fully aware and behind the decision to change (political horses.
Murdoch has form on that front, forget Britain in the 1990s, back in the 1970s he threw his weight and media empire behind the Australian Labor Party under Gough Whitlam and duly saw it elected. As the Whitlam government began to lose public support, Murdoch turned against him and supported his dismissal by the Governor-General.
This is the Murdoch who during the 1980s and early 1990s, was supportive of Mrs Thatcher and her Tory government. This is the Murdoch who sacked 6,000 workers who had the temerity to strike upon being told that their jobs were being moved to Wapping. Many suspected then and still do that there was collusion with the highest level of Tory government in order to further damage the trade union movement.
This is the Murdoch who in the dying days of the Major government switched to Labour and Tony Blair. The closeness of their relationship, their secret trysts to discuss national policies was scandalous then and is still today.
This is Murdoch the patriot who became a US citizen simply to satisfy laws that only American citizens could own US TV stations, and yet also managed to have himself defined as an Australian citizen to retain his ownership of Australian media outlets.
This is the Murdoch who owns nigh on 200 newspapers worldwide, ALL of which editorialised in favour of the war on Iraq.
This is the Murdoch, whose Fox News portrayed Obama whilst running for President "as suspicious, foreign, fearsome, just short of a terrorist".
Should a man like this and his media empire (think Darth Vader, though not as cuddly) tell the British electorate how to vote and for whom.
The paper then goes on to say, "The Sun believes - and prays (to whom Mammon?)- that the Conservative leadership can put the great back into Great Britain".
You have been warned, if you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.
*dun (verb) to make repeated and insistent demands upon, esp. for the payment of a debt. Plans to build Babi Yar hotel scrapped Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 - 1:39 am
Good to see that the mayor of Kiev Leonid Chernovetsky has reversed a decision to build a hotel on a killing field used by Nazis during the infamous 1941 Babi Yar massacre.
It was hateful that a hotel was even suggested for an area where more than 30,000 Jews were murdered. The very idea mocked the dead of the Holocaust.
Almost all the Jewish population of Kiev were shot over 48 hours. In the following months, a further 100,000 bodies, including non-Jews and Red Army prisoners were dumped in a huge ravine.
One of my favourite poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko starts,
No monument stands over Babi Yar.
A steep cliff only, like the rudest headstone.
and continues
Wild grasses rustle over Babi Yar,
The trees look sternly, as if passing judgement. There is no time limit on justice. Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 - 12:42 am
Why is there even a debate about the arrest of Roman Polanski?
The man is wanted for "unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor", a lesser charge to which he pleaded guilty in 1977.
The thirteen-year-old girl at the time Samantha Gailey testified that Polanski gave her a combination of champagne and sedative drugs, and "despite her protests, he performed oral sex, intercourse, and sodomy on her", each time after being told 'no' and being asked to stop.
If that does not warrant his arrest and deportation to the United States to face his punishment I don't know what does. "coy, kittenish, camp, and crazed" Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 - 12:14 am
What a fab description of Lord Mandelson by Simon Hoggart in today's Guardian.
I've always thought Mandelson to be one of the most gifted political operators of his generation. That is not to say that I admire his politics, nor yet his rather common parvenu fascination with wealth and the uber rich, nor even his near-corrupt relations with Geoffrey Robinson, or the Hinduja Brothers.
I thought that Gordon Brown bringing him back into the Cabinet was a stroke of genius, the only thing that could have topped that would've been to bring Tony Blair back.
My point is that Mandelson has managed to inject some vim and vigour into an otherwise moribund Labour Party.
And if the Tories are to be stopped from ruining Britain for the second time in a generation, then we need not only the Lib Dems but also Labour to be on top of their game. Free Dinner with Paddy Ashdown Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 - 12:02 am
In a fortnight's time, after appearing at Ilkley Literature festival on Monday 12 October, Paddy Ashdown will be having dinner at the Craiglands Hotel with members of the Lib Dems in Ilkley and the surrounding district. We expect to sit down at about 9:30 p.m.
We shall have a draw and the winner will have their dinner paid for.
If you'd like to have dinner with Paddy, you need to be a member of the Party. If you aren't yet a member, go to our website at http://www.keighleylibdems.org.uk/gen_code/index.php for details on how to join, as well as the menu for what's on.
The cost of the dinner is very reasonable, around £7/£8, unless you win the draw!
As well as Paddy, the local Chair and President of Ilkley (and Keighley) Lib Dems will be there, so you can get authoritative replies to any questions you have.
Oh! and so will I. I'm not saying that to put you off but should you wish to, you can have a chat in a convivial atmosphere.
In the first instance, make sure you are a member, then e-mail our Chair, Vaughan at vaughan@onetel.com, to join. (Members of the Party from elsewhere are welcome to attend, just give your membership number in your e-mail.) Still ALL to play for Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 - 12:00 am
The BBC is reporting a new Ipsos-Mori poll which shows the Tories down below the magic 40% and sees us Lib Dems in second place, with Labour sinking into third place.
According to UK Polling Report, this would give us 80 seats and leave the Tories 8 seats short of an overall majority. One rule for the Tories, another for everyone else! Monday, September 28th, 2009 - 3:24 pm
Just read a story that "Blue-mouthed" David Cameron is not to be censured by Ofcom.
You may remember that back in July he very cleverly (!) said "The trouble with Twitter, the instantness of it – too many twits might make a tw*t".
As if that wasn't bad enough, later in the live interview, the Conservative leader said the public was "p***** off" with politicians.
Apparently, afterwards he was reputed to have said "That's not a swear word", his Press Secretary replied that "It is".
Did he get fined? Did he get censured in way? Did he heck as like!
I'm sure that's not how his mum and dad brought him up, and I can't imagine any other old-Etonian whether good Liberals like Jo Grimond and Ludovic Kennedy, giants of broadcasting like Humphrey Lyttelton, Michael Bentine, Brian "Johnners" Johnston, Henry "Blowers" Blofeld, or even old Tory grandees like Douglas Hurd or Alec Douglas-Home, nor yet my favourite old-Etonian Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster.
My feeling on hearing him was "How common! The potty-mouthed little oik-wannabe".
"Words whose utter inanity proved his insanity"
The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll Yom Kippur Sunday, September 27th, 2009 - 10:57 am
Today is the start of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) and the holiest day of the year for religious Jews.
According to Jewish tradition, God writes each person's fate for the coming year into a "book" on Rosh Hashanah and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. During these intervening Days of Awe, Jews tries to amend their behaviour and seek forgiveness for wrongs done.
At the end of Yom Kippur, one considers one's self absolved by God.
As a devout Atheist I have always found the central themes of atonement and repentance, and the idea of of seeking forgiveness for wrongs done against other human beings very appealing. David Cameron's Prime Ministerial ambitions Saturday, September 26th, 2009 - 12:39 am
Another day and another story of the uselessness of the Tory Party and its rather smug leader, DC.
Cocky David Cameron told right-wingers at the Carlton Club that, "This is it".
Just because Labour are in freefall, and the Tories have a lead of 15 points, Cameron is beginning to act like the cat that got the cream and look preternaturally triumphalist.
But the Tory plans, what little we know of them, and DC's posturing remind me of a poem by Roger McGough, it's called, I wanna be the leader.
I wanna be the leader
I wanna be the leader
Can I be the leader?
Can I? I can?
Promise? Promise?
Yippee I'm the leader
I'm the leader
OK what shall we do? Angels Friday, September 25th, 2009 - 10:22 pm
Just back from a Deputy Mayoral do at All Saints' Church in Elland. A local artist, from Holmfirth, is having an exhibition of Angels in Art through the Ages.
It was absolutely fantastic to absorb the history, splendour, and atmosphere of this wonderful Edwardian Church.
The exhibition itself contained some sixty angels, primarily Christian but also some Islamic ones.
I think my favourite one was the 5th century one from Egypt. Well done to the artist Celia Kilner. Happy Birthday Richard Thursday, September 24th, 2009 - 11:20 pm
Today is Richard Hoggart's 91st birthday. Richard is one of the great polymaths that this country, and indeed this county (Yorkshire, he was born in Leeds) has produced.
His book "The Uses of Literacy" is one of the seminal works of post-War cultural analysis with a special concern for British popular culture.
I had the great pleasure of meeting him and his wife on two occasions, once in Poland, and once in Slovakia, where he was my guest of honour at an international conference I organised.
Many happy returns, Richard. Anything good the Lib Dems say is unpatriotic Thursday, September 24th, 2009 - 10:10 pm
David Mitchell on tonight's "Mock the Week", an absolutely fabulous rant, in which he said that whenever we come up with any great policies (which is of course most of the time) it precludes it being adopted by the other two parties. The 10:10 campaign: reduce UK emissions by 10% by 2010 Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 - 10:10 pm
Yesterday, Conference approved radical plans to combat climate change.
The measures included:
* Mandatory carbon reports on investments by all businesses and banks, and an end to taxpayer support for investments in high-polluting fuels.
* Working for an effective global agreement at Copenhagen, requiring a 40% emissions cut by developed countries by 2020.
* Action to deliver a 40% cut in Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, even if there is no international climate deal.
* Roll out of a UK-wide warm homes programme so that every home is energy efficient by 2020.
Simon Hughes said, “We are staring into the abyss, the tipping point for climate change catastrophe is dangerously close. Support for Heathrow expansion and a new generation of dirty coal exposes a Government that gives a nudge and a wink to countries wanting to obstruct a serious global climate deal".
"Lib Dem plans would put Britain at the forefront of a low-carbon revolution, create thousands of new green jobs, save people money, and secure the UK’s energy future.
“We need to make serious cuts now. That means a 10% reduction in UK emissions in 2010.” Memo to Iain Dale: Tories can dish it out but can't take it Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 - 12:12 pm
Poor old Tory Iain Dale, bleating on his blog about how Chris Huhne has been beastly to the Tories at Conference. Aah Diddums.
The Tories under Cameron, appear to have moved to the centre, but have not radically changed their spots since that pestilential woman took over the reins of power.
They pander to right-wing Eurosceptics within their own party, and cosy up to neo-Nazis, Holocaust-deniers, and homophobes in Europe.
Their MPs were the most venal, and unapologetic during the recent expenses scandal? One millionaire saying that his constituents were jealous, another millionaire wanting his MP salary doubled to £130k, and one saying that MPs were treated like shit.
Despite DC's protestations, they still don't like the NHS. Viz William Hague wannabe Daniel Hannan, the curiously Europhobe MEP, who supports Milosevic and Enoch Powell, who said that the NHS was a sixty-year-old mistake, and wouldn't wish it on anyone. What a buffoon!
They ran an appalling poster campaign in 2005 using the dog-whistle anti-immigrant phrase "are you thinking what we're thinking?". Author? David Cameron.
I could go on and on and on ad nauseam, but the point is made.
However, dreadful this Labour government has been, and I have been severely critical of their illegal war in Iraq, their attack on civil liberties, their abandonment of the working classes, their creation of 3,000 new crimes, etc. Their dashing of a the hopes of millions of people in the years after the 1997 elections, and the squandering of the goodwill of a nation.
At least within that party there beats a heart, however feebly, of compassion and a belief in the betterment of humankind.
The Tories, on the other hand appeal to all that is callous, cold, and cruel. Instead of hope they offer fear, instead of care... indifference, instead of solidarity... selfishness.
As a Liberal, I believe in social justice, I believe in a fairer, freer, kinder, gentler society. I do not believe that Britain is broken, and would not use that as an excuse to attack the weakest and those most in need in our society.
Finally, I believe, and have always believed, that whilst the Labour Party is our rival, the Conservative Party is our enemy.
To paraphrase Cato, "Conservatori delenda est".
(Not too sure about my Latin there.) Pay the Troops what they're worth Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 - 8:32 pm
Penultimate day at conference, and the party has unveiled plans to increase the pay of Britain’s lowest-earning troops by £6,000, improve the condition of forces’ housing, and ensure proper medical provision for all personnel.
The proposals would mean that no service personnel in the Army, Navy, or the RAF would receive less basic annual pay than a new-entrant in the police or fire service.
Privates and lance corporals would receive an increase of over £3,000, and higher NCOs an increase of around £1,000.
It is a national disgrace that the most dangerous public service jobs we have are among the worst paid.
One of the other points made was a commitment to pay for the funeral services of those personnel who have died on active service, something that i didn't know that we didn't do. Think, Think again, and think thrice! Monday, September 21st, 2009 - 3:19 pm
Savage and bold? Give me the bold and the beautiful anytime. The Blessed St Vincent Monday, September 21st, 2009 - 3:08 pm
Just listened to a speech by deputy Leader Vince Cable, very inspirational, very thought out. He reminds me so much of Vincent de Paul who was also dedicated to serving the poor, and who is venerated as a saint.
With him and Young Nick at the helm, surely the Lib Dems' time has come.
Cometh the hour cometh the party. Can Lib Dems lead the left? Sunday, September 20th, 2009 - 12:05 am
In Thursday's Guardian, Jackie Ashley posed the above question, as far as I'm concerned, it is a rhetorical question, we have NO CHOICE but to lead.
We have the Policies, we have the People, we have the Passion. Private gain, public pain! Saturday, September 19th, 2009 - 10:09 pm
Just off to Bournemouth for conference, am a bit worried by some of the musings of the leadership.
Why should the public sector suffer for the private (banking) sector's follies? O Captain! my Captain! Saturday, September 19th, 2009 - 12:19 am
Just read a piece in today's Guardian about an interview with Nick Clegg where he is quoted as saying, "We will be quite bold or even savage on current spending, precisely to be able to retain spending where... the economy is weak in infrastructure".
The first part sent a chill, the second part soothed... a little!
I just wish he'd said "t'other way round" emphasise the need to invest in the public realm especially in the infrastructure.
Invest and re-animate the Building Schools for the Future programme which seems to have stalled over the past few years. So that, we can have not just hundreds, but thousands of new schools built and fit for purpose in the 21st century.
A massive house-building/home-improvement programme to ensure that we have green energy efficient homes for life.
A bold and imaginative investment in public transport, especially the railways so that we can catch up with the rest of Europe in high-speed trains, and encourage freight off the roads and on to the track.
There are so many other areas of investment needed that ONLY the state is capable of marshalling resources, remember Roosevelt's America of the 1930s?
I'm afraid that the debate about public spending is being hi-jacked by the Tories who wish to cut on ideological grounds, and Labour who are following meekly like the proverbial lambs to the slaughter.
We Lib Dems must show the way, rather than follow some mad Thatcherite agenda and try to out-macho on cuts the likes of Osborne and Darling.
The quote is from Walt Whitman and the second verse goes:
O Captain! My Captain! Rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
The country is hungry for change, and only we Lib Dems can provide the vision, the values, and the vigour to lead the charge. Shana Tova Saturday, September 19th, 2009 - 12:03 am
Happy New Year to all my Jewish friends and Shana Tova Umetukah, today being Rosh Hashannah and the start of the year 5770.
Have a great week-end and an even greater year ahead. Scrap Trident Now! Friday, September 18th, 2009 - 10:01 pm
A Greenpeace investigation into the full costs of replacing Trident reveals that successive Tory and Labour governments have consistently under-estimated the final bill.
The government’s figures for replacing Trident in the 2006 Defence White Paper, is £15bn–£20bn at 2006–07 prices (roughly £16bn–£21bn today).
However, a report by Greenpeace says that key factors the government has left out of the calculation will push the final cost up to £97bn over the system's 30-year life.
As Vince Cable said the report provided powerful evidence that MoD plans are totally unrealistic in the light of Britain's serious budgetary constraints.
So as well as the moral and military argument there is now the monetary argumet against Trident.
Time to get rid!
Look at the full rport at
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/pdfs/peace/ITFL_trident_report.pdf Unemployment figures... a depressing milestone Friday, September 18th, 2009 - 12:06 am
Depressing that the latest figures show unemployment just shy of 2.5m, a 14-year high.
The most depressing thing is that more young people are out of work than at any time since records began.
Steve Webb has said that we should scrap the VAT cut immediately and use the money to create thousands of paid internships for young people to prevent them becoming the lost generation of this recession.
However, the Tories' (well IDS's) ideas for overhauling the welfare system, is just plain absurd.
To think that an admittedly over-complicated benefits system could be replaced by just two benefits is bonkers, and that somehow hundreds of thousands of people would suddenly walk into new jobs if the incentives were tweaked, shows how little the Tories actually understand the albeit all too real challenges that face 21st century Britain. Camp David, Israel, and Gaza Thursday, September 17th, 2009 - 1:23 am
Today back in 1978 the Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Premier Menachem Begin.
I was at university and remember the sudden flowering of hope that many of us felt on that day. That is not to say that we felt, to paraphrase Churchill, it was the end of the Middle East conflict, but maybe the beginning of the end.
And while I still remain optimistic that a just and enduring peace can and will be found, I was hugely disappointed to see that Israel has refused to accept the findings of a highly critical UN inquiry into the Gaza war earlier this year, which left 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead and which triggered a wave of criticism across the world.
The inquiry was headed by Judge Richard Goldstone, and gave a damning criticism of the war, accusing both Israel and armed Palestinian groups, notably Hamas, of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Tory Millionaires Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 - 8:34 am
Last night I posted about how smug George Osborne looked telling the country that public spending would have to be cut.
Whilst I appreciate that Vince Cable has said that we have got to look at the future cost of public pensions, public sector pay, the welfare system, these are the big detail items that politicians are going to have to debate, it’s going to be painful but we’re going to have to discuss them.
I cannot abide a Tory Party that, if I remember correctly, has 19 millionaires out of a frontbench team of 23, wringing their hands in glee at the prospect of slash and burn being wrought on our public services.
These public services, whatever their faults, and there are many, are ultimately responsible and responsive to the democratic voice of the people. Whereas private organisations are ultimately only responsible to their shareholders and the bottom line, namely the profits and dividends they can pay out.
Let us not forget that whenever these mega-businesses begin to stumble and falter they are only to willing to ask, nay demand that the state that is you and me the ordinary tax-payer, bail them out, as we did with the banks earlier this year.
However, whenever the weakest need our help the Tories treat them like lepers, calling them scroungers and demonising them to the nth degree and wanting to cut them off at the knees.
If only for that reason, I can never bring myself to support the Tories, and I concur wholheartedly with Nye Bevan in averring that "No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin". George Osborne on the Telly! Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 - 10:10 pm
Just watched his smug little face on the news, yet another Tory multi-millionaire telling poor people to spend less.
Alright for some! RIP Keith Floyd Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 - 9:12 pm
Am in London with my eldest looking at universities for next year. My how it's changed from when I were a lad!
In many ways so much more professional, and so much more welcoming.
Whilst there, I heard about the death of Keith Floyd. What a sad piece of news.
I fell in love with him when I saw his first series Floyd on Fish, and especially enjoyed his Floyd on France. I loved his haphazardness, his joie de vivre, his general bonhomie, and his love of a drop of something to wash it all down with.
I suppose that along with and Antonio Carluccio, Pierre Koffman, and the Roux brothers he was part of the band of modern chefs who re-ignited my passion for cooking.
I shall miss him terribly. Wise Spending? Monday, September 14th, 2009 - 8:16 pm
I listened to Peter Mandelson's speech on the news and while I'd like to see the government actually follow this up by commitments to scrap Trident, the ID cards, etc.
Where I do agree with him on is his analysis of the Tories' "thinly disguised zeal" for cuts. I certainly don't want to go back to the 1980s and the "lost generation" of unemployed and the social and economic consequences that flowed therefrom. Schoolboy (!) humour? Sunday, September 13th, 2009 - 10:54 pm
I know it's silly, but as a schoolboy this always used to tickle me on this day in 1743, Great Britain, Austria, and Savoy-Sardinia signed the Treaty of Worms.
It always conjured up a picture of a rather dicomfitted dog being cared for by the royalty of Europe. Puerile I know but what the hey! Ripponden second time in a week Saturday, September 12th, 2009 - 10:10 am
Off to Ripponden for the annual prize-giving of the Parish Council's Horticultural show, promises to be exciting.
Was there last Sunday as guest of the church for the Rushbearing Festival, it was absolutely fantastic.
Hope to have some photos up asap. 9/11 Friday, September 11th, 2009 - 9:11 am
Out of respect to the nearly 3,000 people from more than 90 countries who died in the attacks on this day eight years ago, I shall not be blogging today. Hope Springs... Thursday, September 10th, 2009 - 7:47 pm
Well done to the England Women's football team for getting to the Women's Euro Cup final for the first time in more than twenty years.
Even though the results didn't go our way, (6-2 to Germany) the women were magnificent.
Special congratulations to players Sue Smith and Jessica Clarke of Leeds Carnegie particularly Sue who used to play for Tranmere Rovers Ladies.
Good luck to the whole team in, irony of ironies, Germany in 2011 for the World Cup and Hope Powell who's been an inspirational manager. The Case for Electoral Reform Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 - 12:34 pm
Half of Westminster seats have not changed hands since 1970.
That's right HALF of all the seats at the Mother of Parliaments have not changed hands for 40 years.
So if you first voted on your eighteenth birthday in June 1970, the chances are that as you approach retirement by the time of the next general election your voice has only ever had a fifty-fifty chance of getting heard.
One of the cornerstones of politics is the ability for the electorate to dismiss their representatives. However, if the seats do not change their political colour then you might as well be whistling in the wind.
To make you more depressed if you go back to 1945 that figure is still almost a third (29%).
Clearly this is an unhealthy state of affairs, and the sooner we get electoral reform the better.
My preferred option is STV (single transferable vote) in multi-member constituencies, as they have in Ireland. I have never understood the argument that this would remove the link between the MP and their constituency, this doesn't happen at local government level where you invariably have three councillors representing a ward, no-one says that the link between councillors and their wards is non-existent.
I am as much a councillor for West End ward on the Town council, and for Calder ward on the borough council.
Electoral Reform, you know it makes sense! Scrap Trident, Mr. Brown Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 - 12:02 am
According to a ComRes poll published yesterday in the Independent, the public wants Britain to scrap the Trident nuclear missile system but believes spending on health and education should rise each year.
By a healthy margin of 23%, folk believe that the £25bn renewal should be abandoned because of the state of the public finances.
Unsurprisingly, support for this is strongest among those who intend to vote Lib Dem, and only marginally less among would-be Labour voters. My opposition to Trident, and Polaris before it, is not simply financial but also moral.
The report also shows good news for us Lib Dems, up 3% to 21%. Alan Duncan, going, going, gone? Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 - 12:29 am
Last month, I wondered how long Alan Duncan had in his job as Shadow Leader of the House, after complaining that MPs were "living on rations", well it seems that he has been "demoted".
Ah but he still has a job, unlike many of his constituents in the current economic climate.
Let's just hope his electors "demote" him at the general election, and promote my Lib Dem colleague Grahame Hudson in Rutland. Britain has "much to learn from the Taliban"! Monday, September 7th, 2009 - 8:33 pm
Not my words I hasten to say, but those of Peter Davies, recently-elected mayor of Doncaster.
I've heard of some bonkers stuff coming out of the mouths of English Democrats but this one surely takes the biscuit.
He went on to say that, "the Taliban at least appear to have sort of decent sort of family affairs. In fact probably... they have an ordered society."
Let's not forget that under the Taliban, girls were banned from studying in schools and women in universities.
Women were banned from working outside the home, which led to the ludicrous situation of widows whose husbands been killed by the Taliban being forced into penury, because they could not work to support themselves and their families.
Furthermore, women were barred from talking to men who were not family members, and most ludicrously from wearing clothes made in "sexually attracting colours." So much for Mayor Davies going to watch the Doncaster Belles football team.
Seriously though, for someone in a position of responsibility, like Mayor Davies, to be praising the Taliban however "hyperbolically", while our service personnel are fighting them four thousand miles away is at best crass and at worse "giving aid and succour to the enemy." Selling off public bodies would be a "get out of jail card", says Tory adviser! Sunday, September 6th, 2009 - 12:00 am
Oh dear, oh dear! Is this a dreadful sense deja vu creeping over me?
Yep we've been here before.
During the 1980s the last Tory government started a massive programme of "privatisation" or selling off the family silver as we like to call it. Ostensibly that was to make those industries more efficient, and it is undeniable that some sectors benefited in the short-term by gaining a cash injection and some new managerial expertise.
However, the reality was that it was a purely ideological move designed in fact to reduce the democratic accountability of those businesses, viz the railways.
Furthermore, whenever these same enterprises get in to any sort of major difficulty they still rush back to you and me, and the rest of the poor benighted taxpaying public to bail them out.
The truth is that privatisation is no solution to the current economic difficulties.
MG Rover and the 'Phoenix Four' illustrates that capitalism still has an unacceptable face and isn't a universal panacea. BLMC ('British Leyland') was at least partially nationalised, then privatised again, so is a valid example. Keith Waterhouse is unwell... Saturday, September 5th, 2009 - 8:58 pm
I was saddened to hear of the death of Keith Waterhouse last night, though happily peacefully in his own bed.
Keith was one of my favourite authors, not only Jeffrey Bernard..., but also Whistle Down the Wind, and of course Billy Liar (Britain's own Walter Mitty).
I'm sure I'm not the only person who's gone down Hinchcliffe Avenue in Baildon to have a look at where Billy lived (!) or does that sound too nerdy/obsessive?
Anyway, I thought that the film adaptation was fab and Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie were perfect, not to mention Rodney Bewes or even Leonard Rossiter as Mr. Shadrack.
RIP Keith, a true son of Yorkshire. Democratic Deficits Friday, September 4th, 2009 - 11:02 pm
One of the failings of the modern day politics, is the lack of ethnic minority representation in Parliament. There are only fifteen MPs of colour, whereas proportionately, there should be four times as many.
I bring this up because today is the birthday of Dadabhai Naoroji, who became the first Asian to be elected an MP in 1892, as a Liberal naturally. He was quite a remarkable man who was a co-founder of the Indian National Congress.
However, bar a couple of other notable exceptions, it was not until the 1980s that the first cohort of Black MPs was to be elected.
To achieve a Parliament that truly represents ALL the people we still have a long way to go.
And don't get me started on the lack of women... "... consequently this country is at war with Germany" Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 - 11:00 am
Probably the most chilling words heard on the radio. It is exactly seventy years ago that they were spoken on the BBC by then Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain.
What was to follow, were the most incredible six years in modern history. A world plunged into chaos and carnage, and a continent torn asunder. Not to mention the unleashing of the most fearsome weapon of destruction, namely the atom bomb.
And for what?
A perverse ideology that held not only that there were distinct races, but that one was superior to the rest, leading to the virtual annihilation of European Jewry, as well as its Roma population. Not forgetting an overall total of more than 50,000,000 dead, more than half of whom were civilians.
That's more than the population of England, folks!
The bravery and heroism, the dogged determination and stoicism that helped this country pull through in its darkest hour should not be forgotten. Nor indeed the aid and succour we received from the Commonwealth and US soldiers, the Polish and Czechoslovak aviators, Dutch and Norwegian sailors, and others too numerous to mention.
One of my heroes, Dr. Jacob Bronowski (who wrote the Ascent of Man, and whose family perished in the Death Camps of Auschwitz) was asked what he would say to the perpetrators if he could have had the chance, and he replied with a quotation from Oliver Cromwell, "I beseech you in the bowels of Christ: Think it possible you may be mistaken".
So the next time you read some nauseating lie in the "Daily Hate Mail", or "The Daily Excess", or even "The Pun", having a go at a made up story having a go at Europe, remember that we shall never in our lifetime, nor our children's, nor even our grandchildren's will we ever have to hear those chilling words of, "consequently this country is at war with Germany". On this I agree with the Greens Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 - 12:45 am
Chairman Mao once said "Let a hundred flowers blossom", and in a vibrant democracy the more political parties contest elections and put forward ideas for the people to decide the healthier for society as a whole.
Caroline Lucas is right in saying that minority parties are being priced out of the democratic process because of an absence of state funding for minority parties.
She does go on to say that the absence of PR also penalised them.
The stranglehold of wealthy individuals bankrolling the Tories, and increasingly the Labour Party, is injurious and harmful to the body politic. The Muslim Tommies Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 - 11:30 pm
Just watching a fantastic programme on the Beeb called The Muslim Tommies about the contribution of Muslim soldiers in the British Armed forces.
Much has been made of the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalists to the security of Britain. But what is often forgotten is that Muslims have fought on behalf of Britain for hundreds of years; tens of thousands have lost their lives in the process.
I found the fact that the Indian Army held about a third of the Western Front at the beginning of the Great War, particularly fascinating.
There were heart-breaking details about their hopes and fears, their bravery and heroism under fire.
Khudadad Khan's becoming the first Indian to win the Victoria Cross.
Truly awesome. Hats off to Sir Nicholas Winton Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 - 10:14 pm
How wonderful to see Sir Nicholas on the news today looking as fit as a fiddle although he's a hundred years old.
Seventy years ago he saved 669 children by organising their transfer from the then Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to Britain. Before all that, he had to arrange official permits for their departure, secure their reception by British families, and to deposit bail. All this as a thirty-year-old, when asked why he did it he replied, "because no-one else was".
I first came across his story at the cinema in Olomouc a decade back when I went to see the film "Vsichni moji blízcí" with Rupert Graves playing him.
One of the things the film touched on was the treatment of Gypsies by the Nazis and ultimately how they suffered at the hands of the Nazis in much the same way as the Jews, what the Roma people call the Porajmos, literally, the Devouring.
A truly remarkable man who reminds us that whenever people ask "why do people do such terrible things?" we should never forget that there are always people who do amazing things. Good, honest, decent people like Sir Nicholas. "Most tragic chapter in European history" Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 - 5:22 pm
"Seventy years ago today the German invasion of Poland opened up the most tragic chapter in European history".
"The war unleashed by Germany resulted in immeasurable suffering to many peoples, years of deprivation of rights, of humiliation, and of destruction"
The words above are not mine they are those of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel speaking earlier today in Gdansk in Poland.
Yet what must not be forgotten is that seventy years on, Europe has transformed itself from a continent of terror and violence into a continent of freedom and peace.
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