European Political News

A friend who is a Lay Reader in the Church of England pointed out that Tony Blair had a column about Faith for Reader Magazine (the in house magazine for Readers, who used to be called "Lay Readers"), and asked me "where would you put Tony Blair"?

Via Damian Thompson's Holy Smoke blog, a report of a plan by Scientologists to swoop on Mumbai with their "educational booklets", as previously happened after the New York World Trade Centre attacks after 9/11, in London after the Bus and Underground Bombs on 7/7 in 2005, at Virginia Tech after the shootings and on other occasions.

He has confirmed the existence of a plan to despatch of Scientology Booklets with the headquarters of ABLE UK. ABLE UK is a Scientology front organisation, Association for Better Living and Education:

I can confirm that. I've just rung ABLE UK at Saint Hill Manor, the Scientology HQ, to be told that Hubbard booklets are being rushed out "in order to pour oil on troubled water". I think I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

I don't usually post Public Relations Flyers, but this is rather a good idea.

I should note that the invention of the Bloody Mary Cocktail in 1933 is only one version of the history. The PR flyer says:

The drink which is an American institution originated in Manhattan by a famous French bartender named Ferdinand Petiot when he came here in 1933.

While Wikipedia says:

Petiot invented the drink in 1920 while working at Harry's New York Bar in Paris, France, a frequent hangout for Ernest Hemingway and other American expatriates.

To put it another way, the Bloody Mary may be another U-571 (i.e., Yanks rewriting history :-), but - in any case - free Bloody Marys are worth having.

The Conservatives are beginning to really start pushing the online battle back towards Labour. I commented a while back on the Labour’s far more web-orientated economic propaganda - even though it was pretty useless, as it was too large to be embedded in a blog, even in the main post! But since then, the Conservatives have [...]

George Handlery about the week that was. The balmy era of peace, unilateralism and the blizzard of reality. Walking on water and secular sainthood. What to worry about? Behind Communist revivals. Is it anti-Russian to reject Stalinism? A Queen, Logic and Gay Pride. Shy success = a crime sounds good and how it supports poverty.
 
1. Those who wanted Obama elected have great expectations. As my local paper’s “expert” puts it, “the world will be more peaceful from now on”. This makes Obama the ace in a card game of hope. He is expected to be able to deliver an era of balmy harmony because US unilateralism, the source of all problems, will be avoided. This anticipation appears to belong to the category of “once I win the lottery my financial problems will be solved”. The unkind blizzard of reality is that American unilateralism does not have its source in her craving for an imperial role. Unilateralism is the consequence of having to act alone because, once the going got tough, there were no allies for action.
 
2. It is comforting to be told that the Americans have chosen well. Here the belief is wide spread that the new president is not only able to walk on water but that he can do so without getting his Florsheim’s wet.
 
3. If you believe Europe’s press then Obama is just about to save the world. Indeed, the enthusiasm falls short only of North Korean rallies in praise of Baby Kim. Amusingly, after his (“instant, just add water”) promotion to secular sainthood, the more sober jubilants admit that no one knows who Obama is. Put realistically, the mystery is not accidental but a do-it-to-yourself product. It comes from not having wanted to know more and is not caused by the dearth of data. The record was there and was also accessible. Overlooking it was a contribution to the election success of the favorite. Therefore, once future events will make the contours of the mystery man clearer, the enthusiasm will follow the DOW on the charts. (N.B., unlike in the case of the candidate, this writer wishes President Obama well.)
 
4. The temper of the forces behind Obama will become additionally assessable if we evaluate the –generally ignored – ambassadorial appointments BO will make.
 
5. Europe is, according to the International Herald Tribune “apprehensive” about how Obama will handle the “nuclearization” of Iran. We should rather worry about the crazy men of Tehran getting their bomb.
 
6. Communism might be brain dead but the Communists hang on. In the Czech Republic, they are on their way back to government functions. For some time a convention held that a party that does not clearly commit to democracy and does not renounce its blood-strained past is not to be entrusted with power. The return to the outskirts of power is now discernible. A myopic view that forgets the past and its crimes, as well as the inclination to succumb to the pledge of those who promise an easier life than the one that can be had, have an appeal to amnesiac fools. This functions for the same reason that ponzi schemes continue to work. Another factor behind the revival are those Social Democrats who by now have forgotten that they had been the victims of the ruling Bolsheviks. The shared elements of leftist ideology work in favor of cooperation. It now legitimizes a movement that thrived by abusing power. The problem of democratic leftists is that they find in the democratic center their main electoral enemy. The support of the Communists in a constellation, in which the electorate is divided in nearly equal blocks, makes a valuable asset out of a party with a few percentages of the total vote.
 
7. The special challenge to the German Social Democrats who govern with the CDU is a small but hard-core Communist party on their left. The temptation is to enlist the support of “The Left”. At the same time, to be successful, the SPD needs to assure the voter that they are not cozying up to unrepentant Communists. Therefore, voting SPD does not mean a vote for Moscow’s puppets who ruled East Germany. This implicit dilemma has become accentuated in Hessen, an entity within the Federal Republic. Led by Ypsilanti, an ambitious woman, the local SPD was in a position to associate with the Left Party and form a “state’ government. This is precisely what the “Sozis” promised not to do. The voters were assured that working with the left totalitarians is out of the question. The temptation of power made Ypsilanti to ask her party to approve that partnership. Those who took “Democrat” more seriously than they did “Social”, brought the plan and with it Ypsilanti to fall. On the national level, Ypsilantismus might have consequences. An opening to the Left will play a role in national elections. As this is written, Mr. Clemens, a centrist and the ex-number two of the SPD, has formally left his party. With that, he probably prevented his expulsion for his categorical refusal to cooperate with the Left Party. Will the prospect of a Red-Red-Green coalition make moderate voters support Merkel’s CDU, or will the SPD take power with partners that are beyond the pale for many Germans?
 
8. November 19: EU parliamentarians suggested that August 23 be declared to be the day of Communism’s victims. An institute to uncover and popularize the history of Communism is also planned. The outcome is doubtful. Russia will not like the idea and many are anxious not to alienate her. Medvedev has refused to attend a commemoration of the Ukrainian Famine (1932/33) in which 3.5 to 9 million have died. Refusing to call the mass murder – or was it genocide (?) – a natural catastrophe is taken as an insult to Russia. Actually, no one has made “Russia” responsible. The crime was a Communist-Stalinist one. Medvedev’s reluctance to attend shows that in his subconscious Russia and Stalinism are related terms.
 
9. Spain’s queen provoked an outcry by revealing that she cannot fathom why Gays must feel demonstratively “proud”. This writer, whose oldest and best friend is openly gay, agrees. Let logic be applied. If we hold that being gay is normal though not frequent then feeling shame or pride makes no sense.
 
10. We are supposed to feel proud if our fellows declare us successful. In the case of industrialized societies whose officially destitute often live better than history’s rich, this generalization does not always hold. An “industry” has developed that disparages successful communities. Essentially these are accused of having caused and benefited from the plight of traditional societies. Misery was universal before the era of modern society, its political order and economy. The charge is that these have not defeated in the case of others what they have overcome at home. The critique of success claims that achievement condemns the achiever. Distributing shame instead of recognition damages the less developed even if it leads to the transfer of funds to them as an act of atonement. The critique hinders the emulation of the achievers and that encourages the “poor” to miss the opportunities that lead to a better life. What the accusation achieves is that the distributory bureaucracies gain a few billions to secure their influence and existence. Meanwhile, where the thesis success = evil is accepted, it will restrain constructive striving and prevent the application of success strategies. The result is entrenched poverty and dependence.
 
11. The finance crisis. We should keep a fact in mind while collectivistic projects are spun to contain the crisis. At the beginning, there was the decision of “politics” that those who cannot afford it should own their own home. The assumption followed that the project could be realized without someone paying for the delusion.
 
12. Languages have the power to secure their survival by constant change. If you stop living in a language for decades, upon your return you find that regardless of your native fluency, new terms have emerged and that others have gone out of use. English is a good global language. That is because it is flexible and capable to adjust to local conditions without becoming incomprehensible or sneered at by other users. There are instances, however, when nationality and a state are linked to the use of an official language in its government-sanctioned version. Historically, Paris made quite jittery by outside influences on the way French is spoken. (It testifies to the skills of the French to protect their reputation that they are not called by nasty names for this.) Following the same tradition, Slovakia has expressed its insecurity by making a law that imposes a 50-5000 € fine on those that pollute the state language. Even by French standards, this is rather draconic. So one is left to wonder whether this is a defense against English, German or Russian influence and whether it not just a way to limit the use of the native tongue of minorities.

I've been sacked as Santa. It's a relief, to be honest. After 2 hours last year at the school Christmas party in a false beard and badly-fitting suit, it'll be more fun dishing out hot dogs.

But the worst thing was the contents of Santa's sack. A Nestlé selection pack for every child. It's not the chocolates I'm against, it's who makes them.

You can read my detailed assessment here.

I'd suggest that the crucial aspects here are process issues:

1 - The violation of Commons privilege.

2 - The facts taken behind the "the police have operational control and have not overstepped the mark" position taken by the Cabinet Ministers. Politically the next question is obvious:

Just who moved the mark to a place where this became possible, Mr Brown?

 

 

Practically, the question is different:

How do we move the mark that the police did not go beyond to somewhere more suitable for an advanced democracy?

 

Realistically, that is only going to happen in 2 scenarios, either a Tory majority, or a hung Parliament as a condition of Lib Dem cooperation with a minority administration.

Yes, I know the story is old now. But it's funny.

By the way, we're planning a series of articles about the BNP in Local Politics from a range of political viewpoints. They will include analysis, and also experience of those in local politics in areas where the BNP are active.

It was inspired by this thread, which was unusually analytical for a cross-party conversation on Labour Home.

Last week I posted about the plight of Durham Cathedral Bookshop.

Today there is an article about it in the Northern Echo Newspaper. The article features the petition we started a few weeks ago, which now has more than 300 signatures.

I'm not going to cover the Mumbai Massacre in detail as news as it's being far better virtually everywhere else, but one thing I do wonder: I'm not sure why I'm seeing apparently live pictures of an assault to free hostages on satellite TV.

Even back in 1982, at the Iranian Embassy siege in London, there were concerns that the gunmen would be able to see the detail of the assault coming due to live TV coverage, and the actual assault was over in minutes:

However news teams were camped outside the embassy. A unit from the British news organisation ITN, using recently-introduced ENG camera equipment, managed to establish a viewpoint at the rear of the embassy. It was images from this vantage point that showed the SAS raid on the building live on television after their correspondent had been 'tipped off'. However the SAS insisted on a short time-delay between the live events and their broadcast in case the terrorists were watching the broadcasts.

Clearly the situation is massively different due to the larger scale and continuing nature of the attack, but it's one of the things that I'd like to know about. One possibility is that there is a delay introduced - but I will be interested to hear the detail.

Or are any casualties that result part of the collateral damage of the "continuous" and "instant" news reporting?

Sky even have a Live Blog of it all.

 

Stalin had lost his pipe, and ordered his police chief to investigate the matter, so goes one old anti-Stalin joke. After some time, however, the Soviet leader discovered it under the sofa, and called him back. On being told of its discovery, the chief remarked, “This is impossible! Three people have already confessed to this crime!” This joke – though not particularly funny – illustrates two points of relevance here: (1) the police of the USSR were politicized, and (2) that even in private, people under Stalin feared to criticize him directly.
 
A creeping McCarthyism – that has made any discussion of such subjects as immigration not only taboo but potentially very damaging to any political career – is showing the first signs of turning Stalinesque. The British public, it is probably true to say, has always been suspicious of that “American” notion of free speech without any restrictions. And as we dislike hate speech, calls for mass murder, etc., this appears to make sense. The general public is probably also largely unconcerned that British National Party (BNP) members are fired from their employment simply because of their membership of this legal party.
 
This attitude is wrong; as history show us, political persecutions can be easily – and indefinitely – extended. And so it has crept slowly into Britain’s mainstream politics. Labour MP Margaret Hodge, Conservative MP Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, and Trevor Phillips have all been attacked as somehow being in league with the BNP, though they obviously were not. The public does not speak its mind on sensitive issues because having turned a blind eye to the firing of BNP members, the vilification of Labour and Conservative MPs, etc., it now realizes that to do so entails risk. But here is what results when a nation is cowed into looking the other way:
 
Conservative Party leader David Cameron has accused the British government of being “Stalinesque,” after Tory shadow minister Damian Green was arrested at his home in Kent by, reportedly no less than nine, anti-terrorist police. Green is accused of, “aiding and abetting misconduct in public office;” because he was the recipient of several leaked, and incriminating government documents, the exposure of which, as Cameron remarked, “was manifestly in the public interest.” The documents in question are:
 
* A memo from November 2007, implicating that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in the cover-up of some 5,000 illegal immigrants licensed as security guards.
* A 2008 blacklist of Labour MPs plotting to vote against the increase without trial to 42 days for terror suspects.
* A 2008 Border and Immigration memo revealing that an illegal immigrant was employed in the House of Commons, and using a fake identity pass.
* A 2008 letter from Smith, revealing that Ministers feared recession will mean an increase in violent crime, as well as hostility to immigrants.
 
The timing of the arrest is suspicious. Parliament had just left for a five day holiday, and so the Speaker of the house could not be questioned. As the search of Green’s office had to be authorized by the Serjeant at Arms, who is directly answerable to the Speaker, the importance of this is clear. Moreover, it was also Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair’s last day in office – having previously been ousted by the Conservative mayor of London Boris Johnson. Blair was disliked by the overwhelming majority of the British public, but was known as “Labour’s favorite copper,” because he had taken it upon himself to enforce political correctness rather than the law.
 
It is disconcerting to read in The Telegraph then, that the arrest of Green, “[…] will embarrass the opposition [i.e., Conservative Party]. He is now likely to face pressure to resign from the Tory front bench.” If so, then we should expect more of these outrages against democracy.

The Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green has been arrested, in relation to the supply to the media of information leaked from within the Home Office embarrassing to the Government.

Mr Green is the MP for Ashford in Kent, and was detained for 9 hours after being arrested by 9 policemen for an alleged offence of "Conspiracy to Commit Misconduct in Public Office". He has been released on bail to return for further questioning in February.

He has denied any wrongdoing after bring arrested for allegedly leaking information to the media.

The arrest was after an investigation following a complaint received from the Cabinet Office. Boris Johnson was informed of the arrest in advance in his role as Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority.

The arrest was in connection with alleged leaked information relating to media stories about immigration.

Click through on the title for all the papers.

Front Page Images here and on the Front Page are Courtesy of Sky News.

Sarah Palin prepares for Thanksgiving, against a background of turkey-slaughtering.

For the first time in ten quarters - 2 and a half years or, to put it another way, since Gordon Brown became leader - Labour raised more money than the Conservatives. Between July and September this year, Labour raised £5 million and the Conservatives raised £4 million. In contrast, between April and June, the Conservatives [...]

Privacy international have published a survey of the "effects of new counter-terrorism laws on media and free expression rights in European countries".

It is a report about the extension of laws which impact on human rights and freedom from interception of communications, through freedom of expression to photography in the street.

Click through on the title for all the papers.

Front Page Images here and on the Front Page are Courtesy of Sky News.

Via Tyger, on how people in Nottinghamshire handle the cold war with the next village. The minutes of the Eakring Annual Parish Council meeting made it onto the BBC Radio 4’s comedy show, The News Quiz ::

Any Other Business

1. Tree cutting on Back Lane was discussed. The following things arose from this:

a) It would be a good idea to suggest to the landowner the planting of some replacement trees.

b) Parish Councillors are advised to report things to the Clerk for onward transmission to the relevant authority rather than contact parishioners direct.

c) Parish Councillors and parishioners need refreshing on what constitutes a ‘tree’ and what is permitted work. Clerk to write to Mr Catchpole for a definition.

d) Clerk to report the tree cutting to Mr Catchpole at NSDC.

2. The issue of the ancient drains in the village was raised.
3. A parishioner has raised the question of the PC’s use of the Eakring Echo and its sponsorship.
4. Another parishioner wished to know if the problems with the telephone directories have been solved yet.
5. Mr Neale said a parishioner had drawn his attention to overhanging foliage on the pavement on Main Street between Wellow Road junction and the Old School. Clerk to contact Highways Dept.
6. The missile launcher parked at a property on Kirklington Road has caused comments from a number of parishioners about unauthorised access of a vehicle to a property and causing damage to the road surface. Clerk to contact Highways Dept.

You've been warned.

Via Miss Wagstaff and Tech Radar:

A juror has been dismissed from a trial in the UK after sharing details of the case on her Facebook profile.

Apparently she was unable to decide whether the defendants in a child abduction and assault case were guilty, so thought the best course of action would be to ask all her friends and relatives.

And, given her privacy settings were apparently not activated, the whole of the internet as well.

"I don't know which way to go, so I'm holding a poll," she wrote.

Perhaps some people should be locked up for a few days pour encourager les autres.

An excellent article from Chris Game of the University of Birmingham Institute of Local Government Studies on how the Recession may just about save something of Local Government from the rapacious cluelessness of Hazel Blears' abolition package.

Speaking at a recent Belfast conference of local authority chief executives, Communities and Local Government Secretary, Hazel Blears, claimed her department had gone ‘back to the drawing board’ on any issues that might help local government ‘in the tough times ahead’. These included a possible reconsideration of the Government’s latest bout of restructuring, taking place under the controversial auspices of last year’s Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act

"Caveats" are the limitations by which countries which forces in Afghanistan place limitations on the scope of operation of their Armed Forces. The Government was questioned in the Lords on 25/11/2008 about this.

Lord Malloch-Brown, the Labour Minister responsible refuses to discuss caveats, the despite the fact that the NATO Commander will do so in public.

He claims that working in secret is a better "approach" out of "respect" for our Allies, but does not even bring the information to the House of Lords to demonstrate whether that approach has worked or not over an entire 12 month period.

The people being disrespected here are us, and our political process.

Click through on the title for all the papers.

Front Page Images here and on the Front Page are Courtesy of Sky News.

I've been playing with some leftish (and a couple of rightish) political blogging anagrams.

• Openish
• Probe Cynical Liars
• Never a Sadist
• Aho! Mob Rule.
• Become Livid or .. er .. I Led Vice Mob.
• Achieves Vent Room
• Redeeming Us
• Curios Void
• Descendants Endpoint

And - before anyone starts on me:

• Warn Mad Matt

A valuable lesson goes unlearnt Just a few days ago the polls closed down to just 5 points and the snap election chatter began to creep out again. And why not too? After all, if the Tories cannot do better than a five point lead after all that Gordon Brown and this Labour government has been [...]

Is over at Brassneck.

Welcome to the 197th edition - slightly shorter than normal after last week's Baby P editon... These are the best blog stories of the week as nominated by you. Nominations for next week should be sent via email to britblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

The roundup is a compendium of last week's outstanding posts in the British Blogosphere.

Via the Conspirators and Sandy Szwarc:

Researchers in England have inadvertently shown how silly the crisis of childhood obesity has become and how unrealistic the definitions are of overweight and obesity in children. We continually hear parents accused of being in denial and incapable of recognizing their children’s weight “problems.” It turns out, few doctors can correctly identify children in the overweight and obese categories, either.

...

Their interpretation of their study’s findings was to call for the need for formal training of medical professionals to enable them to better recognize and manage obesity.

There's something unsettling in all of this, and I can't decide whether it is unnecessary research projects, questioning why there is talk of "clinical observations" of obesity - which is presumably in a setting where scales are available, or in the inevitable knee-jerk "we need more training" conclusion of the bureaucratic paperwork-factory.

Click through on the title for all the papers.

Front Page Images here and on the Front Page are Courtesy of Sky News.

I'm not going to cover the pre-Budget Report in detail (although somebody else on the team might do so).

Instead I'm noting what I think is a significant development in the BBC approach - that of linking out systematically to Political Blogs, which are not all particularly well-known bloggers, either. For the BBC, this approach can add interest in what is a long session. There are links to around a dozen bloggers.

Also, the links are direct links which pass Google-juice, a practice that had been noted as missing on the BBC website recently. This is crucial for blogs to gain exposure.

The things missing from here are Northern Irish and Scottish blogs, and a Lib Dem MP, but the Lib Dems had an extra blogger linked.

A couple of mistakes. Twitter links should be to the individual message, as should blog links - and they quoted a paragraph from Richard Kelly including an inaccuracy.

Overall - probably 7 out of 10 in my view for this Live Blog. Not bad at all. I've listed all the blog links below the fold.

Via the Washington Post, one that I missed last week:

The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide dropped drastically today after a Web hosting firm identified by the computer security community as a major host of organizations allegedy engaged in spam activity was taken offline, according to security firms that monitor spam distribution online.

While its gleaming, state-of-the-art, 30-story office tower in downtown San Jose, Calif., hardly looks like the staging ground for what could be called a full-scale cyber crime offensive, security experts have found that a relatively small firm at that location is home to servers that serve as a gateway for a significant portion of the world's junk e-mail.
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The servers are operated by McColo Corp., which these experts say has emerged as a major U.S. hosting service for international firms and syndicates that are involved in everything from the remote management of millions of compromised computers to the sale of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and designer goods, fake security products and child pornography via email.

But the company's web site was not accessible today, when two Internet providers cut off MoColo's connectivity to the Internet, security experts said. Immediately after McColo was unplugged, security companies charted a precipitous drop in spam volumes worldwide. E-mail security firm IronPort said spam levels fell by roughly 66 percent as of Tuesday evening.

Read it all.

Paul Bradshaw, who lectures in Journalism at Birmingham City University at is compiling a list of "the most significant events in the history of journalism blogging?" Examples Paul quotes include one over 5 yearsm, which is my favourite.

2007: Dave Winer wins his $2,000 bet (made in 2002) that blogs will rank higher than the New York Times for the top 5 news stories of 2007 (h/t Bob Stepno), demonstrating the importance of blogging in news distribution.

And here are some suggestions that I think should be on the list.