Now You See Them, Now You Don’t

 

 

Bold claims about how little effect the lifting of labour market restrictions will have on the numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK over the next year are premature.

Claims of this sort, based on a single quarter of evidence from one source, are nearly as risky as the predictions last year that lifting work restrictions would lead to a sudden “flood” of A2 migrants.     Oxford University’s Migration Observatory

 

 

The BBC has been playing up the significance of the latest immigration figures released by the ONS which show a fall in the number of Romanians and Bulgarians in work in the UK in the last Quarter compared to the previous one….despite the annual figures showing a significant increase.

Five Live has been reporting that the ‘alarmist’ predictions by ‘some politicians’ (UKIP)  and some ‘campaign groups’ (Migration Watch) have been proved wrong.

Here is Nick Robinson’s dismissive take on the figures:

So much for those predictions of a flood of immigrants coming from Romania and Bulgaria once the door to the UK was opened

 

 And Mark Easton’s:

MPs and newspapers warned of a “flood” of hundreds of thousands of poor Romanians and Bulgarians who would strain our welfare system and public services. It was an argument that played directly into anxieties about immigration and the influence of the EU.

But today’s figures, the first official estimate of workers from Romania and Bulgaria since the transitional employment restrictions were removed on the so-called A2 countries in January, suggest there has been no flood. If anything, the reverse.

 

So some ‘bold claims’ based on one quarter’s data made by the BBC….‘premature and risky’?

 

But today is also a good day to bury other figures which are good for the government but which shouldn’t be forgotten.  In the same ONS report we have these figures for employment:
1.57 million people were employed in the National Health Service, up 13,000 from September 2013 and up 6,000 from a year earlier.

1.52 million people were employed in education, up 8,000 from September 2013, and up 44,000 from a year earlier.

Back to immigration.

 

Was Migration Watch wrong?

This is what they predicted as the likely annual immigration figures:

As in 2004, there is no purely statistical basis on which one could estimate the likely future flows of migration from Romania and Bulgaria. It is a matter of judgement, taking into account the factors outlined above. Our view is that they are likely to add between 30 and 70,000 to our population in each of the next five years of which about half will appear in the immigration statistics.

So our central estimate is that immigration from these two countries will add 50,000 a year to the UK population for the next five years of which about half is likely to be captured in the immigration statistics.

 

In other words they were pretty much spot on….the statistics show that there has been an increase of 26,000 Romanians and Bulgarians coming to the UK over the past year…..so as suggested half of their predicted figure was captured by the official statistics….and the statistics only tell us who is employed not the total number of people coming here.

 

The ONS itself admits this:

“These figures will not show how many Romanians and Bulgarians arrived to work in Britain between January and March this year,” said an ONS spokesman. “They only show how many were in employment during that period. They do not show when they arrived in Britain.”

In other words you could have had an influx of immigrants as the fugures don’t say when they arrived.

The ONS also states that not all immigrants admit their country of origin:

These UK and non-UK estimates do not sum exactly to the total number of people in employment because some people do not state their country of birth in their Labour Force Survey interviews.

 

What does the Oxford University’s Migration Observatory have to say about the new figures?:

Today’s (14 May 2014) new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown a small reduction (a drop of about 4,000) in the number of Romanian- and Bulgarian-born people employed in the UK in the first three months of 2014 – the period immediately after restrictions on the employment of migrants from these countries ended.

It is tempting to conclude that the new Labour Force Survey (LFS) data – showing that the opposite has happened and that actually, fewer Romanian and Bulgarian people are now working in the UK than at the end of last year – proves these stories wrong. But it is far too early to tell.

Bold claims about how little effect the lifting of labour market restrictions will have on the numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK over the next year are premature.

Claims of this sort, based on a single quarter of evidence from one source, are nearly as risky as the predictions last year that lifting work restrictions would lead to a sudden “flood” of A2 migrants.

 

So the reality is that Migration Watch have been proved correct and anything up to 50,000 Romanians and Bulgarians have probably entered the country…half not showing up on the statistics.

The full picture can’t possibly be known as to the effect, if any, of the ending of work restrictions until this year has ended….as you can see from the chart the June to September period there were 135,000 Romanians and Bulgarians in work…this leapt to 144,000 the next Quarter, then dropping to 140,000 for the latest quarter…the surge in immigration occured before the new rules were put in place….and could quite as easily go up again.

 

 

The BBC has been presenting this and talk about immigration control in general as Right Wing scaremongering but how true is that?

 

Here are Labour’s words of warning about immigration spoken only today:

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government had to do more “to address people’s legitimate concerns”.

She said: “Ministers aren’t doing enough to stop employers and agencies exploiting cheap migrant labour, particularly from Eastern Europe, to undercut wages and jobs.”

 

Here is Labour again:

Immigration figures to drop 20,000 as Home Office ‘massages’ numbers

Labour accused Mrs May of trying to “fix” the net migration figures.
David Hanson, the shadow immigration minister, said: “This is a desperate attempt to fiddle figures from an increasingly desperate Home Secretary.
“David Cameron promised his Government would cut net migration to the tens of thousands and he has failed. Now Theresa May wants to fix the figures brazenly, trying to take the British public for fools. If the Home Secretary thinks cheating the public is the way forward, it’s this Government that’s the fool.”

 

Here is Labour’s own think tank the IPPR telling us of the problems that immigration brings:

In transition: Romanian and Bulgarian migration to the UK

The report draws three key conclusions about the likely shape of migration from Romania and Bulgaria:
It is likely that patterns of migration from Romania and Bulgaria will be different to those seen after the A8 countries joined the EU in 2004.
However, the impacts of future migration from Romania and Bulgaria will be similar to other flows from eastern Europe.
Romanian and Bulgarian migration remains a source of worry for the public, but this has been exacerbated rather than alleviated by political interventions.
The main challenges that arise as the result of new A2 migration flows are likely to relate to increased demand for housing and public services, as well as new arrivals’ language needs. Over time, these migrants will accrue more entitlements to welfare, which needs to be planned for. There are also some specific issues that will need to be tackled at both national and local levels, such as the exploitation of workers from these countries and the integration of Roma migrants.

 

And look here’s the BBC itself reporting that:

EU migrants: Public services ‘must prepare’
23 December 2013

Ministers should take practical steps to help public services cope with the arrival of Bulgarian and Romanian migrants, a think tank has urged.
There should be more funds for housing, schools and policing, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said.
Bulgarians and Romanians have been able to work in the UK only in certain circumstances, but EU restrictions on movement will be lifted on 1 January.
The institute said practical help was needed to deal with increased demands on the privately-rented housing sector and on police who may have to deal with more incidents of anti-social behaviour by people unaware of UK laws and customs.
It also called for extra translators in schools and health centres.
It said there should be a “dedicated” pot of money to pay for the measures, from visa fees and the European Social Fund.

 

So is the BBC ‘scaremongering’ as well, and Labour and the IPPR?

Seems that it is only Right Wing politicians, newspapers and ‘pressure groups’ who get accused of that by the BBC.

 

 

 

Miliband Who?

 

Labour’s leader, Ed Miliband I should perhaps have to remind you, is having a torrid time…..the Tories have just overtaken Labour in the polls, he is being condemned left, right and centre, even from within his own labour ranks, he has no big policy ideas and the ones he does come up with are almost immediately shot down.

You might suppose a grilling on the Nicky Campbell show would be the last thing to look forward to if you were Miliband.

That’s of course if he were to get a grilling.  What he in fact got was a few soft questions lobbed half heartedly in his direction and a lot of airtime to assure Britain that Labour has the ‘solution’….not quite sure what the problem is that Labour has the solution to though.

Campbell had a pleasant little chat this morning with Miliband (08:36) who had learnt his lines well and refused to deviate from the script….‘there is a ‘deep sense of discontent in the UK, a sense that the country only worls for a few people at the top and not for most ordinary families…and ‘we’, Labour,  have the solutions.’

 

Campbell asked Miliband about his refusal to meet the CEO of Pfizer after having claimed that the ‘stakes couldn’t be higher’….Miliband dodged the question and Campbell didn’t press it.

The same with the recent video released attacking Clegg…Miliband claimed it was merely a ‘light hearted’ comment on the government……not admitting it was targeted at Clegg personally and was highly offensive to the Tories.

Campbell did suggest it was ‘chippy and mean-spirited’ but once again Miliband was allowed to brush that off saying he didn’t see it that way and that when you’ve seen the pain and suffering that results from the unfair and unjust decisions of this government you can understand the sense of anger out there.

Campbell didn’t raise the question of just who might ultimately have been responsible for all that ‘pain and suffering’…could it not have been a Labour government that destroyed the economy and left us in the worst recession in living memory?

Campbell didn’t get Miliband to expand on his economic policies and exactly what he was going to do with the economy….the best he got out of him was that Labour would protect scientific research and create high skilled and highly paid jobs…not saying how and where the money would come from.

Then Campbell asked about Miliband’s latest proposal on providing GP access…Campbell decided not to challenge him on this merely asking if Miliband had ‘sorted out the problems with that policy’ when it was last tried by Gordon Brown.

Miliband assured us that it was all good and that it was a no cost policy…..the savings made on cutting this government’s bureaucracy would pay for it.

Campbell didn’t question that…you might have thought he would as GPs themselves say the policy would cost £3 billion.

Ed Miliband’s promise to give all patients a “same-day consultation” and a guarantee of an early GP appointment was questioned this morning after the Royal College of GPs said the policy would cost £3 billion to implement.

 

Campbell’s final probing question was which of the leaders of the other parties would Miliband have a pint with?

The real question might be would any of them want to have a pint with Miliband?

 

All in all a pretty poor interview when elections are due in just over a week and the national election in a years time with Miliband campaigning hard already….Miliband wasn’t exactly on the ropes and must have traipsed away happy that he’d got away with it again.

I imagine Cameron, Clegg and Farage have been lined up for similar interviews…..wonder what treatment they will get, just how rigorous will the questioning be?

 

 

 

 

“If it lies to itself, can it demand the truth of others? “

 

 

Amnesty International seems to have forgotten all about this from Gita Sahgal:

A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when a great organisation must ask: if it lies to itself, can it demand the truth of others? For in defending the torture standard, one of the strongest and most embedded in international human rights law, Amnesty International has sanitized the history and politics of the ex-Guantanamo detainee, Moazzam Begg and completely failed to recognize the nature of his organisation Cageprisoners.

 

 

David Vance was up against it today on Sheila Fogarty’s (13:47) show as he argued in defence of ‘enhanced interrogation’ methods against Amnesty International’s representative and the BBC’s default position that Amnesty’s line is the correct one…..that a cup of tea that is too hot or a biscuit without chocolate on it in the course of an interrogation amounts to torture.

 

Amnesty is horrified that the great British Public are not wholeheartedly behind their campaign to eliminate what they call torture completely…and blames films and television for de-sensitising us…the Public just doesn’t understand the horror and brutality of torture.

Of course we might just be taking a rational view and think that certain methods, not all, are acceptable if the stakes are high enough……and that’s the rub…what constitutes ‘torture’ and is it justified to save possibly thousands of lives?

Amnesty thinks not.

DV thought it was….and claimed AI was acting as de facto apologists for our enemies in the war on terror….joining forces with the Islamist Caged Prisoners (Now ‘Cage’) doesn’t help AI’s case of course.

 

The BBC has been all too ready itself to come to the aid of Islamists such as Moazzem Begg and spread accusations of abuse by British forces….probably no coincidence AI releases its poll results today as the BBC has this as its headline story:

ICC to investigate claims of abuse by UK forces in Iraq

 

It tells us that:

Even though this is not an ICC “formal investigation”, at least yet, it’s still a significant victory for the Human Rights Lawyer Phil Shiner and his firm Public Interest Lawyers.

He’s long argued that British forces were involved in the systematic abuse of Iraqis.

He believes that mistreatment – some of which has been proven – was allowed by senior military officers and even ministers.

In other words that it wasn’t just a “few bad apples”.

 

and then says:

The anger in the MOD and the military will be directed at Mr Shiner more than the ICC. They feel he’s dragging the British military’s reputation through the mud.

 

Unforgiveably the BBC doesn’t tell us that Shiner & Co withheld information crucial to an ongoing case…that they actually had no evidence of abuse by British troops…a case that, had that information been revealed, would have been thrown out of court…..and Shiner & Co wouldn’t have been paid millions of pounds in legal aid money….and their own reputation, such as it is, wrecked….they do themselves seem intent on dragging the British Military’s reputation through the mud for as long as possible.

You’ll be hard pushed to find a mention of that case being abandoned on the BBC webpages….no link referring to it being added to other reports.

Happy to link to this from a year ago though:

Iraqis claim British troops ‘acted with brutality’

Boris Says BBC ‘utterly disgraceful’

 

 

Boris Johnson: BBC’s treatment of veteran broadcaster has been ‘utterly disgraceful’

Boris Johnson says entire BBC board should travel down to Devon and apologise in person to broadcaster forced to resign for unwittingly playing song containing racist slur

 

The Mayor of London said that in a “modest way” Britain is living in a “Boko Haram world”, a reference to the Islamic militants who have attracted international condemnation after kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls.

Boko Haram is opposed to any form of political or social activity associated with Western society. It has attracted international condemnation for kidnapping, maiming and killing children.

Mr Johnson said: “In our own modest way, we live in a Boko Haram world, where it all depends on the swirling rage of the Internet mob, and where terrified bureaucrats and politicians are borne along against a torrent of confected outrage.

“There is no consistency in the outlook of the Nigerian maniacs: they use weapons produced by the very capitalist system they claim to deplore, for instance.

“There is certainly no logic at the BBC. They should restore Mr Lowe to his job – if he will take it – and the entire BBC Board should go down to Devon to apologise in person, and at their own expense.”

Mr Johnson said that while the N-word is “rude and offensive”, in Britain it has become so “haram” – meaning forbidden – that “prohibition is now enforced with a semi-religious fervour”.

He said that Jeremy Clarkson, who appeared to mumble the word while reciting a nursery rhyme, had been the victim of a “clerisy of self-appointed Internet witch doctors” who had gone “completely loco – or perhaps Boko is the word”.

He said that the corporation was so cowed by the prospect to the “tweets, the twitstorms, all that endless hashtag BBC racist nightmare” when they heard about Mr Lowe that they had no option but to “fire him”. The corporation has since offered Mr Lowe his job back, but he has declined.

Mr Johnson said that by the same logic Tony Hall, the BBC director general, and all the corporation’s schedulers should be asked to “commit Hara-kiri” for broadcasting Pulp Fiction, a film containing repeated use of the N-word.

 

 

 

‘UAF is very proud to announce that Doreen Lawrence has agreed to become our honorary president.’

Doreen Lawrence becomes UAF honorary president

UAF is very proud to announce that Doreen Lawrence has agreed to become our honorary president.

 

Curious……..

Doreen Lawrence denies link to group accused of Farage threats

Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon played down her involvement with Unite Against Fascism (UAF), whose members are accused of trying to silence the Ukip leader

 

 

 

The UAF are essentially Unite Union baron Len McCluskey’s  storm troopers….sent in to do battle on the streets with those they want to deny the right to speak…..

 

Its head honchos:

UAF’s honorary presidents are Ken Livingstone and Doreen Lawrence.

Our elected officers for 2013 are:

Chair – Steve Hart, political officer, Unite
Vice chair – Christine Blower, general secretary, NUT
Vice chair – Hugh Lanning, deputy general secretary, PCS
Vice chair – Azad Ali

 

 

Miliband is kept in place by Unite and Owen Jones is another Unite stooge.

 

Interesting that a so-called ‘anti-fascist’ organisation has Azad Ali, an extremist Muslim, as its vice chair.

Ken Livingstone’s anti-fascist group appoints fascist as vice-chair

One of this blog’s oldest friends, Azad Ali, has a great new post. As the Harry’s Place blog reports, Azad is the new vice-chair of Unite Against Fascism, the ostensibly anti-racist group (in fact more of a meal-ticket for the leadership of the Socialist Workers’ Party.)

Azad is the community affairs co-ordinator of the extremist Islamic Forum of Europe, which controls the East London Mosque and which is dedicated, in its own words, to changing the “very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed … from ignorance to Islam.”

 

 

The BBC take a quick peek at the story…..originally broken by Andrew Neil…so you might think…’scoop’!!!…but that’s not how the BBC thinks at all

The BBC’s intent is to move in and, if it can’t erase history, it will try to downplay or ridicule Farage’s claims….that the UAF threatened him….or, if they can’t deny there is substance to Farage’s claim, they will try to excuse the UAF’s actions as a result of his own ‘racism’.

And indeed in the article that is what they do….a sub-heading being entirely misleading….‘Racist adverts’…..UKIP’s adverts were not racist.

The BBC then goes on to give Unite and Hope Not Hate a long say and a chance to denigrate Farage and UKIP.

 

What the BBC doesn’t bother with is to actually investigate if there is any truth in Farage’s claims…because they know that there is.

 

The UAF is a Fascist organisation….. Fascists are of course Socialists…never mind the teaming up with Islamic ‘fascists’.

All a bit embarrassing for the BBC….which also doesn’t mention Doreen Lawrence.

All a bit two faced of the BBC which has put a great deal of time and effort into attacking and trying to sideline the EDL…..an organisation which, unlike the UAF, opposes Islamic ‘fascism’ and all that entails.

But the BBC has never shown the slightest interest in exposing the UAF…….and once again the BBC is guilty of manipulating the news so that its ‘friends’ get protection and positive coverage whilst those it sets it hat against get the full Pravda treatment and face the equivalence of being sent to the camps in Siberia….’exiled’ to the fringes of society by BBC denouncements and erased from history as undesirables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Am I not allowed an opinion?’ The New McCarthyism Of Charlie Bloom

 

The BBC gave a platform to someone who was allowed to make an extreme comparison between Nigel Farage and Hitler and who dramatically claims Farage is fomenting racial war….all without any challenge from Dimbleby…..so only fair to have a look at the hypocrisy, lies and McCarthyism of Charlie Bloom…….According to whom the views of Farage, being popular with the Public, are ‘Dangerous’ and unacceptable….so what does that mean about Bloom’s view of the Great British Public?…

 ‘I expressed view why he had popular support. Dangerous. I’m blocking you.’

 

So you’re all ‘blocked’ for your dangerous thoughts….you’re all Nazis if you want to control immigration and have a working, representative democracy.

I wonder who is more ‘dangerous’…Bloom or Farage?

Bear in mind Bloom’s opinion and response aligns perfectly with the BBC’s views on immigration and Europe….which is why they ‘manage’ the debate on those subjects so closely….they too are very keen on the ‘warning from history’ ploy, painting UKIP as dangerous far right fanatics.

 

Farage is genuinely seen, and perhaps rightfully seen, by the vast majority of British people beyond W12 (and N1) as being “in touch” and speaking their language – not just regarding Europe, but also, I suspect, immigration and even the events in Ukraine. The BBC no more understands this than do the major parties.

 

Channelling ‘Charlie’ in his own words slightly amended for the circumstances……

‘Perhaps, [Charlie], you would like to choose your words more carefully in future. Perhaps you would also like to apologise for your ill-considered and insulting remarks concerning the views of the majority of people in this country.’

 

So let’s take a look inside the mind of Charlie Bloom……

 

 

 

Embedded image permalink

 

 

 

Charlie Bloom, a member of ’38 Degrees’, is the man who accused Nigel Farage of being the new Hitler and who is enjoying his new found infamy immensely.

To all my new followers! I am very flattered. Watch this space. Got to sign off today. Back soon!

 

The Charlie Bloom who thinks UKIP’s immigration, pro-Democracy and pro-British parliamentary sovereignty stance is going to lead to another world war, the Charlie Bloom who said this:

@rupertmurdoch I do wish that our politicians had the bottle to only allow British citizens to own our media. Hacks me off!

 

Seems a little bit of ‘racist nationalism’ is OK by Charlie Bloom when it suits.

 

The Charlie Bloom who boasts of his rant:

Was on #questiontime tonight. Gave it to NF with both barrels. #UKIP is a terrifying concept in a democracy.

 

And despite Bloom’s expressed desire for democracy thinks that for Farage….

‘…a life sentence in wormwood scrubs would be good!

 

That’s right Charlie…lock up all those whom you disagree with…that’s how democracy works….in the Soviet Union!

 

The Charlie Bloom who makes a false, or just ignorant, claim about who makes the laws in Europe:

15% of all uk laws come from Brussels and have to be passed into uk law. Other 85% are ours.

In fact around 70% of our laws are made in Europe...and the rest have to be EU ‘compliant’…that is…if they do not comply with EU standards the EU can force the UK to amend them to suit….EU law is deemed to take primacy under various treaties that we have signed up to……

“The most powerful parliament in Europe is the European Parliament – because it is co-decider with the member states on EU laws.

“Seventy per cent of the laws in this country [UK] are co-decided with the European Parliament.”

 

 

The same Charlie Bloom who claims we must be in Europe because it means more business and jobs but who doesn’t want them in his own backyard:

 

EXTRAORDINARY COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING – 13 OCTOBER 2011

Charlie Bloom – private resident Gravel and Sharp Sand Extraction at Hamble airfield – disruption to schools, families & roads caused by machinery noise, increased lorry movements to/from Hamble Airfield and effect on Hamble Lane etc and access to Blackthorn Medical Centre

 

The very same Charlie Bloom who said this:

‘…a pathetic attempt to defame by the ignorant of facts. McCarthyism is alive and well!!!’

 

Well yes…McCarthyism is alive and well…and Charlie Bloom is the man who epitomises it today…trying to shut down debate using exactly the same techniques that McCarthy used…..McCarthy tried to paint his opponents as Communists, Bloom tries to paint them as Fascists….

 

 

Bloom, (Any relation to Godfrey?  Would be funny) makes a startling comparison of Farage to Hitler and dramatically claims Farage’s desire to control immigration and have representative democracy is leading to war…‘his methods have been used before with dire consequences. Ye gods!!!!’….…..Bloom ironically demands ‘rational debate’ and whilst he is allowed to compare Farage to a man who killed 6 million Jews other people aren’t allowed to insult him……try it and you will be ‘silenced’

 

I am reporting all who use foul or abusive language, threats or attack my family. Rational debate yes. Anything else, be careful.

Seriously? You are mentally unstable. Be careful. There are legal non violent ways to silence you. No more threats.

 

Indeed one Tweeter has already had their account suspended for his comments to Bloom…..

Account suspended

The profile you are trying to view has been suspended. 

 

McCarthyism alive and well?

 

Bloom himself thinks he should always have a say:

Am I not allowed an opinion?

 

 

The Charlie Bloom who thinks closet gays are dangerous?

Like J Edgar Hoover, Putin is probably uncertain of his sexual orientation. Makes him doubly dangerous. Yes?

 

The Charlie Bloom who calls Margaret Thatcher Evil:

#Margaret Thatcher. I’ll not mourn her death. That’s for her family. I’ll not celebrate her life/death. It’s the end of her. She was evil.

Destroyed lives of millions of uk folk!

If you have another view of Margaret Thatcher he’s not interested….‘You’re blocked’:

 

 

 

 

The Charlie Bloom, with such a desire for intelligent debate and a horror of abusive, insulting language who says this:

James Naughtie had it right with his Hunt spoonerism!

Hislop may be short and ugly but Piers Morgan is nasty. You choose!

 

Another of Charlie Bloom’s comments reveals all about his real mindset:

‘Ignorance is bliss.’

‘How about a blast on The Now Show!!

 

 

Charlie Bloom has a very high opinion of himself and his own intelligence, and a very low one of everyone else:

 

A UKIP supporter! Nasty.

My daughter is more intelligent than you. Neither of us resort to insults in debate. Just facts.

I’m intelligent & articulate. Why does that scare the trolls here? I hit a cord. Live with it!

[Shame the intelligent, articulate Bloom can’t spell ‘chord’]

Intelligence over fear.

brighter than you! Trust me, I AM telling the truth!

Bile without substance.

Stop the insults. Beneath contempt.

try intelligent debate not swapping insults.

your arguments are based on intolerance!

I don’t argue with people who insult me or my intelligence. Bye

intelligent? No you’re not. Debate with you not possible. Bye

I don’t argue with people who insult me or my intelligence. Bye

it’s none of your business. It is the one thing I do not have to share in public.

Some of us are articulate.

Troll!

politically illiterate!!
That is the real fear! The prejudiced rants of Farage are similar to those that he admires.

 

 

Just who is the real ‘Nasty Party’?

Might be somewhat ironic that Bloom compares Farage to Hitler when Bloom’s own family is so closely connected to a party that has so many deeply unpleasant people with deeply unpleasant views:
The real nasty party
I’m all in favour of banning the adjective “swivel-eyed” – unless we’re talking about the one party that merits it. I refer, of course, to the Liberal Democrats. This week Sir Bob Russell MP equated the plight of the Palestinians with the Holocaust. And this just after David Ward compared Israelis to Nazis. What is it about Lib Dems and Jews? Remember Baroness Tonge suggesting they were harvesting organs? They go for non-Jewish conspiracy theories, too: Norman Baker, transport minister, has loopy views on the “murder” of Dr David Kelly. What weirdos. Swivel, swivel, swivel. If you look closely, you can see their contact lenses popping out during PMQs.

 

 

 

‘One Less Horribly White Radio Presenter’

 

Thanks to Dysgwr_Cymraeg and ‘Is the BBC biased?’ for bringing this to our attention….just astonishing….and note the ‘complainant’, whilst he can hear an offensive word can’t actually get the name of the DJ right….David Lowe:

AND FINALLY….

AFTER more than 32 years of programme-making for the BBC and UK Independent Local Radio, I have hung-up my headphones for the last time. Why? Because I made a silly mistake. Yes, I know we all make mistakes, but where political correctness is concerned in UK today, there is no room for excuses or forgiveness. That said: let me stress here, I have no quarrel with anyone at the BBC in the West and South West. However, I do have issues with a repressive system that encourages wholly disproportionate reactions to innocent errors of judgement.

On April 27, I featured an 82 year old recording, one I’ve heard hundreds of times over the years, and even featured occasionally on my programmes. Unbeknown to me, however, that recording by Ambrose & His Orchestra of “The Sun Has Got His Hat On” contains a line of lyric that includes one of today’s ‘forbidden’ English language expressions … the “N” word! You’ve got to listen very carefully indeed to actually hear it but, yes, it is there on the recording.

I was alerted to my error by an email from the BBC management who had, in turn, received a complaint from a listener who, by his own admission, never listened to my programmes, but just happened to switch-on his radio sometime after 8 pm on Sunday April, 27.

Suffice it to say, the listener in question was “horrified” by what he heard, and added, “I hope that someone in authority will deal with Mr Young appropriately.” (He referred to me as David Young throughout his email, a copy of which was forwarded to me with the BBC complaint alert).  By the way, I know of no other complaint. Of course, there may have been others, but none have yet come to my attention via post, email, Facebook, Twitter or on my Blog.

Nevertheless, I admitted my mistake immediately after listening closely to the ‘offending’ track. I then apologised to my BBC managers, and offered to apologise to the listeners at the beginning of, and again during, my programme on May 11. Alternatively, I offered to fall on my sword.

A series of emails between myself and the BBC ensued over the following few days, including one which stated, “We would prefer that you don’t mention anything about last week’s broadcast.”  In the end, the BBC wrote to say, “Regrettably … we will have to accept your offer to fall on your sword to resolve the situation.”

Sorry folks, but I made a stupid mistake and I was left with no other option but to fall on my sword. In closing, however, let me say this: it has been an honour to entertain you for so many years, and I thank each and every one of you for your support for my efforts.

Kind Regards

David Lowe

 

 

 

 

Astonishing but even more so when you go to this BBC web page and scroll down to this:

 

 

Play the clip and the first words you will hear are ‘One less white nigger’

 

Who will be sacked?…I demand somebody is….get on Twitter now!!!!

 

 

 

And I see no reason why David Lowe alone should feel the heat…after all ITV was investigated by Ofcom for the same ‘offence’…so perhaps Tony Hall should also be taken to task….corporate responsibility and institutional racism and all that:

 

ITV feels the heat over N-word song lyrics

Ofcom has launched an investigation into the use of the N-word in the song The Sun Has Got His Hat On, broadcast on ITV1’s regional news programme Calendar News.

The ITV1 evening news show broadcast the line: “He’s been tanning niggers out in Timbuktu, now he’s coming back to do the same to you.”

Ofcom has launched an investigation into whether ITV broke UK broadcasting rules relating to harm and offence.

 

 

Ofcom eventually ruled that ‘the use of the word was a breach of its rules but took into account that ITV identified the error almost immediately on transmission, took steps to dip the sound during the repeat on ITV1+1, broadcast an apology during the later news bulletin the same day and took various further measures afterwards to ensure there was no recurrence of this problem. 

The watchdog therefore considered the matter resolved.’

 

So what will Ofcom make of the BBC’s continuing use of the word in the ‘Oliver’s Army’ clip where they have clearly highlighted it despite knowing that it was offensive…having banned the word before?…

BBC digital radio station censors ‘One more widow, one less white n****r’ lyric in Elvis Costello hit Oliver’s Army

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trojan Sheep

 

A week ago Paul Weston, chairman of the party Liberty GB, was arrested for quoting Churchill on Islam.

The BBC reported this but didn’t seem to think it significant and the issues, suh as freedom of speech or indeed the issues raised by Weston himself, worthy of exploration…how different the benevolent coverage for the Muslim suicide bomber, or someone encarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, or a ‘community leader’ claiming Muslims are alienated and victimised,  radicalised by British foreign policy.

 

Wonder what the reaction would have been if Paul Weston had quoted Churchill’s statements from his ‘History of The English Speaking People’s’:

On dealing with quislings and appeasers….

‘It is the primary right of men to die and kill for the land they live in, and to punish with exceptional severity all members of their own race who have warmed their hands at the invader’s hearth.’

 

Or on the foolishness of those who adopt the customs and beliefs of the invaders:

‘Step by step they were led to practices which disposed to vice – the lounge, the bath, the elegant banquet.  All this in their ignorance they called civilisation, when it was but part of their servitude.’

 

From that we take a leap to Halal meat, its unannounced introduction into non-Muslim’s diets and the BBC’s reporting of the issues.

The BBC stuck pretty rigidly to the technical issues surrounding Halal slaughter and concluded that there was little difference between the way animals slaughtered for Halal meat and non-Halal meat are treated…if stunned.

This of course dodges the question of religion and the fact that Muslims will object loudly and aggressively if given non-Halal meat but non-Muslims, because they don’t complain so aggressively, are fed Halal meat without any regard for their beliefs or concerns.

As far as slaughtering is concerned there is no reason why animals for Halal slaughter shouldn’t be stunned as long as they are not killed by that ‘stunning’.

According to this study animals not stunned feel the pain of having their throat cut, as you might expect:

Animals feel the pain of religious slaughter

 

Blood must drain completely from an animal to comply with religious requirements but some claim this doesn’t happen in stunned animals.  However a study shows that there should be no objections to stunning as blood drains just as fast from a stunned, and unconscious,  animal as from an unstunned one, and as long as the animal is only stunned and not dead this is permissible:

Halal-standard slaughtering doesn’t need animals awake

 

 

On the technical side the BBC is correct but the issues are deeper than purely ones of animal welfare and are symbolic of the way that Muslim culture, practices and belief have been forced upon the rest of the population by either commercial enterprises looking to cut corners and make a profit (selling Halal to all but not able to sell non-Halal to all) or Establishment organisations looking to appease Muslims whilst dismissing the concerns of the non-Muslims…often as the BBC’s ex-DG Mark Thompson said they don’t pack an AK47 at the end of the day:

“Without question, ‘I complain in the strongest possible terms’, is different from, ‘I complain in the strongest possible terms and I am loading my AK47 as I write’,” he said. “This definitely raises the stakes.”

 

Imagine the uproar if it was deemed that only non-Halal meat was to be served or sold in the UK….but no one was told….Instead we have the opposite, the ‘Trojan Sheep’ fed to us by commercial enterprises all too willing to ride roughshod over sensibilties in the search for a quick buck (as they do also with cheap immigrant labour) and an Establishment all to ready to appease an aggressive minority many of whom make veiled threats if they don’t get their way…‘the youth will be angry and we can’t guarantee to control them.’

Essentially people are being forced to adopt Muslim culture either because it is easier and cheaper to make everyone conform to the minority rather than make separate arrangements for that minority…or, heaven forbid, make the minority conform to the norm.

Going to be a bit of a nightmare when the Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Pagans, Jedi Warriors all want equal billing and their own brand of belief catered for…literally or otherwise.

The BBC has long been famous for its grovelling approach to Islam….whether Room 101’s approach, or Nicky Campbell’s craven prostration and self-abasement when talking of Islam and of his great respect for it, or Thompson’s admission that Islam gets special treatment due to the unique nature of any likely complaints.

 

 

With that in mind this article from the New Statesman might make interesting reading:

 

The challenge of Islam

The author, David Selbourne, was asked by John Kerry to write a briefing paper on the Islamist threat. He explains here what he told the US secretary of state and why he feels progressives have allowed themselves to be silenced by frightened self-censorship and the stifling of debate.

A beheading in Woolwich, a suicide bomb in Beijing, a blown-up marathon in Boston, a shooting in the head of a young Pakistani girl seeking education, a destroyed shopping mall in Nairobi – and so it continues, in the name of Islam, from south London to Timbuktu. It is time to take stock, especially on the left, since these things are part of the world’s daily round.

There is an objective historical need, and duty, to record radical Islam’s many-sided and determined advance upon the “infidel” world. Most still do not know what manner of force – the millions of peaceful Muslims notwithstanding – has struck it. And, with its own arms and ethics, it will continue to do so, perhaps till kingdom come.

The left continues covertly to celebrate US foreign policy blunders and defeats, while the naive see jihadists as a minority of “fanatics”. It is not so simple. To add to the confusion, President Obama’s stances, however well intentioned, have made their own contribution to the Islamic renaissance. Or as he expressed it in a speech in Cairo in June 2009, America and Islam “share common principles . . . of justice and progress, tolerance” – tolerance? – “and the dignity of all human beings”.

The non-Muslim world is too unaware of what is afoot, hobbled by its wishful thinking and lack of knowledge, and whistling in the dark. In a position paper I wrote for him [John Kerry], I set out a list of the failures that the west, and especially the US, has on its hands. Among them are the failure to recognise the ambition of radical Islam; the failure to condemn the silence of most Muslims at the crimes committed in their names; the failure to respond adequately to the persecution of Christians in many Muslim lands; the failure to grasp the nature of the non-military skills that are being deployed against the non-Muslim world – skills of manoeuvre, skills in deceiving the gullible, skills in making temporary truces in order to gain time (as in Iran); and, perhaps above all, the failure to realise the scale and speed of Islam’s advance.

“If things continue like this,” I told friend Kerry, “the history of our age may one day be written under a caliphate’s supervision.” I added brashly: “Get your aides to read the Quran. Keep political correctors at bay,” and “stop looking for the emergence of Jeffersonian democracies in Muslim lands”. “It has gotten me thinking,” he replied; and after further exchanges, “I agree with a great deal of what you’ve said.”

Islamists make no bones about their aspiration for “mastership of the world”, as Mohamed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood leader, put it in December 2011. Muslim (and not merely Islamist) disdain for “the west” is also growing; in July 2012, the speaker of the Iranian parliament des­cribed it as a “dark spot in the present era”.

Such confidence, or arrogance, is easily understood. For these are times in which conversions to Islam in western countries are accelerating.

To the aid of Islam has also come the betrayal by much of today’s left of its notionally humane principles, as Christians are assaulted and murdered (shades of what was done to the Jews in the 1930s) and their churches desecrated and destroyed from Egypt to the Central African Republic, from Iran to Indonesia, and from Pakistan to Nigeria. Islam can kill its own apostates, too; in many Muslim countries denies reciprocity to other faiths in rights of worship; and seeks to prevent reasoned discussion about its beliefs by attempted resort to blasphemy laws.

So where is the old left’s centuries-long espousal of free speech and free thought? Where is the spirit of Tom Paine? The answer is simple. It has been curbed by frightened self-censorship and by the stifling of debate, in a betrayal of the principles for which “progressives” were once prepared to go to the stake.

And just as some Jews are too quick to call anti-Zionists “anti-Semites”, so some leftists are too quick to tar critics of Islam as “Islamophobes”.

To add to such falsehoods come the illusionists of every stripe, with their unknowing, simplistic or false descriptions of Islam as a “religion of peace”. Even today’s Pope – as the Christian faithful were being harried, persecuted or put to the sword in Nigeria, Syria, Iraq and beyond – told the world in November 2013 that “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence”. But read the text yourself, and you will see that jihadists can find plenty justification for the acts they commit, even if most Muslims are pacific.

The present renaissance of Islam, additionally provoked, as ever, by western aggressions against its lands, is an old story of swift movement and conquest, as in the 7th century. Is something like it stirring again? Perhaps; you decide. In 50 years’ time the world will know for sure.

Karl Marx was wiser than the Pope. In March 1854, he wrote that for “Islamism” – the word was already in use – “the Infidel is the enemy” and that the Quran “treats all foreigners as foes”.

 

 

The BBC, and many others, some all too well connected to the Saudi Royal family or Qataris, are in denial about what the Koran says…or all too willing to adopt the practices for themselves and others…that ‘servitude’ Churchill spoke of.

Even today as Boko Haram marauds around Nigeria slaughtering hundreds in the name of Islam the BBC insists that it is poverty and inequality that drives them…never mind the name, the beliefs or that half of Nigeria has been Islamised and Christians made to submit or be chased from the north of the country.

What will it take to make the likes of the BBC admit that the Koran inspires this radicalism, that the Koran urges conquest and colonisation, that the Koran entraps its adherents and is designed so that the Religon will always expand, grow and eventually dominate any society it infiltrates?

Until the BBC et al does admit that, and they recognise the problem for what it is and what it means for the future, there will never be any resolution.

 

 

 

 

Climate Insurance Fraud?

 

 

Today let loose a climate change advocate…Trevor Maynard(08:47)… but they didn’t tell us his links to the climate lobby.   Today didn’t question his claims…..that hurricanes are getting stronger,  that we’re heading for a 4 degrees temperature rise (a horrible scenario!), that we have to decarbonise…they did suggest there might be a pause in warming but were told that there has  definitely been no pause in global warming…’that’s completely wrong’…an answer they were happy to accept, as they were with his claim that the ‘excess’ heat is going into the ocean….not being a ‘climate scientist’ he’s obviously learnt his script well….spoon fed to him by the likes of Bob Ward no doubt.

Climate activist Bob Ward (paid for by Big Oil) who has worked closely with Maynard….a relationshp that the BBC didn’t bother to reveal either.

 

Trevor Maynard works for Lloyds Insurance and is keen to tell us that the risks from climate change are immense and that the damage done by extreme weather are increasing….no vested interests there?

In 2008 we had Maynard and Ward working together….

Coastal flooded high-risk property insurance losses could double by 2030- Lloyds

“The research shows that, with an effective adaptation strategy, future losses could be reduced to below present-day levels with losses for high-risk properties reduced by as much … must be location-specific and risk informed. They must also begin today.”  Co-authored by Trevor Maynard, Manager of Emerging Risks at Lloyd’s and Bob Ward and Nicola Patmore ..

 

And again here:

Finally, Robert Ward, Trevor Maynard, Emmanuel Leblanc, Erwann Michel-Kerjan and Frederic Morlaye present the main concerns and recommended strategies of private sector stakeholders involved in risk management, to deal with the new challenges and opportunities associated with climate change adaptation and mitigation.

 

 

The insurance companies have a huge vested interest in hyping climate change and they fund climate lobbyists:

As well as funding by the ESCR the CCCEP is also funded by a large insurance company, who might obviously have a vested interest in creating some alarm about climate change:

‘Generous support for the Centre’s work is also provided by Munich Re’

The Munich Re programme
Evaluating the economics of climate risks and opportunities in the insurance sector
This research programme is funded by Munich Re and benefits from research collaborations across the industry and public sectors. It is a comprehensive research programme that focuses on the assessment of the risks from climate change, and on the appropriate responses, to inform decision making in the private and public sectors.

Now surely just a coincidence but Bob Ward used to work in the insurance industry:

He was: Director of Global Science Networks at global risk insurance firm RMS.
While Ward’s employment is ostensibly with the Grantham, he also doubles up as PR man for the CCCEP. The CCCEP is funded jointly by the UK’s research councils and risk insurance giants Munich Re.
The close association between climate alarmists and the insurance industry is no less natural than that between ‘sceptics’ and Exxon. Just as Exxon might be expected to play down the threat of climate change when it suits them, Munich Re can be relied upon to overstate the dangers. Fear of risk is to the insurance industry what oil is to Exxon.

The difference is that Bob Ward doesn’t write letters of complaint to Munich Re insurers or articles for the Guardian when Munich Re disseminates ‘misleading and inaccurate information about climate change’ – which they surely do.’

 

And Ward writes papers about climate and insurance risk:

Herweijer, C., Ranger, N., and Ward, R.E.T. July 2009. Adaptation to climate change: threats and opportunities for the insurance industry. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: issues and practice, v.34 pp.360-380.

Ward, R.E.T., Herweijer, C., Patmore, N., and Muir-Wood, R. January 2008. The role of insurers in promoting adaptation to the impacts of climate change. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice, v.33, pp.133-139.

Ward, R.E.T., Muir-Wood, R., and Grossi, P. 2007. Flood risk in New Orleans: implications for future management. Geophysical Research Abstracts, v.9, 04542.

 

 

A very small world, one that hasn’t been getting warmer for at least 16 years.