Attacking Scottish Nationalists For Once

As someone who lives in London, I spend a lot of time (or at least I used to!) attacking English nationalists, who seem to get quite annoyed that I single them out over the Scottish. Well that's just geography for you, not a political statement of support for the SNP. So it gives me great pleasure to link to an article about one the SNP's shady illiberal views... they have a few...

The SNP and its pro-religionist homophobic agenda


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Family Guy Banned In Venezuela

I am always in two minds about the people in charge over in Venezuela. On the one hand President Chavez has stood firm against those seeking to take power through a coup, raised general living standards and made a mark on the world stage as a person to be reckoned with and a country to take note of.

But on the other there has been a slow erosion of civil liberties, democracy and general freedom. Whilst any South American Government is well advised to be wary of the United States, given the US's history of messing around "in it's back yard", his fervent anti-Americanism is concerning as well.

Now we have the Justice Minister banning Family Guy! Why? Because Brian, a character in the show, ran a campaign (let's make this clear, a fictional campaign!) calling for marijuana to be legalised! Madness. Absolute madness. Censorship is never right, and is just yet another sign of Venezuela's descent into a dictatorship.

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British Airways... Why Hath Thou Forsaken Me?

Let's get this straight. I hate flying.

Firstly, I have a fear of flying. Well no, that's a lie. I have a fear of falling thousands of feet in a metal box to my untimely death. I'm not at the phobia end of the spectrum. I can get on a plane. But every bump, and every noise makes me grip the handrests. I once screamed during a particularly bumpy ride into Bangkok on a prop airplane. That sort of fear.

Secondly, I'm gigantic. At 6'8" I cannot physically sit in the normal seats on a plane and thus must submit myself to begging at check-in for exit seats (which most airlines don't let you book in advance). Worse is watching the smug little people who have their exit seats as well as I watch my more proud brethren (i.e. those who don't beg) who are forced to sit in cramped seats with their legs around their ears. Virgin Atlantic once tried to charge me £50 quid for the benefit of getting a seat that I could sit in. That didn't go down too well and I got on without paying their tall person fine, then sat next to another giant who had PAID! Poor guy.

British Airways has always been different. I never needed to plead with them, just a phone call when Jim booked the tickets (months in advance) to let them know ahead of time that there was a freak booking for that flight usually meant no fuss at the check-in. This meant a happy, relaxed Jae. It meant a pleasant journey. It meant a lot. Of all the greedy, uncaring companies out there, British Airways was one of the few that didn't discriminate against people just because of their height.

But alas, those days are gone. £50 for the privilege of an exit seat is not a trifling amount. I wonder if they charge disabled people more? Do they? I hope so. You think they'll make an exception for me? Unlikely unless I do something that goes against my very nature and make a scene. Rules are rules, and staff are always keen to keep to them (the British Virgin Atlantic check-in assist only didn't charge me after a 10 minute debate and when she did it she did it with a roll of her eyes that said "Customers... who'd have them?" as if I was some sort of cretin for daring ask for a seat I can fit in).

So my trip to Berlin next month is now less something to look forward to than something to fret over. Will they charge? Won't they? Very, very sad. Farewell to my one safe port of call in the world of flying.

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The United Nations: A Slow Descent From Hope To Despair

I am a proud unionist. Being British that obvious means I believe in the Union as embodied by the United Kingdom. But it means more than that. I passionately believe in ever closer ties between all the nations of the world and thus I've always had a soft spot for the United Nations (despite it's many faults). But of late, I feel like the United Nations has been hijacked.

Nothing makes me feel more affection for the United Nations than speeches such as that of Eleanor Roosevelt at the declaration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see here for audio and text).

Aspirations to peace and freedom are obviously always going to be merely aspirations... we are humans after all. But it's nice to aim high. Sadly the United Nations has started to be taken over by the illiberal and the backward. First it adopted an article that clearly threatens freedom of speech with regards to defamation of religion. Now the President of the United Nations General Assembly supports the criminilisation of homosexuality and finds homosexuality "unacceptable". It's time the free people of the world (i.e. those not in backward, regressive places like Libya) stood up and said "Not in our name!".

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Alan Turing: The Tip Of The Iceberg

I was rather bugged by the furore in the lead up to the apology for Alan Turing from the Prime Minister. The campaign, to me, stunk of a personality cult. I was vocal in my desire to see an apology for everyone punished for their sexuality (and perhaps that should wait until we get equal rights, huh?).

So why did no one in the media call for this? Now, suddenly, it's hit the radar. Grr... see here and here

I understand the campaign was not started by someone who classes themselves as LGBT, so perhaps that perspective made it difficult to understand that this sort of treatment is not a rare occurrence. But then again surely anyone of a basic level of intelligence should understand that. But maybe I ask too much given that some gay guys nowadays don't even know about the past regressive laws.

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Anti-Fascist Violence

It is quite obvious to me, as someone who happens to be white, that there is a very deep undertone of racism in this country. You go anywhere in the country and meet with white people, when there is nobody of a different race about, and there's a high chance somebody will start a conversation about how "things have gone too far" or "send the immigrants home". You only need to read the Sun or the Daily Mail to know this is something the media loves to tap in to.

So when the English Defence League does one of it's never-ending protests, it might be helpful if the supposedly rational, decent folk who oppose them DON'T BECOME VIOLENT! What the BBC's news story fails to reflect is that the violence came from the anti-fascist side. I hate fascists, racists and nationalists. I believe that those who support such creeds are unpatriotic (they need to read up on who we fought against in WWII) and indecent.

But I also hate violence and what I really hate is muppets causing violence against these bastards. Given that we live in a country with lots of "hidden" racism, the way to win those people round is not by attacking these sorts of organisations physically but by winning the arguments. The Nazi's weren't defeated by Communist's attacking them in the streets before 1933, it only made them stronger in the eyes of many who feared the Communists. We must stand strong against racism, but do it sensibly, peacefully and decently. If we don't then the nationalist scum win out!

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More 999 Fun

Like last year's crop they make you lose faith in humanity!

This year we have more exciting cases of people losing things and having no phone credit.


Can't we just shoot them?

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District 9

District 9 is one helluva good movie. The special effects were amazing considering this movie was made on a budget of "just" $30 million. The plot was touching, disturbing and insightful. And there was another action to keep the Transformers fans happy.



Don't get me wrong, this is not a "classic" movie. It was too "predictable" (I guessed Wikus' fate pretty much as soon as he started to get ill). But nevertheless it is a must see.

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The Business Case For...

Good BBC Magazine article on the dangers of addressing every issue in terms of cost alone.

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Some People Love The Mayor Of Doncaster

But I don't know why.

I've said before I have concerns over the values the English Democrats attach themselves to (such as the racist policies of the England First Party as per my post here).

Now my least favourite Mayor, Peter Davies (see my concerns about him here and here) of the English Democrats has come out with perhaps the most startlingly awful statement of the month.

"The one thing to be said about the Taliban is that they do have an ordered society of some sort and that they don't have hundreds of cases of children under threat of abuse from violent parents, as we have in Doncaster."

What on Earth is he talking about? The Taliban are INFAMOUS for their child abuse. Check out their abuse of boys (who they train to DIE). Oh and their wonderful ordered society:

In October 2001 Oxfam International reported that:

* Over 750,000 Afghans (including children) are disabled due to mines and high incidence of polio
* Clean water is available to less than 15 percent of the population
* The immunization rate among children is as low as 10 percent
* There is a high incidence of mental health problems, particularly among women Source

We do have social problems in this country, but suggesting that the Taliban would make a better job of things is an insult to decency, humanity and all that is good. Our troops are out there fighting these guys and he's back here suggesting they aren't all that bad. It's a bit like someone suggesting during the Second World War that "at least the Nazi's would make the trains run on time". Perhaps he might try to find examples of decent nations who have a better way of doing things, perhaps in Europe for instance? Oh sorry, no he'd rather suggest we all turn into fundamentalist Muslims than suggest something good might be found on our own Continent.

And worse he is no better than any other politician with his spinning. See this article from the Daily Mail in which it is claimed his anti-political correctness drive (which sounds just as pointless as any diversity drive would be) identified an "ethnic minorities welfare rights service " that could be culled. Actually that service was scrapped three years ago, as revealed by the Private Eye, well before Mr Davies came along and began his bizarre populist and reactionary stint as Mayor.

I just hope I'm wrong about the English nationalists liking this guy, because if I'm not then they really are screwed.

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World War II

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War (at least in Europe). In this month in 1939 Germany invaded Poland. Then, two weeks later, the Soviets attack the Poles from the east. Despite this, the Polish held out for far longer than they were expected to. Sadly this was to be just the beginning of 60 years of pain for that poor nation.

Here is the announcement to the British public of the outbreak of war... little could they know that 6 years of Hell was about to descend upon this Earth...



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