"i met galloway the other day and had the pleasure of hearing him speak. hes far from being an idiot. he's a cold and calculated PR stunt who is in love with the idea of himself. if he could bend his cock behind his legs he would clearly try and fuck himself. judging buy the smell of his breath it was clear to me that he has already mastered the art of licking his own arse." - Stuart Graham on Gormless George Galloway
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Terry Kelly Facts Part One
1. Terry Kelly is Chuck Norris' afterbirth.
2. As a newborn baby, Kelly was abandoned by his parents and raised by farmyard animals. This inspired George Orwell to write the book Animal Farm.
3. Terry Kelly's middle names are Sod Off.
4. Terry Kelly has an IQ of less than 12.... and dropping!
5. Terry Kelly was appointed the village idiot for Kensington and Chelsea by Ken Bates in 1987 after Kelly failed to turn up for his final interview for the position. Kelly was the village idiot until 2003, when he was sacked by Roman Abramovich, who replaced Kelly with former boxer Ivan Drago.
Conservatives say EU has lost direction
LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union has lost its way and needs to refocus its efforts towards the economy, the Conservative party will say on Wednesday.
The traditionally eurosceptic Conservatives command a significant lead over the ruling Labour party in polls, which suggest they could take power in the next election, expected in 2009, after more than a decade in opposition.
And in their most explicit statement on European policy since the revival of their political fortunes over a year ago, Conservative shadow finance minister George Osborne will say the EU has got it plain wrong.
"The European Union has not understood that it needs a complete change of direction. It hasn't understood that today the primary challenge we face is an economic one, not a political one," Osborne will say, according to an aide.
"Europe has to wake up and realise: it's the economy, stupid."
Chancellor Gordon Brown, almost certain to take over from Prime Minister Tony Blair within months, has also castigated Europe for being too inward-looking, saying the more important issue is meeting the economic challenge of countries like India and China.
The Conservatives, Osborne will say, would drive for free trade within the EU by completing the services directive; insist the EU's central external objective is to break a deadlock over world trade talks; and reform the Common Agricultural Policy.
He would also want Britain to reclaim control over issues of social legislation and work together with the EU on issues like the environment.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Tim Roll-Pickering On Thatcher & Thatcherism
It is very rare that someone can make a credible case against Thatcherism, but fellow Conservative Tim Roll-Pickering does so on his blog. Thatcherism wasn't perfect and there were many things that the Iron Lady did get wrong, but this is to be expected of any government good or bad, especially one led by such a formidable women for eleven-and-a-half years. Many of the problems that the Blessed Margaret had to deal are longer as a great an issue as they once were. One has to remember that the Blessed Margaret was leading a counter-revolution against entrenched, corrupt and cancerous interests within her own party, government and the nation as a whole that required her to sometimes set aside certain aspects of libertarian idealism to achieve a better future. Fortunately for all of you she was successful in her efforts to rebuild Britain, putting both the Conservatives and the nation in a stronger position to fully realise the noble and practical ideals of libertarian Conservatism.
Quote of the Day 27.2.2007
"i don't like him. he is a nasty man." - the user "so tired" about Gormless George Galloway on the official Channel Big Brother forum
Monday, February 26, 2007
A Short Story
Here is a short piece that I wrote yesterday. I hope you all enjoy it!
Here Without You: The Electric Dreams of C4'
By C4'
“Monster, wake up! Can you hear? MONSTER?!?” said a woman’s voice. Eventually, an old man’s eyes opened. When they did, he was startled. “Bob? Bob, is that you? What are you doing here?” A moment later, the old man realised that he was no longer at home. He had somehow woken up in the debating chamber of the House of Commons, sitting in front of the government ministers’ despatch box and dressed in his favourite all-black three-piece suit. “How did we get here?” the old man firmly asked the women. “Happy Birthday Monster!” the woman said, ignoring the old man’s question. “That doesn’t answer my question!” the old man replied, refusing to be sidetracked. “Does it really matter?” said another man’s voice. “What matters is that you get only one birthday a year and at your age, each one maybe your last!” the man continued.
“Charlie?” asked the old man. “Happy Birthday C4’! Many happy returns!!!” answered Charlie. “There are some more guests that want to pay their respects.” He continued. “Guests?” said C4’. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” shouted a small crowd of friends at C4’. When C4’ saw them, his eyes were filled with tears of joy.
“Andy, how are you doing?” C4’ asked the first man he met from the crowd. “I’m very well thank you” Andy replied. “I see you’re looking as smart as always!” he continued. “Why thank you, and where is Oliver?” said C4’. “Here I am!” answered Oliver with his thick Welsh accent. “Ole!” exclaimed C4’. “I hope you’ve cut down on the joy juice?” he enquired teasingly. “Yes I have, I’m now down to fourteen bottles of gin a day.” Oliver quipped back with a jolly sincerity. “Only fourteen? That’s practically being sober for you!” joked C4’. “Yes it is, its something of a shock to my body and mind.” responded Oliver. “I have something for you C4’.” he went on to say before producing a dirty beer glass. “I got this at the time of the party conference in Bournemouth. David Cameron had a little tipple from it and I would like you to have from me as I still have the one from IDS when we went on the march.” Oliver said. “Thank you Oliver!” responded C4’ before he moved on to talk to another acquaintance. “Remember me C4’?” said a second woman. “Of course I do Joanne!” replied C4’.
“How’s your poor body?” Joanne asked. “My left elbow is rather sore!” answered C4’. “I didn’t expect to see you again. How’s your little girl?” he continued. “She’s fine, she’s wonderful. Here, have this!” said Joanne as she handed C4’ a red and white bikers’ bandana. “Happy birthday!” she proclaimed to him. C4’ was delighted with Joanne’s present. “Thank you Joanne, I’ve always wanted one of these.” Said an enthusiastic C4’ as wrapped the bandana around his forehead. “I look like the Undertaker now!” he added. “I’m glad you like it.” said Joanne as another man shouted to C4’. “Tom!” shouted C4’, “How are things?” “Fine; happy birthday.” responded Tom as C4’ continued to circulate through this small crowd of his friends.
Eventually, C4’ made a short address to his associates from the speaker’s chair. “Order, order!” he began jokingly, causing his audience to laugh. “I’d like to thank all of you for being here today. I really am very touched. Being here in this august chamber with all of you is the best birthday present I have ever had. I have really enjoyed myself and I hope you all have as well. Again, thank you all very much.” The group all applauded C4’ when he had finished his brief speech. Some in the crowd then started chants of “C-4’! C-4! C-4!”, which C4’ himself clearly relished because it made him feel alive and full of confidence and energy. The chanting gave C4’ a sense of purpose and mission; that he was put on this earth by God to achieve a great and historic goal that would make the world a better to live in when he finally does pass away than it was when he entered it.
Suddenly, C4’s ego trip was brought to a halt by a familiar and unwelcome figure at the entrance to the Commons chamber. “Excuse me, but what are you doing? None of you are supposed to be here!” said Tony Blair. Before Blair could continue to speak, everyone in the chamber could hear a strange noise. This sound grew louder with each passing second until a blue police box appeared in the chamber from nowhere – it was the TARDIS itself! Shortly after the noise from the engine of the TARDIS had finished, the doors of the world’s most famous blue police box opened and a rather large puppy dog sprinted out of it and savagely attacked Blair with its teeth. Both C4’ and Joanne recognised the animal, it was actor Billie Piper’s dog Bear. Blair’s screams of pain and agony were like music to C4’s ears as Bear continued to tear the Prime Minister to sheds. When Blair’s torment was brought to an end by his death, Bear reverted into a seemingly harmless, friendly and adorable puppy. “Come here Bear!” C4’ told the dog, who rushed over to the old man. “There’s a god dog!” said C4’ to Bear as he got down on his left knee to pat and stroke the killer puppy. As C4’ played with Bear, the old man heard another loud noise. It was the sound of an alarm!
“Ah no!” said an annoyed and disappointed C4’ to himself. “This is all a bloody dream!” he finished before he woke up!
Major achievements amid Major disasters
There are two schools of thought on the legacy of former Prime Minister Sir John Major. The more prominent and popular of these considers him a weak leader who presided over a party, government and country in meltdown plagued by divisions and outrageous sleaze. The latter of these problems was further accentuated by Edwina Currie’s revelations that she had had a four-year extramarital relationship with Major during the mid-to-late 1980s; revelations subsequently confirmed by Major himself.
The second, smaller and almost unnoticed school of thought (the one that I belong to) has a more favourable view of the man. This group does not deny that the second Major government of 1992 to 1997 suffered from some major disasters (no pun intended), many of which were self-inflicted by the Conservatives. Yet it also recognises that in spite of its continuous troubles, this much-maligned administration accomplished a phenomenally series of improvements that have not only still gone unacknowledged by wider opinion, but bequeathed an extremely enviable inheritance to New Labour. This legacy is so great that its effects have prevented an economic downturn despite Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s corporatist methodology and meddling. In addition, despite the continuous supply of sleaze stories about his second government, that Major administration was still remarkably well-behaved in comparison to New Labour’s shower of hypocritical “me too” gravy-boat passengers and Westminster village idiots who are living off of the backs of all the decent, hardworking and honest taxpayers that pay their wages.
In hindsight, the issue of scandal caused by members of the second Major government was primarily confined to public positions on the outer rim of high office (the most senior government minister found at fault was Treasury Chief Secretary Jonathan Aitkin); the same cannot be said of Tony and his cronies. Whether it be Blair himself at the centre of storms over illicit donations and loans, deliberate public deceptions and a pathological aversion to the nation’s history and traditional civil liberties, John Prescott’s private and public misdeeds or Peter Mandelson’s activities, New Labour is rotten to the core, with the scale of this corruption putting even Richard Nixon to shame.
Also in hindsight, economic troubles between 1990 to 1993 such as Black Wednesday proved to be rather minor blips as the British economy improved tremendously for almost five consecutive years from 1992 through to the end of Major’s mandate in 1997. The u-turns that the government was compelled to perform were no different from those that almost all administrations both competent (such as those of Thatcher) and incompetent (like New Labour) have made over unpopular policies.
If one ignores the negative attitudes that surround the Major years and instead just focuses on the promises Major had made and what he accomplished such as low inflation, greater accountability of public figures and private and public institutions not to mention fewer unnecessary and stifling regulations that harmed wealth creation, then you will come to a different conclusion. The record of Major’s second government is one of the very finest in British political history, building on the already solid foundations of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership. In good political times, this record in office would be a remarkable achievement, yet when one considers the troubles that Major faced during this period and the lingering aftermath of Margaret Thatcher’s fall from power and the legacy of her political dominance, it was little short of a divine miracle. Major inherited an almost impossible situation, yet he managed to win a general election that nearly everyone thought he was going to lose and got the country back into economic shape despite the myriad of problems that plagued him almost non-stop, spending eight years of his political career cleaning up the economic mess made by Thatcher’s renegade Chancellor Nigel Lawson.
If Major is not the paragon of integrity that he had portrayed himself to be before Currie’s made her revelations public, then he more than paid his penance as Prime Minister, doing so with determination, good grace, hard work and talent. We all have much to thank him for and as such, his record and reputation deserve rehabilitation.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
K.o.K preparing for government
A new website aimed at increasing public engagement with select committees is launched today.
Run by ePolitix.com and the monthly Parliamentary Monitor magazine , Selectcommittees.co.uk uses video technology to let committee chairmen speak to users.
The site will also encourage electronic submissions for committee inquiries, and is also intended to let committee members consult the public.
The Commons defence, education, health, international development and Treasury committees have taken part so far.
The site, which is intended to complement rather than replace the official parliamentary committee sites, is launched in the Commons on Tuesday.The Conservatives would open up a double-figure lead over Labour if Gordon Brown succeeds Tony Blair as prime minister, according to a new poll.
The ICM survey for the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday puts the Tories on 40 per cent - three points up on last month and nine points ahead of Labour who are unchanged on 31 per cent.
The Liberal Democrats are down four on 19 per cent.
However, if as expected, the chancellor takes over at Number 10 when Blair steps down later this year, support for Labour would drop to 29 per cent while the Conservatives would rise to 42 per cent, giving them a 13 point lead.
If converted into seats at the general election it would give the Conservatives a working parliamentary majority.
The findings are a blow to Brown and may revive talk of a heavyweight leadership challenge when Blair goes.
In contrast Conservative leader David Cameron will be heartened to see that allegations of past illicit drug taking has so far failed to damage him in the polls.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Quotes of the Day 16.2.2007
"The real question for the "diversity" and PC brigade to ask is why neither the Labour Party (lets not count Margaret Beckett who was only an acting leader) or the Libs have never been led by a woman or a Jew?" - Istanbul Tory
"For Martin Jacques, the principle of multiculturalism remains a sacred one as it “recognises the importance of pluralism” and “The attack on multiculturalism is (of course) the thin end of the racism wedge”. Martin Jacques is a prime specimen of moral idiocy, an appeaser of religious fascism. The worst of it is that his ilk believe they are fighting the good fight. They associate anti-Westernism, no matter what form it takes, with concern for the underdog and with being a compassionate lefty. It's self-hatred, but it's not hard to see why it's so appealing: it's easier to criticise your own free Western society than to take aim at countries like Sudan, Iran or China. Wouldn't want to be called a racist, would we?It's about time that the vacuous drivel chanted by leftist appeasers was attacked head on." - Istanbul Tory
Britain could become 'decivilised'
Britain is in danger of becoming "decivilised", with adults no longer able to exert discipline over the young, according to a senior Tory frontbencher.
Shadow trade and industry secretary Alan Duncan will say that the country is facing a "collapse of authority" as teenagers lose their fear of adult institutions.
In a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, he will say some young people are living out the story of William Golding's Lord of the Flies in which a group of children descended into barbarism after being stranded on a desert island.
His comments come amid national alarm over the shooting dead of three teenagers in south London within the space of a fortnight. "The greatest problem we need to address in Britain is that it is steadily becoming decivilised," Mr Duncan will say.
"We need to empower teachers so that they can exert the control that too many parents are unwilling or unable to exert. The collapse of authority cannot remain undiscussed. If there is no fear of authority, there is no respect for it.
"It cannot make sense in a civilised society for children of school age to face the discipline they need in court rather than in class or in the home. Even though most of the problems at any school are family-based, we are condemned to decline if adults and institutions remain unable to reclaim authority over younger people.
"Living out in real life the disturbing plot of William Golding's Lord of the Flies risks corroding Britain's well-being."
Mr Duncan will say that the country must have the "gumption" to confront the decline of the education system which has been eroded by apathy and a lack of desire for achievement.
"Behind educational degradation lies a contempt for some people doing much better than others. Olympic sportsmen are part of an elite. If education is not about excellence, then it's not about anything," he will say.
"There can be no success without the risk of failure. Our culture of achievement in education has become corrupted."
Thursday, February 15, 2007
I Am NOT Nostradamus!
So I was wrong about the date of the royal engagement! When you're right 58% of the time, you're wrong 42% of the time.
Quote of the Day 15.2.2007
"Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious" - Peter Ustinov
I could not have put it any better myself!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Bus bombed in Iran killing at least 11
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A booby-trapped car blew up a bus owned by the Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people, in a border city in southeastern Iran where security forces and drug smugglers often clash, state media reported.
The semi-official Fars News Agency said Jundollah (God's soldiers), a shadowy Sunni Muslim group Iran has linked to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility. The group has been blamed for past kidnappings and killings in the area.
Clerics were quick to urge Iranians, who are overwhelmingly Shi'ites, not to blame Sunnis for the incident. Iran is wary of anything that might spark sectarian tension in a country where Sunnis make up about 9 percent of the 70 million population.
Provincial governor Hassan Ali Nouri told the official IRNA news agency 11 staff members of the Guards were killed and 31 were injured in the blast in Zahedan city in Sistan-Baluchistan province, which is on the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The governor said one of those behind the blast was killed in the incident, suggesting a total toll of 12, but he did not spell this out. IRNA earlier said 18 people were killed, while state TV and radio said 11 were killed.
The bomb was hidden in a car and exploded at about 6.30 a.m. (3 a.m. British Time) as the bus, belonging to a unit that transports employees of the Guards, passed by, IRNA said. Pictures showed the blast left a mangled bus wreckage on the side of the road.
"Five people have been arrested," an official in the governor's office of Zahedan told Reuters.
Fars news agency said four people were in the car which seemed to have broken down on the road. When the bus approached, the four fled on motorbikes and the car exploded.
"A group called Jundollah, under the leadership of Abdolmalek Rigi, the eastern rebels in the country, ... took responsibility for this terrorist act," Fars reported.
"ALL MOURN AND WORRY"
Iran has said Jundollah was behind the murder of 12 people in a roadside attack in May, and other incidents. Officials previously said Rigi was a cell leader of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in Iran.
IRNA quoted an unnamed official saying evidence suggested the group had support from Iran's arch-foe, the United States. Iran often blames Washington for stoking tensions.
"People should face this crime with patience, awareness and realism just like other events and separate the issue of a few rebels from Sunnis -- though they were Sunnis -- because our Sunni brothers are innocent of these crimes," said Abbasali Soleimani, who represents Iran's supreme leader in the area.
Soleimani, who was quoted by IRNA, said "enemies" had crossed into Iran to carry out the attack. Iraq, on Iran's western border, is riven by Sunni-Shi'ite tensions.
Sunni regions in Iran, like Sistan-Baluchistan, say they suffer discrimination in the Islamic Republic.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in response to fighting in Iraq, has also warned Iranians about what he says are U.S. efforts to divide the two Muslim sects.
The area around Zahedan resembles a war zone, dotted with forts, trenches and machinegun posts. More than 3,300 Iranian security personnel have died in the region fighting drug traffickers since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
An Engagement Announcement
Conservative Mind would like to announce the engagement of "Fuzzy" Helen Watters (aka Stalin in Drag) to fellow Jew-hating looney leftie, the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I hope that readers of this blog will join me in condemnation of this gruesome twosome and hope that they both die and burn in hell in the near future.
Falconer attacks "bonkers" police decisions
LONDON (Reuters) - The Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer defended the Human Rights Act on Wednesday, saying it was not to blame for some "bonkers" decisions by police forces such as not publishing photos of escaped prisoners.
He told BBC radio the 1998 act -- which the Conservatives have pledged to repeal -- did not hamper Britain's efforts to combat terrorism.
He is expected to say in a speech later on Wednesday that in fact human rights and the rule of law are the most effective weapons against terror.
Derbyshire police were criticised last month for not issuing photos of two escaped prisoners, both convicted killers, because it would infringe their human rights.
The Lord Chancellor said the act did not stop such pictures being published.
"Don't seek resort in the Human Rights Act if it is obviously a bonkers decision," he said. "You can't blame the Human Rights Act when it didn't prevent it."
Lord Falconer said the European Convention on Human Rights, now embodied in UK law through the act, upheld long-standing British freedoms.
He denied claims by Abu Bakr, a Birmingham man released without charge last week after being arrested in an anti-terrorism raid, that Britain was "a police state for Muslims."
"It is not," said Falconer, "We are a free country, our freedoms are embodied in that convention.
"That convention wrote down the freedoms we had before and we can point to that and make it clear. And it's incredibly important that we can.
"We shouldn't be ashamed of it, we shouldn't be embarrassed by it -- it doesn't prevent us fighting terrorism."
He said the government had been prepared to restrict people's freedoms where it was in the wider interest, such as extending the period of time that terrorism suspects can be held without charge.
The Conservatives say the government's attempts to tackle crime and terrorism have been undermined by the act.
"Some public bodies are now so frightened of being sued under the Human Rights Act that they try to protect themselves by making decisions that are often absurd and occasionally dangerous," Conservative leader David Cameron said in a speech last year.
Falconer is a bloody liar!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
N.Korea agrees on disarmament steps
BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea agreed to take steps towards nuclear disarmament under a groundbreaking deal struck on Tuesday that will bring the impoverished communist state more than $300 million (154 million pounds) worth of aid.
Under the agreement, which was reached by six countries in Beijing after nearly a week of talks, Pyongyang will freeze the reactor at the heart of its nuclear programme and allow international inspections of the site.
"This progress marks another firm and important step towards the denuclearisation of the peninsula," China's chief delegate, Wu Dawei, told the closing session of the talks, which was carried live on television from the heavily guarded Diaoyutai state guesthouse.
"It is favourable for the peace process in northeast Asia and for the improvement of ties between relevant countries," he said, after which delegates rose hesitatingly to their feet in restrained applause.
The proposed plan hammered out by the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia, and China will only be the first step in locating and dismantling North Korea's nuclear arms activities, leaving many crucial questions to future negotiations.
"This is only one phase of denuclearisation. We're not done," chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said.
As details of the draft leaked out earlier, Japan was already voicing doubt that any agreement could be made to stick, and a prominent U.S. conservative decried it as a "very bad deal".
John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Communist state should not be rewarded with "massive shipments of heavy fuel oil" for only partially dismantling its nuclear programme.
"It sends exactly the wrong signal to would-be proliferators around the world," he told CNN.
OIL, POWER MAY FOLLOW
Under the agreement, North Korea must take the steps within 60 days, and in return it will receive 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil or economic aid of equal value.
It will receive another 950,000 tonnes of fuel oil or equivalent when it takes further steps to disable its nuclear capabilities, including providing a complete inventory of its plutonium -- the fuel used in Pyongyang's first nuclear test blast in October.
The 1 million tonnes of fuel would be worth around $300 million at current prices for heavy fuel oil, which is used in power stations, shipping and elsewhere.
The steps for now do not involve the provision of 2,000 megawatts of electricity that South Korea pledged in a September 2005 deal reached by the six countries. That is reserved for after the completion of denuclearisation of North Korea.
The electricity, at an estimated cost of $8.55 billion over 10 years, would be about equal to North Korea's current output.
The Beijing talks had focussed on how to begin implementing a September 2005 accord that offered Pyongyang aid and security assurances in return for dismantling its weapons capabilities.
The United States would contribute to the infusion of oil and aid for North Korea, meaning that President George W. Bush must win Congressional approval for the deal, the New York Times reported.
North Korea stepped down the path to nuclear disarmament before, in a 1994 agreement with the Clinton administration that also promised aid.
But that Joint Framework agreement fell apart amid accusations of bad faith between Pyongyang and Washington, and the agreement collapsed in late 2002 after Washington accused North Korea of seeking to produce weapons-grade uranium.
A gulf of distrust divides the isolated North from others in the talks, especially the United States. Diplomats have stressed that even this new initial disarmament action could founder.
"This is a first step," Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a telephone call, Kyodo reported. "Whether it actually goes ahead remains to be seen. We do not know whether it will go ahead just because it has been signed."
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Nick Macfie, Lindsay Beck, Ian Ransom and Teruaki Ueno in Beijing)
Monday, February 12, 2007
R.I.P. Ian William Richardson CBE, 1934 - 2007
Although I am late with this, I would also like to mourn the passing away of one of the greatest British actors all of time, Ian "Francis Urquhart" Richardson. While Mr. Richardson is best remember for his portrayal of the Urquhart character in the House of Cards trilogy, he was also marvellous in The Fourth Protocol and many other fine productions.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Quote of the Day 8.2.2007
"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt" - Bertrand Russell
Bob Piper's Psychological Flaws Exposed!
"I hate the snow. I hate the cold. I've always hated it, even as a child. Cold, wet, and bloody horrible, that's snow. Why anyone in their right mind goes to mountain slopes full of snow for a 'holiday' I have never been able to fathom. But a covering of anything up to a foot of the bloody stuff overnight meant that instead of going to school the kids around here seemed to enjoy rolling around in it all day. Roll on the summer I say."
Rowdy Bobby is a typical socialist killjoy!
Looney Leftie Bans Mother's Day In School
A school headteacher is under fire for banning pupils from making Mother's Day cards to avoid upsetting children without a mother.
Helen Starkey, 46, fears the time-honoured tradition of making a Mother's Day card at school could be seen as insensitive. As a result, the headteacher of Johnstown Primary School, in Carmarthen, west Wales, simply banned pupils from making cards.
But the move was branded as "ridiculous" by one angry parent who has accused her of being insensitive to the majority of youngsters at the 357-pupil school.
Mrs Starkey claims she has nothing against Mother's Day, which falls on March 18 this year, but would not allow pupils to make cards during lessons.
"More than 5% of children here are separated from their birth mother and have either no contact or no regular contact with their mother," she said in a statement.
"These include children who are bereaved, children whose parents are separated and are not domiciled with their mothers, and children who have been removed from parental care by statutory bodies. In all of our dealings with these children, we have to exercise great sensitivity."
She added: "This decision was not taken because of any philosophical attitude towards the celebration of Mothering Sunday, but to protect a significant number of children in our school."
But the decision has come in for strong criticism.
One parent, who did not wish to be named, said: "It means 95% of the children have not got an opportunity to make a card. I take issue with the fact that Mothering Sunday is a Christian festival and Mrs Starkey is not allowing children to celebrate in the way they know how."
She added: "This is ridiculous, they will have to ban Father's Day as well, just to be politically correct. Where is this going to end?"
When the Conservatives are returned to government by the British people!
Downing Street Lies About The Existence Of A Police State In Britain
Downing Street has dismissed as a "gross caricature" claims that Britain was now a police state as far as Muslims were concerned.
Abu Bakr, one of nine men arrested under anti-terror laws and then released by West Midlands Police, said he was "taken aback" when he learned of an alleged plot to behead a Muslim soldier.
"It's a police state for Muslims, it's not a police state for everyone else, because these terror laws are designed specifically for Muslims," he told BBC2's Newsnight.
"That's quite an open fact because the people who have been arrested under terrorism laws, the groups for example that have been banned under the terrorism laws, the people that have been affected by terrorism legislation, have been Muslims.
"So we are feeling the brunt of it all. We are the ones that are being locked up, detained, and then told go back to our lives."
But the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "In a police state a court would not have been able to release someone who was being questioned by the police.
"In a police state that person would not have been able to go on national radio and be interviewed."
The spokesman added that the police had an "absolute duty and responsibility" to act if they received information which they believed would enable them to protect the public from a threat.
Mr Bakr was among eight suspects picked up in a series of dawn raids in Birmingham on Wednesday last week. A ninth was stopped on a motorway in the city several hours later.
He and another were released without charge from Coventry's Chace Avenue police station. In a statement, the men said there had been no mention to them by police of a plot to kidnap or behead any soldier.
Ex-suspect slams anti-terror laws
One of the nine men arrested under anti-terror laws has described Britain as a "police state" for Muslims.
Abu Bakr, one of two suspects released by West Midlands Police, said he was "taken aback" when he learned of the alleged plot to behead a Muslim soldier.
"It's a police state for Muslims, it's not a police state for everyone else, because these terror laws are designed specifically for Muslims," he told the BBC.
"That's quite an open fact because the people who have been arrested under terrorism laws, the groups for example that have been banned under the terrorism laws, the people that have been affected by terrorism legislation, have been Muslims.
"So we are feeling the brunt of it all. We are the ones that are being locked up, detained, and then told go back to our lives."
In an interview on BBC2's Newsnight, Mr Bakr said the episode would live with him for the rest of his life.
"I'm scared for myself and my family, because I've been picked up and told to go back home and everyone is assuming someone can pick up their life after such a major incident that occurs," he said. "And, you know, this is going to affect me for the rest of my life."
Mr Bakr was among eight suspects picked up in a series of dawn raids in Birmingham last Wednesday. A ninth was stopped on a motorway in the city several hours later.
He and another were released without charge from Coventry's Chace Avenue police station. In a statement, the men said there had been no mention to them by police of a plot to kidnap or behead any soldier.
Detectives were granted a further 72 hours to question the seven other suspects.
Although I agree with Mr Bakr that Adolf Blair and his cronies are turning Britain into a police state, I strongly disagree that Blair's "anti-terror laws" are targeted exclusively against Muslims!
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Quote of the Day 7.2.2007
"For sale: Full set of encyclopaedias. No longer required as wife knows everything." - teocali on the Retro Gamer forum
C4' In An Alternative Universe
In an alternative universe, Communist Mind would be supporting Comrade Dr. John Reid in the forthcoming Labour leadership battle with Gordon Brown. The Lord Gord would be too right wing on the economy and too soft on crime for the people's tastes, where as Comrade Dr. Reid would build gulags to deal with enemies of the people and overthrow the capitalist system. Comrade Dr. Reid would make mincemeat out of Prime Minister David Davis at Prime Minister's Question Time and the next/final General Election in three years time.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Quote of the Day 6.2.2007
"I actually don't find the word "Cameron" to be excessively offensive." - an anonymous poster on Iain Dale's Diary about a certain offensive "C" word that the blogger Shutgun likes to use
Monday, February 05, 2007
K.o.K to meet mosque leaders
David Cameron is due to speak to leaders of Birmingham Central Mosque in the wake of a string of terror arrests in the city.
The Tory leader's visit follows the outspoken comments last week of Mosque chairman Mohammad Naseem, who likened the plight of Muslims in Britain to that of Jews in Nazi Germany.
Dr Naseem said the UK was becoming a police state and accused the Government of "picking on" the Muslim community to pursue a political goal.
He said the nine terror arrests in the city last week were an example of the Government justifying its political agenda and anti-terror laws.
"This is a persecuting course of action that the Government has taken. They have invented this perception of a threat," he told reporters.
"To justify that, they have to maintain incidents to prove something is going on. There is dismay and people feel they are being persecuted unjustly."
Mr Cameron's visit, his second to Birmingham in eight days, also follows his first major intervention on Islamic extremism.
He urged ministers last week to pay less attention to "loud" Muslim groups who often did not represent the views of their communities.
Mr Cameron said many such groups pursued an agenda of "separation rather than integration", and the Government could not afford to "defer" to their views.
As his National and International Security policy think-tank published an interim report, Mr Cameron said the "sea" of support in which terrorists swam had to be drained.
The Name Game
I am surprised (and even disappointed) that the UK Independence Party has decided to change its name to the Independence Party in order to appeal to Conservatives disillusioned with the K.o.K! If the party really wants to appeal to these Tories, perhaps they should have called themselves the Libertarians.
Interview with The Idol
Those of you who read Paul Burgin's Labour blog Mars Hall may have read or may want to read his latest Twenty Questions to a Fellow Blogger interview with yours truly!
Speaking of interviews, I plan to meet the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Wales Peter Hain on the 3rd of next month at one of his constituency surgeries. If any of you want me to pass on any questions or statements to Hain, then please let me know in the comments section of this post.
This is one of the reasons why I like Archbishop Dr. Sentamu
The Archbishop of York has warned that Britain was in danger of "coming close to a police state" in the wake of the arrest of suspected terrorists in Birmingham.
Dr John Sentamu, who fled Uganda in the 1970s, criticised 90-day detention, likening it with his home country under the tyrannical rule of Idi Amin.
"If you detain people, you must have good enough reason for detaining them and have a chance for there being a successful prosecution," he said.
He continued: "The Home Secretary has not produced the evidence that shows that in 90 days you're capable of getting somebody prosecuted.
"Why does he want these days, so the police do what? Gather more evidence? To me that becomes, if you're not very careful, very close to a police state in which they pick you up and then they say later on we'll find evidence against you. That's what happened in Uganda with Idi Amin."
He spoke out in an interview with ITV News as West Midlands Police continued to question nine people arrested in Birmingham over an alleged plot to kidnap and murder a Muslim soldier.
The Archbishop also urged people coming to live in the UK to adopt and "cherish" British values.
The second most senior cleric in the Church of England said: "If you are in Britain and you're British, you should really cherish the traditions that are here.
"In a (democratic) country like this to then say: I am going to kidnap somebody, I'm going to kill somebody, I will blow people up - for whatever ideology that is about - it isn't good citizenship.
"If you don't actually subscribe to the things that make Britain, you're going to be in trouble."
I have always liked Archbishop Dr. Sentamu and this tirade of his against that corrupt fascist pig Blair increases my admiration for the holy man!
School Timetable Shake-Up Plan
Mandarin and Arabic would be taught alongside Shakespeare and slavery, under proposed changes to the school curriculum in England and Wales. Recommendations include making learning for 11 to 14 year-olds more relevant to everyday life. Lessons in climate change and healthy cooking could be offered to make teenagers more aware of hazards facing the planet and their own health.
And studies about the British slave trade and the reform movement that ended it could raise awareness of the need for integration.
"We have to show students the link between the subjects so that learning makes better sense to them," Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) director Mick Waters told The Times.
"If we can make them see the relevance of what they learn in school to life outside school, they may want to stay on in education."
Other suggestions to be made by the QCA in a report on Key Stage 3 learning include longer lessons in subjects that require intensive focus.
An entire week could be spent studying a single subject, for example.
Other disciplines, such as times-tables or languages, could be better taught by frequent shorter lessons, the report is expected to say.
Teaching unions are warning any new curriculum must match the skills of the teachers available.
Although the K.o.K and his followers have criticised the plan, I broadly welcome it. Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world and its prominence will continue to grow with the rapid growth of China's economic, military and political power and our chances of improving the situation in the Middle East would be aided by our future citizens being able to communicate with most of the people from that region in their own tongue.
Quote of the Day 5.2.2007
"The Labour Party can collectively disappear up Lord Levy's arsehole for all most people care." - Istanbul Tory
Friday, February 02, 2007
Quote of the Day 2.2.2007
"This unfortunate country is moving towards a police state - the laws being passed are wrong and against the traditions of this country” - Dr Naseem, chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque
I Am A Master Debater!
Although I was dead tired last night, I soon woke up after a good-natured debate with my local vicar on topics such as the Catholic Church, abortion, devolution, the political spectrum and Iraq. Needless to say, I managed to run him ragged (but that was hardly unexpected considering I have had the messure of both George Galloway and Jo Salmon). Before he went home to the vicarage, he did tell me that I should consider standing for election to the local council during the summer.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Quote of the Day 1.2.2007
"Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired." - Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film Commando [1985]
It has been a long day for yours truly.... and it is not over yet!
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