A TANGLED WEB

ATW FRIDAY JUKEBOX...!

This is a more sombre song from me to end the week on - but hey, it's one that I find moving and I aint no DJ. Anyone who has encountered the world of Alzheimer's will find this pop song has a surprisingly dark sub-text. This is an acoustic version, not the glossy pop hit version, but listen to it all - it is worth it. I look upon it as a lament.

The Nine who Rule!!

SIX Iraqis at the centre of the controversy over the Government’s anti-terror laws are supporters of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and were allegedly sent to Britain to carry out terror attacks, according to Whitehall sources. They were issued with Control Orders, but the Orders were struck down by a High Court judge, declaring the orders incompatible with their human rights.
Government’s attempts to set up Control Orders or Deportation are ‘thrown out’ by the Law Lords
In a judgement the following decisions were made,

I would accordingly allow the appeals, set aside the orders made by SIAC and the Court of Appeal, and remit all the cases to SIAC for reconsideration in the light of the opinions of the House.

LORD NICHOLLS OF BIRKENHEAD .

For these reasons, and those stated by my noble and learned friends, I would allow these appeals.

LORD HOFFMANN

"The majority of the Court acknowledge that, in the light of the information available, there 'may have been reasons for doubting at the time' that the applicants would receive a fair trial in Uzbekistan"

Lord Falconer also announced a campaign to ensure the public understood the benefits of the controversial Act and to “debunk” the many myths that have grown up around it.

Where did all this crap come from? It came originally from the hand of a dead man, John Smith, the former leader of the labour Party during a lecture to a pressure group named Charter 88; was revived by Tony Blair and Lord Falconer during Blair’s grab for power after John Brown died, and it remained as one of the planks of Labour’s rise to power! Unfortunately, The Law Lords have claimed this legislation for themselves, and we are stuck with the outcomes! Are there no competent judicial draftsmen capable of writing laws which are Judge-proof? Are we to remain in thrall to a set of men who are intent on re-writing all of our Common Law Statutes to mirror their own twisted sense of virtue!

What say you, my friends?

BYE BYE APOSTATE!

So, part time Druid and full time Head of the Anglican Church Rowan Williams, is travelling to a special service in Northern Ireland to give thanks for the career of outgoing Primate of the Church of Ireland, Archbishop Robin Eames. Dr Williams will take part in a 'Thanksgiving Service' for the 20-year Primacy of Dr Eames, on the evening of November 16 in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh.

Can I just say that I think Archbishop Eames has been a moral disgrace? There will be a chapter in my forthcoming book on the role he and his ilk have played in advancing the prospect of terrorism in Government. His maligant endorsal of the Belfast Agreement including the "painful" clause that unrepentent killers could walk free from justice showed him up as a wolf in sheeps clothing. Eames has long since abandoned any conformance to the 39 Articles of Faith at the heart of Anglicanism. He's an apostate - and quite frankly he will not be used. Naturally all the uberliberals in Anglicans and those in Government will miss their useful fool. I won't. Good riddance.

OUTLAWING OLD AGE..?

The more Government gets involved in Employment legislation the worse things will get.

Take the farcical "Age discrimination" law that come into force this Sunday. I am against these on principle that an employer SHOULD have the right to employ whoever/whatever he/she wants. All good employers will select the BEST person for the job - based on clear criteria such as aptitude, experience, reliability, etc. Whether the best person is 21 or 61 will all depend on the nature of the job. But our all-knowing political class are now introducing law that will ensure that age cannot be discussed at time of interview, or even when in place of work. No more "Happy  Birthday" cards - since that alone could represent legal challenge if the employee chose to take offence.

I think that this is social engineering, wrapped up in the usual empty rhetoric of "equality" and "anti-discrimination"! Surely AGE should be an issue? I do not think anyone should be discriminated against purely because of their age, or sex, but I do not think that Government is going to solve the matter with draconian legislation. 

I was amused to read that on the same day as the age legislation comes in, the minimum wage for people over 21 will rise by 35p to £5.35 an hour.  The rate for workers aged 18-21 will rise by 20p to £4.45 an hour, while workers aged 16 to 17 will get a 30p rise to £3.30 an hour.

"The government's own minimum wage law discriminates against people on the grounds of age," Olly Scott, British Chamber Commerce spokesman told BBC News.

Shouldn't the Government be taken to court?

QUESTION TIME WATCH...

Did UK readers watch last evening's BBC political flagship programme "Question Time?" It was a shocker, even by BBC standards of institutional left wing bias. Just consider the panellists.

Representing the government we had Jack Straw, the former Foreign Secretary and a Dhimmi to the core. Representing suicide-bombers, we had Baroness Tongue - the former Lib-Dem MP sacked because of her outrageous comments concerning her "understanding" for Palestinian self-detonators but then elevated to the House of Lords. Representing Tony Blair, we had his former "special adviser" Lance Price. Representing unctuous nauseating left-wingism we had sacked Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan - sacked from his job for printing lies about the UK military in Iraq, and representing the Euro-fanatical anti-Bush wing of the Conservative Party we had failed leadership candidate Ken Clarke.

What a crock!

The question on Iraq turned into one of the most shameful public examples of cringing dhimmitude I have ever seen. Each panelist fell over themselves to condemn Blair for supporting the US decision to L-I-B-E-R-A-T-E Iraq. In fact they also condemned the decision to take out the Taliban in Afghanistan. They all swooned at the high moral leadership offered by the UN and Hans Blix (!!!) and the audience shouted on in support of these gutless dhimmis. They even argued that things were better under Saddam. Bring back the genocidal tyrant!

It made me sick. There was no balance here. There was no attempt to provide a voice on the panel, or even in audience for those of us who UNAPOLOGETICALLY support the war on Islamofascists and wish it could be intensified. Yet set pieces like this, broadcast by the BBC, are all aimed at conveying the impression that Britain's political elite in in 2006 is as ignorant and cowardly as most of them were in 1936. They close their eyes to the terror facing and mouth their liberal [platitudes. A grotesque parody of political "debate",

BOXED IN?

I was reading this very interesting article by Michael Medved concerning the fact that the average US household contains more televisions than people.  (2.75 TV's vs 2.55 people) 50% of all US households possess three TV's. The average person watches 4 1/2 hours TV a day.

I bet the UK figure for TV ownership and viewing hours is not dissimilar.

Let me be the first to admit that there are three TV's in the Vance household. My wife has her portable set in the kitchen (!), there is one big TV in our Family Room, and a third smaller one in the drawing room. No TV's are allowed in bedrooms. The reason we have two Main TV's is to prevent/reduce falling out by adolescent children over who gets to see what and when!

I watch around 1 hour of TV a day - usually comedy and politics. (UK politics is comedy, of course) I don't really enjoy TV that much, I much prefer radio - and tend to listen to it when I am driving.

When my family sits down to eat - NO TV is allowed on. When kids are doing home-works, no TV is allowed on. The TV rarely stays on beyond midnight.

I rather agree with Mr Medved's conclusion that watching LESS TV is good for you. Even cutting down on the number of sets that proliferate in households is a good thing. For the environmentalists out there - 4% of all residential electric bills serve out TV sets. Cutting that back by having less TV's and TV on for less seems a good idea. However, I suspect that when a similar survey is conducted in ten years hence, we will discover that TV's per household have increases even as the typical household number has declined. I think that the very ACT of sitting watching them is probably bad for you. It encourages lazy mindedness. What do you think? - I have to go now and catch my favourite TV programme...

Comparative shopping - spiritually

I found this via Saint Mary Magdalen, Brighton, UK blog and just had to put it in here.

I think this sums up nicely a major problem for what's left of today's Christendom.

What's Arabic for "dialogue"?

Continuing the hysterical response to Pope Benedict's speech, Gaza Imam Abu Saqer shows how complicated terms like ... er ... “dialogue” get lost in translation. The Gaza imam said the only Christian-Muslim dialogue that is acceptable is one in which "all religions agree to convert to Islam."

Last week, amongst the usual rubbish about Crusaders and Islamic contributions to Civilisation, he declared the green flag of Islam would soon be flying over the Vatican. “It is our holy duty to fight all those who support the pope, who follow him and who did not condemn what this small racist had to say.” Overall the message is clear: convert or die. Reminds me of the words of Paleologus, the 14^th Century Byzantine Emperor ...

That's All Folks!

I've only just returned to ATW after the mess of domestic re-wiring and I'm off once again.  This time it's back to my fantastic, beloved, wonderful Italia.  I leave tomorrow and will be back in the UK again on Sunday 15th October.  The first week will be spend in Calabria (I was there for a short while back in May.  On the second week, I cross the Strait of Messina to Sicily staying, among other places, in Taormina (pictured below).  I haven't been to Sicily for some time so it will be a welcome experience.

Taormina has go to be one of the most picturesque resorts in Europe.  Shadowed by Mount Etna, it has been a favourite for Italians for generations.  Take care, be nice to each other and I'll be in touch upon return.

Ciao!

It sure beats the view from Blackpool Tower!

Feeney Watch - 28.09.06

Dante's Inferno had different levels of heat intensity.  Feeney's Inferno has varying levels of republican bile.  With each passing week, he descends another level.  If this piece is not yet indicative of his march to the bottom, we can only speculate with some puzzlement as to how much of Sinn Fein/IRA's 'Green Book' influences what can laughingly be described as critical analysis.

Bigoted Bri thinks mainland parties are on a hiding to nothing if they think they can reap electoral success in Northern Ireland.  He obviously has forgotten the near-breakthrough experienced by the Conservatives in North Down back in 1992 - a breakthrough tragically squandered by the Tories' dalliance with the Downing Street Declaration.  BB remains committed to the idea that two tribal blocs exist.  Catholic voters would never vote anything other than the SDLP or the 'green' National Socialists in his eyes.  So what of the 60,000 voters who stopped voting for the SDLP and haven't voted since.  Could they have been put off by the aping of the Shinners' extreme nationalism?  Those 'garden centre Prods' who haven't casted a vote since Eve took a chunk of the apple, and who are appalled by the sectarian nature of local politics, exist in their thousands.  Northern Ireland is increasingly multi-racial.  Is the Bigoted One honestly saying there is no market for mainland British parties who will - of should, in contrast to the past, contest elections on the same basis and with the same resources as all the other parties?

'The truth is that the British got out of Ireland in 1921 and hoped never to have anything to do with the place again. Dragged back into the quagmire in 1972, they have spent the last 34 years trying to find the exit again.'

No, the TRUTH is that the Irish partitioned the United Kingdom and hoped never to have anything to do with the place again (except for a destination to migrate to as their new Nirvana went economically 'tits-up').  What became Northern Ireland wanted to be treated on the same footing as every other part of the Union.  The failure of some political groupings to acknowledge an implement that fact has led to the polarised society we see today.

'Demanding that a British party organise here goes against the whole stream of British political history for the last century.'

All Northern Ireland parties are British, Bri, whether you, or they, like it or not!  The French might not be wholly enchanted with the unique problems of Corsica, but the mainstream political parties contest elections there nonetheless.  And it may interest BB to notice that the nationalism of Corsica is much less arrogant than its Paddy counterpart - probably because the French governments down the years have not pandered as much to the sentiments if separatism.

Then comes this line straight from Gerry Adams's mouth:

'The Good Friday Agreement has taken the whole process of British withdrawal onto a new plane.'

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this pearl of poison sound very much like Adams's view aired recently in America?:

'The partition of Ireland was immoral......The Good Friday Agreement is a bridge out of that.'

It is nice to be reassured that Feeney now takes his analysis explicitly from the propaganda suite at Connolly House?  He has been taking it implicitly since he fell from mediocrity to obscurity after leaving the SDLP.  Therein lies the crux at the heart of all horrible nationalists: they bleat on about Northern Ireland being 'unworkable', yet they are the ones who have a monopoly on trying to make it unworkable.  That is why they pour scorn on anything which will ameliorate - or attempt to ameliorate - the tribalism of Ulster and make it more stable.  Feeney's latest 'Haw Haw' publication should be seen in no other light.  A stable Northern Ireland is the last thing Feeney wants.  Why, it would blow his aspirations for Anschluss higher than Edward O'Brien's body was blown from the London bus he prematurely detonated his IRA bomb on ten years ago.