Showing posts with label Odd News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Odd News. Show all posts

Tuesday 2 February 2016

The Jeremy Corbyn story nobody wanted to publish - because it's boring and irrelevant

because it's staggeringly boring and irrelevant.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-jeremy-corbyn-story-that-nobody-wanted-to-publish-a6848651.html 

This is probably the most pompous article I have ever read.

It is really quite hard to express just how confused and detached from reality it is. I would almost swear it is a satire. You really have to read it for yourself. Just some highlights are below.

"Yesterday, I wrote a blog about the Jeremy Corbyn tour – known as #JC4PM – which the media had failed to cover." The title is a hashtag, but then this is charity aid tour by liberal left, media, cool people. Of course the title is a fucking hashtag

 "Journalist after journalist told me that the story was ‘not newsworthy’." An entertainment tour about Jeremy Corbyn. What could be more important? In the last few days there's only been the Iowa Caucus, the EU renegotiation, the death of Terry Wogan, various wars and the global economy to write about. Who the hell didn't prioritise #JC4PM?

 "'Not newsworthy' is obviously not a scientific term. It's purely subjective. And it's also plain wrong" Checking for irony, checking for irony, not finding any irony, losing the will to live.

 "The #JC4PM tour was drawn up in the same spirit as the rallies that were organised by local activists during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign. It was spontaneous." You mean the rallies that were nationally organised and co-ordinated as part of his Labour Leadership campaign

" There is a fantastic range of talented people who will perform or speak for Jeremy, including Charlotte Church, Michael Rosen, Brian Eno, Ken Loach, Billy Bragg, Mark Steel, Jeremy Hardy, Francesca Martinez, Mark Serwotka, Shappi Khorsandi, Arthur Smith, Patrick Monahan, Janey Godley" Charlotte Church (only in the news this decade for being gobby about austerity), Michael Rosen (who), Brian Eno (Ono and Bono's brother possibly), Ken Loach (who founded his own hard-left political party for goodness sake), Billy Bragg (left-wing campaigner for longer than I've been alive), Mark Steel (last seen being banned from voting for Labour leader for supporting the Greens), I'm seeing a pattern, Jeremy Hardy, Francesca . . . . . . Godley (No I don't know who these people are either.)

 "I can tell you that many of these names would do nothing for Labour before Jeremy Corbyn was leader." Oh, no. "However, now more celebrities are backing Jeremy Corbyn because he represents hope." Nobody cares, and yet you so obviously think they do or will or should.

"Why aren't we being told that Jeremy Corbyn has support from across entertainment and culture and that these talented people are prepared to put their reputation on the line for the Labour leader?" Hmmm, yes, I wonder why?
"The answer to these questions seems to be that many in the media don't want to report a story about how leading musicians, poets, film-makers and comedians support Jeremy Corbyn."
Genius. The media isn't reporting that Corbyn has support from third rate left-wing entertainers because they don't want to report that Corbyn has support from third rate left-wing entertainers. Unbelievably insightful, powerful analysis. Just to repeat from earlier.
"'Not newsworthy' is obviously not a scientific term. It's purely subjective. And it's also plain wrong" Razor-sharp analysis, absolutely razor-sharp.

 "They want Jeremy Corbyn to look like a loner who has little support, or only the support of people that the media have already demonized – those mysterious “loony lefties” who aren’t talented and successful celebrities." You're right, as long as I thought Corbyn was only supported by "loony lefties" I didn't agree with him. But now he's supported by "talented and successful celebrities" I'll abandon my long-held convictions about politics, national security and the economy. After all, I always vote for whoever Arthur Smith tells me to because I have no mind of my own.

"The response has taken me by surprise. I have had 7,000 hits " Cool story bro! And I've had 40,000 hits on this very blog for an article about how many Elves there are in Lord of the Rings. Maybe the Independent will give me a regular column.

 Instead of writing all that I could really have just looked at the sub-title "the dominant media narrative says that affluent, successful celebrities wouldn't support Corbyn". The patronising, pompous, delusion just seeps from every word. No, the media narrative has never mentioned what C list celebs think about Corbyn because nobody gives a toss what they think about politics and they never, ever, ever will.

You'd hope Labour would learn after losing the election was followed by the first disastrous four months of Corbyn's 'leadership'. If they have any sense at all they will run a mile from this man. Here we have the same delusion that said people voted Tory and UKIP because Labour wasn't left-wing enough, concentrated into weapons-grade stupid and converted into prose. I haven't seen this much political delusion in one place since Ed Miliband thought gaining Russel Brand's support was crucial to winning the Election. It really is mind boggling.

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Odd News 2013

05/11/2013

Such an amazing story. A man is stopped for not having an ID on a train. The cops do some research. He doesn't have a pension, a bank account, health insurance or social insurance number. He doesn't appear on any government database.

The cops search his flat, expecting to find a false bank account and maybe a few thousand euros in cash. They find over 1,400 lost priceless paintings stolen by the Nazis and thought to be destroyed by the RAF in 1944 by artists like Picasso and Matisse worth hundreds of millions of euros.

Literally worthy of a Hollywood Movie. It must have been an incredible day for the Customs agents who found all this stuff.  Again, literally the discovery of a lifetime.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24818541



25/10/2013

New Statesman writer attacks 'Operation Christmas Child'. What a miserable cow.  It's astonishing the excuses people will cook up to avoid having to do anything to help other people.  Wealthy, privileged western secularist would rather poor children go without gifts at Christmas than run the risk that people might be exposed to the story of Jesus.

It's a good thing we have secularists to protect us from this sick filth, with their brilliant insights won from information the organisation openly displays on its website and public literature. Another triumph for the print media.

http://www.newstatesman.com/2013/10/operation-christmas-child-exploiting-children-spread-prejudice


23/06/13

Andrew Lilico argues brilliant for something I've thought for a while but haven't got round to writing about. Pure meritocracy or 'equality of opportunity' would in actuality be a terrible, immoral system that no-one should want.  We all merely say we support it because we haven't thought about what we actually should be supporting.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/andrewlilico/100024795/meritocracy-is-an-appalling-idea-that-no-one-believes-in-even-though-everyone-claims-to/




26/05/2013

Daniel Hannan gives the best analysis of the right response to the Woolwich Murder.  Very much worth reading.  'Don't Glamourise these losers by treating them as international terrorists'.  The psychosis of a handful of agressive, alienated young males explains this and most terrorist atrocities, far better than any soul-searching about our security services, foreign policy or possible interpretations of Islam.  We need to consider the psychology that drives this tiny handful to violence when millions of others do not.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100218718/dont-glamourise-these-losers-by-treating-them-as-international-terrorists/





08/05/2013

I've been motivated by the continuing debate on Israel-Palestine to post this again. I still find it one of the best speeches given on the issue.  It's also the thing that permanently ended my lingering belief in Israel's moral superiority over the conflict.


Sir Gerald Kaufmann speaking at the time of the Gaza War in 2008.




02/05/2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/mozambique/10028738/Last-rhinos-in-Mozambique-killed-by-poachers.html

Last Rhinos in Mozambique killed by Poachers thanks to collusion by under-paid park Rangers.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.  












28/3/13

"OUR TITS ARE DEADLIER THAN YOUR STONES!!"

This is the best thing I've heard for a while.  More power to FEMEN, whoever the hell they are.

Powerful description of the hate and violence one woman faces in Tunisia for daring to post a picture of her own body on the internet. Really shows the depth of the dangerous evil in society's poisoned by Islamism across the middle east.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2300008/Naked-female-activists-topless-revolution-Tunisia-preacher-demands-nude-protester-19-stoned-death-epidemic.html










Feb 2013
Brilliant description of the development of academic study and interpretations of the crimes of the Holocaust since 1945. Especially important for those of us concerned with the importance and understanding and appreciating these events for people today.

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/culture/2013/02/ever-changing-face-holocaust-studies

Saturday 8 October 2011

The Giant Blind Spot of Human Rights NGOs - By Ziya Meral

The Persecution of people on the basis of their religion is one of the largest, most serious and most widespread forms of Human Rights Abuse in the World.  But it receives far too little attention from Human Rights campaigners because these campaigners and organisations are overwhelmingly European or North American and hence are overwhelmingly secular. They are either ignorant of religion or just don't particularly care, compared to almost any other cause. This blinds them to the suffering faced by hundreds of millions of people.

Ziya Meral says it much better than I could . . . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ziya-meral/the-giant-blind-spot-of-h_b_991304.html

The one thing that he doesn't say explicitly (though he does hint at it through his examples)  is that it is overwhelmingly Christians being persecuted, hundreds of millions of them. This is something we should all be aware of, and something that gets even less exposure than religious persecution generally.  This is because most Christian or Christian-heritage countries have strong religious freedom, while most Non-Christian countries, whether Atheist, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or other, don't.  And even in the 'Christian' countries where persecution does occur, it is generally authoritarian governments persecuting Christians and churches who they view as a threat to their control.

(By saying this I don't mean to detract from his main point that we ALL are biased towards carrying more about human rights violations against people like us, and ignoring ones against people unlike us, rather than on the objective basis of how bad things are. And this is something we should all be consciously aware of.  Christians are just as bad at this as anyone else.  But it is right to note the largest actual real-world example, the collective blindness among almost organised human rights advocates towards persecution on basis of religion, and the fact that by far the largest real-world example of this is the frequently horrifyingly violent persecution of Christians around the world. )


Wednesday 31 August 2011

God Bless you, George Monbiot. You've never been so right!

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George Monbiot does speaks a lot of total rubbish.  But, My God, when he's right, he's right.

On the Guardian website he's making a point I've thought true for years.

That academic knowledge and research is painfully restricted from the wider public by a high wall of ridiculous prices for books and journals.  
 
That academic discussion and research, much of it funded by every single taxpayer, is kept hidden and restricted for the benefit of journal publishers and academic institutions, locking that information within small and incestuous 'professional' academic circles, much to the detriment of our entire wider society.
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Academic publishers make Murdoch look like a socialist
Academic publishers charge vast fees to access research paid for by us. Down with the knowledge monopoly racketeers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/29/academic-publishers-murdoch-socialist
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Only he says it far more eloquently (and well informed) than I ever could!

It's good to see a mainstream journalist giving both barrels on such a nerdy and niche,  but I really think quite important, issue.  So Good on you George Monbiot, Guardian hack that you may be.  Keep fighting the good fight.


And if you're interested in the spread of knowledge and discussion in our society do give his article a read.

Friday 29 April 2011

The Royal Wedding: Verger Cartwheels with Joy down Westminster Abbey! Literally!!

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Yes!  This is awesome!




And Congratulations to Prince William and Kate Middleton, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

God Bless you both!  And give you a long life of Love and Happiness Together!



It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony.  The best of British pomp, ceremony, Christian and Royal Tradition.  It was great to see so many people coming together for an event.  Kate looked absolutely beautiful.  And both Kate and Prince William looked very happy.  Amen to that.


And in the some of the most beautiful words ever written in any language.  The words of St Paul.

1 Corinthians 13.
The Way Of Love.

 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have total faith, enough to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I have to the poor, and even if I sacrifice my life, but have not love, I gain nothing.


 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will fade. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when everything is made complete, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became a man, I gave up childish things. For now we see as through a glass, darkly but then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So for now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Saturday 26 March 2011

The Phrase 'Feminist Hero' is used too often these days. . . But not for Veena Malik!!!

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And can I get an AMEN!!


In fact, not just that.  Can we get Veena Malik a Bafta, an Oscar or  

just jump straight to Sainthood.





I just hope it doesn't cost her. . . .   

It is incredibly sad that I have to say that and it be a genuine fear.  But with recent events in Pakistan it is all too possible.

A fantastically brave and courageous woman.   
 
Her utter refusal to be cowed by open bullying (and implicit violent threats) is an inspiration for human decency and tolerance.  
 
God Bless and protect her.  It gives me hope for Pakistan and humanity generally.


Tuesday 18 January 2011

All Night Entertainment for the Lords.

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This is quite funny*.

Labour Peers in the House of Lords are currently having a mass collegiate filibuster to delay the AV referendum bill by endlessly discussing trivial amendments between themselves without anyone from the Coalition saying anything.

They know they can't beat the bill, because the government outnumbers them. But the AV referendum is meant to happen in May. But it takes quite a while to get ready to hold a nationwide referendum, so if the Labour Peers can hold up the bill long enough there won't be enough time to prepare for the referendum, and they'll have to delay it. This would be quite embarrassing and annoying for the government.

So the government's got them debating 24 hours a day (including through the night) until they give up. They're quite elderly though so they've laid on refreshments, food, wine, beds, talks, board games, bridge and toothbrushes to keep them going.

Ahhh, the wonders of Democracy.


The Overnighter news sheet for Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12212666




(* I obviously mean in the shaking one's head in sheer wonder,  better to laugh than cry sense rather than HAHAHAHAHA that's hilarious.)