³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

...roaring at the television...

not radio, net or newspaper?

the British psyche? i'd like a definition of that illusion.

the happiness of a nation? which one?

do tell us why there is no uk football team?

this has been busted as a bbc tv pr exercise. which is a bit obscene given the latest from afhanistan. lets all be happy and jolly while other brits are getting blown up.


ask milliband if he believes there is an axis of evil and the uk still has to pay the blood price?

Well, isn't it about time that we re-examined the role of NATO and if it even has a reason to continue to exist in today's world? It is a remnant of the cold war and is simply now a tool for America to draw the western nations into its own disputes and get some military assistance.

Short of attacking Russia, there is very little it can do to force them to change their policies. It is better to use diplomacy than threats, something the USA is far too arrogant to consider, and having NATO just drags the rest of us into Americas woes.

As to the Olympics, great that the British Athletes have done so well, where this was done through determination and effort I applaud them to the hilt, if it was simply due to vast amounts of resources being thrown at it, then there are many more things that could do with the money. Still, perhaps it is time we all knew how to say Yngling and know what it is, perhaps Gordon did some revision in his holidays and has researched Recession, Poverty and Redundancy because I have a feeling he is going to have to focus on dealing with that.

It sounds as though Russian "irregulars" or possibly local South Ossetian militia did commit human rights violations. I do hope that it is put into perspective of the shelling of thousands of civilians. That does constitute a serious offence in my world. Possibly some general could elucidate on whether that is fair?

Was it black propaganda from the Georgians that the pipeline had been bombed?

Was it the Russians provoking this crisis or the Georgians?

Nobody believes East or West that the missile defence system is really about rogue states.

There seems to be a base assumption that there was no nuclear missile exchange during the cold war therefore everything will be the same in the post cold war world. Is that valid?

The former Kremlin advisor you had on the other night was talking about World War III if the more complex Ukraine issue exploded. In fairness the poisoning of the Ukraine President is not a good reason for them not to want Nato membership.

But is it time for people to take a sober look at whether Russia really has ambitions to take over their neighbours and whether the risks and rewards really stack up?

Olympics

When I was growing up we thought of ourselves as English, but that was patriotism and no longer acceptable..... except for football fanaticism, where players are no longer required to be English... but may be British. Now I have a European passport and my government (without my vote of approval) has decided that we should all be part of a European superstate, and also think globally.

I'm no longer sure what is acceptable behavior - should I roar at the TV in support of Team UK, or support the smaller weaker nations? And should I feel proud that (with the financial help of my taxed pension and my wife's failed lottery bets) Team UK has scooped up a lot of medals?

My gut reaction is that this country has an obsession with sport and some privileged few individuals have been glorified because they can run, jump, cycle or swim fast.

So, what does this do for the happiness of our society? Be sure to ask some of those people who have been refused life-prolonging drugs, or who have lost their homes in floods, or the credit crunch, and have received little or no help because our national exchequer is too hard up to help.

In the interest of cost-effectiveness, perhaps ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ could calculate the total cost to the taxpayer of each medal won.

re Gordon Brown....

I think that during his holiday, most people have simply considered him as a dead-man-walking; nobody seriously considers him to be the PM anymore (at least nobody I speak to thinks of him a real PM), instead people now just think of him as a walking disaster zone who somehow fluked his way into a coup, and who's intent on doing everything he can to destroy the country through his mind-blowing negligence and scorched earth policies, and whose days are numbered.

If intelligence, or common sense, or even a vague understanding of reality suddenly magically appeared inside his brain, maybe he'd stand a chance, but I can't see that happening somehow.

It seems as if Russia is not prepared to stand down, which makes sense, because if they stand down then they are showing themselves as submissive to the country that they were still 'fighting' in the 1990s. And backing down to another country simply isn't politics, nor even diplomacy.

The best that the country can do now is prepare for another war, that has indeed been 'in the pipeline' for some time now. Russia doesn't like being threatened, especially when they enter a land simply because their people are being shelled, and apparently the U.S likes being the boss, even when it isn't their role to be such. Quite simply, the empire of the U.S needs to meet an ends before it harms the world any further. Nuclear war is not necessarily an evil upon the world, people die on a daily basis, and may even be the birth of something much brighter.

Your so called Children in Need exclusive is nothing of the sort. This is nothing we haven't heared before in the aftermath of the 7/7 tradegy. Having watched the piece I can't help but feel that you were sold this exclusive by a man who happened to have a book out! Surprise, surprise...luckily you were able to allow him to plug the book twice. While sticking the knife in the back of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's own charity. Shame on you. I do hope that people do not now boycott Children in Need as a result of your jumped up puff piece.

Your 'extraordinary story' was worth a two minute news item, not being the lead story on Newsnight. A pity someone didn't think to ask why Children in Need should have had better intelligence than the security services. Talk about tabloid television - still I suppose you've got to give Mr Watson something to do.

If you understand politics and the economy then perhaps you might understand that leaving the city in search of a house/cottage with land and a supply of fresh underground drinking water, sooner rather than later, is a fundamentally good idea, as business is no longer going to help you gain wealth and towns are essentially 'dead space'.

Jeffrey Archer live on Newsnight !!!
Jeez ....

Gordon Brown back from hol's.

There’s a lot of talk about the British psyche. I wonder what boost this will give to the British psyche.......

When will Brown get the message? We don’t want this Labour government with either him or yet another Labour Prime Minister. If he genuinely wants to do what is good for the country he should resign and call a General Election.

So what is the British psyche doing now? Cheering at the thought I’ll bet.

Re The Bees.

There was no mention of the demise (possibly worldwide) of Bees being down to modern technological advancements......

I read recently of a man who bought an old farmhouse and on the weekend that he and his family moved in, he found 3 separate bees nests in the loft of the house. Local pest control could not come out immediately to deal with them. The owner (presumably affter unpacking) set up and plugged in his wireless braodband router in an upstair room (close to the loft) and low and behold, the 3 nests were completely abandoned within 12 hours.

The report went into detail about bees amazing sensitivity to magnetic fileds (whioch they use for navigation and social functions) and the distruption to this caused by the wireless broadband was enough to send them fleeing.

Good news at last for Gordon Brown.

David Miliband's fatuous, impotent performance on Newsnight makes the Prime Minister appear the model of a statesman.

Only an anarchist or a Tory would want this man to challenge for the top job.

But please Gordon, appoint a Foreign Secretary with at least one foot in the realm of reality to shape our foreign policy.

So! Not only do my taxes have to go to keeping archer in a luxurious room in HMP, but now, through my tv licence fee i am in the privileged position of paying for him to appear on your prog because at some time in the distant past, he probably was able to con some people into thinking he was a bit tasty on the track. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ you should be ashamed , using such a man to praise our sporting heroes. Is he the best you could come up with?

Milliband for prime minister. Maitlis for queen. No deeper analysis of Jeffrey Archer's "Team GB" though: Oasis may turn up at No. 10 again.

Olympics
Good to see our one true Olympian hero, Jeffrey Archer. I don't know what all the fuss is about. Didn't I read that he he won 16 gold medals in 16 different events on the same day some time ago? Sorry, I can't always distinguish fact from fiction these days.

I am disappointed that none of the British newsmedia is mentioning the Israeli connection with the Georgians. I believe that their defence minister is Jewish and holds an Israeli passport and the Georgians have been supplied with large amounts of Israeli military equipment. I also have heard that the Geogians have been trained by the Israelis in the types of techniques used against the Palestinians. These were the techniques taught to our defence forces that led to the death of the Brazilian electrician ie Shoot to kill and ask questions afterwards.

I feel that this Israeli involvement makes David Miliband's position questionable in his critisism of the Russia action.

I suspect that Israel is acting in a surrogate role in this area in the same way that it is being used by the American neocons to act against Iran.

Why precisely did you bring on Jeffrey Archer? Are we supposed to listen to this ex-con talk about British success, because he knows about failure (to be Mayor, to win a court case)? Or was it because of his body building background in the US?

7/7 - charity aid

Political correctness gone mad , for sure.

You could have labeled this point with the interview of Tony Blair (1997-98) when he was asked about a disturbance in a east London mosque with radicals fighting and the police being called. Before even finding out the facts he responded saying some people still hold racist views (meaning Light Skinned people I presumed at the time).
As it turned out it was a few of the 21/7 attempted bombers trying by force to take over a moderate mosque and it was the moderates who rang the police for help.Like what happened in the finsbury park mosque.

I have never seen a repeat of that interview since , tho references to the 21/7 bombers attempt at taking over a east London mosque has been made in several programs since.

Is there a agreement not to show that Tony Blair interview ?, as I have often wondered.

Darn it! I missed the program.

Would it be possible to get Mikhail Gorbachev on the program please?



Many thanks...

Russia / NATO

It has been argued since the fall of the USSR , whats the point of having Intercontinental ballistic nuclear arsenal.

Well look at Russia , only 6 months ago it publicly showed off it new ICBM's and letting everyone know some detail about them(I will not recite).

Now Russia (population 140 million) is standing up NATO (population exceeding 800 million) because of M.A.D.

M.A.D. is still viable today as it ever was from the 1960's onwards.

Also it shows the need to keep these weapons out of the hands of as many states as possible !

Miliband does not get it:
picture this-

Wales breaks away from the union and so does scotland. They both align themselves with the ever expanding Islamic empire...if you want to know how the Russians feel about encirclement from the west; imagine how YOU would feel about the above hypothetical scenario. got it? good!welcome to the present collective Russian mind.

We are winning medals because we finally put money in the direction of sports/sponsorships.
Schools killed competition and sold the playing fields with the echo of the trendy wendy teachers who told the children that..'its the taking part that counts' ringing in their ears for decades..the legacy of feminishing the education system.
The dead-legs(a punch to the upper leg) that was administered by my P.E teacher was all the motivation i needed...and also been told that nobody likes a loser... i was ten at the time and was fearful of the brute but he made me tap into my potential and to take advantage of my height.. Today if a P.E teacher tried the old method i was familiar with, they'ed be locked up. That same teacher was the one who introduced me to Darwinism in my final year at primary school. The evolutionary theory was never taught at my high school (comprehensive) because the socialist dimwits had got a hold by then and the teachers, useless one and all, viewed Darwinism as a taboo subject; the spectra of Nazi germany, the science of eugenics and with Darwin's theories, did not sit well with the teachers egalitarian view of their blinkered socialist world and competative sports was discouraged. Anyhow, If you want more ( real ) winners in sport and academia...and its a simple one this....raise the bar...in a masculine kind-a-way.

The bee story was excellent..loved the music..jazz...emmmm nice. (scratch imaginary gotie beard)

INTERNATINAL CHUTZPAH?

"We will make sure that the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan endorsed in Moscow on Aug. 12 is implemented, provided the parties to the conflict cooperate in good faith. So far we are not sure at all that Tbilisi is ready."

.

Rice, Miliband and NATO in general, talk of Russia risking 'international isolation', but given that the SCO covers, if not protects, half the planet, surely the assertion that Russia risks 'international' isolation is just more Neocon chutzpah?

Politically, the SCO/WSTO, and SCO observer states waiting in the wings to join (Iran, Pakistan and maybe even India), may, in fact, relish 'isolation' from the Socialist International and its partner.

Strategically, Russia needs a land corridor through Georgia to Armenia if it has to support Iran given the build up in the Persian Gulf and US encirclement of Iran.

My bet is that this is why the Russians can't withdraw from Georgia south of South Ossetia, and why they won't leave South Ossetia itself, or Abkhasia.

the cookieducker (#22) It's New Leftism (not Old Leftism) for the majority (i.e. uncritical consumers, who've been force fed a diet of anti-fascist political correctness for years) but have you noticed that it's something altogether different for the small, minority, elite, which peddles it?

How else would they get on?

DISGRACE CLUTCHED FROM THE JAWS OF TRIUMPH

Oh Newsnight, how do you do it? Just when Britain is rolling in newfound glory, you wheel out a Disgraced British Lord (whom Britain still allows to retain that title) to tarnish our glorious, golden Olympic success? Do you WANT the 'damned foreigners' to laugh at us?

Jeffrey Archer adds to the gaiety of the nation and he's a welcome contrast to the bland and po-faced interviewers we have become used to. His crime was perjury.
Yesterday, on another programme, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ allowed that carpetbagger Tony Blair to muscle in on the Olympics. Blair's crimes included lying to justify an illegal war which resulted in death, destruction and displacement to hundreds of thousands Iraqi citizens.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.