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BRITISH HYPOCRISY AND IRAQ RUBBLE

The only truly independent enquiry, would be carried out by a foreign national of unquestionable integrity AND SUCH SHOULD DECIDE THEIR OWN TERMS OF REFERENCE. There are so many metaphorical, and physical, buried bodies, I doubt anyone dares to pronounce such damning guilt.

That Miliband D might allow such an equiry to proceed, has a surreal feeling about it (unless, of course, it might advance his personal standing by a touch more burial - of the living.)

Surprised to see that every ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ bulletin today has given prominence to the view
expressed by Mr Mirek Topalek the Czech Prime Minister and current Chair of the EU Council of Ministers on 'The Road to Hell'
without pointing out that he lost a vote
of confidence on March 24 and is going
there in his own handcart sooner than
most other European political leaders!

As for Angela Merkel, she is facing elections in September if not sooner - and Sarkozy
has students taking to the streets .........

The man with the mandate is still Obama.

The terms of reference of any inquiry will be so narrow as to make it worthless.
One need go no further than the Downing Street memo or the secret testimony by intelligence experts to Lord Butler or the resignation of top lawyer in the AG's office.
Robin Cook knew the 45 minute claim was hyped. The role of spin doctors suggesting amendments to intelligence documents similarly will be ignored.

EJUKAYSHUN EJUKAYSUN EJUKAYSHUN

I still wonder if my split-half account of the top half of the Gaussian distribution having been herded into HE/careers and thus delaying motherhood relative to the lower half, has fully sunk in as a major Weapon of Mass Destruction?

RESPECT FOR TRADITION (#5)

There is a long tradition, in Britain, of not calling, to give evidence, the people who actually know inconvenient truths. It happens in government 'enquiries' and in the courts. On the two occasions I attended courts, decades ago as a witness, I had to listen to an expedient arrangement' being cobbled, while knowing it was not justice.

The notion that we are a bastion of truth, justice and democracy is so far from the truth, that we also must plead 'guilty' to hypocrisy and mendacity! But all we ever apologise for is Slavery and the like. No wonder we need delusional Prime Ministers, any with a sense of shame would die of it.

Regs Keys is sadly mistaken to say the "intelligence was flawed". There was no reliable evidence to say that Iraq had rebuilt its WMD cababilities.
On 15 May 2001, Condoleezza Rice said "Saddam does not control the northern part of the country," ... We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt."

IS THE BLOGDOG NEUTERED? (#6)

From the way the BD is chewing your posts JJ, I think HE is more than aware of arrested procreation from 'mass destruction'!

1. When Michelle Fluery pronounced "1.75" as "one, point, seventy-five" and "1.63" as "one, point, sixty-three", were these examples of another part of the English language the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ has deemed must change, joining the pronunciation of the year ("twenty, oh, five") and the abolition of the word, "on" ("...starts Wednesday...")?

2. I wish Gavin Esler would remember what he was taught at school and pause between sentences.

3. I really must congratulate Paul Mason on a fantastic series of in-depth investigations of the economies of the states of eastern Europe. Don't believe anyone who says they were simply a tax-payer-funded jolly, of no real worth.

As for Henry Kissinger did the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ mistake him for Jim Wolfensohn in their attempt to
restore some balance to their coverage?!!

And was there ever a proper enquiry into
the bombing of Cambodia?

# goose steppers 2;6;9

When people put up the argument that Stalin ejected lots of Jews therefore there had to be a good reason (although he shot millions of innocent people for no reason at all) and as a result its a sound reason for the Holocaust (that they don't deny or affirm) you know its the juvenile tendency of the far right.

Can't you see, can't you see what they are becoming ....

Actually people can. Nothing.

So when people start talking about "Gaussian distribution" and education please don't take any notice.

They are just some crazy unaffiliated people who have nothing to do with the BNP or the education system.

barriesingleton did a bit of R&D and therefore feels the scientists "could have it wrong" on climate change. Lots of facts to back that one up.

Jaded_Jean owns up to liking Hitler so you don't have to ask about the Holocaust or eugenics. "Do you understand it better now" - does she?

Its a bit like having toothless chickens trying to argue that they are the descendants of dinosaurs and so they should rule the world due to their superior abilities.

Scary on the one level.

I don't even get the feeling illegal substances are involved.

Did think the Paul Mason reports were good.

Its perhaps asking too much - as he has a short window - but it would have been good to get a projection, or projections as its never written in stone, as to what effect the economics would have on the political outlook of those states.

#9 barriesingelton

Hoh hoh hoh.

Another "cerebrally aware" post from the man whose "'ed is being done in" by those fools who are scientists and who think there is climate change!

Fuh and why can't they let you and your unaffiliated race "realist" pals post racist comments whenever you like?

Its tempting to ask about parental relationships and diaper's but the detail could be upsetting to those unused to horror.

Are you going to stand for Parliament again?

I never stop laughing when you post.

When Michelle Fleury pronounced 1.75 as "one point seventy five", apart from instantly losing credibility for the financial report, she puts herself more in the Apprentice and less in Newsnight.

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Strugglingtostaycalm #10

Hear, hear! English is a living language it's true, and may grow gradually over time but this careless wounding is to be abhorred. Maybe we should stay with "1.75" as "one and three quarters"? I once went into a bicycle shop to buy an inner tube and could not make the yoof behind the counter understand that "one and a quarter" was the same as "one point two five". I remember that for a while computer enthusiasts would say "One DOT seven five". Most odd.

The Beeb should be the guardian of our language but, alas, staffed by those who never experienced the joy of a lesson in English grammar while at school, it is failing.

Most irritating of all is the deliberate mutilation that goes on. For example the invention of the 'edgy' (nonsensical) phrase "Y2K" to greet the millennium. Coined by those too ignorant to have heard of "MM". Perhaps it didn't sound urgent enough.

Not pausing between sentences was a clever trick used constantly by Michael Foot. He would rattle on regardless of the full point, pausing only when he ran out of breath and that always in the middle of a sentence where there was no punctuation at all. The effect was to throw his interviewer completely who simply didn't know when to interrupt. The result being that he was rarely interrupted. Quite clever I thought.

Hey JJ! At #12 & 14 we have the "frothy tirade" you predicted yesterday. He's certainly on form today. Flecks of foam all over his monitor.

Funny how he never answers questions though...

TIME/ABILITY TO THINK

thegangofone (#12) Just as an heuristic exercise read through and see what you learn. Propaganda is peddled by our government too (hence the call for an Iraq inquiry - I think we went there primarily in defence of Israel and now the pressure has shifted to attack Iran).

We now call propaganda 'spin'. But how much of what youbelieve to be true, is in fact true, and how do you know that it is true given the precarious nature of the intensional idioms of propositional attitude?

Personally, I don't think 'Cognitive Skills' programmes work to correct distorted thinking. They are just a means of making money for pseudo-professionals.

Prove me wrong.

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It isn't possible to stop linguistic change in a living language. It has been happening ever since the first words were spoken. Linguistic change turned Latin into French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc. etc. A linguistic "wound" is also a linguistic development. One point seventy-five may sound like a solecism to us, but I wonder if there was an outcry when words such as kilogram were coined? - because it should be chilogram. The Greek word for "thousand" begins with a chi, not a kappa. There's a nice little piece of useless information to consider.

NewFazer (#18) At best, it's because it's just classic political activism? That is, it isn't rational behaviour, it's just political rhetoric?

Sadly, there are some important points to be made in the context of the economic/political mess which as been foisted upon us, and these may be lost on some people as a consequence of this stream of the distracting, aversive, invective and abuse.

That, I suspect, is always the sole 'purpose' (if judged by the consequences) of such behaviour.

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RichardianLesley (#21) But we try. We also create specialist, more rule based languages like maths and the sciences, but today, the mass media shows little respect for language or accurate reporting. Instead it's become a gossip based industry, largely as a function of a) higher education inflation and b) feminisation.

It's degenerated into largely meaningless, anarchic, entertainment. It's become electronic pulp fiction.

I know we don't revolution in this country but next Wednesday could be a turning point in what we can expect after the banking chaos and the snouts in the trough by banking 'leaders'. Mass protest has a chance to show the establishment what it thinks of which way the country is going with thousands being thrown out of work, thousands losing their homes. The old Thatcher mantra of 'they'll never strike, they have mortgages' might prove to be a busted flush as so many have so little to lose so mass protest might change a few minds. After 1990 and the [poll tax riots anything the French did in 1968 was a tea party to London yet violence never changes much...so the government tells us. I want peaceful protest and a government that listens to the howls of protest up and down the country, not giving the police an excuse to bash a few heads.

Though a few days ago now, I thought that at last the frugally, if uniquely funded news machine had caught up with the quotes of the day (actually a few minutes' worth) from a certain MEP in Brussels t'other day.

But no. While certainly newsworthy the quote of the word 'Yes' to yet another enquiry 'as soon as practical' (bless) by another high rotation Minister of all the Talents has indeed set some worlds alight if, perhaps, few outside the Westminster Useful Idiot Village.

Which does rather make me wonder who decides what is 'newsworthy' these days, how, and why they are still allowed to using the financial support of those who they seem so reluctant to represent.

Now, if we can get skateboarding turtles to wear socks, you guys will be in clover!

Unique in so many ways.

It seems to me that the longer you fail to mention the worldwide phenomenon of the Daniel Hannan address to Gordon Brown the more irrelevant you become. Surely it cannot be that in the UK in 2009 you are afraid to broadcast something in case you suffer the wrath of the ruling party.

leftieoddbod #25

Count me in! I haven't had a good day out like that since Grosvenor Square.

Seriously, I believe it can only be civil unrest or maybe even war to sort this mess. The old 'order' must be swept away and something more responsible put in its place. We must break the stranglehold of these bloodsuckers somehow and if it means taking to the streets then we must have the courage to do it.

leftieodbood (#25) "..after the banking chaos and the snouts in the trough by banking 'leaders'."

No offence, and this is not directed at you obviously, but it isn't just those in financial services is it? That's just where it's most obvious because of the overall consequences. The behaviour is everywhere. Think back to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and other channel cons. Think of all the spin in advertising. The people applying or jobs that they are not really qualified for but assert they have skills which they think will impress. It goes on and on. ow often do you hear the phrase 'image is what counts' or 'or it's all a matter of perception" (or interpretation)? It isn't you know. These are just ways of spinning mendacity. Most vulnerable people are easy prey to these cons - and those who perpetrate them conveniently pretend everyone is of the same cognitive ability.

This is symptomatic of something else which is endemic.

Can you tell what?

Thinking that better regulating financial services is the answer is rather like expecting the passing of moreor better laws by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Office laws will reduce crime. It won't.

Same reason.

As an side, on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NEWS there are pictures of out of work Congo copper workers because demand has collapsed. We have appeals to help mothers and babies in Africa. If we look a Nigeria, its population has trebbled in the same time that ours has gone up by 10m. Looking over to Pakistan and Bangldesh, they have gone from below our population level to 150m each. Whilst we slip towards extinction, some subversives here (unwitting/stupid they may be but do that matter?) encourage us to feed the children of backwards Africa. Do you see what's going on? Do you see what we are doing to ourselves?

28. At 3:11pm on 26 Mar 2009, nortongriffiths wrote:

Just been notified that a polite enquiry on Nick R's Political Blog along these lines has been removed by being 'off topic'.

Well, it is true it was not mentioned, well, other than by about half the posters.

How very Catch 22.

I wonder how long this, and others will last.

'Night of the snippy, chippy moderators'?

I think I can see why some want the whole blogosphere under central control now.

Paul Mason' reporting on what is happening in Eastern Europe is extremely important.

It is the only report I've seen so far that shows what is happening elsewhere and especially in Eastern Europe.

The worrying part is that all the money poured into these countries happened during the bubble and this recession could now leave them further behind than they were while behind the Iron Curtain.

Reminiscent of Russia's collapse before Putin took over.

The problems they could have are even worse than before because Russia can't afford to take them back under their wing and Europe can't afford to bail them out either.

If ever there was a potential trouble spot this surely has to be it.