Thursday 22 July 2010

Over 1 million enemies

Statement on Nick Griffin's attendance at the Garden Party, 22 July 2010


Nick Griffin MEP will be denied entry to today’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace due to the fact he has overtly used his personal invitation for Party political purposes through the media.
This in turn has increased the security threat and the potential discomfort to the many other guests also attending.
Mr Griffin’s personal invitation was issued to him as an elected Member of the European Parliament.
The decision to deny him entry is not intended to show any disrespect to the democratic process by which the invitation was issued.
However, we would apply the same rules to anyone who tried to blatantly politicise their attendance in this way.

Well, Elizabeth, that is exactley what you have done, this has resulted in you making over 1,000,000 enemies today.

The 'ConDem Youth' is born

Bunch of LOSERS
David Cameron has outlined details of the government's planned national citizen service, aimed at getting 16-year-olds to work in the community.

The prime minister has announced that about 10,000 teenagers will take part in pilot schemes next summer.
Intended to foster new skills, tasks include a social action or community project and an "outdoor challenge".
Shadow cabinet office minister Tessa Jowell said the plans were "modest and unambitious".

The prime minister launched plans for a voluntary national citizen service during the election campaign.
Ultimately it is the government's aim to give every 16 year old the opportunity to participate in an eight-week residential and home-based programme of events.

'Social responsibility'
This will include 10 days away from home, and teach them to be "socially responsible".
However, ministers have acknowledged the scope of next year's pilot schemes will hinge on the outcome of this autumn's spending review - when individual departments are set to face cuts of up to 25%.
(so it will never happen then! Admin)

Announcing the pilot plans at Downing Street on Thursday, Mr Cameron said they would help youngsters who felt their lives "lacked shape and direction".
"A kind of non-military national service, it is going to mix young people from different backgrounds in a way that does not happen now," he said.

"It is going to teach them what it means to be socially responsible. Above all, it is going to inspire a generation of young people to appreciate what they can achieve and how they can be part of the 'big society'."

'Limited impact'
But Ms Jowell said the "over-hyped announcement" was "modest" compared to "Labour's proud legacy of 'V'", a national volunteering programme which she said created nearly a million opportunities for young people to get involved. (I never heard of it! Admin)

"No-one will disagree about the need for constructive activity for young people.
"The best way for the coalition to express their support for the civic development of young people would be to build on that programme of substance rather than announce another eye-catching initiative that has limited impact beyond its headline," she said.

In a speech on Monday, Mr Cameron described the big society as his "great passion" and sought to explain how more emphasis on volunteering, social action and community involvement in public services could transform the relationship between the state and individuals.

Labour has said the government is asking the voluntary sector to plug the gap left by what it argues are unnecessarily severe cuts in public spending.
During the election, Labour said the national citizen service was not new and merely aped what it was already doing.

Sunday 18 July 2010

Death of Casino robber in France sparks rioting

The French government has vowed to restore order after rioting in the eastern city of Grenoble over a shooting by police.

Riots rocked the city's run-down suburb of Villeneuve on Friday night as people protested at the death of a suspected armed robber during a police chase.

At least 50 cars were burnt and police were fired on.

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux promised to restore order when he visited the scene after the unrest.

"There is a simple and clear reality in this country: there's no future for hoodlums and delinquents because in the end the public authority always wins," he told reporters.

Nobody was injured in the riots, said police, who arrested two men aged 18 and 20 for setting fire to vehicles and three more for attempted looting of shops, France's AFP news agency reports.

Correspondents say the unrest in Villeneuve recalls the civil unrest which exploded amid immigrant communities across France in 2005 after two teenagers from a Parisian suburb died as they fled police.
Unease

Mr Hortefeux made a lightning 15-minute tour of the suburb and promised quick action by the authorities.

"When I say quick, I mean immediately, that's how we are going to re-establish public order and the authority of the state," he told reporters outside police headquarters.

He said he had asked the regional government to use all means to secure the suburb neighbourhood "for now and for as much time as necessary for calm to return".

While the suburb appeared calm on Saturday, some local residents listening to the interior minister were not totally reassured, AFP reports.

One unnamed shopkeeper told the agency the minister's visit was reassuring on one level but it could "only stir up the hatred of some people".

"The minister's visit only risks aggravating the situation," said another resident, who also asked not to be named.

According to the police union SGP-FO, violence has been on the rise in recent months in Grenoble, a city of half a million at the foot of the French Alps.

"Police are at breaking point," said regional union chief Daniel Chomette, who called for reinforcements.

Prosecutor Jean Philippe said police had acted in legitimate self-defence when they were fired on at least three times after a car chase which ended in Villeneuve.

The police fired back, hitting Karim Boudouda, 27, in the head.

A post-mortem was due to be carried out on Saturday on Mr Boudouda, who had three convictions for armed robbery.

He was shot after allegedly fleeing by car with another suspect from the scene of a hold-up at a casino near Grenoble.

More than 20,000 euros (£17,000; $26,000) was taken in the robbery.

The above is the sanitised BBC version wich neglects to mention a key fact.
Contrast the above report with the one below from the DailyMail.


France was on riot alert yesterday after hundreds of Muslim youths went on the rampage in Grenoble.

Shots were fired at police and dozens of shops and cars were set on fire in the Alpine town.

Trams and buses were also held up by gangs brandishing baseball bats and bars, and a service station was looted.

The violence followed the fatal shooting of Karim Boudouda, a 27-year-old man involved in an attempted robbery at the Uriage-les-Bains casino, near Grenoble.

Locals accused armed officers of overreacting by gunning down Boudouda, allegedly as he tried to give himself up.

A Grenoble police spokesman said: ‘There has been a very fierce reaction. As mourners gathered in a park to hear Muslim prayers for the dead man late on Friday night, trouble broke out. By Saturday morning tear gas was being used on the youths.

'At about 2.30am a handgun was used to fire shots at the police. A youth was arrested, which seemed to make matters worse. The trouble went on until morning.’

Many fear the trouble will spread to other towns, as it did in 2005 when the death of two youths in Paris led to rioting and a state of emergency being declared across France.

Saturday 17 July 2010

MP wants British ban on Islamic veil

A British lawmaker is refusing to meet female Muslim constituents who wear face-covering veils and has proposed a law banning the practice altogether, he said on Saturday.

Philip Hollobone, a member of parliament (MP) from Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, wants to see a French-style ban on women covering their faces in public, although his bill stands little chance of becoming law.

However, in his own constituency of Kettering in central England, he is demanding that women who wear veils and want to meet with him at his constituency surgeries remove them.

"If she said: 'No', I would take the view that she could see my face, I could not see hers, I am not able to satisfy myself she is who she says she is," he told the Independent newspaper.

"I would invite her to communicate with me in a different way, probably in the form of a letter."

He added: "God gave us faces to be expressive. It is not just the words we utter but whether we are smiling, sad, angry or frustrated. You don't get any of that if your face is covered."

There are around 400 Muslims living in Kettering, according to the local Muslim association, out of a total population in the town of over 50,000.

Hollobone has also tabled a bill in parliament to regulate certain face coverings, although it will not be debated until December and is highly unlikely to become law due to lack of government support.

This week, French lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to ban the wearing of face-covering veils in public in a bill which will now go to the Senate for approval.

A poll out Friday found that two-thirds of Britons would support a similar ban.

In 2006, former foreign secretary Jack Straw sparked fierce debate by saying he asked Muslim women to lift their veils during meetings with him in his constituency.

This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the new 'condem' coalition has no interest in the opinions of the people who voted them into parliament.

"...it will not be debated until December and is highly unlikely to become law due to lack of government support"
yet
"A poll out Friday found that two-thirds of Britons would support a similar ban"

So the majoroty of the public support a ban but the condem party ignore this and wont support it.

Remember this the next time YOU get the chance to vote.

Read original article here

Tuesday 13 July 2010

'Nazi' jibe radio host loses legal bid

A radio host who called a councillor a "Nazi" live on air has lost a legal bid to challenge Ofcom's decision to uphold complaints against him.

Jon Gaunt, who made the comments on Talksport in 2008, said the watchdog's stance was an unlawful interference with his freedom of expression.

Ofcom censured the presenter under its rules on offensive material, after receiving complaints from the public.
Mr Gaunt won permission in January to take action against Ofcom.

Investigation
Ofcom received 53 complaints over Mr Gaunt's interview with Redbridge councillor Michael Stark, which took place in November 2008.

The pair had been debating the council's decision to ban smokers from fostering children when Mr Gaunt called Mr Stark a "Nazi", a "health Nazi" and an "ignorant pig".

Mr Gaunt apologised on-air following the exchange, but Talksport sacked the presenter after its own investigation.

The media regulator noted the apology, but in June 2009 upheld the complaint under the rules regarding offensive material.

Mr Gaunt's lawyers argued that Ofcom infringed Mr Gaunt's right to free speech under article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and won the right to take the case to judicial review.
 But at London's High Court on Tuesday, Sir Anthony May and Mr Justice Blair dismissed the proceedings.
Sir Anthony said Ofcom was justified in its conclusion.

"The broadcast was undoubtedly highly offensive to Mr Stark and was well capable of offending the broadcast audience," he said

"The essential point is that the offensive and abusive nature of the broadcast was gratuitous, having no factual content or justification."

Human rights
Mr Gaunt was refused permission to appeal although he can renew his application directly to the Court of Appeal.

Human rights group Liberty, which intervened in the case because of its "wider importance to free speech", said Mr Gaunt and his legal team intended to challenge the ruling.

Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards, in a statement released after the court's decision, said: "We were perfectly happy for this case to be taken to court to review the way in which we interpret our statutory duties.
"We are very pleased that the High Court has recognised that we came to the right decision in this case. This is a thorough endorsement of our judgment in what was a difficult case."

Click to read the original story

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