Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Category: News and politics

  • The Elephant in the Room

    Martin Rowson hits the nail squarely on the head with his cartoon in today’s Guardian. Meanwhile, Simon Hoggart writes lightly on the topic. It’s left to Curious Hamster to put into words what Rowson put into his image – pure unadulterated bile aimed directly at a deserving target.

  • Blair’s Speech

    What is it with Tony Blair’s manner of speaking? Can’t he manage joined-up sentences anymore? His address at the Labour Party Conference was a prime example. That, and the fact that it was also a brilliant example of newspeak. Thankfully, Justin McKeating over at Chicken Yoghurt was able to control his growing feeling of nausea long enough to be able to give a pertinent analysis of the dear leader’s tendentious twaddle. I’m afraid I reached for the sick-bucket pretty early on.

  • The PM’s Brain Is Missing…

    Some of us are old enough to remember Spitting Image, with the running joke about Ronald Reagan; to whit: The President’s Brain Is Missing.
     
    Now, Curious Hamster, over at the Big Stick and a Small Carrot blog alerts us to the very real problem that perhaps the brain of the UK’s beloved Prime Minister has gone AWOL. I think he’s right to be concerned.

  • They Work For You

    At last, the European Parliament has launched a new web site, which promises to make the process of the parliament much more transparent and accountable to the likes of you and me. There’s even live video streaming of the debates. Now, where’s my bag of popcorn?

  • Advice for a Manifesto

    Philip Pullman, writing in today’s Guardian, offers some ironic advice to the UK’s Conservative party on how to get votes with a new manifesto. It’s good advice, too; I’d vote for a party that implemented his ideas. Unfortunately, the old ideals of noblesse oblige, service and looking after each other in society seem to have been swept away. Thatcher started the rot, and we’ve all been gleefully stoking the fire ever since.

  • Compare, Contrast, Discuss.

    Professor Simon Schama, writing in today’s Guardian, ably outlines why we should not be conflating 9/11 with Katrina. Go and read it.

  • The Swizz of the Cards

    Courtesy of Boing Boing (once again), here’s a political cartoon taking the mickey out of the UK government’s touching belief that ID cards will actually work…

  • Open Mouth – Change Feet

    President Bush has always struck me as having no charisma whatsoever, to the point of verging on the socially dysfunctional. I was reminded of that while watching him in a TV interview a couple of days ago – he was smiling while discussing what a terrible thing had just happened in New Orleans… (the video is available here, look for "Bush on GMA").
     
    It would seem that he only opens his mouth to change feet. Take this other example, from a speech he gave yesterday:
    "The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch." (Laughter.)
    Er, excuse me, but this attempt at folksiness is so horribly misguided at a time when people are still dying and drowning four days after Katrina struck that it beggars belief. Ezra Klein and Andrew Sullivan are amongst those who also find this bizarre in the extreme.
     
    Update: I’ve just watched the video of the speech. Un-fucking-believable. Empty words from an empty President. And what were all those military personnel and helicopters doing just standing around in the background of this stupid photo-op? Had they nothing better to do, like being out there helping to save lives, for instance? Americans can be better than this.

  • Song Dedication…

  • Help Save the Post Office

    A heartfelt cry that pulls at my heartstrings, even if Mr. Crozier’s heart is made of stone.

  • Mo Mowlam

    Sad to hear that Dr. Mowlam has died. When she was a politician, she was one of the few of that breed whom I respected. 

  • EU Newspeak

    Pick up a carton of eggs at your local shop or supermarket, and if you see the words "free-range", you might think that the hens who laid them were merrily scratching around in pasture.
     
    Wrong.
     
    A spokesperson for the European Commission said yesterday that hens in closed coops could also have their eggs labelled as "organic" and "free-range".
     
    The reason is that because of the fears of bird flu, the Netherlands has decreed that hens can no longer be let outside, but must be kept inside sheds at all times. And there just happens to be a get-out clause in the rules governing the labelling of eggs that allows for the egg producers to carry on labelling their eggs as free range as though nothing had changed if the veterinary authorities decree that hens must be kept indoors.
     
    Black = white
    Battery = Free-range
     
    Ain’t newspeak wonderful?

  • A Eulogy for Robin Cook

  • Online Petition

    Frank van Dalen, chairman of the board of the COC (the Dutch Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender organisation) has set up an online petition to protest against the hangings of the two gay Iranian teenagers. You can sign it here.

  • Robin Cook

    I was sad to hear of his untimely death. He was one of the few politicians that I could respect. Without his presence in the UK parliament, I wonder how effective the checks and balances will be against the current British government?

  • George, Don’t Do That*

     
    Well, George has been using his powers of oratory again, but this time to rather more shameful rabble-rousing and tub-thumping. You can see the video transcripts here. As ButterfliesAndWheels says, this is lynch-mob language. It is misogynist, sexist racist communalist slavering garbage.
     
    I think Hilzoy over at Obsidian Wings sums up the sinking feeling I had when I watched the video and heard Galloway’s words.
     
    * With apologies to dear, gentle Joyce. Those were simpler times. 

  • The Guardian and Dilpazier Aslam

    There’s been an interesting series of events involving the UK’s Guardian newspaper and one of its trainee journalists, Dilpazier Aslam, a British-born Muslim.
     
    Aslam joined the Guardian’s staff in October 2004 as a trainee, and began working on stories in a number of areas. Following the bombings in London on July 7th, the Guardian published a comment piece by him (We Rock The Boat), which created something of a stir, not only in its letters pages, but also in the blogosphere. That probably began with Scott Burgess’ piece ‘Sassy’ Suicide Bombers, but was rapidly picked up by others, such as Harry’s Place: Why is the Guardian employing an extremist Islamist?. It turned out that Aslam is a member of Hizb’ut Tahrir, a radical Islamic group (see here for a BBC report), which is banned in some countries around the world (including The Netherlands), but not, apparently, in the UK. Mind you, the UK does not ban the BNP either, and whether hate is spewed by far-right white supremacists or far-right Islamic fascists, it all sounds pretty much the same to me. 
     
    Hizb’ut-Tahrir is described in an internal Home Office briefing note as a "radical, but to date non-violent Islamist group." The note says of the organisation that it is "an independent political party that is active in many countries across the world. HT’s activities centre on intellectual reasoning, logic arguments and political lobbying. The party adheres to the Islamic sharia law in all aspects of its work." The note adds: "It probably has a few hundred members in the UK. Its ultimate aim is the establishment of an Islamic state (Caliphate), according to HT via non-violent means. It holds anti-semitic, anti-western and homophobic views."
     
    The Guardian, to its credit, has looked at the facts with an internal inquiry and announced yesterday that Aslam has had his contract terminated. The background briefing, also published by the Guardian, is even more illuminating. It makes it clear that while the Guardian considers that Hizb’ut-Tahrir promoted violence and anti-semitic material on its website and that membership of the organisation was not compatible with being a Guardian trainee, Aslam is not willing to leave Hizb’ut-Tahrir and that, while he personally repudiated anti-semitism, he did not consider the website material to be promoting violence or to be anti-semitic. Given that, it would seem that the Guardian has done the right thing in terminating Aslam’s employment.
     
    The Guardian, to its discredit, also published an unsigned piece on the same day stating that rightwing bloggers from the US were behind the targeting of Aslam. This is what is known as misdirection. Aslam was hoist by his own petard. The piece also contains inconsistencies – usually known as shoddy journalism. It quotes, approvingly, a comment by a blogger defending Aslam, claiming that Aslam is being quoted out of context:
    "It is more than four years old, written when the author was a teenager, before 9/11 and during a really nasty episode early in the intifada. How many people posting on this blog would like to have their teenage scribblings used as an assessment of their politics as an adult?"
    Er, I went back to the source, and saw that it was written by Aslam in April 2001. Let’s see, from the Guardian’s own background piece: Dilpazier Aslam is a 27-year-old British Muslim from Yorkshire. He was therefore no teenager when he wrote the piece, just over four years ago.
     
    I would hardly characterise myself as a right-wing blogger, but I have no problem with the fact that the Guardian has decided to dispense with Aslam’s services. It’s just a pity that someone in the Guardian is trying to blame this on right-wing bloggers.

  • Man Shot Dead on Tube

    Just been listening to Mark Whitby being interviewed by the BBC. He saw plainclothes police shoot a man dead. This is getting very scary.
     
     
    Update: I wasn’t impressed by BBC World leaving the camera running while at least one eyewitness was giving his telephone numbers to journalists. I don’t think he would want every viewer to now know his mobile phone number.
     
    Update: Carrie Gracie is a newscaster on BBC World at the moment, and she seems to be deliberately trying to introduce a note of hysteria into her newscasting. "London is becoming full of no-go areas" – er say what? There are crimes scenes that are being researched, you stupid, stupid woman.

  • Here We Go Again

    Another set of explosions in London. Nosemonkey over at Europhobia is on the case once again.
     
    Update: sounds very bizarre so far – "sound of a firecracker" "dummy nail bombs". Is this a bunch of loons just trying to stir up trouble? If so, they sound pretty dumb – and it sounds as though one is already in police custody (in University College Hospital) and one suspects the others are probably already being scanned for on CCTV.

  • Bombs in London

    Not a good day today. http://europhobia.blogspot.com/2005/07/london-tube-explosions.html – this has the best blog of developing events.
     
    Update: BBC News 
     
    Update: Wikipedia has a developing entry. The entry kicked off by saying a series of at least seven explosions, but within seconds of Charles Clarke saying in the House of Commons "there have been four confirmed explosions" the entry was updated to "a series of at least four explosions". It’s back to seven now – so I suspect there’s an edit war going on on the page. I have to say it is amazing to watch how this story is unfolding in the blogosphere.
     
    Update: Now there’s a group pool of photos started at Flickr here.
     
     
    Update: Tony Blair gave some good soundbites in his reaction to the events, but I think Ken Livingstone, London’s Mayor, came closest to hitting the right note:

    "This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful; it is not aimed at presidents or prime ministers; it was aimed at ordinary working class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christians, Hindu and Jew, young and old, indiscriminate attempt at slaughter irrespective of any considerations, of age, of class, of religion, whatever, that isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith, it’s just indiscriminate attempt at mass murder, and we know what the objective is, they seek to divide London. They seek to turn Londoners against each other and Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack…

    I wish to speak through you directly, to those who came to London to claim lives, nothing you do, how many of us you kill will stop that flight to our cities where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another, whatever you do, how many you kill, you will fail."

    Amen to that.

     

    Update: And another rather good and robust response to the events of the day.