Adam Lovejoy writes from Manchester:
As the comrades gather in the fine city of Manchester, to beat their drum and tell everyone they are fit to govern Britain again, the question that rises its ugly head is this: who the hell supports Labour and how can it be that they supposedly enjoy a huge lead in the opinion polls?
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Image is from Zamadur International Ltd: Ed Miliband
bracing himself for power.
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Whether you’ve heard of N-Dubz or not, in actual fact they were together for 11 years. But it took them nine years for their first UK Top 10 single, in 2009, called I Need You. (sure you do, luv, sure you do.) This announcement isn’t the momentous musical occasion the band would like us to believe. Ridiculously, N-Dubz haven’t been apart for any longer than it takes most artists to create their next album, let alone take a step back from the industry and pursue totally different careers.
Dan Majestic writes from Hollywood: How is it, I would like to know, that crime in movies comes across as a cool thing? Yeah, sure, the bad guys often lose in the end, but they still look funkier and slicker than the good guys. And for the millions of easily impressionable idiots, who rush to watch any new crappy thriller, the message that is hammered into their tiny brains on a regular basis is this: crime is not really all that bad and the benefits are enormous. Beats having a nine to five job anytime.
The biggest lie that is peddled by Hollywood to the masses is that criminals lead a glamorous life, having hot chicks around them, driving fancy sports cars and living in luxury villas. All of this is especially appealing to the dimwits out there who dream of getting rich quickly without doing much if anything. So what if I get busted and end up in the slammer, they reckon, seeing all that luxury on the screen acquired on proceeds of crime? At least I’ll get a chance to have loads of cash, wear bling-bling, live in my own villa, drive a Ferrari and shag all those chicks.
Dan Majestic writes from New York: While pretty much everyone around the world has finally figured out that the Arab Spring did not turn actually out to be what everyone had expected it to be, with Islamists cunningly using people’s power to their advantage and gaining ground all over the place, one man remains convinced that it’s all worth it. Yes, British Prime Minister David Cameron has delivered a punchy speech at the UN General Assembly and confirmed that he is still a big fan of the Arab Spring.
Supposedly lessons have been learnt from that and social service workers in Rochdale will now undergo an extensive courses on child abuse awareness. I bet that would still include a tolerant approach to any cases of none-white males getting frisky with underage kids. You know, accepting the cultural background and traditions that these paedophiles abide to.
R.F.Wilson writes from London: The English Football Association has scored a goal against common sense yesterday, finding Chelsea’s and former England’s captain John Terry guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand of QPR during a match last October. Despite a criminal court clearing Terry of these very same charges last July the grey suits at the FA decided that they can act as judges and banned Terry for four matches, slapping a fine of two hundred and twenty grand on him as well.
Thomas Mathew writes from Brighton: It’s difficult to say really who is more stupid, the Liberal Democrats who have produced some of the most appalling drivel at their annual bash or the hacks who reported about all that loony left rubbish as if it made any sense. The proud British media seems to have forgotten that the Lib Dems are only suitable for ridicule and nothing else.
Martin McCauley writes from Frankfurt: The riots in Greece are a direct consequence of the austerity package forced on the government by Brussels and Berlin. Anarchists throw petrol bombs in an attempt to burn down the institutions of the state. After all, they do not believe in government. The people should rule themselves. What is surprising is that there are not more anarchists in Greece. After years of austerity, no government appears to know how to escape from the vice like grip of economics. Does anyone know how to kick start Europe’s economies?
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| War of the Worlds - The New Generation |
Gu Suhua writes from Beijing: The social media is feasting on the details of the Wang Lijun trial. You remember that he was the police chief in Chongqing, a self-governing city of 32 million inhabitants. He fell out with the Party boss of the city, Bo Xilai, when he informed him of the misdeeds of his wife, Gu Kailai. The naughty madam was involved in the murder of Neil Heywood, a British businessman. Neil was the conduit for laundering the family money. Most of it came through London. When Wang told Bo about the illegal activities of his wife, he slapped Wang around the chops. Now that is a serious insult in China. Wang came to the conclusion that if he stayed in Chongqing, he might end up in a box very quickly. He told the Americans everything he knew but they would not grant him asylum. Washington was not going to protect a cop who had himself committed some terrible crimes. He was instrumental in arresting and eventually executing dozens of hoods. Were they all hoods or just opponents of Bo and Wang?
Freddie Matthews writes from London: At a time when the recession continues to hit the general public, illegal download activity costs the music industry about £500 million in lost revenue per year. Surely this figure is arbitrary, as there’s an assumption that all illegal downloaders would have bought a particular album had piracy not been an option. It’s like the £10 note lying in the street that you picked up. Would you have spent £10 had you not found it in the first place? Of course you wouldn’t have but it was available for free, so why the hell not?
US troops leaving Afghanistan
Claud Monbar writes from Kabul: The last of the 33,000 US surge troops hit continental America this week and, as everyone knows, President Hamid Karzai needs to start getting used to the idea that from now on it’s increasingly his war.
There’s no hiding in Kabul from the reality of the US exit from Helmand. We all knew they were going. They said so months ago. We all feel just as safe. In other words, we never felt safe anyway.
But the toughie comes now: what will the US do with the 68,000 troops it has left? The answer: they’ll do everything possible to keep them alive and not end up on the Taliban score sheet. If that makes it all sound some sort of game then you’ve hit it in one. That’s what this whole thing has been since 2001 – a mean, bad and ugly game played by the Americans and their mostly European yes men.
Wang Lijun
Gu Suhua writes from Chengdu: Wang Lijun, once one of China’s top cops, has just been sentenced to 15 years in jail. He was found guilty of bribery, bending the law, defection and abuse of power. He pleaded guilty during his two day trial last week.
He is a lucky cop. In the past seeking political asylum and telling the Americans everything he knew would have resulted in a bullet in the back of the head. He has been treated leniently, presumably for cooperating fully with the police.
Minister Balour
ITAR-TASS correspondent Ivan Ivanov reports from Islamabad: Pakistan’s minister for railways, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, has become something of a celebrity here having offering a reward of $100,000 to anyone who would whack the makers of the controversial film Innocence of Muslims.
Some people in Pakistan think though that the bounty has turned their country into an official enemy of the United States, even though Mr Bilour stressed that he offered the reward on his own behalf and not on behalf of the government of which he is a member. Speaking in his ‘personal capacity’ the minister for railways said that he expects either Al-Qaeda or the Taliban to receive the award.
He accepted that he basically encouraged people to commit a crime but said that he is technically ready to commit murder himself. ‘I’m first and foremost a Muslim and only then a member of the government,’ he said at a press conference. ‘If I encounter the people behind the film, I will kill them with my own hands. And then let them hang me.’
Via Stirring Trouble Internationally - (A humorous take on news and current affairs).
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More Muslim protests and more deaths |
Samuel Marshall writes from Washington: More Muslim protests and more deaths, this time in Peshawar.
And that obviously strengthened their resolve and determination to gain even more ground. And lo and behold, a silly film came up on YouTube and it was a good pretext for the hardliners to beat the war drum and summon the faithful to hit the streets. (Via Stirring Trouble Internationally dot com).Personally, I blame the Arab Spring for this wave of extremist violence. Because if you look closer at all those supposed ‘democratic revolutions’ in the Middle East and North Africa you would realise that the Islamists came out of them as the biggest winners. Samuel Marshall.
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| Muse |
Freddie Matthews writes from London: Fifteen million album sales later and this week there’s only one band worthy of the top story in the UK singles chart as Muse return with their latest single Madness.
The Teignmouth, Devon, lads have reigned supreme in all that is live music over the last 10 years or so. They have won Best British Live Act at the Brits not just once but twice as well as a whole host of MTV Europe, NME, Mercury, Q, Kerang and American Music awards as well as three Grammy nominations.
They also won Best Rock Album for their 5th and last studio album The Resistance.
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| iPhone 5 |
Silvio Cabot writes from Somewhere: My new iPhone 5 doesn’t know my way home. That is official. Apple with all its genius to fool people that they’re getting the best mobile in the world has cocked up. Its mapping APP doesn’t work.
This, of course, amounts to a crisis.
A man on the French TV show France24 claimed that he lived in a place called Dudley. Clearly he does not. Clearly the man is a fool because his iPhone map shows no such place as Dudley exists. His clean socks, his old school photographs and his teddy bear must be somewhere entirely different because Apple knows best.
The Milado
Henry Forth writes from Brussels: If Gilbert & Sullivan were still with us, they could have written an opera about the latest EU farce: eleven governments coming up with a proposal to have a single European defence and foreign policy. They want a foreign minister and a defence minister and an elected European President.
The Anti Islam film that everyone is talking about.
Ben Delicious writes from Cairo: As the often violent protests against the film called Innocent of the Muslims spread across the world, apart from France where a ban was hastily introduced on all gatherings to do with the film, the question that arises is this: how many of the people who are voicing their disgust about the video have actually seen it? © Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+
MOBO 2012
Freddie Matthews writes from London: First, it was the Mercury Music Prize nominations last week and now this week the nominations for the 17th Annual MOBO Awards have been announced.
The ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 3, at the Echo Arena Liverpool, in case you have a busy schedule and have to plan watching the box as far ahead as that.
Georgia Brown a chorus of disapproval.
Willie Solomons writes from London’s theatreland: A big man stopped by a late night table at London’s fashionable eatery J Sheekey’s on Monday and said to one of the women: ‘I’ve just seen you in A Chorus of Disapproval.
You were great and I should know: I’m one of the show’s backers. I’m glad you’re in it.’ And that, ladies & gentlemen, was a really great way of saying that this week a star was born in London’s West End theatre. © Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+
Andrew's out to cause mischief - news in UK.
Adam Lovejoy writes from London: Big, big row has erupted in Britain. A man on a bike has an argument with another man when trying to cycle out of a gated community and it becomes front page news. © Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+
Adele to sing Skyfall theme tune.
Freddie Matthews writes from London: It’s no surprise that Adele has been confirmed as the voice behind the theme of the new James Bond movie Skyfall.
Well, she is one of Europe and the US best selling artists in recent times, so I hardly think it’s any surprise for anyone. In fact, had she ‘not’ been asked that would have been more of a shock. © Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+
Adam Lovejoy writes from London: The new season of that hideous dancing competition is coming. Yes, the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation that gets 3.6 billions smackers a year is unleashing another dose of amateurish crap that it calls Strictly Come Dancing.
How bored and stupid do you need to be to fall for this rubbish that costs next to nothing for the BBC to make? Not to mention that it is supposed to be suitable for prime time television. Disgrace, total disgrace!
James Anderson writes from Washington: President Barack Obama is in favour of redistribution. Mitt Romney is opposed to it. Redistribution of what, you may ask. Wealth, of course. Democrats are the blue collar party. However, unemployment is now higher than in 2008.
The number in work is lower than when President Obama took office. There are 2.5 million more living in poverty than four years ago. Those on food stamps have jumped from 32 million in 2008 to 47 million today.
The average middle class family has seen its household annual income drop by almost $4,000 under Obama. On the other hand, the rich and super rich have increased their assets substantially under the present President. What has gone wrong?
Anti-Japanese Demonstrations Escalating
Gu Suhua writes from Beijing: Leon Panetta, US Defence Secretary, is in town. Besides calling for closer Sino-American military relations, he is warning that the territorial conflicts between China and its neighbours could escalate.
Cool heads are needed to bring down the temperature of protests and find a solution. The ongoing demonstrations against Japan show no sign of abating. Symbolically September 18th is the anniversary of the Mukden incident. This occurred in 1931 when Japanese soldiers blew up part of the South Manchurian Railway, then owned by Japan.
They blamed it on terrorists but it was used as a pretext to invade Manchuria. The anti-Japanese fury has led to companies such as Panasonic and Canon suspending operations.
US and Britain 's troops in Afghanistan.
Ossie Makepeace writes from Kabul. Lots of people these days insist that the coalition forces should have never gone into Afghanistan.
These members of the Let’s Get Out Now brigade are saying: to hell with Afghans, let’s pull out. President Hamid Karzai, the add, can go to hell as well.
As you can see it from here in Kabul, he won’t have far to go. As for Britain 's and US American soldiers, they’re being picked off, one by one, either by the Taliban or by Afghans dressed in military or police uniforms who are either ‘demented’ – the convenient ISAF excuse – or who have supposedly been insulted and humiliated in front of their colleagues and lost it.
So bring our boys back home by Christmas, say British legislators in the House of Commons – or at least some of them say that.
Diane Feinsein
Jan Weatherhead writes from Washington: Senate staffers are scurrying the dark corridors of the nation’s capital this week trying to find the answer to the single question asked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Armed Services Committee and interestingly, Dianne Feinstein’s Intelligence Committee.
The question is this: did the US intelligence goof over the Benghazi attack? Two days before the attack, an intelligence warning was sent from Washington to the embassy in Cairo. It had no specific warning of attack. It reported that something was stirring.
Charlie Simpson
Freddie Matthews writes from London: Anything for a bit of media attention. Former Busted and Fightstar front man Charlie Simpson is to attempt the world’s coldest ever gig this November. He’s a good lad and I know him reasonably well but he needs to concentrate on his music rather than on ridiculous ideas like this.
Prince Harry and an Apache
Ben Delicious writes from Kabul: Yeah, yeah, sure, Prince Harry is a hero these days. He’s fighting in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot. No one knows what he actually does but it is assumed that he is helping the effort to prepare the ground for Operation Heroic Disengagement that would see NATO troops pulling out in 2014, in a dignified, slightly bullish manner, letting the Taliban take over but not making it look like a retreat.
Mark Thompson moving on greener pastures.
Adam Lovejoy writes from London:
The great thing about the left generally is the ease with which they say one thing but do completely the opposite. Hypocrisy, so that you know, is in the blood of any leftie and it comes to him or her naturally. (Just think of any member of the last Labour government and you will know what I mean.)
So it’s no surprise that the man who was running the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation for more than eight years, Mark Thompson, has moved to run the New York Times as its CEO, chairman and God knows what else without even bothering to explain his sudden transformation from a politically non-biased responsible broadcasting exec to a loony leftie.
Because the NYT is not just on the left of the political spectrum, if you pardon the fancy lingo here, it’s actually perched so far to the left that if it makes just one small move or even sneezes it will fall off. © Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+
Duchess of Cambridge She is three months gone, as my sister-in-law’s earthy midwife puts it.
Filed under: Points of view Tags: News, Lebanon, Beirut, Middle East, Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, Muslim, God, Camp Bastion, religious conflict, the Pope .
Ossie Makepeace writes from Beirut:
"Hundreds of thousands of Catholics descended on Beirut over the past weekend. They came to see, hear and pray with their Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. As they did so, thousands of Muslims protested with fire and trashing across three continents."
The Pope called for humility – not his words. As one schooled in the Vatican’s shadow, I’m sure that’s what he meant when he prayed for peace and reconciliation.
As he raised he voice in that ecclesiastic yawn all Popes inherit, the more raucous cries of revenge were posted in the form of fire bombs, abuse and breaking glass at American, British and German embassies across the very un-peaceful Middle East. © Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+
Mariano Rojoy
Filed under: Pardon me for asking | Tags: Austerity, Basque, Brussels, Catalan, European Commission, European Union, Madrid, Mariano Rajoy, News, Spain .
Mario Lopez writes from Madrid: More demonstrations against the cuts announced by Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish Prime Minister taking place. A million on the streets of Catalunya demanding independence for the province.
‘Rajoy is a puppet in the hands of the European Commission,’ snarled one protester. A hot summer is giving way to an even hotter autumn. Can the country hold together or will the richer parts, Catalunya and the Basque country, say ‘adios’ and break the country up?
The trade unions sense that their moment has come. They are demanding a referendum on the austerity measures.
Even a minority of supporters of the Partido Popular that forms the government support the cuts. So the likelihood is that the government would lose the referendum. After that would come massive demonstrations for new elections.
The Left sense that they would win. They probably would.
Cairo protests
Filed under: points of view Tags: News, United States, Islam, Middle East, Muslim, Arab Spring, Ottoman Empire, Mitt Romney, National Security Agency, America .
Jan Weatherhead writes from Washington: Anti-American Islamic fires burn in more than a dozen countries. Washington has no control over the situation.
There is nothing to be said by the President, the Secretary of State or even the mullahs of America – there are 2.6 million Muslim Americans.
The United States cannot disown the film that supposedly was used as an excuse to spark these fires.
The attacks on American properties abroad are no longer about that low budget and low taste movie – if they ever were. It takes nothing but the smouldering of anti-American feeling to ignite any protest.
There will be further terrible moments and all will be beyond the control of the United States. Here in the nation’s capital, staffers have been working over the weekend, briefing their bosses who need to know what to think if not what to say.
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| Jerry and the Pacemakers |
Freddie Matthews writes from London: In a week that saw the announcement of a mass police evidence cover up, after the tragic Hillsborough stadium disaster, when 96 football fans died in a crush in the stands, surprisingly or probably not if you think about it, this week we’re kicking off – yes it’s a football pun – with a song about to smash its way back into the UK chart, some 49 years after it first made an appearance.
It’s the welcome return of Gerry and The Pacemakers with the song You’ll Never Walk Alone. Originally from the hit Rogers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, it became a Liverpool Football Club terrace match day anthem as long ago as 1963.
The recent music awards have unveiled some newish bands and compared them to the older rocker billie songs, read on to find out more, be sure to leave a comment please.
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| © Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+ |
Gu Suhua writes from Beijing: Anger at the purchase of disputed islands by Japan is escalating. Protests have spread across China like wildfire. Buses have been requested not to stop outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing.
A travel agency has cancelled visits to Japan by 50,000 Chinese to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the normalisation of relations between the two countries. Customers have stopped buying Japanese products in supermarkets. Some owners of Japanese made cars apparently have set fire to them. What the hell is going on?
Filed Under: points of view Tags: News, Al Qaeda, United States, Salafist, Islam, Salafi, Egypt, Cairo, Sharia
© Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+ Samuel Marshall writes from Cairo: What do the events in Cairo, Sana’a, Benghazi, Tunis, Oman and elsewhere tell us about modern Islam?
The attacks on US embassies and property were carefully coordinated and carried out by a core group. The mob was then added to give the impression that it was all spontaneous. So who make up this core group?
William and Kate explore Far East
Filed Under: Life in the UK - Tags: invasion of privacy, News, press, William and Kate, Kensington Palace, Prince William, Kate, Far East, Downing Street, London, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge .
© Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+ Felicity Bushmill writes from London: The French magazine Closer has published topless pictures of Kate Cambridge. Kensington Palace say they are angry, disappointed and they’re taking legal advice. What a lot of royal crap. It gets worse. Downing Street has dutifully joined in saying that the couple are entitled to their privacy. What entitlement? What privacy? Have we ever heard such sanctimonious rubbish?
Party conferences - why do they even bother?
Filed Under: Life in the UK Tags: annual party conferences, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Labour, Liberal Democrats, London, News, Nick Clegg, Tony Blair, Tories .
Adam Lovejoy writes from London: As the annual gatherings of the three major political parties in Britain are upon us, let’s take a pause for a moment and ask ourselves this: what is exactly the point of all these annual party conferences when the only thing they are famous for is rubberstamping decisions taken in advance, heavy drinking and dope taking?
© Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+ Nothing is ever said of any substance at these pathetic gatherings. All the speeches are vetted by the leadership and everyone is obliged to toe the party line. (All in the interests of keeping the unity intact and winning the elections.) Everything is decided in advance and the climax of each annual party conference is the speech by the relevant great leader who is greeted with rapturous applause, even if he’s rubbish at what he does. (That would apply to all the three major parties in Britain at the moment.)
Adele
Filed Under: Entertainment Tags: News, UK Singles Chart, Lady GaGa, Whitney Houston, Spice Girls, United States, Guinness World Record, Adele, Michael Jackson
© Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+ Freddie Matthews writes from London: There’s a whole host of new records featured in the Guinness world records Book Of Records 2013 that is available this month across the UK singles chart. The first in a rather longwinded list of brand new world records which goes to the former X-Factor, losing, boy-band One Direction.
They became the first British act to have a debut album go straight to number one in the US, with Up All Night. You see, it pays to be a loser every now and again. I mean, what the hell has Matt Cardle, the winning act of that same X-Factor series that One Direction lost to, achieved to date?
Aircraft carrier © Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+
James Anderson writes from Washington: The deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, during his visit to Washington, has highlighted the need for China and the United States to create a ‘new type of military-military relationship’. This is only one aspect of the Middle Kingdom’s search for a ‘new type of great power relationship’. The goal is to have relations with Washington which permit the country to develop along its chosen path without crises which would slow down this process.
Black Eyed Peas © Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+
Freddie Matthews writes from London: I have a friend, a singer and songwriter, who shall remain nameless, as I’m about to talk about his great fortune and wealth. He recorded a song in some tiny, dingy and smelly studio in the middle of London.
Like many struggling musicians he would book up the graveyard studio slot as they are always cheaper. This musician, in his late 20’s, was pretty much broke but got by performing at small gigs as he’s a great singer and plays the guitar.
US ambassador Stevens
© Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+ Benghazi, Cairo, George W. Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Iraq, Libya, News, United States, Youtube
Ossie Makepeace writes from Tripoli : The American ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, has been killed by Libyan Islamist militia who stormed the US consulate building in Benghazi yesterday. Three other American officials died as a result of the assault by the Islamists. They hit the compound with gunfire and grenades and then torched it.
Sino-Japanee Diaoyu islands relations.
© Stirring Trouble Internationally Google+ Gu Suhua writes from Beijing: More anti-Japanese protests in the capital and other Chinese cities. The interesting thing about these protests is that both the Chinese and Japanese governments are trying to prevent a further deterioration of relations.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the normalisation of relations. What is different is that previous flare ups in 2005 and 2010 were clearly orchestrated from above. The goal was to put pressure on Tokyo to make concessions – even cede sovereignty to China. So is this an example of people power embarrassing both governments?
