Lord Leveson got it all wrong in his report on regulating the press. While failing to see the big picture.
30/11/2012
It’s What Lord Leveson Omitted In His Report That’s More Important Than What He Actually Said In It
President Morsi Can Mobilise His Supporters To Swamp The Secular Opposition. But That Would Not Be A Wise Move
President Morsi is not as powerful as Mubarak. He needs the military on his side.
MusicalVersion The War Of The Worlds #TheNewGeneration
The aliens have landed but can Jeff Wayne’s musical version of The War Of The Worlds ‘The New Generation’ be ‘better’ than the original?
RT @stirringtrouble [Album Review: Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds ‘The New Generation’] http://goo.gl/Epb2F #WAYN
29/11/2012
Immigration in the UK solution or problem?
Henry Forth writes from London: British government statistics will show that more people leave the UK for jobs abroad than arrive here for work.
These are figures that will upset the Keep Out lobby who think once again that foreigners are steaming into the British Isles in the UK , particularly the South East, to steal our jobs and live off generous welfare benefits until they hit the career opportunity.
28/11/2012
Church Bling One Adorned The Next Pope
Jan Lois Condorez writes from The Vatican: I do like a bling church. This past weekend was very, very bling church. Pope Benedict XVI, who of course had bling thrust upon him, appointed six new cardinals.
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| The Pope Benedict XVI wears plenty of bling so why not the church of England? |
That’s what the Holy See has done this weekend. Six new scarlet hatters and not one says prego. He wants everyone to understand that the Church of Rome is international.
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| The burning of Nigerian churches has shocked the Vatican church and the Church of England. |
The Church has strong memories and while the Vatican says the Church is for everyone in the world, the real message at last is more along the lines that the Church will go wherever it is needed.A humorous take on news and current affairs http://www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com.
27/11/2012
The Creaking Leaking Ship That Is The BBC Gets A New Captain. Who’s No Better Than Any Of The Previous Ones
The BBC has got a new DG. As if he's any better than the previous lot.
RT @stirringtrouble The Creaking Leaking Ship That Is The BBC Gets A New Captain. http://goo.gl/VI9wL This article is about the BBC, Jimmy Savile, Lord Patten and Lord Tony Hall.
26/11/2012
Dave's Obsession With Political Correctness It Happened To His Idol, Tony
David Cameron is obsessed with political correctness. It can bury him if he's not careful.
David Cameron talks about minorities in response to the press and public obsession with the topics. Recently what is called PC political correctness examples is keeping a lot of people up at night thinking about what is going to happen. A lot of people are noticing and adhering to political correctness gone mad examples, these are examples of political correctness which to some might not be examples of political correctness gone mad. Minority is not the majority it really can mean anything including race. gay people are at a minority because they are not many. The disabled people are in a minority. Certain occupations are in a minority. It is right to give thanks to these things because minorities need a voice just like David Cameron and Tony Blair do. The people in hard times right now are not to many although this is not to take anything away from anyone who is having a hard time. Another example is the amount of houses flooded recently in Britian there really is not that many compared to housing that has not been effected by such diverse weather.
Rihanna – Unapologetic
Rihanna’s most successful album to date was her 2007 third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, with over 12 million sales.
The second half of Unapologetic however is edgy and not what we’re used to from Rihanna, but why should she not try something new? Here we have ballads, disco, reggae and even a defence of her former boyfriend Chris Brown who notoriously beat her up in 2009.
25/11/2012
Another Week On The UK Music Scene
Freddie Matthews writes from London: This time by looking at the past week we start with an occasion just over a month away.
You may have seen or even heard about one of the X-Factor favourites being booted off last weekend’s X-Factor.
Dido fans will be looking forward to her 5th album to date, especially as it’s also been 5 years since her last one.
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| The opulent clothing department at Harrods, London (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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There’s More To A Grumpy Phone Call About Patriot Missiles Than Meets The Eye
Janet Camus writes from Brussels: NATO’s Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has called the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Friday to explain to him that should the Patriot missiles be deployed in Turkey they would not constitute a threat to Moscow or anyone else apart from Syria.
NATO in 1949, was the first ambition realised to save Europe from its tendency to internecine nastiness. They can afford to because the whole affair is quietly managed. There’s More To A Grumpy Phone Call About Patriot Missiles Than Meets The Eye A post originally shared by Alexander first published over on Stirring Trouble Internationally. That’s why the backrooms have a Dane in mind for the first stalking horse for the biggest job in the world. President Rasmussen? A Jutlander? Why not? Churchill would have voted for that – so would Lavrov.
24/11/2012
President Mursi Has Egypt Burning He Fixed Gaza
Ossie Makepeace writes from Ismalia: All last night the protesters stayed on the streets of Egypt. They attacked the Muslim Brotherhood offices here and up the canal coast at Port Said. Others stoned Muslim Brotherhood worshippers as they left Friday prayers in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.
If we want anything to think about while we watch how this plays out, it could be this: the first casualty of revolution is the removal of an independent judiciary. That judiciary is the one hope of a society stripped of everything else. www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com
Led Zeppelin – Celebration Day #AlbumReview [Video]
Freddie Matthews writes from London: Celebration Day has been five years in the making, since the concert at London’s O2 Arena, on 10 December 2007. Now, not only is the recorded concert on CD but it’s also been immortalised on film. This is a total celebration and one of the greatest musical reunions ever.
23/11/2012
PM Cameron Goes To Brussels Will He Bring Anything Back?
James Anderson writes from Brussels: David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, is facing the toughest week of his political career. He is in Brussels with a lose-lose brief. He has committed himself to ensuring that the European Union’s budget expenditure is frozen.
Mr Cameron’s main worry is that if he comes back with nothing he will lose face and votes. He has promised a referendum on the EU and the Eurosceptics will hold him to this. PM Cameron Goes To Brussels. But Will He Bring Anything Back?
Who Will Win The 2012 Formula 1 Drivers’ Title?
Stewart Speed writes from London: It’s been one hell of an exciting Formula 1 season this year, as the drivers’ title goes down to the wire, after Lewis Hamilton’s win in Austin, Texas, last Sunday.
Who will be crowned the 2012 F1 world champion? It can only be one of two drivers at this late stage in the season and as the suspense of the last 8 months of high speed racing hangs in the balance. Will it be Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel or Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso? [www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com]
22/11/2012
Blocking Women Bishops It’s The Rules, Baby
Adam Lovejoy reports from Canterbury: So, the Synod of the Church of England has decided to ignore the pressure from the modernisers and blocked the consecration of women bishops.
The British mainstream press that has been losing its cred steadily in past two decades has once again confirmed its ignorance and left-wing bias, by siding with the modernisers on the issue of women bishops, quoting some of the most idiotic comments and statements made by the enemies of the Anglican Church, as if they made any sense. The result would be a loss of more readers and an even more desperate attempts to fight for the remaining ones by going further downmarket. www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com
21/11/2012
President Obama Is At Home In Asia
James Anderson writes from Yangon: Where did President Obama first head for after his re-election earlier this month? South East Asia.
He met President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi. In a speech to students at Yangon University he stressed that Myanmar has only just begun a long journey towards reform and change.
Who Told Hague To Recognise Officially The Bloodthirsty Gunmen Of Syria?
Henry Forth writes from London: So last night the British announced that they recognise the Syrian rebels. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that the National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces is the ‘sole legitimate representative’ of the Syrian people.
The UK and some of the smarter – and in the longer term, the more thoughtful and helpful to the people of Syria – should have been waiting to see if the Coalition can indeed hold the differing groups together and can, at last, stay out of the war crimes spotlight. www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com
20/11/2012
President Obama Stop Lecturing Others On Democracy
Anton Goryunov reports from Rangoon: Is it just me or has President Barack Obama got it into his head that he is the greatest authority on democracy, freedom, human rights and all that other stuff that Western leaders like to talk about but not actually abide by?
Mr Obama tried to do his best promoting America as the oldest democracy in the world because of its love of freedom. A humorous take on news and current affairs source (www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com).
Israeli Attacks On Gaza Is Not Anti-Semitism
Ossie Makepeace writes from Tel Aviv: This morning, the dead numbered 100 plus. Some 100 in Gaza from Israeli night bombings. Four (we think) in Israel from rocket attacks from Gaza.
We should be sympathetic towards peoples living beneath the darkest clouds of warfare for their whole lives with few if any signs of anything changing in their time or even that of their children. When we say peoples, we are speaking of Palestinians as well as Israelis. Via (www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com)
Rod Stewart Merry Christmas, Baby Album Review
Freddie Matthews writes from London: This is the first official Christmas album of the festive season have been reviewed and bizarrely it’s by the 100 million plus seller Rod Stewart.
Rod Stewart is the first of a long line of performers to release an album this Christmas. I’d happily ask my father to play this in the background this Christmas.
19/11/2012
The UK Defence Private Remarks Were Very Much For Public Ears
Henry Forth writes from London: Here in Whitehall, the heart of Britain s governing elite, officials and lawmakers are stumbling over remarks from the head of the armed forces this week.
Richards and his colleagues are about to be hit by even bigger cuts just at a time when the government is handing out more military tasks. Something will have to give. Richards knows that and that is why this week’s strictly private remarks were very much for public consumption. via (www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com).
Conflict Between Israel And Hamas Is About Security
Mehmet Ali writes from Cairo: The Arab League is meeting here to discuss what it can do to halt the violence in Gaza.
Will Egypt abrogate the peace treaty with Israel over the latest fighting? The Muslim Brotherhood government does not wish to because by doing so it would escalate the conflict.
18/11/2012
Cultural Moron UK Minister
Polly McPhee writes from London: Who is Maria Miller? MM just happens to be the British Minister of Culture – the lady with cash handouts for the so-called arts.
Hytner and Boyle have to be heard and believed. Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Hytner’s production of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys are not simply local productions. They play all over the world and win the big Oscars wherever they go. But look, they have their artistic origins in British provincial theatre. If Ms Miller does not understand that, then the small theatres are in trouble. David Cameron buys the idea that there should be more private money going into that arena. via (stirringtroubleinternationally.com)
The Past Still Exerts Considerable Influence On Chinese Politics. Expect Little Change Soon
Gu Suhua writes from Beijing: A feeling of intense disappointment pervades this city and country. Instead of a new generation of leaders taking over, the golden oldies of the past exercised a visible influence on the selection of the top Party elite. First and foremost was Jiang Zemin. Now 86 years old, he stepped down as paramount leader as long ago as 2002. He was not the oldest comrade from the past. That prize went to Song Ping, now 90.
Jiang Zemin is the patron of the Shanghai faction within the leadership. It now has three of the seven seats on the Politburo Standing Committee. They are Xi Jinping, who owes his rise to power to Jiang; Zhang Dejiang, who will soon become Chair of the National People’s Congress or parliament; and Liu Yunshan, who has become head of the Party Central Committee Secretariat. Hu Jintao wanted to promote two of his protégés, regarded as reformers, to the Standing Committee. However Jiang and Li Peng, now 84 years old, and one of those who advocated the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in June 1989, blocked their advance.
Hu Jintao, in his farewell 101 minute speech, devoted some time to talking about a fairer and more transparent way of choosing leaders. Party members had the ‘right to know, right to take part in discussions, electoral rights and supervisory rights’. However Hu did not condemn the cult of personality which was so evident in the activities of Bo Xilai, the disgraced Party secretary of Chongqing. Hu was visibly annoyed by the cult of personality which surrounds Jiang Zemin. However he chose not to make this public.
Wen Jiabao’s speech was much more revealing. He referred to an address by Deng Xiaoping delivered in 1980. The latter identified huge obstacles facing the Party and government: ‘bureaucracy, over concentration of power, patriarchal attitudes, life tenure in leading posts and a multitude of privileges’. He defined patriarchal traditions as ‘placing individuals above the organisation’. They used this as a ‘tool to become dictatorial’. Which patriarch did Wen have in mind? Clearly he was referring to the activities of Jiang Zemin.
Hu Jintao talked a lot about battling corruption. If it were not overcome the Party would be dealt a fatal blow. What new Party regulations did he introduce to combat this disease? None. The obvious one was to oblige senior Party officials to declare the assets of their relatives and to reveal whether the latter had foreign residency rights.
Bloomberg and the New York Times, just before the Congress, published detailed information about the business activities of the relatives of Xi Jing and Wen Jiabao. For instance, it was claimed that the Wen family was worth $2.7 billion. Censors scrambled to remove this information from the web but it is certain that millions of Chinese read it. No reports circulated about investigations into the business activities of top Party families. The elite were in denial. They claimed that measures had been put in place to prevent relatives from improperly acquiring wealth.
In his report, Hu stated that the economy was ‘unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable’. Despite this he advocated that the state sector should grow at the expense of the private sector. This underlines the influence of state corporations on policy. If China is to become more economically efficient, it has to avoid the emergence of state monopoly capitalism. Chinese capitalism now appears to resemble American capitalism in the late 19th century. The Middle Kingdom needs economic reform and quickly.
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