The recent leak to BBC Radio 4’s World At One (15 March) of confidential cabinet papers on the Hillsborough disaster provides a fascinating insight into the workings of official propaganda. The papers recall a series of briefings given by Merseyside Police to Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, just four days after the disaster; essentially, they supported [...]
Archive for the ‘Current affairs’ Category
The Hillsborough police briefing and official propaganda
Posted: March 15, 2012 in Current affairs, LIverpool FC, The Footie5
On the back of Rory McIlroy’s achievement as the world’s number 1 golfer, the Press Association reports that: ‘New world number one golfer Rory McIlroy should be followed round the globe by Stormont officials to help tap into any tourism potential, according to a politician’ (5 March). As always in the North, every time a [...]
Jenny Tonge, Israel and the bounds of “civil public discourse”.
Posted: March 2, 2012 in Current affairsThe resignation of Liberal Democrat peer, Jenny Tonge (28 February), over her recent remarks about the future of the Israeli state, comes in the wake of yet another “storm of controversy” that blows up every time a public figure offers any word of criticism about Israel’s conduct in the Middle East, however reasonable it might [...]
The Occupy St Paul’s Eviction: Capitalism as common sense
Posted: February 28, 2012 in Current affairsAfter the overnight eviction of the protest camp at St Paul’s, BBC Radio 5 Live featured a debate between left wing activist and author, Owen Jones, and the right-wing blogger, Guido Fawkes aka Harry Cole (28 February). Was the eviction a defeat for the protestors and the message they wanted to get across? Have a [...]
The public sector strike in Britain and Northern Ireland (30 November) involved around 2 million workers from a wide range of services, trades unions and professional associations, making it one of the biggest of its kind in over 30 years. It was an act of protest and solidarity in defence of decent pensions, especially for [...]
The public hysteria this past few days about the wearing of the poppy rather defeats the act of commemoration it is meant to symbolize. It defeats it because it reduces it to an act of conformity rather than sincere, individual choice; to a display of “Britishness” rather than remembrance. What if someone British chooses not [...]
It’s an old line but it keeps coming up: public sector strikes against pension reform are unfair to the taxpayer. It came up again on this week’s edition of Question Time (BBC1, 3 November) in answer to the first question of the night: ‘Is it right for the public sector workers to strike when they [...]
Pockets of our society are not just broken but are frankly sick. He’s right you know! We’ve got pockets of GREED: Pockets of POVERTY: Pockets of FUEL PRICE FIXING: Pockets of CORPORATE TAX EVASION: Pockets of RACISM: Pockets of CRIMINALIZATION: Pockets of CORRUPTION: And pockets of STATE VIOLENCE: In fact, David, it’s all [...]
England burning: “Send in Stephen Nolan!” says Daily Mail. “A step too far!” says Cameron.
Posted: August 11, 2011 in Current affairs, SatireThe Daily Mail yesterday called on the British government to send in the BBC’s Stephen Nolan to quell the riots in England. However, despite increasing pressure to deploy extreme measures to bring the crisis under control, Prime Minister Cameron said that deploying Nolan in built-up areas against roaming gangs of looters and arsonists was in [...]
The riots in England: Bring in the army you say?
Posted: August 9, 2011 in Current affairs, Northern IrelandI am coming to the conclusion that the minimum force necessary to achieve a restoration of law and order is to shoot selected ring leaders among the [Derry Young Hooligans], after clear warnings have been issued. In other words, we would be reverting to the methods of [internal security] found successful on many occasions overseas. [...]
