Euphemisms! Tell it like it is.

I've mentioned "robust" as the latest euphemistic word for policy or propaganda that requires a certain amount of "strengthening"! Euphemisms can be a bit like a dog chasing his tail.

The best are kept for the things we don't always feel comfortable about. I have always liked the American use of bathroom when it is obvious that in most cases there is no bath in the room! Wedding tackle is one used mainly in the UK, and another favourite of mine is "he kicked the bucket". Remember Benny Hill's cowboy sketch where as a dying cowboy he actually kicked a conveniently placed bucket?

CNN have just coined a new one. Audio difficulties. This is not when a microphone really does break down. No, this is when you're caught discussing your private life or someone else's or even saying something untoward, such as Ron Atkinson's remarks. Kyra Phillips, a CNN anchorwoman, was caught chatting to a colleague about her husband whilst on air. Oh dear! "Yeah, I'm very lucky in that regard with my husband. My husband is handsome and he is genuinely a loving, you know, no ego... you know what I'm saying," she was heard telling the other woman, whose identity is not known. "Just a really passionate, compassionate, great, great human being. And they exist. They do exist. They're hard to find... But they are out there."

This is good news, Kyra! CNN were embarrassed because it happened whilst they were broadcasting President Bush's speech live from New Orleans. But I'm hopeful that Mr.Bush would be happy about this and is in total agreement that there are such men as Kyra tells it!

CNN should make this a newsworthy item, not try to explain it away as an "audio difficulty"!

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Peeling an Orange!

Basically, I'm fairly easy-going - I think! I'm all for fair play, decency, and playing the game! Sounds old fashioned? Well, I don't think so, and I hope we can build a society that values these things.

Ball-tampering, dodgy CVs, celebrity photos touched up, minor law-breaking (traffic offences such as mobile phone use whilst driving!), all add up to make society less than it should be. We are now in a country run by control freaks, who patronise political correctness, yet seem to connive in the bending of the rules. WMD?

Now a man has been suspended from Orange, the media/telecom outfit. On the Conservative Home site, Inigo Wilson, a community affairs manager at Orange, sounded off about how he sees the world of political correctness. His reference "Islamophobic - anyone who objects to having their transport blown up on the way to work" is what got him into trouble.

An Orange spokesman has said: "All employees are issued with guidelines as to what constitutes behaviour that brings the company into disrepute. We need to investigate now to determine whether or not Mr. Wilson has breached those guidelines." I'd dearly love to know what pomposity is in this document.

It is an outrage that freedom of speech in this country is regulated by corporate characters who have a track record (not necessarily Orange) of pension raiding, lying to regulators, and generally feathering their nests! Orange should have told the complainants that this is a free country. I don't think Inigo Wilson ever said in his blog that he worked for Orange, so why the fuss?

Orange has behaved in a very unpleasant way. Bloggers beware!

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Singing the Blues!

David Cameron is pushing ahead with his ideas for more women MPs, Conservative ones, that is. His main stumbling block is the local association. Most have a formidable array of blue-rinse types, who seem to disparage other women doing the job. The remark "a woman's place is in the home" begs the question as to what these dotty dames are doing out at night choosing candidates for?

I live in a borough which has two women MPs. Caroline Spelman, a Conservative, and Lorely Burt, a Liberal Democrat. Both work hard, have previously worked for a living and both have families. Apart from their respective party allegiances, the constituents seem happy with their abilities.

Now one thing constituency associations could bear in mind is this. Women MPs don't bring you scandal. In the Tory party alone, I can recall male MPs having affairs, fiddling expenses, telling porkies, being with rent boys, and joining other parties!

Mrs.Thatcher is their heroine but they don't fancy a woman as an MP. Oh dear! And if they don't like what David Cameron is suggesting, what do they think of the opinion polls. Is he going to get to Downing Street despite them or with them?

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Terror troubles

Today eleven people have appeared in court in connection with the alleged plot to blow up several transatlantic airliners. The police seem confident that the facts borne out by the evidence gathered so far will lead to successful prosecutions. I sincerely hope that this evidence is correct, because we all stand to gain by it being so.

My previous post gave a link to Craig Murray's blog. Mr.Murray has good reason to be suspicious of some motives of the powers-that-be. However, I would, whilst supporting the absolute need for clarity, not give succour to the idea that these men should not stand trial. It is our way in this country to weed out the truth. Those appearing today have pleaded not guilty. They may be, but the chances of this being proved so are getting slimmer by the day as evidence is obtained.

I don't want the security forces and the police to get egg on their faces. What I want to see is proper procedure and due process. It now seems, after the high profile mistakes, that the police are giving us the assurances that we need to believe in the "system".

One thing is certain as being 100% factual. There have been Islamic suicide bombers in this country and there are still those planning to be ones. Our civic duty must be in giving moral support to the baffled and confused majority (the vast majority) of British Muslims who are at pains to understand why those they thought they knew well are such Jeckyll and Hyde personalities.

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Flying Lite

I'm seriously concerned about the way in which our intelligence services are geared up. No James Bond stuff! Just plodding methodically along. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but they seem to have quite a few mistakes under their belts to date. Plus there is the lack of joined up thinking. Ryanair's boss Michael O'Leary has poured scorn on some of the rushed solutions.

I'm all for fighting terrorism, not giving in, and seeking a lasting solution to grievances. However, all this seems to be going in the opposite direction.

This is from Craig Murray's site. He was Britain's outspoken Ambassador to the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan.

None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time. In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat rooms. What is more, many of those arrested had been under surveillance for over a year - like thousands of other British Muslims. And not just Muslims. Like me. Nothing from that surveillance had indicated the need for early arrests.

Makes you wonder what the powers-that-be thought was so imminent. I can't for the life of me think that 24 young men could blag their way onto planes WITHOUT passports or tickets. Maybe John Reid knows something no-one else does!

All this could end up with us being told that these young Muslims were just fantasists with a warped sense of wordly events. If that proves the case, then they will be joining a long list of others!!

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Robust - the new buzz word!

Robust! That's the new buzz word from excited executives with something to hide. Just as Humpty Dumpty said. You can use "robust" to mean exactly what you want it to mean.

BAA executives are using it quite liberally. The airport operator (still being called an "Authority" by Sky News and the BBC!) has put in robust measures. Not that good it seems. A 12-year-old, believed to be from Penrith in Cumbria, was found on Monday's 0600 BST Monarch flight from Gatwick Airport before it took off. Tim Jeans, managing director of Monarch Airlines, said there were issues that "must and will be addressed". I'd say so. Robust ones!!

Anne Widdecombe puts it succinctly! "He could get through the whole lot including boarding the plane itself before anyone discovered that he hadn't got a passport, hadn't got a ticket, hadn't got a boarding pass, hadn't got an anything. It would be amazing any time and any place but in the present climate that really is amazing." As Anne says "perfectly flabbergasting"!

I have a hunch that BAA have only rushed things through in recent days. One hapless executive was saying it takes 5 days to train a security scanning operative. Were there no contigency plans? Did MI5/6 not suggest to the airports they might tighten things up a bit? John Reid did us all a favour by using the phrase "fit for purpose"! This young stowaway has proved a point. He was robust enough to get through. Is BAA really robust enough to follow through?

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Claustrophobia causes divert!

Another thing to cause alarm. A woman passenger on the United Airlines flight is said to have been involved in a confrontation with crew. She became claustrophobic, apparently, and began to get a tad excited. The pilots took no chances. So a night in Washington becomes a baggage search in Boston!

Reports that she was carrying items including a screwdriver, Vaseline, matches and a note referring to al-Qaeda have been denied. You don't say! But the reports got loose in the media all the same.

We are all in for a topsy-turvey ride with this terrorist business.

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"He Just Got Religion!"

That seems to be the innocent remark most people give to enquiring TV reporters on the subject of Islamic terrorists. So a guy gets a beard and goes back to the mosque. Does that make him a terrorist? Seems to be a common thread in the minds of the media and the intelligence services at the moment. But hold on a minute! What about people from other faith communities? Do those embarking on the Alpha course raise suspicions in the Christian world. They do the Alpha course in prisons. So are the authorities concerned? Why should someone returning to his faith roots be a suspect?

We live in a topsy-turvey world. John Stevens, the former Met Commissioner, has been talking about "passenger profiling". He said: "I'm a white 62-year-old 6ft 4in suit-wearing ex-cop - I fly often, but do I really fit the profile of suicide bomber? Does the young mum with three tots? The gay couple, the rugby team, the middle-aged businessman?" I don't suppose they do, really. He has a point, but I can't see it happening. Much more favoured by the powers-that-be is the heavy-handed approach. Do everyone equally. Imagine Elton John and his partner coming through security. Would, could or should they look like terrorists. "Sorry for the trouble, Mr.John, but you do appreciate......"

Lipstick, make-up in bottles, and all dodgy cosmetics are banned in the cabin. So no make-up for the ladies or Mr.John. Imagine again, a hollywood starlet coming over for Jonathan Ross' show. She gets snapped at Heathrow before she can get to the VIP lounge. "See you got done over by the Express, Tiffany! Gotta say you look great now, though!" I don't think any of this is going to endear the authorities to those wanting to look their best!

Whatever happens, we must not let the terrorists win by making our lives more miserable. What if they have to let the 24 go because one gun and a rifle are insufficient evidence? Tomorrow is when a judge decides. It's one thing grubbing around in a wood near High Wycombe; it's quite another getting stuff that sticks. And that could be the achilles heel.

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Does Iraq want a dose of our democracy?

Life under Blair? Well, it's getting pretty much as I thought! This makes me very angry. I hope it does most decent democrats. The Metropolitan Police is very much a tool of the Spiv-in-Chief. Steven Jago, 36, a management accountant, has become the latest person to be charged under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. This is Blair's "round 'em up" legislation. On 18 June, Mr Jago carried a placard in Whitehall bearing the George Orwell quote: "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." In his possession, he had several copies of an article in the American magazine Vanity Fair headlined "Blair's Big Brother Legacy", which were confiscated by the police. "The implication that I read from this statement at the time was that I was being accused of handing out subversive material," said Mr Jago.

Now what damned business is it of any British policeman to utter these words 'politically motivated'? If the cap fits, eh? The Met is far too up a gum tree without any idea of proper policing. The author, Henry Porter, the magazine's London editor, wrote to Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, expressing concern that the freedom of the press would be severely curtailed if such articles were used in evidence under the Act. Mr Porter said: "The police told Mr Jago this was 'politically motivated' material, and suggested it was evidence of his desire to break the law. I therefore seek your assurance that possession of Vanity Fair within a designated area is not regarded as 'politically motivated' and evidence of conscious law-breaking."

Scotland Yard said nothing! They don't want to know.

This is a letter to the Independent

The erosion of our civil liberties

Sir: As a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, which holds the police to account in London, I read with concern your front page article by Henry Porter in response to the police confiscating copies of his article in Vanity Fair (29 June).

The arrest of Steven Jago, who was carrying copies of the article, is part of a tendency to criminalise anyone who annoys the Government, from picnickers in Parliament Square to octogenarian hecklers at party conferences. Even for those like myself who are naturally inclined to support the police in their anti-terrorist measures (on issues like Stockwell and Forest Gate), there is growing concern that the War against Terror is being used before our eyes for authoritarian and anti-democratic purposes. By also giving power to the Commissioner to decide whether to permit demonstrations, the state has unnecessarily dragged the police into a politically sensitive area.

This matter was raised on Thursday at the full meeting of the Authority, with the Commissioner promising to look into it. With members of the Authority as yet none the wiser about how a Vanity Fair article can be confused with a terrorist's manual, I wonder if the same tactic would have been used if Mr Jago had been carrying a wad of copies of Tony Blair's recent speech on Africa. I also wonder if Messrs Jago and Walter Wolfgang consider Tony Blair or Osama bin Laden to be the greater threat to their freedom.

This needs to be dealt with as a matter of urgency, and this bad law overturned as soon as possible.

DAMIAN HOCKNEY
LEADER, ONE LONDON PARTY LONDON
ASSEMBLY, CITY HALL, LONDON SE1

Tony Blair as Prime Minister has been nothing other than a democracy killer! Little or no cabinet government, the House of Commons traduced, and a bunker mentality in Downing Street. Iraqis please take note.

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The Milky Bar Kid

I remember the late Eric Heffer MP lambasting the new craze for "global brands". "I'm not saying Ness-Lay!" The old world of Nestles was making way for Ness-Lay!!

I've just seen the original Milky Bar Kid on a reworked TV advert! The voice-over comes in quickly to eradicate any memories. I don't think it sounds as good.

Global branding is good in some ways but it does have a slight tinge of big brother about it. Definitely no subsidiarity with these universal corporations.

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When it's time to go

Labour MP Rosie Cooper has been enquiring whether or not Lady Thatcher will get a state funeral. Blair ran this one up his tacky flagpole some while ago, but now appears double-minded. Nothing new there then! Personally, I don't think prime ministers should get state funerals unless they were unifying leaders during a national crisis, such as a war.

Ms Cooper says "There is still a negative reaction to Lady Thatcher in the north of England. Her policies had a dramatic impact on life in the North. She is not revered in the areas which suffered most during her tenure." Does Ms Cooper really think re-electing the Callaghan government in 1979 would have advantaged the country one jot. We'd probably have been a decade and a half behind every other country. Sick man of Europe? We'd have vomited ourselves stupid!

Train strikes, Arthur Scargill scoffing more sandwiches than was good for him in No.10, prices and incomes policies, and the rest. Oh, and the Falklands now the Malvinas. Patriotic bunch those unreconstructed socialists. Red flag? Always a bit of the traitor in the beliefs, I thought.

No, Ms Cooper, the North of England would have been as if Ena Sharples was still holding court!

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Terrorist Tactics

Today the UK has been subjected to a whole mixture of news coverage, patience, and relief. Again we awoke to be told on the radio and TV that "terrorists" had threatened to commit unspeakable mayhem. Why? Because, as one professor in Chicago said "they are angry men".

My thoughts today have been that the authorities have behaved well. They have bent over backwards to tell us all that they reasonably can. They have been united politically. The day seemed to pan out well in his respect.

However, it is the long suffering traveller that gets it. No hand luggage that cannot be seen through clear bags. So all your tampons, sanitary wear, dentures, suppositories and whatever are rattling around in a cheap looking supermarket bag. You can't take a mobile phone, so forget your roaming charges. You can't take your specs' case so your designer glasses could well end up all scratched if not attached to your nose! And tasting baby milk? What of those who've expressed their own? Oh, boy! Aren't these terrorists s**t?

Sky News, always keen to be outsmarting the Metropolitan Police's press office, said that the "home grown" terrorists, all of Pakistani origin, had been rounded up. Apparently they had been under surveillance since December last.What went through the minds of the spooks watching them. Surely not that these were the finest of citizens? Why are these newly-bearded fanatics, who profess peace to their families and friends, yet harbour hatred and malice, allowed to continue with this nonsense. Surely it is time for those Muslims who are against this madness to stand up and be counted.

This week Channel 4 showed Jon Snow talking to Muslims in Britain. Not many moderate Muslims on show, I noticed. How depressing it all was. The "English" were depicted as depraved, sexually aberrant, with a penchant for Islamophobia. They kept saying that Islam rejected these "values". I've never heard a priest or rabbi, teacher or minister, preacher or pastor say that any of the things that were held against non-Muslims should stand as canons of the Faith!

Some years ago a Pakistani said to me, "You f****d our country, so we're here to f**k yours". I have been convinced for a long time that there have been two sections of immigrant-based community. The integrated and the separatists. It is the separatists that are harbouring these terrorists, that hold the view that 9/11 was inspired by Bush, and that the British Isles are in need of conversion. Sharia law in London? You need to be kidding.

So instead of worrying about the baby milk, the government needs to be addressing the anger in the separatist communities. Otherwise we are all in for a long haul with this!

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Regional dissembling!

An MP has recently said that he was "incandescent with rage" over a decision by a regional assembly that has delayed a £101m dualling improvement scheme on the A11 between Fiveways and Thetford - regarded as the most dangerous stretch of road in the area. Why the delay? Apparently the East of England Regional Assembly's chief executive Brian Stewart has been economic with the truth, saying his quango is not responsible. Being a quango head these days seems to allow a "not me, mate" response to be the mainstay of the job! However, the Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman confirmed that the dualling project had been put back beyond 2011 - instead of starting in 2008 - on the assembly's recommendation. Oh dear Mr.Stewart! Fit for purpose? I don't think so.

Richard Spring, MP for Suffolk West, complained: "This makes a mockery of democracy. This is an issue of an unelected assembly riding roughshod over the wishes of the electorate."

I'd say so. Why on earth these timeservers are allowed to meddle in such matters I do not know. Well, actually, I do, it's those busybodies in Brussels, who give the likes of Mr.Stewart his gravy train's uniform, so that he can run around quangoing all day.

Any sense in it all?

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Mobile phone death driver jailed

"Anyone wanting an illustration of using mobile phones in a vehicle only has to look at the facts of this case. You struck a vehicle driving a 7.5 ton lorry. It ran over the back of it and it was crushed and became half its length and unrecognisable. This was because your attention was distracted. You did not see the signs ahead. You did not see the queues ahead."

So said Recorder Michael Brodrick of lorry driver John Payne, 31, who was using his mobile phone just before he smashed into a stationary car and killed a 23-year-old woman! He has been jailed for four years.

I would hope this is a salutory lesson to all. Whilst walking around, I see on a daily basis in Solihull people using mobile phones - BMWs, SUVs, white van drivers, young women in sports cars - all sorts, driving as if it didn't matter. I've even remonstrated with some (at traffic lights,etc). Do they mind? Not in the slightest!

I guarantee that if you walk about your local town, you will see about two every ten minutes (assuming there's a steady flow of traffic) and they all seem oblivious of their social responsibilities.

Well, there's a jailbird now, John Payne, who has got a couple of years to reflect on his criminal stupidity. And of the woman he hit? Let's not forget that Trinity Taylor died after suffering massive chest and head injuries.

So anyone out there rushing around in a tailspin, trying to chat to whoever, remember that the gas guzzler you've got is a potential killing machine. And I know that it's no joke using a pedestrian crossing when a flash git in a sports car slams on the brakes because he's talking on a mobile with his mind OFF the road!

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Tory Toffs?

The priggish Labour MP for Worcester, Michael (Mike) Foster has said of his newly selected opponent "Robin Walker is a Tory toff. But it is seats like Worcester which will determine the complexion of the next government." Mr.Walker is the son of Peter Walker, one of Mrs.Thatcher's cabinet.

If Foster thinks Robin Walker is a toff, what does that make our Prime Minister, a Fettes boy? Michael Howard, a grammar school boy said he wouldn't take lessons from a public school boy!

I suggest the voters of Worcester put inverted snobbery (a New Labour pastime!) out of their minds and vote for the candidate that will bring this country back from its present South Sea Bubble experience. With pensions going nowhere, private debt and bankruptcy soaring, NHS Trusts cooking the books, water running down the streets and a foreign policy that definitely is not ethical, would anyone vote for a New Labour zombie?

Mr.Robin Walker will be a good match for Mr.Foster!

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Walter Wins the Day!

Walter Wolfgang, the heckler ejected from last year's Labour conference, has been elected to the party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC). This is just the tonic we all need, whether we are Labour or not. Personally, I wouldn't have the stomach for it all, much preferring the less government approach of the conservative side of politics. However, Walter has proved his point and I for one think his election is great.

The New Labour nightmare, set up by those arch-control freaks Campbell and Mandelson, with Blair grinning his approval was like a genie gone mad once let out of the bottle. I saw Campbell on the TV at the weekend being his usual pervy self, slyly commenting on David Cameron as being a man with all the sound-bites but no policy content. He's a fine one to talk! His babbling airhead protege is supreme when it comes to sound-bites and no policy.

We now have a Prime Minister fumbling around in Downing Street trying to repair his clumsy approach to the whole of the Middle East. Why doesn't he just go on holiday at let those more experienced in diplomacy get on with the job. Begs the question why he ever sacked Jack Straw!

Walter, aged 83, said the rough way he was treated in Brighton had "woken people up" to Labour's "control freakery" and the NEC result was "partially a result of that", he added. Let's hope the Labour Party members have realised that Blair has given them nothing but spin and blather!

Walter goes from heavy-handed (and somewhat brutal) ejection to smooth-paced election. Let's hope he gets to wipe the grin off the face of the Spiv-in-Chief!

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Please, Mr.Teacher, why are you not clever?

Here's a silly man! Simon Smith, a teacher from Essex, said it was important to avoid a culture which "mocks being clever". He told the Professional Association of Teachers' conference in Oxford that teachers should stop calling bright pupils "clever" for fear they might not be considered "cool" by classmates. Instead they should refer to academic high-achievers as "successful"!

A government spokesman said it was "not the brightest idea we have heard". Absolutely true, and it is because of people like Mr.Smith that the country is so intellectually challenged. There should be a correctional centre for dotty-minded teachers. And just why does he think that this dumbing-down, which is so prevalent today, be seen as a seal of approval so that classmates can determine what is cool or not?

Simon Smith and his amazing prancing brain!

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There'll always be an England

You would think so, wouldn't you? Not so with these amateur cartographers in action!

The EU seemed to be ignorant about Yorkshire and cut large chunks out of the county in their 1971 carve-up. The Lincolnshire Poacher would have to take a compass out at nights just to remember where he actually was! But in their eagerness they were kind to Lancashire.

Not so Prescott! With the South-East he linked Oxford with Dover. Interesting that ITV were not told and put Oxford in the Midlands. There must be any number of regional maps, some based on counties, others on post codes, and even some on telephone areas.

But the one they like best is the one that keeps the gravy train rolling. So Prescott's map is the one the EU took, and the one the "assemblies" use to request their grant monies.

Nobody asked the people of England, of course!

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Wednesday Woes!

It's Wednesday. Woden's Day! I awoke listening to the radio and a Government minister weasling on about pensions. A man had previously been on saying he had expected a pension of £25,000 per annum not £25 per week! He had paid in. It was his crooked employers who had not! This racket is going on daily and the Government has no real answers. They should strike off all these incompetent directors!

Will Hay said in one of his films "These prison walls are not to keep you in, they're to keep the riff-raff out!" I'm beginning to think there's an element of truth in that. Recently, a bank official in Edinburgh was jailed for fiddling his accounts. He seemed to have a good brain. How about putting him to work on the pensions crisis and let the riff-raff do work where they can't interfere with the contributions they were supposed to be handling!

The Government is now saying that pupils will no longer have to be taught the difference between "right and wrong" under draft plans put forward by England's exams regulator. Instead, 11 to 14-year-olds should learn the importance of "secure values and beliefs", the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority says. Secure values and beliefs!! That's a bit rich. The Government itself has never had secure values or beliefs. If it had they would not have spent the last nine years spinning, obfuscating, and generally using weasel words.

I can think of Joyce Grenfell saying "Children! Right and wrong is no more. What is it, George? Yes, dear! You spin your way out of trouble, you obfuscucate....obfuscate, Lucy, er, not saying what you mean.... and you use weasel words whenever you can!"

Life under New Labour! Isn't it great? Oh, and with a national debt of £1000 billion to add to it all!

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A Jewish Jihad?

I think it's interesting in this world today that certain people are seen as more vulnerable, more in need of protection, and more susceptible to outrage than others. It seems perfectly acceptable to slag off the English, for example. You can be fairly rude about the Russians, but you can't say boo to any Hebraic goose!

Mel Gibson is in trouble. He berated the Jewish people whilst under the influence. Perhaps the present situation got the better of him. However, if he had said "F.....ing English. The English are responsible for all the wars in the world" then I very much suspect nobody would have batted an eyelid. In fact, the press around the world would be quick to suggest that there was some truth in the comment. So why all the fuss? It seems that the new secular world order has allotted certain sufferings a degree of sanctity whilst others are mere troublesome interference. Any offensive or hostile remark against a Jew or towards Jewish people in general is deemed beyond the pale, but against an Armenian, or a Rwandan, or a Bosnian, well, their suffering was different! I think being derogatory about any person's culture, race, religion, or background is bad. I don't think there is a scale, with some at the top and others at the bottom. However, critical comment, debate, and discussion must be a fair standard for human activity.

Surely the violence that occurs during wars, the terrorising of innocent children, the raping of women and the revenge that follows is a suffering that any race, tribe, or nation can experience? Does the Tibetan suffering rank lower? The Karen of Burma are being hounded through the forests like beasts by the cruel regime there. Why? Because they are Christians? They are forgotten. What about Japanese-Americans, rounded up during the Second World War by the US authorities, put into camps and let out later without an apology!

Currently Israel is bombing the hell out of Hezbollah. Or more correctly, killing ordinary folk. This sort of action does little to suggest that the Jewish people are prepared through their government to treat with the Arab world. It seems the Jews want to live in some form of insulated promised land. Except that the land they are in is inconventiently situated. Israel has no interest in being there as neighbours. They want to be in the European Union, they sing in the Eurovision Song Contest, and they won't play football with the Arabs so they fetch up in all the European leagues, championships, and what-nots.

Once upon a time the British were dealing with terrorists. Just over 60 years ago, on July 26 1946 to be precise, the King David Hotel in Jerusalem was blown up, killing 91 people, most of them civilians. 28 British, 41 Arab, 17 Jewish, and 5 other nationalities. Around 45 people were injured. The attack was initially ordered by Menachem Begin, the head of the Irgun, a Zionist organisation, and Begin would later become Israeli Prime Minister. The old saying is that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Israel says it needs ten more days. Sounds like a Jewish jihad to me.

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