Prime Ministerial bullying!

Our parliamentary democracy and free speech of the people is seriously under attack. This excellent article by a Labour MP illustrates the problem we face!


Our PM is nothing but a bully - just ask old Walter
By Bob Marshall Andrews

An extract from the article

Behind these violent and ugly displays of rank bullying lies a profound irony which exposes the true pusillanimous nature of New Labour and its prime architect. In their analysis of the party's electoral failure the high priests of New Labour identified party indiscipline as a root cause.
As part of the cure, therefore, intellectual challenge and dissent were to be ruthlessly expunged. Rule books have been amended to emasculate conference, and sanitise debate. The parliamentary power of patronage has been ruthlessly employed to advance quiescent minds, placemen and transparent cronies to protect orthodoxy and order. As a result, party membership has plummeted by 50 per cent. The price of Blairite "success" has been the near disintegration of the most valuable and influential democratic party of the 20th century.

Sums it up so well!

http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/09/30/do3003.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2005/09/30/ixop.html

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Iraqi Anglicans under attack!

Whilst most people are aware of the struggle between the two/three sides of Islam in Iraq, not a lot is said of Iraqi Christians. Whilst Saddam Hussein was a monster with regard to his stranglehold on government, he kept the lid on ethnic/religious tensions. Now things are different.

Today, we hear that the entire lay leadership of the Anglican church in Iraq is missing and feared dead after being attacked on a dangerous road west of Baghdad. How difficult it is to be a Christian in such lands. Do we remember Bishop Hassan Dehqani Tafti of Iran and his troubles? This from a sermon by Kenneth E. Bailey, author and lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament Studies, Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh

One of the greatest unsung heroes of the 20th century, in my opinion, is my friend, the now retired Episcopal Bishop of Teheran, Iran, his Grace Hassan Dehkani-Tafti. Bishop Hassan began his life as a Muslim. As an adult he discovered the full revelation of God who is merciful and compassionate in the face of Jesus Christ and he became a Christian. Answering a call to ministry he became an Episcopal priest and, in time, was selected as the Bishop of his church.
Shortly after Khomeni and his followers took over Iran, the revolutionary guards came to the Bishop demanding that he turn over to them all the pension funds for all the employees of the church’s schools and hospitals. He refused. In the night they returned to assassinate him, and in the darkness their bullets missed. For his own safety the church community insisted that he leave the country. With great regret he did so. Initially he was with us in Beirut and, like Moses, his face was shining but he didn’t know it. He continued on to Cyprus for regional church meetings. During those meetings the Bishop’s son, a journalist back in Teheran, was murdered. Having failed to kill the father, they killed his son.

It puts it into perspective for Western Christians. Now is the time for us to rally round, after Katrina and Rita and other problems, both great and small, to allay our fears of our neighbours and the dispossessed and to create united communities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4293802.stm
http://www.farsinet.com/ChristInPersianPoetry/
http://www.westminster.edu/Acad/dean/bach2002.html

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Heckling - Is it Still a British Artform?

The treatment of Walter Wolfgang has stunned the nation. This from the BBC's website shows how well New Labour has misjudged the mood and desire of the country.

This is just one contribution -

Mr Blair's time would be better spent re-establishing democracy and free speech in the UK instead of Iraq. The day that open debate is considered to be the act of a "terrorist" is a sad day for us all.
Laurence Anderson, Edinburgh, Scotland

One after another people line-up to say how they feel this episode to be a travesty of British democracy! Heckling is part of the British way! It is a sorry state of affairs that the New Labour clique has almost destroyed it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4292918.stm

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Pulpits, Preaching, and Panties!

The Church of England is often described as a "broad church" meaning that it encompasses the beliefs and opinions of a wide spectrum. Since the Church decided to allow female clerics a lot of new ideas have come into the melting pot. Much is on an evangelical setting. Jan Harney, from Manchester, is keen to explore the idea of panties parties, where Christian women mingle with other women on a "get to know you" basis.

She said that she wanted Christians to relax, have fun and to get to know people before trying to convert them. "I have not conducted a lingerie party myself, but when Bridget Jones was all the rage I know that some Christian groups were holding knickers parties," she said. "To be honest, I am not sure what happened at those. Nobody has told me. But I have held chocolate parties, at which a group of us might watch a film on the theme of chocolate, or make chocolate sweets or play chocolate-inspired games. I also like pamper parties, when we can enjoy a massage or a manicure or try beauty products. I will always end the party with a five-minute period of reflection, a sort of thought for the day. It is a way to get to know people who will never normally go near a church."

Now I never want people to think that Christian people are boring, staid, or don't have fun! My only concern here is that people may get a jolly sort of view of the Faith. For me, as a traditional orthodox Anglican, Ms. Harney's evangelical expression of faith could lack the entirety of Catholic doctrine. The old adage is that the Catholic faith is caught not taught!

However, she gets a lot of browny points for trying!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/29/nchrist29.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/29/ixhome.html

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Blair apology to ejected heckler!

Tony Blair, obviously shaken by yesterday's events, has now said sorry for the brutal assault on Walter Wolfgang. The prime minister told BBC Breakfast, "I am really sorry about it, it shouldn't have happened." Mr Blair said "it is difficult for stewards who are volunteers" when someone is interrupting a speech. But, he told the BBC, there had to be better training for stewards in the future to ensure such incidents were handled sensitively. Umm!? No mention of the right of free speech. He seems so hell-bent on his terrorism laws and his control of the party that he cannot bring himself to state categorically that there will be no more of this kind of activity. Shame, I say!

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Oil? What Oil?

Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, speaking at the Labour Party conference (as mentioned in posts below), said "We are in Iraq for one reason only - to help the elected Iraqi government build a secure, democratic and stable nation." So that confirms it! Not interested in the oil at all. The only reason is securing democracy in a stable nation!

So if we hear of any British official sniffing around the oil fields for information, what should we make of it? That this sole democratic reason needs to be monitored constantly as wandering from the path of building democracy would be against Mr. Straw's emphatic statement!

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Conference Handling - People not Policies!

If ever there was a day of bad publicity for the New Labour fantasy project, then this was one of them! The family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the young Brazilian gunned down in London as a "suspected terrorist", arrive to turn up the heat on the shoot-to-kill policy of the Met. Then there is news of the slowest UK GDP growth in 12 years! Takes the shine off Gordon Brown's future, maybe? And Labour lose vital conference motions on health and pensions! It's all going a bit pear-shaped.

Great Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell is furious at what he believes is the unnecessarily tough security at the Brighton conference centre. He has attacked as "mad and over the top" the way he was treated after his camera was seized and pictures deleted. Mr Mitchell, a keen amateur photographer, was taking photographs of the queues when stewards demanded to know what he was doing. He said: "The police were called over and asked if they could look at my pictures. I said of course they could but I did not want the pictures deleted. I kept repeating that I did not want the shots deleted and the police officer said it was alright because he didn't know how to use the camera. After he handed it back to me I found he had deleted every picture. This is security gone mad. And what's the point. The party has given the security staff absolute carte blanche and they have gone mad. It's completely over the top."

And over the top it certainly was for the pensioner, Walter Wolfgang, who is 82, and who was grabbed by two security officers and removed from the main hall. As a follow-on from the post below, it is now known that Walter fled Nazi Germany, has been a Labour parliamentary candidate, and is well-known as a dissenter of the Iraq war. No way to treat him, though, by getting these goons to man-handle him. One security officer seemed to take pleasure in hauling the old guy up from his seat. When confronted by the BBC this "security man" was stuffing cake into his mouth "Nice piece of cake" he spluttered with a certain sarcasm, as he walked briskly into some ante-chamber!

Mr. Wolfgang tried to re-enter the hall but was detained by the police under the new Terrorism laws! Is this New Labour gone control-freak crazy? If ever we get ID cards, watch out for the police and the Terrorism laws! The police now seem well locked into the New Labour fantasy project. Democracy! And Tony Blair is selling himself to the Iraqis as the democrat-in-chief? What a hypocrite!

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We must rid our country of the Dictator Blair!

I have just seen distressing scenes of an elderly man being manhandled, bullied, and finally ejected by the goons that New Labour employs as "security staff" at its Conference which purports to represent democracy! Heckling is banned! Democratic rights are impugned! The elderly man said "Jack has his right to speak. I have mine". This cut no ice with the overweight bullies, but this degrading scene, shown on BBC News24 and probably to be repeated during today, highlights most graphically the rapid descent into a control freak society for all of us, dominated by the twisted minds of people like Alastair Campbell who have manipulated Blair since day one of his premiership!

Today, North Wales police are investigating Blair for his vulgar use of expletives aimed at the Welsh! Is it any wonder people are wanting to heckle. George Brown, Michael Foot, and Harold Wilson all knew heckling was pat of the democratic process. Heckling is a democratic freedom. But not in Blair's controlled fantasyland! He lets the Iraqis have heckling, but not ageing Labour supporters! What a hypocrite!

He should go now and let someone more civilised take over!

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/newspolitics/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4288968.stm

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