The News Headlines

The BBC should really tighten up on its news headlines. Yesterday I saw; "Police investigating phone hacking arrest 60-year-old man in south-west London." That immediately put every 60 year-old man in south-west London on the Daily Mail's prime suspect list.

This 'rich tax' debate is clouding the issue. A few very rich people avoid paying taxes by using loopholes created by successive governments' attempts at social engineering through the tax system. The vast majority of tax initiatives geared toward engineering some desired outcome have the unfortunate and unintended consequence of creating a loophole, which the astute can then use to avoid paying tax. Sure, the loopholes can be closed, but only at the cost of either trashing the original desired outcome, or developing a Byzantine set of tax rules which require a degree in pure mathematics to interpret. Perhaps we need less social engineering on the part of government and a simple tax system.

It seems to me that as a society we need to accept that a few - both at the very top and the very bottom - will screw the system; however, they are very few in number, yet convenient scapegoats when things go tits up and people want someone else to blame.

I was astonished  to hear a woman who lost her entire family in a road accident say her faith has sustained her. Well, it must the faith that, if there is a God, he’s got a bit of a downer on her. If my family had been totalled through the fault of a boy racer, then I’d lose any shred of faith in a just God. Ah – it must be a 'test of her faith', as that's how pious people usually delude themselves when something bad happens.

In America the race has started to proclaim the next emperor. In later ancient Rome the emperor was he who gave the highest bribe to the army. Seems America is following in Rome's footsteps by the Republican candidate bribing the electorate with a donative comprised of tax dollars. Mind you, it's not too dissimilar here, although it's not so much the politicians who are morally bankrupt (and they are), but the electorate. Or they are at the very least naiive to believe politicians have the answer to all life's ills and that it's as black and white as they portray - it's actually 50 shades of grey.

The greatest danger to liberty comes from those who claim to have God on their side and profess with certainty to know what's best for us in the pursuit of liberty; without fail they end up as tyrants.

Away Strip

What with all this rebranding of schools as academies, they're becoming like premiership football clubs with their penchant for changing strips every year. It costs less for a Man Utd. football strip than a new school uniform.

Next I'll be having to buy an away uniform for No.1 son.

Haggis in Context

Was is Aberdeen airport yesterday. Asked for haggis in the restaurant. Was told it was off the menu. Bit like arriving in Wigan and being told the pies are off.

Context is everything; see a bloke in a skirt and you think it strange - make the skirt tartan and give the bloke a furry purse to hang on a chain and suddenly it's the complete antithesis of what a bloke in a skirt initially brings to mind.

Taliban on the Veldt

The Taliban have beheaded some people for mixing with women and listening to music. They should force the bastards to attend the Reading Music Festival as a torture. Perhaps Glasto would be better - see how they contend with the rain and mud.

As for this lion on the Essex plains - didn't realise global warming had got that bad!

Twitter to Develop Racist Version

What with all the stuff in the news about racist tweets, Twitter is going to have to develop a separate system for racists in order to capitalise on the trend.

Can't help but think that the people who do this are somewhat lacking in brain power, as there's an audit trail that points directly to them.

Hi-Res Drivel

Seems the boffins have developed something called 8K TV, which will result in even higher resolution drivel being pumped into our homes. Good God - I don't even have HD yet and it's already obsolete!

As the resolution increases, the quality of the content plummets.

I wonder if that American comedian, Todd Akin, will win the Edinburgh comedy award.

Double Standards

Some are saying that had the Las Vegas photos been of Dave Cameron, then everyone would have been clamouring for them to be published, thus exhibiting double standards.

Too true!

The difference, however, is that Harry was born into the role, had no choice in the matter and has zero influence in the overall scheme of things - he certainly doesn't lecture us as to how we should behave. Dave, on the other hand, actively sought his role in public life, has a lot of power and influence and is constantly controlling our lives and telling us what we should do. There's a world of difference.

Royalty never have been a model of propriety - one of Harry's ancestors even created a new religion so he could have his way with his mistress. They're a rallying point, a symbol, a flag, a totem. But they're also human and we must not forget that.

The real public interest is finding out who took and sold the photos of Harry and betrayed his trust. Not one media organ seems to be even vaguely interested in this bit of public interest, especially the Sun, given it has been crowing about security breaches as justification for printing the pictures? I smell a big, double standard, centre-page, media rat.

Sun Implodes

So that guardian of the nation's morals, the Sun 'newspaper', has published the pictures of Harry cavorting in the US under the pretence of the public interest. More like self-interest. Nasty, grubby little rag for prurient chavs. You can't help but detest Rupert Murdoch, can you? 

It's easy to tell that the closure of Murdoch's News of the World was just a PR exercise from which nothing was learned - even the journalists were re-employed at the Sun. There are large parts of Liverpool where newsagents still won't stock the Sun following the offensive drivel it published after the Hillsborough disaster.

There are many reasons to publish the photos, not least of which is the fact they are readily available all over the internet, but to use 'the public interest' as a justifiable smokescreen is laughable and disingenuous in the extreme. A wad of crinklies is the real reason.

As for Harry, as a friend of mine said yesterday, you've got to have some sympathy for the boy; he comes from a broken home, his family live on state benefits, he grew up on estates and spent time in institutions. Despite that, he's the most human of the lot, displays typical human frailties and I can't help but like him. I did worse in my youth, but pictures of me in Singapore weren't worth ten grand as they had absolutely no chance of boosting a newspaper's circulation.

Mensch and Womensch

Apropos of yesterday's post about Assange, I hear Louise Mensch has attacked George Galloway's entirely sensible (in my opinion) comments on the Assange case and suggested that the Justice Minister should be a woman in order to combat crimes against women.

That's about as sensible as saying the Justice Minister should be a pensioner to combat crime on pensioners - oh, hang on, he is.

Assange

This Assange case is confusing me.

• He's not been officially charged with any crime and yet a European Arrest Warrant has been issued.
• Notwithstanding the above, I have read that he cannot be charged before being arrested, which can only be done in Sweden.
• He made himself available for questioning while still in Sweden, an offer that was inexplicably refused at the time and has not been addressed.
• Due process has not been followed in Sweden - that's from Sven-Erik Alhem, a previous Swedish public prosecutor - an example being that both accusers were interviewed together, rather than separately; that alone allows for contamination of oral evidence. Not only that, but Assange's name was released to the press - another contravention of due process.
• The allegations were made long after the events, and the accusers 'appear' to have been persuaded to make the accusations, as they previously stated that sex was consensual.
• Assange has offered to be interviewed in the UK - an offer that was also refused without any reason being given.There are many precedents of accused being interviewed abroad by Swedish authorities.
• Any cursory reading of the history of Sweden's rape laws shows they are out of control and driven by a feminist agenda in which the presumption of innocence has gone.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark - or rather Sweden - and the whole case reeks of political interference. Sweden and the US are closely tied at political level.

What also concerns me is that the UK media and establishment seems to have come out against Assange despite all the questions that remain to be answered. It's almost as if once the question of rape comes into the frame, it's heresy not to toe the feminist line.