Harry's Blog

There isn't a problem of immigration here in the UK. There's plenty of room and the economy could do with a boost from younger workers paying into the national coffers. But that doesn't stop a thin layer of scum floating to the surface of our nation politics whose agenda is based on fear and hatred. I speak of course of the British National Party (BNP) and to a lesser extend The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).

I used to work in Burnley and unfortunately that meant coming into contact with the local peasants who thought the BNP was a cause for celebration on a par with Robin Hood and his band of merry men. Burnley has a high number of Asian-owned businesses - companies run by families that have moved to the UK and worked hard for a better future for their families and in doing so also contributed greatly to our economy.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8076253.stm

Once again evil right wing fundamentalist crazies have proved why abortion should continue to legal. Because a world where they weren't allowed to be born would be a better world.

Last night I heard an interesting report on BBC Radio 4 from Oklahoma. The programme wanted to get the views of folks in the "American heartland" following Barack Obama's first 100 days in office.

What it found was rather shocking stuff, but not very surprising.

Yes we have political extremists in the UK, but they are losers on the fringe of society - only disreputable chav scum vote for the BNP for example.

However mainstream US politics is very strange. People who claim to be Christians can seem to reconcile their faith in a man who taught peace, tolerance and loving one's enemies with such moronic levels of hate it beggars belief.

If someone is willing to fight and die for this country then the bloody well deserve to be able to live in this country.

I'm absolutely shocked by the way our government is treating the Gurkhas. Shameful, really shameful.

Won't someone in the Conservative Party explain to David Cameron that being a sanctimonious bore is not likely to win him an election. Is there no aspect of government policy, whether he agrees with or not, he won't refute with some high and mighty, holier than though, political game-playing rhetoric.

Good God, he actually makes me want to vote for Labour again. Every time Cameron opens his mouth on a subject he makes such a mountain out of a molehill that I find myself switching from disgust with whatever New Labour has been up to, to wanting to support them against Cameron.

Cameron how about a little realism and good grace in your politics eh? Being the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition does not mean that you are supposed to oppose everything the government does in a childish "no, you smell" playground manner. It actually requires more thought and intelligence than that.

Even worse he has a comedy sidekick in the form of George Osborne, one of those irritating little ticks whose lips move when someone else is reading. Just watching him in parliament when Cameron is peaking at the despatch box, he's like David's ventriloquist dummy.

It seems that now the folks who brought you the Patriot Act are no longer in power, they are getting rather whiney about its use. Glenn Greenwald has written a very interesting article about the US right wing reaping what it had sown.

Right-wing polemicists today are shrieking in self-pitying protest over a new report from the Department of Homeland Security sent to local police forces which warns of growing "right-wing extremist activity." The report identifies attributes of these right-wing extremists, warning that a growing domestic threat of violence and terrorism "may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration" and "groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority."

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7847651.stm

It looks like new US president Barack Obama is off to a great start already. He's revoked the ridiculous, and one could argue evil, gag rule which blackmailed aid organisations into not mentioning abortion if they wanted funding from the US.

This rule, set up under several Republican administration, caused countless suffering across the globe and deprived those aid agencies who saw freedom of speech as a value worth preserving of much needed money.

The gag rule wasn't just about preventing abortion. What was so wrong about this policy was that it forbade organisations from even discussing the issue within the context of family planning education for fear of funding being withdrawn. The policy denied aid organisations overseas the freedoms of expression that are enshrined in the US constitution.

Thankfully though now it has been repealed again.

I wonder if this Muppet has to believe every advertising slogan plastered across the side of his bus before he'll drive it.

"Boss, does pro-retinol and plumping agent ceramide-R really hold back the first signs of ageing?"

"Just drive the effing bus baldy."

"Yes boss."

It seems the judges, producers and contestants involved in BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing are suffering delusions of grandeur. They would have you believe that the Saturday evening entertainment show is actually a serious dance competition¹.

The fuss over John Sergeant's poor showing by the judges standards - but not the viewing audience - is utterly ridiculous. Strictly is an entertainment show and Sergeant was entertaining the crowd. The viewers - the ultimate deciders of whether they are entertained or not - clearly love the man.

But the laughably stuffy judges and so-called professionals are up in arms about other celebs being hoofed off the show instead of loveable old John. And now it seems poor Sergeant has been pressured into quitting the show. So one of the most popular members of an entertainment show's cast has been forced to quit. Well done BBC.

Strictly is purely light entertainment. Nothing more, nothing less. It's a hugely popular show with high production values that has millions of fans. That's everything it is. It should not be ashamed of it. It's not really my cup of tea but that's not really important, I'm not the show's obvious audience. But what matters is that the members of the judging panel and the professional dancers need to get a grip and realise the reality of the programme they are involved in.

It's just a bit of fun.

_{¹Which in itself would hardly be the Nobel prize or the World Cup would it?}

Oh come on, leave her alone. So the Bishop of Southwark goes batshit crazy on booze in public and keeps his job but this lass gets fired for something private.

And while I can understand why the swinging got her in trouble, I'm surprised about the drinking. Banning the clergy for getting drunk is a one way trip to running out of clergy. Mad, the lot of them.

We had a note put through the door the other day warning of a particular scam. It involved being told you had a parcel to collect and to phone a certain number, a premium rate number.

This is not a current scam, it was briefly active in 2005 and was quickly stamped on by authorities. Even when active the warning email was wrong. Yes the scam involved getting you to phone a premium rate line. But this was charged at £1.50 minute, there was no instant £15 connection charge as the warning states.

Unfortunately warnings of the scam are being spread once again. I can completely understand why helpful people would warn others of this. But please don't pass it on yourself, because it's not true anymore.

Click through from a statement regarding this scam from the premium phone line regulatory body which you should give to anyone spreading the scare story.

Governors at St Monica's High School in Prestwich have banned the anti-cervical cancer vaccine being administered to pupils at the school.

They believe that the vaccine promotes promiscuity. Because of course, most teenagers abstain from sex for fear of cancer in thirty years later. The stupidity of this position beggars belief.

Let's be clear, this is not the teaching of the Catholic Church. The church itself does not object to the vaccine against the virus that causes 70 percent of cervical cancers.

No, it is the idiotic set of governors at the school.

Are you rich enough to own a Range Rover?

Do you have enough money left over to buy what must be the very expensive registration number "M7"?

Does that mean you have the right to drive around the M25 (Heathrow area) on a Thursday afternoon while chatting on the phone?

Twat.

You know, the following is totally stupid I can't even bring myself to explain it to you in my own words. So instead here is the thing quoted.

Toddlers who say "yuck" when given flavorful foreign food may be exhibiting racist behavior, a British government-sponsored organization says.

The London-based National Children's Bureau released a 366-page guide counseling adults on recognizing racist behavior in young children, The Telegraph reported Monday.

The guide, titled Young Children and Racial Justice, warns adults that babies must also be included in the effort to eliminate racism because they have the ability to "recognize different people in their lives."

The bureau says to be aware of children who "react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying 'yuck'."

"Racist incidents among children in early years settings tend to be around name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships," the guide says.

Staff members are advised not to ignore racist actions and to condemn them when they occur.

I'm not going to get into the idiocy of the stuff on foreign food. But what kind backward red-headed stepchild needs a 366 page document to explain how to spot racist behaviour in children?

Source: United Press International

Heinz has bowed the pressure of 200 sad busybodies who were offended enough by the following advert to complain about it. The reason? A man kisses another man. That's it.

So it's a gay advert then? No not even that. The joke is that the family mother is replaced by a New York Deli chef. Watch the video for yourself.

You know, I'm not entirely happy with the way this planet is being run. Sure it can be great sometimes, the beautiful sunny weather this evening is rather splendid, as is the Smirnoff Ice that's going down very well as an appetizer to tonight's pizza-based repast.

But that really doesn't make up for 22,000 killed by a typhoon in Burma. Nor does it make up for what awaits me on Sunday when I will be scattering the ashes of my late wife Lanie.

Gordon Brown is getting an awful lot of stick at the moment for the mess he's making of the whole 10p tax debacle, the credit crunch and the war in Iraq. People are calling for his resignation.

So it seems fair enough to me that we call the management of this planet to account for what's going on. How can a typhoon that kills 22,000 people happen to fall into someone's blind spot? I'm sure many will be praying for aid for the people in Burma, but it makes more sense to me to ask God what exactly he was doing that evening that was so bloody important.

That's the same question I've asked him about the day after the twins were born when Lanie was allowed to die. I'd like to know what was going on in the management of the planet on that day. We've two children that might like to know the reason one day.

Perhaps it is time for a public inquiry or even impeachment for the management. Perhaps it is time for us to remove the diplomatic immunity offered to deities for so-called "acts of God." I'd rather like some answers.

I've watched the debate on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill rather aghast at the unscientific, uncharitable and anti-intellectual guff that has been spouted by various bishops over the last few days.

You would think that science was suggesting we open up the gates of Hell rather than keeping splodges of cells alive for just two weeks to help solve major illnesses and bring relief to millions. There's more life in the potatoes in your cupboard than these embryos. But there are some clerics who think these splodges have more right to life than you mother suffering from alzheimer's, your dad with Parkinsons, your friend with cancer.

I've not flown since 2006 and have no intention of doing so again. This movie shows one of the reasons why, it's from Hamburg over the weekend. Now this is one heck of a crosswind landing and the plane almost crashes.

Hello BBC News, I just wanted to let you know that ten minutes spent at the top of yesterday's 6pm bulletin on some chimney pots falling off was not news. There wasn't anything remotely newsworthy about the first third of your bulletin.

What was news were the grisly discoveries in Jersey at the children's home, or why in this age of terrorist scares the ginger tosser and his stupid friends weren't lined up against a wall and shot for climbing on the Westminster Palace roof. But we had to wait ages to hear about these issues. Because the UK had gone earth tremor crazy.