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Monday 26 October 2009

Sarah McDermott | 17:42 UK time, Monday, 26 October 2009

Here's Kirsty with details about what's happening in tonight's Newsnight:
Tony Blair for EU president? He's not even officially a candidate, but the money is on him already and we don't even know the full job description. The new role, created under the Lisbon treaty, is to replace the unstable six month rotating presidencies. At the EU Summit on Thursday leaders are supposed to rubber stamp nominations for the top jobs, but there's a lot of horse-trading going on, with rumours that France's Nicolas Sarkozy has gone cold on the former PM, and concerns from the smaller EU members about a "high profile" president. Tonight we'll be live from several EU capitals.

In England and Wales there are certain criteria for entering faith schools, and an almighty row about what these are and should be has gone all the way to the UK's new Supreme Court. Is being a Jew a matter of bloodline or religious practice? Do parents have to "prove" an adequate level of religious observance? The Court of Appeal ruled in July that because Jews are also defined as an ethnic group under the Race Relation Act, denying a child admission solely on the basis that their mother isn't Jewish would count as unlawful discrimination. If the Supreme Court upholds this ruling other challenges could follow.

The shadow chancellor, George Osborne, has described the main planks of the government's economic policy as broken. To encourage more lending to businesses, Mr Osborne has called for banks to pay big bonuses in shares not cash. Is this a good idea - is it workable?

And should MPs be allowed to employ relatives? And if not might they resort to "wife-swapping" to get around the rules? We'll have one of the rebelling relatives, attached to a high profile Conservative, live in debate in the studio.

Do join me at 10.30pm.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    The previous vicar at the church attached to my children's school took a pragmatic approach. As a fervent believer that local schools should be for local people, and not those pushy enough to turn up at church regularly, he ensured the rules required "regular" attendance but said he considered attendance on Christmas Eve every other leap year as being "regular".

    Even this was a compromise, arrived at after failing to convince people the rules should give precedence to "sinners and the children of publicans."

  • Comment number 2.

    ...A Cargo Ship, sunk by a former Mafia boss, was recently found 20 kilometres off the coast of Cetraro in Italy. Inside the ship was 120 barrels of toxic waste. However this is only one of many ships sunk off the coast of Cetraro and many believe that side-effects are beginning to show. The authorities have launched an investigation into the unusually high numbers of tumours and other diseases in this area....



    remember nuclear power is safe and cheap and highly regulated.

  • Comment number 3.

    a report from inside somalia. no highly paid 'talent' doing the reporting here.

    see the admiral charged with clearing up the pirates whose navy has been 'stolen'.

    the report says AQ has moved from afghanistan to somalia. are the forces in afghanistan fighting shadows or just the taliban?





  • Comment number 4.






    A Poster on here has already made the observation that the body language of one member of the panel on the - now - infamous QT raised the issue as to whether such behaviour would have been acceptable, to the perpetrator and others, if the same 鈥榙isplay鈥 had been recognised by the individual as being directed - albeit unknowingly - at her.

    I have to admit that the individual came across to me during the broadcast as doing her level best to be as courteous as she could possibly be - IMO she succeeded far more so than anyone else on the panel - and on occasion I actually wondered if there was some form of deep rooted professional affinity there but ....... Body language can be misconstrued - yet it dare not be ignored - and in this instance I agree with the Poster鈥檚 assessment.

    And such observation could be directed toward a female member of another - 大象传媒 - discussion panel.

    On Saturday in 大象传媒 N24鈥檚 Dateline London - always, and decidedly, notable for no input by any member of the GBP - when the discussion centered around QT and whether the 鈥榮tanding鈥 of the BNP had changed as a result of the programme. During the course of the discussion this Panelist raised the issue of the disaffection of facets of the GBP working/non-working classes......

    (Body language is worth - far more than - a thousand words.)

    Strangely .... Fearful, confused and paranoid people question why the BNP is now becoming mainstream.

    I just can鈥檛 figure it!



    And .... Oh yes! .......

    I have occasionally raised the issue on here as to why it is that there is virtually no contribution from Posters, e-mailers, twits and texters (hereafter 鈥楶etts鈥) to the mass of programmes that constantly seek opinion from said Petts. These broadcasts seem to prefer to invite poets, celebrities, HMPs and suited inconsequential telegenics to offer opinion that - pretty regularly - has already been offered by the Petts. Somehow the programmes appear to be so flush with lucre they have have to get rid of it somehow and so opt for appearance fees. (We all know that that is unlikely to change on the basis that no-one is going to shut down the only farm that feeds them.) One consolation for the Petts perhaps is that, although the invited experts are rarely accused of plagiarism, both operate under the same set of rules .... Hmm!

    Certain words are, we are force fed to believe as if we are likened to thinking geese, unacceptable. The p word, the c word, the n word, the afro word and, no doubt, a vast quantity of other words that are so hush hush we won鈥檛 even be told they are absolutely, awfully, totally non pass茅 - my Dear man - until some poor innocent slob has been publicly stoned on national TV. (Perhaps like a certain Wizard of Oz character recently?) Is it the case that - like 85 per cent of statistics - these non PC words are made up on the spot?

    A while back my initial attempt at a post was rejected - by a computer programme no less - for the fact that I had used the full length n and p words in reference to whom had valid options to the usage of the p and n words. I even kowtowed to the regime and used inverted commas to emphasise that IMHO I was using the words in proper context.

    But ..... No!

    A quick re-write substituting 鈥渢he n word鈥 and 鈥渢he p word鈥 for the proper full words got it past the binary arbitrator and no more was said to the best of my knowledge. (Did anyone other than the moderators - did even they(?) - read the post I wonder? )

    Point made I thought, move on.

    And I did.

    Until p15 - No, not THE p word, I鈥檓 referring to page number - in the current issue of the Radio Times, Paragraph One of the article by the well known sage Joan Bakewell ......

    A case of 鈥淒on鈥檛 do as I do ...鈥, 鈥淒o as I don鈥檛 do ...鈥 or is the human race now at the mercy of Cyberdyne and it like?

    And .... Oh yes! ....... Two.

    大象传媒 News 24 is on another of it鈥檚 鈥榯hemed鈥 weeks reporting on pregnancy versus mortality around the world. An admirable subject, and one assumes that in it鈥檚 role as demonstrating fairness and balance they, 大象传媒N24, will do a week long 鈥榮lot鈥 on global population growth and it鈥檚 consequences.

    (No, No! .... Why are you turning blue? You can breathe, honest!)

    A couple of 大象传媒N24鈥檚 assertions ...

    A Mother is 300 times more likely to survive sic childbirth in the UK than in other parts of the world.

    In Malawi (?) three out of four trained Midwives leave to work elsewhere in the world.

    And there鈥檚 the nub of the problem in the less developed world ....

    If 鈥榳e鈥 stopped pinching 鈥榯heir鈥 qualified staff maybe, just maybe, the death rate in other countries would not be so high!

    N鈥櫭﹕t pas?

    It is - erroneously? - often stated that our NHS would fall apart without overseas qualified staff but are we in reality paying blood money to ease our conscience for taking these practitioners?

    Would an equitable solution be to allow overseas staff to come here for say two years to improve their skills level rather than deprive their home country of more durable self help? The argument that overseas staff contribute to the economy of their own countries by sending back much needed cash must surely be flawed in the sense that when ever does cash going to these places ever make it into the legitimate 鈥榮ystem鈥? (OK, so what if I am a micro-cynic by nature!)

    As for the staff shortages that might occur in the UK ....

    Has anybody noticed? ..... We have 5 million unemployed.

    Perhaps if HMG invested in creating a purely practical centred nursing grade there might be some worthwhile vacancies that all these new job seeking single mums - whom don鈥檛 want to be quasi-doctors - could apply for?


    As an afterthought ......

    If you aren鈥檛 entirely sure as to the full words the letters p and n refer to, ask Ms Bakewell.

  • Comment number 5.

    IF TONY BLAIR WROTE A BOOK CALLED: "THE WORTHWHILE LIFE" WOULD YOU URGE YOUR CHILD TO READ IT?

    I would SO like to be incredulous at the latest turn of events in the Snake's Progress, but nothing will now surprise me in political affairs.
    It really is hard to know whether to laugh or cry. Nothing the satirists might write can transcend the life this man, who is a living satire. There is a saying: "Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make mad". It would appear, that when the Gods wish to precipitate the end of a world age, they place in that world a Tony Blair. After Blair - the Deluge.

    In Passing: I heard Sir Christopher Meyer say that Dubya was traumatised by 9/11. Fool or knave? There is at least one detailed 'timeline', with relevant video, online, showing a Bush, far from traumatised, acting strangely even as the planes struck the towers. Traumatised? He wasn't even surprised Sir Christopher! Might you have reason to be economical - selective even - with the truth?

  • Comment number 6.

    from mimpromptu
    Streetphotobeing
    I should imagine you would have seen Rodin's 'Despair'. Sorrow and despair seem to go hand in hand, don't they?
    Rodin is one of my favourite sculptors because of the amazing range of emotions that he was able to create out of stone, marble and whatever other material he used, including drawings as well. In my early twenties I had a go at sketching some of his sculptures, including 'Despair'.
    I shall probably ditty later.
    mim

  • Comment number 7.

    ...They carried signs that read, "The Bedouins in the Negev are thirsty for water and recognition" and "The State and JNF are land thieves".

    One of the protestors, Nuri al-Ukbi, told Ynet, "The State of Israel is depriving people of water in order to force them to leave the Bedouins' permanent communities. The authorities have waged a war to strip us of our land and give it to the JNF (Jewish National Fund).

    The State, through the JNF, is doing everything it can to conspire against the Bedouins and take over their lands in a brutal manner," he said......



    Brown Blair and Cameron are patrons of the JNF.
    so all this behaviour is in their name and patronage?

  • Comment number 8.

    Brown, who could almost be defined as a walking political vacuum, has referred to Labour's need to engage more with the public.

    Last time I heard comments like that was when Blair started the National Conversation and then they tried to foist GM food on us after a consultation showed that the huge majority of the public was against it.

    So now Labour will propose Blair - before an inquiry into the Iraq war and whether it was an illegal war fought on a false prospectus. Not only that but at best he looked the other way for renditions and its hard to believe there was not at least tacit acquiescence on torture as the Benjim Mohammed case suggests.

    Then you just need to add the New Labour failure to regulate and control the banks that have taken us to this economic debacle. He is the man who questioned why the FSA wanted to investigate "perfectly respectable banks" ... that cost us billions.

    Its not just the expenses scandals that have created such disillusionment. There is an arrogant failure to reflect the genuine aspirations and desires of the public.

    Blair is not the right candidate when he could be hoisted off to court or simply avoid it by the use of some prerogative or legal device.

  • Comment number 9.

    'To encourage more lending to businesses, Mr Osborne has called for banks to pay big bonuses in shares not cash. Is this a good idea - is it workable?'

    In fairness he is talking retail banks but I assume the numbers in terms of funds are probably small and this is gesture politics and of no significance.

    Myself I always saw the bonuses as a symptom caused by the failure to regulate the banks. If somebody does not get a bonus but still takes astronomical risks and takes down the global economy nobody would ultimately care what his or her income was.

    Its the fact that the risks could be taken and a Chancellor does not see it coming. Its the instruments and its the risk methodologies and its the need for rainy day funds and oversight.

    The BoE seem to know what they want and that it will be difficult to achieve - they need the political support and not gesture politics.



  • Comment number 10.

    On the faith schools it is a fair subject to report on but it is inevitable that any angle that can be exploited by the far right obsessives will be.

    Why not counterbalance that with a piece that simply examines their ideological preoccupation with Jews?

    Hitler was the state - the Fuhrerprinzip - and overrode ideology and law. That is just as well as nobody seems to have ever understood why he regarded Jews as the Satanic "internal political and economic threat".

    People have apparently commented that the obscene language he used suggested a sexual origin. Given his mother/Geli Raubal orientation that seems credible to me.

    But whatever the reason the far right today seem no clearer. They simply reiterate the same arguments that have no logical origin.

    I suppose the problem is that we have the BNP who may or may not be "National Socialists and/or Nazis" and Griffin who is not and never was a Nazi and won't explain his views on the Holocaust.

    Given they apparently could clock 20% of the public vote (probably just protest but even so) I would think people of race would be quite interested to know what their genuine views are.

  • Comment number 11.

    Why should taxpayers be funding faith schools? Don't mind paying for education but if some parents wish to inculcate their children with medieval superstition they should go private.
    And there will be more of these places with the Conservatives and Gove's plans to distribute public money to the likes of mullahs for their community maddrassas.

  • Comment number 12.

    On the one hand it is too early to panic about the fact that the far right BNP have managed to get so far without really revealing their genuine philosophy - or having it exposed. Griffins arrogance will probably resolve that issue.

    But if some take the view that they are a Nazi party and do revere Hitler then they will probably follow his model in their cult-like obedience to his strategies.

    He unquestionably was prepared to mix politics and violence - hence the SA and SS and attempted putsch etc.

    At present the BNP are distancing themselves from the "unaligned" English Defence League who as reported by Newsnight like hoods to cover their faces and want to provoke Muslims.

    Given they currently can't be in the armed forces or security services - and I assume that continues - there is little chance of any putsch.

    But as the far right seem to dream of a race war could we start to see the head bangers with bombs like Lewington (Hitler obsessive) and Copeland (BNP member) proliferate. Griffins take on the Copeland victims was they were "flaunting their perversion in front of the world's journalists, [and had] showed just why so many ordinary people find these creatures disgusting". The Nazis seemed unconcerned about gays as Rohm was gay and so on but that is typical of their unreasoned attitudes.

    The Troubles and so on was one thing but something that starts to resemble an irregular civil war will need prompt and decisive action. These are people who revel in blood and high profile criminal cases on the news today include the Hitler-revering Baby-P batterer and Levi Bellfield suspected of the murder of poor Millie Dowler.

    Appropriate legislation and contingency plans need to be in place if those that should know do know that they are a Nazi party as though there is little likelihood that democratic forces would lose such a conflict the external impact of such problems for a nuclear nation heavily involved in international finance would be very considerable.

    If not then what do you do with thousands of obsessed fanatics should they try to "live their dream"?

    Its tempting to suggest Zyclon-B but we are better than that.

  • Comment number 13.

    NOWT AS QUEER AS FOLK?

    "Is being a Jew a matter of bloodline or religious practice? Do parents have to "prove" an adequate level of religious observance? The Court of Appeal ruled in July that because Jews are also defined as an ethnic group under the Race Relation Act, denying a child admission solely on the basis that their mother isn't Jewish would count as unlawful discrimination. If the Supreme Court upholds this ruling other challenges could follow."

    Technically its genetic as one is Jewish if one's mother is Jewish as one can't always be sure who one's father is. All faith schools expect prospective pupils to practice the religions of the faith school, but the singularly odd thing about Judaism (unlike other faiths) is that one can't easily become Jewish except via marriage. This, and the genetic bit make some see this as an almost unique evolutionary group strategy or race, rather than a religion. This is interesting stuff if one is interested in behaviour and its genetic basis. It use dto be the case that whilst some of the females married gentiles, the males did not as children of males who married out would not technically be Jewish, a strict no-no for the priest class (Cohens and Levys).

    Oddly, many Jewish people are anti eugenics ('good-breeding') for Gentiles even though Jewish people appear to practice it.

  • Comment number 14.

    Nick Griffin suggested London was not a British city.

    London generates around 60-70% of the nations wealth.

    So these bloody foreigners are coming in here and making the vast bulk of the wealth that pays nationally for our schools and hospitals and so on.

    So Griffin would, or maybe wouldn't as he is right decisive, like to get rid of them and send them "home".

    So there would be less wealth.

    I don't think he did Maths at Cambridge.

    His views that suggest he does not like to visit London could be connected to house price increases in London?

    More seriously there is a need for controlled immigration that is based on facts and the pro-immigration lobbies are almost as out there as the far right.

    Migration Watch versus Digby Jones?

  • Comment number 15.

    #2 BHD

    Just part of the planetary problem that goes unseen when environment = climate change only = carbon only.

    The soundbite of climate change is very easy to be foisted by the media when other dangers are deeper and need a bit more explanation so are conveniently ignored.

    #14 Go1

    What is wealth?

    Celtic Lion

  • Comment number 16.

    If only the gangofone was bright enough perhaps he could have come up with this as a foil to JadedJean's Taz links ?

  • Comment number 17.

    brossen99 (#16) Did you watch Ch4 at 21:00?.

    What is it that folk get from their parents..... ;-)

  • Comment number 18.

    thegangofone (#14) "Nick Griffin suggested London was not a British city."

    In one respect he may be right. :-(

    "London generates around 60-70% of the nations wealth."

    Have you heard of Canary Wharf and the rest of The City? Britain used to be a great manufcaturing/industrial nation. Now it's 80% Service Sector, and much of its wealth is generated by folk hawking derivatives and other dubious . if in doubt, ask Monty Slater...

  • Comment number 19.

    The blair debate.

    Poorly written. Don't you know the first rule of commentary writing is:

    - avoid writing exactly the same words as we are about to hear in the next interview..


  • Comment number 20.

    On Andrew Marr some time back, Tory Bliar said he did nothing for the North East of England as he did not wish to be accused of favouratism!! What is to prevent him holding this ethic in another and higher office, where he would do nothing for GREAT BRITAIN as he would not wish to be accused of favouritism, by the French and Italians!!??

  • Comment number 21.

    from mimpromptu

    I can鈥檛 decide on what to ditty
    For you tonight, Streetphotobeing..
    It鈥檚 now half past eleven
    With minutes of seven
    I don鈥檛 quite yet feel
    Like being in heaven.
    But hope that one day
    I鈥檒l be able to say
    How happy I am
    At midnight and noon
    As if on the moon.

    mim

  • Comment number 22.

    THE WESTMINSTER BUBBLE IS FULL OF MARSH GAS

    Have you noticed how Miliband D is morphing into Blair? He oozes conviction in everything he says. The joke is Miliband D is supposed to be an atheist - HE IS DOING IT ALL ON HIS OWN! What a guy!

    In ordinary places of work, we back away from these omnipotent delusionals, they are so wearing to be around. In Westminster they are seen as golden-boys, and rise to high office. There, in a few words, is the problem with Westminster governance. It will not be challenged by the complicit media, and the rump of dim voters will cling to the conclusion: "He must be clever, he is a minister and goes round the world shooting his mouth off".

    The future is not bright, the future is banana-yellow.

  • Comment number 23.

    JadedJean #17

    Yeah, but got bored with it as you have already educated me, that is not to say that all members of certain races are genetically gormless. I once delivered chemicals around industrial Scotland, the staff were either brilliant or completely stupid, nothing in between. Incidentally those alleged idle British Rail staff were the most efficient and helpful people I ever encountered throughout the UK. The nastiest were to be encountered at Ford's Dagenham Plant, quite unlike the vast majority at Ford's Langley ( Slough ) truck plant including an enthusiastic well competent West Indian fork lift truck driver ?

  • Comment number 24.

    Celebrity Corporate Nazi's Trying it on with the Green Scam Again ?

    Only last week on Newsnight the " Greens " were allegedly put on trial, where Caroline Lucas once again tried it on with the " don't eat meat to save the planet " line. Suggesting that people stop eating meat is a direct attack on our remaining small hill farmers who's land will only grow grass which in turn provides food for the UK human food chain. It is said that 60% of the agricultural land in the UK will only support grass and therefore livestock farming, if we are to improve" food security " we need to eat more meat as a nation. Similarly with pork and poultry, which are often fed on the residual of human food production ( rice bran, rape meal and other by-products including palm kernel expellers ( which milk cows like as a treat during milking ) ).

    It would appear that the whole object of the green exercise is to facilitate the Corporate Ethnic Cleansing ( economic cleansing ) of the indigenous ( low income ) rural population. First it was HGV weight limits, then the Road Fuel Tax Escalator, and now the eco-fascists are pushing for Road Pricing. The greens know full well that the result of their 20% wind power generation of electricity which our government foolishly pursue will lead to regular power cuts. Power cuts in large towns and cities could lead to an outbreak of anarchy making urban areas no longer safe to live in. The wealthy greens want rid of all the low income rural people so they can move out of town into the country on the cheap and avoid the potential anarchy following their policies created.

  • Comment number 25.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 26.

    from mimpromptu
    Streetphotobeing, I did have a very strange night
    Ending up on the floor and listening to Leo鈥檚 delights
    Of his love experiences when still relatively young
    Be it with Marianne or those with Suzanne.

    Whether I twirl to them later or somebody else鈥檚
    Is not quite yet known as it鈥檚 dependent on pulses
    How times will develop from now till the ice.
    I may not go at all, will think about it thrice.

    So for now, Streetphotobeing, I wish you a very good day
    As there are a few things to be dealt with without further delay.
    mim

  • Comment number 27.

    from mimpromptu
    Streetphotobeing
    I've just relistened to Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne' and realised that it's a parabolle of eternal role reversals between the most spiritual and the carnal though not vile, as is never the case with this amazing poet singer.
    mim

  • Comment number 28.

    from mimpromptu
    You know, Streetphotobeing, I haven't quite yet given up on giving Leonard Cohen that hug I dittied about in 'Real Men' but whether I do or I don't, I wonder whether you have any wide enough connections to let him know that my intellectual & emotional soul hugs him anyway?
    Should I be lucky enough to meet him one day face to face I would ask him who it was that he knelt in front of when singing in England the other month.
    I really need to become more practical now and get on with things.
    mim

  • Comment number 29.

    'RACIST' SCHOOLS AND SCOTOMA: THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

    We did have to 'respect' the rights of racists to say whatever they wanted but not vice-versa until the UK courts made a ruling that it was illegal to bar a non-Jewish mother's child from the JFS. If a child is only Jewish (according to Orthodox Judaism) if the mother is Jewish, which is by genetic lineage, that's racial.

    last night, you'd have seen one Jewish authority declaring that this ruling effectively asserted that God is a racist, which 'doesn't wash'. However, it has to be understood that this Jewish 'law' which determines who is Jewish, was orally passed down, and like The Bible, Commandments, and God himself, is in fact just a creation if the Jews themselves. In other words, they wrote The Book.

    That being so, surely one has to ask therefore, is it legally correct (given the Race Relations Act and Equality Act) or is it 'politically correct' that the UK taxpayer should fund 'racist' schools like the JFS, if some children can be rejected because their mothers are not, by 'blood-line (genetically) Jewish?

    Note 'Political Correctness' (including anti-racism) was a creation of the in order to undermine outgroups... to further its own group's agenda.

    Politics. It's a dirty game, and what goes around teds to come around - eventually.

    Mr Blair, does he, and his champions/funders, read any of this do you think? In my humble view, one group is making a takeover bid for the whole of Europe, and the model is democidal liberal-democracy ;-(

  • Comment number 30.

    from mimpromptu
    The Labour government carries an almost unbearable weight to think of in term of loss of innocent human lives which has not until this morning been stopped. How can they possibly insist on carrying on is beyond imagination.

  • Comment number 31.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 32.

    #29
    your words speak for themselves, jj
    I shouldn't think anyone who is a regular here needs a comment from me
    please do say hello to your mates

  • Comment number 33.

    mimpromptu why dont you and Streetphotobeing email eachother?

  • Comment number 34.

    from mimpromptu
    I hope that those who are harbouring jj or simply know his whereabouts have the decency to denounce him without further delay
    it's not just my own wellbeing I'm talking now, it's the more innocent people losing their lives for nothing but 'fun'

  • Comment number 35.

    #33 from mimpromptu
    What a funny name you have, RedEyeUtd!
    We have already but have decided to hold off further e-mailing for the time being as he is attending to some other and more important issues at present

  • Comment number 36.

    mimpromptu, thats good, maybe now you could stop having your personal conversations on this forum and just email eachother....

  • Comment number 37.

    RedEyeUtd (#36) As you probably appreciate, the effect/consequence of such behaviour is subversive/censorial, and stated intentions don't matter. The same is the case with respect to the behaviour of thegangofone. Agents of such behaviour don't even have to be aware of this themselves.

    Good piece on the faith schools Newsnight. Next look into Home Education and frequencies of the sexes by faith group.

  • Comment number 38.

    WILL THE NEWSNIGHT BLOG BECOME STUDY MATERIAL FOR A DEGREE COURSE?

    If ever a bunch of HomSap apes demonstrated 'confusion by language' this must be the place! If only JJ could set up an institute and run us all in complex cyber-mazes to prove the paradigm of the hour (different, of course, from one that will be made later).

    Are we a microcosm of world confusion and incapacity? We are, without doubt, all Apes Confused by Language, and consensus does not seem to distil one iota (well - perhaps half-a-iota) from our exchanges. I get wrapped up in mine, JJ goes too fast and trips, Gango is caught in a continuous loop, while Mim plays 'blindfold-Lego'.

    "There is a blog, in the affairs of (insert chosen gender designation), that, taken at the flood, leads absolutely nowhere. Good 'ere innit?

  • Comment number 39.

    barrie (#38) "all Apes Confused by Language, and consensus does not seem to distil one iota (well - perhaps half-a-iota) from our exchanges. I get wrapped up in mine, JJ goes too fast and trips,"

    I've said many times that C20th logic and philosophy turned to the use of language (verbal behaviour) for precisely this reason, and moree than once, I have drawn attention to what has been highlighted as the source of the confusion, - namely the intensional idioms of propositional attitude (Ch. 6 Word and Object 1960).

    Genuine question, rhetoric aside, where have I tripped? ;-)

  • Comment number 40.

    ?

    barrie (#38) "There is a blog, in the affairs of (insert chosen gender designation), that, taken at the flood, leads absolutely nowhere."

    That's Newsnight folks, it has the attention span of an anarchistic gold-fish and the NN presenters themselves have periodically stated as much.

    Alternatively..........

  • Comment number 41.

    #36 from mimpromptu
    RedEyeUtd
    looking forward to it but you restart first, if you may, please
    mim

  • Comment number 42.

    #41 correction
    I've just realised I've made a mistake as I meant to say that I'm now waiting for Streetphotobeing to e-mail me first not the RedEyeUtd, obviously. Silly me. I think it may be something to do with being tired.

  • Comment number 43.

    mimpromptu (#42) "I think it may be something to do with being tired."

    Maybe if you did as you're told more, you'd find life would become less tiring? Instead of taking offence at being shown to be flawed, why not take the feeling as a first step towards becoming less so? The problem with private behaviour is that as it is not so accessible to the reinforcing verbal community, it is ever so ambiguous/uncertain. There are some good people here, but you are following the wrong leads in my view.

  • Comment number 44.

    #43
    why don't you admit, jj, that all you're after is a bonk? And please do not tell me it's not selfish and 'private'! Bonker off!

  • Comment number 45.

    mimpromptu (#34) "I hope that those who are harbouring jj or simply know his whereabouts have the decency to denounce him without further delay"

    Do you not have the phone number of ? Maybe you should give them a ring and suggest they read the blog (just in case they're slacking) They're Public Sector workers after all, so will have been efficiency nobbled by government BME recruitment targets ignoring group IQ base rates.

  • Comment number 46.

    I am sure nobody with any common sense would have been surprised by the content of the excellent Rageh Omah Channel 4 piece on Race and Intelligence.

    There were the inevitable people who genuinely believed their own arguments but their racial preconceptions had skewed their interpretations of the data.

    There were those who had suffered under the notion that people of African origin were less intelligent.

    But in the end the Flynn data showing the rate of change of IQ results over time meant that those, like Africans, were catching up fast and showed that environmental factors like family and education did have a considerable effect. So these factors boosted Far Eastern students and currently hindered say African-Americans.

    In fact IQ did not absolutely define intelligence but indicated current levels.

    For those with balanced minds its obvious that if you do IQ tests all day you will become skilled and improve your score. Those from a culture where the test is alien would struggle at first. So results will skew.

    In other words it was just as you would expect on the basis of common sense and the science behind the 大象传媒's "Incredible Human Journey".

    Most racial differences are cosmetic and there has not been enough time in evolutionary terms for humanity to diverge significantly.

    Thats why you don't come across remote islands where the human population has sprouted wings n'all.

    Therefore the Nazi conception of the Master Race and eugenics to keep the race pure has a level of intelligence behind that probably is closer to the Heck Cow, Hitlers symbol of racial purity, than to any far sighted genius.

    As for the preoccupation with Jews by the far right (you don't have to read the far right posters on this page too often before you come across regular hints and diatribes that are just about legal) it has always been a kind of mystical truth to the far right.

    As an example on this page you will find from time to time "statistics" that are intended to show the same conception of Jewish hegemony as proposed by the addled Hitler. But no real hard evidence.

    The same concept lies behind the "proof" that the Holocaust did not happen - but the difference is that you know because they don't offer those statistics to courts like the Djemjanjuk trial or to rebut Nuremburg they do actually understand that there is no basis in fact for what they say.

    Its why Griffin mumbles that he can't explain his previous or current Holocaust views - because there is no factual basis to what he says and there is no factual basis for his racial views.

    Given the current climate the 大象传媒, and perhaps Newsnight, should consider following the Rageh Omah lead in illuminating the baseless propaganda of the twisted far right.

  • Comment number 47.

    just think of Blair as a EU President Bush and that should put the kybosh on giving him any power?

    blair trashed the uk. what is patriotic about his acts?

    Moral values?

    all they want is the public money without interference? end the money.

    Relativity

    most industries would collapse if they couldn't employ relatives?

  • Comment number 48.

    #43 jaded_Jean

    "The problem with private behaviour is that as it is not so accessible to the reinforcing verbal community, it is ever so ambiguous/uncertain. There are some good people here, but you are following the wrong leads in my view."

    When the "reinforcing verbal community" have notions that Hitler was a good chap and the Holocaust was "made up to put people off statists" and the BNP and eugenics is the way forward then I think you will find there is a much larger community that would reinforce a different view.

    The huge majority of the people who vote vote for democratic parties and individuals whose values fly in the face of your views.

    The current BNP status relies on the issue of immigration and their not revealing what they really are and stand for as its nonsense intellectually and morally reprehensible to boot.

    No other political party in British history has shown such cowardice in failing to put forward its genuine views.

    That is a tacit admission of defeat before the battle really even begins.

  • Comment number 49.

    #38 barriesingleton

    "Are we a microcosm of world confusion and incapacity?"

    No you and Jaded_Jean are a microcosm of far right confusion and incapacity.

    Thats why your Jaded_Jean does not understand the simple truths of the Incredible Human Journey and the Rageh Omah Race and Intelligence. The racial views have no grounding in scientific consensus and relies on a jackdaw selection of individuals with skewed personal views.

    The far right always has a stab at the Goebbels/Hitler model of the "genius" and the crowd induced to see "genius" via peer pressure as with the Nuremburg rallies. I don't see the world buying Jaded_Jean as a great intellectual.

    If I am in a loop it is purely to counter the Lord Haw Haw stuck record of the "good people" from the far right who see racial policies and eugenics and Hitler as a way forward.

    If that causes discomfort for those who try to induce far right ideology via propaganda whilst flying from the facts - like the Holocaust "agnosticism" - then I am ever so glad.

    Its a pleasure in fact.

  • Comment number 50.

    mimpromptu (#44) "why don't you admit, jj, that all you're after is a bonk?"

    Clearly I am most ignorant where it comes to Polish courtship rituals!

    In the UK, 'bonkers' tends to mean 'a bit unhinged'. As I have said several times before, I am just not that way inclined. Do Polish people generally try to lure potential mates by being very critical of them? is that what was going on in the 1930s? Did the Germans just get the wrong end of the stick?

  • Comment number 51.

    #18 jaded_Jean

    "Have you heard of Canary Wharf and the rest of The City? Britain used to be a great manufcaturing/industrial nation. Now it's 80% Service Sector, and much of its wealth is generated by folk hawking derivatives and other dubious Financial Services. if in doubt, ask Monty Slater..."

    Thats the point.

    What would the far right do once they create a vacuum as the banks all clear off?

    The economic outlook of the BNP can't be taken seriously as they don't have a defined philosophical outlook.

    They aren't a Nazi Party and so clearly - it is presumed - don't share your nonsensical National Socialist views.

    Nationalist and "modern and progressive" could mean anything.

    Would they nationalize the banks?

    Nobody knows and I doubt even Nick Griffin has bothered to formulate his ideas as he knows the more he says the more he exposes what he is....and that wouldn't do.

  • Comment number 52.

    As the blog team seem to be using rules that aren't defined in their lists I will have a cut down of a removed post.

    "'A YouGov poll in the Daily Telegraph suggests 22% of people questioned would "seriously consider" voting BNP'

    That means nothing without knowing why they would do that. Out of protest on immigration or expenses? Is it a positive vote for the BNP and if so are they people who believed Griffin and the BNP are not Nazis? If they aren't Nazis what are they?

    The other thing is that I believe it actually says:

    "This included four per cent who said they would 鈥渄efinitely鈥 consider voting for the party, three per cent who would 鈥減robably鈥 consider it"

    In other words the votes are actually pretty unchanged at this time and the Hain argument does not consider that the 大象传媒 had no choice.

    The bottom line is that there is a need for focused non-partisan education to combat the continuous lies in their propaganda.

    Education liberates and propaganda enslaves. "

    The 大象传媒 really does need to look at its moderation policies and implementation.

  • Comment number 53.

    thegangofone (#46) "There were the inevitable people who genuinely believed their own arguments but their racial preconceptions had skewed their interpretations of the data."

    You are incorrigible.

    It's all based on tests and numbers, not on 'arguments', but some peole aren't bright enough to grasp this.

    Parents who take an interest in their kids' education tend to be the brighter parents, and they also pass on their genes on to their (brighter) kids. And peole who form study groups, errr.. smart people, good genes. Capice?

    On the other hand, some of the people in the last third of the programme didn't seem to have watched or remembered the first third of the programme on heritability! Maybe they were just a bit less smart eh, aka a few polymorphisms in a QTL short of a higher IQ?

    Still, looks like the reporter has been reading the blogs and articles in recent times eh? The first 2/3 wsn't too bad. Some progress...

    A . Then go see how California is faring....

    ;-)

  • Comment number 54.

    Apologies for posting on topic and breaking up your daily bouts of freely publicised intellectual tennis. E-mail sounds like a good option for you unless of course there is an element of ego in this for you all.

    Alternatively the moderators should 'wake up'.

    Anyway..

    Paul Masons piece last night on bankers bonuses should be broadcast on more mainstream news slots (that is meant as a compliment to NN by the way not an insult).

    The way Paul pointed out the huge injustice of 拢6 billion in bonuses to the city this year off the back of taxpayer support was inspired.

    Suggesting there would be a brisk trade in mansions in Provence and yacht births in monaco in january and Feb post bonus season while the rest of us are suffereing a winter of discontent while simultaneously acting as guarantors to the people gambling in the city and buying the mansions was inspired.

    That is what it amounts to, there should be a public outcry, why dont we use the 拢6 billion to build the severn barrage instead and ensure 10% of the nations power supply????

    Come on 大象传媒 get the message out there, the people should be and would be furious at this if the media presented the truth of it as paul did.

    Any chance of getting the above on bonuses to be asked in the form of a questions of our politicians on the next Question Time 大象传媒?





    Sorry to interrupt your



  • Comment number 55.

    thegangofone (#51) "What would the far right do once they create a vacuum as the banks all clear off?"

    They are the far-right (libertarians) you nitwit! Without them we might have had some hope of being more like The People's Republic Of China which is left-wing (read ). Stop stringing words together that you do not understand. It's very bad for your mental health, and will just bake you very very bad tempered like Taz! ;-)

  • Comment number 56.

    thegangofone (#46) "There were those who had suffered under the notion that people of African origin were less intelligent."

    Only because they aren't smart enough to understand what a normal distribution is!

    "But in the end the Flynn data showing the rate of change of IQ results over time meant that those, like Africans, were catching up fast and showed that environmental factors like family and education did have a considerable effect."

    No, all IQ tests are improving. This means the gap is not closing. There are all sorts of reasons for the Flynn Effect, none of which have anything to do with rising genotypic intelligence! Not even Flynn believes that! No professionals believe that genotypic intelligence is rising! In fact, all the evidence points to the opposite. Now, before you ask me why that is so, go back and re-read some of the blogs I have written over the few years or so as I've covered that too. ;-)

  • Comment number 57.

    #29 jaded_Jean

    "Note 'Political Correctness' (including anti-racism) was a creation of the Frankfurt School in order to undermine outgroups... to further its own group's agenda.

    Politics. It's a dirty game, and what goes around teds to come around - eventually.

    Mr Blair, does he, and his champions/funders, read any of this do you think? In my humble view, one group is making a takeover bid for the whole of Europe, and the model is democidal liberal-democracy"


    For all of the ostentatious pseudo-intellectual bluster that you put forward you don't understand any more than Hitler why you hate Jews and you have had the benefit of intervening decades.

    I say that because you always make assertions but never point to facts and never "tell it how it is".

    If you speak the truth then and fear legal retribution then why don't you seek out that confrontation to prove your "truths"? Facts are facts - or you reject the legal process?

    If there is great science behind your views then why not simply write the killer paper?

    If your "statistics" show there was no Holocaust why not send them to the BNP and Nick Griffin who can't explain his views any better than you.

  • Comment number 58.

    #16 brossen99

    "If only the gangofone was bright enough perhaps he could have come up with this as a foil to JadedJean's Taz links ?"

    Jaded_Jean thinks the Holocaust was made up to put people off statists. People died due to disease and Russian violence. The Russians were Stalinists and qualified as statists.

    There is no evidence whatever that the Jaded_Jean view is true and the statistics also offered on Jewish survival rates (too many survived in the view of that poster) could not be sent to the Djemjanjuk trial as that poster is not "an expert witness".

    Therefore if the statistics are not intrinsically valid then they are pointless and why offer them as that poster never denies the Holocaust but just remains "agnostic". I presume that not only is that poster "not expert" but does not see the statistics as a viable defence should they hit court.

    So thats "high end" far right thinking for beginners. Basically just groundless bluster.

    Given the nature of the far right I never follow their links.

  • Comment number 59.

    thegangofone (various) We're so in narcissistically in awe of celebritism, theatrics and PR today - i.e image/appearance, that we can no longer spot what's of real merit/value.

    "If you speak the truth then and fear legal retribution then why don't you seek out that confrontation to prove your "truths"? Facts are facts - or you reject the legal process?"

    You've had statistics and all sorts of other evidence presented to you many times in these blogs, but you just ignore/dismiss them. Have you ever seriously asked yourself what criteria (decision-rule) you use to decide what is true from what is false?

    I suspect not.

    :-(

  • Comment number 60.

    DEEP THOUGHT VS NOT SO MUCH DEEP THOUGHT

    For the record, the person who first reported the Flynn-Effect was in fact Richard Lynn! Note the difference between the rise in posts in the Black vs White IQ in fractions of a point. Now, what environmental effect might that be down to? Might it be dysgenesis wrought upon Whites via liberalism maybe? 'Education, Education, Education', women's liberation and differential fertility? If that explanation is too 'high-end' for some people to grasp, what is that evidence of?

    Whose subversive agenda may that be perhaps?

    One for the NN team to ponder?

  • Comment number 61.

    thegangofone (#58) "Given the nature of the far right I never follow their links."

    Of course not, that way you can stay prejudiced/bigoted/wrong/ignorant.

  • Comment number 62.

    A couple of interesting points came out of the C4 race and intelligence programme last night. Firstly, there was an acceptance that inelligence is genetic based on the identical twin research. Forgetting the race and intelligence issue, does this mean the science supports that the potential for "dumbing down" if the correct conditions exist. Secondly, the programme indictated that SATS are not an indictaion of intelligence but merely a function of education (this is what I took from the piecve on using SATS for the admission policy at Berkeley). I had understood (but could be wrong) that SATs are being considered for use in the UK by universities as part of their admissions policies with a view to identifying potential students who have had a "poor eduction experience". I find it hard to reconcile this.

  • Comment number 63.

    thegangofone (#57) "If your "statistics" show there was no Holocaust why not send them to the BNP and Nick Griffin who can't explain his views any better than you."

    Alternatively, if you followed the links and were not so cognitively challenged....

    Look up the terms 'incorrigible' and 'ineducable'.

  • Comment number 64.

    nedafo (#62) US SATs are IQ proxies. They are created the same way that IQ tests are created. They correlate very highly with standard IQ tests. In fact, here, our own KS SATs are much the same.

    What people need to understand is that in psychometrics items are created which discriminate cognitive ability. These are then put together to create a test. They are age normed. They are indirect measures of cognitive ability. The two broad high level factors underlying general intelligence ('g') are Verbal and Spatial ability. Some of what you heard at the end of the programme last night was nonsense. For decades psychologists have looked at higher functions of the brain and behaviour in terms of verbal and spatial abilities because these are the two broad factors which the sensory-motor systems fall into at higher levels of the brain. These are statistical factors or clusters of behaviours which characterise what we call intelligent behaviour as opposed to more basic vegetative or emotional (older) functions dealt with by lower parts of the brain.

    The psychologists doing this works have a century of research on brain-behaviour behind this. It used to be the case that neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists, criminal psychologists, educational psychologists, occupational psychologists just tested people relative to norms.

    Think of IQ like height. Think of men vs women and height. Does height predict how good someone is likely to be at say the high jump or basket ball (ceteris paribus)? Are men better at spatial tasks then women, and women better at verbal tasks? The last part of the programme was appalling and is a sad reflection of the sad deterioration of psychology over the last 30 years or so.

    Why might the population be deteriorating in skills? Why might what you read in these blogs be more informative than what you see on CH4

    ;-)

  • Comment number 65.

    thegangofone (#46) "Therefore the Nazi conception of the Master Race and eugenics to keep the race pure has a level of intelligence behind that probably is closer to the Heck Cow, Hitlers symbol of racial purity, than to any far sighted genius."

    This was a British and American idea (which begain with Darwin, Galton, Pearson, Spearman, Fisher, Keynes, Chamberlain etc) which was adopted by Germany and most other European countries including the Jews! It is still practiced by the Jews (see the piece last night where one of theirpeole sad it was their only way to ensure they didn't die out!). It is also basic to agriculture.

    Only very silly or evil people go about undermining their own group in the way that you appear to advocate. Or are you hoping that some other group is undermined by adopting your foot-shooting dysgenic philosophy - which goes against all laws of nature? In fact, is it possibly a Jewish 'conspiracy'?

  • Comment number 66.

    I DON'T KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME. (#54)

    Thank god you popped in Jericoa - we intellectuals must stick together.

    Poor Paul Mason, his anguish was audible by the time he finished. But few people now have sensitivity to such human signals. No point in 'going mainstream'.

    PS Jaded Jean: my reference to 'tripping' was just your typos (revealing though they are - of course).

  • Comment number 67.

    Jericoa (#54) "Apologies for posting on topic and breaking up your daily bouts of freely publicised intellectual tennis. E-mail sounds like a good option for you unless of course there is an element of ego in this for you all."

    Maybe you should try to grasp the bigger picture within which what you are told to think is relevant is actually happening, instead of being swept along like a goldfish?

  • Comment number 68.

    MIND BENDING

    barrie (#66) "PS Jaded Jean: my reference to 'tripping' was just your typos (revealing though they are - of course)."

    I thought you'd write that ;-)

    In fact, what's needed here is more constructive criticism. As someone with a science background, I'm sure you appreciate the wisdom of that.

    Thought for the night: were creations of the liberal-democratic far-right (i.e. anarchists pursuing economic advantage). Discuss.

  • Comment number 69.

    IF A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST - NO ONE THERE - DEAF WORLD? (#68)

    I knew I could rely on you JJ.

    In my position as Issue-Taker in chief, I suggest 'what's needed here' is enough people to evaluate, and act on, wisdom received. I have noticed for decades the inability of people - employed in all sorts of jobs - to actually PROCESS SIGNIFICANT/RELEVANT DATA. e.g. The bloke dealing with my brother's council tax, now he is in a home. e.g. Abbey Bank jobsworth, telling me 'you could be anyone' without considering such identifying documents as I had (including 2 photos - not valid in the rules) in light of the low-risk data I was trying to obtain.

    I hold the opinion that, as school is an unstable entity (like an army) it is necessary to 'break in' (institutionalise) new intake, if control is to be maintained. If the inmates are taught rational thought and assessment, the centre cannot hold; invalid authority is challenged.

    As virtually all Mammon-fodder passes through this institutionalising sausage machine, it follows we will tend to get a jobsworth sausage on the other end of any interaction with private or public organisations.

    Blogs are no exception. Weep JJ.

  • Comment number 70.

    Sarah:

    *Is this a good idea - is it workable? No...

    *And should MPs be allowed to employ relatives? No...

    *And if not might they resort to "wife-swapping" to get around the rules?
    Yes, they will probably do this techique...

    =Dennis Junior=

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