大象传媒

"We have an interivew with the Egyptian-born internet activist Wael Ghonim."

Become a pro-democracy activist and get your very own Wiki page...

"We have an interivew with the Egyptian-born internet activist Wael Ghonim"

Do you reckon he'll mention that he and the twitter crowd have put the Muslim Brotherhood into power and Eygpt back into the biblical age?

I do recall the 大象传媒 was a fervent mouthpiece for the 'peoples revolution' in Egypt.

Did anyone else see that Roman Polanski film 'Ghost Writer' on Channel 4 yesterday evening starring Pierce Brosnan who was playing an ex UK Primeminister caught up in war crime accusations? (ring any bells btw?)

Well maybe (just maybe) Wael Ghonim's wife is also his CIA handler...

"Peter Marshall looks at the alarming number of mentally ill people dying in police custody"

Considering that the 3rd biggest killer in the western world is medical intervention by doctors and their medicines - a statistic not disputed by the BMA/AMA ..the safest place would be in a police station for some of those mentally ill people.

Muse: The flick Ghost Writer. I'm surprised Tony Blair didn't sue for copyright.

Here鈥檚 the proof of the scale of the RBS millionaires bonus club that was detailed in the Telegraph last night before it was pulled鈥�

RBS's million-a-year bonus club comes under fresh scrutiny


Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott called for "a really tough line" to be taken after the bank revealed a year ago that 323 of its key staff (although not all in the investment bank) had taken home 拢1.1m on average in 2010. "The RBS million-a-year club looks about as hard to join as the National Trust," said Oakeshott.

That figure has risen from 323 to around 500 i.e. there are 500 more 鈥淗esters鈥� at RBS. Hester was just the smokescreen, the morsel chucked to the masses whereas his bonus was just the tip of a very large iceberg. Watch out SS Britannia!

#5 Quite so!

'The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said the payout represented a "disgraceful failure of leadership by the Prime Minister".'

What, no more on this, or did it dawn it might have led to a very different PM, and cabinet, and supportive media estate?

Alarming? Nah. Simply unique.

Maybe NN could also take a look at the alarming number of mentally ill people dying - full stop.

The Mental Health Service is truly the Cinderella part of the (English) NHS, as anybody who has a family member suffering a mental breakdown will soon find out.

Too many patients of NHS Mental Health Trusts are dying due to fundamental flaws in the system, particularly their inability to monitor their outpatients, record an electronic assessment and a complete lack of a coherent electronic audit system, so at least a Coroner would then be able to track what had or had not happened with the deceased person mental health care prior to their demise.

At an inquest I had to attend last year, the director of NHS Trust in question blamed the Government and its failure to implement a new computer system which would have tracked patients and provided a comprehensive audit trail.

Not for the first time, and definately not the last, that a Government would have blood on its hands, albeit indirectly in this particular case.

#9

Mentally ill patients used to be well cared for (dependant on the staff that is) in large institutions such as the old St Bernards Mental Health Hospital, formally in West London. However, since the advent of Care-in-the-Community during the early 90's as a result of Thatcher's Government policies, the state provision for the care of the severely mentally ill was out-sourced and privatised.

Again as some on here have often mentioned, it was all part of the erosion of the state in the interests of a select few to make money and profits. Many of the old mental health hospitals occupied large grounds in desireable residential areas that were sold off and bought by property developers.


As an aside, during the 'Ghost Writer' film on Ch 4 last night there was a very strange advert (Gov't sponsored I presume) about how to treat people (non medically) that have returned to work having suffered from mental illness. It really was one of the strangest public awareness adverts that I have ever seen.

TAKE A RANDOM SELECTION OF POLICE-PERSONS AND SCAN THEM . . .

While in the scanner, confront them with 'ism stuff', visually and verbally. Nuff sed.

In Newbury, we have a Council scam, netting hundreds of thousands of pounds from a camera performing 'entrapment by stealth'. In conversation with three police, I said I would go to prison rather than pay my fine. They then spent ten minutes telling me of the horrors of prison. THEY WERE NOT INTERESTED IN THE FACTS OF THE UNLAWFUL ENTRAPMENT.

Britain is corrupt, in the widest sense of the term - it takes its lead from Westminster.

D MOCK CRASS Y

Bank bonuses are simply the tip of the iceberg. Add in executive pay elsewhere and the millions coined in by hedge funds and property owners and you have rentier Britain in a nutshell - the 1% who milk the country dry to sustain their luxury lifestyles.

The public have got in a lather over the banks because their money was used to bail them out, but now we see from opinion polls that there is overwhelming opposition to this level of gross inequality in incomes - and implicitly in their wealth too.

The Coalition has opened a dangerous can of worms in that if the CEO of RBS can be forced by public opinion and the threat of a parliamentary debate to not take this million bonus, so could others. The government also failed to use their RBS public shareholder power to vote it down whilst arguing enhanced shareholder rights would prevent excesses in executive pay, (i.e. hypocracy writ large) what of the other piggywigs with their snouts in the trough?

The argument is that the UK attracts the rich who spend/invest their money here, so we can't tax them too hard or they'll leave - ditto banks, who might up and leave. However despite quite large cuts in bonuses at some poorly performing banks, there is no sign of flight, so this argument looks like a busted flush to me, as is the incentive argument that too higher tax rate chokes off effort is not borne out by the vast increase in exec pay whilst company profits & share prices have not risen - or even fallen - there appears to be little or no relationship between renumeration, performance and loyalty.

I'd say that there should be a much much higher marginal tax rate once you reach the million quid per year - and that there should be an annual wealth tax on those with over 拢10m of personal assets. There is clearly a big majority for this and the Tories are very vulnerable on these issues, if pushed.

A few multi millionaires might leave - fine, let them, but we need to use what power we have them to make this a personally demanding decision - i.e. no return to the UK for more than one week every five years, or you are liable for taxation. If you want to retain links to the UK, you must contribute.

And for those countries who offer taxhaven status to the rich, we need to put pressure on them by taxing all transactions moving across their border as the money enters or leaves the EU, e.g. Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, etc.

The 1% must be reined in hard and the plight of the low paid and pensioners needs to be

THE OLD "CHUCKED MORSEL" PLOY KATO (#6)

The dumb politicians always return to the same tricks. The "allowances purge" was such a morsel" Chucked to the proles - while the servile media recorded the bits conducive to 'getting off'. Westminster is still as corrupt as ever.

Weep.

Went back to see what Alastair Darling wrote about Hester in 'Back From The Brink'.
Turns out Hester had actually left British Land when Labour lined him up for RBS (see page 171). The implication is that contrary to earlier reports this was 'New Deal' for unemployed estate agents?!

Finding a chairman for RBS was apparently seen by Alistair Darling as more difficult - but they went to Sainsbury's ....

Darling then rang Fred The Shred and told him to forego his redundancy payment .... but was then told that his pension entitlement was 拢400K a year. This turned out to be duff information .... it turned out to be double that! Darling's verdict in 'Back From The Brink' was to say Goodwin should have walked away at that point with 拢400K a year on the basis that 'Most people could struggle by on that.' But curiously Labour then enters into the extraordinary deal with Stephen Hester - a man who had by that stage left British Land (so there was no need to pay over the odds to tempt him away as commentators have been trying to argue ....)

Curiously too the former Chancellor uses 'we' throughout his discussion of how they lined up Hester for the job at RBS? Who else was involved? Myners? Gordon Brown?

It would appear that various groups linked the the environmental movement are campaigning against the high cost of household energy and are said to have occupied the British Gas offices today. In the real world nobody can complain about the energy companies until all green taxes and subsidies for alleged renewable's are withdrawn completely and the true FREE market price of energy is clear. It doesn't help with the ( alleged low income people friendly ) environmental groups objecting to waste incinerators which could produce 10% of our electricity cheaply thus forcing all energy prices lower. The same principle applies to shale gas an future plans for the underground gasification of coal from seams too deep to mine traditionally. It must be intellectually dishonest for groups like FoE etc to moan about high energy prices when its the UK government appeasing them which is a major part of the problem !

Have just seen this quite extraordinary Labour Treasury team attack on Alex Salmond trying to blame him for the bankers' bonus scandal? Just because he once worked as an energy economist for RBS. Perhaps Labour have forgotted by Salmond left RBS in 1987 on being elected as a Westminster MP for Banff & Buchan ... Fred Goodwin does not join RBS till 11 years later in 1988 ..... can Labour's front bench Treasury team not subtract 1988-1987 = 11? And has Cathy Jamieson MP forgotten that it was Jack McConnell's Cabinet of which she was a member who apparently nominated Fred The Shred for a knighthood 'for services to banking' when Gordon Brown was Chancellor? Why don't you ask Ed Miliband who is in Scotland today whether he will now be sacking Jamieson for poor arithmetic?

From Scottish Labour's website today while Ed Miliband is in Scotland:

Labour Shadow Treasury Minister, Cathy Jamieson MP, said:

鈥淎lex Salmond鈥檚 silence on Stephen Hester鈥檚 vast bonus is deafening.

鈥淭he longer he keeps quiet the more people will think he, just like David Cameron, is desperately out of touch with hardworking Scottish families that are feeling the squeeze.

"Let鈥檚 not forget that Alex Salmond 鈥� a former RBS employee 鈥� backed the deal that broke the bank, has criticised 鈥榞old-plated鈥� regulation and actually pledged a 鈥榣ight-touch鈥� regulatory system for Scotland.

鈥淥n an issue as important as this, people deserve to know where the First Minister stands. They also deserve to know who and how banks would be regulated in a separate Scotland.

鈥淣obody doubts that Stephen Hester has done some important work at RBS, but a bonus on this scale shows David Cameron鈥檚 promises about reining-in excessive bonuses at state-owned banks have proven to be entirely meaningless.鈥�

@ Barry #11 - the government are now going to charge 拢100 per speeding ticket. To challenge it, it will cost 拢120.

#13 barriesingleton

Agreed!

Excellent debate by Jeremy with Shearer & Reeves on Hester's RBS bonus.
"It's a system you invented"
"Why don't you just say that the banks can be taken over by the bureaucrats and politicians?"
"Do you care if he resigns?"
Jeremy to Rachel Reeves

We can now see that the use of the Veto was a complete sham only designed to protect Cameron from his euroseptic right wing that he already knew wouldn't change anything.

He knows there is no alternative to a new treaty for the EZ to survive - and that if it does go down, it takes the UK with it - in particular our banks lose 85% of their capitalisation from defaults by the PIIGS - so the EZ must be allowed to put its house in order.

So today he now says he won't oppose the new treaty and will allow the EU structures to be used to implement it. This is guesture politics of the very worst sort - we have no say over anything, but we have to live with the consequences of what is decided.

This man is a disgrace to the UK - he is the dictionary definition of duplicitous - he has acted against our economic interests and is more committed to his ideology than he is to our nation's future and our influence in the world.

His speech this evening reminded me of another deluded Tory who waved a piece of paper after a trip to Europe, claiming he'd cut a deal, by surrending to rightwing fanatics.

Except this time it's "Peace in our Party" that has replaced Chamberlain's infamous "Peace in our time".

KILL THE BRITISH TAX HAVENS YOU.....

#12 rb

Honourable posts...but you still don't get it imho. a tad naive.

I agree that the rich should be taxed until their pips squeek....but Old Labour lost their chance to tie up the loop holes...namely the British tax havens such as the Caymen Islands, Isle of Man ....etc etc

/news/uk-politics-16567816

"What was the point of David Cameron's veto last time?" Jeremy to Jo Johnson

The 大象传媒 hosts Wael Ghoneim, a so called political activist? can Mr. Mark Urban ask his guest the following questions
1- who gave Mr. Ghoneim to come to Britian and talk on behalf of the Egyptian people, given that his popularity is very limited and confined to the youth mostly between 18 and 25 years old? Although this category of people are the ones who revolted in Tahrir square they are not all the egyptian society
2- On what basis does he and other youth demand that the presedential power be presented to the head of the parliamentary council without elections, although presential elections will take place in June 2012 i.e four months from now

Monty Python's PFJ in Action, what a pity that they choose to ignore the negative basic human rights implications of the CO2 Climate Scam in current ConDem government policy ?

:p Since the so called "revolution" in Egypt, it will soon be ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood. Another Iran anyone?

DAVE IS STRUTTING HIS STUFF LIKE SNOOPY OR BART - EVEN BEFORE THE ELECTION, HE LET SLIP THIS SPECIFIC AMBITION.

Dave is simply BEING GREAT. It is what damaged juveniles crave FOR ITS OWN SAKE. The burned-out disaster that Tony is NOW, Dave will become. Faustus, Dorian Gray, et al, were all relevant warnings. This is why it is so important only to elevate those WHO DO NOT NEED ADULATION, STATUS AND POWER. Will we ever learn? Feudal, party-based Westminster will only, ever, take us down.

DISMANTLE WESTMINSTER - SPOILPARTYGAMES - INSTALL INTEGRITY

ALL THIS CROSS-PARTY FUSS ABOUT BANKERS!

All the Bankers did was apply the WESTMINSTER ETHOS to banking.

Nuff sed

BIG BROTHER INTERNET



The Hacktivists LulzSec and Anonymous, the most-publicized of the hacktivists, along with a growing community of ad hoc cyberactors, have had a multi-faceted impact on the cybersecurity environment that goes far beyond the number of hackers at work or the amount of actual damage their exploits have inflicted.

They have skillfully publicized their outsized, headline-ready cyberintrusions. Their attacks, which are something other than the garden variety cybercrime, have compromised the web assets of Sony, the CIA, Fox News, the Church of Scientology, Bank of America and many more. Beyond the financial damage and security breaches, they鈥檝e created a public relations nightmare forcing these major institutions to go public with what they would otherwise go to great lengths to conceal.

Perhaps Evan should pop back to Wisbech, to find out what the "locals" are up to now.

Richard and Barrie,

"We have ourselves another one" (to quote Barrie)

I can't see anything changing around here for donkeys years, we either follow Barries plan and have complete independents in Westminster, or we tow the EU line.

Or we have a revolution! ; )

THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION - 2012 - FORBIDDEN HISTORY 2019 (#36)

"Prime Minister Cameron organised the false flag incident that led to the curtailment of the Olympics. Off its back, he forced a bill through Parliament (afterwards termed "Doing a Tony" because of the reliance on a coerced Attorney General and a pathetic, glory seeking, Opposition leader) and declared Marshal Law - ruling by edict. On the advice of Sir Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell was recalled to power as "Street Tsar"; he had carte blanche to maintain order . . .
This heralded in a Dark Age which still prevails today - 2019. And the Ice is coming, as predicted, and breakdown of City life is accelerating; the Age is clearly ending."

Anon

When are our governments going to wake up to what they are doing to the workers in this country, labour and cons have both been the same, pandering to the rich by putting them above everyone else.



and this leads to



Businesses should pay at least triple NI for foreign workers, to help pay for the immigrants welfare payments. We all pay twice for everything these days, once to pay the benefits payment for the unemployed brit, and once to pay the tax credits to the immigrant low paid worker, not to mention, lack of housing, housing benefit, hospital and education costs, and child benefit. Why do the british workers subsidise the worlds poor?! Are we to let everyone into England who is poor, it makes no sense at all.

This situation cannot continue it's impossible.

IT'S OK LIZZY, THE LOW SKILLED MIGRANTS WILL BE SENT HOME . . . (#38)



But the high-skilled ones can stay - like the guy in the petrol station on Sunday.
He spoke a whole sentence - I guessed he had said "nectar" so I said "no". Then I keyed in my PIN - wrongly. He spoke another sentence - I froze, and he reset the terminal.

IF THAT ISN'T SKILL - WHAT IS?

#38 lizzy

From this year onwards, students starting degree courses at a half decent university will most likely be taking on loans of around 拢10,000 per annum (拢9,000 of which will be to pay the fees alone).

When considering the likes of an engineering or medical degrees, I think it would be fairly accurate to assume that the minimum debt that a UK student will have at the end of their degree course would be circa 拢50,000. Given the interest payments alone on this sum of money (it's almost a mortgage!), this will put our home grown talent at an immediate disadvantage when entering the jobs market.

The market will always exploit the most value.

This piece is worth reading in my opinion.

Currency Warfare: What are the Real Targets of the E.U. Oil Embargo against Iran?

33. At 23:39 30th Jan 2012, barriesingleton wrote:
ALL THIS CROSS-PARTY FUSS ABOUT BANKERS!

Indeed.



The question therefore being, who the heck are making all the fuss to promote the sideshow, and as a distraction from what.

Especially which media are doing this, why and, in some cases, using whose money in distraction from the highly compromising culpability of those they are promoting in taking opportunistic advantage?

Questions which won't be asked. Or debated. Or 'reported'.

Speaking of questions, asked and not..

29. At 23:04 30th Jan 2012, Egyptian citizen - can Mr. Mark Urban ask his guest the following questions

Guests, and questions, very much are guided by what folk are required to think, rather than find out. It's a 'speaking for the nation' thing.

'22. At 19:58 30th Jan 2012, Mistress76uk - the government are now going to charge 拢100 per speeding ticket. To challenge it, it will cost 拢120.


I place speeding in a rather different category, but am pursuing my MP on motoring 'law' whereby you can be accused of anything they fancy on parking, and to appeal sees fines escalate up to and including court for simply challenging.

Yet for simply hitting a 'computer says try again' button, if found wanting, authorities suffer no comparable penalties held in place for flippant or vexatious harassment. Hence.. no wonder they keep pushing that button.

Just one aspect of unequal justice (in favour of the letter of money over the spirit of the law) that makes me despise all complicit in creating, policing and acting as its servants.

Special guest insights. Where is Johnnie Marbles when you need a special report?



Maybe the solution is to give more children near daily slots on certain media to offer their certain views?

it was always on the cards for rbs shares to fall as the market teaches the public a lesson?

RBS Bonuses

I think it's rather strange that Labour should be jumping up and down with moral indignation now over the govt's control structures of RBS and individual employment contracts for RBS's Snr staff when these all appear to have been set up while Labour was in govt.

But maybe this dog whistle politics has something to do with taking peoples eyes away from yesterdays on RBS's downfall.

#39 I despair Barrie, I really do, I've just been back to that link, and the horrible comments from english people about unemployed english people stink. It's a case of divide and rule here now. People lose their jobs for all sorts of reasons, and depression and apathy can rapidly creep in, it's definately a case of "I'm alright Jack" here now.

Speaking of petrol stations, ours has gone completely manned by Asians, funny that, the english employees have gone, ah, but, it's now owned by Asians. And yes we get grunted at, daren't ask a question.

#40 Yup have to agree Muse, I have nieces and nephews in that situation, I expect most have young relatives who are now thinking twice about higher education. I cannot imagine leaving Uni with 拢50,000 of debt hanging over me.

Wonder if it's free in the Eastern block countries, oh yes they were communist weren't they, wonder if it's still free now tho, and are the youngsters there so chipper and well educated as the older kids who have flocked here to work. Oh and the small matter of earning much higher wages here, than in their home countries, not to mention tax credits, housing benefits and child benefit.

48. At 13:51 31st Jan 2012, Steve-London -
I think it's rather strange that Labour should be jumping up and down

Hardly Labour alone.

So I do still wonder who is teaching lessons to whom.

Certainly helps to control, if not own, the public blackboard.

/news/magazine-16748912

More of those gripping 'questions being asked'.

One would have thought there were several within the building, or indeed studio, quite capable of offering answers from an informed position... if asked.

Wrong kind of trougher on the line?

Wonder if those twitter quotes were all the 'news' there was... or just a carefully selected sample?