Tag Archives: Lord

Palestine Action protester sprays and slashes painting of architect of modern Israel

Protest group Palestine Action has defaced a painting of Lord Balfour at Trinity College, Cambridge, spraying it with red paint and slashing it.

The Tory politician gave his name to the Balfour Declaration – a statement by the then-British government on the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, paving the way for the founding of Israel in 1948.

With Israel now engaged in the systematic genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, it is easy to understand why some organisations would want to protest the UK’s part in that country’s creation.

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Here’s video of the attack on the painting:

The act – which is a crime, of course; criminal damage – has been hugely controversial. Some have approved wholeheartedly, but others have been appalled at the destruction of a work of art – a view that has sparked harsh responses:

This Writer understands that the painting can be restored, so the attack on it was a symbolic gesture.

Whose side do you take?


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Social landlord suspends Lord Ian Austin as chair over social media posts

Suspended: Lord Ian Austin.

It couldn’t happen to anyone more deserving:

Social landlord Midland Heart has suspended its chairman, Lord Ian Austin, after he described “Islamist rapists and murderers” in a post on the social media.

The Birmingham-based social landlord said Lord Austin has been suspended from his duties, while a meeting has been arranged for 14 days time, “in line with rules of the association, to discuss his removal from the board”.

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In an email sent to staff and seen by Inside Housing, Midland Heart chief executive Glenn Harris said that “given the impact this has had on the reputation of our organisation and the upset it has caused, especially to our colleagues, the board unanimously feel this is the only course of action”.

In the post on X (formerly Twitter), which has since been deleted, Lord Austin said: “Everyone, better safe than sorry: before you go to bed, nip down and check you haven’t inadvertently got a death cult of Islamist murderers and rapists running their operations downstairs. It’s easily done.”

Following complaints about his use of language, Lord Austin posted on X: “People have complained about a tweet I issued at the weekend about Hamas’ operations centre being underneath UNRWA’s offices.

“It was not my intention to offend anyone and I have deleted it. As I have written and said many times – including in a national newspaper today – the vast majority of Muslims are just as appalled by racism and terrorism as everyone else.”

Austin was a major supporter of Israel within the Labour Party before being ennobled, and was at the forefront of efforts to smear former party leader Jeremy Corbyn with accusations of anti-Semitism.

Source: Inside Housing – Home – Midland Heart suspends Lord Ian Austin as chair


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Why is the Serious Fraud Office investigating the UK’s Foreign Secretary?

Cameron: if the police have questions for him to answer, should he not step back from his government role until he’s in the clear – or convicted?

Shouldn’t ministers of the United Kingdom’s government be beyond any possible reproach – especially criminal investigation?

Shouldn’t the voters of this once-great country naturally demand that nobody in its government has even the slightest suggestion of dishonesty or unfair play levelled against them?

In that case, given this…

David Cameron’s activities at the scandal-hit Greensill Capital finance company are a “matter of interest” in a wider investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, the Guardian understands.

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The SFO, which investigates and prosecutes fraud, bribery and corruption in the UK, has questioned interview subjects about the UK foreign secretary’s involvement with the now-defunct company, sources claim.

The Guardian understands that Cameron’s activities have been discussed in sensitive interviews with witnesses in the long-running SFO investigation. A spokesperson for Cameron declined to answer specific questions about the investigation and his involvement with Greensill, but said that the foreign secretary had not personally had “any contact” with the SFO.

Witnesses have been questioned on the role Cameron played in promoting Greensill to investors and his engagement with and promotion of GFG, the Guardian understands.

… Shouldn’t we all demand Cameron’s removal from his current role, at least until the facts about his involvement in the Greensill scandal are established, once and for all?

Source: David Cameron’s activities at Greensill a ‘matter of interest’ in wider fraud inquiry | David Cameron | The Guardian


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Tory health minister promised to sell shares in health firm – but didn’t. Is this the reason?

Lord Markham: his word is about as much use as that of Rishi Sunak’s in-laws’ firm, Infosys, it seems.

This Writer has a certain amount of sympathy with Tory health minister Lord Markham.

He may have promised to sell his shares in private health screening firm Cignpost, that made a fortune from Covid testing, a year ago and failed to do so, but he’s not the first.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s wife’s dad’s firm Infosys promised to stop operating in Russia after that country invaded Ukraine – but was still there, picking up contracts, eight months later (to my knowledge).

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If that firm – and the prime ministerial in-laws who run it – can ignore its promises, why can’t Markham?

After all, they’re all in it together – right?

A Tory health minister still owns a major stake in a private health screening firm making money from the crisis in the NHS a year after promising to sell it, the Mirror can reveal.

Lord Markham annouced last January that he was “undertaking to sell my stake” in Cignpost, a private Covid testing firm which made a fortune from the pandemic. But Company House records for Cignpost Investments Limited still show Markham owning between 25% and 50% of the business.

Cignpost has filed accounts showing that revenue soared by 467% to £278m in 2022, thanks to booming business helping firms comply with covid rules. The company has £52m cash in the bank and shareholder funds are up 150% from last year. Cignpost also offers mobile health screening, including heart health assessments and skin screening, which can be done in “your board room, staff car park or a third-party venue”.

Source: Tory health minister still hasn’t sold stake in Covid testing firm a year after promise – Mirror Online


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Cameron says Israeli government hasn’t shown intent to commit genocide. See him proved wrong

David Cameron: he’s made a big mistake, with an extravagant claim that he can’t support.

UK Foreign Secretary David (Lord!) Cameron told TV interviewer Trevor Phillips that Israel has not shown any intent to commit genocide, in support of the Tory government’s refusal to accept the case put forward by South Africa at the International Criminal Court.

This is a false claim.

There are numerous examples. It is bizarre and unrealistic for the Foreign Secretary to claim there are not, because it would indicate that he is unprofessional – he can’t do his job properly.

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But – well, see for yourself. Here’s an ‘X’ thread with his denial and then numerous examples disproving it:

So, if Cameron and his prime minister, Rishi Sunak, have used this claim – that Israel has shown no intent to commit genocide – as even part of their justification for opposing South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, then they are mistaken and this statement…

“South Africa’s case is “completely unjustified and wrong.

“The UK government stands by Israel’s clear right to defend itself within the framework of international law,”

… is wrong.


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Lord Sugar finally discovers the consequences of supporting Conservatives

Sugar: He’s probably not feeling too sweet right now.

I appear to have handed Lord Sugar his arse, without really trying.

He was on Twitter this morning (September 25), complaining about rubbish on the streets of Hackney. Here’s what he said and what I jotted off in response:

As you can see, a few people seem to have enjoyed my reply.

Of course, it does have the virtue of accuracy.


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Truss’s honours list – a “stunning lack of humility”?

Lunatic: remember when Liz Truss modelled herself on a fictional fascist dictator?

Liz Truss is the gift to satirists that keeps on giving.

Her latest insanity is her resignation honours list, which makes what can best be described as bizarre choices, and at worst is, well…

She wants to ennoble four people, meaning she wants to create a peer for every 10 days she was in office. This is considered by some to be an astonishing lack of humility.

The list allegedly includes Mark Littlewood, the director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, who lavished praise on her disastrous budget; Matthew Elliott, the former Vote Leave chief executive who helped found the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which campaigns for lower taxes; Ruth Porter, her former deputy chief of staff; and Jon Moynihan, a Conservative donor and businessman who gave £50,000 in two separate donations to Truss’s Tory leadership campaign.


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BBC besieged – over support for TORIES

“Blatantly Backing Conservatives”: the malady seems to have spread from BBC news and is now affecting all its departments. But can the Corporation bow to public demand and restore its tattered claim to impartiality?

Who would have thought that one little tweet would rock the world’s biggest public service broadcaster to its foundations?

That’s what Gary Lineker seems to have done with this message:

He was referring, of course, to the language used by Suella Braverman when she introduced her silly Illegal Migration Bill to Parliament last week – and he was right.

Subsequently, we learned that the measures in the Bill, and the language around it, would be more appropriately compared to the UK’s own treatment of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s – politicians of that time sent more than half a million back to Europe where an unknown number ended up being killed in extermination camps as part of the Holocaust.

Everybody should think very hard about that – and about the way politicians in both the Conservative Party and Labour condemned Mr Lineker and denied that the current Bill, or the way it was described, bore any resemblance to what happened in the 1930s.

The BBC reacted to Tory pressure the way it usually does – it caved in.

Mr Lineker was removed from his position as host of Match of the Day – and the Corporation lied about the circumstances. First we were told he was “stepping back” voluntarily until he could reach an agreement with the BBC over how he conducts himself on a social media account that is nothing to do with his employment and over which his employers should have no influence at all. Then we found out that he had been forced out.

And then the effluent hit the air conditioner.

Mr Lineker’s co-presenters on MOTD walked out in solidarity with him and everyone asked to be a possible stand-in host refused on principle.

Now, we are learning that sports coverage at the Beeb is suffering even more:

And the backlash has spread into other parts of the BBC.

  • Question Time, which actually discussed both the Illegal Migration Bill and Mr Lineker’s tweet about it, has come under fire after host Fiona Bruce played down the significance of Stanley Johnson beating his wife, in a discussion of his son Boris’s nomination of that man for a knighthood.

Here’s what she said (with apologies for the strong language used by the person tweeting it):

The charity Refuge, which supports women and children who are victims of domestic abuse – and for whom Ms Bruce is an ambassador, made its position abundantly clear:

“Domestic abuse is never a ‘one off’, it is a pattern of behaviour that can manifest in a number of ways, including physical abuse. Domestic abuse is never acceptable.”

In a parallel with the BBC’s treatment of Mr Lineker, the charity said it had also been in talks with Ms Bruce: “She is appalled that any of her words have been understood as her minimising domestic violence. We know she is deeply upset that this has been triggering for survivors.

“Like the host of any BBC programme, when serious on-air allegations are made about someone, Fiona is obliged to put forward a right of reply from that person or their representatives, and that was what happened last night. These are not in any way Fiona’s own views about the situation.

“Fiona is deeply sorry that last night’s programme has distressed survivors of domestic abuse. Refuge stands by her and all survivors today.”

Sadly, the BBC did not see fit to support the charity’s assertion that Ms Bruce was “appalled” and “deeply sorry” for “triggering” and having “distressed” survivors.

Instead, it merely defended what happened on the programme: “When serious allegations are made on air against people or organisations, it is the job of BBC presenters to ensure that the context of those allegations – and any right of reply from the person or organisation – is given to the audience, and this is what Fiona Bruce was doing last night. She was not expressing any personal opinion about the situation.”

Not good enough.

  • A BBC decision not to broadcast an episode of Sir David Attenborough’s new series Wild Isles for fear that its its themes of the destruction of nature would risk a backlash from Tory politicians and the right wing press has provoked a huge backlash – not just from environmental groups but, again, from within the Corporation itself.

The sixth episode will appear only on BBC iPlayer. All six episodes were narrated by Attenborough, and made by the production company Silverback Films, which was responsible for previous series including Our Planet.

Chris Packham, presenter of Springwatch, told The Guardian: “At this time, in our fight to save the world’s biodiversity, it is irresponsible not to put that at the forefront of wildlife broadcasting.”

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said: “For the BBC to censor of one of the nation’s most informed and trusted voices on the nature and climate emergencies is nothing short of an unforgivable dereliction of its duty to public service broadcasting. This government has taken a wrecking ball to our environment – putting over 1,700 pieces of environmental legislation at risk, setting an air pollution target which is a decade too late, and neglecting the scandal of our sewage-filled waterways – which cannot go unexamined and unchallenged by the public.”

The Guardian added that “senior sources at the BBC [said] that the decision not to show the sixth episode was made to fend off potential critique from the political right.

Again, the BBC’s response was cowardly. The broadcaster claimed the six-part series was only ever intended to have five episodes: “Wild Isles is – and always was – a five part series and does not shy away from environmental content. We have acquired a separate film for iPlayer from the RSPB and WWF and Silverback Films about people working to preserve and restore the biodiversity of the British Isles.”

If this sixth film is part of a package of such films – a series, if you will – all made by the same organisations and narrated by the same person, and all to be available together on iPlayer, then it seems clear that it is an episode of that series and the BBC is again being economical with the truth.

This behaviour – and the decision over Mr Lineker – drew the following comment from economist Richard Murphy;

He’s right, isn’t he?

  • Finally (for now), the BBC has faced a backlash against its continued employment of Lord Sugar on The Apprentice, whose own political tweets – particularly attacking former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – have gone unquestioned by the Corporation.

Here’s an example:

Mr Corbyn found an unlikely defender – on a BBC news programme – in Alastair Campbell. And the former New Labour press secretary didn’t pull his punches when referring to any of the scandals mentioned above:

I’m aware that Campbell himself is a controversial figure but he’s absolutely right here.

The BBC is in serious trouble over these politically-motivated decisions. Its claim of political impartiality lies in tatters.

The only way out is to apologise and reform.

But, as Beth Rigby stated above, when crises blow up like this, climbdowns become very hard to do.

What next?


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Lord faces suspension for taking cash from firm he lobbied for

Not a backhander: in fact, Lord Shrewsbury seems to have been open in his dealings with the government and the firm for which he was lobbying. But the activity was not permitted and he should have known.

Crossbench peer Lord Shrewsbury may be suspended from the House of Lords for nine months after he was paid £57,000 after lobbying for the government to buy a firm’s products during the Covid-19 crisis.

What about the Tory peer who (allegedly) took £29 million under similar circumstances, then?

According to the BBC,

The Earl of Shrewsbury was found by the Lords Conduct Committee to have approached ministers on behalf of a company marketing Covid-19 sanitiser products, which he worked for.

The committee recommended he should be suspended for nine months, which is subject to a vote by the upper house.

He was paid £57,000 by healthcare company SpectrumX for his work as a consultant over a period of 19 months between 2020 and 2022.

In 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, the firm was seeking regulatory approval for products including hand sanitisers and a walk-in disinfectant tunnel.

The peer approached ministers, including then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock to promote the company’s tunnel in return for a £3,000 monthly retainer, the committee’s report found.

He referred himself to the commissioner following allegations about his conduct in relation to the company in the Sunday Times.

Dare we hope that this recommendation indicates the direction of travel for members of either House of Parliament who are found to have broken lobbying rules in such a way – with an increasingly-severe scale of penalties for those found to have broken the rules, depending on the amount of money they took and the effectiveness (or lack of the same) of the product they were touting?

That would be useful with regard to that other case, mentioned above.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


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Unprecedented and unconstitutional: Tories want to put people in both Houses of Parliament at once

What new devilry is this from the Conservative government?

Here’s the blurb from this A Different Bias clip:

Boris Johnson wants to reward up to eight loyalists with peerages, but this would trigger a number of by-elections for the Tories which could prove highly embarrassing.

So, according to a report in the Times, the plan is to defer the peerages until after the election.

The problem is that this would mean that over half a dozen Johnson loyalists would technically be members of both Houses at once.

This is unprecedented, unconstitutional and would force the King into committing a political act, just as Johnson forced the Queen to do in 2019.

Here’s the clip:

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


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