The great publicity stunt and photo-opportunity called "Harry's Game" is over. The BBC has killed two birds with one stone, combining it's regular PR jobs of boosting the monarchy and running a recruiting campaign disguised as a series.
I was intrigued to see that the star was sporting a cap displaying the US flag. Was that part of a subtle campaign to sell the virtual reality show to the Yanks? Or was it subliminal request for a transfer?

The BBC is putting out a programme about the "invisible" white working class. The BBC cares about the white working class? "My Arse" (Jim Royle). What are they up to? Working class individuals are consigned the role of a comedy act on the television. In numbers we are portrayed as a threat. That is how the middle class have always seen us, and their prejudices have been fed by the media.
Even after it became unacceptable tho portray black people, people with foreign accents, and homosexuals, in an insulting manner, the proletariat were still legitimate targets. Of course the current party line is that "we're all middle class now". We mustn't talk of a working class, a class with common interests which, if advanced, will adversely affect the privileged classes. So we use words like "chav" when denigrating the majority, and our rulers speak in hushed tones of "the underclass".
Has there been a change of heart at the BBC? I don't think so, but in this age of the fat cat, the non-dom, the bloated bonuses, the kleptocrats, the unchecked politicians' expense claims, the attentions of the downtrodden must be diverted. If the white working class is "invisible" the implication is that the non-white working class is not. They are high profile, attracting the attention of the "do-gooders"; making their way to the front of the queue and gaining access to a bottomless public purse.
As if the programme makers gave a toss about us. They didn't before, so why now?

William F. Buckley, brown bread. That's one less cheerleader of racism, one less opponent of democracy. Like the Nazis "Mr. Fbuckley" (Lily Tomlin) believed in the right of an élite - to which he belonged of course - to rule over the ignorant masses. Gore Vidal called him a crypto-nazi, though he later said he meant to call him a crypto-fascist.
I learn he had a son though I've yet to see any mention of a wife. I always thought he was a closet gay as well as a (not very) closet fascist, the homophobe's homo. He once stated that gay men should have an AIDS warning tattooed on their buttocks. I suppose any careful bugger would agree with that.

Man Bites Back
More than a hundred lawyers have resigned from the Independent (sic) Police Complaints Commission. Among their reasons they cite:
"a pattern of favouritism towards the police with some complaints being rejected in spite of apparently powerful evidence in their support;"
and
"cases of indifference and rudeness towards complainants;"

I wonder if anyone is surprised that even the people who must once have believed in and supported this blind and toothless watchdog have given up in disgust. Will anything be done to put things right? Well, I imagine recruiting policy reforms are in the pipeline, reforms that will ensure a more amenable staff replaces the recalcitrants.

At all times, the band congratulate themselves on their raw courage in espousing human rights. "Is this a time for keeping your mouth shut?" roars Bono at one stage. Well, given it was only the Dixie Chicks and not U2 who risked record sales by explicitly opposing the Iraq war, it would seem that in Bono's case the answer is, erm, yes.

Well put, Peter Bradshaw. God, how I despise Nobo, that poseur pur sang.

... and that's why ASBOS were born.


ORGANIZED RAGE: A tale of a Homeless man, the British Airport Authority PLC, and an ASBO.

"Kosovo Declares Independence" (BBC website)
What took them so long? Were they waiting for permission from Washington?
Step two accomplished; step one was to create an autonomous Kosovo, officially remaining a region of Serbia. Step three is incorporation into Albania proper. Then it's on to Montenegro and Macedonia. The Albanian expansion will stop when the Americans order a halt. If they get the bit in their collective teeth and decide continue the Lebensraum policy without US backing it may be necessary stick the "Axis of Evil" label on the country and start the bombing. There are, by some accounts, plenty of Wahhabi propagandists in the country sponsored by the Saudi rulers, spreading their fundamentalist poison. The dodgy dossiers are probably in storage in case they are needed.

"Town air makes free" was the old German saying; a serf in the country but a freeman in the town. Russian gangsters have a similar saying, "London air makes dissident".

So who killed Mughniyah? Nobody seems to know. The Israelis are hoping to get the credit as this would mean that they can carry out their operations in Damascus. But if it had been them the details would have been linked to their favoured propagandists for dissemination.I don't think it was the Israelis or the Americans. So was it the Syrians themselves, or was it "gang-related"? After all Mughniyah was just a gangster with slogans.

How strange that our government is able to block access to the internet for people who illegally download music and films, but cannot block perverts who download child pornography. Now let me think - downloading music and films cuts into big business's profits, downloading porn increases big business's profits. Not strange at all, just capitalism a work.

"It would appear that culture is increasingly bound to the political priorities of the US/EU nexus. The West is blind to Palestinian suffering. The Israeli war on Lebanon, the daily reports from the Gaza ghetto do not move official Europe. In France, we know, it is virtually impossible to criticise Israel. In Germany, too, for special reasons. It would be sad if Italy went the same way. How many times do we have to stress that criticism of Israel's colonial policies is not anti-semitic. To accept this is to become willing victims of the blackmail the Israeli establishment uses to silence its critics. There are some courageous Israeli critics like Aharon Shabtai, Amira Hass, Yitzhak Laor and others who will not permit their voices to be muffled in this fashion. Shabtai refused to attend this fair. How could I do otherwise."
Tariq Ali gives his reasons for turning down an invitation to the Turin Bookfair. The organisers have invited 30 Israeli authors and NO (zero, mahad ) Palestinian authors.

There have been moves afoot by the Usual Suspects, "business friendly" New Labour apparatchiki and private sector infiltrators, to nobble the the National Blood Service (NBS). Their initial plan involved cutting the number of blood testing laboratories from 13 to three, and getting rid of 600 staff members. This managerial butchery is called "reconfiguration", a term which doesn't suggest debilitating the service to the point of ineffectiveness. Neither does "reform" mean privatisation, except in the mealy mouths of politicians.
The 13 NBS centres dotted about the country from Newcastle to Bristol were to be replaced by three, in Manchester, Bristol, and Colindale in North London. With less staff and fewer testing sites the service would no doubt become unable to cope with the workload, and the cry would go up, "Inefficient! Privatise!"
However, though the butchers acted with great stealth, the NBS staff became aware of what was afoot, and began to organise to save their livelihoods and their contribution to the public wellbeing. They began to inform interested parties and resistance grew. Some councils, on hearing of the proposals expressed their opposition. Demonstrators showed up to voice opposition when the plotters met. The Industrial Workers of the World ("more than just a union")printed and distributed tens of thousands of leaflets informing the public of the proposed cuts.
This has finally resulted in a partial withdrawal by the plotters, but there are still going to be cuts if they get their way. At present they appear to be less drastic than originally planned, but the plotters will no doubt be back in the future. They, and their frontman, Alan Johnson MP, Secretary of State for the Health Service, should be made aware that NO cuts are acceptable.
"It hasn't happened yet - so it can be stopped", wrote one NBS technician. "What is needed is a huge response from the public (including donors and health workers), pressure from outside ... It will shock the arrogant board of directors - let them feel the panic for their own jobs that they have inflicted on us ... Solidarity from outside will hit home to staff and prove that the people of this country care about and value them and the service they provide. We can win this campaign and I believe that my lifesaving workmates deserve the support in their time of weakness. Many hands make light work."

The Secretary of State for Health can be contacted at -
Alan Johnson MP
House of Commons
Westminster
London
SW1A 0AA
or by email - johnson@parliament.uk

The Chief Executive of the NBS is at -
Chief Executive
National Blood Service
Oak House
Read's Crescent
Watford
Herts.
WD24 4PH