R.I.P. Sir Bobby Robson

Sir Bobby Robson, football hero, true grit old Brit and personification of the perfect English gentleman has died aged 76.



Right up until to just five days ago, terminally ill, Sir Bobby was still working hard to raise funds for his national Cancer appeal.

Today, the world is a poorer place without such a super man.

May Sir Bobby rest in perfect peace. Since this most marvelous man has most certainly earned it.

Look at a little of what's been written.

Robson, who was first diagnosed with cancer 18 years ago in 1991, fought a brave battle against the disease. He beat bowel cancer in 1992, a malignant melanoma in 1995 and a tumour in his right lung and a brain tumour, both in 2006.

In 2007 he vowed to "battle as I've always done" following the start of chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time.

He made his final public appearance at a charity match at St James' Park on Sunday.

Read the rest of the relevant report right here

UK cuts Israeli arms contracts : Is it the begining of a British embargo?

We suppose that the law of averages dictates that even governments as full of gobshites as Gordon Brown's is must eventually get something right ... at sometime or other ... and do the decent thing.

UK cuts Israel weapons contracts

The UK has revoked five export licences for equipment to the Israeli navy because of actions during Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza this year.

The British Foreign office said the exports would now contravene its criteria for arms sales, but denied that it had imposed a partial embargo.

The UK says it does not sell weapons which might be used for internal repression or external aggression.

Israel says ...

Read the rest of this report right here.



*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Been away for a bit, but now back

Been away for a wee while sampling some other beautiful bits of Britain.

Glad to report that our batteries are now recharged and that we're back in the blogging business.



Our thanks go to good buddy Gordo (that youngish Yank), over at 'appletree' for keeping an eye on things for us while we wandered.

British MP's Expenses Scandal : The Trough Thickens

Today we intended telling the terrible tale of the 'take what you want when you want' culture of (apparently), tons of turdy Brit members of parliament.

But then, somebody anonymously sent us this particularly odious porker-picture...



...which, suddenly made us stop and wonder why we should bloomin' be bothered to.

Since 'The Telegraph' is already doing such a sterling job of explaining and exposing exactly what sort of absolutely stinking stuff has (seemingly, serially) been happening in our old Brit House of Commons.

So, click here to see lots & lots about some of said shocking smelly shenanigans for yourself.

Shame?

This shower of SOBs simply possesses none.

(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Bridgend Suicide 'Curse' Continues Claiming Lives...

Some true stories seem simply to be beyond belief.

Stories such as the continuing, shocking, strange, sad & sorry saga of serial suicides, all in the same small Welsh town of Bridgend.

A grieving father has been found dead in the tragedy-hit town of Bridgend after his own daughter and nephew hanged themselves.

Dean Stephenson, 40, was discovered hanged after struggling to coming to terms with the death of his daughter Kelly, 20, and nephew Nathaniel Pritchard, 15.
Just days before his death Mr Stephenson left an entry on his Facebook site saying the biggest interest in his life was his family.

Friends said the father-of-three never got over the death of Kelly - the 16th out of 24 young people found hanged in the South Wales town.

Read the rest of this report right here.

Second brutal British bobby suspended re: second violent "incident"

We see that a second British bobby (this time a giant of a sergeant) is suspended from duties as a result of another video coming to light showing how he summarily dealt out his own personal brand of "justice" to a young female who allegedly used some naughty words during recent the G20 protests.

Since we can't think of anything else to say that we didn't say a few days ago regarding our once highly regarded and respected police, we'll let The Guardian's cartoonist, Steve Bell's picture do the talking this time.

Here's a quick cut & pasted taster about this most recent example of an obviously "broken" British police service.

A police sergeant seen in video footage apparently hitting a woman during the G20 protest in London has been suspended, Scotland Yard has said.

The officer appears to hit the woman in the face with his hand and then the leg with his baton after she swears at him.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission - already investigating the death of Ian Tomlinson during the 1 April protests - is examining the case.

The Lib Dems say it shows there is a systemic problem and want an inquiry.

Officers 'accountable'

The latest video footage featuring the female protester has been passed to the IPCC, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

"The officer has been identified and suspended pending further investigation. The officer works as a sergeant in the territorial support group," he added.

Earlier, police said the apparent actions of the officer featured in the footage raised "immediate concerns".

Read the rest of this report and see this sickening incident for yourself.

(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Our latest semi-absence excuse

Every so often we become convinced we simply must sod off somewhere else ~ and kick our keyboard completely into touch for a time.

Hence, the recent scarcity of sightings of ourselves.



So for better or for worse, depending upon how you feel about blogging old Brit buggers such as ourselves, we sometimes just sling our cameras over our shoulders and set off to see some more of real life ~ as opposed to the virtual type ~ whilst it's still possible.



It's sometimes so easy to forget that when the crooked, thieving, lying, politicians and powerbrokers can't be seen to be constantly conning, killing, etc, that there are still so many super-special places ~ almost within spitting distance of our own front door step.











See what we're saying?

Leastwise, attempting to.



But nothing lasts for ever.

Neither well earned breathers nor absolutely necessary breaks.

Eventually, it's inevitably time to head for home and get back into the blogging business.



Incidentally, isn't our friend 'flickr' fantastic? We don't know what we would do without out.

(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

** Note: All above pictures are copyright. Reproduction without our personal permission is illegal. **

Britain's 'Big Brother' grows bigger and uglier, by the bloody day

Question:

What's the difference between Brown, Blair, Obama, Bush and Orwell's Big (1984) Brother?

Answer:

Not a lot.

(snip)

Phone companies are already required to store details of all calls, such as the time and date, location and who made them, for 12 months for possible use in criminal investigations or court cases.

An EU directive ordering data on internet traffic to be stored in a similar way is due to come into effect in the UK on Monday, 6 April.

The government is also considering proposals to store all communications data on a single database, which may be run by a private company.

(snip)

So what else is new?

Tony Blair : Special Sunday Petition Edition : Please Sign A War Crimes Petition

** Blair War Crimes Foundation **

Aim: To bring Tony Blair to trial

For press enquiries you can contact: blairfoundation@yahoo.co.uk

Here's just a few of the ever increasing list of signatories to the letter, so far : including our own of course.

*
John Pilger, David Halpin, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Ken Loach, Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Lindsey German, Ben Griffin, Dr Nawal Saadawi, Haifa Zangana, Dr Kamil Mahdi, Bruce Kent, David Halpin, MB, FRCS, Nicholas Wood, MA, RIBA, FRGS, Chris Burns-Cox, MD, FRCP, Joyce Morgan, Sara Wood MA (Oxon), Roslyn Cook, Geoff Evans, Dr. Margaret Evans, Nisar Ali Shah, Michael Culver (actor) and Amanda Culver (artist), Jonathan Cook (Journalist), Euan Donaldson (Film Makers Against War), Dr Nawal Saadawi (writer Egypt), Haifa Zangana (Iraqi woman writer and activist), Edward S Herman, Ph.D (Berkeley USA - professor, writer), Mundher al adhami (academic), Rikki Blue (journalist), Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, David Edwards, Anabella Pellens (translator Argentine), Sarah Case, Angela Baguena (Barcelona), Jenny Wood (academic), Peter Day, Andrew Goodman, David Miller (Professor of Sociology, Strathclyde), Richard Dawkins, Lindsey German, Ben Griffin (former SAS soldier), Dr Kamil Mahdi, Ken Loach, Bruce Kent ...

... and many other other citizens (both ordinary and extraordinary) of Spain, Argentine, USA, UK and elsewhere who whole heartedly support a Blair War Crimes Foundation to seek signatures for a petition to the United Nations General Assembly and the UK Attorney General, to uphold the UN Charter, the Geneva and Hague Conventions, and International Law, and to indict Tony Blair for war crimes.
*

If you agree with this aim, please see the letter and add your name to the online petition. You can also contact us at blairfoundation@yahoo.co.uk. Your email details will not be passed on to others or used for any purpose.

** BWCF - THE BLAIR WAR CRIMES FOUNDATION **

It is necessary to make leaders hesitate before indulging in “the paramount war crime” to quote the judges of Nuremberg, of “unprovoked aggression against a defenceless country”.

Unless leaders fear that they might be tried for their war crimes, we will live in an increasingly violent world, where The Geneva Conventions are treated as a joke, the UN is of no account, and death, destruction, torture, and repressive policing are commonplace.

At the moment such leaders enjoy more and more trappings of power, and retire with vast sums of money, houses, medals and lucrative contracts.

A group of UK Citizens have therefore set up an organisation, “The Blair War Crimes Foundation”, to initially bring one such leader to justice as an example.

Contributions to cover advertising and postal costs are welcome at BWC Foundation Fund PO Box 64656 NW3 9NG ~~ N.B. Any surplus will paid to Basra Childrens’ Leukaemia Hospital.

Secretaries of Foundation: David Halpin MB, FRCS, Nicholas Wood MA, RIBA, FRGS at above address.

Founded January 2009

** Please read the relevant letter, look at the list of signatories, then sign said petition yourself. **

After all, it's the very least you/we all can do.

Site info:

Blair War Crimes Foundation

E-mail: blairfoundation@yahoo.co.uk

(Theme: Andreas04 by Andreas Viklund. Blog at WordPress.com.)

NOW, PLEASE PASS THIS POST ON ~ AS FAST, FAR AND WIDE AS IS POSSIBLE.

Special International Info-tainment Incident:Strictly Come Dancing's Old Brit Broadcast Journalist, John Sergeant Succumbs Secedes

Hold the front page.

This special info-tainment item seems set to, quite possibly, secure some sort of national pride of place amongst the top televised stories of the past several centuries; if not of all time

Former political journalist John Sergeant has decided to pull out of the BBC One show Strictly Come Dancing.

The 64-year-old has received strong support from the public since the show started, but the judges have been critical of his dancing.

In a statement, he said: "The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition. Even for me that would be a joke too far."

[Pic purposely posted twice for proper effect. And, to enthusiastically encourage and further facilitate all & sundry readers' proper pondering.]

If anyone asks us, we can't see how, in all honesty, we can say such an all round 'good guy' & 'broadcaster-bloke' as John Sergeant, could possibly be all that bad.



See also, some bits about "Strictly ..."

*

So, we see that 'birthday boy' Prince Charles has hit the BIG 60

So why such a flaming fuss?

The lad doesn't realise just how lucky he is.

The same thing happened to us years ago as we sat sneezing, shivering and shaking, whilst waiting (in flipping'freezing fog) for one of many missing Merseyrail trains at our city centre's Central station.

Prince Charles turns 60 waiting for throne

Incidentally, hands up who knew that cheerful old 'Chazzer the chinless' has his own official web site.

(*Cross posted across at 'appletree')

The Third World War ... Continued

*

Whether you've already read Gordo's 'World War' post or not, you must read this.

(Snip)

Reality can be detected, however, by applying the Orwell Rule and inverting public pronouncements and headlines, such as “Aggressor Russia facing pariah status, US warns”, thereby identifying the correct pariah; or by crossing the invisible boundaries that fix the boundaries of political and media discussion.

(Big snip)

In the meantime, an American invasion of Pakistan is under way, secretly authorised by President Bush.

The “change” candidate for president, Barack Obama, had already called for an invasion and more aircraft and bombs.

The ironies are searing. A Pakistani religious school attacked by American drone missiles, killing 23 people, was set up in the 1980s with CIA backing. It was part of Operation Cyclone, in which the US armed and funded mujahedin groups that became al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The aim was to bring down the Soviet Union. This was achieved; it also brought down the Twin Towers.

On 20 September the inevitable response to the latest invasion came with the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. For me, it is reminiscent of President Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia in 1970, which was planned as a diversion from the coming defeat in Vietnam. The result was the rise to power of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. Today, with Taliban guerrillas closing on Kabul and Nato refusing to conduct serious negotiations, defeat in Afghanistan is also coming.

It is a war of the world.

In Latin America, the Bush administration is fomenting incipient military coups in Venezuela, Bolivia, and possibly Paraguay, democracies whose governments have opposed Washington’s historic rapacious intervention in its “backyard”. Washington’s “Plan Colombia” is the model for a mostly unreported assault on Mexico. This is the Merida Initiative, which will allow the United States to fund “the war on drugs and organised crime” in Mexico – a cover, as in Colombia, for militarising its closest neighbour and ensuring its “business stability”.

Britain is tied to all these adventures – a British “School of the Americas” is to be built in Wales, where British soldiers will train killers from all corners of the American empire in the name of “global security”.

Some are certain to ask, who the hell's the smart ass saying World War 111 is already underway?

Sad to say, the man concerned is no smart ass at all. Far from it, in fact. He's a man in the know. He's also a man who's not afraid to stand on any rooftop whilst shouting out the truth.

He's an internationally applauded & acclaimed, multi-award winning film maker, author and 'genuine' journalist.

Incidentally, does anyone here still remember genuine journalism?

*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

The Latest Peter Mandelson 'Scandal' ...

Remember Machiavelli?

Oops! Sorry!

Erm, we meant to say Mandelson. Peter Mandelson, that is. He's the louse on the left.

He's also a serial sodding resigner; usually under some sort of cloud.

We can hardly bloody believe it. Barmy Gordon Brown has brought the b*stard back. He's called him in to his cabinet.

Mandelson!? A man elected by no one. A man no longer even a member of parliament. That's why he's being elevated bunged (by the back door), into the House of Lords.

Yep, you read that right. The House of Lords.

What a way to run a railway, eh?

While we were well aware that Gordon Brown was desperate, we had no idea he was SO desperate.

Read the rest of this report - while we two try making contact with the spirit of 'Scotty' - to beg him to beam us both back up.

(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

A little bit about our latest lot of Turkish travels ...

*

Hands up who here (honestly), hasn't ever hankered to show off ... sorta ... at least every once in a while?

So take a little look at what we won when we 'showed' the snapshot below.



And while we're on the subject ... of photography that is ... for those with the time and/or slightest interest, here's a few photos we took on our most recent Turkish trip at the start of this September.























Culture vultures and/or just plain old bored-stiff-buggers can, if they wish, 'suffer' some more of our recent Turkish shots by hitting it here to flit across to Flickr.

Incidentally, isn't sanity simple common sense civilised secularism something super!?

* (Cross posted at 'appletree')

2008 Beijing Paralympic Games: Bravo Brave Brits - and all.

Since we've always believed, super-strongly, that these amazing heroes and heroines never ever receive anything remotely like the amount of publicity and praise they so richly deserve, we want you all to click here.

Thank you!



International Paralympics Committee - Official Portal.
=================

Incidentally, just in case anyone cared, we've now gone and gotten ourselves back into Britain and are all set to soon get back to the business of blogging - 'normal service resumed' style.

( Phew. If only they'd include tongue-twisting as an official Olympic 'sport', eh? )

*

"Bye-bye Gordon Brown," says New Labour Government Minister, David Cairns

Hoots, mon!

Holy, highland games!

Suffering thistle infested sporans and winter weight, thick weave, technicoloured tartan kilts, Batman!

Is this north of the border bit of bother interesting or what?!

Och, aye, Jock Cock Robin.

It's very, interesting. Very, very interesting.

Minister quits in Brown protest

David Cairns explains his decision to resign from government

Scotland Office minister David Cairns has resigned from the government, saying the time has come to "allow a leadership debate to run its course".

The Inverclyde MP is the first minister to resign since rebel MPs began calling for a leadership contest.

He told the BBC he was not part of a plot but felt it was time to "clear the air" and have a leadership debate.

Read the rest of this (ex ecclesiastical), ministerial resignation related report..

Gordon Brown's Government's Great British Gestapo Plot ...

Apparently, lots of us are learning a lot lately about a supposed terrorist type plot against Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

However, how many, we wonder, have as yet even begun to get to grips with the insidious implications of this mean spirited, mendacious miscreant of a man's government's shockingly sinister plot of it's own?

You know, the good old Great British Gestapo Plot.


What a woeful way to goddamn go, eh?

We began by giving Blair, Bush and their respective bunches of bad-ass bandits an inch, and the bastards took a million bloody miles. And when we say "bloody" we do mean "bloody".

Then, Blair buggered off before he was effed off, and we gave the supposed good-guy Gordo a go.

Now, super-snide as he so obviously is, this Brown bum gives us this shit.

Psst. Listen. Hear we now. We kid ye not.

We don't even dare to imagine what this mangy, manic mob of mega-Machiavellian madmen may have headed our way next.

Do you?

(Cross posted at 'appletree')