Did you read that Iranians
chanted “Death to Israel” on Friday as Islamist students unveiled a
book mocking the Holocaust in an Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day annual parade
to show solidarity with the Palestinians. And in Gaza City, the
Islamist Hamas movement that has ruled the impoverished Palestinian
territory since June 2007 marked the day by calling for more suicide attacks on Israel

The book “Holocaust,” published by members of Iran’s Islamist Basij
militia, features dozens of cartoons and sarcastic commentary. Education Minister Alireza Ali-Ahmadi attended the official launch of the book in Tehran’s Palestine Square.The cover shows a Jew with a crooked nose and dressed in traditional
garb drawing outlines of dead bodies on the ground.Inside,
bearded Jews are shown leaving and re-entering a gas chamber with a
counter that reads the number 5,999,999. Another illustration
depicts Jewish prisoners entering a furnace in a Nazi extermination
camp and leaving from the other side as gun-wielding “terrorists.”

Utter scum. The Mullahs in Tehran and the Hamas leadership in Gaza are two sides of the same anti-Semitic coin. Yet respected western liberal politicians believe Iran is a force for stability and that Hamas are people that we should do business with. I can think of 6 million reasons not to.   

So who would have guessed it? My local town is the answer to the world’s economics problems. Or so locals say!

“A small Ulster market town has emerged as a UK hotspot for bringing up a family – according to statistics.
Banbridge has recorded one of the biggest population explosions across Britain, new figures have revealed. A
2001 census put the Co Down town’s population at 14,748. But the number
living there has soared by a fifth in the decade from 1997 to 2007
because of increased births and decreased deaths.  An influx of
migrant workers is also a factor, but only five people in every 1,000
in Banbridge were from the eight eastern European countries that joined
the EU in May 2004. (Rubbish, it is WAY above that. DV) So why  does Banbridge have such allure when its biggest feature ia an underpass built in 1834?Locals
say part of the reason is that the economy is holding its own against
the hurricane raging through the world’s financial markets. They
add the variety of independent shops, low crime rate, an easy commute
to Belfast and a friendly atmosphere are also a draw for families.”

Sorry but this is local delusionalism! The REAL reason behind the exceptional population surge is because of immigration and the fact that extortionate price prices in Belfast have driven people further and further out – Banbridge is well located as a commuter hub. As it happens, I am in Banbridge most weeks – just got a Thai carry-out from it!

The most famous son of Banbridge was polar explorer Captain Francis Crozier. 

“Crozier elected to head north again in 1845
when the Admiralty launched a fresh attempt to navigate the Northwest
Passage in the veteran ice ships Erebus and Terror.

While Crozier was more experienced in navigating the ice than any other
serving officer, the Admiralty inexplicably gave command to John Franklin,
an overweight 59-year-old who had not taken a ship into the ice for
27 years. Improbably enough, Franklin’s reputation as an explorer was
founded largely on overland trekking, rather than seafaring. But the
Admiralty chose Franklin ahead of Crozier and Crozier, sadly, volunteered
to travel as second-in-command and captain of Terror.

It may be that Crozier’s motive was a last ditch attempt to impress
Franklin’s niece, Sophy Cracroft. It failed.

It was an unhappy and eventually tragic expedition for the lovelorn
Crozier, who sailed with grave doubts about the venture and Franklin’s
ability as commander. In his last letter home he wrote: “In truth
I am sadly lonely.” More pertinently, he criticised Franklin’s
leadership, writing: “[Franklin] is very decided in his own views
but has not good judgement.”

Erebus and Terror entered the treacherous Arctic waterways
in the summer of 1845 with a 129 officers and men and were never seen
again.”

In the town there is a statue to Crozier. I attach an image. Just recently the local Council announced they could not afford to maintain it and that it will be left to fall into ruin. Still, the population is booming and that’s the main thing about Banbridge, right?

You have to admire the bare-faced cheek of UK PM Gordon “Prudence” Brown who has called for an end to the “age of irresponsibility” in the
financial sector, his most frank acknowledgement so far that the City was
allowed to run wild while he was Chancellor. Speaking to the UN in New York, the Prime Minister said that global financial
institutions had been acting with impunity and needed greater supervision. Really?

Two points here.

Surely the primary irresponsibility lies with Brown who presided over all these alleged financial folly? And wasn’t it Mr Brown who announced that thanks to HIM, the age of boom and bust was over. Well, he got that half-right. The truth is that Brown has been the very personification of irresponsibility.

And it is quite wrong to suggest we need more supervision, greater regulation. What we need is to ensure that which we already have is reinforced effectively.

Wonder what you make of the news that  quite a few Northern Ireland police  officers have been moonlighting as hypnotherapists,
cosmetic consultants and even children’s entertainers? They are among as many as 119 officers who have been given permission to
pursue second jobs or business interests outside their police work in the
last four years. It has also emerged that one PSNI officer has been working as an assistant
funeral director while another has served as a part-time fire officer.

I suppose on one level they should be allowed to do as they want – outside of office hours so to speak. I am also impressed that at least one is a hypnotherapist since that suggests any potential criminals could be made to think they are chickens if they don’t come clean! On the other hand – what sort of message does it send to the law abiding community? Are police dedicated to upholding the rule of law – or maximising the cash in their wallet?

It is reported that British young people think a steady stream of immigrants is eroding Britain’s
national identity and threatening jobs, a survey said today.

Almost
two-thirds (60%) of the young people surveyed in the poll by the
British Council thought the presence of foreign immigrants was
“diluting” their sense of national identity. A quarter said
immigrants posed a threat to British workers’ jobs and 12% said they
thought the influx of people from abroad was a risk to security and
public order. Two thousand people aged between 18 and 35 were
asked about their attitude towards immigration and their sense of
national identity. The survey comes as shadow Home Secretary
Dominic Grieve warned that multiculturalism in the UK has left a
“terrible” legacy, creating a vacuum that has been filled by
extremists.

This is absolutely correct. The entire point behind multiculturalism is to undermine the indigenous culture and make it merely just one of many – all being equal in merit. Those politicians who have retailed this are worthy of indictment  as traitors since they have deliberately promulgated a gospel that is toxic to the British people. I have no issues with lawful multi-ethnicity  – as people from many places can contribute to making Britain a better place – so long as they embrace our values, our laws. But multiculturalism- so beloved by the political left – has been a disaster.  Glad to see that our young people understand this. Even if the politicans don’t.

Sorry to see that cancer has finally claimed the life of actor Paul Newman. My wife, who knows about these these things, says he was in a brilliant movie called “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”. He was also of course famous for his role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Great soundtrack), The Colour of Money and of course, The Sting. She also says he had the bluest eyes! My own admiration of him is for his extensive charitable giving over decades and the way in which he stay married for 50 years. Now that IS  a role model many can learn from.

I just love this movie and this scene just seems appropriate if the Democrats win.

An obituary spotted reminded me once more that our heroes are slowly dissappearing, and as life goes swiftly by, we should take a few seconds to remember those who are remembered here, here and indeed here in a tiny plot which remembers my own uncle, who lies alongside a German who also died during the invasion.

For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is a music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered:
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables at home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end they remain.

Laurence Binyon

Readers are asked to produce a caption for the photo below, which was taken as a result of this

All the usual rules apply; bile and acidity will be rewarded with high grades.

Closing time midday Monday (GMT)

Interesting to read that London’s population has soared by more than half a million in a decade. 

And Britain’s smallest local authority area, the City of London, recorded the
fastest growth rate at 40 per cent. The next three biggest local authority population increases were also in the
capital – Westminster (29 per cent), Kensington and Chelsea (26 per cent)
and Camden (25 per cent). At just one square mile, the City of London now has an estimated population of
8,000.

The question is – who are all these 500,000 people and where exactly have they come from? Given the high cost of living in London, it is amazing to see such a huge sustained surge in population, espeically as all demographic profiles of our capital show evidence of sustained “white flight” from central London over the past decade or more.