As lunch was served in the Roosevelt Room of the White House one day last week, President Obama assured the nine Democratic members of Congress sitting around the table that he would do anything he could to help them survive their fall elections. Even, he said, if it meant staying away. “You may not even want me to come to your district,” Mr. Obama said, according to guests, nearly all of whom hold seats that Republicans are aggressively seeking.
My, but how the times are a changing. If the plan is for Obama to stay away in 2010, maybe he should take the hint in 2012? Looking forward to President Palin…
Alex Attwood is without doubt a politician who lights up a room simply by leaving it. He demonstrates the lamentable lack of economic responsibility that one associates with the SDLP…
Stormont Minister Alex Attwood has cited the Troubles as a reason for sparing Northern Ireland from a major benefits system shake-up. Mr Attwood said he had “deep concerns” over plans launched in London yesterday for a “radical overhaul” of social security. And he called for a “time-out” for the province in light of economic circumstances and the legacy of conflict here.
Waffle. The Benefits culture needs to be radically overhauled, the abuse within it needs dealt with, and we need to learn to start living within our means. The political class here specialise in playing “The Troubles” card as the reason why they can’t DO anything that is other than sugar and spice. They want to spend without limitation and none more so than the Social and Democratic Labour Party of which Mr Attwood is such a senior member. The idea that it is “smart on the economy” was one of the more hilarious aspects of the General Election!
Attwood is doing what the others here will do – playing to the public gallery pretending he is influencing policy on Benefits in the hope of future electoral reward. Northern Ireland wallows in the dismal gloom of Benefit culture and it needs to end in order that we can transform our economy into one that is driven by the work ethic. If some people prefer not to work, that is their call, not one we need to subsidise, Mr Attwood.
Northern Ireland’s media has been full of stories leading up to the funeral of Alex Higgins tomorrow in Belfast. Whilst I am sorry that Higgins died in the way he did (alone and malnourished) but the idolisation and dianafication of Higgins has obscured a more significant and poignant death.
Northern Ireland was today preparing to bid a final farewell to the last of its Battle of Britain heroes.
Spitfire pilot Flight Lieutenant Harry Clarke, who died on Monday aged 92, was due to be laid to rest after a service in Belfast this morning. Mr Clarke was among 28 Ulster airmen who flew in the famous aerial dogfight 70 years ago — seven of the pilots died during the Battle of Britain and 11 others never saw the end of the Second World War. Add the number of RAF ground crew killed and the grim total of Northern Irish men and women who lost their lives during the Battle of Britain stands at 72. Little is known about Flight Lieutenant Clarke’s wartime achievements as the pilot never spoke to the Press nor made his logbook public.
Little may be known but I salute him and all of his colleagues who made such a massive contribution to our well-being and safety. We are lesser for his passing. I wish the media would focus on this, rather than the celeb-death of Higgins.
So, David Cameron suggests that Pakistan looks both ways on the war against terror. No big surprise there. So how do Pakistamis react? Moderation incarnate.
Shimon Peres, hardly someone I am fond of giving his liberal pedigree. speaks out and suggests that England is “deeply pro-Arab … and anti-Israeli”, adding:
“They always worked against us.” He added: “There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary.”
He’s right. The British establishment is indeed pro-Arab and shows little sympathy for the only democracy in the Middle East. Of course there are plenty of British people, including my fellow writers on this site, who are PRO-Israel. The cancer lies with those in the political sphere who lash out at Israel each time it rightly defends itself against Arab aggression. It also lies in the media which is routinely hostile to Israel, pumping out Palestinian propaganda as if it were fact. (Remember Jenin?)
Peres himself, however, is an enemy of Israel. His embrace of the toxic Oslo Accords has led to misery and death. It demonstrated that there were plenty in the Israeli establishment prepared to compromise with evil and THAT is always wrong.
Excellent article from Peter Hitchens here as he spends time in Turkey. Peter reinforces that which some of us have been saying for a while now, namely that Attaturk’s Turkey is being systematically replaced by Islamic Turkey. Turkey now looks East, it’s middle-class are comfortable with Erdogan, and the referendum next month, and subsequent elections, may well see Turkey locate itself firmly in the Middle-East, looking to Iran for inspiration. The idea that such a country can join the EU, thus giving the Eurosphere a land border with Syria and Iraq is insane, yet David Cameron is 100% committed to helping bring it about. He is “angry” it has not already happened!!!!
We in Western Europe have long assumed that the world that was created in 1945 would last for ever. But we have not paid enough attention to the rising new nations to our East, or to the new powers, fat with oil and gas, heedless of the old laws of liberty, which are gathering strength as America weakens.
Now we may have to pay attention. Among the bayonet-like minarets and helmet-like domes of ancient Istanbul an East wind is blowing, which I think will chill us all
It is the number of days that the Warsaw Ghetto uprising lasted before the final crushing by the overwhelming might of the German war machine.
The 28th Chapter of Karl Marx’ Das Kapital discusses the legislation against vagabondage in the 16th Century.
Twenty-eight days is the maximum state of detention authorised by law before a terrorist suspect must be either charged or released, in British jurisdiction.
It was also the title of yet another weird film which prophesied yet another zombie apocalypse, as far as I am told, never having been near a cinema or television which showed it.
The number of tracks on a Chuck Berry label release.
But the best Number 28 is the 28-day Notice of Eviction to be given to the ‘Travellers’ who have flouted the laws of this Country for over seven years at Dale Farm, and whose spokesperson ‘Mary McCarthy’ states, “Our boys are ready for them whenever the bailiffs do come. We’re not just going to get up and leave – there will be an awful fight and we do not want that to happen,”
She was born in London, the daughter of 50s/60s star Marty Wilde. Her debut single was a transatlantic Top 40 and she has since had 11 UK (1 US) Top 20s, many written and produced by her father and brother, ex-teenage singer Ricky. This BRITS winner was also part of number one act Ferry Aid, as well as supporting Michael Jackson on his 1988 European tour.
This week’s offering reached number 3 in Britain (number 41 in the USA). It came towards the end of her singles career but, in my opinion, is the best of a very varied and talented bunch of hits.
Ladies and gentlemen, from July 1988, I give you Kim Wilde singing ‘You Came’.
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You do not defeat terrorism by rewarding terrorists, regardless of how many bleeding heart liberals argue otherwise. Want to know where that flawed approach leads to? Read UNIONISM DECAYED 1997-2007 - It's my first book and it explains what happens when you seeek to appease terrorists and call it peace. It's available right now for ATW readers so make sure you get your copy by emailing the editor! This is the book that dissents from the herd mentality that doing wrong can lead to being right. It doesn't and this book spells out WHY.
