Orlando: Katie

How much longer can we continue to deny a fault line has been drawn? On one side Islam and Muslims defined by it, writes KATIE HOPKINS. On the other the LGBT community, defined by their right to love as they please.

Over the last two days, the deference of the liberal Left to Muslims over the LGBT community has been excruciating to watch. Unable to reconcile the two causes they champion, they have an awkward inconvenience they dare not face. An ex-wife at a wedding, acknowledged with an invitation, but sat at the back, facing the air-con unit. Predictably they have chosen Islam. And don't tell me the 'acts of a few extremists do not represent Islam', because I am sick of hearing it. Every time another Islamist takes down a club, knocks out an airport or wipes out the subway, we are supposed to embrace Muslims and spread the love. 

Daily Mail.

Why did I read this?

Why!!??

Who's next to use us to go muslim bashing, Melanie Phillips?

Cakegate: Eat It!

The McArthurs’ appeal, which started two days ago, was adjourned when the Northern Ireland attorney-general unexpectedly introduced a new argument. This was that these regulations banning discrimination may themselves discriminate against people such as the McArthurs on the grounds of their religious beliefs or political opinions. That was more or less the point made by the clearly bonkers Tatchell. Although he had originally supported Lee’s case, he said, he had changed his mind.

For now he had grasped the crucial issue. The McArthurs weren’t objecting to baking for a gay person — the bakery, they said, had many gay customers and at least one gay member of staff — but to baking a cake whose slogan ran smack up against their religious beliefs...

The Times.

Even a stopped mentalist clock...

Spectator: Sex Matters

Oh dear.

Britain's Students: The New Fascists?

A thought-provoking piece by Brendan O'Neill.

Perhaps you can read it if you think provoking thought is a good thing.

Though Brendan also does seem fond of being merely provocative.

And if you put something in a Daily Mail banner headline, you can forgive people who think you're now just Melanie Phillips in man drag.

Melanie Phillips: You May Say That, I Could Not Possibly Comment

Melanie Phillips: A Mess Of Bigotry And Outrage

However, in an apparently unrelated incident, Ofsted was forced to abandon its inspection of the Olive Tree independent Muslim primary school in Luton after parents protested that their nine and ten-year-old children had been questioned about their attitudes to homosexuality. One father said that his ten-year-old son had been panicked and intimidated by being asked: “What do you know about gays?” The chairman of the school’s trust said that such questioning was “sexualising young children”. Inspectors reportedly asked similar questions of Muslim pupils and possibly “homophobic” teachers during their investigation into Trojan Horse.

What a telling snapshot of the confusions of contemporary British society. Trying to protect gay sensibilities, Ofsted offends a religious minority; conversely, to avoid offending Muslims entails outraging gay people.

She actually wrote this!

Once more, satire dies screaming.

Melanie Phillips: You Can Say That Again

The Times.

Melanie Phillips there, the only person to be sacked by the Daily Mail for being too right-wing.

Paul Flowers: It's Political Correctness Gone Mad!

The Daily Mail's gay Uncle Tom, Andrew Pierce, predictably sticks his oar in. 

Also in the Mail today, their new star columnist Dominic Lawson writes; Just tick the right diversity boxes and, hey presto, you can run a major bank.
Eh?
The liberal conspiracy gets worse...
"But as a member of the ‘LGBT community’, Flowers can somehow be seen as part of an oppressed minority, whom it would be politically incorrect to denounce as a sexual predator..." etc etc.

Yeah, right, that's happened.
Fagburn can't recall seeing a single sentence defending Paul Flowers against  the media lynch mob.
Lawson replaces Melanie Phillips - who left the Mail under something of a cloud recently.
Oddly Phillips has written a rather similar article about Flowers for this week's Spectator; The Revd Paul Flowers ticked all the right 'progressive' boxes — that's why he could get away with anything.
Maybe it would have been easier for the Mail to keep Mad Mel on?

PS Another professional Tory shitbag, Toby Young (no relation), pipes up in the Daily Telegraph;

As for his crimes and misdemeanours, this is where the "smear" really does exceed a Tory spin doctor's wildest dreams. Fined for committing an act of gross indecency in a public toilet in 1981! Forced to resign as a Labour Councillor in 2011 when pornography was discovered on his computer! Caught red-handed by a national newspaper trying to buy crystal meth, crack cocaine and ketamine! Renowned for his use of prostitutes! Engaging in behaviour that even his former rent-boy described as "debauched"! The list goes on and on.
It certainly has the whiff of a smear – the most imaginative, brilliantly designed smear ever cooked up. Miliband's right about that. Trouble is, it's true...

Good to see Toby "Sniff Sniff" Young banging on about Paul Flowers' drug use here...

Paul Flowers: Spectator Sport

The cover of this week's Spectator starring a feature about Paul Flowers by... Melanie Phillips!
It's not out yet, but apparently Mad Mel doesn't mention his sexuality.
We shall see...

PS And here it is - and it does - but you only need to read the title really, the rest is filler.

The Revd Paul Flowers ticked all the right 'progressive' boxes — that's why he could get away with anything

Melanie Phillips: Gutted!

Readers may be interested to know that my 12-year relationship with the Daily Mail is about to change. The Mail want to shake up their Monday op-ed page and so I shall shortly stop writing my regular Monday column for them. Instead, they want me to write other major pieces. They say they are very keen that I should continue to have a significant presence in the paper. 
That’s certainly an option, although I have other plans for writing – and now, also, publishing. I am gratefully aware, though, from the many thousands of people who have written to me in passionate agreement over the years, that I have a very large following indeed among Daily Mail readers. Many write to me to say I am the only reason they read the paper (it’s enough to turn a girl’s head!) Only today, I was stopped at a Tube station by a woman who said: ‘I love your articles; don’t ever stop writing them’. 
I can promise her, and all my many followers, that I shall indeed continue to write them. As for where – well, watch this space.

Melanie Phillips from her LOLtastic blog.

Fagburn is, needless to say, inconsolable with grief.
Verily Melanie, this is the end of an ear.
Do you think there's a left-wing muslim homosexual conspiracy behind this?
Don't be a stranger - your millions of barking and bigoted adoring fans demand it.

Update: According to a diary item in The Independent Paul Dacre decided to put her out to grass after a particularly loopy outburst on Question Time in June...

“Our interests lie in neutralising Iran” – and when the studio audience scoffed, she pointed at them with arm outstretched and exclaimed: “You laugh, you laugh! Neutralise Iran, and a British audience laughs! How trivial, how incredibly ignorant of you!”
My informant says: “People don’t think this is just Mel, they think it’s the Daily Mail: we can’t have people thinking the Daily Mail wants to nuke Iran.” Mel will keep writing: all she needs is an outlet that is less middle of the road.

Update2: Left Foot Forward round-up Mad Mel's greatest hits.

Thought For The Day: Melanie Phillips

Daily Mail.

Why Melanie, WHY????

Marriage: Who Cares?

The Daily Mail. 
And here's Melanie Phillips in the same paper today arguing; 'Why failing to stand up for marriage is the reason Tories are always in crisis.'
The Mail's run endless pieces like that.
Here's the Mail last Saturday; David Cameron is facing a backlash over his support for gay marriage from within his own party as members desert Tory ranks in droves, it emerged today.
Make up your mind - is gay marriage a vote loser, or are most people "Not actually that bothered, really"?
Apart from the 3% of voters who are so bigoted and so fucking thick that they technically shouldn't be allowed to vote?

Daily Telegraph: Old

Grassroots Tories urge David Cameron to ditch Lords reform and gay marriage and focus on economy
David Cameron is being urged by local Tory party officials to ditch unpopular policies like Lords reform and attempts to legalise gay marriage, and focus all his efforts on boosting the economy. 

Daily Telegraph.
God, this is getting OLD!
Here's Satan's cockmuncher-in-chief, Melanie Phillips, repeating this garbage in The Daily Mail.
A government can do more than one thing at the same time; start a new class war and introduce gay marriage - it's not plate spinning.

Norman Finkelstein: The World Won't Listen

Just been listening to a fantastic interview on the World Service.
Oh America.
Oh Israel.
Will you ever listen?


Update: The interview - also broadcast on BBC TV - made Melanie Phillips explode with rage. Excellent praise!

MailOnline: The World's Biggest...

Fagburn extends his hearty congratulations to The Daily Mail this morning after learning MailOnline has been  declared the world's biggest newspaper website.
"According to new figures from Comscore, the ‘gold standard’ web measurement firm, in December 2011 MailOnline recorded 45.348million unique visitors.
"The next closest newspaper was the New York Times which had 44.787million unique users..."
'But how do they do it?' I hear you ask.

By printing a load of inane showbiz twaddle - often about US celebs who mean nothing over here - and by pedalling titillating salacious filth.

Ideally in the same story.

Let's have a look at some headlines from the front page of today's MailOnline. 

No hangover here! Carol Vorderman puts in a fresh-faced appearance after the NTAs in another figure hugging dress - She’s always been a cougar: Worse for wear Demi Moore seen smooching a 15-year-old in blast from the past video - What has happened to Katie Price? Bedraggled model heads out with ex Leandro... but leaves party with another man - Where's Austin when you need him... Cringe moment for Vanessa Hudgens as bikini top pops open - Now, that's how to wear a bikini! Picture perfect Adriana Lima models Victoria's Secret swimwear in tropical St Barts - Not sure anyone's looking at the coconut! Kelly Brook accentuates her curves in revealing bikini for a holiday snapshot - 'My boob implants swelled to the size of my head... then EXPLODED!' says actress who appeared in Corrie and Hollyoaks - So that's where she gets her outrageous behaviour from... Denise Welch's father is a successful drag queen - Wages of sin: Former underage prostitute paid for sex by footballer debuts lingerie line at Couture Fashion Week - Call of the wild: How a Co-op security guard left Manchester, slipped on a loincloth and became Tarzan, King of the Jungle - Not picking up tips at home? Orlando Bloom shows how NOT to wear trousers... while his model wife rocks a very nice pair - Swinging couple in drug-fuelled orgy with sex partner sprayed him with bear repellent after he refused to let them take explicit photos - Widow who said brain tumour turned husband into transvestite and made him cut her out of £575,000 will loses fight for inheritance - 50 Cent promises to post naked picture of his private parts if Giants lose Super Bowl - Not leaving anything to chance? Kerry Condon commands attention in revealing cut out dress at Luck series premier - Who wears short shorts? Amanda Seyfried shows off her toned legs as she smokes pot and kisses her co-star in Lovelace scenes - Pictured: Miley Cyrus poses provocatively with X-rated birthday cake at boyfriend Liam Hemsworth's party  - They haven't seen it all: Playboy twins bewildered by CBB housemates' assertion that most UK men aren't circumcised - Sex shop forced to install discreet side entrance after pub-goers CHEERED every time a customer stepped into the street - Police launch crackdown on doggers at lay-by near family picnic spot - 'Not the best thing I had ever done': Police officer fights for his job after being caught in PORN film while on duty - Beach babe at 45: Former Page 3 girl Sam Fox shows off her pin-up figure in holiday snaps

Classy stuff from the nation's self-appointed moral guardian, I'm sure you'll agree.

Fagburn prides himself on not being a prude, but can it be long before Melanie Phillip's column is accompanied by a photo of her flashing her tits? 

Melanie Phillips Watch: No Idea. Anyone?

"Our society is being brainwashed into pretending that the differences between male and female don’t exist — in order to reconstruct society into some unattainable utopia of sexual and gender identicality.
"The dual goal is to marginalise men and to upend society’s fundamental moral codes. Having first been told they can behave sexually in whatever way they want, people are now being told they can be sexually whatever they want. And anyone who objects to this will be told they are a bigot..."

The Daily Mail.

You are a bigot.

And absolutely barking.

Update: Ann Widdecombe is also mad as hell.

Daily Mail: Telling Lies For A Living Part 7,559

The Mail has been getting very excited about this story;
'We'll cut your aid if you persecute gays, Britain warns African nations'.
They're so excited they ran it for a second time today;
Foreign aid for countries with anti-gay rights records to be slashed, pledges Cameron
Intriguingly no other national newspaper has run anything on this*.
Why?
Cause the Mail has invented this "story".
Just like they did with their fiction about a "Pre-watershed TV Gay kiss ban".
I've spoken to the Department for International Development - and "there is no new initiative".
The department's spokesperson said - diplomatically - the Mail's story was "slightly exaggerated".
After Cameron's "gay marriage" speech last week the Mail contacted the DfID and asked if they had a policy on giving aid to countries with anti-gay laws.
Almost as if they were desperately trying to find any story about his newfound gay-mania.
They don't - not specifically, anyway.
David Cameron has not said or "pledged" anything.
And to imply gay rights have somehow been singled out is unbelievably mendacious.
The DfID released a general statement earlier this year;
"We only provide aid directly to governments when we are satisfied that they share our commitments to: reduce poverty; respect human rights and other international obligations; improve public financial management; promote good governance and transparency, and fight corruption."
But that's just a reiteration of a long-standing policy anyway.
In response the DfID put together a statement for the Mail mentioning three cases where there were concerns about countries' gay rights records (Ghana, Malawi, Uganda) amongst other things [Email me if you want a copy].
In typical Hall Of Mirrors fashion the Mail has now begun commenting on a story which - whilst not strictly untrue - they have concocted.
An editorial in yesterday's Mail On Sunday said;

"The Conservatives, still struggling to prove that they are no longer the nasty party, have saddled themselves with huge commitments to untrustworthy and spendthrift regimes.
"But now it emerges that officials are starting to reduce aid to governments that are hostile to their gay citizens.
"Given that such hostility is very common indeed in the Third World, this rule could provide an ingenious way out of several commitments we can no longer afford, and which are doing little good."

Well yes, but they're talking about a story that's not really true.
In today's Daily Mail their ghastly inhouse homophobe Melanie Phillips wades in
And with a loopiness that is breath-taking even by her own standards Phillips complains that gay rights have been singled out, over other human rights concerns.
But the DFiD didn't do this - the Mail did.
Melanie Phillips of all people should know that if you read something in the Daily Mail it's probably bollocks.

* Both Pink News and Pink Paper have run the story today - typically without bothering to check it. Your gay press at work. Brilliant!

Melanie Phillips Watch: Stephen Fry Must Die!!!

"The actor and comic Stephen Fry is considered by some to be a national treasure who adds greatly to the gaiety of the nation," The Daily Mail's fruitcake fumes in her column today.
Obviously Mr Fry's real offence is his "gaiety", but do go on Melanie...
"It’s a role to which he self-consciously plays up as raconteur, wit and genial host for any TV occasion. But why, then, does he feel compelled so egregiously to abuse this privileged position?
"At the weekend, a preview was published of a self-regarding interview to be transmitted on TV in June in which Fry talks about the fact that he was addicted to cocaine for a period of 15 years.
"Did he express any concern or remorse about this addiction, any insight into the harm it may have done to his health or career — or indeed, to anyone else in his life? No, there was not one syllable of regret..."
Not so much as a "Soz"? What a bastard!
Phillips continues seemingly without pausing for breath - or indeed thought;
"If this is what Fry thinks passes for wit, then the drugs he has taken have clearly affected more of his brain than might be thought."
Phillips is on very shaky ground here, as the column dutifully turns into one of her hilariously incoherent rants that then goes on to take badly aimed swipes at Kate Moss, John Galliano, Charlie Sheen and Oliver Stone.
What on earth could Melanie Phillips be on?

Melanie Phillips: Petty Hate Machine

Melanie Phillips has gone predictably batshit this week; 'Pinch yourself! A Tory Prime Minister is upholding the idea that traditional morality is bigotry'
Eh?
"On countless occasions, David Cameron has declared that he is a tremendous fan of the institution of marriage. So big a fan, it now becomes clear, that he generously intends to bestow its status and privileges far beyond what most people consider marriage actually to be..."
The best bit?
"If still in doubt, try this thought experiment. Imagine the Government was planning to recognise polygamy and polyandry (marriage with more than one woman or man), or marriage between ‘zoophiles’ (people who have ‘loving and committed relationships with mammals’, or bestiality to you and me) and their, er, partners.
"If you think this is merely grotesque satire, you would be sadly out of date. There are now campaigns in North America to recognise the ‘equal rights’ of such people and end ‘discrimination’ against them.
"If ‘marriage’ were extended to such groups, people would rightly conclude the institution was being turned into a meaningless joke. Yet the argument — that people with different sexual lifestyles must be treated identically — is exactly the same. (And no, before the hate mail starts, I’m not suggesting gays are on a moral par with zoophiles.)"
It's strange, I've seen some gay media going predictably batshit over this column - both were by journalists who are about as radical as a wobbly pink blancmange.
Maybe they were excited about finding someone who it's okay to get angry about?
I'm not sure anymore if it's even worth commenting on or critiquing this confused, cliche-ridden and increasingly incoherent attention-seeking petty hate machine.
But please do carry on sending her hate mail.

Update: The Guardian's Michael White writes online; 'Same-sex marriage cannot be the same as heterosexual marriage'
It's a very strange piece - I can't quite figure out what his argument is.
Only straight people should be allowed to marry because marriage is about reproduction?
Eh?
But then I've never been able to figure out if Michael White is gay or not - on TV he comes across as a rather dapper old queen.
The two things may be connected - and the problem may stem from Mr White being rather mealy-mouthed here.

Melanie Phillips: "Vile Poisonous Horrible Woman"

"In my article ['Yes, gays have often been the victims of prejudice. But they now risk becoming the new McCarthyites'], I expressed concern that attempting to bar a Christian GP from the government’s advisory council on drugs because of his views on homosexuality, ­bombarding the school curriculum with irrelevant gay references, and prosecuting Christian hoteliers for refusing to ­accommodate gay men in the same bedroom were ­examples of a frightening intolerance.
"The response to this warning against an attempt by the gay lobby to silence dissent? An eruption of tweets on Twitter suggesting that I should be killed. Yes, really.
"Apologies if the hideous and obscene ­language shocks some readers, but examples of such tweets included: ‘Someone just kill Melanie Phillips please’; ‘your homo­phobic rant equals that which comes out of a dog’s rectum. Kill yourself you ****’; and ‘throw her in the Thames’.
"And emails to me included such epithets as ‘vile, poisonous, horrible old woman’, and ‘people like you should be silenced as you insight (sic) bigotry and fear. Go and suck a tail pipe, get cancer, GET RAN OVER BY A TRAIN. I hope your ******* house burns down’..."

The Daily Mail's attention-seeking nutter-in-chief, Melanie Phillips; 'The calls for me to be killed this week prove the bedrock values of our society are in grave danger'

Great stuff everyone - keep it up!

Gay Lessons: A Daily Mail Fantasy

There's nothing like the conflation of children and homosexuality to send a bigot bonkers, as any student of Section 28 will tell you.
The Daily Mail have been writing some award-winning nonsense this week - 'Gay messages built into school maths lessons for children as young as FOUR'
Really? Do go on...
"Young children are to be taught about homosexuality in their maths, geography, science and English lessons, it has emerged.
"As part of a Government-backed drive to ‘celebrate the gay community’, maths problems could be introduced that involve gay characters.
"In geography classes, students will be asked why homosexuals move from the countryside to cities – and words such as ‘outing’ and ‘pride’, will be used in language classes.
"The lesson plans are designed to raise awareness about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual issues and, in theory, could be used for children as young as four."
Don't you just love that "in theory"?
Later on we learn; "Although the lesson plans are not compulsory, they are backed by the Department for Education and will be available for schools to download from the Schools Out website... A Department for Education spokesman added: ‘These are optional teaching materials.'"
(The Mail story is in fact a twisted version cribbed from this item in The Daily Telegraph).
Richard Drax, a Tory MP wrote on his blog; "I would have thought raising educational standards and teaching our children to read, write and add up is far more important than imposing questionable sexual standards on those too young to understand their equality czars." (He has since withdrawn the comment and apologised).
Predictably all this has sent the ever madder Mail columnist Melanie Phillips into apoplexy; "Here’s a question ­shortly coming to an examination ­paper near you. What have mathematics, geography or science to do with homosexuality?
"Nothing at all, you say? Zero marks for you, then.
"For, mad as this may seem, schoolchildren are to be bombarded with homosexual references in maths, geography and ­science lessons as part of a Government-backed drive to promote the gay agenda."
Yes, it does sound mad. Will Sturgeon at The Media Blog notes; "Almost every line of Phillips' article includes a ludicrous non-sequitor, a selective choice of supporting arguments, an unsourced or ubstantiated claim or a piece of wild speculation and scaremongering dressed up as fact."
All that has actually happened is that the Group, School's OUT, has announced that they are working on a series of online lesson plans on LGBT-related issues, and some "suggestions" have been made.
The "examples" cited above are really just fantasies of the Daily Mail's imagining.
Zero marks for you, Daily Mail - must try harder.

• Melanie Phillip's - apropos of nothing - added to her feature;
"The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has paid £100,000 for a report into how efforts to boost Britain’s coastal fish stocks would affect minority communities including the Chinese, ­homosexuals and Welsh speakers."
Her source? A story in the Mail On Sunday; 'Equality madness: Government spends £30m to discover whether preserving fish stocks harms ethnic Chinese, or hovercraft discriminate against gays'
This is all - put simply - lies.

• There's another Mail gay scare story running at the moment; "30,000 pupils branded as bigots. Teachers log 'racist' and 'homophobic' jibes in playground squabbles, even at nursery."
Hugh Muir did a good demolition of that one in The Guardian on Tuesday.

UPDATE: A great passionate comment piece on all this by Johann Hari in The Independent on Friday; 'Why Is it Wrong to Protect Gay Children?'