Syria: Bombs Away!

Steve Bell, The Guardian.

See also Terror Can Only Succeed With Our Cooperation by Simon Jenkins. (And his excellent book, Mission Accomplished?: The Crisis Of Western Intervention).

PS The Empire Of Chaos: An interview with Noam Chomsky.

Ted Heath: Unbelievable

 

Regular viewers may have noticed that Fagburn went into involuntary exile just after one of the most lunatic episodes in the British media of all time; ludicrous and unfounded claims that former PM Ted Heath was a child molester were splashed all over the front pages as if they were serious charges.

I sometimes suspect my old computer may have commited suicide in despair.

Here's the Sunday People - easily the worst offender - claiming Edward Heath attended meetings of the Paedophile Information Exchange and used to rape and murder boys on his yacht.

Uh-huh...

Several papers later ran articles by columnists pointing out what an avalanche of absolute nonsense it all was.

For the record, here are four of the best...

How easy it is to convict the dead and defenceless, Simon Jenkins, The Guardian.

There's no evidence against Ted Heath, Ann Widdecombe (hell yes!), Daily Express.

The crusade against Ted Heath: Dancing on people's graves, Frank Furedi, Spiked.

If Heath was a child abuser, I'm an aardvark, Matthew Parris, The Times.

Admittedly, Fagburn is going out on a limb here and is working on the assumption that none of these people are members of the infamous Dolphin Square VIP paedophile ring and are just covering the late Sir Edward's tracks.

PS It goes on. Sky News today; Prison worker makes Ted Heath allegation.

Letter Of The Day: Cakegate

The Guardian.

See also Simon Jenkins The Law Can't Create Tolerance.

The Great War: Warnography

Needless to say, the centenary has been seized as a military propaganda opportunity. Last week David Cameron crudely compared Vladimir Putin in Ukraine to Germany under the Kaiser in 1914 (and under Hitler). This was neither true nor helpful. The prime minister added that Britain was “not about to launch a European war”. In which case why mention it at all, and why also send troops to train in eastern Europe? ...

The chief lesson of 1914 must be not recklessly to rattle sabres across the frontiers of Europe until all else is lost. The Germans have learned that. In Ukraine they are still counselling restraint. Britain is doing the opposite, as its leaders gently dust themselves in glory. When Cameron last year allotted £50m to “remembering the lessons” of 1914, he was also planning to go to war on Syria. I wonder what lesson taught him that.

1914: The Great War Has Become A Nightly Pornography Of Violence Simon Jenkins, The Guardian.

Meanwhile in Gaza...

Update: A blunt warning from Prince William, a century after war ravaged the continent: Ukraine crisis is a threat to all Europe Mail Online.

'In April, the Mail reported how Prince Charles told a Polish woman, who had lost many of her Jewish family in the Nazi Holocaust: ‘And now Putin is doing just about the same [in the Ukraine] as Hitler...’

Thankfully, our own dear Royal Family stand above politics, except when engaging in propaganda so crude, you'd have to be as stupid and inbred as them to fall for it.

The Guardian: Where Gay Men Have No Heads

"The relationship was never on. The two of them hated each other and bickered from the start. There have been rows, bust-ups, trial separations and expensive lawyers, but they are irreconcilable. It is time to call a halt. The marriage of England's church and state is anything but gay..."

The ever interesting Simon Jenkins in The Guardian.
Shame they've illustrated it online with the above - some GAYS with their heads cut off.
Cause we're all too ashamed to be out presumably...