Tweet Of The Day: Gay Mafia

Both #BBC and #ITV are run by gay mafia. Why are we allowing this shit? #justasking

— Alexander Nekrassov (@StirringTrouble) January 25, 2016

A laughable response to the equally laughable Panorama documentary that Putin is secretly MADE OF GOLD!

Eurovision: Boom Bang-a-Bang

Like several other people I could name, even though until recently I couldn't even spell Azerbaijan, I now consider myself to be something of an expert on it.
And I can state quite authoritatively that it is not a very nice place.
Azerbaijan is a grubby little oil and gas-rich mafia state run by this crappy and corrupt dynastic regime, the Aliyevs.
Though they don't seem as big on state murder and mass political imprisonment as some of their neighbours, elections are rigged and freedom of speech is a somewhat nebulous concept [See Human Rights Watch Report].
Homosexuality is legal but remains a secret.
Tonight's Panorama, Eurovision's Dirty Secret, looked at how Azerbaijan's rulers are wetting themselves with excitement over Eurovision, as they want to milk it for propaganda value to try to normalise how they're seen on the world stage.
And why not? It's worked so well for the "European" state of Israel.
That a large residential area in the capital, Baku, was forcibly bulldozed to make room for the Eurovision stadium seems like a perfect metaphor for this whole sorry charade.
Rather hilariously, the first lady heads their Eurovision committee, and the half-time entertainment at the final will be provided by her doubtlessly talented son-in-law.
On Panorama you see the bizarre spectacle of a BBC reporter trying to get Engelbert Humperdinck to condemn the regime, claiming that his appearance is a tacit endorsement.
But the 'Dinck don't do politics, which means he's a lickspittle running dog of President Aliyev. 
If so, what does that make the BBC?
Azerbaijan is a bit of a pariah state, though the US has been extremely grateful for all their help during their wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.
They do have one really good new best friend though - Israel, who are hoping Azerbaijan will be just as accommodating if/when they bomb Iran.
It might prove instructive to watch how they both vote on Saturday.

PS There's been much chatter in the gay meeja about an apparent spat between Iran and Azerbaijan over a non-existent "gay parade" in Baku during Eurovision. Though there doesn't seem to be any official statement from the Iranian authorities on this - does anyone think it would be high on their list of priorities right now?
Please bear in mind that if you're reading anything about Iran it's likely to be a fiction. And please spare us your Orientalist fantasies.

Update May 23: 'Downing Street refuses to discuss UK plans for Iran-Israel conflict: PM's spokesman will not say what preparations are being made after claims that ministers discussed legality of intervention' BBC News.

Update2: Mark Lawson on the BBC's chutzpah/hypocrisy.

Thought For the Day: Evan Davis

"I think we have to tolerate other people's feelings. In the great spectrum of things, I don't think discrimination against gay men, or being barred from bed and breakfasts or pubs, is very prevalent.
"Put it this way: compared to most of the gay people I know, I am way to the other end of the spectrum in believing that people have a right to be bigoted. It would be unfair if gay people were denied legal rights that other people have but my libertarian self is big enough to say that there are some rights there. I don't know where we draw that line but people do have a right to say what they want happening in their house.
"[He is visibly conflicted on the point, aware of his own privilege. He doesn't want to be an] Uncle Tom who doesn't know you're a victim.
"But there's a statistical problem that arises here. It's the Ali G line: 'Is it cos I is black?' Now supposing you are black, or gay, or short, or some status that is perceived as disadvantageous.
"If you fix upon that status you will then make the statistical mistake of viewing the random knocks that anybody has in their life and assuming they're because you are black or gay."

Evan Davis, interviewed in The Evening Standard.
Philosophy as economics - Get 'er!

• Evan Davis presents Panorama: Breaking Into Britain on BBC1 tonight at 9pm.

Panorama Investigation: Religious Nutters Are Religious And Nutty Shock

There is great vexation today about tonight's Panorama programme, British Schools, Islamic Rules.
According to The Daily Mail; "Children in Britain are being taught brutal Sharia law punishments, including how to hack off a criminal’s hand or foot.
"So-called ‘weekend schools’ for Muslim pupils as young as six also teach that the penalty for gay sex is execution and that ‘Zionists’ are plotting to take over the world for the Jews..."
"For acts of ‘sodomy’, children are told that the penalty is death and it states a difference of opinion whether this should be done by stoning, or burning with fire, or throwing over a cliff."
Next week Panorama will expose a book that is used in almost all schools in the UK that says gay men should be put to death - the Bible.
[Please insert your own joke about Daily Mail readers getting angry about racist, homophobic religious nutters who demand a return to capital punishment here]

Gay Priests Scandal: Full Story and Pics!!!!

Here is a link to the story, 'Le notti brave dei preti gay', ('The wild nights of the gay priests', I think) in the Italian magazine, Panorama, about the "double life" of gay priests in Rome.
Yes, the bizarro picture above is used on the magazine's front cover.
Can you believe it? Some Catholic clergy are gay!
And some of them go to gay bars and clubs and have sex!!!!
There are lots of undercover photos, and bits of video which you can watch and then pretend to be surprised - nay, shocked and scandalised!!!
The text is in Italian (obviously), but let's not pretend that most people are really only interested in the saucy pics.
If you are a words kinda person, I've posted a Google translation in the comments beneath this post.
Panorama is owned by that paragon of Christian virtue, the completely uncontroversial Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, by the way.