Nicholas Soames: more chaff for Tory voters

As perennial as the weeds that blight our gardens is the news story about the latest Tory MP to make concerned noises about mass immigration, whilst not actually intending, or proposing, to do anything about it. Today, it was the turn of Nicholas Soames to riff upon this familiar theme, with The Daily Mail honouring him with a piece entitled 'Heads must come out of the sand': Tory MP warns about scale of immigration as he predicts population will hit 70 million by 2027. Unfortunately, the heads in question would appear to be firmly wedged elsewhere, into something far less pleasant than sand, although seemingly perversely agreeable to the head wedgers.

Citing last year's petition against mass immigration initiated by Migration Watch, the Mail quoted Soames as stating:

This is a clear indicator of the very great public concern about the scale of immigration to this country.

Yes, indeed it is; but just what does he propose to do about it? Having made this attention grabbing soundbite, what said he next? As in any statement about this depressingly familiar problem, Soames immediately followed this up with the rider that immigration constituted a 'natural and essential part of an open economy', thereby rendering his initial words about this theme largely irrelevant. Does he, or do any of his Westminster colleagues, believe that members of the public any longer believe in this elaborate charade of mock concern over this issue? Perhaps so, for the Mail is certainly complicit in revving up the public mood into an impotent fury over such matters.

It is time that voters realised, that people such as Soames, or any of the other Westminster MPs, with perhaps a handful of exceptions, are not willing to do anything concrete to genuinely limit mass immigration; moreover, none of them are advocating the sustainable demographic policy that our country so desperately needs. We require a party that will put in place realistic, workable and firm measures that will bring the demographic situation under control. This is what most members of the public desire; it is what we need, and what, ultimately, we must have.

Do you recall Cameron's Munich speech about multiculturalism, and how it was made out that he was against it? How, since then, have his actions tallied with his words? Has there not been a glaring discrepancy between what was said, and that which has subsequently been done? Treat Soames's words on immigration with the same scepticism, for it is not a question of needing to remove heads from the sand, but of advocating, implementing, resourcing and maintaining the policies that will stop mass immigration permanently, and ensure that our population is eventually brought down to a sustainable level. This will ensure a better future for all of us, and for our countryside. Cameron may consider that it is worth sacrificing our greenbelt for the sake of millions of unbidden incomers by removing planning regulations which inhibit its destruction, but it is not the so-called "dithering" over housing that should be a matter for concern, but his "dithering" over mass immigration. Do not be fooled. Do not vote Conservative. 

Sayeeda Warsi: no longer Chairman

It has been announced that Sayeeda Warsi has been relieved of her post as Chairman of the Conservative Party. The news comes as David Cameron embarks upon a cabinet reshuffle with Ken Clarke anticipated to leave his position as Justice Secretary.

Although Warsi's departure is to be welcomed, Cameron's reshuffle will not produce any change in focus or policy that will lead to any significant changes for the better in the country. This is not to say of course that Labour would offer anything better, for clearly, they would not.

What will Warsi do now? A hint was perhaps provided back in June when she took up the baton on behalf of championing chain-migration into the UK from outside of the EU, using the spurious pretext of familial reunion. This is no surprise, given her background as a specialist in the field of immigration law, and it was suggested here at the time that a return to practice in this sphere might well be her preferred option should her political career hit the buffers. Taking into consideration the current furore connected to the abuse of student status in the university sector as a backdoor route to immigration, defending the 'rights' of bogus students from overseas may exert a certain appeal for her.

Who will replace Warsi? Will it be yet another career politician who could quite as readily have sat upon the Labour benches as those of the Conservatives? Whoever it happens to be, the announcement of their appointment is unlikely to cause even a flicker of interest amongst most members of the public.

Postscript
Since writing the above this morning, it has been announced that Warsi has not been removed from a position of influence, but has instead been given two roles: Minister of State at the Foreign Office and Minister for Faith and Communities. Cameron, for whatever reason, evidently did not wish her to be lost to Tory frontline politics. Quite why however, must certainly be a puzzle to many Conservatives as well as to the electorate at large; after all, nobody has elected Warsi: she is a political appointee. As one commenter below has noted, this in itself signifies why reform of the House of Lords is not some empty ephemeral issue, but a matter that deserves to be addressed. There must be an end to the cronyism and political favouritism that has led to the likes of Warsi and Ahmed being given a mandate to influence legislation and government, without being accountable to the electorate. 

Her appointment as Minister for Faith and Communities is a particular worry. This position may have existed previously, but if so, it slipped under my radar. What is the point of such a post? If we strip away the euphemism, she is now effectively our Minister for Islam and Muslim Communities. Who wants such a position? Not me. Although the Monarch is the Head of the Church of England, we need a secular state that guarantees our freedom from religion, not a state that actively protects and promotes some of the most backward beliefs known to humanity. Religion and the state should be kept strictly separate.

The New Humanist blog notes that earlier this year Warsi:

used a visit to the Vatican to condemn secularism, likening its advocates to supporters of totalitarianism, having previously declared that the Coalition was a government that would "Do God"

She may play at being a "progressive Muslim", but her Vatican statement and general stance betray her intolerance for freedom of thought and freedom of conscience, employing her minority 'victim' status as a means of forwarding a deeply retrograde anti-Western anti-rationalism. Her presence in the current Government does no credit to the British political system, and is of an entirely negative nature; she has to go. The question is: when and how?

'Baroness' Warsi with 'Lord' Ahmed:

A Sudanese teddy named Mohammed sparks a life and death mission

Winter 2012-2013 Weather Forecast: will Arctic Sea Ice Cover play a Role?

Arctic Sea Ice: a new record Minimum?

As anticipated, although a couple of weeks ahead of the projected date, we have this week been notified that satellite data show Arctic sea ice to be at its lowest extent since such measurements began to be taken in 1979. The melt season does not normally finish until the middle of September, so it is likely that this cover will shrink still further over the coming fortnight to three weeks, surpassing by far the previous record minimum observed in the summer season of 2007. Then, some were claiming that the Arctic Ocean could be completely ice free by the summer of 2013, but the failure of the summer melt to replicate the conditions of 2007 – until this summer that is – caused most scientists to revert to more cautious estimates of a complete annual melt at some point in the 2030s to 2040s. These observations and claims have created not only headlines, but also a degree or two of heated controversy, with these measurements being used in the political arena by a variety of advocacy groups and individuals with their own particular axes to grind, whether these be anti-Western anti-modernist Greens, or oil industry lobbyists and ‘sceptics’. This is unfortunate, for neither seeks to use the science in a dispassionate way, instead focusing upon cherry picking data that best fit their respective narratives.

It is against this backdrop that some are trumpeting these measurements as being consonant with the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming hypothesis, whereas others are rubbishing the data and claiming either that such conditions are not historically unusual, or that we simply lack reliable data for comparative purposes. Whilst true that satellite measurements are of only recent provenance, earlier records from submarines and surface ships are available, providing a good indication as to the extent and thickness of the Arctic sea ice back into the 1950s. These confirm not only that the ice has decreased markedly in extent since then, but also in thickness, with some estimates suggesting that the summer sea ice has lost two thirds of its volume over the period in question. The first of the graphics below shows the extent of ice at the time of writing, together with the line indicating the 30-year average for this time of year. Below that, is a map showing August sea ice recorded in 1938, which clearly indicates its much greater extent compared to today. Earlier than this, we have a rather indistinct idea of what constituted the normal limits of the ice, but a research project is currently underway, analysing thousands of observations recorded in the logs of nineteenth-century whaling vessels in order to gain a better understanding of the climatological norm during that period.

What is beyond dispute, is the fact that sea ice has a high albedo, whereas open ocean does not: snow-covered sea ice with small water gaps between the floes typically reflects approximately 85% of the solar radiation that strikes it, whereas open ocean reflects only circa 3%. The unusually high loss of Arctic sea ice this year will therefore have significant implications for the amount of solar energy absorbed by the Arctic Ocean.

Warming or a ‘New Little Ice Age’?

Piers Corbyn is at present the most well known advocate of the ‘New Little Ice Age’ (NLIA) hypothesis, with him repeatedly claiming that owing to a lull in solar radiative output akin to the Dalton or Maunder minimums, we, at least in the UK and north-western Europe, are about to experience decades of cold winters and cool summers. This, he claims, is associated with shifts in the jet stream occasioned by solar changes, the explanatory mechanism of which he has declined to submit to peer review, ostensibly for commercial reasons. If indeed it is the case that reduced solar output is associated with cooling in these areas of the globe – as seems to be suggested by historical records – then it seems odd that the ice of the northern hemisphere should today be at such a low extent. After all, the onset of the Little Ice Age was not associated with reduced ice extent, but a significant increase. The Greenland Norse for example lost contact with Europe as shipping lanes were cut by ice, presaging a gloomy extinction for the Scandinavian colony, whose marginal agriculture was unable to support the lives of its inhabitants who gradually fell victim to starvation and the arrival of the Inuit. Although some people mistakenly think that “Greenland” was named as such because it truly was “green” before the Little Ice Age, this is factually incorrect, the name having been bestowed upon the vast icy island by Eric the Red, in a bid to tempt colonists from Iceland and elsewhere in Scandinavia to venture westwards, and settle in his new colony. Iceland itself, although far more clement, found that its entire coastline was icebound during a number of winters as recently as the Eighteenth Century; in 1695, much of the coast was still surrounded by ice in July. If we are entering a new Little Ice Age as Corbyn claims, it seems distinctly odd that this passage into a new climatological regime should be accompanied by a widespread retreat of ice in the Arctic and the Alps.  

This is the sixth successive wetter than average summer across the UK.  For the NLIA advocates, this pattern could be significant, for looking back in history, Brian Fagan details a similar succession of exceptionally wet summers that presaged the end of the Mediaeval Warm Period (WWP) in Northern Europe in his book The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History (Basic Books, 2000, New York). Starting seven weeks after Easter 1315, "the deluge" continued through May, June, July and August, with almost constant rain; to compound matters, both August and September were cold. The harvest failed to ripen, and much of the wheat, rye and hay that the population and its livestock was dependent upon, was lost. Fagan notes that the spring rains of 1316 led to the serious disruption of the "sowing of oats, barley and spelt. The harvest failed again and the rains continued." (p. 38). The year 1316 witnessed widespread famine across Northern Europe, with the cereal crop being the worst of the Middle Ages. A bitterly cold winter followed in 1317-1318, only to be succeeded by another wet summer with the upshot being more famine and an eruption of "religious fervour." During that harsh winter there had not been enough fodder to sustain livestock, with the consequence that many animals perished. Not until 1322 did this pattern of terrible summers come to an end across the region, yielding instead:

to unpredictable, often wild weather, marked by warm and very dry summers in the late 1320s and 1330s and by a notable increase in storminess and wind strengths in the English Channel and North Sea. The moist, mild westerlies that had nourished Europe throughout the Medieval Warm Period turned rapidly on and off . . . . The Little Ice Age had begun. (p. 44).

Could we be about to witness such a switch, or are the parellels nothing more than coincidence against a very different climatic backdrop? Fagan's observations raise some interesting questions.

Reduced Sea Ice: Cold Winters for the UK?

Putting aside disputes over the genesis of recent low levels of Arctic sea ice, there have been some interesting suggestions that the retreat of ice in this part of the world, together with its associated warming, is having a significant impact upon climate, specifically, the position of the jet stream in the northern hemisphere. One theory contends that the reduced contrast in temperature between the northern polar region and the tropics arising from a warming Arctic results in a weaker and slower moving more southerly jet stream, which has a tendency to get stuck in a particular position for long periods of time; hence, our second wettest summer on record preceded by an exceptionally wet spring (discounting March of course). Elsewhere, such as in parts of the US and Russia, this pattern has led to exceptional heat and drought, rather than to rain and subdued temperatures.

What this “sticking” of the jet stream implies for the coming winter is unclear, but if such a pattern should continue, rather than experiencing the normal run of mild Westerlies, the British Isles could once again experience something akin to the exceptional incursion of bitterly cold polar maritime air witnessed in late November and much of December 2010. This marked the beginning of the second consecutive unusually cold winter for the UK, although last year provided us with a break from this pattern. What will we see in 2012-2013? Whether the unusual disposition of the jet stream happens to be linked to reduced sea ice, ongoing low solar radiative output or a combination of both factors, will be a moot point amongst climatologists for some time yet.

Last year, The Daily Express latched onto a winter forecast by James Madden, claiming that once again we would experience a bitterly cold winter, which of course, we did not. Piers Corbyn too made similar predictions relating to exceptional cold during the early part of the winter season that proved to be wildly inaccurate. Neither independent forecasters, to the best of my knowledge, have yet released their outlook for the winter of 2012-2013, but they will do soon enough, and it will be interesting to see how much credence papers such as the Express place upon their forecasts. Journalists, when it suits them, seem to have incredibly short memories, and have thus probably forgotten the major gaffes made by Madden and Corbyn in 2011. Is anyone capable of producing an accurate long-range forecast? At this stage in the development of meteorology, probably not. Is it worth a flutter on a white Christmas at the bookies? It probably is, from the perspective of William Hill, Betfred, etc. 

UPDATE: True to form, The Daily Express did indeed publish yet another story on 17 November this year claiming that we are about to experience the 'coldest winter in 100 years'. Really? Hmm. I may not be able to forecast the weather with any accuracy, but the content of the Daily Express is rather easier to predict. By the very end of November, the Daily Mail, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph had all jumped on this same bandwagon, with none of them providing any evidence in support of their 'coldest winter for 100 years' claim. Although the beginning of December proved to be cooler than average, it was far from exceptional, and the much vaunted 'Beast from the East' turned out to be little more than a mouse bringing a touch of frost here and there as well as the odd flurry of snow. It was feeble stuff which swiftly yielded to the depressingly familiar weather pattern that has bedevilled the UK since April 2012: wet westerlies.Piers Corbyn finally revealed his thoughts on the matter in, of all publications, The Daily Express, on 10 January 2013.     

Walthamstow EDL Demo Reports

Today's EDL protest in Walthamstow was due to get underway with a march from the station at 1.30pm. Police had anticipated that there would be some 700 supporters present, but according to a report posted at BLOTTR at 1.09pm, only 200-300 EDL had turned up. Numbers at EDL demos appear to have passed their high watermark, and it is likely that the disruptive action by the RMT at Kings Cross today has prevented some protesters from arriving at their desired destination. However, according to a Hope Not Hate (HNH) posting at 12:36, circa 500 EDL were setting off from Kings Cross, whereas "a smaller group of "Casuals" have  been spotted moving independently." In a later posting the HNH blog was claiming "that the proposed EDL demo site has been changed as the original one has been "occupied"."

The blogger Quiet Man claims that some reports estimate the number of EDL supporters to be in the region of 1,000. Once the police figures become available, which are invariably the most accurate, they will be posted here.

On Thursday, I highlighted how the mass media uncritically accepts accounts from the self-styled "revolutionary socialist" Left such as the SWP in its slanted reporting of officially sanctioned pariah groups who oppose Islamism, multiculturalism and mass immigration. Today, true to form, the Metro report on the Walthamstow EDL demo and counter-protest has done just this, only allowing quotes from groups opposed to the EDL to appear in its story. Moreover, it quotes directly from the SWP's online piece about the opposition to the protest that it helped to create in the lead-up to today's events.

The SWP front group "We are Walthamstow" (WAW) appears to have been successful in its objective of whipping up an atmosphere conducive to violent confrontation, with this small but influential sect of the "revolutionary socialist" Left managing to mobilise a reported 3,000 individuals (some ideological fellow-travellers, others naive dupes) into turning out against the EDL. Given the numbers, the police were faced with the unenviable task of seeking to prevent the violent faction within the WAW crowd from attacking the EDL, and unfortunately, the Waltham Forest News reports that a group of the former managed to break through the police lines making it "to the Bromley Road turning where fighting started with bottles, flower pots and firecrackers being thrown." A number have been arrested, but no figures have been released as yet.

Watching the video of the EDL march below, it seems that an estimate of 300 individuals would be about right. The recent decline in turnout at demonstrations would seem to suggest that a rather clearer rationale needs to be provided for any particular protest that the group stages. Having previously provided an overview of the treatment of this EDL protest by the press and its opponents in the lead-up to the demo, a summary and analysis of press and opposition post-event reactions will appear within the next week or two.

RMT threatens to disrupt EDL Demo

The RMT Union, headed by Communist Bob Crow, is threatening to disrupt rail services to Walthamstow today in an attempt to prevent EDL supporters attending a demo that will be using Kings Cross Station as a rendezvous point from 11:00 this morning, with the original plan having been for all to set off from their for their destination at 1:00 this afternoon. However, the details on the EDL forum are no longer accessible to those who do not have an account, so I cannot confirm whether or not their plans have changed as a consequence of the threats. The decision to make the forum accessible to members only seems to be a very sensible precaution, and for all I know, measures have been put in place to outwit the RMT.

Information about the planned attempt to violate the democratic right of the EDL to protest is provided on the SWP website which states: 

Now the rail workers’ RMT union has said that in its view the EDL presents a “serious and imminent risk” to staff and passengers, and that its members are justified in refusing to work under these conditions.

RMT London political officer Unjum Mirza spoke to Socialist Worker earlier this week about the bitterness towards the EDL among King’s Cross railworkers.

He said, “The EDL are a bunch of racist thugs with fascists in their ranks. Our members don’t want to be part of helping them get to Waltham Forest to spread their message of hate.”

Last year the RMT engaged in similar disruptive activity in an attempt to prevent EDL supporters attending a demo in Tower Hamlets. Although trades unions are part of a normal and healthy political culture, they should limit their activities to ensuring that their members' terms and conditions of employment are reasonable and capable of providing a living wage. It is not the business of overly politicised senior trades union officials to abuse their positions to forward their own pet political obsessions, such as disrupting democratic and legal political protests because they happen to disagree with the views of the protesters. It is not clear whether Unjum Mirza's objection to the EDL springs from his Islamicity or from any adherence to revolutionary socialist doctrine (it could well be a combination of both), but it should not be in his gift, or that of anyone else, to attempt to prevent a peaceful legal protest from taking place.

RMT Head Bob Crow:

Communist who earns more than £140,000 per annum

EDL Walthamstow Demo: 1 September 2012

This Saturday, the EDL will be holding a protest in Walthamstow which had originally been planned to take place in August. Although this will be a national demo, recent attendance figures at such events – such as in Bristol and Dewsbury – have been rather modest compared to those that took place earlier in the protest group’s history. An explanation of why the march will be taking place has been provided in an article by Esmerelda Weatherwax, focusing upon how the borough has become a hotbed for Islamists in recent years, some of the most notable being involved in Anjem Choudary’s numerous differently-named groups consisting for the greater part of the same members articulating the same backward Islamist ideology.

Contrary to the shrill and predictable denunciations of the EDL protest made by the latest Trotskyite front group to spring into existence – ‘We are Waltham Forest’ – as well as formulaic imprecations issued by UAF, the SWP and sundry soi-disant ‘antifascists’, the police adjudge that the EDL march poses no threat of violence. Whether or not they believe that the same can be said of the miscellaneous anti-democratic elements of the Trotskyite and anarchist Left has not been divulged, but judging by past experience, including the recent ‘antifa’ attack upon police in Bristol, violence could well be forthcoming from that quarter. These groups employ the language of ‘anti-racism’ and ‘anti-fascism’ as a means of camouflaging their true intent of subverting public order and fomenting violence, and yet although these facts can be ascertained by anyone who cares to look at the literature that they produce, observe the manner in which they act and listen to the words that they speak, the mass media seem to possess a perplexing blind spot in this regard. Why are their claims, given their serious nature and implications, never subjected to objective scrutiny? The failure of the press, television and radio to investigate the murky world of the violent fringe of the anti-democratic Left, and the willingness of broadcasters and journalists to accept all of its pronouncements at face value, constitutes a baffling mystery. 

Turning to what the opponents of the EDL Walthamstow Demo have written, their true colours are revealed. For example, one article entitled ‘We Are Waltham Forest: residents to confront EDL racists’ appears on a website called Counterfire. This organisation describes itself as follows:

Counterfire is an organisation of revolutionary socialists. We work in the trade unions, student movement, and protest campaigns to link together different struggles, push them forwards, and build resistance to the system.

Counterfire members have played a key role in the Coalition of Resistance, Stop the War, and the student revolt.

Note the term “revolutionary socialists” and how the organisation freely owns that it infiltrates trade unions, student groups and protests to “build resistance to the system”. We live in a democracy where any “socialist” candidate is free to stand for office via the ballot box, and yet these people – “revolutionary socialists” – reject this route, preferring instead the tactics of infiltration and destabilisation, for they realise that in the cold light of day only a tiny minority of people would ever vote for them, so unappealing are their policies and the dystopian vision that they hold dear. They make clear their contempt for democracy and pluralistic thought and declare that their intent is to gradually curtail the compass of what passes for legitimate political debate so that eventually only those adhering to their own “revolutionary socialist” agenda are allowed to articulate their views. Still, history is unfortunately replete with examples where such “revolutionary socialists” have taken power and then violently turned on each other, such is the nature of their chiliastic urge to power in the name of an abstract humanity, the concrete reality of which they despise.

Such a tendency as outlined is clearly at play in the article written by Counterfire writer Charles Brown after he has written off the EDL as a dying force:

But this does not mean that we should downplay the threat posed by the EDL and fascist groups like the BNP and National Front. The scapegoating and scaremongering favoured by these organisations can often be found, in only marginally less virulent form in the right-wing press, and we have seen a ratcheting up of rhetoric against multiculturalism from Cameron and other Tory leaders.

Here we see the tactics of the “revolutionary socialist” Left laid bare: turn on any organisation or anybody who questions their ideological position. Thus, the first focus of their opposition was the National Front followed by the BNP then the EDL. Now that they think that the EDL are on the ropes, attention shifts to the Conservative Party and the “right-wing press” (presumably anything not falling under the control of the “revolutionary socialist” Left?). What are their weapons of choice? Smear, slur and insinuation. “Racist”, “fascist”, “far-right” and “Islamophobe” are just a few of the pejorative labels that they favour and employ with wild abandon, enjoying great success owing to the uncritical receptivity of the mass media, who help them to implement their strategy of: stigmatise, isolate and destroy. The SWP is also happy to whip up an atmosphere of fear with a view to inciting confrontation, hence its recent direction of propaganda towards Walthamstow's Muslim population. This, unfortunately, is one story that you will not see covered in mainstream reporting of the EDL protest in Walthamstow this Saturday.

UPDATE: Click here for demo coverage.

Welcome to Walthamstow: 'friends' of the revolutionary socialist Left

The St Osyth Lion

The sleepy Essex village of St Osyth is today the centre of an unusual drama in which a police helicopter has been scrambled and a cordon set up by the constabulary near the fields in which it is claimed a lion has been sighted. A family staying in a caravan are said to have taken a photograph of the beast last night, although the BBC reports that it is of such poor quality that experts cannot make out what it is; it is said to be of a sandy colour. Roaring is also reported to have been heard in the vicinity. The eyewitnesses say that it was "several hundred yards away" when they saw it "preening".

None of the lions at Colchester zoo are missing, and the circus that visited the locality of late did not possess such creatures. What then, could account for this sighting? My hunch is that they spotted a large labrador or golden retriever. If not that, it could have been a beefy ginger tom, someone playing a prank dressed in a lion costume or, if the holidaymakers were real urban types, they may even have mistaken a bellowing Jersey cow indistinctly glimpsed through some trees or bushes for a big cat. Then again, the Shepley Lion may have ventured down from Huddersfield for a bank holiday outing.

UPDATE
By Monday evening the police had called off their hunt, with zoologist Anthony Tropeano concluding that the 'lion' was most likely to be a large dog. The picture of the 'lion' taken by a couple and handed to the police for examination is reproduced below. As you can see, it bears a striking resemblance to a ginger tom, but the video report from the BBC proves that this too is a misidentification.

The St Osyth 'lion' is, apparently, a Maine Coon cat called "Teddy". Does he terrify you? No? Me neither. Looking at this soft furry creature whose natural habitat seems to be the carpet beneath his owner's bed, I think that I would be rather more afraid if I came face-to-face with the two witnesses of the 'lion'. What must have been going through their heads to have mistaken this ball of fluff for a terrifying predator from the savannah? More importantly, just what must the police be thinking? Perhaps it is time for the Essex constabulary to check what the couple had ingested on the night of the sighting. What with this and Pussy Riot, it's been a rather feline month for blogging.

The St Osyth 'Lion': a Maine Coon Cat

Breivik Sentence Passed

Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik has been declared sane by five Norwegian judges. A smile flitted across Breivik's face as a judge outlined his sentence:  21 years with a minimum term of 10. However, the period of 445 days that he has spent in custody is to be subtracted from this total. Although he has technically been declared sane, everyone must hope that his alleged international terror network - a 'revived' Knights Templar - is nothing more than fantasy.

The length of his sentence means that for each life taken, he will serve less than four months, which seems a paltry penalty for a crime of this magnitude. Breivik, no matter what his protestations, is as much a product of Islamism as the violent Islamists themselves, his vile vision of a theocratic Europe being a mirror image of a revived Caliphate. His crimes have done more to discredit genuine rational and peaceful opposition to Islamism across Europe than the combined efforts of the continent's multiculturalists for whom he bore such a murderous hatred. Putting politics aside, no matter what the court could have concluded, no sentence would have been able to deliver real justice for the families of the deceased, and those who remain alive yet physically and mentally scarred by his attacks. Breivik has secured a place in history not as a defender of European Civilisation and values, but as a warped product of the Islamist ideals he professes to detest.

Todd Bentley: Punching for Jesus!

Given that the Edinburgh Fringe is currently in full swing, you could be mistaken for thinking that a certain preacher named Todd Bentley is a brilliant comic creation; an astutely observed parody of much that is the worst in the North American evangelical tradition. Whereas readers will doubtless be familiar with scenes featuring believers speaking in tongues, handling snakes, and preachers giving vent to hysterical confessionals accompanied by telethons aimed at fleecing the faithful of their hard-earned cash, they may be less well acquainted with Bentley's approach, which often involves punching the lights out of members of his flock. If you think that that in itself seems strange, be prepared for more revelations (although not of St John).

The now 36-year-old Bentley, it is said, was convicted of sexual assault at the age of 15, before going on to overdose on amphetamines and hallucinogens. Now, of course, I really wouldn't want to make any link between such goings on and his conversion to evangelical Christianity at the age of 18. Heaven forbid that the ingestion of certain potent mind altering chemicals had anything to do with the precipitation of his sense of divine mission, which was doubtless a consequence of his acceptance of the Holy Spirit. Anyway, I digress.

The colourful Mr Bentley went on to lead 'Fresh Fire Ministries' in the late 1990s, and then the Florida-based 'Lakeland Revival' in 2008. Although the latter may sound like a Cumbrian regeneration project, it has nothing to do with small business start-ups in Keswick, but rather, something dubbed the 'Florida Healing Outpouring'. If that term sounds odd to your ears, you are not alone, for it sounds about as everyday as Moon Unit Zappa, and makes even less sense. As its title would suggest, quite unbelievable things 'occurred', with people being 'healed' of diabetes, cancer, deafness and paralysis. Whilst perhaps this blogger and rational readers may look upon these claims with a degree of scepticism, there is, as ever, something that is more quantifiable than miracles: money. Indeed, quantities of money seemed to manifest themselves in abundance, providing an outpouring capable of paying for $15,000 a night venues. Quite how much was generously donated to the miraculous Mr Bentley, we do not know.

All good things come to an end though, and the 'Lakeland Revival' petered out after Bentley had had his fill of curing people through landing blows upon them, knocking out teeth and kicking an old woman in the face. Miracle workers, it seems, often need to take time off from their good works, especially following television documentary exposures. The Lord truly works in mysterious ways! So, why mention Bentley today? Well, The Daily Telegraph informs us that this agent of the divine will has been denied entry to the UK, with the Home Office stating: "The government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they are not conducive to the public good." 

Evidently, many people across the country who had been looking forward to a kicking from the Canadian evangelical will be sorely disappointed. It would seem that if they wish to be physically abused by this particular preacher, then they will have to purchase flights to visit him on his home turf or elsewhere in Europe, where he has recently been knocking seven shades of something out of sundry Norwegians. Whether he has lately repeated his pièce de résistance of punching someone when they have a broken sternum, has not been revealed. 

The first of the videos below provides a sample of Bentley in action, although the punches that he lands are on this occasion on the gentle side: "If we had twenty cancers here, we could get twenty cancers healed". Don't give up on the NHS or Bupa just yet though!

Obama: preparing to attack Syria?

There are ominous signs that the US is preparing for military intervention against Syria. As in Iraq, it is of course the pretext of WMD - this time the potential movement of Syrian chemical and biological weopons - that is being deployed to rationalise US aggression. The New York Times quotes Obama as saying:

We cannot have a situation in which chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people.

In other words, the US President is implying that such weapons could fall into the hands of Islamist militants including Al-Qaeda. This comes a day after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennadii Gatilov claimed that:

Yet more facts have appeared, including those in the mass media, about the massive scale of the supply of weaponry manufactured in the West to the Syrian opposition through third countries.

Today, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo as well as a Syrian government delegation, and issued a statement reiterating their opposition to foreign intervention in Syria, emphasising "the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law and the principles contained in the UN Charter, and not to allow their violation". No country or group of nations, in their opinion, should pursue a policy of imposing "democracy by bombs". The message from Moscow and Beijing to Obama is clear: stay out of Syria. The question is, will the world's sole military hyperpower take heed of these words, or instead pursue the reckless policy of destabilising and destroying another Arab state with no clear vision of what is likely to come next? Some within America's Christian fundamentalist eschatological fringe may rave with enthusiasm at such a potential portent of the coming of the 'end times', but rational beings everywhere will instead shudder at the likely mass bloodletting which will ensue.

It is widely known that Islamist militants, including some holding UK passports, have entered Syria in order to destabilise the Assad regime, and that regional powers such as Saudi Arabia appear to have been funding the uprising. Whatever should happen, Syria's internal problems are not our problems, and the UK should not interfere in Syrian affairs. However, just as in Libya, there has been a clamour for intervention within our foreign policy establishment that has been paralleled by the BBC's emotive tenor favouring direct intervention. We should not succomb to such propaganda. Atrocities are being committed in Syria, and they are being committed by both sides. However, the so-called "activists" of the "Opposition" are not, on the whole, humane Western-style democrats. Islamism looks set to come to Syria aided, no matter how unwittingly, by the US and the UK. Life under Assad may have been bad for some people, but for others, particularly Christians and Alawites, many may find that they have no lives at all once his regime is gone. If Syria fragments, what happens to her neighbouring states? What impact, in particular, will this have on Turkey? Ethnic and confessional groups straddle borders, and hundreds of thousands of refugees threaten to add an additional destabilising influence to the mix.

Moscow Eid: Video, Pictures and Russian Reactions

The video and pictures below illustrate the disruption to the daily life of the Russian capital that has become a familiar part of each Eid in recent years. Once again, thousands of Muslims have blocked streets with their prayers and 3,000 additional police were laid on to ensure that all passed off peacefully. Russia Today reported that:

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Russian Muslims on the eve of the holiday, wishing them welfare, health, and success in good deeds. Putin said that by their "fruitful" activity, Muslim organizations are making a significant contribution to the preservation and development of Russia's national and cultural traditions.

Many members of the public in Britain and elsewhere who have no direct experience of Russia or who do not understand Russian harbour the misapprehension that Putin is some species of Russian ethno-nationalist. He is not. Putin is an opportunist statist, willing to use whichever elements of ideology – including some trappings of nationalism – for the benefit of himself and his supportive clique of oligarchs. Given this, he has no misgivings about treating with Islam, even with literalist interpretations of it as promoted by Putin loyalist and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. Russia under Putin is therefore no bulwark against the Islamisation of European societies, although ordinary ethnic Russians – non-Muslims – are alarmed by what is happening to the demography of Moscow and the country at large.

Yesterday, it was announced that an agreement had been reached to construct a 60,000-capacity mosque on the outskirts of Moscow, but today, new demands have been made by the Council of Russian Muftis, calling for the building of a mosque in each of Moscow’s administrative districts. This would of course have a dramatic impact upon Moscow’s character and symbolise its accelerating Islamisation, a fact not lost upon ordinary Russians.

The comment thread attached to the article dealing with this announcement in today’s edition of Izvestia makes for interesting reading, providing as it does an insight into the thoughts of Russian readers. I have translated a number of these below that reveal a deep sense of unease amongst many ethnic Russians about the Islamisation that is being brought about by inefficient immigration legislation and Russia’s own version of multiculturalism. Some readers of a sensitive nature may find elements of what is reproduced not to their taste, but I have not bowdlerised the translations, and nor should it be taken that I necessarily agree with all of the sentiments expressed. Reaction to the announcement regarding the proposed mosque-building programme was uniformly negative. For those of you who read Russian, some screengrabs of the comment section appear after the video and pictures.The full thread can be accessed here.

Russian readers express their opinions on Islam in Moscow

Igor Kaftailov: “Russia needs to be cleansed of the Muslim plague, and no more mosques built. But our filthy venal authorities of course, will lick the backsides of the muftis all the same.”

Tamara Sheverdina: “That was also precisely WHY the BYZANTINE EMPIRE collapsed . . . Now Constantinople is in the hands of the Turks . . . And everything started out just as now . . . The Muslim religion is false and bloody.”

Russkii Ivanov: “This is just as in the Russian fairytale: “There was a hare with a little wooden cottage, and a fox with one of ice . . .” In Soviet times there was STRICT regulation of the movement of the slit-eyes [by which he presumably refers to Central Asians] from one place to another. Everything was regulated, therefore we lived NORMALLY.”

V.P.P. – V.P.P. – “Move the capital of the Muslims from Kazan to Moscow and the Kremlin! And the capital of the Orthodox ETHNIC RUSSIANS from Moscow to the Kazan Kremlin, together with the President and the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation!”

Alexander Lv: “For the whole of their existence, the ethnic Russians have struggled with the consequences of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, and here we now find the Judases are prepared to lay themselves down before the Muslims again. Today, even the NTV News started not with an Orthodox but with a Muslim celebration. I would sooner hear Russian bad language on the street than incomprehensible Muslim babble.”

Sergei Avramov: “Muscovites must come out and organise protests against the building of mosques. We must understand, that the Muslim yoke is being placed Moscow. Ethnic Russians must show the guests who is the master in the home, and show them their place. If our authorities do not wish to allow this, then there has to be a problem for them. Ethnic Russians – we need to organise ourselves, change those in power and defend our historical roots. Yet, under the pretext of tolerance we are abandoned to the enemies of the Russian people.”

Petr Petrov: “If we wait and nothing changes then perhaps it will be too late. We are supporting not the ethnic Russian citizens who founded the state, but foreigners.” 

To Monin: “We ethnic Russian folk must oppose the penetration of Muslims into our society.”

Iurii Shchekin: “But in the mosques we shall rear pigs, then they will be useful :-)”.

To Monin: “We - the ethnic Russian folk - must become a single force, capable of resisting the influx of Muslims into our SACRED RUS’.”

Muslims pray in Moscow's Prospekt Mira

Hebden Bridge flooded (by EDL)

It turns out that today witnessed a number of small flash demos by the EDL besides the modest sized protest against the building of a mosque in Chelmsford. To the consternation of some, members of the EDL turned up for a return visit to Hebden Bridge, a small West Yorkshire former mill town renowned for its unusually right-on collection of residents, who have since the 1970s transformed the Pennine settlement into an oasis of metropolitan alternative lifestyles. So, rather like their kindred spirits who have set up home in Totnes and who also received a visitation from the EDL today, the inhabitants of Hebden Bridge were a bit put out by having their Saturday afternoon shopping for crystals and ethically sourced coffee interrupted. After what took place, a number of them will doubtless be booking themselves in for additional Reiki sessions to overcome the trauma. Why, did you not know that some of these EDL ruffians even drank lager (Red Stripe to be precise - look at the picture) in the open air from cans!?

One histrionic Hebden Bridge blogger affiliated to the Labour Party was tormented by visions of blackshirted mobs and thus grimly labelled the picture displayed below as "Fascist EDL in Hebden Bridge this afternoon" (later sarcastically amended to "The freedom fighting EDL in Hebden Bridge this afternoon"). Quite how he knew that they were "fascist" was not divulged, as I don't think that he bothered enquiring into their political philosophy or affiliation. Is drinking Red Stripe "fascist"? Isn't it from Jamaica? Hardly something that a "fascist" would drink, surely? Anyway, Tony was not alone in his distress, for as can be seen in the screen grab from Indymedia, Luke Knight was concerned about the arrival of "Around 40 EDL" in the town this afternoon who were confronted by a local "Anti fascist" (such folk are apparently known by sight in Hebden Bridge and are not an uncommon breed) who "went berserk and started screaming NAZIS at them and attempted to assault an EDL supporter" which led to an exchange of punches. Just what are these self-styled "anti-fascists" supposed to be saving us from? Violence? Hmm. Somehow, that just does not wash given the behaviour of this fellow and many of his self-righteously aggressive ideological brethren elsewhere.

Also, just why is it that Luke Knight writes about "An EDL female"? It sounds as if he is describing another species, which constitutes, to me at least, the language of dehumanisation, and as "anti-fascists" never tire of telling us: dehumanisation is just a step away from cattle trucks and gas chambers. Well, they do appear to possess a morbid fascination with such subjects, and for all their protestations about desiring "peace", are often frighteningly willing to deploy violence in order to silence those who happen to disagree with them. Although I paraphrase somewhat for the hour grows late, there seems to be much truth in the statement that never is evil so readily done as when men are convinced of the righteousness of the cause in which they act. Thus it is with the "anti-fascists", tortured by demons in human form of their own creation, which they think must be exorcised for the moral benefit of the "community" and for the sake of their own psychological well-being. And to think that these people have the temerity to use a slogan such as "hope not hate". Which of these two principles truly animates their thoughts and their actions?

The second screengrab also comes from a contributor to Indymedia, displaying his reaction to this article. As can be seen, the demonising mentality of the "anti-fascist" is in full spate, anathematising me as a "Neo-Nazi Troll" and a "racist w*****r". My point about the inherently unpleasant, stigmatising and aggressive nature of these people is thereby fully confirmed.

 

EDL foraging for organic hummus in Hebden Bridge