Gun Control is a Myth in the UK

Brilliant video that quite adequately shows the total failure of so called 'gun control' laws in the blog. As I have said repeatedly the laws don’t work and all firearms laws passed after 1968 at least should be repealed. Or would you rather continue to live with only the state and criminals being armed? Please discuss below.

The 2020 Tax Commission by the UK Taxpayer's Alliance

Some interesting points contained in this report from the Taxpayers Alliance.  The Taxpayers Alliance has interested me for quite some time with their excellent common sense viewpoints on matters such as the EU.  Now they have released some common sense proposals for reducing the size of the state and simplifying the tax system.  All great libertarian ideas that are bound to annoy socialists.  Please check them and their report out.  Personally I consider it very easy to understand why it is obvious that if you reduce taxation you actually get growth.  However that does not mean that the powers that be will see it that way.  Needless to say the left will be against this but then they never have anything sensible or un-dogmatic to contribute in any case.  A sort of 'ooh prosperity is wrong' type of knee-jerk reaction to things.  I will bring more from the Taxpayer's Alliance I like them.     I blogged about the failure of the big state here.  Next I will write about the flawed notion of the Irish nation State as Ireland teeters towards fiscal Union with the EU.  It is more than a bit interesting that on this matter I find myself agreeing with this chap!  More to come folks.   

Pamela Geller debating Gun Control

 The gun laws in the UK do not work.

Note how Pamela's opponent seems to favor Statism at the expense of individual autonomy (not to mention actual safety IMHO).  As I have said before after the UK introduced harsher gun control laws (moral panic) the actual incidences of gun crime increased! Please join the debate below I say the current laws are oppressive, ill thought out and anti-libertarian they should be repealed.  

A Legend has passed - Frank Carson RIP

Very sad news this the passing of a real great man and a credit to all Belfast folk.  Frank Carson passed away peacefully last week and I'd like to pass my condolences on to his family and friends.  I actually met Frank on the Antrim Road as a young soldier manning a VCP many years ago.  He made us all laugh before driving off he was like that in essence, a friend to everyone and a truly positive figure to emerge from a city that has sadly seen more grief than joy in it's recent past.  RIP Frank you were a cracker, text from BBC below.

The Belfast-born comedian Frank Carson has died.  He was 85 and had been seriously ill for a number of months.  He will be remembered not only for his career in show business but also for his charity work, which earned him an honorary title from Pope John Paul II.  Frank Carson never lost touch with his roots in the Great Patrick Street area near Belfast city centre, where he was born in 1926.  He had a varied career as an electrician, a plasterer and then in the Parachute Regiment at a time when he says jobs in Belfast for Catholics were scarce.  His big opportunity came in the 1960s when he won ITV's Opportunity Knocks talent show, and the comedy career which followed brought him fame and wealth.

Mayor of Balbriggan


He moved his family from the New Lodge Road to Liverpool in 1969 and later set up home in Blackpool.
He also spent some time in Balbriggan near Dublin where he was mayor.  The comedian John Linehan, better known as May McFettridge, said, as a Belfast comic who made it to British stages and network television, he led the way for others.  "He put the landmark down for the Belfast comedians who followed him to England," he said.  "He was a massive plus for Belfast, a class act. He was the top, number one."
Frank Carson appeared all over the world and said his aim was to be loved as a performer by all sides of the community and people of all politics.

Award from Pope

He dabbled in politics at one stage and became a member of UKIP, the UK Independence Party.
One of his proudest achievements was an award from the Vatican: becoming a Knight of St Gregory for his charity work.  A major cause was the integrated education fund. Baroness May Blood said he generously helped many charities.  "We really will miss Frank. He was always there for us," she said.
"If we had a new idea and he could help us financially or by opening a door, he was there."

Frank Carson had suffered serious illness since 2009, but kept active until a few months ago.
He is survived by his wife, Ruth, three children, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
It is understood he will be buried in Belfast from the city centre church where he was married.

Douglas Murray at his best - Israel & Nuclear Iran (of course Europe will condemn whatever Israel does)

Douglas at his best his points about Europe are very pertinent indeed.

During 2011 the IDF achieved an unparalleled low civilian casualty record during operations targeting terrorists

The IDF operations were targeting the indiscriminate launching of rockets into civilian areas by Hamas and other terror groups.

Happy new year folks, other bloggers have reviewed the year far better than I could so I shall just say good night to 2011 with this under-reported nugget of information concerning Israel's counter-terror operations.  This is from American thinker full text below, also check out Qassamcount for an online record of continuing indiscriminate terror attacks against civilians by Hamas/Islamic Jihad.  I'm off out now so happy new year folks!  This makes the 'we are all Hamas now' crowd look stupid but we already knew they are stupid.  From American thinker: 

In a year-end review of countering rocket fire from Gaza, the IDF reports that its retaliatory fire killed 100 Palestinians, including nine civilians. The rest were combatants linked to Palestinian terror organizations. Put another way, the Palestinian fatality toll included 10 fighters for every civilian.The one-to-10 noncombatant-combatant fatality ratio is unique among conflicts around the world. No other army can boast of similar records of minimal civilian collateral damage. In fact, the United Nations estimates that 30 civilians are killed for every 10 combatant fatalities in conflicts elsewhere in the world. That's three times as many non-combatants as combatants.


The IDF's record is the more remarkable when one considers that Palestinian terror groups are deeply embedded in civilian neighborhoods, requiring ever greater IDF pinpoint accuracy in retaliatory strikes as well as extensive intelligence inside Gaza to select proper targets. Also, quite often, IDF commanders will forgo ordering an attack when the potential for civilian casualties seems too high.
Yet, if one reviews mainstream media reports in 2011 about the continuing Gaza conflict, scant attention is paid to the paucity of Palestinian civilian casualties. Headlines regularly announce that "Israel killed 3 Palestinians" -- leaving readers in the dark about who these casualties are or, worse, concluding erroneously that they're probably civilians. And virtually never do reporters dig into the lengths to which the Israeli military goes to spare civilians.


This remains most notable in coverage of Israel's counter-terrorism incursion into Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009. To this day, media like the New York Times, abetted by spurious reports from human rights organizations and the UN's notorious Goldstone report, still buy into Palestinian casualty figures hook, line and sinker, vastly exaggerating Palestinian civilian fatalities while overlooking hundreds of combatant fatalities.


The IDF, which conducted a detailed post-offensive investigation into Palestinian fatalities, found that there were 1,166 Palestinian fatalities, including 709 combatants, from what was dubbed Operation Cast Lead. And it identified every one of them. In three weeks of grueling ground combat, in the face of terrorist fire from amidst Gaza civilians, the number of Palestinian combatant fatalities still substantially exceeded the number of non-combatants -- by a margin of 6 to 4.


These breakdowns, however, were mostly ignored by mainstream media, while overall casualty totals were vastly inflated by the Palestinian side and by self-appointed human-rights groups. And, more often than not, combatant-versus-noncombatants breakdowns never made it into print.
To this day, the New York Times, in referring to Israel's 2008-2009 Gaza offensive, simply mentions that 1,400 Palestinians were killed. Which falsely suggests that Israel used disproportionate force. A breakdown of civilians and non-civilians would throw light on what actually happened. But that king of reporting is not fit to print in the New York Times.
In similar vein, the UN's Goldstone report accepted largely pro-Palestinian statistics to buttress its gross libel that the IDF deliberately targeted civilians.


Ironically, Hamas -- long after the ground war was over -- accepted breakdowns much closer to the truth. Why? Because, on reflection, phony big numbers for civilian deaths and phony small numbers for combatant deaths were apt to minimize Hamas's "heroic" resistance against Israeli forces. So, Hamas belated announced that it had lost 600 to 700 of its fighters - a range quite close to the IDF's conclusions.
But this also is of little interest to Western reporters determined to martyrize Palestinians while maligning Israel and its military.
Leo Rennert is a former White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief of McClatchy Newspapers

FYI - The Sinking of the Belgrano occurred as it DID represent a threat to UK Forces

Largely missing from the mainstream media channels this one.  But then again it is Christmas and this story is still on the fringes.  As reported in today's DT, declassified papers as well as the memoirs of a former Intelligence officer David Thorp now state that according to Signals Intelligence the Argentine Vessel was heading towards the Falklands (and therefore UK forces) when it was sank by a British Submarine.  Previously it has been held by many and especially those on the left that it was not and that Thatcher was reckless in ordering its sinking.  That has now been confined to history as a myth and the likes of Tam Dalyell, the Argentine Government and even the BBC were all wrong.  That is all I need to say although I would like to wish all veterans of that conflict on both sides peace.  Margaret Thatcher and the UK were right throughout that conflict, a petty fascistic clique of militarists did not serve Argentina well however.