Freedom of Speech Update - The case of the UKIP Levenshulme Poster and the thugs seeking to remove it

It will come as a surprise to no one really that freedom of speech is under intense threat in the west as of late.  If it's not Islamic extremists protesting about harmless cartoons or more or less anything else that does not submit to them.  It's the whole range of restrictions that are placed upon ourselves and our media in order to supposedly avoid 'offending' someone.  The 'someone' usually being a self - appointed and self-interested pressure group or more often than not simply some jumped up no mark.  Well how about banning electoral posters?  You know the sort you see as billboards when it comes to election time, nasty things aren't they and so inconvenient when all you really want to do is run your neighbourhood like it's your own little tin pot republic?

Yup you guessed it it is time to look at the controversy (or lack of) created by a UKIP poster in Levenshulme Manchester.  The story goes that 'several' local residents consider it racist and want it removed.  Well they ought to be told of course 'bugger off we live in a democracy' except that would not be appropriate. 

This poster must be banned according to local Marxists!

 

Why would that not be appropriate?  Well because it simply is not true, it is not true that numbers of local residents have complained, something more sinister actually happened.  What occurred was a very small and thuggish minded SWP clique sought to speak on behalf of the 'residents' and decide for them what they wanted to see or not see in 'their' area.  They started a small campaign utilising twitter to persuade the advertisers a company called Clear Channel   to pull the advert and remove the poster.  Further information on the self -appointed thought police for the area reveals them to be amongst others, a SWP (that's the Socialist Workers Party very similar to a German Political movement with almost the same name, rendered defunct in 1945) member calling herself 'bin the Condems' or something like that on twitter.  She has been named in other media as a SWP  member called Sue McPherson.  There was also the delightfully thuggish 'Rachamuffin' from Twitter she wanted to vandalise the poster and openly said so on Twitter (we're not talking Lex Luthor levels of criminal genius here).  All of this is on the above link I posted.  There was also a deceptively sweet sounding Valerie O'Riordan, she seems nice enough and does actually appear to be from Levenshulme. I'm not aware she has been appointed the Commissar for that area however, but I could be wrong.  A standard means of arguing emanates from all of them, you probably know the pattern:

1.  Cry racist if you don't like something or disagree with it, especially when it questions your crudely implanted assumptions on policy.

2.   Get it banned, free speech is so bourgeois don't cha know.

3.  Refuse to debate with anyone, just keep repeating 1 above.

4.  Assume in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary that you speak with absolute authority for the entire population it's 'your area' remember I mean a poster a bloody poster! How dare they?

5. Withdraw from communication after the above and now seek to manufacture a grievance, claim you're being picked on when in fact it is you that started the whole mess.  If necessary try to also get the poster banned by employing childishly fabricated claims of victimhood.

I love that last part, I mean you threaten wanton destruction of a legitimate election poster, but then cry wolf when someone calls you nasty names? That's after you've spent half the Easter weekend on twitter issuing insult after insult to normal people who just don't share your extreme and oppressive views, shame.

But at least there is some good news!  THE CAMPAIGN HAS FAILED! So for now the SWP termites are back in the woodwork, but they're sure to keep gnawing away! Long live Liberty folks and I wish the decent folk of Manchester whom I know so well all the best.  But watch this space  I have said before how the radical left will constantly seek to undermine our democracy, look at what else leftists in Manchester have done. 

Piers Morgan's Anti-gun Argument Destroyed in 4 Minutes by Ben Swann

Piers Morgan is hopelessly wrong on his statistics   Needless to say few media outlets in the UK have picked up on this. A few facts he missed : 1. Gun crime increased between three and four fold in England and Wales AFTER the handgun ban of 1997, 2. The homicide rate in the US has decreased markedly over the last 25 years, whilst gun ownership has INCREASED, more guns less gun crime right? Not exactly . Plenty of studies other than that one support that thesis, plainly the US homicide rate has decreased in recent times whilst gun ownership has increased. Anyone care to prove to me where gun control laws have actually worked?  One final word to Piers Morgan and I've said this before, offences involving handguns INCREASED after the handgun ban of 1997, for proof of that I can cite the UK government's own statistics.  Please comment below and Americans please ignore Piers he is demonstrably wrong. 

Release Sgt Nightingale - The entire case is a travesty as well as an indictment of our current laws.

Sgt Danny Nightingale with his wife Sally on their wedding day and, right, on duty

This is the sort of petty, vindictive and entirely malign use of the law that happens when we have too much government. For that reason anyone with any sense should be supporting the release of Sgt Nightingale a decorated war hero. Oh and by the way he's a senior NCO with a premier Spec Ops unit - The British SAS.  Incredibly he has been jailed for over 18 months for the crime of keeping an unlicensed pistol n his married quarter. A further illustration of how plain stupid our gun laws are. Not only should any law abiding citizen be allowed to keep such a weapon  but a serving SAS soldier may have particular reason to! Enough said.  Please support the petition here.   His wife risks losing the family home as a consequence of this ill thought over-use of draconian law. Full text below from the DT: 

Sgt Danny Nightingale, a special forces sniper who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sentenced to 18 months in military detention by a court martial last week.  His sentence was described last night as the “betrayal of a war hero”, made worse because it was handed down in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.

Sgt Nightingale had planned to fight the charge of illegally possessing the 9mm Glock. But his lawyer said he pleaded guilty after being warned that he could otherwise face a five-year sentence.

The soldier had hoped for leniency given the circumstances. At the court martial, even the prosecution described him as a serviceman of exemplary character, who had served his country for 17 years, 11 in the special forces.  The court was told that he returned to Britain in a hurry after two friends were killed in Iraq, leaving his equipment — including the pistol — to be packed up by colleagues.  It accepted evidence from expert witnesses that he suffered severe memory loss due to a brain injury.  Judge Advocate Alistair McGrigor, presiding over the court martial, could have spared the soldier prison by passing a suspended sentence. Instead he handed down the custodial term.

Sgt Nightingale and his family chose to waive the anonymity usually given to members of the special forces.
His wife, Sally, said her husband’s sentence was a “disgrace”. She called him a “hero who had been betrayed”. She said she and the couple’s two daughters, aged two and five, faced losing their home after his Army pay was stopped.  The soldier’s former commanding officer and politicians have called for the sentence to be overturned.  Lt Col Richard Williams, who won a Military Cross in Afghanistan in 2001 and was Sgt Nightingale’s commanding officer in Iraq, said the sentence “clearly needed to be overturned immediately”.  He said: “His military career has been ruined and his wife and children face being evicted from their home — this is a total betrayal of a man who dedicated his life to the service of his country.”
Patrick Mercer, the Conservative MP for Newark and a former infantry officer, said he planned to take up the case with the Defence Secretary. Simon McKay, Sgt Nightingale’s lawyer, said: “On Remembrance Sunday, when the nation remembers its war heroes, my client — one of their number — is in a prison cell.
"I consider the sentence to be excessive and the basis of the guilty plea unsafe. It is a gross miscarriage of justice and grounds of appeal are already being prepared.”

In 2007, Sgt Nightingale was serving in Iraq as a member of Task Force Black, a covert counter-terrorist unit that conducted operations under orders to capture and kill members of al-Qaeda.
He also helped train members of a secret counter-terrorist force called the Apostles. At the end of the training he was presented with the Glock, which he planned to donate to his regiment as a war trophy.
But in November 2007, two of Sgt Nightingale’s closest friends, Sgt John
Battersby and Cpl Lee Fitzsimmons, were killed in a helicopter crash. He accompanied both bodies back to Britain and helped arrange the funerals.  In Iraq, his equipment was packed by colleagues, one of whom placed the pistol inside a container that was sent first to the SAS regimental headquarters in Hereford, then to his home where it remained unopened until 2010.  In 2009, Sgt Nightingale, now a member of the SAS selection staff, took part in a 200-mile fund-raising trek in Brazil. He collapsed after 30 miles and fell into a coma for three days.

He recovered but his memory was severely damaged, according to two expert witnesses, including Prof Michael Kopleman of King’s College, London, an authority on memory loss.  In May, 2010, Sgt Nightingale was living in a house with another soldier close to the regiment’s headquarters when he was posted to Afghanistan at short notice.  During the tour, his housemate’s estranged wife claimed her husband had assaulted her and kept a stash of ammunition in the house. West Mercia Police raided the house and found the Glock, still in its container.  Sgt Nightingale’s court martial did not dispute that the pistol had been a gift. It accepted statements from expert witnesses, including Dr Susan Young, a forensic psychologist also from King’s College, London. She said that he probably had no recollection that he had the gun.
The court also accepted that Sgt Nightingale had suffered severe memory loss. But the judge did not believe that he had no recollection of being in possession of the weapon. 

On this day 70 years ago..

93 yr old Peter Watsson pays his respects to fallen comrades

The theme of this post is just a quick tribute to World War Two veterans.  I know by entitling it 'on this day' etc. It looks like I've borrowed the idea from my friend Ted and that's because I have. I thought I would just add a quick article from the DT as it is now 70 years since the second battle of El Alamein. The DT have produced a good article penned by David Blair.  Just as the Allied forces were gathered for what was to be the 'end of the beginning' 70 years ago, now commemorations featuring some veterans are taking place. There is a tendency for El Alamein to be regarded as a mostly British victory in many circles. However the truth is it was an allied endeavour albeit one led and planned by the British. The victory would not have been possible without tanks and munitions form the US. Or large numbers of Commonwealth soldiers, or indeed the vastly overlooked contribution of these guys.  I would like to take this opportunity to express my admiration, respect and gratitude for all involved. Full text from David Blair below:

The Battle of El Alamein, which opened with a 1,000-gun artillery barrage on the night of Oct 23 1942, amounted to a turning point in the Second World War for the British Army.

In a 12-day offensive, the British Eighth Army under General Bernard Montgomery routed the German Afrika Korps, destroying about a third of its fighting strength and wrecking Hitler's hopes of capturing the Middle East.

Two soldiers belonging to the Commonwealth and Allied forces aim at a German soldier surrendering atop his tank 25 October 1942 as a sandstorm clouds the battlefield at El Alamein 

Perhaps most importantly, the Eighth Army renewed Britain's belief in final victory, shaken by the disasters at Dunkirk and Singapore.

Australian veterans attend the commemorations (Getty)
"El Alamein is seen on the home front as the greatest British victory since Waterloo," said Niall Barr, a reader in military history at King's College London, who has travelled to El Alamein for the anniversary.
"For the British people, who had experienced a run of defeats and suffering really from 1940 onwards, the final battle of El Alamein was a crucial sign that final victory was possible."

Members of the ceremonial Catafalque party stand together at the ceremony (Getty)
Winston Churchill seized the opportunity to lift the morale of the Home Front, driving home the message that Montgomery had fought the battle with "one single idea", namely to "destroy the armed force of the enemy and to destroy it at the place where the disaster would be most far-reaching and irrecoverable."
"Now, this is not the end," added Churchill. "It is not even the beginning of the end; but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

A member of the ceremonial Catafalque Party stands on the cenotaph (Getty)
On Saturday, the chosen setting for the destruction of General Erwin Rommel's desert army is a modern Egyptian town on the Mediterranean coast, about 70 miles west of Alexandria. Outside El Alamein lies a cemetery with 7,240 British and Commonwealth graves, where today's ceremony will take place.
After the passage of seven decades, this will probably be the last big commemoration. Perhaps a score of veterans from Australia, New Zealand and the Commonwealth will be present. But only one British veteran is expected to attend. 

Classic Mrs T - The thing with Europe is...

I just had to post this clip as I love it, Mrs T at her best! She was no libertarian but she held true to principles of democracy, sovereignty and a strong nation state. Unlike any of the current shower who proceeded her. A real example of leadership. The only I would add is that just as Europe (from which I will always exclude Britain) will never support the US when it comes to the crunch. They display the same ambivalence towards Israel, for proof of that see here.

The Irony of the BBC's Cover up' of allegations concerning Jimmy Saville is that the BBC has never failed to point the same finger at Christian Institutions

Janet Street Porter has claimed many at the BBC knew of allegations concerning Jimmy Saville

There is a certain Irony at work in the current appalling saga concerning the late Jimmy Saville. It now appears that the Metropolitan Police are going to investigate the BBC over allegations that they may have permitted (through omission of action) or even covered up the alleged criminality of Jimmy Saville.  As many of you will now know Jimmy Saville has been made the subject of allegations including rape and sexual abuse of young girls.  What is particularly disturbing is that according to some sources these matters were either known about and covered up by the BBC during the 1970's; or at the very least a culture existed at Broadcasting house that made such behaviour permissible.  The veteran broadcaster Janet Street-Porter indeed said as much on the BBC1 programme question time last Thursday night .  You can watch that programme in full on BBC iplayer or just look at the clip I have linked to.  The whole subject is deeply shocking and my thoughts are with the victims.  Jimmy Saville was an iconic figure during the 1980's with his show 'Jim'll Fix it' and whilst these matters are still currently allegations his reputation like that of Paul Gadd is in tatters and deservedly so. Indeed it would appear that both Saville and Gadd may have both abused children at the same time - sickening. There is a link to the media report for that here, the allegations are shocking. 

However there is a certain strong irony concerning this disturbing subject. It would appear that the BBC are now accused of possibly covering up for Saville in his criminality and therefore permitting such behaviour.  Now the BBC have never been shy to dine out on similar allegations concerning for instance the Catholic Church.  Indeed many commentators have accused our state broadcaster of being biased against Christianity.  Indeed the BBC never failed either in it's reportage or in it's dramas to mock and belittle Christianity as well as dining out extensively on the abuse issue.  Yet that is hypocrisy writ large if these current allegations are true, the BBC are rotten. I will say again that my thoughts are with the victims, I just hope that the BBC will now subject itself to the same standard of critical enquiry that it has previously reserved solely for Christians.  This post may be seen as having little to do with libertarianism, but if we can dispense with another morally redundant tax payer funded institution I'm game. 

Interesting piece on BBC Radio Four about Britain's Gun Laws

This is a great little slot on BBC Radio Four, it consists of an interview with a former sports shooter from Shropshire.  The man provides an excellent critique of the ridiculous, dangerous and authoritarian laws we have been left with in England and Wales concerning guns. His pain when he describes how he had to hand in his firearms post the 1997 is particularly heartfelt, link is here please listen to this programme.  The only thing I would have added is it needs to be stressed how gun crime in Britain increased AFTER the handgun ban of 1997. P.S I'm dying for some pro-gun control authoritarian type to come on here and dispute my arguments it has never happened. Please comment below.

Good job only the Government has these things eh? Did you know in the UK you had a Constitutional right to keep one for self-defence?