Far-right hatemongers cheer Trump’s Twitter endorsement | US news | The Guardian
Tag: UK
As exemplified in Fox News’ culture of sexual harassment and racial discrimination, there is an identifiable link between 21st Century Fox’s poor corporate governance and what is broadcast on the news outlets it owns.
Recent Russia-related coverage and commentary on Fox News and in The Wall Street Journal signify that the Murdochs and their news outlets continue to meddle in politics in damaging ways.
Regulators should be acutely aware that the line separating opinion and news programming at Fox News is nonexistent. The hiring of former White House national security aide Sebastian Gorka to a news position and a recent report from British broadcasting regulator Ofcom ruling that individual segments on Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity were in violation of broadcasting standards reinforce this fact. There are many more segments on Fox News programs from the last year that should be taken into consideration to assess 21st Century Fox’s commitment to broadcasting standards.
Sky’s warning that Sky News could close if 21st Century Fox’s bid is not approved is suspect at best. No evidence has been presented showing that Sky News’ closure was being planned before 21st Century Fox’s proposed acquisition.
The CMA should also consider that aside from Sky News, 21st Century Fox post-merger would have access to — and potentially take financial and political advantage of — information about consumers by way of internet service.
To understand the success of the Universal Credit scheme that benefit claimants now depend on, you only have to look at the wise people who created it. The scheme was devised by Lord Freud, a city banker, and therefore ideally placed to understand the trials of living on benefits.It was carried forward by Iain Duncan-Smith, who had to struggle himself – but instead of wallowing in self-pity, he got off his backside and was given use of a Tudor mansion by his father-in law, the fifth Baron Cottesloe, which proves rewards come to those prepared to make an effort.Now that the scheme has run into trouble, the government should put together a team who similarly comprehend the emotions at the heart of poverty in modern Britain, such as Prince Harry, Simon Cowell and the Sultan of Brunei.
Police investigating London’s Grenfell Tower disaster, in which 80 people were killed in rapidly spreading fire, have sent a letter to survivors and families of victims saying there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect it was a case of corporate manslaughter.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is more popular than Prime Minister Theresa May with the wider public for the first time, new opinion polls suggest.
Source: Corbyn more popular than May for 1st time, polls show — RT UK
Donald Trump loves the safe space of Fox & Friends
Media Matters to Ofcom: Latest developments at Fox News prove the Murdochs aren’t fit to take over Sky
“I am writing to ask you about any influence Rupert Murdoch may have sought to exert over cabinet appointments. Specifically, it has been suggested to me that Rupert Murdoch asked you to appoint Gove to the cabinet,” Watson told May in a letter published Monday.“Given your failure to secure a parliamentary majority and the consequent weakness of your position, it might be tempting to allow yourself to be influenced by powerful media proprietors who can shape the way your government is covered.”
Source: May asked to explain if Rupert Murdoch had role in cabinet reshuffle — RT UK
If he can’t bomb it or tweet against it, the US president’s cupboard of responses seems bare. We may be denied a spectacle, then, but saved a distraction
The identification also stems from the shared history that Northern Ireland was created through imposed partition, for the benefit of a settler-colonial group, against the wishes and rights of the indigenous population, just like Israel’s 1948 creation in Palestine.The DUP “identify with Israel fighting for its survival, and they feel the international media is unfairly hostile to Israel just as they believe it was hostile to their own cause,”
“reminds me more than ever of the unionists in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s,” he observed. Like Israelis, unionists were a community “with a highly developed siege mentality which led them always to see themselves as victims even when they were killing other people. There were no regrets or even knowledge of what they inflicted on others and therefore any retaliation by the other side appeared as unprovoked aggression inspired by unreasoning hate.”
Source: Theresa May to be propped up by Christian Zionists | The Electronic Intifada
Theresa May has been accused of quietly scrapping a Conservative pledge to ban the ivory trade in the UK. Former Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to “press for a total ban on ivory sales” in his 2015 manifesto, echoing a previous promise made in 2010 to eradicate the bloodthirsty practice. However 2017’s Tory manifesto, released ahead of 8 June’s general election, makes no mention of the pledge.
Source: Conservatives quietly bin pledge to ban ivory trade in 2017 manifesto | The Independent
Just when you thought the hypocrisy and mendacity of the British political establishment could not sink any lower, up pops the proposal to strip Asma Assad, wife to Syria’s President Bashar Assad, of her British citizenship.
Media Matters, in partnership with global activism group Avaaz, submitted a report to U.K.’s chief broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, detailing the risks Rupert Murdoch’s desired takeover of British satellite broadcasting company Sky poses to British broadcasting standards. On March 16, U.K. Culture Secretary Karen Bradley had referred Murdoch’s take
Source: Murdoch Takeover Of Sky Would Undermine British Broadcasting Standards, Joint Report Shows
Pressure is building on the Government to outline how it will mitigate against the biggest risks from climate change after ministers were criticised for “burying” a report highlighting the major global warming threats to Britain.
The Government has been accused of trying to bury a major report about the potential dangers of global warming to Britain – including the doubling of the deaths during heatwaves, a “significant risk” to supplies of food and the prospect of infrastructure damage from flooding. The UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Report, which by law has to be produced every five years, was published with little fanfare on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) website on 18 January.
Source: Government ‘tried to bury’ its own alarming report on climate change | The Independent
Use of word “Zionist” could be deemed criminal in some circumstances.
Source: UK lawmakers push to outlaw criticism of Zionism | The Electronic Intifada
A major Lincolnshire employer has announced it is moving its headquarters to Europe as a direct result of the Brexit vote in June. Anxiety over the cost of a hard Brexit, which would see the UK drifting away from cooperation with the rest of the EU, has compelled Smiffys to open a new headquarters in the Netherlands.
The ‘Fake Sheikh’ has been jailed for 15 months for lying in the service of News UK. It’s time for Leveson part two to begin, and end the company’s corruption
Source: After Mazher Mahmood, Murdoch cannot be let off the hook | Brian Cathcart | Opinion | The Guardian
Why has The Canary has become one of the most successful left-wing websites, attracting both supporters and controversy?
Source: The Canary and leftist media find sudden success in UK – News from Al Jazeera
The Treasury’s Debt Management Office this morning sold debt at a new record low interest rate, underlining the massive appetite from investors for British Government bonds in the wake of the Brexit vote and sparking fresh calls for the Chancellor to take advantage by ramping up its infrastructure investment. The DMO sold £850m of an index-linked Gilt (or bond) that matures in 2036 at a yield of minus 1.72 per cent.
Source: Government sells debt at all-time record low interest rate in wake of Brexit vote
New UK PM appears to understand fundamentals of conflict despite close ties to Israel lobby.
Source: Theresa May: Palestinians must have “full civil rights” | The Electronic Intifada
Descendants of Jewish refugees who fled to the UK to escape from Nazi persecution are seeking German nationality following the referendum in which Britain to leave the European Union, The Independent has learned. The political and economic upheaval which has followed Brexit has led to a surge in the numbers of Britons seeking to become nationals of states in the EU. A large majority of them have been after Irish passports but other countries, too, are having an unprecedented amount of inquiries from those seeking another passport.
Media barons Paul Dacre and Rupert Murdoch had a hand in the withdrawal of Michael Gove’s support for fellow Brexiteer Boris Johnson as Tory leader, a leaked email suggests.
Source: Murdoch and Dacre… press barons and Britain’s real kingmakers? — RT UK
‘Leave’ campaign leader Boris Johnson says the decision to leave the EU marks a new dawn for people who had always wanted to hold the most powerful job in the country.
“I said all along that a newly independent Britain would bring with it all sorts of new and exciting opportunities for our people,” Mr Johnson said.
“Just this week the Prime Minister role opened up, for example. What a wonderful opportunity for someone who’s been angling for the top job for half of his life. That never would have happened while we still remained part of the EU”.
While he conceded that while some jobs would be lost – maybe a million or so – they would be in unimportant areas. “This is not about the jobs that are lost. This is about the wonderful new job that has been created”.
The stories of the British aristocrats who converted to Islam.
Source: The Victorian Muslims of Britain – News from Al Jazeera
An anti-Islam rally ended in embarrassment after police outnumbered protesters four to one at a rally in Staffordshire. Just 24 people showed up to the demonstration in Burton organised by a group called The Casual Infidels. The Casual Infidels describes itself as a “freelancing movement” dedicated to “battling Islam”.
Source: Anti-Islam protest ends in farce after only 24 people turn up | Home News | News | The Independent
False allegations are being used as weapons against Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
Source: How Israel lobby manufactured UK Labour Party’s anti-Semitism crisis | The Electronic Intifada
Science is, by its very nature, objective. It uses data, backed up by demonstrable, empirical evidence, to try and explain as much of life, the universe, and everything as possible.
Source: British Scientists May Soon Be Unable To Speak Freely About Their Research | IFLScience
Here is a selection of videos related to media ownership, media reform etc (ordered by publication date). Perhaps you’d like organise a screening to raise awareness of the issues where you live? If so you’ll find a bunch of screening guides in our Document Library. Please do let us know what other videos should (or …
Source: Videos – Media Reform Coalition
We examine Rupert Murdoch’s relationship with the UK government; plus, Nigeria’s ‘brown-envelope’ journalists.
Source: The Murdoch empire strikes back – Al Jazeera English
Chancellor also held meetings with News Corp representatives four times in the weeks between the election and the controversial deal, government data reveals
Source: George Osborne met Rupert Murdoch twice before imposing BBC cuts | Media | The Guardian
See more of Jonathan Pie: http://voxpoliticalonline.com/tag/jonathan-pie/
Source: CloakedTruth
Details are emerging of a revolting rite of passage ceremony at an elite university that required young men to put their genitals in a dead pig and join the Tories.
One man – now in his forties – said he had strong memories of the bizarre ritual. “It felt weird – getting your dick out and swinging it around in front of the guys. The pig thing was a bit odd too,” he said.
Another man explained the ritual in more detail. “The pig’s head would be resting on your lap with your Johnson inside its mouth – so far all pretty normal. Then a guy would come up with a piece of paper and ask you to join the Conservatives. I physically vomited”.
Oxford University has refused to comment on the tradition.
Cameron denies that he had sex with that pig.
Source: I did not have sex with that pig – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Despite government rhetoric that coal must go, experts say without policy changes this most carbon intensive fossil fuel is set to stay beyond 2030
Source: Will the UK phase out coal in a decade? | Environment | The Guardian
Two of them were British nationals. It happened in Raqqah in Syria more than two weeks ago.Emma Hayward reports.
Source: Uk Used Drone to Kill Three Members of ISIL | Al Jazeera America
An email sent by HSBC whistleblower Herve Falciani to British tax authorities, which they denied ever receiving, has been discovered by a French newspaper.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) denied contact with Falciani, 43, who is at the center of one of the biggest financial leaks in history.
But French newspaper Le Monde has since uncovered the email, which Falciani sent to HMRC in 2008 informing the authority about HSBC’s alleged tax avoidance scheme.
It supports his previous allegations that HMRC did not act on information he provided the agency.
“It proved I’m right,” Falciani told the BBC. “It required seven years of battles to get the point we are just now.”
Liz Nelson of the Tax Justice Network told RT HMRC’s missing email sounded “disingenuous.”
The former IT systems engineer for HSBC’s private banking operation in Switzerland stole the details of 30,000 bank accounts, totaling £78 billion, in 2007.
Swiss authorities issued an arrest warrant for Falciani for breaching their banking secrecy laws. He fled to France in 2008. The Swiss government continues to seek his prosecution.
Falciani then leaked the details to French authorities, who refused to extradite him to Switzerland when they realized the data could help identify thousands of French tax evaders.
The files have since been handed to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
Falciani, who claims his family has received death threats since he made the leak, now lives in France under police protection.
The files reveal how HSBC Private Bank not only helped clients dodge taxes in their home countries, but also aggressively marketed the schemes.
HSBC in Switzerland actively contacted wealthy clients in 2005 to suggest ways of avoiding a new tax levied on the Swiss accounts of EU citizens, The Guardian reports.
The documents also reveal how HSBC Private Bank provided accounts for relatives of heads of state, people implicated in African corruption scandals, arms industry figures and others.
An HSBC bank branch in France laundered drug money collected from the sale of cannabis to immigrants in the Parisian suburbs, depositing the cash in the accounts of respectable clients in the French capital and reimbursing the drug dealers via their Swiss branch.
The leaks have caused a row in the UK over accountability, with Britain’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) challenging HMRC over its inaction.
In a hearing Wednesday, it emerged that of the 150 files seen by the tax authority only three were sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Of those, only one case was taken by the CPS.
Jennie Grainger, HMRC’s director general for enforcement and compliance, said it was extremely difficult to prosecute individuals for offshore tax evasion.
In the case of stolen or leaked data, guilt could only be proven using supplementary evidence, she said.
When probed on whether ministers were informed about HSBC’s practices, she initially said she was unsure, but later conceded concerns were passed on to ministers at the time.
Speaking to RT, Liz Nelson of the Tax Justice Network said: “These so called missing email – sounds disingenuous to those people [and] businesses that work hard and pay their fair share of tax.”
“There seems to be a culture at HMRC of tolerance towards tax avoidance because to be other would be anti-business, and that taxing the very wealthy is somehow anti-business.”
Lord Green, who was CEO and then chairman of HSBC during the period which the leaks cover, was later made a member of the House of Lords and then trade minister by the Conservative-led coalition government.
READ MORE: Crime and punishment: Confiscate rogue bankers’ salaries & bonuses, says UK regulator
Green was appointed to a Cabinet committee on post-banking crisis reform by Prime Minister David Cameron, all of which happened after HMRC received data detailing the extent of HSBC’s tax avoidance schemes.
The Conservative party has come under fire after it emerged several of its key donors avoided tax in Swiss bank accounts.
Lord Fink, who donated £3 million to the Tories and was appointed a party treasurer, said he took “vanilla” tax avoidance measures.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Fink said, “Everyone does tax avoidance on some level.”
Analysts say west’s action in Middle East could lead jihadists to stay in Britain rather than travel abroad
- The Observer, Sunday 28 September 2014 07.00 AEST
The internal dynamics of the Syrian civil war were less exciting to many potential British jihadists than a conflict between Isis and the west. “Now that [air strikes] are happening, you can see people are more turned on by the west versus Islam conflict, more excited than when the west was a passive participant,” he said.
The MCB said that, although polls showed widespread public support for air strikes, these sentiments were not shared by British Muslims.
Khan said: “Last night a spokesperson for MCB was chairing an event with about 500 Muslims. They did a straw poll with the audience there and then. They put it to the people: how many would be in favour of air strikes? Three people put their hands up. The bombing itself will only create more hatred, ultimately there will be civilian casualties as well. It will feed into the narrative of Isis.”
On the security front, Neumann said the latest intervention in Iraq would pose new logistical challenges for intelligence agencies. “The problem is that you are dealing with several hundred people. It becomes a capacity problem,” he said. “One cannot follow that many people day and night. The problem is that if you do a relatively low-cost operation, take a big knife and behead someone on the spur of the moment, it’s very difficult to stop.”
Sources say they have no intelligence that a specific terrorist attack is planned against the UK, but fear persists that the most likely form of attack will be low-tech and unsophisticated.
Islamic State wants Australians to attack Muslims: terror expert
It’s in the interests of Islamic State for Muslims in Australia to be attacked or for their mosques to be attacked, because doing so would help divide the Australian community. But we should be very clear…
Stating the obvious is well and good. It’s very important to remember, whether here in Australia or overseas – it’s only a tiny minority of the Muslim community that are ever involved in any kind of extreme action. The vast majority are decent, ordinary people, who shouldn’t be attacked, and who should feel as respected and protected as any other member of the community.
The most effective form of good policing happens at an individual community level: having police officers on the ground, at local stations, involved with and knowing the Islamic community, and making sure that senior members of those community know that should anything happen – such as an attack on a mosque – that the police take that seriously. It’s really important for police to protect the Islamic community. If they don’t, there’s a risk that people will feel isolated and that’s not in Australia’s best interests.
As for Islamic State, if they or their sympathizers can arrange a situation where we see parts of the Australian community pitted against each other, then that’s exactly what they want. That’s the kind of situation that breeds more sympathy for their cause, so that disenchanted young people end up either going overseas or else taking actions in their own country
Today we saw AFP,ASIO and Police 800 of them raid, televise and proudly advertise a one way action the total opposite of the advise offered by the UK with a longer history a much bigger Muslim population than we have, with a far larger population overall. The above community approach not generally applied by our security forces here has managed to keep British terrorism to 7 instances over 8 years. It also needs to be pointed out that no instance was discovered by increased security but rather by an aware public noticing something odd. The Australian approach seems an antithesis to the British who have had years of experience with sectarian conflict in Ireland. Yesterday seems little more than a publicity exercise with a high potential to backfire.
olddogthoughts 