"English" signs not permitted for children's race?

Fortunately, it appears the culprit has been apprehended:

Children taking part in a run on a mist-covered Welsh mountain lost their way after a man removed safety signs and course markings because they were written in English.

The signs were apparently taken down because they were in English
Race organisers said the man was seen carrying one sign and removing another shortly before the youngsters, some as young as seven, set off.

Of course, until he's charged, then it remains still an "apparently taken down because they were in English"   but if it is indeed the case then let's hope Welsh language activists are prepared to condemn his wreckless actions:

“It is ridiculous. We had put the run on to raise money for the local primary school and we faced a situation where kids’ safety was put at risk.”

“Some of the kids were clearly in distress and were crying, so we gave them something to eat and drink. Fortunately they all got back safely.”

Mr Blake added: “I was told this fellow had gone and taken the signs away and took them to a dump.

''He was carrying one of the signs and undoing another. Apparently, he took them down because they were in English.

“We went to the police because what happened was dangerous."

The Racist is the other...

I've missed the "European Actionweek against Racism" by one day but not to worry, this was one of the best posters I've ever seen on the subject.

Quote of the day

 “The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity”

Introducing Peter King, Hammer of Islam...

King had also said that the IRA did not have a policy of attacking civilians. Stewart (Jon) said "Maybe it wasn't their policy, but it sure seemed to become a hobby."

The ensuing comments are also well worth a read, Mr Stewart's (inherited) religion appears to be also ironically now an *issue* for a certain narrow section of "Irish" America... 

Oh FFS...

The piece preceeding actually hits pretty well the targets it sets out to hit... but open up the comments and inevitably in rush the cybernat loons.

RaboRuglen:

At no time have I ever visited either Ibrox or Parkhead, however neither can I ever recall having seen any Saltires within the crowds (or outside the venues) at these matches on TV - plenty of Union flags and Tricolours though!

Make no mistake about it this malaise is a product of and sustained by the Union. Come Independence it will be seen for the historically anachronistic, irrelevant and destructive force that it is. Deprived of its sustaining forces it will wither away.

Come the Glorious Day and the Celtic and Rangers bigots will awake from their false consciousness and exchange their centuries-old engrained sectarianism for a civic, secular, independent Scottish identity?

Overcharge the goose and the golden egg will be laid elsewhere...

From the Scotsman:

"We could end up in a situation where it makes no sense for English students to keep coming to Scotland in the same numbers they do now."

...a prospect which is delighting at least one of the cybernat xenophobes:

Good, allowing Scots to be educated in our universities in greater numbers.

Currently some Scottish Universities have less than 50% Scottish students.

The argument the SNP are putting is slightly more nuanced than that of such monoculturalist supporters. It's not that they don't want outsiders in Scottish universities; in fact the fines fees they would be expected to pay for being English/N.Irish/Welsh are essential for the financial well-being of the Scottish system:

"It was the proud land of our fathers. It belongs to us and them. Not to any of the others"

I included this week in my "Seen Elsewhere", the "Unique Paths to Devolution" report issued by The Institute of Welsh Affairs.

The timing, I'm sure, is not coincidental what with the Welsh Political Establishment seriously panicking over the referendum's turnout next week but, nevertheless, it's generally a good read, although it's the breathless conclusion which most media commentators have focused on:

"The United Kingdom as we know it will be transformed in the years ahead because the status quo is “not tenable"

Well, yes, but minus the odd similar polemic (mainly from John Osmond), the rest of the report, co-written by Arthur Aughey of the University of Ulster and Eberhard Bort of the University of Edinburgh, is actually a good objective background guide as to how the devolution experiment has developed in N.Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Bearing in mind the bitterness in some quarters surrounding that previously mentioned referendum, this quote from the historian Merfyn Jones did strike me as apposite:

Searchlight, The Guardian, Cruddas see the problem, but struggle for a solution?

From yesterday's Guardian:

Huge numbers of Britons would support an anti-immigration English nationalist party if it was not associated with violence and fascist imagery, according to the largest survey into identity and extremism conducted in the UK.

A Populus poll found that 48% of the population would consider supporting a new anti-immigration party committed to challenging Islamist extremism, and would support policies to make it statutory for all public buildings to fly the flag of St George or the union flag.
Anti-racism campaigners said the findings suggested Britain's mainstream parties were losing touch with public opinion on issues of identity and race

That first sentence should probably read "Huge numbers of English would support an anti-immigration English nationalist party..." but apart from that, "anti-immigration", "challenging Islamist extremism" and "statutory" flying the flag- I'm not sure that outlook can be described as "far-right" unless you'd also describe the views held by a large proportion of the Conservative (and Labour Party for that matter) as also fascist. Also the removal of violence and "fascist imagery" ( I do hope Searchlight are not referring to the national flag here) are set as a pre-condition for the support of such a party, which must be at least an optimistic sign surely? Whether it's Searchlight's intention or not, it comes across to me as if they would rather the violence and fascist imagery remained rather than have such a democratic party, along the lines of those seen in mainland western Europe, emerging into the electoral system.

While our back was turned, the UK has fallen

Can't imagine Alex Salmond (not to mention "I was never in the IRA, so I wasn't" Gerry Adams) would be too chuffed to find himself included alongside marching provos... but not to worry, if you like your fantasies er... raw and unsophisticated, great entertainment none the less:

Hating the progressive patriot.

I know Billy Bragg isn't every one of my regular reader's cup of tea (to put it mildly) but his book "The Progressive Patriot" remains one of my favourite reads on the subject of "Britishness" and national identity generally.

It's disturbing to see that he's recently become the target of a BNP hate campaign:

You may have read reports in the press that I have been the target of a hate mail campaign. Some 20 residents of the village in which I live have received letters attacking me and my political views over the Xmas period, addressed randomly to the owner/occupier. It is clear from the content that this anonymous letter has been written by a disgruntled supporter of the British National Party.

Fortunately, his neighbours seem to be as disgusted with the letter as he is, but, as he points out its a reminder exactly why the BNP still can not be considered as part of our democratic mainstream:

Even though I have campaigned against the Tories in West Dorset for the past ten years, they have never stooped so low as to randomly circulate hate mail in the hope of undermining my credibility. This pathetic attempt at intimidation reminds voters that the BNP are not like any other political party – their methods betray them. Anyone who thought that the BNP were just ordinary people concerned about our society can now see them for what they really are.

Nationalist barmies prepare to take over EU Presidency

Another slightly longer piece, especially for The Aberdonian if he's still reading;)


On January 1st, the six month revolving EU Presidency will pass onto the Hungarian government, a government comprising of two nationalist parties- Fidesz and the KDNP. But before any SNPers and Plaiders go a-hopping and a-skipping at the “success” of another one of their Euro-Nat brothers, here’s a couple of statements from members of the two parties which should make even the most wild-eyed of cybernats on The Scotsman's Midnight Shift blanch:

“I love Hungary, I love Hungarian people, and I prefer Hungarian interests to global financial capital, or Jewish capital, if you like, which wants to devour the whole world, but especially, Hungary,” Fidesz Mayor of Edeleny, Oszkar Molnar: 2009

To be fair, the party leader, Viktor Orban, did admit to feeling rather "embarrassed" after that first one; Mr Semjén,  in contrast, is now his Deputy Prime-Minister….

""The former (socialist) government stole more than all the Gypsies put together." He ( Semjén) talked about "the foreign garbage" the multinational companies feed Hungarians. According to him there was a secret socialist-liberal plan that envisaged the immigration of one million people from Asia in order to satisfy the needs of the multinational companies for a large labor force.""

As I said in my title, 'barmies" and I have covered the rest of the government’s (slightly) more mainstream nationalist credentials previously here. Since that time the incorporation of an ethnic Magyar party into the Slovak ruling coalition has dampened the Greater Hungary cultural populism somewhat but in compensation Orban has decided that the foreign multinationals should be targetted for “solidarity” taxes. That has succeeded in keeping the rabid nats more than happy- after all, if you can no longer bash the Slovaks, Romanians, Ukranians etc on behalf of the Motherland, then Volksbank, Tescos and Cora will do nicely.

In truth though, the arbitary nature of that tax points towards the bigger problem (or at least it would be if the Commission had any backbone) of the Hungarian government assuming the EU’s Presidency and that is not its nationalism but its increasingly authoritarian nature.

Peter King's "freedom fighters" become terrorists and return to haunt....

“Scum” is an epithet thrown around too readily in the British blogosphere and in my opinion there are very, very few of our politicians who have done anything near despicable enough to earn the description.

There is one “Irish”-American politician, however, that I have no hesitation whatsoever in attaching that label to, the the U.S. Representative for New York's 3rd congressional district, Peter King. He’s the Republican who will head the House committee that oversees domestic security and is planning to open a Congressional inquiry into what he calls “the radicalization” of the Muslim community when his party takes over the House next year.

This is one of his most recent quotes on the subject:

Not a very liberal reaction....

Last week the SDLP Councillor, John O’Kane broached the possibility of his party forming some kind of informal pact with the UUP and Alliance:

"To be credible with the public we need to have some common platform with the UUP and possibly the Alliance Party as we go into the Assembly elections. Pact is a rather unfortunate word but if the Con-Dems can work in England then there’s no reason why we can’t make that type of model work here with the UUP. The Democrats and Conservatives hate each other quite deeply but in the interests of the country they work together and present a united front. We must do that too.

Anna Lo, on behalf of Alliance delivered what I would classify as the typical party apparatchik response:

These comments are welcome and they are indicative of the shift of other parties and individuals towards the Alliance Party.

I am pleased that others now see that the Alliance vision is the right vision, but for us to make the transformation to a genuinely shared society, people must join the one party that deals with this issue ahead of all others, and that’s the Alliance Party.

She seems to be already in election mode and because of that, ignoring completely the enlightened point O’Kane was making in favour of pushing her party’s brand; a disappointment although not that surprising an attitude to take even for the sanctimonites of Alliance.

Michael Carhrie Campbell of the NI Liberal Democrats, having read the same response decided to jump way, way off the deep end:

Anna Lo appears to want Northern Ireland to be a one party State just like the People's Republic of China.

Huh???!!!
Where on earth does that interpretation and comparison come from? Completely OTT and more disturbingly, there is a distinctly stronger whiff of racial stereotyping there than you should expect from someone describing themselves as a liberal.

Put it another way, how would he feel if people were to misinterpret his own opinion on, eg student tuition fees, by saying something along the lines of :

“Michael appears to share the same vices as those of Gerry Adams, seeking to justify the unjustifiable with their typical Ulster hypocrisy and selective amnesia"?

Putting the party interest before that of the wider country is not something exclusive to Ms Lo and, in my humble opinion, is not something arising because of her racial or ethnic background... if that’s not what Mr Campbell is implying, then he really needs to tighten up on how he expresses himself.

Why devolution stinks- Reason No.435

Prior to tomorrow's debate on the level of tuition fees, this from Wales:

THE tuition fee deal for Welsh students that has left commentators in England green with envy will be funded by cutting the general level of grant to universities in Wales, it has been confirmed.

But the Assembly Government said the reduction would be offset by increasing fees to students from England studying at Welsh universities.

As Cardiff Blogger points out here, if you are from anywhere else in the EU (apart from the UK) you, along with Welsh students, will be subsidised to study at Welsh universities. A nationalist explanation for that fact posted in his comments stated:

It would be nice if higher education was free to everyone… but when money is tight, I doubt that middle class teenagers from the leafy counties of England should be at the front of the queue.

Dear, oh dear.
Continuing with the somewhat more "sanitised" line:

A spokesman for the Assembly Government said: “We will pay for tuition fee grants or a waiver by top-slicing the Higher Education Funding Council teaching grant by around 35% by 2016-17.

“Additional income will also be available to Welsh (universities) via students from England paying the higher tuition fees to institutions in Wales.

The devolutionist would argue that Wales, N.Ireland and Scotland are given their own budget to spend as they wish. That then makes officially sanctioned discrimination based on ethnic grounds(see comments) where you happen to live morally justifiable?

If you want to work then..."Welcome to the UK!"

There are at least three valid reasons why the UK should contribute financially to bailing out the Republic of Ireland:

1. The UK’s and the ROI’s banks are inter-connected. The RBS has loans totaling GBP 54bn in the Republic, Lloyds 27 billion. Two out of Northern Ireland’s largest banks are owned by companies based in the Republic.

2. In 2009, the UK exports to the ROI were worth more in financial terms than the total amount exported to Brazil, China, India and Russia (40% of NI’s exports are to the ROI).

3. The ROI is the only country the UK shares a land border with; it’s not in our selfish interest for that country to become a Failed State (be it economically, socially or politically).

This from Cameron today is, however, not such a valid reason:

“There is an enormous migration takes place between Britain and Ireland. If the Irish economy collapsed, that would have a huge impact on Irish people coming to the UK for work.”

“When I am dead and opened, you will not find Warsaw written on my heart"

When it's Kaminski (links here, here and here) complaining of an "extremist" takeover, you know you have problems:

Michal Kaminski, the leader of the European Conservative and Reformists (ECR) group, told The Daily Telegraph that an extremist takeover had forced him to leave Poland's Law and Justice party, which despite the split remains Mr Cameron's key Polish political ally.

"Radicals are taking over the party," he said. "I cannot accept that my party is being taken over by the far-Right, and being dominated by the far-Right. I don't like the direction Law and Justice is going so I'm going my own way now."

More trouble looming Tuesday in Europe for Cameron.

International Day against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

Today, 9th of November is the 72nd anniversary of "Kristallnacht", the day when the Nazis began their most serious pogrom against German and Austrian Jews. Synagogues and Jewish shops were attacked and set on fire by SA stormtroopers; 91 Jews were killed, and 30,000 Jewish men were taken to concentration camps, where they were tortured and over 1,000 of them later died. The "Kristallnacht" pogrom is usually seen as the symbolic beginning of the Holocaust.

For that reason, on mainland Europe (it seems to be largely ignored in the UK for some reason), 9th of November has now been designated,
International Day Against Facism and Antisemitism:

Hatred all throughout Europe is becoming a fatal, daily constant. It appears in many faces – right-wing extremism, fascism, extreme nationalism, xenophobia, racism, roma-phobia, islamophobia, antisemitism – but it always brings the same poisonous consequences for communities and society at large. Hate not only leads towards violence, discrimination and exclusion, but it is a dangerous threat to democracy and peace as well.

Quote of the day

Fergal Moore:

"I look forward to the day when Republican Sinn Féin can sit round a table with the British Government and discuss the ferry timetables from Larne"

And what if we British refugees wish to take the plane rather than the ferry?

Ogra Shinn Fein- pushing the boundaries

Those who claim that Gerry's complete control over Sinn Fein has killed off all intellectual creativity within the party really need to read the Ogra Shinn Fein blog. This is their banner heading:



A rather eclectic choice of characters, I'm sure you'll agree, there from the Junior Sinners: two (business? mafia? bankers?)gentlemen taunting the republicans with handfuls of readies; a pissed-up flasher (English nationalist readers will no doubt be interested with the juxtaposition between the flag on his boxers and the Union flag in his hand); a Beefeater and, well, someone suave, smart and rather handsome, bearing some resemblance to myself in the right light.
All fearing the Ogra's United Ireland apparently.

Can anyone reach inside the thinking process of the typical Adams Youth and attempt to explain?

Cruddas on the EDL

Not what you might have expected from Jon Cruddas, the rest of the speech (on today's "Elsewhere" list is worth reading:

"Sure the BNP has been crushed by electoral defeat.

The EDL is a new kind of threat- a cultural movement; unpredictable and violent; a new politics of ‘flash demos’ and open wildcat networks.

It copies the old Anti Nazi League slogan: ‘Black and white to unite’.

It demands democracy not racial purity: ‘While our troops fight for democracy overseas we’re losing it here’ they shout.

Its leaders welcome all races to join in defending England’s ‘Christian culture’.

It is patriotic, it loves the military.

The EDL is a small, violent street militia but it speaks the language of a much larger, disenfranchised class.

A politics born out of dispossession but anchored in English male working class culture; of dress and sport.

Camped outside the political centre ground, a large swathe of the electorate.

The making of an English Tea Party.

A people who believe they have been robbed of their birthright

They want community and belonging"

A brave analysis which doesn't quite fit into any "owned" by either New or Old Labour.

"Robinson versus the Segregationists"

I have a post up now on Open Unionism, detailing both his actual words and the fierce reaction to Peter Robinson's plea for an integregated education system.