Baby's political ambition?

 

Pity the right wing columnists now they have no Labour Government to kick around.  What can they do? Get desperate, is the answer. A correspondent send is this drivel from last night’s Argus. Columnist Mike Buckingham writes

 

“Had I the temperament to be a civil servant working in the passport office – which I have not – and had an application for a British passport from one Peter Hain landed on my desk I would have immediately flagged up a problem.

Born in Kenya (not South Africa as is commonly supposed) Mr. Hain moved to the latter country to join the ‘fight’ against apartheid.

For whatever reason – one can only assume that the fighting got more serious than his political ambitions would allow – he came to Britain and has been a pest ever since.”

"Five retards being hired to work in an electrical store for the purposes of chewing gum and occasionally shooting bored glances in the direction of confused customers without any clue as to what they are supposed to be selling seems nowadays to qualify as a ‘jobs boost’." (During Ryder Cup. I'm afraid I dont have the exact date to hand).
 
"Anyone suggesting that Haiti's failure to organise itself properly had in large part brought about the loss of life would be attacked in the streets by those who believe that foreigners, particularly those of darker skin tones can do no wrong." 28 Jan 2010
 
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with a country saying that it does not want more Muslims within its borders. " 2 Dec 2009
 
"I do not buy South African products if I can help it because the post-Apartheid regime is every bit as wicked as that which preceded it. 

I buy petrol at Texaco station when I possibly can since that company supported Franco in the Spanish civil war. " 2 Dec 2009

My correspondent writes:-

 

“More disingenuous, anti-Labour claptrap from Mike.

 Peter Hain did, indeed, move to South Africa from Kenya; when he was one year old! His family left South Africa when Hain was 16, hardly his own decision and certainly not made with his political ambitions in mind.

 Why on earth does the Argus give space to Buckingham's continuous misinformation?”

 

 

 

I don’t know.

 

A further selection of recent rants include:

"Five retards being hired to work in an electrical store for the purposes of chewing gum and occasionally shooting bored glances in the direction of confused customers without any clue as to what they are supposed to be selling seems nowadays to qualify as a ‘jobs boost’." (During Ryder Cup. I'm afraid I dont have the exact date to hand).
 
"Anyone suggesting that Haiti's failure to organise itself properly had in large part brought about the loss of life would be attacked in the streets by those who believe that foreigners, particularly those of darker skin tones can do no wrong." 28 Jan 2010
 
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with a country saying that it does not want more Muslims within its borders. " 2 Dec 2009
 
"I do not buy South African products if I can help it because the post-Apartheid regime is every bit as wicked as that which preceded it.
I buy petrol at Texaco station when I possibly can since that company supported Franco in the Spanish civil war. " 2 Dec 2009

 

 Afghan phobia

There is a possible explanation for the Commons’ security staff’s odd behaviour last night.

Among the audience for the first public meeting of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Group were three of the anti-war protesters from the pavement on Parliament Green. The Police were twitchy and insisted that we abided strictly by the pettifogging rules. Eight of them were drafted in to keep an eye on us.

 There were at it again today. There was a packed conference on Afghanistan in the Commons Grand Committee Room. Speakers included Amnesty International, the Tear Fund, two distinguished writers and two MPs. The room was booked for three hours from 10.00 o’clock by an eminently respectable organisation. Delegates included ambassadors, foreign office staff and defence specialists. On the second when one o’clock struck. Security  staff arrived and insisted that the room be emptied immediately.

A minute later, the lingering delegates were plunged into darkness as the lights were switched off.

There is something about the word ‘Afghanistan’ that makes them behave irrationally.

 

Swine Flu plot thickens

A Finnish friend sends me this. It’s a bit premature to reach any conclusions. This vaccine did not have its full trials.

 

The swine flu vaccine Pandemrix is suspected to be the cause of

Narcolepsy in 36 Finnish children. The cases have been reported in

less than a year. In earlier years, only on estimated average of

three children a year have been diagnosed with narcolepsy.

 

According to Finnish citizen's group, non-profit NGO Rokotusinfo ry,

the Finnish research to find out whether the Pandemrix swine flu

vaccine causes narcolepsy in children has conflict of interest issues

and prejudice.

 

The Finnish work to research the possibility of causal relation

between the adjuvanted swine flu vaccine and narcolepsy consists of a

register study and one clinical trial.

 

The Finnish governmental research institute THL is carrying out a

trial worth more than 10 million euros under contract by Pandemrix

manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline. At the same time it is carrying out

the studies to investigate whether Pandemrix is the cause of

narcolepsy.

 

According to THL, the chief responsible person is the same in both

trials - head of THL's vaccine department, professor Terhi Kilpi.

 

"- THL's vaccine department has also very strongly recommended the

swine fly vaccine and had a key role in acquiring the vaccine for

Finland. The conflicts of interest are grave and obvious", says Jyrki Kuoppala, chairman of Rokotusinfo.

 

There are also reports from Austalia of the vaccine causing young children to suffer fits. As yet there is no proof of a link. I am not anti-vaccine. They have saved millions of lives. In this case the vaccine’s beneficial values have yet to be proved. I will follow subsequent reports here

 

Comments

[Tom]

Mike Buckingham is the worst excuse for a columnist in western Europe.

I continues to amaze me that such a farcical character manages to get his guff published.

[Kay Tie]

"I continues to amaze me that such a farcical character manages to get his guff published."

If he whined about cuts and "the poor" a bit more he could get a £100k/year job on the Guardian alongside Polly Toynbee and Johann Hari and all the other lazy columnists that can't even be bothered to check the most basic of "facts" they spew out.

[D.G.]

Alas, the Argus is sadly outdated and increasingly irrelevant. I don't know anyone under the age of 50 who buys it regularly.

Once, I would have said that I'd miss it when it was gone - I never saw my nan's kitchen table without a copy on it - but it's become so amateur and hateful I think it's better off consigned to history.

[beetee]

Rule number 1, do not , repeat , do not give these people the oxygen of publicity. sometimes it might be appropriate to write a personal letter ie not for publication , to the editor when a specific error has occurred or a breach of a code , but , in this case i wonder if it is worthwhile

[Patrick]

Imagine somebody (Ned) being stuck on a desert island for Twenty years and denied all contact and communication with the modern world.

The one exception could be that somehow a daily copy of the Argus magically landed from the air .

Ned would be well informed about court cases , violence, thefts and robberies.He would know all about injuries to local sportsmen , how to get a date in Gwent, houses for sale and even obituaries.

For Twenty years Ned would have survived comfortably without any knowledge of news whatsoever.

Unlike the rest of us who watch the TV and use the net, Ned would be blissfully unaware of any political, fiscal, business, or environmental problems.

[Paul Flynn]

The Argus has justified its existence in the marvellous campaign to protect the jobs of the Passport Staff. I have had my problems with them in the past, but there is an overwhelming case for the advantages of a local newspaper. The future of the local papers in south Wales is far from certain.

[Paul Flynn]

That's a fair point beetee. There is a danger. My way of treating this journalist is to never read a sentence he writes. All these quotations were sent to me by a correspondent. They are new to me. I react only where a constituent contacts me. I suppose there are people who read this stuff.

[DG]

"The future of the local papers in south Wales is far from certain."

To use the Argus' favourite editorial opening line - it's not surprising*. The standard of writing in some of the features would embarrass a sixth former. The rest is just copy-paste from press releases.

"But we have no time for reports and calls for action which make out that everybody is drinking too heavily and causing problems."

Maybe it's just me, but I had to read that sentance 5 times before it made sense. Maybe that's what's putting their readership figures up.

*So why bother writing an editorial about it?

[Mary Sullivan]

beetee does, indeed, have a point but Buckingham already has 'the oxygen of publicity' in that he has a full page weekly column in which to express himself to thousands of readers in Newport and south-east Wales (and, yes, thousands do read his bile). In this case, he has blackened the name of Peter Hain with misinformaion. Are we supposed to just let it go unchallenged?