I'd get a bit depressed if it was for the thought of #SillyWeek on Monday

Well things are grim.

First there's the horror in Norway and the almost unspeakable act of taking unarmed innocent lives whilst they are in a state of terror. Its bad when the Taliban and other Jihadist nutters do it, and its bad when other terrorists do it. Thankfully I believe in divine justice as well as temporal imperfect justice and unless those involved in these outrages repent and throw themselves on God's generous mercy through the sacrifice of his son then they can look forward to some real terror under his judgement.

Then there's been the reaction to all this, much of it opportunist anti free-speech stuff. Journalists use the excuse to swipe at bloggers, lefties use it to ban those they disagree with, and the EU uses it to set up a proto intelligence and internal repression unit. ( Which I am no doubt now listed with - so may as well say #EUSSR as my name is already "on zee list". )

Add to that the ongoing and ever deepening debt crisis.

Enough to make you weep - if it was for the thought of #SillyWeek starting tomorrow.

So cheer up ( there's not good reason for this - just do it anyway ) and for one week lets liven things up with a bit of humour and good cheer.

I've already seen one of two contributions, but I'll make my first official survey sometime on Monday.

Good luck everyone !

PS Since I'm always going of at my kids about what they watch on the internet I'm not going to be able to link to anything risqué - regardless of how funny it was Mr Big Dollop. Thanks to Google they'll be onto me.

_ Details of #SillyWeek here _

We can stand together or hang apart in the face of political terror

Nature abhors a vacuum and the media is far worse.

There must be reasons for the obscene massacre in Oslo.

There must be lessons to learn

There must be something we can do, so it can never happen again.

Well here it comes. Some on the left are making the jump from the stated aims of a deranged terrorist to stating all those aims and issues he mentioned are themselves beyond the pale.

Its an enormous temptation for the left. They, this time, were the target so may feel there's some sympathy and victim ennoblement to be spent in the bank of public opinion. They also have always favoured refusing those they disagree with the right to draw political breath, let alone speak. Here is the perfect excuse to pursue the totalitarian objectives that are implicit in much of left wing politics.

And if they attack, others will respond on the airwaves, though perhaps the left wing bias and bigotry of the likes of the BBC might keep much of it off our airwaves.

And then what have we got ? The debate that the man who stole those lives in Oslo always wanted.

There are times to remember that silence is sometimes a good option. Whilst many of us are political opponents we are also subjects and citizens of the same nations and we all share common interests and common loyalties.

We should stick together. Forget this man who has done evil things, and comfort the bereaved parents, wives and husbands.

We can talk about and debate some of these other issues a little later on, when this man won't be taking the credit.

When evil strikes

Just as with the Brighton Bomb, evil has found its way into a man's heart (and perhaps others) and allowed him to do unspeakable things in Norway yesterday.

We live in a political world and it will be hard for many to resist making political points, or even religious ones that are more based on their own agenda and opportunism than the facts of the events.

My advise to the Norwegians is this: treat this as a criminal act. Pursue those involved as you would criminals. Apply justice without fear or favour. ( Some of the great mistakes in the UK were made when we let our fury at these crimes overcome the implementation of proper justice - for example the Guildford four [ though as with many of these things the original victims of the pub bombings somehow get forgotten in the follow on court cases. I've drunk in one of the pubs concerned.] )

It is only by treating terrorism as a crime that sufficient disgust with the idea will become accepted by the far reaches of our societies were it can breed.

I've already heard the opposite approach on the BBC this morning and seen some individuals who have over stepped the mark this morning.

Lets stay focused and determined here.

Norway is one of my favourite countries, I've been there on holiday a number of times and can remember being shocked at how easy it was to walk up to key buildings in Oslo. I hope they can make the necessary changes without changing their wonderful character of their country.

There must be terrible grief in so many families today, and nothing I can say here will help them, but we can hold the line against political violence and help deter any future criminal acts.

Who pays ?

The Greeks have had a slap up meal and there's just the small matter of the bill, which needs to be paid or else the Greeks can't come back tomorrow for a slap up meal ( which they would again like someone else to pay for ).

The EU has fudged the issue, but in the end its private individuals who get mugged. Here are the candidates:

• The slightly guilty: Those with links to banks, especially French banks. They were trying to make money out of the Greeks debt gluttony and so really should take the hit, but since they might not be able to stand it and the French shorty President will never get re-elected if they do other candidates are needed.
• Gamble the little money that's left, and hope no one notices and black 31 comes up on the roulette wheel. ( The advantage here is you can deny there was ever a problem if you win - if you lose its all over, but then it might be anyway ) This is the approach favoured by most Euro-criminals and the ECB.
• Make the taxpayer pay but confiscating their property with the full force of the law. The French like this idea, especially when it applies to the Germans and well anyone else but them and their banks ( and shorty President ).
• If only there was some way of making the Brits pay ? Still working on this one, but Nick Clegg might have a few useful ideas.
  

Silly Week 2011

Back by popular demand .. Silly Week for 2011 from the 1st till the 7th August !

The journalists and Euro bankers have of course been doing a great job of keeping us impoverished and otherwise entertained during the year so far - but they all shove of on holiday over the Summer (Tuscany apparently - with Saint Polly and her second home) so its up to us amateurs to fill the vacuum.

Q So what's the point ?
A Whatever you want it to be ! ( I've learnt that wish projection trick from the Obamamessiah and Blair ).

Use the tag #SillyWeek in Twitter or blogging and I'll find your posts ( or email me at endofthegarden@yahoo.com to tell me ) and I'll list your efforts.

But there are a few rules if you want your contribution to be recognised and to be linked to:

1. Please nothing that would lead to me being hunted down by the (CIA, FSB, MI6, the Taliban, or Newsround ) - this means you Julian Assange.
2. And definitely nothing that leads to extradition and being locked up in one of the prison the Yanks have that feature in their many films ( cruel and unusual eh ).
3. Funny's good.
4. Don't be too cruel.
5. This rule allows me to make up any other rules when I feel like it but to pretend I always told you ( under the Third Wish Act shortly to be passed in the US Congress ).

Good luck everyone ! ( See last years line up - )

Biased BBC: IT WASN'T MEANT TO BE LIKE THIS...

No time today so let me point you at the most inciteful post I've seen of today.

The Lefties and Guardianistas will be fizzing ...

La la la - not listening

Somehow I missed the apprentice last night so am keeping clear of the internet ( this is submitted via email ) till I can watch it tonight !

At risk

Well first of all to the victor the spoils - congratulations to Ed Miliband.

He took a risk, a reckless risk, in going for broke against News International. It looks like he's may have won and that News International could be too weakened to get its revenge. ( Though perhaps it just looks like that. )

But now the left have blood in the water and Cameron has let lose the wolves the drama will attempt to move to the US. The vehicle for this will be the 9/11 victims.

Can that new magic political formula of having the best victims to pluck the public's heart string work in the US ? They'll sure give it a go.

The ultimate prize ? Fox News.

The left wing establishment across the globe hates Fox with avengeance. The left's march through the institutions mean they control broadcasting in many countries ( certainly they have the BBC in their pocket ). Only Fox is outside their control and here is the opportunity to destroy free ( or even diversity of ) thought across the globe - they won' pass it up.

This is why Mr Cameron should have put up more of a fight.

Further: Similar concerns but focused on media freedom are made by Donald Blaney here

And more recently - the same point as this post with more research and words.... Anne Applebaum in the Daily Telegraph.

And now Tim Stanley (who can't be as young as his photo suggests ) The 9/11 phone hacking investigation: it's Murdoch and Fox News who could be destroyed, not the Republicans.

Brown and Miliband(jnr)'s cowardice left many innocent people open to having their privacy violated

Ah how have I come to that conclusion ?

Well first let me tell you an abridged personal story.

Many years ago I was the victim of an assault by someone I knew, but wouldn't be seeing again. The question was do I involve the police ? The temptation not to and get the whole thing out of the way was immense, but then I remembered that the same character flaw that had cause the incident I was involved in would no doubt lead to other people suffering similar assaults - so I called in the police as I felt it wouldn't help me, but was my duty to protect others.

A similar thought process of civic responsibility should have been going through Gordon Brown's mind when as chancellor he was told of the appalling breaches of privacy carried out against his family ( the Brown's son Fraser with whom we all had great sympathy - as I said at the time ).

What he hasn't understood is it was his duty to act, not just for his own sake, but also for the other victims he would have known would follow.

He had the authority, considered the issue. He even says now he was in favour of a judicial enquiry, and yet he didn't act. Its not hard to speculate why.

Ed Miliband was Gordon Brown's close disciple and in the cabinet when these things were discussed. ( I don't know if he was in the particular meeting when they were discussed ). He had the opportunity to protect the public, murder victims, the families of dead soldiers and airmen, but he chose to do nothing.

And now we have the hypocrisy of Brown and Miliband launching their crusade against New International.

They have a lot of questions to answer. The only question is with News International cowered who's going to ask them ?

Update: Its starting

Questions are being asked about Brown's version of events.

Andrew Neil has been helpfully putting the boot in all day: see this, this and this.

Only an English Parliament and English Government can save the Union

Last week I was at a Conservative political meeting and made the point of just how far English political opinion has moved against the Union being preserved.

It seems that one more round of appeasement may be being planned to solve the problem. Full autonomy for the Scottish government ( a sort of dominion I guess ).

Lets be clear - this will result in just one thing - Scottish independence in a generation, with England left paying for the Welsh and Irish.

There are only two ways to preserve the Union.

1. Reverse Labour's anti-English devolution settlement.
2. Set up an equivalent English parliament and government, with a Union government handling some macro economic issues, defence and foreign policy.

Anything less will mean the end of the Union. Its time for David Cameron to wake up and grasp this. We need to be lead to a new stable constitutional settlement that is just for everyone, or else the Union will just become history.

The new silver bullets

I have long thought that eventually the establishment will clamp down on the internet and that public panic over some issue like child abuse will be used as the excuse. The last few days have perhaps shown how it will be done.

What the phone voice-mail default password scandal shows is that some stories just don't move until the heart strings of the public are plucked in a certain way.

John Prescott ( he of the affair with a civil servant and cheating on his wife ) has his voicemail listened to - we all think its funny.

Celebrities ? Well if anyone cared about them then certain newspapers wouldn't sell and they'd be no Heat magazine.

The last Labour cabinet decided not to inquire any further about people listening into other people's voice-mail, less its upset newspapers who's support they were still courting. ( A Gordon Brown side kick one #RedEd is most likely to have been in the cabinet meeting that took that calculation ).

So what's the silver bullet in this affair been ? Public sympathy for a murdered school girls, and dead servicemen.

The ground of public opinion has opened below News International with that magic ingredient. The new silver bullets of public debate and political combat have been found, and you can be sure they will be used again. ( In some ways this was the lesson of Bigotgate. )

So what will the political world have learnt ?

To phrase its arguments in these terms.

Expect the bonfire of the vanities to be built up with harrowing stories and the cult of victim hood as each side tries to trump the other with the story that generates the most outrage to allow it to defeat its opponents in the cage fight of public opinion.

Welcome to America.

A word on the anti-human climate change movement

David Cameron needs to wake up to this ...

Fox on the carrier criticism

Now I'm not a fan of the carriers as they are yesterdays technology, but Dr Fox has a point where Labour's harping is concerned.