Category Archives: England

Anonymous no more…

June 18, 2009 – 9:02 pm

I can’t believe there is a case called The Author of A Blog v Times Newspapers Limited [2009] EWHC 1358 (QB). But there is.
“The Author of A Blog” cited as the claimant was the pseudonymous author of a blog known as “Night Jack”. He was a police officer whose blog provided an inside view of [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Blogging, Internet, Law, Media, Privacy, Society, Technology | Tagged , , , , | Comments (26)

Right Dishonourable Members: STBO*

June 17, 2009 – 4:13 am

Sir Christopher Kelly today accused MPs of exploiting their allowances for personal gain, as he opened his long-awaited inquiry into Commons expenses.
The chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life said that MPs appeared to lack principles, when they should have shown honesty and integrity.
“These values are timeless,” he said, at the start of [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Funnies, Politics | Tagged , | Comments (4)

Right Dishonourable Members: Will the last minister to leave, please turn off the lights

June 7, 2009 – 5:16 am

James Purnell the work and pensions secretary, last night dealt a monumental blow to Gordon Brown’s chances of holding onto office when he dramatically announced he was quitting the cabinet and asking Brown “to stand aside to give Labour a fighting chance of winning the next election”.
His statement, in effect declaring Brown unelectable, will [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Funnies, Politics | Tagged , , , | Comments (16)

What crime? They were just breaking the Ramadan fast with a BBQ! (or Things to do in Ramadan when you’re dense…)

May 16, 2009 – 5:58 am

A radical Muslim who dressed his baby daughter in a hat with “I love al-Qaeda” on it tried to firebomb the home of the publisher of a controversial novel about the Prophet Mohammed.
Ali Beheshti, 40, along with Abrar Mirza, 22, have admitted conspiracy to recklessly damage property and endanger life after they poured diesel through [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Books, Free Speech, Funnies, Law, Literature, Personal liberty, Politics, Religion, Terrorism | Tagged , , | Comments (49)

Indiscernible Immigration

April 26, 2009 – 6:00 am

British National Party (BNP) chairman Nick Griffin has defended a party leaflet which says that black Britons and Asian Britons “do not exist”.
The BNP’s “Language and Concepts Discipline Manual” says the term used should be “racial foreigners”.
In a BBC interview, Mr Griffin said to call such people British was a sort of “bloodless genocide” because [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Free Speech, Funnies, Immigration, Politics, Racism | Tagged , , | Comments (64)

Uncivil rights

April 12, 2009 – 6:00 am

Councils in England and Wales have used controversial spying laws 10,000 times in the past five years, figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show.
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) was designed to fight serious crime. But officials have been using it to spy on suspected dog fouling, littering and other minor offences.
The government has [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Art, Funnies, Law, Personal liberty, Politics, Privacy, Society | Tagged , | Comments (11)

New! Improved!

March 18, 2009 – 6:00 am

Documents showing intelligence chiefs were urged to make a key dossier on the Iraqi threat as “firm” as possible have led to new calls for a war inquiry.
Intelligence head Sir John Scarlett was pressed in an e-mail to make analysis of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction as “authoritative” as he could.
Details of this e-mail were [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Funnies, Middle east, Politics, Terrorism | Tagged , | Comments (3)

Hopping Mad

March 15, 2009 – 6:00 am

The Foreign Office faced embarrassment today after a secret memo suggested that Russia, Australia and Canada were all “second division” countries at the G20 summit.
A confidential paper, issued to PR agencies ahead of the next month’s London gathering of global leaders, says the UK should focus lobbying efforts on 11 “high-priority states” such as the [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Economics, Funnies, Politics | Tagged , | Comments (8)

Theodore Dalrymple stirs the pot

February 26, 2009 – 9:09 am

British psychiatrist Theordore Dalrymple (aka Anthony Daniels) both annoys and interests me in equal measure. On the one hand, he’s a resolute defender of personal betterment: as documented in Life at the Bottom, he was willing to put his career on the line so that welfare recipients could gain an education — up to and [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Drugs, Economics, Education | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (16)

Your starter for 10

February 25, 2009 – 9:08 am

University Challenge, it’s fair to say, is knitted into British culture in all sorts of odd and interesting ways. The only other parallels I can think of for cultural influence and longevity are shows like Blue Peter and Dr Who. The headline for this post, for example, is instantly recognizable to pretty much anyone over here. [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Education, Feminism, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (89)