Alex Salmond's plans for a referendum and 20 MPs would appear to be in tatters...

The recent discussion within the Scottish Liberal Democrats concerning the possible policy change to support a referendum on Scottish independence seems now to be dead, following a poll released in The Telegraph today.

Although some had suggested, apparently for tactical reasons, that the party should entertain the idea Scottish voters, according to the poll, reject independence and narrowly reject the idea of holding a referendum, preferring Scotland’s politicians to focus on more pressing matters, faced by the country.

63% wanted the Scottish Government to focus on tackling unemployment and only 29% back independence, a fall in support from last year and those opposed have increased to 57%.

Alex Salmond’s objective of trying to win 20 MPs would also appear to be in tatters as the SNP’s support has also dropped again.

All this suggests that any prospect of the Lib Dems supporting a referendum, now that the voters appear to be disenchanted with the false panacea of independence, may well dissipate.

Earlier today (or, more accurately, yesterday), the respected religious affairs journalist Damian Thompson wrote in his Telegraph blog about an Anglo-Catholic church in London which had been attacked by anti-papists, reportedly because the Vicar is considering how to respond to Anglicanorum coetibus, the Pope’s recent overture to disaffected Anglo-Catholics.

It has been several months since I last logged into the Telegraph to post a comment to a blog and I could neither remember my password nor persuade the Telegraph’s website to send a password reminder.  So I was prompted to set up a blog and you’re now reading it!

The Vicar of St Saviour’s Walthamstow, the Revd David Waller, is a member of the Church of England’s General Synod and the Anglo-Catholic movement Forward in Faith.  His parish has passed Resolutions A, B and C, under the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 and the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993.  In effect these resolutions mean that a woman can not preside at or celebrate the Holy Communion or pronounce the Absolution in the parish (Res A); a woman can not be appointed as the incumbent or priest-in-charge of the benefice (Res B); and the diocesan bishop has been petitioned to provide alternate episcopal oversight in the parish from a bishop who does not ordain women as priests.  While still in the Diocese of Chelmsford and under the authority of the Bishop of Chelmsford, the parish looks to the Bishop of Richborough for episcopal oversight.

In his Telegraph blog, Damian Thompson reported that as he arrived at the church for Mass on Sunday, David Waller discovered the words “CofE No Pope” had been daubed on the church’s noticeboard; and later he received a recorded threat on his telephone answering machine.

Two things about the story struck me.  The first is that a person who presumably consider themselves to be a Christian feels it is morally and theologically justified to act in such an abhorrent way.  It is the type of action which in the past has been supported by the English Churchman, which although it describes itself as “a Protestant family newspaper”, contains so much bilge and hatred that I would certainly not let my children read it.  I don’t know if the English Churchman is still like this today - I haven’t had the misfortune to read it for some years - but in the past I was disgusted to read its celebration of a man who interrupted a Good Friday ecumenical march of witness, reportedly because one of the inclusion of a Roman Catholic Church amongst the many churches taking part.

But I was equally alarmed to read the comments attributed to David Waller himself, about whether or not he would accept the Pope’s invitation and become a Roman Catholic under the Personal Ordinariates.  He said:

“The key players in the parish, including the churchwardens, are completely disillusioned with the Church of England and see the Ordinariate as the solution. I can’t speak for all the silent folk in the pews, but a significant number of them are Eastern European Roman Catholics, so I don’t think it would be a problem for them.”

Having said he can not speak for the “silent folk in the pews” he then goes on to do so, saying “I don’t think it [converting to Rome] would be a problem for them”.  And yet he describes them as “Eastern European Roman Catholics.  The fact that they are now worshipping in a Church of England parish suggests that they have already made the decision to cross the Tiber in the opposite direction to that which David Waller now appears to be looking to swim for himself.

The Pope’s invitation is personal – the clue is in the title given to the “Personal Ordinariates” which will be created to allow those Anglicans switching to Rome to retain some Anglican identity.  No priest, no church warden and no parochial church council can decide that somebody else will join a Personal Ordinariate or become a Roman Catholic. 

A Parish can not convert to Catholicism, only individual members of that parish.

A parish is the smallest, most grass-roots, legal administrative division of the Church of England.  Every house in every street in every village, town and city in England is part of a Church of England parish and this will continue long after Personal Ordinariates have ceased to be newsworthy.  If a priest wishes to move to Rome he may do so.  If members of congregations wish to move to Rome, they may do so.  But they can’t take their parish with them. 

They might certainly be able to persuade large numbers of their congregations to make the switch.  That is still to be seen.  But the individuals will need to make the decision for themselves; and they themselves will need to sign up to the Roman Catholic creeds and doctrine.

The threat to David Waller and the attack on the church notice board were wrong.  But it is also wrong for David Waller – and any other Anglo-Catholic priest – to believe they can take their parish with them if they decide to go to Rome.

If you’re reading this and you happen to have the Daily Telegraph magazine (UK) from this Saturday, flip through to page 23! There we are! Yo! It’s been order-ama over the weekend but we’re loving the response that we’ve got and we’ve been getting all the orders ready for posting!

Everything about this article makes me cross: Girl power turns ugly and violent during Schoolies Week:

THEY are the shiny, silver bracelets teenage girls would never factor into their well-planned outfits.

Because all girls are obsessed with clothes and shopping. And I don’t get me started how lame the “girl power” bit is. The Spice Girls released Wannabe in 1996 (thanks Wiki), when most of the schoolies would have been 3-5 years old.

But an increasing tendency for young girls to booze and brawl along with the blokes is seeing them slapped in handcuffs.

Nowhere is this cultural change being seen more openly than the drunk-fest of Schoolies Week on the Gold Coast, which has become a veritable petri dish for psychologists who have seen “daddy’s little girl” morph into the rock chick from hell.

Right, if she isn’t Daddy’s little girl, then she’s a rock chick from hell. Virgin or slut.

Thirty people were arrested on Saturday night. Only three were girls, so they remain a minority, but casual observers of the event over the years say the difference in behaviour of young women is still striking.

Silly me, I thought the 27 non-girls arrested might have been the story.

“You see a lot of girls fighting each other these days, even though this year has been quieter,” said freelance photographer Marc Robertson, who has covered the event for five years. “I’m 40 but you never saw girls fighting like this when I was younger, and I grew up in Townsville.”

Even the one quote from one person there says it isn’t happening as much as it used to. But don’t let that stand in the way of a good young woman-hating story.

Victoria-based adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg fears part of the problem is role models such as the dysfunctional Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

“A lot of girls are modelling themselves on rock chicks in the mistaken belief that to out-bloke the blokes is somehow sexy,” he said.

Three things here. Firstly, Lohan and Spears aren’t rock chicks. Secondly, is he really suggesting that the driver behind everything girls do is to be sexy to boys? And thirdly, as a psychologist I’m sure he wouldn’t be calling someone dysfunctional in public, which would make it the journo’s word.

And why is this story in the travel section? Is it so readers can say “woo, drunk girls, let’s go”?

Hacker finden auf dem Server eines führenden Klima-Forschungszentrums Beweise für organisierte Daten-Manipulation

In der britischen und US-amerikanischen Presse gibt es für den Skandal, der am 19. bzw. am 20. November 2009 ruchbar wurde, nur ein Wort: „Climategate“. James Delingpole, der Starblogger des „Daily Telegraph“, den ich am Tag zuvor noch auf einer vom unabhängigen britischen Europa-Abgeordneten Roger Helmer angeregten Konferenz zum Thema „Have Humans Changed the Climate“ in den Räumen des Europa-Parlaments erleben durfte, ist sich schon sicher, dass die 1.079 Emails und 72 Dateien, die Hacker ins Internet stellten, für die Behauptung, die globale Erwärmung sei von Menschen verursacht, zum letzten Sargnagel werden. Sein US-Kollege Andrew Bolt spricht vom größten Wissenschaftsskandal der Neuzeit.

Was ist passiert? Am 19. November tauchte auf dem kleinen Skeptiker-Blog „Air Vent“ ein Hinwies auf einen Link zu einem russischen Server auf, auf dem Dateien zu finden waren, die unbekannte Hacker vom Server des Climate Research Center (auch bekannt als Hadley CRU) der East Anglia University kopiert hatten. Das CRU ist eines von weltweit nur vier Instituten, die dem „Weltklimarat“ IPCC „offizielle“ Temperaturdaten liefern. Die nun im Internet zugänglichen Dateien enthalten unter anderem halbprivate Korrespondenz zwischen den weltweit einflussreichsten Wortführern des IPCC, die verraten, dass diese selbst nicht so recht an die von ihnen verbreiteten Warnungen vor einem bevorstehenden Hitzetod glauben und zeigen, welche fiesen Tricks sie anwandten, um qualifizierte Einwände gegen den von ihnen fabrizierten Konsens über die Ursachen der globalen Erwärmung ins Leere laufen zu lassen und Skeptiker mundtot zu machen.

Nachdem dieser Skandal in den Online-Ausgaben der anglophonen Presse bereits für große Unruhe gesorgt hat, erwartet man nun mit Spannung, was sich die deutschen Mainstream-Medien jetzt einfallen lassen, um dem immer skeptischer werdenden Publikum zwei Wochen vor dem Beginn des Klima-Gipfels von Kopenhagen diesen „Unfall“ zu erklären. Zumindest der „Spiegel“ hat schon einmal vorgesorgt, indem er in dieser Woche die schwächelnde Sonne als Ursache der seit zehn ausbleibenden Erderwärmung ausmacht.

Finnische TV-Doku deckt Fehler in der Klimawissenschaft auf

Internet

Have Humans Changed the Climate?

Air Vent (Noconsensus)

James Delingpole: Climategate

Andrew Bolt: Warmist Conspiracy exposed?

Climate Change Examiner

Die entlarvenden Emails

Klimagate: Der Stoff aus dem die Lügen sind

Die Schwächen der Sonne

von Edgar L. Gärtner

The greatest story ever told (as debated here) has been given a new leash of life by His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman.

In a new project, Pullman has written an alternative Bible passage re-imagining the fate of Jesus Christ, who, it is written, was killed by the Romans (or not).

Talking to The Daily Telegraph, a friend of the author said: “He has written what would have happened if Jesus had had a fair trial. He knows it will be controversial, but he has some serious points to make.”

Pullman will read his reworking or Christ’s fate at the Globe Theatre on Thursday 19 November as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of Reprieve, an organisation which campaigns for prisoner rights.

The author is not new to controversy with the church. An honorary associate of the National Secular Society, several of Pullman’s books have been criticised by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. His Dark Materials, Pullman’s collection of fantasy novels which contain much discussed religious allegories, have been seen as a direct negation of Christian author, C S Lewis’, The Chronicles of Narnia, which have been criticised by Pullman.

He is also often lambasted for an interview in which he reportedly said: “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.”

Despite all this confrontation the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has suggested His Dark Materials be taught as part of the religious education curriculum in schools.

The Reprieve event will be hosted by Jon Snow and will also feature John le Carré and Martha Lane Fox.

Discussion:
Do you think Pullman has gone too far in his atheist quest with this latest project? Do you feel we should question religion more in literature? What was the last faith themed piece of writing you read?

Words: Dean Samways

Watch a documentary on Philip Pullman below:

Lottery Funding has been requested for many 'original' ideas, including a Starship Enterprise centre...

The National Lottery is 15 years old this week, and no doubt people will be celebrating with a purchase of ticket to win the jackpot.  As we all know money from the lottery goes to ‘good causes’ but have there been many requests for less ‘good causes’ over the years?

According to The Telegraph some of the most extreme examples of requests for cash were:

• Funding for young people to learn how to time travel.
• Money to buy a new toaster.
• Funding to make automatic ice cube dispensers.
• One man wanted money to build a replica of Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise (I don’t know which version) so that lonely people could meet in a “safe” environment.
• A man requested £500 to do up his Ford Capri.
• A woman wanted money to double glaze her home.
• One optimist wanted funding to run a dinosaur farm.

The lottery, like other aspects of public life, has clearly allowed new ways for people to express themselves openly.

Esto lo pongo y quiero dejar claro que lo he copiado de otra pagina web, Rafapal. Solo decir que es un tema que me ha costado discusiones y muchas broncas, nunca me creí que fueran cuatro tipos pelaos en barquitas….  y mucho menos que los barcos fueran atacados al azar, hay dinero, intereses y muchas ganar de engañar a la sociedad, como siempre digo, quien tenga ojos para ver que lea y el que tenga oídos para escuchar que oiga, no dejéis que os digan que ver y que oír, ser genuinos y juzgar lo que vosotros creáis,,,, no lo que os digas que debéis juzgar.

Enlace a The Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/11/somalia-pirates-network

Enlace a Daily Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/piracy/5309692/Somali-pirates-helped-by-intelligence-gathered-in-London.html

Tanto The Guardian como Daily Telegraph alertan de que los piratas no eligen
a sus víctimas al azar y estan preparados y planeados con antelacion.
Los secuestros recientes han sido orquestados desde el Reino Unido
en una operación secreta de los servicios de inteligencia”, afirma The Guardian.

“Los piratas somalíes reciben ayuda de los servicios de
inteligencia en Londres”, titula el Daily Telegraph.

Los piratas saben qué barcos secuestrar y cuáles
son sus rutas.

Los piratas acceden a la información porque
disponen de una estructura superior de informadores muy bien situados.

Ese equipo DE INFORMADORES son los que señalan desde Londres los
barcos que se pueden secuestrar, cuáles son sus rutas, sus cargas, sus
nombres y sus nacionalidades.

Según la documentación militar, esta
información se evidenció en el último ataque a un atunero vasco, el
Felipe Ruano, interceptado el pasado marzo.
Los piratas conocían su
ruta y le estaban esperando, según se desprende de ese dossier.

(Los
barcos proporcionan de forma voluntaria mucha información a distintos
organismos internacionales. Se trata de una cuestión de tráfico
marítimo. Londres y Reino Unido constituyen el centro neurálgico de
estos organismos).

Los jefes locales de la piratería
poseen además tecnología punta que les permite localizar con relativa
precisión a los barcos a secuestrar.

Otra de las afirmaciones recogidas, es que los piratas evitan atacar a los barcos de
determinadas banderas.
Se señala como especialmente evidente el caso de los barcos británicos,
que a pesar de ser una de las marinas mercantes más numerosa en esa
zona, apenas ha sufrido ataques en el último año.

El bufete de Londres eligió al abogado del pirata aconsejado por el espionaje
español…

Un portavoz del CNI niega que haya mediado en la contratación del letrado que ahora
defiende a «Abdu Willy»

‘Los verdaderos piratas no están en Somalia, sino en despachos de Nairobi, Londres y
Dubai’ andre Mwangura

‘Son hombres de negocios que se dedican al tráfico ilegal de armas y de humanos”Se
lucran con la pesca ilegal y el vertido de residuos en alta mar”Para solucionar el
problema somalí debemos ir a su raíz: la pobreza’

Andrew Mwangura, director del Programa de Asistencia Marítima de África del Este y
experto en piratería.

NAIROBI.- Andrew Mwangura,
director del Programa de Asistencia Marítima de África del Este y
experto en piratería, lo tiene claro: los verdaderos piratas que ponen
en jaque el tráfico marítimo internacional no están en la costa de
Somalia al acecho del siguiente carguero.
“Los verdaderos piratas son hombres de negocios, grandes tiburones
que se dedican al tráfico ilegal de armas, de humanos, que se lucran
con la pesca ilegal y con el vertido de residuos en la costa somalí, y
que tienen despachos en Nairobi, Mombassa, Londres y Dubai”, según
declaró Mwangura en rueda de prensa en Nairobi.

Piratas somalíes secuestran un carguero de Antigua y Barbuda en el golfo de AdénEl
responsable de la operación Atalanta reconoce que se han constatado fugas de
información a los piratas somalíes”Los piratas lo sabían todo de mi barco antes del
secuestro”

y por ultimo una charla de radio en la que se puede entender un poco mas el origen del conflicto.

http://ia311017.us.archive.org/0/items/regocijos_18-10-09/la_cara_b_-_la_pirateria_en_somalia.mp3

Eliassu.

“You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself” Ricky Nelson, ‘The Garden Party’.

Last night I took my Dad – or rather he took me – to the O2 to see Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam. Billed as Cat’s (let’s call him that to ease confusion) first gig in Ireland the concert promised a trip down memory lane for the oldies in the crowd. Indeed, as we observed, the crowd was composed mainly of people in their 40s and older. Though it might be wrong to assume, there was definitely an air of expectation in the concert that this was a Greatest Hits tour, a chance for the paying Irish public to finally hear the songs that coloured their past, live.

Stevens, on stage © Ciara Norton

And from the outset it looked like this was what it would be. Cat began his set strolling onto the stage, guitar in hand. He was shortly joined by two more guitarists and together they entertained with the kind of folksy music Cat became famous for. There would be no dancing to this music but the crowd were happy, perhaps full of expectation that soon a Cat Stevens hit would make its voice known. After a few slow songs the stage opened to reveal keyboards, bass and drums and it was then that the show really got going. For about ten minutes, that is.

At this point Cat started talking about the “surprise” in store for the audience. I knew, as I had paid attention, that this meant a preview of Cat’s new musical Moonshadow. I presumed that as it had not been the opening act (a much better slot, no?) it would be little more than a few minutes of the second act, not close to the entirety.

Cat Stevens and Band, o2 Dublin, © Ciara Norton

The interval ended and the real fun began. Cat ambled on stage, sat on a box and with his guitar sang an unfamiliar song while two children played on stage. Their voices – the irritating sing-song kind – interrupted the song to talk about a land of no sun or too much sun or something like that and it was at this point that I began to grow nervous and the crowd started to shift their weight in the plastic seats.

This was as close to a full-blown musical as you could imagine in the middle of a concert. Plotlines developed, characters formed, children grew old and old people grew tired of the rebellious youth. It was hard to stomach, hard to watch a musical the majority of the crowd didn’t seem to know was coming when Cat Stevens was obviously wandering about backstage. Oh yes, he had left the stage after the first song and his cast took over the singing duties. This meant, in case my point is not clear, that the audience DID get to hear his hits, but these were the hits sang by cast members of a West End musical, their every syllable enunciated through grinning, gurning mouths.

Nobody in the audience paid to listen to an actor sing ‘Father and Son’, nobody wanted a female cast member to twist ‘Wild World’ into a lament for her lost son and nobody wanted to see ‘Matthew & Son’ turn into a dance routine. It was hard. I hate to see people on stage boo-ed, I understand that the cast members of Moonshadow were merely doing their job and I suppose they were doing it well, or as well as can be expected in the face of a hostile audience.

Then it was over. People were still walking out when Cat reappeared to tell us he’d be back in five minutes, that he hadn’t left us, that he hoped we hadn’t left him. So we stayed and hoped that a hit was somewhere in our future, a familiar song to heal the hurt of the unexpected musical. But it wasn’t coming. Cat introduced songs from recent albums, he thanked us for coming and spending “so much money”* and smiled his way through his second, shorter set. Even ‘Moonshadow’ was ruined by the addition of the lead from the musical returning on stage to falsetto his way through the classic. At this stage everyone was uneasy, Cat affirmed that he would not be playing some songs like ‘Hard Headed Woman’, presumably not in keeping with his current outlook on life. For his encore Cat began with a new song ‘All Kinds of Roses’ from Roadslinger. The crowd screamed blue murder and he replied “Now I know what Dylan felt like”. Not that this was comparable to Dylan’s electric moment, in any way.

I left during the second song of the encore, a reimagined version of ‘Lilywhite’. By then it was too late for me and I had to leave. Anyone know if he ended on a high note? EDIT: Apparently I missed Ronan Keating and Cat sing Father and Son together. That I can definitely live without.

To conclude, for I know I’ve rambled on  long enough,  I am usually in giving any performer the benefit of my doubt. I don’t like to boo (I didn’t last night) and I don’t like to hear others do so. I respect a performer’s right to play his recent songs, not concentrate on hits from 30 years ago. I do have issue with the promotion (POD and AEG in association with the Irish Times and 2fm were the promoters) of a concert that used Cat Steven’s hits to entice people into the O2. The preview of the musical was not billed as the major part of the show it was. I knew about it but I believe myself to be in the minority of people there who were aware it was part of the show. I respect Cat Stevens but I do not respect last night’s show or the promoters who allowed what happened to happen. As he might have learned last night “it’s hard to get by just upon a smile”.

*DISCLOSURE: my tickets were free, not that this prevents me from being angry on behalf on the thousands of others who paid €80 and upwards for the privilege.

EDIT: The Daily Telegraph’s reviewer had this to say about last night. I can’t say that I agree with calling the people in the crowd who registered their disapproval loudly “churlish and mean spirited”. Brian Boyd’s four star rating and my own differ widely, especially when it comes to Moonshadow.

]]> http://virginonmedia.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/conservative-party-proposes-dismantling-uk-media-ownership-rules-all-tasty-media-morcels-to-be-snapped-up-next-june/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:40:22 +0000 stevevirgin http://virginonmedia.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/conservative-party-proposes-dismantling-uk-media-ownership-rules-all-tasty-media-morcels-to-be-snapped-up-next-june/

The Conservatives plan to abolish local cross-media ownership rules and strip Ofcom of policy-making responsibilities, according to a report. The Daily Telegraph reported this morning that shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt blames the commercial media industry’s current crisis on “heavy-handed regulation”.

“It is why no major international players have come forward to buy ITV and major US networks are not interested in investing in Britain,” he told the Telegraph. “They are driven away by the top-down, paternalistic regulations which are strangling our creative media industries. We will strip away the regulations.”

Under the Tories, Ofcom would be reduced to making judgments in areas such as “decency, impartiality and taste”. Hunt will expand on his theme in a speech on Thursday, when he is due to address The Media Festival in Manchester. Ofcom has been consulting the industry on proposals to relax local cross-media ownership rules so that the only remaining restriction is on ownership of local newspapers (with a 50% or more share of the local market); a local radio station; and the regional Channel 3 (ITV) licence. It is unclear whether the Tory proposals would go further than this.

Hunt also spoke to Sky News yesterday on the subject of the BBC licence fee, signalling that if the Tories win the next election they will be tough in the next review of the fee in 2012.  “Times are very tough. We are not ruling out freezing the licence fee, or cutting it,” he said.

He put the spotlight on the cost of the BBC’s digital channels, BBC Three and BBC Four. “The BBC needs to make a better case for investment in some of its new digital channels, which have very low audiences but do cost a lot of money. If we win the election, there will be discussions we will be having with the BBC.” The Tories may revisit the current Government’s review of “crown jewels” sporting events which must be shown on free-to-air channels, which is likely to please Rupert Murdoch. Sky is set to lose out from the decision to put The Ashes on the list of protected events.

http://www.brandrepublic.com/BrandRepublicNews/News/967109/Tories-propose-dismantling-media-ownership-rules/?DCMP=EMC-DailyNewsBulletin