主播大秀

Perhaps Gavin could ask Joe Wilson why his wife lied to a Senate committee about recommending him for the Niger trip. Perhaps Wilson could explain why the Libby trial didn鈥檛 actually find anyone guilty of the actual charges (outing Plame) when they knew all along that Richard Armitage was the source for Robert Novak鈥檚 story. Perhaps Wilson could explain what crime Libby is supposed to have committed given that much of the testimony in the trial was based on recollections of conversations held years before.

The Libby trial was clearly payback for the Iraq war. They were going to get him, innocent or not. Libby didn鈥檛 do anything wrong apart from having a different recollection of a particular irrelevant conversation than someone else. He is innocent.

To see how American justice can be completely blind to the truth and evidence take a look at the Nifong case. Mike Nifong was the prosecutor in the Duke Lacrosse trial is now on trial himself for falsifying testimony in order to prosecute a group of innocent men. His motive appears to have been to improve his chances of re-election.

The Government has consistently underfunded the Environment Agency, never giving it the resources that it needs to prosecute polluters. There simply isn't the manpower or legal resource, which means that many polluters get away with it - from big corporates to fly-tippers.

And last year another round of cuts was forced upon the agency by its paymaster DEFRA. Funnily enough we keep seeing flooding and pollution as a consequence.

Alan C,
You hit the nail on the head !
She was not a covert agent.
No law was broken . Thus no pejury was done . The judges were just frustrated about not being able to put thier arms around the case.
If you want to see pardons just check out this link to the Clinton years.

I like the one about the man having a pot still!

As a Tory, I don't normally agree with much of what Gordon Brown has to say. However, I am encouraged (I put it no more strongly than that until I see how it all works out) by what he had to say in the House of Commons today. It might not be much, but it is at least a start.

The Prime Minister appears adamant that he won't have "English votes for English laws" in Parliament. I must admit, that would be a constitutional mess which would be hard to see working. You could easily have a situation where the government would have a majority on UK-wide issues, but not on England-only issues.

Having said that, the current situation is clearly unsustainable. I've heard all the arguments, but it simply can't be right that an MP for a Scottish seat can vote on things affecting me here in Newcastle upon Tyne, but my MP can't vote on issues devolved to the Scottish Parliament. (I use Scotland but it applies to Northern Ireland and, ultimately, Wales too I suppose). This problem was well known long before devolution was introduced, and should have been addressed at the time.

Perhaps a workable answer might be to do what was done with Northern Ireland in the 1920s. Their MPs could vote on any issue in the House of Commons. But their representation was drastically reduced to what it statistically should have been, to reflect the fact that they had their own Parliament to deal with most issues.

I realise there are strong views on either side, but the current situation is likely to weaken the union, not strengthen it. One day a major controversial decision affecting England will be carried only with the support of "Scottish votes", and the balloon will go up.

I can't wait to see what you've got for us tonight Gavin. Will it be Dominic Whiteman and "J" [November 2006 Newsnight] who now allege that HuT have moved on from mugging old ladies to pouring petrol over themselves at airports.

Can't wait!

Once again we see political interference in the judicial system.

We have the same thing going on in Pakistan with President Musharraf sacking the Chief Justice, we have the fomer Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith here in the UK closing the inquiry into the UK-Saudi arms trade and now Bush interfering to prevent his old chum from going to jail.

These politicians are of the same dirt no matter where you are in the world!

Shavi Malik has proven a very good debater exposing Mr Bunglwaya for the equivocal person he is with regard to condemning wholheartedly terrorism

HOW did the 主播大秀 and the government allow that interview to be broadcast? At the best it will prejudice the trial and the 主播大秀 will get reprimanded. But then again, the 主播大秀 is extra-cautious these days over matters of this sort.

At the worst, the government was complicit in its broadcasting and is responsible for what could amount to manipulation of public opinion of a man who is unable to answer charges.

I am sure many other thinking viewers will raise this issue, hopefully with OFCOM. I await the outcome with interest.

I'M scared :(

There are so few story/detail-threads in this coverage on newsnight, and it looks like newsnight is going to say/do anything to fill air-time.

To Peter barron, The editor of newsnight,
Hand on Heart, have the last couple of days of your programme truly attained and maintained the Highest standards of Journalism?

An actual question, for the benefit of people who want to belive in newsnight, but aren't stupid.

Bear in mind the political atmosphere, versus the level of coverage, small-minded, cynical, dirty, potentially devisive (see others comments) on television -maybe blair just might have been right!

The repesentative from the Moslem Council of Britain on Newsnight said Islam is against the killing of "innocent civilians".
The terrorists have said repeatedly that since we pay taxes to governments which are fighting in Iraq etc, we are not innocent. Hence I think the Council should make their stands more clear and specific. Are these people justified in attacking UK or not? And no more "we condem the killing of innocent citizens" stuff. They should condem these atrocitities unreservedly and unconditionally if they claim to be the voice of moderation.
One thing I find hard to understand when Muslims talk about their brothers and sisters in Iraq and other countries, which of them do they mean? For instance in Iraq, are they for the Shias or the Sunnys? These 2 groups are killing each other.
My opinion (and I accept I am not the most informed) is that the Islamists are just finding any excuse to kill people no matter the religious believes. But more worryingly, the Moslem Council of Britain seems supports this aggression.

Our goverment has to stop this political correctness buisness. It should say clearly that "Islamism" cant live in modern democracy and that islamists should not be given the chance to spread their ideology. Freedom comes with responsiblity.

I have recently written to an MP about an extreme scholar who lives freely in London, uses media and his website to praise Zarqawi.He is a regular guest in arabic TV channels. Watching him talking about Jihad is frustrating. The MP wrote to the home office which was unable to discuss indivdual cases. The man still writes in his website , still appears in TV. He continues to spread his messege and we wounder why some people are radicalised?!!!

Somehow I didn't find the interview with ex-Hizb ut-Tahrir member Shiraz Maher, about his recollections of Glasgow airport attacker Dr Bilal Abdullah - whom he claims to have known well in Cambridge three years ago - totally convincing. It was all a little too pat,as if Shiraz has perfect recall. Down to remembering Bilal warning his not particularly observant Muslim flatmate not to play the guitar or "this is how we deal with people like you", showing him a video of Zarqawi carying out a beheading. Again, the message from a former jihadi (like Hassan Butt last night) is "it's the ideology, stupid" and by no means only foreign policy. By the way, how come there are suddenly all these ex-jihadis speaking out? Maybe once one of them broke the taboo of doing so, others felt encouraged to follow. Anyway, as Inayat Bunglawala said, the Gordon Brown era has ushered in an interesting change in the way cabinet members are engaging the Muslim community, away from the increasingly confrontational John Reid-Tony Blair mode which it could be argued only increased alienation.

I鈥檓 deeply disappointed once again that Richard Watson chose to project his biased views through the so-called 鈥渋nsider鈥� on Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Where was the balanced reporting? Why was a HT spokesman not there to comment on allegation by Maher?
It was very clear that Watson insidiously tried to link HT鈥檚 work for Caliphate with terrorism. These types of polemicist work of journalism is clearly unhelpful. There is absolutely no evidence of any link between HT and terrorism. Nobody is suggesting that the Caliphate is going to be accepted by secular liberalism, which has massive support in the Muslim world. But that does not mean that the Muslim world should not aspire to have the system of its choice. Lets debate but with sincerity and fairness 鈥� not through gratuitous propaganda.

To Peter Baron and Watson: grow up guys! You ought to grow out of cheap journalistic stunts and present some balanced reporting.

I look forward to unbiased reporting!!!

Just checking my status!
Last Wednesday I wrote a short post about the Blair 'standing ovation' - this was from an internet cafe on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean. After hitting the 'post' button it came up on screen that I wasn't permitted to comment. Now that I'm back home and using my own pc would someone at Newsnight like to explain why?

Shavi Malik debated bravely with Mr Bunglwaya. An earlier post talks about Mr Bunglwaya's equivocation about terrorism. I agree he failed to state clearly what his position on this was. To be clear, what I heard was that he refused to denounce the killing of British troops in Iraq. What he said was that he would rather that British troops were not there. Regardless of his views regarding the rights or wrongs of the invasion, he should not condone the sort of terrorism that is being perpetrated against our troops in Iraq.

I want the portion of my license fee that was spent on the Joe Wilson interview back please!

Here is the true story: Wife Valerie (anti-war) gets anti-war husband Joe a gig to 鈥渋nvestigate鈥� claims that Iraq tried to buy uranium ore from Niger. So Joe spends a few days sipping Daiquiris with his old Niger buddies and returns home concluding the claim is false, as if such a conclusion were possible in these circumstances! By the way, Wilson鈥檚 conclusion is contrary to the current position of British Intelligence that Iraq did indeed try to buy yellowcake from Niger. What else do you buy from Niger for g*d鈥檚 sake. Anyway, Wilson makes a big song and dance in Washington over Bush lying about the yellowcake (鈥渢hose sixteen words鈥�). The Washington rumour mill gets going and people start talking about Wilson and, since his wife is a well known CIA operative, her name comes up. Richard Armitage (Deputy Secretary of State) mentions to Robert Novak (reporter) that Valerie Plame is a CIA operative, thus 鈥渙uting鈥� her. The Wilson camp now goes into overdrive to indict the warmongering neocons for this alleged national security breach. Libby get caught in the middle of this, forgetting in his testimony exactly what he said, and when, to several reporters many months earlier. This was when the media frenzy was in full swing and reporters were asking anyone who would talk to them what they knew of the alleged 鈥渙uting鈥�. Armitage, the man who actually 鈥渙uted鈥� Plame is ignored (he is an anti-war Colin Powel man you see) and Libby is prosecuted, possibly for just having an imperfect memory. The underlying truth here is that the Wilson鈥檚 were pulling a smear job on the White House and consequently questions were being asked as to who would sent Wilson to Niger, given his obvious bias. It now appears that Valerie Plame lied to a Senate committee hearing about recommending Wilson for the job in the first place. So she might be looking forward to doing a 30 month stretch herself (no pardon for her!).

The 主播大秀 should not give a platform to partisan hacks like Wilson unless they provide some balance and context in the report. For example, Wilson and Plame are in the process of making a fortune from this affair. Why wasn鈥檛 it mentioned that Richard Armitage was the original source for the Novak story. Bad show Newsnight!

People ask Muslims to actively condemn terrorism. And they do until they're 'blue in the face' (courtesy of Q-News editor, Fareena Alam -- not a keen fan of MCB).

MCB's consistent denunciations of terrorism can be found here:

Newsnight is the best TV programme in the world.

Ref Muslim communities within the UK.

Firstly, we have the pressing danger from Islamic terrorism (domestic/foreign)

Secondly, we have the ever present cultural impasse within such self imposed Islamic ghettos for last 40+ years (which some noted expectations, welcome but in the distinct minority).

When there are far too many inherent sub cultural practices (non indigenous in nature) practised as daily norms in these communities, no wonder the disaffected & vulnerable in these self imposed ghettos are readily converted to violent radicalism.

The UK鈥檚 鈥榤oderate鈥� Muslim communities, are radical is essence, as they defy the social norms of British Society (rights & attitudes towards - treatment of girls, women, minorities, arranged/forced marriages accompanied by oppressions & even honour killings & are fuelled by male expectations of their female contemporary鈥檚)

So even if terrorism was not the lethal problem it is today, the radical nature of the UK Muslim communities would remain, at odds to the host society that allowed them to settle & enables their existence.

Therefore, because the 鈥榥orm鈥� of these communities are totally radical by comparison to British society, they are more readily available cannon fodder, given radicals are one step nearer to terrorists.

vikingar

Shiv Malik echoed many sentiments and assertions of Israeli spokemen rather than those of an objective journalist.

Further to my earlier post, I've now done a Google search on Shiraz Maher, and find he's a pretty controverisal character. I also notice that at the bottom of an article he wrote for the Social Affairs Unit, it says: "Shiraz Maher is a former member of Hizb ut Tahrir who resigned as a matter of conscience. He is a freelance adviser to the 主播大秀 on Political Islam." I'm not sure of the date of the article (it was warning about a certain journal in fact being a front for Hizb ut-Tahrir). What an amazing coincidence that a 主播大秀 freelance adviser on Islam turns out to be a friend of a doctor involved in a terror attack, and to be v. familiar with all his ultra-extremist, sectarian, anti-Shiite, pro-insurgent behaviour, able to quote examples chapter and verse. Congratulations to whoever in the Beeb appointed Maher as an adviser; they must have intuited quite how "well" connected he was in jihadist circles. Surely poster Joe is right to say the interview will prejudice any trial. Also, some other media have plastered non-pixelated pictures of various of the arrestees across their front pages. Is this acceptable and non-prejudicial, given that questions of identity might be involved? (eg in identity parades).

In Jerusalem, a Reuters journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who
had been going to the Wailing Wall to pray, twice a day, everyday, for a
long, long time. So she went to check it out. She went to the Wailing
Wall and there he was! She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes,
when he turned to leave, she approached him for an interview.
"I'm Rebecca Smith from Reuters. Sir, how long have you been coming to
the Wall and praying?"
"For about 60 years."
"60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"
"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims. I pray
for all the hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in
safety and friendship."
"How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"
"Like I'm talking to a * wall."

THIS IS NOT FIT TO BE A JOKE. MIND YOUR ***!

Harriet Harman will not loose any sleep after tonights Newsnight, her flipertiflop on her comments regarding the iraq war is trademark harriet; zzzzzz, "whats that noise?" yes it's 'brass kneck' Harriet, sleeping like a baby, and to think she won the deputy leadership contest; you can blame the sisters for that unfortunate result.

"Know your Enemy"

Before that enemy can be defeated we must acknowledge why,where & whom?

The Government(aka Jack Straw:) calls them terrorists....will not preface Islamic! ..."the enemy within" Muslim communities..why this ostrich-like put your heads in the sand propaganda!

Not sure that i would want my 11 year old to tell that joke to her grandpa. I am sure that she knows the word **** and her granpa uses it to often however 11 is too young to use it

Nothing new in the world of Islam is there:-

Only different excuses!

Peter Shaw's earlier post is spot on re: EA and lack of government funding.

Its getting ridiculous that amidst the political / day to day hyperbole of "environmental problems"- the issues on our doorstep regarding the quality of our soil / air / water are ignored.

Whether its global warming or species extinction (currently the 主播大秀 has, erm, ahem, "celebrities" out in africa looking at endangered cuddly quadrapeds) the "environment" is everywhere.

YET, if politicians, journalists and the public looked a little closer to home they'd find an EA writhing in cutbacks, underfunded since its inception in 1996 , lacking in experienced staff and crippled by mediocre "area" middle managers, most adept at buzzword bingo, bending over backwards and lacking any technical or philosophical rigour. Babs Young, the lady in charge, came in with a huge reputation and the ear of gordon brown - but has palpably failed to address the shortage of funds, the disillusionment of staff and the lack of expertise within the land contamination spehere especially.

If politicians really cared about the "environment" they'd at least fake an interest in the organisation that is there to protect our own air,soil and water?

I look forward to more ariticles from Susan Watts on the subject of this Agency - there's huge scope in contaminated land terms e.g. the diabolical underesourcing and consequent shambles with regard to human health risk assessment and soil guideline values. More please, Dr Watts.

if jihadis had left chemicals in a welsh pit [for decades] to pollute the water supply i think it might be viewed with more urgency?

I am not religious but i did say a few prayers for the kidnapped 主播大秀 jurno, THANKS GOD.

Excellent feature last night by Susan Watts about Brofiscin quarry at Groesfaen in South Wales.

It's amazing how people down here don't know anything about this site.

Well done to 主播大秀 for this bit of good work.

Darling Gavin Esler. Why the surprised look on your face on Monday night when Hassan Butt spelt out the real motivation for all jihadists worldwide? I can鈥檛 believe you鈥檙e not familiar with this. There鈥檚 plenty of literature on the subject that the Newsnight and the 主播大秀 News team in general seem to take great pains to ignore, but it鈥檚 not news to your viewers. It is a tactic of jihad to hide this motivation where necessary through anti-Western government propaganda. Why does Newsnight only assume that it is Western governments that deal in propaganda and not terrorist organisations?

Just when I wondered 鈥榳ill Gavin now see the light now he鈥檚 had it told to him face to face?鈥� along comes Tuesday鈥檚 show. Gavin opens it by saying words to the effect 鈥榦ne of the suspects was angry about Iraq鈥� and then the reporter more or less repeated those words in the introduction to his interview with Shiraz Maher. But what did the interviewee actually say? That it was 鈥榤isleading鈥� to focus on Iraq because 鈥� shall I say it again, Gavin? 鈥� jihad is about establishing the vision of a worldwide caliphate in which the only faith allowed is Islam and with an Islamic system of government to boot. Why did you twice put the emphasis solely on Iraq in the opening last night when it contradicted completely what your own interviewee was saying? Is it because you鈥檝e spent so much time writing nasty anti-American features for the newspapers and don鈥檛 want to be made to look stupid because of your own specious arguments?

Why didn鈥檛 your reporter who went to 鈥榠nterview鈥� a Taliban 鈥榩ress officer鈥� in the Afganistan desert a while ago put it to him that jihad is about wiping out all other religious faiths and political systems and replacing them all with an Islamic theocracy? Having flown all the way out to Afghanistan, the reporter could have asked how much his motivation was to do with teachings like: 鈥淢ake war on the unbelievers and on the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate.鈥� Or would that quotation from The Koran be considered too racist for the 主播大秀 to air? I certainly don鈥檛 recall any Newsnight reporter raising it as a motivator behind Islamist terrorism.

George Orwell prize! What a joke you are.

Dear Gavin

When discussing the various machinations of the proposed National Security Agency with Diplomatic Editor Mark Urban, was there not a tiny, clandestine part of you thinking, 'why oh why do you persist with dying your hair?' Be honest now...

Shiraz Maher was on another news channel Tuesday morning and for some curiously suspicious reason failed to mention the suspect was a 'close' friend of his.
On the interview he said the Iraq war was no more than one of many possible triggers. On Newsnight he said something totally different: that the events in Iraq predominately affected and shaped the suspect's thinking.
I have seen Maher and Shiv Malik on our screens before and I do not find what they say consistent or remotely credible.
His comments on Newsnight can seriously prejudice any potential legal proceedings.
Maher, along with Ed Husain and Hassan Butt keep popping up on our screens but sound incredibly scripted; spookily as if they are reading from the same document when they speak. On whose behalf are these people speaking?

#35 George Hambleton

Well said! I鈥檒l second that. Newsnight does some excellent work and Paxo in a state of high dudgeon is a joy. However expecting Newnight鈥檚 take on Islamic radicalism to evolve is like expecting the message in a stick of seaside rock to change with each bite. Can you imagine Gavin Esler interviewing Osama Bin Laden:

Esler: What do you want from the West Mr. Bin Laden?
OBL: I want to destroy the West.
Esler: Is it because of Iraq?
OBL: It is because you are decadent and degenerate.
Esler: Is it because the West supports Israel?
OBL: Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.
Esler: Is poverty and injustice a major issue?
OBL: Poverty and injustice are concerns for you who love life, we love death.
Esler: You must be a bit miffed about Iraq, Israel and poverty and injustice鈥�
OBL: Shut up鈥�

Re: #27 'you can blame the sisters for that unfortunate result'

Steady on there! All the women I know supported Hilary Benn (MP and Honorary Femme). Moreover many of them might offer to serve you up testicles on toast if you accused them of having voted for Her Harmness. I think there are many people of both chromosome arrangements who regard this as 'unfortunate'.

NEVER LOOSE YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR

It was reported today that an Islamic terrorist crashed their car into Ely reservoir. Police have released a statement saying they are concerned this could be that the start of RamaDam

鈥�. does this fly?

vikingar

Viewer #37 (and others)

Yes. It's all getting a bit too 'Team America'.