Peace, Love and Not Much Understanding

It would be easy to think that even the evil Daily Mail would take a rest from printing bigoted tripe over the season of goodwill. Alas, the Mail continued apace with articles knocking foreigners, asylum seekers (in France but obviously heading here), the Government and the weather (which is the Government's responsibility).

The Christmas message by Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster Cathedral produced the usual plea for compassion towards the less fortunate.

A theme which is much in the news in Britain at the moment is the question of the many immigrant peoples who come to our country. Most immigrants come to our country because they wish to have a better life and work so as to provide for their families.

"What concerns me at the moment is our attitude as a nation to these many immigrants. Many of these people are trying, for perfectly good reasons, to enter Britain and they need to be welcomed.

"I understand that immigration needs to be controlled. However, sometimes they must feel like Joseph when he returned to Bethlehem after exile in Egypt, simply excluded because they are outsiders."

Surely, even the barking mad Mail commenters would concur with this at this time of the year; we are, after all -according to Mail Reader Lore - a Christian country.

Here are the comments:

Being Irish himself, he would say that wouldn't he?
- Roger, Brighton

Not sure what point Rog is making but others make the same hint. Oh, he's Irish. Therefore he's an immigrant so he must feel empathy. What a bad man! It gets worse of course:

Take them to Ireland then!
- Maureen Thomas, Bristol

Maureen I think we should take you across the Irish Sea and drop you off half way

Is he so short sighted to see that we are already drowning under a massive tide of immigration?
- Malc, England

Malc is not so much short sighted as short changed in the brain cell department. Note the use of the kind of hyperbole favoured by the BNP etc.

Jobs, housing, health care, education, cash outlays... More welcoming? Cartier watches and Bentleys?

- R M, London, UK

The sad thing is that these myths of free handouts at the expense of the indigenous population are repeated until they become seen as fact.

There are 65 comments; only about 3 are vaguely favourable to this traditional Christian tenet of looking after the less fortunate, of all being brothers and of being a good samaritan. The irony and hypocrisy is that the same mouth-frothing bigots demand that outsiders stick to our so-called Christian religion and bemoan that Christmas is being banned (without giving examples - see 5CC and Obsolete for demolitions of this fallacy). This is what Peter from Lincolnshire thinks ( I give him the benefit of the doubt as to his ability with thought processes as it's Christmas/Winterval)

Not a thought for the rest of us? He could talk himself out of a job if Christianity becomes a minority fringe religion and then subsequently persecuted.

- Peter, Lincs

Peter would like to see the return of the Crusades maybe? Anyway, the rest are just as depressing so I will leave it to a beacon in the darkness of Planet Mail (from this area too!)to set the record straight

Sad, here we are at Christmas but so many bigotted responses to this priests simple request for a little kindess to be shared with our fellow man. Don't any of you realise that if it weren't for immigrants settling in this country, down the centuries, that very few of us, me included, would be living in this wonderful country of ours. Some of the views expressed here make me ashamed to say I am British sometimes.

- Alonso, Wirral

THANK YOU ALONSO

Steven Gerrard Theft - Liz Hull Knows

The Mail can be relied upon for headlines that do not have much in common with the actual story. Today, they pick on the story that Liverpool FC captain Steven Gerrard had his house burgled whilst his wife, Alex Curran, who happens to write newspaper columns for rivals was present.

The headline is risible. Houses of this kind do not get burgled as a spontaneous act as suggested by the article. The raiders would not have decided, hours after hearing she had bought an expensive watch for him, to stage an operation of this nature. In addition, it is hardly a state secret that leading footballers have wealth on display. He ain't gonna be living in a bedsit with a black and white TV for company.

The implication is that by talking about your wealth you invite bad fortune. This sits uneasily with The Mail's zero tolerance of crime (apart from tax avoidance (aka creative accountancy) or motoring offences (aka stealth taxes).

The piece itself is penned by Liz Hull - a veteran of such classics as 'Signs warn anglers to stop eating all the carp' (which should have read V signs warn Liz to stop writing crap')

Cracovia Krakow 0 Legia Warsaw 2

Daily Mail and Nazism: Between The Lines

The Mail's dalliance with Nazism is well documented. I watched the film, The Remains of the Day recently and this reminded me of this. I make no apologies for referring to this fact as it is as important today as it was then.

I am concerned about the latest Nazi story in the Mail about a Paul Hafner. The veracity of the story is not the point here. At the time of posting NO comments had been made about the story. I sent one contrasting the fact that there had been many comments about Irving's visit to Oxford as the (I'm not racist but) hordes defended so-called free speech. Sometimes, a conspiracy of silence speaks louder than words as the late Dr Winston O' Boogie said.

My Auschwitz photos will appear soon but I am not prepared to put them up until a fitting explanation has been written. There are better photos out there; more poignant images and above all authorized. indoor photos (with a few exceptions) are not permitted and out of respect I bowed to this request. I am currently reading the BBC publication, 'Auschwitz' by Laurence Rees and I would recommend to this everyone.

Poland 2007 Part 1

Good webcam of the main square at Krakow here.

The Fish Returns

Decided to take a break from spouting crap, which turned into a prolonged absence due to holidays and work commitments (as if anyone noticed!)

So, hopefully I'll be updating regularly again: polluting the cybersphere with rant and more rant.

In lieu of anything substantial, I'd like to mention the brave attempt by Ricky Hatton to defeat the clearly better Floyd Mayweather. I watched this last night and amazingly managed to keep awake even though it did not start until around 5am. I did manage a few hours sleep. Given that I had little sleep in Poland last week, my body clock is shot to pieces. He\was clearly outclassed, but amid all the bravado to sell the show, he remains a down-to-earth guy. He is of course noted for going down his local pub without a big entourage. For this reason I am torn betwen voting for him, Joe Calzaghe or Lewis Hamilton for tonight's BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Given last year's winner was Princess Anne's daughter Zara, things can only get better. At least they have a personality.

Lewis has upset me by joining the Mansells, Coulthards and Buttons by seeking tax exile as soon as they make a few pounds. To state - as he did at first - that he was seeking solitude is utter crap. Still, he was great to watch and has rejuvenated F1. He had the opportunity to win but blew it.

A good victory for Tranmere at the weekend. We needed that after slipping alarmingly down the table.

I shall be chronicling my trip to Poland soon. In the meantime I'll upload some photos. the quality is not so good due to problems with the camera battery and the weather (insert, 'bad workman blames his own tools' jibe here)