The BBC’s Treatment Of Sir Cliff Richard Must Have Severe Consequences For The Individuals Responsible.
Fran Unsworth, BBC Director of News and Current Affairs
Dan Johnson, BBC Reporter
There simply is no other option, Fran Unsworth and Dan Johnson must be sacked.
I could have been persuaded to let them resign but not since they have both supported the idea of an appeal, compounding the abuse of Sir Cliff.
This has been in inexcusable episode which has brought shame on the BBC. It would have disgraced the News of the World if it was still with us but for this editorial decision to have been forced, repeatedly, and defended by the BBC at huge cost, really is a national scandal.
Sack them both now and apologise unreservedly. Anything less and the BBC will forever be diminished beyond any possibility of redemption – and think what that means to all the sincere, honourable, decent people who have worked there.
The brazen attempts to justify this abuse have damaged the BBC even further. The public is sick of media abuse and of weak governments that repeatedly fail to stand up to powerful organisations. The second part of the Leveson Inquiry was supposed to investigate collusion between the media and the police. Only a few weeks ago, the then Culture Secretary, Matt Hancock MP, cancelled it. There can be no doubt that this was designed only to appease the press barons in the interests of the Conservative Party. Just days later, Murdoch’s takeover of Sky was approved as well. As in so many other instances, this government and its ministers are demonstrated to be corrupt and shameless with it.
If the BBC wants to be regarded in the same category as Murdoch, Dacre and the Barclay Brothers, by all means keep Unswortth and Johnson on staff. The British public will never forgive you.
Definition of Antisemitism
I fully support the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism:
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
However, I do not support and I strongly oppose the examples given by the IHRA which are nothing to do with Jews or Judaism but are about support of the war criminal state of Israel. Specifically:
“Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
This is nothing to do with antisemitism, Jews or Judaism. It is, sadly, an entirely appropriate, justified and accurate comparison of the conduct of the Israeli state with the conduct of the Nazis. It is particularly ironic and cruel that the state established as the homeland for Jewish people, who suffered such dreadful persecution, should conduct itself in such similar fashion.
The Conservative Party Is Destroying Britain. It Must Be Stopped. #AndImATory
Theresa May is in charge and her party is causing immense, possibly irrepairable damage to Britain. She must be called to account and her party must be stopped. This is a grave national emergency which in some countries would provoke a military coup. Who can say that in the interests of our nation this is not justified? I’d trust one of our senior military officers to act more responsibly than any member of the cabinet, any day.
Sadly, I cannot see a heavily armed band of brothers seizing Downing Street and carting Mrs May off to HMP Belmarsh but something close to such drama is urgently needed. If there is anyone left in the Conservative Party who puts the national interest before their own, they need to step forward. I can see no way ahead except a general election.
That may cause an inevitable crashing out of the EU. Article 50 has been activated and we are on a predetermined timetable. If we haven’t done a deal by the next March we will exit with all future trade on WTO terms. My view is that would be a very good thing. It woud deliver what we voted for in the referendum and we would be forced to make it work.
All the bleating, hand-wringing from the treasonous Remainers would be hot air, dispersing into nothingness that it was all along. I wish that the vile, whining cabal of Chuka Ummuna, Anna Soubry, Ken Clarke, Chris Leslie and others would resign. They have campaigned relentlessly against the people’s decision, they have sabotaged our nation and they are no longer fit to be in Parliament.
But no one bears more responsibility than Theresa May. The Brexit supporting MPs are rightly insisting that Brexit must be implemented and she has deceived, cheated, procrastinated, double-crossed and betrayed. No consequence can be serious enough for her but I will be content provided she is removed from office and public life for ever.
Two Years Of Conservatives Procrastinating Over The EU At Britain’s Expense. How Much Has That Cost?
Ten billion? A hundred billion? I have no idea but I’m sure there’s some overpaid civil servant in the Treasury who can work it out. What we should then do is send an invoice to the Conservative Party. It has dithered and argued amongst itself, destroyed the huge opportunity that Brexit offered and seriously damaged the economy and our society, all for its own self-indulgence.
The government should issue the invoice, perhaps with a covering note pointing out that it and the party are two entirely separate legal entities. The government acts on behalf of the people of Britain and does not fund the Conservative Party except as laid down in statute, as is available to all parties.
If the Conservative Party isn’t prepared to pay the invoice, then the Treasury Solicitor should be instructed to issue a claim. I’m sure leading counsel, at our considerable (but relatively insignificant) expense, can find a way to make the claim stick. If it’s not settled then the Court will reach the appropriate judgment and we can then commence insolvency proceedings against the Conservative Party. That will sort out a large part of the country’s problems at a stroke.
Whatever happens in the next few years and however we get there, we will almost certainly have to endure a few years of a Labour government and faux socialism. It won’t last long and in the meantime British politics, particularly of the right, will have to rebuild itself afresh
What really matters and however we do it, we must bring down the Conservative Party, punish it severely and ensure it can never inflict its internal problems on the country again. There is no higher priority #AndImATory.
WARNING. CBD Flowers, Buds, Weed, Hash Are NOT Legal In The UK.
This is an extremely serious warning which people need to take seriously. Both CLEAR and the Cannabis Trades Association have independently dealt with several people who are being prosecuted for possession. The law treats these products exactly the same as any other cannabis. It makes no difference what the THC level is, it is a class B drug and the penalty for possession is up to five years in jail and an unlimited fine.
The confusion arises because of the misunderstood idea that the legal limit for THC is a maximum of 0.2%. This is the limit for a low THC cultivation licence for what is defined as industrial hemp – but you still need a licence! Without the licence the law regards industrial hemp exactly the same as the highest THC cannabis that the tabloids would describe as ‘super strength skunk’.
Products ‘derived from’ industrial hemp such as CBD oil or hemp teas can be ‘exempt products’ but there is yet more confusion here. The THC limit in these products is not 0.2% because, self-evidently, when you extract oil from a low THC cannabis plant you concentrate the THC. The limit in these products is 1mg of THC per container. It doesn’t matter how large or small the container is, the limit is 1mg. That limit also applies to the other ‘controlled drug’ found in such products, cannabinol (CBN). ‘Exempt products’ must not contain more than 1mg of THC and/or 1mg of CBN in any single container. The law that defines this is the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. 2.(1)(c).
There are a number of websites offering these products for sale and, notoriously, one particular shop in Portobello Road. Whilst these sellers may well misunderstand the law, ignorance is no defence. It is almost inevitable that sooner or later one or more of these sellers will be prosecuted and go to jail.
An email seeking confirmation of the position from the Home Office was replied to as follows:
“Thank you for your email.
I can confirm that the leaves and flowers of the genus Cannabis are controlled and defined as cannabis as outlined in Section 37(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
“cannabis” (except in the expression “cannabis resin”) means any plant of the genus cannabis or any part of any such plant (by whatever name designated) except that it does not include cannabis resin or any of the following products after separation from the rest of the plant, namely—
(a)mature stalk of any such plant,
(b)fibre produced from mature stalk of any such plant, and
(c)seed of any such plant;”.
Once the separation of the stalk and seeds from the plant has occurred it will not be defined as cannabis. This also extends to the fibre produced from the stalk.
Regards
Jill Frankham
Senior Compliance Officer
Drugs & Firearms Licensing Unit”
Theresa May And The Conservative Government Are Both Treasonable And Corrupt.
We have a government which is pursuing policy not in the interests of the nation but solely in the interests of the Conservative Party. This is corruption. It is no better than taking bribes. It is grubby, dishonest, self-serving and directly contradicts the purpose of our democracy and the basis upon which MPs hold office.
We have a government that by a vote in Parliament was ordered to determine our future membership of the EU by a referendum. The result was that we should leave. Now, through corrupt self-interest the leader of the Conservative Party, at enormous cost to the nation, has used her position as PM to subvert the result of the referendum. This is treasonable.
Democracy has been entirely extinguished in the UK. Your vote means nothing. We are ruled by diktat from a corrupt, self-serving elite. There is no longer any law, only the pursuit of self-interest and the forcible repression of dissent.
It is time for a revolution. The nation should take up arms and rise in justifiable revolt against the criminals in government.
An ‘Expert Panel’ On Medicinal Cannabis Without A Single Expert On It?
Dr Michael McBride, Chair of the Cannabis-based Medicines Expert Panel
To be fair, the members of the expert panel are hardly a surprise. It’s the medical establishment writ large. The chairman, Dr John McBride, was, according to Charlotte Caldwell, “instrumental” in stopping Billy’s medicine being prescribed, despite the original prescription coming from a consultant neurologist specialising in paediatric epilepsy.
A government which has denied any medicinal value in cannabis for nearly 50 years needs ‘cover’ for its long overdue U-turn. Surely though, there needs to be at least one member of the panel who has some expertise in the subject? It’s doubtful that any of the members have ever seen a vaporiser or could tell the difference between weed, hash and a concentrate. They’d probably just call them all ‘skunk’.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer
The intention is probably to turn ‘medicinal cannabis’ into a pill or a bottle of medicine, a nice square peg that these bureaucrats can slot into their square hole. Such servants of the status quo are incapable of considering that modern medicine might have anything to learn from traditional, plant-based medicine that has been used successfully for millennia, instead of barely a century of the simplistic, reductionist theory that they represent. Of course it shouldn’t be a matter of either/or, we should use the best of both theories because both have much to offer to the health of the nation.
It’s instructive that Professor Dame Sally Davies managed to find “overwhelming” evidence of the medicinal value of cannabis in about 24 hours flat. The evidence has been wilfuly ignored by every government and the self-serving individuals who have held the role of Home Secretary since 1971.
It’s astonishing though that in her review, delivered at lightning speed, she’s come up with this pejorative term “grown cannabis” yet seems enthusiastic about synthetic cannabinoids on which there is precious little clinical research and strong evidence of severe, even life-threatening side effects, totally different from the natural product.
Dame Sally writes: “Cannabis has many active chemicals and only cannabis or derivatives produced for medical use can be assumed to have the correct concentrations and ratios. Using other forms, such as grown or street cannabis, as medicine for therapeutic benefit is potentially dangerous.”
Where else does cannabis come from if it isn’t ‘grown’? It has to be synthesised in a lab. Why on earth would Dame Sally want to go down that route when no other jurisdiction enabling legal access to medicinal cannabis has done so? Bedrocan products are grown specifically for medical use and standardisation of “correct concentrations and ratios” is exactly what the company is focused on.
This is a clash between two different approaches to medicine which, as I say should be regarded as complementary, not contradictory but we cannot possibly move forward if the only ‘experts’ have no expertise!
To be fair, this is all unfolding at breakneck speed. Imagine Theresa May hovering in the wings, the hard line prohibitionist eager for any opportunity to kick this back into touch. As it stands, the expert panel will fail, it’s bound to. We have to give Dame Sally a chance to adjust to the new reality. With the assistance of Professor Mike Barnes, CLEAR will be keeping a close watch on progress and we will keep Dame Sally apprised. We have already written to her twice this week setting out our concerns and we will do so on a regular basis.
