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‘No silencing’ Katie Hopkins despite 57,000 signatures to swap her for refugees

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls
Cockroaches, February 2014 by USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

Rent-a-gob Katie Hopkins said there would be “no silencing” her in the wake of a petition to swap her for some of the 50,000 refugees she sweepingly termed “cockroaches” in a column for the Sun earlier in April.

The “television personality” took to Twitter to criticise the response to the images of dead Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi last week, arguing that Britain was not thinking with its head over pressure to take in more migrants from the strife-ridden regions of North Africa and the Middle East.

Some 57,000 have signed the Change.org petition to swap Hopkins for the migrants only five days after it was created by the freelance journalist Ben Fletcher.

Writing in an update on Monday, he said:

“Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but I am sure that we can all agree that Hopkins should probably see someone about hers – perhaps a doctor. [We have] 56,000 [signatures] and counting. It is going well, but 44,000 are still required for the most amusing news headline of the year to take place: PARLIAMENT CONSIDER DEBATING SWAPPING KATIE HOPKINS FOR 50,000 REFUGEES.”

If a petition on the Parliament.UK website reaches 100,000 signatures the House of Commons is obliged to consider it for debate in Parliament. However this obligation seemingly does not apply to petitions on other websites.

After Hopkins published the piece she was questioned by police over incitement of racial hatred allegations, though no charges appear to have been brought since.

Even the United Nations heaped criticism on the media slut in the wake of the piece, with the human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein comparing the language she used to that used by the Nazis, thus violating Godwin’s Law and instantly losing the argument.

Though Hopkins rowed back somewhat on her comments, she stood by the essence of the message, which according to her “isn’t about the idea that we want to see migrants and people suffering, it’s an idea that we need to find solutions to problems.”

Right.

Image Credit – Cockroaches, February 2014 by USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

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Even Left Foot Forward readers oppose Britain taking more refugees

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls
Refugees on Hungarian M1 highway in September 2015, by photog_at

Despite last week’s furore over pictures of Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian toddler whose body washed up onto the coast of Turkey, hostility to refugee migration still appears to be high even among lefties.

A survey from Left Foot Forward, a left-leaning blog founded by Will Straw, former parliamentary candidate and son of the former foreign secretary Jack, showed that a mere third of the site’s voting readership wanted to take in more refugees, with double that saying otherwise.

Admittedly it is a mere survey of 441, and the bluntness of the question may not reflect the diversity of opinion, as the site’s staff writer Ruby Stockham explained:

“The refugee crisis is a complex issue and it is difficult to properly gauge opinion with a yes/no question. There are many factors to consider: for example, does sending a message of acceptance encourage more people to make deadly sea crossings into Europe? How many of those who said ‘no’ are happy with the status quo, and how many would like to take less? Are there conditions attached to the ‘yes’ answers?”

Yet even with these caveats, the survey provides more evidence that public opinion is not quite as knee-jerk as some Fleet Street watchers would have you believe.

Data from the pollster YouGov earlier this week showed that half of the British public does not want to increase the current rate of refugee intake, with only a few surveyed saying the picture of Kurdi had influenced their views.

Despite the publication of these polls prime minister David Cameron still plans to resettle 20,000 refugees over the course of the current parliament, which is scheduled to end in 2020.

Full details of the Left Foot Forward poll can be found on the website.

Image Credit – Refugees on Hungarian M1 highway in September 2015, by photog_at

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Tory awkward squad revolt on EU referendum purdah pre-empts rocky parliament for Cameron

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls
David Cameron, London Summit on Family Planning in July 2012, by DFID

David Cameron faced a setback on Monday as members of the so-called “awkward squad” teamed up with Labour to defeat the prime minister for the first time this parliament, in what could well be a sign of things to come.

Bill Cash, Peter Bone and Steve Baker were among 37 Tory MPs who rebelled against a motion to abandon “purdah” rules during the upcoming EU referendum in 2016-17, which blocks government from unduly influencing state polls.

As well as preventing Whitehall departments from making major announcements in the 28 days prior to a vote, it also stops governing bodies from publishing promotional material that could swing a campaign one way or another.

Cameron’s defeat highlights the slenderness of his majority in the Commons, the Conservatives having a mere 7 MPs more than the 323 required to form a majority government once the absence of Sinn Fein and the neutrality of the speaker are taken into account.

It also comes shortly after the government accepted advice from the Electoral Commission that Cameron’s preferred wording of the EU referendum question could unfairly influence the result towards staying within the confederation of European states.

The pair of victories for the eurosceptics within the Conservative party also recalls the trials of the former Tory prime minister John Major, whose exasperation with his own awkward squad led him to label three cabinet ministers “bastards” within hearing of a video camera back in 1993.

Cameron is due to face more pressure from the likes of Cash, Bone and Baker over whether cabinet ministers are allowed to campaign to quit the EU, with luminaries such as London mayor Boris Johnson, justice secretary Michael Gove and foreign secretary Philip Hammond among those reported to be considering it.

Hilary Benn, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, said of the defeat on Monday: “This is a humiliating defeat for David Cameron, with members from all sides of the house supporting Labour’s approach to purdah, which ensures fairness in the conduct of the referendum campaign while permitting normal government business to take place.

“The government should never have rushed through its flawed plans to play fast and loose with the rules on the referendum.”

A full list of the 37 Tories who rebelled can be viewed via the Labour Whips’ Twitter account:

Image Credit – David Cameron, London Summit on Family Planning in July 2012, by DFID

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John Oliver is unimpressed with US education

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls
John Oliver, February 2014 by TechCrunch

Most of us will remember a few schools lessons that we haven’t found much use for since we took them, but the British comedian John Oliver has little good to say about American schools.

And with their penchant for trivialising genocide, lack of focus on the sex lives of US presidents, and minor obsession with the American dream, perhaps he’s right.

Image Credit – John Oliver, February 2014 by TechCrunch

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Free lunches all round as silent Lords and Ladies cost Britain £1.3m

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls
Westminster Bridge, April 2015 by Mick C

A group of peers in the House of Lords claimed £1.3m in the year until March despite failing to make a single speech throughout the entire period, research has revealed.

Some 64 lords and ladies accrued £1,262,670 in expenses in 2014-15, of which 55 voted fewer than five times, accounting for £92,075 between them.

“While peers are unpaid, they are able to claim a £300 a day tax-free allowance for attendance plus expenses for limited travel cost,” said Jess Garland and Chris Terry of the Electoral Reform Society, which compiled the figures.

“Between February 2014 to January 2015, £21m was spent on Lords allowances and expenses, with the average peer receiving £25,826.”

Since the 2014-15 session started 116 of the roughly 780 peers failed to speak, and eight neither spoke nor voted, but still claimed £29,812 in expenses.

Further data from the society showed that 30 peers did not speak throughout the entirety of the 2010-15 parliament, costing the public £772,719.

“In the 2010-2015 parliament, £360,000 was claimed by 62 peers for years in which they did not vote once,” Garland and Terry added. “In the last session of parliament alone, over £100,000 was claimed by peers who did not vote at all.”

The damning figures come as prime minister David Cameron prepares to appoint an extra 45 peers, many of them former politicians from the Tories, Liberal Democrats or Labour.

It also comes after a Sun sting revealed Lord Coke (nee Sewel), snorting coke during an evening with hookers, raising questions about how other peers are spending our money.

A source close to Cameron allegedly told the Guardian that the prime minister was open to the idea of limiting the years a peer could sit, though since he wishes the Conservatives in the Lords to push this through, in effect asking the scroungers to limit their own handouts.

Further information on the Lords can be found in the Electoral Reform Society’s report.

Image Credit – Westminster Bridge, April 2015 by Mick C