Agenda 2019

 A set of guidelines applied as a  "catch all" blanket to suppress comment. It seems that I have upset some "moderators" on the Guardian. Now, whenever I choose to put a comment into the "comments" section against any story, I am met by the phrase "Your comments are currently being pre-moderated (why?)", then when going to the explanations, the Guardian says "....in isolated situations, a particular user may be identified as a risk, based on a pattern of behaviour (e.g. spam, trolling, repeated/frequent borderline abuse), so a temporary filter can be applied....". I have no recollection of offending these "rules" imposed by the faceless moderators of this newspaper, and apart from being critical of the government and certain elements within the Parliamentary Labour Party and of course actively supporting Jeremy Corbyn both in his leadership campaign and now as leader, can only assume that the editorial policy of t...

  http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/our-eurovision-entry-has-all-the-charisma-of-soggy-lettuce-10094583.html?origin=internalSearch Our Eurovision entry has 'all the charisma of soggy lettuce' Electro Velvet It seems that my comment to this story from the Independent, has offended some faceless "moderator" at the Independent, as the text has been deleted! You may see for yourself (if you are reading this on Facebook, New Agenda (Blog) or Twitter), that it it not "off topic" nor is it anti semetic, sexist, ageist, racist, or any of the other "taboo" remarks that some "moderators" seem to find so offensive. What ever happened to the concept of "Free Speech" you may wonder. There is no logic or consistency to the moderation policy application between any of the on line publications and more importantly as applied by different moderators on the individual publications. Perhaps we ma...

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.617951#  Israel’s criticism of Abbas’ speech is the rhetoric of despair Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses UN General Assembly   One Israeli newspaper at least is prepared to think the unthinkable and speak the unspeakable truth, that  Israel and the Israeli leadership are wrong. "The government is now grasping at Abbas’ statements as if it were grasping at a life raft. But leaning on Abbas’ speech reflects nothing but fear and weak leadership. Israel has neither an answer nor a strategy for the diplomatic elements in Abbas’ address." Haaretz: Sunday, September 28, 2014 Tishrei 4, 5775 The longer that Israel resists the inevitable establishment of a Palestinian State, based on the 1967 borders, then the more they will become isolated and marginalised around the world.

  http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/clone.of.life-returns-gaza-as-truce-holds-20148271.html   Life returns to Gaza as truce holds but Netanyahu faces criticism in Israel over the offensive.   Palestinians celebrate the beginning of the truce in Gaza City After 50 days of intense bombardment by Israeli military forces and fierce resistance from the Palestinian factions within Gaza, the ceasefire brokered by the Egyptians came into effect at 17:00 yesterday (26th August). Not withstanding what Mark Regev, the Israeli mouthpiece for Benjamin Netanyahu, may say to try to convince you otherwise, the ceasefire terms agreed to in Cairo are not the same as those that were "on the table", 3 weeks ago. By now of course, we are only too well aware of how Mark Regev, Peter Lerner,  Ron Prosor and other Israeli spokespersons are, without even batting an eyelid, able to turn fantasy and wishful thinking into their presentation of "fact and truth"....

When the "News" is neither accurate or comprehensive.   At 10pm last night, we had stories covering Nouri al-Maliki, Ferguson Missouri, mount Sinjar, Robin Williams, GCE A levels, Sir Cliff Richard, David Cameron and arming the Kurds, Russia and the Ukraine, Syria, European athletics, Ebola, Eurozone, Tony Pulis (I did not know who he is either. It seems that he is/was the manager of Crystal Palace), and a number of other, in some cases even less significant stories than those listed, purporting to be "The News". BBC Television News channel, Sky News, The News from ITN and even Aljazeera, all carrying stories and reports of events at home and from around the world. However, what was conspicuous by its absence on all news channels, certainly the ones which I saw at least, was any report on the current situation in Gaza. Not a mention or even a word. It was as if Gaza had completely ceased to exist and had disappeared into the sea. Aljazeera did not mak...

 The government propaganda officers (P O's) are even targeting "readers comments". It is incredible although not surprising, the way comment from readers is being restricted in the national press, in respect of the current conflict in Gaza. All too frequently, the news paper publishes a story but provides no facility for the reader to offer any comment. Where such a facility is provided, it is clear that the "Comments for this story are now closed" has been applied soon after publication of the article. It is as if the media are acting under instructions to restrict comment or criticism on the matter. Perhaps the government propaganda officers (P O's) who sit permanently on the editorial boards of our newspapers, have something to hide or are trying to prevent the growing tide of criticism being spread to an even wider audience.

  The “Huffington Post censors (or “moderators”, I am never sure which is the correct title), are a strange crowd, where consistency has little if any meaning in the decision to publish or not to publish,. For example, yesterday (Sunday 15th December 2013) a story appeared in the press, including the Huffington Post, concerning a rather nasty little man, who currently is Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon. The story appeared under the headline of “Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi Calls For 'Two Child Limit' On Benefits”. Having written about Mr Zahawi on previous occasions, particularly about his unsavoury MP's expenses claims for heating costs and other business activities, I put together another posting under the heading of, “Nadhim Zahawi: Competing to be the nastiest of the nasties.” for publication on this blog and in the comments sections of other publications. In the Huffington Post, comments are restricted in terms of the number of words allowable...

  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/29/david-cameron_n_2211388.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics  Cameron and  Clegg Split Over Legal Underpinning Of Press Regulation Lord Justice Leveson unveils his report   Cameron's "statement" in the House of commons yesterday (29th November 2012) in response to the Leveson report, was pathetic as were his "answers" to subsequent questions. It was not only Milliband who was shaking his head in stunned disbelief. The cracks and splits in the coalition were abundantly clear as soon as the deputy prime Minister began to speak in his own unprecedented response to the report. Clegg's statement was diametrically opposite to that of the prime Minister in the fundamental area of legal under pinning of press regulation. Another area where the Conservatives and the Liberal democrats are uneasy bedfellows. It is not surprising that Clegg and his LibDems are crumbling away from this disastrous rag bag coali...

  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/25/tony-blair-the-uk-cant-af_n_2188328.html?ir=UK+Politics#postComment Tony Blair will warn this week that Britain's future prosperity relies on the country remaining a committed member of a strong European Union. Huffington Post Tony Blair  Why the Huffington Post should choose to delete or otherwise not publish my comment to this article, is a mystery known only to the back room, anonymous editors and censors of the Huff Post. In comparison to some of the other remarks on this page, mine is no worse than others in its criticism of Blair, and reflects, in my view, "fair comment on a matter of public interest". The reader is invited to make their own judgement at: http://new-agenda2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/blairs-personal-agenda-remais-as-it.html (Also available on Facebook, Twitter and New Agenda)