And I am very grateful to Guido Fawkes and his cartoonist for publishing it and Daniel Wickham for drawing up the original list:
And am I alone in noticing the absence of the greatest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize - ever! - was absent from yesterday's gathering of the Great and the Good the Grim and the Ghastly? Not only did St. Obama fail to show in Paris but he couldn't even be bothered to leave the warmth of the White House to join in the rallies in Washington or New York. Well, I expect he had a very important round of golf to play! Pity because given the latest news that an American bombing raid in Syria may have killed fifty civilians by mistake he would have fitted in a treat with all the others at the Paris gathering.
In fact absolutely no senior American administration official attended the Paris 'walk-about' despite the fact that the (in)Justice Secretary, Eric Holder, was actually in Paris yesterday. Perhaps he didn't bother because no blacks had been slaughtered!
What exactly happened in Paris? A small French left wing satirical magazine used its freedom to publish to poke sticks in all and sundry. Along came idiots who believe in Mohammed and murdered the lot of them. To people like me, slightly to the right of Attila the Hun, there is a lot of pleasure in watching the people responsible for all this crap wriggling and jiggling to try and avoid taking the blame.
In my final job, I was in the position of reading many secret documents of state. The one over-riding impression I gained, was how much stupidity there was in the world!
Posted by: backofanenvelope | Monday, 12 January 2015 at 08:59
And of course, BOE, this grand 'unity' march did not include the Fronte Nationale and its leader, Marine le Pen, because they were not invited. Some 25% of the French population voted for them last time round. My guess is that their vote will rocket up at the next French election.
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 12 January 2015 at 09:17
Obama tends to show up where he is the center of attention. I wonder if this mass demonstration will change any minds of various European leadership? It won't change any Islamist minds.
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 12 January 2015 at 13:34
No Whitewall, the march won't change a thing. It was probably organised by the Guild of Parisian Florists anyway.
I would also point out that the marchers were not French - they were Parisian. The French live outside Paris. They don't like each other. I have friends in Brittany who spit when they see a Parisian car plate. They probably dislike the Boche more; but there isn't much in it.
It would be nice to think things will change - but they won't - not yet.
Posted by: backofanenvelope | Monday, 12 January 2015 at 17:24
BOE...I had no idea of the divide in French society. So darned hard to get a good read on things from over here. Sometimes I assume my terms and labels transfer "over there" but they frequently don't. I have been reading some on the North African workers who were invited to France after WW2 to help rebuild. Very informative.
I fear your "no change" maybe right. I am reading about attitudes currently in Sweden and Czech Republic.
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 12 January 2015 at 18:40
If you want to see the largest divide the world -- take a look at the atangledweb blog. There you will see Mr Duff's friend Dave and his mates having their own demo - well away from the hoi poloi. Our media was complicite in this deception.
Posted by: Backofanevelope | Tuesday, 13 January 2015 at 09:22
Thanks for that, BOE, and for ease of purpose this is the link:
http://www.atangledweb.org/?p=55283#more-55283
But, BOE, do try to stop yourself from describing 'Dim Dave', as I have been calling him for years, as 'my friend'. I may have to take action under the Trade Descriptions Act!
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 13 January 2015 at 09:36
As you advise us all to vote for him next May, you can hardly be his enemy! However, it's your blog, so I'll give it a rest. According to the BBC only the Guardian is printing the latest cartoon. The Telegraph just prints the top two lines, omitting the alleged prophet.
Posted by: backofanenvelope | Tuesday, 13 January 2015 at 09:57
Is it OK if I say alleged prophet?
Posted by: backofanenvelope | Tuesday, 13 January 2015 at 09:57
I am neither his "enemy" nor his "friend", BOE. He, and by and large his party, are the best of a not hugely impressive choice.
I am also happy - well that's not quite the right word! - to admit that I fully expect him to rat us out when it comes to Europe - *if he can*. You 'Kippers' might have more or less the right attitude to Europe but on everything else you are hopeless, helpless and hapless and the civil service would make mincemeat of you!
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 13 January 2015 at 10:14
Just as you are not Dim Dave's mate (see AussieD), I am not a "kipper'. In my opinion they are just a club to beat the other lots till they come to their collective senses. Personally, I think they are on the right track as to immigration, grammar schools and many other things. In fact, I remember seeing a list of their top ten policies and thinking to myself that Mrs Thatcher could have written them!
Posted by: backofanenvelope | Tuesday, 13 January 2015 at 10:42
Or David Duff!!!!
Posted by: backofanenvelope | Tuesday, 13 January 2015 at 10:42
Gents, that tangled web link is enlightening. The only pictures I saw were ground level ones that made it seem like the bulging masses were right behind. A complicit news media is no help in the fight ahead. Hell fire, we can't trust our leaders OR the "news" media? It's more dangerous than I suspected. In a vacuum of feckless leadership, others will get sick of waiting. Trouble can follow. Let's hope the trouble doesn't eclipse the trouble we already have.
Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Whitewall | Tuesday, 13 January 2015 at 18:16
British intelligence knew from at least 1990 that islamists were the new threat facing the West. The islamists had been recruiting and spreading hatred in Britain since arriving en mass in the fifties and sixties. It is what they do. The Pakistanis could not live with and tolerate their Indian fellow countrymen so expect what is inevitable.
Posted by: jimmy glesga | Wednesday, 14 January 2015 at 01:40
David journalists are not the point here as they are only anotber trade that has has been slaughtered by islamists. Journalists are not exposing numbers of islamists that are being tracked by our intelligence services. It was apparently around 300 now maybe over a thousand. Time for the truth! I am convinced the British Government are doing the D Notice.
Posted by: jimmy glesga | Wednesday, 14 January 2015 at 02:46
Calm down, Jimmy, dear! There were, I think three or four different arrests prior to Christmas which indicates to me that that our security services are doing quite well. But of coure sometimes the baddies will get through - that's life, or to be precise, that's death!
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 14 January 2015 at 10:43
It would be nice to think things will change - but they won't - not yet.
Indeed.
Posted by: Tim Newman | Wednesday, 14 January 2015 at 15:09
As I am an optimist I don't think we have reached the end of our road yet. There are a number of simple administrative steps our government could take. Last year the Egyptian government told that country's 40,000 mosques to re-apply for their licences. I didn't know they had to have them, but who could complain if we copied that God-fearing country? Of course we would also have to licence all other places of worship and we'd need an organisation to do that. We could call it the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
Then there is the money angle. We have a law that makes it illegal for foreign nationals or organisations to fund domestic political activity. Just clone that law and prevent foreign funding for religious purposes. Not only would it stop Arabs funding Bangladeshi mosques, it would also get the Vatican and various American churches out of our hair.
I expect I have exhausted Mr Duff's patience by now - back to Call of Duty. (Did you know that that is where Hebdo murderers got their military training from?)
Posted by: backofanenvelope | Wednesday, 14 January 2015 at 16:33