Coles backs down over 'racist ' biscuit - The Age 27/10/09

Supermarket giant Coles will change the name of an in-house brand of biscuits amid claims it is racist.

Coles Spokesman Jim Cooper said the name of the "You'll Love Coles" brand of chocolate and vanilla biscuits, called Creole Creams, will be changed as part of the company-wide rebranding of Coles products.

The name change comes on the back of claims of racism, with the word Creole used to describe a person of mixed European and African ancestry.

"The word Creole comes from a period when people's humanity was measured by the amount of white blood they had in their bloodstream. This is the same kind of thought that underpinned horrific regimes like the Nazis," Sam Watson, the deputy director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland, told brisbanetimes.com.au yesterday.

Is the word 'Creole' really that offensive? It clearly does refer to race, or more specifically skin colour, but is it derogatory? Is this evidence of political correctness overstepping the mark? Personally I don't see what the fuss is about and by being pedantic does more harm to race relations than good.

Spotter cards: What they look like and how they work - The Guardian 25/10/09

This kind of highly confidential document – pictured above – is rarely seen by the public.

These so-called "spotter cards" are issued by police to identify individuals they consider to be potential troublemakers because they have appeared at a number of demonstrations.

The photographs are drawn from police intelligence files. This card was apparently dropped at a demonstration against Britain's largest arms fair in 2005.

Golly. Wouldn't want to be the cop that lost this.

Controversy and chaos but BBC is delighted by BNP leader's 'humiliation' - The Times 23/10/09

The BBC said that it was delighted with the outcome of Question Time last night, insisting that the decision to change the format of the show to focus almost entirely upon Nick Griffin had humiliated the British National Party leader.

But the reaction from viewers suggested that the gamble had not been a complete success, with many of the audience writing on internet messageboards that they felt the programme was one-sided and allowed Mr Griffin to claim that he had been victimised.

Four out of the five questions the panel were asked directly related to the BNP, with the fifth focusing on Jan Moir, the Daily Mail columnist, who attracted more than 20,000 complaints for a piece about Stephen Gately, the deceased Boyzone singer.

For crying out loud, what are the BBC playing at? This thing reeks of a political stunt.

I managed to view the whole program and it was pretty much an EPIC FAIL on all counts. It mostly amounted to politicians waffling on deceptively about their own agenda's while beating up on Griffin at every opportunity. The audience was packed to the rafters with anti-BNCers who looked around angrily whenever anyone clapped Griffin.

The only one who actually tried to take Griffin to task on rational grounds was Bonnie Greer, the black woman strategically placed next to Griffin and, ironically,  the only non-politician on the panel.

Griffin presented himself as moderate and patriotic and even came up with a good point on immigration, but was predictably schtum on the BNCs own policies. Interestingly, and rather unconvincingly, he declared that he was no longer a holocaust denier based on some military transmissions he has only just heard about.

In the end, the only ones humiliated are the British public. If this is the quality of debate in Britain, its no wonder the BNC is getting votes.

In passionate exchanges on the BBC's flagship current affairs programme, a black member of the audience accused Griffin of "completely disgusting" behaviour as he was forced to explain why he had met a Ku Klux Klan leader and attacked Islam.

The BNP leader Nick Griffin was repeatedly pilloried and criticised on the BBC's Question Time tonight when he was dubbed the "Dr Strangelove" of British politics after attempting to claim the mantle of Winston Churchill and struggling to explain his denial of the Holocaust.

Hells bells, just let the guy speak. I congratulate the BBC for having the balls to have him on the show. I find most of what he has to say abhorrent but trying to silence him is an affront to free speech. Let him and all the racists speak up and challenge them on their ideas. I'm sure the guy must have at least one good idea.

Of course, beating the crap out of racist scum in a back alley does have its appeal, especially if you're the target of the malice.

From haaretz.com

Israeli and Iranian representatives recently took part in a conference in Cairo on nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) said Thursday, but Tehran said the report on the meeting was untrue.

IAEC Spokeswoman Yael Doron, said, however that "no dialogue or interaction" between the Israeli and Iranian representatives took place at the meeting in Cairo in September. She gave no further details.

Interesting. The hawks on both sides must be screaming that this got out. A nuke free zone in the Mid East sounds like a good idea to me. Now, if we can extend that zone around the globe.

Incidentally this ICNND was set up by Kevin Rudd and the conference chaired by...wait for it...Gareth Evans. Clearly they had an opening for a smug git over there.