Author ArchivesJohn

The International Herald-Tribune today reports that: “…two activists convicted of libel in Britain for criticizing McDonald’s animal rights practices, environmental policies and the nutritional quality of its food did not get a fair trial and should be compensated by the British government, a European human rights court said Tuesday.” Here ...

People love freedom. Its a natural response of the human spirit to appreciate independence and autonomous rationality. They love it. Although sometimes they voluntarily curtail their own freedom for some idea of a greater good (such as religion), they love the fact that it is theirs to begin with. So ...

Geoff Huish, 26, was so convinced England would win Saturday’s rugby match he told fellow drinkers at a social club, “If Wales win I’ll cut my balls off,” the Daily Mirror reported on Tuesday. Friends at the club in Caerphilly, south Wales, thought he was joking. But after the game, ...

These bumbling, blubbering baffoons. Mercedes has, in a concession this past week, offered to make some of their premium range cars WITHOUT the standard leather seats…… WHY? Because, following protests by the German chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA researcher Edmund Haferbeck says, “When you consider ...

On March 1st last year, I wrote in this blog a post entitled, “Sex and the USA” (available in archives). In it, I expressed my anger with those in power in America for its “archaic, backward, revolting, coercive” attitudes to how we deal with and express human sexuality. To those ...

Bill Gates is going to give 95% of his wealth away to the third world. This is incredible charity, considering the sheer amount – about $46 billion. It is Charity with a capital ‘C’ – Gates has been top of the Forbes rich list for years. Contrary to the Guardian’s ...

Dear Mr Tomkins, You write: “TALK OF RIGHTS ONLY GETS US so far before it starts to get a bit incoherent. We all believe in the right to free speech, and we all believe in the right to freedom of religion. But if your religion involves holding certain things sacred ...

As one who has consistently criticised the Guardian newspaper in Britain for its left-wing collectivist argument, I must bring to your attention yet another bizarre article, not from a Guardian commentator but from its news section. The Guardian would never have missed this one – in keeping with its tradition ...

I guess this is simply what happens when the Left are presented with a major world event in the news (like the tsunami) whose principal cause cannot be construed to be the result of free enterprise or right-wing politics….. —————- Decca- Your article demands a truly liberal response to homophobia ...

Consider the following: A) The BBC have pledged to make cuts to its schedule and trim back programming to create a better example of quality public service broadcasting. One of its primary areas of development will now be its COMEDY output. B) The culmination of the farcical BBC Charter Review ...

Ros- Your article betrays your real point of view – not with speeding or dangerous driving, but a typical liberal obsession with cars in general and a leftist dislike of them, as indicated by your subtitle, “Don’t pander to the ordinary bloke’s addiction to cars”. Yet none of your arguments ...

Ozzy and family have had their share of trouble: a quad accident, kids through drug rehab, colon cancer; now a burgalry. And the commentary in the news across America and Britain has been consistent: “Osbournes offer reward”, “Osbournes plead”, “Brit bobbies laud Ozzy for battering burglar”, “Thief sent flying at ...

There appears to be a concerted trait right now among lefties to be unusually explicit in their fight-talk. Liberal commentators are jumping on the bandwagon in support of Labour’s ever-expanding arena of influence in even bolder ways…. as demonstrated in the press again today with Polly Toynbee’s Guardian article, “Why ...

“WITHOUT A BIT OF NANNYING, WE’LL NEVER EAT PROPERLY.” Who, you may quickly ask, subscribes to this statement? This tripe, this exercise in illogic, this utter trollocks embodied in literal form by human flotsam and jetsam extrordinaire, Anthony Worral Thompson, appeared in today’s Independent newspaper, the same rag whose contributor ...

Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners Magazine, left nobody in doubt as to which side of the left/right political divide he occupies when talking about the election during your telephone interview with him last week. He seems to believe that the conservative Right have hijacked the political system, pushing their agendas ...

I’d like to respond briefly (as time is short) to a fresh wave of debate in the light of this election on the issue of church and state. The 2004 election has proved one thing: Americans still vote strongly on moral issues, mostly due to the influence of evangelical Christianity. ...

Claude Salhani, World Peace Herald journalist, has reported that medical sources in Paris have confirmed that Palestinian leader Arafat is in a coma, on life support. It is “now a matter of time — more when, rather than if — his death becomes a reality.” Arafat was the guy who ...

All who saw today’s harrowing tape of Margaret Hassan, the CARE worker based in Iraq, pleading for her life on video after being abducted by insurgents, could not fail to be outraged. This woman has devoted her life to working FOR the Iraqi people. She has spent 30 years in ...

Coca-Cola has given in to the European Union in a 5-year anti-trust case, over an important sales practice which has been attributed to making the company so successful. The practice is this: Coca-Cola offers incentives to retailers who choose to take a Coca-Cola refrigerator and stock it with Coca-Cola Company ...

Another depressing piece from the BBC; this time an online survey asking for comments on their website on the subject of chocolate. The premise is that confectionary firms are to stop making some of their king-size chocolate bars as part of a drive to combat obesity. Are smaller chocolate bars ...