Mel Gibson, UKIP And Child Labour in Yemen

Jodie Foster has a new friend, Mel Gibson. Or at least that’s what we are told. Leshu Torchin at Souciant has a few thoughts:

“Moreover, there seems to be some misplaced disdain in a speech that mocks Honey Boo Boo but describes Mel Gibson as a lifesaver. I don’t doubt that there is a deep friendship there, and one that is mutually rewarding, but this was truly unsettling as it made me think of how Hollywood seems to give a free pass to men who beat women. Even if we forget his well-documented racist and anti-Semitic outbursts, this is a man who allegedly punched his wife in the face—twice—one time knocking her teeth out, because, as he states on the notorious tape, she “f*cking deserved it.” And he is not the only one. Charlie Sheen, who has a record of assaulting and abusing his partners (and even allegedly accidentally shooting one), continues to work, starring in the FX show Anger Management. And that behavior is not the violation of the morals clause that got him fired from the TV show Two and a Half Men; no, apparently he was fired because he began to harangue his producers. Insert “WINNING” joke here. Or don’t. “

UKIP always seek to thrive on the loathing of “foreigners”, the up and coming changes in the EU are no exception:

“After Eric Pickles said at the weekend that immigration from Romania and Bulgaria would “cause problems” and could lead to housing shortages, UKIP has wasted little time in exploiting the issue. The party has added a clock to its website counting down the days until 1 January 2014, the moment when transitional controls on migrants from the two newest EU member states expire.”

Child labour in the West is the stuff of Dickensian novels, but in Yemen and elsewhere it is a sad reality:

“SANAA, Yemen (ILO News) – More than 1.3 million children in Yemen are involved in child labour, including 469,000in the 5-11 age group, a new study shows.

This means 17 per cent of Yemen’s 7.7 million children in the 5-17 age group and 11 per cent of those aged 5-11 are involved in child labour, according to Yemen’s first-ever national child labour survey, which was carried out with support from the ILO, the Social Development Fund and UNICEF. “

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UKIP And Europe’s Far Right

Ugly neofascist Le Pen

There is an interesting article in the Rotherham Advertiser and it confirms what many of us had thought, UKIP’s sympathy for the Far Right:

“UKIP, the party at the centre of the Rotherham fostering storm, has been linked to far right groups in Europe by one of its former Euro MPs.

The ex-UKIP MEP Nikki Sinclaire said UKIP attended a press conference last week for the right-wing European Alliance for Freedom at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Ms Sinclaire said: “This is a pan-European political party, financially backed by the European Parliament.

“This particular party is of interest as it contains, amongst others, Front Nationale, Vlaams Belang, and the Austrian Freedom Party.

…

The Front Nationale is a French far right party founded by Jean Marie Le Pen, Vlaams Belang, is a Belgium-based extreme Flemish nationalist party, while the leader of Austrian Freedom Party recently caused anger after posting a cartoon on Facebook, likened to anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda.. “

Update 1: The Centre for European Politics at Royal Holloway spotted this issue in June 2012.

BBC Understatement, Racism and Rounding Up

I was about to put out a number of individual posts, but it is probably more worthwhile to include them in a round up:

Surprise, surprise, neofascist killer, Breivik took drugs before going on his murder spree.

I wonder if the chess playing Israeli boycotters will avoid the games of Boris Gelfand?

The singing neo-Nazi, Gary Marsden I’Anson, is on his uppers.

Whilst I had appreciated the level of uranium enrichment completed by the Iranian regime, the actual volume and size of the material, some 6 tons of UF6 enriched to 3.5 percent, was a shock to me. That is a lot of enriched uranium.

Searchlight on Journalist falls for EDL’s absurd claims.

Norm on How much more murder (in Syria)?