Ahmadinejad speaking in America

The President of Columbia University has come under a lot of criticism for inviting Iranian President Ahmadinejad to speak to students. He said he believes in free speech and he would have given a platform to Hitler!

Here, however, you see maybe why he was so keen to invite Ahmadinejad. In the Iranian Presidents’ presence, he delivers this astonishingly direct introduction to his guest. It is well worth watching.

Letter of the Day – from the Independent

Standing up to Mugabe at last 

The Independent: 21 September 2007

Sir: Have we at last got a political leader who is both good and brave enough to speak his mind and act on it? Maybe I am naive, but the independence and courage of Brown to stand up against the thug Mugabe, in whose country I lived for 20 years until 2001, brought tears to my eyes (“It’s him or me, says Brown“, 20 September). 

At last perhaps we have a prime minister of integrity who will hopefully bring all other European leaders in with him for a mass boycott of this summit. If Mugabe thinks he can turn this to his advantage by screaming, yet again, “conspiracy”, then so be it; that is not the point. What thinking person cares about what Mugabe thinks or says any longer? The point is that for perhaps 20 years, since the Matebele massacres in 1985, good men have stood around and said nothing. And that has been all it has taken for this evil to prevail. 

Jane Tyrer Montagu, Western Cape, South Africa

Fun Quiz: Who do you support for President?

Here is a quiz showing who your views are most similar to in the forthcoming US Presidential Elections:

Let me know who it says you support!

Student gets tasered in front of John Kerry

Even if you favour a firm policy of law and order, doesn’t this make you feel a little uncomfortable? A student is “tasered” at a John Kerry rally in Florida. Free speech anyone?

Letter of the Day – from the Independent

Green campaigners who dislike human happiness

The Independent: 18 September 2007  

Sir: Well said, Dominic Lawson (“Should we believe politicians when they promise to save the earth?“, 14 September). There are important things that should be done, and have been done, to improve our environment. But the mentality of environmental campaigners is reactionary, anti-humanity, anti-development and anti-progress. Indeed, many are uncomfortable with the idea of human happiness. 

The greens’ professed concern over climate change is no more than an excuse for an attack on consumerist lifestyles. Offer them practical ways of dealing with climate change that do not involve stopping the economy in its tracks – adaptation, carbon offsetting, technological advance – and they react with horror. 

Underlying it all is the same old Malthusian nonsense that motivated every reactionary movement of the 20th century. That this cult of irrationality is casually repeated by politicians (yes, I too heard John Gummer not only saying that the Gulf Stream was going to stop flowing but also that we could stop this by adopting his menu of car park taxes and VAT on short flights) is extraordinary. 

Chris Savage

Thatcher meets Brown at 10 Downing Street

The latest Tory to be courted by Gordon Brown surfaced today.  For the first time in seven years Lady Thatcher has graced the doorstep of 10 Downing Street at the invitation of the Prime Minister.

According to the BBC Lady Thatcher was greeted with a warm handshake and their meeting took place in the Thatcher Room (the Prime Minister’s study), before taking in a tour of the building. 

It doesn’t mention at any point whether Gordon presented the Lady with a copy of his 1989 book, “Where There’s Greed: Margaret Thatcher and the Betrayal of Britain’s Future“. 

I can’t help thinking, despite his team calling the photo-op “psychological warfare” critical to an election, that if the Prime Minister had tried this stunt before he spoke at the TUC conference the reception he received would have been even more frosty!

How to extol competition

Watch this video extolling the virtues of competition – including tax competition. It’s excellent and exactly the way to communicate a message in today’s internet age.

Never speak of a fellow conservative?

Some enjoyable bitchiness here from the candidates for the Republican nomination in New Hampshire last night – the same night Fred Thompson announced his candidature on Jay Leno. Particularly good lines from Mick Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani.

Is Greenpeace inspired by the Virginia Tech killer?

Earlier this year, Seung Hui Cho went on the rampage at Virginia Tech. He left a chilling video.

Greenpeace have launched a new campaign video today. Is it me, or does it look as though Greenpeace has been inspired by a homicidal maniac?

Time to fire his campaign team?

Sam Brownback is a conservative US Senator for Kansas. He is running for the Republican Party’s nomination. He went to one of the key primary states, New Hampshire, this week. Here is the size of the crowd that greeted him:

Time to fire the campaign team who failed to fill the room full of cheering and whooping supporters and voters, I think.