Nick Clegg terrorised on flight for supporting the Human Rights Act

Warning this blog post contains a link to the Daily Mail


So the Daily Fail has a headline Woman passenger's jet rage at Nick Clegg over his support of Human Rights Act. The article contains the line "David Cameron pledged while in opposition to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA), which he said prevented Britain from deporting foreign terrorists." While talking about a passenger who had to be physically restrained from an onslaught against the Deputy Prime Minister.

Apparently according to the Fail the physical assault and terrorism by one woman is a sign that many are angry at the deputy Prime Minister for vowing to keep the HRA. One person in an incident of air rage is the voice of the people! Wow! Those Occupying the London Stock Exchange (or to be precise a public space close by) certainly seem glad of the rights under the HRA.

No doubt as her attack happened over international territory and I trust over the EU, she'll be glad that it will mean she is entitled to a fair trail, unlike if it had occurred once off the plane in Cairo. That her liberty and security as well as those of the other passengers were protected by her being restrained because of her attack. That she won't be tortured or face the death penalty for attacking another passenger on a plane. That she wasn't deemed to be a threat to the plane so much that she may have been shot by an air marshall, but that the life of everyone on that plane was protected, even hers. That she was allowed her freedom of conscience to make her points to the DPM. She also had her freedom of expression until it was restricted when it reached into the realm of needing to prevent disorder and crime.

Yeah you've guessed it I've just stated her case in relation to six of the ten articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. You'd almost feel that a majority of people had voted for a party that was opposed to the HRA in May 2010. It's not just the Lib Dems on page 9:3 of A Future Fair for All the Labour Manifesto they say

"We are proud to have brought in the Human Rights Act, enabling British citizens to take action in British courts rather than having to wait years to seek redress in Strasbourg. We will not repeal or resile from it."

So there you have it, there is no public will to get rid of the HRA. There is only a Tory will that ignores the many fine points in it because it gets in the way of them doing things that they want to do, even more so than the Liberal Democrats it seems.

Read also What Zadok Day over at A Song of Liberty actually found to be what happened, but that sort of mutually respecting conversation doesn't sell the Daily Fail or the Scum.

MP's long-held opinion shockingly shocks the Catholic Church at fringe event #equalmarriage

There has been uproar from the Catholic Church in Scotland about comments made by Pete Wishart MP
at a fringe event at SNP conference yesterday. Mr Wishart said:

"What I believe will happen is that our government, over the course of the next few years, after this consultation, will bring forward legislation which will ensure we will have equal marriage in this country. I'm proud of that, I'm proud that this is the party that will be leading us forward, and I look forward to that new Scotland that we're trying to build."

Seeing as the Scotsman say it was hosted by Alyn Smith MEP (along with the Scottish Youth Parliament and LGBT Youth Scotland, I notice) I did what any tweeting fiend would do and check his Tweeter feed. Look what I found:

Now there you have it, there was a discussion. It was a fringe event looking at one of the political topics of the day, in this case equal marriage. Apparently it went around the houses.

Now what the Catholic Church of Scotland may not have got is that fringe meetings at party conferences are meetings where issues are discussed. No conclusions are necessarily drawn, no policy is formed, but members will be made to think and will make the political representatives present think. What is said in a fringe meeting by a speaker is not Ex Cathedra. Indeed I have found out from people who were there that the debate from the floor did cover both sides of the debate, though the overall majority were in support of the premise of equal marriage being the outcome from the consultation.


But look again at the start of Wishart's comments it is "what I believe will happen", it is not what will happen, but what he believes will happen. Now Pete Wishart is one of those MPs within the SNP who for a long time has been pro equal marriage. It is hardly surprising that he should want to see a progressive way forward being the outcome.

The shouting and gnashing of teeth is over the church fearing that they will be forced to do anything. Look at John Mason's amendment which actually wasn't an amendment as there was no obligation for any faith group to carry out same-sex marriage anyway, something backed up by John Swinney.

"There will be no compulsion here, there will be no obligation. The protection is there so that no individual within the religious community will be obliged to do this.

"I think we're right to take this course of action, we're right to make it possible for religious practitioners to conduct same-sex marriages if they wish to do so. But clearly there must be no compulsion involved in any of that."

What most people want is the possibility of religious groups coming to their own conclusions within their own governance structure. Where there are same sex couples or gay individual within that faith grouping, they may ask their leaders to look at the issue, if that is they want to get married within that faith. The laws of the churches are of course up for them and cannot be dictated to, but there are faith groups that want an enabling to carry out same-sex as well as mixed sex marriage and have already said they wish to do so.

Preview of the Tour de France 2012

The route for next years Tour de France was announced last week, and I missed it. But here on the left is the map of the route.

It will start in Belgium in Liege with a Prologue. More details of the actual rout will come later, but there will be

• 9 flat stages
• 4 medium mountain stages - one with a summit finish
• 5 mountain stages - two with a summit finish
• 2 individual time-trial stages
• 1 prologue
• 2 rest days

It makes it a somewhat different race from this years at least on paper.

New stages towns to the 2012 tour will be Abbeville, Annonay Davézieux, Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, La Planche des Belles Filles, Peyragudes, Porrentruy, Samatan, Tomblaine, Visé.

You'll not continue to walk in ignorance

For me it has now been over half my lifetime from the match I never got to, but for 96 it was the day their lives ended.

Unlike 'The Truth' headline that one paper which I, and many others associated with Liverpool, refuse to to read to this day the truth will soon be revealed. Parliament tonight voted to release the papers. It will not of course bring back the 96 who lost their lived that day at Hillsborough but it will allow the families to get closure over just what happened on that day. Why only one ambulance was able to get unto the pitch to offer assistance. Why fans were told off by police and stewards when they started to spill over unto the pitch when things started to get dangerous in the Lepping Road End rather than assistance being given.

To the 96 and their familes You'll Never Walk Alone and today the MPs have also said you shall not continue to walk in ignorance.

H2G2 reopened and under new management

Last night was finally the time that H2G2 completed its trip through the etha and landed after testing from a dedicated team of, well put honestly, friends. The doors were flung open at the new, old address of www.h2g2.com easy to remember.

After 10 years with the BBC the collaborative effort (how very h2g2) of Robbie Stamp, Aly and Brian Larholm, and the h2g2 Community Consortium. Robbie was a close friend of Douglas Adams and helped set up the site back in 1999 as well as producing the Hitchhikers' movie. Aly and Brian have a decade of social media expertise and wanted to bring that to an already existing community site and the Community Consortium were just a bunch of guys you know, and guyesses who didn't want to see the place they had known for up to 12 years disappear without a fight once the BBC decided to sell it off.

In the end all three banded together and offered the BBC a deal that would maintain the integrity of the site which had existed before the BBC lifeboat came along to rescue it from the Digital Village, after the period known to researchers as Rupert.

The much shorter transport phase has been far easier for researchers to deal with, they knew the site was coming back after the BBC shut the doors and turned out the lights at the end of September. Rupert really was a period of the unknown, with little cells of researchers setting up all sorts of groups to keep each other informed of what was going on. This time we  moved en masse aware of where we thought we were heading and hoping that when the switch was pressed to turn the lights back on, that well. It would work.

Well it has, and the researchers are already gathering to start once more on yet another new home. Not so much journey of the sorcerer but at least journey of H2G2.

Dan Wheldon 1978-2011

Dan Wheldon with his elder son kissing the bricks at the finish line of Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year

British motorsports fans often forget about Dan Wheldon. When it comes to car racing it is all about Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton but for the last few years he and Bathgate's Dario Franchitti have been two of the leading lights in the IRL Indycar series.

Wheldon actually won the title in 2005, before Dario won the first of his three titles prior to the one he won as a result of the crash that took Wheldon's life today. He has also won the Indianapolis 500 twice in that 2005 season and again this, therefore matching Frachetti's success as the only two time British winners of that race.

Wheldon was born in Emberton, near Olney, Buckinghamshire, England. In his early career racing open wheeled formula he had a great rivalry with Formula One World Championship winning driver Jenson Button. However in 1999 their paths took a different track with Wheldon heading to America because his family could not fund him in the UK and European formula that are the normal route to F1.

He progressed through the lower American open wheel series U.S. F2000 Championship Series, the Toyota Atlantic series and the Indy Lights series. Until in 2002 he got the call from Andretti Green Racing to replace Michael Andretti who was retiring from racing. He was to win the rookie of the year title.

In 2004 at Twin Win Motegi in Japan he won his first Indycar race, and gathered two more wins that season to finish second in the championship to his team mate Sam Hornish Jr.

The folowing season he became the first Brit since Graham Hill, Damon's father, to win the Indianapolis 500. With five wins, a record under the IRL sanction, he won his only Indycar championship.

At the end of 2005 he announced that he was moving to Chip Ganassi Racing, but he won the 24 Hours of Daytona along with Scott Dixon and Casey Mears. At the end of the 2006 Indycar season he was equal on points with his former team mate Sam Hornish Jr., but the American's not liking two winners had a tiebreak of the most wins which was 4-2 for Hornish and he was therefore declared the champion.

In September 2008 he was released from Chip Ganassi to be replace by Dario Franchitti, who had won the title in 2007. In 2009 he raced for Panther Racing, giving them a second spot in the Indianapolis 500 a feat he would repeat in 2010, when he remained more competitive through the whole season. However, he failed to win a race with Panther and was replaced by J.R. Hildebrand.

He hadn't secured a regular drive for the 2011 season but driving for Bryan Herta Motorsport he took the honours once again in the Indianapolis 500 a race win he dedicated to his mother who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimers.

He had started on the back of the 34 car grid and had already made up 10 places in the first 12 laps when the crash happened at the Las Vegas Indy 300. He would have shared a $5 million special one off prize with one lucky fan if he had won the race.

At about 23:00 UK time the drivers and officials came out of a briefing session at the track. Twitter was alive with people reporting on the looks of the drivers faces as they came out not looking good. Shortly after a very short press conference (see below) announced the news that Dan Wheldon had indeed died as a result of the crash at the age of 33. The drivers still in shock decided to honour Dan with a five lap salute, his care number 77 was the only one that was displayed on the position boards at the track as they went around in his honour.



Here is footage of the five lap salute and you can hear a bagpiper playing Amazing Graze probably a CD or some such over the PA but a nice touch. With his pit crew standing out at the point his car came to rest.



Thoughts and prayers go to his wife Suzie Behm, and sons Sebastian 2 and Oliver not yet 7 months old, his mother and his father, who started him on the road to a career in racing, at this difficult time.

Dan Wheldon 22 June 1978 - 16 October 2011

Bad Indycar crash in Vegas kills British driver Dan Wheldon

In the last hour there has been a 15 car collision in the final Indycar race of the season in Las Vegas. There were several cars burst into flames one of which had taken off  for about 6-7 car lengths after being unable to avoid a collision in front, while two others also look as if they were airbourne for less time.

As a motorsports fan my thoughts and prayers are with the drivers involved, any of their families either at trackside or watching/getting news elsewhere and with the medical teams at the track.

I'm not going to embed the clip of the crash but you can find it here. Here is another view from Will Power's car, the one that flew for about 7 car lengths.

Update Will Power who was challenging Bathgate's Dario Franchitti was the title was caught up in the crash. However, there is major concern of British driver Dan Wheldon who apparently one of the worse affected in the crash. There is no news yet of his condition, apart from the fact that doctors are reporting he is in a serious condition.

Rookie Pippa Mann was also rather shaken up as she was removed from the scene in an ambulance. While Townsend Bell cars was left upside down amongst the smoldering wreckage of the carnage. Of the 34 cars that started the race less than 12 laps earlier 15 were taken out in the crash, the race is currently under red flag conditions.

Update 2 Terry Blount of ESPN is reporting that the entire roll area of Wheldon's car was sheered off before being covered in a tarp. He was airlifted to hospital after having 20 doctors attend to him at the scene. Pippa Mann and JR Hildebrand were taken to the hospital by ambulance awake and alert as a precautionary measure. Other drivers were treated at the medical centre at the track, some of who including Will Power have been talking to media.

Update 3 Full list of the drivers involved is Dan Whelton, Will Power, Townsend Bell, Tomas Scheckter, Paul Tracy, EJ Viso, Alex Lloyd, Buddy Rice, Vitor Meira and rookies Pippa Mann, James Jakes, JR Hildebrand, Jay Howard, Charlie Kimball and Wade Cunningham.

Update 4 Will Power after complaining of lower back pain at the track has also been transported to hospital.

Update 5 23:04 BST Indycar announce that Dan Wheldon has died as a result of his injuries in the crash. The race has been abandoned. More on this blog post.

I'll continue to update this blog post as more information becomes available