So Tory Bear Describe a Typical Paedophile?

The disgusting and thoroughly uncuddly Tory Bear has made a tweet too far. During the Gordon Brown interview with Piers Morgan he tweeted. "Brown looks like paedo".

(I see that Tory Bear has deleted the post put I'd taken a sceen print in case he deleted without apology, no apology so here it is)



Of course of those involved in acts of child abuse 30% are as likely to be family members not just the strangers you'd meet on the street. Up to 20% of offences may be perpetrated by women rather than men.

Maybe in light of this Tory Bear would like to tell us what sort of new detection process, maybe facial profiling, he has come up with that would help the police, or is that Dave's SS, to round up all the paedophiles in the country by sight alone?

Indeed this is the blogger who wants to take the Tory spotlight and push their agenda front and centre but with such language and reaction he's really just a low life and he's proven it again.

However, if this is the level of Conservative Future, maybe it isn't that much of a surprise that Dave doesn't want actually Tory students behind him when he's making a speech. But then the Conservative Future Scotland Chair thinks it's OK to lie about their provenance "it's called PR". Oh dear the young Tories seem to not understand when the people don't trust politicians to start PR needs to be truthful, honest and decent.

PS I wonder if the same action from un high in Conservative Central Office will befall Tory Bear's use of language. Which IMHO is actually worse as it is in a political sense that that which brought the heavy hand down on Cardiff Blogger last November.



Update 19:00 I see that Harry Cole is trying to excuse his tweet on drink and twitter mixing. Only problem is that even sober he still keeps putting into writing his thoughts and they haven't changed.

The Search for Canadian Gold is Over #Vancouver2010

Alexandre Bilodeau is the name that will go down in Canadian sporting folklore. After two full Olympic games on home soil he is the man who has broken the golden drought, every Valentine's Day he is bound to be remembered.

Having just missed out in the female moguls on Saturday with Jennifer Heil only taking the silver, Sunday saw Bilodeau succeed in the men's event. He finished ahead of the Canadian born Australian defending champion Dale Begg-Smith with American Bryon Wilson in third. Bilodeau and Wilson were the only finalists to attempt a double twisting back-flip off the top kicker.

But after a nervous wait while Frenchman came down the run last but sixth the Canadian dream of gold was finally over.

There was almost a shock for Canada earlier on the day in the men's biathlon sprint over 10km. At one of the standing shooting time check Jean Philippe Leguellec reached it first, but had to take a penalty loop for missing one of the targets. As it was there was a surprise when Vincent Jay of France took gold after a clean 10 targets. Wind and snow affected many of the favourites as only Jay and bronze medalist Jakov Fak of Croatia having a clear shoot. Briton Lee Jackson came in 55th good enough to qualify for the pursuit event later in the competition.

The women's 3000m speed skating saw another Canadian Kristina Groves podium for bronze. But she, German Stephanie Beckert and the rest of the field had no answer to world number one Czech Martina Sablikova, who was over 2 secs clear of the field to join that bunch of her famous compatriots and name-sakes at the top of women's sports.

Elsewhere

The completion of the emotional men's luge competition saw a changing of the guard. Defending champion from Italy Armin Zoeggeler winner of the last three golds could only claim the bronze behind a German one-two but even David Moeller could do nothing to hang on to his younger compatriot Alex Loch. Brit A.J. Rosen sadly dropped a place on the last run having picked his way up to 15th earlier in the day, thus failing to equal Jeremy Palmer-Tomkinson's (Tara's uncle) performance in Lake Placid in 1980.

The Nordic combined the event that combines ski jumping with cross country skiing led to an exciting climax at the end of the 10km second element. Johnny Spillane of the USA who took America's first medal in the Nordic combined was leading heading to the line but was out sprinted to the line by Jason Lamy Chappuis, taking France's second Nordic gold in two hours.

The figure skating also got underway with the Pairs short programme. Chinese Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhou ended Chinese New Year in top spot, ahead of Alona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy of Germany and Yuko Kavaguti & Alexander Smirnov of Russia. The leading three had a bit of a gap over the other two Chinese pairs lying in 4th and 5th. Britains representatives Stacey Kemp & David King lie in 16th place overnight before the free programme on Monday.

Drumlanrig - The Scotland on Sunday Plagiarist

My thanks to James of Two Doctors for pointing this out to me.

In today's Scotland on Sunday the lead part of Drumlanrig's diary piece is:

What a furore over Nicola Sturgeon's letter on behalf of a convicted fraudster. Alex Salmond's defence of his deputy raised almost as many eyebrows.

As devotees of the Holyrood scene will recall, Salmond maintained that Sturgeon had an "absolute obligation" to make representations on behalf of Abdul Rauf, the 59-year-old who had been twice convicted of fraud.

Presumably that means that Angela Constance, the SNP MSP for Livingston, will be obliged to write for a certain Jim Devine, Labour MP of that parish, should he ask her for a character reference now that he faces charges over his House of Commons expenses.

An unlikely scenario in the view of Drumlanrig.

Hmm. Makes me wonder which person from the Scotsman IP address it was that read this post, with credit given where it was due on my blog on Friday. If the dead tree press take up to 3 days to publish an idea that has already been out on the web you have to ask is it original, if it isn't where have they gotten the idea from.

Although the comment from Caron at the time holds even more true here too:

"Do you know, I had exactly the same idea?:-). [Stephen] did it better, though..."

Mind you seeing as The Scotsman couldn't even get the name of this blog right on Friday, it makes you wonder what sort of standard they have for accuracy and accreditation. They certainly lack the Blogosphere etiquette of linking to the original post that inspires or is quoted.

Kung Hei Fat Choy 恭喜发财 2010

It may well be Valentines Day but it is also Chinese New Year, so as we enter the year of the Tiger let's look at what I said last Chinese New Year.

Then I looked at some of those that were sentenced under the crime of subversion. Just before this new year another sad tale is added to the list Liu Xiaobo who lost his appeal earlier this week against a eleven year sentence for inciting subversion.

He is one of the co-authors of Charter 08 and I wrote about his arrest in December 2008. Last month 4 retired members of the Communist Party officials had written to authorities pleading for Liu's release. They suggested his conviction violated some of the principles for which they had fought.

Charter 08, taking its name from Vaclev Havel's Charter 77 movement in Czechoslovakia against Soviet occupation, originally was signed by 303 people from across China's communities (intellectuals, editors, lawyers, artists and people who described themselves as peasants and workers). It quickly gathered pace and was signed by 10,000 signatories, but the authorities were anxious that so many people had managed to show their support for the discussion laid out in Charter 08 without their authorisation.

His defence lawyers said that in court there was a lack on commonsense to distinguish between the government and ruling party, which Liu had criticised, and the state which he did not attack.

Charter 08 is calling for human rights, democracy and an end of the Communist Party's monopoly on power. The last is the line that has been crossed which has brought the party hierarchy down on those who are leaders of the movement.

Kung hei fat choy means "congratulations and be prosperous" so yet again this year there isn't too much, outside of economic prosperity, to be congratulatory to China about. There is more to prosperity that what is in the bank.

The Canadian Gold Search - Day 2 #Vancouver 2010

In the summer of 1976 at Montreal and again in the winter of 1988 at Calgary Canada held the Olympics. But as hosts one thing was missing. Home gold.

Day 2 of the Vancouver Olympics was the one that Canada hoped that duck would be beaten. However, the conditions of the snow being too soft meant that local Whistler resident Manuel Osborne-Paradis would not get his chance in the men's downhill event. Therefore all Canadian eyes fell to the Pacific Colesium where Oliver Jean or Charles Hamelin went in the short track speed skating or Cypress Mountain where Jennifer Heil was defending her title in the moguls.

Short Track Speed Skating

Both the men did make the semi-finals of the 1500m but only Jean progressed to the final. World number two Hamelin having to content himself with victory only in the B final. However, the final was dominated by the Koreans Jung-Su Lee, Ho-Suk Lee, Si-Bak Sung and American Apolo Anton Ohno. With all four swapping and changing position through the closing laps, a crash in the last corner took Ho-Suk Lee and Si-Bak Sung out of medal contention, but Jung-Su Lee crossed the line safely for gold, with Ohno winning silver for his sixth Olympic medal.

Moguls

In the rain and slosh conditions on Cypress Mountain, Heil and compatriot Kirsti Richards qualified 2nd and 4th from the qualifying round. The main competition coming from Americans Hannah Kearney, Heather McPhie, Shannon Bahrke and Michelle Roark or Japanese competitor Aiko Uemura. In the final Bahrke led, Uemura was second and Canadian Chloe Dufour-Lapointe third before the top four went down their runs.

However, both Richards and McPhie had poor runs and dropped to the bottom of the table. Leaving the local girl Heil to take the penultimate run, she went off the first kicker with a 360, the second with a back flip with iron cross to go into the lead. Leaving just one person who could spoil the Canadian mood. Hannah Kearney came down t back flip off the first then a 360 off the second enough to take the top ariel and turn scores therefore with it the gold.

Heil said:

"I felt like I was standing on the shoulders of so many Canadians. I felt like I had their wings on my back. This is Canada's medal.

"Canadians can be assured that the gold medal is coming on home soil. Canada have such a strong team."

Elsewhere

You don't win anything for the first game of the team events but Canada's women did hand out a highest ever Olympic thrashing over Slovakia with an 18-0 win in the Ice Hockey. This is a Hockey nation after all but if they have to wait until the hockey finals to seek gold the Canadians will be under performing.

The first gold went to Simon Ammann of Switzerland in the normal hill ski jumping competition. In the women's biathlon sprint there was a surprise winner in Slovakia's Anastazia Kuzmina. In the men's 5000m Speed Skating Dutch world number one Sven Kummar went one better than in Turin picking up a gold in an Olympic record, his girlfriend had scored the winning goal for the Netherland's in the Hockey final in Beijing.

The Luge got underway without Nodar Kumaritashvili's Georgian compatriot Levan Gureshidze taking to the start gate. After the first two runs the German's Felix Loch and David Muller lead. Top Canadian before Sunday's final two runs is Samuel Edney in 10th 0.977 secs back.

Brits

In the luge Adam Rosen currently lies 16th 1.331 seconds down on the leader.

Youngsters Ellie Koyander finished 24th in the Women's Moguls failing to qualify for the top 20 who made the final, while Jack Whelbourne made the semis of the short track 1500m. Douglas Anthony had come 4th in his heat in the 1500m short track failing to progress. Sarah Lindsay and Elise Christie have both qualified for the semi-finals of the women's 500m short track on Sunday.

The Canadian Gold Search - Day 2 #Vancouver 2010

In the summer of 1976 at Montreal and again in the winter of 1988 at Calgary Canada held the Olympics. But as hosts one thing was missing. Home gold.

Day 2 of the Vancouver Olympics was the one that Canada hoped that duck would be beaten. However, the conditions of the snow being too soft meant that local Whistler resident Manuel Osborne-Paradis would not get his chance in the men's downhill event. Therefore all Canadian eyes fell to the Pacific Colesium where Oliver Jean or Charles Hamelin went in the short track speed skating or Cypress Mountain where Jennifer Heil was defending her title in the moguls.

Short Track Speed Skating

Both the men did make the semi-finals of the 1500m but only Jean progressed to the final. World number two Hamelin having to content himself with victory only in the B final. However, the final was dominated by the Koreans Jung-Su Lee, Ho-Suk Lee, Si-Bak Sung and American Apolo Anton Ohno. With all four swapping and changing position through the closing laps, a crash in the last corner took Ho-Suk Lee and Si-Bak Sung out of medal contention, but Jung-Su Lee crossed the line safely for gold, with Ohno winning silver for his sixth Olympic medal.

Moguls

In the rain and slosh conditions on Cypress Mountain, Heil and compatriot Kirsti Richards qualified 2nd and 4th from the qualifying round. The main competition coming from Americans Hannah Kearney, Heather McPhie, Shannon Bahrke and Michelle Roark or Japanese competitor Aiko Uemura. In the final Bahrke led, Uemura was second and Canadian Chloe Dufour-Lapointe third before the top four went down their runs.

However, both Richards and McPhie had poor runs and dropped to the bottom of the table. Leaving Heil to take the penultimate run, she went off the first kicker with a 360, the second with a back flip with iron cross to go into the lead. Leaving just one person who could spoil the Canadian mood. Hannah Kearney came down t back flip off the first then a 360 off the second enough to take the top ariel and turn scores therefore with it the gold.

Heil said:

"I felt like I was standing on the shoulders of so many Canadians. I felt like I had their wings on my back. This is Canada's medal.

"Canadians can be assured that the gold medal is coming on home soil. Canada have such a strong team."

Elsewhere

You don't win anything for the first game of the team events but Canada's women did hand out a highest ever Olympic thrashing over Slovakia with an 18-0 win in the Ice Hockey. This is a Hockey nation after all but if they have to wait until the hockey finals to seek gold the Canadians will be under performing.

The first gold went to Simon Ammann of Switzerland in the normal hill ski jumping competition. In the women's biathlon sprint there was a surprise winner in Slovakia's Anastazia Kuzmina. In the men's 5000m Speed Skating Dutch world number one Sven Kummar went one better than in Turin picking up a gold in an Olympic record, his girlfriend had scored the winning goal for the Netherlands in the Hockey final in Beijing.

The Luge got underway without Nodar Kumaritashvili's Georgian compatriot Levan Gureshidze taking to the start gate. After the first two runs the German's Felix Loch and David Muller lead. Top Canadian before Sunday's final two runs is Samuel Edney in 10th 0.977 secs back.

Brits

In the luge Adam Rosen currently lies 16th 1.331 seconds down on the leader.

Youngsters Ellie Koyander finished 24th in the Women's Moguls failing to qualify for the top 20 who made the final, while Jack Whelbourne made the semis of the short track 1500m. Douglas Anthony had come 4th in his heat in the 1500m short track failing to progress. Sarah Lindsay and Elise Christie have both qualified for the semi-finals of the women's 500m short track on Sunday.

Women Can't Jump - Need for Gender Balance

From the London Olympic Games when women's boxing is included in the Olympic programme only one sport will not have male and female competitors at either the Summer or Winter Olympiads. That event was the first to award medals today in Vancouver.

While Switzerland's Simon Amman won the first gold of the Games apparently women can't jump, that is ski jump, at least not yet at these Games. There are 100 women* from 18 countries prepared to hurl themselves off the end of the ramp into the air at elite level, not one of them will be seen doing so in Vancouver this fortnight.

Last summer the women tried to take Vanoc (the organising committee) to court through the Canadian civil law for inclusion on equality grounds. They said their exclusion violated Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Judge agreed that their case was discriminatory but couldn't be fought through Canadian courts, but also said Vanoc were right that only the IOC (International Olympic Committee) had authority to decide on sports inclusions. She said:

"The IOC made a decision that discriminates against the plaintiffs. Only the IOC can alleviate that discrimination by including an Olympic ski jumping event for women in the 2010 Games."

Canadian ski jumper Katie Willis said, "It's awful that we lost, but I'm glad we tried." Both Wills and world champion Lindsey Van had previously requested a meeting with Jacques Rogge the IOC President before the court case to argue their case, but the meeting never came to fruition.

There are only five competitive days of Ski jumping on the hills plus three for the Nordic combined. Therefore there is no technical reason why a women's even could not be fitted into the schedule, the women are appealing to Rogge for inclusion in 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.

Maybe we should get Jo Swinson on their case.

* I have it on good authority none of the 100 is my good friend Caron.