RTE rejects TV3 collaboration offer on diaspora channel.

So, being reported by The Irish Times, and coming to my attention via the Media Boy Blog, is a report that TV3 has offered to collaborate with RTE on a best of Irish TV channel for the Irish diaspora.

Irish World then reported, and again brought to my attention by the Media Boy blog that RTE rejected the idea calling it speculative and premature.

Premature?  Remember, this is the company that part owned Tara TV between 1998 and 2002.

There hasn't been a TV channel aimed at the Irish abroad since then.  There hasn't been a true best of Ireland TV channel since then.

RTE has not only RTE 1 & RTE 2, but also RTE News Now and RTE Jr.  TV3 has of course TV3 and 3e, and UTV Ireland when that deal gets completed, and what ever that becomes.  Some have suggested it will get closed down, others think it will become 3u, and what a horrible name that is, but whatever happens there, the idea of RTE and TV3 teaming up for a channel is a great combination.

Think about this.  TV3 already have Ireland's only local breakfast TV show in Ireland AM, so they could start the ball rolling at 7am.  Have live news from TV3 at 12.30, 5.30 and 8.00, with live RTE News at 1.00, 6.01 and 9.00.  That already gives a collaborative channel a great structure of live news to work from.  Adding in Xpose, The Seven O'Clock Show, Midday and Tonight with Vincent Brown from TV3, and Today and The Late Late Show from  RTE, and you have the basics of a great channel that would showcase the best of Irish TV.

RTE should rethink the whole rejection of TV3's idea as it is a good one.  What's more, they should be looking to get RTE News Now onto Sky in the UK, Freest in the UK and Virgin Media in the UK as quickly as possible.  

Sepp Blatter finally resigns, a few days too late!

Let me start by saying this.  I’m glad that Sepp Blatter finally found it within himself to do the honourable thing and step down as FIFA President.  But he should have done it Thursday, to save FIFA the embarrassment and humiliation of re-electing him to the top job there, only to then face another election process in quick succession.

But the whole debacle over the arrests and how FIFA responded to them, showed up the organisation as completely corrupt, and thinking themselves untouchable.  It showed up an organisation that had no transparency and no accountability to the people that ultimately pay their wages, the fans around the world who watch football, and play the FIFA branded video games.

In the aftermath of the arrests, the election should have been postponed, or at least Sepp Blatter should have announced that he was not going to stand for re-election.  He might have had a vision for Football, or Soccer as it’s known in some countries, but he had no vision when it came to the optics of the situation both he and FIFA were facing.

The optics were only made worse by Vladimir Putin offering his support to Blatter.  That should be a warning sign in itself.  If Putin offers you his support, turn it down.  It makes you look a hell of a lot worse.

Now he has stepped down and an emergency congress will elect a replacement, maybe we will actually start to see the change that is necessary in FIFA to bring it into the 21st century.  Maybe we’ll even see them take the decision to move the 2018 and 2022 World Cup venues due to the corruption allegations.  But progress in these sorts of matters is always slow, and I won’t hold my breath waiting for them.

Ian Beaumont's Saturday Special: James Bond movie music

I've started a new programme on The Source FM, it's called the Saturday Special, it airs from 8am to 11am every Saturday morning, and today's edition featured music from the James Bond films.

Ian Beaumont's Saturday Special: Saturday 9th May 2015 by Ian Beaumont on Mixcloud

Sony pulls The Interview, but was it the honourable thing to do?

(Transcript from The Viewpoint Podcast)

Last month, Sony Pictures' computer systems were hacked, and the FBI now says that North Korea was behind the hack, a charge North Korea denies, though they suggest some of their sympathisers may have been involved. This week, with some US cinema chains pulling out of showing the Sony Pictures film The Interview, a comedy about an attempted assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, Sony decided to pull the release of the film. It will not now go out to cinemas worldwide on Christmas Day.

North Korea claimed that Sony were “abetting a terrorist act” by making the film. Err, perhaps they know something we don't and two journalists actually did manage to kill Kim Jong Un, and one of his doubles has had to stand in for him. I mean, with North Korea not being transparent with information, who'd really know?

Whether North Korea were involved in the hack directly, indirectly, or not at all, the actions of Sony, a company that originated in Japan, where honour is a big thing, their actions this week in pulling the film, strike me as less than honourable. Political pressure is not something that any company should ever give in to, and their actions may have just enboldened North Korea into thinking they can get away with other cyber actions like this one.

The Oil Price, Russia and OPEC.

(Transcript from The Viewpoint Podcast)

The price of oil has made a major shift downward in recent weeks, falling to around $60 a barrel for North Sea Brent Crude, and below $60 for West Texas Intermediate. For most of us, it will mean that it will cost us less to fill up our cars, and prices for the goods on our shelves should start falling because transportation will start costing less as well.

But there's much more to it than that, especially for Russia. Oil revenues are a big part of their government's income, and the drop from over $120 a barrel to around $60, means that Russia's budget, which was calculated at a higher price, will not be able to spend as much money as they previously thought. The drop in the Oil price even sent the Russian Rouble shooting up against the dollar, to almost 80 roubles to the dollar, before settling OPEC even decided not to cut production to force prices higher, and whilst most saw that as a shot across the bows of US shale oil producers, Russia's aggression against Ukraine may have also played a part as neither the US nor Russia are part of the international cartel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held his usual end of year press conference this week, and like previous Soviet Premiers and dictators worldwide, blamed the West for what is happening with his economy. And whilst it's true that the West's economic sanctions have hurt Russia to some degree, OPEC's refusal to cut production of oil in order to raise the price on international commodities markets will do far more to damage the Russian economy than the west's sanctions.

And who are these OPEC members who will hurt Russia's economy so badly? Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Not a single western country in the cartel, not even the UK. Maybe Putin should get some of his Russia Today buddies to start going after Iran's Press TV.

The Sydney Siege: The wrong conclusion, the wrong lesson.

(Transcript from The Viewpoint Podcast)

Welcome to the programme, thank you for downloading and listening to this podcast. We're going to start with the story that has been dominating the news all week from Australia, and that was the siege at a Sydney chocolate cafe. When it started, I hoped and prayed for a swift, safe and just conclusion. My prayer was not answered. It wasn't swift. The siege lasted over 16 hours. It wasn't a safe conclusion, as police were forced into storming the cafe by the actions of the gunman. Nor was it a just conclusion. Two of the hostages were killed in the siege, as was the gunman. I would have prefered that the gunman had been able to be taken alive, to stand trial for his crimes.

Yes, crimes, and not just this siege. He was already on bail for a string of offences when he took those people hostage. He should have been standing trial for those crimes. Instead, he is dead, and we will never truly know what drove him to do this. Now there is a query about how the gunman was allowed to be on bail, and this is one of the issues that will have to be investigated, but it looks like an individual failing case, rather than something systemic.

However, this hasn't stopped some trying to take advantage of this issue to try to push their pet projects onto the agenda. Such as Senator David Leyonhjelm, advocating that Australia should follow the US example of arming citizens, and allowing for guns to be concealed about the person. He says he wants a discussion about the right to practical self defense, saying that “What happened in that cafe would have been most unlikely to have occurred in Florida, Texas, or Vermont, or Alaska in America...” Evidently, he's not heard about the large number of violent deaths that occur in America due to the prevalence of guns. Gun deaths in the US are around 100 times higher in the US, than in Australia. I didn't agree with former PM John Howard on a lot of things, but he was right, when he increased controls on gun ownership after the Port Arthur massacre. And so Senator David Leyonhjelm wins this week's W.T.F. Award in the Idiot Brigade Awards.

The Viewpoint Podcast–Episode 1a–Torture report released, needs prosecutions

This week, we saw a report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Senator Dianne Fienstein, on the “enhanced interrogation techniques” that the CIA used in the aftermath of September 11^th 2001. Okay, let's stop right there. “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques”? That's political speak, for the T word, because the T word can lead you into all sorts of legal trouble. The T word? You know, torture. So let's call a spade a spade and say exactly what this was. It was torture, that's what the CIA did for over 6 years, in the aftermath of September 11^th 2001.

That same month, President Bush, ordered the use of these techniques. He ordered the CIA to torture prisoners. And he used 9/11 as a justification. These techniques were used until November 2007. And in all that time, according to the report, they were not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining co-operation from detainees. The CIA made claims about the effectiveness of these techniques, that didn't actually stack up or stand up to any scrutiny at all.

And the craziest thing about this is, there are people still defending the use of torture. George W Bush back in 2010, said to NBC News “Using these techniques saved lives, my job was to protect America”. Yeah, right, you'd already failed on that count when you ignored a report that was given to you back in 2001, which had said that Osama Bin Laden was determined to attack America, and afterwards, we had 9/11. So you'd already failed to do your job, and you ordered the CIA to torture prisoners as retribution for that.

Bill O'Reilly of Fox News is also siding with the torturers. In a recent Talking Points commentary on his show The O'Reilly Factor, he said and I quote, “Based on available evidence, "Talking Points" is siding with the CIA people. Look, we're fighting a war... ...Bad things happen in war. After the German SS massacred Americans during the Battle of the Bulge, U.S. troops shot and killed Germans who had their hands up trying to surrender. That was wrong. But it happened and the U.S. high command largely overlooked it, understanding the tremendous emotions involved.
It is the same thing with coerced interrogation.” I wonder what available evidence you're basing that on, Bill, because I have some available evidence, which I'll talk about in a minute, that puts things in a completely different light.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, the day the report was released, appeared on Fox News Channel's Special Report with Bret Baier, and defended the use of torture. He said the CIA deserved “credit not condemnation” for the use of torture, and asked “What are you prepared to do to get the truth against future attacks against the United States?” Well, we know how far you are prepared to go, Mr Cheney. You saw how it was done when you were part of the Nixon administration during the Watergate scandal, a scandal that cost your boss his job. And if you are prepared to break international law to do what you want, then you should face the consequences of that.

Yes, that's right. I said break international law, and that's what Bush, Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, and the people at the CIA did. In most postings I have seen on this story, they have referenced the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which was originally written in 1948. Article 5 of the declaration states that, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” That is the complete article, as found on the UN's website. That is everything it says. Often as well, they reference Article 7 of the declaration, which says, “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.” Now these became international law in 1976 after being incorporated into the International Bill Of Human Rights, which was ratified in that year, but in 1984, the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment came into being, and was ratified in 1986, becoming international law then, and it is articles under this convention that really defeat all the justifications, all the defences, all the 'we did this for good reasons' arguments that we have heard for years.

International Law is quite explicit on this. Article 2 of the convention reads as follows.

1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.

Well, there's no ambiguity there. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, may be invoked as a justifcation for torture. Not even 9/11. And those who justify it, defend it, and support it, should understand that. No justification for torture, or “enhanced interrogation techniques” as the Bush administration liked to call it. And now, they have to do something about it.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on counter terrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson, said in a statement earlier this week, “The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today’s report must be brought to justice, and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes. The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorised at a high level within the US Government provides no excuse whatsoever. Indeed, it reinforces the need for criminal accountability. International law prohibits the granting of immunities to public officials who have engaged in acts of torture. This applies not only to the actual perpetrators but also to those senior officials within the US Government who devised, planned and authorised these crimes. As a matter of international law, the US is legally obliged to bring those responsible to justice. The UN Convention Against Torture and the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances require States to prosecute acts of torture and enforced disappearance where there is sufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction. States are not free to maintain or permit impunity for these grave crimes. It is no defence for a public official to claim that they were acting on superior orders. CIA officers who physically committed acts of torture therefore bear individual criminal responsibility for their conduct, and cannot hide behind the authorisation they were given by their superiors.

Human Rights Watch have also called for prosecutions as well. And the ACLU wants a special prosecutor appointed. But there it is, The US government is legally, and indeed, morally obliged to bring Bush, Cheney and the others to justice. It cannot just move on and leave this in the past, because it will never be left in the past, until the criminals are prosecuted for what they've done. In his Talking Points commentary, Bill O'Reilly said that opinion lines are drawn on ideology. No, they are drawn on legality. On one side, you have those who are trying to get away with doing something blatantly illegal under international law, and on the other side, you have those who know it's illegal and want to see justice take it's course, and to frame it in political or ideological terms, is completely dishonest. Bill also asked in his talking points commentary, who would you rather have protecting you -- Bush and Cheney, or those who oppose “enhanced interrogation techniques”. Given the evidence I have at my disposal, including international law, my answer is clear, I'd rather have people who do not use torture, rather than George W Bush and Dick Cheney.

RTE cancels Morning Edition, but two wrongs don’t make a right.

Two weeks ago, the Irish Examiner newspaper reported that RTE was axing it's morning news programme Morning Edition. It was one of those moves that came as a surprise, as it wasn't particularly signposted that such a move was about to happen. But frankly, the whole issue of Morning Edition, was a series of bad moves and mistakes from start to finish. RTE shouldn't be cancelling the programme, but it made a lot of mistakes in its creation too.

The whole situation dates back to the 1980s, when ITV and BBC created breakfast shows, TV-am and Breakfast Time. It was expected that RTE would follow their British neighbours lead and create their own breakfast television programme. But battles between RTE and the broadcasting unions in Ireland kept such a programme off the air for many many years.

Meanwhile, TV3, which itself got off to a slow start, getting licenced in 1989, and not launching until 1998 (and that's a long story in itself), launched its own breakfast show, Ireland AM, in 1999.  And since then, Ireland AM has become the default television choice for audiences at breakfast time.  On Radio, that honour goes to Morning Ireland, RTE Radio 1's equivalent of Radio 4's Today programme.

So, there you have the basic situation.  TV3 proud of Ireland AM, one of the few things they can be justifiably proud of, and RTE proud of Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1.  In fact, they're so proud of it, they put cameras in the radio studio and stream the show on RTE News Now.  So, with Ireland AM airing from 7am to 10am, RTE wanted to compete, but not to detract from Morning Ireland, which airs between 7am and 9am.

So, they created "Morning Edition", which aired for 2 hours from 9am to 11am on both RTE 1 and RTE News Now.  It was announced back in October 2012, and launched on January 28th 2013.  Visually, and format wise, it looked and felt like a breakfast programme.  With news summaries at the top and bottom of each hour, and the newspaper review, and orange tint, and lighter general tone, it has more in common with breakfast programmes than with the daytime hours that the show occupied. 

So, why was it airing at 9am, instead of at 7am, as it should have been?  The only answer that made any sense, was fear.  Fear of failing against Ireland AM, and fear of cannibalising the Morning Ireland audience on RTE Radio 1.So, it was a good show, in the wrong slot.  Too late in the morning, airing after the audience was gone.  Gone to work, gone to school, and gone to TV3 for Ireland AM. 

It was the one time RTE truly needed to compete with TV3, and they didn't.  And then TV3 effectively stuck the knife in deeper, by extending Ireland AM To 10:45, although this was mostly in response to the cancellation of The Morning Show with Sybil & Martin, which had launched in 2009, airing live on weekdays at 11am.  It had been launched as part of an overhaul of daytime programming, and had lasted about 4 years, before being cancelled in 2013.  Ireland AM was extended out to 10.45am, and RTE's Morning Edition found itself in a hole. 

It had not wanted to compete with Ireland AM, and now it was being forced to compete, against its wishes.  And because it started two hours later than Ireland AM, Morning Edition had no chance.  The content was great, it was just two hours too late.  Moving it to 8am, would have helped a little bit, would have taken away some of Ireland AM's lead, and it would have been a proper breakfast show, albeit a slightly late one, but workable as a breakfast slot.  But 9am just isn't workable as a time for a breakfast show, which Morning Edition, really was.

So, RTE decide to cancel Morning Edition, rather than move it, and risk cannibalising Morning Ireland's audience.

Except, that based on everything we've seen here in the UK, TV doesn't cannibalise Radio's audiences at Breakfast time.  Radio's audience at breakfast has remained very strong.  In fact, breakfast is still radio's most listened to timeslot.  Breakfast television hasn't garnered anything like the kind of audience that breakfast radio has, but it has done well enough to make it profitable. 

So, RTE's reason for not moving Morning Edition, has no actual basis in fact, and makes their decision to cancel the show seem very short sighted.  What they are afraid of, doesn't happen.  Radio listeners don't suddenly switch to TV, just because RTE One has a new breakfast programme.  Today on Radio 4 didn't lose listeners because BBC One launched Breakfast Time in 1983.  That audience is pretty fixed, they like Today, they don't want anything else, the competition can do what it wants, they're not going to move.  A similar situation will apply to Morning Ireland.  Their audience likes what Morning Ireland does, and that audience isn't going to suddenly evaporate away to TV, because TV has launched a new breakfast programme. 

RTE needs to get its confidence back.  They need to realise that they are playing for the long haul, not like TV3, living quarter to quarter, worrying about making more profits each quarter.  Both companies feel under pressure with the arrival at the beginning of 2015 of UTV Ireland, which has taken a lot of programming from TV3.  This won't directly affect Ireland AM, which has a steady 50,000 viewers and is produced by TV3 rather than bought in from ITV, which a lot of TV3 programmes have been.  But, it could affect it indirectly, through increased cost of producing home-grown primetime programming, with less money potentially available for their breakfast programme.

No matter what happens with UTV Ireland and TV3, the cancelling of Morning Edition, has been one of the biggest mistakes that RTE has made, bigger than the mistake of putting it on at 9am.  I hope that in cancelling it, they are working to bring a proper breakfast programme, starting at 6am or 6.30am, to RTE One, or at least, a breakfast sequence with half hourly news summaries, or at least, hourly news summaries, rather than teleshopping, and a repeat of a previous weekday's edition of a magazine show.

If they are so concerned about cannibalising Morning Ireland's radio audience, then make Morning Ireland, a joint radio/TV simulcast.  Present it from the RTE News TV studio, studio 3 at Donnybrook, produce it in a very similar way to how Morning Edition has been produced, with the emphasis on guests and live material, rather than packages, and the programme would air on RTE One, RTE News Now (which is pretty standard for all RTE One News programmes), and RTE Radio 1. 

Putting Morning Edition at 9am was a bad idea, but cancelling it now, is even worse, and as the old saying goes, two wrongs don't make a right.

Making Sense on Scottish Independence: The questions over what happens next…

I have noticed that a lot of people on social media have a lot of misconception about the whole Scottish Independence issue, especially in the area of what happens afterwards if the vote is in favour of independence.

Let’s start making some sense.  Nothing is going to happen immediately after the result is known.  Independence is a process that will only begin, once the result is known.  During that process, there will be a general election, which will mean that Scottish MPs will continue to sit in the House of Commons until Independence actually happens.  Oh and by the way, there is also a Scottish Parliamentary Election due in 2015, as well as elections to the Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland. 

There are lots of issues to actually sort out, such as currency, cross border trade, EU membership, UN membership, separation of the public services that are still controlled from Westminster and many others.  One of my favourite things to watch is what will actually happen to the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 in Scotland if they actually vote for independence.  Independence is a process and a negotiation that will take a couple of years to actually sort out.  And there could be two changes of government, one of each side of the negotiation, during the process. 

So we’re looking at a process that will take at least two years to actually sort out, and implement.  So independence for Scotland wouldn’t actually happen until late 2016 at the earliest, and probably not until 2017 if we’re being realistic.

But even if the vote result is not for independence, there will be some very interesting moves of powers from Westminster to Scotland, that much we know is going to happen, but what those exact powers will be, will only be known if the vote goes against independence.

Make no mistake, the story does not end with the result coming out next month.  In fact, we’ll just be getting to the good stuff, either way.

Murray sleepwalked to defeat? No Way!

So Andy Murray went out today at Wimbledon to 11th seed, the Bulgarian, Grigor Dmitrov, in straight sets.  And on social media, Murray was getting hammered, by people saying that he had sleepwalked into this defeat. 

Actually, it’s more like people sleepwalking into giving criticism that’s based on false premises and over-inflated, over-hyped expectations.  People were expecting Murray to actually successfully defend his title this year.  Only 4 men have achieved the distinction of defending the Men’s Singles at Wimbledon after your first championship during the Open era.  By far the most impressive of these, was Bjorn Borg, who won his first Wimbledon Men’s Singles in 1976, and then went on a run of 5 titles in a row, from 1976 to 1980.  He was only prevented in making it six on the trot in 1981, by a young brash American tennis player, named John McEnroe, who played the game of his life, to defeat Borg, who was still at the peak of his game, at a mere 25 years old. 

The other 3 to achieve that feat.  Boris Becker, in 1985 and 1986; Pete Sampras, in 1993 and 1994; and Roger Federer, in 2003 and 2004.  Coincidentally, there have also been 4 women to achieve the same feat.  Martina Navratilova in 1978 and 1979, Steffi Graf in 1988 and 1989, Venus Williams in 2000 and 2001, and Serena Williams in 2002 and 2003.  To have successfully defended the title this year, would have put Andy Murray in a very exclusive club indeed, a club that does not include Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pat Cash, Stefan Edberg, Andre Agassi, Goran Ivanisevic, Rafael Nadal, Leyton Hewitt or Novak Djokovic.  So there’s no shame in falling short of defending a title. 

And the other part of the equation, Grigor Dmitrov, has been on a roll since towards the end of 2013.  He won the Stockholm Open, his first title in his career, and this year, he has taken off, winning another 3 tournaments; The Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, The Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest and The Aegon Championship at Queen’s Club.  In fact, on grass courts right now, Grigor Dmitrov has won 10 matches in a row, a very impressive run by anybody’s standards.  Dmitrov is definitely the hot player right now.  His confidence is very high, and he is playing the kind of tennis that wins championships.  Murray just had a bad day at the office, played very passive against a very aggressive opponent, who actively prepared to face him, and Murray didn’t have the answers.

You know sometimes we tend to give criticism far too easily and often far too quickly, without actually considering all the evidence and background.  Too often, opinions on social media are written from the lower levels of the brain, which is very emotional, and often very limited in the kinds of responses that are available to you.  Stop, and think, and actually do some research.  Jurgen Klinsman, the USA’s team manager in Soccer’s World Cup, warned people about expecting too much from the team.  It’s always nice to root for someone to win, or for a team to win, but be realistic about it.  Nobody can win every time, as much as we might like them to.

The alternatives to the Dawlish route, and those getting in the way.

BBC News Online has a page up about the alternatives to the Dawlish route, for the railways in Cornwall and Devon.

Now, I’ve posted about this before, both on my radio show’s Facebook page, and here on the Viewpoint blog.  And I’ll be honest with you, this matters a lot to me.  After the closure of Plymouth City Airport, the loss of the helicopter link to the Isles of Scilly, and the continued situation at Newquay airport, which could close if subsidy isn’t made available, the fact that our only rail link to Exeter, Bristol, London, Birmingham, Scotland, and Wales is shut for 2 months, is a situation I want us to avoid in the future, AT ALL COSTS.

Let me say that again, at all costs.

With that said, let’s look at the routes proposed. 

The first three I’ll mention here, are new routes, which require a lot of work.  They basically by-pass Dawlish to rejoin the main line, either at Dawlish Warren, Powderham or Exminster.  These are not pre-existing lines, and would require a lot more work than any of the other routes.  In my view, these would only be any good if there had been no other alternatives.

The next route I’ll mention here is the old Teign Valley line, which connects Newton Abbot to Exeter, via Chudleigh and Christow.  It needs a little rebuilding, but it is a workable solution for when the Dawlish line is disrupted as it has been this winter.  I do have to agree with what the experts say though, it is of limited benefit really, but after the disruption we’ve had, I’ll happily take a limited benefit route over the messy situation that we as travellers have had to put up with.  This route should be put in place.

The last route is my personal favourite and should be running all the time, even alongside the main Dawlish route.  This is the over Dartmoor route that runs from Plymouth, up the current Gunnislake branch line to Bere Alston, then up an already committed line to Tavistock, then along a rebuilt stretch to Okehampton before joining up with an existing line that is currently used for freight, and Sunday passenger service during the summer, to Exeter.  This route should never have closed in the first place, and frankly, it shouldn’t be just an emergency route, it should be in operation all day, every day.

Unfortunately some people near the Tavistock route, seem to have very distorted priorities in this affair…

“…Colin Rogers, who owns the old Tavistock station - a mixture of holiday cottages and private homes - said property owners were concerned about how much compensation they would get…”

Compensation?  COMPENSATION???

Perhaps those property owners should consider compensating the business in their own area and everywhere westward for the loss of income that has resulted from the line closure at Dawlish.  If they invested in property without having a substantial cushion of liquid capital, then they’re playing in a class that they have no right to be in.  If they can’t handle the risk, they shouldn’t be playing the high risk, high rent district of property.

Viewpoint Sports: Does being 'booked' actually mean anything?

I've been thinking about this for a while, during various times watching either live football or football highlights programmes.  You watch a player commit a foul, and the referee decides that the foul is serious enough to warrant a 'booking' as it is called.  So the referee calls the player over, produces a yellow card, and puts the player's name and/or number in a little black book that he carries.

Sorry, but what kind of penalty is that?  What does going in the referee's little black book actually mean?

Apparently, not much.  A yellow card is a 'caution' that is issued to the player concerned.  That's it, merely a caution.  In Rugby Union, a player that is yellow carded is sent to the 'Sin Bin', for 10 minutes, temporarily reducing the team by 1, which in other sports is sometimes refered to as a "Power Play".

On this day, there were 5 Premier League matches in England.  Between those 5 games, there were 17 yellow cards and 2 red cards.  Now one of those reds was a straight red card, and upon viewing the footage, even that seemed harsh.  The Scottish Premiership saw 2 matches today, one of which had no yellow or red cards, the other had 5 yellows and no reds.  7 top flight games in the UK, and between them all, 22 yellow cards and 2 red cards.

In the English Premier League today, one team, Southampton, had 5 yellow cards issued against them. That's almost half a team in the referee's book.  It's not as bad as an infamous match in the 2006 World Cup when Portugal and the Netherlands were issued 16 yellow cards between them and 4 players got yellow carded twice and got sent off. 

It seems that cautions mean nothing.  Maybe it is time to change what a yellow card actually means in Football. 

Now there are two possible options.  One is to make a yellow card mean the same as it does in Rugby Union, 10 minutes in a penalty box or sin bin for the player shown the card, temporarily reducing the team strength by 1.  Such a move would stop the cynical fouls that result in bookings that prevent what look to be potential goals.  It would also make players think twice before making silly challenges as your team being down a player for 10 minutes is more of a penalty, than a mere caution.  Upon a second yellow card, it would still become a red and a sending off for the duration of the game. 

The other, is to separate the yellow card and red card offences, in other words two yellows would not be an automatic red card, and have various penalties, probably various cards, for differing lengths of time in the 'Sin Bin'.  You could have three levels of penalty, worth 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes depending on how serious the foul was, and the red card would still mean sending off. 

I like both thoughts, and to be honest, either one would have more of a deterrent effect than a mere caution. 

Good Morning Britain to return, but is it the change needed?

Earlier this week, we had perhaps the worst kept secret in broadcasting revealed to be true.  Good Morning Britain was indeed to return to ITV, although this time the hosts would be Susannah Reid, joining from BBC Breakfast; Ben Sheppard, former GMTV host; Charlotte Hawkins, joining from Sky News; and Sean Fletcher, joining from Sky Sports News and previously with BBC News Channel.

But this is not the first time ITV has changed the name of their breakfast programme.  In fact, Daybreak came about as a result of perceived problems with GMTV. 

But is another change of name and personnel what is required, or is it a case of moving the deckchairs on the Titanic?

In my analysis of Daybreak, and it's competition, BBC Breakfast, I noticed that whilst Breakfast looks like it comes from a BBC News studio, the look of Daybreak contrasts quite wildly with ITV News, despite having ITV News branded bulletins as part of Daybreak.  If anything, ITV needs to make it more like ITV News.  At the very least, the news bulletins every half hour should come from the ITV News virtual studio, albeit the colour scheme of the studio should reflect the Good Morning Britain look, to distinguish it from other ITV News bulletins, in the same way that ITV News at Ten does from the other bulletins.  

Editorially, the ITV News agenda has improved massively since the days of the 1999-2004 editorial debacle that was the excessively tabloid ITV News, which had replaced ITN News, even though the new look ITV News was still produced by ITN.  But the morning agenda, which has been carried through GMTV and Daybreak, hasn't caught up quite.  At times, it does catch up, and at other times, it seems to go backwards to being more tabloid again.  GMB needs to be popular, not tabloid.  There is a distinct difference, and it needs to be explained.

Tabloid is what you see in the red-tops, over-hyped, editorialised, and generally overdoing everything kind of news.  Another form of tabloid agenda is one that has been popularised by some local US TV stations, 'If It Bleeds, It Leads'. That's tabloid.  Shock value over News Value.

Popular News, as I call it, is the kind of news that actually isn't overhyped, isn't sensationalised, and isn't necessarily showbiz-based, but it is based on what people actually need to know.  It includes news about the economy and consumer related items, essential news about politics, mostly about real issues rather than the endless debates about Europe in the Westminster bubble; and it would also include some news about crime, although not in the hyper-sensentionalised 'if it bleeds, it leads' way that tabloid news does.

If ITV wants Good Morning Britain to be more successful than Daybreak, then it needs to totally embrace the current ITV News agenda, which is more like what I call 'Popular News'.  

But more than that, it needs to avoid the trap of going for competitions through the morning. Competitions are not required at that time of the morning, because most people who have the TV on at that time of day, can't stop to think about what the answer is, so don't bother with them.  Radio is learning this, and slowly moving away from competitions during their breakfast shows.

More than that though, GMB needs to cover things like Sport, which seems to get very little coverage currently on Daybreak.  Having Sean Fletcher as part of the team seems to indicate they are taking that angle more seriously.  Another angle that needs more coverage in the mornings is regional news.  6 minutes of regional updates across 3 bulletins, one per hour, isn't enough, when your competition is running 18 minutes of regional updates across 6 bulletins, twice an hour.  The contrast is stark, very stark.  If anything, even just a doubling of the number of updates, making theirs twice an hour, would be an improvement, but more than that, they do need to make their updates longer, and do something with them that makes them not just a copy of what the BBC does, but distinctive.

Some showbiz news will be a part of the programme, especially around the time of the awards ceremonies, like The Oscars.   But overdoing showbiz news is not a good thing, especially in the mornings.  ITV News has a lot of resources across the country, and using those resources wisely for the right stories, is going to be part of making GMB a success.

If they make a few changes of substance alongside the returning name and the new presenters, then it could help turn ITV's fortunes around.  If not, then it will simply be moving the deckchairs on the sinking ship.  Only time will tell us, if that is what happens.

Dawlish rail link to re-open April 4th.

This is a story that pleases me no end.

It will be exactly 2 months between the line getting damaged by storms, and the line re-opening, and that is great news.

Network Rail has been working around the clock to make the repairs that are needed to restore the line to working order.  They deserve our thanks and our appreciation.

Also, First Great Western deserve a lot of credit, for how they have handled the entire situation.  They have worked very hard to make sure that, as much as physically possible, some kind of service remained in place, even if it wasn't the one they had wanted to run, as based on their published timetable.

However, the whole situation has shown up issues that need to be tackled without delay.

The first one I'm going to bring up, is the continuing debate over whether there should be an airport in Plymouth.

I'm going to make no bones about this.  THERE MUST BE AN AIRPORT IN PLYMOUTH.

Why?  You even need to ask why?  The old Plymouth City Airport to London service could transport people there in less than an hour, whjilst the train still takes 3 hours at quickest.

It was also linked to Newquay Airport, in fact the route started there.  The whole route from Newquay to London via Plymouth took no more than 90 minutes, and was run up to 5 times a day.  And if you think that is the only route that Plymouth had, think again.  There were many others to other UK domestic airports, which made for a speedy connection to many places.

Such services could be provided again.  Flights to the Channel Islands, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Derry, Birmingham, St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly (via Newquay and Lands End[if they can tarmac it]), Leeds, Southhampton, Manchester, Liverpool and many more places are all possible, helping to create an air network that would be speedier than the train, and enable cross country travel between the South West and the rest of the country in no more than 3 hours.  Heck, even some limited international flights to places like Dublin or Paris would help no end.

Sadly, the airport's owners, Sutton Harbour Holdings, have shown no real interest in re-opening the airport, claiming it wouldn't be viable.  Yet it seems to be the case that the airport was viable when Plymouth City Council operated it.  And maybe a consortium could run Newquay and Plymouth airports together, making sure both remained viable and operational.

Because in many ways, when Plymouth City Airport closed, the routes that ran from Newquay became a problem, as the customers that were picked up at Plymouth made those routes viable.  Now the airport at Newquay needs subsidy to run.  If Newquay closes, then Exeter becomes the only major airport in the South West, and as we've seen with the railways since February 4th, getting to Exeter would be problematic.

So what to do about the railway itself?  Well, the favourite idea for creating a second route, has been the re-opening of the old LSWR line that ran from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton and Tavistock.  The route from Plymouth to Tavistock has already be committed to prior to this, and it does seem to make sense to re-open that old stretch of track.  The line was closed in 1968, and it was a shame that this happened.  The process of concentrating traffic on one line, the one that got damaged on February 4th, meant that old LSWR line was deemed surplus to requirements.  It doesn't seem surplus to requirements now.

There is also an old Teign Valley route which is being considered, and in my view, reviving this, AS WELL AS, the Plymouth, Tavistock, Okehampton, Exeter route, would be an ideal double solution to the problem.  The northern line needs to be revived anyway, and run as a regular service all the time.  The Teign Valley line would work as a back up should the line at Dawlish get damaged again.

There is one other point that I would like to make in regards to the railways around Cornwall and Devon.  The fact that some areas, especially around North Cornwall, have been cut off from the railway network and could do with being revived in order to create a second Great Western route.  The line between Newquay and Perranporth should be re-opened, as should the lines that connected Padstow, Bude and Launceston to the rail network.  Indeed, connections should be made between Penzance and Perranporth, possibly via St Ives, and between Newquay and Padstow, which would have the effect of creating a nice mini network of lines that since 1963 have only been served by bus services, and that has meant that the bus companies, First Western National and Western Greyhound, have something of a public transport monopoly in those areas, and it would bring competition back. 

At the moment, the lack of transport connections is reinforcing the old image of those of us in Cornwall and Devon as being in the sticks and cut off from the rest of the country.  We need to counteract that immediately.  Restore the lines that should never have been cut, the connections that are in danger need to be protected, and even enhanced as much as possible.  We must not rely entirely on roads, especially roads like the A38 where there are accidents every day, which close the road for hours at a time.

Newquay Airport must remain open.  Plymouth City Airport must be re-opened.  Lands End Airport must be tarmaced.  The old railway lines that were closed must be re-opened.  We must do whatever it takes, pay any price, to make sure our links with not just the rest of the country, but also the rest of the world, are not cut off.

Daily Star goes hyperbole-mad, and made up words.

This is not a news story that needs any further promotion, but what The Daily Star has done has highlighted what is wrong with the tabloid media today, and in no small way either.

The story is about someone who has been labelled a former 'it' girl.  She also happens to be the Daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, and elder sister of the current holder of that title, and the story concerns the outfit she wore to a party in Los Angeles, something she actually tweeted about, including a picture, obviously taken in the back of her limo, which gave a slight preview of her dress.  In other words, this ain't much of a story.

But, The Daily Star, also known as the Daily Star-Struck(!), decided it was worth covering and hyping to levels unseen outside of the Superbowl or the Olympics.  To do that, they describe her outfit thusly...

"...The socialite merged gapboob and dominatrix leather while attending a charity gala in California..."

Gapboob?  The very fact that the computer I am writing this post on doesn't even recognise gapboob as a word says a lot.  It's a made-up word, because somehow they think their audience won't understand the technical term of cleavage. 

As for it being 'dominatrix leather', leather is worn by many people other than dominatrix-types, but of course, since the whole '50 Shades of Grey' thing became popular, tying it in to that imagery has become the standard thing to do.  But somehow, I can't imagine a dominatrix wearing a full length dress with a fishtail hem, as the Daily Star describe it...

"...The full-length frock, complete with fishtail hem, was made from biker chick leather, bringing a very Fifty Shades of Grey vibe to proceedings..."

See what I mean about '50 Shades of Grey'?   Wait, it gets worse...

"...Lady Victoria's attempts to soften her look with an elegant updo and silver chandelier earrings failed to steer this look away from fetish friendly as she attended the unite4:humanity red carpet event..."

First, why would you need to steer this look away from fetish friendly?  Second, she looked glamourous, stylish and elegant in that dress.  And that is something not every woman could achieve.

She pulls of an elegant look, with leather, and she is critcised in the article for an indecent neckline, and wearing dominatrix leather.  Is it any wonder that newspapers are losing readers, as their grip on the real world seems to get more tenuous by the day, and the amount of hype that they put in to a non-story to make it a story, does the exact opposite of justifying the story's existence in the newspaper.  It highlights that the 'story' probably should never have appeared.


More power to Lady Victoria Hervey, I say, for wearing a very stylish leather dress, that made her look stunning.

Russia goes backwards on LGBT

Russia Today are reporting that the the lower house of the Russian Parliament, The Duma, has voted for a ban on promoting non-traditional sexual relations to minors.  Now whilst this might sound sensible, it is one of those ideas that in practice causes a lot more problems than it solves.

The situation in Russia regarding LGBT relations has been pretty stable since 2003.  The age of consent is 16, for both heterosexual and LGBT relationships, homosexual sex is legal, as is the right to change your gender, but there is still a long way to go. 

There are no anti-discrimination laws in place for the Russian LGBT community, and this new law seeks to take the issue further back into the dark ages.  People start to express their sexuality as early as their early teens, and they will want to find out information.  Blocking access to that information will not promote heterosexuality, but will make LGBT relationships, and other non-traditional sexual relations more interesting.  It's classic reverse psychology, tell somebody they can't do something and they want to do it all the more.

Some ideas sound eminently sensible.  However, most of those ideas end up causing more problems, especially when those measures are directly against a person's sexuality, and also, trying to place societal controls on something that Mother Nature decides.  It comes across as being a fool's errand to try and place societal controls, such as laws, on things that are not decided by societies, but by nature.

What's worse is that the public backs this ban.  88% back it, and 42% think homosexuality should be made a criminal offence.  This is a backward step for Russia, and it will come back and bite them, when they least expect it.

Abolish the Seanad? No thank you.

In terms of politics threatening to get out of control, this is one situation where that could easily happen.  Enda Kenny, The Taoiseach, announced that he was bringing forward a bill to abolish the Seanad Eireann, the upper chamber of the Irish Parliament, the Oirechtas.

Unlike here in the UK, where the upper house, The House of Lords, is an unelected body, appointed by the Prime Minister via the system of honours bestowed by The Queen, The Seanad Eireann is made up of 60 members.  11 of these are directly appointed by the Taoiseach.  3 are elected by graduates of the University of Dublin, 3 are elected by graduates of the National University of Ireland, and the remaining 43 are elected from 5 special panels called Vocational Panels, made up of TDs, Senators and councillors.

Yeah, it's a little complicated, and that's one of the aspects of the Seanad Eireann that needs reform.  The Seanad should be directly elected, just like the US Senate is.  Further more, let's keep it simple.  Two Senators elected from each county in the Republic of Ireland, 26 counties, 52 Senators in all. 

That's just one aspect of the Seanad that needs reform, there are many others too.  Nobody thinks the Seanad can survive as it currently is.  But I believe Enda Kenny is wrong to call for the abolition of the second chamber.  In parliamentary democracies, the upper chamber is always the modifier, the body that curbs the excesses of the lower house.  With no upper house, there is no body to oversee the lower house and curb it's excesses.  That is why that abolishing the Seanad is wrong, no matter what additional measures you might put in.  The upper chamber must be there to give legislation a more considered opinion, than the lower house can.  That's what it should be doing, and that is why I would recommend everybody in Ireland to vote against any move to abolish the upper chamber.

Making Sense: Protests in Turkey and Comparisons to Arab Spring

For about the past week, there have been protests going on in Instanbul, not Constantinople.  Originally, these protests began over plan to redevelop a park.  Gezi Park to be precise.  But it has turned into something quite different. 

Basically, the protestors right now are worried, worried for their freedoms, worried that secular Turkey, which is constituitionally secular, might be changed to an Islamist state in a new constitution.  It wouldn't be the first time that Turkey has had a new constitution.  The first one was back in 1873, then 1921, 1924, 1961, and finally, 1982, which is the current constitution of Turkey, which enshirnes into law, the fact that Tirkey is a secular and democratic republic which derives it's power from the people.

The constitution was the subject of a referendum in 2010, after Parliament failed to give constitutional amendments the necessary two thirds majority, although they did vote in favour.  The amendments were passed by the referendum.  Some people in Turkey have started to feel that Turkey's three time Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, of the conservative AKP party, may be moving towards turning Turkey into an Islamic state, and an authoritarian one, despite his denials.

That's what is really driving the current wave of protests in Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities right now.  There have been calls for the Prime Minister to resign, which he has dismissed, but it is clear that the Prime Minister and the AKP has lost the confidence of at least some of the people. 

Some have compared this to the Arab Spring uprisings that happened back in 2011.  Whilst those comparisons are understamdable, I believe those comparisons are a little bit far fetched to be honest.  Those were protests in Islamic countries with autocratic governments.  As I stated earlier, Turkey is democratic, and secular.  It is so polar opposite, that the simialrities are literally only superficial ones.  Protestors taking over a local square and promising to stay there until their demands are met.  Sounds more like the Occupy movement. 

Undoubtedly though, this is a local problem within Turkey, and the AKP and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have got to listen to their own people.  Otherwise, they will be regarded as elitist and out of touch with the electorate that gave them their mandate, and that is a situation that few politicians ever recover from.

Cornwall Independent councillor out-crazies the Tea Party.

I never thought that I'd see the day when a UK politician presented something crazier than the Tea Party Republicans do.  I even less expected to find that crazy UK politician within my own home county of Cornwall.  None the less, this year, it happened.  What's even crazier is that he resigned, re-stood for election, and got re-elected.  What's worse is that this politician is not a Conservative, not a member of UKIP or the ultra crazy BNP.

Oh no, this was an Independent councillor, unaffiliated with any major political party in the UK.  Sit back, relax, and listen to a cautionary tale from the other side of the big pond, about a Cornwall councillor, disabled children, and council spending.

First, we must add in some relevant context to this tale.  The UK Government is currently a coalition between the Conservatives, the UK equivalent of the Republicans, and The Liberal Democrats, a centre-left party not dissimiliar to the Democrats.  That's enough to make you think that coalition would never work, but surprisingly, more than halfway through the five year term, it's holding together.  Some activists in the UK have refered to it as a Con-Dem administration. 

However in Cornwall Council, these two parties have been on opposite sides of the chamber since 2009.  Conservatives once again were in coalition running the council, but this time, with a large group of independent councillors who held more seats than the Liberal Democrats.  Cornwall is one of the few counties in the UK where Independent, unaffiliated councillors form a major political force, and will often work together, almost like a political party.  The Liberal Democrats had been in charge of the previous county council from 2005 to 2009, but had been voted out of office for creating the current Unitary council, which combined the previous county council and 6 smaller district councils into one body.  So, after the 2009 local election, they were the opposition to the Conservative/Independent coalition, along with 3 Green Party councillors.

Our story involves one of the Independent councillors, from a ward called Wadebridge East.  His name is Collin Brewer, and he was elected relatively comfortably in 2009.  At the time of his election, nobody knew that he was going to become one of the most hated people in Cornish politics.  The incident that was to cause him to become the most hated man in Cornish politics happened in 2011 during an event at County Hall in Truro, the administrative capital of Cornwall. 

The event was a disability forum, and Mr Brewer was speaking to a member of the organisation Disability Cornwall.  Mr Brewer claimed that "...disabled children cost the council too much money and should be put down." 

Now, you'd think a comment that controversial would have been reported straight away.  Nope, it wasn't reported to the public until February 2013, almost 2 years after the incident happened.  Hey, I know the pace of life in Cornwall is a bit slower than in big cities, but not usually that slow!

However, the charity Disability Cornwall did complain to the council and the Standards Committee (yes, we actually have standards committees in UK politics, and they actually do hold people to acceptable standards.) reported its findings in February 2013.  After that report, there were many calls for Mr Brewer to stand down as a councillior.

Collin Brewer put up a vigourous defence, claiming that he wasn't being serious, he was only trying to provoke a discussion on the issue of service costs provision, during a time when central government grants to councils was being cut back, and regulations prevented them from raising all the money that had been cut through local taxes like council tax and business rates. 

Facebook was mobilised against him, a page that demanded his resignation garnered over 3600 likes.  He was told he was no longer welcome as part of the Independent group on Cornwall Council.

But finally on 28th February 2013, Collin Brewer finally realised his position was untenable, and he finally resigned admitting he was wrong, and that he would probably be apologising for it for the rest of his life.  He also said it was unlikely that he would stand in the local elections in May.  Now you might think that this would be the end of the story and 99 times out of 100, it would be.  But as Keith Olbermann once said about an unrelated story, "...this is the 100th time out of 100."

On the 5th of April, Collin Brewer announced that he would be restanding for the seat of Wadebirdge East that he had previously held, in the May local elections, once again, as an Independent.  In 2009, he had been one of four candidates, but this time, he was up against 5 other candidates, one an Independent also, the other four represented four of the political parties in the UK.  Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats and UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party).  He stated that the decision was a response to local people who had asked him to stand again.

During the election campaign, the movement that had gotten him out of office, suddenly coalesced again, this time to persuade people not to elect him.

On my own Viewpoint blog, I highlighted the Wadebridge East ward as one of the stories to watch for that night.  I didn't know if Collin Brewer was going to be re-elected, but I suspected it would be close.  I thought it was too soon for him to have been forgiven for his comments, but I did wonder if he might have persuaded enough people that he hadn't meant what he said.

Come the following day, it was discovered he had won his seat back, by just 4 votes.  4 measley little votes gave him victory, a victory that he certainly hadn't deserved, nor should he have been allowed to earn.  Disability Cornwall's chairman Steve Paget was "staggered" and "appalled" at the result.  Almost immediately, the movement that had gotten him out once before, went into overdrive, in order to drive him out once again. 

In the less than 3 weeks since his election victory, there have been a number of protests and tons of calls for him to resign once again.  The leaders of all the political groups in the new council, Liberal Democrat, Independent, Conservative, Labour, Greens, even UKIP, have all called on him to stand down.  The new leader of the Independent group, now in coalition with the Liberal Democrats on the new council, has taken the same decision, and said that Collin Brewer is not welcome as part of the Independent block.  Collin Brewer is a councillor with no support at all in council.

But even that might not be enough to unseat him, now he feels he has a mandate for his views and an electorate behind him.   He has gone one stage further now, in an interview with the Disability News Service, he linked the killing of disabled babies, to farmers killing deformed lambs, a situation that had occured recently due to a disease that was causing many lambs to be born with deformed limbs.  Devon and Cornwall Police are investigating complaints about this interview, and more complaints are expected to be lodged with the police.  Cornwall Council are also investigating.

As far as my research goes, no Republican has ever dared to suggest such an idea.  If you do know different, let me know and point me in the direction of where it was said, I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

So you see, political crazies are not limited to the extreme right wing, they can appear from almost anywhere, even those unaffiliated with any political party or movement.  Remain alert everyone, and watch out, for you never know when a political crazy will suddenly rear it's ugly head.

(Cross posted on my Daily Kos diary.)

Viewpoint Extra: Woolwich murder

As a follow up to my post, I am glad to see that at least one politician agrees with me about not allowing fear to win, and even quotes the Koran verse 32 chapter 5 in showing how Islam is not a violent religion...

"If anyone kills a human being it shall be as though he killed all mankind whereas if anyone saves a life it shall be as though he saved the whole of mankind."

The full story is here.

Thank you, Nick Clegg, for being a voice of sanity within the madness.