Mick Hartley

Politics and Culture

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  • Night welding

    Back to the busy 24-hour Baltimore shipyards. Arthur Siegel, May 1943. "Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland. Welding in front of the shipways at night."

    image from www.shorpy.com
    [Photo: Shorpy/Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information]

  • Out of the box

    What's going on in Australia?? From the JC:

    Antisemitic vandals have spray-painted Nazi symbols and slogans on a building in Melbourne that formerly housed a business founded by Holocaust survivors.

    The vile graffiti was discovered on the site of Gottlieb’s Builders Supplies, which closed down recently having been founded in 1965.

    Its founder was a Holocaust survivor who emigrated to Australia and set up the stalwart suppliers, according to a report from The Nightly.

    Screenshot 2025-02-17 142324

    Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler said: “Mr Gottlieb knew every plumber by name, everything was done by handshake. What his grandchildren said to me when they told me [about the attack] was that were thankful [their grandparents] were not alive to see this, as it looks completely foreign from the Australia they knew.

    “Something we know from history is that antisemitism exists under the surface. When it’s out of its box, and it is allowed to come out, it is much harder to put back in. That is what we are experiencing right now. It was not taken seriously enough at the beginning or called out.”

  • Munich again

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  • BBC on Gaza

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    Full text:

    This documentary by the legendary French filmmaker, Pierre Rehov, reveals why the majority of the Muslim population in Gaza rejects peace as part of a or the two-state solution. Even the leaders of Gaza Ministry of Health (also known as Hamas) who were interviewed in the documentary claimed that all they want is to wage Jihad (Islam’s holy war) against Israel in order to kill Jewish people including women and children as an Islamic act of worship.

    As you can see in the full documentary (link attached below), many Palestinians insist that they are victims of Israeli oppression. They complain about Israel’s walls, security fences and checkpoints. According to them, Israel’s security measures have deprived the Palestinians in both Gaza and West Bank of their right to freedom of worship because they can’t go into Israel and kill non-Muslims as human sacrifices for the sake of Allah, Islam and Jihad. This is why they call on the international community to impose arms embargo and sanctions on Israel until it stop protecting its borders.

    Link to the full documentary:  Behind the Smokescreen

    Not a film, I would imagine, that we'll be seeing on the BBC anytime soon.

  • A strengthening comprehensive strategic partnership between North Korea and Russia

    North Korea, according to the Daily NK, is boosting its military aid to Russia.

    North Korea has intensified its military cooperation with Russia through new orders detailing specific commitments of weapons, troops, and technological collaboration, Daily NK has learned.

    A source in the North Korean military told Daily NK recently that the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Central Military Commission issued detailed orders to multiple military organizations on Feb. 2. The directives, finalized the previous day, went to the Defense Ministry’s General Bureau of Equipment, the WPK Munitions Industry Department, the Second Economic Committee, the Missile General Bureau, and the Combat Training Bureau of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Staff Department.

    These organizations have begun implementing the orders, which outline specific roles for each body. “The Defense Ministry’s General Bureau of Equipment and Second Economic Committee will handle shell production and export, while the Missile General Bureau and Munitions Industry Department’s technology division will manage military technology cooperation,” the source explained. “The Combat Training Bureau of the KPA General Staff Department is responsible for troop preparation.”

    According to the source, the Defense Ministry and Second Economic Committee are working to deliver hundreds of thousands of 152mm and 122mm shells to Russia before March ends. The shipment will also include hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles, including tactical guided missiles (KN-23) and super-large multiple rocket launchers (K-24).

    The scope of military assistance reflects a strengthening comprehensive strategic partnership between North Korea and Russia. With Russian forces facing weapons shortages, the continued supply of both armaments and troops from North Korea could significantly impact the war’s trajectory.

    The troops haven't turned out to be much use, so I guess this is the next step. But will the hardware be any better than the soldiers?

    And what about those useless troops? Well…

    North Korea’s Seventh General Bureau has launched a recruitment campaign to send soldiers for construction work in Russia, Daily NK has learned.

    A source in North Korea told Daily NK recently that the initiative began following orders from the Central Committee on Feb. 4. “The Seventh General Bureau is working with Namgang Trading Company on this recruitment drive, which started Feb. 6 and will continue for four months,” the source said.

    The program appears to address Russia’s construction worker shortage, a consequence of its ongoing war with Ukraine. According to the source, North Korean authorities approached Moscow in late 2024 with a proposal to send active-duty soldiers to Russian construction projects. Russian officials approved the plan in early February.

    The bureau aims to select 1,000 soldiers who have served at least three years, organizing them into three groups of roughly 300 each. These units will primarily work at construction sites in Vladivostok, Saint Petersburg, and Novosibirsk.

    “This initiative is part of the military’s broader effort to meet government foreign currency quotas,” the source explained. The bureau plans to recruit and train multiple groups of soldiers for deployment to Russian construction sites before June’s end….

    North Korean leadership expects significant economic benefits. “Party officials anticipate a substantial increase in foreign currency earnings during the second half of this year if deployment proceeds as planned,” the source noted. “They see this military construction initiative as a milestone in North Korea-Russia economic cooperation.”

    If the quality of construction meets the usual standards of North Korean workmanship, the citizens of Vladivostok, Saint Petersburg, and Novosibirsk may not be too enthused with the results.

  • Science and scepticism

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  • Facing the sack for speaking out in defence of single-sex spaces

    Now she's threatened with the sack. The NHS Fife farce continues:

    A nurse who challenged a trans doctor for using women’s changing rooms is being threatened with the sack by the NHS after “misgendering” her colleague, The Telegraph can reveal.

    Sandie Peggie, who brought a landmark employment tribunal against NHS Fife and Dr Beth Upton, is understood to have been told to attend a conduct hearing on Friday which her employer has warned could lead to her dismissal.

    The nurse, who had a previously unblemished 30-year career, is accused of committing misconduct by challenging the presence of Dr Upton, who was born male but identifies as a woman, in female facilities at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy on Christmas Eve 2023.

    At the centre of the allegation which now threatens to ruin Ms Peggie’s career is that she “misgendered” Dr Upton by using male pronouns, including when speaking to other NHS colleagues….

    Experts told The Telegraph that the move from NHS Fife to push ahead with possible dismissal was “extraordinary” given that Jane Russell, the lawyer representing the health board and Dr Upton, had publicly accused the nurse of harassment and bullying towards Dr Upton in tribunal proceedings.

    It is claimed that this pre-judged the outcome of the health board’s own investigation process, and would hand Ms Peggie strong legal grounds to challenge the outcome and any sanction.

    A senior MSP said it was “beyond belief” that a nurse with three decades of experience was facing the sack for speaking out in defence of single-sex spaces.

    It's Scotland. They do things differently there.

    Murdo Fraser, Scottish Tory MSP, said SNP ministers now had serious questions to answer about how the case had been handled. It emerged on Sunday that Neil Gray, the SNP health secretary, was warned in 2024 that NHS Fife was failing to meet its legal obligations to provide single-sex facilities but apparently failed to act.

    “It is beyond belief that this dedicated nurse who has given 30 years of service to the NHS is now potentially facing the sack,” Mr Fraser said.

    “This sorry saga exposes the stark reality of the Sturgeon-era extremist trans agenda where those who speak out in defence of women and girls’ rights to access single-sex facilities are the ones who are wrongly punished.

    “Sandie Peggie has been failed by NHS Fife as well as SNP ministers who have turned a blind eye to this issue and serious questions must be answered about the handling of this case.”

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  • A stark example of the results of embedding gender identity ideology

    Joanna Cherry in the Spectator on the NHS Fife – Sandie Peggie case:

    Across the UK, NHS services are coming under increasing pressure. Hospital waiting lists are too long while A&E departments struggle with patient demand. Nevertheless, at an employment tribunal in Scotland this week, we have learned that health boards like NHS Fife can apparently afford to suspend a senior A&E nurse with 30 years’ experience and an unblemished record for months simply because she dared to question the presence of a transwoman doctor in the ladies changing room….

    The otherwise cash-strapped NHS doesn’t have to worry about funding its defence: it has the bottomless pit of taxpayers’ money to rely on. Senior Counsel has been instructed to represent both the NHS Trust and Dr Upton, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds of public cash and the many hours of lost NHS time. To make matters worse the whole thing is proceeding at a snail’s pace largely because the health service appear to have failed to fully comply with a court order for production of documents. NHS Fife has been forced by the sterling efforts of Ms Peggie’s barrister to produce more files as the case progresses, necessitating frequent stops and starts….

    Not since the case of Isla Bryson (the trans rapist who wanted to go to a woman’s prison) has the Scottish public seen such a stark example of the results of embedding gender identity ideology. The painstaking work of a small cabal of lobbyists has poisoned our institutions with a science-denying dogma designed to elevate the rights of biological men who claim they are women above all else. A noticeable feature of the case is the silence of nursing unions. Women’s rights are not high on the list of priorities of most trade unions these days.

    Far from turning a blind eye to this, our political class have by and large waived it through. While this may have happened in Scotland on the SNP’s watch it should never be forgotten that at UK level gender creep happened under the Tories – though they have now seen the light. This malaise has infected all political parties.

    And virtually all our institutions – including, of course, the NHS. And IPSO [the Independent Press Standards Organisation].

    Cherry on X, "My original copy said “man” in the ladies changing room, but the trans cult which is essentially a men’s rights movement has captured the chocolate teapot that is IPSO so even the Spectator have to bow down to censorship."

    See here 0n how IPSO surrendered to the trans lobby.

  • Forgotten Tibet

    The Sunday Times on a new documentary about Tibet:

    Our extensive research across a year shows that Xi’s mission is to forge a single Chinese identity, one centred around the Han Chinese majority and loyalty to the Communist Party, to unify the country and ultimately prevent unrest from ethnic minorities, such as Tibetans. Experts say it is central to ensuring that the Communist Party retains control over such a vast country.

    A Han Chinese man who has resettled to a Tibetan town describes the government’s long-term objectives to Chang: “The Communist Party’s goal is to gradually assimilate them into Han Chinese, so they can’t make trouble.”

    Campaigners say at the heart of Beijing’s efforts are Tibetan children who are are separated from their families and placed in boarding schools, where they are taught in Mandarin. They estimate up to a million Tibetan children — as young as four — are living in residential schools that seek to shape them into Chinese citizens.

    Gyal Lo, a Tibetan sociologist and education researcher, became alarmed by the boarding schools in 2016 when they were first introduced. He has visited more than 50 of them across Tibetan regions and believes that they have two goals: “One is to instil the Communist ideology and the second is to instil the Chinese culture.”…

    One mother, whose children go to a local school, tells him: “They don’t speak our language, just Chinese from kindergarten and primary school.”

    She says that her children now respond to her in Chinese and cannot speak Tibetan anymore.

    A million or so children removed from their families in Tibet, to be indoctrinated into Chinese culture; a million or so Uighurs in "re-education" camps in Xinjiang. Forgotten.

    On ITV1 at 10.15 tonight.

  • “Overwhelmed by the sense of connection” in Iran

    That couple now in an Iranian jail on "unspecified security charges"….from the Times:

    “Despite the advice of friends, family and the [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] (which strongly advises against travel to Iran for British nationals), we’ve chosen to keep moving forward,” the post reads. “Why? Because we believe that, no matter where you are in the world, most people are good, kind humans striving for a meaningful life.

    “Yes, we’re aware of the risks. But we also know the rewards of meeting ­incredible people, hearing their stories and seeing the breathtaking landscapes of these regions could far outweigh the fear. From the vast deserts of Iran to the towering peaks of Pakistan, we hope to share the beauty, hospitality and humanity that often go unnoticed.”

    Posting before their arrest, the couple wrote about “having an amazing time”, the “lovely people” and being “overwhelmed by the sense of connection” in Iran. In her last post on January 3, ­Lindsay was pictured meeting a “kind and thoughtful mullah” at a madrassa in Isfahan, central Iran. Each had a hand on their heart. “This simple act — placing a hand on the heart — transcends words, cultures and languages,” she wrote in a caption. “It’s a universal expression of respect, gratitude and connection.”

    "Comments for this article have been turned off". Oh dear. Nasty people might be tempted to make rude uncharitable remarks about such a self-evidently lovely couple.