KNOW that AmericaInTheWorld has commissioned a poll to check how ignorant the British are about America. How ignorant? Very. 

A poll of nearly 2,000 Britons by YouGov/PHI found that 70 per cent of respondents incorrectly said it was true that the US had done a worse job than the European Union in reducing carbon emissions since 2000. More than 50 per cent presumed that polygamy was legal in the US, when it is illegal in all 50 states. . . .

The survey showed that a majority agreed with the false statement that since the Second World War the US had more often sided with non-Muslims when they had come into conflict with Muslims. In fact in 11 out of 12 major conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, Muslims and secular forces, or Arabs and non-Arabs, the US has sided with the former group. Those conflicts included Turkey and Greece, Bosnia and Yugoslavia, and and Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

Asked if it was true that “from 1973 to 1990 the United States sold Saddam Hussein more than a quarter of his weapons,” 80 per cent of British respondents said yes. However the US sold just 0.46 per cent of Saddam’s arsenal to him, compared to Russia’s 57 per cent, France’s 13 per cent and China’s 12 per cent.

David Cameron wants us to understand Americans better…

Via Andrew Bolt.

SAYS David Cameron:

“I turned down a road I don’t normally go down and I slowed down.

“As this van drove by, this hand came out and just bashed me in the back with the aim of pushing me in front of the car.

“Luckily I managed to put the brakes on. He gave me a hell of a shock.”

The perils of laying hands on Dave…

Picture: Beau Bo D’Or Website

SAYS Michael Gove, the Conservative’s education spokesman, and Times hack:

“Titles such as Nuts and Zoo paint a picture of women as permanently, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly available.

“The images they use and project reinforce a very narrow conception of beauty and a shallow approach towards women. They celebrate thrill-seeking and instant gratification without ever allowing any thought of responsibility towards others, or commitment, to intrude.”

Nuts and Zoo, the Argos jewellery section of the magazine shop.

Here’s a thought, Mr Gove: boys who buy Nuts and Zoo do so because they can’t reach the topshelf magazines.

Mr Gove’s thoughts are published in the Guardian. (The words hereunder are scored through because of  the comments below, and a note to Anorak from Simon Waldman, Director of Digital Strategy and Development, Guardian Media Group):

In March 2008 Emap plc was acquired by Eden Bidco Ltd, a joint venture between Apax and Guardian Media Group plc.

Emap publishes Zoo. The Guardian is run by The Scott Trust - “As the sole shareholder in Guardian Media Group the Scott Trust measures the return on its investment in terms broader than pure financial performance.”

The Scott Trust values are:

• honesty
• cleanness (now interpreted as integrity)
• courage
• fairness
• a sense of duty to the reader and the community

We put these principles into action and fulfil our responsibilities primarily through our day-to-day business conduct and the editorial content of our newspapers, websites and other media.

Cleanness - all the girls on Zoo are scrubbed ready for your inspection.

Michael Gove writes for The Times, owned by New Corp, publishers of How to Make Love Like a Porn Star (Jenna Jameson), The Sun (Page 3 Girls) and the News of The World, which contains adverts for readers to call dirty college girls live.

Anorak feels dirty just writing about it…

DAVID Cameron says teach the kids to drink at home. Says Melisaa Kite:

If the answer to alcoholism really is to teach children how to drink, then why don’t the Tories propose giving away free Dubonnet and soda in schools during break time, or perhaps little bottles of vodka and red bull at lunch.

Yeah, perhaps…

DID you know that only 7% of Conservatives approve of the BBC - PoliticsHome

WHAT did David Cameron says when his bike was stolen?

The Times says he “had his bike pinched while he popped into his local Tesco supermarket in north Kensington to ‘buy some salad’”.

Anorak was certain Cameron said he had popped out for some “salmon”. On such things common touches are established and lost.

But there was one fact: Cameron’s bike has gone. He left his bike outside, and when he returned, there it was, gone.

But the bike is now returned. And it’s all thanks to the Sunday Mirror and its contacts on the street.

(more…)

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INCREDIBLE coincidence indeed that Howard Woodall’s cartoon - the one self-aggrandising Tory blogger Iain Dale considers worthy of his blog - should so closely resemble an earlier work by Cox & Forkum, as feartured on Anorak.

Good to see that great minds can think so very much alike. But, then, looking towards Iran can make you see double…

It’s not plagiarism - really…

CONSERVATIVE candidate Shaun Bailey on knife-crime:

I know what it’s like to come from a poor background, growing up in a tough area, north Kensington. But it’s no excuse. Much has been made of the link between poverty and crime: it’s often used as an excuse for seriously anti-social behaviour. But few of these stabbings are motivated by robbery. They are much more about bullying and simply inflicting injuries upon others to exert power.

Another commonly held belief is that young people who get involved in knife crime have low self-esteem. I’ve been a youth worker for more than 19 years and I’ve found that many of those involved in these types of crimes actually have a very high opinion of themselves - this is part of what allows them to justify their actions to themselves.

They mug and stab and bully because they think they are better than you…

CLASS war in the Mirror where hackette Julie McAffrey is given the task of visiting “posh” Padstow, Cornwall, and “sophisticated” Southwold, Suffolk, where, respectively, David Cameron and Gordon Brown and spending part of their summer holidays.

When he wasn’t prime minister, Brown was a regular visitor to Cape Cod in the US; now he’s in charge he stays in the UK, offering us no respite and him no rest.

(Picture: Beau Bo D’Or Website)

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AND we thought scepticism was healthy: Says the Guardian’s the paper’s RSS feed:

‘Many Tory MPs still climate sceptics’: Poll suggests up to a fifth of all MPs do not understand, or choose to ignore, the science behind global warming

Only a fifth…

NEWS all around that Boris Johnson has appointed his new Number 2, following the departure of Ray Lewis, who as the Mail says, “resigned earlier this months over accusations of sleeze”.

That’s Ray Lewis, Justice of the Peace, or not:

Ray Lewis is not, and never has been, a magistrate. On Thursday both he and the mayor said he was.

Johnson’s new No.2 is Sir Simon Milton, as pictured…

“ULTIMATE HONOUR FOR LADY THATCHER,” announces the Mail on its front page.

What’s it to be? An Audience With Maggie, live on ITV, with the Iron Lady fielding questions from other 1980s stars, like TV’s Dirty Den, radio’s Kid Jensen and laughs with Freddie Starr, culminating in a duet in which Mike Yarwood plays Ronnie Renee-gan to Maggie’s Renato?

“Lady Thatcher to be honoured with State funeral,” says the paper, “but Palace fears there might not be enough troops to line streets of London.”

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DAVID DAVIS wins! What exactly he won is open to debate, but he won it in the strongest possible terms:

Monster Raving Loony Party candidate, Mad Cow Girl, tells the BBC: “I may be a loony but I’m not mad enough to want dangerous people to be walking the streets.”

Picture: Hack

IAIN Dale, the wannabe MP Tory blogger, is involved in a magazine called Total Politics. Lord Michael Ashcroft’s money is buying:

Total Politics is a lifestyle magazine dedicated to all things political. Our overarching goal is to be unremittingly positive about the political process and to bring you the most interesting, informative and insightful features and commentary from across the UK and the world

It will sell politics to people who have bought a magazine about politics. But what’s unique about it?

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ON the blog:

David Davis doesn’t want a real debate on the Orwellian State – he wants a controlled one that’s only on his terms with safe people like Tony Benn and Bob Geldof.

Spotter

SAYS David Davis on his blog:

The agenda is still out there: today I have been explaining that I am not against CCTV- but if it is going to be used the cameras should be able to provide clear images and all of the evidence should be usable in court. Currently only 20% is usable. At the moment we just have a placebo effect for Citizen UK.

This is “David Davis For Freedom”, it says so at the top of his page. Freedom loving Davis thinks CCTV cameras are fine but should be better so that the state can see us clearly.

Similarly, why should a million innocent people and 100,000 children be kept on the DNA database? This is the state exceeding its powers.

Can the two things be allied?

Is David Davis opposed to 42 days detention without trial because it’s not long enough?

26 candidates will contest the by-election sparked by the resignation of Tory David Davis as an MP:

* Grace Christine Astley - Independent
* David Laurence Bishop - Church of the Militant Elvis Party
* Ronnie Carroll - Make Politicians History
* Mad Cow-Girl - The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
* David Craig - Independent
* Herbert Winford Crossman - Independent
* Tess Culnane - National Front Britain for the British
* Thomas Faithful Darwood - Independent
* David Michael Davis - Conservative
* Tony Farnon - Independent
* Eamonn “Fitzy” Fitzpatrick - Independent
* Christopher Mark Foren - Independent
* Gemma Dawn Garrett - Miss Great Britain Party
* George Hargreaves - Christian Party
* Hamish Howitt - Freedom 4 Choice
* David Icke - No party listed
* John Nicholson - Independent
* Shan Oakes - Green Party
* David Pinder - The New Party
* Joanne Robinson - English Democrats: Putting England First
* Jill Saward - Independent
* Norman Scarth - Independent
* Walter Edward Sweeney - Independent
* Christopher John Talbot - Socialist Equality Party
* John Randle Upex - Independent
* Greg Wood - Independent

Jeremy Hunt:

Sometimes graffiti – however objectionable and anti-social it is in principle – can be very thought-provoking. There’s a wonderful slogan daubed on a fence alongside the M40 coming in to London which says “Why do I do this every day?” Thousands of stressed commuters presumably pause for a second as they pass it.

On the road?

RIGHT-WING bloggers are everywhere. But what kind of right-wing blogger are you?

Bloggerheads:

POLITICAL quote of the day: 

Life on a prison wing can be compared to a rough voyage on a ship. Your fellow passengers are people you would never have chosen to be with in the first place – but by the time you have crossed the bay of Biscay you get to know the cast of characters on board extremely well

- Former Conservative Minister Jonathan Aitken on life aboard the HMP Belmarsh

BILLY RUFFIAN for Davis Davis:

I think that maybe I’ve been taking pills,
‘cos David Davis is acting like John Stuart Mills,
And in taking on Brown, Dacre and Murdoch,
The establishment are in a difficult spot.

“I’m making out my political will,
By opposing the anti-terrorism bill,
But the government wish to rid us of Habeas Corpus,
So if you believe in freedom you’ll have to support us.”

The most unlikely civil liberties defender of all
What about Magna Carta? Did she die in vain?

Via