Monty Panesar’s Flying Circus, and the other greatest sporting endings
MONTY Panesar’s Flying Circus, and the other greatest sporting endings
As Monty Panesar dived comically to slide his bat over the popping crease and set up England’s great escape against New Zealand in Auckland, he and his teammates provided a finale worthy of the ten greatest sporting climaxes of all time. And competition for places is nothing if not fierce…
Cricket first, and in 2009 Monty was of course involved at the business end of the first test match to be played at Cardiff, when England clung on to save the game, and set up their second successive home Ashes series victory. Better still, though, was…
Posted: 27th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
‘Hypocrite’ Piers Morgan and his ‘buddy’ Snoop Dogg prove the gun nuts right
PIERS Morgan wants tighter gun control in the US of A. The CNN host can be seen posing with Snoop Dogg on his Twitter profile. This makes him a hypocrite, right?
I’m not sure if the Sandy Hook families will approve of your “buddy” relationship with a rapper who glorifies shooting people. @piersmorgan
I had no idea that @piersmorgan‘s twitter cover was him posing with a guy that made his fortune rapping about shooting ppl (and may have).
Posted: 24th, March 2013 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (3) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Liberal bigots monster Richard Littlejohn and the Daily Mail over Lucy Meadows’ death
LUCY Meadows, 32, is dead. We are not certain why the teacher at St Mary Magdalen’s School, in Accrington, died. It looks like suicide. But we do know that when she began teaching at the school she did so under the name Mr Nathan Upton.
From the start of the spring term, students would call Mr Upton, Miss Meadows.
Headteacher Karen Hardman tells the Manchester Evening News:
“News of Lucy’s death has come as a tremendous shock to everyone in the school. She was a greatly valued member of our staff and we send her family and friends our sympathy and prayers. We are working closely with the county council and the diocese to ensure we offer our pupils and staff the support they need. I would ask people to respect the privacy of everyone involved at this difficult time.”
St Mary Magdelen’s School is a Church of England primary school. Two of its core values are:
Remembering our uniqueness
Believing in equality and accepting and respecting differences
Posted: 23rd, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, News | Comments (7) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
22 cats that look like pin-ups
WE at Anorak love pin-ups. We are, however, less certain of cats. Can pin-ups save the feline terrors?
Posted: 22nd, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, Strange But True | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
The decline of English centre backs is a myth
IN “Dying breed: The decline of the English centre back is bad news for Hodgson” Martin Keown laments the state of English-born defenders. He illustrates the decline with some examples. He writes in the Daily Mail:
Look at the Under 21 squad of 20 years ago and the likes of Darren Anderton, Andy Cole, Steve McManaman, Rob Jones, Ugo Ehiogu and Lee Clark were all playing regularly for their clubs.
Aside from the former Aston Villa player Ugo Ehiogu, none of the others Keown cites operated in central defence.
That England Under 21 team on 7/9/1993 was (see above): UGO EHIOGU, IAN WALKER, MATT JACKSON, CHRIS SUTTON, GARRY FLITCROFT, NEIL COX, BRYAN SMALL, ANDY COLE, STEVE MCMANAMAN, JAMIE REDKNAPP, DARREN ANDERTON.
The central defenders were:
Ugo Ehiogu played 4 times for Villa in the 1992-1993 season.
Neil Cox: played 14 times for Aston Villa in the 1992-1993 season.
Posted: 21st, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (3) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Iraq 2003-2013: the war in 100 photos
ON March 20, 2003, the US-led an invasion on Iraq. What happend next?
File photo dated 28/03/03 of locals flee the burning town of Basra in Iraq. March 20 marks 10 years since British troops helped invade Iraq as part of a multi-national task force. At the peak of the operation, some 46,000 British servicemen and women are deployed.
File photo dated 24/03/03 of Royal Marines from 40 Commando travel north through southern Iraq. British forces scoured the Iraqi desert for two missing soldiers Monday but said the US-led war could weather setbacks hitting both the air and ground campaign. March 20 marks 10 years since British troops helped invade Iraq as part of a multi-national task force
File photo dated 27/09/03 of soldiers from the Kings own Scottish Borderers patrolling a camel train near the Tigres river outside Al Amara in Northern Iraq.
Royal Navy Tomahawk Land Attack Missile launched at a target in Iraq, , seen through the periscope of the firing submarine.
Alex Matheson with his Challenger II tank of the Desert Rats man an operational post in Basra, southern Iraq.
File photo dated 30/03/03 of families continuing to leave Basra in southern Iraq, across one of town’s bridges manned by British soldiers.
File photo dated 23/03/03 of oil wells on fire in southern Iraq as British Household Cavalry Scimitar Tanks drive past.
File photo dated 08/04/03 of a boy in Basra presenting a Fusilier with a flower as local people cheered the Desert Rats patrolling through the city’s streets.
A suspected al-Qaida member is detained in an Iraqi SWAT raid in Latifiyah, Iraq on Saturday, March 16, 2013. An al-Qaida-affiliated group in Iraq claimed responsibility for a carefully planned assault on the Justice Ministry in downtown Baghdad the previous week, less than a week before the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, showing how vulnerable the country remains to insurgent attacks.
Iraqi security forces inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Basra, Iraq, Sunday, March 17, 2013.
In this Saturday, March 9, 2013 photo, Shams Karim gets a kiss from her cousins in Baghdad, Iraq. It’s been more than six years since a bomb ripped away the eyes from Shams Karim, killed her mother and left the little girl, now 7, blind for life. Throughout Iraq there are tens of thousands of victims whose lives are forever scarred by the violence of war. Their wounds – and those of tens of thousands of U.S. and other foreign servicemen – may never entirely heal.
A victim of a bomb lies wounded at a hospital in Baghdad, Friday, March 1, 2013. A series of bombings struck Baghdad and towns south of the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing and wounding scores in areas that are home to mostly Muslim Shiites ¬ó the latest evidence of rising sectarian discord in Iraq.
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, front, is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, after a pretrial military hearing. Manning, the Army private arrested in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that could send him to prison for 20 years, saying he was trying to expose the American military’s “bloodlust” and disregard for human life in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military prosecutors said they plan to move forward with a court-martial on 12 remaining charges against him, including aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.
In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 photo, Iraqi women walk past a billboard showing Shiite religious leaders and Shiite’s who were killed during a fight between US troops and al-Mahdi Army militia in the Jihad neighborhood of west Baghdad, Iraq. The fliers claiming to be from a new Iranian-linked Shiite militant group began turning up last week in front of Iraqi Sunni households bearing a chilling message: Get out now or face “great agony” soon.
An Iraqi man throws his orange prison orange jumpsuit in the direction of the prison where he was detained for over five years, his family said, after being released in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. More than 200 prisoners were released from Iraqi Interior Ministry custody on Thursday.
Iraqi civilians and security forces inspect a crater caused by a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. A suicide car bomber joined by other suicide attackers on foot assaulted a provincial police headquarters in a disputed northern Iraqi city killing and wounding scores of people, police said.
Retired Infantryman Brendan M. Marrocco uses his transplanted arm to brush his hair back during a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 29. 2013 at Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore. Marrocco received a transplant of two arms from a deceased donor after losing all four limbs in a 2009 roadside bomb attack in Iraq. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)
Covering their heads with mud, Iranian women attend Ashoura rituals, marking the death anniversary of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, at the city of Bijar, west of the capital Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. Hussein, one of Shiite Islam’s most beloved saints, was killed in a 7th century battle at Karbala, Iraq.
Warrant Officer Second Class Simon Rolls, from Manchester, and based with the Defence Munitions Centre in Kineton, Warwickshire, sorts through ammunition which is due to be destroyed at an Ammunition Compound near Basra in southern Iraq.
A young Iraqi girl points the way forward for her country and the current political situation by displaying a page entitled ‘Give and Take’ as she shows off her new english language textbook in the village of Al Waki, near Basra in southern Iraq. A strong British armed force remains in Basra, though that is due to slowly ebb away if the safe transfer of sovereignty from the coalition to Iraq’s transitional government on June 30th is secured.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes his arms to pump up morale Friday, March 12, 2004, for about 700 Army National Guard troops preparing to deploy to Iraq, during a visit to the Army’s National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif. At right is Brig. Gen. Oscar Hilman.
Prime Minister Tony Blair appears before the Commons Liaison Committee, where he is expected to announce an inquiry into the intelligence on which he based his decision to go to war with Iraq. Making the first of his two scheduled appearances before the committee this year, the Prime Minister was being questioned for two hours by a panel made up of the chairmen of various Commons select committees.
Territorial Army troops – including Private Jolene MacKay (foreground), a store assistant from Wick – from the 51st Highland Regiment, prepare to leave their Perth Headquarters, their families and jobs for a four-month tour of duty in Iraq. Around 80 Highland troops will be based in Basra, where they will guard the Shaibah airfield in the south west of the city.
Undated handout image of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein following his capture by soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, in Tikrit, Iraq, December 13, 2003.
This is an image obtained by The Associated Press which shows Sgt. Michael Smith, right, with his black dog Marco, Sgt. Santos Cardona, second right, with his tan dog Duco with a detainee and Pvt. Ivan L. Frederick II, left, at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq on Dec. 12, 2003. Cardona, an Army dog handler was part of a small crew of corrupt soldiers who enjoyed tormenting detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a prosecutor at his court-martial said in an opening statement Tuesday, May 23, 2006. But a defense lawyer said Cardona, who is charged with abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, followed the law and obeyed orders at a time when the Pentagon was demanding intelligence from Iraq through a fractured chain of command. (AP Photo)
British Army dog Buster with his handler Sgt Danny Morgan after receiving the PDSA Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross at London’s Imperial Museum. Buster, a six-year-old Springer spaniel, broke a resistance cell in Safwan, southern Iraq, when he discovered a hidden cache of weapons and explosives. He is considered responsible for saving the lives of countless civilians and troops.
Iraqis scream as they fire into the air during the funeral of slain police officers in Fallujah, Iraq Saturday Sept. 13, 2003. Eight iraqi police and one Jordanian national were killed when U.S. soldiers mistakenly opened fire on a group of Iraqi police.
Faiz Siddiqi arriving at RAF Uxbridge to give evidence in the case of Moshin Khan, 24, a Muslim RAF reservist disciplined for refusing on religious grounds to fight in the Iraq war, to appeal against the ruling. It is alleged that Leading Aircraftsman Khan, a medic, went into hiding after being called up for pre-deployment training. He was arrested under the Air Force Act 1955 and summoned to appear before his junior subordinate commander. A punishment of seven days restrictions and nine days forfeiture of pay was administered, but Mr Khan appealed and the disciplinary action was not taken.
Andrew Gilligan, the BBC journalist at the centre of the row over alleged Government exaggeration of the case for war on Iraq, arrives at the High Court in London, to give evidence to the Hutton Inquiry into the death of weapons expert David Kelly. * Mr Gilligan met Dr Kelly in the Charing Cross Hotel in central London a week before his May 29 Today report alleging that the dossier had been “sexed up” at the behest of 10 Downing Street.
The badge worn by Michael Todd as he arrives back in the UK at Teesside International Airport, after being held as a prisoner by the USA in Iraq. Mr Todd, 33, a street performer from York, told today how he was locked up as a prisoner of war and treated like a terrorist suspect after he was arrested by US troops in Iraq while searching for his young daughter.
Yuko Mori, a female opposition lawmaker, swarms to a chairman to stop the passage of the Iraq bill forced by the ruling party lawmakers at the upper house in Tokyo Friday, July 25, 2003. The ruling party plans to approve the Iraq bill which enables for the Japanese government to dispatch Self-Defense Forces to Iraq to help reconstructing the war-torn country.
FILE – A U.S. soldier aims his weapon at a man who a soldier had just shot in the neck as he attempted to flee down a narrow alley in a van, across the street from the scene of Tuesday’s intense shootout on a house in Mosul, Iraq on Wednesday, July 23, 2003. The man was shot after failing to stop and later tended to by U.S. forces. Troops were on high alert after the previous day’s operation in which Odai and Qusai, the elder sons of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, were killed.
The final letter written by Lance Corporal Ben Hyde to his parents before he died in Iraq when six Royal Military Policemen were killed on duty. Thousands lined the street, for the funeral of Lance Corporal Hyde who was one of six Royal Military Policemen killed in Iraq during an ambush on a civilian police station.
Microbiologist Dr David Kelly leaving The House of Commons, after giving evidence to the Commons select committee. Dr Kelly was named by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) last week as a contact who it believes briefed BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan about the Iraqi weapons programme. 18/07/03 : David Kelly, 59, the Government adviser on Iraqi arms named as the possible ‘mole’ for a BBC report claiming the Government ‘sexed up’ its dossier on weapons of mass destruction, after being questioned by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Mr Kelly has been reported missing by his family. Police say that Dr Kelly went missing from his home in Abingdon, near Oxford, at around 3pm Thursday July 17, 2003, after telling his wife he was going for a walk. The family called police when he had failed to return by 11.45pm. 20/07/03 The BBC’s Director of News has confirmed that scientist Dr David Kelly was the source of the controversial Iraq dossier story, BBC News 24 announced. Dr Kelly’s body was found near his home in Oxfordshire on Friday.
BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, who reported that Downing Street had ‘sexed up’ it’s September dossier, during a press conference in central London, about The Decision to go to War on Iraq. * The committee concluded the Government undermined the credibility of its case for war by producing the second ‘dodgy’ dossier on Iraq s weapons. The document was published on February 3, two weeks before MPs voted on whether to send British troops to war.
The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Donald Anderson, during a press conference held at Portcullis House.
The No. 2 most-wanted Iraqi official has been captured in Iraq, according to US television sources based in Iraq. Abid Hamid Mahmud Al-Tikriti, described by the U.S. as a presidential secretary to Saddam Hussein and charged with his security, was captured Tuesday by the U.S. military and the Central Intelligence Agency.
A crowd gathers to watch soldiers from A Company 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment take on a local soccer team in an impromptu match in Al Madeena, Iraq.
Major Mark Goymer of 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment gets his first haircut of the war from Cpl Danny Powell in Al Qurna. * Major Goymer was rebuked by the Regimental Sergeant Major who has the authority to order more senior officers to smarten their appearance as he feels necessary. Major Goymer had not had his hair cut since arriving in the region in early February.
A square from the Monopoly-style games board designed by the soldiers from Egypt Squadron of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, attached to Black Watch, who are relaxing after being among the first British forces into Basra, southern Iraq. *..The game is nicknamed Monop-Telic after the codename for the war, Operation Telic.
A woman peers into the dispensary of the Al Qurna hospital in Iraq, as a doctor hands out medicines on only the second day it has been open since being looted. One doctor managed to hide some pharmaceuticals at his home before it was stripped bear. * A platoon from the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment is now guarding the site.
Torture victim Abdul Kareem Kassim in Shuhaba, southern Iraq, shows off the tattoo forcibly cut into his back by Saddam Hussein regime’s prison guards.
Lt Col. Piers Hankinson of 2 RTR (Royal Tank Regiment) speaks to the 2nd Royal Tank Battle Group near Basra, Iraq.
Saddam Hussein’s luxury yacht the al Mansur. The yacht was bombed while moored in Basra, southern Iraq.
Iraqi children use an anti aircraft gun as a roundabout outside the former Ba’ath Party headquarters in Ad Dayr, near Basra, southern Iraq.
Less than ideal conditions, a burns victim, allegedly the result of coalition action 10 days ago, at Basra General hospital. The Hosptial has no fresh water or electricity.
Soldiers from the Tactical Supply Wing walk along a fuel line at a forward refuelling dump near the southern Iraqi town of Safwan. The U.S. military is seeking more commercial quality jet fuel for use in the Gulf, traders said.
British soldier David Porteous relaxes by the bullet riddled pool at Basra’s secret police HQ.
FILE – In this April 7, 2003 file photo, U.S. Army Stf. Sgt. Chad Touchett, center, relaxes with comrades from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, following a search in one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces damaged after a bombing, in Baghdad. In the beginning, it all looked simple: topple Saddam Hussein, destroy his purported weapons of mass destruction and lay the foundation for a pro-Western government in the heart of the Arab world. Nearly 4,500 American and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives later, the objective now is simply to get out _ and leave behind a country where democracy has at least a chance, where Iran does not dominate and where conditions may not be good but “good enough.”
Naked women anti -war protesters confront police outside the Permanent Joint Headquarters of the British Armed Forces in Northwood, north west London, during a protest.
British Royal Air Force ground crew relax in the sunshine as they admire pictures of the forces sweetheart, glamour model Michelle Marsh (left) ‘The Harrier Honey’ and a model, during a break in their 12 hour shift patten on their base in Kuwait.
Red tipped 7.62 calibre tracer bullets for a general purpose machine gun are distributed to paratroopers of the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment at their camp Eagle 2 in the Kuwaiti desert.
Sgt Steve Perry with his wife Debbie, son Alfie and new born baby daughter Katie in Watford. British soldier Steve had dashed home from the Gulf to see his baby being born and arrived at the hospital still in combat gear missing the birth by just hours. *..Sgt Perry was given last minute leave from his unit in Kuwait on Saturday and had no time to change his clothes or to call home to say he was coming. Steve, 32, was oblivious that his wife Debbie, 31, had gone into labour two days early and was having an emergency caesarian.
Aerial view of Hyde Park during the anti-war march in central London.
A slogan referring to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, is painted on the bodywork of a F-18 Hornet in the hanger of the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln is currently in the Arabian Gulf enforcing the no-fly zones over Iraq.
Photograph from the dossier of evidence against Saddam Hussein published by the British Government of one of eight “presidential sites” or what have been called “palaces” from which it says UNSCOM inspectors have been banned by the Iraqis. * on the grounds they are sovereign. The report says that many of these so-called palaces are in fact large compounds which are an integral part of Iraqi counter-measures designed to hide weapons material.
A photograph is attached to the back of the tombstone of Army 1st Lt. Thomas J. Brown in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday, March 19, 2013, in Arlington, Va. Brown was a casualty of the Iraq war. March 20, 2013, marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
People gather at the scene of a car bomb attack close to one of the main gates to the heavily-fortified Green Zone, which houses major government offices and the embassies of several countries, including the United States and Britain in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 19, 2013.
File photo dated 02/04/03 of Lance Coprporal Graeme Church 27 from Middlesborough celebrates the fall of Saddam Hussien as a 17 foot tall statue of Saddam Hussien which was toppeled and beheaded by Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers 25 Armourded Engineer squadron, 2 RTR (Royal Tank Regiment) battle group in Az Zubaya, Iraq. March 20 marks 10 years since British troops helped invade Iraq as part of a multi-national task force. At the peak of the operation, some 46,000 British servicemen and women are deployed.
An Iraqi Shiite woman carries a television on her head in a camp outside of Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq.
An Iraqi man waves the nation’s flag from atop a new sculpture symbolizing freedom upon the pedestal of the former Saddam Hussein statue on Firdos Square during a rally in Baghdad, Iraq Saturday, April 9, 2005. Iraqi artist Bassem Hamad al-Dawiri, whose sculpture replaced Saddam Hussein’s statue after it was toppled in central Baghdad following the U.S.-led invasion, has died in a car accident, the Association of Iraqi Artists said Saturday. He was 34.
An elderly Iraqi Shiite woman smokes a cigarette while visiting the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, is confronted by a protester Desiree Anita Ali-Fairooz with her hands painted red as she arrives to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007, before the House Foreign Relations Committee hearing regarding US policy in the Middle East ,where she spoke about Iraq.
A U.S. army soldier from Blackfoot Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, watches a movie at K-wal combat outpost in the village of Shakarat, in the volatile Diyala province, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Christmas Eve.
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., pauses prior to speaking about Iraq and the economy, Thursday, March 20, 2008, at the University of Charleston in Charleston, W.Va.
Family members mourn near bodies of their relatives who are lying in front of the hospital in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad Monday April 21, 2008. A joint U.S.- Iraqi force unearthed on Sunday 10 badly decomposed bodies found in Anbakiyah area, about 20 kilometers east of Baqouba, police said on Monday.
Kathy Fendelman comforts her twins Samantha and Benjamin, 9 , as their father First Sgt. Barton Fendelman leaves Philadelphia for an eventual deployment in Iraq. The soldier, not pictured, is a member of the of the 304th Civil Affairs Brigade and will be beginning his second deployment to Iraq following training at Ft. Dix ,N.J.
Iraqi army soldiers demonstrate their skills, during a joint military and police parade in Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, May 26, 2008. Four battalions of 3500 male and female personnel are made up of special forces of rapid response troops.
Chelsea pensioner Arthur Barrow, 81, with a controversial floral sculpture by artist Tony Smith, which symbolises the shortage of equipment for British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, unveiled at the Chelsea Flower Show, London.
An Iraqi man stands near to a badly damaged civilian car, after a car bomb exploded nearby, next to a crowded bus stop where passengers were lining up, in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday , June 7, 2008. Three policemen and one civilian were killed, and 18 wounded, in the blast, police said.
Weapons seized by Iraqi security forces during recent operations in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City are on display at the 9th Iraqi Army Division headquarters in southeastern Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, June 18, 2008.
A female police officer aims with her pistol in a shooting range during a graduation ceremony in Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, on Wednesday, June 25, 2008. Some 115 police woman graduated Wednesday day from Karbala’s police academy.
U.S. military service members take an oath at a mass re-enlistment ceremony in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, July 4, 2008. 1215 service members re-enlisted Friday during an Independence Day ceremony at al-Faw palace at Camp Victory.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrives in Baghdad, Iraq in a Super Puma helicopter.
The first class of Daughters Of Iraq begin their training as security volunteers in Zaganiyah, north of Baghdad in Iraq’s volatile Diyala province on Tuesday, July 8, 2008. Around 70 women clad in black abayas fanned themselves in a courtyard at a police station Sunday as Iraqi officials and U.S. troops gathered to celebrate the graduation of the first Daughters of Iraq group in this volatile area.
Iraqi army soldiers detain a man they allege is on a wanted list, who a returning resident accused of killing her son, during an operation to enable displaced families to return to their homes, in the Tabook neighbourhood of west Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008.
Supporters of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn symbolic American flags as they demonstrate against the proposed security pact between Iraq and the U.S., in Baghdad’s Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Iraq, Friday, Oct. 31, 2008.
Worshippers attend Friday prayers at a mosque in Kufa, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Oct. 31, 2008.
Captain Olivia Berry from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, after receiving her operational medal after her deployment to Iraq, during a ceremony at Wessex Barracks in Bad Fallingbostel, Germany.
An Iraqi displaced by sectarian violence dips his finger in ink after voting in the country’s provincial elections in Sulaimaniyah, 260 kilometers (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009. More than 63,000 internally displaced people have registered to vote by absentee ballot for ruling councils. Iraqis passed through security checkpoints and police cordons to vote Saturday in provincial elections that are considered a crucial test of the nation’s stability as U.S. officials consider the pace of troop withdrawals.
Detainees pray at a U.S. military detention facility Camp Bucca, Iraq, Monday, March 16, 2009. The United States aims to shut down its largest detention center, Camp Bucca, by 2010. More than 9,600 detainees who were captured as national security threats over the last four years are still being held there; at its peak, the prison located 340 miles southeast of Baghdad held 26,000 detainees. Under the Jan. 1 security agreement with Iraq, the U.S. has released more than 1,8000 detainees so far this year and expect to release as many as 1,300 each month.
Hundreds of balloons are released with the names of Servicemen killed in the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan at St James Park, Newcastle.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair looks on during a reception at the Guildhall in London following the service of commemoration at St Paul’s Cathedral honouring UK military and civilian personnel who served in Iraq.
This photograph is one in a portfolio of twenty taken by eleven different Associated Press photographers throughout 2004 in Iraq. Insurgents, using small arms and mortars, launch an attack on U.S. forces in Fallujah, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 8, 2004.
The 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglians receive their medals after their 6th month tour of Iraq at their Pirbright Barracks Surrey.
This photograph is one in a portfolio of twenty taken by eleven different Associated Press photographers throughout 2004 in Iraq. A detainee in an outdoor solitary confinement cell talks with a military policeman at the Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq Tuesday, June 22, 2004. The Associated Press won a Pulitzer prize in breaking news photography, Monday April 4, 2005 for the series of pictures of bloody combat in Iraq. The award was the AP’s 48th Pulitzer.
The sun sets at British army Camp Abu Naji near Al Amarah, Maysan Province, Iraq, Wednesday 14 December, 2005. Tomorrow will see Iraq’s first full election under the country’s new constitution.
Iraqis dance over the remains of a burning effigy of Saddam Hussein Wednesday April 5, 2006 in Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqis gathered in Najaf to denounce the former dictator as Saddam Hussein was cross-examined for the first time in his six-month-old trial.
President Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast, Thursday, May 1, 2003. The carrier will arrive in San Diego May 2, 2003, following a record 10-month deployment including “Operation Iraq Freedom.”
Brian Haw shouts into a megaphone during a protest by the Stop The War coalition in Parliament Square, London, ahead of a debate on Iraq in the House of Commons.
A man cries while searching for his son as smoke billows from a building after a double car bomb attack in central Baghdad, Iraq.
Anti-war protestors gather outside Downing Street in central London to demonstrate against the war in Iraq shortly before Prime Minister Tony Blair was due to leave Downing Street for Prime Minister’s Questions for the final time
Iraqi woman look at the site of a blast at a bus station in the Baiyaa neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq.
A U.S. soldier detains a man suspected of carrying out executions for al-Qaida during a pre-dawn raid in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq.
Buglers from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles on the ledge of The Great West Window of York Minster today, where they played the Last Post at the 19 Light Brigade memorial and thanksgiving service for those who died in Operation Telic 9 in Southern Iraq.
A U.S soldier from Bravo 1-12 Cav. Battalion takes a picture of an Iraqi man’s eye for identification, during operation Wickersham 3, near the city of Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
The Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook’s letter of resignation outside No 10 Downing Street in central London. Commons Leader Robin Cook tonight quit the Government, saying he could not back war without a fresh United Nations resolution. * Mr Cook became the first Cabinet rebel to resign as other senior members of the Government met in Downing Street for an emergency session on the Iraqi crisis. The former Foreign Secretary ended weeks of speculation about his future which intensified when he questioned the legality of military action at last week s Cabinet meeting. Mr Cook was giving a full explanation of his decision to MPs tonight. But he said in a statement: It is 20 years ago that I first joined Labour s shadow cabinet. It is with regret I have today resigned from its Cabinet. I can t accept collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain now to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support. Resignation letters between Mr Cook and the Prime Minister confirmed he had threatened to go if a new resolution was not passed.
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s reply to the Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook’ letter of resignation.
Posted: 20th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
On This Site: photos of Iraq then and 10 years after the invasion
ON This Site is a photo essay of what life was like after the 21-days war that was Operation Iraqi Freedom and what it looks like now. Between 19 March 2003 to 1 May 2003, the Iraq War raged. Against a backdrop of duplicitous Western leaders (Tony Blair being the most craven) and Saddam Hussein’s brutality, the US led forces from the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland into Baghdad:
In this Wednesday, March 13, 2013 photo, Iraqi policeman Ahmed Naji stands on the grounds of the Iraqi National Museum at the site of an Associated Press photograph of U.S. soldiers on guard outside the museum taken by Anja Niedringhaus on Nov. 11, 2003. Tens of thousands of artifacts chronicling some 7,000 years of civilization in Mesopotamia are believed to have been looted from Iraq in the chaos which followed the the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Despite international efforts to track items down, fewer than half of the artifacts have so far been retrieved. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
This Tuesday, March 12, 2013 photo shows a general view of Abu Nawas Street in Baghdad, Iraq, at the site of a photograph of Iraqi orphan Fady al-Sadik waking on the street, taken by photographer Maya Alleruzzo in April, 2003. The park that runs along Abu Nawas Street, named for an Arabic poet, is now a popular destination for families who are drawn by the manicured gardens, playgrounds and restaurants famous for a fish called mazgouf. Ten years ago, the park was home to a tribe of children orphaned by the war and was rife with crime.
In this Wednesday, March 13, 2013 photo, Iraqi policeman Ahmed Naji stands on the grounds of the Iraqi National Museum at the site of an Associated Press photograph by Murad Sezer showing a U.S. Army tank parked outside the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad on Tuesday, May 6, 2003. Tens of thousands of artifacts chronicling some 7,000 years of civilization in Mesopotamia are believed to have been looted from Iraq in the chaos which followed the the US-led invasion in 2003. Despite international efforts to track items down, fewer than half of the artifacts have so far been retrieved.
In this Thursday, March 14, 2013 photo, Hussein, 3, poses in Firdous Square in Baghdad with a photograph taken at the site by Jerome Delay of the Associated Press showing the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down by U.S. forces and Iraqis on April 9, 2003. Ten years ago on live television, U.S. Marines memorably hauled down a Soviet-style statue of Saddam, symbolically ending his rule. Today, that pedestal in central Baghdad stands empty. Bent iron beams sprout from the top, and posters of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in military fatigues are pasted on the sides.
In this Saturday, March 16, 2013 photo, street photographer Raad Mohammed poses with a photograph taken by photographer Khalid Mohammed in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square showing an Iraqi soldier manning a checkpoint on Friday, June 9, 2006, after the Iraqi capital was subjected to a vehicle ban in an effort to prevent reprisal attacks from suicide car bombs after the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Today, the square is the site of anti-government protests and a place for candidates in the upcoming election to display their campaign posters.
In this Saturday, March 16, 2013 photo, motorists fill the main street in Baghdad’s busy shopping district of Karrada, at the same site of an Associated Press photo taken by Hadi Mizban on Friday, Friday, March 7, 2008 after a bombing that killed 53 people and wounded 130. Bloody attacks launched by terrorists who thrived in the post-invasion chaos are painfully still frequent, albeit less so than a few years back, and sectarian and ethnic rivalries are again tearing at the fabric of national unity.
This Tuesday, March 12, 2013 photo shows a general view of Abu Nawas park in Baghdad, at the site of a photograph taken by Maya Alleruzzo showing Iraqi orphans playing soccer with a U.S. soldier from the Third Infantry Division in April, 2003. The park that runs along Abu Nawas Street, named after an Arabic poet, is now a popular destination for families who are drawn by the manicured gardens, playgrounds and restaurants famous for a fish called mazgouf. Ten years ago, the park was home to a tribe of children orphaned by the war and was rife with crime.
In this Friday, March 15, 2013 photo, a woman and her child look at a camel at the Baghdad Zoo, as Abdullah, 8, poses with a photograph taken on July 20, 2003 at the same site by Niko Price of the Associated Press, showing a U.S. soldier visiting the newly-opened zoo. The zoo was decimated during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, when the staff fled and looters gutted the zoo and the park surrounding it. Only a handful of animals survived, and later the grounds were used as a holding facility for looters detained by U.S. soldiers. The zoo reopened in July 2003, after being rehabilitated under the care of U.S. Army Capt. William Sumner and a South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony. Today, it houses over 1,000 animals and is a popular destination for families.
This Thursday, March 14, 2013 photo shows a general view of the crossed swords monument at the site of an Associated Press photograph taken by Karim Kadim of U.S. soldiers taken on Nov. 16, 2008. The crossed-sword archways Saddam Hussein commissioned during Iraq’s nearly eight-year war with Iran stand defiantly on a little-used parade ground inside the Green Zone, the fortified district that houses the sprawling U.S. Embassy and several government offices. Iraqi officials began tearing down the archways in 2007 but quickly halted those plans and then started restoring the monument two years ago.
Posted: 18th, March 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
The 25 most bizarre and adventurous aircraft ever invented
THE 25 most bizarrer and adventurous aircraft ever invented.
Posted: 16th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, Technology | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
1948 test: How Masculine or Feminine Are You?
IN 1948, the sexually confused could take Psychoquiz to determine how masculine or feminine they were. Is your favourite movie star a guy or a girl? Do your enjoy reading The Winning Of The War in Europe & The Pacific or a still more romantic tome? Crabbing or dancing? Do you make slip covers or repair chairs? Flowers or vegetables? Plaid or flowery patterns? Do you take quizzes in magazine to check on your hormones?
Posted: 16th, March 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Artist gives Queen Elizabeth a make-over on Australian five dollar note
WHEN her Majesty The Queen puts down her copy of Majesty – ‘The Quality Royal Magazine’ – (an ITV documentary reveals that Liz subscribes to the organ that records her own life. Whenever Phil asks her how her day went she can just toss the mag over to him and say,’There. Take a look’) she can look at her face on coins and bank notes. (Her Majesty is thought to favour the 10pence piece because it has no crow’s feet.) It’s all pretty samey – unless she see what this artist has down to her likeness on the Australian five dollar note.
Posted: 15th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, Royal Family | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
I was Pope Francis’s 12-year-old lover (says Vera Duckworth look-alike)
POPE Francis fancied 12-year-old Amalia Damonte.
No, no! Well, before he became Pope at a sprightly 76 years young, the 120 year-old Master Jorge had a thing for Damonte, 76. No! She’s wasn’t 76 , then. She’s 76 now.
Posted: 15th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, News | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
10 incredible facts about Pope Francis
TEN things you never knew about Pope Francis, as reported on every media outlet in the world:
He’s never been arrested for drink driving in Essex
He’s Catholic
Posted: 13th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, News | Comments (4) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
How the BBC turned the killing of 11-month-old Omar into Hamas propaganda
WHEN a child dies there are no winners. So, when an 11-month-old child died in Gaza during another battle between Iran-backed Hamas and Israel, the news can be only grim. The mood must be regretful. But it’s important to know the truth.
The child killed was the very young son of Jihad Misharawi. He was called Omar. Jihad has worked as a journalist for the BBC’s Arabic division.
Mr Misharawi’s brother and his sister-in-law also died from the explosion that killed the child.
The image of the dead child in his father’s arms was spread by media. It was heart-wrenching. It was also politically charged. The Palestinians have used dead children to paint the Israelis black before. (The BBC has bought into alleged fakery.) It would be wise not to rush to judgement.
But many did.
Posted: 12th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, News | Comments (9) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
The 49 most inexplainable pictures on Google
ON Google, and elsewhere, from time to time an image crops up that makes you wonder. And then it makes you stop and stare. And if you’re like us, you save the picture and show it other people, and gauge their reactions. Do any one of them say, “Oh, yeah, I remember this” or “Dad!” or “Did you find that on the crashed space ship? The Moolanians, right? I told them. They never believed me. But I told THEM!” Take a look through the gallery. If you recognise anyone, let the correct authorities know:
Posted: 12th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, Strange But True | Comments (2) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
The troubling case of Chris Wilson – convicted for not telling his sexual partner he was transgender
IN Scotland, freedom is being challenged. Chris Wilson has been at Edinburgh High Court. He entered a guilty plea for “obtaining sexual intimacy by fraud” and “deceiving” two sexual partners. Wilson’s crime was to tell/show his lovers that he was a man. But, according to his birth certificate, he’s a female.
Chris Wilson had sexual relations with two young women. One was aged 15. It went no further than a kiss. The other was 15 but told him she was 16. She and Wilson did have sex. Wilson told them both he was 17. He was 21 at the time. He’s now 25.
Posted: 12th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
The Sun says it saved Paul Gascoigne’s life – what utter bollocks
IT’S day 2 of the Sun’s look at Paul Gascoigne, the alcoholic former England footballer whose life was saved by medics in America. Today, the Sun leads with news that Gazza was saved by a plea from Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager for whom the footballer never played.
Ferguson added his thoughts and good wishes on a DVD sent to Gascoigne. Others on the video include: Lord Alan Sugar, Paul Merson, David Moyes, David Ginola, Walter Smith, Bill Kenwright, Chris Evans, Wayne Rooney and Roy Hodgson, the current England manager. Oh, and Gascoigne’s mother, who “sobbed as she begged him to survive”, his dad, his sisters and his nephews. Says Gazza: “That DVD helped save my life.”
Posted: 11th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Terrible adverts: the world’s greatest one-bedroom apartment (with cracking photos)
ON Craigslist, you can rent a 1 bdrm apartment
Perfect for college student!
Quiet building, close to parks and public transportation
Private secure entrance
Exposed brick
Fireplace
Spacious furnished bedroom
Overhead lighting
Stainless steel appliances
Plenty of closet spaceMonth to month
No pets
Non-smoker preferred
Posted: 10th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, The Consumer | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
The Playboy Bunny Club Manual 1968 (know your rights, Bunnies)
IN 1968, the Playboy Bunny Club was for swinging cats who liked their women holding “man-sized” drinks, lighting cigarettes and dressed as saucy rabbits. It being a club meant there was rules. In this brochure, you can bone up. You can look around the club here.
This manual is worth the read. You can learn how to smoke like a Playboy Bunny, dress like one and sell lots of drink to win the star prize. Yep, it’s a… Playboy Mug:
Posted: 8th, March 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
99 acts of vandalism by BANKSY
BANSKY is the famous Bristolian artist, a master of witty one liners. They say he’s called Robin Gunningham. The Banksy part came from his nickname Robin Banx. He went to Bristol Cathedral School. He left with an E grade in his art GCSE. Other than that, we know little.
Posted: 6th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, The Consumer | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Daily Mail trolls want Tewkesbury mum Heather Frost and her kids murdered
WHAT’S Heather Frost been up to? The Tewkesbury Tribal elder (11 kids – one more and she can rival Jacobs and the Jews) is scheduled to move into a 1,850 square foot council-provided “mansion”. The Mail’s Simon Tomlinson holds his nose and writes:
Noise really bad… no hope of watching TV… mattresses burning… greenhouse glass smashed by rocks’: Widow’s diary reveals ‘hell’ of living next to ‘benefits queen’ mother-of-11 for five (long) years
Posted: 6th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, News | Comments (2) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Spare the children from photoshopped creep shots for their own good
PROTECTING children from abuse online is a big deal.
Barnardo’s is running a campaign. It features this image:
Posted: 6th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, News | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
The Oscar Pistorius Range: contest to find artwork and slogans for runner’s next Nike ads
NIKE have pulled the Oscar Pistorius advert, the one about the bullet being in the chamber. The South African runner killed Reeva Steenkamp, his lover. On The Drum website, a contest is underway to produce creatives for any future Oscar Pistorius range for Nike. Sick? Too soon? A woman died… Says the site: “…it clear that our intention was never to trivialise the tragic news about Reeva Steenkamp’s death, but to highlight the vulnerable position that brands are placed in when their endorsements of high-profile figures such as Oscar Pistorius attract controversy. If you have to explain the advert, then it’s not working, is it:
Posted: 5th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Peter Wyngarde: when ‘Rape ‘ was King and gross indecency wore vinyl and velvet
THE Daily Mail is never slow to point out, in merciless detail, the physical and sartorial shortcomings of any celebrity, be they great or small.
“When Seventies television star Peter Wyngarde was spotted out shopping near his West London home last week it was clear his fashion sense had deserted him a long time ago” ran the caption to a picture of a well-preserved gentleman in his late seventies, dressed in fashionable casual clothes.
Posted: 5th, March 2013 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Key Posts, Music, TV & Radio | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
James Bulger: What do you do with Thompson and Venables’ ‘unparalleled evil’?
JON Venables is front-page news. One of two-year-of James Bulger’s two ten-year-old killers is the subject of the Sun’s story:
“BULGER KILLER GROOMED ME FOR SEX”
Groomed? Like paedos groom? Grooming is the word the UK authorities use to describe a paedophile’s online communication with a child they plan to meet and abuse.
Posted: 3rd, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, News | Comments (4) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Harry Styles: Not the first popstar to be hit with something on stage (video round-up)
RECENTLY, Harry Styles of One Direction, was pelted in the wang by a stray shoe, thrown from his beloved audience. This writer himself has thrown an errant trainer at The Prodigy, missing the target (Keef) by some distance and hitting the drummer’s cymbal at Reading ’96 (if you have a recording of the show, listen out for it during Poison).
Of course, this kind of behaviour is not to be cheered at… mostly. It is wilfully stupid behaviour, but alas, is all part of the rock ‘n’ roll circus.
Some musicians get bras and drugs thrown at them, which is very nice. Most however, aren’t too pleased with what comes their way.
With that, let us look at some of the most brutal bottlings and weirdest missiles aimed toward people just trying to earn a living.
Posted: 28th, February 2013 | In: Key Posts, Music | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
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