patricktsudlow

A little while ago, I wrote two posts analysing the ‘Plebgate’ CCTV footage and showing that the spin put on it by Michael Crick of Channel 4’s Dispatches programme was not consistent with a proper viewing of the video evidence.

Monday night’s further Dispatches programme on Channel 4 was much-trailed and would supposedly ‘reveal’ a conspiracy against former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell. ‘Surely,’ I thought, ‘if they’re making a new programme about it they must have some further evidence and probably some additional video’. So I was waiting for the programme with substantial interest.

Well, it wasn’t worth the wait. As far as I could see, the show presented nothing new and substantive that actually bears on the issue of whether Mr Mitchell called the officers at the gate ‘plebs’ or used the other phrases such as ‘we run this f***ing country, not you’. There were interviews with people…

With a film crew from BBC Northwest Tonight, around 80 local people of all ages and backgrounds who had gathered to protest against the tree felling, peacefully entered the felling site and succeeded in bringing tree felling works to a halt.Sadly, all 50 of the healthy Sycamore trees that made up the avenue along Claremont Road have now been cut down. But hundreds more trees are under threat.

The picture below shows how this avenue looked just a few days ago. Many of those present were very upset about the devastation.

BBC Northwest Tonight are featuring the story this evening on BBC 1 at 6.30pm.

Some of those present have this evening set up camp to continue their protest. We wish them the best of luck.

Climate scientist Kevin Anderson talks to Manchester’s full council about turning climate rhetoric into reality, steady state and why it’s too late in the day to be pinning our hopes on technologies 

Weds Jan 30: Kevin Anderson, professor of energy and climate change at Manchester University, was invited to give a 30 minute presentation to Manchester’s full council meeting today. The great hall was packed out with 90+ councillors and over 35 members of the public. Here’s what happened next…

As usual, Professor Kevin Anderson delivered a no-nonsense presentation about what the science is telling us about climate change – that it’s coming faster and harder than even scientists thought – and what we are doing to stop it (very little basically). In fact, we are producing more carbon every year. Anderson kicked off by saying that whilst a 2 degree rise in global temperature was seen as acceptable twenty…

TV’s news comedy show, Mock the Week, has a semi-regular and very funny segment involving Hugh Dennis and one of the other panelists. In this segment, the other panelist will read lines from a senior political figure while Hugh Dennis delivers his interpretation of what the politician really means.

I had the same feeling this morning as I watched David Cameron’s much-trailed speech on the EU. BBC News showed the speech in full, and afterward commentators made much of the obvious and very unsurprising points of the speech, namely that the speech was Cameron’s (rather desperate) attempt to defuse the threat from UKIP and his own backbenchers and to persuade europhobic voters to support him in the next general election by dangling the promise of an ‘in/out’ referendum in 2017.

Some also highlighted the obvious fact that by cravenly giving a 2017 date for the referendum, he was condemning…