We’re back with it all: length and girth, light and dark, and the good, the bad and the ugly, as we go beyond the mainstream media and look at stories from the UK and around the world, asking serious questions without taking ourselves too seriously ;) Having successfully battled computer problems and the dreaded lurgy (without dubious vaccine ‘help’), your hosts are back (and on time!) with a show covering an eclectic mix of headline stories and those that don’t make the headlines. We look into claims of alleged cover-ups of VIP paedophile groups, and analyse the accuracy (or not) of the current ‘hate crimes’ and ‘anti-Semitism’ stories we’re being bombarded with. Similarly, we look at the ‘War on Terror’ and the role of fear in ensuring that three-letter agencies maintain their budgets. Stories of politics, technology, consciousness and conspiracy - some weird and wonderful, and some downright absurd - all presented by your questioning (not in that way), well-intentioned and sometimes irreverent hosts. Before that, though, reflecting back on the previous show, notMorgs corrects his comments on the number of Muslims in Birmingham (which is actually higher than he thought, but still a far cry from Fox’s ‘no-go zone’), gets obsessive with 23, and confirms his earlier suspicions of Equifax (and other credit agencies) being contracted to snoop on benefits claimants. Morgs recounts ‘Yes Men’ antics and India’s model for electricity tariffs, and we discuss the role of intention, belief and the collective unconscious in possibly effecting physical change. NotMorgs doubtfully eyes a Vice piece on David Icke’s supposed net worth, and recounts some first-hand experiences of David, intending to hopefully debunk a few negative and false myths. Then, we’re into the news: contrary to the ‘global warming’ claims that UK children would soon never see snow again, it’s been a cold and miserable winter with loads of the stuff. Last show’s ‘Age UK’ predictions seem to be bearing out, with recent deaths being 32% higher than the previous five years, and the highest death toll in 15 years predicted by spring 2015. The ONS thinks freezing temperatures and the flu virus could be to blame - maybe the fact that this year’s flu vaccine has been found to only work in 3.4% of cases could also be contributing? In the UK and Canada, statistics show that you were more likely to catch the common strain of flu if you did have the flu vaccine against it. And there’s far worse to come, according to apparent ‘former NASA consultant and climatologist’ John Casey. He’s predicting 30 years of extreme cold, mass numbers of people dying and starving as 50% of the world’s food supply fails, and ‘super earthquakes’ and more volcanic eruptions. Fear not though, as Al Gore has recruited ‘happy’ Pharrell Williams to ‘harmonise humanity’ and show us what we can do together to make a difference. Back in the real world, however, an Adam Curtis clip demonstrates the harm our good intentions can have when not carefully managed, with a sobering comment on the possible harm caused by the unintended appropriation of some ‘Live Aid’ funds. The mainstream media, on the other hand, remains preoccupied with the ‘War on Terror’, which has somehow morphed into a focus on apparently ‘unprecedented anti-Semitism’, ‘hate crimes’ and ‘hate speech’. UK MPs want ‘internet ASBOs’ for ‘determined perpetrators of hate speech’, and Pope Francis just wants to punch them. The ‘European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation’ puts forward legislation that will ‘restrain freedom of expression on the grounds of tolerance and in the interests of security’ - they want to criminalise xenophobia, holocaust denial and banning the burka, and create a new law against libel to groups. We examine the solutions they proffer and the impact they’d have on free speech and free expression. With excellent analysis, Morgan digs deep and finds that things are far from how they’re being presented. A journalist’s claim that “95% of hate crimes in the UK are against Jews” is thoroughly debunked, with the true total being closer to 5%, and Morgs investigates the Guardian’s piece on ‘over 50% of the UK public is anti-Semitic’. This absurd claim comes as a result of a questionnaire, which the Institute for Jewish Policy itself finds dubious. Morgs pokes holes in the questionnaire, demonstrating the inherent bias and statistical worthlessness of ambiguous questions that require simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers, and wonders what conclusions could be erroneously drawn from seeing Jewish persons’ responses to the same questions. Then, in this ‘War on Terror’, we must, of course, think of the children. North-west Pakistan is seeking to protect their children by arming its teachers and putting snipers on rooftops around schools, but we, here in the UK, are viewing ours as suspects and potential terrorists, as new legislation is put forward which would legally require nursery school teachers and childminders to report toddlers showing signs of ‘radicalisation’. The absurdity of this thinking is reflected in two brief stories - all eyes are on an innocent French toddler named Jihad, whilst a Chinese OAP tries to detonate an antique stick grenade on a bus. And in this ‘War on Terror, rather than finding ourselves in the bullet-ridden, battle-torn landscape of where ‘real war’ happens, is our experience more one of fear and massive restrictions on our individual freedoms and rights? The (in this instance) wonderfully-named ‘Institute for Strategic Dialogue’ stumbles over “everyone should be persecuted’, and Former Assistant FBI Director Thomas Fuentes says it better than we ever could: if you want to keep your budgets, “keep fear alive”. Whilst the mainstream media obsesses over aging entertainers convicted of sexual abuse against children, notMorgan looks into something far more sinister: the allegations, entirely unreported by mainstream media, of the organised sexual abuse of children by VIP paedophile rings, members of which are reported to include well-known public figures, police and MI5 officials, and Members of Parliament. As former Conservative Home Secretary Leon Brittan passes away, the mainstream media focuses only on his possible involvement in a Dickens dossier relating to paedophilia going missing in the 1980s. That’s one of apparently three Dickens’ dossiers that got ‘lost or destroyed’ - at least 114 paedophilia-related files suffered the same fate. However, as with Jimmy Savile and former MP Cyril Smith, far more disturbing allegations are now emerging that Brittan, too, was a paedophile who sexually abused children - and that many people, including media organisations, knew about this whilst he was still alive, but did nothing. Looking at the many ongoing UK police operations investigating organised child abuse and murder, paedophile rings and the involvement of establishment figures, notMorgan looks at the Elm Guest House ‘parties for men’, their well-known attendees and a police raid that failed to follow-up on evidence of abuse. Chris Fay, formerly of ‘The National Association of Young People in Care’ details his meeting with Carole Kasir of Elm Guest House, and seeing photographs apparently incriminating Brittan. This was shortly before the photographs were stolen and Kasir died in an apparent suicide, believed by some to be murder. Fay also details being threatened by the Police’s Special Branch, which makes us wonder: with these sorts of claims and the high-profile nature of the people involved, could this all be an intelligence-gathering operation, designed to control and manipulate the influential? Whatever it is, the people involved need to be caught, stopped and punished. Speaking of politicians and elites behaving badly, Morgs talks about the 2014 movie ‘The Riot Club’, based on Oxford University’s elite drinking club ‘The Bullingdon Club’, and also reports on comedian Al Murray standing against UKIP’s leader, Nigel Farage, for the seat of South Thanet. The House of Lords has voted against the Government’s plans to decriminalise non-payment of the TV licence, despite 10% of Magistrates’ time being taken up with these cases and 180,000 appearing in court each year, 70 of who are imprisoned. This, as many criminals continue to avoid imprisonment for far more serious offences, including violent assaults. One of UKIP’s General Election candidates offers a purported ‘common sense solution’ to overcrowding on the UK’s roads: banning anyone claiming benefits from driving, and making cyclists ride on the pavement. Also, a UKIP policy paper from 2013 shows them in lockstep with the Conservatives over electronic cards for benefits claimants, which would prevent them from buying alcohol and nicotine products. Not wanting to be outdone in terms of ridiculous, ill thought-out policies, the Tories look at removing Housing Benefit from unemployed 18-21-year-olds, raising the prospect of more young homeless people on the streets. As usual, we delve into the worlds of technology and social media. Morgan eyes up a new laptop which gives you more control over who is accessing your camera and microphone, and plays a Dark Patterns clip with an insightful perspective on ‘black hat’ UI design. Kimdotcom’s ‘MegaChat’, an encrypted voice chat service, is branded a potential ‘Skype-killer’, the drone of street artist Katsu ‘carries the can’ for him, and Morgs is all ‘abuzz’ about a new open-source platform. He also reports on the 24 million Chinese people reportedly addicted to the internet, 14% of them children, as one 19-year-old chops off his own hand in a desperate attempt to kick the habit. NotMorgan compares the successes of the search engine DuckDuckGo, who don’t track you, with those of Facebook, who obviously do. Facebook have announced fourth quarter profits of M£462 (M$701), bringing their 2014 profits to B$2.9 (double 2013’s) and their number of active users to a reported 1.39 billion – at least five of who considered the recent Facebook outage distressing enough to report it to the emergency services. Media headlines tell us that a UK vicar has been ‘banned from social media’ (when really he just agreed with his superiors to stop using it) after he apparently provided links to an article called ‘9/11: Israel did it’. The privacy policy for Samsung’s television voice recognition technology is shown alongside the ‘telescreens’ passage from Orwell’s ‘1984’, and NotMorgan worries that ‘High There’, a new dating-type app for marijuana users, might be a honey-trap operation attempting to ensnare the members of a new and highly ineffective secret order ;) Morgan’s hometown of Wirksworth is identified as a haven for “new-agey, latte drinkers and chamomile tea-ers”, and he does nothing to dispel this assertion by dismissing a Humanist video’s claims that ‘there is no evidence … that our minds can survive the end of our bodies’. Challenging this with the evidence from Sam Parnia’s published studies, we try to reassure atheists and certain scientists (‘science deniers’?): don’t worry, accepting what Parnia’s study and other science is telling us about consciousness doesn’t mean that you have to believe in God and become one of ‘those religious people’ ;) NotMorgan stays with the mystery of consciousness, looking at the story of Nazih Al-Danaf, a very young Lebanese boy giving extremely detailed information of his apparent past life, confirmed by the family and wife of the man he says he was. We look again at communication and the unconscious mind, as a team from the University of Bedfordshire manage to create false memories in 71% of their participants - including those participants committing an assault with a weapon - in just three 40 minute sessions. As we said, it’s definitely a weird and wonderful ‘mixed bag’ of stories today, including some that are definitely not ‘safe for work’: the Bondi Hipsters tell us what to do to banks and owls, and a sexual deviant “sweating profusely and smelling of horses” gets ‘four years good, two years bad’. NotMorgan ‘treats’ his co-host to a highly suspicious game of ‘Guess the Maker’, before Morgan lowers the tone even further by green-lighting our reporting of a new, slightly unsettling sex toy. All this plus botched ‘anti-terror’ exercises; Skinny Puppy suing the DoD; the strange and disturbing case of Elisa Lam; crocodile bile beer; and a girl born already pregnant with twins. We’re also very happy to be able, for the first time, to thank our Patrons and contributors for their support of the show. As always, creative commons music plays us out, this show’s choice being picked by Morgan. There’s far more in the show (and show notes below) than what’s summarised above, so please dive in to be informed and entertained! Thank you to our Patrons, contributors and those who get in touch. To everyone else: please do get in touch, get involved and let us know what you think! Enjoy!
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