Hate speech

Graham Linehan, creator of the peerless Father Ted, has revealed that he wouldn't be able to write the show now because he has come to hate the Catholic Church so much.

I think that's a pity but I can understand how he feels.

I'm just wondering whether he will now be free to enter the United Kingdom.

Egg? What egg?

What kind of person thinks that Muslims shouldn't serve in an army that's fighting the Taliban, and that Jews shouldn't be permitted to reproduce - and makes both points with a revolver?

It's hardly a question to baffle a Clouseau, never mind a Maigret. Once it became clear that Toulouse wasn't hosting a gunmen's convention, I'd have said "neo-Nazi" was a 50-to-1 shot, and "apolitical nut job" more like 200-to-1.

Of course it's always a good idea to wait until you have some facts before rushing to judgment, otherwise you could end up looking extremely silly. Not, however, that this fate could overtake anyone delivering an ex cathedra verdict on behalf of the World's Most Righteous Newspaper: Fiachra Gibbons said Sarkozy was to blame, and you can be sure that he feels amply vindicated.

I see that last year "Turkey specialist" Gibbons offered the Guardian a piece on "10 of the best films set in Istanbul". Apparently none of them deal with the city's synagogues. Quelle surprise.

Shahbaz Bhatti, martyr

I've just watched and now  recommend watching the video here on the life and death of Shahbaz Bhatti here - melodramatic, but why shouldn't it be?

Yesterday Mass at a church in Jos, Nigeria, was interrupted by a suicide bomber. At least ten are dead.

Unsung heroes

So much to blog about, so little time. Yesterday we saw "after-birth abortion" endorsed in a mainstream medical journal. Elsewhere a committee of experts told us that it's a good thing if nurses care about their patients. I'm sure we're all glad to have that point cleared up. And linking those two themes together, a Glasgow maternity hospital is leading the way in teaching compassion to its staff - by forcing then to attend abortions.

Leaving all that aside, I thought this story ought not to pass without comment. It's quite remarkable that there are any journalists in Somalia, let alone enough to form a National Union. 29 have been murdered since 2007. Tributes have deservedly been paid to Marie Colvin; may Abukar Hassan Kadaf not be forgotten.

If only both sides could lose...

...in Syria.

Imposing the party line

To give its due, the BBC has done a much better job of reporting the massacres of Nigerian Christians than other news media. Not that that's difficult; today the Daily Tottygraph thought I would be more interested in the revelation that Foxy Knoxy's ex has a new girlfriend. Frau Grumpy says if I want to read a proper newspaper why don't I give the FAZ a try.

Unfortunately today has provided evidence of the party line being laid down at the Beeb. This morning at 08:06 the latest report appeared under the admirably unambiguous headline:-

Nigeria Christians hit by fresh Islamist attacks

But by 18:26 the same story had been published again with a new headline:-

Nigerians flee Boko Haram sectarian attacks

Even in its earlier incarnation the story begins with an equivocal reference to "a 24-hour wave of violence apparently targeting Christian communities". Clearly it is too early to exclude the possibility that Nigeria's large Buddhist community is being targeted.

But the introduction of the weaselly use of the word "sectarian", familiar from the BBC's coverage of massacres of Christians in Egypt, represents a definite turn for the worse.

Update: on revisiting the Trivigraph I discover that it is important that I should know that somebody called Graham Norton has been burgled. Full marks to the Grauniad though, and the paper should also be complimented on this piece - yes, "sectarian tensions" here too, but once you get past that it's a good report.