Tag Archives: Francesca Rose Lewis

James Murdoch Was 'Never Shown “For Neville” Email' Hacking Inquiry.

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James Murdoch is in front of the Commons Committee again today. He is holding himself well and was ‘offended’ when MP Tom Watson compared News International to the mafia, Watson claimed that Mr Murdoch was the only mafia head who did not know he was running a mafia. To which Murdoch said the comment was ‘rude and inappropriate, [to the chairman] Chairman, please’.

James Murdoch claimed knowledge of the ‘For Neville’ email, but claims it was not shown to him.

He then went on to blame Colin Myler and Tom Crone for ‘misleading MPs’ at the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in testimony they gave about whether he was made aware of the extent of phone hacking at the paper.

Mr Murdoch said of the meeting with Mr Myler and Mr Crone that it had been to discuss increasing an offer to settle a legal claim by the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, Gordon Taylor.

“The meeting, which I remember quite well, was a short meeting, and I was given at that meeting sufficient information to authorise the increase of the settlement offers that had been made,” he said. “But I was given no more than that.”

“That second part, that importance, was not described to me in detail or at all,” Mr Murdoch said. “It was not described as the For Neville email, and I want to be very clear. No documents were shown to me at that meeting or were given to me at that meeting.”

Mr Murdoch said he could not recall discussing the Gordon Taylor case with Mr Myler before June 10 2008. “The first and only substantive meeting or conversation that I recall about the matter was the June 10 meeting with Mr Crone and Mr Myler, although I cannot rule out whether or not he called me or stopped me in the hallway, or something like that, for a brief conversation,”

Royal Wedding highlights those hidden calories as summer wedding season gets underway

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The wedding season is well and truly upon us with the nuptials of William and Kate providing a dramatic start for 2011.

But while most of us will see the pounds flying from our wallets with outfits and presents we often overlook the pounds that we pile on during the celebrations.

Fitness First Personal Trainer of the Year Katie Ford said that weddings can see us eat up to 5,000 calories in one day – and that’s without the excesses of a hen or stag do and a large fry up following the wedding day.

“As summer and the wedding season approaches it’s easy forget how many calories we can actually consume over the course of a day,’’ said Katie.

She says that with Champagne at 90 calories a glass, a few canapés at 200 calories each, a three course celebration meal at 1,000 calories and a single piece of wedding cake 650 calories you are already at around 2,500 calories.

“Add to this wine, beer, breakfast before the ceremony and a tasty evening buffet and you can easily consume 5,000 calories,’’ said Katie.

“It is difficult to avoid those extra calories and so we still need to exercise in order to keep in shape and not totally abandon our fitness routines.’’

Katie suggests a number of short workouts which are perfect for burning those extra calories, all of which can either be done at home, outdoors or in the gym. “You can fit these in around any kind of summer celebration where the calorie count is high from a wedding to birthday parties or BBQ.’’

Katie’s wedding workout recommendations
· One glass of Champagne = 90kcal
Try 10 minutes on the cross trainer or power walking up hill
· Glass of red wine = 135 kcal
Try 20 minutes of a group exercise class or video – for example Get Fit with Mel B group exercise class or Video Game
· 1 pint of beer = 225kcals
Try 30 minutes of a Body Attack class
· One/two canapes = 291kcal
Try 30 minutes of running or jogging, either on the treadmill or in a park
· Slice of wedding cake = 650 calories
A Zumba class can easily burn off 650 calories – and you can have fun at the same time.
· Half pork pie = 245kcals
Try 30 minutes of an RPM/Group Cycling class or an hour’s bike ride
· Wedding meal with wine = 1,000 calories
Complete all of the above classes and exercises.

Pictured – Katie Ford – Fitness First Personal Trainer of the Year

Our writer, Francesca, meets Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh,

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On Tuesday, I attended a talk by the noted Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, held in the flocked wallpaper glory of Westminster. What he said was interesting, relevant, and worthy of a larger audience than that which he attracted. He is not an impartial observer by any means – an Arab Muslim who lives in Jerusalem, and is West Bank correspondent for the Jerusalem Post – he is unashamedly pro-Palestinian. For him, though, being pro-Palestinian does not automatically mean vilification of Israel. As he put it, indelicately – if a man, woman or child in Gaza or the West Bank needs a heart transplant, the only country in the Middle East that will provide medical care is Israel. He excoriates the surrounding Arab countries for so completely abandoning their brothers in Palestine (Jordan is presently revoking citizenship for hundreds of Palestinian families who have been resident in Jordan since 1948 and before), and blames EU and American miscalculations in 2006 for the present situation.

If the US did not want Hamas in government, why did they encourage free and fair democratic elections in Gaza in 2006? Fatah went to Condoleezza Rice and said: “We are perceived as corrupt and spineless in Gaza. There’s a real possibility we might lose this”. The Americans ignored this, and when Hamas won by a clear majority, appeared to back-flip on its commitment to the democratic process – condemning the result and boycotting the new government of Gaza. The Palestinians in Gaza were all at once the victims of the most egregious hypocrisy – elect your own government, but if it’s not the one we want, we won’t be doing business with them. Meanwhile, Fatah groups in Gaza were coming under immense pressure from the new Hamas coalition, and fighting broke out on the streets of Gaza City between the rival factions. Hundreds of Fatah members fled Gaza, heading for the Egyptian border, which was promptly closed. Then they turned to Israel for rescue, and were allowed into southern Israel, only to be swiftly dumped in the West Bank.

Hamas swept to victory on an anti-Fatah, “time for change” platform – which Toameh thinks has now been largely dismissed in favour of hard-line Islamist policies and secretive international diplomacy (mainly with the Iranians and Syrians). The people suffer just the same, only now they are forced into Islamist contortions that many of them dislike and fear. There’s one good thing about Hamas though – they say pretty much the same thing in English as in Arabic. They stand for the destruction of Israel, entirely, and then, for a khalifa-style Arab kingdom, of the sort beloved by Muslim Brotherhood groups everywhere. Abu Toameh reminisces about a newspaper he picked up in Toronto, the headline of which proclaimed that Hamas was becoming more moderate, and about to recognise the state of Israel. Amazing! he thought – what have I missed at home? Upon his return, he headed straight to the house of a senior Hamas politician in Ramallah, and asked what had happened in his absence. The answer was nothing. The newspaper’s headline was the cause of much hilarity that week.

A two-state solution appears to have been implemented already –the Palestinians have two states: one in the West Bank and one in Gaza. Fatah is weak and divided, propped up by the desperate Americans and Europeans. Toameh is quite clear: Mahmoud Abbas calls for Israeli troops to be withdrawn from the West Bank on a daily basis; the moment this happens, he is likely to be dragged into Ramallah’s main square and hung. The bitterness of the Hamas/Fatah struggle is so acute, they appear to have forgotten about the Israelis – they now call each other pigs and dogs, and ignore the Jews. Unless significant pressure is put on both sides to compromise and come together there is no partner for peace for Israel, and more importantly, no chance of a true Palestinian homeland.

The last, and most depressing point: Toameh is constantly amazed by the level of anti-Israel vitriol he experiences in Britain and in Europe. He once telephoned British newspaper editors with a story about Fatah’s corruption and was asked, point blank, whether he was working for the ‘Jewish lobby’. What lobby? he exclaimed – and how much do they pay? Joking aside, he says he is saddened that being ‘pro-Palestinian’ in this country does not mean doing anything for the Palestinian people, it means hating Israel and settling comfortably into a morally righteous narrative that finds facts and reality confusing. When the situation on the ground is this complex, there can be no easy ‘right’ way to think about the conflict. He asked: what do boycotts do to help Palestinians? What do rallies do to help Palestinians? What do changing the lyrics to Christmas carols and passing anti-Israel motions at London universities do to help the Palestinians? Nothing. If you’re really interested in helping the Palestinian people, go to the West Bank and teach in schools, donate books about liberalism and freedom (if you’re a liberal and believe in freedom), donate money to organisations that encourage Arabs and Jews to sit down in the same room and realise their similarities and not their differences. And recognise that no Jew in Israel (who is not a lunatic) has no interest in re-occupying the West Bank or Gaza, and that no Jewish mother wants to send her son into street combat in Gaza.

The best we can hope for is a period of stability, coalition building on the Palestinian side, and improving the internal Palestinian economy. Netanyahu can freeze settlement building, or not, but it will make no difference to the quest for real peace in the region until the Palestinians resolve their rift and start a real campaign for statehood.

By Francesca Rose-Lewis.