Amina Abdallah Arraf: A Gay Girl in Damascus- not the first human rights hoax

This article of mine appears in The First Post.

Neil Clark: The case that fooled human rights activists worldwide - not for the first time


It's the story that's had western bloggers, journalists and human rights crusaders up in arms. When Amina Abdalla Arraf, a US/Syrian lesbian blogger and staunch critic of President Assad, was kidnapped by the Syrian authorities for daring to express her opinions, more than 14,000 people rushed to join a Facebook group to campaign for her release.



Reporters Without Borders issued a press release condemning the abduction. In a short space of time, Amina became the poster girl for the anti-Assad protests sweeping across Syria.


"We ask all those who care about Amina to send this message to the Syrian embassy in your country to show the regime that the world is very much aware of Amina's case and will not let the Syrian regime get away with any harm that might come to her," declared the 'Free Amina Abdalla' Facebook site.


It's unlikely, however, that any harm will come to Amina. That's because she doesn't appear to exist.

You can read the whole article here.

UPDATE: The hoax has been confirmed. The 'Gay Girl in Damascus' was actually a Straight Married American Man in Scotland. More here and here

The song 'No Charge' reminds us when Britain used to be less greedy

video:SuperDavidleslie

This article of mine appears on the Guardian’s Comment is Free website.



Neil Clark:Those who believe the myth that 1970s Britain was 'the sick man of Europe' forget how progressive the decade was.

It's regarded by some as one of the slushiest No 1 records of all time. It's exactly 35 years ago this week that No Charge, sung by the Canadian artist JJ Barrie, got to No 1 in the British pop charts – and thanks to the wonders of BBC4, who are repeating Top of the Pops shows from 1976 on a weekly basis, we'll all be able to see it performed on our television screens next Monday.



Some won't be looking forward to it too much – in his Guardian article of a week ago, Alexis Petridis claimed that 1976 was the worst year for pop music ever.


But leaving aside debates about musical merit, what watching the repeats of Top of the Pops and other programmes from the same era on channels such as Yesterday, ITV3 and ITV4 shows us is what a less commercialised age the pre-Thatcherite 1970s were.

You can read the whole article here.

UPDATE: I have also have an article in today's First Post  on the Amina Abdallah Araf affair, which can be read  here.  More on this story later.

The joys of privatised energy companies: Scottish Power to hike gas bills by 19%

The Guardian reports:

Household budgets face further pressure after a leading energy company said it was raising gas bills by 19%



Scottish Power, which will also raise electricity tariffs by 10%, said it would add 48p to the average daily combined gas and electricity bills of its 2.4 million customers, an extra cost of £175 a year.

Other energy companies are of course, expected to follow suit.

Isn't neo-liberalism wonderful?

More on this story here.

Donald Hewlett R.I.P.

video: BigJohnCannon.


Some sad news- Donald Hewlett, who played Lieutenant-Colonel Reynolds in the wonderful 1970s BBC sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum (and who also starred as Lord Meldrum in You Rang M’Lord?), has died aged 90.

A very sad day for British racing: The Tote is sold after 83 years

After 83 years, the Tote- the publicly-owned bookmaker established by Sir Winston Churchill- is to be sold to a rival privately-owned bookmaking chain.   

For a comparatively small sum of money-the government will receive just £90m- the free-market fanatics in the coalition are selling-off another national asset.

You can hear me talking about why the sale is such terrible news for horse-racing on the BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast Show with Nicky Campbell Show here (at 2hrs 5mins in to the programme of 03/06/11), and on the You and Yours programme on BBC Radio 4 here.

FIFA fiasco: a breakaway in no longer unthinkable

This piece of mine appears in today's First Post. 

Neil Clark: It's not just the gravy train culture at Fifa that's objectionable. It's the bad decisions for football.


Fifa president Sepp Blatter said this week: "I'm the President of Fifa and with 186 votes I'm proud. Don't worry about the English". His tactic was clear: blame the whingeing English for trying to engulf his organisation in controversy and carry on governing world football for another four years.



But even if we concede that sour grapes over England's unsuccessful bid to stage the 2018 World Cup was the main reason why the FA attempted to stop this week's presidential vote in Zurich, there's no getting away from the fact that football's governing body is in urgent need of a major overhaul.

You can read the whole article here.

My Kingdom for a horse!

Just two days to go before The Derby....
This piece of mine appears in the Daily Express.

Neil Clark: It's the sport of kings but it’s an obsession for our Queen – and this weekend she could finally have the horse-racing winner she so desperately wants...


This Saturday afternoon just after 4pm a lifetime’s ambition for a certain 85-year old lady could be realised.

She’s one of the richest women in the world. She owns palaces, vast tracts of land and fabulous art treasures but there’s one thing the Queen doesn’t own and desperately wants: the winner of the Epsom Derby. This year Her Majesty’s colt Carlton House is the red-hot favourite for the classic horse race, as long as he overcomes a last-minute injury. A royal winner in a royal wedding year would be toasted throughout the land. And for the Queen victory would be the end of a 60-year quest to win flat racing’s most famous event.