Bollan suggests moral equivalence between Israel’s war in Gaza and Nazi Holocaust against Jews

I do not believe that Bollan is an ordinary chap who has somehow been duped by a particular ideology”

Neither do I. He crams way too many bigoted remarks into small spaces to justify the word ‘dupe’ and he’s dismissive of all and any attempts to consider an alternative explanation. He appears inflexible – which is bad news for his electorate.

That he knows very little about the issues is probably true. He seems the type who has selected his team and, like any faithful supporter, is not remotely interested in any other.
Lacking interest inevitably results in lacking knowledge. Which is why I’ve maintained that the vote this council took in January 2009 was – and still is – unsafe.

It is clear that the vote was taken with little or no background knowledge save that found in the media – it cannot be otherwise since no official inquiry had been held. Now here’s the hypocrasy: of all the people who should know that the media can be biased, distorted and unreliable, politiicans have to be up there with media celebrities. They know that the media can make or break political parties. They know that even at a local level their opposition can, at election time and in between, spin issues around like Olympic discus throwers. They know that mud-slinging occurs and that reputations can be unfairly tarnished. Like many celebrities, politicians know the meaning of the phrase “Don’t believe all you read in the Press”. Yet when it came to Israel that media had transformed itself into the oracle of all knowledge and wisdom. Utterly astounding, isn’t it?

I doubt that the councillor really cares about the ordinary, everyday Palestinian anyway. It seems to me that the appeal is Hamas itself.

Jim Bollan – a cliche in search of a cause.