George Galloway

[Numero Veinticinco]

12 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

The main thought I have here is that Galloway is a twat for bringing Israel and politics into our CL win. Was it really so hard to just say congrats on winning the CL and leave it at that?

No, you’re totally right on that. Wrong time and wrong place. 

[Sugar Ape]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/06/galloway-charity-may-have-delivered-no-aid-despite-1m-donations?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

A charity fronted by the former MP George Galloway may not have conducted any charitable activity or distributed any humanitarian aid despite claiming to have gathered £1m in public donations, according to an investigation from the charity regulator.

Viva Palestina was established in early 2009 and launched a large-scale media fundraising campaign to finance aid convoys to Gaza from the UK, bringing food, medicine, medical equipment and essential goods and services.

In February 2009 its website claimed the initiative had raised over £1m and included a statement from Galloway – then MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in London – which said: “I have launched a major initiative in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

On the website, Galloway – who was sacked this week by TalkRadio after sending an allegedly antisemitic tweet – was also listed as a “subscriber” and had signed the charity’s constitution, which said it was formed “for the alleviation of suffering and to help the people of Gaza to rebuild their land”.

But investigators from the Charity Commission found that the charity’s trustees (who did not include Galloway) failed in the basic requirement to keep receipts and records of income and expenditure and never submitted any accounts.

It concluded: “In terms of activities, it was difficult for the inquiry to establish with any certainty whether any charitable activity had taken place, as it found little if any evidence that humanitarian aid was distributed to those in need in accordance with the charity’s objects.”

An earlier investigation by the commission found that in the first three months of its existence Viva Palestina actually raised only £180,000 in donations, not £1m.

In 2009 Galloway went on two Viva Palestina convoys and in 2012, after being elected the MP for Bradford West, he also spoke at a fundraiser for the organisation.

The commission first took an interest in Viva Palestina in 2009, when it forced the trustees to register as a charity and imposed an action plan.

The regulator began a second inquiry in 2013 after trustees ignored the plan and failed in their statutory duty to submit annual returns and accounts for the financial years in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

On Thursday it finally concluded its investigation and found that the trustees had:

Failed in their statutory duty to provide any financial accounts, in breach of the charity’s own governing document and charity law.

Failed to address the outstanding regulatory concerns by completing the steps required in the action plan.

Failed to co-operate with the commission during its investigation, including failing to provide information.

Failed in their duty to provide and maintain proper financial controls and to properly manage and administer their charity.

Failed to discharge their duties to safeguard the charity’s money and assets and to act prudently, which included avoiding activities that may have placed their funds, assets or reputation at undue risk, namely:

they failed in the basic requirement to keep receipts and records of income and expenditure and so be able to properly account for charitable funds raised and spent. These basic requirements are all the more important when charitable funds are raised from members of the public and used for humanitarian needs in conflict zones;

there were no basic financial controls or policies in place to account for and safeguard funds coming into the charity and being spent.

The commission concluded: “In summary, the charity was not properly governed, managed or administered by its trustees – as a result of those failings its reputation, that of the wider charitable sector, and charitable funds donated by the public to the charity were put at risk.”

Ron McKay, Galloway’s sometime spokesman, who went on the convoys, insisted Viva Palestina was a campaign and not a charity.

“It’s taken the Charity Commission getting on for a decade to come up with this nonsense. A quick viewing of YouTube would have shot this down. Viva Palestina took hundreds of vans, cars, lorries, ambulances, you name it, to Gaza and they were not empty I can vouchsafe. If the participants’ pockets were also stuffed with money which they gave to Gazans, I don’t know. But I hope they did,” he said.

“Finally, to reiterate, VP was set up as a campaign, it was the Charity Commission, in an undisguised attempt to shut down the politics, which decided it was a charity. For this kangaroo judgment they haven’t even attempted to contact me or any of the others involved, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. I don’t even accept the premise of it, far less the conclusion. I’m proud of what we did.”

[sir roger]

I don’t trust any of these charities , the salaries paid at the top are eye-watering and a lot seem very shifty.

 

I’ll stick to giving any money to people who appear genuinely struggling on the streets or local initiatives like Food banks.

 

Putting Galloway to one side the worrying thing reading that is that if there was no money reaching the charity’s targets , that it took 12 years for the commission to reach a conclusion.

[Rico1304]

1 minute ago, sir roger said:

I don’t trust any of these charities , the salaries paid at the top are eye-watering and a lot seem very shifty.

 

I’ll stick to giving any money to people who appear genuinely struggling on the streets or local initiatives like Food banks.

 

Putting Galloway to one side the worrying thing reading that is that if there was no money reaching the charity’s targets , that it took 12 years for the commission to reach a conclusion.

Wasn’t there one that Bono backed called ‘Red’? Seem to remember that did fuck all too. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

2 hours ago, Sugar Ape said:

 

“It’s taken the Charity Commission getting on for a decade to come up with this nonsense. A quick viewing of YouTube would have shot this down. Viva Palestina took hundreds of vans, cars, lorries, ambulances, you name it, to Gaza and they were not empty I can vouchsafe.

I was going to say that. I remember them doing it? Surely it should be easy to prove?

[VladimirIlyich]

2 hours ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

I was going to say that. I remember them doing it? Surely it should be easy to prove?

Sounds just like an effort to tar him with another brush and not a very convincing one either.

[Numero Veinticinco]

3 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Sounds just like an effort to tar him with another brush and not a very convincing one either.

Yeah, there’s plenty of stuff to get at him over without having to smear. 

[Rico1304]

29 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Sounds just like an effort to tar him with another brush and not a very convincing one either.

By whom?  

 

Unless the Charities Commission is part of some kind of plot...

 

and its not even him they are after as he’s not a trustee. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

43 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

By whom?  

The media who are attaching his name to it, of course. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

On 04/06/2019 at 20:21, Red Phoenix said:

The main thought I have here is that Galloway is a twat for bringing Israel and politics into our CL win. Was it really so hard to just say congrats on winning the CL and leave it at that?

For Galloway that would have been too hard. That would have made it all about Liverpool FC; this way it's all about George fucking Galloway. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

On 04/06/2019 at 20:33, Numero Veinticinco said:

Except, as should be obvious, he did not conflate them. He didn’t even mention them, much less conflate them. 

OK. Maybe you're seeing something I'm not.  Please explain how you get from Spurs to Israel without going via "the Jews".

[Jairzinho]

1 hour ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

OK. Maybe you're seeing something I'm not.  Please explain how you get from Spurs to Israel without going via "the Jews".

The Israel flags, presumably. 

[moof]

1 hour ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

OK. Maybe you're seeing something I'm not.  Please explain how you get from Spurs to Israel without going via "the Jews".

He’s talking about israel flags, spurs fans display israel flags at the game. 

 

You’ve added in that conflation, yourself. 

[VladimirIlyich]

5 minutes ago, Jairzinho said:

The Israel flags, presumably. 

Like I said earlier, I didnt notice any but is it a thing at Spurs games?

Mook just answered this.

[moof]

What did Mook say? I’ve got him blocked 

[VladimirIlyich]

2 minutes ago, moof said:

What did Mook say? I’ve got him blocked 

Sorry,you and mook need to sort those names out.

[Numero Veinticinco]

3 hours ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

OK. Maybe you're seeing something I'm not.  Please explain how you get from Spurs to Israel without going via "the Jews".

It's already been answered before I got a chance, but it's you who is seeing something that I'm not. Namely the involvement of Jews. You can dislike supporters of Israel without disliking Jews, regardless of whether or not they are Jews. In fact, judging a person by their actions - namely flying the flag of what he considers to be a murderous apartheid state - regardless of their cultural, ethnic, or other identities, is probably about as devoid of racism as it can be. Maybe some don't know and aren't aware of the EDL and Tommy Robinson's boys flying the Israeli flag. Maybe people don't know about the Israeli flag flown by Spurs fans - the ethnoreligious identification of whom remains unknown. You don't have to support Israel just because you're a Jew, in fact some of the most visceral opponents are Jewish and some of the most vocal proponents are not Jews, so why conflate the two? Because North London clubs have Jewish support? Nah, it's actually not on to do it. 

 

I thought he made an obtuse point, but he's going to - surely - beat, hands down, his former employer. 

[Jordy Brouwer]

He's doing his talkshow live from his YouTube tonight at 7. I like people going solo so they don't have to answer to anyone and cow to outrage culture. I don't agree with him on everything but I support free speech and diversity of opinion and he is one of the best debaters in British politics. 

 

I thought the tweet was a bit asinine but no it wasn't racist. 

[Captain Howdy]

3 minutes ago, Jordy Brouwer said:

He's doing his talkshow live from his YouTube tonight at 7. I like people going solo so they don't have to answer to anyone and cow to outrage culture. I don't agree with him on everything but I support free speech and diversity of opinion and he is one of the best debaters in British politics. 

 

I thought the tweet was a bit asinine but no it wasn't racist. 

He doesn’t debate with anybody he just shouts at them.

[Jordy Brouwer]

Not really he's had some really good debates over the years. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

9 hours ago, moof said:

He’s talking about israel flags, spurs fans display israel flags at the game. 

 

You’ve added in that conflation, yourself. 

A tiny minority show Israel flags. They're not going to get on to the cup.

 

Liverpool fans sometimes fly Egypt flags. The current Egyptian regime is abhorrent, but nobody is suggesting that as a reason for wanting Liverpool to lose.

[Numero Veinticinco]

Just now, AngryofTuebrook said:

A tiny minority show Israel flags. They're not going to get on to the cup.

 

Liverpool fans sometimes fly Egypt flags. The current Egyptian regime is abhorrent, but nobody is suggesting that as a reason for wanting Liverpool to lose.

And nobody would suggest he was Islamophobic if he said he didn't want Egyptian flags on the cup, because that would just as clearly be wrong. It would be stupid because obviously nobody is going to put the Israeli flag or Egyptian flag on the cup. It was an opportunistic jab at Israel, just as it would be an opportunistic jab at Egypt and not muslims or Egyptians. 

[Strontium]

He'd never say anything about Egyptians, because he's not opposed to Muslims having their own countries.

[Pureblood]

 

 

[Numero Veinticinco]

Just now, Sixtimes Dog said:

He'd never say anything about Egyptians, because he's not opposed to Muslims having their own countries.

Actually, he is and has said so on a number of occasions.