Posted by Hari on Wednesday, November 25, 2015 with No comments | Labels: defence
KJ and Fee do their own poll...
SOURCE GUARDIAN: Sun
criticised by pollster behind controversial 'jihadi sympathy' story
The market research company Survation has distanced itself
from how an opinion poll it carried out about British Muslims has been reported
by the Sun. The newspaper is facing an increasing backlash against its
front-page report of an opinion poll purporting to show that one in five
British Muslims had “sympathy for jihadis”. The tabloid has been accused of
misrepresenting the results of the poll, which showed that 5% of respondents
agreed with the statement: “I have a lot of sympathy with young Muslims who
leave the UK to join fighters in Syria” and that 14.5% said they had “some
sympathy”. Critics argued that the use of the term “sympathy” was ambiguous and
that it was not clear who was meant by “fighters in Syria”. Ben Page, the chief
executive of Ipsos Mori, said: “The main issue with this poll is the reporting,
which made it appear that one in five of those sampled supported Isis, when in
fact they were expressing sympathy with people going to fight in Syria, as I
understand it, which could of course include British ex-servicemen fighting
against Isis with the Kurds, or anti-Assad Muslim forces who are also fighting
against Isis.” Damian Lyons Lowe, Survation’s chief executive, told the Guardian:
“Survation do not endorse or support the way in which this poll’s findings have
been presented by the Sun newspaper and others. Neither the headline nor the
body text of any articles published were shared with or approved by Survation
prior to publication. “Survation categorically objects to the use of our
findings by any group, as has happened on social networks, to incite racial or
religious tensions.” Survation conducted a similar poll for Sky News in March.
It showed a higher proportion of Muslims – 28% – showed at least some sympathy
with young Muslims leaving the UK to join fighters in Syria. Non-Muslims were
also polled at the time, using the same wording, and 14% agreed they had at
least some sympathy with the statement. The Sun did not mention these figures
in its story on Monday despite being aware of them.
SOURCE GUARDIAN: Arab
states pose 'critical' risk of defence corruption
Arab states that buy billions of dollars worth of weapons
are at high risk of corruption and pose a continuing threat to regional
security and stability, according to a new report by watchdog Transparency
International. All 17 countries suffer from lack of oversight, excessive
secrecy and widespread nepotism, with networks based on family and business
ties in the procurement of defence contracts. High-ranking Saudi princes
preside over powerful agencies and use them to distribute patronage. Overall
the region has some of the most rapidly growing defence budgets in the world,
with a total spend of $135bn. Up to a third of all government spending can be
on defence. There is also well-documented evidence of weapons from a wide range
of countries reaching terrorist groups such as Islamic State and the Houthis in
Yemen.
SOURCE TELEGRAPH: Arms
companies warned by defence secretary not to rip off the taxpayer, as defence budget rises
Arms companies are to be warned that the Government’s Budget
commitment to boost military spending is not a licence to rip off the Ministry
of Defence, which will “not tolerate inefficiency or poor performance”. Defence
Secretary Michael Fallon used a keynote speech at the world’s largest military
airshow to fire the warning shot across the bows of some of the UK’s biggest
companies. “While the defence budget is now protected, that doesn’t mean going
back to padding profit margins through fat government contracts,” Mr Fallon is
due to say. The Government will expect industry to take on more of the risk
involved in future projects, the minister will also warn. This could come in
the form of sharing cost over-runs. Building the Navy’s new aircraft carriers
was originally budgeted at £3.65bn, though the final figure is now £6.2bn after
specification changes by the MoD. Any further cost over-runs will be split
between the MoD and the project’s contractors.
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