Excellent news from Oldham :
Following the General Election success against the BNP, Oldham is aiming to drive out any lingering pockets of racism.
In a two-pronged plan, action will now be stepped up to protect Asian taxi drivers and the borough’s mosques.
I like the "lingering pockets" - reminiscent of the Python Festival Hall sketch where the classical concert ends with "and as fighters swoop down to bomb the last pockets of resistance, we go on to the next part of our program".
Perhaps they could add a third prong and protect the pubs. Also from Oldham :
A Landlord claims he is under siege after an eighth attack on his pub in just two years.
A gang of youths caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage by smashing windows at the front of the Weavers’ Arms in two attacks in the space of 48 hours. It is thought they used an airgun.
These latest incidents are further blows for 41-year-old landlord Paul Marcroft, who says youths have lobbed fireworks and bricks at the Ashfield Road, Deeplish, pub.
The attacks have become such a threat that his family were even forced to flee the pub two years ago when his daughter, Stephanie, was hit by a brick lobbed through a first-floor window.
“It is getting ridiculous,” said Mr Marcroft, who has been in the pub for four years.
“We’ve now had to report eight attacks, during one of which my daughter, who was only two at the time, had to be taken to hospital.
Police say they are now searching for a gang of Asian boys, thought to be aged between 15 and 18, who targeted the pub at about 8.30pm on Thursday and 7.45pm on Saturday.
During the riots of 2001 at least 5 Oldham pubs were burned out by firebombs.
Friday, July 08, 2005
A Few Thoughts
Some credit must be given to the G8 protesters for their brilliant diversionary tactics which ensured half the Met was chasing eco-warriors round Stirling.
Naturally the first thought of the Government will be for extra vigilance - against the danger of Islamophobia. We would not want to see a repetition of the ghastly attacks which took place in the days after 9/11.
Ken Livingstones made an entertaining speech, pointing out that the bombs didn't meet his requirements for good terrorism, as they weren't aimed at politicians.
The friend of the IRA (who never targeted civilians) then pointed out that mass immigration was still on the increase.
In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.
The BBC wheeled out Chris Doyle, of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (the man who thinks toasting St George is "deeply insensitive") to point out that Muslims were as likely as anyone else to have been victims. All very true. He didn't speculate on the likely identity of the perpetrators.
As Mr Crozier points out, while the past may not be a guide to the future, the lessons of the IRA campaign are sombre ones. Mark Steyn's not optimistic either.
Notwithstanding all that, the response of the Londoners on the ground seems to have been excellent, and the emergency services well-organised.
I haven't really taken note of the responses of the usual suspects (SWP, Galloway etc) but Blimpish has.
UPDATE - I'm looking forward to MP Chris Mullin's condemnation of the attacks.
Naturally the first thought of the Government will be for extra vigilance - against the danger of Islamophobia. We would not want to see a repetition of the ghastly attacks which took place in the days after 9/11.
Ken Livingstones made an entertaining speech, pointing out that the bombs didn't meet his requirements for good terrorism, as they weren't aimed at politicians.
The friend of the IRA (who never targeted civilians) then pointed out that mass immigration was still on the increase.
In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.
The BBC wheeled out Chris Doyle, of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (the man who thinks toasting St George is "deeply insensitive") to point out that Muslims were as likely as anyone else to have been victims. All very true. He didn't speculate on the likely identity of the perpetrators.
As Mr Crozier points out, while the past may not be a guide to the future, the lessons of the IRA campaign are sombre ones. Mark Steyn's not optimistic either.
Notwithstanding all that, the response of the Londoners on the ground seems to have been excellent, and the emergency services well-organised.
I haven't really taken note of the responses of the usual suspects (SWP, Galloway etc) but Blimpish has.
UPDATE - I'm looking forward to MP Chris Mullin's condemnation of the attacks.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Louise Casey
I heard reports of Ms Casey's toilet-mouthed rant against her employers and assumed it was evidence that Blair's 'yob tsar' was a conscientious objector in the war on anti-social behaviour.
But I liked this line :
Bloody BBC1 ... When do they interview the people who are on the receiving end of antisocial behaviour?
But I liked this line :
Bloody BBC1 ... When do they interview the people who are on the receiving end of antisocial behaviour?
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
On "Community"
My brother works in an inner city school. I was talking last week to one of his colleagues about the Government's wonderful new Children's Act 2004, out of which came this nightmare vision of a nation of state-conditioned Stepford children.
The Government's aim is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to:
Be healthy (Always use a condom)
Stay safe (Always use a condom)
Enjoy and achieve (Oh alright - don't use one)
Make a positive contribution (ditto)
Achieve economic well-being (Sure Start for the baby, call centre for you)
Among the visions - sorry, among "the different strands of the Change for Children agenda" is the integration of "children's services" at local authority level. The idea is that "health", social services and education will come under the same department. The Guardian is filled with adverts for 'Directors of Children's Services' at six-figure salaries.
So social services, "health" and education will be provided to children by one department. At local level. Nationally I know of no plans to merge the Home Office, Department of Education, and Department of Health. A recipe for some interesting challenges when it comes to the interfaces between the (integrated) delivery and the (non-integrated) strategy.
By September you could well find that your child's education is controlled by a social worker. Or a nurse. Look out for some interesting appointments in the London Boroughs.
One of the bright ideas is extended schooling. You may have already heard of this in connection with the idea of a school open 6 am to 6 pm, providing childcare after hours for working mums. But there's more to it than this. The idea is that the extended school is the place where the 'integrated delivery strategy' comes alive.
There is the school health centre, dispensing the morning after pill and providing abortion counselling. There are social workers in the corridor, the probation officer's office - maybe a police presence.
But "we can build on this". The wet dream is the "on-site community centre", a "school" with an "e-bar", whatever that is, and maybe its own community radio station. A school that's a resource for the whole community.
This should be fun. To the extent that schools actually DO constitute 'communities', it's because they're full of children, controlled to a greater or lesser extent by adults. Where control is not an issue they can even do some teaching.
When 'the community' have access as of right it won't belong before the computers are being sold in the pubs and the radio station is doing pirate FM from the roof of a tower block. It sounds a better place to hang than the local shopping centre. You haven't forgotten to create space for the security guards, have you ? Put them next to the police.
It was an aside by the teacher that struck me. "The government is desperate to get these going," he said, "because they've realised that in the cities community has collapsed. The school is literally the only place where everyone comes together. It's the only community there is - all we've got."
The Government's aim is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to:
Be healthy (Always use a condom)
Stay safe (Always use a condom)
Enjoy and achieve (Oh alright - don't use one)
Make a positive contribution (ditto)
Achieve economic well-being (Sure Start for the baby, call centre for you)
Among the visions - sorry, among "the different strands of the Change for Children agenda" is the integration of "children's services" at local authority level. The idea is that "health", social services and education will come under the same department. The Guardian is filled with adverts for 'Directors of Children's Services' at six-figure salaries.
So social services, "health" and education will be provided to children by one department. At local level. Nationally I know of no plans to merge the Home Office, Department of Education, and Department of Health. A recipe for some interesting challenges when it comes to the interfaces between the (integrated) delivery and the (non-integrated) strategy.
By September you could well find that your child's education is controlled by a social worker. Or a nurse. Look out for some interesting appointments in the London Boroughs.
One of the bright ideas is extended schooling. You may have already heard of this in connection with the idea of a school open 6 am to 6 pm, providing childcare after hours for working mums. But there's more to it than this. The idea is that the extended school is the place where the 'integrated delivery strategy' comes alive.
There is the school health centre, dispensing the morning after pill and providing abortion counselling. There are social workers in the corridor, the probation officer's office - maybe a police presence.
But "we can build on this". The wet dream is the "on-site community centre", a "school" with an "e-bar", whatever that is, and maybe its own community radio station. A school that's a resource for the whole community.
This should be fun. To the extent that schools actually DO constitute 'communities', it's because they're full of children, controlled to a greater or lesser extent by adults. Where control is not an issue they can even do some teaching.
When 'the community' have access as of right it won't belong before the computers are being sold in the pubs and the radio station is doing pirate FM from the roof of a tower block. It sounds a better place to hang than the local shopping centre. You haven't forgotten to create space for the security guards, have you ? Put them next to the police.
It was an aside by the teacher that struck me. "The government is desperate to get these going," he said, "because they've realised that in the cities community has collapsed. The school is literally the only place where everyone comes together. It's the only community there is - all we've got."
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
New Medical Breakthrough
The medicalisation of criminality continues apace.
In mitigation Jeremy Dein, QC, defending, said the teenager had come from an "emotionally fraught" family background, had been bullied at school and suffered from a misconduct disorder.
A 'misconduct disorder', eh ? The old, judgemental name was rapist.
In mitigation Jeremy Dein, QC, defending, said the teenager had come from an "emotionally fraught" family background, had been bullied at school and suffered from a misconduct disorder.
A 'misconduct disorder', eh ? The old, judgemental name was rapist.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Giant Teapot Religion
In another life, I always enjoyed the arrival at Stonehenge Festival of the tribes of the Planet Gong, easily recognisable by the Flying Teapot flags on their tents. They were always nice people - and their girls ! I guess I was just a sucker for a slender young thing in a cheesecloth skirt and hand-crafted woollens. Not to mention the girl with the magic teapot, who wore nowt but necklace and spacy smile. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
So I'm sorry to hear that the cult of the Giant Teapot is in trouble.
Malaysian police have arrested 21 suspected followers of a religious sect called the Sky Kingdom.
They were arrested for possessing documents contrary to Islam, according to an official in Terengganu state.
The Sky Kingdom is an inter-faith sect which claims to promote harmony between all of Malaysia's religious groups.
Known as much for building a giant teapot structure as for its teachings, the group has often been criticised for luring adherents away from Islam.
The Sky Kingdom is led by the eccentric Ayah Pin, who claims he is the saviour of the world.
The group's controversial structures - which given it the nickname "teapot cult" - are said to combine architectural elements from Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.
The teapot is thought to signify the purity of water, while the umbrella signifies God, who shelters everyone in the world.
As I might have said in 1975, the Sky Kingdom people sound 'really nice'. Man.
PS - and while we're on disreputable youth, Dom has more cautionary tales from that era.
UPDATE - more on Ayah Pin from this fine Malaysian site.
So I'm sorry to hear that the cult of the Giant Teapot is in trouble.
Malaysian police have arrested 21 suspected followers of a religious sect called the Sky Kingdom.
They were arrested for possessing documents contrary to Islam, according to an official in Terengganu state.
The Sky Kingdom is an inter-faith sect which claims to promote harmony between all of Malaysia's religious groups.
Known as much for building a giant teapot structure as for its teachings, the group has often been criticised for luring adherents away from Islam.
The Sky Kingdom is led by the eccentric Ayah Pin, who claims he is the saviour of the world.
The group's controversial structures - which given it the nickname "teapot cult" - are said to combine architectural elements from Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.
The teapot is thought to signify the purity of water, while the umbrella signifies God, who shelters everyone in the world.
As I might have said in 1975, the Sky Kingdom people sound 'really nice'. Man.
PS - and while we're on disreputable youth, Dom has more cautionary tales from that era.
UPDATE - more on Ayah Pin from this fine Malaysian site.
I Don't Understand ...
That Niall Ferguson chappie. Should we be afraid of the Golden Horde or the Yellow Peril ?
Perhaps he'll produce a synthesis, in which China, having crushed its own Muslims, rises to world power while a dhimmfied Europe, hiding its Bibles and crucifixes, is busy arguing about the final constitution of the EU Caliphate.
Perhaps he'll produce a synthesis, in which China, having crushed its own Muslims, rises to world power while a dhimmfied Europe, hiding its Bibles and crucifixes, is busy arguing about the final constitution of the EU Caliphate.
Kriss Donald Update.
The suspects in this particularly disgusting racist murder case who fled to Pakistan have been arrested.
Kriss Donald would have been 17 today.
Kriss Donald would have been 17 today.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Stand By ...
For a week-long festival of hypocrisy, ignorance and breast-beating, as the backpacking classes head for the Land O'Cakes to protest against global warming ('Macchu Picchu is so last decade - did you see that Guardian flight offer ? Angkor Wat from only £149'), world trade ('it's outrageous that we are deliberately starving millions of children to death') and the Redneck Cowboy's Evil Empire ('Bush and Blair are the real terrorists').
David Farrer at Freedom and Whisky will be photoblogging the week in Edinburgh.
Meanwhile this New Statesman item on the new power in Africa may be of interest. The same power that's sending troops and weapons to Sudan and controls Sudanese oil. The attractions of Chinese involvement for a African ruling elite is that their investment isn't dependent upon a project meeting those awkward rules about transparency or corruption which you have to address for an IMF loan or World Bank project. No one will ask about social impacts or demand an environmental assessment. As Zimbabwean site Sokwanele says :
Quietly, without fanfare, China has been moving into Africa. Africa is the one continent which still has relatively untapped reserves, particularly of fossil fuels and minerals. Her main targets have been Sudan, Nigeria, and Angola. China needs oil, and has been getting it. She has been developing oilfields in Sudan and now Sudan supplies 5% of her oil consumption.
UPDATE - glancing at the Live 8 crowd on the BBC, I notice a shortage of African faces - indeed, of black and brown faces generally. Surprising when you consider London's large African population. I suppose African poverty isn't their fault. I'll bet the demographic in Edinburgh over the next week will be the same.
Hideously pink - the crowd at Live8, reflecting Britain's multicultural society.
African Princess ? Irish Colleen ?
David Farrer at Freedom and Whisky will be photoblogging the week in Edinburgh.
Meanwhile this New Statesman item on the new power in Africa may be of interest. The same power that's sending troops and weapons to Sudan and controls Sudanese oil. The attractions of Chinese involvement for a African ruling elite is that their investment isn't dependent upon a project meeting those awkward rules about transparency or corruption which you have to address for an IMF loan or World Bank project. No one will ask about social impacts or demand an environmental assessment. As Zimbabwean site Sokwanele says :
Quietly, without fanfare, China has been moving into Africa. Africa is the one continent which still has relatively untapped reserves, particularly of fossil fuels and minerals. Her main targets have been Sudan, Nigeria, and Angola. China needs oil, and has been getting it. She has been developing oilfields in Sudan and now Sudan supplies 5% of her oil consumption.
UPDATE - glancing at the Live 8 crowd on the BBC, I notice a shortage of African faces - indeed, of black and brown faces generally. Surprising when you consider London's large African population. I suppose African poverty isn't their fault. I'll bet the demographic in Edinburgh over the next week will be the same.
Hideously pink - the crowd at Live8, reflecting Britain's multicultural society.
African Princess ? Irish Colleen ?
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Religion of Peace, Religion of Appeasement (and incompetence)
Imagine the fuss if English Christians had beaten a Muslim, Hindu or Sikh to death because his son was seeing a Christian girl. It would be all over the Guardian and Indie like a rash. The Today programme would run daily reports on the trial.
Then imagine the fuss if it turned out they'd killed the 'wrong' man.
Strangely, this story seems to have slipped under the radar.
Prosecutor Anthony Barker, QC said Mr Gill was the victim of a deliberate and planned killing.
"Some men had clubs, iron bars and hockey sticks and inside the shopkeeper was clubbed to death," he said.
Shimraz Kahn, 35, got a minimum of 18 years for the murder of Major Singh Gill at his West Midlands shop. Waheed Akhtar, 22, was given 15 years.
The men believed Mr Gill's Sikh son was in a relationship with a young Muslim woman, Stafford Crown Court was told.
Two others were found not guilty. Two further suspects are believed to have fled to Pakistan.
UPDATE - The Dumb One highlights the BBC's view of this murder as 'a dispute between Sikhs and Muslims’.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales makes the Church of England look like Dumb Jon. They produce piles of verbiage on Islam, Fair Trade, Chinese cockle-pickers, asylum seekers, refugees, Abu Ghraib - you name it.
Unfortunately they appear to be so far up their own liberal backsides that they don't notice when their own people are up someone else's.
A man who was sexually abused as a child by a Roman Catholic priest has been awarded damages of more than £600,000 at the High Court.
The man, known as A, was abused by Father Christopher Clonan over a 10-year period from the age of eight when the priest worked in Coventry
An amount of £635,684 was awarded by the High Court in Manchester against the defendants, the Archbishop of Birmingham and the trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church.
I have an interest to declare - a son who's an altar-boy and the Direct Debit which sends several hundred pounds a year into the coffers of Holy Church. I'm not terribly taken with the idea that it's going straight out again in payments to lawyers and victims.
I'm even less taken with the fact that this isn't an isolated case. The Bishops and Cardinals are taking repentance and forgiveness too far when they let paedophile priests loose on unsuspecting congregations.
Archbishop Nichols said on Wednesday that no priest convicted of offences against children would have a "role of trust" in the diocese.
Role of trust ? He shouldn't have any role of any kind in anything. Forgiveness on an individual level - fine. At a corporate level - no way. And the Cardinal is worse.
PS - you may notice the BBC have got the story wrong when they say the poor man was abused from the age of eight 'over a 10 year period'. Of course it should have read 'over an eight year period, after which, on the boy's sixteenth birthday, the relationship became one between two consenting 'gay men'. And anyone objecting is a bigot.'
Then imagine the fuss if it turned out they'd killed the 'wrong' man.
Strangely, this story seems to have slipped under the radar.
Prosecutor Anthony Barker, QC said Mr Gill was the victim of a deliberate and planned killing.
"Some men had clubs, iron bars and hockey sticks and inside the shopkeeper was clubbed to death," he said.
Shimraz Kahn, 35, got a minimum of 18 years for the murder of Major Singh Gill at his West Midlands shop. Waheed Akhtar, 22, was given 15 years.
The men believed Mr Gill's Sikh son was in a relationship with a young Muslim woman, Stafford Crown Court was told.
Two others were found not guilty. Two further suspects are believed to have fled to Pakistan.
UPDATE - The Dumb One highlights the BBC's view of this murder as 'a dispute between Sikhs and Muslims’.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales makes the Church of England look like Dumb Jon. They produce piles of verbiage on Islam, Fair Trade, Chinese cockle-pickers, asylum seekers, refugees, Abu Ghraib - you name it.
Unfortunately they appear to be so far up their own liberal backsides that they don't notice when their own people are up someone else's.
A man who was sexually abused as a child by a Roman Catholic priest has been awarded damages of more than £600,000 at the High Court.
The man, known as A, was abused by Father Christopher Clonan over a 10-year period from the age of eight when the priest worked in Coventry
An amount of £635,684 was awarded by the High Court in Manchester against the defendants, the Archbishop of Birmingham and the trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church.
I have an interest to declare - a son who's an altar-boy and the Direct Debit which sends several hundred pounds a year into the coffers of Holy Church. I'm not terribly taken with the idea that it's going straight out again in payments to lawyers and victims.
I'm even less taken with the fact that this isn't an isolated case. The Bishops and Cardinals are taking repentance and forgiveness too far when they let paedophile priests loose on unsuspecting congregations.
Archbishop Nichols said on Wednesday that no priest convicted of offences against children would have a "role of trust" in the diocese.
Role of trust ? He shouldn't have any role of any kind in anything. Forgiveness on an individual level - fine. At a corporate level - no way. And the Cardinal is worse.
PS - you may notice the BBC have got the story wrong when they say the poor man was abused from the age of eight 'over a 10 year period'. Of course it should have read 'over an eight year period, after which, on the boy's sixteenth birthday, the relationship became one between two consenting 'gay men'. And anyone objecting is a bigot.'
More Doctors Say "Choose Death"
In a magnificent one-two, the British Morbidity Association have decided not to call for a decrease in the 24-week abortion limit. They also decided, in the BBCs tasteful euphemism, "to drop their opposition to changes to the law which would allow terminally ill patients to be helped to die."
The debate on abortion showed the caring profession at its best.
Keith Brent, a paediatrician, told the Manchester conference a reduction in the legal limit would compel him to attempt the resuscitation of premature babies with extremely poor prospects of leading a normal life.
"There is no point in forcing me, my staff, mothers and babies to go through that."
Instead the babies will go through ....
"I don't want the BMA to be allied to the violent pro-life groups and their shameful persecution of women who have reached really difficult moral decisions," said junior doctor Jenny Blackwell.
In contrast to the violence of groups like Life and SPUC, abortion is such a peaceful procedure. It hardly hurts the mother at all.
While I find this all very depressing, it's inevitable in a post-Christian society. Where once the Church was the final arbiter of morality (and the Church was extremely pro-life, to the point where attempted suicide was an imprisonable offence), the decline of Christianity has left a power vacuum.
Who is capable of taking such decisions, on life and death ? You would need great self-confidence, and a conviction of your own righteousness which is almost like arrogance. Where can such qualities be found ?
Step forward the lawyers and the doctors.
We're in the middle stages of a long and slippery descent here. We've been killing babies since 1967 - six million so far. We've only started starving people to death in the last 20 years - and not just people with brain injuries like Tony Bland. A little bit of starvation can help clear a ward of those bed-blocking dementia cases.
It's now the view of the Department of Health that doctors should be able to withhold food and water from perfectly conscious, articulate patients.
Should be some interesting scenes in the next twenty or thirty years as the baby-boomers, the Sixties children, approach senility. This last cohort of hideously white Britons will discover for themselves that ideas have consequences.
The debate on abortion showed the caring profession at its best.
Keith Brent, a paediatrician, told the Manchester conference a reduction in the legal limit would compel him to attempt the resuscitation of premature babies with extremely poor prospects of leading a normal life.
"There is no point in forcing me, my staff, mothers and babies to go through that."
Instead the babies will go through ....
"I don't want the BMA to be allied to the violent pro-life groups and their shameful persecution of women who have reached really difficult moral decisions," said junior doctor Jenny Blackwell.
In contrast to the violence of groups like Life and SPUC, abortion is such a peaceful procedure. It hardly hurts the mother at all.
While I find this all very depressing, it's inevitable in a post-Christian society. Where once the Church was the final arbiter of morality (and the Church was extremely pro-life, to the point where attempted suicide was an imprisonable offence), the decline of Christianity has left a power vacuum.
Who is capable of taking such decisions, on life and death ? You would need great self-confidence, and a conviction of your own righteousness which is almost like arrogance. Where can such qualities be found ?
Step forward the lawyers and the doctors.
We're in the middle stages of a long and slippery descent here. We've been killing babies since 1967 - six million so far. We've only started starving people to death in the last 20 years - and not just people with brain injuries like Tony Bland. A little bit of starvation can help clear a ward of those bed-blocking dementia cases.
It's now the view of the Department of Health that doctors should be able to withhold food and water from perfectly conscious, articulate patients.
Should be some interesting scenes in the next twenty or thirty years as the baby-boomers, the Sixties children, approach senility. This last cohort of hideously white Britons will discover for themselves that ideas have consequences.
The Worse, The Better
Tim Garton Ash gets all excited at the thought that things might be going badly for America in Iraq.
It would be suicidally dumb for any European to think, in relation to Iraq, "the worse the better".
followed by
But it is a fair and justified historical observation that American policy has got better - more sober, more realistic - at least partly because things in Iraq have gone so badly. This is the cunning of history.
So cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel. He'll be telling us next that defeat for America (and the UK) would be 'character-building'.
It would be suicidally dumb for any European to think, in relation to Iraq, "the worse the better".
followed by
But it is a fair and justified historical observation that American policy has got better - more sober, more realistic - at least partly because things in Iraq have gone so badly. This is the cunning of history.
So cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel. He'll be telling us next that defeat for America (and the UK) would be 'character-building'.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Local Democracy
If you've never been to the beautiful Isle of Lewis, go this summer. White beaches, standing stones, flowers on the machair, Gaelic psalm-singing (which sounds like no other church music in Europe - a Chinese or Mongolian feel to it) and monstrous alcohol consumption on a Saturday night (an Englishman is best advised to avoid Stornoway dockside bars) followed by a real Sabbath - no shops, taxis, bars - you go for a walk or go to church.
Before the 366 wind turbines get built.
Scotland is rapidly getting covered in the things. Last year on Arran we could look across to Ardrossan and see ten or a dozen on the hills above, while over on the other side the spine of Kintyre is covered with them.
The consultation process seems to have worked well. You can clearly see its usefulness.
The Executive received 4,200 representations on the LWP plan (133 turbines), with just nine in favour, while all but two of the 1,450 representations on the BMP scheme (234 turbines)were against.
Before the 366 wind turbines get built.
Scotland is rapidly getting covered in the things. Last year on Arran we could look across to Ardrossan and see ten or a dozen on the hills above, while over on the other side the spine of Kintyre is covered with them.
The consultation process seems to have worked well. You can clearly see its usefulness.
The Executive received 4,200 representations on the LWP plan (133 turbines), with just nine in favour, while all but two of the 1,450 representations on the BMP scheme (234 turbines)were against.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Syringia Blossoms From The Curate's Garden
Poverty Causes Crime
A 22-year-old man who won £9.7m on the lottery in 2002 has been given an anti- social behaviour order (Asbo) after admitting criminal damage.
Economic Benefits of Migration
Police said he moved to the UK in 2001 and had been dealing in crack cocaine.
More Low Intensity Warfare
Mugilan Sutherman, 43, was assaulted in Failsworth, Oldham, after apparently refusing to give a group of teenagers a light for a cigarette.
He was found collapsed on Oldham Road and was taken to The Royal Oldham Hospital where he later died.
Two boys, aged 18 and 15, and two girls, aged 14 and 15, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Elsewhere ...
Trevor Phillips thinks reality TV is a force for good race relations. Great timing - the Guardian and Assistant Blog raise the awkward possibility that the Big Brother house may be splitting on racial lines.
A wonderful rant by the Gray Monk on how it's all going down the tubes ... James Hamilton's been getting tanked up ... and the saintly Rev Peter Mullen on (inter alia) the new Archbishop of York.
"The Church of England has spent the last forty years dismantling the English Christian tradition."
A 22-year-old man who won £9.7m on the lottery in 2002 has been given an anti- social behaviour order (Asbo) after admitting criminal damage.
Economic Benefits of Migration
Police said he moved to the UK in 2001 and had been dealing in crack cocaine.
More Low Intensity Warfare
Mugilan Sutherman, 43, was assaulted in Failsworth, Oldham, after apparently refusing to give a group of teenagers a light for a cigarette.
He was found collapsed on Oldham Road and was taken to The Royal Oldham Hospital where he later died.
Two boys, aged 18 and 15, and two girls, aged 14 and 15, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Elsewhere ...
Trevor Phillips thinks reality TV is a force for good race relations. Great timing - the Guardian and Assistant Blog raise the awkward possibility that the Big Brother house may be splitting on racial lines.
A wonderful rant by the Gray Monk on how it's all going down the tubes ... James Hamilton's been getting tanked up ... and the saintly Rev Peter Mullen on (inter alia) the new Archbishop of York.
"The Church of England has spent the last forty years dismantling the English Christian tradition."
Zimbabwe And Asylum
Andrew at Non-Trivial Solutions says it all on Zimbabwe. Mugabe seems to be turning into Pol Pot - the last dictator who emptied the cities. Sending people back there only makes sense if they're armed and accompanied by tanks and aircraft.
The Pub Philosopher and A Tangled Web ask why Zimbabweans don't head over the Limpopo to the rainbow paradise next door, where thousands of Zimbabweans have found jobs. Until the South African Government deports them.
According to Refugees International, of 5,000 applications for political asylum, less than 20 have been granted.
But according to the Guardian's Andrew Meldrum, "More than 2 million Zimbabweans are currently sheltering in South Africa - about 15% of their country's population of 13 million."
So whether willingly or not, you can't say that SA's not doing its stuff.
UPDATE - Squander Two is even crosser than I.
"I believe that Tony Blair has done a considerable amount in the cause of freedom, and could be rightly proud of all he's done to combat tyranny — until this week. This one issue cancels all of that out. This is an evil act. I hope he dies."
Are you sure about that, S2 ? Post in haste, repent at leisure and all that ?
Anyway, your wish will be granted. We will all die one day. I hope he lives to a ripe old age ( shunned and despised by all right-thinking people).
Having no principles does make life confusing, though. Until a year or so back Blair's policy was to allow anyone who could get here to stay. People didn't like it, so he cut down the numbers - and now people don't like that either.
The problem, as usual, is numbers. If TB declares open house for Zimbabweans every African arriving will claim to be an MDC member. I'm surprised Mugabe hasn't started sending daily planeloads of opponents to Heathrow - that would present a tricky problem. He probably hasn't got the planes or the fuel - an aid-worker friend told me that Mugabe and entourage took over half the seats on her commercial flight from Harare to SA last year.
The Pub Philosopher and A Tangled Web ask why Zimbabweans don't head over the Limpopo to the rainbow paradise next door, where thousands of Zimbabweans have found jobs. Until the South African Government deports them.
According to Refugees International, of 5,000 applications for political asylum, less than 20 have been granted.
But according to the Guardian's Andrew Meldrum, "More than 2 million Zimbabweans are currently sheltering in South Africa - about 15% of their country's population of 13 million."
So whether willingly or not, you can't say that SA's not doing its stuff.
UPDATE - Squander Two is even crosser than I.
"I believe that Tony Blair has done a considerable amount in the cause of freedom, and could be rightly proud of all he's done to combat tyranny — until this week. This one issue cancels all of that out. This is an evil act. I hope he dies."
Are you sure about that, S2 ? Post in haste, repent at leisure and all that ?
Anyway, your wish will be granted. We will all die one day. I hope he lives to a ripe old age ( shunned and despised by all right-thinking people).
Having no principles does make life confusing, though. Until a year or so back Blair's policy was to allow anyone who could get here to stay. People didn't like it, so he cut down the numbers - and now people don't like that either.
The problem, as usual, is numbers. If TB declares open house for Zimbabweans every African arriving will claim to be an MDC member. I'm surprised Mugabe hasn't started sending daily planeloads of opponents to Heathrow - that would present a tricky problem. He probably hasn't got the planes or the fuel - an aid-worker friend told me that Mugabe and entourage took over half the seats on her commercial flight from Harare to SA last year.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Flagellation News
The last time Aceh, Indonesia was in the news it was under several feet of water. Things are getting back to normal :
The 15 men were flogged with a rattan cane on a specially-constructed stage in front of the Grand Mosque following midday prayers on Friday.
Another 11 people are due to be caned at a later date.
According to reports from the scene, the event was more of a festival than a punishment exercise.
According to a BBC reporter in Bireuen, Maskur Abdullah, crowds of people, including children, watched the proceedings - cheering and booing as the culprits were brought onto the stage to receive their punishments.
One of the convicted men even faced the crowd afterwards and showed told them he had felt no pain, our reporter says.
On Thursday Bireuen's district chief Mustafa Geulanggang explained why the authorities had decided to implement caning as a punishment.
"It's not about pain," he told the BBC. "The aim is to shame people and deter them from doing the same criminal acts in the future."
In a story I have't heard on the Today programme, seventeen ex-Gitmo inmates have been freed after nine months in Pakistani jails.
Haifz Ehsan Saeed told AFP news agency that he had seen the Muslim holy book thrown "in a bucket full of urine and faeces".
Another freed Pakistani said he was tortured and his beard was shaved by US troops.
However, a third said the conditions at the American prison camp were better than those in many Pakistani prisons.
"It is certainly better than the jail at Faisalabad where there is no water, no electricity," Mohammed Arshad said.
The 15 men were flogged with a rattan cane on a specially-constructed stage in front of the Grand Mosque following midday prayers on Friday.
Another 11 people are due to be caned at a later date.
According to reports from the scene, the event was more of a festival than a punishment exercise.
According to a BBC reporter in Bireuen, Maskur Abdullah, crowds of people, including children, watched the proceedings - cheering and booing as the culprits were brought onto the stage to receive their punishments.
One of the convicted men even faced the crowd afterwards and showed told them he had felt no pain, our reporter says.
On Thursday Bireuen's district chief Mustafa Geulanggang explained why the authorities had decided to implement caning as a punishment.
"It's not about pain," he told the BBC. "The aim is to shame people and deter them from doing the same criminal acts in the future."
In a story I have't heard on the Today programme, seventeen ex-Gitmo inmates have been freed after nine months in Pakistani jails.
Haifz Ehsan Saeed told AFP news agency that he had seen the Muslim holy book thrown "in a bucket full of urine and faeces".
Another freed Pakistani said he was tortured and his beard was shaved by US troops.
However, a third said the conditions at the American prison camp were better than those in many Pakistani prisons.
"It is certainly better than the jail at Faisalabad where there is no water, no electricity," Mohammed Arshad said.
More Sexual Politics
I missed this when it came out, but it made me smile (but then I think Swarfega should market an aftershave). Kim du Toit on The Pussification of the Western Male.
Choice quotes -
"guns, self-defense, politics, beautiful women, sports, warfare, hunting, and power tools—all the things that being a man entails"
"Some women deserve to be single moms"
"Men are slobs, and that only changes when women try to civilize them by marriage. That’s the natural order of things."
"We Were Soldiers was a great movie, and you know why? Because you could have cut out all the female parts, and it still would have been a great movie, because it was about Real Men. Try cutting out all the female parts in a Woody Allen movie—you’d end up with the opening and closing credits."
"Men shouldn’t buy “self-help” books unless the subject matter is car maintenance, golf swing improvement or how to disassemble a Browning BAR."
Mr du Toit's work is best read in conjunction with femiluni academic Julie Bindel's Guardian lament. She's in Tallinn, Estonia, investigating "sex work". Tragically it turns out she's sharing a hotel with the punters.
Choice quotes -
"guns, self-defense, politics, beautiful women, sports, warfare, hunting, and power tools—all the things that being a man entails"
"Some women deserve to be single moms"
"Men are slobs, and that only changes when women try to civilize them by marriage. That’s the natural order of things."
"We Were Soldiers was a great movie, and you know why? Because you could have cut out all the female parts, and it still would have been a great movie, because it was about Real Men. Try cutting out all the female parts in a Woody Allen movie—you’d end up with the opening and closing credits."
"Men shouldn’t buy “self-help” books unless the subject matter is car maintenance, golf swing improvement or how to disassemble a Browning BAR."
Mr du Toit's work is best read in conjunction with femiluni academic Julie Bindel's Guardian lament. She's in Tallinn, Estonia, investigating "sex work". Tragically it turns out she's sharing a hotel with the punters.
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