Compare And Contrast

Two stories of gang rape.

One alleged, involving three white lacrosse players from a prestigious American university and a black stripper hired to perform at a party.

One proven, involving two black criminals, serial rapists, and a white woman forced into a car and driven to a flat to be assaulted at knifepoint. An earlier victim, aged fifteen, had been raped at gunpoint.

The first story hits all the right buttons for self-hating white liberals. As the BBC reports, "even aside from the current scandal, there is no escaping the hard reality that Duke's student population is largely white".

The Guardian has several stories ("it had all the ugliness of the Old South in an institution that prides itself on being a pillar of the New South: a brutal collision of race, sex and class ...").

To the Indie, the "university rape claim awakens demons of America's Deep South". Or to an Indie editor, the demons as mediated by the Rolling Stones and Neil Young ?

DNA sampling has proved negative, and it's unsure when the allegations will come to trial - but this story will run and run. You can place bets on the outcome.

The second, proven story has precisely ONE news report - in icSouthLondon. If the races of perpetrator and victim had been reversed, the BBC/Guardian/Indie would have been all over it like a rash.

Jamaican gang that used rape as its initiation
Apr 18 2006

Immigration chiefs faced fury last night for allowing a member of a sordid Jamaican rape gang to make South London his hunting ground. Sheldon Stewart, 26, was said to be part of the Buckles mob - a violent criminal outfit responsible for a spree of vile attacks in the Caribbean. Their hallmark is said to be a sickening initiation ceremony where new recruits are instructed to abduct and rape.

Yet despite being known in his homeland as a gang member, Stewart, 26, was able to move to Britain where he has:

* raped a schoolgirl at gunpoint
* held a knife to another woman's throat as he and a twisted accomplice tried to violate her
*taunted women who were prepared to stand up to him in court
*boasted of keeping young girls as slaves

Stewart was behind bars this week, facing a 12-year stretch for rape, attempted rape and possessing a gun. But a scar-faced accomplice who took turns in raping the 15-year-old and is also a suspected Buckles member is still at large. Victim support groups say the case highlights the disturbing ease in which potential sex attackers are able to slip unnoticed into the UK. Immigration chiefs allowed Stewart into Britain in 2002, seemingly oblivious to the potential danger he posed. This was because, like many gang members in the Caribbean, he lived under several street names making it hard for officials to keep accurate criminal records. Tighter border controls were introduced in 2003, requiring Jamaican nationals to declare criminal convictions when applying to the UK, but even these are "not an automatic barrier" to the UK, the Home Office says.


Stewart first set up home in Streatham, then moved to Peak Hill, Sydenham, supposedly buying and selling cars for a living. In reality he was forging links with local gangs and establishing his reputation as a man not to be crossed. While his cold, dead eyes show not a flicker of emotion in the police mugshot, officers say he was charming and manipulative - winning over young women with his cars, designer clothes and bling. Cops have probed Stewart's activities between April and December 2004 and believe he "befriended" as many as four women a week. He called these women "girlfriends" - but police fear many will have have been subjected to bullying and sexual abuse.

Inner London Crown Court heard how Stewart attacked a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint and dragged another woman into flat in Peak Hill, Sydenham, after calling her "a white bitch". He and the scar-faced pal threatened to "burst" or shoot the first victim on November 25, 2004, if she didn't submit to their sordid demands. The girl had been lured into Stewart's car on the promise of cannabis and a lift. Instead, both men took turns to rape her as a gun was held to her head. Stewart targeted a second victim on December 30, 2004, first trying to chat her up, then bundling her into a car on the Tulse Hill Estate. He called the 25-year-old a "white bitch" and drove her back to the Sydenham flat, where the accomplice was again waiting to pounce. Stewart held a 7in long knife to the the sobbing woman's throat, but she kept calm and fooled the pair into letting her go to the toilet from where she fled.

The first girl, who was in social services care, was too afraid to give evidence. But in an amazing show of bravery, she agreed to help nail Stewart after he phoned to taunt her over the allegations. When cops from Streatham CID arrested the rapist at his girlfriend's home in West Norwood, he claimed the 25-year-old was a prostitute and denied having sex with the teenager. But jurors found him guilty of rape, sexual assault, kidnap, two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of possessing a firearm or imitation firearm, and an additional charge of witness intimidation. Passing sentence, Judge Lindsay Burn described Stewart's indifference towards his crimes as "extraordinary." Sentencing the killer to 11 years for the sex attacks and a further year for witness intimidation, the judge added: "It's evident to me that you thought you could behave towards women in this way and get away with it. There was no remorse whatsoever expressed by you for what you have done."

Stewart still refuses to name the scar-faced accomplice who police believe has now fled overseas. The fugitive is also said to be an alleged member of the Buckles gang. A "wall of silence" has protected the mob in their homeland as few law-abiding Jamaicans are prepared to give evidence against them. Detective Inspector Jonathan Wilson of Streatham CID said: "Our inquiries suggest that Stewart and his accomplice were former members of a criminal outfit called the Buckles gang who had committed similar offences in Jamaica. Stewart has shown he is an extremely dangerous man who poses a real threat to young woman and girls. He and his accomplice behaved in a despicable manner using violence casually against victims who did not consent to his sexual advances."

Stewart's conviction on March 24 could not be reported until today because prosecutors were considering the possibility of further charges for witness intimidation that have subsequently been left on file.

A Home Office spokesman refused to comment on "individual cases", but said: "A criminal record is not an automatic barrier to entry to the United Kingdom. The Immigration database holds adverse information on individuals who we wish to prevent from entering the country. It contains certain details of overseas criminal convictions only where this information has been made available to the Police from an individual's country of origin."

Cops paid tribute yesterday to the extraordinary courage of Sheldon Stewart's young victims. Twisted Stewart and his scar-faced accomplice threatened them with guns and knives. Stewart even phoned the 15-year-old from behind bars boasting he could "bust" the case if she co-operated with police. But far from intimidating his young victim, the chilling call inspired her to give evidence to ensure he would stay locked up. Detectives have also praised the ingenuity of his second victim, 25, who managed to outwit and escape her captors despite having been punched repeatedly in the face. Investigating Detective Sergeant Yasmine Watson said: "I can't begin to imagine the fear these women must have felt. Many victims were too scared to give evidence following direct and implied threats from Stewart and his accomplices. Both victims come from very different walks of life and both have shown unbelievable strength and determination in standing up to Stewart."

Detectives pledged to continue their hunt for the scar-faced fugitive. And they warned women of all ages to avoid taking lifts with strangers.

Can't Say They're Not Honest

Labour MP Jon Cruddas, quoted by David Aaronovitch.

He said that with hard work, more social housing, and demographics, the BNP could be neutralised.

Like they have been in Sparkbrook, Aston, Lozells. Why bother going to all the trouble of arguing with the voters when you can just replace them ?



Titfer-tip - Tottenham Lad

Comedy Caper Central

John Reid, the Scotsman in charge of criminal justice for England and Wales, looks to be a safe pair of hands.

Mr Reid said: "As a result of the work that has been done I am informed that the number of released prisoners who fall into the category of having committed the most serious offences is not 90, it could be as high as 150 and, indeed, depending on what definition you use, if you were to include in that armed robbery it could be several hundred."

So we have a Home Secretary who can't quite make up his mind about whether armed robbery is one of the more "serious offences". Explains why a guy currently awaiting trial on terrorist charges could serve a sentence for robbery then be granted UK citizenship on release.

Arsenic Wenger ?

From the Sporting Life.

Experts are to test food taken by police from a London hotel after a number of Tottenham players fell ill before Sunday's crucial match at West Ham.

Several of the Spurs squad apparently suffered food poisoning ahead of their final Barclays Premiership match of the season at Upton Park.

Police were called to the London Marriott West India Quay Hotel, in the Canary Wharf area, and took away food samples to hand over to experts.

Tottenham needed to win the match to clinch fourth place in the Premiership and - barring Arsenal winning this year's Champions League final - a Champions League place next season, but lost the match 2-1.

We liberals must not condemn the people who voted BNP

Says genial Uncle Roy Greenslade.

He was a punk. She did ballet. Can I make it any more obvious ?

He worked at Ford's. She taught girls to dance. In their spare time they threw themselves into endless rounds of charity work. Like virtually everyone in Barking they came from east London stock and voted Labour. Some of their closest friends were councillors. They loved the area and its community. The less fortunate people were, the more they loved them. In common parlance they were, and are, a salt-of-the-earth couple. In retirement they have continued to help others. It's in their nature.

But a long time ago, maybe more than 10 years ago now, I began to note an edge of genuine anger creeping into their talk, with sentences that started I'm-not-a-racist-but...

Irish Republican cheerleader Georgina Henry can sympathise with nationalist voters, even if they haven't yet reached the preferred political sophistication of blowing people up or shooting informers in the head.

The truth is that - rightly or wrongly - many traditional Labour voters believe this government has ignored their priorities. Whilst we can never support a vote for a racist party, one can - and must - understand the sense of frustration which leads people to do so.

Nonsense, says Brownie at Harry's. Whatever happened to good old working class progressive pretension, eh ?

"The people responsible for this are those who voted for the BNP and, lest there be any doubt, there is no excuse. If you vote for a party grounded in transparently racist ideology and which promotes nakedly sectarian policies, you legitimize it. For both genuine socialists and those with any progressive pretensions whatsoever, there ought to be no greater crime."

Coming it a bit strong, aren't we ? Call me an unpretentious sort, but don't you think kidnapping a journalist, stripping her, drilling holes in her legs and an eye, then videoing her having her head sawn off, a greater crime ? I wouldn't do that to Polly Toynbee.



You can see the BNP voting figures here. Food for thought.



Scum ! Vermin ! cries Muriel Gray from overwhelmingly monocultural Scotland (yes, I know there are a few intracultural issues).

There can only be three reasons for voting (BNP) ...

The first reason would be that the voter is terminally stupid and doesn’t understand the covert bile that is being presented to them.

The second reason would be that the voter is a horrible, racist, homophobic, evil bastard.

The third reason is that the voter is a combination of reasons one and two.

... those people, thankfully in a tiny minority, are still, and most probably always will be, morons. All the BNP have proved is that they are getting better at winkling out these appalling people ... a few ghastly people with ugly views ... nasty little people ...

Come on, Muriel, tell us what you really think of them.

If Labour shifts its policies, even by a fraction, to appease these bigots instead of listening to the decent law-abiding majority, then the victory won by the BNP will be bigger than just a few council seats.

After all, "anxious and harassed Muslims haven’t set up and voted for an Anti Kuffir Party".

Bonnie Bluebells From The Curate's Coppice

Dear Sir,

I couldn't but notice the following Scottish stories :

"Extended home leave for prisoners"

Inmates at an open prison are being freed for a week each month under a new extended home leave scheme.

The move at Noranside Prison in Angus will be introduced from next week by the Scottish Prison Service.

The prison, near Forfar, currently houses about 140 long-term prisoners, including murderers and rapists.

"Prison break robber spared jail"

A prisoner who broke out of jail and robbed a nearby house before returning to his cell has been given 300 hours community service.

Alan Wright absconded from Castle Huntly prison, near Dundee, in August 2002 so he could pay off drug debts.

Fiscal depute Hannah Kennedy said: "The accused escaped from Castle Huntly, where he was an inmate at the time.

"He left the premises and committed the crimes. It's not certain how he left, but the suspicion is that he left and returned by a window."

Wright had formerly been involved with the Calton Athletic group in Glasgow and had become a keen marathon runner.

He also lectured in school drug misuse.

"Anti-violence campaign under way"

A 12-month campaign against violent crime in Scotland has been launched.
The Safer Scotland campaign will see officers working with health, education and social workers in an effort to stop violent behaviour before it starts.

It comes as one of the country's top law enforcers admitted that previous strategies have had no great impact on violence levels over the past 40 years.

Scotland has one of Europe's highest violent crime rates, with more than 100 (actually 137) people killed in attacks each year.

"'The Hawk' jailed for gun offence"

At the time of the offence Martin, from Ballingry, Fife, was out on licence from a 12-year prison sentence for assault, robbery and firearms offences.

"3 dead, 4 hurt in wave of stabbings"

A teenager has died after an attack on the south side of Glasgow, the latest fatality in a weekend of stabbings in the west of Scotland that resulted in three men being killed and four seriously injured.

Craig McCulloch, 18, from the Merrylee area of the city, was taken by ambulance to the Victoria Infirmary in the early hours of Sunday morning and died there a short time later.

Two youths, aged 15 and 16, are expected to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court today in connection with his death.

In the weekend of violence, Robert Gardner, 36, was killed in a prolonged and violent assault by a gang of four men in the Port Glasgow area of Inverclyde in the early hours of Sunday. He had been on his way to meet his girlfriend when he was chased and beaten in Castlehill Avenue.

Officers described the attack as a "horrendous" assault on a quiet and well-liked individual.

Mr Gardner suffered multiple wounds in the attack, part of which was witnessed by his girlfriend. He died in the street where he lay.

Police last night said a 17-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the death of Mr Gardner.

At 11:30pm, officers were called to a disturbance in Williamson Drive, where the victim lived, resulting in Mr Folan being taken to hospital, where he later died.

Another man, aged 44, was also found at the property with serious injuries and he remained in a critical condition at hospital yesterday. Strathclyde Police are thought to be following a positive line of inquiry in that case.

In one incident in the Port Glasgow area, not believed to be linked to the killing of Mr Gardner, a 24-year-old man was stabbed outside a house in Devol Avenue, and taken to Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greenock, where he was in a serious but stable condition yesterday.

The other two cases of attempted murder involve the stabbing of two men, aged 28 and 45, during a row involving as many as eight people.

The incident happened at about 10:30pm on Sunday in Prospecthill Circus, Toryglen, Glasgow.

Could these stories by any chance be related ?

Yours etc

A Couple Of Cowslips From The Curate's Copse

Dear Sir,

In the Barking and Dagenham Recorder I spotted two stories.

"Firefighters not allowed to fly English flag for World Cup"

Firefighters will not be allowed to support the England team at the World Cup after being banned from flying the national flag at their station.

The ban was handed out after St George's Day, when Barking Fire Station's Blue Watch put up an England flag to mark the patron saint's day. They were told it might offend certain groups in the community.

But Ashfaq Siddique, secretary of Barking Mosque, called for the fire brigade to use some common sense and not to be oversensitive.

He said: "The World Cup is coming up and I think if you look at the Muslim households around the borough, they will be flying the England flag because many Muslims will be supporting England."

"BNP Wins 11 Seats"

The British National Party pledged to give Barking and Dagenham residents a voice after winning 11 seats on the council last night.

Could these stories by any chance be related ?

Yours, etc

Election News - At Last A Party Who Are Tough On Crime

The IWCA have taken another Oxford council seat from Labour.

But sinister developments elsewhere as a small, economically illiterate extremist party gain 14 seats.

UPDATE - more extremists in the Black Country.

UPDATE - wise (if grammatically dodgy) words in Socialist Worker.

"Labour is not going to fall apart over night. It took them decades to build the support and the loyalty that secured them office nationally and locally. But sections of that support has deserted it and dissatisfaction is spreading remorselessly."

Birmingham results are interesting. I'd assumed the Repect win in Sparkbrook was a result of the People's Justice Party not running. Turns out they've joined the Lib Dems. They retained their Bordesley Green seat, but lost Aston to Labour (although you have to make allowances for Labour's unique methods of boosting the vote in Aston).

So the Respect win in Sparkbrook is a straight steal from Labour, as voters with conservative social views and a dislike of Jews find their true home. I wrote this time last year :

"Traditionally Labour has been the party of immigrants, but a point will be reached at which they (Labour) are not needed any more and with a cry of 'so long and thanks for all the outreach workers' the Muslim vote will depart. The divorce will be messy."

One last pointer from Birmingham for those worried about BNP gains elsewhere.

Despite getting around 15% of the vote where they stood in the Birmingham and Sandwell elections, in some constituencies they did very poorly. In Aston, for example, where over 3,200 papers were counted for Labour's Ziaul Islam against only 2,700 for the Lib Dem Abdul Khalique (and Tory Mohammed Mushtaq came a poor fifth), only 200-odd papers were counted for the BNP candidate (Dennis Gary Phillips).

Similarly in Sparkbrook, over 4,300 papers were counted for Respect's Salma Yaqoob, 2,700 for Labour's Mohammed Azim, and 990 for Lib Dem Adil Rashid. Only 100 ballot papers were counted for BNP candidate Matthew Benton.

(Note - in such wards it's better to express the results in terms of ballot papers counted rather than the old-fashioned concept of who most people voted for. The parties have moved on from that.)

Assuming, say, that 30% of the Respect/Lib/Lab vote is the result of vote fraud, that is still an overwhelming rejection of the BNPs bigotry and hatred (although an endorsement of Respect's bigotry and hatred).

So Aston and Sparkbrook hold the answer. If only every ward in the country was like those two, the BNP wouldn't be an issue. What's their secret ?

Another Day, Another "Crackdown"

Charles Clarke follows the iron law of Nu Labour.

"Don't enforce the existing law, pass some new ones."

The Home Secretary has always had the power to deport foreign nationals whose presence is not considered to be in the public interest. He's just not used it.

I wrote a while back that I didn't see why any foreign national guilty of more than a traffic offence shouldn't be deported. I must admit I was surprised to find Charles Clarke agreeing.

Mr Clarke said among his proposals to sort out the problem of removing foreign criminals was the "guiding principle that foreign nationals guilty of criminality should expect to be deported".

If I thought for one moment that that was what would actually happen, I'd be very pleased. There's not a cat in hell's chance.

I'll be surprised if many Labour MPs support it. They're just keeping their heads down until the council elections are over. Can you see Jeremy Corbyn and the awkward squad lining up in the lobbies ?

It'll be fought in the courts by 'civil liberties' groups. Yesterday Shami Chakrabarti, who spends more time in the Today studio than in her own office, raised the spectre (RealAudio) of the 'starving asylum seeker who steals a loaf of bread'.

The papers are full of such cases.

"The only gunman to survive the 1980 Iranian embassy siege in London may be freed from prison and granted asylum in the UK, BBC News has learned."

It won't be implemented at ground level by police, prison or Home Office staff for whom an accusation of racism is professional death. Look at the proposals :

"Data that identifies individuals as foreign nationals must be "captured" at the beginning of the criminal justice system including at the point of arrest and as the case proceeds through the courts"

And this will be done by ... ?

You've got two options whan someone's arrested. You can try to make ALL prisoners prove their nationality - in which case remand places will need to be quintupled while Dave Smith from Romford and Jamal Al-Hadji are banged up together, awaiting the arrival of the birth certificates. Or you can use your skill and judgement ... how ?

Fifty years ago it would have been easy. A dark skin or a strange accent. Now there are millions of UK citizens with both. Do I hear a cry of 'racial profiling' ? There'd still be lots of people (though not so many) banged up awaiting the birth certificates - but black or Asian Brits would be over-represented. I can just see the Met and the Chief Constables going big for this one.

Sanctions should be available at all stages to use against individuals who give false information on nationality or no information at all.

Those sanctions being ... ? I can just see the Indie front page now as poor Lemba gets here only to be banged up.

And in the end, no-one will be interested in enforcing it. Part of getting on in an organisation is knowing what the superiors really care about and what gets lip service. Anyone at a low level who genuinely took this seriously would find it a career-threatening move.

No, it's another crackdown. One of the worst features of this administration is that the law has become just another signifier, a form of advertising. These proposals aren't there to address the problems of foreign criminals preying on the citizens of the UK. They're there to address the political problem of a (correct) public perception that the administration in general, and Mr Clarke in particular, couldn't organise a drinks party in a Majestic Wine Warehouse.

Get Your Copy Now !

Of the fascinating document "Early Removal Scheme For Foreign Nationals", dated May 2004 and handily available from the Prisons Service website.

In what we've come to accept is best Government IT practice, the document seems to have been heavily edited - and the edit history is still on the document.

Clash Of The Credibility Titans

Gary Glitter :

When asked if sleeping with an 11-year-old girl was alright, Glitter said: "I'm a father, so from time to time these things happen. Your daughter will come into your bed in the night because she's scared or something like that. This happened in this case over here. She was scared of ghosts, so under pressure I said OK."

Charles Clarke :

Mr Clarke defended his record and was forthright in his belief that he should stay on.

"I have tried to deal with some fundamental issues," he told the paper. "We have still got some challenges which still need to be completed and I think I am the best person to carry that through."

Words fail me

What was it Peter Hitchens said in "The Abolition of Britain" ? The criminal justice system now enforces 'the letter of a bureaucratic law rather than the spirit of an agreed and respected moral code'.

The Times :

A grandmother spent a night in a police cell after a scuffle with a group of children in which she was threatened with a piece of wood. Brenda Robinson, 66, who does volunteer work at a church in Bournemouth, said that she was given only a glass of water by police before being interviewed the next morning.

She was arrested for assault after challenging the youngsters, one of whom had kicked a football against a family car. She said she had given the boy, 11, “a clip around the ear” after he called her a “f****** bitch”. Mrs Robinson was then threatened in her garden by a teenage boy carrying a lump of wood, and two 13-year-old girls, one of whom starting pushing her. She said that she pulled one of the teenage girls by the hair and threw her out of the garden. Shortly afterwards the police arrived and arrested the grandmother for assault.

Mrs Robinson, who said her daughter-in-law’s partner had been killed by a gang of youths five years ago, told The Times that “the dice were loaded against law-abiding people”.

Dorset Police, eh ? They've got some previous. When the late Harry Hammond, peace be upon him, was assaulted by a crowd of liberal deviants, it was he who was arrested by Dorset's finest and ended up in court.

Family History

My maternal grandfather, a native of Pembrokeshire, joined the 1/4th Welsh in August 1914. He was never the same after being seriously wounded in Palestine by Johnny Turk, and died some twenty-five years later, in his early fifties, leaving a widow - and eight children.

It appears that the 1/4th Welsh had the worst possible start to the war - a direct posting to the hell-hole that was Tunbridge Wells in 1914. How relieved they must have been to get a move !

"On 19 Jul 1915 it sailed from Devonport for the Dardanelles, arriving at Mudros Island on 5 Aug and landing at Suvla Bay on 9 Aug 1915."

Hmm. Maybe not.

"On 8 Oct 1915, after suffering heavy casualties, the 1/4th Battalion was amalgamated with the 1/5th Battalion to form the 4th Welsh Composite Battalion."

Enough said.

"On 11 Dec 1915 the composite battalion left Gallipoli for Egypt. On 10 Feb 1916 the 1/4th Battalion assumed its identity. On 30 Jul 1918 the 1/4th and 1/5th Battalions merged again to form the 4/5th Battalion. This battalion ended the war on 31 Oct 1918, in the same formation, in Palestine as the 53rd (Welsh) Division was moving back to Egypt."

Seems a pity to survive Gallipoli and then get filled with shrapnel in Palestine. But so many never made it home.

This evening I was asking my eldest uncle for memories of him, and he quoted this chunk of a song his father used to sing. I imagine 'jolly' would have been replaced with a more sanguinary variant in real life.

...And when we get to Gay Paree
The Kaiser he will say,
"Ach ! Mein Gott ! What a jolly funny lot,
Are the 4th Welsh Infantray !"

Nice Chap

"Thoughtful, intelligent and committed"




UPDATE - only vaguely related, but Billy Bragg was in Bradford last week playing the East-Ender card for all it was worth.

"Where I come from in Barking we have a BNP councillor. One morning we woke up and 52 per cent of the people in a Labour ward had voted for the BNP. That was a bit of a shock"

How about "Where I came from in Barking (before I left for rural Dorset when the kids came along), they have a BNP councillor. One morning in September 2004 they woke up and 52 per cent of the people in a Labour ward had voted for the BNP. That was a bit of a shock. For them. But I'd long gone."

Prescott Latest ...

The Times :

"Mr Prescott has taken advice from friends such as Rosie Winterton, the Health Minister"

Sounds a sensible choice. As Drinking From Home (who also has a Cherie Blair exclusive) points out, Rosie is an expert on marriage.

March 2002 : "I want to reiterate that this Government supports marriage politically and financially. It recognises that marriage is the surest foundation for raising children ... We all understand that, in healthcare, prevention is better than cure. What we must now seek to do is take the same understanding forward into all areas of work on marriage and relationship support. To work on fostering the welfare and well-being of relationships."

April 2002 : "Most of us have a pretty good idea of how to look after our own health. But too many people have little or no idea about relationship well being – what to do if their relationship gets into difficulty. Or, more importantly, how to secure a better chance of avoiding problems in the first place."

Mr Clarke - Over Here !

"A man who stabbed a drug dealer to death before cutting his body into 133 pieces and dumping it in a canal, has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey.
Marvin Gentles, of north-west London gave Abdul El-Gharras, 31, some crack to sell, but instead he smoked it.

Mr Gentles, 28, was attacked after tracking El-Gharras down at his flat in Lisson Grove, central London."

"The prosecution said Mr Gentles suffered 26 stab wounds and cuts - some of them while he was still alive.

El-Gharras used a saw to cut up the body, and when he could not clean the blood from his flat he set it on fire, causing an explosion. "

Sounds like a nice chap - just the sort of person our ageing workforce needs.

The BBC report quoted above seems to have missed a couple of pertinent details, picked up by Reuters.

"LONDON (Reuters) - A Moroccan drug dealer was jailed for life on Thursday for killing his boss, chopping the body into 133 pieces and throwing them into a canal before setting his flat on fire in a bid to destroy evidence.

Abdul El-Gharras, 31, was obsessed with decapitation and had downloaded videos of al Qaeda beheadings before murdering Marvin Gentles last June in an argument over crack cocaine, the Old Bailey criminal court heard."

Mr Clarke - Over Here !

"A man who stabbed a drug dealer to death before cutting his body into 133 pieces and dumping it in a canal, has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey.
Marvin Gentles, of north-west London gave Abdul El-Gharras, 31, some crack to sell, but instead he smoked it.

Mr Gentles, 28, was attacked after tracking El-Gharras down at his flat in Lisson Grove, central London."

"Gharras used a saw to cut up the body, and when he could not clean the blood from his flat he set it on fire, causing an explosion. "

Sounds like a nice chap - just the sort of person our ageing workforce needs.

The BBC report quoted above seems to have missed a couple of pertinent details, picked up by Reuters.

"LONDON (Reuters) - A Moroccan drug dealer was jailed for life on Thursday for killing his boss, chopping the body into 133 pieces and throwing them into a canal before setting his flat on fire in a bid to destroy evidence.

Abdul El-Gharras, 31, was obsessed with decapitation and had downloaded videos of al Qaeda beheadings before murdering Marvin Gentles last June in an argument over crack cocaine, the Old Bailey criminal court heard."

Presumably a foreign national then - and with an unhealthy interest in the more robust manifestations of the Religion of Peace. Can't understand why the BBC should have missed that.

I see no mention of deportation orders by the judge. If Mr El-Gharras isn't booted out when his time is up, something's very wrong. But then we know that already.

In other theyre-good-for-the-economy news, a 13-year old Lithuanian boy is kicked to death in East London - presumably by some other group of doing-the-jobs-we-wont (or the BBC would be telling us all about it). Ah, kids - they don't grow up so soon nowadays.

In other murder news, the barbarians who killed Mary-Ann Leneghan are sentenced.

It emerged after the trial that Thomas, Johnson, Jamaile Morally and Krasniqi, had been serving community sentences at the time of the murder.

In the Guardian, a hilarious and sad piece on the aftermath of the murder.

"Today the six men responsible for her death will learn their fate at a sentencing hearing at Reading crown court. Justice will be served. But what no one in the town seems to want to discuss is how a 16-year-old schoolgirl, who should have been preparing for her GCSEs, fell in with this ruthless and violent drugs gang - and why no one thought to intervene.

Susan Harris, Mary Ann's 54-year-old mother, finds it hard to talk about her daughter or what led her to associate with the likes of Adrian Thomas, the 20-year-old leader of the drug gang. Close family friends have set up a website to appeal for money to support Harris in her grief. Requests for an interview with her are met with the query: "Will there be a fee?"

At Prospect College, the secondary school where Mary Ann was a pupil with an appalling attendance record, senior teachers refuse to discuss the teenager or her recidivist truancy. Louisa John, the school's community relations officer, tells me: "We have moved on."

Meanwhile, Reading borough council, the local education authority, will not comment on whether the education welfare department was alerted to Mary Ann's problems, or even on the drugs problem in the town, citing human rights as the reason for their silence."

Sad, because of the everyday story of underclass folk it reveals, from "eating chips and drinking cherry Lambrini in a friend's car" to "but what can you do ?" (A digression - we saw the bedroom of a friend's 14-year old son - covered in drug posters - dope leaves and E-related. They live in a town with major smack problems - the boy's best mate had an older brother dead of an overdose. "What can you do ? He's fourteen !" said mum.)

Sad, because the responses of the school and council show how caring the caring classes actually are. As long as the Wednesday Guardian is fat with non-job adverts all is well with them. They love mankind - it's people they can't help.

Hilarious, because for the Guardian to ask why society and community seems to have collapsed - well, I think chutzpah is the word, or 'brass neck'.

I imagine the answer will be 'more and earlier sex and drug education'.

I Disagree With What You Say ...

And you will be sacked if you exercise your right to say it.

He's Back II

James Hamilton.

Doesn't post that often (unless he's changed a mort) but always well-written, thoughtful, worth reading. Much missed - great to find he's back.

I must update my links ...

He's Back - And No More Mr Nice Guy

The mighty Littlejohn intervenes in the Prescott debate like a battleship in a cruiser fight.

From the opening salvo :

"So now we know why Two Jags always has the tetchy air of a man about to have his collar felt. Why he reacts to even the most innocuous question with an invitation to step outside.
He's been living in mortal dread of that moment when Fleet Street's finest knock on his door and ask him how long he's been cheating on his wife."

the shrapnel clearing the decks :

"a loathsome, Soviet-style political thug on the make"

"In his ascent — if that's the word — to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Two Jags has jettisoned everything he ever claimed to believe in. He's betrayed his class, his principles, and now his wife.

He has greedily acquired all the trappings of a Tory grandee — the turreted mansion, the country estate, the posh flat in town, the chauffeured limos, the private helicopters, the liveried flunkies, the padded expense account.

And now he's got his very own Tory sex scandal."

the steering gear and generators are gone :

"Tracey Temple hasn't surfaced yet. But her story will be worth a lot of money, and the Labour Party, in its current parlous financial state, can't afford to buy her silence.

Don't be surprised if she turns up in one of the Sunday tabloids sprawled across the bonnet of an XJ6, sporting a sailor's cap and telling all about "love rat" Prescott."

before the final blow to the engine room :

"Experience suggests that a man doesn't suddenly start straying at 63. How many more "moments of madness" have there been?

I'm prepared to bet that once Fleet Street's dogs of war start trawling through the Labour Party, the National Union of Seamen and the darker corners of the corridors of power, this will prove not to have been the first time Two Jags has dipped his fingers in the typing pool.

My bet is that Max Clifford's phone was ringing off the hook yesterday."

We watch with a lump in the throat as the great shape rolls over, slowly sinking beneath the waves.

"Prescott's tenure has been one, long, unmitigated disaster. Where do you want to start? Perm any one from destroying the transport network to bulldozing the North of England to concreting over the South of England.

He's only been doing to Tracey what he's been doing to the rest of us for the past nine years. "