I posted a comment elsewhere the other day to the effect that I admired the Spanish Nationalist General Moscardo.
This chap goes further - and he's only just started blogging. Vote Franco !
How Naive Are These Magistrates?
16 hours ago
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Do I hear 400,000 failed asylum seekers ? 450,000 from the gentleman on my left ...
Real life trumps satire yet again.
"Ministers are set to admit they may have significantly underestimated the number of failed asylum seekers living in Britain, the BBC has learnt.
Last year the National Audit Office estimated that the figure could be as much as 283,000 - but at the time the Home Office insisted that was too high.
But a trawl of files in the Immigration and Nationality department has produced between 400,000 and 450,000 case files. "
Figures, schmigures. What's the odd 50,000 files here or there ?
"Ministers are set to admit they may have significantly underestimated the number of failed asylum seekers living in Britain, the BBC has learnt.
Last year the National Audit Office estimated that the figure could be as much as 283,000 - but at the time the Home Office insisted that was too high.
But a trawl of files in the Immigration and Nationality department has produced between 400,000 and 450,000 case files. "
Figures, schmigures. What's the odd 50,000 files here or there ?
From Each According To His Abilities ....
To each according to her needs.
It certainly seems that the Scottish Socialist Party, like the early Christians, "hold all things in common". Yet if they're against 'privilege, inequality and greed' surely they must recognise that their leading light is consuming far more than his fair share of life's goodies. Just one of his many alleged encounters with the fetching Ms Trolle could have kept a poor crofter going for months, or inspired some ned in Easterhouse to brush his teeth, shower and change the sheets.
Members of the public queued outside Court 6 of the Court of Session in Edinburgh to secure one of the 18 seats in the public gallery on day 10 of a sensational case that has dominated headlines in Scotland over the past fortnight.
Mr Sheridan has brought a £200,000 defamation action against the News of the World after it printed claims in 2004-05 that he had visited a sex club and participated in orgies.
From the (admittedly limited) evidence available to me, this defamation suit would seem somewhat unwise.
Asked by Michael Jones QC, representing the Sunday newspaper, who was in the house, Ms Trolle replied: "Andy (McFarlane), Tommy (Sheridan) and myself."
Mr Jones said: "What happened?" The witness replied: "We had sex."
Mr Jones sought clarification as to what Ms Trolle meant when she used the term "we".
She replied: "All three of us."
Mr Jones asked: "Together?" Ms Trolle said: "Yes."
Good trades unionist practice would be 'one out, all out'.
UPDATE -
“It’s better than television, I’ll say that,” admitted Jack Anderson, a pensioner who had driven up from Peebles for the trial. Each morning he joined the small gang who competed for entry. “It’s like a wee cinema in there,” a Sheridan family friend explained to a passer-by.
I like to think that Mr Anderson and the very wonderful Peebles blogger Kirk Elder are one and the same. Glorious stuff.
Mickey Spillane 1918-2006
It was one of those nights when the sky came down and wrapped itself around the world. The rain clawed at the windows of the bar like an angry cat and tried to sneak in every time some drunk lurched in the door ...
Fox News : "He was a quintessential Cold War writer, an unconditional believer in good and evil. He was also a rare political conservative in the book world. Communists were villains in his work and liberals took some hits as well. He was not above using crude racial and sexual stereotypes.
Viewed by some as a precursor to Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry, Spillane's Hammer was a loner contemptuous of the "tedious process" of the jury system, choosing instead to enforce the law on his own murderous terms. His novels were attacked for their violence and vigilantism— one critic said "I, the Jury" belonged in "Gestapo training school" — but some defended them as the most shameless kind of pleasure.
"Spillane is like eating takeout fried chicken: so much fun to consume, but you can feel those lowlife grease-induced zits rising before you've finished the first drumstick," Sally Eckhoff wrote in the liberal weekly The Village Voice."
Alex Cox on Kiss Me Deadly : "the roughest, least compromising film noir of them all"
"Hemingway hated me. I sold 200 million books, and he didn't. Of course most of mine sold for 25 cents, but still... "
Guardian obit.
"Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar."
Philip Marlowe's dark counterpart.
"I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends."
"I'm the most translated writer in the world, behind Lenin, Tolstoy, Gorki and Jules Verne. And they're all dead..."
Interesting 1998 piece.
Unofficial site here.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Community Action
"Residents and traders in Brick Lane, east London, have threatened protests and street blockades to prevent filming of a screen adaptation of a book by bestselling novelist Monica Ali which they claim is "racist and insulting" toward the Bangladeshi community. The Booker- shortlisted novel, Brick Lane, tells the story of Nazneen, a Bangladeshi woman who is sent to London for an arranged marriage, but later cheats on her husband with a radical young Muslim."
Quite right, too. After all, whose streets are they ? It's not as if they were a public space, open to just anybody.
Abdus Salique, chair of Brick Lane Traders' Association, who is coordinating the campaign from his sweetshop, said he feared the book would enrage younger members of the community. "Young people are getting very involved with this campaign. We had more than 100 people attend yesterday's meeting. They are willing to blockade the area and guard our streets."
"Of course, they will not do anything unless we tell them to, but I warn you they are not as peaceful as me"
If you like irony it's entertaining to see yet again the huge cultural gap between the literary Guardianista (who loved "Brick Lane") and the average Ibrahim in the street. Note also the 'our streets', a refrain much beloved of the left, going back through the anti-fascist years to Cable Street.
Mr Salique seems to know who he means by 'our'. Guardianistas aren't included.
UPDATE - see also this post on community action.
Quite right, too. After all, whose streets are they ? It's not as if they were a public space, open to just anybody.
Abdus Salique, chair of Brick Lane Traders' Association, who is coordinating the campaign from his sweetshop, said he feared the book would enrage younger members of the community. "Young people are getting very involved with this campaign. We had more than 100 people attend yesterday's meeting. They are willing to blockade the area and guard our streets."
"Of course, they will not do anything unless we tell them to, but I warn you they are not as peaceful as me"
If you like irony it's entertaining to see yet again the huge cultural gap between the literary Guardianista (who loved "Brick Lane") and the average Ibrahim in the street. Note also the 'our streets', a refrain much beloved of the left, going back through the anti-fascist years to Cable Street.
Mr Salique seems to know who he means by 'our'. Guardianistas aren't included.
UPDATE - see also this post on community action.
Monday, July 17, 2006
The Wisdom of Vicky Pollard
"Teenage girls who plan to get pregnant do so to improve the quality of their lives, a report out today has found.
A study published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that girls as young as 13 see motherhood as preferable to working in a low-paid, dead-end job.
Far from the common assumption that teenage pregnancies result from irresponsibility or ignorance about contraception, some young girls actively choose to have a baby as a way to change their life and to gain independence and a new identity."
To 'gain independence', eh ? That sure lays to rest the hoary old right-wing myth about doing it to get a council flat.
Generally speaking pregnant teenagers should be a Good Thing. After all, the girls are at their fittest (in every sense) and should have the healthiest babies. The problem comes with Dad.
Back in those bad old days (aka 'the golden age that never existed') Dad wasn't necessarily too chuffed to hear the news. You'd have to get married or face the moral (and sometimes physical) sanctions of the community. Probably live with the in-laws until you got a place of your own. Work hard at the job until you could afford it.
The old disciplines of marriage, fatherhood and work have been wiped out by welfare, with the results you can see on White City, Matson or Hester's Way in leafy Gloucestershire any day of the week, any hour of the day or night.
Dad is now Gordon "lifting children out of poverty" Brown. "Job" ? what's that ? 27% of children in the UK have no father living with them. As Jill Kirby points out in the Sunday Times, hoodies need fathers more than they need hugs.
A study published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that girls as young as 13 see motherhood as preferable to working in a low-paid, dead-end job.
Far from the common assumption that teenage pregnancies result from irresponsibility or ignorance about contraception, some young girls actively choose to have a baby as a way to change their life and to gain independence and a new identity."
To 'gain independence', eh ? That sure lays to rest the hoary old right-wing myth about doing it to get a council flat.
Generally speaking pregnant teenagers should be a Good Thing. After all, the girls are at their fittest (in every sense) and should have the healthiest babies. The problem comes with Dad.
Back in those bad old days (aka 'the golden age that never existed') Dad wasn't necessarily too chuffed to hear the news. You'd have to get married or face the moral (and sometimes physical) sanctions of the community. Probably live with the in-laws until you got a place of your own. Work hard at the job until you could afford it.
The old disciplines of marriage, fatherhood and work have been wiped out by welfare, with the results you can see on White City, Matson or Hester's Way in leafy Gloucestershire any day of the week, any hour of the day or night.
Dad is now Gordon "lifting children out of poverty" Brown. "Job" ? what's that ? 27% of children in the UK have no father living with them. As Jill Kirby points out in the Sunday Times, hoodies need fathers more than they need hugs.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Lebanon and all that ...
Pass. Haven't been following it, or any other news, closely enough, for the same reasons I'm not posting much. A vague feeling that Israel should be concentrating on Hezbollah rather than the road to Damascus - some say they're trying to stop the captured soldiers being spirited away to Syria or Iran. I'd have thought you don't need a main road to do that. Armchair strategist sits at home.
Norm has news and views, Natalie has a question for the BBC.
In other news ...
Many Angry Gerbils is another identikit leftie blog of the "Bush and Blair are the real terrorists" persuasion. Who reads them all ? There's one I see on UK Poliblogs a lot - huge cut'n'paste jobs of the latest Guardian whatever - 5 or 6 long cut'n'posts a day, lots of neat sidebar stuff (currently featuring a tasteful photo of an injured face, captioned "Shock and Awe 2003", which then changes to the Tavistock Square bus - "Shock and Awe 2005"), neat design - for about a quarter of the readership here, where the design hasn't changed since Day 1 and I'm currently posting every other day or three.
But I digress. He (and it always is a he) surely deserves a link for this wonderful sidebar graphic, which appeals to me greatly.
UPDATE - I don't mean to imply that low-readership blogs are valueless - far from it. Anyway, what's low readership ? "Less than mine, whatever that is". But rightie or non-political blogs tend to be idiosyncratic, individual. So many of the lefty blogs are meeting a need that the Indie already supplies.
Norm has news and views, Natalie has a question for the BBC.
In other news ...
Many Angry Gerbils is another identikit leftie blog of the "Bush and Blair are the real terrorists" persuasion. Who reads them all ? There's one I see on UK Poliblogs a lot - huge cut'n'paste jobs of the latest Guardian whatever - 5 or 6 long cut'n'posts a day, lots of neat sidebar stuff (currently featuring a tasteful photo of an injured face, captioned "Shock and Awe 2003", which then changes to the Tavistock Square bus - "Shock and Awe 2005"), neat design - for about a quarter of the readership here, where the design hasn't changed since Day 1 and I'm currently posting every other day or three.
But I digress. He (and it always is a he) surely deserves a link for this wonderful sidebar graphic, which appeals to me greatly.
UPDATE - I don't mean to imply that low-readership blogs are valueless - far from it. Anyway, what's low readership ? "Less than mine, whatever that is". But rightie or non-political blogs tend to be idiosyncratic, individual. So many of the lefty blogs are meeting a need that the Indie already supplies.
Fairford 2006
If you've not got broadband, hit the 'back' button now.
When I was 11 or 12, I knew every Brit and American fighter jet off by heart, having studied the Observer's Book of Aircraft and the like. Lightnings, Hunters, Sea Vixens, Buccaneers, Phantoms, Starfighters ...
Now 'they all look the same to me ..'.
I think this is an F18 Hornet.
Whatever it is, it's damn noisy when he wellies it off the runway.
Hang on a min - what's that hiding behind him ? That tailplane looks familiar ...
Tally ho ! Next stop Dortmund !
Not really.
Viva Espana ! And don't mention the War on Terror !
OK, which nation fitted out a Hercules with a samba sound system ? Featured dancing aircrew ? And offered refreshments to visitors ? Especially pretty ones ?
I suppose, as with Argentina, that any nation producing top Formula One drivers will also have some top pilots.
Did you know that the Brazilian Air Force fought in WW2, flying P47 Thunderbolt sorties in Italy ? I didn't.
We watched the presentations of the Flying Scholarships For The Disabled. Moving stuff.
The first ever UK visit by the Pakistan Air Force - a 'thank you' for the international air effort.
"Immediately after the earthquake, Royal Air Force aircraft including C-130 Hercules and C-17s carrying CH-47 Chinook heavy lift helicopters, departed RAF Fairford to help deliver aid to the devastated region. The Royal Navy and Army also provided vital support.
US helicopters flew more than 3,300 sorties delivering relief supplies to the disaster area and transported over 15,000 people, including around 4,000 needing medical attention. An additional 250 US military and civilian cargo airlift flights delivered in excess of 7,000 tons of medical supplies, food, shelter material, blankets, and rescue equipment to Pakistan.
In March, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited Downing Street to thank UK troops involved in the humanitarian relief effort following the earthquake, which claimed 73,000 lives."
All part of that global war on Muslims I read so much about in the Guardian ...
When I was 11 or 12, I knew every Brit and American fighter jet off by heart, having studied the Observer's Book of Aircraft and the like. Lightnings, Hunters, Sea Vixens, Buccaneers, Phantoms, Starfighters ...
Now 'they all look the same to me ..'.
I think this is an F18 Hornet.
Whatever it is, it's damn noisy when he wellies it off the runway.
Hang on a min - what's that hiding behind him ? That tailplane looks familiar ...
Tally ho ! Next stop Dortmund !
Not really.
Viva Espana ! And don't mention the War on Terror !
OK, which nation fitted out a Hercules with a samba sound system ? Featured dancing aircrew ? And offered refreshments to visitors ? Especially pretty ones ?
I suppose, as with Argentina, that any nation producing top Formula One drivers will also have some top pilots.
Did you know that the Brazilian Air Force fought in WW2, flying P47 Thunderbolt sorties in Italy ? I didn't.
We watched the presentations of the Flying Scholarships For The Disabled. Moving stuff.
The first ever UK visit by the Pakistan Air Force - a 'thank you' for the international air effort.
"Immediately after the earthquake, Royal Air Force aircraft including C-130 Hercules and C-17s carrying CH-47 Chinook heavy lift helicopters, departed RAF Fairford to help deliver aid to the devastated region. The Royal Navy and Army also provided vital support.
US helicopters flew more than 3,300 sorties delivering relief supplies to the disaster area and transported over 15,000 people, including around 4,000 needing medical attention. An additional 250 US military and civilian cargo airlift flights delivered in excess of 7,000 tons of medical supplies, food, shelter material, blankets, and rescue equipment to Pakistan.
In March, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited Downing Street to thank UK troops involved in the humanitarian relief effort following the earthquake, which claimed 73,000 lives."
All part of that global war on Muslims I read so much about in the Guardian ...
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Hmmm ... again.
I can't keep up with these Jihadist intellectuals. Who's Abu Mus'ab al-Suri ?
So he's a top Al-Quaeda strategist, is he ? Who looks disturbingly like a white Brit ? And he thinks that the future of jihad lies in "Individualized Terrorism" - small cells like the 7/7 bombers ?
Scholar Gypsy has the info here and here.
So he's a top Al-Quaeda strategist, is he ? Who looks disturbingly like a white Brit ? And he thinks that the future of jihad lies in "Individualized Terrorism" - small cells like the 7/7 bombers ?
Scholar Gypsy has the info here and here.
Hmmm ...
Maybe I just missed it - but I'm surprised the great Dalrymple - or any Brit bloggers I've read lately - haven't commented on this story - the sad end of Dianne Brimble, who boarded a P&O cruise ship with her twelve year old daughter, and within twenty-four hours was dead of a GHB overdose.
"Local media have shown photographs of a beaming Brimble boarding the ship in September 2002 with her then 12-year-old daughter, her sister and friends at the start of a South Pacific cruise for which she had saved for two years.
Within hours Brimble was lying naked and dead in the cabin of four men whose main concern was that the death of a woman one of them described as a "dog" had ruined their holiday."
A year after her death P&O were running this advert for the cruises.
Chiaroscouro wonders exactly what route we took to get here, and has the story links.
Long, thoughtful posting at The Thin Man blog. You have to read the whole thing, really.
"Local media have shown photographs of a beaming Brimble boarding the ship in September 2002 with her then 12-year-old daughter, her sister and friends at the start of a South Pacific cruise for which she had saved for two years.
Within hours Brimble was lying naked and dead in the cabin of four men whose main concern was that the death of a woman one of them described as a "dog" had ruined their holiday."
A year after her death P&O were running this advert for the cruises.
Chiaroscouro wonders exactly what route we took to get here, and has the story links.
Long, thoughtful posting at The Thin Man blog. You have to read the whole thing, really.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Sorry ...
So much news. Alas the Project From Hell is soaking up my time and energy.
The NatWest three. No-one's a stronger supporter of the Great Satan than I, but there is such a thing as fairness and reciprocity - something conspicuously lacking from the extradition treaty.
Lord Levy arrested. Innocent until proven guilty and all that, but politically damaging to NuLab. I bet the Zionist conspiracy is all over the Guardian comments.
Police force mergers, ID cards in trouble ? Huzzah !
I posted ages ago on the discrepancy between our rulers atttitudes to police and NHS recruitment. It's a Bad Thing for an ethnic minority population to be policed by people of a different race or culture, but a Good Thing, to be celebrated, for the natives to be nursed and doctored by people of a different race or culture.
The elderly population of this country are predominantly natives. I'm not sure why it's any less important to have people of your own culture nurse you when you're frail or dying than it is to have people of your own culture arrest you when you're young and fit.
There are bad and good people of all races, but if you tell people enough that it's all whitey's fault, you increase the likelihood of getting more stories like this. Not nice.
"Solicitors of a pensioner who received a five-figure payout after care workers allegedly force fed her talcum powder have welcomed the settlement.
Lucy Neal, 89, had allegedly been given the powder by care workers at her home in Handsworth, Birmingham.
Nordia Noteman, Maxine Davidson and Rosemarie Malvo, who worked for the Welcome Care Agency, were cleared of assault in February 2004.
The pensioner's lawyers said the agency admitted negligence in a civil action.
The five-figure settlement would help Mrs Neal overcome a "harrowing" experience and raise awareness for other people in a similar situation, her legal team said. "
The NatWest three. No-one's a stronger supporter of the Great Satan than I, but there is such a thing as fairness and reciprocity - something conspicuously lacking from the extradition treaty.
Lord Levy arrested. Innocent until proven guilty and all that, but politically damaging to NuLab. I bet the Zionist conspiracy is all over the Guardian comments.
Police force mergers, ID cards in trouble ? Huzzah !
I posted ages ago on the discrepancy between our rulers atttitudes to police and NHS recruitment. It's a Bad Thing for an ethnic minority population to be policed by people of a different race or culture, but a Good Thing, to be celebrated, for the natives to be nursed and doctored by people of a different race or culture.
The elderly population of this country are predominantly natives. I'm not sure why it's any less important to have people of your own culture nurse you when you're frail or dying than it is to have people of your own culture arrest you when you're young and fit.
There are bad and good people of all races, but if you tell people enough that it's all whitey's fault, you increase the likelihood of getting more stories like this. Not nice.
"Solicitors of a pensioner who received a five-figure payout after care workers allegedly force fed her talcum powder have welcomed the settlement.
Lucy Neal, 89, had allegedly been given the powder by care workers at her home in Handsworth, Birmingham.
Nordia Noteman, Maxine Davidson and Rosemarie Malvo, who worked for the Welcome Care Agency, were cleared of assault in February 2004.
The pensioner's lawyers said the agency admitted negligence in a civil action.
The five-figure settlement would help Mrs Neal overcome a "harrowing" experience and raise awareness for other people in a similar situation, her legal team said. "
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Bombs, Trains
At my desk around four this afternoon I became aware of something disturbing some Indian colleagues, who were clustered round a PC with the BBC news website.
They were all from Bombay.
They were all from Bombay.
That Dreadful Incident
All over the BBC they're debating the appalling incident which has so tarnished world football, and on Five Live's 'Breakfast' they're discussing what punishment is great enough for such a hideous offence. Is there no end to the vile racism which so affects our society ?
Materazzi should be banned from soccer for life.
Zidane, on the other hand, was merely reacting against the years of oppression and racism which have kept him a poverty-stricken unknown, finally driven beyond endurance by the continuing taunts of his opponents. Coming on top of the invasion of Iraq, the continuing struggle in Palestine, and the murder of Shamil Basayev, he finally decided to fight back.
The BBC have decided to ask some French fans what they think.
"We wanted to know if the kids and youths playing football in the streets, wearing Zidane football shirts, had a lesser opinion of him following his sending off against Italy.
We started filming in one of Gennevilliers' streets, between the endless rows of tower blocks that dominate the horizon.
A stone thrown from one of the balconies landed with a thud right by us. Another just missed our producer's head. "
Elsewhere ... the Dumb One has an interesting juxtaposition of tales from Scallyland.
Materazzi should be banned from soccer for life.
Zidane, on the other hand, was merely reacting against the years of oppression and racism which have kept him a poverty-stricken unknown, finally driven beyond endurance by the continuing taunts of his opponents. Coming on top of the invasion of Iraq, the continuing struggle in Palestine, and the murder of Shamil Basayev, he finally decided to fight back.
The BBC have decided to ask some French fans what they think.
"We wanted to know if the kids and youths playing football in the streets, wearing Zidane football shirts, had a lesser opinion of him following his sending off against Italy.
We started filming in one of Gennevilliers' streets, between the endless rows of tower blocks that dominate the horizon.
A stone thrown from one of the balconies landed with a thud right by us. Another just missed our producer's head. "
Elsewhere ... the Dumb One has an interesting juxtaposition of tales from Scallyland.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Then And Now
Now :
The bodies of four adults, thought to be members of the same family, have been found at a house in Newcastle.
Officers made the discovery in Benwell Grove after a man went into Westgate Road police station early on Sunday.
Bomb squad officers later carried out a controlled explosion at the house and surrounding roads remain sealed off.
Northumbria Police said the man was in custody and they were not looking for anyone else over the incident, which is being treated as a multiple murder.
Then :
Are You Me Hinny Bird
It's oh but I ken well,
Are you me hinny Bird,
The bonny lass of Benwell,
Are you oh
She's lang-legg'd an' lovverly,
Are you me hinny Bird,
See her rakin' up the dyke,
Are you oh
Now the Quayside for sailors,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And Castle-garth for tailors,
Are you oh
The Gateshead Hills for millers,
Are you me hinny Bird,
The North shore for keelers
Are you oh
There's Sandgate for auld rags,
Are you me hinny Bird,
An' Gallowgate for trolly bags:
Are you oh
There's Denton an' Kenton,
Are you me hinny Bird,
An' canny Lang Benton.
Are you oh
There's Tynemouth and Cullercoats,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And North Shields for sculler-boats;
Are you oh
There's Westoe lies iv a neuk,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And South Shields the place for soot
Are you oh
There's Horton and Holywell,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And bonny Seaton Delaval;
Are you oh
There's Hartley-pans for sailors,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And Bedlington for nailers.
Are you oh
A beautiful song recorded by the High Level Ranters more than thirty year ago. Colin Ross of the band is married to my favourite Scottish singer Ray Fisher.
The bodies of four adults, thought to be members of the same family, have been found at a house in Newcastle.
Officers made the discovery in Benwell Grove after a man went into Westgate Road police station early on Sunday.
Bomb squad officers later carried out a controlled explosion at the house and surrounding roads remain sealed off.
Northumbria Police said the man was in custody and they were not looking for anyone else over the incident, which is being treated as a multiple murder.
Then :
Are You Me Hinny Bird
It's oh but I ken well,
Are you me hinny Bird,
The bonny lass of Benwell,
Are you oh
She's lang-legg'd an' lovverly,
Are you me hinny Bird,
See her rakin' up the dyke,
Are you oh
Now the Quayside for sailors,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And Castle-garth for tailors,
Are you oh
The Gateshead Hills for millers,
Are you me hinny Bird,
The North shore for keelers
Are you oh
There's Sandgate for auld rags,
Are you me hinny Bird,
An' Gallowgate for trolly bags:
Are you oh
There's Denton an' Kenton,
Are you me hinny Bird,
An' canny Lang Benton.
Are you oh
There's Tynemouth and Cullercoats,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And North Shields for sculler-boats;
Are you oh
There's Westoe lies iv a neuk,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And South Shields the place for soot
Are you oh
There's Horton and Holywell,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And bonny Seaton Delaval;
Are you oh
There's Hartley-pans for sailors,
Are you me hinny Bird,
And Bedlington for nailers.
Are you oh
A beautiful song recorded by the High Level Ranters more than thirty year ago. Colin Ross of the band is married to my favourite Scottish singer Ray Fisher.
Crime And Punishment
From BBC News :
Reforms of the criminal justice system are largely ineffective in cutting crime, an independent think-tank says.
The Crime and Society Foundation, at King's College, London, says ministers should focus instead on tackling root causes such as poverty and sexism.
This 'independent think-tank' is staffed by :
A former communications director for the anti-prison, pro-criminal National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders.
A former researcher for the anti-prison 'children's liberation' National Children's Bureau and the Child Poverty Action Group.
A former Communications Officer at Action for Prisoners' Families.
A former employee of the Howard League for Penal Reform, aka the Howard League For The Abolition of Punishment.
On its advisory board sits the anti-prison campaigner Una Padel and one Nick Page. Could it be this Nick Page ? Alas I think it's this one. Liberals on crime do seem to live in leafy villages rather than inner-city estates - have you noticed ? The consequences of their ideas are for other, poorer people to face.
Elsewhere one Ian Marchant is cutting crime :
"I felt my fist in his face, and I loved it. I still love it now. I loved each punch. Thwack . . . for your girlfriend, for all the times you’ve hit her and threatened her and terrorised her, for all the women you’ve terrorised and will terrorise. Thwack . . . because of what you are, what you wear, what you represent, the sneaking crimes you commit, the petty sneaking thefts, the pointless aimless vandalism, the joyless stupidity of your empty mind, for what you are doing to England, useless dregs of the earth, you and all the people like you. Thwack . . . for me, for the pleasure of it, because I can, because I love the feel of my knuckles against your flabby mouth, your flat nose, your vacant eyes."
"Then came the post-match analysis. Part of me wanted to say, “Poor little lad. What chance does he have in life? There are no jobs for stupid people any more. He’s got no future. He must have been brutalised at home. And the drink companies exploit kids like that, and fill them with cheap booze, and it’s not his fault he can’t handle it, poor wee baby.” But that’s not really what I think.
Really, I can’t buy into relativistic accounts of behaviour at all, despite a lifetime of Guardian reading. Plenty of people live in poverty, bad housing, are the victims of an education system which serves only to prepare people for life in a call centre. Plenty of people get pissed. My own mother was brutalised at home by her father in conditions of unthinkable squalor, and she didn’t take it out on anybody else.
What I really think is this: there is evil at work in the world. Some people are evil."
Give him a job, O 'independent' think-tank !
Reforms of the criminal justice system are largely ineffective in cutting crime, an independent think-tank says.
The Crime and Society Foundation, at King's College, London, says ministers should focus instead on tackling root causes such as poverty and sexism.
This 'independent think-tank' is staffed by :
A former communications director for the anti-prison, pro-criminal National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders.
A former researcher for the anti-prison 'children's liberation' National Children's Bureau and the Child Poverty Action Group.
A former Communications Officer at Action for Prisoners' Families.
A former employee of the Howard League for Penal Reform, aka the Howard League For The Abolition of Punishment.
On its advisory board sits the anti-prison campaigner Una Padel and one Nick Page. Could it be this Nick Page ? Alas I think it's this one. Liberals on crime do seem to live in leafy villages rather than inner-city estates - have you noticed ? The consequences of their ideas are for other, poorer people to face.
Elsewhere one Ian Marchant is cutting crime :
"I felt my fist in his face, and I loved it. I still love it now. I loved each punch. Thwack . . . for your girlfriend, for all the times you’ve hit her and threatened her and terrorised her, for all the women you’ve terrorised and will terrorise. Thwack . . . because of what you are, what you wear, what you represent, the sneaking crimes you commit, the petty sneaking thefts, the pointless aimless vandalism, the joyless stupidity of your empty mind, for what you are doing to England, useless dregs of the earth, you and all the people like you. Thwack . . . for me, for the pleasure of it, because I can, because I love the feel of my knuckles against your flabby mouth, your flat nose, your vacant eyes."
"Then came the post-match analysis. Part of me wanted to say, “Poor little lad. What chance does he have in life? There are no jobs for stupid people any more. He’s got no future. He must have been brutalised at home. And the drink companies exploit kids like that, and fill them with cheap booze, and it’s not his fault he can’t handle it, poor wee baby.” But that’s not really what I think.
Really, I can’t buy into relativistic accounts of behaviour at all, despite a lifetime of Guardian reading. Plenty of people live in poverty, bad housing, are the victims of an education system which serves only to prepare people for life in a call centre. Plenty of people get pissed. My own mother was brutalised at home by her father in conditions of unthinkable squalor, and she didn’t take it out on anybody else.
What I really think is this: there is evil at work in the world. Some people are evil."
Give him a job, O 'independent' think-tank !
Saturday, July 08, 2006
A Land Fit For Criminals - David Fraser
The heart of darkness in the Criminal Justice system, described by a senior probation officer.
Buy it at Amazon for £11.87.
Blair Gibbs review at the Social Affairs Unit blog.
David Fraser in the Telegraph.
BBC staffer William Crawley gives his copy away. Unread ?
By glorious chance, his copy was given to Raw Carrot, who wrote a lengthy review, illustrated with scanned statistical diagrams from the book.
Short John Cooper review in the Times.
Offenders on probation commit 10,000 crimes a month, according to Home Office figures.
The Policeman's Blog.
The great Welsh blogger and MP David Davies on the campaign to Stop All Further Early Releases, supported by Mr Fraser, the husband of murdered jeweller Marian Bates, and the father of Luke Rees-Pulley. More on the campaign here.
A wonderfully pithy review at Grumpy Old Sod, full of the sort of statements-of-the-bleeding-obvious which causes the Guardianista to roll his/her eyes at the simplistic nostrums of the hanging and flogging brigade. Because, of course, it's much, much more complicated than that. Unless you're dealing with racists or foxhunters.
"One law for them, one law for us" - the Sunday Times.
"A wildly accusatory document" says Peter J M Wayne in the Speccie, calling Mr Fraser a 'dinosaur on the rampage'. Alas I can never remember my Speccie password so rarely read it nowadays, but if Peter J M Wayne is this Guardian writer, smackhead, scumbag and 'a thief out of necessity', I'm glad I don't buy the Speccie any more. A Speccie reader wasn't too happy with the review either.
"For goodness sake" ? What's Peter Wayne to do with goodness ? But I digress. More tomorrow.
Buy it at Amazon for £11.87.
Blair Gibbs review at the Social Affairs Unit blog.
"A Land Fit for Criminals shows that we run great risks if we think, despite all the evidence, that we can have a low prison population, while we still have a high crime rate, and not expect public safety to be jeopardised. Fraser argues that the only imperative in criminal justice policy is public safety, and that only prison can guarantee this. Much evidence suggests that when it is allowed to, prison works, and with expansion and more investment in Britain it can be made to work better. What doesn't work, is a criminal justice system that attempts to replace prison with other forms of community punishment, solely on the back of ideological motives or misplaced sentimentalism."
David Fraser in the Telegraph.
"When I read that four of the six men who raped, tortured and then murdered the schoolgirl Maryann Leneghan were on probation, I felt angry and desperately sad. But I was not in the least surprised: I realised long ago that probation is a gigantic con trick played on the public."
BBC staffer William Crawley gives his copy away. Unread ?
By glorious chance, his copy was given to Raw Carrot, who wrote a lengthy review, illustrated with scanned statistical diagrams from the book.
"Mr Fraser conducts a thorough analysis of statistics, he examines social and cultural changes, while keeping it all focused on the underlying aim: demonstrating the need to seriously rebalance the criminal justice system so as to deter, and not reward, criminals. I would actually say that David Fraser has done for the criminal justice system what James Bartholomew has done for the welfare state."
Short John Cooper review in the Times.
Offenders on probation commit 10,000 crimes a month, according to Home Office figures.
Mr Fraser, who analysed probation reoffending in his book, A Land Fit For Criminals, said the decision to calculate the figures, even though they were only intended for internal circulation, reflected a "sea change" after years in which the service refused to admit the number of people who reoffended under its supervision. "For years they have been in denial," he said. "Finally they are realising that they have got to drag themselves into the real world."
The Policeman's Blog.
"For anyone who wants to understand how we got to this position and what we can do to get out of it, read this book."
The great Welsh blogger and MP David Davies on the campaign to Stop All Further Early Releases, supported by Mr Fraser, the husband of murdered jeweller Marian Bates, and the father of Luke Rees-Pulley. More on the campaign here.
A wonderfully pithy review at Grumpy Old Sod, full of the sort of statements-of-the-bleeding-obvious which causes the Guardianista to roll his/her eyes at the simplistic nostrums of the hanging and flogging brigade. Because, of course, it's much, much more complicated than that. Unless you're dealing with racists or foxhunters.
"If a burglar is in prison for five years, that's five years when he isn't burgling our houses. If that's not a result, what is ?"
"One law for them, one law for us" - the Sunday Times.
"A wildly accusatory document" says Peter J M Wayne in the Speccie, calling Mr Fraser a 'dinosaur on the rampage'. Alas I can never remember my Speccie password so rarely read it nowadays, but if Peter J M Wayne is this Guardian writer, smackhead, scumbag and 'a thief out of necessity', I'm glad I don't buy the Speccie any more. A Speccie reader wasn't too happy with the review either.
"‘These are children ...for goodness sake,’ wrote Wayne in his review of David Fraser’s A Land Fit for Criminals (Books, 17 June). So that makes their vile insults, burglary and aggression to the community acceptable ? When a 14-year-old boy next throws a brick at my windows, and smashes glass in the nearby park so that my grandchildren cut their feet, or when next I am confronted, taunted, spat at or abused, I’ll just remember their age, shall I ? Is that supposed to console me ?"
"For goodness sake" ? What's Peter Wayne to do with goodness ? But I digress. More tomorrow.
Friday, July 07, 2006
More Pessimism
"One of Britain’s most senior military strategists has warned that western civilisation faces a threat on a par with the barbarian invasions that destroyed the Roman empire.
In an apocalyptic vision of security dangers, Rear Admiral Chris Parry said future migrations would be comparable to the Goths and Vandals while north African "barbary" pirates could be attacking yachts and beaches in the Mediterranean within 10 years.
Europe, including Britain, could be undermined by large immigrant groups with little allegiance to their host countries — a "reverse colonisation" as Parry described it. These groups would stay connected to their homelands by the internet and cheap flights. The idea of assimilation was becoming redundant, he said."
Reverse colonisation, eh ? Like in Bradford ?
From colonist to immigrant is the dominant pattern historically, however, this process seems to be thrown into reverse in Bradford. The Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities now expect to recreate the environment of their country of origin."
I digress. Where was I ?
"Parry estimated at the conference there were already more than 70 diasporas in Britain. In the future, he believes, large groups that become established in Britain and Europe after mass migration may develop "communities of interest" with unstable or anti-western regions."
Large immigrant groups with little allegiance ? It couldn't happen here.
In an apocalyptic vision of security dangers, Rear Admiral Chris Parry said future migrations would be comparable to the Goths and Vandals while north African "barbary" pirates could be attacking yachts and beaches in the Mediterranean within 10 years.
Europe, including Britain, could be undermined by large immigrant groups with little allegiance to their host countries — a "reverse colonisation" as Parry described it. These groups would stay connected to their homelands by the internet and cheap flights. The idea of assimilation was becoming redundant, he said."
Reverse colonisation, eh ? Like in Bradford ?
From colonist to immigrant is the dominant pattern historically, however, this process seems to be thrown into reverse in Bradford. The Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities now expect to recreate the environment of their country of origin."
I digress. Where was I ?
"Parry estimated at the conference there were already more than 70 diasporas in Britain. In the future, he believes, large groups that become established in Britain and Europe after mass migration may develop "communities of interest" with unstable or anti-western regions."
Large immigrant groups with little allegiance ? It couldn't happen here.
A Good Day To Bury Bad News ...
The number of East Europeans coming to work in Britain since 2004 may be 50% higher than previously thought, a BBC Two Newsnight survey suggests.
The survey of 500 Poles in the UK found 64% had signed the workers' register.
Official figures show 375,000 workers have registered since the EU expanded in May 2004 but the survey suggests 187,000 more may have come to the UK.
The Tories said it showed ministers had "dramatically" underestimated the scale of immigration from new EU countries.
And here's the killer bit. The spin a couple of years back was not only that very small numbers would be involved, but that they'd be bright young things who'd stay for a while, make some money and go home.
"The government originally estimated just 15,000 people a year would migrate to the UK from Eastern Europe when it agreed to admit workers from the new accession countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Latvia.
But among the Polish workers questioned, 30% said they had not signed the workers' register and the remaining 6% had never heard of it.
The survey, by the Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism at the Universities of Surrey and Roehampton, also indicated many more Polish people were intending to stay in Britain long-term or even permanently than previously thought.
More than 40% said they wanted to stay at least two years, and 15% - more than one in seven - had already decided to move here permanently.
Only one in three definitely intended to go home within two years. Nearly a third were planning to bring their families to Britain or had already done so."
I've said it before - I'll say it again.
"The fact that these new Brits are polite and hard-working, do not do crack or firearms, nor are they likely to blow up Tube trains, is a function of the culture they have arrived with. It tells us nothing about what their first and second generation descendents will be like after twenty years exposure to the cultural vacuum of the UK."
The survey of 500 Poles in the UK found 64% had signed the workers' register.
Official figures show 375,000 workers have registered since the EU expanded in May 2004 but the survey suggests 187,000 more may have come to the UK.
The Tories said it showed ministers had "dramatically" underestimated the scale of immigration from new EU countries.
And here's the killer bit. The spin a couple of years back was not only that very small numbers would be involved, but that they'd be bright young things who'd stay for a while, make some money and go home.
"The government originally estimated just 15,000 people a year would migrate to the UK from Eastern Europe when it agreed to admit workers from the new accession countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Latvia.
But among the Polish workers questioned, 30% said they had not signed the workers' register and the remaining 6% had never heard of it.
The survey, by the Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism at the Universities of Surrey and Roehampton, also indicated many more Polish people were intending to stay in Britain long-term or even permanently than previously thought.
More than 40% said they wanted to stay at least two years, and 15% - more than one in seven - had already decided to move here permanently.
Only one in three definitely intended to go home within two years. Nearly a third were planning to bring their families to Britain or had already done so."
I've said it before - I'll say it again.
"The fact that these new Brits are polite and hard-working, do not do crack or firearms, nor are they likely to blow up Tube trains, is a function of the culture they have arrived with. It tells us nothing about what their first and second generation descendents will be like after twenty years exposure to the cultural vacuum of the UK."
British Imam Barred From Canada
I wouldn't normally bother with a story like this, but the name rang a small bell.
"Sheik Riyadh ul-Haq, formerly the imam at a Birmingham, England, mosque, who has been accused of vilifying Jews, Hindus, and moderate Muslims, was set to speak at the Youth Tarbiyah conference on June 30, organized by the Islamic Foundation of Toronto.
Canadian Jewish Congress national president Ed Morgan said he heard last week through media reports that Solberg had informed immigration officials that ul-Haq should be barred from entering the country because his views could incite terror and hatred."
I posted a couple of years back about the bizarre goings on at Birmingham Central Mosque, which culminated in two murders.
"The court heard that Sheik Abu Yusuf Riyadhul-Haq, 34, an imam at the Birmingham Central Mosque, had secretly married a woman who became his second wife. But a scandal broke when Shockat Lal, a mosque secretary, had an affair with the woman and she became pregnant, the court was told. As a result Mr Lal was "demonised" by followers of the imam. He and those who supported him were either expelled from the mosque or ostracised."
The imam at the centre of the shenanigans, whose wife was unfaithful, and who was arrested, causing hundreds to demonstrate on the streets of Leicester, appears to be the imam in question.
"19-03-2003 BY NIC RIDLEY Leicester Mercury:
Religious leaders called for calm after an armed raid at the home of a prominent Muslim brought hundreds of people on to the streets.
Armed officers raided a house in Hartington Road, Highfields, yesterday and arrested six men in connection with an attempted murder. Among the men were four sons of respected religious leader Muhammad Gora Pirbhai. One of the sons is understood to be Riyadh Ul Haq, imam of the Central Mosque in Birmingham.
Four of the six arrested men were transferred to West Midlands police for questioning. Two have since been released on police bail.
Officers in Birmingham are questioning two other men in connection with an attempted murder in Small Heath, Birmingham."
I don't know what his speeches are like, but I wouldn't expect him to be soft on adulterers.
The good news is that you can hear him at the (taxpayer-funded) London Islam Expo, along with a galaxy of Respect/SWP/fellow traveller types like Yvonne Ridley, Andrew Murray, Frank 'I'm A Muslim' Gardner, Our Maddy of the Sorrows, Seamus 'Mad Dog' Milne, Jonathan Freedland (does he really look like that ?), Norman Kember and Lindsay German. Tastefully timed to concide with the 7/7 anniversary.
"Sheik Riyadh ul-Haq, formerly the imam at a Birmingham, England, mosque, who has been accused of vilifying Jews, Hindus, and moderate Muslims, was set to speak at the Youth Tarbiyah conference on June 30, organized by the Islamic Foundation of Toronto.
Canadian Jewish Congress national president Ed Morgan said he heard last week through media reports that Solberg had informed immigration officials that ul-Haq should be barred from entering the country because his views could incite terror and hatred."
I posted a couple of years back about the bizarre goings on at Birmingham Central Mosque, which culminated in two murders.
"The court heard that Sheik Abu Yusuf Riyadhul-Haq, 34, an imam at the Birmingham Central Mosque, had secretly married a woman who became his second wife. But a scandal broke when Shockat Lal, a mosque secretary, had an affair with the woman and she became pregnant, the court was told. As a result Mr Lal was "demonised" by followers of the imam. He and those who supported him were either expelled from the mosque or ostracised."
The imam at the centre of the shenanigans, whose wife was unfaithful, and who was arrested, causing hundreds to demonstrate on the streets of Leicester, appears to be the imam in question.
"19-03-2003 BY NIC RIDLEY Leicester Mercury:
Religious leaders called for calm after an armed raid at the home of a prominent Muslim brought hundreds of people on to the streets.
Armed officers raided a house in Hartington Road, Highfields, yesterday and arrested six men in connection with an attempted murder. Among the men were four sons of respected religious leader Muhammad Gora Pirbhai. One of the sons is understood to be Riyadh Ul Haq, imam of the Central Mosque in Birmingham.
Four of the six arrested men were transferred to West Midlands police for questioning. Two have since been released on police bail.
Officers in Birmingham are questioning two other men in connection with an attempted murder in Small Heath, Birmingham."
I don't know what his speeches are like, but I wouldn't expect him to be soft on adulterers.
The good news is that you can hear him at the (taxpayer-funded) London Islam Expo, along with a galaxy of Respect/SWP/fellow traveller types like Yvonne Ridley, Andrew Murray, Frank 'I'm A Muslim' Gardner, Our Maddy of the Sorrows, Seamus 'Mad Dog' Milne, Jonathan Freedland (does he really look like that ?), Norman Kember and Lindsay German. Tastefully timed to concide with the 7/7 anniversary.
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