Still, It Could Be Worse

Dayne Gilbey's an icon of common-sense, decency and good old English eccentricity compared with these two.

For a month, the two skinheads had talked off and on about "earning" a spider-web tattoo, Peterson, now 37, testified yesterday.

In their skinhead world, the tattoo meant you had killed someone of a different race, a badge of status in the white racist movement. They wanted "the web" etched on their elbows as a rite of passage.

Peterson's account of the 1989 hate-crime murder of Philadelphian Aaron Wood riveted the courtroom during yesterday's 4-hour preliminary hearing.



The story's about as pretty as the tattoo.

He's Got Bacon and Eggs Tattooed On His Legs

... well, on his head, actually.

A man has had a tattoo of a full breakfast created on his head after a plea for a volunteer.

It took tattoo artist Blane Dickinson, 32, from Penmaenmawr, Conwy, six hours to complete the bacon, eggs, sausages, beans and even cutlery.

Volunteer Dayne Gilbey, 19, from Coventry, said he wanted to take part in something different.



Mr Gilbey, who already has four tattoos, said: "My friends and family keep asking me why I'm doing this.

"For me it's just something different which has never been done before.

"My mum is really unhappy about it and threatened to throw me out but I don't think she'll go through with it."

Mr Gilbey seems to me like a pretty good argument for raising the voting age to 21. His poor mother.

I listened to a Radio Wales interview with the tattooist on the drive home.

"What kind of person would have a plate of food tattooed on their head ?"

"Someone who was unhinged, basically. But I'm his tattooist, not his social worker".





(The title comes from the old music hall song 'Timothy' - as revived by the very wonderful Cosmotheka)

Women's Rights Pioneer Dies Rich, Childless

A socialite and pioneer for women's rights in the City has committed suicide at a controversial clinic in Switzerland which promotes voluntary euthanasia, after she discovered that she was terminally ill.

Elisabeth Rivers-Bulkeley, who campaigned for women to be admitted to the Stock Exchange and was a founder member of Annabel's nightclub, secretly flew to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich last December.

Shortly before leaving for Switzerland, she had put her husband, Robert, a former Lloyds underwriter who is understood to be seriously affected by dementia, in a residential home. The couple, who had retired to live on the grounds of Gosford House, a stately home in East Lothian near Edinburgh, have no children.

What did Lionel Shriver say ?

"Yes, there is something deeply wrong about this notion of living your life purely for its own sake. You could have one generation (without children) that has a wonderful time, going out to restaurants and holidays in France. Then the human race disappears."

She points out this is already happening in the West, which then has to import immigrant labour with all its social problems. "It is very tricky. I am well aware it is women like me who are ruining the pension system and the health service because we are not producing people who can pay into it. This is something whispered behind doors: all the wrong people are having children. Women who are well-educated, with money — you are not supposed to say this — are white and are not reproducing. They have a lot to pass on. I could have passed on a lot and now I won't."

No To Homophobic Chanting

Homophobic chanting is to be explicitly banned at football stadiums for the first time by the Football Association.

Does this mean an end to songs such as :

Bradford boys, we are here, wo-oh,
Bradford boys, we are here, wo-oh,
Bradford boys, we are here,
S****** your women and drinking your beer,
Wo-oh, wo-oh-oh, wo-oh

Barnsley boys, they are queer, wo-oh
Barnsley boys, they are queer, wo-oh
Barnsley boys, they are queer,
Don't s*** women and they don't drink beer
Wo-oh, wo-oh-oh, wo-oh

I guess it does. Only sexism to go now.

Any Spreadsheet Jockeys Out There ?

This should be easy. But it seems impossible in Excel. How do I do it ? My son has had to do the graphs by hand for his school project because Daddy can't sort it.

We've got a series of pressure readings, taken daily, and the corresponding temperatures. Looks kinda like this

1003 4
1003 5
1001 5
993 9
995 10
1008 4
1009 3
1009 2
1010 0
1010 1

a quick look tells us that lower temps seem to be associated with high pressure and high temps with low. We want to graph this, to produce an X-Y scatter chart where X is, say, 990 to 1010 and Y is 0 to 10.

Doesn't look too difficult. But Excel seems to insist on calling the first set of values a series - or something. Anyway, I can't get it to produce this simple graph. What am I missing ? Surely Excel can't be that bad ?

UPDATE - even with the helpful advice in the comments I can't get the beast to work. Doh !

Only 50 Enemies ?

Poll Pot on the cursed bloggers. Prague Tory and a number of other bloggers have fisked this pretty well, I'll just add my two penn'orth.

"Toynbee conceded that she is no "insider" with powerful friends"

Hence the weekend Chequers invites.

"I have around 50 arch-enemies who seem to get up at about five in the morning — they have obviously never bought The Guardian, they wouldn't contaminate their fingers with it, and they are right-wingers who hate The Guardian and everything it stands for. They really, really hate me."

Poll Pot, of course, is above such hatreds.

I'll leave the last word on Ms Pot to Free Born John - a wonderful post that I've linked to before, and doubtless will again.

One thing, and one thing only, keeps people trapped in the kind of poverty of mind where they don't feed their children properly even when they could, and shit in their own stairwells. It's a lack of ownership; a lack of self-reliance. It's a lack of the very concept of self-reliance. It's an idea that the mere thought that they should be self-reliant is immoral, evil, callous and cruel. And though this idea is gibbered out by halfwits, it actually derives from Polly Toynbee.

UPDATE - the very wonderful British Spin, back in the real world, agrees 100% with Polly.

The trouble is that the biggest outbursts of outraged ranting and ill researched nonsense tends not to come from the small audience lunatics like me, but from blinkered idealogues given space in the Guardian and the biggest source of ill informed gossip and speculation as central fact are the TV news channels.

Whether it's Andrew Murray, the always reliably barmy A L Kennedy, or today's effort from Geooffrey Wheatcroft, the Guardian has done more to promote ranting than any number of blogs. And whether it's Natasha Kaplinsky, Andrew Neill or Kay Burley, the TV news channels have done more to promote superficiality and scandal as the currency of news than any number of spittle flecked bloggers like Guido Fawkes.

Another One Bites The Dust

Not one that the BBC are reporting. How many more killings go under the radar ?

A psychiatric nurse died when a teenager kicked him in the head after a racial dispute on a bus, the Old Bailey heard on Monday.

Simon Pearce, 45, suffered a fatal heart attack after a 16-year-old launched a blow that left him lying in the road with a fractured skull, it is claimed.

Jurors heard that Mr Pearce was assaulted by the teenager after an argument moments earlier on a night bus. Mr Pearce was rushed to hospital after the attack yards from the Broadway Theatre, Catford, just after 3am on July 30 last year.

He died on August 12 after suffering cardiorespiratory failure - "complications"' caused by the injuries sustained in the attack, jurors heard. The teenage defendant, now 17, from Lee, denies murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

Jurors heard Mr Pearce, who worked at the Gordon Hospital in Bloomburg Street, Westminster, was a heavy drinker who often stayed out all night.

Prosecutor Sir Allan Green said Mr Pearce had been travelling on the N36 bus to Catford from central London when the incident happened. Sir Alan said the bus driver thought he heard Mr Pearce mumble the word "black", then a youth in light clothing asked the victim, "what did you say?".

Two young men then followed Mr Pearce as he walked away from the bus.

The trial continues.

Also from icSouthLondon : Albanian killed by Lithuanians, and the Liberal Democrat council who protect the identities of thugs.

Two thugs slapped with Asbos for robbing OAPS will not be named by town hall leaders.

Southwark council leader Nick Stanton says he does not think the community should know who they are because they do not fit his criteria for naming and shaming.

The thugs were banned from Camberwell for three years for ruthlessly robbing elderly people last week.

A magistrate said they could not even hang out together or enter any part of Camberwell because of their wicked crimes.

Southwark’s top cop Malcolm Tillyer says people should know the conditions of some serious Asbo cases.

There are 78 people subject to an Asbo in the borough but, according to Cllr Stanton, none of them fit the council’s criteria to let the public know their identity.

Council bosses are even refusing to let us know what their criteria are.

Labour leader councillor Peter John says Asbo yobs should be named and shamed.

He said: "If people know who these yobs are then they can help the police to enforce these Asbos.

"But Nick Stanton wants to put these criminals’ rights ahead of people’s safety.

"This is yet another example of the council executive’s refusal to stand up for local people. They want these thugs identified, not weasel words

"Nick Stanton tried to make us all believe a few weeks ago that he’d seen the light on this. But now we know it was just hot air.

"I can’t say I’m surprised that he’s managed to wriggle out of doing what’s right and what people have been calling for for years."

Two youths were also banned from the Elmington estate in Camberwell for intimidating and making residents’ lives a misery.

In August the South London Press revealed the identity of four Asbo youths who were running riot on the Dog Kennel Hill estate in East Dulwich.

Cops said they were inundated with calls from concerned residents and were able to arrest the troublemakers when they entered estates they were banned from.

Councillor Nick Stanton said: "There are no Asbo recipients in the borough that meet our criteria to let the community know the conditions of their order."

Last but not least from transpontine country : the dreadful murder of poor Michael Dosunmu days after his fifteenth birthday. According to This Is London earlier today, his father wasn't in the house at the time - because he had been hospitalised by burglars who broke into the house on the weekend.

When I read that I thought it highly likely that the break-in and the murder were connected. Too much of a coincidence if they weren't. But the plot thickens.

Mr Dosumnu, a senior psychiatric nurse Gordon Hospital in Westminster, also rubbished claims that he was himself attacked on Saturday. He had been in hospital at the time of his son's murder and some neighbours had said he had been beaten up in his home.

However, he said he was taken to hospital with head injuries after collapsing in front of his home. "I came back from work and was about to open my front door when I just passed out," he said. "No one attacked me."

Hmmm.

Another Human Rights Triumph

Remember the people who killed Zainab Kalokoh at a Peckham christening ?

Police believe two brothers who killed a woman at a christening may get shorter sentences because they lied about their ages.

Diamond Babamuboni and his younger brother Timy claim they are 15 and 17.

They have both been convicted of killing Zainab Kalokoh at a christening in Peckham last year.

But officers believe they are older and say they could now get leaner sentences because they will be sentenced as juveniles.

Both refused to undergo dental checks - the only way of telling someone's age.

But neither the courts or police can force people to have the checks because it violates their human rights,so the authorities have been left powerless.

The pair, with Jude Odigie, 16, will be sentenced in February after being found guilty of manslaughter.

If police were able to prove they were older it would mean they are sentenced as adults and could be locked up for longer.

A police spokesman said: "Officers are not convinced those are the ages the defendants claimed to be."

Police cannot be sure of their ages because they arrived illegally from Nigeria at an early age and have no records.

Self Hating White Liberals Again

Simon Mayo's guests on his afternoon R5 show are a perfect cross-section of received liberal opinion. An impressive performance yesterday, by two people discussing Shakespeare and his relevance to young people. In passing they touched on theories that Shakespeare was black or an aristocrat.

"I'd rather he was black than posh" opined one of the guests.

The guests being those (hideously white) horny-handed sons of toil Chris Grace, with thirty years in television (doubtless as an engineer) and currently director of the Shakespeare Schools Festival, and one Crispin Bonham-Carter, Helena's cousin, luvvie and member of the well-known family of peasants.

£500,000

In seven months. From the taxpayer. Not bad going.

But be fair - Muslims are taxpayers too.

You can see where some of the money goes here. According to Ms Arani, MI6 "are responsible for overseas assassinations and terror campaigns".

She's full of handy hints.

The other thing is that we have to appreciate the fact that those individuals who are living in this country should where ever its possible obtain status in this country and as soon as possible apply for British citizenship.

The New Times Online Site

Is on the poor side of dreadful. Looks awful, you can time the responses using a calendar, the search doesn't work. We actually have the paper delivered and I wanted to link to the Amanda Foreman and Generation Y items from Sunday. God knows where they are on the new Times site, because I can't find them.

Naturally all my existing Times links now return 404 'page not founds'. From now on I'm going to paste the whole damn article (assuming I ever find anything interesting again) - a pity but you just can't trust these people.

Other unimpressed users - Welsh View, Stephen Tall. Niksilver give the techy view, opining that "no doubt by the time you read this the problems will all be ancient history". Well, it's 22.48 and it's still running like a dog.

Testament Of Truth ?

Is Britain full of no-go areas ? ask the BBC.

Read the responses and you'll see for each area at least two respondents considering emigration.

Woof ! Woof !

Bang !

Unfortunate choice of words ...

Good job he added the 'metaphorically'.


Moazzam Begg, who was detained by the US at Guantanamo Bay without charge before being released, was among the others to attend the meeting.

He was critical of the apparent leaking of information to journalists ahead of the raids.

"I hope that when the truth manifests itself that, metaphorically, heads will roll with the people who put out these stories in the first place," he said.

Is anti-Semitism the new anti-Semitism ?

White attackers were responsible for anti-Semitic incidents in fewer than half of those where the colour or racial background of the perpetrator was identified. More than a third, 37 per cent, of attackers whose background was known were Asian or Arab.

Since 1984, when the recording of anti-Semitic incidents by the trust began, white attackers have been in a minority only last year and in 2004.

The report said a disprortionate number of the attacks were carried out by people from ethnic minorities. It said: "The percentage overall is clearly not contiguous with the ethnic breakdown of the general population of the UK."

Its findings were challenged by officials working for London Mayor Ken Livingstone - whose own battle against suspension from office over an alleged antisemitic remark is recorded by the report as one of the "trigger events" that was followed by a number of anti-Semitic attacks.

I'm never sure about this 'trigger event' theory, which in its Charles Kennedy variant postulated that every time Michael Howard spoke about immigration a black youth had his car set alight. I think the people who carry out attacks should be held responsible, not someone who may or may not have said something that may or may not have "contributed to a climate" which may or may not have influenced some racist attacker or other. Apparently every time a BNP councillor is elected a little fairy dies.

But it is entertaining to see Ken Livingstone hoist with this particular left petard.

In the meantime, as Natalie reports, Guardian readers and Livingstone voters will continue to march chanting "Khaibar, Khaibar, Oh Jew, the army of Mohammed will return!"

"The woman, who is white ..."

No word on her attackers.

When Susan was training at Barts she lived in Peckham, and would cycle the five or six miles to Smithfield and back each day. I'm not sure I'd want my daughter to do that run now.

Seventeen Year Olds - The Guardian Guide...

A seventeen year old is ...

A 'child' to be protected, if fighting for his country.

A 'man' if being sodomised.

A 'child' if engaging in prostitution. As the Association of Chief Police Officers point out "The Children’s Act makes it clear that young people are children if seventeen years or under".

A full adult capable of voting (but not of taking on any other adult responsibilities such as being imprisoned with adults if convicted of a crime, supporting oneself etc).

A child to be protected from the dreadful consequences of smoking.

I think there's some kind of pattern here. I just can't quite work out what it is.





UPDATE - and you can be a "youth" if you're 25 ! There was a time in our history when you could be a General at that age.

In 2003, Mr Westbury, who is based at Aberystwyth, received an award from then Home Secretary David Blunkett for his work in the community.

But he said he felt compelled to resign following the council's decision.

"This is a recipe for disaster," said Mr Westbury.

"A youth club is just that - a club for young people. There's a case for a club for 16-20-year-olds, but not those aged up to 25.

"I feel that people aged up to 25 would have a negative influence on impressionable younger people.

Sack The Dancer !

There's no way that a state-funded dancer should be allowed to perpetrate 'hate dance' against a nation which suffered the first genocide of the 20th century.

Plus, Hasmik Poghosyan, Armenian Minister of Culture, should be invited to become British culture minister.

She declared: “It is unacceptable for us that someone who is considered a national treasure in Britain would bring such low-quality art to Armenia.

“We honour the high art of British theatre and are sure that from the Queen to ordinary Britons the greatest pride and treasure is Shakespeare. It appears that the English perception of treasures has been drastically devalued and Nigel Charnock is its best evidence.”

Charnock is an exponent of physical, transgressive, challenging etc etc DV8-style modern dance - the kind that gets Guardian reviewers all hot under the studded collar.

Ms Ghulyan acknowledged that some in the audience had been offended by sexually suggestive movements during the performance. Charnock had wrapped a Union Jack around his loins and then draped the Armenian tricolor over his naked torso.

So far, so Arts Council. But cultural sensitivity - nul points. Charnock was apparently unaware that treading on the Armenian flag is a criminal offence.

Charnock, on his first vist to the country, had placed Armenian and British flags on the stage and danced on them before an audience at the Stanislavsky State Theatre, in Yerevan, on Wednesday.

Mrs Poghoysan, 46, who was not at the performance, ordered a second show to be cancelled and accused Charnock of committing a criminal offence punishable by up to a year in prison.

Mrs Poghosyan said that she was not censoring artistic expression but acting to prevent disrespectful treatment of Armenia’s flag.

“Charnock may treat the British flag as he likes. He can drop it on the floor, step on it, chew it or swallow it, but it is unacceptable and punishable by law to treat the Armenian flag that way,” she said.

At a press conference called swiftly by the British Council, a chastened Charnock, 45, offered his “unconditional apologies”. He told reporters: “All I’m trying to do is communicate love.”

Peace Off

Overheard on BBC radio news as I drove home this evening :

"As the Fatah team left the peace negotiations they came under fire. Two bodyguards were wounded."

I think you could describe a truce as 'fragile' when you've just signed one and the other side are shooting at you as you leave the building.

"an excellent model of friction"

An Englishman in Brum ponders community cohesion after the Birmingham arrests.

(and the Birmingham Post illustrates some reactions - if those three are female I'll eat my hijab)


UPDATE -



Cartoon by Matt from the Telegraph. Thanks to Blognor Regis.