Jacqui Smith, David Miliband

It's amazing what brilliant religious scholars our leaders are. A few years back Tony Blair was bemoaning the fact that Al Quaeda and the tube bombers didn't really have an understanding of true Islam, now Jacqui Smith.

As so many Muslims in the UK and across the world have pointed out there is nothing Islamic about the wish to terrorise, nothing Islamic about plotting murder, pain and grief. Indeed, if anything, these actions are 'anti Islamic'."

If only she had as deep a knowledge of subjects with which she could properly claim a less amateur acquaintance.

I'm not sure what to make of the harassment of British Council apparatchik Stephen Kinnock for refusing to take a breath test, claiming diplomatic immunity, and the ongoing campaign against British Council staff.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, described Russia’s behaviour as reprehensible.

He told how the Russian security services had summoned 20 local members of the council staff and asked them about a range of matters, including the health of family pets.

“The whole House will share the Government’s anger and dismay at the actions of the Russian Government. We saw similar actions during the Cold War but thought they had been put behind us,” he said. He added that the staff had been subject to “blatant intimidation” and said Russia’s action raised “serious questions about her observance of international law”.

The long-term cost to Russia was its “standing in the world as a responsible international player”.

While the decline of Britain over the last sixty years is a tragedy, it has its small compensations - Mr Miliband's current role being one of them. Call me naive, but I imagine Mr Putin is concerned about his standing in the world militarily, about his intimately entwined foreign and energy policy, about the tragic demography of his people. I doubt he worries about being thought of as 'a responsible international player'. If he thought about it, he might ask "How many divisions has David Miliband ?"

Can't make up my mind about the British Council. In one sense it seems to be a standard leftwing arts organisation, encouraging British interests abroad by touring photographic exhibitions about the oppression of British Muslims or the glories of the Republican struggle in Andersonstown. On the other hand it seems to be generally assumed that its operatives are spies. Certainly it's good cover - no one could possible suggest the average toiler in the arts to be remotely patriotic.

So the harrasment of Lord Kinnock's son is a problem. Have the Russians got it all base over apex ? Or is it possible that a member of the Kinnock family is actually working for the interests of the UK ?

This seems so unlikely that a third hypothesis is necessary. Putin needs to keep patriotic fervour high - but he's had/got enough wars to be going on with. Perhaps the thing to do is to pick a fight with a big-name hitter who's seen better days and is now pretty much incapable of doing anything but blather and bluster.

Britain - and Mr Miliband - seem to fit the bill pretty well.




UPDATE - Britain's decision to change UK law to allow a Russian art exhibition to go ahead probably confirmed the Russian view of Britannia as a toothless old lush.

LONDON (AFP) — Britain on Sunday said it had passed an order to prevent the seizure of paintings from Russia due in London for an exhibition by people claiming they were looted from their families in the 1917 revolution.

Culture Secretary James Purnell said the order would come into effect Monday and stop exhibits in the Royal Academy's "From Russia" show being claimed by people who say the works belonged to their families.

You couldn't imagine a law change designed to stop Jewish families retrieving stuff pinched by the Nazis - yet Russian families can whistle for their Gauguins. We should have told them to stuff their daubs where the sun don't shine - behind one of those big folds of cloud beloved of JMW Turner.

It's not quite the legalities that bother me - if we took this principle back a bit we'd pretty much have to empty our museums while the French handed back all the stuff Napoleon nicked - it's the fact that we're doing it to placate the Russians.

Who respond with another couple of kicks. This foreign policy strategy - alternate grovelling and whingeing - hasn't worked yet as a behaviour modifier in any mode of human existence.

But it does have one great advantage - Britain in 2008 is ideally equipped to carry it out.

Wroughton - Trial Latest

Tuesday

A Ridgeway schoolboy has told how terrified children and parents witnessed the savage attack on Henry Webster. The youngster gave evidence via video link at Bristol Crown Court after the footage of his first statement a year ago was played to the jury. The court heard how screams filled the Wroughton school's tennis courts as 15-year-old Henry was repeatedly struck with a hammer.

The witness - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - said: "The younger children were in shock and were crying, "I heard a woman - who was by a car - screaming."

Henry was attacked with a claw hammer on the tennis courts of Ridgeway School, Wroughton, on January 11 last year. During the assault he was also punched and kicked as he lay on the ground bleeding. A large number of pupils and parents are believed to have witnessed the incident, which took place as students made their way home at about 4pm. The jury in the trial of Wasif Khan, 18, Amjad Qazi, and two boys aged 15 and 16, heard that the Year 10 pupil had just left a PE lesson a few minutes early and was waiting for a friend in the tennis courts when he saw a gang acting suspiciously.

He said: "There were three Asians patrolling outside school. I say patrolling, they were walking up and down Inverary Road with their hoods up looking into the tennis courts."

The teenager then said that one of the unnamed defendants approached the gang and pointed out Henry by shouting It's the ginger one'.

He said: "It was crystal clear."

He added: "The Asians walked up to Henry and punched him to the ground. The little guy held him back and then one got a hammer out. They must have hit him seven or eight times on the head or shoulders. He (Henry) fell to the floor again, tried to get up but fell over, then they ran out up Inverary Road."

The witness said he didn't return to school the next day because he was worried for his safety. He said: "I was in shock"

The trial continues.

Wednesday

The sound of a hammer smashing into Henry Webster's head still haunts a teenager who saw the attack, a court heard. The year 10 Ridgeway pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury at Bristol Crown Court: "You could actually hear his skull crack and see the blood go everywhere when he fell on the floor."

Wasif Khan, 18, of Caversham Close, Amjad Qazi, 19, of Broad Street, a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have all denied wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

"It went to the bottom of your stomach, like just before you are sick," the teenage witness told the seventh day of the trial.

"A few days later all I could see was that hammer going over and over again. While I was close to it I could hear it. People near me could hear it. I heard his skull crack quite clearly from about 10 metres away. Blood was all coming down his face and on his hands where he was trying to stop the bleeding."

The pupil said he saw three Asian men enter the tennis courts at Ridgeway School, Wroughton. He said one of the men was hunting around the dashboard of a red car before he entered the tennis court and repeatedly beat Henry in the back of the head with a silvery hammer with a black or blue handle.

"The one with the hammer was hitting Henry in the head with it," said the witness "Then he turned the hammer around and used the claw end. He brought the hammer down with the full force of his arm and shoulder."

The teenager said three Asian Ridgeway pupils, including the 15-year-old defendant, then kicked and punched Henry as he lay on the ground.

"While they were punching him the facial expressions of the kids doing it looked like they really wanted to hurt him. They kept punching and punching, over and over. While Henry was trying to block his face, they kept trying to stop him covering his face."

The trial continues

I Have A Vision Of The Future, Chum Part 283

One of my hobbyhorses is that as the native Brits age, and more and more of the young people are non-natives, so you'll get at best a cultural divide between the elderly inhabitants of a hospital or care home (the kind of cultural divide which so distresses our rulers in relation to the police) and those employed to care for or nurse them, at worst the kind of stuff I picked up here, here and here.

This from Tom Reynolds :

The staff don't say anything, but I get the distinct impression that they have been getting tired of this patient being awake while they are at work. If all your patients are sleeping then the night shift has little to do. If this patient has been awake, then they actually have to talk to him. In a lot of the nursing homes that I've been to the nursing staff don't like talking to the patients.

In a fair few nursing homes that I've been to the staff and the patients rarely share a language, and so everyone just 'gives up'.

Bear With Me ....

As previously noted, I'm rather fond of this song, to the extent that I once stood on a bar table ('twas late in the evening) and sang it to a bemused/sympathetic audience of expats who "had drink taken".


The late Hank Thompson. Played his last concert aged 82, less than a month before his death.

The flip, Hank's brilliant 'The Wild Side of Life' isn't available in a studio version on Youtube, but Kitty Wells' 1951 riposte to that sorry tale of female frailty, "It wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" is.

As I sit here tonight the jukebox playing
The tune about the wild side of life
As I listen to the words you are saying
It brings memories when I was a trustful wife.

It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels
As you wrote in the words of the song
Too many times married men think they're still single
That has caused many a good girl to go wrong.

It's a shame that all the blame is on us women
It's not true that only you men feel the same
From the start most every heart that's ever broken
Was because there always was a man to blame.

Well, if you're still here you may as well hear a master at work. It's a fairly recent live recording, the voice, while still impressive, isn't quite what it was, but the presence ... Merle Haggard's "I'm A Lonesome Fugitive".

I'd like to settle down but they won't let me
A fugitive must be a rolling stone
Down every road there's always one more city
I'm on the run, the highway is my home

Sorry about the delay ...

Busy, busy, busy. Just too tired to blog when I finally get some time - around 11pm most nights.

I've been planning a post about the 2001 Bradford riots, and just how close we came to a mass race murder of the sort unknown in England (to my knowledge - please correct me if I'm wrong), though not in the subcontinent, since perhaps York in 1190 or St Brice's Day 1002.

In researching it I came across the work of a Bradford Uni academic, one Marie Macey. She's a remarkably brave woman, writing about Muslim males in a town like Bradford. What happened to Ray Honeyford ?

Some of her stuff is available on Google books.

Take a look at her chapter in Islam, Crime and Criminal Justice and at what's available of her chapter in 'Islamic Political Radicalism - A European Perspective'.

Best read in conjuction with my posts on Bradford race relations, the Lidget Green riots and the cleansing of Lumb Lane. Interesting stuff.

Quote of the Day

The Dumb One on Gordon's new involuntary organ "donation" (harvesting ?) tax.

"Hey, where are all those femiloons chanting 'my body, my choice' when we need them ?"

I'm very busy at present - so take a look at :

Ross also being too busy.

This Peter Hitchens piece from a couple of weeks ago on Islam and 'no-go' areas. I pretty much agree with the whole thing. Here's his conclusion :

One of the great puzzles of modern Britain is the political left's attitude to Islam.

Why should an atheist, sexual liberationist, morally relaxed liberal attack people such as me (as they do) for criticising Islam? They have nothing in common.

It is in fact quite simple.

The left will deal with any ally against conservative Britain. It thinks it can use Islam to further its ends, just as in the past it has allied itself with any anti-conservative, anti-patriotic cause that was going. But the alliance lasts only long enough to allow the Left to destroy what it doesn't like.

The trouble is, Islam is more serious and determined than any of the other people whom the left have sought to use for such purposes.

And so, while intending to dethrone Christianity and make this a secular society, the left now risks helping make this an Islamic society, which - if it comes to pass - will be profoundly hostile to everything the left wants.

These are the fruits of cynicism.

As the bishop notes, and as hospital chaplaincies so clearly show, the disestablishment of Christianity has not led to the opening of Richard Dawkins reading rooms in our hospitals, but in the increasing creation of multi-faith rooms which have an increasingly Islamic character, thanks to the fervour and devotion of Muslims, and the fading faith of the Christian churches.

Likewise the removal of Christianity from the state schools may well end in the existence if an increasing number of state schools which are in effect Islamic, while the official national religion, Christianity, goes neglected and untaught.

A Christian country would have kept the chapels, and allowed and encouraged the opening of separate rooms for other faiths.

I haven't room or time here for an argument about the respective merits of Christianity and Islam, though it would be interesting to have one.

But I finish with this point.

There is no doubt that the laws, institutions, customs, language, marital arrangements, relaxations, family structure, even the diet of this country are the result of centuries of Christianity.

If it became a Muslim country, all these things would change, some beyond recognition.

If we want that to happen, and deliberately choose it, then all well and good.

Islam, as I stated earlier, has many admirable characteristics and would surely be better than total Godlessness, but how foolish to let it happen by mistake, and then regret it when it was too late.

The militant 'war on terror' sorts who inveigh against Islam still seem to think that the Maxim gun, or the CIA, or MI5, or airstrikes on Afghanistan, or invasions of Iraq and Iran, will defeat this powerful ideology (see this post - LT).

The anti-British left seem to think, by contrast, that Islam is a pet pussycat which they can toy with, set on their enemies for while, and lay aside.

Both are wrong.

If you prefer our sort of society to an Islamic one, then you have to recognise that the good things about our society come from Christianity - and the more we throw those good things aside and the more we dismantle Christianity in our state, our schools, our culture in general, the weaker our society will become and the more likely it will be to embrace Islam - which suffers from no doubts about its rightness and is not in the least bit afraid of Professor Dawkins.

I'd go a little further and posit that in the long term secular liberalism is incapable of standing up to Islamisation, simply because the levels of commitment are so much lower. As Dawkins and co prowl the pantomime stage, stalking the Christian enemy, we should all be shouting "behind you !".

It's Non-Stop Torture In The Community

To the names of Brent Martin, David Atherton, Steven Hoskin and Kevin Davies, "vulnerable individuals" living "in the community" who were abused, tortured and killed we add the name of Stephen Gale.

A 42-year-old Leicester man has been jailed for 22 years and nine months after pleading guilty to the murder of his housemate at Leicester Crown Court. Andrew Green, from Garth Avenue, had earlier admitted murdering Steven Gale, 28, at the home they shared with two women in Mowmacre Hill in October 2006. Lisa Smith, 27, and Green's 31-year-old wife Claudette both admitted perverting the course of justice.


Green, Smith and Green - nice people.

Post-mortem tests showed the victim was assaulted in the days before his death. Det Supt Stuart Prior said Mr Gale had been starved and beaten. "We believe we identified a systematic abuse of Steven, which consisted of both assaults and also failing to properly feed him and allow him to have proper meals," the officer said. "Andrew Green very much took the controlling influence in the household and dominated the people living in the property, and that included Steven."

Police said at the time of his death the victim weighed just four stone, despite his 5'11" height.

During the trial it become apparent that both the authorities and the victim's family had had not idea what he was going through. Neighbours living below reported hearing beatings in the flat three or four times a week. In May 2006 police were called to the flat when Mr Gale tried to escape by jumping from a third floor bathroom window after a row. Green's defence barrister told the court police and social services had visited Steven Gale at his flat on a number of occasions leading up to his death but nobody intervened.

Me no understand this bit :


Melanie Garner who lived below the victim said she heard shouting and screaming from the flat two to three times a week. "We rang the social services, they came out but nothing was done, nothing got resolved. Surely they could see that he wasn't right. He was just skin and bone, clothes hung off him," she said.

A social services spokesperson said they had assessed Steven, who said he did not want help, and judged him capable of looking after himself. Deborah Kitson, director of the Ann Craft Trust, which works to protect adults with learning disabilities, said there was little more the authorities could do.

"What went wrong for Steven was that when he made cries for help, when the agencies police and social services responded, he insisted that he was happy where he was he and wanted to stay there. Currently there is very little that can be done if the adult makes that choice."

One of the characteristics of all the recent killings is that the victims refused - presumably out of fear - to dob in their abusers. Surely the Ann Craft Trust should realise this ? Otherwise what's the point of their existence as an organisation "acting Against the Abuse of People with Learning Disabilities" ?

A look at their "campaigns" page isn't terribly encouraging.

"Our campaigning focuses on injustices in the legal system" - I'm pretty sure no lawyers have beaten any "naturals" to death lately.

Oh Lordy - "Disability Hate Crime". I suppose the idea is that although the current criminal justice system is totally unable to enforce existing laws on anti-social behaviour - witness the tragic fates of Christine Lakinski and the Pilkington family - they hope to add the disabled to the list of "protected species" aka designated victim groups.

More at the Leicester Mercury :

Parents of a vulnerable man beaten to death by his unofficial carer today branded his killer an "evil, wicked man". Stephen Gale, who had special needs, was subjected to months of torment, violence, starvation and abuse by Andrew Green at their shared home in Mowmacre Hill, Leicester. Yesterday, Mr Gale's family cheered in court as Green was jailed for nearly 23 years.

Mr Gale's mother Maureen, 55, said: "Green is an evil, wicked man. We are absolutely elated that he got more than 22 years and we feel we have got justice for the family and for Stephen. "I especially loved it when the judge said, 'take him down' and he was led away to start his sentence. It's been a year now since we lost our son and nothing will ever bring him back, but he is safe and at rest now."

When he died, the 28-year-old weighed less than six stone, half the normal body weight for his 5ft 11ins frame. A final fatal attack on October 25 last year left Mr Gale with a catalogue of injuries. As Stephen's body lay on the floor of the shared home in Garth Avenue, Green callously ordered his wife, Claudette (31), and housemate, Lisa Smith (27), to lie to police, blaming someone else for the injuries.

Green (41), who admitted murder, was the bullying "leader of the pack," of the shared dysfunctional household. He controlled the finances, and took Steven's benefit money and cash sent by Mr and Mrs Gale, of Little Hampton, Sussex, who had no idea of their son's terrifying ordeal. Nirmal Shant, prosecuting, said neighbours had seen Green, and occasionally the two women, attacking the victim in the street. She said Stephen once tried to escape a beating by leaping out of an upstairs window, but he did not complain of mistreatment. He died from multiple injuries, internal bleeding and shock. Miss Shant said: "The fatal attack was sustained. He fell to the ground and continued to be attacked, trying what little he could to defend himself and was left for dead for some time before the ambulance was called."

Green, who has an IQ of 72, in the bottom three per cent of the population, told police another man had attacked Mr Gale away from the home. He told officers: "I was like a carer for Steve and looked after him for so long. He meant the world to me."

The co-accused initially backed up his story. Claudette Green and Smith, also said to be in the bottom range of intelligence, were both given nine-month jail sentences, suspended for two years, coupled with 12 months of supervision. All three admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. It was accepted by the prosecution they had been under Green's "spell" and were manipulated by him.

Judge Michael Pert QC ordered Green to serve at least 22 years and nine months before he can be considered for release. He told Green: "It's a horrible tale. You styled yourself as his carer. You starved him, beat him, took his money and controlled every aspect of his life. He became so weak your continued beating killed him."

William Taylor QC, defending Andrew Green, criticised police and social services for not intervening. He said the violence had escalated over a year. Leicester City Council's social services said Stephen was offered help, but he had said he was fine.
Dad Malcolm, 57, said he spoke to his son on the telephone five days before his death. He said: "There was nothing to indicate he was in trouble or in pain. We can only think he was too frightened of Green. We've got to the point now where we can begin to draw a line under this, because Green has got everything he deserved."

I'll lay a pound to a pinch of **** that the sentence is reduced on appeal.

Yet More Torture In The Community

To the names of David Atherton, Steven Hoskin and Kevin Davies, "vulnerable individuals" living "in the community" who were abused, tortured and killed we have to add the name of Brent Martin.

A gang of youths beat and tortured a disabled man to death for "sport", a court heard today. Brent Martin was repeatedly punched, kicked, stamped on and head butted by three youths who bet each other £5 they could knock him out, the jury was told. The court heard that William Hughes and two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, chased Brent across two estates in Sunderland, subjecting him to a series of brutal assaults. Finally he was left dying in a pool of blood next to a parked car in Baxter Road, Town End Farm.

Hughes, 21, of Washington Road, Sunderland, and the 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, yesterday pleaded guilty to murder. The 17-year-old, also from Sunderland, went on trial today accused of murder.

Prosecutor Toby Hedworth QC told the court: "On the evening of August 23 last year on the Town End Farm Estate 23-year-old Brent Martin, a young man who had learning disabilities and had spent nine years of his life in psychiatric hospitals, was systematically attacked, demeaned, headbutted and beaten by people whom he misguidedly believed to be his friends. They behaved like a pack of animals as they repeatedly punched, kicked, headbutted and stamped on Brent Martin. That man Brent Martin never lifted an aggressive finger towards them and they did that to him until he was dead. They did that for their own sport."

The court was told that the attack began at a bus stop when the 17-year-old bet £5 that the 16-year-old - both were trained as boxers - could not knock out Brent with his right hand. The 16-year-old kissed his right fist, then his left fist before repeatedly knocking down Brent with single punches. The disabled man was then chased across the Town End Farm and Hylton Castle estates for around a mile where on at least four occasions he was attacked. Then Brent would get up, apologise to his attackers, shake their hands and would often buy alcohol and cigarettes for them. Mr Hedworth said the gang deliberately chose grassed areas to attack him so that he would not hit his head when they knocked him down.

"Say the Crown, they set quite deliberately to do such serious harm to Brent Martin for their own amusement and no doubt to make themselves look big among their friends," Mr Hedworth said. "As the attack went on, its nature, ferocity and perseverance make it quite clear they were not happy until he was dead. At that time they were using that violence towards him they had no such sensibility, no restraint, no qualms and no mercy."

As Brent was brutally beaten, eyewitnesses reported him shouting: "Nah, nah, no please." After the final murderous attack in Baxter Road the three posed for pictures, the court heard. One witness described them as "appearing to be happy from what they had done - getting a buzz out of it". The court heard that the 17-year-old defendant later told witnesses: "I am not going down for a muppet." Mr Hedworth said Brent had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals as a teenager and had only been released into the care of his mother three months before his death. Brent had saved £3,000 during his time in hospital and in the three months since his release he had spent almost all of it. "He was a gentle and easily-led child who thought everyone was his mate. People took advantage of him," the barrister said.

On the evening of the attack he asked his sister for money so he could "buy some drinks for the lads", warning her he would get his "head kicked in". Brent died in Sunderland Royal Hospital surrounded by his family, including his mother Brenda and twin sister Danielle, on August 25, having never regained consciousness. A post-mortem examination revealed he died from a massive head injury and had suffered at least 18 separate blows to the head and neck.

A 47-year-old woman - the mother of the 16-year-old - is also on trial accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice. She is accused of destroying evidence by washing the blood-stained clothing of her son.

Cut'n'paste is not the most creative form of blogging. But what is there to say, other than to tell the story ?

Luvvie Of The Week

The first director (replaced by Simon Curtis) of the BBC's adaptation/rewrite/travesty of Mrs Gaskell's Cranford, well and truly dobbed in by the wonderful Eileen Atkins.

The original director was let go after six weeks. “He didn’t really understand why it was funny. I don’t want to down this bloke, because he might turn out to be able to do wonderful, deeply left-wing, odd little films where nobody is a professional. But his one note to me – and I did not know what he was talking about – was, ‘You see, Eileen, if I went to a dinner and I saw that everybody round the table was a conservative, I would not sit down at that table. I want you to persuade me to sit down at that table.’ I hope, even not as an actor, you can see it’s not a great help.”


According to this fan site the original director was one Steve Hudson.

"the voluntary option has failed"

Just when you think there's nothing left you can despise them for ...

The government will reintroduce powers to ban strikes by prison officers in England and Wales, months after a surprise walkout by 20,000 staff. Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he had "no alternative" but to seek reserve powers, if a voluntary no-strike deal cannot be reached.

Now I can understand, even if I might disagree with, a government wishing to make strikes by key 'security' staff illegal. After all, the Army can't go on strike - it's called mutiny, something people used to get shot at dawn for.

But what really gets my goat is that this bunch of cretins repealed the existing (Tory-legislated) law themselves ! Although in fairness it must be said that Blunkett - for it was he - seems to have been pretty straight with them at the time.

Mr Blunkett admitted the new "partnership approach" would look "very odd" from the outside, but it was "actually for the best of outcomes".

"If we have got a no strike agreement and they wish to remove the order that imposed that nine years ago, and that will change the whole nature of their response to the reform agenda that I am putting in place, then it makes sense from my point of view to do that," he said. "Were the voluntary agreement to break down, we would have the authority and power under the law to bring back the requirements that would protect the prison service and protect the public. I think from their point of view the restoration of union rights and the ability to voluntarily agree with us rather than have something imposed makes a difference. It may be psychological. It may be a pyrrhic victory, but if that is necessary to change people's attitude and to back the new leadership who want reform, who want to modernise the system, then let's go for it."

So he was straight with them that the lifting of the ban didn't actually mean a thing. And what did the union, the POA, say at the time ?

"It means quite a lot to us - infact a great deal," he said. "What it does mean is that we have a right to ask our members their views, gives us a right to ballot our members for their views and it gives us a right to enter a partnership and a partnership of equals."

So the union were quite willing to be sweet-talked, although they knew it meant damn-all in reality ? What about the Tories, who when in power had introduced the ban ?

Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said the proposal seemed "perfectly sensible". "If you can have peaceful and cordial relationships and yet be sure that there will not be strikes in the prisons then this is a sensible relationship," he told the same Radio 4 programme.

So it's not (just) this government who think that government by signifier, by mood music, by gesture, is the way to go about things. The unions and the Tories agree. I have to despise them all.

The New Sound of Bexley Heath (video Parental Advisory)

"guns, shanks (knives - LT), hands - anyhow you want it bitch - we go any style"



The late Mr Faridon Alizada (aka Fighterrr), stabbed to death in a Kentish tower block on Saturday, and his chums Twisterrr and Presharrr take a quiet country stroll. Whether he hailed from Albania, as some report, or from Somalia or Afghanistan (isn't Faridon a Jordanian name ?), whether his peer group was the "West Street Boys", "Westhill", the "Younger Rebel Attackers", "Rebel Assault" or the "IVS - Invincible Souljahs", whether Twisterrr and Presharrr are the other two injured - is shrouded in mystery. (According to these comments he was an IVS 'operative').

But his 792 friends are in deep mourning.

Lisa-Jane recalls with affection "u n toro teliin me n tonii tha deal of get down or lay dwn biitch haha!! ".

Yeliz remembers "u was tellin me how ur gonna take over sidcup" - a dream forever to be unrealised.

Li'l Yeshh has fond memories of "When You Cum My College N Started Terorisin Every1"

You can see from his videos what a loss we have suffered.

Mr Edward Heath is rotating at 3,200 rpm.


(any comments can be posted on Facebook !)

"a better mix of pupils"

In my post on the thin line between state education and propaganda, I mentioned the Burnley experiment/social engineering project of merging existing, de-facto segregated schools.

Because of the way school catchment areas had been set historically, he explains, Burnley's secondary schools had been either overwhelmingly white or overwhelmingly black. The white schools got good results and were oversubscribed, and the minority ethnic schools got poor ones. All this is changing, partly as a result of a report published last summer on the reasons for the disturbances.

"The county council is completely reorganising the schools, including the catchment areas, so there is a better mix of pupils," says Labour councillor Mark Townsend. "Five new schools have just opened and we've got rid of all the old ones so the kids now have the chance to grow up together"

I don't know the area at all well. But one of the new schools, Hameldon Community College, doesn't exactly seem to exude that glorious rainbow ethos. It has 1,700 pupils and was created by merging Ivy Bank High (41% in the 2001 tables) with Habergham High School (66%) to produce a school with "more than 40%" A/C passes. You'd rather have hoped for 53% even if there was no improvement.

Alas, the school's already in special measures - quite an achievement considering it's only been open eighteen months. A second Burnley 'superschool', the wonderfully named Unity College, is also in special measures - that's two out of five schools.

Two youths are being questioned after a 15-year-old boy was attacked at his school with a baseball bat. The teenager was in the grounds of Hameldon Community College in Burnley, Lancashire, when he was set upon during the lunch break on Friday. The boy was taken to hospital with head injuries and later discharged. A second pupil, aged 15, who suffered a fit was also treated in hospital ... A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "Police are continuing to investigate the incident, which is being seen as an isolated incident involving a small number of people." The injured pupil is Asian, but police said there was "no suggestion" the attack was racially-motivated.

Following this incident school attendance dropped to 50%, then 25%. The comments on the stories are worth a look. Admittedly it was coming up to Christmas - this may have tipped the scales on keeping pupils away. Police have since decided the incident WAS racially-motivated - no word on whether it's still 'isolated' or 'random'.

Schools usually fail for a toxic cocktail of reasons. To start with, 1,700 pupils is far too many for any school - especially one with no sixth form. How can the teachers know all the kids, to start with ? And, just as any country with 'Democratic' in its name is a dictatorship, so the word 'Community' in any institution should set alarm bells ringing. You know at once that whatever you'll find in the area, it'll certainly be uncontaminated by community. 1,700 pupils - and precisely 60 parents turned up to the two meetings held by the school to reassure them. Whether the parents couldn't be bothered, or whether they thought any reassurances would be worthless platitudes, who can tell - either way it's not good. The school is rated a disaster by the most important users - the parents.

On Monday it was revealed that the school was a first-choice option for fewer than 100 youngsters across the borough when Year Six parents were asked to pick at least three establishments where they would like to send their child for secondary education. Burnley Council leader Gordon Birtwistle said before Hameldon was created, Ivy Bank and Habergham High Schools could expect to attract about 600 such applications each.

From 1200 first choice applications to 100. The chief exec of any PLC whose share price fell like that could expect to clear his desk (admittedly he'd leave with a million or two and a huge pension).

It would be premature to assume that the council's decision to merge one mainly white school with a mainly-Asian one in the interests of "community cohesion" is the sole cause of the school's troubles. I wonder how the magnificently named Shuttleworth College (named after Ken I trust), Sir John Thursby and Blessed Trinity are getting on. I'll lay a pound to a pinch of s***, as they say in the Black Country, that the Catholic school has the best results.

But the failure of two out of five doesn't bode terribly well. Never mind, it's only a few kids' education and it's in a noble cause. If they don't get educated there are plenty of educated East Europeans. Can't make an integrated rainbow omelette without breaking a few lives.

Brave Men

US Army blogger Major Andrew Olmsted was killed in action a few days ago, along with fellow-soldier Captain Tom Casey.

His last despatch is here. He left an 'in the event of something happening to me' post here. Please read the whole thing.

Vests

Time was when you couldn't get your kids into those useful winter items, vests. They'd go to school freezing rather then wear such a duff item of kit. I believe a lot of shops no longer do the stringies.

They cost a lot more (surprise) but the Canterbury sports top seems to have been successfully marketed to the youth as an expensive, fashionable replacement. But at least and at last the boys are warm.



(Some of the old stuff's coming back. My sixteen year old has just bought a black trenchcoat - very smart. I'm hoping he'll invest in a low-brimmed hat as well).

Maybe Mark Speight ..

Is that rara avis - a BBC TV children's presenter who doesn't do cocaine.

It Fell Over ...

(Photo - Roger Savage)

Investigations are under way to determine what caused the 100-ft steel structure near Hesket Newmarket to crash to the ground. The British Wind Energy Association, which represents 98 per cent of UK wind energy firms, will be directly involved and has pledged to act on any potential issues arising. The turbine, thought to weigh around 11 tonnes, has been helping to produce energy to power J Stobart & Sons animal feed mill at Newlands for the last 19 years. When it was installed it was only the second privately-owned wind turbine in the country. But it collapsed, narrowly missing a country road, at around 11.30am last Friday while the plant was operating. No-one was hurt.

Two things. The Cumberland News story contains the folllowing :

The British Wind Energy Association says last Friday’s collapse appears to be the first in its 29-year history where foul play is not involved.

How many turbines have been brought down by foul play then ?

And the BBC story contained the following :

The Health and Safety Executive said it would not investigate the incident as no-one was hurt.

Is that correct ? No one hurt = no problem ? Though it appears to have fallen through a factory roof and inches from a road ?


UPDATE - the Danes do this so much better. Take a look at THIS.

Heartwarming Tales ?

Only if you've a hardened heart, mind. What kind of person could get a smile out of this tragic headline ?

"Joey Barton to remain in custody"

A couple of weeks back Sam Tarran reported on the vandalism of the Christmas crib in the city of Worcester - for the third successive year. Amazingly, the drunken perpetrator, already on bail for two assault charges, was actually remanded until January 11th.

Alas, it was just too good to be true.

A teenager who spent Christmas in prison after stealing and damaging nativity figurines outside the Guildhall will be home for New Year. Christopher Geisler was remanded in custody last week after District Judge Bruce Morgan said he could not understand why anybody would commit such an offence. Today 18-year-old Geisler, who had admitted theft and criminal damage at an earlier hearing, appeared in the city's Magistrates Court to answer questions about the offences. He was released from custody and granted bail, on condition he resides at his home in Leopard Road, Newtown, reports to Castle Street police station in Worcester between 5pm and 6pm every Thursday, and attends a probation appointment.

UPDATE - and the Barton news was also too good to be true. After all, you get bail for suspicion of murder.

Pointless

Reckless or repeated breaches of data security should become a criminal offence, a committee of MPs has said. Currently, government departments cannot be held criminally responsible for data protection breaches. But a report (pdf) on the "truly shocking" loss of 25m people's personal details by HM Revenue and Customs, the Commons justice committee demands tougher laws. The government welcomed the report and said it was considering measures to toughen up the Data Protection Act.

So the Government will fine itself. Brilliant. Government by signifier again. I suppose the money could come from the relevant departmental budget - but what good would that do except presumably reduce the effectiveness (if any) of said department ? It's like fining Network Rail for skimping on maintenance - thus leaving less money for maintenance.

UPDATE - David Cameron takes another leaf from the Nu Labour textbook. He'll soon have more of it than they have. This is a man who understands gesture politics as well as anyone.

David Cameron has defended his proposal to penalise hospitals for each patient who picks up an infection. In a speech, he said English hospitals should lose part of their tariff for each patient if that person contracted MRSA or Clostridium difficile. But the British Medical Association said it would put hospitals off treating the most vulnerable patients. Mr Cameron told the BBC "payment by results" was the best way to ensure NHS staff prioritised infection control.

Kenya status "diverse, with outbreaks of extreme vibrancy"

Meet The New Year - Same As The Old Year ?

Apologies. Family commitments and all that. Thank the Lord that Ross and the Dumb One still have their shoulders to the wheel. The news is still not good, optimism not too high - but "say not the struggle naught availeth".

Best wishes to all readers and fellow bloggers - especially the ones I agree with !

Here's to 2008. . . . Here's to a year of toil ... a year of struggle and peril.. . and a long step forward to victory.

May we all come through safe and with honour !