Swampy Don't Surf ....

Nightjack - an environmental protester in his youth - on the Kingsnorth Climate Camp protesters :

Swampy is basically Middle Class with a smattering of intellectuals and minor gentry trying to p*** off mater and pater ... Swampy and his mates have more cameras per head than the paparazzi pack following Amy Winehouse ... Never, ever engage Swampy in debate. It’s like dealing with a troll. Swampy has a world view that only family, age and a job has a chance of moving. Swampy or someone near him is likely recording whatever you say. The 50 reasonable words used as warning will never come to public light but when after 2 minutes of trying nicely you say “Look just **** Off”, Swampy has his jackpot recording of personal police oppression.

The Guardian :

Other equipment seized since the camp began on Thursday included bolt croppers, climbing ropes and padded suits, which police said suggested that protesters were intending to break into the power station.

Isabelle Michel, another camper, said demonstrators had not made any secret of the fact that they intended to take direct action at the power plant. "This in no way justifies the way the police are treating the camp," she said. "It is disgraceful to suggest that the campers have criminal intent.

Well, call me naive, but it sounds like criminal intent to me. I suppose they'd say it was for the Greater Good :

On Saturday August 9th, the climate camp will go beyond talk and culminate in a spectacular mass action to shut down Kingsnorth. Permanently!

Labour 'descending into chaos" ?

I don't know. Maybe.

Stephen Byers, a former minister, said Mr Brown's policies were more appropriate for "a Sunday afternoon stroll" than for scaling the mountain facing Labour before the next general election, expected in 2010. Mr Byers, a close ally of Tony Blair, former prime minister, said: "We must come forward with bold and ambitious policies." They could include giving cash to tenants in social housing to buy private homes in an effort to revive Britain's moribund housing market, he said.

I think they'll have a job to dig up many bold and ambitious policies. Because their idea of a bold and ambitious policy is to spend lots of money on something, and then stand up in Parliament and reel off the sums of money. Whether the money has done any good or not doesn't seem to matter. The spend is the deed.

"A billion pounds to prevent truancy, which hasn't prevented it !"

And they've run out of money. Now they're frantically trying to think of something that sound good and costs nowt. But they've never had to think like that before. I'm not sure they can do it.

A Russian Patriot

(Bernhard Frye/The Associated Press. Pinched from the International Herald Tribune site)

"Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts"

The great man is gone. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has died aged 89.

I wrote about my favourite book of his, "August 1914", here.

"At a time like this, ensign, party political differences are just ripples on the water."

"Then what differences mean anything at all ?"

"The difference between decency and swinishness, ensign !".

I would have been interested to know what he thought of Putin's Russia. We know he detested Yeltsin's kleptocracy - but while Putin is undoubtedly a Russian patriot, would he have approved of his brand of gangster crony capitalism, where you can be as great a villain as you like as long as you don't interfere with what are seen as State interests ?

According to the massive IHT obituary (and what a good news site that is - I find I'm using it more and more these days) :

Solzhenitsyn was heir to a morally focused and often prophetic Russian literary tradition, and he looked the part. With his stern visage, lofty brow and full, Old Testament beard, he recalled Tolstoy while suggesting a modern-day Jeremiah, denouncing the evils of the Kremlin and later the mores of the West. He returned to Russia and deplored what he considered its spiritual decline, but in the last years of his life he embraced President Vladimir Putin as a restorer of Russia's greatness.

I can understand that. "Our" capitalists - if indeed any British capitalists can be said to be "ours" any more - would mostly sell their grandmothers for a few million more. Judging by the kicking BP are getting - predicted two years ago here - and I don't approve, btw - "their" capitalists have a different agenda.

His rare public appearances could turn into hectoring jeremiads. Delivering the commencement address at Harvard in 1978, he called the country of his sanctuary spiritually weak and mired in vulgar materialism. Americans, he said, speaking in Russian through a translator, were cowardly. Few were willing to die for their ideals, he said. He condemned both the United States government and American society for its "hasty" capitulation in Vietnam. And he criticized the country's music as intolerable and attacked its unfettered press, accusing it of violations of privacy.

Many in the West did not know what to make of the man. He was perceived as a great writer and hero who had defied the Russian authorities. Yet he seemed willing to lash out at everyone else as well — democrats, secularists, capitalists, liberals and consumers.

That's true (the lashing out - not the references to America) .

In October 1994, Solzhenitsyn addressed Russia's Parliament. His complaints and condemnations had not abated. "This is not a democracy, but an oligarchy," he declared. "Rule by the few." He spoke for an hour, and when he finished, there was only a smattering of applause.

Well that was true too. But he was a marginal figure in his own country - his TV show flopped. Like a heroic-scale Peter Hitchens, his words, steeped as they were in the past, meant little to a generation unaware of their heritage. Ah - here we are :

In 2007, he accepted a State Prize from then-President Putin — after refusing, on principle, similar prizes from Gorbachev and from Yeltsin. Putin, he said in the Der Spiegel interview, "inherited a ransacked and bewildered country, with a poor and demoralized people. And he started to do what was possible — a slow and gradual restoration."

To do what was possible. I see what he meant.

(Update - the Times has the facsimile page of his 1976 speech "A Warning to the Western World")

"It’s our home, but we feel like moving away"

"About 20 years ago, this tiny Caribbean twin island state was a nation where you could feel relatively safe"

Aye. And about 40 years ago you could say the same of this island.

"Regardless of the criminal's place of birth is, they should be punished severely. I long for the day when capital punishment would be put in place. The police force and the defence force are going to have to step it up. The good book says, “He who kills shall be killed.” Some of these bad men walking the streets of Antigua and Barbuda need to learn a lesson. They’re destroying our society"

Antiguans on the people deported by the US and UK :

“Each year the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada deport thousands of people convicted of various crimes to their countries of citizenship in the Caribbean. There is a widely held belief in the Caribbean that recent crime troubles can be tied directly to the activities of deportees who have learnt criminal behaviour in the developed countries,” said a report issued last year by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Latin America and Caribbean region of the World Bank.

The Antiguan government says almost 300 have been returned to the island in the past 10 years. A few were from Britain, but the majority came from the United States. “They are sending back these violent guys. Some left here as babies; they come back as criminals after their graduation from American prison,” said Andy Liburd, editor of the Antigua Sun newspaper. “These people don’t know anyone; they don’t know our culture. Most don’t have family here or if they do, say, have an aunt here she doesn’t want to take them in because of their criminality. Crime is entirely out of control.”

It's one of my pet themes that, where immigration is associated with increased crime, it's not the first generation immigrants who turn out to be bad boys, unless they come from an already dodgy culture like that of Kosovo or Somalia. It's those (a minority, but a significant one in some cultures) who grow up in the new culture (or in our case, and probably in the case of the great American cities, in the lack of culture) who present a problem to the natives. Some of those people then cause a problem 'back a yard' when we kick them out.

She said that Antiguans did not know how to cope with the extreme violence of those who are essentially foreigners ..

The working class natives of London, Birmingham, Manchester face the same issues.

“We’d never seen such ‘bad-mindedness’. It’s beyond control. It’s our home, but we feel like moving away.”

Ain't it hell ...

... being attractive ?

I don't know why, but I'm reminded of the clever girl standing outside the school after the exams - "I'm sure I've failed - I didn't do any work ...", while someone who's really afraid they've failed bites down the ungracious words ...

A few obvious points. Perhaps tops that crowd the balcony when you lean forward aren't the best way to stop chaps looking. Your mother really should have explained that sort of thing to you a while back - and maybe papa too.


"I can't avoid presenting as sexual if I take any care over my appearance"

Perhaps you need to deconstruct that sentence - unpack it a little and tease out the meaning of 'taking care'.

"There is no freedom, for the young women of my generation, to define beauty in the way we want it, particularly not in the working world where a reasonable level of conventional dressing is expected."

Does conventional dressing equal Nell Gwynne ? And of course, you're as free as a bird to leave, start your own media organisation - or to dress as you wish. What are they going to do - sack you ? Not if you're any good they won't.

I guess Ms Red wants to have the cake and eat it - or, to put it another way, to be able to dress as if there are no other people in the world. Alas, dear reader, there are. And half of them are chaps. And unless they start putting something in the tap water, chaps will look - as they've been doing for the last several thousand years.

(And pretty girls will have advantages over their plainer sisters - as they've had for the last several thousand years. I predict a CiF column for Ms Red - all their young female columnists are fit (who chooses them ?), whereas some of the young chaps hit every branch in the ugly tree.)

I Merely Report ...

The British government faces a potential diplomatic row with Antigua over the shooting of the honeymoon couple Catherine and Benjamin Mullany after demanding that anyone convicted of the crime will not face the death penalty. Antiguan officials told The Daily Telegraph that the Foreign Office attempted to make such a pledge a condition of allowing Scotland Yard detectives to fly out to help in the investigation. One senior Antiguan source said British officials initially demanded a signed guarantee from the country’s Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer.

The Antiguan interior minister told the Foreign Office that the government could not make any such pledge as the death penalty was decided by the Caribbean island’s judiciary, which is technically independent. The British demand to its former colony is understood to have annoyed Antigua’s leadership. Eight years ago, the two countries clashed diplomatically with its former colony after the UK tried to stop the execution of Steadroy McDougal for the murder of a Scottish woman and her boyfriend.

You almost have to admire a government that has such a dedication to the interests of everyone except their own citizens.

(en passant, our new DPP, Keir Starmer, was instrumental in getting mandatory death sentences abolished in Jamaica, and reprieving 100 death row prisoners in Trinidad.)

Where's He Gone Now ?

"He" being James Hamilton. As I was trolling my way from post to post this arvo, I came upon Paulie's (not Wolfgang, the other one) repost of a James Hamilton classic from way back. James had then removed his old blog and created a new one devoted to the psychology of sport.

Now that's gone as well, unless he's moved and my links are out of date, which they generally are.
But the power of Google didn't find him on the first couple of pages, anyway.

Anyone know where his work has gone and where he is ? He's such a good writer, 'twere pity to lose his work. And I'd like to retrieve a comment I posted a while back - about the amazing Harry Sharratt.

UPDATE - both Paulie's and my links are indeed out of date. Thank you Blognor. James is still very much with us here.

The Age Of Political Consent ?

Twenty-one today, twenty-one today,
I've got the key of the door
Never been twenty-one before
Mother says I can do as I like
So shout Hip Hip Hooray!
I'm the King of the Castle,
Twenty-one Today!

That song - and how old fashioned it seems now - was, up until 1970, when the voting age became 18, sung at 21st birthday parties, which marked the transition to adulthood. The key of the door meant the freedom to come and go as you pleased, an adult in the house. And of course it meant becoming a full member of the community, with all the rights - and all the responsibilities - entailed thereby.

The last Labour policy meeting at Warwick, in between rearranging the deckchairs on RMS Titanic (G. Brown, Capt.) has decided to "back extending the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds" .

They're putting the cart before the horse. Instead of asking - 'what's the meaning of the age of political responsibility ? is it the same as adulthood ? does adulthood imply independence ?' they're asking 'how can we engage the young in politics' and 'how can we increase our vote ?'.

40 years ago it was much simpler. 21 was adult, full stop. The day you became entitled to vote was the day you became liable to be sent to an adult prison (although some Borstals took people up to 23), the day (pre-67) when you could be hung for murder. I'm not sure what the laws were regarding student grants - whether a 21 year old (say at medical school) with rich parents got less of a grant, but except for medics most education was over by 21, so the question of still being dependent didn't apply.

Lowering the voting age to 18 started to create anomalies - different responsibilities at different ages. Criminals under 21 had previously been dealt with as 'Young Offenders', over 21 as 'Adult offenders', but 18-20 year olds continued not to be dealt with as adults despite the lowering of the voting age, and the income of parents was taken into account when deciding on the level of maintenance grants for students.

Now we have a host of laws restricting the activities of 16 to 18 year olds - for what may or may not be considered good reasons. They can't buy cigarettes, alcohol, knives, guns, fireworks. As a child of seven or eight I bought fireworks - and like the other boys at primary school, I nagged my mother as to when I could buy my first knife (my ninth birthday, as it turned out). The 'age of responsibility' has increased for many things. (Some other things which would then have attracted a prison sentence are now legal for sixteen year olds. Just don't offer them a cigarette afterwards.)

The Government are planning to make school attendance compulsory for 16 to 18 year olds - with their parents going to jail if they don't go. See this blog for details. EMA and other allowances are based on parental income - implicitly declaring the child to be dependent on their parents.

How does this square with giving them the vote at 16 ? I'd suggest it doesn't. The liberal policy wonks seem to be engaged in a process of lowering the age of political responsibility while simultaneously raising the age of responsibility for everything else.

A consistent approach to votes at 16 would be to :

a) abolish educational conscription - how dare you force a 16 year old adult to attend school

b) adult prisons for 16 year old criminals.

c) adult sentences likewise

d) no compulsory parental contributions for education or anything else. Parental income not to be taken into account when assessing grants etc. like the 'staying at school' grant (ECA ?) . Remember, these are independent adults you're talking about. The 16 year old child of a millionaire and the 16 year old child from a council house both have zero income and should both get that £30 a week. They should also get full grants at university.

e) no more nonsense about fining parents for what their children do

f) that law about adults in authority fiddling with their 16 year old (adult !) charges needs to go. And 16 year olds will be able to buy pornography. And act in it. And buy cigarettes. And fireworks. And knives. And alcohol. And air rifles. And ammunition.

Now I think the above sounds somewhat foolish. But so are votes at 16. In fact, given the contradictions still unaddressed from 1970, I'd either raise the age to 21 again or resolve those contradictions.

Can This Be True ?

Valerie Grove, in a Miliband portrait.

"Until George W. Bush beat Al Gore, the US had never voted in the shorter candidate"

Really ? Never ? Anyone know ? Comments are open on this post.

Polly Toynbee comes out in support of Miliband

The David Miliband CiF piece which launched his 'leadership bid' received over 850 comments, nearly all negative. The polls say Miliband would be less popular than Brown. As I've already said, Miliband is one of the the few people compared to whom GB looks like Mr Ordinary Bloke.

Now Poll Pot has come out for Miliband, sounding pretty much like she did a year ago, coming out for Gordon Brown. Perhaps more breathless and girlish, if anything :

Suddenly everything changed. The burst of optimism was so startling it dazzled those too long trapped deep in a dungeon. In that one moment it was all over for the old leader who had plunged them into these depths. Suddenly here was the chance of escape everyone was waiting for.

David Miliband stepped up as the man with a plan to take the fight to the Tories, the man to free the party from the bondage of disastrous leadership. With the deftest of brush strokes in his Guardian article, he painted the policies of optimism ... here was a sketched outline of radical policies. Judging from an avalanche of emails pouring in, out there Labour people are ready to return if the party offers something better.

He set a small stone rolling down the hill, its effect unpredictable: already it has become a boulder. His press conference and performance on the Jeremy Vine Show gave his party the chance to look at him in a new light. His breezy ease ... he dismissed suspicion that this silver-spoon-fed political princeling hadn't the guts to reach for the sword in the stone, nor the muscle, the will or the street-fighting canniness for power.

Downing Street's crude retaliations - "immature self-serving traitor" - were tossed away with a smile.

Blimey. A new champion steps forth. Dungeons, princelings and swords. Who is that lonely maiden in the tower, her fair hands embroidering a Trades Council banner ?

Polly, Polly, let down your long hair !

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad
Goes by to tower'd Camelot;
And sometimes through the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two.
She hath no loyal Knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often through the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot;
Or when the Moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed.
"I am half sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.

Or maybe :

O young Lochinvar is come out of the west,
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;
And save his good broadsword he weapons had none,
He rode all unarm'd, and he rode all alone.
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.

As usual the comments are the best. This one is perfect :

If one believed Pollyana, (a far-fetched notion, I admit), Brown was a winning combination of Solon, Merlin and Max Planck. I and many others at the time pointed out the absurdity of Pollyana's analysis. That Brown was just more of the same. He was a man who had marched in lock-step with the discredited Blairite Project every inch of the way. But, alas, Pollyana was giddy with love and wouldn't listen.

Now the scales have fallen from her eyes to reveal...another set of scales. Is there any limit to this wretched woman's foolishness?

Doesn't seem to be, does there ? I do start to wonder if the CiF writers are just in it for the page reads now - under orders from the editor to attract as many hits as possible by writing indefensible nonsense - thus attracting a swarm of angry comments.

HMG Fail In Attempt To Sell UK's Nuclear Industry To French Govt

British Energy's nuclear power stations are seen as some of the best sites for new reactors in the UK. EDF, which is 85% owned by the French government, is the biggest nuclear power generator in the world.

I wonder if the French government would be keen on selling its nuclear power to a foreign government ? I wouldn't have thought so, somehow. But to Brown's bums, everything is up for sale. I doubt Cameron would be much different.

At least Charles II actually got the French to sign the Treaty of Dover.

I Thought It Was Only Men

... who do this sort of thing ?

A mother killed her five year old son to spite his father before taking her own life, an inquest has heard.Emma Hart, 27, force-fed Lewis Dangerfield a lethal cocktail of pain killers and antidepressants at their home then fled to her mother's flat nearby and slashed her wrists.

In a note to the little boy's father, Shaun Dangerfield, which she left by his body, she wrote: 'I told you I would make you pay, enjoy your life now, nothing is stopping you, ha ha ha. Just remember it's your fault.

Another Day ...

Another Home Office strategy overturned by the courts :

The regulations required people not legally settled in the UK to seek special permission to marry. These rules applied to couples even though one of them might have a legal right to be in the country. They were brought in by then-Home Secretary David Blunkett in 2004, amid concerns that thousands of people a year were using sham marriages to stay in the UK.

However the regulations were ruled as illegal by the High Court in 2006 and then Appeal Court last year. Yesterday the Law Lords agreed, saying they were an "arbitrary and unjust interference" with human rights. Baroness Hale said: "Denying those benefits to a couple whose relationship is genuine is neither a rational nor a proportionate response to the legitimate aims of a firm and fair immigration policy."

I love the way that Baroness Hale feels able to assess the proportionality of a law to the evil it's designed to address, and to conclude that requiring a foreigner to request permission to marry in the UK is a disproportionate response to several thousand fraudulent marriages each year and a significant contribution to illegal immigration. In the bad old days we used to have elected politicians to make those sort of judgements.

Whereas requiring a mother to undergo criminal record checks before escorting her disabled 14 year old son to school ? Obviously perfectly proportional.

A mother has been told she cannot travel to school with her severely epileptic son because she has not been police checked. Jayne Jones, of Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil, used to travel with her son Alex, 14, in the council-provided taxi when she feared he may have a fit. But Merthyr Tydfil council has told her this must stop until she has undergone a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check.

Baroness Hale does of course have a fair bit of previous.

UPDATE - the Dumb One finds the words that I can't find. Read please.

A John McWhorter Reader

Links to most of his online published stuff here.

Fine essay here.

More On Mullingar ...

According to the Herald the guy in the stripy top with the beanie hat, one Christie "Ditsy" Nevin, is named as a leading instigator.

A senior garda named Christie "Ditsy" Nevin (53) as the man who has contributed most to the violence. Superintendent John Gantly, a former head of the Garda Emergency Response Unit, claimed Nevin had opposed all attempts at compromise in a long running feud between families. Nevin was charged with public order offences. Hugh Nevin (21), of Grange Crescent, Mullingar, and David Nevin (30) of St Michael's Park, Mullingar, were both charged with assault. Five others were also accused of public order offences. They were: John Nevin (25), of St Michael's Park; Paddy McDonagh (70), of Dalton Park, Mullingar; David McDonagh (26) of Reask Court, Navan, Co Meath; Michael McDonagh (36), also of Reask Court; and Michael McDonagh (24) of Northern Close, Belcamp Lane, Coolock, Dublin 17.

I liked the comment on Politics.ie :

"The lad in the balaclava is with the Continuity Travellers"

Apparently after a prize-fight between two champions from the feuding families to decide on the 'king of the tinkers', someone didn't pay their gambling debts. Hence the house that was trashed. That's according to RTE.

George Borrow again, on the tramp through North Wales in 1854 :

We continued our way, and presently saw marks of a fire in some grass by the side of the road. “Have the Gipsiaid been there?” said I to my guide.

“Hardly, sir; I should rather think that the Gwyddelaid (Irish) have been camping there lately.”

“The Gwyddeliad?”

“Yes, sir, the vagabond Gwyddeliad, who at present infest these parts much, and do much more harm than the Gipsiaid ever did.”

“What do you mean by the Gipsiaid?”

“Dark, handsome people, sir, who occasionally used to come about in vans and carts, the men buying and selling horses, and sometimes tinkering, whilst the women told fortunes.”

“And they have ceased to come about?”

“Nearly so, sir; I believe they have been frightened away by the Gwyddelod.”

“What kind of people are these Gwyddelod?

“Savage, brutish people, sir; in general without shoes and stockings, with coarse features and heads of hair like mops.”

“How do they live?”

“The men tinker a little, sir, but more frequently plunder. The women tell fortunes, and steal whenever they can.”

“They live something like the Gipsiaid.”

“Something, sir; but the hen Gipsiaid were gentlefolks in comparison.”

“You think the Gipsiaid have been frightened away by the Gwyddelians?”

“I do, sir; the Gwyddelod made their appearance in these parts about twenty years ago, and since then the Gipsiaid have been rarely seen.”

“Are these Gwyddelod poor?”

“By no means, sir; they make large sums by plundering and other means, with which, ’tis said, they retire at last to their own country or America, where they buy land and settle down.”

(If you think the English or Welsh are dubious about travellers, just ask an Irishman about them and get your ears pinned back)

Quote of the Day (well, a few days ago)

Brute Anderson in the Indie on the Great Labour Leadership Saga :

"... who would want to lead the Labour Party? It might seem like standing to be Mayor of Berlin in May 1945"

"members of the travelling community"

The BBC apparently think that County Westmeath is in Northern Ireland - at least that's where they've put this story. Any fule know that Lough Ree is

"where the three counties meet, Longford, Westmeath and Roscommon"

Seven people have been arrested after a riot in County Westmeath involving two feuding extended families. Gardai say 200 people were involved in the violence at Dalton Park estate in Mullingar and riot police were needed to deal with the trouble.
Two petrol bombs were also thrown and a number of people treated in hospital. Trouble began at about noon when it is understood a prize fight involving members of two feuding local families sparked serious violence. Stones and missiles were thrown amid sustained fighting in the housing estate.

Blimey. It reminds me of this little contretemps round my way some fifteen year ago. I know it's dreadful stereotyping, but can you think of any community characterised by this sort of large-scale inter-family barney ? Well would you believe it ...

Several people were injured and taken to the Midland Regional Hospital in the town, where further fighting broke out between members of the travelling community. Riot police from the Garda Public Order unit were needed to quell the trouble, and the Garda helicopter unit was also sent to patrol the scene, with ambulances and fire brigade units also present. Seven people were due to appear in court in connection with the violence. Local reports say a feud has been simmering between two extended families over recent months.

One of the things that makes the police and others leery of upsetting Irish travellers too much is the knowledge that to offend one is to offend the clan.

'Twas ever thus. 1854 ...

“Only think,” said I. “And now tell me, what brought you into Wales?”

“What brought me into Wales? I’ll tell you; my own fool’s head. I was doing nicely in the Kaulo Gav and the neighbourhood, when I must needs pack up and come into these parts with bag and baggage, wife and childer. I thought that Wales was what it was some thirty years agone when our foky used to say — for I was never here before — that there was something to be done in it; but I was never more mistaken in my life. The country is overrun with Hindity mescrey, woild Irish, with whom the Romany foky stand no chance. The fellows underwork me at tinkering, and the women outscream my wife at telling fortunes — moreover, they say the country is theirs and not intended for niggers like we, and as they are generally in vast numbers what can a poor little Roman family do but flee away before them?

A pretty journey I have made into Wales. Had I not contrived to pass off a poggado bav engro — a broken-winded horse — at a fair, I at this moment should be without a tringoruschee piece in my pocket. I am now making the best of my way back to Brummagem, and if ever I come again to this Hindity country may Calcraft nash me.”

“I wonder you didn’t try to serve some of the Irish out,” said I.

“I served one out, brother; and my wife and childer helped to wipe off a little of the score. We had stopped on a nice green, near a village over the hills in Glamorganshire, when up comes a Hindity family, and bids us take ourselves off. Now it so happened that there was but one man and a woman and some childer, so I laughed, and told them to drive us off. Well, brother, without many words, there was a regular scrimmage. The Hindity mush came at me, the Hindity mushi at y my juwa, and the Hindity chaves at my chai. It didn’t last long, brother. In less than three minutes I had hit the Hindity mush, who was a plaguey big fellow, but couldn’t fight, just under the point of the chin, and sent him to the ground with all his senses gone. My juwa had almost scratched an eye out of the Hindity mushi, and my chai had sent the Hindity childer scampering over the green. ‘Who has got to quit now?’ said I to the Hindity mush after he had got on his legs, looking like a man who has been cut down after hanging just a minute and a half. ‘Who has got notice to quit, now, I wonder?’

Well, brother, he didn’t say anything, nor did any of them, but after a little time they all took themselves off, with a cart they had, to the south. Just as they got to the edge of the green, however, they turned round and gave a yell which made all our blood run cold. I knew what it meant, and said, ‘This is no place for us.’ So we got everything together and came away and, though the horses were tired, never stopped till we had got ten miles from the place; and well it was we acted as we did, for, had we stayed, I have no doubt that a whole Hindity clan would have been down upon us before morning and cut our throats.”

Purely Creative Scratchcards

The scratchcards keep falling out of the newspapers, and I still keep getting hits for this post, so here's a link to an old Guardian story about the cruises you can win.

Mrs Staveacre's trip of a lifetime goes something like this. She must make her own way from Somerset to Glasgow, fly from there to Toronto, wait four hours, take a flight to New York, wait 17 hours at La Guardia airport, make her own way to the city and embark on an unnamed ship for a cruise, destination unknown, before returning by the same route a week later. Mr Staveacre is to fly from Bristol to Newark, a week earlier, catch a connecting flight to Baltimore and from there to Miami where he must wait 14 hours and then get himself to an unspecified dock for a boat to a mystery destination. "Tempting, isn't it?" he says. Furthermore, they must each pay £599 if, having accepted this alluring package, they decide to cancel, and yet Promo Travel and Let's Go, travel companies that organise the trip on behalf of Creative, can withdraw at any time ...

"The people behind this must have spent days working out this elaborate scheme to make the 'free' cruise so unappealing that only those desperate for adventure will take it up," says Staveacre. "Since this was the only prize offered by the competition, their profit margin must be terrific - thousands of £6 premium-rate phone calls and hardly any prizes to pay for."

Remarkable

When I saw the news that an appeal had been launched against the sentences handed down to the perpetrators of the Wroughton hammer attack, I know I should be used to it, but my heart sank. So many times you find that, six months or a year after sentences are handed down for a dreadful crime, an appeal quietly reduces them.

Well strike a light.

The Attorney General has referred the cases of Nazrul Amin, Amjad Qazi and four juveniles back to the Court of Appeal, requesting harsher sentences.

Well, ok, I also see that "Wasif Khan is to appeal separately to have his sentence cut" - but fair do's, Baroness Scotland.

Platitude of the Day

He may be a (inter alia) a man without religion, but Platitude of the Day - an ongoing review of BBC's Thought For The Day in which each contribution is ranked for - platitudinousness ? platitudinity ? - is really rather neat. A little heavy on sky fairies, invisible friends and the other rosary beads of the militant unbeliever - but still worth a visit, if only to occasionally be the yeast in the dough, or the grains of sand in the KY (the comments are mostly people agreeing with each other. Nothing wrong with that, mind).

Mind you, that's the sort of thing that got me banned from Sinking Anglicans. None so intolerant as the tolerant.