Ursula Moray Williams 1911-2006

Author of 'The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse', which my darling enjoyed so much as a bedtime story. If only I'd known, she lived just up at the top end of Glarstershire, in the charming Bredon Hill village of Beckford. We could have gone to say thanks.



Wikipedia entry.

Telegraph obituary.

Guardian obituary

Indie Obituary

Ursula Moray Williams, children's writer and illustrator: born Petersfield, Hampshire 19 April 1911; married 1935 Peter John (died 1974; four sons); died 17 October 2006.

The author and illustrator of over 70 books for children, Ursula Moray Williams brought style, pace and humour to her work, plus an occasional touch of melancholy more in the tradition of Hans Andersen. She was one of the few children's authors who defeated the national paper scarcity and continued to be published throughout the Second World War, and her books left an indelible mark on many young readers at the time and since.

Born in Petersfield, Ursula was one of identical twins to teacher parents, with her father responsible for tuition in Latin and Greek at the progressive boarding school Bedales. Her sister, who arrived 10 minutes earlier, later became a distinguished wood engraver and sculptor under the name Barbara Arnason. Brought up by governesses and soon becoming keen riders, by the age of nine both children had written and illustrated their own books for home consumption.

After spending time in France at a lycée when they were 16, they each enrolled at Winchester College of Art. But while Barbara flourished there, later going to the Royal College of Art, Ursula left after a year in order to write. With encouragement from her eminent publishing uncle Sir Stanley Unwin, her first book, Jean Pierre, came out when she was just 20, in 1931. Set in the Haute-Savoie region of France, which she had come to know so well, it describes the adventures of a small boy and his pet goat. Her next book had a distinctly home-grown flavour: For Brownies: stories and games for the pack and everybody else (1932) reflected the skills that had already led to Ursula's speedy elevation to Brown Owl for her own local group.

In 1935 she married Peter John, great-grandson of the poet Robert Southey. While pregnant with the first of her four sons, she wrote her most famous story, The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse (1938). This epic tale, divided into 19 short chapters, describes how the initially "gay fellow" of the title follows his own private Calvary after becoming separated from his beloved adopted Uncle Peder, the toymaker who brought him into life. Changing shape as often as Toad in The Wind in the Willows, the little horse, although pictured as rigid and trundling along on wooden wheels, is still capable of unscrewing his own head and kicking his legs into the air.

His astounding strength enables him to survive many a dangerous encounter, whether with jealous pit ponies, wicked farmers, out-of-control children or a fearsomely piratical sailor. Constantly giving way to tears, and frequently convinced of his imminent demise, the wooden horse finally makes his surreal way to a happy ending. The book's many fans include Nick Parks, creator of the cartoon pair Wallace and Gromit, who has described this story, which he read aged seven, as "so unputdownable".

Nineteen forty-two saw the arrival of Williams's other best-loved title, Gobbolino the Witch's Cat. Written in the tradition of the reversed viewpoint, where familiar literary stereotypes are turned on their heads, this tells the story of a black kitten born this time most unwillingly into a witch's household. Longing instead for an ordinary feline existence, Gobbolino, whose name is taken from the Italian word for little hunchback, sets out on his travels after discovering one morning that he has been abandoned by his evil family as a hopeless case.

Surviving an orphanage, hobgoblins, a malignant sea witch and a cat-hating mayoress, Gobbolino finally makes it to the obscurity he has always longed for. Saint-like in his patience before adversity, he is sometimes upstaged by his sly sister Sootica, still perfectly content to "ride a broomstick and turn mice into frogs and frogs into guinea pigs" all in the tradition of their sleekly dangerous mother Grimalkin. But Gobbolino's uncomplaining example proved very acceptable at a time for national stoicism all round, with his story remaining in print up to this day.

All this time Williams was also working as an illustrator, with her own The Good Little Christmas Tree (1943), a fine example of boldly coloured scissor cuts alternating with her more usual preference for pen-and-ink drawings. In The House of Happiness (1946), she further experimented with bright paper shapes. Around half of the books she wrote were illustrated by herself; at other times, as in Jockin the Jester (1951) she provided the text while her sister Barbara supplied the pictures.

Further books were illustrated by, among others, Edward Ardizzone, Faith Jaques and Shirley Hughes, whose pictures for The Toymaker's Daughter (1968) proved especially successful. This story about a doll who runs away from her evil toymaker in an attempt to become a real girl, marked a return to previous themes, with despair and fulfilment once again walking hand in hand until the arrival of a joyous resolution in the nick of time.

During the 1960s Williams moved from the more mannered literary style found in her earlier stories to a more demotic approach. Spid (1985) illustrated by David McKee, sees her in fine form in a story about a talking black spider who becomes best friends with the boy of an otherwise arachnophobic family. Also contributing stories to the television programme Jackanory, she produced The Further Adventures of Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse in 1984. Two years later came her lively Grandma and the Ghowlies (1986).

Involved with local life in the village of Beckford in Gloucestershire, where she had lived since 1945, she served as a magistrate on the Evesham bench for over 20 years, finally becoming chairman of its juvenile division. Ever hospitable to numerous children, family and otherwise, she continued to garden and give talks in schools whenever possible. She leaves behind a fine legacy of storytelling that manages to remain essentially moralistic but also fun at the same time.

Nicholas Tucker

I Merely Report ...

Sunday People :

By Nigel Nelson

TAXPAYERS face a £20,000 bill for flattening a prison chapel - to build an extension to its mosque.

Church of England lags at Britain's biggest jail, Wandsworth, have been told they must make way for the expansion and move into the Catholic chapel.

Prisons minister Gerry Sutcliffe said: "There's more Muslim prisoners so we need a bigger mosque.

"The Catholic and C of E facilities are both larger than the attendance merited and the mosque is too small."

But Tory prisons spokesman Edward Garnier argued: "The Government needs to be extremely careful before it downgrades one religion and appears to give undue weight to another.

"We're talking about public money.

"Spending their taxes on one religion to the exclusion of another needs a great deal of justification."

Builders are due to move into the London jail in the New Year and finish the new mosque by April.

It currently holds 265 Muslims compared to 672 Christians.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "The work reflects changes in the make-up of the prison population and the need to represent all the different faiths within prisons."

Church of England moving into a Catholic building ? Wouldn't be the first time, would it ?

It sounds as if the new extension is needed for all the mobiles and wraps.


Britain’s largest prison has become the scene of a "potentially explosive" stand-off between two rival groups of Muslims, a report from an independent watchdog has warned.

The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) at Wandsworth jail in South London said that there was a schism among Muslim prisoners over the prison’s newly-appointed imam, with evidence that some inmates were applying pressure on fellow prisoners to "adopt more militant lifestyles and belief systems".

Its annual report said: "There is a schism existing amongst Muslims in the prison about the imam. There have been petitions from two opposing sides on this subject to the governor.

"We are concerned that unless sensitively managed this issue could become even more emotional and potentially explosive."

It added: "The issues surrounding the current imam should be resolved as quickly as possible."

David Jamieson, chairman of the IMB, said: "It is an issue of how the current imam interprets the Koran. "There is a difference of views between the Asian Muslims and the North African and Afro-Caribbean Muslims."

There were also "very worrying" implications of rocketing use of illegal mobile phones by prisoners, the report said, warning that the number of inmates using mobile phones was "widespread and growing".

The study reflected recent press reports that attendance at religious services had increased because inmates were using them as venues for drug dealing and trading in illegal mobile phones.

Board members had raised a series of concerns about a "major influx" of drugs and mobiles in Wandsworth, which holds 1,456 inmates. "We believe it is essential that there are adequate numbers of officers present at all religious services to discourage illegal activities," the study said.

A Different World

How hasn't Mark Holland found this first ?

"On Wednesday 18th May we made it to Nottingham , most of the way sitting on the back of an empty lorry, and enjoying the sunshine and the fresh air. We went out into Nottingham in the evening and enjoyed ourselves. Leaving Nottingham early on Thursday around 8 am we walked for about 4 miles and a car driven by a gentleman and his wife as passenger stopped and asked where we were heading for. We told them, "To London for the Coronation Procession", and they were delighted to give us a lift to Stratford on Avon. We went out in the evening and visited Ann Hathaway's Cottage and other places connected with William Shakespeare. We stayed overnight in the Youth Hostel in Stratford on Avon. We had a lovely evening and enjoyed the beer in two of the nice pubs in the famous town. "

Two Scots hitch to London for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Wonderful photos of a vanished world.

From the excellent Brechin City site.

Open Britain Part 1,297

Via Voyager in the comments. As Newsquest stuff doesn't (I believe) get archived it's worth posting in full.

Judge annoyed over immigration system

By Jenny Loweth

A judge has criticised the way immigration cases are dealt with after jailing a failed asylum seeker who used a false passport to stay in Britain.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Vladimir Pugachev, who was born in Kazakhstan, used the Lithuanian passport to obtain a National Insurance number and was able to live and work locally for two years before being arrested.

Jailing him for ten months yesterday, Judge Roger Scott told 22-year-old Pugachev: "You masqueraded as a Lithuanian citizen. It will surprise nobody that it took two years for the authorities to determine it was a false passport, to trace you and come and get you."

The judge also said it was "absolutely amazing" that Pugachev's father - who had already been deported once but immediately returned to Britain and was let in - was sitting in the public gallery watching his son being sentenced.

"That is the sort of world we live in with immigration issues," he added.

"People who come to this country lawfully are welcome, but people who do not come to this country lawfully or try to remain in this country by illegal means, are not welcome. I would like to have made a recommendation that you be deported, but I am unable to do that."

Paul Milner, prosecuting, said Pugachev entered the country legitimately about five or six years ago and, when his right to remain expired, he unsuccessfully went through asylum and appeal hearings.

In October 2004 he and his parents were ordered to attend Manchester Airport to be deported, but only the father turned up. He was duly deported, but later returned.

Six days later, Pugachev turned up at a Department of Work and Pensions office with a Lithuanian passport in another name but bearing his photograph. He was issued with a National Insurance number which allowed him to stay in Britain, work and claim benefits, although he did not make any benefit claims.

"Lithuania is an accession state and that gave him the right to remain in the UK, while as a Kazakhstani he had no such right," said Mr Milner.

After checks revealed the passport had been cancelled after it was stolen in Lithuania, officers visited a house in Spencer Street, Keighley, two years later and found Pugachev and his parents living there. The house had been rented in his mother's name and Pugachev had opened several bank accounts under the false name on his passport.

Last month, he appeared before Bingley magistrates under the same name on a criminal damage charge.

When interviewed by police, Pugachev said the passports had been obtained from a person in Bradford for £1,000.

Simon Myers, mitigating, said Pugachev's parents were pursuing an appeal for asylum and were not in detention. They had originally worked for the Kazakhstan Embassy and brought their son over as a teenager.

In the two years after the National Insurance number was obtained, Pugachev had worked and paid tax.

Milton Friedman Dies

Harry Hutton mourns.

"Milton Friedman has been killed by stingray, following a titanic underwater struggle."

Chris Dillow has a question.

Goodbye America ?

Brussels Journal is in pessimistic mood.

Meanwhile, the American mid-term elections are being widely discussed in Europe. The European media regard the results as proof that “Old Europe” was right all along, while America was wrong. In the center-right Parisian paper Le Figaro, Nicole Bacharan, a French political scientist and historian, wrote that the elections showed that “America is neither ‘red’ nor ‘blue.’ The majority votes centrist.” She also notes that, following the elections, the French have softened their view on the US because “The values and sensibilities of the Democrats seem to be closer [to those of the French]. And one can detect, in the new political constellation, a return to a less interventionist America.”

Hooray ! No more trigger-happy cowboys blundering about the world ! That's just got to be good - hasn't it ?

Le Figaro is one of the more sensible French papers, and Nicole Bacharan realizes well enough that it is doubtful whether more American isolationism will be better for France, a country which is currently unable to assert authority over its own territory and which was incapable of winning its last two wars without American “interventionism.” Bacharan warns that those who “blame America for its imperialism may soon regret its indifference” and urges Europe “to invent a new Atlanticism.”

The “paleocons” do not want to fight for any country but America, the “neocons” have come to resent Europe for failing to stand with them in Iraq, and the “blue” Liberals (the only Americans most leading Europeans feel affinity with) lack the guts to fight for anything at all, including their own hedonistic values. We can deplore this as much as we want, but, again, this is the situation we are stuck with. I doubt whether the mid-term elections showed that neoconservatism is dead. I think they announced the death of the Atlantic Alliance. It was for Europe that the bell tolled – which makes it ironic that so many Europeans rejoiced in the results. Bacharan is sounding the alarm because she realizes America is leaving Europe.

I Grow Old ...

The bloggers get younger every day.

"my school had a Remembrance Day assembly. Like the white poppy, it was incredibly stupid. Had any veterans turned up to watch they would be seething with rage at the disrespect my school showed with its lack of effort. No one sang or bothered to look as if they cared. Not that my school doesn't like war veterans; they just hate assemblies."

Jingoistic. Another for the blogroll, an interesting and entertaining read. But like Sam Tarran reading Peter Hitchens, he finds that our Christian past is a place of mystery 'that is easier to mock than to understand', in Hitchens' words. I suppose I should just 'get over it and move on'.

What is it with America and their dangerously high number of crazy religious people that follow the bible to each exact word ?

England was full of such people once, a hundred years sgo - fifty years ago too. But it won't return to that happy condition, if it ever does, without going through less happy ones first.

The Church of England, within living memory 'the Tory Party at prayer', now wonders whether disabled babies shouldn't be killed and frets about debt, Fairtrade chocolate and the hideous oppression of gay priests rather than the breaking of the Ten Commandments on an industrial scale.

Take a look at the history books. Non-religious societies don't feature a great deal. It could be that we've suddenly found the secular utopia that's never been found before. It could be that we're just at what geometry calls a point of inflexion, and a new spirituality will arise. Historically such movements have always been seen as extremist, driven by 'crazy religious people'. Do we see any candidates ?

I don't see a Wesley or a Bunyan. Abu Izzadeen ?

It'll get worse before it gets better. From a Christian perspective, it may not get better at all. But nature abhors a spiritual vacuum.

Pick-Axe Handle Be Upon Him

After 9/11 there was a great increase in interest in Islam in this country - both among natives and Muslims. The Government's response seems to have increased this interest. People, just like schoolchildren or dogs, can smell fear a mile off, and there's much anecdotal evidence in the pages of the Guardian and articles by Yazza that after 9/11 - and even 7/7 - that young Muslims felt more need to express their religious identity than before. Hence the growing volume of stories re hijab, niqab, prayer-room etc.

Strange at first glance. After all, if Christians living in, say, Pakistan killed 3,000 Pakistanis in a terrorist attack carried out in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is it likely that Pakistani Christians would be more open about wearing crosses and rosaries , more confident in demanding that the State grant them rights and privileges ?

I think not. It's the response of the native Brits (or to be exact their rulers) which has been key. Just as some women are excited when a pub scrap breaks out in front of them (knowing that they are perfectly safe) it can't but do something to an impressionable young mind when your fellow-Muslims slaughter infidels and the police rush to protect the mosques while the Government and state media proclaim the glories of your faith. In my Pakistani parallel, I'm sure the police would also be rushing to the churches - and woe unto to anyone they caught there.

(To any impressionable commenters, this does not mean a) that the imagined Pakistan scenario would have been my preferred response b) that I'm unaware that Pakistan have in fact hanged Muslims for raping Christians - and the sentence was confirmed by a sharia court. I'm not sure this laudable example of even-handedness would be followed in the aftermath of a Karachi or Islamabad 9/11, that's all.)

It works with non-Muslims too. Anecdotally (again) conversion rates have increased since 9/11. More Brits are interested in Islam. After all, it's only human to want to support a winning team. Unfortunately it's the violent bit that's precisely the appeal for some.

Tempers flared after Paul Gibbons, 47, and John Jones, 43, exchanged insults in an Internet chatroom, an Old Bailey judge was told.

After tracing Mr Jones to his home address in Clacton, Gibbons armed himself with a pickaxe handle and, accompanied by a man with a machete, travelled 70 miles to the Essex seaside town in December 2005.

When they arrived, Mr Jones, whose girlfriend and three children were in the house, opened the door holding a knife for protection.

A fight broke out in which Mr Jones was disarmed and then beaten with the pickaxe handle and cut with his own knife.

Gibbons fled after Mr Jones's girlfriend called for help. Mr Jones suffered cuts to his head, neck and hands.

An earlier hearing was told that Gibbons, from Southwark, south London, and Mr Jones had encountered each other in a chatroom called Islam 10 because they both had an interest in the Muslim faith.

Jailing Gibbons, who has a record of violence, Judge Richard Hawkins told him: "It is accepted by the prosecution that Mr Jones taunted you and dared you to go to his house where you would be greeted with weapons."

Gibbons, who is unemployed, pleaded guilty last month to unlawful wounding after the prosecution agreed not to proceed with charges of attempted murder and threats to kill.

Hmm. "Whose girlfriend and three children were in the house". "Who has a record of violence".

Was it Islam's strict sexual morality or its peacefulness that was the attraction for these upstanding Brits ? We'll never know.



PS - note the two and a half year sentence for travelling seventy miles with a pick-axe handle (and mate with machete) to beat up someone he'd never met. He'll be out in a year and a bit.

Tougher sentences - say twice that - five years - are reserved for the people who pose a real danger to the public.

Like 66 year old William Hughes.

"Befriending Lone Women Is A Common Tactic Of Paedophiles ..."

So sayeth the BBC radio correspondent covering this story.

Maybe I'm out of touch, but I thought befriending lone women was a common tactic of many, if not most males.

That's Decent Of Them

I like the way the BBC report this :

Migrants 'carry disease burden'




(the main Health headline is "Salmonella risk in imported eggs")

Labour "to get tough on crime, immigration"

They must think we're really stupid. They also think we're producing the "best-educated generation in our history".

I Thought They Were Good Catholics, Too

"Four Lithuanian men have been charged in connection with the abduction and rape of a Cambridgeshire woman.

Saulius Klisauskas, 30, Arunas Ancerys, 24, Vytautas Ancerys, 26, and Liudas Urbonas, 25, will appear before Huntingdon magistrates.

The men, who are all from the Wisbech area, each face two counts of rape and one count of kidnapping.

A 23-year-old woman reported an incident to police in Wisbech on 11 November."

Hmm. What with the unfortunate events in West Wales the other day ... there seems to be another side to the 'they're all young people without families who will return home' meme.

Martin Kelly reports on more Poles. He's your one-stop shop when it comes to foreign crimnals.

All Publicity Is Good Publicity ?

It's not often that a blog gets linked by Instapundit and the BNP on the same day.

Any idea what the BNP equivalent of an Installanche is ? Anschluss ?

One or two BBC types suggested in the B-BBC comments that writing about the BBCs racially discriminatory news coverage is giving aid and comfort to the BNP.

I think a quote from the historian AJP Taylor is in order here. In the foreword to his 'Origins of the Second World War' he wrote :

I have however no sympathy with those in [Britain] who complained that my book had been welcomed, mistakenly or not, by former supporters of Hitler. This seems to me a disgraceful argument to be used against a work of history. A historian must not hesitate even if his books lend aid and comfort to the Queen's enemies (though mine did not), or even to the common enemies of mankind. For my part, I would even record facts which told in favour of the British government, if I found any to record.

Prison "only for those who pose a danger to the public"

Like 66 year old Willam Hughes.

Police found 111 weapons while the army had to dispose of a deactivated grenade at his home in Gwersyllt, Wrexham.

His barrister told Caernarfon Crown Court "the world was a very different place" when Hughes' interest began.

Hughes also had 24 shotguns and 37 rifles at his house.

He also admitted a charge of possessing ammunition.

Simon Medland, defending Hughes, said his client never had any intention of using the guns and the law had changed since he started collecting, particularly after the Dunblane school shootings in 1996.

He added: "This is the first time he's been before the courts.

"When Mr Hughes began his interest in firearms the world was a very different place in its approach to guns."

Some of the guns dated back to the 18th and 19th Centuries and a large number of weapons at the property were held legally, the court heard.

But Judge John Rogers said Hughes had been aware of the change in the law on guns and sentenced him to five years in jail.

He told him: "You, I'm sure, now appreciate the gravity of storing at your home so many prohibited firearms and ammunition."

So, a gun nut. A pensioner, no previous convictions, no suggestion any guns fell into the wrong hands or were used illegally. Five years.

That's what you get for throwing a sleepy six-year-old off a 14th floor balcony.

Opiates "a basic human right"

Reality gives satire another shoeing.

Nearly 200 prisoners and former inmates forced to stop taking drugs by going "cold turkey" are to receive payments.

The unspecified settlement followed claims the practice amounted to assault and a breach of human rights.

The claimants had been using heroin and other opiates and were understood to been receiving alternative treatment before going to prison.

The Home Office said it "reluctantly" decided to settle out of court to "minimise costs to the taxpayer".

How long before burglars sue after they're imprisoned and forced to stop breaking into houses ?

In another slapping for satire, Life Style Extra reports that Sofian Majera came here from Rwanda in 1997 "to escape the violence".

Pedro Frota, 19, Sofian Majera, 22, and Robert Lincoln, 18, all from east London, admitted 17 robberies.

The court heard they cruised London at night armed with guns, knives and baseball bats looking for victims.

People they kidnapped were stripped of their valuables and warned they would be tortured or killed unless they handed over their pin numbers.

Threats ranged from being shot and having their throats slit to their eyes being gouged and being burnt alive.

The jury was told the gang broke the arm of one victim who was so frightened he could not tell his attackers what they wanted to know.

Francis Sheridan, prosecuting, said it was made clear homophobia and racial hatred occasionally played a part in the selection of victims.

Jamaican national Lincoln, 18, from Barking, and Rwandan Majera, 22, from nearby Dagenham were ordered to each serve seven years.

Portuguese national Frota, 19, also from Barking, must serve six years and three months.

They had 36 convictions between them, so it's probably another early release triumph for the probation service.

While we're looking at peoople who'll do the jobs the locals don't want to do, disturbing news from the leafy Carmarthenshire/Cardigan borders.

Police are continuing to investigate allegations of a serious sex assault in a west Wales village.

Detectives said "a number of males" had been questioned about the alleged attack in Llanybydder, Ceredigion, early on Saturday.

As part of the inquiry the High Mead Arms Hotel was cordoned off, and a police mobile incident unit set up.

According to local people, the business closed a few years ago and the building has been used for some time to house workers who have moved into the area.

The Dyfed-Powys Police statement did not say how many men were detained or what allegedly happened.

"workers who have moved into the area", eh ? Probably doing the jobs the locals won't. We all know how high local wages are in that part of Britain, and how many unfilled vacancies there are.

One hates to criticise the BBC, but they do have a track record of being a bit coy when it comes to people who enrich our economy. Let's try a google. Aha !


Police arrested a number of men and cordoned off the Highmead Arms in Llanbydder, Carmarthenshire, near the border with Ceredigion, following allegations of an attack in the early hours of yesterday.

Locals fear the arrests will cause tensions within the hamlet, which is home to a large number of Polish workers, some of whom were housed in the former pub-turned-hostel.

It is believed a mother and daughter from a neighbouring area made the complaint.

Residents claimed they had returned to the village with a group of men they had met on a night out.

But .. but ... I thought they were all good Catholics !


Since Poland entered the EU in 2004, some 250 nationals have settled in Llanbydder, whose population is just 1,500.

Dyfed-Powys Police said "a number of people" were in custody and were being questioned at police stations in Ammanford and Haverfordwest. A mobile incident unit has also been set up.

Police would reveal no further details about the alleged assault.

Pamela Burke, a member of Llanybydder & Rhydcymerau Community Council, said the large number of Polish workers had caused tensions with young locals when they first arrived.

She said: "It's normally quiet here. It's a nice little village.

"This doesn't bode well for the communications within the Welsh and the Polish communities here.

"It was terrible a while back, but that was all sorted out and it's been perfectly OK since. I worry that this will cause friction with the local youths again."

Llanybydder is a Welsh-speaking village which straddles the River Teifi.

Don't worry, though, the police are "providing reassurance" - something the BBC can report.

Police chiefs have laid on extra patrols in a village where they are investigating allegations of a serious sexual assault.

Officers said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident and appealed for calm.

A force spokeswoman said the alleged attack was an isolated incident which occurred within a residential property, but extra police patrols were being laid on to provide reassurance.

It's a sad thing when you have to read between the lines of a BBC report, but when it comes to people who do the jobs the locals won't, you have to.

Her's a translation of the above story, not from the Welsh but from BBC-speak.

"The locals are pretty cross about this. The patrols aren't to reassure the locals that no more serious sexual assaults will take place, they're there to reassure the locals that any attempt to 'have a quiet word with' the 'number of men' who have been bailed will have consequences. The cordon round the hotel is to protect the bailees."

Another good Catholic here. I do like the Met's response. Got to keep a sense of humour about these things.

Kamil Krawiec, 26, has been convicted of attacking an eight-year-old boy in the toilets of a restaurant.

He has not been seen since being given a 10-month suspended prison term on 21 April.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the delay between the disappearance and appeal was "not unusual", and officers had been trying to trace him.

At his sentencing, the judge at Blackfriars Crown Court ordered that Krawiec remain under supervision by the probation 'service'. and his details be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

They didn't send him to prison because they need the prison spaces for serious offenders.

Polish-born Krawiec pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the boy in a restaurant on 9 December 2005 where he was working as a waiter.

The child, who was having a meal with his family, had been attacked after he went to the restaurant's toilets by himself.


The boy went to the toilets by himself ? The defence probably pleaded provocation.

You Are Robert Smith of the Cure ...

... and I give you six months.

A Largeish Post

At Biased BBC.

Today's Early Release Murderer - Thomas Wood

Thomas Lee Wood, 22, launched his unprovoked attack on Tom Grant, 19, without warning, suddenly lunging at him as he sat in his seat on a crowded express train. Tom, in his first year at St Andrews University, Scotland, and hoping to become a Sandhurst cadet, had no chance to defend himself.

One blow from Wood's stolen 11-inch kitchen knife pierced his heart and aorta, killing him "with callous efficiency". Covered in his own blood, the teenager had time only to cry out: "I've been stabbed." His killer then tried to break down an interior train door to reach other passengers and staff, who had fled in terror.

Wood, of Skelmersdale, Merseyside, made his escape by smashing a window with a fire extinguisher. He was later held at a police road block.

Last night, as the killer was jailed for life with the recommendation that he serve at least 21 years, police disclosed that he had been released from prison on licence less than six weeks earlier.

This case was brought to you by the Probation 'Service'. There'll be more soon !

A Sough o'War

RANGERS will become the first major football club to wear poppies on their shirts when they turn out today against Dunfermline.

Captain Barry Ferguson and his team-mates are making the gesture to help spread the Remembrance Day message to younger fans.

SPL bosses have allowed the players to have poppies sewn on their strips.

Rangers say the shirt gesture is linked to a can collection outside the ground and a minute's silence before the match.

The corn was turnin', hairst was near,
But lang afore the scythes could start
A sough o' war gaed through the land
An' stirred it to its benmost heart.
Nae ours the blame, but when it came
We couldna pass the challenge by,
For credit o' our honest name
There could be but one reply.
An' buirdly men, fae strath an' glen
An' shepherds fae the bucht an' hill,
Will show them a', whate'er befa',
Auld Scotland counts for something still.

More New Blogs

As some disappear, more new ones arise.

Cobbett Rides Again. I know just what Peter Porcupine - unusual name, that - means about the slow death of rural England.

There are also new (excretive) executive housing estates. You rarely see the inhabitants of the latter. Most of those that dwell in them disappear out of the villages every morning. Their children are dumped at a nursery and the parents leave for the twenty mile drive to one of the surrounding towns, in their never-more-than-two-years-old German cars and 4WDs. One flustered parent will later arrive at the nursery, usually late, to retrieve the abandoned infants.

And each village has a pub.

One, run by an ex-car salesman, caters for the executive home dweller. Anxious to establish the right, rural ambience, everything has been tarted to ape the olde worlde style established by the theme pub designer. The bars, save for a small “cocktail” bar, have been swept away to provide space for the diners. For two or three hours it gives the appearance of popularity, as the steak-eaters arrive in their groups of four or six. One drink is sipped while studying the menu before they are processed through the dining room and back out to the car park. By ten it is generally deserted. The locals never visit.


The other village also has a pub. It belongs to a local brewery and the landlord used to run one of the village stores before it had to close. It is neither self-consciously old nor pretentiously new. It just arrived as it is now by adapting to the needs of customers over the years. There is only one bar. From October to April, a large log fire burns in an open grate every night. If you want to eat anything but crisps or nuts you'll be unlucky. There's a television which shows cricket in the summer and football in the winter, but always with the sound off.


And every night it is packed. It hums with conversation. Departures are accompanied by a chorus of “good nights” whether the person is known or not. Strangers talk to each other.There are old folk and young lovers. Dogs loll on the floor, carefully stepped around as customers journey to the bar and back.


The Tin Drummer - a son of Glarstershire ('There are now two, distinct Cheltenhams: one is very nice and is mainly offices and flats; the other is huge, sprawling, ugly and is where people actually have to live and shop.') - likes cricket and XTC ('and all the world is football-shaped, it's just for me to kick in space' - easily my favourite of theirs). Occasional swearing - needs to stop reading the Devil.

Both rightish of centre.