Or has the ever-popular blog Harry's Place, run by good-hearted lefties (or the 'decents') gone missing due to over-using its bandwidth ?
It's been down for more than a day. Anyone know what's going on ? DoS attack by Lenin or Mad Dog Milne ?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
"for smashing skulls, iron is best"
Thus Winston Churchill, in his very wonderful History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Never has a Nobel Prize been better awarded.
At this point [- 400 BC] the march of invention brought a new factor upon the [British] scene. Iron was dug and forged. Men armed with iron entered Britain from the continent and killed the men of bronze. At this point we can plainly recognize across the vanished millenniums a fellow- being. A biped capable of slaying another with iron is evidently to modem eyes a man and a brother. It cannot be doubted that for smashing skulls, whether long-headed or round, iron is best.
Not so, says a Mr Morris (Robert Morris ?) from the Korea Advanced Institute for Some Technology We Don't Do Any More In Britain.
Winston Churchill was individually responsible for a measurable fraction of the history of his own age and was, perhaps as a consequence, an unusually perceptive commentator the histories of others. But in this passage he is wrong. I do not refer to his social psychology, which I am not competent to judge. He is wrong in his metallurgy. Recent research has shown that the iron that appeared in Britain at the end of the Late Bronze Age was, in fact, inferior in its mechanical properties to the bronze that preceded it. Since iron is also less dense than bronze, this metal was in every respect less suitable for smashing skulls, whether long-headed (Nordic) or round (Mediterranean) ...
... there are at least two competing theories that attempt to explain why the ancient British replaced bronze with iron that was mechanically inferior to it. The first suggests that the motive was necessity, the second that it was a misguided sense of opportunity. I will briefly describe both, since they are case studies in motives for materials selection that are applicable today.
The necessity theory begins from the observation that bronze could not be made in Britain, since the island lacks copper ore (bronze is an alloy of copper and tin). In the period around 400 BC trade patterns in Western Europe were significantly disrupted; commercial contact between the British isles and the continent declined precipitously. A probable cause is the establishment of Greek colonies along the Mediterranean coast in which provided better market. According to this theory the British were simply unable to obtain good bronze in quantity, and were therefore forced to turn to iron, which as locally available. Since they were somewhat backward in the metallurgical arts, their Iron was of inferior quality, but it was the best metal they could get.
The opportunity theory is based on the suggestion that by about 400 BC it had begun to sink in to the backward British that the more developed nations of the world had moved from bronze to iron some centuries before. Both the Greeks and the Persians, who led the major leagues in head-bashing at the time, had well developed metallurgical industries. They manufactured iron weapons and implements that were far superior to the best that could readily be made of bronze. This theory suggests that the ancient British moved to iron for exactly the same reason several underdeveloped nations of the present era have squandered huge resources constructing and maintaining integrated steel works: the super- powers made iron, and, by heaven, they would make it too. That their iron was inferior to the bronze they had been using was beside the point, if they noticed at all.
The opportunity theory has less hard evidence to recommend it. But it has a certain appeal. If it is true then, in Churchill's words, "we can plainly recognize across the vanished millenniums a fellow-being".
At this point [- 400 BC] the march of invention brought a new factor upon the [British] scene. Iron was dug and forged. Men armed with iron entered Britain from the continent and killed the men of bronze. At this point we can plainly recognize across the vanished millenniums a fellow- being. A biped capable of slaying another with iron is evidently to modem eyes a man and a brother. It cannot be doubted that for smashing skulls, whether long-headed or round, iron is best.
Not so, says a Mr Morris (Robert Morris ?) from the Korea Advanced Institute for Some Technology We Don't Do Any More In Britain.
Winston Churchill was individually responsible for a measurable fraction of the history of his own age and was, perhaps as a consequence, an unusually perceptive commentator the histories of others. But in this passage he is wrong. I do not refer to his social psychology, which I am not competent to judge. He is wrong in his metallurgy. Recent research has shown that the iron that appeared in Britain at the end of the Late Bronze Age was, in fact, inferior in its mechanical properties to the bronze that preceded it. Since iron is also less dense than bronze, this metal was in every respect less suitable for smashing skulls, whether long-headed (Nordic) or round (Mediterranean) ...
... there are at least two competing theories that attempt to explain why the ancient British replaced bronze with iron that was mechanically inferior to it. The first suggests that the motive was necessity, the second that it was a misguided sense of opportunity. I will briefly describe both, since they are case studies in motives for materials selection that are applicable today.
The necessity theory begins from the observation that bronze could not be made in Britain, since the island lacks copper ore (bronze is an alloy of copper and tin). In the period around 400 BC trade patterns in Western Europe were significantly disrupted; commercial contact between the British isles and the continent declined precipitously. A probable cause is the establishment of Greek colonies along the Mediterranean coast in which provided better market. According to this theory the British were simply unable to obtain good bronze in quantity, and were therefore forced to turn to iron, which as locally available. Since they were somewhat backward in the metallurgical arts, their Iron was of inferior quality, but it was the best metal they could get.
The opportunity theory is based on the suggestion that by about 400 BC it had begun to sink in to the backward British that the more developed nations of the world had moved from bronze to iron some centuries before. Both the Greeks and the Persians, who led the major leagues in head-bashing at the time, had well developed metallurgical industries. They manufactured iron weapons and implements that were far superior to the best that could readily be made of bronze. This theory suggests that the ancient British moved to iron for exactly the same reason several underdeveloped nations of the present era have squandered huge resources constructing and maintaining integrated steel works: the super- powers made iron, and, by heaven, they would make it too. That their iron was inferior to the bronze they had been using was beside the point, if they noticed at all.
The opportunity theory has less hard evidence to recommend it. But it has a certain appeal. If it is true then, in Churchill's words, "we can plainly recognize across the vanished millenniums a fellow-being".
Tough On Crime ...
Remember all those 'tough community sentences' ?
Criminals are being allowed to miss meetings with their probation officers if they claim they overslept, or had no transport to get there. The "unacceptable" excuses have been revealed by an official watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO). The sessions were part of supposedly tough community order sentences imposed by courts as an alternative to prison.
Justice Minister David Hanson said action was underway to address the issues raised in the report. The community orders - which involve a variety of activities including unpaid work, drug rehabilitation and alcohol treatment - have been promoted by ministers as a tough alternative to sending offenders to jail. In 2006, courts in England and Wales handed out 121,700 community orders but the NAO said that probation services still need to find out exactly how effective the orders are at preventing re-offending.
How odd. I could have sworn these programmes were 'evidence-based' on 'what works'. I'd never have thought they were just cobbled together in a desperate attempt to keep people out of jail. The Rand report on studies of community sentencing is mixed, to say the least.
We find that the quality of research on the effectiveness of community-based interventions for offenders is extremely variable. However, in two areas – cognitive/behavioural programming and drug treatment – rigorous research exists that points to a reduction in the odds of re-offending. In four other areas – programmes for domestic abuse perpetrators, unpaid work, education and basic skills training and intensive probation – existing studies have not suggested that the programmes have a positive effect on recidivism. Finally, in four areas – anger management, probation, and alcohol and mental health treatment – the question of impact on re-offending remains unsettled. This review highlights the need for more rigorous research – especially randomized trials – into the requirements that constitute community orders.
Two out of ten, in other words. I suppose that's a grade 'B' if the Department for Indoctrination and Skills, or whatever they're called this week, are doing the assessments.
Full NAO report is here.
Criminals are being allowed to miss meetings with their probation officers if they claim they overslept, or had no transport to get there. The "unacceptable" excuses have been revealed by an official watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO). The sessions were part of supposedly tough community order sentences imposed by courts as an alternative to prison.
Justice Minister David Hanson said action was underway to address the issues raised in the report. The community orders - which involve a variety of activities including unpaid work, drug rehabilitation and alcohol treatment - have been promoted by ministers as a tough alternative to sending offenders to jail. In 2006, courts in England and Wales handed out 121,700 community orders but the NAO said that probation services still need to find out exactly how effective the orders are at preventing re-offending.
How odd. I could have sworn these programmes were 'evidence-based' on 'what works'. I'd never have thought they were just cobbled together in a desperate attempt to keep people out of jail. The Rand report on studies of community sentencing is mixed, to say the least.
We find that the quality of research on the effectiveness of community-based interventions for offenders is extremely variable. However, in two areas – cognitive/behavioural programming and drug treatment – rigorous research exists that points to a reduction in the odds of re-offending. In four other areas – programmes for domestic abuse perpetrators, unpaid work, education and basic skills training and intensive probation – existing studies have not suggested that the programmes have a positive effect on recidivism. Finally, in four areas – anger management, probation, and alcohol and mental health treatment – the question of impact on re-offending remains unsettled. This review highlights the need for more rigorous research – especially randomized trials – into the requirements that constitute community orders.
Two out of ten, in other words. I suppose that's a grade 'B' if the Department for Indoctrination and Skills, or whatever they're called this week, are doing the assessments.
Full NAO report is here.
What did I tell you ?
This blog, Tuesday :
And that would be ridiculous, wouldn't it ?
(Welcome to visitors from lgf)
No one seriously envisages hordes of blackshirted Brits roaming the streets looking for suitable windows to smash. Any potential smashers or beaters up of Jews are likely to come from quite another quarter.East London Advertiser
THE Holocaust Memorial Day marking the genocides of the 20th century was marred on Sunday when a gang of youths stoned Jewish tourists on a guided tour of London's East End. A group of 96 visitors looking at sites of Jewish interest were attacked by youths hiding behind a fence in a back street in Whitechapel.
Two were struck by the missiles, an American woman lecturer at London's Metropolitan University and a Canadian lecturer. The woman had blood pouring from her head and needed hospital treatment. The tour was organised by leading local historian Clive Bettington, who was later asked by police if he wanted officers to accompany him in future, but declined.
"That would be admitting there are 'no go' areas," he said.
And that would be ridiculous, wouldn't it ?Two were struck by the missiles, an American woman lecturer at London's Metropolitan University and a Canadian lecturer. The woman had blood pouring from her head and needed hospital treatment. The tour was organised by leading local historian Clive Bettington, who was later asked by police if he wanted officers to accompany him in future, but declined.
"That would be admitting there are 'no go' areas," he said.
A woman who eye-witnessed the incident saw the youths in the act.
"Stones started to come down and some in the group were scared and ducked," she said. I looked over the fence and saw four Asian youths throwing stones. They were laughing, then ran away."Tower Hamlets' newly-appointed senior police officer responsible for youth involvement, Ins Paul Sloan, is treating the incident as "an anti-Semitic attack and as a 'race hate' crime."
He said: "The injured woman certainly felt it was anti-Semitic because she's Jewish and the attack was motivated by the fact a lot of Jews were present. We're keen to work with the organiser to stop this happening again. We might accompany them in future. That's one of the tactics we would employ, but that's not routine. We have to get to the root of the problem and need to know how often it's happened before."
The Met's new police liaison officer for the area, Ins Brian Mitchell, was immediately informed about Sunday's incident in which he said youths shouted at the tourists, 'if you go any further you'll die.'
He added: "It gets flagged up as 'racial' because of the victims' perception of what happened.
(Welcome to visitors from lgf)
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
"ministers are sacrificing the lamb of cohesion upon an altar of political vacillation"
Thus the delightfully named Sukhvinder Kaur Stubbs.
But was the lamb of cohesion humanely stunned before having its throat cut ?
But was the lamb of cohesion humanely stunned before having its throat cut ?
Broadband Is Back
Just about recovered from the great evil that is BT Broadband "support" and installed a new Netgear router. Normal blogging will resume ... whenever.
Thanks to jockney for this link. It presumably dates from around the time of the Great Armada Debate.
(And I know - there were North African soldiers on Hadrian's Wall nineteen hundred years back, just as Brits served on the Roman frontiers in places like Syria ...)
Thanks to jockney for this link. It presumably dates from around the time of the Great Armada Debate.
THE early history of Britain is 'horribly white' and should be rewritten to include the black and Asian people who weren't there, the country’s equality chief said last night.
Trevor Phillips said he had read a number of key texts on the Middle Ages and not one had mentioned the major part played by Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.Freeman: Cut out of British history for being black
He said the only dark skinned character to feature regularly in works on the medieval period was the Black Death, which he described as a “typically negative stereotype” of people of colour.
(And I know - there were North African soldiers on Hadrian's Wall nineteen hundred years back, just as Brits served on the Roman frontiers in places like Syria ...)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Remember, Reflect, React
It may be me, but after a couple of low-key Shoah Memorial Days (when the Muslims were boycotting) the events seem to have been ramped back up now they're back on board. My views on the commemoration (summarised as 'killing people is bad' and 'the Germans did it') are unchanged.
It's the use to which the Shoah is put which concerns me. The Brits didn't need a memorial day for fifty-odd years after WW2. It seems to have been only in the last ten years that it's been considered that we need to 'Remember, Reflect, React' - though for longer than that the Nazis have been the staple of school history. As long as our rulers feel that we need to be reminded of the evil of the Mail or Sun's views on asylum and immigration, the drum will continue to be banged and schoolchildren will continue to make unpleasant remarks to German exchange visitors.
Not that anyone nowadays is tasteless enough to mention Germany. You can search the BBC scripts (someone spells 'lectern' 'lecturn') without finding anything about the country except as the birthplace of Anne Frank and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (and notice the missing human rights elephant in the list of post-WW2 disasters ). The 'G-word' is banned from the script and the 'N-word' (Nazis) is everywhere.
But this isn't a campaign about anti-semitism. No one seriously envisages hordes of blackshirted Brits roaming the streets looking for suitable windows to smash. Any potential smashers or beaters up of Jews are likely to come from quite another quarter. It is, I'm sorry to say, all about 'us' - 'us' in this case being the natives.
This isn't to imply that we shouldn't remember the lessons of history. I've been reading Hew Strachan's one-volume 'The First World War', a somewhat revisionist history (i.e. not all the generals are donkeys) which focuses on the wider conflicts - Africa, the Far East, the Eastern Front, Middle East and Balkans - rather than the fields of Flanders. One of the points he makes is that, of all European and Russian Jews, those of Germany were uniquely integrated. Pre-War writers like Nachum Goldmann were well in tune with the zeitgeist, describing the military spirit as the means to human progress, because it combined equality of opportunity with meritocracy. Walter Rathenau, described by Churchill as 'Germany's faithful servant' (and after the War murdered by anti-semites), organised industrial production as Albert Speer was to do twenty five years later. There's a wonderful/sad photo in the book, which I'll post when broadband's back, of uniformed German soldiers gathered round a menorah, celebrating Hanukkah in Poland in December 1916. What were their fates twenty-five years later ?
Strachan quotes the conductor Otto Klemperer, a member of the Eastern army's press section, on the Jews of Poland and Russia :
'No, I did not belong to these people, even if one proved my blood relation to them a hundred times over. I belonged to Europe, to Germany, and I thanked my Creator I was German'.
Alas not everybody in Germany thought he was as integrated as he himself did. You can see why one might be wary - very wary - of any nationalisms after that. I've read a lot of stuff in the past few weeks about how well all the different tribes in Kenya lived together before the recent unpleasantnesses.
And that's the point. Our government are worried about how all the different tribes in the UK will get on. Hence the dire warnings. Strangely, they seem convinced that it's the natives who are most at risk of packing cattle trucks or doing some quick machete work. I'd disagree.
They could of course try to reverse, or at least slow down, the tribalisation of Britain - by which I mean the proliferation of disparate ethic/religious/cultural groups with no common culture - surely not a recipe for harmony in Kenya, Kent or Kathmandu. But I think an increased "educational" effort in the schools is far more likely.
It's the use to which the Shoah is put which concerns me. The Brits didn't need a memorial day for fifty-odd years after WW2. It seems to have been only in the last ten years that it's been considered that we need to 'Remember, Reflect, React' - though for longer than that the Nazis have been the staple of school history. As long as our rulers feel that we need to be reminded of the evil of the Mail or Sun's views on asylum and immigration, the drum will continue to be banged and schoolchildren will continue to make unpleasant remarks to German exchange visitors.
Not that anyone nowadays is tasteless enough to mention Germany. You can search the BBC scripts (someone spells 'lectern' 'lecturn') without finding anything about the country except as the birthplace of Anne Frank and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (and notice the missing human rights elephant in the list of post-WW2 disasters ). The 'G-word' is banned from the script and the 'N-word' (Nazis) is everywhere.
But this isn't a campaign about anti-semitism. No one seriously envisages hordes of blackshirted Brits roaming the streets looking for suitable windows to smash. Any potential smashers or beaters up of Jews are likely to come from quite another quarter. It is, I'm sorry to say, all about 'us' - 'us' in this case being the natives.
This isn't to imply that we shouldn't remember the lessons of history. I've been reading Hew Strachan's one-volume 'The First World War', a somewhat revisionist history (i.e. not all the generals are donkeys) which focuses on the wider conflicts - Africa, the Far East, the Eastern Front, Middle East and Balkans - rather than the fields of Flanders. One of the points he makes is that, of all European and Russian Jews, those of Germany were uniquely integrated. Pre-War writers like Nachum Goldmann were well in tune with the zeitgeist, describing the military spirit as the means to human progress, because it combined equality of opportunity with meritocracy. Walter Rathenau, described by Churchill as 'Germany's faithful servant' (and after the War murdered by anti-semites), organised industrial production as Albert Speer was to do twenty five years later. There's a wonderful/sad photo in the book, which I'll post when broadband's back, of uniformed German soldiers gathered round a menorah, celebrating Hanukkah in Poland in December 1916. What were their fates twenty-five years later ?
Strachan quotes the conductor Otto Klemperer, a member of the Eastern army's press section, on the Jews of Poland and Russia :
'No, I did not belong to these people, even if one proved my blood relation to them a hundred times over. I belonged to Europe, to Germany, and I thanked my Creator I was German'.
Alas not everybody in Germany thought he was as integrated as he himself did. You can see why one might be wary - very wary - of any nationalisms after that. I've read a lot of stuff in the past few weeks about how well all the different tribes in Kenya lived together before the recent unpleasantnesses.
And that's the point. Our government are worried about how all the different tribes in the UK will get on. Hence the dire warnings. Strangely, they seem convinced that it's the natives who are most at risk of packing cattle trucks or doing some quick machete work. I'd disagree.
They could of course try to reverse, or at least slow down, the tribalisation of Britain - by which I mean the proliferation of disparate ethic/religious/cultural groups with no common culture - surely not a recipe for harmony in Kenya, Kent or Kathmandu. But I think an increased "educational" effort in the schools is far more likely.
Monday, January 28, 2008
They Really Do Think It's Their Money
Surprised Sam Tarran hasn't picked this up - via bloggers4labour.
Foolish reader. Did you really think that "donates funds" implied somebody putting his hands in his pockets ?
Richard Udall donates funds to support new youth shelter
Foolish reader. Did you really think that "donates funds" implied somebody putting his hands in his pockets ?
CountyUnless Dines Green has changed a lot recently, it'll cost another £3K to rebuild it when it gets vandalised. Doubtless the good councillor will be putting his hands in someone else's pockets once more.Councillor Richard Udall secured £3000 from the county council’s youth service. He said: “I was pleased to help. The shelter should provide young people in Dines Green with somewhere to go".
Maybe Tomorrow .. Maybe Some Day ...
The BT engineer arrives tomorrow pm. Pray for my broadband connection, that it may take its place without blame on my PC.
I blogged last year on the UK's Ashura processions and the associated flagellation with knives, or zanjeer. One of Eduardo Martino's photographs was of a young boy, head streaming with blood after cutting himself to show religious devotion.
Now I read this :
A man has been charged with child cruelty after two teenage boys allegedly took part in a religious ceremony involving flagellation. Syed Mustafa Zaidi, 43, of Station Road in Eccles, Salford, is due before magistrates in Manchester on Friday.
The charge relates to the treatment of two boys, aged 15 and 13, in a traditional Ashura ceremony held at a community centre in Levenshulme. The investigation was carried out with the help of the local Muslim community.
My comment on the incident at the time was : "isn't he a little young to be doing that sort of thing ?" I really don't think something like this should be a matter for the police. A quiet word in the right ear should have been enough, and I hope Mr Zaidi is acquitted. After all, the wounds were self-inflicted in an excess of religious zeal. Mr Plod should take his flat feet out of it, and if the Shias of Manchester wish to cut themselves, it should be restricted to those of full age. I'd think Mr Martino is unlikely to be snapping away next year.
Grand Ayatollah Sistani's comments on the Shia sense of PR are still pertinent.
"People fear from Shiites when they see them doing Zanjeer Zani crazily and from head to toe covered with blood.
I blogged last year on the UK's Ashura processions and the associated flagellation with knives, or zanjeer. One of Eduardo Martino's photographs was of a young boy, head streaming with blood after cutting himself to show religious devotion.
Now I read this :
A man has been charged with child cruelty after two teenage boys allegedly took part in a religious ceremony involving flagellation. Syed Mustafa Zaidi, 43, of Station Road in Eccles, Salford, is due before magistrates in Manchester on Friday.
The charge relates to the treatment of two boys, aged 15 and 13, in a traditional Ashura ceremony held at a community centre in Levenshulme. The investigation was carried out with the help of the local Muslim community.
My comment on the incident at the time was : "isn't he a little young to be doing that sort of thing ?" I really don't think something like this should be a matter for the police. A quiet word in the right ear should have been enough, and I hope Mr Zaidi is acquitted. After all, the wounds were self-inflicted in an excess of religious zeal. Mr Plod should take his flat feet out of it, and if the Shias of Manchester wish to cut themselves, it should be restricted to those of full age. I'd think Mr Martino is unlikely to be snapping away next year.
Grand Ayatollah Sistani's comments on the Shia sense of PR are still pertinent.
"People fear from Shiites when they see them doing Zanjeer Zani crazily and from head to toe covered with blood.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Broadband Blogging Blues
Apologies - broadband's been out for two days now. Been going through the obligatory BT 'customer service' torture, where a charming girl in Calcutta, with perfect but alas heavily accented English ('Pardon ?' 'I'm sorry, could you say that again please ?') takes you through a long checklist of questions ('yes, the router is plugged in', 'no, it is not too hot') before taking you through an series of tasks ranging from the believeable ('find the reset button on the router') to the increasingly bizarre ('take the cable between the ADSL socket and the router, remove it and put it in the other way round').
All this of course is based on the assumption that
a) the customer is mentally defective
b) engineers - the real chaps in the vans - are expensive
c) Indian call centre grads are relatively cheap
d) the poor bloody customer's time is free
After an hour of this yesterday am I'd finally convinced them that there might actually be a problem, so at lunch I was rung by the 'line specialist' - who was I think in Bangalore. You might not be shocked to find that she asked the identical questions to the first line support girl. After another wearing thirty minutes or so she finally gave me to understand that an engineer might drop in over the next 48 hours.
We have a history of line problems, due to the 7 miles between us and the exchange, and the squirrels chewing the cables en route.
Blogging will be light due to the current 38K connection. Go and read Shuggy on education.
I'm beginning to wonder if this whole 'school-choice' thing might not be a bad idea. We could have a choice between schools - and institutions that have dropped even the pretence of being schools and have been rebranded as 'socialisation centres' instead. Then we could see who wins.
All this of course is based on the assumption that
a) the customer is mentally defective
b) engineers - the real chaps in the vans - are expensive
c) Indian call centre grads are relatively cheap
d) the poor bloody customer's time is free
After an hour of this yesterday am I'd finally convinced them that there might actually be a problem, so at lunch I was rung by the 'line specialist' - who was I think in Bangalore. You might not be shocked to find that she asked the identical questions to the first line support girl. After another wearing thirty minutes or so she finally gave me to understand that an engineer might drop in over the next 48 hours.
We have a history of line problems, due to the 7 miles between us and the exchange, and the squirrels chewing the cables en route.
Blogging will be light due to the current 38K connection. Go and read Shuggy on education.
I'm beginning to wonder if this whole 'school-choice' thing might not be a bad idea. We could have a choice between schools - and institutions that have dropped even the pretence of being schools and have been rebranded as 'socialisation centres' instead. Then we could see who wins.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Oh Dear
You know that this kind of thing must, must happen in the sort of school environment where being a 'boff' will get you beaten, terrorised, targeted - the sort of school that middle class Guardianista Sarah Donachy teaches at (check the comments thread - especially this one).
But when you read the story of Angel, it still breaks your heart.
But when you read the story of Angel, it still breaks your heart.
Sigh
I've noted before how the government have given up on morality, except in relation to racism and foxhunting, instead devoting themselves to abolishing the means by which wicked acts can be carried out.
Kids stabbing each other ? Metal detectors in schools.
Drunk kids beating people to death ? Raise the drinking age, raise alcohol prices. Call me naive, buit I thought it was the kicking to death but that was the problem.
Gun nut shoots kids ? Make gun ownership illegal.
But this is taking the idiocy into hyperspace.
A paedophile who took pictures of a boy being abused and distributed them round the world has been banned from owning anything capable of taking photographs.
Kids stabbing each other ? Metal detectors in schools.
Drunk kids beating people to death ? Raise the drinking age, raise alcohol prices. Call me naive, buit I thought it was the kicking to death but that was the problem.
Gun nut shoots kids ? Make gun ownership illegal.
But this is taking the idiocy into hyperspace.
A paedophile who took pictures of a boy being abused and distributed them round the world has been banned from owning anything capable of taking photographs.
And they say Americans don't do irony ...
"Laban Tall is a brilliant English blogger"
Well, one out of three ain't bad.
(actually I think Mr Burton has the root of the matter in him. The cultural collapse of the UK, from which all else stems, is the collapse of Christianity)
Well, one out of three ain't bad.
(actually I think Mr Burton has the root of the matter in him. The cultural collapse of the UK, from which all else stems, is the collapse of Christianity)
Sunday, January 20, 2008
“I can’t fight with hairdressers”
I'm always reading in the Guardian how youth crime is nothing new, and that we're all guilty of Moral Panic. How right they are. I'd forgotten that I'd ever used a fire-hose as an anti-personnel weapon.Our bus was locked into this intermittent procession directly to the rear of a large limousine of considerable quality. Its large back window sloped elegantly into a great curve of boot. Through the window we could see that the rear seat of this handsome vehicle was occupied by two young ladies, one being blonde and one brunette. They were both of such distracting elegance that a number of the Chaps (of whom I give you my word vicar I was not one) felt obliged to gather at the front end of the upper deck of the bus, whistling and catcalling to attract the ladies attention.
When this attempt at communication failed to elicit a response, it was decided to that a well-aimed stream of aerated water directed at the car from a fully charged soda-siphon might do better. The application of one siphon to the task led to the involvement of a second, and then a flour bomb (one of a number that appeared to have been brought along just in case a contingency arose calling for their use) was added to the equation. Thus do conflicts escalate.
When the traffic pulled up for its next breather, the right door of the limousine, the boot and rear window of which were by then coated with a thin and sloppy dough, was open precipitately and a certain individual who looked like a much larger, much younger, and more muscular version of Arthur Mullard crossed by Freddie Mills, stormed towards our bus with evidently hostile intent advancing. Ray Gibbons, the Chap who was unlucky enough to be first in the firing line on the back step of the bus, received the impact of this individual’s right fist full on his nose and promptly extended himself in the collected swill beneath the two beer barrels.
The Chaps Club of the Royal School of Mines annual Derby Day outing for 1958 takes an eventful turn. Just one of a fine selection of centenary reminiscences by staff and students of Imperial College.
Kidults
Came downstairs to find my eldest watching my bete noire (one of them, anyway - I've a whole menagerie of them) Gordon f****** Ramsay presenting something on Channel Four called Cookalong with special guest Chris Moyles (down the path, cage three on the right).
As I passed hastily through the room I thought his manic "well, that's done and now we have" style seemed familiar, and realised it's the persona of every Saturday morning kids TV presenter since Tiswas. I suppose this is what all the TV generations weaned on them ever since have grown to expect. Kids TV for adults.
You can see the same thing on BBC's Ski Sunday. It was always going to have to take in boarding as it became the snowsport of youth choice, but the revamp a few years back also chose to feature a fair chunk of apres-ski, totty-heavy party footage which has stayed ever since, at the expense of more snowsport coverage.
Was the thinking that the youth demographic wouldn't watch board action unless accompanied by lashings of hip background ? Or has the boarding coverage on satellite already set the standard which the Beeb are following ? I suspect the latter. If motor sports had started out on satellite I imagine the pit babes and parties would now be part of ITVs coverage.
(a confession - I bought a board last year and to my horror discovered that I'm overweight and unfit enough to have had to take the board off in order to stand up after falling over - something you do a lot when you're learning)
As I passed hastily through the room I thought his manic "well, that's done and now we have" style seemed familiar, and realised it's the persona of every Saturday morning kids TV presenter since Tiswas. I suppose this is what all the TV generations weaned on them ever since have grown to expect. Kids TV for adults.
You can see the same thing on BBC's Ski Sunday. It was always going to have to take in boarding as it became the snowsport of youth choice, but the revamp a few years back also chose to feature a fair chunk of apres-ski, totty-heavy party footage which has stayed ever since, at the expense of more snowsport coverage.
Was the thinking that the youth demographic wouldn't watch board action unless accompanied by lashings of hip background ? Or has the boarding coverage on satellite already set the standard which the Beeb are following ? I suspect the latter. If motor sports had started out on satellite I imagine the pit babes and parties would now be part of ITVs coverage.
(a confession - I bought a board last year and to my horror discovered that I'm overweight and unfit enough to have had to take the board off in order to stand up after falling over - something you do a lot when you're learning)
I think I've got it ...
Involuntary organ donation aka "presumed consent" - you're assumed to have agreed to your body parts being taken unless you've signed a document to the contrary.
Involuntary sexual intercourse aka "rape" - you're assumed NOT to have agreed to your body being taken unless both both "participants in sexual activity respect each others sexual autonomy and each is equally active in reaching agreement on their sexual relations".
Involuntary sexual intercourse aka "rape" - you're assumed NOT to have agreed to your body being taken unless both both "participants in sexual activity respect each others sexual autonomy and each is equally active in reaching agreement on their sexual relations".
Saturday, January 19, 2008
St Wulfstan Millennium
We don't know his exact birth date, but the feast of St Wulfstan (aka Wulstan) is celebrated on the 19th January, the anniversary of his death in 1095. Born 1008 - 1,000 years ago this year. Some anecdotes here.
"Happy," he said, "is the man who grows sick of the attractions of the world: pleasure of them passes in a moment of time: the tooth of conscience gnaws as long as a man lives."
Of course that presupposes the existence of a conscience - as we see from the preceding posts, that is not always to be relied upon.
The source of the above is William of Malmesbury's biography - available now in reprint from the Llanerch Press - purveyors of ancient texts. I see they're reprinting the adventures of Twm Shon Catti - a likely lad of ancient days whose legends George Borrow noted in "Wild Wales".
Wulfstan was also an early anti-slavery campaigner at a time (post-Conquest) where poor, starving or disposessed Saxons were being shipped from Bristol to the Viking cities of Ireland as slaves.
Underclass News - South London
Comment is superfluous on this one :
And I mentioned a while back (inter alia) the murder of Anthony Hoare.
His killer, Leslie Kingshott, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
An all-round bad hat then, who'll richly deserve his long sentence.
Mr Bowen is correct. Anthony Hoare was killed for asking Mr Kingshott to keep his dogs under control in the pub.
How about this one :
It's this bit that gets me :
On Tuesday the Old Bailey heard that Mr Edwards had been due to attend Camberwell Magistrates' Court on January 19, 2007. Instead he spent the day with his girlfriend, shoplifting and selling stolen goods to buy crack cocaine before robbing another dealer that night and buying drugs. At 6.30am the next day he and two friends went to buy drugs from Anthony Lafayette at his girlfriend's flat in Poulet House on the St Martin's Estate, Tulse Hill, but jurors heard the defendant was angry at being woken so early.
Mr Kyte said: "An argument broke out between the two men and during the course of that argument the defendant armed himself with a pretty big kitchen knife and stabbed Michael Edwards in the neck."
And I mentioned a while back (inter alia) the murder of Anthony Hoare.
His killer, Leslie Kingshott, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Kingshott, 43, of Maskells Court, Victoria Way, has a criminal history spanning 27 years including offenses of racial abuse.
An all-round bad hat then, who'll richly deserve his long sentence.
He was jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting manslaughter, but Common Serjeant of London Brian Barker QC said he would serve only half his sentence.
Because he has already served four months on remand he will be free in 11 months. From the gallery, Mr Hoare's partner Rob Bowen, 45, shouted: "That's so wrong, that's so wrong. How can you sleep at night? That's not justice."
Mr Bowen is correct. Anthony Hoare was killed for asking Mr Kingshott to keep his dogs under control in the pub.
How about this one :
Dean Forde, 22, had been arguing with Paul Doohan before he repeatedly attacked him at the former Wimbledon House School in Dorset Road, the Old Bailey heard. His girlfriend Suzanne Jimenez, 33, joined in the attack on November 20, 2006 and kicked Mr Doohan in the head, it is claimed. Forde stripped Mr Doohan's body and wrote the words "mug", "remember" and "you c***" on his chest and arm, said prosecutor Carey Ann Johnston QC. After the murder, Jimenez tried to cover for her boyfriend by claiming he had been with her at her flat in Durham Road, Raynes Park, at the time of the killing.
It's this bit that gets me :
The court heard the two defendants and the victim were part of a group of drinkers who lived "alternative lifestyles" and were well known in the area around Wimbledon railway station.
Attempt on World Irony Record ...
While the attempted suicide bomb attack on Hamas probably leads the field, this statement by Chief Superintendent Sharon Rowe, the Met's Lambeth Borough commander is a pretty impressive candidate.
Background - a man's been stabbed to death in Brixton.
Background - a man's been stabbed to death in Brixton.
Chief Superintendent Sharon Rowe, Lambeth Borough commander, stressed the murder was an isolated incident.
Carty II
I wrote last year about the suicide of Thomas Carty, on remand charged with the murder of Helen Chung, and noted that the (unusual) name seemed to turn up in the criminal courts a fair bit.
A fair few commenters turned up and said quite forcefully that Tom Carty, while a rogue, would never have done such a foul deed, and that the real killers were still free. (It does appear however that after the murder of Mrs Chung, Carty was involved in the subsequent assault on the home of Bernard Dwyer and his family. His thirteen-year old daughter had a knife held to her throat. It looks as if it was a 'same night' operation. Make of that what you will.)
Certainly the Atkins family don't seem to be getting a good press.
A fair few commenters turned up and said quite forcefully that Tom Carty, while a rogue, would never have done such a foul deed, and that the real killers were still free. (It does appear however that after the murder of Mrs Chung, Carty was involved in the subsequent assault on the home of Bernard Dwyer and his family. His thirteen-year old daughter had a knife held to her throat. It looks as if it was a 'same night' operation. Make of that what you will.)
Mr Denison said Ms Chung, just 4ft 10in tall and weighing only seven stone, appeared to be an “easy target”. The gang lay in wait for her as she came back from work to her home, where she kept her life savings, just before midnight on November 5, and then ransacked her house looking for the cash, it was said. Mr Denison said: “They beat her about the head with extreme violence so that she shed a lot of blood around her house. They did that to try to force her to tell them where her money was but she wouldn’t and she didn’t.” All the men could find, he said, was a diamond-platinum wedding ring, belonging to her son, that she kept in her bedroom drawer, and a mobile phone, both of which they took along with her VW Golf.
Mr Denison said: “For standing up to these thugs in her home, all 4ft 10in of her, she paid with her life. She was beaten to death with a level of savagery which is hard to imagine.” He added: “They committed acts of the most terrifying and brutal violence in order to force their victims to hand over their hard-earned money. They intended and expected to take a lot of money and they were prepared to do whatever was necessary and use any level of violence necessary to get the cash that they were after,” he said. “But the victims they chose were remarkably courageous people. They were not prepared to give in to these men.”
Dean Atkins, 26, and Michael Atkins, 25, both of Uxbridge, West London, deny murder, two counts of aggravated burglary, wounding Mr Dwyer with intent and possession of an imitation handgun. Mr Carty, 21, committed suicide in February last year while awaiting trial.
Certainly the Atkins family don't seem to be getting a good press.
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