Question Answered, Bucko!

When George Chappin was told he was no longer welcome at his scouts group, he was devastated.

Awww, his little face!

The seven-year-old suffers from complex focal epilepsy, which among other things, means he will often require one-on-one attention.

Booo! How could anyone be mean to a disabled kiddie! For shame. SHAME!

A letter sent to Mr Chappin on September 12 by the scout group's district commissioner Matthew Hewitt said it was in George's own interests not to return to the group.

"At the beginning of the summer holidays, the group scout leader and the cub scout leader met and concluded that they could not offer George a place in Cubs with their group,"

Mr Hewitt said. "This was not due to an unwillingness to have him in the group, but due to concerns over his own safety and ability to cope with what is a large colony of 28 cubs.

"The group does not have sufficient leaders to be able to provide one-on-one support for George, which is what they feel he needs to be safe."

Hiding behind H&S, eh?

Mr Hewitt cited numerous incidents where George's behaviour raised concerns with the group's leaders

"The most serious of these took place on visits to Tesco and Pets at Home, when on both visits George ran away from the rest of the group"

Oh. Ummmm.

It is disputed by the parents that he ran away in Pets at Home, who said he simply went behind the next shelf as George is scared of dogs.

 What was he scared of in Tesco, then? Cornflakes? Pints of milk?

"No other clubs will take him because we’ve been told there’s a six month waiting period," Mr Chappin said.

"I was in scouts my whole childhood and this goes against everything the scouts organisation stands for.

"I’m disgusted by this and they should have told us sooner."

Wah! Wah! Wah! Easy to see where little George learned it from...

Then just a day later Mr Chappin said he received a phone call informing him that George could come back to the group.

When the Croydon Guardian asked the scouting group to why its stance had changed in 24 hour span, a spokesman said: "The Scout Association is committed to providing opportunities for all young people and adults the opportunity to taste adventure and learn skills for life.

"We are clear that no young person should receive less favourable treatment on the basis disability (including mental or physical ability).

"We are currently supporting the local volunteer team to work with the family to find a positive way forward so that the young person involved to continue to enjoy scouting.”

See, this is why they keep giving these people column inches. Because it works, and they can feel good about themselves.

The spokesman confirmed George now has a place in the group, although they did not address specifically how the group would address George's needs, such as the group not having sufficient leaders to be able to provide one-on-one support for George.

Maybe George's father volunteered some of his time, eh?

Maybe Spend Some Of That Donation Money On Retraining?

Headteacher, Darren Mann - who only took over the role at the Quinton school on Monday - said he contacted the RSPCA, local vets and wildlife experts after the shock find.

He told the Coventry Telegraph that even the RSPCA team were in disbelief, repeatedly saying 'raccoons don't live in England' and reassuring him that it was probably a 'mangy' cat or badger.

 But wait! Didn't they recently get into a public strop about people keeping these things as pets?

Nicola White, an RSPCA officer specialising in exotic animals said: “The RSPCA is very concerned about the trend of keeping raccoon dogs as pets as we have in recent years dealt with a number of call-outs to stray pet raccoon dogs that have escaped, or been deliberately released to the wild. "

So there's no excuse for your idiot call centre handlers pooh-poohing this man's call, is there?

Handling Complaints...

The wrong way:

When blind IT supervisor Gareth Holdcroft, 32, tried to book a room at the Number One South Beach, a mix-up meant he was told in an email that the hotel would not accept his guide dog, Ross.

Whoops!

Claire Smith, owner of the hotel, on Harrowside West, said: “We apologise profusely for any upset caused – we certainly wouldn’t want to upset anyone for the world. “The problem is that our member of staff has sent an email saying that we do not take dogs because of allergies and she had no idea of the implications of this with it being a guide dog.”

Then you didn't train her very well, did you?

Mrs Smith said: “We can take dogs in the restaurant and in the public areas and have done many, many times. We are legally bound to do so, and quite rightly too.

See? You know the law. There are no excus...

Oh. Hang on.

“The last thing we want to do is discriminate.

“But we were in the awful situation where we had a guide dog stay with us. The dog left and we cleaned the room as we normally do and went to extra lengths so we thought we had removed all traces of the dog.” But she said their efforts were not enough to prevent another guest having an allergic reaction.

“He went up to his room and later came down with his eyes popping out,” she said. “It was terrifying. It frightened us to death because we thought we had killed this man. Had we not had this awful experience we would never have batted an eyelid.”

Riiiiiight. There's no provision for this in legislation & you know it. Enough with the excuses.

The right way:

Maggi Burgess was asked to leave the Seaward Hotel in Weston-super-Mare by a member of staff after she stopped off with guide dog Annie for a coffee during a charity walk.

What is it with hotels?

‘We went in and were greeted by a person who just said ‘no, no, no, you can’t come in here’.

‘I explained that I could and that Annie was a guide dog and she was allowed to go inside.

‘He said she couldn’t and ushered us out. He then told us to have a nice day, something which then became impossible.’

The response here couldn't have been more different, however:

A spokesperson for the hotel told metro.co.uk: ‘We unreservedly apologise to the guide dog owner for this incident.

‘The person who turned the owner away is no longer with us and does not share our values.

‘We welcome all guide dogs and other assistance dogs to our hotel have done so for the last 50 years.’

That's the way to do it!

"Oh, dogs. Sure, I like dags. I like caravans more."

Widely-circulated mobile phone footage appears to show Andy Cash, a traveller, on the floor with a police dog clamped to his leg.

Police had been called to an alleged theft in Birmingham on Monday when the incident happened.

A theft? Get out!

There has been no complaint but the matter has been referred to the police watchdog, West Midlands Police said.

*quiet chuckle*

He said he may need to undergo more surgery after sustaining about six wounds in total after the dog "mutilated" his leg.

His wife added: "They let that dog eat my husband like a bone. It was a treat for the dog."

I hope the poor thing is up to date on its shots.

Design Failure...

Freudian slip on the part of the sculptor..?

Well, It's Definitely A Tank, At Least...

Wrong animal, and a spot of appalling grammar! 'Mail', you're really spoiling me....

H/T: Stephen Brown via email

Update: according to comments, it isn't a tank. We have a trifecta!!

Sunday Funnies...

Rappers, pay attention to No 3...

"But Dahlinks, I'm An Actor!!"

The Star Trek and X-man actor has condemned dangerous dog legislation from preventing him from giving a home to the pet that has become a regular feature on his social media pages.

Ginger cannot be brought into the country from the United States because she is a pit bull – one of a handful of breeds prohibited under legislation dating back 25 years.

 No excuses! The legislation applies to you too.

“I understand why it was put in place, but it doesn't address what the real issues are about the possibility of dangerous dogs.

"In most cases, and certainly in the case of pit bulls, it is not the dog that is the problem, it is always the owner.”

Well, true, but you're English, so we can't ban you....

Sir Patrick believes it is “high time the legislation was re-examined”, and pledges that he will be be taking Ginger's case further.

Well, good luck with that.

Well, That 'Increase The Number Of Female MPs' Thing Is Going Well, Eh?

...it'd be nice if they weren't proving to be as thick as a whale sandwich & driven by emotion, though, wouldn't it?

Residents are up in arms after video emerged showing Poundland in Thornton Heath promoting "big knives" in its shopfront window, right next to the entrance.

Lorraine King posted the video on twitter on behalf of her friend Nicola Peters (who took the footage) and has sparked debate among residents and politicians alike, who are furious with Poundland's decision to display the knives in light of recent attacks in the borough.

Oh, good grief! *yawns* Another manufactured 'outrage'. Surely no-one's dumb enough to be bothered by this?

Oh. Hang on.

Even Croydon Central MP Sarah Jones was appalled by the decision.

"Shocking," she said. "I will write to @poundland about this. And looks like it goes against gov guidelines that @poundland have signed up to."

Really, love? Government has really written guidelines that say 'Look, retailers, if the yoof have been a bit too stabby in the local area, just hide the knives on sale for a while, will you?'...?

The guidelines Ms Jones referred to is the 'Sale of knives: voluntary agreement by retailers' which Poundland have signed up for.

Part of the agreement states that: "Retailers will ensure knives are displayed and packaged securely as appropriate to minimise risk.

"This will include retailers taking practical and proportionate action to restrict accessibility and avoid immediate use, reduce the possibility of injury, and prevent theft."

Ah. Didn't think so.

Virtue Signalling Olympics: Essex Contender

A former mayor has caused controversy by saying travellers should go “back to Ireland” with “their thieving and filthy ways” in a heated email row.

*settles in with big bag of popcorn*

Chris Walker, an Eastwood Park councillor, made the remarks to Labour councillor Julian Ware-Lane when referring to travellers in the borough.

In the exchange, seen by the Echo, the councillors debated the growing number of travellers camping in the borough. Milton ward councillor Mr Ware-Lane urged the council to find a space where travellers could set up camp temporarily and felt the council was “neglecting their responsibilities in this regard.”

He then wrote: “I am seriously concerned the traveller community gets treated like pariahs and are shifted from pillar to post. Whilst, of course, there are elements in the traveller community that do bad things, to the best of my knowledge none of the crime committed in Milton is committed by anyone from the traveller community.”

If they get treated 'like pariahs', maybe there's a reason?

Mr Walker responded: “They are treated like pariahs because they are pariahs. They have been driven from Ireland whence they emanate because of their thieving and filthy ways.

“They contribute nothing to society in the way of taxes etc and create filth wherever they go. Why should we make allowance for them? It would be better for all if they were to learn the foolishness of their ways and go back to Ireland. They are their own worst enemies.”

How come we know the contents of private emails between two people, anyway?

Mr Ware-Lane published the comments on his blog, awordfromwier.blogspot.co.uk

Ah.

Stephen Aylen, Independent councillor for Belfair Ward, was also involved in the email exchange. He said to Mr Ware-Lane: “Next time we have these so called travellers arrive in Belfairs or Oakwood park (remember a large majority of the residents in the area around these parks are proper gypsies) could you please provide me with flyer maps of locations in Milton (such as the cliffs ) that these travellers may use.

Heh!

Mr Ware-Lane told our reporter the comments were “shameful” and shamed every councillor. He added: “His (Mr Walker’s) ideas belong in the 19th century, we are in the 21st century.”

When asked why he publicised those comments, he responded: “I want them to realise what they’ve done and apologise, and not to repeat it again.”

And if they don't, will you thcweath and thcweam until you're thick?

The Echo called Mr Walker five times for comment, but we received no response before the paper went to print.

Awful when people won't comment on...

Oh!

*rolls eyes*