Oh Look, Another One...

Oh..?

Raheem Bailey, a pupil at Abertillery learning community in south Wales, was attacked and beaten by a group of children on 17 May 2022, according to his mother, Shantal, who said he was pushed to the ground and repeatedly kicked. In an Instagram post days after the incident, accompanied by photographs of her son’s injured hand, Shantal said Raheem made a “desperate attempt” to leave the school grounds to escape the situation. Raheem’s finger was then caught in a fence as he tried to climb to escape. Despite surgery to save his finger, it was later amputated.

That was then, this is now... 

Nearly a year since the alleged assault, Gwent police said their investigation, described as “complex”, found Raheem had left the school “of his own accord” and concluded no other individual was involved in his injury. Police said reports of this nature were taken “extremely seriously”, adding that CCTV footage from the school had been viewed and several people interviewed under caution.

But never mind, mum got a payday anyway: 

Following the incident, Shantal launched a GoFundMe campaign to purchase a prosthetic finger for Raheem and help with his recovery, eventually raising £107,575.

They should all ask for their money back. 

'Gissa Job, Go On, Gissa Job...'

Increase the Peace is an anti-knife crime charity and lead campaigner and mentor Delroy Ellis regularly receives calls from worried parents who have discovered their child is carrying a weapon.

He says he is incredibly disappointed with the lack of services in the city.

Despite his efforts, Mr Ellis does not see an end to knife crime in the city. His fears were again confirmed with a lad having been charged with possessing a bladed weapon in court just this week.

So who is this chap? Someone who wants to help, free of charge? Well... 

“I have not heard from any agency since Ramarni died. Not one phone call or email has been sent asking the city’s registered knife crime charity to get on board and take action.”

Maybe they don't have a lot of faith in your charity's ability? 

“I am not anti the system but I do what I do because I am with the people. With everything that is happening, agencies should know they need Increase the Peace.”

Why? Do you have answers or solutions, then? 

“At the moment I do not have the answer or solution...

Ah. 

...but after what happened in Gloucester last Sunday, we need to work to see what I can do. I knew it would only be a matter of time before another knife crime incident would happen again.

“More needs to be done to educate young people. Something really has to change to get the message across and we need to work together to make it happen.”

Well, there we are in agreement, Delroy. Something does indeed have to change. But I don't think you're going to like what it is... 

I Feel Your Pain, Tanya...

One day in 2014, Tanya DePass was feeling the rage. She had been playing games for most of her life, since the time of Pong, ColecoVision, and the glory days of the arcade. And yet she still saw very few people like her in the games she played. A queer black woman...

Oh, I know, sweetie! It's terrible! Like you, I stuggle to find a game with a playable character that's a 50+ white middle-class training professional from London!

But...you know what? That's not stopped me from having such great fun in gaming at all! I've been an elven druid, a Yankee redneck stalking the wood with trusty 30.06 and dog, a pilot in another galaxy, a detective in New Orleans, and a monster hunter in Eastern Europe.

I've run a hospital, planned a city, am currently running a zoo and a dinosaur park, all without need of 'representation' of any kind. And I've had a blast.

Maybe that's because I see gaming for what it is, and not simply as an extension of a lifetime of grift:

...when she lost her day job, in higher education, Tanya decided she’d give it six months and see if she could make it work. It’s fair to say that she succeeded. Now 49, Tanya still runs I Need Diverse Games; she streams and plays Dungeons and Dragons on Twitch, going by CypherofTyr; in the summer of 2020 she raised nearly $200,000 for charity The Bail Project. She has spoken on diversity, feminism and intersectionality at video game events around the world; a short film, Game Changer, has been made about her life and work, and she is working on her own afrofuturist roleplaying game, Into the Mother Lands. Later this month she will receive the Gayming Icon award at the Gayming Awards in London, an LGBTQ+ video game awards show that’s now in its second year, for her efforts towards better representation in video games.

Now, they say you should find a job that matches your interests and then you'll never 'work' a day in your life. But does it really sound to you, Reader, as if she had fun...? 

Translation: "Gibs Us De Moneh!"

Lisa Hanna, Jamaican MP and UN Development Programme goodwill ambassador, showing us some....well, maybe not goodwill:

What we now need is for the west, especially the United Kingdom, to seriously engage with us on this matter. And, it’s not just lip service that we require. Flowery words and artful symbols not only do not placate us, but words without action will also offend us. We need leaders in civil society, in politics and in the monarchy to not only acknowledge historic exploitation and the consequences thereof but to begin to make concrete steps to rectify it.

Oh, and how? 'Dr Who' isn't real, sweetie, we can't go back in time... 

The evils of slavery cannot be forgotten.

Well, no, not while grifters like you keep getting appointed to these positions... 

Wait 'til we send the bill for the Royal Navy's actions in halting slavery...

When we in Jamaica say respect, we mean it. We respect you. We respect Prince William and Catherine. We respect the British people. We respect your leaders.

Really?  

When you visit Jamaica, we are polite to you. We are cordial to you. We give you the time of your life on holiday.

And you make 'the time of your life' a short time, sometines.