That's Not All They're 'Ignorant' About...

Almost half of all schoolchildren cannot name a single mental health condition, a study of 500 young people has found.

And fewer than half of those surveyed felt that schools provided enough information about mental health, a third preferred to trust the internet.

A big 'so what' from the majority of people? Tut! Don't you know it's the role of schools to do the bidding of mental health charidees now..? What, you thought it was to teach them to read, write and do sums?

How very backward of you...

An analysis of 2,000 confidential enquiries to Great Ormond Street's "Children First" website found that "psychosocial" problems were the most common topic.

The hospital has responded by setting up a new section on the site, complete with information and audio diaries recorded by teenagers with mental health problems.

Child mental health charity Young Minds said the website would be a "vital resource".

Yes, I can't think of a better 'treatment' for teenagers with mental health problems than that. Government-sponsored YouTube for the fragile...

Oh, well. I'm sure the NHS can afford it.

England: Land Of The Free

Remember the English summer (what we had of it)? The sunshine, the barbecues, the soft fruits in season, the curfews....

Police say the summer trial in the Cornish town of Redruth, which comes to an end with the resumption of the school term on Monday, led to a fall in anti-social behaviour in the town.

So, never mind that it was unjust, it 'worked'. So they are, naturally, planning to do more of it:

That has encouraged police and councillors in other parts of Cornwall to consider adopting the scheme in their own areas, particularly during the forthcoming half-term and Christmas holidays. Police in the South Wales town of Barry are also looking to introduce a similar curfew to cope with gangs of youths on the street.

And Shami Chakrabarti has finally woken up:

But civil rights groups say such curfews unfairly target the young. Shami Chakrabarti, of Liberty, said: "The police have enough powers bursting off the statute book to deal with troublemakers regardless of their age and without a blanket curfew. I have seen anti social behaviour on the streets of this country and it comes often from people of all ages."

Well, yes Shami, but it's too hard. And they're too busy persecuting their own who spill the beans on the sorry excuses for 'policing' that pass muster with HQ these days. In fact, things just like this...

MAPPA Drop The Ball Again...

A murderer and serial rapist deported to Britain from Australia faces life in jail for a sex attack on a frail pensioner.

Simon Wilson, 50, pleaded guilty yesterday to a sickening assault on a 71-year-old woman within weeks of being back in the UK.

He had slashed his victim across the face before his vile abuse.

British-born Wilson, who emigrated when he was two, raped six women in Australia before killing an elderly woman in a frenzied assault with up to 100 punches.

Described by one Australian police officer as an "uncontrollable freak", he spent 16 years in prison for murder but was released from custody in January and put on a plane back to Britain.

But police in London could not force him to sign the sex offenders' register because his offences were not committed in the UK. When asked to do so, Wilson refused.

I remember the fuss made when he was flown back, and it transpired that he could not be made to sign the register. I also remember thinking 'Oh, well, at least they'll be keeping a very close eye on him'. I was wrong:

Wilson was deported despite Australian police believing he should spend his life in prison.

On arrival here he was put under surveillance by Mappa - the multiagency body which is monitoring paedophile Gary Glitter.

I guess I'll need a new tag again...

Who's Watching You? Probably Your Kids...

Well, it seems the eco-loons weren't the only ones keen to recruit children as snoops:

Children as young as eight have been recruited by councils to "snoop" on their neighbours and report petty offences such as littering, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

The difference is, these kiddies get paid, too:

The youngsters are among almost 5,000 residents who in some cases are being offered £500 rewards if they provide evidence of minor infractions.

One in six councils contacted by the Telegraph said they had signed up teams of "environment volunteers" who are being encouraged to photograph or video neighbours guilty of dog fouling, littering or "bin crimes".

The "covert human intelligence sources", as some local authorities describe them, are also being asked to pass on the names of neighbours they believe to be responsible, or take down their number-plates.

Ealing Council in West London said: "There are hundreds of Junior Streetwatchers, aged 8-10 years old, who are trained to identify and report enviro-crime issues such as graffiti and fly-tipping."

Harlow Council in Essex said: "We currently have 25 Street Scene Champions who work with the council. They are all aged between 11 to 14. They are encouraged to report the aftermath of enviro-crimes such as vandalism to bus shelters, graffiti, abandoned vehicles, fly-tipping etc. They do this via telephone or email direct to the council."

Other local authorities recruit adult volunteers through advertisements in local newspapers, with at least 4,841 people already patrolling the streets in their spare time.

Some are assigned James Bond-style code numbers, which they use instead of their real names when they ring a special informer's hotline.

What a wonderful society we are building, eh...? Did anyone ever believe that in the UK, local councils would be taking lessons from Nicolae Ceausescu?

They should remember what happened to him...

‘Eight Legged Freaks … !’

Let’s hope the complainant in this case isn’t anywhere near Liverpool today…

And in other arachnid news, a bit of a shock for a Co-Op worker:

A supermarket cashier came face-to-face with a deadly South American spider when she found it nestling in a bunch of bananas she was unpacking.

Kate Whitmore, 25, picked up the bananas along with the highly venomous Phoneutria nigriventer.

"I held it close to my face and thought, 'What is that?' she said.

Not the brightest tool in the box, bless her…

It was only after it was taken away to be put down…

Eh?

Surely the whole point of calling the RSPCA in is so they can take it to a zoo, or something? Otherwise, they may as well just whack it with a rolled up newspaper themselves…

MAPPA – As Much Use As A Chocolate Teapot…

Wonderful new ‘multi-agency partnership’ MAPPA, part of the new Ministry of Justice, isn’t doing what it was set up to do:

MAPPA is to now tighten up its policies having found "the response by the agencies operating under MAPPA in relation to managing the risk posed by Summers could have been more robust".

Hmmm, really? Let’s see:

The couple began a sexual relationship in late 2005, but by January 2006 Ms Edwards had ended their relationship.

She repeatedly told him it was over, but he began threatening her and was handed an injunction.

Fair enough, first offence after all.

Summers was then given a suspended sentence rather than jailed for flouting the order.

Gosh, no? No further punishment for flouting the order? How unusual…

He removed his electronic tag to get round restrictions which were meant to stop him visiting her home.

And the punishment for this…? Err, well, nothing. Which led to:

David Summers, 23, plagued Diane Edwards, 53, for weeks, before killing her at a house in Blyth, Northumberland, in October 2006.

He then had sex with her corpse, apparently…

The review published on Friday by MAPPA, the multi-agency management scheme for violent offenders, said Summers had no regard for the law.

The heroin addict had "ignored or actively breached all restrictions placed upon him which were designed to protect Diane Edwards", according to the report.

Well, of course he had no regard for the law! It wasn’t, after all, doing anything to stop him doing exactly as he wanted.

And when he breached all restrictions ‘designed to protect the victim’, nothing happened! So not really a surprise that he had no regard for the law. It’s a wonder anyone has any...

Dave Gardiner, the Northumbria MAPPA Strategic Management Board chairman, said: "Realistically, we can never completely eliminate risk and sometimes, sadly, this has tragic consequences.

"But there are many more individuals successfully managed through MAPPA who do not reoffend."

Ah, yes. The ‘Ok, we screwed up, but look at all the times we don’t screw up!’ excuse… I bet it doesn’t have ‘tragic consequences’ for anyone employed in the probation industry, though.

Still, MAPPA does have a gloriously politically-correct cluster of ‘victim leaflets’ in numerous available languages. Pity they might as well all say ‘You’re on your own….’

Oh, Really…?

The ‘Telegraph’ has an interesting article on Northern California teacher Ron Jones’ social experiment - known as the Wave - in April 1967 at Cubberley High School, and the new film of the same name by Dennis Gansel to be released in the EU (though it has yet to find a US distributor).

This seemed quite a telling observation:

The director reveals that he had to sharpen his movie's ending after observing young audiences giving the salute at test screenings. "They thought it was cool and iconic. The Wave is about fun and creating a community and I believe that's still appealing. There is a strong urge today for a big idea that is bigger than yourself. Not necessarily fascism; it could be, say, the Green movement."

Yes. It could indeed…

The EU: Addressing The Real Problems In Society

MEPs want TV regulators in the EU to set guidelines which would see the end of anything deemed to portray women as sex objects or reinforce gender stereotypes.

This could potentially mean an end to attractive women advertising perfume, housewives in the kitchen or men doing DIY.

And this is worth someone’s time? This is of such earth-shattering importance that our legislators feel a need to implement more rules and regulations?

The new rules come in a report by the EU's women's rights committee.

Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson urged Britain and other members to use existing equality, sexism and discrimination laws to control advertising.

She wants regulatory bodies set up to monitor ads and introduce a "zero-tolerance" policy against "sexist insults or degrading images".

Tell the silly cow to get back in the kitchen and leave governing the country to the men in future! There, that ‘sexist’ enough for you, sweetie?

Ms Svensson said: "Gender stereotyping in advertising straitjackets women, men, girls and boys by restricting individuals to predetermined and artificial roles that are often degrading, humiliating and dumbed down for both sexes."

She added: "Gender stereotyping in advertising is one of several factors that have a big influence in efforts to make society more gender equal. When women and men are portrayed in a stereotypical way the consequence may be that it becomes difficult in other contexts to see women and men's resources and abilities."

Yep, because you watched the nuclear family in the ‘Bisto’ ads, you’re going to grow up with a skewed idea of gender. According to some barking-mad boot-faced Swedish harridan, that is. Yeah, I can see why she’d throw her toys out of the pram at the thought of ‘attractive women advertising perfume’….

And so what’s needed is new bureaucracies and posts for people like her to spout inane crap in the European parliament while the normal people work to pay for it all.

The Advertising Standards Authority however had said there are already checks in place to prevent "discriminatory or harmful" material.

A spokesman said: "Although the ASA supports the overall objectives of the report... the approach suggested is inflexible and impractical."

Quite. We’ve already got laws – we don’t need any more. And we certainly don’t need to implement them to satisfy some Nordic Green MEP who has found a homely woman’s ideal revenge on her prettier sisters…

Research: Funded By The Government For Your Safety!

Radio presenters have been criticised for promoting heavy drinking so as to be seen as "cool" by their listeners.

Researchers from the Bristol-based University of the West of England looked at 1,200 hours of output across six BBC and commercial stations.
…
The research, which was funded by the Department of Health and Home Office, is to be presented to the British Sociological Association in Brighton.

What a fantastic job! Sitting on your arse all day, listening to the radio, and the government pays you to do it! Where do I sign up?

And what crucial ‘evidence’ did they come up with?

"Alcohol was frequently positioned as a marker of the weekend, and a hangover as a marker of a good night out," said lead researcher Professor Norma Daykin.

"The notion of not drinking alcohol to enjoy yourself, particularly at times of celebration such as Christmas and New Year, seemed unthinkable."

Oh, noes! People are enjoying themselves at Christmas! Civilisation is doomed, I tell you, doomed!!

In one radio segment noted by the report, Radio 1's breakfast show presenter Chris Moyles tried to encourage TV chef Gordon Ramsay to go for a drink.

“Radio presenter invites TV chef for a drink, on air! Questions asked in the House.”

And this sorry little news item wouldn’t be complete without a minor minister bleating about it to the MSM as if it was some world-shattering scientific discovery:

Public health minister Dawn Primarolo said: "It's disappointing that so many of our radio stations glorify being drunk.

"I'd urge DJs to come up with more creative ways of engaging with their listeners."

Really..?

Well, I’d urge you to get on with solving the ghastly problems afflicting the dirty, institutionally-incompetent NHS before you start throwing taxpayers money at university folk to sit around in their underpants (probably with a beer to hand!) all day, listening to the radio and ticking a checklist….

Wanted: Community Wardens. Need Not Be Human To Apply…

A family who hung up posters of their missing cat were reduced to tears after a council worker threatened them with an £80 fine for being anti-social.

Oh, yeah, let’s give ‘people’ like this a few more powers, shall we….?

One of their local council's community wardens soon contacted them to say they should remove them or face an on-the-spot fine for anti-social behaviour.

Bus driver Stephen said: 'My wife took the call and was told quite sternly that we were going to be fined. When she got off the phone she was in disbelief and just broke down. There were a lot of tears.

'Although we love the cat we decided that £80 is a lot of money and reluctantly had to go out and take the posters down.

'It's unbelievably petty and it has made us so furious. This person was a real job'sworth. Milly is a member of our family, we're devastated she has disappeared.

Needless to say, the council claims to be in the right, because they are working for ‘the communidee’, ignoring the fact that I doubt they have a mandate from same to take this action:

A spokesman for Canterbury City Council said: 'Strictly speaking it is fly-posting, but of course we are sympathetic to someone who has lost their pet.

'The problem is that left uncontrolled, fly-posting can get out of hand very quickly. Other posters advertising less emotive subjects soon go up and the place begins to look untidy.'

Yes, you read that right – the people who run the council really believe that a child’s poster for his lost pet is not only the same as flyposters for ‘DJ Scum’s Bangin’ Tunez Nite’ and ‘Ali’s Minicabs – Drivers Wanted’ but it will actually attract them….!

I guess now we know why the council employ creatures-in-human-form like this ‘community warden’ – like calls to like…