No Amount Of Youth Clubs Will Make A Difference

The father of murdered teenage footballer Kiyan Prince set out a new vision for young Londoners on the 20th anniversary of his son’s death.

It might be new to him, but it won’t surprise most people! It is of course ‘more youth clubs’ as if the knife-wending street vermin would be only too happy to give up eternal  feuding over their ends if only they had the chance of a game of snooker in a rickety hall selling curly sandwiches and warn bottle of ginger beer.

Dr Prince dedicated his life to steering young people away from knife crime since Kiyan, 15, was fatally stabbed trying to break up a fight outside his Edgware school on May 18, 2006. The Kiyan Prince Foundation - set up in honour of the tragic Queens Park Rangers youth team player – today launches a campaign, The Champions’ Club, calling for more investment into youth services to help them succeed.It includes an ambition to raise £400,000 so that the charity can fund a new space for youngsters dedicated to Kiyan’s legacy.

No amount of this pandering will reach the demographic responsible for these type of murders.

Dr Prince has also created a 20-point blueprint to improve the lives of Gen Z – one for every year since the teenager’s death. It sets out 10 asks of policymakers – including better pay and recognition for youth workers, more long-term focus and greater prominence for community voices.

No point in that if they aren’t listened to and they aren’t. 

The other 10 recommendations are for young people themselves, and include prioritising physical exercise, developing critical thinking skills and volunteering for local organisations.

The government isn’t interested in anyone developing those, least they start realising uncomfortable realities .

I Was Considering Buying An Apple Watch Too....

...because I have become fed up with my Radley watch deciding not to charge up and I have a cash reward for completing 40 years service to spend. So I was already looking at Apple, since it'll seemlessly blend with all the other Apple products I have. And I have in facy now ordered one. Then I saw this:

Two men who filmed themselves speeding at 139mph in a 30mph zone while inhaling from balloons before crashing and killing the driver of another car have been sentenced to a total of 23 years in jail. 

Uways Hussain, 20, and Usmon Mahmood, 23, had spent the night driving dangerously through Manchester before colliding with a vehicle being driven by Sylvester Abayomi.

Just more 'driving while ethnic' on Britain's streets, entirely unhindered  by traffic cops...

Rachel Shenton, prosecuting, said the Golf had been driven 'at speed' through the light and Mahmood had 'chanted encouragement' to Hussain as he drove. Immediately after the collision, Greater Manchester Police received an alert from Hussain's Apple watch which detected he had been involved in a collision.

Wow! I didn't know that was a feature. A watch that alerts the cops you've crashed! No wonder they are all seemingly incompetent and lazy these days, tech is doing their job for them!

Today they were jailed at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to the charges against them.

Greater Manchester Police received several emergency calls to the crash and the automatic alert from the Apple watch.

The judge was pretty harsh, considering the race of the defendants and the location: 

The judge described the video footage as 'terrifying' and said Hussain had shown a 'flagrant disregard for the safety of other road users' and undertaken 'deliberate risk-taking seemingly for the thrill of it'.The pair had not attempted to assist the victim, he said, but had fled the scene following the crash and Mr Abayomi was killed by 'conduct that was appalling and entirely avoidable'.

But not when it came to their driving: 

He also handed both men an eight-year driving ban.

It should have been a lifetime ban. 

But It's No Longer Serving The Needs Of The Audience, That's Why It's Failing

New BBC director general Matt Brittin has told staff the BBC "has never been more needed" but that "tough choices are unavoidable as we make savings".

What do we need it for, that other broadcasters cannot provide, exactly? 

In an email to staff, Brittin said: "The BBC has proved throughout its history how quickly it can reinvent itself to serve the needs of audiences - from restructuring for World War II to repurposing during Covid to spinning up services in conflict zones. We need, collectively, to call on that sense of urgency now."

The BBC has never served its audience because that’s not who it’s geared to and on which it has no need to depend for its cash flow. Just like the NHS. 

"I know change will not be easy. Tough choices are unavoidable as we make savings. We should ask ourselves, honestly: if we were inventing the BBC today, what would we do? Then respond with clarity, pace and purpose."

Well, as the old joke goes, I wouldn't start from here! And I agree with Longrider - no one should be forced to pay for a license simply for possessing a tv. Move with the times, move to a subscription model. Then we will see what people truly rhink you are worth...

What A Surprise, Said No-one….

A mother has told a court that she thought her daughter was going to die after she was attacked by a retired police officer’s two rottweilers

.Aha, this case! 

Nigel Gray’s dogs, Indiana and Dakota, ‘tossed the girl around like a toy’ during the incident in Raphael Park, East London.

As we saw from social media, it wasn’t a first attack. 

The attack was the second in two years involving the 63-year-old’s pets, but he was not banned from keeping dogs in the future and he was handed a suspended prison sentence.The elderly victim of the first of Gray’s dogs’ attacks – who had to have his dog put down as a result – called the sentence a ‘joke’.

An elderly man loses his pet and police are not interested and so a child is almost killed. He might be retired but the other cops days should be numbered! 

Gray was not banned from keeping dogs in the future, but the court heard he had already agreed to the two rottweilers being destroyed.

Cant help feeling that was an easy cop-out for him, and now he’s free as a bird to get another mutt and use it as a weapon! 

'Guardian' Puzzled By Recurring Phenomenon...

 

Because it's summer, you loons! 

Sunday Funnies...

 This'll make you feel old! 

Tweet of the Month - Special Election Edition

 These were so good they deserved their own category! 

Tweet Of The Month

Post Title Of The Month

From the blog for all retail workers, Not Always Right, comes this little gem about one of the oldest tricks in the book: 

Quote Of The Month

 Perry at 'Samizdata' on the slow dawning of reality that you're on the wrong side of history:

"But then in late July for an entire week, the RAF and USAAF filled the sky over Hamburg by day and by night. And although Hannelore did not know it at the time, it was called Operation Gomorrah. She told me that on one night in particular, her father called the whole family outside. It was bright as day, the entire skyline to the south a line of incandescent light. By morning, white dust entirely covered their home and farmland, with a constant rain of ash still falling from the sky. 40,000 people had burned to death in a firestorm in a single day in Hamburg. And only then, our friend’s grandmother said, did they finally realise everything was not going to be alright and the war had been a catastrophic mistake. Only then, and from then onwards, did everything they read in the newspapers or heard on the radio ring hollow."