Happy Easter Sunday...

...however you choose to celebrate it. Normal Bank Holiday service will resume tomorrow.

Any Sympathy I Have Is For The Poor Donkey…

Another in the never-ending story of the 'Guardian' taking out a hankie for refugees:

They were huddled together on the bare floor of an abandoned house – four orphans who had travelled nearly 1,000 miles after having to flee from their home in the city when Sudan’s brutal civil war erupted.Having escaped ferocious fighting around Omdurman, twin city of the capital, Khartoum, they had arrived in Darfur...“But we couldn’t stay, it was too deadly,” says Asrar, 13, sitting beside three of her siblings, twins Mustafa and Mujtaba, nine, and seven-year-old Fatima.

I find I immediately flash on to this comment from one of Tim's regulars. 

 

Outside the house, located in the devastated West Darfur city of El Geneina, another two of Asrar’s siblings were trying to make money for them all to eat: Haroun, 21, working at a mechanic’s workshop, while Abdallah, 15, pounded the streets with a donkey selling water all day.

Poor bloody donkey. There's a recurring advert for a horse and donkey charity on tv, continually begging for money to treat these poor beasts. The day they announce they will use it to hire mercenaries to shoot the owners who mistreat them is the day I'll give them some.  

Asrar and her siblings have been alone since July last year, when their mother, Aisha, died from dysentery at their home in Omdurman. “There was nowhere to go to treat her. She got sick and was gone in two days,” says Asrar. Haroun, arriving back at the house after his workshop shift, adds: “We were devastated when she died.” Their father disappeared before the war started, leaving the house one day and never returning.

Such a familiar story. He's probably tucked up in a hotel in Kent.

Another brother who lives in Libya sent them money by phone to pay a driver to take them to El Geneina, where their parents were from and an elder sister, Israa, 30, still lived.

They paid a driver in advance but he abandoned them along the way. “He left us there with nothing,” Haroun says. “We had already paid him, and we had run out of money, so we had to sell our mother’s perfumes and clothes and survive on beans.”

It's called the Third World for a good reason. 

On arriving in the Darfur city last month, their elder sister could not be found, most likely having fled across the border to Chad. They found her house in ruins and moved into a nearby derelict house that had been left completely bare after being looted. A threadbare carpet serves as their bed. Despite escaping Omdurman, life in El Geneina is also fraught with risk. The city has witnessed myriad war crimes, including one of the worst atrocities of the war – a frenzied episode of violence, rape and looting by the RSF in 2023, in which almost 15,000 people were killed.

Clearly, the thrust of the 'Guardian' article is to drum up sympathy for refugees. Does it work? Not on me. 

Play Silly Games, Win Silly Prizes

Chad Allford, 23, died on October 27, 2021 after police – who believed he was “involved in the supply of drugs” – raided his girlfriend’s Alfreton home.

Whereupon he confirmed their belief pretty conclusively. 

A police constable who tried to detain Chad in the kitchen of the Morewood Drive property described seeing a “white powder substance exploding” from his head. Moments after swallowing the drug – Mr Allford became “very unwell” and was shown in bodyworn camera footage at the front of the address “convulsing” on the floor as officers asked him to spit out the drugs.

Chesterfield Coroners Court heard Chad eventually coughed up a “60ml by 10ml piece of white substance” however his condition deteriorated to the point that he stopped breathing and could not be revived during the arrest.

Oh dear, how sad, never mind... 

Describing the scene as he entered the rear of the property alone, PC Ball said: “He was standing still at the time, looking at me with a very shocked expression on his face. I asked Chad to give me his hands with the intention of placing him in handcuffs.” The court heard, however, PC Ball failed to state the reason for Chad’s arrest.

Pretty sure he'd figured it out! 

Chad's inquest - expected to last four to five days - continues. It will examine whether police involvement contributed to his death, said Coroner Ms Evans.

Four or five days worth of taxpayer money wasted.  

I’m Sure The US Treasury Would Be Delighted If You Cut Them A Cheque, Abigail

The sub-heading reads:

"She is one of the heirs to the Walt Disney fortune – and has long argued for rich people like her to pay more tax. Now she is working out how best to meet the challenge of Trump, Musk and the politics of chaos"

She being Abigail Disney... 

“I spend a lot of time trying to think of reasons to be optimistic, because I don’t know how to function without that. And I want to find the energy and the grit for a really long fight. This isn’t just four years … you know, there’s a whole civilisation-level reset to be done. I mean, I heard the other night when Trump spoke, he mentioned that we would get Greenland one way or another. And then there was laughter. Laughter! I just thought, ‘Oh, we have sunk so low.’”

What did you expect, applause? 

The film-maker (and the grand-niece of Walt Disney) is speaking to me on video call from her home in Manhattan. She talks with a mixture of speed, eloquence and certainty – partly because her view of Donald Trump and his allies is all about something with which she is well acquainted: wealth, and what it does to people.

She doesn't appear to believe it's done anything bad to her. Only other people. People she disagrees with politically. 

I then mention something she well knows: that Trump’s sidekick Elon Musk is also from a very wealthy background, having started his first business ventures with money provided by his father, and then becoming rich beyond the dreams of avarice. This, she tells me, partly explains the frazzled morals of someone who has just imposed all those cuts to overseas aid, with apparently no regard for the consequences.

Well, those 'consequnces' aren't falling on the people who elected his boss: 

Among the schemes Musk has frozen, Disney points out, was the Pepfar programme, AKA the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, which is estimated to have saved 25 million lives by supplying medicine to people with HIV and Aids around the world. “There are people suffering and dying today because of that cut,” she says. “There are children who have HIV who shouldn’t because of Elon Musk. Now. As we sit here and talk.” She exhales.

And how do the American people feel now their taxes aren't going to people halfway around the world that they have no connection to or responsibility for, or didn't you think to ask them? 

“That natural human proclivity to say, ‘Hmm, that doesn’t feel right’ – he doesn’t have it. Trump doesn’t have it.

Actually, they do, they just think that robbing the US taxpayer to pay for things like this isn't right.  

They’re spending no time in shame, and shame is a righteous emotion. It’s not an emotion you want to live in, but it’s an emotion you want as a motivator sometimes. And where is it? Where’s the shame?”

We got rid of it because you progressives wanted to, remember? 

And by the way, how much tax have you voluntarily paid to the US Treasury, or are you just like all those others who whine that people like you should 'pay more tax' yet never actually do? 

Here, We Appear To Have Schrödinger's XL Bully....

A girl taken to hospital with puncture wounds from a dog bite was attacked by a "potential XL bully type dog," police have said.

Only a 'potential' one? Why haven't the police determined if it was or not? 

She was bitten outside a shop in the Trebanog area of Rhondda Cynon Taf on 7 April, according to South Wales Police, who added her wounds were not life-changing.

Wales! Again! What is it with the Welsh and vicious dogs? But back to that 'potential' report...

The dog was destroyed before officers were able to confirm if it was an XL bully, the force explained.

By whom? The owner? Well, surely the vet can be questioned and the corpse seized? 

Why Are Your Thoughts With A Drug Dealer's Family...

...and not with the innocent taxi driver who now has a big cleaning job to do?

Detective Sergeant Brett Hagen, who led Scotland Yard's investigation, said: 'Anselam Senaj was killed in a brutal cold-blooded assault which lasted seconds, but was so severe he died at the scene.

'Our team conducted a thorough and detailed investigation which led to the arrest of three of the suspects within two weeks of the attack.

'We'd like to thank our partner agencies who helped us ensure the arrest of the final suspect, and bring the case to trial to secure justice for Anselam.

'Our thoughts remain as always with Anselam's friends and family as they move forward with their life, safe in the knowledge his attackers are behind bars where they belong.'

What a modern, politically correct copper, eh? Maybe if Anselam had been behind bars where he belonged, being a drug dealer, the streets of London wouldn't be running with blood again and he'd have been safer too?

Judge Judy Khan KC said it was 'a callous and shocking attack' in a public street, which was 'pre-meditated and planned'.

Drug dealer Khan was found guilty of murder and having a blade and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 26 years for his leading role.

Miah was found guilty of murder and admitted having a blade and was detained for life a minimum term of 25 years. The sentence reflected Miah's separate conviction for a brutal rape a 15-year-old girl in a north London park in March 2023.

Ali and Naim, both from East Ham in east London, were cleared of murder but convicted of the lesser offence of manslaughter. Ali, who was responsible for taking the victim's phone, was jailed for 14 years and Naim was detained for 10 years and six months.

Just another day in the enriched capital.... 

Perhaps We Should Hope For Women Scotland (FWS) Stand For Election...

They seem to be capable of planning ahead, after all:

Tearful hugs were exchanged and a bottle of champagne was cracked open.The fact someone had thought to bring one along underlines that it was potentially on the cards, but For Women Scotland (FWS) still seemed shocked by the scale of their victory.

The Scottish government's argument - that sex can be changed via the gender recognition process, and that someone with a gender recognition certificate should have the protections of that sex - were dismissed.

So what does it all mean?

BBC News was making a lot of noise about how guidelines would need to change, and how legislators would have a lot of work to do over the next few months: 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission - which oversees the application of the Equality Act - is to issue new guidance to help service providers.

Why don't they issue it now? Is it possible they didn't think ahead, and prepare two versions, ready to rush out when whichever side won? 

Can We UK Law Abiding Citizens Get One Of These Too?

More than 100 relatives of people who have died after contact with the police in the UK since 1971 have joined plans for a class action lawsuit in pursuit of compensation and justice. The plan for group legal action was announced at the People’s Tribunal on Police Killings, a two-day event in which bereaved families presented evidence to a panel of international experts on how their relatives died and the long-term impact this has had on them.

Great idea, can we, the law abiding section of society, take one of these out against all the BLM-type fakecharities and activists out there arguing that ethnic monoritires shouldn't be held accountable for their actions? 

The findings and conclusions of the event will form the basis of a first-of-its-kind legal action directed at police officers, police chiefs and government departments involved in the deaths. Activist and film-maker Ken Fero, who is helping to lead the action, said: “I think it’s quite revolutionary what we’re trying to do. There has never been a class action of this kind done in the UK before, there hasn’t been a call-up like this one before.

 Ken Fero, as expected, is whiter than I am...

Samantha Patterson, whose brother Jason McPherson died in 2007 after being stopped and searched by police, said: “We’ve explored all avenues. We’ve done campaigns. We’ve written letters. We’ve met with prime ministers, Home Office secretaries, everybody that you would think. Something needs to change.

Indeed! Families whose family member has concealed drugs from a police search then swallowed them while in custody shouldn't be able to whinge and whine that the inevitable death from such action is somehow the fault of the police. 

The tribunal was organised by a collective of campaign groups, including United Families and Friends Campaign, Migrant Media and 4WardEverUK, with the aim of “exposing the extent of the injustice” and placing it on the international stage. It also aimed to highlight the disproportionate impact of police killings on black people, and key themes explored included torture, terror, state cover-ups and black resistance.

'Resistance' to what, exactly? 

Should We Have To Take Him Back?

Of course, we probably will...

A Cornell University student who participated in pro-Palestinian protests and was asked to surrender by United States immigration officials has said he is leaving the US, citing fear of detention and threats to his personal safety. Momodou Taal, a doctoral candidate in Africana studies and dual citizen of the UK and the Gambia, has participated in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza after the October 2023 Hamas attack. His attorneys said last month that he was asked to turn himself in and that his student visa was being revoked.

Say what you like about Trump, you can't deny he does what he promised.  

Last year, Taal was in a group of activists who disrupted a career fair on campus that featured weapons manufacturers and the university thereafter ordered him to study remotely. He previously posted online that “colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary”. Taal filed a lawsuit in mid-March to block deportations of protesters, a bid that was denied by a judge last week.

Want to bet he opts to come to the UK rather than Gambia? And that we'll let him in? 

Look, Just Give In And Let Them All In!

More than 130 refugee and human rights organisations have called on Keir Starmer to stop using language that demonises migrants, after he made controversial remarks before an international people-smuggling summit.

What sort of people feel that what he said is in anyway controversial? 

The criticisms are contained in a letter to the UK prime minister, coordinated by Together With Refugees, a campaign coalition of more than 600 organisations. It has been sent to the prime minister in response to comments he made before the Organised Immigration Crime Summit on 31 March, where more than 40 countries came together in London to focus on tackling organised immigration crime including people-smuggling gangs. Starmer said: “But we all pay the price for insecure borders – from the cost of accommodating migrants to the strain on our public services. It is a basic question of fairness.”

It's not often I can agree with anything this idiot says, but he's spot on here. Although why are they worrying, when did his actions ever match his words anyway? 

In an open letter to the prime minister, the organisations say: “Now is not the time to play into the hands of those seeking to build them-and-us division between local communities and refugees. It is the time to move away from the hostile politics, racist rhetoric and demonising language of the past and unite our communities for a different way forward.”

As soom as someone starts squawking about 'communities' you can usually tell how the rest is going to go, can't you, Reader? 

The 136 signatories are from a range of organisations across the UK including City of Sanctuary UK, Choose Love, Freedom from Torture, One Strong Voice, Rainbow Migration, Refugee Action, Refugee Council, Safe Passage International, Scottish Refugee Council, Welsh Refugee Council and the Public and Commercial Services Union.

All the usual suspects, but why is the PCS spending resources on this issue? They are, after all, squandering their members' subs. 

The letter states: “You told us this week that immigration ‘is a basic question of fairness’. We agree. But the searing experiences of last summer, when hate-filled mobs tried to burn down hotels hosting asylum seekers, make it clear that the path to fairness is not to be found in those pitting local communities against refugees seeking safety from persecution and war.”

By fleeing France..? I didn't think it was that bad there!  

The letter also responds to the summit’s focus on targeting smuggling gangs, saying: “Rather than the border security summit’s focus on expensive new ways to disrupt people smugglers, often making the journey more dangerous for refugees, the government should be looking at safe routes for refugees to get here without risking their lives.”

Aha! The hidden agenda, just let them all in!