Post Title Of The Month

Anna Raccoon back on form again:

Quote Of The Month

The irrepressible DumbJon on the Claudia Lawrence investigation:

"Bear in mind that by spreading things out over months the filth has ensured that each of these guys has been left with five figure legal bills. They'll also have had their houses turned over - almost literally in fact as this exert from 2010 shows:

Police confirm they have spent two days searching a house about 10 miles from Claudia's home as a result of a "recent development".

Two days! Either this guy lives in a palace or he got the full 'Lord Bramhall' treatment, aka Smear Theater. In fact, the police claimed to have carried out 1,270 searches of properties in the first months alone. That's not an investigation, that's carpet bombing."

Post Of The Month

Dick Puddlecote on the Budget's imposition of a Sugar Tax.

Coming Over Here, Savaging The Women That Good Irish Dogs Could Savage...

It is understood the animal was put down by a local vet after the attack and that the dog only came into the country last Friday.

Must be something in the water...

Locals said the dog was like a child to Paola and her boyfriend Erik Kostesic.

Yes, they always say that. But no 'child' weighs upwards of 100lb and has teeth like a wolf.

Two gardai were forced to hit the animal a number of times with their batons to subdue it.

I thought the gardai were armed?

ARGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Devastated Marie told the Birmingham Mail: “Lots of people are getting themselves in this situation because of the benefits cap. Raising eight kids on the cap while paying full rent is hard enough.

“I have been trying to find work for a long time now but it is not that easy. As soon as you say you have eight dependents they don’t want to know. My only way out of the cap is doing 16 hours of work a week.”

She’s 33 years old, a single mum of eight, and it’s ‘the government’s fault’ that she’s about to be evicted?

DONA*

The 29-year-old woman was had been (sic) walking her dog on a field behind Pale Meadow Road, near to Severn Street when her dog approached a man’s dog, police say.

Both animals were off-lead their leads. The man’s dog, a white bichon frise, appeared to be scared of the victim’s dog.

The white bichon frise’s owner, who was accompanied by a woman, then took what is thought to be a baton and threatened the victim. He shouted at the victim and then allegedly threatened to hurt her dog.

The duo then walked off in the direction of Pale Meadow housing estate. It happened at about 1pm on Saturday, March 12.

The offender is a white man believed to be in his 50s, of a medium build with short grey, swept back hair. The woman who was with the man is described as white, with shoulder length grey/blonde hair. It is believed she was also in her 50s and was wearing glasses

Now, why would a middle-aged couple feel the need to carry a baton when walking their (identified) dog?

Could it be because police are totally uninterested in attacks on dogs by other dogs, usually of a bull terrier type, even when it often leads to pet death or human personal injury?

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, quoting incident 377S of march 12.

But suddenly they are very keen to identify the people who might have simply felt that, in the absence of any likely action by the authorities, it would be prudent to have some means of self-defence?

*Dog Of No Appearance

What Took You So Long, Your Worship?

A former Archbishop of Canterbury has attacked the church for destroying the reputation of Bishop George Bell over a settled claim of child sex abuse.

Lord Carey said he was "appalled" at the way the church had treated the memory of the revered late wartime bishop and was looking for "ways of re-opening" the case of the former head of the Church of England in Sussex.

Why didn’t he speak up sooner, I wonder, when other people were having their reputations traduced on similar historical allegations?

responding to a letter from George Bell's 92-year-old niece, Barbara Whitely, Lord Carey said the church he headed until 2002 has effectively "delivered a ‘guilty’ verdict without anything resembling a fair and open trial".

Yes, your worship, that’s how such things are done these days. Didn’t you get the memo?

Funny how you only start squawking when it’s one of your own, isn’t it..?

In his letter to Mrs Whitley, Lord Carey added he hoped "to persuade some people in the media to take this forward".

He added: "Newspapers are sometimes prepared to step forward when powerful organisations crush individuals."

Newspapers now often ARE the ‘powerful organisations’ that are crushing individuals.

I'd Have Thought It Was Obvious Why They Weren't...

Mrs Clarke, of Pansy Road, claimed the terriers had been involved in at least two previous incidents.

Now staff at McColls newsagents in nearby Burgess Road are signing a petition calling for the dogs to be destroyed amid fears their next victim could be a child.

Jackie Hodder, who works in the shop, said: “They should have been put down after the first incident - we can’t understand why they weren’t.”

One of her colleagues said people were living in fear, especially couples with children.

He added: “The whole community wants these dogs to be put down. There are a lot of angry people around here.”

It's because the Southampton Police aren't doing the job they are paid to do...

Mrs Clarke, who was left with a bill for £550, added: “No-one knows how Lulu got through this.

“I don’t know whether I’m ever going to get over it. I can’t sleep - every time I close my eyes I see the attack all over again.”

A police spokesman said officers had recorded the allegation but any investigation would be carried out by the city council’s dog warden.

Which is not that unusual for this particular police farce, after all.

Chipping Away At Dependency…

Plans laid out in Essex County Council’s consultation on Sure Start centres would see one of the district’s two 50-hour-a-week centres closed. The plans are part of county hall’s consultation on reducing the number of Sure Start centres across Essex from 37 down to just 12.

Oh noes! Disaster!

The consultation, even with a month still left to run, has already faced a backlash.

See? Try to pry the state teat away and there’s all sorts of squalling and kicking of tiny feet…

An e-petition calling on Mr Madden to rethink plans to close the centres has already got nearly 10,000 signatures.

Ooooh, an e-petition! The laziest form of ‘protest’ ever invented, besides taking a selfie in a protest T-shirt and Instagramming it.

Margaret Montgomery, of Rayleigh, is one of those to have signed, she said: “These centres are a lifeline for many people and are cost effective as they can help to solve problems early in a child's life.

“If left, these could become more complex problems resulting in the need for more support for the family.”

Ah, yes, the ‘spend to save’ theory. Which can only work if you’re sheep-dipping everyone, rather than targeting those that need the extra assistance.

Mum-of-two Sally Robarts, also of Rayleigh, was not impressed by the plan to close a full-time centre. She said: “I think this kind of support network is vital to young families and mothers.

“In a world where families are living further and further away from one another and we have parents raising kids with no outside family help, these centres are a lifeline.”

Good lord, we can’t have families raising kids on their own! Anarchy will ensue! Help us, Big Nanny State, we implore you!

Fellow mum-of-two Kassie Wharton, of Rayleigh, is a user of the current services and does not want them to change. She said: “I have two children under two and love everything the children's centres offer. It would be awful for this to stop.”

Yes, you’d miss your ‘Jeremy Kyle’ if you had to do some parenting yourself, eh?

What Does ‘Assisting In Community Relations’ Really Mean..?

Well, according to Handsworth community leader Desmond Jaddoo, it means ‘let this woman off her fine for driving in a bus lane, ‘cos she is black’:

In a letter to West Midlands Police, he said: “The officers’ actions were beyond the scope of their authority as it was a clear civil matter and their duty was to observe and not get actively involved.

“In dragging a disabled person out of the car in a stand off, was a breach of the disability discrimination act, unlawful as Mrs Clarke was in her own property peacefully protesting.

“The police have acted unlawfully, as they assisted a bailiff in a civil matter, with no apparent written and endorsed warrant issued by a court, which may well render the car actually being stolen.

“Clearly, despite the best efforts, this does not assist in terms of community relations and once again response officers are over stepping the mark at a trying and sensitive time here in Birmingham when we are seeking to build those all important bridges.”

The council, however, fill in a few gaps in their own statement:

“The entire recovery process has been followed correctly. At no point has Mrs Clarke contacted the council or bailiffs to make payment or appeal.

“Mrs Clarke’s vehicle was caught in a bus lane on Horton Square southbound on 3 July 2015, for which she received a penalty charge notice. Eight months on, this fine has still not been paid, despite seven letters being sent to her advising of increasing charges and enforcement action if it remained unpaid – all of which have been ignored.

“The bailiffs (Jacobs) wrote to Mrs Clarke last month (26 February) reiterating this position – that payment must be made in order for her car to be returned.”

Hmmm. To paraphrase Hermann, “Whenever I hear the words ‘community relations’, I reach for my revolver…”

And thanks to the comments, we find that Mrs Clarke has featured in this newspaper before:

A Birmingham mum of four who was on sick leave for 12 years is facing a bill for more than £257,000 after losing her claim for unfair dismissal against an insurance company.

Stunned Cherry Clarke, aged 50, of Walsall Road, Great Barr, now wants to take her case to the European Court for Human Rights because she says she cannot afford to pay and claims she was not given a fair hearing.

Does she indeed?

“This has been a huge shock to me and has had a terrible impact on my family. I can’t believe the amount they are asking for,” she said.

“I am not prepared to pay even £5 of this.”

That seems to be a recurring theme with you, love…

She … claimed the tribunal focussed too much on an incident which resulted in her husband, Lambert Clarke, being found guilty of the false imprisonment of a private investigator and jailed for eight months in 2007.

No wonder the council needed the police present!

Whoah, Dude! That's Not Why They Call It That!

Eeeeewwwww!

Ah, Well, At Least It's Topical...

...but maybe Morrisons isn't in financial trouble due to declining sales, but because their accountants are illiterate too?

Sunday Funnies...

I knew there was a reason I avoided it like the plague...

Is It ‘Cos I Is Black (Music)?

The owner of a Croydon nightclub allegedly banned by police from playing Jamaican music has claimed other venues have been given similar orders but were “too scared” to speak out.

Roy Seda, owner of Dice Bar, said he felt “victimised” and “bullied” by officers who told him his High Street venue played “what this borough finds unacceptable forms of music”.

Awwww, poor baby! But how nice the beleaguered Met have found the resources to institute a Music Appreciation Squad!

Mr Seda, who opened Dice Bar with his wife Farrah in 2012, said licensing officers had pressured him to stop playing bashment because it “attracts a certain type of person” .

He said: “What they like is commercial music - chart pop - and I think that type of music attracts a certain type of person and I think that is what they want in Croydon.”

Who wouldn’t? I don’t remember the Pet Shop Boys sparking any riots.

Speaking today for the first time today since the row broke out, the borough commander of Croydon police denied the force was guilty of racial profiling but admitted some venues had been told not to hold “specific events”.

Chief Superintendent Andy Tarrant claimed Mr Seda had volunteered to stop playing bashment music, adding: “The onus has always been on Roy to come up with ideas about how he might reduce the incidents of antisocial behaviour, disorder and crime associated with his premises.

“It wasn't just music, this was one of a series of measures that he implemented to address the issues associated with his premises.

“There were a number of different measures he implemented, for example around his dress code and door policy.”

‘No shirt, no shoes, no service’..?

But Mr Seda rubbished the suggestion he had volunteered to stop playing Jamaican music.

…

“When your back is against the wall and they are telling you, ‘change something or we have the power to close you down,’ you sell your soul basically.

“There is no benefit to us, we lose business, we lose customers, we have to deal with stress explaining to people why we are not playing certain music, so it is not in our interest to ban any type of music

“They will argue that there have been minor incidents at those venues and that’s why they have been told not to play that music, but what about the venues that don’t play bashment but play 80s or 90s pop music. They have incidents just the same but they aren’t told, ‘Don’t play pop music’.”

Now, why would telling your customers that you aren’t playing a particular type of music cause the establishment and ‘stress’?

Could it be the police are actually right, and these aren’t crowds of musical appreciation society members at all?

Chief Supt Tarrant said: “We are absolutely committed to trying to help the licensees because we don't want people coming to Croydon and feeling like it’s a place they don't want to visit or work in, but we have to make sure that we also enforce the law and where we have disorder and serious incidents taking place then we have to deal with that.”

He said he advocated dress codes at venues because he believed “formally dressed” people were less likely to “get in a fight” .

The borough commander added: “We know that if people aren't properly dressed there is this issue about them potentially contributing to anti-social behaviour.”

That works so well at weddings. And funerals. And big racecourse meetings.

Which, again, merely makes me think that it’s not the clothes, not the music, not the buildings – it’s always, always down to the people…

Why can’t we just be honest about this?

This Article Tells Us More About The ‘Guardian’ Than About The Case For Brexit…

It’s always immense fun when the ‘Guardian’ sends one of its unlucky correspondents off to talk to people, and the prospect of Brexit provides us with a glimpse of how modern ‘journalism’ is conducted.

Eurosceptic Romford:

Electronic dance stars Underworld like to say the town of Romford in east London, where they are based, is their New York. But frankly, on the wet Wednesday my train from Stratford chugs into the town, I am struggling to see the comparison. Unless it is something to do with being mugged. I witness a near fight between a shopkeeper and a man fleeing from his store within about a minute of setting foot in the high street. … Justice (“What we don’t have a lot of,” he says when I ask him his name) is drinking tea from a union jack mug; I get mine in a mug with the flag of St George on it … Romford’s MP, Andrew Rosindell, who achieved instant fame in the 2001 general election when he campaigned alongside a staffordshire bull terrier dressed in a union jack waistcoat … “We should definitely come out,” says Katrina Woods, who is shopping in the market square with her friend Jane Verner. “We’re overcrowded as it is. We’ve got no houses for our own children. Or look at the way they’re treating people in hospital. You go down the hospital and you’re waiting hours. You’ve got old people left on trolleys. They haven’t got beds for them.” … When I ask for their names, they look anxious, fearing they have spoken too openly. But Webb reassures them. “Don’t worry,” he says, “nobody round here reads the Guardian.” Which, I discover later, is not quite true: Quadrant News in South Street has sold out – both the Guardians they get daily have gone. “They certainly soon go,” says the man behind the counter. It seems that even Eurosceptic Central has a few closet liberals.

So to sum up, Romford is a grey horrible town with ghastly flag-waving right wing people but there are some really nice ‘Guardian’ reads, so all hope is not yet lost.

Europhile Aberystwyth:

The largest town in Ceredigion is Aberystwyth, which has a population of around 13,000, plus another 11,000 students at the university, and after my day in Romford that is where I head, on a train that trundles amiably through the lovely countryside of mid Wales. The slate-grey skies of east London have turned blue; lambs gambol in the fields; the river Dyfi winds its way gently towards Aberdovey; the inviting beach at Borth hints at the possibilities of summer. … a former lady mayoress who tells me she was instrumental in twinning the town with Kronberg im Taunus in Germany (an odd twin since it is several hundred miles from the coast). Aberystwyth, she says, is proud of its twin cities in Germany, France and Patagonia. In Romford, no one had mentioned being twinned with anyone, and I fantasise that it stands proudly alone. But I discover later that it is twinned – with Ludwigshafen am Rhein in Germany and Hesdin in France. … Williams explains why his constituency is the most Europhile in Britain. “The influence of the universities [Lampeter to the south as well as Aberystwyth itself] is significant. We have been an enriched, cosmopolitan community for a very long time, and there are enduring links with the universities.” … you can’t go to any village or community in this constituency where there isn’t the European emblem up somewhere for a project that’s been directly funded by the EU.” … “I’m pro-EU,” says law student Rebecca Hopkins. “What are we going to do if we leave the EU? We lose trade, we lose immigrants, we lose everything. People shit on the immigrants that come here from the EU, but they give a lot more than they take. Ukip are clinging to a dead, decaying idea of nationalism. We’re not Great Britain any more. We don’t rule the world. We’re just a tiny island that needs to make positive relations.”

So to sum up, Aberystwth is a sunny, enlightened place with wonderful social justice-loving people who are the future of our nation, once we’ve shrugged off these awful hidebound nationalists. 

Journalism, eh?

Croydon Police Considering Changing Uniform Colour To Brown...

....well, the trousers, at least:

Matthew Doyle, 46 (30.12.69) of South Croydon was charged by police on Friday, 25 March, with an offence under Section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986.

Following discussion with the Crown Prosecution Service, Mr Doyle is no longer charged with the offence and will not be appearing at court.

What? Your achingly politically correct collar is all going horribly wrong for you?  Gosh! How to express my feeling on this?

So, is this down to the furore over the case? Has someone a little further up the food chain decided to try to pull your irons out of the fire?

Police may not make charging decisions on offences under Section 19 of the Public Order Act.

 Wha..?

Wait. Let me just process this.....you were so eager to railroad this poor sod you forgot you didn't have the authority to do so!?

There will be further consultation with CPS.

I hope they're going to be around how you can fire the cretin who authorised this arrest and the 'just obeying orders' drones who carried it out like automatons.

They've done you more damage than the last lot of bungling cretins in uniform managed, and I never thought that would ever happen...

Yes, And These Are Exactly The Sort Of People…

…who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near it!

Outgoing deputy chief constable Olivia Pinkney said the move was being explored given that the increased reporting of sex crimes was "showing no signs of slowing down".

She told the police and crime commissioner: "While this is not the role that every police officer wants to do, I know people out there who would only want to do this kind of work and are not interested in other areas of police work and they have all sorts of backgrounds that are entirely relevant to child abuse investigation. "

So, draw exclusively from the murky pool of people who already have ‘an interest’ in the work?

I can’t see this all going horribly wrong at all, can you, reader?

"For example, somebody who has been involved in social work, in youth work, something like that from the medical profession, who might actually only want to do this type of work. We want to look at pathways for bringing them in to do that. "

Oh, right. One might refer to them as ‘the usual suspects’, mightn’t one?

"This is a huge part of our responsibility and we take it really seriously."

You show you take it seriously by…giving it to someone else?

And not just anyone else, but the very people who should be kept as far from it as possible?

The Invasion Is Starting…

It’s over. Emotion has triumphed. Here begins the fall of another great civilisation.

The government has been defeated in the Lords as peers voted to allow 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees into the country. Peers voted by 306 votes to 204, a majority of 102, to amend the immigration bill in order to require the government to let the children, currently in Europe, come to Britain.

I wonder how many the peers will be taking into their own homes?

Labour peer Lord Dubs, who proposed the amendment to the bill, said the step would protect children from exploitation, people trafficking and abuse. Dubs, who was rescued as a child as he fled the Nazis, called on the government to remember the spirit of the Kindertransport and take the lead in Europe in giving homes to child refugees traveling alone.

The Kindertransport involved genuine children fleeing genocide, not ‘children’ of indeterminate age fleeing …. refugee status in Calais?

To draw a parallel between the two is grotesque.

They described their anger and frustration after meeting boys such as 12-year-old Kareem from Afghanistan, who told them he was exhausted after a night spent trying to hide in the back of lorries to get to England. “He wanted to keep hugging people, he wanted comfort. He has no one looking after him. He is about the same age as my son,” Cooper said.

Is he? Are you sure?

They also met Majid, 17, from Syria, who has spent the past year trying to reach his mother and brother who are already in Birmingham. He showed them the scars on his hands from barbed-wire injuries incurred during his nightly attempts to board trains to get to England. He told them he was hoping to return to school and wanted to study to be a surgeon in England.

Yes. Of course he does. He’d hardly tell you he wants to spend the rest of his life smoking weed, on benefits and committing street robbery, would he?

But which is most likely?

Call It ‘Shangri-La’ If You Want, Harker…

…we still don’t want them in the UK:

Chances are, your image of a jungle dweller ranges from the savages and headshrinkers of the old Tarzan-era movies to – if you’re more 21st-century – the isolated peoples of the rainforest, living simple yet dignified lives. In either case, are they the kind of people you’d welcome as neighbours, and believe could fully integrate into modern Britain?

For several years now, the series of Calais refugee camps originally set up in 2002 have been referred to as “the Jungle”. The camp was christened by the migrants themselves, in ironic reference to the squalid conditions.

Hey. It’s their camp. If they want to call it that, who are we to complain? That’d probably be racist, or something…

But a decade on, and as the migrant crisis throughout Europe has escalated, it’s clear this term is becoming increasingly problematic.

Oh? Oh, it’s the name that’s problematic, is it? Not the existence of it, or the behaviour of the inmates?

Good to see the ‘Guardian’ focusing on the real issues, as always…

What started out as a simple in-joke among a small group of people has taken on a completely different meaning when taken up by the international media in the context of daily scare stories about people crossing borders. “War of the Jungle” and “Jungle warfare” were just two of the headlines splashed across tabloid front pages last week, as French authorities clashed with refugeesas they moved in to demolish their homes.

The imagery the headlines evoke is of primitive, uncontrolled brutes – of the barbarians at the gates, as they try to gain entry to the UK. Who could possibly want these kind of people tarnishing our green and pleasant land?

It seems the imagery does indeed, for once, match the reality. No wonder you are so upset!

It’s not just the rightwing tabloids that use the term: all parts of the media have adopted it – including the Independent, the BBC and the Guardian (although last week the Guardian issued new guidance to limit its usage, and ensure it always appears in quotation marks).

Yes, it’s most important that the correct language is used. Those quotation marks are vital!

Whether or not you believe the residents of the Calais refugee camp should be allowed into Britain, anyone who thinks these people are fully human, with hopes and aspirations like the rest of us, and lives just as valuable, should cease using language that denies them this humanity.

So to confirm their humanity, we must steadfastly refuse them the right to name their own camp?

For their own good?

I don’t think you’ve really thought this through…

I have the right in a democratic society to speak my own mind.'

So said Matthew Doyle, who 'sparked outrage on social media' (according to the 'Mail' after he tweeted that he had 'confronted' a Muslim woman about the Brussels attacks.

He wrote on Twitter: 'I confronted a Muslim woman in Croydon yesterday. I asked her to explain Brussels. She said "nothing to do with me". A mealy mouthed reply.'

He was immediately scorned and mocked by the politically correct. You'd think that would be enough. But no:

The Metropolitan Police issued a statement confirming that a man had been arrested.

'A 46-year-old man was this evening arrested at his home in Croydon on suspicion of inciting racial hatred on social media,’ said the Metropolitan Police.

‘He has been taken to a south London police station and enquiries continue.’

What a time to be alive! George Orwell was right. The Met seem to think '1984' is an instruction manual.

This news item terrifies me far more than the efforts of Muslim terrorists. It should terrify all of us. People say that the ISIS terrorists are seeking to destroy western society.

Is it too much to ask that our police 'service' not help them to do it?

Austerity Is Working!

As can be seen by Frances Ryan’s increasingly hysterical rhetoric:

I can’t decide what is most disturbing: that more than 85% of allegations of benefit fraud put forward by the public over the past five years have been false….

Errr, not quite true. As we noted at Tim Worstall’s site, the actual wording is important:

“…between 2010 and 2015 the government closed 1,041,219 alleged cases of benefit fraud put forward by the public. Insufficient or no evidence of fraud was discovered in 887,468 of these. In 2015 alone, of the 153,038 cases closed by the DWP’s Fraud and Error Service, 132,772 led to no action.”

The weasel words there are ‘insufficient evidence’ and ‘led to no action’.

This is the sort of free and easy twisting of words that allows the feministas to claim men are ‘getting away with rape’ by counting the number of acquittals or failure to proceed with a charge due to lack of evidence as examples of men who have ‘got away with it’.

… or that this is about almost 900,000 out of more than a million cases. That isn’t a handful of mistaken or malicious individuals. It’s a widespread anti-benefit mindset that – over five years of austerity – has rooted itself in British culture: through Benefits Street type-television, the rhetoric of politicians, and the pages of national newspapers.

Yes, you see, in Frances’ world, if only it wasn’t for that awful media and those dreadful politicians, the Great British Public would regard benefit cheats as happy-go-lucky scalliwags who deserved to get away with it, bless their souls…

In this climate, a “benefit cheat” and a person on benefits is one and the same. It has not only become quite natural to be suspicious of your disabled neighbour when he drives by your house in a new car – but to report him to the authorities for it.

Just for a new car? That wouldn’t necessarily make me suspicious of my disabled neighbour. Are you perhaps projecting, Frances?

“It’s a hate crime of the worst type,” said one woman – who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, fibromyalgia, and mental health problems – who spoke to me from Wiltshire about being falsely reported as fraudulently claiming disability benefits. She described the accusation as “the equivalent of saying I was working as a trapeze artist by night and in the SAS by day” .

And yet a lot of this does indeed happen.

Maybe the ease with which some people have been able to fool their GPs into supporting their claims should be a focus of your ire instead? Or even GPs swindling the system themselves?

The phantom benefit cheat is the perfect patsy for austerity. If there are hordes of disabled, mentally ill, or unemployed people who are draining the public purse, there is justification for sweeping cuts to social security. It doesn’t actually matter if this horde is lying to claim benefits or not. By nature of receiving “taxpayers’” money, they are still said to be cheating “hardworking families” .

Well, when a single mother of four can ‘earn’ enough in benefits to keep not just herself, but 6 large hungry animals, there’s clearly something wrong.

Why do you never rail against those who abuse the system, Frances?

This is the art of distraction mixed with a tactic of divide and rule. It not only stops much of the public questioning whether vast cuts to public services are necessary, but also diverts attention from the government’s failure to find solutions to the real causes of people’s struggles. It is not high private rents, lack of social housing, or low wages that deserve their anger but the people who are too ill to get out of bed in the morning.

Why is it the government’s job to ‘find solutions’, Frances? People struggle for all sorts of reasons, but the government can’t do much more than attempt to arrange a level playing field.

No, There’s A Lot Of What You Claim Is ‘Mitigation’…

…but which turns out not to be, after all:

May's defence barrister, Gareth Burrows, told the court she had no previous convictions.

He said: "There's a lot of mitigation in this case. There's a history of growing up in care.

"She had been purchasing things on the internet in a compulsive way.

"She does not have a home at the moment and is moving into a hostel. She is currently living with her partner.

"She has in part paid back some of the money and continues to do so. "It's against that background that I ask you to consider a suspended sentence."

Growing up in care shouldn’t provide a ‘get out of jail free’ card when you turn out to be a thief.

And compulsive buying isn’t a problem, unless you’re doing it with other people’s money.

Paying back some of the money is great, but how much?

Judge Laing QC said that because May was of previously good character she would ask for a pre-sentence report.

But she told May: "Please don't take that as any indication as to the final outcome of this case.

"The figures involved in this case mean it's likely a custodial sentence will be the outcome."

May was released to re-appear at Lewes Crown Court on March 14, when she will be sentenced.

One to watch…

What A Quisling Looks Like, Children…

Here’s Simon Jenkins, with the party line on this morning’s Islamist terror attack, posted before the smoke had fully dissipated:

Merely killing passers-by serves no warlike purpose in itself. The explosive force derives from our reaction to it, from the public attention awarded to it and from the response of the political community. Publicity and response are the terrorists’ “useful idiocies” .

Just as appeasers like you are their ‘useful idiots’, Simon?

There is no way any community can make itself immune to terror attacks. Since they are random, no protection can defend that community from them. No amount of police work or surveillance, no deployment of armies or navies, let alone of missiles or nuclear weapons, can guard against them. Intelligence and surveillance can go so far, but the bombers and killers will get through any net.

This is certainly true. Especially if the killers don’t expect to survive.

But do we want to be like Israel, where would-be jihadis wind up facedown in the gutter with their brains leaking out, or like Europe, where a captured jihadi (who has hidden in the ghetto of his fellow Islamists for weeks, unmolested by police who regard it as a ‘no go area’) announces his intention to sue his captors under human rights laws with the benefit of his taxpayer-funded lawyer?

“Fighting terrorism” is as meaningless as “fighting guns” .

Really? Cool. I look forward to quoting you on the next ‘Stupid Yanks, clinging to God and guns’ article that crops up in this online cesspit that is CiF these days…

What is not stupid is seeking to alleviate, or not aggravate, the rage that gives rise to acts of terror…

Once again, I’m reminded of Churchill’s description of an appeaser. Well, I’m tired of this crocodile called Islam. And I need a new pair of shoes and a handbag.

The blanket media coverage assured for any act of violence is reckless. The media must “report”, but it need not go berserk in revelling in the violence caused, as it manifestly has done to Islamic State brutality.

The MSM is old hat. Who really cares what the ‘Guardian’ or even ‘Daily Mail’ take on it is, when with social media you can view all opinions at the touch of a button?

More serious, the intention of the terrorist is clearly to shut down western society, to show liberal democracy to be a sham and to invoke the persecution of Muslims.

You think there’s really been ‘persecution of Muslims’, Simon? Really?

Yet that is the invariable response of the security industry to these incidents. Convinced of its potency, it dare not admit there are some things against which it cannot protect us. So when incidents occur it jerks the knee and demands ever more money and ever more power. It must not be given them.

Fuck off, you quisling traitor. And when you get there, fuck off again.

Are You Defined Solely By Your Disability?

Richard Howitt clearly thinks so.

The EU referendum campaign so far has been more about politicians than about people. But what about the impact of leaving the EU for Britain’s 10 million people with disabilities?

What indeed? And what about the impact of leaving the EU for Britain’s gingers, or trainspotters, or Toby Jug collectors?

People with disabilities will always campaign to pull down barriers, not erect new ones.

Really? Funny how they have demanded immediate access to interviews for jobs then, and disabled-only spots in car parks. Which is a barrier to everyone else, by any definition!

In all the talk of “free movement” in Europe, what about the right of a British wheelchair user to take a holiday or visit abroad?

Wait, what? Would a standalone Britain adopt a position of ‘no foreign travel for cripples’ then?

Being part of Europe is a safeguard against British governments of all political colours removing disability rights.

This is just more hysterical scaremongering nonsense. What this cretin is demanding is that people with disabilities should vote a particular way because their disability is the deciding factor.

That they might see Brexit as a good thing overall for themselves and their children, despite the possible (and highly improbable!) negatives is irrelevant.

Strange Definition Of ‘Good Lad’…

His dad, who attended the case on Wednesday last week, said: “He can be a good lad. It’s just he has to learn to accept the word ‘no’.”

Doesn’t every teenager?

Barkingside Magistrates’ Court was told how the 16-year-old from Dagenham, who cannot be named for legal reasons, became irate when he could not find his cannabis grinder at his family home.

He then asked his mum for cigarettes and, when denied, took one anyway and threw it at it her before marching upstairs.

When he was unable to find his auxiliary cable to listen to music, he messaged his sister asking to borrow hers – but she refused. He then broke into her room and sent her a picture of the scene.

What a lovely family! And how heartening that they are seemingly prepared to put up with his cannabis habit, but not with theft and violence?

Why, if it wasn’t for low standards, they’d have no standards at all…

Chief magistrate David Hartshorn gave the defendant, who pleaded guilty, a 12-month conditional discharge so he had something “hanging over” him.

I know what I’d like to see hanging over him…

That Didn’t Take Long...

A national charity set up to support coeliac sufferers has hit out at the proposed cuts to gluten-free prescriptions.

Coeliac UK is concerned the cuts will leave vulnerable patients without support, affecting their ability to stick to a gluten-free diet, the only treatment for coeliac disease. Long-term effects of not maintaining a gluten-free diet include osteoporosis (brittle bones), unexplained infertility and, in rare cases, small intestine cancer.

Coeliac UK believes scrapping prescription food will cost the NHS more money in the long run.

Wait, so because you can’t get food that’s safe to eat on the taxpayer, you’ll stuff your face with the food you know will make you unwell rather than, say, just avoiding it and eating other food instead?

Sarah Sleet, chief executive of Coeliac UK, said: “The suggestion to remove gluten-free prescription services for everyone of all ages, regardless of circumstances, with coeliac disease is being based on budgets rather than patient need.

“The provision of gluten-free staple food on prescription is a vital element of the support offered to these patients by the NHS and it is essential to prevent long term damage to health.”

Hmm, no, sorry, love. There’s an option you haven’t considered, isn’t there? Have a salad. No gluten in that!

Ms Sleet added: “For someone medically diagnosed with coeliac disease there is no choice but to stick to a gluten-free diet, day in day out for life, and so access to gluten-free staples is critical, but not as easy as you might think.

“The expansion of Free From aisles in large supermarkets masks the reality of very patchy provision. In particular, small stores and budget supermarkets have little, if any, gluten-free staples.

“What’s more, prices make such products unaffordable for some.

“Both these issues put the most needy at risk – those on a limited budget or with limited mobility.”

So go without. Plenty of alternatives.

Good grief, I love cherries, but if they made me deathly ill, I’d have no compunction about removing them from my diet!

Official Council Statements Are The Best!

A Crayford woman claims her autistic and epileptic grandson has missed four years of education because he was not offered a school place by Bexley Council.

What? Surely not!

Mrs Malpas does not have a job as she is a full-time carer for Jack, who takes medication to tame his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Hmmm.....

A Bexley Council spokesman said: “We cannot go into detail or disclose the personal information about this case except to say that the only time Karen Malpas’ grandson Jack has been without education was at the time he was receiving medical support in 2011.

“At all other times he has been receiving education and he currently attends a specialist tuition centre where he has the benefit of a one to one personal assistant to ensure that his needs are met.

“He is reported to be doing well in this placement.

“We are in the process of approaching alternative schools as he is now a secondary school student and, while this happens, his education will be continued with the support he is currently receiving.”

Ah. We can read between the lines.

I Suppose We Shouldn't Be Too Surprised...

...this is, after all, the force that announced a man shot six times died of a heart attack...

Oh, For...!

This is a major ad campaign in a national newspaper. I know I'm a pedant, but 'fewer' would have scanned just as well, and been accurate to boot!

Sunday Funnies...

Reincarnation might not be all it's cracked up to be...

Protecting The Narrative….

A mob of schoolgirls hurled racist insults at a Muslim shop worker and tore a hijab from her head in shocking town-centre abuse.

The crucial words here being ‘allegedly’…

Police officers attended the shop but the group had left and there was no CCTV footage to help identify those involved.

That’s handy, eh? The comments are, as always, rather enlightening.

Mohwa Sanonce

Shouldn't the headline have used the word 'allegedly' before 'tear off Muslim worker's hijab'? There's no actual proof that it was in fact torn off is there? Shoddy, sensationalist reporting indeed.

Quite! Which brings the immediate virtue signalling response now expected of keyboard SJWs:

ResidentTony >Mohwa Sanonce

So if they didn't actually tear it right off, everything is just fine and dandy?

*sighs* But it seems that the commenters are made of sterner stuff than usual, and one in particular isn’t giving up:

Mohwa Sanonce >ResidentTony

That wasn't what I said - but why lie or sensationalise the headline? It's this kind of wind up reporting that 'outrages' a certain 'community' - who let's face it, get 'outraged' over the slightest thing - and the bleeding hearts. Take away this ALLEGED act of (repeatedly apparently) tearing off a hijab and the also ALLEGED 'racism' and what have you got? Chav kids doing what chav kids do wherever they are - and no more, no less. Sure, they're little bastards and need to be put firmly in their place, but it puts a whole different spin on the story does it not? How boring it would be to read 'Schoolgirl mob swear and steal from Sutton Poundland store'...much better and inflammatory isn't it to have 'Schoolgirl mob tear off Muslim worker's hijab and hurl racist abuse in Sutton Poundland store'?

And we’re off! *settles in with popcorn*

ResidentTony >Mohwa Sanonce

Your first paragraph is not very clear, but I agree that exaggerating the story (IF and I repeat IF that has happened) is obviously problematic, but equally a seeming lack of sympathy for the victim is also problematic. However you cut it, something bad has occurred - it is just a question of how bad. Surely you don't have to be what you would disparagingly call a bleeding heart to recognise that. Surely any decent person would. At the end of the day, you are basically calling the shop worker - and the other staff who were quoted - liars. Or you are calling Mr Anglesey a liar. Is racism so very, very rare that you just *can't* believe it when it happens?! Sometimes when something looks bad it actually IS bad!

Classic right out of the SJW playbook – insinuate that questioning something is tantamount to approving of it, and that failure to simply accept someone’s claim is an accusation of lying.

By now, others are smelling a rat:

CarGirl1234

Many inconsistencies in this story. "Police attended the shop" yet there was no police record of the abuse. Also, should the Sutton Guardian be naming a school with no verification, and when the incident was on a Sunday when the children would not have been in school uniform? This sounds like it was an awful incident, but please get your facts straight!

Which draws some of the fire from poor Mohwa…

CarGirl1234

I am not suggesting that the incident didn't happen. I am suggesting that this would have been better handled if an official complaint had been made to the police each time a theft or racist abuse occurred. Also, what can the school do if they are not informed by the shop owners or the police? Systems are in place to deal with crimes such as this, but they need to be actioned correctly.

Who could possibly argue with that?

Cheam Hall

CCTV is all over the place in Sutton . Very good equipment I believe. Surely the whoever monitors this (police or civilians working for the Police) would notice a 20 to 30 strong gang of girls in the high street all going into one shop? That should immediately ring bells with trained observers. I thought all footage is kept for a certain period as well. That said, why does a company like Poundland not have useable CCTV inside the shop ? even small independamnt shops do these days. If this was the case we would not be debating at what actually occurred.

A damned good point. ‘Resident Tony’ has been away to elicit support, meanwhile, and comes back with gushing praise for….the ‘Daily Mail’..?!?

ResidentTony

I thought I'd check what those commenting about this story in the right wing press were saying. Unlike here where most of you are unsympathetic and trying to pretend nothing much happened, many (if not all admittedly) commentators in the right wing Daily Mail were horrified and sympathetic. In other words they had normal human reactions. This puts most of you in an even worse light. Here is one typical comment from the Mail (hardly a bastion of "left wing luvvies" or "bleeding hearts") which got five times as many up votes as down votes: "Disgusting. Poor woman. This is what happens when you stand up to ignorance and foolishness. 14 year olds are old enough to know what they are doing."

I bet you never expected that, reader, did you?

Mohwa Sanonce >ResidentTony

I thought I'd check it too. Nowhere in the 'Mail' article is there any proof of what happened, and there is also no mention of the shop staff as there is here. The 'Mail' actually has this to open the story with; "A Muslim woman claimed today that her hijab was ripped from her head by a mob of schoolchildren as she tried to stop them stealing from Poundland." Note the use of the word 'claimed'. The only difference between the majority of the comments in the 'Mail' and the bulk of the comments here is that the 'Mail' readers have taken this woman's story as gospel, rather than ask is there any proof. The 'Mail' seem to have just lifted the story here and condensed it somewhat, and guess what...they've kept the line that states; "Sutton Police said it had NO RECORD of the abuse." (My capitals) You're flogging a dead horse sunshine.

I think Mohwa’s well ahead on points here, but why not go for a KO?

Mohwa Sanonce >ResidentTony

A 'normal human reaction'? Oh leave off! Only when it suits your agenda...if you'd picked an article where say for example a white woman had been (allegedly) attacked and racially abused by a mob of non whites, and the comments in the 'Mail' would have been ones of anger at the non white attackers - a 'normal human reaction' - you and your kind would have been slagging them off as thick, racist morons with the sanctimonious attitude you love so much. You would have been labelling them as right wing trash, ready to condemn without any tangible proof. However, as it's a Muslim woman here, bleating about this 'racist' attack - that nobody else saw - you just take it is as fact, and that those of us who question her 'allegations' of abuse (abuse that the police have no record of don't forget), are all nasty, racist Islamophobes (whatever an 'Islamophobe' is). Anyway, all that said, time will tell. There was similar outcry by the bleeding heart brigade about an 'attack' on a Muslim female by one Cinnamon Heathcote-Drury (google her and the case) until the defendant was found not guilty of racially aggravated assault by a court and the bleeding hearts were proved wrong! Let it go...

BOOM! I salute your indefatigability, Mohwa.

Your ‘Improvements’ Might Be Others’ ‘Downgrades’ Though…

Liz and Simon Randall have been working with national deafblind charity Sense and former education secretary Lord David Blunkett to publish a report on the issue.

The couple have a five-year-old son Luke who has a rare genetic condition which has left him with multiple disabilities, including epilepsy, limited hearing and poor sight.

The family from Steyning were consulted as part of a three month inquiry into the provision of play opportunities for disabled children up to five in England and Wales.

And despite the usual complaints from parents of disabled children that their lives are so stressful and they have no free time, this couple seem to have had quite a lot:

The Randalls tried to access several play areas in Sussex and feedback from their experience was used as part of the report.

They found the negative attitude towards their son’s condition was one of the major barriers to Luke accessing mainstream play settings.

Mrs Randall, 45, said: “There is a lack of information on what support is available and where to find accessible play opportunities.

“The playgroups and nurseries we found weren’t equipped for a child with complex needs. “

Well, of course they aren’t! How could they be? The cost would be prohibitive, and many of the things that non-disabled children use would need to be removed.

“The environment was often hazardous, whether that was the layout of the area, the furniture or unsuitable toys.

“Luke needs lots of sensory stimulation. He responds really well to toys with bells, whistles, different textures and lights and sounds, but it’s rare that these are provided.

“We also need somewhere soft, like a ball pool or trampoline. However many facilities seem to have hard surfaces which are not great for Luke who likes to lie on the floor a lot and test things with his head. “

Then maybe someone should suggest that a ‘general purpose’ child’s playground is not the best place for him?

“We’re often confronted by quite ignorant views and attitudes. Other children tend to be inquisitive about Luke but many parents are reluctant to include us.

“You can see them steering their child away. It’s like they think his condition is contagious.

“For this reason, it is tempting to stick to specialist settings and just spend time with people who see Luke for Luke.”

So do so! What’s the problem with that?

The Play report reveals that across the country, eight out of ten parents have struggled to access a mainstream play setting and one in two disabled children has been turned away from play activities.

Lord Blunkett and Sense are now calling for urgent action to address this.

How? Without costing a shedload more money that councils claim not to have, or devaluing the options offered to all the other users who aren’t disabled?

The ‘Guardian’ Supporting ‘Top Gear’?

Is Jonathan Jones’ column one of the Signs of the Apocalypse?

This stern sentinel is a mighty container of memory. It is not, however, a place of hushed reverence – except on Remembrance Sunday. How can it be, located as it is on a busy street in the heart of a capital city? If the Cenotaph were in a military cemetery or on a battlefield site, it might be possible to preserve decorum around it. Instead, it stands on Whitehall. This white sepulchre is there to remind us of the lost as we go about our business – a stopped heartbeat in the hubbub. But that’s not enough to stop the wave of complaint that led broadcaster Chris Evans to apologise for a stunt filmed for Top Gear on his radio show on Monday morning. Evans unequivocally said he was sorry for a scene in which Matt LeBlanc drives a fast car near the monument. “Retrospectively, it was unwise to be anywhere near the Cenotaph with this motor car,” said Evans. How long did he have to rehearse those words to be able to say them without laughing?

Gosh! A CiF column in which Top Gear’s irreverence and ‘anything goes for ratings’ approach isn’t lambasted for being offensive?

Top Gear can’t possibly have intended this offence, which surely exists only in the imaginations of a few excessively sensitive souls.

Hang on, I thought Perceived ‘Guardian’ Wisdom® was that offence was in the eye of the beholder?

And that one cannot claim one’s complainer to be ‘overly sensitive’ or that merely compounds the offence?

Is this thoroughfare now to become a no-man’s land, where pedestrians must be hushed and all traffic banned? Are tourists to be prevented from taking pictures of the Horse Guards lest they “disrespect” the nearby Cenotaph?

Is anyone even suggesting this?

Liberty means taking liberties. Whitehall needs to be desecrated from time to time precisely because it is the heart of government.

Ah. In other words, ‘I’m quite in favour of you horrible oiks who revere Remembrance Day and like to see all the pomp & circumstance frothing at the mouth, so I’ll overlook the fact that the people who are doing it are the racist, sexist, knuckledragging morons I’d otherwise see put in stocks for enlightened folks like me to sneer at’…

Have An Oscar With Your Suspended Sentence!

Lyam Ridley, 31, admitted threatening Mihir Amin, a worker at Cellar Plus, in Whitmore Way,Basildon, with a 7ins blade.

Mr Amin, 44, used a stool l from behind the counter to keep the knifeman at bay and refused to hand over any money.

As he appeared at Basildon Crown Court for sentencing, Ridley, of Gobions, Basildon, collapsed in the dock during a suspected epileptic seizure.

Hah! Like that’s going to work, matey!

Judge Adrian Williams QC took pity on him, suspended his 18-month prison sentence.

Oh.

Jumoke Hughes, mitigating, said Ridley was addicted to class A drugs at the time of the attempted robbery on Saturday, July 11, and had been put up to it by a friend.

She said: “Ridley’s health has deteriorated somewhat, specifically his epilepsy. He is currently staying with family in Norwich as the level of seizures he is experiencing at the moment, he needs to stay with his family.”

Funny how his ‘disability’ didn’t seem to affect his life of crime, eh?

Sentencing, Judge Williams QC told him: “Robbery is taken extremely seriously by the courts, particularly an attempted robbery which involves the use of a weapon.

“The victim of this particular robbery feared for his life.

“A period of imprisonment is inevitable in almost every case, but having regard to the particular circumstances in this case, in that the defendant pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, is a man of good character and has a number of health difficulties, I am willing to suspend the sentence.”

Yes, yes, we all know that the legal term ‘a man of good character’ just means he hasn’t been found guilty of anything else, but come on..!

Mr Amin said he was disappointed with the sentence.

You’re not alone.

Because This Is Always The Outcome Now, Mr Williams...

Elizabeth Power, for Maqsood, said he was a young man with health problems caused by a hole in the heart while Justin Jarmlin, for Aqeel said he would not have got involved if he had not been in drink.

Hmmm....

He told the Mail he was unhappy with the sentences: “I am traumatised, disappointed and unsure if or how I can continue my livelihood as a photographer on Broad Street.

“I am scared, feel unprotected and disenfranchised by the Judicial System.

“This attack has jeopardised my work, life existence, and now it is apparent that no real justice will be served.

I ask why is this the outcome?”

This is Great Britain in 2016.

Just When You Think You've Reached Rock Bottom...

...Britain's underclass goes that little bit deeper for you:

Parents who stole and sold laptops from a cancer ward where their terminally ill son was being treated have been sent to prison.

Matthew Ingham, 37, and Kim Ager, 34, were told their actions had been “despicable” as they were jailed over the theft of the computer equipment at Leeds General Infirmary.

Even I'm shocked!

Leeds Crown Court heard the pair even tried to blame their sick nine-year-old son, who has an aggressive form of cancer, for the thefts.

*blinks*

Glen Parsons, for Ingham, of Hardwick Street, Keighley, said his client had committed the offences as he had become addicted to class A drugs as he struggled to cope following his son’s diagnosis.

Mr Parsons said: “He has lost his dignity, he has lost his good name. This is a case which has generated widespread publicity. He has been vilified in his own community.”

Yes, those are all consequences. Not reasons why 'he's been punished enough'.

Julian White, for Ager, of Blackthorne Road, Ilkley, said she had now moved out of the family home and was in a relationship with another man.

Mr White said Ager had never been in trouble before. He added: “This lady is never ever likely to trouble these courts again.”

Hmmm, really?

Jailing the pair, judge Sally Cahill, QC, said: It is difficult to find a word that describes just how despicable this offending was.”

It isn't difficult at all. But this is a family blog..

H/T: Woman on a Raft in comments

Always A Dead Giveaway…

Tributes have been paid to a young man who was stabbed to death in Thornton Heath last night.

First, street names:

Mujaahid Wilson, also known as TS or Tiny Sneaky…

Then, friends who are notorious, or who need to remain anonymous:

Brixton rapper Sneakbo tweeted: "The streets don't love you...Smh Rip TS!" One friend, John, who wished to be known only by his first name, said Mr Wilson was a "great person."

Next, hints about what the victim was really like:

"My bike was stolen once my sister called him and he helped me get the bike back within half an hour and he got the boys to apologise."

And then the authorities giving the game away:

DCI Reynolds said: "It is clear the victim argued with one suspect, who we believe must have been known to him, and the rest of the group were not involved. They are being treated as witnesses and we would ask them to contact us in confidence."

Nothing to see here, move along…

Is There Really Such A Demand For Hairdressers, Nail Artists And Playgroup Attendants Then?

South Essex College in Southend has started a formal consultation process with staff about the decision to close the Jungle Cats nursery, which has 58 children on its roll, on July 15 to enable more room for classes for the college’s burgeoning student population.

Oh, great. More 'students' with varicoloured hair & tattoos and facial piercings to stuff up the C2C train service...

Wendy Barnes, vice principal for student support at the college, said: “It is with regret that the College began a formal consultation with staff on January 7 on the proposal that the Jungle Cats nursery be closed from July 15.

“Since the college first opened the Luker Road campus in Southend, the number of students enrolling on courses has grown significantly.

“We are now at the point that, despite moving some administrative functions and some provision to the college’s other two campuses, we have no further room for manoeuvre and need the space occupied by the nursery for teaching.

“The nursery was originally set up many years ago to provide nursery placements for the children of college students but over recent years the number of students requiring nursery placements has dwindled.”

Given the behaviour of today's 'students', with their demands for 'safe spaces' and 'no free speech', I feel that nursery places are exactly what should be provided...

They’re Cuckoo If They Think We Should Care About This…

Out-of-town drug dealers looking to base themselves in south Essex are taking over the homes of vulnerable people, police have warned.

Oh no! Those dastardly fiends! Who are they targeting, the elderly? The learning disabled?

The tactic, known as “cuckooing” , after the way cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, involves gangs taking over drug users’ homes to store and deal drugs.

Oh.

OK.

Never mind.

Sgt Ben Woollard, who is working with the Operation Raptor team, set up to tackle and disrupt drug-dealing gangs in the area, said his team had encountered the practice in both Southend and Basildon.

He added: “We are acutely aware of people who have their homes taken over by drug-dealing gangs and are under duress.

“At the forefront of our minds is the vulnerability of the victims of cuckooing.

“We will look to secure the safety of the individual, by getting them moved, using partner agencies or employing other tactics.

“They are often vulnerable, by the nature of their addiction, and we try to tackle that head-on as well.”

*shrugs*

I Guess We Can Cut The Police Budget Again…

Victims of 'Islamophobic' abuse can now report incidents using a new telephone helpline thanks to funding from…

Saudi Arabia? The local mosques?

… Lancashire’s police and crime commissioner.

*sighs*

The dedicated third-party reporting service for victims of anti-Muslim abuse, run by the Lancashire Council of Mosques, aims to raise awareness of the problem and was launched on Friday after helpline bosses accepted a £2,500 grant from Lancashire’s police and crime commissioner,

Clive Grunshaw, and £1,500 from Lancashire Partnership Against Crime.

Well, I suppose it saves them spending it on flowers for Darwin Award candidates and their chavshrines!

Faz Patel, community cohesion campaigner from Blackburn, said he thought the helpline was needed.

He said: “There is a real need for this. I think it is important that people can pick up the phone and report something confidentially."

“It is important that vulnerable people from the Muslim community who have been victims of crime can contact this telephone line.

“Any forms of hate crime should not be tolerated whether it is antisemitism or homophobia.

“At this moment in time Muslims have been made a scapegoat.”

Have they really?

And don’t we already have confidential police reporting? Why, then, do Muslims require something special, since Jews aren’t asking for it?

And more to the point, why is the taxpayer stumping up the money for it..?

Well, Frankly, Anyone Would, Wouldn't They?

"The defendant thinks she may have touched his testicles, which meant that he turned on her," Mr Christopher Stapleton, defending, said.

No, no. It isn't what you think!

Two reports were submitted about the condition and behaviour of the animal, one calling for it to be destroyed and the other stating it should be saved.

Magistrate Jean Reed adjourned the hearing for a third report to be done on the dog by the Crown Prosecution Service.

She also requested Mrs Dosanjh speak to probation officers and her husband attend the case when it returns to court on March 11.

Well, why not. It's only public money. Best of three?

This Definition Of ‘Art’ Is Rather Too All-Encompassing…

Brixton’s annual free Splash street party has been called off after a reported spike in violence, drug-taking and arrests marred last year’s tenth anniversary event.

Lambeth Council last night rejected an application for this summer’s party saying south London’s answer to the Notting Hill Carnival had become “a victim of its own success” and grown “potentially dangerous” .

Why on earth would anyone else need an ‘answer to the Notting Hill Carnival’..?

Ros Griffiths, who helped found the festival but stepped aside in 2010, said she hoped the postponement would allow a fresh start. She said: “Last year the local reaction was that it has lost direction.

“Traders were complaining, residents were complaining and there was a problem. The event got too big and moved away from what it was meant to be about.”

She said the original event was aimed to showing (sic) Brixton’s independent traders and talented young people, using local businesses and products to keep the money within the neighbourhood.

So it started with good intentions, and has lost its way?

The Splash is a non-profit community organisation established in 2005 which also runs an outreach programme for young people to get access to the arts, part-funded by the Arts Council. Organisers also offered a qualified stewarding training programme for young people to get work experience controlling the crowds during the event.

The company currently has three board members but none were available for comment last night.

In a statement the board said the town hall planned to take over the festival and accused the council of “railroading” them. They added: “Lambeth’s dwindling financial support and physical support over the last few years shows its true feelings towards the event.”

So it’s soaking up taxpayer moolah courtesy of the Arts Council?

Curiouser and curiouser…

Glorious Diversity For Essex!

Southend:

A 16-year-old from Westcliff, who cannot be named for legal reasons, launched the vicious knife attack on a boy from his school after a row over Facebook escalated into a physical fight in the street.

Southend Youth Court heard the teenager organised to meet up with the boy he was arguing with outside McDonalds in Southend’s High Street on October 22 last year.

Tamsin Sharpe, prosecuting, said: “The victim was at his home and was arguing with the defendant over Facebook chat.

“They were having a disagreement about the defendant being disrespectful towards females. “

“They agreed to meet outside McDonalds and there was a fight, they were punching each other.

“The victim won the fight as he had the defendant pinned to the floor.” Following the fight, the victim got up to walk away but noticed the 16-year-old attacker had got to his feet and was pulling out a knife. A chase ensued and the defendant caught up with the boy, before stabbing him in the chest.

But never let it be said that these fights are unregulated!

The court heard the fight and the stabbing were witnessed by the victim’s cousin, who had stood nearby to keep watch over his relative.

Lovely. Meanwhile, in Colchester:

At 6.17pm, Essex Police officers were called to St Botolph’s Street to reports that four men had attacked another man. 

Then, just five minutes later, officers found an 18-year-old London man in St John’s Green with suspected stab wounds to his shoulder. It is thought he may have been attacked near Southway. He was taken to hospital for treatment and police subsequently arrested him on suspicion of possession of cannabis.

At 6.27pm a 21-year-old man from Barking was found in North Hill with a stab wound to his leg. He is believed to have been attacked in the town’s High Street. He was taken to hospital for treatment and police arrested him on suspicion of violent disorder.

And just four minutes after that a 17-year-old man from London was found near the Jumbo car park at Balkerne Gardens with four suspected stab wounds to his arm. He was also taken to hospital and police arrested him on suspicion of violent disorder, possession of cannabis and breach of bail conditions.

I wish I could believe that gangs are seeking alternative opportunities in the counties because the Met have made things too hot for them in London, but I can’t say I could type that with a straight face, frankly…

People In Glass Houses...

...really shouldn't be throwing any stones around, should they? Spellcheck is your friend.

LOLWUT?

*sighs*

Sunday Funnies...

But did they all wrap up the case in ninety minutes or less?

"I Am Woman, Hear Me Demand Free Stuff!"

A spokeswoman for the library said: “It is ironic that the Feminist Library is in danger of being made homeless on March 1, when March is Women’s History Month and March 8 is International Women’s Day.

“Many libraries, women’s organisations, and longstanding community projects have been forced to close in the current climate of austerity, including Lambeth Women's Project, Peckham Black Women's Centre, and the London Irish Women's Centre.

“Southwark Council forcing the Feminist Library to pay market rent immediately is another symptom of this.”

 Wait, what? 'Pay market rent'? What have they been paying up to now?

Southwark Council said the library has not paid rent in seven years and instead only pays a £12,000-a-year service charge.

*speechless*

A council spokeswoman said the library had been offered rent of £18,000, in addition to the service charge, or help with finding alternative premises.

Councillor Fiona Colley, cabinet member for finance, said: “For the past seven years the Feminist Library hasn't paid any rent for its premises. Whilst we recognise and appreciate the work that’s been done by the library, we have a very clear duty to ensure our assets are being managed responsibly, and that we are being fair to other tenants who are paying open market rent.

“We have offered the Feminist Library a new lease with rent levels that reflect what other organisations in the building are paying. We have also given the library the time to find alternative premises.

“I have personally offered to meet with them to discuss the situation and try to find a way forward that meets both our needs, but at a time when the council's funding from government is being cut by £47m we are simply unable to continue to subsidise their rent.”

Ahahahahahahahahaha!

Don’t Blame The System If Your Voters Are Too Idle…

…or never actually existed in the first place:

An estimated 800,000 people have dropped off the electoral register since the government introduced changes to the system, with students in university towns at highest risk of being disenfranchised, the Guardian has learned.

Labour says it fears that the missing sections of the electorate are predominantly its supporters after the government moved from registration of electors by household to asking individuals to sign up, citing fears of fraud and error.

Maybe Labour would like to wonder how, with their supposed emphasis on ‘Education, education, education!’ they ended up with students too thick to work out that they’d need to register to get a vote?

Gloria De Piero, the shadow minister for electoral registration, said the data revealed an alarming reduction in students on the register, which is likely to raise fears that election results could be swayed by missing blocks of like-minded voters.

Or could be returned to normality once the idiots and people happy to vote themselves free money are removed…

With the national voter registration drive starting today, De Piero has written to John Penrose, a Cabinet Office minister, to call for all universities to offer registration for students when they enrol.

Why? It’s already plastered over every council website, there’s a national campaign of advertising & mailshots. What more do they need?

Removing Dependency, Bit By Painful Bit…

Gluten-free food prescriptions could soon be axed. Two south Essex clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have now launched a consultation on the issue.

There are currently around 700 coeliac patients receiving prescribed food in the Southend, Castle Point and Rochford areas, but cutting the service could save the CCGs about £180,000 a year.

Always a bugbear of the gone but not forgotten NHS Blog Doctor (who’d be in hot water these days if he was still blogging, after the treatment meted out to other tell-it-like-it-is social media commenters like Dr Christian Solomonides).

The CCG today launched a 20-day consultation, with responses invited from all members of the public, not just those affected by wheat-intolerances.

Simon Williams, head of medicine management at Southend CCG, said: “We are looking to review everything we spend our money on and this is one of the areas we are considering.

“Across the patch we spend £180,000 a year on the prescription food such as bread, pizza bases, pasta, biscuits and cake mixes.

“We might stop all prescriptions but we want to stress that this is only a consultation at this stage.

“Others have stopped already, in north Essex they are restricted quite severely and in mid Essex they have just recommended stopping all prescriptions, so the issue is in the spotlight across the county and we have decided to see where we go with it.”

This is one of the leftover things that made some sense when started, but no longer. Not with the easy availability of gluten-free food in every supermarket.

The CCG claims, were they to stop prescriptions, that the decision would be fair due to them not offering prescription food for other patients requiring a specific diet, such as diabetics.

Good point! They are simply told to avoid foods with sugar. The idea that an otherwise-healthy patient should be trotting along to the GP to renew a prescription for cakes and biscuits would boggle the mind…

There are other benefits too:

The commissioner also feels that removing the paperwork for GPs, who have to sign off a patients’ weekly prescription of gluten-free food, will free up time for other duties.

One can only hope they don’t fill that extra time with yet more pointless NHS stats gathering. Who knows, they might be able to see an extra patient or two?

The consultation project knows they will be in for a rough ride:

Mr Williams added: “We do not believe it will have a detrimental effect on patients’ health.

“We started doing this around 30 years ago when there was little or no alternative in the supermarket, but nowadays every big shop has an aisle of gluten free.

“The NHS spends about £25million a year on prescribing gluten-free food so if that stops then hopefully it will improve the market for people in supermarkets because they will be fighting to get a bit of that £25million.”

Are coeliacs happy to accept this thoroughly reasonable change? Well, not the ones giving interviews!

A coeliac sufferer has condemned the Clinical Commissioning Groups’ decision to potentially scrap prescription food.

Sue Hems, 50, of Rock It Inflatables, in Lascelles Gardens, Rochford, was diagnosed eight years ago and has found it hard to adjust to a gluten free lifestyle.

In 2011, when she owned Rockit Pizza and Grill, in Rayleigh, she introduced gluten free pizzas to the menu and said the move was welcomed by fellow coeliacs.

She said: “I do not agree with them doing away with prescriptions.

“It is easy enough to get hold of gluten free food in the supermarket now, but it is the cost that is prohibitive, having it available on prescription certainly helps.

“It has been hard to adapt but I can get by, but it is expensive being gluten free.

“It is wishful thinking from the CCGs if they think them cancelling prescriptions will bring supermarket prices down – it is just a cost cutting measure for the NHS.

“There is not enough of a demand for it in the supermarkets so their prices will stay high.

“Restaurants are starting to bring in gluten free menus now at similar prices and that’s great, but supermarkets just don’t bring their prices down.”

Expect impassioned ‘Taking the gluten-free bread out of people’s mouths!!’ articles in the ‘Indy’ and ‘Guardian’ in the next few months…