I, Too, Think We Should Ban Nuts On Planes...

...but not peanuts, people like you:

What are you most scared of? Perhaps snakes send a chill down your spine. Or heights leave your knees weak.

Heights, yes, I don't like them. But I don't let that fear rule my life. 

Peanuts may sound like an odd source of phobia, but they have taken on an absurd bogeyman quality for me since my daughter was taken to hospital by ambulance after eating peanut butter when she was six months old. Just the sight of a bowl on a pub bar, or their shells discarded on the pavement, can raise my heart rate – even when I’m not with her.

Nowhere is the sight of peanuts more confronting than at 30,000ft, especially now when millions are jetting back from their holidays. Travelling with a severely allergic child can be a nightmare for all sorts of reasons, but the idea you could be sat next to a passenger consuming the very thing that has hospitalised them is its own kind of hell.

As Tim pointed out, this is a you problem. Not an us problem. 

Most airlines will make an announcement asking passengers to avoid consuming nuts if you let them know that somebody in your party has a severe nut allergy. But I brace for impact when these announcements are piped out. On almost every flight there is at least one passenger who sighs or makes some inane comment, loud enough for everyone to hear, about how annoying it is.

When confronted with someone else's neurosis and entitlement, I'd be surprised if no one did that. 

I didn’t realise the right to eat nuts was a civil liberties issue. How utterly absurd.

Then you're as dumb as a brick. 

I am mystified by this mean-spiritedness. Allergies are not a lifestyle choice but a medical condition.

 It's a very good question, isn't it? 

Take a look at some of the comments under Chloë’s post and you’ll see what I mean. They are staggering in their stupidity. “Fly private or DON’T FLY AT ALL. Don’t make other people’s lives miserable just to please yours!” one reads.

Allergic people can’t be wrapped in cotton wool.

Good, we agree on that!  

Banning nuts on planes seems like a no-brainer.

To a person with no brain, yes. What are airline supposed to do, frisk people for them? 

Banning nuts on planes could send an important message to the broader public. That people with allergies should be able to travel without fear. That compassionate societies make accommodations.

We've made far to many accommodations to modern life and the inability of people to realise it doesn't revolve around them or raather, we've been made to!

'We are perfectly reasonable people...'

Says who? A spokesman for owners at High Penderleath, a caravan site with a strict policy that campers cannot leave the site after 11.30pm unless it's for an emergency.

And yet the 'Mail' would clearly like us to believe that the people who chose to leave when they wanted to leave are in the wrong, are indeed 'entitled' people for doing so, who should be 'ashamed' for failing to comply with the prison's camp's demands.

This is the moment an 'entitled' married couple break a Cornish campsite's barrier at night so they can pick their children up from a music festival. The husband and wife were captured on CCTV spending more than an hour trying to lift the electronic barricade at family-run High Penderleath campsite in St Ives, which had been closed for security reasons.

Security reasons? It’s a bloody campsite, not a nuclear research facility! 

Appearing triumphant after causing £4,600 worth of damage, she puts her face up to the camera again and sneers, 'I hope your barrier never works again, you k*******s' before What A Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers begins to play over the footage.

 I don’t blame her, but ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ by The Who might be more appropriate. But back to the commandant of Stalag Penderleath:

'What we don’t find reasonable is being left with a substantial repair bill because someone decided to disregard a security restriction rather than make arrangements with us beforehand.'

Just repeating the term isn’t going to give it any more gravitas, you know… 

You're Just Not That Riveting, Clearly

Rosamund Pike confronted an audience member during a performance of Inter Alia at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End on Saturday. The actor, 47, who won an Olivier award for her role as a crown court judge in the show, blasted an audience member for texting during the climax of the play.

How very dare they not pay attention! 

During the curtain call, Pike pointed out how unacceptable it is for audiences to use their phones, especially during pivotal moments.

If you were any good in the play, maybe they wouldn't? 

A member of the audience said after the performance that Pike seemed “genuinely upset”, the Times reported.

Ah, bless... 

Pike is not the first thespian to criticise audience behaviour in British theatres. Just weeks ago, Cynthia Erivo brought her performance of Dracula to a standstill after noticing an audience member filming on a mobile phone.

Rather like being at school, they punish the entire audience because one member is acting up.

The Dropping Of Charges Is Almost In The Bag...

A teenager accused of staging a bomb hoax which forced a Peter Kay comedy show to be evacuated had to be removed from court after he started stripping down in front of the judge. The hearing for Omar Majed, 19, who appeared at Birmingham Crown Court via video-link from HMP Brinsford, was cut short after prison officers removed the defendant from the room when he started to take off his prison-issue grey tracksuit bottoms.

Yes, it's him again. 

Judge Andrew Smith KC was trying to address the defendant, who was not arraigned during the hearing due to the need for psychiatric reports, to let him know when he next needed to appear.

Or 'if' should he keep this up until the CPS gets cold feet.

A further case management hearing for Majed, of Saltley, Birmingham, who was charged with communicating false information to police contrary to the Criminal Law Act, was set for July 27 and a provisional date for a trial, lasting two weeks, was scheduled for November 3.

Once again, I'm forced to note no year is mentioned... 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arrogance...Or Playing The Mental Health Card?

A man charged with false communications over an alleged bomb hoax at a Peter Kay show has been removed from court after repeatedly talking during a hearing on Monday. Omar Majed, 19, was ordered to go down to the cells part-way through an 11-minute proceeding at Birmingham Magistrates' Court.

Could go either way, frankly, these days. 

Majed, of Saltley, Birmingham, was charged with allegedly making false communications that a bomb was present in the arena.

And he continued his disruption tactics into court. 

After confirming his address and date of birth at the start of the hearing, Majed was repeatedly asked to be quiet by District Judge Michelle Smith, who was appearing in court via a video-link. District Judge Smith also made several requests for Majed to sit down.

Eh? The judges are now appearing by video link as well as the accused?!  

After Majed shouted that proposed bail conditions for him were "not acceptable", he was taken down to the cells before the end of the hearing. He did not make a plea to the single charge of communicating false information to police and was refused bail.

The judge said she was "satisfied that the case should be dealt with in the crown court" in June.

Did she say which June?  

The Modern Day Scourge Of The 'Influencer'

An influencer has been charged after allegedly headbutting a charity worker who refused to let him film himself handing food to the homeless. The incident, which happened at Homeless Project Scotland's Glassford Street shelter on Thursday just after 11pm, saw an influencer allegedly turn violent after his request for a photo opportunity was refused.

These young folk, with their TikToks, eh?  

A 49-year-old man was arrested at the scene at 11.38pm and then charged in connection to the alleged incident. He will appear in court at a later date.

Isn't that a bit old to be an influencer?  

It is not known who the 49-year-old influencer is, but it is understood that he was staying at the House of Gods Hotel in Glasgow, where rooms start from about £150 per night. The charity claimed that House of Gods hotel staff attended the scene and asked their guest to return.

Wow, that's good hotel service if it includes negotiating a way out of chokey for you!  

This Is Why We Love Social Media!

And why politicians don’t. Stella Creasy is upset. The peasantry are mean to her:

The slogan “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution” holds new meaning in a world where an MP simply singing along to Robyn is labelled a sign of national decline. A tweet celebrating a Saturday night in my own constituency has now been viewed by almost 1 million people – and many more have offered an opinion.

Oh noes! The great British public shouldn't be allowed an opinion! Shut it down!  

Egged on by political opponents and the presenters of GB News, these have included death threats, vile commentary on my appearance and accusations that I’m not fit for office, all because I went to a silent disco.

No, it's because your party is loathed for good reason, as are you yourself. Not for your dancing, for your policies. 

Joy is now seen as something that should shame politicians – as though having frazzled and miserable people in our parliament is good for decision-making.

Your decision making?  It's awful, no matter what emotional state you're in at the time. 

Underlying this is more than just embarrassment about seeing a middle-aged MP dance, it’s a concerted attempt by some to drown out their opponents’ voices through character assassination.

Infamy, infamy, that've all got it in for me!  

Abuse and violence towards politicians is at an all-time high. Every day, MPs trade stories and sympathies about criminal proceedings against those who have harassed them, offices being attacked and poison pen letters, and fears they have for their families and staff.

Yet they do nothing about the causes of it. What did you do when Southend's MP was hacked to death in his office by one of your imports, besides import more of them, while ensuring his daughter's pleas for a public enquiry were ignored!  

It’s not hard to see why making rage-baiting statements is appealing in a world where the next generation will end up poorer than the last. Frustration and fear about the future are widespread and understandable. Politics seems incapable of offering answers at a time when they are needed.

Maybe then we should stop looking to politicians to provide them? 

It is also why dismissing the social-media cesspit misses how behaviour online feeds the real world, as it sets the expectation that we politicians deserve what we get. Since Elon Musk took over, X has promoted conservative material and demoted alternative perspectives.

You've got Bluesky for those.

But public debate and good policy-making only thrive when people can speak freely and listen carefully...

Then stop locking up people for doing just that, and start to argue that people shouldn't be allowed to use the law to silence people arguing against woke policies!  

... it is noticeable that attempts at public shaming are disproportionately handed out to women and people of colour.

Oh, give it a rest!  

If we want to stop politicians being punched, we need to stop using them as punchbags.

Nobodies punching you, more's the pity. We, the public, however, that's another matter... 

Oh, To Be A Fly On The Wall...

...when someone has to tell The Donald who she is!

Rachel Reeves has stepped up her criticism of Donald Trump’s war on Iran, describing it as a “mistake” that has destabilised the global economy and damaged living standards around the world.“I think it was a mistake to end those [talks with Iran] and to enter into conflict, because I’m not convinced that we are safer today than we were a few weeks ago,” she told an event in Washington.

'So, she's Defence Minister, right? 

'No Mister President, Chancellor!' 

'Well then, what does she know about military matters?'

'As much as she knows about monetary ones, sir...'

“Friends are allowed to disagree on things,” Reeves said. “When you are friends you can speak your truth and deliver that fair message,” she said.

I think you’re about to discover some well deserved ‘truthful speaking’ for the first time in your entirely undeserved life.

Feels As If The Muzzle Was Serving A Useful Purpose, Kristen

Stopping you from embarrasing utterances like these ones, for a start:

Stewart first read the book in 2018, while on the set of the movie JT LeRoy. She saw the visual potential in this mass of chaotic images and quickly decided it would be her first feature-length film as director. “Forty pages in, I was so rallied and so viciously adamant that nobody else could make the movie but me,” she says.

Really? Yet you've never made one in your life. 

“It was so physical. So vital. Such a permeating secret. There’s an unearthing quality to the way that [Yuknavitch] talked about trespass, and how your desires are carved into your body. As a woman, we have these seeping birthplaces that are our orifices, and it’s where we hold our power, but it’s also where we’re taken advantage of.”

This particular line generated much amusement over at Tim's place... 

At this point, less than two minutes in, it’s fair to say that it isn’t quite turning out to be your run-of-the-mill movie-star promotional chat. “We’re all so muzzled,” Stewart says. “And it just felt like the muzzle was off. That’s the fun part. It’s got a loud mouth. A big, wide-open mouth.” So she sent Yuknavitch an email.

Didn't pick up the telephone and use your loud mouth, then? Luckily for her, the auther appears to be cut from the same cloth: 

“A wildly exciting email,” the author says, from her home in Portland, Oregon. “She was explaining to me why I could never let this book be a regular biopic movie, and how I had to let her make a piece of art out of it. The language she used went under my skin immediately, because it wasn’t regular-person language.”

No, you're not kidding!  

Yuknavitch, obsessed with films since she was five, was, of course, familiar with Stewart’s work. “I even wrote a novel with her in mind, a while ago. She was younger. She had just punched through the Twilight experiences, and she was moving toward independent art films, and I pictured her in my brain when I wrote this novel.” It is called Dora: A Headcase. It sounds like a spooky connection, if she believes in that kind of thing? Artists, Yuknavitch replies, have a tendency to find each other.

Words fail me... 

Going Too Far...

A Tweet about the restrictions placed on schoolchildren going on a field trip went viral this week, for good reason:

The demand for children to hand their vital life-saving medication to the teacher, rather than keeping it on them, was not the reason, Reader. 

And predictably, the Tweeter faced claims of 'Fake!' snd 'Rabble rousing by the Right Wing' in response. 

But why is no one questioning the overweening arrogance of any school behaving as if they have the right to demand what type of sandwiches children can take in their packed lunch, not even under the banner of ‘healthy eating’ this time, but to comply with the demands of a religious minority? Or, as is often the way, not due to any actusl demsands, but out of an assumption that this shows them to be respectable people who are 'protecting'minorities..

The school itself - Mere Green Primary School in Sutton Coldfield -  hit the brakes and reversed as soon as the Tweet went viral, blaming 'human error', otherwise known as 'Ooops, we said the quiet part out loud'...

H/T:Carrie via Twitter

Ladies And Gentlemen, I Have Finally Found It!

 The most unbelievably and insufferably arrogant person in the UK! Beating off, I have to say, some pretty strict competition but he did it with ease:

Imagine the astonishing level of self-absorption you have to have to claim children are 'suffering' by not being able to read your works? 

It was against this backdrop (The Taliban's decicion to stop girls attending school, Reader)  that I read about the school in Weymouth, Dorset, that had removed American author Angie Thomas’s wildly popular young adult novel The Hate U Give from its Year 10 reading list, apparently in response to the objection of one parent, former Conservative councillor James Farquharson. While copies of the book would continue to be available in the school library, its removal from classrooms sent a worrying message: that one man’s comfort could be considered more important than the rights of an entire student cohort to access literature that might speak directly to them, never mind that it may contain dangerous or difficult ideas.

They can, of course, still access his scribblings freely, by walking into a bookshop or opening their Kindle and clicking the little shopping trolley icon, he's just lost his ability to have them given no choice but to read it by having schools ram it down their throats... 

The use of my novel, Pigeon English, is also under review at the school, thanks again to Farquharson’s intervention. His objections to my book – which he shared on Facebook having read the first 13 pages and Googled some reviews – centre on its use of profane language and depictions of violence and sexual behaviour.

Well, why on earth would we want children reading that, then? 

Pigeon English explores some of the same themes as The Hate U Give, social injustice chief among them. It draws on my experiences growing up on a diverse and deprived council estate in Luton in the 1980s and 90s, and on the killing of Damilola Taylor, the Nigerian schoolboy stabbed to death in Peckham, London, in 2000.

Sound like a feelgood read. 

The novel was very much directed at an adult readership, which I felt could parse some of its more troubling content and recognise the urgent social questions it posed. I did not predict that it would end up in the hands of schoolchildren or being dissected in classrooms; nor was I consulted when the decision was made in 2015 – rubber-stamped by a Conservative education secretary – to include it on the GCSE curriculum.

Should they have consulted you? This man's ego clearly knows no bounds. As if he'd have said anything but 'Yes please!' 

When Caravaggio’s Madonna di Loreto was unveiled in 1606 it scandalised Rome; not because it dared to put a face to the newborn Christ but because it showed the dirty feet of the peasants who knelt to venerate him. Centuries later, do those same prudish sensitivities still prevail?

Good god, he's comparing himself to bloody Caravaggio now!  

Nemesis Will Not Be Thwarted So Easily...

A British teenager who was jailed in Dubai after having sex with a UK tourist has been killed in a car crash - just months after being set free following a royal pardon.

This is the kid that all the hsnd-wringers and of course the 'black community' demanded be spared punishment from breaking the law in a foreign country. And he came back and, having learned nothing, ended his short life breaking it here.

Missing the addition of 'So he can die breaking the law over here!' 

Marcus Fakana, 19, died in Tottenham, north London, at around 1am on Friday after a car he was passenger in failed to stop when being blue-lighted by the Metropolitan Police. Officers say they 'temporarily lost sight of the vehicle' after tailing it for around 60 seconds, before discovering its involvement in a huge smash with another car at The Roundway.

They aren't saying the car was stolen, which is realy the sole surprising thing about this incident.  

Marcus was left seriously injured as a result of the crash and received first aid treatment at the scene, but he died shortly after being rushed to hospital. The driver, a man also aged 19, was arrested after the crash on suspicion of failure to stop and dangerous driving. He remains in police custody.

No doubt there will be people demanding he too face no punishment like Marcus. But sometimes, Nemesis takes a hand when civilisation fails. 

I Can Live With ‘The Arrogance Of A Few Billionaires’…

...it's the arrogance of activists that worries me far more:

Campaigners in Venice have claimed victory after Jeff Bezos was reportedly forced to change the venue for his wedding celebrations in the city as his guests started arriving on Tuesday for the three-day jamboree. The main reception for the wedding of Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, a former TV journalist, was due to be held in the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a majestic 16th-century building in the city centre. But according to the No Space for Bezos group, the couple relented after activists threatened to fill the canals with inflatable crocodiles to block their celebrity guests from entering.

Disrupting a person's wedding simply (and everyone else in the vicinity) because you envy his wealth isn't 'arrogance', then, according to these clowns? 

The event will instead take place in Arsenale, a historic complex of shipyards surrounded by fortified walls that will be much harder for the protesters to penetrate.

According to local press reports, the venue switch was also due to security concerns after the US joined the war between Israel and Iran, especially because Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, arrived in Venice on Tuesday.

Time these activists were treated as the terrorists they are! 

“We feel as if we scored a victory,” said one activist, who asked not to be named. “The crocodile initiative would have given a bad impression of the city – this is why the venue was changed even if the authorities might try to claim it was because of the war.”

Claiming victory whilst recohnising there were other factors in play shoes you don't even have the courage of your convictions 

“Bezos embodies an economic and social model that is leading us towards collapse,” Greenpeace said, arguing that lifestyles fuelled by “the arrogance of a few billionaires” are devastating for the planet.

Meanwhile, these activists use the products and services provided by those billionairs to organise their pathetic displays with utter lack of shame. 

You're Partly The Reason We Have Gated Communities And Video Doorbells...

The head of the UK's statistics body has blamed video doorbells and gated communities for adding to problems with jobs figures. Sir Ian Diamond said the Office for National Statistics (ONS) needs more funding to overcome the issues - which have been causing major problems for the government and Bank of England.

Of course, though it's hard to see how, since they merely forwarn us of visitors we might want to not talk to... 

Economists have been increasingly reluctant to put weight on the Labour Force Survey since the pandemic, with response rates plunging.The employment, wages and inactivity data are used by Threadneedle Street to help set interest rates, as well as by government. Last year the Resolution Foundation think-tank claimed nearly one million workers in Britain's jobs market have been 'lost', suggesting the rate of UK unemployment and inactivity could be overstated.

Now, I'm an ex-training team lead, and I know the value of feedback - I always rate attractions and establishments I’ve visited on GoogleMaps or other apps and recently, when I was up in Edinburgh for my birthday, I made one depressed-looking research chap’s morning in the St James Quarter shopping mall, when he tentatively approched (no doubt expecting to be told where to go) and asked if I’d answer a few questions. 

As I was just killing time I said I’d be happpy to, and the poor chap nearly dropped his clipboard in surprise!  

But these people? No. If they come knocking, they will get short shrift. 

Giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, Sir Ian said it was taking twice the level of effort to get interviews compared with pre-pandemic. He said that the ONS switched to phone interviewing during Covid, and since then it has found people have not returned to being 'happy about coming into their houses to spend 45 minutes interviewing them'.

'We're finding very, very, very high levels of flat refusal,' he said. Sir Ian said people were simply 'busy' in many places, before identifying other reasons. 'Our interviewers are finding it harder in some of the more advantaged areas where there are increasing gated communities, where you can't get in,' he said. 'Some of the flat refusals come because of Ring doorbells which enable people to say… these are things that are happening to us day by day.'

The doorbells are just an excuse - the truth is people no longer want to talk to you. Why should they? They get nothing for their time. Not even the satisfaction that they've been listened to.  

The public body also needs better data sharing between Government departments to support its work, he said, adding that fewer people now have landlines and that a directory of people's emails would help it reach more respondents.

So they want to harvest emails given to other government departments for other reasons, all so they can go straight into the 'spam email' folder? 

Will The Aussies Take This Lying Down?

All public servants in NSW who currently work from home will be made to return to the office as businesses continue to struggle across Sydney's CBD. Premier Chris Minns announced that anyone employed by the government who is still working from home will be made to return to the office from Tuesday.

Or will they bring in flasks of coffee and make their own sandwiches and say 'Your move, Chris me ol' cobber'..?

Executive director of Business Sydney, Paul Nicolaou, celebrated the news. 'This is fantastic news and great leadership by the Premier,' he said.'Employers are telling Business Sydney we have to get really serious about getting the CBD back to its pre-Covid footing. 'The city needs more foot traffic hence more workers back to the city to support the hundreds of businesses and enterprises that depend on them.'

Yet another one who believes that if the demand changes, the change should be cancelled. Don't we call that 'entitlement'? 

H/T: John B via Twitter

Sounds Like A Place Where Hope’s Been Abandoned…

A primary school has promised improvement after its kitchen received one of the worst food hygiene ratings in Bexley.

Hope Community School in Sidcup has vowed to "urgently" address the rating, after the Food Standards Agency (FSA) discovered a catalogue of failings during their visit in December. It was found that staff were not wearing protective clothing and could not tell the inspector what allergens were in the food they were serving to pupils. The grim discoveries led to an overall "one" hygiene rating, the second lowest possible – placing it in the bottom 1.1 per cent of establishments in the borough.

So, Greasy Ali's Kebab House provides a better - and safer! - meal for your kiddiewinks than their school! 

Good grief! Maybe they should get their education there as well? 

A spokesperson for the school said: "We take food hygiene very seriously.

OK, really? So, what's your explanation for this, then? 

"The lower than expected rating was predominantly due to improvements needing to be made in the paperwork and procedures element of the inspection.

Errr, yes.  

"The school very recently took the catering inhouse, and was therefore in a transitional stage during the inspection, which meant the catering team were still in the process of establishing the appropriate paperwork and procedures required."

That's your explanation? Jeez. 'The dog ate our homework' would have been more plausible...

🎵"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag..."🎵

"And that'll be a £100 fine, Mary Poppins, you antisocial nuisance!""

The letter says putting food out for wild birds is 'unreasonable and is having a detrimental effect on neighbouring residents'.

How utterly ridiculous! Hundreds of thousands of people feed birds in their gardens every day!

Mrs Seago, of Staining, near Blackpool – who has lived at her home since it was built in 1982 – enjoys sitting in her conservatory and watching sparrows and robins eat seeds on her bird table.

She lives with her son, retired car salesman Alan, 77, who fears the battle with Fylde Council could put his mother's life at risk. He said: 'The council letter is menacing. This will finish her off. If we get fined, we are prepared to go to court.'

It's a gamble, sure, but even our ghastly excuse for a justice system should find in her favour, given the council's behaviour. 

Residents supportive of Mrs Seago say the council is 'bullying and victimising' her while refusing to investigate counter-complaints against Darren Horne, the neighbour who has complained, for playing loud music and banging his bin lid.

Common sense should have ensured the council investigate both, as if it does come to court, they've established unfairness.  

How The BBC Spends The Licence Fee…

...and who'd ever have predicted it would be 'paying for mistakes made by an employee meddling in a murder case'?

The BBC has reached a settlement and further apologised to the mother of the murdered schoolgirl Karen Hadaway, who claimed that Martin Bashir took her daughter’s clothes and never returned them.

I expect the BBC bosses were happy to do so once assured it wasn't for a sexual purpose! 

In 1991, Michelle Hadaway said that the former BBC reporter asked for her daughter’s clothes for DNA tests for the BBC Two social affairs programme Public Eye. The investigation was never aired, with Hadaway saying that her calls to the broadcaster were ignored.

In 2021, the BBC conducted a review of the case in a fresh effort to try to locate the clothing. The BBC director general, Tim Davie, said the corporation’s investigators had spoken directly to Bashir but he had said he “doesn’t know where the clothes are”.

Davie apologised to the family but said “regrettably 30 years on, little more can be done to find the missing clothes”.

Let's hope at least the BBC has learned that when one of its employees asks 'Hey, can I play at being a forensic expert?' the answer should be 'NO!'... 

No Wonder They Want To Scrap The Lords...

They are a brake on stupid legislation at times, and they've done it again:

The controversial Trophy Hunting Bill has been blocked by the House of Lords after politicians were accused of failing to listen to conservation experts.

Because it seems that listening to the views of the people who live with an issue go out the window when there's vistuesignalling to be done. 

The African nations that are home to the most endangered animals had criticised the 'arrogant' legislation – which included a blanket ban on the import of all souvenir pelts and heads – for ignoring their views in favour of virtue-signalling celebrities such as Gary Lineker. But the Bill passed through the Commons unopposed in March.

Once again, it seems that dogma about 'colonialism' is ignored when the great and good want to rub shoulders with some vacuous sleb bunng hugger at the right parties... 

Rebel peers had asked for an amendment under which a small number of trophies could be imported if it could be shown that the hunting benefits conservation projects. They had consulted African experts who claimed that the profits from some sustainable blood sports are needed to pay for such work.

Ministers 'refused to compromise' and so the rebels talked the Bill down and stopped it.

Well done, Lords. Well done indeed.