Azealia Banks has pulled out of two festivals in the UK after claiming organisers tried to pressure her to support Palestine.
The 212 rapper has sparked controversy with her outspoken views throughout her career, having been accused of homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia in the past.
I know nothing about this lass's music, but being accused of all those things makes her worthy of a listen, I feel!
H/T: CJ Nerd via emailTwo paedophiles have won lifelong anonymity from being named after telling courts they might kill themselves if the public knew their crimes....because this sounds to me like a win/win situation whichever way it goes.
In 2022, a man was spared jail at Antrim Crown Court after admitting 22 offences involving possessing, distributing and making indecent child images.
Initially the sex-offender's identity was revealed following a legal challenge from local democracy reporter Tanya Fowles, however the judge then reversed his ruling and granted lifetime anonymity.
The decision was described as 'unprecedented' while Tanya warned of a 'deluge' of bids for anonymity by convicted paedophiles after the judgement.
Now a second paedophile, who was jailed for 16 months, has received an order to protect their identity from another court in Northern Ireland after threatening self-harm.You know who else often contemplates suicide and self-harm, 'your honours'? The victims of paedophiles. Shouldn't you be more concerned about them?
The BBC can make more efficiency savings rather than relying on cuts to shows, the head of the public spending watchdog has suggested.
...they know that, but it's not blackmail if you're not threatening to harm things people care about, now is it?
In response to the two-year freeze on the licence fee this year, the broadcaster’s director-general refused to rule out BBC2, BBC4 or Radio 5 Live being axed.
But speaking in front of peers yesterday, comptroller and auditor general of the National Audit Office Gareth Davies said he would ‘strongly resist’ the idea there are no efficiency savings left.
Mr Davies said the NAO’s work at the corporation showed there was ‘still duplication’ and pointed to the fact there were three teams dealing with advertising revenue from the US.
Who else is going to employ the expensively but uselessly educated graduate children of TV executives?
A developer told Bradford Council that a planned housing development would collapse if they were not allowed to...
Cram in people like rabbits in a hutch too small for them?
...call it Hannahs Hill.
*blinks*
Officers had said the name could be problematic, as current rules on road naming prevent streets being named after a living person, and "Hannahs Hill" could fall foul of this rule.
Officers had suggested that the scheme could instead be called Seam Close - named after a stone shaft on the site, which was once used for mining.
Street and road names can cause all sorts of aggravation, so it's unsurprising that councils would have guidelines and rules about this.
A report to the area committee said: "The developer has commented that the five house buyers are going to insist on Hannas Hill (sic).
"The proposed property sales have been put in place with the street name ‘Hannah’ or a variation of, which was agreed with the potential buyers before the current developer took over the site.
"The developer has stated that if the name ‘Hannas Hill’ is not approved then the development will cease."
This is blackmail. Tell the developer to do one! There's plenty of other developers out there.
At the meeting members said they had no issue with the name Hannahs Hill, and approved the request.
And now you've set a precedent. *sighs*
After the 19-year-old was found guilty of murder at Chester Crown Court today, Alex's family said: 'We have never come across a more selfish, cold and calculating person.'
Apart from your son, who was blackmailing his killer?
The trial heard Alex had contacted Mason's then girlfriend, Caitlyn Lancashire, in November 2019 and told her he had been sending 'flirty' messages and an explicit picture and video.
Mason denied the allegations to his girlfriend but began making payments to Alex's bank account at around the same time.
By the time of Alex's death, Mason had transferred more than £2,200 and was asking friends and family to borrow money, the court heard.
My normal urge for sympathy for the victim is having to work hard on this one...
More than 100,000 patients will not be able to get the Covid vaccine from their family doctor after their GP surgeries decided not to take part in its deployment, the Guardian can reveal.
Who is surprised? Anyone? Bueller?
Dozens of GP practices in England have chosen not to join the NHS’s coronavirus vaccination programme amid concerns their workloads are already too heavy, they have too few staff and that patients could suffer if practices have to cut back other services so doctors can administer the injections.
Let me tell you about my experience with GP services during Covid; an 'appointment' has been 'the doctor will call you sometime today', a visit to the surgery (when graciously permitted) entails standing outside in the freezing cold until one of the four receptionists deigns to stop gossiping with one of the others and come over to see you, and as for 'cutting other services', who knew they had any left to cut?
There is concern that, once a surgery has signed up, the length of the contract – nine months – could mean that patients may struggle to access care during that time.
That will hardly be a novel experience for patients, now, will it?
Roald Dahl fans have slammed Sainsbury's for bowing to pressure and stripping Matilda mugs from their shelves after campaigners claimed it could 'encourage domestic violence'.
Good lord, what does it say?
The 'offensive' £5.50 mugs carry the phrase, 'a brilliant idea hit her', an adaptation from a sentence in the children's classic, 'the germ of a brilliant idea hit her'.
Err...
...Roald Dahl fans called on the supermarket to 'resist idiocy' and said no one was going to read the mug and think 'Oh it's fine (to hit you) honey, the mug said so'.
A spokesman for Sainsbury's apologised and said they are 'working with' the Roald Dahl team to remove the mug from sale and review the design.Which idiots led this charge? Well, idiots like this one:
Women's Aid has also slammed the mug with Ruth Mason, its Head of Change That Lasts, stating: 'We were dismayed to see the Sainsbury’s design with the slogan.
'This slogan can be read two ways - and that is the problem.
'It can be read as the author Roald Dahl wrote in Matilda: ‘When at last the germ of a brilliant idea hit her'.
'However, it can also be read - as many have noticed and commented on social media - as a trivialisation of the violence that women experience in their own homes.'
Who'd read it like that? Only someone obsessed.
'The design uses a different font and capital letters for the words ‘hit her’ which further emphasises the ambiguity.
'In addition, the quote is not in full and out of context.
'Perhaps it would be a ‘A brilliant idea’ to change the design and donate to domestic abuse charities instead.'
Ah. A shakedown. So thanks, Sainsbury, you've now made yourselves and everyone else a hostage to fortune by treating this lunatics as if they had a genuine grievance...
Grocery store chain Trader Joe’s announced that it will not be removing popular international food labels despite being attacked as “racist” over the packaging.Good for them! An unusually strongly worded statement, for a change:
“A few weeks ago, an online petition was launched calling on us to ‘remove racist packaging from [our] products,’” the company said.
“Following were inaccurate reports that the petition prompted us to take action. We want to be clear: we disagree that any of these labels are racist. We do not make decisions based on petitions. We make decisions based on what customers purchase, as well as the feedback we receive from our customers and Crew Members. If we feel there is need for change, we do not hesitate to take action.”They have clearly learned from the Goya incident. Standing up to the keyboard warriors and Twitter bullies doesn't hurt your brand. It can, in fact, help it.
The US country group Lady A – known until recently as Lady Antebellum, before changing their name to shed its slavery-era connotations – is suing the blues and gospel artist Lady A over use of the name.Oh boy! Buckle up, Reader! It's going to be a wild ride...
When the trio first announced the name change in June out of respect for black Americans, it appeared that they were unaware that Anita White had been performing as Lady A for 20 years. “This is my life,” White said at the time.Such 'respect for black Americans' they failed to see if an actual black American might already be using the name. Wow! I guess they are the villains of this piece?
Shortly after the announcement, two parties shared an image of a Zoom call and said they were “moving forward with positive solutions and common ground”. Those talks have broken down. In a statement, the members of the country group said that representatives for White “demanded a $10m [£7.79m] payment”.Oh, Maybe not!
In an interview with Vulture published yesterday, White said she is seeking $10m (£7.8m) in order to use half to rebrand and market herself, with the other half to be donated to charities including those that support independent black artists.Oooh, nice one! How can they possibly object? She's played a blinder!
She said she felt the band’s actions had branded her as an “angry black woman”.Not sure 'angry' is the word I'd have chosen...
“$5m is nothing, and I’m actually worth more than that, regardless of what they think. But here we go again with another white person trying to take something from a black person, even though they say they’re trying to help. If you want to be an advocate or an ally, you help those who you’re oppressing. And that might require you to give up something because I am not going to be erased.”Ah, how delicious!
An increasing number of prominent board game industry and community members have pulled out of an upcoming show over The Game Manufacturers Association’s (GAMA)...Prices? Unsafe venue? Demand for contributors' first born child to sacrifice to Beelzebub to ensure success of the venture?
...continued silence over Black Lives Matter.Oh. *rolls eyes*
...those listed, and loads more, have withdrawn from the show over GAMA’s inability, when even the least sanctimonious corporations and sporting leagues on the planet have managed some kind of message, to make even the most basic statement of support for the Black Lives Matter protests that have been sweeping the United States since the beginning of the month.Because no-one can fail to genuflect in front of these activists' demands, or it might make some of the others wonder why they did.
You, like some people reacting to this news in the board game scene already have, might wonder why the absence of a statement would constitute such actions.Well, yes, most of us would, if we hadn't seen corporation after corporation cowering before the mob...
But their silence is more than silence. It’s a refusal to support some of their most important and vulnerable members, who have long had to deal with all kinds of shit just for existing in the board game space, which as you might imagine has (and is still having) more than its fair share of problems with bigoted and hateful community members.Because it's made of of people.
UPDATE 6:53am, June 11: GAMA has since released a statement on their Facebook page, cancelled Origins Online and offered to “match, dollar for dollar, any exhibitor, sponsor, advertiser, or vendor who donates the amounts they are owed for Origins Online” to a number of listed organisations.Perhaps they never devised a game where you paid the Danegeld and found you never got rid of the Dane? They might have learned something...
The mum of a 15-month old baby who has been in and out of hospital has slammed her housing association for forcing them to live in a house infested with mice.
Brooke Keen, 24, has taken her daughter Desire to A&E about six times in the last seven months with sickness and diarrhoea.
Brooke believes her daughter’s condition is linked to the mouse problem in her flat on Waters Road, which is run by Phoenix Housing Association....it can't be nice having to live with chavs, the poor little things.
The mum-of-two, who has lived in the flat for five years, told News Shopper: “I used to love my house, but now I don’t want to live there. I don’t even want any of my stuff because of the mice.”
Despite pleas to Phoenix to be moved out of the house, the housing association has not placed her in a new property – instead using temporary measures to try and get rid of the pests.
She claims the problems have continued despite traps and poison being laid, and despite Brooke's attempts to clean and ventilate the flat.The pictures in the paper don't show a lot of cleaning, it has to be said...
Brooke, who has a history of depression, believes the ordeal has taken a toll on her own mental and physical health.Of course she does. How better to get the move she wants than to try the old excuses?
In March, Brooke moved back in with her mum, Carina Keen, in Thornton Heath.So she hasn't been living there for the last three months after all?
“I’ve seen how it affects her. I watch her washing her hands all the time, like she’s paranoid," Carina told News Shopper. “She should be happy in her own home. Your home is a place you should feel safe. She shouldn’t have to keep running back to me."She shouldn't expect to sponge off the taxpayer forever either, yet here we are...
Addis, from Skipton, North Yorks who was unrepresented and visibly shaking during the hearing admitted sending the two texts but denied sending them with the intention of Mr B paying her money.Really?
'Regarding those text messages, there was no intention of blackmail at all. I had genuine concerns about the accusations made. This was not for personal gain.
'I accept they were malicious allegations but I truly believed I was helping Miss A'.Hmmm, OK, let's see the texts then:
The first message sent by Addis read: 'I feel duty bound to report to social services an allegation Miss A made to me back in April last year about you and historical abuse - now if she doesn't lie then it must be true and I feel duty bound to inform social services.'
In a further message sent the same day she added: 'Put the money you owe in my account TODAY.. and admit that Miss A is a liar that caused all this trouble or I shall go to my solicitor and social services in the morning. This is in no way blackmail as if you don't admit Miss A is a liar then I have genuine concerns, I am giving you the chance to settle this and clear your name.'Well, that's cleared that up!
A failing Muslim school has been shut down by Ofsted - but bosses argued being closed could lead to the radicalisation of students.Sounds familiar...
The Trust argued that children attending the school were avoiding potential 'radicalisation' during 'unregistered home schooling' by ultra-religious family members.Also sounds like the Trust isn't discharging its statutory duty to report this to the Prevent project...
It was also submitted that the school addressed the 'fine balance of the requirements of parents seeking a very conservative and traditional Islamic education with the need to introduce a wider modern context.'If that's the education they want, why are they here, in a modern, mostly-secular, liberal country?
Pupils, particularly girls, would face the prospect of no schooling at all were Ayasofia shut down, it was said.Which is illegal, and should see parents hauled before the courts, no?
Action Park, at Bonville Farm, Wickford, was forced to shut after Basildon Council issued an enforcement notice in May 2015 against the park. The site had been operating on green belt land without planning permission for seven years prior to its closure.That's longer than it takes to resolve some traveller sites!
Owner Philip McCaul says the closure of his site has caused motocross riders to set up racecourses on public roads.
Footage available on the Echo website shows about a dozen bikers pulling wheelies and slaloming at speed through traffic cones. He said: “What these riders are doing is utterly insane - they’re closing areas off and using them to race down. Sometimes there can be 30-40 bikes which meet at night, someone is going to be killed.”*shrugs* So long as it's one of the idiots, and not an innocent pedestrian...
Mr McCaul and park manager Marie Martin’s latest planning bid was scrapped by Basildon Council in February. However they have sent off fresh plans in the hope to get it reopened.FFS!
John Anderson, Canvey Island Independent Party councillor, said: “If it gets the bikers off the streets, so they’re not upsetting residents in the streets, then park is a good thing.
“But it’s imperative the nearby residents are consulted.”They are the ones who objected.
