Heartless…

An example of Leg-Iron’s ‘Righteous’ in action:

A terminally-ill teenager has won the right to die after she was taken to court by her local hospital in an attempt to force her to have a heart transplant against her wishes.

The sheer evil of worrying a terminally-ill girl and her family with a pending court case beggars belief. Well, to any normal person, anyway…

Hannah Jones, 13, wanted to die with dignity but child protection officers were drafted in and threatened to remove her from her parents custody to make her have surgery.

Where are these child ‘protection’ officers when Victoria Climbie is being tortured to death by her ‘carers’? Hiding in fear of scabies or being found ‘insensitive to her cultural heritage’, that’s where.

Still, no need for those fears of disease, obstruction, violence and potentially-awkward claims of ‘racism’ and ‘disrespect for culture’ with this nice, hardworking middle class English family to persecute, is there?

Her father, Andrew, 43, said: "It is outrageous that the people from the hospital could presume we didn't have our daughter's best interests at heart.

"Hannah had been through enough already and to have the added stress of a possible court hearing or being forcibly taken into hospital is disgraceful.

"It was hurtful to be accused of preventing her from doing anything, when everything we do is geared towards her happiness."

Couldn’t agree more….

Hereford Hospital said the decision on legal action was made by Herefordshire Primary Care Trust. A Trust spokesman said he could not comment for reasons of confidentiality because it was a child protection issue.

In a letter to the family, Chris Bull, Chief Executive of Herefordshire PCT, rejected the family’s complaint its actions and said the doctor’s actions in seeking the court order were '’appropriate’’.

Ah, first the buck passing, then the stonewalling, then the breezy dismissal of concerns and complaints by those in charge.

If they are so convinced of their arguments, then why, when the glare of publicity hits them, do they scurry like cockroaches for the nearest bolthole…?

Warming Up For An Election…?

Middle-income families and small businesses will receive billions of pounds of tax cuts and benefits in the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report within the next two weeks, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

Really? Coming so soon after the Glenrothes success, the 11th hour capitulation in the planned PCS strike and the handily-leaked ‘we’re all under threat!’ report at the weekend, it’s beginning to look a little suspicious, to say the least.

Downing Street sources said that Gordon Brown had been convinced of the case for substantial borrowing to fund a programme of tax cuts and to maintain high public spending to revive Britain’s ailing economy.

And not for any other reason. Oh, dear me, no…!

Treasury officials have been authorised to cost substantial reductions in tax revenue, including the possibility of a 1p cut in income tax, which would hand £4.2 billion back to taxpayers, and the abolition of stamp duty, which comes with a £6 billion price tag.

Less radical but still substantial measures, such as reductions in VAT and fuel duty, are also being considered.

Can people really be bought by a 1p cut in income tax? I think Brown is gambling that they can…

The Wisdom Of Crowds…?

Well, it seems that the popular vote is behind an amateur who has never achieved anything in his newly-chosen field, but seems to have the support of an unprecedented number of people, despite the wise words of the experts who are warning that he is dangerously inexperienced and will make the country a laughing-stock should he take the crown.

But enough about Obama’s win (and so far fruitless attempts to secure a competent Treasury Secretary).

Anyone know how John Sergeant’s doing in ‘Celebrity Come Dancing’…?

We Will Remember Them...

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

Lt.-Col. John McCrae

The Wrong Kind Of Victim

Some justice in sight at last for the family of Kevin Tripp:

A man has admitted killing an innocent bystander after a queue-jumping row in a supermarket.

Tony Virasami, 38, killed 57-year-old engineer Kevin Tripp with a single blow in a case of mistaken identity.

Although it’s for the lesser offence, of course:

Virasami admitted manslaughter at the Old Bailey after the prosecution agreed to drop a charge of murder.

The family of the victim, who leaves behind a five-year-old daughter, left the court in distress after the decision.

And the judge is getting his leniency speech down pat in readiness:

Judge David Paget QC said: "Whatever may be said about how it happened, in the end it was one blow and not with a weapon.

"This was a tragic incident. It was clearly a tragic mistake that Mr Tripp was fatally injured.'"

Perhaps Judge Paget might be less inclined to be lenient if Mr Tripp had been the victim of a ‘hate crime’?

Or perhaps my fears will be unfounded, and he will regard the death of an innocent man at the hands of a violent thug in an unprovoked attack as just as much ‘an awful waste of life for absolutely nothing’…

Well, He’s Made A Good Start!

Judge Colin Smith sentenced Elmansouri to life detention and ordered he serve a minimum of seven years before he can be released. He will remain on licence for life. He was also sentenced for a further seven years for the two counts of grievous bodily harm, to run concurrently.

Concurrently…? Might as well not have bothered imposing them at all then…

The judge said: "Despite your youth and lack of previous convictions I have to regard your conviction for the attempted murder of Ahmad as an extremely grave offence.

"The circumstances graphically illustrate the consequences which can follow from the production and use of a knife and the catastrophic effect such a crime can have on a victim of such conduct and on the victim's family and of course on your own family," he told Southwark Crown Court.

‘Lack of convictions’, your Honour, merely means this little waste of oxygen hadn’t been caught yet.

Or are we to believe this was really his first offence? Because he doesn’t look much like an overachiever to me…

Market Forces – I Love ‘em

Oh, I’m so glad my local cinema is a ‘Vue’….

Children will be banned by one cinema group from seeing the new James Bond film so that adults can watch it in peace.
Legally, because Quantum of Solace has a 12A certificate, children can watch it - although those under 12 need to be accompanied.

However, Vue cinema group found many adults resent children talking, texting and noisily eating in cinemas.

Great! Now we just need someone to stop the adults from doing that too…

Research and trials by Vue have prompted the ban on the young from selected screenings.

Mark de Quervain, Vue's sales and marketing director, said significant numbers of adults wanted to 'avoid disruptions that can be caused by audiences under the age of 18'.

Other films scheduled for over-18 audiences are The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves; Australia, a Second World War epic featuring Nicole Kidman; and Yes Man, a Jim Carrey comedy.

Hmm, can’t say I want to see any of those! Oh, well…

Industry body the UK Film Council has received many complaints from customers in its focus groups about people talking during showings and using mobiles, misdemeanours also sometimes committed by adults.

Aha! Still, I’m sure they have a useful and practical solution:

The Film Council, a government-backed body, proposed that greater vigilance by ushers and usherettes would rectify the problem - perhaps by shining a torch in the offenders face as in days gone by.

Hmmm, I think that only worked ‘in days gone by’ when thugs didn’t feel free to assault whomever they pleased. You’d have to pay usherettes danger money to do that now...

Another One Laughing At The ‘Law’….

A drunken thug who was spared prison for an unprovoked attack on a mother-of-two bragged about being let off on Facebook.

Because it's not like anyone couldn't check...

Liam Jepson, 22, was ordered to do community service for punching Caroline Stankevitch in the face, breaking her cheekbone, when she asked him to stop urinating by her car.

A court was told he accepted his behaviour was 'reprehensible'. However, later that evening Jepson posted a message on the social networking site, saying: 'Liam haz just escaped a jail sentence haha.'

Judges and magistrates always believe that people are truly contrite. Weren’t any of them ever parents?

Mrs Stankevitch said she was appalled by her attacker's shameless taunt.

The 40-year-old, who runs her own business with her husband Paul, 44, said: 'I think it's absolutely disgusting - he obviously has no remorse.

'To find out he wasn't locked up, and then to hear him saying this, it really does add insult to injury.'

Welcome to the ‘justice’ system, Mrs Stankevitch. Just think yourself lucky that your 17-year-old son and the manager of the pub, who intervened on your behalf, weren’t charged with assaulting this waste of skin…

Jepson - who had a previous conviction for assault and had been drinking - claimed he had acted in self-defence but was convicted after a trial.

Although the charge carries a maximum of five years in jail he was given a community service order after his lawyer insisted he knew his actions were wrong.

Well, of course he knew they were wrong! He’d done it before, after all. Presumably, on that occasion, his lawyer’s excuse was that he didn’t know it was wrong!

John Barnes told the court: 'He does accept he did act aggressively, that his conduct is reprehensible and cannot be condoned.' Jepson was given a 12-month community order, ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work and told to pay Mrs Stankevitch £125 compensation.

Not sure why he ‘accepts that it cannot be condoned’. It pretty much just has been by our useless ‘justice’ system…

Quote Of The Month

From Ranting Stan:

Our generation has got to stop exploiting them? The only members of my generation who exploit kids are liberal progressives who use them as a means to achieve an end. Only when liberals stop using kids as a tool to impose more of their ideology on society will the exploitation of kids end.

A Product Of Labour’s Education System….

…and their welfare system, and ‘justice’ system, and ‘family’ system:

The boy, who is 16, is heard repeatedly swearing at her as well as his grandmother and was later heard saying to someone that the women would be "forgiven" if they changed their story.

Can’t wait to see how this creature’s barrister tries to paint a picture of his client’s innocence, and after conviction, his case for leniency. Talk about a hopeless case!

In an exchange, which one barrister described as "typical" of the way he spoke to his mother, the boy calls her a "soft c***", a "dozy t***", a "f****** dyke" and said she was lucky he did not give her a "crack".

Ladies and gentlemen, the kind of people your taxes are supporting…