Book Of The Month*

Mr Newman is a published author! Go read, you won't be disappointed...

* for this month only

Tweet Of The Month

New Year, same quick wit on social media:

Post Title Of The Month

Tim Newman reveals a gift for alliteration...

Quote Of The Month

DumbJon goes to town on the latest idiocy from the 'We must have a 'diversity policy' for hiring, what could possibly go wrong?' police farce:

See, this is the point. An allegation of a 'historic' sex crime is enough to destroy a man's life, but when we have complaints made by the deceased and his family *at the time* combined with a suspect who's records are dodgier than the clocks at Honest Joe's Car Emporium, suddenly it turns out that you can't trust chicks.

In fact, it's worse than that. The unsupported testimony of Ms Loony-Pants was enough to threaten a man's liberty and have his reputation destroyed, but we're not even allowed to question whether someone who - based on her own testimony - is incapable of basic record keeping should really be employed as a police officer, let alone promoted.

Post Of The Month

Leg-Iron shocks his doctor. No. Not like that...

When Is An Increase Not An Increase...?

Well, for heaven's sake, don't ask a Southend councillor!

Tony Cox, councillor responsible for transport, says the changes will benefit visitors and businesses.

...

“I don’t accept this as an increase in parking charges. We’ve frozen parking charges unlike the previous administration when charges rose extortionately.”

It doesn't really matter whether you 'accept it', does it? It clearly is an increase!

The change will mean those who wanted to pop into town for an hour for £1.10p will now have to fork out £1.90 for a two hour ticket.

A three hour stay costing £2.70 will, if the plans are agreed by cabinet, cost £4.70 and and a previous £5.70 five hour ticket will go in favour of six hours at £6.60.

One might ask if you're trying to shackle people to longer hours in a vain attempt to prop up the beggar-ridden, increasingly empty high street...?

That is, of course, exactly what you're doing:

He said: “A lot of people are meter feeding. We want to ensure people do stay. With one hour’s parking people are coming back to put in another hour and by doing that it works out more expensive.

“By doing this we increase revenue as as (sic) helping businesses in the High Street by ensuring people stay longer.”

And if that doesn't work - and it won't, judging by the comments! - what next? 

'What If' Is No Basis For Overbearing State Agencies...

Helen Daykin's little girls spent almost 24 hours with the body of their father after his sudden death.

When she rang in the morning she thought he was busy with the school run, then later that he might have lost his phone as there was no answer. At teatime, her mother drove over but couldn't open the door because Chris had left the keys in on the other side.

The milk was outside, the windows dark, so the police were called to break down the door.

 A terrible tragedy. But nothing's ever just that any more.

Pearl, who was four years old, had started school just a few weeks earlier. Iris was two.When a child doesn't attend, a school will normally call their contact number to check whether they are ill.

Pearl's school had tried Chris's number, but didn't ring Helen.

The school did nothing wrong here. They did what they were supposed to, but in her grief, and to assuage the sense of guilt that she must inevitably feel, this has now become a crusade. No longer just a sad codicil, this is now a lever to demand change, to insist someone 'do something':

Helen wants all schools to overhaul how they check up on children who don't arrive at school. She says second and third contact numbers and home visits should be part of their plans.

And, because she holds the status of 'grieving mother', bandwagon-jumpers everywhere will now scramble to unite behind her, no matter how ludicrous her demands.

Helen's campaign for better awareness is being backed by the Good Grief Trust charity, which has provided support through her bereavement.

Its founder, Linda Magistris, said: "A parent dies in this country every 22 minutes, and that could be one of those parents that are by themselves, nobody knows they're by themselves with the children."

And if the children are under school or pre-school age, do we just shrug? Logically, the next step is to demand that there be some system set-up for these parents too. Where will it end?

In October 2016 Esther had a fatal epileptic fit, and Chadrack who had special needs, spent two weeks in their flat unable to get help.

The coroner's report describes how school staff called his mother's number several times. They also tried to visit twice, but couldn't get into the block of flats.

The coroner called for the government to make changes and set out the policy subsequently put in place at Chadrack's school:

Three contact numbers are kept for every child

If a pupil fails to attend with no explanation, someone is immediately sent to the family home

If there is no response, the police are contacted

They will be delighted, I'm sure. Where's all the money and spare staff time for this coming from?

As we all lead increasingly less stable & more chaotic lives, the demand to 'stop bad things happening' risks fuelling an increasingly overbearing state apparatus - for our own good, naturally!

Jim Gamble (Ed: Wait, this one..?) wants the government to go further.

As chair of the independent safeguarding board in Hackney he commissioned a report after Chadrack's death which has yet to be published. He says the government needs to "breathe life" into policies to put child safety first, and prevent another tragedy if a loving parent like Esther dies unexpectedly.

Well, if anyone knows anything about hugely expensive, overbearing but ultimately futile government projects, it's Jim!

"Pussy Pass, M'Lud?" "That'll Do Nicely."

Yup, turned out that it really was only a possibility:

Sentencing Anderson, Judge David Hatton QC said: “She was a serving officer in the safeguarding unit."

The judge said he did not know whether or not the ending of the relationship with Mr Hall could have been done in a more sensitive matter.

“She then pestered Mr Hall for several months to the extent he blocked her number and of his Facebook account.

“Mr Hall then formed an alternative relationship, which once she [Anderson] found out about she abused public office to conduct searches of Mr Hall, his new partner, the mother of his children and his father.”

Judge Hatton said it was to Anderson’s credit that he believed her “remorse was genuine and her regret deep”.

Which was why she only got a 14-month sentence suspended for two years, I suppose?

Who Is It You Think Should Be 'Doing Something', Doreen?

"If that was the amount of kids who were in the white community that were dying, do you think that something would have been done?"

Those words of, errr, wisdom are from the mother of Stephen Lawrence. Was she addressing black parents on run-down sink estates? Absentee black fathers in prisons?

Reader, she was not:

A group of 10 runners will be running the London Marathon this year, exactly 25 years since Stephen's death, to raise money for the Stephen Lawrence Charity Trust. The teenager was a promising runner who competed in the 1988 mini marathon.

Speaking at the launch day for this year's marathon, Baroness Lawrence expressed frustration that the threat of knife crime showed no sign of abating.

 Were the canapés nice, Doreen?

She told the Press Association: "I'm tired of reading about it in the paper, I'm tired of seeing families talking about their sons, I'm really, really tired of it - I think the Government needs to get a grip."

It's not 'the Government' going round stabbing young black kids, is it?

"It comes under the race issue again - look who's dying - it comes under the race issue."

Of course it does. Everything does, when you're making a tidy living from it.

What Is It With Scottish Council Bin Lorry Drivers..?

Angry locals in Fife have slammed the council for refusing to foot the bill after one of their bin wagons careered through gardens crashing into cars.

Fife Council says because the driver was found not guilty in court using the rare defence of automatism they are not liable to pay for the damage.

What sort of people are they hiring...?

Lorry driver Stuart Smith, 55, sustained minor injuries but no one else was hurt in the dramatic collision on January 14 last year.

He was found not guilty of careless driving after lodging the rare defence of automatism - that he had no conscious knowledge of his actions.

Much like Scottish council HR departments, I guess...?