Saturday, August 12, 2006

Jinnah On Multiculturalism

"The Hindus and the Muslims belong to two different religions, philosophies, social customs and literature . . . To yoke together two such nations under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the government of such a state."

Mohammed Ali Jinnah, first post-Independence leader of Pakistan, in a speech to the All-India Muslim League in 1940.

No Law, No Justice

Crime writer Lillian Pizzichini on the Toni-Ann Byfield murder.

"There are seven other murders unaccounted for in this borough. One of these was the murder of Junior Ogie, 20 years old. He was shot dead in broad daylight in front of at least 12 people on the South Kilburn estate on 15th July 2005. The identity of the gunman is common knowledge amongst the community and even the police know who he is. But he has fled to the Caribbean and detectives are unable to extradite him without a signed witness statement. The six other murder investigations - all involving young, black men - are similarly stymied."

First they came for the fox-hunters. Then they came for the homophobes ...

BBC news.

"A councillor who allegedly said that "all gays are paedophiles" has denied committing a public order offence.

Peter Willows, 75, a Tory councillor on Brighton and Hove City Council, was allegedly heard to make the remark at a mayoral reception on 18 May.

He was subsequently charged with using disorderly behaviour, or threatening, abusive or insulting words, likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress."


Mr Willows statement may be factually incorrect, as is its converse, although I believe about a third of those convicted in English courts of child sex offences are homosexual, a proportion far higher than the proportion of homosexuals in the general population.

But saying incorrect things shouldn't be a criminal offence.

On the Today programme yesterday morning I heard Mohammed Naseem, the chairman of the city’s central mosque (yes, that mosque), say that there was no proof that the July 7 bombers were British Muslims. (He also thinks that denial is a river in Egypt).

I'm alarmed and distressed by what Mohammed Naseem said. But I don't think he'll have his collar felt any time soon.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Johnny, Remember Me

From the BBC.

Some teenagers are failing to use condoms properly, risking unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, a snapshot study suggests.

What could they mean ?

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Your Friendly Prison Imam

"... for many years I served part-time as Imam at Woodhill High Security Prison in Milton Keynes ..."

Sahim Mustaqim Bleher is an ethnic German and convert to Islam who has moved from far-left student protest in those heady days of yore, to ... well, to this :



He's lived in England for 25 years, and views it as a place of dreary weather and mediocre lifestyle, which the natives flee on cheap flights to escape "the backwardness of England, which started to become a haven for migrants from Eastern Europe".

England is, of course, controlled by the Zionists.

He thinks that the Labour Party's "domestic and foreign policies are now no longer distinguishable from that of BNP leader Nick Griffins".

Just the chap to introduce the blessings of Islam to disturbed young criminals in chokey, wouldn't you say ?

Project Bojinka ?

Hijack a load of airliners and drop them in the sea ? In 1995 ? Never heard of it.

Hey, Guardianistas all - I'm confused

Are this morning's events

a) the inevitable consequence of Blair'n'Bush's Global War For Oil / Jewish Neocon Conspiracy /whatever, which has rightly enraged the worldwide ummah ?

b) a non-existent threat created by Blair'n'Bush to distract attention from the Global War For Oil / Jewish Neocon Conspiracy ?

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Essex Police

The Policeman posted on Saturday about Roger Baker, the new Chief Constable of Essex, who started in the job by saying :

"if people wanted to commit crime in Essex then they really ought to bring their toothbrush because they wouldn’t be going home. He even managed to persuade his own officers that he was on their side and that they would at last be going after real criminals.

It didn’t stop there. People were writing to The Sun saying, “His tough-talking, no-nonsense and old-fashioned approach to tackling crime has proved to be real winner.” And “With more like him in charge of our police forces around Britain, the criminals would have nowhere to run.”


Alas it appeared that the policy amounted in practice to 'arrests at all costs'. The front line aren't happy, and the thread saying so is now 30 pages long (it was 15 on Saturday). Chief Constable Baker has banned officers from using the internet.

What was it Peter Hitchens said ? The criminal justice system now enforces 'the letter of a bureaucratic law rather then the spirit of an agreed and respected moral code'. You can certainly see Essex Police being frighteningly neutral between the villain and the law-abiding here.

Page 1

Yes, Rog, arrest rates are up, detection rates are up, but the quality of them reeks. Take for example the old boy of 78 who got lifted for cuffing a lad who gave him some abuse round the ear(No injuries even). Poor old fella (No previous)was kept in the bin for 12 hours and cautioned. Still Rog, another arrest and blinding detection eh ? That regrettably is a typical arrest under Rog. And pitifully there are crims out there who we know are burgling, and have not got the poers to deal because all the troops are number crunching instead of doing real police work.

I was ordered to arrest a deaf and dumb man at 11pm for a minor assault (he obviously stayed in all night as we needed a signer for interview etc), and on the way back to the nick i had to arrest a 65 year old lady for a neighbour dispute (harassment). She refused to get dressed so she came in her slippers and dressing gown. I finished my shift feeling great, like i'd really made a difference!!

Page 2 : "A funeral cortege en route to the Crem, 25 vehicles, first 17 get through lights on green, last eight get FPN (fixed penalty notices) for jumping a red light. All other traffic did stop to allow cortege through."

Page 5

In the meantime, we have got victims of crime, genuine victims of crime who are not being seen by Police for ages, just like the burglary victim who had to wait 36 hours, and the man whose window was shot in by a firearm who waited...wait for it 3 days.

Page 8

Rog must remember that not all good police work is measurable. Looking after family members after their young son has died meant no ticks in the box for me that day . Breaking into the old ladies house who had fallen , walking round sniffing for the corpse and finding her seriously unwell , carrying out first aid awaiting paramedics....none of this measurable but all very important to her. Demand for arrests last week meant that most of the response teams were split into arrest teams leaving no cover for emergency calls. Consequently when the daytime burglar was disturbed twice in ten minutes in adjoining roads there was nobody avaliable to look for him and he got away. The only saving grace was that someone was arrested nearby on a warrant for NPF in relation to non payment of TV Licence. Still a tick in the box though.

Page 11

We arrest the ‘easy’ targets. The kids who have a fight at school in the playground, get arrested for common assault, interviewed and reprimanded. Still it’s another detection. Never mind that we are alienating the public.
What about the elderly lady that was arrested for common assault at 0430. (It was reported in the press.) She was 79 years of age. The schoolboy arrested at 0630 on the day he was doing his GCSE’s for a relatively minor offence. What are we doing? Who are we trying to kid that we are detecting crime? We are detecting crap. We are wasting time dealing with so much petty stuff (taking statements for every crime) that we don’t have the time to deal with the bigger fish.


Page 12

... massaging the figures to fit the bill at the end of the year. Officers ringing the public who reported threats to kill, asking them if they really feared for their safety and reclassifying the offence. Making off without paying, motorcyclist in Thurrock in a balaclava fills up bike, drops hose and rides off at speed, explanation well it was a cold night and he forgot to pay, reclassify.

Page 14

... we all want to get out and catch the true criminals and play hard ball confident in the knowledge that our own CC is supporting our actions to the hilt. What we dont want to be doing is making up arrest targets with kids fighting in playgrounds and single mums not paying their Tv licence.

Page 23

As for the massaging of crime figures, thats a very big topic. A brief explanation is as follows: Rog wants recorded crime to fall. He also wants detection to rise. So recently when operations were run to police town centres, officers were instructed to not to arrest people for Section 5 public order (swearing in public and the like), which is a recordable crime, but instead to arrest for drunk and disorderly. D&D is according to national crime recording standards, a NON-recordable crime....get the idea, your arrests are going up, but crime technically isnt....cause you dont have to record it. The situation gets somewhat worse though...I personally know of situations where a recorded crime (common assault) was re-crimed as assault ABH. This was done under the ACTION scheme and was pre the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 and the change in arrest powers. The suspect was then arrested even though the offence of ABH never existed. Me thinks that might be just a little illegal !!!!! Hmmmmmm. Also once in custody suspects are asked if they want to disclose any other offences they may have been party to. These can then be taken into consideration when he goes to court, rather than being re-arrested again. Called TIC's. However under the new "management" and figure massaging, only TIC's which are already crimed would even be listened to. Heres what I mean. If the suspect made an admission to burgling Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Smith (but only Mrs. Jones burglary had been crimed, then lets forget about the admission to Mrs. Smiths crime cause it aint been recorded yet. Therefore you are detecting old crimes, but you dont want to increase the amount of recorded crimes.


I want to live in a safe community - I don't want criminals roaming free - I want the same as every other decent person. But having knowledge of the internal workings and politics of the force at this time, I'm disgusted. Nearly every day I think to myself, "If only the public knew about this?"


Page 24


Just when we thought it could get no worse, I discovered today, of a senior citizen who reported someone attempting to break into her house by trying to force a window at just gone midnight recently. The victim called police immediately and banged on her window which made the perpetrator flee. Police had NOT ATTENDED the area for a few hours, so she went to bed. Someone on her behalf called the following day and were told, wait for it.....This incident has been recorded as a suspicious person (Hence no crime), thus keeping the reported crime figures down. This one incident epitomises not only the pitiful service we are giving, but additionally the massaging of the figures. That is clearly an attempted burglary and should be recorded and investigated as such. But, of course in doing that we would have created another crime. How on earth no one attended, at least a car and dog unit I will never know. So, all you members of the press out there, this is what we mean...this incident is not a rumour I have heard on the grapevine, I have been personally told of it by somebody in the know - and have seen documentation to support it. I am more ashamed and embarrassed than ever.

I was contacted recently about an elderly lady, sadly suffering the onset of dementia, who had been burgled in January. She had contacted Police about the man who had gone to her home and asked if he could park his car at the rear, and was told it was not a Police matter. Twice! Is this because attendence at such an incident would not assist in hitting any targets? What ever happened to the defination of a constable - protection of life and property - the lady was frightened to say the least.


Page 27

I am a resident of Essex. I pay my council tax. Recently I am thinking why in Gods name am I paying for a service which I see that blatently is not being provided to the public. A service which is putting both the public and the officers that serve them in harms way. How many members of the public out there reading this are aware that if you live in some rural areas, you may have only 2 pc's covering a massive area. What happens if you woke up one night and heard someone trying to break in, rang 999 only to be told that there are no officers available as they are all committed with other incidents. Read back in this forum.....this has already happened.

Page 28

Bad as it sounds, its actually comforting to know that there are many other officers who are as demoralised as my husband at the state of Essex Police.

Whew. I'll leave with this thought from page 31.

This is not like most jobs - how many of you risk your lives at fights, stand the risk of being seriously wounded, take abuse day in - day out, attend car accidents where families have died tragically- how many of you have had to tell families that somebody has died???

It's not glam - we didn't expect that - we want to do a good job - not play stats games.

More Creative Snapshots From Lebanon

The New York Times photo-essay on the destruction in Tyre features a 'dead body' who was very much alive a couple of frames before. (via DSD)

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Gobsmacked

By the Tommy Sheridan verdict. Shuggy examines the entrails.

UPDATE - and Martin Kelly has some pertinent observations.

Back ...

To see that DFH, with occasional input from sharp-eyed David at Cabarfeidh, has deservedly hit the blogging big-time.

Everyone on the right of blogdom, and the honest souls on the left, assumed that Hezbollah and their allies were managing the news out of Southern Lebanon, and particularly the deaths at Qana, for maximum political effect. DFH and a number of other blogs have documented several instances of faked or posed photos, including the unluckiest multiple property owner in Beirut, the cameraman who added extra smoke to a picture for full devastation impact (and changed the flare from an Israeli jet to a shower of missiles), the mysterious 'white tee shirt' and 'green helmet man' who seemed to be in every Qana photo. If you want to see where the Independent gets its front page images from, look here.

EU Referendum has been doing sterling work. What worries him is that people like Shane Richmond of the Daily Telegraph aren't worried by this manipulation.

"…is the child dead? was the child killed by Israeli bombs? If so, the picture illustrates the story"

For Richard North "... the root is that death – or pictures of death - have become a commodity. For Hezbolla, they can be traded for political leverage, for the photo-journalists – those who are not working for Hezbolla – a good "snap" of a dead baby brings the prospect of financial reward, fame and even awards. And, at the top of the heap are the editors and the likes of Shane Richmond, in their air-conditioned offices, thousands of miles away from the action, who see the "pics" merely as illustrations for their productions."

UPDATE - Liberal Larry attacks the "Digital Brownshirts" who "used the debatable authenticity of the photos to cast doubt upon their accuracy."