Homeless accuse councils of "bullying" by hosing down their areas at night

BBC News reports:

Areas where rough sleepers bed down are being hosed by councils at night as a "psychological bullying tactic", homeless people have claimed.

Cleaners often arrive with police and ask homeless people to move before dousing the area.

The rough sleepers, who then have to leave, say it causes sleep deprivation and amounts to criminal harassment.

Westminster and City of London, among the boroughs using the cleaning method, said they simply want to clean streets.

But Peter Pickles, who has been sleeping rough in the City of London for four years, criticised the practice.

Mr Pickles, 58, said he had been woken between midnight and 0200 BST at his favourite spot in Salisbury Square four times during the past week.

He said: "How would you like being woken in the middle of the night and told 'move, we are about to hose down the area'?

"When it is happens every night it causes sleep deprivation and mental stress.

"They say they are cleaning it but I would put it in one word - harassment."

Mr Pickles added: "They want us out of the way - but harassment is a criminal offence and an infringement of my human rights."

Richard Burdett is editor of Pavement, a magazine for homeless people.

He said: "The councils claim they are just doing it for cleaning purposes.

'Psychological assault'

"But the fact they do it in the middle of the night backed up by police says it all.

"They are doing it as a psychological assault - it's bullying tactics."

A City of London Corporation spokesman said: "The City of London has an obligation to clean alleys littered with drink bottles and human faeces.

"However, targeted cleansing only occurs where there is a clear public health risk."

Westminster Council denied it used "hot washing" tactics to move homeless people on.

But a spokesman said staff regularly woke rough sleepers late at night and ordered them to move before hosing streets.

Councillor Philippa Roe said: "Any work to clean the streets where rough sleepers may have been sleeping is done sensitively, with their co-operation.

"They are informed prior to any cleansing and are asked to remove possessions from the street to ensure they do not get wet."

Via Dawn Willis

Priest petitions for removal of Australian “gay panic defence”

Pink News reports:

A Catholic priest in Queensland, Australia has started an online petition to ensure the complete removal of the “homosexual advance defence”, which has been used to attempt to have murder charges lessened to manslaughter if the victim had propositioned the killer.

Introducing the petition, Father Paul Kelly says: “It is simply intolerable that anyone can rely on a defence or an excuse that an alleged homosexual advance could somehow mitigate against violence that leads to death.”

Known internationally as the “gay panic” defence, it is invoked to attempt to show the killer acted in self-defence or under provocation.

In some cases it is alleged that the accused had latent gay feelings, and as a result reacted in an unexpectedly violent way to even a non-violent gay proposition.

While there is no straight equivalent, the non-violent gay panic defence is rarely employed successfully...


Father Kelly, of St Mary’s, Maryborough, told the Brisbane Times he started the Australian petition after a man was murdered on church property in 2008 and his killer attempted to invoke the defence.

He said: “I never heard of something so terrible, that there is some kind of defence that says if you make a homosexual advance then that can be used in court.”

Queensland’s Attorney General said earlier this year that provocation defence loopholes had been closed, telling the paper: “No longer can mere words alone, including gay or straight advances, be sufficient for the defence of provocation, except in the most extreme and exceptional circumstances.”

In a bid for complete clarification of the law, Father Kelly writes about the petition that attempting to introduce the defence to a jury is “highly prejudicial” and “encourages straight men to construct staged tales of a homosexual advance so they can get their murder charges reduced”.

The priest told the Brisbane Times: “The church has always defended basic human rights, it’s never said intolerance or violence should be tolerated.”

Sign the petition here

River Lea houseboaters claim they are being forced out for London 2012 Olympics

The Hackney Citizen reports:

British Waterways (BW) has been accused of “forcing out” Hackney’s boaters after it announced plans to limit mooring times and impose fines for overstaying in an area close to the Olympic site.

The organisation, which looks after waterways including the Regent’s Canal and River Lea, wants those who live on narrowboats to buy visitor passes, some costing in excess of hundreds of pounds per week, to moor in a specially designated zone close to the site.

British Waterways said the measures were necessary to cover the costs of increased security in the area and to ensure all boaters had a chance to book spots close to where the London 2012 Games will take place.

But Hackney boater Frank Kelly, who has to regularly attend Homerton Hospital due to health problems, said the requirement was unreasonable.

He said: “Our boats are our homes. It’s an entirely reasonable thing to expect to live in our homes, to be able to access our jobs, GPs and healthcare, and interact with our chosen community, and not be separated from that.”

While boaters with permanent moorings will be unaffected, continuous cruiser craft such as Mr Kelly’s, which are required by law to make a journey around BW’s network once every two weeks, will have a particularly tough time avoiding the so-called Controlled Mooring Zone (CMZ).

Mr Kelly, who has started a social media protest campaign backed by dozens of other boaters, said he had no problem with restrictions being put in place around the Olympic Stadium but felt British Waterways was trying to profit from paid moorings – a claim the organisation rejects.

He said: “We’re happy to move within a reasonable area, and our movements take us out of the area briefly, but that’s different from being forced out for two or three months.”

A British Waterways spokesperson said: “We’re not looking to profit in any way. It is likely we will just be covering the costs of the extra security we’ll be required to provide for the slots. We want everyone in the country to have the same fair chance to book one of these spots when they’re coming to enjoy the Olympics.

“Boaters within the zones as well have the opportunity to book these spots — if they decide to do that, they will be staying within the zone. Otherwise, we’re working very hard with the local groups to make convenient mooring spots available outside the zone.”

British Waterways’ plans mean boaters will require a visitor pass on what is essentially the entirety of Regent’s Canal, along with Lea River south of Lea Bridge.

Some fear this will push boaters without a permanent mooring west of Little Venice near Paddington and north of Lea Bridge Road in Hackney.

British Waterways said the Controlled Mooring Zone had been created in conjunction with the police, requiring the organisation to have records of all craft travelling within the zone during the Olympics.

The spokesperson added: “The police have asked us also to set up a wider control zone across the waterways in London — they want us to have a record of everyone who comes into and out of that zone, and who is within the zone. There will be checkpoints so the police will have the security of knowing who’s on the waterways at the time.”

The police said discussions about the Controlled Mooring Zone were ongoing.

Journalist tests wheelchair access in Cheltenham

The Gloucestershire Echo reports:

FOR wheelchair users, getting around Cheltenham can be a tricky business.

They are forced to negotiate bumps, cracks and uneven surfaces and at this time of year, stores have festive displays which are difficult to navigate around.

To investigate the issue, Echo reporter Joe Lane borrowed a wheelchair from Shopmobility and took to Cheltenham's streets.

SITTING in a wheelchair for the first time was unnerving.

The first thing I noticed was that getting around was hard work. I had to constantly fight against the natural contours to stay in a straight line.

The second thing I noticed was that people treated me differently. Shop staff held doors open and I was met with several pitiful glances from passers-by.

"Poor lad" I could almost hear them thinking. Still, I suppose they meant well.

Then, as I struggled to manoeuvre my chair up a kerb outside Lloyds' High Street branch I inadvertently got in the way of a pedestrian, who grunted in annoyance.

Mark Carter, who suffers from a neurological condition which affects his limb movement, joined me on my tour of the town centre to point out some of the worst areas.

"I've been shouted at and called names," said the 39-year-old. "People have shouted 'spastic' at me. It is a small minority but you have to have a thick skin. Other people treat you as if you're an inconvenience."

Back to the tour around town. Within 15 minutes I was beginning to feel the burn in my arms and shoulders. I consider myself a relatively fit 29-year-old. What must it be like for people with conditions like Mark? As he pointed out, not all disabled people get electric wheelchairs on the NHS.

As we went along Bath Street I noticed I was constantly battling against the camber which led me towards the road. It was tough work. In the end I came off the pavement and had to continue my progress on the surface, then another steep curb drop almost spilt me out of my chair. The county council says it cannot always afford improvements to pavements. In the current climate of public sector budget cuts, you suspect things are going to get worse before they get better.

For the second part of the tour, we decided to head into some shops to see how they catered for wheelchair users.

First stop – Natwest Bank in the High Street. On arrival it became clear it was impossible to gain entrance without assistance as there was no disabled ramp. I rang the doorbell outside the building and waited for someone to come outside. Nothing happened.

In the end I had to ask a customer to go inside and ask the manager to come and explain the bank's policy. He duly emerged and told me the building was inaccessible to wheelchair users but we were welcome to use their other branch in the Promenade.

The bank has since sent a statement saying it was unable to install a disabled ramp because it is a listed building.

Next we went to Halifax, in Winchcombe Street, where we had no such problems getting in. However, it immediately became obvious there was no disabled counters so wheelchair users have to reach up to the counter like a child.

A helpful lady came over and explained there was a portable hand-pad on the wall which we could use to make transactions. It's a shame it was completely hidden from view. I couldn't understand why a disabled counter had not been installed in its refit two years ago.

Later, a Halifax spokesman said the number of interview rooms had increased and they allowed wheelchair users greater privacy to conduct their banking.

As we moved on to WH Smith, the curse of seasonal displays reared its head. With special offers everywhere the store was cramped and I had to wait long periods for people to get out of the way. The path to the lift at the back of the store was blocked with rolls of wrapping paper and empty cardboard boxes.

On the first floor, we were faced with a chicane to get to the counter. When we arrived there the passageway was so narrow we blocked the route. Some nodded patiently while one or two suppressed scowls.

A spokesman for WH Smith said it regularly liaised with disabled groups to improve access to the store.

My experience spending time in a wheelchair was an enlightening one. It has taught me that however well set-up for disabled people business owners think they are, there is always more they could – and should – do.

Clearly, it is not right that wheelchair users should feel guilty or an inconvenience to members of the public in any way.

Ken Livingstone attacked by running mate for Islamic extremism 'misjudgement'

The Telegraph (yuk) reports:

Ken Livingstone’s mayoral running-mate, Val Shawcross, yesterday denounced Ken’s support for the Muslim extremist, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, as a “misjudgment” and a “mistake” and criticised Ken for “not apologising sooner” for the “stupid and unpleasant things” he said to Oliver Finegold, the Jewish journalist he likened to a “concentration camp guard.”

Ms Shawcross confirmed to me today that she had said the remarks, to a mayoral hustings at a Jewish conference at Warwick University.

It’s a very interesting development. My first thought was whether it could possibly be preparing the ground for a new approach by Ken, to try to reduce some of the huge cluster of negatives that surround him by admitting that he was wrong. It would be unprecedented, if so – and it does not seem to be the case.

Ms Shawcross told me that her remarks had not been discussed with Ken. “It was a Q&A. I didn’t discuss a script with Ken, I didn’t discuss the hustings at all [with him] apart from who would attend,” she says. “I was speaking in my capacity as a London Assembly member.”

Ken’s links with Muslim extremists are one of his most disturbing features. As mayor he channelled hundreds of thousands of pounds to a hardline mosque run by the Islamic extremist group, the IFE, and in return benefited from some, shall we say, interesting help from them at the 2008 election.

Last year he campaigned against his own party in order to back the IFE’s candidate for mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman.

Ken also continues to defend Qaradawi, who has cost him support among liberals, gay people, Jews, feminists and democrats. As recently as March, he told questioners who raised the issue at a campaign event in strongly-Jewish Barnet that “you shouldn’t smear a man you haven’t met. I met Sheikh Qaradawi. Am I to believe the Daily Mail rather than what I hear a man say with his own voice? Here was Sheikh Qaradawi saying, not just to me in private but the audience he addressed in City Hall and then to Paxman on Newsnight: No-one should discriminate against a homosexual. No man should physically assault his wife.”

I don’t know about the Mail. But the good Sheikh did tell that well-known tool of the right-wing lie machine, the Guardian, that he supported a husband’s right to “lightly” beat his wife, and that homosexuality was “a clash between morality and immorality.”

In his own book , The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam, not published by Associated Newspapers as far as I know, Qaradawi has reiterated his views on wife-beating and called for gay people to be killed.

And Ken unfortunately forgot to mention that among Yusuf’s other statements on Newsnight was strong support for suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. He has also defended rape, saying that "to be absolved from guilt, the raped woman must have shown some sort of good conduct.”

It is not the first time Shawcross has shown a clearer understanding than Ken himself of where his interests lie: last year, after her adoption as Ken’s official deputy, she fired a little shot across the great man’s bows over the Lee Jasper fiasco.

“Ken didn't attend to the nature and performance of his team as much as he should have last time,” she said. Ken, of course, continues to defend Jasper – even claiming, absurdly, that he has been “exonerated.”

If Ken is to be diverted from his suicide trajectory*, he must apologise and admit his mistakes himself. That still looks highly unlikely.

In the meantime, it’s come to something when you are criticised by even your own running-mate.

Update: Ken's spokesman has contacted me to say that Ken is "very relaxed about Val's comments."

*Rather tasteless phrase by Andrew Gilligan.

Some thoughts on minimum alcohol pricing

Following on from this Liberal Conspiracy article:

* Binge drinking may have been around for centuries.The problems associated with binge drinking aren't. Were a dozen police needed to patrol city centers each Friday and Saturday night in the 50's and 60's? Were the gutters full of vomit on Sunday mornings during the 20's and 30's?

From the article: "If people want to drink themselves stupid, that is their own choice. They must be held responsible for their actions, but so long as they are paying the already extortionate tax on alcohol, they are more than covering the cost of their medical care needed.

Why do people feel the need to tell others how to live their lives?"

*So can people prove that the tax on alcohol covers the cost of the medical care needed? How large a % goes to the NHS? Is it okay that A&E is full of drunks who beat each other up after getting legless on cheap booze from off-licences.

Why do people feel the need to tell others how to live their lives? Because when someone gets legless and vomits everywhere or beats someone up, it affects others. If people just got very drunk and didn't need to go to hospital or abuse others, I couldn't care less how much they drunk.

OK, some may have to pay a little more for your alcohol. But let's give this a go and see if it helps.

The sharp end of the public sector

Julie Willis in the Guardian:

There's been a fair amount of derision aimed at public sector workers over the past few weeks. If some sections of the press are to be believed, people like me sit around in their cushy non-jobs complaining about their gold-plated pensions while those with "real jobs" shoulder the burden of the government's austerity measures.

Well, four years ago I quit a career in banking to start again in the public sector, and my experience has been anything but cushy.

On Wednesday 30 November I marched through the streets of Manchester with about 20,000 other public sector workers. There was a carnival atmosphere but, while colleagues blew their vuvuzelas, I could only walk along in silence as though in a funeral procession. My mind was elsewhere, because I knew that I could be unemployed within a month.

Two days later, at 3pm on a Friday afternoon three weeks before Christmas, I was told to pack up my desk and not come back. I had three years' continuous service and no performance issues. My position wasn't redundant and someone else would need to be found to cover my work.

I should stress that I wasn't sacked because I went on strike, although it's fair to say I find myself unemployed because I believe employment rights are worth fighting for.

I was dismissed, without notice or redundancy pay, for refusing to sign a compromise agreement that would effectively erase my three years of hard work (and the right to take legal action over anything that relied on that previous service) in return for a new contract as a new starter.

I wasn't the only person offered this deal – it was offered to all remaining staff at the council who had been appointed through their in-house staff bank.

Staff appointed through this bank did not get a comparable benefits package, even though part 9 of the national agreement on pay and conditions of service for local government services says: "Temporary employees should receive pay and conditions of service equivalent to that of permanent employees." How did my employer get around this? They will tell you that we were "casual workers", not temporary employees. Some "casual workers" accrued over a decade's service (hardly casual) and the council still refused to consider any of these honest, hardworking people their employees.

That meant we did not get sick pay or pensions, and we got fewer holidays. Worse, we were not being permitted to apply for internal vacancies. This has meant I wasn't even afforded the chance to prove I was the best person to do my job.

What hugely expensive benefits, accrued from previous service, were they asking people to give up? First, there's the statutory right to claim unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal after one year.

Then there's the right to statutory redundancy pay after two years. This would mean that, as a new starter, I'd be extremely vulnerable to redundancy under a "last in, first out" system and wouldn't get a penny of redundancy pay. I suspect that's what my employer has planned for the people who did sign the agreement. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see any other logical reason for continuous service not to be acknowledged.

We are some of the public sector workers you don't read about in the papers – people who might not have it as good as their peers in the private sector and who might not even be getting the minimum they are entitled to by law.

The truth is that, while changes in government policy affect us all, public sector staff are shunted around on the whim of politicians.

And there's nothing cushy about that. We should not allow the ruling class to divide us on the basis of something as arbitrary as where we work. Whatever our job, we all deserve a fair wage and a pension we can live on.

Afghan child bride rescued from torture

BBC News reports:

A video given to the BBC shows the extent of the injuries suffered by a 15 year-old Afghan child bride who was locked up and tortured by her husband.

The girl was left starving after being detained by him and his family for several months.

The case came to light this week when police rescued the teenager, Sahar Gul, who had been locked up in the basement of her in-laws' house.

Police say that she had had her nails and clumps of hair pulled out.

In addition they say she had chunks of flesh cut out with pliers.
Windowless room

Sahar Gul was married off to a 30-year-old man around seven months ago, when she was just 14 years old. Her parents contacted police after not being able to see her for several months.

She was rescued from a dark, windowless room in her in-laws' house, according to Baghlan police official Jawid Basharat.

In the video, as Sahar is taken to hospital in a wheelchair, she is asked who beat her. She names her father-in-law, her husband, her sister-in-law, her brother-in-law and her mother-in-law. The 15-year-old says her hair and her nails were pulled out by her mother-in-law.

The authorities in the northern Baghlan province said they were aware of reports that the girl was tortured after she refused to be forced into prostitution, but could not confirm that was the case.

Rahima Zarifi, director of the Women's Affairs Department in Baghlan, said Sahar had been severely tortured, both physically and mentally, and that the psychological scars were likely to endure.

The police have managed to arrest Sahar's in-laws, but her husband had already fled.

Women in many parts of Afghanistan continue to suffer domestic abuse, often at the hands of their own family or in-laws.

Human rights activists worry that the plight of many women here, especially in rural areas, is being sidelined as the international community focuses on its military drawdown, and puts less emphasis and less pressure on the Afghan authorities over human rights.

In the second quarter of this year alone, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission registered 1,026 cases of violence against women, compared with a total last year of 2,700.

Those are only the cases that come to light.

Under Afghan law, the earliest age for marriage for girls is 16. However, almost half of Afghan women are married when they are younger.

Councils to spend tens of thousands of public money on Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations

Liberal Conspiracy reports:

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is spending around £157,000 just on building a Queen’s jubilee fountain and a monument, despite cutting jobs and services from its local area.

It has also been revealed that Bath & North East Somerset Council are spending £80,000 on a ‘jubilee picnic’, also while making local cuts to services.

Research by campaign group Republic out today reveals that councils have admitted to allocating tens of thousands of pounds for lavish celebrations, despite cutting jobs and services.

More than 250 local authorities responded to a freedom of information request asking what plans were in place to mark the jubilee, and how much they were estimated to cost. Around 45% said they would not be marking the jubilee at all, while the rest were had either not firmed up their plans or were planning some celebratory gesture.

Republic’s research found:

- Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is spending an estimated £62,000 on a range of jubilee events including a jubilee-themed “Tunbridge Wells in Bloom” competition.

- The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames holding an exhibition on Richmond’s royal connections at a cost of £49,600.

- Kensington and Chelsea is setting aside £27,000 for various jubilee activities, including sending a framed photograph of the Queen to every school in the Borough.

Last year Windsor and Maidenhead council axed 70 jobs, while Bath & North East Somerset cut 150 jobs and reduced funding to youth services and the voluntary sector.

Republic spokesperson Graham Smith said:

Those councillors that have committed public money to mark the jubilee should be ashamed of themselves. How can they justify these unnecessary and unwanted projects when public services are being cut and jobs lost? It’s morally and economically indefensible and their local residents would be right to feel angry about this waste of limited public funds.

No doubt crowds will turn out for jubilee events, but the vast majority of the public simply aren’t interested in these celebrations.

Details of the research can be found here.

Republic will be staging protests around many jubilee celebrations, with the main protest being staged at the Thames jubilee pageant.

Man found near Swansea's Chemical Road railway bridge with serious injuries

British Transport Police (BTP) officers are appealing for information about the movements of a man who was discovered lying by the side of the railway line with head and chest injuries in the Cwmrhydyceirw area of Swansea on Tuesday, 27 December 2011.

Simon Menelaus, 38, of Morriston, Swansea, was found close to the Chemical Road railway bridge by Network Rail engineers who were working in the area shortly before 1.30pm on Tuesday.

Detective Chief Inspector John Pyke said: “At this stage, we do not believe Simon was struck by a train and there do not appear to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident.

“However, Simon’s family last saw him on the evening of 25 December and I am therefore keen to establish his whereabouts and movements between 8pm on Christmas Day and 1.30pm on Tuesday 27 December when he was found by the railway line.

“Simon was initially taken to Morriston Hospital in Swansea but was transferred later on Tuesday to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where he remains in a poorly but stable condition with serious head injuries, as well as chest injuries.

“Due to his injuries, officers have not yet been able to speak to Simon to establish how he came to be injured and the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

“Therefore, it’s vital that we find out where he had been and who he had been with between the times mentioned above so that we can build a full picture of what has happened.

“I would urge anyone who saw Simon, or spent time with him, to contact British Transport Police straight away."

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact British Transport Police on Freefone 0800 40 50 40, quoting incident reference 139 of 27/12/2011.

Disability and employment seminar at the TUC on 23 Jan 2012

Via the TUC website:

A positive agenda for disability and employment

Date Mon, 23 Jan 2012

Time to from 14:00 to 16:00

Location Congress House

Cost Free

Description
Disability benefits are in the headlines - cutting benefits for disabled children, making people undergoing chemotherapy prove they aren't 'fit for work', time-limiting benefits for hundreds of thousands of disabled people. Disabled people are getting angry, but the Government has yet to take notice.

The seminar will be chaired by Nicola Smith, Head of the Economic and Social Affairs Department at the TUC; speakers include -
- Prof Paul Gregg, author of Realising Potential, the 2008 report on conditionality and support in the benefits system.
- Benefit expert (and adviser to the last Government) Declan Gaffney.
- Leading bloggers Sue Marsh ('Diary of a Benefit Scrounger') and Kaliya Franklin ('Bendy Girl').
- TUC economist Richard Exell, former member of the Disability Rights Commission.

This seminar is free, but seats will be reserved on a first-come - first-served basis, so please book a place in advance, at: http://disbilityandemployment.eventbrite.co.uk or register below.

Agenda
2.00 Chair's welcome: Nicola Smith
2.10 Paul Gregg: 'Incapacity benefit reform under Labour and the coalition'
2.30 Sue Marsh & Kaliya Franklin: 'Perverse incentives and how the government is creating them in the name of reform'
2.45 Declan Gaffney: 'Disability and employment: time for a new realism'
3.00 Richard Exell: 'A Social Model of Incapacity'
3.10 Q+A to a panel of the speakers
3.55 Chair's concluding remarks
4.00 Close
Briefing document (300 words) issued 19 Dec 2011

Travel Tube: Tottenham Court Road http://www.congresscentre.co.uk/location.asp

Accessibility Congress House is accessible. More details: http://www.congresscentre.co.uk/facilities_disabled.asp

Contact for more information
Please visit the link below to register

http://disbilityandemployment.eventbrite.co.uk/

More drink drivers in Oxfordshire named and shamed

The Oxford Times reports:

Adam Kiepke, 33, of Whimbrel Close, Bicester, admitted drink driving in Skimmingdish Lane, Bicester, on October 19. Having 153 milligrammes of alcohol in 100ml of blood, above the legal limit of 80 milligrammes. Fined £100, a £15 victims’ surcharge and £85 costs. Banned from driving for 18 months...

Conrad Choloniewski, 21, of Thames Avenue, Reading, admitted drink driving in Greys Road, Henley-on-Thames, on November 13. Namely having 73 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, above the legal limit of 35 microgrammes. Fined £200, a £15 victims’ surcharge and £65 costs. Banned from driving for 18 months...

Jacob Harris, 18, of Weston Road, Lewknor, admitted drink driving in Duke Street, Henley-on-Thames, on November 12. Having 57 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, above the legal limit of 35 microgrammes. Fined £100, a £15 victims’ surcharge and £65 costs. Banned from driving for a year.

Usevolodas Kornega, 40, of Chillingworth Crescent, Oxford, admitted drink driving on the A40 northern bypass at Oxford on November 13. Namely having 51 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, above the legal limit of 35 microgrammes. Fined £600, a £15 victims’ surcharge and £65 costs. 15-month ban.

The bans these people receive are rubbish. There should be a minimum five-year ban for drink driving. There is no excuse.

Golden Toilet Brush award for most wasteful uses of public money in Russia

Radio Free Europe reports:

There is an award in Russia called the Golden Toilet Brush that is awarded to the three officials who make the year's most exceptional, expensive, and pointless purchases using taxpayer money.

The award was created by the Russian weekly "Novaya gazeta" in 2008 after the St. Petersburg mayor's office famously wasted 12,794 rubles (about $400) of the city's money to purchase a toilet brush. Or at least it claimed so on an itemized list of annual expenditures.

A similar toilet brush in any St. Petersburg market would have cost less than a dollar back then.

"Novaya gazeta" decided to look for other, equally stunning purchases by officials every year since.

This year, the Golden Toilet Brush returns to St. Petersburg.

Marina Fokina, the head of the Center for Festivals and Celebrations, claims she spent 541,080 rubles ($17,400) to buy a doormat. A further 698,280 rubles ($22,400) was spent on chandeliers and another 129,346 rubles ($4,100) on a metronome, "Novaya gazeta" reported.

Most importantly, the three items were disposable. The official said they were used during anniversary festivities in St. Petersburg.

Fokina claimed another 1 million rubles ($32,000) for their safekeeping. Needless to say, it was taxpayers who footed the bill.

Fokina and other organizers take pride in their purchases, saying: "St Petersburg is experiencing a cultural boom. The city spent a record high, over 7 billion rubles, in this sector in 2011."

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has been awarded the Silver Toilet Brush by "Novaya gazeta" for claiming 113 million rubles ($3.6 million) from the government to purchase new German-made vehicles for Chechen Interior Ministry officials.

The money was allegedly spent to buy 15 Mercedes-Benz vehicles and a Porsche in April. There's a problem in that no one has ever seen the vehicles, and the officials still drive low-profile, Russian-made UAZ cars. But who would dare to ask Kadyrov about the missing money and cars?

"Novaya gazeta" also awarded its Bronze Toilet Brush to Vasily Yakemenko, head of the youth organization Rosmolodezh. Yakemenko must have dazzled the youth -- and everyone else for that matter -- by claiming to spend over 38 million rubles ($1.2 million) on catering for a national youth forum.

Another 25 million rubles ($800,000) was spent to "ensure sanitation facilities and services" during the forum, Yakemenko explained...

Private Eye: The Neasden Song (You won't be sorry that you breezed in)

Sung by Willie Rushton. Also features "The Trout" by John Wells.

Mortgage relief cuts prevent disabled people moving into accessible homes

The Guardian reports:

The government is facing pressure to reverse a highly sensitive spending cut that is preventing disabled people from buying a share in their own homes.

Frank Field, Labour's former welfare reform minister, has condemned the "clunking fist of bureaucracy" for a cut in mortgage interest payments that is stopping some disabled people from moving into modern purpose-built homes.

Field is lobbying Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, to relax the rule, which has left a paralysed constituent marooned in a small bungalow designed for a pensioner.

A new £200,000 purpose-built home, with a lift and a special bathroom attached to the bedroom, is standing empty in Birkenhead after the government halved the amount of interest paid to those on benefits eligible for mortgage relief.

Gavin Skinner, 30, who was left paralysed from the neck down by a car crash seven years ago, has been unable to move into the new house since the government cut the support for mortgage interest (SMI) rate from 6.08% to 3.63%.

SMI is used by people on benefits to pay the interest on their mortgages. Ministers reduced the rate to the average rate published monthly by the Bank of England in October last year on the grounds that rates were at a historic low. The rate was frozen at the higher level of 6.08% in November 2008 as a temporary measure in response to the financial crash.

When average interest rates fell below 6.08% some people enjoyed a surplus on their payments. When the rate was cut to 3.63%, others found their payments falling short of what they actually owed.

Skinner, who breathes with the aid of a ventilator, said: "It is very frustrating. I can't even decorate where I am living now because we don't want to use the funds we saved. Where I am living now is really outdated. I have been here five years."

Field said he understood why mortgage interest payments had to be cut for most benefit recipients*, but appealed to Duncan Smith to use his discretion for Skinner and up to 40 others in a similar position.

"Our plea to Iain Duncan Smith is that we are hoping he is not going to let the clunking fist of bureaucracy prevent him from having the flexibility to help schemes like this," Field said. "Gavin can't move into the house and there he is in a place which is largely for elderly people. You have a young man, who can't be looked after properly by his carers there, who is trapped."

But Lord Freud, who holds Field's old job in government, announced earlier this month that the government wanted to examine whether it was right that SMI payments, which cost the taxpayer £400m a year, should be provided indefinitely. Freud said: "The current system of SMI payments does not encourage people to get on top of their own finances. It is also not sustainable."

The new house was built for Skinner under the Hold (home ownership for those with long-term disability) scheme by the Wirral Methodist Housing Association. Under the scheme, the association owns the £200,000 house. It sells a 50% share through a long shared ownership lease of 125 years which is paid by an interest-only mortgage funded under the government's SMI scheme. The association recovers its costs by charging rent, which is paid through housing benefit.

Under the old system, Skinner would have had to find only £3,000 for solicitors' fees and other costs of moving, a sum his mother, Sue, secured through fundraising. But now he cannot move into the new house because he calculates he will have to find another £50,000 up front to reduce his mortgage payments to a level he can manage under the lower SMI rate.

Sue Skinner said: "I don't know what else I can do because I obviously can't find £50,000. We are just hitting a brick wall now. My poor son is in a tiny bungalow. Gavin can only be hoisted out of bed into his chair in the lounge. He can't be in any other rooms and he can't be in the garden because it is on a slope. He is totally paralysed and he is also ventilated so it is not ideal. This is really, really frustrating. Gavin doesn't get a shower at the moment. He just gets bed-bathed. He is 30 years of age. We can't have barbecues or go out into the garden. I can't believe it. We have a gorgeous new house for him and I just can't do anything about it."

Alun Hughes, chief executive of the housing association, said: "At a time when the property market is in the doldrums and the chancellor is engaged in its revival with a fiscal stimulus of hundreds of millions of pounds, it seems perverse that he is overlooking a useful tool.

"The additional cost of restoring the previous level of SMI support for potential disabled homeowners at around only £250,000 a year seems, in comparison, a mere drop in the ocean and would not only assist in stimulating the housing market but also meet a worthy social need which most taxpayers would support.

"Hold is good for the resident in terms of greater choice and empowerment. But ironically it also works out cheaper than rental solutions for the taxpayer in the long run. The Department for Work and Pensions are deaf to all my arguments.

"What started out as an unintended consequence has come more and more entrenched political position, as the department try to defend the indefensible. What has happened to Gavin could happen to any one of us and we would all rest easier knowing that the state would protect us better in our vulnerability."

Field said he could not understand why the government, which says it wants to encourage social entrepreneurs, was discouraging Hughes. "Here is a brilliant example, in Alun Hughes, of a social entrepreneur and yet the scheme literally will be crushed unless [Iain Duncan Smith] says I am going to introduce ministerial flexibility so that schemes like this can go ahead.

"Alun Hughes found ways in which he would be able to build purpose-built accommodation so that they could lead as independent a life as possible given the range of help that was available for people buying their own homes from benefits. Everybody knows it was never meant to help people like Gavin. But that is one of the good things – Alun has shown it could. We want the government to rejoice and say isn't that brilliant."

The DWP said 500 of the 540 people who had taken out mortgages under the Hold scheme since 2006 were not affected by the change because their mortgage guarantees to match the SMI rate. The vast majority of claimants (92%) had benefited disproportionately when the rate was frozen at the higher rate of 6.08% in November 2008 because this was higher than the rate charged by their mortgage lender.

A spokesman for the DWP said: "The government is totally committed to supporting disabled people. However, we need to strike a balance between supporting those who receive SMI whilst at the same time being fair to the taxpayer. Those applying for a mortgage under this scheme must – like everyone else – demonstrate that they can meet the financial responsibilities that owning a home brings."

*he's like Chris Grayling lite, isn't he.

Attempted rape in Manchester City Centre on 24 December

A man assaulted and tried to rape a woman as she made her way to work on Christmas Eve.

Sometime shortly before 6am on 24 December 2011, a 21-year-old woman was on Fountain Street in Manchester City Centre when the attacker approached her and asked her for sex.

When she refused the man unfastened his belt and pushed her to the ground. He told her to “take it off” before threatening her and demanding she perform a sex act.

When she again refused he repeatedly punched her about the face.

The attacker ran off when he was disturbed by a staff member from a nearby shop.

The woman suffered facial injuries and was left shaken by the incident.

Her attacker is described as black, 5ft 7in tall and aged between 30 and 40 years old. He spoke with a local accent and wore a striped shirt.


Detectives are investigating whether this incident is linked to the attempted rape of a woman at the junction of Postal Street and Dean Street.

Shortly before 3.50am on Saturday 12 November 2011, a 25-year-old woman was threatened, throttled and had her head and face repeatedly smashed against the pavement and wall.

The offender – described as black, of slim build, between 5ft 6in and 6ft tall, with shaven hair and who spoke with an `Afro-Caribbean’ accent – ran off when two passers-by responded to her screams for help.

Detective Inspector Andy Naismith, said: "This man’s intentions were clear to his victim and are clear to me. Had he not been disturbed she would have been the victim of a sexual assault and we are working extremely hard to identify this person.

“She was making her way to work on Christmas Eve and I am certain a lot of other people would have been doing the same and we need to hear from them.

“Were you in the area? Did you see someone matching the description of the man at any point? If so please call us...

“Given the similarities in MO and description of the offender we are looking seriously at the possibility this is linked to a similar incident in the city centre in November.

“I want to anyone with information about either incident to call us. Please do not think someone else will do it instead – if you have information get in touch.

“I want to reassure residents that we have a dedicated team of detectives working on both incidents and we will not leave any stone unturned in our search for the offender.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 3540, or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Anyone who has been a victim of rape or sexual assault can contact Greater Manchester Police on 0161 872 5050 or 999 in an emergency. GMP has specially trained officers in place to provide a first class response to victims and help support them through the criminal justice process.

St Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Manchester, can also be contacted on 0161 276 6515.

This provides a comprehensive and coordinated forensic, counselling and medical aftercare service to anyone in Greater Manchester who has experienced rape or sexual assault.

Services are available on a 24-hour basis and people can access them either as a self-referral or via Greater Manchester Police.

North Korea's secret prison camps

Via Amnesty International and Order Order, which notes:

"The UN gives the North Korean dictator an honour not given to the Czech democrat [by flying the flag at half mast]. No such memorial for the two million enslaved citizens he killed…"

Muslim extremists throw acid on Ugandan bishop

Compass Direct News reports:

Islamic extremists threw acid on a church leader on Christmas Eve shortly after a seven-day revival at his church, leaving him with severe burns that have blinded one eye and threaten sight in the other.

Bishop Umar Mulinde, 37, a sheikh (Islamic teacher) before his conversion to Christianity, was attacked on Saturday night (Dec. 24) outside his Gospel Life Church International building in Namasuba, about 10 kilometers (six miles) outside of Kampala.

From his hospital bed in Kampala, he told Compass that he was on his way back to the site for a party with the entire congregation and hundreds of new converts to Christianity when a man who claimed to be a Christian approached him..

“I heard him say in a loud voice, ‘Pastor, pastor,’ and as I made a turn and looked at him, he poured the liquid onto my face as others poured more liquid on my back and then fled away shouting, ‘Allahu akbar [God is greater],’” Mulinde said, still visibly traumatized two days after the assault.

A neighbor and church members rushed him to a hospital in the Mengo area of Kampala, and he was then transferred to International Hospital Kampala.

“I have to continue fighting this pain – it is too much,” Mulinde said. “My entire body is in pain. Most of the night I miss sleep.”

His face, neck and arms bore deep black scars from the acid, and his lips were swollen.

“The burn caused by the acid is so severe that there is an urgent need for specialized treatment,” said area Christian Musa Baluku Symutsangira. “I suggest that he be flown outside the country as soon as possible; otherwise Mulinde might lose both of his eyes, coupled with the spread of the burns. The burns seemed to spread and go very deep. He might need some plastic surgery.”

A doctor told Compass that acid burns cover about 30 percent of his face and has cost him sight in one eye.

“We are doing all we can to save his other remaining eye and to contain the acid from spreading to other parts of the body,” the doctor said.

Mulinde’s shirt, tie and suit were in tatters after the attack.

Mulinde said his father, Id Wasswa, was a local prayer leader or imam.

“I was born into a Muslim family, and although I decided to become a Christian, I have been financially assisting many Muslims, as well as my relatives who are Muslims,” he said. “I have been conducting a peaceful evangelism campaign.”

Mulinde said Muslim extremists opposed to his conversion from Islam and his outspoken opposition of sharia (Islamic law) courts in Uganda, known in East Africa as Kadhi courts, attacked him. On Oct. 15, area Muslim leaders declared a fatwa against him demanding his death.

“I have been receiving several threats for a long time, and this last one is the worst of all,” Mulinde said. “I have bore the marks of Jesus...”

Kuwait to ban all anonymous Twitter accounts

The Kuwait News Agency reports:

[The]Interior Ministry announced on Monday [December 26] that it has asked the Ministry of Communications to suspend all anonymous accounts on the social networking site (Twitter).

The ministry said in a press statement that such measure comes in order to preserve the rights of citizens and residents of people who were used to slander them and their families under fake names, saying that such is a crime punishable by law.

It confirmed that all public have the freedom of expression guaranteed to them by the Constitution as long as those practices are going according to the law, especially with regard to using the (Twitter) site.

It explained that this step comes within the context of the ministry's keenness to preserve community values and respect for the law.

North London charity Age-Links requires volunteer drivers

The Hendon and Finchley Times reports:

A HENDON charity is appealing for volunteers following Christmas celebrations this month.

Age-Links is calling on members of the community to assist as volunteer drivers to convey elderly people to and from functions.

This month, the Hendon branch held its Christmas party at Hendon Methodist Church Hall, the Burroughs.

Raj Balraj, of Age-Links, said volunteers were vital to the service, allowing the disadvantaged and elderly to take part in regular activities.

He said: "Methodist Church authorities have been very kindly provided the church hall free of cost as they have been doing for a number of years.

"But we need more volunteers as we are short on drivers for montly outings and tea parties."

Age-Links cares for approximately 400 disadvantaged pensioners, with 500 volunteers.

Mr Balraj said volunteering was a rewarding and worthwhile experience.

He said: "We had young children singing and dancing at the Christmas party and it brought such joy."

To get involved, contact Raj Balraj from Age-Link by calling 01895 676689 or email rajbalraj16@gmail.com.

Order of the (Communist) Brown Nose: Those in the West who lick a dead despot's arse

Which Western Communists paid tribute to the despotic Kim Jong II, who oversaw the murder and enslavement of millions?

According to the Korean Central News Agency of the North Korea:

Marco Rizzo, general secretary of the Leftwing People's Party of Communists of Italy said:

It is with sadness that I learned of the untimely passing of Comrade Kim Jong Il, the outstanding leader of the revolutionary cause of Juche, the Workers' Party of Korea, the DPRK and the Korean people.

I, on behalf of all members of the party and Director of its International Department Alfonso Galdi, would like to express deepest sympathy to Comrade Kim Jong Un.

Sandra Smith, national leader of the C.C., Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), said:

On behalf of all members and supporters of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and on my own behalf, I express heartfelt condolences on the untimely passing of Comrade Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army.

He is greatly admired by all revolutionary forces for working tirelessly for the peaceful independent reunification of Korea, upholding the dignity and honor of the Korean nation, and securing peace on the Korean Peninsula on the basis of the Songun military first policy, thus contributing greatly to world peace.

We are confident that the Korean communists and people led by the WPK and united around you as supreme leader, will turn their grief into strength and face all the challenges which lie ahead by marching together to ever greater victories on the road of independence, national reunification, socialism and peace.

In Germany:

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany on Dec. 23 set a period for mourning the demise of leader Kim Jong Il.

It set the days from Dec. 23 to 27 as a mourning period and decided to hold memorial services for Kim Jong Il at its affiliated organizations in the period.

It also decided to hold a remembrance meeting at the first convention of its leadership next year, carry an article in the party organ and conduct various events including seminar on exploits at affiliated organizations of the party.

And, in Britain:

The chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) said in his memorial speech that his demise is a greatest loss and sorrow not only to all the Koreans but to progressive mankind struggling against imperialism...

The Stoke-on-Trent Branch of the British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea in a statement on December 21 noted it would make positive efforts for eternally glorifying the noble life and feats of Kim Jong Il, intensifying the study and dissemination of the Juche idea and promoting friendship with the Korean people.

The British Branch of Korean Friendship Association in a statement on the same day expressed conviction that though Kim Jong Il demised to everybody's regret, the Korean people would overcome the present sorrow with strength and courage and more dynamically advance for the accomplishment of the revolutionary cause of Juche under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea.

THE PEOPLE's FRONT OF STOKE ON TRENT HAS SPOKEN! OCCUPY THE VICTORIA HALL WITH SPONTANEOUS MOURNING! WRITE AN ILL-THOUGHT OUT LETTER TO THE SENTINEL!

What a bunch of fuckwits, vile apologists for a man who brought misery to his people. No doubt his son will do the same.

Rubbish collection criticisms continue in Waltham Forest

The Waltham Forest Guardian reports:

FURIOUS residents claim the council's rubbish contractors are still failing to empty bins on time and are throwing away recycling with normal waste – three months after taking over the service.

The authority was forced to apologise back in October when Kier missed hundreds of collections across the borough in the first week of its new contract worth up to £90million.

The cabinet member responsible, Cllr Clyde Loakes, blamed “teething problems” and ordered an investigation into a photograph taken by the Guardian appearing to show refuse staff throwing away recycling with normal rubbish.

But three months on some residents claim little has changed, while opposition councillors such as Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Bob Sullivan have accused Kier of providing an “abysmal” service.

One Labour ward councillor, Cllr Peter Barnett, has even urged residents to contact him directly if their collections are missed after they accused council staff of repeatedly promising but then failing to deal with missed collections.

More than 20 residents in Cromwell Road, Walthamstow, signed a petition to the council this month demanding an explanation as to why their street only has its rubbish collected “on average every three weeks.”

And reports continue of residents witnessing refuse staff throwing recycling and rubbish into the same section of their trucks.

Steve Moore, 47, said he was “shocked” when he witnessed the practice outside his home in Forest Drive, Leytonstone, this morning (Wednesday December 28).

He said: “I am so angry about this because like my neighbours I sorted all the [Christmas] present boxes and wrapping paper, removing tape and plastic and flattening it all down. My green bin was rammed.”

Theresa Welford, 62, of The Drive in Chingford, said: “Our rubbish wasn't due to be collected today so when we heard the truck my husband rushed outside to put out the bins. We couldn't believe it when they mixed together our recycling with ordinary rubbish.

“The council has to pay for every tonne of rubbish that goes on the landfill so this policy is going to cost us taxpayers a lot of money – they're mismanaging our finances.”

Meanwhile claims about the extent of the problems by Cllr Loakes appear to have been contradicted by his own staff.

In a letter to the Guardian in October, Cllr Loakes said after initial problems the service had improved and that were “significantly fewer missed collections” in the second week.

However figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from his department show 69 streets had collections missed in the second week - the exact same number as the first week of the contract.

The Guardian is awaiting a comment from the council, including information on whether it has imposed any penalties on Kier for poor performance.

The Duke of Edinburgh's Boxing Day shit

Exclusive to the front pages of all newspapers:

With a regal wave, the Duke of Edinburgh greeted us journalists who were privileged enough to watch him take part in one of the Royal Family's most popular traditions.

A line of well-wishers, many of whom had come to Sandringham instead of visiting loved ones or having a nice quiet day. Some held televisions from the Boxing Day sales, having been unable to resist the 6am opening.

Her Majesty stood nearby, gracefully staring into space, as the Duke walked to the clearing designated for his Boxing Day bowel movement.

The clearing, the details of which were leaked to the Telegraph two weeks ago, is mainly earth with a few weeks and some brown, rotting leaves.

In good humour, the fighting fit Duke quipped "Glad there aren't too many immigrants here! You bastards must be cold!"

As we all laughed at this example of the Duke of Edinburgh's excellent sense of humour, a footman undid his £400 Pierre Cardin checked trousers and let them fall onto a red square of carpet.

The footman then removed his £100 Calvin Klein "Royal Balls" range of boxers and let them slide down his regal legs to the carpet.

The Duke, who possesses the energy and sphincter of a man half his age, gave a graceful smile and a wave.

Once the stools, accopanied by some regal urine, landed on the mud, everyone cheered and a brass band played the National Anthem.

Journalists rushed forward for the chance to lick Philip's arse. This year, the change to tongue the Duke of Edinburgh's anus went to Rebecca English and Andrew Levy of the Daily Mail.

As was the case in 2010, the regal feces were matched to Type 4 on the Bristol Stool Chart, held up by the Duke of Edinburgh's private secretary Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell.

Once the Duke's private parts had been wiped, his trousers and underpants were pulled up. Cameras clicked as the Duke joked that we should "fuck off home now and do a proper job."

One of the crowd said: “It looks like Philip is heeding the advice of doctors to take things easy for a while. His excrement looked healthy and brown."

Another commented: "I wish Prince Philip, our nation's longest ever serving Consort, the best of all future bowel movements. I admire him greatly for the fortitude and resilience that he displayed in fighting against the Nazis in our Royal Navy during World War II and his dignified toilet visits, if nothing else.

The Duke is said to have been in "good sprits" and preparations have already begun to choose the location of the 2012 Boxing Day shit.

MORE INSIDE:

Pictures of the Royal Bowel Movement: p2-4.

What Prince Philip's 2011 Boxing Day Shit means for the monarchy, by Dickie Arbiter: p5

How the Boxing Day Shit shows how out of touch and spiteful republicans are, by Jackie Ashley and Janet Daley: p6

Where will Charles shit when he takes over?: p7

Double-Dip Recession "Even More Likely" p8

Millions suffer due to cuts: p8

Another Government minister revealed as crook: p9

Thousands die in earthquake: p10.

The Times and Daily Mail stir up more hate against the unemployed

Today's Times has a nasty little story, by Sam Coates, with the headline "Third of jobseeker’s allowance claimants have criminal record"

It reports that 26% of people on JSA have a caution or a criminal conviction within the last 10 years.

A few points to counter this propaganda:

*Sam Coates does not mention how many people not on JSA have a criminal record. There is nothing to compare this with.

*The story does not mention what the criminal records are for. They might be for driving 32mph in a 30mph zone, for example.

*It would be interesting to see what percentage of News International journalists have a criminal record, as a comparison.

The phone-hacking revelations may see this increase. (News International owns The Times, and did own the News of the World).

*How is this article news? Aside from creating a negative picture of people on JSA for the mainly upper middle-class* readers of the Times, and allowing waste of sperm Chris Grayling to vomit out a quote, what does it tell us? "Some unemployed people have a criminal record."

Fuck The Times. Establishment propaganda sheet.

Tim Shipman in the Daily Mail also went to town on the story:

"Officials found that of the 1.2million total claims for Jobseeker’s Allowance open on December 1, 2010 in England and Wales, 33 per cent were made by offenders.

In total 26 per cent of the 4.9million people claiming some sort of out-of-work benefit were offenders who had received at least one caution or conviction between 2000 and 2010.

Of those, 5 per cent of the total claims were made by offenders who had been released from prison over the past ten years.

That means 1.3million offenders were claiming out-of-work benefits, including 245,000 who had served a custodial sentence."

"Tory MP Philip Davies [who thinks 33% is "many"] questioned whether the benefit payments are legitimate. ‘Given that so many of these people are criminals, it makes you wonder how many are actually seeking work and available to work,’ he said."

*Despite the fact that the article does not mention how many of the crimes were committed while the criminals were on benefits, fuckwit Tim Shipman burps:

"The figures lay bare the degree to which an ‘underclass’ that drifts in and out of criminal activity is using state handouts to bolster its income, while often continuing a life of crime."

And is it really surprising that some people released from prison have to sign on? Are employers waiting at the prison gates with job offers? Should ex-prisoners not sign on and just drift back into crime?

Also, many people get a criminal conviction or caution for minor crimes? How many Daily Mail journalists have criminal convictions or cautions? Should they be banned from working for the Mail?

Won't stories written by Tim Shipman and his cronies just make employers less likely to hire ex-prisoners, causing them to drift back into crime?

The Daily Mail is a hate rag written by pampered arseholes who would do well writing for North Korean state TV.

Don't believe the newspapers, who twist the facts for their government chums.


*Giles Coren wrote in the Times that the readers were "upper middle class."

Us and them: Two tales of the NHS

Roy Lilley comments on the NHS Managers blog:

Sitting is his study, making last minute arrangements for the Boxing Day celebrations; he knew he didn't feel right. A tightening then a crushing pain in the centre of the chest. An indescribable heaviness. It's never a good sign and in a man turned ninety, definitely a bad sign. It wasn't long before the helicopter was scrambled and he was in one of the best heart hospitals in the world.

At the other end of the country an older man, well into his nineties, was walking back from Tesco's, making last minute arrangements to join a family Christmas. Overcome with a pain in the centre of his chest, he sat on a low wall. He felt heavy. A passer-by asked if he was alright and kindly took his shopping bag and walked him slowly back, up one flight of stairs into his spotless apartment, where he lives alone.

He didn't like to make a fuss. "No, the ambulances'll be too busy to bother with me"....... eventually, late afternoon, a relative was alerted and negotiated that they go to A&E, by car.

By the time the helicopter had landed the on-call cardiologist was ready to meet him. The chief executive was on his way, a startled press officer was already cranking up the press machine. Within hours he had been diagnosed and treated with a stent. Routine, standard practice.

His visitors were met, greeted and taken to the side room to see their grandfather. No, they didn't want any tea, thank you. They didn't want a fuss. Four days later a procession of Land Rovers swept him out of the hospital, smiling and waving.

A&E was quiet but it was 1am before the man found sitting on the wall had been seen by a triage nurse, a doctor and admitted to the Cardiac Unit. Amongst the machines and monitors two nurses were busy but attentive. One wore a Santa hat.

Visiting the Cardiac Unit took determination. A blizzard of signs, union strike notices, press cuttings, posters, health and safety advertisements, clean your hands campaigns and League of Friends activities made it tricky to see what was where. Reception was in darkness. Past the cleaning and delivery carts, through the well worn corridors and past a room with the lagoon of water on the floor. Past the coffee shop; locked and abandoned for the festivities; eventually the lift.

On the ward, among the monitors, no sign of a cardiologist. "They won't be in 'till Tuesday" said the nurse in the Santa hat. And, no, she didn't know about the man's two outpatient appointments in the next few days; haematology and renal clinics. It would appear Christmas has an electromagnetic pulse effect, rendering parts of the NHS dysfunctional.

He was stoic. Didn't want a fuss. There were no chairs for the visitors. They stood around his bed for an hour. His clothes were bundled into a plastic bag, abandoned on the floor, under the bed. Covering him a beige blanket. No TV, no news papers, no distractions. The Friends' shop locked and dark. It's at times like this you find out who your friends really are.

The hospital is pushing a £30+m bow wave of debt in front of it. It looks like it. Worn, exhausted with the effort of staying afloat and helping to save £20bn to keep the Big Beast in a job.

The man in the helicopter was the Queen's husband, treated at Papworth. The man on the wall is my Uncle Les, Wednesday morning and still waiting to see a cardiologist at St Helier's Hospital, Sutton.

Breathtaking.

No Congestion Charge in London until 2nd January

There will be no Congestion Charge in London from Saturday 24 December to Monday 2 January inclusive, according to TFL.

Tube lines not running:

The Circle Line will not run until Friday 30 December.

No service on the District Line between High Street Kensington and Edgware Road until Friday 30 December.

No service between Hammersmith and Kings Cross St Pancras on the Hammersmith and City line until Friday 30 December.

No service between Baker Street and Aldgate on the Metropolitan Line until Friday 30 December.

No service between Camden Town and High Barnet / Mill Hill East until Friday 30 December.

Replacement buses operate.

The Docklands Light Railway is closed between Bank/Tower Gateway and Poplar/West India Quay until January 2nd.

Cannon Street station is closed until January 7th.

Saturday services will operate on many National Rail lines in London until 30 December.

North Oxfordshire Community Foodbank urgently needs donations

The North Oxfordshire Community Foodbank is experiencing greater demand than ever, and urgently needs donations of food.

Volunteers and financial support are also welcome.


The foodbank offers short-term emergency help to residents of the Kidlington, Woodstock, Charlbury and Chipping Norton, as well as surrounding communities, by providing parcels of non-perishable food to people in crisis who are unable to purchase food for themselves.

The following items are most sought after: tinned peas, carrots, tomatoes and sweetcorn,long life semi-skimmed milk,long life fruit juice,rice pudding, tinned fruit, custard, cornflakes, rice krispies, coco pops.

Ways to help:

Donations of food can be taken to:

Kidlington Baptist Church on a Friday morning between 10:30am and 1pm,

Highlands Day Centre,73 Burford Road, Chipping Norton, OX7 5EE, every Tuesday 11.00 - 13.00,

Woodstock Baptist Church,High Street, Woodstock, OX20 1TE every Wednesday 9.00 - 10.30,

or collection can be arranged (contact admin@northoxfordshirecommunityfoodbank.org.uk).

You can also collect Nectar points for the Foodbank when doing your shopping - just use a Foodbank Nectar card and the points you earn will be allocated to the Foodbank.

To get a Foodbank Nectar card just ask the Foodbank contact in a North Oxfordshire church or email: admin@northoxfordshirecommunityfoodbank.org.uk.

Financial donations are most welcome to aid the good work of the foodbank.

Volunteers are also required to staff the Foodbank, help with organised collections at local supermarkets and stock management at the storage depot.

If you are interested in joining the team of volunteers - in any capacity, email: volunteers@northoxfordshirecommunityfoodbank.org.uk
 
If you represent a statutory or voluntary agency, then you can register with the foodbank as a distributor of vouchers so people in crisis can be referred . Email to: admin@northoxfordshirecommunityfoodbank.org.uk.

Cancer patients increasingly 'relying on charity handouts' for fuel bills

BBC News reports:

Cancer patients are relying more on charity handouts as they struggle to pay rising fuel bills, figures reveal.

Macmillan Cancer Support said it had paid out £2,548,563 to 12,669 cancer patients during 2011, up from £1.4m to 7,369 patients five years ago.

The charity wants a government-commissioned independent review of fuel poverty to prioritise cancer patients.

Macmillan's campaign manager, Laura Keely, said it was "shocking" cancer sufferers needed such help.

'Unacceptable reality'

She said: "To feel too scared to put the heating on because of soaring energy bills is an unacceptable reality for thousands of vulnerable cancer patients who feel the cold more and spend long periods of time at home.

"When the charity was established 100 years ago, founder Douglas Macmillan helped cancer patients by handing out sacks of coal to keep them warm.

"It is shocking that a century on, people who are diagnosed with this devastating disease are still relying on charity help to heat their freezing homes."

The charity says 70% of cancer patients under 55 have less income after being diagnosed, often because their illness affects their ability to earn.

But their fuel bills often rise because they are spending more time at home and often feel colder because of their illness.

Research into fuel poverty for Macmillan suggests those on housing benefit and council tax benefit or with a low annual household income are most susceptible to fuel poverty.

Witney Town Council worker parks in disabled bay - and is backed by town council clerk

The Oxford Times reports:

A "thoughtless" Witney Town Council worker left an MS sufferer with an exhausting walk after taking the only disabled parking spot.

The van was parked in a disabled bay in the car park outside Langdale Hall, Langdale Gate, while an annual MS Society gift fair took place inside.

So Maggie Knight, who has suffered with MS for six years, was forced to park more than 100 metres away and walk to the hall on December 2.

The 55-year-old, from Weavers Close, Witney, said: “It made me feel cross.

“I am quite impressed with the number of disabled parking spaces in Witney but the able-bodied people abuse the system, which makes it difficult for us.

“I had to use my three-wheeled walker – I could not have done it without that – and I was tired when I got to the fair.

“I managed it, but then a lot of us walk further than we actually should."

She added: “You need your life to be as simple as it can be when you have MS.

“Able-bodied people do not realise that you have to plan everything, including making sure there is somewhere to park, if you want to go anywhere.

“It takes longer to get places when you have MS. It is like walking through treacle and you get tired very easily.”

Gift fair organiser Tamsin Buchanan, 32, from Deer Park, Witney, said: “It made me really cross, especially as it was obvious that a fair for the MS Society was going on. It was pretty obvious there were people there with mobility issues that needed to get into the hall and park close by.

“Maggie looked absolutely exhausted when she came in and I felt really bad that she was put in that position. It was just thoughtless and inconsiderate.”

She said the van was parked outside the hall for about two hours.

Mrs Buchanan said: “They seem to think they can park where they want because they work for the council.

“They have no consideration for other people.”

Town council clerk Sharon Groth said: “It is a private car park that is owned by Witney Town Council.

“We are happy for hall users to park in it.

“But there is no guarantee of free spaces because it is not just for their purposes.

“Council vehicles do not normally use the disabled space but if there are no other spaces available and they need access to the hall they sometimes have to.”

She added: “That particular vehicle belongs to a person doing cemetery work who popped into Langdale Hall to get some paperwork.

Help scheme for elderly people in Oxfordshire "lifechanging"

The Oxford Times reports:

A help scheme for elderly people in their own homes has proved life-changing in its first year.

The My Life My Way project, run by the Age UK Oxfordshire charity, started in February and offers people assistance with simple day-to-day activities.

More than 20 people have taken up the offer for weekly home support in North Oxfordshire.

Organisers are now expanding the programme in West Oxfordshire and are hoping it will be county-wide over the next year.

Brenda Lickorish, 83, from Bloxham, said her support worker Paula Donaldson had “changed her life” in the last eight months.

She said: “Paula comes in every Monday and changes my bed, cleans the bathroom and does upstairs.

“She really is wonderful, it’s made a big difference to my life because I can’t get out by myself. I look forward to seeing her each week.”

The support worker visits the grandmother for two hours a week.

Mrs Donaldson said: “With Brenda, I’m basically a friend.

“It makes a huge difference. Before me, her daughter was doing everything and holding down a job at the same time.

“This has improved their relationship so much because now they can actually spend time together.

“I can’t imagine not seeing her every week now.”

Age UK charges £15 an hour for the service, with all the money going back into keeping the service going for others.

Mrs Lickorish’s daughter Helen Craft, also from Bloxham, added: “It’s really difficult when an elderly relative gets to a point where they need help but don’t like to ask for it. This has made such a difference to us all. It’s reassuring to know she’s in safe hands.”

Anyone interested in taking up the scheme can contact Age UK on 01295 278040 or email tinaturvey@ageuk oxfordshire.org.uk

The reality of education cuts

The Guardian reports:

Pupils are being denied careers advice at a time of record youth unemployment, schools are scrapping projects to help the neediest children catch up on their reading, and teachers of music, art and sport are losing their jobs, a Guardian investigation into the impact of cuts on education reveals.

The education secretary, Michael Gove, claimed last year that the government was "protecting the frontline", and the coalition says schools and colleges will manage to save £1bn between now and 2014 just by trimming back-office functions.

However, research by the Guardian indicates that shrinking budgets are already significantly reducing the range and quality of education on offer to all pupils across England, from toddlers to teenagers. Even schools in deprived neighbourhoods are having to make swingeing cuts, despite receiving the pupil premium, which this year has equated to an extra £488 for each child who receives free school meals.

The Guardian spoke to scores of associations representing education workers and requested figures from councils through the Freedom of Information Act. In schools, colleges and neighbourhoods, the Guardian found cases illustrating what the associations said was happening. The investigation shows:

• At a time of record youth unemployment, thousands of school careers advisers are being laid off and many others are having their hours cut, leaving teenagers to finish school and college without official guidance on their next move.

• Headteachers are cutting music, art and sports teachers and the hours pupils spend in these lessons. At some schools, budgets for these subjects have been slashed by up to 80%.

• Schools are ending or cutting funds for an initiative lauded by researchers that offered one-to-one tuition for pupils falling behind in reading, writing and maths.

• A grant that pays for sixth formers to receive help with their university and college choices and take part in debating and drama clubs has been severely cut, with some institutions receiving a quarter of what they got last year.

• After-school clubs and school holiday play schemes are closing or under threat, creating havoc for working parents and those with limited budgets for childcare.

• Millions of pounds have been stripped from funds needed by local authorities to repair school buildings, just when the number of children starting school is due to rise by 10%. In some parts of the country, councils have just over a quarter of what they had to spend last year.

• A poll for the Guardian showed 43% of schools had to cut one or more subjects, courses or services. The Key, a national education support service, questioned 1,516 teachers and headteachers. Just over a quarter said they had closed a school club, while 11% said they had reduced their sports budgets. A further 8% had cut music classes.

The Institute of Career Guidance is warning that careers advice for young people is "becoming extinct". Unison, the trade union that represents careers advisers in education, has found that thousands have been made redundant and many others have had their hours cut.

Constrained school budgets and the end of the Connexions service mean pupils are being denied face-to-face help and instead being directed towards websites. At one secondary school in Kent that the Guardian spoke to, only teenagers with special needs are to be given careers advice.

One in five 16- to 24-year-olds are out of work in the UK, and advisers fear a further rise in the number of young people not in education, employment or training.

Art, music and sports teachers are losing their jobs or having their teaching hours and budgets cut. The National Society for Education in Art & Design, which represents art teachers in the UK, said the subject was "staring into the abyss".

Langdon Park school in Tower Hamlets, east London, a specialist sports college, had its sports grant cut by 80% this year. Music services in Hounslow, west London, and Bolton have been hit by 10% cuts to central government grants this year. The services provide teachers, instruments and free tuition.

At one secondary school in Cheshire, the head of music has been made redundant and the two youngest year groups are, as of this year, taught music for only one hour every fortnight, rather than every week.

Teenagers from low-income homes are likely to suffer the most from a 75% cut to the entitlement funding grant, which helps sixth-formers to receive pastoral care, take part in debating and drama clubs and receive help with their university and college choices.

Yet headteachers argue that the grant gives sixth-formers a more rounded education and something to discuss on their university applications.

The Guardian's analysis shows schools are ending or reducing one-to-one tuition for pupils falling behind in reading, writing and maths.

Researchers have proved that the initiative accelerates pupils' progress and gives them confidence. A survey for the Guardian showed 91 of 1,516 teachers and headteachers had ended or cut the scheme.

Hertfordshire county council said fewer schools in its area were now giving one-to-one tuition. They were concentrating on smaller group work instead.

The Department for Education says schools still receive their grant for one-to-one tuition, but it is no longer ringfenced and can be spent on other areas.

Thousands of nurseries, children's centres, after-school clubs and holiday play schemes are closing.

The manager of a play scheme for children from Peckham and Dulwich in south London said she was finding it nearly impossible to secure a grant to continue. After-school clubs are having to close because parents can no longer afford the fees.

Funds to repair school buildings have been dramatically cut, despite the fact that the construction firm Laing O'Rourke says the condition of most schools has deteriorated in the last five years and many buildings are past their life expectancy.

Responses to a Freedom of Information Act request made by the Guardian reveal that Warrington council's funds for repairs to its children's services buildings have dropped to £4.6m from £17.2m last year. Stockport's funds have fallen to £8.7m from £20m between 2009-10 and 2010-11. In some parts of the country, such as Stockton-on-Tees, more than a third of the school estate is in urgent need of repair.

The government says it is now focusing on addressing "urgent maintenance needs and meeting demographic pressures". The chancellor, George Osborne, has allocated an additional £600m for school buildings.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, warned that the cuts uncovered by the Guardian would lead to "England's long tail of under-achievement getting longer". She feared the most vulnerable would suffer the most and fall further behind. Gove had been disingenuous in assuming the frontline would be protected, she said.

An education department spokeswoman said spending on schools had been "relatively protected". She said it was up to headteachers to make the decisions they think are best for their pupils. "It is important that schools should be able to make savings on procurement and back-office spending in order to invest resources in teaching and learning." Schools with the most deprived intakes were likely to see real-terms increases in funding, she said.

However, a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found just 5% of primary schools and 2% of secondary schools would see a real-terms increase.
Cuts facts

• In the 2010 spending review, the government announced a freeze, in cash terms, of funding per pupil.

• Schools have been asked to find £1bn in savings between 2010-11 and 2014-15 from back-office functions and procurement

• But schools also receive £488 per pupil on free school meals this year – the pupil premium. This will rise to £600 in April.

• The government has pledged that no school will see more than a 1.5% per pupil funding reduction in 2012-13 budgets, compared to 2011-12. (This is before the pupil premium is added.)

• The Institute for Fiscal Studies published a report in October that found spending on education between now and 2014-15 will fall by 13% - the fastest fall in any four-year period since the 1950s.

• The same report found that almost three-quarters of primary schools in England and about 90% of secondary schools will see a real-terms cut over the next year. Just 5% of primary schools and 2% of secondary schools will see a real-terms increase.

• Between 2011 and 2015, pupil numbers in state nurseries and primary schools are projected to increase by 9%. Pupil numbers in secondary schools will continue to decline until 2016.

Teenage girl indecently assaulted on train between Flitwick and Leagrave

British Transport Police (BTP) is appealing for information after a teenage girl was touched indecently on board a train between Flitwick and Leagrave.

Detectives have also released a CCTV image of a man they would like to trace in connection with the assault which took place on Saturday, 17 December 2011.

DC Vicki Bladen, the investigating officer, said that the victim, a 19-year-old from the local area was travelling alone just after 7am when she was approached by a man who tried to engage her in conversation:

“The victim boarded the 07:04 First Capital Connect service at Flitwick and took a seat in the second carriage from the front.

“Shortly into the journey she was approached by a man who began to talk to her before taking a seat next to her, at which point he touched her indecently several times.

“It wasn’t until the train arrived at Leagrave and other passengers boarded, that he stopped and quickly left the train.”

The victim later reported the incident to police.

DC Bladen added: “Thankfully the victim was not physically harmed, although she was obviously very shaken and intimidated by this man’s behaviour.

“I’m pleased to say that incidents like this are very rare on the rail network. I will do everything in my power to catch this person and bring him to justice.

“I am urging anyone who witnessed the incident, or who recognises the man in the image to come forward – your information could be key to the investigation.”

The man is described as black with a skinny build. He was approximately six-feet-tall aged between 20 -23 years-old. He had dark eyes, very white teeth a goatee beard and braided hair to his neck.

He was wearing a purple cap with a big peak, dark jeans, a hoodie with a black and white scarf wrapped around it and a dark jacket.

Anyone with information can contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference B11/LNA of 23/12/2011. Or call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The growing persecution of Christians in the Middle East

Fraser Nelson reports:

Father Immanuel Dabaghian, one of Baghdad’s last surviving priests, is expecting a quiet Christmas. To join him in the Church of the Virgin Mary means two hours of security checks and a body search at the door, and even then there’s no guarantee of survival. Islamist gunmen massacred 58 people in a nearby church last year, and fresh graffiti warns remaining worshippers that they could be next.

The Americans have gone now, and Iraq’s Christian communities – some of the world’s oldest – are undergoing an exodus on a biblical scale.

Of the country’s 1.4 million Christians, about two thirds have now fled. Although the British Government is reluctant to recognise it, a new evil is sweeping the Middle East: religious cleansing.

The attacks, which peak at Christmas, have already spread to Egypt, where Coptic Christians have seen their churches firebombed by Islamic fundamentalists.

In Tunisia, priests are being murdered. Maronite Christians in Lebanon have, for the first time, become targets of bombing campaigns.

Christians in Syria, who have suffered as much as anyone from the Assad regime, now pray for its survival. If it falls, and the Islamists triumph, persecution may begin in earnest.

The idea of Christianity as a kind of contagion that is foreign to the Arab world is bizarre: it is, of course, a Middle Eastern religion successfully exported to the pagan West.

Those feet, in ancient times, came nowhere near England’s mountains green. The Nativity is a Middle Eastern story about a child born to a Jewish mother, whose first visitors were three wise Iranians and who was then swept off to Egypt to escape Roman persecution.

His Apostles later scattered to Libya, Turkey and Iraq, to establish the Christian communities that are now under threat. For most of history, they have coexisted happily with Muslims: dressing the same way, even celebrating each other’s festivals. The rise of the veil, and other cultural dividing lines, is a relatively modern phenomenon.
Related Articles

These dividing lines are now being made into battle lines by hardline Salafists, who are emerging as victors of the Arab Spring. They belong to the same mutant strain of Sunni Islam which inspired al-Qaeda.

Their agenda is sectarian warfare, and they loathe Shia Islam as much as they do Christians and Jews. Their enemy lies not over a border, but in a church, synagogue or Shia mosque. The Salafists may be detested by the Muslim mainstream. But as they are finding out, you don’t need to be popular to seize power in a post-dictatorship Arab world – you just need to be the best organised.

The West is so obsessed with government structure that it doesn’t notice when power lies elsewhere, and Islamist death squads are executing barbers and unveiled women in places like Basra.

Two years ago, the idea of such bloody sectarianism would have sounded like a macabre fantasy in a country as civilised as Egypt. After al-Qaeda bombed a church on New Year’s Day, Muslim elders sat in the front pews forming a human shield and defying the terrorists.

But moderate Egyptians are now losing this power struggle. The killing has started, with another 25 Copts murdered in October.

Tens of thousands of Egypt’s Christians have already joined their Iraqi counterparts in exile: as Iraq proved, one death can lead to a thousand emigrations. The Salafists are finding it staggeringly easy to realise their fantasy of a “purer” Egypt.

The Arab Spring was always going to mean danger for religious minorities, unleashing the Islamic extremists who previously were kept at bay. For all their evil, the old secular tyrants abused their victims equally, whether they wore the cross, hijab or skullcap.

This year’s revolutions are marked by the utter absence of any leaders-in-waiting. History has repeatedly shown how, under such circumstances, regime change can be followed by a descent into sectarian chaos.

Extremists can easily start fights along religious or ethnic lines by assassinating a leader, or blowing up a shrine. The result can be civil war (as with Bosnia and Rwanda), even leading to partition (as with India and Cyprus).

The Foreign Office has been typically slow to recognise the gathering threat, despite repeated warnings. The biggest one of all came a fortnight ago, when the Archbishop of Canterbury opened a gripping debate in the Lords about the widening persecutions, and what the Government ought to do.

Lord Patten, the former education secretary, revealed that he spent a year failing to persuade the Foreign Office to help a group of Anglicans in the Anatolian peninsula, who are banned from worshipping in any public place. “'The answer was no,’ he said. 'They would not approach the Turkish government to ask, 'Please can you ease up a bit?’”

But when German Catholics were having trouble in the same place, Angela Merkel’s government intervened immediately, working with the Turks to send a Catholic priest to hold public worship.

So why the British reticence? It might be that the Foreign Office sees this as part of a soppy equalities agenda, unworthy of diplomatic attention.

Those who have raised the issue directly with William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, say he is unenthusiastic. When Mr Hague visited Algeria recently, he did not raise its ban on any Christian activity outside state-licensed buildings.

When challenged, ministers deplore persecution in general – but, seemingly, not so much that they’d do something like pick up the phone to Ankara. Yet there is plenty Britain can do. Countries could be denied aid until Christians (or Jews, or Sunnis) are allowed to worship freely.

British diplomats could be empowered, even instructed, to advocate freedom of religion. When a peer of the realm alerts the Foreign Office to some persecuted Anglicans, a red alert ought to sound.

Mr Hague might even publish an annual audit of religious freedom in various countries, making clear its importance to Britain. It might make its own estimate about the scale of the flood of refugees.

The Foreign Office did not realise the full evil of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans until it was too late: it did not take civil tensions seriously enough. It can do better now, making clear that it regards religious cleansing as an emerging evil that ought to be confronted wherever it is being incubated.

Article 18 of the UN Charter of Human Rights guarantees freedom of religion – and yet outright religious oppression is quietly ignored, from Saudi Arabia to the Maldives.

For ages, Iran has been able to persecute Baha’is with a minimum of fuss kicked up in the West. The ayatollahs are now turning the screw on Christians, with 300 arrested in the past year.

Speaking in that House of Lords debate were men to whom the idea of religious cleansing is anything but abstract. Lord (Dolar) Popat fled Uganda when Idi Amin turned on the Indians in 1971. Hindus, he said, are taught that it is a sin to be prejudiced against anyone. But it is “an even greater sin to witness persecution, then sit back and do nothing to stop it”.

Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, said his parents were once victims of the same evil that now confronts Christians. He quoted Martin Luther King: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”

Our friends in the Middle East are all waiting to hear from HM Government. Perhaps, in the new year, it might have something to say.