Yes, Of Course, It's All Our Fault....

From The BBC

Blair 'sorrow' over slave trade

Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he feels "deep sorrow" for Britain's role in the slave trade.

In an article for the New Nation newspaper, the prime minister said it had been "profoundly shameful".

But Mr Blair stopped short of issuing a full apology, which some commentators have demanded.

The government is reportedly setting out its plans for next year's bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade.

Esther Stanford, of the Pan African Reparation Coalition, said all countries that had ever been involved in slavery should give a full apology.

"An apology is just the start - words mean nothing," she told BBC News.

"We're talking about an apology of substance which would then be followed by various reparative measures including financial compensation."

The whole idea of anyone apologising for the actions of long dead fellow countrymen is frankly the most wishy washy pile of shite in a whole world that talks too much and acts too little.

How the hell is it even a consideration that those of us now alive should be in any way responsible for the actions of those long dead?

And how is it that Esther Stanford can believe that she can do anything but harm to African causes by demanding that nations that were historically involved in slavery, should make reparations? Where does this rediculously misguided woman think this should end?
Perhaps With Egypt paying reparations to the Israelites? Or with Italians paying reperations to Britons, Gauls and Germans for what the Romans did? I assume that any 'reparations' would of course, once paid, be buried alongside the long dead victims? I'm sure she doesn't intend for anyone alive, and therefore not actually a victim of slavery, to actually make a profit from it?

Or perhaps the people who feel these issues deserve their time and attention should consider getting off their respective arses and spend that time and attention on helping their fellow man that are suffering in one way or another in the world, right here and right now?

Winchester Fails The Test....

From This Is Hampshire .net

Police to carry out drug tests outside pubs By Chris Semple

A MAJOR new drive to catch people on illegal drugs is being launched in Winchester tonight and is targeting young people visiting the city's pubs.

In a groundbreaking operation, police will be testing people on their way into four city pubs and stopping and searching anyone who gives a positive result.

It is one of the first times that the machine, called Ion-Track, has been used in the UK to test people on their way into venues. It can detect everything from cannabis to crack.

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Previous police operations have focused on testing people already suspected on having consumed illegal drugs, or on testing areas in pubs and clubs where drug use is suspected - such as toilets.

Now Hampshire Constab-ulary is to take the process one step further, rooting out drug users before they enter venues, and they have teamed up with Winchester's Pub-watch scheme to make the testing a compulsory condition of entry.

The initiative will get under way this evening with officers stationing themselves outside Savannahs, The Gaolhouse, O'Neills and Bar 31.

The testing will involve the door supervisor brushing a small tab across the tips of customers' fingers and then inserting the tab into the machine.

If the customer gives off a positive reading for any illegal substance they will be detained and searched by police. Those testing positive will also be banned from entering the pub that night, while anyone actually caught with drugs on them will be arrested.

Sgt Karen Fisher said: "An operation like this is a very successful way of tackling the drugs problem in Winchester city centre and the co-operation of the licensees and the public is invaluable to us."

The Ion-Track machine has already been used this year at clubs in Brighton and Hove and at various festivals throughout the summer including Winchester's Hi Fi.

Police in Kent and Wales also used the machine earlier this year to test for drug use among school pupils.

The £32,000 machine, which looks like a fax machine, picks up traces of drugs from a person's sweat and is so sensitive that it can even tell whether the person tested is a regular user of drugs or has just come into contact with them through something like a handshake.

As well as Class A drugs like crack and cocaine, the machine can also pick up Ecstasy, amphetamines, cannabis and date rape drugs such as GHB and Rohypnol.

The Irony of it, testing people for illegal drugs as they head into the place where you can legally get tanked up on the one drug the government makes a fortune in taxes from and society actively encourages you to partake in.

It's good to see the boys in blue of the Winchester constabulary have so much time on their hands. Doubtless no theft, muggings, murders, rapes or anything else to worry themselves about in that fine old city.

Except thats not actually the case.

In the period 2004-2005, according to "UpMyStreet" the website dedicated to telling you the best places (and worst) in the uk to live, there were around 1300 crimes against the person, 100 sexual offences, 500 thefts from vehicles and 300 burglaries in Winchester. Hardly paradise city is it? And in spite of what the 'War On Drugs' lobby will have you believe, the vast majority of offences commited are nothing whatever to do with someone trying to support a habit.

I bet they have one of the highest incidences of drivers being stopped too, as life is that 'dull' for the local plod.

I still say such offensive, facist tactics should be used on the houses of parliament without warning before being allowed to be unleashed on the general public. Be interesting to see the test results from our glorious leaders, and how keen they'd be to enforce these pathetic nanny laws from that point onwards....

Just Say No To Paracetamol........

Good old Great Britain and it's nannying laws.

Not content with telling us what we can put up our noses, down our throats or anywhere else for personal entertainment, the powers that be even have to stick their irritating beaks into how many headache tablets we can buy these days. Due to a large number of silly people trying to prematurely leap off of this mortal coil by overdosing on paracetamol, you can't actually buy more than two 16 tablet packs at any one time in your local Tesco, or anywhere else for that matter.

So if you're hoping to top yourself in this fashion, might I suggest you simply buy the maximum allowance of 32 tablets and wash them down with a large container of bleach, which you can still purchase without fear of breaking the law.

Black Gold.......

If you're the sort of person who has the ability to watch a movie, in spite of it having no explosions, car chases, love scenes or actors in it, and feel it was worthwhile, then you may well find "Black Gold" worth a watch.
An insightful look at the global coffee industry, it'll really make you think more about that first cup of the day in a new light.

The juxtaposition of seeing people hand sort individual coffee beans on one continent, for poverty level wages, within moments of watching the behaviour of entrants in the "World Barista Championships" and their bizarre self delusion that their 'skill' has the slightest importance in the big scheme of things......Simply astonishing stuff.

http://www.blackgoldmovie.com/

Perfect Planning Could Prevent Piss Poor Performance....

From BBC News

Cost of 2012 Olympics 'up £900m'

The expected cost of the 2012 London Olympic park has risen 40% since the games were won in July 2005, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has told MPs

Well what a bloody surprise. Exactly what part of forward planning do the morons that organise these massive projects not understand?

Whether it's the new stadium at Wembley, The Channel Tunnel, The Eurostar Terminal, or the 2012 Olympics project, there's always one thing these super-projects have in common. They will go ridiculously over budget, every single time.

Is it really impossible for the planners of such projects to not factor in at least some level of inflation, added costs and good old common sense? Or are they actually just talking complete shite when they put the proposals on the table in an effort to pull the wool over the eyes of the rather dim witted taxpayers who usually end up footing the bills one way or another?

I don't want to see companies fined or punished for crashing mindlessly through these budget ceilings every time as some people suggest. I want to see them putting forward genuine budgets and timescales in the first bloody place, and I have a sneaking suspicion that may be what everyone (except those who's pockets the projects will line) wants to see too.

How about the government minister who gives the final go-ahead to a project, being personally responsible for any costs over those they tell the public at the time of conception? We may see a few less getting given the go-ahead with such total dishonest disregard for the truth.

An Unfair Cop....

From The BBC News

Terror Law Review ‘By Christmas’

Home Secretary John Reid says he will finish his review of anti-terrorism measures before Christmas.

In an interview with the BBC, he said it may mean new laws - giving security services the "tools they need to counter terrorism".

He did not confirm whether they would include plans to increase the maximum time for which suspects can be detained without charge.

Tony Blair earlier said he still backed an increase from 28 days to 90 days.

Am I being dim here? I still can't see the reason security services want this extension. Are they really saying that they can be convinced enough that someone is involved in terrorism to arrest them, but that it could really take them up to three months to find enough evidence to convince the members of a jury of the same thing?

I'm generally pretty 'pro' the idea of giving the police a fair crack at doing their job. Whilst they may be a bit of a pain in the backside, if you're the sort of person who's lifestyle doesn't fit in with the way the lawmakers see things, (and I'm talking about disagreeing on issues like drug use, personal choices, nannying laws, not basic common sense social conventions like locking up murderers and rapists etc), but they do have a job to do.
Yes, some of them might even be a little over-zealous, but even people who regularly break a few laws in their lives soon get on the phone to the cops if their car gets nicked or their mum gets mugged. There are a few things in this country you can be arrested for, that I personally think are hugely invasive, but that doesn't mean I'd want to see a world without the boys in blue generally.

But are the police really so bad at collecting evidence, or so cuckolded by the Crown Prosecution Service, or just so much better than a jury at knowing what's good for us... that they need to have the legal right to effectively imprison someone for three months without trial?

Lest We Forget....

Today is Rememberance Sunday.
I've always felt the need to put my own politics aside on this day, because regardless of your belief or not in any conflict our nation is involved in, today is a day to remember those who have given their lives for us. For you and I.

Without them standing between us, and those we have found cause to fight, we would not have the freedom to live the lives that we do.

To the men and women of Great Britain's Armed Forces who have given their lives so that I might enjoy mine, I would like to offer my personal deep and heartfelt thanks and unending respect.

FEMA In A Spin...

A hurricane-like storm, two-thirds the diameter of Earth, is raging at Saturn's south pole, new images from Nasa's Cassini space probe reveal.

Measuring 5000 miles across, the storm is the first hurricane ever detected on a planet other than Earth.

In an earlier statement FEMA (The US Federal Emergency Mangement Agency) are reported to have said:

"You can't blame us, we only just heard about it too....erm, we've got a team on the way right now....erm..."

Like It Or Not, It Isn't Racism...

Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP is not a very nice person in my opinion. He's a fascist, and certainly as anyone can see, a racist. He, though he may be careful in how he words it these days, believes that people are lesser human beings based on the colour of their skin.

Any sane human being, with any level of education knows he is wrong.

He has today been found not guilty of inciting racial hatred, a charge based on his comments about Islam and Muslims, and lets be honest, expressing a dislike of Islam, or any other religion for that matter is NOT racism.

Yet again we are being blinded by political correctness when it comes to the real issues.
When did finding oneself unable to accept any given faith's version of the truth, and one's ability to voice that non-acceptance, become 'racism'?

It's the blurring of these two distinct issues that clouds many discussions on religion and racism today, and I have a sneaking suspicion it's a cloud that many people want to keep in place.

It gives racists like the BNP a pathetic little 'moral' victory in the courts, in the eyes of themselves and their followers, but it also gives the religious zealots more ammunition in their efforts to corrupt the minds of the young within muslim communities and convince them that westerners hate them simply for being different, when the majority certainly do not. In reality they are arguing about two seperate points.

All the while we let the two separate issues be treated as one, both problems will be insurmountable.

A Question For David....

My Question as posted on Webcameron, website of David Cameron, leader of the Opposition on 3rd November.

I'm extremly uneasy about the fact that we currently have a Prime Minister who openly consults an imaginary friend regarding life issues, and may, I assume, also do so when it comes to decisions that affect this nation.

In this politically correct era, it seems we are allowed to hold any belief, other than one that proclaims no religion has a basis in fact. To do so is to invite accusations of 'intolerance' and 'prejudice'. Is it intolerant to consider a follower of Thor or Isis rediculously out of touch, and to publicly say so? Or are we simply saying that if any given religion has enough followers it must then be accepted as acceptable itself?

Is Mr Cameron another otherwise educated man who is prepared to accept some sort of God without evidence? Or is he an Atheist? Or perhaps worst of all, is he a 'believer' who choses to keep his beliefs 'private' for fear of risking votes?

No answer from David as yet.

Beauty Incognito...

Pulchritude (PUL-KRUH-TOOD) Noun

That quality of appearance which pleases the eye, beauty, comliness, grace, loveliness.

Have you ever known a word so unlike it's meaning?

When Insanity Runs Riot....

From The Times Monday 30th October
When Evil Runs Riot

Rev Dr Peter Mullen

The Bishop of Bolton has asked supermarkets not to sell Hallowe’en nasties, such as masks of serial killers, to children. He is right to be concerned. Hallowe’en has become a celebration of sensational evil and nothing more.

Once, Halloween was celebrated for what it is: the Eve of All Hallows, All Saints Eve. Thus evil was placed in the context of the supremely good and the lesson taught that the light triumphs over dark. Perhaps the worst degeneration of our culture is shown in the fact that there is universal scepticism about God and universal fascination with the Devil. Modern people pride themselves on their critical faculties and feel competent to disbelieve in God, but in all things dark, nasty and satanic they are mindlessly credulous. This was G. K. Chesterton’s prediction of what would happen with the rise of secularisation: “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing; they believe in anything.”

There is horror galore in the Bible and in the old European fairy stories, but the evil is always set in the overriding context of the good. Scripture and the brothers Grimm are moral tales. When we sever this moral link and dislocate good from evil, allowing evil to run riot and dominate the cultural agenda, we lose our ethical defence against evil.

When Rev Dr Peter Mullen wrote the above piece for The Times, he was I'm sure in the middle of an annual state of anxiety at the approach of hordes of little children performing the now expected round of U.S inspired begging we all have to endure for Halloween these days.

While I share the Reverend Doctor's apparent distaste for the event, I can't help but raise issue with his naive reasoning. Halloween is far from a 'celebration of sensational evil' as he so dramatically puts it. These days it’s yet another celebration of capitalism, another excuse for the marketers of pointless products to part the all too willing from their cash.

To describe the activities of ten year olds dressing in silly costumes and touting for some free sweets, in such terms is frankly ridiculous.

He's right that Halloween was once celebrated as 'All Saints Eve'. It was also once a much older Pagan festival until Pope Gregory III moved All Saints Day to 1st of November to obliterate the old celebrations. Neither set of imaginary beliefs on arbitrary dates are any more truthful in their basis than the other.

To define a "growing universal scepticism about God" as a degeneration of our culture is not only insulting but wholly inaccurate. If anything it represents a degeneration of blind acceptance in one of a sadly all too long list of fantastic creation myths.

Where I wonder does he base his assumption that those who now accept God is a myth, would then be "mindlessly credulous" of other parts of that same myth?

His final arrogance in apparently concluding that we cannot have a moral code without embracing his own favourite brand of myth is sadly typical of the church.

His example of Grimm Fairy Tales alongside that of Scripture as moral guides actually demonstrates that we as humans do not need religion or God to make moral decisions or influence one another to do so.

The sooner we accept that we, and not some imaginary powers are the root of all good and evil, the sooner we can focus our efforts on nurturing the former and combating the latter, rather than waste our valuable energies and talents indulging pre-medieval fantasies.