The Thirteenth Worrier. Flakes round-up #1

Victimhood Quidditch

It just got stupider.

Pagan police get solstice leave

Pagan officers will be able to join revellers at Stonehenge

Pagan police officers in some areas are being allowed to take as many as eight days leave a year for events such as the summer solstice and Halloween.

That would be from the bogus and unhistorical hodge-potch eight festivals of Wicca.

Pc Pardy is allowed to take eight days per year for Pagan events - which form part of his annual leave.

Pagans worship nature and believe in many gods and their practices include witchcraft and druidism.

Typical BBC non-research research here.

The largest single strand if British neopaganism is heathenry/Asatru/the Northern Tradition/Odinism. Despite being heavily Christianized today because that faith was successfully wiped out by the Church for a thousand years and it is only now revived as a modern minority cult. All that rape, pillage and slavery is out; nice parties with mead and oaths and cute little cakes with runes iced on them and gingerbread men and animals for hanging on Odin’s tree are in. I don’t suppose the Beeb will be rushing to interview many heathens any time soon. ‘Druidry’ (also revived from scratch but with much less documentary evidence and no scriptures) cherishes the Earth, Nature and like the copy-and-paste Wicca cares for the environment, emphasizes the sacred feminine and…

You can see how this is going.

Heathenry on the other hand refers specifically to known peoples who really existed, whose scriptures and histories were written down, and who inhabited particular areas and spoke certain languages and therefore whose descendants still live in identifiable communities today. These are called ‘countries.’

You can see how this is going too, I’d imagine.

Sure; some Odinist groups are, ahem, rather folkish and a bit too eager to show the world their recently-applied underarm deodorant (which compares favourably in the matter of personal hygiene with some of the crustier druids in my opinion), but even the majority of heathens who merely have a historical sense and modest patriotism aren’t going to find themselves with any sympathetic coverage from Auntie any time soon.

Original inhabitants? Ancient settlements? Anglo-Saxon kingdoms? The Danelaw? Don’t look for a substantial guide to modern Germanic religion in context from the BBC any time soon as their pages, though okay, neglect to mention nationality and any mention of shared patriotic sentiments altogether.

But sectarian bitching aside, look at the spirit in which this thing has been done.

It’s pure House of Dumb stuff.

The officers concerned could have gone into this with a positive attitude and have something worthy and brave to offer the public whom they serve and the police forces that pay their wages. Something like:

‘My religion gives me strength to work in a corrupt and dangerous world. My faith buoys up my morale when I see evil spoiling this ancient land and our wonderful world, and it arms me like the pagan warriors of old with the courage to persevere despite all setbacks to pursue justice and to protect these islands and preserve their holy sovereignty against all harm.’

Somehow I don’t think this is too high up on the agenda of the PPA.

I suspect it’s all about rights.
For rights, read ‘privileges.’

Superintendent Simon Hawkins, of Hertfordshire Police, said: "While balancing operational needs, the force's religion and beliefs policy gives all staff the choice of re-allocating the traditional Christian bank holiday festivals to suit their personal faith beliefs and this has been very well-received from a number of faith groups including Muslim and Jewish.

I can imagine it being perhaps convenient the some middle-ranking officers who concoct the duty rosters to have officers on duty over Christmas and Easter and maybe New Year ’s Eve in Scotland just as some store managers are happy to have Muslims on the staff to cover those dates. But do remember that Hogmanay was pretty much a pan-European festival so WPC Rowan Morrison might still want that festival off to find a nice sergeant and play with matches.

And then there’s the whole Friday / Saturday / Sunday thing:

‘Sure, take Woden’s day off, and the Thurse’s day Constable Conan – no problem…’

But isn’t it just as likely that this might be the kind of thing we’ll get:

Sir Ian Blair publicly warned the country’s top Muslim police officer to step into line yesterday over his racial discrimination claims.

The Scotland Yard Commissioner said every member of his force must ‘work to my direction’ or be dealt with ‘robustly and quickly’.

Sir Ian spoke out before holding crisis talks with Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur who, according to friends, is on the brink of launching a claim for compensation at an employment tribunal….

Members of the NBPA last night backed Mr Ghaffur and called on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to intervene in the row.

Mr Ghaffur revealed documents supporting his claim of racial discrimination to a meeting of the NBPA executive.

The group, led by Metropolitan Police Commander Ali Dizaei, said it was 'totally and utterly convinced' the claim was legitimate. Among the documents were believed to be allegations of victimisation by Commissioner Sir Ian Blair and Police Authority chair Len Duvall….
An NBPA spokesman said: 'The National Black Police Association have held a formal meeting with Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur.

'Having reviewed the evidence we are astonished at the amount of material which was presented to us in support of his case. Assistant Commissioner Ghaffur appears to have been treated extremely poorly.

Or this:

A MUSLIM chef is suing the Met after being asked to cook pork sausages and bacon for breakfast.

Hasanali Khoja has accused the force of religious discrimination after it refused to guarantee that he would not have to handle pork.

Because what the police force needs more of today is more victims with special privileges, right?

‘I’m sorry sir, but this is an ancient and sacred wood – cutting it down is just plain wrong. In my grief, I plain missed the protesters when they bust in past our cordon…’

‘Shamans have used mind-bending drugs for millennia to speak to the spirits, and on the Solstice the walls between the worlds of Mankind and of the Ancestors are the weakest…’

Or, much more likely than actual corruption:

‘I explained to Sergeant Smith at the time that taking mead and performing The Great Rite are our holiest traditions and she didn’t mention any objections to the robes when we got home from the party.

The Police Service in institutionally monotheist and that is why I’ve never been given promotion and I’m being made an example of here.’

No, this may very well be just another way of inventing special people around whom institutions must bend their activities and limit their goals, and increase their costs.

What else can such an organisation do, but divide the police further?

Hang ‘em high, stamp their stupid healing crystals into grit, feed them to Odin’s Ravens and get some git-hard coppers who’ll not stop until the job’s done - even if it means crossing ley-lines at Beltaine.