Don't have a cow, man

Ross discusses Labour's latest genocidal focus-groupthink half-arsed non-science plan to ruin the country, and the Awful Fate it's brought upon mankind.

As usual, the brief piece cuts the mustard a treat.

Cl-

There’s good news, and then there’s bad news.

Mrs. Northwester brought this to my attention while incandescent about the sentence.

I’ll try (relative) brevity in my commentary for once.

Spared jail, the forced marriage case father who told wife: 'I'll cut out your tongue'

By James Tozer

A muslim who threatened to kill his wife and cut out her tongue after she blocked an arranged marriage for their daughter has been banned from seeing his family.

Good.

In the first prosecution of its kind, Aurang Zeb has been convicted of breaching a Forced Marriage Protection Order taken out to stop him taking Rozina Akhtar out of Britain to marry.

Also good. Nice precedent. Practical.

But despite his chilling threats he escaped imprisonment and was given community service.

If it’s not shoveling it into wheel barrows on a pig farm while wearing a pink tutu and a yarmulke I’m going to be very, very disappointed.

Last night campaigners condemned the sentence, saying it sent out the wrong message.

'There's clear evidence that this man threatened to kill his wife, so how can he be given community service?' said Shazia Qayum of Karma Nirvana, a group which helps victims of forced marriage.

Yey, Karma Nirvana. Here they are.

Harumph.

'He should have been locked up. The law just isn't strong enough at the moment, and it's time the Government made forced marriage a criminal offence.'

Or just one sensible prosecutor could use the existing laws on rape and false imprisonment. Whatever happened to one law for all, I wonder?

Zeb, a former builder, set up a marriage between Rozina and his brother's son while visiting their native Pakistan when she was just 19.

After returning home to Blackburn, his daughter decided she did not want to go through with it.

His wife, Parveen Akhtar, stepped in, explaining she had been pushed into an unhappy marriage to Zeb 24 years ago and did not want their daughter to suffer the same fate.

Brave woman.

But he insisted Rozina had no choice, saying she was 'dishonouring' the family, magistrates heard.

Using laws on forced marriage introduced last November, police secured one of Britain's first FMPOs against Zeb, 43.

A new but useful thing, it seems. A conservative’s dream.

He was ordered to forfeit his passport and barred from taking Rozina, now 23, to Pakistan.

How about simply marking it ‘For outbound travel only?’

But though he moved out of the family home after February's ruling, he continued stalking them, Blackburn magistrates were told.

He would wait for Parveen in his car outside the house to accuse her of having an affair - which she denied, said Catherine Allan, prosecuting.

The father of two also harassed his son, Nasir Khan, almost running him off the road and demanding he attack Parveen and Rozina.

In one conversation, Zeb said that if Nasir killed them he would 'only get five to seven years' in jail.

Then last month, he rang his wife and told her in a 'very chilling voice' she 'wouldn't dream of what I would do to you', threatening: 'I'm going to kill you and chop off your tongue.'

Miss Allan said: 'Parveen was under no doubts that he would kill her. He became more threatening and unpredictable towards her and the children, and made her life a misery.'

Zeb was arrested and pleaded guilty to harassing his wife, daughter and son.

Okay, that’s enough. Such behaviour is immoral from anyone.

But his solicitor, Basharat Ditta, denied he had tried to make Rozina marry against her will, insisting he had 'traditional Asian' values.

And that’s a defence? I repeat; Such behaviour is immoral from anyone. Daughter tongue-removal has a long and honourable tradition and they’ve go to take it into account in Blackburn? But it didn’t work, so that’s good.

The law 1, cultural relativism 0.

One hand clapping.

Zeb was ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work, placed under a 12-month community supervision order and told to pay £85 costs.

Oddly enough, I am indeed very, very disappointed.

Magistrates also imposed a restraining order barring him from contacting his family indefinitely.

Still and all, I could be wrong.

Perhaps he’ll give up harassing them now, and maybe the sentence was enough to deter him. There’s no sign from this article that he might do such things to people other than his family, e.g. a crime passionel that has no chance of occurring under other circumstances. He may have learned his lesson.

Rozina and her mother remained too fearful to speak yesterday.

Or maybe not, it seems.

But Detective Inspector Claire Holbrook, of Lancashire Police, said: 'I hope this sends a very clear message that we will use everything in our power to protect victims who are in fear of being forced into a marriage.'

On balance, though, the principles of punishment and deterrence might have been better served by… well… punishment and deterrence.

While arranged marriages are traditional in many cultures, forced marriage carrying the threat of intimidation or violence is outlawed by Muslim leaders.

That should read: forced marriage carrying the threat of intimidation or violence is outlawed by some exceptional Muslim leaders, and quite a few official pronouncements for the media but everyone knows that it goes on a lot and many tolerate or even approve of it. Actually, it’s all part of a rich and diverse culture that’s enriching our society, and it was brought to Britain on purpose to prove that multiculturalism really works. Plus when they get you to Pakistan or somewhere, all bets are off.

The system of orders was introduced after ministers dropped plans to make forcing someone to marry a crime. More than 70 have been imposed so far.

So a good idea in the circumstances in New Labour’s Britain.

Breaching one is contempt of court and can carry a two-year jail term.

…Or not even 200 days on pig farm given the absence of prison space thanks to Labour’s anti-prison bias and, let’s say, judges’ reluctance to play hardball. So, half-arsed as usual, or a worthy start?

Applau.

Oh, and as a bonus you can read further analysis of his story from both feminist and moral perspectives in two of our finest tellers of truth here and here.

A taste of Paradise

Last Wednesday night a police car stopped beside me as I parked outside my home. I could get out but his passenger window was open and the officer inside told me to

‘Get into your car and put the headlights on,’ which I did. ‘And now walk to the front of the car.’

I obeyed, and one of the headlights was broken. News to me. Well, I never.

‘Oh,’ I said, all citizenly.

‘Get it sorted,’ came the voice from a now disappearing patrol car.

Well, they can’t say Mind how you go, sir, anymore, can they?

Thursday evening after work (I walk to work, so no driving for me between then and now) I picked up a replacement bulb from Halfords and, after a mere twenty minutes of staring upside down at my oil-stained Haynes through fog-obscured spectacles and with a spelunking lamp strapped to my skull, plus acquiring some sore knuckles, and the artistic deployment of three distinctive and ever-popular Anglo-Saxon verbs later, my offside headlight was as good as, well,… as good as that on any car that was made in Britain in the past twenty years and is affordable by the likes of me can be.

Then it was back into the house for dinner and a DVD with Mrs. NW, ignoring the fireworks and the piteous howling of the dog from next door.

Next day, I drove back from the gym and parked the car and my next-door neighbour asked me if I’ve had a bump.

‘No,’ I said, ‘Why?’

‘Because you had a lot of coppers looking at it yesterday,’ he said, ‘They were all from a big van, and they were looking closely at your car.’ That would be Thursday the day after the first copper pointed my headlight problem out.

This Monday night I put the recycling out. Three oblong plastic boxes with flat lids: one for plastic; one for paper and metal; one for cardboard and glass.

This process involves picking up each box lid and pouring the rain off it onto the yard’s concrete (we keep the boxes outside because they’re too big and dirty to keep in the kitchen or the living room or to drag them up from the cellar, see?), then replacing it and carrying the box to the front door ready to take out and put on the pavement. Repeat twice, but remember to lock the back door on your way with Box Number Three in case the local welfare recipients decide to nip in while I’m at the front to pick up any unconsidered trifles, etc.

On the Tuesday afternoon I got home and the boxes were empty, except for the plastic-recycling one, in which a number of punnets for small tomatoes and a box for cheese spread still lies, all unwanted. I reversed the process with the added fun of lifting the plastic box to the top of the wheelie-bin into which non-recyclable waste is usually placed and collected fortnightly, alternating with the recycling collection, and tipping what the picky recyclers have left into that one.

This Tuesday morning I drove to a training course which was held in a well-known local government building situated a mere conventional Hamas rocket flight from Castle City. It’s a nice building: comfortable and well maintained, and in its lobby area were numerous leaflets on health and safety and anti-Racism and other services that local democracy provides. There’s also a wall covered with photo portraits of successive mayors and a display case containing awards and certificates: for recycling local waste; for Investors In People; for energy efficiency: and a scale model tank presented to its home council by the local regiment.

It was too cold to be comfortable all day. Throughout the day-long training course we all wore our fleeces and pullovers, and most of us kept our coats on, too. The toilets were gloomy because the lights were set to off unless you insistently pressed the on-switch with a bit of heft behind your shoulder. It was a relief to get back into my car, whack the heating on full, and drive back to Castle City and the unwanted tomato punnets and the lonely Dairylea container.

This is all political.

This is also utterly unnecessary.

There is no need for policemen to be rude, patronizing bullies who order people around without a ‘please or ‘thank you,’ - let alone the formerly universal ‘sir’ I’d have expected only ten years ago. How hard can it be to say ‘Your left headlight’s not working, sir, please fix it before you drive at night again’? I don’t know what they hoped to achieve sending a large van full of police in broad daylight to check my car, unless it was formerly owned by a gangster, or they were hoping to find something wrong that’s towable or finable. It’s not a pretty vehicle, but it goes and I maintain its safety systems as well as its going places systems – until a bulb goes, and then I replace it. The police are busy, it seems, throwing their weight around with harmless people in their sights. I’d love to know what they were all doing the 10 nights to date when my car has been vandalized in six years of parking on this street. In all that time I got one cop car suggesting we install cameras, two plastic PCs (of whom one though tit funny me replacing my wandering wing mirror in the rain) and one Saturday morning an actual SOCO who found nowt, bless her, but she did finger-print the thing. I no longer look forward to speaking to the police confident in the belief that I’ll be treated politely and listened to as I once did. Some officers certainly put their lives and health on the line – and I’m grateful for that – but rudeness and not being interested in ‘minor crimes’ at the same time? Not encouraging.

Parliament is in charge of the overall police system and there are political appointees on all the County constabularies’ Police Committees. I guess Parliament and the political appointees aren’t doing their jobs properly in letting this deterioration happen. I hope that they aren’t doing their jobs properly, that is.

Britain’s full of holes in the ground to put domestic rubbish in - old quarries and mines and modern incinerators now burn so hot that much waste can be rendered harmless by them. Instead, we have to recycle. I’m pretty fit and healthy for my age, what with the swimming and the dancing and all, but I have mild arthritis in my knees and fingers. Kneeling down and standing up to sort rubbish into different bins in cold or rain or hail or high winds or whatever is not a comfortable experience, and I pity seriously disabled or doddery old people who have to carry these stinking bins through their homes because the recycler lorry crews don’t come up the ginnels at the back of our terraces – unlike the wheelie-bin people. Do Greens ever wonder how nasty it is for the old and the infirm to have to go through these Gaian rituals weekly or more often? And who asked for this silly regime other than the politicians? Others agree, whilst some hold onto their communitarian dream of universal obedience to the gods of eco-religion – see the comments to this post.

Politicians have decreed that recycling is good and that its opposite should be criminalized, and so there goes privacy.

I got to spend an uncomfortable day in a poorly-heated council building because the council concerned wanted to ‘reduce carbon emission’ in order to protect ‘the planet’ from the global warming of a world that’s actually getting colder. The politicians and the politicians alone have the power to keep us deliberately uncomfortable. I’m all for thrift, and especially so in the public sector where I work, and I imagine that the idea of chilling or even freezing people who volunteer to work in the whacky world of benefits is actually alluring to some of my readers, but putting your employees and guests into rooms like old-style cold-slab pantries? Isn't that actually rather cruel, and what the trade unions are supposed to fight against?

Back in 1997 I dreaded the imminent arrival of the New Labour project; expecting it to represent every kind of foolishness made flesh as decades of Left-wing, State-worshipping grudges were transformed into policy to build their heaven on earth. I expected that they would, and was not disappointed that they did bankrupt the public finances and I expected that their reign would basically be like living in a student union all year round.

But if you’d told me that after twelve years of them being in power I’d find myself: nervous of the attentions of British policemen in the hours of darkness; forced to scrabble about in the dark and rain with my household garbage; and be physically chilled on purpose by their local satraps, I’d have laughed in your face.

Welcome to Paradise.

Let’s destroy it.

Parkinson's heart

Rubber-gloved cleaners at BBC News Online must have been busy last night with the Mr. Muscle in their Forth Bridge task of dusting, drying and polishing the glass-topped tables used by the authors of this little gem.

Win for Labour in key by-election

Labour has kept control of Barnsley Council after retaining a key ward in a by-election.

Roy Butterwood received 1,520 votes to take the St Helens ward seat and maintain the party's majority of one.

BNP candidate Lisa Brooksbank came second, receiving 590 votes in the election, which recorded a 31% turnout.

Barnsley Council leader Steve Houghton said the result was "tremendous" but that Labour had a lot of hard work to do before next year's general election.

Britain’s special needs Prime Minister will be grateful to hear that if epic understatement in the face of abject humiliation is the electoral campaign formation that will revive the Labour Party’s electoral fortunes, then Steve Houghton is bold Leonidas and the Barnley Labour Party his brave Three Hundred.

ST HELENS BY-ELECTION RESULT

Roy Butterwood, Labour: 1520

Lisa Brooksbank, BNP: 590

Daniel Clive Pickering, Barnsley Independent Group: 171

Neil Robinson, UKIP: 94

Clive Watkinson, Conservative: 89

Eddie Gouthwaite, Liberal Democrat: 78

Turnout = 31%

Total votes cast 2542

Labour plus BNP votes cast 2110

Let’s do some non-climate change model maths with this, shall we?

I know, I know: the richly-funded private schools have all the best teachers and physics, plus superior literature and arithmetic and so they monopolise the Laws of Thermodynamics, Shakespeare, and 2+2=4, whereas those of us unlucky enough to be educated in the state sector have to use poor and ineffective substitutes (as all exam results throughout the land show every single year) such as: bad teachers; the Phlogiston Theory; The Collected Tracy Beaker and 2+2=fuckoffmiss, but we’ll do what we can regardless.

The BNP got 38% as many votes as Labour. BBC to English translation – assuming that the independents, Tories and Glib Dems were largely middle class, then 27% of Labour’s hardcore and founding demographic out voted for the Nationalists.

The BNP received 23% of the total vote.

23 out of hundred Barnsley folk willing to get off the sofa this time did so for a party that rejects immigration and immigrant values, abhors Labour’s non-punishment criminal justice system, and Labour’s willingness to spill British blood in far-off countries of which (I’d guess) many Barnsley folk know rather too much.

When asked if he thought the BNP might have won, Mr Butterwood said: "They thought there was a good chance of increasing their result and reducing the majority.

"I'm sure they're very disappointed with the result."

At this point the BBC journalist’s mobile credit ran out and so he/she was unable to pursue the truth of the matter all the way to the second most successful a candidate. He/she must have been similarly devastated not to be able to interview the trounced candidate of the national party most likely to form the government of, and agree to the design of postage stamps for, the nuclear armed county council that is the government of the UK region of Europe next year. Still, nice to end up with the one and only quotation as anti-BNP and from the mouth of the Labour victor.

The vote followed the death of David Bostwick earlier this year.

Labour, which held nearly all the seats in Barnsley in 1997, would have lost overall control of the council for the first time since the 1930s if it had not retained the seat.

BBC to English translation: This is a place where traditionally they don’t count Labour votes: they weigh them, but you need to chuck about a quarter of the votes into the box labelled by the managed media and the national Westminster parties as ‘Evil Incarnate.’

So, from not existing in 1981 to owning one of the four chambers of Barnsley’s working class heart, that’s not bad going for the BNP.

The Tories got to play the part of the dumb, flat-chested co-ed blonde to the chainsaw-wielding maniac of the white working class as usual in Milltown’s Inferno, and the Liberal Democrats were her plain-Jane brunette room-mate who almost makes it back to the house after getting her insulin from the station wagon in the next scene. I’m sorry to say that my own favoured UKIP barely got the rusty old shotgun loaded before a pair of gauntleted hands flung them to the ground in the penultimate reel.

These numbers won’t translate nationwide of course as Barnsley was until recently a political monopoly where the other national parties with Westminster representation just don’t make it ever. It’s that kind of town.

But still and all, even with first-past-the-post still the norm in proper British elections, what this says for Labour’s standing in its own heartlands is not something about which the BBC cares to speculate.

And as to why the BNP did so well; nary a dicky-bird.

The rest is £800,000,000 per year BBC silence.

Rejoice

And as part of our ongoing feature: ‘Labour’s Britain, Twelve Years of Glory’ today we look at three key areas where Labour’s enlightened and omnipresent rule has undoubtedly changed the lives of millions – and continues to do so!

Concentrating here on just one small part of the UK, and reading from real-life news reports from mainstream media sources over a few short weeks, today’s article shows us just how deeply Labour’s overall philosophy of fairness, equality, justice, mercy, strangeness and charm have effected the way we live today.

We’re confident that our three examples of how Labour’s enlightened approached to crime and punishment has helped to promote other key policy areas will be an education, education, education!

Here we start with their work in the area of health, or as Labour spells it, ‘NHS.’

Key achievements:

• Waiting lists are down by 614,000 since 1997. Most patients are now waiting less than 13 weeks, and by the end of this year nobody will wait more than 18 weeks for treatment.
• Over 99% of suspected cancer patients are seen by a specialist within two weeks of being referred by their GP, and over 99% of cancer patients start their treatment within a month of diagnosis.
• Over 38,000 more doctors and 80,000 more nurses since Labour came to power.
• Investment in the NHS has trebled since 1997.
• Labour has built over 90 new NHS walk-in centres and over 650 one-stop primary care centres, and is investing £750 million in a new generation of modern, convenient community hospitals.
• Cancer mortality rates in under-75s have decreased by 17.1 per cent since 1996, saving nearly 9,000 lives in 2006 compared to 1996. We are saving 31,000 lives from cardiovascular diseases every year compared to 1996.

Not only that, dear reader, but Labour’s law-and-order policies are helping to cut down on smoking-related deaths such as lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema ..but not brain damage quite yet.

Thugs kicked man's head like a 'football'

September 10, 2009

THREE drunken yobs who beat a man into a coma because he didn't have a cigarette have been jailed.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard how Spencer Mullen, Westley Hiorns and Michael Atherton set upon Martin Brammall 'like a pack of wolves' following a night out in Hazel Grove.
The savage attack left Mr Brammall, 26, of Offerton, fighting for his life after suffering a severe brain bleed.
Following the attack he spent four weeks in hospital and the court heard he still has problems with his speech.
Mr Brammall was about to get a taxi home when Hiorns, 27, of Colbourne Grove, Hattersley, asked him for a cigarette.
When Mr Brammall did not have one to give him, Hiorns set upon him with Mullen, 21, of Eccles Bridge Road, Marple, and Atherton, 21, of Watermeetings Lane, Romiley joining in.
The court heard that at one point Mullen struck Mr Brammall's head like he was 'kicking a football 40 yards' and jumped two feet into the air to stamp on it.
Judge Jonathan Foster jailed Mullen, Hiorns and Atherton for seven and a half, six and a half and six years respectively.
He said: "This is yet another case of mindless drunken violence."

See? Smoking can damage your health and so under Labour there are many people willing to take it away before you hurt yourself with it.

Smoking can give you wrinkles, - and so can living for a long time. What has Labour done for the senior citizens?

As Labour proudly boasts on its website:-

Key achievements:

• A million pensioners have been lifted out of poverty since 1997
• We are spending around £12 billion more on pensioners in real terms than under the Tory years
• We have brought in the £200 Winter Fuel Allowance for over 60s and free TV licences for over-75s
• This year Labour has provided an additional one-off payment for 12 million people alongside the Winter Fuel Allowance to help with rising fuel bills - with an extra £100 for the over 80s and an extra £50 for the over-60s, on top of the existing Winter Fuel Allowance
• We have given carers of elderly or disabled people the right to request flexible working
• We have legislated to tackle unfair age discrimination in the workplace
• Average pensioner incomes from the state are up by 25 per cent, more than the rise in earnings over the last decade

Not only that, but Labour’s enlightened approach to the justice system has helped encourage the old folks to gather together, huddled (if not in masses), then at least congregating in ever-closer union, in privacy, behind locked doors.

Worshippers to be locked in to avoid thieves

September 09, 2009

WORSHIPPERS at a Stockport church will be locked inside during Sunday services to stop 'heathen' thieves stealing their belongings while they pray.

The extreme measure, at Heaton Mersey Congregational Church, on Mersey Road, comes after crooks sneaked inside and pinched keys to cars, which were then driven off, on Wednesday evening (September 2).

It was the latest in a line of thefts that has left the congregation outraged and includes lace curtains from the toilet and even loo roll.

Now whenever members are at the church they will lock the door behind them and anyone who is late will have to ring a bell to be let in.

Graham Alsop, church treasurer, said "We are going to lock the door for all church-related activities and that will have to include Sundays.

“It is a devil having to do that but that is the world we live in.

"The church is actually upstairs so we can't see who is coming in. You would think some places would be sacred and not targeted by this sort of thing, we were horrified."

A whist drive was being held when the thieves sneaked into the church cloakroom between 6.45-9.45pm and stole six coats. They found keys to a Nissan Micra and a Nissan Almera, specially adapted for its elderly disabled owner.

Arthur Bradley, 70, an ex-policeman who had the Micra pinched, said: "Someone said the coats had been stolen so I looked outside and realised the car had gone. The fact I'm an ex-policeman adds extra insult.

"If someone can stoop this low it makes you wonder what sort of person they are. They certainly have no shame."

Police have appealed for witnesses to the thefts and hit out at those responsible.

Detective Inspector Kevin Dolan, from Stockport CID, said: "It is a sad state of affairs when you can't go to a church without having your pockets rifled through.

"These thieves are sacrilegious heathens but no matter where you are you should not leave property unattended."

What could be more important than the young ones? And so under Labour, the teaching of life skills and the proper good attitudes to their fellow persons has been a number one priority for this government – just like all the other ones.

Key achievements:

• Labour has doubled the amount spent per pupil since 1997 from £2,900 to over £5,850 today.
• Labour has delivered over 39,000 more teachers and 174,000 more teaching assistants than in 1997. This investment has enabled 100,000 more 11 year olds to master literacy and 93,000 more to master numeracy since 1997. Today, 81 per cent of 11 year olds reach the expected level in English and 78 per cent in Maths.
• Labour has seen 470,000 more young people gain five or more good GCSEs. The proportion of young people achieving five or more good GCSEs is up by over 15 per cent since 1997.
• Over 1,100 new schools have been rebuilt or newly built. Labour is committed to rebuilding or refurbishing every secondary school and half of all primary schools in the coming years.
• 
  

Especially numeracy.

Raid gunman counted out bullets

Alex Scapens
August 19, 2009

RESTAURANT staff were threatened with their own knives while a gunman counted out his bullets in a horrific armed robbery.
Steve Pilling, who swapped swanky city centre restaurants for a `quieter life' at Damson, in Heaton Moor, Stockport, has told how three masked men burst into its kitchen just after midnight.
With a gun pointing at them, two of his staff were frogmarched upstairs. One was ordered to empty the safe or the other would be shot.
The remaining eight lay terrified on the ground as knives found in the kitchen drawers were held against them before the gang escaped with cash from the till and safe.
Mr Pilling used to own Sam's Chop House and Mr Thomas' Chop House in Manchester. He opened Damson in April.

Quieter life

He said: "We are all really nervous since it happened. They pulled the cartridge out of the gun and showed the bullets. One of the staff was told to empty the safe or they would shoot.
"It was intimidating. Nothing like this happened in the city centre. We didn't have an armed robbery.
"I needed a hip operation six months ago which was a big influence in opening here for a quieter pace of life.
"I don't regret it as long as things don't get any worse. You can't let these people get you out, I will fight on. The customers are appalled."
The robbery happened at the end of the night's work when the kitchen door was open to let cool air in. The masked men left the same way.
The raiders wore dark clothes and balaclavas and were all under 20.
Insp Terry Sweeney said: "These were determined thugs. We want to hear from anyone who saw people or a vehicle loitering outside the restaurant."

Nothing wrong with that chap's numeracy skills - and under severe workplace pressure, too.

Sweet revenge via Julia. Great article and exemplar link number one is so sweet.

What he said

Read this first : Dumb Jon seems to have found a health issue that contradicts our faith in the expertise of the National Health Service – at least in Wakefield.

Gruesome, isn’t it?

But - and here’s the funny thing - if you read the NHS website about this hospital, three out of four Amazon-style reviews are okayish about the staff/regimen of the place, though oddly it looks like more money needs to be spent on decorating it.

And, of course, it’s important to read what the hospital says about itself. Look at all those lovely scripts in the lower bar that tell us the conversations in the place are going to be enhanced by the presence of interpreters – just to add to the mental health fun.

And there’s a mental health self-help page here, (and please believe me when I write that I recognize mental illness is a terrible thing and is not merely a cop-out from personal responsibility for the lazy and the criminal and which needs careful and complex methods of treatment), but there’s a huge irony in the list of things recommended for mental health self-help:

# Look after yourself

* Get active

* Feed your mind

* Be included

* Get some fresh air

* Help to stop smoking

* Relax and unwind

Okay, so they passed on the ‘Go absent without leave and rape-murder a stranger’ bit, but still and all perhaps if the highly-trained staff spent just a tad more time or even money on diagnosing and assessing peoples’ present states of mental health rather than offering (admittedly very wholesome) Women’s’ Institute fresh air and exercise advice, then the outcome would have been different.

‘Different,’ as in so many encounters with a bloated and overstretched State, translates as ‘no dead innocent this time.’

Oh, and back to Jon’s post; see how he manfully refrains from a side issue which a lesser writer such as I might have jumped upon, and which I feel I ought to raise just purely as an aside and nothing else. It’s about the BBC article that covers this unfortunate event.

"Police said that 52-year-old Passwala, who is originally from Bradford,"

Just a thought, and a propos nothing at all, does anyone think that the BBC has done its fact-checking properly here?

Only...and call me superstitious or something, I think that he might not really be originally from Bradford as such. I just can't think, if so, why the BBC hasn’t got this bit right. It's not like extreme sexual screwed-upness is different from anything else in human life, is it? Extreme sexual screwed-upness is the product of socially-constructed norms. Ask a liberal anywhere.

I’d just like to know which social norms this chap might have learned at his mother's knee – you know, about how to treat women, who decides on their fate, what say they should have in deciding the content and the personnel involved in their sex lives.