Stupidity page 2

Leicester Mercury brings back the black art of censorship

Mr Nick Carter, Editor of the Leicester Mercury, said that he woud give VERITAS equal press coverage for all the VERITAS candidates standing in his newspaper's circulation areas.

They include:

Duncan Shelley - Rutland and Melton 
Ken Rosebalde - Leicester South
Edward Spalton - Derbyshire South
Colin Brown - Leicester East
John McVay - Loughborough
Barrie Wilkins - Daventry.

There was just one tiny condition, however. The VERITAS candidates had to sign up to what was billed as an 'anti-racism declaration'. They looked at it and found that they could sign up to 99% of this declaration. But there was one sentence that they could not, in all conscience, sign up to. This was a sentence that committed them to actively promote the philosophy of multiculturalism.

That was strange indeed, given that the Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Phillips, wrote a long article in 'The Times' last year in which he state, emphatically, that 'multiculturalism is dead'. A few days later, the left-wing writer Polly Toynbee, in 'The Guardian',  wrote a lengthy article agreeing with him. Labour Ministers like David Blunkett also came out and said that it was now time to promote Britishness, and the British identity. They proposed - and introduced - a citizenship ceremony to strengthen a feeling of Britishness and a commitment to Britain. David Blunkett said that all should speak English. Earlier, Sir Herman Ouseley had reported, with pessimism, about the serious breakdown of multiculturalsim in Bradford, following the Bradfrod riots.

P.I. comment: How strange that a newspaper editor should want to stifle free speech and support something as divisive as multiculturalism. Has this man his own agenda? As usual, mindless political correctness has the opposite effect from that intended. If you feel this man is an ass then why not email and tell him so at: NCarter@leicestermercury.co.uk or NickCarter@leicestermercury.co.uk;

Nazi salute costs a scientist £175

A British scientist was arrested after giving a Nazi salute to a worker at Frankfurt airport. Dr George Thorburn, 55, was surrounded by police after giving the salute and shouting, ‘Sieg heil!' in a row over excess baggage. All symbols of the Nazi era are banned in Germany. Dr Thorburn, of Straford-on-Avon, an agriculture specialist for the EU, was given a £175 spot fine and freed. ‘The police said if I had just called this rather stroppy supervisor an arsehole I would have got away with it,' he said.

P.I. comment: This may be the forerunner of things to come if we keep this government much longer or agree to the EU constitution!

BBC wastes £60,000 of your money on rubbish

To the uneducated eye, it is nothing more than the figure of a lonely little bird stuck on top of a pole. But according to artist Tracey Emin, it is a Roman Standard representing strength and femininity. Sadly for the television licence fee payer, it also represents a bill for £60,000. The BBC handed over the cash after commissioning the work for ‘art05', a celebration of culture in North West England.

P.I. comment: The BBC does it again. What has gone wrong with this once great organisation? They have lost their way. I don't mind if Charles Saatchi wants to waste his own personal money on buying Tracey Emin's juvenile offerings but the BBC was using licence payer's money and should know better.

Nanny State says pensioners can't sing along (from The Daily Mail)

Every Monday afternoon, scores of pensioners would gather at a seaside hotel to keep a great British tradition alive. They would take part in an old time music hall singalong, heartily giving voice to the popular tunes of yesteryear, accompanied by a professional singer and an organist. Now, however, they have been silenced after the local council said the event was karaoke and needed an entertainment licence. Hotel owner Janet Kirk was told she faced a £20,000 fine if any member of the audience joined in. The news has astonished the pensioners who regularly flocked to the Pier Hotel in Morecambe, Lancashire.

P.I. comment: Thanks Nanny for spoiling the pensioners fun. You can't say it is on safety grounds as it was held in a hotel and all was ok provided they didn't sing!

Is this why children are not taught how to read? (from The Daily Mail)

There is a scandal so huge that it ought to bring down the Government. Experts have discovered a way of teaching children to read which is far better than the one used in most State schools. But the Government supports a method which is dramatically worse, so condemning millions of children to dyslexia and illiteracy. It is actually even more unforgivable than that, but let us begin with the research. It revealed that what is nowadays known as ‘synthetic phonics' is hugely more successful than the so-called ‘mixture of methods' used in the Government's laughable ‘National Literacy Strategy'. In tests, primary school children using synthetic phonics were ahead of those using Government-approved schemes in every way. At 11, they were reading at levels expected of 15-year-olds. Their spelling was almost two years ahead. Significantly, boys – who lag behind girls when taught by Government methods – overtook girls. Doesn't the Government know this? Well, it does, and it doesn't care. The research, trumpeted last weekend was, in fact, a follow-up of work done five years ago which showed exactly the same thing. As far back as 1955, the English-speaking educational world was convulsed by Rudolf Flesch's book Why Johnny Can't Read, which showed synthetic phonics was best. In fact, though it wasn't called synthetic phonics, this method was used successfully all over the world in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

P.I. comment: The Labour Party don't care about the education of normal children otherwise they would never have abolished the Grammar Schools in the mid 1960s. This was the one route that allowed poorer children to advance themselves. Now all those children whose parents are poor or can't manage to live in the right areas are left to sink. Remember that when you vote!

Road to pension disaster (from The Daily Mail)

Welcome to two-nation Britain. While private pensions have been seriously damaged by New Labour's £5 billion a year raid, featherbedded public-sector provision roars ahead. Pensions for the growing army of civil servants and other state employees will cost nearly £700billion in the decades ahead. There is no money to meet this unprecedented demand. Every penny will come out of your pockets. Yet the unions resist every attempt to restore sanity. They claim public sector workers deserve their handsome, unfunded pensions to compensate for lower pay – even though they earn more on average than private employees. In the long term, these figures can't make sense. The public sector is in danger of swamping the wealth-creating parts of our economy. Unless those on the public payroll pay more for their pensions or work longer, Britain is on the road to disaster.

P.I. comment: One wouldn't mind if these pension went to those in the front line services (Police, Fire, Doctors and Nurses) but most will go to those employed in ever increasing numbers to do the dark deeds of New Labour and the EU, the beaurocrats and the meddlers that poke their noses in to every aspect of our lives.

‘Darkie Day' parade is investigated for racism (from The Daily Mail)

It is a tradition which has been played out for two centuries. Twice a year, locals in the Cornish fishing port of Padstow have taken part in the so-called Darkie Day processions. In what is thought to be a tribute to slaves who sang and danced on their quay side in the 18th century, they black up their faces and perform traditional ballads while organising collections for charity. But now the revels are being investigated by the police for signs of racism. Dozens of officers turned up at one of the processions – held on Boxing Day and New Year's Day – equipped with video recorders to film evidence which might be used in a prosecution for racial hatred. Their tape has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will decide whether there is a case under the Race Relations Act. Inciting racial hatred carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years. Anyone taking part in the procession could be considered for prosecution.

P.I. comment: Come back George Orwell - all is forgiven. This is only the tip of the iceberg to what will happen when the new super quango 'The Commission for Equality and Human Rights' gets going and uses its sweeping powers to police and enforce human rights. It will be empowered to investigate allegations of discrimination, force people to give evidence and set rules to be adhered to by companies and voluntary organisations. The body will protect equal rights for women, ethnic minorities, the disabled, the elderly, homosexuals, transsexuals and religious and belief groups (costing us taxpayers £200 million a year for the privilege). It will promote human rights – both those set down in law and ‘other' as yet undefined rights – and harry public bodies that pay too little attention to them. And it will churn out regular reports on how well society is obeying its rules. Thanks for warning us Mr Orwell!

Early-release prisoners ‘send crime rate soaring'

Letting thousands of prisoners out of jail early has led to soaring levels of reoffending and huge numbers of avoidable crimes, it was claimed last night. Almost six out of ten adults released from prison are convicted of another offence within two years – significantly more than when Labour took office in 1997, figures show. More use of early release on probation or electronic tagging schemes means thousands of offenders now spend less time behind bars. Critics claim the strategy is simply a way of easing severe jail overcrowding. The Tories blamed the Government's wholesale expansion of early release schemes. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: ‘This is a direct consequence of the Government's failure on prison policy, which has resulted in thousands of unnecessary victims. Labour's answer to prison overcrowding is to release prisoners early – denying them adequate rehabilitation.' Mr Davis said the Tories would build more prison capacity and fund 20,000 more treatment places for hard drug addicts ‘to ensure prisoners serve the sentence they deserve but also receive the rehabilitation they need'. Serial criminal Manny Davis was released from prison 15 months early – and within a year killed a woman by running her over with her own car. In August 2000 he was jailed for stealing £12,000 from a house then smashing into a police car as he fled. He assaulted a police officer, drove off in his car and crashed into a truck, causing its driver serious head injuries.  Davis had 13 convictions for burglary, aggravated car theft, driving while disqualified, and had served several prison terms. But he served only two years of a three years and three months sentence and within months of his release in August 2002 he was wanted for burglary offences. Then in July 2003 he hijacked June Everitt's car, dragging her under its wheels to her death. Davis, 30, a heroin addict, struggled with the 52-year-old businesswoman near her Luton home. He was brought to justice only after DNA samples from Miss Everitt's key fob matched a sample from the police database. Davis, from St Albans,was sentenced to life for murder, with a recommendation he serve at least 18 years.

P.I. comment: At the risk of repeating myself yet again, I will point out that while offenders are behind bars they can't commit further crimes. So for the vast majority of us - prison does work!

Defiant Livingstone still stands by his Nazi slur

Ken Livingstone still refuses to apologise last night over his Nazi jibe at a Jewish reporter. The London Mayor had accused Oliver Finegold of behaving like a ‘concentration camp guard'. Mr Finegood's 'crime' was to ask Mr Livingstone if he had enjoyed the party at City Hall marking 20 years since former Culture Secretary Chris Smith's decision to ‘come out' as the first gay MP. The event is estimated to have cost taxpayers about £4,000. The mayor has denied that this was a misuse of public funds. Yesterday a deputation of three concentration camp survivors arrived at City Hall expecting to hear Mr Livingstone say sorry. They delivered a petition accusing him of having ‘belittled' the Holocaust, making light of their suffering and abusing the millions who died.

P.I. comment: Will I disagree with most of what Ken Livingstone says, I still stand up for his right to say it. Remember that if he didn't come out publically with all this stuff then the public wouldn't know what an odious little twerp he was and might continue to vote for him.

Home Office take PC to new levels

To Tracey Barnes they were just a pair of routine passport photographs of her baby son. But when she sent them off to apply for the document she was astonished to be told that the pictures were ‘unacceptable' because Muslims might find them offensive. The reason given by the UK Passport Service was that seven month-old Lewis was not wearing a top. Last night, the 36-year-old housewife said she was furious and accused the Home Office agency of taking political correctness to bizarre new levels. Her view was backed by Muslim groups, who called the decision ‘ridiculous'. They accused officials of misinterpreting Islam, pointing out that rules of modesty only apply to Muslims when they reach adolescence.

P.I. comment: Again political correctness is applied on behalf of a group that obviously don't want it by officials that have been brow-beaten by PC seminars.

Home Secretary reveals his true views on immigration to Labour activists

Charles Clarke has insisted he wants more people to seek refuge in Britain. The Home Secretary said it was a ‘moral and legal duty' to encourage asylum seekers and economic migrants. His remarks, to Labour activists, were seized on by opponents as wrecking one of Tony Blair's key General Election pledges – ‘Your country's borders protected.' Unveiling it recently, the Prime Minister said his party should no longer be seen as soft on migration. But Tory home affairs spokesman David Davis said that the promise had been ‘completely undermined' by Mr Clarke. There were also fears that the Home Secretary's remarks will encourage millions to think Britain's borders are wide open.

P.I. comment: So now we know! Amazing what people will say when they think they are among friends. Don't vote New Labour!

More lottery madness

The new quango that distributes National Lottery money to worthy causes has handed £360,000 to a pressure group for ‘sex workers' – but turned down the Samaritans for a £300,000 grant. The Big Lottery Fund, successor to the Community Fund, ruled that the application by the Samaritans – who need an office for 120 volunteers in Sheffield – demanded too much money and had failed to do enough to meet the needs of ‘target groups'. The Samaritans said they were ‘disappointed' by the fund's decision and that they believed they were being penalised for their anonymous telephone befriending service, which does not discriminate between callers or require them to say which ethnic or social category they belong to. Sheffield Samaritans spokesman Isabel Blincow said she was told by a fund official that the Samaritans had ‘done well' on most aspects of the application but were ‘let down' in their explanation of who their work targeted. She added: ‘They explained there were five categories – the young, the elderly and their carers, ethnic minorities, asylum seekers and people disadvantaged by society. ‘If we had appealed to one or more of these groups specifically then we probably would have been awarded the grant, but because our work is across the board and does not target individual groups we failed.'

P.I. comment: I've commented on these silly PC grants before. The Samaritans do wonderful work and are responsible for saving the lives of countless suicidal people. But because they do not operate in a politically correct way they are refused funding. DO NOT BUY LOTTERY TICKETS!

The work shy British force boss to recruit Poles (from The Daily Mail)

A businessman has revealed that he has to recruit workers from Poland because English people on benefits have ‘given up on the work ethic'. Nick Warner, who runs a business supplying workers to pack boxes for supermarkets, said yesterday that 95 per cent of the 400 people on his books were Polish or Portuguese. Poles were the most reliable and displayed a ‘terrific attitude', he added. ‘They wish to work,' said Mr Warner. ‘You can ask them to work tomorrow and they will be waiting for you to pick them up in the morning. ‘The average English guy we are looking for has given up on the work ethic – there is just no incentive to find employment.'

P.I. comment: Anyone who doubts that should read Jack Bartholomew's book ' The Welfare State We're In' which shows direct correlation throughout history of how over generous welfare benefits damage society.

How New Labour made 1,000 new crimes (from The Daily Mail)

Tony Blair came to power boasting he would be tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime. Eight years on, it appears that phrase could come back to haunt him. For Labour has invented more than 1,000 new crimes since their first General Election win. But far from being tough on those that matter, ministers have been swamping police and courts with five new offences a fortnight, according to the Liberal Democrats. These include crimes such as evasion of dental or eye treatment fees (maximum penalty £2,500). And, while it is feared the figures for serious offences could explode when 24-hour drinking is introduced, officers will be busy arresting criminals for trading in Royal Parks (maximum fine £1,000). Research reveals that the Government has created 1,018 new crimes since 1997.

P.I. comment: Oh the heinous crime of staging a concert in a church hall without a licence! Yes, we must let violent criminals get on unhindered and concentrate our efforts into stopping such madness. I suspect that most of these silly laws are EU inspired. We really have lost our way in this country.

New Labour funds Gipsy legal advice on how to beat planners

Taxpayers are funding a helpline which gives Gipsies legal advice on planning laws. One of the Government's leading quangos is running the service, despite growing fury at the way some travellers are setting up camps across the country in defiance of planning laws. While the helpline will not offer advice on how to circumvent the law, it will make it easier for travellers to discover and exploit any loopholes. Last night the service was attacked as a gross misuse of taxpayers' money and an affront to residents who have to meet their own legal costs when battling to remove travellers who have invaded their communities.

P.I. comment: There seems to be no limit to this politically correct government ineptitude. VOTERS PLEASE NOTE!

Storm over explosion in mobile speed cameras (from The Daily Mail)

Police and councils are masterminding a massive increase in the number of mobile speed cameras as fines from fixed yellow Gatso boxes level off. They hope the mobile traps will rake in enough income to subsidise their 35 safety camera partnerships which cover virtually every area of the country.  But the revelation sparked an outcry with motoring organisations accusing the Government of increasing its ‘stealth tax' on drivers.  A report to be published tomorrow will show that the number of roving units has soared by more than a third in just 12 months. There were 3,499 cameras hidden in police cars, vans and motorcycles last year, compared with 2,601 in 2003.

P.I. comment: As I have highlighted many times in this site, an over reliance on cameras and no police patrols lets drunk drivers and other road offenders have free reign on our roads. That reason alone shows that it is all about revenue and not safety.

Scotland Yard faces £1m bill for ethnic rethink

Scotland Yard is preparing to spend up to £1million changing the way it describes blacks and Asians. The Metropolitan Police wants to replace the phrase ‘visible ethnic minority' with the words ‘minority groups'. The proposed switch has already been criticised by black police officers, who have described it as politically correct and confusing. It emerged last night that the enforced changes to the Met's training procedures, stationery, publicity material and computers will cost the taxpayer ‘several hundreds of thousands of pounds'. Simply updating existing IT databases will cost £50,000 a time. If the same idea was adopted by the rest of the 43 forces in England and Wales, the final bill could run into several millions. The Yard has pioneered the change because it feels the phrase ‘visible ethnic minority' is out of date.

P.I. comment: Why do we need special expressions to describe any section of society anyway? Isn't this racist in itself? Surely they are just all 'the people of London' ? I suspect it won't be too long before some PC idiot deems that Scotland Yard has to be renamed Great Britain Yard on the grounds that Scotland is not inclusive enough!

High-risk rabbit hole! (from The Daily Mail)

For the members of Wigston Civic Society, it was a gentle ramble taking in a couple of churches, a canal and the tearooms. But for the functionaries at the community council it was a perilous escapade fraught with hazards such as ploughed fields, slippery grass, overhanging branches – and ‘high risk rabbit holes'. Faced with such dangers, they ordered the organisers of the popular annual Two Steeples walk to fill out a two-page risk-assessment form giving full details of the threats awaiting unsuspecting ramblers. The form – drawn up by the Leicestershire and Rutland Rural Community Council – demanded to know if those on the walk would encounter ‘hazards' such as rabbit holes, ploughed fields, overhanging branches or surfaces which were ‘slippery when wet'. It asked the bewildered organisers to say whether the rabbit holes and other hazards were low, medium or high risk. Another section solemnly counselled that if they entered a field containing cows they should ‘take a route that takes the walkers in a direction away from them'.

P.I. comment: High risk rabbit holes? Don't think I will dare venture out of my house ever again! This country has lost its way.

New Labour Values

This contrast sums up a nation that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. A black soldier nicknamed ‘Bubba' by his comrades — a reference to a slow-witted character in the film Forrest Gump — wins almost £200,000 for racial harassment. Meanwhile, the families of soldiers who sacrifice their lives in Iraq are paid £27,000.

P.I. comment: Again political correctness in the guise of 'The Human Rights Act' makes a mockery of common sense.

Collapse of the classrooms as hooligans win power struggle

The shocking breakdown of discipline and standards of education in the country's schools was laid bare. The number of schools plagued by classroom hooligans has almost doubled in the last year, Ofsted figures revealed. More than 300 secondary schools are battling to control serious discipline problems – the worst figure since Labour came to power. The collapse in classroom order, exposed in the education watchdog's annual report, is being blamed for a huge increase in the number of failing schools. The problem is being compounded by a hardcore of more than one in ten primary and secondary schools – around 2,000 in total – which are coasting and failing to make any progress.

P.I. comment:

Oasis levels (from The Daily Mail)

P.I. comment: Eventually we shall be the most highly qualified people in nothing.

Brave PC tackles a violent drunk and ends up on an assault charge

P.I. comment: If I ran the CPS, I would want to investigate Alison Kerr and find out why her judgment is so flawed or perhaps biased.

Comprehensives widen class gap research suggests (from The Daily Mail)

The decline of grammar schools has deepened class divisions, research suggests. Bright children from poor backgrounds achieved a greater share of university places under the old 11-plus system. The findings debunk the view of Britain becoming more classless over the past 40 years. Whilst the switch from selective schooling to comprehensives from the mid-1960s onwards was intended to give greater opportunity to working-class youngsters, the research from the London School of Economics instead reveals a growing divide between the educational ‘haves' and ‘have nots'.

P.I. comment: By having selection, (11+) we ensure that the best education goes to those pupils that will make the most of it. Not having selection means those with money will get the best education. Isn't this the opposite of what the PC brigade wanted? Again and again, political correctness succeeds in doing the exact opposite of what it sets out to do.

Misunderstood joke finishes Rodney Marsh's broadcasting career

Rodney Marsh has been sacked from his job as a Sky Sports presenter after making a joke that made a passing reference to the Asian tsunami disaster. Appearing on You're On Sky Sports on Monday evening, he joked that David Beckham had turned down a move to Newcastle United after hearing of the trouble with the ‘ Army in Asia'. The play-on-words referred to the Newcastle supporters' nickname, the Toon Army. Marsh, 60, known for his outspoken views on football, had his contract terminated yesterday after Sky Sports bosses decided his comments were ‘inexcusable'.

P.I. comment: How stupid can a Board of Directors be? The joke was about David Beckham being so thick that he mixed up 'Tsunami' with 'Toon Army' and was not a joke about the victims of the Tsunami. What a sad, humourless bunch of idiots the Board of Sky Sports are and what a sad reflection on the Politically Correct society we live in that it makes the Board of a multi-national company act like imbeciles. The sign of a truly free society is free speech - the sign of an unhealthy one is censorship by unelected groups.

The public sector is alive and well and breeding profusely (from The Daily Mail)

Gordon Brown's pledge to cull tens of thousands of civil servants has been dramatically undermined. Figures released recently show that in fact the Government created 260,000 public sector jobs in the year up to last autumn. While half could be doctors and nurses and teachers it is estimated that the rest will be bureaucrats. During the same period, the wealth-creating private sector lost 6,000 jobs. Public sector pay also rose faster, with an increase of 4.7 per cent last year compared with a 4.1 per cent rise in the private sector. The overspending could slash Britain's economic growth next year. The figures were issued by the Office for National Statistics. They were supported by research which showed that in the last six months alone, Government departments and official bodies advertised 5,750 vacancies in The Guardian. The total cost of salaries for those jobs – which are not for frontline posts such as nurses or teachers – was very nearly £210million. On this trend, 40,045 jobs would be advertised by 2008, at a cost of £1.45billion. Examples of spurious vacancies included a ‘workplace stop smoking adviser' for Islington NHS Trust, with an annual salary of £32,476 – double the pay of a qualified nurse. York City Council advertised for a job with the vague description of ‘neighbourhood pride manager' – for £30,654 a year. In a recent edition of The Guardian's Society supplement, 444 public sector jobs were advertised. The evidence of thriving public sector employment flies in the face of the Chancellor's vow to cull 84,150 civil service posts.

P.I. comment: This massive expansion of the public sector is storing up untold problems for the future. All these bureaucrats will get a pension that anyone in the private sector could only dream of and this will have to paid for by already hard pressed tax or council tax payers.

Police get heavy handed with real criminals

Heavy-handed police ran up a £10,000 bill for a helicopter, a plane and ten court dates to fine woman driver £60 for holding an apple. For 13 months, police battled to bring the offender to justice. To prove Sarah McCaffery's guilt, they commissioned photographic evidence taken from a helicopter, aeroplane and patrol car.  An estimated £10,000 was spent to show that the 23-year-old nursery nurse was not in control of her vehicle.  And her offence? Holding an apple as she turned left at a junction. When Miss McCaffery faced magistrates after the case had come to court no fewer than ten times, her lawyer bitterly criticised the police's over-the-top behaviour. Geoffrey Forrester said: ‘Nothing illustrates the nonsense of this case more than the resources that have been thrown at it'. He said the manoeuvre had been carried out ‘perfectly', the road was dry and there were neither cars nor pedestrians around. And he added that serious offences such as drug dealing, burglary or assault on children were not afforded such attention. Yet the court in South Tyneside ruled that Miss McCaffery was not in proper control and she was fined £60 and ordered to pay £100 costs. Last night she said: ‘No wonder people have no faith in the police. They should be catching real criminals.'

P.I. comment: The most bizarre aspect of this case is the tenacity with which the police pursued it. (I can't understand the necessity of the aerial photography either. Surely the only evidence that mattered is that of the police officer that witnessed the offence.) If only they used the same tenacity to deal with more serious crimes. The following letter seems typical of those you find in most papers (this one comes from the Daily Mail)

Are the police more interested in crime or cash? In June last year, a colleague's car was rear-ended, causing £1,000-worth of damage. The driver was an uninsured student who gave him false details. By his own investigation, my colleague discovered the real name, address and phone number and gave them to the police. When nothing had happened after four months, my colleague asked the police about progress and was told: ‘We will not pursue this at this time.'

Blair Broadcasting Corporation and/or Brussels Broadcasting Corporation?

The BBC has a ‘serious problem' with its news coverage of the European Union because of its failure to be impartial, a damning report revealed yesterday. The report – commissioned by the Corporation itself – found there was a ‘cultural bias' in favour of the EU and a ‘reluctance to question pro-EU assumptions'. It called for ‘urgent action' to address the impartiality, although it argued that it was not done deliberately or systematically.

P.I. comment: Not succeeding seems an understatement to me! We had Peter Mandelson on recently reminding the BBC what happened last time they took on the Government. What arrogance from a twice resigned and failed New Labour politician. Since Alistair Campbell effectively neutered the BBC over the Dr David Kelly affair I really can't watch it. The sniveling brown nosing to Blair and Brussels makes me vomit. What happened to impartiality? I watch Sky News now, yet a few years ago I felt the BBC was the best news service in the world.

Voters robbed of the power to stop Gypsies moving in (from The Daily Mail)

Sweeping powers to impose Gipsy camps on communities have been handed to an army of unelected bureaucrats. With a staggering disregard for local democracy, John Prescott gave eight regional quangos in England the say so on how many travellers' sites there should be in a council's area. Local authorities will have to meet targets set by faceless bureaucrats who are accountable to no one. Thousands of caravans could be forced on villages and communities – whether councils want them or not.

P.I. comment: It shows how much New Labour care about the poor people that have to live every day with the filth, intimidation, burglary and noise around these illegal sites.

I confronted a hooligan and ended up charged with assault

When army veteran Charles Mayall confronted a gang of yobs who had smashed his windows, police were swiftly on the scene. But Mr Mayall's relief turned to astonishment when he was handcuffed and arrested on suspicion of assault. He made three appearances in court and spent five months fearing he would go to jail before the prosecution against him was finally dropped. After learning the case had been discontinued due to ‘lack of evidence', 59-year-old Mr Mayall claimed his faith in the legal system had been destroyed. ‘People should be able to defend themselves,' he said. ‘We haven't got a justice system in this country any more. I'm just a decent, hardworking man who was protecting his property.' Mr Mayall, who suffered a broken thumb and bruised ribs, said: ‘I feared for my life. All I could do was defend myself. The police kept talking about reasonable force, but what's that? He came at me with a weapon. I'm 59 and wasn't even armed.'

P.I. comment: When this subject was being discussed on TV recently, I watched in disbelief as the government wheeled out all sorts of statistics to prove this sort of thing never happened. The Attorney General, Lord Forkbender said on the Frost programme that the law didn't need clarifying as it was clear that householders had a right to defend themselves.

Lottery grants awarded only on PC grounds (from The Daily Mail)

A mountain rescue team has been told it cannot have a National Lottery grant because it does not rescue enough asylum seekers, people from ethnic minorities and old folk.The volunteers applied for £200,000 to build an emergency response base. But they were informed by fund administrators that they did not meet its criterion of serving ‘the needs of those at greatest disadvantage in society'. It was explained that this meant those from ethnic minorities, refugees and asylum seekers, the disabled, the elderly or children. Paul Heap, fundraiser for the 45-strong Bowland and Pennine Mountain Rescue Team, based near Preston, described the decision as ‘crazy'. ‘I joined mountain rescue after I broke both my legs when I got caught in an avalanche,' he said. ‘I was pretty disadvantaged up there with no legs until those guys put their own lives at risk to rescue me.' He pointed out that his team was called out 69 times last year, including assisting the search for the Chinese cockle pickers stranded in the Morecambe Bay tragedy.

Similarly, a lifeboat crew have been refused National Lottery cash because they don't save enough ethnic minorities, asylum seekers or elderly people. The Severn Area Rescue Association needs £5,000 to replace a 14-year-old Land Rover used to launch its lifeboats. It applied to the lottery's Awards for All scheme, a part of the Community Fund which gives grants to voluntary groups fitting specific criteria. But because the crew could not prove the social background of those they rescue, their grant was turned down. ‘It's political correctness gone bonkers,' said Dave Walker, chairman of the station at Upton-upon- Severn, Worcestershire. ‘The criteria for the awards makes it nearly impossible for us to qualify. ‘Our job is to rescue people. We don't check their nationality, age, disabilities or where they live.'

P.I. comment: Well I think both organisations should continue to do their good work and never buy another lottery ticket again. If they had been awarded the money then they would have probably had to promise to spend 45 minutes filling in a form as to the person's ethnic background before they could rescue them (just as the police have to do each time they stop someone).

February is national gay month in schools (from The Daily Mail)

Schools are being urged to advertise gay lifestyles to children in a Government drive to ‘challenge homophobia'. In an attempt to clamp down on supposedly homophobic language, the guidelines say teachers should be reported if they refer to boys as ‘sissies', accuse them of standing around ‘like a mothers' meeting' or call them a ‘bunch of girls'. Staff are asked to put up flyers for Gay Pride marches and Mardi Gras festivals. They are told that promoting a ‘positive stance' on homosexuals and lesbians can help tackle homophobic bullying. The guidance, which applies to all ages from nurseries upwards, drew a furious response from Church leaders and family campaigners who said it went too far. The booklets, which were sent to every local education authority this month, also urge schools to: invite in gay visitors and speakers to act as ‘sexual minority role models' where there are no homosexual members of staff; keep written records of every homophobic phrase used, either by staff or pupils and to form a ‘homophobia working party' to increase awareness of homophobic bullying, teach pupils about homosexual public figures such as MPs and entertainers and to avoid generic language that assumes parents and staff always have partners of the opposite sex. The Reverend Rod Thomas, of the conservative Church of England Reform movement, said: ‘Church schools would have a huge amount of difficulty with this and I don't think any would feel at ease promoting a Gay Pride event. This takes anti-discrimination measures too far into the realm of positive discrimination.'

Suggested Alternative Curriculum General Activities were:

Stage gay-oriented fashion shows
Re-enact church blessings of same-sex couples
Hold a gay Valentine's dinner for school staff

Hugh McKinney, chairman of the National Family Campaign, said it was time the Government redressed the balance in favour of the family. ‘It is absolutely unacceptable and completely outrageous that the Government should spent a disproportionate amount of taxpayers' money on gay and lesbian activities and at the same time be restricting the topic of teaching on marriage in schools.'

P.I. comment: While I have no problem with people living alternative lifestyles, I do not see any need for schools to actively promote them. The married family unit still remains the most stable way of bringing up well balanced children and I wish this politically correct government spent as much time promoting marriage as it does promoting minority issues.

Middle-class offenders face paying bigger fines (from The Daily Mail)

The middle classes will be forced to pay bigger fines under plans to link penalties to an offender's income. Higher earners could face a fine of up to £15,000 for an offence such as driving without insurance – three times the current £5,000 maximum. The means-tested penalties are contained in a Government Bill which allows magistrates to use an offender's income to work out fines. Ministers claim it will help rebuild public trust in a system which is regularly flouted by offenders.

Magistrates can already use some limited means-testing in awarding fines by reducing the size of a penalty if an offender cannot afford to pay. The courts will now take details of an offender's income and use a formula – which takes into account ‘average' outgoings like a mortgage, food and utilities – to calculate the person's ‘daily disposable income' up to a maximum figure of £75 a day. The magistrate will then use this figure to work out the fine according to the severity of the crime.

There are five levels of offences with the most minor including crimes such as driving with a child who is not wearing a seatbelt or being drunk in a pub. Someone who commits one of these offences will see their daily disposable income multiplied by ten – resulting in a maximum fine of £750 compared to the current £200. At the other end of the scale, the court will multiply daily disposable income by 200 for offences such as driving without insurance, meaning fines of up to £15,000.

Critics have compared the scheme to the disastrous ‘unit fines' system, which was introduced by the Tories in 1993 but quickly scrapped. Under that scheme, one man was fined £1,200 for dropping a crisp packet. On another occasion two neighbours were fined for driving without insurance with one paying just £75 and the other £1,500.

P.I. comment: At present, one third of all fines go unpaid. The middle classes tend to pay theirs as they are easily traceable and have assets which can easily be sequestrated. I will leave it to your imagination to work out who doesn't pay. This is just yet another cynical New Labour ploy to make the good guys pay for the bad.

Harry's Nazi gaffe (from The Daily Mail)

Prince Harry was forced to issue a groveling apology last night for going to a party dressed as a Nazi and wearing a swastika. It came after his choice of outfit was condemned as insensitive and tasteless by shocked Holocaust survivors. Harry, 20, was a guest at a fancy dress party thrown by Olympic show jumper Richard Meade. Sources said he was accompanied by his brother Prince William. It is not known if William was also in fancy dress.

Both boys are friends with Mr Meade's son Harry, who was among a group of pro-hunting activists that invaded the Labour Party conference in Brighton last September. According to fellow huntsmen, the Meades are renowned for the parties they throw at their home near Chippenham, Wiltshire – and last week's event was no exception. Harry, who has been dogged in recent years by drink and drugs scandals, was photographed by a fellow guest, who then sold the incriminating pictures to a tabloid newspaper.

Jewish groups last night reacted with fury at Harry's ‘insensitivity' at a time when they are remembering the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Labour peer Lord Janner, chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: ‘I hope that on reflection Prince Harry will regret what was an insensitive and tasteless act.' A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: ‘It's not a joke to dress up as a Nazi, especially as we come up to the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. ‘It is important that everybody remembers the evil that the Nazis were responsible for.' A million Jews were killed at Auschwitz, the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, before it was liberated by Allied forces in January 1945. Many thousands of Jews were gassed.

Last night, in a statement issued by Clarence House, Harry said: ‘I am very sorry if I have caused any offence or embarrassment to anyone. It was a poor choice of costume and I apologise.'

P.I. comment: The politically correct media frenzy over Prince Harry's choice of fancy dress costume is unbelievable. Even publications that should know better have engaged in some pretty unbelievable hypocrisy. Surely everyone has lost sight of the fact that Prince Harry is a 20yr old boy and this was a FANCY DRESS PARTY. Whatever costume you wear, it doesn't mean that you approve of whatever that costume may convey to a casual observer. But in the current stupid politically correct atmosphere of this country (that used to be so tolerant), whatever costume he wore would attract just as much criticism from these mindless zealots.

Go as a vicar? No - it would offend other faiths.
Go as Father Christmas? No - same reason.
Go as a Viking? No - you are saying OK to rape and pillage.
Go as a RAF pilot? No - you will offend the memory of Dresden.
Go as a Roman? No - you are saying it is OK to invade other countries.

These days only one thing is certain, you are bound to offend someone! It would have been much better to just make a joke about Harry finding the uniform after rifling through the wardrobes in the attic of Buckingham Palace!

BBC boss in hiding (from The Daily Mail)

The BBC executive behind the decision to screen Jerry Springer – The Opera had to flee his home with his young family after receiving death threats.  BBC2 controller Roly Keating, his wife and their three young children were driven out of their £1million house after a Christian group posted his private address and telephone number on its website. Mr Keating and Ms Bennett's home details were posted on the website of campaign group Christian Voice on Friday morning, but were removed later that day after BBC lawyers got in touch.

The group's national director Stephen Green, who has led the protests against the show, said: ‘The BBC just do not take any notice when we go through the normal channels. ‘They hold ordinary people in contempt. The idea was that here's a way to actually get straight to the people who make the decisions. But sadly it does appear certain other elements have picked up on it. In retrospect it seems a mistake to have put those details up on the website.'

The exact number of obscenities in the show, which stars former Starsky and Hutch actor David Soul, was disputed. The 8,000 figure is calculated by multiplying the number of profanities by the number of actors singing them. By counting just the number of times a word is featured, the BBC insists there were fewer than 300 offensive words, including 117 mentions of the F-word and seven of the Cword.

P.I. comment: It seems to me that the Christian Voice are not as 'Christian' as they would like to make out. No one could be that naive not to realise what the result of publishing the addresses and phone numbers would be. If you don't want to watch the program then don't switch to BBC2. I watched it and I admit that the language was a bit 'school playground' at times. But again, free speech is under attack. I don't like Christians trying to stop this production any more than I like the Sikhs trying to stop the production of Behzti in Birmingham. Let's have some free speech!

Don't jail criminals if prisons are full

Home Secretary Charles Clarke is telling judges to avoid jailing offenders if prisons are full. New legislation will for the first time require courts to take prison capacity into account when sentencing offenders. With jails already packed, the guidance means increasing numbers of convicted criminals will end up doing some kind of community service instead. The retreat by the newly appointed Home Secretary comes in the Management of Offenders and Sentencing Bill, which was published yesterday. It was said to extend ‘the remit of the Sentencing Guidelines Council to include consideration of the capacity of the correctional services'.

Baroness Scotland, the Minister for Criminal Justice, claimed: ‘The measures in the Bill will ensure that sentences are managed with a consistency and rigour that will really challenge the individual offender to change their ways and lead a law-abiding life on the conclusion of that sentence.' But the small print of the Bill makes it clear the sentence involved is now less likely to involve imprisonment. At present, courts are not expected to take any account of space available in prisons when they pass sentence, giving punishments based on the facts of the case before them.

P.I. comment: Only one in every 35 serious crimes leads to an offender being caught and punished. Out of a massive 11.7million offences last year, just 334,000 – fewer than three per cent – saw the culprit being sentenced. A mere 81,000 cases – less than one per cent – ended with the offender being imprisoned. So with so little deterrent, is there any wonder that crime is on the up? This new directive can only make things worse. Most of all though, this new directive raises the spectre of two people committing the same offence but at different times, in which one receives a custodial sentence because there is prison space while the other stays free because there isn't any! This is against natural justice and (of course) natural justice.

Popadom Madness

When Rebecca Miles was given a job helping battered Asian women, she felt confident she could make a lasting difference to their lives. But less than a month later, she had resigned after being accused of making a racist remark. The 37-year-old had been discussing the case of a Bangladeshi woman with colleagues when she forgot the name of an interpreter. ‘It was Pamala, Popalam or Popadom – something like that,' she said.

Later that day she was ordered before her bosses and given a written warning as well as the ultimatum to take anti-racism classes. She said: ‘I was told it was a credit to my colleagues that they were prepared to carry on working with me. When I got home I was in floods of tears. ‘I only went back the next day to finish taking the Bangladeshi woman's statement. I did it for her'.

To her shock, she was hauled before a disciplinary meeting where she was told she could stay in the job only if she attended anti-racism lessons and wrote an essay on the Stephen Lawrence case. Instead, she handed in her notice.

Last night Muslim leaders attacked the ‘trigger-happy' action by her bosses at the Alert organisation in East London. Anas Altikriti, of the Muslim Association of Britain, said: ‘It is immensely important that we demonstrate a high level of common sense and tolerance towards one another, otherwise we will turn into a society where every utterance is skewed to fit a political agenda. This is not the sort of case where any action should have been taken and there should be no slur on this woman. To be trigger happy when accusing people of racism is not healthy.'

P.I. comment: Can there be any clearer evidence that Britain's public services are losing every vestige of common sense as political correctness rampages through almost every area of life?

Police let my burglar go . . . then gave him a lift home (from The Daily Mail)

Suzzane Miller had heard all the stories about the justice system going soft on criminals. But that didn't prepare her for the night she caught an intruder in her home. Police arrived in time to apprehend him, but not only did they fail to arrest him, they then gave him a lift home in a patrol car. The outraged householder, who lives alone, has made a formal complaint against the Dorset force. Her MP has taken up her case and said last night that police must have gone ‘barking mad'.

Miss Miller, a 34-year-old secretary, was woken by noises downstairs in her cottage in the village of Ashley Heath, near Verwood, Dorset, at 3am. She dialled 999 to alert police then crept across the landing to the top of the stairs. Horrified, she came face to face with a man in the hall below. As he made to climb the stairs she yelled a warning that she had a knife and would not hesitate to use it, and that she had already called the police. Her threats had the desired effect and the intruder turned to flee.

Thanks to a quick response from the police, however, he ran down her drive straight into the arms of two constables and a dog handler. But when the officers called a desk sergeant at the police station they were apparently told not to arrest the offender and to take him home. The officers left without taking a statement from Miss Miller, who was only interviewed two days later when she went to the station in person and demanded action. Dorset Police last night refused to discuss the case.

But Miss Miller's Conservative MP Christopher Chope said he was told the bizarre decision was made because the intruder was drunk and the officers believed he may have entered the property by mistake through an unlocked back door. ‘I am appalled that a thing like this could happen,' he said. ‘Here we have a woman who is alone in her house late at night and wakes to find an intruder, but instead of arresting the suspect the police apparently give him a ride home.'

Mr Chope, who represents Christchurch, said the police seemed more concerned with the fact that Miss Miller had a knife in her home. Ann Warman, a member of the Dorset police authority, said she was horrified by the case. She said: ‘Incidents like this cause the general public to have absolutely no confidence in police. The man should have been apprehended, taken back to the police station and fingerprinted. There were grounds for arrest. ‘When I hear stories like this from my constituents – and I hasten to add this isn't the first – I have trouble justifying an increase in council tax.'

A spokesman for Dorset Police said both the alleged break-in and Miss Miller's complaint were being investigated. ‘A criminal investigation is still being conducted as well as an internal one into the conduct of the officers. It would be wrong to comment further.'

P.I. comment: They really do seem to have excelled themselves this time.

Navy ban on name-calling and pin-ups (from The Daily Mail)

Sailors have been banned from using salty language in a Royal Navy attempt to eliminate racism, sexism and prejudice from the fleet. The instructions forbid them from making ‘derogatory remarks', insulting comrades or ‘name-calling'.

There are also rules which order an end to ‘sexually suggestive' pin-ups, boasting about conquests or asking ‘unwarranted' personal questions of shipmates. The equality code also appears to defy the Navy's most hallowed traditions with its instruction that there shall be no ‘personal comment about someone's physical appearance'.

Defence officials said yesterday that the code, entitled Diversity, Equality and You, is intended to bring rules up to date with ‘new equality and employment legislation that governs all workplaces'.

But military critics scorned the idea that a warship can be described as a ‘workplace' and said the code was useful only in meeting the obsessions of Ministry of Defence bureaucrats. Major Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies, said: ‘We live in politically correct times and what these rulebooks do is keep the bureaucrats happy.'

A spokesman for the MoD said: ‘There is no blanket ban on pin-ups. No one is going around taking down posters. These are guidelines, and the other services have similar codes.'

P.I. comment: I suggest you read Simon Heffer's lampoon of this here.

Don't mention the townships (from The Daily Mail)

It is a word that has been used to describe their communities for hundreds of years. So the residents of Rochdale wholeheartedly embraced a decision by Greater Manchester Police to borrow the term ‘township' to describe its own area divisions. But 12 months later, the force appears to have been struck by a sudden pang of political correctness.

In a memo, officers have been told to drop the term because of its ‘associations with apartheid' in South Africa. The sub-divisions will be renamed ‘partnerships,' at a cost of thousands of pounds to the taxpayer. The decision has been greeted with astonishment by local politicians and police officers.

Charles Crichlow, chairman of the Manchester Black Police Association, said: ‘People are more interested in what GMP are doing to tackle discrimination, than using the word township. Sometimes we can get too caught up with worrying about language.‘Unless there is some substance behind their actions, people will be justified in thinking this change is really for political correctness purposes only.'

Lorna Fitzsimons, Labour MP for Rochdale, said: ‘For centuries the word township has been a proud part of Rochdale's heritage. It is a way of denoting geographical boundaries. Never, in all my time as a resident here, have I come across anyone who has found it offensive. It is very silly that GMP have decided to ban it.'

Police were told about the change in a memo from Chief Inspector Jeff McMahon last month. It said: ‘The term township has been deemed unsuitable for use by the force. There are clear connotations with this term and (the) apartheid regime of South Africa and the discriminatory treatment of black Africans. ‘With immediate effect this term will no longer be used. The new term is “partnership”. Thus, in all written and verbal communication this should be substituted.'

Over the past few weeks, the term has been removed from letterheads and notepaper, and signs at five police stations in Rochdale have been replaced. Office door signs which said ‘Township Inspector' have also been binned. It is likely that the cost to the taxpayer will be several thousand pounds.

Graham Brady, Tory MP for Altrincham and Sale West in Greater Manchester, said: ‘I find it hard to believe that this word would cause offence. The people of Greater Manchester would far rather police concentrate on catching criminals.' One Rochdale policeman said yesterday that he fears the move is yet another reaction by his bosses to the BBC1 documentary The Secret Policeman. The programme, screened in October 2003, exposed racism among recruits and led to five officers from the Greater Manchester force and three from neighbouring forces resigning. ‘Everybody is fed up with this political correctness,' he said. ‘We can't say anything these days. We're all too frightened.'

P.I. comment: The PC Brigade have effectively castrated the police and made them ineffective. They spend far too much time filling in forms and trying to be PC instead of being PCs. It really beggars belief.

The Dustbin Police strike (from The Daily Mail)

Worried that she might miss the bin men, Angela Garfield decided to put out her rubbish early. But her good intentions proved costly. For she has been fined £50 for leaving the rubbish bags out on the wrong day. She received a fixed penalty notice through her letterbox. The ticket inside said she was being punished for putting her rubbish out three days too soon – and ordered her to pay £50 within a fortnight.

Yesterday, 29-year-old Miss Garfield of Reddish, Stockport, said she was considering whether or not to pay the fine. The customer services adviser with British Gas said: ‘The only reason I put the bag out early was so that I didn't miss the bin men. It's something that I've always done and never realised there was anything wrong with it.

P.I. comment: Will this become the revenue raiser? The new speed camera?

GOOD NEWS - THE UK ARE TO GET MORE POLICE!
BAD NEWS - THEY ARE THE PUDDLE POLICE AND THE DUSTBIN POLICE!

Farmers face crippling fines for driving tractors on soggy land under new EU rules introduced yesterday. They will lose support payments if so-called ‘Puddle Police' – UK government inspectors responsible for enforcing green agricultural methods – catch them operating on saturated fields.

The Government claims the move is necessary to protect the soil on farms. But some farmers believe spy-in-the-sky satellites may even be used to ‘shop' offenders by photographing churned-up ground. There is also widespread incredulity at bizarre EU guidelines – based on the location of puddles – which supposedly define waterlogged farmland.

Any within 20 metres of a field gate will not count as it is accepted that standing water often forms there because of the use a gate gets. But those farther away could give the land a ‘saturated' designation, preventing farmers from driving on it with tractors, ploughs or heavy machinery.

   Farmers' leaders have reacted with anger to the new environmental standards, included in the ‘cross-compliance' section of the 2005 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Jim Hosking, who chairs an action group for agricultural students in the South West, condemned the rules as ‘a disgraceful affront to the knowledge, skills and judgment of farmers'. In a letter to Farming and Food Minister Lord Whitty he says: ‘Repair of damaged land is possible with good husbandry in the next dry period. Secondly, the sight of a puddle more than 20 metres from a field gateway does not mean the whole field is waterlogged.'

AND

Householders who fail to recycle their rubbish could be fined £1,000 and get a criminal record. Anyone who puts paper, glass or cans in their bin instead of a recycling box will attract the wrath of the ‘Dustbin Police ' – and risk ending up in court. The London Borough of Barnet is pioneering the strong-arm approach. But if the scheme is successful there it could be copied all over the country.

Every householder will be required to put recyclable items in a black box separated from the rest of their rubbish. On collection day, a squad of inspectors will be on hand to check. Anyone with an empty black box is likely to have their bin contents scrutinised. Those caught putting ‘forbidden' items inside will get a knock on the door.

Officials insist legal action will be reserved for hard-core cases and householders who simply forget to recycle have nothing to fear. A spokesman for the authority said: ‘Those who persistently and deliberately fail to recycle will receive warnings, visits from council officers, and finally formal notices. Breaching that notice is a criminal offence. As a last resort the council is quite prepared to prosecute, and residents who refuse to adhere to the scheme could be fined up to £1,000 by magistrates. There is no good reason not to recycle. It's not difficult. It's certainly easier than paying a £1,000 fine.' From March, all 113,000 houses in Barnet will face the threat of fines.

With landfill sites in short supply, the Government has set a national target of recycling 25 per cent of household waste by this year, and 30 per cent by 2010 – up from barely 12 per cent according to latest figures. Every council also has its own target and if Barnet can reach 30 per cent by next March it will be rewarded with £650,000 from the Government.

P.I. comment: Isn't it amazing that we can always find money for busy-bodies but not for real policemen? I'm sure we will find far more householders are prosecuted and receive criminal records than burglars and muggers!

Tell the truth about crime says the Audit Commission (from The Daily Mail)

In the real world violence against individuals is soaring, street muggings are rising sharply and city centres are polluted by drunken gangs.  What a contrast with the statistical Utopia inhabited by Ministers and senior police officers, where crime is at its lowest for more than 20 years. Of course this is yet another example of smoke and mirrors. The Audit Commission has already said most police forces produce misleading figures. And now the think-tank Civitas has produced evidence to expose the ‘falsity of crime statistics'.

It concludes that Britain's police forces are the ‘worst in the developed world' and that people are 30 times more likely to be the victim of robbery than in the 1960s. Now, of course most rank and file police officers work extremely hard to fight crime, but look at the comparison between Britain's record and those of the U.S., France and Germany, which Civitas says have been more successful. Yet perhaps this is scarcely surprising when politicians – particularly under New Labour – and senior police officers are obsessed with political correctness and bureaucracy. After all, is it any surprise that the crime rate is increasing when there are so few officers on the beat – and if they stop someone, they have to waste valuable time filling out a 40-question form? No wonder police morale is so low and crime levels so high. The report says that serial criminals are still ‘getting away with it'. It claims that in Lambeth, South London, only 7 per cent of robberies were cleared up between 1999 and 2003. ‘The average robber in Lambeth commits 14 robberies before he even becomes an official suspect, never mind before he is found guilty in a court of law,' the report says. ‘Three strikes and you're out for him means, therefore, 43 plus strikes and you're out, which he is likely to count as pretty good odds in his favour.'

P.I. comment: Nothing new here but at least the Audit Commission has made it official.

Lakeland guided walks face axe for being ‘too white and middle-class'

FOR half a century, volunteer rangers have introduced parties of walkers to the spectacular scenery of the Lake District. Many thousands of visitors took advantage of the free service, with most coming back for more. But those hoping to be led across the fells again in 2005 are in for a disappointment. The guided walks are to be axed on the grounds that they attract too many ‘middle-aged, middle-class white people'.

Instead, the authority which runs them wants to focus on meeting Government targets for attracting the urban young, ethnic minorities, inner-city children and disabled people.The plans, drawn up by the Lake District National Park Authority, were attacked on all sides yesterday – even by Muslim and disability groups.

Guide Derek Tunstall said: ‘Attracting more ethnic minorities is all well and good but without us, what are you going to entice them with? It is very short-sighted. They will end up trying to cater for a load of people who don't want to come to the Lake District at the expense of the 40,000 a year we dealt with who did.'

Now, however, the Government has advised the park authority it should be attracting minority groups, especially those from inner cities, to the area as part of its regeneration after the foot and-mouth crisis of 2000. So the authority wrote to its volunteers last month saying the walks were being halted, along with the slide shows and lectures, even though the total savings will amount to only £32,000.

Authority spokesman Mick Casey said: ‘Our research shows that the majority who do use the walks are white middle-class, middle-aged people. The Government is encouraging national parks to appeal to young people, to ethnic minorities and to people with disabilities. It is saying we ought to focus our activities on these kinds of groups.'

Hotelier John Tiscornia, a director of the Cumbria Tourist Board, disagreed. ‘If young people and people from inner cities don't want to come to the Lake District, we can't force them,' he said. ‘Getting rid of these services is absolutely ludicrous. We need someone to lay things on for people who already come here. Instead they say they want to attract more minorities. It is political correctness gone mad.'

P.I. comment: Why do the PC Brigade have to meddle in something that was working so well? Everyone had a chance to participate if they wish. All they will achieve is to spoil it for everyone. Another backward step caused by the PC Brigade!

Taxpayers left outraged as council takes the soft option

A council has provoked outrage by deciding to spend £500,000 of taxpayers' money on improving conditions for illegally-camped travellers. The funds will provide them with electricity, running water and drainage – even though they flouted planning laws and moved on to green belt land. The decision has enraged locals in Runwell, Essex, who want the travellers evicted, not pampered with council tax money.

Environmental campaigners condemned the move as ‘disastrous', warning that it could be exploited by thousands more travellers who have blighted communities across Middle England by illegally moving on to protected land. Locals said they had endured a tirade of verbal abuse, intimidation and anti-social behaviour from settlers on the three-acre Meadow Lane site near Wickford. Last year, a woman traveller was jailed after attacking a paramedic called to the camp and a police raid recently recovered £60,000 worth of stolen cars. But rather than try to throw out the travellers, Chelmsford Borough Council and Essex County Council have caved in and agreed to upgrade the site.

One man, who was too scared of the travellers to be named, said: ‘It's disgusting. These people break the law by moving in and then get rewarded for it, with decent law abiding citizens like me and my neighbours expected to pay for it. There have been a catalogue of crimes and thefts since they arrived. You phone the police but they say there is little they can do. My wife is so sick of it she wants to emigrate.'

Julie Stainton, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, warned that the decision would encourage other travellers to set up illegal camps. She added: ‘It also sends a worrying message to councils that if evicting illegal encampments is too much hassle they can simply spend money on legalising them.'

Paul de Zylva, director of Friends of the Earth England, said travellers were being allowed to ‘drive a coach and horses' through planning rules. ‘As things stand, they are able to twist the system around their little finger,' he said.

P.I. comment: Bliar's Bloody Britain eh? I feel so very sorry for these people. Just remember all this on May 5th 2005.

The peril of privacy (and of silly legislation) (from The Daily Mail)

Hospitals are removing patients' names and medical records from their beds because of fears they might be breaking the Data Protection Act by infringing privacy. But the move has been criticised as ‘dangerous' by doctors who claim it puts patients at risk of receiving the wrong treatment. The practice is also rejected by the vast majority of patients, according to a survey. Names have traditionally been placed on boards and on cards above beds to allow easy identification in a hectic ward. But in recent months they have been banned from some wards because managers feel they do not comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Concerned doctors from Gwynedd Hospital, Bangor, asked patients and visitors for their opinion and found the public was overwhelmingly in favour of name boards and cards above beds. In a report in the British Medical Journal, the doctors said: ‘Since these changes have been made, we have misplaced patients, as no one was aware that they were still in hospital. We felt this was an unacceptable and dangerous practice.'

Of 243 patients surveyed in wards in England and Wales, 233 – 96 per cent – were in favour of having names written on boards. And 194 out of 215 visitors – 90 per cent – did not believe the practice infringed patients' privacy. On the question of displaying name cards above beds, 97 per cent of patients and 93 per cent of visitors were in favour. It is estimated that around 10 per cent of hospital admissions will involve an error, from minor ones to the more serious, such as giving a patient the wrong treatment. With eight million admissions in England each year, experts believe around 850,000 involve a mistake. These affect patient safety and cost the NHS about £2billion.

Michael Summers, chairman of the Patients' Association, said the name boards and cards were crucial in making sure patients got the best care and treatment. ‘It just seems nonsensical to remove names and one worries that if staff are not immediately able to identify a patient it could lead to mistakes,' he said. ‘The majority of people who are going to see the names are patients and maybe visitors, but most will not take any notice. I just think that we are taking political correctness too far'.

P.I. comment: This again is just PC madness combined with too much legislation and lack of joined up thinking by a stupid government. All these silly laws are set against each other. If the NHS infringe the Data Protection Act or gives a patient the wrong treatment then the Compensation Culture will swing into action costing the NHS millions. Why do we chase our tails like this?

Bogus student immigration scam (from The Daily Mail)

Thousands of bogus foreign ‘students' are staying in Britain by extending their visas year after year as part of a major immigration scam, it is claimed. Analysis of official figures suggests that posing as a student has become a major ‘back door' into the UK, raising serious questions over the Government's control over the system. It is feared tens of thousands of people are arriving as ordinary tourists and then enrolling at bogus colleges. They pay hundreds of pounds for nonexistent ‘courses' in exchange for the paperwork they need to get a student visa and keep immigration officials off their back. An investigation earlier this year found an astonishing 250 fake colleges – operating as fronts for highly profitable immigration scams.

The Migrationwatch report compares figures for student visas granted to new arrivals with the number of extensions granted to foreign nationals already in the UK. The most dramatic example was Jamaica. Last year a mere 425 Jamaican citizens were allowed into Britain as students, and the Government's own figures showed there were 780 Jamaicans studying in UK higher educational institutions. Yet the number given student visa extensions was 13,220. Figures for Zimbabwe are similarly striking, with 10,535 extensions granted last year compared to 790 student visas for new arrivals, and an official figure of 2,850 students at colleges and universities.

Migrationwatch chairman, former British ambassador Sir Andrew Green, said: ‘The situation is ludicrous. There are massive anomalies staring the Home Office in the face. How can they issue these figures each year and not realise there are scams going on? ‘My guess is that immigration case workers realise it is hopeless because people will stay here illegally anyway. This makes a mockery of the Prime Minister's recent claim that immigration is under control.'    The number of student visas extended by the Home Office soared by almost 50 per cent last year to top 190,000.

P.I. comment: Are the government stupid? Or more likely, do they just turn a P.C. blind eye to it all as Tony Bliar has admitted that he thinks trying to stop immigration is futile?

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