How Did The Rotherham Child Abuse Scandal Get So Big?
I suspect nearly everybody feels like I do, about the size of the child abuse scandal that has been revealed in the report by Professor Alexis Jay. This BBC article fully reports on the scandal.
C was always sweeping up the mess from child abuse, but she never dealt with anything on this scale. However, she would have her views on what needed to be done and like me would be questioning, why the abuse was allowed to get so large and carried on for so long, when it appears it had been reported to the authorities.
The BBC report publishes this.
The report found: “Several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought as racist; others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so.”
If a particular group of men are thought to be responsible, surely they should be restricted in their movements. Or perhaps they should only be allowed on the street, if accompanied by a responsible female.
We’d probably get called racist, but somehow we must stop child abuse on what is an industrial scale.
I also feel that a lot of social workers, council employees and police should be given the sack.
Labour’s Instinct Is To Control Our Lives
In an article discussing the identity of the psychotic moron, who beheaded the unfortunate James Foley, there is this insert.
Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said those returning from fighting in the Middle East should be forced to take part in compulsory de-radicalisation programmes, even if they cannot be charged with a criminal offence.
It may be a popular policy, but where does it end? Will those who leave Oxford, who have joined the Bullingdon Club, be re-educated. And what about Malky Mackay and Iain Moody?
Let’s face it, one of the reasons we’re in this dangerous mess is because of Tony Blair’s continuous licking of Dubya’s arse.
I cdertainly wouldn’t trust the Labour Party, with anything. I doubt they could organise a piss-up in a brewery!
Wars Of Religion
This was the big headline in The Times on Friday. It does sum up the mess involving Muslims in the Middle East in particular. Admittedly, with a little bit of help from their bogeymen; the Israelis.
A commentator yesterday on the BBC who had a military background, said that what is going on between the two main factions of in Islam, is akin to what when on between Catholics and Protestants in Europe in the Thirty Years War. Wikipedia describes that war like this.
The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) was a series of wars principally fought in Central Europe (primarily present-day Germany), involving most of the European countries. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, and one of the longest continuous wars in modern history.
The commentator said, that it is conceivable that the two factions is Islam, will bring on a similar conflict.
We must do our best to not be drawn into this stupid conflict. To air drop food and water to refugees is one thing, but to favour one side or the other is a complete no-no.
Centralised Stroke Care Is Good For You
I had what some doctors have described as a serious stroke, although I think it might not have been that severe, although it did leave me with damaged eyesight.
I had the stroke in Hong Kong and within about an hour, I was in hospital receiving the special clot busting drug.
But if I’d had that stroke in London, I would have probably had that drug in the ambulance and I would have been in hospital within thirty minutes.
In common with Manchester, London has centralised stroke care in what are called hyperacute stroke units or HASUs. And according to research published in the BMJ, they work well and save lives and money for the NHS. Read all about the system in the Guardian. The article finishes like this.
So what’s stopping this system from being rolled out in other metropolitan areas? It’s a question that Morris’s collaborators are seeking to answer, by studying the potential barriers and facilitators of country-wide stroke unit reconfiguration. Morris himself wants to look at the cost-effectiveness of the exercise: does the improvement in care and reduction in hospital (and hospice) stays make the reconfiguration worthwhile?
There are a few hundred people alive today who would undoubtedly answer “yes”.
My life may not have been saved by a HASU, but I did have similar care.
Admittedly, not every hospital could have a HASU, but most metropolitan areas could and should.
If you take where I used to live near Cambridge, and you draw a thirty-minute ambulance ride area around Addenbrookes hospital, you would enclose about 300,000 people. So it is not just the large metropolitan areas that would benefit.
Everyone possible, should be within range of a HASU.
London Has A New Island And Bridge
City Island is a housing development in a bend of the River Lee. The island has been connected to Canning Town, by a new bridge, that was lifted in place by the UK’s largest mobile crane.
Unfortunately, by the time I got there the bridge was in place and the crane was virtually dismantled.
A New Job For A Beautician
This report from the Thurrock Gazette tells how London Gateway is making a big effort to recruit more women. Here’s an extract, which explains the title of this post.
One of these is former beautician Nicki Allabush from Stanford-le-Hope, who has been a terminal operative for 18 months.
“I absolutely love the challenge that this job offers,” she said. “I thought, if men can do it, women can too.”
Note that the paper didn’t bother mention Ms. Allabush’s age, something that many papers find essential information.
Let’s hope this campaign is as successful as the one by the London Underground to recruit more female train drivers, by placing an advert in Cosmopolitan.
Sharp Infrastructure Growth Predicted
That is the headline on this report in New Civil Engineer. Here’s the first two paragraphs.
The infrastructure new build market will grow by more than 50% over the next five years, according to respected forecasts published today.
The Construction Products Association’s closely-watched summer forecasts predicted a strong and steady increase in the value of new civils work to 2018.
So if you’re a manufacturer of orange high visibility clothing, you must be pleased.
Bernie Gets Out Of Jail
There is a report on the BBC about how Bernie Ecclestone has paid a very large fine to end his bribery trial. This is the start of the report.
A German court has agreed to end the bribery trial of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone in exchange for a $100m (£60m) payment from him.
Mr Ecclestone’s offer was based on an existing provision in German law.
I would suspect that there are only two other people in history, could have extracted themselves from the predicament in which Bernie found himself.
Machiavelli himself and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.
And of course like Wolsey, Bernie was born in Suffolk.
Suffolk is a county of England unlike any other. Someone described it as curious, but I disagreed in this post calling it independent and forgotten.
Bernie is definitely independent, but he will never be forgotten.
Do We Really Want The Barking In Parliament?
This story about astrology from the BBC annoys me immensely. Here’s the start of it.
A Conservative MP has spoken of his belief in astrology and his desire to incorporate it into medicine.
David Tredinnick said he had spent 20 years studying astrology and healthcare and was convinced it could work.
The MP for Bosworth, a member of the health committee and the science and technology committee, said he was not afraid of ridicule or abuse.
Let’s face it Hitler was reportedly a believer in astrology.
At a minimum the MP must be removed from the Science and Technology Committee.
The Anonymous Widower 