Buggy Burglars
This article in the Independent may explain a strange sight I saw. Or not!
I was walking by the Angel in Islington and saw a council truck, which had upwards of about fifty buggies in the back.
Were they abandoned, stolen or just lost?
Should We Allow Interracial Adoption?
It is being reported that the government is recommending that race play little or no part in adoption and fostering.
My late wife was adopted and always said she was special because she had been chosen by her parents. I’m certain that a lot of adopted people feel that way, but I’ve not knowingly met that many.
Two that I have met, were black and had been adopted by white families.
One was a girl, who used to cut my hair in Bury St. Edmunds some years ago and she told me, that the race difference had not been a problem.
The other was a black girl, who used to baby-sit our three boys, who at the time was being fostered in the village where we lived. Remarkably at eighteen, she liked her foster parents so much, that she effectively applied for her own adoption, so that she could stay. I think it is true to say, that her foster parents would have adopted her earlier, but that they couldn’t afford it. I can remember C coming home from Court one evening and telling me how the Judge had called her in, whilst he officiated in what he said was a rare case, but one that made his job worthwhile!
That last tale says to me, that it’s not the race or sexual orientation of the prospective adoptive parents that matter, but their attitudes and personality.
So in my book, the sooner we relax the rules on adoption, the better. Every child deserves a good home!
Peak Restrictions in Children’s Holidays
This half-term it would appear that the restrictions on rerurning on busy trains out of London have been removed. I suppose it’s not a bad idea to make up for the lost revenue because lots of people won’t be commuting.
There were quite a few kids on the trains today, so if it gets them into the habit of travelling by train, it is probably not a bad thing!
A Gamble Too Far
Jim Gamble’s resignation from CEOP is probably sad, but according to this report, his resignation is about power and being independent.
We need more protection for the vulnerable in society when they use the Internet, the telephone or even receive mail. Children, are just possibly the most important of several groups, who need protection from all sorts of low life.
When I had the boiler room crooks targeting me, I got no help from the police. On the other hand, I was strong enough to fight them and win, but many other widows and pensioners, would not have the knowledge or the fortitude to fight. But the crooks are still phoning according to my Truecall monitor, so they never give up. And that is why we need more protection!
So perhaps one of the benfits of merging CEOP into a proposed National Crime Agency would be that their systems could be broadened to protect the other vulnerable groups. I suspect that the determination behind the evil people plaguing me, is very little different to those targeting children.
A Sad Tale from India
I received a message this morning, which looked like spam, but it was informing me about a little girl, called Pooja, who has been rescued by the Police in Kerala from kidnappers.
It would appear to be genuine as it is mentioned on the Kerala Police web site and in other blogs.
Even if they don’t find Pooja’s parents, it just shows how the Internet might be able to help.
A Very Misguided Cardinal
It is a bit rich for Cardinal Kasper to call the UK a Third World country, because of our attitude to homosexuality, contraception, aggressive atheism, abortion and our multi-cultural society.
Especially, as the Catholic church does not allow the use of condoms to prevent disease and has done little to punish the known child abusers in the ranks of their priests. Every accusation of child abuse, no matter, who is thought to have performed it, should be fully investigated by the proper authorities. Internal investigations are not good enough!
By any stretch of the mind, our crimes are all very small compared to systematic child abuse. C would be ranting today, as she had dealt many times with the worst excesses of child abusers. None as I am aware, were priests of any denomination.
But then Cardinal Kasper is seventy-seven, so he should have advantage of wisdom! Where is it? Nowhere in my mind! We all decry elderly dictators like Robert Mugabe and Kim Il Yong, for holding on to power, but isn’t the Catholic church under the control of a self-serving group of elderly men, albeit with perhaps a better sense of morals. Where are the women at the highest level for a start?
I also have a personal beef against the Catholic Church. They discriminate against coeliacs and don’t allow them to be priests.
I shall not be watching anything to do with the Pope’s visit. I mean him no harm, but the sooner this circus and its associated cult of personality is over the better. I don’t pay my taxes for visits like this!
Is Lincolnshire a Nanny State?
This story, about a father being threatened with action because his seven-year old daughter walk twenty metres to the bus stop to go to school is ridiculous.
At the age of six or seven in the early 1950s, I used to be taken to the bus stop at Oakwood by my mother to catch the 107 bus to Enfield for piano lessons with my Aunt Mabel. I had my couple of pence for the ticket and used to sit in one of the back three seats by the conductor. When I got to the stop just past Enfield Town station, I would get off and run down to my aunt’s. It should also be said that my aunt didn’t have a phone at the time. Were my family responsible or not? Perhaps, my illnesses are all down to letting me look after myself from an early age!
Dr. Rosemary Leonard is Horrified
The very sensible BBC Breakfast doctor is horrified. And rightly so!
So what is she horrified about. A BBC Scotland report has shown that people are turning to homeopathy instead of conventional vaccinations, such as MMR.
These cranks should be stopped as the only way homeopathy can work is by a placebo affect. It has no scientific basis whatsoever.
As someone who has suffered the death of his wife and child in recent years, I would not recommend suffering bereavement to anybody. But some of these stupid parents will find out the pain if they persist in using homeopathy, on their children. You could argue it’s child abuse!
Empty-nester? Buy underwear…
This was the come-on for one of the inside articles in today’s East Anglian Daily Times. It was subtitled “Lynne Mortimer’s sage advice”
It wasn’t advising mothers, who just packed their last child off to University, to buy something sexy to get the old man or possibly a new one in their lives, to get the production line going again, but a plea for mothers to make sure that their sons had enough pants to take with them. Preferably the same colour as their towels; black.
Understanding UK Regional Accents
There has just been a discussion about regional accents in the UK on Radio 5. Apparently a survey has shown that the Geordie accent is the easiest to understand and is often chosen as the voice in sat-navs.
That’s as maybe, but what bright spark put the call centre for the Child Support Agency for East Anglia in Northern Ireland. Suffolk people couldn’t understand a word that was said. My late wife, C, was a barrister and this caused her a lot of grief, as some of her clients couldn’t get their finances sorted at all.
The Anonymous Widower 