Paul and Rachel Chandler
Paul and Rachel Chandler are the couple who were seized from their yacht by Somali pirates. This is the last piece of news about them in The Times on the 13th of December.
These two paragraphs admit the truth about the Navy’s non-involvement.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) yesterday admitted that Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, had authorised a Royal Marine unit that witnessed the kidnapping to intervene. But it said it was the ship’s commander who decided it was unsafe to attempt a rescue.
The RFA Wave Knight was within 50 yards of the pirates and had a marine unit and a Merlin helicopter aboard. But Sir Mark Stanhope, the first sea lord, claimed the ship did not have the expertise required for a hostage rescue.
After that nothing has been reported!
Whether or not the commander should have intervened is open to question, as every squaddie I’ve ever met, would have been up to do it.
But perhaps the question that should be asked is why were the Marines on that ship without the equipment and training to intervene in a safe and successful manner?
On a wider point, Somalia is an absolute basket case and is yet another legacy of the incompetent Dubya. Read what was said in The Times yesterday.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Afghanistan and Iraq have monopolised the headlines but Somalia is arguably an even greater victim of George W. Bush’s ill-conceived and lamentably executed War on Terror. America’s interventions have proved so catastrophic that its best hope of salvaging something from the wreckage is a president it chased from power three years ago, who controls a few square miles of a country three times the size of Britain.
It has delivered a people that practised a moderate form of Islam into the hands of religious extremists. Its efforts to combat terrorism have turned Somalia into a launchpad for global jihad. Somalia is now the ultimate failed state whose mayhem threatens to destabilise the region and whose pirates maraud the vital shipping lanes off its shores. Its people endure Africa’s worst humanitarian crisis.
What I find so sad about Somalia, is that in the past I’ve done business with quite a few Somalis over telephone billing systems. I’ve always found them a quiet and mild people, who were a pleasure to work with.
What went wrong?
Let’s hope that the Chandlers get a quick solution to their ordeal.
But I suspect that will not happen as the impass between the British Government and their kidnappers is just too great.
Should we pay a ransom? I’m afraid that I agree with the Government here, in that if we do, then any UK national will then be at risk. And not just in the troubled parts of the world, as there an awful lot of criminals all over the world, who would see kidnapping as a nice little earner.
Where NOT to Park Your Car
Moneysupermarket has just published a list of the car crime hot-spots.
East London seems to be amongst the worst, with five in the top twenty. It’s probably because they are close to the M11 and M25 to give a good getaway. And then there are city centres in Manchester, Bradford and Leeds.
But also Wells-next-the-Sea, a charming seaside town in Norfolk features.
Who’s have thought the North Norfolk coast would have such a problem?
The CRB/ISA Farce
It’s not often that those two newspapers at the opposite end of the political spectrum; the Guardian and the Daily Mail, agree on anything. And Esther Ranzten is in the same camp too.
We need to have checks on those that work with children, but are we looking in the wrong place and the wrong way for a start? I don’t have the figures, but aren’t don’t a lot of serious cases involving child abuse and even murder down to the parents or those that live with one of the parents?
So perhaps we should do checks on all parents. And while we’re at it, lets check grandparents, like me! And au-pairs too!
Everybody too, was getting under the collar about this on Nicky Campbell’s phone-in this morning. And probably rightly so, as estimates say that over eleven million of us, will have to be checked.
No-one seems to have done any risk analysis on this. Does anybody look at the statistics of harm that comes to children?
Lets take fire for a start. This bland set of statistics gives the number of fire deaths in 2005. It shows that 200 or so died in domestic fires, of whom a proportion were children. Do we insist on smoke alarms working? No! A fire officer once told me that kids remove the PP9 batteries from them for their toys and game machines.
And then road accidents!
We need a proper holistic strategy that gives maximum protection to everybody and not just children. And it needs to be done through education, training and watchfulness from everybody.
Not by the heavy hand of bureaucracy!
One caller on Nicky Campbell’s show suggested that it was a government money-raising exercise. I couldn’t possibly comment, but eleven millions at upwards of fifty pounds a time is a lot of revenue for Prudence and his cronies.
But perhaps the most chilling example of how this will all fail concerns the case today of Russell Carter. He had been convicted of armed robbery in the US, but this was unknown in the UK and he was able to get jobs that put people in danger. In the end he murdered his boss.
The Australian Diamond Dealer
This is a tale that I am pretty sure is true. But on the other hand it might just be one of those tales that passes down from teller to teller gathering more and more embellishments as time goes on.
In the 1970s, I used to work as a consultant to a clearing bank. I’m not going to say which, but it probably can be ascertained by those who know me. In that case, you’re wrong, as either it’s another bank or the tale was about another.
On the computing side banks went through a lot of changes at that time. Remember that D-day when we went from £sd to £p was the 15th February 1971 and also computers were starting to replace manual systems. So there was a large scope for mistakes and possible fraud.
This Australian, who claimed he was a diamond dealer turned up at a Central London branch, saying that he’d like to open an account. He had a reference from an Australian bank and backed it with a substantial cash deposit. He said that he was spending a few months in “the old country” and when he returned, he would take all the money out of his account in cash to purchase diamonds to take back.
It all sounded feasible and over the months, nothing raised any suspicion in the bank. Money came into the account and just as quickly came out in cash to buy diamonds. But never at any time did the account go into the red.
Then, the Australian announced that he was going back to Oz and on a particular day he would draw the money out of his account in cash and close it. He left a forwarding account for any charges or extra payments that might accrue.
It was only noticed later that the date he would leave was a few days after the branch was computersied. And someone went in and changed the paying-in slips in the branch for ones where the account number had helpfully already been filled in.
You’ve guessed it, but it was the Australian’s account.
I heard this tale twice and let’s say that a very nice six figure sum disappeared.
In one version, he wasn’t even Australian!
Robbers Wearing Burkhas
There has been a series of robberies where a man is dressed from head-to-toe in a burkha.
I hope this isn’t going to start being a trend!
But as the Daily Mail reports.
There have been growing concerns over the use of burkhas and other Muslim clothing to conceal criminals’ identities.
Somali Mustaf Jama, one of the armed gang that shot dead PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford, reportedly escaped from Britain after hiding his face behind a traditional Muslim woman’s niqab and using his sister’s passport.
We ban people going into banks and many other places in crash helmets. So should we stop people going into such places with their face hidden?
I suspect that I’d be stopped from entering my bank with a silly rubber mask on. And rightly so!
Fake Goods in Naples
I have read that France and Italy are fining people and even putting them in jail for having fake goods in their possession. I don’t think it has much to do with stopping the practice, but with raising money.
Perhaps I am a bit of a goody-goody, but I don’t buy fake goods. On the other hand, according to my Dorling Kindersley travel guide approximately half of all the fake goods in Europe come in thrpugh Naples.
If most come through one place, wouldn’t it be a good idea to police the port there properly.
Police Stupidity
This blog entry from The Times shows that whatever the Police have these days, they lack good old commonsense.
I have a basset hound and she is beside herself with the heat. All the doors and windows in the house are open and she’s wandering around looking for best place to snooze.
The Anonymous Widower 