Missing White Woman Syndrome
This article on the BBC web site is an interesting observation on the dreadful cases of abduction in Cleveland.
The trouble is that the media knows what stories are popular and will generate more advertising.
Although, the article is mainly about the United States, could we say honestly hand-on-heart, that the media would have taken the same interest in the Madeleine McCann case, if she had not been white?
Britain Is Becoming Less Violent
According to this report on the BBC about a report from the Institute for Economics and Peace, Britain is becoming a less violent place.
On the other hand, you do get different perceptions from talking to people. Several times, when I say to someone, as I did last Saturday, that I live in Hackney, there is a general view that it is an area with crime and rioting all the time, and a generally low standard of living.
Since, I’ve moved to this area, I’ve not seen anything the least bit violent, an aggressive dog or anything to worry about. There was the tragic incident round the corner, where a young girl was run over by a hit-and-run driver, but she got off a bus and ran behind it to cross the road without looking, despite the fact, there is a light-controlled crossing a few metres away. I don’t think we can put that down to the area, as this sort of incident happens everywhere.
I think there has been one case of housebreaking in the area, where someone went out and left a window open. There was certainly more petty thieving when I lived in rural Suffolk, than this area of Hackney.
The only crime, that appears to be common, is the con artists, who come up with all sorts of non-violent scams. I think, the fake gold ring trick, has been tried on me, about four times in the last year, but only once in the local area. Another time was actually outside Selfridges.
But then, there have always been scammers and let’s face it the Internet is full of them!
Labour Can’t Win If It’s On Mick Philpott’s Side
This is the headline on an opinion in The Times.
It’s full of good facts and is a must read.
Some People Will Nick Anything
I saw the Big Egg Hunt in London last year at Canary Wharf, but I can’t find the post. According to this report, one of the eggs has been stolen in Glasgow. Two actually went missing in London, but were returned.
Some people would think, that as the eggs went to Liverpool, that stereotypes would say that some would have gone missing there. But they didn’t! On the other hand, Liverpool has lots of street sculpture and the Superlambananas.
How Many Roman Catholic Priests Are Married?
Most people, myself included, would have answered none to this question. But now after this case reported here and in several papers like The Times, the question is how many other priests are leading a hypocritical double life?
I think the Catholic church should take serious action to stop priests from doing things their vows of chastity explicitly forbid them. I’m told that there are fiendish devices available on the Internet, which have their origins in those, that mediaeval knights locked around their ladies interesting bits.
Alternatively, they could change the vows and make them more in line with the real world.
Illegal Cigarettes On The Rise
According to this article in the Metro, the amount of illegal cigarettes smoked has risen by a third and is now costing the Exchequer about £2 billion pounds a year.
Perhaps, we should make it a criminal offence to smoke illegally smuggled cigarettes.
A Real Advantage Of Not Having A Car
A friend of mine had their car stolen yesterday.
The day before the battery went flat and they had to call the AA to get moving. So when they got back home yesterday, they left the engine running so that their partner could drive the car to the garage to get a new battery fitted.
But when their partner went back outside, they found that the car had disappeared.
What I find so funny about this story, is not the fact that the engine had been left running on the street, but that the car is one of the oldest Homda Civics on London’s streets. But then it is difficult to understand the mind of the criminal. Perhaps they wanted it for cover for a ram raid on an old peoples’ home or to con someone out of a Zimmer frame.
And to make matters worse, I don’t suspect it had been properly cleaned for some time. So it probably wouldn’t impress the girl-friend. That is assuming it was stolen by a man! on the other hand it could have been stolen by a man with a sense of humour to get rid of his girl-friend!
You have to ask various question. Was it full of petrol, as this would give a motive for this serious crime? Did my friend, a non-smoker, keep pound coins for the meter in the ash tray? Both facts would have at least doubled the value of the vehicle.
My friend is seriously questioning the need to replace this car. Perhaps, it is a message from some supreme being, who feels that another non-driver is a good thing!
I shall keep laughing as this is possibly the biggest advantage of not having a car.
The Tragic Fallout Of Doping Cheats
After the mega-cheat, Lance Armstrong’s theatrical performance, last night, Nicole Cooke this morning made an impassioned plea for the victims of those, like the drug-fuelled Texan. She said, that she had lost medals because others cheated by doping when competing against her.
I remember the 1960s, when athletics was ruined by the Soviet Block, who took everything that a chemist could devise. Look at the career of our greatest-ever female sprinter; Kathy Smallwood-Cook, who would be in a totally different league, if competition had been fair and square. It has always puzzled me, how Mary Peters ever won that pentathlon gold in the 1972 Munich Olympics. If you look at the women’s athletics results at that games, few medallists are not from the Soviet Block. There are a few West German medals, but then they had home advantage and London 2012 showed how that helps drammatically. I do remember watching that pentathlon, with C on a terrible black and white television, when Mary Peters, was almost willed over the high jump bar by masses of British troops based in Germany, who somehow had got tickets.
Where would the careers of some retired clean athletes be, if they had competed fair and square?
Cheats like Armstrong have a lot to answer for! He should be prosecuted for fraud and perhaps asked to spend some time in a nice cosy Texas jail.
CSI Victorian London
The BBC’s new police drama, Ripper Street, was called this in this review in today’s Daily Telegraph.
I watched it and depending on your view of the typical reader of that newspaper, some of the elderly men, who read the Telegraph, probably liked it too. There was quite a bit of Victorian underwear and unrestrained boobs for a start. I don’t know whether Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells liked it, as he hasn’t put pen to paper yet!
I certainly enjoyed it more than Downton Abbey, which because of my allergy to adverts, I never watch!
Ultrasound And Light Therapy For Cancer
The Sunday Times has a big attack on clinics that offer this treatment for cancer.
I always have one question for remedies like this. Can I see the results of proper published and correctly reviewed research? In most cases it doesn’t exist. And if it doesn’t, then I wouldn’t go near it.
All clinics who offer these cures are doing is praying on the sick and the dying. They should be charged with fraud?
The Anonymous Widower 