Good Riddance Kim Jong-il
Is there anything else to say after his death?
Except possibly the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.
The Biggest Womens Prison In The World
I inadvertently left the television on last night and I was woken at about 4:30 by a program about the plight of women in Saudi Arabia called Behind the Saudi Veil, by Sue Lloyd Roberts, shown in the Our World series. There’s a written article here.
The title of this post, was how a woman described Saudi Arabia.
Particularly badly treated appeared to be divorced women and widows, as they have no man or guardian to find the way through the byzantine Saudi bureaucracy. They were also unable to work, as driving by women is illegal and that meant they couldn’t get to work or even to the bureaucrats to get help.
The news in the Middle East has been all been about an Arab Spring. I doubt that will ever happen for women in Saudi Arabia.
Quite frankly it’s an atrocity, that must be ended.
Democracy: Burmese Style
I’ve just noticed this article on The Times web site.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the imprisoned Burmese democracy leader, will be forced to quit her political party and banned from taking part in elections, under new laws published today by the country’s military dictatorship.
The laws bar from membership of a political party anyone serving a prison sentence, thus excluding Ms Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has 60 days to expel non-eligible members and register with the election commission if it is to take part in elections promised for later this year.
Democracy? What democracy!
But at least the Burmese have their supporters and protectors; the Chinese. But then the Chinese know all about how you enforce human rights!
Michael and Rochelle
Michael Shields, who was jailed for an attack in Bulgaria has now been released by the Home Secretary using his prerogative. The conviction was always dubious, especially when it involved such a horrendous offence. You just feel that in such cases, everyone should make their best efforts to get the right conviction. I don’t think they did here and preferred the anyone would do to discourage the others. I have not seen the evidence, but because that eminent organisation, Fair Trials International, have been supporting Mr. Shields, the conclusion is most likely just.
Rochelle Adams is a 19 year-old Canadian, who made the mistake of falling in love and getting married to Adam from Wales. In fact, she was just a few months younger than my late wife was when we got married in 1968, We succeeded and were married for 39 years until her untimely death.
A few years ago, Rochelle would have been allowed to stay in the United Kingdom, as is fit and proper for anybody setting out in that noble joining between two people. But because we must protect people against forced marriages, she can’t, and so Adam and Rochelle must start their married life for eighteen months five thousand kilometres apart until she is 21. She should then be able to get a spousal visa. Or one would hope so, but if Prudence’s disreputable bunch are still in power, you could imagine a different result.
Now the Home Secretary has the power under the Forced Marriages Act to allow Rochelle to stay. As the BBC says.
He had the discretion to let Mrs Wallis remain with her husband at their home near Aberystwyth but refused to do so because many other innocent victims may also be caught out by the same rule.
But he remains stubborn and is hiding behind the bureaucratic mess that has been created in the last few years. We need to protect against forced marriages, but there are better ways of doing it. After all one forced marriage case involved a thirty-year-old or so doctor! Did their Act help?
Perhaps though you can see his reasoning. Allow one exception and he’d have to allow many more because of a very badly drafted piece of legislation. And let’s face it Prudence and his cronies have been responsible for a lot of that!
Or could I just be cynical and say there are more Labour votes on Merseyside than in the Aberystwyth area?
Not in My Name
My late wife was a barrister and had a very deep sense of justice. I do too, and we both feel or felt very strongly that not only should justice be done, but it should also be seen to be done. I also should say that my family comes from Jewish and Huguenot roots and this makes me feel strongly about how people are treated.
So when David Davis gets up in the House of Commons and using Parliamentary privilege accuses the Labour government of torture, I am not happy to say the least. Those that authorised the release of Rangzieb Ahmed and tipped off the Pakistani authorities, should be in the dock themselves.
David Davis has made a stand on the subject of human rights before, when he fought a by-election.
We need more MPs, like David Davis, to stand up and be counted.
The Anonymous Widower 