A Quick Look At Nuremberg
When I got to Nuremberg, it started to rain and I quickly found that the city was booked solid because of a massive exhibition.
I had particularly wanted to go to Nuremberg, as one of my customers years ago, had been an observer at the War Crimes Trials in the city. He was an Austrian Jew, who escaped before the war and had then spent the war years in the Royal Engineers. He had some amazing tales.
But because of the lack of a decent hotel, I decided to move on to Munich. Next time, I’ll book the Victoria Hotel, which is right by the station.
Should Huhne And Pryce Go To Jail?
This stupid case, which quite frankly is all about seeing, who can be the nastiest to the other, has cost the taxpayer enough.
Obviously, the case is serious, but equally so, they are unlikely to cause any harm to anybody else, if they didn’t go to jail.
So they are a classic case for an alternative punishment.
Perhaps they should be sentenced to a certain amount of time, in something like a bail hostel, where they had to do the cooking and cleaning. Where of course, they had to stay in each night. Perhaps they should also be made to share a room to save money.
It could even be broadcast live on Channel 5.
Jury Trials In South Africa
I was just listening to reports of the Oscar Pistorius case on the radio and was surprised to hear that there are no jury trials in South Africa. This explains, why much of the evidence against the athlete has been fully discussed in the media, as the case will be decided by a magistrate.
There’s more about juries in South Africa here. Juries were abolished in 1969, in the apartheid era.
Sending People To Coventry
This very English phrase has been used in a comment on my post about Lance Armstrong, by one of my Australian followers.
I would have thought the Australians would have used an appropriate Australian town.
We also have a few other geographical phrases like.
Carrying coals to Newcastle
So what do other countries use?
Wikipedia has an interesting explanation of the phrase Sending to Coventry. They cite the origin as.
It is believed that the city of Coventry in the United Kingdom had one of the strictest monasteries, where monks that misbehaved were sent and given the punishment of a vow of silence. therefore being “sent to Coventry” means not being spoken to or communicated with.
So it is a lot older than industrial relations.
Perhaps, we should bring it back as a legal punishment.
Lance Armstrong Questions His Punishment
Lance Armstrong has questioned his punishment for proven doping offences on the Oprah Winfrey show.
He actually wants to compete again.
Do they have cycling or triathlon events in prisons?
I suspect that this odious cheat, won’t give up and he’ll go to Court to get what he wants. Let’s hope the judge who tries his case is an honest man or woman.
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.
The Dead Can’t Enter A Plea Of Not Guilty
The media has already found Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith guilty, but under British law and in fact in a lot of countries, defendants are not guilty until proven to be guilty. Daniel Finkelstein had a long and measured opinion about this in The Times yesterday. He finishes with a plea that everybody has a fair trial and as he says, not being taken to court in their coffin.
But we all tend to be hard on the dead and their perceived crimes.
In a post yesterday, I was being very hard on the man, who decided to electrify the trains south from London using a third rail. I know design faults are not as serious as child abuse, but I’m not alone in condemning the dead.
It’s Five Years Today
Today it’s five years since my wife, C, died quietly in her sleep. A lot has happened since, what with the death of our youngest son and my stroke, which necessitated my move from Suffolk to London.
But life in those five years hasn’t been all bad and I’ve experienced some wonderful things. I’ve also just found this in Chambers UK, which is a guide to the best lawyers in the UK.
He works with individuals who are prosecuted on suspicion of funding or having an active part in terrorist groups and conspiracies, and is a vocal critic of the implications of broad legislation and law in this area. He is described as “a great solicitor.”
The person being described is our middle son. C would be immensely proud! Just as I obviously am!
Today is a really bittersweet day!
Political Asylum Should Come With Responsibilities
This tragic tale of a young woman killed by a drunk driver illustrates one thing that is wrong with the political asylum system. Here’s an extract.
Wilfred Museka, 31, from Clayton, had previously pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
He also admitted fraud by false representation, driving without insurance and driving other than in accordance with a driving licence.
The court heard that Museka, a Zimbabwean national who gained political asylum after arriving in the UK in 2000, had been to a family party in Manchester.
He drank so much alcohol that he could not recall how or why he had later travelled to the border of West Yorkshire, where the crash took place.
It turned out he’d had eleven previous motoring convictions including driving under excess alcohol.
He was just taking the Michael in a big way.
He should have been sent back to Zimbabwe, when it became obvious that he wasn’t a fit and proper person to claim asylum. As it is he’ll now be locked up for eight years before he is deported. So all the British justice system has done is delayed the inevitable and got a young woman killed.
Steve Coogan On Abu Qatada
I have had this thought, that it might be a good idea to put Abu Qatada on Question Time. After all, the BBC put the equally nice leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin on the program and it doesn’t seem to have done him much harm.
So I searched the Internet with “Abu Qatada Question Time” to see if anybody had suggested it and found this extract from the program featuring Steve Cooghan.
The Anonymous Widower 