A Strange Law
This comes from Wikipedia.
According to The Strange Laws of Old England
by historian and author Nigel Cawthorne, it was against the law in Newmarket to blow one’s nose in the street and a person or persons going about the street with a head cold or distemper was liable to a fine. This law was introduced to protect the horses rather than the citizens of the town.
I don’t think it applies today.
Justice – Virginia Style
We have all protested about the proposed stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani in Iran, but why is it the European governments are absolutely silent and not protesting about the execution of Teresa Lewis in Virginia, especially as she is just a point on the IQ scale above the legal minimum for execution in the United States.
The least we should do is to suspend fast track extradition to the United States. By not protesting we are actually condoning the horrific sentence.
But then the United States doesn’t believe in justice but vengeance!
Overuse of “Trousered” with Lawyers!
It seems these days, that you can’t read a report about the law without seeing the word trousered linked to their fees. The latest is this report on the Cambridge Busway. Here’s what they said.
But the cost of the project, which is already two years late, does not include the millions of pounds expected to be trousered by lawyers as the disputed cost-overrun moves to the High Court of Justice, in The Strand.
Sad to say though, the lawyers will be the real winners in this badly designed and managed project.
George Michael Has Moved in up the Road.
It has just been reported that George Michael has moved from Pentonville to Highpoint, which is just down the road.
What a waste of money to look after an aging burnt-out pop star, with more addictions than the whole of London! As I said in an earlier post, we must find a better way to punish celebrities, that costs us nothing.
Celebrity Punishment
George Michael’s sentence of eight weeks for his driving under the influence of cannabis is totally wrong. As he could have easily killed someone, the sentence is not over the top either.
The reason is that it costs the taxpayers a lot of money and actually makes a lot of people feel rather sorry for him.
He needs to be punished and perhaps the best way to do that with celebrities is to take their comfortable lifestyle away for a couple of months.
So perhaps for six months, we do the following.
- His passport is taken away.
- In that six months, he must either use public transport or be driven in something like a Mondeo, by an approved Court-appointed driver. There would definitely be no limos or luxury vehicles.
A punishment like this would be much cheaper on the taxpaper than prison and perhaps he might learn something!
To be fair to George Michael, though he’s probably done so much damage to his body with smoking, drugs and alcohol, that he might not live as long as he should! Now death is truly a punishment,but only when it is self-inflicted by a stupid lifestyle choice!
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!
Should We Licence Cannabis?
I have never taken recreational drugs and probably never will. I also feel that our current strategy against drugs is a total failure and probably just makes things worse.
So it was very refreshing to read the views of Professor Roger Pertwee on the BBC. His views about licensing sales, should be taken seriously. After all, getting criminals out of the loop, ensuring quality and protecting health are probably more important.
But his views will be totally ignored. All we will do is go on building more prisons, so we can lock everybody up!
The Elusive Boss of Transocean
The phrase isn’t mine, but it was said on the Radio 5, Wake up to Money program this morning. It has always puzzled me, why BP’s drilling company in the Gulf, didn’t take some of the flak over the Gulf Oil Spill. I can’t even remember seeing him on the News either.
It will be interesting to see who foots the bill in the end, after the lawyers get their teeth into the problem.
Blair’s Extradition Legacy
If there was one awful legacy fromn the Blair years, it is the one-sided extradition agreement with the US. Another story has surfaced in the papers today.
Nobody should be allowed to be extradited anyway without a proper hearing in a UK Court.
Let’s hope the Coalition repeal this law as soon as possible.
A Good Idea from South Dakota?
South Dakota operates a 24/7 sobriety progam for drink-driving and domestic violence, where offenders have to be tested twice a day. You should read this piece in The Guardian, where Kit Malthouse, London’s Deputy Mayor, expands his ideas, based on the South Dakota experience, in detail.
I think that the idea is worth trying.
I also think that it could be applied to some drink-driving cases. I have only been breatherlysed once and I was well under the limit and as at the present time, I can’t drive, it would be no benefit to me personally at the moment. But supposing now, someone is just over the limit and was perhaps caught say because they were stopped because a brake-light was out, would it not be a good idea to fine the driver and put them on a 24/7 sobriety program. It would not mean they lost their job and had problems ferrying children and elderly relatives. They would just have a bit of inconvenience about going to be tested twice a day.
There is also the point, that routine often brings people round and improves their lives. I have mentored people in the past, who’ve asked me how they can get and keep a job. Often it depends on a lot of small things, like being on time, being smart and polite. I’ve told them this and often a few months later, I’ve got a thanks.
The Anonymous Widower 