- Spot the Maniac
- Studied racism
- Blame it on the next one down the ladder
- Blame the parents (sick!)
- Trainers no-brainers
- More poison gas
- 7p outrage
Spot the maniac
"Bleeding heart liberals .... who want to get them off, get them out and reduce their sentences. These maniacs actually burned down their own businesses, their own job opportunities." Spot the ranter. Josef Goebbels? Jean-Marie Le Pen? Burnley BNP?
Nearly there. David Blunkett speaking about those 'whiners' who protest at the sentences handed down to the young Asians involved in last year's Bradford riots. Many of those who gave themselves up to the police had no previous convictions, yet have been jailed for between four and six years. That's the way to get the young to take responsibility for their actions.
Studied racism
In 2000 there were more black men in jail than in higher education, in the US. 791,600 in prisons and county jails as against 603,032 enrolled in colleges and universities. This represents a five-fold rise in the last 20 years, from 143,000 imprisoned black men in 1980.
Where the US leads, new Labour loves to follow, from scrapping free education to locking more people up. If David Blunkett has his way we too could be the proud possessors of such a statistic.
Blame it on the next one down the ladder
More scapegoating. Piara Khabra, Labour MP for Ealing Southall, claimed on Radio Four's Today programme that the vast majority of street robberies in his area were carried out by Somalis. This was a bit much for even for the boys and girls in blue. A Metropolitan police spokeswoman said "These comments are highly irresponsible. There is no evidence that Somalis are committing all street crime."
Eighty per cent of Somali men in some areas are unemployed. Somalis are the third largest group of asylum seekers. Contrary to tabloid hysteria, the majority of asylum claims are found to be genuine, with over 50% being given leave to stay. So we have an Asian Labour MP further to the right than the notoriously racist Met and the Immigration Service. Not a 'bleeding heart liberal' then?
Blame the parents
In case you think Christianity a harmless bit of foolishness, how's this from the Scottish newspaper, the Herald:
"Had the parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman kept the Lord's Day, their daughters would still be alive. They would have spent the day at rest or in private and public worship of God and not been wandering the countryside, prey for whatever evil finally befell them."
The author of this, John MacLeod has since been sacked, but that doesn't explain how it got into the paper with a front-page billing.
Trainers no-brainers
With Nike and Reebok facing huge opposition from their workforce in Indonesia, and solidarity protests here, you may be looking for another brand of trainers. Perhaps Umbro's new running shoe. What's it called? Zyklon. Yes, that's right, as in Zyklon B, the poison gas used to murder millions of Jews in the concentration camps. Umbro's spokesman says "It's purely coincidental." Well, that's all right then. "Obviously it's unfortunate that it means something to some Jewish people, but it wasn't named to offend anyone."
"some Jewish people"!
More poison gas
A court in Bhopal has refused to reduce the murder charge against Warren Anderson former chief executive of Union Carbide, for the gas leak which led to up to 20,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands being maimed. Extradition proceedings have started but Anderson's exact whereabouts are unknown after he absconded while on bail. The Mirror claimed to have tracked him down to his summer residence in the exclusive Hamptons. He is said to winter in Florida.
The Bhopal catastrophe, the worst industrial 'accident' in history, happened in 1984. Warren Anderson is rich and white and his victims Indian workers and their families. Could there possibly be any connection between these facts and the speed and efficiency of the hunt for Anderson?
Women's 7p pension
Four and a half million women, 1.5 million of them of working age, will end up with a pension of as little as 7p a week, despite having paid £8 billion in national insurance contributions. Between 1948 and 1977, married women could opt to pay reduced national insurance contributions, in exchange for forfeiting their pension and right to claim unemployment and sickness benefit. After 1977, when the scheme was abandoned, married women paying the reduced contribution were allowed to continue to do so. But campaigners, including Age Concern, say that many women were never properly informed of the implications of paying the reduced rate, that they were not entitled to a pension in their own right. They argue that the women affected should be given the option of 'buying back' some of their missing contributions, thus gaining some degree of financial independence. Seven pence return on £8 billion, now that's what I call not quite fair. But then I'm a 'whining bleeder'.
