BBC Blog Network

User Profile

Northumbrian

Listed below are comments made by Northumbrian between Thursday, 23rd October 2008 and Friday, 4th December 2009.

«Newer
Older»

In the eyes of the law 1:11pm on 04 Dec 2009 @7 "This law that criminalises "possession of an item that may be of use to a terrorist" is ripe for abuse."

Look at the Liberty website for the story of a man who had a marker pen confiscated because it could be used to deface government signs.

When the police try to arrest a photographer, or confiscate their equipment, they may just be enjoying the fact that they have the power to do so. The more sinister purpose is to exploit a (largely unnecessary) "climate of fear" to create a (really sinister) climate of obedience. As someone else pointed out, you may be correct that what you're doing is legal, but if a police officer thinks that it *might* be illegal then they can arrest you anyway - even if they're quite wrong. They have the badges, they have the power.
Now wash your hands 9:01pm on 15 May 2009 On the "may contain nuts" issue. I know that some of those with nut allergies can be made seriously ill by eating something which has been on touched by something that has previously touched nuts (like a cake slice). So "May contain nuts" is not an unreasonable label.

To those who think that having that label on a packet of nuts is silly (and I confess I thought so too once) consider this. You have a cake called "Paradise Slice" - it is labelled "may contain nuts" because it has almonds in it. Fine. You have a savoury disk which is sometimes prepared with walnut oil - nut warnings needed. You have a sweet which is made in the same factory as peanut brittle - there's a danger of cross-contamination which could, really, kill the child who ate it unknowingly. You have nut warnings on all of these - BUT NOT ON PACKETS OF NUTS. Does that not look silly as well? Everything labelled with nut warnings except nuts - that would be - er- nutty?
Now wash your hands 8:52pm on 15 May 2009 When my kids were at school they assured me that they would get, at best, teased and possibly beaten up for being the sort of [expletive of choice] who washed their hands. My friend, whose daughter attends a good private school for girls had trouble enforcing handwashing after visitors had played with the dog and before meals. Most of these hygiene rules are now SOOO uncool that we need special leaflets telling us to do the things which the middle-aged amongst us were taught as a matter of routine.

We are "babied" now, because when we were children nobody ever thought it desirable to "nag" us into good habits of care and safety.

Of course we accepted that sometimes children drowned in garden ponds, fell downstairs or died of contagious diseases, whilst they learned.

There's a famous quotation from a children's classic, "Swallows and Amazons", "Better drowned than duffers, if not duffers won't drown." That phrase would probably have the (loving) parent involved up in court for child neglect and pilloried for disrespect towards "Duffers".
Taking the political mood 11:50pm on 29 Apr 2009 I'm not a Brown fan, but I do want to defend Nick on this point. He said that, "It is proof, if any were needed, that away from the economy the prime minister is consistently misjudging issues. His handling of MPs' expenses and the Gurkhas - issues that are far from being the major questions of our age but which generate huge public emotion - suggest if nothing else that he is being badly advised."

He is not, I think, talking about GB's general record over the last decade, but about his political "touch" just at the moment. Many people are criticising GB for his part in the huge financial/economic crisis we are living in. However, few have any suggestions that anyone at numbers 10 or 11 Downing Street could be doing anything very different from what's happening *here and now*. The actions of other governments of developed world countries are broadly similar to those taken by our own government.

It seems likely that any plausible replacement for Brown, from either side of the Commons, would take broadly similar measures. It also seems unlikely that any advisor could make a significant improvement in either the substance or the presentation of the government's handling of the recession. "Do what little you can, and tell everyone that the sun will come out tomorrow."

To that extent, I agree with Nick that Brown is probably AT THIS MOMENT making the best job of crisis management in the economy that he can. Further that it's unlikely that any member of the current cabinet could do any better. And could David Cameron? Well, let's put it this way, I imagine the Tories are hoping for a nicely delayed election - I don't think they'd want to be blamed for what's going to happen in the next 12 months.

The point that Nick is making, I think, is that Brown seems to be making so many unnecessary mistakes, and mis-reading the mood of the nation.
Children in detention at Yarl's Wood 00:48am on 28 Apr 2009 Suppose we agree that illegal immigrants have to be deported - just suppose. Suppose we agree that they have to be taken to detention centres. Suppose we agree that the children are best off if they are kept with their parents inside a detention centre. Suppose we agree that if we don't have dawn raids, then the illegal immigrants and their children might disappear. Still, is it necessary to manhandle the children, do intrusive searches and MAKE IT CLEAR HOW MUCH YOU ARE ENJOYING IT?

The bit of Mark Easton's report that most disturbed me was:

"The report explains how some children described officers as taking pleasure in the family's distress, including telling them that they were "going back to their own country" and laughing and making fun of them when they showed signs of distress or anxiety."

Whatever the rights or wrongs of immigration, this bit - the deliberate infliction of distress for the entertainment of the people doing the arresting - is the bit that should disturb everyone. Not because foreigners are being abused, but because the people who are acting on our behalf are - ON OUR BEHALF - doing body searches on 5-year olds, and getting high on the power we have given them. We are paying these people to have their fun in this way, and telling them they're doing the right and necessary thing.

Just think, if we get rid of all the illegals, who are they going to turn to next for that sort of fun?
Serious questions to answer 11:23pm on 03 Dec 2008 @133
"If Mr Martin was having a cup of tea in his kitchen at home and somebody shouted that police are at the door and want to search the house, he would, like everybody else, shout back "Ask them if they have a b****y search warrant!"
How very strange that this simple and natural reaction did not cross his mind when the house in question was THE HOUSE!"

Perhaps Mr Martin would have done so. Most of the rest of us would not - let the Police in nicely and mind your manners and the house will be searched. Give them that sort of lip and all sorts of things might get broken accidentally, and all sorts of extra things will have to go into the Police van.

This perhaps was indicative of inexperience or lack of confidence on behalf of the Serjeant at Arms. It was a serious handicap, and was doubtless worse at 7 am (which is, of course, why police searches are done at the time of day).

In future a training course might be required, since the job is clearly no longer a purely ceremonial one.

BTW There's been very little comment on the fact that this was all set in motion just as Sir Ian Blair left his post - so no one can ask the top man at the Met to take responsibility for this one. I'll bet he's chuckling, and throwing darts at pictures of another senior Tory!
Taxes to fall and then rise 4:29pm on 21 Nov 2008 So we're in this mess after a decade of spending too freely, and must now re-discover thrift.

But not just yet.

For now, hang on to your debts. Pull out your purse, and spend-spend-spend. Don't put money aside for your pension - the country can't afford a saving habit. Of course, the country won't be able to support you if you don't save either.

The final message of the Gordon Brown era seems likely to be Live Fast and Die Young - you know it makes sense.
The Bin Laden Question 05:57am on 27 Oct 2008 #46

"To the writer who said FDR handed over half of Europe to Stalin- FDR did not have to HAND OVER anything to anyone, Stalin and his Soviet army defeated Germany from the East single-handedly!"

No one who has seen/read anything about the Eastern front denies the huge effort and massive losses of the Soviet forces. They might, however, have lost, had German forces not also been under pressure from the allies on other fronts. Of course, the reseverse applies - I don't think anyone can reasonably claim that any one power won the war "single-handed".

However, at the Yalta conference in February 1945, FDR did, essentially, agree that the Soviet Union should have a sphere of influence which included most of Eastern Europe. It could be said that he was only recognising the reality on the ground, but it WAS a formal recognition by the US of Soviet domination of, for example, Poland, and that recognition appeared to matter to Stalin.
The Bin Laden Question 05:41am on 27 Oct 2008 #30

"The Saudis run a Taleban-like regime with US support. Let's hope Obama will attempt to sort some of this out."

Exactly how do you think Obama will "sort out" the Saudi regime? Invade Saudi Arabia? Surely even Dick Cheney wouldn't be that stupid.
Rothschild "won't back down" 02:17am on 23 Oct 2008 Mandy is brought back to help the government out in difficult times - we all thought it was the difficult *economic* times, but clearly it was the need for an improvement in the polls. He's been back for 3 minutes and suddenly there's an old-fashioned "Tory sleaze" story out there. It's that old Mandy-magic, again.

Saw about 15 seconds of the interview with Mandy on Sunday's TV, before reaching for the remote. Remembered the old joke, "Why do people take an instant dislike to Peter Mandleson?" "It saves time."

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

Northumbrian