The English Riots, an attempt to understand

The English Riots, an attempt to understand

I watched the riots in utter disbelief. For me it was a slow realization that this was not a few angry idiots causing mayhem, it was something bigger, more widespread and deeply sinister, the thought of living with all that anger and anarchy erupting on your doorstep is terrifying. Watching scenes of mob violence a couple of hundred miles south had a completely different emotional impact to watching the same scene taking place in some far away land. Suddenly the world was not such a safe place and things that happen ‘over there’ were happening just a little too close for comfort. It didn't spread north of the border, the riots were very much 'English' riots not British riots, but it was closer than I ever want to be to that level of violence.  I watched the news reports, I listened to people being interviewed, I read the newspapers, I watched a live debate on TV but any real understanding escaped me. To a certain extent, it still does. This is my attempt at piecing it together and trying, not very successfully, to make sense of it.

Build up to the riots.

Thursday August 4, 2011; At 6pm Mark Duggan was  a passenger in a mini cab when he texted his partner ‘’the feds are following me’’. An hour earlier he had asked her to cook a meal for him and she was expecting him home to eat it, fifteen minutes after the text message he was dead. He had been shot twice in the chest and once in the arm by an officer from the Metropolitan police firearms squad. Duggan was said to be a well known associate of gang members and known criminals. He had been under investigation by the police at the time of the shooting. Initially the IPCC ( Independent Police Complaints Commission) falsely told journalists that Duggan had fired at the police. They have subsequently retracted that statement and  said there is ‘’no evidence that the handgun found at the scene was fired". In the 11 days that have passed since the shooting the IPCC have failed to confirm or deny that the hand gun found at the scene was in the possession of Duggan at the time of the shooting. At the time of the shooting members of the public are said to have claimed it was an ‘execution style’ killing. The press reported that the police were fired on by Duggan. There is still no public record of exactly what happened at the time of the shooting. The only person who could say with accuracy and without bias would be the mini cab driver, who we are told remains too deeply shocked  to make a statement. On the night of Mr Duggan’s death the police sent specially-trained family liaison officers to meet two of his close relatives. Mr Duggans parents were not contacted by the police and found out about the death from a TV news report. An inquest into Mr Duggan's death was opened at North London Coroner's Court in High Barnet but then adjourned until 12 December. No one knows why we have to wait so long for answers.
Saturday August 6, 2011 - Duggan's fiancee, Semone Wilson and other family members had arrived at Tottenham Police station in Tottenham at around 5pm on Saturday 6th August, with community leaders, to mount a vigil and pursue answers in relation to the killing. Only hours earlier she had been with 13 other family members to identify Duggan's body and pay their respects. The delay of more than 36 hours between his death and their being allowed to see him has not been explained by the IPCC, despite questions from the Guardian. The protesters had gathered in Tottenham High Street and gradually made their way toward the police station where it is believed Semone Wilson was already attempting to contact a senior police officer. The intend was a peaceful demonstration, they wanted answers regarding Duggans death and they refuted police allegations that Duggan  was a ‘gangster’, claiming instead that he was a peaceful, non-violent family man and father of four. By 5pm on Saturday 200-300 people had joined the demonstration and were gathered outside the police station. At 8.30 that evening the violence began when stones and missiles were thrown and two police cars were set on fire. Some reports claim this was following a disagreement between one of the protesters and a member of the police.

Trying to collate the hundreds of media reports into one coherent story is virtually impossible because there are so many versions of the same story, all slightly different in detail and inference

Much of this information was taken from, BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14459516 , The  Sunday Telegraph 14th, The Guardian 7th & 8th August and The Evening Standard 9th August. 

The Riots

The following is a timeline of the riots as reported by
The BBC's Andy Moore.

Riots in London and around the country have seen widespread looting and buildings set alight. Dozens were left homeless after a night of riots on the streets of Tottenham on Saturday after the  peaceful demonstration over the shooting.  Here is a timeline of what happened.

Saturday 6th August

Volence continues through the night in Tottenham. Rioters attack banks and loot shops.
20:45 BST - The London Fire Brigade receives its first calls to attend
22:45 BST - As the violence continues, a double-decker bus is burnt out and more petrol bombs are thrown at police and buildings. Shops set alight in the area include an Aldi supermarket and a carpet shop.
Looting is reported throughout the night and some thieves take the opportunity to load up car boots and shopping trolleys with stolen goods. Vision Express, Boots, Argos and JD Sports are among the shops affected.
04:30 BST the following morning has dealt with 49 "primary" fires in the Tottenham area and received more than 250 emergency calls from the public.
No firefighters are injured in the disturbances but some are threatened by rioters, according to the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

Sunday 7th August

Violence spreads to Enfield in Northeast London. Shortly after, missiles are thrown in Brixton, south London. Rioters loot stores and destroy vehicles.
Local MP David Lammy tells reporters the community has "had the heart ripped out of it" by "mindless, mindless people", many of whom, he says, had come from outside Tottenham to cause trouble.
Police condemn a wave of "copycat criminal activity" across London
12:00 BST - Fire crews have all the fires under control but are still damping down some burnt-out buildings. Scenes of crime officers begin investigating and gathering evidence.
Police say 26 police officers were injured in the riots and two remain in hospital. In total, 55 arrests have been made.
16:20 BST - Police announce the launch of Operation Withern to investigate the riots in Tottenham.
18:28 BST - Police are called to High Street Enfield after reports shop windows are being smashed. A police vehicle is damaged.
18:30 BST - Three police officers are injured after intervening in an altercation in Brixton, south London. Missiles are thrown.
19:45 BST - Around 100 hooded youths gather outside Enfield Police Station.
21:30 BST -The Guardian newspaper quotes a source as saying a bullet found in a police radio after Mr Duggan's death was police issue.
22:00 BST - More reports of shop windows being smashed in Enfield. Riot police and mounted police patrol the streets.
22:30 BST - Reports on Twitter of a police presence at Oxford Circus in London's West End. Police later say a mob of around 50 people damaged property in the area.

Monday 8th August

Police say they are dealing with "copycat criminality" across London.
-- Violence spreads to Hackney, northeast London and Clapham, an upmarket area in southwest London. Rioting follows in Ealing in the west and Woolwich in the east. London Mayor Boris Johnson says he will cut short his holiday and return to the capital.
-- Looting and violence spread to Britain's second biggest city Birmingham. Large fires break out in Croydon, south London.
00:45 BST - Six fire engines and 30 firefighters are despatched to a blaze at a Foot Locker store on Brixton Road, after it is set alight.
Three officers are injured after being hit by a vehicle in Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest. The officers had been making arrests after a shop was looted.
Police say a police vehicle windscreen was smashed during a disturbance in Islington and a Tesco store in Ponders End has been vandalised and looted.
02:20 BST - Scotland Yard says police are responding to copycat criminal activity across London. In a statement it says "small and mobile groups" of looters have been have been targeting areas of north, east and south London.
Police say gangs of youths are continuing to attack officers and shops are being targeted in Waltham Forest.
In Enfield, the High Street remains cordoned off after disorder in the area was contained. The situation in Walthamstow is said to be under control after some 30 youths - many in masks - vandalised and looted shops there.
02:38 BST - The London Fire Brigade says firefighters have been called to a number of fires as a direct result of disturbances in the Enfield, Brixton and Walthamstow areas. Six fire engines and 30 firefighters are fighting a blaze at a shop on Brixton road.
06:15 BST - The Metropolitan Police say a further 100 arrests have been made and 16 people charged in relation to disturbances overnight on Sunday.
17:19 BST - Skirmishes break out between police and groups of young people in Hackney. The trouble reportedly started when a man was stopped and searched by police, but nothing was found.
17:39 BST - Spokesman for Mayor of London Boris Johnson says he is interrupting his family holiday to return to the capital to deal with the situation.
18:45 BST - Video footage from Lewisham, south London, shows a fire burning in a street where at least one vehicle has been set ablaze.
18:42 BST - Transport for London says a bus has been set on fire in Peckham, south-east London.
20:07 BST - West Midlands Police say some shop windows have been smashed in various locations, with property stolen.
20:58 BST - Aerial footage is now showing several fires burning in Croydon, south London.
21:33 BST - The Prime Minister is to cut short his holiday because the situation has "demonstrably worsened", it is reported.
21:50 BST - A BBC correspondent reports seeing a fire burning in Clapham High Street but he can't see any police besides a police roadblock further up the road.
22:42 BST - Essex and Suffolk Police confirm they have sent officers to London to assist Metropolitan Police colleagues.
23:05 BST - A BBC producer reports that phone shops are being looted in Woolwich High Street. He says there are several hundred youths involved, but there are no police around. There is also a burnt-out police car.
23:27 BST - Rioting is taking place in Ealing, west London, where the windows of a Tesco supermarket have been put out, a car is on fire and rubbish is strewn in public areas. There is also a fire in Haven Green park, opposite Ealing Broadway Tube.
23:30 BST - About 40 vehicles were damaged in a night of violence in Nottingham described by one senior officer as "motivated" by the London riots. Most of the incidents happened in the St Ann's area, but police foiled an attempt to break into the Victoria Centre in the city centre. The trouble lasted about three hours.
23:49 BST - Labour leader Ed Miliband is returning early from his holiday in Devon because of the riots, it is reported. He is due back in London on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday 9th August

Rioting continues through the night in several parts of the capital. A police station is set alight in Birmingham and officers are called to a number of incidents in the northwest port city of Liverpool.
Cameron condemns the disorder as "criminality pure and simple." He says there will be 16,000 police on the streets of the capital.
-- Cameron visits Croydon to see the damage from the previous night's violence. Johnson visits Clapham to thank volunteers for cleaning up.
-- In Salford, Greater Manchester, rioters throw bricks at police and set fire to buildings. A police station is firebombed by 30 to 40 males in Nottingham. Cars are burned and stores looted in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton in central England.
Youths were involved in rioting in the centre of Manchester and in Salford
00:45 BST - West Midlands Police confirm that a police station in Holyhead Road in Handsworth, Birmingham, is on fire
00:59 BST - Merseyside Police confirm they are dealing with a number of incidents in South Liverpool, including cars being set alight.
01:05 BST - BBC staff member reports hundreds of youths ransacking a Panasonic store in West Ealing - no sign of police.
01:21 BST - The Metropolitan Police issue on their current operations across London. It includes the following bulletins - Hackney: 250-300 people gathered in Pembury Estate, setting alight cars and throwing petrol bombs. Businesses in Mare Street were looted and officers contained the situation. Three officers injured but their condition is not believed to be serious. Newham: Looting in Stratford High Street. Lewisham: Roaming groups of youths were involved in disorder. Bethnal Green: More than 100 people looted a Tesco supermarket. Two officers were injured. Croydon: Fires burning at a number of premises, including a very large blaze at a sofa factory.
03:06 BST - London Fire Brigade lists the major blazes is it fighting in the capital: 1. Timber yard fire ongoing in East Ham on Plashet Grove. Four fire engines and 20 firefighters on site. 2. Shopping centre and offices of four floors fire on Woolwich New Road. Whole of the ground floor is alight. 20 firefighters attending. 3. The fire on Lavender Hill now has eight fire engines and 40 firefighters at the scene. Most of the ground floor and part of first floor alight. 4. 40 firefighters at a fire in a warehouse on Solar Way in Enfield.
09:43 BST - London Fire Brigade says it faced its busiest night in recent history. The brigade's 999 control centre answered 2,169 calls between 18:00 BST on Monday and 07:19 BST on Tuesday. This is around 15 times the normal rate of calls the brigade would expect on an average day.
09:55 BST - The Football Association confirms that England's friendly against Holland at Wembley tomorrow has been called off because of the rioting in London.
11:06 BST - David Cameron makes his first statement outside Number 10 after cutting short his holiday to return to London. He announces a massive increase in police numbers and the recall of Parliament.
14:15 BST - Prime Minister David Cameron visits Croydon to view the devastation from Monday's violence and looting.
14:45 BST - London Mayor Boris Johnson visits Clapham Junction to thank volunteers for clearning up the damage and apologise to those who have lost their businesses. He is heckled by angry residents who say there were inadequate police on the streets.
15:24 BST - Scotland Yard says 525 people have been arrested in relation to the riots. Ninety-nine people have been charged so far - of those 63 face burglary charges.
17:29 BST - The Independent Police Complaints commission says ballistic test results show no evidence that a hangun found at the scene of the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan had been fired.
17:46 BST - Reports of rocks and stones being hurled at police vans by gangs of youths in Salford, Manchester.
19:28 BST - Manchester police appeal for calm following a number of attacks by rioters on shops in Manchester city centre and Salford. There are also reports of trouble in Birmingham and West Bromwich where there have been confrontations between police and gangs of youths.
22:36 BST - A police station in Nottingham is firebombed by a group of rioters. In the Bootle area of Merseyside a man is arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft after allegedly using a dumper truck to break into a Post Office.

Wednesday 10th August

In Birmingham, police launch a murder inquiry after three Muslim men are killed in a hit and run car incident. One person is arrested.
-- "We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets." "We needed a fight back and a fight back is under way," Cameron says after a meeting of the government's COBRA crisis planning group.
-- A surge in police numbers and heavy rain in many places help to calm streets in London, although missiles are thrown at police in Eltham in south London.
Courts across the country stay open through the night to deal with cases
04:00 BST - Avon and Somerset Police say four people have been arrested following disorder in Bristol city centre.
05:37 BST - A murder investivation is launched in Birmingham after two men are killed and one critically injured in a hit and run incident. The third man later died in hospital. It is not known if the deaths were linked to the rioting.
09:13 BST - A 21-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of starting a fire at the House of Reeves furniture store in Croydon - destroyed during Monday night's rioting in London.
11:15 BST - Prime Minister David Cameron makes a statement from Downing Street, paying tribute to police and the emergency services. He warns that more people will be arrested and charged. He said: "We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets." Mr Cameron also said there were contingency plans for water cannon to be used at 24 hours' notice.
13:43 BST - Ministry of Justice statement says there are enough prison places for all those sentenced to custody. The Met Police release a second tranches of images of people they would like to speak to about the recent disorder. Greater Manchester Police release a batch of CCTV images of suspects wanted in connection with the rioting and looting.
14:44 BST - Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, says 250 police officers have been dispatched from Scotland to the Midlands and the north of England to help combat the rioting.
16:31 BST - The Association of Chief Police Officers - which is co-ordinating the transfer of police officers, dogs, horses and other riot equipment - says six forces have requested assistance tonight. They are: Avon and Somerset, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester Police, Metropolitan Police, Nottinghamshire and West Midlands. Fifty-one forces across the UK are helping supply the extra officers and equipment.
17:59 BST: - In London, the number of people arrested in connection with violence, disorder and looting rises to 805, with 251 charged, Scotland Yard says.
18 :19 BST:- Greater Manchester Police's twitter feed confirms that two men have been sentenced to 10 weeks and 16 weeks over rioting.
19:36 BST - Tariq Jahan, whose 21-year-old son, Haroon, died after he was run over by a car in Birmingham, has called for people not to resort to vigilantism against rioters and asked his community to ''stand united".
21:51 BST - Scotland Yard has named the 26-year-old man who died after being found shot in a car during riots in Croydon as Trevor Ellis, of Brixton Hill.
22:03 BST - In a statement, West Midlands Police say the situation across the area is calm at the moment as 1,000 officers parade the streets.
23:55 BST - Magistrates courts in London, Solihull and Manchester among others stay open through the night to fast track those already in custody for disorder related offences.

Thursday 11 August

Courts in several cities, including in London, Solihull and Manchester, work through the night to deal with those arrested.
-- Parliament is recalled and Cameron says he will keep a higher police presence of 16,000 officers on London streets through the weekend and will give police powers to demand the removal of face masks or other coverings if their wearers are suspected of crime.
-- Cameron tells parliament police tactics had failed at the start of the rioting. The Association of Chief Police Officers head, Hugh Orde, says "The fact that politicians chose to come back is an irrelevance in terms of the tactics that were by then developing."
-- A Premier League match between Tottenham and Everton at White Hart Lane, to be played on August 13, is postponed, amid fears of further unrest.
-- Richard Mannington Bowes, who was injured an attack in Ealing on August 8, becomes the fifth person to die because of the riots. A 22-year-old man has been arrested.
01:50 BST - A candle-lit vigil held in Birmingham at the spot where three men were killed on Wednesday night when they were hit by a car passes off peacefully. About 250 people took part. Police have been given more time to question a 32-year-old man on suspicion of murder
06:27 BST - The Metropolitan Police say the total number of arrests in London is now 888 in connection with the rioting and looting - and of those, 371 have been charged. London and other cities affected by the recent rioting have remained largely calm overnight.
10:00 BST - MPs have been recalled from their summer break for an emergency debate on the riots.
10:57 BST - Housing minister Grant Shapps says 100 families have been made homeless following the disturbances. He says he is looking at measures to prevent rioters from being given social housing.
11:15 BST - The Premier League match between Tottenham and Everton at White Hart Lane, scheduled for this weekend has been postponed, amid fears of further unrest.
11:30 BST - Prime Minister David Cameron makes a statement to MPs in which he admits there are questions to be answered over the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham last week. He calls the rioting "criminality, pure and simple" and says the courts will continue sitting for as long as necessary to deal with the extra cases. He says police will be given powers to force people to remove masks and scarves covering their faces where there are reasonable grounds to believe they are planning criminal activity. Mr Cameron also announces a £10m recovery scheme to make areas safe and clean again.
11:55 BST - Labour leader Ed Miliband calls for an inquiry to look at the deeper causes of the "wanton vandalism and looting". He says the riots have been a "stark reminder" of the need for police on the streets and he calls on the government to rethink cuts in police spending.
17:02 BST - MPs are continuing their debate in the Commons - it has now been extended until 20:00 to ensure everyone gets their say.

August 12th

Steve Kavanagh, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, says 16,000 officers will remain on duty in the capital on August 13.
-- The Metropolitan Police say they have arrested 1,051 people in connection with the violence and looting around London - 591 people have been charged. West Midlands police have made 467 arrests since the violence began with around 100 being charged.

The Aftermath of the Riots

The Government has responded by promising to be ‘tough on crime’, they have promised to ensure those charged with related offences go through the court system as quickly as possible and face heavy penalties for their involvement. They are also looking at ways to withdraw benefits and evict people who are housed in social housing.
So far the Government has not responded positively to those who point to social deprivation, inequality, police victimization of the black community and lack of opportunity as underlying causes of the riots. They have recognized the growing problem of gang culture in inner cities but failed to ask why gang culture continues to grow.
Their promise to be ‘tough on crime’ is being kept with ruthless efficiency,  what we are actually seeing is prison sentencing for people who have been given a couple of items of looted clothing, or a couple of stolen DVDs.
But ‘tough on crime’ has also led to some of the most violent criminals being apprehended; hopefully they will be processed by the courts quickly and efficiently.

Some cases make very strange reading; like the case of Ellese Elliot, who graduated with a first class Degree in Philosophy from Greenwich University, who has been offered a place on a post grad MSc course in the philosophy of mental disorder, who is very vocal in her campaign to save her Universities threatened philosophy course and who currently writes for the socialist newspapers Solidarity and Workers liberty. Ellese was accused of handling two mobile phones that were stolen. She appeared in court and pleaded not guilty. Another strange case was the young mother of two who slept through the riots only to be offered a new pair of shorts from a friend the following day. She was found guilty of handling stolen goods and sentenced to six months in prison. Some of this ‘tough on crime’ begins to feel more like revenge than justice. I’m more than happy to see the violent thugs who killed, maimed, burnt, looted and destroyed communities dealt with severely, but I’m beginning to wonder if the courts are actually dealing with the right people.

As for the Governments proposal to withdraw benefits from those convicted of riot related crime, I don’t see how that can work. For a start, any one who goes to prison loses all benefits anyway, so no need to find new ways to take it from them; you can’t take the same thing twice from any one no matter how angry you are with them. If the proposal is to withdraw benefits from those convicted of crime but not sentenced to prison, I don’t see how that will work either. If a convicted person loses his/her benefit in addition to a court imposed punishment he/she will be punished twice but a person not on benefit will only be punished once. And that’s without going into the damaging effects of pushing poor people ( and more importantly their wife and kids) into the kind of poverty that’s not known in this country, poverty where there is nothing, no money, no food, no rent and no hope.

The one proposal that really made me angry was the proposal to evict people convicted of riot related crime from their council houses (social housing). I listened to Mr Cameron claim that ‘social housing is subsidized’ and no one should live in ‘subsidized housing’ if they (or any one living with them) were involved in the riots. Another flawed proposal. Social housing is not subsidized, most social housing is now owned by housing associations that are unsubsidized, non-profit making organizations, required by law to break even at the end of every financial year. Social housing still owned by local authorities is also required to break even at the end of each financial year.The reason most people assume social housing is subsidized is because no one makes a profit from it which makes it much cheaper to rent than comparable houses in the private sector. Private landlords either have huge mortgages to pay (making a nice profit for the banks) and/or they own rental properties as a business and use the profit as income. The cost of social housing is the ‘real’ cost of housing without costing in the ‘profit margins’. I’m pretty sure Mr Cameron knows this, he just choose to go along with a commonly held (false) belief. And even if it were subsidized, making families homeless doesn’t help any one, especially the children of the rioters. Plus of course using eviction as an added punishment would only be just if it could be used against every one, which it couldn’t, it would be reserved for ‘social housing’ tenants who are of course the poorer members of society.

We have watched gangs of masked thugs methodically strip shops and businesses of stock, we have seen people grabbing as much as they can as quickly as they can and feeling no remorse.  That’s not surprising, we live in a society that values wealth and material possession over and above every thing else, we are positively encouraged to live beyond our means and constantly told that a mans worth is measured by his wealth. Many of these people live in run down estates with no opportunity and no hope, but they live their lives within sight of the richest people in the country. From their run down homes they are with in walking distance of Canary Warf. Their loyalties are with their gangs, not with the rest of society and that is very dangerous for the rest of us.


When I watched the riots erupt on our televisions I was as angry/ frightened/ confused etc as the next person. I thought what every one else was thinking no excuses, no reasons, just a bunch of violent, criminal thugs etc. I still think that, after what we saw there is no justification.
But if our politicians don’t start to listen to what these people are saying no amount of ‘tough on crime’, will make this problem of ours go away.

I think, they will ignore this at their peril.










 

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Tariq Ramadan, talking on The Western Muslim

I was looking for something; I didn’t find what I was looking for but this guy kept cropping up in my searches. He sounded like a pretty switched on sort of guy (you don’t get to be Professor at Oxford if you’re second best). And then I discovered he had written a phD dissertation on Nietzsche, and that clinched it for me. Anyone who comes any where near to understanding Nietzsche has my everlasting admiration. A guy who can write a whole phD dissertation on him is, in my opinion, genius at the very least.

(a little info on the guy)

Tariq Ramadan; born 26 August 1962, Geneva, Switzerland, is a Swiss born intellectual, philosopher, theologian, television presenter, academic, poet and writer. He is also a Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University. Tariq Ramadan studied Philosophy and French literature at the Masters level and holds a PhD in Arabic and Islamic studies from the University of Geneva. He also wrote a PhD dissertation on Friedrich Nietzsche, entitled Nietzsche as a Historian of Philosophy.

And then I started watching this, he speaks on the topic of, ‘Islam is a European Religion’, at the Salzburg Seminar session entitled "Immigration and Inclusion: Rethinking National Identity"
I found myself listening to ideas I had never considered before. So much has been said and written about the ‘Muslim influence in the West’ but not usually like this. It takes a while to watch the whole thing but I found it worth the effort.

Tariq Ramadan - The Western Muslim 1/3

The Western Muslim Tariq Ramadan 2/3

The Western Muslim Tariq Ramadan 3/3

 

Urgent appeal, please take Donald Trump home

Urgent appeal to America….

Please take Donald Trump home,

we don’t want him here.

If you need to ask why, visit here.

http://www.trippinguptrump.com/

 

Tripping Up Trump

Standing up for the people and environment threatened by Donald Trump’s development in Aberdeenshire.

Now about protecting the families that are being threatened by compulsory purchase, not for a school or a hospital but for private profit.

Residents of ‘Menie’ have AGAIN  and AGAIN stated they do not wish to sell and only ask to be left alone in peace but Donald Trump will not accept this fate. Worse still, planning permission was granted on the grounds that he had all the land he needed!!

This is why Tripping Up Trump will stand strong and protect the residents of ‘Menie’ from the lurking threat of compulsory purchase. What is happening to the homeowners could happen to anyone else, once a precedent is set.

video links

http://www.trippinguptrump.com/links

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh................how dare this American imbecile call Mr Forbes the village idiot and his croft  a slum !!...........Please take this revolting man back to America.

He seems to have bought and paid for Aberdeenshire council AND The Scottish Government ( shame on us)

He has already managed to manipulate his way into buying some of the most beautiful and special sand-dunes in Scotland to turn into some sort of Disney type golf resort, a play thing for the rich. Not happy with that, he is now terrorising little people and threatening their way of life. His latest maneuver is to sue very poor people for a fortune in legal fees.............because they stood up to him.

This man is a monster, take him away

 

 

 

The Axe falls over Britain........cuts in public spending.

Does any one actually care what is happening in this country today??
Has anyone thought about the effect these spending cuts will have on the poorest people? Seems not, most people are too busy moralising about the ‘scroungers’ and benefit fraud and congratulating themselves on electing a government who is going to ‘crack down on cheats’.

Well here’s another way of looking at it, think about these statistics taken from the governments own statistics website;

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

01% population own 21% of wealth 
05% population own 40% of wealth
10% population own 53% of wealth
25% population own 72% of wealth
50% population own 93% of wealth.

And then consider this;
THE POOREST 50% OF POPULATION SHARE ONLY 7% OF THE WEALTH
AND IT’S THOSE 50% OF POPULATION WHO OWN ONLY 7% OF THE WEALTH WHO ARE BEING TARGETED BY THE MASSIVE PUBLIC SPENDING CUTS.
Undoubtedly some of 50% of the population (who own only 7% of the wealth) ARE actually defrauding the system. BUT………….what they gain still doesn’t take them out of the poorest wealth owning group. The amounts they are defrauding the system is PEANUTS compared to the vast wealth held in the hands of the few. One of the worse aspects of this whole scenario is the determination of our government to return to the Victorian distinctions between the  ‘deserving poor’ and the ‘undeserving poor’, our society left these attitudes behind 150 years ago and now we are being driven back there.

SO………..my question to our government and to those who support them is. Alongside these savage cuts, what are you going to do to ensure a more egalitarian society and a better distribution of wealth? AND………if the poor are going to have to sacrifice so much, where are the plans to claw back some of the deficit from the rich?

The government is not targeting the rich; they are targeting, specifically, the disabled;

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/postcards-from-the-edge-1.1062035##

Analysis: Tom Gordon,

Scottish Political Editor
17 Oct 2010
After months of speculation, the Chancellor will finally rise in the Commons this week to announce the Coalition’s Spending Review, lifting the lid on a Pandora’s box of brutal cuts unlike any seen in Britain since the 1920s…………………………………….
Already we know some £66bn will be cut from public services by 2016, and around £20bn extra raised in tax. It will be an unprecedented upheaval that will leave few untouched.
The recent furore over changes to child benefit revolved around savings of just £1bn. To find the other £65bn, Osborne will need to bulldoze the public sector landscape.
Swathes of benefits will be cut, new charges such as tuition fees imposed, quangos ignited, funding for beloved institutions slashed, the military shrunk, and thousands of public-sector jobs lost, with inevitable knock-on effects for the rest of the economy.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8068568/Spending-review-To-cut-with-principle-is-the-right-approach.html

Some of the biggest cuts are going to be to the welfare budget. It has already been announced that child benefit will cease to be universal. The benefit will no longer be paid for any child over 16. There will be a radical shake-up of social housing, including an end to the right to stay in the same council house for life.
The guiding principle behind them seems to be the reintroduction of the distinction between the “deserving” and the “undeserving” poor.
The Coalition is going to target Disability Allowance: the aim is to force 400,000 of those claiming that benefit back into paid employment.

http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/38941

The Government’s proposed welfare reforms will see 3.5 million disabled people lose over £9.2 billion of critical support by 2015 pushing them further into poverty and closer to the fringes of society, according to "Destination Unknown" - a new report published by the think tank Demos.
Plans to move disabled people onto Job Seekers Allowance will account for half (£4.87 billion) of these losses.
Although actual spending cut details would only be available after the government publishes its spending review later on this month, based on government announcements until now, Demos has calculated that:
• Families with disabled children to lose over £3,000 each by 2015
* Couples where one partner acts as a carer to their disabled partner will lose more than £3,000 as a couple each by 2015
* Individuals moved from Incapacity Benefit to Job Seekers Allowance will lose nearly £9,000 each by 2015

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4e7946a2-d2ff-11df-9ae9-00144feabdc0.html

People with disabilities will have lost a total of more than £9bn in income by the end of this parliament, even ahead of any further benefit cuts in the spending review, according to Demos, the think-tank, and Scope, the disabled people’s charity.
The loss of income – which adds up to more than £3,000 by 2015 for some families – is the result of the benefit cuts already made in the Budget, plus plans to move existing claimants on incapacity benefit to either the new employment and support allowance, or jobseeker’s allowance, which requires them to look for work.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/17/george-osborne-spending-review-cuts

Osborne is expected to outline £83bn of cuts, the most drastic reductions in state spending since the second world war. The detailed impact of the cuts became clearer today as the Observer revealed reductions of around 30% to the justice system, involving cuts to the legal aid budget and the closure of 150 courts.

 

 

real IRA warns it will resume attacks

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100915/tuk-terror-group-in-warning-to-criminal-45dbed5.html

The Real IRA has said it will resume attacks on the UK mainland - with banks and bankers its principal targets.
Just the thought of these people resuming attacks on mainland UK fills me with dread, but as I read the article, this jumped out at me. 

"The bankers grease the politicians' palms, the politicians bail out the bankers with public funds, the bankers pay themselves fat bonuses and loan the money back to the public with interest.
"It's essentially a crime spree that benefits a social elite at the expense of many millions of victims."

And, much as I despise and fear any terrorist organisation
……………I have to admit they have a point.

Some interesting figures about wealth in the UK

Some interesting figures about wealth in the UK

1% of the UK population owns 23% of the country's wealth.
read the full report here.

http://http://www.ftadviser.com/FinancialAdviser/Pensions/News/article/20100415/feb231a0-43d0-11df-9616-00144f2af8e8/Wealth-gap-in-the-UK-has-become-worse.jsp

50% of the UK population is surviving on 1% of the wealth
Read the full report here.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=2

Now think about the severe cuts in public spending, cuts to our frontline services and cuts to our benefit system, all in the name of reducing our budget deficit. The benefit system is an easy target, its big, clumsy, sometimes difficult to understand and sometimes open to abuse. What we are NOT told is that usually the ‘abuse of the benefit system’ is  a young mum claiming benefit and also working a couple of hours in a pub or café and not, as we are led to believe, huge gangs of organized criminals making a fortune out of defrauding the system. Compare the income and wealth of the young mum who claims benefit and doesn’t declare a couple of hours work with the income and wealth of the top 1% of the population. I can’t think of anything any one could contribute to society or any degree of laziness that would justify such a massive inequality in wealth distribution. With this degree of inequality ingrained into our system no amount of tinkering around the edges and cutting back on essential benefits and services is going to make things any better. Virtually ALL of the proposed cuts in public spending will affect the 50% of the population who collectively own only 1% of the wealth, and I’m pretty dam sure the budget deficit wasn’t caused by them because if it was, there wouldn’t be so many of them who are still so poor. A system which allows inequality on this scale is not an equitable or workable system and so far, no political party has had the honesty or integrity to openly admit this, in fact they all seem terrified of any one who suggests it. Could this be because there are no poor politicians? 
I remember our government being pretty keen on regime change when they saw what they perceived as an unjust society……………maybe someone should look at how ‘just’ our society is. 

And if you think things are bad in the West, think a little about how much worse it gets on an international scale. If the bulk of the worlds poor ever decided to fight back I think  we all need be very afraid.

The richest 10% of the worlds adults accounted for 85% of assets, the report said.

By contrast, the bottom 50% of the world's adult population owned barely 1% of the world's wealth.
Read the full report here.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/28041-worlds-richest-2-own-half-the-wealth

 

The Terror faced by Arabs and Muslims in the aftermath of 9/11

There is so much out there about 9/11, cruise the web and you bump into it all over the place.This is a book review I happened upon, its a moving story of one  mans memories of that awful day.

http://www.alternet.org/world/148115/

The Terror Faced by Arabs and Muslims in the Aftermath of 9/11
In an excerpt from

"A Country Called Amreeka," 

by Alia Malek.

a priest takes heart when a piece of history emerges from the rubble. 
 

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Monsignor Ignace Sadek was where he always was on Tuesday mornings: in the rectory of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York. He was in his quiet office buried within the recesses of the church, preparing his homily for the midday mass.
Around 10:00 a.m., he decided to check on the young gardener tending to the grounds that surrounded Our Lady of Lebanon on its shaded block at the corner of Henry and Remsen Streets in Brooklyn Heights, separated from Manhattan by the East River. As he came out into the daylight, he noticed that the sky had changed -- no longer was it the clear blue day that he remembered; instead, it had become clouded by debris.
In front of the church he bumped into a parishioner, a gentleman his age from Lebanon, who anxiously asked him in Arabic, “Did you not hear? Are you a stranger to Jerusalem?”
Ignace explained he had been at work in his office, away from the radio and television.
“Two airplanes have hit the Twin Towers, and they are falling down!” the parishioner exclaimed.
Ignace had been to the towers just two weeks before, when his friend, a bishop, had come to visit him. He often took visitors to the Twin Towers for their views, so high in the heavens that people below were rendered the size of ants. They had waited nearly two hours on line to ascend to the top.
Ignace began to shake.
What can I do? he asked himself. I am a priest, I have to do something!
His seventy-one-year-old legs began to move quickly, and he almost ran toward the Promenade, a scenic overlook on the East River with views of lower Manhattan and its skyline dominated by the Twin Towers. When Ignace arrived, he could not see a thing. He could not see whether the towers had truly fallen or whether they were hidden behind the curtain created by the wind chasing debris across the river.
As he stood on the edge of Brooklyn, the waters of the East River obscured but restless below him, the black suit he had worn since he was twenty and his own signature black beret which he had worn since he was twenty-five turned the color of the white collar he wore around his neck.
***
In the airplanes, in the field in Pennsylvania, in the towers, Our Lady of Lebanon in Brooklyn lost eight souls on September 11, 2001. They were Robert Dirani, Catherine Gorayb, Peter Hashim, Mark Hindy, Walid Iskandar, Jude Moussa, Jude Safi, and Jacqueline Sayegh.
Ignace presided over no funerals for the eight that died because there were no bodies to be buried. Instead he said a memorial service for those whose families requested it.
Some of the victims were part of the larger community of the church; others, Ignace knew quite well personally.
He had baptized Catherine’s infant daughter just two Sundays before. During the baptism, he had noticed that Catherine had cried through the entire ceremony. He had wondered why then, and after she died, he said to himself that she must have been touched by a prophecy that she would soon lose sight of her daughter.
Jude had been raised in the Brooklyn church. Though his mother was Druze, he was a dedicated and joyful member of the congregation, who always had a hug and a kiss to share.
And Jacqueline had contacted him Friday evening just before that horrible Tuesday, telling Ignace that she was engaged! She had asked him to prepare a copy of her baptismal certificate, which was required so that she could marry her fiancé in his church. She had told Ignace that she would come by on Monday morning to pick up the paper; when she didn’t, he had told himself she would be by on Tuesday. Now, he didn’t know what to do with the envelope, so he left it where it had been waiting for her, in the sacristy where the priests vest.
Just beyond the church’s doors, all of America was reeling as well, and some New Yorkers sought scapegoats among themselves in Brooklyn. On the other side of Atlantic Avenue, the executive director of the Arab American Family Support Center had quickly yanked the group’s name off the front door right after the attacks; she had bolted all the doors that led to her office, barricading herself inside with a legal pad and telephone. She fielded two sorts of calls -- threats of violence from outside the community and desperate pleas for help from within.
At the Dawood Mosque on Atlantic Avenue, people spat and cursed at members. The Brooklyn Islamic Center was the target of a firebombing attempt. Someone hurled a Molotov cocktail at a mosque in Bensonhurst, while pork chops were flung over the back fence of the Al-Noor Muslim School in Sunset Park. In Park Slope, a motorist blocked the path of a cab driver, yelling “Get out of the car, Arab,” pounding on the hood as he shouted, “You are going to die, you Muslim.”
And a Bangladeshi mail sorter coming home to Brooklyn on the subway was knocked to the train floor and kicked and punched repeatedly by anonymous men.
New York police officers were soon standing sentry outside many of the city’s mosques, and Atlantic Avenue and Steinway Street in Astoria -- a Queens neighborhood also home to many Arab Americans -- were both lined with police. A man stood outside a Steinway Street mosque holding a homemade placard that read “get out of our country.”
Outside New York, the trauma played out similarly. A mosque in suburban Dallas had its windows shattered by gunshots; in San Francisco, a mosque found on its doorsteps a bag of what appeared to be blood; in Virginia, a vandal threw two bricks through the windows of an Islamic bookstore with threatening notes attached; and in Chicago, a mob of hundreds set upon a mosque shouting “Kill the Arabs,” while an Assyrian church on the north side and an Arab community center on the southwest side were damaged by arson. Women reported having their head scarves yanked off or being spit at, businesses were vandalized, employees were suddenly fired or demoted, and children were bullied by classmates and teachers alike.
In some cases, individual Arab and Muslim Americans responded by taking off their hijabs, keeping the kids home from school, displaying the American flag everywhere, and changing their names to something a little less “foreign.” Institutionally, every major Arab and Muslim organization immediately denounced the attacks; national leaders who had gathered in D.C. to prepare for a meeting with President Bush the afternoon of September 11 refocused their efforts on releasing such a statement the same day. Other Americans -- neighbors, friends, colleagues, classmates, lovers -- reached out in solidarity.
The federal government quickly released statements warning that any violence or discrimination against Arab or Muslim Americans or anyone perceived to be so were wrong, un-American, and unlawful. Within one week, nearly a thousand incidents of hate and bias were reported; several Sikhs -- non-Arab and non-Muslim South Asians who wear turbans -- were murdered or attacked. Investigations and prosecutions quickly followed.
But while one government hand had given, another was taking. Immediately following the attacks, over 1,200 resident aliens in the United States from Arab and Muslim countries who were not named or charged with crimes disappeared without notice to anyone into undisclosed detention centers.
Suggestions were made that camps be established for U.S. citizens from the Arab- and Muslim-American communities, while the denaturalization of naturalized citizens from these groups was also considered.
Arab and Muslim Americans and legal residents were pulled off planes in front of other passengers and subjected to interrogation; some were allowed to board eventually, many weren’t. Polls in September found that a majority of Americans favored the profiling of Arabs, including those who were American citizens, and subjecting them to special security checks before boarding planes.
The attorney general -- who earlier in the fall had attended a Ramadan Iftar -- ordered the “voluntary” interviewing of 5,000 legal residents from Arab and Muslim countries and singled out for arrest another 5,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants who did not leave the country after being ordered deported, though they represented only a fraction of the 320,000 people of all backgrounds who violated deportation orders. The issuing of visas to people coming to America for business, school, and tourism ground to a halt.
Fearing that harm could come to his parishioners, Ignace decided to hang the American flag outside Our Lady of Lebanon. He also cautioned his flock not to speak Arabic audibly outside the safety of the church.
***
In early 2002, Ignace received a call from Bovis Lend Lease, the construction company that was clearing the World Trade Center site. They had been told by the chaplain of St. Peter’s Catholic Church, near the foot of the towers, to contact him. Workers had come across something in the wreckage of stone and steel that might interest him.
As soon as Ignace fully grasped the meaning of the chaplain’s words, he responded, “I’m leaving immediately!”
The destruction of the towers had unearthed the cornerstone of St. Joseph’s Maronite Church, the original parish from whose rib Our Lady of Lebanon had been founded.
With the help of four men, Ignace transported the 400-pound cornerstone across the East River to his church in Brooklyn, making the same journey most of the inhabitants of Little Syria had made a hundred years before.
The bruised cornerstone was placed in the church’s vestibule on a marble pedestal made by a parish member. A survivor of the attacks, its engraved testament reads for anyone to see: SANCTI JOSEPHI, ECCLESIA MARONITA, ROMANA CATHOLICA.
*****************************************************

Alia Malek has written for Salon, The Columbia Journalism Review, and The New York Times. She is currently editing the next volume in the Voice of Witness series, a collection of first person oral histories from communities impacted by post 9/11 backlash.

Her website is

http://aliamalek.com.

Proposals for the Papal visit (lol)

A young, intelligent, oxbridge educated,  imaginative young man with an impressive sense of humour who works in the Foreign Office sent an internal email with suggestions for the planned Papal visit.  These included, amongst other things, the Pope opening a help line for abused children, launching his own brand of condoms and blessing a gay marriage. The Foreign Office has issued an official apology saying they are ''appalled'' by the email which was very ''disrespectful'' toward the Pope.

May I, on my own behalf, since my Foreign Office do not represent my views, issue a statement of my own.

I find this young man (who ever he is) rather amusing and I applaud his bravery.  AND;  I am appalled at the disrespect the Pope has shown toward abused children within his church. I am also appalled at the  millions of lost lives that could have been saved if the Pope had sanctioned the use of condoms in the fight against AIDs.
 AND..........homophobia under any guise is appalling and disrespectful 

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7107466.ece

controversial Kit Kat advert .................................By Greenpeace

This is what Greenpeace have to say;

Wow. There are several other words I could use to express my amazement at the response to our campaign about Nestlé's use of palm oil, but none of them are fit to write here, so "wow" will have to do for now.

Since Wednesday morning - when we launched our controversial Kit Kat advert and demanded that Nestlé stop using palm oil from companies destroying Indonesia's rain-forests - events have unfolded rapidly, and everyone at Greenpeace is amazed at how our supporters have taken this so much further than we ever imagined. Here's a quick recap:

    * Nestlé told Youtube to pull our video due to copyright infringement. It was later reinstated, but not before we'd uploaded it elsewhere and asked supporters to do the same. Current number of views: 585,000 and counting.
    * Facebook users went to Nestlé's fan page to ask what the company was doing about their palm oil suppliers, where they were met with rude and arrogant responses from the company. Word of this spread like wildfire around the internet, and has been the talk of many high-profile blogs and news websites.
    * Thousands of people around the world sent Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke emails, but we've discovered that Nestlé blocked many of these. Now, emails are going to André Kudelski, a member of the board of directors, and we're working out what to do with the ones which didn't get through.

Nestlé have issued a statement saying that they'll stop buying directly from the worst supplier, Sinar Mas, but this doesn't go far enough as much of their palm oil comes through third parties, like Cargill, who continue to buy palm oil from Sinar Mas.

Your actions are having a big impact at Nestlé HQ. If you haven't already, email Nestlé now demanding they stop using palm oil and other products from the notorious Sinar Mas. We had some technical problems with our website on Wednesday so if you weren't able to send your email, it's working absolutely fine now.

And don't forget to share our Kit Kat video with your friends.

,Don't think I'm allowed to post the actual advert here, too controversial, also copyright issues involved. But take a look  at the greenpeace campaign to stop Nestle buying palm oil and destroying the rain forest. It's pretty yukky but makes it's point.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/index.html?utm_source=monkeyemailupdate&utm_medium=email&utm_term=palmoil&utm_campaign=forests

An interesting read, Food for thought re Andrew Gilligan

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is an interesting read. As is my normal habit, I tend to listen to the radio while doing housework, cooking etc. Today is no exception and I've just finished listening to a programme about Andrew Gilligan. If you read this article you think;

''what a sensible well rounded individual''

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Gilligan

BUT if you read this one...... a very different picture emerges.

http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/commentary-and-analysis/732-andrew-gilligan-dispatches-and-islamic-terrorism

Open letter to Mr Brown PM

OPEN LETTER TO Mr Brown PM

Dear Mr Brown

Along with the rest of the country I have been reading reports of your alleged inappropriate behavior in the work place. I’m sure you are as dismayed about these reports as the rest of us, and in order to help you ensure this type of allegation is never levied at you again, I am enclosing something I think you and your colleagues may find useful.

I work in a school and in every room and corridor we have a couple of important rules displayed. We have found many young people in their early teenage years find it difficult to differentiate between appropriate behaviour and inappropriate behaviour. Some young people come from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds and don’t understand the concept of zero tolerance, sadly, to some, verbal and even physical abuse are a part of normal every day life. It’s our job as educators to instill into them good social skills and to teach them to be socially responsible adults. We try very hard to teach them to recognize the differences between appropriate and inappropriate behavior, we stress how important this will be in adult life. And I have to say, the vast majority of our young people leave us with good social skills and a firm grasp on what is and what is not appropriate. This is why I am sending you our two most important school rules. I think you will find these two rules invaluable, if you and your colleagues adhere to these two simple rules I can promise you these awful allegations will never be cast in your direction again.

1, Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself  AT ALL TIMES

2. No shouting, no swearing, no insults, no verbal abuse and no ‘’put downs’’ AT ANY TIME

I recommend these be copied onto A3 paper of a suitably bright colour, in large bold print and prominently displayed in every room and corridor within the work place. With these two simple rules clearly visible to every one at all times it will become second nature for someone to point them out immediately anyone has a momentary laps.

Assuring you of my best intentions at all times

Yours sincerely …………….forgetmenot 



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7036464.ece

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252584/Gordon-bully-claims-Mandelson-PM-accused-abusing-Downing-Street-staff.html

yet more deliberately provocative propaganda

Do you remember me posting this a while ago??

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/344/A_warning_about_deliberately_provocative_propaganda

Now there is something else popping up every where on blogland. Why are people so stupid?? Do you really believe there was a mass wedding involving hundreds of tiny child brides?? Are you all so ready to believe any possible evil thrown at you provided it has the tag ‘’Islam’’ posted next to it?? These two videos are posted all over the web on all sorts of blogs and are supposed to prove what depraved and wicked people these islamics are. This is supposed to be a mass wedding between adult men and little girls. Give me a break, just exactly how deeply ingrained are our prejudices that any one could actually believe this??

The following statement can be found on this web site, it took me all of 15 minutes to find!!

http://blogs.news.sky.com/foreignmatters/Post:dcc9d723-8046-4857-b618-5c1135ba6417

''The men and women are sitting, Most ignore the speeches, some even ignore the prayers. Then the fireworks explode, the cheering begins, and in march the Hamas scouts, bashing drums, looking every inch the future Hamas fighters many will be. Then the grooms, aged about 18 to about 28. They are holding hands with their young nieces and cousins, little girls aged from about 3 to 8, made up to the nines, wearing white wedding dresses.
Up they all go to the stage, the cheering and music grows ever louder. The girls were having the time of their lives, but, getting a little bored after a while, came down off the stage to dance with each other and play games.''
IT CONTINUES
''Our report on this put it into context saying that it took place just a mile from the Israeli border and was a message from Hamas about its strength confidence and future fighters. Oh and that the brides were elsewhere. Pretty straightforward.!!
It never struck me for a moment that the little girls might later be described in the bloggersphere as the brides! How naive I am.'
'Yeah ...............how bloody naive is that??

THE AMERICA FUTURE; A HISTORY, BY SIMON SCHAMA

PLEASE GIVE ONE HOUR OF YOUR TIME

I KNOW ONE WHOLE HOUR IS A LOT

BUT, IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS

PLEASE WATCH IT

YOU ONLY HAVE FOUR DAYS LEFT

THEN THIS POST DISAPPEARS

THIS IS A FULL VERSION OF THE

TV PROGRAMME

THE AMERICA FUTURE; A HISTORY

BY SIMON SCHAMA

EPISODE 4,

‘’WHAT IS AN AMERICA??’’

 

AND IT IS VERY, VERY RELEVANT.

SIMON SCHAMA IS AN ACADEMIC HISTORIAN NOT A POLITICIAN

  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fbd0d

 

FROM THE BBC WEB SITE

While the 2008 presidential campaign is in full swing, Simon Schama travels through America to dig deep into the conflicts of its history to understand what is at stake right now.

Simon looks at the bitter conflict over immigration in American history. Who should be allowed to enter America and call themselves an American has always been one of the nation's most divisive issues, and it continues to be so at this election. He traces the roots of this conflict to the founding of America.

The early settlers were themselves immigrants, but they saw America as fundamentally a white and Protestant nation. Simon looks at the key events that challenged this view: the annexation of parts of Mexico in 1848 that made 100,000 non-whites American citizens, the immigration and subsequent expulsion of the Chinese in the late 19th century, and the massive immigration from Eastern Europe during the industrialisation of the 1920s. Each time there have been those who have insisted America must stay white if it's to stay true to itself, and each time they have been defeated by the sheer force of history.

John F Kennedy defined America as a Nation of Immigrants in 1964 and Simon argues that the candidacy of Barack Obama represents the final triumph of the vision of America as a multi-ethnic nation

 

 

The Debate, McCain and his remarks

I keep hearing my self say this is not my problem, not my argument, not my debate…………………

WELL HELLO ………………..LOOK WHO JUST MADE IT MY DEBATE……………..

 

McCain: “Senator Obama wants to set up health care bureaucracies, take over the health care of America through -- as he said, his object is a single payer system. If you like that, you'll love Canada and England.

 

Before I rant about this man I need to clear up a technicality, Mr McCain, if you are hoping to be president of the most powerful country on earth maybe you should learn to get your political terminology correct. When you quoted ‘Canada and England’ I suspect you actually meant Canada and the UK. I can’t believe I need to spell this out to a presidential candidate, but for the record ;…. The UK consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. If you want to discuss, or even briefly mention, the health service of the UK it is inappropriate to address those remarks to or about ‘England’, this is a mistake of the politically inept and ignorant.

 

 

ONTO HIS OFFENSIVE REMARK.

 

I don’t know where to begin, how dare this man deride a health care system that provides unlimited health care, free at the point of delivery, to every man woman and child in the country? The provision of health care in this country, even the most pioneering and expensive health care, is allocated on the basis of medical need not on how good your insurance is or what your level of cover is. Or If Mr McCain had his way, if your employer decided to provide adequate health care cover.

 

I have a very dear friend who suffers the most terrible ill health. To my knowledge she has had two lots of open heart surgery and at least one other very new experimental heart procedure. She has had years and years of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid malfunction and a whole host of other medical problems. At no time during her years of illness was she ever asked demeaning questions about her financial situation or the limits of her health care cover. On the occasions when an ambulance was needed, one was called, arrived fairly quickly, and with out asking her who her insurance company was or sending her a bill, transported her as quickly and efficiently as possible to the world famous Ninewells Teaching hospital, Dundee. Here she received first class treatment which was FREE AT THE POINT OF DELIVERY. I have a horrible feeling if she lived under Mr McCain’s system she would no longer be with us; financially she is quite a poor woman who is unable to work.

 

I have arthritis; it was diagnosed a few years ago and is progressively getting worse. Over the last few years I have had, GP appointments, orthopaedic appointments,  ex-rays, physiotherapy and minor surgery all of which were provided under The National Health Service, again ‘FREE AT THE POINT OF DELIVERY’. The hospitals I have been fortunate enough to attend have, with out exception, been clean efficient and staffed by experienced professionally qualified doctors and nurses. I  have been offered  knee  replacement surgery as soon as I feel ready  to accept major surgery. All I need do is ask to be referred back to the surgeon.  My medical needs are assessed, thats is all, there is no other criteria.

 

Two of my grandchildren have spent time in special care baby units, they are quite well now but they had infant pneumonia when they were tiny babies, one when he was just a week old and the other just a week before his first birthday. These units are staffed with nurses who have specialist post graduate qualifications way beyond their first nursing degree. The ratio of nurse /patient is very, very high. At the change over of nursing shift the nurse in charge of my grandchild would make her self known to his mother so she knew who was responsible for her child at all times.  I don’t think these children would get any better care any where else in the world. Do I need to say it again?? ‘FREE AT THE POINT OF DELIVERY’’

 

I could go on, and on, but don’t worry I won’t. I’m not going to bore you with my niece and her ears, of my nephew and his stomach or my sister who has celiac disease, or my daughter who had childhood asthma and eczema, or the child at school who fell during a football match (the ambulance arrived within minutes of being called).   

I don’t deny we have problems in health care, every health care system has problems. Sure sometimes you need to wait a little while, and sometimes the hospitals are short of cash, and sometimes charities donate equipment but these are problems experienced by any system attempting to provide good health care. But I absolutely and with out reservation believe our National Health Service is among the best in the world. I don’t know any thing about Canada’s health care system but for it to be lumped together with ours I suspect it is good.

 

So Mr McCain, I repeat….how bloody dare you insult something your people can only dream of.