Without honour

There were over 2,000 so called "honour" attacks last year in the UK, mostly against vulnerable women and all committed by members of the other than white multicultural parts of our society.
BBC.

UK police recorded at least 2,823 so-called honour attacks last year, figures from 39 out of 52 forces show.
A freedom of information request by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (Ikwro) revealed that nearly 500 of these were in London.
Among the 12 forces also able to provide figures from 2009, there was an overall 47% rise in such incidents.
Honour attacks are punishments on people, usually women, for acts deemed to have brought shame on their family.
Such attacks can include acid attacks, abduction, mutilations, beatings and in some cases, murder.
Ikwro said its research, carried out between July and November, is the best national estimate so far of the extent of honour violence in Britain, although the charity says the figures do not give the full picture.
A quarter of police forces in the UK were unable or unwilling to provide data and communities have often been reluctant to talk about the crime, Ikwro said.
Its director Diana Nammi said families often tried to deny the existence of honour attacks and those who carried them out were "very much respected".
She told the BBC: "The perpetrators will be even considered as a hero within the community because he is the one defending the family and community's honour and reputation."

 The Western concept of honour was always to protect the weak and defenceless and the worst thing that used to happen in the occasional case of a knocked up daughter was a shot gun wedding. No, I'm not saying that we're saints or anything of the sort, just that our concept of honour never included mutilation, acid attacks, abductions or murder, certainly not these days. Nor can you escape the hypocrisy of the situation where many of the men in these communities see white western women as whores to be used yet will kill their own sister/daughters if they even attempt to live the same lifestyle as the men.
We really ought to change the wording of this sort of activity, there is no honour in it at all, though I'm a bit stumped as to what we could call it, something that when charged would bring ridicule and shame on the perpetrators would do, perhaps honour violation will do.
We'd probably have done this country a lot more good if we'd just allowed the ladies to come here and not their men. It seems we have opened the gates to barbarians in the name of multiculturalism and tolerance.

When in a hole...

Stop digging, common sense really, if you're already in the public eye for say getting your partner to admit to a driving offence that you actually committed, it might just be best to keep squeaky clean at least until the heat dies down. But of course this is politics and politicians we're talking about...
Telegraph.

Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, has been caught attempting to smear two Tory Cabinet colleagues in a single weekend.
The Lib Dem minister admitted briefing against Theresa May by tipping off a national newspaper that a section of her controversial party conference speech on human rights appeared to have been plagiarised.
And Mr Huhne was embarrassed again after claiming in a television interview that Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, had recently received points on his licence for speeding.
A source close to Mr Hammond, who last month announced plans to increase the motorway speed limit from 70mph to 80mph, vigorously denied the claims and suggested that the Lib Dem minister should “check his facts”.
In the same BBC interview Mr Huhne apologised to Mrs May, the Home Secretary, for telling a journalist from The Guardian that part of her speech appeared to have been copied from a previous speech made by Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader.

 Now as far as I can tell the plagiarisation claims are a bit spurious as Farage and May used the same source, a story in the Daily Mirror earlier this year, if anything they are only guilty of not checking the actual facts in that the story is a bit of an urban myth. Not that I have a great deal of sympathy towards May anyway, the stories she used in the speech were all aimed at the HRA and the abuses within it, without mentioning the fact there's sod all the government can do about it short of leaving the EU. As for Farage, well, brilliant speeches, but UKIP are currently in the doldrums as there is little or no direction from the top. They should be gaining in the polls, but they aren't, perhaps a rebranding and a change of emphasis on to local policies rather than the anti-EU bit which we all know about wouldn't go amiss, dropping the logo wouldn't hurt either.
As for "windmill" Huhne well I wonder if the government will remove him, doubt it, there aren't that many Lib Dems available to put in his place and I cannot see EuroClegg allowing a Tory to occupy the position of Energy Minister, why they might actually insist on a policy which works when the wind isn't blowing.
Huhne is clearly damaged goods though and I doubt he'll be much of a problem to the government or the press, they have his number and he'll always be a marked man now, untrusted to a higher degree than most of his colleagues. His judgement and clearly his luck is badly flawed, and he seems to have forgotten one of the golden rules of plotting in that you should never put anything down in writing, particularly in an electronic medium.
I do hope this is the last straw though, the guy is clearly unhinged with his enviroloony proposals and it would be nice to get someone in there who actually understands about power generation and costs.
I'm not going to hold my breath though...

 

Jailed indefinitely

Interesting term "jailed indefinitely" it really doesn't mean life, it just means we wont let you out till we're sure you aren't a risk or you manage to use the Human Rights Act to get around us.

Lancashire Telegraph.

A TEENAGER has been jailed indefinitely for raping a pensioner in her own home at knifepoint.

Farhan Ahmed, 18, sneaked into the woman’s house in Nelson to carry out a brutal two-hour attack described by senior a Lancashire detective as ‘the worst I’ve ever seen.’

And it has emerged that Ahmed had been kicked out of school and college for sexual touching.

Ahmed was was given an indefinite prison sentence for public protection, with a recommendation he serve a minimum 10-year jail term.

Burnley Crown Court heard Ahmed, then 17, prowled the streets armed with a stick looking for vulnerable women.

He sneaked into the house in the early hours through an unlocked back door, picked up a kitchen knife before confronting the victim.

The drunken youngster then forced her to carry out a series of ‘humiliating and degrading’ acts.

Det Supt Ian Critchley, head of Lancashire Police’s public protection unit, said: “This was the most despicable and callous attack that I have ever seen.

"It will have a lifelong impact on the victim.

"Ahmed continues to show no remorse, and has shown none throughout the proceedings.

Ok, it would be easy enough to go off on one about the "Religion of Peace", but in this case there are others out there who have committed other similar crimes or worse offences and will remain in jail indefinitely as the evidence against them including a confession has them "bang to rights" as the saying goes.
Normally I'm against capital punishment on the grounds that mistakes can be made, not for any moral or religious reasons, simply that if you get it wrong in that instance you can't make it right with a wad of compensation thrown in.
But, I do believe there is a case for capital punishment for the worst of crimes where the evidence and the conviction have moved the judgement of peers past the stage of reasonable doubt into the realms of no doubt whatsoever.
The ultimate deterrent for those crime that are truly abhorrent and would involve locking away (and feeding and keeping at our expense) not just murder but but any crime that would preclude ever being released back into society. These should be put before a committee and a decision made on the evidence and trauma for the victim as to whether execution is an option rather than keeping them locked up. All aspects from mental health, remorse or possibility of rehabilitation including the prospects of ever being able to live normally in society ever again should be taken into account and then a recommendation made to senior judges at an appeal panel. If the appeal fails then swift execution follows, no hanging around for years with appeal after appeal.
There are some, Sutcliffe, Huntley and Farhan Ahmed who do not deserve even the privilege of being incarcerated at Her Majesties pleasure, they have been caught bang to rights and it would be cheaper simply to rid ourselves of them.

Tit for Tat

Seems Iran is a tad upset at us keeping something of theirs (for a change) as opposed to just generally being upset with us.

Well, not quite upset, more miffed than irate, though our initial acquisition of the item is probably in the grand style of the Elgin Marbles.

But perhaps we should retain it until they give us back our assorted dinghies.

Iran cuts ties with British Museum over Cyrus Cylinder

Iran's national museum has said it will cut all ties with the British Museum in protest at a decision to delay the loan of an ancient Persian treasure.
The Cyrus Cylinder dates back to the 6th Century BC and is regarded as the world's first declaration of rights.
The British Museum says it needs to keep the artifact until the summer in order to continue its research.
But the head of Iran's state cultural organisation said the move was unacceptable and politically motivated.
"The Cultural Heritage Organisation has cut all its relations and co-operation with the British Museum," said the head of the organisation, Hamid Baqaie, according to Reuters news agency.
He said his organisation would send a letter of complaint to the UN's cultural body, Unesco, and suggested Iran would incur considerable costs because of the delay.

Symbol of early rights

He also threatened to write to all world museums to caution them against working with the British Museum.
In September, the British Museum said it would have to delay handing over the 2,500-year-old clay cylinder due to unspecified "practicalities".
But, last month, the museum said the reason it needed to keep the object was in order to compare it with two recently discovered tablets, thought to be from the same period.
The cylinder was ordered to be made by Persian king Cyrus following the conquest of Babylon.
Covered in tiny lettering called cuneiform, it is said to represent the first bill of rights and encapsulate religious tolerance.

Surely we wouldn't do something like that now would we?  :-D