What A Hero You Are, Adam!

“Civilisation is going to pieces … if we don’t look out the white race will be – will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.” Sentiments like this will be familiar to those who lurk in the less wholesome corners of the internet, where racism and other bigotries flourish. As a geneticist who specialises in racism and eugenics, I lurk so that you don’t have to.

Oh Adam, truly, you exemplify the saying 'Not all heroes wear capes'! In your own mind, that is.

What we are witnessing is a coordinated renaissance in eugenics and race science. One of these new race scientists, Emil Kirkegaard, leads a group that claims to have access to the sensitive health information of half a million British volunteers. Kirkegaard wrote on his blog in July that “Africans are prone to violence everywhere”.

And you find that remarkable, Adam? Do you live in a cave? 

It can feel strange to discuss something as anachronistic and outdated as race science. Most right-minded people occupy a world in which the idea of genetic superiority between races is disproven and disturbing.

'Most right minded people' = 'everyone who agrees with me' I suppose? 

Does that mean race is a biologically meaningful definition? It does not. Race as we currently use it is a socially constructed idea, but one with biologically meaningful consequences, such as in healthcare where many disease outcomes are significantly worse for racial minorities.The impact of disease correlates significantly with socioeconomic factors, primarily poverty, and in our society racial minorities are mostly in lower social strata. Black and brown people endure worse medical outcomes not because they are black or brown, but because of this fact.

Tim Worstall easily refutes this nonsense.  

In The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan ends his racist rant with a call to arms, one that echoes in our present: “It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.” Just as it was then, the current renaissance of eugenics and race science is nothing more than bigotry dressed up as biology.

Take a look around you, Adam. And note which races are doing things with impunity and recalculate your balance of power. 

Well, They Didn't Say The Connection Would Be A Long One....

A new play area at the National Arboretum designed to help children 'connect with nature' has been built beneath trees that drop poisonous berries. Two playgrounds, called Branch Out and Holford Hollow, feature climbing poles, ropes and a giant web-like structure. But they are tucked away among yew trees, which produce small orange or red berries that are attractive to children – but deadly if eaten.

Well, really, who'd eat berries they didn't know anything about?  

It comes months after a coroner expressed concern about the hidden danger yew berries pose after a boy collapsed and died from eating them during a walk in a park with his father.

Ah.  

The source, who asked not to be named, added the site for the play area had been chosen because it was a 'natural clearing' – but pointed out it was only clear because the extremely toxic yew trees had suppressed other plants.

I guess these days, we can't even expect the people who run the National Arboretum to know anything about trees... 

Last week, bosses put up some small signs reading: 'Caution. Most berries in the arboretum are not safe to eat. If you see them on the floor or in the trees please leave them where they are.' However, staff feared these signs were not obvious or specific enough.

Stick a skull and crossbones icon on them then.  

People Were Happy Granting Them An Inch....

...but now they've seen how they want to take a mile, they've changed their minds.

Public support for transgender people's ability to change the sex on their birth certificates has drastically fallen in recent years, a major survey reveals. Just 24 per cent of people now agree that trans people should be allowed to change their sex 'if they want' – compared to support levels of 58 per cent in 2016. The results have emerged as part of the British Social Attitudes report, carried out annually by the National Centre for Social Research.

Predictably, the trans activists are pointing at 'the media' as the culprit, because they've apparently been convincing the easygoing British public that there's a danger from trans people. Which is somehow not true. 

We are asked to assume that it's not the case that demanded medical overreach and stifling of mainstream opinion have harderned attitudes, that people would otherwise be totally fine with the use of a once-respected police force as a silencing agent for our free speech, even to the point of wasting time on non-crime. 

Researchers also looked at public opinion on trans rights – and came to similar conclusions. Asked whether they thought trans rights had gone too far, 47 per cent of the public thought they had.

I worry about the other forty-three percent, frankly!  

The researchers said: 'It could be argued that this apparent shift in attitudes may be restricted to the specific issue of gender self-identification.

'Alternatively, perhaps the intensity of debate [has] influenced attitudes towards people who are transgender more broadly, with the result that views towards society's protection of their rights may have shifted in a more illiberal direction.'

It's not society's protection of their rights that concerns people, it's their demands that everyone else's rights should be trampled on to give them what they can never have.  

We Enter Topsy-Turvey Land....

A Guardian article where they celebrate the fact that punters are getting ripped off by rapacious big business? Surely, you jest? 

There is, I can’t deny, something funny about the notion of clandestine agents roving the country’s drinking houses and measuring their pours down to the millilitre. But let’s take these findings seriously. Let us imagine that this is, in fact, one of the most pressing issues facing consumers. And let us focus specifically on beers, as this seems to be where the problems are greatest. What exactly a perfectly poured beer should look like is a tricky question. Some people like a bit more head on their pint of lager than others. Go to any pub in east London right now and you will find three graphic designers willing to talk to you for up to an hour about exactly how much foam there should be on top of a Guinness.

Ah, I see. It's a rant about 'Yuppies'. Did she sent this column in from the Eighties?  

Some people will happily just look at their pint, see it’s a little short, and ask the bartender to top it up. I’m not one of those people. I just can’t bring myself to do it, except perhaps in really egregious cases of underpouring. This is because there is a human being standing there who just gave me the pint. We have a culture of OK service in the UK. We don’t generally go in for the thrilling rudeness of, say, Parisian waiters, or the obsequious attention you get from US servers. I like it this way.

You like being shortchanged and treated like an inconvenience when you're handing over money? Strange... 

And when I worked behind a bar, if someone asked me to top up their beer, especially if the pub was busy, and especially if they did so with a look in their eye that implied I had intentionally shortchanged them, I hated it. I hated them. Oh, do excuse me, did sir want a thimbleful more beer? Will that be all, my liege? Does master’s pint meet with his approval now?

Ah, I see. You were resentful at having to work at all. Sorry, princess, but the bills have to be paid!  

...I sort of see the point of those who ask for the top-up. You buy a pint, you should get a pint. A simple and fair exchange of money for a specified good.

But … while it might be correct to the letter of the law to get a full imperial pint every time you order one, it does not feel true to the spirit of pints to quibble about it. Of those 86% of beers that were underpoured, the average deficit was only 4%. We are talking about less liquid than a single espresso.

It doesn't really matter what the amount is, it's the principle, surely?   

But for marginal cases, suck it up. A pint is, to a point, an idea. It is a lovely yellowy brown glass of “having a nice time”. The exact measurement should, rightly, be neither here nor there. Put the tape measure away, and enjoy your beer. Cheers.

Well, the customer is always right, didn't they teach you that one in your bar training? They want a full pint and they are entitled to one.  

A Sign Of Societal Change...

Another moral panicmoral panic rears its head, and inadvertantly throws a light on how we've changed in the last 50 years.

The next government should consider proposals to ban smartphones for under-16s within its first year, a committee of MPs has said.

And predictably, it's been met with scorn by the young themselves, and not greeted with wholehearted delight by parents. Why? Well, let them tell you: 

In Glossop, Derbyshire, parents' views on a potential ban were mixed. Courtney Clarke, who has a 13-year-old daughter, said she hated her having a smartphone but liked to be able to contact her when she is walking to and from school or out with friends.

Not something my parents used to be concerned about, but the need for parents to be in constant contact is a reflection of how unsafe society now seems. 

When I was on my way to school, I did so in a homogenous neighbourhood, where everyone knew each other, and authority figures (not just teachers, but neighbours, lollipop ladies, actual police officers, park staff) were always to be found and would act without hesitation or the need to consult H&S rulings or standard procedures. The violently mentally ill were not roaming the streets, and - though the IRA was active at the time - we had little to fear that indescriminate street terrorism would be a factor in our lives.  

“If I took my daughter’s phone off her, I am taking away her social life, and that is not good, either”, she said, adding that her daughter did not have the same access to youth clubs that she did when she was young. She said she would worry about her being bullied if she was forced to use a "brick" phone instead.

The killing of schoolchildren by other schoolchildren was unheard of, yet now, it's a constant worry. Even those who agree that there's a danger in smartphones are reluctant to give up the contact they provide:   

Joanne Whaley said she had already gone through bad experiences with her 12-year-old son's smartphone. “If I could change it, I would never have let him have one,” she said. “I would have let him have the old Nokias that we used to have so he could tell me where he is, but the internet being so available has been a disaster."

Is it just 'the internet' that's been a disaster? I don't think so. 

This Does Not Bode Well For The Future...

A school has changed its uniform rules to allow pupils to wear fake eyelashes due to 'mental health considerations'.

For the pupils, or the teachers? 

Parents were sent a letter informing them of the decision after attendance was affected by students wearing them.

Headteacher David Collins, of Knole Academy in Sevenoaks, Kent, said students were missing school to have their lashes removed or refusing to attend without them.

The letter said: 'We are increasingly seeing attendance affected by students taking time off to have false eyelashes removed or refusing to attend school through mental health considerations.

'Having students in school is the most important consideration and therefore... we shall allow false eyelashes to be worn as long as they are discreet.'

The lunatics really are running the asylum now. 

But one mother, whose daughter, 13, is a pupil at the school, said: 'We're a society being run by children, which I'm not going to stand for. Rules are rules and that's the end of it.'

If only! 

She said that in allowing fake eyelashes, the school was encouraging the girls to adopt age-inappropriate looks. The mother added: 'It's quite worrying because are they going to start getting the attention of older men?'

Probably not in Rochdale, where they like them a lot younger.

Oh Look, A New Disorder…

The number of people in the UK who have a previously little-known eating disorder, in which those afflicted avoid many foods, has risen sevenfold in five years, figures show. The eating disorders charity Beat received 295 calls about avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (Arfid) in 2018 – comprising 2% of its 20,535 inquiries that year. However, it received 2,054 calls last year, which accounted for one in 10 of its 20,535 requests for help. Many were from children and young people or their parents.

Hardly surprising, mental illness appears to be Britain's sole growth industry these days. 

Arfid is much less well-known than anorexia or bulimia. It is “an eating disorder that rarely gets the attention it deserves”.

I can't help but feel that 'getting attention' is critical here, though maybe not as the experts would have it. 

The disorder can be especially challenging to diagnose because it has such a wide range of symptoms that include:

• Feeling full after eating only a few mouthfuls and struggling to consume more.
• Taking a long time over mealtimes or finding eating a chore.
• Sensitivity to the texture, smell or temperature of foods.
• Eating the same meals repeatedly or eating food only of the same colour, such as beige.

Coincidentally, another 'Guardian' article on the same day has this: 

Young people are more likely to be out of work because of ill health than people in their early 40s, a report calling for action on Britain’s mental wellbeing crisis has found. People in their early 20s with mental health problems may have not had access to a steady education and can end up out of work or in low-paid jobs, the Resolution Foundation research revealed.According to official data, 34% of people aged 18 to 24 reported symptoms of mental disorder, such as depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder in 2021-22. It is a significant increase on the 2000 figure of 24%, with young women one-and-a-half times more likely to be negatively affected.

Shocker, eh? 

A Tale Of Two Sets Of Guidance...

Ministers have been accused of watering down guidance around new buffer zones outside abortion clinics in England and Wales, after it emerged campaigners could still be allowed to conduct silent prayers and approach women attending clinics to discuss the issue.

It says: “The term ‘influence’ is not defined in the statute and therefore takes its ordinary dictionary meaning. The government would expect ‘influence’ to require more than mere mention of abortion or the provision of information. As such, informing, discussing, or offering help, does not necessarily amount to ‘influence’.”

I wonder if that's a definition the government's own notorious 'nudge' unit would subscribe to? 

But no matter, it was always an absurdity to throw the weight of the state against people for silently praying for what they consider to be wrongdoers. And since it's guidance and not law, are they not free to ignore it anyway? 

Healthcare workers are being told not to report women to the police if they believe their patients may have illegally ended their own pregnancy. The Royal College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (RCOG) says "deeply traumatised" women are being prosecuted following abortions.

The new guidance follows a recent rise in police investigations into abortions. The RCOG says these cases are rare, however, and it is encouraging women to seek medical help if needed. NHS staff can breach confidentiality rules to give information to the police about possible crimes, but only if it is in the "public interest".

The RCOG says it is "never" in the public interest to report women who have abortions, and that they must be safeguarded.

Looks like they are! So, how's that sauce, goose? The gander loved it. 

Photography And The Police In The UK

Filming in public? Cut it out!

A pianist has slammed the 'ludicrous' demand from flag-waving Chinese tourists not to film them as he performed at a busy London station.

If they don't want to be filmed, stay in China, where the police enforce it, not in England, where the police w...

Oh, FFS! 

After the footage of the row went viral on social media, Mr Kavanagh appeared on TalkTV where he slammed the 'ludicrous' demand - including from a British Transport police officer who asked him not to upload it.

Ask away, you've no right to compel him. You've been told this over and over again and you've lost every time.  

This comes after one of two police officers, who were walking by and stopped due to the loud argument, told the pianist 'this is not to go on your channel' as Mr Kavanagh kept on filming after the officers intervened.

I know what you're thinking, Reader. Just another case of an ignorant male cop who isn't au fait with the law. Well...not quite!

When the police officers approached, one tourist said to the male officer that Mr Kavanagh filmed them and they asked him to remove the footage, but he refused.

'You're in a public place,' the policeman explained repeatedly - until the female officer chimed in and said to the cameraperson: 'Excuse me, if we're having a police matter, you need to put that phone down.'

No. He doesn't, Miss Diversity Hire, you should listen to your colleague.  

Meanwhile, elsewhere, filming your neighbour's children in their back garden? Go right ahead!

A grandfather has been told it's 'not a police matter' after he found a secret camera pointed at his grandson's treehouse that might have been put there by a convicted paedophile.

Martin Prior, 65, first contacted police on December 22, 2023, after discovering a CCTV camera placed on a lane by his property in Cross Keys, near Hereford.

An officer visited the next day and spoke to the suspected owner of the camera but Mr Prior was shocked when the police said they were powerless to act.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: 'We are aware of a concern raised about the placement of a CCTV camera.' 'However, no crime has been reported to us and therefore it is not a police matter. CCTV concerns need to be raised with the Information Commissioner's Office.'

And what does the Information Commissioner's Office say?

'The use of recording equipment, such as CCTV or smart doorbells, to capture video or sound recordings outside the user's property is not a breach of data protection law.

'People should try to point their CCTV cameras away from their neighbours' homes, shared spaces, or public streets. But this is not always possible.

'If someone is recording your child using CCTV, we would suggest talking to the person doing the recording.

'If you feel the person is filming your child inappropriately or to cause them harm, you should contact the police.'

A perfect snapshot (Ed: *preens*) of the situation with the police in this country. 

Update: And it's not just photography. Who is in charge of recruiting these people?

No, This Is Not A Failure Of The Justice System...

“I thought any sensible judge would dismiss the charge completely. It’s just asinine,” Moore said. “There were failures in the criminal justice system all the way around.”

...this is the justice system working as it should. To prevent First World countries looking (and smelling) like Third World ones.

The child’s mother has said her son urinated behind her vehicle while she was visiting a lawyer’s office in Senatobia, Mississippi, on 10 August. Police officers in the town of about 8,100 residents, 40 miles (64km) south of Memphis, Tennessee, saw the child urinating and arrested him. Officers put him in a squad car and took him to the police station.

Public urination is an offence. Don't want to be arrested for it? Don't do it. Ten years old is surely old enough to learn this. 

It was initially unclear whether prosecutors would take up the case. Moore said he had planned on going to trial, but shifted strategy after prosecutors threatened to upgrade the charges and the child’s family chose to accept the probation sentence because it would not appear on the boy’s criminal record. The 10-year-old is required to check in with a probation officer once per month.

In the States, they probably have those in schools too, as well as police officers. But what's an attorney to do in a case like this?

"Race Card?"

"That'll do nicely..." 

Moore said he doesn’t believe a white child would have been arrested under similar circumstances.“I don’t think there is a male in America who has not discreetly urinated in public,” Moore said.

Does that make it right, then? 

“Sentencing anyone, let alone a young child, to probation under these facts is sure to add to the trauma and denigration this child has suffered since their arrest,” Ndiaye said. “This is all the more proof that we need to severely limit police interactions with civilians, from petty retail theft to traffic stops and even so-called ‘quality of life’ offenses. For Black people in America, it is a matter of life and death.”

Oh, please! Could you lay on the hyperbole any thicker? How exactly are the police supposed to do their job without interacting with civilians? 

Transforming The High Street...

From redundant office blocks to old cinema and club sites, bold new plans are set to shape the future of the sites, changing the skyline forever.

In the biggest application, submitted to Southend Council, Comer Homes wants to turn Alexander House, an old HMRC office block in Victoria Avenue, into 557 self-contained flats with shops on the ground floor.

Another benefit of the 'working from home' movement? 

In Alexander Street, developer Vikesh Kotecha has submitted plans to convert the partially-demolished Empire Theatre, later known as the ABC cinema, into 22 luxury self-contained flats with shops on the ground floor.

The same developer is also planning on a development on the former Churchill’s diner site, in Tylers Avenue, which has been vacant since 2021.

This is where new homes need to be built, not on the greenbelt! But the utilities and services need to be increased in line with them. And seldom does that ever happen.

A Court Case For The Times...

Sadly, the times we are living in. And they are pretty horrific.

The alleged perpetrators, feral and with seemingly no parenting to speak of:

Her alleged killers – a boy and girl both aged 15 at the time – were 'preoccupied with violence, torture and death' and had swapped messages discussing how they wanted to kill people they knew, Manchester Crown Court heard. 

Girl X told Boy Y that after they met up, the plan was to 'grab onto Brianna slit her throat when she starts to fall stab her in the back then pass me knife'. She added: 'I want to stab her at least once even if she's dead jus coz it's fun lol.' 

Jurors were told that since being held in a secure unit, Girl X had been found to have 'traits of autism and ADHD' and showed 'high levels of anxiety'. Boy X had been diagnosed with autism, they were told, along with a 'high level of social anxiety'.

The justice system, concerned less with the victim than the welfare of the defendants:

... the trial is being conducted with 'more informality' than normal, the trial judge, Mrs Justice Yip, told them, with both accused being helped to follow proceedings by 'intermediaries'.

The victim, narcissistic and damaged by gender nonsense:

...Brianna was living as a young woman at the time of her death but was born a boy with the name Brett Spooner. 

On the eve of what would have been Brianna’s 17th birthday, her mum, Esther Ghey, spoke to ITV News and said she feels like there's a "hole" in her heart but is bittersweet as people are celebrating her daughter's life as "Brianna would've wanted that.” 

The student had dreams of becoming TikTok famous, having racked up an impressive 31,000 followers on the social media platform with her videos.

What to say? Those who decry the concept of  'broken Britain' should take a good hard look at this case and reconsider. 

’As a result, a member of staff at the children’s home has been suspended.’

Frankly, I'm struggling to see why it hasn't been shut down:

In a letter submitted to the court, one police officer who has visited the child multiple times noted that “he is always vaping or smoking tobacco” when he met him in the community. Having challenged the children’s home staff as to how the child was able to buy these products, as he is always accompanied, the officer observed: “[They] have no reasonable answer.” The same officer wrote how the boy is “very open about the use of [cannabis] and … smokes it in the house and bedroom in an open manner … The on-site care staff are aware and never challenge him”.

 Are they being paid to? I’m guessing they are. If so, why are they not being told to do their job or GTFO..?

The boy is subject to a deprivation of liberty order, in which a local authority can ask the high court for permission to deprive a child of their liberty for their own protection. This occurs when they do not meet the criteria to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. A deprivation of liberty order allows a child in an unregistered placement – because no secure registered placement is available – to be subject to restrictions on their liberty. Upon hearing the boy is subject to the order, Lieven said such a situation continuing could be seen as “a legal sticking plaster” for a “wholly unacceptable” standard of care.

That’s because it’s what it is. I very much doubt he’s the only young thug in these circumstances, and we are likely to need more and more of these places, thanks to the standards of parenting in this country, so why aren’t we building them and staffing them appropriately?

Why Wouldn’t You Want To Know?

The census may be the biggest mass participation event in the country, but there is a strong possibility that the last such poll across the UK has already been held.

There's a reason why it was started, as the 'Guardian' tells us. 

The first official census in Britain was conducted at a time of great national insecurity. Amid failing harvests and a war with France, MPs were concerned that the country could run out of bread to feed its population. The problem was, nobody knew how big that population actually was. And so, on 10 March 1801, the first census of England and Wales was held (it counted 8.9 million people, roughly equivalent to the current population of London).

So, is this now a case of the government not wanting an answer to a question they already know, and perhaps fear? 

Proposals by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which conducts the survey in England and Wales, suggest the government intends to scrap the census in 2031, relying instead on a network of disparate public sector sources of data.

Ah, public sector data. There's a reliable alternative, eh? 

What Use Are The Police..?

It took thieves just 47 seconds to steal Rosie Wetherhill’s ebike from outside a Chinese takeaway.

Wetherhill, a 23-year-old bike courier from Leeds, had considered locking her bike to the railing when she went in to collect the order, but she knew the takeaway was fast. So she locked the back wheel with a D-lock instead. A mistake. As she saw her £1,300 ebike disappear around a corner, Wetherhill felt a sense of dread. “I knew I would probably never see that bike again,” she says. “Because I know how it is.” The bike wasn’t insured. She’d only had it for two months. She called 999, and told police that the bike was fitted with a tracking device, but it wasn’t working. They told her to call back if it started working again.

A few days later, an officer called. “He told me that if there was CCTV from the Chinese takeaway, then I would need to go and get that myself because the police were not going to do it for me,” says Wetherhill. “It was quite insulting.”

It's more than that, it's utterly appalling. Whet are they being paid to do, if not this? 

“It’s a crime where there is no jeopardy for the perpetrators,” says Tom Parker, 35, a marketing worker from near Epsom. In July, Parker witnessed two teenagers stealing a bike outside a Surrey train station. “I ran at them, shouting,” Parker says. They threw the bike at him and disappeared. Parker called 999. “‘We can’t do anything,’” he recalls the handler telling him, advising him to take the bike home. “But then,” Parker told her, frustrated, “I’ve stolen it!”

I always thought they staffed the emergency lines with the dumbest recruits, and it seems I'm right... 

Parker posted about the incident in a local Facebook group. The following morning, he rang Surrey police. “I said, ‘I have this bike. I don’t want it in my garage. I can’t be the guardian of it for ever.’” The police officer told him to keep posting on Facebook. “They said,” he remembers, “‘We can’t call it a crime, because no one has reported it.’ I said, ‘It is a crime! I saw it happening.’”

Is it laziness? Is it lack of care? Are they told to limit the number of crimes recorded? 

Is it all three? 

Just as he was beginning to despair, someone got in touch via Facebook. His bike had been stolen that evening – and he had reported it to the Metropolitan police. He shared his crime reference number with Parker and Parker reunited him with the bike. A few days later, Parker received an email from the police. He says it advised him that no one had reported the bike stolen. “I responded,” Parker says, “and said, ‘They did report it. Here’s the attachment. I consider the matter closed, because I gave the bike back!’”

Can we ever trust the crime figures, if they are collated like this? No wonder they keep repeating the mantra that 'crime is down'... 

And when they do show a touch of concern, it's for the wrong people:

In Cambridge, police estimate that 70% of cycle crime is committed by people with substance abuse problems. “We have these chaotic, disastrous offenders,” says Tudor, “who tend to have heavy drug habits. They take bikes opportunistically. They sell them for a flat fee to informal handlers within local criminal networks, usually for about £50.” Tudor has interviewed these offenders. “They come across as quite vulnerable,” she says.

Funny, normal people would say that's how the victims of crime should be described. 

These incidents have eroded public trust in the police even further. “We have these ideas of what the police are there for,” says Andy Higgins of policing thinktank The Police Foundation. “If something bad happens, the police are there for you. Or they should be.” In policing terms, bike theft is a high-volume, low-level crime. But that’s not how its victims experience it. “These things may be mundane and transactional from the police point of view,” says Higgins, “but they actually are not to many people.”

Indeed. And if they can't get the little stiff right, why trust them on larger stuff? 

Police forces had their real-terms funding cut by 19% from 2010/2011 to 2018/2019. “People get very angry about the police and their shortcomings,” says Tudor. “But they are operating in a very limited sphere. They are constantly given political directives they have to adhere to. They have funding cuts. They have staffing cuts. It is an impossible task.”

Not when they can send so many police after the fact, no... 

"Siri, Why Do People Shun Public Transport?"

"Here's something I found online..."

A row has broken out after a rail passenger was allegedly threatened with being reported to police due to the smell of his feet.

Ugh! 

Joe Mason said he had been 'victimised, humiliated and made to feel like a second class citizen' by a member of Southern Rail staff after taking his shoes off on a train. Southern Rail said it was investigating the incident but denied these claims.

The picture of him in the paper is somewhat telling, I feel... 

"I attempted to explain that I had a medical condition that results in my feet blistering and that removing my shoe helped to ease my pain.

"The Southern Railway staff member then told me I was lying and even threatened to get the transport police if I did not put on my shoe."

Quite right too! 

Imagine Feeling The Need To Say This..?

The boss of retailer Co-op Food has warned people to not defend shoplifters and that the majority are drug gangsters.

Who on earth is 'defending' shoplifting..? 

Matt Hood, Co-op Food managing director, made the remarks after denying that an uptick in thefts at the retailer's stores was a response to the alleged profiteering by supermarkets during tough times.

Oh, right. Of course! I should have known...

In comments made to the Telegraph, he said that the reason for the slew of thefts was mainly because shoplifters use baby formula 'to cut drugs'. The grocer has recorded its highest levels of crime in the six months to June, seeing almost 1,000 incidents a day. This marks a 35 per cent increase year-on-year.

And it helps if the government has a handy scapegoat to deflect attention from their own lack of competence to deal with such issues as rampant crime caused by lazy cops, doesn't it? 

Many, including the Government, have accused the grocery sector of 'greedflation' over the past 12 months as consumers tighten their belts amid the cost-of-living pressures.

Any, errr, evidence of this so-called 'greedflation'..? 

Despite some supermarkets being accused of ripping their shoppers off, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said it has not found any evidence of profiteering in the industry.

Didn't think so... 

They Are Getting Worried, Aren't They?

Good!

Office workers in central London are spending on average 2.3 days a week in the workplace, according to a report that warns against a wholesale switch to working from home.

And who has commissioned this report? Someone with an agenda? 

The thinktank Centre for Cities carried out polling of office workers in the capital and found they were spending 59% of the time in their workplace compared with pre-Covid levels.

But the report, entitled Office Politics: London and the Rise of Home Working, warns that, despite the upfront benefits for staff in terms of better work-life-balance and less commuting, there may be longer-term costs for the capital in terms of lost productivity.

Ah. Of course. Who else commissions reports these days? 

He pointed to firms’ ability to hire staff from a local pool of high-skilled labour, as well as the benefits within companies of the creativity that comes with face-to-face interaction, and the on-the-job learning that takes place between colleagues.

Yup, we hear the same crap from my workplace, disregarding the fact that many teams are scattered around the country and so never meet (except virtually) anyway... 

The report, supported by the Eastern City business improvement district, which includes firms in that part of London, calls for policies to encourage workers to return.

These could include scrapping peak-time fares on a Friday morning to tempt commuters, and launching a public information campaign to underline the benefits of office life.

Well, who could argue with a public information campaign? We all know how truthful they are... 

Never A Truer Word Spoken...

Speaking at the vigil, one of Harvey's uncles said: 'We're all tarred with the same brush here, especially given what happened on Monday.

'But this is the true Ely. Look how many people have turned out to pay their respects.'

And how do they do that? By blocking the roads and littering the surrounding area:

 Pity the farmers in the surrounding area...

'The only difference between Monday and today is that the police aren't here.'

Don't really blame them, do you? 

'They were just young boys. Everyone rides bikes and scooters around here. Yes, we find them annoying but that's just what they do.

'But as soon as those coppers saw they had no helmets they should've stopped.'

There are no responsible adults in the place who feel it's their job to raise chilren correctly? Then build a wall around the place and leave them to their own devices... 

When Campaigns Are Too Successful...

This year’s big week, run by the Mental Health Foundation, starts on Monday. Its theme is anxiety, a disorder affecting a quarter of adults, according to the foundation – a statistic that sounds unbelievably large until you read its description of the condition, which seems almost broad enough to take in the full sweep of human experience.

“Lots of things can lead to feelings of anxiety, including exam pressures, relationships, starting a new job (or losing one) or other big life events. We can also get anxious when it comes to things to do with money and not being able to meet our basic needs, like heating our home or buying food.”

We used to call this 'life' once, didn't we? And got on with it? In fact, wasn't it once a peculiarly British trait? 

Britain is certainly more aware than it used to be. Diagnoses have broadened – more of us see grief and stress as mental illnesses than we did a decade ago. Therapy-speak infuses the language: triggering, boundaries, projection, self-care – stiff-upper-lipped Brits have expanded their vocabularies.

No more, it would seem... 

The theme of last year’s mental health awareness week was loneliness. Previous years have covered nature and mental health, kindness and body image. These awareness campaigns seem to work by stretching the concept of mental illness into the realm of common experience – linking anxious feelings to anxiety, or relating depression to the stresses of everyday life.

Which isn't good for anyone. Except those peddling snake oil 'cures' and remedies. They must be making out like bandits...