How About 'People' Or 'Citizens'..?

Good question! But are you sure it's really had its day?

As with “black”, BAME’s critics are right to highlight the term’s shortcomings – it feels wonky and contrived while implying that all ethnic minorities are part of a homogeneous group. Moreover, it has never really sat well with ethnic minorities themselves. Indeed, BAME has been a particularly unsuccessful candidate for widespread adoption.

According to Google Trends, searches for “BAME” shot up in April 2020 – probably because of its frequent usage in reporting Covid health disparities. The fact that it’s already on the scrapheap shows the term was never really fit for purpose.

Oh, it's served one purpose, perhaps its original one - to divide and label us all, to seperate the deserving sheep from the racist goats. The racehustlers and grievancemongers will be bereft when it's confined to the dustbin... 

With BAME unloved and on the way out, the question now is what should replace it, exactly?

Over to you, Reader! 

I Try Not To CriticiseThe Police Constantly...

...but they do make it hard sometimes:

A pensioner was given a police warning after she had a socially distanced cup of tea with her neighbours in their communal garden.

Officers turned up at the 82-year-old’s sheltered housing complex home at 9.45pm to question her about the incident – after she’d settled into bed to watch television.

The woman's daughter is understandably furious.

She added her mother did not deserve the warning from police and had been unreasonably disturbed late in the evening.

‘I made a complaint to the police station. As soon as my mum opened the door the worst things began racing through her mind.’

Mrs Magovern said. ‘I really do not understand why the police thought a few elderly folk drinking tea, socially distanced in a communal garden, is a priority.

‘My son works for the London Met and even he could not believe what I was telling him.

‘We all have been left thinking, what a waste of police resources.’

I expect the farce's social media squad is on high alert for criticism of their actions. They aren't backing down, that's for sure - rules is rules, innit?  

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said: ‘An officer has spoken to the complainant and an explanation was provided in response to concerns raised. She was content with this and the matter has been resolved.

‘Police received a report of a potential Covid breach on Tuesday 9 March at 1.30pm suspecting that there was a gathering involving people from multiple households in a residential garden in Charlton Kings, Cheltenham.

‘Covid response officers attended later that day at around 9.45pm where some residents were spoken to and given words of advice around current restrictions.

‘Officers are deployed to incidents based on an assessment of the threat, risk and harm of the incident and in this case officers who are part of the Covid response team and are deployed across the county attended later that evening.’

If you'd attended a few weeks later and at 9am it'd still have been a waste of police time and resources. 

The Right Stuff..?

European space chiefs have launched their first recruitment drive for new astronauts in 11 years...

Excellent news!  

...with particular emphasis on encouraging women and people with disabilities to join missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars.

Wait, what? Identity politics in space now...? 

The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Tuesday that it was looking to boost the diversity of its crews as it cavassed for up to 26 permanent and reserve astronauts.

Why? Space exploration is a tough enough job without having the added burden of someone who is potentially weaker than male crewmates, or needs expensive adaptations to perform to the same level.

I mean, what possible reason would you have, other than the PR opportunity? 

Adapting technology that enabled humans to be in space could open the opportunity for people with disabilities, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti said.

“When it comes to space travel, we are all disabled,” Cristoforetti added.

But some will now be more disabled than others. 

Hey, I Found It!

The most niche 'Guardian' article ever!

Adriana Pierce is empowering queer female and non-binary performers whose relationships have been excluded from classical dance.

What..?!  

Pierce, who left the company after seven seasons to focus on choreography and musical theatre, has rarely felt represented as a queer woman in the ballet world but with her new movement, #QueertheBallet, she hopes to inspire change.

Her first project is a pas de deux en pointe choreographed on the American Ballet Theatre dancers Remy Young and Sierra Armstrong, which she is developing during a dance residency at the Bridge Street theatre in Catskill, New York.

“I want to show people an authentic, complex relationship between two women through ballet,” Pierce explains. “I want people to see that ballet can be more than a man lifting a woman in a tutu.”

When The Pendulum Swings Too Far...

The 'Guardian' on the sometimes unsettling history of black and minority police officers:

They told of “old sweats” or “John Wayne types” who were openly racist towards the public. “Words such as ‘spooks’, ‘nigger’ and ‘coon’ are in such general use throughout the service that one officer counted 230 instances in one week,” the summary said.

Decsribing a time in the past when things were undoubtedly bad. But that's not the case today, surely? 

Thirty years on from that historic event – more than half a century after Norwell Roberts, now celebrated as the UK’s first postwar black police officer, donned his uniform – black and Asian officers are still struggling to find their place in the police service.

Really? Today's police offices still resound to the epithets from unreconstructed dinosaurs in uniform? 

Few now say they hear racial slurs in their stations or find racist graffiti on their lockers or faeces in their helmets. In policing, as in wider society, the line has been drawn against such overt discrimination.

So...what's the issue? 

Why Are We Pandering To Idiots?

As coronavirus continues to grip the nation, the vaccine rollout continues in order to protect the most vulnerable in society.

Yet scepticism about it and its effectiveness has persisted, with some fearing possible side-effects of getting the jab.

'Some'..? Well, maybe. It has been an extraordinary quick response to a pandemic. It's not a surprise some are sceptical.  

Levels of this scepticism are highest among the Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, according to a Royal Society for Public Health survey which found that BAME groups were less likely to want to get the Covid vaccine.

Ah. We are in the realms of identity politics here, I see,  

Dean Henry was born and bred in Gloucester, and has lived in the Barnwood area for 33 years.

His parents are both Jamaican and moved to Gloucester before he was born. He said that a major reason for the doubt amongst his community is the lack of trust in its safety, and fears over side effects.

Fair enough. I'm sure there are plenty of people in other demographics with the same concerns.  

"Most of the stuff we hear in the news is that we're okay to take it, but that it hasn't been tested over a long period of time.

"So we want to know whether there's any specific testing among our community."

Let's ask the experts! 

Dr Mala Ubhi, from NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The vaccines approved for use in the UK have met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set out by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

"The MHRA follows international standards of safety; any coronavirus vaccine that is approved must go through all the clinical trials and safety checks all other licensed medicines go through.

"The Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca trials involved participants from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.”

There. Happy now? 

He added that the lack of BAME representation in the media can also lead to mistrust of the news: "The people who work at news agencies may not look like me, so they may not have those kind of questions in their mind." 

Wait, what..? Who was that medical representative, again?  

Dr Mala Ubhi, from NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group...

Hmmm. Maybe it's me, but if you won't believe him, why on earth should journalists who 'look like you' make any difference? 

The Art Of The Hustle...

Sturridge and his partner Jamilla Ferreira rented an £18,500-per-month Cheshire mansion from Alan O'Neill and his wife Katie in October 2018, during the footballer's six-year stint at Liverpool.

But, less than two months after they moved in, Sturridge and Ms Ferreira discovered a profile called 'n*****' when they accessed the O'Neills' Netflix app on their Apple TV account.

It belonged to the O'Niell's young son. A fan of rap music, apparently. And O'Neil apologised for any offence (though you'd think a footballer would be able to afford his own Netflix account). 

That should have been the end of it. 

Reader, it wasn't, of course...

Sturridge and Ms Ferreira sent Mr and Mrs O'Neill a letter on December 10, stating that their older children were in the wrong if they had ignored the existence of the account.

The letter, reported in The Times, read: 'Your son can play act this word, but at the end of the day he goes back to his privileged "white skin" existence.'

Because being able to rent a mansion isn't in any way 'privileged'... 

Correspondence between the families became heated when the O'Neills pursued Sturridge in the county court for £67,000 of unpaid rent.

Sturridge paid the rent in July 2019 but then filed a different claim for damages 'in respect of the defendants' discrimination against them and/or harrassment on the grounds of their race'.

Well, of course! But turns out he's a better footballer than he is a gambler: 

Just days before the discovery of the account in November, Sturridge had been charged with allegedly breaching FA betting rules. He was slapped with a £75,000 fine and was banned for six weeks - but four of the weeks were suspended.

And now a judge has dismissed their £100,000 claim for damages and discrimination. Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

Why Are You Blaming One Man..?

My dad, Cliff Anderson, 88, was twice misdiagnosed and sent home from hospital a week before he died with Covid.

On the first occasion he was diagnosed with hypoglycaemia. He was diabetic, but religious in taking his medication, so I thought that was rubbish.

On the second, his notes said he had a chest infection, an unexplained dry cough and shortness of breath. I thought it could be Covid, but the tests were negative.

On the third occasion he had collapsed with an enormous Covid-induced stroke. The ambulance took four and a half hours to arrive at his home in Higher Shotton, north Wales.

And that was the last I saw of my dad. The consultant rang to say: “Your father has had a significant left lobe stroke and he’s Covid positive, and has Covid pneumonia.” And I just thought: “I’ve known this for a week. A week!” He had typical symptoms for the elderly.

He'd been shielding but they think an asymptomatic carer brought the virus into the house. It's a shocking indictment of the NHS and their... 

Oh.

Today, I am just so angry at Boris saying he couldn’t have done any more.

Now, I think Boris is a buffoon whose lockdowns are going to eventually kill more people than covid, but unless he was moonlighting as a carer, I fail to see how he's somehow personally responsible for your father's death. 

It seems to me that there's a lot more people to blame. And they all work in the 'caring' NHS. The one that idiots clap like seals. 

He hadn’t closed the borders. Only now, almost a year on, he’s talking of closing them. There was no PPE for carers or doctors, exposing frontline staff to enormous viral load like cannon fodder. There was no testing until it was way way too late. There was “eat out to help out”. There was changing the rules constantly. There was backing that amateur, Dominic Cummings. I see Johnson’s father has had two vaccines. My dad never even got his letter. He still hasn’t.

You live in Wales, where your government has slapped draconian restrictions on people buying children's books and clothes, and had their police stopping people at the border. Yet the virus got through anyway. Brought in by the failing NHS and caring staff.

Not by Rishi. Not by Dominic. 

My father’s death was avoidable. We’d kept him safe for a year. He wasn’t a bloody number.

He was to the NHS though... 

Are Some Judges Waking Up..?

A judge has slammed 'nonsensical and very wrong' sentencing laws after he was forced to let off a Spice-addled thug who beat up a boy with a shorter jail term.

Welcome to our world, your honour! What took you so long? 

He told Davies: 'You loaded a crack pipe with Spice, smoked it and then, whilst hallucinating, you set on a defenceless 10-year-old boy.

'You physically assaulted him in a deranged way, in a scene akin to a horror film. This is a child who has suffered serious psychological harm.

'It is obvious to anyone with any common sense that your actions towards that child would have put them in fear.

'Every type of sentence has been tried in your case from community orders to suspended sentences, but you have failed to respond to them.

'On this occasion you went out and bought spice when your release note setting out the terms and conditions was still in your pocket. You treated it with utter contempt.'

Of course he did. And why not? It is, after all, worthy of contempt, is it not? 

Davies served 19 months of his sentence including time served on remand before being freed on December 18 last year with 20 months to go of his sentence.

I bet his brief didn't have to work too hard: 

In mitigation Davies's defence counsel Anthony Morris said: 'A report on him recognises there has been a significant emotional impact on the child but there is no suggestion it is the most serious type of harm.

'Medical evidence suggests the victim was clinically well and medically fit when he was last seen.

'While the defendant has been a regular spice user this is the first occasion where he has responded with violence.'

Oh, really? What say the prosecution? 

'He has two previous convictions for battery in 2012 and 2016.

'This was a sustained assault by an adult on a child who ended up having to lock himself in the bathroom.

'This 10-year-old child must have been affected by what was an ordeal for him.'

Hmmm. Maybe the judge should be looking at all the people treating the justice system with contempt... 

Infantilising The Population, One Scouser At A Time...

Liverpool is set to become the first city in the country to officially back a call for the 'right to food' to be enshrined in law. 

And if this succeeds, what next? A 'right' to clothes, heating, transportation, accommodation, the latest technology..?

The government is coming under increasing pressure over the issue of food poverty, with footballer and campaigner Marcus Rashford forcing changes in policy after highlighting the struggles many families are going through.

Like poor Sharon, who hasn't eaten for at least 40 minutes! 

Mr Byrne will seek the support of Liverpool Council for the campaign with a motion at Wednesday's meeting.

He said: "We need a change in the law to ensure people do not go hungry any longer and to hold the Government to account on their failings.

"Given how many of our own citizens will benefit from the change in the law we want to achieve, it is entirely fitting that Liverpool becomes the first ‘Right To Food’ city.”

Oh, you're right! It is entirely fitting, though not, I suspect, for the same reasons you seem to believe... 

Dave Kelly, Chair of Fans Supporting Foodbanks which is driving the ‘Right To Food’ campaign, believes that establishing a legal Right To Food will be life-changing for millions of people.

He said: “Make no mistake, if we can legislate to make access to food a legal right in the UK, it would mean an end to many of the situations that force people into food poverty at present and make Government legally responsible for ensuring its citizens do not go hungry.”

What next, making government legally responsible for ensuring everyone wears a nice warm scarf when it's chilly out?  

Leeches...

An old term for doctors. Perhaps we should use it for another profession instead? 

Three victims of trafficking and modern slavery who were subcontracted to sort rubbish for the national waste and recycling firm Biffa Waste Services are to launch legal proceedings to sue the firm for damages.

Did Biffa kidnap these unfortunates and put them to work, then? Well, no. Of course not. 

The claimants, who spoke no English, were trafficked from Poland to the UK in 2014 and 2015 and were placed in work with Biffa, sorting rubbish on a conveyor belt, via an employment agency. Although they were paid for their work by the company, their wages were transferred into bank accounts that the organised crime group had opened in their names, and which they were unable to access. Solicitors acting for the two men and one woman said they received about £5 a week in cash for their work.

How, exactly, were the company responsible here, then, rather than the gang? What slimy, opportunistic little worms think they are, or is it just that they have deep pockets and the lawyers involved know that a Briffa employee won't be tasked with putting a bomb under their Mercedes should they win? 

A pre-action letter sent to Biffa by Leigh Day solicitors (Ed: Oh. Them. Of course...) on behalf of the three victims states that the company has a responsibility to prevent forced labour within its workforce. Parallel proceedings will be launched against Smart Solutions, the employment agency which placed the workers in jobs in Biffa recycling plants.

Both look as though they aren't just going to roll over for this, thankfully: 

A spokesperson for Biffa said: “Biffa takes a zero tolerance approach to modern slavery. We cooperated fully with West Midlands police at the time of this investigation in 2016. We regularly review our practices and protocols to ensure we continually follow best practice … All allegations against Biffa are denied and will be defended in any court proceedings.”

Smart Solutions said it had been working with West Midlands police since 2015 to assist investigations. “Since we were first made aware that our workforce had been infiltrated, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that we are continuously developing in our approach to hidden labour exploitation. We work to educate our clients, supply chains and external businesses so, as a collective, we can try and put an end to Modern Day slavery,” a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the usual suspects are nestling at the teat, settling in for a big feed. Because no matter who wins this one, they always get their meal. 

It's A Mystery, Isn't It?

Today, RoadsideMum described her dismay at opening the free school meal package. She told the BBC: 'As I unpacked that food parcel in my living room and looked at the contents, it felt very sad and very depressing, and one of my children came in and saw me laying this out on the floor and asked why.

'I said I was going to picture it because I didn't think it looked like a lot and I could see the child's realisation that this is what I've been given to eat for a week and just the sense of sadness. 'Where has the rest of the food gone? You know, this is meant to be a week's food. Why is it so mean?'

Almost as big a mystery as why you originally told all your followers it was meant to last ten days...

One Twitter account belonging to a mother called Sarah - RoadsideMum on Twitter - who originally said a sparse package from suppliers Chartwells was supposed to be worth £30 and last ten days.

In an interview this morning, she accepted the groceries had only been intended to last her child seven days...

So, some people don't seem to be learning the lesson that if the government provides a service, it's going to cost more than if you - yourself - provided it. Which you'd think would be like gravity, one of those undeniable laws of nature, or something, but clearly not. 

Let a teacher try to explain: 

'Well all we're given extra is an extra £3.50 a week which was announced yesterday. So obviously the money we normally get for free school meals we have a lot of overheads so it's £2.30 a meal but I only have about £1 to spend on food because we have obviously all the wages and the electricity and the water and everything.

So our food parcels really we only have about £5 a week to spend on food then we got the extra £3.50 yesterday and so it's significantly less than £15 given out to families in vouchers. '

So why, you may ask, do they not simply give these parents more money? And cut out the middleman? 

Well, I give you Exhibit A: 

 The prosecution rests. 

Derek Bentley Reversed...

Louis Barrett was yesterday jailed for 20 months after admitting racist harassment, and a racist common assault.

But Bradley Garrett, who smashed the bottle in Yehsung Kim’s face, breaking his teeth, was spared an immediate jail sentence. Instead he was given a two year sentence, suspended for two years.

Wait, what...?

Judge Stephen Mooney said he took into account the fact that Garrett was just 15 at the time of the attack, and blamed Barrett for sparking the incident.

/facepalm

“Mr Garrett you were 15 at the time. You were swept along by the language of your co-accused and lashed out with a bottle causing most unpleasant injuries.

“You find yourself in what some may regard a fortunate position today.

“Be under no illusion, if I see you again, for breach of your suspended sentence or new offences you will be going directly to prison.”

People claim justice wasn't done in 1952. I wonder if the victim feels that 2019 is any better...?