Sensing Weakness...

,,,it's something dangerous predators are good at, because no matter how powerful, an easy kill is always less risky:

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged not to give in to a 'dangerous' set of demands from a Muslim pressure group. The Labour leader was hit with the extraordinary list of 18 orders by The Muslim Vote after he promised to win back the trust of voters alienated by his stance on the Middle East conflict. He was told he must apologise for his failure to back a ceasefire last autumn and for 'greenlighting a genocide' when he appeared to say Israel had the right to cut off water and power in Gaza.On foreign policy, he was told he must recognise the state of Palestine, impose sanctions on Israeli politicians and cut military ties with the country.Domestically, the group said he must ensure Muslim pupils can pray at school, ditch a new Government definition of extremism and guarantee 'Sharia-compliant' pensions are available in every workplace.

Longrider gives the perfect response to demands of this sort... 

Labour has not yet responded to the group publicly and last night declined to say if it would do so.

Cowards to a man. 

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'This is shaping up to become a very big issue. 'It is a threat to our democracy and this amounts to nothing more or less than political blackmail.

'The threat is that they won't vote for Labour.

'If you give in to blackmail it never stops and others will see you are weak.'

Like the leader of your own party, Iain? 

The Lost Generation....

From the entrance, it looks almost like a normal cave, with a rocky overhang and leaves scattered around the entrance. The only giveaway is a warning sign adorned with deathly skulls and crossbones saying: 'Danger! No trespassing beyond this point.'

This is Costa Rica's Cave of Death – or 'Cueva de la Muerte' in the local Spanish – located at the Recreo Verde tourist complex in the district of Venecia. Measuring 6.5 feet deep and nearly 10 feet long (2 meters by 3 meters), it instantly kills any creature that enters it.

It's full of CO2. Who'd want to go in? Step forward the TikTok Generation:

However, this isn't deterring brave explorers from making the visit to the site in the hunt for social media videos.

*sighs* 

I Don't Go To The Toilet To Feel 'Respected And Affirmed'.

New restaurants, offices, schools and hospitals in England will be required to have separate male and female toilets, in a move ministers say will combat growing concerns about “privacy and dignity” in gender-neutral facilities. The law will mean newly built non-residential buildings require separate facilities, and cannot solely have “universal” lavatories.

According to ministers, 81% agreed with the intention for separate single-sex toilet facilities in a consultation on the proposals, while 82% also agreed with the intention to provide “universal” toilets – a self-contained, and a fully enclosed toilet room with a wash hand basin for individual use – where space allows.

My (very newly built) works office has both, on alternate floors. Imagine the extra cost!  

However, the policy has been criticised as being transphobic since it was first proposed in 2021 because it offered no alternative plan for transgender and non-binary people.

*rolls eyes* 

Badenoch said the move shows the government’s commitment to “ensuring single-sex spaces are protected for all” after plans to overhaul the NHS constitution by limiting the use of gender-neutral wards. These changes will mean patients in England will have the right to be treated on single-sex wards and transgender people will be treated in single rooms.

Pity the Tories have been so lax in standing up for common sense in the past, they might not be so behind in the polls...  

Mermaids, an LGBTQ+ charity (Ed: missing the word 'notorious' there...), has responded to government proposals about gender-specific toilets. A statement on its website said: “We hear that trans, non-binary and gender-diverse people are too often not made to feel welcome, or even safe when using toilet facilities. It is unacceptable that any child should be made to feel this way.

“All children, including those who are trans, non-binary and gender-diverse, should be able to access the toilet that makes them feel respected and affirmed.”

“We want a future whereby every young person can choose a toilet with freedom and autonomy; for some this would be a gender-neutral toilet and for others it would be a gender-specific toilet.”

Might as well ask for a (non-binary) pony as well. 

Getting The Excuses In Early...

The boy – who the court heard has autism - was brought into court from police custody and spoke only to confirm he was not going to enter a plea at this time. When asked by District Judge James Gould what his plea would be, he simply said: 'No indication'. Judge Gould remanded the teen into custody until his next hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on May 31.

One mother, Ashlea Wolff, said: 'We have been sent a letter by the school but it has given no indication as to how the child got into the school or what will be done to prevent this from happening again.

'As a parent, I want to know what they will be doing to keep my child safe.'

The letter does actually say that, it can be summed up as 'This time we'll be locking that stable door!' since it's full of things that should already have been in place. 

 

Racism In Football - Is This An Own Goal?

Sentencing Quadri, from Dartford, District Judge Louisa Cieciora said: ‘You demonstrated hostility based on the victim's race and of course it was in a public forum.

‘I have to take into account the wider context - particularly that footballers have been taking the knee in all games to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to fight racism and all forms of discrimination, and the fact that the comment is likely to be seen by a wider audience, and the harm caused by racism is of course pervasive and should never be underestimated.'

He was upset a black footballer passed the ball to a white teammate, and clearly felt not a twinge of shame about stating it so clearly no-one could deny he was racist.  

Prosecutor Frances McCormack told Westminster Magistrates' Court Quadri used the the name @quadz19 on X when he made the post. This was reported to the football association and the police began investigating it.

Mr McCormack said: 'He stated in an interview that he didn’t think the comments were offensive because he was a black male himself, so he did make partial admissions but not full admissions.

'He made the comment because in that particular match at that particular time the previous four people who had scored a goal for England had been black, and he said that if Mr Wilson had scored a goal there would have been an all black scoring sheet.'

 His brief could only fall back on his age as a possible excuse. 

James Powell, defending Quadri, said: 'This is an indication more of immaturity rather than wickedness.

'There’s been no offending before or since this one act of immaturity which may be the only act of immaturity he’s ever committed in his life.'

Should have ended that with 'so far'.  

What About The Welfare Of The Public?

'Sadly, six dogs had to be put to sleep. The remaining 16 dogs remain in police kennels while our investigation continues.

They are now illegal animals, so all 22 should have had a one-way trip to the vet.  

Chief Inspector Emma Cheney said 'We are stronger working with our communities and urge anyone who witnesses suspicious behaviour or illegal breeding or housing of banned breeds to get in touch, online, via live chat or by calling 101.

'If you suspect someone of animal neglect or cruelty, please report to the RSPCA.'

Who won't do anything because they don't support the ban. 

At Last, A Judge No Longer Prepared To Waste Public Money!

Although an exact figure has not been calculated, Hussain has cost the police, criminal justice system, and essentially the public, thousands upon thousands of pounds, by dragging her case through the courts for more than two years, hauling her dog’s victim through relentless hearings, appealing her conviction, withdrawing the appeal, then appealing the order to destroy her dangerous dog.

This is this case, which would have been avoided, as would the mauling of this victim, if police had acted the first time this dangerous dog caused trouble.

During a hearing at Preston Crown Court last week, Judge Guy Mathieson refused to accept an application to adjourn the appeal hearing. He then refused to uphold the appeal against the destruction of Ashiya Hussain’s dog Bruno, saying the time spent on the case was “not a proper use of public funds”.

Thank god for a judge with sense!  

Evidence was presented to the court by dog handling and behaviour expert Craig Richardson who said that while he believed Bruno was a danger to other dogs, and not directly to humans (unless they got between Bruno and another dog), he could be trained to lower this aggression. He suggested that the dog’s life be spared, and he be given to a new owner, with conditions for that new owner to keep the dog muzzled at all times while out in public; to be on a harness while in public; to be controlled by two points of contact at all times such as a lead attached to a collar and also a harness; and to only be allowed off a lead when in a private field.

What new owner would want to take this thing on?  

A proposed new owner, Ansar Ali, also gave evidence during the hearing, telling the court that he would take care of Bruno at his terraced home in Great Harwood, which only has a small back yard, and would take him to work with him at a car garage every day and keep him locked in that garage should he need to nip out.When asked by Judge Mathieson when Bruno would ever get chance to exercise or be allowed more space to roam around in, Mr Ali could not provide a satisfactory answer.

Come to think of it, why did the owner need such a beast? There may be a clue in the comments: 

 Very interesting...

When an adjournment for the hearing was requested, so a second dog expert report could be compiled, Judge Mathieson said: “We are not going to use any more money on this case, for a dog. I know it’s a family pet but it’s a dog.

“How many thousands of pounds is to be spent? If this was a privately paid for case would this still be going on?

“How much is it costing on a daily basis, how much to keep Bruno in kennels? No-one has the answer, so shall we just adjourn for another three months for more public money to be spent?”

Bye bye Bruno. You've lived two years longer than you should have, in any sane country. 

Do Computers Not Work For Us?

And not the other way around?

A council has provoked the wrath of residents and linguists alike after announcing it would ban apostrophes on street signs...

Why? Because illiterate council officials are confused by them? Good guess, but no... 

...to avoid problems with computer systems.

Then write better programs! Who are they written for, the machines, or us? 

North Yorkshire council is ditching the punctuation point after careful consideration, saying it can affect geographical databases. The council said all new street signs would be produced without one, regardless of whether they were used in the past.

And it's not gone down well, I'm happy to say: 

Sam, a postal worker in Harrogate, a spa town in North Yorkshire, told the BBC that signs missing an apostrophe – such as the nearby St Mary’s Walk sign that had been erected in the town without it – infuriated her.

I'm with you, Sam! Lucky they didn't ask a grocer, though... 

Though the updated St Mary’s sign had no apostrophe, someone had graffitied an apostrophe back on to the sign with a marker pen, which the former teacher said was “brilliant”.

There's a business opportunity for someone!  

North Yorkshire council said it was not the first to opt to “eliminate” the apostrophe from street signs. Cambridge city council had done the same, before it bowed to pressure and reinstated the apostrophe after complaints from campaigners.

So you didn't learn from their experience?  What happened to Yorkshire's traditional hard-headed common sense? 

A spokesperson from North Yorkshire council added: “All punctuation will be considered but avoided where possible because street names and addresses, when stored in databases, must meet the standards set out in BS7666.

“This restricts the use of punctuation marks and special characters (eg apostrophes, hyphens and ampersands) to avoid potential problems when searching the databases as these characters have specific meanings in computer systems.”

Are people in Cambridgeshire wandering around lost as a result of putting them back in? No? There's no issue then!  

Let's Have More Female Judges!

To bring their 'unique perspective' to the justice system!

A drunk businesswoman who glassed a pub drinker after he wrongly guessed her age has been spared jail after a female judge said 'one person's banter may be insulting to others'.

So assault with a potentially deadly weapon can be excused? Really?

Mother-of-one Joanne Dodd, 39, flew into a rage and attacked Carl Cooper after he suggested she was 43 in the beer garden of the Unicorn pub in Manchester city centre on September 9 last year. Mr Cooper fled to the toilet in a bid to get away from the heated situation, but when he came out Dodd ran towards him and twice shoved her wine glass in his face.

Not even in the heat of the moment, then? 

At Manchester Crown Court, Dodd, who is from Swinton in Salford, faced up to three years in jail under sentencing guidelines after she admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm. However, she was spared jail and handed a suspended sentence after Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said she was a 'dedicated, hardworking woman' who posed no risk to the public.

Contrast this with her words to a male offender:  

“You are not a teenager, you are 35 and mature enough to understand that you should stop and face the consequences.”

No such consequences for the 'fairer sex', eh, Lizzie? You were pretty lenient with a schoolboy who stabbed his teacher in the face with sissors too, though. And came down pretty harshly on pedophile hunters rather than pedophile victims, it has to be said.

The judge told Dodd: 'It is obvious that you had been drinking heavily and there was undoubtedly some verbal exchange between you and the other group.

'You did not appreciate the comments made by Mr Cooper and one person's banter may be insulting to other people but that did not justify what you then went on to do.'

Why are you trying so hard to justify it for her, then? 

'Your conduct was incomprehensible.

'The only explanation that can really be put forward is that you were under the influence of drink, which does you no credit.

I though judges had to know Latin? Like, in vino veritas?  

'It was no doubt traumatic for Mr Cooper and it would have had an impact on him. Fortunately he seems to have made a good recovery. 'I have seen the photo where the scar is barely noticeable but to him it will be a constant reminder of your conduct on that night. There was a very unpleasant injury, it is a grave injury, but fortunately there is no permanent disfigurement.'

If he has a visible scar, that's permanent disfigurement, no matter the size or hidability.  

'There is no doubt that this offence is so serious that it crosses the custody threshold. The issue is whether the sentence is immediate or can be suspended.'

'Perhaps more importantly you are a mother of a young child. Although, no doubt, the child would be taken care of, an immediate term of imprisonment would have a devastating effect on your child. It would be disproportionate to the sentence that needs to be imposed.'

Ah. So women can be spared the consequences of their actions (by another woman, no less!) provided they've reproduced. That's not even a unique perspective, it seems to be shared by far too many of her male colleagues. 

If This Is A 'Difficult Decision' For The Court...

...they should be ashamed of themselves. It's cut and dried.

Massey was due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey last month but the hearing was adjourned for technical reasons. The prosecution is trying to decide whether he should be charged with three counts of owning a dangerous dog or just one.

He had three banned pitbulls! All three joined in the attack. If he'd killed three people would he only face one murder charge? 

It is unclear which dogs actually caused injury to Ms Reynolds but one of them has been put down.

The other two can't be returned to him - they are banned dogs and he's an unfit owner (like so many). 

That's as clear as the video:

'I was screaming, asking for help, asking him for help. 'It was just me against these three dogs. The owner himself actually started asking for help, which made me even more scared.

'I thought, if he can't control his dogs, then who can?'

No-one, so do away with them and put him behind bars where he deserves to be.