The drug and crime culture portrayed in 'The Wire' is in British cities too

In a keynote speech on crime and broken communities today, Chris Grayling has highlighted the “decade of neglect” under Labour – a decade in which “violence in our society has become a norm and not an exception”.

“Since Labour came to power, the level of violent crime in Britain has risen dramatically, by 70 per cent. Gun crime is up by more than half and there are more than 100 serious knife crimes each day. Under Labour, fatal stabbings reached the highest level on record.”

These figures, he said, showed that the drug and crime culture of the award winning US series ‘The Wire’ is increasingly becoming a feature of British cities as well:

“The culture of violence that was a feature of US cities a generation ago is now a feature of British cities. The Wire used to be just a work of fiction for British viewers. But under this Government, in many parts of British cities, The Wire has become a part of real life in this country too”.

Torture in London and a hell of a lot of angry questions

The Metropolitan Police has been ordered to pay £60,000 damages to a terror suspect after admitting in the High Court that arresting officers subjected him to violent assaults and religious abuse.

Their defence crumbled when lawyers for the Met conceded that Babar Ahmed from Tooting in London was the victim of gratuitous violence by territorial support group officers during the dawn arrest at his home in December 2003. One of the police officers involved could face criminal proceedings and Mr Ahmad was never charged with any offences arising out of his arrest.

In August 2004 he was detained at the request of the US government and has been held at Long Lartin prison since whilst he waits for a decision on whether his extradition to the US would contravene the European Convention on Human Rights. The officers who carried out the 2003 arrest had been briefed that Mr Ahmad was believed to be connected to al-Qaida and was the head of a south London terrorist group.

Call me crazy...but what on earth is going on in this country and with the human rights law that New Labour enacted when it came to power? When did it ever become acceptable either before or after the Human Rights Act 1998 to torture a suspect in custody? when did it become acceptable to hold someone in prison for five years without charge? When did it become acceptable to extradite someone to a country or regime that condones torture? How is it that we can't send people back to places like Jordan or Saudi without a stinking fuss but we are happy to send them to Guantanamo for the US to violate?

Just as importantly, why is our own police force of the opinion that it is acceptable for its officers, its protectors of society to torture suspects in its custody? How is it with the amount of surveillance technology available in interrogation rooms that officers managed to perform torture without immediate restraint or protest from fellow officers? Why is it that a police force that is habitually accused of and rife with institutional racism allowing this kind of behaviour against ethnic minorities from its officers? Why are we making the same mistakes with Islamic terrorists that we made in the 60s, 70s and 80s with the IRA? Why are we giving terrorists substance to their cause greater than they had to start with?

Why will the Metropolitan police not apologise for their appalling behaviour in this instance?

Answer the questions honestly and the only soul destroying conclusion that can be drawn is that when the dust settles, the actions of these representatives of our state renders us no better than those who seek to destroy us...and that makes me spit with anger and rage!!!

Lights are on, but nobody's in at the Home Office

This is a desperate plea for someone to switch off the electricity at the Home Office. Why? Because it will stop the light bulb on top of Jacqui Smith's head from going off every time one of her nincompoop, Baldrick-esque, what I can only imagine to be graduate scheme policy makers comes up with a cunning plan.

The latest plan; make a database of men who have been violent towards women.

The idea has been ridiculed by Refuge, the leading charity which pretty much offers what it says on the tin to women and children victims of domestic violence. Their chief exec, Sandra Horley branded it as a "gimmick" and a "useless initiative". She also accused the government of hypocrisy by trying to talk tough when it was actually doing very little.

Now call me bi-polar on this one but I think that Horley's response was both funny and deadly serious. Funny because I can only imagine the pent up rage Smith must be feeling by having her big International Woman's Day initiative dismissed so strongly. Her parade was washed away to sea in fact it was rained on so heavily and that makes me laugh. It makes me laugh because I am past rage myself on how this government comes up with hollow and poorly thought through ideas which never materialise or never solve the problems they set out to. In fact they seem to create not only fresh but worse problems that those that already existed; FSA, Human Rights Act, Access to Information are good examples.

This database would always be incomplete because the vast majority of violent men are never reported. The list would extinguish the rights of men who have spent convictions and would presumably exclude violent women (so much for sexual equality). There would be issues about who would have access to the information contained on the list and in what capacity it could be accessed; girlfriend, neighbour, employer, bank etc.

What really makes me wonder about the intelligence and perhaps sanity of those coming up with ideas in the home office is that they have a handful of charities who are working in this area already yet they haven't forged proper working partnerships to try ideas from people who are actually on the ground working in that specific area. Why? I can only assume that the ego involved here is so big as to think that someone who hasn't been elected to a position of power couldn't possibly have anything valid to contribute the the running of the country. That bloody well makes me mad!!!

Celebrity Funny Women to Support Action Aid

This year Funny Women will celebrate International Women’s Day on Sunday 8th March with a fantastic new show, Celebrity Funny Women to be hosted by Claire Sweeney. Well-loved personalities will step out of their comfort zone and perform a short stand-up set in front of a live audience at the London Studios in support of international development charity ActionAid (http://www.actionaid.org.uk/) having been coached and supported by some of Funny Women’s favourite comedians.

Blue Peter legend Janet Ellis will be teamed with impressionist Jan Ravens. PR guru and author (and mother to stand-up Josh Howie) Lynne Franks will find her funny bone with TanyaLee Davis, while sports presenter Gabby Logan will learn the ropes from previous Funny Women winner Andi Osho.

The celebrities will perform short live sets, alongside footage of their learning experiences, at the London Studios, ITV’s Television production complex on the South Bank, where many of the UK’s most famous television shows are made. They will be joined on stage by professional Funny Women favourites including magician/comedian Mandy Muden and double-act Adams and Rea, with musical entertainment from house-band Vaginal Tap.

The charity gala will be held in support of ActionAid’s "Put Your Foot Down" campaign (http://www.actionaid.org.uk/101552/put_your_foot_down.html), which highlights the link between violence against women and the spread of HIV and AIDS. ActionAid is asking the UK public to donate a pair of shoes as a reminder to the UK government to put its foot down and stop both the threat of violence and HIV / AIDS faced by women in the developing world. Box office proceeds raised on the night will be donated to ActionAid.

Funny Women (http://www.funnywomen.com/) encourages ordinary women each year to flex their funny muscles with its unique talent competition, the "Funny Women Awards", and its popular comedy workshops. The seventh annual Funny Women Awards’ launch coincides with the Celebrity Funny Women event on International Women’s Day. As well as promoting new female comedy talent and ensuring that some of the UK’s most talented funny women get a chance to perform around the UK, Funny Women raises funds and awareness for a variety of causes.

“International Women’s Day provides an opportunity for all of us to celebrate the achievements of women. Celebrity Funny Women features some of Britain’s best female comedy performers and stand-ups alongside some other well known faces from stage and screen. They are quite literally standing up for everything that is brave and brilliant about women the world over.” Lynne Parker, Funny Women producer

“We are delighted to be involved in Funny Women for the third year. Women’s rights runs through everything we do at ActionAid in our fight against poverty and this event gives us a fun and enjoyable way to raise awareness of the plight of women around the world. This year we are raising awareness of our campaign Put Your Foot Down which aims to collect 2,876 shoes from the British public – one for every woman who contracts HIV across the world each day. We will be delivering the shoes in a sculpture with our online petition on International Women’s Day, to ask government to use its strong position to make sure that women are placed at the centre of the global Aids response.” Freya Paleit, ActionAid

“We are proud to be hosting this fantastic event for such a good cause. Not only will it showcase new comedy talent, but we are using it to showcase our up-and-coming television production talent by giving our more junior staff the opportunity to work alongside experienced TV professionals. It is a unique opportunity to learn and practice new skills.” Kathy Schulz, Director of The London Studios

Times, dates and booking details:

Date and time Sunday 8 March, 7pm (doors and bar open at 6pm)
Venue The London Studios, Upper Ground, SE1 9LT
Tickets £30 +booking fee / VIP tickets £60+ booking fee (including access to reception with drinks/canapés)
Box office 0844 847 2375 / ticketmaster.co.uk

Super Nanny to Solve Problems in Gaza

I was visiting one of Brentwood's more sophisticated Turkish dining retrieval establishments last night waiting for my grilled delicacy to be prepared when I happened across a publication called the Sun. Now I used to be a bit of a paper snob and for a while would have only used the Sun for one thing alone (imagination suggested at this point). Recently, however I have started to think that news from any view is valid particularly when it is regarded by huge numbers as the Sun is.

I was in good spirits until I happened across a two page spread about the situation in Gaza with a photograph of a father crying over the bodies of his two young sons and a cousin, all of whom looked no older than 5 years old. It was one of the most upsetting pictures I have ever seen in my life. Three children lay dead on the ground. They looked like they were sleeping...but they were dead. They were innocent. They would've had no interest in religious extremism or politics but that's what killed them. Just to make things clear, I think that both sides of the conflict are as evil as the other.

I have grown up in an area where jews and muslims live side by side in peace, go to school together and do business together. I don't think there are too many marriages between the two but then that cannot be expected from hundreds of years of ingrained prejudice and racism against each other. Nevertheless, they don't kill each other. In the middle east however, they wage war like fighting children who when confronted and questioned about their actions, argue with a "you started it!"..."no, you started it!" mentality which frustrates any attempt to get them to the negotiating table.

The year 2009 like so many others has begun with death in large numbers, not as a result of terrorism but as a consequence of equal evil and malevolence and it is time that the world did something positive instead of the passive approach that has been taken to date to stop this mischief once and for all. If both sides want to kill children and innocent people and then blame the other side like a child would then it is time for an adult response.

Israel needs to be sent to the "naughty corner" and made to stay there until it learns that it cannot go on indiscriminately killing and humiliating its neighbours. Super Nanny tactics are needed to tackle this most extreme childish form of national if not racial ethos.

The Palestinians need to be educated and safeguarded from the likes of Hamas, but it cannot and must not be a job for Israel or the US to do. Their neighbours, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia must be made to take responsibility for "their own" and if they fail then they should be sanctioned as well. Believe me, if you hit the Saudis or any of the other fuel rich states in the middle east in the pocket every time there is a terrorist attack in Israel or the rest of the world, then terrorist acts emanating from that region would soon come to an end.

One way or another the violence needs to end and Jews and Muslims need to be held to account for their support of the political administrations they both choose to stand behind every time the killing starts.

The Shame of South Africa

Every time I hear about terrible things that happen in Africa I probably naively think to myself that at least South Africa is sorted out now. At least Apartheid is over and the power has shifted back to the blacks where it belongs without too much bloodshed or economical disruption like in Zimbabwe. In fact things in South Africa have started to look very positive lately. I presume they are dealing with the AIDS epidemic or have managed at least to sweep it under the carpet whilst the world concentrates on other things.

The last time I saw South Africa on the TV was in fact when the South African Airways Open was played at a stunning location on the coast. Fabulous! Then I saw the news yesterday and I started to get angry. I am just old enough to remember the news coverage of riots during apartheid and when apartheid was ended I think I was hoping that I would never see riots in South Africa again. Mandela was released and became the countries leader and it looked like a nation of hope. It was a nation with a future and still is.

The problem with South Africa is that its leaders since Mandela have been conspicuous by their lack of willingness to criticise some of the regimes surrounding them. These regimes have displaced nations which has resulted millions or refugees in the region. South Africa swallowed most of these refugees and has allowed itself over time to develop a massive immigration problem with some estimates of up to 5 million illegal immigrants. Whilst this constant trickle of immigration seems to have suited everyone up until recently, the tides of opinion have changed recently though and as unemployment and rising food prices have hit South Africa as they have the rest of the world, its peoples' frustrations have been turned to severe violence against the immigrants.

It seems that rising food prices are something no government has planned for or taken into consideration in the formation of their general policies, least of all the UK, least of all South Africa. What I find difficult is that South Africa has a recent history of unspeakable violence and hardship. But it was a violence and hardship that it overcame to become what it is today. For the people of South Africa now to be committing violence against the weakest members of its society is an absolutely hypocritical thing for them to be doing. It is not that long ago that they themselves were being tortured and killed just for trying to make a better life for themselves, for trying to free themselves of tyranny and oppression.

These immigrants who are being persecuted are the people of South Africa 20 years ago. They are vulnerable and weak and all they want to do is get on with their lives. South Africa needs to remember where it comes from. It is the same nation that persevered against and eventually broke free from oppression. It is the same nation that flourished when everyone around the world predicted that it would collapse into chaos. Its leaders need find their voices and lead their people and set an example to the rest of Africa as it has done since Apartheid ended. It needs to do it because at the moment it is one of only a handful of countries in Africa which can say that it does represent the potential that the whole continent has to offer.