So says Mychal Denzel Smith, a freelance writer and social commentator, in CiF. Presumably, only because ‘Private Eye’ no longer does ‘Pseuds Corner’: Judging by the amount of fuss he caused, one would think Georgetown University Professor Michael Eric Dyson had floated the idea of abolishing child labor laws. In reality, all he had done was announce that this semester he would be teaching a course entitled “Sociology of Hip-Hop…
A deaf and blind teenager is refusing to go to school after teachers banned her guide dog from the dining hall. Molly Watt, 17, says she was left to eat lunch alone in a separate room because another pupil who uses the canteen is allergic to the dog. So what we have here is a clash of disabilities. It should be easy to resolve, no, given that both parties are…
Catherine Johnson writes stories for screen and books for children. And she’s complaining about something. What, you ask? Well, I’d better let her tell you that… It seems like a boom time for black literature and drama. Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, which focuses on the life of a young girl in Nigeria, is shortlisted for the Costa first novel award next month. Pigeon English, the story of a Ghanaian boy…
Lord Judge’s comments at the Royal Courts of Justice today follow a call by the independent Homicide Advisory Review Group for the mandatory life sentence for murder to be scrapped. The group, whose members include former judges, lawyers and prison governors, claimed the compulsory life term was “outdated” and “unjust” and that judges should be given the power to determine punishment on a case-by-case basis. Or, in other words, ‘My…
In her police interview Miss Elliott, who has been vocal in trying to save Greenwich University’s threatened Philosophy course, said: ‘I am sorry, I don’t have those morals. ‘If it was mugged off somebody then that is wrong, but I don’t care about Samsung they are a billion dollar company. ‘Phones 4 U are also a massive company, as long as it didn’t come out of some old pensioners pocket…
Police are investigating the ‘malicious’ destruction of a pagan stone circle destroyed in what they fear was a religious hate attack. Shocking! Police believe the attackers could have used crow bars and pick axes, with speculation that the attack could have been religiously motivated. Awful! Lampeter PC Richard Marshall told a town councillors meeting last week the site had been ‘maliciously taken apart’ and is now unsafe to use.He said:…
‘…while the worst are full of passionate intensity.’ The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats In the comments to Sean Gabb’s piece on Saturday, Stadtler draws our attention to a young man’s account of this incident on the London Tube: On the afternoon in question, I was making my way north to catch a train to the Hackney Empire and a theatre-reviewing assignment. It was hot and crammed. Irritation was…
Tube engineers will be rushed across London by police cars with their sirens blaring in a bid to keep trains moving… Whoa, steady on! I mean, yes, Tube breakdowns are annoying, but really, should we go this far? Well, we aren’t. Not for long, anyway: … during the Olympics. Now the penny drops! Tube bosses today said the move will transform the transport network and “dramatically improve reliability and response…
A man caught with 83 wraps of cannabis just days after appearing in court for possessing the same drug has been spared prison. Even he wasn’t expecting that! Peter Carter attended Bristol Crown Court with a suitcase fully expecting a spell behind bars. Imagine his surprise… Carter, of Hammersmith Road, St George, had been caught with 30 £10 deals of cannabis in his car.A search of his house revealed another…
Well, Lord Hanningfield certainly thinks so: After being convicted of fraud, the former leader of Essex County Council spent two weeks in a regular prisonbefore being transferred to a minimum security institution.”It wasn’t very nice in ordinary prison but it was OK in open prison,” he said. “The worst part is when the judge said ‘take him down to the cells’. You are handcuffed and put in the van. That…
The ‘Mail’ invites us to gasp at the audacity of Arran Coghlan, as he challenges the Coroner’s Court and seemingly disrespects their holy authority: There were dramatic scenes as Mr Coghlan was ordered to respect the court. He responded by saying: ‘You should deal with me with proper respect and allow me to answer the question.’ It seems Mr Coghlan didn’t like the cut of the coroner’s jib very much: At…
First, ‘Gollygate’ came to a screeching halt: Chris McCann, head of the complex casework unit at the East of England Crown Prosecution Service, said a “review has been carried out at the highest level“.He said: “To establish that an offence has been committed, it would have been necessary to prove that Jena Mason was the person who placed the doll in such a prominent position likely to cause her neighbours racially-aggravated…
A local road accident brings out some surprising comments in the newspaper. Among the usual mawkish ‘another angel in heaven’ comments, and the typical ‘it was the driver!’ and ‘No, it was the pedestrian!’ ones, are these: gg2005 says…Unless you were at the incident I don’t think you should comment. Stop making judgements without all the information. You are causing a lot of offence Ah, the modern taboo – ‘causing…
John Middleton (or as Tim describes him, this ‘scumbag idiot Marxist’ ) on the awful consequences of choice: A crowded train is delayed for hours; when it finally arrives the public address announces: “Thank you for choosing Virgin trains.” An exhausted passenger shrieks: “I didn’t have any bloody choice.” Stories of the incompetence and impersonality of telephone, water and energy companies are legion. All beneficiaries of choice and competition: an…
The sun shone as children in one Oxford community headed outside to reclaim their street. Campbell Road in Cowley became the first place in the city on Wednesday to benefit from the Bristol-based Playing Out project. The scheme helps residents organise temporary residential road closures for children to play outside after school. And, as many of the commenters have pointed out, these houses seem to have huge back gardens and…
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