At a licensing meeting held yesterday it was revealed how the authority area was now the second worst in Yorkshire and the Humber for such violence, with figures showing: Up to 40 per cent of arrests are associated with alcohol misuse – that is 140 arrests per month linked to alcohol abuse. Ah, those weasel words – ‘linked to’. We all know just how they use that phrase, don’t we? Of…
Hull divisional commander Chief Superintendent Rick Proctor said the police had reviewed their response to horse fairs staged by travellers following last year’s events. Because it was, to put it mildly, inadequate. And why? Well, because it’s just too difficult! “It is a very difficult situation because of the very nature of the people who tend to gather for these events. “It can be difficult to pinpoint who they are…
…is that sooner or later, you find your back against the cliff. Sometimes literally: The council wants to build 1,200 homes across the borough and is promising a mix of council homes and first time buyer schemes, but residents say it could damage the character of the town. It’s already evident in Southend itself that the character of the town has changed, and not for the better, thanks to its proximity to…
…at least, for the progressives: In these posts, teenage girls – and sometimes boys – criticize certain body types or wardrobe choices, often being ruthless in the process. Oh noes! Criticism! That means…judgement! That means…not ‘celebrating the choices of others’! Oh, quelle horreur! So, what sort of comments are we talking about? In one such post, a blogger writes with accompanying pictures: ‘Hey girls, uhm did you know – open books,…
The University of Sussex has become embroiled in a debate over private donors after it created a new chair in “modern Israeli studies” . The position was established by Lord Weidenfeld, who admitted on a BBC radio show he put up the cash to fight the “anti-Semitism” he believes is on campus. Gosh! Why would he think that? It’s not like they have prominent Islamists on campus, is it? Oh.…
Racism remains a significant issue in Wales, with many incidents going unreported, a new study out today has said. The research commissioned by the Race Council Cymru… Ah. Right. There’s a disinterested, objective party, eh? … suggests experiences of ethnic minorities show racism is not being challenged or tackled. Because only ethnic minorities ever experience racism. Of course. It is a view supported by the Swansea Bay Regional Equality Council……
The newly-opened Greenwich Free School has radically tough rules on phones, which involve searching pupils if there is “intelligence” they are carrying one and then confiscating it until the end of term. But Lisa Wells claims her daughter Britney Staples was searched twice in one week, once by a male teacher with no female member of staff present. ‘Intelligence’..? Good grief, I can only hope they put a lot more…
Clair Walker was asked to leave after a customer complained she was put off her latte by 15-month-old Brayden being fed through a tube. Mrs Walker, 29, and her husband, Kenneth, 44, said they were told not to return to the Aberdeen shop after the incident on September 4. Shocking! But did they complain? Well, no. They just mentioned it to their friends… Costa investigated after a friend of the…
…he can’t seem to hit one even when it’s in the room with him: The UK is one of the few major nations not to have a national forensic science institute and, in the wake of government market-based policy, no longer has a national forensic science service. The main repercussion of these deficiencies is fragmentation and creeping deregulation. Unless standards are unified, certified and monitored, unprofessional practices arise as do…
A teenage student was subjected to a brutal beating – just for having long hair. Harley Davies, 17, was set on by a gang of youths who shouted an obsenity (sic) at him and told him to go and get his hair cut. The A-level student was left with a fractured jaw and broken tooth during the lunchtime attack on the Blackburn College campus. Appalling, yes. But surely not so…
John Kampfner provides it in this superlative CiF post: A tweet is more pub talk than publication. But what about the argument that it provides the oxygen of publicity that the school playground or the bar stool at the local does not? Oh, indeed. We’ve heard that one quite a lot over the last few days. It does, but only if you encourage it. Bingo! Imagine you stumble across some…
Jonathan Harker desperately attempts to deflect the recent bad publicity for Muslims: How did middle-aged Asian men from tight-knit communities even come into contact with white teenage girls in Rochdale? The main cultural relevance in this story is that vulnerable, often disturbed, young girls, regularly out late at night, often end up in late-closing restaurants and minicab offices, staffed almost exclusively by men. After a while, relationships build up, with…
Last night head teacher Hilary Eade said rigorous checks had confirmed there were no problems with the school’s boiler or gas supply and said the school would open as usual today. A doctor called in to assess the situation said the sudden outbreak of illness was most likely to have been caused by a virus. Really? Fast acting (and fast dissipating) virus! Sounds more like a case of mass hysteria…
The ‘Guardian’ gets philosophical: If your train journey proves a little trying beware letting go of your emotions lest the live-tweeter in seat 34A reveals your misery to millions.This is what, in effect, happened to a couple who were having a fairly lively argument on board a northbound Virgin train recently. It was their misfortune to be sitting close to comedian Janey Godley, who tweeted the whole thing to several…
Barbara Ehrenreich on the ‘unfair costs’ faced by the poor: … as Businessweek helpfully pointed out in 2007, the poor in aggregate provide a juicy target for anyone depraved enough to make a business of stealing from them. Boooo! Eeeeeevil corporations, targeting the people who, errr, can’t pay for their goods! Wait. What? It’s not just the private sector that’s preying on the poor. It isn’t? Oh. OK. Just how…
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