Back from collecting the missus from Cardiff train station. What! He lets her out of the house, you say? Don't worry she's always within 600 feet of me. Marvellous things, ankle tags. The war on terror has not been without its handy little by-products.
Anyway, while she was waiting for me to arrive, two homeless fellows (a bit the worse for drink), were doing the rounds with the commuters, asking everyone for money. Everyone of course except Mrs Meccanopsis - well she wears a scarf you know. I suppose in some people's minds that is the equivalent of a T-shirt saying 'Approach me and I'll kill you'. It wasn't a racial thing though; they approached a Chinese couple apparently... once they had exhausted the other 20 bystanders. Their loss, because as a couple we always give to Big Issue sellers and though these people are not in the same category exactly, we don't have hearts of stone.
You really know that you are the personae non gratae of society when even the beggars won't ask you for money.
Monday, 17 August 2009
Friday, 14 August 2009
It's (a way of) Life, Jim...but not as you know it
Minister and wife walk out of Muslim wedding!
Does this really deserve to make the front page of a national newspaper? Does it really?
I mean, some bloke and his wife go to a wedding, can't sit together, and then leave. What is the definition of a 'slow news day'? Ok, so it's newsworthy because Jim Fitzpatrick is another Labour minister mocking his Muslim constituents who probably voted for him. No good deed deserves to go unpunished I suppose. But I suspect the main reason 'Muslims getting married according to Muslim tradition' makes headline news in a right-leaning paper is because it is another opportunity to scare the pants off people regarding the 'Islamification of [insert Western nation here]'. I would have thought that a wedding (not the registered aspect of the marriage) is a private matter not a state matter, but clearly the danger it poses to our way of life must not be underestimated - particularly by the paranoid or delusional.
Of course the signs have been with us for years (how did we fail to spot what was in plain sight all along?). Their plans for creeping Islamification are ingenious (you can read all about it in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Mecca'). Somehow they have made it fashionable for a full face veil (albeit gauze-like material) to be part of the bride's dress in a traditional 'white wedding', and they have even managed to brainwash generations of young men and women in this country into having gender segregation at stag nights and hen parties (don't let the alcohol and strippers fool you, these Muslims are tricksy my precious).
And there's always the danger these weddings pose to community cohesion...hang on a minute isn't this story about some non-Muslims who were invited to one of the most private and happiest of family occasions by some anti-cohesion Muslims? I couldn't think of a better way to demonstrate my desire for separation from my fellow citizens who do not share my colour or faith than to invite them into the company of my nearest and dearest and ply them with free food and drink.
I have been to Muslim weddings throughout the whole of my adult life and only on one occasion did the male and female guests NOT sit separately. But even with this segregation, I observed that non-Muslim guests where always allowed to sit together. At my own brother's wedding his non-Muslim mates brought along their girlfriends and they all sat on the same table. You may not agree with it, you may find this type of segregation odd, but it's the way these events are organised. Not every Muslim family does it this way, the vast majority do, and you either go along knowing what to expect and sit through it respectfully, and enjoy the same gender company whilst being fussed over as a guest or respectfully decline the invitation in the first place. I am under no illusion about the freely available alcohol that will be present at the weddings of non-Muslim friends and relatives that I get invited to. I don't drink but it doesn't prevent me going. I would consider it rude not to attend without a valid reason, an extenuating circumstance, not to. I take my hat off if I visit a church and I cover my head if I visit a synagogue - no big deal. Why do some people find it so difficult to spend an hour or so experiencing another person's way of celebrating marriage?
The minister later told his local newspaper: "It's a disappointment. We are trying to build social cohesion in a community but this is not the way forward." Quite.
Nothing says "trying to build social cohesion" like Hissy Fitz showing a bit of bad manners and making a young couple's wedding day memorable in the national press for all the wrong reasons.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
A Persecuted Religious Minority
No religious minority has a monopoly on persecution.
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2509
This month's obscene attack on defenceless Christians in Pakistan requires nothing less than swift justice to prevent the repetition of such barbarity. Failure to see the guilty punished for this crime will embolden other vicious thugs across the country that share the perpetrators' warped understanding of Islam and further erode the confidence of the Christian minority in the willingness of the authorities to defend them. Minorities of any kind in a society are always vulnerable and it is the duty of the State to ensure all its citizens have the right to live unmolested.
These 8 victims (nearly all women and children), racially, ethnically however you want to look at it, the same as their persecutors; their families no doubt existing in Pakistan since the country was founded and possibly before even the idea of 'Pakistan' came to be. The very same religious minorities represented by white portion of the flag of Pakistan.
Next week a charity dinner will be held in Cardiff to raise money for the Swat Valley refugees, amongst the ticket purchasing guests will be Welsh Christians. I hope while we remember the dispossessed of Swat that at least one of the speakers will use the occasion to condemn the inexcusable mob violence and re-assure our Christian guests that this 'Muslim' mob did not carry out this horrific attack because they were Muslims, but because they do not know how to be.
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2509
This month's obscene attack on defenceless Christians in Pakistan requires nothing less than swift justice to prevent the repetition of such barbarity. Failure to see the guilty punished for this crime will embolden other vicious thugs across the country that share the perpetrators' warped understanding of Islam and further erode the confidence of the Christian minority in the willingness of the authorities to defend them. Minorities of any kind in a society are always vulnerable and it is the duty of the State to ensure all its citizens have the right to live unmolested.
These 8 victims (nearly all women and children), racially, ethnically however you want to look at it, the same as their persecutors; their families no doubt existing in Pakistan since the country was founded and possibly before even the idea of 'Pakistan' came to be. The very same religious minorities represented by white portion of the flag of Pakistan.
Next week a charity dinner will be held in Cardiff to raise money for the Swat Valley refugees, amongst the ticket purchasing guests will be Welsh Christians. I hope while we remember the dispossessed of Swat that at least one of the speakers will use the occasion to condemn the inexcusable mob violence and re-assure our Christian guests that this 'Muslim' mob did not carry out this horrific attack because they were Muslims, but because they do not know how to be.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Historical Amnesia on a T-shirt
I just came across the Cymru X blog http://cymru-x.blogspot.com/2009/08/bnp-history-fail.html on how the BNP just don't do 'history' very well. We know that some of their high profile members have previously put forth some appalling revisionist views on more recent European history in relation to the Holocaust. Clearly, the further back they delve into Europe's past (even the history of the British Isles) they only demonstrate just how weak they are in the subject.
As Welsh nationalists, like our Scottish cousins, we find it ludicrous that Unionists should try to appropriate heroes from our history (Owain Glyndwr and William Wallace) who as we all know were famous for leading the struggle for the independence of our nations. But let's not let history get in the way of a bit of merchandising. Needless to say, they won't be getting any orders from Welsh or Scottish nationalists to boost their coffers.
How did Cymru X come across this 'news' item? Well they must have been on the BNP site again; yet another visitor adding to all this 'traffic' that the BNP no doubt assume translates as 'support'. I must admit I am also one of the many thousands of anti-racist and anti-Nazis that also visit the BNP site on a regular basis, inadvertently boosting their visitor stats and artificially giving them a false sense of 'popularity'.
Anyway the T-shirts are good news. As they can only be bought through the BNP's Excalibur site we will know where the wearer got it from, and since their members and activists have tried to hide themselves by adopting a new public image and blend in with the rest of society its become harder to spot them. Usually we have to wait until they open their mouths but now we can just wait for someone to put one of these t-shirts on to advertise who he/she is.
Oh and given that most people see the BNP as the ugly side of English Nationalism (one can only hope that true English patriots eclipse them and rehabilitate the image of English Nationalism in the future) it must be annoying for their Anglo-Saxon support base that they choose to bring out the English T-shirt last. And when they do, who do they use for the iconic image?
St. George:
Someone who was definitely neither 'British by Birth' nor 'English by the Grace of God'.
Hope the recall of stock won't put them out of pocket.
As Welsh nationalists, like our Scottish cousins, we find it ludicrous that Unionists should try to appropriate heroes from our history (Owain Glyndwr and William Wallace) who as we all know were famous for leading the struggle for the independence of our nations. But let's not let history get in the way of a bit of merchandising. Needless to say, they won't be getting any orders from Welsh or Scottish nationalists to boost their coffers.
How did Cymru X come across this 'news' item? Well they must have been on the BNP site again; yet another visitor adding to all this 'traffic' that the BNP no doubt assume translates as 'support'. I must admit I am also one of the many thousands of anti-racist and anti-Nazis that also visit the BNP site on a regular basis, inadvertently boosting their visitor stats and artificially giving them a false sense of 'popularity'.
Anyway the T-shirts are good news. As they can only be bought through the BNP's Excalibur site we will know where the wearer got it from, and since their members and activists have tried to hide themselves by adopting a new public image and blend in with the rest of society its become harder to spot them. Usually we have to wait until they open their mouths but now we can just wait for someone to put one of these t-shirts on to advertise who he/she is.
Oh and given that most people see the BNP as the ugly side of English Nationalism (one can only hope that true English patriots eclipse them and rehabilitate the image of English Nationalism in the future) it must be annoying for their Anglo-Saxon support base that they choose to bring out the English T-shirt last. And when they do, who do they use for the iconic image?
St. George:
Someone who was definitely neither 'British by Birth' nor 'English by the Grace of God'.
Hope the recall of stock won't put them out of pocket.
Friday, 31 July 2009
A Sikh, a Gurkha and a Muslim walk into Buckingham Palace
Sounds like the beginnings of an Irishman, Englishman, and Scotsman type joke but after coming across this article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1203463/First-Sikh-soldiers-parade-guard-Queen-traditional-forage-cap.html
I couldn’t but help laugh at both the positive tone of the piece and the positive comments from the Daily Mail readership and thought it was a joke. I mean two bearded and turbaned men of non-European extraction who were born abroad now guarding the Queen of England and failing to attract any of the usual alarmist stuff...
If I wanted to be a ‘spinmonger’ about this I could warn about another head of state (Indira Gandhi) being assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards and make liberal mention of the Sikh terrorist groups that have been proscribed by the Home Office. But we can only demonize one visible religious minority at a time.
Anyway, nice to see how enlightened the Daily Mail readers are when the article is not about Muslims. The comments were uniformly positive (at least at the time of writing) and these are just some of those that stood out for me.
Not dressing like us indigenous folk but never mind, in this case it’s:
“Nice to see, full intergration for them, Well done.”
- Tron, Telford Shrop., 31/7/2009 15:44
Plenty of anecdotes from relatives who served in WWII:
“It's good to see this. My father was brigaded with the 1st/2nd Punjab Regt. for part of WWII, and held them in high regard; "You'd have to be up early to get past a Sikh!" was his verdict.”
- Helen, Kent, 31/7/2009 15:31
Even animal rights are advanced by this historic event:
“Good on them and it is two lovely bears saved from the shotgun too.”
- Helen, Manchester, 31/7/2009 15:23
The tourists will love them (but not us much as we do). Handsome, even with the beards:
"I think the tourists will love these two.... I'm not crazy about beards, myself, but they look very handsome!"
- Juma, london, uk, 31/7/2009 15:42
One day there might be an article on Muslims guarding the English Royal family and when that happens I hope to see comments from people who are aware that during World War II, and as of January 1945, there were 447,000 Muslims in the British Indian Army (bear in mind this was a volunteer army) along with (for comparison) 92,000 Sikhs and 103,000 Gurkhas. Perhaps some comments from people who also remember Muslims such as Noor Inayat Khan, who joined the SOE (Special Operations Executive, the forerunner of the SAS) serving in Occupied France and becoming a heroine of the French Resistance before she was captured by the Nazis and executed.
Maybe then someone will write ‘Muslims’ in a paraphrasing of Robert of Worchester’s comment:
"Sikhs have always been a noble people and excellent soldiers. A great many have fought and died for this country. HMQ will be in safe hands."
- Robert, Worcester UK, 31/7/2009 15:51
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1203463/First-Sikh-soldiers-parade-guard-Queen-traditional-forage-cap.html
I couldn’t but help laugh at both the positive tone of the piece and the positive comments from the Daily Mail readership and thought it was a joke. I mean two bearded and turbaned men of non-European extraction who were born abroad now guarding the Queen of England and failing to attract any of the usual alarmist stuff...
If I wanted to be a ‘spinmonger’ about this I could warn about another head of state (Indira Gandhi) being assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards and make liberal mention of the Sikh terrorist groups that have been proscribed by the Home Office. But we can only demonize one visible religious minority at a time.
Anyway, nice to see how enlightened the Daily Mail readers are when the article is not about Muslims. The comments were uniformly positive (at least at the time of writing) and these are just some of those that stood out for me.
Not dressing like us indigenous folk but never mind, in this case it’s:
“Nice to see, full intergration for them, Well done.”
- Tron, Telford Shrop., 31/7/2009 15:44
Plenty of anecdotes from relatives who served in WWII:
“It's good to see this. My father was brigaded with the 1st/2nd Punjab Regt. for part of WWII, and held them in high regard; "You'd have to be up early to get past a Sikh!" was his verdict.”
- Helen, Kent, 31/7/2009 15:31
Even animal rights are advanced by this historic event:
“Good on them and it is two lovely bears saved from the shotgun too.”
- Helen, Manchester, 31/7/2009 15:23
The tourists will love them (but not us much as we do). Handsome, even with the beards:
"I think the tourists will love these two.... I'm not crazy about beards, myself, but they look very handsome!"
- Juma, london, uk, 31/7/2009 15:42
One day there might be an article on Muslims guarding the English Royal family and when that happens I hope to see comments from people who are aware that during World War II, and as of January 1945, there were 447,000 Muslims in the British Indian Army (bear in mind this was a volunteer army) along with (for comparison) 92,000 Sikhs and 103,000 Gurkhas. Perhaps some comments from people who also remember Muslims such as Noor Inayat Khan, who joined the SOE (Special Operations Executive, the forerunner of the SAS) serving in Occupied France and becoming a heroine of the French Resistance before she was captured by the Nazis and executed.
Maybe then someone will write ‘Muslims’ in a paraphrasing of Robert of Worchester’s comment:
"Sikhs have always been a noble people and excellent soldiers. A great many have fought and died for this country. HMQ will be in safe hands."
- Robert, Worcester UK, 31/7/2009 15:51
Monday, 27 July 2009
In the Year 2032...
I'm no fan of this particular newspaper and feel they have a tendency to instigate moral panics amongst their readership; however, on occasion they produce some real gems that expose the obession we have with the rights of criminals over the rights of victims and the men and women of law enforcement.
A knife wielding thug is now 'a bag of nerves' after a policeman swore at him during his arrest when he threatened to kill officers. He is now 'scared of the police'. Fantastic I say, job done. Apparently, the poor ikle criminal has had his human rights violated!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1202424/Policeman-rapped-swearing-violent-knife-wielding-thug-threatened-kill-officer.html
What the hell??!!
Did we all just wake up in the futuristic world of Demolition Man? Below is some dialogue from the film. If you've seen it you will know exactly which scene it is refering to. Just replace 'Squad Leader' and 'Simon Phoenix' with 'Police Sergeant' and 'Glen Francis'.
Squad Leader: "Simon Phoenix! Lie down with your hands behind your back."
Simon Phoenix: "What's this? Six of you. Such nice, tidy uniforms. Oh I'm so scared!"
[The police officers look at each other]
Simon Phoenix: "What, you guys don't have sarcasm anymore?"
[Squad Leader talks to his automated assistant]
Squad Leader: "Maniac has responded with a scornful remark."
Automated Assistant: "Approach and repeat ultimatum in an even firmer tone of voice. Add the words 'or else'."
Why don't the powers that be just fine the officer one credit for violation of the Verbal Morality Statute and be done with it.
Demolition Man trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18e4GeUwVWs
A knife wielding thug is now 'a bag of nerves' after a policeman swore at him during his arrest when he threatened to kill officers. He is now 'scared of the police'. Fantastic I say, job done. Apparently, the poor ikle criminal has had his human rights violated!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1202424/Policeman-rapped-swearing-violent-knife-wielding-thug-threatened-kill-officer.html
What the hell??!!
Did we all just wake up in the futuristic world of Demolition Man? Below is some dialogue from the film. If you've seen it you will know exactly which scene it is refering to. Just replace 'Squad Leader' and 'Simon Phoenix' with 'Police Sergeant' and 'Glen Francis'.
Squad Leader: "Simon Phoenix! Lie down with your hands behind your back."
Simon Phoenix: "What's this? Six of you. Such nice, tidy uniforms. Oh I'm so scared!"
[The police officers look at each other]
Simon Phoenix: "What, you guys don't have sarcasm anymore?"
[Squad Leader talks to his automated assistant]
Squad Leader: "Maniac has responded with a scornful remark."
Automated Assistant: "Approach and repeat ultimatum in an even firmer tone of voice. Add the words 'or else'."
Why don't the powers that be just fine the officer one credit for violation of the Verbal Morality Statute and be done with it.
Demolition Man trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18e4GeUwVWs
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Level with me Foreign Secretary
The Foreign Secretary was in Cardiff today. I got a chance to put a question to him at one of the scheduled meetings. I was about the tenth person to ask a question on a range of foreign policy related issues. I wasn't planning to ask a question and to be honest I was expecting the question to be dodged. Anyway, the question went like this:
"This week the terror threat level was lowered to its LOWEST level for the past four years. This against a backdrop of recent arrests for plots to poision ethnic minorities with deadly ricin, and the seizure of the largest terrorist arsenal since the 1990s, over 300 weapons, 80 bombs etc and both involving Far Right extremists. No prizes for guessing their intended targets. For British citizens who are ethnic minorities or Muslims (or both) the terror threat is the HIGHEST its been for the past four years, so my question is do we need a parallel terror level alert system, one for faith and racial minorities and one for everyone else?"
Of course he understood the question was tongue-in-cheek and agreed that terrorism is indiscrminate in its choice of victims, but I didn't get the answer I was hoping he would give i.e. that MI5 would now be probing Far Right terrorism in the same way it currently does with Al-Qaida inspired terrorism. After all, Commander Shaun Sawyer of Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command said that he feared a neo-Nazi 'spectacular', "I fear they will have a spectacular... they will carry out an attack that will lead to a loss of life or injury to a community somewhere. They are not choosy about which community."
Just because one type of terrorist has hung up their explosives for a while doesn't mean we should let our guard down.
"This week the terror threat level was lowered to its LOWEST level for the past four years. This against a backdrop of recent arrests for plots to poision ethnic minorities with deadly ricin, and the seizure of the largest terrorist arsenal since the 1990s, over 300 weapons, 80 bombs etc and both involving Far Right extremists. No prizes for guessing their intended targets. For British citizens who are ethnic minorities or Muslims (or both) the terror threat is the HIGHEST its been for the past four years, so my question is do we need a parallel terror level alert system, one for faith and racial minorities and one for everyone else?"
Of course he understood the question was tongue-in-cheek and agreed that terrorism is indiscrminate in its choice of victims, but I didn't get the answer I was hoping he would give i.e. that MI5 would now be probing Far Right terrorism in the same way it currently does with Al-Qaida inspired terrorism. After all, Commander Shaun Sawyer of Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command said that he feared a neo-Nazi 'spectacular', "I fear they will have a spectacular... they will carry out an attack that will lead to a loss of life or injury to a community somewhere. They are not choosy about which community."
Just because one type of terrorist has hung up their explosives for a while doesn't mean we should let our guard down.
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