News Of The World's Stupid List of Sex Offenders

It goes without saying that the murder of Sarah Payne or any other child is hideous beyond words, and I won't do the subject an injustice by trying to comment on it.

What I will comment on is the stupidity of the News Of The World in publishing a list of alleged sex offenders and paedophiles, and the stupidity of it's readers in acting upon it.

I believe I share with most people an abhorration towards sex offenders and paedophiles. I firmly belive that, God forbid, should any of my family were affected by one I would be in a murderous rage. I'm in favour of capital punishment for these crimes, and as anyone who knows me well enough will tell you, every now and again I've voiced support for vigilantism when law and order just isn't addressing the issue of justice.

However - in both these cases, I also insist on there being absolutely no margin of error, or room for doubt. This requires detailed evidence and a balance of mind to weigh up the many consequences of these sorts of actions.

It's An Outrage!! that the News Of The World should take into it's own hands the responsibility for publishing a list of names it claims are worthy of public awareness for the nature of their crimes. Why? Because the mentality of their readers is not generally capable of making a a balanced judgement of what they are reading and the actions they should take as a result.

We have already seen one innocent man's house stoned by an angry, baying mob, simply because he resembled an old and out of date photo of someone on that list. What next - somebody strung up or beaten to death on this same flimsy basis? Don't dismiss this - in the US, somebody has been shot at for just this reason. Strange when you consider they expel pupils from infant schools for playing cops and robbers... see here

Since September 1997, moves have been made to monitor the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders in Britain, although the information is restricted to the appropriate police force, the probation service and the local MP.

Under the Sex Offenders Act, those found guilty of crimes such as rape are obliged to report their name and address to a local police station within 14 days of their conviction or release from custody.

Those who receive a sentence of less than 30 months in jail must provide police with their address for up to a decade, and those imprisoned for more serious sexual crimes must remain on the register indefinitely.

Anyone failing to register risks a six-month prison term or a £5,000 fine.

The register contains some 12,000 names; a compliance rate of 97%, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers, which makes it the most successful sex offender register of any country in the world.

There are no doubt improvements that could be made to the system, and I would be in favour of wider dissemination of the information as long as it was done in a sensible, controlled manner.

We cannot allow idiot newspapers to pander to their cretinous readership and create a climate of fear and hostility towards all and sundry. That really is Mob Rule.

Toothless Taxi Watchdog

In February, I had occasion to complain to the Chesterfield Borough Council about the driving and behaviour of one of their taxi driver's.

The blighter had dangerously cut up me and another car at a roundabout, and then given me obscene hand gestures for about a mile, encouraging his school-uniformed passenger to do the same. Call me old fashioned, but I wasn't very happy about that and given that his details were plastered all over his vehicle, thought I'd take the time and effort to do something about it.

So, I dropped all the details to the appropriate person at the Council, and got a swift reply saying that they'd written to the driver and would be following my complaint up.

However, it turns out that he never replied to them, and refused to discuss it when he collected his taxi licence renewal from the Council offices. As such, the council can take absolutely no action against him.

It's An Outrage!!

What a useless way to run a public service! This taxi driver was a danger to other road users, and abusive to members of the public; as such he should be subject to disciplinary action. If I ever find myself in trouble (non-payment of taxes, speeding, criminal damage, that sort of thing) then perhaps I'll try the 'ignore it and it'll go away' approach. In Chesterfield, it certainly seems to work.

By the way, the taxi in question was a black and white Ford Orion, registration F995 UBE, plate number 113. If you see him, give him a smack for me will you...

Ridiculous Compensation Claim

In September 1999, on a routine package flight, a Britannia Airways Boeing 757 was hit by lightning during a thunderstorm. The pilot was forced to make a crash-landing at Gerona Airport during which the plane broke into three sections. However, not one person from the 245 crew and passengers was injured from this. Everyone hailed the pilot, Brendan Nolan, as a hero and quite rightly so; he had managed to get them through a random Act of God without so much as a scrape. Britannia Airways generously offered all those on board £1,500 for the distress they had suffered.

It's An Outrage!! then to discover that one of the passengers, Mrs Jane Griffiths, has slammed this offer. She believes that to be offered such a small amount of money after all she and her two daughters have been through is a 'disgusting, disgraceful insult'. She apparently feels like telling Britannia to 'stick it', because they 'all thought we were going to die'.

The point here I feel is that she thought wrongly, and she didn't die, nor did she fracture anything or lose any functionality in any part of her body; she didn't even break a fingernail.

Now, it is no doubt upsetting at the time to be involved in any sort of crash landing (given that the word 'crash' is in there), especially if the plane breaks up in the process. But, that is the inherent risk in choosing to fly, and we all take it every time we step on board.

Mental anguish, you say? Did someone mention psychological trauma? When Mrs Griffiths gave her comments to the press, she was busy packing - she was due to fly to Spain on holiday the following afternoon.

If I were Britannia, I would indeed stick my compensation; in pesetas, and one by one...

BBC2 On The Night of 11th July 2000

On the night of Tuesday 11th July, I was planning to watch a new series called Bare Necessities on BBC2, where two groups of ordinary people are stuck on an island and left to their own devices.
Not wanting to miss it, I checked through my TV guide for the times, and was shocked by what I saw. Almost everything on BBC2 that night was a repeat. Let me illustrate, working from left to right below;

13:00 Christopher Crocodile (rpt)	13:05 Monty (rpt)
13:10 World Superbikes	13:50 The Natural World (rpt)
14:40 Westminster Live	15:20 BBC News & Weather
15:30 Geoff Hamiltons Cottage Garden (rpt)	16:00 Gardener's World (rpt)
16:30 Ready, Steady, Cook (rpt)	17:00 Classic Rhodes (rpt)
17:30 University Challenge	18:00 TOTP2 (rpt)
18:45 Due South (rpt)	19:30 Home Ground (rpt)
20:00 Bare Necessities	21:00 Dad's Army (rpt)
21:30 The Natural World (rpt)	22:20 Trade Secrets (rpt)
22:30 Newsnight	23:20 This Life (rpt)

That makes just 6 programmes that aren't repeats, and 4 of those are either showing or commenting on topical events.

Out of a possible 11 hours of programming, less than 4 hours were original. That's a mere 35%.

It's An Outrage!!

Okay, I realise that mid-week, mid-July on BBC2 isn't exactly prime-time TV, and I'm not questioning the quality or entertainment value of the programmes shown, but surely the evening slot qualifies for a little bit of a fresher approach?

IRA Terrorists Claim Damages

Four former prisoners, including convicted terrorists, are suing the government over injuries they say they suffered after a bungled jailbreak.

Six Republicans tried to shoot their way to freedom from the top-security Whitemoor jail in Cambridgeshire in 1994. One prison officer was shot and wounded in the escape.

One of the men, IRA terrorist, Liam McCotter is claiming compensation of £50,000, by alleging that prison officers beat him up after the attempted jailbreak

Mr McCotter, 36, says he was repeatedly kicked and punched by warders soon after he was captured, and again in a segregation cell.

A similar claim to Mr McCotter's has been lodged by Gilbert 'Danny' McNamee, 39, who also joined the breakout.

Both men lodged their claims with the High Court earlier this year, with a total of 27 prison officers being named in the legal action. The pair say they have been left with "reduced grip strength" in their hands while McNamee says he has since suffered from severe headaches.

It's An Outrage!!

Not only did an investigation by the police and Prison Service at the time rule that warders had not used undue force, but these men were convicted terrorists.

Mr McCotter had been serving 15 years for conspiracy to cause explosions in Manchester and London after a 200lb cache of Semtex was found in 1988.

Mr McNamee was serving a 25-year sentence for the Hyde Park bombing that killed four Guardsmen. (I feel it only right to mention that this conviction was later overturned and Mr McNamee was freed 18 months ago, after serving 11 years. However, he is reported to be in line for £100,000 compensation for his time in jail)

If the prison officers did beat them up, then I would say "obviously not enough", especially if a 'reduced grip strength' indicates some remaining functionality of the hand. I hope it was the one he used to pull triggers and press detonation buttons.

And severe headaches? Perhaps they are caused by guilt as opposed to an alleged barrage of hefty punches. Certainly I doubt that they are quite as severe as those of the many people who have lost friends and relatives to these terrorists, such as Colin Parry, whose 12-year-old son, Tim, was killed in the 1993 Warrington bombing. As the man himself said, "Many victims of IRA violence have received considerably less than the figure this man is seeking."

Perhaps we could award the IRA pair something similar to their victims, such as a pair of matching kneecappings, or a large packet of high explosive and nails?

By The Way - The night-time breakout from Whitemoor revealed astonishing lapses at what was supposed to be the country's most secure prison. Besides two smuggled guns, the escapees had an array of other equipment, including wire cutters and a 17ft rope ladder, which they had been able to make in the prison's workshops.

I'm not sure which is the bigger Outrage!!