Tuesday, October 19, 2010


'Don't blame racism for your problems'

Black British Archbishop urges young black men to work hard for success

The Archbishop of York has urged young black people to stop blaming racism for their problems. Dr John Sentamu warned that prisons, mental health units and young offender institutions held too many black people. He told a new generation: ‘Your future success does not lie in guns, gangs and knives or in the worship of celebrities.’ Instead, they should ‘work hard’ and ‘stay focused’, he said.

The Ugandan-born Archbishop, second in the hierarchy of the Church of England, also criticised African nations for too readily trying to blame their former ‘colonial masters’ for their difficulties.

He pointed to African corruption and lack of democracy and warned that nations were squandering their opportunities.

Dr Sentamu has become a major figure in race relations in Britain over the past decade. He was a highly influential member of Sir William Macpherson’s tribunal that reported into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1998 and condemned police for ‘institutional racism’. He also headed the inquiry into the killing of Damilola Taylor on a South London estate. And he has regularly reminded police forces about the number of times that officers have stopped him and searched him.

Dr Sentamu, who marked Black History Month with his interview, added: ‘Today our prisons and mental health units are disproportionately full of men and women from minority ethnic backgrounds.

‘Our young offenders’ units are full of young black men, many of whom under-achieved at school and thought that the only way out to earning a quick buck was by committing crime. ‘As parents and as a nation we have failed our children.’

But he told young people that they should fight prejudice and bias by challenging injustice.

‘Work hard at your education, stay focused and don’t sit around waiting for success to be delivered to you on a plate, because it won’t be. Don’t blame someone else, for you have the energy, potential and creativity so use it for the good of humankind. Don’t waste it. ‘Your future success does not lie in guns, gangs and knives or in the worship of celebrities but in the pursuit of study and hard work and in valuing who you are under God.’

The Archbishop said African nations had to cope with trade tariffs loaded in favour of Western countries and multinational companies that plundered resources from failed states.

But he added: ‘We cannot lay all the blame of Africa’s ills at the feet of Europe and the colonial masters.’ ‘The high number of African nations that have rewritten their constitutions in order to stay in power indefinitely is staggering. ‘This cannot be healthy for democracy nor for the nation’s poor.

‘Europe may have underdeveloped Africa but I believe we’ve had the opportunity since to shape our future and destiny and are in danger of squandering these opportunities.’

SOURCE






Victims of 7/7 bombings in London 'died in agony because of red tape that stopped rescue efforts', says survivor

Injured victims of the July 7 terror attacks on London were left to die in agony because of health and safety protocols, a survivor claimed yesterday. Victims on the Aldgate train were screaming in pain for up to 40 minutes before emergency services were allowed near the bomb site.

Michael Henning, 43, said he saw firemen waiting on the platform at Aldgate, as the wounded lay dying barely 150ft away. The injured insurance broker screamed at the 999 workers: ‘Why aren’t you down there, people are dying down there?’

A bloodied and battered Mr Henning was pictured on the day of the attacks wearing a medical eye patch. Yesterday –five years on – he appeared to have made a good physical recovery.

But he said he believed some of the 52 victims of the terror attacks might have survived if they had received faster medical care. He told the July 7 inquest: ‘Even those who were too severely wounded to ever survive, some of them died in agony for 20, 30, 40 minutes. ‘At least they should have had the dignity of having some morphine. If you’re dying in agony for half an hour, you deserve some sort of dignity and some sort of pain relief.’

Seven people died on the rush-hour train at Aldgate after suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer detonated a rucksack containing home-made explosives at 8.49am.

The first paramedics did not arrive at the station until 25 minutes after the explosion and firemen initially refused to enter the tunnel because of fears there could be a second bomb on the train.

Mr Henning said firemen waiting on the platform had seemed embarrassed and refused to meet his eye when he emerged soot-covered and blood-stained. He told the inquest he had later learned the 999 workers were following safety protocols.

Mr Henning spoke of his frustration as he walked past the carriage where Tanweer set off his bomb, and saw off-duty police officer Elizabeth Kenworthy desperately holding Martine Wright, who lost both her legs in the attack.

Describing the despair on Miss Kenworthy’s face, he said: ‘I had never ever seen such a forlorn look, such a desperate look. ‘I was quite calm but I could feel the anger rising in me because we had no help apart from the London Underground people at that stage.’

Mr Henning, a broker with Lloyd’s, compared the delayed response of the emergency services with the rescue teams who operated in London in the Second World War. ‘My grandfather led a rescue team in the Blitz,’ he said. ‘They didn’t wait until the bombers had left. ‘They were out, they didn’t worry about unexploded bombs. They would go in even if the building was on fire.’

Mr Henning, from Kensington, West London, was in the next carriage to the bomber’s and was showered with glass and shards of metal in the explosion. He needed medical treatment for cuts to his face and his right eye.

His physical wounds have now healed but he has undergone therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. He admitted he felt like a pariah for criticising the rescue effort.

The inquest is expected to hear further evidence on whether delays and communications failures hampered the response to the terror attacks at Aldgate, Edgware Road, King’s Cross and Tavistock Square. First aider Steven Desborough, who was a passenger on board the stricken train, described how he fought to keep severely wounded survivors alive.

He cradled injured solicitor Carrie Taylor, in his arms and tried to comfort the 24-year-old, who died shortly after paramedics arrived. Miss Taylor’s father John was in court as Mr Desborough described her death, saying: ‘There was less and less movement, less and less of her trying to call out or move around. ‘I could physically see her slipping away.’

The seven people killed in the Aldgate explosion were Lee Baisden, 34, of Romford, Essex; Benedetta Ciaccia, 30, from Norwich; Richard Ellery, 21, from Ipswich; Richard Gray, 41, from Ipswich; Anne Moffat, 48, of Old Harlow, Essex; Fiona Stevenson, 29, from Central London; and Miss Taylor, from Billericay, Essex.

The High Court inquest was told Italian-born Miss Ciaccia was two months away from her wedding day, Mr Baisden nursed his mother as she suffered from multiple sclerosis, while Miss Taylor dreamed of working for the UN.

SOURCE





Bureaucratic madness in Australia



NSW Fire Brigade officers had to sit in their station and do nothing as a house burned down just 10 minutes away because of a farcical rule.

As the house burned at Port Macquarie on September 11, the NSWFB members, who were ready to respond, were grounded by their superiors as the home was in the jurisdiction of the Rural Fire Service.

But it took the local North Shore rural brigade more than 15 minutes to arrive and another 30 minutes for support units to arrive from Lake Cathie, Pembroke and Telegraph Point. In the meantime, the fire had gutted the Riverside Drive house.

The Daily Telegraph has been told archaic laws had kept the urban firefighters inside their station.

Ashley Grady and her mum Susan lost everything in the blaze. Ashley, 19, said yesterday she could not understand why firefighters would not be sent if they were available. "Yes I have heard about what happened. It's disappointing," she said.

A NSWFB spokeswoman said "in line with agreed protocols, the RFS was notified of the call, because the house was located in an RFS fire district". But she said "additional resources can be provided by either agency upon request".

SOURCE





Australia: Muslim woman removes niqab for fraud trial -- after men ejected from court

A MUSLIM woman who sparked a national debate when she asked if she could give evidence in a Perth court wearing a niqab, has uncovered her face to give evidence in a fraud trial. Tasneem, whose last name has been suppressed by the Perth District Court, gave evidence for just 15 minutes on Monday in the trial of Anwar Sayed.

Sayed is accused of falsifying student numbers at the Muslim Ladies College of Australia in Kenwick, in Perth's south, to fraudulently obtain part of $1.125 million the school received in state and federal government grants.

The 50-year-old, from nearby Canningvale, is the director of Muslim Link Australia, which runs the school.

He allegedly knowingly signed a declaration that in the 2006/07 census year, more than 180 students were enrolled in the school when there were 80 to 100 fewer than that. The school received about $164,000 from the state government and about $961,000 from the federal government.

Tasneem, 36, has worn a niqab since the age of 17 and wanted to wear it while giving evidence in the trial.

But Judge Shauna Deane in August ruled she must remove the niqab so that the jury could read her facial expressions.

Tasneem only removes the niqab when she visits the doctor and dentist, at customs in airports and when she has her driver's licence photograph taken.

Otherwise, the only males to see her without it are her husband, children and blood relatives.

Judge Deane on Friday ruled that to make it easier for Tasneem to give evidence comfortably, men would be removed from the court. The only men allowed in the courtroom while she gave her evidence were male jurors, the judge's usher, Sayed and the lawyers.

While female journalists were allowed to stay in the court to report on Tasneem's evidence, male journalists were ejected.

A lawyer representing Network Ten and the Seven and Nine networks made an application on Friday to alter the order so that male journalists could remain in court, but the application was rejected.

Giving evidence via video link on Monday, Tasneem appeared comfortable, flanked by a security person and a support person, both of whom were female.

During her brief evidence she explained that she worked at the school as an Islamic studies teacher for two hours a day, five days a week.

Tasneem said that "from time to time" some students would go overseas on holiday or to visit family, mostly in Afghanistan, so it was possible they were enrolled at the school, but did not attend for long periods of time.

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of other countries. The only real difference, however, is how much power they have. In America, their power is limited by democracy. To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges. They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did: None. So look to the colleges to see what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way. It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN (Note that EYE ON BRITAIN has regular posts on the reality of socialized medicine). My Home Pages are here or here or here or Email me (John Ray) here. For readers in China or for times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site here.

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