Friday, October 18, 2013




More joys of multiculturalism for Britain



Police are warning people not to approach a convicted murderer who has escaped from a mental health centre.

Lerone Michael Boye, 27, walked out of the medium security John Howard Centre in Kenworthy Road, Homerton, east London, at about 2pm today.

He was sentenced to life last December for the murder of Kelvin Chibueze and told he must serve a minimum of 28 years.
Convicted murderer Lerone Michael Boye, 27, walked out of the medium security unit on Wednesday

His 17-year-old victim was fatally stabbed at the Arteflex Club in Ilford High Road, east London, on August 15 2011.  He was chased out of a birthday party and attacked with glass and broken bottles. Boye's three co-accused are also serving life sentences.

Boye is described as black, about 5ft 10in and of slim build with short black hair and a goatee beard.  He has a horseshoe-shaped scar on his right cheek.  He was last seen wearing grey jogging bottoms and a grey or blue sweatshirt with a grey vest over the top.  He is known to have links to the Ilford area.

Members of the public have been warned not to approach him but call 999.

East London NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the centre, says it has launched an investigation into Boye's escape.  A John Howard Centre spokesman told the BBC: 'The trust is working with the police to assist them with their investigation.  'We are reviewing our security as a matter of urgency.'

At last years trial, Boye was identified by Judge John Bevan as a ringleader of the attack, along with fellow murderer Dale Williams.

'To say those originally in the dock did not know who inflicted the fatal injuries is nonsense', said Judge Bevan.  'That, of course, is a secret they are not going to divulge.'

SOURCE





British theatre tells patriotic ex-gunner that people aren't allowed to stand for the National Anthem in case they start dancing dangerously

An army veteran has been told that he would not be allowed to stand for the National Anthem during a military concert because of health and safety rules.

Retired Royal Artillery gunner Doug Speller, 74, was informed by booking staff at a concert theatre that audience members had to be seated at all times during a performance by an RAF band.

When he questioned whether the rule would apply if the band played a traditional rendition of God Save the Queen, he was told not to stand at any time.

According to Mr Speller, organisers said the rule was a health and safety precaution which prevented people dancing dangerously in the stands.

The veteran of Thetford, Norfolk, paid £18 for balcony ticket at the Apex theatre in Bury St Edmunds  for a 'Path to Peace concert' by the RAF Honington Voluntary Band in November.

He booked to see the performance having served for six years as a Royal Artilleryman in Singapore and Germany before a further 18 years as a Territorial Army Sergent.

But after being told about the no standing rule, Mr Speller described the decision as 'silly'.  He said: 'How dare they tell me I can't stand for the national anthem? The national anthem is what this country is all about.'  'It's what people fought for, so that we could be free. As far as I am concerned we should be standing up to protect it, not banning people from respecting it because of silly regulations.

'It's a lovely theatre but if they want to survive they shouldn't be doing things like this. It's like so many things in this country, they want to stop this and stop that.

'You've got to wonder whether they'll try to do away with the national anthem all together. Health and safety is a good idea when it's done properly but things like this really beggar belief.'

St Edmundsbury Borough Council, which runs The Apex, said there had been a 'misapplication of health and safety principles'.

A council spokesman said the rules were there to stop audiences dancing dangerously and not to ban them from standing in respect.

He said: 'We will make sure that our staff understand how rules apply to this part of the building, for the various types of events held here.'

SOURCE






An Israeli Soldier to American Jews: Wake up!

As a young Israeli who had just completed five years of service in the IDF, I looked forward to my new job educating people in the Pacific Northwest about Israel. I was shocked, however, by the anti-Israel bigotry and hostility I encountered, especially in the greater Seattle area, Oregon, and Berkeley. I had been very liberal, a member of the leftist Zionist party, Meretz, but the anti-Semitism and hatred for Israel that I have seen in the U.S. has changed my outlook personally and politically.

This year, from January through May, I went to college campuses, high schools, and churches to tell people about the history of modern Israel, about my experience growing up in the Jewish state, and about my family. I also always spoke about my military service as an officer in an IDF COGAT unit that attends to the needs of Palestinian civilians who are not involved in the conflict and promotes Palestinian civil society. Each time I would speak and take questions for an hour or more. I have shared my personal story with over 16,000 people at many, many college campuses and high schools, including UC Berkeley, Stanford, the University of Washington, Seattle University and many others. Many of those to whom I spoke were supportive, friendly, and open to hearing about my Israel. But, sadly, far too many were not.

When I served as a soldier in the West Bank, I got used to having ugly things said to me, but nothing prepared me for the misinformation, demonization of Israel, and the gut-wrenching, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hostility expressed by many students, professors, church members, and even some high school students right here in the Pacific Northwest.

I was further shocked by how unaware the organized Jewish community is and how little they are actually doing to counter this rising anti-Semitism, which motivated me to write this article.

This new form of bigotry against Israel has been called the “new anti-Semitism,” with “Israel” replacing “Jew” in traditional anti-Semitic imagery and canards, singling out and discriminating against the Jewish state, and denying the Jewish people alone the right to self-determination. The new anti-Semitism is packaged in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS), which claims to champion Palestinian rights though its real goal is to erode American support for Israel, discredit Jews who support Israel, and pave the way for eliminating the Jewish state. One of BDS’ central demands is the “complete right of return” for all the descendants of the original Palestinian refugees, subtle language that means the end of Israel as the Jewish homeland because it would turn Israel into a Palestinian-Arab majority state.

It is surprising that an extremist group like BDS is ever taken seriously, but BDS advocates have found receptive audiences in some circles. Their campaigns are well organized and in many cases, well financed. They have lobbied universities, corporations, food co-ops, churches, performing artists, labor unions, and other organizations to boycott Israel and companies that do business with Israel. But even if these groups don’t agree to treat Israel as a pariah state, the BDS activists manage to spread their anti-Israel misinformation, lies and prejudice simply by forcing a debate based on their false claims about Israel.

To give you a taste of the viciousness of the BDS attacks, let me cite just a few of the many shocking experiences I have had. At a BDS event in Portland, a professor from a Seattle university told the assembled crowd that the Jews of Israel have no national rights and should be forced out of the country. When I asked, “Where do you want them to go?” she calmly answered, “I don’t care. I don’t care if they don’t have any place else to go. They should not be there.” When I responded that she was calling for ethnic cleansing, both she and her supporters denied it.

And during a presentation in Seattle, I spoke about my longing for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. When I was done, a woman in her 60’s stood up and yelled at me, “You are worse than the Nazis. You are just like the Nazi youth!” A number of times I was repeatedly accused of being a killer, though I have never hurt anyone in my life. On other occasions, anti-Israel activists called me a rapist.

The claims go beyond being absurd – in one case, a professor asked me if I knew how many Palestinians have been raped by IDF forces. I answered that as far as I knew, none. She triumphantly responded that I was right, because, she said, “You IDF soldiers don’t rape Palestinians because Israelis are so racist and disgusted by them that you won’t touch them.”

Such irrational accusations are symptomatic of dangerous anti-Semitism. Yet, alarmingly, most mainstream American Jews are completely oblivious to this ugly movement and the threat it poses. They seem to be asleep, unaware that this anti-Jewish bigotry is peddled on campuses, by speakers in high schools, churches, and communities, and is often deceptively camouflaged in the rhetoric of human rights.

The American Jewish community and its leaders are not providing a united front to combat this latest threat. Unfortunately, this repeats a pattern of Jewish communal groups failing to unite in a timely way to counter threats against us individually and as a community.

Shockingly, a small but very vocal number of Jews actively support BDS. They often belong to organizations that prominently include “Jewish” in their names, like Jewish Voice for Peace, to give cover to BDS and the anti-Semitism that animates it. A question that we, as a Jewish community must ask ourselves, is whether it is ever appropriate to include and accept Jews who support BDS and directly or indirectly advocate the ultimate elimination of the Jewish State of Israel.

I think it is not.

My experiences in America have changed me. I never expected to encounter such hatred and lies. I never believed that such anti-Semitism still existed, especially in the U.S. I never knew that the battlefield was not just Gaza, the West Bank, and hostile Middle Eastern countries wanting to destroy Israel and kill our citizens and soldiers. It is also here in America, where a battle must be waged against prejudice and lies.

I implore American Jews: do more.

Israel cannot fight this big battle alone. If you are affiliated with a Jewish organization, let it know you want it to actively, openly and unequivocally oppose the BDS campaign and those who support it. Inform yourself, your friends and families, by visiting websites of organizations like StandWithUs, Jewish Virtual Library, AIPAC, AJC and others that will update you and provide information about BDS and anti-Semitism.

I urge the organized Jewish community and its members to wake up and stand up for the Jewish state of Israel, and for all it represents, and for all it works to achieve.

SOURCE






Fury as the Guardian links Tory reforms to the deaths of Baby P and Hamzah Khan

The Guardian was under pressure to apologise last night for a  ‘disgraceful slur’ against Michael Gove by appearing to link his reforms to the deaths of Baby P and Hamzah Khan.

Polly Toynbee suggested that the Education Secretary’s decision to dismantle Labour’s ContactPoint child protection database had made it easier for vulnerable youngsters to slip through the cracks.

The online version of the veteran Left-wing columnist’s account was headlined: ‘It is the Baby Ps and Hamzah Khans who pay for this Tory vandalism: Michael Gove’s dismantling of successful schemes like ContactPoint has left abuse victims even more vulnerable.’

Miss Toynbee claimed the database ‘would have raised the alarm’ about Hamzah, who was starved to death by his mother and left in his cot for almost two years. In fact, both children were killed before the Coalition came to power in May 2010.

And ContactPoint was not scrapped until August 2010 – nine months after Hamzah is thought to have died. Peter Connelly, known as Baby P, died in August 2007.

Chris Skidmore, a Tory member of the Commons education committee, called on the Guardian to apologise. ‘This is a disgraceful slur,’ he said.

‘It is deeply disappointing that anyone should stoop so low as to use the tragic deaths of children to score cheap political points. Polly Toynbee and the Guardian should apologise.’

Miss Toynbee yesterday acknowledged the headline on her article was ‘provocative’, but said she had not written it. She insisted she was not blaming Mr Gove for particular child deaths and acknowledged that no government could prevent all child abuse.

A spokesman for Guardian News and Media said the paper stood by both the article and the headline. She added: ‘The reference to “the Baby Ps  and Hamzah Khans” in the headline is clearly referring to victims of child abuse in general, rather than to those two tragic cases.’

An education source pointed out that Mr Gove had acted to ensure that serious case reviews into child deaths are now routinely published.

The Education Secretary’s wife, Sarah Vine - who writes a column for the Mail - criticised Miss Toynbee in a message on Twitter. ‘I respect you very much, but your piece today does you no justice,’ she said. ‘It displays ignorance, laziness and blind tribalism.’

Responding to online criticism from her own readers, Miss Toynbee said: ‘No government can ever protect every child. I say that emphatically.  ‘There is no magic bullet, and even the best systems will fail some children. But learning the lessons of these exhaustive reviews is important.

‘I am not accusing Gove of killing children, but the combination of less collaboration and larger than ever crisis caseloads for social workers is a serious risk.’

The ContactPoint database was set up in 2004 in an attempt to improve information-sharing between child protection agencies following the death of Victoria Climbie.

But it was widely condemned on privacy, security and child protection grounds.

Critics said it was too easy for people to access information inappropriately about vulnerable children.

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, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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