When Britain's "health and safety" obsession kills

Cowardice is now officially encouraged, and even compulsory. That is still no excuse for the worm described below, however.

A choking diner died after a paramedic refused treatment because he feared for his own safety. Builder John Kinder began to gasp for breath as his frantic friend Frank Honey pushed away staff who had rushed to Mr Kinder's aid.

When an ambulance arrived, the paramedic told the restaurant manager in Manchester he wouldn't go inside - because Mr Honey, 65, was 'aggressive'. He waited for police to arrive ten minutes later - by which time Mr Kinder, 55, had suffered fatal brain damage.

The details emerged as coroner Nigel Meadows dramatically halted an inquest into the death to demand answers about ambulance service protocol. Mr Meadows said: 'I want to know why they took some time before entering the restaurant.'

Mr Kinder's widow Judith said she had found it hard to understand why a paramedic wouldn't help her husband. She told the hearing: 'John didn't deserve to die because the behaviour another man stopped him being treated.'

The inquest heard how Mr Kinder and Mr Honey had both ordered steak and chips, with a bottle of wine, at the Villaggio Restaurant on Canal Street.

Minutes after they were served, manageress Lauren Littlechild heard a plate and glass smash and saw Mr Kinder fighting for breath. She said: 'I thought he was having an asthma attack but he got worse and we called an ambulance. 'I spoke to the paramedic and told him a man was struggling to breathe.

'The paramedic said an aggressive man was in the restaurant. I told him the man was about 70 and that there was no threat. 'But he insisted on waiting for the police. I just wanted him to get a bit closer and advise us what to do - but he still insisted on a police presence.'

Miss Littlechild said Mr Honey had made it difficult for staff to get to Mr Kinder. 'It was obvious he had had a lot to drink and was shoving us and waving his arms around,' she said.

When police officers arrived they escorted the paramedic into the restaurant.

Mr Kinder, of Charlesworth, Glossop, died five days later in Manchester Royal Infirmary from irreversible brain damage caused by oxygen starvation.

Mr Honey said he and Mr Kinder had been 'in a couple of pubs' before going for a meal.

An ambulance service spokesman said: 'Based on information available, usually from the 999 caller, staff can take the decision to stand off from a scene until it is deemed safe.

'These measures are taken in order to protect staff. If they require a police presence, they would request this via control and then wait for their arrival.'

SOURCE





PA Arabs Tell Pop Group: Don't Sing about Babylon

1970s disco group Boney M performed at Ramallah this week, but the local music festival prevented it from performing one of its biggest hits, because it features the Jewish people's yearning for the Land of Zion, the Associated Press reported.

Lead singer Maizie Williams said Palestinian Authority concert organizers told her not to sing "Rivers of Babylon." The organizers said they asked for the song to be skipped, because they found it "inappropriate."

The song's lyrics are a loose paraphrase of Psalm 137. They include the lines:

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down;
yea we wept, when we remembered Zion.
When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Required from us a song
Now how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land.

Spokesmen for the PA, and for Arab countries in general, tend to vehemently deny the connection between the People of Israel and the Land of Israel.

Yet the Bible – the book that Western civilization is built around – is rife with thousands of verses that clearly establish the connection without any doubt. The Jews' yearning for Israel and the Divine commandment of settling in Israel are among the most central themes of the Holy Book, if not the most central one. Repeatedly in the Bible, G-d exhorts the Jews to obey his commandments or suffer banishment from the Holy Land. This week's reading starts with Moses' begging G-d to allow him to enter the land to which he led the Jews before he dies.

Extremist Muslim and Arab culture seems to find this rock-solid fact increasingly unbearable in recent years, and seek to deny it to the world, and to themselves as well, counting on repetition to make their contention believable.

"I don't know if it is a political thing or what, but they asked us not to do it and we were a bit disappointed that we could not do it because we know that everybody loves this song no matter what," Williams said. "I believe you should entertain wherever you are asked to entertain, whether it is Israel, whether it is Palestine, whether it is Lebanon, where ever it is, we go," she added.

The band, which was hugely popular in Europe and Israel some 35 years ago, performed its other big hits for hundreds of fans at the Palestinian International Festival.

The PA has been campaigning with some success to get international artists to stop giving concerts in Israel. The Pixies and Elvis Costello, for example, have canceled concerts in Israel following pressure from pro-PA groups. Others, such as Elton John, who did not cancel his recent concert in Israel, performed to record crowds..

SOURCE






Spanish 'Thought police' slam media with fine totaling $125,000

Offending ad sang praises of traditional family structure but the Leftist Spanish government is illegally trying to squash it

A Christian-inspired media group is being targeted with a fine of about $125,000 for its broadcast of television ads that promote the traditional family by using video footage of homosexual "pride" events and asking "Proud … of what?"

According to a detailed documentation of the case by the European Center for Law and Justice, an affiliate of the U.S.-based American Center for Law and Justice, the fine targets the multimedia communication group Intereconomia, which among other things owns ALBA – a Christian-inspired weekly publication in Spain.

The fine of 100,000 euros was announced recently by Spain's Ministry of Industry, the government agency "responsible for regulating telecommunications and audiovisual media," not too dissimilar from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which adopted a new federal "hate crimes" law regulating such speech only months ago.

According to the ECLJ report, Intereconomia said the democratic nation of Spain should not have a "thought police" and contended the fine violated the fundamental democratic principle of the right of expression.

The accusation against the media company charged that the ads included material that was "likely to produce the effect of inciting, spreading or promoting hatred or other forms of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons" – otherwise known as "hate speech."

But the ECLJ noted the decision violates case law already issued by the European Court of Human Rights, and the Spanish government's prosecution "goes directly against international standards protecting freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience and religion."

The ad, which aired about 270 times over the course of the pro-family campaign, showed "only actual footage" of homosexuals marching and dancing in various parades. "Is this the type of society you want?" the ad asked. "Are these the examples you want for your children?" The ad also suggested that if there is a "Gay Pride Day," the other 364 days of the year should be recognized as days of pride for heterosexuals.

"As the European Court of Human Rights stated several times, freedom of expression is an essential foundation of democratic society," the ECLJ report said. "Freedom of expression is not only a guarantee against the state but also a fundamental principle for life in democracy. Freedom of expression applies not only to information and ideas that are favorably received or regarded as inoffensive or indifferent, but also to expression that may offend, shock or disturb the state or any sector of the population."

European precedents have concluded only a "pressing social need" may justify a limitation to freedom of speech.

But, as a Catholic media organization, Intereconomía "has not only the right of freedom of expression, but also the right of religious freedom under Article 9 of the Convention," the organization explained.

"In its duty to promote pluralism and tolerance and to respect the standards of a democratic society, the Spanish government should acknowledge the importance of religious speech and practice of faith. Under European law, it has never been a crime to merely express religious belief, nor should it ever be," the law organization said.

More HERE





Australia: Multiculturalism protects a vicious assault

Samoan man convicted of smashing a man's jaw for allegedly disrespecting his sister -- but no jail

A SAMOAN national has narrowly avoided being immediately sent to jail for smashing the jaw of a fast food worker who was "culturally disrespectful" toward his younger sister.

The Brisbane District Court was told Sanervie Sautia landed a single punch to the face KFC employee Robert Hirsch, 20, and breaking his jaw in two places at the fastfood chain's Inala store, 15km west of Brisbane, on April 16 last year.

Sautia, 23, was today sentenced two years' jail, but released on immediate parole, after pleading guilty to one count of grievous bodily harm.

Lawyers for Sautia argued it was considered unacceptable in Samoan culture for a person to disrespect or insult a woman. Barrister Tim Ryan said his client "never intended" to harm Mr Hirsch, but confronted casual KFC employee over having called his sister a "f***head.’’ "In the Samoan culture it is unacceptable to disrespect females," Mr Ryan said.

The court was told Mr Hirsch allegedly made the "insulting" remark while working with Sautia's sister - also then employed by KFC.

Prosecutor Rob Glenday said Mr Hirsch had been sitting on the KFC store's loading dock, on a break, when he was approached by Sautia about 2.30pm. Mr Glenday said Sautia confronted Mr Hirch saying: "What's you name bro? So you was the one going off at my sister."

Mr Hirsch replied: "No way." The court was told Sautia told Mr Hirsch to never "f***ing talk to my sister like that" and punched him once in the face.

Mr Glenday said Mr Hirsch was later taken to hospital and required surgery to insert three metal plates, to secure his jaw, and 35 internal and two-external stitches. Mr Hirch was forced to "eat through a straw" for numerous weeks after the attack, the court was told. "(This was a) mindless act of aggression against (Mr Hirsch) while he was sitting down at work," he said.

Judge Richard Jones, in sentencing Sautia, said the attack may have been triggered by a cultural "slight", but that it was an unacceptable act of violence.

"It is a most serious offence and is all too prevalent in society today," Judge Jones said. "(Mr Hirsch) worked with your sister at the Kentucky Fried Chicken premises ... and insulted your sister ... using coarse language. "It appears among Samoan culture ... to insult a woman is a significant slight indeed. "It may provide an explanation, but no excuse."

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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