So unjust it makes you want to spit ....

British police on the side of the crooks once again

When librarian Elaine Perry was threatened in the street she called the police. Guess what? The cops arrested her instead.

Not only that, but to add insult to injury they hooded her, taped her legs together and bundled her into a van in front of a crowd of jeering onlookers.

She was kept in the special ‘spit hood’ for 15 minutes. It was removed only when she began hyperventilating.

Her ordeal began when she remonstrated with parents whose children were constantly sounding a car horn. After she was threatened by the children’s mother, who has a string of convictions for everything from assault to affray, Miss Perry dialled 999.

But the officers decided she was in the wrong. ‘I have never been in trouble before, yet I was treated like a criminal,’ she said. ‘I had no idea the British police could use this type of hood, which would not have looked out of place at Guantanamo Bay.’

I don’t suppose many people had any idea the Old Bill were hooding suspects. Neither did Chichester Magistrates, either, by the sound of it. When Miss Perry, 57, appeared in court accused of threatening behaviour and assault, she was cleared of all charges.

She now intends to sue Sussex Constabulary. Let’s hope she takes them to the cleaners. This isn’t the first time police have decided to arrest a victim of crime, not the perpetrator.

The civil court might like to take time to consider the Twitter account of one of the officers who subjected Miss Perry to this degrading treatment.

It gives a valuable insight into the calibre of some police recruits these days. PC Katrina Saunders can be seen pulling a soppy face and, in response to a tweet about the introduction of tasers, wrote: ‘Yeaaaah taser taser taser!!! :-)’

We’re not talking The Gentle Touch here, are we?

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Charity cakes given the all clear: Homemade bakers told they can sell their wares without falling foul of elf 'n' safety

At long last sense prevails

The quintessentially British pastime of selling homemade jams and cakes at the village fete to raise money for a good cause is as old as the hills.

But when European guidelines on food hygiene were introduced it sparked panic among the self-appointed health and safety police.

They issued strict new guidance which saw the pots of homemade gooseberry jam and chocolate cakes disappearing from community fundraisers.

But now the food watchdog in the UK has handed every keen cake baker and jam maker a reprieve which should see village fêtes offering home produce once again.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has ruled that volunteer cooks and charity groups who occasionally prepare food for community events are not covered by EU laws.

So that means they no longer need to possess a food hygiene certificate before they are allowed to offer their wares for sale.

In black and white, the ruling states: ‘There is no rule banning the sale of homemade cakes at school fêtes or other community events.’

The new FSA guidance comes just days after schoolgirl Georgie Hippolite, 12, was banned from selling homemade cupcakes to her schoolmates at an end-of-term charity event.

She was told he could not offer from for sale because the baker - her mother, Kirsty Hippolite, 39 - did not have a food hygiene certificate.

James Stewart, headteacher at her school, the Cowes Enterprise College, said a health and safety adviser had told them not to accept home produce as they could be liable if someone fell ill.

But the food watchdog now says that most charity and community organisation provide food less than once a month and do not need to register their activities.

Only groups that serve hot food regularly, deal with the under-fives or the elderly or are involved in large scale events need to be registered.

Scout and Guide groups as well as bring-and-buy sales, Women’s Institute events and village fêtes are also cleared to sell their produce without registering.

The move has been welcomed by professional chefs and amateur cooks alike who have called it a ‘a refreshing injection of common sense.’

Mrs Hippolite, a mother-of-five from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, said: ‘Hurray. Hurray. Thank goodness for that. I am very pleased about that.’ ‘Selling homemade cakes and jams to raise money for good causes is a traditional British pursuit and something that should be applauded to banned.

‘I was stunned when my daughter, Georgie, was told she could not sell the cupcakes I had baked. It was a Mary Berry recipe - for goodness sake!’

She said: ‘It is a refreshing injection of common sense and I welcome it wholeheartedly. It make children self-sufficient to bake and also instils a sense of social responsibility if they are baking for charity.’

Prue Leith, restaurateur and judge on BBC’s Great British Menu, said: ‘It’s the best news that has come out of the FSA for years.’

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The cowardice of the modern British emergency worker once more

When Bert Hendy dialled 999 for help for his dying wife he didn’t expect a visit from the bomb squad.  But the first paramedic to reach his home called in explosives experts after spotting a wartime shell on the pensioner’s mantelpiece.

Jean, Mr Hendy’s wife of 63 years, had died before the ambulance arrived but her body was not moved for another four hours while the bizarre incident unfolded.

Accompanied by police, the explosives experts examined and photographed the device before eventually taking it away to a police station.

The couple’s son Steve, 62, said: ‘This was typical of mum – causing such a drama. In a way it was a fitting finale – she certainly went out with a bang.’

He said his mother, 81, slipped into unconsciousness shortly after waking up last Sunday.  ‘By the time paramedics arrived, mum had sadly passed away,’ he added. ‘But while he was here, the paramedic noticed the nose cone of this bomb on the mantelpiece.

'He kept picking it up and looking at it and then said to us that he thought it was live and he was going to have to call the police.  'We couldn’t believe it. Mum had just passed away and all this was going on around her.’

Mr Hendy, 85 and a former Navy officer, was given the First World War British shell ten years ago in Hotton, Belgium.  He was visiting a graveyard in the town where his brother, Fred, 19, was buried after being killed in the Second World War.  Steve said: ‘He drilled the shell and ground it so it would fit on this plinth.

‘At no time did any of us think it could be live – it is 100 years old. It’s one of his pride and joys and had just been sitting there for years.’

Police have now returned the nose cone to Mr Hendy’s Bristol home and issued him with a certificate saying it is safe.

A police spokesman said: ‘At around 8.15am on Sunday, July 28, we were informed by the ambulance service that they had found some sort of World War One device. We attended the property in Allerton Crescent and took photos of the object.

‘At 12.30pm the Explosives Ordnance Disposal advised us that they were happy with the object and it could safely be removed to the local police station.’

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Christian church evicted from NYC restaurant for preaching against same-sex relations

The Gallery Church in New York City claims it was booted from its $25,000-per-year rental space in a local restaurant for preaching Christian messages that included sermons against same-sex relations and marriage.

The church pastor, Freddy Wyatt, said in a story reported by The Blaze that “this particular sermon series struck a nerve in the neighborhood. There was an enormous amount of backlash. … The restaurant said that if it had only been a couple of phone calls [it received] it would have been one thing – but it was more than that.”

On the church’s online blog, Pastor Wyatt said that services had only been held at the new rental space for a couple of months, before owners of the restaurant that was hosting the congregation asked them to leave.

He wrote: “The restaurant that was hosting us had received significant backlash from the neighborhood for hosting a Christian church in their space. The backlash came before the sermon was even preached … Our church was sobered by the persecution and responded with grace and gratitude. … We were given a short two months to find a new space. Not an easy task.”

The church paid the restaurant about $150 each Sunday to hold services at the facility – for a total of about $25,000 each year, the pastor said, in The Blaze. Roughly 10 attended services, and most stayed and paid to eat at the restaurant when church wrapped for the day, the pastor said.

“Yet, disassociating from a Christian church was more valuable to them,” the pastor, said, in his blog posting.

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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,  DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 

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