A brief mention of some of the things that have been in the news
during the last week or so …
• George Monbiot, darling of the green tree-hugging lobby and self-proclaimed environmental "expert" has been in the news because he's just bought a car. After years of campaigning against car-users, with scathing contempt for the average motorist as an irresponsible environment-destroying vandal, George has actually got off his bike and bought a Renault Clio.
We support the right of newspaper columnists to devote column inches to making fun of Moonbat for joining the ranks of the polluters. Hypocrisy needs exposing wherever it occurs (am I the only person who remembers Jack Straw being President of the National Union of Students in the late 60s?).
Where The GOS disagrees with the papers is in their criticism of the car he's chosen, because it's not a Toyota Prius with an egg-beater for an engine, or one of these dreadful little Indian things that run on electricity and devour their passengers if anything goes wrong. The Clio is a totally civilised little car. In fact, The GOS has one himself. Like Moonbat's, it's a 1.5-litre diesel, it is the lowest tax band because its emissions are the equivalent of one good sneeze into a snow-white hanky, and it really does do 65 miles to the gallon. The GOS loves his - he finds it quiet, quick and comfortable, and reliable as long as you don't actually expect the air-conditioning to do anything much. And the bonnet hasn't flown open once.
No, Moonbat's chosen a really good car. He's still a w*nker, though.
• Remember the iniquitous Bill that went through parliament to exempt MPs from the Freedom of Information Act so they could keep their expenses secret? Remember that only 25 MPs had the integrity to oppose it?
It was reported today that the Bill has failed and cannot now become law. Although the House of Commons passed it easily enough, they then had to find one single peer to "sponsor" it in the House of Lords. And they couldn't. Not one Lord was willing to take it on and recommend his colleagues to vote for it.
A bit rich, isn't it, when we have to rely on the House of Lords, who we didn't elect, to protect us from the dishonesty of those we did elect. No wonder NuLabour are so intent on "reforming" (for which read "destroying") the House of Lords. Can't have these amateurs interfering …
• On the radio today they said that a report had been published that spoke of "widespread resentment" in this country about immigration.
Phew! Just as well someone thought to research and write that report. Otherwise we'd never have known …
(For those who are seriously not aware of any resentment - perhaps you're an imam, or a government minister - there's some eye-opening stuff at Migration Watch).
• A certain amount of genteel outrage in some of the middle class papers about the news that billions of pounds of English people's taxes will go towards the cost of university places in Scotland for Scottish students.
Can't see what all the fuss is about, to be honest. I mean, do we want these people to be pig-ignorant when they come south of the border to run the country for us?
• The government are said to be keeping rather quiet about the road-death figures for 2006, because they show little or no improvement on previous years.
On the other hand we are frequently told by government ministers and scamera partnerships that speed cameras are saving lives.
So how does that work, then? Motorists are slowing down for the cameras, thus avoiding accidents, but then racing off to drive really badly elsewhere so as to keep the averages up, is that it? Tsk tsk, how like them, the naughty scamps.
• The school curriculum has been corrupted by political interference, according to a new report from independent think-tank Civitas. The traditional subject areas have been hi-jacked to promote fashionable causes such as gender awareness, the environment and anti-racism, while teachers are expected to help to achieve the government's social goals instead of imparting a body of academic knowledge to their students.
No major subject area has escaped the blight of political interference. In English issues of race and gender trump the love of language in the works of literature students are given to study. In Science the DfES has introduced a new curriculum that conflates the three disciplines of chemistry, physics and biology into 'scientific literacy', which has more to do with media studies than hard science. Students are asked to discuss issues such as global warming and GM crops, based on media coverage, and to consider whether or not scientists can be trusted.
In History one survey found that half of young people questioned did not know that the Battle of Britain took place in World War II, and thought that the Spanish Armada was defeated by either Gandalf, Horatio Hornblower or Christopher Columbus.
The surprising thing is that it has taken a report by Civitas to make anyone realise. We've been saying all this for years!
Incidentally, one of the report's authors is our old friend Frank Furedi, the thinking man's … er … thinking man.
• At the Old Bailey Mahmod Mahmod was found guilty of murdering his own daughter Banaz because she ran away from a violent arranged marriage and got a boyfriend he didn't approve of. His brother, Ari Mahmod, was also jailed. While they may not have been the ones who actually strangled the 20-year-old with a bootlace and buried her under someone's patio. They were certainly the instigators and their conviction is an excellent thing.
What was less than excellent was that Banaz had warned police four times that she was going to be killed by her own family, and that there was a previous attempt to murder her. She escaped by breaking a window at a neighbour's house, but when police eventually showed up they dismissed her story and threatened to charge her for breaking the window.
Personally The GOS can't blame the police too much. I mean, if some drunk woman turned up breaking windows and shouting "They're coming to kill me, they're coming to kill me!" how seriously would you take it? The problem is, the concept of honour killing where girls are murdered by their own families and then the culprits shielded by their own communities, is so alien to us, so horrific, so unthinkable, that it's perfectly understandable that ordinary English bobbies might not even recognise it until their noses were rubbed in the blood.
These people are animals, their beliefs are irrational, their behaviour is savage. They are so far beyond the pale that no amount of "they don't know any better," of "it's their culture and we should try to understand", of "we need to educate them so they realise how wrong it is" and all the other knee-jerk responses of the morally flaccid left come even close to acceptability.
It's tempting to dream of a return of the death penalty, but far more effective would be to stop these people reaching this country in the first place. It doesn't matter how sorry the bleeding-heart liberals feel for their poverty, their refugee status, their lack of education or skills - if they seriously think they can import this Stone Age behaviour into our country, then some fly-pestered midden in the desert is the best place for them.
We understand this particular family came from Kurdistan. No doubt there are planes to Kurdistan, that they could go home on? And I imagine most of us wouldn't mind forking out for a few air-tickets? Or perhaps the cost of the fare could be deducted from their next benefit payment?
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