‘Vindaloo Against Violence’

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After a series of assaults on young Indians in Melbourne and Sydney, someone has come up with a bright idea to help heal relations which have even soured diplomatic relations between Canberra and Delhi.

24 February is going to be the ‘Vindaloo Against Violence’ day of action on which Australians are being urged to dine out at Indian restaurants in a show of solidarity.

What a great idea though, for those eating the ferocious Vindaloo curry, I expect 25 February is going to be a very quiet day!
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Cancer Care

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In a speech to the King's Fund charitable foundation later today, Gordon Brown is said to be going to announce that Labour plans to provide free, one-to-one home care for every cancer patient in England within the next five years if Labour wins the next election.

It is said that this will save over £2.5 billion a year by reducing hospital admissions, and will give patients the opportunity of receiving chemotherapy, dialysis and palliative care without travelling to hospital.

Cancer Research UK report that there are around 300,000 new cases of cancer, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, diagnosed every year in the UK and that more than one in three people will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime. That’s a lot of cancer.

It is a subject close to my heart for I am a cancer sufferer though, for the moment at any rate, my tumour is fortunately dormant. As it happens, I have no complaints about the NHS treatment I have received. In fact, I have nothing but praise for the doctors and other staff who have dealt with me at University College Hospital in London.

But, on behalf of all cancer sufferers in the UK, I do hope that the pledge to be made by Mr Brown is not just another cynical election promise. And why didn’t he think of this a decade ago?
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Outraged? You Bet!

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The media tell us that the leaders of our political parties fear public outrage over the news that the three MPs and one peer charged under the Theft Act yesterday over their expense claims may attempt to claim parliamentary privilege.

The media are darned, tooting right! Is there to be one law for us ordinary folk and another for the privileged folk in the two Houses?

Various politicians have urged those facing charges not to use parliamentary privilege to try to avoid court proceedings. This elite-club approach won’t do at all in my view. Either a judge or Parliament has to put these gentlemen right and get on with trials that will prove either their guilt or innocence.

The Liberal Democrat shadow leader of the House has made the most sensible proposal. ‘If there is any question about whether parliamentary privilege gives protection against prosecution for fraud, then Parliament should make it very clear by passing a resolution to say that it does not.’

He, of course, is right and Parliament should show some muscle for once and pass such a motion.
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The Coptic Monastery of St. Anthony

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The Egyptian government has just finished the restoration of the 4th century Coptic Monastery of St. Anthony in the Red Sea Mountains which is reputedly the world's oldest Christian monastery. Indeed, the monks still observe rituals that have hardly changed in sixteen centuries.

Announcing the completion of the £9 million work which took eight years, Egypt’s head archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, confirmed that Egypt was keen to restore the monuments of its past, whether Coptic, Jewish or Muslim.

Born near Herakleopolis Magna in Lower Egypt in 251 AD to wealthy landowner parents, St. Anthony the Great was orphaned at the age of 18 and became a hermit, living to be 105 years old. The saint is buried beneath one of the monastery’s two churches which are a site for Coptic Christian pilgrimages.

As one who has visited Egypt and some of its historical monuments though, sadly, not this one, it is good to hear of such projects which, regardless of religious differences, are nonetheless part of Egypt’s heritage.
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Good Grief!

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The former mayor of Preesal, a village in Lancashire, has been jailed for two years after admitting three counts of breaking into women’s homes and stealing their underwear.

He was caught because one woman had the foresight to install a hidden camera which caught him in the act. Police searched the man’s home and found stolen underwear, some of which was marked with the women's names.

Two years in jail is a severe price to pay for acquiring ladies underwear. Why didn’t he just go to Marks & Spencers like everyone else?
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‘This Rotten Parliament!’

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In 1648 Edward Sexby in expressing the mood of the ordinary people of Britain complained about the King and his ‘rotten Parliament’. The mood of the ordinary people, or more properly that of Oliver Cromwell and his associates, ultimately led to the execution of Charles I and to a new Parliamentary system.

362 years later the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, used exactly the same words when referring to the debacle of MPs expenses. He got that right!

Look at the newspapers today. We learn that over half of our MPs have been ordered to repay £1.1 million following Sir Thomas Legg’s review of their expense claims for the last five years. This morning, the Director of Public Prosecutions has announced that the Crown Prosecution Service will charge three MPs and one peer under the Theft Act.

This has been a Rotten Parliament. Not only for taking us into a needless war with Iraq, for allowing taxation to reach new levels, for allowing bankers to overreach themselves and so put the economy at risk and for ... the list is endless.

But above all, many of the MPs in this Rotten Parliament have shown that they have milked a ‘flawed’ expense system for all it is worth and, even now, they complain they have been unfairly treated. Those charged this morning have also raised the question as to whether they are covered by Parliamentary Privilege!

Some of the amounts to be repaid are trivial, like .35p for a cup of Horlicks claimed by a Tory MP. Other amounts are staggering, such as £42,458 to be repaid by a junior minister or the married couple of Tory MPs who managed to milk the system for £60,000.

It was the Daily Telegraph that first uncovered the scandal of MPs expenses and, despite objections from the then Speaker and Government seniors, it persisted. It was right to do so for if we cannot have trust in our MPs personal behaviour we cannot trust them for anything else.

MPs are meant to represent what Edward Sexby referred to as the ‘ordinary people of Britain’. It is to be hoped that those elected to the next Parliament will show that they can do so.

The words of Oliver Cromwell all those years ago when addressing the Long Parliament ring as true today as it did then.

‘Begone, you have sat here too long. It is time to give way to honester men!’
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If Only!

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The good people of the village of Newsham in Yorkshire are being terrorised by what has been described as a ‘crackpot’ pheasant.

Reports say that the rogue pheasant, which no-one has yet been able to catch, waits patiently in the bushes before jumping out and attacking people, dogs and cars. One resident has said that she was scared to go out.

If only a potty pheasant were all that they, and we, had to worry about these days!
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