A council wants to place Asbos on chauffeurs who drive around Arsenal’s stadium while matches are on…. From BBC News. Full story

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Roof top beekeeping - Chris Penfold - BBKA

A wonderfully marketable crisis has warranted extensive coverage by national broadsheets over the past year. The decline of the honeybee has spread serious concern amongst those reared on Winnie the Pooh and sticky sweet crumpets.

Much more than a fond love affair, our need for the honeybee runs much deeper – honeybees are vital pollinators for many food crops important to the human diet.

The UK’s honeybee population has fallen between 15 and 30% in the last two years. Scientists suspect the principle blame lies with the Varroa mite, which feeds on the bee’s blood, compromising their immune systems.

Lucky then, that beekeeping has experienced a serious rise in popularity since the crisis came in to focus. The British Beekeeping Association reported a 20% increase in membership over the last 18 months.

Orlando Clarke, 40, came to beekeeping via the organic medium of a library book, plumping for bees over ventriloquism aged 11. He earns a living by selling his Pure London Honey collected from 35 hives located across London. Clarke has experienced the crisis from the front line, he lost 60% of his bees last winter due to virus.

Clarke recently hatched a plan to educate the next generation about honeybees. In 2012, Clarke is joining forces with local youth groups in Peckham to offer bee keeping as part of community service.

In March, Clarke is beginning the scheme with 6 apiaries and 30 young people, but hopes to expand. The idea is a lovely one, but will young people really trade in Twitter for hive science?

“Young kids regularly come to my hives and say: ‘Oi Mister, what have you got in those boxes?’ Young people are interested in bees.”

So can we really swap ASBOs for apiaries? It’s easy to be sceptical but few would argue against new remedies for the UK’s social ills, however alternative:

“We live in a prescriptive society and not everyone suits the academic framework. The sanctions in schools clearly aren’t working. If we are giving young people rights, we also need to give them responsibility.”

As both of the major parties are putting tackling anti-social behaviour high on their list of priorities on the next election, we added a few questions to the end of a poll to discover how people to respond to direct interactions with anti-social behaviour.

69% of adult Britons claim that they would intervene if they saw an old lady being mugged. In response to the following question, 40% said they would intervene, prepared to use physical force if necessary, while 29% said they would intervene, but would not use physical force:

“You are walking down a street at 8pm. There are a few people about. You see a heavily-set man mugging an old lady. What do you think, in reality, you would be most likely to do?”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, only 1 in 4 women claim that they would be prepared to use force in this scenario, in contrast with 56% of men.

Graffiti

However, only 1 in10 respondents would intervene in any way if they saw a group of teenagers writing graffiti on a school wall. 35% said they would not even call the police after they had walked away. Older people, having walked away, were much more likely to call the police: 63% of over 55s would do this, compared with 34% of 18 to 34 year olds. This group were, however, the least likely to intervene prepared to use force (1%).

I use Google Alerts to keep me informed not only about HIV/AIDS stuff but also other things I’m interested in, like Scotland in general and Loch Ness in particular. I’m rewarded by occasional terrific photos of the glorious Scottish landscape and uproarious illustrations of a British and Scottish penchant for “fair play” that sometimes seems excessive. For example, parents who have given a child a slap on the behind in public have been charged with assault, with “beating” the child.

Public behavior that may be widely regarded as undesirable can actually be legally banned under what’s called an ASBO: anti-social behavior order. ASBOs can, for example, ban a person from laughing in public.

Minority Report was a 2002 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story “The Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick. Set in the year 2054, it concerns “Precrime”, a specialised police department which apprehends criminals based on predictions of crime provided by three psychics. There is no trial for the potential “criminals” identified by the psychics, and no presumption of innocence. Precrime punishes people with imprisonment for crimes they might have committed, had they not been prevented, replacing the traditional system of discovering a crime and its perpetrator(s) after the fact, then issuing punishment for a completed action. As one character says in the introduction to the novel, in the kind of language we in 21st century England are used to hearing as justification from our political masters, “punishment was never much of a deterrent and could scarcely have afforded comfort to a victim already dead”. A similar, real-life program, codenamed ABLE DANGER, already exists, using data mining techniques to associate open source information with classified information in an attempt to make associations between individual members of terrorist groups as part of an “intelligence preparation of the battlespace”.

Bear with me, I promise this will make sense: Where I grew up, in an average town somewhere in the Midlands, we had, like most towns, like your town probably, a number of eccentrics. They didn’t conform to how we expected “normal” people to look or act, and as a result they might be the target of mockery or the subject of some form of social ostracism. They never actually did anything wrong or illegal… they were just, you know, kinda “creepy” or “weird”. More recently, I lived in a village which had its local outcast, seen hurriedly dashing about in his tatty raincoat, clutching a plastic carrier bag containing who-knows-what, muttering to himself, or staring sidelong at nothing in particular. Unsettling perhaps, but harmless.

On Friday 27 November 2009, at 4:05pm, Thames Valley Police proudly crowed that:

Maidenhead police and their partners have successfully obtained an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) against a local man who has continually caused harassment, alarm or distress to others. Gabriel Tabar, aged 64, of West Road, Maidenhead, was issued the ASBO at Bracknell Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 25 November. The order will remain in place until 24 November 2014 and is not confined to a specified geographical area. Under the conditions of the ASBO, Tabar must not:

* Follow, approach, stare at, confront or communicate with any female in circumstances where that female is likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress by the defendant’s behaviour
* Go within 20m of Highfield School, Maidenhead, on any weekday during the school term between the hours of 7am and 7pm
* Go within 50m of any of the [listed 38] schools … on any weekday during the school term between the hours of 7am and 7pm
* Behave in any manner which causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm of distress.

Supt. Tim De Meyer, local police commander for Windsor and Maidenhead, said: “Officers from the police and the Royal Borough worked extremely hard to put together this strong case. I am especially grateful to the witnesses for coming forward and giving evidence. Their testimony was absolutely vital.” Gail Lumsden, anti-social behaviour coordinator for the Royal Borough, said: “This is an excellent result which has cumulated from a great deal of hard work and effort by Thames Valley Police and the Royal Borough. More importantly it is down to the victims, who have endured a sustained period of harassment and intimidation by Mr Tabar, and have come forward to stand up to this behaviour and ensure it does not happen to others. Their evidence was critical to Mr Tabar receiving the ASBO. I am extremely pleased that this ASBO will allow them to go about their daily lives and experience the freedom they lacked previously.”

Anti-social behaviour officer for Windsor and Maidenhead police, PC Marc Phillips, who collated a lot of the information which was presented before the court, said: “If you see Tabar breaching any of his conditions, please do not approach him yourself. You should contact police immediately.”

As Reuben ponders over at The Third Estate, “You would think that for the state to apply such life ruining sanctions to an individual, some kind of serious misdemeanour might have been proven against him. If, like me, you are a bit old school about your civil liberties you might even suggest that before the state imposes serious punitive sanctions against an individual it should have to show that he has broken a specific law and committed a particular crime. This, after all, has long been seen as the basic parameter under which the state may dispose of its monopoly on physical force.”

Gabriel Tabar, however, has not been accused, never mind tried or convicted, of breaking any specific law. People just didn’t like the way he looked at them. He was weird and creepy.

In the comments section of one of Mr Tabar’s local rags which reported the ASBO, one can read comments such as :

alice: he stared at me, weirdo

Concerned: Is there more information why he’s banned frmo going near 39 primary schools in the Maidenhead area? Surely if he’s a risk to women and young children something stronger than an ASBO letter is needed before he does something worse, such as electronically tagging him?

How about chemical castration, “Concerned”? Better yet, just hang the bastard. If he wasn’t guilty of any crime before, he’s certainly guilty of Precrime now, and guilty of kiddy-fiddling in the eyes of the residents of Maidenhead.

House arrest: Gabriel Tabar

All for being a creepy weirdo.

This is the result of a SIX MONTH investigation into the behaviour of Mr. Tabar. Six fucking months! In all that time, with all their resources and “hard work” and their wealth of testimony and witnesses, they couldn’t come up with a SINGLE crime to charge him with. As a result of which, he has been placed under virtual house arrest. How is he supposed to shop for food, pay his bills, etc? After all, his face has been plastered across Maidenhead, and you can be sure that every woman in every shop, bank, post office, building society, fucking High Street even,  is looking for her 15 minutes of fame as soon as he sets foot inside.

As Liberty explain, “Breaching the conditions of an ASBO is a criminal offence, punishable by up to five years in prison. This means that individuals are being sent to prison for committing acts which may not be in themselves illegal.  Liberty is deeply concerned about the way ASBOs are being used.” If individuals really are committing crimes of intimidation or harassment, as defined in law, then existing criminal law should be used to tackle their behaviour. Arrest, charge and try these people – not convict them of Precrime via ASBO hoping to then send them away for 5 years for breaching these draconian orders.

If you live in Maidenhead, and know Mr. Tabar, the right and proper thing to do is to check up on him, make sure he has groceries, or ask if he needs any errands running.

This is what 12 years of New Labour has produced. This is what Daily Mail readers routinely demand. This is the “justice” system in action. This is the “inclusive” and “democratic” society created by Straw, Blair, Mandelson, Harperson, et al, at the behest of every Labour voter from 1997 onwards.

Everyone that plans on voting for Labour in 2010, hang your heads in shame.

This is your New Labour.

I always seem to attract unwanted attention.

First of all, here is a rant on the topic of public transport. I leave Waterford at 1820, arrive in Balbriggan at 10.50. On a Sunday, I leave at 1800 and arrive back at 10. Something is amiss. Firstly, my train was replaced from Kildare to Heuston by a bus due to engineering works. As I got off the replacement bus, what happened? My Luas back to the city centre pulled away from the stop. Missed it! Then whilst waiting at the stop, another so-and-so who would hang around the stop, how should I say it, asked me for my “fucking” headphones. I continued to read my book as I know, it is best to say nothing to these people. (this bit to be continued later). As I got on my Luas there was a right oul commotion. A group of (whats the politically correct way of saying it?) international residents were on the tram, dancing, running about, and playing really loud music. It was proper Stavros Flatley style and all. Then as I pulled up towards the stop at Busaras, the 101 to Drogheda pulled away. Not another bus for an hour. No worries, I’ll run and get the train since there is one at 2225 ex. Pearse Station. OH NO IT ONLY RUNS MONDAY TO FRIDAY LIKE BACK IN THE 1960′S. JOY OF JOYS

< rant over >

As it happens though I can’t tell you how strongly I feel on this issue of wanting the streets back. Dublin has been riddled with social issues over the last number of years and civil rights entitles everyone to be free and to walk around the place. That I am not denying. My issue however,( and I am sure is a similar issue from Balbriggan to Blackrock, and from Drimnagh to Dalkey) is that you cannot walk around this city without feeling intimidated. I get the Luas very often, at least once a week. But I am so fed up of the Luas feeling like the build up to a mugging. I will admit, my style, my hair and as of late, my headphones draw attention to myself more so than others. However, can some people not just keep their noses out of other people’s lives. I am tired of waiting on the sardine can that is the Luas, which by the way, I always pay my fare for, and feeling that I am like a social punchbag for these people.

When you get off it, you don’t feel any safer. It is a Saturday night in Dublin, rather late at about 9pm. Yet I see tonnes of young kids, maybe around 10 or 12 years of age, running around in the city? And then there is the teenagers standing around as well. You walk past them trying not to make the slightest bit of eye contact as yet again, you feel like you are gonna get your hands chopped off if you do.

Dublin is a wonderful city. I love the city. I just am now getting so sick of feeling the need to have the police on speed dial every time want to walk around the place, or even get out of the city! There is a hundred and one laws on anti-social behaviour in this country ranging  from drinking in public places to loitering. Is it a case that after a certain hour on certain days, members of the Gardai are placed on duty on a tram or at a Luas stop, rather than being employed to overload a police station during the day. Safety is an issue at night time moreso than the day. Car accidents mostly happen in the dead of night, robberies mostly take place in the late hours, muggings rarely happen in broad daylight.

Tonight, nothing happened to me. But I couldn’t help find myself clutching my baggage with a firm grip all evening, whilst also holding onto my pockets with dear life. Tonight, I was safe. Tomorrow night, who knows? Tonight, someone may look at someone in a way, and may have their eyes gouged out come the morning. It is like anarchy in this city right now. Respect is what is lacking big time in this city. This isn’t a crime issue, this isn’t a gang thing, this isn’t about drug use. This is a simple thing. Respect everyone, respect their property and respect their personal space. Not too much to ask is it? Or is asking for our streets back too big a question?

So I dont know if you watch Misfits on e4 put its pretty awsome in my opinion.  It just started a few weeks ago so its still relatively new.  Its about 5 ASBO kids doing community service in orange jumpsuits.  They got caught in a weird storm and all ended up with ‘powers’ (Though Nathan (<3) hasnt discovered his yet; internet speculation suggests werewolf/shapeshifter).  This week it was centered on Curtis who can go back in time.  Here is why I thought it was a total waste of my hour…

…(ok so it was good and wasnt a waste of my hour but it still bugged me).  Curtis got community service for possession as he was a top athelete (he also got banned from olympics) but his girlfriend got put in jail for it.  So with his power of going back in time he goes back to the night it all happened (this was prompted by his girlfriend turning up after being released which Curtis isnt too happy about as he’s now with Alisha (another ASBO kid)). 

So basically the show was kinda like a sliding doors/ run lola run sort of thing.  He went back in time and his girlfriend ended up getting stabbed instead.  After a few goes he eventually got it sorted so neither him or his girlfriend got caught.  Now this is where it annoyed me!!

If he DIDNT get caught then he DIDNT do community service then he WASNT in in the storm therefore HE SHOULDNT HAVE THE TIME TRAVEL POWER and therefore didnt manage to do anything at all!!

As it turned out he walked past the community centre and all the other ASBO kids except Nathan were dead because Curtis wasnt there to save them by turning back time when the community worker tried to kill them all.

So he had to go back in time again and do it so he got caught but his girlfriend didnt.  So he was all happy back at community service with Alisha but his girlfriends still hanging around which he totally forgot about.  Fool!!

Therefore it was a total waste of an episode as all he did was fuck up his life even more.

As most of my learning over the past few years, I was processing how I had been in a situation and was wandering why I behaved like I did. In short, I was a hurt and embarrassed inside and this caused me to try and create the same feelings in someone else. This got me wandering about many of the hard to explain acts of violence, unkindness and generally anti-social behaviour that we see in the world today and wondered if it was a similar chain of events that can be used to explain its presence in today’s society.

I don’t like to generalize or pigeonhole but I think it would be fair to say that a great deal of anti-social behaviour is linked with lower social classes and deprived upbringings:

People’s perception of the level of anti-social behaviour varies by gender, area and age, with people most likely to perceive high levels in areas of greatest social deprivation.

(http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmpubacc/246/246.pdf)

As I have argued previously in blogs, peoples upbringing, past and experiences in life contribute a great deal to how they behave and feel as individuals in the present and I think when looking at anti-social behaviour, this is no different. What is often created is a cycle in a social setting or family which is extremely hard to break and more often than not will continue to exist and be passed down through different family’s and social settings.

The reason that I believe many of people in socially deprived areas follow similar anti-social behaviour is because they know no different and also there is so much going on inside them which builds up to a point of explosion, creating this behaviour. Many of the people who carry out acts of violence or similar have been brought up seeing their peers do exactly the same and so why should they know any different. Just in the same way that I am brought up to be polite and show respect, some people are taught the opposite, to stand up for one’s self and ‘be a man’ and so who can blame them for behaving like they do.
(N.B. I think it is important to note, I am not preaching a “right” way to behave when comparing mine and others behaviour, merely showing two differences. Some would say that I am totally wrong in my behaviour and should show more attitude in my social interactions.)

As well as this, many of these people have had extremely difficult upbringings and the sheer amount of emotion that is bottled up in a lot of cases, can sometimes only result in this explosion of behaviour. This use of anti-social behaviour to feed the emotions inside can often be like a drug or sedative, it feeds and calms unspoken feelings inside and while it provide a hit for the time, it only adds to the fire burning internally. As well as this, the surrounding behaviour contributes once again. Many people, especially boys, are laughed at if they speak of how they feel or are victimized or picked on for being open and showing emotion so it is much easier to keep this bottled up inside than to run the risk of losing respect from those around you by talking about emotions. Again, this only adds to everything which is burning inside.

I do not want to condone how some people act when they hurt and even kill others, merely try and add to some understanding of the behaviour and reasons that some people may do this. We all have our own defences and drugs which are manifested through our behaviour and those who act anti-socially are no different. These people have often had no different way shown to them and the support that they need to break this cycle which is constantly around them is often non-existent.

I think it is also important to give great praise to those who challenge these ways of life and beliefs and challenge their stereotype and expected behaviour. Those who walk away from situations, which can result in loss of friends and family and stand up for what they think is right, only to be victimized and given even greater struggles for their decisions…

These people are the truly strong and true “men” in our society.

10 Nov 2009 Caroline Cartwright, 48, claims that she is unable to stop the loud shouting and screaming she makes during lovemaking with her husband Steve.

After neighbours, the local postman and a woman taking her child to school complained about the noise, the Cartwrights were given a noise abatement notice.

However, when Mrs Cartwright was convicted of breaching the notice, magistrates made her subject of an anti-social behaviour order as well.

She appealed against her conviction for breaching the noise abatement notice and the making of the Asbo, which bans the couple from ‘’shouting, screaming or vocalisation at such a level as to be a statutory nuisance”.

Jobless Mrs Cartwright used Article 8 of the Human Rights Act to argue she had a right to ”respect for her private and family life”.

She also claimed that she could not help making the loud noise during sex with her husband.

The hearing at Newcastle Crown Court heard that the Cartwrights’ nightly sex sessions at their home in Hall Road, Concord, Washington, Tyne and Wear, were making their neighbours lives’ hell.

Their lovemaking was described as ”murder” and ”unnatural” and drowned out their neighbours’ televisions.

Neighbours said the Cartwrights’ sex sessions would usually start around midnight and last for two or three hours, every night of the week, the court heard.

Specialist equipment installed in a neighbour’s flat by Sunderland City Council recorded noise levels of between 30 to 40 decibels, with the highest being 47 decibels.

Giving evidence, Mrs Cartwright said she was unable to control the noise she made during sex.

”I did not understand why people asked me to be quiet because to me it is normal. I didn’t understand where they were coming from,” she said.

”I have tried to minimise the situation by having sex in the morning – not at night – so the noise was not waking anybody.

”I may be sympathetic to it but it is not something I am doing on purpose.”

On Tuesday, a judge at Newcastle Crown Court upheld the original conviction and ordered that the Asbo should stay.

Recorder Jeremy Freedman, sitting with two magistrates, rejected Mrs Cartwright’s claim that she could not help making the loud noise during sex and that her human rights were breached.

”We are in no doubt whatsoever about the level of noise that can be heard in neighbouring properties, in the street and in the back lane,” he said.

”It certainly was intrusive and constituted a statutory nuisance. It was clearly of a very disturbing nature and it was also compounded by the duration – this was not a one-off, it went on for hours at a time.

”It is further compounded by the frequency of the episode, virtually every night.”

Mr Freedman went on: ”We are satisfied for whatever reason, to enjoy the sexual experience or attention seeking, we are satisfied it was not involuntary.

”Even if we were persuaded that this was involuntary we would not find that the making of the abatement notice or the breach of that in some way infringed the appellant’s rights under the Human Rights Act.”

He added: ”We do not find there is any infringement of her human rights in any shape or form.”

The judge ordered that the punishment imposed by Sunderland magistrates for breaching the noise abatement notice – a fine of £200, costs of £300, a £15 surcharge and the Asbo – should remain.

He also ordered that Mrs Cartwright, who is now living in a bail hostel in Sunderland, should pay £200 costs towards the appeal hearing.

After the conclusion of the appeal, a plea and case management hearing was held where Mrs Cartwright denied three charges of breaching the sex Asbo.

A trial date was set in December and she was released on bail.

(source)

Via Reason.com:

The bizarre and terrifying situation where a woman has been arrested for having sex too loudly. In modern-day Britain, even the decibels of our sexual moaning can become the subject of a police investigation.

At the end of April, Caroline Cartwright, a 48-year-old housewife from Wearside in the northeast of England [not in the photo], was remanded in custody for having “excessively noisy sex”. The cops took her in after neighbors complained of hearing her “shouting and groaning” and her “bed banging against the wall of her home”. Cartwright has, quite reasonably, defended her inalienable right to be a howler: “I can’t stop making noise during sex”, she told The Daily Mail. “It’s unnatural to not make any noises, and I don’t think that I am particularly loud”…

Cartwright had previously been served with an anti-social behavior order (ASBO) — a civil order used to control the minutiae of British people’s behavior—that forbade her from making “excessive noise during sex” anywhere in England.

That’s right. Going even further than Orwell’s imagined authoritarian hellhole, where at least there was a wood or two where people could indulge their sexual impulses, the local authorities in Wearside made all of England a no-go zone for Cartwright’s noisy shenanigans… It was because she breached the conditions of her ASBO, the civil ruling about how much noise she can make while making love in England, that Cartwright was arrested.

Anyone can apply for an ASBO to stop anyone else from doing something they find irritating, “alarming”, or “threatening”.

Local magistrates’ courts issue the orders, sometimes on the basis of hearsay evidence (which is permissible in ASBO cases). In short, the applicant for an ASBO does not have to go through the normal rigors of the criminal justice system to get a civil ruling preventing someone he doesn’t like from doing something he finds “alarming” or “dangerous”. Once you have been branded with an ASBO, if you break its conditions—by having noisy sex in your own home, for example—you are potentially guilty of a crime and can be imprisoned.

I don’t want to imply that there can be no anti-social behavior, or that the exercise of one’s rights can never infringe upon other people’s rights, but this is just absurd. More absurd human rights violations here.

TV schedules this season have been populated with mindreaders, monsters and starships, in a much hyped but somewhat underwhelming renaissance of fantasy and science fiction. So far we’ve had reimaginings of cult classics, the plundering of literature and film for ill-advised spinoffs, and even gape-mouthed aliens are suspected of having invaded our talent shows (welcome to the genre, Jedward). With the trend looking set to cotinue, I’m personally sending RTE a script where a zombified Biddy from Glenroe rises from the dead, reclaims Miley’s heart, saves the nation from NAMA, and still has time to sow Mary-Ann a dress for the Debs. Well Holy God! says you.

While you’re waiting for this sci-fi soap shocker (not that kind of shocker), I’d recommend having a look at E4’s new show Misfits, which is also, yes you’ve guessed it, a little bit science fictiony. It centres on a group of young offenders serving out their community service, sentenced to perform menial, mindless tasks for their misdemeanours. When in the course of this, a freak storm stirs up out of nowhere, the anti-heroes are struck by lightning, and develop miraculous superpowers. Kind of like how criminals in prison learn lots of new tricks, except some of these kids can now bend the fabric of time.

It’s a pretty decent set-up, by all appearances. It looks and feels like Charlie Brooker’s excellet Dead Set, with perhaps a little bit of Skins in there too. That is, if Skins had been bitten by a radioactiev spider that stopped it being so middle class and self-satisfied. With Misfits, the big difference between the two seems to lie in it’s hook, that these kids are actually on the edge of society to begin with, rather than whinging trendoids with too much pocket money. And while the misfits may start out as caracitures (the chav, the outcast), the beauty is that even from the first episode, you can see them developing,  into distinct and well fleshed-out people.

These people are still teenagers however, and are essentially a pile of hormones in orange probation jumpsuits. In real life, you’d as soon offer them supernatural abilities as you would Myra Hindley a baby, but in the magical land of E4 telly, it’s all heroes and ASBOs for this lot. The resulting comedy is sharp and self-knowing, engaging the audience with a wink and a nudge on the levels of absurdity that the plot must necessarily delve into. Perhaps it’s the Irish connection, but Robert Sheehan is a particularly chuckle-worthy, with the wide-eyed one liners that shoot out of him like vulgar duracell bunnies. There is a danger that the script may be overly-relying on his midlands-brogued profanity, but time will perhaps tell as his fellow misfits grow in fictional confidence.

In terms of sci-fi, there’s actually very little new here, though the ASBO centred storyline is a nice twist. Recent shows like Heroes have gone great ways in developing inventive and playful ways for their characters to kill each other with a wink, but Misfits doesn’t appear to be follwing the lead. Instead, they appear to be deploying generic supernatural abilities you’ll have seen a hundred times before, albeit executed so stylishly you’ll think you’re watching advertising for hair product. It also seems that the makers have developed each power from individual character traits, for example the young athletics star who screwed up his future can now control time, the chav you look down on can now hear your thoughts etc etc. It’s entirely justifiable, and usually a sign of good writing and a well thought out premise, but sometimes can end up being a little too direct. The social outcast whom nobody notices for instance, can now turn himself invisible.

It’s the first clue that Misfits’ focus will fall more likely in the genre of teen drama, albeit producing one that is hilarious, slick and self aware. Already, we can see evidence of more conventional teen dramz fare. The fitting in, the dealing with messed up adults, it’s all there, except now they’ll also have to deal with a superpower they probably didn’t want. It’s a road that shows like Buffy have trod well before, and with strong writing from Howard Overman, Misfits has the potential to be just as good if not better.

What’s really great about the show though, is that it takes hero worship from a different angle. Most shows have the loner loser, or the bad egg, usually on a mssion of redemptiont o measure up to those around them, and we take that journey with them, aiming to measure up ourselves, while secretly hoping we’ve been worthy of the A List all along. In Misftis, it’s nothing but Z list. You wouldn’t want these kids’ lives. Hell, you wouldn’t want their leftover chips. This is a show probably not made in your image, but more in the image of your brother’s dodgy friends. Yet you can’t help identifying with them, and the horrible humdrum realisation that yes, maybe this is your life. Maybe instead of a billowing cape, all you have is an orange jumpsuit.

Misfits airs Thursday nights on E4. If you’re quick you can still catch the first episode on 4OD.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/misfits/4od

(This article originally appeared on the Totally Dublin Website as the Telly Thursday Feature, November ‘09. Words Padraig Moran (c) 2009)

The hottest ticket in town!!! ‘The Spirit Of London Awards’

The seventh book of the bible, Judges, ends with a harrowing account of the gang rape and murder of a man’s girlfriend. The morning after the attack, the girl’s lover found her dead on a doorstep. In his dismay he cut her body into 12 pieces and sent a piece to each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Everyone who heard the news of the incident was horrified and asked “what are we to do?”

The parallels with British culture are obvious, not only because incidents of gang rape are increasingly common, but the account gives a sense of unease about human nature. The mid-twentieth hope of a rose-spectacled social utopia which flourished on the assumption that humans were essentially good has now evaporated. We aren’t really that good and many in British society are asking “what are we to do?”

I suggest we start by learning from biblical history. The event recorded in Judges is a real life cautionary tale. It cautions us about three things, the first of which I’ll blog on today.

The first caution is about our human nature. The final sentence of the book of Judges says “in those days everyone did what is right in his own eyes.” This closing line makes sense of the events in Judges 19. There is moral confusion in Israel because every man is his own moral authority. The events in the chapter sound much like the way British culture operates:

• The man shacked up with his girlfriend, because is was right in his own eyes.
• She had sex with another man, left her boyfriend and went home to stay with her father.  At each step, her actions seemed right in her own eyes.
• After four months, the man decided to go and get his lover back, because this was right in his own eyes.
• Her dad welcomed his daughter’s estranged boyfriend, was really kind to him for five days, because is was right in his own eyes.
• The man eventually left, late on the fifth day, not wanting to overstay his welcome, because is was right in his own eyes.
• The servant, wanted to stop in Jerusalem, because he was tired and it was right in his own eyes.
• His master said, no, the Jebusites are our enemies, lets go to Gibeah, where there are other Jews, because is was right in his own eyes.
• In the village, no one offered the man, his girlfriend and their servant any hospitality.
• Then a villager, who came originally from the same home town as the man, offered him generous, happy and relaxed hospitality, because is was right in his own eyes.
• The sex craved mob of ASBOs who wanted to rape the visiting man, did so because is was right in their own eyes.
• The host pleaded with them and offered them his virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, because, as much as I can’t get my head round this moral code as a father of a young girl, is was right in this man’s eyes.
• The mob refused, still wanting sex with the visiting man. So the man shoved his girlfriend out the door and slammed it shut behind her, because is was right in his own eyes.  No wonder she’d had sex with another man, this guy was a selfish git.
• The gang raped her all night, because is was right in their own eyes.
• When the man found his girlfriend dead, he chopped her into pieces and sent them all over Israel, because is was right in his own eyes.

And so, the first caution is: As human beings we must not trust what seems right in our own eyes, because our human nature is fundamentally flawed. We are not essentially good. Some of the characters do good, like the two men who offer generous hospitality, but even they have mixed motives.  Doing what is right in our own eyes is self serving, it can be good or evil, the main point is that moral confusion ensues and society disintegrates.

I’ll blog tomorrow and Wednesday on the two solutions God gives us in Judges 19-21.

I wonder what’s happening to humanity when I read about puppies being kicked to death by hoodie-wearing scum.

Homo Subhumani

Actually, I know exactly what’s happening to humanity – they’ve retreated inside their homes for fear of the neanderthals outside. There is no humanity in these teenage sacks of shit – perhaps they don’t even qualify as human beings anymore, so far as having a civilised and instinctive advanced moral sense is concerned.

Hands up who knows what’ll happen to this puppy-kicking, hate-filled waste of space when (if) he’s caught. That’s right – a fine, maybe a suspended sentence resulting in a few hours ‘community service’. And that’s if the arrogant fucktard even bothers to turn up – which, as we all know, is highly unlikely. Afterall, while there’s cheap cider to be bought from the corner shop with the proceeds from muggings and petty crimes, who gives a shit about turning up to court when there’s a 2-litre bottle of White Lightning going flat down at the park.

Now, hands up who knows what should happen to this degenerate bastard.

Yep. That’s right – a damn good kicking down the park by the local community. After all, a bit of brain damage could only be an improvement… At least dribbling persistent vegetables don’t spread fear, violence and hate throughout society. I hope his parents are proud (actually, the awful truth is, they probably are.)

GZS

Home Office Respect Agenda

The term anti-social behaviour covers a wide range of selfish and unacceptable activity that can blight the quality of community life. Terms such as ‘nuisance’, ‘disorder’ and ‘harassment’ are also used to describe some of this behaviour.  Examples include:

• Nuisance neighbours
• Yobbish behaviour and intimidating groups taking over public spaces
• Vandalism, graffiti and fly-posting
• People dealing and buying drugs on the street
• People dumping rubbish and abandoned cars
• Begging and anti-social drinking
• The misuse of fireworks
• Reckless driving of mini-motorbikes.

A legal definition of anti-social behaviour is found in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The Act describes anti-social behaviour as ‘acting in an anti-social manner as a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household‘ as the perpetrator.

Why is it important?

Anti-social behaviour ruins lives. It doesn’t just make life unpleasant; it prevents the renewal of disadvantaged areas and creates an environment where more serious crime can take hold.  Anti-social behaviour is a major issue in some of the UK’s more deprived or disadvantaged communities.  Anti-social behaviour is also expensive. It is estimated to cost the British taxpayer £3.4bn a year.

Why does it happen?

There are a variety of factors which increase the risk of anti-social behaviour. The more of these which are present, the more likely someone is to become involved in anti-social behaviour.

Parenting
Poor parenting skills, a weak parent/child relationship and a family history of problem behaviour.

School
Truancy, exclusion and unchallenged bad behaviour.

Community life
Living in deprived areas with disorder and neglect, lack of community spirit, living in areas with an already high-level of anti-social behaviour.

Individual factors
Drug and alcohol abuse, alienation and early involvement in anti-social behaviour.

There are a range of supportive interventions available which can help individuals and/or their parents and families change their own behaviour and enable them to tackle some of the underlying problems.

What action can be taken?

Anti-social behaviour causes harm to individuals and the community and must be stopped as soon as possible, when the minimum harm has been caused.

The goal of any action is to:

• protect victims, witnesses and the community
• enable the perpetrator to understand the consequences of their behaviour
• make sure the perpetrator changes their behaviour.

Measures that can be used by the police and other agencies include:

• warning letters and interviews, contracts and agreements
• fixed penalty notices and penalty notices for disorder
• parenting orders, individual support orders, noise abatement notices, injunctions, dispersal powers and anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs)
• ‘crack house’ closure orders
• possession proceedings against a tenant.

Action may be initiated by a number of agencies including the police, local authorities, registered social landlords, housing trusts and youth offending teams.

I thought I use today’s post to discuss one of my biggest sources of irritation. I’m sure if you live in a rural area anywhere in the United Kingdom, or the world for that matter, you will have at some point come across the phenomenon of 15-17 year old white kids from comfortable village homes who are utterly convinced that they are ‘hardcore street soldierz’.  You know the type, don’t you? I’ll bet pounds against pilchards you know at least one person who fits the bill.

They bug the fuck out of me. Yesterday I was talking to one of the guys at work about something I witnessed a while ago whilst on a night out in Thornbury (It’s a small town near Bristol). There was 2 opposing gangs (Twats hanging around in groups of over 5 people is a better way to describe them than ‘gangs’) arguing about who looked at someone elses girlfriend – who incidentally you wouldn’t of wanted to cast your eyes upon through choice - and the discussion began getting heated when one of the protagonists blurted out the excruciating, awful line “Don’t cross me Bruv. I’m from the Streets”. I was about 10 yards away getting myself a burger and I just laughed out load. If the offending kid had ever seen anything remotely resembling ‘The Streets’ I imagine he would of most probably pissed his pants on the spot and rang his mum and cried down the phone until he got picked up. To me the whole concept just beggars belief. I can only assume that listening to Hip-Hop music has an adverse affect on teenage white guys – and girls for that matter, some can be equally as bad.

So for those people, here’s a little list of things that should set the record straight and show why you’re not from “The Streets” (It makes me cringe even writing that)

1. You are not from ‘The Streets’ if your only means of transportation, should you wish to commit a drive-by shooting, is the bicycle you use to do your paper round.

2. You are not from ‘The Streets’ because you have the ability to lip-sync to Flo-Rida in your bedroom.

3. You are not from ‘The Streets’ if your Mum drops you to school in the morning.

4. You are not from ‘The Streets’ if the only ‘Crack-Ho’ you’ve seen is your Dad’s broken gardening tool.

5. You are not from ‘The Streets’  just because you watched “Step Up 2 – The Streets” and can do a few of the dance moves.

6. You are not from ‘The Streets’ just down to wearing a Hoodie

7. You are not from ‘The Streets’ if you and your friends have formed a gang that has to be in bed for school by 10pm.

8. You are not from ‘The Streets’ if the only rival gang in you area is a Pensioner’s bridge club.

9. You are not from ‘The Streets’ if you can leave your possessions on your front lawn all night and still find them there in the morning.

10. You are not from ‘The Streets’ because you older brother tries his hand at Drum ‘n’ Bass MC-ing, at the local karaoke night on a Tuesday.

In short, you little shits are about as ‘Street’ as Elmo. Please stop making yourselves look such arses now because in a few years you’ll look back and be disgusted with yourselves, or in a worse case, you’ll actually start with someone who is from ‘The Streets’ and they’ll pummel this living snot out of you, steal your clothes and most likely your ‘Bitch’ also. I’d like to state that this post isn’t meant to be inflammatory to anyone who is from ‘The Streets’ so I would appreciate it if no one busts a 187 on my ass.

In my headphones:

• V.S.O.P by Above The Law
• If It Aint Ruff by N.W.A
• If My Homie Calls by 2Pac

Enough already!

A woman who recites the Lord’s Prayer repeatedly at 3 am in the morning has been slapped with an Anti Social Behaviour Order. Seems the loud praying and chanting in the early hours in the communal areas of flats where Martina Rabess lives has pissed people right off. Oh and lets not forget the ringing on doorbells wanting to preach.Some neighbors said even earplugs failed to drown out the praying. So anywho, the Tunbridge Wells woman has been banned for 2 years from leaving or entering her home from between 11pm and 7am. Hmm, lets just hope there isn’t a fire! Ms Rabess is also banned from visiting a recreation park where she holds impromptu prayer meetings. Bless. Now if she breaks the ASBO she could face jail! Repent now!

I well remember my childhood parties in the 1970s; a game of What’s the Time Mr Wolf?, arguing over my new Action Man (no it’s mine, you can’t play with it), followed by a slap up tea party where the table would be laden with bowls of crisps, fizzy pop, jelly, sausage rolls, cubes of cheese and pineapple speared on cocktail sticks, and plates of full fat, sugary sweet biscuits riddled with just about every E number known to man – eating a handful of these chemical filled delicacies had the potential to turn any saintly child into a miniature hooligan who would almost certainly be served with an ASBO these days.

But did we care? No! Those biscuits were bloody tasty and I grieve the passing of some and the removal of the menace-making additives from others.

As a father of two I go to many kids’ parties today, which are sadly a poor imitation of what I experienced as a child. The tummy ache inducing feast of yore has been replaced by a healthy middle class mix of carrot sticks, bowls of houmous, breadsticks, pieces of fruit and those wretched Pom-Bear crisps. Even raisins are banned, described by these no-sugar fascists as ‘baby crack’.

So in honour of the old times, when a child could eat a Penguin without his parents being ostracised or when a Jammie Dodger was considered to be a suitable break time snack at school (5 a day in the 70s consisted of a packet of crisps, a Jammie Dodger, a packet of sweet cigarettes, a Black Jack chew and a packet of Trebor Blobs), I present my top ten biscuits from my childhood parties.

Top Ten biscuits at my childhood parties

1 Jammie Dodgers.

2 Cadbury Animal Biscuits.

3 Chocolate Fingers.

4 Party Rings.

5 Funny Faces.

6 Iced Gems.

7 Malted Milk.

8 Fox’s Sport Biscuits.

9 Pink wafers.

10 Biscuits filled with mallow, whose name I can’t remember (if you know, please tell).

Martyn Cox

A Leeds City Council officer who helped get an Asbo against a woman who constantly played Dolly Parton songs has lost out on an award…. From BBC News. Full story

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By Rory Reynolds

A FRAIL pensioner said he has been made a prisoner in his own home by yobs thought to be as young as just SEVEN.

Graham Bilsland, 72, said he has been subjected to a life of hell for three weeks by an 18 strong gang of teeny terrors throwing bricks and screaming abuse at his home, day and night.

He says both boys and girls are involved in the torment him at his home in Leith, Edinburgh, – and fears they are even using an air gun to target him.

The former national manager for Ede & Ravenscroft Tailors said he is now too terrified to go to sleep after he found an airgun bullet-hole in his bedroom window.

Wheelchair-user Graham – who underwent a triple heart bypass last year – has developed a string of health problems, including panic attacks, due to the abuse.Graham blasted the youths as “monsters” saying: “If my carer isn’t there and anything comes through the window, what do I do when I can hardly walk? I’m petrified.

Worried

“I’m frightened to go outside and it has to the stage that I can’t take it anymore.

“I’m depressed about it and I’m worried about my health – I just can’t settle at all at night or during the day.

“I have no idea at all why they are doing this to me, I have done nothing to anybody.”

David Ewins, 42, who has been Graham’s carer for 10 years, has had to stay overnight to reassure him.

He said: “I’m frightened in case he takes a heart attack.

“He’s just got that fear in his because he doesn’t know when they are going to appear – he is terrified in his own home.

Gun

“They are targeting his house all the time and he can’t keep putting up with this.

“He is petrified if I have to go out for an hour to get messages.

“There is also a pellet gun hole in his bedroom window.

“His home help can’t leave the window open to let fresh air in because the youths have been putting newspapers and banana skins through the window.

“If they set fire to a big of paper while he is in the house on his own then what chance has he got?”

Graham has lived at his flat in Leith for 11 years without any problems, before the yob attacks begun.

Police said they have visited his home on two separate occasions since the abuse began.

A police spokesman for said: “Lothian and Borders Police take all allegations of harassment seriously.

“We will make contact with Mr Bilsland in order to address the concerns he has raised.”

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A Leeds City Council officer who helped get an Asbo against a woman who constantly played Dolly Parton songs is in line for a national award…. From BBC News. Full story

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The tragic faces of Fiona Pilkington and Francecca  (Frankie) Harding look out from a number of newspapers this morning. Fiona and her 18 year old daughter, Frankie died when Fiona set lit to a car they were both travelling in.

It is well-documented that one of the sparks that set fire to the flames of the car was the torment and abuse that Fiona and Frankie had been subject to over a number of years.

The inquest into their deaths closed yesterday. The deaths were deemed to be unlawful death and suicide but it is the circumstances leading to a mother taking such a desperate action with her disabled daughter,  which has become the focus of media attention.

33 complaints had been received by the local police force about the abuse that the family had been suffering at the hands of youths in the area.  These complaints which included kids hurling objects at the house, unfurling torrents of verbal abuse and urinating on the walls of the house, we seen to be of ‘low-grade’ crime that the police wouldn’t necessarily prioritise.

A senior police officer stated at the inquest that it would be the local council’s responsibility to deal with low-level anti-social behaviour.

Obviously, among the agencies blamed, the local social services are also brought into the equation.

But in the end, what will make people feel more safe? Perhaps it is the neighbourhood police teams – but that is always a question of resources. Perhaps it is the housing offices being sterner with families where children are partaking in anti-social behaviour, but it’s not always local families involved and if people are moved on, then the problem is just moving with them. Perhaps it is social services support and intervention to those who are being victimised so that they can be heard and helped as necessary.

The police in Leicestershire are being subject to their own investigations about how they dealt with the case of Fiona and Frankie. Gordon Brown is apparently making a speech today which will address some of these issues of anti-social behaviour.

We can look at wider societal moves away, perhaps, from a parental responsibility and discipline and kids with ‘nothing to do’ who clearly find the most vulnerable to victimise and the most visibly vulnerable at that.

In the end, though, I think the lesson is about empowerment of those, like Fiona, who had no voice and even when they shouted and shouted louder to the police, they met with little response. Ultimately, whose responsibility is it to ‘do something’?  In situations where different agencies don’t always speak to each other and certainly don’t speak with clarity to the complainant, it’s easy for the blame to be pushed around on the table with every agency saying that they were not responsible.

Available channels to use to tackle behaviours that may not rate very highly on the a stretched police services’ level of ‘crime to tackle’ but often it is these smaller petty criminals that are able to make a society and a community much more miserable.

You are powerful, yes you. You may not think it but you have more power than you realise.

This is power that doesn’t rely on muscle tone or physical ability, I’m talking about the power of conscience, the power that you have to make a difference to the life of  a child in trouble, a person in need a community in chaos and ultimately the whole damn world.

So how does this power manifest? Simply by finding your voice, by not turning a blind eye, by not ‘putting up’ with whatever situations you encounter on a daily basis that upset or depress you, it manifests as soon as you find your voice and speak out against injustice, against prejudice and against a society in trouble.

I have lately found my voice and I have made it heard. I have spoken out about child abuse and I have made my voice heard about the constant barrage of anti social behaviour I am subjected to day after day. My voice has made government departments listen and local authorities take action. My voice has impacted on the world immediately around me and most importantly my voice is causing change to happen.

This is not a call to arms to change the world. This is a call to all of you, those who see injustice, those who suffer within an anti social society. Find your voice and make it heard, step in where there is a need. Don’t sit at home feeling frustrated, or disgusted and appalled at what you have seen, heard or been subjected to, there are people out there paid to listen, waiting to take action on your behalf, and more importantly, somewhere there is a child desperately hoping that someone will find their voice and help them and change their world for the better.