Muslims trump the blind

In the Rochambeau of protected groups. No word yet on where the halt and the lame fall in this competition.

From empire on which the sun never sets

To shithole.

For centuries, the great British loo has been a matter of envy to the rest of the world.

Thanks to the efforts of pioneers like the legendary Thomas Crapper, we have long since led the world in comfort and hygiene.

Now, however, that could be about to change.

For most of us, the squat toilet is nothing more than a staple of horror stories about old-fashioned French service stations or the exploits of adventurous backpackers in far-flung parts of India.

But this basic form of plumbing, also known as a Turkish toilet or Nile pan, could be coming to a shopping centre near you - and all in the name of cultural sensitivity.

From next week, shoppers in Rochdale who push open the cubicle door expecting the reassuring sight of a modern, clean lavatory could instead be faced with little more than a hole in the ground.

Bosses of the Greater Manchester town's Exchange mall have installed two as part of an upgrade costing several thousand pounds after attending a cultural awareness course run by a local Muslim community activist.

What next? Burning widows?

Via

'A handout with a lecture attached'

The UK now gives women £190 for getting pregnant "to encourage them to eat healthily."

'England is a cesspit'

Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka on England's contribution to radical Islam.

England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist Muslims. Its social logic is to allow all religions to preach openly. But this is illogic, because none of the other religions preach apocalyptic violence. And yet England allows it. Remember, that country was the breeding ground for communism, too. Karl Marx did all his work in libraries there."

Why is Britain the way it is? "This is part of the character of Great Britain," Mr. Soyinka declares. "Colonialism bred an innate arrogance, but when you undertake that sort of imperial adventure, that arrogance gives way to a feeling of accommodativeness. You take pride in your openness." And so it is, he says, that Britain lets everyone preach whatever they want: It confirms a self-image of greatness.

It's not so much the allowing all religions to preach openly part that's the problem. It's the bending-over-backwards-so-as-not-to-offend response that's the problem. One side gets to spew whatever it likes and to demand all kinds of special protections while the other side is either cowering in a corner or threatened with arrest for hate speech.

I'm not too sure about that "self image of greatness" bit, either. The Islamist is convinced of the greatness and the rightness of his cause while the Briton is if anything rather embarrassed by his country's Imperial past.

British grit

Teddy bear teacher Gillian Gibbons, who was flown home last night following her pardon by the Sudanese government, is praised for her behavior during the long ordeal.

[UK Foreign Secretary David] Miliband spoke to Mrs Gibbons this afternoon, and afterwards payed tribute to the mother-of-two's "steadfastness and good cheer".

"She has shown very good British grit in very difficult circumstances but I know that the most important thing for her is to get home as soon as possible and return to her family," he said.

"She is in remarkably good spirits," he added.

Mrs Gibbons released a written statement thanking those who campaigned for release and insisting she had "great respect" for Islam.

"I have been in Sudan for only four months but I have enjoyed myself immensely," she said.

"I have encountered nothing but kindness and generosity from the Sudanese people.

"I have great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone. I am sorry if I caused any distress."

Maybe it's just me, but I prefer the good British grit of Sir Charles Napier, who helped abolish the practice of suttee in India.

"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

ADDED: Read Anne Appelbaum on l'affaire teddy bear. A sample:

In fact, the Great Sudanese Teddy Bear Controversy, like its Dutch, Danish, and papal precedents, was not actually a religious or cultural affair. It was purely political. Nobody—not the other teachers, the parents, or the children—was offended by Mohammed the teddy bear (who received his name last September) until the matter was taken up by a totalitarian government, handed over to what appears to have been a carefully orchestrated mob, and briefly turned into yet another tool of domestic terror and international defiance. The Sudanese government, which, when not persecuting British teachers, pursues genocidal policies in Darfur, is under pressure to accept peacekeeping troops from the West. At least some of the Sudanese authorities thus have an interest in building anti-Western sentiments among the population and intimidating those who disagree.

"Get your jabs - and not just the botox!

From the WAG's Guide to Travel, an official publication of the UK's Foreign Office. Other tips:

It might sound trivial but you never know when you might break a nail or your extensions turn green in the pool. To stay looking your best even if you are not taking a personal stylist with you, get a number of good local beauticians or check if the hotel has one before you go!

Luggage restrictions are different all the time now and change from airport to airport and carrier to carrier – research what the requirements are and plan carefully what you are taking on the plane and what is going in the hold. (Frank Lampard’s fiancée Elen Rives delayed a flight because of a dispute over the amount of hand luggage she had!)

Try and stay in pairs or 3’s at the end of the night, even if your mate meets a hunk and yours looks like a skunk, stay together and say you’ve got a headache

Via the Telegraph.

British Medical Journal debates Israel boycott

To that end the journal is conducting a survey. You can make your feelings known here.

Tom Hickey supports a boycott.

No Israeli college or university has publicly condemned what is being done in the Occupied Territories in the name of every Israeli citizen. Some Israeli educational institutions have established campuses for settlers on illegally confiscated land; others conduct archaeological digs on land from which Palestinian farmers have been expelled.

Some Israeli colleagues have spoken out against the occupation. But these are the heroic few. They risk their professional careers and being ostracised.

Our boycott debate is accused of infringing academic freedom. It does so, and that is to be regretted. The pursuit of scientific and artistic advance without hindrance is indeed crucial for human improvement. But academic freedom is not an absolute value taking precedence over all else. The values of human life and dignity are the ultimate objectives, and sometimes these may not be entirely compatible with the principle of untrammelled academic freedom.

Thanks to Stuart.

Unnatural disasters

Frank Furedi takes note of the religious overtones in people's responses to the recent UK floods.

The prophets of Biblical times, who warned of the misfortune that would befall those who turned away from God, have been replaced by computer-generated models which apparently conclusively prove that ‘The End is Nigh!’ One green commentator and former adviser to the government said of the floods in England: ‘The drumbeat of disaster that heralds global warming quickened its tempo this week; some parts of Britain had a sixth of their annual rainfall in 12 hours…. It has all been foreseen, and for far too long.’ (2) Foreseen where? In the Book of Revelations?

Claims of a prophecy foretold add an ominous Biblical quality to all the media coverage warning of an impending age of apocalyptic floods. These alarmist interpretations of the rainfall in Britain seem to suggest that the Biblical cautionary tales about floods – in which floodwaters were seen as punishment for our sins – continue to excite the Western cultural imagination. We do not quite have a Deluge, and there is no new Noah to save us – but we have been left in no doubt that the floods in England show that God is displeased with the human species and our sinful ways. The Rt Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle, was quoted as saying: ‘We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused.’ In the bishop’s view, the floods are some kind of payback for man’s ‘arrogant’ behaviour and especially for his disregard for the welfare of the planet. Sodom and Gomorrah meets irresponsible ecological behaviour, with disastrous consequences for humanity.

World War II without Churchill--or Hitler

Winston Churchill no longer merits a mention after a drastic slimming-down of the syllabus to create more space for "modern" issues.

Along with Hitler, Gandhi, Stalin and Martin Luther King, the former prime minister has been dropped from a list of key figures to be mentioned in history teaching.

This means pupils may no longer hear about his stirring speeches during the Second World War, when he told Parliament that defeating Hitler would be Britain's "finest hour".

The only individuals now named in guidance accompanying the curriculum are anti-slavery campaigners Olaudah Equiano and William Wilberforce.

~ The UK's new slimline curriculum.

Olaudah Equiano Secondary School:
Revised: 20th Century History
The Road to World War II

1919

April 28 - League of Nations founded.

June 28 - Signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

1921

July 29 - Adolf Hitler becomes leader of National Socialist 'Nazi' Party.


1923

Nov 8/9 - The Beer Hall Putsch.

1925

July 18 - Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" published.

1930

Sept 14 - Germans elect Nazis, making them the 2nd largest political party in Germany.
1932

Nov 8 - Roosevelt elected President of the United States.

1933

Jan 30 - Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.

Feb 27 - The Reichstag burns; significant but we don't have time to cover that now.

March 23 - Enabling Act gives Hitler dictatorial power.

April 1 - Boycott of Jewish-owned shops.

May 10 - Nazis burn books in Germany.

July 14 - Nazi party declared only party in Germany.

Oct 14 - Germany quits the League of Nations.

1934

June 30 - The "Night of the Long Knives."

Aug 19 - Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
1935

Sept 15 - German Jews stripped of rights by Nuremberg Race Laws.

1936

Feb 10 - The German Gestapo is placed above the law.

March 7 - German troops occupy the Rhineland.

May 9 - Mussolini's Italian forces take Ethiopia.

1937

June 11 - Soviet leader Stalin begins a purge of Red Army generals.

Nov 5 - Hitler reveals war plans during Hossbach Conference.
1938

1938

March 12/13 - Germany announces 'Anschluss' (union) with Austria.

Aug 12 - German military mobilizes.

Sept 30 - British Prime Minister Chamberlain appeases Hitler at Munich.

Oct 15 - German troops occupy the Sudetenland; Czech government resigns.

Nov 9/10 - Kristallnacht.

1939

Jan 30, 1939 - Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech.

March 15/16 - Nazis take Czechoslovakia.

May 22, 1939 - Nazis sign 'Pact of Steel' with Italy.

Aug 23, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets sign Pact.

Aug 25, 1939 - Britain and Poland sign a Mutual Assistance Treaty.

Aug 31, 1939 - British fleet mobilizes; Civilian evacuations begin from London.

Sept 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland.

Sept 3, 1939 - Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany.

Sept 4, 1939 - British Royal Air Force attacks the German Navy.

Sept 5, 1939 - United States proclaims neutrality; German troops cross the Vistula River in Poland.

Sept 10, 1939 - Canada declares war on Germany; Battle of the Atlantic begins.

Sept 17, 1939 - Soviets invade Poland.

Sept 27, 1939 - Warsaw surrenders to Nazis.

In Oct - Nazis begin euthanasia on sick and disabled in Germany.

May 10, 1940 - Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.




Via David Foster.

I just don't get it

First of all: I don't understand why British makeover experts Trinny and Susannah staged a "sex-change" operation on the Long Man of Wilmington. What was the larger point of this exercise? Sure it brought publicity to their TV show, but they could have done that by trying to set the world record for goldfish swallowing. Or kidnapping a fashion transgressor, stripping her naked and putting a video up on YouTube.

Second: Am I to take seriously the concerns of "a Druid battle chieftain" named Arthur Pendragon? What battles, I wonder, has the nomadic Pendragon fought and against whom?

Third: Judging by this picture, Trinny and Susannah (that's Trinny on the left) are one-trick ponies--or in the pay of the leggings industry.

They didn't know

The committee that recommended that Salman Rushdie be knighted had no idea the honor would cause an uproar.

It also emerged yesterday that the writers' organisation that led the lobbying for the author of Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses to be knighted had originally hoped that the honour would lead to better relations between Britain and Asia.

Stanley Kurtz has more.

Terrorists get another justification for suicide bombing

Salman Rushdie's recent knighting.

A Pakistani cabinet minister said today that the decision to knight Sir Salman Rushdie was a justification for suicide bombing, after the parliament in Islamabad condemned the honour as "blasphemous and insulting" to the world’s Muslims.

As MPs issued a demand for the award to be immediately withdrawn, the religious affairs minister, Mohammad Ejaz-ul-Haq, said: "The West always wonders about the root cause of terrorism. Such actions [giving Rushdie a knighhood] are the root cause of it.

"If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet Mohammad, his act is justified."

Another decree from the nanny state

Smokers deemed inelegible to adopt children under five. Much better that they remain wards of the state. Via Tim Worstall, who notes that the do-gooders' apparent goal--protecting the young from possible lung cancer years in the future--shows they don't know what they're talking about.

There was a huge metastudy done by the WHO in the late 90s, looking at the effect of passive smoking. In that, only one result was found that was statistically significant.

No, it wasn't that people subject to passive smoking keeled over young, whatever the "refinements" to such studies since then. It was that, entirely contrary to expectations, for children, exposure to second hand smoke was a prophylactic against lung cancer.

London logo causes seizures

Not just ugly, but also dangerous.

LONDON — An animated display of London's jigsaw-style 2012 Olympics logo, which has drawn an unfavorable public response, was removed from an official Web site Tuesday after concern it could trigger epileptic seizures.

Epilepsy Action, a British health charity, said 10 people had complained about the animation and some had suffered seizures from watching images depicting a diver plunging into a pool.

Aarrgh!

Six-year-old's party ruined by local council.

As his sixth birthday approached, Morgan Smith's parents thought hoisting the Jolly Roger would be the perfect way to make the pirate-mad youngster's day.

The flag was duly run up the pole in the back garden, leaving Morgan looking forward to a party on Saturday with lots of friends wearing eyepatches and wielding toy cutlasses.

But little did the family know that out on the treacherous high seas of bureaucracy, trouble was heading their way.

Council officials branded the skull and crossbones flag "unneighbourly" and banned Morgan's parents Richard and Sharon from flying it.

Via Fark.

Stupid looking

London's Olympic logo.

The jagged emblem, based on the date 2012, comes in a series of shades of pink, blue, green and orange and will evolve in the run-up to the Games.

The word London and the Olympic rings are included in the first two digits of the new logo.

"This is the vision at the very heart of our brand," said London 2012 organising committee chairman Seb Coe.

"It will define the venues we build and the Games we hold and act as a reminder of our promise to use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people around the world

More here.

Here they go again

British academics call for Israel boycott.

Delegates at the first conference of the new University and College Union in Bournemouth voted by 158 to 99 for "a comprehensive and consistent boycott" of all Israeli academic institutions, as called for by Palestinian trade unions in response to Israel's "40-year occupation" of Palestinian land.

The union's leadership must now circulate calls from Palestinians for a boycott of Israeli universities to all branches throughout the country.

Good Queen Bess visits Virginia

And Virginia's in a tizzy about it.

Mastering the royals' esoterica is sending American staffs from Richmond to Washington to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt into a fear-tinged tizzy. E-mails are pinging back and forth between the queen's page and the director of the Virginia Governor's Mansion. In the last week alone, 300,000 people have clicked on a special Virginia Web site, seeking info about the arrival of Her Majesty. At NASA, when Goddard officials offered a chance for 200 employees to simply sit in an auditorium with the queen, 900 responses immediately flooded back.

I suppose I'd go if I had a chance to meet the Queen, but more to get a look at the pomp and circumstance than to actually meet the Queen. I can't imagine that we'd have much to talk about, other than what a twit her son turned out to be, which I doubt she'd appreciate--or maybe she would, the Queen can't be too amused at Charles's antics. Anyway, I don't imagine one actually talks to the Queen beyond a how do you do.

I heard on the news that the families of Virginia Tech victims will get a chance to meet the Queen while she's in town. I hate it when the powers that be drag out the victims of the latest tragedy and put them on display, though I suppose it was their decision to attend. I guess it's the silver lining in that particular cloud: Sure my son was killed, but if he hadn'ta been, I never would have gotten to meet the Queen.

Prince William's relationship down the toilet

Rumor has it that the world's most eligible bachelor may have dumped his middle class girlfriend because of her mother's numerous faux pas.

[H]er mother, a former air stewardess, who not only, we are told, addressed the Queen with the phrase "Pleased to meet you" rather than the accepted "How do you do?", but was also known to have let slip a word toffs consider quite the ghastliest blasphemy: toilet.

As a faux pas it was up there with a convivial George Brown, then foreign secretary, asking the Archbishop of Lima if "she" cared for a dance. It is hard to imagine a blunder more guaranteed to hasten Miss Middleton's return to the (middle class) singles circuit, short of venturing to the Queen: "Hello ducky, nice lounge you've got 'ere, mind if I kick the corgi off the settee and eat me tea in front of Celebrity Wife Swap?"

Good stuff about the still remaining class divisions within the UK, particularly the upper class's disdain for, and fear of, the aspirational middle class--especially those in trade. It's a world where the ultimate putdown is to say of an arriviste that his family "bought their own furniture." See also U and non-U for more linguistic differences.

From Life on Mars to lesbian romps

Oops! UK Cable company accidentally shows porn.

Smallworld viewers in Scotland, who had been watching Life on Mars, were waiting for the Ten O'Clock News but were shocked to see sexually explicit images on their screens, while BBC2 viewers were confronted with X-rated footage instead of Jeremy Paxman and Newsnight.

The Ayrshire-based cable firm mistakenly aired the pornographic content, from adult channel Climax 3, to customers for two hours until the mix-up was discovered at midnight and the plug pulled on the offending material.