Uses for a dead kid

Apparently due to Boris, the debate over the value of a degree is raging again. Unsurprisingly, various sorts are criticising the value of ‘academic’ rather than ‘vocational’ degrees. Also unsurprisingly, they’re wrong.

Read More

Deporting Learco Chindamo would be wrong, because Britain is his country

As you might expect in a sunshine-free silly season, the more paranoid elements of society are devoting their attention to a silly crusade. The current one, prompted by the sad death of Scouser Garry Newlove, is What To Do About The Youth Of Today (copyright Hesiod, 800BC).

As part of the moral panic, loony copper Peter Fahy wants to ban all drinking in public and raise the drinking age to 21; the former is an obviously appalling idea (picnic in the park with a bottle of wine? £60 fixed penalty for you, matey), while the latter is unenforceable and grossly illiberal (err, 18-20 year olds are legally and actually adults, so how the hell can you justify taking away their right to drink?). Daily Mail readers everywhere are doubtless nodding their heads in approbation of a man so ruthlessly dedicated to the abolution of fun.

Read More

Your chance to shape drugs policy

If the cartoons aren’t anti-Muslim, who gives a monkeys about freedom of speech?

In the absence of any original content, here’s a duplicate of Dan Hardie’s highly worthwhile plea to ensure we don’t abandon the Iraqis who helped us in Basra to be murdered for their collaboration. Dan’s words below. I’ve not added a fold, since there’s sod-all else content for it to get in the way of…

Since British troops occupied Southern Iraq in the spring of 2003, thousands of Iraqi citizens have worked for the British Army, the Coalition Provisional Authority ()South) and for contractors serving UK forces. There is now considerable evidence that their lives, and the lives of their families, are at risk: some former workers for the British have been murdered, and many others have fled to neighbouring countries or gone into hiding in Basra. The British Government, for whom they were ultimately working, has not offered them the right of asylum in the UK. This is morally unacceptable. It is also unnecessary, since we are well able to accommodate several thousand Iraqi refugees, most of whom already speak English and all of whom have already worked for our country.

The most detailed recent report, by Jonathan Miller of Channel Four news, notes the murder of 17 translators in one single incident in Basra. It cites the cases of hundreds of others who have fled to a refugee existence in nearby Middle Eastern countries or are in hiding in Iraq. (Channel 4 article) The British Government response has come from the Home Office, which has suggested that Iraqis put at risk by their work for British troops ‘register with the UN refugee agency’. Other reports provide supporting detail: Iraqis are being  targeted for murder because they have worked for British forces (Independent article; Times article)

Marie Colvin’s report for the Times of April 8 speaks of desperate former workers for the British Army being turned away from the British embassy in Syria by staff who had orders not to admit any Iraqis. These brave men and women have testimonials written by British officers

If you feel that this is unacceptable and that Britain should prevent Iraqis from being murdered for the ‘crime’ of working for British troops, could you please write to your MP and ask him or her to press the Government for action. You can use the excellent website ‘Write to Them’ (http://www.writetothem.com/) or post a letter yourself.

Please be courteous when writing to your MP. It would be a good idea to read the reports above, and cite relevant facts. We would suggest that your letter could contain the following points:

• It is morally unacceptable that Britain should abandon people who are at risk because they worked for British soldiers and diplomats.
• This country will be shamed if any more Iraqis are murdered for the ‘crime’ of having supported UK forces.
• Iraqis who worked for British forces should not be told to leave Iraq and throw themselves on the mercy of United Nations relief agencies in Arab countries: these agencies are already being overwhelmed by the outflow of Iraqi refugees, and Iraqi refugees who have worked for British diplomats or troops may well be targeted by local jihadists.
• There is plentiful evidence that armed groups in Iraq kill the families of those they consider ‘enemies': for this reason we must extend the right of asylum to the families of those who worked for us.
• It is entirely practical for this country’s troops in Iraq, and its embassies in neighbouring countries, to take in Iraqis who have worked for us and fly them to the UK. Indeed, there is already considerable anger among British servicemen that Iraqis are being abandoned in this way.
• This country is large enough and rich enough to accommodate several thousand Iraqi refugees. Denmark has already given asylum to all 200 Iraqis who worked for its smaller occupying force.
• It does not matter what your MP’s views (or what your views) are on the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. People who risked their lives for this country’s soldiers are now being abandoned by the British Government. Their lives can and must be saved by their being granted the right of asylum in this country.
• This policy should be implemented regardless of whether British soldiers stay in Iraq or are soon withdrawn. But it must be introduced soon: applications for asylum cannot be processed in a lengthy fashion, as the security situation in Basra is deteriorating rapidly, and delay is likely to lead to further killings of Iraqis who worked for British troops.

A Metronet post that’s not just ill-informed anti-PFI ranting? Wonders will never cease…

“The fact that an Iraqi has just tried to blow us up proves that Islamist terrorism has absolutely nothing to do with the war in Iraq. Also, we hate Ken Livingstone.” – here.

When walking around Holborn a few months ago, I stumbled across the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. At first, I assumed it was some kind of comedy quack money-fleecing outfit. Then I noticed the NHS signs on the door, and decided that it had probably been founded by Victorian herbalists and subsequently turned into a proper hospital while keeping the name for historic reasons.

So I was quite surprised, in the context of a Comment Is Free debate on the merits [cough] of homeopathy, to discover that it actually is a NHS homeopathic hospital. Yup, despite the fact that time and time again, double-blind trials have shown homeopathy has no effect beyond placebo, we’re forking out millions of quid to give people diluted potions. This is silly. Read More