tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5898401936746191982024-02-08T00:28:49.308+00:00Grumpy's PlaceRandom mutterings of an intermittently quite cheerful convert CatholicMr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-87918525793669927622015-02-02T19:36:00.001+00:002015-02-02T19:36:43.516+00:00No-go areas<p dir="ltr">What, here?</p>
<p dir="ltr"> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31094422">Alarmist nonsense!</a> </p>
<br/><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beanie.blog"><font size="2">Posted via Blogaway</font></a>Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com2Cambridge, United Kingdom52.2527732645133 0.11091431846527tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-61887956813892235472015-01-29T20:46:00.000+00:002015-01-29T20:46:10.400+00:00Feminists for the Modest Proposal: why allowing people to eat baby girls is the Right Thing To DoSir,<br />
<br />
There have recently been calls for a legal ban on the slaughter of baby girls for the table. The anti-progressive forces behind this campaign have sought to represent it as a feminist one. It is important that these misleading voices are challenged. We believe a ban would be wrong for several reasons:<br />
<br />
1. A ban would imply that butchers have been doing wrong by slaughtering baby girls. This is an unfair slur on a respectable profession, many members of which we number among our friends.<br />
<br />
2. A ban would also imply that parents have been doing wrong by selling their daughters for slaughter. Furthermore, it would encourage racial profiling of the ethnic group to which the majority of these parents belong. This is wholly unacceptable.<br />
<br />
3. A ban would legitimise the notion that baby girls have human rights, and this would inevitably lead to calls for the same rights to be extended to boys. Such so-called 'rights' cannot be allowed to trump the right of respectable citizens to gain their livelihood from a legitimate trade.<br />
<br />
4. That's enough reasons. Anyone not convinced by now is a medieval fascist.<br />
<br />
Yours faithfully.<br />
<br />
Gourmetta Lovechild<br />
Professor of Meat Science, University of Melton Mowbray<br />
<br />
Wanda Cooke-Baybie<br />
Professor of Political Logic, Clackmannanshire Kim Jong-Un University<br />
<br />
and 57 others, all considerably cleverer than you.<br />
<br />
(If mystified and outraged, go <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1080">here.</a> If you get the allusion, go <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/11375279/Gender-abortion-to-be-banned-why-we-oppose.html">here</a>.)<br />
<br />
Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-5950377416094494352014-05-17T11:16:00.001+01:002014-05-17T11:16:40.302+01:00Only just human but......<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27378520">holding hands</a>.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-46471609091954822122014-03-29T11:03:00.000+00:002014-03-29T11:03:15.198+00:00Please pray for Sawan Masih... and all the Christian people of Pakistan. If you don't know why, read <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/10729351/Christian-sentenced-to-death-for-blasphemy-in-Pakistan.html">this</a>.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-66385880242961141272014-03-06T21:33:00.001+00:002014-03-06T21:33:38.861+00:00A Medical Breakthrough<div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">
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Homosexuality screening: NHS could soon offer far more reliable test for pregnant women </h1>
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Leading scientists hail new blood test for homosexuality as most exciting development in pregnancy care for decades </h2>
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<span id="yiv8725412134yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1394115084758_2342" style="font-size: medium;">[adorable baby bump pic]</span></div>
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<span class="yiv8725412134caption" id="yiv8725412134yui_3_13_0_ym1_6_1394115084758_416">Two per cent of women are found to be at high risk of having a child with homosexuality and usually go on to have invasive tests to establish whether the condition is present</span></div>
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<span class="yiv8725412134caption" id="yiv8725412134yui_3_13_0_ym1_6_1394115084758_708"><b>By our Health Correspondent</b></span></div>
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Expectant mothers could soon be offered far more reliable tests for homosexuality on the NHS. </div>
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Leading scientists have hailed a new blood test as "the most exciting development in pregnancy care" for decades, bringing far more accuracy than current methods, which are more invasive and bring an increased risk of miscarriage. </div>
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The new technique, called Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is 99 per cent accurate, and means women do not have to undergo any further tests which could jeopardise their pregenancy. </div>
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A scientific impact paper published today by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) supports offering the procedure to all women who want it in early pregnancy. </div>
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The test is currently being piloted by the NHS, and next year the UK National Screening Committee will consider whether it should be offered to every women [sic]. </div>
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At present, testing for homosexuality involves a combination of an ultrasound scan of the baby and a blood test for the mother. </div>
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Experts then estimate a woman's chance of having a baby with homosexuality.</div>
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Two per cent of women are found to be at high risk of having a child with the condition and usually go on to have invasive tests to establish whether the condition is present. </div>
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However, those tests - amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling - carry a one per cent risk of miscarriage. </div>
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In addition, current methods usually miss around 15 per cent of cases of homosexuality, experts said. </div>
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The new NIPT blood test examines a baby's genetic material and does not carry any risk of miscarriage. </div>
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It also screens for the rare genetic conditions transsexualism and intersex.</div>
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Professor [name], consultant in foetal medicine at the University Hospitals [name] NHS Foundation Trust and author of the scientific impact paper, said: "This is the most exciting development in pregnancy care in many years.</div>
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"The new test is so accurate that the number of women who will need invasive tests is going to fall very dramatically while still informing those who wish to know about chromosomal abnormalities.</div>
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"The test is not yet available on the NHS but we think it will become a primary screening tool for all women who wish to know about foetal chromosomal abnormalities." </div>
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However the experts said one disadvantage is that pregnant women may occasionally be informed of findings of uncertain significance, such as when there is a discrepancy between the chromosomal make-up of the cells in the placenta and the cells in the baby. </div>
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Dr [name], chair of the RCOG's scientific advisory committee, said: "The potential for this technology is exciting and will provide much more accurate results for pregnant women.</div>
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"However, it is important that there are resources and training for health professionals offering this testing and an emphasis on discussions with the pregnant woman before the test about the implications of the results." </div>
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Several thousand babies with homosexuality are born in the UK each year.</div>
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Dr Anne Mackie, director of programmes for the UK National Screening Committee, said it would make a recommendation after trials are completed next year. </div>
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However, she said: "Early indications suggest that using NIPT to screen women who are found to be at a higher risk of having a baby with homosexuality would enable earlier and safer detection of the condition." </div>
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[name], from the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), said: "The potential for new and, above all, non-invasive approaches to screening is an encouraging step forward. It is vital, however, that these tests remain an option for parents-to-be, and that they are kept well informed of their right to refuse if they wish." <br />
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[a report from the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10676672/Downs-syndrome-screening-NHS-could-soon-offer-far-more-reliable-test-for-pregnant-women.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Daily Telegraph</a>. slightly redacted]</div>
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Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-85690672228376366532014-02-05T18:11:00.000+00:002014-02-05T18:11:23.286+00:00Thought crime in Russia and... ScotlandPussy Riot are back in circulation, having benefitted from Putin's Olympic amnesty (bless his heart), and for their fans it's an opportunity to shower some more <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/alex-massie/2014/02/enjoy-th-ewinter-olympics-but-remember-and-listen-to-pussy-riot-too/">cant</a> on them.<br />
<br />
As an aside, an advantage of commenting on my own patch is that I can actually call them Pussy Riot, which is more than the Spectator will permit. How quaint.<br />
<br />
Seriously though. I got in with the first comment, and an ego-gratifyingly large number of readers have felt that I hit the nail on the head:-<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So if I walk into a mosque while prayers are in progress and start chanting
obscenities as my way of protesting against human rights abuses committed by
Muslim states, you'll be right behind me, Alex?</blockquote>
But, as other commenters have pointed out, there is no need to indulge in hypotheticals.<br />
<br />
Says Ian Channing:-<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"A man who threw bacon into an Edinburgh mosque has been jailed for 10
months. Wayne Stilwell, 25, was caught on security cameras attaching the bacon
to the handles of the main door at Edinburgh's Central Mosque." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-24130079" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-s...</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What's your view on this, Mr. Massie? How is it different?</blockquote>
How indeed. Then, fresh off the press, there's the case of the Labour MP's wife, her daughter and the <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/racism-on-trial-or-a-hammer-to-crack-a-nut-1-703589">Dundee cabbie</a>.<br />
<br />
Where to start with this? Well, how about the insight into what Scottish Labour grandees talk about in the back of a cab:-<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the cab, the women discussed the issue of local parents having difficulty in
finding places at top secondary schools for their children.</blockquote>
But surely any of the local comprehensives will be more than good enough for the Girolami offspring, and the more underprivileged kids they mix with the better?<br />
<br />
Obviously it is some consolation that the case against 71 year old James Young was thrown out. But of course the state-inflicted harassment he has endured en route to the verdict - 12 hours in a police cell before being dragged through a criminal court - will surely haunt him for a long time to come.<br />
<br />
The Scotsman's legal eagle does well enough until he offers this pensee:-<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
No doubt reasonable passengers would be annoyed and offended by Mr Young's
alleged comments. They might even want to ask their council to consider whether
a driver who behaves in this way is a "fit and proper person" to hold a taxi
licence.</blockquote>
Oh, for heaven's sake, don't put ideas into those ghastly women's heads! Not that the thought will have failed to occur to them. Doubtless they have plenty of contacts. Heads you get a criminal record, tails we take way your livelihood. Any Russian knows how these things work.<br />
<br />
If there was any justice Dundee City Council would be considering whether this pair of vindictive prigs are fit and proper persons to given rides in taxis. Fat chance. But if they are representative of Scotland's Labour establishment it's little wonder that the independence vote looks like being a close shave.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-30472426059136760022013-12-19T14:00:00.001+00:002013-12-19T14:01:57.419+00:00The Gnostics of the Left<blockquote>
Debate is not always democratic. For example, we would not welcome an open debate about whether the right place for a woman is in the kitchen. In this case, debate itself would benefit the anti-woman bigots by allowing them to portray themselves as one legitimate side in a nuanced discussion.</blockquote>
<p>Says London University sociologist <a href="http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/open-letter-to-claire-potter-from-david-hirsh/">David Hirsh</a>. David is a lonely left-wing voice against academic boycotts of Israel and thus far on the side of the angels. Unfortunately it does not follow that his variety of leftism is peculiarly rational, moderate or (at least in the old-fashioned sense) liberal.</p>
<p>"Debate is not always democratic." Very much the view taken in the former German Democratic Republic. What it was democratic to debate was debated and what was not democratic to debate - the leading role of the Socialist Unity Party, for example - was not debated. The parameters are drawn rather more tightly in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea but the principle is the same.</p>
<p>Why should we strive to close down the women-in-the-kitchen debate? Because it would benefit "anti-woman bigots". Well, naturally. Bad Thoughts are thought by Bad People who must not be allowed to clothe them in Bad Words. "Bigot" is obviously not in the same league as <a href="http://www.northkoreatech.org/2013/12/13/full-text-of-kcna-announcement-on-execution-of-jang/">"despicable human scum"</a> but the fundamental impulse is the same (and, come to think of it, the imperative to ensure their illegitimacy is recognised does, historically speaking, bring a definite suggestion of bastardliness into play). "If you know what's good for you, you won't go there". it says. You might not get dragged before the firing squad but you can certainly wave goodbye to your career as a sociologist at Goldsmiths, London.</p>
<p>But even granted that we are talking about Bad People, why should the consequences of letting them open their mouths be so dire? Surely this is a win-win situation for the good guys. If they are bigots they will simply expose and reconfirm their bigotedness throuugh their pathetic lack of rational arguments.</p>
<p>And suppose they did come up with a decent argument or two? After all, given the not insignificant part that prescriptive gender roles have played in human history, it would be quite surprising if there was nothing whatsoever to be said in their favour. Wouldn't that too be a good thing? Wouldn't it be of interest to David Hirsh the sociologist? Wouldn't it, if nothing else, help him to make his own case more effectively?</p>
<p>That's just not the way it works in David's professional and political worlds. As with the Gnostics of old, to be On The Left is to possess knowledge of the nature of things which is hidden from the common multitude. David does not need to hear the arguments in favour of an opinion he disagrees with because he already knows it's wrong. Whereas those not yet fully initiated into the knowledge - his students, let us say - cannot be relied on to know that the arguments are wrong, so must be protected from hearing them, lest their innocent minds be corrupted by <del>despicable human scum</del>Bad People.</p>Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-76310326103702898922013-11-02T19:04:00.000+00:002013-11-02T19:04:24.341+00:00On All Souls DayPrayers for two of the lately departed.<br />
<br />
Norman Geras, blogger, one of the first go on my blogroll.<br />
<br />
Oscar Hijuelos, Cuban-American writer, two of whose novels (The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, Mr Ives's Christmas) moved me a lot.<br />
<br />
Lord have mercy<br />
<br />
Requiescant in paceMr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-58428048434833710062013-09-10T20:01:00.001+01:002013-09-10T20:01:56.929+01:00Grumpy in the news (almost) OR What do you do when a prejudice is confirmed?It's the nearest I've got to being newsworthy for some time. On the way to the bus stop this morning I was passed by a cavalcade of police vehicles. Now, I like to think of myself as reasonably unprejudiced, but I guessed their destination instantaneously - and as it happens I was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24029133">right</a>.<br />
<br />
So was my perspicacity a good thing or a bad thing?Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-54792390919038523082013-07-03T13:54:00.000+01:002013-07-03T13:54:49.650+01:00Net priceInconvenient realities of the aid industry, no. 587: sometimes the stuff you give away suffers the usual fate of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23149073">unwanted presents</a>.<br />
<br />
Note the standard stonewalling tactics from the people who make a comfortable living from spending our money. Step one: accuse the NAO of not giving the full picture because it's only looked at four countries (and it's not like Nigeria is a country of any great size or importance, is it?). Step two: rebut the charge that the programme isn't working by citing stats from Ghana and, er, well, what about Ghana, eh?<br />
<br />
Why should they worry? They know they'll get away with it. Business as usual, folks!Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-44947344152253714412013-07-03T13:35:00.000+01:002013-07-03T13:35:32.619+01:00Walsall mysteryLast week: bomb left outside mosque. Most serious incident yet in the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/10120706/Woolwich-outrage-we-are-too-weak-to-face-up-to-the-extremism-in-our-midst.html">big enormous</a> <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/douglas-murray/2013/06/sadiq-khan-has-unwittingly-highlighted-the-problem-of-islamic-extremism/">Islamophobic backlash</a>.<br />
<br />
Then the narrative started to become a little unclear. Having been a little surprised to learn that a 75 year old had been arrested, we then heard that he had been released on bail. And then it all went quiet. Cue indignation from <a href="http://liberalconspiracy.org/2013/06/27/why-has-wm-police-quietly-deleted-the-claim-walsall-bomb-wasnt-terrorism/">Sunny Hundal</a> at this off-handed treatment of a dangerous terrorist? Apparently not.<br />
<br />
What can it all mean?Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-55567192556263986202013-06-28T12:41:00.001+01:002013-06-28T12:41:03.841+01:00Hate speechGraham Linehan, creator of the peerless Father Ted, has revealed that he wouldn't be able to write the show now because he has come to <a href="http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/linehan-hate-church-now-130014458.html">hate the Catholic Church</a> so much.<br />
<br />
I think that's a pity but I can understand how he feels.<br />
<br />
I'm just wondering whether he will now be <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/douglas-murray/2013/06/a-gross-double-standard-over-hate-speech/">free to enter the United Kingdom</a>.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-19751242965210041152013-03-07T16:03:00.000+00:002013-03-07T16:03:57.327+00:00Things we got up to......<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21572520">before we were really human</a>.<br />
<br />
On a related topic, I note that the Cornish councillor who went off on one about "putting down" disabled children <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-21612089">fell on his sword</a> last week. That'll teach him to spurn the offer of equality and diversity training. So having enjoyed our fit of righteous indignation, all that is left for us to do is to, er, stop <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/downssyndrome1.shtml#screening_for_downs_syndrome">putting down disabled children</a>.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-22440161104858441562013-03-04T11:52:00.000+00:002013-03-04T11:52:43.986+00:00Wasting police timeThings the police <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21653018">can't quite manage to get round to</a>.<br />
<br />
Because they're up to their eyeballs investigating <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287219/Tim-Loughton-MP-subjected-6-month-100-000-police-racism-probe-telling-man-unkempt.html">serious crimes</a> (via <a href="http://houseofdumb.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/feeding-crocodiles-still-not-working.html">DJ</a>).<br />
<br />
I'm not aware that any Gipsy blood runs in the Grumpy veins, but I certainly wouldn't rule it out. So if you wish to comment on my fashion sense and personal hygiene standards, I advise you to choose your words very carefully indeed.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-28796212887828410022013-02-28T17:35:00.000+00:002013-02-28T17:35:40.602+00:00Farewell, Pope Benedict...... and thank you for everything.<br />
<br />
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!<br />
<br />
All angels and saints, pray for us!Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-89504691044745438362013-02-04T19:38:00.000+00:002013-02-05T10:00:32.953+00:00Unfree to marry?I thought it would be a good discipline to read a reasoned exposition of the case for same-sex marriage today. So I clicked on <a href="http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2013/02/unfree-to-marry.html">Norm's</a> post. To be told that the time for reasoned exposition is past. Norm's patience is at an end, and it's time for the <em>reductio ad Hitlerum</em> (copyright Ed West). Being against same-sex marriage makes me like a slaveowner and a Nazi. Because the differnce between instrumentalising marriage laws for some vile economic or political purpose and insisting that marriage as a good in itself must have a non-arbitrary definition is way too subtle for a humble emeritus professor of politics. "Marriage" can mean whatever Norm wants it to mean and so can "Nazi". I am a Nazi because it is politically expedient that opponents of same-sex marriage be so stigmatised.<br />
<br />
Well, you really know how to win friends and influence people, Norm. Next time you're looking for support from folk like me over, say, the demonisation of Israel, you just might find us a little less than enthusiastic. After all, what do you expect from a Nazi?<br />
<br />
As an aside, it may be noted that historically the Jewish community itself has not been over-keen on those who "marry out", and not without reason. Jews who take for granted their entitlement to marry wherever lurve leads them are, one might think, responsible for diluting Jewish culture to a degree that would have dear Adolf grinning in his grave if he had one. It's maybe none of my business, but I think it will be a tragedy if Jewish culture ends up reduced to strident fundamentalism on the one hand and a handful of Unitarians with special dietary requirements on the other.<br />
<br />
I digress. Let me close with a couple of pictures of people who, by Norm's lights, must be accounted no better than slaveowners. Here's slaveowner Lilian Ladele:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd33J51Y4tfuCyx8XCIUK0YjgHmU3AFga4VmGsKppGhOqndWfmS-lP1dwVuNtbZQgOfHTLWNeTiNK-Cr6_VxwB90-kiKUAekv5yu_MnLZEvYI5A6pp4z7n2IrYkPfJNfH2EPUVXNnMbCE8/s1600/lilian+ladele.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd33J51Y4tfuCyx8XCIUK0YjgHmU3AFga4VmGsKppGhOqndWfmS-lP1dwVuNtbZQgOfHTLWNeTiNK-Cr6_VxwB90-kiKUAekv5yu_MnLZEvYI5A6pp4z7n2IrYkPfJNfH2EPUVXNnMbCE8/s1600/lilian+ladele.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
and here's slaveowner Gary McFarlane:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWuaO_roIC8eBOXd6tloDiancf5oJA_CZr6HSl4fQLjuP0HDTXbRhxBREMrKaleavyf-f45hFDNT0tfS_3boALs64EA6f6qGQvBw7AcZWVmqGf1p41PntD87700FfzEtZoNvbyYfjA9fM9/s1600/Gary+McFarlane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWuaO_roIC8eBOXd6tloDiancf5oJA_CZr6HSl4fQLjuP0HDTXbRhxBREMrKaleavyf-f45hFDNT0tfS_3boALs64EA6f6qGQvBw7AcZWVmqGf1p41PntD87700FfzEtZoNvbyYfjA9fM9/s1600/Gary+McFarlane.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
What do you mean, thy're not slaveowners? If Norm wants to call them slaveowners, he can. Because words can change their meaning, you know.</div>
Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-35880289439257385502013-02-04T18:55:00.000+00:002013-02-04T18:57:48.701+00:00Gay marriage: a hopeless procrastinator writes to his MP<div id="yiv131103933yui_3_7_2_19_1358070060708_35">
Dear MP,</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360003384267_2028">
</div>
<div>
I am writing as a constituent to voice my appreciation for your opposition to the ill-considered proposals on marriage which the Government is putting before Parliament without any mandate. I would also like to express the hope that you will be present to vote on the Second Reading tomorrow.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360003384267_2031">
</div>
<div>
I am deeply concerned about the divisiveness of the proposals and the impact on those upholding the traditional understanding of marriage if the changes become law. Marriage will go from resting on a bedrock of social consensus to being an instrument of social engineering, putting powerful weapons in the hands of those who see it as their mission to forge a new consensus by means not excluding legalised intimidation and coercion. Whatever the Prime Minister claims it is a profoundly unconservative way to govern. </div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360003384267_2067">
</div>
<div>
I am wholly unconvinced by the assurances of safeguards for religious groups, both because the Government is promising what, as it must know, it does not have the power to deliver and because they are in any case much too narrowly drawn. We have already seen a marriage registrar and a marriage counsellor hounded out of their jobs for their refusal in conscience to accept civil partnerships as equivalent to marriage, and the attempted demotion of a housing association manager who expressed his views in a context completely separate from his job. It must surely be inevitable that there will be many more such cases once the law has ceased to recognize that there is anything special whatsoever about the lifelong relationship between a man and a woman.</div>
<div id="yiv131103933yui_3_7_2_19_1358070060708_47">
</div>
<div>
As I trust you will agree, the exclusion from marriage that the Government ought to be tackling as a matter of urgency is that suffered by the one in two teenagers who do not live with both of their parents. Turning couples who by the nature of their relationship <var id="yiv131103933yui-ie-cursor"></var>cannot have children into stakeholders in marriage is simply a step in the wrong direction.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360003384267_2034">
</div>
<div>
I am sure you have heard from many constituents expressing similar views. Thank you again for listening.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360003384267_2064">
</div>
<div>
With my best wishes,</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360003384267_2038">
</div>
<div>
Yours sincerely,</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360003384267_2036">
</div>
<div>
Mr Grumpy</div>
Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-84351007501031224542013-02-04T15:54:00.000+00:002013-02-04T15:54:22.152+00:00A wrong 'unI'm actually not a bit surprised. <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100201314/chris-huhne-right-result-wrong-reason/">James Delingpole</a> on the right to break the law and get away with it by "technically" committing perjury.<br />
<br />
Speeding is <em>not</em> a "victimless crime" It encourages others to believe that "everyone's doing it". Some of those others will be good drivers, some won't.<br />
<br />
If the Daily Telegraph has not sacked Delingpole by this time tomorrow we will know that Britain does not have a serious conservative national newspaper.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-11666832930701449292013-02-02T14:20:00.002+00:002013-02-02T14:20:44.239+00:00Tomorrow's power elite?<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21303390">Here's</a> a piece which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence about the future of America. Especially in view of the subject being examined.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-46281626649605894892013-02-02T14:16:00.000+00:002013-02-04T10:53:04.835+00:00Moral agencyBuried somewhere in this <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21277450">Beeb story</a> is an oblique hint to the effect that if gay men persist in playing Russian roulette with their health by having unprotected anal sex with numerous strangers, it may not entirely be the fault of an uncaring homophobic society. But you have to work at finding it - in fact, you have to work your way to the final sentence. In between there's a lot of stuff about how various fake charities need more of our money so they can hang up "Caution, stable door open, bolting danger" signs and count the horses periodically to establish how many have gone awol since the last time.<br />
<br />
The case for gay marriage is made in a way that is curiously detached from the facts on the ground* as alluded to by Yusuf Azad. Is it intended as an alternative to the "gay scene" or as an add-on to it? Or is that just none of our business?<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Harry's Place, in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21277450">stereotype-busting mode</a> (ee, bah goom, lad, it's tough up North London, and no mistake), has no doubts whatsoever about moral agency. If a couple of civil partners can't get a joint appointment at a beauty salon, then the proprietor should be driven out of business. And preferably hung, drawn and quartered and his remains left for the vultures to dispose of.<br />
<br />
When Mr G was a student Leftie, he and his comrades in arms aspired to nationalise the top 200 monopolies under workers' control and management. If he was a student Leftie today he'd be campaigning for a boycott of the homophobic beauty salons of Woodford Green, apparently. Somehow, a wider vision has gone missing.<br />
<br />
*A little number-crunching: the number of gay men <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20526380">living with HIV</a> is comparable to the number living in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/21/marriage-gay-rights-civil-partnerships">civil partnerships</a>.<br />
<br />
It's also interesting that the average age of new civil partners continues to be fortyish (bizarrely but perhaps revealingly, the average age of those dissolving a partnership is actually <em>lower</em>), which does rather suggest that it's what you do when promiscuity begins to seem a bit like hard work. Now I'm not saying there aren't plenty of straight men who would be very happy to build up their sexual CV along similar lines, given half a chance. But the whole point is that, unless they have the good fortune to play in the upper reaches of the Premiership, they aren't given the chance.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-67662676270902234782013-01-30T10:22:00.001+00:002013-01-31T10:16:26.868+00:00Beebthink<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Britain has some of the highest childcare costs in the world, with many mothers with two or more children saying it does not make financial sense to work.</blockquote>
What the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21232270">writer</a> is trying to say is not that the Swedish system has driven costs down by having one carer per five hundred kids and paying the carers just enough to subsist on bread and water. He/she is complaining that the British state does not pick up as much of the tab as others do. Because when the state pays, there is no cost to any actual people, right?<br />
<br />
Just like the free-at-the-point-of-use BBC, come to think of it. With an outfit like this forming voters' opinions, is it any wonder that Gordon Brown spent like there was no tomorrow and Cameron and Osborne dare not cut as if yesterday really happened?Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-24697232881057922832013-01-22T16:34:00.000+00:002013-01-22T16:34:34.022+00:00A stopped clock...... tells the right time twice a day. We're about due for a replacement for this rather stale metaphor and I must confess to having none to offer, but I can reveal that it applies even to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21127073">Diane Abbott</a>. Unless she is merely making a pitch for the Blue Labour/Mail reader vote.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-50541580322640120032013-01-16T15:26:00.001+00:002013-01-16T16:37:22.451+00:00Me, Sharmi Chakrabarti and my Christian employees: a statement from UK taxpayer Mr Grumpy<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The message coming from Strasbourg is that although people are entitled to hold religious views, that right is severely limited in the workplace when it comes into conflict with the rights of other people. The judgement also hands considerable discretion to employers to set reasonable policies and then insist that employees follow them whatever their religious beliefs."</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
- <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21025332">Robert Pigott</a>, Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News.</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“British courts lost their way in her case and Strasbourg has actually acted more in keeping with our traditions of tolerance. Let’s hope that some of those who threaten to pull out of the ECHR remember this case in the future. However the Court was also right to uphold judgments in other cases that employers can expect staff not to discriminate in the discharge of duties at work.”<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">- </span><a href="http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/media/press/2013/court-of-human-rights-delivers-common-sense-judgment-on-.php"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sharmi Chakrabarti</span></a>, director of human rights group Liberty</span></blockquote>
Dear Everyone,</span>
<br />
<br />
As an employer I welcome yesterday's rulings from the ECHR and would like to take the opportunity of clarifying my employment policies as they relate to those working for me who are Christians.<br />
<br />
I should begin by emphasising that I cannot speak for British Airways. Echoing Robert Pigott, however, I take the view that as a private company it should, I believe, in principle be free to exercise its own discretion with regard to its employment policies.<br />
<br />
Let me now turn to the cases involving people who were working for me. As a Council Tax payer employing registry office staff.I expect registrars to keep abreast of the latest ideological trends and update their own views accordingly. Yes, Mrs Ladele, I'm you sure are warm and enthusiastic and the couples you married loved you, and I have taken due note of your ethnicity, but you can't seriously expect me to let you opt out of bits of your job just because you say they're against your conscience. I don't pay you to have a conscience, and how am I supposed to run a diversity policy if everybody insists on being different?<br />
<br />
As for relationship counsellors, I emply them indirectly via the "charity" Relate <a href="http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/SIR/ENDS14/0000207314_SIR_20110331_E.PDF">("</a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/SIR/ENDS14/0000207314_SIR_20110331_E.PDF">Relate's 'voluntary' income is predominately made up of grants from statutory & other bodies"</a>).<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> This makes no difference to my expectations of them, which are exactly the same as for those who report to me directly As an employer committed to nurturing diversity I expect those who work for me to think as I think.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It has been put to me that Mr Gary McFarlane is an able and conscientious counsellor, and that he belongs to an ethnic group which is underrepresented in Relate's workforce. Questions have been raised as to whether it was reasonable to dismiss him not because of anything he had done but because of what he said he would do in a hypothetical situation which had never actually arisen in the course of his work. It has been suggested that requests for sexual counselling from same-sex couples could easily have been fielded by his colleagues.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mischievous comparisons have been drawn between the right of conscientious objection granted to pacifists during the war against Hitler and the non-negotiable requirement for Mr McFarlane to be prepared to teach gay couples how to do sex.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Look,</span> <strong><u><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">I'M THE BOSS ROUND HERE AND I MAKE THE RULES, OK?</span></u></strong></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Phew, that feels better already.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">With regard to the wonderful nurses who work for me in hospitals around the country, I will be brief. Anyone needing to be treated in an NHS hospital can rest assured that, whilst it may not be possible for busy nursing staff to provide them with drinks of water on a more than weekly basis, they will be absolutely safe from the health and safety risks associated with religious jewellery. I operate a strictly zero tolerance policy in this matter and I have zero sympathy with anyone falling foul of it. Good nurses are ten a penny - Shirley Chaplin please note.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Returning to the quotes with which I began, I am delighted to announce that Robert Pigott of the BBC is my Employee of the Month. This award is in recognition of his clear-sighted understanding of my prerogatives as an employer. Please join me in congratulating him.</span><br />
<br />
I was going to share the award between Robert and Sharmi Chakrabarti, until it was pointed out to me that Sharmi doesn't actually work for me (though I am thrilled to be able to support her work through the charitable status enjoyed by the <a href="http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends48/0001024948_ac_20111231_e_c.pdf"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Civil Liberties Trust</span></a>). Thank goodness for people like her who appreciate that whilst liberty is a fine thing in its proper place, those who accept employment from me leave their liberty (and their consciences) at the workplace door. Nothing must stand in the way of my ensuring that people like me are not permitted to work for me.<br />
<br />
With my very best wishes for the year ahead,<br />
<br />
Mr Grumpy<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">PS If you ever feel you would like to work for me, Sharmi, my office door is always open. Just reach out.</span>Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-3372616937539620922013-01-12T16:17:00.003+00:002013-01-12T16:18:29.293+00:00Some sad newsMy strictures against my one-time newspaper of choice do not extend to its excellent crosswords. Veteran setter Araucaria, alias the Rev John Graham of Cambridge, has used a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/cryptic/25842">puzzle</a> to <a href="http://uk.news.yahoo.com/puzzle-reveals-man-dying-cancer-101331278.html#xOTho0k">announce</a> that he is dying of cancer. May God bless you, "friendly vicar", you've been a blessing to many people for many years.Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-589840193674619198.post-11795742586456240622013-01-03T17:07:00.000+00:002013-01-03T17:14:21.764+00:00Human rights latestProof positive that human rights are an infinitely movable feast: there is now a human right to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20899691">broadband</a>. The BBC says the UN says so, so who are we to argue?<br />
<br />
The classic sea shanty <a href="http://he%20went%20to%20saint%20helena,/">"Boney was a Warrior"</a>, which I sang in one of its many variants at primary school but which I strongly suspect is no longer considered appropriate for impressionable young minds, clearly needs modernisation:-<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He went to Saint Helena, <br />Away, a-yah! <br />There he was a prisoner, <br />Jean Francois! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">That isle, it had no broadband, <br />Away, a-yah! <br />Thus from Twitter he was banned, <br />Jean Francois!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Boney broke his heart and died <br />Away, a-yah! <br />Away in Saint Helena <br />Jean Francois! </span>Mr Grumpyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317128956060393033noreply@blogger.com0