Bandwagon Hysteria and Actual Figures.

 

This is Jennifer Helen Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb.  A Green Party member of the House of Lords.  As you may expect with a member of the Green party Jenny is 'a penny short of a shilling.'  This was made clear yesterday when she called for all men to face a 6 pm curfew in an attempt to make the streets safer for women.  This is because a police officer is being investigated regarding the death of a young woman and now a Hysteria Bandwagon has arisen with all the usual suspects lining up to tell of their woes.

However,I recall searching out the murder numbers a while back and discovered things were not as they appear.  Today I looked up these numbers and, eventually after much searching, discovered them.

The ONS figures for 'Homicide' are indeed interesting.  Latest figures.

 

There were 695 victims of homicide in the year ending March 2020, 47 more (7%) than the previous year; this figure includes the Grays lorry incident with 39 homicide victims – if this incident is excluded, homicide showed a 1% increase overall.

The homicide rate was 11.7 per million population, with the rate for males (17 per million population) almost three times that for females (6 per million population); this is a higher difference than previous years because of a 20% increase in the number of male victims, from 422 to 506, and a 16% decrease in the number of female victims, from 225 to 188.

Just under two-thirds (443 or 64%) of all homicide victims in the year ending March 2020 were from the White ethnic group. The number of Black victims in the last year, at 105, was the highest seen since the year ending March 2002 (107 victims).

 

There were 105 victims identified in the Black ethnic group in the last year, accounting for 15% of all victims. This was an increase of nine homicides compared with the previous year.

The homicide rate over the three-year period to year ending March 2020 was 49.5 per million population for the Black ethnic group, approximately five times higher than for the White ethnic group (9.4 per million population).

There were 142 homicide victims aged 16- to 24-years-old, an increase of 32 on the previous year and a return to the relatively high levels seen in the year ending March 2018 (147).

Almost three-quarters of all victims were male (73%) and just over a quarter were female (27%).

It appears the number of women involved in Homicide cases is decreasing, possibly the Green Party do not know how to find figures, it is not a simple task.  73% of death were male, that figure is increasing, while the female figure drops.  The news coverage of this does not appear anywhere as far as I can see.

It is clear that men suffer Homicide more than women (how many men killed by women is not stated) and Black men are suffering proportionately more than any white, male or female.  

The truth is however that such loud women will join the bandwagon, that this sells papers and that the truth is not to be found as welcome to those individuals.  It is still safe for women to walk the streets in 'England and Wales,' as the female MP's and loudmouths driving past will notice.

Interestingly, way down the page in the onine 'Daily Mirror' I fond Davina McCall tweeting:

 

 "Female abduction/murder is extremely rare. Yes we should all be vigilant when out alone.

"But this level of fear-mongering isn’t healthy. And men’s mental health is an issue as well. Calling all men out as dangerous is bad for our sons, brothers, partners."

Naturally the sisterhood have denounced her with bitchy Twitter replies.

She is of course correct, as the figures prove, 188 women out of around 30 million females is rare indeed, especially when more men die, and young Black men in particular.  However, correct figures do not defeat emotion, and it is emotion plus publicity seekers ensuring they are seen as leading the way that matters.

 

 

I found Davina's experience while I looked for something more 'light' to fill the page, there was nothing!  All was "Woe and thrice woe!" and I went back to my daffodils for some succour.  It is not easy to get succour out of a daffodil, so I just sit here looking at them and feeling relaxation wash over me.

 

Nothing Monday

Wimbledon's second week underway.
I ignore this as I ignored the first week.
Hurry up with the football...

Metro

Sir Kim Darroch has behaved impeccably as UK ambassador to the US.  This man has studied his subject, the President of the United States and his government, and reported back in a clear, unambiguous manner to his masters as he ought.  How interesting therefore that some unscrupulous individual has allowed this information to be handed over to the public domain.
Who could do this?  Civil Servants, Politicians, and who else receives this info?   
Some say civil servants would never dare to release such info to anyone, not even each other.  Others claim a Brexit politician has done so to remove this 'Remain' ambassador and replace him with a 'Leave' one more suited to Boris.  Still others claim the civil service is so ruined by Theresa and her government they are willing to bring down anyone they fear.  
Now the ambassador has done nothing wrong, even so there may have to be changes.  While the whole world agrees with his comments, all heard before from many others, Trump will have a sulk and never speak to him again.  Lucky ambassador!  He will retire happily, his life work ruined by political chicanery elsewhere that is not his fault, and live happily in Surrey or the Cayman Islands on his large pension.
The fall out may go further of course.

 
Looking through a selection of recommended books I was struck by how many were either yukky wimmens romances or murder books.  Now I understand women's desire fro romance, especially when there is so little at home, but in my little mind I find the desire for books, films and TV murder stories a bit strange.
So far we have had almost 90 people killed in London this year, mostly I suspect young black men involved stupidly in drug dealing.  Now there will always be murders, especially in big cities and when aided by the loss of 20,000 police it is to be expected crime will rise.  Yet while people are knifed within easy reach so many people will sit watching or reading murder stories.  Whether Agatha Christie or modern day crime people are fascinated with the horror while ignoring it outside. 
So many TV programmes are detective tales, masses of books are similar, why?  If murder happened next door you might get worried but it appears people prefer the false murder on screen or in print to the reality.  Actually that is not quite true, people have always, since papers came into existence, wished to read the gripping tales of murder and the police chasing the criminals.  The Victorians loved a good murder, the horror led to many papers, booklets, books appearing on the market, often with helpful illustrations, the more gruesome the better.  There was and remains a market for this. 
What is it we seek?

Gloria

Life is Cheap

It was a car accident that got me thinking.  The driver's Mercedes had been doing 56 Miles per hour in a 30 mph area when he ran into a Nissan coming the other way, a closing speed of about 85 mph when they collided.  The man and woman in the front of the Nissan died, the two children in the rear survived, although hurt.  In court a clearly remorseful young man was sent to prison for 16 months.
Near Edinburgh a few days a go a court tried a young woman.  Whilst drinking she heard her boy on the phone to another lass.  She went to the kitchen, took a knife and stabbed him in the chest and he died.  Remorseful somewhat the jury decided she was guilty not of murder but of manslaughter and she was jailed for ten years.
I could go on.  A driver high on drink or drugs crashes his Mercedes into another killing the driver.  he runs away, a serious crime in the UK.  He is given six years imprisonment.  A car knocks a cyclist of his bike whence the rider dies, the driver is merely banned from driving for several months.
Daily we read such stories in the media, usually emphasised by the tabloids.  Life it appears is cheap in this country, death means little.  I understand that a judge is limited in his sentencing by the law under which the individual is charged, manslaughter is often preferred by the prosecution as there is more chance of a guilty plea, dangerous driving is harder to prove than reckless and so on.  The end result is that life means little in a court and I wonder if the legal people really care?

A family loses a breadwinner, a mother struggling on benefits to provide for her child sees the man who caused her husbands death running around a football field earning several thousand a week, dancing when he scores, and she has not enough to pay the gas bill.  A child wonders what life would be like with a parent, another what life would be like with a child.  Both suffer from bad drivers or a moments anger.  The man who got 16 months may be released on 'good behaviour' in 8 months, meaning a life is worth four months imprisonment.  This man will always feel his guilt, but even so.  Given six years and returned to football's wealth and glory in three years appears to insult a widow.  Too many walk the streets knowing they have killed.  Many carry the weight for ever, but does society react correctly to such incidents?

'In wrath remember mercy,' and courts must do this, however they must also remember the victim, I doubt they do.  Sentencing appears based on the over crowded prisons, caring for criminals, restoring them to society rather than caring for victims or punishment.  Punishment you see has been removed from the legal system.  Punishment has been outlawed by the liberal approach.  Children are not slapped lovingly when doing wrong, so they do it again.  Anyone who demands a child behaves is seen as a criminal today, and this is a clear turning of black into white!

British society appear callous today.  During the twentieth century we endured a war that cost 750,000 men and as many more during the following twenty years.  A flu pandemic took almost as many again and a second was saw less die here but fifty million or so worldwide.  Yet the attitude of the people was less violent than today.  War hardens people.  P.G. Wodhouse found his type of book less popular after the war, thrillers were what was wanted. Laurel & Hardy found their humour less attractive than Abbott & Castello, the faster moving action packed book and act touched something in the people.  Men who returned from war wanted action and sports of all kind found higher attendances at that time than any since.  However criminals existed but the level of violence was considerably less than today.

This country has suffered under a liberal outpouring, as I think often occurs when wealth and peace dominate.  The need for basic homes and health has been satisfied so we allow ourselves liberalism in other things to fill the day and please our senses.  Humanity suffers.  In our hospitals the old are pushed aside and left to die by order of the doctors!  Unbelievable a few years ago, not so now.  Maybe 'degree level' nurses find washing patients beneath them I wonder?  It would not have happened in the hospitals I worked in.  We have, since 1967, murdered seven million babies under the 'woman's right' to abortion. 

No woman has the right to kill her child, no woman!  

Half of those of course would be female, maybe that doesn't matter? Child has a 'hair lip,' bump it off.  Baby interfering with your career, kill it!  Widespread availability of contraception does not justify a holocaust of children.  Women suffer we are told, although they were not the one thrown into an incinerator.  Of course they suffer, and of course we understand , we also know this is wrong and so do the women.

But society cares little, until something like this happens to them. Then there will be no-one to care, just desolation.




I have just read that a couple who battered a property developer to death have received a life sentence for the murder.  She has a 25 year minimum, he 18 years.  Surely this is the minimum in such a situation.  Both will be in their fifties when released, and very different people I suspect. 
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Wet Monday!

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The day started by appreciating the rain teeming down outside. "That will please the farmers," said I. There was no point in being upset myself, so I just got on with life, in my usual 'happy go lucky manner.' Tsk! A bit of rain and people grumble so. I am not one to complain myself as I see no point in this as it gets us nowhere, so I just got on with my day, smiling cheerfully at those passing by outside. Few returned my smiles however, but I suppose at six thirty in the morning some folks find happiness difficult? Anyway as I browsed the papers I noticed that a camera similar to this one, which I believe to be a replica rather than an original  :-

Leica 0                         

a 'Leica 0.'  An original one of these was sold at auction for one million pounds! One million just for a camera made in 1923? I had a Leica from the 1930's and found it difficult to get the best out of the thing, mostly because I am an idiot, partly because it takes some getting used to. These are the 'Rolls Royce' of cameras however and most owners have their cameras serviced regularly, and at a price most of us would not pay for a camera in the first place!. However most owners are professional or serious amateurs and use them constantly, so the cost is worth it. I would be happy to own one of their latest digital efforts mind you, if I could afford the three thousand pounds.....

A sad situation nearby today. One of the streets in which I used to deliver mail saw the murder of the woman and her child, a toddler under three. A man shot himself, apparently, when surrounded by police. A cheery lass from what I remember, although it is some time since I was there, and very sad that a child died because a  man is not allowed to see her, if that indeed was the cause. How emotion, selfishness, and anger get the better of us!  So many people appear able to find guns these days, I suppose that tells you something about those who carry them!

How I laughed this afternoon. I noticed the rain had ceased teeming down and the sun was attempting to break through the, now white, clouds. I decided it was time to move! I gathered the bag of old clothes and detritus other goodies and took it down to the charity shop for mental folk. (In Edinburgh these are called 'Hibernian Supporters') and deposited it there. Walking out of the shop I noted the sun on my face and happily strolled down the hill to the cemetery where I continued my search for dead Great War soldiers. As the four I wished to find did not have the regulation 'War Graves' headstones I knew it would be a bit of a slog. I found one, eventually, and one or two other interesting finds when there including a soldier not mentioned on the website. The rain returned and encouraged me to make my way home, up the hill, and so I came back, happy, slightly damp, and wondering how long my cheery life will continue like this? Or words to that effect...

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How Many Dead?

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Mail Online

I have just had a glance at the 'Mail Online' page and while I expect to see half naked, meaningless celebrities whom I have never heard off, and I also realise that scandal and shock will fill the page, I did find myself shocked by the number of dead people on the page.  One was 'happy Slapped' to death by neds, a four year old was found dead in a washing machine while playing 'Hide & Seek, a pretty young student finds herself dead crossing a road while on the phone, so the driver gets off with that one, and a father is found hanging not long after his wife and two daughters are found dead. Not a bad body count when we are still in the 'Mail's' opening section.

They were joined in the opening section by a 45 stone woman who, the 'Mail claims,' died after stuffing herself on junk food! We quickly move on to a nurse stabbed by her 'ex-lover,' never boyfriend, always 'lover' in this paper, and a 'newly wed stabbed to death by her step son' in the US. There is a cruise ship passenger dying after the gangway collapses, a mother bleeding to death after a long wait for the police, a professional footballer given 25 years for shooting an ex friend in a drugs related case. This led to another murder and about thirty shooting incidents in a notorious London housing estate. However hold on, we are only half way down the page! We still have the 'insanely jealous' boyfriend who bumped her of for finding another man, we must not miss him out must we? 

At a rough count, and it must be rough are there may be more yet to discover on this page, we have about 14, yes fourteen, bodies on one page of the 'Mail Online.' I have missed out the regular things, priests giving communion to dogs, a ship made from plastic bottles arriving in Sydney harbour,  shocking things found on a soap opera and lots of flesh on the side bar as 'B' celebs disport themselves for cheap publicity.

Murder used to be unusual in the UK. We use to manage about one a day, now we are at least ten times that number, although I have no official figures for this guess. The police once shuddered at the thought of carrying guns, now every station has it's 'armed response unit' Youths are always showing off by fighting, now however they all appear to carry knives, and especially so in inner cities. Drugs carry a great responsibility here as all areas appear to have a drug gang of some sort. Heavens, only a few years ago an armed police raid occurred on a house behind my mothers in Edinburgh. I spent 21 years in London and never saw an armed police raid, yet one occurs right next to what once was our playground! Totally unthinkable in the fifties!

There again it is a paper reporting 'news,' and facts are slanted to sell. These sad events take place all too often but life goes on. There are more good things in the New Forest than dead families, some housing estates, even black ones I will have you know, are full of folks just living their lives. Reading the press does give a skewed view of the world around us. When I lived in London the area, Paddington it came under, had about 660 'car crimes.' Stolen or just broken into for a few pounds, that sort of thing.  Maida Vale had well over 700 such offences! Yet when I arrived at this backwater  the local media talked of things taken from cars, garages raided, and police warnings to 'Take care out there!'

The end of the year report told us there had been 24 'car crimes,' and that this area was the safest in the county, and the county had the lowest crime rate in the country! Read your paper carefully!

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Market Day Murder

I made a mistake today. Not for the first time I can tell you and most likely not for the last. The mistake was to forget that today being 'Market day' the town would be full of people. Add to that the second mistake, the idea of wandering amongst the stalls and shops in the middle of the morning when the place was at peak 'women shopper' time! This mistake ranks alongside the man at Decca telling the Beatles that 'Three guitars and a drummer is old hat folks,' or 'Old Moores Almanac' claiming foretelling the future for September 1939 as 'Peace!' While some may say there are differences between market day and these examples I suggest you attempt to squeeze past a fat woman and a stall selling biscuits, then negotiate between two old dears looking at each other and pointing in different directions caring nothing for the hordes attempting to pass. Subtle hints like barging into them with a pushchair (and what sort of creature takes a pushchair into such a small space anyway?) or throwing a small child at them fails to get any recognition. Similar types push themselves in front of you as they leave the 'Special offer' shops, ignorant of normal people (male) attempting to gather a few precious needs. As you enter a shop you note that what you require is at the back and the obstacle course comprises too many stands, full of delicate things that fall far too easily, and yet more large unseeing females who think shoving a coat hanger in your face as you pass is nothing to complain about. The store, which of course has exactly what you want at exactly the wrong size, has to be fought through once again as you head for the door, the shop staff convinced you have some stolen item inside your jacket. The fact that you have your arms pinned by their sides by the crush of thoughtless shoppers is not a thing they would notice.

Having fought against the hordes of Vandals and Huns who comprise the normal Wednesday morning market day to the fruit and veg stall, and discovering the best stall is not there, only the Essex boys with their cheery wit and lying smiles and rotten fruit placed by sleight of hand into the bottom of your brown paper bag, you head back they way you have come. This time the bird in the red jersey, worn such a manner to inflame the desire of the men she fancies and enrage the jealousy of the women she passes on the way, this bint decides to grab you attention by skillful use of the pushchair her greeting faced brat is screaming blue blazes in. She also uses blue words when confronted (in love) about her driving ability. Short and frank is the conversation, as indeed are many others at this time. The postman pushing his trolley loaded with business mail around the town 'accidentally' lets you know he is also passing by muttering 'Some of us have jobs to do you know.' Knowing he spends half his day having free coffees and buns (something I never obtained on any walk when I was a postman) another short conversation takes place.

Why do women stop in the middle of the way and stare? What is it that hinders the ability to move to the side and let folks pass? Just because you are looking at a stall, or a window display, for some magical treat you neither need nor actually can afford, is there any need to hinder the rest of the world. MOVE!!!! But no. Females must stop the traffic just to contemplate something, anything, that is in front of them. Ask them what it was two minutes later and they cannot tell you! I have been taken, by force I can tell you, through a department store, up hill and down dale, until we reached the curtain department, one of my favourites I can tell you, just for her to take some material in one hand, rub it between her fingers and mutter, 'Hmmm.' Then we left. 'What was that about?' says I. 'I just wanted to look,' says she. All this for 'Hmmm?' says I. 'Yes,' says she, as if the hour had been worth it in some way.

However, today I surpassed myself. Coming out of 'Woolworth's' were the Mongol Hordes, pushing and shoving, and attempting to avoid the bookstall and the girl selling overpriced candles ('Ideal gift,' for who?) while not stumbling into a woman searching her handbag in the middle of the remaining space. Behind me a crowd of stampeding cattle were being held up by this female. The narrow space in which we crushed seemed to get smaller as we waited for her to do something and, finally, she did. She stopped looking in her bag and just stood there with a soporific smile on her face. From the other direction I thought Ashur-bani-pal and his Assyrian army were coming towards us,but I may have miscounted, the stalls around us swayed and yet more arrived from 'Woolies' as another pushchair arrived to scream its way into the fray. Just than a small still voice came from behind a hand proffering a leaflet with Santa prominent on it,
'Merry Christmas' said the voice cheerfully. It was at this point that I took out the chainsaw and cut the old bint in twain. I then proceeded to carve my way through the Assyrian army, any runaway cattle and each and every pushchair headed in my direction. As I got to the end of the market I found that I had been followed by several dozen men. 'Thank the Lord for that,' said one, I thought I'd never get out of there again!' The others said the same. 'Never shop on a market day again,' said a big ex army type,'It's far too dangerous if you ask me.'
We looked back at the carnage brought by the chainsaw, and were satisfied.

Murder!

Murder! two lads who beat a man to death have been jailed for a minimum of twelve and a half years. What does this tell us about our society? Does it speak of life as being important? Or is life so cheap that twelve and six months jail can satisfy justice? Now I have been against the death penalty for the simple reason far too many folk were hanged in times past before their innocence was proved. Add to this the criminal is then brought face to face with their maker. The second death is not something to be treated lightly, even for a murderer! However it remains a singular fact that in the UK today far too many sentences appear lenient.
In Inverkeithing a while back,two neds beat a man to near death, set fire to him while alive, and walked away. One received a minimum of Fifteen years, the other twelve.
Was this justice?

Someone is murdered, for no good reason, and leaves behind a wife and children. Their family lose a breadwinner and loved one. Friends miss a friend, a business needs to replace a worker, the problems with housing, insurance and legal factors appear to stretch into infinity, and the repercussions of such an event are in the end incalculable. Is a dozen years in prison justice?

I suppose in some ways we should be glad these culprits have been caught and jailed. When serious crime occurs the police do appear to make every effort to solve the case and bring the offender before the courts. The police in this instance cannot be held responsible for the sentence given. However their responsibility lies with curtailing the many lesser crimes committed on our streets daily. Here they all to often fail, and fail spectacularly. Today a man has been in court for catching three youths, part of a gang of around thirty, who had been throwing paving slabs around his home. The police charged the man who confronted them with assault! After a year of trauma the case came to court and within thirty minutes he was cleared! The police inspector heading up the case claimed he had to operate 'within the law' and
take action. No action was taken against the three youths, nor it seems any of the other yobs! I wonder what the inspector thinks a policeman's role is in today's society? Whose side is he on?

Until the late eighties, when the compensation culture and political correctness began to emerge, the police confronted by such a situation would have sided with the householder, taken the youths aside and made it clear what would happen if they did not desist. Often this could be an excuse for thuggery, more often it was an excuse for old folks and others being free to walk the streets without worrying about ned's. Of course the parents share responsibility. As PC culture grew so did the selfish attitudes around us. There were many contributing factors to this. Thatcherism and the growth of greed played its part, but this was less because greed was new, it had always been there, the cultural cohesion decayed as alternative lifestyles came to the fore, societies recognised disciplines disappeared and we are left morally bankrupt because we are spiritually empty.

A society that does not know where it is going, has no unity, and no purpose leads to confusion over what is right and what is wrong. 'Each did what was right in his own eyes,' is a phrase from Israels history concerning a period when there was no one emphasising the law. We are in a similar time today. If we as a nation had a clearer understanding of right and wrong there would be no problem with justice. If judges 'in wrath remembered mercy' we would have better sentences on criminals, more treatment, mental, chemical or whatever, for those who require this, and a more stable society. We would have stable families, and that is the centre of society, and youths less undisciplined by their parents.

How sad those days have gone.

Prostitute Killings

Five dead prostitutes naturally leads not only to a massive police hunt, but also to a media frenzy.
Nothing pleases the hacks more than sex, and sex connected to murder, and a serial killer at that, is glorious for the muck raking press of this nation. How they have enjoyed dredging up all the stories they can concerning the lives of these girls. Almost twenty four hour coverage on SKY News alone! This has gone for over a week and already there are indications of irritation among the hacks that so far no one has been found. Not that they would be trying to force the investigation eh? Claims of some being interviewed are rebutted by the police, yet those claims still appear in a press desperate to fill pages with 'Revelations!'
Suddenly prostitutes, usually regarded as 'dregs of society' are seen as 'our sisters and family.' Those who would not want them within a hundred miles of their homes tell us of their concern for the girls welfare. Those claiming to represent what they call 'sex workers' appear on every channel and paper. Concern for the girls well being is promoted at many levels.
But do they really care?

As has been stated, while all want to stop the killings and few if any would wish the girls dead, there are none who who welcome prostitutes either walking their street or working from brothels nearby. Where they operate problems of anti social behaviour mount! Women living in the area are accosted by men looking for women, the same girls worry that their men are accosted by those women working the streets! Most want them far from their children. Legalising brothels to keep the girls safe sounds a good idea. But who runs the brothels? Gangsters? Where do the girls come from? Too many here already are sex slaves from all over eastern Europe! Would they not be put through such brothels?

More important must be the actual people involved. How can it be acceptable that women should use men for money? The implication today is always that men use women, while the idea of the reverse is ignored. Human nature teaches us otherwise. If not kidnapped and used as sex slaves where do the girls come from? Most in Ipswich are drug users, 98% according to one group working among them. Girls from a variety of backgrounds hooked on Heroin or cocaine. Can it be acceptable to allow them to use 'safe' brothels while not saving them from drug dependency? We must not forget some girls go on the game for other reasons. Lack of love in their life, from childhood upwards. Inadequacy feelings, maybe they just realise that there is easy money to be made out there! Nothing in such a lifestyle is straight forward.

Legalising the 'oldest profession' would not help anyone. Care for those involved, men or women, as men prostitute themselves also, is required. Those who sell themselves have many problems and unless we recognise this we cannot help them. Allowing them areas to operate just keeps them trapped in a world that dehumanises and destroys them. The false liberals who wish to allow them freedom to operate do not wish to help prostitutes, they just dump the liberal lifestyle on them and run off and let them fend for themselves. This is not care, it is selfishness!

What sort of man or woman needs to use prostitutes? Again we see broken lives and desperate needs. Again care and understanding is required, and a more positive acceptance of responsibilities will lead to a satisfying life.