More Proof that the UK is Sicker than Italy

July 4, 2008 · Filed Under UK · Comment

The Great British Bulldog has heart problems.

After writing a post entitled The UK is Sicker than Italy, alas, I then read of this recent and particularly horrific crime in the UK. The title of the BBC story says it all ‘Horror descends on quiet street‘.

The story seems to indicate that the do gooders in the UK have not been doing much good. At times, political correctness can be downright dangerous.

It’s sad to see the country I grew up in hit such depths of depravity. I fear that the UK will continue to provide proof that it has gone to the dogs.

Italy is a children’s playground in comparison.

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Tags: bbc, crime, Italy, news, UK

The UK is Sicker than Italy

July 1, 2008 · Filed Under UK · 18 Comments

Over on Man of Roma’s thoughtful blog, I made a bold statement. What I said is that the UK is in a greater state of decline than Italy.

Now, I can’t go around saying things like this without giving some evidence, so here it is.

Senseless violence - stories of knifings and shootings seem to be an almost daily occurrence, and the culprits, more often than not, come from cultures which are not strictly English. This leads to the second piece of evidence.

Appalling levels of integration. Britain opened the flood gates to immigrants many years ago, but did little else. Now there are Islamic terror cells springing up all over the place. I mean, was it a good idea to encourage people with such diverse religious beliefs to come to the UK? Or are we just seeing the results of yet more politicians who simply stay in power and do little else?

State education quality is dire. The politically correct bunch have managed to achieve their dubious aim. This aim was to eliminate competition and make it easy for anyone with less than half a brain to obtain some qualifications. And just about anyone can get degrees now, and good ones too. Why? Simple, the universities receive greater funding if more people pass, especially if they pass with better grades. Even secondary education has become so performance oriented that quality is at rock bottom levels.

Many English people want to leave the UK. English TV is full of programs about finding a dream home in any number of locations around the world. You can find more than a few Brits dotted all over the world, including quite a number in Italy. People are proud to be British, but pleased to escape.

The formerly venerable House of Lords has become full of government cronies who are politically correct to the point of insanity. They seem to take respect for human rights to extreme lengths. In the UK now, if you come from some country with a crackpot regime, murder a few people, and are caught, you need have no fear of being deported. All because the lovie dovies fear that you may come to a sticky end in your country of origin. Really those who continue to practice their wicked ways need to be kicked out and face the consequences of their actions, then at least others would think twice about coming to the UK and wrecking lives.

The great British bobbie has been legislated out of existence, just about. Would you believe that British policemen are actually leaving the country to find work in countries where their services are better appreciated? You can read more about the former English policeman behind the Copper’s Blog who is now in Canada in my ‘The Dark Side of the UK and the Free Press‘ post.

I’m sure others can give more examples as to why post-Blair Britain is no longer great. Do I think Blair did great things for Britain. No. If anything, the man dragged the place down even faster.

At the end of the day though, it’s not too much of a surprise that the UK should be spiralling downwards even faster than Italy. The UK is ten years ahead of Italy in many respects, which means it hit a trough more recently. And the UK suffers, in the same way as Italy, from that bane of modern society - the career politician.

Remember Neil Kinnock - former head of the Labour party? He hated people with posh accents, but with his knighthood, and all the dosh he makes from the European Parliament, this good socialist is laughing all the way to the champagne bar, as many career politicos do. They would make, sorry, are great actors.

You can say what you like about Italy, but at least the place has not become politically correct to the point of self destruction.

Does the UK have equivalents of Di Pietro and Beppe Grillo, or, even better Clementina Forleo? I’m a bit out of touch, so enlighten me. If the UK does not, it sure as heck needs them.

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Tags: blair, Britain, decline, downfall, government, Italy, Kinnock, murder, news, Politics, society, UK

Colin McRae

September 16, 2007 · Filed Under People, UK · Comment

Alas, one of the world’s most spectacular rally drivers Colin McRae, and his young son, have lost their lives in a horrific helicopter accident.

The present news headlines in the UK confirm the sad loss of someone I admired greatly. Well, to be honest, I was horribly envious of the guy. The way in which he controlled massively powerful cars was, for me, being a lover of all things fast, fabulous. A shame, great shame, that he is no longer. Italian connection? Yes, there was. One of McRae’s friends was Valentino Rossi, ace Italian motorcycle racer, who said that to him Colin McRae was the Kevin Schwanz of rallying. High praise indeed. Rossi even dedicated his latest victory to McRae.

That’s now three celebrities that have passed away recently. I’ve noticed this ‘famous people dying in batches’ situation before. It’s odd. Very odd.

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Tags: Italian

Gun crime in the UK.

September 3, 2007 · Filed Under UK · Comment

While not yet at US levels, gun crime in the UK appears to be on the increase. The recent shooting of an 11 year old in the UK, on top of a number of other killings of youngsters in the UK, have caught my attention. Knife related crimes are up too. Apparently it is quite easy to get hold of a gun in the UK now, although press reports state that, luckily, ammunition is hard to come by. Italy, despite having armed police and the Mafia, does not have high levels of youth gun crime - which is probably down to the fact that the family is still a much closer-knit unit than in the UK. Let’s hope it stays this way.

The question is: What can be done to wean kids away from these dangerous items? Education is one answer, only the kids who are using these guns probably do not go to school and have zero respect for authority, which means that while education may keep some away from guns, it will really only have an effect on those who would probably never think about getting hold of a gun anyway. One thing that may make a difference would be to get more police on the beat again - at least their presence may deter the use of guns, but even the police cannot be everywhere all the time.

Time does seem to be something of a key though. It appears that more kids are spending their free time in gangs and that these gangs are adopting a gun culture. You often hear residents of down-beat housing estates complaining that the kids have nothing to do and so they just hang around getting bored and ending up doing stupid things. Then it seems as though the kinds of kids that end up in gangs often come from broken, socially dysfunctional and/or low income families. Which means that gang membership offers them a replacement ‘family’ type relationship. This is something many of these kids have never really had, and, often, they feel that there is the possibility of making a quick buck, so they can get an iPod, flashy trainers and some bling-bling jewellery. Mix the chance of making a some cash through selling drugs with a sense of ‘belonging’ ,and gang membership starts to become even more attractive, especially when you do not really have any future to look forward to. Current pop-culture which glorifies gangs and plenty of gun toting film stars probably do not help matters either.

What is needed are ways of giving these kids real aspirations and ways of keeping them occupied so that they do not end up being drawn into a gang type culture. The only trouble is these things cost money, but running a few cost benefit analyses should reveal that investment now will reduce costs in the future - especially the cost of keeping unwanted members of society in prisons, not to mention social security payments, policing costs and all the rest.

I had a hunt around the www for information about the Croxteth area of Liverpool in the UK and discovered that it has been something of a social minefield from the very beginning, in that this huge housing area was not provided with many shops or other community facilities when it was built. I even took a look at the Liverpool city council website and its youth section - which is as dull as ditch water, incidentally. Look at this for an example of what I mean. It’s not exactly appealing to kids, now is it? If this is an example of how the council is going about rejuvenating places like Croxteth, then it is not much of a surprise that becoming part of a gang seems like a fun thing to do. There are some other initiatives on the Liverpool Council site, but, to me, they just look dull - half-efforts, with nothing really original and appealing to kids, and the presentation is such that it might appeal to a thirty-five year old train-spotter. Asking the kids what they want might help start moving things in the right direction, as would jazzing up the website a bit. Looks as though there is a pitch here for a good web design company.

Aside from making the website more stimulating, here are a few other things that perhaps could be done to keep kids occupied: Offer free or low cost public transport. Reduce the prices of tickets to sporting events, cinemas and concerts. Cut sports centre and swimming pool admission prices. Set up more facilities that will draw youngsters into the only real alternative to gangs - clubs. More after-school activities, which could also teach skills which can then be applied to later life. In other words, try to give these kids some alternatives to illicit activities, and keep them occupied and interested, and give them some hope for the future. Activities which give kids with some idea of where to go in their lives would be best, plus activities which allow them to let off steam, like banger-racing, pillow fighting and similar activities. Let us get those child psychologists onto the job, and plenty down to earth practical types - members of these difficult communities - ex-footballers and locals who have had runs in with the law and learnt from it. And showing the kids American History X - might convince a few that prison is not a nice place to be. Lots of talks, not sermons, from ex-soldiers who know what it is like to get shot, plus a few graphic images, may start to get the ‘guns are bad news’ messages across, too. If there is not one now, how about a kids’ committee, run by kids, that can decide and develop activities and initiatives? Local businesses could even be offered tax breaks to encourage them to provide funding for community facilities. Anything and everything to offer alternatives to a life which may end up with youngsters ending up in prison, or worse - like shooting a beloved child.

While it may be difficult to break up current gangs, it should be possible, through the introduction of the right facilities, to reduce the number of kids who want to become members, so, in time, the gangs would simply fade away. One thing that could be done and done now, as a result of the Rhys tragedy, would be to use the incident to discredit gangs and guns - so that kids do not want to become members. After all, would you want to be part of an organisation that kills a little kid? Each child killed in this way represents a failure of society in general to care for its members.

By starting to solve problems now, at least there may be a chance to improve the future. And save other young lives.

I’m no social scientist, so I’m sure others could come up with other and better ways to improve the situation in Croxteth and similar areas. How about forming management teams from those doing terms in open-prisons for white collar crimes? Benchmark their progress and reduce their sentences as a reward for positive progress? And instead of the boys in blue moving on a group of rowdy teens, why not have them say, ‘Hey, kids, have you heard about the X things on down at the youth centre this evening? Instead of hanging around here getting piss-bored, check it out.

Gets down off soap box.

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