Rapist escapes the punishment of the law, twice.

Summary

Dost Mohammed,  72, escaped Britain’s judgement again. The now elderly rapist was charged in 1986 for raping a student after he invited her to his flat for a curry. But before he was arrested he fled to Pakistan, where he stayed for 19 months and then sneaked back to Britain. However, Mohammed was finally tracked down today in Bradford, West Yorks. But when given bail by magistrates, party due his high age, he took out 5.900 pound from his bank and did the trick again. Mohammed is believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

Comment

The man obviously is guilty, and isn’t making it really easy on either sides to come to justice. It is quite a difficult case because the man is not believed to have committed more crimes in his lifetime, except the rape. Then is the question, is someone after 20 years still guilty? And especially if he is as old as Mohammed. Should he be send to jail, where he will likely die in a year or so? I think it’s best just to stop him in a treatment centre for the elderly, but only if we catch him again. Which I don’t think is really worth pursuing. Just put him on a black list so he can’t enter Britain again and let him stay in Pakistan.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3684129/Rapist-who-evaded-cops-for-25yrs-before-being-captured-is-on-the-run-again-after-getting-BAIL.html

'The anger came later'

Summary

The announcement that Sunday would be the last edition ever of the News of the World was greeted with disbelief by the staff of the newspaper. When Rebekah Brooks said she had an announcement, everyone thought it would be her resignation, just like with Andy Coulson four years ago. However, instead of telling them she would lose her job, she announced that the employees of the News of the World were the ones who would lose their jobs. The employees were stunned but ‘the anger came later’.  The employees are confused, angry and upset about the sudden loss of their jobs and don’t know how to react.

Comment

What Rebekah Brooks did here is really unforgivable. I cannot understand how it is viewed as fair that she gets to keep her job, while the employees, of who it is not ever sure that they were involved, as all the phone-hacking was done by hired detectives, lose their jobs. This really shows the true sentiment going on in the top of Murdoch’s empire, a sentiment of cold people who do not really care about their people but just about profit. I feel really sorry for the people who lose their jobs, but I can’t help but enjoy the fact that a paper like The News is quitting.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/tears-then-rage-as-journalists-are-told-that-they-face-the-sack-2308953.html

Andy Murray's recovery from Wimbledon.

Summary

After his agonizing defeat on the Centre Court in the semi-finals of Wimbledon against, now world number 2, Rafeal Nadal, Murray will begin the long climb back to his old shape again. Britain’s only hope in men’s single tennis and number four on the ATP list, will begin his climb today in the Davis cup, starting with playing a crucial tie to Great Britain against a former professional who is now coaching youngsters. Murray will be the highest ranked player he will have face. The contrast with Wimbledon is stark and painful. From playing against world’s best players  in front of millions of people to playing an unranked hobbyist, but Murray will have to bulk up and continue, if Britain ever wants to see a British grand-slam victor.

Comment

I love Andy Murray and most things he does, so it was really hard to see him lose to badly to Nadal, who is only ranked two places higher on the list. But whatever the ranking says, the difference in mental discipline is immense. After one difficult set Murray breaks down, whereas Nadal can play 6 hours at his best. I do hope that Murray will haul in the Davis cup for Britain though but I doubt it unlikely as Djokovich, the world number 1 is also participating for his country, Servia.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/257461/Andy-Murray-aims-to-pass-the-Duchy-

Downing Street Spokesman faces police questioning.

Summary

The ex-Downing Street spokesman, Andy Coulson has to present himself at the police station in London in order to investigate his connections with the huge phone-hacking scandal surround The News of the World. Andy Coulson has been the editor of The News of the World and is widely expected to be arrested so the police can face him with questions about if he was aware of the phone hacking and whether he authorized it. An arrest would be a huge stain on Cameron’s still white shirt, who appointed him Downing Street director of communications after becoming PM.

Comment

A controversial case, as it is not proved yet that Andy Coulson is actually guilty. However, he ran a newspaper without knowing about the illegal acts it was involved with, which I hardly believe so I do think it is safe to assume that he was aware of the acts being committed. I am also really doubting Cameron right now, and really curious to his involvement in all this. Was he aware of the phone-hacking? Did he appoint Coulson, knowing he was aware? I guess we will have the answers soon enough, or never.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8624900/News-of-the-World-to-close-Andy-Coulson-faces-questioning-at-West-End-police-station.html

Clegg attacks Conservatives

Summary

Clegg has fiercely attacked the Conservative sceptics about supporting euro victims, saying that, “We must aid euro victims instead of being triumphalist about their downfall’ and that, ’There is no room for schadenfreude here’. Clegg says Britain should help the European countries survive the economic crisis instead of laughing at them. His comments contrast Cameron’s own words, who said that Britain should not bail out struggling European countries like Greece and Portugal. But Clegg stated that the UK and Europe are intertwined and that if the European countries go bankrupt, it will not be good for Britain.

Comment

I very much agree with Mr. Clegg here. I do think that Britain should help European countries as well, point simply being that Britain is economically too dependent on the rest of Europe. If the other countries fall, Britain will soon fall as well. It is time for many British citizens and especially politicians to get their heads out of their butts and to start working towards a long term solution, instead of laughing at the other countries, al though I do think that is a bit of an overstatement as Britain has been supportive until now.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/8624591/Clegg-we-must-aid-euro-victims.html

Three men charged with murder of teenagers.

Summary

Three men will have to appear in court because of charges for the murder on two teenagers shot in an alleyway. Yahya Harun, 20, Sharmake Abdulkadir, 20 and Fuad Awale, 23 will have to  appear at Milton Keynes magistrates court on Friday. All three men are from Milton Keynes. The men are charged with the fatally shooting of Mohammed Abdi Farah, 19 and Amin Ahmed Ismail, 18 on may the 26^th. Abdulkadir was also charged of carrying a firearm with intent to harm. There was another suspect, a 17 year old boy but he has been released.  Both victims were from the Somali community and were known to be engaged in crime.

Comment

Seems like a fair case, if the men are guilty. This does raise some questions about the safety and crime in the UK though. Milton Keynes is not really a ghetto, so it does make you wonder about how safe it actually is with something like this happening. Notable is also the ethnicity of all the people involved. I don’t want to stereotype but this does really seem like the sort of thing you would encounter at a ghetto.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/08/teenagers-murder-men-in-court

Murdoch shuts down The News of the World

Summary:

Rupert Murdoch has shut down his best-selling newspaper News of the World after the immense phone-hacking scandal surrounding News of the World. Murdoch’s son James, who runs the UK titles had to tell the staff of the paper that Sunday would be their last edition. This will be the end of the 186-year history of News of the World. There was immediate speculation that the News of the World will be replaced by a Sunday edition of The Sun, with the registration of several the site domain names like TheSunOnSundat.co.uk.

Comment:

I am quite glad to see this happen. I do not really trust Murdoch and I do not believe he did not know about the illegal actions his newspaper was engaging in. He is a businessman solely focused on making profit and this once again proves that if something stops making profit, he just shuts it down. I wonder what will happen to the 200-man staff that made The News of the World. I also think it’s kind of weird that tabloids like The News of the World and The Sun are more popular than normal news papers. But either way, Murdoch still has about 11 other newspapers left so I do not think that he sleeps bad at night.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/07/news-of-the-world-rupert-murdoch

Woman succesfully sues cosmetic and plastic surgery company.

Summary:

A woman received a sum of £6m after succesfully sueing a plastic surgeon who “played god” with her life . Penny Johnson, 49 claims that cosmetic and plastic surgery company Le Roux Fourie used experimental surgery that has damaged the nerves to the right side of her face and led her financial business into administration. She asked to be awarded with a part of the 54£m that would be her potential loss. The judge decided that she would be awarded £6,190,884.92 of which 800,000 for the facial disfigurement, saying that the surgery did affect her financial business but the main reasons were for her bad business were not due to the plastic surgery.

 

Comment:

A difficult situation, as it is really hard to determine who’s to blame. On the other hand the woman should have known that plastic surgery is not without risk. But of course the company Le Roux Fourie is the one who did something wrong. I think that in this case the judge acted right. Penny Johnson has suffered from the mistake personally for which she got the 800,000 pounds. However, I think that the claim that it has led her company into financial peril is just her trying to get more money from the case, as it is said that her business was already decling before the incident.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/23/plastic-surgery-award-businesswoman 

Target tsunami creates too much stress for teachers.

Summary:

An increasing number of teachers is quitting their jobs. The cause, according to delegates at the National Union  of Teachers conference; stress. 41.5% Of the teachers consider themselves highly stressed, making it the most stressful profession, with some even considering suicide. The conference reports a meteoric rise in work-related stress because teachers need to meet the high demands of the government. The increased workload is mainly caused by an increase of form filling. To blame is the “target tsunami” by the government. Many teachers, heads and deputes are working 50 hours or more outside the workweek. Most of the time is not spend on teaching but bureaucratic procedures.

Comment:

A problem that is not only occurring in the UK but also in other countries. In my opinion there are several things really wrong with the current state of the education system, this being a big one. Especially the cause of the whole stress problem is unnerving. The government just keeps setting targets and procedures to get better results, but they tend to ignore the problems they cause. Especially in a slow-environment in which everything goes for millions of teachers and students, the government keeps changing and adding more and more target, rules and demands without giving time to the system to adapt.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/apr/25/stress-drives-teachers-out-of-schools

Monk parakeets invade Britain.

Summary:

Monk parakeets are rapidly taking over since they were released from captivity in the 1990’s. Originally from the Americas, have the potential to expand rapidly and could pose a threat to agriculture and public safety. The Royal Society for Bird Protection has called on the government to re-home rather than to shot the invasive birds. The RSBP realizes the threat they form, but do not believe in shooting birds, a spokesman said. The birds eat crops and fruits, which makes them a danger for the agriculture but also for other animals with the same diet. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural affairs has said that control measures are being taken, this includes trapping and re-homing, removing nests and shooting if necessary.

Comment:

I’m not quite sure what to make of this and if I should take this very seriously. Even though the birds seem to form a threat for agriculture, which seems serious, there is no source reporting how big the danger is etc. However, I always find that in a case like this, an argument like “the birds will wipe out native animals” is completely invalid. Things like that happen all the time in nature, and we should just keep our hands of it. We shouldn’t mess with natural patterns, the nature has it figured out and it will probably be okay, but of course people have to make a big deal out of it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8471075/Wild-parakeets-living-in-Britain-to-be-shot-before-they-become-a-nuisance.html

Wimbledon increases prize money.

Summary:

The All England lawn tennis and croquet club have increased the total Wimbledon prize fund up to 6.4% to 14.6million pounds. Now, the Wimbledon singles winners will win a record of 1.1million pounds in 2011. The chairman of the All England club, Philip Brook, argues that leading international sport events like Wimbledon need to offer suitable rewards for the high quality performances of the athletes. The competitive top sport world is all about the quality of the players and Wimbledon has to offer something for the box-office appeal they bring to the event.

Comment:

I think it’s pretty outrageous that they think it’s necessary to increase the prize money in order to appeal. An event like Wimbledon has a big enough name and reputation to keep the appeal. Besides that, there are other reasons to get more appeal than to simply increase the prize money. I like tennis, and I’m a big fan of many of the athletes that come to Wimbledon, but I feel like they don’t need such a high reward. I think it’s a better way if instead of just giving them money, which will go to their sponsors, coaches and so on, is that there will come some sort of arrangement that will take care of successful athletes and satisfy their needs, so clubs like the All England Club can spend their money on other, more useful things.

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/241689/Wimbledon-increase-winners-pot

M1 partially closed

Summary:

A part of the M1 motorway as big as 7 miles might not be completely open for traffic until the end of the week.  The motorway was badly damaged by a fire that started in a scrap yard under the bridge where the motorway is build on. A new bridge has to be build in order to allow the reopening of lanes.  It is unclear what caused the fire in the scrap yard and a police investigation has started investigated but has not released anything. Many football fans who are going to the FA cup semi-finals in Wembley have to change their travel plans.

Comment:

This is a very unlucky situation, especially with the coming semi-finals in Wembley. I’m very curious to what has caused the fire in the scrap yard, and what a scrap yard was doing under a high way, who owns the scrap yard or who is responsible. Because if it is so that the fire was caused by a person, that person is in for a unpleasant surprise. But it’s of course also possible that the fire had a natural cause.

Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/17/m1-closed-until-monday

Blog entry #1

Summary:

A new high voltage DC cable between the Netherlands and the UK might be the first step to a European electricity grid. The network is seen as fatal for making a weather proof international electricity network. The cable will transport renewable energy and will allow the Uk into a much larger electricity market.  The cable will make it easier to export and import renewable energy, so they can buy and easily transport the energy when they need it and sell when they have too many.

Comment:

In my opinion the new HVDC cable is a great thing, it’s clean, safe and quick. It will make transporting energy safer, faster and it is a great step for  the UK’s energy security. On top of all that it will be used for renewable energy like wind, water and solar energy which is a good thing as well. There’s a financial factor as well, the cable will help stabilize the energy market as it makes it easier to sell, buy and transport energy to where it is needed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/11/uk-netherlands-power-cable-britned/print

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