'Gissa Job, Go On, Gissa Job...'

Increase the Peace is an anti-knife crime charity and lead campaigner and mentor Delroy Ellis regularly receives calls from worried parents who have discovered their child is carrying a weapon.

He says he is incredibly disappointed with the lack of services in the city.

Despite his efforts, Mr Ellis does not see an end to knife crime in the city. His fears were again confirmed with a lad having been charged with possessing a bladed weapon in court just this week.

So who is this chap? Someone who wants to help, free of charge? Well... 

“I have not heard from any agency since Ramarni died. Not one phone call or email has been sent asking the city’s registered knife crime charity to get on board and take action.”

Maybe they don't have a lot of faith in your charity's ability? 

“I am not anti the system but I do what I do because I am with the people. With everything that is happening, agencies should know they need Increase the Peace.”

Why? Do you have answers or solutions, then? 

“At the moment I do not have the answer or solution...

Ah. 

...but after what happened in Gloucester last Sunday, we need to work to see what I can do. I knew it would only be a matter of time before another knife crime incident would happen again.

“More needs to be done to educate young people. Something really has to change to get the message across and we need to work together to make it happen.”

Well, there we are in agreement, Delroy. Something does indeed have to change. But I don't think you're going to like what it is... 

They Aren't Like Buses After All...

...they are more regular than that. 

Barely a week has passed since the last abysmal child protection failure by the State's agents, and another one rolls up to the curb:

Five times social services were contacted by family and friends. Five times their concerns were dismissed. The police were involved in one of those five interventions and, on a sixth, they were contacted independently of social services.

It has all the hallmarks of the previous case, including the rat leaving the sinking ship ahead of the verdict... 

...ordinary members of the public will struggle to understand why Frankie Smith and Savannah Brockhill were given the benefit of the doubt time and time again.

Really? I think you might find they won't, since it appears to happen time and time again. 

With one - or two - unique wrinkles in this case: 

Not for the first time political correctness, it seems, played a part in all this. Social workers, the jury heard, accepted Smith’s story that the complaints were ‘malicious’ and down to relatives not approving of their same-sex relationship or Brockhill’s traveller background.

If only it wasn't the case that they accept excuses regularly from non-favoured groups, I might agree. But they do, so I don't. 

Maybe It's Time You Stopped Talking About 'Learning Lessons' And Actually Learned Them..?

Although further contact was made with Hughes by social workers after the photos were received, there was no more engagement with the family by the authorities.

Two separate referrals had been made at the same time by Arthur’s paternal grandmother; one to West Midlands police, and one to social services, with the latter relating to “unexplained” bruising to Arthur’s back.

It turns out West Midlands Police proved every bit as effective as the Met in the Baby P case. In fact, this case has startling echos of that case. 

“It’s certainly the worst [child abuse case] I’ve had to investigate,” said DI Laura Harrison from West Midlands police, who led the case. “We don’t often see what goes on behind closed doors, but on this occasion we did.”

Sadly, it was after the fact. Because despite the supposed 'tightening up' after Baby P, it's always too little, too late...and here come the expected case reviews: 

A review of the role of social services is under way, while an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct is expected to report back shortly.

Which will no doubt exonerate all involved, and blame covid, despite the fact that the only interest the police showed in holding anyone to account was when they got heavy with the relatives trying to get them to do thair job:

Arthur died on June 16, 2020 after suffering an 'unsurvivable head injury'. These are the four key chances the authorities missed to avert the tragedy:

ONE - Arthur's grandmother, Joanne Hughes, called social services on April 16 to say she had seen the youngster covered in bruises. However, social workers failed to spot them during a visit to his home.

TWO - On April 20, Joanne also told Arthur's school what she had seen. A member of staff called social services but was told the bruises had been caused by 'play'.

THREE - Arthur's uncle, Daniel Hughes, reports his concerns to police but is threatened with arrest if he tries to go back to the youngster's home.

FOUR - John Dutton, Emma Tustin's stepfather, makes an anonymous call to social services weeks before Arthur's death.

Having no doubt learned that contacting the police makes you the target... 

Solihull's £122,294 Director of Children's Services at the time, Louise Rees, 60, left in August before the trial began. Rees' LinkedIn profile boasts that she is now 'retired and loving it'.

Well, of course she is. She's a serial bolter, after all, as we now learn: 

The career civil servant also left her previous job at Stoke City Council, where she was the £140,000-a-year director of children and family services, a week before it too was lambasted for serious failings.

It's deja vu all over again, isn't it? 

Chief Amongst Them Being Their Parentage...

Philip Tully, defending, said his client's benefits were reduced and she was "struggling to make ends meet and provide for her five children".

He said some of Rooney's children had difficulties and she "experienced a very difficult childhood and was a victim of crime herself".

Victim, perpetrator, what's the difference, eh, Phil?

Judge Murray told Rooney: "You committed very serious offences and caused misery to a number of elderly and vulnerable people.

"You've got a terrible record and for these offences, immediate imprisonment is richly deserved."

Yeah. There's a 'But...' coming. You knew that, right?

"On the other hand, you're a single parent with responsibility for five children and you've been out of trouble for six years.

"The author of the pre-sentence report says you're a good prospect for rehabilitation. At this stage, I'm just not sure about that."

But you're going to take the chance anyway. It's unlikely to be your elderly relatives targeted, after all.

I doubt they live in the sort of areas preyed on by this useless waste of oxygen, after all...

"Although you've been out of trouble for six years, this was a three-month period of planned and sustained activity, targeting vulnerable people."

The judge said in order to contemplate sparing Rooney jail, he needed more evidence, so deferred passing sentence.

If you don't already have enough, I'm not sure what more would help...

H/T: SmallThunderdog via Twitter

Sob Stories...

The couple’s ordeal began last year when Roxanne suffered from serious post-natal depression and other mental health issues following the birth of her youngest child, Aimee.

Roxanne and Craig lived in Cornwall, where Craig worked long hours as a chef.

Roxanne’s illness meant he kept having to take time off work to care for her and his children, and so he lost his job, and the couple fell into rent arrears on their council house in Camborne.

They were eventually evicted by Cornwall Council on May 1 this year, and have not had a permanent home since.

Hmmm, sure, it can happen to anyone. Right?

Craig met Roxanne, started a family and his mum Lou was a huge help as the couple - at that point - had three children, Catelynn, Freddie and Harry.

Freddie, particularly, needed more help - he has a range of special needs, including cerebral palsy, and has to have his legs rubbed vigorously after any exercise.

But three years ago, Lou ‘retired’ back to her native South Bristol, moving into an over-55s flat in Stockwood, and when Aimee arrived last year, Craig and Roxanne struggled on their own.

Wait, so a chef and his partner unable to support the existing children decide to have another? Despite the fact one child already has issues?

What did they think would happen?

Cornwall Council told them their efforts to find them a home had failed, and hit them with another bombshell.

“They told us we had made ourselves intentionally homeless, because we left the day before the bailiffs came,” Roxanne said, as she fought back the tears.

“They told us that there was nothing more they could do, and we would have to find our own privately rented accommodation, and pay for it with our housing benefit.

“I spent weeks searching for somewhere to live. It was impossible. We didn’t have a guarantor. There is absolutely nowhere in Cornwall that will take a family of six on benefits in private rented accommodation,” she said.

You can't blame them. Landlords want people who have some common sense and sense of personal responsibility. It's patently clear you lack either...

Shuffling Deckchairs On The Titanic...

Police have arrested a wanted man who was found temporarily living on the roof of a shop in Southend town centre.

I'm glad they qualified it with 'temporarily'....

Southend’s community policing team have been targeting areas in the High Street which are prone to attracting antisocial behaviour and rough sleepers.

Not before time. The last few months has seen an influx in the 'homeless' (mostly street drinkers & the mentally ill) and walking down the high street in the early morning is not pleasant.

They said that one particular spot, the doorway of the old Post Office, which has closed down, has become a favoured place for drinking and begging.

Two weeks ago, PC Brewer moved on rough sleepers from outside the doorway.

'Moved them on'. To where?

That's not even a hundred yards...

Naturally, even these parasites have parasites:

But Gill Garwood, chief executive of homeless charity Harp, said rough sleepers should not be stereotyped as drug addicts - and she wants to see more done to help.

To help the bums, that is. Not the people who have to put up with human excrement in their shop doorway, or see takings drop as customers (understandably) go elsewhere:.

“At Harp, we are here to support people with any issues that might have led to their homelessness situation, including work to prevent people from having to move to the streets in the first place.

“People become homeless for a whole host of reasons.

“We believe that rough sleepers should not be criminalised for being homeless and that is why we are working with agencies in the town, including Southend Council and Southend Police, to try to help people access support that can help them turn their lives around.

“For the past five years, through our Restart Programme, we have encouraged people experiencing problems with addiction to seek treatment with Southend Treatment And Recovery Service, and attend group therapy with Narcotics Anonymous. We encourage residents to volunteer to assist with our services.”

Where can I volunteer with someone who wants to run the bums out of town? Along with this 'charity'?

Councillor Fails To Recognize The Local Problem...

...it's people like her:

After having a great time at the Afropunk London festival last weekend, I followed my usual ritual before going to bed on Saturday night: checking to see what I had missed on Instagram during the day.

I came across the clip of CCTV footage that appeared to show a Metropolitan police officer attempting to restrain 20-year-old Rashan Charles from east London, who shortly afterwards took his last breath. I was stunned and confused. I closed the app with a heavy heart and said a prayer for Rashan and his family.

Not for the police officers or the shopkeepers who'd soon be fending off the mob of usual suspects?

When I saw the statement from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) the next morning, reporting that it had “obtained evidence which indicates an object was removed from [Rashan’s] throat at the scene”, I instantly thought of Edson Da Costa.

Just four weeks ago, 25-year-old Edson, also from east London, died after contact with the police. The IPPC also said that “the pathologist removed a number of packages from Mr Da Costa’s throat”.

Did you start to see a pattern?

I am a local councillor in Newham and the deaths of two young black men in east London in a matter of weeks is a cause for concern, to put it mildly.

Because it's not enough? So many drug dealers, so little time...

Whatever the packages or objects that were removed from Rashan’s and Edson’s throats were, is there is a safe way to do this? Is there a protocol? Is there a different protocol at an airport if someone is suspected of smuggling something? Does and should the same protocol apply to officers on the beat?

No. Yes. No. No. There. Cleared that up.

Were the circumstances the same as those of Edson’s death? If so, have the Met been recently given sufficient training and guidance to properly and safely assess the danger a person is in and be able to remove objects from someone’s throat?

Who cares?

If these cases were drugs-related, is this symptomatic of a wider drugs problem in east London? If so, why are drugs still a problem in 2017? Since 2010 we’ve seen central government cuts to local authorities’ budgets on an unprecedented scale, year after year. This has resulted in cuts to non-statutory services such as youth and drug prevention services.

You could flood the council coffers with gold from the Treasury, and people would still take drugs!

Part of the anger following this death, expressed by some at a vigil on Monday, is the suspicion that excessive force was used because of the colour of his skin. We know that black men are more likely to be treated harshly by the criminal justice system, at the stages of arrest, charging, prosecution and imprisonment. Would witness statements and accounts from arrests of non-black people in similar circumstances mirror how we saw Rashan being treated in the video?

Yes. Because the police would be duty bound to try to stop anyone swallowing evidence, be they black, white, brown or yellow.

These questions are by no means accusations.

No. No, of course they aren't.

There is still a lot more the police need to do to rebuild trust with community groups, beginning by being more representative of the society they represent.

So we should recruit police from the drug-dealing, resisting arrest community?

This is why, instead of being able to quietly mourn the death of yet another young man from our community and paying respect to his family, many are angry and suspicious of the police.

No, they are angry at the police because they are low-information morons who've been taught to believe that the world owes them a living 'cos they is black.

Taught that by idiots like you, who see a situation like this not as an opportunity to educate your voters about the dangers of illegal activities, but as a way of advancing your own career:

Seyi Akiwowo has been a Labour councillor in Newham, east London, since 2014. She is a fellow at the Royal Society and also writes and speaks on diversity in politics, and social and economic inclusion, as well as methods to improve civic and political participation of underrepresented groups

You know what would 'improve civic participation'  in your neck of the woods, Seyi? It'd be when the voters wise up and stop electing people like you.

I Can't See What She Could Be Studying, Can You?

A student defrauded a council out of more than £5,000 by secretly moving her mother into her home.

Poor kid, probably lonely, missing her mum while...

Wait, what?

Biri Chingwaru, 55 (Ed: !!!), of West Road, Westcliff, told Southend Council she lived alone so she would be exempt from paying council tax.

She admitted fraud at Southend Magistrates after claiming more than £5,000 she was not entitled to.

Council finance boss Joe Chesterton said the case should serve as a warning to anyone thinking of committing the same kind of offence.

Yes, a warning that the UK justice system is very, very lenient and there's nothing to really lose by trying to game the system...

In mitigation, her defence stated that she had now repaid the debt in full and had shown remorse.

She was sentenced to a community order of 12 months, in which she will have to complete 150 hours of unpaid work, costs of £287 and a victim surcharge of £60.

*sighs* Was deportation too much to hope for?

He’s Your Son, Not A Meal Ticket…

A young, homeless mum has been left "depressed" after three weeks of uncertainty about where she and her son will sleep each night.

*rummages* Where’d I leave that tiny violin?

But wait! I shouldn’t be so cold, so hard-hearted! Maybe her misfortunes are not her own?

The mum to six-year-old Dillion has been homeless since leaving a temporary living situation, sleeping on her mum’s sofa, in January.

She was 'kicked out' of emergency council accommodation in Dartford on May 11 after failing to keep up with the rent.

Oh. OK. Forget I spoke.

She said: "I am running out of options. I have nowhere to go.

"The council is telling me to go private, but all they have offered me is a bond.

"Everyone wants a first month’s rent and a deposit and a home owner guarantor.

"I am trying to look for work but it’s hard when you’re looking for a home too."

That’s why you breed when you have a stable job and life, not before.

Get the sire to pay. I’m not going to. The days of irresponsible breeding with the taxpayer left paying the bills are over.

You too, love.

Maybe You’d Like To Support Them By Giving Them Your Property..?

…and not by complacently assuming that else should give them their property?

According to the farmers, a number of people have promised to visit the farm in order to show their support for the residents.

Neighbouring resident Richard Wood said he supported the "vision" of Yorkley Court Community Farm. "I fully support the sustainable farmers, I was at a meeting they called at the Bailey Inn on Saturday and I find their vision for community land use inspiring."

Margaret and Michael Rose, who live in Yorkley, have promised to lend their support to the farmers and will be heading to the site ahead of the potential arrival of bailiffs.

"They are a great asset to our community and should be allowed to remain on the land," said Mr Rose.

It’s not their land. If you have land to give them, do so. But don’t demand that someone else should relinquish their property rights because you like someone’s ‘vision’.

Because that’s theft.

Suzanne Moore Struggles With Basic Concepts (Again)…

Beggars bother us apparently. They bother shopkeepers and residents. They are not good for business. They annoy us when we are only trying to spend our hard-earned money. We know what they need, even if they don’t. They are often difficult people to help.

What’s your next column going to be about, then? How water is wet, and the sky is blue?

I don’t kid myself here, but what is the point of further criminalising them?

What’s the alternative, if they are doing something criminal?

The demand to arrest beggars is said to be because some are aggressive and intimidating. But surely this is an attempt to cleanse and hide the increasing numbers.

No, it might just be because some are aggressive and intimidating. Even Sigmund Freud had to agree that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…

As we load up for Christmas, it really would be nicer not to encounter these hopeless, zoned-out specimens. They are the cities’ human graffiti, reminding us that inequality is not some abstract notion. But is it really the job of the police to arrest them, fine them and call this “help” ?

Yes, if they are doing something arrestable.

In fact, that’s more ‘the job of the police’ than trawling Facebook for off-colour jokes and trudging round car parks checking people don’t leave coats in their cars, I’d suggest…

Antisocial behaviour is not sitting by a cash machine asking for spare change.

It can be. If people want to use a cashpoint without being hassled for change by a worthless drunk or drug addict.

Are we to accept this, as well as the notion that food banks are necessary in a very rich country? To see this as inevitable strikes me as the most antisocial behaviour of all.

Food banks aren’t necessary. They are a calculated political pressure point and we can all see through them. Mainly thanks to people like you constantly harping on about them.

How DARE You Exercise Free Will And Association..!!

The private fund-raiser at the Louisiana Lagniappe, one of Baton Rouge’s finer eateries, seems a typically polite affair. Crab cakes and smoked salmon; jackets but no ties. You wouldn’t guess the people inside were plotting an urban remapping campaign that critics are calling a betrayal of 50 years of civil rights progress.

Good lord, what are they planning to do – bring back ‘Whites only’ water fountains, or something?

Fortunate residents of this the relatively prosperous southern section of a city that is otherwise blighted by poverty, violence and a failing public school system, they are demanding the right to break away from it and forge a whole new city of their own. Putatively named St George, it would measure about 85sq miles and would rob Baton Rouge of about 25 per cent of its population (and, of course, a chunk of its tax revenue).

Aha! The parasite doesn’t want to see the host depart, now does it?

And on this night, they have some good news. After months of struggle, the group has at last mustered the nearly 18,000 signatures required by the state for the issue to be put on the ballot when next Louisiana goes to the polls, or the time after.

“The tide is changing, this will happen,” Lionel Rainey, the campaign’s spokesman, told the cheering guests.

“We will get this on the ballot, we will win and we will create our new city.”

I admire your passion, but I rather think you’ve underestimated just how hard they’ll fight to keep you on the reservation, Lionel.

Their plans call for starting out with only about 10 to 15 city employees, a tiny fraction of the numbers on the Baton Rouge payroll now.

We can’t have that….!

Arguments that he and his cohorts are essentially turning back five decades of integration in the South do not much impress him.

"I wasn’t alive during the civil rights era and desegregation. I don’t carry that baggage. It was a horrible time, but I can’t do anything about it. What I can do is try to make the present better.”

But you can only make the present ‘better’ if that coincides with what the progressives have decided makes things ‘better’…

If opponents of St George don’t evoke racism or even snobbery, they might just ask if its supporters aren’t guilty at the most basic level of selfishness, trying to cast off from the rest of the city without a care for what happens to it.

“My heart breaks for a lot of people who are now living in the city of Baton Rouge and especially for the children,” responds Mr Reiney.

“But at some point you have got to ask, do you just let the whole ship go down? And when did it become a bad thing in this country to try and do right by your child?”

When your proposed actions threatened the status quo and future prospects of the progressives, that’s when.

I’m guessing the citizens of this proposed new town don’t want to be in thrall to the sort of people that foul their own nest then demand everyone else pays for it.

I wish them all the best.

There Are No Standards Any More...

He said: “It was beautiful, we tried to treat it with as much respect as possible. But then some others came over and just tore the place up.

“There were just too many people in there.

“It's annoying that we try and treat places with respect and others come along and trash it. It gives us a bad name.”

...

“...some of those who were in there decided to throw a party and invited everyone in Brighton to it. It all got out of control.

“We got back from a night out and it was already going on with loads of random people in there. At the end of the day when you've got youngsters ... who don't know the cardinal rules, don't invite out of control people in.”

I mean, what's Brighton coming to when squatters don't have good standards of behaviour any more..?

Save Our ...Errr, Jobs!

"In the last six months, the gang situation was almost quiet," the SOS Project's Chris Douglas said.

"Then it all exploded in January and we're all trying to find out the motivation behind it. It's still very difficult to say."

He was talking about the spate of violence last month where six young people were stabbed in five separate incidents.

Antonia Ejoh, his colleague, said: "You can feel the tension again between gangs. This is the first big blow up for a long time and I think the environment is changing."

 It's certainly changing for you two...

The SOS Project in Croydon is currently facing closure after a contract with the High Street Fund ran out in November. They need individual donations and corporate sponsorship to survive in Croydon.

Yeah, I think I'd rather give my money to the Foundation for Three Legged Bandicoots too...

“And Stay Out!”

Police have raided a building that was occupied by squatters in protest at the sell-off of public housing.

A man and a woman were arrested and taken away in a riot van. Another man was bundled to the pavement but later released without charge.

A sergeant at the scene said the pair were held on suspicion of breaking the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, which criminalises squatting in a residential building.

Hurrah! About time!

The parasites are OUTRAGED!! that their host is shrugging them off, of course...

The released man, who gave his name as Harris Fletcher, 23, said: "We’re here to protest about the sell-off of council housing. We came to support the people inside after hearing the police were illegally threatening to break in."

Ummm, no. Your parasitical pals were the ones acting illegally.

Theo Blackwell, Camden’s cabinet member for finance, said: "I’ve sympathy with any protester who says no to selling off council homes, but they’ve got the wrong end of the stick. These buildings were never council flats. They were coming to the end of their leases. We’re using the money to build council homes down the road."

Utter cretins.

Save The Artists!

The shortage of affordable studio space in the capital is to be investigated by the Mayor of London, amid growing evidence that artists are being driven out by rising rents and redevelopment.

Munira Mirza, deputy mayor for education and culture in London, said: “This is a pressing issue and it has been for a while. There’s a lot of concern that London is changing and artists are being forced to move to new areas.”

Is there really a lot of concern? I can’t say I’d noticed it being a topic of heated conversation on my commute, or in the office…

London is home to almost two-thirds of all artists’ studios in the UK, the majority of which are concentrated in the boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, according to the most recent numbers compiled in the 2010 Cultural Metropolis report.

Ms Mirza said: “We want artists to stay in London. It’s very important culturally and economically, but there are lots of challenges in terms of finding space.”

Well, if you say so, Ms Mirza, but I think you’ll find artists aren’t especially singled out for this. Everyone’s affected. Artists aren’t special. Except in their own minds.

There’s even, believe it or not, a charity for it!

Jonathan Harvey, who set up Acme Studios, a London-based charity which provides artists with affordable studio space, said: “Artists require a lot of space and cheap space. How that can happen in London where property values are so high, is a real question. It’s now about how the Mayor’s Office and local authorities value artists.”

Maybe they don’t?

Mr Harvey said: “A phrase we keep repeating is that artists are pioneers of regeneration because they go where others don’t. But they’re also the victims as they then get priced out. Hackney is a perfect example of that.”

He called on a change to planning laws to include studio space in new developments.

Ah, yes. A demand for special treatment. Well, it’s not like we might need plumbers or paramedics or other sorts. No, having a local artist is clearly much more important…

Seb Patane, an artist at Gasworks studios in Vauxhall said: “It’s sad to see this happening, especially in an area where there aren’t many studio spaces. Yeah, I have no idea what’s going to happen; the prices will go sky high and at the moment artists are having a really tough time, funding their own expenses. It’s all quite grim.”

Meanwhile, everyone else is living in the Land of Milk and Honey…

Gasworks owner Alessio Antoniolli said the neighbourhood was changing “at the speed of light” which was damaging to the community.

Hmmm, other people say things like that and get scorned for it. It’s clearly different for artists!

He said that he receives “hundreds of requests” for studios every year, which is “an indication of how scared artists are. I’m not saying regeneration is a terrible thing, but what makes something great and special needs to be kept and celebrated and supported.”

Really? I leave the last word to the estimable David Thompson, who has so many examples of this sort of thing...

Creative people, being so creative, deserve nothing less than special treatment. I mean, you can’t expect a creative person to write at any old desk in any old room in any old part of town. What’s needed is a lifestyle at some other sucker’s expense. And so that garret has to be in a fashionable suburb or somewhere happening, where the creative vibrations are at their strongest and genius will surely follow. And that pad of choice has to come before the publishing deal and film rights and the swimming pool full of cash. Indeed, it has to materialise before the book itself, or any part thereof. How else can their brilliance flourish, as it most surely will, what with all that creativity. Our betters just need a little cake before they eat those damn vegetables. And possibly ice cream. Here’s some money that other, less glamorous people had to actually earn. You fabulous creature, you.

Who’d Be A Bus Driver?

Single mum Miss Jones …

*sigh* It always is, isn’t it?

… claims the drama unfolded after she got on the number 32 bus with her two children – two-and-a-half-year-old Harry and daughter Paige – in Timberdine Close, near Cherry Orchard Primary School, Worcester. They were heading towards St Peter’s at about 3.25pm on Wednesday, December 18.

“My two children and I caught a bus and my five-year-old daughter ended up getting closed in the door. An old scab was knocked off and she was left with a small burn mark,” said Miss Jones.

“The driver said ‘whoops, wrong button’, then laughed.

“My daughter did not tell me until we were off the bus and she was upset. She thought the driver was laughing at her.”

And nor is this trivial incident the only one in her litany of whinges:

Miss Jones also claims the driver was talking to another driver to whom he was giving a lift while the bus was at the stop and throughout the journey.

“Even after we had got on the bus, the driver continued his conversation even though there are signs clearly saying not to talk to the driver while the bus is in motion,” she said.

“Prams were in the walkways and people were not asked to put them in the right place.

"Around eight people had to squeeze into the very front section of the bus including me and I was holding a collapsed pram.”

Wah, wah, wah...

A spokesman for First Group buses, which runs the service, said an investigation was being launched into the incident.

He said: "We take all incidents very seriously and will be undertaking a full investigation into the matter. “All our staff are trained to a high standard and are expected to deal with any incident with care and compassion.

"We’ll contact the customer concerned to resolve the matter when we have concluded our investigations.”

Do you think you'll ever be able to satisfy her then?

I Can’t Help But Feel That This Shouldn’t Be ‘Top Priority’…

A healthcare watchdog has called on the borough to do more to tackle childhood obesity after it was revealed one in three ten-year-olds is seriously overweight.

Healthwatch Haringey made the comments after a report by the Haringey’s Health and Wellbeing Board found that 39.4 per cent of the borough’s Year six students are overweight or obese.

Based on the discredited BMI measurement, no doubt?

Sharon Grant, the chairman of the healthwatch, said: “It’s a serious problem but there is no single way to solve it.

“I think parents, schools, the voluntary sector, the local authority need to work together to tackle it.

“The key thing is education – we need to educate people about what is in their food especially what’s in their drink because children are just drinking on the calories.(sic)”

From Pepsi? Or fruit juice?

These people are truly mad, (though not quite as utterly bonkers as the anti-smoking brigade) and we are even madder for allowing them to proliferate...

Mrs Grant added: “We have the first generation of children who are going to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents because of obesity.

“This is a top priority for everyone who works in health and social care in the borough and we are keeping track of the progress being made.

“It will not be solved overnight but this is a classic example of a problem that has to be solved in partnership.”

And so provide public sector employment for yet more useless eaters. There’s got to be some sort of irony there, hasn't there?

It's Never A 'Father Of Three' Is It?

Hayley Chapman has complained to the council and Spectrum Housing Association because she says the problem at Bramble Court in West Moors has been ongoing for more than a year.

The 29-year-old, who has a four-month-old baby, Daisy, said the garden posed a serious health and safety risk especially for the children and elderly residents.

She said: “The garden is incredibly dangerous and absolutely covered in rubbish including dirty nappies, beer cans and food waste. It is disgusting because you can see huge rats running around attracted by the overflowing bins.

“I’m gobsmacked that the problem has been allowed to continue for more than a year.”

Can't your husband do anything about it for you?

No? Hmmm. I'm not 'gobsmacked' about that, frankly...

LOL!!!

It’s Instructive…

Oh, gosh!

And who is Farhia? Is she a property owner who faces compulsory purchase to build a vanity project like HS2, perhaps?

Well, no. Of course not! When would someone like that ever draw the attention, not to mention the sympathy, of a ‘Guardian’ columnist?

Farhia settled in north Fulham in 1999 after fleeing Somalia's civil war. Seeking asylum, she was granted indefinite leave to stay in Britain.

Just the sort of person a ‘Guardian’ columnist would fawn over!

Farhia's part of the estate is earmarked for Phase Two of the demolition schedule, which could be several years off if it occurs at all. But her need for stability and security is a recurring theme. With the help of an interpreter, a fellow estate resident, Farhia explained to me that she likes the area, values the friends she has nearby, and is happy with the local schools her four sons attend.

She’s been here eleven years and she can’t speak English? Goodness, she really values her roots in Fulham, doesn’t she?

What about the council's insistence that the redevelopment will generate thousands of new jobs, opening up avenues of prosperity for all residents, including the up and coming young? Such improvements would be welcome, Farhia thinks. But why do they require knocking down her home?

It’s not, though, is it? Her home is in Somalia…

Meanwhile, in South Norwood, completely unobserved by ‘Guardian’ columnists:

Elderly tenants of Tonbridge House, a sheltered housing block in Penge Road, South Norwood, learned last week their homes had been targeted to help tackle the borough's housing crisis and reduce the number of families in bed-and-breakfast accommodation.

Yes, you read that right – the council wants to decant pensioners to house the ‘homeless’. Probably more people like Farhia…

William Ramsey, 80, who has lived there 14 years, said: "To try to remove these people from their own homes, I strongly feel it is an infringement of our human rights. Surely you are allowed to take the last few years of your life with a bit of peace?"

Donald Donaldson, 82, said: "I don't want to move. I have lived here for 18 years and I love living here. I feel we are being bullied."

But no-one’s listening, William & Donald. There’ll be no searing ‘Guardian’ exposes of your plight.

You’re just too….well, unsympathetic, I suppose.