Category Archives: current affairs

current affairs, sexuality

In Defense of Working Girls

If I believe what I read in (some parts of) the press the authorities seems to be unreasonably waging war on London’s prostitutes, especially in Soho. And no doubt this is going on elsewhere in the UK too.
There was an interesting, and rather worrying, article in yesterday’s Observer under the banner:

Rupert Everett in defence of prostitutes:
‘There is a land grab going on’
The prostitutes of London’s red-light district are being evicted …
Rupert Everett argues … that closing down the brothels
has nothing to do with protecting women

A protest in Soho by sex-workers and representatives from the English Collective of Prostitutes

If what Everett writes is correct, and while I cannot verify it I have no reason to disbelieve it, then there appears to be a conspiracy between the law enforcement authorities and the judiciary (backed by business) to vilify and persecute prostitutes in the name of stamping out “trafficking”.
Yes, trafficking cannot be condoned and needs to be clamped down on. But it seems that many “working girls” have not been trafficked, are not involved in trafficking, and are not being controlled by pimps — all of which would be illegal.
Prostitution in itself is not illegal in the UK, and (unlike in some countries) neither is paying for sex. Everything I read indicates that most (not all, but most) “working girls” are doing so from choice and not coercion. Trafficking is illegal, so is “living off immoral earnings” (ie. pimping) and soliciting on the streets.
In my book everyone, female and male, has the right to sell their body for sex if they so wish. And everyone has the right to buy sex. Arguably prostitutes provide valuable services to those (a) wanting something different, (b) who have strange fetishes they couldn’t otherwise fulfil and (c) who might otherwise be/feel disenfranchised in the sexual marketplace. We are all entitled to our sexuality, whatever form that takes, just so long as it is between consenting adults.
Whether you like it or not prostitution is a fact of life and one which, whatever the law says, will not go away. So like many other things we would be wise to recognise this and bring it out in the open where it can be regulated. (If you make it legal you can then regulate and tax it, which surely also has to be good for the economy. See also marijuana.)
We need to normalise sex, prostitution and sex workers. Criminalising them just forces them underground where there is far more danger because then they can (and will) be exploited by the criminal fraternity. Keeping them in the open is actually safer for everyone: prostitutes and punters.
I’ve never used the services of a prostitute, and I can’t imagine I ever will, but I can see no harm in the activity as long as it is not in the grips of the underworld — but sadly that seems to where the authorises want to shove it. Eeejits!

current affairs

Boris on Europe

There was an interesting article by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph in which he asks if “Europe” is going to turn out to be one of those things which we’re always told are necessary but turn out not to be.

KCM598
Click the link to read the full article

As always with Boris the article is well written and well argued, with rather deeper thoughts than may at first meet the eye.

current affairs

On the Passing of Nelson Mandela

Aside from the obvious (well who’d have guessed he was about to die?) here are a few thoughts on the passing of Nelson Mandela.
Let us remember that, in today’s values, Nelson Mandela was first a terrorist leader, and (whether rightly or not) he was convicted of such.
Had he lived almost anywhere but South Africa he would have been locked up for life without any prospect of a get out of jail free card. As, in fact, he was!
That he did get out of jail is largely down to the dysfunctionality and instability of South Africa at that time.
Mandela made the most of the opportunity and turned it to good, which was no mean achievement!
Consequently I suspect that until now South Africa has held together as well as it has because of his very presence. He may no longer have had any formal power, but his influence would, I’m sure, have been very real. And who knows what mafia-esque machinery turned behind the scenes?
I sincerely hope South Africa continues to hold together, return to stability and becomes a respected African nation again. However I fear that it won’t.
There seems to be a big danger that the factional infighting and feuds, which are still there, will surface in what is an inevitable power vacuum. And that this will lead to a descent into anarchy and civil war, if not an outright tribal bloodbath — black vs white, Xhosa vs Zulu etc. Which is much the route trodden by their neighbour Zimbabwe, amongst others.
I hope I’m wrong. The South Africans have invested too much in getting this far to even contemplate such horrors.

current affairs, medical

In which I Wonder about Local Politicians

North-West London NHS last year consulted on proposals to rationalise the delivery of A&E services in the hospitals in its area. One element of this is the closure of A&E at Ealing Hospital, close to where I live. This is unlikely to happen for at least three and probably five years.


Needless to say the majority of the local community are up in arms, assisted by some very cynical sound-bites from local politicians and campaigners who see this as a threat to the very existence of the hospital (which according to the consultation it isn’t). Indeed the local council have taken the whole matter to the courts and failed to get a judicial review of the consultation process. Currently a final decision is awaited from the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt; this is expected within days.
Following the refusal of the judicial review there was, last weekend, a rally to continue the voicing of protest. According to the reports this attracted a paltry 100 people — clearly the local rent-a-mob don’t like going out in the rain! At the rally Ealing Council Leader, Julian Bell, vowed to fight on and “chain ourselves to the gates before they roll the bulldozers in”.
Whether you agree with the proposals or not, this is just so pathetic. Not only does this portray Cllr Bell as a bad loser, has he actually thought this thing through?
By the time any bulldozers move in (and they should as the current hospital building is hardly fit for purpose) the proposals to which objections are being raised will have been implemented and the hospital will still be operational. According to, and as I understand, the plans the bulldozers would be clearing only a part of the present Ealing Hospital site to enable the building of a new, modern healthcare facility alongside the existing hospital. Only once the new facility takes over could the present building be closed.
So all Cllr Bell seems to be doing is delaying the implementation of improved healthcare for his constituents.
Is Cllr Bell really this stupid? Or is it me that’s missing something?

beliefs, current affairs

Not Already!!

Watching BBC Breakfast yesterday (22 October) I spotted my first Remembrance Day poppy if the year. It was being worn by some female, the head of one of our plethora of regulators, who was being given an easy ride of an interview.
This is obscenely early, given that Remembrance Day (11 November) isn’t for another three weeks.
But then, as I’ve said before, I sometimes think I’m the only person in the country who finds everything about Remembrance Day sick and obscene. I’m with novelist Evelyn Waugh who in his youthful diaries described Remembrance Day as

… a disgusting idea of artificial nonsense and sentimentality. If people have lost sons and fathers, they should think of them whenever the grass is green or Shaftesbury Avenue brightly lighted, not for two minutes on the anniversary of a disgraceful day of national hysteria.


And no, before you start, that doesn’t mean I’m unpatriotic or un-anything-else. It means I have no wish to glorify war and prefer to go forward rather than continually look backward — and believe the country would be a better place if everyone did this.
Remember: those who look backward get turned into pillars of salt.

current affairs, ramblings

Government and IT

Yesterday’s Independent carried a short article under the headline

Using computer technology ‘could save state £10bn a year’

Yes, you bet it could! Here are extracts from the article:

Civil servants could cut the cost of government by £70bn in seven years just by making more use of computer technology, a think-tank report … claims.
The ambitious claim … is almost 10 times what the Cabinet Office hopes can be achieved.
The report … highlights ways government departments waste money by using too much paper.
Offenders include the Crown Prosecution Service, which prints a million sheets of paper every day, the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency, where “two articulated trucks loaded with letters and paper pull in every day”, and the Passport Office, which prints out forms filled in online and posts them back to applicants to sign.

Oh FFS! I know I worked for a large IT company but set in its ways though the Corporation was even we got rid of most paper forms 10 years ago!
So you bet the government could save £10bn a year, but it will happen only if:

  • They learn something about IT and how to manage IT projects
  • They are prepared to listen to advice from suppliers
  • They are prepared to invest some money up front
  • They are prepared to grasp the nettle and tell the civil servants that this is how things will be done — no push-back allowed.

Will all of those happen? … No.
Will any of those happen? … Probably not.
Gawdelpus!

current affairs

Here We Go Again!

Just what is it about politicians? They just cannot seem to learn from even the most recent past. Nor can they stand back and take a long, cold, hard look at where they’re going.
The US and the UK are about to get themselves embroiled in Syria. Why?
Oh someone has used some (internationally banned) chemical weapons.
Yes, OK that is reprehensible (to put it politely). But it doesn’t excuse blatant aggression by other people.
Look guys. Just stop and think!
1. Within the last few years the US and UK have meddled in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya that I can think of quickly. None of them with any real justification (and in the case of Iraq based on a known wrong set of beliefs). Result? Long-term involvement in two of them and no real useful result in the third. All it has done is waste the lives of our military personnel and waste a load of money that frankly we don’t have.
2. What is happening in Syria is civil war — just as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Egypt. War, by definition, produces atrocities. That is no reason for us to go adding to them.
3. So you want to get involved in Syria on the side of the rebels against Assad? You do realise, don’t you, that those rebels are the very people you were fighting against in Afghanistan and Iraq: al-Qa’ida and the Taliban? OK we know you’re two-faced (you’re politicians, after all) but really!
Now no-one is pretending that the use of chemical weapons is acceptable. But this is NOT an excuse for the US and UK to go around continuing to be bullies. Especially as we know that short sharp interventions never are. Remember Iraq?
No, this is a matter for the UN. Their inspectors need to be allowed to complete their work, report, have their report considered. The if the international community (in the guise of the UN) is still unhappy it is for the UN to take action. Unilateral action by the US and/or the UK is just not acceptable.
David Cameron … If you continue down this path of action, you will become as reviled by everyone as was Tony Bliar, who rightly earned the epithet Tony B Liar. Up with such actions we, the people, will not put! Such actions will definitely lose you the next election (if you’ve not lost it already). Is that really what you want?
Barack Obama … The same applies to you.
When even your (ex-)military chiefs are saying this is misguided, maybe that should be telling you something.
Gawdelpus!