Snoop Piggy Pig

Jobs not over till the paperworks done.

This comes from a police officer and details the paperwork needed in the event of an arrest.

Oh but this is just the beginning of the process. You forget the:
Search of offender
Booking in of property/evidence
Completion of Incident Report Book
Fingerprints & DNA
Add to Crime System
Add to Intelligence system
Add to Missing/vulnerable persons database
Police National Computer Check of Offender
Police National Computer Update of Offender details
Case File Including:

• MG1 - Front Page
• MG4 - Copy of charge sheet
• MG4A - Conditional Bail
• MG5 - Case Summary for overworked CPS Prosecutor
• MG6 - Confidential Info
• MG6B - Disclosure of Officers past history i.e. convictions
• MG6C - Disclosure of unused material i.e. unused notes or cctv
• MG6D - sensitive Info
• MG6E - The signed certification that nothing will undermine the CPS's case
• MG7 - Remand in custody application
• MG10 - Witness non-availability calendar
• MG11 - All evidence in statement form
• MG12 - Exhibit list

Prosecutors PNC Printout
Copy of Custody Record
Copy of Incident Report
Update Custody Record
Interview
and more....

Some of these are really a folder of documents. Ane we wonder why we see so few bobbies on the streets..................

Old Comrades

THE LOVE of man and woman is as fire,
To warm, to light, but surely to consume
And self-consuming die. There is no room
For constancy and passionate desire.
We stand at last beside a wasted pyre,
Touch its dead embers, groping in the gloom;
And where an altar stood, erect a tomb,
And sing a requiem to a broken lyre.
But comrade-love is as a welding blast
Of candid flame and ardent temperature:
Glowing most fervent, it doth bind more fast;
And melting both, but makes the union sure.
The dross alone is burnt—till at the last
The steel, if cold, is one, and strong and pure.

More about that last post

And this comes from a website that sells and discusses Hindu paintings.

Royal Mail to avoid selling stamp

I don't know who is the most stupid here. The Post Office accepting the design of the stamp or the fuss made bythe Forum over it's distribution. The Christian religion suffered very many deliberate insults and daft restrictions. Look at almost any Saint and we find that they died in a most unsalubrious manner - torn apart, pierced with arrows, crucified. However, it seems that those of the Christian faith have sufficient confidence to ignore these matters. Those who complained in this instance seem to lack that attribute. They do appear to have an over-weening idea of their own importance - calls for a withdrawal indeed.
I'm not a God-botherer. Just someone who cannot understand what is so important in things like this.
Here's someone who feels even more strongly and has interesting comments

The Hindu Forum of Britain has welcomed the discussions between the Department of Trade and Industry and the Royal Mail.

This has resulted in a decision on 4th November that Post Office branches would not to issue the 68 pence Christmas stamp to customers unless specifically requested.

The 68p Christmas stamp featured a picture of Hindus worshipping Baby Christ, and had led to calls for a withdrawal by Hindu organisations in the UK.

However, at a meeting on 7th November between Hindu organisations and Royal Mail, it was discovered that Royal Mail had not yet communicated this message of withdrawal to the 40,000 Post Office counters.

As a result, Post Office counters were still selling the stamp until the evening of 7th November.

"We had our people walking into Post Offices on 5th and 7th November to check if the counter clerks had actually received a message from the head office asking them to avoid selling the stamps," claimed Arjan Vekaria, Chair of the Hindu Forum of Britain's security committee.

"But the clerks were continuing to sell the stamps and informed us they had no such message from their head office. This was unacceptable."

"It would have taken Royal Mail thirty minutes on Friday to have designed and sent this message to every counter in the country but even after four days, not a single Post Office counter had received the message to avoid selling the stamps," commented Kishore Ruparelia, General Secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK. "We specifically asked them why they had delayed sending the message but they were was no reply from them."

After the outrage expressed by community leaders at the meeting on 7th November, Royal Mail finally issued instructions to all Post Office branches on 8th November asking them to not sell the 68p Christmas stamps unless a customer specifically requested it.

The message to Post Office branches said, "Royal Mail has .. asked that the 68 pence Christmas stamp only be offered when specifically requested by a customer. The standard default issue for 68 pence stamps should be the definitive stamp or any other 68 pence special stamp you have in stock. Please note - no further stocks of this stamp will be issued to branches."

"Royal Mail informed us that they would not do a reprint of the 68p Christmas stamp," explained C B Patel, Chair of the Hindu Forum of Britain's Patrons Council.

"We asked Royal Mail if they had actually intended to reprint any of the other five Christmas stamps. We have not yet heard back from them."

Community leaders in the UK have now requested Hindus in the country not to buy the 68p Christmas stamp over the counter.

"We welcome Royal Mail's assertion that they will consult us for any future use of Hindu icons," said Ramesh Kallidai, secretary general of the Hindu Forum of Britain.

"They have said Royal Mail will review its procedures to ensure that future images are appropriately screened to avoid unintentional offence to any community in the UK."

Jung enough for a policeman

I have often wondered if police service requires that one be a psychologist to join or whether one learns enough on the job to pass as one
This guy seems to have it all sussed anyway.

Christmas thoughts

Those of the clan who come here will know my thoughts about Christmas. I was going to post them here a bit nearer the day. However, this guy has summed it up better than I could.

Romance is dead?

Whatever happened to that old routine of a flower, London show, taxi to booked table in nice restaurant, good food eaten slowly, good wine drunk quickly, taxi home and then suggestion about coffee? This is from a Urban dictionary I get each day

1. booty call

(noun)a phonecall, page, or conversation aimed at getting into your pants.Not an invite to a movie or dinner, not just coffee, not a casual or formal get-together, just a plain old-fashioned "let's fcuk"

I woke at 4 a.m. with a massive hard-on. I picked up the phone and gave Ruthie a booty call. I wanted to mount her so very, very much. I had it REAL bad !

Source: Jake, Jan 14, 2004

2. booty call

A call for sex.

I was mad horny, so I gave my boyfriend a booty cal

Natural disasters - Asia

Impact of natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific, 1972–2000
	number killed (thousands)	number affected (thousands)	damage (US$1 000)
South Asia	761	2 164 034	60 881
Southeast Asia	73	284 074	33 570
Northwest Pacific and East Asia	606	1 447 643	317 174
Central Asia	3	4 895	986
Australia and New Zealand	1	15 761	21 900
South Pacific	4	4 061	3 139
total	1 447	3 920 467	437 649

That is a hell of a lot of people and does not include the latest by way of the tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake. Those who die on the African continent are also missing.

I show it here as an introduction to a sort of apology on my part. That's not a phrase I type very often. Someone on a forum was querying God's purpose in natural disasters. I contributed my opinion that it was His form of birth control and served the purpose of limiting populations in countries which, generally, were inadequate in resources - physical, financial or motivational - to support the numbers there already at anything above the most basic level.

I'm sure there are enough who have read even this far to foresee what attention this attracted. I'm sure that without the protection of cyber space, I would have been excommunicated and crucified upside down many times over.

I make no apology. The concept of Holy Durex was one imparted to me by someone I regard as the nearest thing to a Saint that I have ever met. That includes Mother Teresa who said she would pray for me; I know not why. When I was based in Korea back in 1955'ish I came across an orphanage. It was a few miles off any beaten track. Dilapidated from something not too wonderful to start with. All wide open spaces and long corridors with big communal dormiteries. The Boss lady was a Sister Theresa. She had been at the monastry for 35 years at that time and had risen from junior bum wiper to Sister Superior. In all her time there, she had never been more than ten miles from the orphanage. This would have put here there at the time of the Japanese occupation of Korea. The Japanese had not been very nice but she did not say a word against them. She had no other Europeans with her and only a small team of Korean sisters and lay workers. The link here shows her in about 1953.

The place contained I know not how many kids. From babes in arms up to about 12 or 13 year olds. The adult staff were totally outnumbered and it was obvious that the kids looked after each other. Those of three looked after one year olds, five year olds looked after three year olds. The youngest were kept confined to their beds with sort of swaddling clothes round them and the whole tied to the bed frame. A fair proportion of the children had disabilities. Disabilities - what a nice sort of word. What they were called back then was cripples and that definitely described their lives and prospects. Some quite clearly had mental problems. There was nothing organised to keep the kids in any way involved in life. They had no toys, they knew no games, Half of them didn't even have names that they recognised.

When an outsider came - which I gathered was extremely rare - the children crowded around like sheep when feed is dished out. No animation, no pushing or shoving, no noise, nothing except big big eyes that followed any movement. If you put a hand in your pocket, all eyes followed it and waited to see what happened next. Clothing was scarce. Nearly all were totally barefoot. Most wore only some sort of vest that generally ended at about belly button level. I was told that this was all-year round wear. Korean winters are very very extreme. Vehicle radiators freeze up as the vehicle is driven along. Put a bare hand on metal and bits of skin stay behind. It is a wet cold.

I was dumbfounded. Korea was a place with very low standards of living but I had never even imagined this. It made Inn of the 6th Happiness look like Butlins. On that first chance discovery, I spoke with Theresa. She explained that the orphanage had been overcrowded whilst the war was in progress and the kids were genuine orphans. The children I was seeing were mainly mixed race progeny arising from kids born to Korean single mothers made pregnant by US troops. This was very shameful and the children were abandoned on the orphanage doorstep. Martha came out with the remark that 'these children are left on the doorstep. Many of them die before we find them in the winter and we have to bury them. And they are not even Catholic'. A woman made very hard by what she experienced. It was during one of my later visits that she commented that the future of these kids and the country was such that it would be better for them if they all went to Heaven as soon as possible. She then spoke of natural disasters being one way of keeping population within capability.

We got the place adopted by the Army. Many things 'disappeared' from their rightful place and ended up there. One of the most tangible changes was in the kids when they got to receive visitors. They became much more animated.

Ya no mas

Cuba does not seem to figure greatly in our daily thoughts. Che is no longer the idol of revolting students and I suppose all that most of us know is that Castro is able to make speeches lasting seven or eight hours non-stop. I've met quite a few who have holidayed in Cuba and they all seem to have enjoyed themselves and did not mention any political tenseness. I only think of Cuba in terms of cigars.
However, I typed Cuba into the search engine during a moment of boredom and found a whole batch of blogs by his opposition. Seems that his blend of communism is not appreciated and there is a voluable group of critics.
Wonderful thing is boredom. I'd never have known had I been following some directed line of inquiry.

Sno joke

This is the sort of scene I suppose the weather forecasters were thinking of. It is, of course, by my old mate Pieter Brueghel the Elder so that puts it back in the 16th century. Just as well - I think the guys coming off the hill have been hunting with dogs. Difficult to see at this size but the real paintings are fascinating for the detail that is crammed in. I used to stand well back at the start and walk in closer quite slowly. Things one missed at three paces away jumped into detail at two steps off. Both the Brueghels had this talent - some of the interiors will keep you amused for hours.
Funny thing was when we lived in Antwerp. I used to get invited to a number of the dinner parties the civilian staff held for each and every Saint's Day or whenever they could get together for a feed, serious drinking and dance marathon. At the end of some evenings I used to look around at the dead and dying and it always reminded me of these two guys.

Back to the trough?

I do not suppose that too many of us here in the UK read many foreign papers - there is more than enough of our own media than we need to wrap chips. However, here is a nice little tit-bit from a far away country. Lot of oil there. Just like Iraq. Being praised by the member (what an apt word for this guy! An upright member) for Bow & Bethnal Green. Just like he did in Iraq where, I hasten to add, it has not been admitted by him that he was doing nicely on vouchers.Wonder what the benefits are for his constituents?

No need for AA

Wandering from blog to blog, I came across this:

In the Elderly

Many people feel that it is normal for elderly persons to be depressed. This is a dangerous misconception. If you suspect an older adult is suffering from a depressive illness, a thorough medical examination should be given as soon as possible.

• Unusual complaints of aches and pains (back, stomach, arms, legs, head, chest), fatigue, slowed movements and speech, loss of appetite, inability to sleep, weight increase or decrease, blurred vision, dizziness, heart racing, anxiety.
• Inability to concentrate, remember or think straight (sometimes mistaken for dementia). An overall sadness or apathy, withdrawal; inability to find pleasure in anything.
• Irritability, mood swings or constant complaining; nothing seems to make the person happy.
• Talk of worthlessness, not being needed anymore, excessive and unwarranted guilt.
• Frequent doctor visits without relief in symptoms; all tests come out negative.
• Alcoholism, which can mask an underlying depression.

That's OK then - I don't drink.

Anti-rape panties

That'll do it!

Cheeky girl

Don't know what Novagrecia is but I am all in favour of it.

One in four - everywhere or just in sink estates?

From today's Telegraph. Scary statistics. Come on B Liar - tough on crime and all that. These are just kids and not those nasty terrorists.

Millions of young people 'on wrong side of the law'
By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
Filed: 25/11/2005)
Almost three million young people aged between 10 and 25 have been involved in crime or anti-social behaviour in the past year, according to Home Office figures published yesterday.Half were classified as serious or frequent offenders and about 22 per cent admitted to using drugs - even trying them when they were as young as eight. The figures emerged from the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey designed to establish the true level of juvenile crime. The conventional British Crime Survey does not include offences committed by children under 16.Researchers sought the views of a sample of 5,000 young people and asked whether they had committed any of 20 specific crimes, including burglary, thefts, robberies, assaults and drug dealing. A quarter had committed at least one of the offences in the past year. From this, they extrapolated that, across the country, about 1.6 million had committed a property crime and 1.7 million a violent offence. Half a million had committed at least one or more serious offence. The survey group was also asked about anti-social behaviour such as graffiti - admitted to by three per cent - or being "noisy or rude in a public place", which was conceded by 16 per cent.The most common offences were assault (16 per cent) and theft (12 per cent). However, of the sample, only small proportions had been arrested or sentenced in the courts.
Richard Garside, the director of the Crime and Society Foundation, said: "It's hardly a shock to find that many children and young people commit some crime. But on the Home Office's own definitions one young person in every eight is a serious offender, and one in every 12 is a prolific offender. Does this not call into question the point of such definitions?" David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "This report demonstrates the extent of the problem there now exists with crime among young people. We need root and branch reform." Separate research showed that almost half of prolific young offenders on a flagship community sentence breached their conditions or were thrown off the programme.

Gives Thanks

This here is something you just have to read. Would be nice if our incomers were so keen to adhere to the customs of their 'new' homeland.

That Was The Comedy Show That Was - Goodness Gracious Me.

Amongst the ton or more of Sunday papers, I read a passing comment about the latest series on TV of ‘Little Britain’. Someone who had just emerged from a Rip van Winkle state was unable to see what was funny. This struck a chord with me inasmuch as I felt the new production was below par in comparison with the earlier shows. Exactly what it was that had gone wrong evaded me. The gross exaggeration of the characters still shocked at times but I deemed to be missing the full in your face effect.
One of the things that I had enjoyed was that I felt it was challenging as well as being entertaining. The programme seemed to be saying what I sometimes wanted to say but where I lacked a platform and, maybe, the concern about how my opinion would sound. No one could be offended by Daffyd (The Only Gay In The Village) and his lesbian barmaid. They brought out the question of alternative sex lives in a way that no one could claim was offensive and this could lead to further discussion. The pretend-disabled guy in the wheelchair and his carer had similar properties. We have now seen enough episodes, and catch-phrases have entered everyday usage, that shock has worn off. The critic awakening after his 40 year snooze was just too late. Rather like joining a group just at the moment the punch line of a joke is revealed.
Other long-term TV entertainments such as East Enders, Coronation Street, Casualty and Co seem destined to run for ever. Admittedly, they are drama rather than entertainment but it seems that the viewers do not tire of them as happens with comedy shows.
We have a history of spurning great entertainment. I can only go back to TW3. There again the – let’s call it honesty and shock – of the script was it’s main attraction. It broke all sorts of taboos and taste boundaries. I think it must have been the first to ridicule the Royal Family. Again, time robbed it of its attraction. It was not that suitable new targets did not exist. The unique selling point had been lost.
Other shows that demanded attention to issues other than comedy were those involving Alf Garnett. He opened up discussions on bigotry, racial and sexual prejudice. He was so dreadful that he was able to refer to things that none other dared to raise in public or over their breath. Well, not strictly. I sort of grew up in that part of his East End and there were many real Alf Garnetts. I think that any attempt now to reprise Death us Do Part would run into serious trouble – Mosley on the march sort of reaction.
OK – what went wrong with the Muppet Show? Humongous whilst it was here and died with a whimper. No confrontation other than gentle mickey taking of the guests. No big brave statements. I think it was like our favourite Teddy Bear or comfort blanket – we just grew out of it.
There was the series based upon an Army entertainment unit in India during the last World War – ‘It ain’t half hot Mum’. This was not so ‘in your face’ as the others but again, it exposed misconceptions about Indians and included sexual discrimination in a low-key style. I think that went for something like the Muppets. Those who had served in the Army in general and in India in particular were a dying breed and support just ran out. It still gets repeated quite a bit in the outer space of Sky after 1 a.m.
More recent entertainment has also faded after a big glossy start. Goodness Gracious Me. Again, we get the pattern that it said things banned or difficult for the rest of us. It mocked our perception of the Indian life style but, as it was written and performed by Indians, how could any of us complain? It showed us just how stupid and wrong those attitudes were. There was a similar style show before this – I’ve forgotten the title but it was scripted and performed by black artists. They reflected our prejudices in comic style and exposed them for what they were – ignorant and ill-informed. The show included a Nigerian (played by Desmond someone) who was here ostensibly to study as an accountant but repeatedly failed his examinations despite having lived in England for more than 10 years. He explained that his ‘fadder was very rich mon’. We had a real one of these employed by me as a security guard and I found great difficulty restraining myself when he spoke of his, naturally, rich family in Nigeria. I did once ask him what his father did that made him rich but was unable to fully understand his answer because it was hurting to bite my lips.
So, it seems that comedy is constantly re-inventing itself. Even going back to live entertainment before TV was a common possession. Max Wall - I saw him twice and would not bother a third time. Charlie Chaplin - once was enough funny as he was. Arthur Askey - my third seeing was my last. Tommy Trinder - ah; different. I could have stayed with him.
Just another little thing from the pre-waste recycling papers. There was an interview with the cameraman who had shot a lot of Sophia Loren's movies. He explained that to do his job properly he had to discuss and get close to her and examine her from all angles. Over time, this grew to an intimacy they both recognised. He said, 'But I was married and didn't dare to risk it'
My God! Didn't dare. Risk it. I've been good all my marriage - except, occasionally, mentally - but being in his position would certainly have led me astray.

Media bias? surely not!

Having taken the Queen's Shilling and then being forced to earn it over more than twenty years, I know just how useless the media is at presenting really faithful accounts of service life and conditions. It's hard to do anyway. Either it is quite routine (aka boring), rush and wait with false alarms or total chaos interspersed with a fair degree of disorienting panic.
Because of this, I've not been too confused by the lack of convergence in tales from Iraq as related in the media and as told by many of the military bloggers. There are some exceptions though but mainly unsponsored. I have found quite a fair report on a military-inspired initiative to correct the inbalance. Makes good reading and it seems a shame that, by it's very nature, it is unlikely to get widespread coverage.