Comment Section
| 07:47 UK time, Wednesday, 10 May 2006
I know blogging comments have a life of their own, attached to the posts they refer to.
But I also know that the way the Internet works, some of those posts don't get a response until days, even weeks afterwards.
By which time they have slipped down the page.
So to avoid the danger that some excellent and perceptive comments will get missed, I'm copying-and-pasting.
On the immigration issue that brought an unprecedented number of votes to the far right British National Party in East London:
From Roberto C. Alvarez-Galloso
Your article on immigration was excellent. I had the pleasure of taking part in the May 1st Demonstrations in Miami Florida. It seems these people wanted to find work. While it would have been better if the protests were in the home countries, a lot of US Born Latins participated in the protests.
From Bob Hall
If the good citizens of Barking have taken their grievances to the ballot box instead of the street they are a rather civilized lot, I'd say.
On the power struggle between China and Taiwan over the small islands of the South Pacific (and see also . Sorry if this is subscription only):
From David Chetwynd
It is not totally unexpected that someone would blame the Chinese/Taiwanese for the problems recently experienced here. However just consider this. If you had spent several million AU$ over a period of 3 years, had poured in your "finest" and most able personel over the same period to rebuild a shattered nation, had informed the whole world of what a wonderful job you were doing in the country, wouldn't you want to blame some one else when it all went "belly up" and the country ended up in a far worse state than it ever was before your "help" arrived. Yes, certain Solomon Islanders have their own agenda and want to wreck the process of rebuilding that is/was going on here but do not blame other countries for failures that you could have, should have prevented.Chopstick diplomacy is not responsible for the riots and damage which occurred in Honiara. There clearly has been a massive failure by the more recent members of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI)which severely threatens the huge amount of good work done by the earlier members of RAMSI in 2003.
On homelessness in Central London:
From Jamie Taylor
Sorry mate - you don't get out much it seems. Sad events like this happen all of the time in the area in which you work - it happens to be nearby to where I live & it remains a fact that there are people on the streets of this great city because there aren't enough hostel places available - and those that are available come with strings. In the area around Bush House; being in a hostel costs money. Also, begging is illegal thanks to some insensitive local residents' groups putting pressure on the local authorities of both Camden and Westminster to deter 'street life' (Police lingo - not mine). Now add to this a chronic lack of public housing, and the fact that people with class A addictions are criminalised for their addiction by a government that forbids any sensible rivision of the crazy dangerous drugs act and you have s sorry state on the streets of the West End of London. A huge proportion of these poor sods living on London's streets are class A addicts and the drugs that they need to stay whole continue to be illegal. Those that develop a habit will continue to become criminals by their need for illegal substances and the activities that they must go through to obtain those substances. Until we stop criminalising people for behaviours that albeit chronically self destructive ought to be considered as needing help then we will find more and more people like this on our streets. The campaign against drugs has failed - the casulties are being stepped over nightly in shop doorways all over central London. We need to repeal the dangerous drugs act (if the American will allow us) - take a page out of Mexico's book and look for a different way to handle the issues raised by class A addiction. This I hope explains a little of what you see and why - the area around Bush House does have some old alcohol users but it's mostly Class A addicts now.
And on consumerism:
From Michael Rogers
Eric From was on the way to right but times have moved on even further, at least here in the US. Increasing automation has broken up jobs to the point that most are designed so that anyone can perform adequately after minimal training so is easily replaceable--insuring that they can't become so valuable that the employer has to pay them a living wage. Another factor affecting this area is that because of the hyper consumerism, there is so much stuff around that a person can have most of the minor luxuries for little or nothing. Cars are frequently available for the taking, the cost of repairing them higher than simply buying another on the drip. Home entertainment, cell phones, clothes, furniture, etc., are all easily found for pennies on the dollar. Anyone with the energy can live by gathering this stuff and flogging it on EBay or other used markets. It seems that the Job for life is long past as is any degree of craftsmanship or any consumers perceived desire for it! Royal order of the Greasy Thumb
Comments
Re your segment on crumbling old English churches as archaic religous artifacts: You really played Devil's advocate here.
Reminds me of when I toured in Russia as soon as they opened up after WWII. We saw many of those beautiful onion-domed churches, proudly maintained now as - museums. (Except for the little old ladies in the corner - praying.)
Fewer and fewer people have been attending services there and consequently church funds have dried up.
But in another story that I will make related; when people were trapped underground in trains on 7/7 many turned to God - out loud.
Better save a few of those artifacts; you never know when people will come back or why.
Those who say that the Guantanamo internees have been captured in the field are ignoring the fact that many of them were sold into captivity by warlords or their minions, by tribal leaders or by personal enemies without the normal vetting of the detainee's background, status or activities. Captured in the field. yes, some of them were captured in their fields, the fields they grow their veggies or tend their sheep in.
Your know last news! What is this? Discounts!