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Michelle Styles's avatar

And because it might be of interest to some on here, the police in London have (finally) refused pro-Palestinian marchers the right to pass by a synagogue on Saturday.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/09/met-police-ban-pro-palestine-march-london-synagogue/ or https://archive.ph/JasoC

Some might say that this should have been done a long time ago. Danny Cohen has a good op ed about the situation in the Telegraph, apparently it may go to court. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/10/why-taken-so-long-police-take-anti-semitism-seriously/ or https://archive.ph/jkXSl

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

I feel such a satisfaction at the toppling of the top tier of the Royal Society of Authors and ditto the kudos to authors who pushed back in the face of such censure. It is my understanding that Pakistan has one of the highest child sex abuse rates in the world in other respects, not just regarding child brides. Apparently incest and family member sex abuse of children, especially girls, is quite high and is rarely if ever prosecuted. Can't remember where I read the very informative article on that awhile back.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

This is the UN data on Women in Pakistan. https://data.unwomen.org/country/pakistan

This is the 2024 Human Rights Watch on Pakistan: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/pakistan

From what I understand (from what little I have read on the subject) the situation is pretty terrible and this data confirms that assumption.

It is v easy to walk on the other side of the road, but when people immigrate to a country they do bring the beliefs etc with which they were brought up. Cousin marriage or marrying within the clan is a particular feature of Pakistani life, for example.

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Jan 10
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Michelle Styles's avatar

Indeed.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

And there has been an update on the Hydrant stats -- apparently looking at the known stats, Pakistanis are up to four more likely to be involved in rape gang crime than the general population. This is done by looking at percentage of the population which is Pakistani (2.7%, ) and comparing it to the percentage of known rape gang crimes committed by Pakistanis (6.9 %). As one might expect in a hugely white majority country, the majority of CSE was committed by white British. There are a variety of theories about why this might be happening, including a statistical sampling quirk. More complete data is required. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/10/pakistanis-four-times-more-likely-grooming/ or https://archive.ph/puflN

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ExCAhillbilly's avatar

Tom Harding is responsible for educating police? That explains so much. Sickening, but yes, that's how the pudding got flavored.

Love the bit on the Royal Society of Authors. Literary awards and DEI have no business in the same sentence.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

Yes sometimes when you know the background of those who have been promoted, it makes a certain amount of sickening sense. Looking beyond the headline story as it were.

Zac Goldsmith has done a long tweet on who was behind the Labour signing off of the APPG definition of Islamophobia and why it is being resisted by so many including prominent members of Muslim community in the UK. https://x.com/ZacGoldsmith/status/1877667520955416899

And I agree about literary awards and DEI.

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jt's avatar

Hello Northumberland! Good to see Ya again, this fine Friday.

TY for the articles on the rape scandal. The evil is unbelievable.

I'm glad to see the RSL imploding.

That was an interesting article on about the links to the Byzantine Empire.

It's nice to see Paddy playing in the snow. We got snow here, also. And it's frigid. 9° F or -12.8° C. Brrr. It's supposed to warm up a bit later, but it'll be a while before we get above freezing. It's hard to do when there's snow on the ground.

TY, as always, Michelle. Good luck on the writing.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

Great to see you JT. I am glad you enjoyed the articles.

BTW according to a new You gov poll, 76% of British public want a new inquiry https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/10/majority-britons-back-new-grooming-gang-inquiry-yougov-poll/ or https://archive.ph/lCgTJ

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jt's avatar

TY Michelle. Yes, an inquiry would be welcome news.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

I do think it will happen -- this is what the Labour peer Lord Glasman said yesterday to Nigel Farage. It is really is not a question of left or right.

https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/1877437673163428172

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Jan 10
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Michelle Styles's avatar

It is the absence of political instinct which surprises me about Starmer.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

I have no doubt people are disgusted and want accountability, but don’t take a YouGov poll as dispositive as it’s totally self selected.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

I don't. It is interesting particularly as Starmer tried to brand it as an only 'far-right talking point' earlier in the week.

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Dave's avatar

The UK is well on its way to becoming a country that suppresses free speech much like Russia, Iran and China. The question we in the US must ask ourselves is how long before we realize that we can no longer be allies with a country that doesn’t share our love of freedom.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

That is actually hyperbole and nonsense.

The UK does have certain restrictions surrounding the reporting of trials, but it does have free speech laws. It is not an offence to be offensive.

One thing I had not realised was that Yaxley-Lennon in 2017 attempted to film inside a Crown court room. I am sorry but even in the US, ordinary citizens are not allowed to film court proceedings. Contempt of court is a very serious offence and vital to maintaining the rule of law.

Spiked which does campaign for fewer restrictions around the reporting of trials has the full details and why people in the US are getting the wrong end of the stick about Yaxley-Lennon. https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/01/08/elon-musk-is-wrong-about-tommy-robinson/

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Jan 10
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Michelle Styles's avatar

My beekeeping hobby came about because I was supporting my husband who turned out to be terribly allergic to bee stings, something we only discovered after shelling the money to get started...

There is plenty of accommodation for field mice elsewhere. We keep cats (inside only) to solve the problem of mice in the house. When we had a brief period of being catless, we ended up with an infestation. Getting cats solved the problem.

I suspect you are about Burnham. I recall he wasn't that great of a minister back in the day. I did see a somewhat novel suggestion from Tom Harris of the Telegraph -- if there isn't going to be an inquiry, maybe the police should start arresting and questioning under caution those who appear to have been on the balance of probabilities involved in the cover up...after all Starmer did vow Country before party...

And I agree about Tulip. It was well known about her relationship with her aunt and the now disgraced party. And yes, this sort of financing should be looked at across the board.

It is an interesting theory and that is all. Bede does not mention people serving/returning. I suspect he would have done.

A single title is a non-series book. My M&B are all series -- i. e. there is a set word count and I have to ensure the story's main focus is the growth of the emotional relationship between the two main protagonists. We shall see if this goes anywhere.

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Jan 10
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Michelle Styles's avatar

My sympathies are with bees in the right place. It is why I go and capture swarms from my hives and indeed deal with the wasps. It helps that I have the right equipment but wasps can be a huge problem. Wasps enjoy trying to raid the bee hives and they can make the honey bees aggressive...

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