This is Northumberland Calling 2.1.25

The Enquiring minds spot enquiries edition

Hello America (Particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland Calling

Happy New Year and the Lord’s A Leaping Day of Christmas (i.e. Day 10 — I think I have done my calculations correctly). Things are slowly starting to move in the UK, but many people will not be back at work until the 6^th.

The minor scandal is that Jess Phillips, the minister blocked a national enquiry into the ‘rape gangs’ scandal. In Philip’s defence, she pointed out that it was up to the local authority, not the government to fund and conduct the enquiry. Several other local authorities including Rotherham have done just that. When the Conservatives were in government, they also pointed this out. However, because Starmer was in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service at the height of the scandal and indeed apologised for the failings back in 2012, some feel Philip was trying to protect her boss. Or that she could be trying to placate a large part of her constituency as she narrowly beat off challenges earlier this year from extremists. It could just be Government policy and Phillips is discovering that being in government is not as easy or straight forward as she considered. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/02/feminist-jess-phillips-refuse-grooming-inquiry-labour-party/ or https://archive.ph/8jeGY

I think it is a mistake to think that not having an enquiry or indeed excusing the crimes of a few individuals on the basis of culture will foster ‘good race relations’. It instead emboldens certain unsavoury parts of both the right and the left. As Thomas Sowell famously put it, asking for criminal records of prospective employees ensured those with clean records were more likely to be hired, thus challenging a certain urban myth, rather than trying to pretend the stereotype does not exist. The plan fact is that a finite number of men participated in this scandal. The vast majority of those were bound together by ties of blood and religion. The authorities in question did not investigate in the way they should, and one of the major reasons appears to have been a misplaced desire to maintain good race relations with a certain ethnic population which has a habit of block voting, particularly for Labour. Eventually, the scandal was uncovered, and the extent of the rapes remains jaw-dropping. Calling it ‘grooming’ is wrong as we are talking about under-aged girls who cannot legally give their consent. Oldham should fund its own enquiry and shame the Establishment as it is fairly clear the problems were not simply specific to one council. But real change will not happen until all are treated equally under the law without fear or favour. Two-tier systems should not exist in a democracy. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/02/labour-defends-blocking-grooming-inquiry-keir-starmer-cps/ or https://archive.ph/bYQRm

I am not entirely sure enquiries work – for example lessons were not learnt from various high profile child abuse cases in the Sara Sharif case. An inexperienced social worker did allow the little girl to be delivered into the abusive arms of her father and stepmother, something which there was supposed to be safeguards against happening. Her murderer was just attacked in prison with a tuna tin lid. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/03/sara-sharif-father-urfan-attacked-prison-killer/ or https://archive.ph/RiHG2

Speaking of enquiries, the Post Office one has yet to report, but several of the brave sub post-masters have received honours in the King’s New Year’s Honour list. How times have altered. But compensation apparently remains elusive while huge fees have been spent on lawyers. Quel ca change. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/01/post-office-accused-wasting-136m-horizon-lawyers/ or https://archive.ph/YNWj7

A ’dinosaur’ highway has been uncovered in a quarry in Oxfordshire. It would seem the former mud flat was a gathering place for various herds of dinosaurs. Quarrymen noticed the lumps and bumps and had them investigated. Another enquiry! https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/dinosaur-highway-found-in-oxfordshire-could-show-hunt-in-progress-9v7k900ft or https://archive.ph/cr80t

The juicy gossip is from the latest Earl Spencer divorce. Princess Diana’s brother is splitting from his third wife and has taken up with a Norwegian archaeologist. The archaeologist’s medical condition was revealed to the Earl by the Countess who learnt about it from the estranged husband. The archaeologist wished to keep the Earl in ignorance. Now everyone and their brother knows because the archaeologist has sued, demanding an enquiry as to how this information was revealed. All is fair in love and war. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/12/31/earl-spencer-diana-brother-affair-denies-dumping-text/ or https://archive.ph/uHNce

It is supposed to snow this weekend. There were flooding in parts of Manchester earlier this week and now the temperatures have plummeted. The NHS warned the very old and the very young not to go out early in the morning or late at night because of the risk. <eyeroll> https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/02/snow-ice-warning-across-country-as-floods-freeze-over/ or https://archive.ph/SrdvC

Paddy attempting to ignore the fireworks…

We had a quiet New Year’s because of the wind and the rain. Our village was one of the few in the area to let off fireworks. Paddy was not overjoyed. However, this is apparently the last year that they will have fireworks as the cost is becoming too much.

Next week my writing holiday will be over and I will start properly working on my latest.

Because of the cold, one of my Christmas presents, insulation for the bee hives, turned out to be timely. I have duly put that on and have indeed ordered more bee fondant or bee candy for the hives. In the winter, they are fed fondant because it takes too much energy to process the sugar water. When I was putting in the insulation, I noticed that the bees had consumed all the bee fondant I put in the hives earlier (most likely due to the mild weather and poor foraging conditions). Starvation can be a real problem. They do hibernate during the winter going into a ball. People used to save only one or two hives and would overwinter in the cellar in special bee cavities. The discovery of ‘bee space’ and moveable frames in the 19th century changed how people do bee-keeping.

If you want to find me during the week, I have started putting things on Celia M’s Jottings in Purple

which is where a number of refuge FP commentators are hanging out as they dislike the current FP policy on comments. The discussion is usually lively as you might expect from former FP commentators. Depending on how firmly my Procrastination Princess tiara is attached (aka how well my actual writing is going), I may end up getting distracted.

Hopefully everyone else’s week was a good one. I look forward to seeing you in the comments.

If you like what you read on here, why not subscribe? It’s free and I don’t have any plans to put in a paywall. If you want to ‘reward me’, why not buy one of my books? Currently a number of them are on special at $1.99. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Michelle-Styles/author/B00288QUJM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1729240286&sr=8-1&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true