September 2003 Archives
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-12805711,00.html :
A strict Kurdish Muslim who slit his daughter's throat after she started seeing a Christian boy has been jailed for life.
Abdalla Yones, 48, tried to commit suicide after murdering 16-year-old Heshu and pleaded with the Old Bailey to pass a death sentence on him.
Heshu was beaten for months before the "honour killing" and had planned to run away from home, begging her father to leave her alone.
The court heard Yones was "disgusted and distressed" by her relationship with an 18-year-old Lebanese student and launched a frenzied attack at their family home in Acton, west London.
Heshu was stabbed 11 times and bled to death from her throat being cut.
Sentencing Yones, Judge Neil Denison said: "This is, on any view, a tragic story arising out of irreconcilable cultural differences between traditional Kurdish values and the values of western society."
Let me rephrase that in a manner less constrained by the delicacies of modern multicultural sensitivity:
"This is a tragic story arising out of fucking barbarianism that ought to be bloodily purged off the face of the planet, along with the sort of mealy-mouthed pusillanimity that causes people to describe this sort of crime as a 'cultural difference'."
A strict Kurdish Muslim who slit his daughter's throat after she started seeing a Christian boy has been jailed for life.
Abdalla Yones, 48, tried to commit suicide after murdering 16-year-old Heshu and pleaded with the Old Bailey to pass a death sentence on him.
Heshu was beaten for months before the "honour killing" and had planned to run away from home, begging her father to leave her alone.
The court heard Yones was "disgusted and distressed" by her relationship with an 18-year-old Lebanese student and launched a frenzied attack at their family home in Acton, west London.
Heshu was stabbed 11 times and bled to death from her throat being cut.
Sentencing Yones, Judge Neil Denison said: "This is, on any view, a tragic story arising out of irreconcilable cultural differences between traditional Kurdish values and the values of western society."
Let me rephrase that in a manner less constrained by the delicacies of modern multicultural sensitivity:
"This is a tragic story arising out of fucking barbarianism that ought to be bloodily purged off the face of the planet, along with the sort of mealy-mouthed pusillanimity that causes people to describe this sort of crime as a 'cultural difference'."
...emblazoned in seventy-two foot high letters of fire:
"Working Is Not An Emergent Property Of Shit."
"Working Is Not An Emergent Property Of Shit."
Children want more speed cameras, says survey.
Well, let's see. In the interests of fair assessment, I conducted my own survey among a representative sample of children, namely those who happened to be around at the time. Based on my results, I conclude that 90% of young children want free chocolate, and 80% would support shorter school hours. (5%, incidentally, would support "Mommy, make the scary man go away.")
A similar survey conducted among available teenagers concluded unanimously that there should be more sex1.
From these results, I conclude that asking children what they want is a bloody stupid way to set public policy, unless you've already made up your mind and know which way they're going to answer.
1. Incidentally, a straw poll of my co-workers produced exactly the same result, including one extended ballot favouring 'more sex with teenagers, specifically eighteen-year-old ones'.
Well, let's see. In the interests of fair assessment, I conducted my own survey among a representative sample of children, namely those who happened to be around at the time. Based on my results, I conclude that 90% of young children want free chocolate, and 80% would support shorter school hours. (5%, incidentally, would support "Mommy, make the scary man go away.")
A similar survey conducted among available teenagers concluded unanimously that there should be more sex1.
From these results, I conclude that asking children what they want is a bloody stupid way to set public policy, unless you've already made up your mind and know which way they're going to answer.
1. Incidentally, a straw poll of my co-workers produced exactly the same result, including one extended ballot favouring 'more sex with teenagers, specifically eighteen-year-old ones'.
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