Anonymouslemming

Looks like Newham is in the news again. A 57 year old woman was murdered about 300m from our front door.

Face it people, the police can’t help you. Sure, they’ll be patrolling the hell out of this area for the next two weeks, but I haven’t seen a cop around here for months, so this is just bolting the door once the stable is completely free of horses. Lawsuits have led to rulings that the police are not obliged to protect you, only to investigate and police the outcome of the crime.

The only way to stop the increase in violent crime or a shift in the focus of crime is to have a society that is prepared to get involved and come to people’s aid, rather than hiding behind the twitching curtains. You just can’t do that unless you can provide a way for people to feel safe while intervening on behalf of another person. You can’t have a society that is prepared to get involved in a confrontation unless the person involved has a reasonable level of confidence that they can walk away from it later.

The difference in this country between a ‘have-a-go hero’ and a ‘despicable monster’ is whether you survive the attempt to defend you and yours or not.

10 years ago, there was very little that I would have walked away from or taken a passive approach to. But then with the amount of training and practice that I had, I had a good idea of the odds that I could take on and win against. And yes, a scrawny useless runt like me can be in a position where they feel they can make this difference – it’s just a matter of using the technology that we’re up against anyway.

I’m quite open to listening to any and all options for making things safer, but I’m not prepared to listen to anything that cannot make a positive contribution right now. Anything that takes 5 years or a decade to bear fruit is worthless unless you want to live in the next South Africa.

Unless someone can explain exactly how we go about deterring this kind of crime, I’m voting we arm the public. Not every loon off the streets, just the people that can pass proficiency tests, background checks and prove regular training and currency.

In closing, some words from a wise man:
People who are willing to rely on the government to keep them safe are pretty much standing on Darwin’s mat, pounding on the door, screaming, ‘Take me, take me!’
– Carl Jacobs

Or, get lots of new crap

Today I discovered www.freecycle.org. The basic idea is that you can get rid of stuff that you no longer want or need, but that someone else may benefit from.

I used it to get rid of my old GT bike now that the new gorgeous machine has arrived, but people seem to use it for everything from curtains to dollhouses.

Of course, on the downside, you can also use it to accumulate tons more crap. But I’m good, honest, so that won’t be a problem

My last entry got me thinking… When the press screws up in a big way and has to print a retraction or apology, why are they allowed to hide this in the depths of the publication?

While I’m all for freedom of the press, I think it’s time for a new rule…

I first saw that sign in a biker bar in South Africa several lifetimes ago, and it always used to crack me up… Right up to the point that the government adopted it as policy.

What exactly makes a punishment disproportionate, and why is it such a bad thing? This whole piece is going to sound a little odd coming from someone who wants to bring back whipping for smoking on the stairs at DLR stations, but it’s something that concerns me a lot.

In its simplest form, a punishment has to not match the crime, or be significantly more or less than what is warranted to be classed as disproportionate. But is that all that matters? The crime and the time? It can’t be!

We have to take into account the doer and the do-ee too. If the person being charged with assault for smacking someone upside the head is an 80 year old with a spotless record and a lifetime of good character, should he receive the same punishment as a 16 year old brought before the beak for the 5th or 6th time? Common sense (Wassat? <ed>) dictates the answer must be no.

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