A major shift in world power & things more local

I have been struggling to read fiction during the last week because of the fascinating read that is McMafia: Crime without Frontiers.  But on top of that, there’s been an amazing amount of material in the press this weekend, sort of related in one way or another, that has had me gripped, saddened and angry.

Following the Olympic flame’s travel through the UK, here’s an interesting essay in the Daily Mail about the arrival of China as a confident, assertive superpower.  Within it, I was horrified to read this, something I’d not been aware of:

"At home, it [China] holds mass executions of criminals with bullets in the back of the head while transplant surgeons stand by to harvest their still pulsating organs."

And in The Guardian we had the article "Former war crimes prosecutor alleges Kosovan army harvested organs from Serb prisoners".

Closer to home:

Rageh Omaar – who has a programme Immigration: The Inconvenient Truth to be aired on Channel 4 tomorrow at 8pm – writes about the worries in Britain over our cultural status today.  He concludes "Instead of multi-culturalism, we are getting tribalisation" adding "We thought that the generation after my parents’ one would be totally integrated – but things have gone full circle.  That has got to be the result of a multi- culturalism which encourages loyalty to one’s own culture over-and-above all loyalty to the host Britain’s."

I have mentioned the very sad and untimely death of Sophie Lancaster on here before.  That article includes these comments on her killers:

"Following the verdict, Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell, of Lancashire police, condemned the ‘appalling behaviour’ of the parents of all five boys for failing to instil any discipline or respect for life in their sons.

‘We have to be critical of the parents in this case, their attitude when their sons were arrested and for letting them out into the early hours to go and commit this sort of violence,’ he said.

‘There is a total lack of parental responsibility.  I don’t think they have taken completely seriously how repulsive this incident was.  During the police interview Harris and his mother were taking the matter very lightly and there was sniggering during some of the evidence.  It was as if they didn’t care, they were almost laughing and joking about what they had done.  Their attitude seemed to be that the only thing their sons had done wrong was get caught.’"

And this weekend, we learn of this sad case in Liverpool where a 13 year old boy battered a 34 year old man to death and threw his body on a Guy Fawkes bonfire.  Again the parents have been criticised.

It all makes for some depressing reading and it’s no surprise to read comments from readers who suggest that with the law failing so much for innocent victims and abiding citizens, it’s time to take it into our own hands.  Understandably, there are calls to bring parents to account.  The mother of the disappeared Shannon Matthews was in court last week and child neglect was one of the charges.    I’m not sure what the law says on child neglect, but surely having a child who has killed, shows no remorse and has no feel for the value of human life, let alone respect, has been neglected by the parents?

I never imagined I’d ever be ashamed of my country.  But I am.

And finally, those social experiment engineers are at last having to wade through the pig swill of a society they have spurred on in the UK.  Labour has gone into meltdown mode and the media is awash today (and yesterday) with commentary on the useless Gordon Brown (taking in his time as Chancellor, as should be noted).  He faces revolt within his party and a potential stalking horse challenge to his leadership.  Certain parts of the media provided the only real opposition for years; but now, it seems, most of main presses have the knives out.

We live in dangerous, threatening and worrying times.  The threats come not only from outside the UK, but from within.  We are our own worst enemy.  If we have any of the gumption of our ancestors, change will start soon.