Piracy

Somali pirates demanded a $7 million ransom last night for the kidnapped British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler. It was the first time that a figure had been mentioned since Mr and Mrs Chandler were captured on board their yacht off the Seychelles a week ago.

A spokesman for the pirates said that the money was only a “little amount” and would compensate for the seizures made by international anti-piracy patrols. Why on earth do the authorities entertain this kind of crime, we are living  in the 21st century and piracy should have been wiped out long ago, with modern technology and weapons a few peasants in a boat should not be able to hold Countries to ransom.

The Chandlers are British and the Government has a duty to try and get them home safely this however does not extend to paying a ransom, when you set of on an adventure on the high seas as they did you pays your money and you take your chances.

A better and more permanent solution would be for the Royal Navy to go in all guns blazing with an attempt to rescue the couple I understand the dangers but according to the Pirates they will be killed anyway if the ransom is not paid, and the British Government has reiterated again today it does not pay ransoms. So lets blast these savages out of the water and destroy their bases and send them a message that Piracy will be dealt with this way every time British subjects are threatened. They will soon get the message.

DurdensView Tags: Chandlers, Piracy

Iranian Trickery

Iran demanded important changes in a crucial international nuclear fuel deal yesterday, challenging the basis of the agreement struck with the US, France and Russia.  They hinted they wanted to export the fuel only in small batches while simultaneously importing the higher-grade fuel.

That would be a deal breaker because the UN wanted to remove temporarily three quarters of Iran’s nuclear fuel stockpile, to prevent it from acquiring material for a bomb.

The deal being haggled over would buy time. An agreement between Iran and the UN would defuse tensions, put off sanctions and avert the threatened Israeli strike on nuclear facilities.

A blind man can see what Iran is doing Just buying time until they have a weapon and then it will be to late, when will the West learn you cant appease tyrants, its time for action Now.

DurdensView Tags: Iran, UN

Marlon King

I was very disappointed with the paltry sentence handed down to that serial sex attacker Marlon King yesterday, The Wigan striker received 18 months, under current rules a third of that gets taken of automatically ( someone please explain to me why that happens) he will also be eligible for parole after serving half of the remainder, so he should be released sometime in April just in time for the end of the season which will give his agent plenty of time to find him a  club for the new season.

And find a new club he will, there will be a chairman out there who will take him on though this animal should be hounded out of the game, and certainly not be allowed to ply his trade  as a professional footballer with all the prestige and glamour not to mention the rich’s that comes with it.

In Kings case this was not a an isolated incident he has form going back 13 years, from violent assault on young women to theft and deception. the reason I feel so strongly about this is I have a young daughter who goes out to  clubs and am horrified to think that dinosaurs like King are out there, this old fashioned mentality that makes women sex objects and believes that if they are out clubbing they “are up for it”.

As sentence was handed down Kings family shouted “Institutional racism” at the court and pointed to the fact that Stevan Gerrard walked free from an affray charge recently, as if to say he got of because he was white, there are black people out there that play the race card at every opportunity and sometimes with  cause, but not this time the colour of his skin is not important he is in jail this morning because he is an animal.

Congratulations to Dave Whelan the Wigan chairman for immediately sacking King and making it clear he believes he has no place in football. I understand that he is appealing against the severity of his sentence and feels hard done by,  it would be just like our system to reduce it so that he barely serves any jail time at all and in a couple of months this is forgotten and he goes back to his arrogant lifestyle, this must not be allowed to happen.

DurdensView Tags: Marlon King, Wigan, Dave Whelan

Crunch Time For Rafa

It’s crunch time for Liverpool and Raphael Benitez today, if they lose at home to Manchester Utd it wont be just the 3 points they will mourn, this result could be the defining moment in Liverpool's season and Rafa’s future at the club.

As I have said many times before Liverpool will never win a title under Benitez, to qualify that further, this current Liverpool squad could not win a title under any Manager, the quality is not there, also to many of their players are lightweights in term of Physique, to easily out muscled when the going gets tough.

A lot of the media especially in the North West are still calling for backing for the hapless manager, but lets look a little closer at Rafa, he has been there around five years when he took over Liverpool were a comfortable top four side, no real threat in terms of the title but they had a chance, roll the clock forward a few years and 250 million pounds spent, and they look to be dropping out of the top 4 and to steal a quote from a TV show, “Have advanced no further than an asthmatic ant carrying some heavy shopping” with that kind of money spent Liverpool are still only a two man team if Gerrard and Torres are out they cant play, and to be brutally honest they are not brilliant with those two in.

The buck has to stop somewhere and it is with Rafa, so lets hope Utd hurt them good today so we can retire Benitez.

DurdensView Tags: Liverpool, Rafa

Question Time

Nick Griffin is a poisonous politician and no doubt an odious man judging by some of the quotes attributed to him in last nights question time, however I think his message  on immigration is valid, not the extreme views again attributed but denied by him of removing every coloured person from this Country, but the curb on further immigration.

I myself suggested a freeze on immigration of up to a decade or more, but that wasn’t to stop “foreigners” it is to relieve pressure on our overstretched economy and public services. Does this make me a racist I don’t think so, my family and I arrived in this Country in 1960 and I have lived here all my life, I to am an immigrant.

He was not given a chance to string more than a sentence together thus denying him the opportunity to hang himself, the BBC have unintentionally or maybe intentionally given Griffin the best free publicity and the biggest audience, estimates put it at 5 million than he could have dreamt of.

Unlike most of the press reports today I don’t think he came out of last nights show to bad in fact some of the panel made him look good, he also scored some valuable points with his comment to Jack straw about the Labour party handing the Country over lock stock and barrel to Europe.

Most of the audience reaction was predictable and childish they booed him as the bad guy and cheered anyone in the audience that called him names or mentioned Auschwitz. Griffin should be booed and rightly marginalised but he was on the show to put his views across and then the public could judge him and his party, instead it turned into a witch hunt and he can  justifiably claim victory this morning.

DurdensView Tags: Nick Griffin, Question time

Raphael Beneath-us

It looks a certainty that Liverpool will be parting company with their useless manager Raphael Benitez, hundreds of millions spent over the last 5 years and they are in the same position as when he got there, actually arguably a worse position as now they are a two  man band, unless the over rated Gerrard or the potentially brilliant Torres play The Scousers cant deliver.

So now the interesting part begins, who replaces him, I have a couple of names that spring to mind. the obvious Mourinho or Hiddink will be bandied about, but what about if Liverpool take a gamble actually  not really all that much of a gamble and appoint David Moyes, he has done brilliantly for the last few years with very limited resources imagine what he could have done with the money the hapless Spaniard has spent (wasted).

I always thought of Moyes as the successor to Ferguson at Utd but as it doesn’t look like the Master tactician is packing it anytime soon maybe Moyes should be given a go at Anfield. They could and have done a lot worse.

DurdensView Tags: Benitez, Liverpool, Moyes

Another Day another Gaffe

Traumatised by a sex attack in a park, a teenage girl was at least comforted by the likelihood the man would be identified by DNA.

Priya Francome-Wood, 17, had kicked and struggled free after he lay on top of her. Police said they were in no doubt she had managed to escape a serious sex attack.

But five days later Miss Francome-Wood's hopes were shattered by a phone call from police in Bournemouth, where she was attacked during a weekend visit to a friend. To her horror, they said they could not justify spending £500 on DNA testing. The reason given was that she had fought him of and the attack was unsuccessful.

This on the same day that The Government earmark £200 million pounds for surveillance to be increased, this money predominately for phone tapping and internet monitoring, ironically we are one of the few Countries in the world where phone tap evidence is in admissible in court.

The £200million-a-year sum will give officials access to details of every internet click made by every citizen - on top of the email and telephone records already available.

State bodies including councils are already making one request every minute to spy on the phone records and email accounts of members of the public.

I will file this under the you cant make it up category,  that file is so big now its barely manageable.

DurdensView Tags: DNA, Phone tapping

Jundullah

Iran vowed revenge on Britain and the US yesterday after blaming them for a devastating suicide attack against the elite Revolutionary Guards that killed 42 people, including six senior commanders.

Why stop there why not blame the great Satan and the UK for future crop failures, wet weather, and bad TV reception. I wonder on what basis they believe that Great Britain and the US have moved into the suicide bomber business, I know that Governments like to deflect blame but even by Iranian standards this is ridiculous.

Responsibility was swiftly claimed by Jundallah, a militant Sunni group that has regularly attacked the Guards in its battle against the Government and the Shia majority. It is thought to operate across the lawless border with Pakistan. Though this group have claimed responsibility it appears that does not cut any ice with the mad Mullahs in Tehran or indeed their unstable President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The power struggle in Iran is far from over after the fraudulent elections recently, and the status quo is maintained with ruthless  efficiency by the feared Revolutionary Guard who wield enormous power in Iran, they number around 120,000 highly trained and highly motivated soldiers, and it is they that keep the Mullahs in power. now that they have come under attack maybe it will embolden the opposition to keep up the fight to remove the President from power.

DurdensView Tags: Jundullah, Iran Revolutionary Guard

Liverpool Beach ball Club

Former top refs Dermot Gallagher and Jeff Winter have blasted the four officials who let Darren Bent's controversial 'beach ball' goal stand. And you could have  a certain amount of sympathy for the Scousers, though I disagree with the sentiments that they were robbed of three points, to win three points you have to at least have scored once yourself, Liverpool never did, so there was no way they could have won whether that goal was given or not.

At best a point dropped is all they can moan amount, so in the interest of fair play if at the end of the season Liverpool lose the league by a margin of only one point this column will recognise them (unofficially of course) as premier league champions, I hope that satisfy’s the whinging Scousers, though I suspect they enjoy playing the victims.

Incidentally I think at the end of the season you could add 15 points to their tally and they still would not win the title, officially or otherwise.

DurdensView Tags: Liverpool, beachball

Cheryl Cole

I caught the live episode of X Factor last night and had the misfortune to watch Cheryl Coles “Live” Performance, I thought it was awful and it wasn’t actually properly  live though it was billed as such,  show executives made a U-turn and Cheryl sang live with a little help from some pre-recorded vocals, I didn’t actually notice it but more astute watchers have filled forums with their comments this morning.

Now I am no music critic  but I know what I like and I thought it was rubbish, her voice was woefully weak , coupled with a stale dance routine which ensured she hardly moved of the spot, with about 20 backing dancers deflecting your judgement with a series of  slick manoeuvres. She made sure there was plenty of flesh available to also distract from the voice, which was hypocritical because she used the flesh argument to help get rid of a previous group on the show  Kandy Rain, who in an ironic twist could sing live.

The reason I talk about something so trivial as Cheryl Cole and the X factor when so much more goes on in the world is, I am sick of media building up one of its own, and then  forcing us to like them, almost as if they keep telling us they are fantastic we will somehow believe it, sadly that tactic does work on some people.

Cheryl Cole is a not bad looking Northern lass who has manufactured a career with 4 other “birds” with a mixture of saucy dance routines and instantly forgetful Pop songs, how does she qualify to judge raw talent coming through the ranks, its in the same way that Victoria Beckham aka posh spice (have you heard her talk) is now an accredited  “fashion designer” though she has never studied  or passed an exam, or like the way Kate Moss is still called a super model though she looks like a pig, but at least in her case she did look good once.

My son is a musician who writes his own songs and has no need to appear on stage with any part of his body exposed to captivate an audience, how awful would it be if he had to rely on Victoria Beckham to dress him Cheryl Coles opinion to make or break his career.

DurdensView Tags: Cheryl Cole, X Factor

Balloon Family

The family of the six-year-old at the centre of a runaway balloon scare are facing criminal charges after the boy's parents Richard and Mayumi were re-interviewed by Colorado police on Saturday.

I was surprised that the American press fell so easily for this obvious hoax, I remarked to my wife as we watched the “drama” unfold live on Fox, that this did not “smell” right. And now after reading about the Family and the fathers obsession with fame it looks like I was right.

If it is Proven to be a hoax I hope the punishment doled out to the gormless Richard and Mayumi is sufficiently severe enough to deter other potential hoaxers, once that balloon was released it could have come down anywhere and could easily have killed people on the floor not to mention the dangers to the emergency services chasing what they believed was a trapped six year old.

That the problem with our society people will do anything for 5 minutes of fame, because these kinds of stunts make the perpetraors rich in a very quick time, magazines papers TV everybody wants to buy your story, no wonder so many hoax’s take place, that’s why its important to make the punishment fit the crime  to deter others.

DurdensView Tags: Balloon, Colorado, Richard and Mayumi

Offensive Launched

More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers were launched on a long-awaited ground offensive to destroy Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in their strongholds near the Afghan border yesterday. The Pakistani army attacked militants in South Waziristan, a lawless tribal area, with troops advancing from three directions, strongly supported by fighter planes and helicopter gunships.

This attack has been months in the planning and hopes to emulate the success the army enjoyed in Swat where overwhelming force beat the Taliban and reclaimed the valley.

Last night an army statement said four soldiers had been killed and 12 wounded in exchanges of fire. Earlier at least 11 suspected insurgents were reported to have been killed in bombing raids. This operation is expected to last a minimum of 8 weeks, independent verification of the progress of the battle will be hard to come by as no foreign journalists are allowed into the area and the Pakistani press have all fled.

It took a threat from America of withholding civilian aid from Pakistan to make this offensive  a reality, without US money Pakistan would not be able to survive, and a overthrown Pakistan is a nightmare scenario for the rest of the World, but now that it has started I believe the Pakistani’s will see it through,

Previous army offensives have normally failed because the army never had the stomach for a prolonged fight and would usually make a deal after a while, but after the success of Swat valley they believe they can actually win.

DurdensView Tags: Offensive, Taliban, Swat

Poor Judge

Science teacher Paedo Martyn Baxter-Smith, 45, downloaded 8,688 sick pictures of children between December 2007 and April 2009.

But amazingly the twisted teacher, who was sacked from his post at Boston Grammar School in Lincolnshire, was given a community order lasting just three years.

Sentencing Baxter-Smith at Lincoln Crown Court, Judge Michael Heath expressed "grave concerns" over teacher's sexual desires.

He said: "As you can rightly expect, there is grave concern in any case when someone downloads indecent photographs of children, but more so when the person who does that is a teacher entrusted with the care of children.

"It is quite clear that you used these images to fulfil your sexual and emotional needs but when the matter came to light you were frank with the police and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity."

Of course he pleaded guilty he was caught with the pictures on his PC how else could he have pleaded, Judge Michael Heath is showing leniency to a ridiculous level in this case, almost as if  he sympathised with his plight, the Police should  have a look at his Honours PC.

DurdensView Tags: Paedophile

Balloon Tragedy

A hot-air balloon has exploded and crashed in one of the most popular tourist spots in China, killing four Dutch tourists and injuring three people.

As the balloon was preparing to land, it developed a leak, caught fire and crashed to the ground from a height of about 150 metres.

Two Dutch men and two women were killed. A fifth Dutch tourist was slightly injured, along with the two pilots. The pilots had jumped from the basket as the balloon plunged, thus reducing their injuries.

Quite naturally you feel sorry for the victims but having said that what do they expect, I cannot understand what possesses people to go up in balloons, its surely the most dangerous form of flying there is, I have been up in Planes though I am not a good flyer I feel reasonably safe, I have even done a little parachuting when I was younger, that meant going up in a tiny Cessna with no door attached and jumping  from 2000 feet. That may not sound very high but believe me when you are up there its plenty high enough.

And even having gone up and jumped out of a plane I would not go up in a balloon, there is something flimsy about the whole set up, and having experienced through parachuting what it feels like to be falling to earth at around 120 miles per hour before your chute opens I would have no desire to experience that again, this time with no parachute to cushion my fall.

DurdensView Tags: Balloon, Cessna

Maradona

Argentina have scraped through to the World cup finals in South Africa next year, a late winner from Mario Bolatti gave the Argies a crucial 1-0 victory at Uruguay to finish fourth in the South American table and clinch an automatic qualifying spot.

A lot of British fans were hoping that Argentina would not qualify so that the competition would not be as great and England’s chance’s would improve, I don’t feel like that, the World cup is the greatest sporting spectacle in the world and teams like Argentina missing out devalue it.

I also happen to believe that Maradona will come good, his critics and he has many of them do not feel he is up to it, but for all his failings he has qualified, it cant be easy managing a national squad it’s not like day to day management where you get to spend all your time with your players, at best at international level you may get the players together for a fortnight in one go if your lucky, but more often than not it’s just for a few days.

As a player Diego Maradona had no equal, for  me he stands head and shoulders above any other footballer past or present, though there are current pretenders to his crown like Lionel Messi and Kaka even they fall a long way short of the great man, anyone who has followed Maradona’s career and saw him at the 1986 World cup will agree with my sentiments. That year Maradona was so awesome that he won it on his own.

No pundits give Maradona and Argentina a chance for the World cup next year, I am going to go against popular opinion and say that I think Maradona has one more  performance up his sleeve and think that the 10/1 on offer for them to lift the trophy is good value. Certainly better value than the measly 7/1 offered about England’s chances.

DurdensView Tags: Diego Maradona, Messi, Kaka

Polanski’s Punishment

Roman Polanski is putting the finishing touches to his forthcoming film from his prison cell in Switzerland, his friend and colleague Robert Harris said yesterday at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.

You will remember that Polanski is waiting the result of his appeal against extradition to the States to face child sex charges dating back from the sixties, when he admitted raping drugging and sodomizing a 13 year old girl before fleeing the Country.

Why don’t the Authorities in Switzerland as well as letting him still play at being a Director also give him some Cocaine and champagne  and a couple of 12 year old girls so he can pass the time.

You cant make this stuff up why is he getting this kind of treatment, it’s enough to make other child sex offenders jealous.

DurdensView Tags: Polanski

Adam Crozier

The Government risks losing nearly £100 million in revenues if a national postal strike goes ahead next week, which looked increasingly certain last night.

Meanwhile, Royal Mail has thrown down the gauntlet to unions, demanding an immediate end to the threat of strike action and dismissing their latest offer as a  blatant attack on  the future of the postal service”

Adam Crozier you may remember used to be in charge at the FA and left their after almost running the FA into the ground.

Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, said that a national postal strike would be a “suicidal act ... The Government has backed Royal Mail financially with billions of pounds so that the company can modernise, but these strikes will impede that essential process. Strikes are not the way to resolve differences or safeguard the future of our postal service,” he said.

Crozier, Britain’s highest-paid civil servant, is overseeing a five-year, £2 billion programme of change. He says that pushing through the programme is the company’s only hope.

His achievements at Royal Mail from 2007 when he was on a million pounds plus a year salary  include shrinking the workforce by 45,000, and closing 4,600 post offices, with another 2,500 to follow. The goal of this reduction in workforce and in retail outlets was to increase profitability, the corporation was running a £10 million trading deficit in 2007, culminating in  a 300 million pound loss in 2008.

By 2009 his salary has tripled and he is now on three million a year, and he is running the Company into the ground. If nothing else Crozier is consistent.

DurdensView Tags: Adam Crozier, Royal Mail, Lord Mandelson

Scared of Spider’s

Scientists have discovered the world’s first known vegetarian spider. Bagheera kiplingi, a South American species, lives almost exclusively on leaf buds and is thought to be the only spider of about 40,000 species to have rejected a carnivorous diet.

That might sound comforting but when you look at the picture of it down below if you are scared of spiders as a rule this disgusting looking creature will terrify you.

Unless Scientists  can improve it on its looks this news is no comfort at all.

DurdensView Tags: Bagheera kiplingi

Self Certification

The multibillion-pound self-certification mortgage industry, in which customers are not required to provide proof of income, is set to be banned by the financial regulator.

Dubbed “liar’s loans” by critics, self-cert loans were blamed for playing a large part in the housing bubble and ensuing financial crisis. Blame unfairly apportioned in my opinion.

Experts believe that self-cert accounted for one third of new loans in 2007, or about £100 billion of the £300 billion loans granted that year. Buy-to-let accounts for 12 per cent of all properties, or more than three million homes.

At a time when we are struggling to escape recession and the housing market needs all the help it can get is this really the time to stop a scheme  that has been running for ever and does not really do any harm, people have all kinds of legal reasons why they don’t want to declare their income, and if they are able to service a debt what’s the problem.

It’s true that their is a slightly higher default rate on repayments but when you look at the amount of business generated that figure is negligible. as usual the Authorities have got it wrong.

DurdensView Tags: Self cert

Europe’s Joke

Gordon Brown has been asked to return £12,415 in excessive cleaning, decorating and gardening claims after an audit of MPs’ expenses. It is already on the cards that Labour will lose the upcoming General Election this piece of information helps makes it a 100% certainty.

£12,415 for gardening and decorating is  ridiculous when you consider that for a high percentage of the working population that amount equates to a years wages, if any further reason to dump Gordon was needed here it is, and again we hear that this is just “the tip of the iceberg” and that larger claims are to be published.

I will be amazed if Brown is still in power in May to contest the Election let alone have a chance of winning it, Brown leading the party at an Election would be the equivalent of entering a duel with an unloaded gun.

This once great Country is being destroyed little by little day by day, I am not saying the Tories are the answer but we have to at least give them the Chance, David Cameron is making all the right noises and if he can deliver on the rhetoric who knows we may be able to call our selves Great Britain again one day without other nations sniggering at us, as it is we are becoming the joke of Europe.

DurdensView Tags: Brown, Cameron, Election

Ukraine Versus England

I said that the internet experiment concerning the England Qualifier would be a failure in terms of the viewers it would attract, the organisers needed a million viewers just to break even, I thought they would struggle but I went to low in my estimate of 100,000 in the end they managed 500,000 but  I was still closer then them.

Stephen Gately

It was sad to hear that Stephen Gately had died at the weekend it’s sad when anyone of that age dies suddenly, I wont pretend to be broken up for him, after all how sorry can you be for someone you don’t know dying,

It always amazes me though how members of the public or “fans” go so over the top in their platitudes after the death of a celebrity, I have already seen tributes like “shining star” and  “immense Talent” bandied about, lets not get carried away here he was a average singer in a phenomenally successful but manufactured boy band Boyzone, who broke up years ago.

The police have said there are no suspicious circumstances to his death so I will assume that because he had been out clubbing all night it will be a drug induced or a vomit induced death, by vomit induced I mean being so drunk that you cough up vomit which retreats back into your throat and chokes you because you are unconscious from the amount of alcohol consumed. if it turns out to be the latter than he will be for gotten in a couple of days if it turns out to be something more sinister expect the papers to milk it for a few days longer.

Incidentally the reason I even commented on his death is because my daughter had a huge crush on him in his boy band days and was devastated to find out he was gay ( what a shocker) and I spent a lot of time teasing her about it and taking the mickey out of him, she will be upset even now so on her behalf  RIP Stephen.

DurdensView Tags: Steven Gately, Boyzone

Fit And Proper

The futures of four English clubs were still in the balance last night while football’s governing bodies demanded more information from their owners.

The Premier League is investigating Ali al-Faraj, the latest “saviour” of Portsmouth, and his backers before rubber-stamping the fourth foreign takeover at Fratton Park in 11 years.

The FA apparently have to deem owners of football clubs to be fit and proper, I suppose this means that you cant be a criminal or have a dodgy financial background, and your suitability is established through a series of checks much like a financial check as done by a lender and a criminal check as done by the police.

So how can the owners of Notts County be a mystery, no-one seems to know who they are the owners are hidden behind a maze of corporations. Notts County recently hit the headlines for the vast amounts of money they have spent trying to get to the big time, the second division club have taken on ex England manager Sven Goran Erickson on a two million pound a year contract as Director of football, which does seem odd as the whole of the first team are only worth a few hundred thousand pounds.

The Notts County case underlines increasing fears that the money trail in takeovers too often leads to tax havens, where even the prying eyes of legal authorities acting in the interests of the sport are not welcome.

The other two teams in question are Leeds and Qpr, there appears to be a worrying trend developing with foreign investors taking over football clubs, as a football fan I worry where this may lead. If our clubs are being bought up for tax scams or worse money laundering, then our national game could be under threat.

DurdensView Tags: Notts County, Leeds, Portsmouth, Qpr

Where there’s a will…

Two white donkeys dyed with black stripes, above, delight Palestinian children, who have never seen a zebra for real, at a small Gaza zoo.

It just goes to show what you can do with a little imagination a genuine zebra would have been too expensive to bring into Gaza via tunnels under the border with Egypt, said Muhammad Barghouti, the owner. “It would have cost me $40,000 to get a real one.”

 

 

 

 

So grab a couple of donkeys and the Dulux and hey presto.

Another Fritzl

A man who fathered two children by his daughter after three decades of horrendous abuse has been jailed for 12 years.

When you deduct a third of his sentence as is the norm with prison sentences then allow for him to apply for parole after serving half he could be out in as little a 4 years, no wonder these types of crimes happen so often when the perpetrators know there is no real punishment.

How could a Judge justify such a paltry sentence for so terrible a crime, apart from the obvious psychological damage to his daughter what about the two children involved that’s 3 lives ruined, add on then the peripheral emotional damage to the rest of the family wife, other siblings close relatives etc, and this monster has destroyed countless lives.

The sick animal in this case is a 68 year old Essex man who conceivably will be free to resume his life in a few years while the victims serve a life sentence.

So I pose the question  how can he be free after only a possible 4 years, obviously Judges do not live in the real world as you and I do. Something need to be done as this kind of travesty is becoming all to common. Judges need to be more accountable to society.

Maybe its time there was some kind of a league table for Judge’s who are then judged by their peers on a case by case basis and awarded points for performance, and then  much like our football leagues the worst three demoted from crown court case’s and a new three brought up. I know that my  suggestion has a certain flippancy about it but I am serious about the need to make them more accountable, and who knows flippant or not maybe my idea with some tweaking has some merit.

But what I do know is that something must be done and soon, how many more times can the system return sentences like this without bringing itself into disrepute.

DurdensView Tags: Fritzl, Incest, judges

Sir Alex Ferguson

The union for referees has demanded the FA get tough with the Manchester United boss for accusing Alan Wiley of being unfit. The over reaction to his comments have become ludicrous, from losing his Knighthood to being kicked out of the game altogether, these are just a couple of the suggestions put forward as suitable punishments for Sir Alex’s comments.

Taking away his Knighthood wins the prize for the stupidest suggestion as that would be a non footballing punishment, how ever he is chastised and chastised he will be it has to be of a footballing nature.

I agree that what Ferguson done was wrong in personally attacking Wiley but his reaction was borne out of frustration for his teams performance not Wiley’s, though they earned a draw it was their worst performance of the season.

Facts that have come to light after the game show that Ferguson could not have been more wrong in his criticism and  his condemnation of the referee, Wiley was accused of being to unfit to play the proper amount of time facts show he covered more ground than all but four of the players on the pitch, he did in fact run over 11000 meters.

Ferguson should be man enough to apologize unreservedly to Wiley and accept his punishment from the FA which should be at most a 2/3 match touchline ban, anything else would be over the top.

Those fans who want Sir Alex hung and then electrocuted will have to settle for the ban this time.

DurdensView Tags: Sir Alex Ferguson, Wiley, FA

Internet TV

There was growing anger among England supporters last night at being denied the chance to watch Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine on television. It’s claimed this is the future for TV watchers picking and choosing what we watch rather than a pre- planned schedule.

But on closer inspection this does not seem a good idea, firstly if you are watching it on your pc/laptop can you be sure of quality, also with certain areas all kinds of problems happen with the download speed if for example lots of people near you access it at the same time, will you be spending large parts of the game watching it buffering.

Secondly will you have the same comfort with  all the family sitting around your laptop/desktop for up to a possible 2 hours which will be the duration of the broadcast.

And finally was this the right game to launch this experiment sure its an England game but it has no importance nothing rests on the result, The Three Lions have already qualified so where’s the excitement, the tension, the nail biting journey England games usually take us on. It’s being advertised at 4.99 if you book in advance and 11.99 .if you book on the day.

Kentaro, the sports marketing company that owns the rights to screen the game claim they expect a million people to watch, if I was a betting man I would guess they will get nowhere near that figure, I will be generous and say I would be surprised if they got a quarter of that, and would go as far as to say it could even be as low as 100,000. we will see on Sunday how good/bad a first attempt this was, my money is on the latter.

DurdensView Tags: Kentaro, England, Internet

Regime Change

Iran has the know-how to produce a nuclear bomb and may already have tested a detonation system small enough to fit into the warhead of a medium-range missile, according to confidential papers.

If this is true then by dragging its heels and not acting the West  have given Iran the time to accumulate the know how, once you learn something you cant unlearn it, so where do  we go from here.  Once you have the capability to build a  nuclear weapon the only thing holding you back is time, because of the complexity of producing the 90% grade plutonium needed to make it weapons grade.

Iran thinks it is being clever by making a couple of small concessions now like agreeing access to the newly discovered plant at Qom near Tehran, they may be able to pull the West along by faking compliance but you wont keep the Israeli’s from acting.

Once this report was made public and it may well have come from Mossad anyway, the chances of Iran’s installations being attacked increased significantly, I always suspected that they would be attacked by year end I am even more confident of this now, the US and its allies may have held of because of the fears of Iranian response but Israel cannot afford to do so.

The problem for the Middle East is that once Israel destroy the installations they will be at war and because the Iranians will keep trying to rebuild and make the bomb this will be an indefinite war, one way this can be ended or avoided to begin with in the short term is to have both the President and Supreme Leader replaced with more moderate Leaders.

Iran’s leaders believe an Israeli attack at some point is inevitable, though Israel have never attacked another Country first  so need a nuclear deterrent themselves,  The Iranian people deserve better so they should get rid of these two warmongers, Regime change is paramount.

DurdensView Tags: Nuclear, Israel, Iran, Regime Change

Audley- A Spent force

I watched the boxing Prize fighter series on Sky a couple of days ago where Audley Harrison beat a load of fat blokes on his way to winning a round robin event and picked up a £32000 purse.

Considering that Audley flew in from his home base in California for the event bringing his Entourage of trainers corner men and various other hangers on at his own expense I am guessing he did not enter this “competition” for the money, he says it is a springboard to a world title attempt.

I will state now categorically that Audley or A-Force as he calls himself , though he should be called Spent Force, could not win a World title if he were the only competitor, in fact I would get closer to taking the World heavyweight boxing crown than him and I don’t box.

Though he was a successful amateur he has not been able to transfer that ability to the professional ranks and I think I know why, He is scared of being hit. I know that sounds ridiculous but watching him “fight “ the other night he looks scared to take a punch, when he fought as a amateur he was forced by the rules to wear protective headgear this absorbs much of the pain of the blows received and the referee’s are much more conscious of fighters taking punishment.

Joining the paid ranks is a different kettle of fish altogether it is physically much more demanding and much dirtier in the ring with head butting gouging and elbowing part of the game, Audley simply has not got the bottle for a fight. in the final bout of the series his opponent butted him in the face and immediately he turned to the ref calling for help, he actually looked like he might have burst into tears.

Lets hope David Hayes comes through his fight with the giant Russian Nikolay Valuev next month and takes the title,  bringing some class back to the British heavyweight division, I would hate to think Harrison could turn out to be the best we have. at least Hayes can fight like a man.

DurdensView Tags: Audley Harrison, David Hayes, A-Force

Lisbon Treaty

The Irish have voted yes to the Lisbon treaty at the second attempt if they had voted no another referendum would be held in a year or so  and and every year until the Irish had caved in.

The treaty is supposed to streamline decision making within the EU but in reality its the old school network looking after each other, it needed all 27 member states to agree before it could be made binding. the Czechs and Poles had held out but it looks likely now that they to will sign up to,  the Czechs could yet throw a spanner in the works by waiting until we have our general election. if that were to happen The Conservatives have promised the British public a referendum on the Treaty, this Country would vote a resounding no thus scuppering the ratification. So expect lots of pressure to be bought on the Czech Premier to sign before our election is held in May.

We in this Country already suffer enough being a part of Europe and their ridiculous rule making, the last thing Britain needs is to give more power away.

If you are unsure what the Treaty is go to this link for a understanding of what it is about, http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/glance/index_en.htm

DurdensView Tags: Irish, Lisbon Treaty

Decency Prevails

At last a modicum of decency emanating from Hollywood with regards to the Polanski sex case he  was initially supported by a Hollywood petition demanding his release and signed by a host of big names such as Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese. But even Tinsel town knows where to draw the line and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor- turned-Governor of California, made the official position clear. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Roman Polanski or anyone else,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you are a big-time movie actor or a big-time movie director or producer the law is the law and he must be dealt with accordingly”.

Its about time that celebrities joined us in the real world, what difference does it really make if you are a recognisable name if you commit an offence of this magnitude, we are not talking about a parking ticket but the drugging and sodomising of a 13 year old girl, how could anyone even consider “forgetting about it” just because the perpetrator has a few decent films under his belt.

I applaud Arnie for being the first big name to condemn him and hope others follow suit, and I reiterate my belief the the American sense of decency will prevail and Polanski will be punished to the full letter of the law.

DurdensView Tags: Polanski, Schwarzenegger

Cameron into Number 10

David Cameron has posted a 10 point plan for making Britain Great again, it has been well received  there are some interesting points in there, like freezing council tax for 2 years, making sure our armed forces are as well equipped as their American counterparts, these are just a couple of his promises.

But the real vote winner and guaranteed to propel him into number 10 is the promise to replace the Human rights act with a new British Bill of rights designed to strengthen our traditional British Values.

The Human rights act has been the single biggest mistake this Country has made in recent history, at last it has been recognised as so by someone in a position to do something about it.

Also the Conservatives have promised us a referendum on the Lisbon treaty if it has not been ratified by the time of the general election they will campaign for a no vote.

So get the wife to start picking out new curtains David and book the removal van, you have just booked yourself a stay at number 10.

DurdensView Tags: David Cameron, Human Rights act, Lisbon Treaty

Paedophiles

I cant find words to write about those three animals guilty of sexual abuse against the most vulnerable of victims, toddlers entrusted into their care.

I hope, no  like any right minded person demand they each get life with a minimum of at least 20 years, short of killing these poor kids their crime could not have been worse.

Vanessa George, Angela Allen and Colin Blanchard I hope they all rot in hell.

Brooke Shields

A nude snap of The Blue Lagoon star Brooke Shields  posing in a bathtub when she was a kid is set to go on show as part of an art exhibition at the Tate Modern in London.

Brooke was 10 years old when this picture was taken, the circumstances of the picture are unclear but at that tender age she could not have given consent, and what earthly reason could there be to want to put it up in a museum for the public to look at.

We have had to endure mountains of rubbish over the years displayed in various museums under the guise of art, but this is porn for the sake of it, where are our decency laws. the event organisers are already acknowledging that it is a taboo subject by separating that picture from the rest of the exhibit and putting it in a room with a warning on the door.

You can imagine what kind of people will be turning up to gawk at a naked 10 year old girl, rather than putting it behind closed doors why not just remove it.

DurdensView Tags: Brooke Shields, Tate modern, porn