Are Necrophile Murderers Being Treated Too Harshly?

If someone strangles a teenage girl to death for no obvious reason and then strips the body and has sex with her corpse how would you describe a sentence of 20 years? Is the answer:

(a) Inadequate.

(b) Appropriate.

(c) Excessive.

If your answer is (c) Excessive, then you could be on your way to becoming a senior judge.

[Kenneth] Fraser, a former youth footballer with Dunfermline, strangled the Inverkeithing High School pupil in November 2004 in the former mining village of High Valleyfield, in Fife, where they both lived.

He then removed her clothing and had sex with her before abandoning her half-naked body on the frozen ground, where she was discovered by a passer-by the next day.

At the trial, at the High Court in Edinburgh, Fraser denied the murder but was unanimously convicted by a jury and was sentenced to detention without limit of time - a juvenile life sentence....

... the judges agreed with the submission that 20 years was excessive having regard to the age of Fraser.

The judge said: "There is no doubt this was a dreadful murder of a young girl. However the period of the punishment part is excessive for a person of 16 years of age at the time of the offence."

In what way could it possibly be excessive to keep a necrophiliac killer in prison for any period other than life? I could understand the arguments about the sentencing of the Bulger killers because of their age, but this person was 16, an age at which you can marry or join the army and plenty old enough to know full well that murder is murder. His victim's undoubted terror at his hands prompted not any normal emotion of pity or regret but rather it aroused him and thanks to the Lord Justice General, Lord Hamilton, in 2019 the people of Scotland can look forward to a 31 year old man who gets turned on by murder roaming free.

`The Ulster Soviet Socialist Republic.

One of Northern Ireland's enduring difficulties is that constitutional issue top economic and social issues in elections. This means that Northern Ireland's politicians are as a rule economic illiterates who believe that growth is achieved by politicians spending other people's money so stories like this appear regularly:

Responsibility for NI's economy should be centralised within a single government department or agency, a Stormont all-party group has said.

Because clearly the right people to run the economy are to be found amoung civil servants, and politicians. Even if the Ulster government wasn't obliged to include a party of murderers, extortionists and assorted gangsters it would be a terrible idea/ With government spending accounting for over 60% of the local economy the best thing these people could do would be to resign and not waste another penny of taxpayer's money.

A War The Left Might Support.

May I present Defence Scheme No. 1 which was-

created in 1921 and details a surprise attack on the northern U.S. as soon as possible after evidence was received of an American invasion of Canada. According to the plan, Canadian troops would immediately be sent to seize Seattle, Washington; Great Falls, Montana; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Albany, New York in a surprise attack.

I usually consider myself pro-American but you must admit this plan has balls!
So I say to Steven Harper- America's forces are divided and its borders undefended you must strike now whilst they are weak!!!!

During the 1920s there was a lunatic fringe in the USA which was agitating for a war with Britain, the infamous Plan Red for the invasion of Canada was one symptom of this. Another symptom was paranoia amongst certain groups including the world's two cuddliest ethnic lobbies, that Britain was secretly spreading pro-British propaganda through school textbooks, someone even won election to be Mayor of Chicago with a promise to burn all the British books in the city's main library!

Thatcher To Be Given The Elbow.

When I watched Ben Thatcher's flying elbow assault on Pedro Mendes during the Manchester City - Portsmouth match my first thought was that it should be dealt with by the police rather than the FA, so I'm glad to see that Greater Manchester police are looking into the matter. Curious to find out how other police froces would have handled I emailed a few and some of them even gave me a response:

Nottinghamshire Police:

Me: What would Nottinghamshire Police do if the assault had occurred at one of the grounds in your juristriction?

Chief Constable Steve Green: Police officers in Nottinghamshire would be given light blue ribbons to show solidarity with the victims in this case, to prevent any further violence.

Me: But it is Manchester City who play in light blue, Pedro Mendes's team play in a darker shade.

Chief Constable Steve Green: Many people feel fully supportive of the Mancunian communities but have no way of showing it and this is a way of allowing them to do that. The backlash of violence is something that will not be tolerated in Nottingham.

North Wales Police.

Me: What would North Wales Police do if the assault had occurred at one of the grounds in your juristriction?

Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom: Well it is an incident we will pursue vigorously and there must be a prosecution.

Me: So what would Ben Thatcher be charged with?

Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom: Nothing, Mr Thatcher is a Welsh international and Mr Mendes's possible Taffophobia is the root cause of the problem.

Me: But you have no evidence of anti-Welsh sentiment.

Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom: Never stopped us before. It is also important to remember that Mr Mendes's ambulance was racing through the streets of Manchester at speeds of up to 22 mph, the man is a menace.

Northern Ireland.

Me: What would the PSNI do if the assault had occurred at one of the grounds in your juristriction?

Chief Constable Hugh Orde: What assault, there is no conclusive evidence that Ben Thatcher committed any assault, whilst there maybe isolated incidents there is no reason to believe that he is in any way something other than an honest man whom we would be delighted to see in our police force.

London.

Me: What would the Met do if the assault had occurred at one of the grounds in your juristriction?

Cressida Dick: Naturally our first action would be to go in with a Swat team and shoot Sylvain Distin, the Manchester City defender ,in the head 6 times.

Me: That's insane! Why would you shoot a completely innocent bystander?

Cressida Dick: His behaviour was suspicious and he was wearing bulky clothing.that could conceal a bomb belt.

Me: Does Ian Blair agree with this policy?

Ian Blair: It's a damning indictment of media racism that the press gloss over this assault on a black gay man whilst focusing tediously on silly season fluff like the Soham murders.

Me: Neither of the footballers involved were black or gay.

Ian Blair: Oh right. There is actually very little chance of being attacked on a football field, it is the fear of being attacked that creates the problem. People hark back to a golden age where no one ever got hurt by a flying elbow, but this simply isn't the case I'm afraid.

We're Doomed!!!!

August 22: The End of the World?

Update 22:14- World seems to still be here, I probably ought to apologise to my neighbours for the unfortunate attempt to cannibalise them, how was I to know we weren't in peril?

A Race Nut Watches The Cricket Test.

Martin Jacques turns his keen eye for paranoia from football to cricket.

Oh MPAC.

I did intend to follow up on MPAC, but have not had time, so I'll refer to this post instead, or this one.

PS. Oh and this one.

Suffer Little Children.

A horrible story:

A drug addict mother has been jailed for nine years for supplying heroin and crack cocaine to her son from the age of nine.

It might worth remembering that the Howard League would like to release people like her.

Non Violent Jihad Waged.

Iain Dale links to this amusing article on Conservative Home about the left wing lexicon. The piece seems to have made quite an impression on the members of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, and they're members now want the author, Inigo Wilson, lynched like a jewish school girl. The definitions which they have taken offence at are:

Islamophobic - anyone who objects to having their transport blown up on the way to work.
Palestinians - archetype 'victims' no matter how many teenagers they murder in bars and fast food outlets. Never responsible for anything they do – or done in their name - because of 'root causes' or ‘legitimate grievances’.

As you can see it is pretty inoffensive stuff, but MPAC's members have decided that being opposed to blowing up fast food joints is Islamophobic, which kind of proves the first definition, and are writing en bloc to Wilson's employer, Orange, who rather unbelievably have suspended him! The intentional conflation of mocking Islamist fanatics with an attack on muslims is obviously intentional on MPAC's part, it is rather like claiming that mocking the Waffen SS is evidence of Teutonophobia. The phone company say that the suspension does not imply guilt but if they do take action against him I would certainly urge anyone who believes in free speech to boycott Orange.

MPAC who claim to be "empowering muslims to focus on non violent jihad" are a highly noxious group, I shall post a few links about their views tomorrow.

Super Happy Fun Racism.

Call me a crazy bigot but I don't believe people should be treated differently on the basis of the melanin count. So I am not thrilled that the government is looking to introduce racist practices into the awarding of government contracts:

The government is considering denying multimillion pound contracts to companies that fail to employ enough black and Asian workers, it has emerged.

The Department of Work and Pensions confirmed that three pilot schemes have been approved which will see companies questioned on their workforce diversity before the government decides on the winning bid.

The idea to scrutinise companies seeking multimillion government contracts was first proposed by the Ethnic Minority Employment Advisory Group (Emag), launched last month to advise the government on closing the employment gap.

I hope it doesn't need stating how disgusting this proposal is, deriving as it does from the ridiculous notion that numerical disparites are proof of malpractice on someone's part. In truth several minorites have far higher than average employment rates which would be difficult to explain if one believes that they must be the result of racism. Businesses are there to make money, if they are ignoring large numbers of good candidates because of their race then surely a company which didn't artificially limit their supply of labour would have lower costs and would be able to win contracts on merit. If one were to suggest that medical schools which admit a disproportionately low number of white students should have their funding cut anyone outside of the National Front would recognise it as racist lunacy. The most absurd aspect to all this is that it won't even accomplish its goals, in the USA where this sort of thing is sadly not uncommon, the usual trick is to get a small company that meets the criteria of the racial bean counters to win the contract, they then subcontract the work to the most cost effective bidder.

This new racism was on show when the BBC Diversity Czar (motto- Making things from bad to diverse) Mary Fitzpatrick said:

"I would prefer to see somebody who understands that culture, understands what's going on and can say, 'Look with me because I am part of this'. It feels more authoritative and more involved."...

Miss Fitzpatrick told The Observer that the BBC's team of foreign correspondents should come from the same ethnic background as the country they were reporting from.

This means one of two things, either the reporters should come from the actual country, in which case there are huge partiality issues, say what you like about John Simpson but he's unlikely to begin a report from Rwanda with "Death to the Tutsi pigs!!!". The photo fraud exposed by LGF showed what happened when Reuters relied on local photojournalists. Of course what she could mean is that Africa should be reported on by black people regardless of whether they are from Africa or not but they happen to look a bit like the locals, but are no more insiders than any other foreign reporter. In focusing on the practical problems with Mary Fitzpatrick's idea I am perhaps detracting attention from how morally obscene this sort of neo-apartheid racial separatism is. Honestly if I weren't a license fee avoider I would be pretty pissed off at having to pay this woman's salary, and come to think of it shouldn't she be restriced to commenting on Leprachauns and Guinness or does she not intend to practise what she preaches?

The BBC said last night it was "absurd" to suggest that correspondents of the calibre of Fergal Keane, John Simpson, Jeremy Bowen and Orla Guerin "lack credibility with our audiences because they are white".

Quite right, their lack of credibility is entirely down to their persistant bias and overly emotive reporting.

Who Says Guardianistas Are Humourless?

Oh, they do.

Minimal Blogging.

My mother has been in hospital this week for an operation, hence the low level of blogging. It appears to have gone reasonably well so I will be doing more next week probably. The entrance to the A&E department was littered with cigarette butts, which is not surprising but also with beer cans, which is. What sort of person can't even go to hospital without having to pop outside for a drink break?!

Cause And Effect.

Labour MP Kitty Usher (should any adult really be called 'Kitty') writes in the New Statesman that:

All our efforts since Iraq to persuade British Muslims that our Labour government was not using foreign policy to persecute those of their religion had been undone. The only conclusion is that the Prime Minister thought it was OK for Muslim people to keep dying.

Aside from the fact that if muslims really believe that any foreign policy stance which doesn't involve taking the side of the muslim participant in a crisis means that we just love dead muslims then this a problem for them. Even more unfortunate is the timing of the article coming just a day before we learn that:

BRITISH police have reportedly foiled a plot to smuggle explosive devices in airline hand luggage to blow up planes in mid-flight, according to Sky News in London.

We can safely assume that the plot wasn't hatched since the Lebanon unpleasantness began, so presumably even without the Lebanon war they would still be trying to kill us.

Yet Another Comment is Free Related Post

Okay can anyone explain this sentence to me

By attacking the straw man that "anybody who talks about immigration is somehow a racist", Reid is signalling to people who are opposed to immigration - for racist or non-racist reasons - that he shares their concerns. In effect, he is saying: "Whether the true motivation for your hostility to immigration is racist or not, so long as you can justify it in non-racist terms, it is acceptable - and I share your worries.".

If I follow Mr Legrain correctly his argument is that acknowledging that something isn't racist is racist. He actually thinks this is an intelligent remark.

Mel Gibson, David Irving and Christopher Hitchens.

So Christopher Hitchens thinks that Mel Gibson is "sick to his empty core with Jew-hatred.", I wouldn't disagree with that assessment but considering that Hitchens also believes that David Irving is a "Great historian of fascism" there does appear to be a double standard. Some pissed up actor ranting about "the jews" is hardly in the same league as a professional holocaust denier who's disseminated neo-nazi propaganda for decades. What can account for this double standard? My own guess is that the key to this is Hitchens's Trotskyism, which is despite his new found admirers on the right is still sufficiently important to him that he is willing to go on Radio 4 to argue that Trotsky was "the perfect combination of the man of ideas and man of action, and says Trotsky's writings still make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up."

Trotsky was so maniacal in his beliefs that the world may have gotten off lightly when Stalin outmanouvered him for the control of the USSR. Irving is important to Hitchens because of their mutual assaults on the reputation of Winston Churchill, Hitchens's attack drew heavily on Irving's "research", according to the Historian Andrew Roberts in his joint biography of Hitler and Churchill. This despite the fact the article was written several years after Irving was confirmed as a liar following his failed libel action again Deborah Lipstadt.

Glass houses spring to mind.

Jew On The Loose Part Two.

In a previous post I noted the obsession Comment Is Free readers had with Maureen Lipman being jewish. In their response to Nick Cohen's (who isn't actually jewish) piece today they have gone completely over the edge:

This one by "thereisaGod" deserves republishing here-

International bankers have funded both sides in all global and major European wars over the last 200 years. These bankers are almost entirely Jewish. This cartel adopted Zionism as their main tool to divide, rule and advance their power and wealth soon after its invention in the late 1800's. It is fair to say that these international bankers have been Zionist bankers since that time. Look at the history....

...Fractional reserve banking is the greatest scam in history. The Rothschilds invented it and have moved from a position of some limited influence at the court of Prince William of Hanau in Southern Germany in 1760 to (with their small group of allied families) creating the money out of nothing for, and therefore controlling, the vast majority of the governments of the world today. (You think Blair listens to us?)

It is comical to read Mr Cohen complaining of too much money being spent on the wrong thing. The creation of debt is how these people get a stranglehold on everything. Governments WILL do as the bankers desire.

.....
The forces pushing this agenda care not one jot for Jews. They have used and manipulated Jews and established the state of Israel in Palestine in order to create the hatred and the final conflict that will leave the earth on its knees. They will be ready with the financial and political plan to solve it...A One-World Government that will be, obviously, controlled by them. This is the moment when their obscene wealth (which absolutuely dwarfs that of the likes of Bill Gates) will become secure forever.

This is the stand out but quite a few other commenters seem to have jews on the brain:

Afrasiabus- Nasty Nick is just another Israeli Cyber warriors, determined to shift attention form Jewish War crimes being commited in Lebanon.

Agitpapa- So, Nick me old china, you're telling me your namesake Mr. Cohen is no longer a Jew yet he's still a front-line hasbaranik for the Jewish state? Where on earth did you get such a weird notion?

This isn't cherry picking from a huge thread, there are only about twenty comments there at the moment.

Tommy Sheridan Is A Swinger.

A swinger of the sword of truth that is. Exactly how OJ Sheridan won his court case despite numerous people claiming they had sex with him and his own Scottish Socialist Party colleagues claiming that he had admitted it, is not something I will pass judgement on. If Sheridan can win a court action despite the weight of evidence backing up the News of the World's claims the I shall have to be cautious about implying that John Prescott is having an affair with Rosie Winterton.

Amazons.

The pictures of the Chinese soldiers in the previous post came from here, in fact there are pictures of female soldiers from around the world, if Britain is ever invaded I want it to be by Finland. I've got no moral objection to women in the military although I'm worried it may leave future partners with feelings of inadequacy.

The Rise Of China.

Is China's rise to superpower status a bad thing? There are certainly reasons for concern when Chinese generals are saying things like

:The entire military must eye the historic destiny of China's military in the new century and new era and push forward the main line of a Chinese-style revolution in military affairs, We must unswervingly fulfill our sacred duty to defend state sovereignty, territorial integrity and security and never tolerate Taiwan independence and never permit Taiwan independence forces under any name or under any circumstances or form to split Taiwan from the motherland.

And yet I still feel rather positive about China's military for some reason:

Enterprisers & Upbeats.

Political orientation quizzes such as Political Compass have been around for a while now. The newest one I've discovered is the Pew Political Typology Test. It asks 25 questions then assign you to one of the following groups:

Enterprisers
Social Conservatives
Pro-Government Conservatives
Upbeats
Disaffecteds
Conservative Democrats
Disadvantaged Democrats
Liberals
Bystanders

I am an Enterpriser, (although I don't agree with all the positions assigned to that group) which sounds like someone who dresses up as a Vulcan and attends Sci-Fi conventions. The part of the description I enjoyed was:

Enterprisers follow news about government and politics more closely than any other group, and exhibit the most knowledge about world affairs. The Fox News Channel is their primary source of news (46% cite it as a main source) followed by newspapers (42%) radio (31%) and the internet (26%).

According to the conventional wisdom on this side of the Atlantic Fox News is watched by insuler rednecks who hate anything that is Forrin, and yet they are it seems the group most interested in world affairs.

Pick Up A Penguin.

Penguin have published their list of the top 100 books ever. These sorts of list are inherently subjective but their list isn't obviously crazy (apart from the Communist Manifesto):

THE BEST CRAZIES

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Ken Kesey

The Diary of a Madman
Nikolai Gogol

Wide Sargasso Sea
Jean Rhys

Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Notes From Underground
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

THE BEST SEX

Story of the Eye
Georges Bataille

A Spy in the House of Love
Anaïs Nin

Lady Chatterley’s Lover
D. H. Lawrence

Venus In Furs
Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch

The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer

THE BEST VILLAINS

The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad

Diamonds are Forever
Ian Fleming

The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov

The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad

THE BEST LOVERS

A Room with a View
E. M. Forster

Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë

Don Juan
Lord Byron

Love In A Cold Climate
Nancy Mitford

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Tennessee Williams

THE BEST HEROES

David Copperfield
Charles Dickens

Middlemarch
George Eliot

She
H. Rider Haggard

The Fight
Norman Mailer

No Easy Walk to Freedom
Nelson Mandela

THE BEST TEARJERKERS

Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck

The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton

Notre-Dame De Paris
Victor Hugo

Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy

The Old Curiosity Shop
Charles Dickens

THE BEST SPINE-TINGLERS

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson

Dracula
Bram Stoke

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

The Castle of Otranto
Horace Walpole

The Turn of the Screw
Henry James

THE BEST MINXES

Vanity Fair
William Makepeace Thackeray

Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov

Baby Doll
Tennessee Williams

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Truman Capote

Emma
Jane Austen

THE BEST JOURNEYS

On the Road
Jack Kerouac

The Odyssey
Homer

The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck

Three Men in a Boat
Jerome K. Jerome

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll

THE BEST DECADENCE

The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Vile Bodies
Evelyn Waugh

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde

The Beautiful and Damned
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Against Nature
J. K. Huysmans

THE BEST REBELS

The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Malcolm X

The Outsider
Albert Camus

Animal Farm
George Orwell

The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Les Misérables
Victor Hugo

THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION

The Time Machine
H. G. Wells

The Man in the High Castle
Philip K. Dick

The Invisible Man
H. G. Wells

The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham

We
Yevgeny Zamyatin

THE BEST VIOLENCE

A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess

Hell’s Angels
Hunter S. Thompson

A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens

Another Country
James Baldwin

In Cold Blood
Truman Capote

THE BEST HIGHS

Junky
William S. Burroughs

The Moonstone
Wilkie Collins

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
Thomas De Quincey

The Subterraneans
Jack Kerouac

Monsieur Monde Vanishes
Georges Simenon

THE BEST SUBVERSION

1984
George Orwell

The Monkey Wrench Gang
Edward Abbey

The Prince
Niccolo Machiavelli

Bound for Glory
Woody Guthrie

Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller

THE BEST CRIMES

Maigret and the Ghost
Georges Simenon

The Woman in White
Wilkie Collins

The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler

A Study in Scarlet
Arthur Conan Doyle

The Thirty-Nine Steps
John Buchan

THE BEST ADULTERY

Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert

Thérèse Raquin
Emile Zola

Les Liaisons dangereuses
Choderlos de Laclos

The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy

THE BEST DEBAUCHERY

I, Claudius
Robert Graves

Hangover Square
Patrick Hamilton

The Beggar’s Opera
John Gay

The Twelve Caesars
Suetonius

Guys and Dolls
Damon Runyon

THE BEST ACTION

Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson

The Iliad
Homer

The Count Of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas

From Russia with Love
Ian Fleming

War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy

THE BEST LAUGHS

Cold Comfort Farm
Stella Gibbons

The Diary of a Nobody
George and Weedon Grossmith

The Pickwick Papers
Charles Dickens

Scoop
Evelyn Waugh

Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis

I've put the one's I've read in green and the one's I've bought but never actually read in red.

Women In Prison.

The exceedingly silly Howard League have excelled themselves with Frances Crook's idea that we should release nearly all women prisoners. Peter Briffa writes about the flaws in her case in today's Times, Laban Tall takes up the good fight in Crook's comment section at CiF and A Tangled Web also has an entry about it. Whilst all their arguments are very good I feel that they are missing one crucial point, no women prisoners means no more movies set in womens prisons! I hardly need to state the importance of the jailhouse shower scene to motion picture history and Frances Crook is willing to throw all this away.

Quote Of The Day.

They tried to claim Israel was committing a war crime by bombing infrastructure but, strangely, few people were enraged by allegations of the ruthless murder of flyovers, while others wondered why, if screwing up the transport system was a war crime, Ken Livingstone wasn't on trial at the Hague. -Dumbjon.

Quote of the Day.

I apologise for quoting from Comment is Free yet again but this quote from a thread on hopefully imminent demise of Fidel Castro bears repeating:

"The drivel about fair elections, free press and liberalisation is typical Rightwing humbug."

It's official fair elections and a free press are evil right wing concepts. If Castro does shuffle off this mortal coil he will be succeeded by his elderly brother Raul who could well pop his clogs soon as well. If this happens will the idiots who gush about how the bearded one has 'seen off' 8 American presidents congratulat Bush for seeing off two Cuban 'Maximum Leaders'?

Tory Radio.

One of the best things about the internet is the sheer proliferation of media outlets that now exist. Living in a primitive place where broadband is unavailable I don't have time to download TV online but radio podcasts are another matter. All of which brings me round to saying that one of the most innovative users of new media technology, Tory Radio, is launching its new improved website today.