There's been quite a lot of coverage about Ahmed's clock - the suspect device that's secured the young Ahmed an invitation to America's White House - well I can understand that but we do live in dangerous times.
The responsibility of the nation state is to make sure that the citizen is safe and doing this is not a zero sum gain - it's also (I recognise) not something that the USA alone struggles to do.
Listening to the Reunion on BBC radio 4 yesterday from the comfort of my bath I felt an uneasy chill (no the water wasn't getting cold) - the show was all about the Birmingham Six and their wrongful incarceration - this is something from the UK's pretty recent history and it's horrifying.
There are few who come out of the story well apart from Chris Mullins and the families of those who were tortured and held for crimes they did not commit.
There is some comfort to know that many of us are now more questioning of the state and the powers it wields - imagine now the most highly respected judge (Denning at the time) said (from Wikipedia on Denning)
Just consider the course of events if their action were to proceed to trial ... If the six men failed it would mean that much time and money and worry would have been expended by many people to no good purpose. If they won, it would mean that the police were guilty of perjury; that they were guilty of violence and threats; that the confessions were involuntary and improperly admitted in evidence; and that the convictions were erroneous. ... That was such an appalling vista that every sensible person would say, "It cannot be right that these actions should go any further.
Now I saw Denning around this time at a function within Cambridge University, I was sufficiently ignorant (and young) to know little of him but later found that he was incredibly venerated - on this occasion he was very wrong.
So this gets me wondering about how my Irish/Irish descended schoolmates felt and were treated at the time - they were to an extent, I'm sure tarred with a wholly inappropriate brush - and is this happening now to many associated (for whatever reason) with the Muslim faith?
Which brings me to Hunted the Channel 4 TV programme looking (entertainingly) at the powers of the state to pursue agendas that are questionable but sometimes (?) necessary - if you watch it for the fun of the chase or the questions it raises it's well done.
Camper Shops London..
Out and about took in visits to a couple of Camper stores in London -nice shops and some nice shoes but they're overpriced many at £135 a pair.
Staff very helpful in finding out the name of the designer of that shop (it was Tokyujin Yoshioka)
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| Regent Street shop |
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| Oxford street shop - nice but pricey. |
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