Wednesday

Lords reject Iraq inquiry appeal The legal argument is unfortunately spurious as the Government of the day can and does go to war against whomever they like, with no recourse to Parliament. This is why it is absolutely essential that Members of Parliament do their duty and hold Government to account. When you cannot even rely on the Opposition - as the Conservative were all for this dubious action - to uphold standards in Parliament, then the whole system is flawed. The ones to blame for this fiasco are the Military Elite who allowed the politicians to bamboozle them into a grossly illegal action. They may have secured a place in history, but history will not view them in a good light.

Gang stab two in store race fight How headlines reveal more about the law than it does about criminals. A gang of young thugs wanted booze from a store and the staff refuse to let them have it. This happened on Highfield Road, Blackpool on a Saturday night, not twelve months after purge to clear the streets of the yobs. The police went away and the dross moved back. Not a month ago I witnessed about twenty police persons getting very rough with a victim of intimidation outside one of the many fast food outlets in exactly the same area. The mob of belligerent young thugs walked away with impunity whilst the irate victim was threatened with arrest. No witnesses were interviewed and the police were wholly disinterested in the facts.

What would have happened in this latest incident, had one of the stab victims been able to turn the tables on the thugs? No doubt they would be languishing in one of HM police stations and being patronized by a lovely police female person not long out of school. If Detective Sgt Blobby lives up to reputation, the crime will eventually go into the cold case folder in about two years, if that. There is a plaque not a few yards from this crime scene to another person murdered not so many years ago. How memories fade.

It was not a racist crime. The shop assistant is a Ghanaian. The victims are British and the charge ought to be attempted murder against two brave individuals who had the courage to stand up to the thugs. So where is the racism? Is it worse to be called names than to have your life threatened with a blade inserted into your body?

No doubt the young thugs will have videoed the event on their thieved mobiles and it will be circulating those airwaves of disrespect amongst those who think that this type of activity in natural and acceptable. WELCOME TO BLACKPOOL.