Magic Statistics

The failure of multiculturalism in the UK is now so apparent that even leftists are championing English heritage and the teaching of same to immigrants and students.  But now Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, has come out in support of changing the coronation ceremony so as to make it an “interfaith” event.  Simon Heffer finds this view so “bizarre” that he goes off on a bit of a rant.

Lord Carey clearly has in mind what Private Eye would term a "Rocky Horror" coronation service. Never mind your archbishops, or even your Christians, your imams, your rabbis, ayatollahs, your assorted holy men and other diverse priests, layers-on-of-hands and speakers-in-tongues: in accordance with the professions of religious belief on the 2001 census forms, I expect to see a few Jedi knights in the sanctuary, while devotees of Ras Tafari smoke ganja at the high altar. And, as one of the realm's noisiest atheists, I hope for a part in the proceedings, too, that I might feel "included".

An atheist he may be, but Mr Heffer knows his Thirty-Nine Articles.

At the heart of this remains the great legacy of the Reformation: that the monarch is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, which is the Established Church of this realm. As the 37th of the 39 Articles ("On the Civil Magistrates") puts it, "the Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England". Quite right: and were we to update that Article as we fetishistically seek to update everything else, we might also add that no mullah, rabbi, Jedi or Rastafarian has any jurisdiction either.

Fortunately, Lord Carey’s successor Rowan Williams is “having none of this nonsense”.  The coronation is far more than a religious ceremony, it is primarily political and cultural.  It is a statement about—and, one hopes, a reaffirmation of—Britishness.  Christianity is integral to British history and tradition in a way that other “faiths” are not.  That is why the coronation should not be altered so as to encourage the illusion that Britain is a “multicultural” society.

Previous related posts:

• Live free or live elsewhere
• Multiculturalism has betrayed the English

Despite outcries from foreign diplomats and other visitors, Belgium is keeping its absurd—diabolical, some would say—traffic rules under which priority must be given to vehicles on the right, even those racing out of dinky side streets at full throttle.

To make things worse, Belgium operates a hybrid system. Priority on the right covers all junctions and roundabouts – except when there are small yellow and white diamond signs on posts beside the road, when priority reverts to the larger road and those entering from side streets must give way.

Except, that is, when those yellow and white diamond signs have a narrow black diagonal stripe through them, whereupon priority on the right operates once more. And except where there is a cycle path on the side of the road, which – exceptionally – suspends priority on the right for any driver who crosses it.

Renaat Landuyt, Belgium’s transport minister, has offered a sop to driving sanity.

This week, he announced plans to scrap the rule that a driver who stops at a junction loses his priority – a rule that actively encourages Belgian motorists to rush on to junctions at speed, explaining the piles of broken headlight and indicator glass that can be found by many crossroads.

Belgian drivers yield their priority to no one.

Links have been discovered between a Pakistan-based terrorist group and one of two men detained in UK earlier this week and believed related to the Canada terror arrests.

Abid Khan, 21, who was recently in Canada and is being detained north of London under Britain's Terrorism Act, is believed to be involved with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), a radical Islamist organization linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the sources said.

Mr. Khan is suspected of being a "go-to guy" who would arrange for volunteers around the world to attend the LeT's training camps.

Some describe him as the "Abu Zubaydah" of the LeT, a reference to the man accused of feeding recruits to Osama bin Laden's training camp network in Afghanistan.

Investigators suspect Mr. Khan may have tried to help some of those associated with the Toronto network receive training in Pakistan, but he was not among those charged by Canadian authorities on the weekend and he has not been charged by Britain.

LeT (“Army of the Pure”) has been on Canada’s list of illegal terrorist organisations since 2003.  Based in the Pakistani part of Kashmir, it has received funding from Osama bin Laden and has connections with al Qaeda, Taliban, and several other Islamic extremist groups.

Since 1997 Tony Blair’s Labour government has funneled billions of pounds to nurseries (the British equivalent of daycare), even as evidence has accumulated that babies and young children are worse off being cared for by strangers outside the home.  Now the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Mr Blair’s “favourite think tank” according to the London Daily Mail, has joined the call to encourage mothers to care for their own children.

[IPPR] published research that admitted babies and toddlers sent for long hours in daycare learn less quickly, have worse health, and behave worse than other children.

It also suggested that the children suffer because mothers who return home from work tired and unhappy are less able to give them the time and full attention they need.

The warnings over childcare published by the Institute for Public Policy Research suggest a dramatic rethink over working mothers and childcare at the heart of the Blairite establishment.

Only two years ago, the Department of Trade and Industry described mothers who did not return to work within two years of childbirth as a “problem”.

It said mothers who stayed at home were not giving the taxpayer a return on the cost of their education.

Hmmmm. Where have we heard this recently?

If Tony Blair’s favourite think tank says that nursery care poses risks for children’s social and cognitive development, can Mr Blair be far behind?

via The Pearcey Report

Previous related posts:

• Universal daycare program hurts children and families
• Putting babies in daycare can lead to behaviour problems
• Another child care expert turns against daycare

About two weeks ago a print journalist with The Record of Waterloo County was assaulted, threatened, and robbed at a Caledonia barricade while the police just stood nearby and observed.  Today, two camera operators employed at CanWest's CH television in Hamilton have been attacked.  Some camera equipment was stolen as well.

Officials at the station say the men were filming as part of the ongoing coverage of the standoff in Caledonia, Ont. where aboriginal protesters took over a housing construction site in February.

The two were positioned across the street from a Canadian Tire parking lot where a number of protestors had gathered, and were shooting generic stock video footage known as 'b-roll' when they were apparently 'rushed' and assaulted.

CH's Managing Producer Debbie Walker says one of the men has been taken to a nearby hospital with a head injury.

The condition of the second man was unclear, although Walker notes the camera operator was well enough to follow the ambulance in his own vehicle.

It is unclear what led to the assault or who was responsible.

In the accompanying online video report from Global National, one of the cameramen says the police watched the "scuffle" from a short distance away and did not intervene.  He says the attack was interrupted by a private citizen.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has condemned the attack and issued a "statement of concern".  Those thugs better stop assaulting and robbing journalists, or else the premier will get even more concerned.

FWIW, Ontario Provincial Police are now investigating.

I hope that Reporters Without Borders is paying attention.