Xinomorph

Some northerners really do nothing to quash their region's reputation of being uncivilised, alcoholic, working-class, violent, and generally oxygen-robbing scum.

For today, a 17-year old and a 15-year old boy were jailed for the manslaughter (although to me it sounds more like murder with a bit of GBH, assault, abuse, public nuisance, and quite possibly false imprisonment, thrown in for good measure) of 40-year old David Atherton who was suffering from alcoholism and had learning difficulties. Although part of a gang which inflicted regular beatings upon Mr Atherton, it was Craig Dodd and Ryan Palin who eventually killed him; after a particularly brutal beating, they picked Atherton up and literally threw him into the River Mersey.

Mr Atherton, originally from Wigan, Greater Manchester, was forced into letting the gang use his flat to drink and smoke cannabis.
The teenagers subjected him to regular abuse and humiliation, which they called "terroring".
This included pouring drinks and food on to him, daubing his face with ink and make-up, burning his hair, urinating on him and vandalising his flat. It also included regular beatings.

How this kind of behaviour can be acceptable in any corner of of a supposedly civilised society is beyond me. And is it my imagination, or are incidents of this kind increasing in regularity? I'm fairly sure that similar things have happened since time imemorial, but both the savageness and the regularity seems to be growing.

If anyone has any thoughts on that, or any ideas on why the whole of society seems to be going down the drain at the moment, do feel free to leave a comment.

The question of apologising for Britain's part in the slave trade seems just to not want to go away at the moment, so let's clear this up once and for all.

No, we should NOT apologise.

Any idea to the contrary is, quite frankly, utterly absurd. There's no doubt that horrible things happened during the trade, but to apologise for something for which we are not responsible - directly or otherwise - is not only ridiculous, but also trivialises the matter. No reasoned, balanced human being could possibly argue otherwise.

As if any further argument was needed, a recent Channel 4 documentary in which a black man traced his ancestors back to a village in Africa showed village elders saying that despite the horrors which went on, the slave trade was a GOOD THING, as it brought them the English language and civilisation.

Ultimately, if the people making these ridiculous demands really are so angered, then why have they not sought to undo the horrors of the past and return to their roots in Africa (or wherever)? They are total hypocrites, and do not deserve the column-inches which they are afforded.

Sometimes, I'm really not sure what to make of Ken Livingstone. He'll stick to his guns over a supposed insult to a Jewish newspaper reporter, and he rightly points out that London is subsidising the rest of the UK. But then he'll claim that 'Scottish' oil does too.

Having read all the stuff the SNP is putting out, it's most probably true that Scotland subsidises the rest of Britain if you take into account a classic international law interpretation of who the oil belongs to. It's northern England that is the major beneficiary of our subsidy, and Northern Ireland as well.

Yes. Of course.

Whatever will he come up with next?