Balls up

Photograph: Ian Nicholson/PA

Ed Balls is up for it and rightly so. In answer to Ms Shoesmith's triumph at the Court of Appeal he said, "I judged, on the basis of that independent report [which 'catalogued catastrophic management failures on such a devastating scale'] - and on the advice of departmental officials and lawyers - that the right and responsible course of action was for me to use my statutory powers to remove the director of children's services from her position with immediate effect."


Good for him. A procedural cock-up that gets people off the hook has to be seen in the context of the endless procedural cock-ups that led to the death of a defenceless child, supposedly under the care of the Haringey Council who paid their Director of Social Services £133,000 a year to do the job. Procedure did little to protect baby Peter Connelly despite receiving 60 visits from social workers, police and doctors in the last eight weeks of his life. A failure in procedure should not reward failure. 

Religious tolerance in modern Britain

(Source Metroploitan Police)

These Muslim thugs have been convicted after pleading guilty to GBH with intent after  battering a Religious Education teacher in the name of their God because he was not a Muslim. This did not take place in an Islamic State but in England.

British Christian MP David Simpson has raised his concern over the treatment of Christians in the United Kingdom and around the world in a debate in the House of Commons this week.

Is anyone listening?

'The Beast'

The US Presidential limo offers all the security that is available but "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" as was evidenced when 'the beast' fell foul of US security getting stuck while crawling a over a security speed hump at their Embassy in Dublin.


After the initial shock, bystanders saw the funny side of the incident but there is more to come with the 'three point turn' in Downing Street. Some interesting gestures from the guy doing the guiding!

Coptic warning

From Voice of the Copts, a salutary warning directed at Germany but equally relevant to all who fear the demise of Christianity in Muslim countries as already witnessed by the Copts in Egypt.

"We are all in this together." (16)

Curtains Mr Fix-it?

The Tracy Emin of horticulture?

Believe it or not, this is the skeleton of a garden feature at the Chelsea Flower Show which runs from 24 - 28 May 2011 and for which tickets are already sold out. Yes, the Chelsea Flower Show which is becoming ever more bizarre. I have never been but I know people who have. Reports convince me that armchair viewing is far preferable. Apparently, unless you are in the Royal party the chances of a good view amidst the hoards of visitors is strictly limited.

One feature that will be partially visible is Diarmuid Gavin's flying garden which has to be a worse joke than the previous worst Irish horticultural joke, ie, when a man shouts from the upstairs window to the man laying the turf, "Green side up!". It seems that Diarmuid Gavin is trying to be to horticulture what Tracey Emin is to art. At least Tracey Emin is down to earth!

"We are all in this together" (15)

The Big Society.