Charity Appeals On Tv. Do We Really Need This?

Yet another TV charity night aiming to raise millions for the starving people in Africa, to add to the millions already taken in.

Of all the appeals on our screens, this particular one is my favourite. It is easy to approach this fund raising in a negative way, many people find it hard to conjure up any enthusiasm as there really is no end to the suffering, especially in Africa which is in free fall to near collapse. Band Aid, Live 8, and many more keep puling at the heart strings with images that are harrowing.

Africa is not only a problem, it is our problem too. No charity is ever going to dictate to the governments of the African states on how to spend the Countrys wealth on the poor, because they will not listen. Corruption and fuedal wars will continue to bring death and famine whatever we do. so this accepted, what is the answer?

Primarily, I would say that the biggest change for the better could be the realisation of the Vatican in it's stupid stance on contraception, that has caused the HIV virus to explode amongst the poor Catholic nations. If only the Pope would stand up and say that "condoms are cool".

Comic Relief puts on a great show and i think that the stars on show are genuine in their beliefs, and good causes in the UK also benefit.

Nothing annoys me more in London than having these student charity workers leaping out in front of me like someone on an LSD trip, wanting me to part with my bank details as a donation.

I sometimes ask how much of the donation goes towards paying you ? Most just snarl and turn away. I just think of the old days when you could choose to put cash in a tin that they were holding.

I guess time have moved on, but one thing's for sure, any money that can give hope and bring a smile to a childs face is worth every penny. Well done guys and girls for making over £30 million.

Crime? What Crime?

We are always being comforted by the media, the Mayor, Police chiefs and Tony Blair that crime is on the decrease thanks to the streets being so full of police that we can't stop bumping into them.

Driving around the streets of London, seeing myself and hearing other peoples stories, however, paints a far from rosy picture of how things really are.

This is my actual account from this week of crime that is spreading like a virus, yet remains strangely out of the headline news.

A Regent Street jewellers being attacked at 3am by a gang with sledgehammers shattering the windows and helping themselves to expensive watches.

A group of eight black guys stabbing a man in Wood Green High Road. I gave a statement to the police as I saw them running away. I spent an hour yesterday signing a statement only to be told by the police officer that the guy stabbed doesn't wish to take the matter further, as it is gang related. Thanks you idiot for wasting everyones time and resources of our emergency services.

A series of four security van robberies as the guard carrys shop takings to the van. I saw two guys getting away on a moped outside Boots, again in Wood Green.

My local grocer tells me that he had a guy with a shotgun appear at the door, but fortunately it was locked.

Driving through Camden Town, one guy having some kind of drug trip in the middle of the road, yep, you guessed it, right in front of my car. (Oh no, not me again!)

Several store security guards told me of thefts on a major scale of people just walking into the shop and snatching rails of clothes, and running out, even silly stuff like cosmetics, toothpaste and soap are stolen.

So get real guys, London is developing into the wild west, with all sorts of crime and scams, but even worse is the increase in the use of guns and knives as over a hundred gangs have been identified by the police, including white,black and Asian mobs.

Footnote. Yesterday a young black, 15y.o. was stabbed in the leg and died after walking home from the cinema.

The Mayor Versus The Pigeons.

This photo was taken on a Sunday morning in Trafalgar Square and is a good indication of just what the Mayor is up against in his battle to rid the area of these " disease ridden pests".
The woman on the left has a shopping trolley containing enough bird seed to feed the whole of the country, and is breaking the law in doing so.
The street cleaner sweeps the seed up and the woman puts it back into the bag. The guy with the hawk is employed by the Mayor as the pigeons have a bit of a cowardly side and don't particularly want to take on this superb bird of prey. At the time that this picture was taken there was not one pigeon to be seen. However, about three hours later they were all back again as Hawkman had gone.
A lot of people, including myself, do have a soft spot for the pigeons as they have a bit of a tough life living with people. It has been said to me that they are vermin and carry loads of infectious diseases. My response is to ask whether they carry HIV virus, Syphilis, or any other disease that us humans actually do spread around. Kind of makes them think that perhaps we are the vermin? Let the pigeons live some kind of decent life without suffering the bully's who I have seen kick out at them. Someone once said that we caused the problem in the first place by domesticating these birds as they were once wild. Point taken!