Suspicious deaths at Stepping Hill Hospital

Bill Dickinson, a 82 year old male is what seems the fourth victim in a row of suspicious deaths in Stepping Hill Hospital. The man died on New Year’s Eve, contamination of his saline infuse is thought to be the cause of his death. A 46 year old male nurse has been arrested in suspicion of contaminating saline infusions of at least 16 patients, 4 of them are now dead. The arrest has caused a huge panic under staff members and regular patients of the hospital, many of them which rely on the hospital since it is the only one in the area.

Earlier, a female nurse was arrested as well but charges against her have been dropped due to the lack of evidence. For the 46 year old male nurse however, charges seem to stick and he could face a hefty prison sentence.

My reaction

I was quite shocked when I read about this because if there is one place where you should be able to trust people it is the hospital. You trust these people to take care of you and that they will do anything to save your life. When I read the story it also reminded me of some similar incident in The Netherlands, where a nurse was also accused of murdering her own patients. I believe charges against her were also dropped due to a lack of evidence or a mistake in building the case. Scary stuff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16433003

Movie-like robbery leaves police baffled

Thieves in Manchester dug a tunnel over 30 meters long with the intend to rob a cash machine. They completed their work on January 2^nd, stealing only 6000 pounds in the process. The thieves probably miscalculated the amount of money they expected to be in the cash machine. Usually during Bank Holiday the cash machines get emptied after January 2^nd but for some reason this has been done earlier, leaving the robbers with far less money. Police estimates it took the robbers over 6 months to complete the tunnel, which leaves us with a question. Why didn’t anyone see anything suspicious during these months

Personally I could not believe that this has actually happened in real life. When I read it, it seemed like some crazy Hollywood movie plot. Think ‘The Italian Job’. This has to be one of the most awesome acts of thievery I have ever read. Hopefully the thieves will be able to enjoy their 6000 pounds, which I think are well deserved after all the hard work.

                        Entrance of the tunnel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16586214

Justice system fails, again.

The biggest police prosecution trial ever collapsed, the trial which involves the prosecution of 8 policemen who were suspected of fabricating a murder case in the 80’s. The case involves the famous Cardif Three, the three men who were convicted in the 90’s for the murder of Lynette White. White, who was a prostitute in Cardiff was murdered in 1988 in her apartment, where she received her clients. Two years later, in 1990, three men were arrested and found guilty of killing White, however they got released in 1992 because of lack of solid evidence. In 2003 the real killer admitted to the murder of White, one of her clients.

This leaves us with the question why the three men were arrested and even found guilty, this is what the recent police trial tried to clarify. The 8 policemen were accused of incriminating the 3 men who were originally arrested and convicted for the murder. The prosecutor also set out to prove that the accusations in the trial of 1990 was largely based on assumptions, theories and imagination. Certainly a case worth clarifying. However, it seems the prosecution slipped and did not make a solid case against the 8 policemen because the case recently got dismissed by the court. A spokesmen for one of the accused policemen claimed that the case got dismissed because of the prosecution failed to disclose certain evidence.

The 8 policemen are now released from prison, the wrongly accused men are free and the real killer is in jail. This still leaves a question were the system of justice failed and wrongly imprisoned the three men.

My opinion

The moment I read this article I realized some parts were quite similar to a case in The Netherlands, ‘ De Puttense Moordzaak ‘. In this case too, the prosecution and justice system slipped up and jailed the wrong people. This proves the justice system is not one hundred percent reliable, although mistakes are human, people expect the prosecution and the system in general to work. The case shows policemen who likely had to do with some sort of fabrication of evidence their reasons for doing so however remain a mystery. In the article there is also mentioned how the government spend millions of pounds on this case and that it was a complete waste. Arguably it is since the case failed miserably, but I still think it is important to clarify where and how it went wrong in the 1990’s murder case.

Clarkson to be sacked over comments ?

Jeremy Clarkson, the charismatic host of popular television car show 'Top Gear', made the news because he made some rather controversial comments on BBC's The One Show. Clarkson said this in reply to a question, asking him what his thoughts on the public strikers were. He said that he would have them all executed in front of their families. The talk show hosts reacted somewhat shocked but carried on with the show. Reactions on Twitter however, were not so mild. People ousted their anger with Clarkson’s comments and even calling for him to be fired by his current employer, the BBC. Meanwhile, British politicians also commented on Clarkson’s comments. While most of the politicians feel Clarkson should apologize for the comments they also think that Clarkson didn’t mean it the way most people think he did. Prime Minister David Cameron said he thought it was a silly thing to say but he was also sure Clarkson did not mean it.

The strike that Clarkson commented on has been going on for quite a while now. People in the public sector feel they are being treated unfairly in relation to their pension plans and salary. The government wants people working in this sector to deposit a larger share of their salary towards their pension plans, while at the same time also cutting their salary in general.

The fuzz about Clarkson certainly isn’t over yet, but it remains to see if the BBC is willing to fire an employee responsible for a show which attracts millions of viewers worldwide.

My opinion

While I can understand why the general public is upset about Clarkson’s comments, they do after all suggest killing people for their freedom of speech, I think they should be taken lightly. If you even know Jeremy Clarkson just a little bit, you would know that he would never mean such a thing. It is just his reaction which was probably meant in a funny way but clearly a lot of people feel that he has crossed the line. Clarkson probably already realized how upset the world is over his comments and will apologize to whoever he might have offended.

You can view the clip of Clarkson in The One Show in the article in the link.

 Source

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15977813

Jamie Oliver, for a better school meal.

Jamie Oliver, for a better school meal.

Jamie Oliver, the famous TV chef and cooking book writer is once again upset with the way schools are handling their school menu's. A couple years back the TV chef was also campaigning for school to change their menu's and serve their kids healthier food. He did this with great success and even caused the government to review their laws and regulations for school concerning food. But now more and more school are once again trying to put soda, snacks and generally unhealthy junk food back on the menu. Not all school were happy with Mr. Oliver’s campaign since snacks also had the best profit margin of all foods sold in school cafeteria. Because kids could not get their snacks from school anymore, some kids even started selling snacks brought from home to their class mates.

Now some school are trying to get out of the government regulations by turning their school’s into academies. Since the government has less of a influence on how academies operate, they are able to put fast food back onto the menu. Now this information has come to the attention of Oliver and he’s is pushing to the government and the school to make necessary changes.

My opinion

I believe it is a good thing that Jamie Oliver pays attention to the school diets and in general food in the UK. Not too long ago I think I read somewhere that UK is still very high on the list of the most obese countries in the world. Therefore I think it is a very good idea to educate kids about the risks of fast food to their health. Another good thing would be to make the kids aware of the fact that you can eat some fast food but you should not eat this daily.

The London Riots

Since my time doing the Speaker's Corner assignment is devoted to this subject I thought it would be interesting  to write a little bit about this subject as well. My subject 'The London Riots' refers to the events which took place at the beginning of August this year.

Summary:

My subject 'The London Riots' refers to the events which took place at the beginning of August this year. When the police shot a 29 year old male called Mark Duggan in Tottenham on the 4th of August friends, family and people from the neighbourhood organised a peaceful protest march. As the march continued the situation got more grim when police showed up and told the protesters to leave, both sides getting more aggressive as time went by. This eventually evolved into a fight, or riot, against the local police. By using social media, young sympathizers of Duggan began to notify their friends. As more and more people got to know about the police shooting and the unfortunate death of Duggan the riot grew. By this time, the riots spread to other impoverished parts of London and the reasons to riot changed as well. What started as a protest against police violence changed into a desperate cry for attention by a generation of youthful people who feel the government has abandoned them. The death of Duggan seemed to be the trigger for these people to let the authorities know about their situation. Many of the people who took part in the riots are part of a large group of people who have poor education and big unemployment rate. However, as the riots grew even people who did not have anything to do with the cause joined the riot, they just joined for the sake of rioting.

Opinion

I think this is a very obvious signal for a large population of youthful people that their government is not doing enough to aid their situation. Many of these people are the same age as myself but lack any education or reasonable chance to get a job later on. They often come from broken homes, meaning their father or mother abandoned them. Without a school or job to attend to they often hang on the streets and cause all sorts of trouble like robbing or burglary. While they obviously difficult lives I think this riot will only have a negative impact on their situation. The rioting neighbourhoods are closely being watched by authorities to prevent future riots and their unemployment en school drop-out rate remains the same. However, I hope the government interpret this as a signal to take a serious look at these areas and come up with a way to help these people. Otherwise I cannot see how future riots and uprisings can be avoided.


Sources 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14668770
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14657456
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15426720
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14931987
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Mark_Duggan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/08/mark-duggan-profile-tottenham-shooting

Sharia Zones

Source: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ae5_1320786379

Summary:

This clip is about a member of the English Defence League, a rightwing activist group, Tommy Robinson who is showing a camera crew around in the neighbourhood he grew up in. During the process of filming, Tommy comments about how Islam took over his neighbourhood. Because Robinson is a well known member of English Defence League he gets recognised by a Muslim guy. The Muslim walks up to the car Robinson is in and confronts him about his comments on Islam and accuses him of racism. In response, Robinson says he thinks that the Islam is a fascist religion and that Sharia Law ( traditional Muslim rules, literally meaning ‘Law of God’) has no place in English society. Because Robinson feels the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous, as he says more of ‘them’ will show up, he begins to drive away. While still arguing , Robinson gets punched in the face by the Muslim guy.

Reaction:

Of course Robinson is provoking the Muslim guy by trying to have a discussion with him. The way the Muslim guy reacts to Robinson’s statements however is incredibly stupid. He immediately accuses Robinson of racism and hatred towards Islam in general and by slapping Robinson in the face he proves his exact point. I think it would be better if the Muslim guy would have tried to have a decent discussion to prove Robinson wrong about Muslims having no place in English society. According to Robinson whole neighbourhoods are being ‘invaded’ by Muslims who practice Sharia Law, thus making it nearly impossible for people to visit that particular area.

Obviously this issue does not come to a surprise being from Holland, we have also have a lot of problems regarding integration. In The Netherlands there are also area's where there is a large Muslim community but I do not think it is as worse as being described in the video.