The injured horse, the vet and Bristol police

I read with horror this morning about the plight of a horse in Bitton, near Bristol, who was forced to suffer and die slowly because police insisted that only a vet could put it down.

A girl was riding the animal in Golden Valley Lane when the pair were hit by a car.

The rider was thrown clear, but the horse suffered horrific injuries after hitting and rolling over the car.

Police arrived on the scene, along with a local licensed firearms owner, within a few minutes.

With at least one badly broken leg, suspected internal bleeding and going into shock, those on the scene had to hold the horse on the floor, but police officers would not allow the gunsman to put the animal down.

They insisted that only a vet or slaughterman could do the job and almost an hour went by, when the horse finally died in agony.

Insensitive, inhumane and frankly pathetic.

There have been several incidents of speeding cars hitting horses in Bristol recently, leading to calls for lower speed limits and harsher penalties.

Bristol City Council Refuse Strikes – Claim Compensation!

Bristol City Council’s sub-contractor for waste collection and street-cleansing, SITA, finally agreed a 3-year pay deal with its workers in the Unite union yesterday (Wednesday), that will enable them to end the industrial action of the last few weeks.

Waste and recycling will now be collected as normal and roads and pavements will be swept again.

But how did it get this far anyway?

Unite believes that SITA was using the recession as an excuse to effectively cut workers’ pay. The union calculated that SITA was making a healthy profit from the council, but not sharing.

Because the council services for which we pay so much each year were interrupted, we are within our rights to claim compensation.

Write, quoting your council tax account number and requesting a rebate to: 

Local Taxation Officer
Bristol City Council
PO Box 968
Amelia Court
Pipe Lane
Bristol
BS99 1ZG

or email: council.tax@bristol.gov.uk

The more of us that do it, the more likely they are to listen.

Can Black People be Racist? (or the Bristol Councillor who called her colleague a Coconut)

We heard last week that Bristol City Councillor of Afro-Caribbean origin has apologised after calling an Indian colleague a ‘coconut’.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Shirley Brown (nee Marshall), who is councillor for the Ashley ward in Bristol (comprising St Pauls, St Werburghs and Montpelier), used the racist term to criticise her Conservative colleague Jay Jethwa, who arrived in Britain in the mid-1980s, and is now councillor for Stockwood.

Before using the term ‘coconut’, Brown even explained that it refers to people of Asian origin who are ‘brown on the outside and white inside’, which amounts to criticising people who try to turn their backs on their own culture and adopt the outlook and trappings of the majority white community in Britain.

Councillor Jay Jethwa said, “I have never come across such a personal and upsetting racial comment directed at me. All I was doing was exercising my democratic right to speak and express my opinions, so to have those kind of words directed at me was a real shock and very upsetting. It’s a huge insult to me.

“I knew exactly what it meant as soon as I heard it. It means someone who is black on the outside and white on the inside and definitely racially related.

“For this to have come from a black person, who uses this term specifically for people who come from my background, is just unacceptable and uncalled for.”

Brown said during the heated debate, “In our culture we have a word for you and before I go into what I want to say and my statement, is that we have a word for you and, which any in this city would understand, is a coconut.”

Other councillors, members of the media and the general public were, obviously, outraged by the comments. At least one complaint was made to the police and Brown may face criminal charges. The council’s Standards Committee is also investigating and will discuss the matter behind closed doors on 9th April.

Conservative councillor John Goulandris said, “Everyone should be offended by Shirley Brown’s use of this profoundly unpleasant racist remark. Ironically, this ugly utterance has come from someone who proclaims herself something of an expert at recognising racism in others.”

Brown has since made an apology to Jethwa, suggesting that she had not intended to be insulting, but added – and here’s the incredible bit: “How can I be a racist when I’m black?”

What could she have meant by that?

Perhaps we should all remind her that being black doesn’t automatically indemnify someone to make racist remarks about others.

In true local authority style, it is possible to contact Shirley Brown to let her know what you think on the subject: Contact details for Bristol’s Racist Councillor.

Shirley Brown has also been in hot water recently for only attending the minimum number of council meetings required to receive full pay for the role – she spends the majority of her time at home in the United States.

Sources:

The original story is here at the BBC Bristol and The Sun websites.

The update about police action is here at thisisbristol.co.uk.

Thanks to the Bristol Blogger for this – brilliant!

Business Grants for Switching to Renewable Energy

Businesses in the West are being offered grants to help them switch to renewable sources of energy.

The South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) is injecting an extra £2m into a fund called Regen SW, which offers money and advice to help firms go green. SWRDA has now invested more than £5.3 million in Regen SW since 2002. 

The extra money will allow Regen SW to beef up its support to businesses.  It will also look at speeding up the transition to a low-carbon economy in the South West by promoting sustainable energy.

One local business that has already benefited from a Regen grant is The Mendip Centre at Blagdon, near Bristol. It is the headquarters of Holt Farm and the Yeo Valley dairy. It is currently installing a 130kW biomass boiler, which generates renewable heat. It is estimated it will save them £11,000 a year.

‘Racist’ Prince Harry’s ‘Little Paki Friend’ Wasn’t Offended

The Pakistani soldier at the centre of the Prince Harry race row has sprung to his defence.

It’s after the Royal grandson was caught on film three years ago referring to one of his platoon members as “our little Paki friend”.

The Prince has actually called Ahmed Khan to apologise, and apparently he told Harry to forget about it, that he has no hard feelings and didn’t take offense.

So why was everyone else so outraged? After all, however racist ‘Paki’ has been in the past and is still in some circles, offense, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Ahmed Khan knew that Harry meant no harm. And that’s the end of it.

Thank God. I can go back to calling my Australian friends ‘Aussies’ and my fellow British citizens ‘Brits’, without expecting to be mobbed.

You just lost The Game

Came across The Game last night.

The aim is to beat the Prime Minister or the President of the US.

And the sole objective is not the think about The Game.

You just lost The Game

Can Apple Survive Losing Steve Jobs?

Apple’s share price has dipped by more than 10% after it was announced that CEO Steve Jobs is to take a medical leave of absence from running the company.

Does the brand really rely that much on the man at the healm.

Sure, the way that people work, live and play (communicate, listen to music, exercise) has been revolutionised thanks to Jobs, whose leadership has paved the way for innovation and inspiration – the Mac II, the pizza-box LCs and Perfomas, the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (which is still worth $1,000 second hand), the iMac, Powerbook, iPod, iTunes and not least the iPhone.

But will Apple survive?

Of course it will. After all, the competition is Microsoft.

Dream Job – Sit On A Beach for $100k

Here is a job to die for.

Live on an island off the Australian coast and update your blog.

Term: 6 months

Workload: 12 hours per month

Application deadline: 22nd February

Salary: $100k

Job duties include:

• Live on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
• Stroll the white island sands
• Soak up the sun
• Snorkel the reef
• Report experiences via weekly blogs, photo diaries, and video updates
• Feed the turtles, watch the whales

Requirements:

• Must be an excellent communicator, able to speak and write in English
• Strong swimming skills and a love of snorkeling and scuba diving

According to the Daily Telegraph, within the first 24 hours 850,000 people had clicked on the site.

Look outside. Right now. Is it any wonder?

Google Analytics, Googlemail (Gmail) and Web Statistics

Google Analytics needs a Gmail account

Several months ago a colleague added Google Analytics code to a website and set me up as a user. A warning came from him though: “You’ll need a Gmail account to view reports. It’s a new thing and it says so on the ‘Add Users’ page.”

So signing up to Gmail and linking my existing Yahoo account to it, on which my other Analytics accounts are hooked, I wasn’t expecting to…

1. see none of the new reports
2. receive no useful help from the Help tool
3. find nothing in forums and blogspace

After months of trying to work it out, I have found out today that if you signed up to Google Analytics before the change-over, then you still need to use your previous account details.

This kind of reverse logic is a real-life barrier to development on the web.

Google – sort it out!

How racist is ‘Paki’… Response to Prince Harry using the word ‘Paki’.

Quote from Ingrid Seward, Majesty Magazine (courtesy of BBC Online)

“I think it was a private video, he was talking about a friend of his, they were having fun and they were calling each other nicknames and I think it’s been taken out of context.

“Yes, it would be very offensive if Harry went around calling people Pakis in a racist way, but this was not meant, you know, it was meant more of a nickname.
“I mean, Harry’s mates call him Ginge or Ginger – that could be equally offensive to people with red hair.”