Last night I came home mid way through a news programme on TV just as the presenter said, " young people trusted him,they were betrayed, he did evil things to young children. He did awful things to the elderly and now he is no longer with us.." My immediate thought was - has Nick Clegg resigned? Alas, they were talking of course about Jimmy Savile. Clegg remains in post.
Last weekend Rio Ferdinand, Anton Ferdinand, Jason Roberts and several other black footballers refused to wear anti racism campaign kick it out shirts. They were angry at the lack of action by the campaign, particularly the F A's inconsistent punishments handed out to players found guilyt of racism , such as former England captain John Terry and Liverpool's Louis Suarez..
Some players have said the organisation has not done enough to combat racism in the game; but just how much can this tiny organisation do?
The football League quickly responded that it could not afford to fund the campaign.
The Premier league donates about 0.1% of the money it raises from Tv to the campaign.
Kick it out has an annual budget of about £450,000.
If the premier league wants to stamp racism out of the game, it needs to take drastic action, now. They should put some proper money behind it and put some rules in place. Force clubs to fine players found guilty of racism and give the proceeds of the fine to the campaign. As i have called for previously, clubs should be sacking employees for discrimination or racist abuse just like any other walk of life.
Professional footballers live a very privileged life, the likes of which most of us can only dream of. They are paid massive amounts of money to play a game they love and enjoy all the trappings of fame and hero worship we can throw at them. Rio Ferdinand is rumoured to earn £125,000 each week.
If he wants to make a real difference, not just to football, but the lives of many many black men and women who suffer racism and discrimination daily, he should put his hand in his bulging wallet and help fund it.
Chelsea football club has an annual wage bill of around £172m, Manchester United pay in region of £150m - the wage bill for the premier league is over a billion pounds each year.
Surely, with those obscene amounts of money been given to the starts of the game, they could easily afford to give vast amounts of cash to support the under fire organisation.
In a previous blog, i called for the likes of Clarke Carlisle and the governors of the game to step up to plate and force proper action from clubs and players. The PFA the FA, FIFA, and all its its top representatives need to acknowledge that there is still a huge issue with racism in the game, and face it head on. Denials and down playing is not working. Expecting a tiny, poorly funded organisation like kick it out to eradicate the problem by educating at grass roots level and leaning slightly on the FA is suicidal for the game.
This country's National game's reputation is in danger of being worse than it was in the 1980's. Players banned for racism, fans jailed for assaulting players on the field, and Revelations about Hillsborough has dragged the football in this country right back to the gutter. It is down to its millionaire participants to rescue it rather than being the victims of it.
Thursday 25 October 2012
Thursday 18 October 2012
Yesterdays unemployment figures were welcomed in parliament by a smug David Cameron shouting across the dispatch box to Labour leader Ed Miliband that he should make himself comfortable because "we are going nowhere". Typical Cameron, gloating over his success while millions are still unemployed and there are more damning cuts yet to come.
As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the smug just keep getting smugger. Is he and his millionaires cabinet really so out of touch with reality that they believe we are stupid enough to believe him?
While he continues to pursue his idealistic attacks on benefits, workers rights and the elderly, the well who who bankroll his party are looking forward to £40,000 tax breaks next April. In comparison, many people living in poverty on council houses will be preparing to be taxed for having spare bedrooms.
The new bedroom tax will see families with two same sex children under the age of 16,living in a 3 bedroom house, losing 10% of their housing benefits.Families with a boy and a girl under the age of 10 living in a 3 bedroom house will also be told that they are under crowded. Couples of working age, whose children have left home will lose even more. Which ever way you look at this policy it will only affect the poorest people in society.
Changes later next year will see the introduction of universal credits to replace the present system. This will mean one single payment for all benefits paid into an account of one house holder. Claimants, many of whom may never even have previously had a bank account, let alone had to budget, could suddenly find they have hundreds of pounds in cash. Housing benefit is currently paid direct to councils or housing associations, and yet there is still thousands of pounds of arrears. These arrears will inevitably increase when tenants are expected to pay the rent them selves. Payday Loan companies will be rubbing their hands together with glee as debt and hardship will undoubtedly increase. The idea according to Ian Duncan Smith, the failed former Tory leader who created the universal credit, is to prepare people for work.
By that they mean forcing people to take work that is low paid and potentially in poor working conditions if the government press on with plans to virtually scrap workers rights and health and safety regulations.
The increase in employment is thanks mainly to part time poorly paid jobs and will probably be short lived as many of them will have been seasonal temporary jobs created by events such as the London Olympics. While Cameron brags of the lowest unemployment figures in 15months 10% of Yorkshire remain out of work. Further North the figures are worse.
Cameron's project is simply to crush the poor in the North and sacrifice everything to save his beloved London. As he battles to save the banks and businesses in the city, he stands by and watches the rest of the country simply decay. The North east of England has suffered mass unemployment and hardship for years, caused by decisions made down south.
The bankers and high rollers in the capital caused their own downfall through greed and selfishness, while the poor in the rest of the country are expected to foot the bill for bailing them out.
Industry in the North is confined to history as the government harp on and and on about a third runway at Heathrow or high speed rail links to the capital.
Why not invest some of those billions it would cost to protect the city of London and the borough of Westminster in the rest of England.
Why not pump money into building more houses. Not just affordable houses, council houses. Affordable houses are no use to any one if the cannot afford to eat.
Fix the roads, build houses, regenerate the thousands of communities crippled by years of neglect from governments past and present. Instead of making statements about changes to planning to boost building projects, put the cash up. Mass house building by local authorities funded by central government would put workers back to work, and young people who have never had a chance, the opportunity for apprenticeships and skill learning that will benefit generations to come.
With those building sites would come money been spent in local economies and get people off their back side and restore some dignity and pride to the rest of the country that Cameron, Clegg, Osbourn and co seem so determined to send to damnation.
As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the smug just keep getting smugger. Is he and his millionaires cabinet really so out of touch with reality that they believe we are stupid enough to believe him?
While he continues to pursue his idealistic attacks on benefits, workers rights and the elderly, the well who who bankroll his party are looking forward to £40,000 tax breaks next April. In comparison, many people living in poverty on council houses will be preparing to be taxed for having spare bedrooms.
The new bedroom tax will see families with two same sex children under the age of 16,living in a 3 bedroom house, losing 10% of their housing benefits.Families with a boy and a girl under the age of 10 living in a 3 bedroom house will also be told that they are under crowded. Couples of working age, whose children have left home will lose even more. Which ever way you look at this policy it will only affect the poorest people in society.
Changes later next year will see the introduction of universal credits to replace the present system. This will mean one single payment for all benefits paid into an account of one house holder. Claimants, many of whom may never even have previously had a bank account, let alone had to budget, could suddenly find they have hundreds of pounds in cash. Housing benefit is currently paid direct to councils or housing associations, and yet there is still thousands of pounds of arrears. These arrears will inevitably increase when tenants are expected to pay the rent them selves. Payday Loan companies will be rubbing their hands together with glee as debt and hardship will undoubtedly increase. The idea according to Ian Duncan Smith, the failed former Tory leader who created the universal credit, is to prepare people for work.
By that they mean forcing people to take work that is low paid and potentially in poor working conditions if the government press on with plans to virtually scrap workers rights and health and safety regulations.
The increase in employment is thanks mainly to part time poorly paid jobs and will probably be short lived as many of them will have been seasonal temporary jobs created by events such as the London Olympics. While Cameron brags of the lowest unemployment figures in 15months 10% of Yorkshire remain out of work. Further North the figures are worse.
Cameron's project is simply to crush the poor in the North and sacrifice everything to save his beloved London. As he battles to save the banks and businesses in the city, he stands by and watches the rest of the country simply decay. The North east of England has suffered mass unemployment and hardship for years, caused by decisions made down south.
The bankers and high rollers in the capital caused their own downfall through greed and selfishness, while the poor in the rest of the country are expected to foot the bill for bailing them out.
Industry in the North is confined to history as the government harp on and and on about a third runway at Heathrow or high speed rail links to the capital.
Why not invest some of those billions it would cost to protect the city of London and the borough of Westminster in the rest of England.
Why not pump money into building more houses. Not just affordable houses, council houses. Affordable houses are no use to any one if the cannot afford to eat.
Fix the roads, build houses, regenerate the thousands of communities crippled by years of neglect from governments past and present. Instead of making statements about changes to planning to boost building projects, put the cash up. Mass house building by local authorities funded by central government would put workers back to work, and young people who have never had a chance, the opportunity for apprenticeships and skill learning that will benefit generations to come.
With those building sites would come money been spent in local economies and get people off their back side and restore some dignity and pride to the rest of the country that Cameron, Clegg, Osbourn and co seem so determined to send to damnation.
Thursday 11 October 2012
Last October thousands of people lined the streets to pay tribute to the late Sir Jimmy Savile. Sir Jimmy, considered by many a National treasure, was the former star of pirate radio and the very first host of TVs Top of the pops. Probably best known for making kids' dreams come true on Jim'll fix it, Sir Jimmy was rumoured to have raised £40million for charity and was knighted in 1990.
Just twelve short months later it seems there were also better kept rumours about Savile throughout his career.
It has emerged that rumours of child abuse followed Savile for decades. Apparently, it was well known in television and radio that the fund raiser liked to keep the company of young girls.
The BBC, the self appointed highest authority in the land, "auntie beeb" as it was known for years, is accused of covering up the rumours to protect its star.
A long list of celebrity journalists and presenters have come forward to say that they knew of the rumours. Some claim to have seen the vile behaviour first hand, some even claim to have been victims.
Janet Street Porter, one of the Best known and influential women journalists of the last 30 years, told BBC question time last week that she heard the rumours years ago. She went on to say she did not push the issue or report Mr Saville because she feared no one would listen.
If the vile accusations aimed at Saville are true, his actions were the despicable atrocities of a disgusting, manipulative predator who abused his position and abused the trust that the people of this country had bestowed upon him.
I have long been of the opinion that paedophiles are evil, sick nasty bullying animals, but also that they are ill and possibly cannot help themselves when faced with temptation. What some of them manage to do is avoid that temptation and not put themselves in a position where they will be near vulnerable children.
What Jimmy Saville managed to do, is build his life around them and build a reputation so untouchable that he could use his trust to violate the innocent children whom he was supposed to be serving.
What Saville is accused of may never be proven as the accused is no longer able to defend himself.
If the likes of Janet Street Porter and her colleagues had showed some courage, perhaps Sir Jimmy could have been held to account.
It is morally obscene that these people chose to say nothing while Savile was alive in order to further or maintain their own careers. They had a morale and professional obligation as journalists and as human beings to step in and protect the children that Savile and his seedy circle of depraved friends including twice convicted paedophile Gary Glitter, preyed upon. It is appalling to think that in order to survive in the industry these people simply ignored the shocking and outrageous behaviour of one of TVs best kept dirty secret.
The victims were not only betrayed by the people who assaulted and raped them, but they were betrayed and sacrificed by the people who turned a blind eye. Guilt should not simply lay at the door of Gary Glitter and the dead fund raiser. Those that looked the other way or tolerated the shocking behaviour should feel deeply ashamed for their part in the years of abuse.
Glitter faces arrest again for his connections to the allegations but who else will face charges? Sir Jimmy is in danger of posthumously losing his knighthood. If the stories are true then he deserved to lose his freedom and his dignity, as he took away the dignity of the children he took advantage of.
The BBC should be investigated thoroughly, and if they are found to have covered up the criminal actions of its employees, they should be fined massively and who ever made the decision to cover up the actions should face prosecution.
Several well known female presenters have claimed they were molested by other well known celebrities, some of whom may still be in positions of respect, trust and privilege. This is simply unacceptable and the people involved need to be rooted out and named and shamed and prosecuted. It is not sufficient to suggest that there was a culture back then that was it OK to do those things. It was not.
Just twelve short months later it seems there were also better kept rumours about Savile throughout his career.
It has emerged that rumours of child abuse followed Savile for decades. Apparently, it was well known in television and radio that the fund raiser liked to keep the company of young girls.
The BBC, the self appointed highest authority in the land, "auntie beeb" as it was known for years, is accused of covering up the rumours to protect its star.
A long list of celebrity journalists and presenters have come forward to say that they knew of the rumours. Some claim to have seen the vile behaviour first hand, some even claim to have been victims.
Janet Street Porter, one of the Best known and influential women journalists of the last 30 years, told BBC question time last week that she heard the rumours years ago. She went on to say she did not push the issue or report Mr Saville because she feared no one would listen.
If the vile accusations aimed at Saville are true, his actions were the despicable atrocities of a disgusting, manipulative predator who abused his position and abused the trust that the people of this country had bestowed upon him.
I have long been of the opinion that paedophiles are evil, sick nasty bullying animals, but also that they are ill and possibly cannot help themselves when faced with temptation. What some of them manage to do is avoid that temptation and not put themselves in a position where they will be near vulnerable children.
What Jimmy Saville managed to do, is build his life around them and build a reputation so untouchable that he could use his trust to violate the innocent children whom he was supposed to be serving.
What Saville is accused of may never be proven as the accused is no longer able to defend himself.
If the likes of Janet Street Porter and her colleagues had showed some courage, perhaps Sir Jimmy could have been held to account.
It is morally obscene that these people chose to say nothing while Savile was alive in order to further or maintain their own careers. They had a morale and professional obligation as journalists and as human beings to step in and protect the children that Savile and his seedy circle of depraved friends including twice convicted paedophile Gary Glitter, preyed upon. It is appalling to think that in order to survive in the industry these people simply ignored the shocking and outrageous behaviour of one of TVs best kept dirty secret.
The victims were not only betrayed by the people who assaulted and raped them, but they were betrayed and sacrificed by the people who turned a blind eye. Guilt should not simply lay at the door of Gary Glitter and the dead fund raiser. Those that looked the other way or tolerated the shocking behaviour should feel deeply ashamed for their part in the years of abuse.
Glitter faces arrest again for his connections to the allegations but who else will face charges? Sir Jimmy is in danger of posthumously losing his knighthood. If the stories are true then he deserved to lose his freedom and his dignity, as he took away the dignity of the children he took advantage of.
The BBC should be investigated thoroughly, and if they are found to have covered up the criminal actions of its employees, they should be fined massively and who ever made the decision to cover up the actions should face prosecution.
Several well known female presenters have claimed they were molested by other well known celebrities, some of whom may still be in positions of respect, trust and privilege. This is simply unacceptable and the people involved need to be rooted out and named and shamed and prosecuted. It is not sufficient to suggest that there was a culture back then that was it OK to do those things. It was not.
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