Not to be sneezed at

I heard from an insider that the Manx ‘Third Sector’ have been grumbling at their lack of consultation on a possible flu pandemic. Some even appear to have said so at a recent ‘emergency meeting’ with government officials when the first news of Swine Flu in Mexico broke. It must have been a classic meeting, given that some politicians and government officials knew less about the subject than the charitable bods they were supposed to be briefing.
Maybe this is why Dr Kishore, the Director of Public Health, is giving a lunchtime lecture on the topic to them on 22nd June. Given what I’ve seen, it might also explain why it’s only expected to take an hour.
You see, various strands of the ‘Third Sector’ were invited to explanatory talks by public health officials here two years ago. I was at the one for ‘faith leaders’, and those who bothered to attend and show interest continued to talk to each other and health officials.
This is how the Flu Ethics Committee I’ve been part of at Nobles Hospital came together and has continued to work ever since. In the case of certain faith groups and their preference for top-down structures and hording power and knowledge, it might also explain why not even their fellow ‘professionals’ (never mind their congregations) ever shared the vital information given then by the public health officials.
Given the prolific publicity about their Manx ‘charitable work’ it was also revealing that evangelicals could only put up one attendee at the original meeting and have never been back, despite open offers of a seat at the table.
Maybe they took the hump when, after having had it patiently explained to all that the thing to do was avoid public gatherings, the sole attendee said it was ‘impossible’ to close a profitable little café they run because it was a ‘valuable community outreach’. He was then told, not so patiently, that knowingly contributing to the spread of a contagious disease by operating a business after being told to persist by a public health official was an offence punishable by large fines and years of imprisonment.
Many ‘Third Sector’ busybodies (again, predominantly the faith-led, cult-like ones) also want to turn threats of a crisis into a funding bid for their dubious ‘community services’. But I’m not sure that anything which targets and socially isolates the vulnerable, destroys families which don’t fit the Stepford ideal and generally turns their victims into vegetables dependent on religious cults is a ‘community service’ in the first place. Certainly not one worthy of public funding.
For the benefit of anyone worried I’ll lay out some simple facts established by recent UK government work on the Mexican outbreak.
The pattern suggests something closer to the 1957 flu outbreak than the much deadlier 1918 Spanish Flu will be this winter’s flu strain. It’s milder than feared, will kill less and the immediate danger will simply be identifying the symptoms as the HSN1 strain, not common or garden winter flu. The remedy is for doctors to treat all winter flu as the dangerous stuff just in case.
Providing you look out for vulnerable neighbours and relatives, ring your doctor instead of rushing to the surgery or hospital, get your or their Tamiflu, stay home for a few days and not rush back to work it need not be a huge deal. The biggest dangers are running around cross-infecting people and dipstick major employers who, doctors fear, are planning to buy in Tamiflu and hand it out to employees willy-nilly as a way to get them to work on. This lowers your resistance and means you are surrounded at work by others who carry infections which you will then pass to your families and friends.
So, the way to stop the flu spreading is to chill out. Read a book, watch TV, browse the ‘net, but don’t exert yourself and don’t kid yourself you’re so vital to the way the world turns you rush to work. How hard is that?
Oh, and cults, voodoo merchants and other busybodies? Nothing for you here.
You’re surplus to requirement. There are no public funds to raid, no place to rattle a tin. So shut up and butt out.

Once upon a time in the Western Isles

Living on a small, rainlashed, windswept, and bible-bashed island, it’s easy (especially on days when all three persist at once) to forget you are not the only one with such problems, and not even on the only island where they exist.
I was touched by a letter in this week’s National Secular Society Newsline from one Elma MacLeod. She’s a wee bit stressed, and I can’t blame her.
I thought the least I could do is reprint her letter, in the hope someone might send her a helicopter hidden in a bible…or something!
Elma writes:

"Finally – The Western Isles has appeared in Newsline. I had a telephone conversation with you last year about the local council here and its Sunday policies.
Now Caledonian MacBrayne is being attacked by the local hooligans from the Lords Day Observance Society. You told me that you could help with some publicity to expose the intolerable situation that goes on in these islands regarding the religious stronghold of a very vocal, aggressive and quite frankly bonkers minority. Please, please help us now. This needs to be told to the whole country.
British soldiers have died in the Middle East while trying to liberate a people from intolerance and religious fanaticism. We, here in the Western Isles of Scotland, are not allowed to swim in the local pool on Sundays, we are not allowed to play golf on our local golf course on Sundays, the cinema is closed on Sundays and we are not allowed to travel to another town across the minch for a day out with the family on Sundays. An official from the local Lord's Day Observance Society, the Rev I D Campbell said last week "no one has the right to come and go off this island as they please". This is not right. We need help. All we ask is a few basic leisurely pursuits.
The Western Isles Council behaves more like the Vatican than a local authority in a small island town. The councillors have lost sight of their actual role. Instead of being public servants, they behave like public masters. The council has its own laws and makes up its own commandments. The 11th commandment actually originated in Lewis and it is "thou shalt not take thy children to any of the local council run green areas on the Sabbath otherwise one of the local councillors will come out and cut thy football with a knife." Is there anything you can do? Please help – it's nearly Sunday Arrghh!!"

Poor woman. Living on the Western Isles sounds like being trapped in a lift with George Bush and Billy Graham - forever.

Christ on a bus

If there’s any truth in a rumour that’s circulated prison reform groups for years, a watchdog group on the Isle of Man might interest Dan Brown, the writer of conspiracy novels who gets up the Vatican’s nose so much.
I learnt about the rumour over a year ago, when joking to some prisoners rights activists that the most hated prisoner governor in recent British history had become a bit of a trainspotter since retiring here. Knowing my interest in religious fruitcases, one of them replied, much amused, but asking if I’d heard the trainspotting pensioner in question was also an Opus Dei member.
Sorry, I’ll make that a bit clearer. Brendan O’Friel was Governor of Strangeways at the time of the infamous riots in the early 1990’s. After retiring he moved back to the Isle of Man, where he has reinvented himself as head of a local transport watchdog, Travelwatch Isle of Man.
Amongst prisoners, it was a common belief that his rigid views on running prisons were rooted in his rigid religious views, and that while other prison officers got in or on in the service by joining the Masons, O’Friel, as a Catholic, had done it via another secretive bunch of hocus-pocus merchants, namely Opus Dei.
This wild story, which I’ll openly admit might stem more from whatever pulp fiction prisoners can get hold of than hard fact, got me thinking. Do trainspotting and religion have more in common than a tendency to attract nerds who love trivia and can’t cope with adult relationships?
I decided to look into it, and almost the first hit I got was a story published on 27th May about a group called London TravelWatch who want to ensure bus routes are planned to take account “of the faith and cultural make-up of Londoners”.
Apparently they weren’t happy with the results of enquiries by Transport for London into the transport needs of ‘minority faith communities’. TfL did a lot of modelling, public surveying and so on, and found little need to change.
This annoyed London TravelWatch, who did their own survey of demand for a bus route between the Orthodox Jewish communities of Stamford Hill and Golders Green.
We’re told that Sharon Grant, Chair of London TravelWatch, said: “It was clear from the responses to our survey that there is a very clear requirement for a direct bus link between the two places, both of which have strong Orthodox Jewish communities, despite TfL’s modelling showing insufficient demand. We are asking TfL to reconsider, and investigate the provision of a bus service on a trial basis.”
Cheeky, freeloading gits! You can read the report at http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/travelwatch-calls-on-tfl-to-better-serve-faith-communities/20097810, which itself seems to have it in for Boris Johnson and thus might not be entirely balanced.
(Update - Mayorwatch stress they don't take a position on Boris, just....well, do as it says on the tin and watch the mayor (see comments), so I'm happy to take an honest fellow blogger at their word there!)
But if it all gets out of hand(special tube trains for lasses in burquas, no guide dogs, no public transport through Orthodox Jewish areas on Saturdays or Muslim ones on Fridays…….) don’t say you weren’t warned.
All right, I’m winding you up, letting my imagination run away with me here. Trouble is, folk with invisible friends don’t joke about these things, and make little distinction between real world needs and faith-fixated fantasy – especially when public money and facilities are involved.

No Wee Timorous Beasties here, thank you

I was going to post something high-minded and serious today.
Thankfully I first read Garry Otton’s take on the ridiculous Church of Scotland rumpus over an openly gay minister. That brought me back down to the gutter where I belong; looking up at the stars, sure enough, but also laughing like a drain.
There’s been comment about the Kirk’s dimwit stance here and there, but, sadly, mostly managing to sound almost as stern as John Knox himself with piles.
So what a relief to see someone blunt enough to point out:
“These men are supposed to marry women like Susan Boyle and produce babies. Using storks.”
Getting into his stride Gary snipes:
“In the topsy-turvy world of the militant religionist, jacking-off on X Tube is less forgiving than the sin of strutting round in a mixed fibre twin-set from Primark, shovelling oysters down your neck or having a foreskin.”
The piece, over on Scottish Media Monitor, is entitled My Thought For The Day – if only! Yes, if only you could hear this on Radio 4 instead of some tweedy cleric chuntering on I’d ….consider paying my licence on time.
I might even buy a radio to hear gems like:
“Churches are like newspapers. They desperately want to fill the pews with sweet, singing, skipping children from The Sound of Music without upsetting the (mostly sweet) old dears that totter in for some company, a cuppa, a cream slice and a good Service. Meanwhile, behind the closed doors of the Assembly and its wee pretendy court it carries on hurting people by its hopeless fudge and fumbling on issues of which it knows nothing.”
Read the whole thing at http://www.scottishmediamonitor.com/features2.cfm?ID=37.
Go on, you know you want to!

Christian Car Wars

I’ve blogged once or twice on the anti-social driving habits of Manx Christians, and in particular their habit of blocking narrow pavements or obstructing more considerate motorists with their gas guzzlers.
Yesterday I heard of some new outrages, and also of parking wars going on between tightfisted members of rival Douglas congregations. Considering there is adequate parking for anyone in Douglas on an average Sunday, this is taking ’Jesus Saves’ to ridiculous extremes.
St. Matthews, which used to be a lowly quayside parish church catering to seafarers and the local poor, is the latest centre for ugly goings on. The Gilbert Scott designed church got gentrified in the heritage boom of the 1980’s, and things got much worse when Forward in Faith - Anglican nutters who hate women and gays and favour hooking up with Catholics and Eastern European Orthodox churches – turned it into their island base.
The punters turn up in £50K motors and the pews are a chav-free zone. There’s also metered parking less than 100 metres away; but the skinflints won’t use it.
They prefer to block the sidestreets with their Mercs and Jags, and this has led to a run-in with another church. Two streets away is the Salvation Army hall, which has come up on here before for car crimes – quite ironic as the main culprits are employed to stop crime.
Then it was a Department of Home Afffairs executive level staff member parking his Chelsea Tractor on the pavement on a narrow, busy road, causing pensioners and mums with buggies to take their lives in their hands to get to their flats round the corner. These days it’s lighter stuff. The DHA staff continue to be immune to parking tickets or police warnings (not going to write warning letters to themselves, are they?), but elsewhere things are turning nasty as other Sally Army types and Anglo-Catholic reactionaries turn up earlier and earlier to get the few spots within metres of their respective places of worship.
But where would we be without Broadway Baptists and their ever more bizarre crowd-pullers? It’s all out war these days between Broadway and their redneck Southern cousins at Port St. Mary for ‘lowest common denomination’ status.
They’ve had ‘Weightlifting Ex-Cons for Jesus’, ‘Ex-Hells Angels for Jesus’ and every variant you can imagine on that to get ‘down wiv da kids’, and last week it was some ‘Cross and the Switchblade’ type imitator or other.
Now, Broadway punters could park in various well-protected spots over the road or round the corner. But that would mean walking up a hill or hurrying across a road.
Most of the burger-munching mouth-breathers who make up the congregation can’t or won't do that. So, they park their fatmobiles with two wheels on the pavement instead, blocking access up or down the hill to any pensioner out for a Sunday stroll along the prom.
And there’s no argument the hideous collection of vehicles blocking the street belong to them. Who else but a Baptist could own a turd-coloured people carrier with a holy haddock sign on the bumper. Who else would want the number plate MAN 4 60D?

Potting the potty pontiffs

The editor of Gay & Lesbian Humanist today weighed into church leaders who recently urged people not to vote for bigots.
The Archbishops of both Canterbury and York, Rowan Williams and John Sentamu, say voters should not let the current scandal over MPs’ expenses drive them to vote BNP.
In a joint statement, both warned: “This is not a moment for voting in favour of any political party whose core ideology is about sowing division in our communities and hostility on grounds of race, creed or colour.”
But Mike Foxwell wasn’t about to let spokesmen for a religious organisation which sows a bit of division itself come over all preachy and innocent.
Mike says:
“I deplore the hypocrisy of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, warning the public of the socially divisive doctrines of the BNP on the grounds of ‘race, creed or colour’, and imploring the public not to vote for this political party.
“But what the archbishops forget to mention is that the church has a great deal in common with the BNP, as both the BNP and the Christian church are vehemently homophobic and cast gay people as sinners, second-class citizens and perverts who should keep their distasteful predilections in closeted privacy.
“Indeed, people should be aware of the socially divisive evil of BNP doctrine, but equally they should be aware that the Christian church shares some of the most repugnant beliefs of the BNP.
“Decent people who care about equality and fairness in our diverse and complex modern British society should shun the BNP and the church – for the same reasons.”
Spot on Mike.
Incidentally, I recently saw evidence of similar hypocrisy on the Isle of Man. I know of a letter sent to the local papers which tackles bigotry eminating from the same churches which, in public, decry it. It is only fair to see if IOM Newspapers print the letter first, but if not, I am prepared to put it up here, along with some background, later this week.

Will Iran try Delara Darabi's executioners?

Stop Child Executions (see sidebar) has written a letter to the head of judiciary in Iran challenging him to put those who executed Delara Darabi on trial. It may not achieve anything, but is such an obvious strategy I don’t know why nobody else has tried it.

The letter in full reads:

"Your Excellency Ayatollah Shahrudi, the head of Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran:

The unexpected news of the execution of Ms. Delara Darabi in the prison of city of Rasht has raised many questions in the minds of the caring citizens of Iran and the world.
Despite your official order for a two month stay of the execution and without any prior notice to her family or attorneys, in the early morning hours of Friday May 1, 2009 Delara Darabi was hanged.

According to official laws of the Islamic Republic, Iranian juveniles convicted to death sentence only after 48 hours official notice to the family and attorneys and only in their presence can be executed; however neither of these requirements was met in the case of Delara Darabi.

Your Excellency Ayatollah Shahrudi:

Presuming that the Islamic Republic despite its official ratifications of the both UN Conventions of the Rights of the Child and the Rights of Prisoners which had also been approved by Iran’s Guardian Council has no obligation in their implementations and can execute those juveniles who have committed a crime before the age of 18:

Presuming that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no obligation to respect the international laws as its own after they have already been approved by the Iranian parliament:

Presuming that it was legal and just that the initial court hearing of Delara Darabi continued its session without the presence of her first attorney:

Presuming that a few hours of court time were sufficient enough to decide the life or death of a young girl:

Presuming that the initial confession that was taken from Delara Darabi was true and a scared 17 year old minor should not have been made aware of her self-incrimination rights and consequences of such confession before obtaining it:

Presuming that the five years that Delara languished in prison, claiming her innocence until the end had no weighted significance:

Presuming that Delara Darabi had no legal appeal rights for reconstruction of the murder scene to establish whether or not this small framed left-handed girl committed the offence or not:

Presuming that Delara Darabi was guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt and her 17 years of age had no bearing on the death penalty verdict:

Presuming that your official order as the head of the judiciary to grant a two month stay of execution for Delara Darabi had no significance to the lower judges, prison officials and the executioner in the city of Rasht:

Presuming that the victim’s family insisted on Delara Darabi’s immediate execution the day before she was hung:

Presuming that the numerously repeated words of "merciful and compassionate” in the very beginning of every chapter of the Muslim holy book Quran had no relevance to Delara Darabi’s fate:

Presuming all of the above 11 points:

- In accordance to the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran was it not Delara Darabi’s right, for her family and attorney to be given 48 hours official notice before her execution?
- And at the very least as a human, a Muslim and an Iranian and according to the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran did Delara Darabi have the right to have her family and attorney present at the time of hanging?
- On the day of the hanging of Delara Darabi were the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran violated or not?
- Why is one like Delara held responsible before the law for murder while the others responsible for her illegal execution are not?
- Should the written laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran be implemented or are they simply written words that can be violated by anyone with an official title or clothing?
Your Excellency, as the head of the judiciary if you expect Iranians to respect and act according to the written laws and be held responsible when the laws are broken, then also those who were responsible for the illegal execution of Delara Darabi should be brought to justice."

SCE also say that, according to Iranian newspapers, an unidentified 20 year old boy convicted of a murder in August of 2006 was hanged in the central city of Shiraz. He was probably 17 at the time of the alleged murder. SCE will be investigating his age and identity. If a juvenile, this would be the third known child execution in 2009.