Rochdale

Rochdale has installed two “Nile Pan” type loos. These are the ones that are basically holes in the ground. They have been installed in a shopping centre after Council bosses went on a cultural awareness course.

Now normally I wouldn’t be against a private company installing such types of toilet facilties if there was a real clamour for them. Or if the company thought that it would be good customer service to provide special facilities for a large majority of their customers.

However Rochdale implementing them has nothing to do with benefiting the foriegn born who are accustomed to using such toilets nor anything to do with cleaning staff complaining about cleaning up empty water bottles from Muslims attempting to perform their purification rituals. It has everything to do with a certain person who told a gullible audience who had gone one a cultural awareness course that a large number of muslims perfered to use such a toilet. Such people are also easily persuded that they have to feel guilty if they didn’t do everything to be more “culturally aware”. Surprisingly you don’t hear about Muslims going on a cultural awareness course to learn about typical British customs – like how to use a normal toilet.

This person, Ghulham Rasul Shazhad OBE, managed to persude the shopping centre managers despsite fact that there was no supporting evidence to back him up. Only the ego of this person to further their cause and make themselves seem important and to further the “we are the victims you must do everything in your power to compensate us” type attitude. Not even Asians believe that Rochdale have done it to be culturally sensitive.

If the shopping centre were really bothered about supporting Muslims but within our British norms they would have implemented bidets or installed more than a token two – as if two toilets will satisfy the 10% of Rochdale which I assume is a large percentage of the muslim community. If Muslims were really bothered about the cleaning aspect they would have implemented them in their mosques (they already have) and not bothered the centre at all. As it is they’ve got their loos (and it will be theirs not any other groups’ since no one else will like using them) for free.

It says a lot that somone can comment “It just shows that the people of Greater Manchester are becoming more cosmopolitan and global-minded.” As if the installation of two toilets would make the whole of Greater Manchester more culturally aware. I thought Greater Manchester was pretty cosmopolitan and globally minded already from all the restaurants on the Curry Mile.

Hypocrtical politician

Lord Prescott of Kingston-upon-Hull

John Prescott is a typical politician. Hypocritical to the end. He’s not any different to the other 600 odd MPs.

Legalisation of drugs – how?

As a liberatarian I’m all for the legalisation of drugs.

Its been shown time and time again that the war against drugs hasn’t worked. It costs a lot in police time in catching the drug addicts and dealer. It costs a lot to keep the drug addicts and dealers in prison. It costs a lot in insurance premiums to cover the burgalries and other crimes commited by the drug addicts desperate to feed their habit. It costs a lot for the families of the drugs addicts who have to cope with their family member’s habit.

The best thing would be to legalise recreational drugs. Recreational drugs could then be taxes like alcohol and tabacco. The quality of drugs could then be ensured just like alcohol has to have it’s strength displayed on the label. The age of the person buying it could also be checked. It could even be argued that users would have to register first and this would need a ID card type system. This would require an army of bureaucrats to manage which the state would love as they like to increase red tape. There would also be measures to ensure people didn’t go too far with their use of drugs. Just like there is with alcoholics. This is because drugs effect people in different ways. Some can take or leave it others go into a desperate cycle of despair. Just like alcohol makes some people talkative, others angry, others sleepy.

Now with all these benefits to having drugs legalised comes the question. How would it be legalised. The problem is the source of drugs. This is through criminals. I don’t mean criminals because they are drug dealers. I mean criminals who commit loads of other crimes and who use drugs as means to launder money, to make money to further their criminal careers, etc. Legalising it would effectively make these criminals legal and the public wouldn’t buy this one bit.

So then the legalisation of drugs would require a lead time to allow pharmaceutical companies to start making the drugs. And to stock pile them too. And there would have to be measures to ensure that no criminals got involved at this stage.

Then there is the issue of selling them. The public would not be keen on them being sold like cigarattes. Especially with cigarattes now being worse than crack cocaine in terms of the stigma associated with them. Look at all the people who are forced to stand outside to enjoy a legal drug. So no drugs sold through Tescos. Nor the corner shop. Because of the association with the criminal underworld places that sold drugs would need a lot of security. They would also not be in quiet residental streets. So it looks like such places will be in industrial areas or run down areas where the the local people aren’t so bothered about the clientel that visit the shops. Eventually they might be drugs shops in normal areas, but this is when the law is first changed and the public not so keen on the idea.

I realise that Portugal has legalised them. But it has only legalised the possesion of drugs. Rather than being sent to prison, drug users in possession of small amounts caught by the police (see they can still be arrested) go before a panel and encouraged to take therapy. It hasn’t solved the problem of drugs being sold by the criminal underworld. Nor have they fully legalised them and started to tax drugs. What they have done is ensure that needles aren’t shared and that drugs addicts don’t go underground. Basically instead of spending money on enforcement they are spending it on treatment instead.