Walaa's Weekly Wrap-Up ~ January 11, 2013

Everybody is finally, back at work from the Festive Season break, and it seems they all hit the ground running. The tidal wave of Romanians and Bulgarians did not quite materialise, maybe not just yet. However, that did not stop a British welcoming committee, led by non-other than Keith Vaz, to receive new arrivals at Luton Airport.

At the arrivals terminal over Costa Coffee, muffins and a carefully choreographed (on camera) chat, Labour’s Vaz met and welcomed Romania’s Victor Spirescu to Britain. Victor is a very lucky newcomer and a rare breed of unemployed; because he straightaway found a job (washing cars) the following day.

Immigration and the immigration debate, continued on but not as vehemently as it did before the New Year. One, because all the parties seem to be more or less on the same page of more controls, and two, UK politicians can’t do much about immigration from the EU and they know it.

But on the upside, all this immigration business made the topic acceptable and less taboo to talk about. In some circles it’s now even fashionable to talk immigration.

So, if you want to have your say on European immigration, the only way to do that is to vote Conservative in 2015 and you shall have your say in a referendum in 2017.

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There was also the verdict on the Mark Duggan shooting inquest. But before I go any further, I would like to take this opportunity to wish his family and friends to heal from their loss and find the strength to carry on. I know it is easier said…, but the best they can do is move on and build a support network for his young kids, growing up without a father is not easy.

I admired his aunt’s call for peace and calm and I do hope people respect that especially during the vigil this weekend.

However, what I find disturbing is how some people used the verdict of the inquest to push their personal agendas. And turn a legal matter – the findings of an independently selected jury – into a race row and black verses white propaganda. I say this as a black person.

If there is a case to be answered it should be done via the legal and the proper channels. We must also remember, that Mark Duggan was a known criminal who terrorised his own community, and shortly before his death has illegally obtained a firearm. The officer that shot him did so based on that intelligence.

In the coming days, many questions will be asked, about the shooting, the verdict, and the police and why Mark Duggan obtained an illegal firearm? What we need to do is allow for a frank and honest debate without sensationalising the issue; we must also disallow it being hijacked by those who have a separate agenda.

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On Friday, Met police PC Keith Wallis admitted in court that he falsely claimed to have witnessed a row between Andrew Mitchell and the officer guarding No 10 in September 2012.

To me that was a bittersweet result, on the one hand, sweet because I never, ever doubted Andrew Mitchell and (though hated it) I knew from the start he was somehow stitched-up. Bitter, because I hold our police in very high regard and what PC Wallis did is extremely disappointing, more so now.

And finally we get a formal apology from Met Commissioner, Sir Hogan-Howe, who said yesterday: “I would… like to apologise to Mr Mitchell that an MPS officer clearly lied about seeing him behaving in a certain manner. I will be writing to him offering to meet and apologise in person.

Result!

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Seems we are going through a cycle of freak weather around the world. Some of it is beautiful to look at but it is mostly devastating to people who lost their homes and belongings and in some cases their loved ones.

In the UK one of the reasons why some of these homes continue to get flooded every time it floods is simple. They are built on a flood path. Flooding is not complicated at all; the water raises, move through the flood plains then subsides. That only becomes a problem when its path is obstructed, usually by buildings.

As intelligent beings we should never allow our need for more homes to outweigh Nature and her need for a path. I find it shocking that some authorities will even consider building on flood path! Particularly as those homes usually go to those who are the least well-off in our society, the families who are least able to rebuild after becoming flooded.

Like life and death, extreme weather is a guaranteed cycle of life, we just don’t know when and where it’ll hit.

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At the start of the week many watched Channel Four’s Benefits Street. I read somewhere yesterday there is an e-petition to stop C4 airing anymore episodes!

I happen to like it here’s why.

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