You are currently browsing the daily archive for December 10th, 2006.
This morning, north London awoke to a hard frost. At 7:30, the thermometer read 0c. And an hour later, I still had to scrape a layer of “subtropical” off the car windscreen.
This is terrible! The AP in particular is likely going to be very upset. For this confirms it: What’s happened to autumn this year?
The Associated Press:
Good that the AP made certain we all knew that Ms Royal is on the right. Clearly, she doesn’t have too much of a problem being photographed smiling and shaking hands with the chairman of the currently largest party in the vassal-state-creating U.S. That aside, is it just me, or does Mr Dean’s head sorta look like it was cut from elsewhere and photoshopped onto some other guy’s body? (Remember, this being an AP photo, almost anything is possible.)
Next:
Considering the Associated Press felt it necessary to point out in the top photo exactly which person is Howard Dean, it would have been nice if in the one just above they had similarly thought to note exactly where Hargeisa happened to be located geographically. But that they didn’t is probably understandable. For in the AP’s understanding of what passes for “common knowledge”, knowing where Hargeisa is probably rates as a lot like us ignorant non-Muslims knowing London is in England and Paris is in France.
More importantly, however, for the sociologists at the Associated Press Hargeisa’s marketplace’s “teeming with female business owners” challenges “assumptions about the subservient role of women in Islam“. In contrast, though, evidently insignificant factoids such as how in all Islam-centered societies women have literacy rates often less than half that of men (and male literacy itself is hardly universal), barely dent the paid workforce, and make up a distinct minority in universities (if they can gain admittance, that is), obviously conveys nothing of any substance on the subject of such “assumptions”, really.
Oh, and just where is Hargeisa? Some Wikipedia writer explains what the AP doesn’t:
…As Mogadishu and southern Somalia was being destroyed the opposite was happening in Hargeisa and the rest of Somaliland, the independence of Somaliland was declared and reconstruction started.
Since 1991, the city has undergone a massive facelift and over 99% of devastated commercial and residential homes have now been rebuilt and in better condition than before the war. Remittance money sent from overseas relatives contributed tremendously in the reconstruction of the city as well as entrepreneurial sprit of local residences and citizens throughout Somaliland.
Aid from foreign governments was non-existent making it unusual in Africa for its low level of dependence in foreign aid. While Somaliland is de-facto an independent country it is not de-jure (legally) recognised internationally just yet. Hence the government of Somaliland can not access IMF and World Bank assistance.
Hargeisa has working traffic lights and traffic laws are respected. All residences that drive must hold a photo driving licence and all cars sport Somaliland licence plates…
…Hargeisa is the financial hub to many entrepreneurial companies ranging from food processing, gem stonecutters, construction, retail, import and export, Internet cafes, to even companies that process remittances from relative’s abroad who send money…
Given such, it’s curious how the AP didn’t see fit to enlighten us on how Hargeisa might also, say, “challenge assumptions about the role of foreign aid in Africa.”
[Previous award-caliber photojournalism here.]
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has denied clearing met chief Sir Ian Blair of misconduct charges over his handling of the Stockwell tube shooting.
It was claimed Sir Ian had been told there was no evidence to suggest he misled the public over the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.
But the IPCC says its report is not finished and “nobody should make any assumptions” about what it would include.
A spokesman said: “The report has not yet been concluded. We hope it will be finished shortly…
Interestingly, now the IPCC knows what it feels like . . . to have its views misrepresented in the media. So, will there now be an investigation?
…Mr de Menezes was shot dead at Stockwell tube station in south London last year after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.
The IPCC has been looking into complaints from the de Menezes family about comments made by Sir Ian and his colleagues afterwards.
In a statement they suggested Mr de Menezes had vaulted a ticket barrier and bolted down an escalator.
They also claimed the 27-year-old electrician had been wearing a bulky jacket…
Funnily enough, Sky apparently forgets. But that they have is probably not too surprising. After all, those of us who haven’t forgotten what actually happened after Mr Menezes’ tragic shooting, actually REMEMBER that Sir Ian and the Met did not put such comments out over the wires . . . but our august mainstream media sure as heck did (over and over and over and over and over).
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