You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 2nd, 2007.
We just paid out for this coming year’s “road tax” disc (which must be placed in a pouch at the bottom left of the windshield, with the expiry date visible clearly) for our one and only car, a five year old Volvo V70. Looking back at previous years’ charges, I see we had had to pay £160 for 2006 and £190 for 2007 — a huge increase in itself. For the new one for 2008, we had to pay another increase. It’s now £205.
Bearing that latter in mind, I could not help but snicker at noticing the penalty warning on the tax disc paperwork: “Maximum penalty for non-display £200.”
UPDATE: (22:30) The Home Office web site has today’s statement to the House by the new Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith. It gives us a taste of the unalterable resolve of the new Government:
…’Let us be clear – terrorists are criminals, whose victims come from all walks of life, communities and religious backgrounds. Terrorists attack the values that are shared by all law-abiding citizens. As a government, as communities, as individuals we need to ensure that the message of the terrorists is rejected.
‘I very much welcome the strong messages of condemnation we have heard throughout the weekend from community leaders across the country. It is through our unity that the terrorists will eventually be defeated…
Nothing like aiding the public in any struggle by fearlessly narrowing down the enemy to . . . whom exactly? Bad people called “terrorists”, presumably. Thus we see how governance has obviously moved forward in terms of inclusion.
So, for instance, that which was voted upon in the House of Commons, May 13, 1940 . . .
…The resolution:
“That this House welcomes the formation of a government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion.”…
… would, today, certainly have to be rephrased to, perhaps:
“That this House welcomes the formation of a government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute attacks made by terrorists to a victorious conclusion.”
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UPDATE (20:30), Reuters Alertnet:
A doctor who trained in Iraq and worked at a hospital in Scotland is one of seven people arrested by British anti-terrorism police hunting those behind attempted car bombings, a police source said on Monday.
The police source said Bilal Abdulla, another doctor called Mohammed Asha and his wife were among those arrested.
According to Britain’s General Medical Council, Abdulla qualified as a doctor in Baghdad in 2004 and is a registered medical practitioner in Britain…
No one seems to offer as of yet a not unimportant additional descriptive “factoid”: assuming he is not a Christian, is he Sunni Arab, Sunni Kurd, or Shia? Without any additional information, and given that he was “working closely” with a Jordanian (born in Saudi Arabia), off hand, of the latter three, one immediately reasonably suspects the first.
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…All five detained were thought to be foreigners, the source said.
The Sun identified one of those detained as an Iranian doctor who worked at North Staffordshire Hospital. A spokeswoman at the hospital declined to comment on the case and police would not identify those detained…
The BBC reports:
…A 26-year-old man and 27-year-old woman were arrested on the M6 near Sandbach, Cheshire, on Saturday night.
The man has been identified by the BBC as Dr Mohammed Asha…
The Daily Mail:
Two doctors are among five people being held as terror suspects after the bomb plots in London and Glasgow.
One, 26-year- old neurosurgeon Mohammed Asha, was arrested with his wife after police cars boxed them in on the M6.
The second doctor is thought to have been one of two men who tried to drive a blazing Jeep packed with petrol, gas canisters and nails into Glasgow Airport on Saturday. He may also have driven one of the two Mercedes car bombs left in the West End of London early on Friday.
Both doctors were working at UK hospitals and apparently here legally. The revelation raises the horrifying prospect that Al Qaeda propaganda is reaching beyond disaffected young Muslims…
So we have here employed professionals “moonlighting” as jihadists? Well, well, more evidence it isn’t just about the stereotypical “jobless” and “hopeless”. And why the surprise? The September 11 attackers included highly educated men — the leader had an MSc degree – and were in the U.S. legally, too. And, domestically in Britain, the 7/7 bombers were not geniuses, but were certainly not idiots. Was not their leader a “learning mentor“?
An interesting side issue might well appear here shortly: Are these the sorts of “quality” people to whom the government is granting work permits in order to fill job gaps in the NHS?
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