@cardy, I hadn't heard about the Goose Fair murders? ffs i only live up the A50 from you in Stoke, just goes to show I should pay attention to Midlands Today. hell's bell's, I don't seem to know about anything that goes on at the moment.

@esq, i keep getting told not to bother about it as there's nothing I can do; that truly is a counsel of despair

the 'thugs' here aren't that 'advanced' so to say... but there've been cases of them armed with breadknives on motorcycles, robbing people with handbags - by slashing their shoulders with the knives and taking the handbags, effectively dislodging, and severing the arm

shame what the society's been reduced to really.

Edited by - kimk on 10/11/2004 7:09:31 AM

How much authority in the local districts does London have? I guess we're used to a bit different setup. Not to say that a big business would not be able to swing a deal with the local politicos but if the town votes down a measure that pretty much sews it up. The way we're organized, land use is a local imperative
and the only rules that the higher levels of government may impose involve issues of pollution, and taxation to a degree.

So the local resistance has decided to use the mast for target practice?

@Cardy
I'm at Nottingham Uni right now, but thankfully I'm all cosy and sheltered here on the main campus for this year. Stuff like that scares the bejesus out of me. Does much of the violence from St. Anns spread out to the southern suburbs of Nottingham?

@Taw, I heard about all that HIV needle stuff too but I got the impression it was mostly urban myth. Everytime i hear the story it tends to be a friend of a friend or "some guy I heard of"
I've also heard stories of an HIV+ woman who goes to clubs for one night stands and when the guy wakes up in the morning she's gone and she's scrawled "welcome to the world of HIV" in lipstick on the mirror in his bathroom.

Ed asked, "How much authority in the local districts does London have?"

lots. Labour govts are notorious centralisers and over the last 20 years or so so have the Tories been. The Dept of the Environment has wide reaching powers to override local authorities, exacerbated by the strong Party control that Labour Central Office and No 10 exercise. Labour authorities are desperate to prove their loyalty and co-operation with "Tony" and fall over themselves to be as harsh on, say, council tax defaulters, as the Tories ever were. There are of course rewards for co-operation, promotion, extra revenue etc, and parallel punishments for obstruction. Even the bete-noirs of the LP, such as "Red" Ken Livingstone, are back in the fold of the favoured. And benefitting from their co-operation, especially vis-a-vis convenient business arrangements and investments in Greater London by Blairite supporting companies *at the expense of the rest of the country*

Our own local council, Newcastle-under-Lyme, is profoundly split, Labour are the largest party but do not hold a majority; our neighbours in the City of Stoke-on-Trent suffer under a Blairite one-party state. Unfortunately, central govt is often very willing and able to trample on the expressed will of the local people in a profoundly undemocratic way. it isn't just Labour, the Tories were, and will be in the future, just as bad. I'm sick of the lot of them. I'd like to live in Canada, or Holland, or Iceland, or Eire, or Sweden, or New Zealand, where they have decent caring govts that don't appear to crush the ordinary people under a weight of oppressive legislation that benefits only the rich.

Unf this is a clear case of the democratic process and the rule of law proving as good as worthless. Only the High Court or the Lords could overturn the Secretary of State's decision, or the Secretary of State himself (unlikely) Some bright spark thought if they wrote to Blair he might take an interest - but i think you can prob guess what response that got.

so someone's just going to have to blow it up. no doubt some fanatical local terror group loyal to the old regime.

(oops sorry everyone didn't actually mean that to be q as political as it sounded, I just wanted to explain to Ed how our crappy local govt doesn't work. blimey you'd think I was p*ssed off about something wouldn't you!)

anyway back on-topic. I do now recall vaguely hearing about this neddle business but I too thought it was an urban myth and no-one actually did it how wrong I was.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 10/11/2004 11:52:47 AM

thank god i don't go "out"

@taw, i feel you all the same, lets go live in canada!

Go Canada!

time until SuperVirus infects your computer:

"i feel you all the same"

you filthy young man! unhand me at once. I'm married, and I'm too old for you anyway.

I agree guys, the decline of humanity is truly something to weep about. But FinalDay I have to say I think you are misinformed about Halloween. I did some very heavy research into this, after being very dismayed hearing people would do such things, and as a result, I found that only 2 kids have ever been hurt because of things put in halloween candy, and both of them had it done to them by relatives who actually wanted to do it. So I think you need to look into it, really, its not a problem at all. And yeah I heard about this needle business, also about when you fall asleep with a hooker and she gives you aids but most of them were urban legends. I also heard needles were put in the Change slots on payphones, so you reach for your change and get pricked and theres a note inside saying that u got AIDS now. Its really horrid, I mean I do get some people are really spiteful after getting aids and want vengeance but goddamn, what if a kid got it. I personally would not like to punish these people by flaying them, I would rather do something much more painful. I would track down their closest, HIV Negative loved ones and get them infected somehow.

Honestly it would only aggravate the situation really, but nothing would make me feel better than to see the depression caused by this on the needle person, kinda like "now you see how all those other families feel" thing. These people are ****ed though, but most of this can be avoided quite easily. Dont go clubbing and if ya do, try to go to places where the crowds are not extreme (so as in you dont see who just stabbed you, cause if you can see who it is, you can beat the daylights out of them right there, landing you both in prison, but at least ya know where the other guy is if u turn out positive) check your theater seats before sitting down (if the needle is to stab you, it needs to be standing upright, by sliding your arm over the seat, youll feel it from the side rather than being poked by it) also on the backrests aswell. Then I dont even need to go into if you feel a sudden stabbing turn around to get a idea of who it is. Usually the person ditching a small object as soon as they leave your vicinity . Its really some simple preventives you can take to stop it from happening if its really rampant.

PS: About the prison thing, yeah I didnt finish it on purpose but I was implying that if your both in prison to be released, and you get released, the cops have a record of his stay in their "hotel" so if your later HIV positive, you can track em down.

"Dain bramaged"

Many people tell me that the tainted candy thing is an urban legend.

BUT the damage is done. I don't know of a responsible parent who doesn't require that all the candy that is gotten is properly wrapped and unopened, etc.

No more fruit or candied apples to be accepted. Blah blah blah blah. BECAUSE the tainting is too easily done and what responsible parent would ever want something to happen to their child because it was just an "urban legend" so not worth worrying about?

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I've also heard stories of an HIV+ woman who goes to clubs for one night stands and when the guy wakes up in the morning she's gone and she's scrawled "welcome to the world of HIV" in lipstick on the mirror in his bathroom.

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That sounds horrendous. I don't do clubs anyway but that still scares the sh*t out of me.

I just can't understand why people would do this.

I remember another story as well. Again not from too long ago. I'll try to get a picture of the place up when i get the money for a digital camera. But near where i used to live (on site at my secondary school where the needles were left in the carpark) the area itself now has a reputation for its drug problems. Please bear in mind the area i live in. A lot of people i know up north seem to think that the south is nice and posh. Not true. There may be some posh accents around, but its not pleasant down my way. Anyway back on subject. 2 minutes up the road from where i lived was a childrens park. Innocent as anything you have seen. I used to play there when i was 8 or 9. 2 minutes down the road from there is another park. Much smaller and out of the way as well. Again, somewhere i used to play when i was younger. The two parks in question are no longer occupied by children. Drug dealers, not just the low level stuff but crack and heroin. They shoot up in these parks and the needles are often left on the swings, seesaws and such. This started about 6 years ago. Now same old. Police do nothing. Children do not play in many parks around here anymore. And Surrey is supposed to have the lowest crime rate in the whole of the UK. A friend of mine is joining the police force in 3 weeks. A feel real sorry for him. In our local town, police busted the biggest class A drug supplier in Surrey. Still hasn't cleared it though.

Sorry, this was a bit of getting things off my chest sort of rant.

there was a fashion amongst local ruffians when i was a boy to stick razor blades in children's slides in parks. that was in the mid '70s. I've never q gotten over the horror that filled me with

I think the majority of the problem is just people being unaware. At my high school kids are constantly asking me jokingly for my insulin syringes. They may think they are being funny, but anything to do with needles is definately not being taken seriously enough by anyone.

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lets go live in canada!

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I hate to disillusion you Aod (...oh hell, who am I kidding? no I don't) but you might want to read this and this before you go ga-ga over Canada.

Comont54, In the atlanta area in the 70's it did happen and you continually hear about it. Grady Hospital does indeed x-ray candy for any implanted items.

A note from California poison control -
Poison Center staff members stress that careful review of all treats by parents is the best prevention for poisoning incidents. Parents who find any candy that has been tampered with should report the incident to the Police Department. If children are experiencing any symptoms following ingestion of food or candy, parents should call the California Poison Control System-San Diego Division at (800) 876-4766. The Center is open 24-hours per day, seven days a week.

If poisoning was not an issue, warnings would not be needed.

From Momcentral.com-
~ Because of the sad potential for Halloween poisoning, make it a family rule that your child may not eat any candy until you’ve inspected it.
~ Anything with a torn or punctured wrapper should be thrown out immediately.
~ Do not allow your child to eat homemade treats, unless the treats were given to them by someone you know well.

All it takes is even one child being harmed to do damage.