Priti 4 Witham

According to news reports this morning (all of which are pretty gloomy), the government has said that it will challenge “robustly” the decision to allow the man who knifed the head teacher Philip Lawrence to death to stay in the UK. The decision to allow this man to stay in the UK, was made because to send him back to his country would have violated his ‘human rights’. This ridiculous decision highlights he real incompetence of the Government’s human rights legislation. In essence, the message to the law abiding majority is that under this Government, the human rights of a killer are of more importance that the rights of the victims of crime. This is such a terrible and a depressing case. The Lawrence family must feel utterly devastated by this ridiculous decision. The government must act now to correct this very wrong decision.

This morning’s news of the release of the BBC correspondent Alan Johnston after 114 days in captivity is simply fantastic. I personally felt a huge sense of happiness and relief for Alan and his whole family at the news. When Alan in media interviews this morning said that “The last 16 weeks have been the very worst of my life,’, I thought now that’s one hell of an understatement. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts that we can never imagine the extent of the emotional suffering and distress felt by Alan and his family during his long period of captivity. There is no doubt that his ordeal at the hands of his captors will live with him forever. Having seen the pictures of Alan this morning, I certainly admire his fortitude and strength. He has shown amazing composure through what must have been an awful ordeal. The country could not have woken up to a more fantastic piece of news. Welcome home Alan.

The 25th anniversary of the liberation of the Falkland Islands takes place this month. This website is certainly well worth a visit. It provides a background to the conflict along with all the details about the commemorative events taking place in the UK and internatioanlly.

Hat’s off to the world’s oldest rock band The Zimmers, who even with a combined age of over 3,000 have ‘rocked’ the charts with their version of The Who’s My Generation going straight in at No26.

The Zimmers in my view have redefined people power by coming together to remind us all as to how badly neglected Britain’s three-and-a-half million lone pensioners are treated. No-one can deny that our pensioners are treated appallingly and ignored when it comes to their needs and issues. The Zimmers will truly help to raise awareness of the plight of Britain’s pensioners through a campaign which is long overdue.

‘Rock on’ to pensioner power!
http://www.myspace.com/thezimmersband

Yesterday was International Missing Childrens Day and while the media continues to focus on hunt for missing Madeleine Mccann, we should all spare a thought for the families of the 70,000 children who are reported missing in the UK each year. I was truly shocked when I heard this figure on the news. We can never image the pain and anxiety experienced by those families with missing loved ones, but what we can do is support those organisations who can provide a welcome helping hand to our young people when often they feel they have nowhere else to turn. So I was only too pleased to have been able to support the Prince’s Trust yesterday at a fundraising event for young people in Essex. The Prince’s Trust works with a range of youth organisations to reach and support those who need a helping hand and to help them develop into confident and independent people, capable of making a positive contribution to their communities. With the complex difficulties faced by many young people the work of The Prince’s Trust and other charitable organisations is hugely commendable and deserves as much support as possible.

Welcome to my blog which will cover everything from my views on the national news, to what’s happening ‘on the ground’ in Witham. I hope you find it interesting, and that it will stimulate a little debate. Feel free to leave comments and in the meantime you can visit my main website at www.priti4witham.com