Archipelago of Truth

Police Constable Found Not Guilty of Assault

2013-03-12T02:13:57+01:00

PC Joseph Harrington has been found not guilty by a jury of an assault.

He'd been accused of having carried out an alleged assault at a police station on a young man arrested during the riots on the 11th August 2011.

Comments

Sinister Snaps From the Sixties

2013-03-10T14:32:37+01:00

I was struck, looking at the photos by David Bailey which are currently on show in the William Morris galley, that the picture of the Kray brothers is in reverse: they have the lapels and buttonholes on their jackets to the left, whereas in every other picture I have ever seen of this fashion conscious duo, these details are, as was correct at the time and is normally still so, on the right of their suitings as you look at them. I don't know if that is deliberate, but the print of the photo on display has been reversed. There are also two snakes in the picture, though the caption is in the singular.

My other impressions from the photos, which mainly depict the East End in the 1960s, are that this is a world which is a million miles away from welcoming Walthamstow. Still, one can't be closed minded and it is interesting to see how the other half lived elsewhere. If the iconicist David Bailey can amuse himself with a bit of slummy art, who am I to disagree? Warpdog takes photos of mattresses.

The subjects are of overwhealmingly lonely, usually isolated figures, not at all the 'community' which the arts bureaucrat quoted in the introduction of the exhibition lazily claims for them. (This is Alexander Robert "Sandy" Nairne CBE FSA, who, as a member of a dynasty of arts bureaucrats, is the current director of the National Portrait Gallery).

Abandonned Jewish businesses and frustrated dreams form the background to most of the photographs. Of the humans depicted, most of the women are wearing scarves, the rest are mainly bouffed up and peroxided blondes. Jean Shrimpton, Bailey's girlfriend, also makes an appearance in the hallway of Bailey's house. There is a lot of unconvivial drinking, often with money in shot. The men, if not exuding alcohol-fueled menace mainly seem either suspicious or defeated. The smiles are broadest on the faces of the Krays and the enterprising boy carrying a crate of empties on his shoulder, no doubt anticipating all the deposits he will collect on them.

The exhibition is not large but it is intelligently displayed, with the picture of the sinister Krays cleverly facing the cadavorous toast from a drinker whose eyes are shrouded as if he's the ghost of the blind beggar himself.

Comments

No Art News

2013-03-09T21:56:14+01:00

People who like the hitherto annual E17 Art Trail and all its doings will be sad to learn that it will not take place this year. I have no idea what has got into the minds of the organisers, but they believe it will do no harm to delay it until the spring of 2014. Anyone who thinks they are mad has been proclaimed a 'moaner'.

Comments

Stoneydown Park Spring Clean on 16th March 2013

2013-03-09T20:16:54+01:00

The blossoms are starting to come out in Stoneydown Park, which might not be such a good thing, if, like last year, we have another cold snap which kills them off prematurely.

People interested in seeing if they survive might be interested in an event the Friends of Stoneydown Park will be having next Saturday, 16th March 2013 at 2pm. People interested in helping them in spring cleaning and 'dog awareness' are invited at that time to go along to the hut, where there will also be poster drawing. There is no news as to when the expensive 'Speakers Corner' will next be used.

Comments

Clothing Sales in the High Street

2013-03-09T19:42:27+01:00

A considerable number of the shops in the High Street are advertising sales in their windows, particularly the clothing businesses. How many of these are sincere sales with genuine reductions and how many are bogus come-ons, I will leave to others to make their minds up about.

I do note that clothing shops advertising sales include Lui Menswear, which says it is 'closing down', Style Overdose, Claire's, Bad Warehouse (which has a permanent 'Sale' sign painted on the window facing Willow Walk), Femme, Minx, G-Look, Stylish, Opal, Fashion Fair and Bronx.

Comments

Chinese readers only need apply

2013-03-09T19:21:12+01:00

Anyone wondering what the sign in Chinese in the front window of the Peking Chef restaurant at 178 Hoe Street is all about, it is an advert for a waiter or waitress, who must have legal residence permission.

It is very kind of the Peking Chef to seek to abide by the UK's immigration laws. I do wonder, though, in what way the management of this generally well-thought of restaurant consider advertising only to people who can read Chinese demonstrates a commitment to abiding by equal opportunities and anti-discrimination laws. Most of the customers any newly recruited staff will be serving do not speak Chinese and the menus are in English.

Comments

The Chequers Re-opens

2013-03-08T23:36:26+01:00

The Chequers has been re-openned. People expecting the refurbishment to be complete, however, will be disappointed, as the place is still a building site, with plywood very much in evidence towards the back near the toilets and large piles of builders' rubbish still stacked on the yard. The kitchen is not yet ready. Several interior walls do not yet appear complete, though if the distressed look which was once a popular feature of make-over programmes is deliberate, we can chalk the effect up to intentional faux quirkiness rather than an undercapitalised business venture.

Does this matter? It does if you find that the smell of wet paint and industrial glue interferes with your finely honed beer-quaffing palate. If not, think of it as a bonus. That thick head in the morning might not be because the pumps were dirty or that you drank too much.

For those who are interested in trying out the second hand formica tables and chairs (or the small stools, some of which are soiled already), the exterior of the pub is the same as ever. The green tiling is in various states of delapidation and the familiar pub sign with a knight in the armour of the medieval period, claims it is owned by Taylor Walker, but with the name of the pub having been blacked out by spray paint. Inside they have a collection of telephones on the far rear left hand wall. I have no idea why.

The initial openning hours are:

Mon-Thurs: 4pm-11pm
Fri+Sat: 4pm-12am
Sun: 4pm-10.30pm

Comments

The Dave Clark Five - Lost In His Dreams

2013-03-07T01:59:54+01:00

'Lost In His Dreams', with saxophonist Denis Payton joining Mike Smith in singing lead was released by the Dave Clark Five in 1968. It was on the 'Everybody Knows' album.

Hat-tip to Lucija1729

Comments

Haydn - 15th Symphony

2013-03-07T01:42:40+01:00

The Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Christopher Hogwood recorded Haydn's 15th Symphony in June 1991 at Walthamstow Assembly Hall.

Hat-tip to LUDOVICUSDEOLOR

Comments

Patrick Fitzgerald - Buy Me Sell Me

2013-03-07T01:35:34+01:00

'Buy Me, Sell Me', from the 7" EP 'Backstreet Boys', which Patrik Fitzgerald released on the Small Wonder label in 1978.

Hat-tip to SeagreenSeranade

Comments

The Sound of Spring

2013-03-02T18:15:31+01:00

I have yet to hear a cuckoo this spring, but there is an icecream van already touring the Coppermill Lane area this afternoon.

Comments

Spare a Few Quid for the Millionaire's Party

2013-03-02T12:49:30+01:00

For reasons that only the Labour Party can explain, there has been a steady stream of dodgy losers invited to Walthamstow in the past few years, apparently with the aim of inspiring the party members to part with their cash. Not all of them have been grubby has-beens like Tessa Jowell and Ed Balls, of course. Stella Creasy has been willing to associate herself with up-and-coming losers like John O'Farrell (who recently demonstrated the irrelevance of the modern Labour Party to the voters in Eastleigh).

Her latest association is with Neil Kinnock, who aside from Tony Blair, Harry Cohen, David Miliband and several hundred others, is one of the greediest men ever to stick a red rosette on his jacket and pretend to be the answer to the problems of this country.

Apparently, this expert nepotist and Euro-trougher, who was appointed to look into the corruption and mismanagement in Brussels and failed to reform it, but somehow became a multi-millionaire in the process, will be coming to Walthamstow in a couple of weeks. He will ask the people of this borough stupid enough to listen to him to open their wallets and trust him and his colleagues with their dosh.

Comments

Zee - Reality

2013-03-02T11:46:12+01:00

Zee Brown wandering the neighbourhood around Essex Road, Elmfield Road, St James Park and the Low Hall sports ground, and trying to make it look tough in black and white.

Hat-tip to Zee Brown

Comments

Led Bib - Moth Dilemma

2013-03-02T11:31:05+01:00

Led Bib's Moth Dilemma, from the Bring Your Own album, released in January 2011.

Hat-tip to Danuario rodriguez

Comments

Covered in Skas at the Lord Raglan

2013-03-02T02:25:51+01:00

A clip towards the shirtless end to a gig by Covered in Skas on the 23rd February 2013 at the Lord Raglan in Shernall Street.

Hat-tip to Jeff Freeman

Comments

TUSC begins its 2014 Council Election Campaign in Walthamstow

2013-03-02T02:01:18+01:00

A pitiful group of seven or so chanters gathered in what did not quite amount to a mass rally on the steps of Walthamstow Town Hall on the 28th February to announce, among other things, that they will be standing in the council elections in May 2014.

Hat-tip to NewsGuardianSeries

I, of course, am a great believer in democracy and would encourage anyone who thinks they have something to contribute to our local political scene to join in the democratic process and stand for election. The more the merrier.

I do hope, though, that TUSC will do better than their bretheren in the recent Eastleigh by-election, where the entire resources of their political party managed to muster a measly 62 votes in the entire constituency. TUSC have blamed this demonstration of their utter lack of public support on 'the media' ignoring them, though that does not quite explain why they came so far behind other candidates similarly ignored, like Ray Hall, of the Beer Baccy and Crumpet Party, who polled 252 votes, Howling Laud Hope, who attracted twice as much support as TUSC with 132 votes, or David Bishop, who stood for the Elvis Loves Pets Party and beat TUSC by 10 votes. In fact, only Colin Bex, of the Wessex Regionalists fared worse than the comrade vanguard, garnering 30 votes.

Hat-tip to DailyEchoSouthampton

The TUSC result in Eastleigh was pretty pathetic by parish council standards, let alone for a nationally important by-election. To put it in context, Uthayasenan Thanabalasingam got 104 votes standing for TUSC in the Higham Hill ward alone in the April 2010 council elections - though this was nothing like good enough to be in the running for a seat on the council. He came last. Susan Lesley Margaret Wills, who stood for TUSC in the William Morris ward did slightly better, with 228, though she also failed to get off the bottom rung among the candidates.

TUSC have not announced which wards they will be putting candidates up for in Waltham Forest in May 2014.

Comments

The Chequers Refurbishment News

2013-03-02T01:16:54+01:00

The windows of The Chequers have large signs in them saying '7th March'. I assume that someone seeing that may form the impression that this means the pub refurbishment will be complete by that date, or that the place will be reopenned.

We shall see. Or not.

Comments

Waltham Forest Council News

2013-02-28T16:29:31+01:00

Waltham Forest employed 144 consultants off-payroll last year on contracts ranging from £47 to £226,334. The Evening Standard alleges that the purpose of this was in many cases to ensure that the correct amount of tax as employees would not be payable and so that the council avoids its obligations to pay National Insurance on their staff members' earnings.

The Local Government Association, a body apparently set up by councils to represent their own interests instead of the public's, had suggested to the Standard that 'the practice was not wide-spread in town halls'. However, the evidence suggests otherwise.

In other news, the Chief Executive of Waltham Forest Council, a Mr Mark Esom, recently bluntly told a resident who had the temerity to ask him about what he actually does for a living on the public's behalf that "As to the content of your correspondence, the Council is under no legal obligation to enter into correspondence with residents on any matter."

According to an email which has been shown to the Archipelago, the resident had wanted to know about the scandal at O-Regen and what the senior officers and Chief executive did about it as the facts came to light. The resident, in my view quite reasonably and politely, asked:

"... please will you outline how the Council’s senior management team reacted to the unfolding situation, and specifically state whether it

(a) alerted the programme funder and management agent about the existence and extent of the ‘double counting’;

(b) contacted the police to determine whether fraud had occurred;

(d) put in place measures to ensure that parallel and future programmes could not be similarly subverted?"

The Chief Executive of Waltham Forest Council has apparently taken legal advice from someone (presumably at local taxpayers' expense) and has not yet answered the specific questions put to him.

6 March 2013: See also: http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/10270226.Over_140_council_contractors_paid__off_payroll_/

Comments

Shameful Behaviour at the Duke's Head on 2nd March 2013

2013-02-28T01:58:49+01:00

Shameful Behaviour is a 3-piece heavy rock/metal band comprising Mark Simpson, Jimi King and Peter Haggart. They will be playing a free gig at the Duke's Head at 112 Wood Street on the 2nd March.

Here is a clip of them playing Shadowplay at a gig at the railway tavern in Longfield, Kent earlier last year:

Hat-tip to miramax911

Comments

Peter Hitchens on Stella Creasy

2013-02-27T02:48:12+01:00

Peter Hitchens had a piece in the Daily Mail yesterday on the Potemkin Village Fete held in honour of his recent visit to Walthamstow. In summary, he has concluded Stella Creasy does not really listen to other people. He also noted she avoids discussing her own rather privileged background (he noted the sexually segregated, elite, education she received but wishes to deny others), and is distinctly vague on important social issues like marriage.

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2013/02/stella-or-hezza-whos-paying-more-attention.html

Comments

Haydn - 25th Symphony

2013-02-26T02:50:04+01:00

A recording of Haydn's 25th Symphony by the Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Christopher Hogwood, made in June 1991 at Walthamstow Assembly Hall.

Hat-tip to LUDIVICUSDEOLOR

Comments

Ricardo Laranjo - Ponte sobre o Rio Lea

2013-02-24T13:07:07+01:00

Here's a clip of Ricardo Loranjo painting the arches under the railway on Walthamstow marshes where A.V.Roe built the first British aeroplane. To Mr Loranjo, this is "Plein Air painting in London. Pintura ao ar livre às margens do Rio Lea em Londres, feita nos dias 09 e 10 outubro de 2012."

Comments

Brigitte Beraha and John Turville - Elephants on Wheels

2013-02-24T11:47:07+01:00

A live performance by Brigitte Beraha and John Turville from the album Red Skies, which was launched last week at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Dean Street.

Comments

Markhouse Food and Wine

2013-02-23T01:29:16+01:00

Markhouse Food and Wine at 74 Markhouse Road sells booze, fags, and foods that last a long time on the shelves, but mainly booze. This is handy if you want to buy something to have with a Thai meal at the nearby Jimmy's Cafe, which does not sell booze but does permit it, subject to corkage.

The shop, which is a double frontage convenience store, has blue window and door frames beneath a large white sign with the name of the business in green letters, but with the words 'groceries and off-licence' in red.

Beneath this is a taradiddle about 'Daily Fresh Fruit and Veg'. Maybe it was once true. The windows currently have adverts in Polish to try to entice in some of the Poles in the neighbourhood with the promise of Polskie Produkty inside, though the depictions of bottles of booze in the right hand window probably indicate more precisely the kinds of custom being sought.

Markhouse food and Wine, which is run by some Sri Lankan lads, is one of five local shops in the Markhouse Road area which in 2012 agreed to act as 'safe havens': meaning that young people feeling threatened would be offered protection by the shopkeepers if they ran in seeking somewhere to avoid a hiding or worse at the hands of the local gangs. The scheme started with the usual uncritical and congratulatory publicity for all involved, but it seems to have fizzled out a bit since then. The CitySafe website does not list this business being part of the scheme.

Participant businesses originally pledged to:

"report 100% of crime to the Police
Offer their premises as a safe haven for any young person in danger
Maintain a relationship with neighbours, police and the local community
Encourage their staff to attend CitySafe training (whatever that means)
Refuse to sell alcohol, knives or other dangerous items to underage or drunk customers"

I have no idea which, if any, of the above, Markhouse Food and Wine decided wasn't worth bothering about. Or why none of the other shops were interested either.

Tel 020 8521 1511. To the right of Care Central.

Comments

Harlem Shake

2013-02-22T01:30:24+01:00

This is what TSP Youth Space & Tumble in the Jungle get up to at 245 Wood Street.

Hat-tip to TSPYS

Comments

Sexism in Walthamstow

2013-02-22T00:44:21+01:00

I have previously noted the sexism, if not the outright casual androphobia and misandry of some organised groups of women in Walthamstow. Some of this has been promoted by small groups or even just unchallenged individual women who have sought to justify their wish to exclude men from the use of public resources on religious grounds. Other examples have seemingly been motivated by a wish to build a business networking freemasonry of a type which when practiced by men is usually identified as an irrational and unacceptable anti-competitive business activity of preserving business opportunities within a small self-selecting business oligarchy. (In other words, the mosque, masonic hall or golf club).

We have also seen a few examples of anti-male sexism in the world of politics, though to be fair to most of the political parties, it has tended only to be the local Labour Party which does not believe in equality (though it does have members who are willing to talk about equality a fair bit, including our local MP). Thus, probably due to the poisonous influence of Harriet Harman, we saw men excluded from what was arguably a public election meeting on public property during the last general election campaign.

The latest example of sex discrimination comes, ironically enough, courtesy of the organisers of an International Womens' Day event at Waltham Forest College on Saturday March 9 2013. Between the hours of 6pm and 9pm, a group calling itself the Waltham Forest Women's Network will be purporting to have the right to ban men from a public building in order to promote equality for women.

The advertised activities and entertainment in celebration of International Women's Day include belly dancing, Zumba exercise and Bollywood dancing, with a range of stalls, a henna artist and a raffle, and dinner thrown in. Tickets are £10 for adults, £5 for under 12s and free for those aged under five.

I am presuming that the irony of excluding all men from an event featuring fitness routines invented by a man, Beto Perez, (invented and intended by him for everyone's wellbeing, regardless of their gender), is lost on the organisers. Or that the first Bollywood dancers were actually men. Irony failures are common among bigots.

So I will merely ask how excluding all men from their presence promotes women's equality in any way shape or form. Women's equality without men to be equal with is not equality. It is segregation, apartheid. It is inequality. It is bigotry. It is bad politics. It is also, on public property, quite possibly illegal unless there is a lawful justification for it, of which none has been put forward in this instance. (It is also unnecesssary. They could have simply held a ticket-only event like they have in previous years to reserve the right to keep out any undesirables. We all know that they discriminated previously, but now the organisers are being blatant about it).

Now, I am well aware that there will be some men and women who might think that this post is just someone who wants to spoil the organisers' fun by joining in something to which he is not invited. Not at all. I couldn't attend on the 9th March in any event.

I just happen to believe that it is stupid of the organisers to undermine the symbolic and social importance of celebrating International Womens' Day by creating divisions between people where none need exist. Excluding all men means that married women or women with male partners are also being discriminated against as they will be excluded from bringing their male partners with them. Mothers can't bring sons, daughters can't bring fathers, sisters can't bring brothers. Sons can't bring mothers. What a sad state of affairs.

There are enough worthy causes worth pursuing without creating unworthy ones. We do not accept notices saying 'No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish'. We do not accept people telling women to get back in the kitchen. We do not accept homophobia. Or mysogeny. Why accept the hogwash of female bigots?

Comments

One of Many Aftermaths Of the War On Terror

2013-02-21T18:49:55+01:00

There are headlines in the national press today about the conviction of some wannabe terrorists from Birmingham. I am quite pleased about this, firstly, of course, because another murderous plot was foiled and many peoples' lives were saved. My second reason is a little more selfish, as hopefully now the Birmingham plotters have been convicted, people won't so automatically think of Walthamstow first every time an Islamic terrorist plot is being discussed.

The Walthamstow plot, which was foiled over half a decade or so ago, was no small matter. Indeed, the repercussions are still being felt to this day by many people who had nothing whatsoever to do with it. How much public money has been diverted to the 'war on terror'? How many silly solutions have been proposed using the threat of terror as an excuse? How many planes have been held up or even missed by passengers negotiating the whole pat-down and scanning process at airports? How many blood-pressures have been raised, I wonder, by annoying security people pompously confiscating entirely innocent liquids in the wrong sized bottles? Such inconveniences though, are general ones shared by us all, and are not as irritiating, I would bet, as the more personal alleged experiences of Constanantinos Alexandrou.

Mr Alexandrou's specific troubles stem from before the Walthamstow bomb plot was even foiled, as he and his wife allowed M15 to use his place to spy on the Walthamstow bomb factory back in 2006. (Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Khan and Waheed Zaman were subsequently convicted for conspiracy to murder in 2010)

On the basis that no good deed ever goes unpunished, Mr Alexandrou has said his cooperation and its aftermath placed a strain on his relationship with his wife and led to a series of incidents as he was later wrongfully arrested twice at his home by the Metropolitan Police, who'd taken over the surveillance from MI5. He says that he was falsely imprisoned. In a third run-in with armed police, he claims he feared he was going to be shot, after he was stopped while walking through a park by police who demanded to see identification.

These incidents are now reportedly the subject of a civil trial taking place at the Central London County Court, where he is suing the police for aggravated damages.

Update 24 February 2013: Mr Alexandrou lost his case: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/300372/MI5-aide-loses-cop-legal-fight/

Update 2 March 2013: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2286746/Four-Islamic-terrorists-planned-attack-British-soil-guns-home-bombs.html

Comments

Bengal Curry House News

2013-02-20T00:27:29+01:00

Fans of the Bengal Curry House at 24 St James's Street will be very pleased to see they have a website now, where all their favourite dishes can be found on a downloadable list, together with the all-important info like phone numbers (0208 520 0385 or 0208 520 4434) and opening times (7 days a week between 5.30pm and 11.30pm).

http://www.bengal-curry-house.com./

Comments

The Standard Bearers at the Vic

2013-02-19T12:25:00+01:00

The Standard Bearers have come up with a brilliantly cunning wheeze, which allows wannabe Rock Gods and Goddesses to get up on stage with them during their set and save the band the strain of remembering the words all by themselves.

They have published their potential set in advance and allow likely crooners a chance to book a slot to join in their monthly Rockaoke spectacular at the Victoria. Anyone who reckons they could have done better no longer has an excuse - because they could have done, if they'd emailed the band about booking a slot.

Here's an example of the band playing, from the 17th January:

Hat-tip to TheStandardBearersuk

The next gig will be on the 28th February.

Comments

An Intriguing Tale

2013-02-17T03:59:20+01:00

A rather strange story has appeared in a Karachi newpaper alleging that a Pakistani diplomat was attacked in Walthamstow 'on Thursday night' at 10pm. According to 'The News International' the diplomat had been for treatment at Whipps Cross hospital and was going home 'after getting his ear pain treatment'. Presumably he lives near the hospital as he was apparently not in a vehicle.

The gentleman, who is named as Nasar Ahmad, is a 'Press Assistant in the Information Division of Pakistan High Commission'. That may be true, or it may not. How should I know? I do note though that one of the better definitions of a diplomat is a 'good man sent abroad to lie for his country', and that a 'Press Assistant' is often a fancy title for a professional spin merchant. How reliable it makes Mr Ahmad that he works for the 'Information Division' of his country's embassy I shall leave to others, but I suppose I should note that the phrase 'Information Division' is a departmental title which in diplomatic circles is quite vague enough to cover a multitude of euphemisms.

Anyway, to get to the alleged facts of this story, Mr Ahmad is reported as having said he was in an unidentified street 'near his home' when he was attacked by two men. Mr Ahmad has claimed they asked him 'where are you from’ and then asked him for money and tried to snatch his wallet. 'The two men started hitting him with some weapon due to which he got serious head injury with profuse bleeding. They punched him on the ground and shouted racist abuse as well swearing words.'

According to the report:
'His attacker took away his cell phone Nokia e71 and his wallet containing bank cards, High Commission’s ID card, and cash. During the struggle cell phone no of a senior Pakistani diplomat got dialed from Mr Nasar’s cell phone by chance.

The diplomat heard strange noise in the phone but could not speak to Mr. Nasar and when the diplomat tried to call him back but was not connected. The diplomat then asked another Pakistan High Commission employee who lives near Nasar’s house to go and inquire about him.

When the employee arrived at his house, he saw him bleeding in the head and in torn clothes. He called 999 emergency service and told them the details of the incident clearly mentioning that Nasar was an employee of the Pakistan High Commission London and that he was bleeding profusely and may lose his life but the police and ambulance arrived after an hour and didn’t treat the matter with urgency that they should have.

The police took the details of the incident and went away. Nasar was taken to the Hospital in the ambulance and was attended at the hospital. The doctor told Nasar Ahmad that he had a fracture in the head bone and was given an appointment for the next week for further examination and treatment after having spent night at the hospital in care.'

10pm is quite late to be returning from a routine ear treatment at Whipps. Maybe they open late for diplomats, but for normal folk, I note that the outpatient ENT clinic shuts at 6.30pm on a Thursday. This makes me wonder, if the report quotes him accurately, whether what he says about when this incident occurred could be true. Was he really coming back from Whipps or had he been somewhere else?

If the incident had gone on in a street for 10 minutes as claimed one wonders that people in the vicinity did not hear the events and call the Met. Perhaps Mr Ahmad is confused and the event took place somewhere else. There are a number of spots out of the public gaze in the vicinity of Whipps Cross which locals will be aware of. If someone was on their way home, of course, then they presumably would not be at such places as those, where they would be more vulnerable to an allegedly random assault than in a residential street. Not being told in the report the street where the robbery is thought to have taken place, it is difficult to know how speculative these thoughts are.

I also wonder why the High Commission, who apparently did know about these events because they could hear them going on, delayed phoning the police. It is odd that they did not themselves phone a report of one of their people being attacked when they apparently heard it going on. The police could possibly have been able to trace the phone, after all.

The idea that they delayed contacting the diplomatic protection squad and that a Pakistani High commission staff member who lived nearby would then have fortuitously been available to be sent to find Mr Ahmad instead intrigues me. That he turned up to find Mr Ahmad at his home was lucky - Mr Ahmad, presumably could have been anywhere. I am also fascinated that it took the staff member to then phone 999 rather than Mr Ahmad doing so himself from home or seeking help from anyone nearer the scene of the alleged incident.

Anyway, according to the paper in Karachi, Mr Ahmad was attacked by racists, the police were not interested in his plight, the good doctors at Whipps Cross were useless and sent him packing when his life was actually in danger. Who am I to suggest otherwise? Nor is the attacker, (or was it two men?) described. Whoever is said to have assailed Mr Ahmad is not going to step forward to say that anything different to Mr Ahmad's account took place.

Comments