localnews

Local and Neighbourhood News Stories

It might seem odd to commence a local news webpage with reference to the Rotherham child grooming scandal but it might reasonably be said that little engenders as much emotive nonsense as the interlinked questions of citizenship and ethnicity. When news about this national scandal first broke I thought it had become immediately apparent that police had been afraid to pursue gangs of Indian/Pakistani men because of allegations of racism. Whilst I cannot quite answer for the provenance of the remark, I seem to recall having read this was so much so that one police constable had been resignedly told by a superior to "go and find a white paedophile instead." The point is to say in respect of ludicrous and unbelievable difficulties with the letting agent Masons Estates, that a similar sort of prejudicial problem arguably exists, in that Masons is for want of a better phrase are basically run and owned by a mini-clan of the Jamaican Windrush affinity who are supposed to be darlings of a mythically wholesome sort of New Labour multi-racial community as it were, and legal authorities might seem afraid to pursue them: as far as I know they are broadly associated with the recently deceased ex Councillor Albert Grant who himself seems to have been reasonably well thought of.

This is the shower room which looks probably somewhat cleaner than it did when I moved in fifteen years ago. Among details of the interior dereliction of the place that I have not mentioned anywhere yet are that: the toilet has been hanging off the wall and wobbling about since 2011; it is usable only by filling the cistern by hand; the washing machine broke down in 2015; the condition of the windows declined to the extent of being thoroughly ineffective at least five years ago and the shower packed up about six months ago. Insofar as the national media has any intelligent analytical focus on (sounds a bit hackneyed I know) the state of the nation, I think the Rotherham child grooming scandal tends to go meaningfully alongside the concurrent sex pervert scandals among senior figures from the Church of England and what being obviously of the remark that the latter are better at suggesting media people forget about their sins.

I probably will not have to remind many local householders that the nearby and now demolished Caribbean Club had almost been the site of a gun battle prior to its closure some ten years ago. What is unfortunately of the remark that this mini-clan are at least very loosely associated with an officially unsolved murder in said Caribbean Club from 1983. I have furthermore in recent years heard the suspicion voiced that it is not unreasonable to imagine it a fair comment they are arguably associated with people smugglers, and I would neither be surprised to hear that certain of their affinity had convictions for dealing in narcotics.

I am continually surprised to find in speaking to people in the neighbourhood that I seem to be consistently misunderstood: I can well understand, not that I feel I am significantly personally to blame for it, that my story is unusual and dysfunctional, but given the amount of time I have spent trying to leave cogent and comprehensive comments online this is strange and disturbing to say the least. The discovery that this website seems to have been repeatedly sabotaged since probably around 2011 or 12 does not quite explain it, even given that my attempts to compose webpages describing atrocious reactionary abuse at the hands of a solicitor more obsessed with thatcherism than justice in 1885, are rudimentary, surprisingly error strewn, and quite comical at times. The fact is that people seem to understand me fairly well in conversation though I suppose they may just being polite. I have not ever had anyone in the local community turn round and say that I am not making sense, that I am deluded or deranged in what I say, not even once. The only people who have are those connected with social services, who are social and political allies of labour party members, who were supposed to have steered me into a council flat at the age of seventeen and away from my father's specious intrigues.

What is of trying to point out that it does not make any difference how friendly, constructive, well intentioned or understanding people are in the community, the fact is that my entire life has been governed by a violent unpleasant tirade lasting about half a minute unleashed by the solicitor Anthony Smythe in 1985. His refusal to admit that sex offenders even existed let alone that the question underpinned my having technically burgled an apparent or presumed lodger over the previous winter, makes rotten dirty double crossing finks out of everyone, it condemned me to a subsistence existence on welfare, and for want of a better phrase, the community, to an endless cycle of dysfunction, conflict, and wasted resources.

As far as the immediate neighbourhood is presently concerned I would seek to raise a couple of queries about recent possible crime incidents .......

On Tuesday the 5th of March my mother’s car was parked at the top of Bartholomew Street on the side nearest the allotments and it seems that at some time between 11am and 12:30 it picked up a nasty little dent on the driver’s side facing toward the street. It is a fairly large red/maroon hatchback. This could have been an act of vandalism or the consequence of an unreported accident and any relevant information anyone might have would be appreciated.

Further to the comment that my motorcycle tyre pressures have been repeatedly tampered with it seems that some of the dangerous readings repeatedly obtained have been owing to a poorly designed digital inflator but I remain quite convinced tyres have been tampered with in that for instance amongst the garbage turning up in recent years has been a heavy high pressure cannister: I like to think I am an experienced enough motorcyclist to know roughly what a correctly inflated tyre should feel like. I have had to park it back here outside the building because in the short term I really need to make extensive use of it and with various travails I am simply far too exhausted to walk half a mile there and back every time I need it.

These comments and observations bring me conveniently round to the remark that very approximately sometime during last November of 2024 the aluminium top box was found to have acquired some nasty deep scratches on its upper surface. I cannot help but think this was certainly an act of vandalism and again I would appreciate any information about anyone having possibly witnessed such an incident taking place.

I do suppose that some of what I do online is not entirely unappreciated as many do not have the time to ponder at all on the news and the way it is presented. In the later nineties when I first thought of presenting the question of current events in relation to the legal suits I sought to present, I had off the cuff thought to divide stories of relevant interest into international, national and local sections. Various considerable technical issues being consistently ongoing, that proved to be a fairly big idea, especially in terms of the fact of money and time being continually devoured by the workstation, so from about 2010 I started writing major stories (especially those of obvious relevance to my personal legal issues) into the narrative and set out to compose a couple of password protected local sections, it being the case eg among other things that there is to some extent a local neighbourhood watch scheme.

Here and now at the commencement of 2025 I have still not quite got the kind of domestic facilities or wherewithal of one sort or another to allow for the complete going over of all the material that has been lost or destroyed by accidents theft and hacking sabotage since the late nineties, which is probably at least as much again as that which is currently displayed on the site. I do want to get around to that and will probably revert to three sections at some point but in the meantime I have thought to put up a few stories from the locality that are of general interest which are listed below.

Dates are of first upload and again the text has been frequently emended.

07 01 25 Magistrates galore
10 01 25 Murder of Raymond James Quigley

The story of the disappearance of 19 yr old Luke Durbin in 2006 has been in the news again recently! Ellen Coughlan's article for the Mailonline January 20th 2025 contains a few facts that are oddly quite a surprise to me. When I first heard of the disappearance of this young man in our mythical propagandistic new labour community I was particularly annoyed and thought it was a case of some kind of date rape gone wrong. What has eventually been apparently surmised seems to be more like a story about a naive young man from a shires having gotten out of his depth with the drugs underworld from the big city. Despite having taken quite an interest in the media story I seem to have somehow missed much relevant detail. From reading between the lines of the Mail article I tend to suppose that police feel they have tracked down the perpetrator(s) but simply do not have adequate evidence for a prosecution.

This story about a 24 year old stepfather and this two year old child's mother having beaten her to death has raised quite a few eyebrows in the sort of community households that take much of an interest in the social and political functioning of the borough. It happened about a week after midsummer's day 2023 pretty much slap dab in the middle of the better side of town and only ten minutes walk from where I exist. The sad tale seems very much unfortunately symbolic of a widespread negative perception about social care. There have been many articles in the East Anglian about the matter and I have not quite grasped what the causative familial dynamics were from what I have managed to read. It is as horrible as anything I have read of late, in that for instance she had not died as the result of a single sudden explicable loss of temper but from what I can make out, was beaten into a lifeless condition over a period of at least a week, so obvious questions ought to be asked in that someone must have had some idea what was happening to this innocent and hapless little girl: her father makes a great deal of how much he misses her but the obvious questions that will arise in the mind of many is to the effect that where was he and what manner of creature is he?

The unutterably ghastly tale is generally salutary for a new government seeking to get to grips with huge costly ambitions and expectations in respect of health and social care. It has engendered quite a lot of coverage in the local papers with the picture of young Isabella having been published in the EADT on perhaps a dozen occasions since July of 23. It completely beggars belief anyone could do such a thing under any circumstance; I daresay that many besides myself, are entirely shocked and stupefied at such an incomprehensibly evil piece of behaviour. Many including myself would surely give their eye teeth to have such a beautiful and healthy looking daughter; it really is the most appalling waste of a young life and an enchanting smile. Who should we blame? What should we blame? Presumably the two 24 year olds were short of money for drugs and suffering withdrawal symptoms. I hope it is a very long time before I hear of anything like such an unbelievably monstrous story as this is and I can only hope it has shaken some of the complacent faith we have in our social services: I am sure that I am not the only person who has had a great deal of trouble looking at this picture without weeping.

One well fed shadow minister criticises the sentences handed out in a grubby attempt to make capital out of the event despite that a twenty six year minimum for Mr Jeff is generally serious as far as cot deaths are concerned: insofar as crime and justice issues are clearly of relevance it might help if the last tory government had spent more on prison facilities though one can never quite tell what to make of stories of inadequate resources for such services as are considered essential nowadays. A sense of disbelief pervading those who have had anything to do with the case might explain why so much of the detail of what happened is not clear. Of course I have never myself had to face up to parental responsibilities in that as I have been at some pains to elaborate over many years now, I have had to put aside any genuinely serious thoughts about a career or family in order to make protest at legal representation I have been gifted; the closest I have come to any consideration of parental responsibilities in any literal manner or sense was in once having changed a friend's daughter's nappy whilst babysitting on an odd occasion back in the mid-nineties. I daresay many cannot help but wonder what the whole story was in that for example I have only noted one article that specifically stated Isabella had tested positive for cocaine and cannabis: most will surely find it disappointing that some intervention did not occur though I believe the mother had been warned against him by her family.

It is all too inescapably evident that this murder besides being preventable and perversely motiveless, points to a sort of apocalyptic unwholesomeness in contemporary society and I believe we are often absurdly overoptimistic in our assessment of the ability of even correctly and effectively functioning public services to deal with it. In such a straightforward question as to how a toddler of thirty months has been beaten to death it all too arguably ought not to firstly cost a Crown Court weeks of work to obtain a guilty verdict without a genuinely serious question mark about the identity of the perpetrator(s). Now that the lawyers, court officials and others have discharged their services and been paid, there is the bill for thirty six years of prison time to be considered. It is an interesting question as to whether or not such proceedings can be reasonably streamlined; I tend to think that we need to firstly properly understand how lawyers run peoples' lives. Prevention is always better than detection of course and one cannot help but wonder if any lessons may have been learned in respect of state provision for the assistance of the most vulnerable. I cannot help but ruefully recollect that it all too arguably seems I had been lucky enough to have grandparents who took me in when I was about her age and surely no-one would have begrudged her some worthwhile effective assistance in this most serious of matters: it also seems apt to reiterate that parental responsibilities are a serious matter not a kind of lifestyle trend.

07 01 25

This one is I suppose quite arguably an example of how news reporting and information is changing in that I do not know anything much about social media at all but it all too arguably to some extent demonstrates a certain sort of anomie in the conventional media. Judge Martyn Levett clearly has a little bit to say about the role of magistrates which reads a bit like an A level history lecture. When I first read it I thought it arguably too much like a bit of smug social propaganda and I mean to say, alleging Magna Carta ensured "justice to all" is quite a sweeping statement. This very document was in 1679 described as "Magna Farta" by one Chief Justice Lord Keylring and suffice it say that many would surely seek to express some indignation at the assertion that justice was ensured in this country or anywhere else for that matter: given especially of course the existence of widespread evidence to the effect that injustice remains endemic in contemporary society and across the globe.

It is a legitimate sort observation that magistrates do continue to play a 'crucial role' in the ministration of justice and that Edward 3rd supervised their formal introduction as a response to the disorder and destruction inflicted by the Black Death in 1348. Whilst I do agree that the JP system of managing local justice is an interesting and fairly singular example of institutional continuity, I do not quite understand how the practice of branding should be viewed as somehow separate from this continuity; Charles the first was for example still getting into an image problem with things like the ear cropping of William Prynne hundreds of years later. That the role is prestigious and rewarding is generally open to little question though I seem to recall besides the fact I did know they were formally introduced in 1361 and perhaps in view of contemporary views of a crime problem, that strictly speaking they were also unpaid amateurs which might surprise many. The remark is worthy of some further qualification in that it is interestingly and perhaps relevantly the case as far as various sorts of public servants are concerned, that they are only required to be available for thirteen full days annually and can claim expenses like lost income: it seems thence an obvious question as to whether or not the public interest could be better served by a more businesslike, meaningful and perhaps professional approach to problem solving in society, especially in respect of behavioural issues. The present system of administering justice and managing crime tends to reinforce the bourgeois prejudices off the upper-middle class amateurs populating the bench and many often comment that they are too good at handing out publicity stunt payouts in trifling incidents to those who have been able to find and afford lawyers.

Among other things the remark that the role requires a "unique combination of skills, experience, and qualifications" is really just a clever sounding piece of wordplay since it is eg most unlikely indeed that various widely assorted individuals would all have the same unique combination of attributes and characteristics under any reasonably envisioned sort of circumstance. Comments about human nature and legal principles might also sound a bit vague and complacent within the context of a broader perception of public service crisis, there being some eight million crimes or more successfully reported annually. What is without question in view of for instance the highly questionable and misunderstood evidence in the Letby trial, of the remark that a medievally based legal system is significantly failing to adapt to technology and science in the 21st century. These developing areas increasingly demand more specialised and more detailed knowledge of research in order to comprehend for instance the dialogue between those who worked around Letby and the preconceptions of hospital management about the nature and quality of their specialised services. The aftermath of the Letby trial in particular was that matters had not been managed well by a legal system obsessed with testimony and the elicitation of remarks about early childcare in the NHS that were swiftly called into very serious question by various of the most well informed authorities.

This of course does refer to the work of prosecutors rather than magistrates or judges but it tends to add up to an unnerving picture of another dysfunctional looking public service; Josh Halliday and Michael Goodier's recent Guardian article about contemporary crime statistics makes an interesting juxtaposition with our shire rag's all too arguably smug and complacent woffle about the legal system. It is all very well for the new labour government to pass more laws but an awful lot of evidence does strongly tend to suggest that what is really needed is a legal system that is logistically capable of effectively and meaningfully handling the increasing volume of traffic engendered by contemporary social upheavals. Among other things Magna Carta insists that 'justice shall not be sold nor denied' but the unfortunate fact is that I cannot even begin to get any justice without having lots of money to pay lawyers so to say the least I am a bit put out by the assertion that justice is ensured for all. I do not quite know what to make of the last two sentences in that they do not quite seem to scan comprehensibly; perhaps Mr Levett has had one too many g&t's or perhaps the article's author has not quite accurately reproduced what was said.

One comment which seems very much worth sharing is approximately to the effect that the contemporary furore about mental health and huge numbers being on the sick largely arises because mental health diagnoses are being used to buffer between huge numbers of crimes and a legal system that is logistically unable to process them effectively: which is also why police forces are going to great lengths to reject or disqualify a significant proportion of attempted crime reports.

Another obvious flaw in our present legal system are the derisory fines often levied against nuisance law breakers: if we take for example the question of fly tipping, what is of the remark that under the present system it really does cost a lot of money for a farmer to report it to a cop, who reports it to a prosecutor, who reports it to the offender, who makes a report to a legal aid lawyer, who reports it to a magistrate all of which tends to add up to a significant four figure sum which is only going to result in a three figure fine. Obviously these are likely not quite literal facts but I am sure that most with relevant insights would tend to agree with the point in general and that people who make a wilful antisocial nuisance of themselves should be made to pay the real price and more of the inconvenience their malefactions have occasioned the state. The context of and explanation for such inconsistencies, of course lies in the fact of historical injustice and the inability of ordinary people to bring their leaders to book for starting wars failing to control exploitive and hazardous economic activity and so on and so forth, but the fact remains that if we mean to keep order and maintain fairness in society we have to be willing to make penalties a real deterrent and laws have to be actually enforceable. Among other things I think our courts should look more like peoples' committees and I would take away this threatening medieval costumery. I believe ordinary and unlearned people are in many cases quite capable of discerning the meaningful truth and administering such a simple concept as justice and I would quite like to make a bonfire out of much of our twaddling traditionalist legalism!

10 01 25

The items reproduced from the EADT refer to a rather cruel and utterly pointless murder which has been broadly blamed on gang culture as the killing of Raymond James Quigley seems to have been prompted by the murder of a friend/associate of the two convicts in Norwich the previous year. What really captured the horror and shock of local people besides the fact those involved are of little more than school age, was that this outrageous attack happened in broad daylight office hours right in the middle of Ipswich in front of hundreds of shoppers.

The comments aired by Councillor Muhith and Commissioner Passmore are quite predictable and if they come across as learned and quite soberly down to earth, it is no doubt because of the stark nature of the murder, and the fact it tends to show local authorities and the Suffolk police in a bad light. What is unfortunately of the fact I am going to have to distastefully reiterate that the Suffolk police have continued to treat attempts to report my father's death at the end of 2008 as a murder with the most infuriating contemptuous silence, despite eg the fact it was the ER staff who called them owing to the homicidal behaviour of a younger half brother with an impressive record of violence and delinquency: this was swiftly followed by the murders of Rosie Hunt and Desmond Thorpe who were both friendly acquaintances and in which I understand the local force were also to some extent found negligent. It was my father's sister who had called him to the ER and what is of presently surmising that there must be something questionable about her having inherited a detached desres from my grandmother at the age of 34 which most would consider pretty good going.

What is very much of the remark that this is the only really genuinely plausible motive for her behaviour in that eg having been born in 1984, my younger half brother cannot incriminate her in any respect relating to the events of the 1970s. It is absurdly difficult to explain such actions on her part as motivated by some fifty year old sex and/or drug scandal, in the fallout from these events it very much seemed apparent that she had been assiduously bum steering accurate approbation of relevant matters by social services and education officials over many years. One of her cousins a Joe French, had strongly hinted during a telephone call in early 2009, that there was something sinister about her personality that she did in fact take great pains to disguise and in my view her management of the property seemed very much concomitantly culpably incompetent: it is something of an understatement to say that it is not too difficult to imagine that my father could not have disputed a contrary will or anything such without being carted off back to prison.

The murder of RJQ reflects some simply cowardly behaviour in that two teenagers Alfie Hammet and Joshua Howell used machetes to attack another apparently unarmed teenager, one of them using such a weapon to deter passers by from assisting. As far as the remarks passed by the Commissioner and Councillor are concerned, what is firstly of the remark that Mr Passmore happens to be a card carrying tory party member though he lost his district council seat to the greens recently, and that despite his personal professions about "a host of projects to encourage young people to find more positive ways to spend their time" his government had done a very great deal to cut back on the kind of support services for urban youths that might have forestalled or mitigated such behaviour. I do not quite see how negative connotations about a musical style could have a negative impact on youth behaviour and that is significantly because I do not think any sort of rap qualifies as music. It is an insult to music if you really want my opinion and I think its evolution rather more to do with sociology and urban politics than music in that those tedious drum rhythms are rather more of a call to arms for inner urban youth interest groups than an attempt to make noises that are edifying or pleasing to the ear in any way. Neither do I quite see that dark subject matter and sinister headgear might be a dangerous influence in that eg even the best adjusted of individuals arguably views several hundred simulated murders and killings each week on TV.

The comment that many young people make bad choices through no fault of their own is quite progressive sounding for a rural county's police commissioner; it seems a little out of context and I cannot quite help but wonder what might have elicited it. Councillor Muhith says correlation does not imply causation but I feel he is mistaken because that is exactly what it does mean: if two sets of facts or happenings correlate then they are apparently causatively connected. What is after all from a policepersons point of view that glorifying violence as some of this drill rap unquestionably does, has to be viewed as a form of criminal incitement, which is approximately where we have to draw the line when it comes to freedom of speech. I think it more correct in terms of legitimate legal issues, to call into question the lyrics rather than the so called 'musical' style.

I tend to prefer an apocalyptic contextual interpretation of such events involving overpopulation and environmental degradation as leading to more and more violent crime. You can only fit so many healthy young people into so few square miles of concrete without them turning on each other thus, even if by some unlikely twist of legislative fate the huge revenue streams caused by drug prohibition and being collected by organised crime were to be cut off: someone, somewhere, is making a huge amount of cash out of the fortunes being spent in the black market on (not so well) controlled substances and I do not think it is any of these airing teenagers. It can be difficult to make out the precise details of what happened in such an eyebrow raising case as this insofar as quite a number of different articles narrate the course of the prosecution rather than setting out to give a single detailed account. As far as I can make out RJQ came to Ipswich to do some kind of a drug deal and members of a another gang smarting over the death of one of their number at the hands of associates of RJQ seem to have got to hear of it somehow. Central Ipswich seems to be considered their turf and they ambushed him committing violent murder at the busiest time of day with no consideration at all apparently having been given to concealment or disguise. It might have been the case the RJQ was carrying a knife for purposes of self defence but it proved inadequate against two determined assailants armed with machetes.

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