Sunday catchup (part 2)

1. Guyism report the case of 'Joe Sugarman, a man who was kicked out of his United Airlines plane for asking “Are you serving any meals during our flight?” is beyond absurd.' Here's Joe's story in his own words from his site:

'I get to the airport, boarded my plane and I’m sitting in first class. The flight attendant was right in front of me and was curious if they were going to serve meals onboard. So I asked her, “Are you serving any meals during our flight?”

She looked at me kinda funny and said, “I can’t answer that for security reasons.”

A little puzzled, I wondered how it affected security but I let it pass as she went into the cockpit. About three minutes later, two armed Austin police officers boarded the plane, looked at me and said, “Sugarman, follow us.”'

Apparently 'Sugarman was informed afterwards that the reason he was deboarded as because the flight attendant thought he said “Are there any police on this flight?”' Hmmm seems like a over-reaction form a maybe tetchy air-stewardess to me.


2. The Mail reports the less than shocking news that : 'KGB did bug Profumo and Keeler pillow talk to steal nuclear secrets.'


3. The Telegraph reports the slightly more surprising news that:

'Lynn Barber, the journalist whose teenage relationship was turned into the film An Education, has admitted to sleeping with about 50 men during two terms at Oxford. '

50 in roughly 16 weeks is around 3 a week, pretty good going...


4. The Mail reports the case of

'Three teenagers have been found guilty of subjecting a young woman with learning difficulties to three days of sadistic physical and sexual torture.

Darren Hodgkinson, 18, and girls Chelsea Mills, 16, and Chelsea Williams, 14, bruised their victim so severely that people thought she was black.

Nail varnish and cream were rubbed into the woman's hair, which was then shaved off along with her eyebrows.

She was stripped and sexually humiliated before being imprisoned in a wardrobe, and Hodgkinson burned her hands and face with a lighter.'

Horrific crimes I think you will agree and the punishments handed down by the court? Pathetic - '

ringleader Hodgkinson was jailed at Southampton Crown Court for a minimum of four years. Mills was given a two-year detention and training order, and Williams was given an 18-month detention and training order.'

Why so light, were there extenuating circumstances, did the judge have good reasons? It seems not:

'Judge Peter Ralls said: 'This poor woman may never recover from the psychological damage. You picked on her because she was odd and for no motivation other than to satisfy some depraved wish to cause harm.''

If the crimes were that serious why the short sentences?



5. The Mail reports the possible ending of the tyranny of the speed camera - about bloody time too. But I will wait and see before I get too excited, there are too many lefty councils who love to milk and punish the motorist.