Really good news that Oxfordshire County Council has won it’s legal case against a small group of people who persisted in putting the George Cross Flag up in public areas, particularly lamp posts. The costs involved and the threats that were made to Council employees were despicable and had nothing to do with “patriotism”. They were indeed a safety risk on public roads, being a distraction for drivers and also endangered people who had to trespass and cause an obstruction to put them up.
The injunction now in place means any person breaching the order could face prison, a fine or having their assets seized.
People can still fly flags on their own property which is fine, self-expression is fine as long as it’s not offensive which the George Cross Flag certainly isn’t , either is the Union Jack which apparently Oxfordshire County Council display on their Civic Buildings.
Thanks to Gergana Krasteva and The Independent Bulletin Online for the Headline.
We are in the middle of a heatwave in the UK, and seeing pictures of cars in Argentina buried in immense snow drifts seems surreal.
It took 24 hours to rescue the tourists who had parked at a view point at the Balcon del Pissis viewpoint which is 4,500 metres high. The people and cars were enveloped in a rapid snowstorm and some were forced to sleep in their cars, although there must have been a risk of suffocation because many of the cars were totally buried.
Thankfully, with the help of drone footage, heavy machinery and human rescuers over 200 people were rescued and everyone was brought to safety.
Still it just shows how quickly the weather can change, particularly in remote areas.
Thanks to Cameron Weldon and BBC Online News for the Headline
This article made me laugh. I remember when I had my flat and my mum used to come down from Scotland to visit me that she would tidy my flat and take the rubbish into town and drop it in a public bin. I never thought anything about it, but now I wonder how many other people do it.
Cullompton Council are not happy that they are having to service the bins in their parks more frequently than necessary because people are using them to drop household waste and it is not waste generated by the park goers who presumably have waste that isn’t classified as “Household Waste”.
No empty cereal packet boxes, no empty toilet cleaner plastic bottles,no plastic hair shampoo bottles, no used toothbrushes….well I suppose when you think of it , it would be pretty obvious that these are not things that you need for a walk in the park.
I can feel an authoritative signage moment coming on …..
Thanks to Kate Justice and BBC News Online for the Headline.
I love this story as the article has a rather fitting end. The children who collected the rubbish and detritus mainly left by teenagers having a good time by the River where their father has a farm and whose animals are at risk from choking from the rubbish and the wrappers that are strewn across his fields.
Like good children , they helped their dad out and also were puzzled by what people left behind, their shoes for example, how did they walk back home?
However, the farmer had another solution to these people , he sprays the field near the river most affected by the litter mongers regularly with cattle slurry, so that it is less appealing for them to congregate near the river.
Thanks to Jonny Humphries and BBC Online News for the Headline
A note to readers, the Headline itself is upsetting enough, the details within in it are traumatic and disturbing. However, it is the reason for me doing ” HeadlineTherapy”. We are bombarded each day with headlines, sometimes the stories behind them are inspiring , sometimes like this one; a story that generates a Headline like this is tragic . We read and digest and feel helpless to fix. Abuse keeps on happening. All sorts of tragic abuse. As we digest the Headline we lose hope that any of it will ever be fixed, but I assure you it can. We have to keep the discussion open and we have to engage the people who are basically “immune” to the bombardment of Media Soundbites. The people register what is happening, but our Media Establishment have disengaged them ( deliberately) and wish to create “journalist heroes”. They go on and on about “Mental Health”, well I assure you #HeadlineTherapy is good for Mental Health and getting people talking and interacting. There’s good news , bad news and funny news. Most people only have time to read a Headline and say “told you so”. However, if they had a programme or a podcast which highlighted the Headlines and discussed them and gave some interaction, perhaps the information would stick better. You could even produce statistics on what are the most commonly repeated “Headlines”. It would work in any Country.
19 days after Social Services closed her case a baby girl 19 months old ,and half of her expected weight arrived at hospital close to death, covered in bed sores, dehydrated and although the article didn’t say most likely in terrible pain . Fortunately she survived and although the article didn’t say what happened to her it still gave me a “flashback” to “baby Peter” who died a long time ago and was not helped by Social Services despite there being many indications that he needed help.
Thankfully the article explains how despite concerns being raised in April 2024 about care of the child and a referral to Social Services , that it was deemed despite access to the child being restricted that the child’s” basic needs” were met . In December 2024 an anonymous referral was made through a Safeguarding Hub ( I’m so glad they exist and surely if they are used this must be treated as a very big Red Flag).
Social Workers visited the same day and found the child underweight and unkempt, but the mother refused “social care involvement” and to engage with a Child and Family Assessment.
A mulit-agency strategy meeting then took place, but it was decided due to a lack of information that the “threshold had not been met” to progress the case under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989. The case was closed despite the child not having had a physical visit since December 2024.
Thank heavens the baby did reach hospital and as a passing shot “practicioners should be more curious” about the every day experience of the child and that the decision not to move forward to a Section 47 was “problematic” seems a vast understatement
I would like to know how much “finance” played a part in stopping the progress of the case to a Section 47 and if anyone is interested , working out the cost of the “report” into what went wrong and comparing it to the cost of intervening in December 2024 to stop the suffering of the child. Not taking into account the costs to the NHS in getting the child back to full health. Yes for those of you interested in Finance perhaps that would identify that taking action early may be the best solution.
I remember many years ago a girl who told me that she would get herself into debt to make her rented house look perfect. I was struggling with my first mortgage and bought very little for the house and as I was out working all the time as long as everything was watertight and clean I wasn’t too worried. Sensible really.
Now my partner has retired and I’ve also stepped of the heady ladder of workdom. I actually envisaged doing all the things that I would like to do to make “our” house perfect. Not a chance.
Finance wise every decision will have to be carefully considered because afterall going away on holidays for 9weeks is actually more important.
I had a Eureka moment last week, I realised all these thoughts of “improvements”, painting, new furniture, new carpets , eating dinner of a dining table were just making me positively grouchy. They were an impossible ladder to climb, particularly when “grumpy” does not want to do any DIY for at least a year.
” I’ve just given up work , I don’t want to start doing more work!” He hasn’t actually said that , but I suspect that is what he’s thinking. He’s taken over walking the dog and in truth as I completely blame my dog for my bad knees I know that him indoors will do the “miles” and it’s hard. Yes all he wants when he gets back is a cup of tea and a nap. Ditto the dog a bowl of water and a nap with daddy and then a play when he wakes up, another walk, his dinner and then more play. Then it will be time for bed for everyone.
Which leaves me with my writing and the “housework” and a lot of recycling hobbies, oh and the garden and my allotment. Jeez , I’m exhausted writing that down. I found a new system to help me with the housework, complete three tasks a day . It works for me, so “housework” doesn’t seem like climbing Mount Everest.
Anyway that Eureka moment took a great weight off my shoulders, no trips searching for the right paint, a bit of paper glue can fix that flap of wallpaper rather than re-papering the whole wall , Amazon are out of stock of those small paint rollers so we will leave painting behind the radiators to some other time. Suddenly the list of” jobs to do ” disappeared.
Yes , some of you will just sigh in disbelief , but in truth ” to delay to another day” is a valid decorating style and fits in perfectly to some of our lifestyles. Chill.
Thanks to Steffen Messenger and BBC News Online for the headline
Hare coursing was banned under the hunting act of 2004 and is therefore illegal.
The Welsh Countryside is being targeted by unscrupulous people , hell bent on gambling on the pursuit of such beautiful creatures as wild “hares” who are part of the environment and the farmers who look after the land do not want to see the hares destroyed, nor do they want their fields,crops , gates and animals damaged in the process of these criminals pursuing their illegal prey.
Thankfully the farmers are using Social Media and have the support of the Police to prevent these people. Personally as it is all about money, when they are caught then it should be about removing their assets, such as cars, animals, houses ,weapons and cash to prevent them hopping into their four by fours and driving down the M4 to a remote Welsh Farm looking for the opportunity to hunt these beautiful animals. They should then be forced to volunteer to clean out kennels for life at a rescue centre for animals.
Perhaps prison wouldn’t help, but a detail of work to repair the damage that these people do to the Countryside would be fitting an in truth the Police should have enough resource to stop them too.
Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏
A wild hare sits alert among colorful wildflowers in a lush valley.
thenotsomightyom 