Closed. The boat sank, the sharks won.

An update on This is Sally.

Journalist Sally Murrer has been cleared of ALL charges raised against her. 

This week the judge hearing the case, Judge Richard Southwell, ruled that Thames Valley Police had breached the journalists’ Article 10 rights and that effectively ended the prosecution.

Welcoming the judge’s ruling, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Jeremy Dear, said: "Let’s be clear, this was an attempt to make a criminal out of a journalist for receiving information that the state didn’t want to get out.

"It was a misguided prosecution that sought to punish Sally for simply doing her job.

"This thoughtless action has put Sally under intolerable pressures.

"I’m sure she will be immensely relieved by the decision, though she’ll never be able to win back the past year of her life, throughout which she has been forced live under a cloud of uncertainty and stress."[Emphasis mine]

Cleared, free to reclaim her life. Sally Murrer, I wish you all the very best from today onwards. I hope the life you reclaim is a happy one.

Three year old raped.

Man charged with 64 sex offences, inc the rapes of girls under 14.

Two 13 year old girls raped. 

PE Teacher jailed for indecent child images.

Mothers of Albino’s attacked. 

25% of Armenian women are victims of domestic violence.

63 year old woman found suspiciously dead at home. 

Three women attacked on the same night. 

And on a more positive note…

Cavern Club listens to victims.

A brick bearing the name of disgraced glam rocker Gary Glitter was removed from Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club and replaced with a plaque

Mr Heckle said: "We actually thought it had been done nine years ago when Glitter was done and we removed all the merchandise.

"We spoke to a victim of paedophile crime and she said unequivocally ‘take it out’.

Mr Heckle revealed the name of disgraced record producer Jonathan King, who was also jailed for sex offences, was also removed.

Thank you. 

Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow was raped by three men and when she reported it to the police she was arrested, accused of adultery, convicted and then sentenced to be stoned to death.

Asha’s Aunt had urged her to report the rape and had taken her to the police station. Two of the men were arrested and questioned and then she was asked to take Asha back in to the station.

the authorities clearly failed to notice her age, how mentally disturbed she was by her experience

The aunt says.  Asha was 13 years old, just 13.

"I was not even told that she was to be killed, I just heard it from people after it happened. "I don’t know what crime she committed other than being raped; and I was not even allowed to see her body,"

I’m speechless. 

South African icon Miriam Makeba dies

Born into Apartheid in Johannesburg on March 4th 1932, Miriam became a leading symbol in the fight to free her country from oppression.

Banned from her homeland in 1960 she testified against Apartheid at the United Nations in 1963 and became the first African woman to win a Grammy in 1966. 

Only in 1990 did she finally return to South Africa at the personal request of Nelson Mandela. 

Mixing jazz with traditional South African music she made a huge impact on the music industry and no-one compares to her. Makeba was popular across the world, working with various artists through her career, notably Paul Simon on his Graceland album. 

"You sing about those things that surround you," she said. "Our surrounding has always been that of suffering from apartheid and the racism that exists in our country. So our music has to be affected by all that." 

A powerful woman’s voice that will sing no more, silenced but still heard in her many recordings.

It isn’t a noise, it’s my language. 

It’s a youtube, go listen. 

A personal favourite, always makes me quite emotional. N’Kosi Sikileli Africa. 

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | MP calls for Clarkson to lose job

"Change gear, change gear, check mirror, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder." (my emphasis)

The joke was made on Sunday’s Top Gear as Clarkson and co recklessly and dangerously drove large trucks through walls, round obstacles and compared lorry driving to car driving and sparked hundreds of complaints.

The BBC’s response?

"This particular reference was used to comically exaggerate and make ridiculous an unfair urban myth about the world of lorry driving, and was not intended to cause offence." 

What planet are they on? It’s not only unfair to the majority of people who drive lorries (some of whom are women) it completely devalues the life of any prostituted woman and implies that her murder is commonplace and so normal we can ignore it. They’re not real people after all are they Jeremy…… It’s offensive to everyone referred to and simply not acceptable.

You can contact OfCom via their Complaints page.

Or their postal address is:

Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA

Or their phone number is:  020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333

This is an idea that I saw somewhere, have used in the past and will no doubt use again.

This is a Pay it Forward.

The idea is to Forward an Act of Random Kindness to someone without any reason for it, and expecting nothing in return.

My Pay it Forward is that I will send a small home made gift to the first three people to comment here and let me have a postal address to send it to. Now, these things won’t be sent out before Christmas, I know they won’t because I’m stupidly busy during November and then there’s no time to actually make them. So your gift will arrive sometime in January.

To take part you need to comment here, let me know where to send my gift and post a similar offer on your own blog. It doesn’t have to be home made - that’s just what I’ve chosen to do - it can be anything you like. I know of people who have promised a bar of chocolate or a postcard, or a book - anything you choose is ok, but give a rough idea of what you’re offering and how many as well.

So, who’s first?