Murder conviction quashed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18102336

Sam Hallam murder conviction quashed by Court of Appeal

A man who was convicted and jailed over the death of a man in 2004, has had his conviction quashed by Court of Appeal.

The man, Sam Hallam, has always denied the murder. His inability or unwillingness to say where he was on the night of the murder, didn’t help him. Now , the Court of Appeal says his imprisonment was based on an unsafe conviction. In 2004, the Metropolitan Police didn’t follow up all the leads which would have proved his innocence. For instance; they didn’t use his cell phone to check his whereabouts and the eyewitness account was based on  “a fleeting glimpse”, so there was the possibility of mistaken identity.  The victim died , after being stabbed in the head,  in an attack by a group of youth, Sam Hallam belonged to that group. Several other members of the group were convicted to. Sam Hallam was liberated after 7 years of prison.

Sam Hallam’s family waged a campaign for justice for years, which finally resulted in his release.  A good thing for the family; there efforts were rewarded. The Metropolitan Police regret mr Hallam’s unsafe conviction and he added that certain lessons had to be learned for police and the criminal justice system. What the news article didn’t mention is if Sam Hallam was one of the killers or not. The only thing we know is that he was imprisoned while not all the evidence was thoroughly investigated. This lead to his release this week.

Reading as a competition Speaker's Corner

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9064341/Reading-a-book-adds-a-year-to-childrens-education.html

Reading a book 'adds a year to children's education'

Reading books for half an hour a day could be worth up to 12 months’ extra schooling by the age of 15, says Nick Gibb, the School Minister. The department of education has plans for a national reading competition for children. The idea is to boost literacy standards and encourage children to read. A recent international report showed that almost four-in-10 teenagers in England never read for pleasure. Critics criticised the move, because just recently, the Government cut costs on reading programmes and one-to-one tuition. These critics say that a competition “will not help the over 9000 children who miss out on one-to-one tuition this year, due to cuts to reading programmes.

The government probably thinks that parents, teachers, and foremost; children “will get spurred on by a bit of healthy competition”. I think it is just an easy way for the Government, driven by cutting costs, to give the responsibility for good education away. I believe the competition will work for children who already read books for pleasure. It’s a long way; from learning to read to compete in “who can finish the most books”. There are more ways to encourage children to read; there should be more time planned during school hours for reading. Why not start the day with half an hour of silence in the whole school, with everybody reading?

We need more space in our houses

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/shortcuts/2012/may/16/architecture-housing

The common theme is: more space. We want a dedicated space for tasks such as ironing and recycling, larger rooms, higher ceilings and some “private” space for each household member. Britons build the smallest new homes in Europe and that is not because of pressure of land, but because builders make more money that way. Homes used  to be bigger , but in 1961, a committee made the “Parker Morris standards”, they required 71 sq. m. for four people and a storage space of 2.3 cubic metres. Builders interpreted them as maximum. This explains why so many Britons live with insufficient space today.

In cities space is scarce, that’s understandable, but when you enter Almere or Lelystad, your amazed by the large numbers of houses the builders put on one hectare. And then the small gardens these houses have!  Many people rent storage for their  possessions and most people say they need more space for their furniture. It amazes me; why would you not build bigger houses with bigger gardens in this reclaimed polder. Look at all the space there is, why not use it for bigger homes?  After all; you spend most of your life in and around your home.

Ukraine's street children

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/16/marcel-theroux-ukraines-street-children

Marcel Theroux: life with Ukraine's street children

Ukraine has spend £ 440 m. to rebuilt the Olympic  Stadion in Kiev for  the Olympics 2012 , while thousands of children live on the streets. They are called “social orphans”, that’s the name children are called when their parents are unable to take care of them. The children have a history of alcohol abuse,  beatings and parental failure. Seeking for some warmth (it’s -8C  at this moment) and a place to live, they  come together  in basements, under bridges, or under or on top of hot water pipes.  They do not only have no home, they also use glue (for resoling shoes) as a form of drug; it suppresses the feeling of cold and hunger for a while and gives them a short high. The street children are also disproportionately affected by Ukraine’s HIV epidemic; 1 in 10 tested children turn out to be HIV positive.

Some citizens of Ukraine think the Olympics will yield a profit and they are also proud that the Olympics come to their country.  The gap between rich and poor is getting bigger and bigger. Brands and shop from Western Europe: Marks and Spencer, Heineken, coffee shops; there all there. And yet, on the other hand there is so much poverty and hardship, especially for the youth. I don’t think the Olympics can help them in anyway. That the government can’t take, or worse; don’t want to take care of these children is horrible, but I don’t believe Western Europe should boycott the Olympics for this reason, after all; the Games are about sports, not politics. But I sincerely hope that all the attention Ukraine is getting know, will be a wake-up call for the authorities.

The legislation of gay-marriage

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/11/obama-gay-marriage-uk-david-cameron

President Obama was so brave to give his personal opinion on same-sex marriage, one of the great moral and human rights crusades of our age. It especially was a brave thing to do, given the upcoming presidential elections.

Cameron, Britain’s Prime Minister, has legalised gay marriage by 2015. But, despite that, Cameron still opposes  to heterosexual civil partnership. Gay couples seek full equality, so also a civil partnership. To have separate laws for gay and straight people is a form of sexual apartheid. In a poll, held in March 2012, 65% of the public in England agreed to gay people having equal rights, thus also civil partnership.

Small things to some, are sometimes very big things to others. I mean, I do not mind at all that gay people get married. I don’t even feel I have the right to be for or against it. Why should I have something to say about someone else’s  choices concerning this? I’m happy for every man or woman who wants to get married. And we, here in the Netherlands, can lean  backward, because we have sorted it out already. But I can understand that it is a big issue in a lot of other countries. A man like Obama of course, and his opinions, can have a great , positive, influence on a matter like the legislation of gay-marriage.  The trend towards equality is inevitable and belongs to our developing society, but it still is brave for a president, to speak his mind on a moral topic, just before the elections.

Painting sold for 54 million

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mark-rothkos-orange-red-yellow-825383

Sold for £ 53,8 million

A Mark Rothko painting was sold last week for £53,8 million at Christie’s. An anonymous collector paid a record of  53.8 million  for what the Sun calls “ a block of orange and yellow paint on a red background”. Although all the contemporary art  works that were auctioned, were aggressively priced, buyers bid even more than Christie’s had calculated. It seems that, in spite of world-economic downfall and world -political  disputes, the art market is doing well. In times of economic uncertainty people have the tendency of investing their income, their money in things like gold and art. That is; for the people who can effort this.

Just like all other paintings which are sold for enormous sums of money, the first thought that comes to mind is: How is this possible? And maybe  even: Isn’t this ridiculous? Please spend this money on healthcare or education!  Then I think of another painting, The scream from Edvard Munch and numerous  others, all sold for millions of dollars each. Paintings have a price, but these prices are build on sentimental value. The sad part is that most of these paintings are being sold to anonymous owners and therefore we probably will never see these paintings back again. They’ll probably end up in Russia or the Middle East, in some palace or grand manor. I think it’s a shame that art disappears into the hands of  private owners who only have these artworks as a financial investment. Famous artworks  are a cultural heritage and therefore should be publicly shown.

Was Jack the Ripper a woman?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/was-jack-the-ripper-a-woman-new-book-824544

Was Jack the Ripper a woman? New book claims doctor's wife was Jill the Ripper

Former solicitor John Morris says the wife of royal physician Sir John Williams butchered five prostitutes because she could not have children. John Morris sifted through thousands of documents to find clues that Elizabeth Williams, from Wales, was actually the 1888 “Jack the Ripper” killer. Everyone believed it was a man, so they ignored the evidence. John Morris says he has found evidence to prove the killer was a woman. A few of the evidences Morris found were; none of the women were sexually assaulted  and buttons from a woman’s boot, which were not from the victim, were found at the scene of the crime.

“The Whitechapel Murders” as they are also called, happened 124 years ago and still are being kept under lock and key. The secret “ Jack the Ripper” files are censored by the police, for 124 years on. Releasing them could threaten national security; that was the reason the police gave to censor this file. All the books written on the murders and all the guessing; for me it is all fantasy and exists because of not knowing the truth. I plead that the file must be opened. Even if so called “important, well known, high class persons” are involved. Evidence must never be hidden under the carpet, just to protect people with influence and money. Not to the expense of the relatives and the  victims involved. They should have the right to know what really happened.