Plonkers

There is a lesson to be learnt from the story of Mohamed Abderraman who was hoping to obtain political asylum, presumably for some reason in Gran Canaria. Unfortunately, he chose to hijack a plane leaving Mauritania, for some reason thinking this would endear him to the authorities. When he burst into the cockpit, armed and dangerous - one must wonder what security is like at Mauritania central - the pilot soon worked out that Mohamed, unlike the rest of the passengers on the plane, spoke no French. Pilot, crew and passengers hatched a plot over the PA system and on arrival in Gran Canaria, the pilot lurched the plane, hijacker fell over and dropped one of his guns, crew threw boiling water on him and ten passengers leapt on top of him.

I suppose it largely depends on just how bad conditions were in his country of origin, we're not told where this is. He is now in police custody, so he may be temporarily better off.

I notice that the British press this week has been full of the trouble with British children. My take on this is that the main problem is they are allowed to think of themselves as adults. This was reiterated in a Canadian magazine I was reading this week which was pointing out the double standard of allowing (female) children to dress like slappers and then expect them not to be treated as such. Of course, how any woman dresses is not an invitation for her to be mistreated, it's one of the many freedoms we expect that certain less liberated countries do not, but there's a message being sent out nonetheless.

This was echoed in the film 'Little Miss Sunshine'. At the final of the 'Little Miss Sunshine' contest, when Olive takes a few bits of clothing off, mocking the beginning of a striptease, although looking and behaving entirely like a little girl, the audience of parents are shocked, horrified, they want her removed from the stage, while their own children are dressed as grotesque parodies of adults, full make-up, big hair and inappropriately seductive clothes.

At Science Jam on Wednesday evening, children were invited to use felt pens to design their own 'bald eagle' hat at our table. Several times they said how wonderful it was to be using felt markers, these really seemed to be a draw. When Lori asked them whether they had any at home, they said no, they didn't, but these weren't by any means poor kids, you could virtually guarantee that they each had several hundred dollars' worth of electronics in their bedrooms.

But then there are adults who behave like kids. Here in Richmond, our firefighters have been in a great deal of trouble about the way they have treated what few female firefighters we have. The Richmond Firehall has been in the National Press. They have been told in court to get their act together and now, the powers that be have a plan to do just that. It was announced yesterday that there would be affirmative action on recruitment, in favour of women and ethnic minorities.
But the announcement itself was not made by the City, it was information at the discussion stage that was stolen by workers and handed to the press. And do the perpetrators make any attempt to make it look as though this was done by 'women and ethnic minorities' ? Nope, just crash in there, take the sensitive document and crash out, leaving a trail like a jumbo jet. And now, they have the brass neck to moan about the idea that white males are going to be last on the recruitment ladder. Aw, shucks.

What plonkers.