Shropshire Star

Peter Rhodes: 'Naive' terrorists, milking drivers and coughing our way to an epidemic

IN the queue at our local supermarket an old chap coughed into his hand, used the same hand to get some change from his pocket and handed the coins to the checkout lady. They say a flu epidemic is inevitable this year. Anyone surprised?

Published
Just naive?

A READER tried several times to send me an email which the system kept blocking. But why? Google provided this answer: " Gmail Postmaster Tools provides senders with metrics on parameters such as reputation, spam rate, feedback loop, etc." Glad we've sorted that out.

THE scary part is that the world of IT and artificial intelligence is increasingly dominated by bright young things who think strangulated English such as the above is a form of communication.

MAX Hill QC, the Government’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, says many young Brits who joined Islamic State in Syria were simply naïve, and should be rehabilitated into British society. Yeah, shucks, you know how it is. In a naive moment you get groomed by a mad mullah at the mosque and you naively fly out to join the Caliphate. Then you naively rape a few Yazidi women, naively behead a line of prisoners and naively take the kids along to the public burning of a captured pilot. Then, when you realise you're on the losing side, you slip out of the warzone, trek back to Britain and explain it was all a naive, youthful lark. Tell us, kids, how bleedin' naive do you think we are? Max Hill says: "We have to leave space for those individuals to be diverted away from the criminal courts.” Frankly, I'd rather see them diverted into the sort of space that has bars on the windows.

THE charges for so-called driver-awareness courses are going up, leading to accusations that police forces are using motorists as "cash cows." There are two issues that need to be addressed. Firstly, there is no evidence to show these courses are any more effective than licence penalty points in improving drivers' behaviour. In fact, by giving speeding drivers another chance, they may actually make the roads less safe. Secondly, the tendering process is open to question. How can any company bid to run these courses without being guaranteed a certain number of "customers" by the constabulary? And if that assurance is given, or even hinted at, then the law is being used for commercial purposes - and doesn't that stink to high heaven?

INCIDENTALLY, I know a driver who attended two awareness courses for speeding offences three years apart. He still drove like Lewis Hamilton. He was recently nicked for speeding yet again and, having no option of a third course, has paid a fine and now has penalty points on his licence. These days, he drives much more slowly.

THE theory that "real men" don't use tradesmen rumbles on. A lady writes to tell me how her husband, determined not to pay for the hire of a JCB, began digging his own ditch. It was 100 yards long and, because it took him so long, the sides kept collapsing. I think there may be some confusion between the terms "real man" and "realistic man."