News from the UK

I was sitting in the car yesterday listening to a programme on BBC 2 that has guests in the studio and people calling up giving their comments on current news headlines.

Sounds boring, but it really is interesting. One of the issues I listened to yesterday were the matter of the "batty old booby" Archbishop of Canterbury saying that Muslims in the UK should be given the opportunity to live under Syariah law. Wow, needless to say, loads of people calling up angry and annoyed by his comment. And the guest in the studio was a representative of some Muslim community in the country. To sum it up, my observation on the whole thing was that NO MUSLIMS CALLED the show (and it's a popular show) to comment on or support the idea. And some of my opinion is that most Muslims came to the UK in the first place because it's a free country and they won't be restricted by the Syariah law in whichever country they came from.

To read more on this very interesting issue, click here.

Another interesting story is of Chalford, a very hilly and steep little village in England, where its inhabitants (about 30 houses of them) have come up with the idea of using a donkey to help them carry their shopping and plants up from the bottom of the hill. Quaint and eco-friendly, you think, right? After all, horses and donkeys are used widely in the countryside where there are acres of land for them to be kept. But noooo... a representative of Animal Aid (who sounds like he's on his deathbed, incidentally) was in the studio to say how the villagers shouldn't be "using and abusing" this animal and what's more... when the spokesperson from the village was explaining the idea and calling the donkey (they don't have one yet) an 'it', the old man protested, saying, "Look, you're already calling the donkey an 'it', which denotes an object without feelings... this shows what you already think of the donkey"... something to that effect. He also said that people use donkeys to carry explosive devices for suicide bombers and terrorists, which of course, is akin to abusing the animal.

Can he blow anything else out of proportion? Explosive devices? Sheesh. People are talking about helping them carry their shopping, for goodness' sake. Thing is, if the donkey doesn't work, there's a very low chance that anyone will want to keep it. It costs a lot to keep such a big animal on your land. Some are sent to be slaughtered for meat. And secondly, animals DO like to work. It makes them feel useful and they would relish the attention they get from the villagers. Doesn't anyone read Enid Blyton anymore? :P