My dad lived on a tough estate in Brixton when he was a kid in the 1920s. His own father disappeared from the scene very early on so he and his brother and sisters were brought up by his mum. He recalled that quite a few of his friends were in the same position – only the phrase “single mum” had not then been invented.

Working class couples didn’t get divorced but most likely the statistics of separation might have been the same as today. There were also quite a few “common law” wives and “uncles” just living together as “partners” – another word that hadn’t been invented yet.

Wives/mothers tended to stay but some men appeared and disappeared as circumstances changed. That’s not to say that there were not lots of couples who soldiered through together and did their best even through trying times but dysfunctional relationships are not a monopoly of 21st century Britain.

My dad, through his young eyes, saw drunkenness as a familiar facet of everyday life – not amongst his peers but by watching older men staggering out of pubs as they wended their way home through the streets. And, with the drunkenness there was the violence – between men when tempers flared but, more often, the violence inflicted on the women once the men got home.

Levels of accepted behaviour were different in those days. Some men felt they had the right to slap their children and their wives but, as my dad said, there did seem to be an invisible boundary between what was acceptable – and what was not. Using your wife as a punchbag was not right – but few would dare to intervene between man and wife.

Except Ginger….

Ginger was the local bobby and the estate was his beat. He walked it regularly and knew everyone and made sure he was aware of what was going on….”intelligence led policing” is what it would be described as today….Ginger would do it by chatting to mums and kids and shopkeepers and milkmen and postmen and the local publican – and by using his eyes.

My dad said he was big and beefy with butcher’s hands. He could take a joke but was uncompromising if boundaries were crossed. Several times dad or one of his mates would be dragged by the ear to their home and parents informed in no uncertain terms of the appropriate transgression. No parent argued with Ginger – his word was law…Ginger WAS the law.

Ginger exuded authority and never walked away from trouble. He had great physical presence but dad never recalled him actually hitting anyone…..except when some wife had been used too often as a punchbag by her beer sodden husband or “uncle” – then there followed the same ritual.

Ginger would appear outside the house or block of flats, take off his jacket, fold it neatly and place it on the ground. On top would go his helmet and truncheon. He would then roll up his sleeves and go up to the front door and announce “Police – open up”. If nothing happened he would kick it open. Once inside he would hold a fairly one sided discussion with the man. This usually entailed, from visual evidence observed over the next few days, beating six bells out of the man with his bare fists. Ginger would then reappear, put his jacket and helmet back on and proceed down the road in his usual slow ponderous fashion without saying a word.

Nobody thought of going to the police station and complaining. It was rough street justice sanctioned by Ginger’s uniform.

Was it right?

Did it end domestic violence? Probably not – but maybe the thought of being at the receiving end of Ginger’s fists might have made some men hold back their punches…

Does violence resolve violence? Who can tell….

But I do know Ginger’s behaviour made a big impact on my dad, as a youngster, in terms of showing that bad actions could have unpleasant consequences – a kind of down on the street education in the realms of ethics….Ginger as the avenging angel…

It’s easy in our supposedly more enlightened culture to be very sniffy and disapproving of how Ginger went about things – but I suspect that a lot of us feel that in an imperfect world it might be comforting to know that Ginger could well be coming round the corner…

BTW…that is not Ginger in the pic, it’s just how I imagined him to look like…

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) says student attendance at London Metropolitan University is not being monitored and that many have no right to be here.
As a result, the university will no longer be allowed to authorise visas

Cue for the BBC to get out the onions with tear jerking quotes from bosses at London Met and, naturally the National Union of Pizza Eaters and Beer Drinkers (aka Nat Union of Students – funded by us the taxpayers of course…)

Cobblers

The UKBA says London Metropolitan University had “failed to address serious and systemic failings” identified six months ago.
Immigration Minister Damian Green said London Metropolitan University had failed in three particular areas:
• More than a quarter of the 101 students sampled were studying at the university when they had no leave to remain in this country
• Some 20 of 50 checked files found “no proper evidence” that the students’ mandatory English levels had been reached
• And some 142 of 250 (57%) sampled records had attendance monitoring issues, which meant it was impossible for the university to know whether students were turning up for classes or not.

Fact is that the London Met (nothing to do with the prestigious University of London) is the worst performing university in the UK and has been relying on foreign students to subsidise it’s inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Hence it’s willingness to turn a blind eye to either the legal status of foreign students or their attendance. Indeed I would not be surprised if the rolls at London Met are as full of dead people as the Chicago Electoral Register…

…and all that stuff about no other uni in the same position? Biggest porkie pie of the year – most of the low level performers are at it. London Met was selected pour encourager les autres. Hopefully at a large number of pseudo universities urgent e mails are being sent to staff presently sunning themselves on beaches across the globe telling them that the gravy train has reached the buffers and that from the start of next term they must start keeping proper registers instead of making them up.

Even better maybe once the word of this crackdown spreads across the globe there might even be a loss of income for these institutions. Some of the phantom departments could close….OMG….those that remain might have to start doing some actual work!!!!!!

Trouble is at the trade union for the great and the good the BBC is pretending to be shocked but is actually full of glee for nothing gets BBC mouths salivating better than an issue containing the words “student” “illegal” and “immigration”. Already, no doubt, documentaries are being commissioned and a foreign student storyline inserted into “East Enders”…

So – will the government stand firm?

Probably as firm as a meringue…

That argument about the rule changes imposed by the GOP establishment at the Republican Convention in Tampa…

There were several inspiring speeches delivered at last night’s Republican National Convention. Talk of “unity” filled the air. Many GOP leaders praised the “grass-roots.” But behind the scenes, the RNC power grab has exacerbated distrust between a diverse group of rank-and-file activists and party bosses.

Interestingly quite a few leading lights in the conservative blogosphere have either ignored this issue or presented it as minor catfight between the leadership and supporters of Ron Paul – possibly in the interests of party unity. But Michelle Malkin will have none of that. She sees no reason why staying silent in the face of a clumsily executed piece of political gerrymandering should be a prerequisite for throwing oneself 150% into the campaign to rid the US of the Obama administration.

But, as is usual with Malkin, there is a sting in the tail…

The bottom line: Get organized, get loud, and stay vigilant. No matter who ends up in the White House in January, no matter what letter follows the names of the people in power in Washington, the grass-roots conservative movement must be prepared to stand its ground. Forewarned is forearmed.

Mark America is less optimistic – he thinks the party’s over….

According to Twitter hashtag #RNCPowerGrab many Tea Partiers and GOP grassroots activists are angered by the RNC rule changes – Michelle Malkin is the lightning conductor for this so go to her for the latest.

Don’t bother with Hot Air. It has become an unadulterated Romneyfest and has stuck its head in the sand over this.

What I just can’t understand is how the Romney machine can be so stupid as to alienate the very people who dug the Republican Party out of the grave in 2010. Indeed, some could well be saying to themselves if this is a portent of how a Romney administration might behave maybe it would be best to concentrate on winning the senate and leave Mitt swinging in the wind.

Nevertheless however things go in November it is possible that Sarah Palin will emerge as one of the most powerful political forces on the right either within or without the GOP.

If Mitt loses it will merely underline her strictures about the good ol’ boys beltway network and their drive for power devoid of principle and could lead either to the reshaping of the Republican Party or even its replacement by a new party and in either situation she could, if she chose, play a key role

If Mitt wins he will be constantly aware that Palin will be close behind his derriere with a red hot poker ready to keep him to the strait and narrow (Matthew 7:13/14)

Not bad for for a woman with minimal staff, no machine who operates mainly from a keyboard beside an icy lake thousands of miles away from Washington and New York – and who is despised by Hollywood, the media, the Democrats and the Republican establishment….

Now why do you think that is?

20 year old Lucy Spraggan has just rocked the UK X Factor by being absolutely totally unarguably NOT X Factor with her own song “Last Night” (#beerfear)….quirky, humourous and idosyncratic, all about waking up the morning after a lively night out and just wondering what the hell you did….

X Factor – don’t do as you did to Janet Devlin last year and try to squash her individuality

Please please please do not make her sing Celine Dion/Madonna/Karaoke….in fact just get her off the whole charade and someone sign her up NOW……

UPDATE…less than 24 hours after she played it on the audition her song is number 5 in the UK download chat..

The UK Daily Mail has been very pursed lipped about Prince Harry’s naked romps in Vegas. Naturally, unlike the very low class Sun, it has not published the actual photos – after all the DM always steers clear of suggestive stories/pics about women (see its websites regular right hand sidebar…lol..) However it has kept the story on the front burner to highlight editor Paul Dacre’s air of disapproval and today we learned that no less a figure than Prince Charles will be sorting Harry out…

Charles, we are told, is going to have a serious chat with Harry

Although they have already spoken over the phone, Harry will be asked to explain in person how he ended up playing a sleazy game of ‘strip billiards’ with a group of strangers in a hotel suite.

Great news….and maybe Harry will then ask Charles to explain how he ended up regularly bedding his ex girlfriend Camilla while still being married to Diana.

There is a huge amount of moral blue water between a bachelor having some fun with a bunch of pretty girls and a husband quite happily betraying his own wife…..

Happy ??th Birthday to my lovely wife……what would I be without you…….

If Michelle Obama was upset at an American Olympian gold medallist eating an Egg McMuffin imagine how unhappy she would be if Bradley Wiggins was an American.

Luckily he is a Brit and a few weeks ago he won one of the toughest sports competitions in the world – the 2,500 mile Tour de France. Then he came back to the Olympics and won gold in the cycling time trial.

He is now relaxing on holiday in Spain with his family and was pictured sitting outside a bar enjoying a glass of wine …and a cigarette……

Hey – someone needs to tell him how to keep fit!!!!!!

Confession time….I was a cynic and doomster about the London 2012 Olympics. In 2005 I was hoping Paris would get the time bomb and we could avoid all the expense and inconvenience. It seemed a classic piece of Blairite New Labour grandstanding, as empty and vapid and meaningless as the Millennium Dome.

In the weeks beforehand my pessimism meter dial hit the red zone as transport unions blackmailed extra bonuses, private security companies failed to deliver and predictions of traffic chaos and empty seats filled the pages of the Daily Mail eager, as always, to always play Cassandra.

Then it all changed. An brilliantly orchestrated opening ceremony that captured the essence of our quirky, eccentric, self deprecating British spirit segued us into a fortnight of sporting drama. No transportation problems, no security breakdowns, no violence, just day after day of pure unadulterated enjoyment.

We were on holiday in Italy for most of the time so just got to see bits and pieces of the action from screens in the restaurants and bars surrounded by Italians and Germans. Imagine how good it felt to gloat (inwardly, of course) as our sportsmen and sportswomen piled on the gold medals….

And, after that magnificent Olympic cauldron was finally extinguished and the Mayor of Rio took hold of the Olympic flag I suddenly remembered……..Mitt Romney and his cheerleaders at the US conservative blog Hot Air. Even with the rest of the world praising London 2012 resident blogger Allahpundit was sustaining his glass half empty schtick, pursing his lips and flaring his nostrils at the closing ceremony…..

Sorry, Allah (as I commented at his post), I think the rest of the world will pay more attention to the response of the Aussies whose 2000 Sydney Olympics have, up till now, been regarded universally as the benchmark of success. Down under they rate the 2012 Games as even better than Sydney and, coming from Oz, that is praise indeed.

As for the closing ceremony it is always more of a party atmosphere and the audience and the athletes in London obviously enjoyed it. In lengthy celebration there will always be low spots and Russell Brand fits that bill admirably. The rest of it, however, was great fun.

But then Hot Air has systematically waxed eeyore over the London Games. That might be because of an inbuilt tendency to regard anything outside the USA as weird/outlandish but it is more likely to be due to the fact that Atlanta 1996 was not one of the best summer Olympics or that Salt Lake 2002 winter Olympics had to be rescued from a bribery and corruption scandal.

As for Mitt, is he man enough to eat his own words and offer his congratulations to Lord Coe, the man who organised the best ever summer Olympics, and to the British people who embraced the Games with a fervour unmatched in modern times?

Just askin’ as our American friends might say…..