Gary Monro’s blog

The BBC warns that this email that’s doing the rounds is a hoax:

Important Number you should note 25/Jul/05 09:24 If you travel to work on the tube please note the following information: If your mobile phone has no signal (so even if you were in a tunnel) if you dial 112 it diverts to a satellite signal and puts you through to the 999 call centre. ALL phone companies have signed up and as it is a satellite service it also gives them a trace to you if you don’t know where you are.

Unless you have a signal on your mobile phone you can’t call anybody or anything. So if you receive this mail direct it to your nearest trash folder…

England and Wales abortion figures are out. The government’s PDF file is here.

Abortion rises yet again and the terminators of our unborn are getting younger. In 2004 we aborted 185, 415 babies for residents of England and Wales plus another 8764 for non-residents (many from Northern Ireland).

Predictably, young women between the ages of 19 and 24 were the main users of abortion operations but the under-age are getting into the habit in increasing amounts. Over a thousand under-age girls had illegal sex and then abortions in 2004. 157 of them were under 14 which is grotesque and tragic. 877 were actually 14.

I’m looking for the statistics on the conviction rates for the fathers of their children - I’m not hopeful of finding them. Interestingly the government’s statistics refer to the under-15s as ‘women’ when we know, in fact, that they are merely ‘girls’. But then this is the same government that allows the under-age to have abortions without having to tell their own parents.

At least 46,000 - but possibly many more - were single females with no partner.

The 20-34 age group terminated most babies - maybe children just aren’t good for one’s career?

Previously, the abortion rate peaked in 1990 then stabilised at a little below that peak until 1998 when it rose again and has steadily rose to the 2004 level. As the government’s statistics say,

“The rate for 2004 is the highest ever recorded.”

The state is increasingly becoming the terminator of choice. The level of privately funded abortion has steadily decreased from about 30% of abortions in 1995 to about 16% of all abortions in 2004.

While the circumstances leading to abortion are tragic and result in life-long guilt for many women for others abortion is becoming just another contraception method. One-third (32%) of women having abortions in 2004 had had at least one abortion previously. In numbers that’s more than 58,000 women who were having another abortion.

When wondering at how this escalating trend in termination is coming about it is instructive to look at what some of the organisations that deal first hand with abortion have to say. I quote this from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service - which advertises itself as Britain’s leading abortion provider:

On the under-age, illegal sex that leads to unwanted pregnancy and abortion - a trail of misery and tragedy for the poor girl concerned one might think - the BPAS grandly asserts,

The under-16 abortion rate was 3.7 compared with 3.9 in 2003. bpas comments that this steady abortion rate indicates that teenagers are being made aware of the choices that are open to them and reflects well on a teenage strategy that accepts that some young people are sexually active and therefore equipping them with the knowledge to make safe informed decisions.

Are you kidding me? Abortion occurs because you haven’t made ’safe informed decisions’. Abortion is the tragic end to a dreadful mistake, one that may very well emotionally - and physically - haunt the young girl for the rest of her life. And, for the BPAS’s information, teenage girls themselves admit in large numbers that they mostly regret their early sexual experience, are sometimes coerced into it and are often under the influence of alcohol.

bpas Chief Executive Ann Furedi, said: “Women today want to plan their families and, when contraception fails, they are prepared to use abortion to get back in control of their lives. Motherhood is just one among many options open to women and it is not surprising that younger women want to prioritise other things. We should stop seeing abortion as a problem and start seeing it as a legitimate and sensible solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancy.

Ah, child terminating as a means of taking ‘control of their lives’. Nice. And why ’should’ we stop seeing termination as a problem? Why not, for instance, suggest that its a pretty horrible business and that maybe - steady yourself, Ms Furedi because this is going to hurt - we should only have sex with people we’re reasonably confident we’re prepared to raise children with? And if the baby decides to make an earlier appearance than we would have liked then perhaps we should make a career sacrifice in exchange for the baby’s life?

I am actually not rabidly anti-abortion but the misery associated with the operation and the loss of young life make it, to me, a dreadful business. The trumpeting of the abortionists simply adds a layer of horror to the whole awful process.

Student Life Net takes a different view on industrial scale termination:

‘Whilst we are pleased that the under-18 abortion rate has dropped slightly we are astonished that the overall abortion figures have increased yet again to a staggering total of 195,000. Alarmingly, the number of under-14 abortions have also increased by 6%. This is a very vulnerable group of young girls and we are shocked that the abortion rate for this age category is increasing year-on-year.

‘It is clear now that the UK effectively has abortion-on-demand. The government must take immediate steps to reduce this horrific number of abortions by at least half through cutting the abortion time limit.

‘The abortion statistics also indicate that now 60% of abortions take place between 4-9 weeks gestation. This is, no doubt, a result of the government relentlessly cutting abortion waiting times to increase the numbers of abortions.”

And Pro-Life comment thus:

Despite increased access to contraception, relentless sex education programmes, and easy availability of the abortifacient morning-after-pill, the abortion figures in England and Wales are climbing towards 200,000 a year and likely to continue to rise.

‘We note too that the private abortion providers (Marie Stopes, BPAS, et al) have increased considerably their share of this grisly market, particularly as agents for the NHS, a share which they have tripled in the last ten years (see Figure 2). Their overall percentage when combined with private provision is now some 60% of the market. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that we saw them recently banding together against any restrictive reform of the Abortion Act. Their livelihood depends on abortion.

Expect calls from New Labour for even more sex education, even more contraception advice and even more access to ’services’. And expect the rate to still rise despite this.

There’s always one…

Mohammad Naseem, the chairman of Birmingham’s central mosque believes Muslims are being unfairly blamed in the war on terrorism. He claims also that the eight suspects in the two bombing attacks on London “could have been innocent passengers”.

Mohammad Naseem, the chairman of the city’s central mosque, called Tony Blair a “liar” and “unreliable witness” and questioned whether CCTV footage issued of the suspected bombers was of the perpetrators.

He said that Muslims “all over the world have never heard of an organisation called al-Qa’eda”.

So Blair’s a liar. Nobody doubts that but what’s that got to do with the police and the security services that are running the counter-terrorist operation?

The irony of the cleric’s outburst was that he made it at a press conference that involved police and Birmingham City council and was designed to allay fears of racial or religious tension after a spate of arrests there. From today’s Daily Telegraph:

He said: “Tony Blair has told lies on going to Iraq and in a court of law if a witness has proved to be a liar he ceases to be a reliable witness. So we cannot give our blind trust to the Government.

“To have that trust it is important that the process of law should be independent, open and transparent. I am also sad that unfortunately the impression has been given that Muslims are to be targeted in this war against terror. There seems to be a directive to target Muslims. Why do we not have an open mind about this?

“Muslim bashing seems to be more earnest than the need for national unity and harmony. Terrorists can be anybody - we will have to see [whether the bombers are Muslims]. The process is not open; the process is not transparent; the process is not independent. I do not have faith in the system as it stands.”

Quoted on the BBC News site he explained his doubts about the existence of al-Qaeda:

Speaking to BBC Radio WM on Thursday he questioned the existence of al-Qaeda.

“I don’t think al-Qaeda exists because we Muslims all over the world have not known this organisation,” he said.

“The only information about this organisation is coming from the CIA. Now, the CIA is not known for telling the truth.”

How representative of British Muslims is this man? I suspect - would like to suspect - that today British Muslims reading his words are breathing a collective sigh of frustration and wish the man would just quietly disappear. Thing is, I only have the insistent assertions of the politically correct police ‘authorities’ - the very PC PC Blair - and the very gay, sometime contributor to anarchist publications Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick - to go by. Paddick has already shown his own mental insanity by saying that ‘Islam’ and ‘terrorist’ don’t go together when clearly, to a minority, they go together like toast and marmalade.

Methinks British Muslims need to tell these mullahs where to get off.

Thankfully, one already has:

Mr Khalid Mahmood, the first Muslim to be elected into Parliament, said: “What he has done is brought into disrepute the role of the chair of the Central Mosque and the Muslim community in Birmingham.

“If he wants to make cheap political points then he really ought to relinquish his position as chairman and let somebody who is neutral and has the interests of the community do it.”

Yes, he ought to relinquish his post. Or, maybe, British Muslims should give him the push he needs to vacate it…