Sunday, March 16, 2008

In the UK, the Time Has Come for Disguises

News stories for this report were collected from The Daily Mail, Times Online, The Telegraph, The Sun, and Melanie Phillips at The Spectator. They were used in compiling this post. Since the incident has some anomalies and contradictions, not to mention the long lapse between the event in question and any release to the media, it seems best to go with a straightforward narrative while leaving the links in one place for your further perusal. Who knows, you might spot some egregious behavior I missed.

St. George in the EastThe basics are this: Canon Michael Ainsworth, age 57, the vicar at St George-in-the-East Church in Wapping, East London, was viciously beaten by “Asian youths” when he came out of the church and asked them to quiet down during the services. Their response was to beat his face to a bloody pulp and kick him when he was on the ground, editorializing all the while on the needless existence of both the vicar and of the church. The latter, they claimed, ought to be a mosque.

Ainsworth was treated at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and released, only to return later because of the loss of blood. The Canon’s wife, Jan Ainsworth, is also an Anglican priest. Because of her appointment to the extremely prestigious post on the Church of England’s education board, the Ainsworths and their four children moved from Manchester to London.

So far, so good. However, it gets strange when you find that the attack happened on March 5th. Why was it not made public until the 14th? What gives here? Mrs. Ainsworth claims her husband didn’t want any publicity since it might cause tensions in the neighborhood. So we only have the wife’s version of events, taken from her Palm Sunday homily at St. George’s. She stood in for the Canon since he is still in hospital:

“There is a lot of shock and distress around the congregation and the area.”

She said the place in which the attack took place was a “vulnerable” part of the church’s grounds in which youths were known to congregate.

Mrs. Ainsworth added: “Quite clearly there are mindless individuals in every community, quite often under the influence of drink or drugs, that engage in random acts of violence.

“The community organisations here are very shocked.”

Interfaith relations in the area are “very good” she said, adding: “We have had very strong messages of support from East London mosque and Tower Hamlets mosque.”

But she added: “It is obvious that it does contain a religious element.”

“A religious element”? Ya think?

As for the “strong messages of support” from the two mosques she mentions, for some reason no media outlet chose to report them. Does that not strike you as strange?
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In assessing this phenomenon you have on the one side ostriches like the vicar’s wife, and the eagles, like the insurance companies, on the other. I cannot access the National Churchwatch webpages - only a cached page can be seen, but here is a second-hand statement in the Telegraph:

A survey of London clergy by National Churchwatch, which provides personal safety advice, found that nearly half said they had been attacked in the previous 12 months. The organisation suggested that vicars should consider taking off their dog collars when they are on their own.[NB: I loathe the expression “dog collar.” It’s amusing the first time you hear it, but two decades on it begins to point to the insensibilities of the speaker. It’s a clerical collar. Get over it, you anti-clerical reporters. Not to worry, no one will mistake you for a Christer if you use the correct terminology. In fact, people will think you have a vocabulary somewhat past what you picked up in adolescence.]

Now there’s some lame advice for you. A vicar is in the middle of a service and goes outside to ask the rowdies to cool it. He’s wearing his clerical collar, and probably an alb and stole. So in order to speak to these vandals, what is he supposed to do? Run into the sacristy, strip off his Anglican vestments, throw on some Pakistani garb and go outside to address the creeps in Urdu, bowing and scraping all the while? How long, Oh Lord, how long?

The cached page I found on National Churchwatch gives this synopsis of its mission:

Nick Tolson is a former member of the RAF Police and was a Police Constable with the Hampshire Constabulary. In 1991 he became a verger in Wells Cathedral where he was tasked with keeping good order in church. In April 2000 he became the National Churchwatch Co-ordinator.

Nick is the UK’s leading expert in Personal Safety for Clergy and is the National Churchwatch Co-ordinator. He is currently advising the Church of England and Church in Wales about personal safety issues for their clergy and has advised the Home Office, the House of Lords and Heath & Safety Executive about Clergy Safety.

Nick runs more than 50 seminars a year for all Christian denominations on clergy safety and other church crime issues. He is a Suzy Lamplugh Trust Personal Safety tutor and is a qualified Adult Education teacher.

Nick is the author of “The Complete Security Book for Churches”, (published by Warminster Press) “The Pocket Book of Personal Safety for Clergy” and “ClergySafe”. (Published by Lulu Press) He has written many national newspaper articles, on TV & radio and is a regular contributor to Security Professional Magazine.

In 2007 Nick published “The Clergy Lifestyle Theory”, an academic work looking at the reasons for violence against clergy and some essential recommendations for dealing with it. It is now being used as a good example of the practical application of criminological theory by Universities around the UK.

As a former police officer Nick has assisted Dioceses and other church organisations in investigating issues such as hate letters, e mail abuse and other sensitive crimes that often involve church members. He gives advice on conflict management and methods of dealing with internal issues that are potentially criminal.

National Churchwatch History

National Churchwatch came into being following a national conference in 1999. With the support of Ecclesiastical Insurance and four other insurance companies National Churchwatch began to offer seminars to churches and other religious organisations in April 2000 after the appointment of Nick Tolson as National Co-ordinator.

Since this time National Churchwatch has run approx 60 seminars a year dealing with church security and the personal safety for church workers and clergy. They have advised the Home Office, the House of Lords, the Health & Safety Executive and many religious organisations since 2000.

Having started with mainly church security seminars the organisation now concentrates on personal safety after the realisation that there were no other organisations in the UK that could provide the specialist advice that churches need.

National Churchwatch is a non profit making company and intends to develop over the next few years to be able to advise even more church people about personal safety and to try and prevent yet more deaths, injury and problems.

Despite the protestations of the ostriches, this is a serious, ongoing and increasing problem. Those whose job it is to protect the public are hampered by laws which prevent them from doing so.

And it gets worse. Remember the dust-up when the military told the members of a base in eastern England not to wear their uniforms off-base? Here’s the CNN version:

British Royal Air Force commanders are urging more than 2,000 personnel at a base in eastern England not to wear their uniforms in public after the troops reportedly faced months of verbal attacks from nearby anti-war residents.

Airmen and women at Wittering air base, located 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of London, have allegedly faced seven months of verbal attacks from residents living in the nearby city of Peterborough who oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence confirmed soldiers had been ordered to wear civilian clothing when visiting the city.

The alleged attacks have not escalated beyond verbal abuse, the ministry said.

However, a video by CNN says one man’s house and car were attacked. Shall we just call everything “verbal abuse”?

So the Canon’s wife wants this kind of attack to be seen as unusual. Yet The Ecclesiastical Insurance Group sponsors National Churchwatch. The latter has printed safety manuals for clergy to address this rare problem.

Just scroll through the news stories up top to get an idea of the backing and filling the ostriches are doing in order to avoid facing just how dangerous it has become to profess allegiance to any church, government, or national group…or anything at all besides Allah.

A failed state cannot protect its people and should own up to the fact. One of the most crucial duties a state has is to protect its citizens. Britain cannot protect its citizens and has put laws into place which prevent its people from protecting themselves.

Ergo, Britain is most lethally a failed state.


Hat tips: VCZ and spackle

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

The solution is for the Christians to take back the streets, by force if required.
If the government will not make the Moslems obey the laws of a polite society - the people will need to take action themselves.

Dymphna said...

It's not just the Christians. The Jews get it, too. Remember the attack on Holocaust Memorial Day? In Sweden, Jews are advised not to wear anything that gives away their identity.

And let's go with your premise that the people will need to take action themselves. How, precisely? If they defend themselves, they will be charged with assault.

Perhaps they could defend themselves with some vigor and then make tracks to the US Embassy and ask for asylum??

You can't even post a flyer on a telephone pole asking that thieves return something they took. One doctor did that, hoping for the return of his computer with years of notes on it.

The police made him take the signage down, claiming it was publically seeking stolen property and that is against the law.

Taking action by force is available to a limited few. And 57 year-old priests are not in that group.

How about mandatory self-defense classes? Wish I could remember the name of the guy who went around to the Jewish communities in Europe to teach the men self-defense.

His ideas didn't really catch on until Israel became a reality. And it was this man who trained the first of the IDF. They still use his ideas today.

Anonymous said...

If enough people, march in the streets - The British government could be overthrown.

But do the English want civilization and freedom
or will they become slaves?

Annika said...

(Long-time lurker popping out of the woodworks for a moment)

Dymphna - You're probably thinking of Imi Lichtenfeld, the founder of Krav Maga. I take classes myself and will make sure my future kids learn at least basic self-defense. Being a Dane, I can't legally carry a gun, so this is the second-best option.

Michael said...

Jesus Christ. I just read it too, over at Lionheart.

Thanks for bringing this out, Baron and Dymphna. You do an excellent job reporting all this euro stuff.

Dymphna said...

Annika--

That's it! Krav Maga...

I posted on it quite some time ago, amazed at the man and how long he did the training of the IDF.

Here's the Wiki on it:
Krav Maga

I know a man from NYC, about 5'7" or so, slim build, in his 60's. Years ago in NYC, he was robbed three times. Back in the old days before Mayor Guiliani took the streets back.

The guy was so disgusted he signed up for classes and became fascinated. He also became proficient enough to teach it.

Funny thing is, once he was proficient, he was never approached again. I think it's something in the way people carry themselves. You can't fake it, though.

Dymphna said...

Michael--

We are fortunate that people send us things. It was only as I looked at the newspaper articles waaay down in the story that I found the date of the assault was March 5th!

That still blows my mind. Everyone just passes over it. The "journalists" never ask where this story has been hiding. If you just skimmed it, you'd think it happened yesterday.

Disgusting.

Afonso Henriques said...

I am shocken on how this got public. I heard that in France it is frankly worse, especially in Paris and Marseille. It usually passes unnoticed.

felix said...

In NYC there was (and maybe still is) a self defense group called the Guardian Angels. It was led by Curtis Sliwa, now a radio talk show host. They would go to high crime areas, where the police were hesitant to act, and generally help out. I don't think they were armed, but they wore their own types of uniforms.

songdongnigh said...

It seems reasonable that if almost half of the Christian clergy in London have been assaulted in the past year, that would follow in any area with a high "Asian" population. The total (till now) lack of reporting what must be hundreds of assaults is once again indicative of the PC cowardice of the Brit press.

Where is the mighty British Lion when it needs to uphold the draconian "hate" laws against Muslim's hate crimes, or are the laws only intended to muzzle non-Muslims?

Once again it's the blogosphere that will expose a deplorable situation that the MSM refuses to report. BTW, I think that unless the Canons wife Jan is a man, then she is a priestess, not a priest.

spackle said...

Felix,
They are still around but in very small numbers compared to the 80s. The reason being crime has gone down and for awhile there they were becoming as menacing as the thugs they were out to get. The sad thing is is that groups like that tend to attract macho neanderthals just looking for a reason to break heads. Dont get me wrong, most were OK, but some got out of hand.

christian soldier said...

Krav Maga!
I took the training 10 years ago (loved it) and have been thinking that it's time for some refresher sessions.
Thanks all-my procrastination is over-I'm picking up the phone in the morning to find a training "camp" close to me.

Diamed said...

England, Sweden, or Holland? I can't decide which is the most pathetic dhimmocracy. It's so tough since news from each one of them keeps coming in and changing the scales.

Anonymous said...

Dymphna;

In answer to your question posted on the Lionheart blog "where is Wapping"?. Well heres some history of its initial conception.
During the second world war (as it is the docks of Londons east end), it took an almighty pasting from the German Luftwaffe, but servived only to become part of Londons first Islamic ghetto, Tower hamlets)......


http://www.mernick.co.uk/thhol/wapping.html

And here is the reality of the area today......


http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2008/02/25/tower_hamlets_fund_muslim_brotherhood_front_group.php

Anonymous said...

There is however one good peice of news coming out of todays U.K., directly in response to our odious governments love of both Islam and the E.U. superstate.....


Support for Labour hits 25-year low

David Smith and Jonathan Oliver
Full YouGov poll results

Labour has slumped to its lowest poll rating since 1983, when Michael Foot was leader, as voters delivered a withering verdict on last week’s budget, the E.U. superstate and Immigration fears.

Gordon Brown’s party slipped to 27% – 16 points behind the Conservatives.

heroyalwhyness said...

Church in Filipino Islamic city has no cross
==>in Marawi, the only Islamic city in the Philippines, it's easier that way.<==

Unknown said...

This is a widespread problem now in the UK, and it’s rarely reported in the press.

Every church in my town has been systematically attacked over the last few years. My own church was attacked for the 4th time last Saturday night. There’s nothing left worth stealing and the Moslims know it, so they simply vandalised the place – they smashed doors, chairs, pulpit and crockery. They ripped up the children’s books and picture displays, and “soiled” their store of sweets and biscuits. So, instead of Morning Service we had a cleanup work party instead.

I doubt if even the local papers will report this attack. Over the last four years I’ve only seen two such attacks briefly covered (without mentioning Moslims), and nothing at all in the national media.

I’m most troubled by the unreasonable silence of our denomination’s own papers and magazines. They’re published in London, and are so supine that they never give a clue what we pew-fodder are actually facing from Moslims all over the country. I’m beginning to think that even our non-conformist Church leadership has joined the Christian-hating London elite!

davidhamilton said...

Sure, attacking a car can be 'verbal abuse' provided the words are strong enough to scorch the paint!

David M said...

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 03/17/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.

thll said...

I recall some time ago at the beginning of the Iraq war that a vicar's wife and three daughters in a highly 'Islamicised' area of Yorkshire (England) were advised to move away until the troubles had calmed.

Daphne said...

Good reporting Dymphna. It's rather shocking to discover that half of the clergy have been assaulted in a 12 month period. The British media would have you believe that these types of attacks are rare anomalies.

Is there a British blog covering all of the muslim attacks (religious & secular) taking place across their country? I think an aggregate collection site would be highly informative for the UK public.