Vagrancy in the U. K.

 Vagrancy in the U. K.

. . . which I guess is cousin to Anarchy in the U. K.

Anyway, yes, I still exist.  I’ve been busy studying, mainly in Oxford, and also busy enjoying my time here.  I am now in York, taking something of a vacation from my studies.

When I came back to England some weeks ago, I feared the problem with panhandlers and other street people would be much worse than my last U. K. sojourn in 2018.  I did not expect it to be as bad as, say, Los Angeles or Seattle, but Oxford and elsewhere in the U. K. have long been very tolerant toward panhandlers and the like.  So I was afraid it would be bad.

In the case of Oxford, I was surprised to find it has not changed much. But an exception to that illustrates that Oxford is asking for it to get much worse.  

(I did have a disturbing episode with an obviously drug-addicted panhandler attacking me while I was trying to eat in peace in Cowley, near Oxford.  But I’ve not spent much time in Cowley in the past, so I’m not in a position to say whether the situation there has gotten worse.  But I can testify firsthand it is bad!)

The exception is three panhandling women regularly in three spots in central Oxford.  All three use the same passive-aggressive tactic.  They pick a narrow place in a busy sidewalk, then sit and block half of it.  All three spots have barriers that make walking around the women difficult if the sidewalks are crowded as they often are.  Their signs (which look suspiciously similar) claiming homelessness are not placed beside them but in front of them thereby assisting them in blocking the sidewalk.  

If you’ve ever walked around Oxford, you would know this is a really obnoxious thing to do as these sidewalks are constantly crowded as it is.  Trying to walk around Oxford can be annoying and even treacherous without panhandlers willfully blocking the way.

Yet these three women, whom I suspect are part of a racket, are allowed to do this every day as far as I can tell.   Of course, when you allow and enable this sort of behavior, you are likely to get more of it as has been the awful experience of American cities . . . any maybe that’s why there are three women doing this already.

Yet, other than these three, the situation with street people hasn’t changed that much in Oxford since 2018.  I cannot explain why it hasn’t gotten worse.  Perhaps some cultural pond differences are in play?  In any case, Oxford is asking for trouble.  But, as historically the case with the city of dreaming spires, they are fortunate . . . for now.

York is a different matter.  There are definitely more street people than in 2018, even “within the walls” in the heart of York. 

York is foolish to allow this as much of their commerce comes from tourists and shoppers roaming within the walls.  At some point, the increased vagrancy has to discourage tourism and shopping, and that point may be near.  

Personally, I am enjoying my stay in York, but the situation has me making a point to retreat to my room well before dark. (I am thankful it takes a long time to get dark this time of year!)  And I will think twice before coming back to York — if the vagrancy situation is getting worse, how bad would it be if I return?  I may not want to find out.

I say this with sadness as I really love York.

York is still far from L. A. or Austin.  But the city seems to be asking for trouble much as Oxford is.  It would be interesting to see how on target my concerns about both cities are, but I won’t be here in the U. K. much longer to find out.

There are surely factors in all this that this Texan is missing.  Feel free to inform me of them in the comments.

You Want Systemic Racism? You Want Systemic Injustice?

You may need to sit down for this.  And this is important enough that I am posting here for the first time in a while.  Ready?

I am a firm believer is systemic racism now.

Yes, it’s true.  And systemic racism is true. I have seen the light, and I am awake to it.

I saw the light yesterday when Jesse Smollett was let out of jail while his conviction is appealed.  He was let out less than a week after he was sentenced to 150 days in jail.

Now, as he wants everyone to know, he is black and gay.  What he wants you to ignore is that he orchestrated fake hate in order to smear Trump supporters and to elevate himself as a victim of those deplorables.

So let’s flip it.  Suppose a very heterosexual white Trump supporter orchestrated a made up black-on-white hate crime on himself in order to smear Black Democrats.  Maybe he would have the fake attackers wear BLM or Biden hats kinda like Smollett had his fake attackers wear MAGA hats.

Do you think such a hypothetical white fake hate artist would be sentenced to only 150 days in jail?  Do you think he would be let out of jail while his conviction is appealed?

Of course not.  Because he is white and straight and Trumpist, not black and gay and Democrat.

So, yes, I believe America has a systemic injustice and a systemic racism problem . . . except it is the opposite of what the woke crowd would have you believe.

I don’t have to make up a hypothetical case to make this point.  Compare the overall absurdly lenient treatment of the diverse Antifa/BLM rioters of 2020 or of the rather monochrome looters/shoplifters of 2021 and 2022 to that of those in jail for January 6th.  Yes, some of those J6 people in jail are rioters, but not all.  Some acted peacefully. But even the rioters did far less damage than the Antifa/BLM rioters.  Yet many J6 people have rotted in jail for over a year without trial.  That is not the speedy trial promised by the Constitution.  That looks more a tyrannical government holding political prisoners to me.  The long sentences Biden’s Justice Department is seeking confirms that.

So yes, the United States has a problem with systemic racism, with systemic injustice.  We have two-tiered “justice” in this country.

And that is exactly how woke Democrats would have it.  That is what woke Democrats have brought about.  Oh yes, they claim to deplore systemic racism and systemic injustice.  They so carry on about how much they hate it.  

But, actually, they love it.

Archbishop Cottrell the Climate Change Clown

Few things are both more contemptible and laughable than church leaders obsequiously aping the agendas of the globalist establishment.  How some clergy make “climate change” more their Gospel than the Gospel itself is certainly part of this sell-out behavior.

Take the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell.  Please.  The other day he was asked by a Canadian:

The Fifth Mark of Mission of the Anglican Church of Canada is “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.” What’s your advice about how to motivate people in our pews to take positive action about climate change? (and what might that action as a church be?)

A clown question typical of the ACC being far more wedded to leftist ideologies than to the Gospel.  But Cottrell’s answer was even more clownish:

What a good question. Is there a more important question facing the world?  

What the….?  A supposedly Anglican Archbishop suggesting that the issue of climate change may be the most “important question facing the world?”  I think the Bible and the Creeds suggest some slightly more important questions.

It gets worse.  (Emphasis mine.) 

I think I would start by…two things…on the big picture level I think we need to teach much more about this. This needs to be not a kind of add-on to the Gospel; this is the Gospel…how we inhabit the world in the way of Christ…this is the Gospel. So, I’d want to preach and teach about it much more…

So Cottrell wants the church to go even more all in on pushing climate change agendas.  He even says “this is the Gospel.”

This is outrageous is what it is.  It is also puzzling.  Does he not see what an obsequious sycophant he is playing for everyone to see?  Does he not realize he makes a joke of himself when he says such banal blasphemies?  Does he care?

I knew Cottrell was bad news when he was appointed Archbishop of York.  But I did not expect him to be a clown.

This reminds me of another time I saw another Church of England cleric look silly in pushing climate change.  I won’t name names because I respect the woman in question, who has far more intelligence than Cottrell.   But one time, she drank the climate change Kool-aid a bit much and had a bad day. 

I was visiting an Oxford chapel on a Sunday morning back in 2007.  She happened to be the preacher.  And her entire sermon was on global warming.  (That’s what it was called back then.)

Well it so happened that very same Sunday was the most miserably wet and cold day that term.  So when, shivering from a long walk in the cold rain, I later entered her college chapel for Evening Prayer, I smiled and admonished her, “You and your global warming sermon!”

I don’t think she appreciated my humor.

To be fair, she normally led her chapel and preached with wisdom.  I say that although her churchmanship was decidedly different than mine.

Nonetheless, when clergy try to turn secular political agendas into Gospel issues worthy of much pulpit time, they not only do a disservice to the Gospel, they are likely to become silly . . . like Cottrell the Climate Change Clown.