If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If we were all able to discuss our end of life wishes and make plans in a more confident and better-informed way it's likely we would see huge improvements in people's experiences at such an important time for them and those close to them and that we would be less scared of dying.
At the moment people who help a loved one to die are investigated afterwards & since DPP guidelines were issued to treat these cases with compassion in 2009, there have been no prosecutions of people assisting a loved one to die indirectly.
This week a beautiful little blonde and blue-eyed English girl was horrifically sexually mutilated - by her parents. She will be scarred for life both physically and mentally. She could have died in the attack. This was not a lone assault, however. Such ritualistic violence against children happen on average EVERY week among a particular cult in Britain.
Indeed today's cybercriminal gangs are so well organized that often they buy "off the shelf" rootkits and software which they use to carry out their activities. Often this software comes with manuals, 24/7 tech support and even in extreme cases advertising!
The Oxford grooming trial has been a grim reminder that even though we are living in the 21st Century there are still some people who have medieval attitudes towards young girls. The barbaric treatment of the victims in this case was depraved and must never be allowed to happen again.
The commentary that can now take place following the release of Vicky Pryce should include discussion about whether the dash of sexism in court might have undermined a potentially sensible modern defence for other husbands and wives.
It's no secret that the re-offending rate in this country remains far too high and that the public find it alarming. What's less publicised is what victims think about all this. Time and again victims tell me that, yes they want those who committed a crime to be punished, but also they want them to be rehabilitated.
Stuart Hazell, 37, was a man with a violent and scarred background which is nothing unusual in such crimes. But, tellingly, he also had an addiction to images of children being sexually abused. Police discovered hundreds of such pictures on his computer hard drive. He had also visited websites searching under 'illegal incest pics' and 'sex with young children'.
Everyday I speak to someone who feels hopelessly addicted - whether they are drunk or sober - and every time the word they use is the same: relapse. The fear of slipping backwards. Returning to where they started. And it can't happen. It's not real.
The allegations surrounding the hostage case in Cleveland, Ohio, remain truly astonishing; how can three women be kidnapped, raped and beaten for so long? One possible explanation derives from a psychiatric phenomenon which is supposed to develop in these extraordinary and intense predicaments, termed 'Stockholm Syndrome'.
Cybercrime has become a well-established feature of today's world. For the most part, this takes the form of random, speculative attacks designed to steal personal information from anyone unlucky enough to fall victim to the attack.
I'm not saying cats deserve to die. I'm just saying, worse things could happen. You could be walking down the street, spot your girlfriend/boyfriend kissing your brother/sister at a bus stop, distractedly step into the path of a speeding dustbin lorry. Killing a few cats, though not very nice, is not synonymous with the embodiment of all evil, as everyone seems to think.
Our aims are simple. We want to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation, via education and campaigning across all communities. We want to encourage reporting and promote services to help vulnerable young people. We want to produce training kits and background fact-sheets for faith and community leaders, so they can speak out with knowledge and confidence.
Hewson seems to have missed a fundamental point of Operation Yewtree: it is fighting to give victims of abuse a voice after years of being too afraid to speak out. She is merely adding to this fear in her article.
Allegations over male on male rape have recently hit the headlines, but because this crime is so rarely properly covered in the media, is it possible it's prone to even more misapprehension, taboo and myth, than other kinds of sexual assault?
I had begun writing the song, Death Row, in September 2011. The week that I had started to write it, Troy Davis was executed in Georgia after almost 20 years on death row. I was struck by the horrific nature of his sentencing. I believe that the death penalty is wrong in all circumstances, but Troy Davis's case was particularly chilling. After his initial trial, witnesses had admitted that they had lied in their evidence against him.
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