A law for one............

And a law for someone else............

I would hazard a guess that if a western, white, Christian teacher had done something similar to his class, he/she would have been sacked from the job, banned from ever being in a position of authorithy with children, and sent to prison for a minimum of 2 years.

I am pleased that justice has been done, in a sense, but what remains to be seen is if the fellow in question will learn his lesson, and renounce violence.
But what is likely to happen is that in future, he will do exacly the same, only with taking more care if cameras are in the room......
The other galling thing is that he has lived among us since 1967... 44 years..... yes.... And doesn't speak a word of english.....
Is this what we call integration...??? Or trying to integrate...????
More has to be done to help immigrants to mix with the local population to learn western customs, abide by the laws of the land, and be able to converse in the local language.

And yes..................

Reporting the matter to the police, as opposed to wait for the TV programme to be aired, would have stopped, or at least prevented further abuse........

He got about the right amount of time somebody in a position of trust like him would get! Remember, up until fairly recently teachers could hit children (and I know that within the last 5 years a few in my area have lashed out to kids in this way). This guys problem was that hitting children in his manner is the norm back in Pakistan where most of his first generation of supporters come from. So they accept hitting kids as a social norm and turn a blind eye to most of it.

Having seen the video of this guy, read the responses from a lot of Muslims who recalled how this happend to them (and how wrong it was then and how wrong it is now), most of them agree this is an issue that needs tackling.

On the not learning English deal... Well, previous Governments have failed there to provide the insentive for this. Personally, I would not provide citizenship without a very good grasp of the native language and ILR unless a good knowledge of the lingo was shown. But he, I am sure we are learning lessons from the past.

I can assure you, Mike, I am not turning into a closet deadworth....

And I wish to apologize if I have come across that way, in your eyes, but I thought I was being equally critical of everybody, really.
My pet hates are stupidity, criminality, child abuse, bigotism, general ignorance and intolerance, conceit and arrogance, to name but a few... regardless who the perpetretor is.
Bad luck has it at the moment, that some segments of our society do not, by choice, wish to embrace multiculturalism but wish to remain segregated. I respect this view and do not argue it, as it isn't my prerogative to do so.
I thought that in the past, my posts have been evenly critical of anybody that happens to wind me up early in the morning...
Today, for instance, it didn't matter which website I visited, there always was something to feed my "Victor Meldrew Syndrome"............

As for the Jews........... Well........... I'd rather not go there, but suffice to say that the Bible doesn't mention Israel once....... Only Palestine............

Mike, I have great sympathy with your viewpoint, almost all of my life I have felt a great desire to see the best in people, I have some knowledge of history and thus understand many of the wrongs that have been perpetrated by our culture or more broadly by the western world.

Like most people though, I do not have a deep knowledge of history, I try but it was not my best subject so often I don't know the real answers to some questions, so I bow out.

I know that the guys here are sometimes a bit strident but I do understand that it is a direct reaction to changes in our culture, the UK is nothing like the place you or I grew up in as kids. I was brought up in an egalitarian middle class Scottish family and therefore feel strongly that fairness and concern for ones fellow man (and woman) is paramount but even then sometimes I feel threatened in day to day life.

I have been lucky in life, for the most part I have not been economically challenged in recent years and I have been gifted with much luck and with the luck of my passion for science when I was young, many others are not so lucky and don't get the chance to take a really broad viewpoint on life.

You are right, in that we in the western world have done many many bad things to the middle east over many different periods in time, but most Brits are simply unaware of this history, mostly unaware of the detail and mostly unaware of the bitterness that has built up over the generations.

The problem now, is that the simple reality is that we live in a multi-culture society in the UK and the one traditional characteristic feature of our culture, that of fairness, so many feel that is not respected any more.

Most British children learn that lesson of fairness, at least the good ones do, but it is not temporal, it is not a lesson that spans large amounts of history, it is simply a lesson that people learn about their immediate experience, in other words the time they are living in.

Because so many see in the news, many examples of what seem, to a British sensibility, as unfair behaviour, a lot of people get upset and I will admit at times to sheer vexation at much of what I see in the news.

In all honesty I want all people living in Britain to have something of our core values, even if most of our native population could barely understand what I mean, I just want people to be good and kind to each other, really that's it, just good and kind.

The thing is Mike that I suspect that is all that anyone in the UK really wants, they just want people to be good and kind and I think that applies to Dom and Kuya and most of us on this board and I know you are also very clearly a thoughtful and considerate man and it probably applies to you too.

I will come out and stand with you Mike, personally I agree that the western world has treated the middle east and the Muslim culture extremely badly over a very long period of time, we have manipulated things to our economic benefit for a long time.

But I also accept the view of the guys here that, this is Britain we have our ways of being and we should expect others to conform as best they can, I don't expect people to extinguish their spirit in order to live in Britain, but I absolutely expect the same tolerance of my views as my tolerance of the view of others when they are in the UK.

Please don't leave sir as you have much to contribute to this place, you have (soon) two lovely Filipino-British kids and lots of stories still to tell, that will I am sure be much appreciated by all the active members of this site and the many many lurkers that we appear to have acquired over time

Jim

If you have noticed I have nothing against any religion or race, as in my eyes, everyone is equal, and the title of this thread, was to highlight the difference in sentencing, if a western teacher would have done the same thing.
As in the eyes of the law some ethic groups are more equal than others, due to various conflicting views held by the judiciary and instruction received from above their paygrade.
I may well be wrong in assuming such a thing from happening, as I have been wrong in the past about other issues, and not afraid to admit it.
Only today, it comes out that the BBC admitted publicly that they were biased toward the gipsies of Dale Farm fame...
And thus completely disregarded reporting fairly on the subject of the ensuing eviction orders requested by the council.
The government attitude towards the matter is to assume a totally liberal position, which appeas unfair to the population at large, and seems to smack of preferential treatment.
The wrongs perpetreted by the christians, are now history, and dwelling in the past, is not healthy, as we all know.
Lets work together for an amiable solution to the centuries old dilemma, instead of fighting and arguing.

My personal bone of contention is the total lack of respect shown by some elements, to the institutions of the host countries.
That covers just about everyone that goes to foreign shores with the view to better their lives.
I know you travelled extensively, for work and leisure, Mike, and I would hazard a guess that you took care in learning the local customs, and abide by the laws of the land.... Same as me............

But.......I didn't quite make it.....

37 years in the UK, and I feel ashamed of my 2 speeding tickets...............

Mike, I would just like to address this one remark if I may...

I have to be careful when it comes to getting involved with a debate as per my wishes for the forum, with respect to how I treat the debate itself. Everyone is free to comment, make their points quite clear and retort and debunk any viewpoint of any member who has made a statement they disagree with.

The MAJOR difference here as opposed to FilUK is that I will not allow bullying and a gang mentality to take over. Look at my reply to Dom, I disagreed with him! Yes this is a form of Child abuse but I differ with Dom on a few points, no need for a fall out, no need for anything other than a "I see your point, but" sort of reply. Also, this forum is not a forum about Muslims or Islamic affairs - but Muslim militancy is in the news right now, therefore it is a subject of discussion on this forum just as it is in the local pub, cafe, etc..

I recall the threads you posted on in FilUK which ended up with you getting cornered by a small but prominent group that even included Keith (the admin), who used to berate you and remark about how he had complaints about you. That was and is a low point on at site and will not happen here.

You and I will differ on a lot of issues. As will Dom and I, oss, yuna, Jim, PATCH... And perhaps everyone else. So what? We all have an opinion and I hope to change mine if people can sway my mind with new knowledge and information.

The core reason for this site is still to connect people with a common interest together, everything else is chit chat.