Tiger, as the unborn and unknown is affectionately described by its sibling, is late. It was due over a week ago and is stubbornly hanging on, probably far too comfortable where it is, or maybe not yet prepared to emerge into the world that we have all made for it.
Tiger will be born into a world that bears little resemblance to the one that I grew up in; so much better in some ways and yet so much worse in others and it seems to be getting worse. Individual freedoms seem to be at the root of many of our problems. Human rights legislation has, over the years, led to the improvement of conditions for so many people and yet for many, the practicalities of human rights remain intangible. In reality we are only free to do what other people allow us to do.
Abu Qatada has been released from prison, where he has been awaiting deportation to his home country to face criminal charges. The international court of human rights has decided that should he be sent back to Jordan, that he cannot be fairly tried, and so deportation is not possible. His rights have been placed firmly in the driving seat and the rights of others, whose lives he has damaged, and the harm that he has the potential to do is disregarded. He is now free to go on inciting his followers into acts of racial hatred and possibly terrorism unless he can be re-arrested and tried in this country. Even his location is kept secret and no doubt he will be asking for a change in identity, a handout of state benefits and possibly compensation for time served in prison. He comes from a culture where human rights are limited to those who wield the power and they tend to be men. It is a society in which there is little freedom of expression, no freedom of religion and where so called "Honour Killings" are acceptable. It is a culture that condones genital mutilation and the suppression of free thinking, and it is this culture that he and his like, are wanting to instil into this country. It is a culture that is steeped in hypocrisy, inequality and violence, that sees the west as the enemy.
I was brought up to believe that freedom comes with responsibility. When we earn the right to drive, we are expected to drive carefully and within the laws of the road. The same principle holds for any of our so called freedoms. Qatada will not be bound by western cultural mores and yet he will enjoy the same luxuries that others here enjoy. Perhaps it is time that the human rights laws were re-examined.
I have no concept of the world that Tiger will grow up in. I hope that it is one where there will be more tolerance and understanding than there is now, one in which freedoms have to be earned, and one in which religious bigotry plays no part.
Tiger will be born into a world that bears little resemblance to the one that I grew up in; so much better in some ways and yet so much worse in others and it seems to be getting worse. Individual freedoms seem to be at the root of many of our problems. Human rights legislation has, over the years, led to the improvement of conditions for so many people and yet for many, the practicalities of human rights remain intangible. In reality we are only free to do what other people allow us to do.
Abu Qatada has been released from prison, where he has been awaiting deportation to his home country to face criminal charges. The international court of human rights has decided that should he be sent back to Jordan, that he cannot be fairly tried, and so deportation is not possible. His rights have been placed firmly in the driving seat and the rights of others, whose lives he has damaged, and the harm that he has the potential to do is disregarded. He is now free to go on inciting his followers into acts of racial hatred and possibly terrorism unless he can be re-arrested and tried in this country. Even his location is kept secret and no doubt he will be asking for a change in identity, a handout of state benefits and possibly compensation for time served in prison. He comes from a culture where human rights are limited to those who wield the power and they tend to be men. It is a society in which there is little freedom of expression, no freedom of religion and where so called "Honour Killings" are acceptable. It is a culture that condones genital mutilation and the suppression of free thinking, and it is this culture that he and his like, are wanting to instil into this country. It is a culture that is steeped in hypocrisy, inequality and violence, that sees the west as the enemy.
I was brought up to believe that freedom comes with responsibility. When we earn the right to drive, we are expected to drive carefully and within the laws of the road. The same principle holds for any of our so called freedoms. Qatada will not be bound by western cultural mores and yet he will enjoy the same luxuries that others here enjoy. Perhaps it is time that the human rights laws were re-examined.
I have no concept of the world that Tiger will grow up in. I hope that it is one where there will be more tolerance and understanding than there is now, one in which freedoms have to be earned, and one in which religious bigotry plays no part.
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