Sociology Today

Drug gangs report blasting UK cities as dangerous

Comment By Professor Alan Stevens Drug gangs report blasting UK cities as dangerous is too confusing The problems are nowhere near as deep in Manchester or Liverpool as they are in Rio de Janeiro – or even San Francisco A masked municipal policeman stands outside a shopping mall in MexicoAP On one hand it is right to state that there are communities in British cities suffering from social exclusion and marginalisation and that this contributes to their drug and crime problems. But on the other, these problems are nowhere near as deep in Manchester or Liverpool as they are in Rio de Janeiro or Ciudad Juarez – or even San Francisco or Los Angeles. The problem with the INCB report is that the wording is unclear. It gives the impression that its comments on no-go areas could apply equally to all of these cities. But it should have been more careful in specifying which ones it was referring to. The cities in Central and South America have more extreme problems which come from bigger social inequalities. They are dramatically more affected by crime and health problems. For example, in the past few years in Rio there have been repeated attempts to crack down on the areas controlled by violent drug markets. For a while these places were no-go zones. But authorities have acted in a militaristic fashion in the past year as they prepare for the World Cup.

Drug gangs report blasting UK cities as dangerous

Comment By Professor Alan Stevens Drug gangs report blasting UK cities as dangerous is too confusing The problems are nowhere near as d...

British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control

British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control, a United Nations drugs chief said yesterday. Professor Hamid Ghodse, president of the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), said there was “a vicious cycle of social exclusion and drugs problems and fractured communities” in cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. The development of “no-go areas” was being fuelled by threats such as social inequality, migration and celebrities normalising drug abuse, he warned. Helping marginalised communities with drugs problems “must be a priority”, he said. “We are looking at social cohesion, the social disintegration and illegal drugs. “In many societies around the world, whether developed or developing, there are communities within the societies which develop which become no-go areas. “Drug traffickers, organised crime, drug users, they take over. They will get the sort of governance of those areas.” Prof Ghodse called for such communities to be offered drug abuse prevention programmes, treatment and rehabilitation services, and the same levels of educational, employment and recreational opportunities as in the wider society. The INCB’s annual report for 2011 found persistent social inequality, migration, emerging cultures of excess and a shift in traditional values were some of the key threats to social cohesion. As the gap between rich and poor widens, and “faced with a future with limited opportunities, individuals within these communities may increasingly become disengaged from the wider society and become involved in a range of personally and socially harmful behaviours, including drug abuse and drug dealing,” it said.

British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control

British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control, a United Nations drugs chief said yesterday. Professo...

Sufferers from psychiatric symptoms decline to say what’s wrong

Sufferers from psychiatric symptoms decline to say what’s wrong, simply because they don’t want to know. And the reason they don’t want to know is equally simple – it’s because it’s too frightening. They wax voluble on the painful symptoms, while remaining resolutely mute (even violently combative) on where these really come from. The root of this paradox is childishly simple. It comes directly from the standard response of any infant to trauma or abuse – i.e. denial – “this isn’t happening to me”. They grow into adult life, and cannot say “this has stopped happening to me”. Often of course they can, and the problems evaporate – but for those that cannot, the symptoms they suffer – phobias, panics, hysteria, psychoses, bipolar, personality disorders of all types, anorexia, self harm, suicidality – all arise, and can be evaporated, by tracing their origin back to a ‘frozen terror’, an infantile seizure when the infant decided that the end had come, and they did not want to know reality anymore. Persuade them to ‘grow up emotionally’ and the cure is 100% guaranteed, provided they finish the course.

Sufferers from psychiatric symptoms decline to say what’s wrong

Sufferers from psychiatric symptoms decline to say what’s wrong, simply because they don’t want to know. And the reason they don’t want to...

Martians were arriving at Los Angeles airport at 4 a.m.

One young man with psychosis told the friendly but untrained support staff that Martians were arriving at Los Angeles airport at 4 a.m. the ...

Life moves about under its own steam

– quite what that ‘steam’ might be, we can never know – and in one sense, it doesn’t really matter, provided we don’t let our ignorance of...

Why did that wasp fly in through your window

Pay closer attention to the next insect which flies into your personal space. Why did that wasp fly in through your window? Is it going to t...

THE TEN NON-SCIENTIFIC COMMANDMENTS

<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"> <p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The fading of ‘science’ allows creativity to soar.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">1. <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The Ancient <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Greeks were wrong – the bewildering variety all around us can no longer comfortably be explained by unseen micro-billiard balls.  The ‘a-tom’, the ‘un-cuttable’, has been split – taking this naïve view with it, never to return.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">2. <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">In 1739, <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">David Hume undermined our notion of cause and effect.  We ‘know’ a matchstick burns ‘because’ of  (by-the-cause-of) the solar energy in the wood.  The sun has energy, by-the-cause-of its thermonuclear reactions.  But all these links are (1) unreliable, as Hume observed, but also (2) there are too many such chains (multi-threads) and (3) none has a First Cause – absolute knowledge withers.<strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"> <p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">3. <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">In 1887, <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">the speed of light ambushed us.  Unlike everything else, it doesn’t matter how fast its source, light always travels at the same speed –unpredictable, inexplicable, illogical, and therefore utterly beyond our ken.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">4<strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">. In 1900 Planck concluded that energy travelled in packages, not waves. Thus like the Royal Mail, you can never predict when the next parcel will arrive.  Even calling these entities wave/particles leaves them indelibly Uncertain.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">5. <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Each <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">radioactive atom has its own half life, but which atom is going to radiate next, is utterly and forever indeterminate – i.e. we have no way of knowing.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">6. <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Dark Matter and Dark Energy constitute the vast majority of our cosmos.  We could be full of them, with no conceivable  way of telling if we were.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">7 <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Hawking Radiation is unworldly. There’s no such thing as a vacuum – particles and anti-particles appear and disappear all the time – why or when or how is unknowable.  If this happens near a Black Hole, one is sucked in, while the other ‘escapes’, causing the Hole itself to shrink over time.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">8 <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Wittgenstein failed. He trusted words to be infallible, but none are even reliably definable.  This is the <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Wittgenstein <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Fallacy. Pain, fear and intent are the most important of all words – maximum meaning – zero definition.  Quakerism’s aversion to written creeds is a godsend.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">9<strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"> Random Control Trials distort reality away from intent by squeezing our multi-causal, multi-threaded world through the eye of a mono threaded needle.  It’s so our mono-focussed reasoning can begin to cope – but the cost is too high – we lose out on the significance of intent.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">10 ‘<strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; border-image: initial; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Nentropy’ – all non-living systems decay, their entropy (disorganisation) inexorably and always increases.  Negative entropy – nentropy – reverses this, but only in living things, until they die, when they too disintegrate.  While alive, we can deploy our intent – whatever that is.<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffff; border-image: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">NOTE – these points were all valid before I was born, and will remain so long after.  It’s quite a wrench to concede just how ignorant we are, and always will be – but as any good engineer will tell you – do the best you can with what you’ve got.  And in this case we have the miracle of life which, if we act responsibly, we can fill with delight and joy – rare enough in today’s conventional wisdom.

THE TEN NON-SCIENTIFIC COMMANDMENTS

The fading of ‘science’ allows creativity to soar. 1. The Ancient Greeks were wrong – the bewildering variety all around us can no longe...

minds manifesto

I prescribe the reinstatement of consciousness, the full rehabilitation of the concept of mind – the most important organ we humans posses...

Child terrors persist because the sufferer is too terrified to see they're now OVER

Child terrors persist because the sufferer is too terrified to see they're now OVER

The cause and cure of psychoses is simple

The cause and cure of psychoses is simple, and would be obvious to all, were it not for the mountain of prejudice which so obscures our view. What is needed is to look with a clear unbiased eye at what actually happens in a psychosis. This is not possible in cold print, but on the clear assumption that what follows is well below 50% accurate, try this. Suppose you meet a person suffering a psychotic break, the conversation might perhaps go somewhat as follows. You say “hello”, they don’t. You say “it’s a nice day” – they say nothing. They hear and see things you don’t. They describe fears and terrors you cannot see and do not believe in. They talk in ways that make no sense to you, and about things you cannot possibly understand or follow. The dialogue is not really a dialogue, more two monologues. There is no meeting of minds – there is no consensus as to what you are talking about, or indeed about the reality you are both sharing at that moment. What usually happens in a conversation between two people – indeed the underlying purpose of any and every conversation – is the overlapping and mutual confirmation of what reality is like just then. But this simply doesn’t happen when one participant is labouring under a psychosis. That’s what a psychosis is, and that is all that a psychosis is. The rest is embroidery. So the cure, obviously, would be to re-synchronise these two realities, yours and theirs. This requires establishing a common point, an agreed foundation or basis from which to start. Without this, you are running on parallel lines, your two versions of reality diverge. You are talking, not so much at cross-purposes, more at cross-realities. Psychotic thinking is unreal. And the origin of this unreality is fear, serious fear, best labelled terror. Psychosis does not occur unless the sufferer has been deflected from today’s reality – and the only thing powerful enough to deflect the human mind from finding out what is currently going on, is terror. The remedy for all and every psychosis therefore, is abating the terror. This is why ‘the healing hand of kindness’ has proved so effective in the past, and will do so increasingly in the future. It forms the basis of the Therapeutic Community approach in which I was trained in 1963, as also of the Soteria movement today. And it obviously makes sense. There is a prodigious reason why the person you are talking to does not converse, does not share your interest in what’s currently happening, in what is real. Remove that prodigious reason, and a commonality is again introduced, from which, since both are sociable human beings, both can benefit enormously. And the sovereign remedy for fear, is trust – whence the axiom: Truth, Trust and Consent, as discussed more fully elsewhere. Thus the cause of psychosis is terror which when removed leads invariably to cure. overpowering prejudices It is important here to uncover the overpowering prejudices, both medical and mythical, that so curdle our current view of psychosis. The first point to emphasise is that the orthodox medical approach is hamstrung by mental disease. No medical progress is possible without an understanding of what has gone wrong. The problem with all mental diseases however, is that the sufferer cannot tell you where the pain is coming from – and this is a particularly severe problem with the psychoses. The simple reason for this is that where the source of the agony is obvious, then the afflicted individual will already have taken all available steps to limit or expunge it. Where the origin of the pain is obscure – as here – then the sufferer can see no way through and therefore cannot help themselves. What they need most, is a clear, believable, and reliable pathway to stability – as do all those around them. While it may be understandable that the intrinsic nature of mental disease hobbles standard medical practice, nothing can justify the nihilism that prevails in psychiatry today, nor the neglect of common human courtesy nor of Human Rights, which currently risks comparison with Soviet psychiatry. The desperate flailing of the medical mind in seeking underlying causative factors leads to bizarre and indeed inconsistent and irrational notions, some of which are downright toxic. To counter this – no psychiatric disorder is caused by genetic defects, chemical aberrations, enzyme shenanigans nor permanent damage of any kind. All available evidence supports this – there has never been any evidence to refute it, there is none now, and there are powerful philosophical reasons to suppose there never will be, however much some might wish for it. Blaming parents is equally futile – deliberate parental damage does occur, but the heart-rending suffering so often seen in parents of the severely mentally ill eliminates this factor from our enquiries. The problem is that the underlying terror is deliberately well hidden, and therefore challengingly hard to winkle out – but it’s there all right, and winkling it out is undoubtedly a realistic objective. Simple, but by no means easy. The next point to emphasise is that every one of us can suffer psychotic breaks – we are none of us superman, or superwoman. Place any one of us under enough toxically-focussed stress, and we will all experience some or all of the following:– paranoia, inability to think straight, hallucinations, delusions, and invariably a loss of contact with today’s reality in which the rest of us live. A simpler illustration is the tantrum. Who among us can deny having at least one tantrum – the red mist descends, all other considerations are thrown to the wind, and contact with what is real is lost, temporarily for most, but longer for the psychotic sufferer. “I just went mad” is poignantly precise. The actual symptoms themselves as described by the psychotic sufferer are of no practical value whatsoever – their variability and fluidity being limited only by the imagination and creativity of that individual – another point which befuddles the standard medical mind. Their only clinical relevance is their severity, and less frequently their dangerousness. What they actually represent is the whirring of malperceptions – misperceptions of a malign hue. Once contact with reality – the common touchstone for all humanity – is lost, then there is simply no restraint on what can spout from a troubled mind. The psychotic sufferer labours under a belief system which is no longer based on today’s reality and is therefore alien to what the rest of us believe. Most of us hold on to reality as best we can, sometimes with difficulty – so to have one of us stoutly declare that the world is full of unseen terrors, that there are voices and visions which the rest of us cannot hear or see – this shakes us to our core. In particular it challenges our own personal belief systems – and when we are threatened, we tend to react aggressively, even destructively, which explains (though it does not excuse) the appalling history of maltreatment meted out to victims of psychosis over the millennia through, inexcusably, to the present day. the impact of terror Since September 1986, I have been exploring the impact terror has on the human mind. In a word it induces something akin to a prolonged panic, and sometimes a prolonged tantrum. Its chief pathological defect is that it leads to a paralysis of thought – a major handicap in a thinking species like homo sapiens. If it occurs early enough in human development, it can leave an impact for the rest of that individual’s life – until resolved 100% through Emotional Education. Again, this is not easy to convey in cold print – video is better, but neither is a substitute for the real thing. In psychosis, the terror prevents access to today’s reality, which alone can demonstrate that the source of the trouble is past. And here we come to an intriguing notion. We all start remarkably small, and impotent. We need sound parental attachment to survive. We need help not only in learning language but also in determining what is real, and what is a fairy tale. And it is here that we have to look for the cure for psychosis. For whatever reason (and the events can be legion) the sufferer from psychosis today has mislearnt the nature of human beings, of human reality. Instead of learning that human beings are born Lovable, Sociable and Non-Violent – the sufferer has picked up the message that reality is dangerous, that powerful human beings, including everyone else, are consistently malign. Such others may appear benign, they may say they are friendly – but the basic trust has been broken, and they are not to be believed. This disbelief is what needs countermanding – which explains not only what needs doing, but also that it is eminently doable, though only via inexhaustible supplies of the ‘healing hand of kindness’. Those trying to assist sufferers from psychotic disease are at a fundamental disadvantage – the sufferer will not, indeed cannot, disclose precisely what the problem is, who it was that misinformed them as to the nature of reality, and who therefore must be contradicted in that person’s mind. Attempts to second guess the lesion, the trauma, the true source of the terror are doomed. Attempts to persuade that individual too strongly, or prematurely, will result only in re-traumatisation, and a gross aggravation of the psychotic condition. In my clinical experience, death of a mother, a ferocious outburst on the part of a father, a tantrum from either parent may hit a vulnerable individual, at the wrong moment, in the wrong way, and cause something to ‘break’ in that person’s developing mind, such that the world is thereafter viewed as just too dangerous to tolerate – “if that’s reality, I don’t want to know”. This may well sound like gobbledy-gook to those not familiar with psychotic thinking, and perhaps even more so to those that are. Bear in mind that the individual sufferer will insist that the incident in question was trivial, jocular, of no consequence. And this insistence is intense – as if on pain of death. Bear in mind further that such individuals cannot “live with the fact that my parent tried to kill me”. Since they cannot live with this “fact”, they hide it away as fiercely and as deeply as they can. Which is anomalous, since this “fact” has not been born out by the event – namely your death – a point in logic, reason and today’s reality which can assist (though invariably only with the sufferer’s explicit consent) as a verbal spanner in unpacking this deep-seated terror. The quantity of calumny that has been heaped on my head because of this ‘denial’ is legion, and not only from my bemused psychiatric colleagues. It is a matter of record that psychiatric drugs have proved no better than sedatives – indeed for 50 years the evidence is that they prolong psychoses, and should therefore be relabelled ‘pro-psychotics’, not anti-psychotics. The reason for this is simple – they add, and are misguidedly intended to add, a chemical barrier to reality, to supplement the existing mental one. Mandatory administration of such medical ‘treatment’ without consent, calls for urgent legal and indeed political review. The root of psychosis Here is the true root of psychosis. The afflicted individual builds a ‘safer’ world, and conjures up in their imagination a more benign ‘pretend’ reality which, en passant, does not include the abuser, or at least the abusive event. The tragedy is that when they grow up, they cannot then readily re-connect with the reality in which the rest of us live, or try to live. To do that entails confronting the remnant of the misguided parent or carer who inadvertently or otherwise broke that infantile trust. All abused children carry among their mental furniture a parental figment or image of their abuser, which it is the aim of treatment to expel. In psychoses the figment is even more potent, and comes to act as a lethal gatekeeper for reality – do not question or disbelieve what your carer taught you, or you will come to a sticky end. The human mind is quite up to this sort of challenge, and builds barriers against it, which are as thick and robust as the mental resources available to that individual allow. The point being that these barriers are built as life-savers – hence they remain insuperable, and ferociously well defended, until melted by benign external forces. The sole aim of Cognitive Emotional Therapy is to dispel them, with the sufferer’s explicit consent – a handy challenge at the best of times. Simple yes, but not necessarily easy. There is thus a simple pattern to the cause and cure of psychosis. There is a simple logic to the picture just described. There are also vast fears and prejudices, medical and mythical, which belie this simplicity, and which strive to prevent it seeing the light of day. But there are also powerful and realistic forces pushing for a more humane approach to mental suffering. There is now even legal backing behind Human Rights, which are therapeutic. The foregoing is written in the hope and expectation that the more benign view will prevail.

The cause and cure of psychoses is simple

The cause and cure of psychoses is simple, and would be obvious to all, were it not for the mountain of prejudice which so obscures our vi...

Scotland Yard lent police horse to Rebekah Brooks

The former Sun and News of the World editor was lent the horse in 2008, the year after Clive Goodman, who worked for her as royal editor of the News of the World, was jailed for phone-hacking along withe the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Officers from the Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch visited Mrs Brooks's home in the Cotswolds to check she had suitable facilities and was a competent rider before the horse went there. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police pointed out that it is routine for retired Mounted Branch horses to be lent out to members of the public at the end of their working lives, but the arrangement is likely to raise fresh questions about the Met's relationship with Mrs Brooks. The news comes a day after the Leveson Inquiry was told that Mrs Brooks was briefed by a senior Met officer on the progress of the original phone-hacking inquiry and even consulted on how far she thought the investigation should go. Mrs Brooks, who is married to the former racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks, kept the horse at her home in the Cotswolds for two years before giving it back to the Metropolitan Police in 2010.  It was then found a new home in Norfolk with a serving police officer. Dave Wilson, Mrs Brooks's spokesman, said: "It's well known by people in the horse world that the Met looks for homes for horses once they retire. Rebekah took on a horse and effectively acted as a foster parent for it for a year or so. "The Met horse team comes out to make sure your facilities are right and proper. It's just a way of giving a temporary home to a horse that has had a distinguished service in the Met. It went off to a retirement paddock in Norfolk once it couldn't be ridden any more." At the time Mrs Brooks took on the horse, she was editor of The Sun, but had given evidence to a committee of MPs five years earlier admitting that the News of the World had paid policemen when she was editor of the Sunday paper between 2000 and 2003. By the time she gave the horse back to the Met she was chief executive of News International and the Met was facing calls to re-open its investigation into phone hacking following the disclosure that thousands of names of potential victims appeared in Mulcaire's notebooks. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "When a police horse reaches the end of its working life, Mounted Branch officers find it a suitable retirement home. Whilst responsibility for feeding the animal and paying vet bills passes to the person entrusted to its care at its new home, the horse remains the property of the Metropolitan Police Service. "Retired police horses are not sold on and can be returned to the care of the MPS at any time. In 2008 a retired MPS horse was loaned to Rebekah Brooks. The horse was subsequently re-housed with a police officer in 2010." The Metropolitan Police website states that: "At the end of the police horse's working life the animal is re-homed at one of many identified establishments who have previously contacted the Mounted Branch with a view to offering a home. "The Mounted Branch is looking for suitable homes for retired horses, that is homes where the horse will not be ridden. Anyone in the southeast of England offering such a home will be considered first."

Scotland Yard lent police horse to Rebekah Brooks

The former Sun and News of the World editor was lent the horse in 2008, the year after Clive Goodman, who worked for her as royal editor o...

Overseas visitors to Britain are to be offered free HIV treatment on the NHS for the first time.

Ministers are backing calls for non-UK residents to be treated for the condition as part of efforts to protect the wider public. Foreign students, workers and victims of human trafficking are among those expected to benefit. The Department of Health said that safeguards would be introduced to prevent "health tourism". Currently, treatment for HIV is only available to people officially resident in Britain, excluding migrants. But Lord Fowler, a former Conservative Cabinet minister who has campaigned on Aids, has called for free treatment to be extended to those who have been in Britain for six months. The proposal, contained in an amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill currently before the Lords, will be accepted by the Government but introduced in a Statutory Instrument rather than as part of the legislation. The move comes amid concerns about rising levels of HIV infection and the cost to the NHS of not treating it early. Foreigners are thought to be dissuaded from seeking help because of the cost of treatment. Public Health Minister Anne Milton said: "This measure will protect the public and brings HIV treatment in to line with all other infectious diseases. Treating people with HIV means they are very unlikely to pass the infection on to others. Tough guidance will ensure this measure is not abused." Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said that effective treatment of HIV reduced its spread by up to 96%. Yusef Azad, the director of policy at the National Aids Trust, said: "If someone is tested and treated early, it is much cheaper than them presenting themselves in hospital with a much more serious, complex condition that can cost tens of thousands of pounds to treat." Department of Health aides said there was little scope for somebody coming to the UK specifically for treatment as the process took months to administer and monitor. They said the measure would bring England into line with Scotland and Wales, where foreigners can already receive free treatment for HIV without signs of "health tourism" abuse.

Overseas visitors to Britain are to be offered free HIV treatment on the NHS for the first time.

Ministers are backing calls for non-UK residents to be treated for the condition as part of efforts to protect the wider public. Foreign...

Bank tax dodges halted by retrospective law

A bank in the UK has been forced to pay more than half a billion pounds in tax which it had dodged by using "highly abusive" tax avoidance schemes. One tax dodge involved the bank claiming it should not have to pay corporation tax on profits made when buying back its own IOUs. The government said it would change the law retrospectively and immediately to stop anyone else using the scheme. The identity of the bank has so far not been revealed. Announcing the crackdown, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, said the bank should never have devised the schemes in the first place. "The bank that disclosed these schemes to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has adopted the Banking Code of Practice on Taxation which contains a commitment not to engage in tax avoidance," he said. "The government is clear that these are not transactions that a bank that has adopted the code should be undertaking. "We do not take today's action lightly, but the potential tax loss from this scheme and the history of previous abuse in this area mean that this is a circumstance where the decision to change the law with full retrospective effect is justified," he added. The second tax avoidance scheme, designed by the same bank, involved investment funds claiming that non-taxable income entitled the funds to tax credits that could be reclaimed from HMRC. The Treasury described this as "an attempt to secure 'repayment' from the Exchequer of tax that has not been paid". Compulsory notification A Treasury source suggested that outlawing the tax dodges immediately would save the government a further £2bn in tax that would otherwise have been foregone. The bank in question in fact disclosed the two schemes to the tax authorities under rules which have been in place since 2004. Anyone, such as a bank, accountant, lawyer or tax adviser, who devises a seemingly legal tax avoidance plan, is obliged to tell the tax authorities about it within a few days of using it or marketing it to clients. More than 2,000 schemes have been disclosed in the past eight years. "Quite a few of the disclosures have come from banks in the past," said John Whiting, of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). "They are usually intended to sell to others such as clients." New code The banking code on taxation was first introduced by the Labour government in June 2009. It followed reports that some big banks used large scale tax avoidance schemes involving complex transactions and financial instruments. The code - which was supported by the incoming coalition government the following year - demands that banks which sign ensure that their tax and the tax obligations of their customers are observed. It says they should not go out of their way to avoid tax for themselves or clients. The 15 biggest banks operating in the UK have signed up. 'Treated even-handedly' In a separate development, HMRC said it would appoint a senior official to act as an "assurance commissioner" for any tax deals struck with big companies for more than £100m. The job of the commissioner will be to make sure taxpayers in general do not suffer from any such settlements. The move follows severe criticism last December from MPs on the public accounts committee who denounced HMRC for appearing to cut contentious tax deals with companies such as Vodafone and Goldman Sachs. Lin Homer, the new HMRC chief executive said: "This commissioner will take the role of challenging whether any proposed settlement secured the correct amount of tax efficiently and that taxpayers had been treated even-handedly." "The commissioner will also make sure that the governance procedures have been followed," she added.

Bank tax dodges halted by retrospective law

A bank in the UK has been forced to pay more than half a billion pounds in tax which it had dodged by using "highly abusive" tax...

The daily Sun had systematically paid large sums of money to “a network of corrupted officials” in the British police, military and government.

A day after presiding over the publication of his new, damn-the-critics Sun on Sunday tabloid, Rupert Murdoch was confronted with fresh allegations from a top police investigator that the daily Sun had systematically paid large sums of money to “a network of corrupted officials” in the British police, military and government. Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors Readers’ Comments Share your thoughts. Post a Comment » Read All Comments (130) » The allegations, part of a deepening criminal probe into The Sun and Mr. Murdoch’s defunct News of the World, highlight the challenges to Mr. Murdoch and his News Corporation as he seeks to minimize the threat to his British media holdings. They also cast a harsh spotlight on the freewheeling pay-for-information culture of the British media. In public testimony on Monday, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, who is leading the criminal investigation into Mr. Murdoch’s newspapers, said The Sun, long a source of special pride and attention for Mr. Murdoch, had illegally paid the unidentified officials hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for news tips and “salacious gossip.” She said the payments had been authorized “at a very senior level within the newspaper.” Her comments, unusual during a continuing criminal inquiry, directly undercut Mr. Murdoch’s campaign of support for the embattled newspaper. On Feb. 17, the 80-year-old Mr. Murdoch made a grand entrance into the Sun newsroom, where, marching around in shirtsleeves, he vowed to reinstate journalists suspended in the criminal investigation, offered to pay their legal bills, issued a robust statement about the paper’s probity and announced that he was defying conventional industry wisdom by starting a Sunday issue. Ms. Akers said illegal activities had been rife at the paper. “There appears to have been a culture at The Sun of illegal payments, and systems have been created to facilitate such payments whilst hiding the identity of the officials receiving the money,” she told the Leveson Inquiry on media ethics and practices, led by Lord Justice Leveson. The payments involved “frequent and sometimes significant sums of money” to public officials, she said. In a statement, Mr. Murdoch said that “the practices Sue Akers described at the Leveson Inquiry are ones of the past, and no longer exist at The Sun.” He remained publicly bullish, helping promote the new Sun on Sunday in newspaper stores and announcing on Twitter that it had sold 3.26 million copies. In another blow to Mr. Murdoch, related this time to The News of the World, a lawyer for the Leveson Inquiry said Rebekah Brooks, a former Murdoch executive, was apparently informed by the police in 2006 that detectives had evidence that the cellphones of dozens of celebrities, politicians and sports figures had been illegally hacked by an investigator working for the newspaper. The disclosure, contained in a September 2006 e-mail from a company lawyer to the editor of The News of the World, Andy Coulson, is highly significant. Until late in 2010, Mrs. Brooks, Mr. Coulson and other officials at News International, the British newspaper arm of News Corporation, repeatedly asserted that the hacking had been limited to a single “rogue reporter” — the paper’s royal correspondent, Clive Goodman. The assertion was rendered implausible, at best, by the fact that the police had information that so many hacking victims existed, and that so few of them had anything to do with the royal family. Monday’s disclosures could not have come at a more inopportune time for Mr. Murdoch. In recent weeks, morale at The Sun hit a low point after a number of senior editors and reporters were arrested on suspicion of illegally paying sources. At the same time, journalists at The Sun and elsewhere released a stream of angry attacks at the police, saying the investigation had gone too far and was targeting reporters for what they said was normal behavior in the British tabloid press like taking sources out to lunch or paying whistle-blowers. “The Sun journalists who have been arrested are not accused of enriching themselves — they were simply researching stories about scandals at hospitals, scandals at army bases and scandals in police stations that they believed their readers were entitled to know about,” Kelvin Mackenzie, a former editor of The Sun, wrote in The Daily Mail. “If the whistle-blower asks for money, so what?” The Metropolitan Police Service’s highly unusual decision to release specific details of a continuing investigation seemed designed to rebut such criticism. “The cases we are investigating are not ones involving the odd drink, or meal, to police officers or other public officials,” Ms. Akers said. “Instead, these are cases in which arrests have been made involving the delivery of regular, frequent and sometimes significant sums of money to small numbers of public officials by journalists.”

The daily Sun had systematically paid large sums of money to “a network of corrupted officials” in the British police, military and government.

A day after presiding over the publication of his new, damn-the-critics Sun on Sunday tabloid, Rupert Murdoch was confronted with fresh alle...

European court rules against Italy for expelling migrants

European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ruled that Italy had violated it human rights obligations when it deported a group of Afri...

Belarus fights Europe to retain death penalty

Belarusian MPs have blasted a recent resolution of the European Parliament on death penalty in Belarus as an attempt to interfere in the country’s internal affairs. The Belarusian parliamentary commission on international affairs has issued an official statement saying that the European Parliament’s resolution on the death penalty in Belarus was a continuation of the practice of pressuring Belarusian authorities and meddling with the country’s internal affairs. Additionally, the Belarusian side noted that from the text of the resolution they could draw a conclusion that the European side did not pay much attention to the credibility of facts and the logic of conclusions. In particular, the Belarusian parliamentarians criticized the fact that the case of Metro bombers Konovalov and Kovalyov, mentioned in the resolution, is called unjust, despite of the fact that the trial in the case was open to the maximum and well-covered by the media. The Belarusian politicians also expressed surprise over the fact that their country was called the Belarusian Federation in the European Parliament’s resolution, while its official name is Republic of Belarus. However, the text of the resolution posted on the European Parliament’s website in English uses the correct name. Belarusian MPs stressed that the use of capital punishment in their country is not against international norms and its use is extremely limited, and in practice happens only in extraordinary cases. The ban on capital punishment is the internal affair of the Republic of Belarus and can only be made with consideration of the Belarusian society’s opinion, the politicians said.

Belarus fights Europe to retain death penalty

Belarusian MPs have blasted a recent resolution of the European Parliament on death penalty in Belarus as an attempt to interfere in the cou...

One in seven Cambridge students 'has sold drugs to help pay their way through university'

One in seven Cambridge students is dealing drugs to help pay their way through university, according to a survey. It found many claim th...

Poor men and lonely wealthy women

I see so many lonely women out here in the world today. Of course, there are lonely guys as well. But, in my opinion men react and respond differently to their problems. We almost never actually admit that we are alone, except when our self-esteem is compromised. We just go with the flow. But for women, it is a totally different story. “I am so alone,” was what she would say. I hear this all the time from the opposite sex. Why is this so in the modern-day world? Are we men not doing our jobs?   This brings me to the recent lonely end of soul-siren Whitney Houston and UK Amy Winehouse in 2011 respectively, whose public battles with drugs and alcohol often overshadowed their music success. May their musical souls rest in peace! These are glaring examples of lonely women. It is an open secret that Whitney had been a ‘druggy’ for years, which had become more pronounced after her tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, whom she divorced before her death. Rumours had it that Amy was killed by lack of love, not a drug addiction. I think this is probably true. Another example is that of Lady Gaga, who recently admitted in an interview, “Yes I’m lonely, but I’m married to my loneliness.” It is quite interesting to know so much about her. She has said loneliness is the only thing she loves the most. Nevertheless, I wish her good luck! Now, you may wonder what the situation is Namibia?  One of the most well-known examples of this ‘loneliness phenomenon’ is the infamous middle finger gesture employed by a well-known personality in Namibia’s showbiz last year.    Was that a sign of loneliness?  Well, without risking my poor miserable life I’ll leave that to the reader to figure out. Today, with the advent of equal opportunities and interventions, our ladies in the ‘Land of the Brave’ have made great strides in business, politics, TIPEEG, BEE, Namdeb, highly skilled professions and the list goes on, which makes them wealthy but ‘lonely.’ You will agree with me that successful women are multiplying in Namibia, but sadly, success has been unsettling for some as they are struggling to keep their ‘unemployed’ boyfriends or husbands, who feel that they can’t compromise on their self-esteem and would leave relationships in which they can’t cope with the rich lifestyle of their girlfriends or women – and therefore rendering many women lonely. I know many of them. Rich women have difficulties managing fulfilling relationships and therefore end up being lonely. My advice to these lonely Eves is simple; do not pride yourself in intimidation, aggression and power. No man will accept to be controlled by a wife just because he is poor. Instead, a rich wife must remain strong but be humble and respect her husband to make him stronger. No matter how much wealth a woman can attain, she will still long for a person she can share her life with; not to mention her wealth with. Although money can be friendly, rich women still need someone who will be there for them and just simply love them. We do not want a Whitney or Amy Winehouse situation to play off in our country or do we?. Until then, Eewa!

Poor men and lonely wealthy women

I see so many lonely women out here in the world today. Of course, there are lonely guys as well. But, in my opinion men react and respond d...

MP Eric Joyce charged with assault

MP Eric Joyce has been charged with three counts of common assault after a disturbance at a House of Commons bar. The MP for Falkirk, who has been suspended by the Parliamentary Labour Party, was arrested on Wednesday evening after police were called. Mr Joyce, 51, of Bo'ness, near Falkirk, has been bailed and will appear at West London Magistrates' Court on 7 March. The allegations relate to Conservative MP for Pudsey, Stuart Andrew, a second Tory MP and a Labour whip. Mr Andrew had been in the bar on Wednesday following a Commons event organised by his Conservative colleague MP Andrew Percy, for the Speaker of the Canadian Parliament. Having spent nearly 24 hours in custody, Mr Joyce was seen being driven away from the rear of Belgravia police station, in central London, late on Thursday after being charged. Warning to MPs The BBC understands officers involved in the investigation returned to the Commons on Thursday evening to interview eyewitnesses. The allegations relate to a disturbance in the Strangers Bar, which is reserved for MPs and their guests. Mr Bercow told MPs after Mr Joyce was arrested: "I take this matter very seriously, as do the House authorities. "I would ask that no further reference should be made to these reports in the Chamber." Mr Joyce, a former Army major, was elected in a by-election in December 2000 and has served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to a number of government ministers since 2003. He was PPS to the then defence secretary Bob Ainsworth until 2009, and prior to that had been a parliamentary aide to John Hutton, Mike O'Brien and Margaret Hodge.

MP Eric Joyce charged with assault

MP Eric Joyce has been charged with three counts of common assault after a disturbance at a House of Commons bar. The MP for Falkirk, who h...

teenagers barricade themselves in ski chalet in France

Two Norfolk teenagers are among a group of people who have barricaded themselves into a luxury ski chalet in France because they say they have been unfairly dismissed from their jobs without any pay, Angus Briggs, from Newmarket Road, in Norwich, and Paddy Bartram, from East Tuddenham, had thought they had landed the perfect gap-year jobs when they were employed by Skithe3v to work as chalet hosts at the company’s resort in the Three Valleys area of France. But after working for just two weeks they said they received an email saying their services were no longer required and that they needed to leave the site by the following day. They were also told they would not be receiving any pay. A number of other staff members were also suddenly dismissed, and together they have barricaded themselves in Skithe3v’s Chalet Georgina, just outside Les Menuires, in protest. They have dubbed themselves the Les Menuires 7 and say they will not move until they receive the wages they are owed. Speaking from the chalet, 19-year-old Angus said: “We came out here a couple of weeks ago and we thought we would be doing the chalet hosting job until the end of the season. “As chalet hosts we had been hosting the guests, preparing some meals, and cleaning, and we had done this for two weeks. “But on Monday we were sent an email saying we were being let go, and others were too. “We are both owed about £200 each. “We are quite frustrated - when you do a job you expect to be paid.” He said they would not vacate the chalet until they are paid. “We are making a very peaceful protest,” he added. “We are maintaining the chalet and keeping it tidy and in perfect order. All we are asking is that we get the money we are owed - we will leave the chalet in immaculate condition.” Eighteen-year-old Paddy added: “I was really pleased to get this job and looking forward to it for ages. “I had wanted to do a ski season for several years and it seemed like the perfect job. “But they worked us far more than our working hours and it turns out they were just trying to exploit us,” Angus and Paddy said since Les Menuires 7 started their protest they had received support from people living nearby and also online through Twitter and Facebook. A woman who lives in the Les Menuires area said: “Everybody is talking about what is going at the chalet. It is huge news over here. There is a lot of support for them.” When the Evening News contacted Skithe3v, which has a base in Hanover Road, London, a spokesman said he was unable to comment because the situation was in the hands of the company’s legal team.

teenagers barricade themselves in ski chalet in France

Two Norfolk teenagers are among a group of people who have barricaded themselves into a luxury ski chalet in France because they say they ha...

MEP arrested on suspicion of European parliament fraud conspiracy

MEP has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the European parliament. West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire, 43, was arrested along with three of her staff on Wednesday, according to another MEP for the West Midlands, Mike Nattrass of Ukip. West Midlands police confirmed a 43-year-old woman was arrested at a police station in Birmingham along with three other people on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the European parliament. Two women aged 55 and 39 and a 19-year-old man were arrested at addresses in Solihull, Worcester and Birmingham and were taken to a police station for questioning on Wednesday. Searches were carried out at the addresses of the four people by officers investigating an allegation made in 2010 regarding allowances and expenses, a police spokeswoman said. All four were later released on police bail, she added. On her Twitter account, a spokesman for Sinclaire said the MEP attended the police station in Birmingham voluntarily and co-operated fully with the police. "This is particularly frustrating to Ms Sinclaire who is eager to clear her name and has nothing to hide," said another tweet. The MEP "disputes all allegations put towards her or her staff" the tweets said. Sinclaire and her office would continue to "fully co-operate with the police on this matter". In a statement, Ukip said Sinclaire, who formerly represented the party in the seat, ceased to be an MEP for the party in 2010. "It would be inappropriate for the party to make any comment during the process of an ongoing police inquiry," Ukip's statement said.

MEP arrested on suspicion of European parliament fraud conspiracy

MEP has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the European parliament. West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire, 43, was arrested al...

Oscars warn Baron Cohen against red carpet stunt

Oscars organizers have warned flamboyant British actor-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen not to try to pull a stunt at this weekend's Academy Awards show, but said he is not banned from attending. The Hollywood Reporter cited sources as saying the star has told Paramount, the studio behind his latest movie "The Dictator," that he plans to turn up on the Oscars red carpet in full bearded, uniformed character Sunday. Reports suggested that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had banned the "Ali G," "Borat" and "Bruno" star altogether, but a spokeswoman denied this Thursday. "The Academy would love to have Sacha at the show. We've let him know how we feel about using the red carpet for a movie stunt and we're waiting to hear from him," she told AFP. Baron Cohen, who is in Martin Scorsese's 11-times Oscar-nominated movie "Hugo," has a history of colorful stunts: in 2006 he turned up at the Toronto film festival in a cart pulled by a "peasant woman" to promote Borat. At the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, he descended from the ceiling on a harness dressed as an angel, eventually crashing into Eminem's lap, his buttocks in the rapper's face. Eminem voiced outrage, although it later emerged that the two men had organized the stunt in advance. In "The Dictator," due out in May in the United States, Baron Cohen plays the lead role in "the heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed." A representative for Baron Cohen did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the story.

Oscars warn Baron Cohen against red carpet stunt

Oscars organizers have warned flamboyant British actor-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen not to try to pull a stunt at this weekend's Academy...

Murdoch slashes price for new Sunday tabloid

Rupert Murdoch on Thursday fired the opening shot in his battle to reclaim Britain's Sunday newspaper market by announcing his newly launched publication would be half the price of his previous title. The 80-year-old tycoon took to microblogging website Twitter to reveal: "Regular Sunday price for The Sun only 50p -- and Saturday's Sun going down to 50p too! Great news for readers and the economy." Murdoch's News of the World -- the Sunday tabloid which shut seven months ago over the phone-hacking scandal -- cost one pound ($1.57, 1.18 euros), the same cover price as rivals the Sunday Mirror and The People. The 50 percent price cut announced for The Sun on Sunday, which will hit the stands this weekend, signals the Australian-born businessman's hunger to once again own the top-selling Sunday newspaper. The News of the World dominated the country's Sunday market with sales averaging 2.67 million when Murdoch took the decision to close it in July last year. Publisher News International said the US-based mogul would be in London to oversee the launch this Sunday and confirmed that the editor of the weekday paper, Dominic Mohan, would also edit the Sun on Sunday. Murdoch flew in to Britain last week to announce the creation of the new paper and to promise demoralised staff he would stand by them despite the arrest of senior Sun journalists over bribery allegations.

Murdoch slashes price for new Sunday tabloid

Rupert Murdoch on Thursday fired the opening shot in his battle to reclaim Britain's Sunday newspaper market by announcing his newly l...

A4e boss Emma Harrison to step down from government role

Emma Harrison, David Cameron's "families tsar", is to stand aside from the role in the wake of revelations that former employees of her firm A4e are subject to police investigations over alleged frauds. She has written to the prime minister saying she believes she should stand aside. Number 10 had been signalling for more than 48 hours that it was extremely concerned by the allegations and would ask her to stand aside from the role. "I have asked to step aside from my voluntary role as Family Champion as I do not want the current media environment to distract from the very important work with troubled families," she said. "I remain passionate about helping troubled families and I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute in an area where I have been active for many years." Her role has always seemed more titular than real with the bulk of the efforts on troubled families now being taken over by Louise Casey at the communities department. Harrison's A4e volunteered details of two investigations as it tried to counter claims that it was involved in "systemic" abuse of taxpayer-funded contracts. The government has said the bulk of the inquiries covered problems with the previous government's back-to-work programmes. The Department for Work and Pensions revealed it had launched nine fraud investigations into the firm in recent years. The prime minister appointed Harrison in 2010 to help get 120,000 "problem families" into work. A4e earned £180m from state contracts last year, when Harrison paid herself a dividend of £8.6m, despite the firm's failure to meet government targets on finding jobs for the unemployed.

A4e boss Emma Harrison to step down from government role

Emma Harrison, David Cameron's "families tsar", is to stand aside from the role in the wake of revelations that former emplo...