Vladd’s view of the World

British cheerleaders banned from Indian cricket show

‘because their skin was too dark’

22nd May 2008

Two cheerleaders hired to entertain crowds at India’s Twenty20 cricket premier league have accused organisers of racism.

Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson say they were banned from performing because they had “dark skin” and told to sit out of the opening routine at the India Premier League’s inaugural match in Chandigarh.

They said they were left sobbing as Team Chennai and Team Mohali took to the field and that event organisers told them only “white girls” would be allowed to perform.

Ms Newton, 22, from Islington, said they had been called “n*****s” and banned from performing.

Racism claim: Sherinne Anderson says that only white girls were allowed to perform for crowds at India’s Twenty20 cricket premier league

She said: “An organiser pulled us away. He said the people here don’t want to see dark people. The n***** word was used and they said they only wanted beautiful white girls.”

Ms Anderson, 25, from Hayes, added: “This kind of thing has never happened to us not in Europe, not here, nowhere. We are offended.”
The girls had been hired by Fierce Performance Productions which has offices in London and Bombay.

Director Jorge Aldana said the girls were eventually allowed to take part as cheerleaders after he intervened with local officials.

Several of India’sTwenty20 cricket teams have hired American and British cheerleaders, including a number of black African-Americans, but this is the first allegation of racism.

The raunchy routines have caused outrage in the country, where protesters condemned their introduction as an insult to traditional Indian modesty.

Now India’s Twenty20 organisers are braced for a fresh and potentially more damaging row over the cheerleaders’ allegations.

Women’s rights groups in India have condemned the organisers, and called for action to be taken.

The All India Democratic Women’s Association, said: “Stopping anyone performing on the basis of colour of skin is not only illegal but unconstitutional.

Racism is rarely discussed in India, but African visitors and immigrants from Nepal face regular abuse.

The event management firm Wizcraft today denied the allegations and accused the women of having “an ulterior motive” for making them.

A spokesman said: “They are totally fabricated.”

Pupils sat GCSE exam with the answers printed on the back of the paper

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:26 AM on 22nd May 2008

Pupils who turned over their GCSE exam papers must have thought it was their lucky day – because the answers were printed on the back.

The music exam scripts were sent to a number of schools ahead of this summer’s GCSE examinations.

The papers went to schools in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire area.

It is believed that pupils sat the exams, set by the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR) exam board, before the mistake was noticed.

Mistake: Answers to GCSE exam questions were written on the back of the papers

An OCR spokeswoman said: “OCR regrets that a printing error may have affected a small number of marks on the GCSE music question paper.

“We are putting procedures in place to identify the effect, if any, this had on candidates and to make allowances accordingly to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged.”

A spokesman for the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) said the examinations regulator Ofqual would now be checking with the OCR to ensure that “appropriate measures were put in place”.

An OCR spokeswoman added that it was not believed that the pupils affected by the glitch would have to resit the exam.

A spokeswoman for the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations (NCPTA) said the mishap raised questions about the future of privatised exam boards.

She said: “Every year we have mistakes made by examining boards, mistakes which seriously undermine the hard work done by our students.

“Every year we are told it will never happen again but still it goes on; no doubt before the end of the exam cycle there will be more.

“It must be time now to seriously look at how the privatisation of the examination boards is working, or not as the case may be.

“Is it time for an end to individual boards when a simple thing like proof reading and print checking cannot be achieved?

“How secure do we feel as parents and students that our young people are being given a fair chance?

“Would a central government run system be better, or is the government track record on losing and mislaying document worse? And is this why the exam boards continue to get away with a poor service?”

Last month the OCR caused controversy after announcing plans that would allow teenagers to re-take individual GCSE units to boost their grades.

The OCR exam board published plans for 43 “flexible” GCSEs arguing that modular courses will be less stressful for teenagers than the current “all or nothing” assessments.

But critics of the radical proposals warned that giving schools the option to teach modular GCSEs would make the courses easier to pass and could give pupils a false sense of their own abilities.

Pupils sat GCSE exam with the answers printed on the back of the paper

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:26 AM on 22nd May 2008 

Pupils who turned over their GCSE exam papers must have thought it was their lucky day – because the answers were printed on the back.

The music exam scripts were sent to a number of schools ahead of this summer’s GCSE examinations.

The papers went to schools in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire area.

It is believed that pupils sat the exams, set by the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR) exam board,  before the mistake was noticed.

Mistake: Answers to GCSE exam questions were written on the back of the papers

An OCR spokeswoman said: "OCR regrets that a printing error may have affected a small number of marks on the GCSE music question paper.

"We are putting procedures in place to identify the effect, if any, this had on candidates and to make allowances accordingly to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged."

A spokesman for the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) said the examinations regulator Ofqual would now be checking with the OCR to ensure that "appropriate measures were put in place".

An OCR spokeswoman added that it was not believed that the pupils affected by the glitch would have to resit the exam.

A spokeswoman for the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations (NCPTA) said the mishap raised questions about the future of privatised exam boards.

She said: "Every year we have mistakes made by examining boards, mistakes which seriously undermine the hard work done by our students.

"Every year we are told it will never happen again but still it goes on; no doubt before the end of the exam cycle there will be more.

"It must be time now to seriously look at how the privatisation of the examination boards is working, or not as the case may be.

"Is it time for an end to individual boards when a simple thing like proof reading and print checking cannot be achieved?

"How secure do we feel as parents and students that our young people are being given a fair chance?

"Would a central government run system be better, or is the government track record on losing and mislaying document worse? And is this why the exam boards continue to get away with a poor service?"

Last month the OCR caused controversy after announcing plans that would allow teenagers to re-take individual GCSE units to boost their grades.

The OCR exam board published plans for 43 "flexible" GCSEs arguing that modular courses will be less stressful for teenagers than the current "all or nothing" assessments.

But critics of the radical proposals warned that giving schools the option to teach modular GCSEs would make the courses easier  to pass and could give pupils a false sense of their own abilities.

Britain faces an ‘economic crisis’ as soaring oil prices threaten to pile £700 onto the average family’s fuel bill

Britain is facing an ‘economic crisis’, a minister warned last night, as soaring oil prices threatened to pile £700 onto the average family’s annual fuel bill.
In a frank assessment, trade minister Baroness Vadera said the UK was facing a ‘very testing period’.

Yesterday, in the latest blow to the cost of living, the price of oil soared to a record high, hitting $135 a barrel and leaping by $5 in just 24 hours to more than twice what it cost a year ago.

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Price hikes: Prices at the pumps will continue to rise for the next eight years

Motoring organisations said it heralded a ’summer of misery’ and would mean petrol prices going up by two-and-a-half pence a litre within four weeks.
As well as increasing pain on squeezed households, business leaders warned companies were being pushed to the ‘absolute edge’ by the rising prices.
The crisis will pile pressure on Gordon Brown, who has blamed Labour’s collapse in the polls on the ‘hurt’ felt by ordinary families.
The Prime Minister is now under mounting pressure to scrap a planned 2p rise in fuel duty and abandon plans to increase road tax.
Some campaigners are demanding that he not only abandons future rises, but cuts duties using soaring revenues from oil prices.

Fuel protesters are preparing for fresh action next week over the highest fuel taxes in Europe, and probably the world.
Some 57p of the cost of a litre of petrol in Britain is tax, compared with 31p in Spain, 45p in Italy, 48p in France and 52p in Germany.
City accountants Grant Thornton say the Government could afford to slash fuel taxes at the pumps by up to 9p a litre thanks to the oil tax windfall swelling Treasury coffers by £5billion.
The oil price crisis will be at the top of the agenda on Friday when the Prime Minister holds talks at Downing Street with the Prime Minister of Qatar, the Gulf state which will provide 20 per cent of UK gas supplies by 2010.
Baroness Vadera, a close adviser to Mr Brown and a former investment banker, said: ‘We are facing a very testing period in the economy. It is the first real economic crisis of globalisation.
‘With a small start in Texas, the global credit crunch is combining with international prices, and this is also impacting on food prices.

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Costly: More misery for drivers and householders across the UK looks to be on the cards with the latest big jumps in oil prices

‘We are facing a rather uncomfortable situation caused by the global liquidity squeeze still being worked through in the US, and rising world commodity prices, but I strongly believe that the UK is relatively well placed to face these challenges.’
With increasingly gloomy forecasts from economists, she urged people not to ‘fall into the trap of talking ourselves into a recession’.
But the oil crisis is pushing up prices in almost every area of British life.
Families are facing higher bills for food and power as well as holiday flights, while hauliers transporting food and goods face every higher costs.
Motorists have endured a 30 per cent hike in diesel and 19 per cent rise in unleaded in a year.
On Thursday petrol hit a new record of 113.98 pence per litre, diesel at 126.35p.
The price-comparison website PetrolPrices.com expects unleaded to hit £1.50 a litre by the autumn.

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Inflated: An investor monitors commodity prices. Traders pushed oil futures up to $140 a barrel

AA president Edmund King said: ‘The leap in the price of oil will add potentially another 2.5 pence to the price of petrol.
‘The threat of even higher prices in the pipeline will perch like a vulture above UK forecourts waiting to pick an even bigger hole in the pocket of drivers and consumers.’
Air passengers are facing rocketing fuel surcharges – now paying £158 extra on a return transatlantic BA flight.
Household fuel bills are expected to rise by 50 per cent this year – with dual-fuel gas and electricity bills rising by £433.
And grocery bills are soaring by up to 19 per cent – contributing to the biggest increases in food prices for a generation.
Business leaders, meanwhile, say they will have no option but to pass more of the extra costs they face on to consumers.
The CBI said nearly a third of the 540 firms surveyed this month said they expected to put their prices up over the next quarter – the largest number for 12 years.
Ian McCafferty, the CBI’s chief economic adviser, said: ‘Manufacturers are really feeling the impact and having to pass their increasing costs on.’
British Chambers of Commerce policy head Chris Hannant called for urgent action, warning oil is around double the cost of 12 months ago.
Mr Hannant said: ‘Oil prices hitting new highs of 135 dollars a barrel is pushing businesses to the absolute edge.
‘Something needs to be urgently done or increasing numbers of companies will be left with no choice but to pass extra costs onto customers.
‘Sending a positive message to business would make a huge difference and the Government should start by announcing that they are scrapping the next 2p hike in fuel duty.
‘The Treasury is already receiving a massive windfall from above expectation oil prices, which makes any extra fuel levy totally unjustifiable.’
Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle also urged the Government to scrap future fuel duty rises and called for windfall tax on oil firm profits.
‘People have to be able to afford to use the car,’ he said.
‘You can see people’s faces looking at the clock as it’s ticking away merrily and it’s the sheer expense now of taking your car out and of road transport.’

Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology ‘cult’

• Anil Dawar
• guardian.co.uk,
• Tuesday May 20 2008

The Church of Scientology Centre in Queen Victoria Street, London. Photograph: Sarah Lee

A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word “cult” to describe the Church of Scientology.

The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion.

Officers confiscated a placard with the word “cult” on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

A date has not yet been set for him to appear in court.
The decision to issue the summons has angered human rights activists and support groups for the victims of cults.

The incident happened during a protest against the Church of Scientology on May 10. Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, who were outside the church’s £23m headquarters near St Paul’s cathedral, were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was “abusive and insulting”.

Writing on an anti-Scientology website, the teenager facing court said: “I brought a sign to the May 10th protest that said: ‘Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult.’

“‘Within five minutes of arriving I was told by a member of the police that I was not allowed to use that word, and that the final decision would be made by the inspector.”

A policewoman later read him section five of the Public Order Act and “strongly advised” him to remove the sign. The section prohibits signs which have representations or words which are threatening, abusive or insulting.

The teenager refused to back down, quoting a 1984 high court ruling from Mr Justice Latey, in which he described the Church of Scientology as a “cult” which was “corrupt, sinister and dangerous”.

After the exchange, a policewoman handed him a court summons and removed his sign.

On the website he asks for advice on how to fight the charge: “What’s the likelihood I’ll need a lawyer? If I do have to get one, it’ll have to come out of my pocket money.”

Writing on the same website, another anonymous demonstrator said: “We also protested outside another Scientology building in Tottenham Court Road which is policed by a separate force, the Metropolitan police, who have never tried to stop us using the word cult.

“We’re completely peaceful protesters expressing a perfectly valid opinion. This whole thing stinks.”

Liberty director, Shami Chakrabarti, said: “This barmy prosecution makes a mockery of Britain’s free speech traditions.

“After criminalising the use of the word ‘cult’, perhaps the next step is to ban the words ‘war’ and ‘tax’ from peaceful demonstrations?”

Ian Haworth, from the Cult Information Centre which provides advice for victims of cults and their families, said: “This is an extraordinary situation. If it wasn’t so serious it would be farcical. The police’s job is to protect and serve. Who is being served and who is being protected in this situation? I find it very worrying.

“Scientology is well known to my organisation, and has been of great concern to me for 22 years. I get many calls from families with loved ones involved and ex-members who are in need of one form of help.”

The City of London police came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology.

The City of London Chief Superintendent, Kevin Hurley, praised Scientology for “raising the spiritual wealth of society” during the opening
of its headquarters in 2006.

Last year a video praising Scientology emerged featuring Ken Stewart, another of the City of London’s chief superintendents, although he is not a member of the group.

The group was founded by the science-fiction writer L Ron Hubbard in 1952 and espouses the idea that humans are descended from an exiled race of aliens called Thetans.

The church continues to attract controversy over claims that it separates members from their families and indoctrinates followers.

A spokeswoman for the force said today: “City of London police had received complaints about demonstrators using the words ‘cult’ and ‘Scientology kills’ during protests against the Church of Scientology.

“Following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service some demonstrators were warned verbally and in writing that their signs breached section five of the Public Order Act.

“One demonstrator continued to display a placard despite police warnings and was reported for an offence under section five. A file on the case will go to the CPS.”

A CPS spokesman said no specific advice was given to police regarding the boy’s placard.

“In April, prior to this demonstration, as part of our normal working relationship we gave the City of London police general advice on the law around demonstrations and religiously aggravated crime in particular.

“We did not advise on this specific case prior to the summons being issued – which the police can do without reference to us – but if we receive a file we will review it in the normal way according to the code for crown prosecutors.”