Feminism is not quite the force it once was here in Victoria. Still, it has a powerful friend in the Attorney-General, Rob Hulls.

Mr Hulls believes that there is an entrenched bias against women in the law and he has set about rectifying it. In particular he believes that an outmoded, misogynistic legal system has sheltered men who commit acts of domestic violence.

So he has enacted a variety of legal reforms, including giving police the immediate power to detain a man accused of domestic violence for six hours.

Given all this, it was a surprise to read the following in the Melbourne Herald Sun:

“Police are being advised to treat Muslim domestic violence cases differently out of respect for Islamic traditions and habits.

“Officers are also being urged to work with Muslim leaders, who will try to keep the families together.”

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Liberals have their own disappointments. For Mark Morford it’s the fact that the Duggars of Arkansas have recently added a sixteenth “spotless white” child to their family.

And so he has written an article of complaint for a San Francisco paper. It’s a fun read, and something of an insight into the left-liberal mindset.

The article has also been posted here, and the Duggars have their own website, with pictures of the entire brood, here.

It can’t get any clearer than this.

The World Bank has released a report heavily critical of skilled immigration into countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Why? There is considerable evidence that such immigration harms Third World nations. Such nations cannot develop when the majority of their university graduates emigrate to countries like Australia.

Consider this. Jamaica loses 85% of its university graduates to the West; Tonga 75%; Fiji 62%; and Ghana 47%.

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Where, dear reader, have we seen this before?

Not Biloxi, right?

A lot of hard things were said back in those turkey-shoot days of Operation Desert Storm, when the fateful decision was taken to cease fire and let the southern Iraqi people rise up and deal with a supposedly weakened Saddam.  The ODS forces were not an army of occupation anyway.  Who today would argue that the cautious voices of 1991 were wrong?

This time round, of course, it was going to be entirely different.  An allied army of liberation - not occupation - would be greeted everywhere with sweets, music and flowers.

Two and half years and tens of thousands of lives after those seminal pictures of Saddam’s statue toppling in Baghdad flashed around the world and the music and flowers seemed a genuine possibility, we are at last told by the military how much longer “liberation” will take.

WASHINGTON - It will take up to two years for the Iraqi army to have the military leadership and supplies it needs to operate on its own, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad said Friday.

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“Live from Portsmouth Cathedral, in the heart of one of the country’s most important maritime cities,” runs the blurb on the BBC Radio 3 website, “... a concert marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson.  Presented by Susan Sharpe.”

The centrepiece of the concert, having its world premier indeed, is a composition specially commissioned by BBC Radio 3.  It is titled, fittingly, “Our English Heart”.

There is a host of young English composers who would grasp the chance of putting music to this occasion.  And to do so in the name of that which is most intimate to Englishness would be an honour any of them would cherish forever.

The BBC, in its incorrigible, painfully “correct” wrong-headededness has seen fit to commission one Errollyn Wallen.

Nothing on earth can convince me that the decision to award the honour to a black woman was not taken in full knowledge of its political significance.  It is racism.  It is an act of outright bad faith towards BBC Radio 3’s audience of genuine Englishmen and women.

England expects something other than culture war from its national broadcaster.

Of course, we all know that the BBC leads the world in broadcasting excellence.  Even vicious catfights between celebrity pensioners are done with that effortless touch of class.

But just not this time, that’s all ...

Darcus Howe - not his real name - and Joan Rivers - not her real name - spectacularly disagreed today on BBC Radio 4’s Midweek.  It’s Alien vs Predator all over again.  You can listen to it here (from 20 minutes in).

Couldn’t have happened to two nicer people, really.

According to John Ray it is a “grave misconception” to believe that Asian cultures are tribal.

Asians, John believes, do not show preference according to ethnicity, but will reciprocate any favours shown to them on an individual basis. As John himself puts it,

“I am not remotely of their tribe. They do not treat me well because of my tribe. They treat me as an individual and treat me unusually well because I treat them well.”

This, no doubt, is a comforting thought for John. It means that he can support mass Asian immigration but not worry that he might be discriminated against by the newer Asian population. He will continue to be treated well according to his individual merits.

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