A Changing Face Of Britain - Crime Of Our Time

How many times do you hear people say crime is not on the increase in Britain? Too often for comfort, in my opinion. The simple fact of the matter is, we cannot make such an assessment by examining crime statistics alone.

During this pandemic, I have had the opportunity to chat to people at length about a range of subjects, and crime in Britain - the very real fear of it - is of huge concern to many British people. More worryingly, it is becoming increasingly evident that it is impossible to know the true extent of the problem, as many incidents of crime go unreported.

After years of city life, I opted to move to a sleepy, rural village, where crime - or the lack of it - was very much the motivating factor in my decision to relocate. I knew instantly I had made the right decision; life was more tranquil, more relaxing and a place where I have felt blissfully and undeniably safer. Until recently, that is.

Of late, there have been reports of street robberies happening locally. This has been profoundly shocking as these types of incidents just don't happen where I live. Life in lockdown has been more relaxed, and I have become less organised in my routine as a result. At times, this has meant popping out to the local store after dark when I have run out of milk. But just lately, I have realised that we are living in changing times, and nowhere feels safe after dark now as a lone woman.

Last night I was given a stark reminder of that very fact as I popped out to the store. The streets were empty and life was happening behind closed doors and curtains; people settled in for another evening of lockdown living. As I walked into the empty store, I was beginning to wonder why I had not cleaned my fridge earlier in the day and got out sooner, instead of staying to finish the tedious task.

Although brightly lit, the shop felt uneasily quiet and lonely; not unexpectedly so, given the late hour. As I picked up a shopping basket, I became aware of a presence behind me. Turning around quickly, I noticed a tall male wearing a beanie and face covering, right behind me. Social distancing was clearly not on his mind. I had not been aware of him entering the store at the same time as me, but I did know he was making me feel very nervous. A sort of pretence he was not following me, ensued, which was not fooling me for one second. There is always that sense present in us all, when we feel we are in danger. Shopping suddenly became the last thing on my mind, as I clutched my handbag a little closer, somehow just waiting for the guy to snatch it. Panic setting in, I turned a corner, where I found the sales assistant approaching me. A feeling of relief swept over me, as the guy following me, continued on and out of the store.

I have no doubt at all in my mind, that the person who had followed me into the store, was not there to do his shopping.

The pandemic has revealed the reality of life in Britain, and that is the reality that truthfully, no place is safe any longer. People I live alongside, talk about their lives in a much more fearful way these days. Doors are no longer left unlocked, curtains are drawn at night, milk is taken in off the doorstep soonest as it has been taken on occasion, if it is left there too long. Packages and parcels are no longer safe left at the door, as they too will be stolen. Sheds have been raided, hanging baskets removed and cars broken into or stolen. My neighbour has made the decision to install CCTV on his property - something he says he thought he would never need to do.

Why is this happening? Has the pandemic caused such hardship that people are turning to crime? I believe it is a much deeper problem than can readily be explained by acts of opportunistic crime. It is a picture of a changing face of Britain. A criminal element that is slowly, but steadily seeping through the very fabric of our society. Slowly, so as not to make us immediately aware of its presence, but it is present and it is growing.

My village may not yet resemble Midsomer, but on a more serious note, we cannot ignore the very obvious increase in crime. What is the reason for this? We certainly need more of a police presence on our streets and many people believe our sentencing is too lenient. We must also not overlook the rise in people entering Britain without security services having any means of checking who they are or where they have come from. And those are just the ones we know about. Others are entering our country smuggled into the backs of lorries and by other means.

Whatever happens in the future, this problem can only get worse. The changing face of Britain, is the crime of our time.

The pandemic is stirring deep resentments in Europe. They may not be quick to heal

London(CNN)Europe's had a torrid time since the start of the pandemic. For a continent whose prosperity relies on political cooperation, seamless supply chains and the uncomplicated crossing of borders, a crisis that pits nation against nation and demands limited movement is a challenge.

The pandemic has exacerbated gripes that have existed between European nations for decades. Countries have sniped at one another as they scrambled for protective equipment and vaccines, while pointing the finger at one another over their measures to contain the virus. This has been especially true of the 27 member states of the European Union.

At the start of the pandemic, countries closed their borders for lack of trust that their neighbors were sufficiently containing the virus. There have been bitter disputes over exactly how the bloc should finance its economic recovery, with wealthier member states in the north contemptuous of financing those in the south, which they believe to be fiscally irresponsible.

Most recently, countries have been falling out over Europe's lackluster vaccine rollout.

This week, Italian authorities raided a factory where 29 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were being stored. While the EU didn't directly accuse the pharmaceutical company of withholding the vaccines, EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis noted that the drug maker "committed to deliver 120 million doses to the EU in the first quarter of the year. They are promising to be able to deliver 30 million doses, but they are not even close to this figure." The raid took place on the same day that the EU Commission proposed stricter export controls on vaccines.

The episode in Italy comes at a time when trust seems low. One recent example: Sebastian Kurz, the Chancellor of Austria, accused the Commission of distributing vaccines unfairly, pointing out that countries including Malta and Denmark have had more doses per capita than Austria. Maltese officials and representatives of the Commission speculated to CNN that perhaps Austria is falling behind because it declined to buy its full allocation of vaccines procured by the EU.

On one hand, this is just the brutal world of politics. "Every head of state or government understands the situation. They are all under pressure to show that they are delivering at home. None of them take these comparisons personally," says Alexander Stubb, the former prime minister of Finland.

On the other, underlying tensions among the bloc have been very bad of late and could have long-term impacts on European unity.

President Joe Biden attends the virtual EU Leaders' Summit in Brussels, Belgium on March 25, 2021.

"The pandemic has definitely made the usual tensions more obvious. Normal diplomacy cannot happen on a video call, let alone trying to navigate a once-in-a-century pandemic that is killing thousands and wrecking economies," says Neale Richmond, an Irish government backbencher who was previously appointed to represent Ireland in Brussels.

Vaccine nationalism could backfire

The anger is real, but somewhat scattergun. Some of it is aimed at Brussels, some of it is aimed at fellow member states and some of it is aimed at the recently departed UK, whose vaccine program is racing ahead.

The anger aimed at the Commission is mostly over its proposals for placing export controls on vaccines. The Commission believes that it should only export doses produced in the bloc to countries that are sending vaccines back in.

Critics believe that this move was an unsubtle attempt to make clear its view that the UK and AstraZeneca are holding back vaccines from the EU. They fear it could backfire badly.

"Vaccine nationalism makes absolutely no sense. The problem with zero-sum politics is that there is always a loser and, in this case, losing means more deaths for the loser," says Mohammed Chahim, a Dutch member of European Parliament who sits on the public health committee. He adds that a single-minded focus on vaccinating Europeans won't stop the virus spreading and mutating outside. "Inevitably, new strains will end up back in your country and we're back to square one."

The anger between member states is more complicated. Diplomats in Brussels from different countries cannot even agree on what they are disagreeing about. Western European diplomats say there is no disagreement at all and those who say there is are simply seeing the glass as half empty. Central and Eastern Europeans feel they are being punished for being responsible and not blindly buying their full allocations of vaccines before knowing if they'd even be able to store them.

Members of the so-called "Frugal Four" -- Austria, Denmark, The Netherlands and Sweden -- believe that southern European nations have created a "victim narrative" which placed responsible nations on the wrong side of history. And southern European diplomats say that caricatures of their nations have meant they've been treated like irresponsible children by the others, who can't be trusted not to squander any funds sent their way from wealthier neighbors.

While very little of this has anything to do with the actual handling of the pandemic, it's obvious when talking to officials how raw and deep the emotion is.

The anger aimed at the UK is slightly easier to understand.

Boris Johnson has not been shy in claiming that the UK's successful vaccine rollout would not have been possible without Brexit. This makes blood boil because it's simultaneously untrue but easy to believe.

While an argument can be made that Brexit inspired a way of thinking independently of Brussels, there was no specific rule that would have prohibited the UK from acting exactly as it has if it were an EU member state.

"The perception that the UK is rolling out so fast while the EU is stumbling from crisis to crisis is very unhelpful," says Richmond. "While no one believes a member state is going to leave over the EU's handling of the pandemic or that it will fall apart, the post-Brexit reality is that all crises are automatically linked to the fact the UK has created a framework for leaving."

Others are less measured and still believe Europe will have the last laugh. "You might feel very happy on your little island when you are all vaccinated, but your island might feel very small when you cannot leave it because your neighbors are not vaccinated," one senior diplomat told CNN.

Resentment and anger

It's perhaps unsurprising that Europe is an angry place politically at the moment. From the Greek crisis to Brexit to a deadly pandemic, it's had a rough decade.

The pandemic has laid the ground for some pretty important discussions to take place about Europe's future, especially concerning Brussels assuming greater centralized power.

"Europe's pandemic can be viewed through the Commission's failures on health policy and its successes on economic policy," says Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group. "My sense is that it will be hard for the Commission to say that its failures on health mean it should have more control of Europe's health policy. However, if the Covid recovery fund results in serious reform, that could be a catalyst for more European integration."

As it was originally envisaged, the EU was, at a Brussels level, supposed to not be dictated to by the national politics of member states. Officials fear that the horse has long bolted, leaving decisions at the mercy of the political whims of the strongest nations. If the post-pandemic anger fails to dissipate, it could create a toxic dynamic that is unlikely to end in closer integration and greater unity.

The EU is not on life support by any stretch of the imagination. But if it's to move on from its years of pain, it needs to find a way of healing wounds that have led to such deep-seated resentment and anger.

Source: CNN

UN: Israel continues demolition, seizures of Palestinian homes

Israeli occupation authorities demolished and seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem between 2 and 15 March, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported.

As a result of these demolitions and seizures, 42 people were displaced, including 24 children, the Protection of Civilians report published by the UN OCHA disclosed.

Seventeen of the structures, and all of the displaced people, were recorded in Area C, which is under full Israeli military control.

OCHA confirmed that two buildings were demolished in Ein Shibli village, in the Nablus area, displacing 17 people on the basis of Military Order 1797, which allows for demolitions within 96 hours of the issuance of a "removal order".

The remaining displacement resulted from the demolition of four homes in Al-Tuwani and Khallet Athaba' communities in Hebron and Beit Jala in Bethlehem.

The livelihoods of 20 people were affected by the demolition of a vegetable stall near Qalqilya city, while 16 were affected by the demolition of two uninhabited houses and the confiscation of one metal container in Isteih in the Jericho area.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers injured six Palestinians in the Hebron governorate and damaged Palestinian-owned property, including vehicles and trees. Four of the injured were physically assaulted in three incidents.

Two boys, aged 13 and 14, were injured in separate incidents in the H2 area of Hebron and the Bir al 'Idd area, respectively. In the latter incident, the donkey on which the boy was riding was stabbed.

According to Palestinian sources, Israeli settlers damaged at least five vehicles, a house and an agricultural structure in the villages of Jalud and Huwwara in the Nablus district, and Kafr ad-Dik and Bruqin in the Salfit district.

Source: Middle East Monitor