TORONTO POLICE MUST PAY FOR BEATING GAY MAN

A gay man beaten by Toronto police in what a jury described as a "gay bashing" has been awarded more than a half million dollars. It is considered the largest amount awarded against a police service in Canadian history.

I love it when the good guys win.

Tags: gay Canada Canadian police Toronto homophobia gay-bashing

BIGGER NOT ALWAYS BETTER

Simon Jenkins has an interesting commentary on British Prime Minister Tony Blair's moves to "streamline" government by centralizing it. I think of it as the Wal-mart-ization of the British government—

We don't do small any more. We just do big. Small is fiddly and hard to control. Big is beautiful and computable. That is why Tony Blair's legacy crisis is seeing yet another wave of "closures", this time of 29 accident and emergency departments, 81 hospitals, 3,000 post offices, and more police stations after the 630 closed over the past decade. He also wants bigger (and fewer) local councils, bigger police districts and bigger health trusts, plus more Tescos and therefore fewer high streets....
....

To central government there is no cost in closing a cottage hospital, a weekend surgery, a neighbourhood police station, a branch library or a primary school, only an efficiency gain - though why fewer police stations and hospitals should cost twice as much as before remains a mystery....

Tags: * Blair Britain upsizing UK