Uphaar Cinema Tragedy

It was just an ordinary evening one day in Delhi way back in 1997 when people went to their local cinema to catch the latest blockbuster. But ordinary soon turned into tragedy as a fire that started in the parking lot engulfed the cinema building itself.

Fire exits had been blocked and building safety norms were not followed by the owners of the cinema. As the fire struck, in the ensuing panic 59 men, women and children (some as young as 4 and 6 years old) lost their lives.

Eighteen years later and following an epic battle through the Indian legal system a verdict was passed by the Supreme Court that the

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The Gods Unite

As the gay marriage debate rolls on I do wonder why gay people want to participate in a religious institution, often at a religious institution, when all mainstream religions hate homosexuality and recognise it as a sin where gays will burn in hell or even worse.

I went to a gay wedding in Delhi

Freedom Fries

Nicolas Sarkozy apparently snapped at David Cameron telling him that he was fed up of Britain telling them how to fix the Euro and it was none of our business as we were not part of the single currency.

The new father must be suffering

Happy Birthday Private Eye!

If you’re not familiar with this fabulous rag, let me introduce you to one of Britain’s most amazing fortnightly satirical magazine on Britain’s current affairs.  On occassion the Private Eye seems like the UK’s only independent news reporting the story behind the story and in between the lines.

With every issue that comes through my letterbox I laugh out loud at the articles and cartoons, especially ‘supermodels’ and am shocked and angered

Nelson Who?

Having just watched celebrity “Come Dine With Me” I am sitting here in shock as Zola Budd, South African athlete, has revealed that she didn’t know who Nelson Mandela was when she ran the 1984 Olympic 5000 metres at the age of 17.

Loyalty

I went to see a play last night at Hampstead Theatre called Loyalty and it was very enjoyable.  It’s only on until 13 August so if you can squeeze it in to your diary, do!

Loyalty is a fictionalised account of the lead up to the war in Iraq and subsequent events from the perspective of the wife of Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff but it is drawn from her very real experience.  Who cares/ I hate Tony Blair/ we know he lied you think,  but actually it’s amazing how many secrets there aren’t in a relationship

Tabloid Twits

Don’t you feel sick at recent developments in the phone hacking scandal? It is truly scandalous that it is now alleged that News of the World hacked into Milly Dowler’s voicemail. Apparently the hacker deleted messages to make space for new messages to come through. What on earth qualifies a hacker to determine what is a relevant message? What if the police concluded that Milly had simply run away? Milly’s poor parents would have been given false hope that she was still alive.

Strike It Lucky

Is it true that the older you become, the more right-wing you become?  I fancy myself as quite the socialist but as I sit here in Delhi reading about the teachers’ strike in England I find my sympathy somewhat waning.

Dr Death

You may have heard that Dr Death, aka Jack Kevorkian, died earlier this month.  It is believed that he assisted with 130 suicides, which earned him the moniker.  He took on the US authorities by actually filming himself giving a lethal injection to a patient, for which he received a prison sentence.

This is a hot topic as BBC2 showed adocumentary last night of Peter Smedley committing suicide.

Some Are More Equal Than Others

Holier Than Thou and ageing rock star, Bono, will be targeted by groups during U2’s gig at Glastonbury who will throw light on Bono’s tax avoidance.  I hope they manage to make an impact as this guy’s double standards are quite lame and as he is a relentless self-publicist no doubt he will enjoy even the negative attention. 

As You Were

Now that Enemy No 1 has been killed can we all go back to normal now with international civil liberties?  Will governments now claim that Al Qaeda is even more of a threat as they seek revenge for the USA’s revenge killing in this Abrahamic tit-for-tat? 

Boyz From Da Hood

You must have heard that William Hague has sent ten “battle hardened” soldiers to help organise the rebels in Libya with the fight against Gaddafi.    Why don’t we send in Ross Kemp to help out as well – he will sort out the rabble and then with his close connections with the News of the World, he can pose for pictures with Libyans holding the Union Flag.

Wild Wild West

The UN resolution for the war in Libya now seems to be quite flexible depending on what the rest of the world wants to justify US and Britain considering arming and training the rebels and deploying private security contractors in Libya.  How can this be justified as legal action or is this measure a belated retaliation for Gaddafi arming the IRA?