Photo of Indi Gregory : Full acknowledgements are made to YAHOO and all rights-holders.
https://www.google.mu/search?q=photos+of+baby+Indi+Gregory&sca_esv=594833718&source=hp&ei=p0uSZY75IISExc8Pm4mG4AE&iflsig=AO6bgOgAAAAAZZJZt5MOuKACoXp3BtvvXBpkjj_3Txm_&ved=0ahUKEwjO6JTXuLuDAxUEQvEDHZuEARwQ4dUDCAs&uact=5&oq=photos+of+baby+Indi+Gregory&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IhtwaG90b3Mgb2YgYmFieSBJbmRpIEdyZWdvcnkyBRAhGKABSIkxUOAFWIAscAF4AJABAJgBvgOgAaE3qgEIMi0yNi4wLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGoAgbCAhAQABgDGI8BGOUCGOoCGIwDwgILEAAYgAQYsQMYgwHCAgsQLhiDARixAxiABMICCBAAGIAEGLEDwgIFEAAYgATCAgsQLhiABBixAxiDAcICDhAAGIAEGIoFGLEDGIMBwgILEC4YgAQYxwEY0QPCAgQQABgDwgILEC4YxwEY0QMYgATCAgsQLhiABBjHARivAcICCBAAGBYYHhgPwgIGEAAYFhgewgILEAAYgAQYigUYhgPCAgQQIRgVwgIHECEYoAEYCg&sclient=gws-wiz
SOMAN RAGAVAN
30 December, 2023
« Blood on the State’s hands… »
“Oh, England is a pleasant place for them that’s rich and high;
But England is a cruel place for such poor folks as I…”
---Charles Kingsley (1819-1875).
On 6 November, 2023, Indi Gregory, an 8-month-old baby in England, had been given Italian citizenship in order to follow treatment in Italy, as the English had said that no treatment would be successful. The parents had deliberately applied for Italian citizenship in order to send the baby to Italy for treatment.
A Catholic hospital in Rome was willing to treat the baby. At the time the baby died, it had Italian citizenship additionally. The arguments and objections of the English authorities were that no treatment would work and that treatment would only prolong the pain. The High Court in England ruled against allowing Indi to go to Italy. That Court had also denied treatment to other patients who were terminally ill. Although the court’s decision was being appealed, the hospital stopped the treatment, removing the life support equipment and killing off little Indi.
See the following links on the Internet :
(1)
https ://www.google.com/search ?client=firefox-b-d&q=England+terminally+ill+baby+denied+permission+to+go+to+italy+for+treatment
(2)
https ://www.google.com/url ?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj1xcfB9bSDAxViQfEDHTWzAWAQFnoECAwQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ndtv.com%2Fworld-news%2Fcritically-ill-uk-baby-dies-after-parents-lose-court-battle-to-take-her-to-italy-4570263&usg=AovVaw1uCXaAy0-Rr57reg9cIwAe&opi=89978449
(3)
https ://www.google.com/url ?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj1xcfB9bSDAxViQfEDHTWzAWAQFnoECA8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Findi-gregory-uk-italy-ruling-0caecf4c18336004d4e3b99cfff9c327&usg=AovVaw1yGUe6l2K2QBMSKaOsOLEO&opi=89978449
(4)
https ://www.google.com/url ?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj1xcfB9bSDAxViQfEDHTWzAWAQFnoECBAQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fuk-england-derbyshire-67284832&usg=AovVaw2a8HvpHDaJE-vvpWZyu9_W&opi=89978449
(5)
https ://www.google.com/url ?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj1xcfB9bSDAxViQfEDHTWzAWAQFnoECC4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcatholicreview.org%2Fitaly-grants-citizenship-to-critically-ill-8-month-old-refused-further-treatment-in-uk%2F&usg=AovVaw1MIDJ99YlutW2hyhQ-mh1x&opi=89978449
----------------
“BLOOD ON THE STATE’S HANDS…”
1st section
All was going on well for baby :
‘Twas a joyous life;
Friends and family had she,
And a jolly good life ‘twas.
2nd
Somehow, the malady set in;
Baby got dizzy, she stumbl’d,
She fell to the side,
The world went strange,
Things were moving weirdly…
3rd
Closer attention she receiv’d;
Something must be happening :
There was no way to explain to baby…
Why her ?...
Yes, did it have to be her ?...
Why did the malady choose her,
Of all people ?...
4th
Anyway, as the family be so caring,
Surely others, too, would step in to help…
So kind of them…
They must be liking babies…
Surely, the State, too, would help out…
Surely, the State, too, likes babies…
5th
Somehow, matters went from bad to worse;
No longer could baby manage as in the past,
The short past…
Life was lapsing away,
Leaving her helpless,
Needing Mum and Dad more…
6th
She must be wondering why all this stuff
Surround’d her…
Were they toys,
Stuff to be play’d with ?...
Why all these wires and things ?...
More caring had turn’d Mum and Dad…
Still, some vague sadness all around…
*****
7th
Listen ya all,
The case had been well consider’d :
We always well examine such cases :
This be just another of those cases :
An open-and-shut case :
No point in making a lot of fuss about this :
The issue is hopeless…
8th
Plain hopeless :
There be no cure :
That is full and final,
And requires a final solution…
We can’t bog down resources
On hopeless cases :
If it’s not viable,
It’s not viable :
Full and final stop.
*****
9th
Please, please, give us some time more :
Italy will help out :
They have given their nationality :
We will take baby over there :
We will try everything :
Hope is not lost ;
Just give us some more time,
Please, please,
For God’s sake,
Don’t murder our baby !...
*****
10th
NO !
NO ! Don’t switch off anything !
Don’t remove anything !
Please, it’s our baby’s life,
For heaven’s sake !!!...
We are taking her to Italy :
They are willing to try new things there…
*****
11th
Too bad :
Too late :
“Fin de non-recevoir…”
The procedures are clear :
Nothing will work :
Soon ‘twill be closure time,
We are afraid…
You will have to accept…
Sorry…
*****
12th
As is its wont,
The callous State reach’d out its coldest hand,
Its criminal hand,
Its murderous hand…
It ripp’d off the wires,
The tubes,
The equipment…
It snuff’d out a baby’s life…
A myriad of handy excuses
Will be trumpet’d…
*****
13th
For the family,
The final gasps of baby
Were too unbearable,
Too heart-rending…
‘Twas plain murder :
Another country had offer’d treatment
For one of its most vulnerable citizens,
A baby…
14th
The country that held it hostage
Denied it a life :
The country has to move on :
Just as they spoke of herd immunity
About Covid
Even before the malady fell’d its first victim :
They chok’d a defenceless baby to death…
Survival of the fittest…
15th
One more death
‘Pon the death roll :
The law overul’d medicine,
Bulldoz’d everything in its path…
Violat’d human decency…
Medicine was too slow :
The murderers’ hands mov’d fast…
Life was lapsing too slowly :
The logical process had to be expedit’d…
Italian nationality meant not a thing…
16th
The regulations must be obey’d…
Switches are meant to be
On or off…
When they have got to be off,
They must be off…
We will have the last word :
Life or death,
‘Tis for us to decide…
17th
This little life was destin’d
To be pluck’d away
Callously…
18th
What if it had been the other way round ?
What if Indi Gregory,
Of joint English-Italian nationality,
Was in Italy :
The Italians saying there was no hope at all,
The parents want’d to move the baby to England;
A hospital in England was willing to try some treatment;
The Italians refus’d;
They remov’d life support;
They kill’d Indi,
Though an appeal had been made to another court…
How would the English react to this ???...
19th
Thank you, England,
For EVERYTHING you did…
Now ready your Register of Births,
Marriages, Deaths and Murders…
But, pray,
What was the CAUSE of death
Record’d for Indi Gregory ???...
Murder ?...
Mercy killing ?...
You alleviat’d her of her suff’ring :
You also alleviat’d her of her LIFE…
20th and last
Thank you, England…
-------------------------
Some references :
(a)
"Other cases could be cited of innocent men executed, though the official and correct view is 'out of sight, out of mind", and 'dead men tell no tales'. Hansard, of 1881, gives an account of a boy executed at Winchester. The prison chaplain rushed to London bearing a written confession made by a man for the very crime in question. This man was waiting to be hanged on another account. The chaplain could not find the Home Secretary in time; and so the poor boy was hanged. There is the much more spectacular and familiar case of Habron, who was found guilty of murder and afterwards proved innocent by the confession of the late Mr Charles Peace, before he passed away. Earlier in this book, I have already given instances of blunders on the part of hangmen, and, looking through Hansard, I find a few more cases which are too important to be missed. The first is that of Matthew Atkinson, a pitman, who took a couple of drops in the city of Durham. (........) At the ceremony, when the drop fell there was a rattle, a crash, a horrible thud, and the criminal had disappeared, and from the gallows was seen the broken end of a rope dangling in the wind. The half-strangled man, conscious of all that had taken place, was below the drop, bound hand and foot, his jaw horribly wrenched. Twenty-four minutes elapsed before the readjustments were made; and the official Parliamentary report concludes : 'The second hanging was successful.' That was bad enough, but there is on record the case of Brownless, whose life was taken by the late Mr Hangman Marwood; this also happened at Durham, and is reported in Hansard. The ceremony was very badly bungled and, when completed, it presented to the onlooker a spectacle so utterly gruesome and revolting that all intelligent advocates of the hangman's art trembled for its future. An onlooker reports :
"On looking down into the pit where the body hung we observed that the feet were about within half an inch off the ground; the rope, which was about an inch and a half thick, was embedded in the neck; the blood was slowly trickling down the breast.'
"And so on. Hansard also gives the case of a criminal called Connor. Another bungled job. In this case the rope slipped. Connor turned philosophically to the hangman and before the second attempt was begun, he asked, 'What do you call this ? Murder ?' "
--- Charles Duff : " A handbook of Hanging."
"THE FABER BOOK OF MURDER." (Edited by Simon Rae). London : Faber & Faber, 1994.
(Full acknowledgements are made to the authors, publishers and rights-holders).
What do you call what was done to Indi Gregory at the hospital ?... Murder ?...
------------------------------
See my poems on allpoetry.com :
(1) “Transportation” on how England deported thousands of its orphans to Australia and New Zealand over three centuries.
https://allpoetry.com/poem/17511666--Transportation----2-Dec-2023-by-Soman-Ragavan
(2) “And she fell asleep” on a baby who died at the age of four from a terminal illness in the USA.
https://allpoetry.com/poem/17075651-Poem----And-she-fell-asleep----27-March--2023.-by-Soman-Ragavan
My notes on my poem “Transportation” :
(a) This poem refers to the cruel, systematic and callous deportation of English orphans to certain colonies by England during more than three centuries. In this unforgivable crime, the cruelty is fully exposed. England heartlessly banished thousands of its own defenceless orphans, so as not to have to bear the cost of rearing them up.
(b) Also see :
(i) Overseas News Service bulletin, Government Information Service, Prime Minister’s Office, Mauritius, REUTERS news section, 17/18 July, 1998, (page 3); 15/16 December, 1998, (page 7).
(ii) “Grande Bretagne : 150 000 déportés vers les colonies en plus de trois siècles.” “Le MAURICIEN” newspaper, Mauritius, 20 May, 1999, (page 16). Let us reproduce this article here :
“About 150 000 English orphans were victims of a policy started in the 17th century on a particularly cruel deportation towards colonies and former colonies, Australia and New Zealand in particular, according to an official report published yesterday.
“The scandal of the forced exile of these children, who had been confided to State homes, had for objective the injection of “white blood” into the far-flung lands of the crown. This scandal caused an uproar when it was revealed in 1993 by an Australian television documentary. But, the magnitude of the deportation, which went on until 1967, was not known at the time and the known cases only covered the period 1947-1967. These cases concerned not only orphans but also abandoned children or children removed from their unmarried mothers.
“Consequently, an English MP, chairman of a parliamentary commission on health, had been asked to go to Australia and New Zealand to enquire into the matter. His report on "disappeared children" of the Empire, presented to the House of Commons, is enlightening.
"This affair, in my opinion, is one of the most shameful secrets of recent English history," said the English MP, David Hinchliffe. The policy of shipping the orphans to Australia and New Zealand, contrarily to what had been assumed so far, started as far back as 1618, according to the study. It had concerned 150 000 young ones just for New Zealand and Australia, whereas previous estimates had mentioned 20 000 to 50 000 youths in all. Others had been sent to Canada and Rhodesia.
“What is worse, reaching their destinations, the children, of whom the youngest were aged four, had to do forced labour and were often victims of sexual abuse. "This affair is that of the efficient deportation of thousands of vulnerable children and youths," has said the MP during a debate in the House.
“It is also the affair of a country that washed its hands of its responsibility towards its own people, of whom many had endured the most horrific traumas," did he add. Parallel to the publication of the report, the Labour Government have announced the creation of a fund of one million pounds to help the most recent victims to go to England in order to retrace relatives.
“In the name of the Government, the Under Secretary of State for Health, John Hutton, has expressed his "profound regret" towards the deportees.” (My translation from French).
In the past, the English authorities had refused to apologise for these crimes.
(iii) “Quand les Australiens découvrent les "stolen children" de la Réunion.” “WEEK-END” newspaper, Mauritius, 5 January, 2003, (page 15).
(iv) “Apology for kids shipped from Britain to colonies.” Associated Press, 16 November, 2009.
-----------------------
Soman Ragavan
Mauritius (Indian Ocean)
30 December, 2023
------------------------
Added on 1 January, 2024.
When Covid started in England in the early months of 2020, Boris Johnson, then Prime Minister, was infected with the malady. He was admitted to hospital. The Americans sent their best medicine (Hello ! There was already a secret cure for Covid at that time ??!!...) and their best doctors. Donald Trump even said emphatically something like : “He will be cured.” That meant : He SHALL be cured. It turned out that Boris was cured. So much so that he declared later that he was fit “like a butcher’s dog.”
Internet links :
(a)
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/06/trump-offers-help-to-treat-boris-johnson-in-hospital-170294
(b)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/07/donald-trumps-drugs-to-help-boris-johnson-not-tested-against-coronavirus
(c)
https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-rejects-donald-trump-offer-help-boris-johnson-coronavirus-treatment-2020-4
(d)
https://www.deccanherald.com/world/uk-pm-boris-johnson-in-incredible-shape-after-covid-19-trump-says-829255.html
(e)
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/donald-trump-hopeful-and-sure-british-pm-boris-johnson-will-recover-from-coronavirus-2206659
FIT AS A BUTCHER’S DOG :
(f)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QspodIlOY9s
(g)
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/29/is-boris-johnson-really-fit-as-a-butchers-dog
(h)
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN26K29N/
-----
“Oh, England is a pleasant place for them that’s rich and high;
But England is a cruel place for such poor folks as I…”
---Charles Kingsley (1819-1875).
The eight-month-old baby of English-Italian nationality who was murdered was among the poor folks…
--------------------------
-
Author:
Soman Ragavan (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: December 30th, 2023 01:09
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 2
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