A Daily Mail person because the Mail has campaigned against his extradition to the USA.

Theresa May has just announced that he won't be - a story the Mail had half-an-hour before the decision (odd, that)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... a-May.html

and the picture editor is under orders to show May as a loon:



So this will go alongside Steven Lawrence when Dacre rubbishes Leveson, despite it being almost unanimous in the press.

Comments on the story are what one might expect - 'done the crime, now do the time'. Typically nuanced Mailite judgements...

Just about the first time I've agreed with May on anything. Might not go down too well with the Mailite crowd but it's the right decision imo.

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

I always thought the Mail was opposed to people using 'human rights' arguments to avoid extradition?

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www.newshuddlines.blogspot.com

Not if they pass the PLU test.

Getting rid of the HRA was a Tory manifesto pledge, wasn't it? Some of them are still trying.

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

For many Mailites, Asperger's comes into the category of conditions made up by lefties to excuse badly brought up children, Mailites could cure it by the judicious administration of the cane, regularly and often.

I can't remember whether I've told this story before round here, but what the hell. I was told by someone who works in a specialist school for autistic spectrum disorders that they have to keep an extremely close eye on what the kids are up to, because some of them are fantastically good at hacking and there is no firewall they can't get through, and they simply cannot understand that they shouldn't do it. They're not doing it in any way for nefarious reasons; one kid hacked into NHS computers and was proposing to use what he found to expose their failures in relation to ASD. They found what looked like massively confidential MoD documents on another boy's computer, and when they remonstrated with him about how dangerous this was, pointing to what had happened to Gary McKinnon, his answer was "I won't get caught, I'm cleverer than him." But Mailites would be happy for these children to be locked up for 60 years, preferably next door to Abu Hamza.

The man wot fixes our computers has mild Asperger's. He's an absolute genius and more than once when I've had something go wrong he's come round and done it for nothing, just for the challenge.

There are a lot of comments from people who know nothing about autistic spectrum disorders. "Oh, if he's smart enough to get in, he's smart enough to be deported and stand trial in the US." Only it's not a case of "smart", is it? People with Asperger's can be very intelligent in many respects but may struggle with understanding why they shouldn't do something and with understanding what might happen if they do.

Furthermore, the main problem is not that Gary McKinnon has committed a crime, it's that his actions embarrassed the US government and he therefore faces a disproportionate punishment if he is extradited. This has led to a situation in which McKinnon is at serious risk of suicide if the extradition goes ahead. He didn't "get away with it" on account of this decision. I personally do not trust the US to take his condition into account.

All of this speaks of a fundamental lack of understanding and empathy on the part of certain people. They know very little about autistic spectrum disorders and have no desire to learn about them. Consequently, they have no idea how someone with Asperger's might think and no interest in giving it any consideration. Likewise, they have no sympathy for someone who is at risk of suicide.

I went on a group holiday with a chap with Asperger's. Similar to your experience- he couldn't help you enough when my friend lost his phone. Could seem rude but if you knew about the condition, it was very easy to disregard for a minute until he regained his composure.

Not everyone with Aspergers is a genius though, or even close. Some have the ability due to their way with words to sound rather pompous and lecturing on certain subjects that interest them but after they have spewed all they know , they cannot go to the next level. The threat of suicide is a very real one and his anxiety though it may have been well hidden to those who don't know know him very well, has probably been all to evident to his mum.
so, yeah well done Teresa May and I don't imagine ever saying that again ( though she does rather look she could be the daughter of that old tory bag on the Independent video talking about Gollies.)

Must admit I find that quite hurtful.

If "the next level" is populist kneejerkery, then I'm glad I can't go to it.

Robin Carmody

(high-functioning autistic)

Sorry it wasn't meant to be hurtful at all. It is a spectrum and there are many on the range who are very intelligent and / or can interact better etc etc but also those that may come over as more knowledgeable on a subject than they actually are.
I know of a young lad who has an encylopedic knowledge of 18th century military strategy who can relate facts and figures to me but cannot explain the reasons decisions etc were made because he cannot relate to the human elements involved in the process.

Interesting comments here. None have challenged his defence team having been knocked back by every level of UK judiciary until his only line of defence against being sent to America was going to the ECHR and say the chap is suffering from Asperger's.

My two pennorth is that with the Babar Ahmed case the US argued that the ISP was based in the USA and therefore he should face trial there. This isn't the case with Gary Mckinnon whose bum, computer and ISP were all firmly in the UK.