Diana Watch

Overheard from a Man exiting a clothes shop in Bournemouth, “Fucking Coldplay”. I don't think that that is too harsh.

For those of you who haven't been reading this blog for a long time you may not know the history. One of the first things I did on here was count (rather obsessively) the number of times the British newspapers had Princess Diana on their front page despite the fact that she had been dead for about 10 years at the time. This is how we arrive at the Sunday blog being called Diana Watch. Hope that makes sense.
And now, thanks to the Diana obsessed Daily Express, it is back to the future. This week they have had 2 Diana based front pages which, of course, means pictures of her looking suitably angelic. They have also managed 3 Madeleine McCann stories, which was also a particular favourite of theirs. So much so that they decided to start making things up and were sued, successfully, by the McCanns but it does seem that a leopard can’t change it spots, it just takes a break from showing you them for a while.

The Tory shadow for Culture, Media and Sport made an interesting suggestion this week. He is another one of these people that think that BBC news has a left wing slight (I really don't understand this at all. I think it may be confirmation bias, i.e. I am a left wing person and think that the BBC is a little right wing because I'm looking for it and the same is true of those of the right. They look for left wing bias and so they find it.) so in order to balance this imaginary bias, BBC news should employ more out Tories.
It's a slightly odd way of going about it but if that's what they want then it really should be rolled out through all BBC programs. This would mean more Atheists on Songs of Praise, more Environmentalists on Top Gear, more young people on Last of the Summer Wine (for young, you could read alive), much fewer twats on The Big Question, more old people on Blue Peter. Much fewer people texting or emailing their “views” to Breakfast. More Townies on Country File, more people on Antiques Roadshow who actually care about the history of the object that they have bought with them rather than just what it is worth.
That would all seem fair enough to me.

How arrogant are the British Media? The answer is a blindingly obvious, very. They are arrogant about their own importance but also about Britain's place in the world.
One of the big stories this week was that Gordon Brown, leader of a small nation with a not very big economy, was “snubbed” by Barack Obama, leader of the country with one of the largest economy which is still referred to as a “Super Power”.
What actually happened was that Downing Street wanted a 1 on 1 with President Obama but he was a little busy, what with trying to get Israel and Palestine to talk to each other, hosting the G20 meeting, being the first American President ever to chair a meeting at the UN, discovering (not by himself obviously, he's not that good, yet) that Iran had a secret Uranium enrichment plant and making up with Russia, so couldn't fit him in right now.
Oh, the outpouring of scorn on Gordon by all outlets of the British press. “Is this a new low in the Special Relationship?” was the question asked. No it's not, he was busy. “Was it the release of the Lockerbie bomber?” No, still busy.
He did get a chat in the end anyway. He got a 15 minutes walk and talk in the kitchens of the UN. Lots of people suggested this was an “only” a walk and talk but I think they missed the point. They spent 15 minutes walking in the kitchens? How big are these kitchens? One assumes that they were on the way somewhere and not just wondering round and round because that would just be weird. So, if you assume that the average walking speed of a human is 4 miles an hour and they walked for 15 minutes, that makes the kitchens 1 MILE LONG! That is a really big kitchen.
In the grand scheme of things we aren't that important. I know that we think we are but we're not.
Later on in the week the right wing press had a number of editorials about the American Press ignoring the visit of our Prime Minister. Again, I think they may have other things on their minds. I mean, did you see Coronal Gaddafi speaking at the UN?
I know that they have their agenda and that they are going to use every available chance to bash him but inventing problems is just lazy.
I suppose that they can't really focus on what Labour have actually done because that would undermine their argument, massively increased spending on Schools and the NHS with much better results from both, so they have to focus on his lack of personality.
I know it's unpopular but I want very clever people running my country who have policies that, in the main, I agree with, not a person who is “good” on television.


The Award for Deliberately Finding Something That Applies to Everyone Offensive of the Week,

This goes to some stupid nurse who thinks that she is more important than everyone else that works for her Trust and her patients.
The woman in question is called Shirley Chaplin. She was asked to comply to the trust's uniform policy (as every front line member of staff is) by removing her necklace, and she refused because it had a cross on it. She was then told that she would not be allowed to work on the wards if she didn't take it off. Nothing wrong with that. But she again refused.
She is now claiming that she is being discriminated against because she is a Christian and it is a cross. Other faiths are allowed to wear other expressions of their faiths and that is her reasoning. But here she makes a basic mistake. Other religions are allow because they are tenants of their faith and there is no such thing in Christianity. Well there is a great long list of things in the Old Testament but for some reason these are ignored and not discussed.
Mrs Chaplin has sought advice from the Christian Legal Centre, which seeks to promote religious freedom and, particularly, to protect Christians and Christianity.
The person representing her said, “Unfortunately an aggressive, secularist, politically correct agenda is being driven in the NHS and other public sectors at present.” Secular? How can it be secular if it allows other religions express themselves? Learn what words mean before you use them.
It is an infection control issue and a health and safety one and nothing more. Stop trying to make so much out of it.

The Award for a Spectacular Lack of Forward Thinking if the Week,


This goes to the Renault Formula 1 team who have been found guilty of cheating this week.
In last years race in Singapore someone decided that it would be a good idea, in order to get a safety car out so that no one could over taken Alonso (who was leading), that Nelson Piquet Jr should crash his car into a wall at high speed.
You know that you are in the wrong job when your boss is asking you to crash into a wall at 150mph. It's not good for you. He did it though. The safety car came out and the race finished with everyone driving around behind it.
If someone cheats for you, you keep them close. They could ruin you. They know that you have cheated.
So what did Renault do to the man who knew that they had cheated? They fired him. D'oh. They pissed off someone who knew that they had asked him to endanger his life and the lives of others.
A tad short-sighted I think you will agree.

I think that that will do for this week. Nice and short.
I hope you all have a pleasant and productive week.