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.
Sunday 27 September 2009
Sunday 20 September 2009
Diana Watch
11 year old to his dad, “I need a new sports bag.” “Why?” he asked “It's a perfectly good bag.” “Yes but it says Norwich Union on it and they are Aviva now.”
In my humble opinion the most important news story of the week was my cold. I felt terrible on Thursday, shivery and cold, blocked nose and aching limbs. Awful.
Then I woke up on Friday and felt fine. Can you imagine my disappointment on feeling well again and having to go to work? Possibly the worst day of my life.
James Martin is a cock (That's not actually what I wanted to call him but I've used the other C word rather a lot recently). It occurs to me that some of you might not know who he is so here is a picture,
as you can clearly see, he is a cock. He is also a chef and seems to work for the BBC a lot. He was on Ready, Steady, Cock back in the day but now is on Saturday Kitchen which is shown on, umm...... Saturday.
He also writes a car review, every so often, for the receptacle of all evil that is the Daily Mail. In one column he reviewed an electric car called the Tesla, which is really rather nice.
He doesn't like cyclist. Some people don't but usually it's within cities because cyclists, sometimes, do behave a little poorly. He hates cyclists in the countryside, mostly in the area around his house.
He has had a go at cyclists before but on Sunday he wrote that had sneaked up on a group of lycra clad hippies (for some reason he thinks all cyclists are hippies. Are all chefs cocks?), it's an electric car remember, used the horn and drove them off the road, “The look of sheer terror as they tottered into the hedge was the best thing I've ever seen in my rear-view mirror.”
Of course he apologised for writing the piece, as soon as someone complained, saying that it had been “misjudged” and had been intended to be “humorous”. I can not tell you how many times I've laughed as cars and buses have tried to knock me off of my bike, it's always so funny.
He also, rather inexplicably, said “It was never my intention to offend the many cyclists who share our roads across the country” Oh please, if you are going to write something at least believe in it. You called us names all the way through the article, you did mean to offend. That's what you do when you insult people. What a twat and, yes, it was my intention to offend him.
Barack Obama has dropped America's plans for the European missile defence system. Could this be his first truly great decision?
He is trying to sort some other things out like healthcare and Guantanamo Bay but this is the first thing he has really sorted out. No we will not put an unproven and remarkably expensive missile defence in countries whose people don’t want it and that will protect them from, ummm.... nothing.
Is this a gesture towards peace rather than war? If so I think that would make him the first American leader to make that sort of decision since..... well ever (my American history isn't that good). Actually I think he might be the only modern politician, in any country, to make a policy choice that doesn't use keeping us scared as it’s guiding principle, especially in National Defence.
Of course this has meant criticism from Republicans who have calling him soft on defence and giving in to Russia, although given what the US and the IMF did to the Russian economy in the 90's this muffin basket of a gesture should be the least that America could do. Giving in to Russia? THE COLD WAR IS OVER, YOU WON!
It also occurs to me that being as most of the Republican Congressmen (and I'm sure a lot of Democrats do as well) get shed loads of many from defence firms or work for them they were always likely to take it really personally.
Oh and they are all racists I'm told.
Who do they think is aiming a missile at them? Terrorist groups don't tend to have intercontinental ballistic missiles. Heck, even Iran doesn't. In fact if you look at this document (the bottom of page 11 and page 12 are most interesting) it seems that Iran is a long way from making a bomb and there is no published evidence from the US Intelligence community or anyone else that says that they have tried to develop, manufacture or test a device.
The document also points out that “Iran has acquired technologies not only from Pakistan but also from several European countries in contravention of export control regulations,”
Oh good. So it seems that far from there being a “War on Terror”, we are, in fact, exporting the things that we think that they shouldn’t have to them, probably gift wrapped with a nice bow, and then complaining about them having them.
International Politics is hard.
“Your starter for 10, who in that area does have nuclear weapons but isn't supposed to?” “Norris, employed some of the time!” “Umm, is it ....?” “Come on, I'll have to hurry you!” “Is it Israel?” “Yes, yes it is”.
I run a little bit so I found this incredibly impressive.
Slightly chubby man (at least he was when he started) Eddie Izzard has run 43 marathons in 52 days. He has covered 1,100 miles. He did it for a couple of reasons. One was to raise money for Sports Relief, which was good of him. The other reason was too celebrate the Olympics coming to London in 2012, in a sort of “if I, a slightly fat 40 something man can do this, imagine what you can do” way. This, I think is the more interesting of the two.
So many people have been, are being and will be cynical about London 2012 but it is going to happen. If everyone thinks it's going to be rubbish then it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Then the lazy thinkers, I'm looking at you Littlejohn and Clarkson, can all right columns saying “I told you so. It embarrassing. Why didn't anyone listen to me?” Because you are an arse, that's why. You are defeatist, short sighted and unhelpfully to the public life of this country. All you do is complain and moan. Not a positive phrase ever creeps out of you. You fear change like Luddites. You don't want Britain to be great; you want England to be as it was in the some misty eyed, mythical time that you have invented.
The Olympics will be fantastic. The cream of the Worlds sports men and women in one place and that place will be here.
Why can't we give the world a great show? Because some tubby middle aged men can't be bothered to get up off of their holier-than-though arses and do something to help because sneering is easier. Fuck them I say. Eddie Izzard is my new hero, a tubby middle aged man who did get off his arse and do something. Something great and inspiring. Bring on the Olympics, I, for one, will be loving it.
Oh dear, I seem to have ranted there a bit but it does seem that I hate lazy,cynical people who do nothing but talk our country down. And i was trying so hard to do nice.
Some awards to cheer myself up I think,
The Award for Incredible Over Reaction and Scaremongering of the Week,
This goes to Prof. Hugh Pennington who, is now, an arse.
Some children in England have picked up the E-coli bacteria after visiting a petting zoo or 2. This is a shame for them, don't misunderstand me, but his response was, “Children under 5 shouldn't touch the animals in case they get it.” Oh for goodness sake, just make sure they wash their hands afterwards.
Are you a grandfather sir? Have you ever tried to explain to a 4 and a half year old that they can't touch the animals (which is the point, after all, of a petting zoo) but their slightly older sibling can? Have you ever tried to stop a 3 year old doing pretty much whatever it wants?
There is already a strange disconnect between us and our food and now we are being told that they are dangerous to touch. It's like a fantasy Daily Mail headline, “If the paedophiles don't get your children the sheep and rabbits will”.
The Award for Is There Nothing Sacred Story of the Week,
Is no sport safe from cheating and match fixing? Rugby, cricket, football, formula 1 and now....... Crown Green bowling.
Oh yes. The Canadian team has claimed that the New Zealand team deliberately lost to Thailand at the Asia-Pacific Championships in Malaysia.
Because it is bowls the details are far to boring to go into but you can have a look at the link of you are interested.
The Award for Epic Lying About Your Age of the Week,
This week slightly right-wing and confirmed misogynist Keith Floyd died. Sad for his family. However, when it was announced on the news they claimed that he was only 65!
There is no way on this earth that he was only 65. How badly do you have to treat your body to add at least 20 years to it? I know that you think being mean but I know that I'm not the only one to think it.
We have received and invitation to our friends’ son's “naming ceremony” and we are slightly curious as to what will happen. We have been to the odd christening but this is all new. Will someone say, “I name this child Jay-Z Jnr” and then smash a bottle of champagne over him? I don't know and it upsets me.
I hope you all have a good week.
In my humble opinion the most important news story of the week was my cold. I felt terrible on Thursday, shivery and cold, blocked nose and aching limbs. Awful.
Then I woke up on Friday and felt fine. Can you imagine my disappointment on feeling well again and having to go to work? Possibly the worst day of my life.
James Martin is a cock (That's not actually what I wanted to call him but I've used the other C word rather a lot recently). It occurs to me that some of you might not know who he is so here is a picture,
as you can clearly see, he is a cock. He is also a chef and seems to work for the BBC a lot. He was on Ready, Steady, Cock back in the day but now is on Saturday Kitchen which is shown on, umm...... Saturday.
He also writes a car review, every so often, for the receptacle of all evil that is the Daily Mail. In one column he reviewed an electric car called the Tesla, which is really rather nice.
He doesn't like cyclist. Some people don't but usually it's within cities because cyclists, sometimes, do behave a little poorly. He hates cyclists in the countryside, mostly in the area around his house.
He has had a go at cyclists before but on Sunday he wrote that had sneaked up on a group of lycra clad hippies (for some reason he thinks all cyclists are hippies. Are all chefs cocks?), it's an electric car remember, used the horn and drove them off the road, “The look of sheer terror as they tottered into the hedge was the best thing I've ever seen in my rear-view mirror.”
Of course he apologised for writing the piece, as soon as someone complained, saying that it had been “misjudged” and had been intended to be “humorous”. I can not tell you how many times I've laughed as cars and buses have tried to knock me off of my bike, it's always so funny.
He also, rather inexplicably, said “It was never my intention to offend the many cyclists who share our roads across the country” Oh please, if you are going to write something at least believe in it. You called us names all the way through the article, you did mean to offend. That's what you do when you insult people. What a twat and, yes, it was my intention to offend him.
Barack Obama has dropped America's plans for the European missile defence system. Could this be his first truly great decision?
He is trying to sort some other things out like healthcare and Guantanamo Bay but this is the first thing he has really sorted out. No we will not put an unproven and remarkably expensive missile defence in countries whose people don’t want it and that will protect them from, ummm.... nothing.
Is this a gesture towards peace rather than war? If so I think that would make him the first American leader to make that sort of decision since..... well ever (my American history isn't that good). Actually I think he might be the only modern politician, in any country, to make a policy choice that doesn't use keeping us scared as it’s guiding principle, especially in National Defence.
Of course this has meant criticism from Republicans who have calling him soft on defence and giving in to Russia, although given what the US and the IMF did to the Russian economy in the 90's this muffin basket of a gesture should be the least that America could do. Giving in to Russia? THE COLD WAR IS OVER, YOU WON!
It also occurs to me that being as most of the Republican Congressmen (and I'm sure a lot of Democrats do as well) get shed loads of many from defence firms or work for them they were always likely to take it really personally.
Oh and they are all racists I'm told.
Who do they think is aiming a missile at them? Terrorist groups don't tend to have intercontinental ballistic missiles. Heck, even Iran doesn't. In fact if you look at this document (the bottom of page 11 and page 12 are most interesting) it seems that Iran is a long way from making a bomb and there is no published evidence from the US Intelligence community or anyone else that says that they have tried to develop, manufacture or test a device.
The document also points out that “Iran has acquired technologies not only from Pakistan but also from several European countries in contravention of export control regulations,”
Oh good. So it seems that far from there being a “War on Terror”, we are, in fact, exporting the things that we think that they shouldn’t have to them, probably gift wrapped with a nice bow, and then complaining about them having them.
International Politics is hard.
“Your starter for 10, who in that area does have nuclear weapons but isn't supposed to?” “Norris, employed some of the time!” “Umm, is it ....?” “Come on, I'll have to hurry you!” “Is it Israel?” “Yes, yes it is”.
I run a little bit so I found this incredibly impressive.
Slightly chubby man (at least he was when he started) Eddie Izzard has run 43 marathons in 52 days. He has covered 1,100 miles. He did it for a couple of reasons. One was to raise money for Sports Relief, which was good of him. The other reason was too celebrate the Olympics coming to London in 2012, in a sort of “if I, a slightly fat 40 something man can do this, imagine what you can do” way. This, I think is the more interesting of the two.
So many people have been, are being and will be cynical about London 2012 but it is going to happen. If everyone thinks it's going to be rubbish then it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Then the lazy thinkers, I'm looking at you Littlejohn and Clarkson, can all right columns saying “I told you so. It embarrassing. Why didn't anyone listen to me?” Because you are an arse, that's why. You are defeatist, short sighted and unhelpfully to the public life of this country. All you do is complain and moan. Not a positive phrase ever creeps out of you. You fear change like Luddites. You don't want Britain to be great; you want England to be as it was in the some misty eyed, mythical time that you have invented.
The Olympics will be fantastic. The cream of the Worlds sports men and women in one place and that place will be here.
Why can't we give the world a great show? Because some tubby middle aged men can't be bothered to get up off of their holier-than-though arses and do something to help because sneering is easier. Fuck them I say. Eddie Izzard is my new hero, a tubby middle aged man who did get off his arse and do something. Something great and inspiring. Bring on the Olympics, I, for one, will be loving it.
Oh dear, I seem to have ranted there a bit but it does seem that I hate lazy,cynical people who do nothing but talk our country down. And i was trying so hard to do nice.
Some awards to cheer myself up I think,
The Award for Incredible Over Reaction and Scaremongering of the Week,
This goes to Prof. Hugh Pennington who, is now, an arse.
Some children in England have picked up the E-coli bacteria after visiting a petting zoo or 2. This is a shame for them, don't misunderstand me, but his response was, “Children under 5 shouldn't touch the animals in case they get it.” Oh for goodness sake, just make sure they wash their hands afterwards.
Are you a grandfather sir? Have you ever tried to explain to a 4 and a half year old that they can't touch the animals (which is the point, after all, of a petting zoo) but their slightly older sibling can? Have you ever tried to stop a 3 year old doing pretty much whatever it wants?
There is already a strange disconnect between us and our food and now we are being told that they are dangerous to touch. It's like a fantasy Daily Mail headline, “If the paedophiles don't get your children the sheep and rabbits will”.
The Award for Is There Nothing Sacred Story of the Week,
Is no sport safe from cheating and match fixing? Rugby, cricket, football, formula 1 and now....... Crown Green bowling.
Oh yes. The Canadian team has claimed that the New Zealand team deliberately lost to Thailand at the Asia-Pacific Championships in Malaysia.
Because it is bowls the details are far to boring to go into but you can have a look at the link of you are interested.
The Award for Epic Lying About Your Age of the Week,
This week slightly right-wing and confirmed misogynist Keith Floyd died. Sad for his family. However, when it was announced on the news they claimed that he was only 65!
There is no way on this earth that he was only 65. How badly do you have to treat your body to add at least 20 years to it? I know that you think being mean but I know that I'm not the only one to think it.
We have received and invitation to our friends’ son's “naming ceremony” and we are slightly curious as to what will happen. We have been to the odd christening but this is all new. Will someone say, “I name this child Jay-Z Jnr” and then smash a bottle of champagne over him? I don't know and it upsets me.
I hope you all have a good week.
Tuesday 15 September 2009
End of the Road pictures
We had the nicest weekend. The weather was lovely and the bands were great, cider and ale were following. Who could ask for more?
I’m not going to write a review of the whole weekend but you will get to see some pictures.
There are some lovely things at the festival. They fill the woods with fairy lights for instance and it looks so pretty,
I’m not going to write a review of the whole weekend but you will get to see some pictures.
There are some lovely things at the festival. They fill the woods with fairy lights for instance and it looks so pretty,
Thursday 10 September 2009
End of the Road
Ah, tis my favourite time of the year. Tomorrow we are off to the End of the Road festival and I’m really looking forward to it. We are pretty much packed and ready.
This year we are taking a bit more food than usual. We only usually take breakfast and buy the rest of it when we are there but this year I have decided to make a bit more myself.
I have made pizza and cinnamon pretzels and they look fantastic,
Come on admit, you are jealous.
Anyway, hope you have a nice weekend. There will be pictures on Monday.
This year we are taking a bit more food than usual. We only usually take breakfast and buy the rest of it when we are there but this year I have decided to make a bit more myself.
I have made pizza and cinnamon pretzels and they look fantastic,
Come on admit, you are jealous.
Anyway, hope you have a nice weekend. There will be pictures on Monday.
Monday 7 September 2009
God and Employment Law
It may look like a silly decision and to be honest it is but for different reasons than you might think. A man called Tim Nicholson has won an employment tribunal against his former employer.
They fired him, he claimed, because his views on Climate change differed from theirs. It is an odd reason to fire someone I know especially as he was the former head of sustainability at Newcastle-based Grainger plc. You would think a head of sustainability was likely to want to do sustainable things but it seems that's not what they expected of him. You can read more about it here.
Having decided that he was unfairly dismissed he bought the case claiming that he had been discriminated against because of his views and he sited a change in the religious discrimination law which now says that views no longer have to “similar” to religion to be protected by that law.
The judge ruled that his views on climate change affected the way he lives his life and said "[Nicholson] has certain views about climate change and acts upon those views in the way in which he leads his life. In my judgement his belief goes beyond a mere opinion."
Now this is a silly judgement because it equates Religion, the act of having faith in something that you can not prove, with climate change, something that can be proved using evidence and science and dull stuff like that.
What is good about this judgement though is this, because a lot of English law is set by president this will change the definition of the Religious Discrimination to anything that anyone wants it to be. This, effectively, removes the religious discrimination law if anything that I sincerely believe in can be used in such a way. It removes the assumption that religion is more important than anything else. It is equal, in the law, to other beliefs or point of view.
Religions are allowed to flout employment law by discriminating against woman and homosexuals so this is a step in the right direction.
Two things could now happen. Either the courts will be tied up with people claiming that they were discriminated against because they really, really believed that their boss was a twat and now they want their jobs back, or the law will have to be changed. Hopefully the law will be removed from the statute book, as will others that mean that Religious people can discriminate against me but I can't against them because believing in God makes you, some how, more right than me.
We should all have the same rights not to be discriminated against rather than a system that says that you are allowed to do and say things that I find massively offensive about people that I love but I can't say things that you find offensive because, and I quote Richard Dawkins here, you have an imaginary friend.
They fired him, he claimed, because his views on Climate change differed from theirs. It is an odd reason to fire someone I know especially as he was the former head of sustainability at Newcastle-based Grainger plc. You would think a head of sustainability was likely to want to do sustainable things but it seems that's not what they expected of him. You can read more about it here.
Having decided that he was unfairly dismissed he bought the case claiming that he had been discriminated against because of his views and he sited a change in the religious discrimination law which now says that views no longer have to “similar” to religion to be protected by that law.
The judge ruled that his views on climate change affected the way he lives his life and said "[Nicholson] has certain views about climate change and acts upon those views in the way in which he leads his life. In my judgement his belief goes beyond a mere opinion."
Now this is a silly judgement because it equates Religion, the act of having faith in something that you can not prove, with climate change, something that can be proved using evidence and science and dull stuff like that.
What is good about this judgement though is this, because a lot of English law is set by president this will change the definition of the Religious Discrimination to anything that anyone wants it to be. This, effectively, removes the religious discrimination law if anything that I sincerely believe in can be used in such a way. It removes the assumption that religion is more important than anything else. It is equal, in the law, to other beliefs or point of view.
Religions are allowed to flout employment law by discriminating against woman and homosexuals so this is a step in the right direction.
Two things could now happen. Either the courts will be tied up with people claiming that they were discriminated against because they really, really believed that their boss was a twat and now they want their jobs back, or the law will have to be changed. Hopefully the law will be removed from the statute book, as will others that mean that Religious people can discriminate against me but I can't against them because believing in God makes you, some how, more right than me.
We should all have the same rights not to be discriminated against rather than a system that says that you are allowed to do and say things that I find massively offensive about people that I love but I can't say things that you find offensive because, and I quote Richard Dawkins here, you have an imaginary friend.
Sunday 6 September 2009
Dorchester Show Pictures
This morning I told you I was off to Dorchester Show so I thought I would thrill you/bore you with some pictures taken there.
This is just a flavour of what goes on and the things that you can see. Oh and there does seem to be quite a lot of sheep pictures on the second slide show, read into that what you will,
I hope you liked them. Maybe you can come next year.
This is just a flavour of what goes on and the things that you can see. Oh and there does seem to be quite a lot of sheep pictures on the second slide show, read into that what you will,
I hope you liked them. Maybe you can come next year.
Diana Watch
Another week and another surprising amount of cash that I have been offered via unsolicited E-mail,
You have a bank draft of $800.000.00 USD which await outstanding payment of $50 USD.Contact
Mr.Mark Harrison Email: fdxshdelivery@yahoo.com.hk Tel:+2348025239945
I am a very rich man now following this and last weeks offer. I don't know what I've done to deserve this but I am very grateful.
If you have ever thought that the job of Government (all Governments, not just the one we have now) was to manage the country in a way that was ruled by logic and reason, taking advice for experts were needed, but defined by some ideological boundaries, then you are a reasonably optimistic person and good for you I say.
This week there have been 2 reports that the Government have decided to just ignore. On Saturday we had a survey that compared the standards of children's (not kids) maths between now and the 70's. This survey found that there was no difference despite a huge “improvement” in exam results.
The link that I have used here is to The Daily Mail that fails to mention in the piece that the way exam grades are awarded has changed since “the early 80's” but that is just about the only problem with the article.
I'm not here to pick apart this survey, others will do that and I'm not a statistician (although I would point out that simply giving pupils of today exam papers from the 70's is a totally fair test given changes in teaching styles and emphasis) so I will merely point out that the Government “dismissed it”. Not considered it findings. No, dismissed it.
Then there was a survey by management consultants McKinsey said that the NHS could loose 1 in 10 jobs in order to make it more efficient.
As someone who works for the NHS I can tell you that it is probably true but it report was leaked only a couple of weeks after the Twitter campaign WelovetheNHS following which all the parties declared their undying love for the health service. This meant that the report was immediately dismissed because it has now become politically impossible to even think about cutting even one job within the NHS. Political opportunism and bandwagon jumping has now stifled any real debate about problems with the service despite the fact that, whilst being mostly the best thing in the World, it does have some failings.
Then there was the report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) into cannabis use that made 22 recommendations. 21 were not about keeping cannabis classified as Class C and so were accepted by the Government. One of the recommendations, however, was that cannabis SHOULD remain a Class C drug but was ignored by the Government, after an awful lot of pressure from the media, who promptly made it more illegal than it was.
As I think I have shown Political weight is heavier than what is right or best for us. If it is likely to play badly in the press then the Government of the day will probably ignore the expert advice in order to play to the Gallery.
If you keep cannabis as a Class C you appear soft on crime. If you manage the NHS efficiently you will be reported to be destroying the NHS.
If, however, the ACMD recommends the almost impossible banning of “Spice”, a legal high, and the chemical solvent GBL, sometimes called liquid ecstasy, then they leap on it like a lion on an injured gazelle. “We can appear tough on Drugs, despite the fact that a slight change in the drugs chemistry will render it legal again, but let's ignore that and appear tough on crime and drugs. Did we mention that we are tough on crime?”
So Gordon Brown has decided to keep his opinion to himself on the subject of the release if the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. I not sure why as we have had his opinion Michael Jackson, Susan Boyle and the Arctic Monkeys. Perhaps he has finally learnt that a considered opinion is what he should have and not some irksome pop-culture nonsense because no one buys it from him. He is a serious man, a very serious man, who does have a little bit of a problem connecting with the people. Not really his fault. To be honest I would rather have a serious man in charge rather than a performer with no thoughts of their own.
He can't really win can he? If he says that the release was a bad idea then he is interfering in the politics of another country but if it was a good idea then he is soft on crime (do you spot a pattern?)
Best decision is to keep your mouth shut and keep them wondering.
Some people are sent to test your patience.
The UN runs pretty much all of the schools in Palestine. They do it for free and in an attempt to help the children of that war torn and systematically destroyed country have some sort of normality during the Occupation.
And then you have Hamas. They are not good people really and they have criticised the UN for thinking about teaching about the Holocaust. You know the Holocaust, an event that shames man. The Death of 6 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Gypsies, Homosexuals and the disabled. But Hamas don't believe that the Holocaust took place.
Oh for your god's sake, sort yourselves out. Israel does exist and the murder of 6 million Jews and many, many others did take place.
If you accept these things then you can, maybe, start to take the high moral ground.
On an old episode of the Little Atoms podcast someone made the point that it is odd that anti-Semites deny the Holocaust as it is, surely, the best thing that they can imagine happening to Jews.
The Award for the Hardest Sell In the World
Do you want to know how bad smoking is for you? The Iraqi parliament is debating a ban on it. A country that is still at war (twice as many civilians die there per month from bombs and bullets than in Afghanistan) is thinking that smoking might be a bit bad for you. The thing is, more people die from smoking related diseases in that country than from the best attempts of us, the Americans and the Insurgents. Still that is going to be hard to push through given the on going security situation, oh and the problems with the supply of electricity, oh and the water, oh and pretty much everything else.
The Award for Spectacular Backing Down of the Week
The following image is so offensive to Americans that the World Wide Fund for Nature has pulled it as an advert,
I think it is a brilliant and breathe-taking image. It was put together by a Brazilian advertising agency to help illustrate the number of people who died as a result of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 (which is estimated to be around 229,866) and comparing it the attack on the twin towers of 2001 and, I think you'll agree, it does it brilliantly.
Unsurprisingly a bit of a fuss has been made in America as it is approaching September 11th and they are a little sensitive about this sort of thing. So the advert was pulled.
They have a bit of a point, 2,976 people died on that day. However, since then some other
people have died. Quite a lot of them in wars resulting from American aggression following those attacks. It is impossible to know just how many but one estimate is 753,118 in Iraq and Afghanistan.
No one is taking anything away from the families of those who died, it was a truly awful thing that happened, but you are not the only people who have lost family. I know it's hard but a little perspective is all the rest of the world is asking for. I am not saying that that an American life is worth less than anyone else’s, in fact I am saying the opposite. A life is equal to another life whether that be in the US, Africa or Asia.
So to sports that you probably don't care about but England/Great Britain did well in them so I'm going to tell you about them anyway.
It was the EuroHockey Nations Cup last week and England did rather well. The Women's team won bronze and the Men's team won Gold. Oh yes ladies and gentlemen, the best team in Europe.
Off to Dorchester Show today which is always a nice day out, as long as it's not raining.
You have a bank draft of $800.000.00 USD which await outstanding payment of $50 USD.Contact
Mr.Mark Harrison Email: fdxshdelivery@yahoo.com.hk Tel:+2348025239945
I am a very rich man now following this and last weeks offer. I don't know what I've done to deserve this but I am very grateful.
If you have ever thought that the job of Government (all Governments, not just the one we have now) was to manage the country in a way that was ruled by logic and reason, taking advice for experts were needed, but defined by some ideological boundaries, then you are a reasonably optimistic person and good for you I say.
This week there have been 2 reports that the Government have decided to just ignore. On Saturday we had a survey that compared the standards of children's (not kids) maths between now and the 70's. This survey found that there was no difference despite a huge “improvement” in exam results.
The link that I have used here is to The Daily Mail that fails to mention in the piece that the way exam grades are awarded has changed since “the early 80's” but that is just about the only problem with the article.
I'm not here to pick apart this survey, others will do that and I'm not a statistician (although I would point out that simply giving pupils of today exam papers from the 70's is a totally fair test given changes in teaching styles and emphasis) so I will merely point out that the Government “dismissed it”. Not considered it findings. No, dismissed it.
Then there was a survey by management consultants McKinsey said that the NHS could loose 1 in 10 jobs in order to make it more efficient.
As someone who works for the NHS I can tell you that it is probably true but it report was leaked only a couple of weeks after the Twitter campaign WelovetheNHS following which all the parties declared their undying love for the health service. This meant that the report was immediately dismissed because it has now become politically impossible to even think about cutting even one job within the NHS. Political opportunism and bandwagon jumping has now stifled any real debate about problems with the service despite the fact that, whilst being mostly the best thing in the World, it does have some failings.
Then there was the report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) into cannabis use that made 22 recommendations. 21 were not about keeping cannabis classified as Class C and so were accepted by the Government. One of the recommendations, however, was that cannabis SHOULD remain a Class C drug but was ignored by the Government, after an awful lot of pressure from the media, who promptly made it more illegal than it was.
As I think I have shown Political weight is heavier than what is right or best for us. If it is likely to play badly in the press then the Government of the day will probably ignore the expert advice in order to play to the Gallery.
If you keep cannabis as a Class C you appear soft on crime. If you manage the NHS efficiently you will be reported to be destroying the NHS.
If, however, the ACMD recommends the almost impossible banning of “Spice”, a legal high, and the chemical solvent GBL, sometimes called liquid ecstasy, then they leap on it like a lion on an injured gazelle. “We can appear tough on Drugs, despite the fact that a slight change in the drugs chemistry will render it legal again, but let's ignore that and appear tough on crime and drugs. Did we mention that we are tough on crime?”
So Gordon Brown has decided to keep his opinion to himself on the subject of the release if the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. I not sure why as we have had his opinion Michael Jackson, Susan Boyle and the Arctic Monkeys. Perhaps he has finally learnt that a considered opinion is what he should have and not some irksome pop-culture nonsense because no one buys it from him. He is a serious man, a very serious man, who does have a little bit of a problem connecting with the people. Not really his fault. To be honest I would rather have a serious man in charge rather than a performer with no thoughts of their own.
He can't really win can he? If he says that the release was a bad idea then he is interfering in the politics of another country but if it was a good idea then he is soft on crime (do you spot a pattern?)
Best decision is to keep your mouth shut and keep them wondering.
Some people are sent to test your patience.
The UN runs pretty much all of the schools in Palestine. They do it for free and in an attempt to help the children of that war torn and systematically destroyed country have some sort of normality during the Occupation.
And then you have Hamas. They are not good people really and they have criticised the UN for thinking about teaching about the Holocaust. You know the Holocaust, an event that shames man. The Death of 6 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Gypsies, Homosexuals and the disabled. But Hamas don't believe that the Holocaust took place.
Oh for your god's sake, sort yourselves out. Israel does exist and the murder of 6 million Jews and many, many others did take place.
If you accept these things then you can, maybe, start to take the high moral ground.
On an old episode of the Little Atoms podcast someone made the point that it is odd that anti-Semites deny the Holocaust as it is, surely, the best thing that they can imagine happening to Jews.
The Award for the Hardest Sell In the World
Do you want to know how bad smoking is for you? The Iraqi parliament is debating a ban on it. A country that is still at war (twice as many civilians die there per month from bombs and bullets than in Afghanistan) is thinking that smoking might be a bit bad for you. The thing is, more people die from smoking related diseases in that country than from the best attempts of us, the Americans and the Insurgents. Still that is going to be hard to push through given the on going security situation, oh and the problems with the supply of electricity, oh and the water, oh and pretty much everything else.
The Award for Spectacular Backing Down of the Week
The following image is so offensive to Americans that the World Wide Fund for Nature has pulled it as an advert,
I think it is a brilliant and breathe-taking image. It was put together by a Brazilian advertising agency to help illustrate the number of people who died as a result of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 (which is estimated to be around 229,866) and comparing it the attack on the twin towers of 2001 and, I think you'll agree, it does it brilliantly.
Unsurprisingly a bit of a fuss has been made in America as it is approaching September 11th and they are a little sensitive about this sort of thing. So the advert was pulled.
They have a bit of a point, 2,976 people died on that day. However, since then some other
people have died. Quite a lot of them in wars resulting from American aggression following those attacks. It is impossible to know just how many but one estimate is 753,118 in Iraq and Afghanistan.
No one is taking anything away from the families of those who died, it was a truly awful thing that happened, but you are not the only people who have lost family. I know it's hard but a little perspective is all the rest of the world is asking for. I am not saying that that an American life is worth less than anyone else’s, in fact I am saying the opposite. A life is equal to another life whether that be in the US, Africa or Asia.
So to sports that you probably don't care about but England/Great Britain did well in them so I'm going to tell you about them anyway.
It was the EuroHockey Nations Cup last week and England did rather well. The Women's team won bronze and the Men's team won Gold. Oh yes ladies and gentlemen, the best team in Europe.
Off to Dorchester Show today which is always a nice day out, as long as it's not raining.
Friday 4 September 2009
Driving Criticism
I'm sure I'm not the first person to consider this (but hey I'm not an original thinker) but why are we so defensive and touchy about our driving? You can't criticise someone else's car control or gear changing without risking a diplomatic incident bigger than Russia trying to put missiles on Cuba. Why is this? Why do we all think that we are the best drivers in the world and any doubt expressed by anyone is equivalent to having one parentage questioned?
I am a honest person. That should not be mistaken for being rude. I try to avoid rudeness but I will try and be truthful of my opinion is sought, yet I cannot bring myself to say nasty things about the driving of others, however useful it maybe to them or the structural integrity of their car.
It is quite possible that this has become the last taboo. You can discuss anything you like in public, a naked man can stand on the forth plinth (despite the protest of some spoilsport who can't tell the difference between the naked form as art and porn), BBC 2 can show a programme that uses the words “Nigger” and “cunt” quite a lot but try to tell someone that perhaps they should practice parking a bit more and they will try to have you tried as a witch.
There is, of course, only one time when it is acceptable to diss the driving of others and that is when you are behind the wheel. “look at this twat” “go on, you could get a bus through that gap” etc seem to flow from those who would either cry or shoot you in the face for saying the same thing about them when they slipped on the comfortable driving gloves.
I have no answers to this. It just strikes me as slightly odd as I sit next to significant other thinking that she really should change down but being to scared to say anything, even though I am the person who made her cry whilst she was looking for some jeans (I'm not proud of it but I did find her a really nice pair afterwards).
I am a honest person. That should not be mistaken for being rude. I try to avoid rudeness but I will try and be truthful of my opinion is sought, yet I cannot bring myself to say nasty things about the driving of others, however useful it maybe to them or the structural integrity of their car.
It is quite possible that this has become the last taboo. You can discuss anything you like in public, a naked man can stand on the forth plinth (despite the protest of some spoilsport who can't tell the difference between the naked form as art and porn), BBC 2 can show a programme that uses the words “Nigger” and “cunt” quite a lot but try to tell someone that perhaps they should practice parking a bit more and they will try to have you tried as a witch.
There is, of course, only one time when it is acceptable to diss the driving of others and that is when you are behind the wheel. “look at this twat” “go on, you could get a bus through that gap” etc seem to flow from those who would either cry or shoot you in the face for saying the same thing about them when they slipped on the comfortable driving gloves.
I have no answers to this. It just strikes me as slightly odd as I sit next to significant other thinking that she really should change down but being to scared to say anything, even though I am the person who made her cry whilst she was looking for some jeans (I'm not proud of it but I did find her a really nice pair afterwards).
Thursday 3 September 2009
Internet Anonymous
I love the internet, I spend far to much time on it but there is one thing about it I really do dislike.
Anonymity. Well not all anonymity. The odd anonymous blog is ok and Wikileaks is great but it's those nasty little postings on comments sections that I have problems with. People who harbour unpleasant views but aren't brave enough to publish them under their own names. If you are going to call someone names take responsibility for what you have to say, even Richard Littlejohn does that and he's a twat. See, I called him a name but you know that my name is Martyn Norris so that's ok. Well it's not because it is rude but I was only doing it to make a point. Although he is a tosser. Nasty, unpleasant, racist, smug tosser.
When I rule the World, and I will some day so by nice to me, I will make sure that at least an e-mail address is published with these racist, homophobic or misogynist comments. It seems only fair.
Not just them, obviously, all comments.
The likelihood is that you wouldn't say these sorts of things to people in the street so why do you feel that it is ok to type it? Well it's not.
The worst offenders are, of course, the comment sections on Newspapers website. The Express has a section called “Have Your Say” which is filled with vile unpleasantness obviously but they do have a really liberal Moderator and you can comment on other comments. The Moderator does seem to let pretty much anything get published which does mean you can get your liberal ideas on to the website which is quite fun. However you can't vote on them like you can on the Mail's website. The Moderator on this site is much more strict and will let virtually no criticism of the paper or views that differ form that of the paper's editing staff onto the site.
Now, if you use Twitter you may be familiar with @polljack. They encourage you to help alter the results of the polls on that the paper puts up so that it looks like Mail readers are actually quite liberal. They have showed me how to turn off the cookies on my browser so that I can vote over and over again. It turns out you can do the same thing with voting on the comments section. Many an afternoon has been spent recently refreshing Firefox so that lovely liberal comments are the most popular. Yes, I know I should get out more but it gives me a little warm feeling knowing that I'm helping to annoy Mail readers.
So my message to you today is be brave enough to use your real name when posting comments, it's the polite thing to do, even if your post isn't very polite.
Anonymity. Well not all anonymity. The odd anonymous blog is ok and Wikileaks is great but it's those nasty little postings on comments sections that I have problems with. People who harbour unpleasant views but aren't brave enough to publish them under their own names. If you are going to call someone names take responsibility for what you have to say, even Richard Littlejohn does that and he's a twat. See, I called him a name but you know that my name is Martyn Norris so that's ok. Well it's not because it is rude but I was only doing it to make a point. Although he is a tosser. Nasty, unpleasant, racist, smug tosser.
When I rule the World, and I will some day so by nice to me, I will make sure that at least an e-mail address is published with these racist, homophobic or misogynist comments. It seems only fair.
Not just them, obviously, all comments.
The likelihood is that you wouldn't say these sorts of things to people in the street so why do you feel that it is ok to type it? Well it's not.
The worst offenders are, of course, the comment sections on Newspapers website. The Express has a section called “Have Your Say” which is filled with vile unpleasantness obviously but they do have a really liberal Moderator and you can comment on other comments. The Moderator does seem to let pretty much anything get published which does mean you can get your liberal ideas on to the website which is quite fun. However you can't vote on them like you can on the Mail's website. The Moderator on this site is much more strict and will let virtually no criticism of the paper or views that differ form that of the paper's editing staff onto the site.
Now, if you use Twitter you may be familiar with @polljack. They encourage you to help alter the results of the polls on that the paper puts up so that it looks like Mail readers are actually quite liberal. They have showed me how to turn off the cookies on my browser so that I can vote over and over again. It turns out you can do the same thing with voting on the comments section. Many an afternoon has been spent recently refreshing Firefox so that lovely liberal comments are the most popular. Yes, I know I should get out more but it gives me a little warm feeling knowing that I'm helping to annoy Mail readers.
So my message to you today is be brave enough to use your real name when posting comments, it's the polite thing to do, even if your post isn't very polite.
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