Tactical Nuclear Penguin from BrewDog on Vimeo.
I'm not sure I would drink this but I like the idea of living in a world where someone is making it
28 November, 2009
26 November, 2009
Lockerbie: amazing health development
On 20th August, 2009 Abdelbaset al Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison where he was serving time for the worst terrorist attack on the UK. His release was on the grounds that he had less than 3 months to live. I had therefore been expecting to write some sort of obit.
But..... my congratulations to the Libyan Health Service, for he is with us still.
On a completely unrelated matter the Deputy Prime Minister Lord Mandelson and the wife of the former Prime Minister Cherie Blair were seen with Col. Ghaddafi's son at a shooting party recently.
But..... my congratulations to the Libyan Health Service, for he is with us still.
On a completely unrelated matter the Deputy Prime Minister Lord Mandelson and the wife of the former Prime Minister Cherie Blair were seen with Col. Ghaddafi's son at a shooting party recently.
24 November, 2009
UK: DNA and the police state
The scandal over retention of DNA details continues unabated. At its source is that the police do not throw away or give back the details of your DNA even though you are innocent. A report by the Human Genetics Commission says that almost one million innocent people are on the database which, disturbingly, contains the DNA profiles of 75% of black men aged between 18 and 35.
There is evidence that police are being encouraged to make more arrests so as to expand the database.
One of the aspects of this which is not often noted is the attitude of other countries. In most European countries only very serious offenders – terrorists, paedophiles etc are put on a DNA database. So if you are detained, say, in France at the scene of a car accident not caused by you, they can telephone the UK police to see if you are on the register (it takes longer actually to get the details). If you are, perhaps for having been at the scene of another acident, the French assume that you are a serious and perhaps escaped criminal and will obtain a magistrate’s permission to lock you up until they find out more.
This is an appalling situation which David Cameron has promised to rectify. And let’s hope it isn’t just a cast iron guarantee; we’ll be looking for stainless steel now, Dave.
Kafka! thou should'st be living at this hour!
There is evidence that police are being encouraged to make more arrests so as to expand the database.
One of the aspects of this which is not often noted is the attitude of other countries. In most European countries only very serious offenders – terrorists, paedophiles etc are put on a DNA database. So if you are detained, say, in France at the scene of a car accident not caused by you, they can telephone the UK police to see if you are on the register (it takes longer actually to get the details). If you are, perhaps for having been at the scene of another acident, the French assume that you are a serious and perhaps escaped criminal and will obtain a magistrate’s permission to lock you up until they find out more.
This is an appalling situation which David Cameron has promised to rectify. And let’s hope it isn’t just a cast iron guarantee; we’ll be looking for stainless steel now, Dave.
Kafka! thou should'st be living at this hour!
22 November, 2009
The EU and religion
The recent news that Brussels has written to the UK government saying that it could no longer permit opt outs for churches from employing homosexual staff seems to be part of a trend.
It will be recalled that only a few weeks ago they wrote to the Italian government banning crucifixes in schools and that a few years ago Italy’s choice of commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione, was refused by the Euro parliament for being an overt Roman Catholic who could not therefore condone abortion.
I don’t know why the EU is poking its nose into religious affairs – perhaps it feels it already has the secular world sewn up. But it might be a good idea if the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope agreed on one thing (if nothing else): that they tell the bureaucrats they report to a higher power.
It will be recalled that only a few weeks ago they wrote to the Italian government banning crucifixes in schools and that a few years ago Italy’s choice of commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione, was refused by the Euro parliament for being an overt Roman Catholic who could not therefore condone abortion.
I don’t know why the EU is poking its nose into religious affairs – perhaps it feels it already has the secular world sewn up. But it might be a good idea if the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope agreed on one thing (if nothing else): that they tell the bureaucrats they report to a higher power.
21 November, 2009
EU: the madness of Brown
I can scarcely think of a better reason for leaving the European Union than a story in today’s Times. It seems that once it was clear that Tony Blair was not going to get the presidential post, Lord Mandelson, the foreign office and, unfortunately, the Conservative Party advised that Britain’s best interests would be served by our getting one of the top economic jobs.
Gordon Brown, to spite the Tories, ‘went for second best’. That is to say that instead of acting in the interests of his country he followed the narrow, bigoted tribalism that is his ‘moral compass’. He was helped in this by Jose Barroso, the former Maoist head of the Commission, who saw clearly that if a non entity got the Foreign Minister portfolio he would be able to control it himself.
Now it seems that Michel Barnier, a Frenchman, will have the job of regulating the financial markets and, guess what? He is not in favour of the ‘Anglo-Saxon model’.
This insane, politically charged horse trading may well turn out to have cost Britain billions as the financial markets move to Switzerland and Singapore to flee misguided regulation. The French will lose nothing because they never rivalled the City of London anyway.
Madness. Utter madness.
Gordon Brown, to spite the Tories, ‘went for second best’. That is to say that instead of acting in the interests of his country he followed the narrow, bigoted tribalism that is his ‘moral compass’. He was helped in this by Jose Barroso, the former Maoist head of the Commission, who saw clearly that if a non entity got the Foreign Minister portfolio he would be able to control it himself.
Now it seems that Michel Barnier, a Frenchman, will have the job of regulating the financial markets and, guess what? He is not in favour of the ‘Anglo-Saxon model’.
This insane, politically charged horse trading may well turn out to have cost Britain billions as the financial markets move to Switzerland and Singapore to flee misguided regulation. The French will lose nothing because they never rivalled the City of London anyway.
Madness. Utter madness.
20 November, 2009
Alcohol
A somewhat under reported study by the Basque Public Health Department seems to show that the more you drink the less likely you are to suffer from heart disease.
The study, conducted on 41,500 people seems to be the first to eliminate the ‘sick abstainers’ risk: in the past the evidence of low heart disese rates among drinkers has been explained away by saying that people who were sick to start off with often didn’t drink.
The study found that for those drinking more than 90g alcohol a day, the equivalent of eight bottles of wine a week or 28 pints of lager, the risk of heart disease was 50% less. Alcohol builds up HDL, or ‘good’ cholesterol.
This does not apply to women, however, who suffer less from heart disease anyway.
The news is already being trampled on by the health lobby so enjoy it while you can.
The study, conducted on 41,500 people seems to be the first to eliminate the ‘sick abstainers’ risk: in the past the evidence of low heart disese rates among drinkers has been explained away by saying that people who were sick to start off with often didn’t drink.
The study found that for those drinking more than 90g alcohol a day, the equivalent of eight bottles of wine a week or 28 pints of lager, the risk of heart disease was 50% less. Alcohol builds up HDL, or ‘good’ cholesterol.
This does not apply to women, however, who suffer less from heart disease anyway.
The news is already being trampled on by the health lobby so enjoy it while you can.
The Rumpy Tax
To be fair to Herman van Rompuy, he does have a policy: an EU-wide tax.
I am in favour of this. Let's apportion into a separate tax the amount the EU costs us. Then it could be individual party policy at election time as to whether we should increase it or decrease it.
Well done Rumpy!
EU: and when the music stops...
In one respect the appointment of Herman van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton to the posts of President and Foreign Minister of the European Union is good news: they are both such unimportant little people that they are unlikely to do anything dangerous.
The corollary of that, however, is that Europe will continue to be run, as it always has been, by anonymous, unelected, integrationist bureaucrats.
Van Rompuy owes his not very prominent position to the near break up of Belgium when, it being naturally two countries with pretty well equal populations, they couldn’t agree on a government. The king kept trying different people and eventually when the music stopped it was Rumpy sitting on the chair. To be so inoffensive a Flem that even the Walloons tolerate him is quite something.
Ashton (she has to take leave of the House of Lords, but don’t worry, she’ll be back) has of course never been elected to anything by anyone. A social worker, she headed various quangos until appointed to the House of Lords. When Peter Mandelson left his European post to grace us with his presence she was the one whose services the Government thought they could dispense with.
As usual in Europe this is a stitch up. Merkel and Sarkozy wanted as President someone who wouldn’t give them any trouble and once Rumpy had been chosen from a list of Benelux non-entities they had to have a left winger as Foreign Minister.
The amazing thing is, we let them get away with it.
The corollary of that, however, is that Europe will continue to be run, as it always has been, by anonymous, unelected, integrationist bureaucrats.
Van Rompuy owes his not very prominent position to the near break up of Belgium when, it being naturally two countries with pretty well equal populations, they couldn’t agree on a government. The king kept trying different people and eventually when the music stopped it was Rumpy sitting on the chair. To be so inoffensive a Flem that even the Walloons tolerate him is quite something.
Ashton (she has to take leave of the House of Lords, but don’t worry, she’ll be back) has of course never been elected to anything by anyone. A social worker, she headed various quangos until appointed to the House of Lords. When Peter Mandelson left his European post to grace us with his presence she was the one whose services the Government thought they could dispense with.
As usual in Europe this is a stitch up. Merkel and Sarkozy wanted as President someone who wouldn’t give them any trouble and once Rumpy had been chosen from a list of Benelux non-entities they had to have a left winger as Foreign Minister.
The amazing thing is, we let them get away with it.
19 November, 2009
EU President
The decision on a President for the EU is expected today!
YEAH!
Hands up if you were offered a vote in this contest!
No, thought not.
Gettysburg: anniversary of an anthem
Today, 19th November, however, is the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. Here it is
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate...we can not consecrate...we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
It is not a pacifist speech, rather, like the poem of John Macrae I quoted for Remembrance Day, it is a call to arms to continue the fight.
But those words, “..that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” – don’t they send a shiver down your spine, nearly a century and a half later?
Now apply them to your new country, the European Union. We have failed Lincoln, haven’t we? We have walked, only half blindfolded, into rule by the unelected elite, which in the 18th century Lincoln’s forefathers emigrated to escape from.
Let us hope that in the 21st century we have got beyond fighting for freedom, but that we cherish freedom none the less.
It is not a pacifist speech, rather, like the poem of John Macrae I quoted for Remembrance Day, it is a call to arms to continue the fight.
But those words, “..that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” – don’t they send a shiver down your spine, nearly a century and a half later?
Now apply them to your new country, the European Union. We have failed Lincoln, haven’t we? We have walked, only half blindfolded, into rule by the unelected elite, which in the 18th century Lincoln’s forefathers emigrated to escape from.
Let us hope that in the 21st century we have got beyond fighting for freedom, but that we cherish freedom none the less.
Mickey
Yesterday, unacknowledged by this blog, was Mickey Mouse's birthday. The Times' Comment Central reminds us that in 1991 Wayne Allwine, the third actor behind Mickey, who had lent the Mouse his distinctive voice from 1977 until his death last year, married Russi Taylor, who has been Minnie since 1986.
So it's legal.
I once had lunch with Disney's finance team, who, despite a reputation for meanness, paid the bill.
'It's on the Mouse', they said
Dalai Lama in Italy
Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house and senior coalition partner in Berlusconi's Pdl group, is to be congratulated for receiving the Dalai Lama at his offices.
This takes courage, not just from Fini but from the entire administration, and is to be contrasted with the behaviour of other nations, notably Britain and America.
18 November, 2009
Inflation
Inflation is rising in the UK and it should be no surprise to those who read this post that one of the items causing the rise was an increase in the price of second hand cars. If you are poor and can only afford an old car, you are paying through your taxes for the better off to buy a new car more cheaply, and at the same time the price of your next second hand car has risen.
Incidentally the Government seems to treat a rise in inflation as good news. It isn't. It means that those on fixed incomes and those who work for a company which cannot afford pay rises and the self employed struggling in a difficult market are all worse off. Those with savings see them eroded by inflation. It isn't good news at all.
Incidentally the Government seems to treat a rise in inflation as good news. It isn't. It means that those on fixed incomes and those who work for a company which cannot afford pay rises and the self employed struggling in a difficult market are all worse off. Those with savings see them eroded by inflation. It isn't good news at all.
Ghaddafi: the meaning of greatness
The story has been out a couple of days now but I can’t help being intrigued about Colonel Ghaddafi and the flower of Italian womanhood. First is the industrial size of the order: Ghaddafi’s office phoned a single company and asked them to send round 500 ‘hostesses’. The company, said by the Corriere della Sera to be Hostessweb.com seems to have complied readily. I mention their name in case any of my readers has a similar requirement.
The second thing is the diplomacy issue. We have all been taught that one word out of place in diplomatic behaviour can be disaster, that discreet comportment is all. Now imagine Gordon Brown turning up in a foreign capital for a meeting on food aid and, when asked if he had any special requests on his visit to the city saying he would like to pitch a large tent inside (even Rome can be a bit chilly in November) a woodland villa, ‘Oh yes, and send some escorts round – a few hundred should meet my needs’. Ghaddafi lectured them on Islam, but it would be no more bizarre if Gordon had addressed them earnestly on quantitative easing.
The girls’ treat was not to end there, however, for it was to be a three day gig. The 200 who were most attractive and conservatively dressed got to listen a fair bit to the great man. One even declared herself a convert (not so easy, one would have thought, to ply her trade in a burqa, but you never know). And there was a question and answer session, during which Ghaddafi was asked what he thought of Berlusconi’s little parties in Sardinia and in the Palazzo Grazzioli. The great man, who has an all female bodyguard with matching lipstick, put his finger to his lips. Too diplomatic to say anything, you see?
At the FAO meeting (remember that? it was the purpose of the visit) Ghaddafi spoke for only ten minutes, thought by some to be the shortest speech of his life (he is normally a two hour man at these set piece occasions). Probably tired.
The second thing is the diplomacy issue. We have all been taught that one word out of place in diplomatic behaviour can be disaster, that discreet comportment is all. Now imagine Gordon Brown turning up in a foreign capital for a meeting on food aid and, when asked if he had any special requests on his visit to the city saying he would like to pitch a large tent inside (even Rome can be a bit chilly in November) a woodland villa, ‘Oh yes, and send some escorts round – a few hundred should meet my needs’. Ghaddafi lectured them on Islam, but it would be no more bizarre if Gordon had addressed them earnestly on quantitative easing.
The girls’ treat was not to end there, however, for it was to be a three day gig. The 200 who were most attractive and conservatively dressed got to listen a fair bit to the great man. One even declared herself a convert (not so easy, one would have thought, to ply her trade in a burqa, but you never know). And there was a question and answer session, during which Ghaddafi was asked what he thought of Berlusconi’s little parties in Sardinia and in the Palazzo Grazzioli. The great man, who has an all female bodyguard with matching lipstick, put his finger to his lips. Too diplomatic to say anything, you see?
At the FAO meeting (remember that? it was the purpose of the visit) Ghaddafi spoke for only ten minutes, thought by some to be the shortest speech of his life (he is normally a two hour man at these set piece occasions). Probably tired.
For another example of such an altruistic vocation in a world leader, we have to turn to the 19th century British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, who worked tirelessly with fallen women, often walking the streets late at night. It is this sort of consideration for others which Ghaddafi has and which so many other leaders – Ghandi, for example – lacked. Food for thought, indeed
14 November, 2009
What's in a name?
I read with amusement the story today that a Canadian government minister had informed a friend by Blackberry of the death of his cat, which he had called ‘Thatcher’ in honour of the great lady, and that the message ‘Thatcher has died’ had been broadcast widely causing grief among Canadian conservatives, with telephone calls to a bemused 10 Downing St and Buckingham Palace.
In the 1980s city dealing rooms it was common for the office junior to be seated in front of the sole Reuters screen shouting out any significant news. In a Japanese bank an unfortunate intern shouted that the skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan had had a heart attack. Because of the lad’s unfortunate pronunciation the dealers thought he meant Ronnie Reagan and started selling the bottom out of the dollar until calls to the Japanese embassy in Washington, then in the middle of the night, revealed the truth.
Both were false alarms. The skiffle king died a couple of years before his ‘namesake’, in 2002.
13 November, 2009
Berlusconi sleeps
Thanks to Austinjohn for the suggestion. Here is the video of the great man dozing off while Medvedev told how he had saved the world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp3rVk8Pzmo#watch-main-area
Don't blame him. Hearing the same self-righteous tosh time after time after time would make anyone's eyelids grow heavy, Berlin showed the world blah, freedom cannot be kept behind a wall blah. But where was Berlusca's speech?
What about 'Sono una ciambella' ('ich bin ein berliner' means I am a doughnut).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp3rVk8Pzmo#watch-main-area
Don't blame him. Hearing the same self-righteous tosh time after time after time would make anyone's eyelids grow heavy, Berlin showed the world blah, freedom cannot be kept behind a wall blah. But where was Berlusca's speech?
What about 'Sono una ciambella' ('ich bin ein berliner' means I am a doughnut).
Superstition - Friday 13th
Thought to be unlucky but nobody seems to know why. It is probably a mixture of Fridays being thought unlucky (probably stemming from Christianity) and the number 13 being unlucky (although this is not true even all over Europe) perhaps from there having been 13 at the last supper.
The Gregorian calendar we use means that there can never be a year without a Friday 13th and that there can never be one with more than 3 (there were three this year, but there will be only one in each of the next two).
A couple of days ago, hearing a squawking noise I opened the door and thirteen magpies rose into the air. Fortunately I am not superstitious (there must have been a fourteenth which I didn't see). The late Queen Mary (Princess Mae of Teck) used to bow three times when she saw a magpie. I'd have been up and down like a Japanese on pay rise day.
A good day for walking under ladders
The Gregorian calendar we use means that there can never be a year without a Friday 13th and that there can never be one with more than 3 (there were three this year, but there will be only one in each of the next two).
A couple of days ago, hearing a squawking noise I opened the door and thirteen magpies rose into the air. Fortunately I am not superstitious (there must have been a fourteenth which I didn't see). The late Queen Mary (Princess Mae of Teck) used to bow three times when she saw a magpie. I'd have been up and down like a Japanese on pay rise day.
A good day for walking under ladders
11 November, 2009
Rembrance Day
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae d.1918
10 November, 2009
New environment horror for non-drinkers
WRAP, the Waste & Resource Action Programme quango, warns us against pouring wine down the sink (British households pour away £470 million of wine every year). I don't know how much these guys are paid but have a slight fancy that at a time of cutting public expenditure we might just be able to make a bit of a saving here.
I suspect that the concept of 'leftover wine' may be a new one to some of my readers but apparently it is very damaging to the environment, involving tons of carbon dioxide, if you don't drink the wine and pour it away.
So now you know.
I suspect that the concept of 'leftover wine' may be a new one to some of my readers but apparently it is very damaging to the environment, involving tons of carbon dioxide, if you don't drink the wine and pour it away.
So now you know.
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