Left-Man-Tit, originally uploaded by kcm76.
This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 8/52 (2008 week 16)
Left-Man-Tit
Left-Man-Tit, originally uploaded by kcm76.
All posts by Keith
Left-Man-Tit, originally uploaded by kcm76.
Papal Carbon Offset
The BBC is running on BBC4 TV a short series of programmes about medieval times. It started this evening with a program in which the comic actor Stephen Frye looked at Gutenberg and the development of the printing press. It was a coffee table programme: long on visual imagery, Frye’s idiosyncratic style and hammed-up wonderment; but despite the reconstruction of a Gutenberg press short on real academic detail. Certainly worth watching and much better than the average run of what these days passes for heavyweight programming; and mercifully devoid of dramatised reconstruction.
Frye made one interesting point, however. The Papal Indulgence was the medieval equivalent of our modern-day carbon off-set schemes: the payment of money to absolve us of our sins. Pure genius. Pure scams.
On Parliament and the Executive
Head of Legal earlier in the week deals with the Law Lords’ judgement in the case of R (Gentle) v Prime Minister and Others. It wasn’t the judgement which caught my eye, but one of the comments in which Peter Hargreaves observes:
If we had a true Parliament instead of a House of Muppets controlled by the executive then we would have the inquiry. Under our constitution it is supposed to be Parliament which holds the executive to account but as Lord Denning once said – “Legal theory does not march hand in hand with political reality” – [Attorney-General v Blackburn 1971]. The reality is that the executive controls Parliament.
As usual the late lamented Lord Denning hit the nail on the head so many years ago; he should be living yet!
Perspective
The BBC reports today that Zimbabwe’s President (aka. dictator), Robert Mugabe, has described UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown as ‘a little tiny dot on this world’. Much as it pains me, for once I have to agree with Mugabe.
In the same report South African President Thabo Mbeki said there was “no crisis” in Zimbabwe. Hmmm. I think that makes it fairly clear which mast his colours are nailed to. I’ve been saying for years that South Africa will degenerate into a blood bath; I suspect the only reason it hasn’t yet done so is because Nelson Mandela still has a lot of influence behind the scenes. But once Mandela dies I have a horrid feeling South Africa will go much the same way as Zimbabwe, Uganda, and others. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
Shadow with Telegraph Pole
This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 7/52 (2008 week 15).
Zen Mischievous Moments #138
For the Brits amongst us …
Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then while travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV.
And the most British thing of all? Suspicion of all things foreign!
- Only in Britain can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
- Only in Britain do supermarkets make sick people walk all the way to the back of the shop to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
- Only in Britain do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.
- Only in Britain do banks leave both doors open and chain the pens to the counters.
- Only in Britain do we leave cars worth thousands of pounds on the drive and lock our junk and cheap lawn mower in the garage.
- Only in Britain do we use answering machines to screen calls – and then have call waiting so we won’t miss a call – from someone we didn’t want to talk to in the first place!
- Only in Britain are there disabled parking places in front of a skating rink.
NOT TO MENTION…
- 3 Brits die each year testing if a 9v battery works on their tongue.
- 58 Brits are injured each year by using sharp knives instead of screwdrivers.
- 31 Brits have died since 1996 by watering their Christmas tree while the fairy lights were plugged in.
- 19 Brits have died in the last 3 years believing that Christmas decorations were chocolate.
- British Hospitals reported 4 broken arms last year after Christmas cracker pulling accidents.
- 18 Brits had serious burns in 2000 trying on a new jumper with a lit cigarette in their mouth.
- A massive 543 Brits were admitted to A&E; in the last two years after trying to open bottles of beer with their teeth.
- 5 Brits were injured last year in accidents involving out-of-control Scalextric cars.
And finally …
- In 2000 eight Brits were admitted to hospital with fractured skulls incurred whilst throwing up into the toilet.
Are you proud to be British?
[With thanks to Sue Frye]
In the Barber's Shop
This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 6/52 (2008 week 14).
Save GMT Campaign
For years – and I mean like 40+ years, since I was at school – there have been campaigns and continual sniping to keep the UK’s clocks one hour ahead of GMT around the year. I don’t just not get it, I fundamentally disagree with it. It was tried in the 1960s, when I was at school, and was a complete failure, So we had lighter afternoons in winter coming out of school, but we also had darker mornings and days when it didn’t get properly daylight until 10AM. As someone who suffers (albeit marginally) from SAD I need that early morning light to get me going and reset my body clock.
Jilly over at jillysheep has suggested in a post today that we should preserve GMT all year round. And I have to say I agree. I don’t see the point of continually changing the clocks with the seasons. Every time we move the clocks an hour (in whichever direction) it throws everyone’s body clocks; it isn’t just me who notices it; I hear many people commenting that their body clock is out of kilter with the our artificial time.
Now I can understand why the government thought it a good idea to put the clocks forward in summer during times of war (which if I recall correctly was a significant part of the rationale for its use; tho’ not the original reason for the idea). But I do not see the least necessity for it today. What does summer time give us? Longer and lighter evenings; nothing more. And while I love long summer evenings as much as anyone, in these days of flexible working we could achieve the same effect just as easily by adjusting our working hours if we need to. (Already some of us frequently have to start early or finish late because we are dealing with colleagues or clients on the continent or in the Americas.)
I wonder if anyone has ever worked out the (notional) cost of changing the clocks twice a year on business? I would think it is rather large. And certainly not something worth paying to get longer light evenings when there are other cost-free options available.
There’s the usual good article about Daylight Saving Time over on Wikipedia. What is interesting, that I didn’t know, is that a large swathe of the world has used summer time and has now abandoned it. Basically it is only the “western industrialised nations” (and some of South America) which use summer time. Large chunks of the globe have either given it up or never used DST in the first place.
Anyway … we really should keep GMT alive. It is, after all, a cornerstone of our heritage. Universal time was “discovered” in England, yes at Greenwich, which is why the Meridian is there! Universal time has been a great thing: the world equivalent of “railway time”. But let each country keep its own time zone. And let us keep and celebrate the heritage which is ours and is GMT!
Now who feels like starting a campaign to preserve GMT? Hands off our time zone! 🙂
Heathrow Luggage Mountain
Absolutely unbelievable!
According to this BBC News item there are now at least 15,000 (and maybe 20,000) pieces of luggage now stranded at Heathrow Airport’s brand spanking new Terminal 5.
And for a third day BA have cancelled around 20% of their flights out of Heathrow with many more apparently leaving without any luggage loaded.
What an unbelievable shambles.
When BA and BAA file for bankruptcy I wonder if the government will have the gall to pay off their shareholders? They’d just better not even think about it!
Pondering (Thirteen Things) in the Rain
Pondering in the Rain, originally uploaded by kcm76.
This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 5/52, 2008 week 13.
As I took this standing outside the doctor’s this morning I thought we might have 13 medical things to go with it (mainly for the Flickr “Thirteen Things” group …
- I’ve never yet broken a bone in my body.
- I’ve had all the usual childhood illnesses except mumps.
- I’m short sighted and have worn glasses since my mid-teens.
- I have type 2 diabetes.
- I had my appendix out when I was 28.
- I had glandular fever when I was 32, and had 3 months of a nice hot summer off work.
- I suffer from hayfever; and with me the allergy really is to some species of grass pollen.
- I have obstructive sleep apnoea; this means I have to wear a mask at night with gentle air pressure pumped into it to keep my airway from collapsing.
- I was born with a deformed nail on my right index finger; everyone who noticed it assumed that I had damaged it in an accident. I finally had the nail permanently removed after I did rip it off by accident.
- When I was a kid of 6 or 7 I would have a week off school every term with a high fever (nothing else, just the fever). No-one knew why, but our old family doctor eventually suggested my parents take me off sugar; so no sweets for years, but no fever either. I still don’t know why it worked or what the underlying cause was.
- I’ve lost count of the number of crowns I have; it’s at least six. But none caused by an accident; all due to teeth falling apart.
- I’ve had a cartilage operation on both knees (at different times) and my knees still give me pain. But then apparently I also have the beginnings of arthritis in my knees; not surprising as my father had severely arthritic knees.
- I suffer from depression; Churchill’s “black dog”. It’s worse in winter as I am slightly afflicted with SAD as well.