The Worst Thing About Those Damned Cartoons
Having carefully considered the situation as it pertains to free speech, the causing of religious offence, the place of violent protest, the limits of legal responsibility and the role of art as an instrument of social comment, I have reached a definitive and reasoned view on what the worst thing about the cartoon situation actually is.
It's that they're shit. Not clever, not intelligent, not witty, not subtle. A waste of all the time and energy that's gone into defending them.
A Full Head Of Steam
There are some things, bodily function-type things that is, that you know happen but you tend not to think about. And then one day, BAM! People are giving you funny looks and giggling.
So it was as I stood on the railway platform this chilly morning. And the reason - a phenomenon known to bald men the world over - was that the top of my head was steaming.
And what can you do in a situation like that? You can't stop it, and you can't hide it, short of manically rubbing your head to disperse it. So you just have to stand there. Being looking at. Steaming.
Banged Up!
George Galloway - in an Egyptian slammer overnight 'on national security grounds'. Why couldn't it happen here instead, so we could make sure they throw away the key?
They Do Things Differently In The US
Things like Wife Swap for instance. It seems that on Trading Spouses, the swapping partner gets to allocate the participation money given to the other family, which is an interesting switch.
It's not terribly relevant to the madness seen in this clip, but the very last caption puts it all brilliantly into context.
(Note - the sound is integral, but gets quite loud, so probably not suited for some work environments.)
Thanks to my beloved for passing it on, by the way.
Next Job….
.... is going to be a grand trip of all the people whose blogs I used to stop by for a catch-up and comment where appropriate. It's not only my own blog I faded away from, you see. The whole blogosphere has felt my loss. Keenly, I'm sure.
The Last Three Months
In summary and no particular order:
- Crazy busy at work.
- New Tory leader. Ho hum.
- Weird almost overnight and total loss of energy/enthusiasm for blogging.
- LibDem leader resigns in 'shock' admission of drink problem.
- Travelling.
- David Blunkett exits government (again and surely for the last time). A nation cheers.
- Horrible bout of sickness that knocked me out for weeks and weeks and which in some regards I'm still feeling more than two months after I first went down with it.
- Christmas (less said the better).
- Wonderful New Year break: David and I at our favourite place to retreat to, spoiled rotten and thoroughly relaxed.
- Horrible descent into anti-social rubbishness. I was working out the other day that I used to see Alison at least once a fortnight, and I've now seen her three times since early September.
- Out-of-the-blue decision to take a holiday to the Ice Hotel in March. David's been before, and has said he wanted to go with me almost since we met.
- And on the subject of travel; the lovely Nora and the equally-scrumptious Chad have invited us to their wedding in Seattle at the end of July, and we've decided to go. We're going to tie it in with a trip to western Canada and possibly even central Canada to see my old cronies in Winnipeg.
- Lots of news of which I had had strong feelings at the time but only managed to think in a rather desultory way "I ought to blog about that". See - all the enthusiasm went away.
- Company annual do in Las Vegas - I was ill throughout and went to bed early both nights.
- Loss of over a stone (6.35kg) in weight without even trying - none of my trousers fit anymore. This again is owing to illness, not any planned dieting.
- Multiple 4.15am starts to get to Heathrow for early morning flights. 'Nother one of those tomorrow....
- LibDems in rent boys and gay relationships 'shock'.
- Hit level 58 in World of Warcraft!
- Obviously loads of other stuff, some of which may come back to me for retrospective comment.
But anyway - the key thing is; I'm back. And this time it's less personal (probably. Maybe not. Maybe more.)
Free Voting
So the decision has been taken that MPs will have a free vote on a total ban in smoking in all public places when the matter comes up for debate. Which means it looks like Patricia Hewitt will vote against her department's official line and in support of a total ban. Surely at this point nothing is standing in the way of that outcome?