Grace and I sat down to watch the anime movie Princess Mononoke on Film 4 last night. If you read the review below on the Film 4 site, or indeed watched the credits at the end of the film (at 2am), you would have got the impression that Film 4 were showing the english voiced over version. Only it was in Japanese with subtitles. Methinks somebody at Channel 4 transmission control screwed up ...
Just seen on BBC News that Factory Records founder Tony Wilson has died. A man who made a massive contribution to music and to Manchester, sad news.
The beautiful weather in the South of France is making blogging sparse, but it is certainly interesting and fun talking with people here. I think I will take Chris of Devil's Kitchen up on his offer of a beer too, when I return. I will update some more when the sun goes in...
Norfolk Blogger points me at a site for giving my site a film type rating, and here it is: Problem is that seems to be based on the frequency of use of the word Dyke (as in Greg) - and one crap. Steve Bell's description of the Tory elephant seems to have escaped the scoring, as does a phrase use by Paddy Ashdown..
So, the season has started. And as quickly as it started, my weekend is over. I'm grateful now to my mates who couldn't be persuaded to come up to Sunderland with me for the season opener, meaning I just watched it in the pub here instead. Actually, with a fairly eclectic mix of people - a Kiwi Man Utd fan, a Canadian West Ham fan and an Indian Arsenal fan. But all that is rather more interesting than the game was, sadly. Spurs played badly, although probably not quite as badly as Sunderland. But it was them who managed to ... 
I was back in Hereford today helping Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Carr on her action day, it is always nice to be back and catch up with old friends and meet new campaigners.
Sir Josiah Stamp, reckoned at the time to be the second wealthiest person in Britain, sometime Bank of England director, Chairman of the LMS railway and Liberal economist, winning a 1912 prize for an essay about taxing the "unearned increment" instead of incomes, is quoted as saying: "Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all ...
Thanks to Paul Canning for this. Member of the Florida House of Representatives, Bob Allen is known for his anti-gay stances and recently introduced a bill proposing harsh penalties for public sex. However, he "got busted recently for allegedly trying to buy some oral sex for 20 bucks in a park washroom from an undercover cop." His excuse?: He says because he was afraid of the numerous Black
Talking of unintelligent design, I finally got round to trying to make iPlayer work today. Waste of time. First of all, I tried opening it in Firefox, only to have it inform me that it only works on IE. Then I opened it on IE, only to be told it only works with Media Player, which I have, but it didn’t recognise. Much faffing about with crappy, slow, buggly Microsoftware later, and I finally got the site at least talking to me, and the crucial actual iPlayer sofware downloaded (which appears to be little more than a DRM interface to ...
You might think that what with being pink, four-legged and female that I'd have a pretty good story to tell anyone who thinks I'm Lord Lucan. As for the ears... But no more. It appears that in order to confused with Lord Lucan you now just have to have a military bearing and be able to bark posh. Well, I have a lovely bark if I say so myself (I've even heard that the Corgis at Buckingham Palace get sent tapes of my bark to train them up) and of course I still have a certain military swagger in my ...
A major survey has been launched to find out the views of residents across Norwich regarding crime and anti-social behaviour in the city. Over the coming weeks, tens of thousands of surveys will be delivered to households asking for peoples' experiences and opinions on issues including where people feel the major trouble-spots are in the city, their experiences with the police, and their views on prisons and sentencing of offenders.
The 2-1 win at Tranmere gets Leeds off to the best possible start with fans singing, at the end. "we're gonna the league." Listening to the game on Yorkshire Radio I got the impression that Leeds were a very different team and well fired up for the challenge. I don't know what Dennis Wise said or did at half time but whatever it was it did the trick. Now we are only -12 points.
Now that PPC's are in place down here you can really feel the campaign beginning and lots of people gearing up for whenever the next general election is. The big challenge for us is to make sure that our five Lib Dem seats turn into six Lib Dem seats - but the Tories have made no secret of their desire to win - they know that gaining even a single seat down here would be good press for them. We are going to have our work cut out - the on-going Unitary debate has led to bad press for us ...
I am sure that the vast majority of people in this country want to see anti-terrorism laws used for that purpose. Indeed the government is increasingly seeking a consensus for ever-stronger laws to deal with this threat and providing that an evidence-based case can be made for them and they are balanced and proportionate then I will support this process. The problem comes when the government exceeds its remit and proposes measures that can not be justified or which are in conflict with important liberties. That can lead to a loss of public confidence, something that can also happen if ...
First for the first time for 106 years, we'll soon be able to get Heinz beans in plastic pots. Fascinating, but whereas the tins mostly get recycled these days, there are only a small proportion of councils who do street plastic recycling collections. So I fear most of these pots will end up in landfill.
Four prisoners have absconded from Sudbury Open Prison in the last four days. Okay, they are entitle to a bad run. However, official figures show that more than 660 inmates have walked out of Sudbury in the past 10 years. That's an average of 66 a year, or more than one a week. I'm not in the "hang'em and flog'em" brigade, but to lose more than one prisoner a week suggests either that the criteria for choosing who goes to an open prison is wrong or their is not enough security. I accept the need for what an open prison ...
Caroline Hunt explains why George Galloway shouldn't be elected MP for Poplar and Limehouse (he announced he is standing yesterday), after his appalling performance for the people of Bethnal Green and Bow. I'm sure he'll come out at some point soon attacking her personally in order to defend himself, as he did with the US Senate and the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee.
This is all that remains, publicly accessible, of the Facebook entry of one Tom Beech. He was having a rubbish day at work so he set up a Facebook group called "I work at Argos and can't wait to leave because it's s****" 30 minutes later his wish was granted and he found himself admiring the car park.
Today's IPSOS Mori poll gives some interesting numbers on the trustworthiness of the party leaders. Half those surveyed now think David Cameron is not trustworthy. In comparison this is only 34% for Ming Campbell. It seems that the more the public find out about Ming, the more they trust him. Since June, those answering "don't know" to the trustworthiness question for Ming have decreased by 8
I recently received complaints from residents about the condition of the steps here and, having taken up with matter with Dundee Contract Services, am pleased to have now had the following feedback : "Further to your earlier enquiry I confirm that we have now received an instruction from Economic Development to have the bushes etc. in the area cleaned up. These works will be carried out within the next two weeks." 
We made it to the start of the season although at the time of writing we are currently 1-0 to Tranmere. It has been a horrendous summer culminating in the Football Leagues decision to dock us 15 points. That decision was appealed but the Football League stood by their original decision and seem determined to screw Leeds over good and proper. I cannot for the life of me see what rule has been broken let alone what rule has been broken that would lead to us being docked 15 points having already been docked 10 points last season we appear ...
Congratulations to Emma Bunton on the birth of her baby boy. Of course, she may find that motherhood changes her outlook on life: " 'I really, really want' doesn't get, young man. I'll 'zigazig ah' you in a minute."
From the Guardian: We suggested in a column (Is streaking antisocial or harmless British eccentricity?, page 2, G2, August 9) that a vulgar display of male aggression is not militated by humour. The intended word was mitigated.Don't worry, you haven't missed a joke here. This is interesting because people usually make the opposite mistake by saying "mitigate against" when they mean "militate against". Still, you would hope that people who write for or edit the Guardian would know the difference.
The number one hit on search engines today to this blog is the search phrase "Setanta Sports problems". CanI refer anyone who does not know what is meant by this to this posting HERE. It seems that Setanta Sports are still not answering people's phone calls.Oh dear. It looks like I made a wise choice sticking with Sky.
Inspector Mark Richards has criticised the Tory PPC for Truro and Falmouth, ex Wimbledon Councillor Sarah Newton, after she put out a press release showing big increases in crime locally. Amongst other stats she claimed robbery had increased 25%, but Inspector Richards said this actually meant an increase from 12 incidents to 15 in the year. He went on to say this is one of the safest Districts in the Country, and accused the Tories of scare-mongering. We carried out a survey in the Barrack Lane area of Truro last year, and were surprised to find crime topped peoples list ...
It was only towards the end of yesterday that I got round to finishing reading the Guardian and looked at the letters page. There, sat at the top of the page, was the following letter from Paddy Ashdown: Simon Jenkins's ability to break wind at length on your pages provides one of the Guardian's most enjoyable and readable high points. His seeming aversion to ever expressing a modulated opinion
From The Onion: Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash
Ok I have done it... I have joined facebook.
Following on from my review of the uses MPs are making of Facebook, here’s the top ten listing of Liberal Democrat MPs, based on how many friends they have: Ming Campbell Steve Webb Jo Swinson Lembit Opik Stephen Williams Lynne Featherstone Julia Goldsworthy Willie Rennie Sarah Teather Chris Huhne (Rankings are based on number of friends in their official profiles on Facebook, as at 30 July [...]
The Financial Times reports that the Conservative shadow cabinet have 155 directorships and other outside jobs between them, aside from their MP's and shadow roles. There's nothing wrong with a modicum of outside work, but the sheer scale of the Conservatives' outside roles is breathtaking: David Cameron’s front-bench MPs and peers hold more than 115 paid directorships and other outside jobs, in
The Independent gives cheer to those of us who are enjoying good old Blighty this August: Take a look around you. Does it seem quieter than usual? Has an unfamiliar calm descended in your usually bustling neighbourhood? Well, now you know why. According to the AA, the second Saturday in August is the most popular day for people to go abroad on holiday. Some two million of us
We've just had on "Hider in the House". This is a CBBC programme, introduced by JK and Joel, where they smuggle a celebrity into someone's house and hide them upstairs. They then see if they can keep this fact secret from mum or dad for two days. This week's celebrity is Sian Lloyd who is hiding in a house in Wales. Wouldn't it be fun if she bumped into two Cheeky Girls in the airing cupboard?
Here’s the relevant text: Regular readers of this newsletter will know that your local MP, Theresa Villiers, and two local Conservative Councillors, Wendy Prentice and Bridget Perry have always been against moving Foulds [School] into the site of the Barnet Countryside Centre at the end of Byng Road. Conservatives In Touch with High Barnet ward newsletter, number [...]
The Wales Labour Party have told the Western Mail that they decided not to exhibit at this year’s National Eisteddfod because last year its stand was “vandalised” by Welsh language activists. A Labour spokesperon insists that the party have not abandoned the event altogether: “We have had a strong presence at this year’s National Eisteddfod, supporting an interesting and thought- provoking Cymdeithas Cledwyn event. In addition, many of Labour’s AMs and MPs attended the Prifwyl." That may well be the case but in the housing debate I did for Community Housing Cymru there was no Labour representative on the platform. ...
Is there any better day of the year than the start of the football season (if you send me a comment telling me that "yes, then end of the football season I will delete it). It's the whole feeling that anything could happen. One team, usually an underdog, will have a fantastic start to the season. A team in the Championship that everyone has overlooked will probably be challenging early on, a much fancied team will almost certainly have relegation fears (see Leeds last year), but put simply, anything can happen. Yes, we know the Premiership will be won by ...
Neil Clark, a journalist (apparently) who has written for Pravda and the Morning Star has written what is probably the most odious and unpleasant article I have read on a blog in many many months. I think he thinks he is some sort of "shock journalist", but his article shows him up to be a biased uneducated fool on this subject, and in doing so undermines his credibility as a journalist. I've never met Neil Clark, and given his views, I hope I never will. What a deeply unpleasant man indeed. Update - I note that despite The Guardian posting ...
This Thursday or Wednesday if you have internet, will see A level students across England Wales and Cornwall get their results and with it whether or not they’ve made into the university of their choice. I should know because I am one. There will be of course the normal cries that the tests are getting easier and they don’t test real things, like the 23rd person in line of the throne. They will be people who open they’re results live on TV, which is a bit presumptuous if you ask me and but could create some great out take TV. ...
Let's keep this brief. Another week in the BBC Festival. Am I the only person to dislike Billy Elliot? It was one of my 10 most overrated films: Scenes were stolen from other films, it showed the miners' strike without saying anything useful about it, the locations in London and the North East were all over the place, half the songs came from the wrong era. Worst of all it patronised the working class. When newspapers set out to find "real Billy Elliots", they found several and each had received tremendous support from his family.I might have added that it ...
Dan Hardie has written another posting. The campaign to have these people given asylum in Britain is making progress, but Dan points out the danger that the government will appear to give in to this demand but cede little in reality. He also points you to a barking mad article on Comment is Free.
Seen today flying over Bristol ... And absolutely no use of Photoshop - promise. | < | August 2007 | > | ||||
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