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Chris - what did you have in mind - is it a Tin Man Day? - but seriously, I got to thinking about humour yesterday, or rather my brain did and it occurred to me that the archetypal British humour that many of us believe we have (see dating sites) is not replicated in many many countries. I have in mind (there I go again) that the Orientals' have a completely different perspective on/application to/ the subject. I have no doubt there are learned papers dealing with the dilemma and the BBC may have already covered it - I suspect Melvyn Bragg may have dabbled. But which part of all this squishy stuff deals with humour and is it more advanced, retarded, or convoluted in certain races?
Back to dating sites - what is it about many British that gives them the impression they have a GSOH, when, in fact, they have no such thing. Does this contradict what I have already said? All food for thought..Happy New Year!
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How about control of the internet, including censorship and (heck, they can stop this from being posted) "moderation".
The news today about a certification scheme is an example of the "nanny state" gone mad. If resources are available to control internet content, make the order of attack as follows:
1) stop child porn
2) stop spammers (who waste thousands of hours of staff time, and cost firms millions in anti-spam handling) and
3) stop / track / detain "phishers" (trying to get bank and other 'identity' information to allow them to defraud people)
I see those as far more important than certification of content, which is unworkable
1) because there are millions of sites, and thousands of new ones daily (I registered 10 new domains yesterday)
2) because content can change in seconds from "PG" to "12" to "18" to "18R"
3) because the US has a right to freedom of expression, so won't "play ball"
4) because not all sites will be in UK/US/EU control, so cannot legislate of those
5) because it looks like a tinkering, and taxing plan (certificates won't be free, and not having a certificate could be against the law) which will hold back the UK in internet development if sites have to get a certificate to be allowed to be online
Sorry, words now fail me as it is such a silly idea that certificates will be needed for 10s of Millions of websites!
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Don't point that thing at my brain. It has a nail in it!
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The lights are on all over the world. It really doesn't matter at Christmas does it? Christmas lights, lights in offices that have been empty for days; lights in railway stations, town halls, bus stations.
There exists a little device that fits to the external light of many houses. It senses movement. They light me up regularly and often alarmingly. They light up cats and large spiders. Why does this little device - available presumably from China for less than nothing, not work in all the above premises? Why is a desk illuminated when the body has long gone and the cleaners have not arrived?
Tell me why - I don't know.
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Congratulations to the Dr Who production team for the 2008 Christmas special The Next Doctor. It is in my opinion the best Christmas special to date.
I am going to make a wild prediction for Dr WHO 2010 and would like to ask opinions from fellow fans about that prediction. First, however I am going to make some observations.
The present Doctor's days are numbered and it is quite possible that he is going to be without a regular companion. If this is true, I congratulate the BBC in its determination to continually change the format which is Dr Who. I believe that this will act as a pause and play and will help re launch the series and new doctor (Lets hope he will be of the same calibre as the last two actors) with the return of regular companions.
The series has seen a very successful comeback of a companion since the series "'Golden days" in Sara Jane Smith. The format of the show is about the Doctor moving on, even though as we saw in many episodes (including 'The Next Doctor') he does look back and is clearly grieved at his loses. The Doctor does however have a time machine and although it could degrade the show, if his old companions kept cropping up every other week, I would suggest that there is potential for this to happen and that it could be as successful as is the case for the Sara Jane character.
Since the comeback, the Doctor has had three female companions. It could be said that Donna "forgot him", Martha, "found someone else" and Rose "broke his heart". Rose and Martha clearly loved him and some would suspect that Donna did too. Donna, the closest to being his equal was both confident and insecure at the same time. It could be said that all the bravardery was in small part a false facade and that she would never admit to any feelings for of fear of rejection, sorry I digress.
If we were to say for arguments sake that Donna did love the Doctor. That would add up to two of the Three not having their love requited, leaving Rose. And don’t forget that the Doctor was only prepared to express his love for her when he thought he would never see her again (Sorry to digress again, but that was the best Doctor Who scene to date,. Well written, excellent music and a staggering performance from Billie Piper). Although the Doctor was very fond of his earlier companions he seems to be getting more emotionally attached as he gets older. I can’t help but wonder if this is the true meaning of the 2008 Christmas special title 'The Next Doctor' and is in fact an indication of what is to become.
So you can probably see where i am going with this. In the near future we will see the introduction of the eleventh doctor. If the walls around the Doctors Hearts continue to fall, we might see a situation in which the Doctor, loves a companion that is not initially requited. This would make very interesting and enjoyable viewing. Could this be the time when we see the return of a companion and the Doctor falls head over heels in love with this companion.
Q. Who could this companion be ?
I would like to ask my fellow fans to suggest possibilities.
My suggestion is Peri, played by Nicola Bryrant. companion to the fifth and sixth doctors. Check her out on You Tube (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1T8wNOyhwmI&feature=related) she still looks stunning.
But does this potentially partner need to be attractive or indeed a woman. What do you think?
Thank you
Adrian (You guised it, I’m a bloke).
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Re the shortage of Primary School places in London. Have you seen BBC TV News - bulletin after bulletin - lately featuring primary classrooms in the London Boroughs of Croydon and Ealing...? And did you notice something that must surely be obvious to anyone - (like me...!) - familiar with schools in Ealing or Croydon...? Namely, those odd camera angles in classrooms being very shrewdly manipulated to INCLUDE as many white faces and EDIT-OUT as many non-white ones as can safely be made to appear plausible...? Thus deflecting viewers minds from what should be a perfectly obvious explanation for the the recent spurt in London's birth-rate; - though not, of course, for the reporter's feigned surprise at the consequently dire shortage of Primary School places...!!!
There's much, much more to an astonishing third-world influx than adult statistics alone...! It seems that lately, whilst a very occasional and extremely selective media eye has been allowed to wander in the general direction of increasing third-world immigrant numbers entering the country... no one has had much to say - (if anything at all...!) - about BIRTH RATES...! Certainly not those among the UK's expanding third-world immigrant communities, once they arrive...!!!
IOW: Look after the kids - and the soaring statistics will take care of themselves...!!!
Oh, and one more thing while checking out those classrooms, Eddie. Quite apart from those curious camera angles and so few non-white faces, note that there’s never more than a handful of little tots to be seen at any one time...! - just a curiously small total rattling around in half-empty classrooms - even as we’re being told that they're bursting at the seems… Indeed, where could the rest of those kids be, you may yourself…?
It sure makes you wonder and well worth investigating - wouldn't you say…!!!
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If there was a debate on what the licence payer wanted from the BBC; the content and subject matter of programs you understand. Would we hear forceful, articulate, intellectual argument for edgy pushing the envelope type of programs? Would we see the arts and social comment soar to the fore like never before? Would we have a demand for entertainment that was so much more than just watching troubled people on the edge of mental illness perform for Simon Cowell and co? The same for strictly come Brucie...
Well guess what got the highest viewing audience this Christmas...
WALLACE AND GROMITT!
All those foul mouthed pushing the envelope, edgy, so called comedians, that F word bloke and Jamie Oliver, eat your harts out. Seems we prefer a down home piece of touchy feely plasticine to you lot. Can we see what the rest of the people think?
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A 5, You really do need to get out more.
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Could you please get someone from Hamas to explain how they think that shelling Israel is going to help them.
I know that different societies have different ways of looking at the world, but it seems to me that attacking a more powerful, heavily armed country that is prepared to retaliate is only going to have one outcome.
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I may be on the wrong thread here, but events in Gaza have depressed me. I almost said 'spoiled my Christmas' and that's how selfish and excessive we are becoming. I'm making the mistake of remembering when I should be forgetting, or should that be the other way round? I guess the consolation I hold is that David's on the case.
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I am frustrated by the media world's, yours included, failure to understand the nature of our current crises and failure to question our politicians properly on these issues.
Not a single politician, not one commentator or presenter and certainly not a single 'expert' in the news has correctly identified the true nature of the two interlinked problems the world is facing today, which currently manifest themselves as a recession:
1. The little financial difficulty.
True, it started with sub-prime mortgages, BUT it is far deeper than that. After all the total of sub-prime mortgage debt is reported as being some $1.5 trillion, whereas world Governments have so far pump close to $10 trillion into the banks. If the problem was sub-prime mortgages, or now 'banks not lending to each other', this $10 trillion cash injection would have solved it in one go.
No, the problem is 'derivatives'. These debts and bets are worth some $500 trillion. Compare that to the GDP of the whole planet of just $50 trillion and you get some idea why this fantastic burden of debt and/or potential liabilities can NEVER be repaid.
The only solutions I can think of are
a) hyperinflation to degrade the whole of that debt (following Zimbabwe)or
b) legal cancellation of all derivative contracts (!!) or
c) collapse of the whole financial system incl just about all banks, and starting all over again.
Can you explore this issue and come up with a better solution?
We need to choose one and go for it. The future is bleak whatever Gordon and other governments do, but pumping borrowed money into the economy in the utterly vain hope of recovery is just about the worst possible strategy.
2. The little problem of Energy and Growth.
Next year the world production of crude oil, for the first time in history, is likely to decline for geological, not political or economic, reasons. Peak Gas will follow some 10 years later.
2008 is the end of the Era of Growth (as growth is predicated on the availability of cheap energy) and the start of the Era of Decline.
No matter what investment is made in oil or gas fields, the total production from 2009 onwards will decline by perhaps 4% on average every year, thus our primary energy sources will halve every 20 years or so. This ‘peaking’ has already happened in 60 oil producing countries around the world, incl USA (1972) and UK(1999) and now, from 2009, global production will also begin to decline.
The 1930s depression was bad enough, but this decline will be on a massively larger scale. To start with, it will be at least 40 years long. 40 years will take us to about 25% of current energy usage, which is about the level of energy we can expect from all renewable sources combined. So at that stage, provided Governments have been wise enough to have invested massively in renewable energy, renewables may be able to take over from fossil fuels and perhaps stabilise the world economy.
However, pumping trillions of dollars into rescuing banks and car manufacturers and further trillions into ‘restarting the economy’ may impoverish governments to a point where no investment will be possible where it is really needed, such as renewables.
So, what should we do now? I suggest:
a) embrace the Green New Deal ( http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/greennewdealneededforuk210708.aspx) incl. £50 billion per year invested in renewables in UK. This £50 billion investment will be easily repaid through lower import bills for fossil fuels in the years to come.
b) forget about tax cuts or increases in current spending, they won’t do any good anyway and just add more and more to national (mine and yours) debt
c) choose one of the strategies above for the self inflicted financial crisis - and follow through
d) and go sustainable ( meaning: if you can't continue doing the same thing for say 100 years without damage, then its not sustainable - so a different strategy needs to be found)
Maybe you can work some of these ideas into programs or at least questions to politicians.
These subjects are grossly misunderstood by the media and therefore reported badly if at all to the public. How can the public even begin to consider these issues if you are not reporting them.
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Further to my previous comment, for more information see www.transitionnc.org/?q=node/73 or contact me
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Could you please find out whether the treatment that Hope and Faith Williams (the conjoined twins) received was privately funded or provided by the NHS.
Given that the Williams rejected their doctors' advice that the pregnancy be terminated, it seems to me that the treatment that the twins received was effectively elective surgery and therefore should have been privately funded. If this wasn't the case:
- could you please get the NHS to explain why. The rest of us are all subject to NICE restrictions, local PCT policies and, in my experience, a strong moral pressure to act for the good of the system, so how could it have been that the Williams were able to force the NHS to spend what must have been a significant amount of money indulging their preference that the twins be "given a chance".
- does the NHS (or NICE) have a policy for situations like this? It's not as though this is the first time that the NHS has taken the easy way out and ignored its principle of providing basic treatment for all. The Charlotte Wyatt case was very similar so the NHS seems to have one rule for some, and forget about the majority of us.
- how can this be justified ethically since it seems to treat different populations very differently?
- did the rest of us get any benefit out of this, e.g. has the treatment that Hope and Faith received contributed to any research that will help people in the future?
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e-e 9, Slightly different, but Georgia discovered that with Russia recently.
e-e 13, Very compassionate of you.
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Tjs 10, How many people did the Russian military kill in the recent conflict with Georgia? How many people were killed by the US/GB in Iraq?
If by David you mean me, yes, I am keeping up with the Gaza situation, but it didn't ruin my Christmas.
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DM 14, Given that I've been denied NHS treatment, I don't have much compassion for the NHS, so I have no problem trying to hold them to account.
In my case, the NHS basically said, "your problem is too hard", refused further diagnostic investigations, and expected me to just suffer on. Fortunately, my private doctor is more competent, and I seem to be on the road to recovery.
If the Williams are able to demand special treatment, why wasn't I?
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15. No, I meant the Foreign Secretary.
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For a long time, I dismissed the very idea of opening one's heart and mind to the general public, but, recently retired and finding myself in something of a vacuum - there are only so many books one can read, so many walks to walk -I thought, well, why not? Far from being a sad exercise, I find it quite stimulating, addictive even.
But browsing through the pages of blogs of yore I note the disappearance of many regulars. Where did they all go? There remain a select few of indefaticables with great staying power. In the eyes of the presenters, what makes the perfect blogger? A balance between whimsy and sobriety would be my analysis, but I could be wrong.
I would be interested to find out more about the vanishing. Has the exercise been undertaken? What resulted?
At the risk of overcooking the honours scheme, would it be appropriate or would it be over-controversial to take nominations next year for the Golden
Blog Award? I already have a couple in mind, will they last the course? Will I?
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e-e 16, So far I've never been refused treatment and I'm an American.
If your problem is too hard, stop taking Viagra.
You said that you don't know what treatment the Williams got.
tjs 18, I used to use another forum and people came and went from it regularly. I went in Feb.
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DM - interested to know why - unchallenging, lack of interaction, tugidity? Genuinely inquisitive.
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Tjs 20, Familiarity breeds contempt. And, compared to this blog, there was a lot of contempt. A lot of messages there would be modded here. Rather 'rough' language sometimes.
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Further to 18 - vanishing. Another trip into the archives presents me with little hard to read stats boxes, (I think) which I don't understand. Is there a blog - hit graph anywhere that plots the success or otherwise of reaction to PM, ie numbers of comments?
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ebay: collectables, rather strange. One acre of Mars 18.99. 12 days to decide.
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Re the Government's change4life anti obesity campaign:
I think it might be worth investigating the mixed messages coming from official sources on healthy eating. Two examples:
1) At my children’s school in Essex, students may be given healthy eating theory in, so called, Food Technology lessons, but all the practical things they are taught to cook are high fat, high sugar foods like fairy cakes, shortbread, cheese loaf, chocolate truffles and cornflake cakes.
Even when they use fruit, students are taught how to combine an apple with a jar of mincemeat and a pack of frozen pastry or with a tin of pie filling and high fat, high sugar crumble. The crumble recipe is given as an example of 'fitting in with healthy eating guidelines' – not a good starting point, even assuming it's eaten without *ice cream!
2) An award winning hospital canteen in Essex confuses the healthy eating agenda with ‘local and organic’. The menu eschews supermarket chicken breasts in favour of quiche, cheese, sausages and chocolate cake made with organic and/or local produce. Frozen vegetables (which customers might be persuaded to easily defrost in their microwave) are scorned in deference to muddy, hard to prepare locally produced organic vegetables, which cost more than twice the price and, given their likely transit and storage times, might not even match lightly microwaved, quick frozen vegetables for goodness, let alone for convenience. Thus an unaffordable middle class agenda is promoted at the expense of affordable, convenient healthy foods with a less elitist image. It also seems to me that the BBC Food Programme regularly perpetuates similar middle class myths and misunderstandings.
(*Mind you, cheap supermarket ice cream contains less fat and less saturated fat than trendy middle class dairy ice creams.)
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And finally (from me) because I don't know where all this is headed.
Mariella has the most perfect voice for radio. It is absolutely crystal clear. I never miss a word.
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Correction; Almost the last. I just turned off The Now Show. I find the humour totally banal, yet the audience is laughing its socks off. The Bush jokes ran out of steam four years ago. My thoughts neatly return us to 1.
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I would like to hear something about the migration figures for young British people moving away from the UK.
Many friends have already left and more are planning to (I would leave my self if I could afford to): is this a trend?
Why are young people (roughly 21-30) so disillusioned? Where is the nationalism?
As far asI can tell from friends it is not entirely economic - there is a feeling of being forgotton, over burdened with tax and student debt; a sense that our opinion matters very little to the government and our voting system gives us little or no opportunity to have a say.
It feels like, as a young person you can either go on the dole and do nothing or struggle to do something and still be broke all the time!
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I would like to suggest that the BBC has someone who has never used this site before sit down and test it for ease of use etc.
I am finding the ipm part of the site espcially poorly laid out - all in one colour scheme with little to direct you around the pages or show you what your options are for the next article.
There is the same kind of confusing and rather illogical links problem with the magazine in the news pages as well.
Less information on one page and more links would be a start - then you could look at the way you invite comments and debate as is not very interractive and doesn't encourage debate, just ranting.
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I have been shocked that so few people have heard or know of the existence of Moldova. It is the poorest country (see FCO reports)
The twin external shocks of the ban on Moldovan wine and agricultural exports to the Russian market and the doubling of the price paid for imported gas were the key causes of the economic slowdown.
It has huge problems of poverty but is never mentioned except to say that its peoples are exploited. I run a charity which delivers aid there and would welcome the chance to suggest detail. their experience of gas problems seem particularly relevant. In Moldova they are told that Ukraine is blaming them for the gas problem - we never hear of this - why?
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i have just seen the my halifax credit card take money from my halifax bank account TWICE becuase they do not accept my offer of payment. They have taken 82 and 153 pounds over three days, thus removing all the credit in my account.
I have only just now been able to pay my Halifax Mortage payment for the month.
Appartently this is legal and I can not stop it. How many others have sufferred this and do people realise this can happen to them too?
Moneybox are considering a story on this but i want everyone to see how the banks cry poverty then grab whenever they can.
Johnny
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