But it's Fred's birthday...

Oh dear, oh dear - office culture requires that you buy cakes on your birthday, but now this is being seen as a "public health hazard" and a Civil Service memo is in circulation reminding "colleagues to be mindful" of the impact the ready availability of cakes and biscuits may have on"those who have difficulty resisting".  Glad I've retired!!

It's all about hats...

Apparently the petition calling on the Government to cancel the proposed forthcoming state visit by President Trump has now garnered over 300,000 signatures*.   Now I hold no brief for Trump, as recent posts will attest, but I think we have to distinguish between the man and the office he holds. The Queen has "invited" him here as President of the United States, not in his personal capacity.  It will not be the first time Her Majesty has acted as host to some Head of State that she probably secretly wished she didn't have to deal with.  He's a nasty man, but he is also the head of a country we are, and wish to remain friends with.  We need to hold on to that distinction.
* P.S. Now stands at over 1,050,000 signatories.

R.I.P.

John Hurt - without doubt one of the most accomplished actors of my generation. Enormous range and never turned in a duff performance.  100% reliable,  Who do directors now turn to when they want one of those cameos he did so well?

Before or after?

So you go to the cinema - you settle down and what's the first thing you see?  Trailers for upcoming attractions.  Perhaps you've never wondered, but why are they called "trailers" when they come first? Well the cinema-going experience was not always as it is today - Prior to the multiplexes cinemas would have a programme - typically a feature film, with a shorter supporting film. and a newsreel or cartoon, or something similar. and this would be shown on a continuous loop and you could buy a ticket and go in and watch the programme from wherever it had got to until you'd had enough. Inded there were people in the cold weather who would buy a ticket at 2.00 (when the cinema opened) and then stay there in the warm right through until it closed at 10.30 or thereabouts.Anyway, the point is that the teasers for "forthcoming attractions" would be played AFTER the main feature. which is why they were called trailers, but because it was a rolling programme, depending on when you joined it, it could appear that they came at the start of the programme and somehow it came to be accepted that this was their proper place, and so it is today.

Think about it...

So Trump (I still find it difficult to say President Trump) reckons that "torture works". Well yes, it works to the extent that most people under torture will talk. but the question is whether what they are saying is the truth or simply what they think you want to hear in order to hopefully end their suffering. Information obtained under torture is inherently unreliable - which means that, other than for essentially sadistic pleasure, there is little point in torturing anyone, when all the you're going get is information you can't rely on.  Makes no sense really, does it?

Moral dilemma

You may have seen the piece on BBC News about knock-off Lego being made in China which is so good that even the manufacturers of the real thing can't tell the difference.  Not surprisingly, the makers of Lego are pursuing the counterfeiters through the courts, but what is the situation as regards me, a consumer?  If I can get what is indistinguishable from the real thing for less money...?  I owe no loyalty to Lego, and yet if everybody takes the same line as me, chances are that Lego will go out of business.  Tricky, yes?

Having it both ways

Remember the post about fruit and vegetables, which determined that tomatoes are fruit, because they contain seeds?  Remember the one about biscuits and cakes which turned on the fact that one was subject to tax while the other was not?  Well, in America back in the 1890s the two concepts sort of came together when the Supreme Court had to decide whether tomatoes were fruit or vegetables, but their decision was being sought because vegetables were subject to tax whereas fruit was not.  And the court decided that for legal purposes, tomatoes should be classified as vegetables, despite being botanically a fruit!

R.I.P

Gordon Kaye - ooh, Rrrené...

Makes a good sound-bite - but...

President Trump (why does that stick in the throat?) has said that his objective is to "make America great again". Which begs the question - when was America ever great? Powerful - yes, prosperous - yes, but great??  There's more to greatness than power or riches, and I'm not entirely convinced America ever had it.

Nasty me??

I've never really thought of myself as a vindictive person, and yet, when I learned the other day that Martin McGuinness is terminally ill (although it appears he may have some years to go) I have to admit that deep down a little part of me hoped that there is some particularly unpleasant corner of Hell waiting for him.

Apples and oranges

Lots of talk about the extent to which availability at GPs surgeries does or does not add to the "crisis" in A & E.  Seems to me to overlook one obvious difference.  If I walk in to A & E I know I may have to wait some time, but I will be seen and assessed.  If I turn up at my GPs surgery (and mine is a particularly good and efficient one) I know that I will have to accept an appointment which maybe will be tomorrow, but more likely will be at least the day after.  So it's pointless to try and draw any meaningful consequences or comparisons.

George Orwell was there first

I have this image of a room full of Civil Servants with copies of "1984" by their elbows, tasked with finding ways of bringing Orwell's vision into reality.  Every now and again they make a breakthrough.  In Orwell's dystopian future you could commit a "thought-crime" - you didn't actually have to do anything illegal - simply thinking about it was sufficient.  Well - we're nearly there.  We've invented "hate crime".  This is a crime which (I think - the definition is anything but clear) is motivated by hostility on racial, religious, sexual orientation or gender identity grounds.  In other words, it is as much - if not more - to do with your state of mind as it is to do with what you actually did.  Note those words "if not more" - there have been occasions where what was done was arguably not an offence but the motivation was judged to fall within the definition set out above.  Thought crime - hate crime - spot the difference?

Formula One

So this is my annual roundup of the 2016 season - but what is there to say? Rosberg wins the championship by virtue of having scored five more points than his team-mate Hamilton but it must have seemed a somewhat hollow victory, as Hamilton won more races (10 to Rosberg's 9) and as the season drew to a close, it was Hamilton's engine blowing up in Malaysia when he was leading by a country mile, and a strange decision by Red Bull to pit Verstappen - for no apparent reason - and thus promote Rosberg from third to second in Brazil that really made the difference. And then, having won the championship, Rosberg promptly resigns - what are we to make of that?  Is it an acceptance of the fact that he was fortunate, and that it's unlikely to happen again?  Funny season!!

Unbelievable and inexcusable

Watched the West Ham/Man U match last night.  Let's put to one side for the moment whether Feghouli should have got a red card or not, and concentrate on the behaviour of Phil Jones.  Here was a calculated, deliberate attempt by one professional player to get another professional player sent off. It was an appalling, abominable display and I am outraged that it was allowed to pass without comment.  Maybe Feghouli should have been sent off - maybe not - but I would ban Jones for the rest of the season!

Can't keep a good man down

I'm sorry for my absence over the last few weeks, but I've not been well - in fact, as Reg Dixon used to say, I've been "proper poorly".  Hopefully I've now shaken whatever it was off and will soon be back to bending your ear on a regular basis.