Good Friday

If you are a good Christian, you will have eaten fish yesterday - or at the very least, you will not have eaten meat.  Why not?  Because Good Friday is a fasting day, and meat is forbidden.  Strangely the Church has never considered fish as meat and so it can be eaten.  Many people expand this idea and always eat fish on Fridays.  Why do we call it Good Friday when it commemorates the Crucifixion which would hardly be considered a good thing.  Nobody seem to know for sure, although it has been suggested that it started out as God's Friday.

Brexit

So the truth is finally out - employers prefer immigrant labour because they're better workers - they work harder and are prepared to work for longer.  And this shouldn't come as any surprise - there may be the occasional one who comes over here to sponge off the welfare state, but the vast majority come here because they want to find work.  That's what they want to do, and I hope some way can be found of allowing them to continue to do so. 

John Worboys

Hard cases make bad law - an expression I have used before, and doubtless will use again.  The Worboys case is an example.  He was convicted of 19 offences of rape and sexual assault in 2009 and sentenced to a minimum term of eight years.  Having served this minimum term the Parole Board recommended that he be released from prison.  This created a furore and the High Court has overturned that decision and sent the case back to the Parole Board for "fresh determination" - i.e. change your decision.  The chair of the Board has resigned as a result.  Why is this all bad?  The Parole Board is an independent body which does not publish its deliberations.  And with good reason - as this case makes clear.  Now the Chair of the Board - a man of the utmost probity - has lost his job, the Board's independence has been put at risk, it's future decisions will now come under intense scrutiny and it may well be forced to publish its reasoning in future cases - which will simply result in a spate of challenges.  The High Court in this case may in fact have come to the right decision - but for the wrong reasons, and I fear the justice system will be the poorer for it.

New balls, please.

What do you make of this ball-tampering business?  Hasn't it been going on forever?  It seems to me that Australia have simply fallen foul of the eleventh commandment - thou shalt not get caught.  What do we do about it?  Problem is, as has been mentioned many times before, that cricket has this reputation of being played by gentlemen in a spirit of fair play.  And if it was ever thus, it certainly isn't today.  So I think we have to bring the umpires more into the game, and give them much more power.  We could, for example, change the rules so that after each ball bowled, the ball is immediately returned to the umpire, who looks after it until the bowler is ready to start his run-up, at which time the umpire throws it to him.  So no polishing, scuffing or whatever.  Or maybe come up with a new type of ball which is more tamper-proof.  Or - on the basis that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em - just accept that manipulating the ball is all part of the game, and anything goes.

Does it matter?

Anybody else find this fuss about where the new blue British passport will be made just too silly?  De La Rue, a British firm famous for producing banknotes for countries around the world and expected to get the contract, was outbid by a Franco/Dutch firm.  And somehow this is now seen as a national disgrace.  Questions in Parliament and all sorts.  I have a feeling that if the contract had gone to De La Rue and it had later come to light that Gemalto (the Franco/Dutch lot) would have done it cheaper, people would now be screaming blue murder about the money wasted.  Such is life.

Ha ha

A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm.  "A beer please" he says "and one for the road".

A Mars a day...

So, is chocolate good for you or not?  Several reports over the last few years have concluded that dark chocolate in particular can protect against circulatory diseases, but much of this research is funded by the chocolate industry itself and must be treated with caution.  The best independent advice is that chocolate in moderation is neither good for you nor bad for you.  Very much a case of "a little of what you fancy..."

Tipping

What a minefield!  I fundamentally object to paying someone extra for simply doing their job.  If they clearly go "above and beyond", or perhaps if it's coming up to Christmas, I might feel differently, but otherwise, no.  But this of course pre-supposes that they are being paid a fair wage by their employer. We hear of more and more cases where employers pay the minimum they can get away with, on the basis that their employees will "make it up in tips".  And then, if I have received particularly good service and wish to reward it, how do I know that what I leave will go to the person who provided that service?  The majority of establishments require all tips to be put in a kitty which is then shared out between all the employees.  And abroad, there are countries where you are expected to tip, and will be treated badly if you don't.  Then again - do you tip the pizza delivery boy?  Like I say - what a minefield!

Cut some slack?

Never rated Ant and Dec myself, but it cannot be pleasant to go through what they are going through, especially having to do it in the full daily glare of publicity and the media.  I wish them both well.

Logical??

Rather nice story that when something thought to be a meteorite turns out to be a normal piece of earthrock, it is called a meteorwrong.

You what??

"Pope asks for forgiveness for all Christians who buy sex from women" - this is a headline from yesterday's paper.  But I'm discombobulated - he's asking?  From whom?  God I suppose.  But I thought the Pope was God's voice on earth.  I though he spoke for God.  So is he asking himself?

Just one more go...

If ever there was an example of conflict of interest, it has to be these Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT) which you will find in bookies shops.  These allow you to stake up to £100 a time on the turn of a card, or spin of a wheel, and then, having lost, do the same again, and again.  They are addictive, and you can lose an awful lot of money very quickly.  Clearly they are A Bad Thing,  Now the government is supposed to protect us from bad things and there have been constant calls for FOBTs to be banned, or at the very least, to have the amount you can bet reduced - £2 is commonly held to be a reasonable amount.  Problem?  The government taxes these machines (Machine Games Duty) based on the takings they generate and the more they bring in, the more money the government makes.  So banning them, or reducing the amount gambled is not in their interest.  See?

Start at the outside and work inwards

Apparently in preparation for her life as a royal, Thingy is being taught how to handle cutlery correctly at table.  Heaven help her!  But it did make me wonder why it is that Americans tend to cut their food up first and then put their knife down and swap their fork to their right hand to eat it.  And the answer seems to be - nobody knows!  It's been suggested that it came from France, who at the time were considered the arbiters of good taste, but it's also being suggested that it's simply a matter of making best use of your dominant hand.  Most of us are right-handed and so when cutting food up you use your right hand to wield the knife, whereas when transferring food to your mouth when the fork becomes the instrument of choice, you use your right hand for that.  Indeed it has been suggested that this is the "natural" way of doing things, and if we were starting again from scratch, with no pre-conceptions, this is how we would all do it.  It has also been suggested that this is simply Americans wanting to be seen as different!

Fake news?

Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute?  Well, the Bible doesn't say so, or even really hint at it.  The idea that she was, came as a result of Pope Gregory I back in the sixth century deciding that she was the unnamed "woman who had lived a sinful life" who washed Jesus's feet as reported in the gospel of Luke.  His reasoning was pretty convoluted, and depended heavily on the fact that Mary was a fairly common Biblical name, but of course back then, what the Pope said was accepted unquestionably as true.  So unless you believe in the absolute infallibility of Popes, past and present, you can come to your own conclusion, and frankly the evidence just isn't there.

What's the date?

Apparently last Wednesday was "Pi-day".  If you express the date in the American manner (month first) then that day was 3.14, which are the first three digits of pi.  For the rest of us it was 14.3 which as far as I am aware, has no particular significance.  You see what you want to see.

Show me or shut up.

On TV news yesterday morning, Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary (I still find that coupling hard to accept) assured us that "the evidence is overwhelming" that Russia was behind the poisoning of Sergei Scripal and his daughter.  So that's it?  He says it, so it must be true?  It may be, but I'm afraid I need more than his word for it.  Let's see this overwhelming evidence, Boris.

R.I.P.

Stephen Hawking.  I don't have the words - and if I did, I almost certainly wouldn't understand what I was saying!

Continued...

Having re-read yesterday's post, it occurred to me that perhaps I had stumbled on a salient fact.  It is accepted that the nerve agent involved dates back to the days of the USSR.  Now I seem to remember that one of the perceived problems surrounding the collapse of the USSR was - what would happen to its weapons - particularly nuclear and chemical.  And I don't think there was ever any proper "audit" showing that all such munitions were accounted for.  So could some of this nerve agent have gone "missing" at that point in time - in which case the current Russian government might genuinely know nothing about it?  Just a thought.

First, engage brain...

I suppose I should say something about this Skripal business.  He and his daughter are critically ill in hospital having been poisoned somehow by a nerve agent of Russian (or more precisely USSR) design.  He is a ex-spy and seen by many Russians as a traitor.  Should we care? It seems to me that this is for the most part a media-led story.  They have got  hold of it and sensationalised it as a way of selling papers - whipping up a storm that was perhaps never really there.  The Government haven't helped by giving out too little information too late in the day.  I think everybody needs to take a deep breath and think before they speak further.

Continued...

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, Waitrose have decided to go gender-neutral, and are selling cards that simply say "Happy You Day"!

Whatever - it's her day!

Do you call your female parent Mum or Mom?  A company that produces greetings cards has decided to go for Mum this year, maintaining that Mom is American.  But is it that simple?  I live in the West Midlands, and apparently Mom is commonplace round here - even though I personally say Mum.  You could argue that as mother starts "mo", Mom is more logical, or you could simply go with your gut - and for me, the "u" sound is more cuddly, more loving.

Ker-ching??

I've just realised that my passport is out of date.  So what?  It's extremely unlikely that I will ever go abroad again, so why should I be concerned?  Well. no reason really, except that I checked and the cost to renew it is £72.50.  That's a lot of money to simply replace something I've already got.  I can understand a fee for a first time passport, but renewal is simply a bureaucratic exercise and should cost little or nothing.  And I speak as an ex-Civil Servant well used to the ways in which the simple is made unnecessarily complicated in order to justify charging a fee.  So I shall not be renewing.

Realpolitik

Speaking of booze - I'm stocking up on Jack Daniels - just in case!

Putting the record straight.

Hope yesterday's post didn't give the impression that my wife was a lush.  Far from it - I was, and still am, the drinker.  She would join me on occasion - more out of companionship than anything I think.  And although she enjoyed a vodka and Russchian, her tipple of choice was Baileys Irish Cream

Way to go!

Sainsbury's are coming in for some stick for advertising bottles of vodka under a sign that says "Mother's Day Breakfast".  Shocked shoppers have taken to social media to criticise the store for suggesting that mothers should drink alcohol first thing in the morning.  Well, each to his or her own but if my wife were still alive (how I wish!!) I know what she'd say - bring it on!

For this relief, much thanks

Boiler repaired - heating back on.  Makes you realise how much you depend on "modern technology".  It was a bit like being back in the 50s - heat one room and stay there.  Mind you, I think I had it easier than some folk, who had to contend with with 6' snow drifts and no water.  So, back to normal, thank goodness.

R.I.P.

Roger Bannister - great guy, great athlete and a good life as a scientist, but thanks to sloppy journalism, will probably be forever known for something he didn't do - he was not "the first man to run a four minute mile" - see 16/12/13.

Words, words.

A question which arose at a recent family gathering was - why are prostitutes called "hookers"? (Not that we're that sort of family!)  It seems to be American slang, so the origin is probably American.  The most quoted answer is that it refers to a Civil War general by the name of Joseph Hooker, who used to invite prostitutes into his camp, and they became known as "Hooker's Division", which quickly became shortened to "hookers".  Only problem with that is that the word is known to have been in use at least 20 years before the Civil War.  So another theory is that it arose from a district of New York known back then as "The Hook" where said ladies were wont to ply their trade.

Woe is me!

Freezing cold, several inches of snow down and my boiler has packed in!

Ha ha

Suggestion from my pensioner's magazine for a bumper sticker for an old person's car 

I'm speeding because I have to get there before I forget where I'm going.

Such is human nature...

I am constantly surprised that other people are surprised by the obvious.  If you have a situation where men are put in control of a commodity which poor women desperately want, it really should come as no surprise if some of those men demand sexual favours in return for supplying said commodity, and equally if some women offer sexual favours  in the hope of obtaining it.  This is the Oxfam scandal of course, which has now spread to other aid agencies.  It's not nice, and reflects badly on all those involved, but surprising?  Perhaps the most surprising thing is that it has taken so long to surface.