A night to remember?

On this, this centenary of the sinking of the "Titanic" a few thoughts.  Of the first-class passengers, slightly over 60% survived.  In the second class, the figure was just over 40%.  Of those in third class, the survival rate was around 25%.  This is usually put forward as an example of "money talks" but in reality it had less to do with who people were and much more to do with where they were situated - those in first class would have had easy access to lifeboats, those in second class rather less so, and those in steerage would have had to find their way up through unfamiliar stairs and corridors to get on deck.  The greatest loss of life in percentage terms was amongst the crew.  Perhaps the most disturbing statistic is that although the lifeboats had a capacity of some 1200, only 700 or so survived - most of the boats were only partially full.    God forbid that any of us should ever find ourselves in such a situation - whether cowards or heroes, remember them in your prayers.

Grand National

Giles Cross pulled up at the 11th - ah well, there's always next year.  And we did have the winner last year.  Yet again, two horses had to be put down.  Very sad.

Back...

...just in time to give you my crazy system's pick for this afternoon's Grand National.  So, it's Giles Cross.  Watch this space.

I'm off....

... for a week with the family in Devon.  Needless to say, the weather looks as if it's taking a turn for the worse, but we will see.

Was that a pothole or a directional instruction?

I have to confess that I've never been able to understand how sat-navs ever got the OK.  When you think about it, there can be nothing more distracting for a driver than having to be constantly looking away from the road to a small screen set in the dashboard.  Yes, very useful, but also very dangerous I would submit.  So not surprising that people are looking for alternatives.  Perhaps the most obvious is a "heads-up" display such as is used in fighter  aircraft , but I imagine that expense is a big consideration there.  A firm in America has come up with the idea of a steering-wheel which vibrates in a clockwise direction to tell you to turn right, and anti-clockwise for left.  Not sure about that, but it's good that some thought is being given to the problem.

Plus ça change...

The Education Secretary has revealed plans to involve universities more in the setting and marking of A-level exam papers.  But this is nothing new.  Back when I took my O and A level exams in the 50s, the papers were administered by the Joint Matriculation Board which as I understood it, was a body run by the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham.  Just when it changed and why I don't know but it seems a sensible move to re-establish the connection.

Yet another raid on your pocket?

If you live in Nottingham you may find going to work even more of a pain from this month - the city is the first in the UK to start imposing a tax on businesses which provide more than 10 parking spaces for their employees, and not surprisingly most of the businesses affected will pass on the charge to their workers.  It seems a strange idea - not least because it takes no account of the number of employees a business has.  Obviously ten spaces will be adequate for a firm with ten or less workers, whereas a big company with hundreds of employees will probably not even be able to provide free parking spaces for senior management.  The idea of course is to encourage (force?) people on to public transport.  One member of my family works a shift pattern and occasionally has to start work at 5.00 a.m.  The buses round here don't start running until 5.30.  What are they supposed to do??

Compare and contrast

What about this lad who got drunk and posted offensive comments on Twitter about Fabrice Muamba who had just collapsed on the pitch at White Hart Lane and as far as anybody knew at the time, might well be dead.  He was sent to gaol for eight weeks and has had his appeal against this sentence turned down.  He has also potentially lost his university place as a result.  Fair?  Too harsh? Can't help comparing it with the MP who also got drunk and started a major punch-up in a House of Commons bar.  He got away with a fine.  Is it the Twitter element which makes the difference?  The effects of the MP's actions were restricted to those who were in the bar where it all took place.  The boy's comments on the other hand were potentially disseminated to the world at large.  Another good reason for keeping as far away as possible from social networking sites.

So what changed their minds?

Any e-mail you send can be intercepted and read by the authorities.  Ditto any text message.  They also have the ability to know what internet sites you visit.  So where are we talking about - China?  Syria?? Iran???  Well no, actually, we're talking about here!  The Government intend to introduce legislation which will give GCHQ precisely these powers.  The only saving grace is that in order to do this, they will need to get a warrant - although I can't say that that proviso does much to make me feel easier.  In my experience, official requests for warrants are rarely refused.  What's interesting is that the last Labour government proposed something very similar, and back then the Tories and LibDems violently opposed it.  

German engineering

Francis Maude's reference to a "jerry can" has caused embarrassment to the coalition, and has equally caused some confusion in the public mind.  So just what is a jerry can?  It's a metal container designed in Germany (hence the name) in the last War and can hold 20 litres of liquid.  It has a snap-shut cap and was indeed intended and used back then for carrying fuel.  It is however illegal to use it for that purpose in this country today (at least full up) as the maximum you are allowed to carry in one container is 10 litres.  And the maximum amount you are allowed to store at home in total is 30 litres - in fact you can't store it at home, it must be in a garage or other outbuilding or otherwise at least 6 metres from your house.  Maude's use of the name also carries with it certain overtones of class - to the extent that jerry cans are still around today, they tend to be used by the huntin' shootin' and fishin' fraternity.  The rest of us are more likely to use the plastic 5-litre jobbies.