All's well that ends well?

Here's the story - It's January 2010 and heavy snow has closed Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster.  Many frustrated passengers.  One of them, a young man in his 20s, was so annoyed at having his travel plans disrupted that he sent a "tweet" to his friends saying "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"  Important to note that he did not seek to conceal his identity, and did not send this tweet to the airport - indeed it was some days later when somehow or other it came to the attention of one of the managers there, and was reported to the police.  They of course investigated it and, although it seems they accepted that there was no real threat and that it was just something said in the heat of the moment, decided to charge the young man with "sending a message of a menacing character".  He was convicted in the Magistrates' Court and fined.  Since when he has been trying to get that conviction overturned.  You would think that, given it was never intended that the airport should be aware of the existence of the tweet and could therefore not be menaced by it, this should be a formality, but in fact it has taken two years and two appeals - the latest to the Court of Appeal - to achieve the obvious.  Meanwhile the young man has lost his job and is now, in his words, unemployable.  So has it all turned out alright in the end??

La la la laa la la.....

For reasons best known to those in charge, it has been decided that any gold medals we win at these Olympics will be greeted by the playing of two verses of the National Anthem, and you will be expected to sing the first and third verses.  You don't know the third verse?  Well I suspect you are in good company - there will be few who do.  So here it is -

Thy choicest gifts in store

On her be pleased to pour,

Long may she reign.

May she defend our laws

And ever give us cause 

To sing with heart and voice

God save the Queen.

So start praticing.

Yum, yum!

The nation's favourite food is bacon, apparently, closely followed by chicken and chocolate.  But in the list of the top 100 there are some strange omissions - no chips or crisps, for example.  And black pudding at number 37  - really!

Let it snow, let it snow....

So yesterday was the official opening of the 2012 Olympics in London, but it was also, believe it or not, the opening of the Christmas Department at Harrods store in London.  Yes, Santa has arrived!  In the earliest launch so far the prestigious store has declared the festive season up and running a couple of days short of a full five months before the day itself.  Anybody for a 2013 Easter egg?

It beggars belief...

...that the designers of the Olympic aquatic centre did not realise that their stylish curved roof would mean that the top of the high-diving board would not be visible from some 3,000 of the seats.  Bit of a fundamental cock-up, I would have thought.

Stick to your job!

So we're being given another lesson in morality by this Government.  First it was (perfectly legal) tax avoidance schemes - now a minister has said that paying cash-in-hand is "morally wrong".  Problem is of course that there is no such thing as absolute morality - morality is subjective,  One person's concept of right and wrong may differ from someone else's.  And even where there is general agreement that something is acceptable or unacceptable, there will always be a minority who think differently, as is their right.  The question of the extent to which the law should reflect a particular moral code is one which has been argued about throughout history.  But let's be clear - the law is the law and must be obeyed, but morality is a matter for the individual.  The Government is entitled to make laws, but not to demand that we follow their particular ideas as to what is right and wrong

Can you see a pattern?

Two statistics which have surfaced as a result of the PC Harwood business (see last Friday's post).  1. Over the last 40-odd years, on average one person a week has died while in police custody.  2. No police officer has been convicted of manslaughter for a crime committed while on duty since 1986.  I for one find those facts very disturbing.

Well done, but...

Why can I not get more excited about a Brit winning the Tour de France?  First time ever apparently, and the feat has been described as up there with Bannister's four-minute mile, England winning the 1966 World Cup and Steve Redgrave's five Olympic gold medals.  I think it's because I have always felt that the Tour de France is a bit of a con - it puts itself forward as something which it is not.  It is presented as a man against man contest, whereas in reality it is team against team.  Bradley Wiggins won because he was lead rider for the Sky team, and the Sky team got their man home in first place.  Had they chosen someone else as their lead rider, then there's a good chance that he would have won.  The team are there to boost the chances of, and protect their lead rider, and they did that superbly well.  So congratulations to all of them - not just to Wiggins.

This earth, this realm...

The recent TV production of Shakespeare's Richard II serves to remind us that one of the most misunderstood and quoted-out-of-context things that Shakespeare ever wrote (after "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo...") is John of Gaunt's speech from that play containing the well-known passage which starts "This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle...".  Usually put forward as a paean of praise to everything that is best about England, it is in fact the dying Gaunt bemoaning what he saw as the parlous state England had got itself into under King Richard.  Later he says that England "...is now leased out...like to a tenement or pelting [paltry, worthless] farm...England, that was wont to conquer others, hath made a shameful conquest of itself...".  So next time you hear the "precious stone set in a silver sea" bit, remember there's more to it then that.

Oops...!

The American National Press Club decided to host a dinner in honour of the Olympics and the host nation, England.  On the menu - fish and chips, and to drink? Newcastle Brown?  Banks's?  Worthington?  Theakston's Old Peculiar (a particular favourite of mine)?  Well no actually --- Guinness!  Much tittering in London and Dublin.