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I'm with Kevin Spacey on this one.

Nothing Better To Do

The story about Pete Tong inadvertently causing the destruction of an 18-year-old's birthday party with a Shout Out is quite sad for those involved. But how can it be that on Saturday night near or around Dartmoor there are almost 2,000 people listening to Pete Tong who can make it to a party in, really, the middle of nowhere at short notice? It’s madness.

One Louder

The BBC’s Iplayer is really good and great for catching shows you might have missed but I don’t understand why the volume goes up to eleven. I mean why not make ten louder and that be the top number?

Vegtables

So Tony Robinson 'felt as if a great burden had been lifted off his shoulders after his mystical encounter'. Probably that he didn't have to eat the asparagus as it had been on the floor and gotten dirty. Horrible stuff.

Weird City

The Vatican’s list of new ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ is really odd. Here are the new sins:

Environmental pollution
Genetic manipulation
Accumulating excessive wealth
Inflicting poverty
Drug trafficking and consumption
Morally debatable experiments
Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

So: Environmental pollution – ok, they’ve got EVERYONE here, except for some tribes somewhere in the Amazon, maybe. So it doesn't really count.

Genetic manipulation – apart from a few select doctors in top-notch research facilities, this doesn’t concern the vast majority.

Accumulating excessive wealth – clearly the Vatican hasn’t heard of Student Loans, Council Tax, Gas Bills and so on.

Inflicting Poverty – see above.

Drug trafficking and consumption – most people don't do that unless tea / coffee / alcohol count?

Morally debatable experiments – seeing how long you dare leave the washing up until the mould becomes a life form? (Which I suppose is a form of genetic manipulation).

Violation of fundamental rights of human nature – ok well now I am totally lost.

So unless you’re a gene research scientist, who trafficks cocaine for massive profit at the exploitation of others on the side, and you occasionally carry out experiments that are against the laws of nature on other human beings against their will, then I think you’re alright.

FAing Idiots

Just another, in the long, long longggggg, list of reasons why I hate the FA and believe them to be one of the most incompetent organisations on the planet, alongside their 'Big Brother' FIFA.

Smile

The school in this story may have covered the faces of all the children in the photo for security reasons but I feel it gives the school a nice, friendly image. However, there is a blatant lack of diversity at the school and feel they need to look again at their selection policies.

Some Advice

Apparently if you phone the Citizens Advice Bureau line for advice on debt issues they inform you that your call will cost more than for other CAB enquiries. Isn’t that just typical?

Free Change

Whatever your political leaning (or lack of), Christopher Hitchen’s latest ‘Fighting Talk’ entry on the emptiness of the slogans being tossed around in the pre-election elections is certainly on the money. It is true the word change has come up an awful lot.

I also read ‘How to be free’ over the last few days and while some of it was a bit far-fetched the chapter on why we should choose not to vote, not out of apathy, but out of the opposite, a conscious decision, was very interesting and thoughtful; why condone a system you don’t believe works, is fair, operates well or indeed is just any good, by taking part in the voting process (to paraphrase massively)?

I would recommend reading just that chapter, without paying for it, perhaps in a quiet section of a bookstore – that’s how to be free.