Nick Clegg appeared in the Guardian's Weekend Q&A feature alongside a frank photograph (if there is such a thing - the web site photo is different from the one in the hard copy magazine). The answers are, once again, refreshingly breezy and frank - something we are getting used to from Nick (although there is nothing in the 30 lovers league).
His super-power would be breathing under water. Fascinating. The Man from Atlantis. The sea is his favourite smell.
He doesn't like his stomach, regrets that he hasn't kept fit and he thinks he would end up being played by Rodney from Fools and Horses in a film of his life (although he would have preferred the sadly unavailable Henry Fonda).
He reckons he over-uses the words "robust" and "the point is..."
The poor fellow once got a summer job where he ended up sorting files in the windowless basement of a bank all summer.
No wonder he took revenge on those cacti!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
The scandal of Lord Goldsmith's proposals for Irish settlers in the UK
I found an interesting article in this week's Big Issue entitled "Irish Face Threat Over Right To Vote", concerning Lord Goldsmith's proposal with respect to voting and other rights for people north and south of the border in Ireland.
When Goldsmith's report came out in March, the media focussed on his proposals for swearing oaths and suchlike. But some of his other proposals, in the words of Paul Donovan in Big Issue:
...threaten to disenfranchise Irish and Commonwealth people arriving to settle in England. Under the controversial proposals, Irish and Commonwealth citizens arriving in England would not be placed on the electoral register and therefore denied the right to vote in a general election.
John McDonnell MP is quoted as saying:
This is a disgraceful attack on the rights and civil liberties of Irish people in this country. Over the years, teh Tories have promoted proposals like this to undermine the political influence of Irish people in this country. To have these proposals raised under a new Labour government is not acceptable. Irish people have contributed to the development and to the political life of this country over generations.
Over on the Guardian's Comment is Free, Mick Fealty commented at the time of the report, reflecting on the intracies of the situation and concluding:
...Lord Goldsmith appears to advocating the withdrawal of a Westminster vote from a huge swath of people.
Whatever else you say about the British Constitution, over the years it has been clear that any attempt, such as Goldsmith's, to "tidy" it up usually ends in failure - normally for good reasons.
When Goldsmith's report came out in March, the media focussed on his proposals for swearing oaths and suchlike. But some of his other proposals, in the words of Paul Donovan in Big Issue:
...threaten to disenfranchise Irish and Commonwealth people arriving to settle in England. Under the controversial proposals, Irish and Commonwealth citizens arriving in England would not be placed on the electoral register and therefore denied the right to vote in a general election.
John McDonnell MP is quoted as saying:
This is a disgraceful attack on the rights and civil liberties of Irish people in this country. Over the years, teh Tories have promoted proposals like this to undermine the political influence of Irish people in this country. To have these proposals raised under a new Labour government is not acceptable. Irish people have contributed to the development and to the political life of this country over generations.
Over on the Guardian's Comment is Free, Mick Fealty commented at the time of the report, reflecting on the intracies of the situation and concluding:
...Lord Goldsmith appears to advocating the withdrawal of a Westminster vote from a huge swath of people.
Whatever else you say about the British Constitution, over the years it has been clear that any attempt, such as Goldsmith's, to "tidy" it up usually ends in failure - normally for good reasons.
Activia ads: What precisely is "Bifidius Regularis" ?
One of my life experiences is having GMTV on in the mornings. They run quite a lot of ads for Activia. I have blogged before about how I explode and turn into a flying saucer every time I hear someone on the telly saying they "feel a bit bloated".
But I have noticed a sublter little ploy in the Activia ads recently. It happens very quickly. They say the words "Bifidius Regularis" very quickly, describing it as an "active ingredient" or something....so that it just sounds Latin and scientific, so that you are very impressed but you can't quite make out what the precise words are.
So I googled "Bifidius Regularis". What on earth is it ? - I wondered. I needed to look no further than the Observant Bystander blog and a posting entitled "Stupidus Wordicus":
If you’re like me, you’re a skeptic. With all the hype thrown at us on a daily basis, from weather reports to ads on TV, it’s amazing anyone left in the world believes anything they hear these days. Donald Trump has got to have a corner on the hype market - he describes every friend as “the greatest ____ (golf player, actress/actor, etc) in the world, and every place he ever built as “the most fantastic”, “the best” and “the world’s biggest.” He probably describes his penis as “the greatest, largest and grandest penis in all the universe.”
Each new incarnation of a product promises us that it will be the Best Ever! The best at relieving muscle aches; the best at whitening your teeth; the best at cleaning the toilet.
Recently Dannon has been pitching its new Activia brand of yogurt. In the TV ad, one woman is bemoaning the fact that she’s irregular (and it’s ALWAYS a woman, isn’t it?) . Her friend helpfully explains that she’s probably not eating right. Friend goes on to say she no longer has “that problem” since she’s started eating Dannon Activia, then explains that Activia contains Bifidus Regularis, which can help maintain proper intestinal health.
Wait a minute. Bifidus Regularis? WTF? Look, I have a science degree. I’ve know my microbiology. And I know that there is no naturally occurring gut flora called Bifidus Regularis. For one thing, the use of the word Regularis isn’t even Latin. It SOUNDS Latin. It looks kind of like Latin. But it ain’t Latin, honey. This I know. So, skeptic that I am, I decided to do a little research of my own.
A quick check of Wiki confirms my suspicians. B. Regularis is what is known as probiotic - a dietary supplement that contains potentially beneficial bacteria or yeast. These probiotic cultures are mixed up in the lab, then renamed something consumer-friendly.
According to Wiki:
“It is important to stress that these are not scientific names but trade names designed to sound and look like scientifically named organisms…the two words of these trade names are both written with their first letters capitalized and never in italics but rather in bold type.”
Dannon is also hyping another new product designed to boost your immune system with the magic ingredient L. Casei Immunitis. Puleeze.
Maybe these products work and maybe they don’t. My gripe is that the names they came up with for their probiotics are incredibly cheesy. I can just imagine the rejected brand names thrown out at the brainstorming session at Dannon Headquarters now
Nomorus Constipatus
Nomorus Strainicus
Undous Constricturus
Gutucus Rapidus
Rapidus Evacuous
They can kissus my assicus.
So - I am hereby declaring my intention to never purchase these Dannon products, or any other products that blantantly use stupid, made-up, fakey sounding scientific terms. I’m sure they’re quaking in their boots right now.
But I have noticed a sublter little ploy in the Activia ads recently. It happens very quickly. They say the words "Bifidius Regularis" very quickly, describing it as an "active ingredient" or something....so that it just sounds Latin and scientific, so that you are very impressed but you can't quite make out what the precise words are.
So I googled "Bifidius Regularis". What on earth is it ? - I wondered. I needed to look no further than the Observant Bystander blog and a posting entitled "Stupidus Wordicus":
If you’re like me, you’re a skeptic. With all the hype thrown at us on a daily basis, from weather reports to ads on TV, it’s amazing anyone left in the world believes anything they hear these days. Donald Trump has got to have a corner on the hype market - he describes every friend as “the greatest ____ (golf player, actress/actor, etc) in the world, and every place he ever built as “the most fantastic”, “the best” and “the world’s biggest.” He probably describes his penis as “the greatest, largest and grandest penis in all the universe.”
Each new incarnation of a product promises us that it will be the Best Ever! The best at relieving muscle aches; the best at whitening your teeth; the best at cleaning the toilet.
Recently Dannon has been pitching its new Activia brand of yogurt. In the TV ad, one woman is bemoaning the fact that she’s irregular (and it’s ALWAYS a woman, isn’t it?) . Her friend helpfully explains that she’s probably not eating right. Friend goes on to say she no longer has “that problem” since she’s started eating Dannon Activia, then explains that Activia contains Bifidus Regularis, which can help maintain proper intestinal health.
Wait a minute. Bifidus Regularis? WTF? Look, I have a science degree. I’ve know my microbiology. And I know that there is no naturally occurring gut flora called Bifidus Regularis. For one thing, the use of the word Regularis isn’t even Latin. It SOUNDS Latin. It looks kind of like Latin. But it ain’t Latin, honey. This I know. So, skeptic that I am, I decided to do a little research of my own.
A quick check of Wiki confirms my suspicians. B. Regularis is what is known as probiotic - a dietary supplement that contains potentially beneficial bacteria or yeast. These probiotic cultures are mixed up in the lab, then renamed something consumer-friendly.
According to Wiki:
“It is important to stress that these are not scientific names but trade names designed to sound and look like scientifically named organisms…the two words of these trade names are both written with their first letters capitalized and never in italics but rather in bold type.”
Dannon is also hyping another new product designed to boost your immune system with the magic ingredient L. Casei Immunitis. Puleeze.
Maybe these products work and maybe they don’t. My gripe is that the names they came up with for their probiotics are incredibly cheesy. I can just imagine the rejected brand names thrown out at the brainstorming session at Dannon Headquarters now
Nomorus Constipatus
Nomorus Strainicus
Undous Constricturus
Gutucus Rapidus
Rapidus Evacuous
They can kissus my assicus.
So - I am hereby declaring my intention to never purchase these Dannon products, or any other products that blantantly use stupid, made-up, fakey sounding scientific terms. I’m sure they’re quaking in their boots right now.
Caring for the miracle in your chest
I just wanted to praise the British Heart Foundation Doubt kills campaign.Yesterday, for innocuous reasons, I had the chance to see my heart on an ultrascan screen. It was one of the most magical things I have ever seen. I could even see the valves shutting and opening.
It really is perfectly amazing that millions of years of evolution have produced this remarkable feat of natural engineering - four chambers all pumping in sequence, valves opening and shutting bang on cue, beating 100,000 times a day. It is quite incredible that it wasn't designed by an engineer!
But, of course, if an engineer had designed it and if it was built by humans, it would wear out with use. The quite extraordinary and miraculous thing about the human heart is that it improves and lasts longer the more you use it.
What a miracle!
The BHF Doubt Kills campaign urges people to dial 999 as soon as they feel chest pain. Given the high chances of an untimely meeting with one's maker in the event of a heart attack, this is sound advice.
Victory over the right to publish MP's second home details
An Hallejujah moment. And to think that £100,000 of tax payers money has been spent on trying to defend the indefensible at the behest of Speaker Martin. Scandalous.
MPs (first) home addresses are normally completely in the public domain (they appear on scores of thousands of ballot papers apart from anything else). So why not second home addresses? Why is there a security problem with second home addresses but not first home addresses? Well done to the High Court for knocking back this nonsense.
The House of Commons has lost its High Court battle over an information watchdog's decision to force disclosure of MPs' expenses.
The Commons challenged the Information Tribunal's "unlawfully intrusive" demand that a detailed breakdown of MPs' additional costs allowances (ACA) must be provided under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Commons also attempted to overturn the Tribunal's decision that MPs' addresses should be disclosed, arguing they should be kept secret for special security reasons.
But Sir Igor Judge (President of the Queen's Bench Division), Lord Justice Latham and Mr Justice Blake ruled at London's High Court that they could not interfere with the Tribunal's decision and dismissed the challenge.
MPs (first) home addresses are normally completely in the public domain (they appear on scores of thousands of ballot papers apart from anything else). So why not second home addresses? Why is there a security problem with second home addresses but not first home addresses? Well done to the High Court for knocking back this nonsense.
The House of Commons has lost its High Court battle over an information watchdog's decision to force disclosure of MPs' expenses.
The Commons challenged the Information Tribunal's "unlawfully intrusive" demand that a detailed breakdown of MPs' additional costs allowances (ACA) must be provided under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Commons also attempted to overturn the Tribunal's decision that MPs' addresses should be disclosed, arguing they should be kept secret for special security reasons.
But Sir Igor Judge (President of the Queen's Bench Division), Lord Justice Latham and Mr Justice Blake ruled at London's High Court that they could not interfere with the Tribunal's decision and dismissed the challenge.
Why Lindylooz Muse is great...even when it goes squiggly
Rather like a dam bursting after a almighty rain storm, suddenly 12 comments have blurted out below Linda Jack's post entitled: Man Woman Woman Man...........its all of no consequence in a by election, isn't it?????? . This post of Linda's beautifully answers the question "What is Lindylooz Muze for?" and tells us that if Lindylooz Muse didn't exist we would have to invent it. I love Linda dearly in a strictly platonically internally partily typily way.
But Linda appears, in her reply to comments, to have moved the preponderance of her argument. She's shifted her ground (and we all know that a moving target is harder to hit). Linda is now majoring on whether or not general election candidates are told they will have to re-apply for by-elections, whereas the overwhelming weight of her original post was asking 'why was a woman dumped for a man?' (I've now re-read it for the third time to check that this paraphrase is accurate and I apologise if I have been too broad-brush or inaccurate).
However, I find Linda's whole main argument totally illogical and well, er, "squiggly". We have two by-elections and the local parties, yes, the
...have selected one man and one woman. Even stevens. Problem? Yes, if you were the general election woman candidate (I'm not even sure she was on the short-list) who wasn't selected or the "general" man who wasn't selected (who certainly wasn't on the shortlist). But the party gets two locally selected candidates to fight for, one of each gender.
I really think a few cogs have flown off Linda Jack's rotor-blade on this one. I saw the pressure of a by-election at reasonably close quarters in Newbury. Here's just one little example of the heat a candidate can be under: David Rendel had been working for 14 hours and at 10pm one night, someone approached him as he left the by-election headquarters. They asked about his thoughts on Europe and taxed him on some points.
Then someone ran out of the by-election HQ to tell David something important. The person asking the questions, unseen to David, was holding a microphone behind their back so that they were recording everything David said.
That's just a little sample of the pressure which by-election candidates and their families come under. Alex Wilcock is right in his comments under Linda's post. Most general election candidates who are not re-selected for the by-election just knuckle down and support the eventual candidate.
Nothing personal Linda, and apologies for any patronising sanctimony in the above post.
But Linda appears, in her reply to comments, to have moved the preponderance of her argument. She's shifted her ground (and we all know that a moving target is harder to hit). Linda is now majoring on whether or not general election candidates are told they will have to re-apply for by-elections, whereas the overwhelming weight of her original post was asking 'why was a woman dumped for a man?' (I've now re-read it for the third time to check that this paraphrase is accurate and I apologise if I have been too broad-brush or inaccurate).
However, I find Linda's whole main argument totally illogical and well, er, "squiggly". We have two by-elections and the local parties, yes, the
L-O-C-A-L P-A-R-T-I-E-S
...have selected one man and one woman. Even stevens. Problem? Yes, if you were the general election woman candidate (I'm not even sure she was on the short-list) who wasn't selected or the "general" man who wasn't selected (who certainly wasn't on the shortlist). But the party gets two locally selected candidates to fight for, one of each gender.
I really think a few cogs have flown off Linda Jack's rotor-blade on this one. I saw the pressure of a by-election at reasonably close quarters in Newbury. Here's just one little example of the heat a candidate can be under: David Rendel had been working for 14 hours and at 10pm one night, someone approached him as he left the by-election headquarters. They asked about his thoughts on Europe and taxed him on some points.
Then someone ran out of the by-election HQ to tell David something important. The person asking the questions, unseen to David, was holding a microphone behind their back so that they were recording everything David said.
That's just a little sample of the pressure which by-election candidates and their families come under. Alex Wilcock is right in his comments under Linda's post. Most general election candidates who are not re-selected for the by-election just knuckle down and support the eventual candidate.
Nothing personal Linda, and apologies for any patronising sanctimony in the above post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
