nordbank

Russia and China use veto to block UN security council resolution.

2012-02-05T10:23:00.001+01:00

Russia and China have vetoed a UN security council resolution calling for the Syrian president to step down, provoking a furious reaction.

All 13 other members of the council, including the US, France and Britain, voted in favour of the resolution, which backed an Arab peace plan aimed at stopping the violence in Syria. Russia and China blocked the resolution because of what they perceived to be a potential violation of Syria's sovereignty, which could allow for military intervention or regime change.

American UN envoy Susan Rice described the veto on Saturday as "shameful", saying Russia and China aimed to "sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant".

"Any further bloodshed that flows will be on their hands," she said.

I fail to see the advantage either long term or short term for the Russians and Chinese continuing support of Assad because it is inevitable that he will go the same way as Mussolini and George Formby and eventually he’ll be seen hanging around a lamppost. (See my previous post re exit plans.)

It’s good to see the United States indignant regarding the continuing abuse by the Syrian government of its citizens and continuing human rights abuses. But before the US gets all 'holier than thou' it’s worth noting that since 1972 the United States has been the single, solitary veto on 42 Security Council resolutions condemning Israeli violations of international law or human rights.

Chile Invokes Chilling Anti-Terrorist Law

2012-01-24T12:14:00.000+01:00

Extracts from: Chile Invokes Chilling Anti-Terrorist Law Against Indigenous Mapuche, published by Indian Country.

Chile’s controversial anti-terror law dates back to the 1973-1990 reign of dictator Augusto Pinochet. The draconian anti-terror law allows for suspects to be detained for indefinite periods of time without charge and allows the use of testimony from anonymous witnesses in trials, Forbes Online said. Some aspects of the Pinochet-era legislation parallel the National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed into law by President Obama on New Year’s Eve. The NDAA allows for the indefinite detention without charge or trial of people suspected of terrorism, including U.S. citizens detained on U.S. soil.

Chile’s anti-terrorism law was invoked last year against four Mapuche men—activists involved in the struggle for their land rights who were sentenced to 20 and 25 years in prison in what appeared to be trumped up charges under the anti-terrorism legislation. “What is happening in Chile isn’t justice; it’s a pantomime, because under the anti-terrorism law, there is absolutely no way justice can be done,” said José Venturelli, spokesman for the European Secretariat of the Ethics Commission against Torture. The Mapuche are Chile’s largest indigenous group, numbering nearly one million among Chile’s population of more than 16 million. Their struggle for their land rights has frequently pitted them against not only forestry companies but also large landholders and other private interests.

Under Chile’s anti-terrorist law, prosecutors may keep their evidence secret, anonymous witnesses can testify for the prosecution, prosecutors may apply for powers to tap telephones and intercept correspondence, e-mails and other communications, suspects can be held for up to 10 days before formal charges are brought, and detainees often face long periods of pre-trial detention and disproportionately long sentences.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/01/11/chile-invokes-chilling-anti-terrorist-law-against-indigenous-mapuche-71708#ixzz1kMucelWI

Today was one of those days I had to look at a calendar and check the date, yes it is 2012. (Unless of course you’re Jewish and it’s 5772, Muslim 1433 or Mayan, very worried.) And not the middle ages and the Spanish Inquisition, not seventeenth century America and the Salem witch trials and not the 1930’s and Nazi Germany.

Franz Kafka wrote ‘The Trial’ in 1915 & based it upon anti-Semitic laws then in force in the Austro-Hungarian Empire:

The central character, Joseph K. is arrested one morning, apparently victim of a slander. The two policemen that arrest him refuse to give any explanation. He is tried in a court that prevents any access to its Judges, and that does not recognize his legal right to a defence. The court proceedings remain secret and the bill of indictment is not accessible to the accused, nor to his lawyers, and even less to the public in general. The accused is therefore unable to defend himself, since he doesn’t know of what he is being accused. After this entirely non-transparent proceeding, the Court orders the execution of the unfortunate Joseph K.

'She bathes in blood'

2012-01-05T11:01:00.003+01:00

From todays Daily Mail

'She bathes in blood': Lady Gaga accused of bizarre Satanic ritual in London hotel

The 25-year-old Bad Romance singer has been accused of leaving a London hotel room bathtub drenched in blood.

Rumours have flown around the net that the stiletto loving singer has started taking part in morbid Satanic rituals to keep her safe from spirits.

Staff at the plush Intercontinental Hotel in London were shocked when they went to clean Gaga's room and found blood in the bath.

However, the red substance has not been identified as blood and that it was more likely that the red liquid is part of a 'weird' stage costume or prop.

So absolute bollocks then.

North Korean 'dear leader' Kim Jong Il dies.

2011-12-19T10:06:00.002+01:00

The news came as North Korea prepared for a hereditary succession. Kim Jong Il inherited power after his father, revered North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994.

In September 2010, Kim Jong Il unveiled his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.

The official title for North Korea is :

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

British Library's early newspaper archive goes online

2011-11-29T11:27:00.001+01:00

From today’s Guardian newspaper:

British Library's early newspaper archive goes online

More than 4m pages, drawn mainly from 19th-century regional newspapers, previously kept in decent obscurity at the library's newspaper archive in Colindale, north London, will now be available for historians and family researchers to browse for a small fee, or free if they visit the central library in King's Cross. All human life, not to say all the news fit to print, is certainly there, albeit written up in florid Victorian prose – great events, horrible murders reported in exhaustive detail, celebrity gossip, as well as the occasional intrusion into private grief.

For example:

Following the death of Grace Darling, the lighthouse keeper's daughter who had become a heroine for rescuing shipwrecked passengers off the coast of Northumberland, the editor of the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette sneered in the sort of tone to be heard any day now on blogsites: "We wonder our contemporaries do not know better than to suppose the public are generally interested in the health of this peasant."

And as for scandals, the British Chronicle in September 1790 had a ripe one about an unnamed peer who fancied his valet's wife and sent the servant off on an errand which would take him away overnight. The valet was suspicious, hid near his wife's apartment and locked the couple in when he heard his employer enter, before heading off to the peer's wife's chamber on a similar mission. "In the morning gentle readers you may picture to yourselves the confusion of the whole family: his lordship was found locked in the arms of Mrs Anne and her ladyship was discovered in the same situation with Mr Thomas."

Here is the link

http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/

When I worked for British Telecom the Newspaper Library was in my ‘area’ and I was fortunate enough to work there on several occasions and it was a fascinating place and of course in those days there were no ‘soft’ copies of the newspapers, just the actual newspapers.

Golf and racism, it’s just not cricket.

2011-11-07T11:38:00.002+01:00

I don’t know if you follow golf but the big story of the last couple of weeks is the racist remark made by Tiger Woods former caddie Steve Williams at the recent "caddie of the year" ceremony

The caddie described his new employer's triumph at the time as the "greatest victory of my career". When asked to explain why he had made such an obvious exaggeration given that he had caddied Woods to 13 major championship wins, Williams said: "I wanted to shove it up that black arsehole."

Williams conceded in a public apology that his remarks, which were made in front of 200 players, caddies and officials at a "caddie of the year" ceremony, "could be construed as racist" and added: "However, that was not my intent."

Despite this admission, a statement issued jointly by the US PGA and European Tours on Sunday made it clear that Williams will not be punished: "[We feel] strongly there is no place for any form of racism in ours or any other sport. We consider the remarks of Steve Williams, as reported, entirely unacceptable in whatever context. We are aware that he has apologised and we trust we will not hear such remarks again. Based on this, we consider the matter closed."

Racism is without a doubt vile, obnoxious and incredibly stupid. I have lived in many countries and the population of each is made up of roughly the same proportion of the good, the bad and the ugly. Anyone who has any knowledge of the history of mankind with it’s continuous migrations across continents realises, that despite outward appearances we are all basically the same and to claim that people from one particular place are somehow intrinsically superior to the rest of humanity is insane.

Back to the golf.

Steve Williams made a great deal of money whilst caddying for Tiger Woods, well in excess of ten million dollars and his remarks at the very least smell of ingratitude.

Steve Williams is from New Zealand, whose idea of culture is The Haka.

With regards to the remark itself.

"I wanted to shove it up that black arsehole."

I thought that Steve Williams was referring anatomically to what he wanted to do with the trophy that his golfer had just won.

Unlike a great number of ‘ladies’, (if you believe the press) I am not familiar with the colour of Tiger Woods nether regions but I do suspect judging by the parts normally visible to the public, they are probably quite dark, so in that area alone Steve Williams was making an accurate statement.

And finally:

Tiger Woods ethnic background is, and in no particular order. Chinese, Thai, Native American, African American and Dutch. So if anyone wanted to racially insult Tiger Woods, why pick on the African American part? Why can't they be a little more imaganitive and feel free to indulge their own petty brand of xenophobia in a more creative way.

Syria and the Arab League

2011-10-29T11:24:00.000+02:00

The Arab League has sent an "urgent message" to the Syrian government, denouncing "the continued killings of civilians" taking part in protests.

The league's ministerial committee on the Syrian crisis also urged Damascus to "take the necessary measures" to protect civilians.

The ministers also said that they had held "frank and friendly" talks with President Assad on Wednesday.

This is the same tone used by a parent in a supermarket to their small child as they slide down a shopping aisle on their stomach.

“Don’t do that Tarquin, otherwise mummy will get cross in a minute.”

If the videos just beginning to surface of Gaddafi’s capture, showing him being beaten, repeatedly stabbed in the arse with a knife and then finally being shot in the head don’t persuade Assad to go, somehow I don’t think that a ‘frank and friendly’ chat with the Arab League will do it.

Gaddafi, what, no exit plan?

2011-10-21T12:36:00.000+02:00

Now, I’m not a dictator, mad or otherwise but if I was running a country I’d make bloody sure that I had an exit plan in place for when the people turned on me.

You know what fickle ungrateful bastards the people can be, just ask that nice Mr Mubarak who was running Egypt for 30 years.

Hussein’s exit plan was to hide in a hole covered by a sheet of polystyrene; Gaddafi’s to hide in a drainage pipe and then hope that the person who finds you has a sense of humour. But these pale into insignificance when compared to Hitler’s exit plan. Which was to wait in a cellar in Berlin until the Russians surround it and then marry your long-standing significant other, poison the dog and then commit suicide. Me, I’d have a private jet fuelled up and ready to go at the slightest whiff of popular unrest, a villa in the Caymans and a Swiss bank account.

Bob Buckman’s obituary

2011-10-19T10:13:00.000+02:00

Extract from Bob Buckman’s obituary in today’s Independent.

Robert Alexander Amiel Buckman, doctor, writer, presenter and performer: born London 22 August 1948; Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto; married 1977 Joan-Ida van den Ende (two daughters), secondly Patricia Shaw (two sons); died 9 October 2011.

Buckman was born in London, where his father was an import-export trader and his mother a barrister. He gained a love of acting while attending University College School and, at the age of 13, even appeared in the West End as the Midshipmite in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera HMS Pinafore (Savoy Theatre, 1961).

After graduating in medicine from St John's College, Cambridge, Buckman became a junior doctor at University College Hospital, London. Alongside his work and stage appearances with Beetles, he contributed scripts to the television sitcom Doctor on the Go (1977) and the satirical radio series Week Ending. He and Beetles also appeared in The Secret Policeman's Ball, the 1979 Amnesty International fund-raising comedy gala at Her Majesty's Theatre.

During his early years in Canada, he continued to be seen occasionally in Where There's Life, contributing reports from across the Atlantic. He also presented two ITV series of The Buckman Treatment (1986, 1989), surveying "the American way of health".

Later, he wrote and fronted the What You Really Need to Know About... series of films (1993-2000) aimed at patients and made by Video Arts, John Cleese's production company. Then, they launched the Videos for Patients series, whose releases in 2000 covered illnesses such as Parkinson's disease. Each would begin with a doctor-patient scenario acted out by Cleese and Buckman, before the humorous doctor explained the medical facts.

As well as being the author of more than a dozen books – includingNot Dead Yet: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Robert Buckman (1999) – Buckman contributed to Punch magazine and the Toronto newspapers The Globe & Mail and the Star. In 1999, five years after winning the Canadian Humanist of the Year award, he became president of the Humanist Association of Canada.

Buckman never fulfilled his greatest ambition, which he once revealed to be to meet his first great-great-great-grandchild. He died in his sleep on a transatlantic flight from London to Toronto after a week spent making a series of short films titled Top Ten Tips for Health.

I am always amazed when I read an obituary like this, how on earth do people find the time and talent to achieve so much?

I remember watching Bob Buckman in a TV series in the 1970’s called the The Pink Medicine Show and for some obscure reason one sketch has stuck in my mind.

A patient is lying in bed and a doctor ask if he has any problems, only one replies the patient, my bowels. What’s wrong? Asks the doctor. Aren’t you regular? Oh no replies the patient, every morning at seven o’clock. So what’s the problem? Asks the doctor. I don’t wake up until eight o’clock. Replies the patient.

2011-10-11T10:16:00.000+02:00

The government is to announce that the Olympic Stadium deal with West Ham and Newham Council has collapsed, sources say.
Legal challenges by Tottenham and Leyton Orient, plus an anonymous complaint to the European Commission, have led to fears that court action could drag on for years while the stadium remains empty.
A ministerial statement is expected around noon, saying that the stadium will remain in public ownership and leased out to an anchor tenant following a new tender process.
It is likely that under the new tender process any costs of transforming the stadium after the 2012 Games will be covered by the Olympic Park Legacy Company. Prospective tenants will then be asked to bid for the stadium with the running track remaining in place.
The tenants would pay an annual rent to the OPLC, which could actually prove to be less costly for the likes of West Ham.

Several points spring to mind on reading this.
Why does anyone bid for the olympics? It always results in over spending, debt burdens and stadiums that no one wants.
Prestige?
It must be a huge comfort for the Greeks as they approach financial ruin to look back upon the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Legacy?
The Olympic village will be turned into housing. Why do you need to host an Olympics to spend money on housing and infrastructure? I'd settle for the amount of money they spend on bidding for the Olympics to be spent on housing and infrastucture.
The east end of London will have a 60,000 seater athletic stadium that no one wants, but apparantly it will be usefull in our bid for the 2017 world athletics championships.
Finally on a footballing note. I have watched football at stadiums with running / dog tracks around them: The old Wembley, the old Stamford Bridge and the Olympic Stadium in Munich (a stadium that Bayern München couldn't get out off quickly enough) and to put it mildly from a spectator's view point they were all terrible.

I'm not psychic but.......

2011-10-10T21:10:00.000+02:00

To follow up on a previous blog:

Sally Morgan ‘Psychic Sally’ who was accused of being a charlatan has apparently been filmed wearing what appears to be a hidden earpiece.
She launched a spirited defence after being accused of having information fed to her during performances - and has threatened legal action against anyone who repeats the claims.
A new video on YouTube shows the entertainer walking off stage after a show in which she appeared to communicate with some of her audience's dead relatives.
She can be seen taking wires out of both her ears. The device in her right ear is a microphone but a second black earpiece is also taken out of her left ear.
During the stage show itself, a side-on close up of Sally's head appears to show something black sitting inside Sally's left ear.

Now I'm not psychic but I suspect that the last place that 'Psychic Sally' wants to appear in is a court of law. A court of law depends on evidence and tangible proof, both of which are alien concepts to 'Psychic Sally'.

2011-10-06T22:17:00.000+02:00

Hellraiser Courtney Love opens up about her tragic husband Kurt Cobain in a frank interview with Vanity Fair.
The 47-year-old mother says she still carries anger that Cobain killed himself back in 1994 by shooting himself in the head.
Speaking to the publication, the Hole singer mused that she would 'kill' the Nirvana frontman if 'he came back right now'.

There's not a lot you can add to that.

Reminds me of what George Best's ex wife, Angie said when she heard of his death.
'It was the last thing I thought he'd do.'

2011-09-30T10:07:00.001+02:00

Bahrain, Errol Flynn and Bernie Ecclestone.

From todays Guardian Newspaper:

Twenty Bahraini medics who treated activists wounded during anti-government protests were jailed for between five and 15 years in sentences that were immediately denounced by medical bodies and human rights groups around the world.
The sentences were handed down by a military court set up to handle the trials, which stemmed from an Arab spring-inspired uprising in the country in February and March. It was crushed with the help of armies from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Thirteen of the doctors and nurses received sentences of 15 years in prison, while another seven received terms of five to 10 years.
All of the accused were charged with committing crimes against the state, during an uprising they insist was peaceful and popularly inspired.
Most worked at the Salmaniya Medical Centre in Manama, which became a focal point of the uprising. Government officials claimed it had been transformed into a base for a plot to overthrow the 200-year-old monarchy.
The formal charges were for stealing medicine, possessing weapons and occupying a government hospital. The medics were also accused of "inciting hatred to the regime and insulting it, instigating hatred against another sect and obstructing the implementation of law, destroying public property and taking part in gatherings aimed at jeopardising the general security and committing crimes."
The doctors, all of whom denied the charges, were among dozens arrested for joining protests led by Bahrain's Shia majority against the government headed by the country's ruling Sunni minority.
The protests were quickly cast by Bahrain's government as a sectarian plot ordered by Iran. The crackdown that followed the demonstrations led to the imposition of martial law and the Gulf Co-operation Council sending troops to the island state.

Now, I’ve always been under the impression that doctors swore (or at least, paid lip service to) The Hippocratic Oath, which basicaly means that they treat anyone that requires medical attention regardless of colour, creed, politics or religion but soley on the persons need for medical attention.

(In America recently a doctor saved the life of a murderer on death row who had suffered a heart attack, the fact that he was over seventy years old and in a wheelchair didn’t deter the doctor from performing his duties. And so the man was in a fit state when the following week they executed him.)

So that’s the Bahrain part of the title of the Blog taken care of, so on to Bernie.
Bernie Ecclestone as the man in charge of Formula One should step up and take a morale decision not to run one of his races in this poor, in everyway, apart from financialy, excuse for a country.

And now before you ask; where does Errol Flynn come into this? Well in 1935 he made a movie called, Captain Blood, based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini.
The film starts as follows:
In seventeenth century England, Doctor Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) is convicted of treason against the King for aiding a wounded friend who had participated in the Monmouth Rebellion in accordance with his professional duties. He is sentenced to death, but by the whim of King James II, Peter Blood is sold into slavery in the English colony of Port Royal in the West Indies.

Which brings us right back to the medics in Bahrain.

For those of you who are interseted, the rest of the film goes something like this:
Peter Blood is bought by Olivia De Havilland, treats the Governer’s foot, escapes, becomes a pirate, kills Basil Rathbone in a duel, returns to Port Royal just in time to save it, is rewarded by being appointed Governer & then gets to shag Olivia De Havilland. And all in under two hours.

2011-09-26T11:37:00.008+02:00

No happy medium as Psychic Sally 'sidekick' prompts outrage.

An extract from the Irish Independent Tuesday September 13 2011 by By Ken Sweeney and Kevin Keane.

They were 'hearing voices' but not the ones they had been hoping for.

Dublin's Grand Canal Theatre last night denied allegations that a spiritual medium was being fed lines while on stage on Sunday night.

More than 2,000 people watched TV star Sally Morgan, alias 'Psychic Sally, seeming to make contact with the spiritual world at the sell-out performance.

However, callers to RTE's 'Liveline' yesterday allege a voice at the back of the auditorium was relaying information to the 58-year-old while she was on stage.

"The first half of the show went really well but when the second half started we could clearly hear a man's voice coming from the window behind us," caller 'Sue' told 'Liveline' yesterday.

"Everything he said, the psychic would say 10 seconds later. It was as if she was having the information relayed to her."

The audience member said a number of people in her row heard the man speaking, but when an usher heard him, the window closed and the voice disappeared.

There are several explanations for this story.

1. The people who claimed to hear someone relaying information to Sally Morgan were lying.

2. The man in the room at the back of the hall was psychic and knew what Sally Morgan was going to say ten seconds before she said it.

3. Sally Morgan isn't really psychic and it's all just a con.

My money's on number 3.

2011-09-26T11:31:00.002+02:00

Anyone that follows my blog will have noticed that there’s been a bit of a gap between postings.

Unfortunately at the beginning of 2010, my wife was taken suddenly and extremely ill, a condition from which she is making a slow recovery, so writing blogs has not been too high on my personal agenda.

Fortunately I now have more free time on my hands because a couple of months ago, my company made me redundant. My boss explained to me that in order to safeguard the future of the company. (A company which has a net income in the region of 1.5 billion dollars and has just increased the CEO’s, ‘compensation’ to almost 20 million dollars.)It was vital to move 6 jobs, including mine, from Germany to the Czech Republic.

Just to explain to those that might not have read my blog before, if I see an article in the popular press that I find interseting I comment on it and hopefully start a meaningful debate.

2008-04-10T17:45:00.001+02:00

First S Korean astronaut launches

The Soyuz rocket carrying South Korea's first astronaut, Yi So-yeon, has launched successfully on its voyage to the International Space Station

They were going to send a dog but they ate it.

2007-11-15T11:50:00.000+01:00

From the BBC.

Bike sex man placed on probation

A man caught trying to have sex with his bicycle has been sentenced to three years on probation.
Robert Stewart, 51, admitted a sexually aggravated breach of the peace by conducting himself in a disorderly manner and simulating sex.
Sheriff Colin Miller also placed Stewart on the Sex Offenders Register for three years.
Mr Stewart was caught in the act with his bicycle by cleaners in his bedroom at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr.
Gail Davidson, prosecuting, told Ayr Sheriff Court: "They knocked on the door several times and there was no reply.
"They used a master key to unlock the door and they then observed the accused wearing only a white t-shirt, naked from the waist down.
"The accused was holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."
Both cleaners, who were "extremely shocked", told the hostel manager who called police.
Sheriff Colin Miller told Stewart: "In almost four decades in the law I thought I had come across every perversion known to mankind, but this is a new one on me. I have never heard of a 'cycle-sexualist'."
Stewart had denied the offence, claiming it was caused by a misunderstanding after he had too much to drink.
The bachelor had been living in the hostel since October 2006 after moving from his council house in Girvan.
He now lives in Ayr.

This certainly gives a new meaning to the phrase. 'On yer bike.'

A few points to consider:

He was perfrorming the act in the privacy of his own room and anyone who has ever stayed in a hotel knows that cleaning staff often enter your room after the quietest knock, particularly if the 'Do not disturb' sign is on the door handle.

Was the bicycle consenting? and was it a man or a lady's bike, ie where was the crossbar?

He should have said. 'He was just recycling.'

This reminds me of a story I read many years ago; a man was accursed of rape and he denied the charge, his defence being that that the woman was known as the Cropley bicycle.
I can't remember if he was acquitted or not but I suspect, if that was his only defence, not but you never know because with Britain's rape laws it's almost impossible to get a conviction.
They're almost as bad as the Islamic decrees known collectively as the Hudood ordinances.
The laws, include a clause stating that to prove rape, a woman must have at least four male witnesses. If the woman fails to provide proof, she herself faces the charge of adultery.

It's things like that, that make you realise that a man screwing a bicycle in an Ayr hotel room isn't that mad.

2007-11-05T21:11:00.000+01:00

Jehovah's Witness mother dies after refusing blood transfusion
Fred Attewill
Monday November 5, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

A 22-year-old mother died just hours after giving birth to twins because doctors were forbidden from giving her a blood transfusion as a Jehovah's Witness.
Emma Gough's family, including her Jehovah's Witness husband, Anthony, 24, refused to overrule her wishes and she died after losing blood.
Mr Gough was reported to be looking after the couple's twin boy and girl at his home in Telford, Shropshire, following the tragedy at the Royal Hospital in Shrewsbury on October 25.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe the bible explicitly bans its followers from receiving blood, even in an emergency.
Peter Welsh, the couple's best man when they married two years ago, told the Sun: "Everybody is devastated by what has happened.
"We can't believe she died in childbirth in this day and age, with all the technology there is. What makes it even more sad is Emma had time to hold and start to bond with her twins before complications set in."
He added: "Anthony is in pieces."
Terry Lovejoy, a spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses in Telford, said today that the local religious community had offered support to the bereaved family.
He said: "We are supporting the family - they are going through a very difficult time and we understand their grief."
The hospital had refused to discuss the case and it is not yet known why Mrs Gough died.
An inquest into the death has been opened and adjourned, according to the coroner's department in Shrewsbury.

Peter Welsh, the couple's best man when they married two years ago, told the Sun: "Everybody is devastated by what has happened. "We can't believe she died in childbirth in this day and age, with all the technology there is. What makes it even more sad is Emma had time to hold and start to bond with her twins before complications set in." He added: "Anthony is in pieces."

I'll tell you what I can't believe.
I can't believe that in this day and age there are still people who believe in fairy stories and allow their lives to be ruled by superstitious mumbo jumbo.

2007-08-07T14:31:00.000+02:00

Traditional Dandy comic ditched.

From the BBC:

The world's longest running comic, The Dandy, has ceased to exist in its traditional format.
The weekly title has been changed to a fortnightly magazine called Dandy Xtreme.

'Too busy'

Dandy editor Craig Graham said: "Following extensive research, we discovered The Dandy readers were struggling to schedule a weekly comic into their hectic lives. They just didn't have enough time.
"They're too busy gaming, surfing the net or watching TV, movies and DVDs." Mr Graham added: "They still enjoyed The Dandy, but if they were going to buy it themselves they expected more than just 'a comic my dad used to read'.
"They required a guide, packed with the stuff kids need to know to stay in the loop - a lifestyle magazine attuned to their hectic lives, featuring all the latest trends, must-haves, must-sees and must-dos.

I’ve read some marketing bullshit in my time but ‘The Dandy readers were struggling to schedule a weekly comic into their hectic lives’ has to take the prize.
The readers they are talking about are mostly pre teenage boys; they do not need a ‘lifestyle magazine attuned to their hectic lives’
So please, as Bill Hicks used to say. ‘If you’re in marketing, kill yourself.’

2007-06-14T02:27:00.000+02:00

Woman jailed for testicle attack.

From the BBC

A woman who ripped off her ex-boyfriend's testicle with her bare hands has been sent to prison.

Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage when Geoffrey Jones, 37, rejected her advances at the end of a house party, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
She pulled off his left testicle and tried to swallow it, before spitting it out. A friend handed it back to Mr Jones saying: "That's yours."
She said: "It was never my intention to cause harm to Geoff and the fact that I have caused him injury will live with me forever. I am in no way a violent person."

Mr Jones must be thinking how lucky he is that Miss Monti is ‘in no way a violent person’. I shudder to think what might have happened if she was violent. But it does go to show, that even in this age of spin, some bollocks is hard to swallow.

2007-02-26T14:24:00.000+01:00

Morelli's ice cream founder dies

Angelo Morelli, founder of the famous Morelli ice cream brand in Portstewart, Northern Ireland, has died. He was 99.

You probably have to be British to think this funny.

2007-01-26T13:46:00.000+01:00

From The Guardian.

Mystery of Briton's death in Lourdes
By John Lichfield and Jen Wright in Paris
Published: 26 January 2007
A British woman, aged 45, lay dead for five months in her French home while her elderly mother concealed the death from her 12-year-old daughter, it emerged yesterday.

The deeply religious family had moved to Lourdes in the south of France five years ago, hoping that the younger woman, Marian Therese, would be cured of cancer. When she died in September, her mother, 78, described as a "mystic", hid the fact from the granddaughter. She took her to school every day and told her that mummy was too "tired" to see her.

A teacher became suspicious when the girl stopped mentioning her family. She alerted police who went to the house and found the body.

The girl's father, estranged from the mother for several years, is believed to have flown to France yesterday to bring his daughter back. French authorities plan to bring no legal action against the grandmother. They said she was a deeply religious woman, who "refused conventional medical treatment, took refuge in prayer and awaited the resurrection of Christ". She was said to have been deeply relieved when police came to the house and showed them the body of her daughter.

Lourdes is one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world. A local peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, reported 18 visions of the Virgin Mary in or near the Pyrenean town in 1858. Since then, hundreds of people have claimed miraculous cures after visiting Lourdes.

Neighbours said the British family was quiet and friendly. One said: "The old lady should be pitied more than anything. She must have thought she was doing the right thing."

2007-01-03T11:26:00.000+01:00

Pat Robertson Predicts 'Mass Killing'

Wednesday January 3, 2007 9:01 AM

AP Photo NYOL981

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in ``mass killing'' late in 2007.

``I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear,'' he said during his news-and-talk television show ``The 700 Club'' on the Christian Broadcasting Network. ``The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.''

Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September.

Robertson said God also told him that the U.S. only feigns friendship with Israel and that U.S. policies are pushing Israel toward ``national suicide.''

Robertson suggested in January 2006 that God punished then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a stroke for ceding Israeli-controlled land to the Palestinians.

The broadcaster predicted in January 2004 that President Bush would easily win re-election. Bush won 51 percent of the vote that fall, beating Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

In 2005, Robertson predicted that Bush would have victory after victory in his second term. He said Social Security reform proposals would be approved and Bush would nominate conservative judges to federal courts.

Lawmakers confirmed Bush's 2005 nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. But the president's Social Security initiative was stalled.

``I have a relatively good track record,'' he said. ``Sometimes I miss.''

In May, Robertson said God told him that storms and possibly a tsunami were to crash into America's coastline in 2006. Even though the U.S. was not hit with a tsunami, Robertson on Tuesday cited last spring's heavy rains and flooding in New England as partly fulfilling the prediction.

With reference to the quote:

``I have a relatively good track record,'' he said. ``Sometimes I miss.''

Repeatedly in the article Robertson says God told him, so when Robertson says:

``Sometimes I miss.''

He is saying sometimes God misses.

As God is depicted by Robertson as the supreme, all knowing being, how is this possible?

Maybe, Robertson is lying when he says he talks to God or possibly he is just a mad self deluding fuck head.

2006-11-27T11:35:00.000+01:00

From the BBC:

Bookcase 'trap' killed US woman

The body of a missing US woman has been found by her family, wedged upside down behind a bookcase in her room.
Mariesa Weber, 38, is believed to have fallen over and become trapped as she tried to reach behind the bookcase to adjust the plug for a TV set.

Her family spent nearly two weeks searching for her, fearing she had been kidnapped from the house she shared with them in Florida.

Ms Weber may have died of suffocation, a local police spokesman said.

Her death was not being treated as suspicious, the spokesman said.

Ms Weber's parents last saw her alive in the family house on 28 October.

Unable to locate her after that, the family contacted the police, fearing she had been abducted.

Her body was eventually discovered when her sister noticed a foot protruding behind the bookcase in her bedroom.

"I'm sleeping in the same house as her for 11 days, looking for her. And she's right in the bedroom," the woman's mother, Connie Weber, told the St Petersburg Times newspaper.

The family told the newspaper they had noticed a strange smell from her room but had blamed it on rats.

They told the paper their daughter's light weight and petite frame may have contributed to her death.

"She's a little thing," her mother reportedly said. "And the bookcase is 6ft tall and solid. And she couldn't get out."

I'm not sure about the police where you live but if I report a missing person, I'm pretty sure they'll ask the question, 'Have you looked in their room?' and how long does it take to notice a foot sticking out from behind a bookcase?
Just think, if they'd only shopped at IKEA (where no bookcase is solid) the tragedy would never have happened.

2006-10-17T15:50:00.000+02:00

From the BBC:

Human species 'may split in two'

Humanity may split into an elite and an underclass, says Dr Curry
Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said.
Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.

The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology.

People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added.

The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.

Race 'ironed out'

But in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims.

Physical appearance, driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility, will improve, he says, while men will exhibit symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises.

Women, on the other hand, will develop lighter, smooth, hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair, and even features, he adds. Racial differences will be ironed out by interbreeding, producing a uniform race of coffee-coloured people.

However, Dr Curry warns, in 10,000 years time humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology.

Spoiled by gadgets designed to meet their every need, they could come to resemble domesticated animals.

Receding chins

Social skills, such as communicating and interacting with others, could be lost, along with emotions such as love, sympathy, trust and respect. People would become less able to care for others, or perform in teams.

Physically, they would start to appear more juvenile. Chins would recede, as a result of having to chew less on processed food.

There could also be health problems caused by reliance on medicine, resulting in weak immune systems. Preventing deaths would also help to preserve the genetic defects that cause cancer.

Further into the future, sexual selection - being choosy about one's partner - was likely to create more and more genetic inequality, said Dr Curry.

The logical outcome would be two sub-species, "gracile" and "robust" humans similar to the Eloi and Morlocks foretold by HG Wells in his 1895 novel The Time Machine.

"While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity over the next millennium, there is a possibility of a monumental genetic hangover over the subsequent millennia due to an over-reliance on technology reducing our natural capacity to resist disease, or our evolved ability to get along with each other, said Dr Curry

I like the sound of the bigger penises & pert breasts but I do suspect that the 'dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures' are already with us.