Weggis

Social Darwinism

2012-05-14T21:48:00.001+01:00

Go read Jane's blog - click!

Dear Tena Lady

2012-04-22T21:58:00.000+01:00

If you look back through this blog’s archives you will find that I had a TURP in July 2008. When I left the hospital they gave me a pack of Tena Men, the smallest one’s.

The thing is that when you have been used to not being able to pee, and then suddenly you can, there is the possibility that you will wet your pants until you learn the art of bladder control again. Fortunately, for me, this took no time at all. However, I did, and continue to have the occasional dribble.

Those Tena Men pads, even the smallest ones, are not exactly discreet. Wearing one of these your groin enters the room 30 seconds before the rest of you. What I needed was something to deal with an occasional dribble, not something that can soak up a gallon of liquid similar to Carlsberg Lager.

So, knowing how ladies are much more discerning and demanding of such products I had a look at the Tena Lady range. I found the Ultra Mini (1 drip rating) and this worked fine. Of course I had to position if differently to it’s intended purpose but being rather thin it was very discreet if a little too large.

Then, shortly afterwards, I found the Mini Magic (½ drip rating) and this was just perfect. Pretty much the right shape too. And so I was buying these for some while until ….. they disappeared of the shelves. At first I thought the supermarket had just run out. I tried a different supermarket and the chemist – no joy. I even tried our very helpful new Pharmacy in the High Street who got out a great big book with all the products in and he couldn’t find them in there.

So I had to go back to the Ultra Mini. Not as good but still does the job.

Then, one Saturday afternoon in a state of boredom waiting for the football to start I looked at your website. And I found something called Tena Lights. Not pads, but liners and no picture but worth an investigation. Later that day, in fact about 10pm on my way home I popped into the supermarket for some cigarettes and went to have a look at the Tena shelf. There they were and I bought a pack. I opened the pack and lo and behold they were exactly the same as the Mini Magic, except the peel off bit had a picture of a flower on it. The product had been there on the shelves all the time, with a different name, a different description (liner not pad) and completely different packaging.

So, here’s a tip for all you marketing types.

If you are going to re-launch exactly the same product with a different name, a different description and completely different packaging it is advisable to tell your fucking customers! And to do that you have to know who your customers are, you morons!

Corruptor of the Earth

2012-03-20T23:55:00.000Z

This bloke went home, to Iran, because his father was terminally ill – and got sentenced to death. Why? Because he is a programmer. He wrote some programmes to allow people to upload pictures on the internet. And others used that programme to upload pornogrpahy.

Tech news

Just who is corrupt here?

Quiz Nights

2012-03-02T22:19:00.000Z

Just how do Quiz Nights work these days when everyone has an i-phone and access to the Internet and Wikipedia?

Daydream Believer

2012-02-29T20:12:00.000Z

RIP Davy Jones

Labour Party adopt old BT logo - shock!

2012-01-14T20:00:00.000Z

Little Cock up.

Big Cock Up.

Balls Up

M&S – Customer Review

2011-12-30T19:52:00.000Z

This Christmas I ordered a floral gift to be delivered to my favourite Auntie via the Marks & Spencer website. There was an option to specify the day of delivery which I took advantage of.

Auntie telephoned on the day to say thank you.

Then I get an email from M&S asking for a Customer Review, so I provide one as follows:

“It does what it says on the tin.
It was what I ordered.
It arrived on time.
What more can I ask.”

Several days later I receive another email from M&S saying that my review has been rejected as it does not meet their terms and conditions.

WTF?

If you don’t want honesty then don’t fucking ask.

Happy Christmas?

2011-12-23T20:44:00.000Z

So, what do we make of this?

"How can we remain silent while Christians are being persecuted? A new evil is sweeping the Middle East and the Foreign Office is failing to confront it."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/8973118/How-can-we-remain-silent-while-Christians-are-being-persecuted.html

Or this?

"UNESCO says won't fund Palestinian magazine praising Hitler"

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4165965,00.html

It is the season of goodwill, but I'm not exactly feeling seasonal right now.

Boxing Day

2011-12-20T18:47:00.000Z

"I will smash your car because I'm entitled to..."

Technology sucks

2011-11-28T20:06:00.000Z

I'd get myself one of these fancy iPhone thingies so I could tweet stuff on the move and keep up to date with the football scores .... But I'd need a 17" screen to read it!

Bare Faced Cheek?

2011-10-16T20:20:00.001+01:00

Here is someone claiming to be “Laura Stuart” (we don’t know it’s her because her face is concealed) complaining about other people covering their faces to hide their identity …..

Transcript:

“Some of the things that I find disturbing now, more than the scenes of blood, and the massacre itself are, I happen to live in the Finchley area. And sometimes, when I was looking at the soldiers on the boat, pointing their guns at me, I was thinking, do any of you have dual passports? Do any of you live just down the road for me? I think we need to know that. Were British passport holders in the IDF pointing guns at British citizens? And don’t forget *applause* [...] really this is the one thought I have in my mind, you know, when I pass people in the street, perhaps these men were part of Operation Cast Lead? Or, perhaps they were on that ship? Who are these people? They all cover their faces, they hide their identity so we don’t know who they are. I think we should demand of our government that British citizens shouldn’t be allowed to go overseas and fight in the IDF” *applause* The fact that British passport holders probably took part in OCL surely it makes them party to war crimes which should be investigated. So that’s one avenue I wish we could look at.”

Don't get me wrong here. I have no objection to people (for we know not which gender they are) wearing the Burka - just don't fucking complain when other people do it and it upsets YOU! Of course what she should really be worried about is the Alien Lizards who have taken over the American and Israeli military. (Sarcasm alert in case you didn't spot it)

See here for the antisemitism angle.

The 99%

2011-10-09T17:25:00.000+01:00

When the only thing left for the poor to eat - is the Rich.

From Avaas,

As working families pay the bill for a financial crisis caused by corrupt elites, the protesters are calling for real democracy, social justice and anti-corruption. But they are under severe pressure from authorities, and some media are dismissing them as fringe groups. If millions of us from across the world stand with them, we'll boost their resolve and show the media and leaders that the protests are part of a massive mainstream movement for change.

Thousands of Americans have non-violently occupied Wall St -- an epicentre of global financial power and corruption. They are the latest ray of light in a new movement for social justice that is spreading like wildfire from Madrid to 146 cities and counting, but they need our help to succeed.

The worldwide wave of protest is the latest chapter in this year's story of global people power. In Egypt, people took over Tahrir Square and toppled their dictator. In India, one man's fast brought millions onto the streets and the government to its knees -- winning real action to end corruption. For months, Greek citizens relentlessly protested unfair cuts to public spending. In Spain, thousands of "indignados" defied a ban on pre-election demonstrations and mounted a protest camp in Sol square to speak out against political corruption and the government's handling of the economic crisis. And this summer across Israel, people have built "tent cities" to protest against the rising costs of housing and for social justice.

These national threads are connected by a global narrative of determination to end the collusion of corrupt elites and politicians -- who have in many countries helped cause a damaging financial crisis and now want working families to pay the bill. The mass movement that is responding can not only ensure that the burden of recession doesn't fall on the most vulnerable, it can also help right the balance of power between democracy and corruption. Click to stand with the movement:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/the_world_vs_wall_st/?vl

In every uprising, from Cairo to New York, the call for an accountable government that serves the people is clear, and our global community has backed that people power across the world wherever it has broken out. The time of politicians in the pocket of the corrupt few is ending, and in its place we are building real democracies, of, by, and for people.

When White is Green

2011-09-16T19:23:00.000+01:00

It would appear that some Green bloggers are still under the misapprehension that having a black screen background saves energy. It doesn’t. All it does is make my eyes hurt and make them want to fall out onto my keyboard, and that's apart from the content. And all I do is hit CONTROL A to reverse your settings anyway.

We have moved on somewhat since BBC Model B micros old chaps. So please be nice chaps and move into the 21st century, won’t you.

Here’s the science.

An Open Letter to the Edinburgh University Student Association on Boycotting Israel

2011-09-02T12:01:00.000+01:00

Via Green gordon

"Thought this was worth sharing. It sums up a lot of my views about the way the search for a middle-east peace has been characterised by polarised sides." - Ditto.

(via CIC Scene)

An Open Letter to the Edinburgh University Student Association on Boycotting Israel
March 29, 2011 – 3:25 pm
----------------

Around 270 students at Edinburgh University voted in favour of a motion which described Israel as an apartheid state and called for a boycott of goods. However, the Jewish Chronicle reports that the Edinburgh University Students’ Association has confirmed a proposed boycott of Israeli products will not be enforced.

Here is a strong argument against the boycott, written by an Edinburgh University alumnus:

The Committee

Edinburgh University Student Association

------------------
May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain’s great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University. Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field.

I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSA motion and vote. I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel. That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves.

Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those member of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby. Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I’m not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel. I’m speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a ‘Nazi’ state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nüremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel, precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for. It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of.

Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled things in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is. That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country’s 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha’is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world centre; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population). In Iran, the Baha’is (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren’t your members boycotting Iran?

Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa. They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews – something no blacks could do in South Africa. Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.

In Israel, women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid. Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home. It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran, where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief. Intelligent students thinking it’s better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak. I do not object to well documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it’s clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens. Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world’s freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that protects the Baha’is…. Need I go on? The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott.

I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. As for some speakers. Listen to more than one side. Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and that is to protect them from one-sided argument. They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930s (which, sadly, there was not), don’t you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it? Of course he would, and he would not have stopped there. Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense to you. I have given you some of the evidence. It’s up to you to find out more.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Denis MacEoin

How to Score an Own Goal

2011-09-02T00:14:00.001+01:00

September 1, 2011

Tonight's Israel Philharmonic Prom broadcast on Radio 3 has been suspended by the BBC as a result of demonstrations in the Royal Albert Hall. Around a dozen protestors are thought to have been involved.
As the IPO began the concert the protestors unfurled banners and began to chant anti-Israel slogans. The organisers had claimed that the audience would be subject to full bag searches, specifically to prevent banners being taken in.
After scuffles the protestors were removed by security to the accompaniment of chants of 'out, out, out' by the audience, who then gave the orchestra a standing ovation.
Culture minister, Ed Vaizey, who was in the hall, tweeted 'Demonstrators seem to have turned entire audience pro Israel'.

[My emphasis]

Beware the Beast

2011-08-12T22:12:00.000+01:00

Have you all calmed down now? Apparently not! The politicians and the media commentators are all having a field day with recriminations, blame, knee jerk reactions and ill-advised “analyses” of why the #riots happened and what to do about it. Summary, but not exhaustive:

It’s all about inequality.
      So, please explain why the privileged are also prone to this sort of behaviour – the Bullingdon club and that nice Mr Clegg you keep reminding us about?

It’s the coalition cuts to youth services and youth clubs.
      So, please explain why those youths who avail themselves of Youth clubs were tucked up in bed while those who don’t were out on the streets?

It’s all to do with lack of opportunity, exclusion and poverty.
      So, please explain how the rioters all had Blackberries and were wearing Nike Trainers?

The youth of today are the product of the last Labour Government.
      So, please explain what role their parents played? They were the product of a Conservative government.

It’s too much Liberalism brought in by the last Labour Government.
      So, please explain the riots that occurred before that happened?

It’s too much commercialisation and consumerism.
      Again, please explain the riots that occurred before that happened?

The moral decay is led from the top.
      So, did we not know there was corruption at the top until last Saturday?

I’ll stop there, that’s enough to get the picture. The fact is that all of these things are legitimate topics for debate but have nothing whatsoever to do with what we have witnessed over the past week. And what’s really worrying is that I fear the politicians don’t know this and will just do what they did last time, business as usual, which will make it even more likely that it will not only be repeated more frequently but the impact will be even worse.

If you want to understand the riots, you first have to understand the language they are written in. That language is Mathematics. More specifically, Chaos Theory. Chaos produces clusters – I distinctly remember learning this in Primary School, but I don’t suppose they teach that anymore.

Think about what we witnessed on our TV screens. Looting (that’s burglary), vandalism, arson, muggings, confrontation with the Police, graffiti, Knife crime….. These are all everyday occurrences in most communities, some more than others, but they are spread out and mostly containable. Look at your local press. What Chaos does is to concentrate those things into a short period of time in specific locations and triggered (no pun intended) by the butterfly effect which gives rise to herd mentality.

That’s how Nature works. We forget at our peril that we are all part of that natural system, each of us small atoms rushing around in a giant test tube we know as the Earth. That we can think and rationalise does not mean we can control, merely attempt to understand.

By their very nature those triggers are unpredictable, so we know these things will happen again and again, not when or how often, but whatever our social conditions and whatever political ideology is prevalent at the time.

What to do? Well, we behave like boy scouts. We recognise the danger and we prepare to deal with these outbreaks swiftly, effectively, compassionately and reasonably. Not much to ask is it?

Of course I may be talking out of my arse. WTF do I know?

"Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six" Revelation 13:16-18.

Capital Punishment

2011-08-05T17:44:00.000+01:00

It's all a bit academic. Polls have shown for years that there is a "majority" in favour of it being re-introduced but Parliament has resolutely resisted. They will continue to do so.

Here are a couple of comments that have caught my eye:

Seems rather ironic that the very people who think we're heading for Sharia law in a handcart, are campaigning for the death penalty. - @meralhece

States with: Egypt, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait.
States without: Israel.
Credit where it's due. Although they did execute Eichmann in '61.
Steve

Life as we know it?

2011-07-29T16:40:00.000+01:00

The Tate Modern – BP Protest

2011-07-19T18:41:00.000+01:00

Another day, another BP Oil Spill.

Meanwhile the performing arts were at the Tate Modern.

Frankly, BP should be spending that money, not on trying to clean up their image by sponsoring the Arts, but on preventing the mess they cause in the first place.

South West Essex Greenpeace unfirl their banner from the balcony.

Coming of Age

2011-07-14T21:30:00.000+01:00

The Green Party [of England and Wales] has had a few ups and downs over the years since it was formed as the Ecology Party back in the 1970s. The peak of popularity in the late 1980s [I think] sadly evaporated but there has been steady progress since then.

As in all organisations, and in particular political ones, there is a tension between the Fundamentalists and the Modernisers, and between the relatively small group of Activists (who attend Conference and decide policy) and the Membership at large.

The most recent was the question of having an elected Leader instead of Principal Speakers, one of each sex. There was a clear majority amongst the Activists for the status quo, but an overwhelming majority for change in the ballot of all members.

The Green Party now have an elected Leader, in the form of Caroline Lucas, who is also the one and only Green MP in the House of Commons.

The next change is imminent. There is a clause in the Constitution that when the membership reaches a certain level the party must consider moving to a delegate conference structure. The consequence of this is that Conference decisions are much more likely to reflect the will of the whole membership rather than the assumption that those who have hitherto attended conference are representative of the party as a whole.

This could get interesting, particularly if the will of the party conflicts with the view of the activists. We could see some toys thrown out of prams, but at the end of the day it offers the opportunity for the party to mature into a viable and credible political force on a National scale.

Already we are seeing some signs of maturity and the vision that comes with effective Leadership.

Caroline Lucas appears to have recognised the party’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) on Israel/Palestine and has spoken out against the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s use of a pre-Israel map on its logo as being provocative. The PSC have close links with the party.

And in a second piece in the Jewish Chronical (dubbed by some within the party as J-Crap) she speaks about how the party’s position could be related more sensitively. This is particularly important given that the context of the debate means it can easily, and often does, descend into anti-Semitic discourse. As she says in the piece “"I recognise the language can be an issue."

And so it is! Take these two recent press releases from the Party on the “Flytilla activists” who tried to enter the West Bank at a time when known organised protests were to take place. Very careful, measured and restrained language – “detained”. One. Two.

Then compare with the #NOTW version of the sensationalist elements of the blogsphere. Here the activists were “arrested and unjustly imprisoned, subjected to unfair treatment and beaten up”. [No links - they are not hard to find.] Of course they would say that wouldn’t they? Is it any different to the Students being kettled? Had they tried to break out there would undoubtedly have been some bruises to show the Police had acted unreasonably? Note that the Police here did not put the kettle on for the Teachers…… why was that, I wonder? Something to do with behaviour perhaps?

But to cut back to the core principle of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas is again on the money with her interview for the UK Huffington Post -

“Until recently I think the wider green movement and the green party included in it were too much focused, understandably, to waking people up to the climate crisis that would be rather than attracting people by painting a positive picture of what a zero carbon economy could look like. And I think fear isn’t a great motivating influence.”
For her, the green movement is about improving people’s lives – tackling the problem of fuel poverty, creating jobs and growth.

As the man said, "May you Live in interesting times".

Fascinating

2011-06-24T17:54:00.000+01:00

Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history? Pretty much everyone. Egyptians, Turks, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Persians, Europeans...the list goes on. Who will control the Middle East today? That is a much bigger question.

Meals per Gallon

2011-05-14T22:47:00.000+01:00

As Easy as 1-2-3

2011-04-24T11:28:00.000+01:00

Was it all a DReam?

2011-04-18T17:32:00.013+01:00

I could have sworn there was a General Election last year [2010] when NuLab were defeated and replaced by a ConDem coalition, but it appears not.

Or maybe the rumours are true. NuLab are Alien Lizards who can morph into different shapes and have taken over the government once again……. George is really Gordo and Vince is Alistair?

Greens Slam Chancellor's PFI plans

Another U-turn by the coalition Government

The Green Party is appalled by the news that George Osborne is to press ahead with 61 PFI (private finance initiatives) when in opposition he denounced them as poor value for money. The 61 projects worth a staggering £6.9 billion have been taken forward since the general election by the coalition Government.

The Labour Party embraced PFI, funding public services and infrastructure through private finance, and now the Coalition Government are continuing the practice, which effectively pushes the costs of these services and infrastructure into the future, so keeping them off the balance sheets. This builds up debt for future generations.

Darren Johnson, Trade and Industry spokesperson for the Green Party said today, "In opposition both Osborne and Vince Cable said that PFI was poor value for the taxpayer. The Chancellor described it as 'a discredited model' whilst the Business Secretary called it "a dishonest system of accounting, designed to hide taxpayers' liabilities." Now they are in Government, they intend to press ahead."

The Green Party has likened PFI to a giant scheme of outdoor relief for private contractors, equivalent to buying your house on a credit card.

Darren Johnson concluded, "We would end it."

Things can only get better……..

They sure as hell can, but it appears they won’t.

Not Ben Elton #nojoke

2011-04-18T17:16:00.001+01:00