Strangely Perfect

How Bad was Thatcher’s Recession compared to the Current Economic Slump? Q. Well, how would you find out, exactly? A. Surprisingly easily.  This graph here compares historical economic slumps with the current one, on a month by month basis.  It’s taken from the “National Institute of Economic and Social Research” (NIESR) website here.  Notionally, it’s [...]

Introduction Professor Noel Sharkey from Sheffield, better known as one of the judges on the BBCTV show “Robot Wars” knows a thing or two about robots and artificial intelligence.  He’s made a plea for more debate about the use of robot planes in warfare. (see link) He’s said, “An international debate is needed on the [...]

Exploring the Simultaneous Nature of Cause & Effect Star Trek: The Next Generation: Finale, Episode – “All Good Things…” I’ve just watched the double episode finale to the TNG Picard series just after the cyclists finished their ascent of Mont Ventoux in this years Tour de France.  It was “All Good Things…”(see link, link & [...]

Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, aged 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, is a member of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, from Fort Richardson, Alaska.  He was captured in circumstances that aren’t clear and has appeared in a Taliban video (prev at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-soldier20-2009jul20,0,4913063.story), seen world-wide. So far, it appears [...]

Introduction You may not have noticed the co-incidence yesterday, but an Iranian aircraft crashed and the US Space Shuttle took off.  the co-incidence was in  the strange reporting that envelops such events. Iranian Crash This, as air crashes go, was pretty ordinary – something went wrong, it crashed, everyone died.  You’d expect some reasoned discussion, [...]

While walking the dog yesterday, it suddenly dawned on me that I’d spotted the World’s Worst Oxymoron.  It’s the latest Tory election slogan.  Remember, that ‘Tory’ (the self-styled nickname of a conservative) actually means terrorist! Vote for Change.  Vote Conservative This of course follows hot on the heels of my previous favourites of Military Intelligence [...]

Harriet Harman For the last week or so, the highly paid Paxman has become obviously annoyed at the continuous devious behaviour from every politician he’s interviewed.  They all say “we understand the public’s anguish” – but, as Paxman notes, they do fuck all about it.  As many have noted, if you go into a shop and [...]

Two items in the news concurrently today, and when I saw them, for each one the phrase that popped into my head was; Well that’s the Pot calling the Kettle Black! Firstly: The Pope warns of the Misuse of Religion Here, the pope has made a speech in an Amman mosque, and yes, it’s all [...]

It’s funny how things change and how the world has different perceptions of a people.  You see, people have long memories. Somali Pirates Vow Revenge on U.S., France on Rescues – is the news currently.  Also, the Somalis have taken pot-shots at a US politician in Mogadishu according to Voice of America. This all flies [...]

Highlighting the Differences in Public Health provision, the Attitudes to Death and Responsibilities of the State and the Individual to Public Welfare. The title is the biggest bit – trust me. Introduction This takes us from today’s news from America and the Duffy’s Cut project to a tiny hamlet in Northumberland, England, called Throckrington. Duffy’s [...]

Gary McKinnon, the UFO spotter cum computer hacker is still not tried for his ‘offence’.  But the ice he’s treading is getting thinner and thinner. Recently our nice CPS deemed that there wasn’t enough UK evidence to try him – but that the USA had plenty so we’ll send him there! His charge, which I [...]

WARNING:  This Posting Contains Illegal Pictures I Can Be Imprisoned for Publishing Them. A little realised consequence of Bush’s ‘war on terror’ and the ramping up of common hysteria across the English speaking western world is, bizarrely, that it’s now illegal to take pictures of people commemorating, in a patriotic symbolic way, the lives and [...]

It Goes From Bad to Worse! RBS In a completely passive demonstration of non-government and how toothless our government’s words are, it’s now been shown that not only does former RBS gaffer, Fred Goodwin get a massive pension of ~£33k monthly take-home, but the pot from which it’s being taken is already £2 billion under-funded!! [...]

British Torture and Denial of Human Rights On the day that some Serbian leaders were convicted and others released as free men following charges for war crimes, (see Kosovo trial clears Serbia leader ), a UK minister, John Hutton, has “apologised for previously incorrect answers to MPs” (I’d call that lying in a normal language), and [...]