Archive
Ripped
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26351457
When it takes Amazon to show the best ‘brains’ in the BBC the error of their ways, you know that something’s badly wrong.
Alastair Darling champions Canadian teachers
Of all the bloody stupid bluster we’ve seen over the last few days, this may rank as the bloody stupidest! Beyond doubt independence will be followed in short order by a new Scottish National Lottery; I predict that this will run on a not for profit basis, unlike Lotto, where 10p of every £2 stake (and that’s a lot of pennies) goes to the operator Camelot, which is owned, bizarrely, by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund.
Given that Scots are inveterate punters, it is entirely possible that Scottish charities will gain in net lottery disbursements.
Royal appointment
Note for the diary if you live near the Queen: on March 27, at 7:30pm, I’m appearing at the annual crime festival organised by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, venue Windsor Guildhall. Click on this link for ticket sales.
http://tickets.windsor.gov.uk/Sales/events/festival-of-crime-writing
DLT OK
In another debacle by the Crown Prosecution Service, Dave Lee Travis, the venerable radio presenter, has been acquitted of twelve of fourteen counts of indecent assault, with the jury unable to reach verdicts on the other two charges against him.
As a correspondent observed recently, CPS appears to stand for ‘Couldn’t Prosecute Satan’. However the comedic side of all this is removed when one considers the financial burden of proving their innocence for William Roache, Michael Le Vell, and now DLT, and alongside that the cost to the public purse of these lengthy and abortive trials.
This is how the justice machine works in England, or rather, how it doesn’t.
Yes for Scotland
Wreck
Someone just told me about the Miley Cyrus ‘Wrecking Ball’ video. If I was Billy Ray, I wouldn’t be pleased
Puzzling
Spotted recently in Newcastle Station. So what does it mean? If you turn up on time but the doors are closed we ain’t going to help you board?
Cleared
I’ve just read that William Roache, AKA Ken Barlow, has been acquitted on all charges brought against him. From what I’ve been able to glean from the reports of the trial, this has not come as a surprise to me, nor, I suspect, to anyone else who has been studying it.
Coming on top of the farcical trial of Michael Le Vell, another Coronation Street actor, on similar charges, and his acquittal, this must raise very serious questions about the judgment and competence of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Asparagus in Evesham
www.asparawritingfestival.co.uk
I’m involved in this very interesting new project in April. It’s set in a beautiful location and well worth supporting.
Sad comparison
We travelled on two trains yesterday; in comfort in ordinary Turista on the Spanish AVE from Figueres to Barcelona, then in a shoddy and under-catered First Class carriage on Cross Country from Newcastle to Dunbar. UK train operators are taking the piss, they really are.
Music while I work
Paul Rodgers : The Royal Sessions. I don’t throw the word ‘great’ around too much, but he surely is. Album of the year, and it’s only just February. So good I’ve got to stop working and concentrate on it.
When your van is a joke
I have a fascination for TV ads that are really crap. For example the Victor Chandler Series, or those awful Wonga creations. But for me the bottom of the quality league at the moment is a commercial for something called Vanarama. If I had the need for a van, for sure I would go nowhere near a company that could commission something as terrible as that.
Top of my quality league at the moment? Probably Thomson Holidays’ ‘The Story of Simon the Ogre.’
Value for money
The BBC told me this morning that the Royal Family costs the British taxpayer £31m a year, and that The Firm is under pressure to cut costs.
In its last financial year, the BBC cost the British taxpayer, through the euphemistically named Licence Fee, £3,656m.
Make what you will of that.
Little box
Every so often I read or hear a news report of someone having died, and I say ‘Again?’
So it was this morning with Pete Seeger. Back in the early Sixties when we all wore Aran sweaters and sang Clancy Brothers songs when we were steaming, Pete was the great folkie icon. He was a big part of my vinyl collection and most of my discs were played all the way through. The great thing about him in those pre-Dylan days was his ability to write songs about things that mattered, when very other composer did exactly the opposite. If he didn’t invent Bob Dylan, he sure played a big part in his creation.
Then he faded away into old age, and now at 94, he’s gone to the great Hootenanny in the sky. On behalf of my generation, thanks Pete.
The Fearties and the FCO
An excellent piece today by Tom Gordon in the Sunday Herald, revealing a black Foreign Office operation to sabotage the independence campaign is well worth reading. For anyone who thinks it’s far-fetched, it isn’t. Cameron is running scared, no question about it.
There is no overwhelming argument against independence. In my current experience the people who are most vociferously against it are those who fear the taxation consequences, and they, ironically, have the least need to worry about them. If my Scottish passport costs me more in tax each year, I’ll live with that.
Stephen Harper goes too far
Who?
What is a Justin Beiber, and why the hell should we care?
Under the hammer
How do you know when you’re watching too much TV?
It came home to me to me yesterday, when I was looking in on Bargain Hunt, and realised that I’d seen it before.
Time, mates
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25805873
Will my friend Fred in Sydney please tell me whether he is for or against this?
Music While I Work
Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool
Quintin Jardine's blog 