Anybody actually care for Ashya?

There is a little boy in a hospital somewhere in Spain who has been taken away from his family.  The claim that the family of Ashya King have broken any laws is spurious at best.  We need laws to protect and guide but within those laws we have the right to choose whatever way we think is best to raise children.  I feel this family should be left alone to do their best for their son that they feel they can do.  We all see examples of parenting that we might not agree with but unless parents are mistreating their children, causing them harm, then the authorities should not intervene.  It appears the parents of Ashya King were simply desperately trying to make something happen to get their son better.

However, the most disturbing thing about this whole debacle is the whorish appetite for information by the media and, ultimately, from us, the British public.  What business is it of ours to know the details of the health of a little boy or the outcome of his tragic parents’ legal hearings?  This is a family at the height of torment and all our media can do is turn it into a Hollywood manhunt and show-trial.  I wish we could just leave them be and give their family and friends space and freedom to give them all the support they need.

Nobody seems to be thinking about the little boy left on his own in all of this.

Analysis of BBC Winter Olympic Coverage

Here is a pie chart I put together showing a 110% accurate analysis of BBC coverage of the Winter Olympics this evening.

 

 

 

 

Manchester City: Financial Unfair Play

I thought we were moving into an era of ‘financial fair play’?

How can any football club be allowed to go after more players when they have just reported annual losses of £51,000,000!?

On the morning that the Independent report that Manchester City are narrowly avoiding being banned from next year’s Champions League for their dodgy finances the BBC report that they are on the pull for two Porto players, one of whom is worth £35,000,000.  I’m sure most clubs are just as bad in their own proportionate way but it really is unfair for the few clubs who balance the books.

Pellegrini seems to be doing a great job where others have fallen short but surely any silverware won by Manchester City is bought with money and not achieved through ability and application.

While I’m at it can I just vent about everyone referring to Manchester City as just ‘City’?  If you didn’t notice Cardiff, Hull, Stoke, Swansea and Norwich also happen to be City clubs and also happen to play in the same league.

Storm brewing for the Lords

I read this morning on the BBC that Lords clock in and out of the Houses of Parliament for short periods just to claim the £300 daily expenses rate.

The culprit is a certain, before unknown to us plebs, Lord Hanningfield.  He explained what happens when questioned about his own expenses.  I bet he’s popular in the House of Lords bar at the moment!  In July he claimed £5,700 for attending parliament but never voted or took part in any committees.

He justifies this by saying, according to the BBC, he spent half of the £300 daily fee on expenses and so did not really make any profit.  Eh!?

Since when is £2,850 extra bonus income not profit?

Some rough maths:

£2,850 per month x 12 months = £34,000 per year for extra ‘expenses’

According to parliament.uk there was an average of 484 attendees in the House of Lords last year.

£34,000 x 484 = £16,456,000 = lots of wasted money gone to rich people = angry public 

Lord Hanningfield with an expensive looking dog

 

Veterans trump Aids victims

It was in the news today that Graham Norton and his production team have been told off for wearing black ribbons in support of World Aids Day.  The reason for this is that, according to BBC editorial guidelines, “The BBC must remain independent and distanced from government initiatives, campaigners, charities and their agendas.”  Fair point.  I can understand that while a particular campaign may seem very worthwhile and uncontroversial it is almost impossible to know where to draw the line.

However there is an exception to this…the Royal British Legion’s annual poppy appeal which raises money for war veterans and is supported by every public BBC figure on all its domestic channels leading up to Remembrance Day.  Surely the Royal British Legion is a charity and surely it’s poppy appeal is part of its agenda?  I have done a quick google search but cannot see any comment on this from the BBC.

I understand that the poppy appeal is supported nationwide, almost without exception, but it does make you wonder whether the BBC allowing, and even insisting, the appeal is supported is part of some wider agenda.  It was also revealed today that the BBC led Comic Relief have invested donations in weapons manufacturer BAE Systems.  I wouldn’t want to draw conspiracy theory type conclusions from all this but it does make me sad that as a society we support war related charities and companies so easily whilst the causes that will not bring about money and power for the ‘powers that be’ are pushed down.

True Medal Count?

A few times during the Olympics our ever enthusiastic BBC TV and radio presenters commented that we were on top of the medals table when you consider the number of medals we won in proportion to the size of the country.  I noticed Hungary were doing well, and that New Zealand had a handful of medals, and I knew that their populations were significantly smaller than that from which Team GB sourced its talent from.  I couldn’t help myself, the statistics obsessed nerd within got the better of me and I did some number crunching and worked out how many golds and how many medals overall other countries would have won proportionally if they had the same population as the UK.

Number of Golds Won

1.   USA  –  46
2.   China  –  38
3.   GB  –  29
4.   Russia  –  24

Number of Golds Won Proportionally

1.   Grenada  –  593
2.   Bahamas  –  176
3.   Jamaica  –  92
11. GB  –  29
25. Russia  –  10
28. USA  –  9
48. China  –  2

Total Medals Won

1.   USA  –  104
2.   China  –  87
3.   Russia  –  84
4.   GB  –  65

Total Medals Won Proportionally 

1.   Grenada  –  593
2.   Jamaica  –  276
3.   Trinidad & Tobago  –  189
10. Montenegro  –  100
23. GB  –  65
33. Russia  –  37
49. USA  –  21
74. China  –  4

So, a lot of countries in reality did even better than the wonderful Team GB.  That’s not a bad thing, just nice to know that there must be a lot of very satisfied sports fans out there from other nations!  If you want to know how other countries fared let me know and I’ll happily divulge more numbers.

However, there were six countries with bigger populations than the UK who didn’t manage a single medal between them. They are Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Philippines, Vietnam and Congo and together they have double the population of the United States.  I think this is sobering and should remind us that for a vast percentage of the world’s population there are not the resources to put into enjoying the Olympics.  As the celebrations die down we need to remember that there are things in this world that should take a higher priority than sport.

Wounded children

Clever, clever Israel getting busy whilst the world is distracted by Libya and Japan.  This story not even in the top-6 BBC news items this morning.

Gaza Strip:  Israel launches air strikes

Also, with all the other news going on I seem to have missed the UN Resolution stating that Israel can carry out indiscriminate air strikes on children.  Clumsy me.

Apologies for being emotive and sarcastic.

SPOILER – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Review – SPOILER

SPOILER – WARNING DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM AND ARE WANTING TO GO

So I was disappointed again.  I really should not have been surprised.  It is Disney making the film after all and they are not making it to please lovers of the Chronicles of Narnia, they are mainly producing a film to make money in Hollywood.

To be honest I’m just writing this to get some pain off my chest – I think what bothers me most is that the makers chopped some of the classic scenes and descriptions – so here are some of the things I didn’t like:

• The change in plot was weird and weak.  What was all that about green mist swallowing things up and an island of evil that needed to be defeated?  Yes, they captured the ‘battles within’ that are core to The Voyage but to have some glowing green island as the focus of the ‘evil within’ was Disney at its worst.  And the quest for the seven swords was utterly unnecessary and rushed.
• The visit to the Lone Islands was far too brief and simple – they almost developed a great sense of fear amongst the culture of the islands but resolved the slave problem far to easily.  Lord Berne’s character was wrecked and the wonderful character of Governor Gumpus omitted.
• The Duffelpuds and Coriakin were a let down – again totally rushed through.  And the spellbook in Coriakin’s house – Lewis creates some great spells that Lucy reads – why do they need to do away with them all and make up a new one about snow?  Oh, yes, so the film can look all Christmassy on the trailers – duh!!
• Eustace as a dragon was good but they missed out the scene in the treasure cave where it dawns on Eustace that he has become a dragon.  It is a classic part of the book and I missed it.
• Ramandu’s island was a let down with Ramandu and the birds from Aslan’s country not making an appearance and Ramandu’s daughter falsely depicted as a star that can polymorph – in the book Caspian marries her but there is no hint of that here.
• And the climax of the film is WEAK WEAK WEAK.  Suddenly everybody is ok and then a second later Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep are at the edge of the world.  It’s like you fell asleep and missed a few scenes.  And they missed Aslan changing from a lamb to a lion – powerful imagery – probably too explicit.

My favourite aspect of the film were the character’s of Eustace and Reepicheep.  They were clearly the best developed and a lot of time was given to their growing companionship.  It was heart warming.  And there are some great one-liners – some true to C.S. Lewis and some newly created.  I love Reepicheep’s classic defense of his faith in Aslan’s country, “We have nothing, if not belief”.

OK, if you enjoy a children’s fantasy, and are not hoping to see a beloved book come to life on the screen then you will really enjoy The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Reviewers have generally been much kinder then me.  I was just hoping for something different.  I just wish Lewis was around today.  He was such a master of culture he would have known exactly how to depict his creation on screen.  And despite it all, I’m looking forward to seeing how they do The Silver Chair!

However, my final damning verdict is that the dated plastic BBC version is preferable to Disney’s.

26 Russians or Tiger Woods’ face?

Which is more important…the lives of 26 Russians or the smoothness of Tiger Woods’ face?

Well clearly, for me, it is much more important that some advertising employee may have to spend an extra half hour airbrushing Woods’ chiseled mugshot for the next Gillette advert than the fact that loads of families have been devestated by the needless deaths of loved ones in a train crash in Russia.

I was faced with two headlines when I switched on the BBC website yesterday morning.  One read, “Dozens killed in Russian train crash’.  The other read, “Golfer Woods injured in car crash’.  Which one did I automatically click on?  Yes, the Tiger Woods one.

I think this is symptomatic of two things:

1. We live in a celebrity obsessed culture that magnifies small incidents of the chosen few into world changing news items.
2. We give precidence to small ‘disasters’ in English speaking countries high over and above genuine catastrophes in the non-English speaking world.

Two very silly traits.

Stroke of genius by BBC

The BBC said they had to put Nick Griffin on because his party had met the criteria and earnt the right to be on the platform.  However, I think there was a totally different agenda going on.

The BBC set up Nick Griffin to be slaughtered.  It was the most one sided Question Time I ever saw, even the presenter was killing him.  The BNP got a voice there because we are a democracy but what we all saw tonight was not democratic, it was entrapment.

I don’t care though.  I believe people vote BNP because they are disengaged with politics and don’t know any other way to get any change.  The BBC managed to generate so much publicity that those of us who are disengaged and don’t get politics actually tuned in to see what was going to happen.  And what we saw was a vicious, deceitful, fiend spouting the most foolish lies and tales that those who may have resorted to voting BNP in the past surely must be persuaded that it is a party solely based on white supremacy and racism.

On one hand I am nervous about what backlash we may see from fundamental BNP supporters.  Sadly, I fear we’ll hear some nasty stories over the next few days.  For this reason it was dangerous to give the BNP so much publicity.  However, I am interested to see what effect this will have overall, and long term, to the political balance in this nation.  It’s gonna be a fascinating lead up to the General Election and I desperately hope that the racist BNP are now on their way to being booted into touch.

hope no violence