“Vote Red or get Blue” doesn’t work everywhere
“Want the Tories out next year? Only one way to do it” from Ron’s Rants Ron Graves explains in the post above that if you want to get rid of the Tories in 2015,...
Author: Matthew Smith
Sarah Vibert and her daughters: reunite them!
This morning I read a news report and a blog about a single mother who is fighting to keep her two daughters out of the foster care system in Alberta, and find them a...
Four years too short for “one-punch” killing
It's been reported recently that a man who killed a man with one punch on a street in Bournemouth has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison (see also today's Daily Mirror), which means...
“Royal housing benefit” story is irresponsible
The Queen and Prince Charles cash in on tens of thousands of pounds' worth of benefits every year – Mirror Online The Daily Mirror yesterday ran with a story about how the royal estates,...
“Let it not be about lessons learned”
Today the report into the death (PDF) of Connor Sparrowhawk, an 18-year-old who drowned in an NHS learning disability unit in Oxford last July (see earlier entry), was published. That it was published was...
“Awaiting final written permission” (updated)
Update 5:43pm: The report is out. My response is scheduled for publication at 6:30pm GMT. Southern Health: report publication update Southern Health, the NHS trust responsible for the death of Connor Sparrowhawk in one...
A plug for QTM
You probably know by now that (like most blogs) this blog uses WordPress. What's less obvious is the software I normally use to write entries, and that's because I write it myself and rarely...
Rise in teens admitted to adult psych wards
It was reported today that there has been a rise in the number of teenagers under 18 admitted to adult psychiatric wards, and that these were sometimes hundreds of miles from home and often...
CyModding your LG G-Pad
So, last week I got my replacement for my iPad, which I was dissatisfied with because of the completely inadequate Apple keypad (see earlier entry). I looked for a similar size Android tablet, because...
The hidden costs of private schooling
I’ve just had my second letter in about a month published in the New Statesman, a British left-of-centre political magazine, this time on the subject of private education, which they ran an extensive feature...
The dangers of racism in the anti-FGM crusade
The Thursday before last was apparently “Zero Tolerance of FGM day”, accompanied by widespread media coverage of various campaigns against it, a petition which apparently gained two signatures per second, interviews with anti-FGM campaigners...
Bye-byePad
Well, I’m sending my iPad back to the vendor today. Amazon’s policy is that an item is returnable for about a month, and I’ve had mine a week and a half (although I made...
iPad: First impressions
The other day I took delivery of my new tablet computer, an iPad mini with a Retina display, which cost £290 plus delivery charges on Amazon. It’s a wi-fi only model; I can’t afford...
Is an iPhone really more useful than the early 90s’ gadgets?
I saw this linked on Facebook yesterday; it’s centred around a 1991 American Radio Shack advert in which a Tandy computer is offered for sale at a then reduced price of $1,599 (about £975...
No, it’s not just a sharp scratch
This morning I went for my latest blood test, which I have to have roughly every six months or a year — I can't even remember as I have so many of them —...
Wanted: decent Android Twitter app
I've used Android since 2009, and I'm currently on my fourth phone and first tablet. I've used Twitter since about the same time, maybe a little bit more. Having a smartphone pretty much makes...
World Hijab Day: DoA
Earlier this week, there was a so-called Day of Acceptance (of Disability), organised by a company called 3E Love, which markets a variety of merchandise, like T-shirts, stickers etc, bearing their logo of a...
Claire Dyer update
Regarding the ongoing case of Claire Dyer, the 19-year-old autistic woman from Swansea who is being threatened with a transfer to a secure hospital in Northampton, which neither she nor her family wants: a...
Lethal psycho-babble
I've been unable to get the ongoing case of Claire Dyer (right), currently being threatened with forced transfer to a secure hospital unit 185 miles from home under a wholly inappropriate section of the...
Why “state school fees” are a bad idea
BBC News – State school fees call for parents earning over £80,000 Dr Anthony Seldon, the principal of Wellington College, a well-known independent co-ed day and boarding school in Berkshire, has suggested in a...