Levantine’s interview
OK, the interview meme has finally caught up with me … Ahmed Weir has picked me at random to answer five questions of his choosing. So here’s my answers: Possibly Related Posts: Why the...
Category: Other stuff
Schiavo ‘blogburst’
Last night I got an email from a supporter of the Terri Schiavo campaign, asking me to join a “Blogburst” in their support. I clicked on the link in the email, and I discovered...
‘Islamic’ 419 scams are doing the rounds again
Mas’ud Khan has alerted people to an African advance-free conman trying to use Islam to lure people into joining his fraudulent scheme. The scheme is known as 419 after the section of the Nigerian...
Hindu bigots shoot themselves in the foot
Some time in 2003 I took part in a rally in north-west London against an appearance by Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, where an organised “riot” in 2002 resulted in a huge...
Out on the road again
I was beginning to miss the experience of being out on the road. Typically my truck and van driving career has consisted of a mix of middle-distance (ie. around the south-east of England) and...
University departments closing due to lack of funding
A number of major British universities are closing important departments including chemistry, physics, architecture and music, the BBC reports. This is leading to a number of their luminaries returning honorary degrees in disgust: Two...
We try not to talk to your front, honest …
There is a rather amusing observation in a report on This is London (the London Evening Standard’s website) in a brief article about an ongoing case at the Old Bailey: A Lord Chancellor’s official...
People don’t like 90-year-old wine
I thought this too amusing to not blog … Yesterday morning I heard the bizarre story that a load of the last Russian Tsar’s wine collection was going on sale in London - supposedly...
Quick blog before bedtime …
Just watching a programme called Someone to Watch Over Me, which is about social workers in Bristol, which features a 14-year-old girl called Nadia, who was out of control at home, put in care...
Reclaim the Streets hits town
Seen in Charing Cross Road, London today: a demonstration by “Reclaim the Streets”, involving a procession of women chanting: We have the right To walk the streets at night Without the fear of rape...
Travellers undressed by Heathrow X-ray machine
Reuters reports that Heathrow Airport, the biggest airport in the UK, has been doing a 4-month trial of an X-ray machine which produces an “atomically detailed” black-and-white picture of what someone’s like under his...
Reaction to Berkshire train crash
Last Saturday a high-speed express train from London to Plymouth hit a car which had been driven, or become stuck, on a level crossing west of Reading (pronounced Redding) in Berkshire. The radio phone-in...
Turner Prize nominees
This afternoon I went to the Tate Britain gallery in London to see the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize. The Turner Prize is supposedly the UK’s most prestigious art award, awarded annually to...
Boy convicted of girl’s murder
The British news agencies are reporting that a man of 18 has been convicted of the murder of a young girl at a Christmas party late last year. The man, and his family, are...
Mercury, Vitamin A and the MMR vaccine
I’m not a parent myself, but I’ve been following the coverage of the issue of the MMR vaccine in the UK especially as it has come up on a Muslim eGroup I subscribe to....