Hockey Goons

In the UK ice hockey is at best a minor interest sport, and at worst it simply doesn't even feature in our sporting consciousness.

The Hanson Brothers .... Ice Hockey Archetypes?

Not so of course in other parts of Europe and especially in North America, where its both a major sport, and in the case of Canada the national sport.

 

State Letter To Grandfather

In another sign of the times, some Russian websites have been offering letters to Grandfather Frost (the Russian Santa Claus), which also collected children's personal details. Russia's media regulator is actually investigating 76 such sites for data misuse offences.

Grandfather Frost Gives Presents To All Good Little Boys ....
 Have You Been A Good Boy Vladimir?

However, in a bid not to look too mean spirited, its offered its own state sponsored version of the traditional letter to Grandfather Frost.

A Charitable Act

The end of the year brings a lot of New year Resolutions (which are usually broken by February, if not earlier). I am, and have been, no better than anyone else in this regard. Although I did give up smoking over a decade ago after a new year resolution .... but it took until the following May before I actually did it.

However there is one resolution which I am always able to keep, and which benefits others as well in a very seasonal way.

Early Salvation Army Food Wagon .....

I empty my food cupboards of every food can that is still in date, but that is going to expire before March the following year (the expired ones I either throw away or use quickly ... I am aware that expiry dates on food cans are really guidance only, as the contents can last for years or even decades in an edible state, if stored correctly, but Charities can't legally use them once the expiry date is reached).  

More Terror Than Tea Served In Turkey

A judge in Turkey recently remanded in custody a cook on a charge of insulting the President. The cook, who just happened to work at one of the few opposition newspaper left in the new Islamic state which is forming on the EU's southern borders, had offered mild dislike of the president. 

Senol Buran - A Man In Deep Trouble

 

What did he do? Well apparently Senol Buran, the cafeteria head at newspaper 'Cumhuriyetis', is alleged to have told police "I would not serve that man [Erdogan] a cup of tea." after he was held up as part of security measures for a speech being given by Mr Erdogan.

Happy Christmas and New Year 2016

As usual on this Blog I would like to wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas and New Year for 2016 / 2017 .... 

I Remember Getting This One ....

This was an annual I had in my Christmas Stocking that year, even though I was also getting more manly annuals as well by then  ..... Happy and innocent days which I miss. If only you knew then that they often were the happiest days of your life.

The Goat Is On Fire

In Sweden there is a tradition in the town of Gavle to set up a 'Gavlebocken' to celebrate the Christmas festivities. 

 

The Gavle Gavlebocken .....

This, don't you know, is a giant metal framed straw goat ..... and very attractive it is too. However in recent years the local drunks and half-wits have taken to burning it down at some stage of the celebrations.

Santa's Sidelnes

At this time of year we usually see a spate of 'Bad Santa' stories in the press, and indeed I have featured many of these in this Blog over the years.

Bad Santa News Reports

But this year has been remarkably free of 'Bad Santa's', and even the Elves have been pretty good .... this was the best (or worst) that I could find.

Christmas Repasts

We Brits have our turkey Christmas dinners, and you would think that this is an ages old tradition, but of course we didn't have Turkeys until we started colonising the North American continent in the 16th and 17th centuries.

British Traditional Christmas Fare

So in medieval England, if you were wealthy enough to afford a special Christmas meal, it would likely to have been with wild boar (pig) as the meat centre piece. Later, in the 15th and 16th centuries this became goose or capon, and these were only slowly replaced as the most common meat by turkey.

Cupids Warriors

You sometimes hear stories about animals such as wild horses, or ducks frozen in mid flight across a lake, when a sudden freeze occurs ...... however you rarely see any evidence for these stories.

They Weren't Aware Off What They Had Found At First ....

But in Alaska a teacher in the remote village of Unalakleet, was out walking with a friend, when they came across a scene that proved there is some truth in these tales 

No Beer Was Harmed

No Beer Was Harmed

A train run by Southeastern rail in the UK hit a beer barrel that had been thrown on the line by vandals in April 2016. Fortunately this caused no injuries and no real damage to the train but did cause a 90 minute delay while the incident was investigated. My sympathies are with those travellers as its like hell when a UK train closes a line .... but at least the the rail company showed some humour.

They issued a statement that 'no beer was harmed'.

No Beer Was Harmed .....

Bosnia's Walk Of Shame

They say that the smaller the country, the smaller the event that the President will attend. So for the US President, it may be the launching of an aircraft carrier, while for the President of Bosnia-Herzegovina it would be .... a pavement opening. Yes, A press release from the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency told journalists to arrive at 11:45am for security checks in time for their midday tour of the pavement.

Presidential Pavement Good for Dancers ...... And Journalists.

Not just any old pavement mind, oh no, this was the pavement right outside the the Presidency building, a section of which had been newly repaved.

All That Glitters Is Not Gold

Kuwait has 1.3m citizens, and it also lies over the sixth largest proven oil reserves in the world. That makes it wealthy.

Glittering Kuwait ....

It therefore gives (or bribes) those 1.3m citizens with lavish state benefits, such as interest-free housing loans, free education and healthcare, and food and fuel subsidies, and unemployment benefits .... this keeps them happy in this recently (post Iraqi invasion) constitutional emirate. It has a semi-democratic political system which is divided between an elected parliament and appointed government.

Harbouring A Grudge

Every one of us feels resentful about someone else at least once in our lives. And I dare-say that some of us have acted upon that resentment, and taken a 'sweet revenge' at a later date, when opportunity arose.

Never Pray For Doug .... Now That's A Christian Grudge For You.

Maybe this is just natural behaviour and even in some cases natural justice of sorts ..... however most of us would find it hard to still be of a vengeful state of mind after 56 years of waiting.

Robo Trump

Funniest take on the expected Trump Presidency so far by Uruguayan production house Aparato......

..... laughing at the outrageous consequences of Donald Trump´s plan of banning immigration and building an enormous wall on the Mexico - US border.

Nothing more needs to be said really .... funny!

Gut And Moaning

In the German University of Freiburg, thrifty students had taken to following the practise of "conveyor-belting" ... which is waiting for less thrifty students to put their finished plates on the washing conveyor belt, and then raiding those plates for any edible items they fancied.

Conveyor-Belting ....

This of course meant meals could be very cheap for those 'belters'.

Back To Africa - Almost

Larry Mitchell, is an African-American from Kokomo, Indiana, who has been convicted of serious offences involving drugs and served prison time in the past ......  Now its fair to say that there are a number of Larry Mitchell's in Indiana, some of whom have been arrested in the last few years.... for instance the Mr Mitchell's record listed below, would seem to suggest that that particular Mr Mitchell would need to acquire money quickly, with all those bail bonds to finance.

Name: Larry Mitchell 
Charges:
#1 TRESPASS PROPERTY/AFTER WARNING;BOND: $1000;
#2 DRUG PARAPHERNALIA/POSSESSION W/INTENT TO USE;BOND: $1000;
#3 COCAINE/POSSESSION;BOND: $5000

Anyway, the particular Mr Mitchell and forklift driver from Kokomo, Indiana in this story, blames his particular problems on there being "an underlying racism that is still here. Black men are watched and targeted by the police." .... and not on his or any other Larry Mitchell's drug dealings.

So he started a donation page on the 'GoFundMe' website, for those people who want him to 'go back to Africa', and are willing to send him money to do so. His page was called '#putyourmoneywhereyourhateis.'

Larry Mitchell - Back To Africa (For A Free Holiday) ...

The BBC and many other media outfits loved it, and ran a story on it because its 'clearly ironic', but with little comment from them on the financial gain aspects of the page, nor the possible criminal past of at least one Mr Larry Mitchell from Kokomo.

King Of The Swimmers

In the Disney Jungle book animated movie, King Louie is the king of the swingers and a jungle VIP .....

The First King Louie .... King Of The Swingers

In Canada there are no Orang-utans, but there are lots of sea life, so when a giant lobster turned up in a fisherman's lobster pot, it caused quite a stir.

Out In A Blaze Of Glory

Do you remember the Cassini probe?

Cassini Probe .....

Its been orbiting Saturn and its moons for 12 years, but is now running low on fuel. So now its fate is sealed .... crash landing into Saturn. This is to prevent it crashing into the moons as there is a suspicion that at least two of them, Enceladus and Titan, may actually harbour bacterial life.

The Colour Of Money

Some left wing researchers and activists reckon we don't have enough Black, LBGT, Women, or anything else apart from White males in western cinema .... Hollywood, they say, should produce more films with height challenged actors, married gay couples, and men who are dressed as women (while they await that final nip and tuck ....), and still get more women into the leading roles.

Pam Grier As 'Foxy Brown' - The New Hollywood Type Of Heroine?

This is all no doubt very worthy, and must make the idiots who wrote the report feel really snugly and PC'd up when they go to bed ..... but it misses the point of film making. Profit.

BBC Impartiality Often Questioned

Why does the BBC seem to take a certain side in every argument? It is after all supposed to be primarily a news and entertainment channel, with an emphasis on learning, and always on impartiality. It's foundation charter was most specific about this, and yet for at least the last 30 years or so, it has taken an ever more 'Pro Immigration (including illegals), Multi-culturalist, Politically Correct', leftie stance on nearly every public policy argument.

BBC Impartiality Often Questioned ... But Not So Often By The Left.

This view often fails to chime with the views of the very public its supposed to be serving its content to, but the BBC seems to care not a jot for this.

Frying Tonight

We Brits are notorious for our love of a 'Full English', which before some you delve into the murkier parts of your imaginations, is the alternative name given to a British Fry Up. In fact so much do we love this particular meal (especially after a few beers the night before), that we have taken it to foreign climes as our contribution to continental cuisine.

A Full English Breakfast Is A Very Personal Combination Of Foods ......

So now if you go to Spain, Greece, and Portugal and visit any holiday coastal hotspot, you faced with 'Full English' (or occasionally 'Scottish'), signs nearly everywhere you look. These of course can vary greatly (sausages in particular can be somewhat different from the usual type we see at home), in quality and quantity ... they are usually skimpy on the toast for some reason.

Making A Benefit From Adversity

I once spent a particularly unpleasant time on one of the Greek islands, where the local drainage system was totally inadequate in the summer, leaving what were effectively sewage swamps every spring and summer, in which millions of mosquitoes bred.

Yana Solyarskaya Sweltering In Her Mosquito Costume ....

They plagued me. They tasked me. But most of all they bit me.

The Lazy Man Of Europe

When I was a younger man Britain was described as a lazy, strike prone nation, whose workers were all taking a 'sickie', and the whole group of economic symptoms was often called by foreign observers and economists "The British Disease".

Famous Economists Offered Cures For The British Disease ...

In fact so inculcated were we with this view, that we even took to using the term ourselves. Mrs Thatcher even famously stated that "to cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukaemia with leeches."

Trump That

My last word on the Trump election of 2016 (debacle or triumph .... readers choice).

There is something soft and weak in the current western culture. Without doubt its been introduced in the last two or three decades by a neo-liberal mindset, which makes people unable to deal with any situation without it being seen as someone else's fault, or a cause for displays of mourning in publc spaces.

Miley Cyrus Crying On Social Media After Clinton Loss ....

If nothing else illustrates this, then the news out of the USA that 'celebrities' such as Miley Cyrus, were putting up videos of them crying, like they had lost their money and fame after Trump won. This was then later capped, when it was announced that the 'right on' liberal University campuses across the land, were putting on ..... wait for it .... Grief Counselling Classes.

An Office Hazard

We have all seen it at work .... that email that is sent to everyone in the organisation (usually its clicking 'Reply All' that does the trick), when it should have been solely to the original sender. Sometimes these email sends are embarrassing as personal comments, or even affairs are exposed, but mainly they are a pain in the butt for everyone else who receives them.

Overwhelmed By Emails .... An Office Hazard

Sometimes this is in obvious error, and sometimes its down to basically stupid people, who don't care that they have clogged up the email server with a meaningless response or query.

The Tail Of Tombili

Tombili was a cat, and a very fat cat indeed.

Tombili The Cat ....

He lived on the streets of Istanbul, and was indeed a well known cat ....

Crime Carnival

This year's Notting Hill's carnival saw spectacular costumes, sound systems and revellers dancing in the streets of west London. Thousands of revellers turned out for the second and final day of the annual street party in west London. This annual celebration of Caribbean culture began in 1964.

The roots of the Notting Hill Carnival that took shape in the mid-1960s came from two separate, but connected strands. A "Caribbean Carnival" was held on 30 January 1959 in St Pancras Town Hall with initial police involvement in these early gatherings aimed at preventing it taking place at all, which resulted in regular confrontation and riots.

How We Are Supposed To Think Of The Carnival

Even by as late as 1970, the newly named Notting Hill Carnival, only consisted of 2 music bands, the Russell Henderson Combo and Selwyn Baptiste’s Notting Hill Adventure Playground Steelband and just 500 dancing spectators.

Trump Is Right About NATO

Amongst Donald Trumps pre-election complaints, was one about the burden that NATO places on the US economy.

NATO Spending 2013

 

Basically his argument is that with so few NATO members bothering to live up to their membership spending commitment of spending 2% of GDP, then the US is having to make up the shortfall with increased spending in areas that are not strategically where the money should go e.g. Battle tanks and bases for Europe, when whey want mobile reaction forces for short interventions in the Middle East or South China seas.

 

Cat Drone

Bart Jansen is a Dutch inventor .....

Dead Cat Orville Is Now A Drone

Ask his dead cat Orville. It took over 12 months and three versions, before Orville the cat was ready to fly.

Big Man Economics

Robert Mugabe is what Africans still call a 'big man' .... this of course is simply another term for 'thug, dictator, criminal etc etc'. He has remained in power despite blatant corruption, nepotism, and cronyism towards his main supporters.

He is currently trying to engineer his wife 'Grace' (was ever a woman so misnamed?), taking over when his soul eventually shrivels away and he is gone ... this is principally as he can find no bolt-hole for his criminal family to take their ill gotten gains to, where it doesn't risk seizure from the regime after his being ousted.

African Big Men Come In Many Sizes ....

I almost feel sorry for the people of Zimbabwe, but despite his highly visible crimes and some electoral vote rigging, the fact is that he continues to get voted back into power in sufficient numbers for it to be clear, that although the numbers claimed might be dubious, there is little doubt that he got a majority, albeit lower than he claimed.

What's Good For The Goose

Apparently only one in twenty five magistrates in England and Wales is aged under forty years ... and (a presumably shocking), eighty nine per cent are white. These shocking statistics were reported by a committee of MP's on the Commons Justice Committee, who claimed that action was needed to recruit younger and more diverse JP's.

Commons Justice Committee ......

The membership of this committee was:

Vox Populi USA

So the people have spoken ... Vox Populi applied to the democracy that leads the democratic world, and Donald Trump is the first 'billionaire' President of the United States of America, and leader of the free world.

The Oval Office Awaits Donald Trump ....

Now its only fair to say 'well done'. It is after all an unexpected achievement, and despite the negativity of the dismal presidential campaign that we have just witnessed, he has created some sort of popular white grass roots movement, that has swept him against all the odds into power.

Capitalisms Street Entrepreneurs

One thing about the third world is that, despite the rampant corruption and street crime, that often threatens to take away any and everything that an enterprising small business man works hard for, they just keep sprouting up all over the place anyway. This fact by the way is proof positive, if ever it was needed, that capitalism is mankind's natural economic model.

When A Market Exists, Someone Will Attempt To Fill It.

This picture, which appeared on the BBC website, shows one such entrepreneur's street stall on Ngong road in Nairobi, Kenya.  As well the usual second hand clothes and bric-a-bric items, they have a sideline in sign writing.  So apart from the basic signs such as 'RESERVED PARKING', and the classic 'We give credit to those over 80 years accompanied by both parents', they also have my favourite 'LADYGAL ART'.

Fashion Sense

I have posted before about the fact that East and West do not understand each other, and in particular the West's preoccupation with:

1. Political correctness and 
2. Western history being the pre-eminent world view of the past few centuries.

This shows up time and time again.

Keyakizaka46 In Black Leather

These two issues were illustrated once again this week when a JPop group (Japanese pop) called Keyakizaka46, which features twenty two nubile young women (as most JPop groups do) and who are owned by Sony Corp, got into hot water because they wore costumes that could be interpreted as looking a little bit like black SS Nazi-themed Halloween costumes, if that was what you were looking for to complain about. 

Upstairs Downstairs

Victorian Britain had many similarities with the Roman Empire ... these have often been couched in terms of Imperial ambition, Empire and governance of the natives etc, and even at a stretch the 'classical education' that the upper classes received.

Many Victorians Ate Only In The Street

However, lower down the social scale, it was the more mundane similarities, such as living conditions for the common man and woman that more readily identified the linkage. For instance most city dwelling Romans lived in poor multi-story flats that had no cooking facilities, and little privacy.

The US Presidential Winner Is?

Well its make your mind up time for millions of US voters, as the long drawn out saga that is an American Presidential election campaign, finally draws to a conclusion next week.

Clinton or Trump - What A Choice ....

With a choice between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, its not an enviable one to have to make (the best of the worst so to speak), and its feared that millions may not even bother to make it, and that this election could set some sort of record for a low turn out.

China Airs Views

'Telling it like it is', 'Calling a spade a spade', 'Speaking the plain truth and other English idioms on a similar line were the first casualties of the unofficial trend of political correctness newspeech.

Straight Talking Truth or Racist Nonsense?

 

Of course this infection in the West is not actually followed in other countries, often and especially those, where those who newspeech protects in the West come from, but who strangely refuse to even countenance similar rubbish. This of course can lead to much confusion and misunderstanding. 

Worshipped Like Gods

India's love of film stars is so great and knows such little bounds, that when the stars reach a certain level of stardom, they can almost (well, actually) commit murder and get away with it. Its even been known for actors who play Indian Gods in TV or Movies such as the 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharata', to have people semi-worshipping them in real life. Treating them as incarnations of the god.

Gandhi Syndrome ....

Something similar as also happened to English actor Sir Ben Kingsley, after he played Gandhi in 1982.

It Lives

The cavern was old, and so was its inhabitant. It was set deep under a mountain crag that was overlooking a wide valley and mountain pass, and upon which men of all ages had built fortresses. First of wood, and then as the centuries passed, of mighty stones. From that great vantage point, a dark kingdom had finally risen and dominated.

It had defied first the Byzantine Greeks, then later the Latin Crusaders, and finally the Turks .... but eventually after many sieges, the mighty fortress had eventually fallen. Blood had flowed like a mountain stream down the crag, as a mighty Sultan decreed that 'all should die' and that no stone be left standing 'one upon the other'. This, so that 'no man should remember' the darkness of their rule, nor the defiance of its former rulers.

Sultan Mehmed II Ordered Castle Dracul Destroyed ....

Up Up And Away

I wasn't aware that Britain is getting a Prime Ministerial aircraft .... indeed so late did I find this out that it may be being used now ... 'Mayforce 1' so to speak. Actually its kinda surprising that we haven't got one already .... the UK is the only G20 nation not to have a dedicated aircraft for transporting either heads of state or government (even Belgium has one).

No One Ever Accuses Britain Of Class Any More
 .... Cheap Yes, Class No.

Now being Britain, and always being hard up for readies we have chosen the cheap option of winging our leaders, and are upgrading one or two old RAF cast-offs. Voyager A330 air-to-air refuelling aircraft for those of you who like to know these things ... and at a modest £10m per plane apparently makes it around the cheapest head of state aircraft around. Apparently it will cost £2,000 per flying hour (compared with an average £6,700 to use either Royal Squadron planes or a long-haul charter).

The Empire Strikes Back

The Dark Side of the force has always been powerful, and its seems that even the Obi Kenobi's have been caught up by it. Admittedly in this case it was an adopted Kenobi, in the form of a Mr Mark Pitt, a 45 year old former British Telecom account manager, but is now a 'carer for the elderly', who currently describes himself as being a 'crime fighter' in his neighbourhood of Clacton in Essex.

The Force Wasn't With Him ...

Mr Pitt chose to change his name to 'Obi-Mark Kenobi' as he is a 'Jedi' .... all was going well until the aforementioned 'Dark Side' of the force entered his life.

Old Friends

Getting old(er) is a strange experience. Apart from the obvious ravages of time, which some of us fight with both (artificial) tooth and nail, and the rest of us accept with grumpy ill grace, there are also the tricks that the passage of time can play on us. For instance I have noticed that increasingly I am seeing in younger peoples faces, echo's of my youthful friends and family.

The Past Sometimes Looks Sunnier Than The Future As We Get Older

On the train I recently almost said hello to a girl, who bore a remarkable resemblance to a young girl of my youth. Of course this was entirely superficial and unlike Mr John Titor, I had not in fact travelled back in to my own past.

Brighton Boyz Will Be GIrlz

Blatchington Mill Senior School is in Brighton (Gay capital of the UK), and no one can say that it doesn't reflect the concerns of those particular residents (who oddly have very few children attending the school). 

The school formerly had but one claim to fame, which was that 'Katie Price' (aka the topless model Jordan) was a former pupil, but its safe to say that the schools ethos has changed quite a bit since her day.

Some Pupils Might Be Confused By
The Choices Of Gender Assignment On Offer.

Nowadays while concerns about make-up may still be in pupils minds, its the make up of the schools sexuality that concerns the governing authorities. So each student recently had to declare their sexuality in a homework survey (no issues about data privacy at this school ... let it all hang out as they used to say) ... which was a sneaky way of doing this. The options offered, were to say the least, baffling (unless you are deeply into the LGBT scene).

Of Mice And Men

Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler's statement of intent for the German people has been out of print in Germany (although not elsewhere, noticeably in the Islamic world where its continued to sell well from Palestine to Bangladesh), but that lock-down came to an end in 2015 when the intellectual copyrights expired. 

Mein Kampf - Critics Edition Still Raised Old Fears

 

These rights had been administered by the Finance Ministry of the State of Bavaria on Hitler's behalf, and thus they had been able to refuse any reprint requests.

Whats In A Name?

Names have been something of a theme recently on this blog. Name calling, Names related to jobs, Witty name banter .... so to finish this run off, here its about name coincidences.

In Romania, the surname Cepoi is very common ... rather like Smith or Jones used to be in the UK. It reflects the countries essentially rural and agricultural existence over the centuries since the Eastern Roman Empire collapsed in the 14th century, and translates as 'Big Onions'. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before there was a local election in one of the smaller towns, where every contestant was called Mr Cepoi.

Will The Real Vasile Cepoi Please Stand Up!

The town is called Draguseni and with a population of just 2,500 the role of Mayor makes you a big onion indeed in that area. So when the election of that role came up in may/June 2016 the candidates were listed as Mr Vasile Cepoi, Mr Vasile Cepoi and Mr Vasile Cepoi. On of them, Mr Vasile Cepoi was the incumbent and the other two were challengers. Strangely none of the three were related as far as they knew.

Recalling Bad Behaviour

While I am still thinking on the subject of MP's who are up to no good, with their underwear down, and frankly who you wouldn't really want in your house, it was brought to my attention that Simon Danczuk, who is still the MP for that benighted town of Rotherham (how many sex scandals can that town take?) is advertising for yet another aide for his London office.

There Was More Honour In Old Time Politicians .....

Now, for those of you who have forgotten his exploits (and we assume that he's hoping to somehow remain as an MP, by keeping, what's for him, a low profile) here's a few lowlights:

No Equality Of Opportunity

If ever there were a couple of subjects that exposes the Labour Party leadership for the bunch of hypocrites that they are, its Anti-Semitism and Education. Now enough has been said, here and elsewhere, about the growth in Anti-Semitism in the Labour Party (hardly a surprising phenomena, given the fact that the Labour Party has a growing Muslim membership in towns such as Rotherham and Bradford etc). So I won't waste my breath rehashing what is an obvious consequence of that trend, to everyone except Jeremy Corbyn and his acolytes that is.

Eton Schoolboys Personify Privilege In Britain? .....

No, what I want to talk about is non state education for the rich and privileged of the Labour Party. So just to illustrate how deep this hypocrisy really is, here is the latest and most left-wing Labour shadow cabinet in decades (if not ever) and their schools:

What's The Problem Now?

You cant make this stuff up any more ....

Sam Told Everyone Not To Lose Their Heads .....

Last year a man who claimed he was a scholar of Islam put in a complaint after studying episodes of Fireman Sam. He claimed that in one episode he had seen a character, from one of the episodes first put out in 2014, disrespecting the Koran by stepping on its pages. He had spotted this by freeze framing the scene until he was able to identify 'Arabic script' which he said was direct from the Koran.

We Don't Need No Co-Education

Not really news this as it has been shown in a number of studies, but girls do better in single sex schools than co-educational ones. Last years exam results (2015) showed that some 75.4% of female pupils in single sex schools attained 5 or more good passes (inc Maths and English).

Co Education Theory Busted By Latest Figures?

View From Up In The Gods

A man opposite me at work is a real cinema goer ... I was going to say 'buff' but that would imply that his views on whether a film is any good or not are of any value. They aren't. But I was curious enough to ask why he goes so much, and why he picks the movies has does to watch ... the first answer was standard enough, he liked 'the big screen and sound .... its what the films were created to be seen on'.

I can see the point of that, and if I wasn't such a lazyarse and cheapskate (have you seen the price of cinema tickets?), I would possibly go more often. But the view from up in the Gods (if we still have those in cinemas?) is not enough to tempt me often.

Elmo Lincoln - Was The First Film Tarzan In 1918

However where we really disagreed was over the films he choose. For instance his next movie viewing venture will be the latest 'Tarzan' remake.

Double Standards Of Criticism

This cartoon by Bill Leak, published after comments from Indigenous leader Noel Pearson, has stirred up another 'race row', this time in Australia.

Aboriginal Race Row ... Valid Comment or Racial Stereotyping?

The comments were apparently about the need for Aboriginal people to take more responsibility for the behaviour of their children, comments I might add that could be applied to many races and ethnicities (see any white UK inner city housing estate, or any ethnic ghetto such as Tower Hamlets).