Robert Hampton

Useless MP Claire Curtis-Thomas is seeking to banish lad’s mags to the top shelf of the newsagent. Her shrill interview on today’s… er, Today, was high on the moral-outrage-o-meter, needing only a “think of the children” to reach full Daily Mail levels. It was quite amusing when it was pointed out that her party had in the past accepted a large donation from “adult” magazine magnate Richard Desmond.

I’m slightly outside these publications’ target market and therefore not really in a position to comment, so let’s hand over to the wise contributors to BBC Have Your Say:- Read the rest of this entry »

Blair attacks the ‘justice gap’:-

There is a huge and growing gap between the criminal justice system and what the public expects from it, Tony Blair has said in a speech in Bristol.

The man speaks a great deal of sense. If someone like him were running the country, all our problems would be solved!

Reuters sez:-

Comedy Central has resurrected the former Fox animated series from “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. At least 13 new episodes will be produced — the first since the series’ original run from 1999-2003.

I want to have sex with Comedy Central. Just to say thank you.

Taepodong — a deadly nuclear missile with a silly name. The Daily Show reported on this earlier this week, but those bastard nanny censors at More4 cut out most of the last 60 seconds (i.e. the funny bit with the knob gags). And they wonder why people download TV shows from the net instead of watching them on TV. Stupid stupid stupid.

“Is that a cigarette you’re smoking, Lister?”
“No, it’s crack cocaine.”

It is, of course, good news that the RMT strikes have been suspended and will most likely be called off altogether, but I’m annoyed that, once again, it went right to the brink before a reasonable compromise could be worked out. The net effect of all this is hundreds of newspaper headlines screaming “STRIKE!!!” — which won’t be balanced out by hundreds of equivalent ones saying “NO STRIKE!!!” in tomorrow’s press — and further damage to the railway’s public image.

This was going to be a regular running gag on these here pages for the duration of the World Cup, but as I sat down to write one about tonight’s match, I realised that I’m already bored with the joke, so that’s your lot.

Oh, and Chris Evans’s ex-wife is leaving Doctor Who (that might have been a spoiler). As far as I’m concerned, the bring back Adric campaign starts here and now.

Yesterday I brought my coat to work with me, because the weather forecast said there would be showers. In reality it turned out to be another warm, sunny day.

Today, it said it was going to be sunny all day, so I didn’t bother bringing a coat. And of course now it’s pissing it down outside.

Then there’s the possibility that I’ll have to take a slow, smelly, overcrowded bus to work this time next week.

I hate everything. Especially Bob Crow.

Went to Liverpool South Parkway today, just to have a look round, really.

And they gave me a free pen!

Cat chases bear away

If this cat is anything like my cat, I’m not in the least bit surprised. In fact, I’m amazed that things like this don’t happen more often.

The Daily Show‘s John Hodgman explains the World Cup to the ignorant viewers.

I realise I’ve been reliably miserable about sporting events in the past, but I’ve now decided that it’s better to join ‘em than beat ‘em. I know nothing about this soccer football of which you speak, but since everyone else is talking about it, I thought I’d better discuss it too.

My understanding of the game is that there are 11 people (usually men) who run around wearing shorts. One of the men on the British team is a man called Wayne Rooney, and if the news reports are to be believed, the other ten are purely for show. If Rooney is injured, then there is NO WAY THAT ENGLAND CAN WIN. It’s important, it was on the BBC and everything!

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve upgraded the WordPress blog software on this site to the just-released latest version, 2.0.3. It incorporates a new security method with an unfortunate (to British ears) name.

Had a weird dream on Tuesday night — very similar, in fact, to a dream I had last year, and starring the exact same person. Why I’m dreaming about someone I haven’t seen, heard from, or had any form of contact with for nearly seven years is beyond me. It was nice to see him again, though.

It’s unusual for me to remember dreams; the last vivid one I had was a nightmarish scenario of non-discounted rail fares which caused me to wake in a cold sweat.