The Strange Relationship Between Britain and Eire
I was watching something on the television tonight and they said that the RNLI operated in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
I checked on their web site and they are a British Isles charity. And the Queen is the patron.
I wonder if there are any others.
Dead Naff Designs
I am a fan of Grand Designs, although I don’t watch it very often, as it’s on Channel 4 with adverts.
But the show, as the title of this post suggests, was rather a disappointment. I saw a lot of stuff that IKEA do better, but I did find a couple of companies that might be useful to me. I also found a company to help me with a project, but they said they didn’t do that, as they concentrated on their own designs. As the designs weren’t the sort of things that I like, it was probably best anyway! But like me he was an arrogant git!
So all in all, it wasn’t worth the £18 I spent.
A First Visit to ExCel
ExCel is an exhibition and conference centre in London’s Docklands. Despite it being opened for several years, I’ve never gone.
Until today, when I went to see Grand Designs Live.
It is certainly a lot better than Earls Court or Olympia, which have been tired for years.
I was even able to get a gluten-free salad and a fresh orange juice.
Gluten-Free Salad and Juice at ExCel
My only worry is the wooden disposable cutlery. It often isn’t strong enough for my hands.
I remember asking for any gluten-free options at Earls Court some years ago and got a reply which was something like. “There is none and anyway if we offered anything, we wouldn’t sell any, as you’re the first that’s asked.”
I got no reply to my letter of complaint.
What Is Happening On This Site?
Now that the Western Curve which connects the East London line to the North London line is fully operational, there is a sizeable site between Kingsland Road and Dalston Lane, surrounded by a blue fence opposite Dalston Junction station.
What is planned for this site?
Note :-
- The unusual shaped structure is the ventilator for the railway underneath.
- Ashwin Street leads to the old Reeves factory and the Arcola Theatre from opposite Dalston Junction station.
It would seem there is space for a garden and perhaps a safe walkthrough between the two Dalston stations. This could be linked to a light-controlled pedestrian crossing by the station entrance.
Always Listen to the Taxi Drivers
Taxi drivers are usually those who know most about what is going on, although it does often come over with a certain slant.
So should we take too seriously, an interview I heard on the BBC, where a reporter talked to taxi drivers in Bradford? To a man, they said the United States was the terrorist.
America’s Gleeful Vengeance
Osama Bin Laden was a truly evil man to many, or was he just someone who saw an opportunity to make a name for himself and just took it in a very evil way.
In some ways it is a pity he is dead, as he should be in a Court of Law on trial for his crimes. And when after due process, if the verdict was guilty, he should have not been given a death sentence.
We have had enough martyrs that have inspired evil movements in history. They’ve inspired some good ones too, but I can’t see this happening in Bin Laden’s case.
At least though Osama bin Laden is dead and we won’t get the sort of speculation that we did after the Second World War about whether the truly evil Hitler was really dead.
Incidentally, I have read somewhere that Hitler’s biggest fear was that he would be captured and exhibited in somewhere like a zoo. He would have been tried at Nuremburg and if found guilty would have been executed. Judging by the way we have dealt with the various African, Croatian and Serbian war criminals, who have been found guilty at The Hague, we have moved on in the last sixty or so years.
But has America, where the death penalty is still a major part of the punishment system, as it is in Iran, China and North Korea?
I am also rather worried about the almost gleeful celebrations in the United States. This is sending the wrong message around the world and in my view it is rather disrespectful to all of the good people killed in the attack on September 11th, 2001 and all the other attacks inspired by Bin Laden. I know we celebrated in a similar way after the Second World War, but that was only after the war against Germany and Japan had been brought to a conclusion. We have not completely defeated the terrorists.
It will be interesting to see how Muslim groups and people around the world react to Bin Laden’s death.
I will be holding my breath, but hoping that the good Muslims who just want to get on with their lives in a peaceful manner have more effect, than those who want to carry on Bin Laden’s evil ideology.
As Rachel Harvey has just put it on the BBC, “Bin Laden may be dead, but his ideas are not.”
The Anonymous Widower 