Doing Cancer Research
Was this lady doing cancer research, by having a quick cough and a drag outside Cancer Research UK?
I think smokers are one of the reasons why people prefer shopping malls.
Who Ate All The Bread?
I took this picture of the gluten-free bread shelves in Waitrose in Islington
Obviously, they believe in a lot of choice for customers. Or are they following Marie Antoinette‘s philosophy of “Let them eat cake”? And biscuits
Facebook Is a Pain
I keep getting people wanting me to join Facebook. I’m afraid, I don’t join any social networking site, that will have me as a member. I was a member once, but I cancelled it a few months ago.
Floyd Mayweather Doesn’t Like the Jail Food
Then he shouldn’t have beaten his wife. It’s here in the Telegraph.
Prison or Tagging
The debate this morning on BBC Radio 5 is about punishment for crimes.
Most seem to be in favour of more prisons, but would we accept the extra taxes and where would we build them and where would we find the prison officers.
Having been over a prison recently, the biggest problem would appear to be lack of education and lack of jobs when they come out. In fact most of those I met, were extremely courteous to me and all the officers and others that worked and visitors. So the basics are there, it just needs to motivate them in the right way.
I am constantly reminded of the book, Menace to Society by Bill Fletcher. Fletcher had been in minor trouble for many years and had had all sorts of punishment. None had worked. In the 1960s, he ended up in Bow Street Magistrates Court in front of a Stipendiary Magistrate, who said he was going to give him the worst punishment he ever had. He let him go into the care of The Apex Trust, an organisation that rehabilitated offenders and still do. They taught him to read and write and he ended up as the doorman of the Shaw Theatre in London. I don’t think he was ever in trouble again.
I would agree that many offenders are beyond reform. On the other hand, a lot are good people underneath it all and with the application of a bit of training and a job, they can be set on the straight and narrow.
People Shouldn’t be so Thin-Skinned
There is a story in the Standard last night entitled Tantrum of the Opera. A Twickenham housewife tweeted to her friend that although she had seen the musical eighty times, she couldn’t stand the star. It has now developed into a full-blooded row.
I would make three conclusions from this.
In the first place the comment was only tweeted to a friend and thus the star is being a bit over the top.
Secondly, the lady has seen the musical eighty times, and so as she is effectively paying some of the star’s wages, she deserves a little respect.
Lastly, if I was producing a musical, I know someone, who I wouldn’t be employing.
They were also discussing another case on BBC Breakfast this morning, where someone made a comment about an X-Factor contestant. She has now suffered months of abuse.
She was possibly a bit unwise to say what she says, but it does illustrate, why you should always be careful what you say on social networking sites. However to abuse the lady and call her all sorts of unwise things in totally wrong.
The sooner we have a high profile case, where one of these so called trolls, gets some time at Her Majesty’s pleasure, the better. It will be interesting to see how much abuse the judge gets.
I have had a bit of abuse in my time over this blog and suspect it was because the post was about an odious foreign government.

