Tha Andalusian Food Minister Does a John Gummer
Clara Aquilera, the Minister for agriculture in the Spanish region of Andalusia has taken a leaf out of John Gummer’s book and been seen publicly eating a cucumber to prove that they are safe. Admittedly, John got his daughter, Cordelia to eat one with him. But as I write both John and Cordelia, seem to have suffered no ill effects ten years or so later.
Let’s hope Clara is as lucky. Although judging from the pictures, she does seem to have a love for food.
Libby Purves on Sharon Shoesmith
This is the best comment I’ve seen on the Sharon Shoesmith case. If you can find a copy of The Times for Monday, then read it.
Basically, she’s just saying that despite everything, the buck stops with Ms. Shoesmith, as she was in charge and should have done something about the problems in her department.
The article is also mentioned in this post in a blog. Shoesmith, Blatter and Mladic are all mentioned in the same post, which must be a first.
Germany’s Cucumber Problem
I typed “german cucumber joke” into Google and found this site. It’s actually part of a serious German web site called Toy Town Germany, for Germans and others who live in the country who speak English.
He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune
It looks like Fifa and Sepp Blatter have broken this major rule of both life and business, in that four major sponsors are unhappy at how the organisation is run, according to this report.
How many others will join them?
As after all the rich and powerful, who run such businesses, like to give people a good kicking, just to show you don’t mess with them.
This is one Blatter and FIFA will lose, as you may be able to fool some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
How The Turks Deal With Pollution
This horrific story is in The Times today, although I’m pointing to a green web site, so evryone can read it.
Turkey may well have nine percent economic growth, but at what cost?
So is it right, that we increase unemployment, because of imports from Turkey?
In my view it isn’t!
C and I once had a holiday in Turkey and in some ways we weren’t impressed. Luckily we could afford to go somewhere better.
As a coeliac, I starved in Turkey, as they just couldn’t get the idea of what gluten-free was! Despite the fact I had an excellent translation.
Do The Northern Irish Have a Morbid Sense of Pride?
Apparently there’s a joke in Belfast about the Titantic, which says that “She was alright, when she left here!”
I don’t think that if she’d been built on the Tyne or the Wear, they’d be celebrating the 100th anniversary of her launch, as they are in Belfast.
Titantic was one of three Olympic Class Ocean liners and only Olympic saw service of more than a few years. So they weren’t favoured with the best of luck. Although, Olympic, which served as a troopship in the First World War, was nicknamed Old Reliable.
Farewell Flick Colby!
To many British men of my generation, Flick Colby was an icon of the 1960s almost as important as some of the bands and singers of the era.
Her choreography and performances in the initial dance group she founded, Pan’s People, are remembered by many, as they were often the highlight of the week’s television to men and boys of a certain age.
If people think today that such as Lady Gaga and other singers are raunchy, then at some times Pan’s People were only slightly less so. Mary Whitehouse certainly didn’t approve.
So farewell Flick! You gave lots of people, lots of pleasure.
Crisis? What Crisis?
I couldn’t believe that Sepp Blatter said this, but according to this report from the BBC, he did.
If ever there was a case, that when you gotta go, you should go now, this is it.
The Return of the Deltic
I have posted about this before, but on BBC News this morning, they had a film about how the 50-year-old Deltic locomotive, Royal Scots Greys is hauling freight again in the North East. There are some good pictures here.
The Anonymous Widower 