How To Protect Your Property
I received this in an e-mail.
Several lives ago, one bloke kept having his car broken into, when parked in the University car park. Solution: put a few nuclear tri-foils over it (our University had a nuclear school). End of problem. Can’t think why.
You can get stickers here.
Rubbish Disposal a la Paddington Bear in Hackney
If I want to get rid of anything that might have a bit of value, I just put it outside my door beside the street, with a note saying something like “Please give this sofa a good home!”
It always disappears! Whoever takes it can take it to the dump, when they find out why I got rid of it.
Osama Bin Laden’s Wiring
I have just been looking at some of the eletrical wiring on the latest Osama Bin Laden’s video, where he is seen watching himself.
He certainly didn’t choose his electrician with care.
Where is Shergar?
I just heard this on Radio 5.
Now that we’ve found Osama Bin Laden, by a Pakistani military base, should we look for Shergar in Aldershot?
The Amazing Jack Nissenthal
Jack Nissenthal was a remarkable man, whose tale of heroism in the Second World War is now all but forgotten. I first came across his story, when Radio 4 did a piece about the RAF Sergeant and radar expert who went on the raid at Dieppe to try to find out more about German radar. He was accompanied by eleven Canadian soldiers who were under orders to not let him get captured. In the end he didn’t meet his objective of dismantling the German radar station at Pourville, but by his quick thinking and his deep knowledge of radar systems, he was able to make the Germans give away enough of their important secrets, so that on D-Day, they were effectively without any useful radar systems.
After the raid he returned with just one of his Canadian escorts.
It is all described on this web site and a book called Green Beach
A follow up web site tells what happened to him afterwards.
Many including Lord Mountbatten, felt he should have been given a high award for gallantry, if not the highest. He eventually went to live in Canada, where his heroism was very much recognised. This is an extract from the web page.
In August 1967 Jack returned to Pourville for the 25th anniversary of the landings and met many old and decorated friends, including Les Thrussel. Les had always told friends the story of how he had orders to shoot a top British scientist on the raid had he been in danger of capture, but nobody believed him.
Now he met Jack and told him to tell Les’s friends the truth!
In a cafe in Dieppe that evening Jack sat reminiscing with the three VC’s of the raid – Merritt, Porteous and Foote. There was a loud knocking on the door and several young Canadian soldiers serving with NATO walked in. “We heard Jack Nissen was here and we want to shake his hand”. Jack recalled afterward, “There I was sitting with three VC’s and these young men wanted to shake ME by the hand. I was in tears. This was my reward and the highlight of my life”.
But he is not mentioned in any lists of famous people from the East End of London. He is mentioned in Wikipedia, but doesn’t have a section of his own.
A Hurricane Over Hull
I just had to link to this web page and video, which shows a Hawker Hurricane flying over Hull yesterday to mark the seventieth anniversary of the worst two nights of the Hull Blitz.
I have my own memories of Hurricanes and they are in this rather long post.
Imran Khan on Pakistan
The Times today has a big interview with Imran Khan. This is a typical paragraph.
In Britain there is growing concern about the amount of aid money going to Pakistan. In Mr Khan’s view it is not helping his country. “I think it would be the greatest thing that could happen to Pakistan if we did not get any more aid. We have been living beyond our means. The aid has fostered corruption. If we do not have aid we will be forced to make reforms to taxation and governance and we might actually become a nation that can stand up on its own feet. Pakistan is heading into a storm right now.”
So should we cut all aid to Pakistan?
As it would appear that most seems to end up in places it wasn’t intended to go, I think that now is the time to use the aid in places where it can make a real difference.
Hackney’s Junk Mail Sticker
I had to contact waste disposal at Hackney Council and mentioned how much junk mail I got. I did this by e-mail on info.hackney.gov.uk.
They have sent me a sensible sticker which now adorns my letter box.
Hackney's Junk Mail Sticker
It will be interesting to see if it cuts the amount of unaddressed rubbish I get through the door.
They also sent me a form to stop the Royal Mail sending me any.
On the back of the form it states that Hackney households receive approximately 35 million pieces of unwanted mail each year. This weighs 900 tonnes and takes 6,000 trees to make.
Incidentally, according to the 2001 Census there are 86,042 households in Hackney. So on average each receive 407 pieces of unwanted junk mail each year or over one piece a day.
I was also pleased to see that Hackney Council used tonnes and not tons on the form.
Yesterday’s Person of the Day was a Woman
With all the elections and the referendum going on in the UK and Obama’s trimphalist vengeance in the United States it fell to a woman to add some sanity to the world.
Lady Justice Hallett’s handling of the inquests into the London bombings of the 7th July 2005 has been exemplary and shows how justice can be seen to be done and closure can be brought to a tragic part of British history.
There will always be some who call for more enquiries to apportion blame, but in my view it is time for everybody to move on. I have lost two members of my close family to vicious cancers and can sympathise with those who have lost someone dear to them. Who do I have to blame?
Life is a perilous and risky business and it is only by means of luck that we live as long as we do!
The Anonymous Widower 