Scotland To Bring In Same-Sex Marriage
I know it has been on the cards for some time, but it would appear that Alex Salmond has taken the plunge today in outlining his legislation for the coming year.
If Cameron doesn’t do what he wants to and legalise same-sex marriage in the UK, it would look like Gretna Green marriages will be making a comeback.
Current Account Fraud Rises
The Independent is reporting that current account fraud is rising.
I suppose this will only afect the man on the Dalston Omnibus, if the banks don’t make sure they check applications correctly.
Bad News From Zopa
I had some bad news today, when I was informed that Zopa don’t think one of my lenders will pay me any more money.
I lent him £20 in May 2009 at 8.9% and I’ve now lost £1.48 on the deal.
I’ll just buy one less coffee today, than I would have done!
Will I Live Longer Than My Cat?
This question has been posed by the wonderfully-named Professor David Spiegelhalter on the BBC’s web site.
I certainly will, as I don’t have a cat! But if I acquired a cat, would that lengthen my life? On the other hand, all the cats, that I’ve previously owned have been rather clever in finding veterinarily expensive ways of killing themselves at quite a young age.
The Netherlands Isn’t Just About Orange
This news item must be watched by all of the Dutch.
Or is red the new orange?
Wasting The European Court’s Time
The European Court is going to rule today on whether Christians were discriminated in the work-place. It’s here on the BBC. They’ve also wasted an hour on this morning’s phone-in on the subject.
Let’s face it, it’s easier to do this than actually work for a living.
I suspect though that if she exists, God takes a very dim view of all this legal work.
Actress Or Actor?
I thought that these days, the term actress wasn’t used, as female actors, prefer to be called actors.
But the BBC has just used the term, Actress under Keira Knightly‘s name on an interview this morning. However, Miss Knightly is referred to as an actress on Wikipedia.
So it would appear that different organisations have different rules.
Pistorius Is A Bad Loser
Oscar Pistorius didn’t like losing as is reported here in the Guardian.
I suspect Usain Bolt doesn’t like losing either, as he did in Daegu. But let’s face it, it happens and when it happens you should lose with as much good grace as you can find.
Pistorius has lost a lot of respect by his actions. Luckily, he’ll probably have the chance to make amends in other championships, just as Usain did.
The Future Of Freeview
I have been looking at an article which describes digital terrestial television in the UK, which is generally referred to as Freeview.
At present there are a hundred or so TV and radio channels, most of which are free-to-air, but some like Sky Sports One and Two are available through various subscription methods like BT Vision, which I have.
When the switch-over is complete and everybody in the UK can get their free-to-air channels in a digital form, terrestrially if they want to, the old analogue signal can be switched off and the spectrum released can be sold off.
I had thought that this free spectrum would end up with those providing mobile services, but it would appear that there’s nothing technically to stop a broadcaster buying spectrum and using it to broadcast other services, whether they be free-to-air or by subscription.
I did say technically, as they would probably have to be regulated by the British authorities.
So would this have attractions for other broadcasters? The obvious candidate would be Sky, as it might like to setup a new Freeview multiplexer to broadcast all their channels terrestrially, probably using similar technology to that used by BT Vision.
It would also allow a powerful sports body such as the Premier League or Formula One to have their own channel.
I think the days in the UK, where you needed a satellite dish to get certain channels may well be numbered. I don’t think Sky will be objecting, as they know how to price a service to maximise the revenue. They are also one of the partners in Freeview.
Hard Man Bruce Takes On Apple
According to the Sunday Times, Bruce Willis wants to leave all his downloaded music to his kids and the iTunes agreement doesn’t allow this.
Why would he want to do that?
Obviously, after he’s gone, he wants to have control of his kids’ musical taste.
How arrogant!
At least though for once, Apple have got it right.
The Anonymous Widower 