Facts About London During Wikipedia Blackout
You don’t need Wikipedia. Just look here.
Oxford Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be
I had to smile at this article.
At least she decided to follow in C’s footsteps and go to UCL to read law.
I’ve always believed that you shouldn’t go to a university, that is in a place, that is very similar to where you were brought up, as it doesn’t widen your mind.
What A Load of Old Wind
I’m not a lover of large wind turbines, but smaller ones part of a fully-integrated power-generation system are a lot better.
This article in the Daily Mail shows some of the problems with large ones, especially the fact that if it’s too windy, they have to be shut down.
The problem we have in this country, is that when we have too much electricity, we have no way of storing it, so the power generation has to be stopped.
So let’s solve the storage problem first before we ruin the countryside with wind turbines and the power lines to connect them to the National Grid.
Today’s Times Leaders
They are a classic.
The first details the rows in the Labour Party and how Blairite is now an insult.
The second says that America’s investment in Mubarak’s leadership in Egypt was very misguided.
It finishes by taslking about how various factions and religions in India have destroyed the largest literary festival in Asia at Jaipur.
We need some compassionate and sensible thinking.
Labour Nationalises Local Party Assets
According to an article in The Times today, Labour is bribging all the local party assets under central control.
In Bath, the local party owns a Listed building, which brings in a lot of rent, which is used to fund elections. The Bath Labour party doesn’t seem to be very happy.
But then, this is what socialism is about. If it exists it’s ours.
Wikipedia Goes Black
Wikipedia is off line today and already I have wanted to use it twice and couldn’t. It’s all because of the SOPA and PIPA acts in the US Congress. Read about the reasons here.
I actually don’t see what these Acts have to do with the UK.
Greece In a Downward Spiral
Not my words, but those of Jason Manolopoulos in an article in The Times today.
This paragraph sums up Greece’s progress to get their economy in check.
The technocrats are nominally in charge and the EU elite is applying plenty of pressure on my country to accelerate reform, but they are discovering that the Greek system is almost ungovernable. It took Ireland just a few weeks to make more progress on cutting back their public sector debt than we have seen in two years in Greece.
And there’s a lot more in the same vein.
The article finishes by saying that an unplanned Greek default and return to the drachma would be catastrophic.
I think I may get hold of Jason’s book called Greece’s Odious Debt.
Everybody else should get hold of today’s Times and read the article, as it has a lot of repercussions for us all. For instance, he claims that the IMF is breaking its own rules, by lending to a country whose debt is above 120% of GDP. nd who’s funding the IMF? We are for a start!
Joan Collins on Men and Sex
This was from the Evening Standard last night.
Joan Collins is a minx. Asked by Shelf Life which literary character she would share a bed with, she picks Gone With the Wind’s Rhett Butler “for sheer macho magnetism”. And what book would she give to a lover? The Joy Of Sex.
Joan certainly doesn’t pull her punches.
Has Anybody Asked The Queen?
They are talking this morning about a new Royal Yacht for the Queen.
Obviously, a lot of the great and good are in favour, as they like a good jolly and hope Her Majesty might ask them to come aboard.
I’ve been to one of her good jollies and I enjoyed it. But then you could say that I earned my invitation.
If you look at the list of royal yachts on Wikipedia, you’ll see that most large ones are owned by Arabs, with bad human rights records, except perhaps for the royal families of Denmark, Norway and The Netherlands. The Iranian president might have one too.
I think the Queen has said she only misses the yacht for her family cruise round the Scottish Islands and since the decommissioning of the Royal Yacht Britannia she has twice hired a small cruise ship called the Hebridean Princess.
So for her personal pleasure she has found a sensible substitute. According to Wikipedia, one year she paid £125,000, which doesn’t buy a very big yacht and pay for the maintenance.
But obviously, this doesn’t satisfy the great and the good, who get nothing out of it.
On the other hand, the owners of the Hebridean Princess get publicity that money can’t buy.
Why Not A John Lewis Prison?
John Podmore, who has run prisons for many years has written a book called Out of Sight, Out of Mind, which describes why Britain’s prisons are failing.
On BBC Breakfast this morning, he talked about how he went some of the way to making Brixton a community prison, by opening the doors to local businesses, charities and churches. He also indicated seriously that local prisons could be run on John Lewis lines, with all the community having a share.
Now there’s an idea! But I think a good one, as our current penal policy is unsustainable.
The Anonymous Widower 