Pringle jumpers

I came across this animation via Dave Walker. Very Good!

Good on you Cary

'Cary who?' you might say. Well I'm talking about a distinguished Professor from Lancaster University, Cary Cooper, who has quit as patron of the anti-bullying helpline at the centre of the Downing Street bullying kerfuffle.

It's good to see someone upholding the principal of confidentiality in this age of FOI requests and disclosure policies. Cooper's argument is that confidentiality is a key aspect of any such helpline, and by going public about something like this, they have betrayed this fundamental principal. Well done to him for standing by his moral convictions.

Clayboy has posted about a political angle on this story; namely that the charity in question is endorsed by David Cameron and Ann Widdecome. Looks like this is all a cynical bit of party political nonsense!

I'm not saying that bullying is right; I've had a couple of bosses who have been (and probably still are) bullies. The problem is, if you have a confidential helpline, it needs to be confidential. End of story. I don't know of a simple way to deal with bullies in high places, but I know that the worst way to do it is to 'out' the people who have sought help about the matter. The only reason for anyone to publicise these confidential views has to be political; it certainly won't help with any HR situations there may be in number 10.

iPad or iPud?

Not a great title, but it's the best I could do at short notice. Dave Walker's take on the iPad is an interesting one, which expresses the concern voiced in my office this morning, that the iPad is nothing more than an expanded iPhone.

I can see the criticism here. It's not a full blown Mac by any means. It only has a slow processor (comparatively) and zero expandability. It really is just a big iPhone!

Having said all of this, I still want one! What is it about Apple that makes me want to buy everything they produce despite the inflated prices?

I think I know the answer. Apple are the best company in the world at anticipating the future desires/needs/lusts of the general public. They are also very good at understanding the importance of the human interface with the machine. This is what marks the iPhone out against other smartphones and the Mac OS against the ubiquitous 'Windows'.

The other thing that makes the iPad an interesting prospect for me is its use of 'apps'. This feature wasn't top of my list when buying an iPhone, but I've come to appreciate the app store and the many wonderful (and/or useless) things one can find. I think this will turn out to be a strenth for the iPad too.

Whilst I can't predict the future as well as Apple seem able to do, I can predict with some confidence that there will be an iPad in the Lanky household by the end of the year.

Behold the iPad

Here it is! The long-awaited news that Apple is entering the tablet computer market. Here's the BBC story. More comment later.

What flavour for the new Apple?

Even though we have no money to buy Apple's new toy, I'm very excited to see what they will be unveiling today. If, as predicted, it's some form of tablet computer is on the cards, we may just have to save up a bit.

I love the image from the 'Wired' story about the rumours:

God bless you Barack Obama

I watched this programme on BBC 2 last night. It was presented by Robert Beckford, and provided an interesting perspective on the religious side of American politics. I find it intriguing that, in a country where Church and State are constitutionally seperated, religion can have such a massive effect on electoral success.


As a major West Wing fan, I see the American electoral system as a perplexing and awe-inspiring machine. This programme gave me yet another perspective that I hadn't considered. It also gave a personal insight through interviews with many people who are close (or who were close) to the President.


If you find the time, give it a watch.

Snow across Great Britain

I thought I'd link to the NASA original too...

Snow across Great Britain

Amazing image

I've not posted anything in ages! It's been a hectic few weeks, and I'm only just getting back into the swing of things.

I just had to post about this image from the BBC, courtesy of NASA:

Amazing!

Ubiquity

I've just realised that my last two posts contain the wonderful word 'ubiquitous'. How strange! Maybe I need to do a Wordle to see which other words I use on this blog.

Am I the only person to be irritated by Robert Peston?

The BBC's Business Editor, Robert Peston, has been almost ubiquitous on the BBC airwaves since the beginning of the 'financial crisis'. He went a bit quiet after the return of Stephanie Flanders* from maternity leave, and I breathed a big sigh of relief. But he was on the Today Programme this morning, and I felt the need to post!

As a regular Today Programme listener, I have become all to accustomed to the ponderous drawl of Mr Peston. Sometimes his hesitations in the middle of sentences, and his insertions of interminable 'ers' and 'ars' make me want to throw the radio at the wall! On more than one occasion, I have switched station, or switched off altogether at the sound of Peston's voice.

I don't know if I've become over-sensitised to him now, or whether other people find the same thing with him. What do you think?

*did you know her dad was Michael Flanders of Flanders and Swann?

All that glitters

Am I the only person to detest the ubiquitous "cash for gold" adverts?


With the arrival of LittleLanky, we've been watching more tv than usual (because we're at home more), and the credit crunch seems to have spawned a proliferation of jewellery buyers; these seem to have taken the place of the "have you been injured at work?" adverts.


Although I concede that, primarily, I find these ads irritating, my point here is that I can't imagine who they're aimed at. I also can't imagine many people are sending in their big hoop earrings and heart shaped pendants.


Hopefully, as we climb out of recession, they will disappear as quickly as they arrived on our screens.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cricket's coming home?

If the recommendations in David Davies' review are implemented, the Ashes will become one of the so-called 'crown jewels' of British sport, meaning that they will have to be on terrestrial television. The BBC's report is quite upbeat on the chances of this happening, but I can't help feeling a bit tentative about the whole thing. The income from Sky TV is massive for the ECB, and I can't see them being too happy with slashing that amount to bring the Ashes back to terrestrial TV. The ECB will argue that the income from TV rights has helped to fund a resurgence in grass-roots cricket, which has to be good. I just hope a workable compromise can be found so that the needs of the viewing public can be satisfied along with those of grass-roots cricket.

Handle with Prayer

The Church Mouse has details of a proposed new BBC2 series which has a C of E Priest as the central character. It's called 'Handle with Prayer' and it stars Tom Hollander - a proper actor! I think he'll make a good vicar. One to watch out for.

Bloody Shameful

I have no time for the red-top tabloids in this country. I can't see what positive contribution they make to society, unless you count titilation as a positive contribution. I was particularly horrified, then, to read this trash on the Sun website. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a massive Gordon Brown fan, but I think that he needs to be given a bit of credit here.

We're talking about the Prime Minister of the UK! That's a pretty demanding job, you know. He works all hours, and probably barely gets time to spend with his family. I was actually very impressed that he takes the time to hand-write a personal letter to the family of each deceased soldier! When was the last time you hand-wrote a letter? I know I haven't written one in years.

I realise that the family concerned is grieving, and that they have their own, possibly legitimate, complaints against the UK government. I also acknowledge that I will (hopefully) never know what the family is going through, and how it feels to lose a child in warfare. My problem with the whole thing is that it comes across as a tabloid-engineered publicity stunt against the PM. I thought that when I read yesterday's 'story', but it was confirmed when I heard on the Today Programme that the Sun had recorded the phone call between the soldier's mother and Gordon Brown for use on their website (the Sun story said that the lady recorded the call on her answerphone).

It seems to me that the Sun have taken advantage of the family for the sake of a cheap story against Gordon Brown, and the more they persist, the more convinced I will be.

Ultimately, I really can't understand what the fuss is about. Here's how I see it:

• He hand wrote a letter in an age where email and phone calls are the norm, and even typed letters are rare! I think this is impressive.
  
• His letter is not a generic template; it's clearly specific to the situation. He could have just signed a spell-checked generic template, but he didn't.
  
• His handwriting is poor - big deal! So's mine.
• He made some spelling mistakes, and performed minor corrections. That's what we used to do before spell check!

Finally, at the risk of being labelled a pedant, and I don't want to sound disrespectful here, but someone who is criticising another person's use of language should maybe check their own a little more carefully:

"Jacqui hit back: "I don't want to sound disrespectful here, but it was an insult to my child. There was [sic] 25 spelling mistakes - 25."

I don't mind the open and honest critique of our politicians, but I resent the disproportionate influence the Sun has over UK voters. They are determined to get Brown out, and through their cheap stunts, we will probably end up with Tory Boy at the next election. A phrase involving a frying pan and a fire springs to mind!


**UPDATE**
Nick Baines has posted in a similar vein.

Clever, clever babies

This article is fascinating! Especially to a new parent. Apparently, research shows that a baby in the womb has already started to recognise the accent of their mother. So much so, that when they are born their cry has characteristics which are linked to the same accent. They show this by observing a different type of cry in families with different accents/languages.

I already knew that the whole process of growing a new life was amazing, but this just confirms it. I don't think it proves a watchmaker type argument for the existence of God, but it does make you stop and think a bit.

Triple-cross posting

David Keen, whilst cross posting one of my posts about a post by Mike Peatman, has linked to a great set of graphical representations of some epic movies including Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

The church of the state

I saw the news today that the name of the new Bishop of Peterborough has been announced. The wording of the press release made me think, though. I know the C of E is the established Church, but it does seem odd that the Prime Minister's Office make the formal announcement. No offence to Peterborough (it's a very nice place), but I would have thought the PM's office have more pressing issues to deal with.

That would be an ecumenical matter

Mike Peatman is obviously not quite busy enough yet in his new role! He's found the time to pen a rather witty Father Ted style summary of the Pope's offer to accommodate some of our more conservative brothers. Go and take a look!

Just hold on a minute!

On the Today programme this morning, it was claimed (though immediately clarified) that the M1 was the first motorway in the country. I don't think so! I think you'll find that the M6 Preston bypass was the first stretch of motorway to be completed in the UK, opened by Harold Macmillan in 1958. The BBC's web article is better!

Lancaster City Museum had a good exhibition to mark the anniversary, but it didn't seem to warrant the national coverage given to the M1's anniversary. Of course the M6 doesn't go anywhere near London, so that probably explains the lack of coverage.

Trawling the archive, I see that there was a story on the BBC news site in December, but I don't remember it making national radio, or spawning a musical!

All Saints

Just returned from my first 'Reflect' since the birth of LittleLanky. Thanks to all who have kept the ship afloat; there seems to be a healthy number of attendees with some new faces.


Tonight I was bold! I experimented with a 'Litany of the Saints', which I've only ever heard before. I got some music from Mr Walton, and with the help of a WAV file and a few minutes rehearsal, it all worked out ok.


The nice thing about it being an ecumenical service was that there was a good number of Roman Catholics who weren't phased at all; they helped everyone else to pick up the responses in quick time.


I also got the opportunity to play one of my birthday presents; Howard Goodall's Enchanted Voices. I'd heard bits on Classic FM, but the entire album is very very good. It's very good Reflect music too.