martyn44

These two guys are obviously not impeccable characters , but they didn't actually kill anyone and get 18 & 15 years respectively, as against the seven and a half years of our two drunken yobs below. Obviously they have to receive heavier sentences. I mean, they're black and urban and threatening and all that, but two and a half times as much?

I'm not saying which sentence is right and which isn't, just pointing at what seems to me to be an inconsistency.

Oh, that 'black and urban' bit is meant to be ironic. The law is colour blind, and if it isn't it should be made so.

So, two young men of impeccable character, given to angling, go out on the town, get bladdered and get involved in two fights, one of which leaves a man dead.

Their QC argues that they hardly hit the dead man and that seven and a half years (once again, two years served) is excessive.

To be honest, I don't think I agree with him. I don't suppose he really means it. However, and however much they are to be avoided, exemplarary sentences here might save lives in future.

That ghastly old Latin saw is accurate as far as it goes, but blindingly inaccurate when it goes inside the head. A healthy body is no defence when the demons of the mind come calling. The late Robert Enke and the thankfully still cricketing Marcus Trescothic are evidence enough of this - very fit men at the height of their powers, yet still prey to the black dog. Of course it isn't rational. It isn't rational. Princess Di, the most famous clothes horse in the world and a woman who was beautiful by any standards (except, perhaps, those of Freddy Mercury and Mika) and she was bulimic. How rational was that?

But . . . there has to be a 'but' doesn't there . . . my experience tells me that dealing with these demons takes energy, and we only have so much energy at any given time. Carrying the lardass around that you've grown over mumbletysometoomany years of a sedentary occupation takes more of that energy than shaking that tush did when you were young(er) and (even more) desirable. Similarly, my observation suggests that the black dog comes howling round your back door when you are - for whatever reason - physically lower than you are at other times. He's a cunning bastard, the black dog. He knows you better than your mother did. And when he gets his teeth into you it is a very vicious circle, as your head convinces your body it doesn't feel good.

Which brings me back to getting back into physical shape. It isn't going to make the black dog go away, but it will make it easier to fight off the other ailments to which all of us are prey as we grow older but not wiser. Look at one of those wonderful documentaries about life, red in tooth and claw. It might be the black dog (or whatever) ripping out your throat that kills you but it is the tiny nicks and bites and bruises that slow you down enough for him to get his teeth into you. Without those other injuries you can run further and faster than any predator.

Yes, our tendencies to hear his howling and be afraid of it makes that comfort food oh so seductive. It will taste even better when you're wearing your running shorts and have the black dog trotting alongside, obedient on his leash. Yes, this decision is late in my life. But better late than never. I have given up chocolate (a diabetic gives up chocolate, yes, laugh you bastards, laugh, see if I care) and have climbed on the exercise bike. It is a first step only. But it is a step.

Here's another saw. A little of what you (don't) fancy does you good. See you around.

What do you call an organisation that cannot (will not?) pay its debts and workers' salaries (other than Portsmouth)? That's right. Bankrupt I think it is fairly clear which club will be one of those relegated from the Premiership this year, especially after the points are deducted for going into receivership.

Which will be a bitter blow to the Pompey fans, who have had to stand by and watch their club being subject to the sort of financial shenanigans that make our beloved Mike Ashley seem like a paragon (he, at least, has put a lot of his money into the Toon) and with whom we share so much, including faded glories. Not to mention the players, the betrayed Paul Hart, even Avram Grant.

We'll wave as we go by.

As for Tottenham fans, just look at the clubs where 'arry has been before. Don't have nightmares now.

Those of you who have been with me some time will know that two of the bees in my bonnet are our courts' attitude towards unacceptable driving and our general attitude towards inebriation in public. This person has knowingly driven while drunk and drugged and killed a child as a result of it. And she thinks seven years (which will be about two years served) is too much.

You'll not be surprised to discover I think she's mistaken.

My current WiP requires William Morris to take a Sunday afternoon boat trip on the Thames with HG Wells and Morris' daughter and her best friend (who have recently got to know Mr Wells very well indeed) A quiet afternoon on the Thames. Let's see who we can have on board. At exactly this time Eleanor Marx and Edward Aveling were leaving the Socialist League because of Morris' Anarchist tendencies. There's drama. Do you think Freidrich Engels would have missed out? Of course, Jane Burden - Mrs Morris - was Rosetti's model and the Marxes would doubtless be outraged by her and Mr Burne Jones indulging in a little al fresco sketching, taking their inspiration from Manet's Le Dejeuner sur L'herbe. Oh, and Mrs Morris' lover - that nice Mr Blunt - was probably along too. Hey, its a free lunch, and what literary person could ever turn one down.

And why should all this be observed by a member of the Special Irish Branch? Because Mrs Morris was heavily involved with the Irish Home Rule movement and may well have invited WB Yeats.

And to think, I had no idea of this conjunction before following a faint memory of Morris & Engels. So, I am time shifting it a few weeks. Do you think I should get my artistic licence endorsed?

Mr Darling, you know what to do. Let the fuckers go pour encourager les autres.

On the other hand, you could do what you should have done when you effectively nationalised RBS. Dismiss them all, without pension, on the grounds of incompetence.

Time to find a new passion, my friends. Steampunk has been discovered and defined by Grauniad Any relationship between this description and the real thing is, of course, purely coincidental.

Surely some mistake. 'Mama Mia' is the best film of the last thirty years Isn't it?

I don't like 'best of . . .' polls, but this one looks as though it might almost be something like right.

Just not strongly enough to find out what our German brothers and sisters actually use as their anthem, these days That sort of fraternal respect we can all do without.

All Right Now by Free, since it was issued (1969?) Because, when the alien asks you 'What is this rock music?' this is the song you play them.

There are large areas of the UK that do not have broadband connectivity, all rural and 'remote' (although by what value of 'remote' anywhere in Buckinghamshire qualifies is beyond me) Of course, not everybody in these areas is cut off, but he ain't like you and I. He's one of the entitled.

Way back when this internet thingy got going, connectivity was probably a privilege. Times have changed. Now it is as much a necessity to modern life as a reliable power supply and a clean water supply. We have recently seen National Express lose two of their railway franchises because they couldn't deliver (either in terms of finance or service) I suggest that any communications supplier that cannot provide broadband internet connectivity to the entire country is failing to deliver and should, by the same token, lose their franchise.

Of course, this would not be a problem if the BT plan - pre sell off - to optically cable the entire country (yes, the Highlands and Islands, Cumbria, Snowdon and even Buckinghamshire too - though possibly not Cornwall) had not been stopped by Mrs Thatcher because her favourite provider of answers rather than question, Lord Young the CEO of Cable and Wireless was not going to make anything on the deal)

No, not a comment about the Swiss referendum, which is a Swiss affair (except that being Swiss no more gives immunity to stupidity than being French or American or - gasp - British) The BBC reporter pointed out that there could be no Islamic symbols in Switzerland but there would be Christian symbols, pointing to the bauble and light laden tree beside which he stood.

As a Christian I would point out that the only tree that is a Christian symbol comes in the form of a cross. The 'Christmas tree' is a symbol of the shopkeeper's festival held at the same time as the Christian festival, one where we concern ourselves with the gifts we give rather than the one gift we were given. Me, I shall celebrate both. It is the deep midwinter and we need all the cheer we can get (just as we did when our pagan forefathers held their midwinter festivals before there was a Switzerland)

My complaint is not - particularly - about slovenly journalistic standards at the BBC, but the glaring irony in the reporter's glee at pointing out the Swiss antipathy towards the symbols of another religion and his ignorance about the symbols of (presumably) his own. Or perhaps, in true Islington style, he was trying to pour scorn on both religions. If so, his scorn would be better directed were he scorning a genuine symbol. But near enough is good enough for the BBC. Lord Reith is well and truly concreted in.

So, I suppose I am complaining about slovenly journalistic standards at the BBC after all.

I have just read Dave Langford's post on FB that Rob Holdstock died this morning at the horribly early age of 61.

I never actually met Rob, though I was in the same room on many occasions, enough to know he was one of the good guys. As long as I have been aware of NWofBSF he was the writer whose work I most enjoyed and who I wished to emulate (and still do) Chris Priest might be a better writer (just) but Rob's obsessions chimed with mine.

The moral is never forgo a chance to meet your heroes. Tomorrow may never come.

I drink very little, and even less at home. Tonight I will search out that bottle of Talisker's and take a glass in honour of a fine writer. If you haven't read him, do so now. If you have read him, then it is time to rediscover his magic.

Anybody noticed anything about this in your news bulletins? I certainly haven't but surely, by any reasonable standards, flooding that causes 100 deaths is a bit of a higher news priority than, say, Tiger Woods pranging his Cadillac.

But what they hey, its only Arabs drowning, only towel heads, and they don't count as humans, do they. Or is it because Saudi citizens are volubly criticising their government (something that can't possibly happen in the content Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)?

For several hours on Friday evening the three news channels I look at (BBC News, Sky News and Sky Sports News) were frothing with the 'news' that Tiger Woods had seen seriously injured in a car crash. Minute after minute of direct feed of the 'accident site' was mauled over by tv journalists ranging from the reasonably experienced to the still in nappies (well, who else will you get on Sky Sports News on a Friday night?), an accident scene that looked remarkably like an untouched Florida suburb (not even a particularly wealthy one at that) According to Sky Sports News, at least, it was the end of an era and he was to be prosectuted for some driving offence or other. And the airbags had not inflated. But he was seriously injured.
Eventually wiser heads in the back office started solving the equation of serious injury resulting from a Cadillac (read 'tank') emerging from a very obviously short driveway and colliding with a fire hydrant and tree without the airbags inflating and realised that the answer was 'this does not compute'.
Shortly afterwards it was announced that Tiger had left hospital and gone home with minor head lacerations, which is pretty good for a seriously injured man.
So, the facts - such as they were known - appeared to contradict the declaration of the Florida Highway Patrol that he was 'seriously injured'. Now, I would expect the Florida Highway Patrol to be pretty well acquainted with the results of all manner of car crashes. So why should they declare that serious injury had resulted from an accident that didn't seem to even leave broken glass on the road? The fact that the injured person is a hugely succesful, popular, very wealthy Person of Colour raises its head, but no, that couldn't be true, not now, not with a similarly complected man in the White House. Could it?

Will all this end in tears, and, if so, who will be crying?

Answers: a, yes; b, us.

I was watching 'History of Christianity' last night (I know, I should have been writing, but I'm a practising Christian and I'm interested in the stuff) It was concerned mostly with the beginning of the Reformation and the all but axiomatic schismatic tendencies of this personal conscience stuff. It presented the institutional Catholic church, especially the Vatican, as being irredeemably venal, corrupt and concerned with its secular power to the nth degree - whatever the faith if its followers. Indulgences, guys, as anti-scriptural as the 'wealth is God's reward' jive we see in some primitive Protestant churches today. The Church is a human institution, however well inspired and intended, and is imperfect. We can but try.

But try we do. Some of us. The Vatican? Plus ca change.

And you thought aeromodelling was just grown up boys playing with expensive toys.

I have been convinced from day one that there is much more than we (will ever?) know about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. This can only add even more questions, such as why the McCanns should require a 'security consultant' and why they should turn to this individual when they had the combined police forces of the UK at their disposal.

I have my theories, which this does nothing to dispel. Given the UK libel laws, you'll just have to guess what they are.