foolhandy

There have been a few lead thefts in the North West Essex area recently and last night (Thursday) some lovely people broke into St. Andrew’s Primary School in Great Yeldham, where I work, and stole most of the lead from the roofs. They have made such a butchered job of it that they’ve ripped much of the brickwork away. We have covered up the computers inside and contractors came out to patch up what they could of the roof. They’re back at it again tomorrow but we just have to hope it doesn’t rain too much until it’s made reasonably waterproof. The CCTV footage doesn’t shed much light on it as the thieves are obviously quite adept at getting away with it.

The head is going to take pictures of the damage tomorrow and put them on the website (www.greatyeldhamschool.co.uk) in the home that someone who knows something sees them and is prompted to inform the police. If anyone stumbles across this post and has any info please go to the Neighbourhood Police Website and send them an e-mail.

I don’t know why I didn’t do this before, but here is the choir version of the James Bond theme tune from the Casino Royale trailer. And only a year after the movie’s release…

Now I’m not in any way condoning the imprisonment of Gillian Gibbons for allowing the children in her class to name their teddy bear Muhammad - my view on such religious thinking is well known - but the reaction from some of the British public is hypocritical in the extreme.

These are three statements copy-and-pasted from the related BBC Have Your Say page. I confess that I did look with the expectation of such views but I was still astonished by what I saw…

Added: Thursday, 29 November, 2007, 22:09 GMT 22:09 UK

They must be so insecure in their religion that such a small thing can cause such great offence. I pity them.

chris allen, bexley

Recommended by 90 people

It’s of interest how many people have recommended this comment. It’s not just him/her then? And I wonder if it is such insecurity which causes the blanket intolerance towards immigrants to the UK from so many?

Added: Thursday, 29 November, 2007, 22:09 GMT 22:09 UK

Stop all British aid to the Sudan -permanently- and order them to repay every single penny they’ve received from us in aid since 1970. Seize all Sudanese government assets in Britain if they don’t comply immediately.
The only way these people will ever join the 21st century and behave like human beings is when they are forced to do so.

the_historian, Stirling

Recommended by 106 people

the_historian eh? Well if you’re not prepared to put your name to it I obviously respect it as a view…

Added: Thursday, 29 November, 2007, 22:07 GMT 22:07 UK

It is unfortunate that some people are still living in the 11th century with all the intolerance and barbarity of that time.

Richard Nicholson, South Holland

Recommended by 87 people

South Holland in Lincolnshire I presume. Obviously then there’s a little bubble of tolerance in that part of the world that I’m not seeing.

I wonder if it is these people who, when faced with a Muslim, Sikh or Hindu who makes a stand against a UK law, are only too happy to proclaim :

If you don’t like our laws then don’t come to our country!

I imagine it probably is. The double-standards are astonishing. Again, I don’t condone the situation but she had chosen to work in Sudan and so had chosen to live by the laws of Sudan. I’m sure that it was just a naive mistake and there are those who may feel that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime but if we ask non-Britons to comply with British laws whilst working and living in Britain shouldn’t we expect ex-pats to reciprocate?

Although as you’ll see when/if you follow the link to the BBC site that the ratio is far from 3:1 I will add one voice of reason to the three voices of the Daily Bigot readership. Note how few people have recommended this post. Very sad indeed.

Added: Thursday, 29 November, 2007, 22:06 GMT 22:06 UK

This decision has been made based on the law of that country. We have no democratic mandate over Sudan, or any right to tell them how to govern their own country any more than they have to tell us how to govern the UK.

We cannot compare one countries laws, religious belief or culture with another. Is France the same as Japan? Spain the same as South Africa? No, and neither is Sudan the same as UK.

At the end of it all, the teacher broke their law and is being punished according to that law.

Mark Arnold, Bournemouth

Recommended by 15 people

Do as we say, not as we do - the mantra of Great Britain…

Goodbye Steve McClaren…

You won’t be missed. Good riddance.

I like the picture from last weekend which I posted earlier today because I like the image and because it reminds me of a wonderful weekend.

This picture, taken in 2003 and of the view from my bedroom window in Seychelles, reminds me of the time when I felt ready to take on the world personally and professionally. It’s also a pretty good capture of lovely view.

I’m living in two totally opposite worlds right now. It’s a war really, but photos like this remind me of which world is going to win - the other one can only beat me whilst I’m still fighting it.

The first in an occasional series. Or something.

I took this from our fifth floor balcony at Threadneedle’s Hotel last weekend.

I like it…

From Top Gear on Sunday. Jeremy Clarkson to be precise, whilst introducing The Stig…

Some say to unlock him you have to stroke his face like this [Clarkson strokes face of audience member, a reference to the method required to switch an Apple iPhone on] and that if he was divorcing Paul McCartney he would keep his whining mouth shut [the audience applauds wildly and Jeremy pauses for a short moment]… [laughing]….. all we know is, he’s called The Stig!

Oh yes!

Trains to Brazil by The Guillemots. The last verse is on repeat in my brain, making me lurch between euphoria and melancholy. Whatever, I have to be up in four and a half hours and I can’t sleep.

It’s 1 o’clock on a Friday morning,
I’m trying to keep my back from the wall.
The prophets and their pawns have had another success
And I’m wondering why we bother at all.

And I think of you on cold winter mornings, darling
They remind me of when we were in school,
Nothing really mattered when you called out my name
In fact nothing really mattered at all

And I think about how long it will take them to blow us away
But I won’t get me down!
I’m just thankful to be facing the day.
Cause days don’t get you far when you’re young.

It’s 5 o’ clock on a Friday morning
One hundred telephones shake and ring
One of those was someone who knew you

And I’ll still think of you on cold winter mornings, darling
They’ll still remind me of when we were in school
When they could never have persuaded me,
That lives like yours, were in the hands of these erroneous fools

And to those of you who mourn your lives through one day to the next
Well let them take you next!
Can’t you live and be thankful you’re here?
See - it could be you, tomorrow, next year.

I’m slowly, slowly coming around to Friends. This is mainly due to Chandler Bing, who in contrast to Ross, Phoebe, Rachel is consistently funny.

This evening though Chandler Bing rose to God-like status…

Chandler Bing hates dogs too!

Lucky me! I’m one of probably millions of those who have had the revised version of GMail / Google Mail made available to them. The full list of changes have been written about here but in short the key differences are this :

• Your e-mail address is now shown in the address bar
• You can “mute” dull conversations so they skip the Inbox automatically
• There’s a fancy new contacts interface (easily the weakest part of GMail before I think)
• A new “Filter messages like these” option appears in the message drop down
• If I needed to I could use IMAP
• You can use AOL chat. Should you want to…
• The contacts pictures integrate with Picasa Web, should you use it

And that’s it…

There are probably other things too, and I can switch back if I want. I’ve noticed none of the other minor teething troubles I’ve read about in a quick search of the net, and it’s certainly not as horrible as the Yahoo! and Hotmail updates.

It’s OK. Shame the CustomizeGoogle add-on to Firefox doesn’t seem to work with it though. I can see the spam counter & adverts again now…

On Wednesday Heather Mills-McCartney complained on GMTV that the media was pushing her to the edge in the way they did with the People’s Arse.

The next day she went on US TV and publicly slagged off Paul McCartney over their divorce.

Here’s some advice, put more succinctly than I could manage by Helen, for Ms Mills-McCartney :

“If you don’t like the media, just fuck off!”

Indeed…

In July 2005 Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes was chased and shot seven times in the head by officers of the Metropolitan Police. It later transpired that he was a completely innocent. Yesterday the Metropolitan Police were found guilty of endangering public health and safety on 19 counts and fined £175,000.
The Head of the Metropolitan Police Sir Ian Blair has said that he will not be considering his position. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and London Mayor Ken Livingston have all backed Sir Ian Blair saying that his job should not be under threat.

In October 2007 Brazilian Dida was gently brushed against by Celtic supporter Robert McHendry who had run onto the pitch in a moment of euphoria. Celtic were later fined £25,000 and Dida was banned for one match for unsporting behaviour. Yesterday Robert McHendry was found guilty of a breach of the peace and ordered to do 120 hours community service. He has already been banned from all Celtic matches forever.
Sheriff Craig Scott, when sentencing, said “The circumstances of this offence mean that serious consideration must be given to a sentence of imprisonment.”

So to sum up :

Run the Metropolitan Police in such a way that your officers chase an innocent man through London before shooting him in the head (and in doing so endanger the public’s safety), and you keep your job and receive backing from the PM, Home Secretary and Mayor of London.

Run onto a football pitch in a moment of excitement, and you narrowly avoid a custodial sentence.

Who is a greater danger to society - Sir Ian Blair or Robert McHendry?

And they wonder why there’s a lack of faith in the justice system…