Friday February 27, 2009

R.I.P Wendy Richards

After her third battle with cancer Wendy Richards died yesterday . She spent her later years as Pauline Fowler in Eastenders a soap on BBC TV. I must admit it was not my favourite TV program except when Phil and Grant Mitchell knocked seven bells out of each other - a regular occurance when other storylines had dried up. Wendy was also well known as Miss Brahmes in "Are you being served?" a comedy series based in a department store again on BBC TV. Her last TV role as Mrs Crump in Marple: A Pocket Full Of Rye.

Tuesday February 24, 2009

Is one hand enough?

Today I learnt that their had been complaints that children have been traumatised by the appearance of a CBBC presenter who only has one hand. I understand if a child sees someone like this that they might be upset but it is up to all of us to educate children about this stuff. We so often hear about racial, political, gender and all the other discriminations but the disabled always seem to be at the bottom of peoples interest in solving these problems.

I had thought we had moved on a step or two after the success of our people in the Olympics but perhaps we have not come far enough. I cannot find any links on this story either.

Greenways - Open after five and five

After five million pounds and five years Agatha Christie's house in Devon Greenways is open for visitors again. The National Trust have done fantastic job based upon the shots I saw on Breakfast TV this morning. There are plenty of her belongings and there is also a "Greenways" edition of all her books on display. I am sure the house will be very popular.

Tuesday February 17, 2009

A zoo full of stars..

As reported on BBC Breakfast today a website where Joe public can help sort through the billions of galaxies identifying their shapes has been revamped. The site looks fantastic and to me it is a great human based cloud computing initiative. It has also drawn in people who had no interest in this subject and got them learning more about our universe.

No kissing in Warrnington..

After the Warrington station was refurbished, Virgin Rail with their tongue's firmly in the cheeks put up signs banning kissing on the station platform. The idea is that people kissing each other blocked the platform and were delaying trains. To allow passionate couples to still have their parting or welcoming kiss an area has been designated the kissing zone. Only in the UK...

Have you seen this monument?

Just re-opened after extensive repairs this monument celebrates the rebirth of London after the great fire of 1666. It stands not far from where the fire started. Christopher Wren played a part in its design. But I had never heard of it until I saw the BBC local news item on it. The BBC have setup a gallery of pictures taken after the restoration. What I suppose we are going to hope is that London will rise like a phoenix as it did after this monument was built after our recent troubles in the financial sector, the restoration being a catalyst to that recovery...

Friday February 13, 2009

Did it work?

Another interesting news item last night . It was all about truancy and that the fact that parents can be jailed for persistant non attendance by their children to schools. Of course the news item showed one family where it did work and one where it did not make any difference. The problem is that despite this attempt to impact truancy figures they are still rising and even the minister involved in this considers the jailing of parents is not perhaps having the desired effect...

A right Royal welcome...

As reported on last nights news despite the credit crunch HRH has given her website a makeover. I wonder who hosts it and how many times someone has tried to hack into it? Anyway the news item made it clear that one would not be replying to email, writing weblogs or attending instant messaging rooms. I would love to see Prince Phillip in a IM room. Now that would be worth waiting for...

Thursday February 12, 2009

Languages in Schools..

On Breakfast TV this morning it was reported the take up of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish is growing big time in our schools. A desire by parents for their children to learn more about their culture is one reason but the second reason is that it has been shown that children who take up languages end up with higher IQ's and do better in schools. Years ago while on holiday in Wales we were in a town flooded with kids out of school over lunchtime. They were all speaking Welsh. I loved it. The only trouble is us poor English feel a bit left out.

Terms and Conditions

It is reported today that three quarters of us never read the terms and conditions wether we are purchasing online or by traditional means. The fact that often it makes no sense, reads like gobblygook or it is printed in such small print it is unreadable anyway are some of the reasons we give for ignoring this information. Never fear, the UK Information Commissioner is at our rescue.

I found a bit more information on this here

Wednesday February 11, 2009

Black T-shirt day

The T-shirt that was on the top of the pile today is a black T-shirt with a kangaroo and the word Australia written on it. Seems very apt.

Tuesday February 10, 2009

The red and the grey...

There are only 150,000 red squirrels left in the UK and these are only to be found in Scotland. The grey coloured one introduced years ago is gradually pushing their red cousin further north. In a battle for territory the grey wins and they also carry a pox bug that they are immune to but the red is not. So in an effort to stem the grey tide there are plans to cull some grey squirrels. The idea is not to wipe them out but to give the red ones a bit of a breathing space. It is controversial as it is killing healthy animals, but it seems the only way to preserve the reds for the future.

Thursday February 05, 2009

Barbie is fifty today.

After countless jobs, facelifts, botox treatments Barbie is fifty today. One thing is her life seems to be settled though and that is Ken her partner loyal as ever. Don't you just love that shade of pink....

Wednesday February 04, 2009

I blame the marmalade

I have just seen that the BBC One show is going to stop having Carol Thatcher as a presenter as off screen she said someone looked like a Golliwog. Now This is insane. I appreciate the term can be seen as racist but lets be honest here. Carol Thatcher saw that little chap on her parents breakfast table every day and grew up with the idea that it was ok to use that word. She is hardly racist. She might be a bit scatty and batty but that is all. I am sure she did not mean offense by using the word and it just slipped out and as usual it has been taken out of all proportion. The mistake she has made is her refusal to say sorry, but she is stubborn like her mother..

Tuesday February 03, 2009

Locusts on a high...

Clever boffins have worked out why locusts who are usually solitary turn into a swarming mass destroying crops etc. It is all down to serotonin it seems. Locusts as they swarm also change their physical appearance which had us believe that there were two different species. Now all we have to do is work out how reverse this Jeckll and Hyde character change...