In the News

[Mike]

BBC article about the UK fiscal budget. I think it is a good suggestion to eliminate the large numbers from the discussion and represet the budget as a percentage. Nice take on the situation.

[stimpsonslostson]

OH DEAR!! My own opinions are well known by you guys... but this kind of thing worries me. Would you want creationism/intelligent design to be taught to your children in a science lesson? I wouldn't. I agree that they should be discussed, but surely not in the way that seems to be implied in the article.
Over 8pages of comments indicates how deep feelings run on this one.

I'm confining myself to your common or garden highschool (like the one I went to). If its a faith school then I think they should be free to emphasize whatever is inline with their faith, but I'd expect evolution to be covered as part of science there too. Perhaps with a different weighting.

[BarcelonAl]

I'm with you on this one, as one comment (by Clint Boon, probably not he of the Inspiral Carpets and XFM Manchester...) on the first page states:

Teach ID & Creationism by all means, but save them for the philosophy & RE. They're not sciences, its simple fact!

Can't argue fairer than that to be honest.

[mr_e]

If it's ever taught in science lessons then it should be subject to the same standards of proof that other theories are. Which it patently isn't, so screw that: evolution theories will change if the evidence does, can't say the same about creationism and intelligent design.

I'm not saying science is entirely free of agendas or dogma, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

[Andy]

13-year-old boy made redundant from his paper round can't afford to support his hamster.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds ... 334416.stm

[Mike]

Whilst other major economies are coming out of recession the UK Banks RBS & Lloyds are being injected with another £30bn of our money. That is it for us. Tax rises ahoy. Evil *ankers. Replace * with B or W as appropriate.

The Treasury said that the banks had committed not to pay cash bonuses for the 2009 financial year to any staff earning more than £39,000 a year and that members of the boards would defer all their bonuses payments for 2009 until 2012.

This explains the *ankers comment above. The board get their 2009 bonuses deferred. Everyone else has to lose it.

[BarcelonAl]

Woot! Can't wait to see how much income tax I pay next year...in addition to the other billion taxes I pay (plus my Student Loan)...

Couple of recession jokes for you (courtesey of the Times website).

“Three bankers go into a pub . . . because that’s where they work now.”

“Talked to my bank manager the other day and he said he was going to concentrate on the big issues from now on . . . He sold me one outside KFC yesterday.”

“What’s the difference between an investment banker and a large pizza? A large pizza can feed a family of four.”

“I go overdrawn and I get a snotty letter telling me I’m a naughty boy and that the letter is costing me £28. I’m not the one who needed a £70 billion bailout. I put my cash card in the machine and it has the cheek to ask me if I’d like an advice slip. What’s it going to say: ‘Don’t spend it all at once?’ Well, I can’t now, because RBS has.”

“The credit crunch is getting bad isn’t it? I mean, I let my brother borrow 20 quid a couple of weeks back, and now it turns out I’m Britain’s third biggest lender.”

[stimpsonslostson]

Boris Johnson rides to the rescue... LITERALLY!

[Mike]

Wanted man provides a paper with an updated photograph of himself because he disliked the one they originally printed. Dumb or what?

[stimpsonslostson]

Manchester United find a replacement for Rio, this one adds some needed steel to their defence.

Brutal! I'm impressed!

[BarcelonAl]

Almost as brutal as Johnny Evans' karate kick on Drogba in the match on Sunday!

The comedy Riverdance-stylee leg twitching was almost as funny as when he got booked for getting a boot to the chest!

[BarcelonAl]

Ok, so I know it's from the Sun...but seriously what the feck?

Police get 93 page guide on how to ride a bike.

Now, I did my cycling proficiency test when I still at junior school. It involved riding round the playground around various obstacles and fake junctions, then about 3 trips on the road.

We also got given about a 20 page book with BIG pictures...and grown up cops need two volumes of information! All from taxpayers money...

[Mike]

Anglican Church seething over women bishops and threatening to join the Catholics (because women arn't allowed to be priests). How is it that everyone else has to live and work to equality laws except the clergy? What sort of freaky backward place are we living in where women are barred for doing a particular job becuase her bosses don't like the idea of it.

[Andy]

We also got given about a 20 page book with BIG pictures...and grown up cops need two volumes of information! All from taxpayers money...

Probably legislation and the phrase I despise, 'health and safety'. Try taking 39 kids to Spain and Barcelona, geez, our risk assessment looked like a collection of encyclopedias. It's absolutely ridiculous the amount of time that is wasted to produce documents that nobody reads! However, if something goes wrong...

[Mike]

Belle de Jour is Dr Brooke Magnanti. Aparently her past does not effect her current position at Bath University. I wonder if she still feels the need to supliment her income?