Children will be banned from starting school until they receive the MMR jab, under new Labour party proposals. Parents will have to provide proof their offspring have had a full range of vaccinations when they put in applications for primary schools.
You've got to hand it to this Labour government: in power for over a decade, and they're still somehow managing to dredge up new stuff to ban. Who says they lack imagination?
If you remember, back in February, I proposed a much more logical solution to this MMR nonsense.
The more observant of you—the more observant of you who are not reading this via an RSS reader at least—might have noticed that the banner across the top of the page has changed from a tasteful orange colour to a rather dramatic red. At the same time, the text has changed from black to white.
Why have I made this change? Well, exactly the same red and white colour scheme will soon be adorning my new study. The shelves, windows, skirting board and ceiling will be white, and the walls red. This exact red, in fact. For some reason, the paint manufacturer has chosen to call it incarnadine. It's a disappointing name, compared with those of some of the other reds I was tempted by: blazer, dragon's blood, volcanic splash, and something I can't remember with the word passion in the title. Even rectory red has more of a ring to it than incardanine. Didn't he star in Kung Fu in the 1970s?
Unfortunately, incarnadine turns out to be a rather specialist (for which, read expensive) paint, so the shop didn't have enough. They've had to order some more.
The new study, once it has a desk and computer will become the official new Gruts Central. So I thought I might as well change the colour scheme at the top of the page to be a bit more corporate.
Postscript: From an online chat with Carolyn later in the evening:
Richard: Can I ask you a (slightly personal) question? (It's not all that personal, in case you're worried.) Carolyn: Ok but I have to go very soon. Richard: Thanks… In your experience, is the headline on this news story true? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7390109.stm Carolyn: Yes. Richard: Excellent!
Is it my imagination, or are there more ducks than is usual for the time of year flying about at the moment? Not significantly more, but noticeably more. Noticeable enough that, if you happened to have a website where you were prone to make observations of such a nature, you would probably mention it on the off-chance that you had actually noticed something rather profound. I admit it seems unlikely, but you never know: perhaps there's a reason why there are noticeably more ducks flying around than is usual for the time of year. Or perhaps it really is just my imagination.
They're mallards mostly, from what I can tell at the sort of distances I'm talking about. Actually, I haven't mentioned distances yet, but I'm just about to: 50 to 100 yards, approximately. They tend to be flying very fast, very low and very determinedly in a straight line, quite often in an easterly direction. I suppose they could be the same ducks going round and round, but this seems unlikely, bearing in mind how very determinedly they are flying in a straight line. Not to say impossible.
Ducks are surprisingly fast fliers. In fact, I'm pretty sure my edition of The Guinness Book of Records from some time in the 1970s said that the fastest horizontal bird flight ever measured was that of a mallard. I forget the speed. Peregrine falcons can reach faster speeds, of course, but only in a vertical stoop.
A surprising thing I've noticed about ducks' flight while I've been observing the noticeably more of them than is usual for the time of year recently is how short their wing-beats are. They're very short indeed, bearing in mind the horizontal speeds they achieve. Ducks take tiny wing-beats, but travel at great speed.
The threat of a nuclear attack on the UK in the 1950s caused concern over the supply of tea, top-secret documents which have now been released reveal.
Government officials planning food supplies said the tea situation would be "very serious" after a nuclear war.
Those were the days: a UK government actually getting its priorities right. Tea had got us through two world wars, and we were going to need reliable supplies to make it through a third.
Of course, it all started going downhill in 1938 with the invention of Nescafé. Now, we've turned into a nation of hyperactive, migrane-ridden instant coffee swillers. It was all part of a sinister American plot to destroy our empire.
Ofsted inspection pressures deter talented teachers from taking on the top jobs in schools, research suggests.
A National Association of Head Teachers survey of 500 members found 86% thought the impact of Ofsted meant potential head teachers were put off applying.
Yeah, and I could have been a great ballerina, if only I'd been prepared to lose a few pounds and go through the sex-change.
Stop bloody whinging. Dealing with Ofsted inspections is part of the job of being a head teacher. You can't pick and choose which aspects of the role you want to fulfil. Managing a school requires an entirely different set of skills to overseeing a class of kids. If you don't think you've got what it takes, don't apply for the bloody job.
Sorry for the lack of updates. My phone line's down yet again. Seems to happen at least twice a year. Bloody BT. Serves me right for living in the back of beyond, I suppose.
This update published via the sexy, little handheld computer Jen bought me for my birthday, Bluetoothing out via my mobile phone.
Of course, it all started going downhill in 1938 with the invention of Nescafé. Now, we've turned into a nation of hyperactive, migrane-ridden instant coffee swillers. It was all part of a sinister American plot to destroy our empire.