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Thank goodness for permanent news archives from reputable news organisations. Otherwise, history might well have forgotten the following:
BBC (30-May-2007): Pope meets parents of Madeleine
The parents of Madeleine McCann have met Pope Benedict in Rome and had a photograph of the abducted four-year-old blessed by him.
Apparently, the Vatican has removed all references to the McCann's audience with the pope from its website. I can't imagine why.
With friends like that, who needs enemas?
BBC: Five guilty of fake Viagra scam
Five people have been found guilty of conspiracy to supply millions of pounds worth of counterfeit Viagra.
Let's hope they're given a stiff sentence, eh, readers.
(Stiff sentence, geddit?)
Actually, all hype aside, I have to say, Viagra™ has totally transformed my life. Before they invented the stuff, I never received any spam.
This is so embarrassing:
BBC: Monarch faith role 'should stay'
Prince Charles should not become defender of all faiths rather than just Christianity when he becomes King, the Archbishop of Canterbury has insisted.
Yes, that's right, embarrassing.
We Brits have a head of state whose job it is to defend religious faith—specifically the one, true Anglican Protestant faith (not the whole of Christianity, as the Archbishop conveniently forgets).
Look on a coin: ELIZABETH II D.G. REG. F.D. (or, to give it its full Latin, ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSOR)—Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God Queen and Defender of the Faith. A daily reminder that our monarch is required by our famously unwritten constitution to defend one particular brand of religious mumbo-jumbo. Defender of the Faith: a title first conferred on a delighted Henry VIII by Pope Leo X (a Roman Catholic) after Henry wrote a book utterly condemning the new-fangled Protestantism. Go figure.
I mean, if it wasn't embarrassing enough in the first place for a country governed by the so-called Mother of Parliaments to have a hereditary monarch as a head of state, we should hang our heads in shame that the land that gave the world Newton, Hooke, Darwin, Faraday, Lyell, Kelvin, and a host of other enlightened geniuses—not to mention the sodding Industrial Revolution—still has a boss who is supposed to defend to the death one ridiculous religious sect against all others.
To think that we shake our heads in (hopefully literal) disbelief at what's going on in the Middle East and Sudan. Talk about motes and planks.
Utterly, utterly embarrassing.
How totally ridiculous:
BBC: James Bond tops 'culture chart'
James Bond's Casino Royale has topped the UK's first "culture chart", bringing together sales of DVDs, books, CDs and computer games in one rundown.
How the hell can you rank books against DVDs, or CDs against video games? It makes about as much sense as saying you prefer cream cakes to the colour blue.
My, this is scary:
BBC: Faith schools set for expansion
The government has pledged its support for the principle of faith schools - with the prospect of many more Muslim schools within the state sector.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls and faith group leaders have formed a partnership - endorsing faith schools as a force to improve social cohesion in England.
Social cohesion? Is that what they're calling sectarianism these days?
Why not write to your MP and tell them how you feel about this? You might like to cc. the aptly named Ed Balls while you're at it. (Not that writing to your MP ever made a shite of difference, you understand.)
Personally speaking, I am fucking livid.
BBC: Starch 'fuel of human evolution'
Man's ability to digest starchy foods like the potato may explain our success on the planet, genetic work suggests.
According to current evolutionary theory, man evolved in Africa, whereas the potato evolved in South America. The two were not destined to meet until long after human beings had evolved their ability to digest starch.
Pedantic, I know, but the next thing you know, the tabloids will be claiming that we evolved from chips, not chimps.
(And yes, I know we didn't evolve from chimps, but the tabloids probably don't.)
Words failurise me:
BBC: Eat well cash for mothers-to-be
Pregnant women will get about £200 paid into their bank account to spend on healthy food under a government initiative, the BBC has learned.
At the risk of sounding Tory…
IF THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO FEED THEMSELVES PROPERLY, WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING HAVING KIDS IN THE FIRST PLACE?
The late, great Luciano Pavarotti sings Elephants' Ears:
What a fantastic pair of lungs!
Which reminds me, it's Stense's birthday tomorrow.
I performed a very selfless, noble and altruistic act on Thursday.
I was in the disturbingly small science section of the Liverpool branch of Waterstones, when I noticed Michael Behe's imfamous book Darwin's Black Box sitting on the shelf.
Despite its misleading title, Behe's book has nothing to do with science. It is a book about so-called Intelligent Design: the latest rebranding of the age-old, discredited philosophy of Natural Theology, which attempts to show that the universe—and, in particular, living organisms—are so complex that they couldn't have come about by chance; they must have been designed by some intelligent force—or God, as the proponents of Intelligent Design don't like to admit. They're trying to get this nonsense taught in school science lessons, so admitting that Intelligent Design is just another name for Creationism wouldn't help their cause. They evidently haven't read the bit in the Bible about not bearing false witness.
For some inexplicable reason, someone at Waterstones had decided to file Behe's silly book in the science section.
So I moved it.
I took it off the shelf, walked over to the disturbingly large religion and spirituality section and filed Darwin's Black Box neatly away behind a copy of the King James Bible.
Everyone's a winner:
Think of me as a good Samaritan.
Postscript: It would appear that I am not alone, see Biologists Helping Bookstores.
According to a pundit on Match of the Day 2 last night, "Thierry Henry's a huge presence in the changing room".
You heard it here first, girls.
Unless you happened to watch Match of the Day 2 last night.