Yikes!
Perhaps the most terrifying sentence in the English language:
BBC: … Mr Prescott is in charge while Prime Minister Tony Blair is on holiday.
Conflict of interest
Sunday Times: MMR doctor given legal aid thousands
Andrew Wakefield, the former surgeon whose campaign linking the MMR vaccine with autism caused a collapse in immunisation rates, was paid more than £400,000 by lawyers trying to prove that the vaccine was unsafe.
The payments, unearthed by The Sunday Times, were part of £3.4m distributed from the legal aid fund to doctors and scientists who had been recruited to support a now failed lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers…
According to the figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, Wakefield was paid £435,643 in fees, plus £3,910 expenses.
No doubt, this story will receive a tiny fraction of the press coverage given to irresponsible MMR scaremongering stories.
See also:
First Foot
A very happy new year to you all. And an extra-special happy new year to any Romanians and Bulgarians who happen to be tuning in—welcome to the E.U., chaps.
Bill ably fulfilled the role of first foot at our house last night. I explained that, in the Yorkshire version of the tradition, he had to enter the house with some money, a lump of coal, some bread, a glass of malt whisky and half a pound of lard. Bill didn't believe me for one second, but went along with the joke on the condition that the photo I took of him doing it didn't appear on Gruts.
I'm a man of my word, hence the absence of a photo.
(It was a pretty crap photo anyway.)
An opportunity missed
Compare and contrast:
Today Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial - the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.
Amnesty International has condemned the Iraqi Appeal Court's decision on 26 December 2006 to confirm the death sentences on Saddam Hussein and two of his co-accused in the al-Dujail trial and said the court should have ordered a re-trial. The organization said it opposed the death penalty in all circumstances but it was especially egregious when this ultimate punishment is imposed after an unfair trial.
The trial of Saddam Hussein and his seven co-accused before the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT) was deeply flawed and unfair, due to political interference which undermined the independence of the court and other serious failings," sad Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa programme. "The Appeals Court should have addressed these deficiencies and ordered a fair re-trial, not simply confirmed the sentences as if all was satisfactory at the trial stage.
It was absolutely right that Saddam Hussein should be held to account for the massive violations of human rights committed by his regime, but justice requires a fair process and this, sadly, was far from that, "said Malcolm Smart."The trial should have been a landmark in the establishment of the rule of law in Iraq after the decades of Saddam Hussein's tyranny. It was an opportunity missed.
Wag
Oh-ho!
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The Little Man
Jen and I saw a little old man in Tesco this morning. He was was very little indeed: he could only just see over the handle of his shopping trolley.
He was wearing a flat cap and a long, brown raincoat. Actually, I suspect it was a short, brown raincoat, but it looked long on him. I wish I'd had my camera with me, because he made quite a picture. I mean that in a nice, non-condescending way: seeing him pushing his trolley just made you feel happy. He was evidently very happy himself, because he was whistling a little tune to himself as he went. Good for him! you thought.
A few minutes later, Jen and I spotted another old man pushing a shopping trolley. He was wearing an identical flat cap and short, brown raincoat, but this chap was about 6 ft tall. "Bloody hell, he's grown quickly!" I remarked to Jen, and we both laughed. Then, the little old man appeared in the same aisle alongside the second man. "Look: near; faraway; near; faraway!" I whispered, repeating the old Father Ted joke.
You had to be there, I suppose.
I really do wish I'd had my camera.
Four calling partidges
We had four unexpected visitors in our garden this morning: a covey of grey partridges. They hung round for about half an hour, and obligingly let me take their photos.
That makes 45 different species of birds spotted in our garden since we moved in five years ago.
(I would have shot them, but we're a bit stuffed on cold turkey at the moment.)
Shameless Hussey
BBC: Ex-BBC chairman Lord Hussey dies
Former BBC chairman Marmaduke Hussey has died at the age of 83.
To his eternal credit, Fitz (the tosser) once wrote a letter to the then plain Mister Hussey, which began: "Begging your pardon, Marm".
Rowling, Rowling, Rowling…
BBC: Betting opens on new Potter plot
Bets are being taken on whether boy wizard Harry Potter will die in the final instalment of the series - with his arch-enemy the predicted killer…
William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: "JK [Rowling] mentioned that Harry might be killed off and the general consensus seems to be that Harry is the final Horcrux and to ensure that Voldemort dies he will need to be sacrificed."
Close, but no Quidditch Cup, I think.
Ever since JK Rowling mentioned in an interview a couple of books back that she knew how the series would end, and that she had already decided the final book's final sentence, I have been sure that I knew what the ending would be. Those of you who do not want to know the result, please look away now. (To prevent accidental reading, I have cleverly encoded my prediction á la The Mirror of Erised.)
.em dna uoy ekil tsuj ,elggum dlo ,nialp a emoceb dna srewop yldraziw sih pu evig ot eb lliw ecifircas etamitlu sih tub ,tromedloV taefed deedni lliw rettoP yrraH
Remember, you heard it here first.
See also: Pottering