2May
The cyber-porn scandal that was completely invented by a police complicit in a moral panic.
Hugh Grant, baked beans, and the paparazzo.
Brig Bother writes, I've just realised I've been using the same felt tip to label boxes for over five years now. Is this some sort of record? No, a record is a round black thing with a hole in the middle.
Some people are fated to be remembered for one ill-considered slip of the tongue, an off-the-cuff remark that attaches itself, limpet-like, to the rest of their career. For Richard Whiteley, it was a ferret. For James Calorgas, Crisis, Wot Crisis. For Paul Denchfield, it's his left eyebrow...
Paul has calls in the Clapham area, ten mobile calls for Clapham High Street and one for the Windmill Pub. Paul bets his left eyebrow that they'll be at the Windmill Pub. "Did you just bet your left eyebrow?" "If he's betting an eyebrow, I'm going there!"
So, let's have a look at that phone box by the Windmill pub. "There's no phone box there!"
No matter how many viral marketing campaigns he tries to kick off, our Pavlovian reaction is the same as Nick's. Anyway, Metafilter has been doing its usual diggery-pokery, so if you don't want to know the result, click away now.
Geraldine Smith is the completely unremarkable backbencher for, er, Morecambe and Lunesdale. Her new nickname is Fare dodger, after she not only refused to pay for her train ticket, but shouted Don't you know who I am? at the guard. She called up the management of Virgin Trains in order to avoid paying, and her bullying tactics worked. Which is more than we can say for Mrs. Smith.
Vicky Ford, meanwhile, has been back to Longbridge, seat of her defeat at the 2005 general election. It's interesting that she picks up on the demolition of part of the car plant - if she'd visited back in October last year, she would have seen very little change. Then, at the end of the month, the West Works came down, followed by the North Works in mid-November. Then the new technology park began to sprout on the North Works car park. Only in the last few weeks have the office blocks south of the North Works begun to be demolished; they're kicking up a lot of dust right now.
Peter Wilbey on why the British press shoe-horn the French election into their own worldview. We read France Profane avidly, but we fundamentally disagree with the author's view, that France must become more rabidly capitalist to survive. She's doing perfectly well on her own terms. And this election is about the policies, not trivia about the candidates. You wouldn't expect a French election to be decided on whether dustbins are emptied once or twice a week, as the English local elections seem to be.
The eco-conscious European consumer who jets off for a series of weekend breaks is destroying his day-to-day carbon parsimony. You can buy a hybrid car, switch to low-energy light bulbs in your house and eat locally grown organic food. But the dozen daily decisions on which you base your husbandry are trivial compared with the handful of yearly choices about that holiday or this business trip.
-- The Economist, 10 June 2006, p68
The money-grubbers of Easyjet are, to the surprise of almost no-one, after people's money again. This time, they're libelling carbon offset companies as snake-oil salesmen, and suggesting that they can be relied upon to handle their own carbon offsets. Is that the same Easyjet that walked out of talks at the Min of Ag last December? Of course, the fact is that the only sure method to reduce aviation emissions is to not fly in the first place. That would be anathema to a profit-seeking airline, which is why they're trying to fatten themselves up a little to-day, in preparation for leaner times ahead.
