* Union threatens to de-rail the identity database. "It's an intrusion on civil liberties. It is not a way of stopping terrorism." It is, however, a nice little earner for the government - the Sindie says they'll sell people's details for £750 a throw. Or maybe they'll go down the Sunset Times' suggestion - forget iris scans and fingerprinting and rely on simple face recognition technology. So simple, it doesn't work, but still less simple than Charles In Charge. Object now.

* "A splay-legged minotaur with the head of Venus" - Tori Amos, described in a recent concert review.

* "Corporate governance concerns are legion. There is a clearly defined succession strategy, which is welcome, but it is hard to avoid the conclusion that it errs towards the nepotistic" - Robert Cole on Royal Household plc.

* There's some use for the England - Australia challenge, after all. Three games of one-day cricket will be played next week, as a bit of a fund-raiser and an excuse to get the Aussies around the regions. This isn't much of an excuse for competitive games, so the ruling bodies have very sensibly decided to make some changes. Tactical substitutions will now be allowed, and rather than have the first 15 overs subject to fielding restrictions - only two men in the deep field - there will now be the opening 10 overs plus two further blocks of five overs. It won't really help to enliven a rubber that's all about the money, or follows on from a tournament that's spent two weeks trying to determine which side is the weakest out of England, Australia, and Bangladesh.

* The latest death toll in Chechnya: 300,000. If not more.

* "Je ne peux pas le blairer" - I cannot stomach him.

* Eurotrib on how the Common Agricultural Policy works (summary: Agricultural subsidies are the price for political acceptance of free trade in France.) Are These Yankees Crazy (summary: no, but their self-proclaimed "leaders" are.)

* A Demi Graudina reports that the BBC has re-introduced wind speed and direction symbols. Angus MacNeil, the Scottish National Party MP behind a Commons early day motion about the forecasts, said "It's not enough. We want to get the isobar charts back on as well." Much more of this and they'll be returning to stick-on sun and rain clouds, speculates the column. Drawn-on clouds, surely.

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posted 27 Jun 2005, 19.55 +0100

Culled from the BBC's handy primer to same sex marriages, we find that Belgium and the Netherlands have beaten all-comers to the liberalisation of this law. Spain is currently having a ding-dong battle between its upper and lower chambers to get their bill enacted, while Canada expects no problems getting her measure through. They'll take third and fourth places.

As for the UK? Civil partnerships are better than nothing, but not as good as full equality.

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posted 29 Jun 2005, 19.07 +0100

There's to be an experimental nuclear fusion plant built in France. This is, potentially, a huge breakthrough. Up till now, all the nuclear plants have operated by breaking down complex and unstable substances (usually uranium) into more simple and stable substances (lead and carbon, if my memory serves) by forcing the atoms to change. These nuclear fission plants create lots and lots of radio-active waste, and require a huge amount of power just to begin operations.

By comparison, nuclear fusion works like a star - hydrogen atoms are banged together at high speed, and they merge to form helium (and more complex, I think the chain stabilises at carbon) atoms, and generate lots of heat. Now, fusion requires even more power to get the reaction going, but once it begins, it generates oodles of heat for very little outlay. It also generates no radio-active guff, and if the reactor were ruptured, it would release a cloud of helium. This would, admittedly, make people in the vicinity talk a little bit funnily, but wouldn't pollute the landscape for the next zillion years.

Fusion has been "just around the corner" for some little time now, and has only been proven to work in the hydrogen bomb. For the first time, an experimental reactor will be built in France. Experts reckon that, even with €10 milliard behind it, there's only a 50-50 chance of the plant producing more energy than is pumped in.

We're going to have to respectfully disagree with Greenpeace's opposition to this plant. They'd rather spend the money on renewable energy plants; I'd like to see the best of both options, and that's got to include following scientific theories on fusion.

More: Energyblog.

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posted 29 Jun 2005, 19.47 +0100

When Andrew Marr weighs in on the side of libertarians, you know something's up, even if you don't know what.

This is the security age, except that it would be better to call it the insecurity age. The terror threat is so vague, cloudy and yet omnipresent, like Beelzebub in the Middle Ages, that nobody wants to say: that's enough checking, that's enough impertinent questions, let's get on. Instead, "security consultants" recommend more of everything: armed police, steel barriers, lists, ticks, body searches. No mere elected politician or middle-ranking official dares dispute this, in case the Worst Happens and they get blamed. So it grows and grows, this remorseless spread of patting, bleeping, camera-lens-staring intrusion and delay. Why would it ever stop? I'm absolutely delighted that Britain has a relatively high employment rate. I just wish most of the jobs didn't involve a flat cap and a plastic badge saying "security".

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posted 29 Jun 2005, 19.53 +0100

Good news: The Indytab has finally joined the RSS revolution. Het Grauniad has been offering desktop syndication for something like two years now, and the Torygraph added the feeds towards the end of 2004. The Universal Daily Registertab has offered a few feeds (news, sport, business, er, that's it) for the past couple of months, and the Indy has finally caught up. The Indy was also the last major newspaper to get on the web, back in September 1997, almost three years after the Torygraph (14.11.94), two years after Het Graun (April 95, I think), and the UDR (01.01.96).

Bad news: The Indytab has returned to the slow, two-column layout it trialled for about two minutes late last year. It's still slow, it's still confusing, it still looks like something that was on the web circa 1997. We're not impressed.

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posted 29 Jun 2005, 20.18 +0100

From the They Work For You (Really) dept:

Recently, The People—that great organ—conducted an analysis of the electoral roll. It uncovered names such as Donald Duck and Jesus H. Christ. Perhaps they are genuine, but I suspect that the entries at a student address in Southampton, including Hooty McBoob and Gailord Focker, while not evidence of sinister malpractice, are not. One does suspect, however, that these people do not exist.

Nepal gets a 30-minute debate.

RSS off. Details of who said what are still only available through TWFY.

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posted 30 Jun 2005, 18.53 +0100

A listing of selected television and radio broadcasts, with a deliberate emphasis on culture and intellectual programmes.

Highlights of the week Liveight is everywhere on Saturday, Christopher Eccleston returns to high drama, the story of the NME, and another chance to see Ian Hislop eating Robert Kilroy-Silk.

Regulars
Composer of the Week (Radio 3, noon): Ottorino Respighi
Book of the Week (Radio 4, 9.45am and 12.30am): Under Water to Get Out of the Rain. Marine biologist Trevor Norton's memoirs are read by Paul Young.
Woman's Hour Play (Radio 4, 10.45am and 7.45pm): The Reef, by Edith Warton. (second and final week.)
Book at Bedtime (Radio 4, 10.45): Mr Starlight. Laurie Graham's rags-to-riches saga, read by Michael Fenton-Stevens. (second and final week.)

Saturday

All day Blimmin' everywhere Liveight

Coverage on BBC-2, BBC-1, and BBC-3, also on Radios 1, 2, 3, 5, World Service, and most commercial stations. Highlights continue all week on BBC-3.

10am Channel 5 (TV) The Tribe

Series 5 gets a well-earned repeat. It's eye-candy more than drama, but very welcome. A sequel follows in the new year.

6pm BBC7 Journey Into Space

The World In Peril (part seven). What is Frank Rogers doing in freighter number one?

8pm Radio 4 Which Consumer Programme

John Waite goes from That's Life through Watchdog and You And Your Things to Peasants.

9.45 Radio 3 Between the Ears

Walking Against The Wind - Bonnie Greer's radio poem is made from snatches of conversation recorded on London's streets.

Sunday

7.50pm Radio 3 A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

A couple's relationship disintegrates about their disabled child. Starring Christopher "Doctor!" Eccleston.

9pm BBC-2 (TV) Car Nation

How people behave behind the wheel.

10pm BBC-2 (TV) Mock the Week

More laughs per minute than anything else on national television.

10.40 ITV (TV) The People's Channel

ITV's drama output, which will fill an hour, easily.

Monday

6.30 Radio 4 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

Harry Hill joins the team in the New Theatre, Oxford.

7pm Radio 2 BBC Jazz Awards

The lifetime award goes to Oscar Peterson.

7.30 Radio 3 Performance on 3

Highlights of the Liveight concert at Eden, Cornwall.

8pm BBC-2 (TV) Comet Impact

NASA tried to crash a probe into a comet last night. Did they hit?

9pm BBC-2 (TV) Have I Got Old News For You?

The episode with Robert Kilroy-Shaft being a prick.

Tuesday

7.15 Channel 5 (TV) Big Ideas that Changed the World

Bjorn Lomberg on Environmentalism.

8pm Radio 4 File On Four

So, why haven't we been able to catch Radovan Karadzic?

Wednesday

6.30 Radio 4 Heresey

This week, Jonathan Woss suggested that "Ob-la-di" was a comedy record. With that level of insight, it's no wonder he's the most powerful man on radio. Chris Langham and Peter Bradshaw here.

7.30 Radio 3 The Sea, The Sea

An evening of drama, music, commissioned poetry, features, and listener contributions.

11pm Radio 4 Fifteen Minute Musical

The Elton Story. Ben sold his soul to the devil (Andrew Lord-Webby).

Thursday

6.30 Radio 4 The Hudson and Pepperdine Show

Mel and Vicky find themselves part of the war on tourism.

8.30 Radio 4 Analysis

Unscrambling Europe's Eggs - Quentin Peel asks how one might leave Europe.

9.30 BBC-3 (TV) Conflicts

Explaining the Darfur conflict in half an hour.

10.50 Channel 4 (TV) Puppet Legends

Zippy and George host.

11pm BBC-4 (TV) Look Around You

Computers, including the world's most powerful computer.

11pm Radio 4 Radio9

A quick dip into the wireless dial.

11.50pm BBC-2 (TV) The Late Edition

Highlights of Marcus Brigstocke's late night show from earlier this year.

Friday

4pm UK Living (TV) Joan of Arcadia

Series 1, episodes 11-15, each week-day at this time.

6.30pm Radio 4 The News Quiz

Jeremy Hardy and Alan Coren are threatened.

7pm Radio 2 Ball Over Broadway

All Shook Up.

7.30 BBC-1 (TV) Top of the Pops

An exclusive performance from the Babyshambles is promised. As is Fearne Cotton.

9.30 BBC-1 (TV) Before They Were Famous

Wayne Rooney as a choirboy? Justin Timberlake in a stetson? Saskia from BB - oh, that's Brig's.

10.40 BBC-4 (TV) Inky Fingers

The story of the NME. Repeated at 1.45 to-morrow morning.

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posted 30 Jun 2005, 18.57 +0100

From to-day's Indytab.

Sir: It appears the media have fallen for the Government ploy of shifting the discussion on ID cards away from the principle of having them imposed on us at all to the practical problems of implementing them.

Thus, the discussion on the loss of individual freedom has been largely replaced by arguments on how much ID cards will cost. Even argument about giving the ID data base to the USA and allowing companies to obtain information has been drowned out by arguments on whether a card will cost £110 or £300.

This is just what the spin doctors wanted. Isn't the media wise enough, even after the experience of Iraq, to realise that having shifted the ground of the debate to cost, the Government will come along and make a "concession" and agree not to charge at all, or to charge a lot less than is being suggested?

What was that about the price of liberty being eternal vigilance? Obviously the media have fallen asleep on duty. The media should know that ID cards aren't about terrorism or benefit fraud. They're about developing a database to assist social control in the age of capitalist globalisation.

BRIAN ABBOTT
(BRITISH CITIZEN) CORK, IRELAND

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posted 30 Jun 2005, 19.03 +0100

Some major changes to men's doubles tennis. Sets will now be the best of nine games, rather than 13, and each game will be best of seven - there won't be advantage played after deuce.

Yesterday's ladies' semis were a huge contrast. On centre court, the return of the Venus Williams steam-roller, perhaps the one player (well, two players) guaranteed to make any viewer's eyes glaze over with boredom. This match was marred by the incessant grunting of Miss Williams and her opponent, Maria Sharapova. Put a sock in it already.

On court number one, a far more gripping match, which explains why it wasn't shown live on the BBC. Amelie Mauresmo was by far better than Lindsay Davenport, yet the French player doesn't have the bottle to close out really big wins. Three sets of scintillating tennis last night, interrupted just a few minutes before the Davenport win. And, lest we forget, no grunts at all.

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posted 01 Jul 2005, 18.42 +0100

Mmm, nasty. At Gerrard's Cross, they've been building a new supermarket above the railway line. First they built a new tunnel, then piled earth on top, and only then could they think about adding a store.

The only trouble: the tunnel wasn't strong enough to hold the earth. Result? Barely a week after they started to pile the earth on top of the tunnel, the earth is no longer on the tunnel, but on the train tracks.

Trains between Birmingham Snow Hill and London Marylebone call at main stations to Princes Risborough, then are diverted down the line to Aylesbury and on to London Marylebone. The usual half-hourly service is reduced to one per hour, and trips are about 30 minutes longer than normal.

The Aylesbury line is down to half-hourly operation, and there are shuttles running from Ruislip to Marylebone and from Risborough to Seer Green via High Wycombe and Beaconsfield.

Stratford trains are only running as far as Leamington.

Passengers for the West Midlands are advised to travel via the West Coast; for Banbury and Leamington via Oxford and Reading. There are buses between Beaconsfield and Amersham; High Wycombe and Maidenhead; Denham and West Ruislip. Passengers who wish to use lifts are advised to bring their own.

Passengers who wish to see a video may go there.

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posted 01 Jul 2005, 18.47 +0100

Rachel Shabi in Het Graun reports on how protest has been sanitised. Don't criticise the (unelected, unaccountable) G8. Don't suggest that the best forum to solve the world's problems would be the United Nations. Don't criticise capitalism or suggest that any other method may resolve the matters under discussion. And, whatever you do, don't mention the war.

The entire picture is of a power-grabbing elite, with Britain a key member, refusing to acknowledge a global tide of opposition to its very existence. By shutting out all but the most co-opted of protests, G8 leaders are behaving like small children, hands clamped to scrunched-shut eyes, insisting: you don't exist because we have made sure we can't see you. Children grow out of that delusion. It's time the G8 did too.

In the Torygraph:

Live8 signifies a detachment from reality. Its whole message has been about the power of the pound rather than the power of sharing our labours and human resources. The epitome of useful and fulfilling service was embodied in the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) movement that showed a real commitment and brotherliness.

Rather than our Government taxing us to support those overseas but continuing with trade barriers and financial legerdemain, perhaps our young people could contribute part of their university courses by going to foreign countries to offer their learning and labour. Cash by comparison is an antiseptic barrier between the idealists and their objective.

Malcolm Turner, Alsager, Cheshire

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posted 02 Jul 2005, 10.05 +0100

Resistance is fruitful. How to defeat the identity register - refuse to be registered. Anyone up for a "religion" that demands its adherents do not appear on any unified identity register? Of course, if the government mocked that religion, it would fall foul of its own laws against religious intolerance...

Howard Davies, head of the researchers at the LSE who pooh-poohed the idea as unworkable last week, accuses the interior ministry of dirty tricks. He's received an "aggressive" phone call from John Gieve, a senior mandarin at the interior ministry. Mr Davies said,

"They are stepping over a line that hasn’t been crossed before. On the one hand they say it (the ID card) is not an attack on civil liberties, but then, if anyone questions any aspect of it, they abuse you and accuse you. I have read the report myself and I’m completely satisfied it is a rigorous piece of work. Ministers may disagree with it or they may not, but the idea that it is deliberately biased or fabricated seems to me to be fatuous. I am genuinely shocked, surprised and disappointed at the response."

Meanwhile, Michael Portfolio (Michael Portfolio!) jumps on the "ID cards are a disaster waiting to happen" bandwagon, comparing them to the poll tax. "The identity card bill is fatally damaged. A wise government would turn around now and head for port. In a matter of weeks the whole debacle could be quietly forgotten. But third-term prime ministers are not wise."

Matters African

Eurotrib reports that the African debt relief programme is in trouble already.

The debt deal agreed by Group of Eight finance ministers last month, is set to save sub-Saharan African nations about €840m a year. But International Energy Agency officials believe the rise in crude prices will cost the region an additional €9 milliard a year in oil imports.

Agency officials estimate the oil import bill of sub-Saharan Africa will double to about €17 milliard on the back of crude prices of more than €45 a barrel. As a result, the increase in oil costs "is going to be greater than the debt relief given to sub-Saharan countries this year", said Fatih Birol, chief economist at the IEA.

The countries of sub-Saharan Africa are among the world's poorest. They depend heavily on imported oil and use it inefficiently. Mr Birol said the region required 80 per cent more oil than a developed country to produce the same unit of gross domestic product.

The solution? Develop technologies that don't require oil. It's a complete no-brainer, which explains why governments aren't pursuing it.

Two points of good news for campaigners against the odious regime in Zimbabwe: a judge has stepped in and blocked the planned deportation of one refugee. The woman, 26, says her father, a manager for a white farmer, was killed by Zanu PF supporters of Robert Mugabe during a farm invasion in 2000. After she sought asylum in the UK, she heard that her two brothers had been killed. More in to-day's Sindie.

Also, Australia and New Zealand are pressing the ICC to impose a cricketing boycott on the country. New Zealand's cricketers are due to play a Zimbabwe XI next month, but the Kiwi government has voiced deep concern about propping up the Mugabe regime in this way. They'll also deny visas for the return tour, scheduled for early next year.

Matters European

Three countries have now legalised same-sex marriages: the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain. The Spanish law was published yesterday in the Boletin Oficial del Estado, and comes into effect at once. Canada, which believed she would clinch the bronze medal, has been held up by a national holiday before the proposed law could clear parliament. Britain, along with several European countries, recognise civil unions among same-sex couples but this falls short of treating them like married couples.

Matters sporting

A great day's sport yesterday, even if we draw a veil over the New Zealand rout of the British and Irish Lions. The cricket match between England and Australia swung every which way, the Aussies all out for a low total, England reeling at 33/5 in ten overs, but eventually finished in a 196-196 tie. At Wimbledon, a scintillating men's semi-final saw Andy Roddick beat Thomas Johannson in four sets, before Venus Williams came from behind to defeat Lindsay Davenport in two-and-three-quarter hours of chess on a tennis court. There's still an element that wants to pay female tennis players less than their male counterparts - bear this in mind as Roger Federer blows Mr Hewitt off the court. Only the Tour de France opener wasn't exciting, with Lance Armstrong taking a minute out of all his major opponents yet again.

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posted 03 Jul 2005, 12.15 +0100

Amazing scenes in France, where Ilona Mitrecey is no longer the biggest-seller. After almost ten thousand years, the eleven-year-old is now occupying position two. And three - the follow-up single, C'est les vacances is the highest entry there. The new topper is, if anything, even worse, it's The Annoying Thing.

Amazing scenes in Germany, where dodgy hit-makers Modern Talking (Brother Louie, TV makes the superstar have split in acrimonious circumstances. The duo had been recording for twenty years, but went their ways earlier this year, after one accused the other of stealing some of the band's royalties. He's also filed suit for a million euro's worth of emotional damages. If he wins, do we get to sue him for inflicting emotional damage on the listeners of Europe?

Not quite so amazing scenes in the UK, but cheers to Charlotte Church. The former child soprano has re-invented herself as a slightly wild child, and her single Crazy chick is completely in keeping with that act. We didn't quite expect a Motown pastiche, but we're not going to object to a number two position. The Backstreet Boys land in the top ten, at least for one week, but not so good news for the Faders - Jump falls one place short of the top twenty, and (sadly) the dumper beckons. Theyy are, however, three places above the Tears' second single, Lovers, and well ahead of Feeder. The Alkaline Trio make their top 40 debut, but Royksopp's return is more muted than we expected. Neither Interpol's re-release of Slow hands nor the Towers of London's attempt to get Radio 1listener's gits to say Fuck it up made the 40.

Willst du mit mir gehn is the second single from Nena's new album, and it's not as good as her last record. In Sweden, Nanne has a rather good top three hit, Om du var min, and we're really liking Porcupine Tree's Lazarus, a top five hit in their native Poland. None of these records, needless to say, are getting any publicity in the UK.

North Europe's Top Twenty?

 20 re Coral - In the morning
 19 re Joana Zimmer - I believe
 18 re Goo Goo Dolls - Give a little bit
*17 NE Twopac - Ghetto gospel
 16 18 Schnappi - Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil
*15 17 James Blunt - You're beautiful
 14 13 Jean Dujardin - Le casse du brice
 13 11 Backstreet Boys - Incomplete
*12 14 Raphael - Caravanne
 11 12 Rob Thomas - Lonely no more
 10  7 Natalie Imbruglia - Shiver
  9 10 Ilona Mitrecey - Un monde parfait
* 8  9 Daniel Powter - Bad day
  7  6 Black Eyed Peas - Don't funk with my heart
* 6  8 Shakira - La tortura
  5  4 Akon - Lonely
  4  3 U2 - City of blinding lights
  3  1 Coldplay - Speed of sound
  2  2 Gorillas - Feelgood inc
* 1  5 Crazy Frog - Axel f

Oh gawds. Top of the lists in Flanders and France, and top five in Germany, Denmark, Wallonia, Sweden, Finland, and the UK, there really is nothing standing in the way of the world's most annoying record, ever.

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posted 03 Jul 2005, 18.05 +0100

A typical late June week, with some sunny spells, and some heavy showers. Airflows from the west have dominated the week, and we've been on the frontline of some warm air from the continent, especially early in the week.

27 Mo sun                 11/24,  0.0
28 Tu sun to thunder      13/25,  0.0
29 We cloud, showers, sun 12/20, 13.2
30 Th showers, cloud      13/19,  1.1
01 Fr cloud, showers      12/21,  0.5
02 Sa cloud, humid        16/20,  1.3
03 Su sun                 13/21,  0.5

Eleven degree cooling days this week, the summer's total is 77, compared with 58 this time last year. 16.6mm of rain this week, June's total of 90.4mm is roughly par for the area, and having two-thirds fall in 36 hours (last week) is not significantly unusual.

Next week: the winds are predominantly west or nor-westerly, and that leads to showers and cooler temperatures. Wednesday is looking particularly sticky at this time, though it may well warm up a little towards the week-end.

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posted 03 Jul 2005, 18.30 +0100

older writing... write to