The Uncertainty Principle

Forced by the pressure / The territories marked / No longer the pleasure / Oh, I've since lost the heart

Watched the news last night and experienced a new feeling: sympathy for Blunkers. He probably had to go. At least the Daily Mail comes out of the whole affair with the evenhandedness, integrity and consistency of which they are known.

"Although the nanny's visa application is the only allegation being
investigated, Mr Blunkett faced a raft of other claims at the weekend. They
included the misuse of civil servants at a meeting with his lover, claims that
'pillow talk' led him to share confidential security information with her,
giving his lover two first-class rail tickets, and using government transport to
drive her to his Derbyshire home." - Daily Mail, 1st December 2004.

"...How much of Mr Blunkett's time has been spent answering the allegations
about his private life?...Does Mr Blunkett's cancellation of a press conference
on Monday prove that this scandal is affecting his ability to do his job
properly?... Mr Blunkett met with his layers to discuss the paternity case on
the same day as the Queen's speech - should he not have been focused on his
Parliamentary duties?...Does Mr Blunkett think he's lived up to the Prime
Minister's post 1997 election pledge that his Government would be "whiter than
white?" - Daily Mail, 1st December 2004

"in a Cabinet of pygmies Mr Blunkett - a fundamentally decent man - was a giant...We sincerely hope that after a period of reassessment he will return to office" Daily Mail, 16 December 2004.

I don't think the pygmy/Giant metaphor is used enough in modern journalism. Or even in the Daily Mail, for that matter.

This is how we do it the UK, style

I also discovered what Homer calls "lyssa", the battle fury that makes a hero go berserk. It is even better on four legs at a gallop. On the following Monday, while the stars wheeled left, it was given to me to lead the entire cavalry flat out down the desert "gallop" ahead of us. " Serrez les rangs ... " the orderlies would shout, " votre chef de charge est Professeur d'Oxford .."

The other day I foppishly suggested that cold cuts of meat and a West Country version of a French dairy product, 'made the world go round'. What actually makes the world go round is the kind of attitude exemplified by Ancient Historian Robin Lane Fox, of New College, Oxford.

Dragged in as historical consultant on the Alexander film, he waived his, presumably hefty, fee and instead requested to 'ride in the front 10 of every major cavalry charge involving Alexander and the Macedonians. And when my name is in the credits, I want it to be preceded with the words "and introducing"' . What a guy.

The post that was really lists

Bloggers who I would like to buy a drink for

1. Harry Hutton
2. Richard Herring
3. John Band
4. Roybn Wilder

Songs I would have on today’s playlist If I had an Ipod

1. (White Man In) Hammersmith Palais– The Clash
2. If there’s any Justice – Lemar
3. Meantime – The Futureheads
4. Lights – Max Tundra

Foodstuffs that make the world go round

1. Clementines in season (and the way they leave your hands smelling)
2. Pastrami sandwiches with pickels (on the side, not in the sandwich)
3. Somerset Brie (guilty of being west country)
4. Pad Thai Noodles (don't stint on the crushed peanuts)

Things that could disappear completely and not trouble me one jot

1. Dido's entire creative output
2. Special K Cereal Bars
3. Jamie Theakston
4. The phrase ‘strategic added value’
   

Make it special and make no loss / Cover the costs / Cover the costs

Bills, bills, bills.

• Silverlink train passengers like myself face a hike of over 7% in ticket prices next year, and First Great Western will go up by just over 4%.
• Ofwat reckons water bills will increase on average by 18% over the next five years
• As I am not a motorist, new parent or terrorist, Gordon's pre-budget statement does nothing to chage the above.

Still, you can't have it all can you? At least inflation isn't going up to much over 2%, and I only have a student loan because I never will be able to afford to buy a flat. I am certainly not going to rant like this Gavin chap. Yes, trains are rubbish and yes, I get annoyed but this is because we haven't put enough money into them since the war.

Life is still pretty sweet, after all. The sky is blue and sunny, the weather is crisp and its soon to be Christmas. And if you are worrying about the economy now, you might as well 'do a fuel tax' and just put it off for a few years until you've got something major to worry about.

Don't let those adverts for footspas and shower gel convince you that because you push paper round all day and then go out for a bacardi breezer and travel on trains, your existence is somehow 'stressful'. I refuse to acknowledge that 'stress is a part of everyday life'. Work is hard and sometimes difficult and you may feel harassed and under financial or emotional pressures, but thats not stress. No. Stress is living in the forteenth century farming turnips for ten hours a day and being surrounded by the black death and turnips.

Mind you, I am lucky. I discovered the Philosopher Magazine's online games the other day. I have been in geek heaven pretty much ever since.