Mr. Blair

As I heard Mr. Blair assert the importance of Britain remaining in the European Union, I reflected that when he entered parliament in 1983 his party's manifesto included a commitment to withdraw from the EU.

Pencils that defy sharpening

For some years I've found that all attempts to sharpen a pencil fail. I have various devices called 'pencil sharpeners' They remove the outer layer of wood, but as soon as a little graphite is revealed, they break it off. Today I tried kitchen knives, but none was sharp enough.

As a schoolboy I carried a penknife that sharpened pencils quite well. I wonder if penknives are still available, or have they been banned by self righteous busybodies ?

Painless Clock Change

Changing the clocks always irritates me, but the prospect of losing sleep irritates me much more. This year I shall lose no sleep. This morning I rose at the usual time, measured by an unaltered clock, and changed numerous clocks after breakfast. Tonight I shall go to bed at my usual time, measured by the altered clocks, so that the lost hour will be taken out of Sunday day time, leaving sleeping time inviolate,

Bullying by Schoolteachers

Sometimes people have their heads shaved to demonstrate solidarity with cancer patients.

A schoolboy, Stan Locke, who did this is being punished by being completely isolated from all his classmates.

see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-31035847

Children's hair styles are no business of their schoolteachers, who should confine themselves to teaching their subjects.

While school attendance is compulsory such abuses of authority are likely to be common. I have long inclined to ending compulsion, so that heads will have to show enough respect and consideration for their pupils to persuade them not to leave.

Enlivening a salad

I find conventional salads rather dull, though they may help weight control. Today I tried adding fresh pineapple. The salad was transformed, and a pineapple costs little more than a lettuce, that dullest of salad vegetables.

Disabling the Safety Valve

From time to time people commit odious crimes in the name of religion, yet most religious people do not feel impelled to behave like that, and many atrocities are committed in the name of non-religious causes

It is therefore often held that religion plays no part, that people who'd be delinquent anyway just use their religion as an excuse.

I think that may let religion off too lightly.

One thing that can hold us back from extreme action is a habit of thinking before we act and scrutinising our motives critically. Many religions, on the other hand, advocate what they call 'faith', which involves making some beliefs immune from criticism. Someone with faith in an impulse to kill is unlikely to reason themselves out of their folly.

Religion may not teach people to murder, but  training people to block reason with faith may disable a useful safety valve.

Ruled by Hackers

Governments seem to be relying on hackers to attack computer systems they consider hostile.  I wonder if governments may eventually be controlled by hackers.

People who can do cunningly  malevolent things with computers are quite unlike the general run of civil servants or army officers. They are likely to see their activities as a game, and to feel more sympathy with those playing on the other side than with their employers, and if they decide to take control of their own government's computer systems their powers would be immense.

The Many and the Few

A few weeks ago the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition said something to the effect that we should put the needs of the many before the interests of the few. Even at the time I thought it sounded a bit sinister.

Now that we are considering the possibility that a British Government, of which the present Leader of the opposition was a member, may have been complicit in the torture of suspects by the CIA, I wonder if he and his colleagues told themselves that they needed to put the safety of the many before the humane treatment of the few.

Apology

I'm sorry I've neglected this blog for so long.

I'm in the process of arranging to move house, and although I still have bloggable thoughts from time to time, I've been getting distracted before I get round to putting them here.

I apologise again for not saying where the new house is, but it's prudent not to put lots of personal information in the public domain. Those who need to know will receive an informative email a few days before Christmas.

Afraid to Appear Worried

Several times in the last few days I've heard politicians refer to something or other as 'concerning'

Are they avoiding the word 'worrying' because they don't want to admit to being worried, fearing that a state of mind is unsuitable for mention in an interdepartmental memorandum ?

Excessive Fuss

A few days ago I almost commented on a controversy about two footballers who exchanged shirts in the course of a game but the excitement seemed to subside so I said nothing, but today the story was revived.

Those who complain should be grateful that it was only shirts that were exchanged. The players involved might have exchanged their shorts, or even their jock straps !!!

I've just realised that I share a birthday with Prince Harry. How can it have taken 30 years for the penny to drop?

It's partly because I don't pay much attention to gossip about society folk, but also because I don't take anniversaries seriously.

People have the idea that today is somehow the same as previous 15ths of September, but what those days have in common is little more than the date by which we refer to them. The similarity is mainly linguistic.

People often use birthdays as an excuse to have a party. I need no excuse; if I want to have a a party, I have one, whatever the date !