Monthly Archives: January 2008

Nothing Stops a Headline

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Three Little Pigs ‘too offensive’ so screams the headline on the BBC website, let alone what such august bastions of conservative knee jerk, such as the mail made of the story – which even made it onto radio 4. What’s the story you ask.

A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been turned by a government agency’s awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims.

The digital book, re-telling the classic story, was rejected by judges who warned that “the use of pigs raises cultural issues”.

Becta, the government’s educational technology agency, is a leading partner in the annual Bett Award for schools.

However a little research, and I do mean a little, reveals, that Becta states.

The reason The Three Little Cowboy Builders, from Shoo Fly Publishing was not shortlisted was that it failed to reach the required standard across a number of criteria. The feedback makes clear that the issues highlighted were a small selection from a much broader range of comments which in the round make clear why the product did not win. In particular, the product was not sufficiently convincing on curriculum and innovation grounds to be shortlisted. There was a very high standard of entries to this year’s BETT awards and four high-quality products were eventually shortlisted in this category.

So, the story has nothing to do with pigs and Muslims and all to do with reporters grabbing an eye-catching headline and nothing to do with reality.

Why Was Police Inspector Garry Weddell Released?

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The police inspector Garry Weddell was put on bail whilst awaiting trial for the murder of his wife – it’s very unusual for anyone in the UK to be bailed whilst awaiting trial for murder. I assumed that it was because he was a police officer. However, Kira Cochrane in The Guardian suggests something more disturbing.

It would be pretty depressing, in this day and age, to find that some still consider domestic violence killings less significant than other murders, wouldn’t it?

Tracy Chapman in her song “Behind The Wall” sums up police attitudes to domestic violence the world over.

Last night I heard the screaming
Loud voices behind the wall
Another sleepless night for me
It won’t do no good to call
The police
Always come late hey
If they come at all

And when they arrive
They say they can’t interfere
With domestic affairs
Between a man and his wife
And as they walk out the door
The tears well up in her eyes

Last night I heard the screaming
Then a silence that chilled my soul
Prayed that I was dreaming
When I saw the ambulance in the road

And the policeman said
‘I’m here to keep the peace
Will the crowd disperse
I think we all could use some sleep’

Kira Cochrane has depressed me.

Leslie Ash Gets £5m Payout

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The BBC reports

The Men Behaving Badly star developed MSSA (Methicillin-Sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus) at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London in 2004.

The payment to Ms Ash, 47, who now walks with a stick, includes compensation for money she would have earned if she had carried on working.

Why this Botox hag should get a £5m payout is beyond me (I know, I know it was actually collagen). If most of us acquired a hospital infection, I doubt we’d ever get any compensation, let alone £5million. I guess it’s all down to the quality of lawyers one can afford. Me, I couldn’t afford one at all. As for the walking stick, watch out for a miraculous recovery. Or am I just being plain bitchy. Still it’s nice to know our taxes are keeping Ash in the style she’s accustom.

Keegan Returns to Manage Newcastle

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Since resigning as Manager of Manchester City in March 2005, Kevin Keegan has been running his Soccer Circus in Glasgow, which you can’t help thinking is perhaps the perfect preparation for the circus that is Newcastle United these days.

Still I question the appointment, in October last year Keegan said he was finished with football management and hadn’t been watching matches. Speaking of his 1996 Newcastle team Keegan prophetically said “That team was one of the major football successes of the last 20 years; nothing like it will ever happen again” – how right you are Kevin, how right.

This is an appointment of heart over logic, Keegan was one of the games greats, yet just last year Keegan had no appetite for management – I forecast near or even relegation to the championship, not this season perhaps, but next season, that’s if Keegan doesn’t resign first.

Twins Parted-at-Birth Get Married

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The story of two twins parted-at-birth, then meet later in life, marry without realising they’re twins and then getting the marriage annulled in the courts has done the rounds of all the papers it was even reported on Radio 4′s today program. I thought at the time it had to be absolute rubbish. And John Henley of The Guardian agrees with me.

Here’s the thing: it all came from a single remark more than a month ago by the vehemently anti-abortion Roman Catholic peer and father of four, Lord Alton, in favour of all children having the right to know the identity of their biological parents. He had heard about this particular case, he said, from the judge who handled the annulment. Or perhaps (he later admitted) a judge who was “familiar with the case”. Britain’s top family judge, Sir Mark Potter, has never heard of the story.

The whole thing is completely unlikely – think about it.

Why Accept Sexism

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Last night on the way home from work in the car I was listening to the BBC radio 4 program Beyond Belief, a discussion about sharia law and could it have a beneficial impact if it were to be applied in the United Kingdom. I can only say the program left me beyond belief myself listening to the sexism this program so casually allowed.

One panel member said when bringing a prosecution for adultery four men or eight women would be needed, as you know women are more gossipy etc. Another said one mans word being worth two women only really applied to financial transactions, as if that made it all right.

All this without challenge from the presenter Ernie Rea, now if you substituted black for women there would rightly be an outcry over such racism – why is there not for sexism? When are we to going to stop being so nonchalantly sexist – religious belief is no excuse.

Time for Action

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Whilst listening to yesterdays Radio 4 program, Thinking Allowed, presenter Laurie Taylor talked to philosopher Slavoj Žižek about his book Violence.

The premise of his book is that the subjective violence we see – violence with a clear identifiable agent – is only the tip of an iceberg made up of “systemic” violence, which is essentially the catastrophic consequence of the smooth functioning of our economic and political systems.

Speculators and CEO’s are completely abstract from the effects of their actions, which sweep through the world like an economic tsunami, forcing workers from their jobs into poverty.

Žižek’s most startling assertion is that the most violent thing we can do is doing nothing.

It’s time we considered how we live our lives and how we can improve not by charitable donation, which only assuages our consciences, now is the time for action against capitalisms senselessness.

Newcastle Sacking a Mistake

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Allardyce is a decent manager as his eight-year record at Bolton shows, taking that club from the old first division (now the Championship) to the verge of the Uefa cup. Newcastle will not find a better manager.

Sam Allardyce was given just 8 months to transform a moribund Newcastle into a trophy winning team. If Newcastle wanted success then owner Mike Ashley, needs to realise that rebuilding his team will take longer – Ashley should have given Allardyce his full backing by perhaps stating that he wouldn’t countenance a managerial change for two years. Instead, Ashley is left looking for Newcastle’s seventh manager in eleven years.

Source: The BBC.

Why OutofRange

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You might ask why the name OutofRange (or of course you might not). OutofRange takes its name from the title of a 1994 album by Ani DiFranco. On that album, there’s a song called Out of Range and part of the songs lyric is.

Nothing ever changes and I was shocked to see the mistakes of each generation will just fade like a radio station if you drive out of range.

This seems so appropriate, when looking over the recent news headlines, I see Iraq bearing an increasing similarity to the Vietnam War and you can’t help thinking that ignominious retreat is all that’s left for the USA.

Then there’s such silliness as Toy weapons help boys to learn – absolute rubbish, how can playing with weapons improve educational performance. For well over fifty years educationalists have been pondering boys underperformance it’s about time we faced facts, girls are better than boys and looking around the world and seeing what a mess misogyny has made, how could you argue otherwise.

I could go on, but hey, you get the picture, otherwise why are you here.