Little Storping-in-the-Swuff

Steve Bell often makes me smile.  But this is is incredibly good; he couldn’t lampoon a more deserving target more accurately.

Did you threaten to over-rule him asked Jeremy Paxman of Michael Howard 12 times in 1997. He later seemed surprisingly regretful about the incident, but he still asked William Hague the same question a dozen times last night. It’s not quite such edge of the seat stuff (perhaps because the stakes aren’t so high) but Paxman is just as dogged and considerably less polite.

So Paul Parker, a red squirrel enthusiast is trapping and shooting greys for eating.  I support this; in fact I want to know where you can get this squirrel pie.

I’ve got just one concern.  Parker says

“I cannot personally get enough of these grey squirrels, people are eating them. If I was getting a hundred, they would take a hundred each and every day, the demand is so high. They are sold as soon as they hit the counter.”

How long will it be, then, before some unscrupulous entrepreneur starts breeding the pests and all the good work will be undone?

Today’s Guardian is carrying a story about biodynamic wine drinking on page 7.

The idea that the taste of wine changes with the lunar calendar is gaining credibility among the UK’s major retailers, who believe the day, and even hour, on which wine is drunk alters its taste.

Ben Goldacre is on page 11. But perhaps this is beyond his remit, since wine tasting is surely subjective? Not when the Guardian’s report tries to give it a scientify veneer:

Jo Ahearne, winemaker for Marks & Spencer, became convinced of the theory when she sampled more than 140 wines over two days. “Before the tasting, I was really unconvinced, but the difference between the days was so obvious I was completely blown away.”

So, 140 wines?  Assuming this wasn’t just a really colossal bender, and therefore her judgement was not impaired, that’s a reasonable sample.  But two days?  The Guardian decided further testing was needed: 

The Guardian tested the theory this week and tasted the same wines on Tuesday evening, a leaf day, then again on Thursday evening, a fruit day. Five out of seven bottles showed a marked improvement.

It must be true then.  The Guardian does note that Steiner:

claimed to have conceived the concept after consulting telepathically with spirits beyond the realm of the material world. Among his other works are claims that the human race is as old as the Earth and descended from creatures with jelly-like bodies, and a belief that men’s passions seep into the Earth’s interior, where they trigger earthquakes and volcanoes.

But that’s not what makes it nonsense.  If Einstein had claimed to conceive of special relativity because he’d consulted with spirits, it wouldn’t have invalidated the theory. Newton was a religious nut.  It’s just not a good week for science and technology writing in the Guardian (on page 8 Matthew Weaver explains how electronic cigarettes work: they have “a clever-sounding atomiser inside”).

The best comment so far on the current economic situation is, of course, to be found in her Last Night’s TV column: “Iceland melts and the air is filled with the sound of pips squeaking.” The woman is a national treasure.

Great story: the actor who played naked Judith in Life of Brian has discovered, following her election as mayor of Aberystwyth, that the film is banned there…

I know these are two-a-penny, but… A well respected journalist of many years’ standing wrote last week in the Guardian that “as we all know, many Wikipedia entries are just rubbish”. I won’t dispute this (though “as we all know” is lazy). What tickles me is the implication that whilst it is “grappling with an underlying and often inflammatory problem…that of quality control” papers like the Guardian have got this sorted, and would never allow a journalist’s ignorant assertion that “the best known Linux application is Wikipedia” to go to print.

Oops.

So John Sweeney has been ticked off for yelling at a scientologist, reports his former paper.

One of the things I loved about Sweeney’s superb account of the 1997 election in Tatton, Purple Homicide, was the quote on the back where he justified how he, as a supposedly impartial reporter, supported Martin Bell: “I am a journalist, but I am a human being first”.

Shouting at scientologists is a perfectly normal human reaction. I’d be suspicious of the people who don’t.

There’s a video here and the Panaroma goes out tomorrow.

The original political blogger, (ex-)defence minister Tom Watson has posted his dignified resignation letter, and the Prime Minister’s (I’m afraid to say) less dignified response on his blog. Having given his backing to the 2001 intake’s letter calling for the PM’s resignation, it’s no surprise. But I’m left in no doubt now, the Blair government is over.

I was delighted when Michael O’Leary threatened to sue the government last week over their absurd security measures. No politician is going to criticise the new regime, because it will rebound on them so badly if there is another attack, regardless of whether mothers sucking baby milk would have prevented it. By contrast, there is political milage to be gained on all sides from an ongoing security crisis, even if it is a perceived rather than a real one.

I’m not saying O’Leary is any less objectionable than the politicians, only more honest. He’s clear that the “safety measures” are losing him money (as they would be even if they were necessary/effective). But at least he’s honest about that.

And at least Ryanair have a sense of humour, announcing: New Airport Security Measures (although the Register picked up on their belated attack of modesty).