SevenMinutesToMidnight

I took my cat to the vet this morning . For about a week he's not been eating a lot . I would have taken him much sooner but he's still been going out , and washing himself .
Three injections , he ate when he got back , then had a long sleep and hopefully he'll be fine .
It was £26.74 for the 15 minute consultation alone , not including the injections , but including VAT , which I thought was originally meant to be just on 'luxury' items .
Some people think that everyone in this town is 'frightfully well orf' .
A few are , and many more are comfortably off , though not everyone .
But some purveyors of goods and services take advantage of course .
Including the window cleaner who charges £11.50 , and a pound more if he thinks it's a 'second-home' , and the opticians who will not put new lenses in used frames .
A lady living in Ipswich with mental-health-issues , whose been in touch with my mum in the past , wrote to her bemoaning that she has only £900 in the bank , and that she does'nt have a car or a villa in Spain !
Neither my mum or I have cars , or second-homes anywhere .
Or beach-huts or a private beach , which someone angrily accused me of having in response to a photo I posted here a month or two ago .
If I did have I would'nt apologise to him for it , but , no private beaches here ( he was confusing Southwold with Sandbanks ) , and I've never yearned for a beach hut .
I only ever ( rarely ) feel resentful envy if I ever hear of anyone I really do'nt like or respect at all apparently being blessed with great good fortune .
Even then I do'nt dwell upon it .
Unless you are multi-billionairre status , like Bill Gates , there'll always be people better off than you . That's life . Nothing we can do about it , though not to say that we should'nt keep striving to eliminate and alleviate genuine poverty .
If anyone is ever jealous of me then I have zero respect for them because they do'nt know what it's like to be me , and to feel that about someone you do'nt properly , or do'nt at all know is just pathetic .
So much injustice in this world , but life is for living , not for unnecessarily wallowing in futile resentment .

Terry Jacks : 'Cheesey' you might say , but I like it .

I bought Roxio Music Lab 10 s/ware , £12.99 from Amazon , mainly so I can rip cd tracks on this notebook , rather than on the creaky old desk-top pc , which has seemed  'on it's last legs'  for at least three years , and can be briefly recussitated with 'tracks eraser' and 'reg-cure'  .

Also the Roxio has a mix/mash-up facility , with optional added sound effects ; I'd love to learn to expertly create my own mash-up mixes , but after fiddling with it for half an hour , and with no instructions  .  .  .  I'll  try again .

Re. the 'stats' for blogs on this site , I Like to think that pageviews = all visitors  , and that the other column = visitors logged on to this site .
Because I do'nt think that many visitors spend a long time delving into the archives , and the ratio of visitors vs pageviews often seems implausible .

I do'nt think that many people in the UK are especially concerned about swine flu at the moment , despite the World Health Organisation having raised the threat level to five , six being the highest .
Of course there are emerging conspiracy theories  : What are 'they' using it to distract our attention from , or is it for the benefit of drug companies and their shareholders .

It may mutate into something very serious by this autumn / winter , but at the moment , outside of Mexico , although I have no medical qualifications whatever I'm unaware of any evidence to suggest that most people should be any more concerned than they are .

The famously outspoken boss of Ryanair Michael O'Leary thinks that only people living in slums in Asia and in Mexico are at risk of death from swine flu .
" . . . will the honeymoon couple from Edinburgh die . No . . . "  ,  he said , then that he's been dealing with swine for many years in the form of various airport authorities , then that he wishes that  Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson would " just crawl back under the rock he's been living under for the last ten years " and leave us all alone .
Might he have a point ?
Perhaps world governments are right to try to be safe rather than sorry by treating swine flu as an emergency , but does'nt the fact that everyone outside of Mexico , including those who contracted it there , who's infected with it is recovering ( with the exception of the sad case of a Mexican baby having died from it , in Texas ) tell us something ?
I've never been to Mexico , and it's terrible for the Mexicans who are dead and dying and for their families , and for everyone living in fear there , but I would imagine that sadly there are a lot of underprivileged people living there , some in less than ideal sanitary conditions .
But as several scientists seem to think that this virus could at any time become more deadly perhaps we should all be worried . It is confusing though .

Ah Yes , I remember it well . .

A fourteen year old girl , and three boys , one aged 13 , two aged 11 having lured a 15 year old boy with a mental age of seven into woodland , and beaten , stripped ,  tortured and urinated on him in a prolonged , premeditated attack , leaving him with multiple cuts , bruises and burns , including to his genitals , and a haemorrhaged liver .

A 17 year old male tied to a tree , forced to drink petrol , then set on fire by a woman and two younger men .

Just two horrific examples , both in England  last summer .
Over the last five years there's  been an increasing  trend towards graphic depictions of torture in films , and I do'nt believe that no one has ever been inspired by certain 18R films to commit horrific crimes .
Having said that , violence was commonplace in the middle-ages .

It's in my cat's nature to torment , kill and devour poor innocent creatures . Is it in some people's nature to savagely hurt others for pleasure ?

As I said here the other day I was bullied , at two different schools . Plently of 'teasing' and 'piss-taking' , but some real violence too .
Also I recall one shameful little episode of myself and another boy , when we were 14 - 15 and alone with another boy in the classroom , we bullied him for a few minutes , and quite enjoyed it .
No injuries , just pushing him around and intimidating him a bit , which was a 'one-off' event , but quite deplorable nevertheless .
I think most of us have it in us to enjoy hurting someone , though thankfully most of us know it's wrong , and would never want to take it to extremes in any case .
Also , when I was younger , at school , I remember a much older girl sitting behind me in the school theatre , and twice painfully hitting my face below my right eye with the back of her hand , for no reason other than her enjoyment .

For the last three years or so a couple of girls in this town have been calling me 'Mr . Bean ' whenever they see me , despite my not at all resembling Rowan Atkinson , who played that character .
Is that  bullying ? Sort of . It's ever so slightly hurtful and a bit irritating . But I can easily live with it . Even if they'll still be chanting it at me in their twenties , or thirties . Assuming I live that long .

Why has Governer Schwarzenegger declared a State of Emergency in California as a response to the 'Swine Flu' ?
Is he vastly over-dramatising the situation . Or does he know something that we do'nt ?

One concert I'd have loved to have been to : David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust Final Farewell gig at the Hammersmith Odeon , Summer 1973 . Though you really need to watch the dvd to get a proper taste of the atmosphere of it .

I may ( as with the Iggy Pop / Debbie Harry duet 'Well did you Evah' ) be in a minority of one again but I just love this : The Tubes , from 1976 , Do'nt Touch Me There ( which was also on my old blog here ) ,
From the year 2000 Spectrum Music compilation cd ' The Tubes : White Punks on dope ' .
No it's not profound , it's just excellent . In my humble opinion .

Why do bullies delight in singling out and tormenting their chosen victims ?
I suspect usually any or all of : externalising their insecurities about themselves by projecting them onto and punishing their victim for them  ,  taking out their frustrations especially if they are bullied , perhaps at home , and simple nasty sadism .
In some cases with a sado-sexual dimension to it .
Also of course it can be motivated by jealousy , and resentment of someone who is or appears to be more talented than them .
Which appears to be the case in the school-bullying of the young Olympic games diving star Tom Daly , including threats to break his legs , which has resulted in his being withdrawn from school and educated at home .
I was bullied at school , including at a Rudolf Steiner School  , including on one occasion with excited girls requesting the bullies to 'give him one from me ' ( i.e punch me ) .
I have no Military experience however I get the impression that nasty bullying is often turned a blind eye to in Military establishments .
As it no doubt still is at some schools , and in some other settings .

Roxy Music , ( c ) EG Records Limited .
What a great , late 70's track .

I know hardly anything about footballer Frank Lampard , and nothing about his personal life , but well done to him for phoning in to defend himself against LBC phone-in presenter James O'Brien having been moralising on air about the break-up of Lampard's relationship .
There are manifold things in the news and problems in society today that it's worthwhile getting angry and upset about , but probably inaccurate perceptions about the private life of someone who one does'nt know should not be one of them .

I read on this site a lady's opinion that there's something a bit suspect about men here who have only female blog-friends .
Since deleting a blog friend yesterday who'd announced that he's moved his blog elsewhere I realise that I currently have only one male friend here  .
Unless I'm mistaken there seem on this site to be more ladies than men  , however if I were trying to use it  as a dating agency ( as opposed to somewhere to express myself , and to make friendly and interesting online contact with others ) I would'nt get very far because none of my friends here live within meeting distance , unfortunately I do not drive , and even if that was what I were here for ( which it is'nt ) and even if distance were not an object ( which it is ) I'm not at all sure if any lady I know here , who is'nt too young or too old  , would be at all available .
I could have plenty more blog-friends , of either gender if I wanted to but if I'm not interested in the content of someone's  blog or in them as a person  their  posts will get in the way of my finding the ones I want to read on my home-page .
In the interests of not appearing sexist against my own gender ,  are there any other males with blogs on this site who are nice , reasonably intelligent people who share some of my interests , who write thoughtfully , are'nt football obsessives ,  do'nt try to be funny or laddish or popular all the time and who I've so far not noticed ?
Martin .

Well I've managed to find words to publish here for the past several days in a row so let's try again tonight : Is there REALLY to be a stage musical based on the life of the late Jade Goody ?
SURELY not  ?
And it's even been claimed that the altruistic purpose of such a show would Not be to make money , Oh No , but to educate young ladies about the importance of attending cervical smear tests . .
Oh . . . exasperated sigh . . .
Of course that's important , and JG was a neither very good , bad , interesting or intelligent , vulnerable but tough girl who partially succeeded in her ultimate dream of becoming a famous and adored celebrity for a few years until tragically  becoming stricken with terminal cancer .
I  can't believe that this West End Musical idea will ever get off the ground , but , with the books she had written for her still selling well , perhaps almost anything in her name is possible .
She's been spoken of in Parliment by The Prime Minister , and , perhaps , next , The Pope will want to beatify her as a Saint .
I never loved or hated her , but ,  she had no discernable talents , and the attention lavished on her , and the millionairre status she was able to achieve still sociologically baffles me though I try to understand what she came to represent in the minds of a by no means insignificant number of people who felt they could identify with her .

What is it with men who scavenge around with metal-detectors ?
If they can afford to buy their silly machines , surely they do'nt need to spend hours out with them in the hope of finding a few discarded pennies .  .

I know we occasionally hear of hoards of anglo-saxon buried treasure being discovered , but surely that is very rare , and most unlikely to be found on beaches , but , I know , it's harmless .  .

So I finally bought U2's ' No Line . . . ' album , which I do'nt regret  although , after a four and a half year wait  I was somehow expecting something more impressive and profound . Or perhaps I just have'nt 'got it ' yet . 
It would've been great to see them at the O2 arena on my birthday . If I'd been quick off the mark with obtaining tickets and if I had someone  to go with .

Without enough information it's hard to know what to make of the twelve 'terrorist suspects' arrested with much publicity recently , after the subsequently resigned anti-terrorist Police Chief Bob Quick gave the game away by openly brandishing his top secret report whilst being photographed outside Ten Downing Street , all having been released without charge .
I loved Mac's cartoon in The 'Mail of Bob Quick emerging after his meeting with his superiors at Scotland Yard saying to reporters ' Yes . I've resigned . But how did you know ?' , whilst openly holding his 'resignation statement' .

Have you ever embarrassingly misunderstood someone ?
Once my 'ex' asked a friend of hers to tell me what she had in her home . . .
I was convinced I heard her say ' Free Sex ' .
She actually said 'Three Snakes' .

Pulp : Underwear .

My Tesco' delivery today included seven free mini-packs of oat cheerios .
That's okay ,  someone will consume  them ; I suppose it could be an inducement to order from them if there were guaranteed 'free gifts' with every order .

I watched most of tonight's programme about 15 year old Georgia from South Wales who weighed 33 stone . 
Who is losing weight at the Wellspring Academy in N . Carolina , USA .

I've never been fat but I will never sneer at anyone for being overweight , however grossly .
They may have been brought up by thicko parents who have'nt a clue about calories , and descended into a self-destructive cycle or eating  to comfort themselves from the miseries of obesity .
A 'treat' is fine if it means one or two biscuits or chocolates , but not an entire packet in one sitting .
Some people have more common-sense and self-control , and some really should know better but do'nt , or do'nt care , but no one is 'rubbish' or expendable , unless their behaviour  forces us to that conclusion , but even when it does we should'nt necessarily give up on the possibility of  their capacity to change for the better .

Billy Idol : Speed : FRom the movie of the same name .
Great Rock track .

CCS's interpretation of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love . The 1970's 'Top Of The Pops' theme . Which , if you're as old as I am , may bring back a few memories .

I watched the programme chronicling Louis Theroux's visit to California's Coalinga State Hospital , a secure institution where convicted male paedophiles who've served their sentence are sent if it's believed they still pose a serious risk to children .
Which most probably do , and , once in the hospital , most of its inmates will die there .
They have a rigorous psychological treatment program , including compulsory polygraph ( lie detector ) tests , and a similar test in which a band is placed around the penis of the patient , to measure their response to on screen sexualised images of adults , and of children in swimwear .
But 70% of patients/inmates refuse to partake in the program , presumably because they do'nt want to have to confront or admit everything  they've done , which could result in prosecution and being returned to prison , or admit what given the opportunity they'd still like to do .
The majority who complete the program will still never be released , and of course it's hard to find accommodation for the few who are considered suitable for reintegration and treatment 'in the community' .
A Social Worker who works there stated that no one chooses to become a paedophile . True , but they choose to either fight their impulses , or to do harm by succumbing to them . 
And of course many of them play mind games with themselves and others , denying or  minimising what they've done , and partly blaming their victims .
At the hospital it's four men to a dormitory , they do'nt have to work and can pretty much , within reason , do as they please , and there's impressive sports and art facilities as well as dvd's , music and parties .
Most people will say that anyone who may once have seen a couple of photos of fourteen year olds on a naturist beach along with those who've committed the most unimaginably evil sexually motivated crimes against children and everyone in between should be killed , or at least kept in prison for the rest of their lives .
As for the worst of their kind I'd agree with that . But in these supposedly 'civilised' countries there are limits to how long most criminals can be imprisoned for , and yet releasing back into society predatory paedophiles who pose an obviously high risk of recidivism makes no sense .
Something like the Californian example , of , once their punishment is over sending such people to a secure ,  not luxurious but reasonably comfortable institution , if necessary for the rest of their lives seems , as things stand , perhaps the best approach .
Though it costs Californian taxpayers  $200,000 per inmate per year , so perhaps it should be  more basic .
I hope I've not upset anyone by raising these issues ; It was a weirdly , disturbingly fascinating programme , which inspired me to comment here .

I just had a quick dredge through most of the UK Sunday Newspaper Websites .
The News of the World reveal that Amy Winehouse , holidaying in St . Lucia , apparently  "WEPT , WAILED and BEAT  HER  CHEST in astonishing scenes " when they told her that her husband Blake has made a woman he met at rehab pregnant .

We know about the low morals of that paper and it's sad that the unstable young alcoholic AW's troubled life is being treated as an entertainment , yet she chooses to regularly , attention-seekingly , drunkely act out  her sad and confused emotions in public , and to talk to reporters , so they can't really be blamed  for reporting it .

The Sunday Mirror's big exclusive is that 'former vice madam' Natalie Rowe , 45 , is writing her autobiography in which amongst other things she'll reveal that four tory MP's , two of them in the shadow cabinet - possibly including George Osborne - were once clients of hers .
" It's time the truth was told about some of the men who could end up running the country . Men who have been on all fours before me , crying like babies , taking massive amounts of drugs as I whip them senseless . " , she says .
She also claims that they would confide in her about all sorts of matters , and diagnoses that " Most of them are desparately insecure and at war with their own egos . "

If they were paying her a lot of money and confiding in her it's not very nice of her to be 'stabbing them in the back' by breaking those confidences now .
I do'nt care if being whipped is some MP's idea of a fun leisure activity , or even , particularly , if they dabbled in drugs years ago but have'nt touched them since .
So long as they do'nt hypocritically preach too much about sexual fidelity or the evils of drugs to the rest of us .
If there's any proof of any MP's having used illegal drugs whilst elected then that is a different matter .

What do you think ?

From The Classic movie The Last Waltz : From 1976 : The late Rick Danko and 'The Band' : It makes no difference .
The dvd of the classic concert , featuring Eric Clapton , Joni Mitchell , Bob Dylan , Neil Young , Neil Diamond , Van Morrison , etc . , etc . , is generally on sale for about £5.99 .

The late , great , unique Jazz Pianist Michel Petrucianni .
September Second .
From the HMV Jazz The Michel Petrucianni Collection CD .
( c ) Blue Note / EMI , 1991 .

Status Quo are considered so uncool nowadays that a large quantity of their 2008 2CD Universal Music TV album Pictures : 40 years of hits was in the Asda bargain bin for £3 !
That's almost as appalling as Lisa Stansfield's excellent album The Moment having been sold off in Poundland a few years ago .
Thank goodness some of us can distinguish good music from bad , whether or not it's considered cool in the present moment .
The Quo were a great rock/pop band !
This is ' Paper Plane ' .

I awoke to a lovely sunny scene outside my window , but my photo of it came out looking drearily dark .
Instead , a photo I took on the common the other day .
I hope you're all having a lovely weekend .

The KH pub , to celebrate its second anniversary under present ownership is having a 'Reggae Night' .
Would you believe Two dj's and One turntable . They'd cleared some floor space perhaps for dancing , although nothing danceable about the music , not that I do'nt like quite a lot of 70's and 80's reggae .
It might or might not have livelied up somewhat by now but I'd had enough of being conspicuously alone there again .
And no one of West-Indian or African appearance was present .

I laughed out loud when I read this :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1170764/Policeman-deletes-tourists-photos-London-bus-stop-terrorism.html

Although some of the other emerging evidence of central London seeming to be gradually becoming a mini police-state is of course far from funny .

The £16.49 Tesco MC 907 cd player and radio has been voted top hi-fi in the reevo customer awards 2009 . For it's sound for the price and over-all value .

So farewell then , Sir Clement Freud : I never met you but occasionally saw you around these parts .
If only some present day tv adverts were as eccentrically witty and funny as his dog food ones .
A charming man , who prided himself on his expertise at rudeness , a character , who made his mark on this world in his own inimitable ways .

I heard about the 'Saw' themed ride at Thorpe Park .
In case they've passed you by the Saw movies are 18 certificate horror films  about a deranged man know as Jigsaw , a trained engineer , and serial killer who devises sadisticly elaborate traps to torture people who in his opinion need to atone for their sins , who have the chance to escape but only at the expense of horrifically injuring themselves .
Then he dies , but his 'work' is continued by others .
I've seen the first four , but not  the latest  .
The ride , which simulates cutting blades etc.  and being spattered with blood is advised to be 'unsuitable for under twelves' .
I'm not sure if it's right for a promotion for extremely nasty 18c films to be open to 12 + year olds .
Such movies are labelled by their critics 'torture porn' . They are'nt pornographic in the usual meaning of the word , but the torture and horror depicted is  very graphic indeed , and , once that becomes desensitively mundane for much of their audience , what next ?

I quite like the Hostel and Saw films , but when such graphically realistically simulated on screen horror becomes mundanely commonplace , as it has , should we as a society be concerned ?

I saw a bit of a programme earlier about three people having experimented by living with , and eating the diet of pigs , for three nights / four days .
We  know that some people will do almost anything to get themselves on television .
In one bit I saw the man was resting his head against a sleeping pig , whilst trying to get to sleep .
And one of the young ladies was running around playing with pigs in a field .
I wonder if any of them will have eaten pork again .
Of course pigs and cows can be loveable . I admit I eat some meat . There's plenty of things I can't eat due to a sensitive stomach . And any one person giving up meat is'nt going to dent the meat trade , but  there is a lucid moral case for giving up meat  . Not for African , Asian or Siberian tribes who need it to survive , but for us more privileged folk .
Which I am Not at all preaching , not least because I eat meat myself .

Oh how I hate cruelty to animals . Neglect is bad enough but as for deliberate , sadistic cruelty to them , it 'makes my blood boil' .
So do I value animals more than fellow humans ? More than some people , yes . Although of course I detest similar cruelty to children , or to anyone .
Treat dogs , cats , rabbits etc. with love and ( unless they've already been brutalised by humans , in which case obviously it'll be harder to win their trust ) they'll respond with love and with no judgements made , no questions asked .

You know those little , I think they're called 'silver fish' , though they are grey/brown coloured , who like bathrooms ?
At a previous address there'd be a lot of them in the bathroom after dark , and I felt no guilt over , or took any pleasure in crushing many of them .
There's just a few in the bathroom here but they never seem to be multiplying : The parents care for their offspring , and , so long as there's no question of becoming over-run by them I'm happy to live and let live .

This 'new editor' on this site still randomly from time to time inserts erroneous html code , resulting in : Cannot Post : Tag p is not allowed within tag p .
Since I've stopped using colours and italics that does'nt happen often now but , will the problem be fixed one year from now ? Of course not .

Whatever the result of the UK general election next year the winning party will have to cut public spending  . Which neither Labour or Conservative dare speak much of , until after one of them is elected or re-elected . And we know what happened to Jim Callaghan and John Major after they went the full five years .
The most obviously popular  way to save money will be to cut welfare benefits .
Our government  today proposed cutting or witholding payments to unemployed claimants who are alcoholics , and / or drug addicted who do'nt accept 'treatment' .
A potentially populist idea until you think that : How do you define whether someone is an alcoholic ,  a 'jolly old soul' who enjoys a few drinks , or a damaged , vulnerable person who seeks solace in numbing their pain through self-medicated doses of alcohol ?

And if alcoholism is an illness , albeit a gradually self-induced one , it's not too difficult to think of other illnesses and disabilities not caused through no fault of their sufferers.
And what 'treatment' really is available ? Apart from AA meetings , in which the AA member can lie about when they last had a drink if they want to , or prescribed drugs which can only help if they are ready to give up alcohol altogether.

In todays 'Mail a piece about the film director Stephen Parsons having persuaded the censors to reclassify his horror movie Wishbaby to an 18 certificate from a 15 .
Certainly some  movie posters and dvd covers deliberately make some films out to be more shocking than they actually are , and I did'nt know that some film companies actually actively lobby for an 18 , or at least 15 rating for some films .
In other words some  films are marketed at the presumed tastes of shock-horror-gore-hungry teens and  twenties .
Mr . Parsons , who boasts of his film containing scenes of nauseating violence , torture and abuse , says he wanted an 18 rating because he would'nt want his 15 year old daughter to see it . Does'nt he realise that many younger teens get to see 18 rated movies ?

Live in London in 1999 , Hold On I'm Coming , ( c ) EMI , from the limited edition bonus disc with her 1999 Twenty Four Seven album .

I paid a rambling visit to YouTube , and watched the 'breaking news' of the 31/08/97 death of Princess Diana .
To say what I believe about that , and why , would only invite sneering ridicule .
Having , at the time , heard the late Mike Dickin unoficially announce her death on the radio I got out of bed  and turned the tv on , knowing what was coming , and considered videoing the historic moment , if not in history , at least in the history of television news , but somehow that seemed disrespectful .

Our local commercial radio station The Beach played the top 500 favourite all time tracks , supposedly voted for by their listeners , this easter , and from what I heard it was nearly all bland , 'middle of the road' eighties stuff . I thought they'd have put the entire list on their website . But they only promise to publish the top 20 , at some unspecified time .
Oh how I'd sometimes love to live in ( an okay area of )London .

So here I sit . On my bed . My cat blissfully asleep on my sofa . My blessedly fit and healthy 80 year old mum asleep in her room .
I know I should dwell far more on the good things that exist in my life , than on its difficulties and on what never quite seems attainable .
In several years time , assuming I'll still be here I may find myself longingly thinking back to these days . The divide between defeatism and realism can be perilously hard to navigate between .

From the classic Fawlty Towers ' do'nt mention the war ' Germans episode . ( c ) BBC .

If I'd saved all I spent on classical cd's , mostly in my thirties , that could easily have paid for a luxury holiday somewhere exotic .
My Mum has them , as well as her own , and I love a lot of the music but just so seldom listen to it  .
With so much of it here I really should make more of an effort .
Out of the , perhaps , 20-ish classical concerts I attended , mostly with my ex-partner , in Norwich and in London  , did I really , especially enjoy any of them ? To be honest I'm not sure that I did all that much .
So , what was I up to ? Subconsciously trying to please my parents ?
I do'nt know , and  I  can and do appreciate a lot of serious , as well as some 'lighter'  classical music a lot , I'm not pretending , and I know that at one time one or two people thought me to have become snobbily elitist , which so far as I know I was'nt and I've always loved a lot of pop/rock etc.
I usually only listen to cd's sometimes when in the kitchen , otherwise if anything to Radio5live , but as for golf : Is it really radiogenic ? I think not .
And now , the UFO expert Nick Pope , who still works for the Ministry of Defence , on TalkSport .

I'm open-minded about there being some non-scientifically rational explanation for some reported UFO phenomena .
I do'nt take astrology too seriously , although one word in the chart that an amateur once did for me jumped out at me : Misunderstandings .
Although I do'nt like to admit it , and I think I'm very perceptive and intuitive , I'm as prone to getting the wrong idea as any of us can be .
I know that misunderstandings of me have dogged me for almost as far back as I can remember .
And that some people still get 'funny' ideas about me .
After living with J for ten  years  , then alone for 21 months I moved in with my Mum 28 months ago .
I see less of most local people who I'm on 'first name terms' with than I could if I wanted to .
If I've ever unintentionally perturbed any blog-friends by seeming , online , over-familiar with them I sincerely apologise .
I believe that a few people , 'in the real world'  think that they mus'nt 'encourage' me . . .
If anyone thinks that , then I'd rather suffer alone in silence for all eternity than to spend one second with them .
I also know that too much solitude can engender exaggerated ideas , and  I wish I were more insensitive to hurt , and to caring what some people think and feel about me , which is no doubt infintesimal compared to what they think and feel about everything else .
Unless they do'nt want me to I'll always care about people who I feel I can affinitively relate to .

The idea behind the leaked emails sent by Gordon Brown's , now resigned , 100K p.a downing street based 'closest advisor' , Damien McBride , suggesting 'smearing' conservative MP's on a website , for example wanting to imply that David Cameron might have an 'embarrassing' medical condition , has backfired so badly as to have effectively made martyrs of their political opponents in their firing line .
The also probably untrue suggestion that shadow Chancellor George Osborne's wife may have been suffering mental distress recently is especially vile ,  not only as if  MP's spouses are 'fair game' to be nastily 'smeared' , also McBride and his pals seem to think that any suggestion of mental-health problems is a legitimate basis for insulting attacks .
As George Galloway said on his 'TalkSport' phone-in last night , even the mafia do'nt attack their enemies wives .
And as if all labour MP's are paragons of model-citizenship . And I'd like to know whatever is the unsubstantiated rumour about Gordon Brown that those in the know have been gossipping about for some months .  I do'nt think it can be about his gradually deteriorating eyesight in his one functioning eye , which I think is known , though not often spoken of .
And it's said that there are too few 'left-wing-bloggers' . Try telling that to many people on this site .

I only realised today that U2 tour dates have been announced , and that the priority booking period for U2.com subscribers has expired for most of them . I half-heartedly and unsucessfully tried to buy a ticket for their third date in Dublin .
None of what I've heard of their recent album does anything for me .
I'd rather go to a smaller concert to see a band I like who do'nt take themselves so seriously , so I'll be seeing The Damned at the Shepherds Bush Empire in June , staying in London for that night , alone as I've no one to go with . And £47.50 for a night in a 3* Russell Square hotel inc full breakfast aint'  bad . The concert ticket is £17.50 , or £21.94  altogether .
To see U2 , even in London would no doubt cost much more , and amongst 22,000 at the O2 arena it would take ages to get in and out .
And yes Bono , like his friend Tony Blair  seems , worryingly , to be progressively afflicted by quasi-messianic delusions .

In Tom Utley's D/Mail column today ( friday ) he writes about Blair , in his interview with the gay magazine 'Attitude' seemingly preaching to the Catholic Church , and imagining he can mould it into his own image , as he did with the labour party .
He concludes by saying :

" . . . as a service to Mr Blair's immortal soul , let me disabuse him of another strange notion he expresses in his interview .
'Actually' , he says , 'what people often forget about Jesus or , indeed , the Prophet Mohammed , is that their whole raison d'etre was to change the way that people thought traditionally' .
. . . I know too little about Islam to pronounce on on the Prophet . But I'm absolutely sure that it was'nt our Lord's raison d'etre to 'change the way that people thought traditionally' .
Unless I've seriously misunderstood the teachings of our church , his raison d'etre was to lay down his life for our sins , on the first good friday , and so to offer mankind the chance or redemption .
Today , as I wrestle as usual with my doubts , I'll do my best to say a prayer for poor , deluded Tony Blair . . . . . . "

Blair converted to Catholicism two years ago . 'Attitude' described him as 'probably the most prominent pro-gay religious figure in the world' .

'Religious figure' ! - heaven help us ! Do I need to say more ?

French and Saunders do Hannibal Lector and Agent Starling .
Classic 'spoof' sketch .
( c ) BBC

I learnt two new things today .
One , that grapefruit or grapefruit juice should'nt be consumed if one is taking certain prescribed drugs for certain conditions .
Two , that  apparently , if you put a saucepan of partially cooked food in a box full of hay it will continue cooking .

And something about a supposed 'new age' phenomenom of 'indigo children' and 'crystal children' . Which I suppose I'm fairly open-minded about .

And Tony Blair gave an interview to a 'gay' magazine , self-congratulatorily saying that life is so much easier for gay people now than ten years ago .
Certainly one of his priorities when becoming PM was equal-rights for homosexuals , and whether just as a cynical ploy to attract 'pink power' votes , or for any more personal reasons , I cannot say .
Perhaps he fantasises about George W  Bush whilst doing Cherie .

I'm just drawing attention to this piece  :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1168330/ANDREW-ALEXANDER-What-YOU-young-Palestinian.html

by Andrew Alexander in today's 'Mail , the most succinctly incisive article about middle-eastern issues and the 'war against terror' that I've read for a while .

I watched tonight's C4 programme filmed in the A&E dept's of two midlands hospitals . I kind of expected it to be a compilation of clips of drunken young people shouting / swearing / fighting ; There were  glimpses of that but mostly it was just sad .
Many of us , though we may love to watch miserable 'soaps' , 'dark' drama's and scary movies , usually , if we're lucky , manage to insulate ourselves from very real , painful and tragic drama's which unfold in our streets , people's homes and hospitals ,  never too far away from us , all the time .
Of course hospital staff and paramedics , who diligently , day in and day out do all they can to save lives and ease suffering do'nt deserve to be shouted at , insulted , attacked or threatened .
Was there ever a 'golden age' of law abiding respect and politeness ?
I know I got stupidly drunk a few times in my teens , in the 70's , though alcohol has never made me agressive . Alcohol disinhibits people to behave as they really want to .
In at least the first two thirds of the last century there was generally much less public disorder . Alcohol was more expensive , and society was more authoritarian and respectful of authority . Partly at the expense of  harsh , sometimes abusive punishments .

There's an argument worth listening to for a mandatory period of structured , non-abusive , not necessarily military based National Service for all healthy school-leavers , or at least for those who do'nt have a job , or college or university course to go on to .

If I became a Priest and called myself FrMartin I'd be assumed by many to be a great guy . Even if I was'nt .
If I had , and played a grand piano , as my late father did , I'd be perceived by some to be a romantic hero no matter what .
My poor Dad was no stranger to suffering . Neither am I . But , really , truly , and honestly I am a 'nobody' .
Yes I'm a decent individual who is lonely and who does no harm to anyone and who tries my best to caringly reach out to others and to do good in my own futile little ways .
Capable of great love and compassion . Damaged , misunderstood , flawed , well-meaning .

The 'museum sequence' , starring Angie Dickinson , from Brian de Palma's Dressed To Kill , 1980 .
Nothing horrific in this clip at all . I think it's the New York Metropolitan Art Museum .
I saw this film at a cinema in 1980 , and , oh so scary . .
And a superbly excellent musical score , by Pino Donaggio .

I do'nt know ( Why I Love you ) : Stevie Wonder , ( c ) Motown Records , 1968 .
In the eighties , a woman who'd found out that my Dad was a Music Therapist contacted him and visited us a few times .
I remember her bringing two singles with her : Diana Ross & The Supremes 'Love Child' , and this one , which I'd never before heard but which I've loved ever since . (( atmosphere )) .

An interesting evenings viewing : Firstly a  repeat of Andre' Previn's 1974 BBC 'Omnibus' programme with the late Jazz Piano genius  Oscar Peterson .
I then  watched 'Five Minutes of Heaven' , set in Northern Ireland in 1975 and the present day , starring Liam Neeson as a former teenaged volunteer UVF  assassin , and James Nesbitt , in a rather one-dimensional performance as the younger brother of the Catholic victim . It's about reconcilliation vs revenge . There must be a lot of psychologically scarred Northern Irish people .

Should we be as alarmed as Barack Obama says  we should be about North Korea having launched a satellite ?
The secretive N/Korean government  seem extremely sinister and unpleasant . I'm not aware of any hard evidence of their trying to attain nuclear weapons , but even if they were , would'nt that be as a deterrent against any plans that the USA could ever conceivably have of 'regime change' in their country  ?
And even if that did happen , surely they would'nt be suicidally stupid enough to actually use their nuclear weapons  ?
And , as nasty as I do'nt doubt that the NK regime is to any of its citizens who do'nt conform , and I once saw a programme alleging that they brutally punish people for what previous generations of their family are said to have done , I do'nt think that they have any ambitions to invade other territories ; I think they just want to be left alone .
And yes , I suppose that Kim Jong-II just might 'go mad' and want to nuke Japan or Burma .
But who's to say that Obama might not 'go mad' and decide to nuke Wales , or Finland ?
So , have nuclear weapons 'kept the peace' for the last 54 years , or have'nt they ?

Leo ( cat ) came in late last night strongly smelling as if  another male cat might have 'sprayed' on him .
I took him up to the bathroom , soaped him down with 'simple' ( unperfumed , uncoloured ) shampoo and water , then held him under the warm shower for a few seconds .
Of course he did'nt like being showered , but he did'nt mind the rest . I kept him in my room for a while and helped to dry him , and when on my bed he was purring a lot and affectionately rubbing his face and nose against mine .

Sinead O' Connor , fom her beautifully interpreted and orchestrated 1992 album 'Am I not your girl ?' : Black Coffee . ( c ) Ensign Records/Chrysalis .

I can never resist the challenge of trying to pick the Grand National winner , despite my dislike of jump racing , and my only having backed its winner twice in 25 attempts .
My win bet , Rambling Minster , ran unaccountably badly , and my places 1-5 each-way bet finished sixth .
With an almost entirely overlooked 100/1 winner it's been a great day for bookmakers .
It was fascinating to watch , in any case .

On tv earlier I saw clips of 'The boat that Rocked' and 'Monsters vs Aliens' , both of which contained 'lavatorial humour' .
Just what is supposed to be so hilarious about such matters I've never had the benefit of understanding  .

At least , after tomorrow , I hope , we'll not be hearing much more about the late Jade Goody .
With apologies to her 'fans' , and being sensitive and respectful to the sadness of anyone's passing , especially any young person I resented her 'publicity machine'  forcing her into my consciousness  when I never knew her , and she had no discernable talent that I could ever deduce .

The Shadows . From the ' Capital Gold Guitar Legends ' 2CD .
( and re. 60's music I do'nt fancy seeing 'the boat that rocked' : I think it would just irritate me . )

Johnny Kidd and The Pirates : Shakin' All Over : From The album Capital Gold Guitar Legends .
I'm too young to remember sixties music but I like quite a lot of it .
This track I remember being on a North London pub jukebox in 1980 .
It was rumoured that the upstairs of the pub was a 'knocking shop' . Which , judging by the knocking sounds through the ceiling , made some sense .

I just watched the quite moving C4 documentary 'Would you save a stranger ?' , interweaving people's accounts of intervening ( or not ) when they came across someone being attacked .
It's depressing to know , as we do anyway that some cowardly people's idea of fun is to savagely attack  random strangers .
But inspiring that sometimes someone else's sense of outrage and injustice compels them to risk their own safety by getting  involved .
It's oh so common for cowardly groups of inebriated lads to start insulting a lone man in the street : If he responds at all to their provocation they will set upon him .
The best thing is to ignore them , or even to lightheartedly agree with them .
The best way to try to placate a scarily stronger than you would-be attacker is to humbly acknowledge their power , such as by saying ' okay , I'm sorry , you're right , I'm wrong ' .  .
And remember that however tough they may seem they are probably afraid of the police , so calmly telling them that 'the police are on their way' may well frighten them off .
Otherwise , if there's no one else about and if running away is'nt an option , hit them fast  , hard and repeatedly until they're sufficiently disabled ,  paying special attention to their head , and ( assuming they're male ) their testicles .

A sad case in the programme was of a twelve year old girl who was randomly singled out in a bus by a group of older girls , one of whom started kicking her head in : She survived , but No One on the crowded bus did Anything to try to help .
A gang of muscular lads would scare me but as for a few 13 - 16 year old girls , I think I could scare them off just by shouting if I had to .

How nice that The Queen breifly reciprocated  Michelle Obama's affectionately putting an arm round her waist yesterday , which was strictly against protocol , but through her courtiers HM let it be known afterwards that she had'nt minded at all .
We all need hugs , whoever , and whatever age we are .
We all live and learn , and it's lovely that HM has grown into becoming  more warmly spontaneous , and less stuffily protocolic than she used to be .

What sort of example has been set by the extraordinairily lenient sentencing today of Antoinette Richardson for her having phoned her violent boyfriend Tony Virasami with the clear intention of getting him to take violent revenge on a man who accused her of pushing herself into the queue in front of him in Sainsbury's to buy cigarettes . . .
And of Virasami who swung a full-force , brutal 'slap' in the face of another , completely uninvolved and gentle man , Kevin Tripp , 57 , which knocked him over , resulting in his death . . ?
Richardson did not shout ' it was'nt him' when she saw Virasami approaching Mr . Tripp , and afterwards was heard saying  " we have to find the right guy  " .
I heard a retired judge on the radio this afternoon saying that Virasami admitted his guilt ( he had no choice , due to his  attack having been recorded on cctv cameras ) , and that he ' did not intend to cause serious harm ' .
Of course he (  pre-meditately ) did . Arrogant scummy individuals  like those two , who think that anyone who they perceive to be disrespecting them deserves vicious retaliation deserve far lengthier , exemplary sentences than in her case 18 ( i.e 9 ) months , and in his case 4 ( i.e 2 ) years ) .

I'm not saying that revenge is necessarily never justified , but as humans in this 21st century we should be evolved enough to know that grossly disproportionate revenge should never be justifiable , and that if someone insults us it's okay to insult them back , but not to punch , stab or kill them .

One reason why I hate Eastenders , though I hardly ever see it , is that I believe it quite regularly presents revenge as normal , acceptable behaviour .
Sometimes it's stronger and wiser just to let things go .

The novel I'm reading , No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay , is slow to get going but intrigueingly readable  . A bit like the movie Flightplan it presents us with an irresistably intriguing mystery , then  teasingly keeps us guessing , until a perhaps disappointingly implausible ending .