Bergman was born in 1918. His father was a Lutheran chaplain to the Swedish royal family. As a child, he used to help a local projectionist with film screenings and he went on to train as an actor and director at the University of Stockholm. He eventually became director of the Helsingborg City Theatre in 1944, the same year that saw his first film script, Frenzy, brought to the big. Bergman made his directorial debut with Crisis in 1946, the first of more than 40 films in an illustrious.
It was with the appearance of Summer Interlude in 1951 and Summer with Monika in 1953 that his cinematic work was celebrated. His reputation was confirmed by the international art-house hit The Seventh Seal in 1957. He won his first Oscar for best foreign film in 1961 with The Virgin Spring, based on a 13th century Swedish ballad about a family taking revenge for their daughter's murder. The following year, he repeated the feat with Through A Glass Darkly, which explores the effect of schizophrenia on both the patient and their family. The cinematic version of Fanny and Alexander brought a third best foreign film Oscar in 1982. After retiring from film-making, Bergman continued to work in theatre and television, with his last work, Saraband, shown on Swedish public television in December 2003.
Interestingly Bergman confessed in 2004 that he could not bear to watch his own films because they made him depressed. "I become so jittery and ready to cry... and miserable," he said. "I think it's awful," he said in a rare interview on Swedish TV.
Bergman was a fortunate man - a great film maker who was acknowledged as a master in his field and who lived to a ripe old age. What more can you ask for in a life
The Army will maintain 5,000 troops on garrison duties, thus bringing Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK. Security will be the responsibility of the police.
As I have said before I am pretty agnostic on the future of Northern Ireland (whether it stays part of the UK or forms part of a united Ireland that is). Whatever happens the resolution must be peaceful. I hope that (nationalist AND loyalist) terrorism has been consigned to the dustbin of history and we never see a similar operation in Northern Ireland again
Now he fears he will be forced to return to Nepal because he and his family are struggling on his annual army pension of £1,584. His lawyer believes he will certainly die if forced to return to Nepal because of the standard of Nepalese medical care. Pun suffered a mild stroke last Sunday and is recovering in hospital. Pun was awarded the VC after single-handedly storming Japanese machine-gun positions during the Second World War. Despite his valour, he was barred from Britain because officials concluded that he did not have 'strong ties with the UK'. The elderly Gurkha has heart problems, asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure and requires daily medication which is not always available in Nepal.
Gordon Brown was made aware of Pun's plight when they met three weeks ago. The Gurkha told him he was struggling to support his wife and son at their home in Hounslow, west London. Pun’s lawyer, Martin Howe, has contacted Treasury solicitors, but no increase has been forthcoming. Pun receives £132 a month, around a quarter of the average British army pension. In addition, he receives £1,500 a year as a Victoria Cross winner. Howe said: 'Whether he can stay here depends on financial considerations and, sadly, after just arriving he might be forced to leave. Gurkhas are living on pensions paid on the basis they are in the 12th-poorest country, Nepal, while the reality is Pun is living in the fourth-richest economy.
His plight coincides this week with the beginning of the first of 2,000 cases of former Gurkhas, many of them also decorated and conflict veterans, appealing against the government's decision to prevent them from living in Britain. Among the cases to be heard this week is that of Corporal Gyanendra Rai, a decorated Falklands hero who suffered terrible injuries at Bluff Cove. Immigration officials fear the 51-year-old will try to stay here if he is granted a visitor's visa for specialised NHS treatment. The ex-machine gunner and father-of-five is in constant pain after his back was hit by shrapnel. Lance-Corporal Birendra Man Shrestha served in the 1991 Gulf War and was decorated three times for bravery.
'These people spilt their blood and guts for Britain,' added Howe. 'They were willing to die for us, but they are now not good enough for us to offer them a place to live.' Most Gurkha visa applicants are refused, despite paying £500 in Nepal to apply. Howe cited one case involving the winner of a Military Cross who was paralysed serving in the armed forces: 'He has not even applied for a visa to help his treatment because he cannot afford it.'
What can you say? I say let them come.
As a West Ham supporter I will admit that I am a little biased in this matter. Bobby Moore was captain of England’s victorious World Cup side in 1966 - (he was of one of three West Ham players in the team – when will we ever see three West Ham players turning out for England again?). He had a distinguished career winning 108 England caps, an FA Cup winners medal with West Ham in 1964, the European Cup Winners Cup the following year and an FA cup runners up medal in with Fulham (against the Hammers ) in 1975.
Perhaps his crowning glory was his appearance in John Huston’s cinematic masterpiece Escape to Victory - a tale of POWs who triumphed over the Third Reich on the football field. That Bobby failed to get an Oscar nomination for his bravura performance is perhaps the greatest scandal in the Academy’s history . He remains the only person to out-act noted thespian Sylvester Stallone in a screen performance.
On a more serious note, Bobby Moore died of cancer in 1993. He is commemorated by two statues (one outside Wembley stadium and another outside West Ham’s Boleyn Ground which shows him held aloft by Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson). A stand at the Boleyn Ground is also named after him.
The Tour de France came close to being permanently cancelled was in 1904 ( its second year of existence) when some riders cheated by taking the train or hitch-hiking. The four leading riders were disqualified. The race's founder, Henri Desgrange, was so appalled he nearly threw in the towel, but gave the Tour one last chance. The reprieve went on for another century. In 1924 the Pelissier brothers quit the race in Normandy, summoned the press to a cafe and showed them the pills they claimed they needed to meet the rigours of the Tour - strychnine, cocaine and other unidentified stimulants. Let’s not forget British cyclist Tommy Simpson whose death during the 1967 Tour was in no small part due to drug consumption.
There have been calls in France in recent years, especially after the “Festina affair” in 1998. Scandal or no scandal though, the Tour is still enormously popular: just look at the crowds that turned out for this year’s prologue in London! Crowds still line French roads hoping to catch a glimpse of the race. While the Tour does need to sort itself out (as does the world of competitive cycling) would you “destroy La Scala because the tenor sings out of tune?”
It may take a lot of reform but I am sure the Tour is here to stay. Those who want to look back to a “golden age” of the tour are a bit like those who hanker after a sweeter England (with the crack of leather on willow etc, in that they hanker after something that never quite existed. It doesn’t mean that it can’t exist in the future though.
Creative is the theme of this week's Photo Hunt. so here goes:
Oscar is a two year old cat that lives at a nursing home in Rhode Island. As can be seen he is a handsome fellow but he developed a reputation as an angel of death.Oscar, who was adopted as a kitten by staff at the advanced dementia unit of Providence's Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre, has revealed an uncanny tendency to pick which patient is going to die next. According to David Dosa, a geriatrician at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Oscar makes regular rounds, looking in on patients and giving them a quick sniff, before either moving on or settling down for a cuddle.
His predictions appear so accurate that staff immediately start summoning family and clergy to the soon-to-be deathbed. "No one dies on the third floor unless Oscar pays a visit and stays awhile," Dosa wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine. "His mere presence at the bedside is viewed by physicians and nursing home staff as an almost absolute indicator of impending death, allowing staff members to adequately notify families, Thus far, he has presided over the deaths of more than 25 residents."
Dosa did not offer any explanation for Oscar's ability. The patients are not yet believed to have spotted his skill.
At present the not-wife has three cats atempting to sit on her.... She has not seen this news story yet....
Sometimes scientists look for one thing but find something different, this was the case with researchers at the Washington University in St Louis who were hunting genes that govern our ability to sense pain. What they seem to have found is the gene that lets us feel itchy.
Zhou-Feng Chen, who led the study, was studying mice bred to lack a gene called GRPR, which was thought to be involved in helping pain signals pass along the spinal cord. It soon became clear that the mice reacted to pain in exactly the same way as normal mice. But later on, the team decided to test the animals' response to substances known to cause itching. They found that while the normal mice began repeatedly scratching themselves with their hind legs, the mice lacking GRPR hardly scratched at all.
Could dramatically improve the comfort of people with eczema, he says? Oh please and do it quickly I say....
Mimi is still astonished that there has been no let up in the torrent of drivel. I will of course ensure that the Poor Mouth maintains its extremely low standards over the next 1,000 posts...
A week ago the Mail reported that a retired teacher, Penny Harris, may have been the first person to have found one of the ducks on the British coast. She found the plastic yellow toy as she walked her dog on a Devon beach.
All of the ducks which fell overboard were inscribed with the words "The First Years" by American manufacturers First Years Inc. But the marking is not visible on the duck found by Ms Harris – it was covered in barnacles which could obscure the mark and there were large chunks of plastic missing. "It's covered in brown algae and it's got barnacles on it. Its bleached white at the bottom and the top of the head is cracked and has burst open. Said Mrs Harris "I've looked for writing or a serial number but there is a hole in the duck so it could have been on the bit that's missing."
The duck has been sent to the manufacturer First Years Inc in to claim a $100 (£50) finder's fee. The company offers a $100 reward for an original duck returned to them from the USA, Canada or Iceland.
Was this one of the Floatees washed overboard in the Pacific? I have no idea but it is more interesting that the Beckhams...
Meme Time - what happened on my birthday.
I have just been nominated for another meme, this time from Shaz at Us Danes & Our Family.
Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday (month and day). Then you write down 3 events, 2 births, 1 holiday, and tag 5 friends. There are five slots in the meme list.... as you are tagged, you have to remove the name in the first slot and bump everyone up so that your name can be added to the bottom.
I know I have done something similar before but it won’t hurt to try again
The list:
Three Events:
1. Battle of Towton 1461. Fought during the Wars of the Roses it was the Bloodiest battle ever fought on British soil
2. Battle of Cape Matapan 1941 - one of the lesser known naval battles of WWII
3. I’m scraping around for something interesting here so how about Beatles records become available for the first time in the USSR (1986)?
Two Births:
1. I did John Major and Lavrenti Beria last time so how about Bud Cort? I loved Harold and Maude
2. Teofilio Stevenson, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He never turned professional (a stupid move in my view). A pro bout between Stevenson and Muhammad Ali would have been a fight to see
One Holiday:
1. Not much here so I’ll go for the festival of Ishtar
I will have to come back on the tagees presently
A couple of days ago I posted on the possible discovery of a fiant underground lake in the Darfur region of Sudan. Acording to scientist Alain Gachet, however, the lake may have actually dried up millennia ago
In his view the area received too little rain and had the wrong rock types for water storage. On Wednesday, Boston University's Farouk El-Baz said he had received the backing of Sudan's government to begin drilling for water in the newly-discovered lake, in North Darfur. He said radar studies had revealed a depression the size of Lake Erie in North America. But Mr Gachet, who has worked on mineral and water exploration in Africa for 20 years, said the depression identified by the Boston researchers was probably full of water 5,000 to 25,000 years ago.
"This lake was at the bottom of a broad watershed feeding the Nile above Khartoum," Gachet said "This watershed is completely dry today on the southern border of Egypt, Libya and north-western border of Sudan - one of the worst areas in the world." However he said that there was a substantial source of water further south in Darfur where he was he was helping a UN-backed project to drill for water. "There is enough water within these aquifers to bring peace in Darfur... and even more - enough to reconstruct the economy of Darfur."
An increasingly obsolete degree in Physiology and Biochemistry did not give O'Donnell a knowledge of geology so I have no idea who is right here. But if either Gachet or El-Baz is right then there is a faint possibility of eliminating one of the main sources of conflict in Darfur. Sadly the cynic does not hold its breath.
I can’t see anything on the paper’s website but Conservative Home is reporting that a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times puts Labour (40%,) seven points ahead of the Tories (33%), the same as last week’s poll in the Sunday Telegraph.
Conservative Home also reports that Brown is also showing a strong lead over Cameron on "sticking to his beliefs" and on being perceived as strong. A majority of respondents, however, believe that Brown should call an election within a few months.
In the same episode there was a question about the number of the beast. The obvious answer was six hundred, three score and six. This is an incorrect answer according to the show. The real answer may in fact be 616. Extensive research on the matter ( okay, I admit it - a quick Google) revealed that this may be the case
A few years ago advanced imaging techniques made it possible to decipher a hoard of previously illegible manuscripts discovered in an ancient dump outside the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus. The papyri were first excavated in 1895, but were badly discoloured and illegible using the technology of the time One of the papyri contained a a fragment from the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament and showed the number 616 as the mark of the Antichrist.
I have no opinion if this is the case or not but i t did strike me that some changes may be necessary:
618 becomes the neighbour of the Beast
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia will have to be replaced by something equally long and unpronounceable
Bruce Dickinson will also have to change the lyrics to this song:
The A616 will officially be the road to hell, while children taking the shcoolday only route from Winchmore Hill to Edmonton Green will fear for their immortal souls (it being route 616 of course...)
Who says that all tv is simply chewing gum for the eyes?
Tiny is the theme of this week's Photo Hunt. so here goes:
A bumble bee getting a snack from teasel flowersIn both seats there were substantial swings to the Liberal Democrats. This result should quell some of the recent calls for Menzies Campbell to stand down as the Lib Dem leader.
For Cameron and the Tories (or David Cameron’s Conservatives, however, it was a poor night. Despite putting an awful lot of resources into the Ealing Southall campaign, their share of the vote was little different to the general election (oh dear!). If I could be bothered I would take a look at some Tory blogs to see how their performance has been spun.. I would imagine they are accentuating the positive. Well Tony Lit did wear some smashing ties....
The BBC is reporting that nobody is likely to face charges after the cash for honours investigation, despite four arrests. Tony Blair and former Tory leader Michael Howard were among the 136 people interviewed during the course of the investigation.
The Crown Prosecution Service is set to announce its decision in the morning. We shall see. It looks after all that the investigation was a whole lot of nothing. I dread to think how much this all cost.
Mimi, objects to the fact that the floor hasn't bween swept in a while. This week's entry for the Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats. More cat photos at Plant porn and pussycats
"Much of the unrest in Darfur and the misery is due to water shortages," said geologist Farouk El-Baz, director of the Boston University Centre for Remote Sensing, told the Associated Press. By studying satellite and radar images, Mr Baz and other Boston University researchers identified possible streams running from a 5,000-year-old lake that is now obscured by the sands of northern Darfur. The lake occupied an area of nearly 12,000.
Scientists plan to identify the best location for drilling the first wells. Egypt has pledged to drill the first 20, and the UN mission in Sudan also plans to drill several more for use by its peacekeeping forces, the university said. In a recent article for the Washington Post, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, cited the lack of water as one of the reasons behind the conflict. Camel herders replenished themselves at the farmers' wells and grazed on their lands. The farmers responded by erecting fences amid fears that their land would be ruined by passing herds.
Darfur activists warned, however, that the discovery of water would not relieve victims of "the politics of a genocidal regime".Eric Reeves, a professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, told the Boston Globe: "What you see is not simply a competition for the scarce resources of Darfur. If we want to look at the violence in Darfur, we don't look underground, we look at the political realities that exist today."
Given the rate of climate change across the world, access to water will become a source of conflict, especially in more unstable regions. It is not inconceivable that Israel’s next war with Syria and Jordan could be over access to the River Jordan. I don’t hold out too much hope that peace will come to Darfur anytime soon but it is worth a try.
I first saw this piece of news last night Politicial Penguin . The papers are reporting today that the Tories are in trouble over the leak of the postal ballot result of today’s Ealing Southall by-election.
Telegraph diarist Jonathan Isaby posted details of the postal ballot on his blog last night. He wrote: "[A] source inside the Tory campaign [in Ealing] reports that it was looking incredibly close, with them calculating the main parties' tallies as follows: ..." The post was taken down soon after. By law, political parties are allowed representatives to oversee the validation process, however any release of an indication of how the vote is going is strictly prohibited on the grounds that it could influence subsequent votes. The offence is punishable by up to six months in prison. The Conservative party was unavailable for comment last night.
The news is just another turn in the Ealing Southall campaign. We have seen Labour councillors defect to the Tories (including an unsuccessful prospective candidate) and the news that the Tory candidate donated money to Labour just before he was adopted as a candidate.
There is an awful lot of “Emperor’s New Clothes” about the art world. There is also a lot of snottiness towards the “conventional” This means that Emin and Hirst are praised to the high heavens while artist, Jack Vettriano, is derided for being “populist” and “unchallenging” artist. I fail to see what his work has to do with supporting the rights and power of the people or even representing the popular view but I will let that pass. There is nothing wrong, per se, with his work but it leaves me stone cold. His painting “the Singing Butler” is Britain’s most reproduced artwork but I wouldn’t give a print of it wall space. 
Seven of Vetriano’s paintings that have hung for a decade in Sir Terence Conran's Bluebird restaurant in London are to be auctioned in Scotland next month and are expected to reach over £1m. One painting, Bluebird at Bonneville, is alone expected to sell for up to £600,000. The image captures the scene of the ninth and final land-speed record broken by Sir Malcolm Campbell on the Utah salt flats in 1935.
I say like what you like even if all of your taste is in your mouth (I thank Jen for introducing this expression to me what seems an age ago now). If you want to spend £600k on a Vettriano, then as far as I am concerned your tongue can sense sweet, sour , salty, bitter, umami AND art... I would say the same about that money spend on a Hirst.
Hold on Vettriano is populist and Hirst isn’t? Threewords spring to mind. Fat, Les and Vindaloo. For was it not the case that a certain Mr Hirst was involved in the football song with the name of a hot curry. Oh yes, he was being ironic or is it post modern?. Judge for yourself:
Instead they were licking their wounds after a rare savaging at the hands of the usually docile US entertainment media. Originally planned as a six part series had to conclude that there was not enough rubbish for anything more than a one hour special about the no-talent twig.
Linda Stasi (just as well she doesn’t write on security matters...) described it as "An orgy of self-indulgence. You will sit there slack-jawed at the gall of these people who think we are that stupid," Alessandra Securitate (sorry that should be Stanley), the New York Times cultural critic, wrote “There must be a reason NBC chose to lavish an hour of prime time tonight on Victoria Beckham: Coming to America... If she can retain viewers past the first commercial break, then the results will be conclusive... there is no such thing as celebrity ditz-fatigue, Watching (it) is a little like watching cheddarvision.tv, the website devoted to the ripening of a 44lb wheel of cheese,"
I feel a bit uneasy that America has not taken Victoria Beckham into its ample bosom. Surely such a large country has room for another crass, talentless head on a stick. On the other hand when you have so many Britneys, Paris Hiltons, Nicole Ritchies and so on why bother import another? Why am I uneasy? If she can’t establish herself in the US and shill her jeans and sunglasses then she may come back to the UK. America’s gain would be our loss!
Niue
America
Czech
For the second time in a month pagans have been enraged by what they see as defacement of one of their sacred sites. Some have pledged to perform "rain magic" (as if that’s been necessary this summer) to wash away an image of Homer Simpson that has been painted next to the Cerne Abbas giant.
Painted in water-based biodegradable paint the image of Homer Simpson holding aloft a sacred doughnut is intended to promote the release of the new Simpsons film. Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for The Pagan Federation, said: "We'll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away. I'm amazed they got permission to do something so ridiculous. It's an area of scientific interest."
Pagans have co-opted the Cerne Abbas giant as a sacred site when in all probability it is not of great antiquity and has no pagan connection at all. Although some theories date the giant to the roman era (relating either to a fertility cult or intended as a representation of the emperor Commodus who reigned from 180-193 and who usually portrayed himself as Hercules) the prevailing theory is that it dates back to the time of the Commonwealth (see this post from last July).
The generally accepted theory is that the Giant was made by servants of the local Lord of the Manor, Denzil Holles as a parody of Oliver Cromwell. While Holles was a leading Parliamentary figure during the Civil War – he was one of the five MPs Charles I attempted to arrest in 1642 - he hated Cromwell with a passion. Cromwell was also sometimes referred to as "England's Hercules" by his enemies. The theory is given further weight by the fact that the very first reference to the giant dates back to just 1694 where the local churchwarden’s accounts show a payment of 3 shillings was made towards the re-cutting of the giant. In addition, John Hutchins wrote in 1751 in his Guide to Dorset that the carving had only been done the previous century.
While the true date my never be resolved it does seem that pagans have no more call on the giant than anyone else. They might as well have co-opted Westminster Abbey as a sacred site. Personally I’m not bothered by the image of Homer Simpson. It does not harm to the site and it will be gone in a few weeks anyway, rain spell or none.
Following considerable speculation (and some mirth) Boris Johnson (featured left with his press secretary and campaign coordinator) has confirmed that he will seek to become the Tory candidate for London mayor. If selected he will face Ken Livingstone who is looking for a third term as mayor Mr Johnson, speaking to reporters described London as "Here we are, in one of the most depressed towns in Southern England, a place that is arguably too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs.". Sorry that was him writing about Portsmouth in April.. What he said actually said that it was "fantastic city" and that being mayor would be a "wonderful chance to serve London".
He added: "I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received from so many people across London.London is an outstandingly varied and beautiful place and it deserves a proper debate. I want to bring fresh ideas to the capital and offer a new direction for Londoners, besides if you vote Tory it will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.” (well he didn't say that last thing then but, what the hell!)
Private Eye editor Ian Hislop, with whom the Johnson has appeared on Have I Got News For You, said: "It's good news for comedy, if not for London. "I just think it'll make life much more interesting."
I must admit I find Johnson occasionally funny but most of the time I just want to grasp him warmly by the throat. I don’t care for Livingstone, I have never have cared for him but I don’t think he’ll worry too much from a Johnson challenge.
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
'Twas about seven o'clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem'd to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem'd to say-
"I'll blow down the Bridge of Tay."
When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers' hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
"I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay."
But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,
And the passengers' hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov'd most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.
So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
As soon as the catastrophe came to be known
The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,
And the cry rang out all o'er the town,
Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,
And a passenger train from Edinburgh,
Which fill'd all the peoples hearts with sorrow,
And made them for to turn pale,
Because none of the passengers were sav'd to tell the tale
How the disaster happen'd on the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.
It is atrocious stuff but is it worse than songun? For all his ineptness McGonigall never waxed lyrical about an evil and brutal dictator as Hudson does. It’s a hard call but perhaps William Topaz can now hand over the baton.
If you wish to know more about McGonigall this site McGonigall online is an excellent place to start.
For the purpose of ridicule his poem is set out in full here ( it was found on a Korean Solidarity website).
The thundering crack of gunshots still does echo
over Korea, not only there but over the whole wide world
even though 70 long years have passed and flowed away
decades so long yet so short
Gunshots ringing out heralded the
new dawn of liberation,of a new Korea bright and free,
of the glorious Songun revolution. Ever victorious iron-willed
brilliant commander, heroic patriotic partisan
the illustrious General Kim Il Sung fired
the shot that tore Jap imperialism into
a million and one pieces
Oh worthy warrior of Mt Paekdu
leading the stout hearted partisans of
the mighty KPRA to shatter the chains
of Japanese imperialism, shock brigade of
world fascism, to dispatch
the murderous Japs to their doom
The flames of revolution burned brightly
at Pochonbo that night consuming
the oppression of Japanese imperialism
The crack of gunshots and roar
of flames merge into a mighty
thunderous sound of the Songun revolution
The banner of Pochonbo is today
raised ever higher, the echoes of gunshots
at Pochonbo reverberating ever loudly
signalling the final victory of the
Songun revolution
I would imagine that Hudson does not support the Monarchy. This is merciful as I get the feeling that there is little prospect of him becoming the next Poet Laureate or even deposing Andrew Motion. Then again the position has been filled by the likes of Alfred Austin who is best remembered for these lines in a poem concerning an illness of the Prince of Wales:
"Across the wires the electric message came: He is no better, he is much the same."
Perhaps there is hope for England’s champion of Juche after all!
Sheffield United’s slim hope of remaining in the Premiership next season have been dashed. The Blades have been refused leave to appeal against the Premier League arbitration panel's decision to fine West Ham £5.5m over the Carlos Tevez (left) and Javier Mascherano transfers but not dock points. An arbitration panel had already upheld the original decision not to dock West Ham Blades chairman Kevin McCabe "I firmly believe along with many others that (Sheffield) United were unfairly relegated, but that it has been difficult to probe the legal community." The Hammers were found guilty of acting improperly and withholding vital documentation over Tevez and Mascherano's ownership on 27 April and fined £5.5m. When they were registered as players, West Ham failed to disclose that they had entered into an agreement with third-party companies.
A couple of months away from the end of the season I doubt anyone would have cared if West Ham were docked points or not as relegation seemed certain - The Hammers were 10 pints adrift from safety with no realistic prospect of getting the wins needed to make the difference. Amazingly they did get the wins and sealed their premiership place with an away win over Man Utd.
In my view we got off lightly by having points deducted so I do feel sort of sorry for the Blades.On the other hand our season ended on a high note while theirs was marked by defeat by Wigan another side doing their best to avoid relegation. A drop to the Championship is expensive (they will lose millions form broadcasting fees) but I doubt further legal action will bring them an extra penny.
Shadow is the theme of this week's Photo Hunt. so here goes:
4. This ugly blob is me taking a photo of a shadow. At last a shadow.. wasn't worth it eh?
Google the words “Bush barbarism” and you get 612,000 hits. For “Blair barbarism” you get 271,000; “Gordon Brown barbarism” gets you 117,000. Bertie Aherne gets a mere 805, behind Winnie the Pooh at a whopping 956! Reading a selection of entries it would seems that most writers are using the word barbarism incorrectly. As disinterested is different to uninterested, barbarism is different to barbarity.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines barbarism as:
1. Uncivilised nature or condition; uncultured ignorance or absence of culture...
2. The use of words and idioms not in accordance with the normal standard language; absence of cultivation of language...
This is of course unfortunate for the many writers who think the word describes a baby-eating tendency among our leaders of Bush, Blair and Brown. On the other hand Bush has been responsible for plenty of barbarisms – every time he says nucular for example (nucular barbarism??) I have no idea what Winnie the Pooh did to get linked to the word . Hunny is simply bad spelling.
In reference to the 7/7bombings he said "The family and friends of the dead and the injured, the hundreds, indeed thousands, captured underground in terrifying circumstances - the smoke, the screams of the wounded and the dying - this each defendant knew. After 7/7 each defendant knew exactly what the result would be. If the detonators had been slightly more powerful or the hydrogen peroxide slightly more concentrated, then each bomb would have exploded."
I hope their sentence passes as quickly and as pleasantly as an ice age.
Meanwhile the would-be Glasgow airport bomber Kafeel Ahmed is unlikely to survive his injuries. One of the medical team treating him has described his condition as "beyond repair". Speaking anonymously the doctor said: "The prognosis is not good and he is not likely to survive. He has third-degree burns over most of his torso and limbs. It is beyond repair and because he has lost so much skin, he is now vulnerable to infection and won't be able to fight it."
I am sorry to hear this as I would have preferred his condition to be treatable so he can stand trial and be sent to prison for a very long time too.
In recent years most bacteria has developed some form of resistance to antibiotic treatment; many infections are now more difficult to treat effectively. Drug-resistant bacteriaquickly accumulate useful mutations and share them with other bacteria through conjugation – during this provess two bacteria come together and open holes in their membranes. One then squirts a strand of DNA to the other. Thes transfer of DNA is stopped and started by an enzyme called DNA relaxase.
Tests performed on E. coli showed the bisphosphonates wreaked havoc inside bacteria that were preparing to transfer their genes. The mechanism of action is unknown. Researchers plan to carry out further tests to establish whether theyare effective on other bacterial species.
The research appears promising but there is a long way to go before it can be established whether they are an effective treatment for a wide range of bacteria. Here’s hoping it is not a false dawn.
Zimbabwe may get a lifeline from southern African governments who have a plan to rescue the shattered the nation's economy in exchange for political reforms. The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) has drawn up proposals in which the reserve banks of South Africa and Botswana would make their huge foreign currency reserves available to Zimbabwe.
The intention would be to stabilise the exchange rate of the Zimbabwe dollar and curb hyperinflation so that the country can buy foreign exchange and import essential goods. Zimbabwe’s economy is in collapse, inflation is rampant and much higher than the official rate of 5,000%. In effect Zimbabwe’s monetary control would be surrendered to the South African Reserve Bank.
At least 33 prominent business executives were fined for defying an edict to slash their prices by half. They were among more than 1,300 business people arrested for defying an edict imposed after costs quadrupled in a week. Basic commodities have completely disappeared from most shop shelves since store owners were ordered to roll back prices to those charged as of 18 June. Fuel supplies have also run dry after oil distributors were ordered to sell the commodity at half the price of importing it.
Just like any despot Mugabe has scapegoated, retailers accusing them of ratcheting up prices sharply to cause unrest among the electorate and instigate his downfall (somehow this is unlikely – Mugabe’s gross economic mismanagement is doing this quite nicely). He deserves to be thrown to the wolves but the people of Zimbabwe desperately need stability. The plan, if accepted, may give the people just that.
Archbishop Luwum, who was mudered on the orders of Idi Amin in 1977. One of ten statues of 20th Century martyrs on the West Front of Westminster Abbey.
It comes as no huge surprise that the four men responsible for the attempted transport bombings on 21 July 2005 have been found guilty. Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed (left) and Hussain Osman were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court of conspiracy to murder. It is likely that they will all receive life sentences.The men had tried to detonate rucksacks laden with explosives on the Tube and a bus but their bombs failed to go off. It would seem that the bombers miscalculated the ration of ingredients thus sparing London form considerable loss of life
The defendants claimed that the bombs were fakes, and their actions had been intended as a protest against the war in Iraq. The jury disagreed and found the four men unanimously found them guilty. Jurors are to continue deliberations on two other defendants, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 34, and Adel Yahya, 24 tomorrow
The conspirators had stocked up on large quantities of hydrogen peroxide from hairdressing suppliers Yassin Omar's flat had been turned into a bomb factory. The bombs were made of chapati flour and hydrogen peroxide. Nigel Sweeney QC, prosecutor said "The failure of those bombs to explode owed nothing to the intention of these defendants, rather it was simply the good fortune of the travelling public that day that they were spared."
It was a mercy that they got their mixes wrong or London would certainly have seen a second carnage two weeks on from 7/7. The four had been immersed in the evil hatred of brutal demagogues like Abu Hamza. Two of the four are believed to have undertaken jihadi training in Pakistan. Even though they did not succeed, much to the chagrin I’m sure of numerous apologists (a spiteful ersatz Mexican who hates everything american bar his pension springs to mind). I wish the four scumbags long, miserable lives rotting in jail for the rest of their lives.
An elated Murray said: "I don't know if it's sunk in, but it feels pretty good." Jankovic, who is ranked number three in the world as a singles player said "It's really an incredible feeling for me to be there and to hold the trophy... It's something that I always dreamed of, and I would love one day to have that feeling with the singles trophy."
Congratulations to both of them on their win although I can only imagine Jamie's brother was frustrated at missing Wimbledon himself
In what is described as the first study of its kind, drivers used Brunel University's driving simulator while enjoying a snack. In simulated emergencies, they crashed 17 times compared to nine when no food or drink was being consumed. The researchers said the results show that while drivers may appear able to cope while eating during normal driving, problems come when they are confronted with a sudden increase in the demand for their attention.
"The evidence suggests that the physical demands of eating and drinking while driving can increase the risk of a crash,'' say the researchers in their report, entitled 'Crash dieting: The effects of eating and drinking on driving performance... Our results suggest that eating and drinking at the wheel is best confined to the service area.''
Err surely anything that takes your concentration off the road will result in a higher risk of accident. On the other hand I would happily pack Jeremy Clarkson a nice big tiffin box for his next excursion...
70s pop band the Rubinoos have filed a lawsuit against Lavigne claiming that her recent (and extremely annoying) single Girlfriend. Is a rip off of their single “I wanna be your boyfriend”. "The lyric, the metre, the rhythm, they're identical," said Tommy Dunbar, guitarist and lead songwriter of the Rubinoos,. "We are not so naive as to chalk it up to some sort of cosmic coincidence."
The chorus of his song contains the words: "Hey, hey, you, you I wanna be your boyfriend," while Lavigne sings: "Hey, hey, you, you, I want to be your girlfriend" in a remarkably similar style. Music industry experts say the Rubinoos may have a case. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, a writer for Billboard magazine, said Lavigne's version appeared to be "a total lift" from the earlier song.
Terry McBride, Lavigne's manager, dismissed the plagiarism claim as "an unfortunate part of the business. 'OK, I can see their point'. But nothing's similar. We will try and settle for costs that will be less than defending,"
Check out this from You tube and make up our mind, then wonder why I even bothered with this crap in the first place.. Well it did seem like a good idea when I started the post!
Two years ago today four suicide bombers took the lives of 52 people in London. The second anniversary of this evil act was marked with a low key ceremony at the memorial garden by Kings Cross station. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mayor Ken Livingstone and Olympics and London Minister Tessa Jowell.
I have no great love for Livingstone but his words on that day two years ago sum up my feelings : “This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.... That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack.”
Today by contrast London will be alive: This afternoon there is the Live Earth Concert at Wembley Stadium, there is still British interest (albeit in the mixed doubles) on the last Saturday of Wimbledon and, perhaps of greatest interest to me, the prologue of the Tour de France through the heart of the city . Security will be particularly tight, especially after last week’s failed car bombings.
It is also an utter disgrace that about a quarter of victims has not yet been fully resolved after two years: For example, Thelma Stober who lost a leg in the Aldgate bomb has received £33,000 (the maximum value for the loss of a limb below the knee)- but is still trying to get compensation for the rest of her injuries. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority said the outstanding claims were the most serious ones, involving complicated calculations of loss of earnings and estimates for future care. If it takes that long then it would seem that a root and branch overhaul of the compensation system is urgently needed.
Finally for those who believe that the bombings represented some form of justice I hope you choke on your perverted ideologies. You are vermin. You know who you are.
Robyn is the alpha cat and thus takes umbrage at one of Ted's attempts to usurp himIn a report in today’s Independent, sediments from the bottom of a 2km (1.2 mile) ice core provided direct evidence that Greenland was covered in a dense forest less than a million years ago. Scientists have extracted fragments of DNA estimated at 450,000-900,000 years old from a rich variety of organisms. "We have shown for the first time that southern Greenland, which is hidden under 2km of ice, was once very different to the Greenland we see today. Back then, it was inhabited by a diverse array of conifer trees and insects," said Professor Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen, who led the research team. "We have found grain, pine, yew and alder. These correspond to the landscapes we find in eastern Canada and in Swedish forests today... we can also ascertain the climate since each species has its own temperature requirements. The yew trees reveal that the temperature during the winter could not have been lower than minus 17C and the presence of other trees shows that summer temperatures were at least 10C," he said.
The study shows that the Greenland ice cap has existed continuously, in some form or other, for longer than previously supposed. Given that the last organisms to live there have been shown to be so ancient. This appears to. The study suggests the ice cap has been in place for at least 450,000 years.
Professor Willerslev said the findings indicate the ice sheet may be more stable than was thought; disproving the theory that Greenland had been ice-free around 125,000 years ago when the global climate was about 5C warmer than it is today. "This may have implications for how the ice sheets respond to global warming. We know that, in the last interglacial, sea levels rose by 5-6m, but this must have come from other sources, such as the Antarctic ice. I would anticipate that, as the earth warms from man-made climate change, these sources would still contribute to a rise in sea levels,"
Martin Sharp, a glaciologist at the University of Alberta gave this view:”These findings allow us to make a more accurate environmental reconstruction of the time period from which these samples were taken. We've learnt that this part of the world was significantly warmer than most people thought... It could mean our current warming is the result of natural processes and human influences. We may be heading for bigger temperature increases than we thought."
Again fascinating stuff which appears to turn previous theories about Greenland on its head but as the scientists indicate, it does not provide ammunition for those who believe global warming is either a myth or simply a natural process.
The Cassini probe has already provided a wealth of stunning images of Saturn and its satellites. One of the most unusual is the planet’s eighth largest moon, Hyperion looks like a huge potato-shaped sponge. It is unlike any other object imaged to date. The appearance is due to the fact that it is peppered with largely well preserved craters, probably caused by meteor bombardment which blew part of its surface away.
Sometimes new items can pass me so I was quite surprised to see the Standard headline that Boris Johnson is being considered as a Tory candidate in next year’s London mayoral election.Does this mean that the Tories are scraping the bottom of the barrel? Wwell perhaps not – I don’t hear any news of my MP Andrew Rosindell being lined up as a candidate!. Perhaps they want someone who will make damned sure that there are mothers piling burgers through the fences of every one of our city’s primary schools. Perhaps too he can spend his free time driving around the more deprived parts of the capital in a Rolls Royce and writing about what awful places they are.
Speaking after his release, Mr Johnston said: "It's the most fantastic thing to be free...It became almost hard to imagine normal life again... Now it really is over and it is indescribably good to be out."
Alan Johnston had been the only western correspondent working full-time in Gaza when he was taken hostage on 12 March by the Army of Islam, an al-Qaida-inspired group. The Army of Islam had also been involved in the abduction of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who remains in captivity in Gaza.
I always thought that the Nazis would cheerfully listen to Wagner day in, day out stopping only for lunch and to annex the Sudetenland. But according to a new book (the Wagner Clan) by Jonathan Carr, Wagner actually became much less popular during Hitler's rule. Apparently, Germans much preferred the likes of Carmen and Madame Butterfly. According to Carr, while Hitler himself was obsessed Wagner the party faithful were not had to be dragged kicking and screaming to performances. "We are all told that the Germans poured into opera houses to listen to Wagner as soon as Hitler came to power. The opposite is true."
Most Nazis were bored silly at the prospect of watching five-hour-long epics in which, frequently, little happens. At the 1933 gala performance of Die Meistersinger so few turned up that a furious Hitler sent patrols to drag party members out of beer gardens and brothels, according to Speer. Meanwhile, during one performance of Tristan and Isolde, Junge recalled a member of Hitler's group dropping off and having to be rescued before collapsing over the railings of the box they were in. His rescuer had himself been asleep for most of the performance!
The author has analysed the operas performed in Germany in the 1930s. In the 1932-33 season Carmen was the most performed opera in Germany, with Weber's Der Freischütz in second place. Four Wagner operas were placed next. By 1938-39 however, the highest ranked Wagner opera - Lohengrin - achieved only 12th place. It is true, though, that Wagner's music was used at key moments in the Nazi regime. The Ride of the Valkyries was broadcast to accompany reports on German air attacks, Siegfrieds Tod from Götterdammerung would be heard on German wirelesses to announce important deaths - including Hitler's own. And the overture from Rienzi was often heard on ceremonial occasions.
Hitler's personal obsession with the composer was, perhaps, partly to do with his identification with Wagner the man: he saw him as a lonely figure who had battled against the odds to achieve greatness. And as a man who clearly understood the power of spectacle he was, according to Carr, fascinated by the "nuts and bolts of the staging" of the operas.
My favourite songs normally start with “ONETOOTHREEFOR” and a buzz saw guitar riff. I am thus an utter philistine where opera is concerned and , I thus have no idea whether Carr’s views hold water or not... The idea of an opera that starts at breakfast and goes on until well after last orders fills me with dread... I would not be surprised if anyone else, including Nazis, felt the same......
Ahmadinejad never seems to be a man who is backward at coming forward when publicity is in the office. It is a little surprising that he has turned down a request by Oliver Stone to make a documentary about him. Apparently he refused because he considered Stone as "part of the Great Satan".
Mr Ahmadinejad apparently considers Hollywood to be a bastion of “pro-Zionist” interests, was unimpressed by Stone;s request: "While it is true that Oliver Stone is considered to be among the opposition in the US, the opposition is still part of the Great Satan," the president's media adviser, Mahdi Kalhor, told the semi-official Fars news agency. "We believe that the American cinema system is devoid of all culture and art and is only used as a device. In the last two years, the global arrogance [Iranian shorthand for the US and Britain] has made a lot of effort to portray their own image of Ahmadinejad, not the one which exists in reality. Hollywood and other Zionist media react to phenomena they don't like through different processes."
Hmm I would have thought Ahmadinejad would have jumped at the chance. It’s his loss, I suppose. Perhaps Stone will have better luck with Kim Jong Il!
To the amazement of viewers she simply into the camera and apologised for the decision to put the hotel heiress's release from jail at the top of news, ahead of an important political story linked to the war in Iraq. 'I didn't choose it,' she said of the Hilton story. When her co-host, Joe Scarborough laughed at her words, she simply refused to read the story. 'No,' she said, 'I hate this story and I don't think it should be the lead.' Then she put the Hilton story down and began to read the rest of the script, opening with the phrase 'To the news now...' The moment was the first of repeated refusals by Brzezinski to read the Hilton story throughout the show. It has made her a heroine to people across America and around the world. Clips of her refusal have spread like wildfire all over the internet. Including the Poor Mouth: Brzezinski said her actions were not planned before last Thursday, but it was at that morning's news meeting that she had just felt that she could not stand silent as the Hilton story was put on the top of the news agenda. 'My co-host and I had problems with the story at 6am, when we had our first morning meeting. I let my co-host Joe know and he told me to go with my gut. I want to thank him for his support in that,' she says. Though Scarborough knew Brzezinski was going to make a stand, he probably did not know exactly how far she would push it. 'We were making a statement on our show. I hope making it will start to change something. It became like a piece of theatre,' Brzezinski says. Her move could easily have been a career-ending disaster. But for the moment at least it looks as if she has got away with it and perhaps even succeeded in making her point - that the news media is so saturated with celebrity gossip that serious issues are not getting discussed. It's a big problem. We need to have an open discussion about what is news and what is not,' she explains. The Hilton story occurred at the same time as Republican senator Richard Lugar was attacking President George Bush's position on the Iraq war. Yet MSNBC's producers wanted to give the Hilton story precedence. 'It was not a story. My gut was telling me that,' she says. Nor does she regret her move. 'No regrets,' she adds defiantly 'Absolutely not.' It remains to be seen whether Brzezinski's lone voice in the wilderness will become a chorus of meaningful dissent in other newsrooms in America and around the world. By the weekend Hilton was still dominating the celebrity magazines, the tabloids and many of the cable channels. Larry King had interviewed her live on CNN. But Brzezinski thinks she may have started something. Personally I applaud what she did. There’s far too much non news in the news. Paris Hilton is a vacuous little celebrity who adds nothing to the sum of human existence. She was arrogant and stupid enough to drive when banned so she got some jail time. Big deal! On the other hand, more fool the people for lapping up this shit .
Robyn
Kimberley
Morris Windsor
Mak Lamar auctioning a plastic cone (it went for £125)
Kimberley Rew
