Long live King Franz!

Gordon Brown is apparently considering repealing the 1701 Act of Settlement. Removing a grossly anti-Catholic piece of legislation does appeal to this Romish-person-turned-agnostic (I’m just can’t be bothered making the effort required to become an atheist!) in that it pretty ugly stuff in this day and age.

However, repealing teh Act may have the consequence of making a 74-year-old German aristocrat the new King of England and Scotland. Without it, Franz Herzog von Bayern, the current Duke of Bavaria, would be the rightful heir to the British Crown under the Stuart line. The bachelor, who lives alone in the vast Nymphenberg Palace in Munich, is the blood descendant of the 17th-century King Charles I.

The Act was introduced as part of the power struggle between Parliament, the Christian churches and the monarchy, then dominated by the House of Stuart. It prohibits any Roman Catholic from having access to the throne, even through marriage. Once a person marries a "Papist" they shall be "for ever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the Crown", it asserts. The legislation severed the Stuart line of succession, a family who favoured Catholicism, and switched it to their distant relatives the Hanoverians, from which our current Queen descends. James II, the son of King Charles, fled into exile.

The direct Stuart line died out in 1807 with the passing of the “Young Pretender’s” brother Henry Benedict Stuart (known to the Jacobites as Henry IX and known in the Vatican as Cardinal Duke of York). The Act 's reach continues today. Prince Michael of Kent renounced his claim to the throne when he married Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, a Catholic divorcee, in 1978. Peter Phillips, who is 11th in line to the throne, will be denied a very, very remote possibility of being king when he marries Canadian Catholic Autumn Kelly.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, whose brief includes constitutional affairs, said the Government was ready to consider repealing the Act, although he added that it was an extremely complicated issue. Dr Eveline Cruikshanks, the author of The Glorious Revolution and a former president of the Royal Stuart Society, said: "They ought to repeal the Act. The language is particularly offensive to Catholics and should go."

Patrick Cracroft-Brennan, the editor of Cracroft's Peerage, said that while theoretically the Duke's claim was good, it could never be actioned because Parliament now effectively chose the monarch. "It is a very interesting hypothesis and theoretically he is the head of the House of Stuart," he said. "But the Government effectively chooses the monarch now and it is highly unlikely to remove the Windsors from the throne."

As for the Duke of Bavaria himself, he has always laughed off pretensions to the British crown and prefers to concentrate on his modern art collection. Baron Marcus Bechtolsheim, the president of the administration of the Duke of Bavaria, said: "The Duke generally does not comment on this issue because he sees it as an entirely British question which does not concern him. And he regards it as a purely hypothetical issue. Even if this change in Britain happens, it won't change his attitude. All this interest in his opinion makes him smile because, really, he is very happy and satisfied with being the Duke of Bavaria."

Ah it's good to see he is happy with his humble status as a duke!

When the government really does beam voices into your head

According to a recent New Scientist article a declassified US Army report on the biological effects of non-lethal weapons revealed outlandish plans for "ray gun" devices, which would cause artificial fevers or beam voices into people's heads.

The Bioeffects Of Selected Nonlethal Weapons was released under the US Freedom of Information Act. Released by US Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Meade, Maryland, the 1998 report gives an overview of what was then the state of the art in directed energy weapons for crowd control and other applications.

Some of the technologies are conceptual, such as an electromagnetic pulse that causes a seizure like those experienced by people with epilepsy. Other ideas, like a microwave gun to "beam" words directly into people's ears, have been tested. It is claimed that the so-called "Frey Effect" – using close-range microwaves to produce audible sounds in a person's ears – has been used to project the spoken numbers 1 to 10 across a lab to volunteers'.

The report also discusses a microwave weapon able to produce a disabling "artificial fever" by heating a person's body. While tests of the idea are not mentioned, the report notes that the necessary equipment "is available today". It adds that while it would take at least fifteen minutes to achieve the desired "fever" effect, it could be used to incapacitate people for almost "any desired period consistent with safety."

However, the report does not mention any trials of weapons for producing artificial fever or seizures, or beaming voices into people's heads.

Steve Wright, a security expert at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, warned that the technologies described could be used for torture. In 1998 the European Parliament passed a motion banning potentially dangerous incapacitating technologies that interfere with the human brain."The epileptic seizure inducing device is grossly irresponsible and should never be fielded," says Steve Wright "We know from similar [chemically] artificially-induced fits that the victim subsequently remains "potentiated" and may spontaneously suffer epileptic fits again after the initial attack."

More hare-brained stuff from the people who didn’t bring you the Gay bomb . I suppose the words in ears thing is grist to the mill of the tinfoil hat brigade. On the other had I can imagine the advertising industry would love to get their hands on such a device!

Mr Everything is Indian

The Royal Family is Indian



Santa is Indian

One of my favourite characters from Goodness Gracious Me

Photo Hunt - Twisted

The subject for this week's entry for Photo Hunt is twisted. We still have not taken down the string or cut down the dead Morning Glory stems from last summer. The test of the string and the twisted nateure of the plant provide a double whammy for this week's theme

Jamsodonnell defined

jamsodonnell --

[adjective]: Banshee-like

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Suits me fine especially when someone pisses me off at work! Hat tip to Snoopy the Goon for this one

Zoellick warns on hunger and biofuels

Rocketing global food prices are causing acute problems of hunger and malnutrition in poor countries and have put back the fight against poverty by seven years, the World Bank said yesterday. Robert Zoellick , the Bank's president, called on rich countries to commit an extra $500m (£250m) immediately to the World Food Programme, and sign up to what he called a "New Deal for global food policy".

"In the US and Europe over the last year we have been focusing on the prices of gasoline at the pumps. While many worry about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs. And it's getting more and more difficult every day. In Bangladesh a 2kg bag of rice now consumes almost half of the daily income of a poor family. With little margin for survival, rising prices too often means fewer meals," he said. Poor people in Yemen were now spending more than a quarter of their income on bread. "This is not just about meals forgone today, or about increasing social unrest, it is about lost learning potential for children and adults in the future, stunted intellectual and physical growth. Even more, we estimate that the effect of this food crisis on poverty reduction worldwide is in the order of seven lost years."

The Bank's analysis chimes with research from the International Monetary Fund which shows that Africa will be the hardest hit continent from rising food prices. More than 20 African countries will see their trade balance worsen by more than 1% of GDP through having to pay more for food.

Gordon Brown has written to his Japanese counterpart, Yasuo Fukuda, who is chairman of the G8 industrialised countries, calling for a "fully-co-ordinated response" to the food crisis.Zoellick welcomed Brown's initiative, and said this weekend's meetings of the World Bank and the IMF had to do more than simply identify the scale of the crisis. The Bank also plans to double its loans to agriculture projects in developing countries in 2008, to $800m.

Riots have broken out in several countries, including Mexico and India, as a response to the rapid rise in the cost of basic foodstuffs over the past 12 months. A number of governments have imposed export bans on commodities, to try to bring prices under control. Zoellick warned against such protectionist responses.He was also critical of the dash to grow crops for biofuels. The US and EU have encouraged wider use of such fuels to try to tackle climate change and provide an alternative to oil, but the policy has sometimes diverted agricultural land away from food and exacerbated price rises.

Liz Stuart, spokeswoman for Oxfam, said: "Europe and the US must stop adding fuel to fire by increasing crop production for biofuels. These have dubious environment benefits, and by driving up prices, are crippling the lives of the poor."

And now Robyn in a box

Robyn is not normally a box cat but one the one for the Terracotta army figurine I bought at teh British Museum exhibition is just his size. This week's entry for Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats.

Happiness is a warm mop

Having embarked on a distinguished test match career you are now likely to live to a ripe old age. However, longevity is nothing is you are unhappy. Mercifully a survey suggests that you can stay cheerful in your twilight years by strenuous housework.

According to a report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine just 20 minutes of sustained exercise a week – including cleaning - can impact upon depression. Moreover, the more strenuous and frequent the activity, the greater the effect.

University College London researchers looked at a survey of 20,000 people on weekly exercise and state of mind. Another study in the journal also found such exercise among the middle-aged and elderly may delay the ageing process. The more active they were, the less likely they were to be suffering in this way. Taking part in sports at least once a week lowered the risk by 33%, while housework and walking could cut it by as much as 20%. The activity needed to be for at least 20 minutes at a time, and had to induce breathlessness.

Researchers did however concede they were unable to work out the nature of the relationship, and that those with mental health problems may be less likely to exercise in the first place. "Many studies suggest benefits for mental health from exercise, and for the first time we have been able to quantify the amount of activity which seems to make a difference," said Mark Hamer of University College London. "But it is a chicken and egg issue - as those who suffer from stress or anxiety may be less likely to take part in physical activity in the first place."

Sane, the mental health charity, noted that the reasons for distress were often poorly understood and that in severe cases people needed to seek professional help. But "this study may offer hope to those suffering mental pain that small, manageable lifestyle changes can improve mental wellbeing", said spokesman Richard Colwill. "The brain is as much a 'physical' organ as the heart or lungs, so perhaps it should not come as a surprise that even little amounts of regular exercise can begin to reduce psychological distress."

Another study finds that even if the relationship between strenuous activity and mental health is unclear, those who opt for it may enjoy a more independent old age. Regular aerobic exercise in middle-age and beyond trains the body to use oxygen more effectively in generating energy, researchers at the University of Toronto found after looking at 400 adults aged between 55 and 85. This in turn seems to delay biological ageing by as much as 12 years.

So if you don’t fancy jogging or gym work outs then some extreme ironing or full contact scrubbing will keep a smile on your face long after you get your bus pass.

Research suggests stalwarts of the England cricket team such as Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan can look forward to a long life. A University of St Andrews study which appears in the British Journal of Sports Medicine analysed data on the 418 cricketers who played Test match cricket for England between 1876 and 1963.

This enabled him to take account of the impact of social background - which is known to influence longevity - by drawing a distinction between amateur "gentlemen" players and professional cricketers (a distinction that was scrapped in 1963), who tended to have more humble roots.

Overall, "gentleman amateurs" who played in many Test matches lived an average of 79.3 years, while those who played in just a few Tests lived to an average of 75.0 years. "Professional" players who made many Test appearances lived to an average of 76.6 years, but the average life expectancy of those who played in few Tests was just 71.5 years.

Previous research has suggested that people in low status jobs may be more likely to suffer from poor health, possibly due to stress and frustration (This was amply borne out in the Whitehall Studies).Professor Boyle said his findings suggested that the converse may also be true: success in a satisfying job may boost health. "Playing for the national side is the pinnacle of a cricketing career and is likely to have long-term benefits, both in terms of kudos and future working opportunities.” He said. "It seems reasonable to suppose that reaching such a privileged position would therefore have long-term implications for the person involved."

Professor Boyle said it was possible that the most-capped players were simply stronger and healthier than their colleagues, but he argued that the physical difference between players who played a small or large number of tests was likely to be very small.

However, he found no association between captaining England - which could be defined as the ultimate success - and longevity.

Dr Tarani Chandola, from University College London, has carried out research into the effect of stress in the workplace. "Most studies have investigated the negative health impacts of work stress. There are a few that suggest positive success at work has long-lasting positive health effects - and that it is not simply the lack of work stress that contributes to good health among high status groups."

So playing cricket at the highest level cam increase your longevity? As someone who emphatically failed Norman Tebbit’s cricket test there was never a chance of that! I can say, however, that watching cricket does seem to extend life – a five-day test match would pass more slowly than the Hundred Years War

A spy who infiltrated a direct action anti-aviation group was been exposed after making a series of such elementary errors that he made the spies Abwehr sent to Ireland in WWII look like James Bond...

Toby Kendall joined Plane Stupid, the group that occupied the roof of the Houses of Parliament last month, after graduating from Oxford last year. He told the activists that his name was “Ken Tobias” and said that he was deeply concerned by the impact of the aviation industry on climate change and that he wanted to help to organise protests. But his habit of wearing a Palestinian scarf with his Armani jeans and designer shirt made some members question his identity. He was also the only member to turn up early to every meeting but had no friends in the activist community. He took part in protests, dressing as a penguin in one stunt, but always tried to remain in the background.

Plane Stupid began a mole hunt and, after feeding him false information that found its way within two days to the aviation industry, discovered his real name and employer. Mr Kendall, 24, works for C2i International (or is that worked), a counter-intelligence company run by former special forces officers. It claims that its agents are “hand-picked from Special Operations at New Scotland Yard”. Its website puts “aerospace” at the top of a list of industries for which it works.

BAA, which owns Heathrow, has repeatedly been targeted by Plane Stupid but stated “...we do not have a relationship with C2i or the individual in question.”

Justin King, C2i’s managing director, claimed to have been unaware of Mr Kendall’s infiltration of Plane Stupid. He said Mr Kendall was employed to carry out counter-surveillance such as “debugging company offices”. He added: “The security industry is full of people on the circuit who masquerade as this and that. When they are not working for us how can we stop them from working for other people?” Asked how he felt about one of his team infiltrating a protest group, he said: “I’m not particularly happy about it. We will have to look into it.”

A spokesman for the Plane Stupid said: “This special agent was more Austin Powers than James Bond, though the question still remains, who paid for the spy?”