Tony's Newsround

The Spokesperson has Spoken

The States of Jersey released this statement in response the news of the strike:

"We are disappointed at the unions’ decision to call for limited strike action among civil servants.....  etc etc"

-- States of Jersey Spokesperson

There's a curious semantic fuzziness about the term "States of Jersey". On the one hand, it is the Assembly, voting on issues, but in instances like this, it is actually the Executive within the States of Jersey... and possibly not even all of them, if you count Reform members in the Council of Ministers and Assistant Ministers.

So who is exactly "speaking here". The ITV report, no doubt looking at the Gov.Je website, says just "Spokesperson". But on whose behalf are they speaking? There's a cloak of anonymity here which really doesn't fit well with open and transparent government. If it is the COM it should be "Council of Ministers Spokesperson" (if it is a civil servant saying what has been decided by the COM). It is not the whole States unless there is a vote.

Language and politics, as Orwell noted, lends itself to obfuscation and deceit, and I'd prefer some real clarity as to who the "we" of "we are disappointed...." is.

Review of the Circumstances around the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority’s Decision On ATF Fuels

The Chief Minister presented this to the States in December and I've just been reviewing it. The introduction says:

“The Government’s responsibility is to ensure that the competition system as a whole is operating properly, and that the JCRA is exercising its powers reasonably. My predecessor therefore commissioned a review of the circumstances leading up to the decision of the JCRA and its handling of the case.”

The review was conducted by Kassie Smith Q.C., who is a leading barrister in competition and regulation within the EU.

The conclusion seems to be that the JCRA is exercising its powers reasonably, although it needs to make the process more transparent – “In future, the JCRA should specifically record and explain (perhaps in its Annual Reports)25 how it has applied its prioritisation principles to its decisions whether or not to commence investigations under the 2005 Law.”

The chief weaknesses in the report appear to me to be:

1) It appears to second-guess or by implication suggest the Royal Court did not have proper expertise in its decision making (para 82) – “appeals under Article 53 of the 2005 Law are to the Royal Court which is a non-specialist court”. While note stating the position explicitly, it suggests (to the layman) that the Royal Court may have go its decision wrong!

In this area, it also notes “There should be a way for the Royal Court to gain access to, and appoint specialists, to help it deal with technically complex matters.” Perhaps, one cannot help but think, someone like Kassie Smith Q.C!

2) It seems to take the view that as JCRA didn’t appeal against the Royal Court in its own statement on grounds of cost, that the States should effectively provide a blank cheque for JCRA! (para 78 “Oxera recommended that the Government should “provide an explicit commitment that it will fund the JCRA as necessary if the Authority faces a legal challenge”). That would hardly be “equality of arms”!

The argument is that there “are incentives for those disadvantaged by a JCRA decision to appeal that decision in the expectation that the Authority will decide not to defend it given the risks and costs involved”

But it seems wrong to me that almost unlimited funds should be available to the States, when such is not the case for a private company, which has to be able to finance its own defence, with no guarantees that it will win or get costs awarded. While the current situation may not be perfect, tipping the balance in favour of the State is hardly an improvement.

Bailliwick Express notes that:

“The QC, whose salary sum has not yet been disclosed, is expected to complete her draft report by summer.”

There is as yet no indication how much this report has cost, but costs of reports are probably something lawyers are not too bothered about as long as they get paid well.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister, Senator John Le Fondré, has now said he is committed to releasing funding for court appeals for CICRA under the next Medium Term Financial Plan.

It’s a pity the same commitment hasn’t been made in the next MTFP to rectify the long term below cost of living pay for civil servants, nurses and teachers, which is certainly far more urgent. Why not come out and make that commitment now?

Tony’s Newsround

A few stories that have caught my interest.
 
Seize the Day
 
Actor Ray Lonnen, who starred in shows including ITV series Harry's Game and the BBC's Z Cars, has died aged 74.
 
I was sorry to hear that news. Of course most of the tributes refer to Harry's Game, which was certainly a high point in his career, when he was the lead as an undercover British soldier, sent to Northern Ireland to infiltrate the IRA and kill an assassin.
 
But he was also brilliant in the Sandbaggers. I was in Bideford, doing teacher training, and lodging at the house of the head of Mathematics and his family, and they were avid fans of "The Sandbaggers", so I tended to watch it with them, and within a few episodes, I was hooked.
 
The "Sandbaggers" was a nickname for a Special Operations Section of MI6, whose work included highly trained officers, with dangerous missions that could be politically sensitive or especially vital. The writer, Ian Mackintosh, probably had some experience or knowledge of those kinds of operations.
 
Ray Lonnen played  Willie Caine, the Chief of Operations second in command, and he gave a brilliant performance in the role, alongside Roy Marsden as his boss, Neil Burnside.
 
According to the BBC website: Tara Ward, Lonnen's wife of 20 years, said: "Ray was a gentle man who showed great strength in his final years. Despite his discomfort, his favourite expressions were 'carpe diem' and 'the best of times is now.'
 
French Cuisine and a False Reputation
 
Miss Gurke: I'm sorry, but do you think we could cancel our fruit salads?
Sybil: Well, it's a little tricky, Chef's just opened the tin.
(Fawlty Towers)
 
No one expects Haute Cuisine at Fawlty Towers, unless of course, they are holding their Gourmet Night! But then they go and get a French chef, and when he gets drunk, dishes from a nearby French restaurant run by "Maurice"
 
French cuisine has a reputation for excellence, and this is indicated by the fact that so many restaurant menus, even in England, giving names of courses in French (although the English may be given underneath). This is less so now, of course, when Masterchef style pretention has meant that even English can sound pretentious with just a sprinkling of French - Méduse soup with gruyère croutons, Pan fried squid with a garnish of sea vegetables, followed by an Earl Grey soufflé. Of course, that is "nouvelle cuisine", which also harks back to French culinary prowess.
 
But there is bad news about French food. Many French restaurants, according to a BBC report, just reheat pre-prepared food, rather than cooking it from scratch. Apparently that 85% of restaurants secretly make use of frozen or vacuum-packed food! Zut Alors!
 
Now there will be a new logo on menus - - in the shape of a saucepan with a roof-like lid – and it will show if the dish is home made – "fait maison", or not.  From next year it will be compulsory for all menus to carry the logo – if the food is home made, so absence of logo indicates  it is not.
 
I wonder what the position would be over hear if we introduced a similar scheme. It seems like an excellent idea to boost tourism – always assuming that enough restaurants could demonstrate that their food was home made.
 
Excellence that is beyond measurement
 
And finally, a letter from a school regarding KS2 results which has gone viral. This in no way denigrates testing, but it does, I think, show very well that tests simply do not present the full picture. There is often an obsession with measurement, and quantifying things, which overlooks what is really important in life.
 
Examinations and qualifications can help people in their search for employment, and they also demonstrate a certain standard – a doctor has to pass medical exams for the very good reason that the patient wants to be know they can be trusted to diagnose correctly and prescribe accordingly. But – as the case of Harold Shipman tragically shows – and cases like the Bristol heart scandal – they are not enough to guarantee safety. Character and motivation is not so easily measured, despite the expansion of pseudo-tests in the business community.
 
Here is the letter, which is a hymn of praise to those aspects of being human that we often misguidedly overlook or neglect, or simply fail to see as the very qualities in which our common humanity can shine:

 

The Letter

Please find enclosed your end of KS2 test results. We are very proud of you as you demonstrated huge amounts of commitment and tried your very best during this tricky week.
 
However, we are concerned that these tests do not always assess all of what it is that make each of you special and unique. The people who create these tests and score them do not know each of you... the way your teachers do, the way I hope to, and certainly not the way your families do.
 
They do not know that many of you speak two languages. They do not know that you can play a musical instrument or that you can dance or paint a picture.
 
They do not know that your friends count on you to be there for them or that your laughter can brighten the dreariest day. They do not know that you write poetry or songs, play or participate in sports, wonder about the future, or that sometimes you take care of your little brother or sister after school.
 
They do not know that you have travelled to a really neat place or that you know how to tell a great story or that you really love spending time with special family members and friends.
 
They do not know that you can be trustworthy, kind or thoughtful, and that you try, every day, to be your very best... the scores you get will tell you something, but they will not tell you everything.
 
So enjoy your results and be very proud of these but remember there are many ways of being smart.

Tony’s Newsround

Here is a selection of quirky and unusual stories, the ones that do not make headline news, but are still interesting.

It's a Lottery

Watch out for fake messages on mobile phones. There is a cautionary take of an Indian villager who was taken in by one of these scams:

"An Indian villager recently travelled more than a thousand miles to the BBC office in Delhi in an unusual quest - to claim millions of rupees he believed he had won in a "BBC lottery".  Ratan Kumar Malbisoi, a 41-year-old unemployed Indian villager, fell for a message he received on his mobile phone nearly two years ago.

"The message said I had won the BBC's national lottery for 20 or 30 million rupees ($319,000-$478,000; £194,000-£292,000). I was asked to send my details so that they could send me the money," he says. A poor man, with little formal education, he was unable to fathom that this was a phishing message and that he was being "scammed".

"Malbisoi is convinced that the call came to him from Britain. On the face of it, it does look like a UK number but experts say it is very difficult to establish that it really is located there. Cyber law expert Pavan Duggal says these are known as "mask numbers" - they usually don't emanate from a mobile phone but come from a website and one can get a number to make it look like it's originated from London or New York or Paris or, for that matter, Delhi." (1)

Apparently these messages are becoming widespread, and Delhi-based technology writer Prasanto Roy says they are "rampant" and "dangerous". But they seem credible because they use well known names like the BBC.

Love and Death in Judaism

The Norwegian Daily Newpaper Dagen last week reported that Norwegian Sandra Leikanger and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair are a couple. The office of Mr Netanyahu sent out a press release to insist that they are only college classmates. But the damage has already been done.

You would not think it would matter, but the fact that Leikanger is not Jewish has caused outrage in Israel. Judaism does not proselytise and seek converts, but when Jews marry non-Jews, it is seen as a taboo, unless the non-Jew converts to Judaism:

"Intermarriage and assimilation are quintessential Jewish fears and have been called a threat to the future survival of the relatively small Jewish nation. According to Jewish law, the religion is passed down through the mother, so if a Jewish man marries a non-Jewish woman, their children would not be considered Jews. "

"The issue of intermarriage has largely been one for Diaspora Jews - the Jews who live outside Israel. Inside Israel, Jews (75% of the population) and Arabs (21%)rarely marry, but with an influx of foreign workers and globalisation of the Israeli community, in recent years the phenomenon has come to light." (2)

And it is not just the ultra-orthodox who condemn this. The Prime Minister's brother in law, Hagai Ben-Artzi warned his nephew that if he didn't end the relationship, it would be seen as if he was , "spitting on the graves of his grandparents."

If you have watched Fidder on the Roof, Tevye's daughter marries a non-Jew, and is declared dead by him as a result of that:

Golde: Tevye! Tevye!
Tevye: What is it?
Golde: It's Chava. She left home this morning, with Fyedka.
Tevye: What?
Golde: I've looked everywhere for her. I even went to the priest. He told me they were married.
Tevye: Married?
Golde: Yes.
Tevye: Well... Go home, Golde. We have other children at home. You have work to do, I have work to do, go home.
Golde: [anguished] But Chaveleh!
Tevye: Chava is dead to us! We'll forget her.
[gently]
Tevye: Go home. Go home, Golde.

[Golde walks away, crying]

While among unaffiliated (usually "secular") Jews who don't identify with conservative or reform Jews, who are more or less secular, intermarriage rates are around 80%. But within Israel, and where Orthodox Jews practice their faith, it is still controversial.

Love and Lust in Nottingham

Nottingham has always had a somewhat rakish image, with the stories of the wicked Sherrif of Nottingham lusting after Maid Marion. But a recent "alternative" speed dating event which recalled the bad old day has been forced to cancel. Its poster advertising the event was deemed inappropriate:

"The Old Angel Inn in Nottingham used a poster with the slogan "bag a slag, grab a hag" to promote its event. It has caused controversy after several people complained about the content. The city council's licensing department said the landlord had breached a part of the pub's licence which states it must not use inappropriate promotions."

Ruth Greenburg, from the Nottingham Feminist Action Network, said the use of the word slag was offensive and derogatory to women. "This is beyond the fun barrier. It is a very negative, sexist image of women," she added.  "Is that all women are - slags and hags? What self-respecting woman is going to go along to a speed dating event that sells itself to men in that way?" (3)

As part of the promotion, any of the "slags and hags" attending were offered free shots – drinks that is, not people taking pot-shots at them. The pub said it was designed to be a fun event:

"The Old Angel is seen as an alternative pub so we were trying to throw the gauntlet down and say to single women don't stay indoors and cower away this Valentine's Day, come to our event… The free shots were to encourage women to attend as research showed speed dating was more popular with men." (3)

So now the event has been cancelled, which is just as well. Although it was clearly designed for humour, just what kind of women would have been attracted by posters calling for "slags and hags".

Another Fine Mess
One day you are waiting in rush hour traffic, and not going anywhere, and the next minute, a traffic warden has slapped a parking ticket on your car. This actually happened in Bradfiord last week:

"Victor Hankins's car was filmed by a mobile traffic enforcement vehicle in a bus stop - while he was in a queue at a red traffic light. Mr Hankins appealed against the council's actions, which he described as an "absolute joke." Bradford Council has apologised and cancelled the penalty notice, admitting issuing the ticket was a "mistake". Mr Haskins said he consulted the Highway Code rules on waiting at bus stops before contacting the council. He said: "I told them that I would be removing the appeal and I'd be seeing them in court and I wanted the camera operative in the court with me. At that point they overturned everything, apologised and the attitude couldn't have been more helpful and totally the opposite (from before)." (4)

Bradford Council said: "All images are checked before a Penalty Charge Notice is issued. In this case a mistake was made. When we find out that we have issued a penalty notice in error we cancel it and refund as appropriate. We continue to monitor and review performance regularly to ensure any errors are minimised."

It sounds as if they stuck to their guns until threatened with Court action! What a fine mess that was!

And Did Those Feet

We know that human beings originated in Africa, but now the earliest evidence of human footprints apart from Africa has been uncovered, and it is amazingly on the Norfolk Coast in the East of England.

"The footprints are more than 800,000 years old and were found on the shores of Happisburgh. They are direct evidence of the earliest known humans in northern Europe. Details of the extraordinary markings have been published in the science journal Plos One. he footprints have been described as "one of the most important discoveries, if not the most important discovery that has been made on [Britain's] shores," by Dr Nick Ashton of the British Museum. "It will rewrite our understanding of the early human occupation of Britain and indeed of Europe," he told BBC News." (5)

Last May, a low tide and erosion caused by rough seas revealed hollows in which could be seen the footprints, and a heel, arch and even toes could be identified in some of them. The largest would have been the modern equivalent of a UK shoe size 8.

"When I was told about the footprints, I was absolutely stunned," Dr De Groote told BBC News. "They appear to have been made by one adult male who was about 5ft 9in (175cm) tall and the shortest was about 3ft. The other larger footprints could come from young adult males or have been left by females. The glimpse of the past that we are seeing is that we have a family group moving together across the landscape." (5)

Links
(1)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-26012779
(2)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26067980
(3)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-26066153
(4)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-26074514
(5)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26025763

Tony’s Newsround

The Internet of Things
 
One of the most extra ordinary stories which appears to be true is mentioned in the Independent
 
"A report published last week claimed that a 100,000-strong botnet included 'at least one refrigerator'…This is the claim from California-based security researchers Proofpoint, who announced in a recent report that they had discovered a new type of botnet that included "multi-media centers, televisions and at least one refrigerator."
 
Smart devices have a processor and software built in to accomplish more tasks than the old fashioned electrical devices did, and allow linkages on wifi systems so that they can be operated remotely or send out messages to you. In early January, there was a demonstration of this cutting edge technology:
 
"At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, manufacturers demonstrated a range of previously mundane but now smart, web-connected products destined to become part of daily domestic existence, from kitchen appliances to baby monitors to sports equipment."
 
"Smart refrigerators will let you know when the milk is on the turn, or when you need to buy more ketchup. Smart toilets will monitor the frequency and consistency of your bowel movements, and tell you whether you ought to book an appointment with a dietician – or worse, a clinician. Meanwhile, the microprocessor manufacturer Intel last week unveiled a circuit board named Edison, so small that it can be sewn into clothing, ensuring that you will never wear odd socks to work again." (2)
 
The worry is that such devices can be hacked. While it is uncertain whether the report of the refridgerator was accurate or not, there have been certain hacks of these intelligent devices:
 
"Last year, for instance, a family in Houston, Texas found that a hacker had exploited security failings in its hi-tech baby monitor, made by the Chinese firm Foscam, to log in and begin verbally abusing the family's two-year-old, telling her she was a "little slut". Researchers recently uncovered similar vulnerabilities in a smart toilet, which can be controlled via Bluetooth using an Android smartphone app. According to the report by security firm Trustwave, hackers could cause the Inax Satis automatic toilet "to unexpectedly open/close the lid [or] activate bidet or air-dry functions, causing discomfort or distress to the user"." (2)
 
Quite why one wants to automate a toilet is beyond my comprehension, but I suppose for some people, the need to have a gadget to show off to visitors is just too good to be true. I don't think I will get a small toilet any time soon!
 
Hamish McGlacier
 
Some amazing evidence has turned up recently to show that Scotland may have had a glacier up until the 1700s, which is well within recorded history:
 
"Dundee University geographer Dr Martin Kirkbride said a glacier may have survived in the Cairngorms as recently as the 18th Century. Using a technique called cosmogenic 10Be dating, Dr Kirkbride showed that a small glacier in a Cairngorms corrie piled up granite boulders to form moraine ridges within the past few centuries, during the period of cool climate known as the Little Ice Age." (3)
 
And this tallies with the records that survive from that time:

"There are some anecdotal reports from that time of snow covering some of the mountain tops year-round. What we have now is the scientific evidence that there was indeed a glacier." (3)
 
Between 1650 and 1790, Scotland, along with much of Europe, was suffering from what has been termed "The Little Ice Age".The period from 1695 to 1702 was particularly bad in Scotland, with major crop failures; it is called the "Seven Ill Years".
 
The recent extreme weather, and the severe cold in winters, do raise the question of whether glaciers could form again in the Highlands.
 
Watch the Skies!
 
There is a new supernova, which has just appeared, and was spotted by undergraduates during a telescope class at the University of London Observatory:
 
"An exploding star has been spotted in the night sky - the closest supernova to Earth that has been seen in decades. The dramatic event happened 12 million light years away in Messier 82 - known as the cigar galaxy for its shape."
 
"One minute we're eating pizza then five minutes later we've helped to discover a supernova. I couldn't believe it," said student Tom Wright. "It reminds me why I got interested in astronomy in the first place." (4)
 
It may even be bright enough to see with binoculars:
 
"Scientists says it could grow even brighter over the coming weeks, before fading away. If this happens, astronomers in the northern hemisphere may be able to spot it with binoculars, by looking between the Great Bear and the Little Bear." (4)
 
"A supernova is, for all intents and purposes, a star that has suddenly burst apart. The greater part of the star's mass is converted instantly into radiant energy and the resultant explosion can be equal to the light of 100 billion normal stars." (5)
 
For those without telescopes, there is a short webcast (with introduction) at:
http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/
 
 
References
(1)   http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/could-your-fridge-send-you-spam-security-researchers-report-internet-of-things-botnet-9072033.html
(2)   http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/smart-refrigerators-that-let-you-know-when-the-milk-is-on-the-turn-toothbrushes-that-keep-track-of-dental-hygiene-and-tennis-rackets-that-help-you-play-better-welcome-to-the-internet-of-things-9053681.html?origin=internalSearch
(3)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-25824673
(4)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25860454
(5)   http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/new-night-sky-supernova-how-to-see-it-in-telescopes-140125.htm

Tony’s Newsround

Legalised Murder?
 
"Belgium legalised the right to euthanasia for adults in 2002. Now the Senate has voted to extend the law to children who are terminally ill, and suffering unbearable physical pain. Supporters believe this would be a logical move. Opponents say it is insanity. An incurably sick child, a request to die, a lethal injection. For many people this is an unimaginable, nightmare scenario." (1)
 
I must say that I read this with considerable disquiet. The "slippery slope" is, of course, a fallacy in that it is not a foregone conclusion that events must follow from decisions made, but it does seem as though there is a progressive extension of euthanasia in Belgium which is of concern.
 
The reason for the changes are compassion. As Dr Gerlant van Berlaer says: "We are not playing God - these are lives that will end anyway. Their natural end might be miserable or very painful or horrifying, and they might have seen a lot of friends in institutions or hospitals die of the same disease. And if they say, 'I don't want to die this way, I want to do it my way,' and that is the only thing we can do for them as doctors, I think we should be able to do it."
 
The law says children must understand what euthanasia is, and their parents and medical teams have to approve the child's request to die. But it is difficult to say how much a child understands of the consequences, especially as this bill applies to children of any age. And what safeguards are there to ensure that children properly understand and are not being lead to give certain replies.
 
The case of Dr Marietta Higgs in Cleveland in 1987, where a large number children were misdiagnosed as having been abused by parents, and forcibly removed from parents is relevant here. The children were subjected to questioning, and what became apparent in hindsight is that they supplied the answers they wanted those questioning them to say. The lesson, which should have been known anyway, was that young children want to say the right thing, and seek approval from adults.
 
That is something that should be borne in mind when children are asked if they want to end their lives.
 
The Hidden Danger of Microsleep
 
"Almost half of male drivers admit to experiencing micro-sleeps at the wheel. What are they? It's a "horrifying" statistic, according to road safety charity Brake. Of 1,000 drivers it interviewed, 45% of men admitted to micro-sleeping while driving, as did 22% of women. But what does this mean?"
 
"Micro-sleep is an episode of light sleep lasting five to 10 seconds. The brain goes to sleep involuntarily and it is more likely to happen in a monotonous situation. People wake suddenly, often with a sharp jerk of the head. "Your eyelids start drooping and you start to lose contact with reality," says Prof Jim Horne, director of Loughborough University's Sleep Research Centre. "You're asleep for a few second, then wake up, often with a jolt." This sudden head jerk is how people commonly know they've had a micro-sleep as the brain doesn't remember such short naps." (2)
 
We don't have such long journeys in Jersey as in the UK, but I wonder if any accidents locally might be considered the result of microsleep. At 30 or 40 miles per hour, a few seconds of lost consciousness could be dangerous even over here. I've not seen any statistics which consider that as a probable cause, but the charge might well be put down to something else, like driving without due care and attention. Perhaps it is something which should be considered when assessing traffic accidents.
 
I have experienced the phenomena, but mine is fortunately not while driving, but after a good evening meal, when I am watching television, and nod off momentarily. As described above, I come away with a sudden neck jerk.
 
Dry Young
 
UK teenagers might have a reputation for binge drinking, but in reality the number of young people consuming alcohol has declined sharply. Why?
 
"There is nothing that says you can't go out and have fun without a drink," says Liam Brooks, 18. Since November he's been old enough to buy alcohol legally in pubs, but he's never touched a drop. "It's the mindset the media has that every 18-year-old goes out and gets drunk. Maybe people in the previous generation did. But nowadays, most people would go out to hang out."
 
"Just 12% of 11-to-15-year olds said they had drunk alcohol in the previous week in 2011 - down from 26% a decade earlier, according to National Health Service statistics. The proportion who said they had ever drunk alcohol fell from 61% to 45% over the same period. Among older teenagers and young adults, the pattern was the same. In 1998 71% of 16-to-26-year-olds said they'd had an alcoholic drink that week. By 2010 only 48% did so."
 
It's in sharp contrast with the middle aged who, as the Spectator's Fraser Nelson has observed, are spending more on alcohol than ever (3)
 
I wonder if Jersey's statistics buck the trend, or are in fact in keeping with it. While we are told of high levels of alcohol consumption in Jersey, what might be useful to see is comparative age-related statistics, of the kind provided by the NHS in the UK. Unless there is really good data available, the new drive to tackle excessive drinking could well be looking at the wrong age group.
 
Fraser Nelson, writing in "The Spectator", comments:
 
"The middle-aged are having more fun than ever — spending extraordinary amounts on booze, restaurants and designer clothes. Today's young Brits are, by contrast, the most sober and sensible in living memory, keeping their heads down, their wallets closed and their minds focused on the mountain of debt that awaits them. We are now living in Ab Fab Britain."
 
"Even trying cigarettes has lost its place as a rite of passage; Prince Charles's recent admission that he'd tried smoking aged 11 dates him. Twenty years ago, three in five pupils admitted to having tried smoking. Now it's just one in five. And they're more censorious — the number of pupils who think 'It's OK to try a cigarette at least once' has fallen from 54 per cent to 31 per cent over the past decade. Smoking behind the bike sheds is more likely to mark you out as a dysfunctional freak than a daring rebel. (4)
 
This may run counter to the narrative promoted by the local media, of young people drinking being the greatest problem, but it is all to easy to be caught up in a narrative which is profoundly misleading. What is needed are the comparative age demographics.
 
Links
(1)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25651758
(2)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-25593327
(3)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25652991
(4)   http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9074091/ab-fab-britain/

Tony’s Newsround

Look Who's Talking

"The brain has a critical window for language development between the ages of two and four, brain scans suggest. Environmental influences have their biggest impact before the age of four, as the brain's wiring develops to process new words, say UK and US scientists. The research in The Journal of Neuroscience suggests disorders causing language delay should be tackled early." (BBC News)

They have used scans to detect the presence of myelin – "the insulation that develops from birth within the circuitry of the brain" and found that it remained constant, but "had a stronger influence on language ability before the age of four, suggesting there is a crucial window for interventions in developmental disorders."

It will be interesting to see what this can tell us about how language develops with children with severe autism, as their speech is often very rigid, with pronounced echolalia, and no ability to use what Chomsky called "transformational grammar" – that's the ability to turn a sentence around, and from "Do YOU want a drink?" generate a reply, "I want a drink". A severely autistic child will just repeat "Do you want a drink?" or even use it to mean "I want a drink".

Portmanteau bakery: Wonder what's next?

The BBC reports that there is a sudden craze for "portmanteau bakery" where different bakery products are mixed to produce something different:

"The "duffin", a mash-up of a doughnut and a muffin, is the latest portmanteau baked good to make the news. It started with the Cronut, an unholy mongrel of croissant and doughnut. Then followed the townie (a tartlet crossed with a brownie) and the brookie (a blend of brownies and cookies endorsed by Martha Stewart, no less). Oh, and there's also the muffle (muffin plus waffle), the crookie (croissant, meet cookie) and the macanut (a macaroon-doughnut fusion)." (BBC News)

But all along, Jersey has had for ages a recipe for a "deep-fried doughnut", which is an interesting product. It's not quite a fusion, but deep frying a doughnut certainly seems to fit with these unusual products quite well. And it is not a common recipe, although there's a Japanese product called Okinawan Dango which is very similar, but without the richness of Jersey butter (or in fact any butter).

What is the "deep fried doughnut" called here? It is our very own "Jersey Wonder". Who needs the duffin, when we have a home-made traditional recipe? You can keep your Cronuts. And Jersey Wonders will be on sale for a modest sum, freshly baked, at the Cider Fayre coming up at Hamptonne, along with cabbage loaf.

Focus on: Badgers

"A government minster said "badgers moved the goalposts" when asked why marksmen failed to reach a cull target." (BBC)

I sometimes wonder if these sound-bites are deliberate. This one conjures up an image of badgers going to football pitches and digging up and taking away the goalposts, probably in the middle of the night.

The UK at the moment is in the middle of a badger cull. The aim is to reduce the infection of cattle with TB, which is carried by the badgers. Whether or not such a cull is effective or not seems to depend on who is carrying out the research, as there are varying reports, some supporting the idea of a cull, and some saying that a cull will have no effect. It's one of those areas – like climate change – where there are some loud voices shouting, confusing the outsider.

The fact is that the adult badgers have few natural enemies, but the cubs can fall prey to by foxes, and on occasion by large birds of prey like golden eagles and buzzards. Matt Ridley comments that

"The badger is what ecologists call an example of 'meso-predator release': a middle-ranking generalist predator whose numbers are abnormally high because they no longer face predation from larger, "apex" predators."

Badgers themselves, however, are predators on hedgehogs. They are undeterred by the spines. Where they thrive, hedgehog populations shrink, and in some cases, vanish. And they are also voracious predators of bumble bee nests. Badgers are, along with the wax moth, at the top of the predatory tree in terms of their destruction of bumble bees. The Bumble Bee Trust has issued a warning about this: "in some areas of the UK where the badger population has exploded we are concerned about what effect this will have on bumble bee populations". Impervious to bee stings, they will dig out bees' nests in tree roots.

Liz Henderson, writing in the Shropshire Star notes that:

"he has a voracious appetite for anything that comes his way; ground-nesting birds' eggs and nestlings, hedgehogs, bumble bee nests – all doubtless much tastier than the slugs he is supposed to live on, and all totally unable to defend themselves against his powerful jaws. The result is, of course, the greatest ecological disaster of modern times – there is no other way to describe the complete wipe-out of all Shropshire's curlew and lapwing, which are poignantly listed in my 1981 bird book as 'widespread, locally common'."

All of this runs counter to the cute, cuddly image we have of Brock the Badger. As Liz Henderson points out – "of course the badger looks incredibly sweet and cuddly, especially on wildlife programmes with nice plinkity-plonk music in the background. Doubtless however his cuteness is entirely lost on the hedgehog which is about to be eaten alive."

And it should be pointed out that there is an absence of badgers in Jersey. The 2013 report into "Animal Notifiable Diseases" has a table giving the last date of an occurrence of a disease. Anthrax last occurred in 1966. BSE more recently in 2002, Foot and Mouth disease in 1981 but there has never been any reported case of Bovine Tuberculosis. Absence of badgers means absence of TB.

Adam Quinney, a cattle farmer and NFU Vice President has no compunction about the need for a cull in the TB "hotspots":

"Bovine TB is a hugely complex disease. But the key points about it are quite simple - it's an infectious disease; it's endemic in some areas of the country; it's posing a huge threat to our beef and dairy farmers; and while cattle are slaughtered to stop its spread nothing is being done to control it in wildlife."

So should the cull go ahead? In Ireland, badgers have been culled for almost ten years and incidents of bovine TB have been falling, meaning fewer cattle are slaughtered. And culling takes place in Switzerland and France, Spain and other countries. . In addition, deer and wild boar are culled in Spain, Poland and the Baltic countries Wild buffalo and boar were culled in Australia and they too have now eradicated TB.

What is interesting is that I have not been able to see anything like the level of protest against the culls that I see in Britain. When France identified badgers as a source of infection, they just went out and culled badgers.

It is rather like the horsemeat scandal, when the real issue was not about people eating horse meat which was not labelled as such, but the fact that it was horsemeat they were eating, a taboo which European countries would find strange.

Likewise, there is an emotional response about badgers which, I suspect, has little to do with the science one way or another, and a lot more to do with the British sensitivity to animals. Where does this come from? My own hypothesis is that this is a result of the upheaval of the industrial revolution in the UK. It is notable that settlement and independence in the USA mostly preceded the great shift from land to factory, and the USA culls wild deer for bovine TB without any of these prominent protests.

As Ronald Hutton has pointed out, in the course of just 100 years, industrialisation was rapid in the UK, with around 80% of the workers in the countryside at the start, and 80% in cities and working in factories by the end. It saw the rise of the romantic movement, the sudden prominence in Victorian literary circles of the rural god Pan. It was a backlash against the alienation of industrialisation and the urban disconnect. And the cultural legacy of that today still causes us to  romanticise the natural world in a way that the farmers themselves often find hard to understand.

Tony's Newsround

USA Closes Down

In 1827, the editor of the Western Review (a USA publication) wrote:

"Should the time ever come when Latin or Greek should be banished from our Universities, and study of Cicero and Demosthenes, of Homer and Virgil should be considered as unnecessary for the formation of a scholar, we should regard mankind as sinking into absolute barbarism, and the gloom of mental darkness as likely to increase until it should become universal."

The sinking into barbarism seems to have begun with the deadlock and partial shutdown of the USA, although the lack of prowess in Latin and Greek probably has little to do with it. As the BBC reported:

"As the United States approached a budget crisis that will shut down many federal services and affect more than 700,000 workers, other countries looked on with a mixture of puzzlement and dread. For most of the world, a government shutdown is very bad news - the result of revolution, invasion or disaster. Even in the middle of its ongoing civil war, the Syrian government has continued to pay its bills and workers' wages. That leaders of one of the most powerful nations on earth willingly provoked a crisis that suspends public services and decreases economic growth is astonishing to many." (1)

I find it astonishing how powerful interests cannot seek any compromise. The words of the American thinker, Reinhold Niebuhr seem particularly appropriate - "The recalcitrant forces in the historical drama have a power and persistence beyond our reckoning."

The ordinary people, those whose jobs are put on hold, or those who are effected by the partial shutdown of government agencies, seem to have been overlooked in this grim struggle for power between the President and the Republicans over his health care proposals (dubbed "Obamacare").

It is a matter of ideology, a clash of principles and power, and in that clash, it is the little people who get hurt. In a way, it reminds me of the clash between government and unions in the UK in the 1970s, where ordinary people had the three day week, no rubbish collection, no burials or cremations possible, and which led to the "winter of discontent" at the end of that decade.

It is certainly true that the Republicans are very much holding the Obama government to ransom, but I can't help wondering if he had been a bit more flexible on matters like abortion, whether that could have undercut the opposition to Obamacare. A good many reforms in Britain did not happen all at once, but incrementally; the important thing was to get a foot in the door, and the rest could (and usually did) follow later. Lloyd George's early National Health Insurance was not universal in its coverage, but it set a foundation upon which other reforms could build.

I think that President Obama and the Republicans could have tried harder to find a compromise, or what Aristotle called "The Middle Way". And if they had studied Ancient Greek, they might have better political tools at their disposal for achieving such ends. Perhaps the editor of the Western Review had a point, after all.

The Red Headed League

Apparently Scotland is thought by some to have the highest concentration of redheads in the world. Canadian comedian Shawn Hitchins, who took part in a "Ginger Pride" march in August said that "It's a great opportunity to bring together all the redheads in the country that holds 19% of the world's population of redheads".

In fact, he realised after it was questioned that the percentage was wrong. According to one report, the figure is 13% of Scottish people having red hair, not 19% of the world's population, which is overall around 1-2%.

"I am very sorry. This is what happens when you let comedians be spokespeople," says Hitchins. "Also, I'm a ginger so I'm 10 times more likely to make up a statistic."

So what are the figures?

"In purely numerical terms, it is highly likely that the US has the highest number of people with red hair, because of the size of its population. If just 1% had red hair, for example, that would mean it had three million redheads." (2)

According to another survey: "Around six per cent of Scots have red hair, about 300,000 people, and 4 per cent of English people, with a concentration in the north of England. The group estimated that out of the UK and Irish population of around 67 million, about 20.4 million people carry one of the three most prominent red haired gene variants."(3). [While Scotland has high numbers, reports on percentages seem to differ!]

Genetically, it is very interesting because it is a recessive gene:

"Both parents have to have one of the gene variants to produce red haired offspring, which means that generations of families can have no redheads before apparently producing a redheaded child 'out of nowhere' ".(3)

Dr Jim Wilson, who conduced this recent study, concluded that "the lower percentages for the gene variants in the south of England and the far north of Scotland suggested that Anglo Saxons diluted the red headed gene in England, and Norse Vikings diluted it in the north and west of Scotland."(3)

Because of the peculiar recessive nature of the gene, all kinds of myths have grown up about red headed people:

- The hair of a ginger, when sprinkled with dew and placed under moonlight becomes pure gold.
- In Greek Mythology, redheads turn into Vampires when they die.
- In the late 16th century, the fat of a redheaded man was an essential ingredient for poison.

But perhaps the most common myth is that red headed people have fiery tempers. I've seen no experimental evidence to support this at all. There is however a series of experiments done by Edwin Liem which do suggest that red headed people have greater sensitivity to pain.

And there is a widely quoted comment by an Irish judge in 2001, who fined a man for disorderly conduct stating "I am a firm believer that hair colouring has an effect on temper and your colouring suggests you have a temper."

That sounds like an urban myth, and suspiciously it is quoted word for word everywhere on the internet. But I have managed to track down the original source, which came from a Reuters report:

"Redheads live up to their hot-blooded reputation, according to an Irish judge who told a defendant his ginger hair indicated he had a temper. Judge Mary Fahy made the remarks at Carrick-on-Shannon District Court, in the north of the Irish Republic, as she passed sentence on a redheaded man accused of a number of public order offences.

'I am a firm believer that hair colouring has an effect on temper, and your colouring suggests you have a temper,' the judge was quoted as saying by Irish newspapers on Thursday. The defendant was fined a total of 225 Irish pounds (173 pounds), the reports said."

Wouldn't it be ironical if the Judge was a carrier of the recessive gene?


Links
(1)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24342521
(2)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24331615
(3)   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/10264427/Edinburgh-is-surprise-capital-of-redheaded-Britain-and-Ireland.html
(4)   http://www.dateginger.co.uk/little-known-ginger-facts.html
(5)   http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-sex-and-babies/201104/why-are-redheads-more-sensitive
(6)   http://www.asylumnation.com/asylum/_r/showthread/threadid_8577/index.html

Tony’s Newsround

Golden Death or Fair Trade Opportunity?
 
"I often have a headache, and I am weak. I have a bitter taste in my mouth."
(Fahrul Raji, 30 year old gold miner)
 
According to Linda Pressly of Radio 4's "Crossing Continents", the extraction of gold comes at a human price:
 
"About 15% of the world's gold is produced by artisanal and small-scale miners, most of whom use mercury to extract it from the earth. In Indonesia, the industry supports some three million people - but the miners risk poisoning themselves, their children and the land."
 
A study has shown that people like Mr Raji are being slowly poisoned by mercury over the years. Dr Stephan Bose-O'Reilly, who has been studying the industry, says that he shows the typical symptoms of mercury intoxication, as well as a tremor and poor coordination.
 
As Linda Pressly notes – "Mercury use in small-scale gold mining in Indonesia is illegal, but miners still use it to extract gold from the rock or soil."
 
And the situation globally is just as bad – "There are an estimated 10-15 million unregulated gold miners around the world, operating in 70 countries. Artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the largest source of mercury pollution in the world after the burning of fossil fuels."
 
What is alarming is that there seems to be no consideration of this kind of provenance of gold when it is purchased. I have been looking over a presentation by Goldcore, international bullion dealers written by Mark O'Byrne. There is a good deal about ensuring that the gold comes from legitimate sources, and that the gold meets standards of purity, but not a word about how the gold is mined.
 
It is very similar to buying crystals, which are very popular as New Age artefacts for "crystal healing" etc. I've seen crystals for sale, and asked about the provenance, to ensure that they were not obtained by strip-mining, which damages the environment very badly, and no one can tell me.
 
Likewise, it is considered unimportant that the gold may have been obtained by the use of mercury, or by mining extraction that damages the environment or harms workers in industry. But there is a silver lining in the cloud.
 
Toby Pomeroy is a jeweller who is a world leader in environmentally sustainable and socially responsible jewellery, and he keeps an eye on global best practice. He notes that:
 
"Fair Jewellery Action (FJA) is a Human Rights and Environmental Justice Organization within the jewellery sector. FJA's objective is to direct more of the economic impact of the jewellery sector for the regenerating of local economies, in support of cultural preservation and environmental sustainability."
 
"FJA is a program launched in the UK and USA by Fairtrade jewellers and ethical jewellery advocates Greg Valerio and Marc Choyt. Greg has been a pioneer and foundational to the international development and realization of fair trade jewellery and traceable supply chains from mine to retail."
 
In 2011, a South American gold mining cooperative in Cotapata, Bolivia became the first ever Certified Fairtrade gold mine in the world. Commenting on this at the time, and the importance of Fairtrade in Gold, Toby notes:
 
"Distinct from any time before, people now will be able to purchase jewellery they can fully cherish and be proud of where it came from and what it represents, jewellery created from gold that has been independently certified to have been mined and processed in a socially and environmentally responsible manner where the miners have been paid a premium for their stewardship of the land and for developing model, sustainable communities."
 
The OECD is supporting this initiative and notes that "These gold standards enable organised ―Artisanal and Small-scale Miners' Organisations to use the Fairtrade and Fairmined marks on certified gold products.... Certified miners, as ASMOs, must employ safe and responsible practices to manage dangerous chemicals involved in gold recovery, such as mercury and cyanide."
 
Have any Jersey jewellery shops looked at Fairtrade Jewellery Action? And if not, why not? There is an opportunity to make a difference by both retailer and buyer, and improve the lot of miners in the field of gold extraction.
 
Dog Days
 
The BBC reports on the sad demise of two guard dogs: "The Ministry of Defence has defended a decision to put down two guard dogs used to protect the Duke of Cambridge, days after he left his military base. The Sun reported the dogs were put down following Prince William's final shift as a search-and-rescue pilot at RAF Valley, in Anglesey, last week. The MoD said it always tried to rehome dogs but that it had not been possible in this case. The patrol dogs were said to have been part of a unit providing extra security at RAF Valley and were not providing sole protection for the duke."
 
What seems exceptionally callous is the reasoning given for killing the dogs.
 
"Belgian shepherd Brus was at the end of his working life and Blade, a German shepherd, had "behavioural issues", said the MoD."
 
I do wonder how much effort was made here. It seems quite possible for the dogs to be retired elsewhere and cared for after they have been used for a long time? This is very much what the charity Dog Action Trust is saying – "we would have hoped that the loyalty the dogs had shown their handlers during their working life was reciprocated at the time of their retirement". Instead, it seems that the dogs are "treated as kit that can be decommissioned".
 
The departure of the Duke of Cambridge appears to be coincidental, according to the MoD, and it does raise another question. Perhaps these dogs being put down became such a high profile news event because of that coincidence of events, and one wonders how many guard dogs are rehomed, and how many we never hear about are simply killed off when they "reach the end of their working lives".
 
The Glamour of Electoral Reform
 
And as the Liberal Democrats Conference comes to an end, it is perhaps worth looking at a lighter moment. Forget all the big conferences speeches, Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and head instead to Andy McSmith's Lib Dem Conference Diary in the Independent.
 
The fringe meetings are often more interesting than the main events, which the media have described as dull, apart from Vince Cable rattling a few cages. Instead, consider the Electoral Reform Society's meeting which looked, on the face of it, a rather glamorous event. Alas, it was not to be, as Any McSmith explains
 
"The Electoral Reform Society ought to be reported to the Advertising Standards Authority for the leaflet it distributed on Monday, advertising a fringe meeting headed "From Borgen to Britain: a how-to guide to coalition government", adorned by a picture of Borgen's star, Sidse Babett Knudsen."
 
"Those who piled in for a glimpse of the gorgeous Danish actress were confronted with a panel of speakers whose only Scandinavian representative was a bald, bespectacled Swede named Magnus Wallera, a functionary employed in the Prime Minister's office, whose talk was as flat as his skull was round."
 
Perhaps they thought they had to "spice up" the event to get anybody along to hear Mr Wallera! 
 
References
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24139769
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24127661
http://www.slideshare.net/MichaelOBrien3/10-important-things-to-consider-when-you-buy-gold
http://tobypomeroy.com/media/in-search-of-ethical-gold-gallery/
www.oecd.org/daf/inv/mne/46080654.pdf
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-mcsmiths-lib-dem-conference-diary-do-i-want-to-throw-myself-in-the-clyde-yes-i-do-8820449.html

Tony’s Newsround

Taxing Matters

I suppose I should lead with the story that David Cameron has declared that Jersey and other Crown Dependencies should not longer be considered tax havens because of their strenuous efforts towards greater transparency. He said ""It is very important that our focus should now shift to those territories and countries that really are tax havens," continued Mr Cameron. But he didn't list any of them, which was rather annoying, so here are a few:

Luxembourg seems like one of the biggest tax havens when it comes to multinationals. Somehow, the EU including France, don't really bash Luxembourg much. Luxembourg hosts the Secretariat of the European Parliament. Could that be why?

Monaco has still not signed TIEAs with the UK or Italy! But it has signed with France, which explains why it is not on the French blacklist.

And let's not forget, Jersey is to drop the withholding tax option under the EU Savings Tax Directive. It will be mandatory for financial institutions to automatically exchange information on their clients' bank accounts.

But meanwhile several EU countries and tax havens are using the "level playing field defence". In May, Austria and Luxemburg announced that they would abandon bank secrecy if Switzerland, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra and Monaco did the same. 

And that's only in Europe – don't forget Delaware, that well known tax haven in the heart of the USA,

The Dinosaurs Return

"Universal Pictures have announced the next Jurassic Park film will be called Jurassic World." (BBC News).

This is the fourth outing for the dinosaurs an a lucrative franchise; which has grossed grossed $1.9 billion (£1.2bn) at the box office from the previous three films.

But the plots seem to be getting thinner. You know some nasty dinosaur like a raptor is going to be chasing the hero and heroine, with their plucky children. There will be the man in it for the money who will receive a suitably gruesome end, and several other extras who provide dino-fodder, and must be able to scream convincingly. And there will be something large like a Tyrannosaurus Rex on the rampage.

The original idea goes back to Arthur Conan Doyle's book Lost World, and there is a sense of wonder at the explorer charting strange territory, and the excitement in that book which appeared in part in the first "Jurassic Park" film, but has largely disappeared from the franchise. Instead it is just a thrill seeking runaround in which dinosaurs cause chaos and eat people.

I was watching the Ray Harryhausen film "The Valley of Gwangi"the other day, and it had a charm and sense of fun as well as the thrills. He took the Western genre with Mexico at the turn of the 20th century, and cowboys and, of course, a beautiful Mexican girl for the hero to rescue, a gyrpsy who knows an entrance to a forbidden valley, a professor (who can tell you what the names of the dinosaurs are), and a circus show come to town with the cowboys earning a living as an act (shades of P.J. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth). It is well plotted, and while the stop-motion animation seems a little jerky by today's standards, it has a proper story as well as a brilliant set piece finale -a tyrannosaur in a Catherdal – a wonderful iconic clash of symbols.

Ray Harryhausen died in May2013, and his stop-motion animation never got in the way of his love of storytelling. Many of his films explored myths and legends – The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans – and they remain watchable as a result. Long after the special effects films, where effects carry the film, are forgotten, I imagine children will still be charmed  by his creative storytelling.

Space Oddity

"The singer and campaigner Bob Geldof is to travel into space as a passenger on a commercial space flight. Space Expedition Corporation (SXC) is hoping to launch 100 people into space in 2014 at the cost of $100,000 (£64,000) per ticket…. Mr Geldof said: "Being the first Irishman in space is not only a fantastic honour but pretty mind-blowing. (BBC News)

It seems extraordinarly cheap, not by my standards – I could not afford it – but for people with millions, it is small change. But it seems an extraordinary waste of money to take someone out to orbit the planet for no other reason than to gape at it. One thing is for sure – someone who can just throw away £64,000 is not likely to be in a good position to ask people for donations.

Will we get a song out of it, I wonder?

The silicon chip inside his head
Gets switched to overload
And everybody's going to space today
He's launching off, not staying home
And the fan doesn't understand it
It is like Star Trek when you go so bold
And he can see no reasons
'Cos there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be show-ow-ow-ow-own?

Links
(1)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-24034768
(2)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/24044783
(3)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24031979

Tony's Newsround

"A man targeted by marketing companies is making money from cold calls with his own premium-rate phone number. In November 2011 Lee Beaumont paid £10 plus VAT to set up his personal 0871 line - so to call him now costs 10p, from which he receives 7p. The Leeds businessman told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme that the premium line had so far made £300." (1)

I rather liked this story, as I frequently get cold-calls, and more recently, since a car ran into the back of me last November, frequent calls - unsolicited - from companies which are trying to get me to sign up for injury damages on a no-win no-payment basis. I continually tell them to email me the details they want, whereupon they take my email address, and I never hear from them until the next call. Perish the thought that they should actually email me!
 
Of course, the man does run his own business from his home address, so there is some justification for a premium number. Premium number regulator Phone Pay Plus said: "Premium-rate numbers are not designed to be used in this way and we would strongly discourage any listeners from adopting this idea, as they will be liable under our code for any breaches and subsequent fines that result."
 
But I wonder if I can dissuade cold callers and others by telling them that all my calls are monitored. That may well work. It may stop me getting so heated by those irritating callers.
 
Heating up also features in the next story, on global warming, which is not happening as fast as it was predicted to do:
 
"Scientists say the slow down in global warming since 1998 can be explained by a natural cooling in part of the Pacific ocean. Although they cover just 8% of the Earth, these colder waters counteracted some of the effect of increased carbon dioxide say the researchers. But temperatures will rise again when the Pacific swings back to a warmer state, they argue."(3)
 
"This new study adds further evidence that the recent slowdown in the rate of global warming at the Earth's surface is explained by natural fluctuations in the ocean and is therefore likely to be a temporary respite from warming in response to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases," said Dr Richard Allan from the University of Reading.
 
It's rather gloomy prospects, especially as arctic ice still continues to disappear. I'm sure that the global warming sceptics will find something to complain about, but what I find refreshing is that Professor Xie and his colleagues were not content to try and explain away or ignore the slow down in global warming, but wanted to find a proper scientific explanation for it that was testable by observations.
 
The global warming scenario was not helped by some rather bad fudges of the data, in particular relating to the so-called "hockey stick", and the abrupt way in which the Mediaeval warm period was airbrushed out of existence. That seemed to be approaching perilously like altering the data to fit the theory, which is the reverse of what Professor Xie's team have done. Leaked emails regarding the "hockey stick" show scientists behaving badly in all kinds of ways, and it probably set back public perception of global warming for a decade. Let's hope that the better approach such as Professor Xie can make up for some of that damage.
 
As I write that, I can feel the shadow of Nick Palmer looming over me, but I think the evidence - as seen in the complete Guardian special investigation shows otherwise regarding the behaviour of the scientists involved:
 
"Within the narrower confines of assembling a reliable history of global ­temperature, the emails have done significant damage to the credibility of scientists. They show that in their desire to give the world a clear message that humans are ­heating the planet, a group of scientists cut corners and played down uncertainties in their calculations. Their opponents charge that they then covered their tracks by being secretive with data and suppressing dissent."
 
"'Climate scientists will have to work harder to earn the warranted trust of the public - and maybe that is no bad thing,' says Dr Mike Hulme. While science gets its house in order, we need some perspective. In the midst of a cold winter it may be hard to convince ourselves, but the world is still warming. Humanity is still to blame. And we still, urgently, need to do something about it." (3)
 
Hiding matters also comes into the story about the NHS, which looks at complaints about hospital food:
 
"NHS hospitals have been accused of hiding patients' dissatisfaction with the standard of food. There are plenty of complaints about taste but how much is lacklustre 'presentation' to blame?"
 
The BBC report various chefs, TV presenters, and restaurateurs who commented on photos of the hospital food sent in by readers, although Data Protection forbids us knowing if one of those disgruntled was "disgusted of Tunbridge Wells". The comments are a savage critique, but can also be bitingly funny:
 
"Take this dish for example - overcooked, dry-looking sweetcorn with really badly overcooked broccoli and something that looks like potatoes and ham, with added skin." (chef Mark Lloyd)
 
"It looks like it has eczema. It looks like it's cold. I wouldn't touch it. It's just horrible looking, isn't it? I'd rather just drink milkshakes and take vitamin pills if this was my only alternative source of nutrition. It would be interesting to compare this with what prisoners get served." (Matt Tebbutt, chef, TV presenter and restaurant owner)
 
"I was trying to work out what this was," says Tebbutt. "It looks like it might be tripe. Presumably they serve this to give you the motivation to get better and leave hospital." (4)
 
I remember being in the General Hospital in Jersey in the 1960s as a young boy, having my tonsils out - at operation which was pretty standard at the time; it was felt that it was beneficial to whip tonsils out, so thousands of school children had them taken out. Because of complications, a possible clot in the throat (the same complication that nearly finished off Lloyd George), I had to stay in longer, and eating with a throat which feels sore was difficult. The hospital food was dry with no gravy, and hard to swallow. It was definitely not pleasant, so I don't think modern hospital food is necessarily any worse than that of yesteryear.
 
As I was reluctant to eat this dried up food, the nurse took me into a room, showed me a funnel and a rubber tube, and told me that if I didn't eat, I'd be force fed using that. While the food may still be receiving criticism in hospitals, I suspect that the attitude of nurses to children has improved considerably. A friend of mine was later in for the tonsils operation, and received the same kind of bullying treatment, but he got round it by biting the nurse's finger hard, something that had never occurred to me to do.
 
And finally, on medical matters, this report on new developments seems fascinating (to use Mr Spock's well-loved phrase):
 
"Miniature "human brains" have been grown in a lab in a feat scientists hope will transform the understanding of neurological disorders. The pea-sized structures reached the same level of development as in a nine-week-old foetus, but are incapable of thought. The study, published in the journal Nature, has already been used to gain insight into rare diseases." (5)
 
I must have a very wicked streak, because whenever I hear something about pea-sized brains, my mind turns almost reflexively to politicians. Now why do you suppose that is? I leave it to the reader to draw the obvious conclusions!
 
References
(1)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23869462
(2)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23854904
(3)   http://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/climate-wars-hacked-emails
(4)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23861940
(5)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23863544