Hoisted by one’s own petard

What a joy. The Home Secretary’s attempts to rescind the citizenship of Sheikh Abu Hamza, the Islamic cleric with hooks instead of hands (which sounds like I’m being derogatory (and I am, in a way) but it’s the easiest way to recognise the name) has started to descend into a total farce.

The process has been started under the new (i.e. it came in last week) Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, which among other things allows a person with dual citizenship to be stripped of their UK citizenship if they are deemed to be “a hazard to national interests”. (Which sounds like a very American phrase, but that’s a slight tangent)

It’s now being alleged that Hamza hasn’t got citizenship anywhere else, as they’d previously thought, so stripping him of UK citizenship means he becomes stateless. Which conveniently happens to be a breach of the Human Rights Act, which was so roundly supported by the government that’s now fallen foul of it.

It seems to me that Hamza has put in far more research and preparation on this idea than the UK government has. And also means that the first case under the new Act is a total (to be blunt and non-political) balls-up. Hardly a surprise, but still very funny.

Fun on buses

This morning I got to play one of my favourite mind-games with people on the bus. For sheer comedy effect, it’s best to be done on a half empty bus, but any old time is suitable really.

All you have to do is get on the bus, and rather than sit down (regardless of the empty seats) stand near the front of the bus. It’s utterly funny to observe how many people will see one person standing, and then become utterly impervious to the empty seats, and also stand. It’s as though they suddenly become blinkered, and if one person is standing then there can’t be any available spaces.

The best punchline though – the one I managed to do today – is to get four people standing at the front, then wander off and sit down. If anyone else has been paying attention (and there’s normally at least one) then they tend to laugh, or at least smile, too.

We wanna get on, we wanna get on

Over the last three weeks, I’ve been working just outside Huddersfield, and getting the train from Manchester to Huddersfield. Every time the train has pulled up at the station, people have been trying to get on the train before anyone who’s trying to get off has managed to. So instead the people wanting to get on the train stand right in front of the doors. What’s the point? If you’re that eager to get on the fecking train, stand to the side of the doors, let the people who need to get out of the train do so, and then the way will be clear to get on.

But no – instead the people getting off the train are treated to cretinous muppets standing in the way, blocking the way out, and then receiving evil glares from these self-same fuckheads as thought they’re saying “I want to get on this train – why are you slowing me down by wanting to get off first?” I despair.

Websites and Banks

Spent last night filling in forms for a new company bank account (bureaucracy in one of it’s favourite environments) and shopping, so I’ve still had no time to build up some of the stuff on the new domain name. The ideas are there – I just haven’t had the time to get it all sorted. Maybe over the weekend, or next week. We’ll see.

Congested

The Government is trying to tell us that tolls and congestion charges are the only way to prevent traffic congestion – absolute bollocks. There are two things I can think of that would massively reduce the number of people in cars etc. (well, three – but I think people might object to a decent dose of bio-war) – the first would be to impose compulsory driving re-tests every five years, and the second would be to invest in a decent public transport system, rather than the shonky excuse that shouldn’t even really be called a system.

Sleepless

Why is it that I feel far more awake and conscious after one night of minimal sleep and another of no sleep at all than I do on the rare occasions when I’m sleeping properly?

I’m sure there’s something marketable in that concept – but hey ho.

The words “rip” and “off” spring to mind.

Australia’s Department of Communications, IT and the Arts has a new website. It cost AUS$4M (about £1.5m or US$2.4m) – takes forever to download, and could’ve been done on a home PC for about £500. Don’t you love to see how taxes get spent around the world? *Grin*

(Thanks to The Register for the link/story)