Couldn’t happen to a finer person

Over in Bradford, a candidate for the British National Party is being investigated for irregularities in the nomination process. The nominations can’t be cancelled before the election, but they can be contested afterwards.

Is that all?

The UK’s firearms amnesty has now come to a close, with 22,000 guns and nearly half a million rounds of ammunition handed in. But will it really have any effect? Personally, I doubt it – I suspect there are at least ten times that many in circulation.

But of course it’s not politically corrrect to say such things, so all you’ll hear is that 22,000 guns off the street is a major amount. And in a way it is – but it’s still not enough.

Ampleforth

There was a fascinating documentary on ITV tonight about Ampleforth College – a private school in Yorkshire run by Benedictine Monks. While I’m sure there was an element of “how weird, to be taught by monks” to the concept of the documentary, what actually came through the entire thing was that the teaching methods and attitudes were a lot more benevolent, understanding and fair than most other educational establishments I’ve seen.

One of the heads of house explained about the pupil’s weekend trips to the local pubs, saying “We understand that they don’t want to be trapped in this place with nothing to do, and it’s better to know where they are”, which struck me as exceptionally understanding.

Even the headmaster’s letter about the programme demonstrates the displayed attitude of the school. All in all, a very impressive piece of TV – not something that gets said too often.

51^st State

In a story in the Register, it’s revealed that Hilary Rosen is helping to write the new copyright laws for Iraq. Rosen is the Chief Executive of America’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), also known as “the people who shut down Napster and many others”.

So – it looks like Iraq is beginning to supplant the UK in the race to become the Fifty-First State of America. What a wonderful concept.

Fits of the giggles

I’ve been hearing some rumours today about a person who wants to stop the use of the word “brainstorming”, particularly in schools, because “it might be denigrating to epileptics”. I’ve no proof, couldn’t find anything online, but all the same, I almost want this exercise in political correctness to be true, it’s so pathetic, so funny, and so insulting in it’s own right.

Of course, if I do manage to find a link, I’ll add it in here. If anyone else knows about it, leave a link in the comments. I could do with proof, and another chuckle.

UPDATED : Thanks, Pat for providing the link to the story

Foodie rantings

The Restaurant magazine released it’s “Top 100” restaurants this week, and in the Guardian, Matthew Fort has some interesting thoughts about the entire process – mainly that there should have been more than just 11 British restaurants. It makes for interesting and thought-provoking reading, even if (like me) you’re never likely to eat at these paragons of gastronomic virtue.

Banking security

When you’re standing at the counter of a packed bank, and the cashier asks you what your security password is, do you…

1. Simply say the password.
2. Tell the cashier there’s no way you’ll say it out loud.
3. Tell the cashier to get stuffed.

Yours truly took (for once) option B – to a look of complete incredulity from the cashier. He then asked me to write down my password – on the back of the cheque I was getting cashed, which would give any potential fraudster all the information they need in one place – Account number, sort code, signature, password, and even handwriting samples. Fuck that for a game of muppets.

In the end, I wrote the password on a piece of paper, then watched him tear it up – and then got the torn up paper back too. Paranoid? Maybe. But I simply don’t see the point in making it easy for people to get access to that type of information – particularly when I’ve already gone to the extent of having seperate passwords for each account, rather than the typical (and still recommended) “mother’s maiden name” gambit.

Oh yes, and then complained to (as it turned out) the branch manager, explaining that I really didn’t think it was acceptable to ask for that kind of ID verbally. I’d be happier if a different form of verification were used, even a keypad on the counter on which to enter your PIN or password or a paper pad that enabled you to write down the password or whatever, then see it get destroyed afterwards. Hardly rocket science, and far better than saying it out loud.