The BBC is running a story about how the Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar has won a case allowing it to continue to use the name “Bud” in the UK. In most of the rest of the world that right has been taken away from them by the lawyers from Anheuser-Busch (who market the popular American… Continue reading Hmmm…. Beer
Stop The War Demo
I could tell that this was going to be different when I arrived at Balham tube station. There were three times the number of people on the platform than you’d normally expect on a Saturday lunchtime. By the time we changed tubes at Kennington the must have been two hundred of us. When I got… Continue reading Stop The War Demo
Anti-War Demo
If you don’t know that there’s an Anti-War Demo on Saturday then you must be living on another planet. From what I’m seeing the number of people who are planning to go on this demo is huge. When I was a student, I was surrounded by people who thought like me and we’d all go… Continue reading Anti-War Demo
Sixteen
Yesterday was my stepdaughter’s 16th birthday, so this weekend we had the pleasure of sharing the house with a group of 15 and 16 year old girls. We had a good time. I was pleasantly surprised at their level of interest in the kinds of things that interest me. We had conversations about music (they… Continue reading Sixteen
Channel Crossing
On Saturday I experienced the worst channel crossing I’ve ever seen. It was bad enough that I’d got up at 5am, that there was a blizzard on the motorway and that a lorry had jack-knifed blocking the road so we sat in a traffic jam for almost an hour. When we arrived at Dover I… Continue reading Channel Crossing
Police and Thieves (oh yeah!)
Since Chancery Lane tube station has been closed (because of last weekends derailment) I’ve been walking to work from Bank station. This takes me past the Old Bailey (the UK’s central criminal court). Normally I’m walking past this building at about 8:30am which is long before anything starts happening there (judges like their beauty sleep).… Continue reading Police and Thieves (oh yeah!)
Left Behind
I recently read Left Behind by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. It’s the first in a series of books about what happens when The Rapture comes and all the “real” xtians are taken off to heaven and the rest of us are left behind to deal on our own. It’s not the kind of… Continue reading Left Behind
Tube Trouble
A tube train was derailed in a tunnel on Saturday afternoon. There were no fatalities but about 30 of the 800 passengers were treated for various levels of injury. Current theory seems to be that a motor fell off the underside of one of the rear carriages. All of the rolling stock on that line… Continue reading Tube Trouble
War (What Is It Good For?)
Anyone remember Tom Robinson? Well he’s got a good page on his web site about what we can all do to protest about the forthcoming war. I particularly like the Clone of the Attack poster.
The Return Of The Vampire Slayer
So after six months of waiting, tonight we finally get a new episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on UK TV. It’s the first episode of season 7. Apparently it’s going to be a good deal less dark than the last season. So what do we know? Alyson Hannigan (Willow) and Anthony Head (Giles) have… Continue reading The Return Of The Vampire Slayer