Farewell to a genius

Tech Tags: Bill Walsh San Francisco 49ers American football

The past few days have seen a spate of deaths in the entertainment world. Michaelangelo Antonioni has followed on the heels of fellow director Ingmar Bergman and actors Michel Serrault and (perhaps less artistically) Mike Reid.

However, the loss I mourn is the one I heard of last night. Bill Walsh, Hall of Fame former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, passed away on Monday, following a long battle with leukemia.

Walsh turned around the 49er franchise, and within the space of a few short seasons they went from a 2-14 team to Superbowl champions. Walsh's 49ers defined a decade of football, becoming "The Team of the Eighties", and carried his legacy into the nineties with a further two Superbowl titles, to add to the three that Walsh steered them to. The 49ers were the first NFL team to win five Superbowl championships, and I believe that they are still the only team in the NFL to have played in multiple Superbowls without a loss.

Bill Walsh created a style of football that became known as the West Coast Offence, a style that now dominates the modern NFL, but was revolutionary at the time. Many of the great NFL coaches of today learnt at the feet of the master. His 49er roster included legends such as Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig and Steve Young.

More than this, he touched the lives of his players, being a greater influence on them than merely their coach. In the last days of his life, former players, staff, friends were visiting him. Steve Young was on his way to pay him a visit when he received news of his passing.

Superbowl XXIII was the very first American football game I watched, and ironically the last game Walsh coached as head coach of the 49ers. The style and grit of the 49ers, the style that was Walsh's legacy got me hooked on the sport, and made me a fan of the team. The past few years have seen the glory fade from the Bay area - the 49ers could do with Bill Walsh now.

He will be missed by the fans, the team, and the sport. One thing you can say for sure. Heaven must have a pretty sweet passing game now...

Sorry I'm late, I was arrested for trying to get to work...

Tags: BAA The Camp for Climate Action RSPB National Trust Liberty The Independent High Court injunction Heathrow Airport Piccadilly Line unenforceable civil liberties

As far as excuses for being late for work go, it's certainly a good one. And it's one that my own employer may have to put up with me giving them throughout the month of August. Yes dear friends, like 5 million other people in this country, it appears that next month I will be labelled a subversive terrorist. My crimes? Being a member of the RSPB and requiring to use the Piccadilly Line to travel to work.

According to a report this morning in The Independent, BAA, owners of Heathrow Airport, are attempting to gain a High Court injunction to prevent an environmental protest called The Camp for Climate Action from taking place. BAA have opted to seek a ridiculously wide injunction. Membership of any of the groups who will participate in The Camp, even if you have no intention of taking part in that protest, will mean that the injunction covers your activities. I am a member of the RSPB, one of the 15 groups affected (thank goodness I joined English Heritage rather than The National Trust, who are also included).

So what subversive activity could put me at risk of being arrested by the police, merely for the heinous crime of having a passing interest in the preservation of bird species worldwide? Wanting to go to work. That's the evil, despicable action that could see me arrested.

If the report in the Independent is indeed correct, then the terms of the injunction will cover "All railway trains and carriages operating upon the Piccadilly line of the London Underground System; the M4 and all service stations between and including junctions 3 and 6; and the M25 and all service stations between and including junctions 13 and 15". My nearest London Underground station is on the Piccadilly Line. The nearest London Underground station to my place of employment is on the Piccadilly Line. Therefore, to travel to work, I use the Piccadilly Line. Twice a day, to and from work, I will be in violation of BAA's injunction, if it is granted. Therefore, it is incumbent upon BAA to arrest me. Indeed, I am putting them on notice that I have every intention of travelling to and from work throughout the month of notice, and therefore they must seek my arrest, as I am a member of an organisation covered by the injunction, committing an action in violation of the injunction.

BAA might argue that of course commuters like myself are not the target, and only the protesters are the target. If that is the case, why seek an injunction so absurdly wide-reaching as to be unenforceable? Why not target those with the intent of travelling to the protest? At the moment, people from Uxbridge to Cockfosters will be affected, regardless of destination, direction of travel etc. The injunction could be narrow and specific, but it is instead disturbingly broad in its terms, and as Liberty have pointed out, there is not fixed date when the injunction would expire.

This injunction covers too many people, too many innocent activities, and for too long a period of time. I firmly believe that the High Court will refuse to grant the injunction in its present form for being vague, overreaching, and being completely unenforceable.

If the injunction is granted in its present form, then I urge people to help The Camp for Climate Action to violate the injunction. If you are a member of one of the proscribed organisations, travel on the Piccadilly Line. Drive on the M4. Go to Paddington and stand on the platform for the Heathrow Express. Show your membership card and announce your presence to members of the British Transport Police, London Underground staff etc. Tell them that you should be arrested. Hopefully they will be so busy with those of us who aren't going to Heathrow (but who are still in violation of the injunction) that the real protesters can slip past unnoticed.

Do not fear arrest or detention. This injunction would be a massive violation of civil liberties, the right of peaceful protest, and if you are arrested you will be wrongfully arrested for going about your lawful business in a peaceful manner. After all, what possible excuse could anyone have for arresting someone who merely wishes to go to work? Unless you are BAA, in which case you really don't have an excuse at all.

This is worse than the time I did the Big Brother post...

Tags: Harry Potter hysterical overreaction hype fuss over nothing

A book was published the other day. For some strange reason, it has not only small children but grown adults suffering from hysterical reactions ranging from unadulterated joy to unrelenting grief.

It's just a book people. You don't need grief counselling, no matter how many people die.

It's just a book people. You might claim "it's not a kids book", but why buy the "adult cover" if you aren't embarrassed to be reading it?

It's just a book people. Are you seriously claiming that knowing how it ends has "completely ruined it" for you? But every time you go and reread the previous books, you know how they end - are they ruined for you? Besides, the revelations of who does and does not die does not negate the plot. Guess what - the Nazis lose World War II. Does that ruin every film and book set in the Second World War for you?

It's just a book people. Are you seriously so tragically disturbed that you are serious in your threats of violence to those who put up spoilers?

It's just a book people. If you do not wish to know anything about how it ends before you read it, then stay away from the internet you oafs!

It's just a book people. While it is laudable that children are reading books, if these are the only books they are reading, then no great claim about the "benefit" the books bring can be made. If children (and heaven forfend, adults too) branch out to other genres, other authors (living or dead) then yes, this has been a good thing. But if these 7 books are all these children ever read then any claim of any benefit is negated.

It's just a book people. And no, I'm not really interested in reading it. And no, this is not a case of "you can't judge something unless you try it". These books do not appeal. I moved past boy wizards learning magic at magic school when I was 12 and finished reading Ursula K LeGuin's Earthsea stories. Might I tempt you with some Kafka or Dumas? No? Do they not appeal? No? There you are - each person's taste is different, and the books hold no appeal for me.

It's just a bloody book people. Calm down.

I inhaled, but I did not smoke...

Tags: cannabis Cabinet ministers drug use

"It is with a deep sense of shame and remorse that I must admit to you, my colleagues, and the members of the British public that in my youth I committed an indiscretion. I must admit that during my callow youth I did not smoke cannabis. I'm so sorry to have let everyone down."

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it's the return of the bi-annual British sport, spot the political pot-head! Except this time Brown and his Cabinet have spoilt the fun for everyone by clambouring over themselves to let us know the answer to the most important political question of the day. Forget the diplomatic crisis with Russia. Forget Islamic extremism within the United Kingdom. Forget Iraq. What really matters is this: did you have a little bit of weed at uni?

I'll come out now and admit that I must join the ranks of those politicians who have admitted, with a sense of burning shame, that they have never done so. Forget Clinton's famous obfuscation about smoking but not inhaling, I've never even held a joint in my hand. As with smoking regular cigarettes, it's just something that never appealled, and I never felt the need to do (or any peer pressure either).

Normally the papers and the public have a little bit of fun over "did they, didn't they" and watching the politician squirm as he or she tries hard to answer the question, without actually answering it (see David Cameron). Brown's Cabinet are no fun, almost all of them have come out with a yes or a no. So where is the fun to be had? Consider this. Are they telling the truth? Let's take a look at the list...

The Uncool Cats

• Gordon Brown - don't believe you. Given what we know of his student days at Edinburgh, and the fact that when he was conducting supervisions at his flat in Edinburgh, students were freely sparking up, it would be truly amazing if he had never tried it. Gordon was reported to be "quite relaxed" about his colleagues' announcements that they had partaken of the odd joint - could this be because he was puffing away on a blunt at the time?
  
• Miliband (Ed and David) - don't believe you. Either of you. They're too young to smoke anyway, but they had to have been behind the bike sheds having a fly wee puff...
  
• Jack Straw - don't believe you. Again, another firebrand in his student days, it would be incredibly remarkable if he didn't indulge in the odd one.
  
• Des Browne - I believe you. But by the time you've finished in Defence you might be on 20 a day if Iraq goes anymore tits up...
  
• Alan Johnson - I believe you. He was actually pretty funny about it, saying that he "did the sex and rock and roll but not the drugs"
  
• Douglas Alexander - the MP for the constituency I grew up in. Perhaps Dougie was too posh to smoke, maybe like me he never felt the urge, but I'm on the fence with you Dougie...
  
• Geoff Hoon - I believe you. The rod up that guy's ass must have a rod up its ass...
  
• Ed Balls - on the fence. It seems his university life was too taken up with politics for anything else.

So who in the Cabinet admits to trying cannabis? And what if some of them are also lying...

The Hep Cats

• Alistair Darling - don't believe you Alistair. Sounds like you're just trying to make yourself sound cool, although maybe it's a clever anti-drugs campaign. "Alistair Darling smoked weed - do you want to be like Alistair Darling? Don't do drugs. Drugs are for Cabinet Ministers..."
  
• John Hutton - and now he's in charge of enterprise. Just remember John, not everything that was a good idea on weed is a good idea...
  
• Ruth Kelly - Ruth Kelly? Our very own Opus Dei acolyte in the Cabinet? But, but, taking drugs is the kind of thing that an Opus Die member wouldn't do. So why admit to it, unless it was true. So, although the cognitive dissonance is painful, Ruth gets a big fat TRUTH stamp. Who'd have thunk it?
  
• Hazel Blears - she's a scary lady. She could do with going back on it...
  
• Tessa Jowell - is this why the Olympics costs have spiralled? Where you smoking when the bid was proposed?
  
• Jacqui Smith - I believe her, given that she's in charge of the Home Office, it would be damaging if anyone discovered that she had tried it in the past, particularly if they try to push through stringent drug measures. Any time a politician makes, unbidden, a statement that could otherwise damage their career, you can pretty much take it as truth.
  
• Yvette Cooper - interesting... So you have, but your husband (Ed Balls) hasn't? Ed, are you sure you're telling the truth here?
  
• Harriet Harman - even the Deputy Leader admitted it! Come on Gordon, you know you want to...
  
• Andy Burnham - so we've had the Chancellor, and now the Chief Secretary to the Treasury admitting they've tried it. Is there anyone in charge of the nation's finances not on pot? Oh yeah, the Prime Minister. Who used to be the Chancellor. And we're not sure we believe him...

The No Comment Brigade

• Peter Hain - now, the BBC have him listed as a "no", but the Metro have him listed as a "no comment". Either way, he was a Liberal and a radical in the Seventies - I find it hard to believe he didn't unwind after an anti-Apartheid demo with a little bit of weed...
  
• Hilary Benn - I'm sure his dad would have no problems with it, although he would probably insist that Hilary use a pipe...
  
• James Purnell - does anyone else find it ironic that a minister with a portfolio that includes media declined to comment? No comment is a "yes" without having to say so in my book. If the answer is no, say no. No comment is when you don't want to dig yourself into a hole.

I'll grant them this - it's a genius way to go about the debate. After all, none of the other parties can really have a go at any of them over drug use now, without having their own backgrounds explored, and unless the Tory and Lib Dem front benches are prepared to make similar admissions, then this little storm in a bong will pass with little to no comment in Westminster I think...

The voice of democracy MUST be heard!!!

Tags: e-petition protest 10 Downing Street mosque London

Amidst the clamouring angry shouts of the 255,000 people who have signed an e-petition to protest the plans to build Britain's biggest mosque in East London...

... ignoring the fact that most of the information contained in the e-petition is either untrue, or a gross misrepresentation of the facts ...

... moreover ignoring the fact that these e-petitions simply don't work anyway (see this article on the Urban Legends Reference Pages explaining exactly why e-petitions are a waste of time, so kindly stop sending them to me thank you very much) ...

... let us not forget that all that this e-petition proves is that:

1. 255,000 people in the UK will uncritically sign up to anything that their friends send them, or which appeals to their particular prejudices; and
   
2. 59,954,500 people do not object to the building of the proposed mosque (based on the mid-2005 population figure estimate by the Office for National Statistics)

Less than 0.5% of the UK have protested against this as yet unplanned and unbuilt mosque. If and when this mosque is built, and if any of the protesters dares comment that democracy has been ignored, I hope that 6o million bitchslaps quickly catch up with them...

Finest dining known to man...

Tags: fine dining experience McDonalds sarcasm

Capitalist pig-dog that I am, I went to McDonald's for lunch today.

Yes, I have seen Supersize Me. No, it didn't put me off forever...

I was about to put the empty wrappers and cups in the bin on my way out when I was stopped by someone in a manager's uniform. He offered to dispose of the rubbish on my behalf, and then asked me "Did you enjoy your meal sir? Was everything to your satisfaction?"

Huh? It's McDonald's. Everything tasted like a McDonald's meal. San Francisco, New York, London, Moscow, Beijing, Sydney - I should have been able to order the same item from any McDonald's and not noticed any difference in taste.

What was he expecting me to say?

"I must admit that the pickles today lacked a certain piquancy I've come to expect, and the ketchup was bland to say the least, but the cheese was simply divine - unless I'm very much mistaken it was well-matured Beaufort, yes?"

So long as nobody had spat in it during preparation (we are talking about McDonald's here), then frankly I'm fine...

Silver Rings Redux

Tags: school law human rights religious discrimination Silver Ring Thing

Just a quick update to this blog post.

As I thought would be the case (see my reply to a comment on my blog), Ms Playfoot has lost her High Court case against her former school.

In his judgement, Judge Michael Supperstone QC said:

"The claimant was under no obligation, by reason of her belief, to wear the ring, nor does she suggest that she was so obliged..

Whatever the ring is intended to symbolise, it is a piece of jewellery ... she voluntarily accepted the uniform policy of the school and there are other means open to her to practise her belief without undue hardship or inconvenience."

It is sad that Ms Playfoot still maintains that "slowly, over time, people such as school governors, employers, political organisations and others will be allowed to stop Christians from publicly expressing and practising their faith", as nothing in this ruling is stopping her from practising her faith. The High Court has not ordered her to lose her virginity. Her school was not trying to pressure her into having sex before marriage. She is still as free to believe in chastity before marriage, to practice it, and to remain a virgin until her wedding night. She can even promote this belief.

Quite simply, this tasteless fad for proselytising through jewellery, which as I pointed out in my blog runs counter to the express teachings of the founder of Christianity, has nothing to do with faith, Christianity, ethics, belief, what have you.

Faith and freedom have not been damaged by this case. But Christianity has taken yet another knock to it's credibility due to the ludicrous actions of those who profess to be devout.

I've been tagged...

Tech Tags: eight random facts

My only regret is that the rules state these must be "facts", and therefore I can't just start to make random crap up...

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
   
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
   
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
   
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
   
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

1. Waaaay back in the mists of time, I wanted to become a priest. Not out of religious piety. But because I thought performing exorcisms would be cool...
   
2. People are at times amazed at how poorly travelled I am. The only foreign countries I have been to are Ireland (twice), France (once), Greece (once) and the USA (eight times, nine in October).
   
3. I am an accomplished liar when it comes to major things. If it is minor however, I will collapse into a fit of the giggles.
   
4. The exception to the above is if the minor lie is so obviously and outrageously false, nobody in their right mind could possibly believe it. Then through sheer bloody mindedness and force of will I will weave the most elaborate web of lies, deception and utter bullshit, the likes of which you have never heard (ask my family sometime who Captain Juan is...)
   
5. During The Sound of Music, I'm rooting for the Nazis...
   
6. When walking up or down stairs, the last step has to be taken by my right foot. On stairs I know well, I have learned what foot I need to start on to accomplish this. With unfamiliar stairs, I usually wind up having to take the last two steps with my right foot if I've misjudged it.
   
7. I didn't go to my first rock concert until I was 19... (oh the shame!)
   
8. Sometimes when I'm running, when I get my second wind, I feel like I could run forever.

Now comes the hard part of tagging eight different people. I really don't want to spam anyone's blogs when I don't know them, and I'm guessing the rules of the game would be such that I can't tag the people on the list of the person who tagged me, even if I do know them all (my wife having got the jump on me and tagged every member of my family who has a blog). So I'll start with blogs, and then with apologies to people, your Facebook and Myspace profiles are getting hit!

Strange But True...
Suzi's Travels
Sylvia
Rachel
Carly
Ms Fi
Hope
Lorin

And if you don't want to take part then screw you not a problem, it's not compulsory!

Paisley - it's not just for drug dealers now...

Paisley Glasgow Airport Royal Alexandra Hospital car bomb terrorism London bomb plot

Whenever I used to tell people that I came from Paisley, I used to get disbelieving/bemused looks, followed by "oh, I'm so sorry". The reputation of the town preceded me, and other ex-pat Buddies to the extent that to save on rolled eyes, or the alternative question of "where?" we generally claimed to come from Glasgow instead.

But now the "oh I'm so sorry" comments are generally followed up with "are your family OK?" comments - sympathy not because I come from there, but because suddenly the people of Paisley are victims under siege. The change is a little bewildering. But I digress.

Three years ago I left Paisley to come to London to study terrorism. It is slightly ironic to think that had I just waited, terrorism would come to my hometown instead. This latest (albeit unsuccessful) attack has affected me differently from the London bombings of 2005. Whereas with the 7/7 bombs there was a remote possibility, had I not been ill that day, that I might have been at Russel Square station at the time of the bombings, I was nowhere near the Glasgow Airport attack, but I feel more of a personal connection to the recent incidents. I work very close to the locations of the London bombs. Julia's hen night was held at the Tiger, Tiger nightclub, which is widely being reported (probably inaccurately) as the target. The other car was discovered in Cockspur Street, where I regularly go to do my banking with the Bank of Scotland.

Obviously, Glasgow Airport is an airport I have flown frequently out of. My younger brother was due to fly out of there this weekend for Paris. That flight was understandably cancelled. He's now flying to Prague this week. Prague is another city whose airport infrastructure and aircraft have been directly threatened, if we are to believe the intelligence that the Americans received according to this ABC News report. I am somewhat appalled that for "operational reasons" this intelligence does not appear to have been passed on. So much for the "special relationship" between the US and the UK. Does it only operate one way? We allow the US to use our airspace and airports as drop-off points for extraordinary rendition flights, and to extradite people without following the niceties of customary extradition procedures (double criminality, the need to show a prima facie case etc), and in return we don't even get a warning that there is a credible threat that we're about to be attacked? It is only thanks to sheer incompetence and good fortune that no-one died in London or at Glasgow Airport this week.

The Royal Alexandra Hospital is where I and my brothers were born. It is where we have gone to have bumps, bruises, fractures and dislocations healed, where my parents have had operations. I have a good friend who works there, who worked with one of the suspects. My father knows one of the arresting officers. The house that one of the suspects was renting is in the same village as my godmother. For the first time, I don't simply "know of" the locations, I have intimate and personal memories of each location. So despite being unconnected with much of what happened (although two degrees removed from suspected terrorists is close enough thank you very much), it feels more personal, which is kind of a strange feeling. Although I'm not reacting as badly this time as I was two years ago (probably because I'm not forcing myself to look at this stuff any more).

My older brother was stopped and searched under the Section 44 powers of the Terrorism Act 2000 yesterday. He was told it was "random", despite police assurances on the news the very same day that they would not be "randomly" searching people, but only targetting those they had good reason to stop. You can read his take on what happened here. The last time I was searched under the Terrorism Act I had a laptop full of browser caches and notes on terrorism, so at least it wasn't as visible as his cartoon, but I was certainly worried, and I don't think "research" is a sufficient excuse to save you from spending a few days in Paddington Green police station! It was almost as nerve wracking as flying into the US on the day of the 2004 election with a bag full of books on terrorism, and realising that the Department of Homeland Security might not like that. I can laugh about it now...

Now there are calls for every Muslim in Britain to prostrate themselves before the British public, and beg for forgiveness, and apologise for the actions of a tiny minority of idiots. And already the lashing out at innocents who share the same religion, name or skin colour has begun.

Remember when we demanded the same from the Irish for the attrocities of the IRA. Or from the Basques for ETA. Do you not remember? Of course you don't. Because we never made those demands from the communities who supported the aims and objectives (if not the methods) of those terror groups. The same people who think "all Muslims are evil" because Samir next door hasn't expressly apologised for 9/11, will happily go on holiday to New York, a city that poured money into the coffers of the IRA to "fight the good fight against the evil British oppressors". Can we get New York to apologise for Omagh?

It is grossly hypocritical of us to expect apologies from one group of people who have nothing to do with the maniacs within their midst, when we don't expect all communities to undertake collective responsibility for the actions of others. And I don't think we want to go down that route, as it makes everyone responsible for some attrocity eventually. Then again, perhaps we, as human beings, should take some kind of responsibility for misery and suffering doled out to other human beings by other human beings. Perhaps then people wouldn't turn their backs on the messages of peace and tolerance in their own religions, turn their backs on shared ancestry, history and culture, turn their backs on the oath they swore to "First do no harm". To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr, so long as we tolerate injustice, destruction, and hatred anywhere on this planet, we tolerate it everywhere, and violence will continue to beget violence.

Rant over. Mockery, derision and humour to continue shortly.

Too old for this

Tags: pain lots of pain American football

I played American football for the first time in almost ten years this morning.

All things considered, I did not too badly. Completed most of my passes, caught most of the passes thrown to me. Didn't fumble. And managed to avoid getting intercepted (although that was a close run thing and more down to luck and the ball being too slippy at times). Didn't score once, but hey, early days.

That's the plus side. Now here's the minus side of not having played in ten years.

My back is in absolute agony. I can barely move. Standing up. Sitting down. Bending over. Moving at all. I actually had to lift my legs with my hands to get out of the car today. To make matters worse, at one point as I was trying to get out of a chair this afternoon, my thighs started to cramp up. I haven't had that happen since I used to play basketball in high school, well over ten years ago!

And god knows how, but I've done something to my little toe, and the toenail has turned black and is threatening to fall off.

So I'll definitely be back for more next week. Forgotten how much I enjoyed it...