14 December 2012 (Friday) - The News

An early night would have been good. If only next door hadn't been shrieking at each other I might have managed a little extra kip. My beloved came home from flogging candles at 2am, and then snored like a thing possessed for the rest of the night. I didn't want to sleep anyway.

And so up early, a quick bite of brekkie, and off to work. I was glad to see that the temperature had risen and that the car wasn't covered in ice. Thank heavens for small mercies. The morning's news had something of interest. Last night at astro club we wondered if Patrick Moore's house would be sold; we thought it would make a marvellous museum. Apparently that was what Sir Patrick wanted, and it might just be a museum for budding astronomers. His house was a special place, and I was once privileged to be shown around it. And given cake in there too.
It would be good for others to have the chance to see how this iconic figure lived. Mind you, the punters will have to buy their own cake.

In other news it seems that car road tax discs are to go. In this modern age, sticking a bit of paper in the windscreen is seen as somewhat old hat. Police will use number plate reading technology which will probably spot miscreants more easily than trying to identify forged discs. Paper driving licences are to go as well. Personally I'm amazed it's taken so long for the technology to catch on.

And then there was the announcement about a new species of primate having been discovered. Shock horror - it's only just been discovered and its an endangered species already. Am I the only one who isn't amazed by this news. this can't come as a surprise, can it? Any species which has gone so long without having been discovered can hardly be commonplace, can it?
Some news items should be headlined "Dur!!"

Also there was the announcement of the discovery of the world's oldest cheesmongery. It would seem that as well as iron and fish, cheese has been monged since antiquity. Archaeologists have apparently unearthed evidence that cheese was being made over five thousand years ago.
I'm no expert, but regular readers of this drivel will know that I have dabbled in matters arky-ological from time to time. Personally I can't see how anyone could distinguish fossilised Wensleydale from a manky bit of broken pot, or a random rock.

But news isn't news without piss being boiled. This morning not so much boiled as simmered. Why is it that those in positions of high office are expected to apologize for that which happened so long ago? The leader of the opposition is to apologize for things the previous government did when he was just a lowly back bench MP, and the governments to apologize for Alan Turing's conviction for his homosexuality in the 1950s (which was actually illegal at the time).
How can anyone apologize for that which happened so long ago, and about which they could not possibly carry any responsibility?

A few years ago I was very conscious that I was very out of touch with current affairs, and had been so for some years. That was the reason why I started listening to Radio Four on my way to work in the morning.
It would seem that I never missed very much of note...


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