I'm bored with winter. I need blue sky and mountains or gree or sea that glares so much you can't look at it.

Public Servants 1

I’ve rarely heard anyone use this term without accompanying it with at least a wry smile. Usually it’s a snort or even a guffaw. It goes without saying that the police are least likely to live up to the notion of serving. When Robert Peel first proposed a police force in the early 19^th century the public were worried that there would be a spy on every corner and these agents of the state would be used to oppress the people in ways that were happening in France at that time. The myth of ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ was truncheoned into oblivion a long time ago and recent events such as the killing of a passer by and ‘kettling’ of children at legal demonstrations denied the former of life (which presumably is a human right that even the most right wing Daily Mail reading toss pot would concur with) and the latter all manner of other rights. The acquiescence and complacency of much of the media and a lot of the public shows how pathetic we have become in terms of political understanding or, perhaps, how much we are willing to concede for…what? A quieter life? Lower taxes? Fewer immigrants? It won’t be long before the cuts and job losses impact on the public consciousness, then the media and Clapham Omnibus users will be asserting first their disquiet then their outrage coupled with assertive claims that they had been against this rogue Cameron and these nasty, brutish policeman all along (who are probably infiltrated by brown people of course). It happened with the invasion of Iraq. It will happen again here so long as the agitators and activists keep  the faith, persist in the face of illegal oppression by the ‘boys in blue’  and understand that their efforts will be forever an embarrassing foot note once the snow balls become an avalanche.

inspired

I was listening to a programme on the radio this morning about the impact the King James bible has had on language and life since early 17^th century through to the last one but then how in the 60s they felt the need to update the language and even more recently it was ‘comic stripped’ and even written in various dialects (though I suspect these are more gimmicks than genuine attempts to pass on the messages of the book). Sometimes though someone is able to tap into the zeitgeist and exploit it in a way that genuinely impresses. This is a fantastically creative take on both today and the nativity.

M's comic - just seeing if it embeds OK in blogger

Image editor

Who needs to pay shed loads of cash when they can use free online tools like this one? http://www.pixlr.com/ Pixlr  has a range of editing tools like Photoshop express including a number of quick filters. I applied one as you can see above. This is the boy when he still valued fresh air and exercise over Playstation. Last night he went Lazer Questing in an NBC suit. He drank a litre of coke and vomited the whole lot up when he got back. I don’t have a picture of that. If I did I don’t think that even Pixlr could do much about that.

tech changes, tech glitches and missed penalties

I have moved my blog. I hope, though, that the posts I put on the new host (Posterous) will automatically post to my old one (Blogger). It should make it all easier since Posterous allows me to post directly from e mail which I can do on my laptop or I Phone without having to log in to the blog account. It also makes uploading images, video files, audio and documents that much easier too as they can be attached to the e mail and Posterous does all the formatting. I have had a few issues with embed codes but apart from that it’s bloomin’ brilliant. To embed a Youtube clip (like this one: )I only have to post the link. I have been feeling edgy since not posting much since I got married really. Yeah, my wife does order me around a lot and makes me do stuff like cooking and cleaning but, to be fair, she’s never said ‘stop wasting time on that , nobody reads it’.

Before the game on Sunday I said to a bloke near me that I  didn’t really enjoy the derbies. Even when we were 4-1 up against L’Arse I was edgy so in a 1-nil I have no hope. It was gratifying to see Drogba miss the pen on Sunday after all the misses our lot have made recently. Maybe it’s a hint that he wants away from the Bridge in the direction of the Lane.  

Ken Robinson on education

Not a lot to disagree with here in my view. All we need now is the cultural revolution...handg on, I'm not sure that's the right phrase