Regent's canal walk

Friday late afternoon, finished work, evening plans cancelled, time free, sunny day. Thought I'd take a walk along the Regent's canal from Angel as I've never been more than 10 mins down the path and I didn't know where it led. It turned out to lead to Hackney and Hoxton, which I would have thought would take a lot longer to get to than the hour or so I walked.

I took this opportunity of being close to nature by texting four friends and calling three.

I passed four people that smiled at me; I gave two half-smiles back. Two of the four were openly more bonkers than me, in a "I'm grinning at the world and saying 'hello' to the ducks" kind of way. One Arab man on a bike said "Yes!" to me. I didn't reply. One man had jaundice and his hair matched his face and made me think of curry. I passed approximately twenty more-yobbish-than-me people.

But my friends, I felt hungry. Hunger inside my body. That strange and rare feeling I only experience about three times a year. A metallic feeling in my stomach it was. After all, I had only eaten one banana, one breakfast bar, one black coffee [okay, I drank it], one starbucks [sorry 3rd world] egg mayo sarni all day. It was real hunger my friends, and though it didn't kill me, I did begin talking to myself. For some reason I found myself repeating the word 'Yowza' several times. I can't say what I meant by that.

I eventually succumbed and put two pieces of chewing gum in my mouth, one on either side. As always when I have two pieces of gum at the same time, I tried not to join them in case they combined to make a bomb. I think I saw that on James Bond when I was aged about seven, and ever since have never been able to eat two pieces of chewing gum without recalling this.

I noticed this somewhat ironicly named ex-pub who clearly didn't have a big enough one.

C4 School Admissions Documentary

[mailto:Tony.Dillamore@ricochet.co.uk]

My name is Tony Dillamore and I am a researcher on
a Channel 4 Documentary about school admissions. I
hope you do not mind me contacting you out the blue.
For the past 5 months we've been filming various
families around the country as they go through the process
of applying for primary and secondary school places, including
some who will be going to appeal to schools they didn't get in to.

As you are clearly aware, an increasingly common practice is that of
parents attending churches in order to secure school places at affiliated
faith schools. Our view is very much that the vast majority of these
parents are forced into considering this option, against their will,
whether they are agnostic or atheist. The simple fact is that faith
schools continue to deliver results, and in areas where the alternative
options are failing schools what other possible route is there than to
suspend one’s personal beliefs in order to secure that priests’ reference
and in turn that school place?

I am writing to you to ask if you know specifically of anybody who is
currently considering, or has in the past considered, this ‘option’ for
a decent, state funded comprehensive education. If you are not aware of
any individuals perhaps you could point me in the direction of a group or
website where I might better reach people who may be facing such a dilemma.

As both a company and a production we are thoroughly versed in the
requirements of filming topics of such contention. Any filming would of
course be fully agreed with the potential contributor and our documentary
will not be airing until October 2006 and therefore have no impact upon
current school applications. If needs be we would be happy to interview
people in anonymity if they felt more comfortable talking to us in this
way.

We really are only a small crew - 3 people including a camaraman and are, at
this stage, simply wishing to have a brief chat with people for whom this issue
is a real concern. If you are at all interested, or can assist in any way do let
me know and I can tell you more about our programme.
Many thanks.
Best wishes.
Tony Dillamore

Government wants to excuse oppression on religious grounds

Spencer Fitz-GibbonGreen Party executive
New equality laws look set to be weakened by a New Labour exemption clause allowing religious employers to sack people for non-conformity with their religious doctrine - for example because they are of the "wrong" religion, are atheists or are gay.

The Independent on Sunday reports that the government considers it acceptable that an employer should discriminate "so as to comply with the doctrines of [their] religion - or so as to avoid conflicting with the strongly held religious convictions of a significant number of the religion's followers".

The Independent writes that the government introduced changes to excuse "discrimination against atheists or others who do not share the religious beliefs of their employer... following strong lobbying from evangelical groups. One of the biggest loopholes allows an employer to dismiss or fail to hire an individual if he is 'not satisfied' that they fit his own 'ethos based on religion or belief'." The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement has said that the move would institutionalise homophobia in a way that "makes Section 28 look like a tea party".

Here are some views from within the Green Party:
"There is no justification, religious or otherwise, for discriminating against employees because of their sexuality" Darren Johnson AM, Leader of the Greens on the London Assembly and a vice president of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.

"Blair has betrayed the Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual community. This amendment has nothing to do with equality and everything to do with prejudice. Just when society had finally started to build bridges, Blair has turned the clocks back and confirmed our second-class status. This 'permission to discriminate', and the accompanying media attention, will stir up a climate of prejudice and fear, and make work a misery for many."Nigel Tart, Green Party spokesperson on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues. "Using 'religious-based' institutions as the starting point for an attack on individual people's well-established personal rights must be exposed for what it is - an undercover and highly dangerous attack on human rights. It is all too symptomatic of this government's lurch to the Right.

The Green Party will continue to speak out against populist sentiments which deny our deepest human freedoms."Janet Alty, Green Party spokesperson on Responsibilities and Rights

More abortion - NOW!

Now we have American-styled anti-abortion idiots over here! [Well, just one so far]. A jolly good reason for more abortion is to reduce the chance of producing phony vicars like "James Dowson, a self-styled vicar, who is a former member of the Orange Lodge in Northern Ireland who uses tactics akin to animal rights extremists."

He's been commandeered by the American fools to target schools and doctors over here by publishing their addresses and encouraging a deluge of hate letters and emails.

If you feel like sending him a letter to tell him what a twat he is, you can write to James Dowson, The Life League, First Base, Trafalgar House, Piccadilly, London W1. Or email: webmaster@uklifeleague.com

March for freedom of expression: London, yesterday.

Freedom to make your own banner, as long as it didn't show the Danish cartoons! The police had 'words' with someone who had tried to display them. That was just the freedom of speech of the police though, right?

No sign of Micky Mouse though.

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The crowd looking very 'free'.

Oops, it's the police filming the protestors. That's them expressing their freedom to film. No problemo.

Old Aaron Barschak turned up to do a quick jig - otherwise known as the "Comedy Terrorist" [mainly because he's more terrorfying than funny]

See the blog for the march here

Someone cheated on my fun run!

I did complete my first fun run a couple of weeks ago. It was 8k [5 miles] which I completed in 52.40 mins, otherwise known as 'not terribly fast'. But look at this revealing picture from the race! I did not realise fun-levitation was allowed! I'm enlisting David Blane as my new trainer.

Here was my original email to my friends, and I'm pleased to say I raised a total of £16! {All from the same person}. I'm sure that is nearly enough bone for a little toe, which makes it all worth it.

Hello chums,
I am doing my first ever 'charidee' (kinda fun) run on Sunday March the 5th 2006. It's only 8k, that's about 5 miles (not £8,000), so why not join me (and my friend)? Or come and laugh at me (and my friend)? Don't really, that'll put me off.

I'm just letting you know to boast really and make you feel ashamed that you're not doing it too. Unless you are. If you like you can sponsor me by giving some money to the Anthony Nolan trust (Bone marrow/ Leukemia) You can simultaneously guess how long you think it will take me, and I will give the closest-guessing winner a prize of something really cool and excellent, like an unwanted xmas present. (Though not a present that you gave me of course, because that was great. [If you didn't give me a present, why not? I love presents]).

To help you guess how long it may take me, I've estimated an hour. I hope I'm wrong because I really don't want to win the prize. I've only trained (jogged round the block) three times so far, but am determined to keep up this pace right up until the race. Unless it rains, or I feel like I can't be bothered any more.

Have I inspired you? Here's a link to the race in case you want to join me. (There's also a 3k run on the same day for lazy people [shame on them]). If you are going to send me money, please give it to me after the race in case I decide to spend it on crisps instead of bone marrow. Or in case I send another email in a week saying, 'ha ha, I was only joking about the running thing, sitting down is far superior'. But if you are going to guess my time, please do that before the race, for obvious reasons.

Microbes are the new creationists...

Life on Earth may have driven the evolution of the planet itself - microbes could have provided the chemical energy to create the Earth's continents.

LIFE on Earth may have driven the evolution of the planet itself. The idea is that ancient microbes provided the chemical energy to create the Earth's continents - a nod to the Gaia hypothesis, in which life helps create the conditions it needs to survive.

The theory would solve the puzzle of why the Earth's continental crust appeared when it did, and explain the presence of granite, a substance not found anywhere else in our solar system.
The Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago, coalescing as a homogeneous mass that in time separated into the discrete layers we know today: the core, mantle and crust, plus oceans and atmosphere. However, during the first 600 to 800 million years of Earth's existence there were no stable continents. The oldest vestiges of continental crust, which date from the Archaean aeon about 4 billion years ago, are in Acasta in north-west Canada.

[Original article care of New Scientist]

Archbishop rejects creationism in schools

What have we come to when it's the Archbishop who talks more sense about creationism than our politicians?

Though his argument is of course a little dodgy:

"I think creationism is ... a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories ... if creationism is presented as a stark alternative theory alongside other theories I think there's just been a jarring of categories ... "

I editted it slightly to make him sound more rational.

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