I’ve never been much of a fan of Boris Johnson. His antics were mildly amusing when he was Mayor of London, a position that was created to be filled by personalities as much as politicians. However, his behaviour was often inappropriate and damaging when he became Foreign Secretary, and the mind boggled as to what […]
I have sometimes found the debate on e-cigarettes a little puzzling. Some experts argue that they are probably not completely safe, and therefore that they should not be allowed, or at least that they should only be allowed on prescription, or from chemists. If e-cigarettes were a completely new, stand-alone activity that had been invented, […]
A government report this week found that there is no link between tough penalties and drug use. This has prompted calls from various politicians for a review of drugs laws. While it’s clearly a complex issue, it’s hard to argue with a rigorous report or with scientific research into addiction. Perhaps there is a case […]
When I go into any shop, I rarely buy anything on impulse. I go in to buy what I wanted. However, I can’t be typical. Shops spend a lot of time and effort making attractive displays to entice customers into buying things they didn’t know they needed, and they wouldn’t bother if it had no […]
The BBC today reports on the diets of centenarians, with the implication that following a similar diet might help other people to live past 100. To be fair on the BBC, they do give the article some balance by giving the opinions of a nutritionist. Yet there is no mention of statistics or probability. When […]
This week has seen the disgraceful case of a woman, Linda Buchanan, being pushed onto a railway line by two young men, apparently after she had reminded them that smoking isn’t allowed on stations. Interviews the following day give a slightly different version of events, suggesting that Mrs Buchanan had spoken to them about smoking […]
Today it was proposed that smokers should have to buy an annual permit if they want to be able to buy cigarettes. The proposal, by government advisory board Health England, is that smokers would have to choose to “opt in” to buying tobacco by paying £10 a year for a permit. The permit would have […]
It is now three months since smoking was banned in enclosed public places in England, bringing it into line with the rest of the UK. I have to say that, while Tony Blair’s government have been unpopular on some issues, and have been criticised for producing too much legislation, the Health Act 2006 is one […]
It is an unglamorous town in the south of England known for its rail junction, power station and nuclear research laboratory but today, Didcot in Oxfordshire enjoys a new and enviable reputation – as the place whose residents enjoy the longest, healthiest lives in England and Wales. Read the whole story in the Daily Telegraph. […]
Occasionally, I’ll see something in an article on the BBC News website that seems wrong, so I drop them a note via their contact form to point it out. They are actually quite good at correcting factual errors, although they seem not to write back to thank the the people who pointed them out. The […]
20th Century Fox 35mm film accident addiction address adverts aerial photo Airbnb airport air travel alcohol America American English animation anniversary apostrophe app archive arts funding backup bank bank charges BBC Beijing benefits Big Ben Birmingham bitrate BNP bottle bridge broadcasting BT budget bus business calendar camera cannabis cartoon cash cash machine castle catchup TV cathedral Catholicism CD celebrity censorship CERN Channel Tunnel chart children China Chinese Chinese New Year Christianity Christmas church classical music Classic FM climate change clock code coin collaboration Colombia comedy commission Communism complaint composer computing concert concerto Conservatives contempt copyright corruption councils countryside courier court crash crime critics culture currency DAB date David Cameron debt demolition development Didcot Didcot Power Station diet digital photography digital radio digital rights management digital television diplomacy direct debit discount Disney disrespect diversity domain Downton Abbey drink driving driving drugs dust e‑cigarattes earthquake eBay eclipse education election electricity electromagnetic fields email Empire employment energy engineering ethnicity etymology EU Europe Eurostar exams expenses Facebook fanfare feed fees file‑sharing film music fire fitness flag Flickr flying football Formula One fraud Freedom of Information free speech Freeview fuel duty gambling game show gay George Gilbert Scott giant hogweed Google government Greenpeace guitar health Heathrow heraldry heroes holidays Hong Kong honours hotel housing human rights ID cards image use immigration independence inflation interest internet interview Iraq Islam Israel ITV Japan jazz Jazz FM jigsaw jingle job John Williams joke Jubilee jury justice Kidderminster Kodak Labour landscape law Leicester lens letter licence life expectancy litter loan local government logo London Lords lorry lottery mail Malaysia Mandarin manners mathematics mayor measurement megapixel Met Office military millionaire mistake mobile phone monarchy money monopoly moon motto mountain murder Murdoch Music names nationalism Nationwide newspaper New Year New Zealand NHS Nick Clegg Nokia Northern Ireland nuclear obesity obituary Ofcom Olympics opening hours Open Rights Group open source opposition Oxfordshire pandemic parents parliament peerage petition photogaph photograph photographer physics Pinyin Plaid Cymru planning plant plat poem Poland police poll Pope post postcode post office power lines power station prayer prime minister prison privacy privatisation prize Proms pronunciation property protest publication Queen quiz racism radio railway record recording referendum regeneration renting republicanism ringtone rip off river road royal royal mail RSS rubbish satellite savings Scala Radio school Scotland seatbelt shop shopping sky skyline smoking SNP social networking song Spain spam sponsorship Star Wars station statistics STFC streaming street view sun supermarket swearing Switzerland symphony synchrotron tabloid tax taxonomy telecoms Telegraph television Tesco Thatcherism theatre The Simpsons time timelaspe timezone Titanic title toll Tony Blair tourism trademark tradition transit travel trees tsunami Twitter unionism unit university vandalism vaping Venus violence Virgin visa vote Wales war waste water weather web web design website weddings weed weekend welfare state Wikipedia winter wireless Wordpress work writing Yahoo yob
