In the news

a few discussion points from the daily fail comments section

Imagine the reaction if the English Defence League set up vigilante squads to remove hijabs/burkas from muslims.

Alcohol is not disallowed in the Quran, it was the third or fouth Caliph Haroun- Al-Rashid who banned alcohol as his troops were not fighting efficiently. I lived in the Middle East for 10 years and only when I returned to the UK did I hear that Muslims do not drink - rubbish, they are human like the rest of us, these young people learning a corrupt version of Islam need to spend time in Muslim societies to learn something of their culture and history.

The love of religion is the root of all evil.

do you remember about 8 years ago there was a lot of white paint on billboards and bus stop ads from Aldgate east around Stepney, anything with flesh, especially women. still happens on and off but I remember a spate of it suddenly happening a lot. ads with semi-nude guys and girls, but one that really stood out was a big billboard poster for some dance or theatre show, very civilised, woman in a green dress nothing revealing. then one day she was covered by white paint up to her neck.

spotted one in Walthamstow a few weeks ago

METAR for London City airport at 0750 GMT was

EGLC 160750Z VRB02KT 0700 R09/P1500 R27/P1500 FZFG BKN001 M03/M03

The VFR mimima (how far you need to be able to see) for helicopters in the UK is 1500m

The relevant parts of the METAR are the 700m vis in FZFG, and BKN001. Not VFR (for a heli in Class D: 1500m/Clear of cloud and surface in sight) by any stretch of the imagination. There's no way he could have flown high enough to clear the crane, and if he was high enough to hit it then he was in cloud, never mind the fog. Either way, he was in solid IMC and shouldn't have been doing what he was trying to do. Coupled with the high workload of diversion in a single-crew aircraft, and probably not having seen the NOTAM for the crane, it's not at all surprising that it ended in tragedy.

Edit: Too hasty. The incident location was within the EGLL Class A CTR and must therefore have been under Special VFR. Under SVFR, there are no met restrictions for helicopters. Still, I have to wonder what made him press on into central London in 700m/BKN001 instead of turning around and bogging off back to Redhill.

^What he said.

[URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2013/jan/18/britain-snow-deluge-disruption#block-50f96dc395cb5d055131b749"][/URL]

Sky News are reporting that a police search is underway in the Cairngorms for a missing climber

I am all for a nice walk in the fresh air, but today? in the mountains? WAC

^
links neatly to this gem of an acronym in an article on a Battersea Park revamp protest:

"*Colin Crilly, spokesman for Wandsworth Against Cuts (WAC), said people camping in the playground, including members from Occupy London protest group, have always wanted the demonstration to be peaceful.*"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21083570

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jan/18/team-sky-shane-sutton-head-coach
Shane Sutton, the Great Britain cycling team head coach, has stepped aside from his role as head coach at Team Sky to take on a consultancy role alongside his GB commitments.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jan/18/team-sky-shane-sutton-head-coach
"Shane Sutton, the Great Britain cycling team head coach, has stepped aside from his role as head coach at Team Sky to take on a consultancy role alongside his GB commitments."

Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!

*...but you've got to appreciate the timing ;-)

anyone hear some legend called Terry Wintle call BBC radio 5 live to talk about turning up for work pissed?!

He was a teacher at my old school in Greece hahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4BUac_yVhU

Pea

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21108337

The BBC! You make me sick! This is exactly like pederasting young children directly and you should all be ashamed and apologise! What's that, you already have? Oh, ok.

Obama second term..

Why, when Pro-Black campaigners have been struggling for years for equality, do the majority of black commenters on the news mention that they're psyched for Obama because "he is black".

MLK will be turning in his grave.

Beyonce, lay off the fucking cheese when you're singing your National Anthem.

Thank God I'm British.

you honestly can't think of any reasons why people think it's a big deal that there's a black president?

^because they're racist?

and the black people...

anyone hear some legend called Terry Wintle call BBC radio 5 live to talk about turning up for work pissed?!

He was a teacher at my old school in Greece hahaha

I was a teacher in Greece, and turned up drunk for work once or twice. I taught some students in one class (like older, eighteen, twenty year olds) and they found it very funny. The proper young kids, I don't think they noticed.

Although, a friend of mine, who taught in another school said that two of his students had arrived at class asking whether he knew the tall blonde guy who taught at Boufinas - because on the way to school they had just seen him sleeping it off on the bonnet of a police car.

Ah, they were somewhat more carefree days than I enjoy now.

Where in Greece apollo?

you honestly can't think of any reasons why people think it's a big deal that there's a black president?

I think the point is that some people will be voting for him because he's black, with the actual politics taking a backseat. Which is discrimination based on race surely. The exact idea that these groups are against.

"these groups"

Uh-huh. I see what you're saying, Mick...

I think the point is that some people will be voting for him because he's black, with the actual politics taking a backseat. Which is discrimination based on race surely. The exact idea that these groups are against.

Quoted for truth.

Obviously I can see that an African American as the President of America is a good thing. It is a step forward

It's the "Oh shucks I'm so happy that he's black" rather than "I'm happy because he's going to do this, this and this for our country".

MLK's vision of how people would hopefully be judged by the content of their character rather than their skin tone was getting shot to shit on the news coverage.

Who are these people you're talking about?

Perhaps race plays a role because they're happy they live during a time in which it's possible for the president to be Obama. I suspect that's where a lot of the joy comes from.

Perhaps race plays a role because they're happy they live during a time in which it's possible for the president to be Obama. I suspect that's where a lot of the joy comes from.

This phrasing makes me smile. Much nicer way of putting it than "possible for Obama to be president". It makes me think of Bush junior, looking at Obama enviously...

MLK's vision of how people would hopefully be judged by the content of their character rather than their skin tone was getting shot to shit on the news coverage.

This video has been bouncing about social media:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96d_CzrfxsM"]Cornel
West Explains Why It Bothers Him That Obama Will Be Taking The Oath With MLK's Bible - YouTube[/ame]

He's a very good orator. And 100% right.

He certainly is. He's also doing a good job of judging someone by their character and deciding that despite their faults they're still better than the crazy white guy.