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For my American readers, you may not know about Mock the Week, its a BBC satirical show about the week's news, and nobody is safe (except Obama, who they described in terms of the second coming), and their favorite punching bag this week... John McCain. The topics of attack included

• Apparently the best person the republicans could come up with was someone who was considered less competant than Bush
• Getting shot down 5 times and sent to a prisoner of war camp doesn't make you a war hero, it just makes you a really rubbish pilot
• Apparently due to his torture he can't raise his hands above his head... i hadn't heard this one before, but it was made heavy use of
• His age and general likelyhood of dying of natural causes were also up for ridicule
Personally i do normally enjoy Mock the Week, and some of their points were valid, but the general level of jokes were pretty pathetic, and some in bad taste. That said, McCain deserves a thorough satirical roasting, this was a pale attempt at it. Still if McCain gets elected, i can just see the BBC being declared a terrorist organization...
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Gordon Brown's school report for the 2007-2008 school year. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/today/today_20080627-0820.mp3 All rights held by the today program of the BBC.

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I actually came across this on the Mail, but the BBC interpretation is a little bit more accurate and fair handed. It turns out, that a health think tank is suggesting that in order to smoke you would need a permit. Not only would this cost you in money, but you would have to fill out a deliberately complex form, obtain a suitable passport photo, and have to renew this permit yearly. An addition that seems to make this group positively orgiastic is the additional idea that you would have to go to your doctor in order to prove that you are still healthy enough in their opinion to smoke. Surprisingly for this open, egalitarian, social justice and personal empowerment preaching quango of a government, they seem rather keen on the idea, and you have to wonder whether they really are as clever as they should be with all those degrees and life experience. Smokers smoke, yes many would like to give it up, but this is something they need to come to terms with themselves, possibly via willpower and nicotine substitutes, or maybe checking into rehab. This will not stop people smoking, it will stress people out and make them miserable but they will either trundle through the form, or they will buy cigarettes from France instead. It all comes down to how you view your fellow human beings. Do you see them as dumb animals who need carrot and stick style policies to be controlled into doing the right thing? or do you see incredibly complex and capable individuals with stresses and influences you might not see or understand? This government treats us like dumb animals, and we assume they are complex individuals. All people in Britain deserve respect, even if they smoke, this government seems to fail to see this.

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I do have to say, big muscly assassin may have been a competent fighter, but since when does he win in a fight against Robin Hood. Also did anyone notice how he was very subtly able to escape being killed (or escape with the sheriff) so he can mysteriously and suddenly appear as an unknown factor in a future episode?

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I'm sorry, i've enjoyed this season of Robin Hood for the most part, but its been getting steadily worse. Aside from the fact that they conveniently forgot that Marian was a skilled fighter recently, and seemingly any man could beat her in a fight (wear-as it was a lucky blow that almost cost her life in the first season). But in case nobody studied their history, there is a villan to the Robin Hood myth. It was not guy of gisborne (a flunky) the sheriff (he was a tax collector), it was not even Prince John (a stand in doing an impossible job). It was that evil, self obsessed, self agrandising bastard King Richard, the winner of the most incompetent ruler in history award. The reason for the taxes was not to kill the king, it was to serve his eternal lust for glory. He would have happily sold London, if only he could have found a buyer. On the other hand while John raised the ire of legend (and the noblemen writing the legend) for trying to not only rebuild the country in the wake of his brother's decimation, but trying to fund said sibling's hard on for slaughter and mass genocide, the analysis of his actions suggest an exceedingly competent and capable ruler. Now i know that Richard supposedly was doing this because he was the whipping boy of the current great corrupt chief criminal of the western world (also know as the Pope), but still no King before or after has fulfilled the pointy hatted bastard's wishes so willingly. So with the stage set, i should now explain why i am so upset over the season finale of Robin Hood. Firstly, and quite obviously, the Sherif beating someone who its clearly his superior in training and ability is just frustrating (not once, but TWICE!). Secondly, that the supposedly very educated King Richard, would not find it strange that the man who had told him about the Black Knights would come to kill him on behalf of the Black Knights, and would also dismiss the words of his exceedingly talented bodyguard. Thirdly that Marian would fail to arm herself (everybody else seemed to). Fourthly that even unarmed Marian would still have been able to defend herself (were she to be still in possession of her impressive fighting skills) to a certain extent. Fifthly is more just a general ...

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Nope, I haven't gone New Labour, I'm voicing my support for one of my heroes, Tony Benn, who is considering coming out of retirement to return to Parliament. Sourced from the BBC

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Just listening to yesterday's interview by John Humphrys of Jeremy Paxman. Two of the most capable interviewers going head to head... Personally i completely agree with Jeremy Paxman, the BBC should trim back, and concentrate on the things that it can only do. However John Humphrys is very good at holding his own, titantic battles :) For those of you who didn't here, for while its available check out Listen Again. I'll write about my thoughts a bit later.

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I had this thought a month ago when i first watched the Sound of the Drums, and that was this symbol everywhere throughout the finale. Admittedly made sense given it was mostly shown on the Valiant, but places like this on the gas mask are not on the Valiant.

The way i see it there are 2 main options, firstly simply since he took the technology from the Valiant, it had the same label, and this was a red herring, which RTD is good at setting up. However there is a second possibility. brought up by mentioning that as Harold Saxon, he was an industrialist, and so presumably in order to build the Archangel technology, he had to have some kind of industrial base. Therefore its entirely possible he took over "V" systems/incorporated/plc, and used his knowledge to create the satellite network. As a result its likely as H C Clements had access to Torchwood technology, Vcorp has access to limited quantities of Timelord technology. My feelings are that this is a red herring, since it would re-hash a previous plotline, but still i thought i should make the observation...

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I'm shocked, the BBC seems to have ended its trial of video podcasts.. as someone who has a hectic schedule i'm somewhat limited in my ability to get my weekly dose of newsnight, question time and even panorama at times... I thought at first it was because i was traveling outside the UK at the time, but it turns out the trial has been discontinued... It wasn't a perfect substitute for watching the show, but it was a good dose of BBC current affairs i could watch when its convenient (one of the advantages of a video ipod). If the BBC does choose to continue (which i hope they do), it would be good if the full versions of these shows were available. However i do appreciate the edited versions of these shows, since they give me a chance to watch highlights when i'm taking a quick without the full blown program. The today program is a staple of my early morning wakeup ritual and the 10 minute chunk works well as a digestible piece of current events.

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