Napping News

Oh no - even napping is bad for you now. At least this claim has a certain refreshing novelty, as every other 'finding' about napping has been overwhelmingly positive - excellent news for those of us who take an afternoon nap whenever we have the chance (taking care to loosen the cravat before nodding off) and feel a whole lot better for it. The list of risk factors for Type 2 Diabetes is ever growing, and even includes 'being 40' - hard to see how you could avoid that one, though some actresses seem to manage it for a while. A sensible precaution on their part. Personally I'm inclined to blame rising levels of Type 2 on the likes of the Krispy Kreme Donut and the cupcake, neither of which is fit for human consumption (see below).

Retroprogressive News

Here we go - back to the future again. Not only are the railways carrying more passengers now than at any time since the postwar demobilisation, they're managing to be slower than they were in the 1930s. This shouldn't surprise us retroprogressives - but what did surprise me was the footage used to illustrate this story on the London news the other night. This showed commuter trains steaming into Waterloo in the 1930s, and the surprising thing was that, on each occasion, as soon as the train had stopped (or even slightly before), a high proportion of the passengers leapt out and sprinted up the platform at speed - a far cry from the dispirited shuffle of the modern workbound commuter. Why was this? Were they that keen to get to work? Was there some specific reason for getting off the platform sharpish? Was it the dynamic spirit of the age finding concrete expression (like Mussolini's high-speed marches)? Or was it just convention, part of 1930s commuter etiquette?
And here's another puzzle - the increasing popularity on this side of the Atlantic of the cloying, high-fat, mouth-puckeringly sweet, shockingly overpriced American cupcake, with its thick heavy topping of luridly coloured icing, plus all manner of cutesy shapes and sprinkles. First Krispy Kreme Donuts - now this. I suppose it's all part of the general infantilisation of our culture. Maybe hard times will reverse that trend and turn us into proper grown-ups again, sprinting up the platform, clasping our hats to our heads...