The BBC Does It Again

Hats off to the BBC's crack team of crisis managers! They've managed to keep the Ross-Brand row in the papers for yet another week, culminating in the jawdroppingly belated broadcast of a botched apology - no doubt the product of many hours of 'meetings' (they're what the BBC does). And then it had to be rewritten.

Astral Weeks!

So there I was, earlier this morning, squinting blearily at an old tape, trying to make out the name I'd scrawled on it. Finally I got it - Astral Weeks. Ah yes, I thought, Astral Weeks, great album, one of the greatest, got it on CD now of course, must throw the tape away... Half an hour later, I check in at the Big House, and what do I find? This, of course. It seems Brit and I have achieved psychic communion...
Actually it's not Van so much as Randy Newman (above) who's on my mind this morning, as I watched him performing a BBC4 session last night. This is one great songwriter, and in an intimate setting like St Luke's (where the session was recorded) with just him and the piano and occasional discreet strings, you realise just how great. And how many stunningly good songs he has in his repertoire, despite his appearance of inveterate laziness and reluctance to release albums. What caps it all though is his between-songs banter, which is simply the best in the business. The session was sheer joy. Anyone in need of a refresher, just buy this.
(He looks alarmingly like Bryan - pre-weight loss Bryan - in that picture, doesn't he? On screen he looked more like a younger David Hockney.)

Irritating Phrases, Anyone?

Basically, with all due respect, at the the end of the day, I personally don't entirely agree with the contents of this fairly unique list (at this moment in time). 'I personally' can function as a minor intensifier, and be practically useful in, for example, distinguising a personal opinion from an official one - it's not rocket science (I personally prefer the phrase 'It's not rocket salad', coined by David Renwick). 'With all due respect' is useful when dealing with people you loathe, in as much as it means the exact opposite. 'Shouldn't of' is just plain wrong, but hardly matters in spoken use (at the end of the day). And so on - I'm sure many of you out there have a few issues with this list - that's what these things are published for (at the end of the day) - and will have suggestions for phrases to add to the list.
Mine would include two that are very popular with politicians and other devotees of the weasel word - 'Going forward' and 'Issues around' . Also, for some reason, the noun 'heads-up' annoys the hell out of me...
Any more for any more?

How To Do - and Not Do - Things

Here's a story to savour. What it boils down to is this: the regulatory body in charge of vetting the security 'industry' couldn't even vet its own employees. With every passing day, the world moves farther beyond parody. But never mind. 'We will continue to contribute to public protection through regulation,' declares one Ruth Henig. That's all right then...
For an example of a nation that works, we need to look further afield - to Bhutan. Here's a country that knows how to do things. A new democracy with a popular monarchy, its laudable, if ill-named, policy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) is firmly based on preserving the traditional ways. The Bhutanese have the sense to rely on 'enlightened astologers' rather than the likes of the Security Industry Authority. Very wise.

The Horror, The Horror

Here's one to chill the blood. This ID business has to be stopped. It's preposterously expensive, it will do nothing but make life more unpleasant and inconvenient than it already is for the law-abiding, it will be utterly insecure, and it will hugely expand state surveillance while diminishing what remains of our individual liberties. In short, I'm agin it, and sincerely hope that, when Broon is finally dislodged, an incoming government scraps the whole thing as one of its first acts.

Another One Gone

Another of the very last dies - and a pretty lucky one too. To be discharged on grounds of ill health in 1941 and live to 108 is not bad going. I hope by 'moderate' drinking he meant an Oz-scale intake.

Westfield and the Pits

It didn't take long for the Westfield megamall to show its true colours. Retail dress code trumps remembrance of the nation's war dead any day. And, sure enough, the retailers who were suckered into setting up store there are already being shafted. Makes you feel all warm inside doesn't it?
That's the trouble with secular cathedrals - the values they're built on leave something to be desired...