Shoot the birdie!

Why not play LibDem Space Invaders?

What connects...?

What connects Big Brother contestant (and feminist) Germaine Greer; Travis front man Fran Healy; Darwinist Richard Dwawkins and his wife, former Doctor Who companion Lalla Ward?

They're all voting Lib Dem This Time.

"Did I mention it also travels in time?"

A review, then. Contains spoilers.

The music starts, then time tunnel titles appear. You get a tingle.

And then a day of Rose Tyler's life, compressed into a minute or so. High-paced, quickly establishing the character and those around her. She heads off to the basement of Henrik's, the shop where she works (played in the show by Howell's department store, Cardiff), to look for Wilson (which I like to think, probably erroneously, is a reference to Donald Wilson, oversaw the creation of the series in the 60s). The music stops and the eeriest scene of the show begins. A red sofa sits quietly in the corner of the screen, inviting us to take cover. (This episode features the highest count of sofas in any Doctor Who story.)

The Doctor appears, introduced in exactly the right way. Rose runs from the building and passes a blue box on the street. Another tingle and an excellent way to introduce the TARDIS.

Now at home, Rose's life is fantastically real. Her mum (a performance that seems to have divided fans) could be straight out of EastEnders, which in some respects is damning with faints praise. But Rose, her mum and Rose's boyfriend Mickey speak like real people, with the little comedy gems coming naturally from the characters ("I know she is Greek but that's not the point"). The store blaze is on BBC News 24 (which calls Henrik's "Henrick's" in its strap).

I didn't catch first time, although on watching again it was quite clear, that the dismembered arm has got back in through the catflap (note for the geeks: Catflap was a working title for Survival, the last episode of the original series).

Then a wonderful single tracking shot, following Rose and the Doctor's conversation as they walk from outside her flat. Lovely interaction, gentle humour - Eccleston hits the spot as the Doctor here. At the end of the scene, he tells Rose to go home but clearly already wants her to come with him. He hasn't got over his tendency to abduct young women.

Rose track the Doctor down online (using TV world search engine search-wise.net) and meets Clive, who's been tracking the Doctor on his website ("She? She's been looking at a website about the Doctor and she's a she?" asks his wife). I've read other reviews that questioned Clive's inclusion but his inclusion works on several levels. Apart from poking a bit of fun at fans, he also helps to imbue the Doctor with more mystery and, at the end of the scene, he succeeds in making the Doctor's travels sound scary. The dramatic irony, of course, is that it is Clive who dies, and this is his other role: to show that in this new series likeable characters will die. Without Clive, extras and an unseen electrician would have been the Autons' only victims.

Mark Benton, who played Clive, appeared in Russell T. Davies's Second Coming, playing a character with the surname Tyler.

On second viewing, the pace didn't seem quite so fast. Indeed, the underground denouement seemed very slightly slow. But the end, turning on its head the finale of the 1996 TV movie (the McGann Doctor invites Grace to join him and she says no, but he doesn't come back and convince her), is great. The "please, sir, can I have some more?" feeling that comes with the best TV is absolutely there.

Billie Piper, on screen throughout, carries the episode unlike any Who companion since Ian and Barbara. Christopher Eccleston strikes the right, eccentric balance between toughness and cheeriness. Rose does everything the new series' first needed and shows why Russell T. Davies is considered one of the best TV writers in the country. It has set a high standard for the rest of the series and I can't wait.

I'll explain later

Well, it really was Doctor Who, wasn't it? And it seemed to manage the difficult task of trying to fit a story around all the necessary introductions. Next week (and wasn't the teaser enticing? I want to watch it now!) will in many ways, I suspect, be more indicative of how the show will work from week to week.

The documentary earlier in BBC One had loads of clips that looked really impressive.

No time for a full review now. Hopefully the video at home will have taped the show so I can watch it again and come to a proper judgement. I watched it last night in a pub with a load of other fans (including several of the new series writers) after a few drinks, so a more sober viewing is in order. But I expect to do that and still think it was very good.

In the mean time, you can read Nick's review.

(An off-the-wall post script: Does anyone else think Russell T. Davies sounds like Chris Rennard?)

The Seeds of Doom

Last night I ended up as an extra in a music video. Depending how good the video is, I may elaborate at a later date.

Today I was much less showbiz and traipsed round south London delivering leaflets.

I have taken to snacking on seeds after accidentally catching an episode of All You Can Eat (or whatever it's called) on Channel 4 on Wedneday night. It reminds me of the line "You eat like a bird" from Psycho. I don't imagine it will last.

One day to go to Doctor Who! How fitting that the show should be resurrected at Easter giving the literally religious following it has from some of the more extreme fans ("and on the Saturday we watched Rose from the sofa", etc.).

Speaking of which, here's a gag from Tory Trouble:

What do you call extremists who crucify themselves on Good Friday?

The Tory party.

The three Ds

Off to London for drinking, delivering and Doctor Who so don't except much blogging until next week.

In the meantime, I'm thinking about moving from Blogger to WordPress. Any comments as to whether to take the plunge would be very welcome.

Backbencher awards

A number of blogs on my blogroll (including three by elected LibDems) are nominated in the Guardian's Backbencher Political Weblog Awards. Vote away!

He's back...and it's about time

This was going to be a thoughtful consideration of the effect of the new series of Doctor Who (3 days to go!) on fans' views of the 1996 TV movie but Blogger ate that when my internet connection disconnected itself. I'll briefly summarise what I wrote.

The basic premise was that the new series has inherited the goodwill directed towards the McGann TV movie. (New series trailer on BBC Four as I type.) I re-watched the TV movie last night and all the benefit of the doubt I had given it in the past melted away. Direction aside (it's one of the better directed Who stories), it was rubbish. The plot in particular, constructed from technobabble about beryllium atomic clocks, alarm clocks and midnight was rubbish; it begins with the wrong character (the Doctor instead of Grace, the audience's viewpoint character). The opening narration and squeaky Daleks are naff. McCoy and McGann both overact in places. The gloss production tries and fails to hide a seriously ropy story.

Where the TV movie felt written by a committee, the new series has a clear guiding concept from Russell Davies. Fans might hate it. We may convince ourselves we like it to hide our disappointment. But the trailers, magazine previews, newspaper articles and TV features suggest otherwise. This time Doctor Who is back, and it really is about time.

Less than 50%

Simon Pegg's Stalker is hoping to have seen all of the IMDb's Top 100 films by the end of the year. With 25% to go, that's a reasonable but achievable task. I'm shocked to discover that I've not seen 56 of these films.

Looking through the list, though, there are a number which I've taken a conscious decision in the past not to watch. The Shawshank Redemption has never appealed to me. Nor have Casablanca or The Matrix (does the latter make me a faux geek?). Still, there are a handful I'd like to watch so I'll aim to have seen more than half of the list by the end of the year.

1. The Godfather (1972)
2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
4. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
5. Shichinin no samurai (1954) (The Seven Samurai)
6. Casablanca (1942)
7. Schindler’s List (1993)
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
9. Citizen Kane (1941)
10. Star Wars (1977)
11. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
12. Pulp Fiction (1994)
13. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
14. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
15. Rear Window (1954)
16. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
17. Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) (The Good, The Bad, The Ugly)
18. The Usual Suspects (1995)
19. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
20. Cidade de Deus (2002)
21. 12 Angry Men (1957)
22. Memento (2000)
23. Psycho (1960)
24. C’era una volta il West (1968)
25. North by Northwest (1959)
26. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
27. Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, Le (2001)
28. Goodfellas (1990)
29. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
30. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
31. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
32. American Beauty (1999)
33. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
34. Apocalypse Now (1979)
35. The Matrix (1999)
36. Paths of Glory (1957)
37. Fight Club (1999)
38. Vertigo (1958)
39. The Third Man (1949)
40. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) (Spirited Away)
41. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
42. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
43. Double Indemnity (1944)
44. Boot, Das (1981)
45. Taxi Driver (1976)
46. M (1931)
47. The Pianist (2002)
48. Rashômon (1950)
49. Se7en (1995)
50. All About Eve (1950)
51. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
52. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
53. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
54. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
55. Chinatown (1974)
56. Some Like It Hot (1959)
57. L.A. Confidential (1997)
58. Léon (1994)
59. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
60. Alien (1979)
61. American History X (1998)
62. Modern Times (1936)
63. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
64. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
65. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
66. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
67. The Sting (1973)
68. On the Waterfront (1954)
69. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
70. Raging Bull (1980)
71. Ran (1985)
72. Amadeus (1984)
73. Vita è bella, La (1997)
74. Touch of Evil (1958)
75. The Great Escape (1963)
76. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
77. City Lights (1931)
78. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
79. The Apartment (1960)
80. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
81. Metropolis (1927)
82. The Shining (1980)
83. High Noon (1952)
84. Jaws (1975)
85. Aliens (1986)
86. Finding Nemo (2003)
87. Annie Hall (1977)
88. Braveheart (1995)
89. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
90. Wo hu cang long (2000) (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
91. Fargo (1996)
92. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
93. Oldboy (2003)
94. Yojimbo (1961)
95. The Incredibles (2004)
96. Blade Runner (1982)
97. Strangers on a Train (1951)
98. Donnie Darko (2001)
99. The Sixth Sense (1999)
100. The Princess Bride (1987)

Re: Joyce

I recently wrote to my MP, Eric Joyce, about the Elect the Lords campaign. I told him I was supporting the campaign, gave him my reasons, and asked him his views and to give his support if he agreed. I also asked him to forward my letter to the Lord Chancellor.

Last week I got a reply. Here is the substance of it.

I have written on your behalf to The RT Hon,[sic] Lord Falconer of Thornton[sic] QC, as you requested and I will contact you again on receipt of his response.

That's it. No comment on the issue at all, not even an "I'm yet to decide" (i.e., "I'm yet to be told what to think"). But that shouldn't be a surprise since Joyce is one of the Guardian's Top Toadies.

25

I don't post many of these quiz thangs but this one was spot on.

You Are 25 Years Old

25 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

(Nod: doctorvee)

Job for the Slob

Scheduled up against tonight's Doctor Who themed programming on BBC Two is a reality TV show on BBC Three. Job for the Slob is on as I type. And the "slob" is my brother.

More from 2004

Dan texts to say he's spotted himself on this blog - "at last!" Fair enough, since it was over two months ago that I explained that I tend not to mentione non-blogging friends by name and he said I should feel free to name and shame him. Unfortunately, that was during my most recent phoneless period and therefore didn't get blogged.

Flashback: Monday, 27 - Wednesday, 29 December 2004

During that long, empty period between Christmas and New Year, Dan and I had what he termed (fairly optimistically) an "arts and crafts" week. On the Monday, we went to see John Hegley and both managed to get roped into audience participation rituals (I sang; Dan's involved a vegetable). The show was in North London at The Pleasance, a venue I realised I'd been to around seven and a half years earlier to see Cluub Zarathustra. My clearest memory of that (and I don't mean to make this a flashback inside a flashback) is drinking in the bar afterwards and mouthing off about parts of the anatomy that are anagrams of other parts of the anatomy (to this day I can only come up with two-and-a-half pairs).

The following day, we went to Brighton. Went to a café-bar with poor service (fortunately for them I've forgotten its name) and then to Next where I bought a coat in a particularly exciting shade of beige.

Back in London on the Wedneaday, we popped into H&M where, encouraged by Dan, I picked up a somewhat controversial flat cap before going to see Napoleon Dynamite. That was very funny, although it couldn't quite live up to the superlatives splashed on the posters. It was a refreshingly different type of film though with a very strong central performance. And after watching a movie's worth of Napoleon and his awkward dress sense, my new cap seemed that much cooler.

How to be facetious

I like the word facetious. It contains all the vowels in alphabetical order.

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen's Music, demonstrates the meaning of the word after being cautioned by the police who found a bird at his house.

(As I typed that the full Doctor Who trailer came on the TV in front of me and I got the shivers. Only 8 days to go!)

Lewisham double

Text messages inform me that the LibDems have pulled off a by-election double in the London Borough of Lewisham, snatching two seats from Labour with three figure majorities. Congratulation to Councillor Dan, who's been tramping around delivering leaflets there for weeks, and to the candidates and the rest of the campaign teams.

The by-election page on the Lewisham Council site, where presumably results will appear, is here.

Star Trek is even cheaper than you thought

Star Trek fans still don't seem to have recognised the difference between saving Enterprise and saving the franchise. Thanks to a Guardian sub-editor moonlighting at SFX, they at least don't have that much work to do:

The campaign had begun with a full page ad in the LA Times which described Star Trek as a "cultural phenomenon" and asked fans to donated money to raise the $32 needed for a fifth series.

TV programmes

Just off to bed, but before I go here's a quick post with a TV theme.

Scaryduck has a list of TV programmes that should be made

Either some Equity card holders have too much time or the BBC haven't spotted the three commenters posing as Doctor Who actors in their favourite Doctor comments. My favourite is:

I always disliked Peter Davison's Doctor. Nothing beat William Hartnell for me.
Sarah Sutton, Dagenham, Essex, UK

And finally, earlier on I watched The Gathering Place, the BBC's controversial documentary about the construction of the Scottish Parliament building. While one might argue that the clips selected don't show her in the best light, I have to ask: what planet does Margo MacDonald live on?

CNPS breakthrough

After nearly a month of searching, I have found a 105!

Now to pick up the 106, 107 and 108 that have taunted me around Edinburgh for long.

In other news, Dominic Tristram has a brief review of the new Who. It is somewhat more positive than the even briefer review I received by text message from my brother, whose expletive I shan't repeat here.

Rebelled

I've recently finished reading Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8) by Sandy Balfour. It's a mix of autobiography, travelogue and crossword guide, and I highly recommend it. It's a life-affirming story of the author's global travels and in particular his quest to find a national identity after leaving South Africa.

If you're interested in crosswords (and in particular the Guardian crossword), it also provides a simple introduction to the subject, covering both Balfour's belief in the stories contained in crossword puzzles and the basics of solving them. It also lifts the veil on some of the setters with the enigmatic names.

Billieboard poster

There are now less than two weeks to go.

The BBC regularly use a billboard by my nearest train station to promote new shows, most recently Casanova. On the way out of the station today, I was chuffed to see this:


The Beeb have also started running a new teaser trailer, with the TARDIS dematerialising in a tunnel full of flame. It's not on the BBC Doctor Who website yet but I guess it'll be up next week.

It occurs to me that fans can't really refer to Hartnell as Billy any more lest hilarious misunderstandings arise. Especially when referring to Billy's goat fluff.

Linxdump

A bunch of Doctor Who Linx <cough> for you, most of which contain minor spoilers. It is now D-16 days and possibly time to revive the 24 countdown clock.

From The Times:
New Doctor Who confesses: I never used to watch it
Our space opera
A review of Rose

From The Media Grauniad (registration required):
Media Monkey's Diary
Carry on Doctor

A story from BBC Breakfast, including video report from the launch in Cardiff. This includes the editor of Doctor Who Magazine's verdict: "If the kids don't like that, the kids don't deserve to have any television shown to them ever again."

And, saving the best for last, from The Sun:
Who's Who of monsters (picture spoilers)

Meanwhile, Nick points to a chance to hear the new theme.

Speak your brains

As promised (and requested, amazingly), here's the speech I gave to LibDem conference on Sunday about the Government's plans for control orders. Already Charles Clarke has accepted some of these criticisms and announced concessions.

This speech is especially recommended for regular readers Alan, Simon and Nick.

“No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised or outlawed or exiled or in any way harmed. Nor will we proceed against him, or send others to do so, except according to the lawful sentence of his peers and according to the Common Law.”

Nearly eight hundred years ago, King John signed those words as part of Magna Carta. And yet it comes as no surprise – but certainly a disappointment – that the Labour Government should challenge a freedom so basic as the presumption of innocence. This Government, which would disregard trial by jury, which would issue us with a plastic card to prove we exist, is behaving true to form.

The Home Secretary has accepted a key criticism of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill. He’s conceded that judges, not ministers, should impose any instance of house arrest. But Charles Clarke wants to keep for himself the power to impose lower level “control orders” on British people whom he suspects – only suspects – may be involved in terrorist activity. These orders, he says, involve the restriction but not the deprivation of liberty.

But the powers are immense. The Home Secretary will be able to ban you from certain jobs; from contacting certain people; from using the internet; from using a telephone. You would not be able to appeal, which is for the best as, without a telephone, you could hardly call a lawyer.

Some would argue that such restrictions are necessary to protect us from terrorists. They will continue to argue this until a series of innocent coincidences conspires to make them the subjects of such an order. Then they will think again.

“Restrictions on liberty”, the Home Secretary calls his control orders. This is typical New Labour doublespeak. Any restriction on liberty is surely, by definition, a deprivation of liberty, just like house arrest. Judges, not politicians, are the people to authorise any deprivation of liberty. The survival of this principle of vital.

But les us not fall into the trap of thinking that judges are a panacea. During the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, 20,000 people were guillotined on the orders of judges. These were kangaroo courts where the accused, deemed “enemies of the state”, were not permitted to contest their cases. Sound familiar? A judge cannot confer legitimacy unless due process is followed.

Control orders will be imposed on the basis of secret intelligence. If this is intercept evidence – tapping the phones of underworld terrorists, bugging buildings – wherever possible this should be used to prosecute in the conventional manner. If that is not possible, the accused or their lawyers must still have the opportunity to refute such secret intelligence. To explain why, I have a number, a word, and three letters: 45 minutes. WMD.

Picturing someone under house arrest – for an indefinite period and without knowledge of the evidence behind it – I am reminded of a 1960s television series called The Prisoner. Number 6 – for like Belmarsh detainee G we know him by a single character – is held in an idyllic village. His captors interrogate him, but won’t tell him why he is there. And, like your home if under house arrest, the Village has no metal bars, no cells, so it is obviously nothing like a prison.

“House arrest” – what other words does that term conjure up? Burma. North Korea. Zimbabwe. It’s a misleading term. It doesn’t mean “home arrest”. The home of most detainees would not be suitable. The accused would be locked up in a different building, separated from their families, with a permanent security presence. But it is obviously nothing like a prison.

As much as possible should be done to enable prosecution of suspected terrorists. A new offence of “acts preparatory to terrorism” should be introduced. This was proposed in Parliament and Labour rejected it. Their reason? Because it would take too long to draft. That is their commitment to producing sensible legislation.

But we do face a twin dilemma: securing our lives and our country while securing our fundamental freedoms. The Government doesn’t believe in freedoms; they prefer “rights and responsibilities”. Our responsibility is to do nothing that might create even the suspicion of being a terrorist, and the Government’s right is to deprive us of basic liberties if we do.

So LibDems in Parliament to the rescue. While the Government attempts to cast a web of fear across the country, telling us that Al-Qaeda’s deadly assassins will get us in the night, we are relying on the enlightenment of our parliamentarians to fix this bill. Al-Qaeda hate that we live in a free society, but apparently so does the Government. By taking fundamental principles to the edge of destruction, the Government is helping these terrorists in undermining our way of life. We can defeat terrorism and safeguard our liberties: by investing in the police and the security services, and by ensuring that judicial due process is at the heart of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill.

We’ve come full circle. LibDem MPs and Lords are tasked with the role of the 13th century barons against King John, to ensure a fair and democratic society. We must hope they succeed.

Harrogate

I'm at a computer in the Harrogate International Centre, where the LibDem spring party conference is being held. Listened to Charles's speech earlier, which was very good, and I've now popped online to do some last minute research before my speech tomorrow morning on the Government's house arrest plans.

There is still time to vote for in my Song for EuropeMaking Your Mind Up poll. Even though the programme is tonight, feel free to comment on who you would have rather had represent us than whichever nobody gets picked.

Eurovision - interactive!

The Beeb will be showing Making Your Mind Up (aka A Song for Europe) this Saturday. So, inspired by the Best Decade poll at Troubled Diva (where you can still vote until Friday night), I'm offering you, dear reader, the chance to rank the five songs shortlisted to represent Royaume-Uni.

Andy Scott Lee - Guardian Angel
You may remember Andy Scott Lee from such failings as boy band 3SL, Not Winning Pop Idol and having a sister who was the rubbish one in Steps (<waits for Nick Barlow to point out this doesn't narrow it down>). Here he attempts to destroy any remaining credibilty (yeahright) by singing a song co-written by the one from Blue that has the Kenneth Williams nostrils. You know the one, Gordon's friend.

This does sound like a particular bad Blue track. It stretches Mr Scott Lee's voice to the limit and, unfortunately, beyond. Trite tripe. Next.

Gina G - Flashback
Ooh, aah, Gina G's back. This gives me the opportunity to revive my comment that "Gina G" is an anagram of "Aging".

Judging by the clip, Flashback is nothing special - standard pop fare. But while it lacks any obvious pros, there are no glaring cons either.

Javine - Touch My Fire
Javine was apparently on Popstars: The Rivals. She was the last person evicted/executed/whatever to leave the remaining five as Girls Aloud. She must be gutted.

This is more standard pop fare with some teasingly effnic strings. I can't see this wowing millions across Europe, but it's the best so far.

Katie Price - Not Just Anybody
I know what you're thinking: "Wasn't Katie Price a candidate for Parliament in 2001?" Yes, she was but since then she's become famous as a model or something. Oh, and she's engaged to Peter Andre, wot did that song once.

So <sigh> even more really standard pop fare. I guess that's what Eurovision's all about though. Not much to choose between this and Gina G, except that Gina G isn't Jordan and therefore gets a bonus point.

Tricolore - Brand New Day

And so to our final contenders, Tricolore, their name a cunning plan to bag the French, Italian, Irish and Belgian votes. They are one of those "making boring music trendy" groups who sing classical stuff but have nice hair and appear in Just 17.

Well, it's different, but who said that was a good thing? (Apart from, erm, Tricolore.) A tinny beat doesn't make this any more exciting. Even a bonus point for not being Jordan won't help this sub-Michael Ball trio.

My verdict then: 1. Javine, 2. Gina G, 3. Katie Price, 4. Tricolore, 5. Andy Scott Lee. And whichever of them wins, we've surely already lost.

Please rank the acts yourself in the comments section. I'll give 5 points for a first place (I was tempted to start at 12 but it really doesn't work for five choices), 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth and 1 for fifth even though he doesn't deserve it.

Vote now!

Is it OK to call you Will today?

Of the numerous calls I made to cancel my cards the other day, none was stressful and every operator was polite. Egg (I think) had a particular hip'n'trendy patter, which included "Is it OK to call you Will today?" which amused me for no good reason.

I went to the bank today to sort out a new card and withdraw some cash for the weekend. The chap there was also very helpful and switched me to a better version of my account which comes with insurance for my mobile phone.

Flashback: Thursday, December 16, 2004

Met up with friends in London to go to see Gene's final gig (at the Astoria), almost a year to the day after I was at the penultimate Suede gig. We were drinking in the Montague Pyke on Charing Cross Road (where went to the US election party) and I took the opportunity to take some photos with my camera phone so that I could add thumbnails of my friends to my phonebook. As my phone was being passed around so that everyone could share in the joy of my photographic skills, it found its way into a pint of beer. When I finally trackde down a company prepared to repair liquid damage (and not just the beer - I'd, erm, washed it out with water afterwards) they were only able to save the phone numbers. Nokia 6600 the First, RIP.

Gene were very good despite the phone incident (perhaps they didn't hear about it, or just didn't care). Had a good singalong. During the gig, Martin Rossiter tippexed the word "Gene" on the bass drum to read "Gone" and not long afterwards they were.

Not only do I have phone insurance. From the list of account benefits I noticed that I am entitled to card protection insurance (as recommended by Ian in the comments). Indeed I had it already but hadn't set it up. D'oh. I shall be setting this up as soon as my numerous bits of plastic have arrived.

Number plate geekery

Apologies in advance for this particularly nerdygeeky post.

I've noticed around Edinburgh that many cars have number plates consisting of three letters and four numbers, e.g.: LCZ 2981. More than you would expect appear to have Zs in.

Anyone know why this should be? Was there a separate number plate system in Scotland at some point? Olav's British Number Plates doesn't seem to have the answer, unless it's just a variation of "1931-62 re-registration" plates.

I'm also mildly curious about the preponderance of 71 (e.g. N71 AFL) number plates in Edinburgh. Not that I have an interest in number plates - I'm just inquisitive.

Al-Qaeda may have my credit cards

I no longer have my wallet. There are three possible explanations.

1. It was stolen from me in a carefully planned act of revenge carried out either by an individual or a small gang. I can think of five people with motives.

2. TERRORISTS! Duck and cover!

3. It fell out of my pocket.

Of course, it would never have happened if I'd been safely under house arrest.

Update: I searched the web for the phone numbers to call to cancel my cards. I Googled burtons store card and burtons card and got unhelpful but interesting results - particuarly the first one. But having lost my wallet, I can't say I feel lucky.

US juvenile death penalty abolished

Good news, everyone! The US Supreme Court has abolished the death penalty for murderers who committed their crimes while under the age of 18, ruling it unconstitutional. Although the court voted 5-4, narrowly avoiding a penalty shootout, one vote is enough to swing it (if you'll excuse my putting the "pun" in "capital punishment"). According to the Beeb, this ruling affects murderers who were 16 or 17 at the time as a similar ruling was made for under-16s in 1988.

As with all arbitrary age limits, this prompts a further question: why is it cruel and unusual to execute someone who murdered at 17 years 364 days old but not cruel and unusual for the state to kill someone who murdered at their 18th birthday party?