Some thought President Chirac might like to consider next time he fancies dissing another nation’s cuisine.

• The final IOC vote was London 54, Paris 50.
• A majority of four can be lost by two votes switching.
• Had there been a tie at 52-52, Jacques Rogge, the IOC President, had a casting vote.
• Although we don’t know how he would’ve voted, his name is Jacques.
• Paris could therefore have one if two IOC members who voted for London had stuck with Paris.
• Finland has two IOC members.

John Hemming identifies clauses in the Identity Cards Bill governing the information that must be kept up-to-date on penalty of £1,000 fine:

(a) his full name;
(b) other names by which he is or has previously been known;
(c) his gender;
(d) his date and place of birth and, if he has died, the date of his death; and
(e) physical characteristics of his that are capable of being used for identifying him

(e) is probably the most exciting. If the campaign against ID cards fails and they are introduced, perhaps the system could be overwhelmed by thousands of people writing every day to the Secretary of State to update him on changes to their physical characteristics?

Dear Home Secretary,

I’m just writing to let you know that I cut myself shaving this morning and now have a clearly identifying mark on my right cheek.

Yours,
I.D. Card-Holder

or

Dear Home Secretary,

Just thought I should mention that I’m feeling really rough today. I drank too much last night (don’t worry, I wasn’t in an Alcohol Control Zone) and this morning my hair’s a mess, my breath stinks and I’m too hungover to do anything about either. These distinguishing marks may be important should I be today suspected of terrorist involvement.

With love,
I.D. Card-Holder

or

Dear Home Secretary,

Contrary to my letter last week, I have decided to wear contact lenses only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. not Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays as previously notified. I like to go out on a Saturday and I thought the contacts would make me look less speccy but the bars I’ve been frequenting are quite smoky (they don’t serve food, y’see) and the tobacco has been playing havoc with my corneas.

The upshot is that if someone tries to claim benefits in my name on Saturdays, you’ll know it’s not me if they’re not wearing glasses.

Yours sincerely,
I.D. Card-Holder

It’s not often that I shout at a newspaper but this article in yesterday’s Observer irritated me. Apparently there are calls for mobile phone signals to be jammed in schools in order to prevent “happy slapping” (or “assault” to you and me).

Two reasons why this is a dumb idea immediately spring to mind:

• Kids can still use the video recording feature of their phone even if there is no signal
• This does nothing to prevent incidents outside school (which is most of them, I imagine)

What annoyed me, though, was the inclusion in an otherwise sensible and balanced article of this paragraph:

Since the first attacks were reported about a year ago, their number – and severity – has dramatically escalated. Last week, an 11-year-old north London girl was raped after school by a gang of boys in a home near the school. The footage of the attack was then sent to other pupils by mobile phone.

That has nothing to do with the story being covered and isn’t part of a new craz – it’s a vile sexual assault of the most traditional sort, albeit with an unpleasant, modern twist.

Ironically, the very fact that the perpertrators videoed their attack and sent it to friends will probably aid the police in identifying and prosecuting the perpertrators.

Chris Lightfoot on the cost of biometrics in passports, exposing yet another false justification for ID cards.