Tim Almond

via The Times

All fathers will be required by law to sign their child’s birth certificate under new measures designed to increase parental responsibility.

The new law will give birth registrars powers to pursue reluctant fathers who do not want to be named. It will also prevent mothers from keeping the name of the father off the birth certificate just because the relationship has broken up, or she wants to exclude him from her child’s life.

…

Under the new scheme, if a mother presents to register the birth of her child in her name only, she will be asked who the father is. That in itself is a major change.

…

However there is little the new law can do if the mother does not want to identify the father and he does not want to be named.

So, this “major change” is they can ask the mother, but as she can still refuse, in terms of end result of the process, it’s exactly as we have right now.

Politicians love to talk tough about this issue, but it’s one of those political nettles that politicians fail to grasp.

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I spotted this on Iain Dale’s Diary about Ken Clarke’s possible re-instatement to a Cameron cabinet:-

1. Would he sign up to Cameron’s European policy?

Interesting question, but before anyone could answer it, surely they’d have to know what Cameron’s policy on Europe was.

I asked Iain himself, and he rather unhelpfully suggested I Google for it, a slippery answer. As a likely candidate for the next election, I’d expect him to know it, or at least to be able to point to it.

I’ve tried the Conservative web site, and I can’t find it either. The “policies” section (a largely commitment-free zone) has no entry on the word “europe”.

Anyone?

Update: It seems I made an error in assuming that Iain Dale was a likely candidate for the next election, as no such thing has been decided. Still, if you’re going to talk about policy, surely one should be able to show the key points of it.

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From The Daily Telegraph

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Just doing a quick peruse of Comment is Free when I found this:-

Asked about that modern green dilemma - whether it is better to buy organic fair trade from developing countries, Monty’s reply was uncompromising and a little politically incorrect. “Maybe the third world countries also have to suffer a bit as a result of us having our own food policy,” he argues, also pointing out that the advocates of this “organic” international trade tended to be big western businesses with most to gain.

It should be pointed out that Monty Don is now president of the Soil Association, a trade association for UK organic farmers.

Next time you think of buying something UK organic, think about what lobbying you’re funding.

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From The Telegraph

As Indiana Jones returns to our screens, John Preston looks at the Nazi archaeologist who inspired Spielberg’s hero, and finds a story more bizarre than anything the director could have dreamt of

I’m a part-time movie geek. I’ve read things with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, watched the special features on the DVD box set about the making of Indiana Jones, and not once have I heard mention of Otto Rahn. Nor can I find any reference to Otto Rahn being connected except for articles related to this.

Lucas always said that the inspiration was old Republic Pictures movies (which look like Dan Dare, Flash Gordon or Tarzan) and James Bond.

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God Hates Shrimp

This website made me laugh. It’s showing the hypocrisy of people who believe that homosexuality is a sin because it’s written in the bible, but ignore numerous other sins in there.

Tags: Religion // 2 Comments »

I’ve just noticed that Google Health has been launched. This is a medical records system that allows the user to keep their patient records, as well as sharing them with who they see fit.  It’s all web based, so patients can log in, record things about themselves (personal information, procedures, tests), import records, find doctors, and use 3rd party applications that can process your data (like epillbox.info which produces a schedule for medication via SMS or e-mail).

Even if you’re in the UK, you have have a nose around (although it very much works with US services). It’s all rather bloody wonderful, and makes me weep that it doesn’t apply to us in the UK. We’re spending £12+ billion to get something monopolised, centralised, hospital based that’s not going to arrive for 6 years and will be completely lame.

Tags: Health, Google // 2 Comments »

I’m a bit of a fan of Scorsese, but I’ve still got a few to watch. Tonight I watched a couple from two different eras. I won’t say too much, because I don’t want to reveal any plot points.
First up was After Hours starring Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette. It’s quite a surreal movie set in New York about an office worker going on something of a nighttime odyssey and trying to get home. It’s very 80s, and none the worse for that,  but I couldn’t get into it, although it did make me laugh a little.

The second film is The Departed starring Jack Nicholson, Leonardo di Caprio and Matt Damon. I understand this is a remake of Infernal Affairs, a Hong Kong movie. It’s basically 2 guys undercover, working for different sides. In many ways, it’s a very fresh movie for Scorsese, because he rarely covers cops and robbers in such a confrontational sense, opting to study characters instead. It’s really terrific edge-of-your-seat stuff and I thoroughly recommend it.

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Eurostar Warns of Strikes

Eurostar warns of cross-Channel rail disruption ahead of proposed strike action by railway workers in Belgium on Tuesday.

The company said it may be unable to run services between Brussels and the UK if the 24-hour strike goes ahead.

One of a number of reasons why I prefer to drive or fly than take the train…

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Please Vote No For Me in the referendum.

(I promise I’ll have a few sessions on Guinness if you vote the right way, but don’t expect me to buy any Louis Walsh records).

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