Phillipa Perry (last seen whining about attitudes to disability) on those alcohol consumption figures and why we should just shut up and tell our betters the truth if we know what’s good for us: If we put to one side mistakes such as not knowing the actual size of a unit of alcohol, it is apparent that our concern to retain a certain self-image is more important to us than our…
An 18-year-old girl has been killed after her car crashed into a telegraph pole weeks after she passed her driving test. Hannah Lodge was driving towards Langtoft on the B1249 when her grey Suzuki smashed into a telegraph pole. I have no doubt the people who last week were clamouring for restrictions on newly-qualified drivers carrying passengers, as Longrider blogged, will have a contingency plan for singletons up their sleeve.…
Lynsey Hanley (again) missing the point: When Zadie Smith defends public libraries, you know that it’s not because it is fashionable to do so: it’s because, in her estimation, she owes her life to them. Really? According to popular music, it’s possible for a DJ to save your life, but a library? “When we were children, you’d never imagine that you’d get into a right/left argument about the purpose and…
Imagine prohibiting cigarette sales to people born after 2000. Phasing out tobacco will stop the next generation taking up smoking. Actually I’d be surprised if this is really new and hasn’t been bandied around nannying and anti-tobacco circles previously, but this is the first time I’ve seen something like it being seriously mooted in the pages of a major newspaper. And I have to say that not only is it…
Cracked! missed one on their recent list of the 5 Biggest Pussifications of Schools, and while it’s probably not unique to this place the recent example comes from a school just south of Melbourne. No touching. Parents claim they were not told directly of the new rule, which extended a ban on contact sports … Yes, they’d already gone that far, and that depressingly common policy is touched on in…
Read this quote carefully as there may be questions later. Mental Health Minister Helen Morton said as there was no evidence to prove that even small amounts of alcohol were not healthy for pregnant women, no alcohol was the best advice. I’ve read that a number of times and I really can’t spot the connection between the observation that there’s no reason, none at all, to think that a small…
…than John Sutherland, a Professor Emeritus of Modern English Literature at UCL? When asked why he gave money to beggars who would only spend it on drink, Samuel Johnson replied: “And why should they be denied such sweeteners of their existence?” I care not what Samuel Johnson does with his own money. Or what anyone else does with their own money. But this is tax money, extorted from the hardworking…
Jesus wept. I know I’ve said this about eleventy squillion times already, but it really is like Labour never left office. Children who appear on television talent shows or reality TV programmes will have to be licensed under Government plans to prevent them being exploited for ratings. Anyone under 16 who appears in front of Simon Cowell and the other judges on Britain’s Got Talent will have to be cleared…
Children as young as four are recreating violent computer games in the playground because they do not realise they are make-believe, East Riding head teachers have warned. Heads are warning schools are fighting a losing battle with children staying up late to play on XBox and PlayStation, leaving them tired for lessons. Oh no! If they can’t pay attention in lessons, a significant proportion will be illiterate and innumerate just…
If you answered ‘This’, congrats! If, on the other hand, you read this headline in the ‘Evening Standard’, you could be forgiven for wondering if it was still the 1st April: Because it now seems that the new definition of ‘starvation’ is this: At least, according to Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder and chief executive (and inveterate self-publicist) of charity Kids Company: “The number of children coming to us with hunger problems…
Police are teaming up with pubs in Hucknall town centre to refuse entry to anyone found to have traces of drugs on their hands. So, better not handle any money, shake hands with any dodgy people, push open any shop doors…well, not if you want a drink, anyway! The testing works by swabbing the palm of the hand with a piece of card which is placed into a machine and…
Police kept watch at a town centre kebab shop… For their own officers sneaking a verboten kebab, perhaps? Are they taking their responsibilities to ensure svelte whippets in blue a little too seriously? Well, no: … after customers were spotted walking away with bags of takeaway food after closing time. I… I just…. This is a crime now? What, have they finally closed all the available ‘people being mean to…
The Riots, Communities and Victims Panel, set up by David Cameron and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg in the wake of the riots, will highlight the role of big business in creating a damaging consumerist culture in some of the most deprived parts of the country. The violence last August was characterised by the looting of stores including Foot Locker, JJD Sports, Orange, O2 and Adidas. When it publishes its…
The 80,000-seater stadium and the 2,818 flats built for the Olympic Village in Stratford, east London, were constructed by a workforce who lived on ‘takeaways’, according to Olympic chiefs. So..? I mean, if they’d realised their workforce were breaking the safety regulations left, right and centre, I could see a need for concern. But…who cares what they ate? It was only during construction that bosses from the Olympics Delivery Authority…
Children are still exposed to the same level of junk food advertising despite tighter regulations, research suggests. Eh? Are companies breaching the regulations, then? Newcastle University academics said 6.1% of adverts seen by children were about junk food before the ban – the figure was 7% after the ban. It’s gone up! Albeit in a statistically insignificant rise. So, they must be, surely? Well, no. Of course they aren’t. The…
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