Daft Addled Wankers

You are not going to believe this latest censorship of an episode.

So there we are with an episode where a woman vomits all over herself before staggering in front of a bunch of cars and being run over repeatedly. There is a doctor who has murdered over 200 people. And what do they chop? "A little oral pleasure"!!!

I mean, I hate that line (it should be uttered to me by Bobby) but I reserve my right to be revolted by it alongside all the murder and mayhem!

My Winning Letter

In my student days (in the 1970s), the students' union ran the campaign to recruit the members of the university team for University Challenge. If this is still the case, then it shows that women students are perhaps undervalued even more than in those embryonic liberal times.

For the last two weeks (22nd and 29th August) all the teams from co-educational institutions were male-only. In fact, the number of women on the programme this year has been abysmally small. I was not a supporter of all-female colleges at Oxford, Cambridge and the one or two other places that had them, but now I see that the undermining of women's education when these colleges were mixed seems to have been exactly as it was predicted by opponents of mixing them. Women have been sidelined and excluded. I don't know how the young men on these teams have the nerve to sit there and pretend to be representative of their student body.

Perhaps it is time to change either the recruitment process, or the conditions for the inclusion of a team in the competition, by the BBC's insisting on proportionate representation of women in the teams put forward for the competition.

Then perhaps it can address its own resistance to females in high positions such as Director General...

Lucky Me!

Apart from a break of a few years some time ago, there has been a TV quiz programme showing since I was a kid, called University Challenge.

Back then, there were the old universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge,whose individual colleges were entered as separate untities, and the newer so-called redbrick universities, like Bristol, Reading and the University of London colleges.

By the time I went to university in 1971, there was a whole new bunch of campuses, known as the plateglass universities. I went to one of these, Lancaster (now constantly in the UK top 10), and when they were entering the competition during my time there, I went to the initial meeting where team members began to be chosen. It was run by the students' union, and everyone in the lecture theatre could fill in a sheet with the answers to questions dictated by the student representatives. I treated it as a joke, but it gave me insight into how the team members were chosen.

Not all teams chose any female students back then, though there were some all-female colleges as Oxbridge, and at places like Durham. So women were regularly represented in the show.

I'm not a fan of single-sex education, so I wasn't sorry when the colleges all became mixed. Some folks said it would mean that female students would lose out, but I didn't see why (oh naive child that I was).

Well, the current series has been woefully lacking in female team members from universities old, new and middle-aged. After two weeks with no female contestants at all, I wrote a letter to Radio Times, the BBC's listings magazine, suggesting they amend the rules of entry so that universities have to have a team representative of the gender make-up of their institution.

I just received my copy for next week, and apart from seeing that Channel 5 is premiering Season 8 from next Wednesday, they printed my letter.

Not only printed it, but chose it as their Letter of the Week, which means I have won the following treasure from the company Pure:

**********************

Oasis Flow

Rechargeable Weatherproof Digital, FM and Internet Radio

Roam free with Oasis Flow, a rechargeable internet-connected radio that can withstand the rigours of outdoor life thanks to its rugged weatherproof case, cast aluminium framework and rubber seals.

Like all our products with Flow technology, Oasis Flow combines digital radio and FM reception with a Wi-Fi connection, to provide you with a world of listening. Enjoy internet radio, listen again programmes, podcasts, PURE Sounds and music streaming when you’re in range of your wireless network, and digital and FM radio wherever you are.

Whether you’re listening to the game in the park, news in the garden or music in the bath, Oasis provides hours of portable listening from its built-in ChargePAK battery. More than a radio, Oasis also has an input for your iPod/MP3 player making it a great-sounding outdoor speaker for barbecues and picnics.
•Digital, FM and internet radio
•Flow technology for internet radio, listen again programmes, podcasts, PURE Sounds, and media streaming from a Wi-Fi-enabled computer
•FlowSongs service enables you to buy music direct from your radio
•Weatherproof and splash resistant
•Rugged design and build quality
•Rechargeable for up to 9 hours portable listening. (Based on DAB listening. Other functions may vary.)
•Connect an iPod/MP3 player
•30 digital radio presets, 10 FM presets and unlimited internet favourites
•3.5mm stereo headphone socket
•Upgradable via Wi-Fi or USB

And here's my prize (which costs £150!):I never usually win anything!

Who Gives A Fig

about the storylines? Though this one is OK - not one of the best, but with some excellent bits. Still don't understand how Bobby makes a clicking noise with his fingers while wearing latex gloves though...

Breeding

It's all I think about when I see Bobby. Not the result, just the action...

Don't like this episode though,the thought of those horses.

I have no Conscience

about being D'Evoted to D'Onofrio.

Running London

From the 19th century, London was run by an elected body called the London County Council (LCC). It consisted of a number of small boroughs circling the Thames. In the 1960s a decision was made to include some of the outer London boroughs, and rename the authority the Greater London Council (GLC). The LCC's last leader was Sir Isaac Hayward:

Sir Isaac was also the chairman of the governors of my school, which was a selective school. Sir Isaac was in favour of non-selective "comprehensive" schools, but he used his position to secure his granddaughter's place, as she had failed her 11+ exam. She was my best friend at school. She never saw the irony of her situation.

A modern art gallery was built on the south bank of the Thames at the end of his watch, and it was named in his honour:

The Hayward Gallery

Education in the original London boroughs (now consolidated into 10 larger ones) remained in the hands of the Inner London Education Authority. It had an amazing variety of resources. I remember making use of the drama costume store to hire stuff for a school function. There was a permanent pool of supply teachers for schools to call on. The authority bought out entire performances of National Theatre plays and rows of seats for operas and ballets. It had a modern language awards system that enabled people like me to travel and study in France or Germany for 10 weeks at the tender age of 17 or 18.

In the 1980s Mrs Thatcher took exception to the GLC and its left-wing, spendthrift ways. First she abolished the GLC, then later the ILEA. Instead of one Chief Education Officer, there were now 10. Great money-saving strategy. Everything was multiplied by 10.

The home of the GLC was this magnificent building by the Thames, County Hall:

Thatcher sold it off. It now houses the London Aquarium, the Saatchi art gallery, and hotels and apartments.

When Thatcher's wonderful government realised London couldn't be the only major world capital city not to have its own governing authority, a new London Assembly was devised, and a new City Hall built at absurd expense (just love the way these people save money):

Sadly for everyone who had ever opposed him, Ken Livingstone, who had been the leader of the GLC when it was abolished, became the first elected Mayor of London, and kept the jb for two terms.

Ken Livingstone.

In the third mayoral election in 2008, Ken was beaten by the ludicrous Boris Johnson, whose chaotic hair mirrors his thinking:

Ken had taken nearly all the iconic Routemaster buses off the road. Many were replaced by one-person-operated buses, which meant paying the driver. Not the smartest move on a busy, narrow London street.

Routemaster bus.

Ken commissioned a bunch of bendy buses, which cost a bomb and are unbelievably fuel-inefficient. On the plus side, you can't even get on one without a pre-bought ticket. Luckily Ken introduced the Oyster card, which you place on a reader plate to register your travel - and reduce the cost of your journey.

Bendy bus.

Now Boris has commissioned a new Routemaster, but it will not be ready before the next Mayoral election next May, and there is good reason to suppose he will lose. If the project is then cancelled, even more money will have been poured down the drain.

The new Routemaster prototype.
Meanwhile, we are "all in it together" - ie. the ordinary Joe and Josephine pay for everyone's folly and inefficiency, while being unable to afford half the stuff they could buy with their salaries last year.

Crazy Day

I didn't manage to find time to post yesterday - it was all a bit manic, but in an infuriatingly slow and time-wasting kind of a way.

I did manage to sleep for an extra hour or so after my dawn chicken feed. After breakfast I went out to the pet store to buy...chicken feed, among other things. Only a £70 bill this week! It was a warm sunny day (at last) and the girls had a good wander while I sat and read, did the crossword in the paper, and had lunch. But they went home like little lambs when I needed to go out and get my car serviced and MoT'd. (The MoT certificate is for the test all cars need to pass yearly once they are three years old. MoT stands for Ministry of Transport, which is not what we have called our government tansport department for many years.)

I take my car to the Nissan dealer where I bought it. They are very trustworthy, and while spotting the one fault I'd picked up on (worn tread on one tyre) they didn't try to screw me for a full set of tyres, or any other superfluous and spurious repairs or replacements.

While I was waiting, I had a couple of hours to kill at the nearby Eltham High Street. Every year it becomes less upmarket and more full of £1 shops. I managed to spend an hour or so reading my book over a cup of coffee, went back to the dealer's early, and sat in their hot waiting room till my car was ready - a mere £309! It did transpire, however, that the rescue service to which I subscribe now comes as part of the service package, so a chunk of the money I paid out should be refundable from the auto club. Nevertheless, I had effectively had to fritter away an entire afternoon, and some of the money I'm trying to save towards a new garden fence.

Soon after I got home, my friend arrived for her regular Friday visit. We ate in the garden while the hens had another run, then went in and watched some Bobby. Pretty soon it was time to put the girls to bed for the night, clear out their run, fill up the bird feeders and put out food for the fox (to discourage it from trying to get the hens).

This left time to catch a faourite comedy show before my friend had to begin her long journey home.

And so the day drew to an end with not much accomplished, not even a blog post.

I wish I had fewer days like this!

Saint or Sinner?

Bobby Goren, thankfully, is no saint. But he does love to catch sinners. I'd happily sin big-time if I thought it meant he'd catch me.