Buy a bike

Oil hits record $100 a barrel

The £5 gallon can't be far off. And to think I started my motoring days with petrol at just 4s/6d a gallon (22.5 pence).



UPDATE: Looks like the $100 barrel was the result of a prank. Even so the cost of petrol is now 20 times what it was when I started driving but then the average house back then only cost £3,840 and a MK ll Cortina was £740. I think I was earing about £14 a week at the time (quite a hike from the £5 a week I had started on two years earlier!) and driving a van which had cost £11 at auction.

Blog gag?

Saudis Arrest Top Blogger

US ally in the “War on Terror” Saudi-Arabia has arrested the country’s most popular blogger for “purposes of interrogation"... Fouah al-Farhan writes at alfarhan.org and has been vocal in discussing corruption and advocating government reform. A Interior Ministry spokesman said al-Farhan was “being questioned about specific violations of nonsecurity laws.” No charges have yet been laid but family members have been denied visitation rights.

We can always hope...

Farewell my lovely old fella

We had to have our much loved old cat, Jim, put to sleep this afternoon. It completely broke me up.

He was a great survivor and had a very happy and contented life but in the end there was nothing more we could do for him and I wanted him to have a peaceful and painless death. The veterinary staff were wonderful, as they always are on these occasions. I brought him home and cleaned him up ready for burial tomorrow.

For years he had suffered from a chronic sinus infection which meant he would sneeze a lot, usually covering everything close by in foul smelling snot. He had improved quite a lot in the last year or so and his sneezes were not as explosive. After the vet had checked Jim's heart to confirm that he had died he went out of the room to collect a large cloth so I could wrap Jim to take him home. While he was out Jim let go one last sneeze! It was a reflex, of course, but - through the tears - it brought a little smile to my face. I shall miss him a lot.

Blog stats bollocks

Iain Dale's Diary: 404,000 Individuals Visited This Blog in 2007

This year this blog has received 2,582,000 unique visitors (2006 1,279,000) and 4,554,000 page impressions. Google Analytics reports that 404,000 absolute unique visitors came to the site in 2007 - yes, that's 404,000 individuals who came here at least once. That's double the circulation of the The Independent!

I find most of the animosity towards Iain Dale rather petty and tiresome and it's fair to say that his blog is successful in terms of readership, but he clearly has no understanding of how blog stats work or what they really mean which has led him to grossly overstate his case. If the poor man really believes that over 400,000 different individuals visited his blog in the last year he's a fool.  As for the Indy claim - ask a random selection of adults if they've heard of the Independent newspaper and then ask them if they've ever heard of Iain Dale. Mmmm.

Get a grip, man!

Husband and son to rule party

Benazir Bhutto's son Bilawal to lead party

The son of the assassinated former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, was named as her political successor today as her party said it would contest elections. Bilawal Bhutto, 19, vowed to use democracy (sic) to avenge the brutal death of his mother. Benazir Bhutto's son Bilawal to lead party Bilawal Bhutto right, being comforted by his father Asif Ali Zardar "My mother always said that democracy is the best revenge,” said Mr Bhutto.

Good old democracy at work again! Ha Ha!

George Carlin

Via Lenin - George Carlin:

Goodbye

Oscar Peterson:

15th August 1929 - 23rd december 2007

Happy Christmas to you all

As things start to quiten in the blogosphere as we get closer to Christmas  it seems like a good time to hang up the keyboard for a few days and take a short break until the New Year. I'll probably post on my personal page (if anyone's interested) and on Twitter, of course! 

I was looking around for a suitable Christmas image for this year and I remembered some of my father's old wartime cards which I had rediscovered recently while sorting through the family photo albums. This is the card he sent to my mother for Christmas 1942, from N. Africa. He was with the Eighth Army but this card was sent before the victory at El Alamein in November of that year.

So, here is wishing everyone, but especially those far away from their homes and loved ones, a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Back soon!

Saint Blair - Dominus vobiscum

Former PM Tony Blair Converts To Catholicism

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has converted to Roman Catholicism after years of speculation over his faith.

Tony Blair has met Pope Benedict Tony Blair has met Pope Benedict Mr Blair was received into full communion with the Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor during Mass in the chapel at Archbishop's House, Westminster on Friday.

Speaking as someone brought up a Catholic, this is yet another reason to detest the bastard.

Via Justin

Smell like a footballer's girlfriend for under £20

Best-selling scent this Xmas

Wayne Rooney’s girlfriend Coleen McLoughlin’s perfume is the best-selling scent this Christmas, it was revealed yesterday. The 21-year-old WAG has sold a staggering 500,000 bottles of her fragrance — called Coleen — since its launch in July. She stands to rake in more than £2million from sales of the £19.95 bottles. Coleen is queen of the celeb perfumes — outselling the likes of Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Kate Moss.

Magical blue

Pantone's Color of the Year Is...

AT least one color authority, Pantone, has taken the plunge and announced its favorite color for 2008. To be sure, this news doesn’t seem as delectable as People’s Sexiest Man Alive or as snugly affirming as Time’s Person of the Year. You probably did not even know that chili pepper red was the color for 2007. Nonetheless, Pantone’s choice of blue iris, or No. 18-3943, got some news media attention last week, which seemed to be partly the objective of the company, which is based in Carlstadt, N.J. In a statement, Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, said: “Blue Iris brings together the dependable aspects of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic.”