More fuss over Salman Rushdie, this time in a speech by Religious Affairs Minister Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq before the Pakistan Parliament, following the offer of a knighthood to Rushdie:

“The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologises and withdraws the ‘Sir’ title”.

Isn’t that more or less saying:

“The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. Funnily enough, I now confirm, as Religious Affairs Minister in a country where the dominant political force is Islam, that my own views at least are extremist and that I support terrorist acts”.

These guys are so far on another planet with their moral compass it is unbelievable. Let’s get this straight: the bestowing by an irrelevant historical figurehead of a pointless honorific title on a bloke who eighteen years ago wrote something about a bloke, whom I believe received instructions 1,500 years ago from a supreme supernatural being who created the universe, smoking weed, which I find personally insulting, means that it would now be right for people to attempt to blow other people, and themselves, up, unless the British government apologises and arranges for the grant of the pointless honorific title to be revoked.

Er, taxi for Mr Ijaz ul-Haq?

Labels: UK politics, war on terror

Judge cleared of rush-hour flashing

Yup, lack of video evidence. That’s how you get off in my experience too.

Labels: law, london

What do we think of this new proposal to make Sex Offenders Register background checks available to women on new boyfriends and families on new relatives? It seems to me that the result of this would be to render the Sex Offenders Register pretty close to being a public document. Is that a good thing?

Labels: law, news, UK politics

2012

Is it just me, or does the recently launched 2012 Olympics logo on this page look kind of rude; specifically, like lots of copulating couples. No doubt I have just returned a positive Rorschach inkblot result for sexual dysfunction or psychosis of some kind.

Labels: london, sport

Speed camera

Got flashed by this very sneaky speed camera when I went out to Canary Wharf today. My own fault for not spotting it, but this illustrates the dangers of driving to places to which you do not usually go. If you’re coming out from underneath Canary Wharf, just after you filter into the Limehouse Link tunnel, watch out for this one, because it is not obvious until you see the white lines on the road and it’s too late. Unless you are a bad driver and take the spot of tarmac 20ft in front of your vehicle as your focal point when driving through a tunnel. A long 14 days waiting for the ticket now begins.

Update:No ticket so far. Starting to think I got away with it (28/06/07).

Labels: driving, london, motorcycles