The National Audit Office is unhappy that a final budget for the Olympic Games has still not been set.
Surely the NAO should know better by now. Judging from the way the Olympics project has been going, a final budget would not guarantee anything approaching certainty. Even if such a budget were set, it would only be exceeded. Not to be too cynical, but it appears to me that its only purpose would be to indicate the minimum level of spending. The only way is up.
Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few days. I felt I needed a break from writing about our increasingly totalitarian state, and the bunch of incompetent men and women who currently govern us.
One must maintain one’s equanimity, even if that means refraining for a time from blogging.
I’m back now.
I am excited by the news that someone has discovered 120 poems written by Sara Coleridge, the daughter of Samuel Coleridge.
Who would have thought it? Probably not Coleridge himself. He wrote his poem ‘Metrical Feet - Lesson for a boy’, to teach his sons all about the different metrical feet used in English poetry. In the first draft of the poem, it was addressed to his first son, Hartley. He later revised it to refer instead to his other son, Derwent.
The poem has a touching second stanza devoted to Derwent, expressing Coleridge’s hopes that he grow up to be a good man, and a fine poet. I quote a part:
If Derwent be innocent, steady, and wise,
And delight in the things of earth, water, and skies;
Tender warmth at his heart, with these meters to show it,
With sound sense in his brains, may make Derwent a poet –
So Hartley first, and then, Derwent. Not a word about Sara. Perhaps Coleridge didn’t think she would make a good poet. Small wonder no-one thought to check before now whether she had actually written any poetry.
I look forward to reading her poems.
A touching recollection in the Telegraph today by the splendid nonagenarian, Bill Deedes. He reflects on his sister who died last week, and who spent her entire career working for the MI5. Recalling an incident which took place about 50 years ago, he writes:
“There was a day in the 1950s when I was a junior minister in the Home Office, and we were called on to decide whether or not to admit a certain individual to this country.
I was advised to consult MI5. The voice that responded to our telephone call was my sister’s. We never subsequently talked about even this minor coincidence. She belonged to an age in which the confidential business of the state remained confidential.”
Values of a long-gone age.
I’ve been following the trial of the six suspected 21 July bombers. I must say, I am impressed by the amount and quality of CCTV evidence available. So much of the evidence is being backed up by CCTV footage. They even have CCTV footage from within the affected carriages. That must have been very helpful to the police.
A pity then, that there appeared to be no such CCTV footage for the carriage in which Jean Charles de Menezes was shot, not even the platform. Bad luck, perhaps?
Work commitments. Be back shortly; as soon as I have caught up with all the day’s news.
Many people in Devon spent last night recovering goods washed ashore after a ship ran aground near Sidmouth, following heavy storms.
Some of the goods ’salvaged’ from the ship included wine, whisky, and even a BMW motorbike. I wonder how many such items will be retained by the ’salvagers’. I would be surprised if up to half of the items taken are eventually handed in to the Receiver of Wreck.
What is the difference between ’salvaging’ and ‘looting’? When it’s done in Baghdad, it’s looting. When it happens in Devon, it’s salvaging.
Still, good to know that such opportunistic behaviour is not necessarily confined to Africa and the poorer countries.
Time, it seems, for that most unsettling of British spectator sports: public lynching of young women.
After revealing a particularly nasty side to her character while in the Big Brother house, Jade Goody finally emerged on Friday to a torrent of abuse, accusations and self-righteous condemnation. One may say she brought it all upon herself. However, in falling over each other to call for the public abasement of Ms Goody, are not the tabloid media engaging in the sort of behaviour for which they rightly condemned Jade Goody?
Jenny McCartney in the Sunday Telegraph sums it up thus:
Viewers have been rightly disgusted by the bullying of Shilpa Shetty inside the house, but another nasty little gladiatorial drama is set to unfold outside: the dismantling of Jade Goody, a damaged, foolish girl first randomly raised up and then permitted to destroy herself for a nation’s sport.
And she is right. There seems to be an almost unnatural glee in witnessing the downfall and public humiliation of Jade Goody. It is true that by her behaviour, she brought shame upon herself, and caused real suffering to another. However, a public crucifixion is hardly the way to deal with the errant Goody. She must be given the space to redeem herself in any way she can.
I’m using Live Writer as my blog editor for the first time, and so far there are no problems. I got fed up with the numerous problems with Qumana, and decided to switch.
Let’s hope it works.
Not exactly a bad thing, the way I see it. That is exactly how it should work. The reality of tuition fees should make students think long and hard about whether they really want to go to university, and whether their chosen course of study is worthwhile in the long term.
