Charlie Wilson's War: the book and the film

I have now read and seen Charlie Wilson' War. The book (by George Crille) is fantastic. The film is less so; although I can understand how difficult it was to translate a five hundred page epic into a film.

In this review, I'd like to concentrate on the book. For those interested in the film, I'd recommend it but only after reading the book first, as I felt the film was simplistic.

For one thing, it somewhat exaggerates the Russian atrocities, and does not explain why station chief Howard Hart did not want to give American weapons to the Afghan fighters.

Charlie Wilson's War is the story of Congressman Charlie Wilson and Gust Avrakotos from America's CIA, who were furious at the failure of their country to aid the mujahudeen, Afghanistan rebels fighting the Soviet Red Army, and were part of Operation Cyclone, which led to the retreat of Russian soliders.

Wilson and Avrakotos, along with their allies, manage to convince Congress to increase the aid budget for the rebels and arm them with assault rifles, machine guns and anti-aircraft guns transported to them on mules (which some rebels ended up having sex with, according to George Crille).

By May 1988, the tide had turned and the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan, with 28,000 of their soliders killed as opposed to 1 million dead Afghan fighters. Wilson credits his actions with having hastened the end of Communism.

However, at the end of Charlie Wilson's War George Crille debates if the arming of the rebel Afghan tribes could have contributed to the modern day battles against Islamic fundamentalism.

The book switches between Charlie Wilson and Gust Avrakotos as the main focus in many of the chapters, which can be confusing.

Charlie Wilson's War is also the subject of Guns for the Afghan Rebels by the wonderful Angelic Upstarts: "Guns for the Afghan Rebels/And the rest the rest they've got to label/The hammer and sickle seems so fickle/When the tanks are rolling in", and was part of Washington Bullets by the Clash, another band that I love: "'N' if you can find a Afghan rebel/That the Moscow bullets missed/Ask him what he thinks of voting Communist."

Have I Got News For You Series 37 Episode One

Watching the new series of Have I Got News For You.

Frank Skinner making tedious jokes about Alan Duncan being gay. "Are you a big homeowner?" "Alan, have you ever been smeared." Wonder how many children will be using that in the playground.

The first time I saw Skinner, he was making the same kind of unpleasant homophobic jokes.

It was also rather vile to see Hislop and Duncan sniggering about second home claims instead of Hislop laying into him. Does satire really work when the target is laughing alongside you?

On the plus side, Hislop does make some good points about Gordon Brown and the emails sent by Damien McBride.

I remember watching Have I Got News For You with my family in the 1990's and it was great. Last night's episode was just limp.

Why the contestants on Britain's Got Talent are part of a satire show I do not understand.

Norman Tebbit on the change in mainstream party appeal

I'm not a fan of Norman Tebbit's politics, but he can make good points. Here he is in an interview with Total Politics magazine about the difference between 1979 and 2009.

In the 1970s, the two major parties, between them, did appeal to the great mass of the British electorate. That is no longer so. On almost any major problem facing the country, if you ask the electors who they most trust, you'll fi nd on the whole it's about 30 per cent for the Conservatives, about 20 per cent for Labour. But what's really signifi cant is that on almost every issue, a larger percentage say 'none of them'. So what we've got now is a collapse of confidence in the political system.

Tebbit blames "the narrowing of the width of political debate" for this and says that "the voters are saying overwhelmingly that there's very little to choose between the parties, 'it wouldn't make any difference which of them was in government, they're all in it for themselves, they have more in common with each other than us', that the politicians have carved up the system for the insiders...and the emergence of this political class is a very dangerous thing."

The full interview, with James Silver, is well worth a read.

Polish politican Michal Grzes angry over gay elephant

Rather funny story from Pinknews.co.uk about Polish councillor Michal Grzes, who is angry that Poznan Zoo has acquired an elephant he believes is gay.

"We didn't pay 37 million zlotys (£7.6 million) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there."

What a sad little man. I'm not keen on zoos, but if an elephant wants to be gay, why can't he be gay? So what if he doesn't have children. He's still a lovely elephant for people to look at.

Some other instances of homophobia by Polish politicans are also documented in the story, including former childrens rights watchdog and member of the anti-gay and League of Polish Families Ewa Sowinska's concern that the Teletubbies (remember them? They've disappered from modern culture along with Mondeo Man) could affect children with "camp antics".

A Day In Hand, which launches on May 17, has been set up to oppose this kind of ignorant bigotry.

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to travel round Northern England from May 1st

I'm subscribed to the Go Fourth mailing list, and former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has announced his plans to "take our message around the North, covering 12 towns and cities and eight counties in just 100 hours".

Starting on May 1 in Liverpool with Eddie Izzard, Prescott will then visit Warrington, Manchester, Keighley, Leeds, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield, Chesterfield, York, Bridlington, finishing in Hull on Bank Holiday Monday May 4, a month before the June 4 European and county elections.

He'll be travelling in a mini-bus.

Why politicans don't use public transport to travel on campaigns I do not understand. It would set a good example.

In order to raise money, Prescott, Alastair Campbell, Dick Caborn and Glenys Kinnock have signed 100 copies of his excellent autobiography Prezza, and will give one away to the first 100 donations of £50 or more to GoFourth.co.uk.

So if you live in any of the mentioned towns and cities, keep a look out for John Prescott in a minibus.

Mexican political cartoonist Mario Robles attacked by thugs

Cartoonist Mario Robles,who works for the newspaper Noticias Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca in western Mexico, claims he was attacked by Indalesio Cruz Alcázar and his son Isalesis Cruz, who are both members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Robels claims that the men approached him and kicked him repeatedly, before telling him that he needed to modify his cartoons, and threatning to kill both him and his family.

According to Article 19, Roble has reported the attack to the Department of Justice of the State of Oaxaca, but has received no aid from them.

Dr Agnes Callamard, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, says: "Cartoons serve a particular purpose in terms of political commentary.

"They are particularly influential because an image can often be more effective in making an impression than words. This is therefore a unique but particularly relevant form of social commentary that needs to be protected under the right to freedom of expression."

Article 19 calls on the PRI to ensure that all of its members are under the direct control of the party, and that intimidation is not allowed to take place.

Why do people shop at Tesco?

The Evening Standard reports that the supermarket Tesco has 1,770 stores in Britain, including one where I currently live in Leytonstone.

I haven't been in a Tesco in years.

I'm boycotting Tesco, even though other supermarkets aren't much better, because that supermarket has done a number of rather unethical things.

For example, Tesco tried to suppress reporting by taking out a libel action against the Guardian and Thai journalists Nongnart Harnavilai (who claimed Tesco did not "love" Thailand) and Kamol Kamoltrakul.

During the snowfall earlier this month, Tesco told its staff that they would not be excused if they failed to show up for work due to transport problems.

They would need to choose between having their pay docked, losing a day’s holiday, swapping a shift, or changing a day off, according to the Daily Mail.

And how much did the supermarket which punished its workers earn the 12 months to February 28? £543 billion.

No supermarket is perfect. Most have been guilty of contributing to binge drinking by selling cheap alcohol, which is also a big reason that pubs are closing in Britain.

Asda and Iceland are hideous places to shop due to the noise and chaos, but for the reasons above I'd use them over Tesco.

Victoria Line strike from 9pm Tuesday 21st April for 24 hours over alleged bullying and safety concerns

Victoria Line strike:

There will be a strike from 9pm Tuesday 21st April until 9pm Wednesday 22nd April on the Victoria Line of the London Underground over a safety equipment dispute, as well as alleged bullying and harassment.

Members are claiming that doors are opening on the wrong side, and that all other lines do not have this.

Victoria Line communters are advised to find alternate routes, and other Underground lines will be busier during the strike.

180 workers at the Seven Sisters depot will be taking part.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said "There can be no excuse for the failure to install Correct Door Side Enabling Equipment. It is operational on all other sections of the Underground and this dangerous penny-pinching on the Victoria Line puts both our members and the general public at risk.

"There is a culture of bullying and harassment of our members and representatives on the Victoria Line which is reflected in the sacking of Carl Campbell and the continued victimisation of Glenroy Watson and we are determined to put a stop to it."

A Transport for London spokeswoman told the media: "This proposed strike action is completely unnecessary. London Underground believes these issues can be resolved by further discussion. There are procedures in place to deal with these kinds of issues and we ask RMT to return to the negotiating table."

Central Line problems Tuesday morning:

In other news, the Central Line has been running with severe delays ever since 7:30am this morning (Tuesday) due to a signal failure at Bank.

There is also no Waterloo and City Line service due to a signal failure near Waterloo.

What is going on?

James Murdoch to give 2009 MacTaggart Lecture

MediaGuardian has announced that the 2009 MacTaggart Lecture will be given by BSkyB chairman and News Corporation Chairman James Murdoch as part of the MediaGuardian 2009 Edinburgh International Television Festival.

I don't have the time to visit or £550 to spend on a festival, but it sounds really interesting.

I'm a huge fan of the Media Guardian and read it every Monday online after work.

However, it's a shame that the email refers to smart people as "geeks". I loathe the way that modern British culture regards intelligence as something bad.

Look in most schools in Britain and you'll see the smart children being bullied for refusing to conform to peer pressure.

Google Labs introduces Google Timeline

A new feature, called Google Timeline, has been announced by Google showing stories grouped by day.You can add news sources and blogs to create a timeline.

According to software engineer Andy Hertzfeld, the results include "headlines, quotes, photos from our Hosted News partners, and YouTube partner videos".

This reminds me of the "On this day" birthday cards you can buy in shops, but much more interactive.

WebProNews also reports on the Similar Images Google Lab

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle: Comedy at it's best

I've often been disappointed by the dismal state of British comedy recently, in particular Horne and Corden's sketch show.

However, I've been watching Stewart Lee's new series on the iplayer and I've been really impressed.

Each week, Lee picked a different subject and skewered the pretentious and stupid in the best traditions of comedy.

My favourite two were Toilet Books, laying into Russell Brand and Comedy, with an interesting sketch parodying the conventions of comedy set in an apple shop, as well as a deconstruction of the love of Del Boy falling through the bar of the Nag's Head.

Lee is the antidote to the playground homophobia of Horne and Corden, the endless

Check him out at the iplayer.

Freelance journalist Roxana Saberi jailed by Iran for alleged spying

Today's Observer reports that freelance journalist Roxana Saberi has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran after being found guilty of spying for America.

She was arrested for purchasing a bottle of alcohol in January 2009 and was accused of spying on 8th April by Iran.

The US has said that the allegations were "baseless and without foundation".

Read more here.

Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)s' Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said: "Roxana Saberi's trial lacked transparency and we are concerned that she may not have been treated fairly.

"We call on the Iranian authorities to release her on bail pending her appeal."

Roxana Saberi has filed reports for National Public Radio, Fox News, the ‎BBC, and other international news organizations since 2003 before her press credentials were revoked in ‎‎2006 by the government. She continued to file news pieces without credentials.

A website has been set up calling for her release and you can read a profile of Roxana Saberi at the BBC.

You can also sign the CPJ petition.

Roxana Saberi's father, interviewed Saturday morning on National Public Radio, says that she wants to go on a hunger strike to protest her sentence.

Reza Saberi also alleged that her lawyer was not allowed to say anything in her defence, other than that that her objection should be turned down, and signed.

Messenger shot once again: Nurse who filmed neglect of patients struck off

Margaret Haywood, who filmed neglect of patients,at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton for a BBC Panorama programme, has been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The Department of Health has said "that any member of staff who reports concerns about the safety or quality of care to be listened to by their managers and action taken to address their concerns" in other words, don't rock the boat.

Would Ms Haywood have gone to Panorama if she had confidence in her managers? There needs to be more protection for whistleblowers.

I watched the Panorama in question when it was broadcast, and I was revolted.

Another whistleblower has spoken to Radio 4's The Report about treatment at Stafford Hospital.

RIP Sir Clement Freud

Sir Clement Freud has died, aged 84.

During his life, Sir Clement was the Rector of Dundee and later the Rector of St Andrews, a chef, and a panelist on Radio 4's Just a Minute. He was also a Liberal MP and ran his own restaurant.

Having watched Sir Clement Freud on Have I Got News For You and Question Time, I found him a funny, clever and nice man.

It is a shame he will no longer be around to entertain.

Does every scandel need a "gate"?

The row over smear emails about Conservative party members and right-of centre bloggers has already been christened "Smeargate."

I hate this dumbing-down of events into "-gates"

What -gate shall we have next? Gardengate, where Boris Johnson is discovered riding a sit on lawnmower through the Buckingham Palace grounds? Tategate, where a minister imitates the comedian and offends people?

David Mitchell on Hazel Blears and Ofcom's punishment of the BBC

Interesting article by comedian David Mitchell in the Observer last week on Hazel Blears' response to Ofcome's recent decision on the BBC's broadcast of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross ringing Andrew Sachs.

While I agree broadly with Mitchell, I would take issue with the comment that the licence payer is "up on the deal", given that the BBC needs all the funding it can get, the fine will still make a difference. I would also concentrate on the effect on the BBC's output rather than the effect on the licence payer.

I'm surprised Mitchell didn't question the need for a fine of the whole BBC, rather than a different punishment that only affects those directly involved, but the rest of his piece is excellent.

Twitter attack by Stalkdaily.com founder

Stalkdaily.com founder Michael Mooney has confessed to Twitter news service BNO News that he was behind the creation of a worm that made infected Twitter accounts spam tweets redirecting users to the Stalkdaily.com website.

Mashable has tips on how to avoid the Twitter spam attack as well as news on the Mikeyy worm.

Twitter claims to have removed the security hole that allowed the Stalkdaily worm and Mikkey worm to attack.

For those who says "there's no such thing as bad press", I suggest you look up Gerald Ratner, and consider how angry people are going to be with Michael Mooney in the next few weeks.

Twitter is still the key microblogging site.

Many people who say "there's no such thing as bad press" are just doing so to appear CONTRARY and COOL anyway.

Joe Orton weekend

So I've been hanging out with some of my friends in Brighton this Easter.

Visiting one of them, we went to Amnesty International and the Kemptown flea market and managed to purchase Prick Up Your Ears, the biography of Joe Orton by John Lahr and The Orton Diaries, edited by the same man.

Today, we also found the film of Prick Up Your Eyes.

Orton is a fascinating man, who wrote about his sexual desire and his sexual conquests at length in his diaries, no holds barred. Have dipped in while in various pubs and they are a good read.

Demonstrations today over death of Ian Tomlinson and persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka

Various groups involved in the G20 protests,including the Stop The War Coalition, are currently making their way to Bethnal Green Police Station to assemble for a march to the Bank of England.

They will lay flowers where Ian Tomlinson died after being shoved by a police officer during the G20 demonstrations.

There is also a protest march at 1pm from Embankment to Hyde Park opposing the attacks on Tamils in Sri Lanka.

According to the organisers, Act Now, tens of thousands attended a recent demonstration on Westminster Bridge.

Director of Act Now Tim Martin said around 100 civilians are dying each day, while two Tamil men, Sivatharsan Sivakumaravel, 21, and Parameswarn Subramaniyan, 28, are on hunger strike as a protest.

Piccadilly line problem due to engineering work at Leicester Square

I travelled to Brighton today, and as the District Line was closed I had to take the Central Line to Holborn and then a Piccadilly line to Green Park for the Victoria line.

The journey from Holborn to Green Park was appalling. The train was delayed, despite assurances that there was a good service on all London Underground lines, and once I got on the train a six minute journey took twenty minutes. The Piccadilly Line is usually fast.

That was at 8:20 am. Transport for London now informs me that minor delays are occurring due to earlier emergency engineering work at Leicester Square.

It would be nice to have been informed about this by Tfl staff and by the overhead announcements instead of being told by "the control room at Holborn" that the line was okay.

I wonder what the emergency engineering work was required for. Was there a problem with the track?

Generally I find that the Central, Piccadilly and Victoria lines are the fastest. The District, Metropolitan and Hammersmith and City lines are the slowest.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair launches Tony Blair Faith Foundation

While I welcome the creation of an organisation promoting understanding about the world's major religions, I would question the suitability of a man who charges £400,000 for an after dinner speech, and who desires to have his nomenclature in the organisation's name.

You can keep an eye on the activities of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, as well as the Office of Tony Blair.

Tony is currently a special envoy to the Middle East, and was interviewed by TIME's Jerusalem bureau chief Tim McGirk on the peace process.

I'm not a Tony Blair fan, and I am cynical about the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. I believe that Labour missed an opportunity in 1997 to make real change in Britain.

Gordon Brown may be to partly blame for the recession, but Blair and Mandelson also encouraged greed and did nothing to stop the increased levels of personal debt among many British people.

Will he redeem himself?

How big a threat are the British National Party?

UPDATE: Peter Hain's warning that the BNP could get £2 million of EU funding if they gain six European Parliament seats makes me more wary.

Deputy Labour Party leader Harriet Harman has said that the British National Party "are a bigger threat than they have been before."

Recession always encourages extremism, from whatever area. There is a rise in anger amongst people, and the extremists such as the BNP feed on this anger.

However, the British National Party failed to make much progress during the recession of the early 1980's (in 1983, they only got 14,621 votes) or the recessions of the late 1980's and early 1990's.

The high point for the far right was during the 1970's. In 1973,the National Front candidate for West Bromwich finished third, with 16% of the total vote and kept his deposit. By 1979, however, the Conservatives were absorbing some of the National Front's support, and anti-racists were beginning to mobilise.

The rise of new media has also helped with opposition to the BNP. Indymedia, which could be said to contain racist content itself given many of the posts regarding Israel, has provided an area for antiracists to meet and plan strategy.

Epping Forest BNP Watch is also an example of an antiracist blog that is well written and of interest to those not directly involved in opposing bigotry.

The return of many Polish workers due to the lack of work means that the British National Party are unable to stir up anti-immigrant feelings to a great degree. The 2008 membership list leak also meant that many members were exposed, and may have meant that some became less active.

Currently people are worried about unemployment, pensions, the recession and a rise in crime. They want parties that offer concrete promises, and I believe that most understand that the BNP has selected promises in many areas only because they appeal to voters, and that they will not honour them when in power.

Does anyone really think that a British National Party in power would establish worker co-operatives, for example?

As for their crazy idea that all citizens should keep a rifle and ammunition in their homes, I wonder how much support that will have. What happens if a binge drinker comes home and shoots his rifle at passing traffic?

The British National Party have also been shown to be twisted and useless when elected, as shown in Barking and Dagenham,

I'm more worried about Irish dissidents such as Oglaigh na hEireann and the neo-nazi group Combat 18 than the British National Party. Doesn't mean we shouldn't oppose their views, however, and educate people about them.

And if you're still tempted to vote for the British National Party, can you really imagine Nick Griffin as Prime Minister?

Harriet Harman can also do her best to fight the BNP by making sure she stamps out expense claim abuses in her party and work with Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to do the same in their parties, in order to make sure people have more faith in the political system.

French internet piracy bill rejected

An anti piracy bill proposing a "three downloads and you're disconnected" system was defeated by a margin of 21 to 15 in the French National Assembly, according to France 24.

An amended version, without the rule that users banned from online for downloading copyright files must continue to pay their Internet bills, will be put before the National Assembly later this year.

Pet Shop Boys asked to rename themselves the Rescue Shelter Boys by animal rights organisation PETA Europe

A bizarre story on the BBC that pop band Pet Shop Boys have refused to rename themselves the Rescue Shelter Boys when requested to by animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA.

One hesitates to blog about this, as it gives publicity to the Pet Shop Boys (a band that don't arouse any feelings in me whatsoever, the polar opposite of the terrible James Purnell), and an organisation who I sometimes agree with and often find ludicrous.

Like many animal rights organisations, PETA annoys me by failing to campaign for lifetime bans and longer jail sentences for those convicted of abusing animals. I don't really care about renaming fish "sea kittens" when every day animals are neglected by a minority of pet owners.

Do PETA really believe that the Pet Shop Boys are causing people to visit pet shops? Maybe they could blame primate abuse on the Arctic Monkeys (Gordon Brown's favourite band)? What about Atomic Kitten or The Beekeepers?

Comment Central in the Times is also debating a similar question, though Alice Fishburn has slightly missed the point!

Renaming is also a costly and lengthy exercise. How long would it take before people remembered that the band called the Rescue Shelter Boys had released West End Girls?

This reminds me of the proposal to rename London tube station Aldgate East as Brick Lane and the new Shoreditch High Street tube station as Banglatown by Tower Hamlets councillor Abdal Ullah.

According to Transport for London, changing the name of Shoreditch High Street to Banglatown will cost £2million.

I doubt PETA ever thought that the Pet Shop Boys would change their name. They simply wanted publicity, and I may have played into their hands. Oh well.

Schools occupied in Glasgow

Wyndford and St Gregory’s primary schools in Maryhill, Glasgow,have been occupied by parents protesting their proposed closure.

They are two of twenty five primary schools and nurseries Glasgow council wants to close or merge.

If you see this post on http://yudigg.net, it's been copied without asking me, even though I've asked the site's owner to stop publishing my blog feed in full on his site. I will speak to his hosting company, Godaddy.com, if he does not remove all content from this blog.

Irish members of parliament set an example

Guido Fawkes highlights the contrast between Irish politicans taking a 10% expenses cut while British MP's recieve a 2.33% pay rise.

How many British people are recieving a pay rise this year?

Meanwhile Eric Joyce, MP for Falkirk, has been revealed as claiming the most expenses. Dennis Skinner was one of the lowest claimants.

If you see this post on http://yudigg.net, it's been copied without asking me, even though I've asked the site's owner to stop publishing my blog feed in full on his site. I will speak to his hosting company, Godaddy.com, if he does not remove all content from this blog.

Ten years in prison for comments about Thai king

Article 19 reminds me of the revolting ten year prison sentence given to Thai blogger Suwicha Thakhor last Friday for having material on his blog deemed to have defamed the monarchy, an offence under Section 112 of Thailand’s Penal Code.

Thailand's Ministry of Information and Communication Technology claims to have shut down more than 2,000 websites alleged to have contained material offensive to the Thai King.

On 23 January, the Senate set up an extraordinary committee to oversee the blocking of further websites, claiming that over 10,000 could be targeted.

Several issues of the Economist carrying articles about the Thai king have been removed from the shelves in Thailand, while Paul Handley’s biography of the monarch, The King Never Smiles, has been banned in Thailand since its publication in 2006. Websites advertising the book have been blocked.

Sentencing someone to a decade in jail because of the comments they make on a blog is morally wrong.

If you see this post on http://yudigg.net, it's been copied without asking me, even though I've asked the site's owner to stop publishing my blog feed in full on his site. I will speak to his hosting company, Godaddy.com, if he does not remove all content from this blog.

London river services to be upgraded

Some good news for a change about London's transport system.

Transport for London is proposing to improve the riverboat services in order to get people off the crowded Tubes and onto boats.

From November 2009 Thames Clipper services will accept Oyster pay as you go and Oyster travelcards, and from today they will run a direct service between Canary Wharf and London Bridge.

Gagster Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London's Director of Transport Policy and Chair of the Concordat Group, said: "The sheer number of organisations involved in the Capital's river services has meant making improvements has often felt like a battle against the tide."

More than thirty organisationsincluding every borough that fronts the river, boat operator, pier owners, and London First. have signed up to the River Concordat, which focusers on the integration of the Thames into the transport system and having a full Olympic and Paralympic river service will be in place for the summer of 2012.

Of course, no transport project can take place in London unless it benefits the Olympics. I'm sure the upgrade of Wanstead station will benefit the Olympics in some way.

PS: To the person running a website about student loans who keeps copying pieces off my news feed. Please remove them. The only place these articles should be is on brennybaby.blogspot.com.

Teachers' union secretary Mary Bousted blames some parents for problems in British schools

Writing in today's Observer, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers Mary Bousted blames some parents for the indiscipline some children have, saying "My members tell me that parents often also come into school and threaten staff and some staff have been attacked by a pupil's parents. One father encouraged his child to start a fight in the playground before school started. A parent provided a raw egg for a pupil to smash over a teacher's head. A primary teacher reported that a parent swore and shouted at him."

I have seen the behaviour of children getting worse and worse.

Recently I was in Harrow and Wealdstone, near where I used to live, with a colleague, and some children, no more than ten or eleven, ran past shouting swearwords. One little boy looked at us and sneered "Give us a fiver and I'll strip for you."

What has happened to our children? Is it a more materialist culture that judges people by what they wear?

Is it to do with the targeting of advertising at children which encourages them to wear parents down with endless pestering for expensive toys and sweets that cause short attention spans?

Is it the social decay that recession has brought on? Walking through Leytonstone to the Iceland this weekend, I walked past smashed beer bottles and recycling boxes piled high with litter.

London is a grim, grim city at the moment. I don't think other cities are as bad, but I wonder what children think of the rising social decay.

However, I think some people are simply awful. Some of these make up a tiny minority of Britain's parents, and awful parents who care more about material comforts than bringing up children will produce awful children. And awful children ruin the lives of good children.

Teachers can do their best to help good children succed with life, but it doesn't help when those in charge think teaching is the problem, and when they are afraid to fight back against violent children in case they will be accused of assualt.

We need a national debate on how to make sure every child is brought up properly, allows other children to learn properly, and becomes a part of society, not a predator.

Ms Bousted's article is a valuable contribution to that debate, as is Frank Chalk's blog and the programmes produced by Alex Dolan and Angela Mason, although some would disagree.

Ofcom's ruling on Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand will only hurt the BBC

Following last year's furore, the media watchdog Ofcom has fined the BBC £150,000 for Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.

So at a time of financial hardship, one of our best television channels, which runs one of the most visited websites by British surfers has had its budget further cut.

Thousands of jobs are being shed across the media, and I am concerned that fining the BBC for the actions of a handful of people will have a drastic effect on program quality and staff numbers.

I feel that there needs to be a reexamination of the way Ofcom penalises the media, and was glad to heard Justice Secretary Jack Straw suggest that perhaps the wealthy Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand might like to pay the fine.

Sadly, some in the media support Ofcom's decision.

While the media watchdog's ruling is hard to dispute, it is the nature of the punishment which concerns me.

The BBC is sometimes accused of being less than impartial, but it is one of the most important media and part of British life.

If jobs are lost because of a punative fine, then we will all suffer.

I was surprised, however, to see that Jack Straw did not call for the salaries of well-paid presenters to be reduced in a time of economic hardship.

Defenders of the large salaries that some BBC presenters get seem to believe that they only do it for the money.

Would Jonathan Ross refuse to present his radio show if he was "only" paid £1 million a year? Surely he loves his job?

Sir Terry Wogan says that his £800,000 salary only costs each licence payer 15p per year, however this is a conservative view only taking account of how much people are paying to fund the BBC.

If his salary was cut to £200,000, how much of that £600,000 could be used to hire extra staff to improve the BBC's online output or to invest in quality drama?

I would like to see a BBC where presenters don't get paid twenty times more than frontline staff, and where drama and comedy is produced to rival HBO.

I am sick and tired of press coverage being given over to American drama such as The Wire (now on BBC2)while British dramas get lukewarm response.

Ofcom need to rethink their penalisation of British media to ensure that quality is not further reduced, otherwise we will get more guff like Liz Jones' latest offering.

There are some interesting points in the second half of the piece, but the first begins with a tedious rant on the dress sense and leisure of "crusties".

The men wear multi-coloured threads around their wrists. The women never wear make-up; instead, they wear droopy home-dyed skirts and cardies made of boiled wool. They each have millions of children who run around unfettered.

How dare people not wear makeup (which costs money, like the mobile phones mentioned in the story). How dare people not wear the latest High Street Fashions and buy Prada handbags like Liz Jones has (and mentions she has in the column).

Oh, and women weren't able to wear the right kind of clothes (meaning clothes Liz Jones approves of) before Sex and The City came along, and Liz Jones doesn't like what Zara Philips wears.

If we allow the standard of journalism to decline, more drivel such as this will become the norm.

I do not want to turn on the BBC in four years' time and hear a discussion on the dress sense of anticapitalist protestors during the news.

Taliban flogs 17 year old girl for having been in the company of a man not related to her

Harry's Place reports on the vile Taleban's latest human rights abuse, while Amnesty International blogs on the subject here, calling on the Pakistan government to stop these abuses in the Swat valley.

The video is below. Be warned, it is disturbing.

Deva Kumarasiri has joined UKIP

Postmaster Deva Kumarasiri, who was removed from his job after asking customers who did not speak English to leave, has joined the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP)and will stand as a candidate in the Euro elections.

Deva said to the BBC "My priorities will be to save the pound and push for British jobs for British workers. I'll campaign for newcomers to Britain to learn English and seek to persuade them that integration is absolutely vital to the country's future."

So the Liberal Democrats' loss appears to be UKIP's gain.

Although I'm not a supporter of UKIP and have no objection to the Euro, I don't think Deva Kumarasiri should have been expelled from his job, or from the Liberal Democrats for that matter.

While he may have needed to re-think his policiy with regards to tourists, a quick chat with his boss should have sufficed.

G20 protests today: The revolution will be Twittered

I work near Brick Lane, just past the unofficial border between East London and the Square Mile.

Aside from a police helicopter hovering overhead, it was all peaceful. Had I walked west to Bishopsgate and the Bank of England, it would probably have been different.

The day before the G20 summit saw thousands of people express their anger with the City of London.

Demonstrations took place outside the Bank of England, while protests outside the Royal Bank of Scotland resulted in clashes with police.

The Waterloo and City line, which connects Waterloo and Bank, was suspended, while Bank station was closed.

Some staff waved ten pound notes at the protestors, like a minority of police did during the 1984-5 miners strike.

A few protestors were stopped for driving an armoured car, but were later allowed to go about their business, while police had a water cannon ready for serious riots.

Guardian, Times, Sky News and Financial Times journalists were Twittering from the event, and providing some nice coverage of the change in police tactics and the Blitz spirit of some bankers, one of whom told a Guardian journalist he was prepared to take protestors on as he served in the Army.

It would be interesting to see if any of the tweets on alleged police overreactions are followed up.

Twitter is fantastic for covering big events and the ways of allowing people to view them outside the microblogging service worked well.

Daniel Bennett writes that the Guardian embedded Twitter in a web page while Sky News and the Times used CoverItLive. The Financial Times simply used Twitter.

This is the issue with Twitter, how to use it to tweet to a wider audience. The Guardian managed it well.

It would be nice if there was a way of saving tweets on Twitter for display so the Guardian could show a record of what happened today, although of course there were also articles.

With Twitter about to try to make money, will this be an option? It would really only be needed for news events.

media140 will be hosting London’s first microblogging event, where journalists, bloggers and publishers will discuss the use and impact of Twitter and other social media tools for their industry.

A few dozen tickets are still on sale at £35 each, and Kate Day from the Daily Telegraph will tweet from the event.

Olivia Lichtenstein forces herself to watch porn films for the Daily Mail

Rather bizarre column in today's Daily Mail by Olivia Lichtenstein, who was asked by the Daily Mail to watch the kind of porn films that you can get through Sky (not the hardcore Oksana Flic En Uniforme type but the rubbish ones).

Not having spent much time watching porn myself, I was interested to hear that "Much of the footage is of a very amateur, 'readers' wives' nature.While many of the women look self-conscious and embarrassed, others approach their task with a gusto that seems born of desperation." and that there is a porn film called Dirty Chavs.

Olivia Lichtenstein also attempts to analyse why Richard Timney watches these films, saying "Could this be the key to why Mr Timney likes it so much? He has such a powerful wife - who is also his boss."

So, shockingly, porn could be argued to be degrading to women and there is a lot of it out there, although to read Olivia Lichtenstein's column you'd think it was being handed out at primary school assemblies "Hundreds of hours of this garbage television are available each day from ten at night until four in the morning in our living rooms - the result of a dangerously misguided liberalism which says there should be no censorship, no moral checks - that we are all grown up enough to see and do whatever we wish."

However, you have to subscribe first and pay 15.99 a month, with an additional £15 joining fee. You also need to know how to get past parental controls.

The real issue is that the porn films that Jacqui Smith's husband watched were charged to the British taxpayer, not that Jacqui Smith's husband watched porn.

This article is an excuse to show scantily clad pictures. In fact, it's almost a promotion for these kinds of porn films.

The Daily Mail highlights that Olivia Lichtenstein is "a writer and Bafta award-winning documentary maker who's married with children aged 15 and 20". Good, because I don't want porn analysed by anyone who hasn't won a Bafta.

If you really want to see something degrading to women, you could watch Headcases, a "satire" show that mocks Jacqui Smith's breasts by having Gordon Brown ask her to appear topless during a terror threat alert.

As Nick Cohen points out in Waiting for the Etonians, the writers of Headcases don't want to attack anything in case people are uncomfortable.

I'd love to know how the Daily Mail proposed this to Olivia Lichtenstein. She's only written one article for them before. Did they ring her up and say "Could you watch some boring porn for us and then denounce it while relating it to Jacqui Smith's latest expose?"

If the Daily Mail did review porn each week while pretending to be shocked, I wonder what would happen to its readership figures.

Richard Littlejohn was also interested in how easy it is to obtain porn, reading the Television X website.

"In alphabetical order, it starts with 'Anal Boutique' and goes downhill from there. Suffice it to say, the line-up specialises in what we in the trade call 'acts too disgusting to be described in a family newspaper'."

Well it seems that porn has been described in depth in the pages of the Daily Mail. Wonder how many readers will read the two articles and think "So that's where I can get some cheap porn from".

(If you did read the Daily Mail articles and think that, there is also quite a lot of porn on the Internet.)