I suppose I should be pleased that infant formula manufacturer Nutricia, whose brands include Cow and Gate and Milupa, has been told off by the Advertising Standards Authority for claiming that their products could support babies' natural immune system, claims for which they could not produce credible evidence.
But I'm not pleased. I'm fizzing mad. It's taken two years since Baby Milk Action asked the ASA to investigate, two years in which parents have been misled by these reprehensible advertisements, for this ruling to be made.
And what sanctions are to be levied on this company? None. It gets a slap on the wrist. There is no penalty on them, and they are free to keep all the profits they earned while wrongly telling parents that their product could help protect their babies from illness and that their product was better than any other formula.
When are Governments going to take this sort of stuff seriously? These companies effectively have licence to do what they like. It's time, as a minimum, that they subjected follow on milks to the International Code on the Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes which would completely restrict their advertising to start with.
Then they need to think about prosecuting companies, and fining them significant amounts of money - enough so that it's a real deterrent - if they make misleading claims about their products or advertise them inappropriately.
I liked what Rosie Dodds of the NCT had to say on the subject:
"It is another example of how commercially-motivated formula milk manufacturers are tempted to misuse research to persuade parents to use their brand.
"They have overstepped the mark with this advertisement."
Will any Government ever have enough of a backbone to take these companies on to force them to act responsibly?
LibDig This!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Labour Deny Glasgow NE voters choice
There's one thing not to move the writ for a by-election, quite another to actively block someone else trying to do it.
The SNP tried to move the writ for the Glasgow North East by-election a wee while ago in the House of Commons. As far as I could tell, all the opposition parties, even the Tories, supported them, but Labour lodged a counter motion moving next business.
In the end, Labour managed to defeat the opposition by 111 votes, but Paul Waugh, the Evening Standard reporter, tweeted that if the SNP had tipped off the Tories and Lib Dems, the result might have been different.
"The SNP ambush fails by 111 votes. If they had got their act together and tipped off Tories and LDems, they might have forced Aug byelectn.
2 minutes ago from web"
Maybe the SNP MPs should watch this episode of the West Wing before they try anything like that again.
It was a good idea, though, credit where it's due, and ultimately win win because we can all now say that Labour, not just through inertia, but actively went out of their way to keep the people of Glasgow North East without an MP for at least another 3.5 months.
LibDig This!
The SNP tried to move the writ for the Glasgow North East by-election a wee while ago in the House of Commons. As far as I could tell, all the opposition parties, even the Tories, supported them, but Labour lodged a counter motion moving next business.
In the end, Labour managed to defeat the opposition by 111 votes, but Paul Waugh, the Evening Standard reporter, tweeted that if the SNP had tipped off the Tories and Lib Dems, the result might have been different.
"The SNP ambush fails by 111 votes. If they had got their act together and tipped off Tories and LDems, they might have forced Aug byelectn.
2 minutes ago from web"
Maybe the SNP MPs should watch this episode of the West Wing before they try anything like that again.
It was a good idea, though, credit where it's due, and ultimately win win because we can all now say that Labour, not just through inertia, but actively went out of their way to keep the people of Glasgow North East without an MP for at least another 3.5 months.
LibDig This!
Toddlers expected to take Tamiflu Capsules
I was quite shocked today to discover that children as young as 14 months old are being prescribed Tamiflu capsules because there isn't enough of it in liquid form. Apparently that's only being given to babies under a year old.
How many babies and toddlers do you think could manage to swallow these?
However, I do have it on very reliable information that they work very well broken open and mixed with Nutella. Lucky, that, then.
Too late for this time, but maybe this is something to learn for the future.......
LibDig This!
How many babies and toddlers do you think could manage to swallow these?
However, I do have it on very reliable information that they work very well broken open and mixed with Nutella. Lucky, that, then.
Too late for this time, but maybe this is something to learn for the future.......
LibDig This!
Swine Flu vaccine row shows need for Holyrood reform
Heaven knows I'm not often one for finding sympathy with Nicola Sturgeon, but might she have a point when she says that if Scots are to be vaccinated against Swine Flu, then the money will either have to come from Westminster, or from existing budgets which have already been allocated for this year?
The reason I ask is because the Scottish Government is limited in its options - it can't borrow to get extra money to buy the vaccine, it would be ridiculous to put the money aside every year just in case, leaving essential services bereft needlessly so we'd have flexibility in the event of a contingency.
It seems to me that in a pandemic situation, especially under current arrangements, there is an argument for Westminster to give Scotland the extra funds it needs but doesn't have the capacity to raise itself.
It's things like Swine Flu that highlight the imperfections with the current system.
The Sunday Times reported last week that David Cameron is prepared to leave it until 2015 before he would do anything to give more powers to the Scottish Parliament. I don't think that we can afford to wait that long. Another good reason, if there aren't enough already (remember the '80s anyone) not to vote Tory.
If Nicola Sturgeon had said that we wouldn't get the swine flu vaccine unless Westminster paid, then she would be playing politics with our lives. However, she has raised a legitimate question about how a UK wide crisis should be dealt with and funded. It's something we do need to think about and learn from.
LibDig This!
The reason I ask is because the Scottish Government is limited in its options - it can't borrow to get extra money to buy the vaccine, it would be ridiculous to put the money aside every year just in case, leaving essential services bereft needlessly so we'd have flexibility in the event of a contingency.
It seems to me that in a pandemic situation, especially under current arrangements, there is an argument for Westminster to give Scotland the extra funds it needs but doesn't have the capacity to raise itself.
It's things like Swine Flu that highlight the imperfections with the current system.
The Sunday Times reported last week that David Cameron is prepared to leave it until 2015 before he would do anything to give more powers to the Scottish Parliament. I don't think that we can afford to wait that long. Another good reason, if there aren't enough already (remember the '80s anyone) not to vote Tory.
If Nicola Sturgeon had said that we wouldn't get the swine flu vaccine unless Westminster paid, then she would be playing politics with our lives. However, she has raised a legitimate question about how a UK wide crisis should be dealt with and funded. It's something we do need to think about and learn from.
LibDig This!
SNP's David Kerr slams Glasgow universities
One of the things about being a by-election candidate is that everything you have ever said in public comes under scrutiny and, in some cases, reappears to bite you on the bum.
We know that the SNP's selection process for Glasgow North East has been a bit of a living hell for them to go through and a complete farce for the rest of us to watch. We now discover that new, bright and shiny candidate David Kerr's cupboard is not devoid of skeletons with their feet in their mouths.
Apparently, a couple of years ago, he told a seminar in St Andrews that universities such as Glasgow Caledonian "did not have a reputation to tarnish."
This is just the worst sort of unfounded academic snobbery and to be honest I'm more angry about these comments than I ever was about the former SNP candidate's problems. To have slated quality institutions, which provide excellent research and learning facilities, is unforgivable. I know students and academics alike at G-Cal who rightly feel insulted at having their institution trashed like this.
It's really important that local politicians do what they can to support the local universities their constituents might attend or work at. How can places like G-Cal and Paisley feel that they will ever have anything other than lip service from David Kerr?
Kerr himself has tried to defend his comments by saying that they were meant to be light hearted. Why would you make such a joke if you didn't mean the sentiments behind it, though?
Lib Dem MP Willie Rennie, who is himself a proud graduate of Paisley University, had this to say on the subject.
LibDig This!
We know that the SNP's selection process for Glasgow North East has been a bit of a living hell for them to go through and a complete farce for the rest of us to watch. We now discover that new, bright and shiny candidate David Kerr's cupboard is not devoid of skeletons with their feet in their mouths.
Apparently, a couple of years ago, he told a seminar in St Andrews that universities such as Glasgow Caledonian "did not have a reputation to tarnish."
This is just the worst sort of unfounded academic snobbery and to be honest I'm more angry about these comments than I ever was about the former SNP candidate's problems. To have slated quality institutions, which provide excellent research and learning facilities, is unforgivable. I know students and academics alike at G-Cal who rightly feel insulted at having their institution trashed like this.
It's really important that local politicians do what they can to support the local universities their constituents might attend or work at. How can places like G-Cal and Paisley feel that they will ever have anything other than lip service from David Kerr?
Kerr himself has tried to defend his comments by saying that they were meant to be light hearted. Why would you make such a joke if you didn't mean the sentiments behind it, though?
Lib Dem MP Willie Rennie, who is himself a proud graduate of Paisley University, had this to say on the subject.
LibDig This!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Dull look for new Doctor Who
I'm not quite sure what I expected Matt Smith's incarnation of the Doctor to look like, but I certainly expected something a bit quirkier and edgier than this.
I can't really see the Grand Moff making the Doctor in any way boring, but I am not enamoured with the colour scheme or the general approach of making a good looking young man look like an aging professor. It doesn't give him gravitas - it just looks odd. And that hairstyle is just wrong.
However, I'm sure the scripts will be marvellous and it'll all be fine - and if necessary, Karen Gillan can find something a bit funkier in the back of the Tardis for him to wear.
LibDig This!
I can't really see the Grand Moff making the Doctor in any way boring, but I am not enamoured with the colour scheme or the general approach of making a good looking young man look like an aging professor. It doesn't give him gravitas - it just looks odd. And that hairstyle is just wrong.
However, I'm sure the scripts will be marvellous and it'll all be fine - and if necessary, Karen Gillan can find something a bit funkier in the back of the Tardis for him to wear.
LibDig This!
Labour doesn't get it and the fox shouldn't
Now, I know I'm feverish and delirious, but I know when you're having me on. I can't believe Labour have lost the plot this much...
...in a leaflet that has supposedly gone out in their name in Norwich North. Surely they couldn't be that crass or that stupid?
This must be a hoax, a plot to discredit them, mustn't it?
That was my first thought, but Charlotte said that as far as she knew it was a genuine Labour leaflet and I trust her.
Then I looked a bit further afield, and apparently it's not the first time they've used this phrase in a by-election according to their animal welfare society
Then I found a Labour supporting blog that seemed to think the leaflet was a good idea.
So, it's either genuine or a very elaborate hoax.
I've just shown my 10 year old daughter the leaflet and at first she was horrified. She thought it was quite sick. She said "Who would say that?"
However, she did come up with rather a good slogan: "Vote Liberal Democrat - the fox doesn't get it, but Labour does, and we don't have to have the Tories." Seems like a result to me!
LibDig This!
...in a leaflet that has supposedly gone out in their name in Norwich North. Surely they couldn't be that crass or that stupid?
This must be a hoax, a plot to discredit them, mustn't it?
That was my first thought, but Charlotte said that as far as she knew it was a genuine Labour leaflet and I trust her.
Then I looked a bit further afield, and apparently it's not the first time they've used this phrase in a by-election according to their animal welfare society
Then I found a Labour supporting blog that seemed to think the leaflet was a good idea.
So, it's either genuine or a very elaborate hoax.
I've just shown my 10 year old daughter the leaflet and at first she was horrified. She thought it was quite sick. She said "Who would say that?"
However, she did come up with rather a good slogan: "Vote Liberal Democrat - the fox doesn't get it, but Labour does, and we don't have to have the Tories." Seems like a result to me!
LibDig This!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Tories call the Kerr-tle black
There seems to be a bit of a fuss about SNP candidate for Glasgow North East David Kerr's membership of Opus Dei.
Now, I'd find it very difficult to vote for anyone who was pro life and anti gay rights, whatever religion (or none) they followed. Let's not turn the by-election into a Dan Brown movie.
Opus Dei with its secrecy and flagellation is just the sort of thing to give the tabloids a feeding frenzy as they did when Ruth Kelly another Opus Dei associate, was appointed to the Cabinet. However, followers of all sorts of religions and denominations within Christianity hold the same views on abortion and homosexuality. Should these people be ruled out from being MPs? Of course not - as long as the voters arw aware how they will vote on these issues up front.
And, oh, the irony, that Murdo Fraser is having a go at Kerr for membership of a "secretive and hardline" organisation. This from the party which gave us Section 28, for goodness sake and which now wants to enforce a cooling off period on couples who want to divorce. For a party that believes in small government, their insistence on intervening in areas which should be up to people themselves to determine is hypocritical to say the least.
LibDig This!
Now, I'd find it very difficult to vote for anyone who was pro life and anti gay rights, whatever religion (or none) they followed. Let's not turn the by-election into a Dan Brown movie.
Opus Dei with its secrecy and flagellation is just the sort of thing to give the tabloids a feeding frenzy as they did when Ruth Kelly another Opus Dei associate, was appointed to the Cabinet. However, followers of all sorts of religions and denominations within Christianity hold the same views on abortion and homosexuality. Should these people be ruled out from being MPs? Of course not - as long as the voters arw aware how they will vote on these issues up front.
And, oh, the irony, that Murdo Fraser is having a go at Kerr for membership of a "secretive and hardline" organisation. This from the party which gave us Section 28, for goodness sake and which now wants to enforce a cooling off period on couples who want to divorce. For a party that believes in small government, their insistence on intervening in areas which should be up to people themselves to determine is hypocritical to say the least.
LibDig This!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Things that have made me smile....
Apologies for light blogging - I know my default state has been sick for the last while but I have had a particularly bad week. I seem to have picked up another bug which has pretty much wiped me out.
However, my family as ever have been valiantly cheering me up. They went out to the shops yesterday and as I lay in bed after a long sleep yesterday evening, I heard Anna say "Oh, Mummy updated Facebook from her blackberry 3 minutes ago" and came running up the stairs and coyly sat on the bed with her hands behind her back in that cute way that children do before presenting me with some really hardcore chocolate - 85% Green and Black's. It's not for the faint hearted, and even a chocoholic like me can't manage more than a few squares at a time. It's a wonderfully, bitterly, intense slice of chocolate heaven, though.
On the chocolate theme, by the way, thanks to Subrosa for this. I'm not yet convinced it's going to taste any good, but am happy to volunteer to try it.
When I did eventually manage to drag myself downstairs, I found that they had bought me some lovely flowers as well - orange carnations and lilies which looked lovely in our kitchen.
They went out this afternoon as well, to Beecraigs Country Park near Linlithgow, and then to Cairnpapple Hill. As the latter was Bob's choice of activity, there was also a financial reward in it for Anna. The smart girl also managed to negotiate extra for the fact that they went in the rain and to allow Bob to listen to his music in the car. If it was the CD I bought him (at his request) for his birthday, then no sum of money could be adequate compensation. When she phoned to tell me this as they were going into the supermarket, I also reminded her she was due even more for helping with the shopping.
Mind you, they wouldn't have had to go at all if the Tesco website had only been working yesterday. Three times I filled my basket and went to check out and three times it told me that there was nothing in my basket. I was none too chuffed, to say the least. Anyway, at least they like shopping. I loathe it with a passion unrivalled in its intensity, unless, of course, it's for books or DVDs.
Twitter and Facebook have been making me laugh as well, particularly now that I can get to them from my nice shiny new blackberry. I'm glad that F1 world championship leader Jenson Button has succumbed to the hive mind. He might end up being the new Phillip Schofield, too given that within 25 tweets he was saying "Darn, this is addictive." Most people can't stand Twitter at first and think it's completely pointless before being sucked in a few weeks later. Mind you, I can't see @Schofe doing a 90km cycle ride in the Monaco heat as Jenson did today. I also had a reply from Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr, meaning that Tom Harris is no longer my most famous Twitter correspondent, thankfully:-).
After Rubens Barrichello's outburst last week after the German Grand Prix, someone was bound to take the piss on You Tube - and here it is:
And finally, it's good to be back in touch through Facebook with someone from my primary school days whom I haven't seen for 30 years.
Anyway, I'm going to go back and lie down again. I hope I'll be back to blogging about more serious stuff soon.
However, my family as ever have been valiantly cheering me up. They went out to the shops yesterday and as I lay in bed after a long sleep yesterday evening, I heard Anna say "Oh, Mummy updated Facebook from her blackberry 3 minutes ago" and came running up the stairs and coyly sat on the bed with her hands behind her back in that cute way that children do before presenting me with some really hardcore chocolate - 85% Green and Black's. It's not for the faint hearted, and even a chocoholic like me can't manage more than a few squares at a time. It's a wonderfully, bitterly, intense slice of chocolate heaven, though.
On the chocolate theme, by the way, thanks to Subrosa for this. I'm not yet convinced it's going to taste any good, but am happy to volunteer to try it.
When I did eventually manage to drag myself downstairs, I found that they had bought me some lovely flowers as well - orange carnations and lilies which looked lovely in our kitchen.
They went out this afternoon as well, to Beecraigs Country Park near Linlithgow, and then to Cairnpapple Hill. As the latter was Bob's choice of activity, there was also a financial reward in it for Anna. The smart girl also managed to negotiate extra for the fact that they went in the rain and to allow Bob to listen to his music in the car. If it was the CD I bought him (at his request) for his birthday, then no sum of money could be adequate compensation. When she phoned to tell me this as they were going into the supermarket, I also reminded her she was due even more for helping with the shopping.
Mind you, they wouldn't have had to go at all if the Tesco website had only been working yesterday. Three times I filled my basket and went to check out and three times it told me that there was nothing in my basket. I was none too chuffed, to say the least. Anyway, at least they like shopping. I loathe it with a passion unrivalled in its intensity, unless, of course, it's for books or DVDs.
Twitter and Facebook have been making me laugh as well, particularly now that I can get to them from my nice shiny new blackberry. I'm glad that F1 world championship leader Jenson Button has succumbed to the hive mind. He might end up being the new Phillip Schofield, too given that within 25 tweets he was saying "Darn, this is addictive." Most people can't stand Twitter at first and think it's completely pointless before being sucked in a few weeks later. Mind you, I can't see @Schofe doing a 90km cycle ride in the Monaco heat as Jenson did today. I also had a reply from Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr, meaning that Tom Harris is no longer my most famous Twitter correspondent, thankfully:-).
After Rubens Barrichello's outburst last week after the German Grand Prix, someone was bound to take the piss on You Tube - and here it is:
And finally, it's good to be back in touch through Facebook with someone from my primary school days whom I haven't seen for 30 years.
Anyway, I'm going to go back and lie down again. I hope I'll be back to blogging about more serious stuff soon.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
That Total Politics Best Blog Poll
Total Politics are running their annual Best Blog Poll. I am very grateful to those of you who voted for me last year. The whole thing really passed me by and I was totally surprised to appear in the lists at all.
I absolutely love blogging and I really enjoy the new people I've met, some online and some in real life as a result of it. Even if I'm cast into the blogging wilderness and don't appear on any of the rankings at all, I'll still carry on just because I enjoy it, once I've recovered from the abject humiliation of the rejection, of course.
Having said that, I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote and include me in your top ten. I'd really like your number one slot, but I know there's some seriously good quality stuff out there. If you are wondering what to do with your other votes, my blogroll, on the left has some suggestions.
All you need to do is follow these simple rules:
1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include ten blogs. If you include fewer than ten your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
5. Only vote once.
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents are eligible or based on UK politics are eligible.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2009. Any votes received after that date will not count.
Honourable mention must go to Costigan for pointing out the original list's numbers were all wonky.
I quite like this way of doing it because it gives you as the voter the maximum power - you can pick any blogs you want. Iain Dale did ask a few weeks ago for advice on whether to continue to do it that way or for him and his mates to pick a shortlist. I did comment and say it should stay this way to give the real power to the voter and not Iain Dale. At the time it was a genuine and instinctive response and was not intended to be used as a shameless grab for your vote!
So, in the two thousand horse race for the best blog, choose someone who has a record of action and will promise you more; a worker, a winner, who's there all year round and not just at election time:-)
LibDig This!
I absolutely love blogging and I really enjoy the new people I've met, some online and some in real life as a result of it. Even if I'm cast into the blogging wilderness and don't appear on any of the rankings at all, I'll still carry on just because I enjoy it, once I've recovered from the abject humiliation of the rejection, of course.
Having said that, I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote and include me in your top ten. I'd really like your number one slot, but I know there's some seriously good quality stuff out there. If you are wondering what to do with your other votes, my blogroll, on the left has some suggestions.
All you need to do is follow these simple rules:
1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include ten blogs. If you include fewer than ten your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
5. Only vote once.
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents are eligible or based on UK politics are eligible.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2009. Any votes received after that date will not count.
Honourable mention must go to Costigan for pointing out the original list's numbers were all wonky.
I quite like this way of doing it because it gives you as the voter the maximum power - you can pick any blogs you want. Iain Dale did ask a few weeks ago for advice on whether to continue to do it that way or for him and his mates to pick a shortlist. I did comment and say it should stay this way to give the real power to the voter and not Iain Dale. At the time it was a genuine and instinctive response and was not intended to be used as a shameless grab for your vote!
So, in the two thousand horse race for the best blog, choose someone who has a record of action and will promise you more; a worker, a winner, who's there all year round and not just at election time:-)
LibDig This!
Malc and Audrey's Marathon Madness
My fellow Scottish blogger Malc has wanted to run a marathon since he was a little boy. My ambitions in that direction are confined to watching the London Marathon every year and in my current condition I doubt I could actually run to the end of my speech.
Anyway, there are many easier ways to see Loch Ness, but he and his friend Audrey have chosen to run 26 miles and 385 yards round it in 12 weeks' time. They are hoping to raise lots of money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland. If you have a few pounds to spare, please donate to their cause. I know from speaking to people who have undertaken these painful challenges before that the donations really spur them on both in the many, many hours of preparation beforehand and during the race itself.
I should also mention their co-trainer for the next few weeks - another stalwart of the Scottish blogosphere, our own Stephen. As an athlete himself, he knows all about preparation and build up for these events.
So good luck to Malc and Audrey as they undertake 12 weeks of hell - it will soon pass, though, and I'll look forward to seeing them cross the finish line and raise lots of money in October.
LibDig This!
Anyway, there are many easier ways to see Loch Ness, but he and his friend Audrey have chosen to run 26 miles and 385 yards round it in 12 weeks' time. They are hoping to raise lots of money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland. If you have a few pounds to spare, please donate to their cause. I know from speaking to people who have undertaken these painful challenges before that the donations really spur them on both in the many, many hours of preparation beforehand and during the race itself.
I should also mention their co-trainer for the next few weeks - another stalwart of the Scottish blogosphere, our own Stephen. As an athlete himself, he knows all about preparation and build up for these events.
So good luck to Malc and Audrey as they undertake 12 weeks of hell - it will soon pass, though, and I'll look forward to seeing them cross the finish line and raise lots of money in October.
LibDig This!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Caron's Corkers
Time for another quick round up of what I think is brilliant on the internet.
First up, and don't run away cos it's Formula One cos there's more to it than that, is Jake Humphrey's blog from the German Grand Prix. It's fascinating because he plays us a good chunk of what the production crew are saying to him as he's presenting. While he's conducting interviews, they are talking in the background, changing the running order with seconds to go, leaving Jake to think on his feet. I don't know how on earth he manages to make it all look so seamless with that rabble going on in his head, but I'm not surprised that he almost got run down by a Toyota the other week. I've never understood until now why he hadn't noticed it coming. This is must-read for anyone who's even remotely interested in working in television.
Next up, the Guardian took a trip to Twitter Towers in San Francisco.
The BBC reports on a research project that states the bleeding obvious - that cats have a special purr which makes us respond to their needs. I just thought it was funny that nobody suggested that cats should be left to "purr it out" like certain childcare gurus think being left to cry is good for babies.
This has been around for a while, but I've only just discovered it - a short film from Liberty about what they've achived over their 75 years and why they're still important.
Finally, Sara saw this rather perplexing sight in a book shop.
LibDig This!
First up, and don't run away cos it's Formula One cos there's more to it than that, is Jake Humphrey's blog from the German Grand Prix. It's fascinating because he plays us a good chunk of what the production crew are saying to him as he's presenting. While he's conducting interviews, they are talking in the background, changing the running order with seconds to go, leaving Jake to think on his feet. I don't know how on earth he manages to make it all look so seamless with that rabble going on in his head, but I'm not surprised that he almost got run down by a Toyota the other week. I've never understood until now why he hadn't noticed it coming. This is must-read for anyone who's even remotely interested in working in television.
Next up, the Guardian took a trip to Twitter Towers in San Francisco.
The BBC reports on a research project that states the bleeding obvious - that cats have a special purr which makes us respond to their needs. I just thought it was funny that nobody suggested that cats should be left to "purr it out" like certain childcare gurus think being left to cry is good for babies.
This has been around for a while, but I've only just discovered it - a short film from Liberty about what they've achived over their 75 years and why they're still important.
Finally, Sara saw this rather perplexing sight in a book shop.
LibDig This!
Should we pay for Alex Salmond's stupidity?
Mr MacNumpty has attacked Lord Foulkes for reporting Alex Salmond to the Standards Commissioner for claiming a proportion of the £14100 paid by a group of MPs for legal advice on whether to attempt to impeaach Tony Blair over the Iraq war out of his office expenses. He argues that Lord Foulkes has asked loads of what he regards as stupid questions of the Scottish Government which have cost far more.
This isn't an issue of relative costs. I think there is a case for MPs being assisted with the costs of holding the government to account and they should have the right to ask whatever questions they like. If their constituents feel that their money is being wasted, then they can contact them and say so, and vote against them if they feel strongly enough.
I also think that there's a case for allowing MPs to claim costs for legal advice as part of the process of holding the Government to account. It's certainly worth looking at.
Now, I was totally opposed to the Iraq war - I think that the damage we have done to our country's international standing is going to take decades to sort out. It cost many, many lives of our soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians. I think it was illegal and immoral and should not have happened, end of story. I find it a quite bizarre irony that Tony Blair, on leaving office, was promptly sent as a peade envoy to the Middle East.
I was so against this war that I took my then 3 year old daughter to Glasgow Green on a freezing cold day in February to protest against the war, along with many thousands of like minded people.
I did, however, think the nationalists' attempts to impeach Tony Blair was a bit of a waste of time. Not because I thought Blair's actions were justifiable. A quick glance as to what is needed to carry out an impeachment makes it pretty obvious that it never had a hope in hell of succeeding. It requires a majority in the House of Commons to get past first base. Now, who has the majority in the House of Commons? This process was doomed to failure from the start. There was no way that Labour MPs were going to go along with a nationalist publicity stunt.
So there, I can see that, and I found that out for free. I didn't have to go and spend the equivalent of some people's annual salaries to work that out. For that reason, I seriously doubt that the taxpayer should have to fund the cost of Alex Salmond's stupidity.
His move to impeach Blair was never going to be anything other than a publicity stunt and he could have done that for a cost of zero to the taxpayer.
There is one way, though, that we could stop injustices like the Iraq War happening again. If the 2001 Parliament had been elected by a fairer system, the Government would not have had such a big majority and the likelihood is that it would have either have lost a vote in Parliament, or would not even have got as far as putting it to a vote in the first place because it would be clear that Parliament, which would have much greater legitimacy, would not back it. If anyone should know what PR can do for a Parliament's powers, it's Alex Salmond, given how many of his Government's dafter ideas have been binned or modified by the Holyrood Parliament.
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This isn't an issue of relative costs. I think there is a case for MPs being assisted with the costs of holding the government to account and they should have the right to ask whatever questions they like. If their constituents feel that their money is being wasted, then they can contact them and say so, and vote against them if they feel strongly enough.
I also think that there's a case for allowing MPs to claim costs for legal advice as part of the process of holding the Government to account. It's certainly worth looking at.
Now, I was totally opposed to the Iraq war - I think that the damage we have done to our country's international standing is going to take decades to sort out. It cost many, many lives of our soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians. I think it was illegal and immoral and should not have happened, end of story. I find it a quite bizarre irony that Tony Blair, on leaving office, was promptly sent as a peade envoy to the Middle East.
I was so against this war that I took my then 3 year old daughter to Glasgow Green on a freezing cold day in February to protest against the war, along with many thousands of like minded people.
I did, however, think the nationalists' attempts to impeach Tony Blair was a bit of a waste of time. Not because I thought Blair's actions were justifiable. A quick glance as to what is needed to carry out an impeachment makes it pretty obvious that it never had a hope in hell of succeeding. It requires a majority in the House of Commons to get past first base. Now, who has the majority in the House of Commons? This process was doomed to failure from the start. There was no way that Labour MPs were going to go along with a nationalist publicity stunt.
So there, I can see that, and I found that out for free. I didn't have to go and spend the equivalent of some people's annual salaries to work that out. For that reason, I seriously doubt that the taxpayer should have to fund the cost of Alex Salmond's stupidity.
His move to impeach Blair was never going to be anything other than a publicity stunt and he could have done that for a cost of zero to the taxpayer.
There is one way, though, that we could stop injustices like the Iraq War happening again. If the 2001 Parliament had been elected by a fairer system, the Government would not have had such a big majority and the likelihood is that it would have either have lost a vote in Parliament, or would not even have got as far as putting it to a vote in the first place because it would be clear that Parliament, which would have much greater legitimacy, would not back it. If anyone should know what PR can do for a Parliament's powers, it's Alex Salmond, given how many of his Government's dafter ideas have been binned or modified by the Holyrood Parliament.
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009
New Gadget Excitement
Maybe I'm more of a geek than I'd like to admit - well, I'm the sort that likes gadgets but without the knowledge to always make them work - because I am uncommonly excited with my new Blackberry which arrived today.
I was due for an upgrade and decided that I really needed to be able to connect myself to the hive mind at all times, and if I could get on Facebook and Twitter without using the laptop, then that would probably make my family quite happy!
It ended up not being that much more expensive. I was surprised that I was able to get it set up so easy as I'm used to seeing people's statuses saying things like "this blackberry is going out the window" a few days before they fall in love with it and say it's the best thing they've ever had in their lives.
I suspect that I'll have those sorts of moment with it as I'm having real trouble getting Twitterberry to work. It shows my updates ok, and my replies, but says it can't get my friends' lists or updates. What am I doing wrong?
Also, neither my sistr nor I can find each other on Blackberry Messenger.
If anyone can help sort me out with either of these things, you will have my undying gratitude.
Apart from that it's fab to be able to get and send e-mail on the move and I like the fact that the text messages are conveniently laid out so you can see conversations. I'm sure I'll have many frustrations getting the hang of it but equally sure it'll be worth it in the end.
And it's one of my five a day, too.
Oh, wait......
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I was due for an upgrade and decided that I really needed to be able to connect myself to the hive mind at all times, and if I could get on Facebook and Twitter without using the laptop, then that would probably make my family quite happy!
It ended up not being that much more expensive. I was surprised that I was able to get it set up so easy as I'm used to seeing people's statuses saying things like "this blackberry is going out the window" a few days before they fall in love with it and say it's the best thing they've ever had in their lives.
I suspect that I'll have those sorts of moment with it as I'm having real trouble getting Twitterberry to work. It shows my updates ok, and my replies, but says it can't get my friends' lists or updates. What am I doing wrong?
Also, neither my sistr nor I can find each other on Blackberry Messenger.
If anyone can help sort me out with either of these things, you will have my undying gratitude.
Apart from that it's fab to be able to get and send e-mail on the move and I like the fact that the text messages are conveniently laid out so you can see conversations. I'm sure I'll have many frustrations getting the hang of it but equally sure it'll be worth it in the end.
And it's one of my five a day, too.
Oh, wait......
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Atheists sign up to fight Irish Blasphemy Law
After the passing of the controversial Irish blasphemy law, which potentially could put severe restrictions on freedom of speech, Atheist Ireland held a particularly well timed AGM on Saturday which was reported in the Irish Times. I thnk it's quite impressive for them to have got 150 people out on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of Summer.
They had a message of support from Richard Dawkins - no surprises there, really and were addressed by a Labour Senator Ivana Bacik who said that she reckoned she was the only "out" atheist in the entire Parliament.
Their next step is to provocatively release a statement which is still being drawn up and being carefully worded to offend every single religion. I think they might have missed a trick here - it might have been a better idea to have some sort of competition to devise it which would really get people discussing the issues surrounding it. The rather top down approach of presumably getting a committee to do it misses out an opportunity to reach out to more people to persuade them how completely ridiculous the new law is.
Anyway, as soon as this lawbreaking masterpiece is unveiled I will post it here.
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They had a message of support from Richard Dawkins - no surprises there, really and were addressed by a Labour Senator Ivana Bacik who said that she reckoned she was the only "out" atheist in the entire Parliament.
Their next step is to provocatively release a statement which is still being drawn up and being carefully worded to offend every single religion. I think they might have missed a trick here - it might have been a better idea to have some sort of competition to devise it which would really get people discussing the issues surrounding it. The rather top down approach of presumably getting a committee to do it misses out an opportunity to reach out to more people to persuade them how completely ridiculous the new law is.
Anyway, as soon as this lawbreaking masterpiece is unveiled I will post it here.
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Politics and being 17
I've been tagged by Mr Quist in the meme about what you had done politically by 17. I managed to have my 17th birthday in Thatcher's not Orwell's 1984.
I already hear you sigh, saying "Oh god, she's going to tell you the detention story again". It's ok, I'm not, but I can't pretend it didn't happen. If you are one of the few who have no idea what I'm talking about it, look here.
I'd also written a huge amount of envelopes for election addresses in the days before you could print labels. Of course, once we had the technology, we missed these long, laborious but great fun, chatty days writing envelopes so we had to bring them back in the late 90s. The blue was so much nicer than the business like brown ones with Election Communication in the corner, so much more personal.
I made canvass cards by cutting up the electoral register and gluing in onto cardboard. It seems almost primitive now when we can print off an entire constituency at the touch of a button.
I'd delivered lots of leaflets - the first one, ever, was, unwittingly to a Tory activist who barely drew breath as she took it from me and threw it on her bonfire.
I'd spoken at a public meeting with Alan Beith, Russell Johnston and Charles Kennedy during the 1984 Euro campaign. Again, I won't bore you with the details cos I've already told them here.
During that same election, I got into even more trouble than usual with my parents. We'd put out a flier for Highlands and Islands MEP candidate Russell Johnston which had a poster in the back. Obviously with my parents being Tories, there was no way that was ever going to go up. I did, however, completely by accident rest it on my windowsill which looked out onto the road at the front of the house. It must have been there, oh, a week, before anybody noticed. I got hell, but it was worth it at the time.
I'd spoken in school debates taking positions that I believed at the time but make me cringe now, being pro nuclear weapons and the monarchy.
Political life in the Highlands was much more gentle than elsewhere. I got quite a shock when I went to uni in Aberdeen and discovered, at the hands of the legendary Sheila Ritchie and Allan Knox
that not only could you deliver leaflets outside election times, but it was also desirable. We didn't do that much outside elections in those days, although, of course, Bob was working his socks off as MP.
I'd also learned that politics was a nasty business. Not in our party, of course, where everyone had been so lovely and welcoming to me. I made lifelong friends amongst both SDP and Liberals in Caithness and Sutherland. I think they found having a young person there, particularly one who wasn't too keen on nuclear power just down the road from an, er, nuclear power plant on which the local economy depended, quite amusing. The 1983 election saw Bob Maclennan standing for the SDP, having left the Labour Party two years earlier. Those who had stayed in the Labour Party were very bitter and I found their hostile attitude quite scary. Their antics were relatively mild compared to those of the Chesterfield Labour Party I'd face later, but unsettling all the same.
I also had the distinction of being, at the time, the most northern member of Scottish Young Social Democrats. I think I was a bit of a novelty to them as I hadn't really, shall we say, travelled extensively and when I finally met them all, including Debra Storr, at the YSD AGM in Edinburgh, it was my first ever visit to the city.
It's hard to believe that all this was a quarter of a century ago. By coincidence, my husband uploaded a picture of himself at 17 or 18 to Facebook last night, which was taken four decades ago. It doesn't feel like that long to either of us and we both still feel that we've kept a lot of our youthful outlook, although maybe we haven't retained the energy to keep up with it!
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I already hear you sigh, saying "Oh god, she's going to tell you the detention story again". It's ok, I'm not, but I can't pretend it didn't happen. If you are one of the few who have no idea what I'm talking about it, look here.
I'd also written a huge amount of envelopes for election addresses in the days before you could print labels. Of course, once we had the technology, we missed these long, laborious but great fun, chatty days writing envelopes so we had to bring them back in the late 90s. The blue was so much nicer than the business like brown ones with Election Communication in the corner, so much more personal.
I made canvass cards by cutting up the electoral register and gluing in onto cardboard. It seems almost primitive now when we can print off an entire constituency at the touch of a button.
I'd delivered lots of leaflets - the first one, ever, was, unwittingly to a Tory activist who barely drew breath as she took it from me and threw it on her bonfire.
I'd spoken at a public meeting with Alan Beith, Russell Johnston and Charles Kennedy during the 1984 Euro campaign. Again, I won't bore you with the details cos I've already told them here.
During that same election, I got into even more trouble than usual with my parents. We'd put out a flier for Highlands and Islands MEP candidate Russell Johnston which had a poster in the back. Obviously with my parents being Tories, there was no way that was ever going to go up. I did, however, completely by accident rest it on my windowsill which looked out onto the road at the front of the house. It must have been there, oh, a week, before anybody noticed. I got hell, but it was worth it at the time.
I'd spoken in school debates taking positions that I believed at the time but make me cringe now, being pro nuclear weapons and the monarchy.
Political life in the Highlands was much more gentle than elsewhere. I got quite a shock when I went to uni in Aberdeen and discovered, at the hands of the legendary Sheila Ritchie and Allan Knox
that not only could you deliver leaflets outside election times, but it was also desirable. We didn't do that much outside elections in those days, although, of course, Bob was working his socks off as MP.
I'd also learned that politics was a nasty business. Not in our party, of course, where everyone had been so lovely and welcoming to me. I made lifelong friends amongst both SDP and Liberals in Caithness and Sutherland. I think they found having a young person there, particularly one who wasn't too keen on nuclear power just down the road from an, er, nuclear power plant on which the local economy depended, quite amusing. The 1983 election saw Bob Maclennan standing for the SDP, having left the Labour Party two years earlier. Those who had stayed in the Labour Party were very bitter and I found their hostile attitude quite scary. Their antics were relatively mild compared to those of the Chesterfield Labour Party I'd face later, but unsettling all the same.
I also had the distinction of being, at the time, the most northern member of Scottish Young Social Democrats. I think I was a bit of a novelty to them as I hadn't really, shall we say, travelled extensively and when I finally met them all, including Debra Storr, at the YSD AGM in Edinburgh, it was my first ever visit to the city.
It's hard to believe that all this was a quarter of a century ago. By coincidence, my husband uploaded a picture of himself at 17 or 18 to Facebook last night, which was taken four decades ago. It doesn't feel like that long to either of us and we both still feel that we've kept a lot of our youthful outlook, although maybe we haven't retained the energy to keep up with it!
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Monday, July 13, 2009
Caron's Corkers
I honestly was going to start doing a round up of good blog postings, news stories or just things that took my fancy on the internet before Jennie started her brilliant "The Blood is the Life" feature. I know you're not going to believe me but, well, meh!
I don't know how often I'll do it, and it'll all be very relaxed, but I realised I had to start today with these two posts that tugged at my heartstrings.
Firstly, the lovely peat worrier points out what an illiberal lot we Scots can be.
Secondly, Vagina Dentata reminds us about the double standards around swearing. There is no greater example of this than my own lovely husband. He worked down the pit, for heaven's sake, for the best part of a quarter of a century. This is not an environment where the epithets will be combined to "oh bother" or "heavens to betsy". However, should I emit even the mildest swear word, he will raise an eyebrow. You would think he would have learned after all this time that that wasn't going to work. My language is not always the best in the world and sometimes I'm not conscious of it. It was when my young baby daughter came out with "it's pissing down with rain" one day (she learned to talk very young - can't imagine where she got that from) that I thought I would have to moderate my language round her.
This is what I was worried about with this feature - I could easily have made a post out of that itself. Will have to learn brevity.
Anyway, elsewhere on the lovely interwebby:
Kelvin has been featured in several newspapers, and quite right too. I like the angle he has on equal marriage as being a devolution one.
I will do some sort of pennance later for linking to bloody Tom Harris again especially as he brought out the worst in me the other night when he reminded us on Twitter that the Katie Price interview with Piers Morgan was on. I know I shouldn't have, but I did switch over. The shame..... Anyway, to add to the other health issues I've been having, I had an ear infection a couple of months ago. It was really sore and no amount of pain relief, or swearing for that matter, helped. The thought of a wee boy going through that sort of pain is horrid. Tom's wife Carolyn, who is lovely, is looking for tips on how to prevent ear infections in young kids and of alternative treatments to antibiotics. I haven't a clue really, but I know that some of you reading this will have some useful suggestions, so please help out if you can.
And to make you smile, Mark, the man who showed us that MPs in safer seats were more likely to play fast and loose with their expenses, shows us that he has a future in satirical sketch writing.
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I don't know how often I'll do it, and it'll all be very relaxed, but I realised I had to start today with these two posts that tugged at my heartstrings.
Firstly, the lovely peat worrier points out what an illiberal lot we Scots can be.
Secondly, Vagina Dentata reminds us about the double standards around swearing. There is no greater example of this than my own lovely husband. He worked down the pit, for heaven's sake, for the best part of a quarter of a century. This is not an environment where the epithets will be combined to "oh bother" or "heavens to betsy". However, should I emit even the mildest swear word, he will raise an eyebrow. You would think he would have learned after all this time that that wasn't going to work. My language is not always the best in the world and sometimes I'm not conscious of it. It was when my young baby daughter came out with "it's pissing down with rain" one day (she learned to talk very young - can't imagine where she got that from) that I thought I would have to moderate my language round her.
This is what I was worried about with this feature - I could easily have made a post out of that itself. Will have to learn brevity.
Anyway, elsewhere on the lovely interwebby:
Kelvin has been featured in several newspapers, and quite right too. I like the angle he has on equal marriage as being a devolution one.
I will do some sort of pennance later for linking to bloody Tom Harris again especially as he brought out the worst in me the other night when he reminded us on Twitter that the Katie Price interview with Piers Morgan was on. I know I shouldn't have, but I did switch over. The shame..... Anyway, to add to the other health issues I've been having, I had an ear infection a couple of months ago. It was really sore and no amount of pain relief, or swearing for that matter, helped. The thought of a wee boy going through that sort of pain is horrid. Tom's wife Carolyn, who is lovely, is looking for tips on how to prevent ear infections in young kids and of alternative treatments to antibiotics. I haven't a clue really, but I know that some of you reading this will have some useful suggestions, so please help out if you can.
And to make you smile, Mark, the man who showed us that MPs in safer seats were more likely to play fast and loose with their expenses, shows us that he has a future in satirical sketch writing.
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#askClegg live now
I'm watching Nick Clegg taking questions live from people on Twitter here right now.
He's there until 2, I think. It's a great way for anyone, whether they're at home, school or work to question the leader of a political party.
So far he's taken questions on climate change, cultural identity, faith schools, science funding, and Afghanistan.
He has also said how much he loves getting out and meeting people and listening to what they have to say, whether it's online or in person and how valuable the experience is for him to be outside the Westminster bubble.
You can ask a question on Twitter just by including #askclegg in your tweet.
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He's there until 2, I think. It's a great way for anyone, whether they're at home, school or work to question the leader of a political party.
So far he's taken questions on climate change, cultural identity, faith schools, science funding, and Afghanistan.
He has also said how much he loves getting out and meeting people and listening to what they have to say, whether it's online or in person and how valuable the experience is for him to be outside the Westminster bubble.
You can ask a question on Twitter just by including #askclegg in your tweet.
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Sunday, July 12, 2009
SNP lose another Glasgow North East hopeful
The protracted SNP game of musical candidates continues in Glasgow North East. First the expected and obvious candidate Grant Thoms doesn't even stand. Then Newsnight producer David Kerr resigns from his job to stand and gets beaten by the SNP Opposition Leader on Glasgow City Council, James Dornan by 5 votes. Given the Council's unpopular school closures across the city, also opposed by the Liberal Democrats, this might have been a smart move.
Now Cllr Dornan has stood down after Sunday Herald revelations that he may have broken the law by being a partner director of a charitable trust, Culture and Sport Glasgow while under a protected trust deed which is an alternative to bankruptcy.
I think it's a shame he's been put in this position by the SNP. They should have checked all this out thoroughly before they allowed him to go for selection by the members. They shouldn't have been checking if there was a potential problem when a newspaper points it out to them.
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Now Cllr Dornan has stood down after Sunday Herald revelations that he may have broken the law by being a partner director of a charitable trust, Culture and Sport Glasgow while under a protected trust deed which is an alternative to bankruptcy.
I think it's a shame he's been put in this position by the SNP. They should have checked all this out thoroughly before they allowed him to go for selection by the members. They shouldn't have been checking if there was a potential problem when a newspaper points it out to them.
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Ross Brawn gives masterclass in management
Ross Brawn must have some faults, but I have to say he keeps them very well hidden. Not only does he design brilliant cars and generally have a genius for picking the right race strategy at the right time (remember Hungary 1998, anyone?) but he's very, very good at the people stuff. He's always keen to honour the contribution of the team and the drivers to success and to make sure that everyone gets the chance to share in the success. He makes sure that different people get to go on the podium at the end of races they've won after being fed up when it was always Flavio at Benetton who kept the glory moments for himself. It's no wonder he was recently honoured for his outstanding achievements to the sport.
Today we saw one of the reasons why Brawn GP like Ferrari and Benetton before them have enjoyed huge success.
First of all, let's look at the race through the eyes of Rubens Barrichello. As far as he was concerned, he did what he had to do to win the race. He passed pole sitter Mark Webber at the first corner, narrowly avoiding ending up as a casualty when Webber got too close. So, he was there, in the lead, so all he needed to do was rely on the team to deliver the strategy to keep him there and he'd have his first win for Brawn. I think in his head he actually drove 60 laps on that first one and was already climbing the middle stop of the podium.
Instead, even after the man he passed was given a penalty for the incident at the start which should have ruined his chances, Rubens finished in sixth behind, for hevaven's sake, his team mate.
You can see why he was fizzing mad and got out of the car physically exhausted, dehydrated, aching and mentally crushed. If he'd won, the aches wouldn't matter, but he was a man who'd delivered for his team and felt in that moment that they'd let him down. Put a microphone in front of him and he was just going to let rip. And he did.. He pretty much called the team for everything: "It was a good show from the team in how to lose a race......They made me lose it." And those were the nice bits. He said that he wanted to go and get the first plane home and not go to the team debrief and listen to what he termed "blah blah blah".
I did feel sorry for him and thought he needed a cuddle and some hot chocolate to calm him down. I understand why he lashed out, but I suspect once he's calmed down he'll see things differently. For a start, if he'd managed to get past Massa he wouldn't have lost 2 seconds a lap to Webber after his first pit stop. Secondly, the second and third places in qualifying were always a fragile projection for the race given the cars' light fuel loads. Also, it wasn't the team's fault that there was a problem with the fuel rig. The Brawns were just not in the running this weekend, something that'll change when they start racing in sunnier climes.
Eddie Jordan on the BBC tore Rubens to shreds for his outburt and said that some would give him the sack for such treacherous comments against his team. Frank Williams wasn't much better, suggesting that a red card would be appropriate and anyone doing that in his team would get a severe dressing down. He slated what he called superstar drivers. I don't really rate the interpersonal skills of someone who shoves someone out the door when they deliver him a world championship so I've never forgiven him for the way he treated Damon Hill. Or David Coulthard for that matter. If it had been Flav, he'd have absolutely gone mad.
That's not the Ross Brawn way, though. He was the soul of calmness and discretion when the BBC went scurrying round to find out what he thought of Rubens' outburst. I didn't expect any different from him, but it was a bit of a masterclass in management. Ted Kravitz did his best to try to wind him up but he must have known he was on a hiding to nothing. He basically said that Rubens was right - the reason they hadn't won was because they weren't quick enough, and he understood what it must have looked like to Rubens cos his radio hadn't been working properly and he may not have realised everything that was going on. Ross also went out of his way to publicly praise Rubens for his contribution to the team. That's very much deserved because they have benefitted from his experience.
I was reminded of the 2006 Monaco GP when Michael Schumacher misjudged the last corner right at the end of the qualifying session. Alonso, who was on a flying lap at the time which was aborted and allowed Schumacher to keep his pole position, was none too chuffed. The stewards came down on Michael like a tonne of bricks and relegated him to the back of the grid. Ross's view was that Ferrari were a family and sometimes things happened that you didn't like, and your kids did things that sometimes you'd rather they didn't but you just deal with it.
Ross also knows that things are going to get more fraught between the drivers. We're half way through the series and Jenson's lead in the world championship has been cut by 5 points in the last two races. The gap in the Constructors' Championship is down to less than 20 points, when it was 43.5 not that long ago. Jenson will expect the team to get behind him to make sure he wins the championship and there were signs of that today when we overheard him radioing his engineer asking him to basically get Rubens out of his way. He will start kicking off if he doesn't start winning again.
On the other hand, Rubens wants, and deserves, a proper victory, won with the team behind him on his own merit. He thinks he's been done over twice this year, in Barcelona and Germany today when he could have won. He doesn't want to have to take a victory slung his way out of pity when Jenson has won the championship as happened at Ferrari when it was all about Michael. His position is getting weaker though given the fact that he's now 24 points behind. He will see it as only being 3 points behind Vettel, and 1.5 behind Webber, though, with him still being very much in contention.
At Red Bull, in some ways the situation is better, in others it's worse. Better because the gap between the drivers is so small that they have no choice but to let them race each other - but then worse because which of them is seriously going to be able to challenge Jenson. There may well be a febrile atmosphere there for a while until either Webber or Vettel starts to get the best results.
So there's challenging times for both teams as the season gets serious. Both Ross and Christian have to keep their drivers performing as well as possible for as long as possible and have to make the right calls on the championship. I'm looking forward to seeing how they deal with the task ahead.
Today we saw one of the reasons why Brawn GP like Ferrari and Benetton before them have enjoyed huge success.
First of all, let's look at the race through the eyes of Rubens Barrichello. As far as he was concerned, he did what he had to do to win the race. He passed pole sitter Mark Webber at the first corner, narrowly avoiding ending up as a casualty when Webber got too close. So, he was there, in the lead, so all he needed to do was rely on the team to deliver the strategy to keep him there and he'd have his first win for Brawn. I think in his head he actually drove 60 laps on that first one and was already climbing the middle stop of the podium.
Instead, even after the man he passed was given a penalty for the incident at the start which should have ruined his chances, Rubens finished in sixth behind, for hevaven's sake, his team mate.
You can see why he was fizzing mad and got out of the car physically exhausted, dehydrated, aching and mentally crushed. If he'd won, the aches wouldn't matter, but he was a man who'd delivered for his team and felt in that moment that they'd let him down. Put a microphone in front of him and he was just going to let rip. And he did.. He pretty much called the team for everything: "It was a good show from the team in how to lose a race......They made me lose it." And those were the nice bits. He said that he wanted to go and get the first plane home and not go to the team debrief and listen to what he termed "blah blah blah".
I did feel sorry for him and thought he needed a cuddle and some hot chocolate to calm him down. I understand why he lashed out, but I suspect once he's calmed down he'll see things differently. For a start, if he'd managed to get past Massa he wouldn't have lost 2 seconds a lap to Webber after his first pit stop. Secondly, the second and third places in qualifying were always a fragile projection for the race given the cars' light fuel loads. Also, it wasn't the team's fault that there was a problem with the fuel rig. The Brawns were just not in the running this weekend, something that'll change when they start racing in sunnier climes.
Eddie Jordan on the BBC tore Rubens to shreds for his outburt and said that some would give him the sack for such treacherous comments against his team. Frank Williams wasn't much better, suggesting that a red card would be appropriate and anyone doing that in his team would get a severe dressing down. He slated what he called superstar drivers. I don't really rate the interpersonal skills of someone who shoves someone out the door when they deliver him a world championship so I've never forgiven him for the way he treated Damon Hill. Or David Coulthard for that matter. If it had been Flav, he'd have absolutely gone mad.
That's not the Ross Brawn way, though. He was the soul of calmness and discretion when the BBC went scurrying round to find out what he thought of Rubens' outburst. I didn't expect any different from him, but it was a bit of a masterclass in management. Ted Kravitz did his best to try to wind him up but he must have known he was on a hiding to nothing. He basically said that Rubens was right - the reason they hadn't won was because they weren't quick enough, and he understood what it must have looked like to Rubens cos his radio hadn't been working properly and he may not have realised everything that was going on. Ross also went out of his way to publicly praise Rubens for his contribution to the team. That's very much deserved because they have benefitted from his experience.
I was reminded of the 2006 Monaco GP when Michael Schumacher misjudged the last corner right at the end of the qualifying session. Alonso, who was on a flying lap at the time which was aborted and allowed Schumacher to keep his pole position, was none too chuffed. The stewards came down on Michael like a tonne of bricks and relegated him to the back of the grid. Ross's view was that Ferrari were a family and sometimes things happened that you didn't like, and your kids did things that sometimes you'd rather they didn't but you just deal with it.
Ross also knows that things are going to get more fraught between the drivers. We're half way through the series and Jenson's lead in the world championship has been cut by 5 points in the last two races. The gap in the Constructors' Championship is down to less than 20 points, when it was 43.5 not that long ago. Jenson will expect the team to get behind him to make sure he wins the championship and there were signs of that today when we overheard him radioing his engineer asking him to basically get Rubens out of his way. He will start kicking off if he doesn't start winning again.
On the other hand, Rubens wants, and deserves, a proper victory, won with the team behind him on his own merit. He thinks he's been done over twice this year, in Barcelona and Germany today when he could have won. He doesn't want to have to take a victory slung his way out of pity when Jenson has won the championship as happened at Ferrari when it was all about Michael. His position is getting weaker though given the fact that he's now 24 points behind. He will see it as only being 3 points behind Vettel, and 1.5 behind Webber, though, with him still being very much in contention.
At Red Bull, in some ways the situation is better, in others it's worse. Better because the gap between the drivers is so small that they have no choice but to let them race each other - but then worse because which of them is seriously going to be able to challenge Jenson. There may well be a febrile atmosphere there for a while until either Webber or Vettel starts to get the best results.
So there's challenging times for both teams as the season gets serious. Both Ross and Christian have to keep their drivers performing as well as possible for as long as possible and have to make the right calls on the championship. I'm looking forward to seeing how they deal with the task ahead.
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