Category: Hell in a handcart

  • Seven-word DVD review: Jesus Camp (documentary)

    Makes you want to punch a nun. Supplemental review: could do without the doomy music. What’s on-screen is scary enough, so the music’s just annoying.

  • “I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumours / but I think that God’s got a sick sense of humour…”

    Remember the attempts by Christian Voice to prosecute various people over Jerry Springer: The Opera? And the £90,000 costs awarded against CV’s Stephen Green? It seems Green is asking for some good old-fashioned Christian charity from the very people he tried to prosecute. The money is due to be paid today, but Stephen Green doesn’t…

  • Because being a single mum with an autistic child isn’t hard enough

    Being misanthropic isn’t fun, you know, and from time to time I do my very best to change my attitude. I read inspiring news stories about inspiring people doing inspiring things. I read sad stories about the sacrifices people make for others. I try to see the best in people, and take the Vonnegut attitude…

  • Scotland’s booze ban: ignoring the obvious answer

    The Scottish Government’s plan to ban alcohol off-sales to the under-21s but still allow them to drink in pubs tacitly admits what the real problem is: sales to underage drinkers – a problem with an obvious and simple solution. As Hamish Macdonnell points out in The Scotsman: At the end of 2006, there were 17,234…

  • A little bit of politics

    Irrespective of your political leanings, you have to admit that David Davis, who resigned from his post as Shadow Home Secretary to protest the 42-day detention rule, has a point: Yesterday this house decided to allow the state to lock up potentially innocent British citizens for up to six weeks without charge. … And because…

  • Hey! Let’s talk about smoking! Again!

    Hardly unpredictable I know, but the Scottish parliament plans to ban the display of cigarettes in shops in order to – yes! – protect the kiddies. The next step, apparently, is to legislate so cigarettes are sold in plain packaging. As ever, the online comments are lovely: this lot is from the Scotsman. Dacinda72 hasn’t…

  • The Home Office has gone completely mad

    A massive government database holding details of every phone call, e-mail and time spent on the internet by the public is being planned as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records to the Home Office under plans put forward by officials. The…

  • Shop surveillance

    Oh, for crying out loud. Shopping centres can monitor people’s movements by tracking their mobile phones. The technology could “identify unauthorised individuals”.

  • Computer games, diddies and the breakdown of society

    This morning’s episode of Radio Scotland’s Morning Extra was about videogame violence and GTA IV (yep, I was the one who called in at the end to call irresponsible parents “diddies”, heh). I know phone-ins don’t exactly attract rocket scientists – I mean, they let me on air – but even by the usual standards…

  • All this scratching is making me itch

    Many years ago, I was driving a Transit (badly) through St John’s Wood in London and misjudged the width of the van, knocking out the taillights of a parked car. I stopped and left a note so the owner could get in touch with a bill (he/she didn’t, which surprised me). A few years after…