Archive for November 2013

Rugby WC2015

2015 Rugby Union World Cup draw

Group A looks like it’ll be interesting as England, Wales and Australia slug it out but SA and NZ should easily top their groups and it’ll probably be France and Ireland from Group D – although I wouldn’t want to put money on which side will finish top.

At the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

In the last 12 months the following have died in the service of their country:

  • Fisher, Ian
  • Brynin, James
  • Savage, William
  • Hetherington, Robert
  • Flint, Samuel
  • Webb, Jamie
  • Shaw, David
  • Walker, Richard
  • Barrie, Walter
List of British military deaths in Afghanistan since 2012-11-11 courtesy of the BBC

The ever-widening circle

In an interview with the Evening Standard Alison Saunders, the successor to Kier Starmer as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), ‘that attacks on women and other hate crimes were a “blight on society” that affected all sections of the community’.

Sorry Alison, but attacks on women are crimes – nothing more, nothing less. An unjustifiable attack* on any individual is a crime and there is no need to elevate one victim above another – regardless of their gender, nationality, political allegiance, skin colour, religion, sexuality, height, weight, shoe size, when they add the milk to tea/coffee or whichever order they apply jam and cream to their scone (however they pronounce it). Clear?

Why did I get the feeling that she’s not going to be any more useful than Kier?

* For the sake of clarity when I say ‘attack’ here I do not mean someone saying something nasty about someone else on the internet.