I graduated on Wednesday (about 15.15 local time :p)!! It turned out to be a very nice ceremony, despite having our eardrums blasted to pieces by some slightly over-zealous organ playing. The weather was pretty crappy but I guess it was a good day on the whole – it’s certainly one that I’ll remember for a long time to come. Most importantly, it reminded me of a bunch of great memories and, as I said before, I’d go back and do the LL.M again like a shot. As so much time has passed between submitting my dissertation and graduating, I thought I’d put my LL.M experience all behind me.  But having been through the ceremony, I seems slightly surreal now to think it’s finally all over. And slightly sad, too....

While you’re sitting at your computer and don’t have anything better to do, you might as well whiten your teeth.  It might save those of you that are coffee addicts from having slightly yellow teeth.  It’d also be great for smokers out there or pretty much anyone who is just looking a little yellow.  The strong blue light will make you bright white and shiny in no time at all. It works by using a strong blue light that activates the whitening gel and oxidizes the pigment of the teeth through dentin tubes.  The whole process takes about 30 minutes.  It’s a much more in depth process than the usual methods like special toothpaste and gooey treatments you put on at night.  Which is why the price tag is just a touch higher.    By a touch I mean it will cost...

Rotorblade Trimquim first came to the world’s attention in the hardcore hot auditing action film Double-Entry Babes II, where her ability to reconcile a cash book whilst seemingly being brought to multiple orgasm by two well-oiled, well-hung studs became the most downloaded video clip on the internet last year, more popular even than the Three Kittens Who Look Slightly Like Mussolini, Hitler And Stalin Sitting In A Cardboard Box that web pundits had confidently clamed would be the most popular download in the entire history of the known universe. There is also solid evidence from doctors around the world that Trimquim’s video clip was responsible for a record number of RSI wrist injuries during that year too. These days coming to fame – as it were – as a porn star is no longer...

I’ve never really seen gas cans to be all that attractive, but this one manages to look somewhat stylish. You’ll get to wheel this through the airport feeling unique and suave, up to the point that the authorities have a chat with you due to looking slightly suspicious.  Then you’ll get the joy of feeling unique while you get a very thorough and intimate search. Having a GasCase like this, you’d almost feel the urge to fill it with something slightly more interesting than a set of overnight clothes.  These come in two different styles, the first is pretty normal, it just splits down the middle like your average suitcase.  Then there is the other one with a flip top that is better for larger documents that you really don’t want crushed.  These rolling...

A great Christmas party snack or gift idea! Imagine slightly salty, slightly caramely, slightly gingery, definitely roasty and very more-ish nuts. I used a mixture of almonds and peanuts with great results. I assume any nut would be incredible for this recipe but I recommend roasting different sized nuts separately. This recipe has been Taste Tested on Husband and published here for the world.5 c almonds (400g)½ c muscavado sugar2 t salt2 t ground ginger2 T honey2 T water2 t sunflower oil1 Preheat oven to 160°C2 Toast nuts on a baking sheet for 10-15mins, taste test them, turn them until perfect3 Meanwhile combine sugar, salt & ginger in a small bowl4 In a large saucepan combine honey, water & oil and bring to the boil over high heat5 Reduce heat, add roasted nuts & cook...

What You Learned in School About How Planes Fly Was Probably WrongLow flying Ryanair jet blows roof tiles off roof - puts 82 year old in hospital10 Coolest Airline Tail ArtThe Kopp-Etchells EffectTraffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestorsDriving distractions: kids (women), road rage (men)Anti-bomb cops blew up my carToyota to recall 3.8M vehicles to reshape and replace pedalsHow 16 ships create as much pollution as all the cars in the worldTest Drive in the World’s Fastest Personal Submarine5 Amazing Journeys On A Penny Farthing10 Most Expensive Bicycles On Earth10 Cycling Crashes That Make Your Eyes Water. One slightly NSFW image.9 Driving Habits that Most Annoy Cyclists. One slightly NSFW image.The 1970’s Van Customization...

Somewhat unexpectedly, one of the most immediate changes brought about by televising the House of Commons was to male MPs’ hairstyles. Until then, it had been the habit amongst some of the, er…, thinning on top MPs to brush their hair forward so that when you looked at them face to face it appeared that they had a bountiful mop of hair above their forehead. Unfortunately, if you looked down on their head from a slightly elevated position, this impressive wave of hair instead looked like a toupe that had slipped forward leaving a bald patch further back. And where were the new Commons cameras? At a slightly elevated position, looking down. Cue a rapid change of hairstyle from MPs such as Bryan Gould. I’m sure there is a moral in this...

This report from NHS West Midlands shows that the number of people with flu-like illness has slightly increased across the region.Key MessagesAcross the West Midlands there has been a mixed picture in patients presenting at primary care centres with influenza-like symptoms - some PCT areas show an increase, other areas show a decrease, in rates. Overall, the West Midlands rate has...

On not getting visited by TV's John and Edward, who must dieFriday. Home time. Relax time. Leave-me-alone-you-bastards time. What I don't need is...*ding dong*"Gooooood evening, sir!"People who use that many 'o's in 'Good evening' are clearly marked for death, and I shall make it my business to tell them.I flick on the porch light to find myself confronted with a pair of almost identical suited young men clutching clipboards.Slightly too smart; slightly too much gel in their hair; slightly too many exclamation marks on their name tags; far too pleased with themselves.They can be only one of two things – X Factor annoyances John and Edward (who must die), or..."Gooooood evening, sir! Have you considered changing your telephone provider?""Thank fuck for that. I thought you were Jehovah's...

One benefit of having been writing a blog for so long is that I can do this: go back and see what I was saying five years ago.On 20 October 2004 Conrad Russell had just died and I reported that Nick Clegg had written a good column about him for the Guardian.That column is still on the paper's website:He was a striking, slightly beguiling figure. He walked with an intellectual's stoop, invariably with a cigarette in hand. A shock of white hair was permanently standing to attention above an angular, slightly hawkish face. He talked in paragraphs.Helpfully, I informed my readers that Nick was the "former Lib Dem MEP for the East Midlands and PPC for Sheffield Hallam".Incidentally, more people will read this blog today than read it in the whole of October...

Wedding in Appin, Kentallen wedding, Honeymoon cottage Glencoe, Duror church weddingWe love it when folks get married fom the cottage or come to us for their honeymoon. It is, after all, one of the most romantic spots in the world.Hi John, I hope you are well... !! The wedding was wonderful and the cottage was superb!I must say the directions were great, we arrived there in the dark and everything was easily found. The service was lovely, a stunning setting and good acoustics for all the screaming babies... The reception was held in a marquee just over the road from the church in the field. The road down to it was slightly muddy and uneven - so nice shoes got a bit of a battering!The marquee was also slightly on the nippy side, especially as most people were in frocks and kilts so it was...

Did my fourth all grain brew yesterday, Four Shades of Stout, from a recipe off the jimsbeerkit.co.uk forums. I tried to treat the water with all the needed salts for a stout and did a 60 minute boil instead of the usual 90. This ended up giving me the correct volume but at a slightly lower gravity so I need to work on my mash efficiency or up the grain slightly. I also used Nottingham yeast for the first time - hopefully this will give the beer a slightly drier finish. Writeup of the brew day with lots of photos is now in the brewing...

Another Perfect World (Channel 4, 2009), a TV documentary on virtual worlds. Being Channel 4, they’re onto the ‘virtual sex’ angle within five minutes and it’s downhill from there. And what’s this in the intro… Quote: “The biggest worlds are War of Warcraft with…” Er, sack the producer please? Now. The problem, of course, is that very few are anywhere near perfect. We’re sold new games and virtual worlds on a stream of advance control-freak marketing hype and pre-rendered so-called “screenshots” that bear only a passing resemblance to what you’ll see in the final playable world. Sometimes accompanied by rigged reviews. And three times out of four, on launch day the buyers realise they’ve been sold a...

No modern home, especially out here in the rural areas of England, is complete without some sort of outbuildings. Here in the countryside we have all manner of such constructions, from the mighty hairstylist sheds and hay barns right down to the lowliest of lawyer sties out near the swamp. The urban and suburban dwellers sometimes may sometimes have a garage, but most do have a shed, or shed-like outbuilding. This is fortunate indeed, for what would modern life be like if there were no such thing as shed-based perversions. Even such basic dalliances as The lawnmower Intrusion or The Rake And Hoe would be rendered - at least - problematical without a shed. The shed also contains many of the necessary ingredients for many other perversions, of course. No shed is complete without a large...

Headphone Cord Cassette Tape Caddy When using headphones you usually end up with the wires getting tangled due to them being slightly too long. This little accessory allows you to shorten the cables slightly and hide away excess cords. The cords are wrapped up nearly in this cassette tape caddy which is designed to look like an old-school microcassette. They were designed by Jason Amendolara and unfortunately there are no details on pricing and there is no release date yet either. Via: TechNaBob...

Forget Top Gear, with its costly supercar roadtests and exotic location filming - this is real life. In the real world, we cannot afford such luxuries as expensive cars, or even televisions. Here at Retro Yakking we like to think ourselves in touch with the average man who works very hard for little money. He wants to pee every penny of it up the wall of a weekend, so it goes without saying that his budget for a car falls ever so slightly short of the price of a Bugatti Veyron. The supermarket trolley is an ideal solution, suiting the common man perfectly with its price tag of £0. When combined with a long stick (or maybe two if you’re slightly more upmarket) to act as a braking system, the shopping trolley is also a reliable, quick and economical choice for the discerning......

Podcast 34 is upon us, but in slightly strange circumstances.  It was recorded last week, immediately after podcast 33 as Cliff didn’t think he could make this week’s recording.  It turns out he could have done, but we had already decided to have a night off - which we did, apart from the last few minutes when I decided to call Cliff ‘live’ in case anyone thought I might have killed him as part of some elaborate podcast ratings scam. Anyway, there is less current affairs, more chat, and a slightly longer version of This Day in History where we ponder an alternate universe where Take That and Guns ‘n’ Roses combine forces.  Yeah, I’m not sure how we ended up there either… iTunes users can subscribe by clicking here or you can listen to the...

Regular readers (a Mrs Trellis from South Kazakhstan) may recall the arbour I built earlier this year.Very few things in life are perfect (no, not even me! nor the things I build!!). In this case, the seating arrangement isn't ideal.The back of the seat - where one leans against it if one is, as I am, a natural lounger - is the vertical back of the arbour itself. This forces one into an unnatural upright stance, almost as though the thing had been designed by posture experts.Also, the back flexes slightly when one puts one's whole weight (12-and-bit stones) upon it.What it really needs is a separate, slightly angled and more rigid back piece.Using some more of the odds and ends of timber one finds in a man's workshop, your host has spent the last few days building just such an object,...

Asus Eee PC 1005HA Summary Price (Avg): £??? Screen Size: 10 inches Processor: Intel Atom Memory (RAM): 1GB Operating System: Windows XP Home Storage (hard drive): 160GB Weight: 1.4 kg Battery life: 8-10 hrs Review Buy Asus Eee PC 1005HA Review The Asus Eee PC 1005HA is a variation of Asus’s other recent netbook called the Asus Eee PC 1008HA, and is very similar. As they are so similar there is no point in repeating ourselves here. However in a quick summary, the Asus 1005HA weighs slightly more at 1.4 kg’s, has wifi, bluetooth, Windows XP OS, and is about 10mm thicker than the 1008HA. The 1005HA Asus will be available in black or white and has a slightly glossy cover, Prices will be around €349, which makes them quite cheaper than the 1008HA, and for the...

Dusty and slightly squashed, A4 in size, rescued from my parents’ loft. I open it carefully and slightly apprehensively, as it comes from the past. The smell of old, dusty papers wafts up, released into the fresh Norfolk air for the first time for almost two decades. Postcards. Newspaper cuttings and cartoons. A photograph of a Canadian diesel-electric locomotive. I leaf through each, transfixed. A ticket stub: the Richard Thompson Band at the London Palladium. A torn-off scrap of paper featuring the shakily-written address of a girl with whom I’d once briefly been associated, and who was universally known amongst my friends as ‘the Sad Nympho’. A Reliant bonnet badge. An old train ticket to London Liverpool Street. An invitation to a Finnish Independence Day party...

Way back in the dim and distant past of this blog (about 2007),  I discovered folk were reading it. The result was a panic post entitled “Blogisfear” that partly outlined my worries about balancing my personal thoughts on the media industry with my professional position as a reporter at The Post. I got some great support from friends and fellow Brummie bloggers and, after a while, settled into a style and a subject matter I was comfortable with. Eventually, even when I was being quite controversial, I didn’t feel too out of my depth. I put the anxiety down to new-blogger nerves, but it seems that wasn’t quite correct. It wasn’t the blog that was causing the concern, it was the learning to negotiate a new social situation. So, with a new life and a new job,...

Admittedly, being a sixties film, the trailer is somewhat cliche ridden and slightly painful, but some of it does give the flavour of the film.The Ipcress File is one of my favourite spy films. Starring Michael Caine (in his first major leading role) as Harry Palmer (the antithesis of James Bond, although many on the Production team also worked on the Bond movies). The Ipcress File is about a dogged, underpaid, under-appreciated intelligence operative who, rather than pen pushes, fights against the odds and gets results. Gritty and slightly more realistic about the intelligence world than James Bond, but just as fun in many other ways.Incidentally there were four sequels to The Ipcress File, but the franchise more or less ended after the second sequel when Michael Caine decided to quit,...

some great pictures here.  i love how safety cards make the horrendous quite natural and mundane through cartoons. you can even continue breastfeeding if you are in the posh seats those in the posh seats (to the right) also get to look slightly fed up with the whole thing more breastfeeding this lady is looking slightly more in trouble.  we can see that in her eyes.  and her hands.  i think she's saying "don't you know there's an emergency on, please stop sketching".  or perhaps she's been caught red handed sculpting a new head for her daughter out of white clay this chap is eating an apple. and this final chap is playing peek-a-boo through his armbands. link | Comments (0) |...

Having been cleared of any impropriety over the free flights issue, Julia Bradbury returned as a presenter on Watchdog yesterday. Julia, who is now 2 years older than was previously thought, was the first female presenter on Channel 5 in 1997. She is also known for her opposition to inheritance tax and her heavy periods. And she is also on Countryfile, and spends lots of time walking along old railways.In the new Radio Times, TV editor Alison Graham describes Bradbury as "slightly scary". Er, this is Alison Graham...

It is always a pleasure to receive Slightly Foxed in the morning post. The current edition (Spring 2009) of Slightly Foxed magazine specialises as usual in short articles by a variety of writers and book-lovers on authors of the past century.   Such is the pace of book publishing that it is very easy to forget good writers of even a few years ago and Slightly Foxed provides a place where their work can be rememberd and commemorated.  For example, the current edition has excellent article by Jenny Erdal  on the writer Peter de Vries, whose 1960's book Blood of the Lamb is a modern classic, recently republished by the University of Chicago press.  The article, "A Serial Offender" reminds us of Arthur Koestler and his book Darkness at Noon, which is based on one man's experience of...

The Barry & District News is a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in the town of Barry in South Wales and in neighbouring parts of the Vale of Glamorgan, including the smaller towns of Rhoose and Bonvilston. It was founded 110 years ago. It’s published by Newsquest (Wales and Gloucestershire), from editorial offices in Barry. It’s part of a two-title group together with the slightly older Penarth Times, whose slightly smaller circulation covers Penarth and Dinas Powys. It comes out on Thursdays. Website: http://www.barryanddistrictnews.co.uk/ Address: Barry & District News 156 Holton Road BARRY South Wales CF63 4TY Tel: 01446 733456 Fax: 01446 732719...

Have you ever watched a football match where the result went against the run of play?  Or fancied a bird whose face was constructed from the Pam Ayres book of beauty?  Or eaten something like a Seekh Kebab that looks like a dog turd but tastes bloody lovely? This wine has all the essence of a classic Pinot Noir - raspberries, strawberries, compost, a little zing but an unusual added ingredient.  It’s the sort of sensation you get from high meat, like a gamey pheasant, or perhaps a cheese that is almost, but not quite, overripe.  It is difficult to describe but it is gorgeous.  It creates tension in your taste buds - how can something that tastes slightly wrong be so right? I got this bottle from Majestic.  At the time of writing, on offer at £14.99 (normally £17.49). ...

This is a slighly Celtic household, as may be apparent from previous posts. Dr T is a Welshman through and through (until he looks at his family tree) and my father’s slightly distant family is Irish. So of course we have a huge claim on celebrating St Patrick’s Day here in rural Leicestershire. Which led to slightly drunken planning of our evening over dinner the other night and it’s going to involve the following: 1. A pint or three of Guinness 2. A follow up glass of Black Velvet 3. Beef in Guinness, possibly with potatoes 4. Riverdance, Enya and Clannad as a dinner soundtrack 5. Settling down to an evening of Finian’s Rainbow (my choice), Waking Ned (Dr T’s suggestion but going to enjoy it) and then a Father Ted...

Compass don't seem to be making very much of the poll they got YouGov to do of Labour Party members.This is not surprising when you read the detailed results: http://www.yougov.co.uk/archives/pdf/Compass-FEB09_results.pdfParty members don't want post office part-privatisation, and are keen on a windfall tax, but aside from that their views will have contradicted Compass' soft left world view:They overwhelmingly think Gordon Brown is doing a good job.More of them think Lord Mandelson is going a good job than they do Harriet Harman!Only 11% say they are "very left wing" (Hard Left?) and a further 36% "fairly left wing" (Soft Left?), whilst 50% are either "slightly left-of-centre" or to the right of that.Younger members, women, middle class members and southerners are very slightly to the...

The number of new mortgages approved for home buyers picked up slightly in December, says the Bank of...