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"Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink". This line's been used so often it's become a joke, but it comes from Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the classic goth horror poem. Please read THIS article here."Ahead of its time , a tale of dark obsession", writes Duncan Wu. "There is something deeply primitive about the itinerant sea-dog in the poem. What could be more so than a man who commits a thoughtless act only to be punished for it eternally? “With my crossbow/I shot the albatross,” he says, giving no explanation. How often do we commit thoughtless acts we later regret? Coleridge’s insight is that sometimes we can neither know nor explain why we behave as we do. We act and then suffer the consequences. "See what I mean ? Excellent, evocative writing. I was so...

Britain would do well to follow the French example and pay people who take time off to look after a dying relative or partnerThe French state is not famous for sensitivity and tact, but this morning the parliament voted unanimously for a remarkably imaginative measure to make dying easier there. People who take time off to look after a relative or partner close to death will be entitled to an payment of €50 (£44) a day for 21 days. At a time when English politicians argue about a death tax, the French have got on and established a subsidy for the dying.It's not a huge sum of money. I don't think that's the point. There are incidental expenses and inconveniences when someone is dying but they are seldom immense. They matter far less than the grief and exhaustion which attend almost...

Irritatingly reasonable remarks from Michelle Obama have set firestorms of controversy alight. The First Lady spoke to Larry King Live, inflaming the hard-won cynical sentiments of Americans across the country with just 16 words:‘I try not to set opinions about people who I haven’t had any substantive interaction with.’The thoughtless display of even-handedness was jumped upon by other cable news networks in seconds, with hundreds of pundits who had never met her exploding in anger over comments on behalf of viewers they didn't know, complaining that the average, hard-working American simply doesn’t have time to be so far and balanced.Said one: ‘It’s an outrage, that this woman, in her ivory tower, should say such things – undercutting every...

Back in the early days of this blog, I did something thoughtless and cruel to my family and friends. I ran away. Sure I only lasted two weeks but I think that's a pretty damn good innings for a childish, melodramatic endeavour (Part One The Journey To Rome, Part Two The Journey Home). 8 years ago today I was in the town of Menton on the Cote D'Azur (that's southern France for the uninitiated), eating chicken and tomato panini's if memory serves me correctly. Whilst the memories are rather dark and foreboding, given that I was planning to kill myself at some point on the trip, I can now look back on them fondly. I'd given up all responsibilities, ever so briefly, and there was no family, no university, no work, nothing at all to worry about. Except for that damn black dog on...

[This is the headline over a report recently published on the Telegraph website. It reads in part:]UK Families Flight 103, the relatives' campaign group, will use human rights laws in a bid to uncover the truth about the terrorist attack, which claimed 270 lives in December 1988.The group has hired Gareth Peirce, the prominent human rights solicitor better known for her work representing terror suspects, to devise a legal strategy to secure the inquiry for which families have long campaigned.It is the first time the families have formally hired lawyers to pursue an inquiry.The development comes after Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, rejected the group's latest demands for an independent review of the bombing. He informed them of his decision in a letter, dated Christmas Eve, which was...

Well folks that’s your lot from Well Done Fillet. I quit. Like eating a well done fillet steak it may take moment to digest that news. After 2 and a bit years and nearly 700 posts I have decided to call it a day. I know what you’re thinking, “Why now? Why not last year?”. Pfft, whatever. My reasons, like trophies at Manchester United, are multitude. I have truly loved writing Well Done Fillet but bugger me it doesn’t half take it out of you and really does leave you with no free time for anything else. Like a politician forced to step down in disgrace I too want to spend time with family. Not specifically my family. But I also want to write about other things, there is more to life than waiters and chums of waiters or so I’m told. In a world filled...

An apology has been posted on facebook for the thread on Qatar Living which caused the recent outrage in Qatar.To All the Qataris who I have hurt and upset, I will repeat this one last time in the hopes that the sincere message will finally be accepted. I am deeply sorry for criticizing anything related to the celebration of your special day and using such a thoughtless choice of words and tone. It is very clear after the 2 days of hell that I have been going through that my words hurt and that they opened up a platform for more hurtful words. I am grieving as a Muslim to know that my brothers and sisters feel such anger, outrage and hurt for something I did.A number of Qataris accepted the apology, some very graciously, with one writing:Apology accepted and the case is dismissed :) Thank...

The Lenovo Thinkpad likes to see itself as pretty sturdy. I guess it can take the knocks and scrapes of everyday life well enough – but I’d never think to install them as seats on buses and tram shuttles! The notebooks have been given the bum deal (heh!) as part of a campaign created by Ogilvy Frankfurt. They laptops were installed in buses and tram shuttles that were transporting prospective buyers to Lenovo Roadshows all over Germany. The buses were sat waiting by train stations and airports to get visitors to the events and offered the passengers the chance to surf the web or just take the weight off their feet. I’d be a little unsure whether a thoughtless clench could format the drive. I wonder if anyone managed to use the trackpad whilst reading a paper...

Another look at the careless use of language that so often offends the mentally ill... we thought back to the books we were brought up with. Little Black Sambo; Noddy always being chased by golliwogs and so on. We also took it all for granted but it was not quite right. It was not right at all; engrained stereotypes, the thoughtless use of words and pictures with their subtle, insidious undertones….The Guardian, Tuesday 24 November...

1. Counting Cats reports from beyond Pollydome. 2. Old Holborn discovers a new breed of government bureaucrat. 3. The Adam Smith Institute loves Mormons. 4. Enemies of Reason enjoys some panic porn. 5. A Tangled Web discusses Sarah Palin’s thoughtless slogans....

Peter Hitchens has written a good piece on prisons. I don’t agree with parts of it, and it has its usual Hitchenesque flourishes (blaming rock music and so forth), but is a much more thoughtful piece than I expected. Mr. Hitchens asks what is the point of modern-day prisons, and avoids the usual tabloid line of claiming that prisons are simply recreational camps: This is not to say (as I will be accused of saying by thoughtless contributors) that the prisons are nice places to be. As long as the prisons are warehouses, they will be squalid, fearful and ineffectual. Readers of this weblog would hate prison. It is not a ‘holiday camp’, but a sort of hell, where the worst rule, and so do not suffer. Actual criminals, men of violence, cruelty and guile, flourish in the...

1. Sara Bedford despairs at the number of stupid and thoughtless parents. 2. Events Dear Boy explains what Gordon Brown and The Sun have in common. 3. Man In A Shed suspects that evil Tories enjoy drowning kittens. 4. Next Left thinks independent election candidates can be all too easily embarrassed. 5. Sharpe’s Opinion says having opinions about politics is completely pointless....

What fresh hell is this? I mean, this has to be one of those late night, pot-fuelled Photoshop mock-ups that somebody accidentally puts online, and then somebody accidentally starts manufacturing them, and then Amazon accidentally agrees to sell them? Right? Because there is absolutely no evidence, scientific or anecdotal, to suggest that what the world needs is a wireless device for Twitter… and nothing else: So then. Twitterpeek is for that very special somebody who is so smitten with Twitter that they’re just itching to blow £125 on a device that has no other functionality whatsoever, but isn’t aware they can enjoy a better UI and feature set through any one of a dozen apps available on a myriad of handsets. Puts Smart Phones and Twitter Apps to Shame! This is...

Joy. Last night I foolishly put my head above the parapet to get my feelings across to two errant members of my family. As I've said before my Mum and step dad are smack bang in the middle of a divorce. There is some conflict over housing occuring at the moment and Mum is pretty stressed out about it. A few weeks ago two of my Uncle's (on my Mum's side of the family) arranged publicly to go out with my step Dad for drinks. I let that pass, but found out from Mum how upsetting it had been to see it. Yesterday Jim pointed out they were doing it again. This really angered me and I felt it was so totally thoughtless. So I dropped them both messages through Facebook expressing my displeasure pretty forcefully and telling them to be more discrete. I didn't tell them to stop seeing my step...

Halloween may seem like a harmless bit of fun for most of us – but one Scarborough man has been warned it could cost him his life. John Stafford, 54, has such a bad case of arachnophobia that his doctor has told him that even Halloween displays in shop windows could give him a fatal heart attack.Mr Stafford, who is so scared of spying a spider that he is forced to stay indoors during the fright-night festivities, told the Evening News: "When I tell shop owners about it they think it's funny, but it's not a laughing matter. I stop breathing and pass out, it's just terrifying."I've had the condition all my life. I've tried everything – hypnosis, pills – but nothing makes it better." Mr Stafford, who moved to Scarborough from Strood in Kent in August, says that a doctor has warned him...

24/ 7 got those demons in my headAsleep or awake its all the sameI’m not feeling sorry for myselfNot looking for someone to blameSurely death will give me peace?Or am I already there?Walking this earth with PTSDNext to the man without a careI’m jealous of his happy lifeNice house and steady jobBig Brother soccer and down the pubHis sanity has not been robbedUntil the day he takes the pissOne look one thoughtless remarkHe’s put me back on the battlefieldTo him a silly larkI should have stayed at home that dayWith the demons in my headInstead I went into your worldI’m sorry you’ve ended up dead.© Tony McNallyWatching Men Burn: The Falklands War, and What Came Next a Soldier's Story...

My post on Broadstairs Folk Week attracted a lot of comments. I am pleased my correspondent Matt was correct that there may be plans afoot to move the festival. The Isle of Thanet Gazette picked up on this and in Friday's paper wrote:Jo Tuffs, Broadstairs Folk Festival Director said: 'The festival committee would meet in September to...decide whether it is viable to continue to hold the festival in the town'. 'Rumours this could be the last Folk Week in Broadstairs have not been ruled out'Interesting that neither myself as a councillor nor Cllr. Chris Wells who is far more familiar with Broadstairs had heard of this. It shows the value of being able to blog as a councillor. I am grateful to Matt for the story. My picture is of the Hobby Horse Club which went down a storm with the children...

There was a report in the Daily Telegraph last year saying that the Churches Conservation Trust blamed the urban road schemes of the 1960s and 1970s for the decline in congregations.It quoted Crispin Truman, the Trust's chief executive, as saying:"Dwindling congregations is often cited as the reason churches are closed, but they are actually being destroyed because planning authorities came up with thoughtless road schemes that physically cut them off from their communities," he said."We think about the disastrous impact 60s tower blocks have had on skylines, but we should think of these road schemes in the same way."I am sure there is more to the decline of church going than that (and I am not sure about his grammar either), but he certainly has a point.In Leicester the ring road cut off...

We reported last week on how Amazon tinkered with customer’s Kindles to resolve their own dispute with George Orwell’s estate for selling copyright material of the author’s work. After selling unofficial copies of 1984 and other novels through their US site - material that is still protected in the States by copyright law - Amazon deleted the works from Kindle accounts without permission, instead of compensating the estate for sales to date and withdrawing the material from the store. But rather than putting his fingers in his ears and hoping everyone would just go way, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has posted a frank apology on the site, describing the actions of his company as “stupid, thoughtless and painfully out of line”: How refreshing to see the CEO of one of...

Brands, pay attention. This is how it's done. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com, has issued an apology for deleting copies of novels from their users' Kindle e-book readers. Here is the text of his apology:This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our "solution" to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.With deep apology to our customers,Jeff BezosFounder & CEOAmazon.com The customer comments on the forum where this was posted have been predominantly positive. Customers...

Removel of those who insult the glorious leader and those who work for the communist New Labour dictatorshit.Lisa Greenwood, an office administrator at the Department of Children, Schools and Families, posted an anonymous message on the internet at the height of the furore over abuse of the second home allowances.It was traced to her work email account and the 38-year-old was initially suspended before being fired from her £16,000 post.Miss Greenwood, from Widnes in Cheshire, had been angered by Miss Blears's ability to avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of her designated second home.Miss Blears wrote out a cheque for more than £13,000 to cover capital gains tax - claiming she had done nothing wrong - before resigning from her job as communities minister on the eve of the...

Former minister Hazel Blears has been backed by her party rank and file after a vote of no confidence to deselect her was defeated.Blears faced deselection if she had lost the vote at the crunch meeting of her constituency Labour party.Members of the party in Salford were allowed to air their views on the MP but only branch delegates had a vote on the no confidence motion - which was overwhelmingly defeated at the meeting at Salford civic centre in Swinton.The former communities secretary had already been damaged by the expenses scandal, but further angered party workers by walking out of the cabinet on the eve of the local elections.She received backing from senior figures in her constituency association in the wake of the expenses revelations, but support is not universal - prompting...

This stupid ignorant bitch Annika Avery who blocked an ambulance with blue flashing lights and sirens going has to be one of the most thoughtless and selfish people...

So here we have the edifying spectacle of Hazel Blears with an onion in her hankie and her hand on her heart of stone. After a week of reflection she’s admitted to being ’stupid’. Glad we’re now all on the same page, Hazel, if nothing else. The thing is, one has to wonder if Hazel’s resignation had led to Gordon Brown getting the heave-ho, whether she’d now be turning on the waterworks in public, expressing regret about poncing around the place wearing that look-at-me-aren’t-I-the-clever-one badge, and telling us she’d been ‘thoughtless and quite cruel‘ towards the former Prime Minister. As things stand, we’re left to wonder just what it was that prompted this crisis of confidence in the usually bullish and never-wrong Ms...

David Clark, the Chief Executive of SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers) has made a splash by dipping his toe into the world of blogging by tackling the challenges of social work in the face of a lack of political support. To put it more plainly, he explains that some of the problems of recruitment to social work and in particular social work in children’s services may have been exacerbated by the thoughtless and attention-grabbing words of the government and her representatives saying Anybody who witnessed the disgusting spectacle of politicians pillorying the social work profession after the death of Baby P cannot help but be revolted. Pandering to certain sections of the media, politicians of varying political hues were happy to put the boot in to...

Burke's representative relation, by which one individual rules in the place of many and in the name of their interests is now so contorted that three million children in one of the world's richest democracies live in poverty; so corrupted that elected officials clean their moats with public money while over two million people look for work; so subverted that one hundred billion pounds has been pumped into banks saddling the British people with debt while bankers' wages resume their precipitous rise. Taken from an OurKingdom article by George Gabriel.It describes the situation perfectly and is wholly appropriate to describe the situation in the Duchy with both the establishment and political classes. What went through Julia's mind when she used tax payers money to buy that rocking chair?...

When I hear certain people (e.g. Jeremy Clarkson from BBC Top Gear) dismissively talk about cyclists. I often wish they could be made to spend 10 or 20 hours cycling around London. Many drivers have no empathy for a cyclists’ perspective and this is a big factor in causing bad / thoughtless driving. As a cyclist you soon learn how intimidating it can be when cars / buses pass very close or drive on the wrong side of the road e.t.c. When I drive, I instinctively give cyclists as much room as I would want if I was on a bike. If more motorists had that perspective of also being a cyclist then I’m sure that their driving would become more careful and thoughtful. It is very difficult for legislation to change drivers attitudes. The best method is to experience other forms of...

Well folks that's your lot from Well Done Fillet. I quit.Like eating a well done fillet steak it may take moment to digest that news.After 2 and a bit years and nearly 700 posts I have decided to call it a day. I know what you're thinking, "Why now? Why not last year?". Pfft, whatever. My reasons, like trophies at Manchester United, are multitude.I have truly loved writing Well Done Fillet but bugger me it doesn't half take it out of you and really does leave you with no free time for anything else. Like a politician forced to step down in disgrace I too want to spend time with family. Not specifically my family. But I also want to write about other things, there is more to life than waiters and chums of waiters or so I'm told. In a world filled with sheep and crooked politicians and...

Pragmatic Life I have an idea for a website called "pragmatic life", she said, and it has to do with all the things we really did, even if we regretted them afterward. I am not saying we shouldn't do those things; I am talking about the people who actually did them. You can stand on ceremony and declare that they were naive, or misguided, or thoughtless, or stupid; but the fact remains, that was their life, all the same. And when you hold up that life against a life that is, for want of a better word "undeviant", you see the difference. It is a life, for good or ill, with a greater standard...