The One Show

Or better known as "what's the cheapest half hour of TV we can put on that nobody is going to care about".

Still I do watch it occasionally, and sometimes the reports are interesting - the studio guest always feels a bit forced, they are usually plugging something or other and really could not care about the issues being reported on.

Adrian Chiles is a man who has gone far, and I don't mind him. But I want him to earn that big salary that is reported. Last Friday his chance came, a remote link to the other presenter failed, camera back to Chiles. I thought "say something man! - this is your chance to earn that salary!". Cue awkward silence, and fumbling apology.

This is my "extra post" I need before 10 in December to make it 100 posts in 2009.

Trouble ahead

Trouble ahead and behind us, although it maybe the pending collapse of Dubai is just a symptom of what has gone previously. Still at least they know how to handle this sort of situation in paradise, go on holiday. Our lot would have spent the weekend cooking up short term fixes.

There is an interesting prisoner's dilemma building between the Labour goverment and Tory opposition. Neither wants to admit about the need to slash the public sector to even have a hope of making the repayments needed for the bank bailout.

Time for an independent body to scrutinize the pledges they make and see if they are credible.

Wikipedia - past it's peak?

Having read some reports that contributors were leaving Wikipedia, supposedly unhappy with the stricter review system, the talk is now that the site is to wither and die off.

This would be a real shame, despite inaccuracies I've always found very useful information on it and always been surprised by the coverage of topics even quite obscure things.

Go Nuclear - Take 2

An interesting piece on Newsnight about Britain's bid to now build 10 nuclear reactors in the next 20 years. It gave a report of Finland and their reactor project which is a few years behind schedule and on which we are basing our designs.

A reactor has never been built to time in this country, they are complex projects. Also it is probably a good example of the skills simply not existing in enough quantity to be able to do the projects that quickly (we have not looked after or maintained people with the skills, there has been no major construction of these things for tens of years).

Still none of this deterred the government representative who those the first reactor being online in 2017 was achievable. He made some points about keeping check on safety during construction rather than in the later stages as was the case in Finland.

Of course if it is not online by 2017, the lights could go out?

Paul Hart fired as Portmouth Manager

I feel I ought to track this, fired today Portsmouth get through another manager.

Probably should have seen this coming, Avram Grant in the wings as director of football. Hart had a tough time with most of the squad getting sold off in the summer, and all the financial uncertainty.

Still performances had been good, results poor - premiership survival hangs in the balance.

EU Presidency

I thought for the first time I saw the reason for this greater European integration. Politicians can absolve themselves of all that rather tedious getting elected because people want you to govern.

I would actually consider myself mildly pro-European, but the whole presidency thing with Blair and now some complete unknowns taking the reigns really makes me wonder on the democratic angle of it all. Brown was asked just this in a press conference and could only weakly say "well you've elected the 12 nations leaders, and we get to decide". Thanks do we need another House of Lords type arrangement?

A great mis-attributed quote as well from Henry Kissinger:

"Who do I call if I want to speak to Europe?"

Well just some also ran non elected representatives, is that alright?

Windows 7

I've not had much direct experience of Vista, having used it for about an hour in total setting up a laptop. Now I got the chance to do an upgrade from a new laptop from Vista to Windows 7.

It all went pretty smoothly, I have to say Microsoft have improved their O/S installation a lot over the years. Vista already installed did feel a little sluggish, and there's no excuse for that on the hardware involved.

So doing an install means I get to choose what I want to have on the machine, i.e. drop all the crapware that keeps on bringing up pop ups insisting on attention. Even so the amount of things that want to put a toolbar in the browser for you is annoying and I can see why normal users get bemused by it all.

I did play for a bit with Windows 7 itself, a few neat bits of UI - easy sizing of windows, the docking of windows on the taskbar. Nothing major though, I think Microsoft may have just rescued itself with this release.

Film: Unforgiven by Clint Eastwood

This film has got me out of a very bad run of films, Rocky and Dune, and a good chance to see an Eastwood film from the 90s that I never saw first time round.

A good story about a washed up gun fighter who is failing to make a living as a farmer returning to his previous trade to get justice (and a bounty) for the heads of two cowboys. It portrays a gritty hard life of the West and Eastwoods characters transformation from quiet life back to gunslinger.

Good paced film and locations, some great performances by Gene Hackman and Robert Harris also, a very worthy 8/10.

Go Nuclear!

Well at last our government has seen the light, or maybe the prospect of the lights going out.

It is a basic premise:

Renewables are not going to provide enough to meet our power demands because the wind is not always blowing.

The penny now seems to have dropped and I am not saying we should have no renewable sources but maybe something to back them up would have always been essential.

Up to 10 nuclear power stations are to be planned, with fast tracked planning. As Newsnight says it has only taken three Labour government terms to set this up.

Bank Transaction Tax

Gordon Brown has come up with a proposed tax for banking trade transactions that would be like an insurance for when they were to find themselves next in difficulty. It has to be a worldwide thing to work, and initially the signs are it has gone down like a lead balloon.

On the face of it it almost seems a good idea (from a government on it's way out at least). But it really is just another tax opportunity, the countless billions raised by government would not be held in reserved but squandered on the political whims of the day (ID cards anyone?).

Film: Dune by David Lynch

I was lent this on DVD, and I vaguely remember seeing it in the 1980s and remembered it was a perplexing complex film.

It was still complex, but I could now see the faults in the make up of the film - it really is over complicated, has a ridiculous religious saviour like sub plot and was pretty terrible but compelling because of this.

Still as a piece of film history it was interesting, seeing some actors like Patrick Stewart and a rare appearance by a odd looking Sting. Probably one to watch once just to say you have 4/10