Brutality compounded

"They've done it, then" said the check-out assistant, glancing at the picture of the executed Saddam Hussein on the front page of the newspaper. I couldn't be certain, but she seemed to say it with a sense of smug satisfaction.

Saddam Hussein was a brutal and murderous dictator, of that I am quite sure. But I also believe that the war with Iraq was wrong, and I am pleased to have taken a small stand against that by going on the anti-war march with my daughter. I also believe that capital punishment is wrong as answering death with death is morally unjustifiable. Life imprisonment at least offers the chance of a human being to repent and change while protecting society from further harm. And, in this case, prevents the spectre of martydom.

Breakfast with Tiffany

Shopping in Sainsbury's today my eye was caught by a bold new sign on aisle 9 : Adult Cereals.

Looking further down the aisle helped at least marginally to put this into context, as there were also signs for Healthy Cereals (but perhaps not adult) and Children's Cereals.

It got me thinking what might be in the adult cereal box as a free gift. And also how pompous and judgmental some of the "life-style" advertising has become.

Shooting stars

A late-night walk up the lane under a wonderfully cold and starry sky. We talked about the night sky connecting us with our ancestors – that they would have looked up at the same sight (minus the odd satellite passing overhead) and perhaps tried to make sense of the patterns of the stars. It’s how the constellations got some of their names – the hunter, the great bear, the plough.

Orion was magnificently visible : a giant figure towering in the south-western sky. And we recognised some other constellations. Most magical of all were several shooting stars that blazed briefly, like a distant match being struck across the heavens.

It is a privilege to live in an area where light pollution is low, allowing the stars to dominate.

Express yourself

"Prisoners to get luxury Xmas" screamed the front page headline in The Express. The lead story (!) ran along the lines that rapists, murderers and paedophiles are to "tuck into 3 slap-up meals a day" over Christmas "at taxpayers' expense."

Take the "slap up" out of this story (and the definition of this was notable for its absence) and what you have is an account of people in prison getting 3 meals a day. At taxpayers' expense? Well, who thinks that anyone other than the Government pays for people's imprisonment? But the image cleverly created is of relaxed offenders lounging in their comfortable accommodation, choosing gourmet dishes from a lavish menu.

I've spent a lot of time on the wings of prisons, and The Express' version of events bears little relation to what I have observed. And I don't think any serving prisoners would recognise the description, either.

The lowbrow Express, and its slightly more upmarket viscious middle-England chum The Daily Mail, make a journalistic virtue out of this sort of recycled rubbish.

The pointed innenudo is that hard-working respectable folk are always missing out while jail birds / immigrants / benefit claimants (etc) live a life of Reilly.

The politics of misplaced envy and blame, with no attempt to get behind the simplistic and stereotypical rhetoric.

Hot air

Once upon a time, shops had entrance doors that opened and shut. Now the doors just stay open all the time - at least during trading hours.

I walked through a shopping arcade on a chilly day recently and every shop except one (an independent optician) had the doors wide open. And to speed up environmental warming just a bit more, most had hot air heaters air right over the entrance.

Even the charity shops seems to have caught the open door disease. And some (eg Body Shop, who really should know and do better) don't even have doors - just metal security shutters resulting in a huge open area at the front of the store.

A sensible energy insulation policy just doesn't come near a commercial business that makes a virtue of giving up so much heat.

I do understand a little of the thinking behind this and assume that, once one shop started making it easier for shoppers to come in (it's such a drag opening a door, after all...) others followed, all anxious not to lose customer advantage in the highly-competitive high street.

By the same token, it seems an excellent potential campaign for the public to get this reversed and start shaming companies for their cavalier attitude towards gross wastage of energy. Perhaps we could start by pointing out this folly to shop staff in the hope that the message might begin to filter through?

Green cheek

A combination of cleverly-presented statistics and slick PR makes for a startling claim by easyjet in today's paper.

The claim is that easyjet planes are responsible for 30% fewer emissions per passenger mile than traditional airlines. Then the killer summary: "So you can enjoy your holiday safe in the knowledge that you'll have done more for the environment..."

So that's it : fly easyjet and help save the planet. Want to be green? Then hop on a short-haul flight.

I'm in no position to question the comparison between easyjet and "traditional" airlines. But I'm very much in a position to question flying across Europe, as opposed to taking a train (often just as cheap, and quick when taking into account airport transfer times).

It's very clever marketing to dress up the gross environmental damage caused by flying as being green. But then easyjet have made a virtue of cheekiness, haven't they?

Self-employed burglars

Interviewed a heroin addict house burglar, who said that he was particularly desperate for drugs that day and needed to "earn" some money quickly. By which he meant, of course, go off thieving.

A particularly inelegant and inappropriate term to use in the circumstances of his particular employment, I thought. But I can see why he finds it an attractive description, as it both distances himself from the reality of his actions, and even gives his criminal endeavours a sort of moral worthyness and respectability. Except that I don't suppose he pays tax or national insurance contributions. There can't be many burglars who register their trade with Inland Revenue, I guess.