New Year Honours - Gay campaigners recognised

A police officer with the Metropolitan Police and the mother of a gay son who campaigned for the repeal of 'Section 28' have been honoured in the New Year Honours List, issued in the name of Her Majesty the Queen.

The MBE awarded to Inspector Paul Martin Cahill of the Metropolitan Police is for:

"services to diversity within the police and to the wider gay community."

The MBE awarded to Mrs Anne Patrizio is for:

"services to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Scotland."

It is good to be able to end the year on a positive note.

Happy new year to all! May 2004 and beyond be peaceful, happy and prosperous for you.

Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

I saw this on Saturday, a long-anticipated post-Christmas treat. I'm pleased to say it was excellent. I'd say it was very good indeed, far better than 'The Two Towers', and almost as good as 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. All in all, I think the whole trilogy has been marvellous and far better than I could have imagined.

As someone who knows the book quite well (I have read it many times), Peter Jackson has of course had to omit or elide much of the detail when transferring it to screen. I have tried not to let this get in the way of my enjoyment of the filmed version. Not too difficult, because Jackson obviously loves the book too, and has done his job with some sensitivity. It remains to be seen whether 'The Hobbit' will be filmed, too, as has been rumoured. I read it long after having read LOTR and consider it not in the same league - but it should still make a good, if much less complex, movie.

Brief hiatus until after Christmas

As it is coming up to the Festive Season, I am going to take a short break until a few days after Christmas, but I leave you with this:

With all good wishes for a Joyous Christmas and a Peaceful, Happy and Prosperous New Year My Christmas tree this year

Ian Huntley convicted of double-murder of Holly and Jessica

Ian Huntley was today convicted of the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman and given two life sentences. The two Soham schoolgirls were 'enticed' into Huntley's home, where they both perished. Summing up and sentencing Huntley, Mr Justice Moses told him:

The horror of knowing what probable fate awaits you "One of these girls died knowing her friend had been attacked or killed by you."

Watching the hostile press conference given by Chief Constable David Westwood of Humberside Police this afternoon, it is clear that whilst there may have been some failing on the part of Humberside Police operational proceudres, the major problem seems to hinge upon the conflict in public policy between the right to privacy, guaranteed by the Data Protection Act, and the retention and use of information which may be made in order to make employment and other police checks, specially in cases such as Huntley where he had never been convicted of an offence, although it seems he had been repeatedly suspected (and on one or two occasions, accused) of crimes of a sexual nature.

However much the journalists at this press conference may wish to make it seem as if major failings or negligence on the part of Humberside Police could, if avoided, have prevented these horrific murders (because Huntley would never have been able to gain employment as a school caretaker, in the first place) the reality is much more complex. I believe that it will be no easy matter to frame changes to legislation to serve the dual purposes of enhancing the protection of vulnerable people such as children, the elderly or mentally disadvantaged, etc, and ensuring that individual rights are not unnecessarily infringed. Journalists would be the first to want to investigate cases where a police force had overstepped their legal authority in carrying out an investigation or misused information they may have held from time to time about any individual.

Atkins Low Carbohydrate Diet - Week 26

I moved from 'Ongoing Weight Loss' (OWL) to 'Pre-maintenance' (PRM), the 3rd stage of this 'way of eating' (WOE) during last week, as my weight had dropped to within 7 lb of my target weight. For the week as a whole I had reasonable results, losing a further 0.4kg (0.9lb), and my weight is now (as at Sunday 14th December) 68.0kg, a reduction of 30.0kg since I began (or 66.2lb) - I now have 3.0kg (6.6lb) to reach my target of 65kg. Measurement indicators for the week:
- waist down a further 0.2 inches to 32.1 inches (total reduction so far 12.9 inches);
- hips down 0.3 inches to 39.2 inches (total reduction so far 9.3 inches);
- thighs down 0.1 inches to 22.6 inches (total reduction so far 5.9 inches).

Between moving from OWL to PRM during last week, and last Sunday, my weight hardly changed. Because the changes are now so minor it is difficult to tell over only a few days what precisely is occurring - and I am trying not to become too agitated about the matter. In the last couple of days I am pretty certain my weight has begun to edge down again a little (perhaps by 0.2kg, o.4lb) and if I could achieve this very gradual loss consistently between now and end-March 2004 I would reach my target at roughly the correct pace, but in reality I expect that I will lose more weight some weeks, and little or nothing in other weeks. If the worst happens and I notice a slight increase over a few weeks, I am pretty confident I will be able to make the necessary dietary adjustments to put me back on track. One of the marvellous things about this WOE is that I am now, for the first time in my life, in control of my appetite. So the likelihood that I will start to 'binge' on food again, ever, is pretty remote. Even over the coming Christmas period I do not anticipate major problems in this regard, even though I shall be doing a lot of entertaining over this time. In practice I have found it quite easy to modify menus to suit both the requirements of 'Atkins' and those not on a carbohydrate-contolled diet. In practice, I think I shall be eating somewhere between 45g and 50g carb a day in order to do PRM successfully, but I shall not know exactly until I have spent several weeks at this level.

Because I am now on PRM I do not plan to do a regular weekly report from now on, but will instead post a report here only once every two or three weeks.

Vatican hierarchy obliged to listen to some necessary home truths

US singer Lauryn Hill told an audience of 7,500 in the Vatican, at the start of her performance during a Christmas concert, that the Church leadership was corrupt. It is about time that someone had the courage to 'tell it like it is' to this sick organisation. Quite obviously there was a stunned and negative reaction to what she said. So sorry, but I have no sympathy at all for them. (Link thru Matt Drudge)

Andrew Sullivan reveals his true motivation

I have just read the following posting in Andrew Sullivan's blog. It makes clear that, as I have long suspected, his antipathy to the EU and its growth and strengthening is not merely a philosophical dislike, but based on his assessment of the potential consequences for his adopted country. Nothing particularly wrong with that, base self-interest is an important component of any human interaction, but it does mean that I can now factor in this important element to anything that Sullivan writes about the EU in future, and probably about many other topics which exercise him, too:

Sullivan comes clean "NEW EUROPE WINS: The plucky Spanish and Poles stick to their guns and help derail a new constitution for the EU. Good news for the U.S. But the process isn't over. Old Europe will try to put it back together again. Instant analysis: the 25 state EU is unmanageable. It either has to become a far more integrated political and economic unit or it will fracture. Given the fact that even France and Germany cannot abide by the fiscal rules they themselves insisted upon only a few years ago, the chances of a real unraveling are not as low as they once were. Here's hoping."

Of course, in this particular instance, I understand fully the Polish attitude (as I have written in a couple of my recent postings) and consider they have behaved quite correctly in this whole matter, but the difference between me and Sullivan is that I wish the EU and its member-states well; I now have severe doubts that this can be said of him. It is one thing to think that people are embarked on a path which is not in their own best interests and wish, as a friend, to help them see the error of their ways, it is quite another simply to wish them to fail for one's own reasons of self-interest. In this Sullivan is no better than the motives he attributes to the French, probably with some justification in that case I would have to agree.

Paul Bremer: "We got him."



Paul Bremer, US chief administrator in Iraq began a press conference in Baghdad, about one hour ago, with these words: "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him".

Reports (unconfirmed) that Saddam Hussein has been captured in Tikrit

Reuters is reporting that they have reports that Saddam Hussein has been arrested in his home town of Tikrit.

It seems the reports come through IRNA (Iran News Agency) who are quoting remarks from Kurdish sources. If this report turns out to be true it will be both surprising (that he has been captured in Tikrit itself) and wonderful. I hope he has been arrested alive so he can be tried and humiliated before the Iraqi people - they, above all, need to know that the worst of their nightmare is over (if it is).

EU Constitution - summit ends in failure (or success, if you take a different view)

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, currently chairing, today called it a day as the disagreement on fundamental matters proved too great for there to be any hope of compromise being reached.

Some of the reaction to what has happened is illuminating, particularly this one from what I assume to be a German politician:

EU Member of Parliament Klaus Haensch "Poland and Spain have shown they are not at the level of European history."

Such arrogance!

As I wrote back in June this year, of the EU draft constitution: "... we need one, but Giscard d'Estaing's effort ain't it".