This next post will be written in the style of Sandi Toksvig

BBC in decency row over obscene joke by Sandi Toksvig

MPs have urged Ofcom to investigate standards at the BBC after bosses claimed that Radio 4 listeners would have taken “delight” in a joke about the most offensive word in the English language that was aired during the afternoon.

It seems Ms Toksvig has been a naughty girl on air and now all the righteous throng with too much time on their hands are up in air.
And what is this 'most offensive word in the English language' alluded to in the paragraph above? Well of course it's "Cunt".

The corporation received a complaint about the comment by the presenter Sandi Toksvig on The News Quiz but said the swear word had lost much of its “shock value” and references to it were suitable.
The executive who cleared the joke for daytime transmission said it would “delight” much of the show’s audience, adding that listeners would “love it”.

Well, to be honest, cunt is quite an offensive word. I could well understand complaints if someone said cunt before the watershed.
The thing is, she didn't say cunt. Oh no. This is what she actually said:

"The Tories put the N in cuts".

She didn't actually say the word cunt once. In fact, you would have to be very familiar with the word cunt if you were to understand that she was making reference to the word cunt in that sentence.

The BBC’s rejection of the complaint has angered MPs and campaigners, who called for greater regulation of potentially offensive content on radio.
Colin Harrow, a retired newspaper executive, complained to the BBC and the BBC Trust that the reference was offensive and unacceptable.
John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, called for Ofcom to investigate. “That word is way out in front in terms of people finding it offensive, and I think to broadcast it on radio at 6.30pm is inappropriate. Even though they did it by implication, nobody was left in any doubt about what was meant,” he said.

It wasn't a particularly funny joke, it wasn't a particularly imaginative joke and I'm sure it's been done already. This would probably have been forgotten within the hour if it weren't for the terminally offended having it bandied about the national newspapers.

[...] be aware of the risk that children might be listening, especially at such an early hour.

Always with the children. As if children don't swear. The little buggers who use the taxpayer funded playground opposite our house swear more than a pub full of Millwall fans.

And besides, what children listen to the News Quiz on Radio 4? Most children these days can't even spell radio.

Vivienne Pattison, of the Mediawatch-UK campaign group, said radio programmes, which are free of any controls, should be subject to a watershed. “This is in fact one of the only truly offensive terms we have left,” she said.

Nope. I can think of many more offensive terms than the word cunt.
Ban it. Censorship. Mediawatch UK. Member of Parliament. Vivienne Pattison. Mike Penning. European Union.

They're all a bunch of C...

Some people just don't know when to stop

Domestic violence. It works both ways.

Women's convictions for domestic violence 'double'

The number of women convicted of domestic violence in England and Wales has more than doubled in the past five years, an investigation by BBC Radio 5 live Breakfast has found.
Figures obtained from the Crown Prosecution Service showed that almost 4,000 women were successfully prosecuted in the past year, compared with 1,500 women in 2005, a 169% increase.

I blogged a couple of weeks ago about Lancashire Police and their desire to fit CCTV in the homes of people subject to domestic violence. I won't go back over the reasons why the scheme is wrong in so many ways, but at the time I did point out that men as well as women can be abused by their spouses. It may not be nearly as common but it happens with regularity and receives very little media attention.

Some experts say it is a worrying sign of the growing culture of violence among women, while others believe that men are now more likely to report that they have been beaten up by their wives and girlfriends than in previous years.

I would be willing to believe either of those theories. We are seeing an increasing culture of violence since Labour took away everybodys responsibility for their actions.

We are also seeing a change in social attitudes that may encourage men to report these instances rather than just sit on them.

I asked the question in my last post, what makes a woman stay with an abusive partner long enough that CCTV in the home to protect them becomes necessary.
I suggested that these women who refuse to do anything to help themselves by getting out of these relationships are beyond the help of the state.

Constant police attention and investigation takes time and money that could be spent detecting and preventing crime. I know domestic violence is a crime and a serious one at that, but it is not the remit of the police to babysit a person who insists on living with an abusive partner.

It seems it works the same for men:

Peter says he was physically and emotionally abused by his wife for almost a year.
But after finally calling the police, he could not bring himself to press charges.
He had to sleep for months lying in the same position, on his back. If he turned his back his wife would punch and kick him.
Peter says the first incident of violence took him completely by surprise.
"I wasn't expecting the punch on the face. I wasn't expecting somebody hitting me so fast.
"You know when you love someone so much and you just believe they can just change? I was hoping she would change," he says.

And that begs a question. Where do we go now?

It is unclear why the conviction rates for women committing domestic violence are increasing, but organisations that offer help to male victims are sparse.
One charity that does is Mankind, which says there are just over 70 bed spaces in 20 refuges or safe houses for male victims in the UK, compared with 7,500 for women.

There exists a very large infrastructure centered on helping female victims of domestic abuse.
In the interests of equality, should we now ensure that the same service is provided for men? Men who refuse to leave their partners, men who refuse to press charges when they have been violently assaulted by a woman.

Or should the whole thing be scaled back? Should there be clear parameters for dealing with domestic violence such as leaving an abusive partner and pressing charges before the weight of the tax payer funded  charity and support service comes to bear in your defence.

I am glad that more men are reporting abuse. I am apprehensive about what we intend to do with that.

You can strike if you want to.

Vince Cable to warn GMB against co-ordinated strikes

Business secretary Vince Cable is to warn delegates at the GMB union's conference that co-ordinated strike action may lead to tougher union laws.

Union leaders have warned that there could be strike action taken by 750,000 public sector workers on 30 June.

So as we face huge strike action from the public sector, Vince Cable proposes taking power away from the unions through further legislation.

I would propose a much simpler and much more effective solution. Tell the public sector, "Strike if you want to. Any of you who are not missed will find your positions terminated".

GMB general secretary Paul Kenny told the BBC [...]

"I don't think that any strike in this country could inflict the sort of economic damage on our country that the banks and finance houses and frankly current government policy have done," he said.

I don't think they will inflict much damage either. Most of the people who will be out on strike, do nowt anyway.

"It's funny how ministers encourage strikes in Egypt and places like that, but they want to ban them in Britain."

Interesting. In 'Egypt and places like that', the action was against a totalitarian government that they wanted out, to be replaced by democracy.

Your strike action is for the right to be given a living from other peoples money.

Not quite as moral a standpoint is it.

Bring on the strikes.

Sunday pub quiz *Answers*

Another lazy Sunday, another pub quiz. I really should be working on my kitchen...
Here goes and no cheating.

Q1)What film does this still shot come from?

Terminator 3

Q2) I've taken day off work after swallowing some ascorbic acid. What is ascorbic acid commonly known as?

Vitamin C

Q3) How many films were in the Friday 13th series? A bonus point for naming them all.

Including Freddie Vs Jason there were 11 fims in the series. I'll name them later.

Q4) Name this actor:

James Spader

Q5) If I have thirteen pounds in one pocket and twenty five pounds in the other, what do I have?

Somebody elses pants on

Q6) In the clip below, Max and Paddy get the answer to this quiz question wrong. What is the correct answer.

Berlin - Take my breath away

Q7) Who wrote Lorna Doone?

R.D. Blackmore

Q8) Identify the brand from this picture:

Guinness

Q9) Which book begins with:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

Pride and Predudice - Jane Austen

Q10) Which quiz show is famous for the line, "Your starter for 10"?

University Challenge

Answers in the comments and the red pen will come out later.

Saturday (I don't want to blog about politics) night

Had a poker night last night with a couple of new faces. Poker nights always seem to give me a bad head in the morning. I don't know why, I don't drink any more than usual. I think it must be the huge amount of cigars that get smoked.

Robbie the Roofer came round this morning while I was still in bed with a bad head. We have had quite a serious leak in the bathroom that he came round to fix. (£30. It's not what you know...)

I was quite happy to leave the leak alone, it was dripping straight into the toilet so wasn't causing a problem. It was Mrs Bucko who made me get it done because she'd had enough of it dripping on her when she went for a pee.

I offered her a cheaper alternative but she was having none of it:

Still, can't grumble at thirty quid.

She went to keighly this morning while I was trying to pretend to the roofer that I didn't have a hangover. We bought a sink for the new kitchen off ebay. That was also £30, it seems to be the theme for today. Another bargain too. Sink with double bowl, mixer tap and waste pipes. Bargain!

It's our anniversary tomorrow so we are off for a meal this evening. That is also an exercise in saving money apparently.

Mrs Bucko has picked the local tapas restaurant. She always picks where we go, why is that? Anyone would think wedding anniversary's are for the female only.

She picked the tapas bar because it's twelve quid for all you can eat. Apparently that is saving money. I pointed out that if we went to the local curry house or Chinese and spent a tenner on a meal, we wouldn't be able to eat it all.

Some concepts go straight over the head.

It may be all you can eat but they get any losses back on the price of a pint. They have a really thin doorway too. I bet fat people struggle to get in.

Anyway, I'm off to make myself look good now. Jeans and a t-shirt are strictly off limits tonight.

I'll be back when I've eaten all I can and saved some money doing it. I wonder if it will cost thirty quid?

New site

I've created a new site where you can access news and current affairs from the same page.
It includes four embedded news TV channels plus links to UK daily newspapers.

The idea is to be able to access news from a wide range of sources, all from the same web page.

The newspapers are in links on the sidebar and the TV channels can be accessed from the page links at the top.

It's still way in it's infancy and only a test project so any and all input and ideas would be valued.

The site can be accessed via the 'World News' page link at the top of the blog.

Friday night Moose music - The evening session

As requested:



And:

Friday night Moose music - Get down and boogie edition

Friday night Moose music - One hit wonders

Julia reminded me last week of a good little one hitter.

Prefab Sprout did release a number of singles but only one of them ever made it into the top twenty. Hence, they qualify:



As it isn't Cars and Girls, the tune that Julia was talking about, which only made it to 44 in the UK charts, lets have that one too.

Feminists and bunnies

The Playboy Club opens again in London tomorrow. Quite predictably, a bunch of feminists who think they can tell other women what to do, are planning to protest the event.

The return of the bunnies has not been welcomed by all, especially women's rights groups UK Feminista and Object who have launched a campaign called 'Eff Off Hef'.
Anna van Heeswijk, campaigns manager for Object, said: "The Playboy Club degrades women as fluffy animals who are marketed as sexual playthings for wealthy men.
"There's nothing classy and sophisticated about sexualising and objectifying women as bunny rabbits.

Ok, so the feminists think it's all about objectifying women, but what do the women themselves think? I mean surely they are not forced to be playboy bunnies, they must want to do it. Am I right?

She was a psychology graduate looking to earn some extra money to fund her post-graduate degree, when she saw the ideal opportunity to earn a bit of cash.
The job advertisement Sara saw in the Metro newspaper last Christmas promised good pay as well as glamour, and it was something she had a passion for.
And now, about six months later and after beating nearly 3,000 other applicants, the 27-year-old from Manchester is about to start her new job - as a Playboy Bunny.

Hmm... It seems she went to an awful lot of trouble to get this job as a Playboy Bunny. It also seems that a large number of other women were also willing to go to these lengths to become Bunnies themselves.

Objectifying women? 3000 applicants don't seem to think so.

"I had a down moment just before Christmas, I was on the Tube and looked at the Metro and saw 'The bunnies are back'," she said.
Her "passion" for the "vintage idea of the 60s" led her to think she would be "a good Bunny".
Teresa, 27, a mother of two originally from Derbyshire, will work as a croupier with Sara.

It was the "glamour" of the brand which attracted her, and apart from the pay - which according to the Mayfair Croupier Academy website can be up to £30,000 a year - "the hours in which I work allows me to be a mother".

Be careful chuck, the feminists are trying desperately to take this opportunity away from you for your own good.

See:

"Hugh Hefner very much put himself forward as trying to create a liberation for men away from the home so the men could be the ultimate playboys and have as many girlfriends as they want and these girlfriends are dehumanised as bunny rabbits."

Sara: "Of course I am academic, (and) I consider myself an intelligent, articulate person but I am also allowed to have fun and to feel like a woman."

I would be careful with your use of the word fun. The righteous tend to get all anal on anyone who wants to have a bit of fun these days. Fun cannot be allowed.

Miss Heeswijk said: "The protest is not geared towards the Bunnies at all. Our focus is on the industry which makes money out of degrading and exploiting women."

No love, it's just because you have nowt better to do in your very boring and conformist life. Have a beer and light up a fag, you might start to see things differently.

More than 100 women have promised to join the 'Eff Off, Hef' protest at the launch of the club.

I think the Bunny Girls should serve these protesters tea and coffee while they are there.

Looking to the future, Sara said: "I would like to have a doctorate in clinical psychology and practice within the NHS, but you never know with life."

And the very best of luck to you.

Reasons to persecute the motorist

More children hurt on Lancashire's roads

When I read this headline I was reminded of Councillor Ashton.

Last year I blogged here and here about plans to introduce 20mph speed limits across all Lancashires residential roads.

The justification for this expensive nonsense came from Councillor Ashton when he talked about the 'thousands of people killed or injured on Lancashires roads'. I had a quick look at the figures from LCCs own website and the truth was very much different to the lie.

702 people had been killed or injured in the precious year and the figure was on a steady decline. I pointed this out to all I could think of including the Lancashire Telegraph who reported the story but it all fell on deaf ears.

Well Mr Ashton must still want his 20mph limits because another story justifying the same has appeared in the same excuse for a newspaper:

THE number of children injured on Lancashire’s roads increased last year, it has been revealed.

Official figures show the number of children injured on the roads went up by 6.4per cent, despite a string of initiatives.

6.4% of what? I'm not going to bother researching the answer this time. You will see why soon enough.
If accidents are on the increase it seems obvious that the 'string of initiatives' has not worked. I'm sure their answer to this will be another string of initiatives.

We have seen that the number of children injured went up by 6.4%. What about the number killed?

Are you ready for this?

However, the number of children killed on the roads dropped from

four

to

two.

Jeesus H Christ on a pony! TWO children were killed on the roads in the whole of Lancashire in an entire year.

Surely something must be done?

Oh...

Bosses said they were ‘absolutely determined’ to reduce the number, with more 20mph zones key to their plans.

There's still something missing here. I think the phrase goes, "If it saves just one life......."

County Coun Tim Ashton said: “If we can save just one child’s life, it will have been money well spent.”

Ahh... There it is.

You remember smug, 'I've just had a happy wank', Councilor Ashton from my previous posts on the subject? He wants to spend our money enforcing 20mph speed limits across Lancashire to reduce the number of child deaths from the dizzy heights of two.

The Lancashire Telegraph’s Wasted Lives campaign aims to change the law to reduce the number of young people killed on the roads.

And while successive governments have backed away from the proposals, which include a graduated licences scheme, are widely backed by experts, a hard-hitting educational scheme is having a positive effect on youngsters’ attitudes.

And the Telegraph, not happy with just reporting the news take the opportunity to big up their holier than thou plan to make driving even more difficult for young people, regardless of their attitude to safe motoring.

You may expect the sheep in comments to love this idea. Not this time:

happycyclist, Darwen says...
11:48am Wed 1 Jun 11
The number of young kids I've seen running and cycling straight out into the road without looking in Darwen recently is unbelievable. Does nobody teach them road safety anymore?

Very true, and most of the other commenters agree with the Happy Cyclist.

Most.

jack daniels, off work, and still drinking responsibly. says...
4:50pm Wed 1 Jun 11

What you fail to mention is the moronic drivers out there who don't slow down for pedestrians, don't stop at crossings, and don't even bother to look before turning into a junction. Good driving reduces the risk of an accident and there are not that many careful drivers around these days.

Check out that guys name. I bet he hates smokers too.


I don't mean to belittle the deaths of two children with this post, however I beleive the response to a problem needs to be proportionate. This proposed response is certainly not that.

Help

I want to change the comments so that when someone comments as 'Anonymous' it says something other than anonymous.

Does anyone know if it can be done?