Full news on her own website, but today B said her “Affirmation of allegiance” and gained British Nationality. She was a little unhappy about having to pledge allegiance to the Queen so I’ve made a minor edit to the original picture.
I commented that a lot of our government clearly have not had to make such a pledge themselves. If they too had to respect democracy and freedom I think we’d be hearing rather less about 42 days in gaol without trial and ID cards. (End of rant.)
I hesitate to say that it happens often, but people do sometimes talk about special abilities or super-powers, even if it’s phrased as a “party trick.” Today I realised that I have what might best be described as a special inability.
I took a quick wander into Wimbledon, the nearest town to where I live. It looked gloomy outside and the weather the previous day had been windy and a little chilly. I decided to wear a jumper and my jacket. It didn’t take me long to realise that I had misjudged the weather and that I was very warm.
This happens to me all the time.
It’s a skill that I’ve never had. I often go out only to find that I dramatically underestimated the weather. This time I dressed for arctic conditions but I can’t count the number of times that I’ve misjudged the situation the other way around.
Does this happen to everyone? In town no-one else seemed to have been caught out. Many were dressed in small jackets or jumpers — but not both — a few were in t-shirts.
How do they know?
I found the most brilliant website recently. If used as intended it’s a step forward for democracy, making it easier for people to offer their opinion on subjects that matter to them directly to the Prime Minister. And if not, well, it’s entertaining reading.
I first came across some pretty distasteful stuff calling to ban the practising of the Muslim faith in the United Kingdom. Actually, much of the religious stuff was verging on the comedic. For example, Christian’s are being side-lined in British society. Unless you remember that senior members of the church can still be found in the House of Lords.
There was also a call to ban distasteful views (Ban the British National Party). I don’t agree with that one either — free speech means having to hear things you don’t like too — but at least we’re heading in the right direction.
Best of all are the “comedy” petitions. I have sympathy for the proposer of the petition entitled Give single, employed people with no children a break!, although I’d like to add that married couples without children don’t do terribly well on the tax and benefit front either! My favourite, however, has to be the one that starts “We believe that every child in the UK would benefit from owning an elephant.” I don’t think anyone could disagree with that.
Where were you on the evening of 23rd April? We were in a rather damp and over-cast looking Trafalgar Square clicking together two halves of a coconut in an attempt to break a world record. The record?
“The worlds largest coconut orchestra.”
Very silly. And a lot of fun.
(By the way, the title is in reference to the TV series Record Breakers. Apparently it was the 65th Greatest Children’s TV Programme.)
Sometime when bad things happen all you can do it show your support. That’s what I’m doing here. The first cause is “One Day Blog Silence”:
This is to honour the victims from Virginia Tech and all those other innocents throughout the world. Given that the “blogosphere” is where many students poured their grief and vented their anger it seems appropriate.
On a smaller scale but just as disturbing is the abduction of BBC journalist Alan Johnston.
Again, there’s little I can do directly but show my support and add my name to the petition. If you have a web presence, please join in.