Joe asks 'Is it me or what?'

Shakespearean Coincidence

We have recently upgraded our cable TV system to allow easier recording, live pause and rewind. It's great when there's an interruption but means one ends up recording a lot of stuff that would otherwise have been cheerfully missed. I like to record what I call classic TV but what my wife refers to as some old crap you've seen before. This includes the original Star Trek and other greats such as The Champions.

Anyway, last Sunday I watched two totally unrelated programmes that I'd happened to record, an episode of Columbo and one of Star Trek. Both had the same title, Dagger of the Mind, a line from Shakespeare's Macbeth. The Columbo was a nice one as it was set in London, not far from where I used to work in Sloane Square, and concerned the death of a theatre producer preparing for a new production of Macbeth. The Star Trek episode had a less tenuous link - it concerned a high-security prison/asylum where Kirk is subjected to a mind altering treatment. The connection is more apparent if you look at the continuation of the quote:

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

A good description of how Kirk is affected by the Neural Neutralizer.

How's that for a coincidence?

Prove It

Last week newspapers reported that a new style airport scanner would be undergoing trials in the US. Malintent attempts to take a number of physical readings such as skin temperature and pulse without any contact being made with the subject.

The idea is to spot people who maybe terrorists without mistakenly detaining those who are just nervous about flying.

One of the generally accepted tenets about scientific theories is provability. It's one of the main reasons, for example, that astronomy is considered a science whereas astrology is regarded as - to use a technical term - claptrap.

So the question is, How do they test this machine? They can't borrow a few potential terrorists and mingle them in with some nervous passengers and see if Malintent spots the difference. I await the outcome of the trials.

Atheist/Protestant

I was amused by this story about someone trying to get their atheist mother buried.

Apparently in Derry being atheist counts as Protestant.

The nice thing was that he says his mother had a great sense of humour and would have appreciated the situation, makes a change from hearing how they are now suing.

Yorkshire Moor

Went to see Othello last night at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth.

A bit apprehensive at first, not only was it set in a northern pub, with Othello as the landlord, but when we got there dozens of coach loads of students arrived making us feel like we were on a Darby and Joan outing.

Here we go I thought, next it will be a white Othello with the remaining parts played by black actors.

I needn't have worried, the students all calmed down when it started and, despite the few times that I had to stop grinning when the words of the bard emerged from the midriff-showing chavettes of Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca, I was completely captivated.

Even the students were buzzing when they left the performance so perhaps all is not lost although others don't share my view.

Anyway this is the start of a national tour so you've still got a chance to see it. One warning - as it's fairly short, ninety minutes or so, there's no interval - so get a couple of drinks in before the start. Nothing worse than watching people in a pub drinking when you can't have one yourself.

Bad News, Worse News

The bad news is that over 4000 people were made redundant in London yesterday.

The worse news is that Gordon Brown wasn't amongst them.

The losses were at Lehman Brothers, the investment bank, and there are certainly more redundancies to come.

Not that Gordon's directly responsible of course, but given he's been in a position of power as chancellor and then prime minister for a considerable time he has to take a lot of the blame for the poor economic climate and lack of oversight in the UK financial world.

As someone who has been through a similar experience they have my sympathies, if it's any consolation it was the best thing to happen to me, career-wise, I ended up taking a much more exciting and well-rewarded job at Kaplan Financial. Although I admit it felt terrible at the time.

Ashamed to be British

However much I moan about life here there are many worse places to be born and live than the UK. Many a time I've thought how lucky I was to have been born and raised where I was rather than some drought, famine and disease-ridden African country.

But the treatment by the British government of the translators who helped our forces during the struggle in Iraq has made me ashamed to be British. These people live in fear of their lives, many have been tortured and had members of their families killed and threatened. Nearly every other nation, including the US, Australia and Denmark, have allowed and helped them to take up residence, only Britain has severely limited the numbers allowed here and then they have to jump through several layers of bureaucratic red tape. The ones lucky enough to escape here are housed in appalling conditions, they should be treated as heroes however much one might disagree with the war itself.

The next time Britain goes to war and asks locals for help, will we be surprised when there are no takers?

What is the World Coming To?

Even The Times is letting standards slip. An article by Ben Macintyre in today's edition, on how becoming the Poet Laureate in the UK seems to stifle creativity, he writes about Nahum Tate, the incumbent for twenty-three years from 1692. He notes that one of Tate's most famous works is While Shepherd's Watched Their Flocks by Night; arghhh!

Fertility: Science versus Myth

Two articles caught my eye recently, both concerning fertility. The first was a warning that some perfumes and cosmetics can adversely affect women's fertility. The findings are disputed though.

The second was the apologies of a publisher and subsequent removal of a chapter in a book that encouraged girls to play the didgeridoo, an Australian Aborigine instrument. Apparently playing this instrument is believed by many Aborigines to cause infertility in women and they shouldn't even touch it. Can they offer any facts to back this up?

I find it incredible that such a non-scientific and archaic sentiment can hold such sway in this day and age. If women in Britain were told that could not play the trumpet can you imagine the outcry?

Needless to say in this politically correct climate the publishers backed down, promising new content in the next edition such as how to play netball. Now I've watched my daughter play this and it's a competitive sport but I hardly think it warrants inclusion in a book entitled The Daring Book For Girls.