Hey, speedy! You are a real criminal!

Apparently the punishment for being caught speeding is going to be stricter in the UK from next month (source). The announcement has been covered in a weird way by the press in a way that highlights an odd view of speeding we have here. There are frequent articles in the tabloids where they whinge about …

Book Review: A Life Inside by Erwin James

Despite what the tabloids try and make out, you'd have to be a damn fool to think life in prison is a cushy, easy way to spend a few years. Yes, they've changed from the bread and water days of cold cells and violent guards but I've never understood why people think this is a …

Soldiers are being investigated. This is not something to be mad about.

Apologies, this one is a bit of a rant. It was announced today that around 60 cases investigating unlawful killings by UK forces in Iraq have been dropped. This follows the MoD looking into it and deciding not to proceed in these cases (story here). This is of course good news for those involved, and …

Only the good die young

I like to keep an eye out on the weirder and smaller news stories, and today I read one that caught my eye. An elderly couple in Switzerland have just got pinched for going on a mini-crime spree where they raided the collection boxes of local churches, stealing hundreds of Swiss francs in the process. …

News Grab Bag March 2014: Hair brains and other stories

Hairy moment 1- If everybody looked the same... A few weeks back I got my haircut, mainly because I was tired of being told I needed to and that I looked scruffy. I got the longest razor cut you can have, an 8, and was pleasantly surprised with the fact I didn't look completely terrible. …

News Grab Bag Jan/Feb 2014: Deaths, Names and Badassery

Okay, so I routinely bookmark news stories that I'd like to write about, sometimes they get a post to themselves, but now and then a few smaller ones pile up and I do these News Grab Bag ones, so this is a collection of stories that caught my eye earlier this year but which I …

This s**t is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Getting your five a day of fruit and vegetables is pretty important, but sometimes with a hectic life or poor planning can leave you falling short. Once you've heard the five-a-day recommendation you do keep it in mind, and sometimes when I'm on four or three I'll go out of my way to drink juice …

Raw Deal

I've got a love-hate relationship with the show Deal or No Deal- it's relentlessly addictive once you get going, but I don't like it because there's no skill or knowledge involved, and I think those are the game shows that work best, where the winners earn their prize (Countdown, University Challenge, Who Wants To Be …

A Mountie always gets his man…but not often as easily as this

I've spoken in the past about how I find real life criminals rather disappointing when compared to their more imaginative and flashy fictional counterparts. But sometimes I'd settle for them just not being complete idiots. Today I read about a Canadian muppet who was having a bad day at work and thought some weed would …

Honour among thieves

I love Batman, always have, probably always will.   However, one problem I sometimes have with the Dark Knight is that he delivers some pretty hellacious beatdowns to petty criminals. Don't get me wrong, when he's knocking seven bells out of some violent thugs who've attacked a damsel in distress, I'm cheering on the guy, …