News

Ryanair in Schoolie Shocker

| Richard

Ryanair Schoolie AdSo Ryanair have been criticised by the ASA for their amazingly tacky advert featuring a model dressed as a schoolgirl: the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the “irresponsible” image appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour.

Now personally, I have reservations about people who find images of women dressed as schoolgirls sexy, but that’s probably because I have a daughter of school age.

Needless to say Ryanair knew exactly what they were doing as they obviously think there’s no such thing as bad publicity:

“The ASA becomes more Monty Pythonesque by the day.  This latest ruling shows how absurd and out of touch this quango really is.  It is remarkable that a picture of a fully clothed model is now claimed to cause “serious or widespread offence”, when many of the UK’s leading daily newspaper regularly run pictures of topless or partially dressed females without causing any serious or widespread offence…”

Maybe because they’re not regularly dressed as schoolgirls to broaden Ryanair’s appeal to the frequent paedo flyer…

F1 Numberplate Sold for a Record Price

| Richard

There was news earlier this week that Essex County Council had sold the numberplate F1 to a businessman for £360,000 and would be using the proceeds to assist with road safety initiatives. Here’s the video link for the story »

That’s a fairly obscene price to pay for a numberplate but the new owner reckons he’s bought himself a good investment. Of coure, he could have bought it for around £150,000 when it was up for sale 3½ years ago…

2007 Political Soundbite of the Year

| Richard

And the award goes to … Tony McNulty, Home Office Minister:

“Events such as this highlight the dangers that our police officers face every day when protecting the public.”

Events such as what? Well apparently a 48-year old policeman has collapsed whilst trying to arrest a man at a “domestic”. A post-mortem will be carried out to find the cause of death. So it could just be that the poor bloke had a heart attack due to the exertion or stress of the job. In which case, don’t the public need protecting from officers who might drop down dead whilst driving a car in a pursuit?

What dangers is McNulty referring to? Poor health screening? Too many pies blatantly on sale?

Fundy Mentalists

| Richard

So Sudanese protesters are calling for British teacher Gillian Gibbons to be shot after children in her class named a teddy bear Muhammad.

A tad extreme?

Tell you what, as the ‘offence’ was one of insulting religion, I think they should protest for the execution of Muhammad Ali and for that matter, anyone else called Muhammad.

And whilst they’re at it, it’s probably best for equality to call for the execution of anyone – mainly of Latin American origins, probably – called Jesus…

A Personal Apology From HMR&C

| Richard

So Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs have confirmed that our details were amongst those they managed to lose.

Their Acting Chairman, Dave Hartnett, wrote us “a personal apology”. Well, OK, he didn’t actually sign it. And he didn’t even bother stamping a signature on it. {sigh}

So what did it actually say?

“The copy of the data is likely to still be on Government property. The police are now conducting a search. There is no evidence that it is in the possession of anyone else.”

Well considering it was supposed to have gone from an office in Newcastle to an office somewhere else, they should have been able to find them by now, surely, if they are likely to still be on Governemet property? And of course there’s no evidence that it isn’t in the possession of anyone else, is there?

So what data is it they’ve managed to shove on a CD and lose? Nothing important, I expect.

“This data includes your and your children’s names and dates of birth, your address, your National Insurance number and, where relevant, the details of the bank or building society account…”

So … most of the necessary details for identity fraud.

Ah well, we can take comfort from his assuances that:

“all efforts are being made to ensure that such a loss can never happen again.”

What? Like maybe sending two CDs’ worth of data by e-mail rather than putting it onto CDs and shoving it in the post? And as I pointed out in my earlier post on this subject, it’s not the first time these idiots have messed up.

Am I confident in their abilities? Am I fuck! Same bunch of civil servants with cast-iron, index-linked pensions and no responsibility…

I Wish I Were French

| Richard

Or, for the younger readers, ‘I Wish I Was French’.

Why? Is it the ability to not give a damn and shrug your shoulders? No, it’s because they are a bunch of bolshy buggers who, rather than sit and complain or – as in my case – blog about something, get up and demonstrate about things instead.

So when their Government introduce reforms that will affect their lives and livelihood, the French bring the country to its knees whilst we tut-tut and comment on the BBC News web site. Funny how student loans brought merely a murmur here but added to the strikes and marches there.