This is an amusing but unfortunate story of when a power mad idiot is given an extreme degree of discretion and very little oversight.

Diplomatic screw-up over fishy translation

Hopefully somewhere in Israel, a particular journalist is being forced to write "I will not use Babelfish for contacting foreign diplomats" a few thousand times.

If you didn't any know better, you might think the prison service was being run by idiots

The story isn't as interesting as the headline suggests, but to match the headline, it would need to be an absolutely amazing story. Unicorns would probably be involved.

Eddie Griffin, a clearly underrated actor from such marvellous films as Undercover Brother and Norbit, did something horrible a couple of days ago. When taking part in a charity racing event on Monday, he managed to total a Ferrari Enzo. One of the 400 Ferrari Enzos in existence. Valued at $1.5 million. Dollars. $1.5 million dollars worth of car rendered junk by the sheer uselessness of Eddie Griffin.

So does he follow the owner around begging for forgiveness? Does he drop to his knees and pledge his life in servitude? Does he even apologise? Does he fuck. To quote the idiot - "Undercover Brother's good at karate and all the rest of that, but the brother can't drive."

I think the wonderful site, the superficial.com summed it up best - "If Eddie Griffin crashed my Ferrari Enzo the next day's headlines would read "Eddie Griffin strangled to death and then stabbed and then shot a couple times by angry Enzo owner." Although that'd be kind of a long headline. They could use a small font or something."

In Eddie Griffin's defence, it is at least in part the owner's fault for giving a Ferrari Enzo to Eddie Griffin. I mean, that was just stupid. The closest thing to a Ferrari that I own is a 5 year old bicycle, and I'd still trust that to a drunk chimpanzee than I would anyone who refers to themselves as 'Undercover Brother'

The Sun, Britain's most respectable and intelligent newspaper printed a picture of the deceased dictator a few weeks ago. The picture was either this one, or one very much like it. A shiny gold star will be awarded to the person who successfully guesses the caption that was beside the picture.

"Prisons full...NHS in crisis...more soldiers dying...inflation and bank rates up. So what was obsessing our political leaders yesterday? The Big Brother 'racism' row" - Front page of the Daily Mail.

...and I'm having to agree with something written by the Daily Mail. What is the world coming to? 

How jaw-droppingly stupid was this? What response was Paramount really expecting for leaving secret devices in news racks?

I haven't been checking the news for the past few days and the first I heard of this was prime minister's questions on the BBC news website this afternoon.

My page is starting to look more like the obituary section of a newspaper as of late, but this is a person that I have an intense respect for so I'm going to post it anyway.

Peter Law was a lifelong politician. He became a local councillor in his home constituency of Blanau Gwent at the young age of 22. He was appointed to the Welsh Assembly (like the House of Commons but without the power or the neat looking building) in 1999 but lost out when the leader stepped down to be replaced by the new (politically correct fool) Rhodri Morgan in 2000.

2005 was to be his starring year however. I should precede this by pointing out that Blaunau Gwent was the safest Labour constituency in the entirety of Wales, and I believe the second or third in the UK. In a shocking display of 'positive discrimination', the Labour party created a shortlist for the candidate for that seat consisting only of women. Their reasoning, and I quote, was that "it needed to increase the number of women MPs from Wales". Mr Law broke away from the Labour party to stand as an independent. Unfortunately the discovery of a tumour in his brain forced him to stand down as a candidate. However, after his swift recovery, he changed his mind and decided to stand anyway. He won the seat with over 9,000 majority. (The Labour candidate he beat, incidentally has recently been nominated for a peerage - entrance into the House of Lords). The Labour party never forgave him for costing them that seat, and their majority of 1 in the Welsh Assembly, but he was also named Welsh politician of the year last December.

Unfortunately ill health has dogged him for months and this was an end that was inevitable. He died on April 24th, leaving behind a wife and 5 children. He was 58. He was a man who fought against injustices and one of the few politicians that I can say that I truly admire without sarcasm or jest. Blanau Gwent, and the world at large is poorer for having lost him. I apologise for ranting. This is probably a far better look at his life. Thanks for reading.

I was told about this yesterday. I actually had to track down the report because it seemed a little like a joke. Not to make light of the circumstances, but of all the people you would expect not to drown, I'd have to put a potential olympic athlete pretty close to the top.