This new Wordpress application for the iPhone is wonderful!
It is now possible to post blog entries from anywhere in the world, including a train home - and you can take photos as part of your blog too.
I’m impressed, but then I’m a secret geek and easily impressed by technology 
A pretty girl who won national fame after singing at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was only miming.
Wearing a red dress and pigtails, Lin Miaoke charmed a worldwide audience with a rendition of “Ode to the Motherland”.
But the singer was Yang Peiyi, who was not allowed to appear because she is not as “flawless” as nine-year-old Lin.
The show’s musical director said Lin was used because it was in the best interests of the country.
The revelation follows news that a fireworks display used during the opening ceremony was apparently faked.
‘Smiling angel’
Speaking on Beijing Radio station, musical director Chen Qigang said the organisers needed a girl with both a good image and a good voice.
BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | China Olympic ceremony star mimed.
I find this story pretty sad. It many respects, it is the worst story to come out of the Beijing Olympics so far, but I don’t think that we Westerners can gloat about the way the Chinese authorities attach so much importance to physical perfection – according to Reuters, over 11 million Americans had plastic surgery in 2006, and the figure is growing fast.
And we mustn’t forget the pressure that young girls are put under to perform in beauty pageants, especially in America, but increasingly here in the United Kingdom?
It’s clear that physical beauty is important whether your American or Chinese, but surely the pressure to look perfect shouldn’t be applied to little girls?!
I am particularly concerned about the hypocrisy of much of our media…
On the one hand they chastise young girls for their obsession with their appearances and wanting to be glamour models, but on the other they constantly promote images of female ‘beauty’, sometimes teenage women (in the case of Page 3) and often airbrushed to perfection.
Is it any wonder that so many young women in the West have eating disorders and so many problems with their self-esteem when society sends them messages such as:
“Even if you are talented, it doesn’t mean anything unless your beautiful!â€
This has got to stop. We should be celebrating young people’s abilities and helping to stimulate the development of their personalities and intellects – not conditioning them to believe that their appearance is the most important aspect of their existence.
Beauty is not just physical, and a world where we value only looks would be very ugly indeed.
You know, the weather that we’re having this summer is really fascinating!
Firstly, it seems like October with the dark, rolling clouds, the strong breeze and the erratic appearance of the sun between showers.
However, in some respects I find it beautiful…
From my balcony in Crouch End, I can watch the clouds roll over this part of North London and the speed with which they move from West to East is incredible!
In the time that it takes me to make a cup of tea on Sunday afternoon, the vista went from one of bright sunshine and blue skies to a sudden (and thankfully) small shower of hailstones.
This afternoon, I left one meeting in my sunglasses on the way to another, by the time I arrived it was dark, overcast and resembling a November afternoon.
I know that a lot of people are finding this hard to cope with (not least my girlfriend!) but the unpredictability fills me with excitement - particularly as I have no desire or need to top-up a suntan!
More importantly, when I consider the impact of global warming on the world, and hear stories about how dry some places are becoming, it makes me feel glad to be living in such a temperate climate where the plants are always green and lush, the ducks are always happy and where there is always something to talk to complete strangers about.
In years to come, I think that people on this green little island will be thankful for our wonderfully unpredictable weather!
Brand and Britney in awards ad
Russell Brand is to host the MTV music awards in September. He has appeared in an advert with Britney Spears for the awards.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Brand and Britney in awards ad.
Wow – it looks like Britney has found her next husband – I’m going to watch these awards purely for the entertainment value of the hosts! 
Click the link for the hilarious video!
Alistair Darling rejected a third request for an immediate meeting with estate agents as tension grew over suggestions to lift stamp duty.
Whitehall sources told The Times yesterday that there was increasing irritation within the Treasury over the fallout of the stamp duty proposal, which Mr Darling and department aides have been left to field. The Chancellor has “no immediate plans” to meet the National Association of Estate Agents despite repeated attempts by the group’s chief executive to meet him and Caroline Flint, the Housing Minister.
Peter Bolton-King said that he had written to the Chancellor for the third time, enclosing details of a survey his organisation carried out that showed one in four estate agents had seen agreed house sales fall through as a direct result of the uncertainty.
He told the Chancellor: “I fully appreciate that you are considering a range of options and wanted to wait until the Pre-Budget Statement. However, our survey is very worrying and the housing market is now going downhill so fast that urgent action needs to be taken. Amongst other things, a more confident market clearly helps those who are in danger of being repossessed.”
Treasury fury at No 10 as estate agents demand talks on stamp duty.
What is it about this Chancellor that makes him so incapable of making a decision? Perhaps it is reflective of a dysfunctional Government – The Prime Minister couldn’t make a decision about the General Election, even though it was obvious that he should have called it and caught his enemy off-guard. But, no. He dithered.
Now, faced with a housing market crisis of their own making, the PM and the Chancellor dither once more instead of making a decision.
When will they understand that sometimes it is more important to make a decision, than whether or not that decision is the right one.
The markets hate uncertainty, and this Government projects fear, uncertainty and doubt at every turn.
We simply must get rid of them before it is too later!
LONDON (AFP) — Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered a crushing election “bloodbath” Saturday, as his party lost control of London’s City Hall on top of its worst poll results for 40 years across the country.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone was ousted by maverick conservative Boris Johnson, compounding a day of devastating local ballot results for Brown’s Labour Party which augur badly for a general election due within two years.
Some commentators called the poll Brown’s “John Major moment” — likening his fate since succeeding Tony Blair last year to that of Major’s collapse at the ballot box after succeeding Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s.
AFP: London mayor ousted as British PM suffers poll ‘bloodbath’.
Well done Boris - what a stunning victory for the Conservatives and for London!
However, I do feel for Ken Livingstone somewhat, because he undoubtedly suffered because of the “Brown Effect†and we shouldn’t forget how important he has been in building the position of London Mayor into such an important role for our country.
Ken is an impressive politician and, despite his many gaffes, I believe that he always had London’s best interests at heart.
But Ken is history, and I’m excited to see how Boris is going to perform in a job that will make him, arguably, the most senior Conservative politician in the country – at least until the next General Election.
When I was knocking on doors in Enfield (“Hello, I’m representing the Conservatives and Boris Johnsonâ€) there was an obvious affection for Boris and I think that he will be able to build on this to become an incredibly popular and effective mayor.
I hope that he will be able to throw-off accusations of being a ‘clown’ pretty quickly. It’s amazing that someone who was educated at two of the best educational institutions in the world can be considered a buffoon!
The proof is in the pudding, but I am certain that Boris’ election marks the beginning of a new political era, one in which the Conservatives will secure power in a way not dissimilar to New Labour’s rise in 1997.
Well done Boris!
A judge in New York has acquitted three police officers who shot dead an unarmed man hours before his wedding.
Sean Bell, 23, who was black, was shot as he left a strip club in the suburb of Queens in November 2006.
Two detectives, Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora, faced charges of manslaughter. A third, Marc Cooper, had been accused of reckless endangerment.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Police acquitted over NY shooting.
What a shockingly sad story… It’s incredible that a man could be shot fifty times on his wedding day, whatever the circumstances.
However, how has this become a matter of ‘race’ when two of the police officers who fired the shots were black themselves?
I can entirely understand how this could stimulate concerns about the appropriate use of force, but I’m not sure I understand the logic behind the chants of ‘racist’ and ‘KKK’ at the policemen after their acquittal.
Surely, such political agitating risks polarising the debate and undermining an investigation into the real issue which is one of brutality and unreasonable force, not race?
Christians clash at Jesus’ tomb on Orthodox Palm Sunday
An Israeli police officer, left, tries to break up a fight between Greek and Armenian clergymen during Palm Sunday processions for Orthodox Holy Week, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed by many to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, Sunday April 20, 2008. Greek and Armenian priests scuffled at Christianity’s holiest site on Palm Sunday over who’ll get to spend more time at the traditional tomb of Jesus. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is jointly administrated by different Christian denominations. Fights often erupt during religious ceremonies over shared space or time. An Israeli police officer, left, tries to break up a fight between Greek and Armenian clergymen during Palm Sunday processions for Orthodox Holy Week, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed by many to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, Sunday April 20, 2008. Greek and Armenian priests scuffled at Christianity’s holiest site on Palm Sunday over who’ll get to spend more time at the traditional tomb of Jesus. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is jointly administrated by different Christian denominations. Fights often erupt during religious ceremonies over shared space or time. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Christians clash at Jesus’ tomb on Orthodox Palm Sunday - Boston.com.
It might sound shocking, but I visited the tomb with Erin at Easter, and it’s certainly the case that the environment is ‘tense’ and I was not at all surprised to read this story.
In many ways, it reflects the difficult relationship between religions – and groups within religions – around the world.
However, it is a real shame that such a holy place is not considered sacred enough to be more important than human foibles – I hope that the people who have been captured in these photographs will be sufficiently embarassed to ensure that it doesn’t happen again!
A gourmet coffee blended from cat droppings is being sold at a London department store for £50 per cup.
Jamaican Blue Mountain and the Kopi Luwak bean are used to create Caffe Raro which is thought to be the most expensive cup of coffee in the world.
Kopi Luwak beans are eaten, then passed, by the Indonesian Civet cat and sell for £324 a kilogram.
All profits from sales of the coffee at Peter Jones in Sloane Square in April will go to Macmillan Cancer Support.
BBC NEWS | England | London | Cat dung coffee up for £50 a cup.
Interesting… I’m not a fan of coffee, but I wonder how this actually tastes?
I didn’t immediately get into LOST because one of my rules is: “Don’t believe the hype…”
However, I was slowly drawn in by the beauty of the characters (physical and human) and slowly became hooked as the story slowly weaved its way through the jungle. At stages, some of the earlier series looked like they it was going to turn into a straightforward horror / monster / weird stuff story, but Season Four has taken things to a new level by revealing just enough confirm that we’re not being played with, without ever quite revealing the full picture. This is one of the few programmes that I have watched that gets better as time goes on.
I understand that some people are complaining about the price of purchasing it on iTunes, but the convenience that this provides means that it represents great value for money. When you’re stuck in an airport in the middle of Siberia, and it is -17 degrees outside, the ability to watch your favourite programme on your iPhone to kill a few tedious hours makes it almost priceless. I’d pay £1.89 to make each hour fly by all day long!
No, my only concern is the unfeasible beauty of all of the female characters. If ever I was on a plane with ‘Kate’, I would want it to crash on a desert island in the hope that we would be the only survivor and that we wouldn’t ever be rescued.
This is an outstanding series and I await each new episode with the same level anticipation that I had as a child waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve, before I realised that Santa was actually my father, fuelled-up on Eggnog.
This is powerful, intelligent story-telling, beautifully shot and written and it injects a healthy dose of science-fiction and philosophy into a glamorous setting for those clever enough to notice and disciplined enough not to be distracted by the eye-candy. This is classic television and I defy anyone who watches two episodes not to be ‘LOST’ in it themselves.
