Daily Mail baffled by Sherlock

The Daily Mail has followed the latest series of Sherlock with what seems to me to be a rather obsessive interest.
Today it cites last night's 'Left wing bias' as more evidence of BBC mismanagement or whatever.
I suggest they take a trip to 221B Baker Street and get some professional advice on what can be done about it.

FlemingPR - the softest of soft launches

I have just launched a new website to rationalise my PR work.
It's called FlemingPR and is at www.flemingpr.com
Exciting times here at FlemingPR central.
Do spread the word and look out for my lineage ad in Private Eye.

Gareth Bale - football as art

If anyone ever doubted that great football is an art form, watch this.



The clip is taken from the Run of Play football blog - 'a blog about the wonder and terror of soccer'.

Joe Jordan makes Rino Gattuso look very small indeed

Joe Jordan is from mining stock just south of Glasgow.
I'm not sure he would even call this a headbutt.

The Palin map - Giffords' chilling prediction

The Independent's Jonathan Raban writes:

Gabrielle Giffords made great sense when, in March 2010, she discussed the Palin map with a TV interviewer, saying: "Sarah Palin has the cross-hairs of a gunsight over our district – and when people do that, they've got to realise there are consequences to that action."

We don't know exactly what she was getting at but it's a chilling quote.
Hopefully she'll soon be able to tell us.

Santa 2.0

Nice piece by Brian Campbell in today's Wall Street Journal.

He's saying that Santa needs upgrading and outsourcing. He thinks we need a Santa who: 'runs triathlons and talks about them on Twitter'.
Should somebody tell him? Where's Julian Assange when you need him.

Rubberbandits - pure genius

I can only describe this as undescribable.



Surely this should romp home as Christmas No1.

Sepp Blatter's gay PR disaster

This anti-gay comment could be more damaging to Sepp Blatter than the dodgy World Cup decisions.



He's not just head of an organisation that, to put it generously, requires a little more transparency, he's also proved himself to be a political dinosaur. He needs some quality PR.
Sepp Blatter is 74.

Embarrassing Times

Now they've got a pay wall so here's an extract from the second leader in today's Times:
'There is a dangerous nihilism in the refusal to distinguish between information that embarasses the powerful, and information that potentially puts lives at risk.'
There but for the grace goes everyone who publishes words, so I refuse to gloat.
But, that is embarassing, or should that be embarrassing, for a paper with the highest standards of all.

Cameron's happy index

David Cameron is launching a £2m project to work out how happy we all are.
I suggest he puts the cash back in the Treasury and visits a few pubs and just asks around.
He'll find out soon enough what irks the nation.
"To those who say that all this sounds like a distraction from the serious business of government, I say finding out what will really improve lives and acting on it is the serious business of government," he will say, says the BBC.
I am one of those who will say that, when he says that.
I suspect I will not be alone.

New Zealand miners RIP

The deaths of 29 miners in New Zealand is an awful tragedy and seems all the worse for its proximity to the dramatic Chilean rescue story.
Mining can never be an entirely safe business but steps must be taken to keep these accidents to a minimum.
Our thoughts go out to the families involved.

Proud of the BBC

Musical comedian Mitch Benn has released an homage to the BBC, who pay his wages as Now Show singer songwriter. I'm Proud of the BBC is very reminiscent of Billy Joel's We Didn't Light The Fire apology for the USA.
In the light of constant attacks on the Beeb, which resolutely refuses to defend itself, by the Daily Mail et al this serves to balance things up a bit.

Cantona wants a run on the banks

Eric Cantona, the kung fu kicking philosopher footballer turned actor, is proposing a run on the banks to alleviate social strife.
He thinks the banking system is the root of all our problems and if we all withdrew our money simultaneously the banks would collapse and everything would be fine.
He says: "We must go to the bank. In this case there would be a real revolution. It's not complicated; instead of going on the streets and driving kilometres by car you simply go to the bank in your country and withdraw your money, and if there are a lot of people withdrawing their money the system collapses. No weapons, no blood, or anything like that."



There are so many holes in this argument it's difficult to know where to start.
What do you do with your money if you take it out?
Criminals must be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of people roaming the streets pockets stuffed full of cash.
What happens to the people who can't get their money out?
They lose it because their bank will have collapsed. Banks do not have enough cash to give everyone their money. It's the banking business model.
The banks owe billions to the taxpayer, if they collapse they won't be able to pay it back, ever.
Banking panics cause recessions, they don't cure them.
This is a time for calm not panic.
Eric is suffering from delusions of grandeur. Just because he could kick a ball, and a fan, does not mean his social solutions have any value at all. Most of us are intelligent enough to realise that - the rest of society will be at the cashpoints on December 7.

Sarah Palin - grim reality

If I was to say that the person who could be the next leader of the free world has just launched a reality TV show on a channel called TLC you might think I was pulling your leg.
Not so.
Sarah Palin's Alaska shows the Tea Party queen hunting, shooting and fishing in the wilderness state in a thinly-disguised bid to show voters that she's just an ordinary mom.



And in an illuminating piece in today's International Herald Tribune Frank Rich points out that 'her amateurism and liabilities are badges of honor'.
Perhaps she's not as stupid as we thought she was.
But should we be worried that she could be the next president of the United States?
Barack Obama's ineffectiveness, despite going into the job with the best of intentions, suggests the office is one that is dogged by inertia, so maybe not.
The US has a track record of electing presidents not overburdened with intelligence.
As it stands Palin is a shoo-in for 2012.

Danny MacAskill's back

There's a new video by the extraordinary Danny MacAskill.
This guy is obviously technically brilliant but the most remarkable thing about his stunts is the level of creativity and imagination involved.
And the scenery has got me pining for the glens.

Freed on appeal - your turn to judge

This policeman, Sgt Mark Andrews of Wiltshire Police, has been cleared on appeal of assault. I'll let you be the judge of whether or not he used excessive force when he put this woman in the cell.

Thames voted worst river

Something called Our Rivers has conducted a poll that concludes that the Thames is the worst river in England and Wales.
It's certainly got them some publicity and picking on the country's major river is guaranteed to get them plenty more than some rural backwater.

This'll make you smile

On a day like this it's cathartic to turn to things that make us smile.

Enjoy.

Israel release weaponry pictures but not peace envoys

The Israel Defence Force has released pictures of the weaponry they faced but not any of the peace envoys.
But surely this stuff is all improvised.
If they really had murderous intent and thought it was going to kick off they would have brought some serious kit not this boy scout stuff.

Israeli raid on Gaza convoy - the video

I've watched this a few times and I still can't make out what's going on. But suffice to say it's not good.



Israel deputy foreigm minister Danny Ayalon claims they found weapons on the ships. Fair enough, the video does show a pole and a catapult.