What the heck happened?David Cameron, the U.K. Conservative leader went to go visit a college somewhere, and during the visit, some kid draped in a hoodie egged him. People on Twitter have been taking joy in Cameron’s misery today. For his part, he’s having fun with the incident. “Now I know which came first, the chicken not the egg.” (The hoodie, by the way, is also funny: Critics have in the past attacked him for his stance on youth crime, which they derisively call the “hug a hoodie campaign.”) source
From the outside, there seem to be some people in America afraid of the state. But we’re not. Because Norway is divided: There’s the state, and there’s private ownership of stuff. I think there’s a perfect mix. It’s not communism, but it’s not the U.S. We’re somewhere in between.
Smalltown Supersound label runner Joakim Haugland • Regarding his native country, Norway’s, generous financial setup for the arts. In the U.S., rock bands don’t even get health insurance unless they pay for it themselves, while Scandinavian countries (along with Canada and the U.K.) can give their artists money to tour. Some fairly popular indie acts, including Sweden’s The Knife, Norway’s Annie and Canada’s Wolf Parade , have been able to record and tour thanks to the extra help. In the U.S., it’s a different story. Punk rocker Ted Leo nearly had to give up full-time music-making after a loved one got sick. Which is really depressing, especially considering he’s fairly famous. source
Today’s reports exaggerate the comments made by the professor, and ignore the difference between correlation and causation.
A spokesperson for Facebook • Regarding the insane claims that a rise in the service’s popularity increased the spread of syphilis in a handful of British cities. “Social networking sites are making it easier for people to meet up for casual sex,” said Prof. Peter Kelly, who pushed forward the theory. Careful, or you might get it the STD from these guys. source
then The Who’s Pete Townsend was put on a sex-offender list for registering for a child porn site in 1999. He claimed it was for book research. Despite the case, Townsend was not found in possession of any images by Scotland Yard and had cooperated with the investigation. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.
now Townsend, who’s playing at the Super Bowl tonight, is getting an earful from Child AbuseWatch, which is using the case to draw attention to child abuse issues. Townsend’s take? “It’s an issue that’s very difficult to deal with in sound bites.… I kind of feel like we’re all on the same side.” source
The pirates want $7 million. The British government won’t pay. Despite pleading from Paul and Rachel Chandler, they’re still not getting any help. Part of it is a longstanding British policy not to play nice with pirates. As a result, they’ve been captured since October. “Please help us, these people are not treating us well,” Rachel Chandler said in a video filmed by AFP. “I’m old, I’m 56 and my husband is 60 years old. We need to be together because we have not much time left.” Yikes. source
There was certainly some consideration by several of Brown’s ministers yesterday over whether or not to back him. In the end, none of them wanted to wield the knife. But yes, of course, this is further damaging to Gordon Brown.
University of Liverpool political department head Jonathan Tonge • Regarding the fate of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who barely survived a revolt by his own party this week. Some of his own staff barely even gave him any love. The ultra-unpopular Labor Party member fended off a couple of senior party members asking for a vote to get him out of office, and likely faces a worse fate from the British public in June elections. Remember how the last guy, Tony Blair, also left in a firestorm of controversy from his own Labor Party? Yeah. Just sayin’. Seems like a trend at this point. source