We’re all in this together… whether with Blair or Cameron
He tries to convince us that ‘we’re all in this together’, and doesn’t realise how disingenuous it makes him sound.
It’s not original to say that Cameron’s the heir to Blair, but it was a little arresting to find this sentence in a post I wrote almost seven years ago about Tony Blair – certainly not the Prime Minister most associated with that particular phrase these days.
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/05/07/were-all-in-this-together-whether-with-blair-or-cameron
On polyphonic ringtones and the speed of technological change
Recently, the polyphonic ringtone acquired a competitor: A compressed snippet of actual recorded song emanates from the cell-phone handset as if from a tiny radio.
It’s easy to forget how quickly technology progresses. It seems remarkable that this New Yorker article from 2005 already seems so quaintly dated – and yet it was published just two years before the first iPhone launched.
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/05/01/on-polyphonic-ringtones-and-the-speed-of-technological-change
Sorkin on Bartlet’s lack of swearing
I just would have liked to have seen Bartlet say ‘goddammit’ from time to time, which you can’t do. You’ll be able to say ‘motherfucker’ on network television before you’ll be able to take God’s name in vain.
Aaron Sorkin in this Kaplan and Leibovitz Vanity Fair piece about him, his methods, and his move to HBO. It’s a really good read.
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/04/29/sorkin-on-bartlets-lack-of-swearing
Compulsion to write to local paper comes a little late… About 40 years late, that is.
I feel compelled to write to you about an architectural disaster that has been inflicted on the people of Southport. This building is totally out of place and reminiscent of drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa.
Janet Berg wrote this complaint to the Southport Visiter. It might seem a fair complaint: archiectural disputes are loved by local papers. But I noted with amusement that the urgent compulsion to complain to the local paper about this building has occurred a full 40 years after it’s construction. Though, in fairness, it is fairly ugly.
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/04/26/compulsion-to-write-to-local-paper-comes-a-little-late-about-40-years-late-that-is
Man complains about being hurried off a burning plane
One of the cabin crew panicked upon landing. She was screaming like a banshee – ‘Get off, get off’ – she was pushing people down the chute.
Tom Alrigde, complaining in a BBC News article about a member of cabin crew trying to evacuate a plane suspected of being on fire as quickly as possible. Yes, really.
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/04/16/man-complains-about-being-hurried-off-a-burning-plane
David Cameron doesn’t know how many houses he owns
I own a house in North Kensington and my house in the constituency in Oxfordshire and that is, as far as I know, all I have. Do not make me sound like a prat for not knowing how many houses I’ve got.
David Cameron, talking to Ginny Dougary for The Times, in 2009. I missed this first time round, but have just found it via David Eaton in the New Statesman.
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/04/12/david-cameron-doesnt-know-how-many-houses-he-owns
Carrots as junk food
Everyone else pitched baby carrots as an antidote to junk food. Where Crispin came out was almost the exact opposite. We want to be junk food.
This article from Fast Company describes a fascinating and (at least initially) successful approach to marketing carrots. I think it provides some interesting food for thought for public health people, like me.
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/04/06/carrots-as-junk-food
Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood
Somewhere at the top of the Hundred Acre Wood a little boy and his bear play. On closer examination, we find a forest where neurodevelopment and psychosocial problems go unrecognised and untreated.
Over the weekend, somebody (I forget who) posted this paper, which gives a neurodevelopment perspective on Winnie-the-Pooh, on Twitter. Wendy and I both really enjoyed reading it – it’s a brilliant piece of medical whimsy.
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/03/20/pathology-in-the-hundred-acre-wood
Medical journals’ failure to handle errors
In any one year one in four people in the United Kingdom have their thyroid function checked.
This grammatically erroneous and factually absurd statement from a 2009 BMJ paper remains uncorrected, as highlighted by this interesting paper about journals’ error handling in JRSM. It strikes me as alarming that the Guardian appears to have a more open and robust approach to highlighting and correcting errors than our leading medical journal; but then I guess correcting mistakes in emerging research fields is a trickier issue than correcting journalistic errors.
More irritatingly – how come other people can get such obvious slips though peer review, yet peer reviewers pick up on every dodgy comma in my work?
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/03/14/medical-journals-failure-to-handle-errors
Charlie Brook’s serendipitous quote
The happiest moment of my year is about three hours before the first race at Cheltenham.
So wrote Charlie Brooks in a Telegraph article on Sunday. This morning, he and his wife Rebecca Brooks were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice… just hours before the first race at Cheltenham.
» Access this online at http://sjhoward.co.uk/archive/2012/03/13/charlie-brooks-serendipitous-quote
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