This is a branch of an estate agency in Gosforth which specialises in “rare” properties, in the sense of properties that are in someway unusual and hence infrequently available on the property market. Wendy, as someone from Northern Ireland, finds the name particularly amusing, as the word “rare” has negative colloquial connotations in Northern Ireland: somebody dressed in an unusual and inappropriate way, for example, might be described as looking a bit “rare”.

You may think that this long-winded explanation removes any scintilla of humour that might exist about an agency advertising itself as listing only unpleasant properties, but I’m sure we’ll continue to smile as we walk past. And maybe, occasionally, we might continue to tease one another with the line: “That’s the shop where I found you!”

I can’t quite put my finger on why this sign always makes me smile. It could be the fact that it’s on its own little podium. It could be the detail of the message, versus “staff only”. It could be the thought of the amusement promised by entering the window. It could be the absurdity of the use of the word “window” versus “window display”. Whatever it is, it never fails to amuse whenever I catch it out of the corner of my eye.

I tweeted a link to this video yesterday… but I liked it so much that I thought I’d post it here too. I defy anyone to watch past 1:36 without cracking a smile.

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Newcastle is indeed located in Scotland. It is a city, not a capital.

The response from lowcostholidays to Jamie O’Neill’s email pointing out that Newcastle isn’t, in fact, in Scotland. As featured on Bitterwallet.

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I tweeted about this Times article yesterday – it’s really brilliant, like the plot of an off-beat West Wing episode.

Julian Glover (formerly of The Guardian) writes the following for Mr Lansley:

As I grew up, the NHS wasn’t some remote organisation. It was what we knew, what we cared about and what we wanted to make work. And that is every bit as true today. As a son, as a father, and as a patient, I know what it is to have the NHS at your side.

It is returned from Lansley’s office as:

Outcomes depend on integration across services. Opportunity of NHS/public health/and local authorities together. Like they do in Sheffield … Not structural integration but integration around families and children. Marmot (universal proportionalism) – early intervention.

Go and read the full thing, it’s fantastic.

This has been sat on my kitchen table for a few days now… and yet I’ve only just noticed the word in the cover image. Duh.

Morrisons in Killingworth seem a little over excited by their use of CCTV.

It is surely impossible any West Wing fan – or, indeed, anyone who isn’t a West Wing fan, to keep a straight face whilst watching this from Season 4. If you don’t own it, you can currently buy the whole 43 disc box set for under £40. That’s 26p an episode - how can you resist?

My concentration on revision is slipping as I get increasingly bored of it. I’ve just spent at least 30 seconds trying to puzzle out why you’d need to provide a “book room” for a focus group. I’m not usually so slow. It’s from this book, if you’re wondering.

The problem faced by public health campaigns in the UK is the tendency for people to react to being told what to do.

Benjamin Daniels, Confessions of a GP

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