Two British Airways jets have been grounded, as the investigation into Alexander Litvinenko’s death spreads yet further. 33,000 passengers over 221 flights are being contacted ‘as a precaution’.

But pilots and cabin crew wear badges that measure their dose of radiation, since they are naturally exposed to more due to being high up in the atmosphere for long periods of time. Why didn’t their badges show a greater than usual exposure, and hence detect this problem before now?

The only explanation I can think of is that the radiation is very short-range, and the cabin crew were never close enough to be affected. The radiation on Polonium-210 is very short range. Have we discovered how the murder weapon entered the country?

And guess the top destination where those planes have been been flying? Yep, Moscow. It’s looking like Mr Putin can’t ignore this investigation any longer – if the Polonium is shown to have likely come from Moscow, he’s going to have to co-operate, rather than just issue denials. But hours before this story hit the media, Mr Putin announced he’s now decided to cancel his meeting with Mr Blair.

Co-incidence?

Gordon Brown’s four-month-old son Fraser has been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. My thoughts are with the family at this time – clearly, this is devastating news for them, and it’s hard to know what to post in these situations.

Nick Robinson tells an interesting anecdote on his blog:

My thoughts instantly turned to an event a couple of years ago which I attended at 11 Downing Street. It was, ironically, to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The star of the evening was Emily Thackray, pictured on the right with the Chancellor.

Emily is beautiful and charismatic and looks a picture of health. However, she is very ill with cystic fibrosis. When she told the assembled company that she was being considered for a transplant as “time is running out” I well recall the impact she made. Several people in the room fainted. The chancellor was visibly moved. So much so that I asked my camera crew to give him some privacy.

The good news is that two years later Emily is still with us. She was told in March 2005 that without a lung transplant she only had a year left to live but she is – I’m told – still fighting on.

Despite the personal difficulty for a reportedly forward-looking Chancellor, perhaps its not too terrible to suggest that having both leaders of the major political parties having children with chronic medical conditions may do something to benefit the thousands of children throughout the land who live with ongoing medical complaints. Since Ivan Cameron has cerebral palsy and Fraser Brown has cystic fibrosis, it seems that for the next while we’re going to have Prime Ministers with intimate personal experience of the NHS and caring for a chronically unwell child – and whilst undoubtedly terrible for the individuals, perhaps that will be good for the country, and good for the care of children throughout the land.

Surely there is nobody better to plan services for children like Ivan and Fraser than the people that use the services day-in, day-out, and understand the hardships and difficulties that the bad times bring – as well, of course, as the joy and laughter of the good times. And this certainly provides a platform for public awareness of the diseases to be increased. Let’s hope that some great good can come of some bad news.

I don’t mean to be flippant, but I think I’m glad I’m not on the Blairs’ Christmas card list if it meant I had to display this… err… monstrosity in my home. I wonder if anyone who receives one will send one back with a picture of themselves on the stairs? It’s really quite bizarre.

Well, not quite so bizarre as the new ‘cuddly’ Mr Brown’s Christmas card of cartoon children – quite wisely called ‘interesting’ by Mr Blair. I would say that Mr Brown should stop trying to rebrand himself, but watching him make a prat of himself is too much fun.

Mr Cameron has yet to release his Christmas card. This is an interesting moment. How will he marry sending chunks of dead tree through an antiquated postal system with his pledges to be ‘green’ and ‘modern’? I’m assuming the cards will be made of recycled paper or something, but perhaps he’ll go a step further and send e-cards instead. It’d certainly grab a few headlines, and wouldn’t harm the financial situation either. But there’s always a chance it could swing the wrong way, and he could be called ‘miserly’.

I expect we shall soon find out.

I don’t know if Stephen Ladyman reads this blog – I suspect not – but you do, Dr Ladyman, here’s the Danish solution you’re missing on the path to road safety:

[flashvideo filename=”http://sjhoward.co.uk/video/speeding.flv” /]

Anyone sniggering at Dr Ladyman’s name should be ashamed. 😆

Nick Clarke, presenter of The World at One, has died aged just 58, following a very public battle with cancer.

Nick had a long career with the BBC, but I know him best as presenter of The World at One, and for his moving audio diary of his cancer journey. He always came across more as a chatty friend than a newsreader, as reflected by some 2,000 messages of condolence on the BBC website, and many, many more on individual blogs and websites.

The beauty of Nick Clarke’s political presenting is that he could examine politics in the greatest forensic detail, whilst also retaining a warmth, a breath of knowledge about everyday life, and a touch of little humour. His presenting was always elegant, and his interviews calm and measured, simultaneously detailed, incisive and impeccably polite.

Nick Robinson’s tribute brings back fond memories of some of the best political interviews of our time:

Nick asked once asked what I consider to be the perfect question – proving that you could balance persistence with courtesy. He was being fobbed off by the government’s straight-bat man Alastair Darling who was insisting on talking about the Tories’ policies and refusing to answer about his own. Nick paused briefly after one such answer – just long enough for the audience to notice. Then in that gloriously rich bass of a voice asked, “Minister, just for the sake of neatness could you answer the question I asked you”. Glorious.

There’s a full obituary on the BBC site, as well as a tribute from Mark Damazer, the controller of Radio 4. Thoughts are with his five children, and his widow Barbara.

He will be sadly missed.

Everybody’s favourite giant-flower wearing government jester, Heath Secretary ‘Mad’ Patricia Hewitt, has pronounced that

some parts of the NHS in England have taken on too many doctors and nurses

That seems a bit of a sweeping statement to me. I think it’s important she’s more specific – exactly which hospitals have too many doctors and nurses? Presumably not the one in Wales, which has had to close its minor injuries unit due to a lack of staff. Presumably not Scotland, where current government estimates say there will soon be 500 too few GPs – a number the BMA beleives to be much higher. And presumably not England, where ambulances have been turned away from understaffed A&Es.

But they’re out there somewhere. And it’s important we find them. After all, we can’t go spending all the NHS money on silly extravagances like doctors and nurses when there’s marketing to be paid for.

So where are these wasteful hospitals? Dr Crippen’s looking for them. I want to know where they are. And I’m sure the electorate surrounding the identified hospitals will be interested.

So come on, Pat, tell us: Which hospitals have too many healthcare staff?

France 24 (That’s “France vingt-quatre”, not “France Twenty-Four” as you might imagine). It’s an English-speaking channel “with a French perspective on the news”. It’s being launched here next month. Yes, because there’s a great demand for a French perspective on things. All those times people have said to me, “Eeee, I wish the 10 O’Clock News was a bit more French!”, or “Y’know, wouldn’t it be great if they renamed Sky News as Nouvelles de ciel?”

I just don’t get it. I don’t understand who its target audience is supposed to be, I don’t understand how it’s going to make money, and I don’t understand why anyone would be particularly interested in a French perspective on the news. I do understand why the American news channels get (albeit relatively few) viewers – after all, it’s the news from the perspective of the world’s biggest super-power. I understand Al Jazeera English – after all, the future of the unstable Middle East determines our future, and they have very different things to say. But news from a French perspective? I just don’t get it.

Here’s a trailer, as found via Iain Dale, who frankly seems as confused as the rest of us:

[flashvideo filename=”http://sjhoward.co.uk/video/france24.flv” /]

This story has run and run, far more than I ever expected. But this looks like final, final closure.

HP have agreed to refund my £138.95 Care Pack Warranty. It is clearly to their credit that they’ve seen sense in the end, admitted fault, apologised, and refunded my money. Click the letter to the right to read it in full.

What more can I ask at this point? I feel that they’ve done all they can, they’ve come through in the end, and I’m more than happy. I do love stories with happy endings.

On the same day as my car clocks over 50,000 miles, I hit 1,000 posts. I feel like I should write something deep and meaningful about the history of the site, how I’ve changed, and possibly include some shocking revelations.

But, frankly, I think you’ve heard all that already.

So I sit here, and wonder why I’ve bothered writing the last 222,000 words (about three-and-a-half novels), designing and redesigning the site countless times, not to mention footing the hosting bill.

I started posting about three-and-a-half years ago on The LBSC. Now, 1000 posts later I’m on my own stupidly successful site, still venting my spleen, getting hundreds of thousands of hits each month and actually spinning a profit. So, in summary, I get to spout my self-important opinions, have thousands of people read them (and present me with awards!), mess around a bit with a website, and I get paid (albeit modestly) for the privilege.

When I put it like that, I wonder why it took me so long to discover blogging! The site started over seven years ago, and looking back at archive.org always makes me smile. There was a bizarre flash-based period, a number of odd aggregation attempts, and a fantastic thing from 2002 where I used a special logo to celebrate 5000 hits – far fewer than I get in a day, now.

I’ve written a lot, and the site has come a long way since then. But even when no-one read it, it was fun. It still is fun. And as long as it is, I’ll still be writing here.

This is the 999th post on this site… and also the first to be posted
by mobile phone. I’m not sure what that means, but it’s certainly
proof of the mobile blogging concept for sjhoward.co.uk, and (I like
to think) shows that even all this time on, I’m still trying to
innovate.

And, for mobile phone fanatics, make sure you watch this space for new
mobile content coming soon. See the new mobile link at the top of
every page – this brings together the current mobile services
together, and is the place where new ones will be added.

So, the next post will be 1,000… I guess I’m going to have to come
up with something pretty special for that!