Flicking through the Tesco Photobook I ordered of my elective in Canada, which arrived this morning, I note that many of the scenes are unfamiliar. All of them, in fact. The pictures are largely of Alie’s 90th birthday – or at least, I think they are. It’s hard to tell, because the text is in German… And the picutres, apparently, are set in Germany. The cover was right, the inside wasn’t mine. Tesco assure me they’ll sort it. We’ll see.

Call off of the quangos, cancel the committees, and stop the investigations. I, Simon Howard, have discovered why the UK is so poor at recycling, reducing waste volume, and helping the environment.

It is, it would appear, due to the existence of people like Helen Veale, executive producer of Channel 4’s most recent reality TV show Dumped. From a piece she wrote for Guardian Unlimited:

Before Dumped it had never really occurred to me that when you throw something away it actually goes somewhere.

Wow. An executive producer commissioned to make a programme about rubbish for one of the UK’s biggest TV channels didn’t know that rubbish went somewhere after she’d put it in her bin. Presumably, on par with the scientific knowledge of most TV producers, she thought it disapparated, like things do in Harry Potter.

And just to further exemplify her knowledge of the subject matter on which she’s produced a programme:

[T]he whole point is that everyone seems to think that “the environment” is something that happens far away, in foreign countries, caused by other people.

Who is this “everyone”? I don’t think I know anyone who thinks that. And, frankly, it’s incredibly depressing if anyone does – let alone someone producing a programme about the environment.

The concept of Dumped actually strikes me as rather good, but now I’m worried that it will be spoiled by ‘revelations’ like the fact that my rubbish goes to landfill, and doesn’t simply disappear. With Ms Veale executive producing, I’m not holding out much hope.

In a move almost as expected as Tony Blair’s, John Prescott has announced that he will resign as an MP at the next election.

It’ll be quite sad to see him go – Whilst he was a comically terrible Deputy Prime Minister, he was a colossal figure in the Labour Party, probably more important to it over the last fifteen years even than Tony Blair. Blair wouldn’t have got anywhere without Prescott, and neither would Labour.

He’s even provided much fun on these pages over the years – from his interview technique (more than once), to his non-job, to his affair (also more than once). His complete lack of PR awareness made him a bit of a figure of fun for the media, but his style meant that he could always connect with the grass roots of the Labour Party, unlike almost anyone else.

Brown’s government will dearly miss a figure like Prescott.

My tenth Gazette piece is now online: Parking made easy – but not at hospitals. It’s basically another whinge. You read the early version of it here first, in July last year. The picture which accompanies the original is one of the most stolen from this site. So there you go.

Thanks to Helen in Toronto for sending in this very effective ad, which has (understandably) been causing a bit of a stir around her neck of the woods.

[flashvideo filename=”http://sjhoward.co.uk/video/camp.flv” title=”Camp Okutta” picture=”http://sjhoward.co.uk/video/camp.JPG” ratio=”4:3″ /]

The Camp Okutta website is here, and a news article with further explanation is here. It’s a really great ad campaign.

If you’ve found something I might like, send it in! Email simon@sjhoward.co.uk, phone 0845 638 1916, fax 0845 638 1918, or use your mobile to send texts, pictures, and videos to 60300 (start the text part of your message with the word “simon”). Phone and text charges are detailed here.

From a great gallery of photographs on Guardian Unlimited: Reverent Humour. It’s great when religion feels able to take the piss out of itself, it kinda saves the rest of us the hassle.

I’ve just posted a timely reworking of this post over on Gazette Communities: National Shock as 75% Fail A-Levels.

Thanks for all the emails and comments on this site – I am working through them, and trying to catch up, and I will get round to posting some new stuff here ASAP. Promise! It’s just taking me a while to catch up with things…

I wish everyone who is receiving A-Level results today the very best of luck. However it turns out, don’t let anyone belittle your achievement – the media pump out ridiculous lies about the exams every year, and every year I get annoyed. Congratulations to those who get good news. Those who didn’t do as well as expected shouldn’t get too disheartened – after all, you tried your best – but you may find the Guardian’s clearing site useful, as it’s chock full of useful info and will have a live adviser to answer questions later this morning.

On another topic entirely, I’ve not been great at posting this month. Sorry about that. I’ve been in Canada for two months, and thought I did quite well on keeping up the blog – for the first six weeks… I’m back now, so normal service will resume shortly. 🙂

Iain Dale is asking people to nominate their top twenty political blogs so that he can compile a top 100 for his latest book.

These things are impossible to do, but glancing briefly through my feed reader, I reckon these are all good… but I’ve probably got them in the wrong order, missed people out, and made myself look stupid. But hey, no change there…

1. S J Howard (of course…)
2. Iain Dale’s Diary
3. Guido Fawkes
4. Nick Robinson’s Newslog
5. Downing Street Says
6. Dizzy Thinks
7. Charlie Beckett
8. James O’Malley: Living Legend
9. RecessMonkey
10. Adam Boulton
11. PM
12. NHS Blog Doc
13. Random Acts of Reality
14. Boris Johnson
15. Burning Our Money
16. Dirty Leftie
17. Paul Linford
18. Mark Mardell
19. Tim Worstall
20. Tim McLoughlin

So what are your top tips? Hop over to Mr Dale’s website and post your list. You have until 15th August. Obviously, there’s no dispute about Number 1… 😉