Apparently the youth feel it is embarrassing.

While I certainly wouldn’t take part - mainly as I just don’t do dancing of any sort whatsoever - I don’t really think it would be any more embarrassing than bouncing around a nightclub topless and drunk. Is it?

I think it is quite nice to see a bit of Morris Dancing around the place - its one of those Olde English traditions which we should try to keep. I wonder if there is scope for an EU grant?

The Morris Ring

For reasons which are more “gut instinct” than intellectual, I feel really uncomfortable with that.

Surely we live in a free society, and while I personally think hard-right wing political and social views be very yeugh-inducing, I also strongly believe that people have a right to hold whatever views they want. So long as you stay within the law of the land - you can think the world is flat, evolution is false and that Stalin was just misunderstood for all I care. Equally, I expect to be allowed to challenge your views through debate and argument.

I can certainly understand the police wanting to encourage people to report crimes to them - but is holding far-right political views now a crime in the UK?

Would the police (indeed, ARE the police) running adverts headlined with “Muslim Terrorist - Suspect it? Report it. Your call could be vital to us.” How about “Communist Sympathiser - Suspect it? Report it. Your call could be vital to us.”

Again, I can’t put into a detailed intellectual debate why I am uncomfortable with that Google advert, but the discomfort was undeniably heightened by the fact that it appeared on my own blog, specifically the “about me” page, where I comment on my Libertarian political views. Google adverts are targeted by keyword, so someone in the Met Police (or their ad agency) chose what words appearing on a web page should trigger the displaying of the advert - and evidently my combination of political terms set off some sort of alarm and resulted in the advert appearing.

This is just something which makes me very uncomfortable and just feels wrong for the police to be doing in a democratic society.

Normally when sitting at home, I hear unusual boats (etc) as they approach the flat and I get up to have a look at the odd noise. Today, the windows were closed so I missed this until it was right in front of the flat and I scrambled to get the camera - by which time, it was a hundred yards or so away.

Anyhow - this is an ideal time to suggest reserving a weekend for a rather special event later this year.

This year happens to mark the 50th anniversary of the first crossing of the English Channel by a hovercraft, and the national hovercraft museum will be hosting a four-day series of events in the last weekend of July.

The museum is just outside Portsmouth and is about 90 minutes by train from London - so ideal for a day out.

Still waiting for the exact details to be announced, but the preliminary itinerary sounds exciting.

• James Bond ‘Die Another Day’ Hovercraft
• Exciting Guest Hovercraft including 3 Rescue Hovercraft
• Giant SR.N4 Hovercraft ‘The Princess Margaret’ Open to the Public
• SR.N5 & SR.N6 Restoration Projects
• SR.N6 Twin Prop Open
• Over 40 Historic Hovercraft from the collection on Display

The hovercraft Museum Trust

BBC article about the Channel Crossing

Update

A slightly better photo taken later in the day when the Hovercraft was leaving London.

And finally, a close up taken on Saturday afternoon when it was back and on “my” side of the river.

As I was able to see the registration number, I was able to look up the details of who owns it and sent them an email asking if there was a specific reason why it was in town this weekend.

Seems that they hire the hovercraft out for private charters - Hovercraft Rental

It whizzes over between 6:15 and 6:20 am, so you’ll need to set the alarm clock for at least 6am to rub the sleep out of the eyes and see if the cloud cover is favourable.

According to the Greenwich Observatory….

The International Space Station (ISS) will first appear in the WSW at 06:14. Watch out for a steady light travelling from west to east. If the light flashes or blinks, you’re probably looking at an aeroplane. A key diagnostic feature is the way the light suddenly disappears as the ISS passes into the Earth’s shadow.

The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest manmade object in space. But that doesn’t make it easy to spot. To see it, you have to be in shadow and the ISS has to be in sunlight. That means during the hour after sunset or before sunrise.

Allegedly, if you have good binoculars, you might see a random flash from large toolkit which was dropped overboard the other week and is now flying behind the space station!

Hat tip to Diamond Geezer who told me about the website.

Incidentally, I had to get out of the house this morning and despite not really having a lot to do I took the computer and vegged in my local “office” and watched people going to work wearing the coats and jackets they got as presents at Christmas.

There is a certain air of smartness about how people dress and sharpness in their poise as their new coat makes them walk proud and erect for the first few weeks after Xmas. Seeing one person like that is one thing - but to see an army of like minded people walking with an unnatural gait is quite surreal.

Give it a few weeks and people will start to disdainfully fling that new coat on the chairs as if it has been part of the family for years, and the upright poise as people walk around will relax into its normal slump.

*When I say amused, I actually mean amused if it turns out to be a silly reason, but also potentially very alarmed if the current security paranoia is now reaching inside coffee shops as well.

Alas, last year it poured down with rain - but this year the weather was good, and despite having a bad cold for the past few days I was determined to get up early and cycle around the West End of London taking photos.

Despite the early hour and nature of the day, there were still some people around, and as I started heading home at around 11am, some of the tourist locations were almost as busy as a normal day.

Below are some of my personal favourites, and the whole collection of 68 photos can be found on my usual Flickr account.

Most of the photos are literally as the scene presented itself, although on a few occasions there were the odd car I had to wait to pass, or just didn’t bother waiting and cropped the photo a bit.

Click on the photos for larger versions

South Bank

Hungerford Bridge

Belvedere Road

Carnaby Street

Tottenham Court Road

Sweeping Streets on Christmas Day

Trafalgar Square and St Martins

Villiers Street

Bank

The full collection of 68 photos availableon my Flickr account.

Alas, it is only via the internet from South America - as I doubt a launch in London would get past the Health & Safety regulations.

Fortunately though, the launch is also at a more tolerable time - starting at 9:50pm (they are often a lot later in the night), so something to watch on your computer if the TV is proving uninspiring.

Live Streaming Link (needs Real Player or Windows Media)

This will be the 42nd Ariane 5 launch, and will launch two communications satellites, primarily intended for direct TV broadcast services and data networks: HOT BIRD 9 and W2M, both for Eutelsat.

The launcher will be carrying a total payload of 9,220 kg, including 8,340 kg for the two satellites, which will be released separately into their targeted orbits.

Incidentally, you can actually write to Arianespace and get tickets to watch the launch live in person. Alas, the flights to French Guiana are unusually expensive. I suspect that the airlines milk the route for all its worth as the bulk of the customers flying there are going to be VIPs who don’t really care about the cost.

You can also naturally watch launches at NASA’s facility in Florida - and there are also periodic launches on the other side of the USA, out of Vandenberg Air Force Base. Another spot to watch a live launch is Baikonur in Kazakhstan - which is the former USSR launch site. Today it is mainly commercial launches, with the occasional launch of a Glonass satellite to finish off Russia’s version of the USA’s GPS platform.

There were plans to let tourists watch the Chinese rocket launches, and indeed the local government invested in a large tourist park near the launch site. Alas for them, the army decided it didn’t like civilians watching, and shut the whole thing down.

Watch NASA Launches

Visit Baikonur Cosmodrome

Watch Vendenberg Launches

Visiting Arianspace

On a slightly related subject - just a reminder of my 10 Downing St petition.

When man first landed on the moon, Britain’s Union Jack/Flag was also taken up to the moon and then brought back to earth, and now resides inside 10 Downing St. I think it should be put on public display as an inspiration to our future scientists.

If you think that would be a good idea - please sign the petition by Jan 3rd 2009. You never know, it might attract attention of the person who can say “Yes!”.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/moon-landings/

(Note: Image is not necessarily to scale)

Jeremy Clarkson hosting is exactly what you expect - so the show is good, but not raucously funny.

However, the show is going to be memorable for a very different reason, and depending on how much the editors leave in could be one of those episodes people talk about at the water cooler for some time.

As the saying goes, the pen is indeed mightier (and it seems, sharper) than the sword - especially when it is thrown across the desk and stabs Ian Hislop in the face.

Update

As the program has gone out - it is clear that they edited a lot out. The incident was actually a lot, lot funnier in the studio and Clarkson was genuinely quite sorry about the whole thing.

Hislop milked it like mad though - and kept going on about getting botulism poisoning and pulling a frozen face throughout the remainder of the recording.

They actually sent a make-up girl on with a plaster just after it happened but he waved it away.

I hope they leave more of that in for the slightly longer version shown tonight.

Hattip: TheCroydonian

If you ever wanted to introduce the science of animal behaviour to an audience - this video clip would certainly be a good way to start.

Most of it was fairly sensible stuff, if delivered in a rather dull monotone voice - but there were a couple of slight jokes.

Considering the media fuss going on right now about his plans to fix the Post Office - one was quite topical.

He commented that Tony Blair had once said that Nu Labour would have completed its modernisation when it has come to love Peter Mandelson.

Since he has been back in government, he has felt somewhat discomforted to find himself being liked by his parliamentary colleagues. So he decided to shake up the Post Office knowing that it would annoy the back-benchers and result in a return to the conventional loathing he is so used to from the Labour Party.

I read this morning that the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will ask its 250,000 members to approve a formal split from the Labour party if the shake up of the post office goes ahead.

His speech was video’d and will be available on the RSA website in a few days - but to be honest, it’s not that interesting to listen to unless you are really into politics or run a business, or like monotone dialogue.

Like them or loathe them - but at least Tony Blair and David Cameron sound interesting, even if what they are saying isn’t.

Last night was the last of this year’s free lectures at the RSA - and I am looking forward to next year with excitement. For the occasional dud (see above), the majority are really interesting, and being free to attend means even the dull ones don’t leave you feeling “out of pocket”.