Weather: The cold snap continues into day 25. Hazy sunshine, +3, cold in the wind.

Travel: No real problems. Travel news warns of long tailbacks on Birmingham city centre roads, so get the 1702 from Longbridge, which doesn't stop outside New St, and lets me catch the 1722 (7 late) home.

The Bloody Sunday tribunal has postponed a crucial ruling on evidence alleging that Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness fired the first shot in the incident. The decision came after ex-MI5 officer David Shayler claimed that the agent behind the allegations was a known liar who was eventually ignored as an intelligence informant. Hearings into the 1972 killings of 13 Catholic civilians in Londonderry by paratroopers resumed today.

The first trader to be prosecuted for selling goods in pounds and ounces appears in court today in a case that could pit English law against European legislation. Sunderland city council is prosecuting Steven Thoburn, a 36-year-old greengrocer, for selling bananas using imperial scales rather than metric. The case hinges on whether a European directive, implemented as a statutory instrument, or primary British law should take precedence.
From a strict legal point of view, there is no case to answer. Primary legislation (in this case, the Weights and Measures act 1985) can only be over-ridden by other primary legislation. The secondary legislation (the Metrication Order 1994) cannot trump it.
That's not what gets my goat about this case. It's the assumption that citizens are incapable of doing simple maths. The triumph of innumeracy that says no-one can work out 1lb is 454g. Anyone who thinks about it will know that the two are the same, no matter what the base unit is. 1kg of cheese is still 1kg of cheese, even if it's labelled 2.2lbs. Yep, it's another example of the government pandering to the lowest intellectual denominator. Chalk this whole pointless debate up as Another Triumph For The Twerpocracy.

The real dangers presented by GM foods are those to the diversity of life. Monsanto has not modified its wheat in order to feed the world's poor or eliminate diseases, but in order to render it resistant to its own proprietary weedkiller. This is the very reverse of an extravagant claim made on behalf of biotechnology – genetic manipulation would produce crops resistant to weeds or pests, without the need for large quantities of chemicals which threaten to destroy everything else in the industrially-farmed landscape. - The Independent

Weather: Still cold. Still a chill wind, when it blows. Some of the pavement shaded from the sun haven't had the frost go since about Saturday. 0C today.

Travel: Out is problem free. Back is not; the 1702 from Longbridge is AWOL, so a trudging, badly-driven bus into town. The 1718 to Edinburgh leaves 11 late, and I'm inches short. Off to P9, where the 1722 is "imminent"... then think about P5, where the 1729 is "imminent"... then P2, where the 1734 is in and ready to roll. It rolls, I'm on it. Wait 5 outside Wolverhampton station for the stopper to leave (3 late), then change to the Walsall 1804.

South Africa's Foreign Ministry says its mission in Kinshasa had reported an attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the fate of President Laurent Kabila is uncertain. "Our reports do confirm an attempted coup. It is our understanding that the military went on television to confirm the process of an attempted coup," said ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa. "We can't confirm the reports that Kabila and his son were shot," he said. Other sources gave conflicting accounts of Kabila's fate.
It emerges late on Wednesday that Kabila died en route to Zimbabwe.

Godawful mess I A British couple who adopted twins after they had allegedly been sold to another family over the internet vow to get British citizenship for the girls. Alan and Judith K, of north Wales, claim a legal right to keep the babies. The couple said they had not known the babies had been placed with a US family, then reportedly reclaimed to be resold for more, by US firm Caring Heart Adoption.
The lengths people will go in order to satisfy their lust for offspring. Would someone explain it to me?

Godawful mess II Health secretary Alan Milburn blames management failure for the storing of bodies on a chapel floor at Bedford Hospital. Milburnallourbudget said the decision was "totally and utterly unacceptable". Up to eight bodies were stored in the chapel without refrigeration and wrapped only in sheets.
This is either culpable, total mismanagement by the hospital... or the logical conclusion of Gordon Brown-Spear's Chest, the massive sum of money he's keeping for a sunny day. We need to find the truth. Incidentally, how come there are objections to having bodies in a chapel?

Angela Bigos:
Dear Lovers of Dangerous Foodstuffs,
Beware! Vegetable soup may not be the innocent comestible it appears to be!
Why do I feel another spoof game show format coming on... Quick, over to The Food Network!

Ainsley Haricots-Verts is hosting. "These nine foodstuffs have never met, but one of them will provide a very tasty meal base. They'll have to work together to form a tasty dish, but one of them is out to sabotage the best efforts of the others. Week by week, we will lose the ingredient that is least able to identify ... The Stink."

Personally, I reckon it's the Brussels Sprouts, coz hesitating when jumping out of the plane is too obvious a thing to do. But exploding in the microwave when heated would also tend to ruin the best attempts to make a good meal. We'll find out in time, I suppose.

---

Cory:
Am I the only person who regularly wonders what in God's name Ainsley is doign married to a woman, as he is obviously and indisputably on the Top Five Most Flaming Men on Television list?
Well, let me think of Five More Flaming Men On Television...

Any such list has to start with Dale Winton. You cannot get more camp than Dale Winton if you lined up all the tents in the country.

Then there's Andi Peters, sadly not relegated to the Five Flaming Men Not On Television Any More list. Yet.

One of the new characters (no names, no spoilers) in "The Tribe" should have flames leaping out of his blue head, and might do before the series ends.

I suppose Christopher Price just squeaks into this category, as he masqueraded as a "serious" journalist for some years before coming out as Liquid News' Showbiz Star.

Er, Julian Clary and Lily Savage can't really count. They try too hard. Neither does Graham Norton, for similar reasons. Robbie Williams would like to appear on this list, but he's On Pop. And gross.

So, yes, Ainsley Haricots-Verts must be one of TV's Top Flamers.

"The only bright spot in this week was that fxxz crackle!"
"Wow."
Nothing like a good spoiler, is there? There are still countries (come in Spain) where Dawson III is yet to air, and there may even be subscribers there who still give a monkey's about what happened. I don't, but that's mainly due to the antics of one of the people mentioned above.

Weather: Cold again. We sneak above freezing, it's a little warmer than it has been. +1.

Travel: Fine both ways, though home is spoiled slightly by the 1710 stopper not arriving at Wolverhampton until 1751. The 1722 Shrewsbury is behind that, though the 1718 Edinburgh does leave before the stopper. Odd.
Station block at New Street tonight, only causes slight delays. I insist that these remain inappropriate unless and until a reasonable level of service is being offered. That's not the case just yet.

Prime Minister Coewar de Custard flounced away from a televised debate with other party leaders during the next general election campaign, said his official spokesdroid. A letter is going to the BBC and ITV, rejecting their proposals, making the point that a comparison with the United States "is not one we believe holds sway. The UK is not electing a president and our constitutional positions are entirely different."
So, just because the UK is not the US, we are to be denied the opportunity to see Mr Smilealot fall flat on his smug face. This is cowardice of the worst kind. This shows a complete inability to tackle risks, preferring a safe option that is only going to lead to disaster.
I would really like to see someone go ahead with these debates, with the Labour time occupied by an empty chair and a factual statement of the position: "We invited Labour onto this debate. The party declined to appear."
"New" Labour, you can forget about getting my vote.

Vanessa Feltz (no picture, I'm limited to 450 pixel width) has been dropped by the BBC. The TV presenter has not had her contract extended following a succession of poor and poorly rated shows. She first encountered problems at the BBC when her Vanessa show was axed after only six months in July 1999, and has failed to find a vehicle for her talents since.
Until now, that is, when a taxi cab was called.

The worst team ever on (The) Weakest Link. After four rounds, and a potential £4000 pot, they've £860. Four rounds later, and out of maximum winnings of £10,000, they've cobbled together a massive £1060, answering correctly three questions out of 28 in the last two rounds. The show isn't meant to be comedy, but it is.

It's ten years tonight since President Bush cut the ribbon and declared the Gulf War open.

In the 3,653 days since, the dictatorial anti-western regime that occupied Kuwait has been removed, and replaced by a dictatorial pro-western regime. A continuing bombing and sanctions campaign aimed at unseating Sadaam Hussein has served only to entrench his position. The west is still being held to ransom for its daily fix of petroleum.

On the positive side, the conflict has made Israel and Palestine talk seriously about some form of lasting settlement. The new regime in Kuwait is infinitely more tolerant than its predecessor. And there's no upside to the west's dependency on petrol.

Here in Britain, the atmosphere on January 16 was feverish. Everyone reckoned that something would happen, it was just a question of when. First news of air raids on Baghdad came through just after 11pm, a little while after I'd gone to bed. So it was 6:30 on a damp Thursday morning when I heard the development. I can well recall doing my paper round, listening to the reports on Radio Five, and trying to make sense of it all.

There were news bulletins everywhere, during the Great British Music Weekend (anyone remember that? Allan?) During the usually sacrosanct chart shows. The BBC ran rolling news on radio until March, and on television for almost three weeks, until they figured there just wasn't enough news.

Though I wasn't in favour of the war at the time, and continue to think it was a lot of fuss over nothing, it was a bigger thing than it seemed at the time. It set the stage for attacks on Yugoslavia, and proved that military hardware may not always do what it says on the tin. Sometimes, as the Patriot missiles proved, it does in the most spectacular way.

Weather: Cloudy for much of the day, and the edge seems to be off the cold, especially overnight. +1.

Travel: Fine on the way out. Not coming back. The 1702 gets briefly stopped at Kings Norton, then goes very-very-slowly through the last three signals. Taking 13 minutes to cover 4. Not on. Station blocked by the people checking tickets rather than doing something useful, like dispatching trains. It's 6 minutes from arrival to the first departure, the 1734 Holyhead leaving the 1729 stopper behind. Holyhead leaves Wolverhampton at 17:54:40, booked to leave at 17:57. This is *so* not on it's unbelievable. Fewer troubles on the last leg, 1804 on time. Former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar is stripped of his £85,000 libel award and branded corrupt by three senior judges. In an unprecedented decision the Appeal Court judges unanimously overturned the libel jury's verdict and the cash award over allegations in the Sun of match-fixing. On top of this humiliation Grobbelaar faces financial ruin as he must now pay the newspaper's legal costs, estimated at £600,000.
Lord Justice Simon Brown described the libel jury's verdict as "an affront to justice" and said that the "only rational view" was that Grobbelaar took corrupt payments to throw Premiership matches, "at least up to the standard of the balance of probabilities". He said the jury's unanimous verdict "represents a miscarriage of justice which this court can and must correct. I confess to doing so with some misgivings, not because I entertain the least doubt about Grobbelaar's guilt but rather because the court must inevitably be reluctant to find a jury's verdict perverse and anxious not to usurp their function.
The judges refused Grobbelaar leave to appeal to the House of Lords even though counsel Richard Hartley told them: "What your lordships have done is unique. Insofar as any of us know, it has never been done before."
Outside court, Grobbelaar said: "I find it very astounding. Of course it's a blow. I won in a court of law and lost on appeal. Life is full of disappointments. You've got to get over them - it makes you a better person." Solicitor David Hewitt said they would fight on. "It is quite wrong for the Court of Appeal to substitute its findings for those of jurors who had the opportunity of hearing the evidence and evaluating the witnesses. This is not an end to the matter. We will be petitioning the House of Lords for leave to appeal."
So, we have a court deciding to throw away a jury ruling. Just like that. For no adequately explored reason. This is not justice, this brings the court into contempt. Libel is falsely holding the claimant up to ridicule, hatred and contempt among right-thinking members of society generally. The facts are that Grobbelaar is innocent of charges, and (in spite of the judges' protestations otherwise) has a reasonable defence against being *probably* guilty. If you'll excuse the pun, this is a total balls-up. I've no doubt that Grobbelgaate (©When Saturday Comes 1994) will go to its fourth replay soon.

California declares a state of emergency as it faces a total collapse of its electricity system. 1m people in the San Francisco Bay area lost power supplies last night as America's richest state imposed blackouts for the first time since the second world war. Financial problems at the state's two major power companies have triggered the crisis.

Angela Bigos:
The Washington Post asked readers to come up with inept (is the opposite of inept- ept?) romantic sentiments for Valentine's Day
Actually, the opposite is adept. You knew that. Of course you did.

However, you may not have known (Dr Wordsmith certainly didn't) that they come from different roots:
adept: ad- , to + apisci , to pursue, attain
inept: < in- , not + aptus , suitable

Okay lovers of romance! Come up with your own inept valentine and you could win a PRIZE! A truly atrocious atrocious valentine...
Put your hanging chad with my dimpled chad. Get a pregnant chad.

People, you can do better than this. Easily.

Weather: Snowy early in the day, sunny later. Still cold. +2.

Travel: Fine on the way out. Not coming back. Work goes on a few moments longer, so I'm on the 1647 bus. Fine, good progress till Selly Oak. We're then raided by genuine police, and uniformed (and uninformed) officers who demand to see tickets and passes. The bus remains stationary during this process. As a direct result, we're four minutes late into the city centre, and I really have to run to catch the 1722 home (just 1 late.) Sorry, WM, but this is obstructing the passenger for no other reason than to protect shareholders. You can try to dress it up as a community policing initiative, but there is absolutely no excuse for stopping the bus during the checks. An apology is formally requested.

Sara Lou :)
-->nope :) and it was pretty cool too!!
In the way it's been pretty cool over here this last week, or in the way that some places are just, like, cool, in an on-the-edge of the Atlantic way?

I thought we were going to *crash* into the sea when we were landing in Iceland, cause it was all stormy out, and we weren't that far away from the water (I could see the huge waves, and they were really big!) but it turned out that Reykjavik was just really close to the border :)
Well, close to the ocean. The midway point between Greater Newfoundland and Greater Denmark actually runs on the European side of Iceland, though the Danes were there first. (Well, they were in NF first, too, but that's another story.)

next time we are planning to do the same, but spend a few days there as a layover! :)
Sounds, er, cool. Don't forget to bring a tree, as part of Iceland's eleven-year old campaign "Plant a tree in 1990."

I DID read up about Iceland, as they had information on board, and I learned quite a few things. they have thermally heated waters! (not sure if its sea, or lakes or what)
Literally, hot running water. Iceland is geologically on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the European and American continental plates rub together, and produce a lot of friction. That gives lots of volcanoes, lots of earthquakes, and a whole load of thermal springs. Iceland is the only country on the planet where hot water is piped directly to houses without the need for a house boiler. They truly have hot and cold running water.

how cool is that?
Actually, it's hot enough to turn your skin lobster red, as John Noakes found out when Blue Peter visited Iceland in 1971...

Weather: Cloud briefly turns to sun around mid-day. There may be snow overnight. +2.

Football: Another week, another MUN win - 2-0 over Aston Villa. Leicester and Arsenal tie 0-0, a result that helps neither side. Liverpool and Middlesborough also tie 0-0, another valuable point for Boro. Spurs and Southampton fight a dull 0-0. Everton downs Coventry 3-1, the result leads to calls for Coventry manager Gordon Strachan to step down. In another relegation battle, Derby and Man City tie 1-1. Leeds' woes continue as they lose 3-1 at the hands of Newcastle. Chelsea comes from behind to thrash Ipswich 4-1. Bradford holds Sunderland to a 0-0 tie on Sunday, lifting the side off the foot of the Tracker Table for the first time since November.

League tables:
1 (1) Man Utd pl 24 - 56
2 (2) Sunderland 24 - 43
3 (3) Arsenal    24 - 41
4 (5) Liverpool  23 - 40
5 (4) Ipswich    23 - 40
6 (8) Newcastle  24 - 37

15 (16) Everton        23 - 26
15 (15) Middlesborough 24 - 24
17 (17) Derby          24 - 24
18 (18) Coventry       24 - 21
19 (19) Man City       24 - 21
20 (20) Bradford       23 - 16

Tracker points:
1 (1) MUN 1199
2 (2) SUN 1108
3 (4) LIV 1077
4 (3) ARS 1070
5 (6) CHE 1059

16 (16) DER 935
17 (17) EVE 933
18 (20) BRA 884
19 (18) COV 881
20 (19) MCY 876

mae:
Okay, so a FULL blown revolution is going in Manila. And we're winning! We're winning!
Nothing like decent journalistic integrity, is there? (:

The only reason the president hasn't resigned yet is cuz it'll be the INTELLIGENT thing to do!
Well, I think the offer to hold fresh elections without him being a candidate (announced 1100 UTC Friday) was as close to a resignation as one gets without it actually *being* a resignation. He figures the end is near, and he may as well try to go quietly.

ANd we both know how intelligent this dude is.
He could probably beat Anti-President George "Landslide" Shrub in an intelligence contest.

Though Tinky-Winky, the purple Teletubbie, would beat them both.

All this happened because the Senate majority refused to open an envelope containing bank documents, submitted to the impeachment court.
That, and the realisation that he had lost the support of everyone who mattered.

Leila:
Wait, WHO's winning?
The people is winning. Let me give a very brief, and possibly inaccurante, history lesson.

In February 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos called a presidential election. He lost the vote, but tried to cling on to office. However, the army, police, and most of the people said "No, you lost. Get lost," and threw him out of the country. Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989; his wife, Imelda, is alive and well and wearing shoes.

Fast forward to January 2001, where President Joseph Estrada has been impeached on corruption charges, and is now facing trial in the Senate. The trial panel votes not to examine a crucial piece of evidence. The People get annoyed, and start to congregate in Manila. The army and police join with the People, and Estrada is out of office within 24 hours.

For those news media that thought this was a non-story, you are wrong. BBC WORLD led with this story for 29 hours through 1500 UTC Saturday. It was #1 or #2 on BBC domestic bulletins through Friday evening and Saturday. ITN gave it a similar high profile.

Readers expecting me to draw a parallel with other corrupt Presidents who failed to win elections, or try to suppress evidence in an impeachment trial, are going to be sadly disappointed.

This just in from correspondent on the ground Annie Robertson...
"Estrado, you thought you could pull the wool over everyone's eyes, with your film star looks and boyish charm. Statistically, you may be ahead in the Senate, but it's not votes there that count, it's people on the ground. You are the weakest leader. Goodbye."

Weather: About 15mm of snow falls up to 10am, then it turns to rain and mostly melts by lunchtime.

Chelle:
Okay, so i need to rant & rave for a bit.
Be my guest. Any excuse for a good rant.

rant: The single "Butterfly" proves indeed that no one wants to stay in Crazytown.
I am yet to hear this recording. I think I've won already.

rave: Yellow is a horrid color, no? No! It's suddenly the best color in the world, ala Coldplay. Introspective pining complaint rock is not dead!
Spotted in one of today's papers: "Sailorsuit - the new Coldplay?" Fercryingoutloud, we've hardly got to know the *old* Coldplay, never mind the new one. "Trouble" is the killer track from the album, IMO - a hauntingly beautiful stripped-to-the-bones acoustic number.

half rant: Nelly Furtado "I'm like a bird". It should be, "I want to be Macy Gray but I'm too shrill and sunny with only half the talent, but at least I have a good hook, sort of."
We have enough Badu-Gray clones already. Stop now, or risk a critical mauling.

rave: Everlast, "Black Jesus". So people come to hear Whitey sing the blues, but don't stick around to eat.
Plonkers.
this single is mighty tasty - slipping in tongue-in-cheek religious reference and still getting played on top 40 radio? Saucy.
Oh that it were! Still, critical approval for one of the music world's best kept secrets always bodes well. This is fab.

rant: Evan and Jaron - oh I'm sorry, evan and jaron (how very e.e. cummings of them)
We already have one k d lang. The planet isn't big enough for two. Not that this pair would stand comparison with the Alberta chanteuse.
"Crazy for this Girl". This is one of those songs that girly girls go gaga over, and want all their boyfriends to think to dedicate to them. Meanwhile the boyfriends are all "buttahflah, shugah, baby" and real women throw on some Destiny's Child. Is it exasperating or reassuring that things just never change?
Both. Personally, I reckon this is lightweight, disposable pop that floats in and out of the brain like candy floss.

rant: Jennifer Lopez, "My Love Don't Cost a Thing". This song is one or more of the following things:
1. A big lie to the public about how she doesn't want any of Puffy's money.
Who's going to manage his royalties when he's spending twenty years in jail?
2. A reassurance to Puffy that when he goes to jail and loses all his money she'll still be around. (Insert muffled laugh.)
She will! She will!
3. Another dumb song reaffirming the fact that JLO (what is she now, a car?) should just stick to acting.
No. She should *not* act again; neither should she warble again. This is a pile of p-car (anag, 4), recorded by someone who is hit-es (anag, 5)

May I add one rave of my own? Moby & Gwen Stefani, "Southside." Just when you think it's going to be all exotic beats, guitar riffs and mumbled vocals, in comes the distinctive voice of No Doubt. Turning a quarter- way decent tune into a totally fab one. And it's all over the US (: and nowhere in the UK ):

Chart News

Personal Airplay Stats: 46 contemporary hit records passed my radar this week (33 last), on a total of 75 plays (52 last.)

Debuts:
"Buck Rogers" - Feeder (Jan 8)
"Born To Fly" - Sara Evans (country)
"Ms Jackson" - Outkast (r+b)
"Stutter" - Joe (r+b)
"The Way You Make Me Feel" - Steps (Jan 1)
"Teenage Dirtbag" - Wheatus (Feb 5)

Adds:
"The Way You Make Me Feel" - Steps
"Born To Fly" - Sara Evans

Most Heard: 5 plays for "Inner Smile" - Texas