Two, yes two, levels

Well here I am, another Monday morning, and it's the last week of work I have here as far as I know. I'm not sorry the job is finished, it wasn't very good, but I would like to know what I'll be doing next. I got an exercise to complete in the mail this weekend for another job. They already gave me a telephone interview. It looks like a good job, but the exercise was very time consuming. They also had a very intrusive application form to fill in. I was torn between refusing to fill bits in, and complying for the sake of the job opportunity. I filled in my parents' name and address (why did they need that?) but I stopped short of giving them my passport details.

I've come to the conclusion that my son's first full night of sleep has actually caused stress rather than relieved it. After he did it the first time, we automatically assumed he would do it again. It is however proving very difficult to repeat the feat. He did sleep until 5 am today. But the dragon and I went to bed in fairly bad moods as a result of his refusal to drink enough milk at midnight. I've hardly slept again. The trick seems to be to get him to have a big last feed. If you get it wrong during the day and he doesn't want a big feed at bed time, you've had it.

We went out to Westonbirt Arboretum on Saturday. It was very pleasant. We had a picnic lunch and wheeled the little guy all round the trees. He spent much of the time asleep, but he did seem to like watching the birds and the trees above him while he was awake. I'm told that the best time to go is in Autumn when all the leaves are red and brown. I don't know how far we walked, but it must have been a few miles I think.

Japan and some other whaling nations have voted in favour of lifting the ban on commercial whaling. The whaling commision backed a resolution calling for the return of commercial whaling, which has been banned for 20 years. If I'm honest, I can't say I really have any strong feelings about whaling, but I have strong feelings about eco nazis, and that alone is enough for me to back whaling. The whaling nations have always claimed that hunting whales is really no different from hunting deer, which is common in Britain and the US, as well as many other places. There really isn't any argument against that as far as I can see. No one is suggesting that endangered species are hunted. This vote has been welcomed by the whaling nations of course, but it doesn't mean a return to whaling. To lift the ban, 75% of the commision would have to back the resolution. They have a long way to go to get that kind of support because this vote was won by a majority of only 1. And China apparently abstained.

There seems to be a lot of fuss about the appointment of a female bishop by the American Episcapal church. I don't have an opinion here, but I can see the church fragmenting. As an outsider, it looks to me like the Christian church is backed into a corner because the bible says clergy should be male, and society says that's just not right. What can you do?

John Reid the Home Secretary is in trouble because last week he had a dig at judges for giving lenient sentences. This week he finds himself having to explain what he intends to do with the extra prisoners harsher sentencing would generate. The prisons are already full it seems. The answer is easy if you ask me, bring back hanging. This works on two, yes two, levels; every time you execute a convict it's one less cell required, and secondly, he's not going to do it again is he?

Reid is appearing before parliament this afternoon to make a statement about Megan's Law. He has suggested that Britain may implement a version of this law which would allow the public access to information about known sex offenders and their addresses. On balance I think I am against this, but only on a technicality. When the News of the World published pictures and addresses of known paedophiles it sparked really nasty vigilante attacks. I also have concerns about the people registered as sex offenders. A large number of these people did nothing more serious than look at child porn, which while fairly objectionable, doesn't make them dangerous.