Out of my price range

Singapore Air is the first operator to fly Airbus A380 superjumbos. The airline has requested that passengers refrain from attempting sexual acts on the planes. It seems that first class passengers do have little suites with beds, and it is thought that this could be tempting. Seems a strange statement to make however. Surely passengers already know that they're not supposed to indulge on flights. That's what makes it exciting isn't it?

I heard a snippet on the news this morning about J K Rowling releasing the Tales of Beedle the Bard. This book plays a pivotal part in the Deathly Hallows book, as if you didn't know, and I was quite excited, until I found out that only 7 volumes have been produced, all hand written and illustrated by Rowling herself, and that only one is going to be sold, at Christies, with a starting price of £30,000. Slightly out of my price range. Oh well.

The case of the Lotto rapist is once again in the news. It's an interesting story. Iorworth Hoare was jaild for life in 1989. He bought a lottery ticket while on day release in 2004, and was released in 2005. The lottery ticket was a winner, and Hoare found himself £7 million richer as a result. The thing is, his victim wants to sue him now that he has moneyu. She claims he wasn't worth suing when he was convicted of attempted rape in 1989. The only problem is, current legislation syas that compensation claims must be made within six years. The High Court and the Appeal Court have both refused to let the victim go ahead with the action. The appeal now goes to the Law Lords and the legislation will be examined to determine whether it is fair.

Funny isn't it that this woman can't claim compensation after six years, but people like Jonathan King can find themselves in court trying to defend themselves against allegations from 30 years ago.

The real problem here is that the scum bag was walking around buying lottery tickets when he should have been in prison.

The government is having to make the embarrassing admission that it got immigration figures wrong and that there are far more immigrants than they told us. Pardon me if I don't look too surprised. There is a knock-on effect however. Local councils immediately started asking for more money from central government to pay for the immigrants. That means our council tax bills will go up to cover it. I don't quite see the correlation myself. My wife is an immigrant and costs the government nothing. And I do mean absolutely nothing. She takes no benefits at all. She is entitled to National health service care, but we do have medical insurance, so she doesn't actually even need that.

I'm somewhat torn. I can see that the government has let immigration get out of control, but I can't support any move that would potentially split my family up or force us out of the country. The dragon's 2 year visa is coming up for renewal soon and she has to take the Britishness test to gain her permanent visa. It's not going to be too much of a problem, but it's an annoyance, and it's an expense. She's scared about it.

My office is offering us flu jabs this month. I can't decide whether I want to take advantage of this or not. They only seem to be about 70% effective at best, and they only seem to last about 9 months or something. They make you feel sick as well I think. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to for not much protection. I suppose it would mean I am less likely to get flu and therefore less likely to give it to my family if I caught it while at work or something. I'm thinking about it anyway.

Did I mention that I have applied to renew my radio ham licence? Well I did. Apparently I am entitled to a full licence because I passed the smart arse exams 15 years ago. I never used it for anything and it would seem that things have changed quite a bit since that time. There doesn't appear to be any morse going on anywhere these days. I can remember thinking I wanted to take the morse test and I even got up to about 5 words a minute or something before other projects got in the way. I was slightly concerned that I wouldn't be able to find my exam certificate to get a new licence, but it was there in my certificate folder, so I sent it off. Friend Big Pete just got his foundation licence, whatever that is, and he says that there is a club meeting just round the corner from my house, so maybe we can go along together and see what it's like. I must sound like a geek.