Frog Spawn

14 April

I made a spectacular fish pie last night with three types of fish, three types ladies and gentlemen, and prawns! You should have seen it. It was a work of art.

We have tadpoles in our garden. I collected frog spawn from the canal with the boy. It's really fun to watch the little blighters wriggling around. We have far too many. I'm going to put some back in the canal and keep a few so we can watch them develop. I haven't done this for 30 years.

The boy is three now. We bought him a little bicycle, which he loves. We also bought a special seat so he can seat on the adult bicycle while one of us drives. He also likes that because he goes much faster.

I've decided that Formula 1 motor racing is becoming a joke. I used to like watching it. I even went to Brands Hatch a couple of times. I saw Nigel Mansell win there. But that was in the days when the racing was about a driver and a team using their skills to make cars go fast on the track. This season there have only been two races so far. In Australia Lewis Hamilton fought his way up into the top three from 17th place or something, only to be stripped of his points hours later after it became clear that some obscure overtaking rule had been breached. Then there was the race in Malaysia. Jenson Button came home first for the second race in a row, but he is still waiting for a ruling on whether his car is legal. If the first two races of the season are decided in a court room instead of on the track, that represents a problem for me. The rules are too complicated.

Gordon Brown would seem to be in all sorts of trouble over nasty emails designed to embarrass the enemy. In the words of my brother, "he must feel like the captain of the Titanic". Something doesn't seem quite right about this email scandal if you ask me. I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it's odd that we don't know how these mails entered the public domain. I think it's even more odd that someone like Damian McBride, with all his skill and experience, did something so monumentally stupid. Circulating stories about politicians that you can't back up with evidence is like taking the pin out of a hand grenade and putting it in your pocket isn't it?

Phil Spector has been found guilty of murder Can there be anyone on the planet surprised by that verdict?

15 April

It would appear that Jenson Button's car has been ruled legal. So I guess he keeps his points for wins in Australia and Malaysia. They were talking about changing the points system this season, but it was so unpopular that the decision was reversed just days before the first race. Ridiculous, someone should start a rival championship.

The dude that developed genetic fingerprinting has been using some very strong language to illustrate his position regarding the UK DNA database, and he isn't supporting the government. The UK DNA database is the largest in the world. It includes millions of records. The current policy is to take DNA samples from everyone arrested, and then retain the records on the database forever, even if that person is subsequently found to be entirely innocent. That means that there are hundreds of thousands of innocent people's records stored. No one seems to be quite sure how many, but a significant number appear to be children. The thing is, the practice has been ruled illegal by the European high court, and the government is going to have to respond to the ruling.

Rumour has it the the government response will be to delete the records of innocent people, but retain the original DNA samples. It's a story worth reading if you happen to be British. Click here.