Written Thursday

In the list of useless objects commonly found in the average neighbourhood, leaf blowers must surely come somewhere near the top. Seriously, those things are a real triumph of marketing over functionality. If you took that invention on Dragons' Den they'd laugh at you.

"I've got this great invention. It blows leaves."

"It blows leaves where?"

"Well onto the road, all over parked cars, into the faces of passing pedestrians."

"OK, thanks, NEXT."

There were two swarthy workmen outside my office with leaf blowers this morning, happily blowing leaves around the carpark. At least if you have a broom you can sweep them into a pile. Even that seems pretty futile since the pile is undoubtedly going to be redispersed as soon as the wind picks up. I'm sure I remember an episode of Kung-Fu that covered some philosophy behind the futility of sweeping up leaves, which serves to indicate just how old I have become, sadly. David Carrodine did not have a leaf blower of course. But I'm sure I remember Grasshopper going to his blind master to ask why he was sweeping up leaves only for the wind to blow them away again. Had I been an attentive seven-year-old, I might have been able to remember the wise answer, but I guess I wasn't.

The bloody clocks are due to go back one hour at the weekend. I hate that. It's generally about two weeks before Ihave changed all the clocks. And it's all so pointless. What difference does it make where the blasted hands on the clock pooint? Just leave the bleediong things alone! A report out this week suggests that turning back the closks in Autumn actually causes road accidents over the following four weeks. Ironic really, since improved road safety is generally given as the reason for actually doing it.

The report seemingly urges the Department of Transport to look into putting the clocks one hour ahead of BST throughout the year. I love the quote from an unnamed spokesman for the department of transport who said, "A wide range of issues would have to be considered if a move to single double summertime was to be considered, of which casualty savings is just one." I think he means summer time + one hour all year round when he says, "single double summer time".

Tonight the convicted racist, holocaust denier, and white supremisist Nick Griffin is to appear on Question time. He likes to portray himself as a respectable, well dressed gentleman. I prefer this image of him as a youth marching for the National Front wearing a White Power t-shirt.



There is an excellent article in today's Independent entitled, 10 things you should know about the BNP when you watch Question Time tonight. I recommend you have a quick look. It includes details of Griffin's conviction for inciting racial hatred, his association with the Ku Klux Klan, and some of his associations with other unsavoury characters.