iblog

Emily: The recent production at the RSC, The Merry Wives of Windsor, has been getting less than complementary reviews. However, I saw it last night and I think it is probably one of the best performances I have ever seen. A star studded cast including Judi Dench and Simon Callow deliver faultless performances, and the music is fantastic. Some Skakespeare plays can prove slightly heavy going after an hour or so, but this was the first performance I could have happily sat through for several hours.

Caroline: Steve Irwin’s final documentary has been aired on Australian TV. Thankfully his widow has resisted calls for the shots of his final encounter with a deadly stingray to be included. Despite the fact that the media has whipped up an appetitie for more and more “dramatic” footage to be shown and the public has become immune to the most disturbing and distasteful viewing, I feel that this would have been one macabre step too far. No purpose would be served: we all know that the animals Irwin was interested in were dangerous. I for one am very glad that his widow has shown herself to be far more sensible than Steve. The episode in which he dangled his young baby in front of a crocodile still makes my blood run cold.

Caroline: New York’s first robotic parking facility opens in Chinatown next month. The developers reckon that they can park 67 cars in the car park rather than the normal 24 by removing a ramp and the usual manoeuvering space needed. The driver stops on a pallet and gets out, the car is then transported to a space by a computer controlled device similar to a lift. I have to admit that I am having trouble visualising this but it sounds great. Perhaps it’s because I played with dolls as a small child instead of cars but I’m the first to confess that my parking skills could do with some help. At $25 a day it sounds like money well spent.

Rushda: How can anyone be so silly as to introduce boxing lessons in school? Many schools are now participating in teaching boxing as a means to “help pupils develop their mental and physical skills”, and even more unimpressively, in the hope of finding an Olympic boxing medallist. But I think that regardless of any possible benefits the project may have, and even here I’m sceptical, it is totally doomed from the start on more serious grounds.

Everyone knows boxing injuries are frequent and often result in severe brain damage, and in my opinion this makes it bad enough that adults participate in such an activity. It’s absolutely absurd therefore to introduce boxing at a young age. Not only are you putting children at great risk of physical harm, which will probably affect them more because their brains are still developing, it is also like you are saying to children that it is good to fight. To my mind nothing good that comes out of boxing can be worth the price of encouraging aggressive behaviour amongst children, and I really hope schools across the nation rethink such a strategy.

Rushda: A woman has just been jailed for two years for conning men she met over internet dating sites for thousands of pounds. Emma Golightly would use her victims’ credit cards without them knowing to fund her lavish lifestyles (which included amongst other things holidays, shoes and fast cars). In one case she even told a man she had terminal cancer so that he would feel sorry enough for her to marry her. She then took him on a ‘honeymoon’ spending collosal amounts on his own credit card whilst he was completely oblivious. I am so glad she finally got caught but I feel incredibly sorry for the men she cheated. They were no doubt already lonely and vulnerable, and she just went and stole more than just their hearts.

Rushda: I’ve used floppy disks as long as I have used computers. But now it looks like they are dying out like cassette tapes and VHSs because of superior forms of holding data (such as writeable CD/DVDs and memory sticks) that can have over 1000 times more storage. Britain’s largest PC World has stated that as soon as stocks run out it will discontinue sales of floppies. Farewell floppy disks; in a way I will certainly miss them.

Caroline: Panorama last night made alarming viewing. When you take your depressed teenager to the GP you do not expect them to be prescribed a drug that will make them suicidal and yet this is what has been happening with Seroxat, according to the programme. During drug trials Seroxat proved no better than a placebo and in fact caused self-harming, aggression and suicidal thoughts. It was not licensed for use by under 18s but was extensively prescribed by doctors “off-label”. It is alleged that the manufacturers, Glaxo Smith Kline, knew of the problem but suppressed the information. Perhaps it is time to legislate against drug trials being carried out by companies who have to maximise profits for their share holders and are therefore tempted to bury the bad news because of this conflict of interest.

Caroline: A recent survey seems to show that young Muslims are far more attracted to political forms of Islam than the older generation. Groups of 16 to 24 year olds were compared with groups of over 55s in their attitudes to the wearing of the hijab, faith schools and sharia law. It is clear that younger Muslims can be more extreme in their beliefs but it would have been interesting to see how the attitudes of the older group had changed over the years. The survey may have shown that young Muslims can have more radical views but so do all young adults regardless of faith. Political and religious fervour lessens as we mellow with age!

Rushda: Whenever I’ve received a bank statement from HSBC, I’ve always felt really secure about the quality of the service and how strict they are about keeping my information confidential. Admittedly it’s even sounded a little pedantic the lengths they seem to go to for my comfort. It’s funny then to read about this gigantic mistake made by HSBC recently. A woman asked for her bank statement and got delivered 75,000 bank statements of other customers to her door instead. I know, I know, everyone makes mistakes, but this is really shocking. Unfortunately as ‘isolated’ as they say the incident was and as apologetic as they no doubt are, HSBC will now have at least a small dint in their otherwise solid reputation.

Rushda: You may remember a previous blog post of mine about a duck, named Perky, who survived so much including gunshot wounds and time in the fridge. Well, it has battled with death again and come out victorious. Apparently it was pronounced dead at the operating table days after it was rescued but once again proved everyone around it wrong by starting to flap its wings. Bless! Little Perky must have been a cat in a past life.