Opposite side of the coin

Tonight the headline in the London Evening Standard is black and bold: (Real Reason Omar Bakri is coming back) - RACE HATE CLERIC HAS HEART OP ON THE NHS.

This proves the guy is bonkers. The doctor who's operating on him just has to be bumped at a tricky moment, or told a great joke when he's supposed to be concentrating. Or the bed clothes need to be inadvertently dirty from a previous patient infected with something horrendous. All of this is standard operating procedure for the NHS therefore innocent of corruption. (I get to read Life at the Bottom next week) Plus, if he died because someone told a joke, that would prove that "language is life threatening" as a colleague gently pointed out a few weeks ago.

Seriously though, is it really possible that he has lived the last 19 years on British state benefits? I've lived here almost that long and never figured out how to do it. Do you go down to the post office and say "I'm having a cash flow problem" and they hand over a cheque? I've always thought it would ravage my soul to go on the dole. Maybe that is what has driven him crazy. He does not have the ability to provide for himself or his family so his ego must be the size of a tic tak.

We're all ducklings now

"Captured, the terror terrapins destined for deportation. Operation Terrapin is underway in Mill Hill after pre-school children ran screaming from the edge of Sheepwash Pond after seeing "the amphibians" (red-eared terrapins) attacking ducklings..."We're using day-old chicks in the bait traps"...The captured terrapins will go to a rescue centre to be microchipped and will then be transported to a special compound in Italy." Now that's great news Evening Standard page 3 Wed 10 August.