ODDS AND ENDS

SUB CRASH [see last issue of 5/3/09]
From Reader Eric K.A.
Not quite accurate... :)

Neither submarine skipper apparently knew precisely what had  
happened, until the respective 'boats' returned to dock and their  
ministries compared notes, drawing the obvious conclusion: The French  
actually announced the incident on the 6th and the British announced  
their own, ten days later. It was only after they liaised, that both  
parties realised what must have happened.

The French do not like to share the locations of their nuclear  
missile-carrying submarines, since they regard them as a strategic  
weapon and, therefore, a State secret.

This has been the subject of much speculation on various military  
discussion forums. The most recent article of which, is here:
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsub/articles/20090219.aspx?comments=Y
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'No laughing' policeman'
  "A motorist was stopped and questioned by a police officer because  
he was laughing behind the wheel.
Gary Saunders, a company director from Liverpool, was speaking on a  
hands-free phone when he burst out laughing at a joke.  Moments later  
a traffic officer pulled him over and spent half an hour questioning  
him.  "He told me I was laughing too much" said Mr Saunders "It  
became a bit ridiculous"
(By Nigel Bunyan - Telegraph 5.3.2009)  [from reader Susan.A. ]
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Huhne: I don't see how a police officer convicted of dishonesty can  
perform their duty
Mr Huhne said that he could not understand how police officers with  
convictions for theft or dishonesty could not perform their duty,  
following the revelation that over 1,000 serving officers have  
criminal convictions.
“I don’t see how a police officer who has a criminal conviction for  
theft, for benefit fraud...dishonesty can perform their duty, because  
they cannot credibly give evidence in court.”
(Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman
BBC Breakfast   11/3/09)
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POLAR BEARS
In the 1960s, there were probably 5,000 polar bears around the globe.  
Forty years later - thanks largely to a reduction in hunting - the  
World Conservation Union (IUCN) counts five-times that many.
The world's 25,000 polar bears live in 20 distinct populations. Two  
populations are growing. Most are stable. Just two are waning.
The declining populations are in areas that have gotten colder over  
the past 50 years. The habitats of the two thriving groups have  
actually become warmer.   (EUReferendum Blog   13/3/09)
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The Prince’s Ramblings on climate change
-----the private jet in which he and his entourage flew to Chile, an  
aircraft which boast a satellite phone, printer, fax and laptop  
sockets and "luxury VIP leather seats" with personal DVD players.
According to the Daily Mail, the cost of the trip is expected to  
exceed £300,000 and produce over 322 tons of carbon. God knows how  
many poverty stricken peasants that would have fed but, with our  
kindly Prince on the case, the obvious answer for them is, "Let them  
eat carbon".
However, at least Charles has solved one problem. He thinks we have  
reached a defining moment. We have. We can now easily understand why  
the Frenchies topped their aristos.    (EUReferendum Blog   13/3/09)
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This Thatcher mythology condemns her strengths and excuses her failings
"Margaret Thatcher is now taking her turn in the stocks as an  
originator of the recession. On the 25th anniversary of the coal  
strike, it is the fault of Thatcher and her battle with the miners.  
It is the fault of Thatcher, the deregulation fanatic. It is the  
fault of Thatcher and the idolatry of greed. Commentators of the left  
have pitted her against the noble miners' leader, Arthur Scargill, in  
coalition with Karl Marx, socialism and king coal. Can we not see  
they were right all along? The politics of blame has found its  
narrative. This one is drivel. British history is getting like Soviet  
history under the commissars, a prisoner of the world view of its  
partisans. To see Scargill's miners, of all lost causes, being  
trundled from their stables to do duty as prophets of the credit  
crunch is ludicrous." -( Simon Jenkins in The Guardian  13/3/09 [via  
Conservartive Home])