Spontaneous Monotony

I have recently replaced a TV-DVD combi with a shiny LG high-def flat panel. The result of this is that I need a new DVD player - the 360 is far too noisy for watching films (or doing anything that doesn’t involve BOOM! DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA or a loud engine :P) and the PS2 (while not in the same noise league as El Boxo) still has some fan noise which is noticeable during the quieter moments of films.

My current thinking is the Phillips DVP-5980 (even though I bought its little brother from Asda this morning which refused to output over component), so I started looking at various sites to get an idea of price.

John Lewis (who I usually ignore, but who seem to have a decent reputation on AVForums) wanted £69.50 (which was in itself excessive in comparison to Amazon et al). After noticing how the page title (and the search system) falsely advertises it as an ‘HD DVD‘ player, I then spotted much they wanted for a three year ripoff extended warranty: ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE POUNDS. Extended warranties are dodgy ripoffs at the best of times, but more than twice the cost of the item covered? Why would anyone, even the criminally insane/technologically illiterate who buy their electronics from John Lewis shops instead of online, pay such a ludicrous sum instead of just buying a new player (for £129.50 less than the warranty) if it died within that period?

Oh and, to guard against future price reductions (or the very real possibility that many of you will refuse to go near John Lewis’ website in case you catch coffindodgeritis from the clientele), I’ve stuck a screenshot on my Photobucket account:


(warning: the full file is a 150k-ish 1280×1024 JPEG, for those on mobiles or dunce-slow LAN proxies)

I’ve just read that John Reid is to be appointed as the next Chairman of Celtic - despite the controversy surrounding his political career. Celtic was founded to help immigrants and the working class. John Reid based his political career on patronising the working class, brutalising immigrants, and attacking human rights safeguards - in other words, his actions in government go against everything the club is supposed to stand for.

It is difficult to imagine someone less suitable for such an important post. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t stay as long as the excellent Brian Quinn - having Reid as Chairman for seven years would be a travesty.

Different people may have different opinions as to the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program - whether it is a peaceful, civilian power system as asserted by the Iranian regime, or a weapons programme as asserted by the American regime. Both sides present a compelling case, and the question of whom to trust often comes down to which side you dislike the least.

What I can’t understand though is the storm over Iran threatening to bomb Israel if the latter attacks Iran. What is so startling about that? Isn’t it a given that, if one country attacks another, the attacked country will fight back? Had Iran threatened to bomb Israel pre-emptively, that would be a cause for alarm. But for Iran to promise to do what every country in the world would do in the same situation? Sorry but I fail to see the threat.

External Links

• BBC News - Iran issues Israel attack warning

Just when you thought that ‘Scottish’ Labour might have finally realised they do not have a divine right to run Scotland, their new leader comes out with this at her coronation:

That’s the road on which I will lead Scottish Labour and it is the road back to power,

Aside from having fewer personality flaws, one thing about the SNP is that they actually care about doing the job, case in point the Crichton Campus

Glasgow Uni: We’re making an 800k loss on the Crichton Campus, we can’t afford that
Labour Executive, pre-election: Tough
SNP Executive: Here’s the necessary money to not only maintain the Crichton, but make it even better.

Let’s hope that nobody actually listens to Wendy Alexander - it’s only when we have a proper government in power that we begin to realise what a complete dog’s mess Labour have been making of our country for the past ten years.

Today sees the launch of Alex Salmond’s campaign for a ‘national conversation’ (Worst. Title. Ever.) on the future of the country. The general idea seems to be that the public will be overwhelmingly convinced by the words of El Salmondo and the naughty unionist parties will see the error of their ways and back a referendum. When you’re finished ducking to avoid airborne pork products, perhaps you might see the reason why a referendum would be a good idea.

As the unionist parties have been crowing for the past few days, a poll conducted for that well-known bastion of objective journalism. the Daily Mail, showed that support for independence had dropped significantly. Leaving aside the strong possibility that this does not reflect the actual responses in the poll, even a well-conducted opinion poll generally proves to be as accurate a reflection of public opinion as if I threw two gerbils in the air and waited to see which landed first. Previous polls have shown a majority support for independence. Remember the poll that predicted an SNP-Green-Socialist majority government? The only way to really find out what the public want is to ask them, in a proper referendum.

This is what leaves me so baffled by the position of the unionist parties. They confidently proclaim that ‘the majority of Scots do not want independence’. So why are they so worried about the prospect of a referendum? The cost of holding one would be about £7m - that’s approximately 2 hours’ worth of Iraq War (based on the total dollar cost of the war to date), or approximately one seven-hundredth of a trident submarine (based on the official estimate of £20bn for 4 new submarines).

I would suggest that the constitutional future of our country is more important than illegal wars or illegal WMD, and I therefore fail to see the disadvantage in asking the question - the ‘independence issue’ would then be settled, one way or the other.

External Links
National Conversation

Technorati Tags: Alex+Salmond, Independence, News, Politics