Tim Atkinson's Blog, page 51
October 17, 2014
The Thought Police
Do you believe in free speech? Do you really believe in it? Are you of the 'I hate what you say but I'll defend to the death your right to say it' brigade or do you feel there are some things that should be left unsaid?
Next question; what about thoughts? Are there some ideas which - were there the technology to intercept them (and it will happen, one day) - should be regarded as wrong? How about feelings? Perhaps there are some things that are so bad we just shouldn't be allowed to feel them?
I hope you can see where this is leading.
Because it leads somewhere very dark and depressing.
Three people this week have hit the headlines thanks to saying things that others found unacceptable. Judy Finnigan said something about whether rapist Ched Evans should be allowed to play football again; John Grisham expressed the view that a friend of his was treated harshly for viewing child pornography; and Welfare Minister Lord Freud speculated about whether paying disabled people the minimum wage might be keeping them out of employment.
All three have since apologised, grovelingly. All three have retracted their statements, claiming that they were misconstrued or misreported or that they didn't really mean what they had said in the first place. All three only did so after howls of protest and a rising tide of outrage from people who seem to be saying things like, 'your thoughts are wrong therefore you have no right to hold them, still less to speak them. Either think like me or shut up!'
Now as it happens I don't agree with any of the above views. But I passionately feel that they should be spoken and that the right to say anything - yes, anything - is fundamental among human freedoms. Yes I know there are laws outlawing certain words and it is an offence to use racist, sexist and inflammatory language. I don't happen to think it ought to be, but that's my opinion. And that doesn't mean I approve either of the language or the sentiments. But I approve of the freedom to say them. And I think any denial of that freedom is a dangerous erosion of our fundamental civil liberties.
And it's not just about saying them. It's getting dangerously close now to becoming unacceptable just to think certain things. Because it seems you can't say what you really think if it's going to be unpopular or upset someone or if it's political or sexually incorrect.
Judy Finnigan clearly had a view: a rather stupid view and not a view I share but... I really don't want to get to a situation where we're all afraid of opening our mouths in case howls of outrage and social media storms (and worse - threats to rape your children) should follow what we say.
John Grisham expressed an ignorant opinion but one which nevertheless raised an important point: should those who view child porn online be treated more harshly than those who do physical and sexual harm to children? Lord Freud didn't even express an opinion, more an off-the-cuff speculation.
Had none of them said a word, of course, then we'd be none the wiser. There are many people whose opinions and ideas I detest and whom I wish would refrain from broadcasting them but... I don't have to listen. And if I do, I can argue. I can attempt to point out to them the error of their ways. I can explain to them why I think they're wrong. I can attempt to make them understand how offensive their views are. I can try to persuade them to change.
And I can do all that because they're free to offend me and I'm free to fight back.
At least, for the time being...
Next question; what about thoughts? Are there some ideas which - were there the technology to intercept them (and it will happen, one day) - should be regarded as wrong? How about feelings? Perhaps there are some things that are so bad we just shouldn't be allowed to feel them?
I hope you can see where this is leading.
Because it leads somewhere very dark and depressing.
Three people this week have hit the headlines thanks to saying things that others found unacceptable. Judy Finnigan said something about whether rapist Ched Evans should be allowed to play football again; John Grisham expressed the view that a friend of his was treated harshly for viewing child pornography; and Welfare Minister Lord Freud speculated about whether paying disabled people the minimum wage might be keeping them out of employment.
All three have since apologised, grovelingly. All three have retracted their statements, claiming that they were misconstrued or misreported or that they didn't really mean what they had said in the first place. All three only did so after howls of protest and a rising tide of outrage from people who seem to be saying things like, 'your thoughts are wrong therefore you have no right to hold them, still less to speak them. Either think like me or shut up!'
Now as it happens I don't agree with any of the above views. But I passionately feel that they should be spoken and that the right to say anything - yes, anything - is fundamental among human freedoms. Yes I know there are laws outlawing certain words and it is an offence to use racist, sexist and inflammatory language. I don't happen to think it ought to be, but that's my opinion. And that doesn't mean I approve either of the language or the sentiments. But I approve of the freedom to say them. And I think any denial of that freedom is a dangerous erosion of our fundamental civil liberties.
And it's not just about saying them. It's getting dangerously close now to becoming unacceptable just to think certain things. Because it seems you can't say what you really think if it's going to be unpopular or upset someone or if it's political or sexually incorrect.
Judy Finnigan clearly had a view: a rather stupid view and not a view I share but... I really don't want to get to a situation where we're all afraid of opening our mouths in case howls of outrage and social media storms (and worse - threats to rape your children) should follow what we say.
John Grisham expressed an ignorant opinion but one which nevertheless raised an important point: should those who view child porn online be treated more harshly than those who do physical and sexual harm to children? Lord Freud didn't even express an opinion, more an off-the-cuff speculation.
Had none of them said a word, of course, then we'd be none the wiser. There are many people whose opinions and ideas I detest and whom I wish would refrain from broadcasting them but... I don't have to listen. And if I do, I can argue. I can attempt to point out to them the error of their ways. I can explain to them why I think they're wrong. I can attempt to make them understand how offensive their views are. I can try to persuade them to change.
And I can do all that because they're free to offend me and I'm free to fight back.
At least, for the time being...
October 13, 2014
New House New Baby...
Some time ago I was asked if I'd like to become an ambassador for TalkTalk. There's not a great deal in it (I sign a new eighteen-month contract and they pay my bill for nine months) but I thought, why not? I'm a TalkTalk customer already (have been for years) and always been reasonably happy. What can possibly go wrong?
Well, moving house for a start. If you've never moved or not moved recently let me tell you one thing: don't. But if you do, I can certainly recommend TalkTalk's online moving house page as among the easiest ways of transferring your service from one address to another.
For a start, you can do it all in a matter of a few mouse clicks. It's as easy as that. Second, it's quick. The time between my old line being stopped and my new one becoming active was a little under 24 hours. I've had friends who have moved recently and whose phone and broadband services are provided by 'rival operators' who have waited weeks - weeks - for a broadband line. I'm not sure I could live that long in the internet wilderness. Especially as - thanks to my new deal - TalkTalk are now providing my telly service too. (Goodbye, nasty satellite dish; farewell Mr Murdoch and farewell too to an extortionate bill that was more than I'm paying now - or will be paying in nine months time - but which now covers TV, fibre-optic broadband, line rental and that old-fashioned thing called a telephone. They're not paying me for saying that. Well, I suppose they are in a manner of speaking but I'd say it anyway because it's true!)
So, new house new... baby broadband and so far, she's a little beauty!
Altogether now? Ah...
Well, moving house for a start. If you've never moved or not moved recently let me tell you one thing: don't. But if you do, I can certainly recommend TalkTalk's online moving house page as among the easiest ways of transferring your service from one address to another.
For a start, you can do it all in a matter of a few mouse clicks. It's as easy as that. Second, it's quick. The time between my old line being stopped and my new one becoming active was a little under 24 hours. I've had friends who have moved recently and whose phone and broadband services are provided by 'rival operators' who have waited weeks - weeks - for a broadband line. I'm not sure I could live that long in the internet wilderness. Especially as - thanks to my new deal - TalkTalk are now providing my telly service too. (Goodbye, nasty satellite dish; farewell Mr Murdoch and farewell too to an extortionate bill that was more than I'm paying now - or will be paying in nine months time - but which now covers TV, fibre-optic broadband, line rental and that old-fashioned thing called a telephone. They're not paying me for saying that. Well, I suppose they are in a manner of speaking but I'd say it anyway because it's true!)
So, new house new... baby broadband and so far, she's a little beauty!
Altogether now? Ah...
October 8, 2014
Singin' in the Rain
It wasn't raining last week when we shot this video. But Charlie's sister wanted to play outside with her umbrella. And it was a short step from there to the beginnings of a song-and-dance career...
Gene Kelly? Eat yer heart out...
Gene Kelly? Eat yer heart out...
October 1, 2014
Fahrenheit 451
I love books, I really do. In my small way I add increase to their global number through what I laughingly call my day job (although 'sentence' would be a better description... Do you see what I did then? Oh never mind...)
But. But. One can have too much of a good thing. And moving house recently has confirmed one thing. You can have too many of them. There is such a thing as a surfeit of books. And loving what's in them isn't the same as loving them on the shelves
Books are a curse on removals. Packing them doesn't take long... unless you've several hundred of them. Unpacking ditto...
But as for lifting the boxes they're in and moving them from place to place, dear Lord! I know all about packing just a few and filling the remaining space with cushions or fresh air, but still. They're bloody heavy and bloody inconvenient.
And if I ever move house again I'm bloody burning them and buying myself a Kindle...
But. But. One can have too much of a good thing. And moving house recently has confirmed one thing. You can have too many of them. There is such a thing as a surfeit of books. And loving what's in them isn't the same as loving them on the shelves
Books are a curse on removals. Packing them doesn't take long... unless you've several hundred of them. Unpacking ditto...
But as for lifting the boxes they're in and moving them from place to place, dear Lord! I know all about packing just a few and filling the remaining space with cushions or fresh air, but still. They're bloody heavy and bloody inconvenient.
And if I ever move house again I'm bloody burning them and buying myself a Kindle...
September 30, 2014
A moving performance
Rather busy at the moment. Normal service will be resumed (I hope) as soon as possible!
September 22, 2014
Shadows of a Stranger Premiere
A little while ago I blogged about a film I'd been involved in (singing, not acting - no lenses were harmed in the making of Shadows of a Stranger by dint of my visage appearing before camera).
I noted that my my children's CBeebies hero Sarah-Jane Honyewell was also in it, and how disappointing it was that the actors all 'wrapped' (that's *ahem* what we in films call the er, end of filming?) before my involvement started.
But there is a God. Because last night, at the world premiere, we met! And I had this photo taken of us as a souvenir present for my daughter.
It was some occasion, being the culmination of five years work on the part of those involved, chiefly Writer/Director Richard Dutton and Actor/Director Chris Clark. There were speeches, yes, and there may even have been tears (especially at the denouement of the drama when the voice of your truly belts out in glorious surround sound from all four corners of a packed cinema...).
Personally, my favourite speech of the night was from Miss S-J herself who added a pithy and heartfelt message at the culmination of proceedings by describing the film in a loud voice as 'F---ing epic!' At which point my neighbour, the film's musical director, turned to me a little surprised and said, 'Tim, didn't you say she was a children's TV presenter?'
Yes, Eric, she was. But that was all a long, long time ago.
Now, she's a movie star!
September 17, 2014
A letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury
There's a whole lot of stuff I have to blog about at present (like product reviews, opinions, plugs, books and much more) but I can't, at the moment, consider writing about anything other than this:
Which is a tad tricky, when you think about it. Because, quite frankly, it leaves me speechless!
To give you some background, a friend of mine who worked for many years in the middle-east and is a regular church-goer (chorister, then lay-clerk as myself) wrote to the Archbishops of both Canterbury and York to ask what the Church was doing about the plight of the Palestinians.
Having received a helpful, sympathetic and supportive letter from John Sentamu he hoped for something similar from the nation's senior bishop, head of the Established Church and holder of the most ancient Christian office in this country.
And that (above) is what he got.
Quite apart from the fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury is a member of the British Establishment with a seat in the House of Lords - the utter lack of Christian charity, ignorance of the all-compassing nature of Christian involvement in world affairs and simple absence of love for one's neighbour is, quite frankly, astonishing.
I certainly am. (Astonished, that is!)
The Rt Rev Justin Welby clearly chooses to pass by on the other side, to 'wash his hands', and like Dives, keep the problems of the world at arm's length.
Meanwhile, in the real world...
Which is a tad tricky, when you think about it. Because, quite frankly, it leaves me speechless!
To give you some background, a friend of mine who worked for many years in the middle-east and is a regular church-goer (chorister, then lay-clerk as myself) wrote to the Archbishops of both Canterbury and York to ask what the Church was doing about the plight of the Palestinians.
Having received a helpful, sympathetic and supportive letter from John Sentamu he hoped for something similar from the nation's senior bishop, head of the Established Church and holder of the most ancient Christian office in this country.
And that (above) is what he got.
Quite apart from the fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury is a member of the British Establishment with a seat in the House of Lords - the utter lack of Christian charity, ignorance of the all-compassing nature of Christian involvement in world affairs and simple absence of love for one's neighbour is, quite frankly, astonishing.
I certainly am. (Astonished, that is!)
The Rt Rev Justin Welby clearly chooses to pass by on the other side, to 'wash his hands', and like Dives, keep the problems of the world at arm's length.
Meanwhile, in the real world...
September 14, 2014
Time Flies!
... especially on this day in 1752 when Britain changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
If you'd gone to bed last night a little over 260 years ago it would've been September 2nd. Then, at dawn this morning, it's suddenly the 14th September and you're 12 days older than you were the night before!
Except you aren't, of course: not really. Only the names (in this case, the numbers) have been changed.
And changed in order to synchronise our human written calendar better with the only one that really matters - the calendar of the skies and the sun and moon and seasons.
Even that isn't 'right' of course, given that the earth inconveniently takes 365-and-a-quarter days to orbit the sun (which is why we need a leap year every so often).
All of which brings home how artificial this human construct, 'time', is.
Tell that to the boss next time you're late!
If you'd gone to bed last night a little over 260 years ago it would've been September 2nd. Then, at dawn this morning, it's suddenly the 14th September and you're 12 days older than you were the night before!
Except you aren't, of course: not really. Only the names (in this case, the numbers) have been changed.
And changed in order to synchronise our human written calendar better with the only one that really matters - the calendar of the skies and the sun and moon and seasons.
Even that isn't 'right' of course, given that the earth inconveniently takes 365-and-a-quarter days to orbit the sun (which is why we need a leap year every so often).
All of which brings home how artificial this human construct, 'time', is.
Tell that to the boss next time you're late!
September 10, 2014
Everything Tablet 360 Degree iPad Case Review
No iPad (or iPhone or any other phone, for that matter) is perfect. I've got several, with built in bluetooth keyboards, folding covers, solid protective corners and any number of other features. But there's always something they won't do and in the case of all of the above, it's facilitate both horizontal and vertical display.
That might not seem like a deal-breaker but it's surprising how often apps (yes, I'm talking to you BBC iPlayer Radio) designed basically to be used in portrait mode fail to convert satisfactorily to landscape orientation.
That's where the Everything Tablet 360 degree case comes into it's own. And it's a good case to boot: sturdy, but light, nice to handle and with an 'access all areas' openness to speakers, cameras, and sockets.
But as I've said, the chief virtue is that you can go from this...
... to this:
(That's John Betjeman, by the way, standing on an closed London Underground platform.)
This is just one of a range of phone and tablet cases all of which seem thoughtfully and creatively designed to plug a gap - but at a level of quality and price that is certainly competitive. I've also been trying out their version of an iPad car headrest mount, for example, and have been just as pleased. Having tried several others (not least the Snugg version reviewed here, but which has the distinct disadvantage of covering the top of the screen - and associated touch controls - with the strap that secures it to the headrest) I'm pleased to report that this seems both robust and versatile as - like it's companion iPad case (above) the viewing angle can be adjusted relatively easily - sitting as it does on a ball-mount which can be securely tightened once the optimum viewing (or playing) position has been found.
Both highly recommended!
That might not seem like a deal-breaker but it's surprising how often apps (yes, I'm talking to you BBC iPlayer Radio) designed basically to be used in portrait mode fail to convert satisfactorily to landscape orientation.
That's where the Everything Tablet 360 degree case comes into it's own. And it's a good case to boot: sturdy, but light, nice to handle and with an 'access all areas' openness to speakers, cameras, and sockets.
But as I've said, the chief virtue is that you can go from this...
... to this:
(That's John Betjeman, by the way, standing on an closed London Underground platform.)
This is just one of a range of phone and tablet cases all of which seem thoughtfully and creatively designed to plug a gap - but at a level of quality and price that is certainly competitive. I've also been trying out their version of an iPad car headrest mount, for example, and have been just as pleased. Having tried several others (not least the Snugg version reviewed here, but which has the distinct disadvantage of covering the top of the screen - and associated touch controls - with the strap that secures it to the headrest) I'm pleased to report that this seems both robust and versatile as - like it's companion iPad case (above) the viewing angle can be adjusted relatively easily - sitting as it does on a ball-mount which can be securely tightened once the optimum viewing (or playing) position has been found.
Both highly recommended!
September 8, 2014
We didn't own an iPad!
We didn't need one, we had...
Thanks to Mr 'Hunky' Graham and Mr Andrew 'Lloyd' Barkerm from whose YouTube Channel this comes!
Thanks to Mr 'Hunky' Graham and Mr Andrew 'Lloyd' Barkerm from whose YouTube Channel this comes!
