No, honestly, one thinks that one has heard it all concerning bizarre things that judges do and say, but, really:
Student who stabbed boyfriend may avoid jail as it would ‘damage her career’.
That would be a career in which the practitioner is exhorted 'first, do no harm'.
And honestly, would you want to be in the hands of a heart surgeon who had ( Read more... )

Given that it had been raining drearily and relentlessly all day and showed no signs of stopping, I bailed on the walk and took an earlier train.

However, I did get in my steam-room and plunge, and a whoosh in the hydro bath (they have now fixed the hydro pump, yay).

It was always pretty much intended to be about the rest and the relaxation and ( Read more... )

Spotted on the journey into work this morning: Poems on the Underground: Kipling, 'A Dead Statesman':
I could not dig; I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?

Still relevant, Rudyard.

Then, on exiting ( Read more... )

This week has been a toothgrinding round of phone calls to the Financial Institution of Pervasive Incompetence Is Indistinguishable From Being The Ultimate Evil, plus a letter from a complaints supervisor who has failed to understand what I am trying to ascertain (it is not a technical issue about access to online a/c) and refers me to phone-line I ( Read more... )

Spent the afternoon and evening at the House of Lords at a work-related event + reception - the latter took place in the River Room, noted for its very pricey 1997 refurbishment back to the original Pugin and Barry designs, which has a splendid view over the river, though this is rather dominated by the London Eye.

I am surprised that The Lords are ( Read more... )

Finding a word for something is satisfying, but I'm not sure how far it gets me.

While I was away I had a small and trivial incident of a thing that I find generates a disproportionate emotional response of rage, resentment and humiliation.

This occurs if I go into a restaurant (bar, shop, etc) and they appear either not to notice me at all or have ( Read more... )

Didn't get to this yesterday, and I suppose I could save it for tomorrow (International Women's Day) but why not get my ire out anyway.

She goes out of her way not to sound "strident", a word she uses several times to explain why feminism got a bad name in the 1990s..

Yes, because asking in sweet reasonable tones just took us so far towards total ( Read more... )

And this may be just me.

I'm really kind of icked by all the promotion that cancers affecting the specifically female parts get (above and beyond the pinkification and the sexualisation and so forth) for particular personal reasons: i.e. my mother (who regularly went for the routine gynae screenings) died of a non-gender-specific cancer of a kind ( Read more... )

This is an interesting piece:

The author of The New Feminism talks about challenging the resurgence of sexism in her new book, Living Dolls - and not being an angry feminist.

However, I'm somewhat irritated at the interviewer being so Amazed that Walter isn't Angry - though I'm not sure how you measure that, given that presumably you don't give up ( Read more... )

I was a bit irked by this article on anger management, because it seemed to me to be laying responsibility on someone to not react to considerable stress, though perhaps she was getting overtly outraged in inappropriate situations or with the wrong people - which might mean that what she actually needs is to get angry, or be more assertive, in ( Read more... )