The title of the seventh - and final - book in the harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling has been revealed. It will be called “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. Like the six other books in the series, I am sure this one will sell very quickly and probably sell even quicker than the others.
The Harry Potter books are good reading, even though they can’t exactly be called high literature. What they are though is enjoyable stories pretty well written. They also get kids into reading, which certainly can’t be a bad thing!
On the left is my interpretation of what the book cover could look like. of course, I have absolutely no idea what a “Deathly Hallow” is in Rowlings’ world, so just I made it up! [Click to enlarge]
Well, I have finally reached my 100th post! So I am going to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has read, linked to and commented on my blog. It would take too long to name names, so I’m just going to say a big thank you to you all!
I hope you all keep on coming back!
And have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
You learn something new every day, so the saying goes. Today I learnt that Brussels Sprouts - surely Britain’s most hated vegetable - grow on stalks! Simply because I had to put them on a shelf.
I’m not quite sure how I did think they grew… most likely, I just didn’t care.
[Of course I could have easily also turned this into an anti-EU diatribe... but I'm working too much (Christmas Eve is my first day off) so my brain can't really focus...]
The reach of the internet is huge. From MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and the like, to blogs and internet TV. And to such an extent the TIME’s Person of the Year is You, because of the internet.
Now that I am back “home” at my parents house for the Christmas holidays from uni, I have to go back to my job as a supermarket shelf-stacker. I do this every ‘holiday’ because I need the money in order to be able to go uni - especially this year, since postgraduate students do not get Student Loans, and so my finances are currently stretched to the limit.
Thus, over Christmas, the busiest time of the year in supermarkets, I shall be spending most of my time stacking shelves for not enough money. Shelf stacking really is a horrible job. It is boring, uninteresting and monotonous. You could probably train an ape to do it… though I doubt most people would be willing to buy their fruit and veg from them…
Something I have never understood is how some people can be willing to spend their entire working lives stacking shelves in a supermarket. One of the people on my department have been there for more than fifteen years, and others almost a decade. Of course, I have been working in there for five years now - but only part-time, and whilst studying.
One thing I do want to say is that shelf-stacking is a thankless jobs. Customers get in the way, are constantly rude, and complain at you when there is nothing you could possibly have done to prevent whatever it was they were complaining about - especially when it comes to quantity of stock. Just remember, shelf-stackers are there simply to earn a bit of money. They have no control over the amount of stock of any item. They do what they are told to do by the managers. And most want to be a busy supermarket about as much as you do. So be nice to them. I am one, but only during the ‘holidays’ (which aren’t actually holidays for me since I have to work all the time!) and so I see it from both sides, the customer and the shelf-stacker.
Ok, that’s that rant over (and quite a bit longer than I had intended)… but I’m sure I’ll have more after I’ve finished a few more shifts! Oh joy.
The Mail on Sunday report on a stunning memo which they say was written by Tony Blair’s “senior advisers” stating that:
“The Government is seen as a shambles. It is not just Labour internal conflicts but a lack of grip and competence on key issues. Iraq is a potent and raw issue, so is the NHS, immigration and crime. We have lost control of the big issues and are not delivering… This view is deeply held and entering the bones of the electorate. The public are clearly preparing to shift to the Conservatives if they prove themselves credible and likable [...] We have to focus. We can’t sort out everything. The NHS is probably the best place to start. If we can make sense of one or two areas of policy the rest might fall into place. This is really s*** or bust time.”
Of course, this is nothing that we didn’t already know, but it is extremely damaging that a memo of this sort, that “was written by one of the Prime Minister’s closest advisers and seen by a handful of senior figures, including Mr Blair” should be leaked in such a spectacular fashion. Gordon Brown, especially, will not be happy, since one line in the memo reads: “We can rally round…or we can go for total renewal, moving to a new generation, effectively forming a new government while still in power.” And Gordon really wants to be Prime Minister.
The reaction to this leak has been to dismiss the memo as having been written by a “teenybopper” rather than a senior aide with the official denial reading:
“This is not a Downing Street memo, it was not written by any of the Prime Minister’s staff and it most certainly does not reflect his views.” Downing Street sources also insisted the memo had not been prepared by any of Mr Blair’s special advisers or other Labour Party-funded staff in his personal office.”
“I just love New Labour denials. They’re almost convincing, but you always have to read between the lines...
So it’s Philip Gould then.”
No matter how much Labour try to squirm their way through this, the fact that a memo with this sort of opinion exists within the Party, whether it was written by a “teenybopper” or a senior aide, means that they are in trouble. Sources: Mail on Sunday, BBC, The Guardian, Daily Mail, ePolitix, Iain Dale’s Diary
Vienna has launched a campaign entitled “Wien sieht’s anders” (Vienna sees it differently) as part of the Austrian city’s “Gender Mainstreaming” project. An example of this is of a little green woman replacing the little green man on pedestrian crossings. The campaign’s aim is to:
“give both genders the same exposure and ensure an equal distribution of chances, opportunities and duties… Because it clashes with fixed visual habits, the campaign compels (people) to think, look and act differently.” (ABC News)
Thus the traditional roles of male and female pictograms on signs will be changed - with the introduction of a sign featuring a man changing a baby rather than woman.
This really is a stupid waste of money, and sets a terrible precedent for the expansion of political correctness into thing as simple as signs! The whole point of signs is that they are easily and immediately identifiable - otherwise we wouldn’t use signs and pictograms at all, but words! Especially since only half of the signs are to be changed! At least this in Austria and not the UK, though I wouldn’t be surprised if some PC fanatic picked this up and runs with it…
And , just because I came across this whilst looking for more info on this story (and because it is highly amusing) here is an 80’s Green Cross Code video:
It appears that a smoking gun may well have been found in the Loans-for-Peerages scandal. A note of a conversation between Lord Levy and Sir Christopher Evans reveals that the question “Wd you like a K or a big P?” was was asked in connection with Sir Christopher’s £1 million loan.
This scandal refuses to go away. Especially since now Gordon Brown is accusing his enemies within Labour of trying to embroil him in the police investigation. Labour infighting is fun to watch!
Will this latest nail in the coffin finally be enough for Yates of the Yard to make charges?
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The title of the seventh - and final - book in the harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling has been revealed. It will be called “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. Like the six other books in the series, I am sure this one will sell very quickly and probably sell even quicker than the others.
