Why is the Government trying to lower its targets for cuts to carbon emissions?

Could it be anything to do with the fact that we are now more reliant on coal to generate electricity than we have been at any time over the past decade?

"The amount of coal consumed by UK power stations increased last year to the highest level since 1996, as record gas prices forced electricity suppliers to find other sources of power.

Even after accounting for newly-planted forests, which reduce CO2 levels, net emissions were still the highest since 2000."

So, although we are urging other countries to reduce their carbon emissions, ours are going UP instead of DOWN.

That is something this Government is keeping pretty quiet about.

This mother chimp is SIV positive

The origin of HIV has been found in wild chimpanzees living in southern Cameroon, researchers report.

A virus called SIVcpz (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus from chimps) was thought to be the source, but had only been found in a few captive animals.

Now, an international team of scientists has identified a natural reservoir of SIVcpz in animals living in the wild.

It is thought that people hunting chimpanzees first contracted the virus - and that cases were first seen in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo - the nearest urban area - in 1930.

Scientists believe the rareness of cases - and the fact that symptoms of Aids differ significantly between individuals - explains why it was another 50 years before the virus was named.

This team of researchers, including experts from the universities of Nottingham, Montpellier and Alabama, have been working for a decade to identify the source of HIV.

While SIVcpz was only identified in captive animals, the possibility remained that yet another species could be the natural reservoir of both HIV and SIVcpz.

It had only been possible to detect SIVcpz using blood test - which meant that only captive animals could be studied.

This study, carried out alongside experts from the Project Prevention du Sida au Cameroun (PRESICA) in Cameroon, involved analysing chimpanzee faeces, collected from the forest floor in remote jungle areas.

Lab tests detected SIVcpz specific antibodies and genetic information linked to the virus in up to 35% of chimpanzees in some groups.

All of the data were then sent to the University of Nottingham for analysis, which revealed the extremely close genetic relationship between some of the samples and strains of HIV.

Chimpanzees in south-east Cameroon were found to have the viruses most similar to the form of HIV that has spread throughout the world.

The researchers say that, as well as solving the mystery about the origin of the virus, the findings open up avenues for future research.

But SIVcpz has not been found to cause any Aids-like illnesses in chimpanzees, so researchers are investigating why the animals do not suffer any symptoms, when humans - who are so genetically similar - do.

Paul Sharp, professor of genetics at the University of Nottingham said: "It is likely that the jump between chimps and humans occurred in south-east Cameroon - and that virus then spread across the world.

"When you consider that HIV probably originated more than 75 years ago, it is most unlikely that there are any viruses out there that will prove to be more closely related to the human virus."

He said the team were currently working to understand if the genetic differences between SIVcpz and HIV evolved as a response to the species jump.

Keith Alcorn of Aidsmap said: "The researchers have pinned down a very specific location where they believe the precursor of HIV came from.

"But there are vast areas of west Africa where other forms of SIVcpz lineages exist, and the possibility remains for human infection.

Yusef Azad, policy director of the National Aids Trust said: "This research is interesting as all discoveries which relate to the history and origins of HIV could be of value to the vital work being carried out by scientists in developing a HIV vaccine."

Abridged from a BBC article at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5012268.stm

It has been the wettest May for more than 30 years, yet I can't use a hosepipe to wash the car or water the garden.

I blame it all on the foreigners!

As you probably know, most of our water supply companies are owned by them.

Their main concern is to provide a good investment return to their shareholders and fat salaries and big bonuses to their directors.

Rain is a fee gift from God, so why do we have to pay so much for it to be delivered to us?

I have bought a butt, to collect water from my roof, but guess what? Due to overwhelming demand it is out of stock.

I expect it to arrive in September or October!

P.S. Some people are saying that this is the wettest drought in history.

Prince Philip loathes Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies and thinks they should be banned.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph yesterday, he disclosed that he detests them so much that he hopes to do "as little as possible" during the London Olympics in 2012, when he will be 91.

"Opening and closing ceremonies ought to be banned. Absolute bloody nuisances," he says. "I have been to one that was absolutely appallingly awful."

He has a point.

They have become an entertainment in themselves, often pure circus and nothing to do with sport.

Every four years the new host nation tries to stage a more lavish ceremony than its predecessors.

What a waste of money that could be used to support actual sport.

What do you think?

Drought Orders are in force over much of England, despite a week of heavy rain.

We are urged to be economical in the use of water and one of the suggestions is:

"If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down"

Marlon Brandos' latest film is in production.

But, you say, he died in 2004!

Yes, he did, but he left unfinished business - a film about a Tunisian boy who travelled to the US to pursue the American dream and meet his hero - Brando.

He spent the last six months of his life working on the project and it will be called "Citizen Brando".

Shooting resumed on location at the Cannes Film Festival and is continuing in the UK, Tunisia and the US over the next few weeks.

I was watching The Chelsea Flower Show on TV yesterday and was interested in an interview with "Richard" the leader of the "Guerilla Gardeners" in the UK.

They are a group of people who go out after dark and plant up neglected areas of open council sites, often alongside main roads.

There are groups all over the world and the "before and after" photographs below, from Montreal, Canada show what can be done.

If you would like to know more, go to:

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

In August 1914, when war was declared on Germany, many thought it would be "over by Christmas".

In March 2003, the US President, George W Bush, announced the start of the Iraq War.

He addressed the nation on television saying: "My fellow citizens, at this hour American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. These are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign."

It was thought that it would be an easy task and, once again, it was predicted that "The boys will be home for Christmas".

But they were not home for Christmas 1973,1974, or 1975 - except for the dead.

Now Tony Blair has said British troops will spend their fourth Christmas in Iraq and probably another four after that - almost double the amount of time their forefathers stayed in the trenches of the Western Front.

In the 1930s Hermann Goering wrote:

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood.

All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

How true! How prophetic!

A protest was recently held in London against the use of real animal skin for the traditional bearskin helmets worn by Buckingham Palace guards.

The 70 protesters, who came from across Europe, staged a naked protest. I am not sure whether it did any good, but it certainly attracted some attention.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) were calling for the Queen and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to end the "massacre of black bears".

The protest was at St Peters Hill, near St Paul's Cathedral, in central London.

Some of the protesters held signs stating "Bears Slaughtered for the Queen's Guards - Indefensible". The demonstration lasted about 20 minutes and was meant to symbolise a pile of dead bears.

A member of the group said: "People wanted to show how passionate they are about this cause. Sometimes drastic things call for drastic measures.

"Showing their vulnerable side depicts exactly what these bears go through. They are naked, they are vulnerable, and we are killing them.

"It is indefensible cruelty. If you walk up and down the British high street you would be hard-pressed to find a reputable retailer selling fur because there is such a social stigma attached to it."

The MOD said attempts to find an alternative had so far proved unsuccessful, but it was continuing to search for something to replace the bearskin.

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Dick-Peter (!) said fake fur did not have the same qualities as the real thing.

"It looks like a 60s Beatle wig. It just doesn't look right and if the wind blows it sticks up.

"The rain soaks into the fibre and it ends up an extremely heavy piece of sodden material on somebody's head."

The towering black hats date back almost 200 years and are a familiar sight outside Buckingham Palace and in ceremonies such as Trooping the Colour.

They were first worn in 1815 in recognition of the defeat at Waterloo of Napoleon's French Imperial Guard, who also wore bearskins.

(From a BBC News article)

Books are more than twice as effective as computers in raising standards among pupils, says a senior academic who spent 30 years training teachers to use computers.

Spending £100 a year on books for each primary school pupil raised test scores by 1.5 per cent while the same amount invested in computer technology was less than half as effective, according to the study by Steve Hurd, a former teacher trainer specialising in computer assisted learning.

Mr Hurd, who now lectures at the Open University, said the results were "significant".

"It is surprising that books matter. Things have gone overboard on ICT (information and communication technology). It is out of kilter. Schools pick up the message that they will be clobbered if their technology is not up to scratch, but no one looks at books." School inspectors collect data on the provision of computers but have not asked for figures on spending on books since 2003, he said.

Mr Hurd's research team concluded that the average test scores for English, maths and science would rise by 1.5 per cent in schools spending £100 per pupil on books, a higher than average figure.

The equivalent spent on technology made a difference of 0.72 per cent. The findings were based on data from 6,000 primary schools over three years.

The Publishers' Association said spending on books in primary schools fell from £21.84 per pupil in 1999 to £16.65 in 2003/04. Expenditure on ICT rose from £68 million to £201 million.

("Daily Telegraph" 20/05/06)

Parents are sending children to class tired, scruffy and unfit to learn, the chief inspector of schools has said.

This was reinforced by Maurice Smith, acting head of the education watchdog Ofsted.

In a speech to school heads, he said:

"Schools' and pupils' success depends on a number of factors, one of which is the support of parents and pupils themselves.

This means being up and ready for school, awake and alert, not tired and lethargic from last night's television, computer or entertainment; being properly nourished and dressed, not scruffy or hitting the sweet shop en route to school for a substitute breakfast; being prompt and enthusiastic both at the start, and throughout, the school day, not late or dilatory; being ready to learn - if confronting, to do so with debate and discipline, not ignorance and apathy.

We need to reinforce the message that school is a place of work preparing youngsters for the world of work, where a work ethic is required - not a house of fun to meet youngsters' social needs."

School dinners in England will be free from chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks and "low-quality" meat from the autumn, the government has announced.

From September, caterers will ensure "high-quality meat, poultry or oily fish is available on a regular basis", the Department for Education and Skills said.

Pupils will get "a minimum" of two portions of fruit and vegetables with every meal, while deep-fried food will be restricted to two portions per week.

All very commendable.

However, I had to spend a few hours in the waiting room of the A&E department at our local hospital this morning.

I wanted a healthy snack, but this is all I found:

If you live in the suburbs and travel into London, you will be monitored by several hundred CCTV cameras - from the time you leave your house until you return. There are now cameras on every one of those red buses and most underground and mainline train services.

You will be recorded on every street corner, in banks, stores and public places - and even what you might consider to be private places (there are some cameras in municipal toilets).

At least when you get home you are free of such intimate surveillance.

But not if you are the newborn son of Professor Deb Roy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He is recording every moment of the first three years of his son's development to shed light on how babies acquire language.

"The Human Speechome Project", as it is known, uses cameras and microphones installed in the scientist's home.

The project will eventually gather 400,000 hours of material.

Imagine when that child grows up - not just a few embarrassing faded photographs in an old album, but millions of images.

"As every proud parent knows, there's no such thing as too many images and videos you can take of your newborn," Professor Roy told a press conference.

"I think we're taking this to a whole new level."

Indeed we are!

(Abridged from a BBC News article)

I thought that the above may amuse you.

If you are interested in listening to Dr Ruth giving advice to callers on her radio phone-in show, "Sexually Speaking", go to:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~chuck/ruthpg/

But not if you are easily offended!

"ACTOR JOHNNY DEPP NAMED AS BEST CELEBRITY SIGNER"

Yes, I read that headline wrongly too.

It is about signing autographs.

Although he has many talents, I don't think Johnny Deppp is noted for being one of the world'd best singers

However,the magazine "Autograph Collector" has named him as the best Hollywood autograph signer.

"Many stars become bad signers once fame and fortune hits, but not Depp," said editor Steve Cyrkin.

Cameron Diaz is named the worst - "She may be a talented actress, but she's persistently a terrible signer. Instead of just turning down a person's autograph request, she'll just lecture them about how dumb autographs are."

The Top Five were listed as:

1. Johnny Depp
2. George Clooney
3. Matt Damon
4. Al Pacino
5. Tom Cruise

Source: Autograph Collector

I AM HAVING A FEW DAYS AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER

BACK AFTER THE WEEKEND.

"SCOTS HEADING SOUTH FOR FAG WEEKENDS"

(Headline in recent London newspaper)

Officially the sick man of Europe, with the worst heart and lung disease record anywhere and with life expectancy in some parts of Glasgow worse than in Baghdad, Scotland is desperate to clean up its act.

The main emphasis of the healthy Scotland campaign has been the ban on smoking in public places, a terror coming England's way in a year's time.

But many Scots avoid the ban by travelling to England - and on Friday nights trains from Edinburgh to Newcastle are now packed with people heading south for the increasingly popular 'Fag Weekend'.

(Note: In Britain "fag" is a a colloquialism for a cigarette. In the United States and many other places, it means something else!)

Swallows at dusk

I do - sometimes!

Benjamin Franklin wrote: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

But, on the other hand, James Thurber wrote: "Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead."

To put it another way - Are you an owl or a lark?

Vladimir Putin wakes up each morning at about 11 am. George Bush, a lark, wakes up at 5 am and goes to bed no later than ten each night.

It is all to do with your body clock - your "circadian rhythms".

People who are owls who have to function on a "normal" schedule can end up sleep deprived due to insomnia.

Larks tend to have fewer problems due to their sleep habits, though their social lives may suffer. And larks who have to work at night, such as medical residents and other shift workers, find that they tire out much earlier than their peers.

Still, most owls and larks can reset their body clocks although it might take a bit of doing.

Dr. Zeitzer, a specialist in sleep disorders, says suggests that owls begin gradually going to bed earlier.

"You may say 'Well, I'll try to go to sleep at midnight. I won't get eight hours of sleep, I'll just try to get six.'"

He also advises that owls sleep in a dark, quiet and temperate room. Likewise, he recommends that larks who have to be up late at night minimize their light exposure in the morning and create good sleep conditions.

"The most potent thing to affect circadian rhythms by far is light," says Dr. Zeitzer, who adds that exercise in the morning may help owls stay awake and that taking a melatonin supplement before going to sleep in the morning may assist larks who work at night.

THE BIG BABOON

The Big Baboon is found upon
The plains of Cariboo:
He goes about with nothing on
(A shocking thing to do).

But if he dressed up respectably
And let his whiskers grow,
How like this Big Baboon would be
To Mister So-and-so!

Hilaire Belloc.

GENUINE COMPLAINTS SENT TO COUNCILS AND HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS

"I want some repairs done to my cooker as it has backfired and burnt my knob off."

"I wish to complain that my father hurt his ankle very badly when he put his foot in the hole in his back passage and their 18 year old son is continually banging his balls against my fence."

"I wish to report that tiles are missing from the outside toilet roof. I think it was bad wind the other night that blew them off."

"My lavatory seat is cracked. Where do I stand?"

"I am writing on behalf of my sink, which is coming away from the wall."

"Will you please send someone to mend the garden path. My wife tripped and fell on it yesterday and now she is pregnant. We are getting married in September and she would like it in the garden before we move house."

"I request permission to remove my drawers in the kitchen."

"50% of the walls are damp, 50% have crumbling plaster and the rest are plain filthy."

"I am still having problems with smoke in my new drawers."

"The toilet is blocked and we cannot bath the children until it is cleared."

"Will you please send a man to look at my water - it is a funny colour and not fit to drink."

"Our lavatory seat is broken in half and is now in three pieces."

"Would you please send a man to repair my spout. I am an old age pensioner and need it badly."

"I want to complain about the farmer across the road; every morning at 6a.m., his cock wakes me up and now it's getting too much for me."

"The man next door has a large erection in the back garden, which is unsightly and dangerous."

"Our kitchen floor is damp. We have two children and would like a third, so please send someone round to do something about it."

"I am a single woman living in a downstairs flat and would you please do something about the noise made by the man I have on top of me every night."

"Please send a man with the right tool to finish the job and satisfy my wife."

"I have had the Clerk of the Works down on the floor six times, but I still have no satisfaction."

"This is to let you know that our lavatory seat is broken and we can't get BBC2."

"My bush is really overgrown around the front and my back passage has fungus growing in it."

...and "He's got this huge tool that vibrates the whole house and I just can't take any more."

... "That is his excuse for dog's mess that I find hard to swallow."

Watching television for one hour can increase a child's dietary intake by 167 calories and add more than a stone to their weight over a year.

The risk increases by seven per cent for every hour of television watched at weekends by five-year-olds, according to Dr Russell Viner, of University College London.

"Helping to fight obesity by reducing inactivity in the population should begin in early childhood," he said.

"Tackling television watching in pre-school children may help, particularly at the weekends when children are probably less supervised.

Researchers also discovered that children were eating significantly larger quantities of the snacks, sweets and fast foods that they had seen advertised most frequently on television.

The new study has prompted calls from British health experts for "urgently needed" guidelines on the amount of television children should watch to prevent a further escalation of the country's child obesity crisis.

Adults also risk obesity if they regularly watch television.

I LIKE MY DOGS GRILLED OR SAUTÉED, REVEALS DANISH PRINCE

Prince Henrik, the prince consort of Denmark, has shocked animal lovers by declaring that dog meat - fried or grilled - is one of his favourite dishes.

The 72-year-old prince, a Frenchman by birth, said his penchant for dog meat had developed from the time he spent growing up and studying in Vietnam.

But the disclosure, made in an interview with a Danish magazine, has shocked the nation, particularly as the prince is the honorary president of the Danish Dachshund Club.

He has several dachshunds and, despite publishing a cookery book called Ikke Altid Gaselever (Not Always Goose Liver), has even published eulogies to them.

He invited Danes to try eating dog meat themselves. "I do not mind eating dog meat at all," he said. "The dogs I eat have been bred to be eaten anyway, just like chickens.

"It tastes like rabbit, like dry venison, or like veal - just drier." He said the meat tasted best when it was sautéed or grilled and cut into thin slices.

A book of Prince Henrik's poems, in which he praised his dogs, was published last year. A poem to his dachshund Evita compares her paws to "wings".

"I love to stroke your coat and to see how it shines/ You dear, you special dog..../ You receive me with papal pride."

He previously provoked nationwide debate when he suggested that parents should use the skills of dog training to bring up their children.

Since the prince's admission in the magazine Ud&Se, Danish newspapers have reopened their files on a royal dachshund that disappeared from Amalienborg palace, Copenhagen, in the early 1990s. Despite a countrywide search, it never reappeared.

Prince Henrik learnt Danish and changed his name, religion and nationality to marry Queen Margrethe II in 1967. But he has repeatedly complained about the Danes' lack of willingness to accept him.

White middle-aged Americans are less healthy than their English counterparts, research suggests.

Americans aged 55 to 64 are up to twice as likely to suffer from diabetes, lung cancer and high blood pressure as English people of the same age.

The healthiest Americans had similar disease rates to the least healthy English, the Journal of the American Medical Association study found.

In total, the study examined data on around 8,000 people in the two countries.

Each group was divided into three socio-economic groups based on their education and income.

They then compared self-reports of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks, stroke and lung disease.

The American group reported significantly higher levels of disease than the English

"Americans are becoming so fat that, say doctors, they have mutated a new blood type: gravy." !

Britain is less happy than in the 1950s - despite the fact that we are three times richer.

The proportion of people saying they are "very happy" has fallen from 52% in 1957 to just 36% today.

The opinion poll by GfK NOP for The Happiness Formula series on BBC Two provides the first evidence that Britain's happiness levels are declining - a trend already well documented in the United States.

Polling data from throughout the 1950s shows happiness levels above what they are today, suggesting that our extra wealth has not brought extra well-being.

It could even be making matters worse.

One recent table has Switzerland as the happiest country, followed by Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, USA. Britain comes eighth.

SO what makes us happy? Almost half of people - 48% - say that relationships are the biggest factor in making them happy. Second is health on 24%.

When we asked people to choose the two most important sources of happiness in their lives, out of 1001 people only 77 people said work fulfilment.

According to the science of happiness friends are crucial to our well-being.

Yet according to our opinion poll most of us speak to only a small number of close friends every week.

Six out of 10 people spoke to five friends or fewer each week.

Two out of 10 spoke to only one or two friends. And one person in 25 talked to no friends at all.

O, sir! you are old;
Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of her confine: you should be rul’d and led
By some discretion that discerns your state
Better than you yourself.

"King Lear" (2.4.140-44)

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