* Posts by Clarissa

44 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jul 2008

NHS IT spending: The winners and losers

Clarissa

The biggest loser...

... is, once again, the British Taxpayer.

Journos 'risk charges' for covering Parliamentary debates

Clarissa
FAIL

Sillyness personified

As parliamentary debates are all recorded in Hansard and are thus publicly available, trying to stop the MSM reporting on them is somewhat absurd. Has the Master of the Rolls forgotten what happened when Carter-Ruck tried their hand at that one regarding a parliamentary question about Trafigura?

ECJ gender ruling 'could throw insurance into turmoil'

Clarissa
FAIL

@EU != ECHR

However ECJ == EU and this is an ECJ judgement.

iPhone users are sad and mentally unfocused

Clarissa

Rule 34 for apps...

If there aren't currently any I'm sure that there will be soon.

Clarissa

@Daniel

Given that I can't imagine that your partner would be particularly happy if you answered the phone in the middle of lovemaking, I think you would be doleful once you realised how long it would be until you next got the chance.

Times celebrates disappearing readers

Clarissa

Free?

£145.50 per year is an interesting definition of the word 'free'.

UK.gov plans net censor service

Clarissa

Meet the new boss

... same as the old boss.

Aussie bloggers forced to balance anonymity with influence

Clarissa

Again?

News International has done this before. The Times did for UK police blogger Nightjack about 18 months back.

Parents back legal ban of violent vidgames sales to kids

Clarissa

Or in other words...

72% of parents want the state to do their job for them.

Mail on Sunday inadvertently bolsters annual smutfest

Clarissa

Bloody Puritans

Title says it all.

HMRC staff fired for racism over benefits

Clarissa

Dictionary needed

"Everyone affected has been reimbursed, HMRC said."

Sorry HMRC but reimbursed is not the word you are looking for here as you were not paying back or refunding any money.

On the matter of the sackings could HMRC say how many people were sacked for overpaying benefits to people? I'm almost willing to put money down that the answer is zero.

Craigslist 'killer' kills himself

Clarissa

Re: ALLEGED

That'll be why El Reg used quotes around 'killer'.

Council's school-snoop-op ruled illegal

Clarissa

Or...

... the other favourite: "Lessons will be learnt".

Council urges army drinkers to break the law

Clarissa

Re: Dumb but...

Actually you are not obliged by law to carry your driving licence with you at all times when driving. The Police are entitled to ask to see your licence at any time and if you do not have it immediately, you will be ordered to produce it to a Police Station within 7 days. Failing to produce within that period of time is an offence.

Cable lays plan for graduate tax

Clarissa

Either...

...charge up front or afterwards but for the cost of the course only. Granted neither is a great option but at least it would only be for the cost of the course and not an unlimited liability dependent on how much you earn over the course of your working life.

Clarissa
FAIL

@ PirateSlayer

Wrong. It is the quality of teaching below university that needs to be looked at. If someone can't produce a properly structured piece of work by the time they leave compulsory education then something has gone wrong. How did they they manage to get through English Language or Literature essays without being able to organise them properly? Or write a proper report after a science experiment?

Universities (and sixth forms) are not there to remedy a lack of basic skills in people who didn't pick them at school. That's what adult education colleges are for.

Hillier appeals to transgender community to save ID cards

Clarissa
FAIL

As the icon says

So what happens when you drive or fly in the presentation that doesn't match the driving licence or passport?

BT boss brands Britain illiterate

Clarissa

Re: Math comprehension seems to be poor too

As the figure is just over 23% I'd go with the quarter myself.

Clarissa

Re: Sad fact of life

I would have told the kids to do them again until they were readable and understandable. No point in wasting my time when they can't be bothered.

Queen's speech pledges faster deficit cut, 'freedom bill'

Clarissa
Thumb Up

Re: Pension age to 66 by 2024?

I agree with the sentiment if not necessarily the speed. By the end of the decade should be quick enough.

Think you can outdo the political mob?

Clarissa
FAIL

Or maybe not...

Under UK Law it is illegal to register a political party with that name.

See Statutory Instrument 2005 #147 which came into effect on 2005-02-19

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20050147.htm

There is however a NOTA party out there.

UKIP suspends Scouse candidate over sado smut movies

Clarissa

You are almost there...

Like all them, the only bit she was embarrassed about was being caught.

Is iFlorist the greatest website in the universe, ever?

Clarissa
FAIL

Ironically...

...I used Interflora to send some flowers to my mother for her birthday (a few days after Mothering Sunday) and after the delivery was fluffed I have to say that their customer service was appalling. I eventually got them to send a replacement (and got myself a complete refund) but I shall be writing a strongly worded email to them this weekend detailing their failures.

Mandy quango says Apple, Amazon are too obscure

Clarissa

Ripe for the axe

I think I've just identified £35m in savings that Alastair can announce on Wednesday and saved the taxpayer from 100 people in non-jobs at the same time.

Hobbit cameras start rolling in July

Clarissa

Um, the appendices?

I think you may be forgetting that the appendices give some details as to how history of ME plays out between the two dates in question. I assume (maybe foolishly) that those will form the basis for the 'bridging' film.

Brown offers free laptops to deprived UK schoolkids

Clarissa
FAIL

There goes...

... the second-hand market. Or do they reckon they can stop the less scrupulous families from selling it on eBay, down the market, using it to pay their dealer/loan shark etc?

How blogger kept Belle de Jour's ID secret

Clarissa

@Not how, but why?

Perhaps because not everyone sees something like this as a money making opportunity? Personally I applaud his sense of decency.

High Court: Online article with only four visits not libel

Clarissa
Happy

Wrong judge...

If they'd their case heard in front of Mr Justice Eady then, given his track record on libel tourism, they would probably have won.

Thankfully they didn't.

Brooke Shields pic exposes real/online rift

Clarissa
FAIL

More proof (as if it were needed)...

... that the law of possession is an ass - something that should surely be obvious to anyone with the ability to think rationally . Simply possessing an image such as this should not lead to someone being branded a pervert or guiltly of an unprovable thought crime regardless of what irrational, emotional muppets think.

Nation's moral guardians snap over 'shag bands'

Clarissa
Stop

Stand back... moral panic in progress

Nice to see the combined headless chickens of the tabloid press and politicians off on a new threat to the kiddies that has only ever been heard about from some anonymous sources on the internet that, because they are on the 'tubes, simply *have* to be true.

If they want some more ideas then Cracked (http://www.cracked.com/article_17040_6-most-insane-moral-panics-in-american-history.html) has a few more they can borrow (Rainbow Parties come in at #5 on that list and I believe #1 has already been dealt with in depth).

Doctor Who fans name best episode ever

Clarissa

Having a Dr Who nerd for a brother...

... has resulted in some knowledge transfer.

@Rod MacLean

I believe the one you are referring to is "The Tenth Planet" which was the last of William Hartnell's stories. Last I heard the first three episodes survive but the only remaining bit of the concluding episode is a clip of the regeneration scene.

@AC 12:40

That would be Jon Pertwee''s final story entitled (appropriately enough) "The Planet of the Spiders"

Government unbans dirty vids but bans 'legal highs'

Clarissa
FAIL

Where the power really lies...

25 years ago our elected government failed to notify a small, unelected group of people after passing a law and because they didn't do this said law is unenforceable.

Does anyone still believe that the UK is a sovereign country with the right to pass its own laws without interference from others?

Anti-smut Baroness sent to solitary

Clarissa

@Edward Kenworthy

I know a number of people who probably like to meet you and point out precisely where you are going wrong in calling GRS 'cosmetic surgery'.

However for those that like to let the Daily Mail (or other tabloid papers) do their thinking for them it is worth noting that it is bloody difficult to obtain funding for it on the NHS even after those seeking it have jumped through all of the hoops placed in front of them whilst continuing to work and pay their taxes in order to fund our 'universal' health system.

Che Guevara's granddaughter poses for PETA

Clarissa

Is it me...

Or is the sight of the granddaughter of a mass-murderer posing for a charity that believes killing animals for food is murder quite ironic?

ContactPoint offers tokens for access

Clarissa

I think I can safely predict that...

a) a fair proportion of staff will write their PINs on the token (or have it in their wallet/purse next to it)

b) at least one of the above will leave it somewhere where someone without access to Contact Point will be able to find it

Blunkett to press for cyberwar probe of BT's Chinese kit

Clarissa

Who'd have thought...

... that Blunkett might, for once in his miserable existence, actually say something that makes sense. Though knowing him he is probably only saying it because he is on the board of companies that might get work out it.

BMW driver follows satnav to edge of cliff

Clarissa
Thumb Down

Yet another story..

... about a tosser who disengaged their brain as soon as they engaged their sat-nav. Though given his choice of car and the fact that he uses his sat-nav extensively for his job then I'd say the brain shut down is probably irreversible by now.

Hopefully the cost of recovering his car will be extracted from him rather then the local tax payers having to cough up for his stupidity

Gates retakes rich list top spot as Zuckerberg slides off chart

Clarissa

Re: Who's missing

Look a little harder at the list and you'll find the following:

R. Murdoch: 132nd, 4Bil

D. Rockefeller Snr: 305th, 2.2Bil

Also remember that these lists are complied from publicly available information - share holdings, remuneration etc so will not include privately held fortunes in whatever is left of the baking sector/under the mattress.

I see my boss is still on the list though even if he does only make the bottom fifth.

Harvard prof slams US nut allergy hysteria

Clarissa

And when that's dealt with...

... could he publish something similar on the whole "won't someone think of the children?" (aka every male is a paedophile) stupidity?

Universities reject Stasi role

Clarissa
Black Helicopters

How?

Just what we need... miss a lecture due to a hangover and the black helicopters are all over you. One way to keep students out of the bar I suppose.

Though if my former university (Southampton) is anything to go by then the lecturers won't have a clue as to who is supposed to be in their lectures anyway.

Public ID card support holds steady - says gov report

Clarissa

Turkeys? Christmas?

Government department finds that survey reaffirms it's current strategy. Next up: shock news about the pope's religion and bears defecation habits.

Malaysian blogger 'detained' for two years

Clarissa
Stop

And meanwhile over here...

... our Brussels based overlords are preparing to clamp down on bloggers themselves. The thin edge of the wedge me thinks?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/3059617/Euro-MPs-to-vote-on-anonymous-blog-ban.html

Lies, damned lies and government statistics

Clarissa

@ Matt Bryant

Seems to me that cutting back the woodland to improve the vision of drivers would do equally as well as the measures suggested by your politico.

Busts 4 Justice battles Bulgarian airbag tax

Clarissa

Why bras?

A size 20 top uses more material than a size 10 top (or, for the male readership, a XL t-shirt is bigger than a M) but it all costs the same. Why then should a different argument apply with regards to bras for those who have a larger bust?

Though as my cup size isn't large enough to qualify for such discriminatory measures...