I do find myself somewhat bemused though by today’s news that John Terry has been stripped of his captaincy of England (again) – this time because he’s been accused of racially abusing another footballer.

Now note, he’s been accused of it, has pleaded ‘not guilty’, and the case is going to court in July. (conveniently just after this year’s Euro 2012 football) So at the moment he’s not been found guilty (or, of course, not guilty) of the offence. Yet he’s already been punished.

And just what kind of message does that send out to the courts, jury, fans and everyone else? Are they punishing him because they think he is guilty? (and so are acting as judge and jury before it goes to court)  Or just because “it’s safer” ?

Is it only me who thinks that this might – just maybe – be a bit of a bandwagon jump? Phone hacking has been in the media for most of this year, and even more so over the last month. And it’s only now that Mills (and several others) jump into the ring too. Very odd.

Currently, I’m back working in London – same place as before, different client, different contract, same agency – and the nearest bit of green space is the one visible in the map below.

View Larger Map

Indeed, it’s the only big bit of green space around here, within a decent walking distance. It’s mainly a cricket pitch, but with benches round the outside, what appears to be a play area, and – well – it looks like a nice spot to sit and have your lunch.

Except you can’t, because it’s owned by Westminster School, who keep it all locked and secure, so it can’t be used at any time. Fair enough, it’s a playing field, so I can understand the “No Dogs” – but really? A big (for London) bit of green space that’s totally unusable except to a bunch of privileged school kids.

Tosspots.

In this case,

a ‘disgruntled employee’ of Harrods disabled the correct lights until he could spell out his feelings to Harrods bosses and Christmas shoppers alike. He was removed by security guards after an hour-long stand-off, then handed over to police.

It could be is photoshopped, I don’t know. But it is excellent. (Updated : The story is originally from The Poke, a spoof news site. The original photo pre-photoshop is visible here.)

FO at Christmas

(Story via dashPeriod)

Parking Contract

Everybody is familiar with the notices displayed in car parks. The gist of them is that by parking you are entering into a contract which obliges you to pay a sum of money if you breach the terms of the agreement. These notices are enforced by contract law and are very different to the legitimate PCN (Penalty Charge Notice) tickets that public officials can issue, which you have to appeal properly if you think you’ve been ticketed unfairly.

This got me thinking. If I can be said to have entered into a contract by simply being near one of these signs, so can they. It should cover off enough of the angles of attack, fines, clamping, towing and so on

Excellent stuff.

Even more impressive, Diwali this year also falls on November 5th, so that’s going to concentrate the fireworks and so on into one weekend. And the firemen will be on strike.

Genius.