Different Perceptions
Posted: Thu 5 March, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, News, Thoughts 1 Comment »Yesterday, a man was convicted of killing a 23-month-old baby. Robert Cunningham, 23, had denied murdering Brandon Muir, who died in Dundee in March 2008 after suffering more than 40 injuries, including broken ribs and a ruptured intestine. During the trial, medical experts said the injuries had been caused by a “massive blow” to his stomach area.
Robert Cunningham was, according to the media reports, a heroin addict – and Brandon Muir’s mother was a heroin addict and prostitute. As such, one assumes that the child was listed as being on an “at risk” register with social services, and indeed had been in contact with social workers two days before his death.
In the much more famous “Baby P” case, the child had been seen over 60 times by social workers during it’s 17-month life.
So why did Baby P get so much media coverage and hysteria, and Brandon Muir received little to no coverage? (except for basic reporting of the court case)
I wonder if it’s because Baby P was in London, whereas Brandon Muir was up in Tayside, Scotland? Or would that just (again) be me being horrifically cynical?
B of the Bang
Posted: Fri 13 February, 2009 Filed under: News, Thoughts Leave a comment »According to the BBC, Manchester’s “B of the Bang” sculpture outside the Manchester City stadium in East Manchester is to be quietly scrapped.
Personally, I think it’s a great pity for it to be going – I remember being there when it was first erected (hello, Google) and thinking it was fantastic, and any time I’ve gone past the stadium since, it’s still an impressive bit of work.
Yes, it’s certainly got its flaws – I’m not going to argue that for a moment – but it is/was still a spectacular piece of work. I suspect that the corner of Eastlands where it currently sits will look a lot barer once it’s gone.
Not Secure, Then
Posted: Thu 12 February, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, News, Stupidity Leave a comment »Norfolk Police said someone had broken into a secure bin near police offices in the area overnight and rifled through the files.
The box files were then left in the nearby car park. It was not believed that any paperwork was missing. The incident will be investigated.
Well, it’s not really all that sodding secure then, is it?
Gimps.
Child Smokers?
Posted: Wed 11 February, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, News, Thoughts Leave a comment »I think that the headline “Child smokers given cash to quit” is perhaps a little open to being interpretation.
After all, I’ve never tried to smoke a child. Mind you, I suspect that it’s rather harder than, for example, smoking a kipper.
Cooling Towers
Posted: Tue 10 February, 2009 Filed under: Green, News, Photography, Thoughts 1 Comment »Having lived near(ish) to Didcot when I grew up, and having worked a couple of times in the shadow of the towers themselves, I thought this BBC piece about Didcot power station and its cooling towers was really interesting.
It’s relevant to the entire energy, power, and pollution thing too, of course – but I can’t deny, it’s relevance to me was more about the location.
I’d love to go inside these towers one day and take photos – although from the sound of it, the photos would just be grey mist.
Scolari
Posted: Mon 9 February, 2009 Filed under: News, Thoughts Leave a comment »I’m no football fan, but even I’m utterly gobsmacked at Chelsea FC’s decision to sack Luis-Felipe Scolari after just seven months in charge.
When he was brought in as a manager, everyone seemed to be singing Scolari’s praises – and yet now he’s been dumped pretty ignominously.
Safe Sex Advert
Posted: Thu 5 February, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, News, Thoughts, Weirdness 1 Comment »This story really should be used as an advert for safe sex.
Just something like “Going on a One night stand? This could be the result”
As I’ve said before, there’s no horror movie around that can outdo what people do to each other anyway.