The Eternal Gaijin

Ah, the irony. CCTV boom has failed to slash crime, say police | UK news | The Guardian Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe The question will always be this: did they think they could pay someone fifteen thousand pounds a year to simultaneously watch 8 of the least interesting reality TV shows in the universe? Did they think that would work?

Hooray. Free wi-fi finally comes to the UK. And Coffee Republic is a lot cheaper than Starbucks. Coffee Republic to offer free wi-fi - Retail & Leisure - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com Latte lovers who like to surf and work from the comfort of a coffee shop will be able to get free wi-fi internet access at Coffee Republic cafes from May. Coffee Republic will become the first UK coffee chain to provide free wi-fi to customers when it launches the service across the majority of its UK chain from 1 May 2008. Powered by ScribeFire .

As the week drags on, the reports dribble in about photography continuing is inexorable slide into illegality in the UK. It's little wonder that Mrs Gaijin is talking about packing it in an moving to Spain. I'm half willing to learn Spanish and go. Combining this sort of thing with my hair-trigger indignation will not be pretty. UK photographer chased down and detained for taking pix at fun fair - Boing Boing Bill sez "Curly, a blogger and photographer from South Shields (in NE England) was pursued by police after they received an emergency 999 call from someone who saw him taking photos in a funfair where children were present. He ended up showing his pics to a policeman in order to be allowed to leave." The original blog post is here: Sex pictures shock! « Curly’s Corner Shop, the blog! Curly taken for a ride Did I mention something about being taken for ride in my last post? Well I was, but I never imagined that a trip to the Ocean Beach Pleasure Park in South...

'Nuff said. JURIST - Paper Chase: UK House of Lords votes to abolish criminal blasphemy BBC NEWS Programmes BBC Parliament Peers vote to scrap blasphemy

It was inevitable. There has developed a 7/7 Truth Movement. Reason has a short blurb about the start of the movement. Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > Loose Pence: The 7/7 Truth Squad Suffice it to say, it basically relies on some contradictory eyewitness testimony, as if two people ever see the exact same thing, and the usual smoke and mirror innuendo that conspiracy theories always boil down to. Reason provides a link to a troofer video which I'll embed here: What to say about that? Do I think that governments don't try to cover stuff up? No. Do I think that they don't spin, fabricate or manipulate? No. But, and here's the big but, this is what happens when they try and cover up: The Bandar cover-up: who knew what, and when? The Guardian BAE investigation Guardian Unlimited They get busted. So I'll turn over to Penn and Teller for the final word on Conspiracy Theories: Bullshit ! Powered by ScribeFire .

The last of our decorating is now finished and I'm doing the touch ups. Next on the list is to sort out the unaccompanied air freight. Last night however wasn't a complete something on my list night. I hooked a train out ot Ashford, Kent and caught up with friend JDF, who I hadn't seen since our trip to the UK in February two years ago. It was good to sit down, joke, and generally catch up on things from jobs to mutual friends still in Japan. And of course fatherhood. About 11 months back friend JDF joined the ranks of the breeders (hooray, a legally recognized marriage in Washington. No wait. He's been married for 8 years or so. Never mind, he'd have been annulled years ago) Anyway, he and his wife made a Mini-me. Things are going well with him, despite the sleepless nights and stuff like that. I do like that fact that with his new job he uses expressions like 'on an op' as if it didn't sound like some serious-ass 'Gitmo shit. Things have changed si...