Sharia councils in the UK … Was the Panorama expose flawed? …No.

John R Bowen, the Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor at Washington University in St.Louis (USA), has an article in the UK’s Guardian in which he argues that the recent Panorama expose by the BBC of Sharia councils in the UK was flawed and did not tell the full story. In same ways his argument reminds me of … Read more

Libel Reform in the UK …. “Victory”

Its done. The UK’s house of Lords voted by a majority of 78 to pass the defamation bill. Is this really a big deal, or is it just another bit of boring law that will not really have much of an impact? It’s the former, it really is a big deal, the UK’s Guardian explains … … Read more

The face on MARS … er, well not quite a face as such.

They never intended to do so … honestly … but alas NASA has managed to draw an image of a Penis on the surface Mars. As reported by the HuffPo … The twin exploration vehicles Spirit and Opportunity were launched nine years ago, in an effort to search the surface of Mars for signs of … Read more

UK conman found Guilty of selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq for $40 million

The BBC reports that James McCormick has been found guilty of selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq … yep, you read that correctly … FAKE. This complete shit (I cannot think of a better word) conned people into buying over 6,000 of these bomb detectors that detected nothing at all. Iraq spent more than $40m … Read more

Andrew Brown gets it wrong … again, as usual

Andrew Brown, a journalist, writer, and editor of the belief section of the Guardian‘s Comment is Free, has had what can best be described as a bit of a rant in his Monday column. He devotes his entire scribbling output to a moan about Richard Dawkins pointing out the lunacy of some beliefs … On Sunday afternoon he was at … Read more

Anybody want to go to MARS … one way tickets only

The MARS One Publicity bandwagon is rolling on, this is the Dutch effort to establish a colony on Mars by 2023. It is a one way trip and apparently anybody can apply. I’ve blogged about them before both last January and also June 2012. Now, before you get too excited and rush out to sign up, you … Read more