Randomly Selected Article or Link

It's not because I am a liberal I find one particular aspect of this abhorrent:

• Convicted criminals to serve the full sentence given to them by the judge.

...but because I am a Christian, and I believe in expiation, repentance and the ability of people to change their lives for the better, and in ways a judge at the time of a trial could not anticipate.

There's plenty of other stuff to get worried about as a liberal of course, but I would urge Christians not to fall for this particular piece of knee-jerk populist authoritarianism.

Here's another bewildering use of an ASBO:

BBC NEWS | Wales | South West Wales | Asbo for Pc carrying baton in pub:

A policeman who took a baton into a pub has been given an Asbo banning him from the premises for two years.

David Burrows, 43, will resign from South Wales Police before he can be sacked, Swansea Crown Court was told.

Burrows, of Rhyd-y-fro, Pontardawe, who was found guilty last month of possessing a weapon in a public place, was also given a suspended jail term.

So, was he found guilty of a criminal offense and sentenced or of sub-criminal anti-social behaviour for which it was difficult to obtain a criminal conviction?

Why are people being given criminal punishments AND ASBOs? I mean in my day, if a pub landlord wanted to ban you, he banned you. If you then entered again you could be committing trespass, and presumably if with a weapon or intent, aggravated trespass for which a criminal penalty is available.

Are ASBOs just being used so that politicians can say "look ain't we being tough"?

I see that the energy review suggests outlawing "standby" buttons on consumer electricals. Good thing too. Because if they're there, as they are in nearly all cases in my little hovel, they are going to get used. I don't know if they really drain as much electricity as they say, but am prepared enough to believe so and feel guilty about having them, however convenient they are when watching "Science Shack" on the TV at 3am to help me sleep (I mean - there's no point really if you have to get out of bed again and wake yourself up to switch the whole thing off, not for the uberlazy like me anyway).

But my TV and Hi-Fi are only a few years old, so they're going to last long after "peak oil" by the looks of it. So I was thinking, what would make it easier for me to do my duty and turn the bloody things off properly.

With computers you can actually turn them right off and still have them turned on remotely if they are on a network using fantastic sounding little things called "magic packets". The network listens passively (yes, I believe it does take a tiny amount of charge, but from the onboard battery rather than the mains if I understand it correctly) and when a magic packet arrives addressed for that particular gizmo it knows to turn the machine on just as surely as if you were pressing the button yourself.

So, for those of us who will have TV and other gadgets with standby buttons on for a good while yet whether they are outlawed or not, could we not have some kind of power plug that works with something similar to these "magic packets". One remote control could do for the whole house with different numbered plugs. Power the thing off at the wall and still be able to roll over in the morning and turn it all back on again without getting out off bed?

Anyone any good with a soldering iron want to have a go at it? Or point me to one someone made earlier?

...and supports it, in Tim Worstall: Selling the Spectrum:

Along with David Curry, and recently also a publication from the Institute of Economic Affairs - "Wheels of Fortune" by Fred Harrison - conservatives are beginning to wake up to the potential benefits of Land Value Tax. An idea whose time is coming at last? We can hope!