Treason proposal a ‘non-runner’ – I may not be a lawyer, but that’s not a surprise, is it? Once more, Blair’s has grabbed headlines with a spontaneous announcement of some new plan only for the idea to be later dropped.

…and you can too.

I have for a few years been a member of LogoFreeTV but I’d long ago resigned myself to the continued existence of the digital on-screen graphic (DOG) in the corner of my television – or rather, on widescreen TV, floating in the middle of the screen. These DOGs are apparently intended to let viewers know which channel they’re watching, but since anyone with digital also has an electronic programme guide that tells them which channel they’re on (and, more usefully, the programme), DOGs are redundant.

To add insult to injury, BBC Three News has published a story about DOGs that treats anyone who disagrees with the Beeb’s enthusiasm for them with contempt.

In a world where international terrorism, indiscriminate murder and global poverty are facts of life, you might think people would have more important things to worry about than little logos in the top corner of their television screen.

Alas, no.

Those little graphics displaying the names of all your favourite digital channels – BBC Three, MTV, Bid-Up TV, UK Living – technically known as Digital Originated Graphics (DOGs) are the cause of much consternation among certain viewers.

Just don’t call them geeks who should get a life…
[…]
Of course, if you still don’t like it, you can always complain.

Yes, they provide a link to complain (which others have done before). So let’s do it. Have a read of the whole story and then please join my in complaining about DOGs, and in particular about this gratuitously snide article.

Update: Victory! The story has now been rewritten and is much more balanced and less offensive. Like Sam Beckett, the Beeb have put right what once went wrong.

I don’t know where to start when it comes to critiquing the Government’s response to the London bombings, a mixture of excessive authoritarianism and shutting the stable door once the milk has been spilt. Can I really be agreeing with Peter Hitchens?

Fortunately, there was a good piece from Mary Riddell in yesterday’s Observer that expressed many of my thoughts:

Fight Fear With Freedom

Crimes of ‘glorifying and condoning terrorism’ hark back to the 18th-century offence of seditious libel, under which pamphleteers disagreeing with the state were clapped in jail. Outlawing non-violent groups, however dislikeable, may make them a magnet for the dangerous. Worst of all is talk of suspending Article Three of the Human Rights Act, which forbids sending suspects back to torture. Such a move is alarming both in its intent and in its symbolism. A first bone has been slung to those who bayed for an assault on human rights.

The Observer also featured Jason Burke’s manifesto for combatting terrorism.

In the Observer Review section was the second of the paper’s Sudoku puzzles. Both have been shockingly straightforward and took less than four minutes each. I assume they’re easing their readership in.

I was tidying the library’s name authority file today and came across this gem of a name entry:

Choppy, C.

Alas, I had to change it to “Choppy, C. (Christine)”. It doesn’t take much to amuse me…