The fights are a bit like... sex

Ultimate Fighting Championship is boxing with knobs on. And this kind of 'mixed martial arts' fighting echoes the Ancient Olympics.

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/4969/

Don't blame biofuels for the food crisis

Biofuel is a thoroughly stupid idea - but putting the blame on fuel-from-food is missing the big picture.

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/4977/

Once you give authorities power, they are free to abuse them

Rules create to allow spying on terrorist suspects now used to assess whether a child qualifies to attend a particular school.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7341179.stm

Who's afraid of food additives?

From the Daily Mail today:

'Parents should prevent their children eating foods with artificial colourings, the Government's food watchdog said today. The Food Standards Agency has toughened its advice to consumers amid increasing evidence that some E numbers cause hyperactivity in children. It said any parent who suspects their child's behaviour is linked to foods containing bright food colourings should ban these from their diet. Previous guidelines restricted the ban to children already diagnosed with hyperactivity or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Foods which are causing concern include fizzy drinks, party cakes, luridly coloured sweets and some crisps.'

The advice is based on a study done by the University of Southampton. But actually, the effect found in that study was quite small. Essentially, a few children are affected noticeably by these colours, but most are either not affected or the effect is small - as I noted at the time the study was published:

Who's afraid of... food additives

Taxing times for Gordon Brown

If only George Clooney could come and visit every day. Shake hands, make some vague promises about Darfur, get your photo taken with the world’s sexiest man. Simple. But George’s visit yesterday was over almost before it began - a bit like Gordon Brown’s political honeymoon.

spiked

Paula Radcliffe in sensible comment shock

From the BBC today:

'Paula Radcliffe believes Beijing's heat and humidity will be more of a threat at the Olympics this summer than the Chinese capital's pollution.

Beijing's air quality has been flagged up as a potential problem for athletes in endurance events like the marathon.

But Radcliffe, who has asthma, believes the risks have been exaggerated.

"I need the right dosages of my asthma medication but after that I don't think it's something you can worry about too much," Radcliffe told BBC Sport.

"It might not even be as bad as everyone thinks because I'm sure the Chinese will do everything they can to reduce the problem.

"And the effects of pollution are usually felt after a race.

"Will I really care if I wake up the next morning with a sore throat and feeling a bit sick if I have got what I want the day before? No, probably not.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/athletics/7335397.stm

Delia is evil (again)

Apparently, Delia's 'cheat' recipes contain too much salt for the good people at Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH).

Let's all get behind their campaign to prevent food from tasting of anything on the flimsy basis that salt might have some effect on blood pressure.

BBC News

Discussion of salt in Reason

Can suicide be grounds for a manslaughter charge?

A woman, with a history of self-harm, falls out with her partner. After a heavy night out, she goes to the police and claims she has been raped by her boyfriend. However, five days later, she kills herself.

Today, the boyfriend was formally cleared of rape because no evidence was offered - his accuser having died. However, the interesting aspect is that the Crown Prosecution Service seriously considered a manslaughter charge against him, on the grounds that his deceased partner had killed herself because she was raped.

The offence of manslaughter is committed, among other things, if someone does something illegal which has the consequence of causing death. For example, if someone was punched in the face, fell to the ground and hit their head causing them to die, it would be manslaughter rather than murder because there was no intention to kill or cause really serious harm.

Extending this to the reaction of someone to a non-murderous crime seems mad. Yes, if he raped her, throw the book at him. But we have a choice about whether we kill ourselves. It is one thing to punish someone for the lethal consequences of relatively minor wrong-doing. It's quite another to be responsible for the considered choice of an autonomous human being days later.

Man cleared in suicide rape case

An unfortunate analogy

From the BBC:

"Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman has defended her decision to wear a stab proof jacket during a police walkabout in her south London constituency.

Ms Harman, also Commons leader and Labour chairman, rejected newspaper claims it suggested she did not feel safe on the streets.

She told the BBC that the neighbourhood police team she was with put on their stab vests and gave her one as well.

She said it was like wearing a white hairnet when visiting a meat factory."

A meat factory?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7324123.stm