Sunday, February 29, 2004

Apparently the police have announced they are going to publish details relating to every speed camera in Britain, including statistics about accident rates before and after the introduction of the cameras.

This strikes me as something the public will be very interested in. Certainly I have had my share of people complaining about some of the more ridiculous sitings of cameras in Birmingham, the Hagley Road in particular, where wide sweeps of highway have a 30mph speed limit that appear to be a licence to print money. Perhaps the figures will show the police are right... but at least we will be able to judge for ourselves.
Those nice people at Philosophy Football have sent me details of their latest t-shirts. The successfull anti-war and Palestinian Solidarity shirts have now been joined by an Enemy Within t-shirt commemorating the 20th anniversary of the miners strike. Not cheap, but all for a good cause.

Friday, February 27, 2004

In spite of the worldwide abhorrence and condemnation of the use of land mines, the Bush administration in the United States has refused to sign the International Anti Land-Mine Treaty, which has been endorsed by 150 countries including the UK. Some commentators, including the BBC have almost tried to portray this as a victory. The Vietnam war concluded nearly 30 years ago, and in that time an estimated 38,000 people have been killed and over 100,000 injured by land mines and other unexploded devices.

According to the Campaign Group Landmine Action, the US were expected to sign up to the Treaty in 2006, but the Bush Administration would appear to have firmly kicked that into touch.
You can glean interesting information on how your local MP (and others) voted in a website called The Public Whip. Of course, by searching for this site in a search engine could land you in areas you do not wish to explore, so I would advise you to follow this link to The Public Whip