This will hurt me...

I'm not happy with these colours, but Henry insisted that we give a Henry-eyed view of the fountain in Salamanca Square. I get the impression that it is in some way a magical fountain, because it always seems to draw children (and drunks) to climb in for a swim. After seeing dozens of mangy pigeon bathing in there however, I would advise against it.

I COULD wax lyrical about how everybody is linked to everybody else in some small way, and how we're all dependent on each other yaddah yaddah yaddah BUT I'M NOT because I CAN'T BE BOTHERED. What I will say is that I quite like this photograph. I like how the reflection plays off the water and I like how the colours are all a bit grimy and most off all I like the tension is quite evident when you look at the rope. And it should be. This flimsy little rope is all that's mooring a catamaran not much smaller than this one here . There is something terribly impressive about that!

You may have figured out by now that I enjoy odd comics. I have linked to a few in the past , and now want to share a new one that I've found and am enjoying. This one is called Pictures for sad children , and is written and drawn by John Campbell. He describes his work as "pretty okay" and "about a bad feeling you get when you are feeling good, or a good feeling you get when you are feeling bad". Thus, these comics may not be appropriate for sad children. Have a look, you'll probably like them.

Just a quick one this evening, I'm so tired I could eat a horse (that's how tired I am!) Here is a picture taken on my way home from one of my favourite shops in town Spice World . As a fan of all manner of cuisine, this is one of the best places to go to find ingredients from all over the world. As a particular fan of Hungarian food, I always like to browse the wide range of paprika available here. As always, I am on the lookout for tasty recipes for Henry and I to try from all over the world, so if anyone cares to help us out, links in the comments page would be much appreciated. Over and out!

I have been disturbed by the amount of anti-Elmo propaganda that I have encountered over the past few weeks. I have heard him variously described as “too mainstream”, “Sesame Street’s version of Jah-Jah Binks”, “F&*#$@g annoying”, and most commonly, “Elmo has been the ruination of Sesame Street.” Intrigued by other people’s apparent loathing of the furry red monster, I naively Googled “I hate Elmo” and got three hundred and twenty-nine thousand responses. There is even a group who have organised an International "I Hate Elmo" Week ! Having a look at most commentaries, people seem to feel that Elmo is somewhat low in IQ compared to the other Muppets on Sesame Street. But my understanding is that Elmo's character is three-and-a-half, and his development was designed to introduce a character with the mentality of a toddler, someone the really little ones could relate to while their older siblings enjoyed other aspects of the show. When contacted by this blog, Elmo decli...

I am all for encouraging people's hobbies, but there clearly cannot be a better example of a slow news day than this here from the ABC here in Australia!

A number of days ago I spoke about a concept often used in teaching political science called The Tragedy of the Commons . To illustrate, I used one of my stock examples, that of whaling. Today, I could not help but photograph another of my hoard of examples to demonstrate public policy problems, which may be more readily apparent to people the world over. The building in which my office is located houses a number of businesses. Each floor of the converted warehouse has a small kitchenette, shared between offices. There are just three offices on the top floor, ours; a barrister/solicitor office; and an IT crowd who seems to do some sort of animation. As one might expect, the barrister and staff are all very neat and tidy, and for the most part our lot buy their lunch and don’t really use the kitchenette. I do, however, enjoy an instant coffee on a cold morning, so regularly use the kettle. That is generally the extent of my usage. The IT crowd, predictably, consists of a group of young,...