the corner office

Never a pleasant time.

Tony Blair. Chilcot Inquiry. "Screw the lot of you, I'm rich and alive and Saddam is neither. Next question."

Anything less than that isn't really newsworthy.

I think Barack Obama won the US presidential election because some voters saw him as a messiah and other voters saw him as a Not-Bush. Now those who expected great things of him are inevitably disappointed, and those who liked his Not-Bushness have forgotten what George Bush was like. In short, Obama now needs to be judged on real presidenting, and his decline in popularity says it all.

Ironically, different people will like him less for different reasons. Personally I think his economics sucks, he hasn't delivered on decent-human-being stuff like closing Gitmo, he's shown himself corruptible (a la car company bailouts), he's shown himself willing to posture for political expediency (a la banker bashing), and as an example of the arrogance of power, he's just delivered a state of the union address wherein he blames the languishing of his healthcare reforms on his failure to explain them better, instead of accepting that his fellow Americans simply don't want what he's offering.

So in a nutshell, despite being an inspirational figure, being articulate and coherent (a nice change, admittedly), he remains a typical politician. I said as much when he was elected, but I think I expected more of him.

Let's be honest though: he might not be the ubermensch people wanted him to be, but compared to the leaders closer to my frame of reference, he's neither the disaster that Gordon Brown is, nor the travesty that Jacob Zuma is. Americans are still pretty lucky in their leader.

If you ban burkas from public transport then is this likely to cause all burka-wearing women to suddenly throw off their burkas and start showing their faces, or is it likely to result in those who've genuinely been forced or pressured into wearing them, to no longer use public transport?

Without the ability to travel, are these most vulnerable of burka wearers not likely to become even more dependent on their male family members, more isolated from the society we want them to integrate with, less able to see the world and be less exposed to the ideas and freedoms we enjoy?

The security reasons for banning burkas on public transport strike me as being tenuous, but even if you could make a convincing case, you'd have to do it knowing that you're actually making life worse for many of the women most in need of 'help'.

As for wearing burkas in any other situations, I think the answer is simple: in a free society, as long as others aren't harmed, you don't force people to do or not do things, and you especially don't try to change behaviours or beliefs by forcing people to do or not do things. That means you don't ban burkas, but equally, you allow people to choose to be or not be customers, students, colleagues, patients, employers or employees of people whose faces they can't see.

Studying for an exam next week, I came across this courtesy of a kind professor in Hong Kong. I think it classifies as a bit of brain teaser, so thought I'd post it here:

Suppose we have 3 cards whose sides are coloured as follows:

• red/red
• black/black
• red/black

A card is chosen at random and placed on the ground. If the upper side of the card is red, what is the probability that the other side is black?

The answer's in the comments...

The Jesus Gun story is a hoot. The bigwigs (apparently) didn't realise it, but the British military uses telescopic sights which, it turns out, have biblical references embossed on them. The sights are manufactured by an American company, owned by a devout Christian who clearly doesn't belong to the 'Thou Shalt Not Kill' strain of Christianity. Someone realised this might not be a good idea in a war which has already caused many Muslims to feel not just a little bit persecuted.

Ironic, sad or just typical of how religious belief can pervert reason? What else can you conclude from a telescopic sight inscribed with a reference to John 8:12?

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Maybe Jesus gives you bonus light for killing brown people. Extra lumens for a head shot?

Pains me to say it but it's the Labour side of the UK political landscape who are on the sane end of the whole split-the-banks thing.

"The argument is that hedge funds, private equity and proprietary trading are a source of risk – that is not our general view," Myners said. "In the UK, the three activities were not responsible for RBS, HBOS or Northern Rock, who, on the whole, failed in the rather classic way of making bad loans.

Quoth the BBC:

The way fungus-like slime moulds grow could help engineers design wireless communication networks.

Scientists drew this conclusion after observing a slime mould as it grew into a network that was almost identical to the Tokyo rail system.

Which is f-all help if you're trying to design a rail system for anywhere other than Tokyo, was my first reaction.

The story of the two boys who've just been convicted for torturing two other boys is disturbing. What sort of children could do such a thing, we ask ourselves?

This is how the BBC, under a big heading 'Smoked cannabis', described them:

From the age of nine the older brother smoked cannabis and drank cider...

According to the Evening Standard:

Now aged 12, the elder brother was a 20-a-day smoker who regularly drank vodka, lager and cider from the age of nine.

He also smoked marijuana grown on his father's allotment ...

I don't think that 9 year old children should be drinking or smoking anything. I do think the BBC's version betrays a bit of an agenda.

Ah well, there's at least one Brown who's managed to win an election this year.