[political talent] let's see now ...

Vince Cable certainly has talent as a pollie, let's give him that.

So I got to thinking of a post, listing the talent in all the parliamentary parties, the theme being why can't we have an assembly without the two-party system which excludes mean and women of talent from having a say?

So, going back over the lists, we have, maybe, Michael Gove, David Davis, Liam Fox, er... er... er ...

Oh well, such a post is clearly not possible in today's parliament.

[christmas carols] when it is a subversive activity

Via Martin Kelly and Mark Shea:

A post-Christian culture like ours can make tips of the hat to Christ while laboring to escape him with might and main.

Meanwhile, in China under the Commies, a television broadcast of somebody singing "White Christmas" can be a deliberately subversive act feared by the State that fully intends to defy the State and give homage to Christmas and the Christ at the center of it.

In such a case, give me the latter over the former every time. God loves the widow's mite more than all the riches of the godless.

This motif of a church persecuted is possibly the truest place for Christianity - certainly, it is being true to its roots in a such a situation. Take the Copts, for example:

After having survived the persecution of the Roman Pagans, they were once again besieged, now by other Christians. Hence, when the Arabs invaded Egypt in the mid-seventh century AD, they met little resistance from the native Christian population.

Puts it in perspective really.

[textile waste] think through what you buy

On Radio 4 You and Yours today, they were covering textile waste and how the throwing out has increased so much in the past five years.

One thing which struck me was the type of clothing we buy. Fashion dictates that we buy complicated items with zips, buckles, and various add ons. That's fine but when it goes out of fashion or the type of consumer who buys such items tires of them, then that poses a problem for recycling.

Taking this to the other extreme, I'll be damned if I'm just going to wear sackcloth to match my new serf status but surely there is a happy medium.

[sleep] critical matter of balance

Don't know how much yet another survey can be believed:

A study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Christopher King and colleagues from the University of Chicago has found a relationship between sleep quantity (hours spent asleep) and calcium build up -- or calcification -- in the arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood. For each additional hour of sleep, the risk of calcification of the coronary arteries decreased by 33 percent -- an outcome equal to reducing blood pressure by 16 point elevations.

... but there's much to be said for getting an adequate amount.

It seems to me that when you get your sleep is equally important. Much has been written about napping in the afternoon but there's a difference between a power nap of twenty minutes and a deep sleep from exhaustion the previous night.

I always feel awful after sleeping in the afternoon. Again, siesta is one thing but to deep sleep is another.

This also brings us into the sphere of guilt over sleep. Laziness is not how you sleep - it's what you do with your waking time. If you set up and insist on adequate sleep and you can keep the wolves from disturbing you, then you'll have the energy to go hell for leather when you're awake.

If the population got enough sleep, enough exercise and a reasonable diet, I really do think much of the trouble would be alleviated. Couple that with a spiritual oneness inside and realistic knowledge and acceptance of yourself, foibles and all, then the results could only be positive.

[non-president] christmas laying low

Chicago Tribune But as his fellow Christians around the world attended Christmas services on Wednesday and Thursday, the president-elect and his family remained sequestered at their vacation compound on the windward coast of Oahu.

But of course. A leopard doesn't change its spots. As with Britain in 1997, America, what have you just gone and done?

[sydney to hobart] tenth year commemoration

Courtesy New York Times

You'd expect this blogger to feel something about this event:

There has been a sombre air surrounding this year's Sydney to Hobart. It is the tenth anniversary of a tragedy that claimed the lives of six sailors, who were killed when a giant storm hammered the fleet.

Several boats sank and more than 50 competitors had to be plucked to safety by helicopter in one of Australia's biggest peacetime rescue missions. Wreaths will be laid at sea and a minute's silence has been held to remember the victims of a race that some survivors still refer to as 'hell on high water.'

Crews have held a minute's silence to remember the victims of the disastrous race a decade ago. More than 100 boats are setting off on the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

It does go with the territory, unfortunately but that's no reason not to remember.

While we're on action, adventure and achievement, congratulations to this kid who achieved the ultimate. That's a constant theme at this blog - to venture, to go down in a screaming heap or not - but at least to have tried. In his case, he succeeded through perseverance.