heat magazine picks on a disabled kid

Heat magazine is the bible of the celebrity-obsessed masses. It’s the magazine of choice for those who think Amy Winehouse’s drug hell constitutes “current affairs”. And it is the rag most likely to be read by a person who hasn’t had a decent night-out unless they’ve had a fight in kebab shop, been scuttled in a shop doorway, and puked on a friend. In short: It’s for fucking morons.

Last night my Brother-in-law asked me if I’d “heard about Heat Magazine?”

“No.” I replied. “What about it?”

“They’ve given away a sticker with Jordan’s nipper, Harvey - the disabled one, with the words: “Harvey wants to eat me!””

“Don’t be fucking daft.” Was my reasoned reaction.

“Seriously, dude. They’re in the shit.”

“Whatever!”

This morning I Googled “heat magazine jordan harvey”. He was right. That’s exactly what Heat magazine did.

Only a Grade-1 prick would come up with an idea like that. I wonder who, among the myriad of cretinous wankers at the Heat offices, thought of that one? Let me quote Brand Republic’s coverage…

Harvey was born with a rare disorder called septo-optic dysplasia, which causes blindness and growth hormone deficiency among a range of other medical problems such as visual impairment and weight gain.

So here is a poor disabled kid - half blind and hugely overweight. And Heat Magazine, that bastion of today’s hip young things, is encouraging its readers to take the piss. That is just fucking sick. I don’t give a shit whether Katie Price (AKA Jordan) courts magazine attention (Heat included). There is absolutely no argument, whether based on free-speech or anti-political correctness or whatever, that excuses this behaviour.

According to the Brand Republic article, there were 30 complaints to The Press Complaints Commission. 30? Just 30? Clearly the Heat readership are bigger nob-sacks than I thought. Anyway, Heat magazine has now apologised for including the sticker. And honestly, I don’t want to make trouble, but there is a line in the apology that really bothers me (emphasis is mine): -

We now accept that that the decision to include this sticker was a mistake and we recognise that it has caused offence, not only to Katie and Peter Andre, but to a number of readers.

Seriously? You mean there was a time when you didn’t think this was a bad idea or that it would cause offence to Katie Price? Are you people for real? You’re on the right planet, right? Earth?

This is the sort of thing, if there were justice in the world, that should put a publication out of business. Heat Magazine serves no purpose beyond dumbing down the population and feeding a sick celebrity circus. Heat doesn’t have anything of worth to say. It’s just a cheap vehicle for vacuous garbage. Oh, and it thinks picking on on disabled kids is funny. Fucking die you bunch of cocks.

games: timeshift

Just had a quick blast on the Timeshift demo on the XBOX 360. Not impressed. The graphics, which we should remember may be better in the actual release build, are decidedly last-gen, looking little better than some games available on the original XBOX.

It’s also horribly unoriginal - even more so than most FPSs. The population-under-siege freedom fighter storyline, complete with condescending loudspeaker warnings from a bearded dictator-type, are straight out of Half-Life 2. And the added “Time-shift” dynamic, which allows users to slow down and manipulate time, has also been done before. It also borrowed heavily from the stylisation of Deus Ex: Invisible War.

I won’t be buying.

are the lib dems better equipped than we think?

After watching Vince Cable ripping the piss out of Brown, I began to wonder if the Liberal Democrats actually have a really strong line up? I’ve been less enamoured with Chris Huhne this time around, but he really impressed me when he last ran for the leadership. Nick Clegg is clearly an ambitious and talented politician and, if he can handle the spotlight he so clearly craves, will be a safe pair of hands.

The Lib Dems can also point to British politics’ strongest female line up with Susan Kramer, Julia Goldsworthy (*swoons*), Sarah Teather, Jo Swinson, and blogging MP Lynne Featherstone, all prominent. A similar sprinkling of skirt would certainly brighten up the Tories, whose front bench looks like a Who’s Who of boring. Only the increasingly mad-cap wardrobe of Theresa May, breaks up the dour suits either side of Slippery Dave.

Ok, Ming’s leadership was a disaster. But we shouldn’t forget that he was brilliant as the LibDems’ Foreign Affairs spokesperson during the early days of the Iraq War. Former leader Charles Kennedy is probably the country’s most liked politician, and would be an asset wherever he’s used. Also keeping a relatively low profile are Simon Hughes and the dapper Mark Oaten: two candidates that traverse the party’s wide political spectrum, from non-Labour lefties to those who marry both social and economic liberalism.

So, with all this talent at their disposal, shouldn’t the Lib Dems be doing better in the polls? And can we finally take a potential Lib Dem government seriously?

The Lib Dem MPs really have to revamp their low-res websites, though.

casting the net - a star is born

Today’s blog review pays homage to Vince Cable’s excellent turn at yesterday’s PMQs. Read it over at Liberal Conspiracy.

I’m going to *try* and get something written for the blog today, rather neglecting the old girl.

tyger, tyger

It is the 250-year anniversary of the birth the great[est] poet, William Blake. Blake has a certain resonance on this blog. Can you tell what it is yet?

The Tyger

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

the irregular quote of the day

Mike Power on the arrest and charging of a Sudan-based British teacher, Gillian Gibbons [BBC], who allowed her charge to name a teddy bear - that’s right, a teddy bear - Mohammed.

Apart from anything else, this is a gift to bigots, which is, no doubt, why the Muslim Council were quick to condemn the actions of the Sudanese government. Having said that we musn’t allow fear of being labelled a bigot prevent us from calling this what it is - intolerant, stupid, religiously-justified persecution of a decent and good woman.

the irregular photo of the day

nevermind, originally uploaded by Dyrk.Wyst.

casting the net - money talks

Today’s blog review, which assesses the blog reaction to the ongoing funding crisis at the Labour Party, is up at Liberal Conspiracy.

BTW. Vince Cable just commented - at PMQs - about Gordon Brown’s remarkable transformation, in just a few weeks, from Stalin to Mr. Bean. Genius. Cable would be a cracking leader for the Lib Dems - so much more charismatic than the pair of feckless suits up for the job.

I have to take the car for its MOT this afternoon. Wish me luck…

the irregular photo of the day

Untitled79, originally uploaded by dezz27.

casting the net - more woes for the government

My latest blog review is here.

This post (cross posted here) by anticant is also recommended.

fight for europe

Paul MacInnes had a good piece in yesterday’s Guardian, making the case for Europe. Former Lib Dem head-honcho and sometime TV megastar, Charles Kennedy, has been appointed President of European Movement UK, which must be a bit like being President of the United States, only completely different.

But seriously… the case for Europe does need making. Desperately. The Europhobes made hay while Europe stagnated in the early days of the single currency – forgetting it took many, many decades for the dollar itself to be taken seriously. Yet now, with the Anglo-Saxon economies facing an immense credit crunch, likely to slow growth and throw internal banking systems into flux, Europhiles are not pointing at the recovering German economy and waxing lyrical about a healthy trade balance and the benefits of prudence (remember that, Gordon?).

I know that the rump of the British media is anti-European (they prefer the more reasonable “Euro-sceptic”, but I can confirm conclusively today, that a large landmass does indeed exist about 30-miles south of Dover), but that doesn’t mean that we should allow the British people to be bullied into acquiescence. We need to bang the drum for Europe. We need to challenge the bullshit and propaganda being peddled by the rightwing press. Every time they write a story about “Europe’s crazy new laws”, we must challenge them. When they insult and belittle the Human Rights Act – we should be vocal in its defence.

But, at the same time, we must also challenge the EU itself to get its house in order. The Common Agricultural Policy, the annual accounts fiascos, and the myriad of niggly issues that continue to provide the Europhobes with an arsenal of bad-news stories. It’s in the Europhiles interest to improve the Union’s systems and procedures, and to address some of the waste and piss taking in Brussels and Strasbourg.

Of course the economic right are afraid of reality. They’re afraid of alternative market economies. Successful Danish and Scandinavian models, harnessing a social contract between employees and employers, and between citizens and politicians, prove that a progressive social model doesn’t have to mean an uncompetitive economy. After all, what is the European Union, if it isn’t a glorified free-trade zone with harmonised legal frameworks?

BTW. Really busy over the next couple of days, so I’ll probably not post again until Tuesday.

going, going…

José María Aznar.
Silvio Berlusconi.
Tony Blair.
John Howard.
George W. Bush… tick, tock.

photography: churches

With today being a bit brighter than the rest of the week, I took the camera out for an hour. Most of the shots were pretty poor (tricky light), but one or two are not that terrible.

casting the net - controversy and polls

My latest blog review is up at LC.

Top of the links is this excellent article from Gracci. Gracci, alongside anticant and septicisle, represent a cream atop the blogosphere, which makes 99% of the garbage printed in the MSM, pale in significance. Political thought is truly becoming the preserve of the blogosphere. Maybe newspaper reporters ought to go back to what they’re good at: reporting. Comment is, after all, free.

recommended reading: khmer rouge head torturer stands trial

Jams has an excellent review of Tuesday’s “first historic hearing… when Kaing Guek Eav (aka Duch), the head of the butchering regime’s Toul Sleng torture centre, appeared before the panel of judges, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Continue reading.