Dead parrot

From BBC news: Jack says no to poll.

Chicken!

Also from the BBC, an idiot’s guide to the EU constitution:

Division of Responsibilities

What the constitution says:

The EU already has rights to legislate over external trade and customs policy, the internal market, the monetary policy of countries in the eurozone, agriculture and fisheries and many areas of domestic law including the environment and health and safety at work.

The constitution will extend its rights into some new areas, perhaps most importantly into justice policy, especially asylum and immigration. It does away with the old structure of pillars under which some policies came under the EU and some under “inter-governmental” arrangements.

What it means:

It means a greater role for the EU in more aspects of life. In some areas, the EU will have exclusive competence, in others a shared competence and in yet more, only supporting role.

I’ve just realised the Lib Dems’ manifesto on immigration and asylum was a bloody cop-out.

From the BBC comparison chart of the three main parties:

Back common EU asylum policy with fair sharing of asylum settlement; allow asylum seekers to work so don’t rely on benefits; quota for immigrant workers from outside EU based on skills.

Glad I wasn’t taken in. This time…

embarrassé

A check of my Flickr statistics showed that my most viewed images weren’t even taken by me; they’re screenshots of Bad Wolf on the BBC’s Doctor Who site. I think I’m going to crawl in a small hole and bury my camera for good…

Müesli feelings

From BBC news: Baby step forward. (via Europhobia)

It’s great that majority of the Swiss people have acknowledged the need for gay couples to have the same partnership rights as conventional married straight couples. [Rant on] I don’t personally know any gay couples with children, but from what I see of heterosexual couples with children who they don’t appreciate and cannot care for sufficiently, I don’t see why having two mothers or two fathers who are determined to be good parents is a bad thing. Surely those who have to adopt or go through fertility treatment have an extra period in which to reflect on whether they really want to take on the responsibility of having kids. How does that compare to a drunken one-night stand that results in an unwanted pregnancy? [Rant off]