The Last Moments of Margaret Hassan

From The Independent, by Robert Fisk:

"When a renowned British aid worker was kidnapped in Iraq, the world was horrified. Her body was never recovered, but her execution was captured on video and sent to Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel. Robert Fisk watched it and reveals why it has never been broadcast.

If Al Jazeera's staff have paid a terrible price for their reporting and have been the witnesses to some of the ghastlier acts in Iraq, they appear to have the ferocious support of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who spends his millions funding the loss-making station. Stories abound of the day that George Tenet – then America's CIA chief – turned up in Qatar to give the Emir a dressing down for Al Jazeera's reporting. There was a stiff row between the two men before the Emir walked out. In Washington, he was invited to meet Vice-President Dick Cheney, only to find that Mr Cheney had a thick file on his desk when he walked in. It was Mr Cheney's list of complaints against Al Jazeera. The Emir told him he would not discuss it. "Then that is the end of our meeting," Mr Cheney announced. "It is," the Emir apparently replied. And walked out. The "meeting" had lasted 30 seconds."

You Are What You Watch: Britain's Favourite DVDs

The Independent got together with LoveFilm, Britain's biggest online film rental company, to analyse the DVD renting habits of its 600,000+ UK subscribers and find out if geography determines our taste in movies. An interesting exercise that discovered that outside London (as was the case with almost every category/movie), the most rented movie in Sheffield is The Full Monty where it is set, Hallam Foe is the most rented movie in Edinburgh, but only 0.5% of LoveFilm members in County Durham have ever rented Billy Elliot.

Other insights include Glasgow renting more titles from world cinema outside London, Birmingham renting more Bollywood outside London, This is England (portraying the 1980s skinhead culture - good movie btw!) being popular in East London where the British National Party has won council seats, but not being so popular in Staffordshire, the director's hometown and another area where the BNP has made gains. It was however a popular choice in nearby Nottingham where a lot of the film was shot. Interestingly, more people rented the low-budget 2006 British thriller London to Brighton, in London and Brighton than any other city. And finally, Manchester consistently rents more porn than anywhere but London. Really... why?! Adult films seem to be popular only in the cities.

Good timing with the article. Only last week I opened a free-trial subscription with Blockbuster's online DVD rental service. So far I've watched The Namesake, East is East and Alfie (the Michael Caine version). All three were brilliant and well worth the hour and a half each. This week I've got cult-movie Quadrophenia and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy to watch, while awaiting either If (a 1968 satire of English public school life) or Satyajit Ray's The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari). Make hay while it's free! After the trial is over I'm gonna cancel it and switch to LoveFilm for a month and then decide which one to settle on. I've already got a list of 200+ movies and documentaries I want to watch. At this rate it's going to take a lifetime to get through even a small percentage of them...

It's That Time of the Quadrennial

[Poll #1236748]

Pints or Litres, Who Cares?

Nic Davison, an accountant and owner of Kuchnia Polska (lit: Polish Kitchen) restaurant in Doncaster, has been served an infringement notice by the Trading Standards Institute, that threatens a court appearance and a £2,000 fine, for using metric instead of imperial measurements. According to the 1988 Weights and Measures (Intoxicating Liquor) Order, serving draught beer and cider in litres is illegal. Interestingly, none of Davison's customers have complained about the fact that he serves Polish beer (delivered from its country of origin) in 0.3 litre and 0.5 litre glasses (also delivered by the same Polish brewer). Davison has decided not to go down without a fight. Ironically, he has enlisted the support of Metric Martyrs, a group of formerly anti-metrication British food sellers, who now seem to believe traders should be allowed to sell goods in any measurement. The whole shebang takes place after a long-running campaign by the EU to force Britain to abandon its imperial booze addiction. By all accounts they have decided to give up, just as they did with the Euro...

Personally, I agree with Mr Davison. They're barmy laws and it needs to be sorted out. In the meanwhile Davison and his partner (who co-owns the restaurant) have 28 days to change all of their glassware or face prosecution. Interestingly, the same legislation classifies shandy as a soft drink and should therefore be sold in litres. Go figure! (Links: 1, 2, 3)