BRAKE!!!

What is wrong with this picture? Look carefully at the parked vehicles, especially the Van. Did you notice the strange hatch openning and the '80s robot popping out its head?! Don't get excited kids, that isn't Wall-e. Parent's don't get hyper, it isn't Johnny5 from Short Circuit either. No this is in fact a clearly marked Speed Camera Van - you can tell because of the high visability stripes... oh, er no its unmarked. Well you can tell because of the clear and quite large sign on the, oh er no there isn't one either. Once you pass the van you can see a small poster on the drivers door!

Its parked off the road too, so you wouldn't notice it when driving. Well at least it comes in standard livery of, oh er, they can be white, red, blue or any colour, great. Don't they have to be noticable, like bright yellow/orange gatso cameras or something?!

Right, if you see a car in front of you slamming on its brakes then its because they've just noticed a camera and don't know what the speed limit is on that road or what speed they were travelling at.

Can we please all agree to fit tracking and tacho equipment so we can get these accident causing death traps off our streets!

Homosexuality can be cured

I've just read two separate articles and I'm really annoyed at present. Just when I thought equality was within man's* grasp, someone goes and digs up old Nazi ideas like 'solving genetic flaws'. The latest scientific report annoys me beyond belief not just because it is bad science, which is actually being written about in respected scientific journals, magazines and BBC website, but that the editors of these forms of media don't object themselves to the vitriol in the article, I quote... "Homosexuality can be ‘switched on and off’ by mutating just one gene. Research at the University of Illinois shows that male fruit flies with a mutation in the ‘genderblind’ gene can’t smell the difference between males and females. The [flies] get over-stimulated by pheromones released by other males, who they then attempt to court and copulate with. Genderblind mutants have a malfunctioning nervous system: glial cells normally soak up excess neurotransmitter from around synapses, but in mutants their broken transporters don’t allow enough uptake, so the neurones get over excited. The researchers say that the genderblind gene is similar to xCT genes in mammals, adding to the debate on whether homosexuality is inherited and if humans possess a ‘gay gene’. Pardon?! The first line/heading is a lie. Just to clarify, their own evidence states that it doesn't turn fruit flies Gay, it just makes then think that males are really females - because they smell sexy. Now for me there is a world of difference between males finding males attractive, or just misreading the signals. Secondly what is the difference between a gay gene or inheritance, I assume they are the same thing, unless you can leave homosexuality in your will?! Now why is anyone trying to isolate the gay gene, does it really matter. I love my four month old son with all my heart and if he turns out to be gay, I'll still feel the same way about him and I hope when I'm a grumpy old man I will still want the same things for him in the future - a good life and that he'll meet someone special to share his experiences with, I don't care if its a man or woman, as long as they love him as much as I do. I really thought we, as a society, had come to terms with living in a world filled with variety, colour and a wide range of sexual orientations. That we could now move on to higher and better challenges. Instead I find myself having to dig around in preparation for some felt fabric to start making yellow patches in the shape of the Star of St David and pink triangle patches. Do we never learn from the mistakes of the past?!

*The real meaning of the word man, as in Mankind, which includes woman and man.