The papers are, understandably, full of London news today. I will continue to blog on this attack on our city but I think there’s a case for distracting ourselves with less depressing news also. So I shall be posting about unrelated matter too for that reason.

  • Seems like the Chinese aren’t very knowledgeable about matters sexual. From Yahoo News:

    Chinese are more ignorant about sex than any other subject, the official Xinhua news agency quoted a sex expert as saying on Thursday.

    “In the survey we conducted, not only youngsters but many grown-ups are sex idiots, which is really dangerous and woeful,” Xinhua quoted Xu Tianming, president of the China Sexology Society, as telling a seminar.

    With over a billion of our oriental friends I think they’re still pretty much, ahem, on top of the situation, actually…

  • Low class toffs (’look, ma! An oxymoron!’) Drunken public school youths have finally pushed the locals of Rock, Cornwall, too far. The boozing, urinating, vomitting yobs - which include the offspring of judges, politicians and minor royalty - now face security guards hired by the residents to patrol the privately-owned Daymer Bay, the scene of much of the drunken revelry, preventing anyone from getting on to the beach at night. Instead, they’re escorted to to nearby Polzeath beach where police are in attendence.

    From The Independent:

    “It is so over the top,” said Alex, a 16-year-old student. “They are picking on us because we are toffs. It is a real trek to Polzeath when they turn you away from Daymer. When you do get here there’s so many police, it’s like East Germany.”

    Ah - bless…

  • VW in Germany is in a bit of industrial bother. It seems though when VW does industrial controversy it’s not due to union militancy, accounting creativity or because they’re products are no good. VW does sex scandals.

    Last week German newspapers were filled with extraordinary stories claiming that the company had bought the support of union officials — who have the right to participate in important decisions — by supplying call girls and exotic holidays also enjoyed by senior managers.

    Industrial relations have never been so interesting. Germany’s conservative opposition leader, Angela Merkel - known as Germany’s Iron Maiden (she’s a heavy metal fan?) - is hoping to use the scandal as leverage to weaken the power of over-strong unions.

    I’ve been a union pay negotiator and, I tell you, call girls aren’t the norm. Not in my company, anyway. In fact, we were jubilant at the sight of a plate of chocolate Hob-Nobs. I remember the day they gave us Danish pastries. Heaven. We gave up half a per cent on the pay claim there and then.

    It’s the simple pleasures, you know…