Sam Iles's Blog

One thing which anti-cannabis types often put forth as a counter point to the tax element of legalising cannabis is “but, if it were legal nobody would buy it, they’d grow it themselves, so there’d be no tax money.” I think this is silly.

1) A lot of things are legal. Chairs, pens and Coca-Cola are all legal. Do you make your own? Alcohol is legal and highly taxed. Do you make your own? No, you buy it because it’s easier and more convenient. Growing vegetables is legal and cheaper than buying them, but few people grow everything they eat.

2) Remember, cannabis would be cheaper if legal. Most people hear the word ‘tax’ and assume it would increase the cost of what they pay now. But, they forget that huge margins are currently added onto the price of cannabis as it tends to go through many chains of selling, rather than just a few, and it’s illegal, so they can charge what they want. Make it legal and that huge profit margin goes down.

So. Yeah. Of course some people would grow it and the government wouldn’t get any tax but most people aren’t going to go to the trouble of setting up lamps and everything else when they can just buy it in their newsagent.

Look what the postman delivered! (Although, I was hoping an owl would deliver them…)

I’m a little late to the party. I get it. It’s ok. Everyone has read the Harry Potter books or seen the Harry Potter films. The first book came out in 1997, so I’ve had a long time to read it. I have, in fact, had the first book on my book shelf for as long as I can remember. At least ten years. But, I’ve just never been interested in Harry Potter.

I’m not entirely sure why. Mainly, it’s just because I’ve never really been one for magic and all that in books. Yes, the Lord of the Rings happened the be my favourite book ever since I read it when I was nine or ten but that’s a high fantasy book set in another world. I was always aware that Harry Potter was about a wizard who goes to wizard school in our own world. And it just never appealed to me, so I never bothered.

But, a few months ago I decided that I should finally read the books. I can’t quite remember what sparked this decision – but I am very pleased that I made it.

From the first book I was, to coin a cliche, hooked. I read the others, choosing to take them out from the library. I have read them over the last few months, with other books spliced between. And, they have been truly remarkable. I don’t need to tell you that Rowling is a skilled writer. As the oft quoted review goes: “comparisons with Dahl are, this time, justified.” It’s difficult to fault Rowling on her writing, really.

Perhaps the element of the books I found most impressive was how tightly plotted they were. It’s amazing how, through the last book, so much from every other book in the series makes sense. You spot the clues which are placed throughout the series and, I can only conclude, Rowling must have a literally incredible imagination and have spent hours plotting these books for it to come out making so much sense and being so very smart.

And, of course, the characters really are clever and vibrant and intriguing and incredibly deep. I keep thinking about Harry Potter’s characters compared to Twilight’s. When the love of Heroine’s life leaves her in the Deathly Hallows, she keeps looking for Horcruxes. When the love of Bella’s live leaves her in New Moon, she curls up into a ball for a few months and then jumps of a cliff. Hmm.

Anyhoo. After reading each book, I watched the film right after. (Naturally, books precede films…) The first few films were extremely enjoyable, of course. The cast, too, is quite remarkable. The cast list over the course of the Harry Potter series reads like a who’s who of British acting. Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall? Perfect. Alan Rickman as Severus Snape? Perfect. And so on. Last night, after finishing the final book the previous night, I watched the final two films back to back. They were, needless to say, brilliant. “I’ve always wanted to do that spell!” Love it.

Anyway. Last night, I bought this. I have a few books to get through in the next month or so, but then I plan to read all seven books back to back, uninterrupted. That’s how much I liked it.

If you didn’t know, Ron Paul came in third place in the Iowa vote on who the next Republican candidate should be. Note this isn’t the actual vote from the state – that happens later in the year. This is just an idea. If you didn’t know, I want Ron Paul to win the candidency. Here are a few of my observations:

1) 122,255 people voted and Romney beat Santorum by just eight votes. Eight out of 122,255. This is pretty staggering and, let’s be honest, eight out of 122,255 really could be just a counting error. A team of volunteers counting 122,255 are bound to make a few mistakes, so who came first or second really should be taken with a pinch of salt. Especially odd that this year, for the first time ever, the votes were counted in secret away from GOP HQ, under the guise of a fear of terrorism interfering with the result. But, that’s another story…

2) Ron Paul came third. But, he almost 24% of the vote. Considering the media has been trying to position him as a crazy old ‘kook’ who has no hope of anything, a quarter of votes seems pretty mainstream to me…

3) Santorum came in second and got 26% of the vote. For those he don’t know, he is a Christian who has firmly expressed his hatred of gay people, wants to nullify all gay marriages/civil partnerships/etc, who is against abortion, even after rape, and who is against birth control in all circumstances. And he got over a quater of votes. America worries me.

4) Nobody who’s won Iowa has won the final candidacy since the 1970s. Statistically speaking – and, when it’s looked like Paul would win, as the media have been so desperately pointing out – people who win Iowa rarely win the whole thing. So, with proof of being mainstream and stats on his side, I’d say that third place is a pretty good result for Dr Ron Paul.

Apparently, there are 4.2 million cameras in the UK – that’s one camera for every fifteen people.

And now, new software tracks you everywhere you go. You are recognised and tracked and the software keeps a record of where you’ve been, when you’ve been there and who you were with.

This really is the future and I will never get how anyone in Britain puts up with all this.

Wear a hat.

Buddhist parable:

The situation we always live in is like that of the wise Chinese farmer whose horse ran off. When his neighbor came to console him the farmer said “Who knows what’s good or bad?” When his horse returned the next day with a herd of horses following her, the foolish neighbor came to congratulate him on his good fortune. “Who knows what’s good or bad?” said the farmer. Then, when the farmer’s son broke his leg trying to ride one of the new horses, the foolish neighbor came to console him again. “Who knows what’s good or bad?” said the wise farmer. When the army passed through, conscripting men for war, they passed over the farmer’s son because of his broken leg. When the foolish man came to congratulate the farmer that his son would be spared, again the wise farmer said “Who knows what’s good or bad?”

I don’t believe in God or Jesus or anything. And, I don’t think I ever could.

The reason is that there is absolutely no proof for any religion (Buddhism notwithstanding, as it doesn’t have a God).

Imagine if all religion and knowledge of religion were removed from the world and we waited 100 or 200 years. Something like religion would probably evolve again. But, it would be completely different. There would be no Jesus or whatever. We may worship the sun or the Daedric beings of Skyrim.

But, if you got rid of science, it would all be discovered again. People would work it out and arrive at the same conclusion.

As one philosopher says, believing in God is exactly the same as believing that there is a teapot orbiting mars. We don’t have any proof for either, but a man who steadfastly believes that a teapot orbiting mars controls his life would be considered crazy; a person who believes God controls their life is religious.

Some call believing in something when there is no proof ‘faith’. Others call it ‘insanity’. To me, the idea that God is up there watching over you always – when deep down you must know this is fallacy, if for no other reason than you don’t know whether to worship God or Odin or Allah – seems like terrible escapism and shirking of the reality that you alone are responsible for how you feel and act and that no God can help you.

Don’t get me wrong: if you are religious, then fine. Whatever. Enjoy it. I just couldn’t be, myself.

This is blog-worthy, for me at least. Quorn vegetarian products are very popular amongst vegetarians here in the UK but, until now, have all contained eggs, meaning they aren’t vegan. This has always seemed like an oversight to me. And Quorn sausages are probably the thing I miss most since going vegan (not meat or cheese or anything). But, that looks set to change…

They’ve now made their Quorn burgers vegan! Hooray! Unfortunately, they are currently only available in the USA (despite them being a UK company) but they’ve said the products have been a “huge success with our customers”. Which sounds promising.

Hopefully, they’ll be able to bring this change to more of their products and to the UK. Quorn is the #1 vegetarian food brand in the entire world so reducing the number of eggs will be great for animals and also good for the company as they’re sure to get a increase in customers from this. It is also good for vegetarians, too, as they’ll realise how much easier it now is to be vegetarian is the main food they eat suddenly becomes vegan. And, last point, it could also be great for vegans as there could be dozens more products in supermarkets available for us!

I just hope they extend this to more of their range and countries soon!