In 2003, during an appearance on Have I Got News For You, McKellen claimed that when he visited Michael Howard, then Environment Secretary (responsible for local government), in 1988 to lobby against Section 28, Howard refused to change his position but did ask him to leave an autograph for his children. McKellen agreed, but wrote, “Fuck off, I’m gay.”

So much win.

I’ve thought a lot about this and whether or not I think it’s a good idea. And I’ve finally come to the conclusion that it’s bad. Here’s why:

Firstly, I think it’s a major threat to the free and open dissemination of information. With this plan, Apple becomes the arbiter of information, with the ability to pick and choose which text books it allows into its store. Information becomes reliant on every student in the school having an iPad. With text books, there is absolutely zero barrier to entry. If you have £15, you can get a text book. With iBooks Author, text books require a £500 investment. (I say £500, not £400, because these text books are apparently 3 or 4gb each, meaning a 16gb iPad just won’t cut it). Of course, this money needs to be supplied by the state as the majority of parents can’t afford to furnish all their kids with new iPads when they start school (let alone replacing them during their many years of education). This means schools need to buy loads of iPads and replace them when they get old (which, in a school system full of moronic teenagers, is likely to happen quickly) and by tons more books than they’d need to and these can’t be used year after year by different students as they are now. And, of course, the resale market is killed by this.

Not to mention the fact that I can’t this working. Give the people I went to school with an iPad and tell them to open a text book, and they’ll sit at the back and play Angry Birds. I know I would have. We had these little laptops in secondary school which had a penguin game on them. Half the teacher’s time was spent walking around telling us to stop playing the game when we should have been working. But I digress.

This isn’t free and open information – what should be the basis of education – but is an expensive tie-in to Apple’s iPad market. The point of open standards is that information remains free, with infinite possibilities. But, iBooks Author is propriety and owned entirely by Apple. Information, especially in education, is the crux of democracy and freedom and we’ve spent centuries railing against the idea of one company or organisation controlling all of that. iBooks Author wipes all of that work away.

Of course, Apple is a commercial company, and this move is pretty smart. If it can get even one US state or even an entire country, or just few school counties, to agree to give all their students iPads then Apple is in the money. And that’s not even including the 30% Apple gets from selling the books.

So. More expensive for schools and considerably less open. And, what exactly is the benefit to iPad text books? Oh, you can embed video in them? Well, a) the teacher can show us a video with his whiteboard, and b) education shouldn’t really be about watching videos anyway, should it?

Text books are a perfect standard. You don’t even need electricity. Anyone can make them, anyone can buy them, anything can happen with them. With iBooks Author, you’ve got an incredible important standard controlled by one company which can only be enjoyed by those who buy and continue to buy their expensive gadgets. It just doesn’t seem right to me.

The guy must have a crystal ball.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?”

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.

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!

With Spotify, if I stop paying my subscription or Spotify shuts down, that’s it – all my music is gone. However, by buying my DRM free music, it’s mine forever, no matter what happens.

It’s like the difference between buying and renting a house. When you rent a house, you’re sinking the money into it but never getting anything back. But when paying a mortgage, the house is yours at the end of it.

If I decide I can’t afford Spotify or – more likely – it goes out of business in the next 60 or so years I am alive, everything is gone and I’ve wasted potentially thousands of pounds. But, if I download music or buy CDs, it’s mine forever. When I’m sat in my rocking chair and Spotify is just a stagnant Wikipedia article about some long gone company, I’m still listening to my music.

This is not Peace. It is an Armistice for twenty years.

How shockingly accurate.

Our Hen House is a podcast about veganism/animal rights and the only one of that type I listen to (other than my own, of course). It’s very funny and informative. A little USA-based at times when they talk about restaurants and stuff, but well worth a listen for anyone, really.

They also recently celebrated their 100th episode, with special guests of animal rights royalty Peter Singer (pretty much the creator of animal rights) and Ingrid Newkirk (founder of PETA).

You can find it in iTunes, here.

By the 1990s, the wealth was flowing to pretty much everyone. In Norway, the oil actually belongs to the people. The state-controlled oil company – called, with magnificent simplicity, Statoil – pays a marginal tax rate of 78 per cent. Add that on to a decent pre-existing economy, and the 4.9 million Norwegians can do it all: buy third homes and subsidise punk bands and save almost everything in the sovereign oil fund. Oh, and last month they found a huge new offshore oilfield.

Interesting. They continue:

Along with oil, Norway built its economy on another natural resource: its women. About three-quarters of Norwegian women now have jobs. They seem to pass from statuesque youthful splendour through a middle age spent on corporate boards before descending into rude geriatric health. The old ladies dashing about volunteer centres looked like retired winter Olympics champions, which statistically speaking many of them must be. Norway tops the all-time medals table for the winter Olympics, just as it seems to top most global rankings, except the rankings where it’s more appropriate to be bottom.

Sounds like a great place. The article is worth a read.

And, according to my own research, it:

• is in the top few countries in the world by income equality,
• has the highest ‘human development’ rating in the world,
• has 100% literacy rate (compared to the UK’s 99%),
• has free education for all and universal healthcare,
• is extremely liberal, with few freedom ruining laws, few CCTV cameras and a very low crime rate,
• and is, as the FT article says, very very wealthy (both the people and the country).

And it does all that without being a member of the European Union. Shocking.

It seems that in January of 2011, just a few months before NATO began their programme of “carpet bombing for peace,” as I like to call it, they released a report (which is still available on their website) praising Gaddafi and his government for their wonderful human rights record.

The UN report from which this information has appeared contains a long list of countries praising Libya for its wonderful approach to human rights, an especially pertinent fact considering many of these countries were bombing the country in just a few months time. A few points which I pulled out from the report include:

The delegation indicated that women were highly regarded in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and their rights were guaranteed by all laws and legislation. Discriminatory laws had been revoked. Libyan women occupied prominent positions in the public sector, the judicial system, the public prosecutor’s office, the police and the military.

Woman are fine then. Wonderful.

In response to the question relating to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya noted that it had signed the Convention and was currently carrying out all procedures related to ratification.

Disabled people? Fine. Lovely.

Protection of human rights was guaranteed in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; this included not only political rights, but also economic, social and cultural rights. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya referred to its pioneering experience in the field of wealth distribution and labour rights

Lovely.

Freedom of religion was also guaranteed, in accordance with basic laws and the Green Document, which stipulated that religion was a private spiritual and individual value and constituted a direct relationship with the Creator (God).

Freedom of religion? They haz it!

And on and on it goes. County after country praise them for their wonderfulness and the report fails to find any major problems – and certainly none at a government level. Curiously, the only two countries which form some kind of complaint were the UK and the USA. Almost as if they knew, isn’t it…

And even where there are criticisms, they are wishy-washy things like “remove the stereotypical view of women” – certainly not “STOP KILLING EVERYONE!”.

It seems odd that just a few months after this report, he’d suddenly become a brutal dictator who had been abusing the people of his country for years. But, this report contradicts all of that. Why was this never brought up by the mainstream media? Why did no government feel the need to mention it?

Firstly, people suggest they are badly written. OK, Meyer isn’t the best writer in the world. She’s no Dickens. But then, really, who is? Her books are, in my opinion, perfectly readable.

One common complaint is the Bella is dependent on Edward or that she is silly because in the last book she says she’d rather die than abort her baby. People declare this to be anti-feminist or something and that it creates a culture of girls who… oh, something, I dunno. But the general gist is that the book promotes bad messages. But I don’t see how this is really a valid point, primarily because this is a work of fiction. You never see the same people complaining that a book shouldn’t be written about a serial killer, because killing people is wrong, and so on, because in books people make decisions which may or may not be good ones.

Still, they remain decisions in books. Books are there to tell a story, not paint a picture of a utopian world where everything is wonderful. Bella makes decisions, decisions which Meyer thought the character should make. I don’t think Meyer should have sat around contemplating how Bella’s decisions would affect some highly suggestible girl when she needs to abort her vampire baby… or something.

The fact is Bella makes plenty of her own choices. She chose to move to Forks, she chose to stick with Edward after he tried desperately to get rid of her and – crucially – she’s always pleading to become a vampire so that she can take care of herself; something which Edward doesn’t want to do because he doesn’t wasn’t to be selfish.

Of course the one most people pick up on is that Edward ‘hits’ Bella, which is, of course, entirely false. He doesn’t hit her. He may have hurt he one or two times due to being a vampire, but this is entirely accidental and clearly explained in the book. I can’t imagine anyone is thinking “gee, my boyfriend hits me but that’s OK because vampires exist”. Yeesh.

Ultimately, what really counts with Twilight is that a) it’s a work of fictitiously fictitious fiction, and b) millions of people enjoy it. Whichever way you look at it, Twilight is insanely popular. In the 21th century, there’ve been two literary phenomena: Harry Potter and Twilight. No book series before those two have been so widely read and so impressed on popular culture so very quickly. The reason Twilight is popular is because it’s a good story. People like good stories. I think the books are good.

Well here we are, on the edge of a financial and social disaster. And in the room today we have the four men who were supposed to be responsible. And yet we’ve listened to the dullest, most technocratic speech I’ve ever heard. You are all in denial. By any objective measure, the Euro is a failure. And who is actually responsible? Who is in charge out of you lot [speaking to Rompuy and the other self declared Kings of Europe]? Well of course the answer is “none of you”. Because none of you have been elected, none of you hold any democratic legitimacy for the roles you currently hold within this crisis.

Into this vacuum, albeit reluctantly, has stepped Angela Merkel. And we are now living in a German dominated Europe – something that the European project was actually supposed to stop. Something that those that went before us actually paid a heavy price in blood to prevent. I don’t want to live in a German dominated Europe and neither do the citizens of Europe. But you guys have played a role. Because when the Greek Prime Minister got up and used the word referendum, Mr Wren, you described it as a breech of confidence and your friends here got together like a pack of hyenas around the Greek PM, removed him and replaced him with a puppet government. What an absolutely disgusting spectacle. And not satisfied with that, you decided that Berlusconi had to go. So he was removed and replaced by Mr Monte, a former European commissioner; a fellow architect of this European disaster and a man who wasn’t even a member of the parliament.

It’s getting like an Agatha Christie novel, where we’re trying to work out who’s the next person who’s going to be bumped off. The difference is, we know who the villains are.

You should all be held accountable for what you’ve done. You should all be fired. And, I have to say, Mr Van Rompuy: I was wrong about you. Eighteen months ago I called you the “quiet assassin of European democracy”. But you’re not anymore, you’re rather noisy about it. You, an unelected man, went to Italy and said “this is not the time for elections”. What in God’s name gives you the right to say that to the Italian people?

Sorry to type the whole speech out, but it really is so spot on. I couldn’t have said it better myself. The Agatha Christie line is particularly good.

Last week, the fifth instalment in the Elder Scrolls series was released, ‘Skyrim’. And it’s as good as one would expect. It’s getting full star reviews across the board and is already being called game of the year by a lot of people.

But this isn’t such as much a review as a gentle suggestion that you just buy it.

If you go with the masses upon masses and buy Modern Warfare 3 or Battlefield 3, you’re getting six, maybe seven, hours of gameplay. Of course you get the multiplayer – but that’s just mindlessly repetitive shooting of other people with not much fun, in my opinion. MW3, six hour campaign. Skyrim? Over 300 hours of gameplay.

Skyrim is a perfectly crafted, beautiful designed, wonderfully fun and exceedingly rewarding 300 adventure of combat, magic and varied monsters. You even get to pick your own character (I’m a high elf called Cthulhu) and level up how you want, taking your character wherever you want.

I could go on about Skyrim for days. I’m only 10 hours in, and it’s already the best game I’ve ever played.

Just get it.

But, a few weeks ago, I heard someone say (not related to gay marriage, but it fits) something along the lines of:

When you meet another person who doesn’t have the same rights as you, you shouldn’t be able to talk to them or even look them in the eye without running off to sort the great injustice which they face.

And this finally put the issue of gay marriage in a way I could understand it. It doesn’t matter how small or trivial the particular issue is – everyone should have the same rights. And when not everyone does, it’s a major problem.