The Cartmel Bar Blog

You know, the following is totally stupid I can't even bring myself to explain it to you in my own words. So instead here is the thing quoted.

Toddlers who say "yuck" when given flavorful foreign food may be exhibiting racist behavior, a British government-sponsored organization says.

The London-based National Children's Bureau released a 366-page guide counseling adults on recognizing racist behavior in young children, The Telegraph reported Monday.

The guide, titled Young Children and Racial Justice, warns adults that babies must also be included in the effort to eliminate racism because they have the ability to "recognize different people in their lives."

The bureau says to be aware of children who "react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying 'yuck'."

"Racist incidents among children in early years settings tend to be around name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships," the guide says.

Staff members are advised not to ignore racist actions and to condemn them when they occur.

I'm not going to get into the idiocy of the stuff on foreign food. But what kind backward red-headed stepchild needs a 366 page document to explain how to spot racist behaviour in children?

Source: United Press International

It's late and as is often the case I should be in bed but I'm. It's Friday night - well Saturday morning - and this is the time when I tend to find myself doing pointless nonsense online, either talking to friends via MSN Messenger or just playing games.

I can waste hours in front of a computer just trying out all kinds of silly nonsense. So far this evening I've tried to tackle the thorny problem of my work newsletter. The damn thing is so old that the copyright notice is written in hieroglyphs. Modern email programs such as Thunderbird and Outlook 2007 just show a garbled mess instead of the carefully selected set of interesting reviews and news I have lined up for our readers.

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I see quite a bit of the output of Cbeebies and on the whole most of it is very good. But Bob the Builder is just nonsense.

The talking construction vehicles I can live with. But why the bleeding heck is there an annoyingly-voiced talking scarecrow in the show?

Bob the Farmer would be bound to have a talking scarecrow. But in a show about a construction worker the annoying carrot-faced git is so incongruous and more than a little annoying.

And while I'm at it what the hell's wrong with the sense of scale among Cbeebies producers. None of the construction vehicles in Bob the Builder are large enough to admit Bob or Wendy, instead they have to hang dangerously on the side like New York Firecrew¹. Is this a good example of vehicle safety to teach our children?

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So Cartmel Veteran what's your position on all the conflict within the Anglican Church right now? With all the battle lines being drawn as different factions fill sandbags and mount their machineguns you must have a position on this possible schism in the church CV?

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I love photography. It's been a hobby of mine for just over a year and I finally feel like I'm starting to get to grips with it. Give me half an hour on my own with a beautiful landscape and all my gear I reckon I can knock out some great images.

But that's not often how I take pictures. Normally I'm out for a walk with my beloved wife and children, hurriedly taking snaps of the scenery then running to catch up.

Hence my Flickr portfolio was full of mostly rubbish. I know a lot of my pictures aren't that great and it's because I wasn't being serious about my hobby. And of course the other side of the coin is that I'm not spending quality time with my family while out and about.

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Heinz has bowed the pressure of 200 sad busybodies who were offended enough by the following advert to complain about it. The reason? A man kisses another man. That's it.

So it's a gay advert then? No not even that. The joke is that the family mother is replaced by a New York Deli chef. Watch the video for yourself.

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Well gosh what an action-packed year it has been. Exactly one year ago today I went on my first date with a rather lovely lass from Ealing¹.

As some of you may remember from the time, me going on a date in June 2007 seemed a very odd thing to be doing given recent² events. But I was right wasn't I?

I remember being rather nervous. I went to get a haircut before this monumental event and was rather shocked at the cost. What I really should have done was go out and buy some decent clothes because I was a sartorial disaster of a date.

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