Who is Listening?

[As ever, you can read this on the BBC News website]

Members of the British Parliament have been shocked to discover that one of their number was bugged by the secret service, violating the forty-year old ‘Wilson doctrine’ that offers MPs immunity from the sort of snooping they are happy to allow on the rest of us.

Two conversations between Tooting MP Sadiq Khan and Babar Ahmad were apparently recorded in the prison where Mr Ahmad is being held on remand while awaiting deportation to the United States on charges relating to his support for terrorism.

The real problem for MPs, of course, is not that they will be specifically targetted for surveillance but that they will inevitably be caught up in operations against other people.

Continue reading “Who is Listening?”

Blazing Saddles: best bike shop in Cambridge

The shopI was distraught when Drakes bike shop on Hills Road closed as I’d been buying cycles there for over twenty years, and I had always found them reliable, reassuring and efficient. Fortunately I’ve found an alternative – Blazing Saddles on Cherry Hinton Road.

And they are wonderful….last Friday I was cycling in to the railway station on my way to London when I finally accepted that the poor brakes I’d been putting up with for a few months had reached the end of the line. Since I was planning to take my bike with me – it’s the easiest way to get to and from City University – and didn’t want to end up under a bus outside King’s Cross I popped into Blazing Saddles intending to buy new brake blocks and do the repair on the train.

The owner took one look at the bike, advised me that I needed a new cable too and when I asked if there was any possibility of doing it for me took pity on me and sent me to a nearby cafe for a quick coffee while he did the job in 15 minutes. He even pumped up the tyres and refused to take extra for the job.

So I’m alive, my students are happy and I think they are wonderful. Next time you need your bike serviced, it’s the place to go.

I saw this…

Here’s what I’ve tagged on del.icio.us on January 31st: