Things I Have Learned This Week

1. Here in England the news and everyone's thoughts have been dominated by the rioting and looting in and around our major cities. Heartbreaking tales of people's homes and businesses being destroyed, even deaths.

Amidst it all have been some remarkable examples of community spirit. The picture of the raised brooms from the clean-up operation in London has gone around the world, and appeals to help those left homeless have been well supported.

Another way that those who felt powerless against the massed feral youth have been able to (in a sense) fight back has been the opportunity to undermine the rioters and looters' "cool" by posting doctored photos of them on the website http://photoshoplooter.tumblr.com/ and now http://photoshoprioter.tumblr.com/ See above and below. You can now also buy a book of the best ones with profits going to charities helping those affected - link here.

2. Our leaders misjudged the mood of ordinary people and, while our capital and other towns burned, they seemed reluctant to return from their summer holidays.

3.. Meet the latest (temporary) addition the Blinkered household - Timmy the Gerbil:

He's the school pet and we're taking our turn to look after him during the summer break. We've had him for nearly a week and we're mostly just pleased he's still alive. You see until recently there was also Billy. An unfortunate family who were ahead of us on the rota came down one morning to find Billy dead, with bits of his stomach missing. Seems our Timmy, in the midst of his grief, got a little peckish ... probably best not to think about it too much.

4. Tweet of the Week comes from someone who isn't even on Twitter, Frank Skinner. However the quote from him is just the sort of clever, succinct line which I think would make him ideally suited to the medium. The guy quoting him, The Word Magazine founder David Hepworth, is himself always interesting, entertaining or both. Oh, and you'll only get it if you're into cricket:

5. "IT'S WHAT HE WOULD HAVE WANTED" - POSSIBLY

Questionable tribute of the week goes to a Los Angeles Deli, following the sad death of singer Jani Lane. He was the ex-frontman of 80s / 90s rockers Warrant, whose biggest hit was called Cherry Pie. You can probably guess the rest, but TMZ have the full moving story... 

.

Tweet