Bearded Titbits
Time to take a look at some of this week’s news. Please note that I can’t be bothered to look at it sensibly.
First of all; the royal wedding. This is a thing that’s happening. Congrats to the happy couple, now let us have our airwaves back please.
The UK economy has grown by 0.5 percent in the first three months of the year, reducing the chance of a delicious double-dip recession. I know it’s a big deal in economic terms, but half a percent feels like about as much cause for celebration as… well, the royal wedding. The Chancellor is happy about this growth- which stands to reason- but according to the beeb, Labour said that the recovery had been “choked off”. Like Michael Hutchence, one presumes.
RIP Sai Baba. Nearly half a million people gathered in the southern Indian town of Puttaparthi for the funeral of the revered Indian spiritual leader Sri Sathya Sai Baba, according again to the beeb. This dude was a Hindu leader of great reverence- he was buried instead of cremated. That’s a big deal if you’re a Hindizzle. He died aged 84 of multiple organ failure, despite reportedly having the power to perform miracles and cure terminal illnesses. I guess men can’t multitask. He ran a network of free hospitals and schools in but was also accused of fraud and sexual abuse. Interesting bloke, no doubt about it. It’s in Kali’s hands now…
The 26th was the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, made all the more poignant after the Fukushima incident. Both nuclear disasters resulted in an exclusion zone being set up around the stricken area. While ‘only’ two were killed in the blast and ‘only’ 31 workers died from radiation exposure (reportedly, cough cough), the exclusion zone is still uninhabitable and will be for thousands of years. Pripyat will only be seen now by government officials, daredevils and people playing the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. Oh, and the slightly mutated animals that have overtaken the zone since we left. Russian Pres Medvedev and Ukrainian Pres Janukovych met up at a site near Chernobyl to mark the occasional. After it was washed down to disperse the radioactive dust.
It ain’t all doom and/or gloom. We still have the royal wedding- and it looks like it’s going to rain on their parade. That’s when you know it’s truly an English affair!
[sociable]
