These new high resolution pictures of growing babies in the womb are beautiful and amazing. No doubt they’ll be put to good use by the pro-lifers as well as the scientific community.

I’m somewhere on the fence when it comes to pro-life or pro-choice. If a baby (never foetus; I don’t like that word, it depersonalises the fact that there’s life in there) is found to be *severely* disabled - i.e. would have extremely poor quality of life - I respect a person’s choice to decide whether or not to terminate. However, if the only reason for termination is because they don’t want the baby, when there are other options open to them; e.g. support, adoption, etc - I would find it a lot harder to justify the ethics of that.

Ok, I take it all back. I unreservedly apologise and tip my hat to our lads. England were amazing last night against Croatia - and despite my initially bored attitude towards Euro 2004, Ness and I were both cheering on the sofa last night at home during the match. I’ll even be watching England’s quarter final games. I am a changed person.
Saying that, is it just me, or is knowledge of offside rule something only guys know about?

My trusty old beaten up leather jacket went to the great leather shop in the sky today when I finally acknowledged that the rips in it just couldn’t be classed as comfortable wear and tear. I have had the jacket since summer 1996, though.

My brother Chris and I went on holiday to Turkey in summer 1996 for 2 weeks. The second week was spent at a place called Kusadasi, on the west coast of Turkey. We took a trip to Ephesus on a scorcher of a day, around 40C in direct sunlight. At the gates of the place a taxi driver approached us and offered, for the equivalent cost of £10, to wait for us at the other end of Ephesus and take us to the closest village to get refreshments. We gladly accepted, and after making our way through, we soon found ourselves at the taxi driver’s cousin’s leather shop. We were plied with apple tea, and of course, a hard sell. Chris declined, but I was interested in a leather jacket. The shop owner started his price at £120, something I couldn’t afford, so the haggling began. Eventually, the shop owner agreed to sell it to me for £40, if I was willing to go out with him that evening. His cousin would drive Chris and I back to our hotel, and he would pick us up later that day at 8pm. Bring a bathing suit, he told me. I bought the jacket (for £40, who wouldn’t?). That evening, after a little umming and aahing, Chris and I disappeared into the town to escape being picked up by the leather shop owner. We stayed out there until around midnight, just to be on the safe side, and ate dinner in the shadowy back area of a pizza shop. Thankfully, it worked, although I half expected to find the man waiting at the hotel for us when we got back.

I do have a replacement jacket now, though. Bought one at Meadowhall today in the Street Leathers sale, and it’s already been road-tested in the torrential rain we’ve had this afternoon. Very comfortable and rain proof it is, too.

Oh dear. Watched the England v France game with Richard. And it was going so well in the first half, too. Sorry, lads. Me ‘n R had more fun muting the sound and providing commentary of our own instead.

Ok, I admit it. Despite the fact I know barely anything about football, I’ll be watching at least some (possibly all) of the England v France game on Sunday evening. I’m not going to be on the edge of the seat, or jumping up and down, or shouting at the television if the referee holds up a card - but still, I think I’ll actually enjoy it. Stirrings of patriotism? Nah. More like something vaguely interesting to do on a Sunday evening to take the mind off going back into work the next morning.

Today’s the day of the local and European elections in the UK. I’m 28 years old, and I’ve never voted in local or general elections. Not once. In fact, the only time I’ve ever voted is one year at university during the union executive elections.

Do I hear cries of outrage from civically minded citizens? Is that a disgruntled mutter about the suffragettes? There’s an advert running on television at the moment, a cartoony affair to prompt us to vote in the local and European elections, with the tagline “If you don’t do politics, there’s not much you do do.”

I’ve never really cared for politics. I remember going down to London in my first year at university with a group of other students to lobby against the withdrawal of student grants and the increasing student fees. A number of us had the opportunity to speak with our local (home) MP. David Lightbown (who died in 1995), the MP for Staffordshire South East, was in London at the time, and I went into a private room to talk to him about our feelings on the subject. The meeting wasn’t particularly memorable. The one bit that does stick in my mind was that the man seemed to be of the opinion that students were rowdy demonstrators prone to rioting and setting things on fire to emphasise their arguments. Suffice to say, I came away from the meeting feeling that the man was still living in the 80s, and was a bit of an idiot, to be honest.
Therefore, my only brush with politics confirmed my belief that it really wasn’t worth bothering with. I know, there’s all the arguments - and valid ones, I appreciate that - such as the fact that one vote really can make the difference, or you should vote just to make sure a party you don’t approve of doesn’t get in (e.g. the BNP), or any one of numerous Reasons To Vote. Still, I can’t help but be disillusioned with the whole process. Even if a party with a good manifesto gets in, you can’t please all the people all the time. Someone always loses out.

I may be a British citizen, but you know, I don’t actually feel British unless I’m out of the country and in a citizen minority. I’ll leave the voting to people who care more than I (with my politically apathetic POV) do. I’m sure Emmeline Pankhurst must be turning in her grave.

So Venus’ path crosses the sun this morning, visible from the UK between 6am and 11am. I tried to catch sight of it from the tram stop at around 8.30am. I did a Bad Thing. I didn’t use the proper sort of eye protection. I used the same thing I used for the total eclipse back in summer 1999 - the inside of a floppy disk. It actually works quite well, makes the sun look bright orange. Happily, I didn’t burn my retinas out or anything like that. Not so happily, I didn’t see any little dark spot making its way past the sun. I’ve no doubt there’ll be plenty of pictures available on the Beeb newsite later, though, and no chance of searing my eyes then.

This time, Dad’s. Go on over there and wish him a happy birthday. I’m not gonna say how old he is - but that’s only because you can see for yourself in the top right hand corner of the page!

It’s been a really busy week here at work. We’re at the peak of the annual work cycle, and as it’s a 4 day week everyone’s been bustling around. Funnily enough, though, I don’t think I’ve been more satisfied at work than of late. After a 1-1 with the head of the division, I’ve been given the extra (read: more senior) work I’ve been looking for over the past year. Even better, I’ve been getting positive responses on the work. It may not be more money or a promotion, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. I’m even doing a vocational qualification. It took me 5 years after leaving university to get here, but I think I finally found my career niche. It’s a good feeling.

Happy birthday to my little sister Louise - 23 today - and a belated happy anniversary (yesterday) to my parents.