Chilly Brrrrrrr

**RANT**

I’m cold, I’m tired, approximately 78.9% of me aches, and there is no decent chocolate in the house. I am currently sat combating the above with a hot water bottle attractively wedged down my waistband, chowing down ibuprofen and considering spreading nutella on a chocolate digestive. The aches and pains I’ll accept, they are probably self inflicted, as is the tiredness which I’ll also take responsibility for. The chocolate is a bigger problem and it is currently incurable and not my fault. The blame for that, I lay at the feet of my other half. However since he is currently out working his third night shift on a cold and foggy night, probably picking up someone who either isn’t that ill or could get themselves to hospital if they tried, I’ll let him off, for now. The cold however is another matter and one I am hereby thoroughly objecting to. It seems that whatever I do I am cold, even in the height of summer the slightest breeze fells like a chill to me. I’m the only person I know to pack several jumpers on an August trip to California, that air-conditioning is frightful you know. In fact the only time that I am warm is doing cardio, or at 3am inevitably on a Monday morning when I wake up sweating profusely, inexplicably with no feeling in my hands and I cannot for the love of all that is good and pure get back to sleep.

I hate being cold all the time. For starters being too hot or too cold means you are constantly uncomfortable, you are always adjusting, always trying to get to a state where you feel settled and that is tiring. It drains you always being cold, even if it is only a little chilly, you notice it, your are always aware of it. If you are always cold, forget having a sense of style or developing your own fashion signature, because however good you look no one else will see it because you have to cover everything up with three layers of jumpers, fleeces and associated gubins. Of course the other issue that comes with being cold is occasionally being too hot for short periods of time. Say you walk somewhere briskly for example, you are obviously doing your usual and wearing plenty of layers, so of course as soon as you enter somewhere that is warmer that where were, you have a sudden short heat wave all to yourself. You get sweaty, go red, and everyone around you thinks you are a bit special as you frantically strip down to the minimum amount of clothing you can wear whilst remaining decent, even if you are able to hold on to any pride, approximately 5-10 minutes later your body catches up and you are suddenly piling layers back on as though the next arctic winter has arrived unannounced. It is thoroughly ridiculous and general means that people rarely believe that you can be cold al the time.

The whole things is frustrating, annoying and ultimately completely out of my control. And so I shall continue to sit here with my hot water bottle wedged down my pants and hope that at least when my other half gets home he’ll be doing his best impression of the milk tray man.

**RANT OVER**

Current Affairs

Last week was a grumpy week I’m afraid, a lot of things have been making me rather cross, mostly things of a current afraid nature. I fact there has been so much bugging me I haven’t known where to start writing. At the beginning of the week there was the nonsense about the Welsh Rugby coach thinking about cheating was niggling with me. He thought about cheating, and that’s news, really? Then there is the prospect of weeks more speculation, surrounding friend of the now ex-defence minister Dr Liam Fox, Adam Werrity. It’s seems that some members of the press and government thought that treating us all to a drawn out process of whether anybody Adam Werrity had ever spoken to had done so improperly would be fun. It wouldn’t, it might however encourage me to get my DIY done so that I don’t have to be subjected to any more of this drivel. On Wednesday I was watched Newsnight and it nearly finished me off, as my twitter time line will attest to. Did the entire office indulge in a bag of shrooms and them leave the work experience kid alone with the sound effects? I though it was a news and current affairs program not a pantomime. However in the grand scheme of things all of these minor annoyances pale into insignificance compared to what I am going to focus here.

This week all other news item have been toppled from the top spot by the liberation of Libya and the death of Muammar al-Gaddafi. The world and more importantly the Libyan people are of the opinion that the end of Gaddafi’s rule is the best thing that could have happened to Libya, there is also a fairly wide spread view that the fact he was killed is no bad thing either, drawing a very final line under this period in the country’s history. There is however some debate about whether he was simply killed evading capture, or whether he was captured and then killed. I have to say I really don’t know what my opinion of his death is. What I do have an opinion on is the way in which the international media has been broadcasting images and footage of both his dead body and the moments before he was killed.

I agree that there is a debate to be had over the way in which he was killed and such footage will play a part in that discussion. To talk about such images is one think, but to show the one television and in the newspapers for joe public to gawp at is quite frankly sick. Of course I have the choice not to look at such things (for the most part) if I choose not to, but what does it say about the organisations that chose to show this stuff. Of course we see gruesome imaged in fictional programs, but these are stories and if people feel that is appropriate that is fine. This however is a real human being, and it does not mater who he is or what he is done, as those who are supposedly civilised it is our duty to show him dignity whatever we think of him. The would be outcry is such images were displayed, without some sort of family consent, of someone treated in this way if that individual were considered to be a victim.

I could really get myself on a roll on this vein, you may think I have already. Instead I shall leave it at that. I hope the majority choose not to look at these images, to not indulge in this degradation of humanity. Sadly however I don’t believe this is either a one off, nor the lowest point we can reach.