Current Affairs

Friends in Thailand

~ Cheryl

Looks like it has been an entertaining evening in Bangkok. Here’s some info about people you may be worried about.

Jeff Ford has been in touch with K.J. Bishop who is safe and well and apparently fairly relaxed about the whole thing. Her comments echo what I’ve been hearing from the BBC and Sky. For the latest news see Jeff’s blog.

Bay Area folks: Kelly and Daniel are actually in the US right now – they were at BASFA last night. Kevin tells me they were due to fly back next week. I guess that depends on how things go over the next couple of days.

Rice Mystery Solved

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Posy git that I am, I prefer to serve curry with basmati rice and chili food with American rice. The stuff keeps for ages, after all, so it doesn’t matter much having two packets in the cupboard. But recently the shelves at Sainsbury’s have been bare of American rice. Now I know why. According to The Independent there is a big kerfuffle about the presence of quantities of genetically modified rice in shipments from the US. What is more, our wonderful government has been making public noises about how supermarkets have a responsibility to make sure that the stuff doesn’t go on sale, while at the same time privately reassuring those same supermarkets that they won’t actually check up on them. The helpful Sunday Herald tells me that Sainsbury’s have stopped buying American rice entirely, and will even offer worried customers a full refund for returns.

The whole debate about GM foods has become so hysterical in the UK that I no longer know what to believe. You have some experts saying this stuff is perfectly safe, and others claiming it is a massive danger to public health. Who knows what the truth is? But what I’m wondering is this: most American rice, as far as I’m aware, comes from California. Does anyone back there know they are being accused of poisoning innocent Brits?

Choosing the Future

~ Cheryl

In a rare exercise of trust in public opinion, the British government is asking its subjects what they would like the future to be like. And no, this does not mean, “Should Tony Blair resign?” or “Should we declare war on America?” They probably wouldn’t like the answers to those. No, they are asking, “How should technology shape our future?” This will be done through a project called Science Horizons, which will present a variety of possible views of the future and ask Jo(e) Public what (s)he thinks of them. You can find out more from this BBC article, and from the official web site.

The obvious question here is whether anyone behind this project has bothered consulting people who make a living out of considering what the future might be like. But have a sneaking suspicion that if you asked them they would say, “No, we don’t want any science fiction writers involved, this project is only about things that might actually happen.” Still, they do manage to quote Bill Gibson in one of their documents, so there’s hope yet.