:: Bye Bye, Bev ::

I'm sure they'll have a field-day in the next edition of Private Eye over Beverley Hughes' resignation. It surprises me that she wasn't removed from Government sooner. Not over this issue, but in her previous post. As Home Office Minister, she was quick to condemn Chris Morris's timely Brass Eye special on paedophilia. Whilst much of the content teetered on the tightrope between satire and what many might consider unacceptable for public broadcast, the savage satire of the media frenzy over paedophilia was incisive, outrageous and hilarious. The fact that Hughes wholeheartedly condemned the broadcast when she hadn't even seen the programme should have been reason enough for her dismissal in 2001. It is not acceptable to have such arbiters of public taste when they are unable or unwilling to understand the reasoning behind a programme, let alone preach on the topic. The last thing we need from our political leaders is a raft of sanctimonious platitudes - uninformed, unquestioning and unthinking. Chris Morris's excesses are a marvellous conduit for rigourously attacking the absurd, the lazy and the wilfully ignorant elements of society which are nurtured by the mass media itself. Will Self writes far more eloquently than I ever could on Morris's oeuvre (In particular the infamous "cake" episode of Brass Eye). An avid consumer of all things Morrisian, I await his next project with glee.

Ananova is a source of quick relief when bored on a Friday afternoon. For some reason, many of the stories revolve around drunkenness or sex. The former has become a serious topic of debate in the UK as plans are afoot to relax pub licensing laws. Naturally, we still appreciate the stories which revolve around the drunken mishaps of our supposedly more enlightened continental friends. Exhibit A, for example: the Swedish girl who is sueing a bar for getting her drunk. And Exhibit B: the German who found out that barfing on cars corrodes the paintwork.

Other distractions today have been more engaging. I was emailed a Kids TV quiz and looked at a fantastic site documenting a lady bikers' travels through Chernobyl - some astonishing and moving images.

Something Awful, ever a paragon of taste and decency, got its readers to send in new items for sale in the latest SkyMall catalogue. Fancy one of these?

I was also diverted by Simon Hattenstone's foray into the murky criminal underworld of modern art: his part in the Case of the Kidnapped Imbiber.

Right. I'm off to make practise my naughty origami before attending the premiere of Foskett's latest. Happy Friday, everyone - your tarot reading for the day is...