Robert Hampton

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January 2005

5th January 2005

Adventures in Public Transport, part XVII
Posted by at 7.31pm | Uncategorised | No responses

Overheard on the train home tonight:-

MAN: Did you do the three minute’s silence today?
WOMAN: What for?

6th January 2005

Things That Annoy Me (the first of an occasional series in which Robert Hampton describes things that annoy him)
Posted by at 5.44pm | Uncategorised | No responses

People who don’t know the difference between “flaunt” and “flout”. You don’t flaunt the law, you flout the law. Thinking about it, how could you flaunt the law? Do you walk around with a book of laws under your arm, shouting, “look what I’ve got”?

It’s quite possibly the most stupid of all the errors that have crept into everyday English, and it’s starting to show up in books and newspapers, whose authors should really know better.

8th January 2005

Social experiment? Yeah right
Posted by at 11.21am | Uncategorised | No responses

What type of people is my alma mater turning out these days?

It was certainly not your stereotypical summer holiday, but spending four weeks arguing with Vanessa Feltz, bantering with Russell Brand, and being dubbed the Big Brother Prodigy on Channel 4’s live debate show “Big Brother’s EFOURUM” was an experience that I would not have swapped for the sights of Mauritius or New York.

This is from October 2004, but apparently he’s doing it again for Celebrity Big Brother.

9th January 2005

Final Thought
Posted by at 12.16am | Uncategorised | 1 response

Just finished watching Jerry Springer: The Opera on BBC Two.

Brilliant stuff! A witty script (are they called scripts in opera?) and an eerie performance from David Soul, who captured the look and mannerisms of Springer perfectly. The much-ballyhooed religious imagery could have been offensive if taken at face value, but if you’re taking this sort of thing at face value, well… there’s just no hope for you really.

Read the rest of this post »

12th January 2005

World's Smallest Violin
Posted by at 7.42pm | Uncategorised | No responses

An Edinburgh man has lost his job over comments made about his employer in an online diary, or “blog”.

I’m actually not too sympathetic to this guy's plight. It doesn't take a genius to work out that referring to your employer as “Bastardstone's” could be considered to be bringing the firm into disrepute.

Incidentally, I love the fact that the BBC news site still feels the need to explain the term “blog” to people.

13th January 2005

Royal Flush
Posted by at 12.02am | Uncategorised | No responses

From BBC News via a scummy tabloid:-

Prince Harry has apologised for wearing a swastika armband to a friend’s fancy dress party.

When he said he wanted to join the armed forces, he should have been more specific. In any case, everything you need to know about the British aristocracy is right there in that article; “colonial and native”, indeed.

(this was on the link log but I’ve expanded it and moved it here)

14th January 2005

Noooooooooooo!
Posted by at 8.12pm | Uncategorised | No responses

From BBC News:-

Chart-topping band Busted have announced they are to split up.

The decision comes just days after band member Charlie Simpson said he was temporarily parting company with bandmates James Bourne and Matt Willis.

If you’ll excuse me, I have to go rip some posters off my wall and spend the next three hours sobbing…

19th January 2005

Posting into the wind
Posted by at 9.10pm | Uncategorised | No responses

Logged into my old blueyonder mailbox today and found no fewer than 6,100 spam messages that had built up over the last few months since I last logged in.

Subject line that leapt out at me for some reason: “pork chop boys”.

23rd January 2005

†óflå†óflå†óflå†óflå†óflå†óflå†óflå†óflå†óflå
Posted by at 1.39am | Uncategorised | No responses

Finally bit the bullet and ordered a brand spanking new computer to replace my elderly Acorn RiscPC.

Not a bad innings for the old machine. Cost well over £1,000 back in 1996 and still (with upgrades along the way) in daily use for various things. I’m typing this entry on the original Acorn keyboard, complete with 9 years of accumulated keyboard “residue” — icky.

25th January 2005

Snot Funny
Posted by at 5.38pm | Uncategorised | No responses

I’ve succumbed to illness. I have a sore throat, a headache, runny nose: in other words, the full monty. I need plenty of vitamin C — all donations gratefully received.

I don’t know if it’s the illness or the medication or a combination of both, but I had a really weird dream last night. I don’t normally remember dreams, so this one muse have been something special. I’m not going to go into detail, on the off-chance that the person I dreamed about is reading this, but it was a LOT of fun.

26th January 2005

News (with comments by Insincere Dave)
Posted by at 10.51pm | Uncategorised | No responses

UK citizens suspected of involvement in terrorism could face house arrest as part of a series of new measures outlined by the home secretary.

“There's absolutely no way that a government could abuse these powers!”

England's first prostitution tolerance zone could be set up within months after councillors in Liverpool approved the move.

“This will solve all their problems!”

Violent crime in England and Wales rose by 6% in the third quarter of last year, according to official figures.

“I'm sure everything is OK really!”

28th January 2005

# The Right Honourable Peter Luff says can you do more aspirational stuff #
Posted by at 8.12pm | Uncategorised | No responses

I, for one, am refusing to pay my licence fee until this grave injustice to Seb is rectified.