Daily Mail's Reader's Poll a classic today

I occasionally find the time to pop over to the Daily Mail's website to vote in their polls in the futile hope that my good sense will have some impact.

Normally it is easy to work out how to vote but today they have completely confused me

But don't worry Daily Mail readers have still felt able to contribute their considered opinions

Impressive or what?

Whose Power? What Influence?

Last year we all got very angry about the corrupt expense claims of our MPs. However there is an area that is much more corrupting than the expenses - the influence of lobbying.

The scandal of lobbying was highlighted by the Sunday Times sting on three Labour ex-cabinet members earlier this year. But the reality of lobbying is far more insidious.  Companies, trade associations and other interest groups have considerable influence on Government policy ensure that decisions reflect their commercial influences rather the wider public interest.

Of course you can't see exactly who is talking to who; what deals are being made and what price is being paid for influence. But it makes you think and certainly in my case possibly a little paranoid.  So when earlier this month I saw this in the Daily Mail

I wondered what deals where being done.  Later the same day in the Guardian I came across this story

As an employer McDonald's has an appalling reputation which is largely deserved. The word McJob has even made it into the Oxford English Dictionary

Both the decision to cave in on effective regulation of the fast food industry and the appointment of bad employer McDonald's to manage the Olympics volunteering programme are likely to have been influenced by lobbying.  Neither are in the interests of ordinary people.

Satire brutally murdered by Dail Mail

From Jonathan Swift to Chris Morris satire has played an important part in literary and political life.  But today the Daily Mail has produced a story that is so beyond satire as to have effectively killed it

I-Dosing: How teenagers are getting 'digitally high' from music they download from internet

By Daniel Bates

Last updated at 5:57 PM on 20th July 2010

They put on their headphones, drape a hood over their head and drift off into the world of ‘digital highs’.

Videos posted on YouTube show a young girl freaking out and leaping up in fear, a teenager shaking violently and a young boy in extreme distress.

This is the world of ‘i-Dosing’, the new craze sweeping the internet in which teenagers used so-called ‘digital drugs’ to change their brains in the same way as real-life narcotics.

They believe the repetitive drone-like music will give them a ‘high’ that takes them out of reality, only legally available and downloadable on the Internet.
The craze has so far been popular among teenagers in the U.S. but given how easily available the videos are, it is just a matter of time before it catches on in Britain.
Those who come up with the ‘doses’ claim different tracks mimic different sensations you can feel by taking drugs such as Ecstasy or smoking cannabis.
The reactions have been partially sceptical but some songs have become wildly popular, receiving nearly half a million hits on YouTube.
Under one called ‘Shroom’, Berecz wrote: ‘just listened to this... at the beginning I began to see some blinking light (while eyes closed), then the pitch went up and I began to feel that Im sinking into my chair...as the pitch went down I began to feel confident, and very relaxed, and I dont want to stand up from my chair and I dont want to say any words...’
Not everyone is taking i-Dosing seriously - some YouTube videos show young adults ‘i-Dosing’ on Neil Diamond and mocking the whole phenomenon.
But there has been such alarm in the U.S. that the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs has issued a warning to children not to do it.
‘Kids are going to flock to these sites just to see what it is about and it can lead them to other places, spokesman Mark Woodward said. He added that parental awareness is key to preventing future problems, since I-dosing could indicate a willingness to experiment with drugs. ‘So that's why we want parents to be aware of what sites their kids are visiting and not just dismiss this as something harmless on the computer.
‘If you want to reach these kids, save these kids and keep these kids safe, parents have to be aware. They've got to take action.’ He added that another concern is that many of these I-dosing sites lure visitors to actual drug and drug paraphernalia sites.
Schools in the Mustang area recently sent out a letter warning parents about the new trend after several high school students reported having physiological effects after trying one of these digital downloads. ‘We had never come across anything like this and anything that is going to cause these physiological effects in a student, that causes us concern,’ said Shannon Rigsby, Mustang Public Schools Communication Officer.

It goes on (and on) - full story here

On a lighter note earlier this week the Poke revealed the Daily Mail's secret editorial formula.

Tasers & Typos

Tasers are both becoming widely issued to British police and widely used.  Often the use is inappropriate as a Daily Mail article last year when it highlighted police had used their new toys on

• Stray Dogs
• Runaway Sheep
• An 89 year old man suffering from dementia
• Children
• (and accidentally) on police officers themselves

There is evidence that they are being used routinely with little regard for the safety of the public.  Today the Mail published another story highlighting how the police had "accidentally" shot a man working on a friends garden. Having read the story I "accidentally" forgot to bookmark it before I got distracted in reading another story in the mail (see my next blog!!)

So I did a quick search only to find that in the earlier today the story had been published with the authors unedited comments.  Fortunately the keen eyed reader who spotted it had taken a screen shot.

The Mail have now removed Mr Cox's "meat and two"  and instead given him genitals.

Hat tip JoJo_Wood

Alcohol Kills but Meow Meow makes headlines

On the day before Mephedrone was made illegal I received a circular e-mail from the University's very own police office one PC Matt Holloway

For the information of all staff and students.


From 00:01 am on Friday 16th April 2010, Mephedrone (aka Meow Meow, Bubble and Mcat) and more than 10 other very similar drugs become controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act to a Class B drug.

There is no "amnesty" period and anyone found in possession of the drug will be dealt with in exactly the same way as they would be for other Class B drugs such as Amphetamine (which Mephedrone is closely related to).

This brings penalties of up to 5 years imprisonment for possession and 14 years imprisonment for supplying or possession with intent to supply the drug.

Mephedrone is a very dangerous drug and has had a lot of media attention over the last few months but there are other very similar drugs in the same chemical group that are also used regularly and they too have been controlled under this legislation. The most common of these are Methylone, Methedrone and MDPV.

If you have any questions in relation to this then please contact the UWE beat manager PC Matt Holloway in Room 1E20. His contact details are found via the Police web page - Bristol UWE - Operations and Security

One phrase stuck out

Mephedrone is a very dangerous drug and has had a lot of media attention over the last few months

So I thought I would research PC Holloway's claims.   So I had a look at the latest edition of the Lancet which had an article on the ban.  It stated that:

the ACMD report, Consideration of the cathinones, which recommended the ban, documented the very scanty evidence on mephedrone, including the absence of a direct causal link between the reported deaths and the drug. ... There was little time to consider carefully the scientific evidence on mephedrone. The ACMD did not have sufficient evidence to judge the harms caused by this drug class.

 So on the one hand we have PC Holloway claiming that it 'is a very dangerous drug' and on the other the Lancet claiming that there is not 'sufficient evidence to judge the harms '.  Which one should I believe on this medical and scientific issue?

But PC Holloway is correct about the media moral panic coverage and we see a classic example of this today in the Daily Mail

The headline could not be clearer - someone died after taking meow meow.  However on reading
the article I find right at the bottom this paragraph

The Inquest heard that although meow meow and Valium were found in Miss Main's blood, it was a combination of alcohol and GHB which killed her.

So despite the headline it was not mephedrone but alcohol and GBH which contributed to her death. This is not an unimportant fact in the debate over mephedrone as it is likely that many users who are put off by it being made illegal will instead use alcohol. A drug with a very proven track record of harm and death. This displacement may end up causing more harm including more deaths. But does PC Holloway warn the staff and students of UWE of this killer drug?

It is a silence often shared by politicians and the media

See also - Daily Telegraph Moral Panic Journalism and Mephedrone Pushing