Unintelligent Design

Archbishop Desmond Tutu:
"If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God."

Carter USM tomorrow night. I still haven't quite recovered from Whitby, so it's anyone's guess how I'll cope with Carter's last hurrah - wouldn't miss it for the world, though.

After that, life should settle down a little. I might even post to LJ a little more often. :)

So, today I got home to find a letter had arrived. Royal Mail postage paid. Handwritten address on the front. "WGW HQ" sticker on the back.

Unlike many people I know, I'm not actually in Whitby yet. So I danced the happy dance of joy - hurrah, my tickets have actually arrived! No messing about with the 'missing ticket procedure' - no need to take utility bills and photo ID to the Info Stall.

Then I opened the envelope...

Which is still a little awkward when three people are arriving at three different times. Hmm. Oh well...

[Poll #1075956]

WGW tickets haven't arrived yet.

I'm not going to be in Whitby 'til Friday night.

The other two people I bought tickets for will be there before me - and will presumably be wanting to get into the Spa while I'm still somewhere on the motorway.

This could be interesting. Any suggestions?

Which WGW bands are playing which night?

Edit: Crud are Friday night. Bah. Not a good start.

It hasn't been a terribly productive evening. I've tidied the house a little, growled at The Silver Spoon and failed to do much else.

However, I'm currently sitting here with a glass of Amontillado and leafing through The Perfect Marriage.

( Probably only interesting if you like wittering about cookbooks... )

As some of you will be aware, there's an online (UK) petition to broaden the definition of hate crimes in the wake of Sophie Lancaster's death.

Personally, I have to say that I'm unconvinced by the concept of hate crime laws. Not just in this case, but generally. On the other hand, I don't actually have any facts and figures about this to hand - it's just a vague unease.

I'm sure someone out there knows rather more than I do, though. So...

1. Are they effective when a case comes to court?
2. Do they actually make a difference as a deterrent?
3. Should two similar crimes be treated differently depending on what motivated them - should the courts treat a completely random attack differently from a hate crime...?

I know this is a very emotive subject - and I do want to see the people responsible for this sort of attack jailed for a very long time. But is this the best way to do that? Are the existing laws sufficient - or do they need strengthening in other ways...?

Every now and then, I manage to spoiler myself for something I'm really enjoying. Heroes, for example. Or Battlestar Galactica. And a whole range of comics...

Unfortunately, I just read one too many spoilers about season three of Deadwood. I'd seen a few already, but they hadn't really disrupted my enjoyment of the show. At least not noticeably.

( No actual spoilers, but you may wish to skip this anyway. And some may appear in comments... )