A quote from Robin Gibb a few months ago:

"Now I know how precious time is and you can't put it in the bank."

Rest In Peace.

Abdelbaset al Megrahi is dead, three years after being released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds because doctors said he had only three months to live.

All 259 people on the Pan Am 103 airliner died and 11 others on the ground in the Dumfries and Galloway town of Lockerbie in Britain's biggest terrorist atrocity.  Megrahi was the only man ever convicted for the terrorist attack.

Dr Jim Swire does not believe Megrahi was to blame for the 1988 bombing and says his conviction had been an 'obstruction' in the search for the truth about the attack. Dr Swire also believes it will be proved that Megrahi was not guilty.

David Ben-Ayreah, a spokesman for the victims of Lockerbie families said: "As someone who attended the trial I have never taken the view that Megrahi was guilty."

David Cameron insists the conviction was sound.


An attempt by the British PM to close the subject once and for all methinks, because the Westminster government has no wish to upset its American friends.

But Alex Salmond is slightly more forthcoming despite criticism from the Justice for Megrahi group.

“The Lockerbie case remains a live investigation, and Scotland’s criminal justice authorities have made clear that they will rigorously pursue any new lines of inquiry.

“Scotland’s senior law officer, the Lord Advocate, recently visited Libya, and we have been offered the co-operation of the new Libyan authorities. It has always been the Crown’s position that Mr Megrahi did not act alone but with others.”

He also added that it was up to Megrahi's relatives to apply to the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission to seek a further appeal, adding that his death 'ends one chapter of the Lockerbie case, but it does not close the book".

One politician who will be relieved to hear Megrahi has died will be Kenny MacAskill whose judgement for Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds was questioned more and more.

Will we get some answers now or will the Scottish justice system be too afraid to examine its shortcomings - of which there are plenty.  I would like to think Dr Jim Swire, after 25 years of campaigning against the conviction, could eventually acquire some peace in his later years.

Like many women I'm usually drawn to reading articles about diets. Over the years I've tried a few such as the grapefruit diet (brought me out in a rash), the banana and milk diet (never ate a banana again for years) and the 'little and often' diet which made me hungrier as the day progressed.

As I become older weight seems to creep on overnight and doesn't shift during daytime activities as it did even just a few years ago. Although I've reduced portion size because I'm less active than I was when younger and chasing my tail round in never ending circles, there's little reduction in my weight.

The Salk Institute is one of the world's preeminent basic research institution and it's worth noting the results of the many disciplines they research.

We were brought up with 'regular' meals; breakfast around 8am, lunch around 12.30pm and tea no later than 6pm. That's a 10 hour eating cycle.  Today many people don't eat their evening meal until at least 7pm and thereby reduce the fasting time, the length of which appears to be the prominent aspect of this research.

If an 8 hour food cycle - resulting in a 16 hour fast - results in a 28% reduction in weight compared with mice who were given access to the same food over a 24 hour period, and showed no ill effects, then it's worth revising my eating times.

When I retired from full-time work I started to eat breakfast - something I never did all my working life.  Maybe that's why the extra few pounds has crept on.  Because I enjoy my main meal of the day in the early evening and in the good cause of research, for the next month I'll omit my usual toast (or poached egg on toast at weekends) and start my eating day with a light lunch. That should make my daily fasting be around 17 hours.  I've no intention of changing what I eat but just when I eat it.

Then, of course, I'll email my results to the Salk Institute!

source

What to do with your Euros...

A Defence of Austerity

Pots and Kettles

The ways of the ancestors

A respectable riot against tabloid readers

Pawn plus one

Will Self Can Take A Hike

Late addition:  Reader's choice courtesy of RMcGeddon who introduces it:

Really interesting and a good read. It follows the Gareth Williams 'body in the bag' case and is accurately done in a modern Sherlock Holmes narrative. 113 chapters so far. Only small chapters though.

Well, well, I was not surprised to read the Green Deal scheme is in a mess and the consumer group Which? is concerned that the savings on energy bills, promised to consumers, may not actually materialise.

Once Which? started analysing the scheme they found that, although there will be personalised assessment, the amount a Green Deal company can lend a consumer won't be calculated taking their actual energy use into account, it will be based instead on average figures.

Also they found there is no guarantee and no redress if consumers end up paying more than they save.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Green Deal scheme and my concerns about its operation.  Westminster leaders didn't listen to me but I'm sure they will listen to Richard Lloyd, the director of Which?

Why are we so committed to these 'green' issues when China continues to ignore their 'Measures on Environmental Information Disclosure' laws which came into force in May 2008, the US is reported as putting their own environmental issues on the back burner and Canada has shut down its green business advisers' agency?

Are we the UK, once again, being conned by politicians who are doing nothing about controlling the cost to the public and consumers their green energy policies generate?

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