Snip 7*ck

Grahame Norton - fab TV, supremo entertainment, but he has to work twice as hard when he has American actors on there. I dunno, somehow the dynamic doesn't work. The ONLY one that was ever almost up to it was Susan Sarandon. Here's an example. Tonight's line up was John Malkovich (worshipped by all) and Alan Davies (found to be irritating by all). OK?
So what happens ? Malkovich drivels and bores. Davies scintillates and amuses. Norton is as funny and naughty as ever, but Davies just sits as though he's with mates in a pub, and runs rings around the cumbersome Malkovich.
Last week it was Alicia Silverstone and the now-past-her-sell-by-date Joan Rivers. Silverstone had a face like a slapped arse and Norton had to work quadruple overtime to keep the show going.

Then there's the ads. So the advertising for Tide, is woeful. There is a new ad where women in the same blue dress walk down the street together, only one of the dresses hasn't been washed in Tide, so is faded. Not sure which one is supposed to be faded, since there's little difference, even in Hi-Def. But then the main Tide advertising claims that their product has 'much more cleaning ingredients'. No, seriously, they actually say that several times.
Talk about dumbing down.

Police in Germany have been chasing Scotch Mist it seems, for 15 years. The same woman's DNA has shown up in a number of cases and they have even nicknames the mystery woman. But it turns out that she never existed, that the DNA kits they were using were probably contaminated by a worker at the lab where they were produced.
Oops!
Thanks Michael for that one.

In Italy, more horrific, horrifying violence against women. A repeat of the awful Austrian story about the man who kept his daughter incarcerated and raped her continuously. Dun't bear thinking about.

And blaming women for everything seems to continue to be de rigueur. After a previously gruesomely flawed piece of research indicating that removing the foreskins of adult males in Africa reduces HIV transmission, US scientists try again. This time, two scientists from Washington State, both with oddly Jewish sounding names have come to the conclusion that circumcising African (adult) males will stop the transmission of HPV and Herpes. (Rather than, say, changing their misogynistic sexual practices).

In response.....

"Dr Colm O'Mahony, a sexual health expert from the Countess of Chester Foundation Trust Hospital in Chester, (UK)said the US had an "obsession" with circumcision being the answer to controlling sexually transmitted infections.

He said: "Sure, a dry skinned penis is a bit less likely to contract HIV, herpes and possibly genital warts but it will get infected eventually."

Dr O'Mahony also said pushing circumcision as a solution sent the wrong message.

"It suggests that it is women who infect innocent men - let's protect the innocent men.

"And it allows men who don't want to change their irresponsible behaviour to continue to sleep around and not even use a condom."

Keith Alcorn, from the HIV information service NAM, also warned against a knee jerk reaction.

He said: "We have to be careful not to take evidence from one part of the world and apply it uncritically to others. "

Burned!