It looks like you don't have to do much these days to get a degree....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/6904109.stm

I wonder if some of the other graduates at the ceremony wondered if the value of a degree was being reduced. Apart from being a not very known actor, all she has done is appear in Big Brother and 'keep her composure and poise' while being insulted by Jade and friends.

I thought honorary degrees were only awarded to people who had devoted a life time to a good cause.

If you are thinking of making enquiries about passport renewals, new passports, lost passports, etc, be careful about where you get your advice from. There are some web sites out there who are NOT connected to the Home Office, and you may be invited to ring an 090 number which costs £1.50 per minute; and who knows the quality of advice you may get.

The best web site to get information from, in my opinion, is obviously the official Home Office Identity and Passport Service, which can be found at www.passport.gov.uk There is plenty of on line help and advice to be had there, and if you want to use their 24 hour help line it is an 0870 number which costs 8p per minute from a BT landline, and you get to speak to a real person.

click on this link to listen to a short radio news article on this issue:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/items/01/2007_25_thu.shtml

So, Genesis, who appeared as the second act on Live Earth, say they are going to reform? I'm sure that will be great for their fans, but if their geriatric performance on Live Earth was anything to go by, they need to shake that rust off, and play in the right key too (it was all in a lower key which made it all sound like a funeral dirge), and.... Phil Collins will have to refrain from swearing. In the song Invisible Touch he sang, (about a woman who has the invisible touch) that 'she will f*** up your life'. Oh dear, that had the BBC apologising like mad after they had left the stage. The performances that made the most impression on me were 1) The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, because they did some great numbers, and they really commanded the stage; and 2) Madonna who at nearly 50 years of age was writhing around like a sex starved 20 year old; boy she is fit! The production of her set was pretty awesome too.

Any way, to get to the point, there were lots of suggestions going around about how to slow down or reverse global warming, including the usual stuff like doing more recycling, cycling to your next holiday destination and so on. However I can think of two things to do to reverse global warming, which I haven't heard mentioned in the press but I don't think they will be popular: 1) Stop buying stuff made in China; 2) Stop breeding.