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Heart of Stone


What is Your Heart REALLY Made of?
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Hah! No soppy gold or chocolate for me! STONE.

Anyway... flights to london are booked (finally) arriving luton sunday morning 9.15, leaving again monday evening at 6.30.

So is anyone up for meeting up Monday for lunch or other stuff?
I may go do touristy things, since I have been to London many times now and never actually done much sight seeing. Suggestions? Any good exhibitions on worth seeing? Or I might do the Tower, since thats about as touristy as it gets. Maybe I can get chased by scary Beefeaters too!
Of course there is always shopping too...

Good news, bad news

First, Good news - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4628497.stm
Smoking bans in public places are coming closer here. ATM there's still debate over whether to make them partial bans, eg in places that serve food, or complete bans as in the republic. The ban in the south seems to have worked well - and it is very refreshing to leave a pub without stinging eyes and hair & clothes stinking. On the other hand its a real pain if you're with smokers because they're in and out all the time.
Tho from asking friends of mine the smokers are for it too - for one thing they find they smoke less because they can't just automatically light up, they have to make the decision to get up and go out. Of course during the summer everyone sits outside anyway, but then Irish summers only last about 3 days ;p
Even a partial ban would be a good step. No more getting swamped with smoke when you eat.
What do the smokers among you think of bans?

Then bad news - extreme christians using the Parades Commission to get try to get this year's Pride parade banned - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4629881.stm.

The Parades Commission was set up to oversee contentious parades, mostly by the Orange Order which has many members who would hold these extreme views (note, not all) and who get Outraged about the Denial of Their Civil Liberties and Rights to Walk Where They Choose when they get rerouted or banned. Now they want to use it to stop other people marching, because obviously only people they approve of should have Civil Liberties.
Yes I am over-generalising, it's not the OO protesting this parade, but the hypocrisy is galling. Very like the Christain Voice claim that while Co-op were MEAN to discriminate against them, it was ok for *them* to discrimiate because God Said So.

Besides which, Belfast's Pride march isn't exactly the Sydney Mardi-Gras :p It barely holds up the traffic and adds a bit of colour and fun to otherwise very dull streets.

Is it just me or has the anti-gay movement got a lot more vocal and fundamentalist and... American style in the UK lately? Are we importing our bigotry now as well as everything else?