Compared to a few years ago, I don't watch many news programmes. BBC R4's Today programme is my daily fix. But I saw a London news programme earlier this week that included a segment on a cyclist killed on a particularly silly cycle lane – on Blackfriars Bridge, between two lanes of traffic. (Someone drove from one lane to the other.)

It reminded me that London's Critical Mass would be today. I've missed the last few, but didn't want to miss this one.

It was good. A long pause on the bridge – personally, I'd have blocked both directions – then around Central London.

I'm pissed off that most of the ones I've been to have involved riding to the site of a fatality. There are 'only' one or two cyclists killed in London a month, but that's too many of course.

Did I mention the incident in late December? Near the Dog's Home Battersea, I look behind me, loads of room, and do the best 'I'm turning right' signal of my life. It's getting dark, but the street lighting is good, I'm lit up, wearing piles of reflective clothing (and my white calves working away). Sodding van driver behind doesn't see me until he's really close, narrowly misses me, and has the nerve to toot his horn. If he'd been alone, they'd have been.. trouble.

If I was killed, I'd be seriously pissed off… and if I believed in ghosts, there'd be some serious haunting of the people responsible inbetween trying to watch JoJo grow up.

(Oh, old-time LBGers may be interested to know someone who I'm embarrassed to say I've forgotten his proper name and can only remember Marcus's nickname for him (Stavros) was there on his wheelchair!)

The other thing I didn't post about was pondering over whether or not to watch the Nick Berg execution video.

On the one hand, yuck. (Understatement!)

On the other, to misquote Jagger and Richards, "Who killed Nick Berg? / When after all / It was you and me". If the government of my country hadn't backed the US government, there wouldn't have been an invasion, and he'd still be alive. (That's not to take away the direct responsibility from the people who do such things.)

The yuck was very definitely winning, up until today, with the publication of articles like this one on the curious features of the video.

As reported (but not shown) on UK news, the video was simple: he said who he was, and then someone immediately cut his head off, followed by a rant to camera. Single take, no question of it being faked.

It seems that's not the case. If there's any editing (the extremely unfortunate jargon is 'cut', from the days of physically cutting film) in a piece, it is extremely likely that it didn't happen in real time. Minutes, hours or days can pass between one shot and another.

(Michael Moore was guilty of this at the end of Bowling for Columbine.)

So… I'm more tempted to see it, in order to see what editing was done and to see if it does look as if it was faked.

US soldiers in Iraq must also be asking themselves 'who' and 'are they worth it' as well.

Brits will remember the fuss about UK soldiers not having the best equipment when the war in Iraq started. Well, US forces in Iraq now – over a year later – are asking for properly armoured personnel carriers ('Humvees' are an American APC), proper body armour, and, you know, guns, so they can shoot back if the convoy they are in is attacked.

What did Donald Rumsfeld, US Defence boss, say to the people being shot at and who see friends die? "I'm a survivor."

It'd be darkly amusing to stick him on an under-armoured Humvee, with poor body armour, in a dangerous spot, at the same time as the people justifying the US torture of captives are plonked in their place.

(Link from yendi.)

If you're a Lewisham parent, wondering what's happening to your appeal regarding secondary school places, I can tell you.

(Ok, I know none of you are, but just imagine…)

The Royal Mail has taken about two weeks to deliver a packet of appeals from the Town Hall in Catford to the chair of the appeals panel, about a mile away.

How do I know? I was behind him in the queue at the delivery office as he was making his complaint.

I was there to pick up a recorded post item, but if I had wanted to make a similar point, I'd have been mentioning the birthday present that was posted – in a Post Office, from the custom 'stamp' – first class on 21st April in Nottingham which wasn't delivered here until 5th of May.