Yvette Cooper, Labour’s leader of their refugee taskforce, has been in Lesbos to see the situation for herself. Haven’t Greece and the refugees suffered enough? Interviewed live on LBC by Nick Ferrari she faced the inevitable question about her offer to house a refugee family. It produced waffle about the need for refugees to have a home of their own, clearly true but logistically impossible. But what of her offer? No answer and the line went dead. She has retained the name Cooper but she remains all Balls when it comes to money where mouth has been. Perhaps she should join the church. She has all the credentials to be a bishop. Preach the word but heaven forbid walking the talk. Amen.

    The experts are at it again. Apparently over 50’s should give up alcohol to avoid dementia. I’ll try to remember that.

    On the health front, we frequently wonder how we’ve reached advanced ages. Sugar has now become public enemy number one on the health front, put at the top by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. To do his bit, Jamie has applied a 10p tax to sugary drinks that he serves in his restaurants. Nice one Jamie, but why not ban them. Are you worried you might deter a couple of customers? A passing thought,  I wonder if anyone checks the salt content of the meals he serves? A regular criticism we hear from chefs on the television is “needs more seasoning”. Maybe they don’t mean salt! But Jamie will need to keep shouting to keep his name front and centre. The World Health Organisation has applied the demonic label to bacon, sausages and processed meats – carcinogenic if you eat it by the kilo. We’re waiting to see separate enclosures for meat eaters in restaurants, maybe even outside with the smokers. How long before food packaging carries the same level of warnings we see on drugs and cigarettes. If patients took the slightest notice of the list of side effects on their prescribed tablets, none would ever be taken. Can we also assume that VW cars will carry a health warning in the near future? Still, we can feel safe sticking to a regular diet of fish and chips, washed down by pints of real ale. Give us a rest from publicity seekers.

    Cyber crime is in the headlines again after the attack on TalkTalk. Interestingly, they have had previous attacks this year. High quality computer security is expensive, and that is not to say TalkTalk aren’t big spenders in this area, since they may be. But it raises an interesting question. As we are driven towards on line interaction by suppliers, who then have access to most of the details a scammer would need to commit fraud against us, who checks suppliers IT security. Bodies like the Health and Safety executive drive us crazy in their attempts to keep us safe, even while laying in bed, but no body exists to monitor IT security. Cyber crime is growing massively year on year. It seems surprising that suppliers who require large amounts of personal information from customers don’t have regular checks on the quality of their IT security by a legislative third party.

    After all the flack she’s received, we’re pleased to see Hilary Clinton surge to the fore in her fight for the Democratic nomination. She has balls and the next American President will need them in spades to stiffen NATO.

    A 1000 bibles printed in 1631 had an interesting misprint. Exodus 20:14 said ‘Thou shalt commit adultery’. King Charles 1 went ape and ordered them all destroyed but as always a few got secreted away. Probably by budding auctioneers based on Bonham’s estimate for when it goes on sale. Ben had an interesting thought this week. How about if all the other bibles were actually the misprints?

    While hunting waterfowl in Indiana, a woman was shot in the foot by her dog. She’d placed her shotgun on the floor and her Labrador stepped on it, causing it to fire. Adding insult to injury the dog is called Trigger! Indiana conservation officer, Jon Boyd said the woman should have completed a hunter education course. Presumably, Trigger will also have to attend.

    Highways England are never slow to spend public money. They erected six bat bridges across the A11 to get our fanged friends across the road in safety. But the bats don’t use them. Never mind, they only cost £350,000. Potholes anyone?