Another win for the Black Caps is highly logical

But now for something highly illogical: Long before being nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy, best known for playing Spock on the television show Star Trek and its movies, passed away in his home at the age of 83. The cause of his death was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which the actor confirmed he had last year. Nimoy was born in 1931 in Boston. His parents were Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union in an area that is now part of Ukraine. He acted in several amateur productions as a child and then began his movie and TV acting career in 1951. In 1952, he played the title role in the boxing movie Kid Monk Baroni. Although his acting was praised, the movie was a flop, and Nimoy spent over a decade playing largely bit parts in both TV and movies, including roles in Dragnet, Perry Mason, and The Twilight Zone. In 1965, Nimoy passed on a role in Peyton Place to take a part in Gene Roddenberry’s TV show Star Trek – and the rest was history. Unique among most TV shows, Star Trek actually had two pilots. NBC liked aspects of the first pilot, “The Cage” but had some issues and asked Roddenberry to shoot a second pilot. Mr. Nimoy’s Spock, half-human, half-Vulcan, was the only character to appear in both pilots. Nimoy’s Spock became a cultural phenomenon. Characterized by an emotionless devotion to the Vulcan ethos of logic, Spock was an inspiration to a generation of fans and became well known to the public at large. Nimoy had a large part in shaping the character into someone who was non-violent (Nimoy developed the Vulcan nerve pinch as an alternative to punching), ethical, intellectual, and compassionate. Nimoy and the character came back in the Star Trek animated series, six Star Trek movies, two episodes of The Next Generation, and as Spock Prime in the two rebooted Star Trek movies directed by J.J. Abrams. Nimoy continued acting after Star Trek with a starring role in Mission: Impossible and a number of smaller parts (including one of the best murderers on Peter Falk’s Columbo series). He also directed several movies, including two Star Trek films and Three Men And A Baby. He was also a prolific writer of poetry and a photographer, and published several works of each. Mr. Nimoy is survived by his wife, Susan Bay Nimoy (cousin of Transformers director Michael Bay); his children, Adam and Julie Nimoy; his grandchildren; and legions of fans. But cricket fans rejoice because after a tense last few overs with several late wickets, the Black Caps have just beaten Australia by 1 wicket. Australia batted first and made 151 all out. New Zealand scored 152 for 9, with Kane Williamson hitting the game-winning six. May this hot streak live long and prosper at least until the end of the tournament.

FCC 1, big cable 0

Silicon Valley tech firms lauded the Federal Communications Commission’s decision yesterday to preserve equal access online, while cable companies that stood to profit from a cloistered Internet warned that regulating the Web like a utility will lead to higher prices. The commission’s 3-2 vote codifies the concept of net neutrality by barring Internet service providers such as Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T from charging for access to an online fast lane, slowing loading times for certain sites, or blocking any site so long as its content is legal. The rules “ensure that every American — no matter the size of their wallets or the color of their skin — has an equal chance to innovate and reach people online,” said Barbara van Schewick, a professor of law at Stanford University and director of the school’s Center for Internet and Society. But it's not going to happen just yet. The ruling probably won’t go into effect for several months as the formal language is being crafted. But when it does, it should mean a faster and cheaper Internet for all of America - unless, of course, the cable companies pay off the FCC to get a version which better fits their agenda.

The biggest jukebox in the cloud just got bigger

Are you a music buff? Google's recent announcement should sound music to your ears. The search giant has bumped up its music storage limit for Google Play Music users by 30,000, effective immediately. The users will now be able to store up to 50,000 of their personal favorite songs on Google's cloud music storage for free, sharply up from the previous limit of 20,000 songs. Google Play is entirely cloud-based so all your music, movies, books, and apps are stored online, always available to you, and you never have to worry about losing them or moving them again (unless, of course, you do have 20,000 50,000 songs already). In a post on its official blog, the company wrote that the songs can be uploaded directly from the user's iTunes collection or from other local music folders. It can then be streamed or downloaded and played on the web itself, desktop computers, or Chromecast as well as smartphones or tablets running Android or iOS. This is a big boost for music lovers but spells out a threat to its music streaming competitors. For instance, Apple allows its users to upload only half the number of songs on the cloud with iTunes Match, but at an annual fee of US$24.99. So who has more value for money on this one? Google. But when it comes to your next computer or smartphone, just remember if it's not an Apple, it's crapple.

Brown to run it back to the States

Singer Chris Brown's "Between the Sheets" tour apparently won't be stopping in Canada this week after all: He said he had been barred from entering the country. Yesterday afternoon, Brown wrote on Twitter: “Unfortunately I will not be able to perform in front of sold out crowds in Montreal & Toronto.” He followed that up by tweeting: “The good people of the Canadian government wouldn’t allow me entry. I’ll be back this summer and will hopefully see all my Canadian fans!” Brown’s publicist confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the singer was denied entry into Canada, but offered no additional information. Several factors are used in determining admissibility into Canada, including involvement in criminal activity, human rights violations, or organized crime; and security, health, or financial reasons. I can shed some light on this issue: the Grammy-winning singer has had numerous run-ins with the law, the latest occurring in January when a judge revoked his probation after learning that he had violated orders by leaving Los Angeles County and was present at a nightclub when people were shot. The singer has spent several months in jail for prior violations relating to his conviction for a 2009 assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna. It serves him right. If he hadn't beaten up on Rihanna, he wouldn't have had any probation to violate and he might have been allowed to perform in Canada. But now, because of his criminal past, those that bought tickets now have to seek refunds.

BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Threatening shopping malls

The NYPD is on alert following a threat against the United States purportedly by Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked rebel group al-Shabab. A video released over the weekend urged Muslims to attack shopping malls in the U.S., Canada, Britain, and other Western countries. The threat came in the final minutes of a more than hour-long video in which the extremists also warned Kenya of more attacks like the September 2013 assault on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in which 67 people were killed. The masked narrator concluded by calling on Muslims to attack shopping malls, specifically naming the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis, as well as the West Edmonton Mall in Canada and the Westfield mall in Stratford, England. It's not going to stop the capitalist machine, though. The threats towards The Interview weren't enough to completely stop its release. Charlie Hebdo bounced back from the shootings last month. Likewise, threatening shopping malls won't keep us away.

Nananananananana, nananananananana, Birdman!

For the third time in four years, Hollywood’s top honor went to a story mostly about itself: “Birdman” won best picture at the 87th Academy Awards on Sunday night. Despite relatively meager domestic ticket sales of $37.8 million, “Birdman” had been the favorite to win best picture, having swept the top prize at banquet after banquet leading up to the Oscars. Minutes before, Alejandro G. Iñárritu had won best director for “Birdman,” which also collected Oscars for best original screenplay and the cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki. “Tonight I am wearing the real Michael Keaton tighty whities,” Mr. Iñárritu said, a joke about the long Broadway walk Mr. Keaton, the star, takes in his skivvies during the film. “Birdman,” about a washed-up actor’s comeback bid, followed two other Hollywood-related winners: “The Artist,” which won in 2012, was the bittersweet story of a silent film actor seemingly left behind by Hollywood’s transition to sound. The next year, “Argo” won with its reality-based tale of a hostage rescue that used a fake film for cover. Still, no one film this year achieved critical mass in a year that saw all eight of the best picture nominees leave with at least one Oscar.

Careless loss costs the Reds third place

Manchester United slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City this morning after briefly going ahead at the Liberty Stadium. Ander Herrera finished off a fine move to give the Reds the lead in the first half, but United were in front for less than two minutes when Ki Sung-Yueng slipped through the defence to level the scores. After the break, Bafetimbi Gomis diverted a rasping Jonjo Shelvey shot with his head for a goal that ultimately condemned Louis van Gaal's men to a first defeat on the road since November’s Manchester derby. Not only did the Reds lose and six players receive yellow cards, Man United are down to fourth place and will need to win at least five games to have any chance at the Premiership.

Busch gets tagged with Rice

Only moments after NASCAR suspended 2004 Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch in the wake of a Delaware court’s ruling on a domestic violence incident with his ex-girlfriend, someone left the driver a message on the window of his garage (pictured). The inscription reads ‘Ray Rice’ which is a reference to the former running back of the Baltimore Ravens who was suspended indefinitely by the NFL last year after punching his then-fiancee and knocking her out in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino. Kent County Family Court commissioner David Jones wrote that Busch was found to have “more likely than not committed an act of domestic violence.” NASCAR said in a statement released yesterday afternoon that it suspended Busch “for actions detrimental to stock car racing.” I'm sure Busch got what was coming to him, just like in a scene in Wild. In that scene, Reese Witherspoon was bunking with three other hikers. One of them was singing the chorus to the 4 Non Blondes song What's Up? when another one of them asked him to stop, so he did, and then he yelled out the next line only to get chased into a tree. That bit was funny, but whether it's being a prick or beating up on your woman, DON'T DO IT. It's not worth it.

Another win for the Black Caps

The British media has been quick to put the boot into England's cricket team after their humiliating eight-wicket loss to New Zealand in Wellington today. They were 123 all out in part due to Tim Southee's remarkable seven-wicket haul before a Brendon McCullum onslaught helped the Black Caps to victory (final score 125 for 2) in little over 12 overs. The performance has been labelled one of the worst days in English cricket, but it's the last game of three that comprise one of the best weeks in New Zealand cricket. The Black Caps might win the World Cup this year if they keep it up (and that includes beating Australia).

The Teaspoon of Knowledge

Even though it’s looking increasingly likely that humanity will find a way to wipe itself off the face of the Earth, there’s a chance that our creative output may live on. Servers, hard drives, flash drives, and disks will degrade (as will our libraries of paper books, of course), but a group of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have found a way to encode data onto DNA — the very same stuff that all living beings’ genetic information is stored on — that could survive for millennia. One gram of DNA can potentially hold up to 455 exabytes of data, according to the New Scientist. But what is an exabyte? It's a huge measure of data. And how huge is it? There are one billion gigabytes in an exabyte, and 1,000 exabytes in a zettabyte. The cloud computing company EMC estimated that there were 1.8 zettabytes of data in the world in 2011, which means we would need only about 4 grams (about a teaspoon) of DNA to hold everything from Plato through the complete works of Shakespeare to Beyonce’s latest album (not to mention every brunch photo ever posted on Instagram). But the estimate was four years ago, and there could've been much more data even then, so I'd suggest they set aside at least a few ounces just to be on the safe side. The question now is, how are they going to get it all on there? There are four types of molecules that make up DNA, which form pairs. To encode information on DNA, scientists program the pairs into 1s and 0s — the same binary language that encodes digital data. This is not a new concept (scientists at Harvard encoded a book onto DNA in 2012) but up to now, it had been difficult to retrieve the information stored on the DNA.

Now he has been arrested and we know why

Because he got high, because he got high, because he got high. Actually, no he didn't. It was an alleged assault. That's right, Afroman was arrested yesterday after he allegedly punched a female fan who got on stage during a performance in Biloxi, Mississippi. The 40-year-old Because I Got High singer was playing guitar when the woman approached him from behind and appeared to try and dance against him, according to an article by TMZ that included a video of the incident. The rapper, real name Joseph Edgar Foreman, appeared to suddenly unleash a right-handed haymaker that knocked the woman off her feet. The woman fell hard after the blow and reportedly was bleeding and crying. A representative for Afroman said the rapper didn't know if the fan was a man or a woman and just reacted to someone being on the stage. The rep also added the incident was completely out of character for Afroman. All you fans out there, please don't let that indiscretion put you off his music. Because I Got High is still a good song even after all those years, and I'm not about to let what happened yesterday ruin it for me.

BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Facing the Black Caps

They are proving to be the Chuck Norris of the Cricket World Cup, and for the second time in the current edition, they've dismissed the entire opposition during their turn to field. Scotland batted first today and scored 142 all out setting a lowly target of just 143 runs, which we clearly had no trouble exceeding (despite losing seven wickets in the process) for a final score of 146 for 7. Our next opponents will be England, who could prove to be a challenging team for once.

Touch the value, taste the value

How do you tell which banknote is which? Look at the number printed on it? Look at the colour (not an option if the money in question is American)? What if you were blind and couldn't see either of those? Never fear, people of Australia, there will be a new type of cash in your pockets next year that the vision impaired will find easier to use. The notes will have "tactile features", or bumpy bits (similar to the markings Canada have been using since 2001), that allow people to identify their value with just a touch. They will also have brighter colours and larger numbers (for those who can still see something), while each denomination will be a different size. The Reserve Bank has been testing different designs and consulting with vision impaired people on how well they work, but the details have not yet been finalised, and until the notes have replaced the current series in circulation, it will still be a case of the blind being bowled underarm by the blind.

Drivin' Apple cars, livin' like a star, ice on the fingers and the toes of the Tesla

Yesterday, the Black Caps logged their first victory of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, beating Sri Lanka by 98 runs. The Black Caps scored 331 for 6 and Sri Lanka 233 all out. But victory is also in the air for Planet Earth, as there is one more player in the electric car game: Apple. That's right, Apple Inc. is working on an Apple-branded electric vehicle. The project is code-named Titan and the design resembles a minivan. The Cupertino company has assigned several hundred employees to the vehicle. While a car may not ultimately result, some Apple executives have flown to Austria (the one that had Hitler, not the one with the kangaroos) to meet with contract manufacturers of high-end cars. Apple already has expertise managing a vast supply chain and has technology that may lend itself to an electric car. The company has long researched battery technology for use in its iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The mapping system it debuted in 2012 can be used for navigation. Last year, Apple also introduced CarPlay, a software system for automakers to use in its cars that integrates iTunes, mapping, messaging, and other applications. But all that fancy stuff will be old news if Apple does produce an electric car.

Don't drink and drone

A Singapore restaurant plans to use drones to transport food and drinks from the kitchen to a wait station near customers’ tables by the end of this year. That's all well and good, but delivering plates of food and drink to individual tables sounds like a recipe for disaster. How does the drone know where to hover? What if someone bumps into the drone or is standing in its way? While Infinium Robotics, the Singapore company that’s developing the drones for restaurant chain Timbre, claims it’s all technically possible, Timbre won’t be delivering food from the kitchen straight to customers’ tables. It wants to preserve a human touch. So the drones will fly from the kitchen to two stations frequented by waiters. The routes are 30 and 60 feet (9.15 and 18.3 m). The drones are programmed to fly no lower than 8½ feet (2.6 m), so as not to crash into any guests. And they will need power too, so how will they get that power? It's simple - the drones automatically charge while waiting in the kitchen. After the chef puts an order on the drone, he hits a button on a keypad and the drone automatically flies to one of two wait stations. Sense-and-avoid technology built into the drone won’t allow it to land at the wait station if anything is in its way. The drones are also equipped with sonar and an infrared sensor. A waiter then removes the food or drink from the drone and hits a button that sends it back to the kitchen. The 5⅓-pound (2.4 kg) drones can carry just over four pounds (1.8 kg) of food. Infinium Robotics, which develops the hardware and software, is working on a model that will carry twice as much food. Way to put busboys out of work, Timbre. I knew it was all about money. The waiters will clearly be the next to go.

1800 POSTS!

And another victory for the Reds at Old Trafford yesterday morning. Manchester United were made to work hard for the three points, but they saw off Burnley 3-1 thanks to a first-half double from substitute Chris Smalling and Robin van Persie's late penalty. Sean Dyche's side may feel unlucky to end up with nothing for their endeavours, but Smalling's headers before half-time and a first spot-kick of the campaign proved sufficient, with Danny Ings replying for the Clarets. Seven players received yellow cards, but what matters here is the three points, and LVG will need more of them to get the Premiership back from Man City.

Still holds true six months later

Truth-stretcher stretches his way out of a job

Six months after the suicide of Robin Williams, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was suspended for six months without pay for exaggerating his role in a helicopter incident in Iraq, marking the first time a network news anchor has been stripped of his duties. The disciplinary action was a stunning fall from grace for Williams, who presided over America's top-rated newscast for a decade and helped lead it to numerous Emmy and Peabody awards. The punishment follows last week's on-air apology for falsely saying that a helicopter in which he was flying on a combat mission in 2003 had come under fire. The apology touched off a firestorm and was widely perceived as insufficient by a chorus of media critics and war veterans. NBC launched an internal investigation as Williams took a temporary leave of absence. By then, though, the damage to the anchor's credibility proved too extensive to keep his job. It serves him right for making up stuff and passing it off as news. You only do that crap with news satire. If your job is to report on the real news, then you do that instead of making stuff up. If your helicopter wasn't shot down, don't say it was otherwise your job could also be on the line.

BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: "Smart" televisions

I do want one, but not if they're going to be used in ways more befitting of the NSA. And if you have one, watch what you say in your living room. Samsung's smart TV could be listening. And sharing. Voice recognition technology in the South Korean company's Internet connected TVs can capture and transmit nearby conversations. The potential for TVs to eavesdrop is revealed in Samsung's smart TV privacy policy available on its website. Quoting from said policy, "please be aware that if your spoken works include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured." Despite this, some people accept this as a necessary evil because for the voice command feature to work, third party software translates speech into text and sends the command back to the TV. Users can give commands to the TV's built-in microphone such as "find me an action movie," which causes the TV to search as instructed. This is not the first time that smart TVs sparked privacy concerns. In 2013, a user revealed that LG Electronics smart TV was sending information about his viewing habits back to the company without consent and without encrypting data. LG has also experimented with displaying targeted ads on its smart TVs, which requires collecting and utilizing user data, such as their location, age, and gender. Seriously, people, if you don't want your TV doing that to you, don't turn the microphone on unless absolutely necessary. And if you're using other people's televisions to spy on their conversations, STOP IT. That includes you, NSA.

Point obtained at last minute

Daley Blind scored an injury time goal for Manchester United this morning to secure a dramatic 1-1 draw against West Ham - although Louis van Gaal might rue a missed chance to reclaim third place in the Barclays Premier League table. The Reds started the match knowing a victory would be enough to go above Southampton in the table again, but they trailed for most of the second half following Cheikhou Kouyate’s impressive opener at Upton Park. With time running out, after struggling against Sam Allardyce’s hard-working team, the visitors snatched a point from the jaws of defeat with Blind's timely strike. Luke Shaw's subsequent red card for a second bookable offence was only a slight blemish on a battling performance, as were the four other yellow cards that were shown. This isn't good enough. You can't get back to the top on just one point at a time. It's still better than LVG just being the next David Moyes, but come on. This season should be about rebuilding.

Just five posts away

from post number 1800.

To Oxford comma or not to Oxford comma?

I don't know about you losers, but I say yes to the serial comma, and this pic will tell you why:

Happy birthday, Hazel. (for those of you who don't know, she's my niece and she turned 2 today)

Interview to be released over the Atlantic

British cinema audiences will finally be able to see for themselves what all the fuss was about when The Interview, a comedy about two hapless US journalists’ attempts to assassinate the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is released on over 200 screens across the country today. Unlike in the US, where Sony initially pulled the film from distribution for fear of further retribution from the suspected North Korean hackers who called themselves the Guardians of Peace, the film will get a full cinema release in the UK. Despite Sony back-tracking on its decision to pull the film after the decision drew criticism from President Obama for caving into terrorist demands, the film was only given a very limited theatrical release in the US, shown in only around 500 cinemas instead of the planned 3,000. It was made available to purchase via on-demand services and has already been rented or downloaded 4.3m times and has taken $40m from digital sales and over $6m from cinema takings. Sony have now claimed it is the “No 1 online film of all time”, and with the The Interview costing $44m to make, all production costs have already been recouped. Eat on that, Guardians of Peace. Just like Charlie Hebdo last month, The Interview has come back bigger and stronger than before. And the British, even though they were among America's first enemies, will just add to Sony's profits. It's called the Streisand effect, people. Look it up.

So the FCC better let net neutrality be

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has confirmed he will put forward strong rules enforcing net neutrality this month. These protections, if approved, will try to ensure all traffic across the internet is treated equally, with no one able to build so-called "fast lanes" for rich websites. It is feared these expensive web toll roads could be used to squeeze out startups that would otherwise become the next Netflix, for example. The ISPs argue websites should pay towards the networking kit carrying their packets. Following two days of vague leaks from the regulator's staff, the chairman was today unambiguous: "I am proposing that the FCC use its Title II authority to implement and enforce open internet protections." These would represent "the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC", he continued, and act as "enforceable, bright-line rules [that] will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services." We already knew Wheeler was heading in this direction, and one thing is certain - he faces a huge fight, with big cable and Republicans on one side and internet freedom advocates and Democrats on the other. The public opinion fight has already been won, but the more private legal and political fight is about to start. Let's hope the rational side wins this one.

Not much to write about tonight so here's how to use certain memes correctly

BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Estate fights

Robin Williams' widow and his three children from previous marriages are currently engaged in a legal battle over everything from his clothing to his action figures, nearly six months after the actor and comic's death. Williams' third wife, Susan Schneider Williams, whom he married in 2011, filed court documents making her case in December, while his children – Zak, born to his first wife Valerie Velardi, and Zelda and Cody, born to second wife Marsha Garces Williams – submitted their papers in January. The New York Times reports that a number of items are at stake - including photographs, bicycles, fossils, toys, and his awards - and that the children would like to see the matter resolved "as quickly and efficiently as possible." The actor's will left his estate to his children in a trust, but it also called for the creation of provisions to benefit his wife, who has two teenage sons of her own. This included the couple's home in Tiburon, California and "the contents thereof." In her filing, Williams' wife alleged that within days of the actor's death, items were "unilaterally removed" from her home. Moreover, when she hired a lawyer, she found that home services like newspaper delivery were canceled. All of this, she claimed, has interfered with the grieving process. For their part, the children said they are "heartbroken" in their petition and underscored their feelings about Susan Williams by mentioning that she was married to the actor for "less than three years." In their opinion, the widow's filing "adds insult to terrible injury" and is a means to "prevent them from receiving what their father wanted them to receive." They allege that she "acted against [their father's] wishes by challenging the plans he so carefully made for his estate." The most hotly debated items are Williams' personal effects, including his awards – an Oscar for Good Will Hunting, six Golden Globes, two Emmys, and five Grammys. An updated version of Williams' trust said that the actor's clothing, jewelry, and photos taken prior to the actor and Susan's marriage, as well as his second home in Napa, California and its contents, should go to his children. You want to know how I see it? Susan Williams is being more than just a wicked stepmother - she is being a pig. She needs to realise that the will is supposed to benefit more than just one person. There could be one or both of Robin's ex-wives, or even some of his co-stars over the years, for instance Pam Dawber, named in the will. So please, Miss Schneider (or Williams depending on whether or not you're keeping his name), let Robin's children have their fair share of his stuff. It's only right.

Own goal helps Reds in continued improvement from last season

Manchester United saw off Leicester City 3-1 yesterday morning with all of the Reds' strikes at Old Trafford coming inside the first half through Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao, and an own goal by Wes Morgan. Louis van Gaal's side were less expansive after the break and Marcin Wasilewski pulled one back with 10 minutes remaining to raise hopes in the away end of another unbelievable comeback akin to the one that yielded a 5-3 victory at the King Power Stadium. However, there was never too much doubt about the outcome in United's favour, but there was one yellow card in the whole game.

The Three-Year-Old Bigot

The Bellend of the Month for January 2015 is not a person, but rather political correctness gone mad. It's happening in the UK, where children as young as three are being branded racists, homophobes, and bigots over playground taunts. Thousands of pupils are being reported for so-called hate crimes after using innocuous words such as ‘Chinese boy’, ‘Somalian’, or ‘gay’. Teachers also log insults like ‘doughnut’ and ‘fat bucket of KFC’. Even calling a pupil a ‘girl’ can be classified as abuse. Schools file the incidents for local education authorities. The details are also passed to Ofsted inspectors who are required to assess how teachers deal with bullying. Records of a child’s ‘prejudice-related’ behaviour can be passed to their next school, potentially casting a shadow over their secondary education. Alleged offences by more than 4,000 pupils were logged in just 13 council areas – meaning the national total may stretch into the tens of thousands. Civil liberties campaigners warned the practice could have serious consequences for any children labelled as bigots. Particularly worrying is the expansion of incident recording and reporting to ever-greater categories of prejudice, which seem limited only by the strange imagination of education officials. One primary school pupil calling another a girl suddenly becomes a sign of gender image prejudice, subjected to recording requirements more thorough than accompanying most burglaries. A reality check is urgently required. Schools should record such bullying, but they should record and share details of bullying by type, without identifying the children or young people involved. This helps tackle bullying in the most appropriate way and to develop assemblies or programmes about specific issues if required. Recording types and rates of bullying and prejudiced-based incidents is good practice for schools and is data that Ofsted is interested in. Identifying the pupils should be used for disciplinary purposes only.