Miscellaneous stuff in the news

Logging of phonecalls and text messages now law in the UK, with the information available to quite a range of public bodies. Web pages accessed have been recorded in the same way for years (one reason I'm twitchy about comms that link to borderline material). It's to stop the Terrorists and Paedophiles, don't you know -- the criticism-shielding magic words of today, just like Communists, Anarchists, Jacobins and so on in previous years.

This sucks, but it's the sort of thing that comes in by default -- it can be done, so governments do it, unless they run into a shitstorm of protest as in 1844. Which is why the spokesman's claim of "(To say) that all of a sudden anyone and everyone's information is available, that all these authorities somehow have the right to go fishing and snooping, simply isn't the case" isn't especially meaningful. You'd expect any safeguards to slowly dissipate with the usual mission creep until fishing and snooping are common -- in the way that, for example, police officers have used vehicle registration data to track down ex-spouses and so on (as I recall).

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The rhetoric against Iran seems to be ramping up in the US. Is anyone really supposed to take the details of these motions seriously? It's the same create-a-war-buzz playbook used for Iraq, presumably on the assumption that they won't get called on it. Because the war with Iraq was such a resounding success, there's no way a war with Iran could not be totally successful in creating a stable Middle East, right? I hope Gordon Brown has more sense than to get us involved in this potential new fuck-up, but I don't have too much confidence on that score.

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Something lighter: a survey shows that chocolate can be good for you. This is the best health survey EVER.

Fandom odds and sods

Harry is the new Wizard of the Month at JKR's site, with a little bit of new/confirmed information:

Harry Potter (1980 - ) The Boy Who Lived, only known survivor of the Avada Kedavra curse and conqueror of Lord Voldemort, also known as Tom Riddle. Harry Potter joined the reshuffled Auror Department under Kingsley Shacklebolt at age 17, rising to become Head of said department in 2007.

A few points there:

1. Is it just me, or does that sound rather like Kingsley ended up as only Head of the Auror Department initially, rather than converting the position of interim Minister into a permanent one as said before? Eh, I suppose you can read it either way.
2. Auror Department? In the books it was the Auror Office. Let's say they changed the name during the reshuffle, then?
3. Yes, Harry joining the Aurors at 17 and becoming boss by 27 is a bit young on both counts, but it does make sense, on the whole. After the events of DH, the Ministry in general and the Aurors in particular would have been hopelessly compromised. Presumably Kingsley would have to institute a thorough clearout, in which case suitable staff would be hard to find. Insisting on five N.E.W.T.s would seem a bit moot for someone with practical experience of fighting Dark Lords since the age of 11.

Then again, you imagine a job interview for any of the Trio would basically go:

"Hi, I understand you have a position available ..."
"When can you start? How many Galleons a week would you like? And please can I have your autograph?!!!111"

Presumably the next few Wizards of the Month will be the other major players in the series. I think we can expect Ron, Hermione, Snape, Remus, Tonks -- probably some of the major villains as well, such as Voldemort, Bellatrix, and Grindelwald. After all, nasty types have appeared before.

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A Measure of Danger -- i.e. my cobbled-together femgenficathon 2007 story -- is now posted on snorkfics for completeness.

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The conclusion of Revenge of the Slitheen in the new Sarah Jane Adventures was fun! It successfully managed to set up alien baddies who were simultaneously high-tech and incompetent, and explained the Doctor for the benefit of Clyde (and any viewers who hadn't previously seen Doctor Who). There were mentions of UNIT (nice to see that Torchwood aren't doing all the alien-fighting), and even a hint of a possible appearance by the Doctor, although I'd imagine it would be handled the same way as the Captain Jack crossover at the end of Torchwood.

The kids acted well again (whisper it, but possibly better than the HP cast) and there were indeed a few nice character moments with Sarah Jane and Luke. Clyde is indeed the practical one ("I don't care if it's only twelve, it's trying to kill us!" or words to that effect), and Maria's mum is an amusingly self-centred character.

The show could get a bit silly over the next four serials if all the alien invasions etc just happen to be taking place near where Sarah Jane & Co live -- unless of course they hang a lampshade on it as with the Cardiff Nexus or whatever -- but so far, it looks promising.