http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ en-us paulbcarr@googlemail.com 2007-04-01T19:12:32+00:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/free_to_access/002333.php Hello there. And welcome to the last ever issue of The Friday Thing. No, seriously. We wish this was an ill-timed April Fool too, but it isn't. Or is it? No. It isn't. In recent weeks and months, we've undergone massive upheaval, including the launch of a new website, Fridaycities.com, and the setting up of an entire new company to run it. 2333@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Free To Access 2007-04-01T19:12:32+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/media/002330.php A couple of months ago, we wrote a fairly scathing piece about a new online service called Ask-a-man, a business based around the very flimsy idea that women could learn a lot about the men in their lives from other men... 2330@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Media 2007-03-16T17:24:34+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/politics/002329.php 'Come in and sit down, Mr Britain,' the doctor said sympathetically. 'What can I do for you today?' 'Well...' Mr Britain began and proceeded to list his ailments. It's true what they say, the doctor thought as he listened, getting old is a cruel and miserable business... 2329@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Politics 2007-03-16T17:20:09+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/culture_and_society/002328.php It's been a tough week for Erwin Arnada, editor-in-chief of the Indonesian imprint of Playboy. The magazine went on sale in the predominantly Muslim country last April, where it immediately began to rub people up the wrong way. And not in a good way... 2328@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Culture and Society 2007-03-16T17:17:40+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/culture_and_society/002327.php Alistair Campbell once criticised the media for being relentlessly cynical about the government. This was an amazing bit of double-think by Campbell, who came up with the 'dodgy dossier', but on a more general level it's often true, with the media putting a negative spin on *anything* the government does... 2327@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Culture and Society 2007-03-16T17:16:02+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/culture_and_society/002326.php Cocaine really does bring out the worst in people. Not only when they've sucked it into their bloodshot heads and turned into ranting egotists, but also when they're trying to sell it to other fools. A couple of stories this week featured people who have so very little brain, they make Winnie the Pooh look like Marvin the Paranoid Android... 2326@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Culture and Society 2007-03-16T17:13:47+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/politics/002325.php Again, on the big issues it is necessary to quote Bill Hicks and for that we make no apology. Speaking about the first Gulf War in 1992, Hicks said, 'I was in the unenviable position of being for the war, but against the troops'. Yes, Iraq needed to be freed from Saddam. It's just that expecting Tony and George to make a decent fist of it was like asking Jonathan King to run a youth outreach programme. They're all the wrong men for the job... 2325@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Politics 2007-03-16T17:12:01+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/free_to_access/002324.php It's hard to know what to hate more about Comic Relief: the nauseating celebrity backslapping, or the kooky-and-krazy fundraising efforts by members of the public, which frequently make you want to claw your eyes out with embarrassment. Things like this. Is it just us, or can you actually feel time slowing down while you watch this? In fairness, there are far worse examples of charity nonsense, but this little clip epitomises the enforced fun occurring at workplaces up and down the country in the name of Comic Relief: 'We all sang Club Tropicana and Brian videoed it! It was *completely mad!*' 2324@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Free To Access 2007-03-16T17:08:04+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/media/002323.php This week 'Blue Peter' was in trouble when it was revealed that a phone-in quiz had been fixed, leading to a ludicrous amount of media attention and apologetic grovelling by the BBC... As is well-known, Petra the 'Blue Peter' dog died after just one appearance and was quietly replaced with another puppy. So what other lies has 'Blue Peter' told us over the years?... 2323@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Media 2007-03-16T17:02:50+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/culture_and_society/002322.php It was announced this week that filming of the new Indiana Jones movie will start in June. In preparation, 64 year-old Harrison Ford is spending three hours a day in the gym and eating a high protein diet. The poor bastard... 2322@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Culture and Society 2007-03-02T18:12:19+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/politics/002321.php Yesterday a group of well-meaning folk set off on a 400-kilometre walk to mark the 200th anniversary of Britain’s abolition of the Slave Trade Act and to call for former slave-trading nations to apologise for the brutal, inhumane actions of their ancestors. They’re walking from Hull... 2321@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Politics 2007-03-02T17:59:51+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/free_to_access/002320.php Dis week dere bin some crucial choble brewin becos o some television hadvert. Bobo all brindlin and bawlin like a bunch o battybwoy. Cho. Me not even hear di cry o bungo! Gwaan go maas. Seen. We thought about starting this sensitive piece about chewing gum’s latest race row like that. But then we thought better of it. Seen. So. You may have seen the adverts which, after prompting 91 complaints from piqued members of the public, are this week being ‘investigated’ by the ASA. Adverts which feature people - both black and white - putting on heavy Jamaican accents and talking about a chewing gum called Trident. If you haven’t seen them, you can see them here. They’re rubbish 2320@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Free To Access 2007-03-02T17:58:45+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/politics/002319.php ...As Gordon Brown inches closer to Downing Street, he’s started coming up with his ‘own’ policy ideas, many of which are worryingly similar to the quick-fix, media-led initiatives associated with Blair. Brown’s latest idea is to get new immigrants to do voluntary work in the community, something that has no obvious benefit to anyone... 2319@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Politics 2007-03-02T17:48:28+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/politics/002318.php Politicians love a good photo-opportunity, but it’s getting out hand, frankly. Last week Tony Blair arranged a ‘gun summit’ in Manchester, which was basically a thinly-veiled photo opportunity. Meanwhile David Cameron popped up in Manchester too, on some spurious ‘fact finding mission’ that also happened to be a photo opportunity... 2318@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Politics 2007-03-02T17:41:48+00:00 http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/culture_and_society/002316.php This week plans were floated for statues and monuments to be erected by the main roads into London to celebrate life in our great capital city. It’s been suggested that the monuments could be modelled on the Angel of the North... As yet no decision has been made about what form the ‘Angels of the South’ should take, so TFT offers some suggestions... 2316@http://www.bringingnothing.com/tft/ Culture and Society 2007-03-02T17:33:03+00:00