Holidaying in Maine a few years ago, I popped into a Smith and Wesson Outlet shop, just for fun. I found myself in the company of a friendly, but definitely anxious customer who, noting my reticence, insisted I take a close look at the display cases. He needed a handgun and he needed it now. ‘Does this state have a cooling off period?’ he asked. He wouldn’t be buying if it did.

The ironic soundtrack included Canadian Bruce Cockburn’s If I had a rocket launcher (ironic because this US Top 40 Hit, was written against US backed actions in Central America). Sadly unavailable in the UK, it’s performed in maudlin country style; ‘If I had a rocket launcher… I’d make somebody pay / If I had a rocket launcher… I would retaliate / If I had a rocket launcher… I would not hesitate / If I had a rocket launcher… some son of a bitch would die’. I don’t imagine it sounded anti-American when played loud in an attempt to drive Manuel Noriega out of the Vatican Embassy in Panama City in 1989. A Cockburn fan site reports it failed because the ambassador complained. Here it sounded like an anthem for some weird militia cult.

Anyway. All this is to illustrate that the idea that gun control is an obvious step toward a safer, more peaceful world is far from universal. Nevertheless, that there are 639 million small arms and light weapons in the world today, with a further eight million more produced each year worries me. So you’ll see my face here, as part of the joint Amnesty International, IANSA, Oxfam campaign to control arms. And I suggest you add your face (if you live amongst nutters use a silhouette, like the one above).

You’ll be agreeing that guns fuel violent conflict, state repression, crime, and domestic abuse and that unless governments act to stop the spread of arms, more lives will be lost, more human rights violations will take place and more people will be denied the chance to escape poverty. You’ll be calling for an international treaty to help stop weapons falling into the hands of indiscriminate killers and human rights abusers by creating legally binding arms controls and ensuring that all governments control arms to the same basic international standards.

Executing Children……Asylum & democracy: walking the walk

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I started writing this under the title, ‘An anthropomorphism too far’ and was going to say that the Animals in War Memorial is silly because the beasts won’t get it. But I’ve come round to it. I don’t think this does project human values onto other animals; they’re in war not at war and that makes all the difference. It’s good to remember that other animals also suffer and that all suffering is bad. The memorial extends and improves humanity.

Other animals’ contributions are made for different reasons, of course. Take Simon, who won the Dickin medal for his role in the Yangtse Incident. Twenty-two seamen were killed when his ship came under fire. A badly wounded Simon was treated almost as an equal alongside his 31 wounded shipmates and recovered quickly. His ship was to be stranded for ten weeks and he impressed all by killing a great many rats which would otherwise have attacked the wounded and the ship’s food stores. He raised morale by visiting and comforting the injured. But on arrival in the UK, he was quarantined. It’s not unusual for isolated cats to exhibit symptoms of depression and Simon soon fell ill and died. His fate scandalised his surviving human shipmates, many of whom were left depressed and upset by the visits they’d made to him.

Simon almost certainly understood his ship was under attack, that his captain owner and many other shipmates were dead or injured and responded positively when they treated him as one of crew. But he didn’t understand that this was the Chinese Civil War, his medal for bravery or, more importantly for him, the quarantine laws. In war he had a sense of belonging, was able to follow his instincts and was able to identify threats to his community and deal with them, making a unique and vital contribution. Denied all that in quarantine, he died. I think that’s worth meditating on.

On animal fashion, morality and suffering……Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals by John Gray

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There’s no such thing as a merger; there are only take-overs. And so it is with Top of the Pops, which is not just moving to BBC2 Sundays, but merging with Top of the Pops 2. Chances are TOTP will link up somehow with the fading Radio 1 Chartshow and so remain the pop music show of record, a role its had for forty years. Nevertheless, this marks a major cultural shift. TOTP2 is a nostalgia show with a very different audience. The idea of a ‘show for music lovers of every generation’, sounds flawed to me. I’m not sure that I want to share a programme with Busted and McFly fans (guess that’s mutual). So TOTP2 is the new Top of the Pops proper, but with added chart show.

Against the odds that might just work. I’m sure there are plenty of us out there who are old enough to appreciate the music of prior decades, but are still excited by new music and enjoy following music charts and trends. With McFly (jointly the hottest teen act going) charting at number five (v.poor) at a time when it’s never been easier to get to number one, it seems the kids aren’t bothered by chart positions anyway. (But I bet record companies are.)

Integrity of Top of the Pops…..McFly to inherit fans as Busted split……Singles chart just like good old days

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A US judge has caused grave offence by writing his judgement as a George Harrison pastiche, including the classic lines ‘If this case I were to keep / Defendant would gently weep’. I have a very low musical tolerance level (although I do have a soft spot for Dennis Potter and am almost into Blackpool at the moment) so I’m with the plaintiffs on this one, even if that sounds mean.

Imagine he’d been setting some kind of precedent in a matter of great political significance; we’d all have to earnestly quote him, while arguing over the subtlety of his work. It’s hard enough discussing stuff with some people as it is, without having to put up with their singing too. No, no, no.