The Making of Coldplay's 'Christmas Lights' Video

It's great to see a British band releasing a festive Christmas song :-)

Coldplay are by far my favourite band! I can't wait to download this single on Wednesday.

Friends of Irony

This was sent to me by one of my good friends and made me laugh...

Live, Laugh, Love

The jury's still out on the Internet

In a lecture published on Friday 19th November, Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, raised serious concerns about the use of the internet. Recent cases have discovered that jurors have used the internet to investigate the cases they are sitting on, or to discuss the case on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Lord Judge has stated that the jury system may not survive if it continues to be undermined in this way. He goes on to say that the internet could 'kill the jury system.'

In particular, Lord Judge singles out Google and Twitter for particular attention, stating that they are threatening the fairness of our judicial system. His main concern is that of jurors using the internet to research cases on which they are attending. These investigations may reveal information that will then prejudice their verdict.

The jury system works by the fundamental tenet that the outcome of a trial is based solely on the evidence given within the court room. No other evidence is permissible. This ensures that all the jurors have equal access to exactly the same evidence as each other. If a juror reveals the defendants previous convictions for example, this will almost certainly prejudice their objectivity, and hence the fairness of the trial. By ensuring that the only permissible evidence is that which is revealed in the court, it also allows the defendant to challenge it under oath, and give their own version of events.

As an example of the sort of behaviour he was referring to, Lord Judge referred to a case earlier this year where a female juror was hauled before the judge for sending tweets about the case using her mobile phone. The exchange of tweets was picked up by someone else outside of the conversation, and who alerted Manchester Crown Court.

"We cannot stop people tweeting, but if jurors look at such material, the risks to the fairness of the trial will be very serious, and ultimately the openness of the trial process on which we all rely, would be damaged." BBC News

While I don't think anyone would disagree with the sentiments of what Lord Judge is saying, I don't think it is fair to place the blame on the internet. While the internet may make it easier to investigate a case, or to discuss a case to wider audience with the use of social networking sites, this is still down to the fact that people are at fault. A juror who is keen to investigate a case can do so without the use of the internet. A juror who wishes to discuss the case can do so without social networking sites.

There should be no differentiation between a juror abusing their responsibilities either in real life or online. The internet only serves to make it easier to do so.

With the growing use of technology and smart devices, the rules and responsibilities of a juror need to be updated to include them. The jury process or the judges themselves need to make it absolutely clear that the use of such technologies and devices is a very serious criminal offence that could in fact find the juror themselves in the dock.

What is needed is clearer guidance on the issue. It seems that technology has far outpaced the guidelines that are currently in use, and this needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Our Q&A session

We thought it would be an interesting idea to do a Q&A blog, where Vicky and I answer questions about ourselves. We thought of our own questions. If any of our readers out there want to submit their own question(s) then please do so. Feel free to submit your own questions using the comments at the bottom of this blog.

Right, here we go then............

If you could take one artist's albums to a desert island to keep you sane, who would it be?

Vicky: The artist is easy, but the album choice is tough. I would have to say Coldplay and Parachutes. Their music always chills me out and I saw them at Wembley last year and they were amazing! The best gig I have been to by miles!

Dom: I would suggest Joe's Garage by Frank Zappa. In its day, it pushed many boundaries, including musicianship, song writing and vulgarity! Frank Zappa was perhaps one of the most gifted musicians of his generation. His music was notoriously difficult to play, and anyone who made it into his band could pretty much play anywhere from that point onwards.

His music spans everything, from jazz, to reggae, to rock, to orchestral and so on.

He was also a great satirist, and would often attack politicians, political correctness and anything else he thought deserved his attention.

I saw him perform his last ever UK tour (he died of prostate cancer in December 1993 aged 52), and have to rank it amongst one of the best gigs I have ever been to. Utterly fantastic!

If you were stuck on a desert island, which 3 famous people would you want to be with you, and why?

Vicky:

1. Jamie Oliver - As he is an amazing chef and I always use and adapt his recipes.

2. Chris Martin - He would keep me entertained by singing around the camp fire.

3. Russel Howard - My favourite comedian, who is also a fellow marathon runner, so we could train together (as I hate training on my own!)

Dom:

1. Stephen Fry - You'd never be short of an intelligent conversation with him around.

2. Ray Mears - He could build all the shelters and catch and cook all the food (his TV show is excellent).

3. Lee Evans - He'd make me laugh and make the time pass that bit faster.

What 3 things would you grab from your house if it caught fire?

Vicky:

1. My handbag which always contains my car keys (as I love my car and it would provide a temporary sleeping space!) My purse, painkillers, house keys, fruit tea bags, lip gloss, mirror, chewing gum, a pen, body spray.

2. My laptop - This has copies of all of my photos, music and letters from my Gran.

If the fire was at night...

3. My glasses so I can see where I'm going (in daytime I wear contact lenses).

If the fire was in the daytime...

3. My Blackberry- only because I am rubbish at remembering phone numbers and would want to call my Mum - and she lives in Kent so it would take 3 hours to get there! But this is at the bottom of my list. If the fire was at night I would do without it as I would prefer to see! So I would sleep in the car and drive to my mums the next day.

Dom:

1. My bikes - They give me so much joy that I would be lost without them. To me, they are more than bikes, and are personal items. Cycling is a big part of my life, and hence the importance of my bikes to me.

2. Pictures of my daughters. I have some framed school pictures on the walls and around the house that cannot be replaced. I would be gutted if these were ever destroyed.

3. My youngest daughter's teddy bear called Princess. This means the world to her, she takes her everywhere. So while it may not be an item that belongs to me, I know how much it means to her. She would be utterly distraught if anything happened to her bear.

3 moments in your life that have made you proud

Vicky:

1. Achieving my BA Journalism (Hons) degree - as I got a 2:1 which I worked very hard for.

2. When my little sister got straight A* grades in her GCSEs and was in the local paper.

3. When my little brother first got picked to play for the Great Britain Korfball team (I think this was aged 10 - then every year after that).

Dom:

1. Getting my BSc (Hons) degree in Computer Studies. I worked my balls off for that and feel very proud of my efforts.

2. Being a Dad. My daughters make me proud every day, and with (almost) everything they do. I love being a Dad!!

3. Completing my first 200km bike ride. I had ridden many 100km events prior to this, but 200km is the standard distance in long distance cycling, and is the first step towards riding the longer events (I've now ridden 300km and 400km events).

We hope you've enjoyed these questions and answers. They hopefully give you a little bit of an insight into us. We'll do more of these in the future.