Destroy All Onions!

I’m not a big reader of newspapers, but I always like to have one to read when I’m flying. Especially if it’s free. So I read yesterday’s Times.

I really enjoyed it. Apart from all the news, highlights were the following:

• The dalek found in a pond in Hampshire. Yes really. There is a picture of it emerging from of the water, all covered in green slime. It’s also covered at the Doctor Who News page, but with a different picture, which isn’t nearly so sinister.
• An update on Darfur. It’s still in complete chaos, with the death toll now up to 300,000 people (estimated by the U.N.), people still dying at the hands of the government-backed militia groups, and even more refugees. Apparently the International Criminal Court was to decide yesterday on whether the Sudanese president would face war crime charges. It’s a disgrace that this situation is still no better after so long.
• A comedy suggestion from some bishops in Italy that people should give up text messages for Lent.
• A report on a new tomb found in Egypt. I always like to hear about new discoveries in Egypt.
• A really interesting article about a group of monks in Greece who are under siege because they have turned their back on the Orthodox church, and it’s not happy. The monks believe that by improving relations with the Roman Catholic church, the Patriarch of the Orthodox church has become ecumenical, which they cannot accept. The monastery has actually been attacked by other monks, hospitalizing six of them, and they now have permanent guards posted, and have to smuggle in food by sea or through the woods. I especially liked that the monks use the old Julian calendar, since the Gregorian calendar was introduced by a pope (Gregory XIII). As the article says, it sounds like something out of a Dan Brown novel!
• And finally, the financial results of the Drax group were discussed. Since Hugo Drax was the villain of the James Bond film “Moonraker”, this just amused me.