New news week

Reading through the various news threads over the weekend, the following stories stuck in my mind; probably says more about me than what's going on in the world.

New 50p coin to "celebrate" Brexit - I see that the Government are to produce a new Fifty pence coin to mark our exit from the EU, why? Anyway, there was a poll to ask people what should be written on the coin, I voted for "20p" which is exactly what it'll be worth when we get a no-deal Brexit.

Irish blasphemy referendum result - Good news from across the Irish sea, the result of the recent referendum on Ireland's archaic blasphemy laws is that the people there have decided to remove them! Next job is to get the Catholic church out of your schools (not that we in the UK can shout too loudly about that either).

Israel and Turkey removing evolution from schools - Talking about schools and religious interference in them, Israel and Turkey have all but removed the subject of evolution from their public schools. This has been entirely driven by religious fanatics of course, Islamic and Jewish, two sides of the same coin ending up at exactly the same place, ignorance and child abuse.

Archaeopteryx not a fake after all - In 1985 Fred Hoyle the renowned astronomer took some photographs of the famous Archaeopteryx fossil at the Natural History Museum. His conclusion was that the feathers so clearly visible on one side of the specimen were probably fake and added later. Much controversy ensued as Hoyle was pretty well known and ever since this story has become a pillar in anti-evolutionary circles (like the ones depriving school kids in the Middle East of a decent education) Thanks to advances in laser and imaging technology, the specimen has been scanned with unprecedented accuracy and (unsurprisingly) the two main parts of the fossil match exactly (at the microscopic and chemical level), the feathers are real, Hoyle was wrong.

New Brazilian President - There's a new leader in Brazil, right wing Christian fundamentalist Jair Bolsonaro is being dubbed the "Tropical Trump", he promises to run the country "according to the Bible", get ready for genocide, misogyny, human sacrifice, pillage, homophobia, slavery, rape, more rape and scapegoating then..