Some days the net is quite humdrum, while others you just seem to come across one bizarre story after another. Within the space of a lunch hour this afternoon I’d already come across three without even trying:

First, from the New Zealand Herald: A woman was set on fire during a caesarean delivery at Waitakere Hospital’s maternity unit at the weekend. The fire, possibly caused by a flammable swabbing solution, left the woman, who was giving birth, with burns to the lower part of her body … While the cause is not known, investigators believe one possibility is that an alcohol-based swabbing solution, used to sterilise parts of the body for surgery, may have been accidentally ignited … Caroline Mackersey, general manager of communications for the Waitemata District Health Board, said … the baby was still in the uterus when the fire started.

Then, from Ananova: Scientists who blasted drugged mice with loud dance music in an experiment have received an official reprimand. Seven mice died after being forced to listen to The Prodigy…

And finally a story featured on (and linked from) the front page of the US Congress site. The most telling quote is: ‘If ratified by the U.S. Senate, CEDAW’s panel of U.N. thugs would have the ability to scrutinize U.S. laws, and lobby for every radical liberal pipedream you can imagine.’

So, what is is these ‘thugs’ from the United Nations would be monitoring? Well, it’s the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (’CEDAW’). The main worry seems to be that it could mean, for some reason, the end of Mothers Day and the fact that (shock, horror) the government may establish a ‘global village’ daycare scheme. This would, I presume, allow women the freedom to go out and work if they wanted.

I am truly at a loss to understand why anyone could object to such a law, but there it is, featured on the front page of the Congress web site - another example of how the US will use the UN as a valid argument to further its own goals when the mood takes it, yet oppose some of its more beneficial goals when it may stop it doing what it wants.

This Bill, which will give women equal rights - something used as a partial argument for the US-led war in Afghanistan - is described as a ‘UN Treaty Jeopardizing National Sovereignty’.

Hmmm

I guess it’s easy to criticise America and I’m sure the UK is no better in many respects. I guess hypocrisy such as this (and my hypocrisy for criticising America without bothering to find out if the UK does much the same) is human nature. That aside, though, the language used here borders on kneejerk.

It seems Chelmsford was emptying out after its weekend of excesses this morning. The station was full of exhausted-looking teens and twenties sitting on their rucksacks, waiting for cheap-rate fares to kick in. A lone policeman was doing the regular V-festival prowl, looking menacing, but slightly lonely and out of place among the crowd.

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