THE UK government may have the most pervasive surveillance laws in the Western world, allowing it unprecedented scope to watch citizens online (26 November, p 6). At the same time, it鈥檚 also in the grip of a puritanical fervour, trying to limit what British web users can see.
The Digital Economy Bill proposes that any site not approved by censors would be blocked in the UK, while health secretary Jeremy Hunt has called on social media giants to prevent teens sharing explicit photos.
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Foremost in the campaign to think of the children is MP Claire Perry. During the debate over the recent bill, she boasted that the automated internet filters she helped implement had made the UK 鈥渙ne of the most family-friendly places in the world to access the internet.鈥�
Readers will note that as well as blocking outreach websites such as Childline and sex education portals, these automated filters also decided to protect Brits from such deleterious material as, er, .
鈥淪potted by Kevin Lee: 鈥淲hat it required was all of us putting our heads together.鈥� Surgeon Oren Tepper describes how his team separated a pair of twins conjoined at the skull.鈥�
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WHO will save us from these modern day Mary Whitehouses and Anthony Comstocks attempting to clean up the web?
Step forward LUSH cosmetics, which is showing its support for internet freedom with the Error 404 bath bomb. Sales will raise money for campaigners fighting internet shutdown across the globe. So if you can鈥檛 wait for the next election, know you can fight the power from the warmth of your tub, and bask in the .
Feedback wonders what other bathroom goods might be co-opted for political campaigns. Free speech mouthwash? Rubber duckies to raise awareness of plastic in the oceans? Or perhaps a combined shampoo/conditioner supporting the Middle East peace process named 鈥淭wo State Solution鈥�?
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THE strange confection of food and politics that has gripped the UK post-Brexit continues to find its way onto our plate. The nation was thrown into spasms over threats to the supply of Marmite, and the Department for International Trade made bizarre pleas for an ambassador to market 鈥渋nnovative jams鈥� to continental Europe. What does it all mean?
We can only look to Chancellor Philip Hammond鈥檚 Autumn Budget speech, in which he expressed concern for Britain鈥檚 jams. Not fruity breakfast spreads in this case, but those citizens 鈥淛ust About Managing鈥�.
Sadly, the odd acronym was the only sweetener to be found among gloomy economic forecasts that promise the squeezed middle will hear its pips squeak before Brexit is over, as .
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PREVIOUSLY Feedback presided over concerns that a surplus of words for things scatological was fragmenting research papers on the topic, as there was no agreed definitive word for dung to search for (27 August).
Linda Losito writes to say that as a biology teacher, this caused serious problems for foreign students doing exams. 鈥淓veryday terms such as cowpat were not in their vocabulary, sometimes preventing them from answering an entire exam question.鈥�
Consequently, Linda created a list entitled They say the English have 50 different words for poo. She tells us this dictionary of doody has now grown to include 59 words, 鈥渇rom 鈥榖ig job鈥� to 鈥榳hoopsie鈥�, and is used as a resource by my English department鈥�.
That鈥檚 one pile of muck you can leave in the staff room without complaints from colleagues.
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ON A recent trip to South Africa, Brian King discovered an unlikely measurement for birthday cakes. Stopping at a supermarket to buy one, he was asked what size he wanted: beer box or half beer box?
鈥淎pparently the cardboard trays that hold 24 cans of beer were once used to bake cakes in,鈥� says Brian. 鈥淭he size description has remained, as everybody here knows exactly how big a box of beer is.鈥� Feedback wonders if you need at least 18 candles on the cake to buy one.
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THE publication of the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland has renewed appetites for nominative determinism.
Luke McGuinness writes in to say 鈥淚 had a chuckle when I saw that the president of the Western Australian Apiarists Society is none other than Ian Beeson.鈥�
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READER Avery Emery is still thinking about the charming news related by our colleagues that communities of tiny creatures make their homes in elephant footprints. 鈥淚 began to wonder if some enormous creature had made a similar footprint which became our world,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f so, one can only hope that he hasn鈥檛 got an offspring which is, literally, following in father鈥檚 footsteps!鈥�
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FINALLY, after discovering that those working in science are the most likely to want to leave a status update after they die (5 November), we鈥檝e been fielding readers鈥� suggestions. 鈥淗aving survived a 440 volt shock in the British Aircraft Corp鈥檚 Filton Wind Tunnel, while testing Concorde鈥�, says Roger Redman, 鈥淚 would like to announce my passing with 鈥楻esistance was 蹿耻迟颈濒别鈥�.鈥�