A weekly roundup of talking points, sans effort

Thought for the week

“We will not allow a Ryanair employee to defame our safety on national television just three weeks after he confirmed in writing to Ryanair that he had no concerns with safety and no reason to make any confidential safety report to either the IAA (Irish Aviation Authority) or Ryanair.” A statement from Ryanair following Monday evening’s Dispatches programme on Channel 4, in which it safety concerns at the market-leading low-cost airline were raised. A pilot who appeared in the documentary has been dismissed, and legal action is expected.

Weekly High

Whilst the lower leagues have already started battling it out for promotion, this weekend marks the long-awaited return of the English Premier League to our screens. To mark the occasion, U.S. broadcaster NBC put together this short film about a fictional American Football manager moving to Britain to coach Tottenham Hotspur. It’s really rather funny.

Weekly low

LG marked the unveiling of its new G2 smartphone by launching helium balloons above the South Korean capital city Seoul, with a voucher for a free phone inside each one. Rather than waiting for the floating gifts to land, though, people took to the streets with BB guns, knives, and other objects to catch themselves some free kit, leaving 20 injured. This video is in Korean, but even so gets the point across perfectly. World War G indeed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7EHPcbRhq0
 

Things that might happen in the next week…

A West Sussex fracking site has halted work to access the shale gas hidden underground in anticipation of a huge number of protesters expected to descend on the facility this weekend. Prospective university students across the country will compete in the clearing process. And Windows mobile users may not be able to use their YouTube app after the video sites parent company, Google, disabled the version dedicated to Microsoft’s platform.

Just in case you missed it…

There are now 10million active Twitter users in the UK alone, with the figure expected to reach 17million by 2017. Read the full story here.
If there is a success story, blunder, or news event you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!
” Founder of Email service provider Lavabit, Ladar Levison, discussing his decision to close the company rather than spy on customers for the U.S. government in a corporate blog.