I didn’t think turkeys were flightless (wild, they’re not), so why the plane? Images of Chicken Run came to mind…

Bad bit of journalese there, I think. Not a great idea to associate plasticine poultry with a plane crash, however unintentionally.

Update: The BBC has updated the title to “Jet crashes…” – much clearer.

The BBC homepage at 2.15 this afternoon…

It’s just coming to the end of the Easter vacation. Term restarts on Monday; I’m heading up to Durham on Sunday. My Finals start in just under three weeks’ time. I have three essays due by the end of next week, all in various degrees of completion (one on Proust is slowly killing me). Yes, I should be essay-writing now, yet for some reason I’m blogging. Go me. During this vacation, my procastinatory (definitely a word) exercises have reached heights previously unimaginable.

Anyway, that’s all going on. I’m fairly confident about most of my Finals – my marks so far for my French modules are fairly good and I’m well on track for a 2:1. Arabic, though, worries me, although I’ve pretty much come to the point where nothing I can do is going to change it. Que sera, sera, I think.

And for the last couple of months I’ve been rather distracted, anyway, by something. Or someone. *grin*

More news eventually, promise…

When, where and how did we get to a place where, dare I say it, personal tragedies such as these are considered more important international news than hurricanes, the Middle East, Russia, cholera…?

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not belittling the tragedies that have befallen these three families in any way. I can’t begin to imagine the pain of losing a child. But I can’t help but feel that the ridiculously overhyped media is not doing the situation any favours…

Anyone else a little concerned that nuclear reactors and a country that can’t even run a railway network isn’t necessarily a good combination?

My thoughts are with everyone affected by the horrible events of this morning in London, and my heartfelt thanks goes to those working to help those affected.

I am glad to see that the G8 leaders will not let these base criminals interfere with their summit (video via Trey Jackson), and I hope sincerely that any outcome is not negatively affected.

Until now, London – and the UK in general – has been lucky. We had been left unscathed by the recent terrorist attacks on other major cities and countries. But now London has been forced into this macabre group in the most terrible way possible.

As in the US and Madrid, East Africa and Bali, and so many other countries around the world, these attacks were not aimed at powerful people. This was a cowardly attempt to grab headlines and make some sort of point by indiscriminately killing and maiming innocents. There is no religion on the planet that condones these actions.

As Hamish Macdonald, a journalist for Channel 4 News who witnessed the King’s Cross attack, wrote, “The newspaper headlines this morning brought us a rare good-news story, one which filled us all with expectation and hope. Tomorrow we will read of a tragic event.”

(Clicky for comprehensive ongoing BBC News coverage)