Wakey wakey!

Just in case anyone is still in doubt, we really do have it on very good authority that alcohol and cigarettes kill more people than anything illegal you can name. The latest professional to issue the reminder was Dr Andrew Hartle, a Consultant Anaesthetist at Imperial College, on the Today Programme this morning, while discussing Michael Jackson's unfortunate and probably fatal addiction to the anaesthetic Propofol. Having moved on from the tragic singer to addictions generally, Evan Davies pressed the doctor for drugs people "should avoid". He sounded uncertain as he said it, but was clearly even less sure of himself - even disappointed - when he heard Hartle's answer.

"More people are harmed by alcohol and nicotine than all the other drugs," said the doc quietly. The glimmerings of a laugh you could hear in his voice were presumably the result of having to state the blindingly obvious. Parents and teachers take note: yes, that is alcohol and nicotine, and coincidentally, they do both bring in billions to the Treasury.

Weapon of Maths Destruction

Well done to the BBC Radio 4 programme More or Less which this week demolished a racist and scary video on Youtube, just with the power of maths. Yes, that's right children: you too can work out that the Muslim population of Belgium isn't 25% because it's actually around 6%, purely by using numbers, along with what we call 'thinking'.

The video, reportedly posted by a US Christian group, seeks to frighten us all to bejesus - literally - with what it calls the 'Islamicisation of Europe', ie those dark foreigners are breeding so uncontrollably that soon there'll be no nice white, blonde, God - as opposed to Allah-fearing - people left.

And you might have believed it, for about a minute, if not for those helpful maths geeks at More or Less - and another flaw they calmly and charmingly pointed out. None of the EU countries record the religion of newborns so no-one knows how many of them are Muslims. Oh, and trends measured over the last 100 years show that immigrant groups largely conform over time to the birth patterns of their host nations. In other words, it's all bollocks. Statistical bollocks, as well as ideological. Thank you, BBC: when the airwaves are full of ranting talk shows and 'home-made' news reports, we are going to miss you so much.

Never mind the war on terror: the real enemy of this government is dissent

The government's plan to reduce the influx of undesirables into the UK sounded promising when it was announced. 'New criteria' are to be used to screen out people who don't share British values. Great, we thought. At last they're going to start booting out the 'honour' killers, thieves, terrorists and rapists. After all, we don't need them coming in; we have our own. Uh, no, actually: the only criterion mentioned would be if immigrants show they're unpatriotic by demonstrating against wars, for example those in Iraq or Afghanistan. As Chris Huhne of the Lib Dems rightly said, since when has demonstrating against war been proof of not loving your country? From there it is but a short, almost imperceptible step to the charge of 'challenging government authority', and there are quite a few countries that put people in prison for that. You can get a list of them from Amnesty International.