At least six people have been hurt by a tornado that hit a street in Kensal Rise in north west London today. This is bizarre and worrying — I don’t remember ever hearing about tornadoes in the UK before. This report in the Guardian Unlimited expresses the concern very succinctly:

Until recently tornados were extremely rare in Britain. But in the last 18 months a number have arrived, prompting warnings that such freak weather events are likely to increase in frequency because of global warming.

10 Downing Street is currently beta testing an online petition system that allows UK citizens to create petitions on any subject that they see fit.

For example, there is a petition to end unfair trade barriers against developing countries and abolish the CAP (Comon Agricultural Policy), which has so far received 394 signatures.

However, there is also a petition to replace the British National Anthem, “God Save the Queen” (a hymn of unknown origin dating from about 1744), with “Gold” by Spandau Ballet (which reached number 2 in the UK national pop music charts in 1983). This petition has received 215 signatures so far.