Website road.cc reports:

A Queen’s Counsel who is also a keen cyclist is fighting a frustrating battle to have the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Metropolitan Police take action against a driver who threatened to kill him, despite having video footage of the incident.

The CPS says “there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction”. This is the same CPS who are fucking up the life of Paul Chambers for making a joke on Twitter (Telegraph) and that may take action against a Conservative councillor (Guardian) for a more ill-advised ‘joke’ on Twitter, where he suggested a columnist should be stoned to death.

As Adam Banks wryly noted on Twitter, the first of these things is menacing, but the CPS seemingly doesn’t care, because it’s not on Twitter. (Given his Twitter-based criticism of the CPS, I wish Adam well after he’s arrested and thrown into a dungeon.) Still, with IamSpartacus rapidly trending alongside messages (i.e. CLEAR AND OBVIOUS JOKES) regarding bombings and destruction, the CPS will soon have its work cut out. Precedent suggests it will have to arrest everyone making such tweets, unless it finally admits Chambers (and even Tory boy Gareth Compton) ultimately didn’t do anything untoward.

So there we have it: the CPS are a bunch of fucking idiots, out-of-touch judges don’t seem to understand that people can tell jokes on the internet, and 27-year-old Paul Chambers is fucked. As various sources report, Judge Jacqueline Davies bafflingly claimed:

The words in the message speak for themselves and they were sent at a time when the security threat to this country was substantial

The original tweet she’s referring to, which has subsequently cost Chambers his job and got him a conviction and hefty (now heftier) fine:

Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!

Only a complete fucking idiot would have taken that seriously in context, and I reckon Heresy Corner is right in saying Chambers has essentially been prosecuted for having an English sense of humour. The ruling itself is depressing and worrying in equal measure. Anyone who doesn’t think this verdict has far-reaching consequences in a country whose laws are based on precedent is deluded. This might not be so much mere CPS incompetence as drawing a line and saying—in the UK at least—you can NOT say these kinds of things online.

Until such time that sanity prevails, you can donate to the Paul Chambers fund. Here’s hoping he has more luck if he takes the case to the European courts.

In the UK, student fees are about to shoot up, making it significantly harder for anyone to go to university unless they have rich parents. Yesterday, coachloads of students went to London to march and protest, in what, according to those who was there, was a largely peaceful affair, punctuated with the odd bit of stupidity and violence.

At the time, people wondered why all of the news outlets were focussing on the violence rather than, say, the issues, or the fact the vast majority of students were peacefully protesting. (Anyone remember that great photo from, I think, a G20 protest, where a guy about to chuck something through a window is surrounded by dozens of photo-journalists? Ah, here we go—one of many) Today, though, all becomes clear, as the BBC reports Prime Tory David Cameron has used the violence to cunningly distract from the reasons behind the protests.

I think we’ve also got to ask ourselves some questions. This level of violence was largely unexpected and what lessons can we learn for the future.

I imagine that could go one of two ways. It either gives the Tories and their Lib-Dem chums a chance to clamp down on protests, under the guise of public order and safety, or the lesson could be to essentially ensure some unrest in future protests. After all, that is all any news outlets are talking about this morning, rather than tuition fees rising to ‘up to’ £9,000 per year.

Being Contributing Editor, Games for Tap!, I have to keep an eye on all the new iOS games coming out. I’ve therefore got an AppShopper RSS feed that spits all new iOS games into Google Reader. This morning, I discovered uninspiring word game Letter Labyrinth. It looks OK, if a bit rough, and I was thinking “not another Pac-Man IP rip”.

Turns out it isn’t another Pac-Man IP rip, because the game is by Namco. And if the game’s description doesn’t get you thrilled and excited, well, you’re in agreement with me:

As only he can, PAC-MAN has gobbled up your old and tired iPhone anagram games to create Letter Labyrinth: a new, addictive puzzle game chock full of words, phrases, proverbs, and even calculations!

Translation: “We’ve gobbled up all the old and tired iPhone anagram games and crapped out an old and tired iPhone anagram game, STARRING PAC-MAN”.

Don’t all rush at once.

Bloomberg reports Apple has 95% of the tablet market. This is because the iPad is the only viable unit available, unless you’re crazy and/or deluded. Hopefully, this will change next year.

However, I’ll bet regardless of the situation in 2011, three things will happen:

1. Apple’s marketshare will fall. This is inevitable, because competitors will exist, and at least some will be ‘good enough’. I’ll be amazed if Apple ends 2011 with more than 75% of the market.
2. Apple’s profits will remains dramatically higher than everyone else in the industry, despite its lower marketshare. This is due to Apple making profitable kit, but also because the market itself will grow. Therefore, Apple will have a smaller slice of a much larger pie.
3. Every analyst earning megabucks writing buying advice and industry commentary will note the first of these points and utterly ignore everything in the second one. Apple’s falling share of the market will yet again be seen as proof that Apple is doomed.