The gravestone of Ian Curtis, deceased singer of Joy Division, has been stolen from a cemetery in Cheshire, England. The gravestone bore an inscription of Curtis’ most famous song lyrc, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” the title of the one song that can legitimately be described as a “hit” from his highly influential late 70’s band.

Curtis, whose life has been documented in the acclaimed films “24 Hour Party People“, directed by Michael Winterbottom, and “Control“, directed by Anton Corbijn, tragically hung himself in the kitchen of his home on May 18, 1980, at the age of 23. His band, Joy Division, subsequently reformed as New Order and went on to be one of the most popular British post-punk/new wave bands of the 1980’s and beyond. Joy Division has retained a loyal following since the singers’ death however, drawing in later generations and even fans who weren’t born yet during their short run from 1977-1980, with their influential, often dark, foreboding sound. After the jump you can check out a video of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”.

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Sir Paul McCartney is said to be “horrified” that his spanking new hybrid car was flown 7,000 miles from Japan to the United Kingdom. The aging British rocker received the car, the $170,000 Lexus LS600H hybrid, as a gift for promotional work he had done for Lexus, but was mystified when the automobile was loaded onto a Korean Air flight and flown to Britain rather than arriving via ship as originally planned.

Transporting the car via jet created a carbon footprint nearly 100 times bigger than if the car had been sent by sea. Carbon offsetting firm CO2Balance.com estimated thatsending the enormous car on the plane created a carbon footprint of 38,050 kg as opposed to a 397 kg footprint for the three week boat journey.

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UK Residents waste $20 Billion worth of food every year, The Guardian reports. A new British Government study on waste has found that Britons are simply throwing away $20 Billion worth of food that could have been eaten. If you’ve sampled certain British cuisine, this might not come as much of a surprise, but the negative effect this enormous amount of waste has on the environment is no joke.

Approximately $12 Billion of the total comes from food that is bought but never touched. Britons simply toss out 13 million unopened yogurt containers, 5,500 untouched chickens and 440,000 un-nuked TV Dinners each year. The rest of the $20 Billion comes from excess food which is prepared to eat but never consumed because the amount was misjudged and the extra is never eaten as leftovers.

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In the UK, young girls can be a bit quieter in the morning these days - well if they want the morning after pill. Schoolgirls now have cards at their disposal that they can quietly flash  to pharmacists to signal that they would like the pill, instead of having to tell them:

Supporters of the scheme say it will cut unplanned pregnancies by helping teenagers avoid a potentially “daunting” conversation.But the plan was greeted with dismay by family campaigners who say it will encourage irresponsible attitudes to sex.Hundreds of request cards - which have a picture of a young couple kissing on the front - have been distributed in schools and youth clubs.The initiative, devised by the Dorset Primary Care Trust, is believed to be the first of its kind in Britain. It is being tested in the seaside resort of Weymouth.The town has an above average rate of teenage pregnancies, and youth workers believe one reason for this is that teenagers are too ashamed to ask for the morning after pill. [thisislondon.co.uk]

For me this raises questions of teens being old enough to have sex, but not old enough to deal with the after effects of it but also of young girls who find themselves in situations where they don’t have control of what happens and may be too ashamed to deal with it. Both seems valid arguments for and against this new modesty system.