Welsh non-dragon Suw Charman doesn’t write very often, but she’s interesting when she does and she fought my corner against ruthless streetcorner pushers Antoine and Jackie in the 2006 drug wars. Now she’s joined the other newcomers on my blogroll.
Read MoreFollowing this news, I’d just like to point out that the photograph of Ms Knightley accompanying this PooterGeek post should have been captioned “Keira—who ate all the pies?”
Read MoreThe Anonymous Economist sends me this fascinating article from the New York Times: LAST week, New York’s highest court voted 4-to-2 that a legislative ban on same-sex marriage did not violate the state Constitution. In doing so, it added to the patchwork of state rulings on the issue, including those of Indiana and Arizona (which […]
Read MoreApple Computer has won a major legal battle today when a High Court judge in London ruled that the company had not breached a trademark agreement made 15 years ago with the Beatles’ Apple Corps. … The 1991 Trade Mark Agreement gave Apple Corps – owned by Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the widows […]
Read MoreToday, 13Apr06, we—bloggers, academics, campaigners, writers, scientists, journalists, citizens—launch the Euston Manifesto. With this document we hope to publicly assert our progressive, democratic, egalitarian, internationalist principles in the face of recent attacks upon them from the Right and, to our dismay, the Left. Many of us are of the Left, but we come from across […]
Read MoreThere’s a fascinating rumble going on at Tim Worstall’s place about legal status of certain battlefield practices. Here’s the quote from a Telegraph article that Tim set it off with: Lt Col Glyn Harper, a professor at the New Zealand army’s Military Studies Institute, who co-authored the book, In the Face of the Enemy, said […]
Read MoreVia Instapundit I came upon this unfortunate opening to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram report on the release of Abdul Rahaman: KABUL, Afghanistan—An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence and he will be released soon, officials said. Let’s hope the […]
Read MoreDisplaying his usual deftness, cuddly old Boris takes on the question of religious dress in schools in today’s Telegraph. You could summarise the first part of his contribution thusly: “That Shabina Begum: even dressed like a pillar box you’d do her, wouldn’t you?” And, as usual, he has a point.
Read More“Well, Abdul, we were going to kill you because you changed sky-fairy in mid flight, The US and three Nato allies have expressed concern over reports that a Muslim convert to Christianity could face the death penalty in Afghanistan. Abdul Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and could be executed under Sharia law unless he […]
Read MoreIt takes nerve to claim in public you originally extruded the pseudohistorical baloney that was the meat in one of the worst-written bestsellers of all time, but if Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh win their case against Dan Brown it could be the beginning of a long haul. On the “3 for the price of […]
Read MoreHarry’s Place has a story from Islam Online claiming that Norway has brought in a law that punishes blasphemy by fine or imprisonment. There doesn’t seem to be any confirmation of this from any other source. This means we have reached the point at which we can read a report on an imaginary change in […]
Read MoreThe idea that there’s Someone Up There watching over us? Or even just that there’s Something that surrounds us and penetrates us, that binds the galaxy together? Sadly, it’s bollocks. But it’s nice to be able to say so in public.
Read MoreGEORGE GORRAWAY MP: Yes, m’lud. That is indeed myself, naked before one of the sons of the Rightful Ruler of that noble yet tragically violated Arab nation, attempting to excite his flaccid member by gently stroking its tip with my moustache whiskers, whilst simultaneously drowning two screaming Kurdish orphan children below the surface of the […]
Read MoreTen products routinely used in ways which expressly contradict their accompanying instructions or break English law: cotton wool buds—“Do not insert into the ear canal…” King-Size Rizla cigarette papers—did you know that the green Rizla papers with the corners cut off are for blind smokers? blank CD-Rs—“Obtain the permission of the copyright holder…” phallic vibrating […]
Read MoreUsually I only knock McDonald’s when they are particularly nasty and stupid. It warms my heart to know that a company that beat them in a case you’d have thought McDonald’s would win hands down are, four years later, is still selling East Asian fast food under the cheeky name “McChina“.
Read MoreFurther to my iPod-bothering post about content freedom, read about Friday’s US Federal appeals court ruling against media industry requirements for built-in hardware anti-piracy technology and marvel at this rant today against the iPod’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) from Hilary Rosen, a woman who took the music industry dollar for years.
Read MoreYeah, nothing much to read here at the moment, I know, but Rummaging is on a roll. Check out “Himmler Action Figure. Gay Interest?” and “The best staff profiles ever“—outstanding weirdness.
Read MoreToday the undeniably charismatic CEO of Apple Computer Inc., Steve Jobs, gave his keynote address to the Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. As often he announced some new shiny things for people with roll-neck sweaters (and Backword Dave) to buy, including the iPod Shuffle—an iPod for runners. It has no moving parts, no […]
Read MoreDear Damian, Thanks for this. Believe it or not, we do have a sense of humour here and your email raised a smile or two in the office (actually – just one!). Please forgive the standard text of the email sent yesterday. We send out dozens of such emails each month as part of our […]
Read More[UPDATE: Yes, this is a reply to a real email message I received today. It showed every sign of being from the National Portrait Gallery, scoring only 0.8 out of a possible 5.0 on X-Spam’s spam-o-meter. I haven’t emailed my message directly to the original sender yet. I may yet tone it down, but if […]
Read MoreAs I predicted, the pull of Blade: Trinity was too strong and Leasey and I went along to see it last Saturday. It turned out to be both very entertaining and utter rubbish. The plot is thinner than a 15-year-old on a catwalk; Parker Posey couldn’t act her way out of a parking ticket; and […]
Read MoreI long for the day when there is no longer any hiding place for the bastards—instead of a vast system of “international” “law” to shelter their fiefdoms from reason, liberty, mercy, fairness, and universal suffrage. In the meantime, let’s raise a glass to the continued imprisonment of these guys [do you think their “snacks” include […]
Read MoreI could rant for England on the subject of the Common Agricultural Policy, but I can’t seem to get very worked up about the European Constitution. This might be stupidity on my part, but what exactly would happen if, after we’ve signed it, a future UK government just refused to accept some part of it […]
Read MoreI believe that, where it exists as a punishment for unlawful killing, the death penalty deters some potential murderers. I believe that, perversely, it can also make those who have already killed more likely to kill again. I believe that states should not execute their citizens. I believe that culpability for a crime should depend […]
Read MoreEverything else had failed. Ken Starr gathered together his life savings, remortgated his house, and hired the professionals to get mediaeval on Clinton’s ass: “AFTER ‘harvesting’ bypass vessels from their former president’s arms and legs, US surgeons will cut into Bill Clinton’s sternum with a circular saw. His ribs will be eased to the side […]
Read MoreAnd now a perfect contrast from the grumpy copper: “Alcohol plays a large part in my professional life, many people I meet are under it’s influence, and those who say they aren’t usually are. I heard the other day that Russian police officers simply hose down their drunks (with a high pressure hose) and release […]
Read MoreSquander Two has introduced me to The Policeman’s Blog. It’s the badger’s nadgers: brightly-written, entertaining accounts of life dealing with the criminal underclass. The Policeman’s struggles against people determined to take ruthless advantage of every kindness shown to them by the system remind me of the prison hospital tales of Theodore Dalrymple, aka Dr Anthony […]
Read MoreYou are the Santa Barbara District Attorney. One morning you wake up and find that you are to spend your day in the dock in front of Michael Jackson and most of the rest of the Jacksons, all of them dressed in white, while Jacko’s lawyer cross-examines you. When life gets this strange, you can […]
Read More“Tigger ‘fondled my breast’” is a classic tabloid headline and, fortunately for Michael Chartrand, contains a classic tabloid lie [free Telegraph registration required]. Disney might be re-employing him, but I don’t think they’ll be putting him in a tiger suit again any time soon.
Read MoreThere's only one thing scarier for a 'Blogger than being linked to by Slashdot or Instapundit, that's getting hits from the Carter-Ruck libel practice in your server logs, as I did yesterday. Mummy.
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