My friend Auriol‘s dad [yellow shirt, right-hand side of photo] wasn’t one of the six men who ran in the mile race in which Roger Bannister broke the four-minute “barrier”, but he should have been. He is still an unbelievably active and adventurous man who yomps around mountainous, remote parts of the World for fun […]
Read MoreJudith draws our attention to a very smart piece from the New York Times [free registration, your home is at risk if you default on a loan secured on it, rhubarb rhubarb] about the absurdities of contemporary political life in Washington.
Read MoreI missed this story [Washington Post free registration, yadda yadda] about a Saudi student on trial in the US from earlier in the month entirely, but Philip Greenspun didn’t and makes some excellent points about the difference between the way the USA treats its enemies within and without its borders.
Read MoreTony Blair spams me; Stephen Hawking stalks me. I don’t work for the University, but in my two years in Cambridge I have been to the Department for Applied Mathematics and Physics exactly once and was directed to his office by mistake. (He had an Onion story about him on the door.) Yesterday I was […]
Read MoreAnother link from Jonathan: a strange story from Reading.
Read MoreMethodists, run, run from the cloud of gay schism!
Read MoreMuammar Gaddafi vsited the EU today and showed that he is as coherent now as he ever was. Here’s a sample: “…the aging Arab radical showed flashes of his firebrand style in a 45-minute harangue to a joint news conference, at which questions were barred, under the watchful eye of four of his women bodyguards […]
Read More400-pound bear takes on 15-year-old boy. Bear surrenders.
Read MoreThe willingness of teachers to give out ‘A’ grades to their pupils in one state in the US seems to affect the performance of those pupils. This article summarizes a study of the effect. Ignore the writer’s political slant, but follow his various threads describing the results; they’re important, I think.
Read MoreThe Michael Jackson story somehow becomes even more surreal as one of his brothers implies that Jacko is being persecuted because he is black. In other news, Saddam Hussein’s lawyer claims he has been victimized because he is Jewish.
Read MoreI was listening to Avril Lavigne singing live on Radio 1 yesterday evening. Her voice is powerful and true. Her albums are slickly produced. She has an almost-distinctive sound, that you could describe as “Alanis Morissette‘s Mini-Me“. Vital for a pop star, some of her melodies are memorable and inventive. Where Lavigne’s music falls down […]
Read MoreRupert Read visited this site today and politely pointed out that my statement in a previous entry that he was Balliol JCR President during my time at that college was bollocks (my word, not his). This entry is by way of apology to him and to all readers of this ‘Blog. He was right: as […]
Read MoreYesterday, I and a colleague had a meeting at a large London teaching hospital. While we were waiting to go in we shared a room with an inflatable rhinoceros. Today, Jonathan [photo by Leasey] sends me this typically Sun-style story for my “blog thingy”. Knowing my luck, these events are telling me: “You are about […]
Read MoreIn the UK we have cookery programmes like Delia and Two Fat Ladies. Look at the DVD cover for the latter and smile at the eccentric old dears’ roly-poly faces peering over the jolly saturated colours of a flood of fruit and veg. The subtitle “full throttle”—in a non-threatening all-lowercase serif—hints that the eponymous heroines […]
Read MoreFew conspiracy theorists are fully aware of the true extent of Jewish dominance of the entertainment industry. Today I stumbled upon perhaps the most sinister of their exclusive performing arts organisations.
Read MoreThis morning I received a bottle of champagne (coincidentally my favourite alcoholic drink) from a family of complete strangers, as thanks for my doing them a favour, one I enjoyed doing and for which I had refused payment. Biology geeks might see the connection between this “exchange” and the death of John Maynard Smith on […]
Read MoreYvonne Ridley, journalist and former Taliban captive, is standing in the European elections for the “anti-war” RESPECT Coalition, the organisation currently caring for George Galloway, former Labour MP. The strange history of this woman is in itself worth pointing up, but today I just wanted to draw your attention to her use of language: “I […]
Read MoreI have been deeply skeptical of accusations of the US military “massacring innocents” in Fallujah so I was shocked to discover from The Normster that the Marines have publicly admitted to the use of a sound-based weapons system so horrible it falls outside the scope of the Geneva Conventions.
Read MoreIt’s about 7:30pm I’m walking down the stairs from my flat. I have been talking to my landlord. When I arrived, he was vacuuming those stairs, ready for a new couple who he says want to look at the place next door to mine in the block. We chatted, I picked up the things I […]
Read MoreIain Murray over at “The Edge of England’s Sword” needs a link from me as much as Celine Dion needs me to approve of her singing. His Right-leaning ‘Blog makes a hell of a lot more sense than Samizdata and he’s sent some traffic my way today so I’m happy to reciprocate. It is a […]
Read MoreI thought these kinds of things only happened in sitcoms. Returning from work, I find a message from a cheery-sounding woman on my answerphone—names omitted to protect the innocent: “Hello. This is Doctor [DELETED] from the [DELETED]. A message for [DELETED]. Following the results of tests after your visit we’ve found that you do have […]
Read MoreHaving had an excellent dinner at which at least one highly educated person was a little too sympathetic to some old myths, I enjoyed coming back to read Anthony Cox’s post about conspiracy theories at Black Triangle.
Read MoreA tip if you’re about to become a Labour supporter: don’t, whatever you do, give the party your email address. Every time Tony Blair gives a speech important enough to have been trailed on the Today Programme two days beforehand he feels the need to send you an over-sized bleeding Word attachment so you can […]
Read MoreOne of the last press releases under the reign of the recently deceased CEO of McDonald’s promised an “Adult Happy Meal containing salad, bottled water and a pedometer.” (If you follow the link, check out the new customer-friendly look Death is wearing as he stands on the right of the photo. That cloak-and-scythe thing was […]
Read MoreJudith tips us off to the delights of Hezbollah TV, as reported in the New York Times [free registration blah-de-blah].
Read MoreWelcome back Timbeaux. While you’ve been sunning yourself, Tony’s been reading your ‘Blog and decided to do the right thing.
Read More“Whoops, I accidentally qualified for the Olympics.”
Read MoreFirst PooterGeeker (anywhere in the World) to comment on this ‘Blog entry gets a free subscription to The London Review of Books. (Given its editorial line on The Issue of Our Day, I can understand a certain ambivalence, but, hey, they’re giving it away. Get your share of that taxpayer-funded subsidy now!)
Read More[I’m just guessing that the British Ambassador in Moscow in 1943 wasn’t educated at the local poor school.] You shouldn’t laugh, but you probably will.
Read MoreOver at Kamm’s ‘Blog on Friday, the proprietor launched a thoroughly deserved attack on Rupert Read. [The rest of this entry was a rant about Rupert and one of his papers. Although I still disagree violently with his letter to the Telegraph and am very skeptical about the content of that paper, Rupert has offered—very […]
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