I once put it to Norm jokingly that one reason he has the patience to pick through the foul-smelling giblets of articles like Madeleine Bunting’s in yesterday’s Guardian is that he has spent years marking terrible student essays. The truth is it’s because he is a top bloke. Rather him than me though.
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13May05 — 7
Dial 419 For A Transfer
Dear Mr Hussein I am Barrister Ife Giza. I represent “Gorgeous” George Galloway, the recently deceased rightful ruler of the People’s Republic of Bethnal Green. I write to you in good faith based on information he gave to me in person during a meeting with him in his office in the Houses of Parliament before […]
Read More11May05 — 1
Watching You Watching Them
Via Panchromatica comes this lovely little tale of the reach of the Web. As he says, you have to read through the comments of this flickr picture for the delightful coincidence(s).
Read More11May05 — 1
Hero Of The Revolution
I’m surprised that The Independent didn’t suggest one hundred thousand cheering Georgians had mistaken George Bush for George Galloway: “Addressing a 100,000-strong crowd in Freedom Square in Tbilisi yesterday, Mr Bush said the November 2003 uprising that toppled the country’s former leader Eduard Shevardnadze had been an example for Ukraine, Iraq, Lebanon and other countries […]
Read More11May05 — 1
Democracy, Whiskey, Busty
You can thank Judith for this shocking example of US cultural insensitivity: “the almost unthinkable personification of everything the people we’re fighting hate: hot blond Christian white girls, not too smart and seductively dressed, ready to dispense justice and the American spirit while leading a sexy attack, thus confusing the enemy into masturbating instead of […]
Read More09May05 — 18
Freedom Is Messy
I have an iRiver. It’s fugly. Even its name is an aesthetically displeasing admission that the sole reason for its existence is to divert market share from the mighty iPod family. You buy an iPod from a smiley, smart-casual white person in an authorized Mac dealership where the shelves are cleaner and brighter than those […]
Read More04May05 — 13
(Swear) Word On The Streets
I am back from some more letterbox stuffing. The best house sign I read this evening was: “The velociraptors housed behind this door have only been trained to disembowel callers wearing blue rosettes“ Despite this kind of heartening sight, the activists here are nervy. Doing my rounds, I bumped into two—both County Council candidates—and I […]
Read More02May05 — 0
Good Sport
Ms Taylor obviously has a sense of humour. She might have been rude to ‘Bloggers en masse 😉 , but she was very polite to this one in particular. She would like to point out that she is neither middle-aged, nor confused by her iPod. Thank you again for your nice email about my post […]
Read More29Apr05 — 2
Howard. Again.
Michael Howard 18Jul04: “If I knew then what I know now, that would have caused a difficulty…I couldn’t have voted for that resolution…If you look at the terms of the actual motion put to the House of Commons on March 18 (2003), it placed very heavy emphasis on the presence of weapons of mass destruction […]
Read More26Apr05 — 11
Staying In Touch With Your Inner Electorate
Even Tony Blair’s biggest enemies have got to admire his willingness to sit in a studio full of publicity-hungry voters and patiently engage with their rants. My head would explode with frustration after five minutes of listening to inarticulate, ignorant, and illogical challenges, but he keeps on doing it. The bigger a fight he has […]
Read More22Apr05 — 0
Shawcross Nails It
Oliver Kamm quotes an admirably restrained letter to The Independent by William Shawcross. Earlier this week I read the original article that prompted the letter and expressed my disgust with it so noisily that I was forced to explain myself to one of the Campus librarians. Unlike the Bodleian, the Sanger library doesn’t require you […]
Read More31Mar05 — 1
Armageddon It
While I’m on the subject of accomplished corporate music monsters, this 10-year-old review of Def Leppard by Andrew Mueller is entertaining, if perhaps a little long and squintily typeset to be read from the screen all in one go. It’s clear that, like me, Mr Mueller can’t help but admire the band—for all their over-produced […]
Read More13Mar05 — 0
Sheep-Dogs
Somebody somewhere (Japan) thinks that dressing up dogs as sheep and even putting them in little pens is a good thing. Can you believe that they’ve sold out of some of these products? There’s probably a Japanese game show where they dress lambs up as dogs and get them to guide the pooches into their […]
Read More07Mar05 — 16
The Last Outpost Of Traditional Rule
The ever-temperate front page of The Independent screams, “IS LEBANON WALKING INTO ANOTHER NIGHTMARE?” Without a copy to hand, I think you can imagine the name and the roseate visage that make up the byline beneath the headline. Because the Indie charges for access to the online version of its output I can only quote […]
Read More02Mar05 — 2
Iran’s Nuclear Programme: The Truth
The BBC has a round-up of “experts’” views on “Iran’s nuclear crisis”. Helpfully, after the introduction to the piece, each comment is abstracted to a single line. One of the wise men questioned by Auntie—Sanam Vakil, of the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington—offers this new insight into the affair: “The Iranians need some really big […]
Read More01Mar05 — 3
The Price Of Imperialism
Under the headline “Asylum Falling Around The World”, The Beeb reports the United Nations reporting that: “The number of asylum seekers coming to the industrialised world fell by a fifth in 2004 to its lowest level in 16 years, according to the United Nations.” . . . “…the number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan and […]
Read More27Feb05 — 0
Decked Out
As Saddam’s half-brother is handed over by the nervous Syrians, it’s an appropriate moment to catch up with some old friends. For those of us whose outrage at the continued immunity of various collections of state-sponsored goons around the World has been curdling for years this is a heartwarming sight.
Read More14Feb05 — 0
Feel The Love
The Financial Times tells the story of an estranged partner seeking reconciliation. Tony is from Mars; The People are from Venus: The prime minister used his keynote speech at Labour’s spring conference in Gateshead to acknowledge it was largely his fault that his bond with the public had frayed. His decision to reach out to […]
Read More06Feb05 — 0
In Installation Hell
I am quiet because I am busy fixing a computer. Sorry everyone. I did take a brief break on Friday evening. During that interval I watched two young women hit each other very hard in front of a baying mob—not on screen; in the flesh. Naturally I’ll ‘Blog that. In the meantime, please feel free […]
Read More02Feb05 — 3
Another Fast Show Reference
“Me, former President of the The United States, Bill “Slick Willie” Clinton? In south Asia? Surrounded by orphaned destitute girls? Working for the UN? With my reputation? What were they thinking?” [Yanks The deficit-challenged should go here for an explanation.]
Read More02Feb05 — 0
Kickings I Have Enjoyed Recently
Squander Two on the Irish President on the Holocaust Tim Newman on Gary Younge on Uzbekistan (but really on Amerikkka of course) Michael Ignatieff on his “fellow” liberals on the Iraq elections Oliver Kamm on David Aaronovitch on Douglas Hurd
Read More31Jan05 — 0
Isn’t Violet A Garish Colour?
At an online meeting of the imperialist-Zionist-lizardoid conspiracy today we had another idea for World Domination. Hak turned it into a neat button: Please steal it and link it to, say, this site.
Read More31Jan05 — 9
Crystal Balls
Brian Whitaker in The Guardian—where else?—writes under the heading “Fig-leaf Freedom”: “portrayals of the election as ‘historic’ are way off mark” Unlike the election, Brian’s insights will ring through the ages like Orwell’s. He is, after all, the Middle East specialist who wrote of the US Presidential election: “What interests Arabs most is America’s attitude […]
Read More24Jan05 — 52
If He Existed He’d Be Laughing
“THREE Muslim pilgrims were killed and 500 others suffered light injuries as they jostled to perform the ‘stoning of the devil’ ritual near Mecca, Saudi newspapers reported today. The crush was triggered by the arrival of ‘a large number of African pilgrims carrying their personal belongings’ at the site of the stoning in Mina called […]
Read More18Jan05 — 7
Operation Overload
Kennedy says Iraq is ‘Bush’s Vietnam’. But, if Bush=Hitler, surely it’s his Eastern Front? That can’t be, of course, because Kabul was supposed to be America’s Stalingrad—as was, er, Baghdad. At least we can be sure that Abu Ghraib is Iraq’s My Lai—as long as it’s not true that September 11 2001 was the new […]
Read More02Jan05 — 0
Man-Made Disaster
When the first reports came in we had no inkling of how bad things were going to get. Now the full horror can be revealed: “Some of the UK’s biggest musical stars have pledged their support to a new charity single aimed at raising funds for victims of the Asian tsunami disaster. ‘Grief Never Grows […]
Read More31Dec04 — 1
Happy New Year, Maoser!
I’ve just tried ringing you to wish you a prosperous 2005, but all I get is a severe Englishwoman saying, “Sorry. There is a fault. Please try again.” Course, I might have just accidentally speed-dialled Mistress Spank’s Correction Line again.
Read More31Dec04 — 0
Frontpage Splash
Today, under the headline “WALL SAVES COUPLE AS WAVE HITS THAI RESORT”, the Cambridge Town Crier tells me on its front page that “Several Cambridgeshire residents have escaped death in the Asian tsunami horror”. Realish via boingboing takes the prize, though, for spotting this headline.
Read More28Dec04 — 0
Diversity In Death
Norm notes that natural disasters give believers in a loving God something to chew on. What about the pagans? Irony just isn’t big enough to cover it.
Read More28Dec04 — 0
Hello! Tackles The Big Issues
The online version of Hello! magazine covers the persecution of Sikh playwrite [sic] Gurpreet Kaur. Why? Because some celebs are supporting her. I wonder how Samuel West will take to having his appearance as Dr Frankenstein in Van Helsing cited as his most noteworthy contribution to the dramatic arts. Meanwhile, over at the Fox News Website, […]
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