Interesting Spectator Shock

I suppose the law of averages had to kick in at some stage - this week's Speccie has some readable articles (registration required).

Lloyd Evans wonders what happened to the peace movement, who seem to be all mouth and no trousers. Bruce Anderson suggests that the seeds of last week's depressing photos from Abu Ghraib were sown when women were allowed in the military (whereas the Guardian's Larry Elliott suggests that Brit girls are all too good at fighting - in the local High Street), and Rachel Johnson bemoans the Stepfordisation of women. Even Julian Manyon's depressing report from Iraq is thought-provoking - the thought in question being 'What the hell do the U.S. and Britain do now' ?

And Peter Hitchens is at his best on what happens in countries when the big story is over, and the reporters have gone elsewhere. I shall be interested to see his Mandela documentary.


"Why is it that such reverence is accorded to this flawed human being, who has spent so much of his time as a figleaf for the far-from-saintly African National Congress? I think it is partly because reformist politics has replaced Christian faith as the main expression of moral feeling in this country. But then why revere Mr Mandela rather than some domestic figure? Precisely because he is distant and not actually very well known to us. Our own home-produced political heroes and heroines never keep their haloes for long. We find out too much about them and are personally affected by their failures and mistakes. And we know that in most cases they have failed because we too have failed. Real change is difficult and costly and requires personal moral effort on our part. Most of us vote against it if we get the chance. The task of halting and reversing our political, industrial, moral, cultural and educational decline is huge, daunting and unappealing.

But abroad is different. We do not need to know the inconvenient details. On the contrary, it is better not to know them. The overthrow of the loathed government is all that is required. We will not be there after it falls. "


And finally ... Peter Briffa has sympathy for the subject of this Guardian agony column, entitled "My husband spends all his free time on his computer and won't tell me why. What should I do ?".

He's obviously a blogger, isn't he ? Responses are mostly negative, but Sarah from Argyll and Bute (can you be from both of those places ? One or the other, surely) has words of comfort.

"Our computer is now as much a part of family life as the TV - we tell each other what we have done on it, and using it is often a communal experience, with two or three people in front of the screen."

Well, yes. I think I know what you mean.