Fisky, Fisky
When will Harry, Norm and Co. link to Way Of The Intercepting Fisk ? This blog's getting better all the time. Try this. He's got plenty more like that.
UPDATE - Sorry - Norm does link to this blog. Come on Harry !
Friday, May 07, 2004
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.
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.
Monday, May 03, 2004
The Voice Of Moderation
In this US blog, the Modern Crusader. From its strapline, "Our long term goals are the sacking of Mecca, the defiling and final destruction of the Kaaba idol, and the creation of a Zionist State with Mecca as its capital.", to its report on the alleged mistreatment of prisoners by the Brits ("The Proper Way To Treat Muslims"), this blog is a rare delight.
Reports on Vichy France, links to the Saint Baruch Goldstein, and a thoughtful section on whether Syria or Iran should be invaded next - there's just too much to take in. See it for yourself.
In this US blog, the Modern Crusader. From its strapline, "Our long term goals are the sacking of Mecca, the defiling and final destruction of the Kaaba idol, and the creation of a Zionist State with Mecca as its capital.", to its report on the alleged mistreatment of prisoners by the Brits ("The Proper Way To Treat Muslims"), this blog is a rare delight.
Reports on Vichy France, links to the Saint Baruch Goldstein, and a thoughtful section on whether Syria or Iran should be invaded next - there's just too much to take in. See it for yourself.
And Now For Something Completely Different
Last Wednesday's Prime Ministers Questions - the VengaBoys Mix. Right mouse-click then 'Save Target As ' to download.
1.3 megabytes MP3, mixed by Laban Tall using Goldwave.
Next project - 'We Shall Overcome' - Joan Baez featuring Tupac Shakur.
Last Wednesday's Prime Ministers Questions - the VengaBoys Mix. Right mouse-click then 'Save Target As ' to download.
1.3 megabytes MP3, mixed by Laban Tall using Goldwave.
Next project - 'We Shall Overcome' - Joan Baez featuring Tupac Shakur.
"Militants" - Killing Little Girls
People who the BBC style "militants" shot dead a pregnant mother and her four daughters, aged between 2 and 11, in Gaza yesterday. The shootings were carried out at point blank range.
Meanwhile in Afghanistan, people who the Guardian style 'militants' poisoned three schoolgirls because they attend school. The BBC quotes Afghan president Hamid Karzai's description of the perpetrators as terrorists, but puts the phrase in scare quotes. After all, one man's 'terrorist' ...
If only Ian Huntley had claimed to be drawing attention to the plight of Iraqi chldren !
People who the BBC style "militants" shot dead a pregnant mother and her four daughters, aged between 2 and 11, in Gaza yesterday. The shootings were carried out at point blank range.
Meanwhile in Afghanistan, people who the Guardian style 'militants' poisoned three schoolgirls because they attend school. The BBC quotes Afghan president Hamid Karzai's description of the perpetrators as terrorists, but puts the phrase in scare quotes. After all, one man's 'terrorist' ...
If only Ian Huntley had claimed to be drawing attention to the plight of Iraqi chldren !
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Big Ron II
Weekly Worker springs to the defence of the great man.
"Atkinson favours the ‘kick up the backside’ style of management over the touchy-feely, therapeutic-driven approach.". You could say that.
And now that anti-racism is establishment doctrine, it is 'bourgeois anti-racism'.
"Indeed, as the opprobrium heaped so massively upon Atkinson’s head manifestly shows, the footballing establishment is essentially no different from the police force, the home office or the NHS bureaucracy - that is, institutionally and ideologically anti-racist. Frankly, how could it be anything else?
Just to glimpse at the long list of Kick It Out’s sponsors should tell you a lot - the League Managers Association, the Association of Premier League and Football League Match Officials, the Football Safety Officers Association, the Local Government Association, the Metropolitan Police ... It is no accident either that the chair of Kick It Out is no other than Lord Herman Ouseley, the former chair of the Commission for Racial Equality. There is no doubt that Kick It Out is essentially an establishment organisation, and hence promotes the establishment’s bourgeois anti-racism."
Bourgeois anti-racism, eh ? Now the Establishment have hold of it, it's not ours any more. Isn't this the mentality that makes a man sell his Smiths albums when they start becoming popular ?
In the 1930s the Left had a concept of 'bourgeois democracy'. Otherwise known as democracy. When French conservatives wanted to rearm France, the Communist Party leader Pierre Thorez declared 'We will not tolerate the working class being drawn into a so-called war to defend bourgeois democracy'. Good sense of priorities, ne c'est pas ?
And finally ....
some CPGB members are distressed by the Respect Coalition and the CPGBs support for it. Welcome please to the CPGB Red Platform ! All together now : Splitters !
Weekly Worker springs to the defence of the great man.
"Atkinson favours the ‘kick up the backside’ style of management over the touchy-feely, therapeutic-driven approach.". You could say that.
And now that anti-racism is establishment doctrine, it is 'bourgeois anti-racism'.
"Indeed, as the opprobrium heaped so massively upon Atkinson’s head manifestly shows, the footballing establishment is essentially no different from the police force, the home office or the NHS bureaucracy - that is, institutionally and ideologically anti-racist. Frankly, how could it be anything else?
Just to glimpse at the long list of Kick It Out’s sponsors should tell you a lot - the League Managers Association, the Association of Premier League and Football League Match Officials, the Football Safety Officers Association, the Local Government Association, the Metropolitan Police ... It is no accident either that the chair of Kick It Out is no other than Lord Herman Ouseley, the former chair of the Commission for Racial Equality. There is no doubt that Kick It Out is essentially an establishment organisation, and hence promotes the establishment’s bourgeois anti-racism."
Bourgeois anti-racism, eh ? Now the Establishment have hold of it, it's not ours any more. Isn't this the mentality that makes a man sell his Smiths albums when they start becoming popular ?
In the 1930s the Left had a concept of 'bourgeois democracy'. Otherwise known as democracy. When French conservatives wanted to rearm France, the Communist Party leader Pierre Thorez declared 'We will not tolerate the working class being drawn into a so-called war to defend bourgeois democracy'. Good sense of priorities, ne c'est pas ?
And finally ....
some CPGB members are distressed by the Respect Coalition and the CPGBs support for it. Welcome please to the CPGB Red Platform ! All together now : Splitters !
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