They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean

Shamelessly stolen from blogging Brightonian Bedsit Bomber, this list of dead rock stars makes for fascinating if morbid reading. There must be some they've missed, but I can't think who, apart from all the Ramones bar Joey. They have Malcolm Owen, both Pretenders, Sandy Denny, Nico etc, though I'm not sure Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was ever a rock musician.

I'm sorry to see Van McCoy had a heart attack - must have been doing the Hustle too much.

Those Innocent Guantanamera Detainees ...

As all well-meaning liberals know, Guantanamera is packed with innocent religious students, tourists, aid workers and anyone else with a beard who was in the path of Bush's Crusader Army.

Like this chap.

Pugree-tip - Irene Adler.

Sentimental Scally-Slapping Scandal

The good hearted folk of Liverpool are up in arms. Again. Because of this.

I particularly like the comment of Adam Barber from Islington.

"I expect the same will happen to The Spectator as it did to The Sun after their Hillsborough coverage, Liverpudlians boycotting the title."

They'll no longer be queuing up in Skelmersdale and Croxteth on a Thursday morning then. Hackett and Thomas Pink are bracing themselves for the fall in sales.

Could You Make This Up ?

From This Is London

A group of travellers has been given £600,000 by a London council to move on.

The authority handed out £30,000 of taxpayers' money per family to the "nightmare" neighbours.

But the payments have been condemned as bribes by residents of Wood Green who suffered years of intimidation and thefts.

(It doesn't improve my mood that I've just come back from this, either).

Iranian Bloggers Arrested

From BBC News

Six online journalists and webloggers have been arrested in Iran recently in a crackdown on dissent on the internet.
"People charged for having illegal internet sites... will be put on trial soon," said a judiciary spokesman.

The trials would be "open" and charges included "acting against national security, disturbing the public mind and insulting sanctities".

A Good Liberal ...

Bemoans racist attitudes - and wants people who hold them to die.

My wife (who's Japanese) and I travelled round the UK on various occasions. Each time, we suffered racist reactions from certain people. Whilst most people were welcoming, friendly and interested in my wife and her culture, there were others who were rude, insulting, and obnoxious. Some people did not say anything, but simply got up and moved away to other tables in cafes.

Others would mutter under their breath about WWII, and some would make remarks (to each other, not to our faces, but loud enough to be overheard) about "nips" and "chinkies". We were refused service in one pub in Canterbury. All of these negative reactions came from people aged around 60 or over, and all of the positive reactions came from younger people. I was appalled and deeply ashamed of my country, and I can't wait for these attitudes to die along with the people who hold them.

Rob, London, UK

Funnily enough, sixty years ago the Japanese felt the same as Rob does about Brits of that generation. So they gave them a hand with the dying process. As they did to Chinese. And Koreans. And Filipinos.


Typical Brit who for some reason hates the Japanese.

Kill Them All - Let God Sort Them Out

It's open season on sick children. Following the Charlotte Wyatt ruling, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, previously famed for its extensive body parts collection, innovative nursing ethics, and a collection of dead infants reminiscent of Saddam Hussein's allotment, have gone to court because they want to let seriously ill baby Luke Winston-Jones die if he gets any worse. The baby's parents aren't too happy about this. And as in the Charlotte Wyatt case, a new phrase is introduced to the language - 'aggressive treatment'. From what I gather, 'aggressive treatment' is treatment that hurts, though it may save or prolong life. But to the modern ear it sounds awful, doesn't it ? No one wants to be aggressive, do they now ?

At this rate the NHS will soon be able to abandon treatment altogether. After all, we're all going to die some day. Why prolong the stay ?