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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 carrots” […]
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 Iraq […]
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.
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 frustrated […]
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 […]
“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.]
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
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.
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 towards […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 Old’ […]
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.
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.
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.
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, one […]
Suw Charman describes Asimo the Honda robot’s gait as “cute”. Asimo in motion looks to me a lot like a bloke in astronaut fancy dress, trying to sneak around shared accommodation in the small hours without waking up any of his co-habitants. [Requires Flash player]
The Independent Radio News report on 96.9 Chiltern FM at four o’clock: “11 Britons are among the dead.” [Recording of northern Irish bloke recounting his experience] “—journalist Blahdy Blah on the earthquake in south Asia. In [Thailand] alone, eight Britons died. Others are on their way home to emotional reunions.” Don’t the media just love those […]
Chris The Stoat linked to The Brick Testament yesterday, showing the image of the Lego shepherds gathering. He didn’t link to the next frame of Luke, showing them drawing a bead on a messenger of the Lord with a ground-to-air missile launcher. As the angel is joined by reinforcements, the militants run for cover.
Presumably this means that most Americans aren’t “dumb” any more.
As you probably know if you are a regular, I live off the Mill Road, Cambridge’s ethnic strip. I do so not out of solidarity with the city’s immigrant population nor as some kind of fashion statement. I would much rather be in one of the areas where the rich white people live, but I […]
Yes, it’s bad there, but what about North Korea? Yes, he’s an evil dictator, but the Americans will be even worse. Yes, they’ll overthrow him, but what about the humanitarian disaster that will inevitably follow? Yes, democracy’s all very well in theory, but those people aren’t ready for it yet. Yes, they chopped off his […]
I long for the day when there is no longer any hiding place for the bastards—instead of a vast system of “international” “law” to shelter their fiefdoms from reason, liberty, mercy, fairness, and universal suffrage. In the meantime, let’s raise a glass to the continued imprisonment of these guys [do you think their “snacks” include […]
I had dinner this evening with a nice Filipina post-doc yeast geneticist who, like all of her countrywomen when newly arrived in a location beyond their islands, was carrying something on behalf of another Filipina, in this case a gift from casualsavant for me. Now that I have a copy of The Metrosexual Guide To […]