[A guest post from Mac]
In the interests of accuracy, I’d just like to say that I cooked the Thai Green Turkey this evening. George has allowed me a guest spot to post my (slightly) modified version of the original recipe.
Ingredients
4 fresh green chillies, remove most seeds unless you enjoy having the inside of your mouth stripped off.
Freshly ground black pepper, keep grinding ‘til your bored is my general guideline.
Half a dozen or so spring onions (scallions). Include as much of the green part as possible. Hey, this is green curry paste, you know.
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 bunch coriander
A couple or three fresh basil leaves
2 tsp of lemon rind – beware of including any white pith: it makes for a bitter flavour.
A little salt
2 tsp of ground coriander
1 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of turmeric powder
A few splashes of light soy sauce
An inch of root ginger - chopped
1 tbsp of oil
A little water
And whiz it all up together in the food processor.
Tonight I made a half-quantity of the curry paste, which was plenty for 4 people.
And to use up that turkey mountain: stir-fry about 1lb cooked turkey meat together with some sugar snap peas and some baby sweetcorn. Add the green curry paste and some coconut milk, heat through and serve with boiled rice, topped off with a few shredded basil leaves. Mmm-mm.
By the way, ‘some’, in this context, is a technical term meaning ‘enough, but not too much’. George just can’t get to grips with this essential unit of measurement, which I learnt at my mother’s knee. Sometimes I wonder if it's a gender thing.
November 30, 2003
Sunday reading
Via Normblog: Julie Burchill writing in the Guardian on the new anti-Semitism.
The Chinese People’s Daily on the Western response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Via Biased BBC: Jeff Jarvis on the ‘British Bias Corporation’.
Jivha the Tongue on skin tone and the Indian male.
The Chinese People’s Daily on the Western response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Via Biased BBC: Jeff Jarvis on the ‘British Bias Corporation’.
Jivha the Tongue on skin tone and the Indian male.
November 29, 2003
Talking turkey
Golden promise
This year we had a Golden Promise turkey for Thanksgiving. It was expensive, but I’m pleased to say it was worth every penny. I’ve never eaten better. Which is good, because we’ll be eating it for a while.
Yesterday, we had bird-meat sandwiches. Today, I’m doing Turkey Burritos and tomorrow, Thai Green Turkey. That should just about finish it off, though Mac will, as always, use the carcass to make soup.
Incidentally, the last time we had Thai Green Chicken, Mac used this recipe for the paste. It substitutes lemon zest for kaffir lime leaves. We didn’t have any dried shrimp, so she used a teaspoon of light soy instead. It was tasty.
And, talking of turkeys, news of the one that got away: ABC reports on the Presidential Turkey Pardon.
This year we had a Golden Promise turkey for Thanksgiving. It was expensive, but I’m pleased to say it was worth every penny. I’ve never eaten better. Which is good, because we’ll be eating it for a while.
Yesterday, we had bird-meat sandwiches. Today, I’m doing Turkey Burritos and tomorrow, Thai Green Turkey. That should just about finish it off, though Mac will, as always, use the carcass to make soup.
Incidentally, the last time we had Thai Green Chicken, Mac used this recipe for the paste. It substitutes lemon zest for kaffir lime leaves. We didn’t have any dried shrimp, so she used a teaspoon of light soy instead. It was tasty.
And, talking of turkeys, news of the one that got away: ABC reports on the Presidential Turkey Pardon.
Saturday roundup
November 28, 2003
Poetry corner
Benjamin Zephaniah
I’m not surprised to hear that poet Benjamin Zephaniah has turned down the offer of an OBE. I am, however, astounded that someone had the gall to ask him if he wanted one.
CNN reported his response.
I don’t share his politics but I would have thought much less of him had he accepted the honor.
I’ve been a Zephaniah fan since the performance poetry days of the early eighties. The best of his work is both personal and political. Rich with the informalities of Jamaican English, it is rooted in a strong oral tradition and informed by harsh experience.
If you ever get a chance to see him live, don’t miss it.
Thanks to Biased BBC for the link to CNN.
Update
Saturday's Independent has a piece on Zephaniah that explains the background to his decision and describes some of the work he does for the British Council.
I’m not surprised to hear that poet Benjamin Zephaniah has turned down the offer of an OBE. I am, however, astounded that someone had the gall to ask him if he wanted one.
CNN reported his response.
Zephaniah said that when he received a letter from the UK prime minister's office saying Tony Blair intended to recommend his name to the queen in the New Year's honors list, he thought: "OBE, me? Up yours."Good for him!
I don’t share his politics but I would have thought much less of him had he accepted the honor.
I’ve been a Zephaniah fan since the performance poetry days of the early eighties. The best of his work is both personal and political. Rich with the informalities of Jamaican English, it is rooted in a strong oral tradition and informed by harsh experience.
If you ever get a chance to see him live, don’t miss it.
Thanks to Biased BBC for the link to CNN.
Update
Saturday's Independent has a piece on Zephaniah that explains the background to his decision and describes some of the work he does for the British Council.
BBC quotes
I’ve long given up trying to figure out the BBC’s policy on the use of quotation marks. I’m beginning to suspect there isn't one.
Take a look at two of today’s headlines from BBC News.
Update
The headline on the German arrest has been rewritten. It now reads Police pounce on 'al-Qaeda cell'. But why the quotation marks? It's not a reference to a quote in the article. Stranger and stranger.
Update
Once you get started on this kind of thing, it's difficult to stop. Here's another BBC headline with inexplicable quotation marks: European defence 'deal' reached. Once again, it's not a reference to a quote in the article. So why the quote marks?
Take a look at two of today’s headlines from BBC News.
Germany arrests al-Qaeda suspectWhat’s the difference?
German police have arrested an Algerian man wanted in Italy on suspicion of recruiting suicide bombers for attacks in Iraq.
Police question 'al-Qaeda' suspect
A 24-year-old British man was arrested on Thursday under the Terrorism Act and taken to Paddington Green police station in London.
Update
The headline on the German arrest has been rewritten. It now reads Police pounce on 'al-Qaeda cell'. But why the quotation marks? It's not a reference to a quote in the article. Stranger and stranger.
Update
Once you get started on this kind of thing, it's difficult to stop. Here's another BBC headline with inexplicable quotation marks: European defence 'deal' reached. Once again, it's not a reference to a quote in the article. So why the quote marks?
November 27, 2003
Talking turkey
The Thanksgiving story
Every year it’s the same. It usually starts the day before Thanksgiving. One of the boys will kick it off but, pretty soon, the whole family’s involved.
“I don’t like cranberry sauce on my turkey.”
“Can’t we have roast potatoes instead of creamed?”
“Do you have to make candied yam?”
“How about a sponge pudding instead of apple pie?”
“And what’s with the beans? I hate green beans!”
I listen patiently to this every year. I’m just waiting for someone to ask the magic question: “Why do we have to eat the same thing every year?” At which point, it’s my fatherly duty to say loudly and definitively, “Because that’s what the Indians brung!”, before launching into the story of The First Thanksgiving.
Same thing this year, except the minute I've finished speaking, my five-year old (mimicking my delivery) adds: “And sadly, very sadly, they didn’t bring any Yorkshire pudding.”
He meant it too!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Every year it’s the same. It usually starts the day before Thanksgiving. One of the boys will kick it off but, pretty soon, the whole family’s involved.
“I don’t like cranberry sauce on my turkey.”
“Can’t we have roast potatoes instead of creamed?”
“Do you have to make candied yam?”
“How about a sponge pudding instead of apple pie?”
“And what’s with the beans? I hate green beans!”
I listen patiently to this every year. I’m just waiting for someone to ask the magic question: “Why do we have to eat the same thing every year?” At which point, it’s my fatherly duty to say loudly and definitively, “Because that’s what the Indians brung!”, before launching into the story of The First Thanksgiving.
Same thing this year, except the minute I've finished speaking, my five-year old (mimicking my delivery) adds: “And sadly, very sadly, they didn’t bring any Yorkshire pudding.”
He meant it too!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Talking turkey
Up and about
Up early making breadcrumbs, lots of them.
Eldest son, whose job it is to make the Thanksgiving stuffing, won’t be back from school until mid-morning but I want to make sure everything’s ready for him. Last year, he misread the recipe and ended up making three times the quantity (“Dad! I think we’re going to need a bigger bird.”). We were still eating it at Christmas.
Out and about this morning, checking the blogs.
Rachel Lucas pops up to say Happy Thanksgiving. Rachel stopped blogging earlier this year but, like a lot of people, I drop by her blog every day just to see if she’s back. She will be.
Norm Geras has posted the results of his Alternative Big Read. Two of my three nominations (The Grapes of Wrath and Catch-22) made it into the top ten. My third choice (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) didn’t even place. Go figure.
On a festive note, Michele at A Small Victory has tons of Thanksgiving posts and Kelley, over at Suburban Blight, has one hell of a recipe for Sweet-Potato Casserole.
Which reminds me, I’m needed in the kitchen. Later.
Up early making breadcrumbs, lots of them.
Eldest son, whose job it is to make the Thanksgiving stuffing, won’t be back from school until mid-morning but I want to make sure everything’s ready for him. Last year, he misread the recipe and ended up making three times the quantity (“Dad! I think we’re going to need a bigger bird.”). We were still eating it at Christmas.
Out and about this morning, checking the blogs.
Rachel Lucas pops up to say Happy Thanksgiving. Rachel stopped blogging earlier this year but, like a lot of people, I drop by her blog every day just to see if she’s back. She will be.
Norm Geras has posted the results of his Alternative Big Read. Two of my three nominations (The Grapes of Wrath and Catch-22) made it into the top ten. My third choice (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) didn’t even place. Go figure.
On a festive note, Michele at A Small Victory has tons of Thanksgiving posts and Kelley, over at Suburban Blight, has one hell of a recipe for Sweet-Potato Casserole.
Which reminds me, I’m needed in the kitchen. Later.
Hate cartoons
Roger Simon and Citizen Smash both call attention to a cartoon that the UK’s Independent newspaper first published on Holocaust memorial day.
This Guardian article from March 5 presented both sides of the argument.
In my opinion, whatever the artist’s intention, it’s an anti-Semitic image. The cartoonist may not have known that when he drew the thing, but the people at the Political Cartoon Society knew it when they chose to give it an award.
This Guardian article from March 5 presented both sides of the argument.
In my opinion, whatever the artist’s intention, it’s an anti-Semitic image. The cartoonist may not have known that when he drew the thing, but the people at the Political Cartoon Society knew it when they chose to give it an award.
November 26, 2003
War of words
The Guardian says US defense spending is "scary and scandalous".
Fine. I don't agree, but I'll let it pass. What I object to is the snotty way the Guardian treats this quote from George Bush.
On this side of the Atlantic, it may be considered grammatical incorrect to say “different than” but in the States it’s common and accepted usage.
Sometimes, I think the Guardian would criticize a little less if it understood a little more.
Update
Or maybe not. Perhaps this kind of thing depends not on ignorance but on prejudice; another example of "the condescending sneer".
Fine. I don't agree, but I'll let it pass. What I object to is the snotty way the Guardian treats this quote from George Bush.
Yet Mr Bush suggested that terrorism now represented the most potent threat in the history of the US. "The war on terror is different than (sic) any war America has ever fought," he saidThat "sic" is the Guardian’s. The leader writer is informing us that the president made an error in speech which the Guardian has faithfully reproduced. Except the president wasn't in error and the Guardian is simply displaying its ignorance of American English.
On this side of the Atlantic, it may be considered grammatical incorrect to say “different than” but in the States it’s common and accepted usage.
Sometimes, I think the Guardian would criticize a little less if it understood a little more.
Update
Or maybe not. Perhaps this kind of thing depends not on ignorance but on prejudice; another example of "the condescending sneer".
Concorde comes home
Concorde just flew overhead on its way home to Filton. I didn’t see it but I didn’t have to strain to hear it. A couple of minutes later I watched the landing on TV.
It’s a big day for Bristol; both Rolls Royce and British Aerospace are based here. I doubt whether there’s anyone in Bristol who doesn’t know someone who worked on the Concorde project.
For Mac, who watched the landing at Filton, the ties are pretty close. Her father (who died some years ago) was a turbine engineer with Rolls Royce his entire working life and was involved in the development of the Olympus 593 engine, four of which power Concorde’s supersonic flight.
Today, hearing Concorde’s Olympian roar for the last time, I was reminded that this evening, over family dinner, we won’t just be talking about Concorde’s final flight, we’ll also be remembering, and honoring, those people who helped make it possible.
It’s a big day for Bristol; both Rolls Royce and British Aerospace are based here. I doubt whether there’s anyone in Bristol who doesn’t know someone who worked on the Concorde project.
For Mac, who watched the landing at Filton, the ties are pretty close. Her father (who died some years ago) was a turbine engineer with Rolls Royce his entire working life and was involved in the development of the Olympus 593 engine, four of which power Concorde’s supersonic flight.
Today, hearing Concorde’s Olympian roar for the last time, I was reminded that this evening, over family dinner, we won’t just be talking about Concorde’s final flight, we’ll also be remembering, and honoring, those people who helped make it possible.
November 25, 2003
Like father like son
I picked up a copy of The Last Three Minutes at one of the local second-hand bookstores yesterday.
I’m a big fan of popular cosmology and Paul Davies is one of my favorite science writers. But, for some reason, I’ve never gotten round to reading ‘The Last Three Minutes’.
The Big Fella (my eight year old) picked it up after dinner and started to read the first chapter. It opens with a graphic description of what would happen if a comet collided with the Earth.
At bedtime, I thought I’d have a chat with him about it. I felt he might need some fatherly reassurance that death by cometary impact isn't an imminent possibility. It seems not.
Me: “What did you think of that book then?”
BF: “It‘s awesome!”
Me: “You’re not worried about a comet hitting the Earth?”
BF: “No, things like that don’t bother me.”
Me: “Okay, so you don’t worry about things like that. What does bother you?”
BF: “Aliens mostly… and Michael Jackson.”
Me too.
I’m a big fan of popular cosmology and Paul Davies is one of my favorite science writers. But, for some reason, I’ve never gotten round to reading ‘The Last Three Minutes’.
The Big Fella (my eight year old) picked it up after dinner and started to read the first chapter. It opens with a graphic description of what would happen if a comet collided with the Earth.
At bedtime, I thought I’d have a chat with him about it. I felt he might need some fatherly reassurance that death by cometary impact isn't an imminent possibility. It seems not.
Me: “What did you think of that book then?”
BF: “It‘s awesome!”
Me: “You’re not worried about a comet hitting the Earth?”
BF: “No, things like that don’t bother me.”
Me: “Okay, so you don’t worry about things like that. What does bother you?”
BF: “Aliens mostly… and Michael Jackson.”
Me too.
Family rethink
Mac’s contract comes to an end in January. Her job has been outsourced to Bangalore.
Yesterday, Mac found out the only other assignment she was up for has gone to someone else. That’s good news really, as the new job would have meant spending one week out of every four in places like Albania, Lebanon, Nicaragua and Sudan.
If neither of us has a job lined up by Christmas, I’m going to start seriously questioning our commitment to living in England.
All in all, this could mean fewer blogs like George Junior in England and more blogs like Jivha the Tongue in Bangalore, who yesterday posted more on the war against outsourcing.
Yesterday, Mac found out the only other assignment she was up for has gone to someone else. That’s good news really, as the new job would have meant spending one week out of every four in places like Albania, Lebanon, Nicaragua and Sudan.
If neither of us has a job lined up by Christmas, I’m going to start seriously questioning our commitment to living in England.
All in all, this could mean fewer blogs like George Junior in England and more blogs like Jivha the Tongue in Bangalore, who yesterday posted more on the war against outsourcing.
iCan at the BBC
I posted about the BBC’s iCan service last month when it was still in beta-test. Since then, the website has been redesigned (that photo has gone from the front page) and the iCan service is now up and running.
Ever since I first came across iCan, I’ve been wondering which bright spark at the BBC thought it would be a good idea, and why.
Martyn Perks at Spiked was able to enlighten me.
The rest of the Perks' article is worth reading and, on the subject of political participation, check out Josie Appleton's Wednesday piece for Spiked on the government's forthcoming national consultation exercise.
Note
This item has been edited and updated since it was first posted.
Ever since I first came across iCan, I’ve been wondering which bright spark at the BBC thought it would be a good idea, and why.
Martyn Perks at Spiked was able to enlighten me.
In November 2002, Sian Kevill, the then Head of BBC New Politics Initiative, unveiled the iCan idea at a government-sponsored e-summit, speaking of the need to re-enact civic participation and engagement with the democratic process. The Reithian vision of high-quality public service broadcasting has given way to an agenda based around connecting each of us with each other.It’s worse than I thought. It’s not just that iCan is a bad idea, there’s a bigger, badder idea behind it.
Kevill and others seem to use technology in blind faith, hoping that iCan and similar projects will kickstart our interest in democracy and civic participation. In fact, by placing our local experience above all else, such projects belittle how we experience the world. Where we live doesn't define who we are.In my campaigning days, in the long ago, we used to have a slogan: “Think globally, act locally”. Initiatives like iCan turn that idea on its head by promoting local identity, parochial issues and the disconnected thinking of single-interest groups.
The rest of the Perks' article is worth reading and, on the subject of political participation, check out Josie Appleton's Wednesday piece for Spiked on the government's forthcoming national consultation exercise.
Note
This item has been edited and updated since it was first posted.
Pirozhki piroshki pierogi
Whatever you call them, they’re good eating.
Jackie at Daily Bread has posted the recipe for her Gramma D’s Pierogies.
When I cook piroshkies, I fill them with mushrooms and rice, deep fry them and serve them with soup. Jackie’s grandmother’s pierogies are stuffed with potato and cheese, boiled rather than fried, and served with sour cream. Mmm.
I don’t do piroshkies that often, largely because I don’t like making dough. There’s something about kneading and rolling that just doesn’t appeal to me. Still, that pierogi recipe sounds worth trying. Maybe Mac will give me a hand with the dough, she’s a wiz.
Regular readers will know I love to cook (I get to do it every day), I post a few recipes of my own from time to time, and I like talking about food. Reasons enough, I think, to make Daily Bread the latest addition to my blogroll.
If you like Nigella Lawson, pop on over, they’ve got a prize competition going on.
Thanks to Normblog for the link.
Jackie at Daily Bread has posted the recipe for her Gramma D’s Pierogies.
When I cook piroshkies, I fill them with mushrooms and rice, deep fry them and serve them with soup. Jackie’s grandmother’s pierogies are stuffed with potato and cheese, boiled rather than fried, and served with sour cream. Mmm.
I don’t do piroshkies that often, largely because I don’t like making dough. There’s something about kneading and rolling that just doesn’t appeal to me. Still, that pierogi recipe sounds worth trying. Maybe Mac will give me a hand with the dough, she’s a wiz.
Regular readers will know I love to cook (I get to do it every day), I post a few recipes of my own from time to time, and I like talking about food. Reasons enough, I think, to make Daily Bread the latest addition to my blogroll.
If you like Nigella Lawson, pop on over, they’ve got a prize competition going on.
Thanks to Normblog for the link.
Muggles on trial
CNS News reports that a witch in Australia is using hate speech legislation to sue a member of her local council.
Rob Wilson, a city councillor in Casey, Victoria, had warned the local community of the dangers of the occult and urged local church leaders to hold a day of prayer against “the forces of evil”.
Sorcerers and enchantresses are said to be pleased with legal developments in Australia but have largely stayed silent on the issue. Harry Potter has refused to confirm reports he plans a move to Casey and Saruman the Wise could not be reached for comment.
Link via Above Top Secret.
Rob Wilson, a city councillor in Casey, Victoria, had warned the local community of the dangers of the occult and urged local church leaders to hold a day of prayer against “the forces of evil”.
Robert Ward, a pastor in Casey who also serves as a chaplain to the city council, told CNSNews.com the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act was turning out to be "an absolute farce."Witchcraft is still illegal in Victoria. But Rob Hulls, the state’s attorney-general, has promised to repeal existing legislation which criminalizes witchcraft along with sorcery and enchantment.
"I've no problem with a law that guarantees mutual respect and prevents people from being vilified or persecuted," he said. "But I think our common law, our slander law, already does that."
Ward said the anti-vilification law "can be used by anybody whose got an ax to grind, anybody who wants to make a name for themselves and is prepared to go through the motions."
Sorcerers and enchantresses are said to be pleased with legal developments in Australia but have largely stayed silent on the issue. Harry Potter has refused to confirm reports he plans a move to Casey and Saruman the Wise could not be reached for comment.
Link via Above Top Secret.
November 24, 2003
Domestic operations
Bought the bird! We pick it up Thursday morning; 15 pounds of free range, traditionally reared, slow grown, British turkey. They need all those adjectives to justify the ticket; it cost $80. Yeah, I know, someone sold me a turkey. I’ve heard it already. To my mind: as long as it tastes good, there’s plenty of it and I can sleep after, it’s worth it.
Bought the oven! We’re going to need one to cook the bird. I was a little heavy handed with the last one; pulled the door clean off. And dropped it. It smashed. Turns out, oven doors are expensive things to replace. So instead, we decided to upgrade and chose the Smeg SE320. In brown. Hey, I got a deal on it, and anyway, “Brown is the new Black”. That’s what he said.
Microwave stays bust. The service center can fix it but they won’t guarantee to have it back to us by Thursday. I was a little heavy handed there too. I must learn to close the door more gently. I must learn to close the door more gently. (I’ll do the other 98 later).
Here’s a tip. Never let a man in your kitchen unless he’s willing to pay for everything he breaks.
Still to get: Cranberry sauce, marshmallows, sweet potatoes, green beans, apples, cream, beer, wine and strong liquor.
And Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Bought the oven! We’re going to need one to cook the bird. I was a little heavy handed with the last one; pulled the door clean off. And dropped it. It smashed. Turns out, oven doors are expensive things to replace. So instead, we decided to upgrade and chose the Smeg SE320. In brown. Hey, I got a deal on it, and anyway, “Brown is the new Black”. That’s what he said.
Microwave stays bust. The service center can fix it but they won’t guarantee to have it back to us by Thursday. I was a little heavy handed there too. I must learn to close the door more gently. I must learn to close the door more gently. (I’ll do the other 98 later).
Here’s a tip. Never let a man in your kitchen unless he’s willing to pay for everything he breaks.
Still to get: Cranberry sauce, marshmallows, sweet potatoes, green beans, apples, cream, beer, wine and strong liquor.
And Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Euro-gravy
The Times reports,
Frauds against the European Union totalling more than half a billion pounds have been uncovered in the past year, according to official figures obtained by The Times, which show that fraud is far more widespread than had been thought.Four years ago, as the Guardian reported at the time, the European Commission resigned en masse after a report uncovered massive fraud within the EU. That earlier report had damned the Commisioners.
The number of suspected cases has risen by nearly a fifth in just one year to 3,440, with fraud being discovered in almost all the institutions of the EU and all its funding programmes. In the last financial year alone, 252 cases of fraud were proven, leading to 230 cases being sent to court.
The studies carried out by the committee have too often revealed a growing reluctance among the members of the hierarchy to acknowledge responsibility.Four years on and the problem is bigger than ever.
It is becoming difficult to find anyone who has even the slightest sense of responsibility. The temptation to deprive the concept of responsibility of all substance is a dangerous one. That concept is the ultimate manifestation of democracy.
Twisted logic
The Independent warns that talking about the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe could lead to more attacks against Jewish targets.
One can sympathise with the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' anguished concern that anti-Semitism is on the rise around Europe. In purely factual terms, regarding the number of attacks on synagogues and Jewish schools and institutions, he may well be right. But in lumping together the bombing of the two synagogues in Istanbul with the daubing of cemeteries in Germany and Britain and the firebombing of a school in Paris, he's in danger of fuelling the very conflict between Islam and Judaism which the perpetrators want.It's the European approach to anti-Semitism: ignore it in case it gets worse.
November 23, 2003
A New Yorker in London
Gregory Djerejian, who muses on foreign affairs over at the Belgravia Disptach, has a number of good posts about the London anti-Bush protests.
His post on the routinization of social protest makes interesting reading and I really appreciated his response to the orgy of anti-Bush sentiment at the Guardian. It's quality blogging.
The Belgravia Dispatch is now permanently linked in my sidebar.
His post on the routinization of social protest makes interesting reading and I really appreciated his response to the orgy of anti-Bush sentiment at the Guardian. It's quality blogging.
The Belgravia Dispatch is now permanently linked in my sidebar.
Identity politics
Via Dean’s World: One of those quizzes from Quizilla.
Which member of the Bush Administration are you?
My result:
Which member of the Bush Administration are you?
My result:
You are George Walker Bush! You are the mostOkay, that clinches it, I’m voting for me in 2004.
powerful man in the world, which leaves you
little time to think for yourself. Fortunately,
you have your friends to think for you!
November 22, 2003
The American ideal
Den Beste on the difference between Americans and Europeans:
Some of the Europeans I’ve met don’t seem to want to understand Americans. They don’t think they have anything to learn from us and so, for the most part, they are content to caricature and criticize.
They’ve created for themselves an image of America where George Bush is a cartoon cowboy with a big gun and a small brain, and Americans are all gas-guzzlin’, Bible-thumpin’, gun-totin’, burger-eatin’, empire-buildin’ morons (with good teeth and big hair).
A lot of them don’t want to understand; they want to feel superior.
We are Americans. We are not Europeans living in America. If you don't understand the difference, then you do not understand us at all, and as long as you persist in thinking of us as Europeans living in America, you'll continue to be mystified and frustrated by what we do.Sounds about right to me.
Some of the Europeans I’ve met don’t seem to want to understand Americans. They don’t think they have anything to learn from us and so, for the most part, they are content to caricature and criticize.
They’ve created for themselves an image of America where George Bush is a cartoon cowboy with a big gun and a small brain, and Americans are all gas-guzzlin’, Bible-thumpin’, gun-totin’, burger-eatin’, empire-buildin’ morons (with good teeth and big hair).
A lot of them don’t want to understand; they want to feel superior.
Saturday roundup
MSNBC News: Al Qaeda’s terror style spreading.
BBC: Opposition seizes Georgia parliament.
CBS News: Terror alert for Americans abroad.
BBC: Nuclear body adjourns over Iran.
CBS News: Red light for North Korea nuclear plants.
CNN: China plans tariff hike on U.S.
Fox News: GOP rolls out first Bush TV ad.
CNN: Turkey wars: megameat versus tofu.
BBC: Opposition seizes Georgia parliament.
CBS News: Terror alert for Americans abroad.
BBC: Nuclear body adjourns over Iran.
CBS News: Red light for North Korea nuclear plants.
CNN: China plans tariff hike on U.S.
Fox News: GOP rolls out first Bush TV ad.
CNN: Turkey wars: megameat versus tofu.
A taking of sides
In the runup to this morning’s final of the rugby World Cup between England and Australia, the Aussies have been engaging in the traditional sport of Pom bashing.
Here’s the gist of it, from the Australian:
We're hoping Wilkinson gives the Aussies a good kicking!
Update
Victory! England 20 Australia 17. Beating the Australians in Sydney to become world champions - for fans of English rugby, life doesn’t get any sweeter.
Here’s the gist of it, from the Australian:
Former Test stars have branded England as boring, their style of play a turnoff, and have implored the Wallabies to win the World Cup to strike a blow for entertainment.Two minutes to kickoff and we're all set up to watch the match on TV. The boys and I are rooting for England.
We're hoping Wilkinson gives the Aussies a good kicking!
Update
Victory! England 20 Australia 17. Beating the Australians in Sydney to become world champions - for fans of English rugby, life doesn’t get any sweeter.
November 21, 2003
Lileks on Pax
In Friday's Bleat, Lileks responds to Salam Pax's open letter to the president, which the Guardian published earlier this week.
November 20, 2003
Nuisance calls
British police repeatedly urge members of the public not to dial the 999 number for emergency services unless it’s actually an emergency.
It’s a simple message but some people still don't get it. In December 2002, regional control centres in the UK dealt with over 300,000 calls to the police emergency number. An astonishing 76% were classified as nuisance calls, either because they were bogus or trivial in nature.
In an attempt to raise public awareness of the problem, Avon and Somerset Constabulary has taken to posting recordings of real (but trivial) 999 calls on its website. The first batch of four recordings went up in April and another batch was added yesterday.
I know it’s a serious issue but some of the calls are sadly funny: a dead pigeon, lost spectacles, a bedroom full of wasps and a man who calls to complain about his wife.
Audio quality isn’t great (I think it’s the operators gritting their teeth); choose the Flash presentations with subtitles.
It’s a simple message but some people still don't get it. In December 2002, regional control centres in the UK dealt with over 300,000 calls to the police emergency number. An astonishing 76% were classified as nuisance calls, either because they were bogus or trivial in nature.
In an attempt to raise public awareness of the problem, Avon and Somerset Constabulary has taken to posting recordings of real (but trivial) 999 calls on its website. The first batch of four recordings went up in April and another batch was added yesterday.
I know it’s a serious issue but some of the calls are sadly funny: a dead pigeon, lost spectacles, a bedroom full of wasps and a man who calls to complain about his wife.
Audio quality isn’t great (I think it’s the operators gritting their teeth); choose the Flash presentations with subtitles.
Normblog protest
Norm Geras rails against “the forces of 'peace party' liberalism and the socialist, anti-globalist left” for their failure to show either joy or relief over the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
So the wished-for demise of President George W. Bush, this is a matter for public enactment and celebration; but the actual demise of one of the world's worst dictators, that is a dirty little piece of private shame for people who should have been out there shouting their elation, should have been some time for heaven's sake - if not on that day, then later, today even - shouting their joy that one national prison had been prised open, that one foul symbol of the crushing of humanity had been toppled, echoing the relief of Iraqis. But they never did and they still won't. What a scale, what a relativity, of values.And what cost “these symbolic betrayals of the values of liberalism and democratic socialism?”
Bombs in Istanbul
The BBC is reporting:
Following the attacks, Britain's Foreign Office is advising against travel to Turkey and HSBC has closed all its branches in the country.
Update
Ian Sherwood, the chaplain to the Bristish Consulate in Turkey, has confirmed that Consul-General Roger Short was killed in this morning's bombing.
Do these attacks in Turkey make it more or less likely that terrorists will attempt to target Britain during Bush's visit? Who knows? But the British security services are reportedly hurrying to increase security in the capital amid rising concern about further attacks.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports, the White House was briefly evacuated this morning after it was reported that an aircraft had flown into controlled airspace over Washington.
Bomb attacks on the British consulate and the HSBC bank headquarters in Istanbul have left at least 25 dead and up to 400 injured.Roger Short, the British Consul-General in Turkey, is still missing following the blasts.
Following the attacks, Britain's Foreign Office is advising against travel to Turkey and HSBC has closed all its branches in the country.
Update
Ian Sherwood, the chaplain to the Bristish Consulate in Turkey, has confirmed that Consul-General Roger Short was killed in this morning's bombing.
Do these attacks in Turkey make it more or less likely that terrorists will attempt to target Britain during Bush's visit? Who knows? But the British security services are reportedly hurrying to increase security in the capital amid rising concern about further attacks.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports, the White House was briefly evacuated this morning after it was reported that an aircraft had flown into controlled airspace over Washington.
Clueless Ken
The Independent reports:
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, launched a stinging attack on President George Bush last night, denouncing him as the "greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen".What! Bigger than Hitler? Yes, that’s what Ken thinks. Here’s what he reportedly had to say on the subject in an interview he gave to Lynn Barber back in 1989.
Our way of life is built on the slaughter of 15 million people in the third world every year.Quick! Hand me the cluebat. No, not that thing, you need a sturdy maple one for the real clowns.
Hitler’s war cost 30 million lives over six years, but the IMF, World Bank and the Western banking system do that every two years. Our financial institutions have become the greatest instruments for the slaughter of humans ever devised.
Funding hate
The JTA reports:
Thanks to Mobius at Jew School for the link.
In a stunning reversal, the Ford Foundation has admitted it erred in funding anti-Israeli Palestinian groups and has vowed to establish tough new guidelines to stop its funds from being used for anti-Semitic activities anywhere in the world.Sounds like an obviously good idea to me, but the Foundation seemed to need a bit of prompting to make the change. An in-depth investigation by the JTA and Congressional pressure finally did the trick.
Thanks to Mobius at Jew School for the link.
Woman's work
Ever had a prosecuting attorney cook you breakfast?
After I've dropped the boys off at school, I sometimes have breakfast at a local Ma-and-Pa’s. Turns out, ‘Ma’ is a senior prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service.
Cooks a good breakfast too.
After I've dropped the boys off at school, I sometimes have breakfast at a local Ma-and-Pa’s. Turns out, ‘Ma’ is a senior prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service.
Cooks a good breakfast too.
Salam TV
Salam Pax, the original Baghdad blogger, and now one of the Guardian’s media darlings, has done a video report for the BBC’s Newsnight.
Be honest, did anyone really see this man’s potential in his first post from Baghdad.
Be honest, did anyone really see this man’s potential in his first post from Baghdad.
November 19, 2003
Favorite five
I haven't had a lot of time to blog over the past few days. Things are a bit up in the air here at the moment and we're in the middle of a family rethink. More on that later.
In the meantime, here are five articles I came across today that I don't have time to comment on.
Oliver Kamm on George Bush and foreign policy.
Media Research Center on silencing the silent majority in Britain.
Michael J Totten on why Iraq is not Vietnam.
David Aaronovitch on why Michael Moore isn’t funny.
The Weekly Standard has more on the Saddam/Osama connection.
Normal service will resume shortly.
In the meantime, here are five articles I came across today that I don't have time to comment on.
Oliver Kamm on George Bush and foreign policy.
Media Research Center on silencing the silent majority in Britain.
Michael J Totten on why Iraq is not Vietnam.
David Aaronovitch on why Michael Moore isn’t funny.
The Weekly Standard has more on the Saddam/Osama connection.
Normal service will resume shortly.
Selection bias
The BBC’s Jeremy Paxman is very good at asking questions but it seems he’s not so good at answering them. This one, from David Frum, left him flummoxed.
Thanks to Biased BBC for the link.
How can you do a program that purports to study why British people are so hostile to President Bush – without taking note of the state broadcaster’s role in creating and magnifying that hostility?Anyone got an answer to that?
Thanks to Biased BBC for the link.
Mind your manners
Simon Jenkins, writing in today’s Times, reminds his fellows that their country once had a reputation for good manners.
Unlike Harold Pinter, whose loutish senility is evident in this personal message to the president, published in yesterday's Guardian.
Let us pull ourselves together and hear it for good manners. Courtesy is the cement of democracy, the discipline of open debate. It enables strong government to remain at peace with dissent. A state visit is supposedly a marriage of pageantry and good manners. Let us keep it that way.Jenkins goes on to trace the roots and meaning of the ‘special relationship’ and he celebrates the ties that bind our two nations. At the same time, he criticizes the Bush visit and makes clear his opposition to US action in Iraq. I don’t share his views but I think it’s admirable that he’s able to express them in such a civilized fashion.
Unlike Harold Pinter, whose loutish senility is evident in this personal message to the president, published in yesterday's Guardian.
Dear President Bush,Charming.
I'm sure you'll be having a nice little tea party with your fellow war criminal, Tony Blair. Please wash the cucumber sandwiches down with a glass of blood, with my compliments.
November 18, 2003
Human v machine
For the past week, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov has been involved in a four game match against X3D Fritz for the title of Man-Machine World Champion. After three games the scores are level. The deciding game takes place today in New York.
Fritz’s ‘parent’ company, X3D Technologies, has been providing on-line coverage of the match with an excellent website offering live commentary and in-depth analysis.
Kasparov’s victory with the white pieces in the third game is a textbook example of how to beat a computer at chess. The postgame analysis reveals not only the extent of Kasparov’s preparation for the match but also the limitations of computer ‘thinking’.
Fritz’s ‘parent’ company, X3D Technologies, has been providing on-line coverage of the match with an excellent website offering live commentary and in-depth analysis.
Kasparov’s victory with the white pieces in the third game is a textbook example of how to beat a computer at chess. The postgame analysis reveals not only the extent of Kasparov’s preparation for the match but also the limitations of computer ‘thinking’.
This useless-looking move [by Kasparov] confused most of the commentators, but to anyone with extensive anti-computer chess experience it makes perfect sense. The rook protects the f2 pawn, a potential weak spot, but why would you protect something that isn't being attacked?
The reason goes into how computers think. Its brute force calculation can only go so deep, even with four super-fast processors. Black's only possible source of counterplay in this position is to push its f-pawn and open up an attack against the area around the white king, f2 in particular.
If X3D Fritz's search, usually running 12-20 half-moves deep, ever reaches a position in which it sees success in such an attack it will put such a plan in motion. On the other hand, if it cannot reach a favorable position in its searches it will never play the initial moves required. With the rook on b2 protecting f2 already, the potential weakness of that critical square is somewhat hidden from the computer's search.
X3D Fritz can't just play it anyway like a human would, knowing that everything else is useless. A machine has to receive a positive evaluation from its search to play a move and always plays the move that gives it the best evaluation. Since X3D Fritz sees no danger here for itself it is content to play moves that do nothing, but don't cause any negative effect either. It twiddles its virtual reality thumbs. Any human would say, "I have to do SOMETHING."
November 17, 2003
Dissenting rabble
On the eve of George Bush’s state visit to Britain, Brendan O’Neill takes a close look at the UK’s anti-war campaigners.
The anti-war movement has coincided with a high level of public disengagement from politics. The marches against invading Iraq - including the million-strong demo in Hyde Park in February 2003 - were not the new radical moment in British politics that many claimed. Rather, the anti-war movement has been more like a collection of individuals expressing their frustration with politics and politicians.A traditional English mob. How quaint.
Fisk the evangelist
David Pryce-Jones in the Spectator writing about the Independent's Robert Fisk:
But where did Pryce-Jones get his definition of fisking? He has it as ‘meaning the selection of evidence solely in order to bolster preconceptions and prejudices’, and says he got it in the ‘www arena’. But that’s not the way I've seen the word used in the blogworld.
Is PJ just getting himself confused here, or is there really another definition of 'fisking' out there?
What makes Fisk conspicuous is his self-righteousness. The content and style of his writing proclaim that in his own eyes he is not really a reporter but the repository of truth. Other journalists are not up to their task; they are ‘nasty little puffed-up fantasy colonels’, warmongering collaborators of the wicked American–Israelis. He alone has the calling and the courage to reveal the evil rampant everywhere. Woe, woe, saith the preacher. Fisking is evangelical missionary work.It’s full of well-deserved criticism.
But where did Pryce-Jones get his definition of fisking? He has it as ‘meaning the selection of evidence solely in order to bolster preconceptions and prejudices’, and says he got it in the ‘www arena’. But that’s not the way I've seen the word used in the blogworld.
Is PJ just getting himself confused here, or is there really another definition of 'fisking' out there?
The Sac is back
Kelley at Suburban Blight has a new Cul-de-Sac post.
Last time out, Kelley changed the Sac’s format, reducing the number of featured blogs and focusing in more depth on each one. I like the revised format; it's more like a guided tour than a straight linkfest.
I'm a big Sac fan. I don't have the time to explore much of the Blogosphere myself, so it's an important source of new reads for me.
Like Kelley says:
Last time out, Kelley changed the Sac’s format, reducing the number of featured blogs and focusing in more depth on each one. I like the revised format; it's more like a guided tour than a straight linkfest.
I'm a big Sac fan. I don't have the time to explore much of the Blogosphere myself, so it's an important source of new reads for me.
Like Kelley says:
If you're reading blogs today and want a jumping-off point, this is the place to start. Mesdames et messieurs - le Cul-De-Sac!Start clicking!
November 16, 2003
Crystal nights
Via Alice Bachini: A post from The Dissident Frogman on “The Rise of Nazism”.
To me, the rise of Nazism will always evoke gatherings of Socialists and Nationalists, putting aside their differences to unite the forces of their hates of individual liberties at large and the global ambiance of a dark sun rising over a murky dawn: no clearly defined threat - not yet - but a sheaf of gloomy harbingers that makes you wonder what the day will bring.Go read the whole thing.
The rise of Nazism, as seen when it happened, was probably nothing more than uproarious crowds assembling and revolving around negative concepts, and cheering at the harangues of populist speakers. A bit theatrical, a bit violent but so many people found their deceptive ideas so appealing, that the visible violence was probably disregarded or minimized.
Ghost ships ahoy
Yesterday, the BBC reported on the continuing controversy over the disused American cargo ships from the James River Fleet which are bound for the British port of Hartlepool.
Philip Stott provided a rational view of the issue in a Thursday post at Envirospin Watch.
Friends of the Earth says the decision to allow more ships due to be scrapped to dock in the UK is creating an environmental threat. Two US vessels have already arrived, and now permission has been given for two more to stay in the UK.Environmental campaigners seem capable of believing pretty much anything, as long as it doesn't come from a government source.
Peter Mandelson, MP for Hartlepool where the ships are destined to be broken up, says the fears are based on "misinformation". Campaigners believe toxic chemicals and asbestos on the US ships pose a risk.
Philip Stott provided a rational view of the issue in a Thursday post at Envirospin Watch.
The truth is that some environmentalists (remember there are many shades of green) are not living in the real world and they are starting to be a serious threat to the UK economy. I wonder how much of the protest about these particular ships is because they are (Heaven forbid!) American and were once used to service the American navy? Our rationality about America has now gone out to march with the barmy brigade.And, while you’re over at Philip’s place, you might also want to check out his Greenspeak-English dictionary. It’s a hoot!
November 15, 2003
Home thoughts
Yesterday, Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish included an email from an American living in England.
It's really bad here. […] After 22 years in Surrey we're looking to move to America.I hate to admit it, but Mac and I are thinking of doing the same.
Saturday roundup
BBC: Britain on heightened terror alert for Bush visit.
MSNBC: Judge revokes Moussaoui’s right to self-representation.
CNN: India & China in joint naval exercise.
CBS News: Commandments judge expelled.
BBC: Murdoch papers may back Tories in next election.
Fox News: Illegal workers sue Wal-Mart for hiring them.
ABC News: High school girls suspended for kissing.
Sky News: MJ’s father denies beating/admits whipping.
Entertainment: Russell Crowe acclaimed for 'Master & Commander'.
MSNBC: Judge revokes Moussaoui’s right to self-representation.
CNN: India & China in joint naval exercise.
CBS News: Commandments judge expelled.
BBC: Murdoch papers may back Tories in next election.
Fox News: Illegal workers sue Wal-Mart for hiring them.
ABC News: High school girls suspended for kissing.
Sky News: MJ’s father denies beating/admits whipping.
Entertainment: Russell Crowe acclaimed for 'Master & Commander'.
November 14, 2003
Spinning Bush
British Spin anticipates George Bush’s forthcoming state visit to the UK with a very British take on the man and his motives.
It’s a revealing post that also offers an insight into the British concept of “fair play”.
It’s a revealing post that also offers an insight into the British concept of “fair play”.
A clarification here, the vaunted sense of British fair play means fair play just for the British. When ruling the world, we were entirely justified in sending gun ships up Chinese rivers to support the opium trade and would have very miffed if some Yankee upstart had been going around shouting “no blood for dope” at Disraeli. Burger-scoffing surrender baboons in the war against yellowism, John Bull would have said. Jingoism? We invented it.The British might have invented jingoism, but they forgot to patent it.
November 13, 2003
Chicken soup
Roger Simon, in an evocatively titled post, comments on cartoonist Tom Tomorrow’s recent depiction of warbloggers as chickenhawks, which implied they should either sign-up or shut-up. It's a hot topic; the wideranging discussion that follows Roger’s post involves over a hundred comments.
Citizen (formerly Lieutenant) Smash also took issue with Tomorrow in an exchange of e-mails he published Tuesday. Today, Smash comments on the “rhetorical firestorm” that ensued.
Mr Yesterday provides a cartoonist's response to Tomorrow's views.
Elsewhere, Dean Esmay talks about what it means to be a warblogger and why he thinks it’s important.
And, on a related issue, Rob Lyman, guesting at Winds of Change, wrote yesterday on the moral duty that Americans owe their country. I don’t like the sound of “Tribal Patriotism”, and I reason from different premises, but I agree that an American's first duty is to their fellow citizens.
It’s a thought provoking piece and Armed Liberal follows up the discussion with a strong post on patriotism and liberal values.
Citizen (formerly Lieutenant) Smash also took issue with Tomorrow in an exchange of e-mails he published Tuesday. Today, Smash comments on the “rhetorical firestorm” that ensued.
Mr Yesterday provides a cartoonist's response to Tomorrow's views.
Elsewhere, Dean Esmay talks about what it means to be a warblogger and why he thinks it’s important.
And, on a related issue, Rob Lyman, guesting at Winds of Change, wrote yesterday on the moral duty that Americans owe their country. I don’t like the sound of “Tribal Patriotism”, and I reason from different premises, but I agree that an American's first duty is to their fellow citizens.
It’s a thought provoking piece and Armed Liberal follows up the discussion with a strong post on patriotism and liberal values.
November 12, 2003
Anatomy for dummies
Max Hastings has either blown a gasket or he doesn’t know as many Americans as I thought. How else do you explain this line from his recent Spectator article on the ‘quagmire’ in Iraq?
We’re all pretty much agreed; that honor belongs to France.
I have yet to meet an American who regards Iraq as anything other than ‘the asshole of the universe’.I was so animated by Hastings’ remark that I called a few people and asked them what they thought. As a result, I can say that most Americans I’ve spoken to don’t think Iraq is ‘the asshole of the universe’.
We’re all pretty much agreed; that honor belongs to France.
Kilts in a twist
The BBC reports on the European Union’s difficulties over its classification of kilts.
Statisticians at the EU recently asked the Scots to start collecting data on the number of kilts they sold. There was just one problem:
Statisticians at the EU recently asked the Scots to start collecting data on the number of kilts they sold. There was just one problem:
The questionnaires, sent to Scottish firms by EU statistical agency Eurostat, did not allow kiltmakers to register the national dress as men's clothing.Priceless.
Instead, they were told to fill in how many kilts they had sold in the space provided for women's skirts.
Life in Baghdad
Ed Thomas at Biased BBC reported on Tuesday that the BBC has appointed a ‘Bias Tsar’.
I don’t know whether he’s already having an effect, but it’s good to see the BBC carrying stories focusing on the lives of ordinary Iraqis, like this photo journal on the daily life of a Baghdad laborer and his family.
I don’t know whether he’s already having an effect, but it’s good to see the BBC carrying stories focusing on the lives of ordinary Iraqis, like this photo journal on the daily life of a Baghdad laborer and his family.
Charles and the press
François Brutsch at Un Swissroll has some thoughts on the allegations being made against Prince Charles. Some commentators are, reportedly, questioning his sexuality.
I tend to avoid news reports involving the British royals unless they impact on the political sphere, and salacious gossip is not my thing, so I haven’t been following the story. However, an English friend joked recently that it’s legitimate for the British people to want to know whether their next monarch will be a king or a queen.
Not that I think it matters. But, given the level of press attention and the lack of sympathy for Charles in some quarters, it might be wise for the British monarchy to think about adopting a policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
I tend to avoid news reports involving the British royals unless they impact on the political sphere, and salacious gossip is not my thing, so I haven’t been following the story. However, an English friend joked recently that it’s legitimate for the British people to want to know whether their next monarch will be a king or a queen.
Not that I think it matters. But, given the level of press attention and the lack of sympathy for Charles in some quarters, it might be wise for the British monarchy to think about adopting a policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
November 11, 2003
More burning questions
The BBC reports that a number of arrests have been made in connection with the burning of effigies of Gypsies at a Sussex bonfire celebration.
Police have arrested a total of six men on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after a bonfire society torched an effigy of a caravan with a gypsy family painted on the side.
There are no indications that police are investigating any of the incidents involving the burning of effigies of Catholics that took place in Lewes on November 5.
Why the difference?
Also this November: Adrian Hilton, writing in the Spectator, argues that the retention of anti-Catholic legislation in the UK is vital to national security.
Harry’s Place has a post and readers' comments on the Spectator article and, getting back to bonfires, Harry's also posted his thoughts on the Burning Bush campaign.
Police have arrested a total of six men on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after a bonfire society torched an effigy of a caravan with a gypsy family painted on the side.
There are no indications that police are investigating any of the incidents involving the burning of effigies of Catholics that took place in Lewes on November 5.
Why the difference?
Also this November: Adrian Hilton, writing in the Spectator, argues that the retention of anti-Catholic legislation in the UK is vital to national security.
The wording of the Bill of Rights explains, ‘And whereas it hath been found by experience that it is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant Kingdom to be governed by a Popish Prince or by any king or queen marrying a Papist....’ Ignoring what many consider to be unacceptable terms, such as ‘Popish’ and ‘Papist’, the key word is clearly ‘experience’. Parliament went to great lengths to make the Act foundational because the nation had learnt that when a Roman Catholic monarch is upon the throne, religious and civil liberty is lost. In reading the Act, it is interesting to note how often its purpose in settling the succession of the Crown is intrinsically linked to defending the ‘rights and liberties’ of the people. It states in no uncertain terms that it is ‘absolutely necessary for the safety, peace and quiet of this realm’.Do many people agree with him? I don’t know. But I’ve wondered about the extent of anti-Catholic sentiment in the UK before.
Harry’s Place has a post and readers' comments on the Spectator article and, getting back to bonfires, Harry's also posted his thoughts on the Burning Bush campaign.
On this day
November 11, 1864
My great grandfather is in Kernstown, Virginia. A veteran of Cold Harbor, Monocacy and Cedar Creek, he is serving with Co. 'M' of the New York 9th Artillery, part of Sheridan's VI Corps in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.
My English grandfather, serving with 1st Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, is engaged in heavy fighting against superior German forces in the First Battle Of Ypres.
My father, captured while serving with the Rangers in Italy, is a POW at Stalag IIB near Hammerstein, Germany.
My great grandfather is in Kernstown, Virginia. A veteran of Cold Harbor, Monocacy and Cedar Creek, he is serving with Co. 'M' of the New York 9th Artillery, part of Sheridan's VI Corps in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.
On October 19, at dawn, after an unparalleled night march, Confederate infantry directed by Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon surprised and overwhelmed the soldiers of Crook's corps in their camps at Cedar Creek. The XIX Corps suffered a like fate as the rest of Early's army joined the attack. Only the VI Corps maintained its order as it withdrew beyond Middletown, providing a screen behind which the other corps could regroup.November 11, 1914
Sheridan, who was absent when the attack began, arrived on the field from Winchester and immediately began to organize a counterattack, saying ``if I had been with you this morning, boys, this would not have happened.'' In late afternoon, the Union army launched a coordinated counterattack that drove the Confederates back across Cedar Creek. Sheridan's leadership turned the tide, transforming Early's stunning morning victory into afternoon disaster.
My English grandfather, serving with 1st Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, is engaged in heavy fighting against superior German forces in the First Battle Of Ypres.
Fighting around Ypres would linger on until 22 November when the onset of winter weather forced a break in hostilities. The combat during this engagement was extremely confusing and unrelenting. After the fight, British survivors were content to say that they had been at "First Ypres"; no more information was necessary to explain what they endured.November 11, 1944
One soldier, Private Donald Fraser, explained it this way: "one [a man] was not a soldier unless he had served on the Ypres front." Less than half of the 160,000 men the BEF sent to France came out of the encounter unscathed.
My father, captured while serving with the Rangers in Italy, is a POW at Stalag IIB near Hammerstein, Germany.
Treatment was worse at Stalag IIB than at any other camp in Germany established for American POW before the Battle of the Bulge. Harshness at the base Stalag degenerated into brutality and outright murder on some of the Kommandos. Beatings of Americans on Kommandos by their German overseers were too numerous to list, but records that 10 Americans in work detachments were shot to death by their captors.
November 10, 2003
Dailee's back
Dailee took a break in October but she’s been back up and blogging since the start of the month. You might want to pop over and say hello.
A new feature in the Dailee sidebar is the “Here Now, Gone Tomorrow?” section, where she links, without comment, to articles of interest by other bloggers. It’s an interesting idea and fascinating to follow the threads over a number of days.
The last few times I’ve visited, Dailee has used the space to link to a handful of posts around the idea of gender roles: diversity and conformity. Or at least, that’s the thread I found running through the links; without comments from the blogger as a guide, you’re free to draw your own connections and conclusions.
I’m enthralled, not least because my Full-time father post was in the box last week. Today, among others, there’s a link to a post from Acidman, called Sleeping Late, that covers similar ground but from a different perspective. Check it out.
Welcome back Lee!
A new feature in the Dailee sidebar is the “Here Now, Gone Tomorrow?” section, where she links, without comment, to articles of interest by other bloggers. It’s an interesting idea and fascinating to follow the threads over a number of days.
The last few times I’ve visited, Dailee has used the space to link to a handful of posts around the idea of gender roles: diversity and conformity. Or at least, that’s the thread I found running through the links; without comments from the blogger as a guide, you’re free to draw your own connections and conclusions.
I’m enthralled, not least because my Full-time father post was in the box last week. Today, among others, there’s a link to a post from Acidman, called Sleeping Late, that covers similar ground but from a different perspective. Check it out.
Welcome back Lee!
Focus on crime
It’s been a slow start to the week after a fairly hectic weekend.
I stayed up late Saturday night in the hope of catching the lunar eclipse. Cloud cover kept me from seeing very much at all. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve somehow offended the sky gods, because it looks like clear skies elsewhere allowed a good view of the event.
I didn’t see a lot in the sky Saturday night but I did manage to disturb some local lads who were taking an unhealthy interest in Mac’s car. They didn’t do much damage but this kind of thing is getting monotonous.
Regular readers will know this is the same car that was stolen in October. We’ve only just got it back from the pound.
On the strength of this incident, Jay at A Voyage to Arcturus reckons amateur astronomers should get a discount on their car insurance. I don’t know. I was thinking of getting a big, heavy telescope and keeping it close to hand, just in case it happens again.
I realize I'm open to criticism for choosing a brute-force solution but, for some reason, it appeals to me at the moment.
I stayed up late Saturday night in the hope of catching the lunar eclipse. Cloud cover kept me from seeing very much at all. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve somehow offended the sky gods, because it looks like clear skies elsewhere allowed a good view of the event.
I didn’t see a lot in the sky Saturday night but I did manage to disturb some local lads who were taking an unhealthy interest in Mac’s car. They didn’t do much damage but this kind of thing is getting monotonous.
Regular readers will know this is the same car that was stolen in October. We’ve only just got it back from the pound.
On the strength of this incident, Jay at A Voyage to Arcturus reckons amateur astronomers should get a discount on their car insurance. I don’t know. I was thinking of getting a big, heavy telescope and keeping it close to hand, just in case it happens again.
I realize I'm open to criticism for choosing a brute-force solution but, for some reason, it appeals to me at the moment.
Punk and New Wave
Michele at A Small Victory has a number of good posts up about Punk and New Wave music. I was interested enough to get involved in the comments. Lileks was there too. In fact, he started Michelle off on the whole thing.
I’ve heard people say that Punk and New Wave were terms invented after the fact, by record companies and the media, to describe phenomena they weren’t part of and didn’t understand. KFX makes the same point in a comment to one of Michele's posts.
It's a view that's surprisingly widespread, but it's certainly not the way I remember it.
From what I've heard, the New York Dolls were Punk in ‘74; the people who went to see them knew that. They didn’t think it because the New Yorker told them to. Malcolm McLaren knew the Sex Pistols were going to be a Punk band when he put them together. He’d worked with the New York Dolls and had seen the possibilities.
In England in late ’76, “punk rockers” seemed to be everywhere. Most of them were following fashion, but the bands they followed knew they were playing Punk Rock. They didn’t find the word in the Sunday Times; they knew it already. They could occasionally be quite provocative on the subject, as I remember it.
In England in ’76, the Listener magazine was talking about “a new wave” of “punk-rock groups” and those who weren’t close to the music might use the terms interchangeably. But by 1977, there was a lot of other new music around apart from Punk. On the home front, not all the kids who’d picked up guitars had stuck to three chords. And, more and more, American bands playing new music where coming over to England and getting a warm reception. New Wave became anything that was new music but wasn’t Punk. Or at least, that’s how I used the term back then.
Not that people didn’t argue about it. In Liverpool, discussions about which bands were “real” punks and which weren’t could get heated. Lileks hit the nail on the head (as usual) when he commented.
I managed to catch a slice of Punk and early New Wave, though my perspective is a little parochial: a couple of years in Liverpool in the late 1970s. Whatever you want to call it, the distinctive thing about the UK scene at the time was that it seemed as much a social movement as a music genre.
It was a do-it-yourself revolution.
Kids who’d been learning to play guitar, jacked in the lessons and started to gig instead. You didn’t have to be good (or, in my case, even competent), you just had to play. You can categorize the resulting noise any way you want, but the energy that went into making the music was new and it had attitude.
The influence of Punk and the New Wave music of the late seventies and early eighties is far-reaching and well attested. What’s often overlooked, is the revolution the music created in the UK distribution industry.
The same just-do-it approach and disdain for conventionality that went into the new music was carried over into its production and distribution. In response to the wave of new bands and new sounds, small independent labels sprang up (usually started by the band or friends of the band) to try and get the music out. The small record shops that sold the product (the big stores wouldn’t touch it) became meeting places for devotees of the new music. Probe Records was the place to go in Liverpool, but the pattern was pretty much the same all over.
Staffed by enthusiasts and seeing the demand, some of these record shops started to move into distribution. It was a backroom operation at first, small scale and simple, but in some cases it quickly grew to swamp the retail side of the business. This happened with Rough Trade in London and Revolver Records in Bristol. And when it did, UK independent music distribution was born.
Today, according to AIM, “the UK independent record sector accounts for a quarter of the UK market and leads the world in terms of music innovation.”
When I worked in the industry in the early nineties, Revolver Distribution had a multi-million pound turnover but was still owned and managed by a music enthusiast who’d started out distributing records from the back room of a small record shop in Bristol.
Restructured and renamed in 1993, Revolver (now called Vital) has been associated with a string of successes.
Twenty-five years on, I couldn’t tell you what happened to most of the bands, but one of the New Wave businesses just made it big.
I’ve heard people say that Punk and New Wave were terms invented after the fact, by record companies and the media, to describe phenomena they weren’t part of and didn’t understand. KFX makes the same point in a comment to one of Michele's posts.
It's a view that's surprisingly widespread, but it's certainly not the way I remember it.
From what I've heard, the New York Dolls were Punk in ‘74; the people who went to see them knew that. They didn’t think it because the New Yorker told them to. Malcolm McLaren knew the Sex Pistols were going to be a Punk band when he put them together. He’d worked with the New York Dolls and had seen the possibilities.
In England in late ’76, “punk rockers” seemed to be everywhere. Most of them were following fashion, but the bands they followed knew they were playing Punk Rock. They didn’t find the word in the Sunday Times; they knew it already. They could occasionally be quite provocative on the subject, as I remember it.
In England in ’76, the Listener magazine was talking about “a new wave” of “punk-rock groups” and those who weren’t close to the music might use the terms interchangeably. But by 1977, there was a lot of other new music around apart from Punk. On the home front, not all the kids who’d picked up guitars had stuck to three chords. And, more and more, American bands playing new music where coming over to England and getting a warm reception. New Wave became anything that was new music but wasn’t Punk. Or at least, that’s how I used the term back then.
Not that people didn’t argue about it. In Liverpool, discussions about which bands were “real” punks and which weren’t could get heated. Lileks hit the nail on the head (as usual) when he commented.
Punk and New Wave have been folded together. It's inevitable; what once were Great Schisms that wrecked friendships become, after a quarter-century, subtle stylistic differences. It's wrong, but history is lazy, and music historians even lazier.By 1980, the Washington Post was using the term more narrowly, when it referred to British bands like the Police and Elvis Costello as part of the English “New Wave”.
I managed to catch a slice of Punk and early New Wave, though my perspective is a little parochial: a couple of years in Liverpool in the late 1970s. Whatever you want to call it, the distinctive thing about the UK scene at the time was that it seemed as much a social movement as a music genre.
It was a do-it-yourself revolution.
Kids who’d been learning to play guitar, jacked in the lessons and started to gig instead. You didn’t have to be good (or, in my case, even competent), you just had to play. You can categorize the resulting noise any way you want, but the energy that went into making the music was new and it had attitude.
The influence of Punk and the New Wave music of the late seventies and early eighties is far-reaching and well attested. What’s often overlooked, is the revolution the music created in the UK distribution industry.
The same just-do-it approach and disdain for conventionality that went into the new music was carried over into its production and distribution. In response to the wave of new bands and new sounds, small independent labels sprang up (usually started by the band or friends of the band) to try and get the music out. The small record shops that sold the product (the big stores wouldn’t touch it) became meeting places for devotees of the new music. Probe Records was the place to go in Liverpool, but the pattern was pretty much the same all over.
Staffed by enthusiasts and seeing the demand, some of these record shops started to move into distribution. It was a backroom operation at first, small scale and simple, but in some cases it quickly grew to swamp the retail side of the business. This happened with Rough Trade in London and Revolver Records in Bristol. And when it did, UK independent music distribution was born.
Today, according to AIM, “the UK independent record sector accounts for a quarter of the UK market and leads the world in terms of music innovation.”
When I worked in the industry in the early nineties, Revolver Distribution had a multi-million pound turnover but was still owned and managed by a music enthusiast who’d started out distributing records from the back room of a small record shop in Bristol.
Restructured and renamed in 1993, Revolver (now called Vital) has been associated with a string of successes.
In 1996, Vital became the first independent distributor to have both the number one and two records in the national album charts in the same week with The Bluetones "Expecting To Fly" and Oasis "(What's The Story) Morning Glory".In 2000, Vital became the largest independent music distributor in the UK.
Twenty-five years on, I couldn’t tell you what happened to most of the bands, but one of the New Wave businesses just made it big.
November 08, 2003
More diplomatic criticism
A recent survey by the European Union found that 52% of Europeans believe America is a major threat to world peace. That puts us on a par with Iran and North Korea, and only slightly behind Israel, which 59% of Europeans regard as the country posing the greatest threat.
On Wednesday, Newsweek’s Richard Wolffe reacted to the news.
I don’t want to be too hard on Richard Wolffe. He’s just mouthing the same sort of nonsense James Rubin came out with back in August, and probably thinks he’s being clever. I hope he’s being partisan. Because if people really believe that those survey results, and the lack of European support on Iraq, are due to a failure of diplomacy by the Bush administration, then we’re in deeper trouble than I thought.
I’ll leave it to Natan Sharansky to ponder why a nation of Jews might be seen as a threat to peace and security. The European view of America is somewhat easier to explain. Put simply, Europeans are just not that fond of Americans; some are envious of our power but most are suspicious of our motives. They don’t like the way we organize our economy, they despise us for supporting Israel and they hate us because they think we’re destroying the environment.
How’s diplomacy going to help?
Update
A couple of other perspectives. One from the BBC on Arab and Israeli press reaction to the survey results. The other, an old Instapundit post, provides an insight into British public opinion on the Middle East, Europe and America; not timely but apt.
Update
In the essay by Natan Sharansky I link to he misquotes Martin Luther King. A Voyage to Arcturus has the story.
On Wednesday, Newsweek’s Richard Wolffe reacted to the news.
Shocking as they are, these numbers are not an excuse to beat up our favorite European stereotypes. There was a time when it was easy to dismiss the rest of the world as a bunch of spineless and spoiled children, hiding under America’s security umbrella while throwing hissy fits at the adults in Washington. (That was around the same time when it was easy to dump on anyone who cared about the rest of the world by branding them a weak-willed internationalist.)The survey results show that Europe is descending into anti-Semitism and a reflexive anti-Americanism. To think that the correct response to such bigotry and ignorance is more and better American diplomacy is morally inadequate. It is also unlikely to be effective.
That time is long gone. The European poll shows this dispute has gone far beyond name-calling. What started out as a little overheated rhetoric has grown into a full-blown crisis that threatens U.S. policy across the world.
I don’t want to be too hard on Richard Wolffe. He’s just mouthing the same sort of nonsense James Rubin came out with back in August, and probably thinks he’s being clever. I hope he’s being partisan. Because if people really believe that those survey results, and the lack of European support on Iraq, are due to a failure of diplomacy by the Bush administration, then we’re in deeper trouble than I thought.
I’ll leave it to Natan Sharansky to ponder why a nation of Jews might be seen as a threat to peace and security. The European view of America is somewhat easier to explain. Put simply, Europeans are just not that fond of Americans; some are envious of our power but most are suspicious of our motives. They don’t like the way we organize our economy, they despise us for supporting Israel and they hate us because they think we’re destroying the environment.
How’s diplomacy going to help?
Update
A couple of other perspectives. One from the BBC on Arab and Israeli press reaction to the survey results. The other, an old Instapundit post, provides an insight into British public opinion on the Middle East, Europe and America; not timely but apt.
Update
In the essay by Natan Sharansky I link to he misquotes Martin Luther King. A Voyage to Arcturus has the story.
Saturday roundup
Donald Sensing on the rationale for war in Iraq
Josh Chafetz’s speech at the Oxford Union debate on winning the peace
Michael J Totten on President Bush’s speech
Kim du Toit on the “Pussification of the Western Male”
Lileks reviews (and fisks a review of) Matrix Revolutions.
Josh Chafetz’s speech at the Oxford Union debate on winning the peace
Michael J Totten on President Bush’s speech
Kim du Toit on the “Pussification of the Western Male”
Lileks reviews (and fisks a review of) Matrix Revolutions.
November 07, 2003
Schrodinger’s cat
When it comes to the use of animals in scientific metaphor, I doubt whether any have been as badly treated as Schrodinger’s cat.
This unfortunate animal is repeatedly stuffed in a box and poisoned, all in the name of science. Cruel “thought experiments” like this might have some point if they advanced the public’s understanding of quantum mechanics, but it seems the poor creature is suffering in vain.
Here’s a shocking example of the cat’s mistreatment from Whatis.com.
This unfortunate animal is repeatedly stuffed in a box and poisoned, all in the name of science. Cruel “thought experiments” like this might have some point if they advanced the public’s understanding of quantum mechanics, but it seems the poor creature is suffering in vain.
Here’s a shocking example of the cat’s mistreatment from Whatis.com.
First, we have a living cat and place it in a thick lead box. At this stage, there is no question that the cat is alive. We then throw in a vial of cyanide and seal the box. We do not know if the cat is alive or if it has broken the cyanide capsule and died. Since we do not know, the cat is both dead and alive, according to quantum law, in a superposition of states. It is only when we break open the box and learn the condition of the cat that the superposition is lost, and the cat becomes one or the other (dead or alive).Ghastly!
Worse than cockroaches
Via Citizen Smash: Mark Steyn, writing in the Spectator, on the Western alliance and the death of Europe.
On 11 September 2001, I wrote that one of the casualties of the day’s events would be the Western alliance: ‘The US taxpayer’s willingness to pay for the defence of Canada and Europe has contributed to the decay of America’s so-called “allies”, freeing them to disband their armed forces, flirt with dictators and gangster states, and essentially convert themselves to semi-non-aligned.’ ‘The West’ was an obsolete concept, because, as I put it later that month, for everyone but America ‘the free world is mostly a free ride’.Steyn also has something to say about the cockroach metaphor. I agree it’s not particularly apt, but it makes a change from weasels.
November 06, 2003
Political pantomime
The BBC reports:
Michael Howard has been crowned Tory leader after winning the one-horse race to replace Iain Duncan Smith.A few weeks back, Oliver Kamm explained why Iain Duncan Smith had to go.
IDS is not talented; if he is bright, it isn't evident in anything he says or does. His abrasiveness, intended to project decisiveness, screams weakness. His attempted quips - the threat to shoot Tony Blair, the prediction that the men in grey suits delegated to depose him would leave without their suits - are always witless and sometimes surreal. His attacks on his political opponents are mean-spirited and small-minded. He is inarticulate and intellectually incurious.I can't wait to read what he thinks of Michael Howard.
Smear tactics
Last week, over a hundred scientists wrote an open letter to the British government complaining about its failure to correct misleading media reports on the results of GM crop trials.
Yesterday, as Envirospin Watch reports, the Guardian tried to discredit the signatories by accusing them of being stooges for the biotechnology industry.
Yesterday, as Envirospin Watch reports, the Guardian tried to discredit the signatories by accusing them of being stooges for the biotechnology industry.
November 05, 2003
Full-time father
Everything I’ve ever done for money:
Three years ago, I gave up work to look after the boys. We’d gotten fed up of a succession of unsuitable au-pairs (read “Jekyll and Hyde”) and decided one of us would have to stay home full-time. Mac was earning more than me, so she’s still putting in the hours.
I sometimes joke that I’ve retired, but some days I can’t imagine ever going back to work.
Paperboy, bakery worker, bus conductor, disc jockey, psychiatric nurse, games designer, entertainment manager, insulation installer, bookkeeper, project administrator, crystal-ball salesman, retail manager, internal auditor, financial controller, finance manager, entrepreneur, commercial manager, finance director, bank manager, management consultant, chief executive.Spending most of each day at home, mired in the isolation of domestic chores, I occasionally feel the need to remind myself that I was once valued for more than my uncanny ability with a feather duster.
Three years ago, I gave up work to look after the boys. We’d gotten fed up of a succession of unsuitable au-pairs (read “Jekyll and Hyde”) and decided one of us would have to stay home full-time. Mac was earning more than me, so she’s still putting in the hours.
I sometimes joke that I’ve retired, but some days I can’t imagine ever going back to work.
Perfidious BBC
In the past, I’ve criticized the BBC for its coverage of Palestinian terrorism and those who support it. Today, Natalie Solent, posting at Biased BBC, was pleased to see the BBC using the phrase “Palestinan violence”, along with its acknowledgement that “Israel sees the barriers as vital to stop suicide bombers flooding into its cities to terrorise the civilian population."
I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies, but I don’t think this marks a sea change in the BBC's attitude towards terrorist violence in the Middle East. The BBC’s Alan Little explained the Corporation’s stance on terrorism in an analysis piece for BBC News back in December 2001.
The BBC’s terror creed has three key tenets.
1. Terrorists are motivated by legitimate grievances.
2. Fighting terrorism directly is futile, “ the harder you hit it, the stronger it seems to grow”.
3. The War on Terror is US hypocrisy; America is as guilty of state terrorism as Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Iran and Libya.
I imagine it’s this sort of thing that prompts Natalie Solent to call the BBC “traitors to the civilisation they claim to represent”. The charge is not preposterous.
These days, British licence payers are a small minority of the BBC’s customers, it caters largely to an international audience. If that involves working against Britain’s interests then, as Greg Dyke made clear in April, the BBC will put its audience before its country every time.
I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies, but I don’t think this marks a sea change in the BBC's attitude towards terrorist violence in the Middle East. The BBC’s Alan Little explained the Corporation’s stance on terrorism in an analysis piece for BBC News back in December 2001.
The BBC’s terror creed has three key tenets.
1. Terrorists are motivated by legitimate grievances.
2. Fighting terrorism directly is futile, “ the harder you hit it, the stronger it seems to grow”.
3. The War on Terror is US hypocrisy; America is as guilty of state terrorism as Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Iran and Libya.
I imagine it’s this sort of thing that prompts Natalie Solent to call the BBC “traitors to the civilisation they claim to represent”. The charge is not preposterous.
These days, British licence payers are a small minority of the BBC’s customers, it caters largely to an international audience. If that involves working against Britain’s interests then, as Greg Dyke made clear in April, the BBC will put its audience before its country every time.
Ranting and raving
One of the joys of reading the Daily Telegraph (an otherwise fairly sensible, conservative newspaper) is that, every once in a while, one of their writers will lose a stabilizer and go spiralling off into an entirely inappropriate rant.
It happened again yesterday. Here’s the story.
A couple of weeks ago, in his regular EuroPress Review for NRO, Denis Boyles looked at some of the factors he thought might be responsible for the rise of nihilism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Americanism in Europe.
Boyles focused on the “cockroaches” in the European Social Forum, (“a global, transnational, conglomerate of well-organized anarchistic antiglobalization groups”), and in particular, on Tariq Ramadan, one of the ESF’s leading lights and grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Adam Nicolson, writing in yesterday’s Telegraph had a response to Boyles’s piece. With some gusto, Nicolson gets hold of the wrong end of the stick and goes thrashing about with it in the tangled undergrowth of his own imaginings.
Iain Murray found the article interesting for a different reason.
It happened again yesterday. Here’s the story.
A couple of weeks ago, in his regular EuroPress Review for NRO, Denis Boyles looked at some of the factors he thought might be responsible for the rise of nihilism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Americanism in Europe.
Boyles focused on the “cockroaches” in the European Social Forum, (“a global, transnational, conglomerate of well-organized anarchistic antiglobalization groups”), and in particular, on Tariq Ramadan, one of the ESF’s leading lights and grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Adam Nicolson, writing in yesterday’s Telegraph had a response to Boyles’s piece. With some gusto, Nicolson gets hold of the wrong end of the stick and goes thrashing about with it in the tangled undergrowth of his own imaginings.
That is a degree of loathing and contempt, of wilful misinterpretation of foreigners, which you would normally associate with propaganda about an enemy in wartime. Stupid, uneducated, infertile, morally incompetent, socially dead, more animal than human: Boyles's Europe is a continent of Calibans. At no time since the American War of Independence have Americans, or at least some of them, including the hardline Republican Americans of the sort now in government in Washington, viewed Europe and the Europeans with such visceral hatred.Did he say “wilful misinterpretation of foreigners”?
Iain Murray found the article interesting for a different reason.
November 04, 2003
Beyond the future
Joe Katzman links to a thought provoking post by Jay Manifold at A Voyage to Arcturus about Russian astronomer Nikolai Kardashev’s ideas on the physics of extraterrestrial civilizations.
Kardashev’s classification of civilizations depending on their level of energy use received popular attention after Michio Kaku introduced his ideas to the general public in his book “Hyperspace”, first published in 1994.
Musing on Kardashev’s ideas is fun but, as Michio notes, “any conjecture about such advanced civilizations is a matter of sheer speculation”. Of more relevance to our current situation, are Michio’s thoughts on the universal problem facing Type 0 civilizations: the discovery of element 92.
From “Hyperspace” (OUP 1994):
Kardashev’s classification of civilizations depending on their level of energy use received popular attention after Michio Kaku introduced his ideas to the general public in his book “Hyperspace”, first published in 1994.
Musing on Kardashev’s ideas is fun but, as Michio notes, “any conjecture about such advanced civilizations is a matter of sheer speculation”. Of more relevance to our current situation, are Michio’s thoughts on the universal problem facing Type 0 civilizations: the discovery of element 92.
From “Hyperspace” (OUP 1994):
The development of the internal combustion engine (for example, a car engine) requires the development of a complex chemical and industrial base, which can be accomplished by only a cohesive social unit numbering in the millions (for example, the nation-state).On the same page, Michio quotes Heinz Pagel’s words:
The discovery of element 92 upsets this balance between the slow steady rise of the cohesive social unit and its technological development. The releasing of nuclear energy dwarfs chemical explosives by a factor of a million, but the same nation-state that can harness the internal combustion engine can also refine element 92.
Thus a severe mismatch occurs especially when the development of this hypothetical civilization is still locked in the form of hostile nation-states. The technology for mayhem and destruction abruptly outpaces the slow development of social relations with the discovery of element 92.
It is natural, to conclude, therefore, that Type 0 civilizations arose on numerous occasions within the last 5- to 10-billion-year history of our galaxy, but that they all eventually discovered element 92. […] Regrettably, if we live long enough to reach nearby stars in our sector of the galaxy, we may see the ashes of numerous, dead civilizations that settled national passions, personal jealousies, and racial hatred with nuclear bombs.
The challenge to our civilization which has come from our knowledge of the cosmic energies that fuel the stars, the movement of light and electrons through matter, the intricate molecular order which is the biological basis of life, must be met by the creation of a moral and political order which will accommodate these forces, or we shall be destroyed. It will try our deepest resources of reason and compassion.It’s fun to muse “beyond the future” but the physics of extraterrestrial civilizations apply to us also. As the 21st century unfolds, it is not idle speculation to wonder whether our own civilization will survive to attempt the stars or perish in the fire.
November 03, 2003
At home with Hitler
Browsing and blogging can lead to a myriad of outcomes, as the Guardian’s Simon Waldman found out in August, when he posted an article featuring Adolf Hitler from a 1938 copy of “Homes and Gardens”.
The H&G piece has some interesting pictures, but it’s the article’s admiring portrayal of Hitler in a British magazine of the time that makes it significant. It's a classic piece of appeasement propaganda, from a time when public opinion in the UK was starting to move away from support for Chamberlain’s policy of negotiation.
It's chilling to think that the same people who read the November 1938 issue of “Homes and Gardens” would also have been reading newspaper reports that November about the violent events of Kristallnacht.
As a result of this casual browse through an old magazine, I have struck up a friendship with an amateur historian in Louisiana, been involved in a copyright tussle with the UK's biggest magazine publisher, been branded a Nazi sympathiser, been written about in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune and the Jerusalem Post, and become the subject of a petition from 60 Holocaust scholars as well as protests from David Irving.Last month, at the request of IPC Magazines (owners of the original copyright), Waldman took down the pages he'd scanned onto his blog from “Homes and Gardens.” But since then, I’m pleased to say, the Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies has successfully lobbied IPC Magazines to have the pages published on the internet, and Waldman has now rebuilt his original post at Words of Waldman.
The H&G piece has some interesting pictures, but it’s the article’s admiring portrayal of Hitler in a British magazine of the time that makes it significant. It's a classic piece of appeasement propaganda, from a time when public opinion in the UK was starting to move away from support for Chamberlain’s policy of negotiation.
It's chilling to think that the same people who read the November 1938 issue of “Homes and Gardens” would also have been reading newspaper reports that November about the violent events of Kristallnacht.
Progress in Iraq
Back in July, the Salt Lake Tribune reported on the state of the Iraqi banking system
And, as the Economist reports today, for some Iraqis at least, things are looking up.
With assault rifles and acetylene torches, roaming bands of robbers have nearly wiped out Iraq's once-booming banking system, posing one of the biggest hurdles to reconstruction efforts. Baghdad's financial district is a wreck of blown-out vaults, burned-out buildings and blocks of broken glass.On Friday, the CPA announced that the Iraqi Central Bank has now authorized four private banks to conduct international transactions and handle Letters of Credit. It maybe doesn’t sound like much, but it’s another important step towards the reconstruction of the country's economy.
Smoldering at the center of the chaos is the Iraqi Central Bank, where all nine floors have collapsed into a hollow shell. The U.S.-led Office of Reconstruction calls the situation dire, with one official conceding "there is little or no banking in place, no money flow."
And, as the Economist reports today, for some Iraqis at least, things are looking up.
For many Iraqis, living standards have already risen a lot. Boosted by government make-work programmes, day labourers are getting double their pre-war wages. A university dean's pay has gone up fourfold, a policeman's by a factor of ten.Despite the continuing attacks on US troops, things are getting better. Not fast enough for many of the administration’s critics, but they are improving.
Before the war, Kifah Karim, a teacher at a Baghdad primary school, took home monthly pay equivalent to just $6. Her husband earned $13 as a factory overseer. Today, with a combined income of close to $450, they no longer rely on gifts of meat from Mrs Karim's brother, a butcher, to buttress a diet dominated by government food rations. They buy 2-3 kilos of meat a week, and have recently purchased a new fridge, a television, a TV satellite dish, a VCR and a CD player.
Liberals at war
Joe Katzman at Winds of Change has “a Liberal blog-panel on the U.S. Democratic Party & National Security.”
Open hypocrisy
Left-wing Labour MP Diane Abbot has criticized Tony Blair and other members of her party for sending their children to private schools.
Surprisingly, as the BBC reports, Abbot has now decided to send her son to a private school at a cost of £10,000 a year. On Sunday, in an interview with a UK newspaper, she said:
Surprisingly, as the BBC reports, Abbot has now decided to send her son to a private school at a cost of £10,000 a year. On Sunday, in an interview with a UK newspaper, she said:
Private schools prop up the class system in society.Asked about the mismatch between her political position and her private behavior, she said:
It is inconsistent, to put it mildly, for someone who believes in a fairer and more egalitarian society to send their child to a fee-paying school.
I just don't possess that level of principle.Obviously.
November 02, 2003
Out and about
Not much blogging today; we’ve just got back from a family day out.
We went to visit some friends who live in a converted falconer’s lodge in the middle of Salisbury Plain. It’s a rural idyll, or would be if they weren’t almost entirely surrounded by a military training area.
Anyway, they have a small apple orchard and every year around this time they make cider. It won’t be ready until the spring, but today we picked, pulped and juiced enough apples to make nigh on five gallons of the stuff. We’d have reached the ten gallon mark but we had to stop for Sunday dinner. By the time we’d finished eating (and drinking some of last year’s cider) none of the grown-ups felt like doing very much.
I don’t know whether it’s the cider or all that fresh clean country air, but I’m bushed and just about blogged out.
Back tomorrow.
We went to visit some friends who live in a converted falconer’s lodge in the middle of Salisbury Plain. It’s a rural idyll, or would be if they weren’t almost entirely surrounded by a military training area.
Anyway, they have a small apple orchard and every year around this time they make cider. It won’t be ready until the spring, but today we picked, pulped and juiced enough apples to make nigh on five gallons of the stuff. We’d have reached the ten gallon mark but we had to stop for Sunday dinner. By the time we’d finished eating (and drinking some of last year’s cider) none of the grown-ups felt like doing very much.
I don’t know whether it’s the cider or all that fresh clean country air, but I’m bushed and just about blogged out.
Back tomorrow.
Europe's view of Israel
The Guardian reports:
I think that’s how a lot of people over here would like to portray it, but unfortunately most anti-Israel Europeans I have spoken to believe Israel is a threat to world peace simply because it exists.
Israel has been described as the top threat to world peace, ahead of North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran, by an unpublished European Commission poll of 7,500 Europeans, sparking an international row. The survey, conducted in October, of 500 people from each of the EU's member nations included a list of 15 countries with the question, 'tell me if in your opinion it presents or not a threat to peace in the world'. Israel was reportedly picked by 59 per cent of those interviewed.Details of the survey results were leaked to the International Herald Tribune, which ran the story FridayThe Guardian seems to think that the results demonstrate “widespread disapproval in Europe of the tactics employed by the government of Ariel Sharon during the present intifada.”
I think that’s how a lot of people over here would like to portray it, but unfortunately most anti-Israel Europeans I have spoken to believe Israel is a threat to world peace simply because it exists.
November 01, 2003
Chicken Tikka
Stephen Green has been posting some fine Friday recipes lately. A couple of weeks ago, he posted his recipe for Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (it involves a lot of wine) and then yesterday he had a recipe for Szechwan Stir Fry. It sounds nice, I think I'll try it out sometime this week.
Seeing those recipes at Vodkapundit reminded me that I’d been wanting to post this recipe for Chicken Tikka ever since I put up the one for Pilau Rice a while back.
I love Indian food and I cook it a lot at home. It takes time and can seem fiddly, but it's usually worth the effort. A lot of the dishes I cook are a little too spicey for the two younger boys, but they just love Chicken Tikka. Next to my fajitas, and Mac’s Jerk Chicken Casserole, it’s their favorite way to eat chicken.
The measurements are in Imperial.
Chicken Tikka
1lb skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp salt
juice of ½ a lemon
few drops of red food colouring mixed with 1 tbsp tomato puree
2 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
½ inch cube of root ginger peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tsps ground coriander
½ tsp garam masala
¼ of a whole nutmeg finely grated
½ tsp ground turmeric
125g/5oz thick set natural yoghurt
4 tbsps vegetable oil
½ tsp chilli powder
Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes sprinkle with half the salt and the lemon juice mix well, cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
Blend the rest of the ingredients in a food processor then put the marinade through a sieve onto the chicken pieces, mix well, cover and leave to stand for 6-8 hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/gas mark 8.
Line a roasting tin with aluminium foil.
Thread the chicken cubes onto skewers leaving ¼ inch gap between each, place the skewers in the prepared tin and spoon over half of the remaining marinade. Cook in the oven for 6-8 minutes.
Remove the tin from the oven turn the skewers over, spoon the remaining marinade over the chicken cubes and return to the oven for a further 6-8 minutes.
Almost forgot the Mint Raita to serve with it.
125g/5oz of thick-set natural yoghurt
1 small onion finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 fresh green chilli deseeded and chopped
¼ tsp paprika
½ tsp salt
Beat the yoghurt until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients except the paprika and beat again. Transfer the raita to a serving dish and sprinkle with paprika.
Seeing those recipes at Vodkapundit reminded me that I’d been wanting to post this recipe for Chicken Tikka ever since I put up the one for Pilau Rice a while back.
I love Indian food and I cook it a lot at home. It takes time and can seem fiddly, but it's usually worth the effort. A lot of the dishes I cook are a little too spicey for the two younger boys, but they just love Chicken Tikka. Next to my fajitas, and Mac’s Jerk Chicken Casserole, it’s their favorite way to eat chicken.
The measurements are in Imperial.
Chicken Tikka
1lb skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp salt
juice of ½ a lemon
few drops of red food colouring mixed with 1 tbsp tomato puree
2 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
½ inch cube of root ginger peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tsps ground coriander
½ tsp garam masala
¼ of a whole nutmeg finely grated
½ tsp ground turmeric
125g/5oz thick set natural yoghurt
4 tbsps vegetable oil
½ tsp chilli powder
Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes sprinkle with half the salt and the lemon juice mix well, cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
Blend the rest of the ingredients in a food processor then put the marinade through a sieve onto the chicken pieces, mix well, cover and leave to stand for 6-8 hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/gas mark 8.
Line a roasting tin with aluminium foil.
Thread the chicken cubes onto skewers leaving ¼ inch gap between each, place the skewers in the prepared tin and spoon over half of the remaining marinade. Cook in the oven for 6-8 minutes.
Remove the tin from the oven turn the skewers over, spoon the remaining marinade over the chicken cubes and return to the oven for a further 6-8 minutes.
Almost forgot the Mint Raita to serve with it.
125g/5oz of thick-set natural yoghurt
1 small onion finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 fresh green chilli deseeded and chopped
¼ tsp paprika
½ tsp salt
Beat the yoghurt until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients except the paprika and beat again. Transfer the raita to a serving dish and sprinkle with paprika.
News round
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The Independent The Independent goes tabloid
The Times Letter boxes sealed as mail strike goes national
CBS News FDA says cloned milk and meat OK
The Guardian Sky TV faces sexual assault claim
BBC Hunters pledge to defy the law
Sky News Virus spreads aboard cruise liner
The Independent The Independent goes tabloid
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