Posted in Uncategorized, tagged The Egotistical Ramblings Of A Future Dole Recipient on May 24, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Since I’ve nothing better to do, we’ll begin, if you don’t mind, with a portrait of the blogger as a teenage boy:
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Even the most generous critic would have to admit that our subject was less of a Radiant Adolescent and more of a Malformed Runt. His teeth were shackled with braces and his face was [...]
Posted in Misc., tagged Hull City on May 24, 2008 | 5 Comments »
In honour of Hull City, who (somewhat improbably, given their recent history) won themselves promotion to the Premier League, a song by The Beautiful South that insists London, Milan, Lisbon, Dublin, Madrid and Paris are nothing compared to Hull’s delights:
“How can you like this place when it never even rains?”
To add to the fairytale dynamic, [...]
Posted in British Politics, Crime, New Labour, tagged British Politics, Crime, New Labour, Richard Garside, Youth Crime on May 22, 2008 | No Comments »
Tokenistic and superficial - Richard Garside’s withering appraisal of Labour’s attempts to deal with the causes of crime, as opposed to just banging people up in prison. Why, after 11 years and significant investment by the government, hasn’t there been any measurable impact on the level of youth crime? Garside argues that Labour’s obsession with [...]
Posted in British Politics, Conservative Party, David Cameron, tagged Boris Johnson, Bullingdon, David Cameron, Oxford University, Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit on May 22, 2008 | No Comments »
Let tories be tories! End discrimination against the rich! Jonathan Freedland on class and the Crewe by-election:
Class has been a factor in the byelection campaign, with Labour hounding Timpson for his silver-spoon upbringing, despatching volunteers to the constituency in top hats and tails. And class has become a factor in our national politics, with Labour proving [...]
Posted in U.S. Politics, tagged Edward Kennedy, Ted Kennedy on May 21, 2008 | 2 Comments »
As people from right across the political divide pray for his recovery, a brief overview of his incredible record as a public servant:
Kennedy has been a player in literally every major progressive accomplishment of my life, usually a major player, quite often the leading player: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act, [...]
Posted in British Politics, Conservative Party, Feminisms, tagged 24 weeks, Abortion, Conservatives, Nadine Dorries on May 21, 2008 | No Comments »
As pro-choicers rightly bask in the knowledge that a woman’s right to choose won’t be eroded for at least the duration of this government, now is probably the best possible moment to warn against complacency. At Comment is Free, Mary Kenny argues that this debate has become far more complicated than those had during the [...]
Posted in British Politics, Feminisms, tagged Ally Fogg, Comment Is Free, Crime, Violence, Women on May 20, 2008 | No Comments »
Here’s a dilemma that’s got ‘Bleeding Heart’ written all over it: how do we understand the not-so-shocking fact that rather than just being simpering, sugar & spice sweethearts, women are just as capable (though far less likely) of committing crime as men?
Whilst he doesn’t make any earth-shattering insights (this is Comment is Free, after all), [...]
Posted in Asylum, Gay Rights, tagged Gay Rights, Iran, Mehdi Kazemi, Simon Hughes on May 20, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Some of my more ‘veteran readers’ (i.e. the 6 people who knew I was keeping this blog), might remember an earlier post about Mehdi Kazemi, the 19-year-old Iranian teenager who sought asylum in Britain and feared he would be killed if returned to Iran (not without justification, either - his own boyfriend was killed for [...]
Posted in British Politics on May 20, 2008 | No Comments »
So far, so good. After backing the use of hybrid embryos and rejecting a ban on ‘saviour siblings‘, the Commons has now voted against Ian Duncan Smith’s amendment to require that all those seeking IVF treatment must provide a father and a mother, thereby excluding lesbian couples from conceiving.
The vote on abortion will happen sometime [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged American Idol, Fake News, Hamas, Humour on May 19, 2008 | No Comments »
Today’s fake news. Damn you, Hamas! Is there no dearly-loved democratic institution you won’t try to subvert?!
Pundits of the right and left, along with music industry executives and several million teenage girls, clashed today over what appeared to be an endorsement of American Idol contestant David Archuleta by the radical Islamic organization Hamas. The disputed [...]
Posted in Barack Obama, U.S. Politics, tagged Barack Obama, Robert Byrd on May 19, 2008 | 2 Comments »
In an endorsement rich with symbolism, Senator Robert Bryd of West Virginia (a state that went overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton) has endorsed Barack Obama for President:
“After a great deal of thought, consideration and prayer over the situation in Iraq, I have decided that, as a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, I will cast my [...]
Posted in British Politics, New Labour, tagged Crewe By-election, Tamsin Dunwoody on May 19, 2008 | No Comments »
In spite of the evidence to suggest the Tories have (quelle surprise), been practicing rank hypocrisy in their battle for Gwyneth Dunwoody’s seat, the overwhelming consensus is that Labour hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory in this by-election. As Dan Ashton notes, erecting a contrast between Tamsin and her millionaire opponent on the basis of [...]
Posted in Music, Art, Etcetera, tagged Joe Queenan, Woody Allen on May 19, 2008 | No Comments »
Shorter Joe Queenan: when will you goddamned Euro-commies wake up and realise that Woody Allen is never going to make another decent film, no matter how much of your America-hating lucre you fling at him?
Americans can be blamed for many things, but the perpetuation of Allen’s zombie-like career is one atrocity for which we refuse [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 19, 2008 | No Comments »
It’s a pretty common affliction, frequently exhibited amongst the inhabitants of the British right. The most debilitating symptom: an inability to process the fact that some people have never liked her.
So when you encounter someone suffering from this fetish, it helps to look upon them with sympathy, particularly when they write things like this:
Though the [...]
Posted in New Labour on May 18, 2008 | No Comments »
Oh, what a morbid bunch we’re becoming. Over at Liberal Conspiracy, Alan Thomas writes about John McDonnell’s latest attempt to save Labour from the right-wing thinking that has been its undoing. In order to rescue the party from the misery of opposition, McDonnell apparently wants everyone to return to socialist critiques of capitalism and use [...]
