listening to Music For Airports and wanted to say out to my dear, dear, dear friend DT, because i was in touch with him during a maudlin moment late last summer in an American airport and this reminds me of him, and more besides
Monday, 31 January 2011
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Sunday, 23 January 2011
via Terry Glavin - who, yes, is on the wrong side of the argument with Graeme here (you have to be absolute on these matters, don't you) - is this piece.
as the heading to Rachel Reid's piece states "Who benefits from Taliban revisionism?
The Afghan government is trying to whitewash the Taliban's image by claiming it no longer opposes education for girls"
Terry is always worth paying attention to on Afghanistan, because of things like this.
There is a lack of proper communication in your country about Afghanistan. They don't see all the good progresses. For me, the hope is for the younger generation. Young men are voting for women. The society is under a big transformation, and there are people who don't want to see this.
as the heading to Rachel Reid's piece states "Who benefits from Taliban revisionism?
The Afghan government is trying to whitewash the Taliban's image by claiming it no longer opposes education for girls"
Terry is always worth paying attention to on Afghanistan, because of things like this.
There is a lack of proper communication in your country about Afghanistan. They don't see all the good progresses. For me, the hope is for the younger generation. Young men are voting for women. The society is under a big transformation, and there are people who don't want to see this.
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Friday, 21 January 2011
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Sunday, 16 January 2011
last month
this bloke
interesting point here
Kettling is illegal elsewhere and it certainly should be here. I speak as someone who was kettled in Parliament Square and Westminster Bridge last Thursday, one of several thousand people held for nine hours at zero degrees without food, water, heat, toilets.
The widely reproduced photograph of a youth urinating against the plinth of Winston Churchill's statue during the protest over tuition fees provides a disrespectful image, but kettling represents disrespect on a premeditated, industrial scale: degrading conditions of confinement enforcing the shame of performing one's natural functions in public.
from here
this bloke
interesting point here
Kettling is illegal elsewhere and it certainly should be here. I speak as someone who was kettled in Parliament Square and Westminster Bridge last Thursday, one of several thousand people held for nine hours at zero degrees without food, water, heat, toilets.
The widely reproduced photograph of a youth urinating against the plinth of Winston Churchill's statue during the protest over tuition fees provides a disrespectful image, but kettling represents disrespect on a premeditated, industrial scale: degrading conditions of confinement enforcing the shame of performing one's natural functions in public.
from here
Monday, 10 January 2011
very grateful to my friend J for finding the 1985 defence Hitchens made of Chomsky over the Khmer Rouge thing.
a good taster of Hitchens' wonderfully pugilistic style is to be found early doors in the piece (my emphasis)
Sixteen years ago I went to the Examination Schools at Oxford University to hear Professor Noam Chomsky deliver the John Locke Lectures. The series was chiefly concerned with modern theories of grammar, syntax, and linguistics, but Chomsky attached a condition which the syndics of the university could not easily decline. He insisted on devoting one entire, self-contained lecture to the American war in Indochina and to the collusion of "academic experts" in an enterprise which was, he maintained, debauching America even as it savaged Vietnam.
Several things intrigued me about the stipulation. First, I liked the way Chomsky separated his political statement from his obligation as a guest lecturer rather than, as was and is the style at Oxford, pretending to objectivity while larding the discourse with heavily sarcastic political "pointers." There was no imported agenda of the kind one got from Hugh Trevor-Roper, Max Beloff, or John Sparrow. Second, I was impressed by his insistence, which was the inverse of the shifty practice of Tory and liberal scholars, that academics could and should have a role in political life but should state their allegiance squarely.
a good taster of Hitchens' wonderfully pugilistic style is to be found early doors in the piece (my emphasis)
Several things intrigued me about the stipulation. First, I liked the way Chomsky separated his political statement from his obligation as a guest lecturer rather than, as was and is the style at Oxford, pretending to objectivity while larding the discourse with heavily sarcastic political "pointers." There was no imported agenda of the kind one got from Hugh Trevor-Roper, Max Beloff, or John Sparrow. Second, I was impressed by his insistence, which was the inverse of the shifty practice of Tory and liberal scholars, that academics could and should have a role in political life but should state their allegiance squarely.
Friday, 7 January 2011
The UK Tory-led coalition govt's dismantling of govt quangos (look at the useful work, say, the Forestry Commission does) is "not primarily to cut costs" admits Tory MP Francis 'I wouldn't trust me to run a bath' Maude on BBC Radio 4 earlier today.
well at least he's honest, the small state loon.
they really are setting about their task of making the UK a less fair and equal place, hollowing out the safety nets that neo-liberal capitalism in the raw fights against, with some zeal.
what good is it to anyone to stop London schoolchild visits to the London Zoo?
jesus wept.
these people should be given about as much time of day as the preachers that wander Brixton market.
except for George Osborne, who should be interned without charge or something, and whose estate should be disbursed to community projects in Wythenshawe and Runcorn.
well at least he's honest, the small state loon.
they really are setting about their task of making the UK a less fair and equal place, hollowing out the safety nets that neo-liberal capitalism in the raw fights against, with some zeal.
what good is it to anyone to stop London schoolchild visits to the London Zoo?
jesus wept.
these people should be given about as much time of day as the preachers that wander Brixton market.
except for George Osborne, who should be interned without charge or something, and whose estate should be disbursed to community projects in Wythenshawe and Runcorn.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
The boss of BP's exploration arm, who quit after the Gulf of Mexico disaster last year, has been hired by FTSE-100 oil giant Petrofac for another major role in the industry.
Andy Inglis's appointment to the board of Petrofac comes just a week before American president Barack Obama's commission is due to publish its findings into the cause of the spill catastrophe.
Inglis, 51, was one of the most senior lieutenants of BP's ousted chief executive Tony Hayward.
oh.
that's nice.
Andy Inglis's appointment to the board of Petrofac comes just a week before American president Barack Obama's commission is due to publish its findings into the cause of the spill catastrophe.
Inglis, 51, was one of the most senior lieutenants of BP's ousted chief executive Tony Hayward.
oh.
that's nice.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
You could try, as you say, to put it on VAT, sales tax, but again if you look at the effect of sales tax, it's very regressive, it hits the poorest the hardest. It does, I absolutely promise you. Any sales tax, anything that goes on purchases that you make in shops tends to . . . if you look at it, where VAT goes now it doesn't go on food obviously but it goes very, very widely and VAT is a more regressive tax than income tax or council tax.
- David Cameron, May 2009
We have absolutely no plans to raise VAT.
- David Cameron, 23 April 2010
- David Cameron, May 2009
We have absolutely no plans to raise VAT.
- David Cameron, 23 April 2010
Monday, 3 January 2011
IT WAS A BLACK DAY WHEN I LEFT MY LAND
heads above parapets: an anonymous declaration from incredibly brave and eloquent Gazan youth
Fuck Hamas. Fuck Israel. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA! We, the youth in Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community!
hear hear
in a way, this is a little bit reminiscent of the Black Book (simple analogy, so elastic as to be virtually meaningless, at its widest meaning two documents attempting to speak truth to power; but i did flash on the Black Book and so wanted to mention), though as reading Caity Bolton would indicate, this Gazan statement could well be something bigger in terms of rejecting the status quo (as opposed to the Black Book's authors accepting the dominant paradigm, according to Bolton).
as the always elegant and humane Peter Ryley writes, here are "compelling acts of courage against the abnormality of lives lived in servitude or subject to arbitrary violence".
see them on Facebook here
(i took this image - via a Google Images search for large images of 'joe sacco palestine' - without permission from The Moving Silent blog, run by Karzan Kardozi, and specifically from this page on same blog here.)
heads above parapets: an anonymous declaration from incredibly brave and eloquent Gazan youth
Fuck Hamas. Fuck Israel. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA! We, the youth in Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community!
hear hear
in a way, this is a little bit reminiscent of the Black Book (simple analogy, so elastic as to be virtually meaningless, at its widest meaning two documents attempting to speak truth to power; but i did flash on the Black Book and so wanted to mention), though as reading Caity Bolton would indicate, this Gazan statement could well be something bigger in terms of rejecting the status quo (as opposed to the Black Book's authors accepting the dominant paradigm, according to Bolton).
as the always elegant and humane Peter Ryley writes, here are "compelling acts of courage against the abnormality of lives lived in servitude or subject to arbitrary violence".
see them on Facebook here
(i took this image - via a Google Images search for large images of 'joe sacco palestine' - without permission from The Moving Silent blog, run by Karzan Kardozi, and specifically from this page on same blog here.)
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Respeito, camarada!
P.S.
Gbagbo may be a blustering brute with a hardline wife who virtually talks in hate speech, who has exceeded his mandate and who is trying to fiddle an election, and who may bear overall responsibility for what are some serious crimes, but one of his latest opinions is, obviously, bang on the money (naturally, he's saying anything at the moment, granted)
Amongst today's great global powers, each has its own sphere of influence. When it's something to do with Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, France speaks and the rest follow
Friday, 31 December 2010
more self-indulgent wanking
P.S. (i) the song i remember euphorically losing it to more than any other whilst out this year was 'Katy On a Mission'
(ii) one mix i loved more than many this year is actually about ten years old, but i only discovered it this year (!)
it's our man Droid, with his Droid Inna Dancehall Vol. 1, which somewhat improbably starts with some almost twee, rather beguiling Mike Paradinas electronica before edging into fairly urgent chat.
and obviously big up Cee Lo Green and i look forward to seeing Janelle Monáe and Chas and Dave in the next few months with any luck.
oh i'm also going to get into yank telly show Burn Notice, having caught one random episode the other day.
any programme with Bruce Campbell in a loud yellow shirt eating a slurpee can't be all bad.
P.S. (i) the song i remember euphorically losing it to more than any other whilst out this year was 'Katy On a Mission'
(ii) one mix i loved more than many this year is actually about ten years old, but i only discovered it this year (!)
it's our man Droid, with his Droid Inna Dancehall Vol. 1, which somewhat improbably starts with some almost twee, rather beguiling Mike Paradinas electronica before edging into fairly urgent chat.
and obviously big up Cee Lo Green and i look forward to seeing Janelle Monáe and Chas and Dave in the next few months with any luck.
oh i'm also going to get into yank telly show Burn Notice, having caught one random episode the other day.
any programme with Bruce Campbell in a loud yellow shirt eating a slurpee can't be all bad.
"Class war: your boss believes in it, even if you don't"
one thing i learned today is that Daily Express journalist Richard Palmer shares at least a trait or two with David Cameron and Nick Clegg: all three mischaracterise the state of things, and all three have, at times, blamed the last Labour government for problems not, in fact, caused by the last Labour government.
now, we all know Clegg is a liar *, as he does like to mention how he's all about the fairness (this is, of course, simply untrue) and we know Cameron is a liar, as he will go on about the mess he's inherited from Labour, something Clegg has occasionally joined him in (to say they are being disingenuous is an understatement).
Palmer, in noting a welcome bit of official recognition in the New Year honours list for Aylesbury estate tenants' association chair Jean Bartlett, writes whose plight became a symbol of Labour's failure in the inner cities.
now, the last Labour government did not do enough on issues of social deprivation and social mobility and fairness, that's self-evident (though, as Owen notes, their extremely necessary investment in public services is the one thing that made New Labour particularly distinct from preceding Tory govts on the home front), but, to have a writer for an extremely conservative newspaper - strong supporters of neoliberal extraordinaire Margaret fucking Thatcher, let's not forget - almost airily summarise decades of neglect in this manner basically takes chutzpah to new and exciting levels.
to quote Graeme (i borrow the class war phrase at the top from him), quoting David Harvey:
My view is that [neoliberalism] refers to a class project that coalesced in the crisis of the 1970s. Masked by a lot of rhetoric about individual freedom, liberty, personal responsibility and the virtues of privatisation, the free market and free trade, it legitimised draconian policies designed to restore and consolidate capitalist class power. This project has been successful, judging by the incredible centralisation of wealth and power observable in all those countries that took the neoliberal road. And there is no evidence that it is dead.
* no fashionable and oh so easy cynicism about mendacious politicians in democracies please: these are demonstrable falsehoods on a big scale about important, structural matters that have the potential to really reshape society
on a lighter note, another thing learned (or perhaps that should be reminded of) today watching the pop video telly year round-up is that whilst i don't exactly care buckets for every last Katy Perry single this year, there's one kind of almost fey number ('Teenage Dreams') about a boy she digs i really like (plus it's hardly the same but i've seen quite a lot of lush, lovely, hushed neo-folk gigs this year and it evokes some of these for certain reasons), and the euphoric sounds of that Starstrukk tune's chorus she's involved in are mint (and i like her "set them up" lines), and, yes, still dig the cast of Glee doing Journey.
and i adore Alicia Keys, adore adore adore her.
out to the London club Night Slugs, and out to anyone caning it to Plaid and Weatherall and Moss Side's finest in SE1 tonight, and out to Nicki Minaj, among others.
here's a LRB piece that makes a really good point about John Cage.
(via the magnificent Will, no longer at the greatest politics site i've known, but at least tweeting.)
the below 8 minute long YouTube is from Britain's Channel 4, and their journalist (a proper journalist), a bloke called Miller.
it was originally broadcast a few weeks ago.
(contains graphic images.)
one thing i learned today is that Daily Express journalist Richard Palmer shares at least a trait or two with David Cameron and Nick Clegg: all three mischaracterise the state of things, and all three have, at times, blamed the last Labour government for problems not, in fact, caused by the last Labour government.
now, we all know Clegg is a liar *, as he does like to mention how he's all about the fairness (this is, of course, simply untrue) and we know Cameron is a liar, as he will go on about the mess he's inherited from Labour, something Clegg has occasionally joined him in (to say they are being disingenuous is an understatement).
Palmer, in noting a welcome bit of official recognition in the New Year honours list for Aylesbury estate tenants' association chair Jean Bartlett, writes whose plight became a symbol of Labour's failure in the inner cities.
now, the last Labour government did not do enough on issues of social deprivation and social mobility and fairness, that's self-evident (though, as Owen notes, their extremely necessary investment in public services is the one thing that made New Labour particularly distinct from preceding Tory govts on the home front), but, to have a writer for an extremely conservative newspaper - strong supporters of neoliberal extraordinaire Margaret fucking Thatcher, let's not forget - almost airily summarise decades of neglect in this manner basically takes chutzpah to new and exciting levels.
to quote Graeme (i borrow the class war phrase at the top from him), quoting David Harvey:
My view is that [neoliberalism] refers to a class project that coalesced in the crisis of the 1970s. Masked by a lot of rhetoric about individual freedom, liberty, personal responsibility and the virtues of privatisation, the free market and free trade, it legitimised draconian policies designed to restore and consolidate capitalist class power. This project has been successful, judging by the incredible centralisation of wealth and power observable in all those countries that took the neoliberal road. And there is no evidence that it is dead.
* no fashionable and oh so easy cynicism about mendacious politicians in democracies please: these are demonstrable falsehoods on a big scale about important, structural matters that have the potential to really reshape society
on a lighter note, another thing learned (or perhaps that should be reminded of) today watching the pop video telly year round-up is that whilst i don't exactly care buckets for every last Katy Perry single this year, there's one kind of almost fey number ('Teenage Dreams') about a boy she digs i really like (plus it's hardly the same but i've seen quite a lot of lush, lovely, hushed neo-folk gigs this year and it evokes some of these for certain reasons), and the euphoric sounds of that Starstrukk tune's chorus she's involved in are mint (and i like her "set them up" lines), and, yes, still dig the cast of Glee doing Journey.
and i adore Alicia Keys, adore adore adore her.
out to the London club Night Slugs, and out to anyone caning it to Plaid and Weatherall and Moss Side's finest in SE1 tonight, and out to Nicki Minaj, among others.
here's a LRB piece that makes a really good point about John Cage.
(via the magnificent Will, no longer at the greatest politics site i've known, but at least tweeting.)
the below 8 minute long YouTube is from Britain's Channel 4, and their journalist (a proper journalist), a bloke called Miller.
it was originally broadcast a few weeks ago.
(contains graphic images.)
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
incidentally, it's hardly the biggest (or, to be blunt, gravest) headline from the continuing intrigues thrown up by the UK's Tory-led government, but culture secretary Jeremy Hunt's (who, to be fair to him, is nowhere near as big a cock as his boss) musing aloud that cuts to the arts sector could be an opportunity for the UK to foster an American-style philanthropism in the arts is classic small state baloney, the sort of line of shit that British Tories and their Liberal Democrat accommodationists (well, certainly the Orange Book wing of that party) just love to further due to it being in their DNA.
wealthy individuals helping the cause of the arts is all well and good, but, let's be honest, today it's the arts, tomorrow it's something else.
fuck the Tory party and fuck Nick Clegg and the horses they all rode in on.
P.S.
out to the city of Derry for winning that European capital of culture award; a fine town.
i've only been once, spent about four nights there, mainly looking at things, eating fried food, drinking a lot of alcohol, and talking to locals (and some other English) in her pubs and bars and clubs.
big up.
P.P.S.
my fellow greater Mancunian Owen Jones has a blog, now up in my links bar just past the lovely Maura Johnston as one of the newer additions up there.
check out his first proper post, 'Will Cameron build a new political consensus?', here.
(i hope Owen's conclusion is proven right.)
Owen has a book forthcoming next May on Verso, 'Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class'.
wealthy individuals helping the cause of the arts is all well and good, but, let's be honest, today it's the arts, tomorrow it's something else.
fuck the Tory party and fuck Nick Clegg and the horses they all rode in on.
P.S.
out to the city of Derry for winning that European capital of culture award; a fine town.
i've only been once, spent about four nights there, mainly looking at things, eating fried food, drinking a lot of alcohol, and talking to locals (and some other English) in her pubs and bars and clubs.
big up.
P.P.S.
my fellow greater Mancunian Owen Jones has a blog, now up in my links bar just past the lovely Maura Johnston as one of the newer additions up there.
check out his first proper post, 'Will Cameron build a new political consensus?', here.
(i hope Owen's conclusion is proven right.)
Owen has a book forthcoming next May on Verso, 'Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class'.
I am absolutely sure that our wise people will have absolute trust in the first president, the leader of nation, which means stability in the society and the well-being of every Kazakh citizen
- Vladimir Nekhoroshev, parliamentarian
("Kazakhstan's parliament has backed a plan to scrap the next two presidential elections, allowing Nursultan Nazarbayev to stay in power until 2020.
Parliament, made up entirely of members of his party, said the proposal would go to a referendum.
Mr Nazarbayev has led Kazakhstan since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.")
- Vladimir Nekhoroshev, parliamentarian
("Kazakhstan's parliament has backed a plan to scrap the next two presidential elections, allowing Nursultan Nazarbayev to stay in power until 2020.
Parliament, made up entirely of members of his party, said the proposal would go to a referendum.
Mr Nazarbayev has led Kazakhstan since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.")
Tuesday, 28 December 2010
Monday, 27 December 2010
great quote from yer man Richard Dowden in an Observer piece yesterday about Gbagbo.
Gbagbo is a big and blustery character, a bit of demagogue, but his wife is really scary. When the civil war started, she was saying things like, 'We cannot have Côte d'Ivoire ruled by foreigners', which is just language for northerners. His wife and other allies do seem to be driven by racism towards the north. The idea of the country being handed over to a northern Muslim is terrifying.
there's a tangential point from today's wires here: "Ouattara still draws his support from the northern half of the country, where residents feel they are often treated as foreigners".
as with a recent flare-up in violence around Jos, seems instructive that fault lines in African society that can be seemingly sectarian, may have deeper roots, be they structural causes, or manipulation by powerful people.
Gbagbo is a big and blustery character, a bit of demagogue, but his wife is really scary. When the civil war started, she was saying things like, 'We cannot have Côte d'Ivoire ruled by foreigners', which is just language for northerners. His wife and other allies do seem to be driven by racism towards the north. The idea of the country being handed over to a northern Muslim is terrifying.
there's a tangential point from today's wires here: "Ouattara still draws his support from the northern half of the country, where residents feel they are often treated as foreigners".
as with a recent flare-up in violence around Jos, seems instructive that fault lines in African society that can be seemingly sectarian, may have deeper roots, be they structural causes, or manipulation by powerful people.
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