The Guardian asked a number of well-known “doves” what their alternative would be to war. Their replies make interesting reading. The consensus seems to be that there’s still no good reason to do anything and that the onus should be on the “hawks” to say why we need to do something. I was particularly impressed… Continue reading If not war, then what?
Jumping the Gun
The war hasn’t even started yet, but already the US are crashing helicopters over Kuwait.
Who Are You?
I was trying to write a brief bio for my account on LiveJournal. I’m was rather disappointed that it reads a lot like a (abbreviated) CV. I seem to define myself by the institutions (schools, colleges, jobs) that I go to rather than by anything else in my life. This disturbs me. I need to… Continue reading Who Are You?
Missing The Joke
It seems that the US has completely failed to see the joke of Ali G.
Old Friends
I have a group of four friends who I went to school with. Two of them I knew at infant school (that’s thirty-five years ago) and the other two I met at secondary school. This week the second of us made it to 40 (I was the first), so we all trundled off into deepest… Continue reading Old Friends
Be Prepared
Which version of ready.gov makes the most sense? The real one or this one. And, for comparison, here’s the old UK government pamphlet Protect and Survive.
Onward Christian Soldiers
The leaders of the Church of England and the UK Catholic Church have issued a joint statement saying that they can’t see a moral case for war against Iraq. The Pope said something similar earlier this week. Given that George Bush and Tony Blair both claim to be followers of the great sky pixie, you’d… Continue reading Onward Christian Soldiers
Hmmm…. Beer
The BBC is running a story about how the Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar has won a case allowing it to continue to use the name “Bud” in the UK. In most of the rest of the world that right has been taken away from them by the lawyers from Anheuser-Busch (who market the popular American… Continue reading Hmmm…. Beer
Stop The War Demo
I could tell that this was going to be different when I arrived at Balham tube station. There were three times the number of people on the platform than you’d normally expect on a Saturday lunchtime. By the time we changed tubes at Kennington the must have been two hundred of us. When I got… Continue reading Stop The War Demo
Anti-War Demo
If you don’t know that there’s an Anti-War Demo on Saturday then you must be living on another planet. From what I’m seeing the number of people who are planning to go on this demo is huge. When I was a student, I was surrounded by people who thought like me and we’d all go… Continue reading Anti-War Demo