I've been trying to steer clear of the whole Iraq/ Islam thing of late, not least because people like Harry do it so well, but this morning I read a story in the Guardian which, if it turns out to be true (and the front page suggests it probably is) must turn the stomachs of both pro and anti-war lobbies.
Conservative Shias, dominant in the Iraqi government, had clashed with Kurds and other minorities who wanted Islam to be "a" rather than "the" main source of law.
According to Kurdish and Sunni negotiators, the US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, proposed that Islam be named "a primary source" and supported a wording which would give clerics authority in civil matters such as divorce, marriage and inheritance.
If approved, critics say that the proposals would erode women's rights and other freedoms enshrined under existing laws. "We understand the Americans have sided with the Shias. It's shocking. It doesn't fit with American values," an unnamed Kurdish negotiator told Reuters. "They have spent so much blood and money here, only to back the creation of an Islamist state."
Dozens of women gathered in central Baghdad yesterday to protest against what the organiser, Yanar Mohammad, feared would be a "fascist, nationalist and Islamist" constitution. "We are fighting to avoid becoming second class citizens," she said.
What will be the ultimate measure of success in Iraq I wonder? Certainly the Iraqis will have won self-determination that "hard liberals" from Hitchens to Cohen, via Aaronovitch, trumpeted, but is Iran 2 what they had in mind?
I was never a knee jerk anti-warrior - a supporter of the war in Afghanistan, I opposed this one because I thought it safer to have a secular dictatorship in place in Iraq during these troubled times rather than create further instability - and I have some admiration for the idealism of those who sought to undermine corrupt Baathist and Islamist regimes by creating a beacon of (albeit Western) democracy in Iraq. But surely the impending betrayal of that dream (along with the secularists, democrats, trade unionists, and women who shared it) far outweighs that of the Marsh Arabs in Gulf War 1?
I was going to end by saying that unlike those of the 20th Century, rememberance of this war may as be as much in the peace as in the fighting, but then I recalled the tragedy of Versailles and its poison legacy, so perhaps nothing much has changed after all.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Friday, August 19, 2005
Bring me the head of Richard Rogers
Okay, maybe the slap across the face of the Royal Festival Hall isn't his
fault, but I don't doubt his Oxofication of London's architectural heritage
is behind blotting the ground floor facade of that graceful Fifties
building with Wagamama, Eat et al. Who can forget his proposed design for a
glass wave to smother the glorious grey "carbunkle" of the National
Theatre? To Richard, no building is complete until it resembles an upmarket
shoping mall or ertsatz piazza. He truly is the Albert Speer of Capitialismus
Triumphus.
Of course, people do like it... Oh look, some blonde Trinny archetype said,
they've got a Strada... but that does that make it right?
So I'm behind the times, but surely money isn't everything? The only good
thing about this travesty is that in a more enlightened age the featureless
units look flimsy enough to be torn down and this long-suffering monument
to a more optimistic time restored to its, sadly former, glory.
While they're at it, they could put back the Skylon too.
Like post-war Britain, the Skylon was said to have "no visible means of support". But at least it didn't have to contend with Cafe Nero...
fault, but I don't doubt his Oxofication of London's architectural heritage
is behind blotting the ground floor facade of that graceful Fifties
building with Wagamama, Eat et al. Who can forget his proposed design for a
glass wave to smother the glorious grey "carbunkle" of the National
Theatre? To Richard, no building is complete until it resembles an upmarket
shoping mall or ertsatz piazza. He truly is the Albert Speer of Capitialismus
Triumphus.
Of course, people do like it... Oh look, some blonde Trinny archetype said,
they've got a Strada... but that does that make it right?
So I'm behind the times, but surely money isn't everything? The only good
thing about this travesty is that in a more enlightened age the featureless
units look flimsy enough to be torn down and this long-suffering monument
to a more optimistic time restored to its, sadly former, glory.
While they're at it, they could put back the Skylon too.
Like post-war Britain, the Skylon was said to have "no visible means of support". But at least it didn't have to contend with Cafe Nero...
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
May the force of the (Presbyterian Church) be with you
Genius. A Chinese knock off of 'Star War III: Revenge of the Sith' it details some hilarious subtitle mis-translations.
One of the best is the translation of 'Jedi Council' into Chinese and then back into to English as 'the Presbyterian church'. The mind boggles. Kung fu fighting sword play, taking out evil doers with a cut and slice. Now that sounds like church.
Run, run the Presbyterians are coming!
May the force be with you comes out as "the wish power are together with you". The wishpower? That's great. Does everyone get a free turkey?
There's plenty more of these on this blog
One of the best is the translation of 'Jedi Council' into Chinese and then back into to English as 'the Presbyterian church'. The mind boggles. Kung fu fighting sword play, taking out evil doers with a cut and slice. Now that sounds like church.
Run, run the Presbyterians are coming!
May the force be with you comes out as "the wish power are together with you". The wishpower? That's great. Does everyone get a free turkey?
There's plenty more of these on this blog
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
The end of empire, in a waterbomb...
Walking home the other night a water bomb hurled by a gang of youths narrowly missed my girlfriend and I. I was momentarily tempted to go over and give them what for but fortunately had not binge-drunk enough to fall into that wee trap.
Then this afternoon I was chatting to a PA from South Africa who commented that, despite the constant threat of car-jacking and gang rape at home, at least "the young people aren't like the thugs you see here."
"I blame the permissive Sixties," I replied. "It stems from the moral relativism of back then when everyone was raised to question, if not attack, the status quo. Maybe it was due to the loss of empire whereby the middle class, finding itself without a role, so to speak, turned on itself in an orgy of self-loathing. In any case, it meant that all the traditional figures of authority were mocked to irrelevance..."
Well, something like that anyway... although of course the middle classes simply deconstructed the old elite to become, well, the new elite. It was the working classes that went on to truly turn their backs on the old culture of deference... and hurl water bombs at me and thee.
What's telling though is that you don't really see the same kind of behaviour anywhere else. Certainly not continental Europe where, despite the trauma of war and occupation, the young mostly grow up as reasonably law abiding, respectful citizens who wouldn't be out of place in 1950's England...
So is it empire, class, hippies, out-dated licencing laws, conscription, the birch, ASBOs, Maggie Thatcher, Rupert Murdoch or Richard Littlejohn who is to blame? Or is it none of these? Is it, rather, a return to our natural state? Haven't the English always been in reality the opposite of their stiff-upper-lipped international stereotype?
A cab being sent for, six of us crammed in.... we had got to Covent Garden when Pott, thinking the driver was not going fast enough, damned his blood and bid him move on. The driver made a gruff answer, which offended Bob, who poked at him through the front window. The driver instantly returned the complement and Pott, in a violent rage, plunged through the window and started pummeling the fellow with all his might. After a sharp but short conflict, they tumbled together off the box into the street. A mob collecting, a general engagement ensued. The battle ended with the three of us being seized and dragged to the watchhouse...
The constable of the night, upon seeing us brought in abominibly intoxicated, said, with great good nature: "Come come, this is, I perceive, a drunken frolic. You must therefore pay for your folly and go quietly home to sleep off the effects of too much wine."
William Hickey, 1770.
Passionate, romantic, creative, violent, tempestuous, sentimental... isn't that who we really are, more Elizabethan English than Victorian Britons (who, let's face it, always had too much of a whiff of the buttoned-up Scot about them)? After all, how else did we get to forge an empire? Certainly not by good manners...
So maybe it's not so much society's breakdown, but reformation... just as we've always been an irreligious lot - the irreverent, pagan spirit of the druids never quite surpressed by Christianity - so too the end of empire and all its puritan hypocrisies meant not only the liberation of its subject people, but the English themselves... from the Scots!
A quick one in The Salisbury then?
Then this afternoon I was chatting to a PA from South Africa who commented that, despite the constant threat of car-jacking and gang rape at home, at least "the young people aren't like the thugs you see here."
"I blame the permissive Sixties," I replied. "It stems from the moral relativism of back then when everyone was raised to question, if not attack, the status quo. Maybe it was due to the loss of empire whereby the middle class, finding itself without a role, so to speak, turned on itself in an orgy of self-loathing. In any case, it meant that all the traditional figures of authority were mocked to irrelevance..."
Well, something like that anyway... although of course the middle classes simply deconstructed the old elite to become, well, the new elite. It was the working classes that went on to truly turn their backs on the old culture of deference... and hurl water bombs at me and thee.
What's telling though is that you don't really see the same kind of behaviour anywhere else. Certainly not continental Europe where, despite the trauma of war and occupation, the young mostly grow up as reasonably law abiding, respectful citizens who wouldn't be out of place in 1950's England...
So is it empire, class, hippies, out-dated licencing laws, conscription, the birch, ASBOs, Maggie Thatcher, Rupert Murdoch or Richard Littlejohn who is to blame? Or is it none of these? Is it, rather, a return to our natural state? Haven't the English always been in reality the opposite of their stiff-upper-lipped international stereotype?
A cab being sent for, six of us crammed in.... we had got to Covent Garden when Pott, thinking the driver was not going fast enough, damned his blood and bid him move on. The driver made a gruff answer, which offended Bob, who poked at him through the front window. The driver instantly returned the complement and Pott, in a violent rage, plunged through the window and started pummeling the fellow with all his might. After a sharp but short conflict, they tumbled together off the box into the street. A mob collecting, a general engagement ensued. The battle ended with the three of us being seized and dragged to the watchhouse...
The constable of the night, upon seeing us brought in abominibly intoxicated, said, with great good nature: "Come come, this is, I perceive, a drunken frolic. You must therefore pay for your folly and go quietly home to sleep off the effects of too much wine."
William Hickey, 1770.
Passionate, romantic, creative, violent, tempestuous, sentimental... isn't that who we really are, more Elizabethan English than Victorian Britons (who, let's face it, always had too much of a whiff of the buttoned-up Scot about them)? After all, how else did we get to forge an empire? Certainly not by good manners...
So maybe it's not so much society's breakdown, but reformation... just as we've always been an irreligious lot - the irreverent, pagan spirit of the druids never quite surpressed by Christianity - so too the end of empire and all its puritan hypocrisies meant not only the liberation of its subject people, but the English themselves... from the Scots!
A quick one in The Salisbury then?
Monday, August 15, 2005
Eating champion wins new contest
Something on the BBC this morning.
Japan's champion speed-eater has won his second contest in two days by ingurgitating 100 roasted pork buns in 12 minutes in Hong Kong. Takeru Kobayashi ate twice as many buns as the first runner-up, Johnny Wu, who only managed to guzzle 47.
Mr Kobayashi, 27, used a special technique - squeezing the buns tight and sipping plenty of water while chewing to soften them up. Only the day before, he triumphed in Hong Kong's dumpling-eating contest. He downed 83 steamed dumplings.
Just one question. For the love of god why? Seriously.
Get the full scoop, so to speak, here.
Japan's champion speed-eater has won his second contest in two days by ingurgitating 100 roasted pork buns in 12 minutes in Hong Kong. Takeru Kobayashi ate twice as many buns as the first runner-up, Johnny Wu, who only managed to guzzle 47.
Mr Kobayashi, 27, used a special technique - squeezing the buns tight and sipping plenty of water while chewing to soften them up. Only the day before, he triumphed in Hong Kong's dumpling-eating contest. He downed 83 steamed dumplings.
Just one question. For the love of god why? Seriously.
Get the full scoop, so to speak, here.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
I can't go for that (no can do)
The progress of a relationship set out in Hall & Oates songs. Other amusing lists include Obscentities uttered by Jesus Christ and Less threatening Islamicist groups. No Bhadi Jihadi though...
Thursday, August 11, 2005
A very lonely planet
So I'm sitting in the bank in Brussels and still haven't heard from my friends. Sod it, I think, I'm not going to stay here (Brussels is rather boring), I'll spend a couple of days in Antwerp, the hip capital of Flemish Belgium.
I pull out my Lonely Planet, turn to Places to Stay - Mid Range, approaching, as I am, middle age, and read "a sage choice is the Pension Cammerpoorte, tucked away in the fashion quarter". Well, we all like to consider ourselves sage and fashionable, so I dial the number. A guy picks up, says something in Flemish.
"Hi," I say in English, "I'm looking for a single room for tonight. Do you have one?" There's a pause at the other end. "Hello?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have a room?"
"Yes, there is a room."
"Is it en-suite, have a TV?"
"Yes."
Great. I book the room and tell him I'll see them later. I conclude my business then catch the train to Antwerp.
Antwerp is quite a discovery - graceful boulevards mix with medieval cobbled markets in a kind of Paris meets Amsterdam way - and I use the ever-reliable Planet map to guide me to the pension. I tend to prefer Lonely Planet over the Rough Guide series, which, like the character in Platform, I find infuriatingly smug and faddish.
I find Steenhouwersvest straat and walk along it, looking out for number 55. There's number 51, 53... but then I'm standing on a street corner. I cross and find myself looking at number 57. I walk around the corner - no 55 - turn back to face number 53, which, I register for the first time, is adjacent to a building site.
Number 53 is a snazzy fashion shop. "Excuse me," I say, setting my case down, "This may seem like a strange question, but where is number 55?"
"Next door," the assistant replies cheerfully.
"You mean the buidling site?" She nods. "Did there used to be a pension there?"
"Yes," she says, "a long time ago. They've knocked it down now."
"I can see that, thanks."
"There's a hotel around the corner," she says helpfully.
Fortunately this hotel still exists and has a room. After I check in, I try the number for the pension again but there's no answer. Belgian humour? Well it is the home of surrealism. A ghost hotel? I read somewhere that air traffic controllers sometimes still pick up radio traffic from the Battle of Britain bouncing about the clouds...
In any case it is only now that I flick to the front of the Planet and look at its publication date - April 2001.
Those damn surrealists: from the walls of The Museum of Contemporary Arts, Antwerp
I pull out my Lonely Planet, turn to Places to Stay - Mid Range, approaching, as I am, middle age, and read "a sage choice is the Pension Cammerpoorte, tucked away in the fashion quarter". Well, we all like to consider ourselves sage and fashionable, so I dial the number. A guy picks up, says something in Flemish.
"Hi," I say in English, "I'm looking for a single room for tonight. Do you have one?" There's a pause at the other end. "Hello?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have a room?"
"Yes, there is a room."
"Is it en-suite, have a TV?"
"Yes."
Great. I book the room and tell him I'll see them later. I conclude my business then catch the train to Antwerp.
Antwerp is quite a discovery - graceful boulevards mix with medieval cobbled markets in a kind of Paris meets Amsterdam way - and I use the ever-reliable Planet map to guide me to the pension. I tend to prefer Lonely Planet over the Rough Guide series, which, like the character in Platform, I find infuriatingly smug and faddish.
I find Steenhouwersvest straat and walk along it, looking out for number 55. There's number 51, 53... but then I'm standing on a street corner. I cross and find myself looking at number 57. I walk around the corner - no 55 - turn back to face number 53, which, I register for the first time, is adjacent to a building site.
Number 53 is a snazzy fashion shop. "Excuse me," I say, setting my case down, "This may seem like a strange question, but where is number 55?"
"Next door," the assistant replies cheerfully.
"You mean the buidling site?" She nods. "Did there used to be a pension there?"
"Yes," she says, "a long time ago. They've knocked it down now."
"I can see that, thanks."
"There's a hotel around the corner," she says helpfully.
Fortunately this hotel still exists and has a room. After I check in, I try the number for the pension again but there's no answer. Belgian humour? Well it is the home of surrealism. A ghost hotel? I read somewhere that air traffic controllers sometimes still pick up radio traffic from the Battle of Britain bouncing about the clouds...
In any case it is only now that I flick to the front of the Planet and look at its publication date - April 2001.
Those damn surrealists: from the walls of The Museum of Contemporary Arts, Antwerp
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Cookin' Up Trouble 4 Later...
Yesterday's Independent front page headlined with:
Robin Cook, who died on Saturday, was one of the most principled and eloquent politicians of our time. Here, in a column he wrote for 'The Independent' in March last year, he holds the Government to account for its war on Saddam. His strikingly prescient words are more relevant than ever
Today's Independent front page headlined with:
Terror fears push oil prices to 22-year high
Meanwhile Tony Blair is busy playing the Islamist's game with his own little political martyrdom operation against Al Muhajiroun and Hizb'ut Tahir.
A point which is gratifying not lost on David T over at Harry's Place.
This is perhaps slightly surprising given the generally hysterical tone of the hardheads in Harry's New Moral Army, though to be fair Mr T has for a while being showing promising signs of not believing that all the world's problems can be sorted out using an extremely well-equipped American van and as many Sam Peckinpah clones as Donald Rumsfeld can lay his hands on - preferably led by a token, but nonetheless impressive, black man.
David has posted 'a lot' on this and there is much good stuff united by the common sense recognition that this is about politics, not clashes of civilization or 'Threats to Our Way of Life' [copyright Georg W Bush, Texas USA - under UK license to Mr T. Blair, Downing Street, London].
In his post 'A Fable' - see August 2005 David makes an interesting allusion around cocaine which I'm sure his ex-colleague at Harry's the dissident Johann Hari would agree with - see Drugs Legalisation
However the Ban 'will not deter extremists' argue some of our less 'radical' self-appointed islamic spokesmen who Like Mr T are not wholly convinced by the Blair vows hard line on fanatics rhetoric and less still by the 'radical' shift in policy this represents.
Tony had better watch himself in this respect (sic) since Monday's Metro was eagerly telling us that 'Radicals May Face Treason Charges as its front page lead, while today we hear Judge-only terror courts considered
...but lets leave the latest authoritarian lurch by Tony's increasingly nervy government aside, particularly as Lord Falconer Tony's old legal beagle says Treason proposal a 'non-runner' ...what I'm concerned about is the latest set of yankee-style language abuse we seem to have started - an abuse which once again tries to limit the breadth of the area in which it is acceptable to think and to narrow the political options of civil society - Lets take another look at that headline:
Radicals eh? those scum who fought for the middle class to have the vote in the nineteenth century maybe? or maybe they mean the Free Radicals or perhaps the Jesus Radicals - or just any old radicals - in fact anyone who isn't toeing a safe middle(way) line? So this is what the Third Way was about eh Tony - neither Moscow nor Mecca but international capital (or something like that?) But heck maybe we shouldn't worry, after all its only directed against those scary religious nutters with their Terrorist Response to our western democracy...
OK there are some scary people out there with some nutty views but if you want to stop them persuading kids to come to London and pave our streets with blood then banning them isn't going to help.
As David infers, at worst it adds glamour, at best it makes little difference. And what certainly helps even less is lumping the terrorists together with people who aren't - thus talking about Islam and what the laughable concept of 'the muslim community' needs to do about 'islamist' terrorists only places the terrorist within a spectrum which is 99.9% non-terrorist - how helpful is that for the non-terrorists tarred, one might say,by the association? And how very very helpful for the terrorist now defined as the 'radical' fringe of the community with all the jazz and best tunes that implies? And all those potential recruits whose chairs you just pushed up against his...
Well thank goodness we have a liberal party in the UK (no I haven't been voting for it or anything, calm down...) otherwise we'd probably be seeing headlines such as 'Liberals May Face Treason Charges' or some such Ann Coulter-isms: Liberals, Treason & True Americans
Meanwhile on the streets local dreads will no doubt be relieved not to be a the prime threat to society any more - see for example Force braced for Yardie threat - now exactly how many yardies were there in Cleveland again?
However one thing is for certain they aren't wearing those Muhammed Ali Nation of Islam T-Shirts too much these days... what was that about 'radicals' again. Oh I forgot - don't mention the war right - wellnot THAT war anyway...
By way of not wholly unrelated diversion boxing fans may want to check out some Ali stuff at the intriguing Edge of Sports: at http://www.edgeofsports.com/2004-01-15-37/
Robin Cook, who died on Saturday, was one of the most principled and eloquent politicians of our time. Here, in a column he wrote for 'The Independent' in March last year, he holds the Government to account for its war on Saddam. His strikingly prescient words are more relevant than ever
Today's Independent front page headlined with:
Terror fears push oil prices to 22-year high
Meanwhile Tony Blair is busy playing the Islamist's game with his own little political martyrdom operation against Al Muhajiroun and Hizb'ut Tahir.
A point which is gratifying not lost on David T over at Harry's Place.
This is perhaps slightly surprising given the generally hysterical tone of the hardheads in Harry's New Moral Army, though to be fair Mr T has for a while being showing promising signs of not believing that all the world's problems can be sorted out using an extremely well-equipped American van and as many Sam Peckinpah clones as Donald Rumsfeld can lay his hands on - preferably led by a token, but nonetheless impressive, black man.
David has posted 'a lot' on this and there is much good stuff united by the common sense recognition that this is about politics, not clashes of civilization or 'Threats to Our Way of Life' [copyright Georg W Bush, Texas USA - under UK license to Mr T. Blair, Downing Street, London].
In his post 'A Fable' - see August 2005 David makes an interesting allusion around cocaine which I'm sure his ex-colleague at Harry's the dissident Johann Hari would agree with - see Drugs Legalisation
However the Ban 'will not deter extremists' argue some of our less 'radical' self-appointed islamic spokesmen who Like Mr T are not wholly convinced by the Blair vows hard line on fanatics rhetoric and less still by the 'radical' shift in policy this represents.
Tony had better watch himself in this respect (sic) since Monday's Metro was eagerly telling us that 'Radicals May Face Treason Charges as its front page lead, while today we hear Judge-only terror courts considered
...but lets leave the latest authoritarian lurch by Tony's increasingly nervy government aside, particularly as Lord Falconer Tony's old legal beagle says Treason proposal a 'non-runner' ...what I'm concerned about is the latest set of yankee-style language abuse we seem to have started - an abuse which once again tries to limit the breadth of the area in which it is acceptable to think and to narrow the political options of civil society - Lets take another look at that headline:
Radicals eh? those scum who fought for the middle class to have the vote in the nineteenth century maybe? or maybe they mean the Free Radicals or perhaps the Jesus Radicals - or just any old radicals - in fact anyone who isn't toeing a safe middle(way) line? So this is what the Third Way was about eh Tony - neither Moscow nor Mecca but international capital (or something like that?) But heck maybe we shouldn't worry, after all its only directed against those scary religious nutters with their Terrorist Response to our western democracy...
OK there are some scary people out there with some nutty views but if you want to stop them persuading kids to come to London and pave our streets with blood then banning them isn't going to help.
As David infers, at worst it adds glamour, at best it makes little difference. And what certainly helps even less is lumping the terrorists together with people who aren't - thus talking about Islam and what the laughable concept of 'the muslim community' needs to do about 'islamist' terrorists only places the terrorist within a spectrum which is 99.9% non-terrorist - how helpful is that for the non-terrorists tarred, one might say,by the association? And how very very helpful for the terrorist now defined as the 'radical' fringe of the community with all the jazz and best tunes that implies? And all those potential recruits whose chairs you just pushed up against his...
Well thank goodness we have a liberal party in the UK (no I haven't been voting for it or anything, calm down...) otherwise we'd probably be seeing headlines such as 'Liberals May Face Treason Charges' or some such Ann Coulter-isms: Liberals, Treason & True Americans
Meanwhile on the streets local dreads will no doubt be relieved not to be a the prime threat to society any more - see for example Force braced for Yardie threat - now exactly how many yardies were there in Cleveland again?
However one thing is for certain they aren't wearing those Muhammed Ali Nation of Islam T-Shirts too much these days... what was that about 'radicals' again. Oh I forgot - don't mention the war right - wellnot THAT war anyway...
By way of not wholly unrelated diversion boxing fans may want to check out some Ali stuff at the intriguing Edge of Sports: at http://www.edgeofsports.com/2004-01-15-37/
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Boys and toys
Miliblogs are usurping war reporting these days according to Wired. I found 365 and wake up the most interesting, combining as it did honesty and sensitivity with the unabashed awe of witnessing an M1 battle tank go into action.
And there's the rub: what you seem to get in the miliblogs - but which is lacking from most contemporary reporting, somewhat disengenuously I'd suggest - is that war can be fun. Maybe not if you're on the losing side or return home in a body bag or with bits missing, but for many men it can be a defining experience.
I say men because I will never forget the fear on the faces of the Serb women fleeing the victorious Albanian troops in Kosovo. But speaking for myself as we swung into the UN compound or as Bazpinder and I phoned home outside a British MASH unit, having survived the experience (while inside surgeons laboured over a pair of German journalists who did not), was exhilerating. I don't know how Simon, who went into action with Croatian irregulars earlier in the Yugoslav crisis, feels but there can be no denying that for boys raised on war stories and Action Man to find oneself in a scenario one has spent a childhood rehearsing can be a pivotal moment.
Of course we, along with the professional UK or US troops, have the freedom to choose whether to be involved or not. I can well imagine different, less attractive scenarios. But it is indeed awesome to watch an M1 in action, as most miliblogs would agree.
Gratuitous excuse to use a war pic of my own. Where were Respect and the MAB when Tony went to war to protect the muslims I wonder?
And there's the rub: what you seem to get in the miliblogs - but which is lacking from most contemporary reporting, somewhat disengenuously I'd suggest - is that war can be fun. Maybe not if you're on the losing side or return home in a body bag or with bits missing, but for many men it can be a defining experience.
I say men because I will never forget the fear on the faces of the Serb women fleeing the victorious Albanian troops in Kosovo. But speaking for myself as we swung into the UN compound or as Bazpinder and I phoned home outside a British MASH unit, having survived the experience (while inside surgeons laboured over a pair of German journalists who did not), was exhilerating. I don't know how Simon, who went into action with Croatian irregulars earlier in the Yugoslav crisis, feels but there can be no denying that for boys raised on war stories and Action Man to find oneself in a scenario one has spent a childhood rehearsing can be a pivotal moment.
Of course we, along with the professional UK or US troops, have the freedom to choose whether to be involved or not. I can well imagine different, less attractive scenarios. But it is indeed awesome to watch an M1 in action, as most miliblogs would agree.
Gratuitous excuse to use a war pic of my own. Where were Respect and the MAB when Tony went to war to protect the muslims I wonder?
Friday, August 05, 2005
Separated at birth?
If Briton Haroon Rashid Aswat (above) is a "Terror Mastermind", then he's got to be a graduate of the Dr Evil School of Terrorist Masterminds (Wanstead), or maybe Hooky's Mini Me...
Available for weddings, christenings, and childrens parties. Sorry, no bar mitzvahs.
On a more serious note, reporting of the story about muslim women being advised to remove their hijabs for fear of attack is worth taking a close look at.
Yesterday's Today programme report included a vox pop in which one hijab-sporting lass stated it was "statistically proven" hair was the most attractive part of a woman's body, so it was safer to cover it. After you've picked yourself up off the floor, consider what a tragic indictment of women in Islam that actually is.
Then we had so-called "leading Islamic cleric" Zaki Badawi, saying it was acceptable in Islamic law to remove the hijab in cases of extreme danger, which was rebutted by gorgeous, pouting Rajnaara Akhtar, chair of the Assembly for the Protection of the Hijab, who remarked:
"We have a right to practise our faith and we're going to maintain that human right and I think to take off the hijab in some ways denies our identities as Muslim and we shouldn't be forced to do that."
Now, can we just step back for a moment...
For one thing, I'm not sure if Zaka Badawi realises, but wearing a hijab is actually contrary to Islam. As this article on the leading Islamic website submission.org points out, sporting the hijab is un-Islamic. Ahmed Okla writes:
In brief, hijab is a traditional dress and has nothing to do with Islam or religion. In certain areas of the world, men are the ones who wear the hijab while in others the women do.
Mixing religion with tradition is a form of idolworship, since the followers of traditions are following laws from sources other than God's scriptures and claim it to be from God. Idolworship is the only unforgivable sin if maintained till death.
Ignoring what God asks you to do in His book, or following innovated laws not stated in the the Quran, is a clear sign of disregarding God and His message.
When tradition supersedes God's commandment, the true religion takes a second place. God never accepts to be second, God has to be always the FIRST and to HIM there is no second.
Does Zaki realise this? Does he care? Is he too intimidated by the rise of extremists to say so? Or is he rather less moderate than he may at first seem? Either way, instead of going on about chaps who have been tortured and the like, he could have simply pointed out that covering your head in the name of Islam is unnecessary, if not un-Islamic. So why didn't he?
Next up, we have Ms Akhtar and her "right" to practice her faith, but a quick Google will reveal that Rajnaara is also a vocal member of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), the UK branch of Islamicists the Muslim Brotherhood whose goal, as this item on Harry's Place points out "in its weak form is merely opposition to secular democracy and in its strong form is the abolition of democracy and the creation of a Caliphate ruled by god's annointed (i.e. them)."
So here we have a story generated by an arguably immoderate cleric spouting flawed theology being rebutted by a representative of an extremist organisation which is cut to much the same cloth as the Bolsheviks or Fascists of yore. No mention that the hijab is not compulsory, no interviews with bare-headed muslim women (heaven help them). Is it pure ignorance, inverted racism, or, as Bazpinder suggests below, just lust for sensation that drives the media to misrepresent the facts and present extremists as mainstream?
Either way, you can be sure it further alienates the non-Muslim majority while casting extremists as all muslims, much to the delight of Ms Akhtar and the BNP. And so history repeats itself: a determined totalitarian minority harnesses the complacency of a middle class elite to achieve its objectives, in this case the hijack of British Islam. Far-fetched? Or tried and tested? Well the same technique worked in Russia, Germany, and Iran. Why do you think the Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party has teamed up with the MAB, in the spirit of "my enemy's enemy is my friend"? While we're going out, getting drunk, loading up our Ipods, a minor coup is taking place and though it might not threaten our sovereignty, it sure ain't going to make travelling by Tube any safer...
Some young idolterers at the recent post-July 7 conference organised byIslamofacists Hizb'ut Tahrir.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Myrtis bene felas
Linkmachine is often a good source of random amusement. This site on Pompeian graffiti reminds us that the more things change, the more they remain the same...
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Imitation of Life
A very long time ago I was writing a short story with the somewhat titillating title 'The Central Hackney Masturbation Club'. No, it had nothing to do with goalposts for jumpers, it was strictly 'Adults Only' as is the link which prompted this post.
The story was inspired by a birthday party (not mine). No masturbation took place. Apart from the usual verbal kind. But it was distinguished by the prescence of a couple of literary pornographers and the title was inspired by the level of attention they recieved from many of those present.
Broadly, to cut a short story shorter, the Central Hackney story was about a sort of erotic book club that ultimately got out of hand because the rules it placed on its participants (eg 'no touching') were ultimately transgressed by human nature and arguably lack of self-restraint, (not to mention that those who had joined it did so for a range of questionable reasons).
In other words the club marketed itself as a highbrow fetishisation of the erotic (much as the erotic review always tries to) but was really a manifestation of British sexual repression, inadequacy and in some cases the downright twisted manipulativeness of its participants.
The idea being played with was therefore the old chestnut of where the line is crossed in fetishisation, pornography and sexual gameplay between erotic fetishisation and an ultimately more compromising psychological fetishisation of both sex and erotic subjects - ie people (the pretentious might think Pale Fire though no comparison is intended).
Anyway it came to mind when an arts list I'm part of sent me this ad today:
Stone Soup continues its Adult Storytelling evenings at Joint Cafe, 92 North Hill, Plymouth, on Wednesday August 3rd. This event occurs on the First Wednesday of every month.
Doors Open 7:30pm
Stories from 8 to 10
Suitable for Adults Only
Admission £3
Further details on this, and future, events is available at http://www.stonesoupstorytelling.org.uk
The story was inspired by a birthday party (not mine). No masturbation took place. Apart from the usual verbal kind. But it was distinguished by the prescence of a couple of literary pornographers and the title was inspired by the level of attention they recieved from many of those present.
Broadly, to cut a short story shorter, the Central Hackney story was about a sort of erotic book club that ultimately got out of hand because the rules it placed on its participants (eg 'no touching') were ultimately transgressed by human nature and arguably lack of self-restraint, (not to mention that those who had joined it did so for a range of questionable reasons).
In other words the club marketed itself as a highbrow fetishisation of the erotic (much as the erotic review always tries to) but was really a manifestation of British sexual repression, inadequacy and in some cases the downright twisted manipulativeness of its participants.
The idea being played with was therefore the old chestnut of where the line is crossed in fetishisation, pornography and sexual gameplay between erotic fetishisation and an ultimately more compromising psychological fetishisation of both sex and erotic subjects - ie people (the pretentious might think Pale Fire though no comparison is intended).
Anyway it came to mind when an arts list I'm part of sent me this ad today:
Stone Soup continues its Adult Storytelling evenings at Joint Cafe, 92 North Hill, Plymouth, on Wednesday August 3rd. This event occurs on the First Wednesday of every month.
Doors Open 7:30pm
Stories from 8 to 10
Suitable for Adults Only
Admission £3
Further details on this, and future, events is available at http://www.stonesoupstorytelling.org.uk
Dirty Mouth
Simple pleasures....while I am of course fluent in French (cough, cough) I still like to run the odd Le Monde story through Google Translate to see how the rest of the world views the day's news. Le Figaro on the 2012 Olympics was one of my favourites, but for a taste of its eccentricities, here is an extract from today's Le Monde on "Les Attentants des Londres..."
"Scotland Yard recognized that the first photograph published showing Hamdi Issac the face hidden by a cap of baseball, was fuzzy. The best stereotyped taken by the cameras of remote monitoring of a bus in which it had flees after the failure of the attack at the subway station of Shepherd' S Bush had been diffused the 28, is after the departure of the suspect for the continent. The ministry for the interior opened an investigation. The preserving opposition sees in this business the illustration of the porosity of the borders of the United Kingdom. Hunting for the man to try to find the accomplices of the presumed authors and the sleeping partners of the attacks continues. The police force gave a report on its intention to excavate the young Moslems specifically. The threat of the offence of "dirty mouth" caused a general outcry at the organizations of defense of the humans right. In addition, under the terms of the future offence of "incitation to terrorism ", the party of the Islamic release, Hizb-C-Tahrir, could be prohibited. This formation, which preaches the caliphate, is banished in many countries. To try to alleviate the apprehensions of the Moslem ghettos of the poor suburbs in front of the threat of racist drifts, the ministry for the interior began to organize several meetings with the Community persons in charge. With the agenda, it Malayan of the young people of the suburbs."
"Scotland Yard recognized that the first photograph published showing Hamdi Issac the face hidden by a cap of baseball, was fuzzy. The best stereotyped taken by the cameras of remote monitoring of a bus in which it had flees after the failure of the attack at the subway station of Shepherd' S Bush had been diffused the 28, is after the departure of the suspect for the continent. The ministry for the interior opened an investigation. The preserving opposition sees in this business the illustration of the porosity of the borders of the United Kingdom. Hunting for the man to try to find the accomplices of the presumed authors and the sleeping partners of the attacks continues. The police force gave a report on its intention to excavate the young Moslems specifically. The threat of the offence of "dirty mouth" caused a general outcry at the organizations of defense of the humans right. In addition, under the terms of the future offence of "incitation to terrorism ", the party of the Islamic release, Hizb-C-Tahrir, could be prohibited. This formation, which preaches the caliphate, is banished in many countries. To try to alleviate the apprehensions of the Moslem ghettos of the poor suburbs in front of the threat of racist drifts, the ministry for the interior began to organize several meetings with the Community persons in charge. With the agenda, it Malayan of the young people of the suburbs."
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Travel advice
Some of the jubilant headlines in today's press seem in stark contrast to the mood in London. Here's the Sun and the Daily Express ran with "Thank God", the Daily Mail "Surrender" and the Daily Mirror "Got Them".
There was lots of talk of normalcy, but little evidence of it. The leader in the Times today put it quite well. "The character of life will have to change. The abnormal will become normal."
Got five guys, but it really isn't over and the police are urging the public to be watchful and alert, which it seems is still the order of the day.
"Riding a packed Victoria line subway train on Saturday from Finsbury Park to Stockwell, where the failed attacks began, Natasha Snell, a 22-year-old dental nurse, said.
"I think there's more people out there waiting to do it. It doesn't make it any less anxious. I said to my friend this morning as we were coming into the station, we'll go to the end of the train because it always happens at the front," from the New York Times.
There was lots of talk of normalcy, but little evidence of it. The leader in the Times today put it quite well. "The character of life will have to change. The abnormal will become normal."
Got five guys, but it really isn't over and the police are urging the public to be watchful and alert, which it seems is still the order of the day.
"Riding a packed Victoria line subway train on Saturday from Finsbury Park to Stockwell, where the failed attacks began, Natasha Snell, a 22-year-old dental nurse, said.
"I think there's more people out there waiting to do it. It doesn't make it any less anxious. I said to my friend this morning as we were coming into the station, we'll go to the end of the train because it always happens at the front," from the New York Times.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
V for Voyeur?
Take a look at the trailor of the movie they tried to... well, haven't banned actually, though will be interesting to see if it fares better than Incendiary.
I don't know about you, but the idea of wading through a novel about terrorism in London doesn't really do it for me right now, but watching a movie doesn't seem half as bad. Maybe with the movie its the voyeurism/ car crash thing (shit's happening ... to other people) whereas being "inside" a novel seems a bit too close for comfort...?
Did anyone bother to call the tourist board?
I don't know about you, but the idea of wading through a novel about terrorism in London doesn't really do it for me right now, but watching a movie doesn't seem half as bad. Maybe with the movie its the voyeurism/ car crash thing (shit's happening ... to other people) whereas being "inside" a novel seems a bit too close for comfort...?
Did anyone bother to call the tourist board?
Charles Clarke is on holiday
In case you didn't already know Charles Clarke is on holiday. Shortly we will notice absolutely no difference in service to the running of the nation in this time of crises, but this doesn't stop the media thinking that somehow this is important.
Tony Blair has defended the Home Secretary's decision to go on holiday while the hunt for those behind the London bombings continues. If you cast your mind back to Monday, Clarke delayed the start of his holiday and came in for stinging media criticism.
Why on earth are the media so obsessed? If Clarke actually did anything of value other than grow a beard and appear on TV answering questions on behalf of the PM do you think they would let him go? Get a grip.
Please stop. Clarke is useless. He is the latest in a long line of useless Labour ministers whose sole purpose is...well just to look not very good at what they do. They do this well, we should be pleased. If not pleased then amused. If not amused then vaguely pissed, but possiblly most of all generally disinterested. I'm already there.
Geoff Hoon? John Prescott? Alastair Darling? John Reid? Patricia Hewitt? Tessa Jowell?
Boy is the list a long one. Now please will the media stop going on about Clarke and is bloody holiday. We should all be glad he has gone. I am with Blair on this.
"I personally think it's sensible for people to take the holiday they should have," Mr Blair told reporters.
And no, I have no idea where he has gone. Please do not ask.
Tony Blair has defended the Home Secretary's decision to go on holiday while the hunt for those behind the London bombings continues. If you cast your mind back to Monday, Clarke delayed the start of his holiday and came in for stinging media criticism.
Why on earth are the media so obsessed? If Clarke actually did anything of value other than grow a beard and appear on TV answering questions on behalf of the PM do you think they would let him go? Get a grip.
Please stop. Clarke is useless. He is the latest in a long line of useless Labour ministers whose sole purpose is...well just to look not very good at what they do. They do this well, we should be pleased. If not pleased then amused. If not amused then vaguely pissed, but possiblly most of all generally disinterested. I'm already there.
Geoff Hoon? John Prescott? Alastair Darling? John Reid? Patricia Hewitt? Tessa Jowell?
Boy is the list a long one. Now please will the media stop going on about Clarke and is bloody holiday. We should all be glad he has gone. I am with Blair on this.
"I personally think it's sensible for people to take the holiday they should have," Mr Blair told reporters.
And no, I have no idea where he has gone. Please do not ask.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
They're back!
"Neighbour Sarah Scott, 23, said Ibrahim had once told her "he was going to have all these virgins when he got to heaven if he praises Allah".
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Read this or the bear dies
So the Met police have concluded the man killed at Stockwell tube station last week had no connection to terrorist activities. His crime appears to have been to have been wearing the wrong sort of coat. This really is the end of the day for the bomber jacket.
We have clearly handed the power of life and death to Trinny and Susannah. These two can now issue fatwas against anyone not following the fashion rules...
South Americans wearing unseasonable coats are clearly in danger. I fully expect Sir Ian Blair to be apologising for the tragic killing of Paddington Bear any day now!
Where do you think you're going in that duffel coat sonny...?
We have clearly handed the power of life and death to Trinny and Susannah. These two can now issue fatwas against anyone not following the fashion rules...
South Americans wearing unseasonable coats are clearly in danger. I fully expect Sir Ian Blair to be apologising for the tragic killing of Paddington Bear any day now!
Where do you think you're going in that duffel coat sonny...?
V for Vendetta
There's been a call to ban a scene in the upcoming moving 'V for Vendetta', which shows bombings on the London Underground.
Yes, it's an excuse to use a picture of Ms Portman
The movie stars Hugo Weaving, that's Agent Smith or the guy who looks like Sam Neil to the rest of us and Natalie Portman in a totalitarian-state England of the near future. The producers say that the movie, which is an adaptation of Alan Moore & David Lloyd's seminal graphic "is going to make people think". While I doubt that very much I wish we could avoid this scramble to ban anything that has anything remote resemble some horror that has gone on in the world recently even if, as it does at present, it's something on a own doorstep with 7/7.
There was a similar clamber after 9/11, when a scene in Spiderman was cut. It featured Spiderman moving between the two towers. I thought it was wrong to remove that and I think this is wrong now.
It sounds cheesy, but really it's just another blow for the Islamofascists or their fellow travellers. There shouldn't be an editing of our culture whatever it might be.
If people don't want to go and see it. They have a choice, which is kind of the point.
Yes, it's an excuse to use a picture of Ms Portman
The movie stars Hugo Weaving, that's Agent Smith or the guy who looks like Sam Neil to the rest of us and Natalie Portman in a totalitarian-state England of the near future. The producers say that the movie, which is an adaptation of Alan Moore & David Lloyd's seminal graphic "is going to make people think". While I doubt that very much I wish we could avoid this scramble to ban anything that has anything remote resemble some horror that has gone on in the world recently even if, as it does at present, it's something on a own doorstep with 7/7.
There was a similar clamber after 9/11, when a scene in Spiderman was cut. It featured Spiderman moving between the two towers. I thought it was wrong to remove that and I think this is wrong now.
It sounds cheesy, but really it's just another blow for the Islamofascists or their fellow travellers. There shouldn't be an editing of our culture whatever it might be.
If people don't want to go and see it. They have a choice, which is kind of the point.
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