31 January 2010

31/01/10

The first clinic for venereal diseases opened in London in 1747.  The Battle of George Square took place in Glasgow in 1919, as workers striking for shorter working hours clashed with police in what is one of the worst riots in Glasgow history.  Trotsky was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929.  James Van Allen discovered the Van Allen radiation belt in 1958 (what are the chances of that?).  A truck loaded with explosives was crashed into the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 1996, killing 86 people and injuring 1400.

Born today:  Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Zane Grey (1872-1939), Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), Alva Myrdal (1902-1986), Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks (1931), Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1938), Phil Manzanera (1951), John Lydon (1956), Anthony Paglia (1959) and Lloyd Cole (1961).

It is International Leprosy Day.  I'm guessing the point is awareness, not celebration.

89 comments:

  1. OK i'll bite.

    James Van Allen discovered the Van Allen radiation belt in 1958 (what are the chances of that?).

    (writing off the top of my head)

    This phenomenon is perhaps more properly known as the magnetosphere of the Earth. It is a region in space around the Earth where (charged) bits blown out of the Sun interact with the magnetic influence of the Earth (which also operates compass needles near the surface).

    You can imagine it as a large stretched out doughnut around the Earth, with the a small hole through the magnetic poles of the Earth. It has a stretched out tail facing away from the Sun. The tail is at least a long as a few times to the moon.

    When the energetic bits of the Sun spiral into the hole they convert some of that energy into the polar lights.

    I seem to recall that it was discovered via satellite in the International Geophysical Year.

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  2. Bloody hell. Thought listening to R4 I'd be able to avoid the tennis, but they keep butting into the programmes to give us updates.

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  3. FFS. Now they're discussing John Terry.

    Am considering writing a 'disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' style letter to the BBC.

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  4. Alisdair

    Yeah..I'm a long time fan of Runyon..and Saki. I was reading something a while back which claimed Runyon hardly ever lapsed into a past tense (which I must admit..I hadn't ever picked up on). Apparently the only short story in which he does it is "The lily of St Pierre". His trial reporting is also well worth a read..especially Al Capone's, JP Morgan's and the guy who shot Arnold Rothstein ("the Brain").

    HH Munro is a different story..an especially poignant death which might well have stopped him spilling over into splenetic xenophobia in old age...hard to say...he was hardly Kipling in that regard but there are one or two stories with a hint of anti-Semitism...and he's ultimately very "God and King" when push comes to shove..mind you, at least he was prepared to step up to the plate when the chance arose.

    Brilliant writer though..it's a shame that so many British humourists tend to be so fuckin right wing..Saki..Evelyn Waugh..Woodehouse..Anthony Powell..even Kingsley Amis. Wilde was Irish..and other than him...you're a bit stuck. It's even a problem today...look at columnists..Marina Hyde, possibly..Charlie Brooker (who's fast becoming a pointless self-caricature)..there's nobody who comes close to Matthew Parris.

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  5. Monkeyfish - "it's a shame that so many British humourists tend to be so fuckin right wing"

    Interesting - I know what you mean (even, PJ O'Rourke, HST certainly had some 'rightist' tendencies and was a libertarian rather than 'left') - maybe it's the sense of having won that makes them more comfortable with being satirical, whereas the 'lefties' feel the need to be so bloody worthy all the time.

    heh heh.

    I like Parris, too - his piece after Blair's appearance at Chilcott was good on the 'Manichean duality' thing (which I had to look up - couldn't they just say 'simplistic and limited black-and-white view of the world'?)

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  6. Ohhhh, another Sunday morning with me not feeling very well. I blame it on the dancing.

    'Twas a mate's birthday party down the pub last night; decent band.

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  7. The anniversary of the Battle of George Square.

    The only time in British History if I'm not mistaken where a riot was declared as a 'Bolshevist uprising' (by Robert Munro, the Secretary of State for Scotland) and tanks, troops and howitzers were put on the streets to be used against the native people.

    Interestingly, after advice, Lloyd George ordered English troops up to engage in the military manoeuvres as it was thought the Scottish troops based at Maryhill Barracks could not be trusted if ordered to fire and were subjected to a lock in.

    For weeks after 'Black Friday' troops patrolled the streets of Glasgow.

    Intersting stuff.

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  8. *****system overload warning*******

    Bea Campbell, writing about Julie Bindel.

    Yes, that's right. Bea Campbell, writing about Julie Bindel.

    I can't watch

    **********30 seconds to reboot**********

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  9. Oh Lord,

    Bindel, Campbell, transgender issues, intra-feminist in fighting and starts off with ''I love Julie Bindel''.

    Someone get in contact with JayReilly, this is a code red. Repeat this is a code red.

    COBRA to be implemented immediately.......

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  10. yr grace - I genuinely don't know how to respind to this one - 'I don't like it, ban it' Bindel being supported by 'I haven't a clue' Campbell against free expression and the sisterhood?

    COBRA ain't gonna cut it. This calls for SMERSH, at the very least.

    Well, at least I've sorted out what I'll be watching until the footy kicks off.

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  11. Afternoon all

    Busy this morning, so not looked at CiF at all, but thanks for the 2 minute warning about Bea and Bindel. I will make sure and avoid that like the plague. It has been unpleasant enough paying my tax this morning as it is...

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  12. Oh, it's about how she should be excused her vile attacks on transgendered people and allowed to speak on their behalf is it?

    *cough splutter*

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  13. BB - how did you guess? Fortunately, Natacha has turned up, citing some 'inconvenient truths' that makes the whole thing look even more ridiculous...

    Tax return went off OK? Well done, pour yourself a glass of something!

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  14. Just about to pour some red wine. :o)

    Got roast lamb for lunch as my dad and his partner are here. Just about to make a gravy with the meat juices, red wine and redcurrent jelly for it. Yummy in my tummy.

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  15. Mmmmmmm - am having sausages and potato wedges with grilled tomatoes and lots of mustard.

    Very envious of the roast lamb, though. Enjoy.

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  16. Afternoon all. Thauma - I just had to bring this pearl up from yesterdays thread. ''Fucking lying bastard. Megalomaniac psychopathic cunt. Bloodstained, egotistical, prevaricating superwanker.''
    Now THAT should go on his gravestone - epic. I also just wanted to say to 13thDuke - that that was an absolute blinder of a comment on the Thatcher thread. YOu are very much needed over at Cif.

    Re your question yesterday re Greytiles. He is obssessed with the fact that Gordon Brown made With Profits funds invest a percentage of the fund in government bonds and thinks that this alone led to the demise of the said with profit fund and therefore genteel poverty for many middle class savers. I don't know if he got burned himself or if he worked in finance - he does seem fairly up on all the finance stuff that happened around that time.

    He once told me that seeing me on threads filled him with rage or dismay or some such. i was glad, as ever, to be of service.

    Thaum - hope the head gets better. And Philippa and BB - nice sounding lunches. My mum is actually cooking a proper sunday lunch for us today - a very rare treat as we never bother doing one for just the two of us. So am off up there in a bit. Yummy.

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  17. lunched up, am off to the pub - should catch the end of the first half. enjoy your afternoons, all...

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  19. princesschipchops:

    I'd be interested in your views on Making globalisation pay


    princesschipchops:

    from yesterday: great post on Greece!

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  20. Just had lovely grub too though I say so myself.

    Got a nice bottle of rouge to slowly work my way through now. I love Sundays. :o)

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  21. I was enjoying my Sunday lunch (steak & ale pie, veg, gravy) and then the book I've just finished (Patrick Ness, The Ask and the Answer) so much, that i let a pan of lentils burn... That's not like me...

    Just waiting for Bidisha's response to the Sista's spat..

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  22. That's a first - I appear to have had a comment completely vaporised on the Bea OBE thread!

    I merely said that as a feminist, I object to the likes of Bea & Julie B assuming thay can speak on my behalf. And I bloody well do.

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  23. Oh no you don't! MsChin.. (well it's still panto season..)

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  24. I don't blame you, MsChin

    I had forgotten about Julie's nastiness about transgendered people until I saw the title of the article today. People on the Waddya thread are calling for Natasha, who is a transgendered BTL-er, to contribute and article.

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  25. Alisdair - my wishes continue to be with you.

    I am just back from my daughters 40th thrash - what fun, what fall over drunken fun. My daughter's daughter, my granddaughter, was a delight - a double delight.

    Life is fine for deano. I may be gone for some time but I will return for I I adore and enjoy this Untrusted place.

    We need to entice rednorth to join us. Ye who know about these things - attend to it.

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  27. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  28. So BiBuBiBu has become BiBuBiBuBea? Not sure if I have the strength to look at that thread. Glad Natacha's on the case, though. She's a gem.

    How's everybody? Haven't been around much -- my evenings seem to be taken up with Cinnamon (who definitely needs "Princess" in front of her name), the Sprog (who has decided that Yahtzee with Mum is much more fun than video games), and other distractions.

    We're still shivering away in temps in the negative teens and they're saying we're going to get slammed with another big snowstorm tonight. We've already had about 1½ m. Ready for Spring. Scratch that -- ready for Summer. Roll on, June!

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  29. Sheff and Chin - may I reassure you2 I yielded not an inch to manners, there was not a wench left the party without knowing I adored he.

    I sometimes wish it were not the case - but it is. I do like girls.

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  30. "not a wench left the party without knowing I adored he. - L her

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  31. Hey deano and montana

    Missed you both. Good to hear all is well, even if you are freezing your knockers off, Montana.

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  32. LOve you Montana and sprog. A fine looking young man (by his photo) who will plainly find female fans.

    xxx falling over ...............,web, would be grand dad to yours and lover 4U
    d.

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  33. Montana

    Glad to hear family life is so good since the small furry princess joined you.

    deano

    Absolutely what we expect of a gentleman self-professed tramp, my dear.

    I am outcast & downcast - 2 comments vanished without a trace into the ether for saying nothing that others haven't said elsewhere on the Campbell thread. F*ck me. I feel violated & plead victimhood!

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  34. ....." but it is. I do like girls."........



    I do of course mean grown up girls, the sort you can have a grown up talk to, whilst having the chat about the difference between Monday and Tuesday.

    My clumsy use of language - is just that.

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  35. thauma


    I need a clue - where/when/why did you conclude Kerouac was a tosser?

    I was talking to a younger guy at me daughtr's do and we thought the man wrote a beat change- a tempo thing.

    What you know we don't?

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  36. BB/Chin/Sheff/PCC/thauam- I'm not good on idle promises............


    .....but if......BB get's a brief in Bradford or some such Yorkshire place,................. and you and the boys all get together I will make the effort to join you - and I will buy.

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  37. Chin - sleep calls, you my lovely , having been here some time,are well entitled to call me as you wish.


    xxx.



    d.

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  38. deano

    It would be brill if you joined us at a future get-together in Yorkshire.

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  39. Chin - you and the Sheff lasses' have a warmth and a welcome that is so hard to describe but so obvious to be with.

    I like it.. A lot.

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  40. deano

    You old flatterer, you.

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  41. Princess - I just couldn't think of enough swearwords. I've just stumbled over yesterday's paper with his manic mug all over it, and got angry all over again. The mister thinks I've lost it. (I tried to explain 'show them the pigs' and even put up the pic from the UT gallery, but he's now given me a shifty look and gone home.)

    Phil, BB - hope you enjoyed your lunches! Mine made me feel better, thank Baal.

    You lot are going to make me read the Bea/Bindel thread....

    Deano - On The Road is, imho, a seriously misogynistic book. And you know I don't throw that word around loosely. From what little I've read of his life, it sounds as though he's always had problems with women. But I could be mis-remembering that.

    Hope to see you in Yorkshire!

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  42. Can't be arsed with tagging....
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBJ1rv39Pws

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  43. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXK60prBI_w
    Ring all the bells..

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  44. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN4DHY_9gOs
    hold on, I'm comin'...

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  45. Deano

    Chin - you and the Sheff lasses' have a warmth and a welcome that is so hard to describe but so obvious to be with.

    Having met the Sheffield lasses (minus the Princess, unfortunately), I can warmly second that.

    Here is a song for my friend P**** who needs to wise up.

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  46. This from monstera sums it up for me:
    "By the way, if Matt Seaton - or whichever bloody fool who thought this article was a good idea - thinks it can't be made right by inviting a transgendered person to write an article, you'd be wrong."

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  47. Read the Campbell/Bindel thread. So glad that Bea's getting the kicking she so richly deserves.

    I heartily agree with Thauma about Kerouac. It was all I could do to finish On the Road and I only bothered because I had to -- was reading it for a class (Post War AmLit).

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  48. Cheers and likewise back at you, thauma!

    Philippa

    T'was not a good idea, indubitably it was a very bad idea to let B OBE loose on such a subject. What has been good is the response from the trans community.

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  49. mschin - whatever the good work btl, one knows that nowt will change. if i ever get 'cuddly' abut the sisterhood, god, it includes all the sisters. bindell's previous on that is, well, hideous. and ignorant.

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  50. Hi Deano welcome back. Are you going away again - as you say you won't be around much? glad you had a good time in the company of fine ladies.

    Montana - the cat and the boy make a lovely pair! What a nice picture.

    Medve - thanks for the compliment. I bloody love Greece - I lived there for four years - in Corfu and Athens. I know the country is in real trouble but I hope it can pull through - have faith in the Greek people - they have a fire in their bellies the English sorely lack. I see that you feel that about the Greeks too!

    Re the article you linked - very interesting. It would be a good idea. The only thing is how hard it would be to implement. Also I dont agree quite with the author when he says ''In a truly free market, workers would go where the best-paying jobs are, rather than the jobs going to where the worst-paid workers are'' That is the point of capitalism - to always drive for the lowest costs of production as possible and therefore the lowest paid workers.
    But I do think things are starting to look quite worrying - I wondered how long it would take the US to react to China's fairly mercantile policies (policies that they have copied directly from the US of course!) and I saw this week that the US have signed an arms deal with Tawain and China have stopped military ties with the US and also threatened sanctions. Then Greece has further protests today - for the first time ever people are camping outside parliament. I think that the worry is that the tensions between governments trying to keep the whole globalisation bandwagon moving for their corporate paymasters and trying to keep control of their populations will be come too much for some nation states.
    Either leading to serious civil unrest or protectionism and worst case scenario war.

    What do you think to the idea of a minimum global wage? I would be interested to know how you think this thing is going to play out. The US growth figures are astonishing - perhaps we really will escape this whole mess by the skin of our teeth?

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  51. It, my adored young lasses, requires attention in the reading..

    "on the road" is three thousand mile long sentence.

    It is no great concern of mine that you missed the full stop. I still love you all.

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  52. Rather think this will get deleted, and I like it so I'm saving it here:

    toxicshock

    31 Jan 2010, 9:18PM

    beacampbell

    come back, coward.

    come back and address the people that your dear Julie thinks are 'parodies'.

    Because there is more than one of 'them' on this thread and they make you look like the fool you are.

    Natacha - you rock, dear, Keep at 'em, and don't take their shit.

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  53. PPC - I loves you, young miss. Time to take a break and give our fine new friends the stage.

    I have so enjoyed being here and I will be back in due course.

    xx.

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  54. Chin - just in case there is a misfortune and I expire before I had the say............

    ......I did enjoy being in the same sentence as you.
    x.

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  55. Off to bed as I have an early start and a l o n g day tomorrow :-(

    deano - you're needed round here all the time. Seriously. Unless you really have something better to do, of course, but don't be gone too long!

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  56. princess:

    What do you think to the idea of a minimum global wage? I would be interested to know how you think this thing is going to play out. The US growth figures are astonishing - perhaps we really will escape this whole mess by the skin of our teeth?

    I barely refrained from commenting when the last post ended with

    You also seem near ignorant about how manufacturing operations work. M&S, Adidas etc don't actually own the sweatshops. They just buy from them. So the sweatshops won't even be affected by your idea, for they're not directly owned.

    Ludicrous idea.


    And this is TimWorstel with a blue C.

    But i agree with what i see behind your sentiment, that it would be nice if we could have a bit of globalised social justice for a change. Exactly who owns sweatshops is a red herring methinks.

    As for US growth, there are also the problemettes of the risk of a W type recession and and that of scared politicians driving the economy into recession again with public spending cuts.

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  57. Finally just got round to reading Queen Bea's piece and it does leave me feeling a tad sick. I remember the Bindel piece at the time and I was disgusted by it. I didn't post it in these terms on CiF because it would mean insta-mod, but for someone who spends her time campaigning against the idiocy of the BNP for judging people for how they were born, there is not much difference between Bindel and Griffin when it comes to this subject. She is full of blind hatred for men simply because they are born as men - even those who feel that their gender is female.

    Sigh.

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  58. Night medve!

    Maybe I'll dream of a globalised social justice .. which would be infinitely better than nightmares about a world of lesbian separatism.

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  59. Deano

    You are sorely missed when you disappear. Please don't abandon us. xx

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  60. Deano

    "on the road" is three thousand mile long diatribe on the evils of women

    Fixed that for you. ;-)

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  61. Evening all. Don't know quite how to phrase this without giving his/her identity away (I'm fairly traceable via the net, but don't want this person to be). Anyhow, I have a friend who has worked with one of the authors mentioned here who is very very tied in with a thread that went up today. The author was parachuted in to head up his/her dept, as some kind of a 'name' signing. When I mentioned the 'honoured' author to my friend s/he rolled their eyes and pointed out three things about said author (must mention here that this friend is impeccably liberal,gay/lesbian, and deprived area background, so theoretically ought to be in sympathy with this author, but s/he is princpled,decent and humane...)
    Her or his take is that this high-profile author is
    a) Academically shoddy, to a painful degree: partial,plain ignorant in many respects and biased.
    b) Really,really just not a nice person: supercilious,scheming,untrustworthy,glory-snatching from others, and known to be rather nasty to underlings.
    c) Of debatable sanity. Now, as some of you know I work in mental health and do not under any circumstances wish to hold that against somone,but it may explain some things. He/She is adamant that the author says things (and not just on the expected topics) that are so manifestly untrue or removed from reality, and so inconsistent and perplexing that the author is very difficult to deal with , not aided by a) and b) above.

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  62. MsChin

    The irritating thing is that of all the lesbians I have known, I have yet to meet one who actually hates men just coz.

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  63. Nowt worse than a bloke who can't spell a ladies name.....

    "PPC - I loves you, young miss......."

    PCC i really do love you to bits despite my confused and cavalier use of the language. Get rednorth down here and the world will be better.

    xx. deano.

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  64. thauma - my sweet young miss of many voices, I will still fall asleep in our paragraph.

    I really love the way you put the words together. I will get off of my arse to meet you one day - assuming you don't tell me to me to fegg off. By the way did I tell you I like you. Lots.

    Even then I would not be offended - mistakes are just things that happen in life. Especially to class lasses!

    BB - I'm away for a while but I still love you to bits. Your energetic enthusiasm, and passion for truth, is cause of much admiration.

    Move the boy on from the rat to the red setter and you will have have cause for joy....!

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  65. BB - I used to think Bindel was one of those fems who I might not agree with but was glad was around. Her views on the trans community do make me wonder what the fuck she is doing with her time. It's the same hate she castigates in others. But apparently we're supposed to give a shit when she suffers.

    i don't fuckin' think so.

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  66. Alisdair: somehow it doesn't surprise me to learn that one of the authors mentioned here today is a thoroughly unpleasant human being with questionable sanity. I'd have been more surprised if your friend had said that the author in question was actually a really fine person, grossly misunderstood.

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  67. BB - "The irritating thing is that of all the lesbians I have known, I have yet to meet one who actually hates men just coz"
    This is largely because the primary issue is lovin' women. I'll only hate someone who warrants it...

    Like Bea Campbell.

    Fr'instance.

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  68. Montana - re: Alisdair's post - yes, well said!

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  70. Can I just add that I didn't dig for the info at all.I'd simply said doesn't X work at your department and,whoosh,out it came.

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  71. Pip - precisely. On both counts.

    I have to say that I lost interest in Bindel when I saw her being interviewed by the Beeb one lunchtime after - i think - the Emma Humphreys appeal where she quite openly said that manslaughter on the grounds of provocation could only be a defence for women not men. Needless to say by the time it got to the 6 O Clock news that bit had been edited out, but it summed up for me what is wrong with the woman.

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  72. PhillB - you are so very pleasant on the eye and so much younger that it takes a bold old man to say (in public ) "I likes the way you puts the words together young miss."
    "
    I enjoy reading you, and hope your your new flat mate works out fine. I suppose if push came to shout about I would come to France and share your place for a .......while.

    It is .......... a principle of mine that older men ought properly to tell younger girls, of talent, that when they are OK. - they are OK.

    If they are really ok it's easy.You are ok.

    love you young miss catch you later.

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  73. That particular author is what we call in our house a Cruella. Long story, but that was the nickname one of our friends gave to my husband's ex-wife who could put Blair to shame on the lying front, who is educated, manipulative and incapable of taking any responsibility for anything in her life, and has in the past blamed the mafia and the freemasons for ills that have befallen her.

    Nevertheless, she has an uncanny knack of being able to talk such abject bollocks with such total sincerety that you come away from it thinking you are the one who is bonkers. One of those people who genuinely seem to think that just because they say something that makes it true, flying in the face of any factual evidence they might be presented with.

    That author sounds like a classic Cruella to me...

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  74. Love and romance thauma, eh? Here's a typical 80's video for a 'love song'. It might be postmodern, although I doubt it, and I shudder to think what Bindel would say about it.
    btw, has anybody ever visited the Romeo and Juliet balcony in Verona? It's fucking tiny and not very high up - were Italian peeps in those days, like, three feet tall or something, dude? And is poison really the answer? What would Bea say?

    romeo and juliet

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  75. Medve - I nearly exploded when I saw the post (think it might be by the same person) saying that if the public would pay more for his goods (he is an actual business owner) he wouldn't give his staff any rises just pocket the money and buy fatter cigars. We need a revolution. But I am too worn down by it all to even comment on there!

    Oh and re the US growth figures. Under the nice headlines seems most economists not too impressed - mostly due to the fact that consumption has not gone up much. Also The Detroit News reckons half of the cities workers are unemployed. The official rate is astonishing enough at 27% but unnoficially many think it is as high as 45%. How can you have real recovery with figures like that in major cities? Strange times.

    Where are you based Medve?

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  76. scherf

    Awesomeness, that vid.

    Managed to get tix to see Mark Knopfler at the Albert Hall a coupla years back from one of my hubby's work colleagues who wanted shot of em, and we were three rows from the front - birthday present for the lad. One of the best gigs in ages (although the laddo and his mate were mainly interested in what guitars and amps he was using.)

    I blubbed my bloody eyes out at Romeo and Juliet. Epic choonage.

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  77. Thought I had posted this but seems to have disappeared so again! Alisdair - good to see you around and hope you are okay. And I am not surprised about that news re 'they who shall not be mentioned' - at all!

    Deano - dont go away again you will be too missed.

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  78. And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
    All I do is keep the beat, the bad company
    And all I do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme
    Juliet, I'd do the stars with you any time


    *sniff*

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  79. Scherf - great stuff - suspected that's what the song would be, but hadn't seen the video before.

    Princess - I have friends in Detroit, and of course the real figures are much worse than the official ones. It's dire.

    Off to bed now; 'night all!

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  80. Princess: While I agree with Thauma that the official figures for Detroit (and, indeed, anywhere else in the US) aren't anywhere close to being an accurate picture of reality, it must be said that Detroit has been worse off than most of the rest of the country for decades. Their economy was too dependent on the US auto industry. Still, it's bad everywhere.

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  81. BB, I saw Dire Straits in Belfast in '78. Small university venue (2-300 people)and not having bought tickets, we climbed in through a window to catch the last hour or so. At that time they were one of the very few English bands who dared to play Belfast (the others were eg. the Stiff tour - Costello, Ian Dury, Lene Lovich etc.) Aso Joe Jackson and a few others. Speaking of the great JJ, here's one for Julie and Bea and all
    political lesbians, trannies, hets and women:

    different for girls

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  82. Hah! Joe Jackson. Bloody excellent song that too, sherf! :o)

    Hey bitterweed! I got outvoted on Mo - well I say outvoted. Him indoors had the remote and I couldn't be arsed to get off the sofa and wrest it from his feverish grip so we ended up watching Die Hard 4.0 instead. I will catch it on "watch again" on cable though.

    I have a bit of a thing for Mark Knopfler - my fave film of all time is Local Hero, and the soundtrack still does my head in after all these years.

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  83. And on that note I am off to bed. Got a bit of an odd case to do tomorrow. It will either get kicked out early on, or else I will be in the Appeal Court with it in a few months. So I need to have me wits about me and make sure I don't have a hangover from the bottle of merlot I have been drinking all day since lunchtime....

    Nighty night xx

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  84. princess: the male contingent is in Budapest, while the female singularity has flown off to a conference.

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  85. Ah Budapest - always wanted to visit there looks like a fascinating place.

    Montana - I knew it was bad in Detroit but the figures just were astounding.

    Right off to bed for me. Nite all.

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