10 January 2011

10/01/11


If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master.  The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.
-Frank Herbert

141 comments:

  1. I've put the Intense Debate commenting system back up on UT2. Please play with it, make comments, etc. to see if it's reliable. Maybe paste a large comment that you might make here over there, too, so we can see if we lose fewer comments.

    I didn't enable the YouTube embedding for now, but you can embed photos from Flickr, Picasa, etc.

    @Meerkatjie:

    Don't tempt me. If I could figure out a way of getting permission to be there legally, I'd be gone in a heartbeat.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi All

    Montana, if you sneak in to the UK illegally the benefits are better. According to some. (-:

    BTH--Some fine music you offered this AM. Had heard Travis before but not the others. Thanks.

    MsChin--Have to agree with Bitey re visiting/seeing the US. A huge spectacular country with many interesting areas. I do not agree with many of their government's policies ( domestic or foreign ) but wouldn't write off the whole place.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wampeters, foma and granfalloons.

    ReplyDelete
  4. morning all - Montana, my contribution to the intense debate is slightly hamstrung by the fact that I don't get a comment box appearing over there. Have clicked on the headline and everything. Not sure if that's 'me' or 'it' causing the problem...

    ReplyDelete
  5. ooh, hang on, it works if i 'open in new window', but not 'open in new tab'. will try again...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy Birthday Philippa! (Almost forgot.)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Is it your birthday Philippa? Have a wonderful day!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy birthday pip!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you! Had a lovely weekend but need to work today (bleah) but am getting dinner out of it this evening, and have had nice presents, so all good...

    plus, anyone who watched Leicester v Man City yesterday - we finished up in a 5-2-2-1 formation, yes? FFS, etc...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Does anyone know anything about privacy and data collection? If I haven't had a response to my emails to the mod team at Guardian central by the end of play tomorrow, I want to ask them to delete my account completely. However, I've heard tell that others have had difficulty convincing them to do this. Does anyone know whether I have the 'right' to get them to delete the account?

    ReplyDelete
  11. My inability to rant freely on the monarchy thread is really starting to chafe.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Meerkat - yes you do, but they are useless at doing it (surprise surprise). Swifty struggled for ages, only when he CCd in Natalie was anything done.

    Seems the iron law of CiF - emailing the mods, about anything, is a waste of time. I dont know how much they get paid, or whose kids, nieces and nephews they are, but it still staggers me that you could work for a company and simply refuse to respond to emails. I have never worked anywhere where this would be tolerated.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 9 visitors from Hong Kong? How many Bitey's are there???

    Morning all..... fell briefly (but not spectacularly) off the wagon on Saturday but got back on right away. Feeling much more, ermmm... level now. That first week of not drinking is hideous.

    Katjie:

    Was curious about the orchestra.....

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh.... and HAPPY BIFFDAY MIZZ PHILIPPA B ;)

    Did you have a champagne breakfast?

    ReplyDelete
  15. larit - have to go to work in about half an hour, so that would have been a foolish idea...coffee and cigarettes, as per...

    meerkatjie - think that while you can get them to delete the account, you can't get them to delete comments (other than those already zapped by the mods team) as the T&C of the site give ownership of the comments to the G. So your comments would still appear in threads but if people click on you 'handle', they get 'no account'. this could explain why they are a bit tardy on deleting accounts, as it doesn't actually remove the underlying comments, so they might think 'what's the point?'

    ReplyDelete
  16. Did anyone see the Groin on Sat?

    They've dragged up that revolting, interminable self-publicist and all-round, over-privileged, twit Emma Forrest out of the cupboard. I actually wanted to vomit when I read the article.... it reads.... "at 16 she was a top music journalist" no she wasn't, she was a public-school educated, Hampstead, toff who ingratiated herself into parts of the music biz by attaching herself to various bands in the early 90's and ligging for all she was worth.

    JayR: if you think Laurie Penny's bad.... DON'T read the article.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Phillippa:

    Awww.... thought you might have had the day off to lounge around like Lady Betram ;0

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've tried emailing Ms Hanman now, Jay. Thanks, I hadn't considered that before. I've pasted my correspondence with them to date below - none of it has been responded to. And on that note, I'll stop whining about it! I'm just finding the rude lack of response to a query about what was clearly a very petty act a bit frustrating. I'm sure I'll get over it soon!
    _____________________________________________
    Dear Ms Hanman

    I'm sorry to trouble you with this, as I'm sure you have more important things to deal with, but I don't seem to be getting any kind of response from your moderation team, and with Jessica being off ill, I'm not sure who else to speak to.

    I wondered if you could perhaps explain why I've been placed in premod, which rules I've broken (how am I supposed to avoid it in future, given that I didn't actually violate any rules in the first place, if no-one explains to me exactly why I'm in premod?), and how long this state is likely to persist?

    Kind regards

    Meerkatjie

    (The deleted post that resulted in me being placed in premod was a comment on the usefulness of premod as a tool of moderation per se. It was measured and polite, and I remain convinced it did not break any rules whatsoever.)

    ----- Forwarded Message ----
    From: Meer Katjie
    To: cif.moderation@guardian.co.uk; jessica.reed@guardian.co.uk
    Sent: Fri, 7 January, 2011 22:32:25
    Subject: Re: Premod?

    Dear mods

    I see you're taking a little while getting back to me on this one, so to help you along I've pasted the community guidelines below. Could you please indicate which of the guidelines below I infringed. I don't think suggesting that premod is an unhelpful tool of moderation, and that it's easy enough to simply remove an offensive post, in fact contravenes your guidelines.

    In the post you removed, prior to placing me in premod, I did not engage in personal attack, I did not misrepresent your journalists. I did not engage in an offensive post. I did not flame. I did not engage in hate speech. I did not place you in legal jeopardy. I did not spam. My post was on topic and in keeping with the spirit of the thread (one might even say it was a recommendation of sorts!). The post was constructive.

    I would appreciate some kind of response. As it stands, I'm afraid this particular act of moderation looks just a little bit like it's a petty kind of one-upmanship - that I have been placed in premod simply for suggesting that premod is an unhelpful tool. Surely this isn't the case? Perhaps someone simply accidentally put me in premod, a slip of the edit finger, perhaps?

    Interestingly, you'll find that the whaddya regulars are rather baffled by this action too.

    Regards



    From: Meer Katjie
    To: cif.moderation@guardian.co.uk; jessica reed
    Sent: Fri, 7 January, 2011 20:43:08
    Subject: Premod?


    I would very much appreciate a coherent explanation as to why I am now in premod.

    To my knowledge I have not violated the terms and conditions. If you have placed me in premod simply for pointing out that I thought premod was an unnecessary aspect of moderation, then I believe this decision is beyond childish.

    Incidentally, I've had next to no posts removed since joining the site, so to accelarate straight to premod for something so ridiculously trivial is, I believe, quite preposterous.

    Regards

    ReplyDelete
  19. Bitey -

    my 'Labour Party' socialism ??????

    Don't think the party would agree, as i have said LP isn't socialist but has always had socialists in it.

    The influence of socialists in the party varies - not very significant at the mo I've got to admit. The people who really wrecked the party in the 80's are the politically correct identity politics brigade, the influence of Militant was exaggerated and I should know ;)

    But a lot of the members at grass roots level are working class and here in Wales its actually increasing...

    ReplyDelete
  20. @La Rit - I don't think I've seen the word 'ligging' used since I gave up reading the Melody Maker in about 1996. What is it about the Guardian and giving talentless teenage music journalists a chance to redeem their writing careers?

    Just in case anyone has low blood pressure today, Tebbit's written an article for CiF and Diane Abbott's gone BTL. Almost a perfect hypertensive storm chez Benulek.

    ReplyDelete
  21. @LaRit

    I thought I should help protect Jay by reading the Emma Forrest piece and giving my considered verdict.

    Holy shit.

    Jay, don't read that article.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Benulek:

    Ahhh.... 'liggers' how we hated them! Me and my younger sister and our school mate, spent many years on and off, from our teenage years, hitching around the country with little money, following various bands around, because we loved them, not because we were trying to launch our 'writing careers'.

    I have and have had many mates in the music biz over the years and I had the misfortune to have to suffer the irritating presence of Ms (no talent except for self-promotion) Forrest, when she muscled her way into the Manic's inner sanctum in the early 90's. She was an annoying little prig then and judging by her self-indulgent diatribe dropping huge hints about her 'film-star' boyfriend and her 'mental health' issues, she's not changed one jot. And the Guardian indulges this woman?

    It's beyond parody.

    ReplyDelete
  23. PeterJ:

    Yes. Don't let Jay read it - he'll bust a blood vessel ;)

    I think the last time she wrote an 'article' for the Guardian was I think about 10 years ago. Vacuous trash about the pressure of being a Jewish woman and feeling compelled to dye ones hair blonde.

    Not really the on the same scale as applying dangerous skin bleaches if you're Black and desperately trying to be more 'acceptable' to White Society.

    I seem to remember that there was absolute outrage in the letters about giving space to such utter tripe in a 'serious' newspaper. They must think we've got short memories....

    ReplyDelete
  24. I wasnt going to read it, PeterJ, but having seen your reaction - I'm going to have to have a read of it on my lunch.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Shall I cover the walls in plastic sheeting, Jay?

    ReplyDelete
  26. @LaRit - someone once associated with the Manics who drops heavy hints about 'mental health issues' and poses unsmilingly for the camera...it's almost as if there's a behavioural template.

    ReplyDelete
  27. No need, Benulek, i am finding it hard to get too worked up about CiF these days, other than gasping at the sheer inadequacy of the place and their utter failure to engage seriously with what is happening in the country right now. They seem to be trying to cling to their pre-crash model of endless identity nonsense peddled by halfwitted, cretinous liberals.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Wasn't Emma Forrest also Julie Burchill,s 'new best friend' at one stage?.

    @Happy Birthday Philippa!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anyone got a link for this offending article?

    ReplyDelete
  30. @LaRit

    I fear Ms Forrest's oeuvre is more extensive than you imply. Full listing here.

    ReplyDelete
  31. It's the top one in that link I just gave, Jay.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Thanks for the suggestion of mailing Ms Hanman, Jay. That seems to have done the trick.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Beneluk:

    It's all a 'pose'. Even the descriptions of 'mental health' problems don't ring true. She alludes to being: bullimic, anorexic, suicidal (from the age of 9?) a self-harmer, bi-polar.... etc.etc. I don't think she'd know a mental health problem if it smacked her in the face.

    Seems like 10 years navel-gazing in LA and New York with a very expensive therapist failed to point out the fact the reasons for all her 'ills' (real and imaginary) are that she's just not that clever or talented and the only reason she's published at all is because Mummy and Daddy have friends in high places.

    Paul:

    Yes, she was La Burchill's NBF, it was a relationship of mutual sychophancy, where we, the poor reader, were subjected to yet more vacuous articles licking each others' arses in public. Bleeeuuuchhhh...

    ReplyDelete
  34. peterJ:

    Ahhhh... that means I've successfully avoided her for quite some time then!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Its just typical vacuous nonsense. Probably only slightly notable by the extreme narcissism on display, but other than that seemed fairly standard Graun drivel to me.

    ReplyDelete
  36. @PeterJ

    Thanks for the link to the EF article.I think 'Holy Shit' is just about the right response to it!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Happy Birthday Philippa!


    Jesus Haploid Christ! I'm almost certain there are many people out there for whom a swift kick up the backside and to be told "pull yourself together" would work a 1000 times better than being validated by "therapy"*. I almost as certain that Emma Forrest is one of them.



    *I'm also sure there are many who genuinely need it.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Happy Birthday to The Pipster!!!


    Hope it's a really, really good one. With lots of, erm, cake!?

    (If you like cake, obviously. If not, hope there's lots of whatever it is you do like! (But surely everyone likes cake though, right...??))

    Anyways, all the best,

    James

    ReplyDelete
  39. Oh and Phillipa have you heard the rumours about the possibility of Beckham being loaned to Spurs? Dunno whether to laugh or cry!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Thanks Bitterweed for the Marshall-kicking clip - excellent. Bad Moon Rising projection? Nope - I find it's more a bad reception misalignment: as Eric once told us

    And thanks BTH for for tord gustavsen trio - now that's serious nut-scratchimg music - although having said that I've had 'where breathing starts' playing in the background all day without once scratching.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Happy Birthday Philippa!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Ah, Dott :)

    You know, having had close experience with people with real, serious and devastating mental health problems and having suffered myself, the article made me very angry indeed.

    The premise behind it being, "anything to make a buck". Like Kerry Katona appearing on Dancing on Ice.

    btw - what's your take on all the birds dropping out of the skies? It made me so sad.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Beckham on loan to Spurs; oh dear, me thinks Harry has lost the plot!

    BTW: happy birthday Phillipa

    ReplyDelete
  44. now having lulled you into a false sense of security ...

    can I ask how music works for you both (B&B) - is it the immediacy of being there? (BTH you mention going to these jazz gigs, and I know Bitters that you are a performer)

    It's interesting because we're communicating via music as a shorthand for understanding - so how does this work as both a solitary and collective way of communicating?

    which begs the next question about collective action and solitary blogging

    ok - I'll leave you with that and this

    ReplyDelete
  45. Another one bites the dust on "Wadya"!



    And here is some more from STC

    You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves. Why don't you lot just collectively write a letter to Jessica and tell her which posters you want on CIF and then you can have your own little happy-clappy club.

    Honestly, it really is a new low for this thread.

    ReplyDelete
  46. La Rit,

    Agree it's sad, other than that I reserve judgement on what caused it until/unless there's some peer reviewed stuff out (i.e. scientific papers). I know how the rumour mill works: scientist speculates "Y might be linked to X", media shouts "X causes Y", happens all the time!

    ReplyDelete
  47. At the risk of over-reaching, I'm officially extending my 'works as a punchline to nearly every joke' rule to also cover any and all unexplained phenomena!!

    So, why are birds falling out of the sky?

    Because Tony Blair's a cunt!!

    I think you'll find, that until modern science catches up, that's as good an explanation as any......

    ReplyDelete
  48. Who bit the dust, Chekhov?

    Torieboy's just trying to get a few people to say 'come back, STC, we love you', and have an unwarranted dig at lefties, all while trying to convince us that Conservatives are a victimised minority.

    It's kind of funny, if you look at it the right way. I was amused when he identified Ally as a ringleader in the 'being rude to tories' thing. Ally??? Seriously???

    ReplyDelete
  49. "So, why are birds falling out of the sky?

    Because Tony Blair's a cunt!!"

    I think the logic is indisputable. Mind you, I think there's perhaps a list of twats to add the formula for a truly scientific explanation.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Fair, and I've left room for other people to be involved too, as and when appropriate.

    (I was really going for one of those 'grand, unifying theory of everything' type whatsits that sciencey people are always after!

    In that respect, I don't think it can be beaten!!)

    ReplyDelete
  51. @Meerkatjie: I dunno who it was. Does it matter? It was the general feeling of resigned despair I identified with.

    BTW: I thought you were attempting to get yourself "excommunicated" from "wadya", or were you just asking to be let off the naughty step?

    ReplyDelete
  52. afternoon all...

    tanti auguri a te philippa!!!!


    blimey I think i want to be sick....that trite of Emma Forest is one of the worst pieces of "prose" i've seen in a long time.......jesus wept.....

    ReplyDelete
  53. {Slaps self on forehead}

    Happy birthday, Philippa!!!

    I wasn't intending to slight you -- just half asleep when I put up the thread, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Hi Chekhov, No, I wasn't seeking excommunication - I was asking someone over there to acknowledge that I shouldn't have been put on the naughty step to start with, given that I hadn't actually done anything other than query the value of premod. But nobody was replying to my email, so I was at that point thinking 'how rude' and toying with getting my account closed.

    I am struck by the contempt with which the editorial team seem to hold members of that community though. As if they are somehow doing us a favour by letting us post on their little site. One does have to wonder quite who they think pays their salaries...

    ReplyDelete
  55. "I am struck by the contempt with which the editorial team seem to hold members of that community though."

    Yep, that just about sums it up.

    As I've mentioned before, that's the reason why this site exists!

    ReplyDelete
  56. .
    parallaxview said...

    now having lulled you into a false sense of security ...

    can I ask how music works for you both (B&B) - is it the immediacy of being there? (BTH you mention going to these jazz gigs, and I know Bitters that you are a performer)


    Yes the immediacy and because the sound is so much different live however good the sound system you've got at home. Having said that my impression of much rock music is that it's performers try to get their live performances to sound identical to their recorded versions.

    You say:

    It's interesting because we're communicating via music as a shorthand for understanding - so how does this work as both a solitary and collective way of communicating?

    Not sure I understand this point but I'm often promted when people say they "don't like jazz", to prove they're wrong by finding something they like.


    Here for example is American saxophonist Chris Potter performing live. I think he is brilliant but I have friends who'd call this tuneless screeching and wailing. But then they're stuck in a late 50s early sixtes rock and roll and pop, time warp as far as music is concerned.

    ReplyDelete
  57. I don't enjoy jazz recordings (except perhaps old style jazz). I do enjoy live jazz. I think that's the point of jazz really - to be there, to be taken in by the sound and energy and incredible skill and creativity of it.

    ReplyDelete
  58. I'll endorse your theory James and I have a PhD in bird behaviour!

    ReplyDelete
  59. Cheers Dott!!

    (is it ok if I leave you to sort out all the numbers, equations and squiggly line type stuff, then? (I'm more of an ideas man, me!)).

    ReplyDelete
  60. Only if I can have first authorship on the paper,

    Dixon & Dott sounds a bit dodgy anyway....

    ReplyDelete
  61. Also, for those of you using an actual computer, what's capable of doing more than one thing at once, and who are also looking at The Groan, how's that tresspass thingy going??

    ReplyDelete
  62. Kushi Jumum-din PhilippaB!

    All the best flower : )

    TX xxx

    ReplyDelete
  63. Well Dott, my publishing name's actually Cross, so yours then mine works quite well, I reckon!!

    ;0)

    ReplyDelete
  64. Jazz is a great genre!

    and when mixed with funk properly like this .

    ReplyDelete
  65. "opera is this horrible music with blokes and women singing in foreign"

    Can someone explain to me why I share a home with this man? He's also equating opera with hip hop....

    (Just accidentally stuck this on whaddya by mistake! It was supposed to follow on from Tim's jazz comment!)

    ReplyDelete
  66. Ok JD how does this sound:

    Dott, C.M. and Cross, J. (2011) Dotting the Is and Crossing the Ts: demonstrating empirically that avian misfortune is caused by the similarity of former world leaders to female anatomy. Journal of the Bleedin' Obvious 10 213-255?

    ReplyDelete
  67. I'm afraid, Meerkatjie, that pretty much sums up my opinion on opera too.

    I'd also probably add, that it's The Shakespeare of the music world too!!

    ReplyDelete
  68. Haha Dot!!

    Brilliant!!

    (For future reference, and to pre-empt the inevitable, roughly how long does a Nobel acceptance speech need to be??)

    ReplyDelete
  69. JD

    X = (A x B)/C + 1

    Where:

    X = Length of speech (in minutes)

    A = Size of your ego (in Blairs)

    B= Alcohol content of wine at presentation ceremony (in %)

    C = Number of sober people at the ceremony

    ReplyDelete
  70. Sorry, that should be nanoBlairs, whoops, what a mistake!

    ReplyDelete
  71. Right, I make that 186.4 minutes. Give or take (and assuming their idea of a classy table wine corresponds with my own views, i.e, Liebfraumilch)

    And, given that my 'thank yous' (Friends, family members who still talk to me, successful relationships etc) have taken up exactly 12 seconds, that's going to give me just about enough time for my 'fuck yous'.

    This science thing's brilliant, innit!?

    ReplyDelete
  72. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  73. It's good of Jack Straw to give a nice veneer of respectability to enable this kind of repulsive race hate from the BNP

    Our children are not halaal meat

    This has made me feel physically sick.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Meerkatjie

    Are you able to give a brief synopsis for those of us worried about clicking on BNP links at work?

    ReplyDelete
  75. Dott, it's basically just repeating the view that Muslim men are forming predatory gangs to prey on young white girls. It's claiming 'thousands of girls' have been affected.

    The halaal meat thing was the bit that really turned my stomach.

    It's very icky.

    ReplyDelete
  76. The BNP - the party who's readers I most associate with the Daily Sport, producing a leaflet like that.... incredible.

    ReplyDelete
  77. I expect it of the BNP. But they produced that leaflet almost on the same day that Jack Straw legitimated their point of view with his own particular form of anti-islamic prejudice.

    ReplyDelete
  78. @Meerkatjie

    I disagree that what Straw said was anti-Islamic prejudice. The use that the BNP makes of it is its own sordid problem.

    ReplyDelete
  79. I see the world continues to turn in own inimitable way

    Mass shooting in US..

    Jack Straw raises a legitimate subject - then manages to de-legitimise in one easy sentence...

    Undercover plod exposed amongst environmental activists -CPS fail to reveal evidence - trial collapses...

    BNP produces revolting leaflet...

    Hardly worth getting out of bed...except of course it's Phillipa's birthday. Happy b'day Phillipa!

    ReplyDelete
  80. How was it not, Peter? There's no real evidence that the high profile gang was specifically seeking out white girls - which is essentially what Straw's claimed. If you look at the racial profiles of the victims, they almost perfectly match the demographics of the UK population.

    These men preyed on young girls, on vulnerable girls. But to suggest this is an issue of Pakistani men preying on white girls seems profoundly ill advised.

    "But there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men...who target vulnerable young white girls."

    "We need to get the Pakistani community to think much more clearly about why this is going on and to be more open about the problems that are leading to a number of Pakistani heritage men thinking it is OK to target white girls in this way."

    He acknowledges at the beginning of his comments that actually Pakistani men are not overrepresented in the prison population. An analysis of female victims suggests white girls aren't overrepresented.

    How is this unproblemmatic?

    You're right though, his comments are about Pakistani men, so I guess they should be labelled as racist, rather than anti-Islamic?

    ReplyDelete
  81. Just thought I'd draw attention to this article.... about the library cuts. Lots of really good links in the comments. Just fucked up and lost my comment.... so posting the link here if anyone is interested.

    Libraries seen as easy touch when it comes to balancing the books

    ReplyDelete
  82. Oh, in the unlikely event anyone's still interested, I just got an email from the mods at Guardian Central, apologising and indicating my account had been placed in premod 'in error'. So they accidentally deleted my completely unproblemmatic post, then placed me in premod for it all entirely accidentally. I guess at least they apologised.

    ReplyDelete
  83. LaRit, gah, it makes depressing reading, the library thing.

    I can't seem to find out how these cuts will affect music libraries. Do you have any idea? Community choirs and orchestras are so reliant on them....

    ReplyDelete
  84. LOL @Dot re speech length formula - but if

    C = Number of sober people at the ceremony

    Then the length of the speech would infinite! Given that infinity +1 is still infinity

    Have a heart!

    ReplyDelete
  85. aw, bless you all!

    yes, james, there was cake. lots of cake. remaining cake has been taken into work and that was very successful. ggoingg out for dinner soon. moim moim. heheheheh.

    larit's mention of 'ligging' also reminded me of melody make, who had, I'm pretty sure, a column written by the 'gig leopard' who could lig with the best of them and took the piss mercilessly out of the whole new-wave-of-new-mod scene...

    i did once step over a member of menswear lying prone on the floor to reach the pool table in the mixer. believe he now works in IT. ah well.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Evening all

    Joyeux Anniversaire, Philippa! Lots of hugs xx

    Just got in so I am off to browse...

    ReplyDelete
  87. Montana

    I think it's really disgusting the way Thaumaturge is always bringing that poor dog of hers into things here to play the victim card. I only hope that Saoirse isn't too traumatised by it.

    Watch it, Wildhack; that's now a shiny new entry in my database. In three years' time it will be used against you to devastating effect.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Merrkatjie:

    I couldn't believe that article had been up since 7 Jan and only had 8 comments. Completely troll free though ;)

    I think re: the Music Libraries in London.... Barbican is in City of London and probably protected by close association with the GSMD, Westminster Music Library too is in Tory Heartland .... naturally, they have all the money in the world to lavish on their libraries.

    ReplyDelete
  89. James, make a choice - you can have cake or a song... but you can't have your cake and Edith.

    Happy Birthday, Philibee x

    ReplyDelete
  90. Haha, well played young padawan!!

    (Funnily enough, I was listening to that earlier on!!)

    ReplyDelete
  91. jamaican ginger..........mmmmmm.........now we're talking.......

    ReplyDelete
  92. Star Wars references are still cool, like with the kidz and that, right....??

    ReplyDelete
  93. Yeah, I did bring one back once, Gandolfo, but, it didn't do too well with the humidity.

    Still, a big sticky ball of Jamaican Ginger cake is better than nothing, I suppose!!

    ReplyDelete
  94. jamaican ginger with hot ambrosia custard on it... mmmmmmmm....

    ReplyDelete
  95. Soz James. Heartless of me. I remember how I used to pine for a tin of Birds custard powder when I lived in France...

    ReplyDelete
  96. Evening all.

    *Look away James*
    Just having a slice of Xmas cake here, home-made one, a pressie from my friend's daughter.

    ReplyDelete
  97. I'm rather fond of Jelly and Ice Cream and or cream for Birthdays... in fact, I had a craving to make a Knickerbocker Glory t'other day... good job it stayed as a craving only!

    As for sponge and custard - at school we used to have choc sponge with choc custard, or choc spnge with... mint custard, think I was the only kid who enjoyed it!

    ReplyDelete
  98. James,
    "Star Wars references are still cool, like with the kidz and that, right....??"
    I have no idea, I'm afraid.

    Padawalla would roughly translate in Punjabi as fart maker, though.

    Also, sorry to lower myself further in your estimation, but I, too was thinking of Jamaican ginger cake with hot custard. What do you go for, syrup, rum, brandy cream?

    ReplyDelete
  99. I eat my Jamaican Ginger cake, au naturale, Habib.

    And I put cream on it!!

    Boom.

    (Again, I'm here all week folks!!)

    ReplyDelete
  100. james

    steamed sponge pudding with golden syrup....yum.......

    all week.....!!!!??????

    everyone get the valium out........it's not looking good.......

    ReplyDelete
  101. jeeze the graun is really going down the tabloid trail.......

    "Interactive illustration: Gabrielle Giffords's injury explained"

    ReplyDelete
  102. Ouch!!

    You'd do well to remember, Gandolfo, that I know people in your neck of the woods!!

    (*Best Joe Pesci voice*: "You think I'm not funny!? Not funny how..?".)

    ;0)

    ReplyDelete
  103. (My above in reply to the 20:53 post)!!

    ReplyDelete
  104. he he james be nice i know people here who know people there in big B......


    only joking...well sort of! I'm just jealous of your nobel nomination with dot....

    ReplyDelete
  105. Awww bollocks, my above was in reply to the 20:49 one. (Probably time to eat something!)

    Gandolfo, them's the breaks!! Some of us, we're just good with all the brainy, sciencey-thingummies and that, innit!?

    ;0)

    right, off to re-adjust blood sugar levels. In a bit folks...

    ReplyDelete
  106. James
    "I eat my Jamaican Ginger cake, au naturale, Habib.
    And I put cream on it!!"

    Stage dir left: Runs, screaming.

    ReplyDelete
  107. You lot are in for some serious cyber 'licks' from our Mr Scorpio when he sees the 'cake theme' of tonights thread.

    Don't say you haven't been warned!

    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  108. Forget your rasclaat ginger cake, tiramisu is the king of desserts.

    ReplyDelete
  109. well, I've just had a dessert made up of 'chocolate nut samosas', 'lemon and chocolate wontons', and 'chocolate cassis nems' (what les francais call spring rolls), so I'll have anyone in a cake debate right now....

    was lovely...

    ReplyDelete
  110. Surely that's stretching the definition of 'cake' a bit though, isn't it!?

    ReplyDelete
  111. That's stretching the limits of my imagination...

    ReplyDelete
  112. Hmmph.

    Where I'm from cake is, well...

    ...it's just cake.

    ReplyDelete
  113. james - when it tastes that good, who cares what it's called...

    right - birthday well and truly successful. am calling it a night.

    [waves]

    ReplyDelete
  114. Read Waddya for the first time in ages today. Didn't intend to post, but Pairubu pissed me off so much with a comment about the political climate in the US being the fault of rhetoric on both sides, that I just had to respond.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Night Philippa, glad it was a good one!!


    Montana,

    See, that's why I don't even read it, anymore. Or CiF in general, really!!

    I have to say, my blood pressure's never been this good.

    ReplyDelete
  116. All this talk of cake... I'm off to break into the Christmas cake. Night all.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Right, I seem to have gone and 'done a MsChin', so I'll bow out for the evening!!

    Night!!

    ReplyDelete
  118. Just watching Newsnight and their coverage of the Arizona shooting.

    "Fox News" didn't even get a mention!

    ReplyDelete
  119. couple of links from both sides of the "pond"
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/opinion/10krugman.html?hp

    http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mary-ann-sieghart/mary-ann-sieghart-there-are-lessons-for-us-from-arizona-2180315.html

    ReplyDelete
  120. Happy Birthday, PhilippaB!
    No cake here.No biscuits.Just milk,which seems to be in demand every 37 seconds or so.

    ReplyDelete
  121. All these recipes and culinary discussions, after my disque dur died twelve days ago, Is this UT or Waddya ?

    Happy BD to Philippa and all others missed.

    Hope Ma and baby well to where it applies .

    Condolences on loss of job to some ! Welcome to the New Silent Majority...?

    PS for Meerkat -- I was in pre-mod for 8 days, lifted without any contact........I couldn't be bothered, so very pissed off with 'em.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Quiet here!

    Got nothing to add to the 'cake debate' so here's a track from Beverley Craven

    ReplyDelete
  123. "Chekhov -- html?"

    Err,,, sorry, don't know what you mean by that. Could you clarify?

    ReplyDelete
  124. googlespam strikes, I posted html link to chekhov's No 2 link, and now it's gone !

    Check it out ! trying again -- 2nd TRY!

    ReplyDelete
  125. This is just a gut reaction and therefore I can't provide any proof one way or the other but it seems to me there is a propaganda war going on and the most disturbing part of it is not what we are being told (which most of us know are blatant lies) but the shit that never even breaks the surface.

    ReplyDelete
  126. Oh, sorry did I make a pigs ear of the linkeys?

    I'm working on doing them properly....honest!

    ReplyDelete
  127. HI chekhov -- two excellent links there on the US side, both showing an incitement to murder.

    That shit did break the surface, but was allowed to pass...

    There is plenty of proof around that the Propaganda War has been in full swing since the start of the 'Cold War'.

    ReplyDelete
  128. Just watching Newsnight and their coverage of the Arizona shooting.

    "Fox News" didn't even get a mention!

    And the BBC are supposed to be impartial!

    Do me a favour..the BBC are a propaganda machine which trots out "tractor productivity" in the same style as Soviet Russia.
    All in the name of "democracy" which is a complete scam....there is nothing democratic about this wheeze!

    ReplyDelete
  129. Thanks for the Chris Potter clip BTH - interesting - especially liked the elephant trumpet mimicry at 4.09 :). No, I have to admit that's was a l o n g ten minutes worth of listening - I think I'd have to work at acquiring a taste for his music. Although 'being there' would definitely be a better experience.

    ReplyDelete