Well, today we're officially a year old. Happy Birthday to us!
The Great Ormond Street Hospital took in its first patient in 1854. The Labour Representation Committee officially adopted the name The Labour Party in 1906. Decimalisation of British currency was completed in 1971. In 2003, the largest peace protest in history took place as anywhere from 8 to 30 million people in more than 600 cities protested the Iraq War.
Born today: Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Charles-André van Loo (1705-1765), Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), Miep Gies (1909-2010), Yelena Bonner (1923), Claire Bloom (1931), Jane Seymour (1941) and Matt Groening (1954).
It is John Frum Day in Vanuatu.
Habib went to the hospital last night, not feeling well. I'm sure you all join me in sending wishes his way and hoping that he'll be singing this soon.
ReplyDeleteWoah - ? Poor habib, heavens. Indeed, good vibes...
ReplyDeleteHere's best wishes to habib, and a very happy offical birthday to "The Untrusted"! So sorry I couldn't make it to the party on Saturday, but my laptop went on strike.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to habib, and hope he makes the swiftest of recoveries
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to Habib
ReplyDeleteAll the best Bro! Kush Halle, sub tik tak!
ReplyDeleteBloody hell - poor old Habib...hope he's on his feet again soon.
ReplyDeleteA big "get well soon" to Habib, and happy official birthday!
ReplyDeleteReading through the "Most hated songs" thread, and Philippa's description of "Zombie" is simply brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI also found that Montana actively dislikes "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", a song I really really like; I would have thought that there are many other Steinman/Meat Loaf songs one would dislike before even thinking about "Dashboard Light" - "Bat out of Hell" is pure mindless bombast, "Two out of Three Ain't Bad" is extremely whiny, "I'd do anything for love (and the title goes on in parentheses as if it wasn't long enough already)" combines the worst of the two aforementioned.
Why didn't those top the goofy "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"?
elementary - i used to do a mean version of Zombie at college karaoke nights, if I could avoid actually retching when doing the hairball voice-break thingy. f-ing hate that song.
ReplyDelete47 other people had already mentioned james blunt, where the voice-break thingy is also a big part of it. mitch benn parodying blunt's hopeless two note whining is one of the funniest things i've ever seen live...apart from the sisters doing kylie, of course.
Turminder, first your sympathy for homeopathy and now... you didnt like Catch 22? I always had you down for a decent man, why have you done this?!?!?
ReplyDeleteHank, read BNW, you will like it I think.
Just back from the morning walk and it’s now again taken a turn to the chill here in Yorks. There was snow on the wind and an edge to the air which resulted in an incident with Mungo that I’ll write about later on his blog.
ReplyDeleteHappy official Birthday UT – a new year means that it is time for a new approach to posting here from me. As part of my new disciplined approach to life (there really has to be a first time for everything) which is needed to deal with my chronic procrastination, I intend henceforth to post here more infrequently. (Sighs of relief al l around I imagine). This will also fit better with my new budgeted 3Gb a month regime.
I also hope the discipline will help speed the construction of my urgently needed brewhouse. They could call an election at any time and I am determined that I will not pay liquor taxes to the bastard bullingdon tories.
So a few quick notes till we meet again in the near future.
MsR – liked the idea of the minaret(s). I find certain shapes and forms in Islamic architecture quite erotic but on careful consideration, unusually for me, I saw the pitfall. at once.
The problem is that if I incorporated minarets I would have to install loudspeakers to call the faithful. I would then be a danger to myself for it could only be a short time before I mounted the balcony pissed and started hectoring the landed classes on the vileness of their ways and the proximity of their demise – result deano likely evicted and locked up. That said I will give some serious thought to incorporating some of the more sensuous curves and contours from the east. Nonetheless thank you for your thoughtful suggestion
BB Marcel Berlin has LCJ Tom’s book in his article today. Ah the old “rule of law”…..not so much a device to secure justice as to impede and protect vested interests discuss? ( it’s an intended essay for Mungo)
BTW - I am to write to the current LCJ to say that lady barrister’s should not be allowed to wear scent in Court. It is an unnecessary and unwelcome distraction which plainly can lead to miscarriages of justice. The savings on your Dior scent could swell your pension fund so don’t feel bad.
I also have it in mind that this no win no fee idea should be developed further - my idea is that henceforth lawyers should be properly incentivised so I may suggest that their reward should be that they share the same fate as their clients at the end of the trial. The idea that we could build new prisons to house the failed lawyers could help the economy as well as bringing Justice forward. It’s not the rule of law we want its Justice something quite different I think. I especially like the idea of CPS lawyers being jailed when innocent folk are acquitted
Monkeyfish - liked the link to my relative that you provided yesterday! What a tosser, how did you find him?
I loved the bit about the punishment for the bloke caught stealing ladies knickers from a washing line.
I should add that when I have been found wandering around with ladies knickers in my pocket it’s not because I have stolen them or retained them as some sort of trophy. I’m not into trophy things including trophy tarts etc I really don’t like half baked slags not my taste at all.
No the knickers that I have been given were given as simple aide memoir – you see I am a romantic as well as a perv…….
Sheff/Chin/PCC et al – now I have worked out how to load pictures to links here I will try to get the Henry Moore photo’s up next month as I once promised I would. I will also follow up on the picture of a possible Furnivall casting bench which I would welcome your views on .
habib I will be reading here once a day even when not posting and I hope to soon read that all is now well with you brother.
Take care all, see you later – I will still be enjoying reading you all
Finally - a bit of pleasant news that wouldn't fit in the above (exceeds character count)
ReplyDeleteMy Valentines day gift from my sometime wife a pot of tiny Tete a Tete Narcissius ( miniature daffodils) came into bloom this morning and one of them was double headed! An unexpected delight (from what was really an appreciated apology for being a cow) which brings Spring that much closer
Happy official anniversary to all!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to Habib, hope all is well!
Just a quick pop-in. We have a 2 hour late start because of snow and I have an update on Habib. He's got kidney problems and will be in hospital for a couple of days, as long as the meds work "a little while longer if they have to start hacking". Here's hoping that the meds work.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about habib.
ReplyDeleteI just passed by here to say: give thanks for the welcomes and choons (I eventually got to listen to) the other night. Heavy keyboard rationing is a killer. Here's a couple by artists I used to check on the regs (the D&B remix of the 2nd choon was monster hooj in its day).
Deep South
Love Story
Apols for iffy quality on any that have been ripped from a stream or vinyl!
Peace and a GWS for habib!
Habib,
ReplyDeleteget well soon mate.
Thx for the update on Habib - sounds horrid. Hope it goes according to plan.
ReplyDeleteCalling Jay ... calling Jay ... what d'you think of your blue-eyed boy now, mr death?
3/6 thaum, he's still got over 1000 points and one of the best kicking records in history, and he never gets tossed around like a rag doll like your little pansey boy. On the down side, we still havent been able to play much actual rugby and only scraped a win against Italy. We're pretty dire, so i am surrendering in advance of the Eng - Ire game. I think we are genuinely now worse than Scotland (who look quite a decent side these days).
ReplyDelete(But ROG is still a small boy next to JW)
Couldn't believe how bad England were yesterday, Jay. Just shocking.
ReplyDeleteScotland have finally learnt how to put a few phases together - that match was by far the best of the tournament so far.
French defence an impenetrable wall. :-( Flannery an idiot. :-( Kearney poss not fit for England. :-((((
thauma
ReplyDeleteJust been to see Invictus today - a real rugby story and more. Eastwood manages (just) to hold back on the schmaltz and Matt Damon is quite good as Pienaar. As Morgan Freeman has already played God, playing Mandela was a shoe in..
Damn it, should've seen that instead of the pile of poo that was Wolfman on Saturday!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sheff, will think about going to see it!
ReplyDeleteAnyone see Cameron's 'workers co-operatives' in the Public Sector initiative speech today? What a fucking joke. The most barefaced privatisation by the backdoor initiative (via the break up of the services) I've seen in a long time.
ReplyDeleteI've just got a hold of his original speech,canned because it wasn’t radical enough. here it is:
A spectre is haunting Britain. The spectre of Cameronism. All the powers of New Labour and the Unions have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Brown, Balls, Straw, Harman and Milliband.
The history of the last 30 years is hitherto known as the Privatisation Struggle. The oppressors- New Labour, Civil Servants, Public sector workers, Unions and the remaining services in public hands have instigated naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation of the oppressed- The Banker, short trader, PFI chairmen and the shadowy Big Business donors who exist only for one noble cause- to improve the rights and wealth of their own kind.
The oppressor, predominantly the Unions, Public sector workers and fucking common decency has resisted the natural rights of the oppressed to privatise absolutely everything and ensure the whole common wealth of the entire country resides in about 0.07% of the Population. This 0.07% do not reside in the UK for tax purposes.
To this end, The Cameronists will struggle for and demand the following:
1.Public sector services will exists either in the form of state property (the possession of the whole people), or in the form of a cooperative for 5 minutes.
2. When deemed inefficient (approximately 3 minutes 14 seconds after the workers have taken it over), the co-operative will be handed over to the nearest oppressed spiv who has given the Cameronists a whopping great backhander.
3. The former co-operative now SPIV inc will exist to ensure that the standard of service provided makes previous inefficient public service looks as efficient as the Japanese Rail System.
4. All costs for the Service will double, whilst the profit will be transferred immediately out of the country to a tax haven.
The principle applied under Cameronism is: ''From everybody as much as we can bloody well possibly steal, to the few- everything."
In short, the Cameronists everywhere support every revolutionary movement against the remaining glue that holds Society together. The Cameronists conceal their views and aims under weasel words and promises of cohesion and efficiency.
They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible concentration of all the wealth of Society into the hands of the few. Let the ruling classes rejoice at a Cameronist revolution. The elite have nothing to lose but their chains. They have the rest of the Public Sector to win.
Corporate sector of Britain, unite!
Get yourself well, Habib!
ReplyDeleteCan anyone explain what thauma and Jay are talking about btw? They seem to be using a private language.
Evening all
ReplyDeleteMany good vibes to Habib. Get well soon, hon.
Happy Birthday UT!
Thaum and Jay are talking about Rugby Football, Mr Scorpio. Same as soccer but the ball is bent and the players spend a lot of time touching each other's groins and gouging each other's eyes when the ref can't see.
In fact, yesterday's match was a lot like soccer really. Or ping-pong. Or that old computer game of tennis they had in the 70s.
I am amazed we won at all.
Evening all,
ReplyDeleteBB: perhaps you remember my weird sicko question about the picture of a container with the caption that a child is being abused? You replied that if there was a description of the alleged abuse, then it might be kid porno. This Henry Porter thread contains such unfortunately.
Hi there & happy birthday to the UT.
ReplyDeleteGWS & big hugs to (((habib))).
Duke
Oh noes, not 'more privatisation of public services by the back door' plans. And which public services do they have in mind, I (try not to) wonder?
13thD - You are right, it is truly awful how the poor darlings are having to listen to so much rhetoric of oppression. They must be swooning over their Moët.
ReplyDeleteBB - dammit, no giving the game away! (Which Engerland nearly did yesterday.)
Medve: Schroëdinger's abused child?
Hugs and kisses to Habib 'ya habibi' (which means darling in Arabic)
ReplyDeleteJesus, Jessica is a fucking school matron who deliberately twisted what I said on bisexuality thread. And all I said was that one's sexual preferences are not an issue to me and that it's all very normal. And then I got in trouble for normalising sex and not emphasising bisexuality as an identity choice. and accused of all sorts of things.
In other news, I have phoned my psychiatrist in Melbourne and now have to change to a multi-medication strategy.
MsChin,
ReplyDeleteindeed. But what a topping wheeze Dave has come up with. He's hiding it under a plan for Workers co-operatives.
It's anarcho-syndicalist bullingdonism in action.
MsRobinson,
ReplyDeletewhen I hear 'identity choice' that's when I reach for my revolver.
"identity choice" *snort*
ReplyDeleteYou are what you are, on any given day, at any given minute. And it's no-one else's business.
I think it's a cracking idea, Duke. I'll certainly be a lot less likely to reach a negotiated settlement with a taxpayer if I could keep a share of the final payment.
ReplyDeleteThis time next year, I'll be a millionaire.
13th Duke - I heard it ! Sick making, quite scary really, especially as he compared the strategy to 'giving the right to buy to council house tenants'. Well it is supposed to have given Maggie her victory will the workers be fooled again do you think!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant spoof of the communist manefesto btw and absolutely to the point.
Its just another way of waging class war on the working class.
The future looks bleak frankly.
Jessica Reed is a pedant but not the brightest pedant at the picnic unfortunately.
ReplyDelete@thaumaturge my point exactly. And my dealings with the younger generation prove they don't really care what sexual preferences their teen friends have. So it's not a big deal and there are many other things to worry about.
ReplyDelete"Jessica Reed is a pedant but not the brightest pedant at the picnic unfortunately."
ReplyDeleteYou missed a comma after the first "pedant", MsR, and another after "picnic".
Hank/annetan,
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonderful idea. And of course the best way to run a workers co-operative, would be a private business workers co-operative.....
And then due to the break up of the sector nationally, there would be no need to deal with national pay scales, you can micro-manage that, with the emphasis on ''micro''.
The Conservatives are to workers co-operatives as genital warts is to a topic of conversation on a first date.
I sense there is a Mckinsey paper somewhere behind the Worker's Co-op idea. It just smacks of them.
ReplyDeletehank
ReplyDeleteWill you marry me? (you can't spend all that dosh on yer own ..)
MsR
Just catching up on the bi thread - Jess was a tad harsh at what seems a perfectly reasonable comment, I agree.
Duke
ReplyDeleteHow are the public sector workers going to aquire this business acumen overnight? Ah, of course .. consultants in the private sector who are currently short of work.
Just catching up
ReplyDeleteYour Grace, I am spitting feathers at Cameron's vile proposition. Also I don't think enough has been made of his ridiculous decimal point slur on teenage girls on estates either. 54 bloody percent, ffs. It doesn't take Einstein to work out that there must be something wrong with that!
Yeah, thanks Hank. A bunch.
ReplyDeleteAlready spoken for, mschin, despite the absence of a card yesterday from thauma's "friend".
ReplyDeleteHowever, if it's tax-efficient to do so, and our diaries allow, I shall certainly consider it. I'll blackberry you idc.
Oh Jess. Let me see. Humourless just about sums it up. And pretty charmless too.
ReplyDelete"The Conservatives are to workers co-operatives as genital warts is to a topic of conversation on a first date."
ReplyDeleteYou too?
It's a minefield, the dating game.
Too right Hank. I always found it easier to discuss gonorrhea or the clap, but never the warts.....
ReplyDelete"Oh Jess. Let me see. Humourless just about sums it up. And pretty charmless too."
ReplyDeleteAs you're new here, MsR, it's only right to remind you that this is a public forum which the Cif elite keep a regular eye on. I'm not suggesting of course that they ban people for capricious or vindictive reasons...
May I convene the UT Committee of Music Safety?
ReplyDeleteThe Committee is asked to pass judgement on the works of Scott Walker, especially the albums Scott 1 to Scott 4.
Im going through a major Scott Walker phase at the moment, especially Scott 4.
Mrs R
ReplyDeleteYou've hit a nerve I'm afraid. CIF is predicated on identity... (almost)any identity. Regardless of its beliefs, practices, coherence or identifiability...the right to assert that identity, demand equality for that identity and respect is what the place is all about. A happy little city with quaters dedicated to different genders, sexual orientations, races, religions..whatever..(obviously white right wing types are excluded but other than that anything goes).
Even when members of one identity clash with another, it's not a problem..they just ignore it or put the tension down to residual colonialism, cultural imperialism, neo-con aggression or latent something or other.
CIF love it that way..they can feel warm, superior, virtuous and progressive, afford cheap exotic home help and maintain a dismissive view of the working class as mindless BNP fodder who don't deserve political representation cos they'd probably just get all uppity; demand union rights again, real social mobility and develop a class consciousness, solidarity and get themselves some equality.
Better to keep them divided along identity lines..that's best all around.
You coming along and saying "is it really a big deal?" is like telling a 4 year old there's no Father Christams..they fuckin freak. I notice that 2 of them instantly jumped in to dismiss your comment..by any standards a perfectly fair and reasonable response to the article..on what is meant to be a comment site, but "is it really a big deal?" is effectively saying "do you really feel compelled to assert your identity"..which they can't stomach..it brings their whole world-view into doubt.
I'm sure you think this post far fetched so please feel free to try it again. Post "is someone's religion so important" on the next Islam thread...or "can't we try and forget about race"..you'll see. Identity is all they have..the whole site is predicated on it.
The one identity that you can't mention is the middle-class liberal media set...especially when you delineate their basic characteristics..nepotism, pretentiousness, public school education, a disregard for the working class and, in general, a set of opinions formed from experiences very much divorced from the norm (or indeed reality)...this identity is not to be discussed..at least not in derogatory terms...see where that gets you.
Habib
Get well soon you piece of Redshite scum
Now, Hank, my "friend", despite her myriad charms, is analphabet. And also (lacking opposable thumbs) rubbish at getting a letter in the postbox.
ReplyDeleteHaving stood up to her thus far, I must admit that she is any man's who cares to ask.
Yep, MF speaks da truth. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThauma - let me get this straight. She's analphabet, lacks opposable thumbs and is any man's who cares to ask.
Basically, you're sharing a house with Tanya Gold.
Sorry to hear about habib - get well soon if you get to see this - thinking of you. As I have kidney disease myself, all fingers doubly crossed.
ReplyDeleteMs R, ask your shrink if they'd have any of the drugs they proffer you, in their own body?
ReplyDeleteMy drug dealers are adverts for their own product...
monkeyfish - cif pwned, nail on the head..
Nail on the head monkeyfish.
ReplyDeleteAnother thread that caught my eye today was the Kevin Smith flight story. Now why on earth was that opened for comments?
Why open a thread on a third rate film directors problems getting a seat because of his weight.......unless.......the traffic will flow big time with loons shouting ''you fat c*nt'', ''fat people make me sick'' etc, which is exactly what happened. 400 comments and counting.
An appallingly cynical move to make this non article open to comments.
Major Scott Walker piloted Thunderbird 4 iirc, Duke...
ReplyDeleteNever got the Walker Bros tbh. And the game was definitely up when they started sponsoring Leicester City and using the boy lineker in their adverts.
gramsthemanduke
Hank
ReplyDeleteare we daring to mention the AP phrase?..automatic promotion...are you managing to remove the oxygen masks for any sustained periods yet?..those dizzying heights can play havoc with the inexperienced climber
or would that be tempting fate..not that I've got you down as superstitious or anything..go on..let's have a prediction..
@hankscorpio Oh you have just cheered me up. I love the Thunderbirds. Back in the ummm 1960s when we were little kids my brother and I got up at 6am to watch it. The deal was we had to be sitting with our Coco Pops on our laps by the time they said Thunderbirds Are Go or it didn't work.
ReplyDeleteHappy Days they were.
13th Duke - some of the comments on that article have driven me to drink and ranting.
ReplyDeleteLike England's woeful performance in Italy.
Sorry you're poorly Habib, hope you're feeling better soon.
And congratulations Montana & the UT.
Hank,
ReplyDeletefunnily enough, I've never got into Gram Parsons. Another one is Tim Buckley. I've wanted to get into them but just can't (apart from Dolphins, which is an epic tune).
I'm a huge Byrds fan but never, ever listen to ''Sweetheart of the Rodeo''.
One of my mates is daft on that period and genre of music and has tried but I remain unconverted.
I am with you on Northern soul and Motown though.
I'm locking up for the night, so have a good evening everyone.
Cheers.
Scott Walker? Nah, Duke.
ReplyDeleteMsR
TBirds wasn't on a breakfast time here, but me & my bro used to watch it without fail. Happy times, as you say.
Hank
ReplyDeleteThauma - let me get this straight. She's analphabet, lacks opposable thumbs and is any man's who cares to ask.
Basically, you're sharing a house with Tanya Gold.
Now, there's no need to be nasty. My housemate is very good-natured and can be quite witty when the occasion arises.
Duke
funnily enough, I've never got into Gram Parsons. Another one is Tim Buckley. I've wanted to get into them but just can't (apart from Dolphins, which is an epic tune).
Me fucking neither, horrible country stuff. Dolphins is a Fred Neil choon.
Good grief MsR, I just checked out the bi thread and was astonished at the slapdowns you got from the Cif identity posse. WTF are they thinking?
ReplyDeleteTop remarks upthread, MF...
Am feeling a bit nihilistic this evening.
ReplyDeleteThat one dedicated to Andy Powell. ;-)
This is for habib..the masterly Nick Cave and the only man who can begin a song with "I don't believe in an interventionist God.."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQUaWY_klgk
Automatic promotion? Are you fucking kidding, MF? We've blown it, fucked up by not adding to the squad in the January window and letting our best left back since Psycho go.
ReplyDeletePlay offs for us.
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the Byrds' finest hour, Duke.
OK kids, here it is...
thuinderbirdsarego
So I'm Virgil, Bru is Lady Penelope, MF is Parker, who's the rest?
@PeterJ And you know fundamentally I was saying that it isn't an issue and I know from my friend's kids that sexuality and identity is going to be less of an issue. And so everyone made it sound like I didn't understand that their fucking was political and identity based fucking..oh whatever. I have greater things to sort out. But yeah Jessica went way over the top.
ReplyDelete@MsR
ReplyDeleteIt was obvious what you were saying - do what comes naturally, and don't feel you have to join some sort of club with rules that distinguish you from the rest of humanity. Why would you want to do that? I don't think specific bi-bashing is much of a problem, really, and all it does is give the identity police a chance to discriminate within the group against those who don't adopt the right bi-specific political stances or behavioural norms.
Stuff 'em.
Hank
ReplyDeleteWith so many of us wearing glasses, there's a lot of competition to be Brains.
Peter & MsR
That's the problem, what's plainly obvious to us is widely misinterpreted.
Has to be dear old Bitey as The Hood. As for myself, I shall be John; the misanthrope in the space station. F.A.B.
ReplyDeleteMF is Parker
ReplyDeleteHow the fuck does that work? Can't say I ever watched Thunderbirds tbh, but if there wasn't a kick boxing, heart-throb, proletarian, revolutionary poet then I can't have been in it, can I?
Wasn't Parker the servile little toady who drove the big pink motor..wouldn't that be BTH? Fuck that..I wouldn't be crawling around the aristocracy like a useless muppet...unless Lady P had a Mellors type gamekeeping retainer who gave her a bit of afternoon delight in the wood shed before kick starting some sorta peasants' revolt.
This one's for Habib - for no other reason than I think he'd like it.
ReplyDeleteCourage ... it didn't come; it doesn't matter. The Tragically Hip, decent '90s Canadian band.
Ooh, and forgot about this one: the dangerous tongue. Oo er!
ReplyDeleteAm half watching Generation Jihad on BBC and I wish to pose a question:
ReplyDeleteWhat did "terrorism consultants" do before they did their current job. Where do they come from.How does one become one?
Mrs R
ReplyDeleteJust noticed this from Jessica R on the WDYW>>thread..first post..
"Hello there,
Marcus Morgan's article on bisexuality was commissioned after someone e-mailed me suggesting we find someone to write on the issue."
I think " suggesting we find someone to write on the issue" means that 'Marcus' is probably a mate of hers..that might be another reason you upset her..friends and relations are probably part of the charmed circle of untouchables you're not allowed to have a pop at.
Did you give CIF a miss for a while btw? I remembered you from way back in the Ruth Fowler era and noticed you'd returned a few months back..did you take a longish break?
"What did "terrorism consultants" do before they did their current job. Where do they come from.How does one become one?"
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing you go to university with a future BBC producer or commissioning editor, make a living doing any old shit in the media..read a book on terrorism or pottery or beermats and then pop up as required rebranded as an 'expert'. I watched that the other day..thought it was a bit sad..and the experts do little more than venture the fuckin stark staringly obvious..maybe you don't even have to read a book?
*ahem*
ReplyDeleteSorry to jump in, but I'm riding a YouTube wave. Last one, I promise.
All Soul's Night. Another Canuck, but otherwise something completely different.
Right, am heading upstairs and won't plague any serious discussions any longer.
@monkeyfish Yes I did. I got fed up with the sort of people who surfaced on today's thread..people who are unable to have a discussion without either bringing up the same old arguments even if they don't apply, or those who are so imprisoned by their own biases that if what is said doesn't confirm it then they turn to insults. The right wingers are actually the least annoying - frankly anyone who thinks asylum seekers are taking their jobs etc etc, is simply laughable. But the ones on today's thread - and I include Matron Jessica- show how people layer their own insecurities and biases over a subject even when it has nothing to do with it.
ReplyDeleteIn my day that was a fail in English.
"What did "terrorism consultants" do before they did their current job. Where do they come from.How does one become one?"
ReplyDeleteThere is a hilarious bit in Die Hard where a 'hostage expert' comes on the telly explaining how the hostages will be now bonding with their captors - wonderful.
It's like these 'serial killer' experts that have cropped up since Silence of the Lambs and Cracker - it is quite probable that these people have actually done more harm than good.
No idea what you have done to nark the Cif gauleiters Ms Robinson. Jessica seems to have been edgy ever since Jay spotted that a previously unknown ATL was a Facebook friend of hers - I'd guess that monkeyfish's suggestion is correct.
And of course Bella is all agog to tell her that her mum sends her birthday card, but nary a hint of what her dad - the editor of the paper - may have sent her. Possibly a congrats on your new job card. . .
'her birthday card'
ReplyDeleteach 'twas a valentine card of course.
Peter Wilby's thread on inheritance tax is worth a look.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"In my day that was a fail in English."
ReplyDeleteor indeed self-awareness or sense of proportion
...gotta admit though, I only really go on there to take the piss these days..when I'm allowed.
It's the ATL pieces that get to me more than anything. I think "people who are unable to have a discussion without either bringing up the same old arguments even if they don't apply, or those who are so imprisoned by their own biases that if what is said doesn't confirm it then they turn to insults." applies just as much above as below the line.
Polly Toynbee, the feminist posse, Joseph Harker, Seth Freedman, McShane and many many more are stuck in a similar rut. Frankly, you can read the strapline and guess the rest.
I actually miss Ruth Fowler and I always read Nick Cohen..I rarely like what he says but he at least has a functioning imagination.
I like Simon Jenkins. I may disagree but the bloke can think and write and has a pedigree. I bailed up Nick Cohen in the street once (Highbury). We had a great disagreement..er discussion. Actually he was very amenable, though I don't often agree with him these days.
ReplyDeleteDavid Conn. I like David Conn.
ReplyDeleteHe should be paraded around the boardroom at CIF Central every time they're getting together and reminding themselves what a proper fucking journalist looks like.
"I actually miss Ruth Fowler..."
ReplyDeletePervert.
Yeah
ReplyDeleteJenkins is good and Conn. The other one I'll always look for and hardly ever agree with is Matthew Parris at the Times. I don't trust anyone..politician, journalist, plumber or fuckin candlestick maker who can't have a laugh, particularly at themselves.
Another one who's getting right on my nerves lately is Brooker...he's become a self parody..spouts the Guardian editorial line verbatim but with a predictable miserablist line in what is basically toilet humour. Read one, you've read 'em all.
Here is part of a veritable cornucopia...
ReplyDeleteHave just read the whole of the bisexuality thread. Have never felt less inclined to post on a thread in my entire life.
ReplyDeleteNice work, MsR.
And with that, goodnight...
Hi All
ReplyDeleteHabib--Pulling for you to get better and back soon.
Great work MrsR on the bisexuality thread. Just WTF has one's sexuality got to do with posturing and pontificating to others? Everyone upthread is spot on,too, with the dismal,cliquey witlessness of the CiF staff,their lack of insight and disproportionate responses to having their narrow,deluded 'identity' fixations challenged. To them they are eternal certainties. To anyone with a brain they are illogical,counter-productive,self-contradictory,smug assumptions made by (perhaps well-meaning)self-serving metropolitian media luvvies. What they hate is being exposed for the phoniness and privilege they profess to detest in others (like the Tories). Bien-pensant bullshitters who can't accept that their lordly words and opinions aren't accepted by,nor bear any real relation to,the underlings who they patronisingly claim to be concerned about.
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