935 IRAQ FALSE STATEMENTS – COUNT THEM YOURSELF

The Center for Public Integrity produced an analysis of the statements of the Bushco™ regarding Iraq. They come up with a figure of ’935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq’. President Bush, for example, made 232 false statements about weapons of [...]

OH LORD!

It is not supposed to be this way at all. Typically it is other people that laugh at Americans for being stupid. Even some of the Universities seem somewhat ridiculous over there, with people doing courses in such things as Klingon, Madonna studies and that business with a zoologist called Noah and the obvious fact [...]

FLAGS, BALLOONS AND BULLSHIT

Will have another post later on but for now I just want to point you to this… In his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger looks back on the US presidential campaigns he has reported and draws parallels with the current ‘ritual danse macabre’ that covers for democracy and the veiled propaganda that [...]

HUXLEY TALKS

Aldous Huxley talking about ‘Brave New World’ and ’1984′

REUSEABLE

Strange how some things become useful again…

WHISKY PLEASE

The 25th of January is an important day in the Scottish calendar. It is day that the life and works of Robert (Rabbie) Burns are celebrated. Many of the works of this man have entered the language worldwide but people won’t be sure of their origins. For example, ‘the best laid plans of mice and [...]

TYPES OF WRITERS AND TYPEWRITERS

I always find reading about Writers’ methods and motivations fascinating.  I would like to go through a couple of my favourites to help people along if they are getting stuck….. P.G. Wodehouse had a peculiar way of going about his business. He would finish pages of writing on an old typewriter and then stick them [...]

THE BBC MEMORY HOLE + PEDANTRY

This might seem pedantic but it is about a dangerous precedent. You should also try to decide who is being more pedantic, myself, or the BBC. As well as their dreadful coverage of major news events I have noticed a couple of cuts that have been made in BBC DVD versions of older programmes. The [...]

AFGHANISTAN

John Pilger’s latest article is good…  The ‘good war’ is a bad war 9 Jan 2008   In his latest article for the New Statesman, John Pilger describes how the invasion of Afghanistan, which was widely supported in the West as a ‘good war’ and justifiable response to 9/11, was actually planned months before 9/11 [...]

THE MACHINE STOPS

Over the weekend I read ‘The Machine Stops’ by EM Forster and although it is well worth reading and extremely prescient in some regards there are some important things that have turned out rather differently. I don’t want to spoil it (too much) for you if you haven’t read it and I have provided a [...]