SAYING MORE WITH LESS

I have reprinted several things on this site that I think are fantastic be the factual or metaphorical but  I just realised  I have never posted this directly although it is in the ‘Things you should read”  section Shooting an Elephant – George Orwell (1936) IN MOULMEIN, IN LOWER BURMA, I was hated by large [...]

INFLAMMATORY BEHAVIOUR

“Every now and then I am impressed with the thinking of the non-Indian. I was in Cleveland last year and got to talking with a non-Indian about American history. He said that he was really sorry about what had happened to Indians, but that there was a good reason for it. The continent had to [...]

FREE SPEECH

I did like this cartoon from the cultural jet lag series. There are some good other ones there too..

TIM FLANNERY

This was a Democracy Now special with Tim Flannery. Well worth the look. Parts 2-6 on the continuation…

BORDER DISPUTE

Well sort of. Now without going into it too much the Scots in some ways robbed blind by the Union with England but get higher spending on public services because the Scottish parliament chose to do that. Some of this is a misrepresenation of that. It is from the BBC… TV poll backs Berwick border [...]

DON’T MENTION THE NON-WAR

Something nice for Valentine’s day I think… It is so often said that war is natural part of human behaviour that many people just accept it. Conflict or disagreement certainly might be, but full-on war is a different matter. Most people know about the 1914 Christmas Truce in WW1 when the British and German soldiers [...]

MOOOOO

I was taken aback by this story on BBC news yesterday… Campaigners are calling for a ban on a device that emits a high-pitched sound to disperse groups of teenagers, saying it is not a fair way to treat them. I was partly stunned because I had no idea this was happening in the first [...]

HOLLOW

From decidedly un-’Celtic moods’ to ‘Peruvian Piss with pan-pipes’ to the rest of them I wish people would stop making synthesiser backed shite that denegrates local cultures in service of middle-of-the-road profiteering. It’s like being offered a prime piece of fillet steak and opting for beef chewing gum instead. Or like going to the zoo [...]

ADULTS OUT OF CONTROL

When I see kids in the street setting off fireworks or spraypainting something I really don’t think it is unusual at all, despite the handwringing and exortations that kids are ‘out of control’ that we see in the media. If I was growing up now and looking at the world around I would see a [...]

WHAT’S THE STORY?

I would have thought this would be emblazoned on the front page of everything in the world today and while it is getting some coverage it is not at the forefront where it should be. The BBC, where this is from, currently has it tucked away in the science and nature section and not as [...]