Month: July 2004

Well, here I am, at the Centre for Civil Society, where I’m busy finding my feet, meeting the ace people here, and discovering bunny chow. More thoughtful posting will resume once feet are found, folk are faced, and bunnies consumed.

I’m not a fan of London, and every time I return, I hone my reasons for not liking it here. So, for instance, the “fly Emirates” logos plastered all over the umpires in today’s test series: rubbish.

Continue reading “London and me”

Yes indeedy. I’ve said before that the US privatised justice system was bound to lead to mercenaries and, yes indeed, today we hear Continue reading “Told you so”

By my bedside at the moment is “Asians in Britain: 400 years of History” by Rozina Visram. It contains a reference to a line item in the accounts of the British Government’s Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor dated 1786, referring to “relief to the ‘Blacks and People of Colour'”(p. 21). This is the oldest reference to the term ‘people of colour’ that I’ve yet seen. Any suggestions in tracking down the etymology gratefully received…

I only heard about this a couple of days ago, and it seems already to have become an instant flash classic. It’s nearly 4Mb, so don’t click unless you mean it. Via Chris, Paulina.

Just as I was about to upbraid her for not linking to me, the lovely Josephine over at the The Virtual Tophet has decided that the world’s more fun when she doesn’t blog, and substantially more fun when she’s in the Basque country. Good call.

This post especially for Chris, over at the Virtual Stoa.

There’s an important similarity between David Blunkett’s recent thoughts on women’s drink culture

Continue reading “Blunkwism”

Well, isn’t that peachy? Tony Blair heralds a brave new dawn for British society:

“For the first time in my political lifetime the politicians, public and police are actually on the same side.”

Continue reading “It’s the end of liberalism all over again”

Paul Foot died last night. There’s a good obituary in the Guardian, here

As we wait for the outcome of Norm’s Rock poll, it’s good to hear not only that Dio is alive, but that he’s running for President, with considered positions on healthcare Continue reading “Dio in machina”