The news is a "news" paper

Today we have the ridiculous situation of the main news being about the news.

The main news today is that a "news" paper has changed it's view.

Someone changing their view is not news really.

People have views about events and things.

Views of these events and things are not news in themselves really.

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I perused the "Currant Bun's" explanation of its defection. Utterly insubstantial and pathetic.

Much of it contained complaints about social problems.

How is a ruthless, right-wing service-cutting party supposed to be better for social problems?

The people who wrote today's Sun are brain dead zombies.

Capitalism is Institutionalised Autism!

Capitalism is Institutionalised Autism!

Cars are Institutionalised Autism!

The Car Society is Institutionalised Autism!

Glory but not all Glory

It is clear from the blog that I do not regard the history of the English Army as having been all glory.

Just to show something positive about the English Army I offer the following.

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THE ROYAL ENGINEERS SAVED SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

An unexploded bomb fell in close proximity to St Paul's Cathedral, 12th September 1940.

Lieutenant Davies - ROYAL ENGINEERS - was the Officer in Charge of the party called upon to recover the bomb. Lt Davies was conscious of the imminent danger this bomb presented to St Paul's and regardless of the risk to himself or his men, he spared nobody in the search for this bomb.

The bomb was located by Sapper G.W. Wylie, who located it deep under the pavement in front of St Paul's. By unremitting efforts the bomb was removed, all the time Davies and his party were aware of the strong possibility that the bomb would explode.
To prevent his men from further risk Davies drove the vehicle himself to transport the bomb and carried out its disposal.

For this action Lieutenant R. Davies and Sapper G.W. Wylie were awarded the George Cross.

The bomb was removed and finally detonated in the Hackney Marshes  where it left a crater 100 feet wide so it is clear how close the cathedral came to complete destruction.

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This amazing feat should be more well known.
But good old English self-deprecation means it probably won't be.

Bertrand Russell Quote

Bertrand Russell said something like the following if I am not mistaken.
(I can't find the exact quote on the internet. But I am sure that he said something like it.)

"If you could demonstrate to me that the extermination of the Jews would increase the overall happiness of mankind, then I would consider it."

This was obviously a philosophical point of some kind.

You could obviously replace the word "Jews" with any group of people.

Try replacing the word "Jews" with a group that you as an individual identify yourself with and then see how you feel.

Exam to be a Security Guard

Apparently you have to do an exam to be a security guard nowadays.
The hardest part of the exam is said to be the section on "Mastering Super-Human Resistance To Utter and Total Boredom."

"Pointless"

I am watching a pointless and awful game show that is actually called "Pointless".

That's right: a gameshow called "Pointless".

If that doesn't give you an existential crisis, I don't know what will.

Footballers do not deserve their wages

Someone has said that footballers deserve their wages.

No they don't.

A car is like a horse

In civilised countries like France, having a car used to be a bit like having a horse.
You would get it out every now and then - maybe once or twice a year - for long journeys to towns a long way away. And you certainly didn't necessarily have to own one. You could borrow one.
In the USA you almost have to drive everywhere every day.
To go to the local shop to buy a paper two minutes away on foot, you drive.
Insane. Unhealthy.
America is like Pheonix. Pheonix sounds like it's got something to do with the Pheonicians.
So at least it sounds like a civilisation.

Cars are crap.

Orwell - Political Writing Into An Art

"What I have most wanted to do during the past ten years is to turn political writing into an art". - George Orwell, Why I Write, 1946.

Definition of an anarchist?

Definition of an anarchist?
An anarchist is amongst other things someone who believes and knows that people do not have to be forced to do the right thing.
Everyone knows this is true deep down. And everyone is an anarchist deep down.

The last legitimate King of England

The last legitimate King of England was James the Second.
He threw the Great Seal of England in the Thames as he fled from a coup d'état.
Since then there have been no legitimate monarchs of England.

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Since when did the CBI run the country and dictate policy to us?
We are supposed to be a democracy.

Purge of all nastiness

I am thinking of having a "purge of all nastiness" from this "think tank".

I try not to be nasty or vitriolic.

I don't really like being nasty or vitriolic.

I believe in "hate the sin, not the sinner."

I am criticizing not for its own sake but because I feel it is necessary.

To be continued

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19th Century Thinkers

One reason that I reject nineteenth century thinkers like Marx, Nietzsche and Freud is that they went too far in the first flush of exuberance in questioning everything. And yet they still had a lot of irrationality built into their thinking if only because of the period they were in.
They went too far in almost creating religions themselves when they were questioning religion.
So-called "Marxism" and Pscyhoanalysis certainly had the characteristics of religions with all their dogma and intolerance.

London - The World in a City

London - the World in a City.

London was the capital of the biggest empire the world has ever known.

Some people say that Islam MEANS peace.

Some people say that Islam MEANS peace.

Inshallah!

Richard Dawkins and Biogenesis

I hope that Richard Dawkins points out at some point in a very prominent way that evolutionary theory cannot (as yet) explain biogenesis.

I accept that maybe one day we will know.

But it must be pointed out that at present we don't know.

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At the end of the day, he is adamant that "there is no architect."

And he may well be totally right about this.

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But he never stresses that a gene is itself literally an architects' plan.

A gene is information.

And, as far as I know, Dawkins has no more clue than anyone else on the planet has, as to how that information emerged, supposedly ex nihilo.


As a supposed evangelist for science and reason he should make this very clear if it is the case.

I wish him all the very best.

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I am listening to him now on BBC2 and he has just said that "Darwinism explains our existence."

(As the Americans say) Excuse me?

Have I missed something?

Update - 2017.

Nearly eight years after writing the above, I have decided to read more of Dawkins writings and hear more of his speeches to see how he maintains that Darwinism explains our existence.
I understand that he does concede that Darwin does not explain biogenesis, but he makes it clear that this is no reason to lurch from this to something other than a scientific explanation for it.
This is entirely right.
Biogenesis MUST have a rational, scientific explanation that we may indeed someday discover.

BEST BEFORE END JAN91

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I love Banksy

Banksy is great!
Graffiti is art!

I am thanking the Universe for Richard Ingrams

I am thanking the Universe for Richard Ingrams.

I want to thank him warmly for a simple thing he said.

A Jewish historian compared Bush and Blair to Churchill and Roosevelt.
Ingrams simply said that this is "nonsense."
Of course it's nonsense!

It is sickening and depressing that a Jewish historian of the Holocaust can make this comparison, given the Anti-Semitic and genocidal attack on Iraq (1991-2008) and I am very glad that Ingrams has said and written what he said.

I am eternally grateful to Ingrams for writing that.

I always love his succint columns anyway, but this comment alone has won him my devotion.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/richard-ingrams/richard-ingramsrsquos-week-no-one-talks-nonsense-quite-like-a-historian-1710763.html


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This piece also includes the following fascinating point:

"Why did the Americans invade? We still don't know. Even Bush's director of policy at the state department Richard Haass has said that "he would go to his grave not knowing the answer". "

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Punishment of any kind is not necessarily justified

Further to a discussion of issues around justice and forgiveness, I must point out that in my view, punishment is not in itself a necessarily philosophically sound concept, as others have pointed out.

One obvious reason for this is that punishment is in a sense an evil and a repetition of the original harm.

Cynic in the Original Sense

I was looking at an article about Cynicism in the original sense of the term as used to describe the Greek philosophical movement.
A Cynic for example was the first to say "I am a citizen of the world." Or I am "cosmopolitan".

Which now sounds like the exact opposite of cynicism as we understand it.
They were the original "drop outs" at a time when civilisation was crumbling.
Very interesting.

It might perhaps be more enlightening to call "Cynicism", "Doggism".

At least you know where you are with me

At least you know where you are with me.
In every situation I was put into I told the truth.
Will continue to do so whilst I live.
And I am proud of that at least.
RAGGIONE E MODERAZIONE.