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Category Archives: Politics
Saudi Arabia
According to the official Saudi Arabia information site: To understand the history of the Kingdom and its political, economic and social development, it is necessary to realize that Islam, which permeates every aspect of a Muslim’s life, also permeates every … Continue reading
Postal Strike
The postmen are going on strike, and the news story about it didn’t really say why. On the postal union’s site there was a Message to the Public which I didn’t find persuasive. They talked about how they were faced … Continue reading
Hooray for Rolling News
The heavily trailed report to Congress by Gen David Petraeus about how well the ‘surge’ is going was given a special 2.5 hour programme on the World Service. This is what happened when the General got up to speak. WS … Continue reading
Posted in Media, Politics
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More fun with Islam and Cartoons
The incompatibility between cartoonists and Islam is inevitable. Cartoonist are very frequently irreverent about everything and resistant to censorship. Some muslims are very touchy and, I’m afraid to say, authoritarian. There’s also the fact that many strands of Islam don’t … Continue reading
Key an SUV
People buy SUVs for the same reasons that some teenagers carry a knife: They feel insecure, their environment seems dangerous and they long for the admiration of their peers. Both behaviours are clearly anti-social but driving an SUV is more blatantly … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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War logic
This political spat with Russia has got me thinking. At first I was so annoyed by their infuriating posturing that I was all for going to war straight away. But then I realised that although they are drunk and useless … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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The Importance of Being Open
Wikipedia had an article about the Rhodes Blood Libel on its front page a few days ago. This was one of those cases where a Jewish community was falsely accused of ritually murdering a Christian child, leading to horrible repercussions. … Continue reading
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The Mark of Cain
The Mark of Cain is a film made by Channel Four about a group of young British soldiers in Iraq. In it “Iraqi detainees are mistreated at the hands of the soldiers; de-sensitised by violence and encouraged by their mates.” According to the … Continue reading
Alan Johnston
“Whispering” Alan Johnston has gone missing in Gaza, he may have been kidnapped. He’s the BBC correspondent there but before that he was an editor on a World Service News programme, the World Today. When I was working as a … Continue reading
Chicken RUN!
So this is the blogosphere’s big chance. Big media has been muzzled by the courts and only the free press, the plucky political bloggers, are free to tell us the whole story. (I’m talking about the Cash for Honours story, … Continue reading