Theodore Dalrymple: When the crowd tried to storm the Greek parliament, shouting, “Thieves! Thieves!,” its anger was misdirected. It was a classic case of what Freudians call projection: the attribution to others of one’s own faults. It is true that … Continue reading
Xanadu on Saturn’s moon, Titan, that is, where there seems to be evidence of erosion by liquid. The liquid is ethane or methane, which falls as rain and might, from these pictures, cause flash flooding. The rocks are water ice, … Continue reading
Congrats to David Osler on his victory; I hope Alex Hilton has the same outcome. The judgement is online. Here’s an interesting bit – on circumstances in which a libel action can be struck out as an abuse of process: … Continue reading
I was skimming one of the debates, from 1984, about the changes to the law concerning the sale of reading glasses, now that a large part of the Hansard back catalogue is online. This is a case I was involved … Continue reading
The agreement reached between Conservatives and Lib Dems. This section has a certain poetry to it: 10. Civil liberties The parties agree to implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour … Continue reading
After all, what’s another eighteen months? Gordon Brown has dramatically changed the succession battle by laying down his own job in what is a final, desperate move to prevent a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. A Labour-Lib Dem minority government would depend … Continue reading
Dadeus Grings – crazy name, crazy guy – is a conservative Catholic Archbishop in Brazil. During a Bishops’ conference, he explained that: “Society today is paedophile, that is the problem. So, people easily fall into it.” And why is it … Continue reading
John Rentoul has “obtained a copy of a brilliant paper by David Cowling, Editor of BBC Political Research”. This paper demonstrates, apparently, that the electoral system is not biased against the Tories. Here’s an example of the arguments Rentoul quotes: … Continue reading
Now here’s a funny thing. It’s been all over the news that an Egyptian group called Lawyers Without Shackles has called for the Arabian Nights to be banned. But if you google for “Lawyers Without Shackles” you only get results … Continue reading
Here’s a comment on a blog post by Oliver Brett at the BBC: I am a proud son of a proud Afghan nation, and nothing and no one has made me and my fellow Afghans more proud than the extraordinary … Continue reading