Neutral

I hate it when someone you disagree with makes you laugh. Cheat Neutral is a spoof website that allows you to pay someone to be faithful to their partner, so that you can go cheat on yours with a clear conscience.

I still think carbon offsetting can be made to work, but Cheat Neutral has rather neatly demonstrated the craziness of thinking that money can totally wash whiter-than-white.

Right-wing comedians like P.J O'Rourke and Dennis Miller make me laugh, but I find their opinions objectionable. The Blue Collar Comedians too. People on the left these days seem to be humourless and solemn - it wasn't always so.

Where have all the funny pinkos gone ?

Captain's Log Supplemental : Yes, I forgot about Mark Steel and Rory Bremner and Jeremy Hardy and Mark Thomas.

But apart from them ... ah poop, I don't have a point do I ?

The Heir to Blair

I think I'll resist the temptation to do a political obituary on Tony Blair.

Ok, maybe I'll do a little one.

This man is responsible for a lot of lost Labour Party members, myself included. He changed it into something I barely recognisable, and for that reason I despise him.

His policies on Iraq were either insanely misguided or criminally evil. I'm sure time will tell whether he will be considered a joke prime minister like Eden, or will be the first PM to grace The Hague during a War Crimes tribunal.

Brown, as I've said before, may pleasantly surprise us - if he does, I still haven't signed up with another party, so maybe he can win me back.

Demand 1 : Pull out of Iraq by a given date - how does December 31st sound ?
Demand 2 : Some kind of balance to the right-wing thug element at Home Office would be lovely
Demand 3 : Taxes up, green taxes hugely up, spending on everything apart from Trident up as well
Demand 4 : Listen to the rank-and-file members, at least sometimes. I found there was no point being a member of a party where the chances of my view being heard was laughable.


Not much to ask in return for an annual fee and a donation to the Labour Party jumble sale. That's if I can find a local Labour Party big enough to hold a jumble sale.

Is "new Atheism" like "new Coke" ?

I have so many comments on Madeleine Bunting's article in The Guardian. It may take some time to cool down to the point that my fingers can emerge from my clenched fists and type them sensibly.

"The New Atheists loathe religion far too much to plausibly challenge it"

Hmmm.

Let's break that sentence down.

(1) "new atheist" - an atheist is an atheist.

(2) "loathe religion" - not all atheists loathe religion. Most just believe religion is incorrect and get on with the rest of their lives.

(3) " ... loathe ... too much to plausibly challenge ..." - I loathe child molesters. Does that mean I'm in no position to challenge them ?

And that's just the title of the piece. Maybe tomorrow I'll have calmed down enough to tear into the wrongheaded garbage between the headline and the byline.

Reid Bails Out Again

I've never had much respect for John Reid, but even by his standards his sharp exit from government just as his policies are being implemented must be a new low.

When he signed on at the Home Office, he knew just fine what the political situation was. What's happened to change his mind ?

The only rational explanation I can see is that he knows he is doomed to fail and wants to get out to leave someone to try to rescue the situation, thus saving something of his reputation for a future leadership battle.

He should be a Man, have the courage of his convictions, and try to do the job he was appointed to. It won't be easy, there are many circumstances and people conspiring to make thing difficult, but a true statesman would persevere to the end.

Working from home

Apologies for the delay. I've been working from home, which makes me feel guilty about taking some free time to blog. If you're in an office you go home or back to the hotel, and the night is your own. Working from home, it feels wrong somehow. I'm sure that feeling will go eventually.

Stanetta is only one week away from her SAT exams. The relentless hot-housing has died down a bit and they actually did some activities not related to cramming for the exams. They did the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci, and Stanetta came home and had fun making a model funfair using the basic ideas of inclined plane, screw, lever and wheel.

It was a delight to see her enthused and creative - SATs really do take the fun out of being 11.