What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-07-11

Great Jim Henley piece on 'high road' vs 'low road' policies (eg diplomacy vs war, or investigation vs torture): http://bit.ly/cokCqu # Weird to watch people commenting on the Megrahi case as if he were the Lockerbie bomber. While, as a Libyan intelligence officer, he's... # ...doubtless a nasty piece of work, his (and, indeed, Libya's) … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-07-11

Supreme Court (UK edition) for the win

Lord Rodger, yesterday: Just as male heterosexuals are free to enjoy themselves playing rugby, drinking beer and talking about girls with their mates, so male homosexuals are to be free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts, drinking exotically coloured cocktails and talking about boys with their straight female mates. Great ruling, though. And nice … Continue reading Supreme Court (UK edition) for the win

Depressing but probably true

From the Rodent: It would've been wiser and more useful in military and diplomatic terms; more humane, productive and billions of pounds less expensive if the US and Britain had responded to 9/11 by crashing two planeloads of US marines into the centre of a randomly-chosen Afghan city at 700 mph and executing 300 randomly-chosen … Continue reading Depressing but probably true

Technical BP question, or ‘lazy crowdsourcing’

So, on BP, let's assume that it gets so busted by compo claims that its entire US business gets liquidated and sold to Exxon (as seems to be the current, insane narrative: "we'll pretend BP are evil rather than the same as everyone else, so we don't have to stop the drilling and the oil … Continue reading Technical BP question, or ‘lazy crowdsourcing’

What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-07-04

Martin Amis & Shed #swapwordinfilmwithshed #swapwordinfilmwithmartinamis # The Unbearable Shed of Martin Amis #swapwordinfilmwithshed #swapwordinfilmwithmartinamis # RT @anattendantlord Bring Me The Shed of Martin Amis #swapwordinfilmwithshed #swapwordinfilmwithmartinamis # "Tottenham Hotspurtable"? - http://bit.ly/9Ws52e - #typosthatsoundfilthy # "equivalent of defecating on the steps of the Vatican" - no, defecating on steps of Vatican would be a *good … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-07-04

Crooked Timber, an exception to general comment-thread-y rules of thumb

The rule of thumb is that on any blog where posts regularly attract more than about 50 comments, none of said comments will be worth reading due to the preponderance of idiot trolls, clueless newbies, and the generally hard-of-thinking. At Crooked Timber, this is not the case. Viz: Newbie CT commenter: I wouldn’t much care … Continue reading Crooked Timber, an exception to general comment-thread-y rules of thumb

Eggscerable reporting, or ‘no, the EU won’t ban eggs by the dozen’

The latest insane euromyth, as faithfully invented by the Daily Mail, is that the EU is planning to ban the sale of eggs by the dozen or half-dozen. As usual, the Littlejohn Rule applies here: if the story sounds like something you "really couldn't make up" (thanks, Mr Dale), then somebody doubtless has made it … Continue reading Eggscerable reporting, or ‘no, the EU won’t ban eggs by the dozen’