I need to do five weeks' work in five days #betweenthisandtheeuphoriaoftheelectionresultthiswillbethebestweekever @unsungsongs # RT @serafinowicz: "I hate knowing everything. It spoils films, etc." ~ God # I hope Wyclef does end up as President of Haiti. I'd also like to see Dizzee Rascal as UK PM... # Loads of new content on #ebz. Curses, this … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-08-29
Month: August 2010
There are, obviously, strong historical connections between Australia and the UK. These have created cultural similarities - probably more and closer than most Australians would be willing to admit. The two countries are diverging as time passes, but Australia's still culturally closer to the UK than anywhere else I've visited outside of the British Isles. … Continue reading Weirdest book review ever
The Awl, which is still excellent, has a poem purportedly in the style of Philip Larkin on the UK cuts crowdsourcing farce: An Elegy For England We sold the swans for meat and all the toffs came 'round to feast Big Ben went to a very wealthy sultan from the East The price we put … Continue reading A gift for old times’ sake
On a fairly standard CiF article about the death penalty (the Americans are planning to execute a woman who was involved in a plot to kill her husband, but who was demonstrably too stupid to have led it; everyone sane disapproves; everyone evil and vindictive approves strongly), the standard liberal joke question came up: i've … Continue reading Good answer to a rhetorical question
From the comments on Charlie Brooker's excellent Guardian piece on the insane fuss over the not-a-mosque not-at-ground-zero: How many Saudi's would object to a Church being built in one of their cities if they were asked and polled? How many Americans object to a mosque? How many in Switzerland recently voted against minarets? Are they … Continue reading Easy answers to simple questions, #423
I've eaten more Subway and KFC on this trip than in the previous 2 years combined. Curse, and yet bless, Finchley. # Excellent hangover day with family. Impressively, I wasn't even the most ruined, despite being highly ruined #welshgenes # LHR T3 isn't a great terminal, but the champagne bar is jolly enough. Next stop: … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-08-22
So there's an interesting piece on Bloomberg quoting the Sunday Times saying that Fosters Group, the Aussie wine and beer company, might sell its beer operations (branded Carlton & United Breweries, confusingly enough) to SABMiller. This makes sense. Since I was working as a drinks industry reporter getting on for ten years ago, I've been … Continue reading Finding a new Foster home
Apologies for complete lack of recent content: I've been assortedly in the UK and Hong Kong, trying to squeeze a year's worth of catching up with people, a wedding and a stag do into two and a half weeks. I'm now planning to chain myself to the desk for a couple of weeks and do … Continue reading And the JB returns
Good: fun stag (buck/whatever pre-venison term you like) party. Bad: more than a week of no @chrissiem. She's officially addictive. # Actually, I'm not that up for partying. Maybe a cup of tea and a book? #thingsAndrewWKwouldneversay # Note to self: #mlf is the Melbourne Literary Festival and has no affiliation with #milf # Just … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-08-15
Slept for 12 hours. Now feel very nearly human. Who wants to come to the pub tonight? # Odd that Gillard is ahead by 15pts on 'preferred PM', but Libs/Lab neck & neck on voting intentions. Scope for Lab to pull back? #ausvotes # This Daily Mash anti-BBC piece might work if a) Rover 200s … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2010-08-08