Skip to content

steel city scribblings

  • about
  • life
    • arts
    • consumer
    • humour
    • science and reason
    • sport
  • media
  • politics
    • asia
    • covid-19
    • europe
    • general
    • latin america
    • middle east
    • russia
    • uk
    • usa
  • travel
    • britain
    • china
    • ethiopia
    • europe
    • guatemala
    • india
    • vietnam
  • steel city tunes
  • about
  • life
    • arts
    • consumer
    • humour
    • science and reason
    • sport
  • media
  • politics
    • asia
    • covid-19
    • europe
    • general
    • latin america
    • middle east
    • russia
    • uk
    • usa
  • travel
    • britain
    • china
    • ethiopia
    • europe
    • guatemala
    • india
    • vietnam
  • steel city tunes

Category Archives: science and reason

How NOT to combat “antisemitism”

6 Jan

Below is a Facebook exchange, I think self explanatory, from a few days ago. Let me say right out I never set eyes on any of its three participants, though last week Ian Jenkins sent a friend request after I’d … Read More »

general, science and reason 15 Comments

First they came for the socialists …

10 Dec

this post also features in offguardian It’s ten to one you read in my title the opener to a much cited quote about Nazi Germany. And two to one that even if you couldn’t identify the author, Pastor Martin Niemöller, … Read More »

general, media, science and reason, uk 13 Comments

Book review: Unprecedented Crime …

17 Oct

this post also features in offguardian The unprecedented crime Peter Carter and Elizabeth Woodworth refer to is that of willfully allowing global temperatures to rise, through greenhouse gas emissions, to levels already causing large-scale loss of life while threatening human … Read More »

environment, science and reason 8 Comments

#MeToo v the presumption of innocence

12 Oct

I’ve written on this before; irreconcilable tensions between individual and social justice when it comes to sexual violence on women and its prosecution through the criminal justice system. These tensions come to the fore when the accused are celebrities and/or … Read More »

general, science and reason Leave a comment

George Monbiot at his best

26 Sep

I’ll understand your raising a sceptical eyebrow at my assertion that George’s is a powerful and cogent voice which, on one of the two greatest threats humanity faces, needs to be heard. Why wouldn’t you be sceptical, given all I’ve … Read More »

environment, general, science and reason 5 Comments

Book review: 9/11 Unmasked

10 Sep

this review also features on offguardian Introduction On Friday, August 31 I had an email from OffGuardian editor Catte: How do you feel about reviewing a new 9/11 book for the anniversary? I know you’re a sceptic but that is … Read More »

middle east, science and reason, usa 6 Comments

Fat is a capitalist issue

16 Aug

The men who made us fat … employ an army of food scientists and psychologists to trick us into eating more than we need, while advertisers use the latest findings in neuroscience to overcome our resistance. They hire biddable scientists … Read More »

general, science and reason Leave a comment

Writing Chomsky’s seating arrangements

15 Aug

In a recent post I quoted a well known figure from memory – never a good idea in public – of his 1996 interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr. The figure in question, Noam Chomsky, made his mark initially in … Read More »

general, media, science and reason 11 Comments

Roddis v Sheffield Hallam, Part 6

13 Jul

Today Kaye has alerted me to this, on the UCU website. The screengrabbed image links to the page in question. My thanks to those who have supported me in this long struggle. Roddis v Sheffield Hallam Part 8 *

science and reason, uk Leave a comment

Syria: our standards and theirs

11 Jul

The FB exchanges below, originals here, are a little complicated but hardly rocket science. The posters – all of them – appear broadly to share my views on the West’s dirty war on Syria. Yes, all of them. That includes … Read More »

middle east, science and reason 4 Comments

Posts navigation

← 1 … 8 9 10 11 12 13 →

tune for the day

A friend once told me this is “sentimental”. Poppycock! She must have known it solely from that Hovis ad. Try this. The man with the stick knew just how to come at Dvořák’s New World Symphony

last 350 posts (most recent first)

  • Who fact-checks the fact-checkers?
  • There are no adults in the room
  • Dementia patient tries to start WW3
  • Three cheers for amazing Audrey White!
  • Dress code for an execution
  • US diplomacy as Greek Tragedy
  • Ukraine: Europe’s very own Bangladesh
  • Nancy playing with fire over Taiwan
  • Will the real Zelensky please stand up?
  • Caitlin on Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan
  • Covid in the age of crisis capitalism
  • Big pharma, and people with penises
  • Meanwhile back in Norfolk …
  • Meanwhile back in Taiwan …
  • Ukraine and the fall of the US Empire
  • What makes America so dangerous?
  • After Boris Johnson, what next?
  • Ukraine: graveyard of the US Empire?
  • Socialism or barbarism?
  • Two big errors about Russia
  • Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
  • Anyone (not Russian) for tennis?
  • Getting real about Ukraine
  • The invisibility of empire
  • Priti Patel and the power of lies
  • What price US nukes? $80k a minute!
  • The barbarism of dying empires
  • Understanding empire, from “i.e.” to “e.g.”
  • On war crimes in Ukraine
  • Who am I? (And why write?)
  • Who beat the drums for Dear Prudence?
  • On media manufactured monsters
  • Let’s give Ukraine’s fascists a makeover!
  • Rye v Hastings? Dickens v Tressell?
  • Meditation for the politico
  • A little more on the US war machine
  • “The wrong direction at maximum speed”
  • The USA: “no way out but war”
  • Power is at war with truth
  • On and on and on …
  • Why the times they are a-changing
  • “Left” Democrats vote to prolong war!
  • Ukraine: “the global south must act”
  • Starmer, Nato and the death of truth
  • As we hydroplane towards WW3 …
  • Is Team Biden the worst ever?
  • Tucker Carlson on ‘disinformation’
  • Oh my giddy AUMF!
  • “Zelensky good … Putin baad …”
  • Red-lines real … red lines reductive
  • What about those too tired to have sex?
  • We need to talk about pacificism
  • Ukraine and the death-logic of escalation
  • Ukraine in La La Land
  • Easter offerings
  • Caitlin’s love letter to draft dodgers
  • India in the dock for empire disobedience
  • Ursula weeps for Ukraine
  • Red Star Belgrade v Media Amnesia
  • Ukraine: “turning brains to soup”
  • Ukraine: a military assessment
  • Sakwa: “Paul Mason wrong on Ukraine”
  • Peace in Ukraine? Zelensky has zero say
  • Is Russia losing the information war?
  • The day John Pilger met the CIA Boss
  • Britain is a crime scene
  • The US wants this war to go on and on
  • No matter what the risks to us all …
  • Yes, we are being lied to. Massively.
  • Defending democracy in Ukraine?!?
  • Ukraine: the Far Left is almost right
  • Observations on the week so far …
  • Yesterday in and around Lathkill Dale
  • This ain’t Putin’s price hike
  • No, I’m not telling you what to think!
  • Dark Side of the Mood Music
  • Pentagon bioweapons in Ukraine
  • Carbon dating …
  • Ukraine: why bomb a hospital?
  • Ukraine on fire
  • Yes, Ukraine is in the grip of Nazis!
  • Sanctions: America’s Greek Tragedy
  • US Colonel McGregor: “Zelensky no hero”
  • The real purpose of sanctions on Russia?
  • Cook on Monbiot on Ukraine
  • Media double standards over Ukraine
  • Is this Russian propaganda?
  • A calmer panorama in the English Lakes
  • The most important question in the world
  • Ukraine through the eye of a UK diplomat
  • Ukraine: what does Mr Putin have to say?
  • Diana Johnstone on Russia bear baiting
  • Ukraine: the elephants in the room
  • Russia Today
  • Kiev shelled: Zelensky calls martial law
  • Media Lens on Guardian on Ukraine
  • Russia’s recognition of the LDNR
  • Vladimir Putin on what’s bothering Russia
  • Alice Walker on Julian Assange
  • “Why Russia wants Ukraine”
  • The royaling boil of Martin’s kettle
  • Useful Useless idiot 76423: Richard Engel
  • Russia’s gonna invade Ukraine for sure!
  • Caitlin on The Official Story
  • Can Europe break free of a dying Empire?
  • The view from Langley, Virginia
  • An inaccurate, biased Amnesty report?
  • Whose bass guitar gently wept?
  • The weirdness of BoJo’s Savilegate
  • Mini-break on the Yorkshire coast
  • “We have evidence” is not evidence!
  • Ukraine: has Washington already lost?
  • Ukraine: maps, history, duff reasoning ..
  • Ukraine: the madness of Empire’s critics
  • Is a nuclear war in Europe probable?
  • Is humanity doomed?
  • Ukraine and the West’s lies
  • Monolithic control at the Guardian?
  • They tried to bury us …
  • Agonising over Auntie
  • Eurasia’s rise is unstoppable
  • Getting real on the US-NATO-Russia talks
  • Mini Gems good – Midget Gems baad!
  • Kazakhstan tests China non interference
  • Mike on Mingus
  • Do dolphins flick the bean?
  • Yes, Kazakhstan is a (failed) US coup!
  • Planting flowers for 2022
  • Caesar salad
  • Kazakhstan: why is the steppe on fire?
  • Battle of the mutes
  • Far-left Sinophobia: an infantile disorder
  • Talking down China’s economy
  • Caitlin calls it right on web censorship
  • Happy new year to The Free World?
  • Sinophobia – but at what cost?
  • The obvious has been made unspeakable
  • CounterPunch on US foreign policy
  • Ukraine and Georgia are Russia’s red lines
  • Assange? China? It’s not rocket science!
  • My date with Sister Scope
  • A third Ukraine read
  • Dear Guardian Media Group …
  • A murderous state speaks of human rights
  • Damn lies and daft stats on Hong Kong
  • Two short reads on the Ukraine crisis
  • Frankly I couldn’t give a damn …
  • Xinjiang debated
  • Priti’s Police Bill – why now?
  • Sunlit but wintry: Woollaton today
  • Another winter comes to Attenborough
  • Are we sleepwalking to Armageddon?
  • Snowfall on the Soar
  • Margaret Mead and that femur …
  • Sri Lanka and the ‘debt trap’ slur
  • Kyle Rittenhouse and the outrage industry
  • Roddis v Sheffield Hallam Part 10
  • That’s rich!
  • Roddis v Sheffield Hallam Part 9
  • The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect
  • Another FB China debate
  • Julian’s mother speaks
  • Attenborough in peace
  • More from the (Face) Book of Wisdom
  • The unaccountable power of Bill Gates
  • Selfishness in 4 easy steps
  • The Atlantic: “the bad guys are winning”
  • Attenborough in November
  • IDS and sleaze: the view from Hong Kong
  • Syria’s My Lai is why Julian matters!
  • China’s carbon footprint
  • Facebook and the whistleblower
  • Lest we forget …
  • “I am ashamed of Israel”
  • Ten second guide to Owen Paterson
  • Human rights weaponised
  • Another US academic on Taiwan
  • What a Bezos!
  • Exchanges with my Guernsey freeholder
  • Julian: a year and a day on
  • Dark side of the state: Waters on Assange
  • The myth of independent media
  • Turkey arrests Syrian banana eaters
  • Meet the Otters
  • Three autumn reads
  • In praise of Insulate Britain
  • Fake news on Dune epic in China cinemas
  • It was twenty years ago today …
  • 38 years ago today
  • Demo for Julian: my day in pictures
  • A Guardian study in propaganda
  • Adam Smith on enlightened self interest
  • It’s all a question of balance
  • Talking WW3 Blues – again …
  • Those nights in Tiananmen Square …
  • Mother takes sons to see dad …
  • Who wants a war with China over Taiwan?
  • Support Julian – two October dates
  • Nobel Prize for fearless journalism …
  • The Pandora Papers: controlled dissent?
  • More crap thinking on Covid
  • China is bad!
  • Says Rosa …
  • Brexit, Dali and cognitive dissonance
  • We need to talk about Kim
  • Salt to King’s Bromley the slow way
  • “Israel was born in sin”
  • Salisbury – the Third Man!
  • An open letter: isn’t China “just as bad”?
  • Freud’s narcissism of small differences
  • Xinjiang now a top tourist draw
  • Help!
  • Nuclear subs go down under
  • Sometimes it’s the little things …
  • Sinophobia – two new reads
  • King’s Bromley to Sawley by slow boat
  • BBC admits to flawed Syria documentary
  • Sunak’s NI charge to fund the NHS
  • Meanwhile, on Uncle Sam’s doorstep …
  • If my posts don’t piss people off …
  • Israel is an apartheid state
  • Those eco-friendly berserkers
  • Ruled by crooks, governed by liars
  • Blowback: Taliban target US shadow army
  • Is Tony Blair insane?
  • Who remembers “press button A”?
  • Engels on the ‘graveyard of empires’
  • Did China abandon socialism?
  • Pear Jam Miles
  • What about the squaddies in Afghanistan?
  • Panda cub won’t take a hint
  • Flee Kabul for just $6.5k
  • Covid’s boost to Big Pharma
  • Who checks the ‘fact checkers’?
  • Xinjiang and the square root of FA
  • Britain’s haven for litigatory bullies
  • Until you realise …
  • What about the Afghan women?
  • Julian Assange on Afghanistan
  • Burgers & the Battle of the Fractions
  • Afghanistan: who bears the costs?
  • Great ironies of history #61,836
  • “Kenny go home!”
  • Two new reads on Afghanistan
  • Correspondence with a friend
  • Think tanks for warfare
  • Julian: yesterday’s High Court ruling
  • Santuario Madonna della Corona
  • 76 years ago today
  • Electric kettles and cars
  • Richard Murphy’s transitional demands
  • 75 years ago today
  • It’s raining snakes!
  • Caitlin on Covid
  • This morning on Stanage Edge
  • Sheffield Labour Party on GC beliefs
  • What does China want?
  • Richard Murphy’s peaceful revolution
  • Craig Murray: jail time begins on Sunday
  • Good advice from a librarian
  • I’m backing a hero!
  • Say what you like about Tricky Dickie …
  • “I was a US sniper in Iraq”
  • Watch out Boris: Priti is after you!
  • Another whistle-blower pays the price
  • The level of ‘debate’ on China
  • NATO Expansion map Mark II
  • The despot of Damascus
  • A glimpse of Norfolk
  • But everyone knew her as Nancy
  • Speaking of roads …
  • The England moment I’ll remember
  • China Rising: humanity’s best hope?
  • Left-wing communism: infantile disorder
  • Dark Side of the Media
  • Afghanistan’s Saigon moment
  • A word on the ‘deplorables’
  • Death of a war criminal; lies on Assange
  • Media silence as Assange lies exposed
  • Reading the middle east: part 2
  • Those who looked the other way
  • US bombs darkies in self defence (again)
  • Hancock gently rebuked by Pie
  • Reading the middle east: part 1
  • Pentagon embraces Critical Race Theory!
  • Black Ops in the Black Sea
  • Eighty-two minutes with Russia’s leader
  • Propaganda? Not in the West!
  • Priti Patel’s threat to British journalists
  • US slaughters its first amendment
  • With Bibi gone, moderation is restored!
  • Rare footage: mother wrench feeds chicks
  • Biden-Putin Summit: rhetoric & realpolitik
  • When exposing a crime …
  • Pissing in morse code
  • Maya Forstater wins on appeal!
  • The late great Michael Hudson!!!
  • On Richmond Hill
  • Why I bang on about the trans thing
  • Transphobia? It’s time the woke woke up!
  • Lakelandscapes
  • Belarus: the view below the line
  • Belarus: the plot thickens
  • Belarus: pot, kettle, black
  • Water skiers on Spring Lakes
  • East Sussex this week
  • Murphy’s law
  • Sheffield shows Solidarity with Palestine
  • Attenborough this week
  • Missing pieces: the trial of Craig Murray
  • Government guideline No. 69
  • Not all snakes are venomous …
  • US rockets good, China rockets baad!
  • Thus spake Blinken
  • Britain decides!
  • Women who lift too much
  • Homs today
  • Sinophobia, and revenge porn monetised
  • What if there really is a God?
  • Pig farming, Profits & the War on Terror
  • Wising up to fibs great and small
  • Top dog
  • Assange and Navalny compared
  • Three China reads: 3, Global reach
  • Helen McCrory
  • Every day is Independence Day!
  • Big cats
  • Three China reads: 2, Democracy
  • Three China reads: 1, the Uighurs
  • Russia’s record of aggression
  • Syria Ten Years On
  • Malcolm X on the media
  • Meanwhile, down in Mozambique …
  • Former US Senator on Syria
  • Magpies nesting
  • Magpies, jackals and animal altruism
  • Nottingham Kill the Bill Protest
  • My March reads
  • Afghanistan for Afghans? Are you nuts?
  • Cui bono? – notes on the Bristol riots
  • “Hate crime”, Orwell and class struggle
  • Clapham Common: policing protest
  • Meanwhile on Clapham Common
  • Her name was Sarah
  • Reclaiming These Streets
  • Russell Brand on royalty and power
  • Sloe progress
  • Red Rosa
  • Me and my doubts
  • Caitlin J on the Democrats
© 2022 steel city scribblings
Powered by WordPress / Theme by Design Lab