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: general

The most important question in the world

28 Feb

A good few people for whom I have great respect – and one or two for whom I harbour no such sentiment – are denouncing Russia’s move on Ukraine. I will not, which puts me at odds even with those … Read More »

general, russia, usa 11 Comments

Caitlin on The Official Story

15 Feb

The Official Story The official story is that we live in a free democracy where our teachers tell us the truth about our nation, our government and our world when we are children, and then the free press continue telling … Read More »

general, media 13 Comments

Ukraine: the madness of Empire’s critics

29 Jan

  As she so often does, Caitlin Johnstone, in her post today, has taken the words from my mouth: It Takes A Touch Of Madness: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix It takes a touch of madness to … Read More »

general, russia 4 Comments

They tried to bury us …

20 Jan

*

general Leave a comment

Mini Gems good – Midget Gems baad!

14 Jan

Yesterday in the Metro (also in Daily Mail, Independent, Times, Sun and – ta-da!  – Wakefield  Express) … Marks and Spencer has become the first high street retailer to relabel Midget Gems over complaints the name is outdated. A disability campaigner … Read More »

general, life 3 Comments

Planting flowers for 2022

9 Jan

The other day I liked – both in the FB and literal sense – the post of a friend who’d offered this image. But isn’t it incompatible with the image I posted a few days ago? Only if we have … Read More »

general, life Leave a comment

Assange? China? It’s not rocket science!

20 Dec

In her blog post six days ago, Caitlin Johnstone wrote: The most powerful regime on the planet imprisoning a journalist for journalistic activity is as brazen and obvious an act of tyranny as you could possibly come up with, and … Read More »

china rising, general, media Leave a comment

Priti’s Police Bill – why now?

3 Dec

“Kill the Bill” protest in Nottingham, 28/3/21 I take issue with George Monbiot on one or two vital matters, and agree with Jonathan Cook’s unflattering assessment of the man’s role – Cook doesn’t do ad-hominem – as given in my … Read More »

general, uk 2 Comments

Are we sleepwalking to Armageddon?

29 Nov

The River Soar yesterday. What follows is less pretty. I’m promoting three reads here, starting with Caitlin Johnstone’s post today: Humanity Is Still Trying To Be Born Things are fucked. That’s our current situation in a nutshell. In a slightly … Read More »

china rising, general, usa 4 Comments

Margaret Mead and that femur …

28 Nov

Anthropologist Margaret Mead was once asked what she deemed the first sign of civilization in a culture. Fish hooks? Pottery? Flint spear heads? No. Mead replied that the earliest discovered sign of civilization was a femur which had been broken … Read More »

general, life 4 Comments

Posts navigation

← 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 24 →

tune for the day

“Staying with Aunt Sally (not really my aunt). Some of these memories you can live with, some of ’em you can’t.” As ever, Bob mines gravitas in the banal with Sugar Baby

last 350 posts (most recent first)

  • Two reads on media propaganda
  • British wildlife in May
  • Caitlin: “you can be happy and informed!”
  • Three perspectives on the UK today
  • Musings on an osprey
  • Richard Murphy on Keir Starmer
  • Cromarty at April’s end
  • The bluebells at Strelley
  • Alex Mercouris on the battle for Bakhmut
  • Empire of hypocrisy
  • USA: “jump!” Denmark: “how high?”
  • On Russia leaving the neoliberal West
  • Trivialising capitalism’s rape of nature
  • Ukraine and the talented Mr Berletic
  • The Emerging New World Economy
  • Ukraine leaks? Immolate the leaker!
  • War over Taiwan? A gorgeous stupidity!
  • Julian: US Democrats cry “enough!”
  • WW3? A matter of chips freedom!
  • Speaking of paedophiles …
  • His Creepiness the 14th
  • Debt forgiveness: a lesson in our time
  • Is Beijing paranoid?
  • Is Mr Putin paranoid?
  • The Greatest Journalist Of All Time
  • Indicting Donald
  • Three Sunday reads
  • What if journalists did their (putative) job?
  • Endless war, and media complicity
  • The whataboutery of Simon Tisdall
  • Mr President removes his watch
  • That ICC arrest warrant: an Indian view
  • The ICC: a kangaroo court, yes. A joke, no
  • ICC weaponised? Putinbot poppycock!
  • Speaking of self-serving credulity …
  • SVB/Credit Suisse: 3 pieces on the panic
  • “Because I’ve got a brain!”
  • Richard Murphy on Silicon Valley Bank
  • Sergey Lavrov speaks out on the WTO
  • More on the Iran-Saudi deal
  • They say the darkest hour …
  • Telling a Martian what hospitals do
  • China brokers Iran-Saudi rapprochement
  • Gary Lineker? Or H.M. Loyal Opposition?
  • Only connect …
  • A brief stroll from farming to WW3
  • Nordstrom: the comedy continues
  • The hazard of Oz revisited
  • China on “US Hegemony And Its Perils”
  • Richard Murphy on UK capital flight
  • All we are saying is give peace a chance!
  • A Ukrainian socialist speaks
  • Starmer and the victory of dark politics
  • Anti-war demo in London, February 25
  • On Worcestershire Beacon
  • Titanic in 3D
  • Are anti-war protests useless?
  • The etymology of ‘tad’
  • Reimburse the Bottlecap Balloon Brigade!
  • Did the crazies capture the USA? How?
  • Stop the War NOW!
  • The hazard of Oz: Canberra’s US nukes
  • Labour won’t save Britain’s public sector
  • Ukraine take 6 – Seymour Hersh
  • A rubber tramp in Cambridge
  • Ukraine take 5 – Gilbert Doctorow
  • Who pays for the US war machine?
  • A rubber tramp in Hartlepool
  • A rubber tramp in Redcar
  • I’m a fan of Sean Penn but …
  • Ukraine Take 4 – The Guardian
  • Carole and Aretha trans-slated!
  • More trans lunacy
  • Redress and the presumption of guilt
  • Ukraine Take 3 – Caitlin Johnstone
  • Oxfam, WSWS and survival of the richest
  • US and NATO send tanks to Ukraine
  • We are stardust …
  • Ukraine Take 2 – Stephen Gowans
  • Ukraine take 1 – Richard Murphy
  • Caitlin is with Ghandi on Western values
  • Mayflies – the Swiss option
  • Scramble for Africa – Version Two
  • Thank God Trump lost!
  • Film Review: Lady Chatterley’s Lover
  • Is Vladimir Putin too soft?
  • I’m no fan of Scottish Tories but …
  • Iran: we’re being played. Again.
  • Biden’s role in the US war in Ukraine
  • Conspiracism and the late David Griffin
  • Russian oil cap? No EU-turn in Brussels!
  • Dress code for a night at the Mariinsky
  • Jonathan Cook on a myopic Monbiot
  • Europe cannot win this economic war
  • Ukraine: Europe’s anger at Washington
  • Guardian to Julian: may I help you?
  • Ukraine – a wintry endgame?
  • Why does the West hate Putin?
  • Cheerleading for WW3
  • The staggering hypocrisy of Julian’s jailers
  • Ukraine: training the West’s far right
  • The lies that triggered WW3
  • UK responses to Hunt’s budget
  • Missile strikes on Poland: cui bono?
  • Ukraine: more dangerous Guardian drivel
  • Straight talking on Cop27
  • The propaganda blitz on Bucha
  • Shills for empire: a matter of intent?
  • Cook on Monbiot on Ukraine (again)
  • Objective journalism is an oxymoron
  • Ukraine and the official narrative
  • Austerity? Britain can’t afford that!
  • Ukraine and the Democrat ‘progressives’
  • Magic Money Tree? Part Two
  • Keir Starmer on “hate crime”
  • Magic Money Tree? Part One
  • Labour’s love of voodoo economics
  • Two ways Hunt can “balance the books”
  • Britain’s new chancellor of the Exchequer!
  • Zugzwang for TrussTweng?
  • With Ukraine ablaze, is Taiwan next?
  • How sanctions on Russia boomeranged
  • Caitlin on Ukraine opinion manufacture
  • So Truss and Starmer want growth …
  • Stellar! Mrs Assange v John Bolton
  • UK in turmoil: a Quaker speaks
  • It’s only a conspiracy theory if anti-USA
  • “The economic illiteracy is staggering”
  • Rupa Huq: Kwarteng “superficially” black
  • Shock therapy for Britain?
  • From Black Hole to Bucha
  • Footnotes: top tactics for top tacticians
  • Why read Michael Hudson? Part 3
  • Ukraine: what does Russia want?
  • Wear the fox hat!
  • Jacques Baud: a vital voice on Ukraine
  • Drinkable water please …
  • On the death of a Queen
  • Democracy is so not coming to the USA
  • Where have all the flowers gone?
  • The tragedy of Mikhail Gorbachev
  • When State & Capital conspire to censor
  • Persecuting Professor Hayward
  • Who killed Daria Dugina?
  • Attacks on Crimea up the nuclear ante
  • Down with Covid!
  • Why read Michael Hudson? Part 2
  • It ain’t half hot mum!
  • Pretending the US Empire doesn’t exist
  • Who wants a nuclear disaster in Ukraine?
  • Why read Michael Hudson? Part 1
  • 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
  • “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?
© 2023 steel city scribblings
Powered by WordPress / Theme by Design Lab