Thanks to my friend Alain for this. With his country voicing its ire at his use of presidential fiat to avoid a parliamentary vote on raising state pension age from 62 to 64, Emmanuel Macron appeared on TV to defend … Read More »
Here’s something I wrote a week ago: While corporate media do actively lie when circumstances and a systemically driven deference to power require it, their preferred MO is to lie by omission. Not only is that safer. It is in the … Read More »
We are not like this tigress, encountered on Xmas Eve 2011 as I traded the city heat for the leafy paths and avenues of Saigon Zoo. In the wild, once she’d mated, raised cubs and left her former domain on … Read More »
Whether viewed in two dimensions or three, Titanic abounds in clichés. That’s what love stories do. All the good ones anyway; the ones that do what it says on the tin. Think West Side Side Story, aka Romeo and Juliet. … Read More »
From etymonline.com: tad (n.) 1877, “young or small child,” probably a shortened form of tadpole, which is said to be the source of Tad as the nickname of U.S. President Lincoln’s son Thomas (1853–1871). The extended meaning “small amount” is first recorded 1915. Since … Read More »
The Guardian yesterday, February 17 2023: A group of amateur balloon enthusiasts in Illinois might have solved the mystery of one of the unknown flying objects shot down by the US military last week, a saga that had captivated the nation. … Read More »
Whether we associate the song with Carole King or Aretha Franklin, the catchily named Trans Cultural Mindfulness Alliance is offended by it. This Norwegian outfit demands that it be taken down from Spotify and Apple Music. Alerted by a BTL … Read More »
“In some quarters it is considered ‘transphobic’ to even note that Isla Bryson was once Adam Graham.” – Alex Massie in The Spectator The Guardian today, January 25th 2023: Politicians, campaigners and a UN special rapporteur have all expressed grave concerns … Read More »
Andrew was sentenced to life imprisonment for rape in 2004. After 17 years he was released on licence. He could have walked free after just six-and-a-half years had he admitted the offence – Manchester Evening News, Jan 24 2023 Abridged … Read More »
The hippies, like the spiritual seekers who followed, weren’t entirely wrong. Just missing half the picture. When, after serving twenty months of what was meant to be a life sentence, I staged a break-out from my spiritual community, those dutiful … Read More »