Category Archives: politics
The myth of independent media
Sunday Times owner Rupert Murdoch sits on the board of Genie Energy: conducting oil drilling in Syria’s Golan Heights, contrary to international law on exploiting an occupied territory’s resources. See this post One of the most important of capitalism’s ideological … Read More »
Turkey arrests Syrian banana eaters
Two days ago in the centrist Middle East observer, Al-Monitor … Syrians to be deported for eating bananas ‘provocatively’ in Turkey As tensions soar between Turks and their country’s 4 million refugees, a viral trend of young Syrians posting videos … Read More »
Three autumn reads
For reasons too convolutedly tedious to torture you with, my custom of posting, last weekend of the month, a trio of recommended reads fell into abeyance this spring. Shame, that. Several readers have said they liked this feature. I’m not … Read More »
In praise of Insulate Britain
[Insulate Britain activists] the Guardian spoke to had all been involved in Extinction Rebellion, but some felt it had lost its way. “I’ve been on all these XR things; I’d go out every day and get arrested,” Chris Parish, 69, … Read More »
Fake news on Dune epic in China cinemas
In a comment exchange below a post last month I spoke of “fake news” as: a charge often levelled by corporate media which daily serve up the stuff in spades And here’s what I said four posts ago, apropos the … Read More »
38 years ago today
I’m fond of the motto, improvise and overcome. I use it a lot but maybe it’s time to find a new one. It’s the catch-phrase of Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway, a grizzled veteran who does frequent battle with the US … Read More »
Demo for Julian: my day in pictures
Saturday, October 23. We marched from BBC Broadcasting House on Portland Place to the Royal Courts of Justice by the Aldwych. It’s there, on Wednesday and Thursday, that the US appeal – against the August denial of its request to … Read More »
A Guardian study in propaganda
The Guardian on Tuesday, October 19: Chinese effort to gather ‘micro clues’ on Uyghurs laid bare in report Helen Davidson in Tapei and Vincent Ni A vendor selling naan bread waits for customers on a street under surveillance cameras in … Read More »
Adam Smith on enlightened self interest
Bloggers like me are prone to self doubt. Not, I hasten to add, in respect of what we say of the state we’re in, summarised in my open letter on China. There’s too much evidence for there to be any … Read More »